I've been c-c-c-coooooold lately - to the point that I need six layers on to be able to function without shivering. It's been about 50 degrees outside during the day (give or take, today it's only 40). We're cheap when it comes to electricity, and try to avoid turning on the heat if at all possible. We have an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer, which today reads 60.4 degrees, inside.
We're fortunate that we don't have terribly cold winters here and stay between 35 and 50 degrees throughout most of the fall/winter, so hopefully our house won't get tooo much colder than it is now. But sheesh, no wonder I'm cold if it's only 60 in the house!!
So, are you heat crankers or 6-layer wearers? What is your thermostat set at normally (if you have one), or what temp does your indoor thermometer say?
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
oh, the battles to be had this winter over the heat...personally, if i'm cold with a shirt and a sweatshirt, pants and socks on, i turn up the heat. the bf gets annoyed and tells me to put more clothes on, but last time i checked the bill was in my name and i pay it 90% of the time, so i don't listen.
we have a programmable thermostat, so i set it to turn up to 67 degrees at 6:30 am(for when we get up - i HATE getting out of the shower and having it be cold!), then down to 64 from 8:30 - 5:30, then back to 67 at 5:30, and down to 64 (i think) at 10. a lot of the time it won't even run, i think i have it set to turn on if it drops 2 degrees below the programmed temp.
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freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose - janis
I grew up in a house where my mom would not turn the heat up and we froze! So when I got my own place I decided I'd put the heat on whatever I wanted, I deserve to be comfortable in my own home! The heat is usually around 69 and the air is usually around 74.
Well.....right now I'm still in my crappy apartment, where we have radiators and we only have heat when the landlord decides. So I'm freezing cold all. the. time.
But I think if I actually had a heating system where I could program the temperature, I'd keep it at about 70 or 72. I know utility costs are going up, but I'm so cold all the time that I think being able to have the heat on is something I would purposefully save up for.
If you're worried about the cost, though, you could get a space heater and put it in the room you use the most. I'm in a studio apartment right now, but even now I carry my space heater around with me if I'm going into the bathroom for a shower or the kitchen or something. It's basically on most of the day, and my utility bill wasn't that much higher at all this month - maybe $10 or so? That's a lot cheaper than keeping your whole house at a comfy temperature all the time.
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Fashion is art you live your life in. - Devil Wears Prada | formerly ttara123
ttara123 wrote: If you're worried about the cost, though, you could get a space heater and put it in the room you use the most. I'm in a studio apartment right now, but even now I carry my space heater around with me if I'm going into the bathroom for a shower or the kitchen or something. It's basically on most of the day, and my utility bill wasn't that much higher at all this month - maybe $10 or so? That's a lot cheaper than keeping your whole house at a comfy temperature all the time.
Well, our electricity bill is $60 a month without heat at all - that's 2 showers a day, the computer, and running the fridge basically. We only have cadet heaters (in our current apartment and in our new house), and they're just so incredibly inefficient. And our open floor plan really doesn't allow you to close the door and turn on the heat in just that one room . I might have to try an experiment though and see how much the bill changes when we set the heaters to a certain temp and just let them all kick on when they want, instead of only turning them on for a while when we feel really cold like we do now...
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
Winter time my gas bill goes up b/c my central heat is gas and I usually keep it on 75 -77. The bill is usually 80.00-100.00 ,it gets higher if we have cold months. I get cold and I hate that feeling b/c I can never warm up. However right now the night have been in mid 50's and days are mid 60-70's so I have my windows open. I should see a big difference in my eletric bill and Iam so thrilled. The summer time we was paying 400 a month. The landlord refuses to put a new a/c unit in b/c it still worked..yeah worked on overdrive and running up my bill
Elle wrote: Well, our electricity bill is $60 a month without heat at all - that's 2 showers a day, the computer, and running the fridge basically. We only have cadet heaters (in our current apartment and in our new house), and they're just so incredibly inefficient. And our open floor plan really doesn't allow you to close the door and turn on the heat in just that one room . I might have to try an experiment though and see how much the bill changes when we set the heaters to a certain temp and just let them all kick on when they want, instead of only turning them on for a while when we feel really cold like we do now...
hmm I find it curious that your bill is $60 a month.. I pay less than that and my heat is cranked up to 73 degrees and I'm heating basically a 4000 sq ft house We use a programmable thermostat and even with that..the lowest it is ever set to is 62 degrees. Is your heat gas or oil?
I'm a freezer/sweater person. Only when its in the upper 90s does the AC come on (ceiling fans are just fine to me) and when it freezes I will put on the heater. Electricty is high even without us being in the apt for over 10 hours a day and then sleeping for another 6-8.
so far i've been keeping it around 67/68. before the baby, i used to keep it at 64 but i can't do that now. our heating bills are HIGH and i can't even imagine what they will be this year, since last year they were around 2-300 per month with the heat at 64. we did get all new energy efficient windows, so i hope that will help.
(i really need to change our heating to budget pay, but i keep forgetting to call)
When we aren't home, 60 once we are home about 65-69. I try to never put it over 70. 65 is on the chilly side of comfortable for me.
I highly recommend a programmable thermostat. They are well worth the $70. And, I think from another post I read you have one of those heated mattress pads. I say turn the house down low at night and kick up the temp of the bed.
We have a programmable thermostat. In the summer, we keep it at 80 when we're home and 78 when we're not. (We have ceiling fans in every room, too.) During the winter, I think it's around 72-74? Our bills are huge in the summer because of the AC, and much cheaper in the winter b/c our heat is gas.
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"We live in an age where unnecessary things are our only necessities." --Oscar Wilde
The heat is set to 73. Even at that I'll wear a robe or coat! The house gets really warm when we use the fireplace. I love sitting in front of it and getting toasty warm!
I live on the west side of LA - so we don't have air conditioning, and our house stays warm enough so that we really don't need to use the heat very often...so I'm not sure.
Kitty wrote: No one has air conditioning where I live..and I haven't had to use the heater yet this fall...
Ditto.
I'm a layers-and-down-throw kind of person, and only turn the thermostat up to 65. I can't sleep if it's too warm, so I don't use the heater overnight.
When I lived in Davis where it's really hot in the spring/summer we would turn on the AC to 82 if it was 95+ outside.
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