The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: FIRE me on November 20, 2015, 10:30:03 AM
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I hate the cold, and I hate being cold. Winter is my least favorite season. Last year I thought I was doing good having the thermostat at 68. So I'm very proud that I've had my house thermostat set at 64 for over a month, and a week ago I cut back one more degree to 63.
One of the phrases I read here on MMM really inspired me: “Embrace the season”.
My last month's bill of natural gas and electric was $72 (1100 SF ranch), so maybe I should call it "embrace the savings". :-)
For those of you in climates where cold weather has arrived, what is your thermostat setting?
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58 at night and unoccupied/I'm home alone, 60-64 when occupied.
Sweatshirts, sweaters, and plenty of tea seems to be the order for the day. Exercise also helps, particularly some sort of weight lifting regimen.
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Anchorage, Alaska. Supposed to be in the mid-30s today, balmy after a week of negative/single digit temps. We keep the heat set at 68 day/63 at night.
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I'm in Sterling, Alaska. We keep the heat at 54 when we're away and about 58 when we're home. We have to heat with heating oil and it can get pretty expensive, but luckily we have an 1100 sf house that is well insulated and if I turn the oven on and have to run the dryer, that alone will push the house to about 63 according to the thermostat.
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58 at night and unoccupied/I'm home alone, 60-64 when occupied.
Sweatshirts, sweaters, and plenty of tea seems to be the order for the day. Exercise also helps, particularly some sort of weight lifting regimen.
I turn the heat off when I leave the house. Until the temperature gets to the teens, when I get concerned about frozen pipes. Then I set it in the low 50's when I'm away at work.
In the house I wear two t-shirts, sweat shirt, jeans (sweat pants to sleep in) two pair socks, and a toboggan hat. I sleep under three blankets.
I'm usually warm enough, but at times it feels cold.
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At FrozenAssert and dannipani85:
I'd always heard that Alaskans were notorious for keeping their houses downright hot in the long Alaskan Winter. Do most of your neighbors keep their houses hot?
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At FrozenAssert and dannipani85:
I'd always heard that Alaskans were notorious for keeping their houses downright hot in the long Alaskan Winter. Do most of your neighbors keep their houses hot?
We live so far out of town that we don't really have neighbors, but from talking with coworkers, it sounds like everyone keeps their houses about 68 or a little lower. Both my husband and I get REALLY cranky if we're hot, so the cold house works for us. When family comes to visit we'll heat it up a little bit more if they get whiny or I'll give them one of our many blankets. Like Frozen Assets said, we had a pretty good cold snap earlier this week and with windchill at our house it was -18 so we did bump it up to 66 since it was so damn cold.
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I've been able to get it down a little lower this year. During the day it's 65, and at night (or if I'm away) it's 55. I wear warm layers during the day, and at night I sleep on flannel bedding under two down comforters. I keep a warm, knit hat in the nightstand drawer to put on if my head feels cold.
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At FrozenAssert and dannipani85:
I'd always heard that Alaskans were notorious for keeping their houses downright hot in the long Alaskan Winter. Do most of your neighbors keep their houses hot?
I have a friend who keeps her heat set at 74. I swelter and always wind up taking off at least one layer (typically I wear a hoody/sweater/sweatshirt over a tank or tee in the winter) when I'm at her house.
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We put it down to 17 C at night in the winter. I've always slept better under a thick comforter with cooler room temperature.
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55 for sleeping, 62 for weekend living. We get a lot of complaining from visitors in the winter.
When I was a kid we had a wood stove, and it was my job from the time I was six to stoke the fire in the morning and keep it going until I went to bed. I also had to go out to the woodshed ~200 yards away and haul in all the wood. I kind of miss having a woodstove, because it was so much more comfortable heat than you get from a furnace. We had a gas fireplace in our last house, which was great for heating up the room in the morning, but not as economical as wood.
