I'm in Australia, and my house is mostly open-plan and built for the heat, so no in-built heating. Our winters don't get very cold, but I used to really feel the cold and used portable oil-column heaters around the house, but they just couldn't heat the rooms enough.

I saved up money last year for ducted reverse-cycle air conditioning last year (the ducts are in the roof),and it made such a difference. I'm spending slightly less on heating because the reverse-cycle is more efficient than all the portable heaters. (I'm spending more on cooling in summer, but then the air-con is a bonus which does a much better job on really hot days than the ceiling fans)