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Brrr, your asses are much badder than mine. My break point is 64°F. At 65° I can wear acceptable amounts of clothing - under shirt, long sleeved shirt, over shirt, long johns, regular pants, and wool socks and a hat. At 64° and below I have to start wearing more outdoor type clothing like gloves and jackets. I just can't get warm, even doing light housework.
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Thermostat? What thermostat? We're still doing "no heat November" here in Illinois. :)
But I confess: the two great room thermostats will probably get turned on tonight. (We're all electric and have a thermostat in each room--two in our large combined living room/kitchen.)
Generally, in winter, the great room thermostats are at 65 when we're home, and 55 when we're not. Our bedroom thermostat is either off or at 60. Most other thermostats (laundry, guest rooms, pantry) are off or at 55, with the doors to the rooms closed.
Mrs. MacNerd is colder than Mr. MacNerd, and is often found with a fleece scarf around her neck and an electric blanket on her lap.
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I only turn my heat on when it gets below 30F to ensure the pipes don't freeze, and keep it set at 45F when I do. It does make for fast showers and many layers worn. (Luckily in this regard) I work an 80 hour a week job so I'm rarely there.
My heating has 4 zones, and 1 zone has only 1 room, sometimes (most chilly nights) I turn heat up in that 1 room up.
My heating bill was still $2500 last year (my neighbors with the same style/size house had $7-10k). 4400 degree days where I am (I used the equivalent of 1200 degree days).
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We keep ours at 67 during the day and 64 at night. Even that temperature (which seems normal to me) means that people complain or are visibly cold when they come to visit. For this reason, we usually put it at 70 when we have guests or my MIL comes to visit. I'm always boiling hot in public places. They must keep it closer to 75, which, if you are used to 67 feels really warm.
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I live in an apartment building. I never turn on the heat. I live with what temperature I get from the neighbors I share my walls, ceiling, and floor with. I would turn theirs down too to pollute less but I don't meddle in their business.
I also turn on the air conditioner maybe a couple times a year, only when guests visit.
My building has central air and heating so I still have to pay for everyone else's, even the ones who leave their air conditioning on all day when they aren't home.
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Typically 68 day / 64 night
With an infant this season, we're keeping it 68-69 day and night. More costly but what are you gonna do? Oil is down compared to last winter so total expense will still probably be less
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I love the cold. I have a really messed up internal thermostat so I almost never get cold but get hot really easily. When I haven't had roommates with a more "normal" sense of temperature, I set my thermostat at 60 when I get home in the afternoon and put it down to 58 when I go to bed.
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63 Away/7:45am, 65 at 5:30am
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61 sleep 62 awake. My parents HATE coming over in the winter
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Northern Alberta:
19 C (66 F) day
17 C (62 F) night
On very, very cold winter days, I put the temperature up 1 degree C. 20 C (68 F)
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No central heat here, so no real thermostat, but I'm keeping the temperature at about 64 day and night. We cannot fluctuate between nights and days because of an extremely high thermal mass.
We're also primarily passive solar heated, and it feels warmer than 64 in the day, especially standing in the sun, but the feeling is an illusion unless there's actually a sunbeam warming skin surfaces.
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55 for sleeping, 62 for weekend living. We get a lot of complaining from visitors in the winter.
When I was a kid we had a wood stove, and it was my job from the time I was six to stoke the fire in the morning and keep it going until I went to bed. I also had to go out to the woodshed ~200 yards away and haul in all the wood. I kind of miss having a woodstove, because it was so much more comfortable heat than you get from a furnace. We had a gas fireplace in our last house, which was great for heating up the room in the morning, but not as economical as wood.
Wow, 55 is mighty bad ass. I've already had a dream where I was sleeping outside, in the cold, in a sleeping bag.
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Now that we live in Florida it isn't as issue, but when we lived in Maine, DH and I put heating pads at the foot of our bed under the down comforter and turned them on high before we got into bed. That made the bed toasty warm. We got into bed and turned them off and were warm with the room at 55.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'm currently doing 55 at night or when I'm away and 65 or so when I'm around the house. I just installed a wifi thermostat so I could adjust the temp from under the covers 15 minutes before I get out of bed or as I'm leaving work. My schedule varies wildly, so just programming a schedule in wouldn't work... I'm looking forward to much lower gas bills this winter. Last winter I never remembered to turn it down and the thermostat wasn't programmable, so it stayed at 65 all the time.
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62F when I'm here, 50F when I'm away. Everytime someone comes over I have to remember to turn the heat on manually...
I do cheat of course - my electric blanket is awesome.
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This thread inspired me to lower our night time temperature this weekend to 16 degrees (60 F). So far nobody has noticed.
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All you guys, except the guys from Alaska; are a bunch of wimps.
I woke up and it was 59 today inside, it was in the low 60s yesterday inside and i was wearing short sleeves all day !
(In full disclosure, I'm in Houston and 59 inside is likely the lowest it will get; 80s on Thanksgiving and Christmas are not un-normal; so I've been waiting since May for the first day I would consider cool(under 65, over 75 is warm; I definitely live in the wrong part of the country with what i consider warm and cold).
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Ours is set at 67F all the time. Two days a week, we have a sitter come to the house so we want it comfortable throughout the day. We also have a wood burning insert that keeps the living room/dining about 70F. The bedrooms stay much cooler, since the thermostat is about 5 feet from the wood burner. Before we had kids, we'd keep the house around 64-65 (and use a wood stove in the family room), but our 3 year old is not capable of keeping covers on his body all night, so I don't like to let it drop that low. I have found that the temperature of my house has a direct correlation to my mental health in the winter. We can easily go all summer without using A/C, but I cannot tolerate being cold in my house. I layer up at all times, and rarely got too warm, even when standing directly in front of the wood burner. I've had my living room up to 78F at times, and I still had a blanket on. My internal thermostat is broken, and my psychological well being depends on me not feeling like I'm risking frostbite inside my house.
Semi-Related story/rant: When I was growing up, my dad and stepmom heated with a wood stove and kept the central heating set VERY low, with the stairway to the bedrooms closed at all times. My stepmom is pushing 60 years old and has permanent nerve damage in her feet due to suffering frostbite INSIDE her house. Now that they are empty-nesters, they have built a new home and have filled it with absolutely useless amounts of stuff. My dad has had to build 3 pole barns to hold all of his auction/swap meet shit. They each have multiple vehicles, etc. I just want to ask them...was it worth it? Was it worth being so frugal all those years, just so you could blow your money on useless shit now? (and no, it wasn't that they couldn't afford heat way back then) /end rant
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We just turned our heat on but it's kept very low. Have electric baseboard heat which is pretty expensive. So it's off during the day, low when we're home after work, and very very low at night. Additionally only heat up the living room area. Both bathroom door and bedroom doors are closed so those areas don't get heated.
At night about 1/2 before bed, will turn on bedroom heat again very low just take off the chill. Sleep under 1 sheet, 1 blanket, 1 comforter, and 1 quilt.
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We used to keep the heat at 65 during the day and 63 at night, but now that we are older, we seem to feel the cold more so now we opt for 67-68 daytime and 65 at night. We do close the doors and registers on the rooms we don't really need to heat, so our heating bills aren't that bad for Michigan.
Miss Prim
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A number of years ago I was keeping my heat at 69 at night and feeling cold in bed even with a blanket. I finally got smart and bought a comforter. I was able to set my heat down quite a bit at night. At 69 degrees with a comforter I would roast to death.
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Monday - Friday
62F from 10PM to 6AM
72F from 6AM to 7AM
62F from 7AM to 5:30PM
72F from 5:30PM to 10PM
Saturday - Sunday
62F from 10PM - 7AM
72F from 7AM - 10PM
My wife is a freeze baby so I keep it at 72 when I know she is getting ready in the morning, when she comes home from work, and when we're home on the weekends. If we are going to be out for most of the day on a Saturday or Sunday, I'll manually bump the heat back down to 62. I don't like to keep it too cold at night because we start to get condensation on our ceiling and walls in our bedroom. Then I have to clean up mildew.
I am thinking about dropping the weekday daytime temperatures down to the mid 50's. I don't want to get too aggressive and end up with pipes bursting.
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My sister and her husband are giant cold-wimps. This weekend they became extremely agitated and even temporarily angry at me for the temperature being 67 degrees. I just sent my brother-in-law the link to this page and here is his response/contribution:
"I sleep under 7 blankets and keep a live squirrel in my underwear. If I feel cold I night I rub bear grease on myself and hum really loudly."
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I'm a big cold wimp and live in a badly insulated house in a place with long damp winters. I've recently realized that I've pushed the savings thing a little too far in the past, and even a slight rise in temperature makes me much more comfortable. Now I keep my place at 18 (equals 65 F) in the daytime and 8 (equals 46 F) while sleeping and when I'm not home.
Getting a programmable thermostat made a huge difference. Waking up to a warmed house makes me feel much warmer than having to scurry out in the cold to turn up the heat.
Other things I do to optimize:
*keep my outside coat on when I first come home, until the house warms up (I come home at different times each day, so the programmable thermostat isn't helpful in that respect)
*sleep under a huge warm comforter
*leave bathwater in the tub to warm the house
*bake a lot on the weekend
My fuel bills (inefficient expensive oil heat and forced air) average $1100 a year.
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I'm leaving for the holiday - I set my thermostat to away....it adjusted my 55F nighttime temp all the way down to 50F. :P
+1 for the baking. Makes the kitchen lovely. Both smells and temperature!
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I've read in the past that dramatic temperature swings over the course of a day can cost more than not lowering the temperature so much. No idea how true that is, and I really have no way to measure the gas consumption of my furnace using different temperatures.
My previous house was two stories and had zoned heating. I would keep the first floor set to I think 55 degrees most of the time. The 1st floor heat would go to 69 degrees between 4 pm and 10 pm. Second floor would get 69 degrees between 6 am and 8 am and again from 4 pm to 10 pm. The first floor would actually drop all the way to 55 degrees some days when the temps were below zero outside.
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I've read in the past that dramatic temperature swings over the course of a day can cost more than not lowering the temperature so much. No idea how true that is, and I really have no way to measure the gas consumption of my furnace using different temperatures.
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I've heard this too, but it doesn't make sense. The temperature in your house lowers as heat leaks out. You can either a) keep the heater running to offset this loss of heat or b) let your house/apartment cool down. Whether that heat is replaced throughout the entire day (by leaving your heater running) or in a shorter period of time (turning on your heat when you get home) shouldn't matter. You have to offset that heat loss - and that should take the same amount of energy.
I suppose people think that the heater has to 'work harder' to make up that temperature difference because of the 'swings,' but in reality you're heater has just been doing that work throughout the day.
The reality is that the larger the difference between the outside and inside the more quickly you'll lose heat (of course this rate is affected by how well insulated your house is) - and over the course of the day, you'll use more energy keeping your house at a constant temperature than letting it cool and re-heating it when necessary.
I'm probably missing some variables (efficiency of the heater?, other stuff?), feel free to jump in with things I've missed!
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"The evidence is quite clear that, in the winter, letting the house cool down when you are not home for several hours during the day and while you sleep at night saves the most energy," Anderson says. "This is true if you are gone or asleep for several hours at a time. It is true that the furnace will have to work hard for a short period of time to get the house back up to your `comfort zone' but that saves more energy than keeping it in the comfort zone continuously."
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-02-04/news/0702040382_1_insulation-energy-star-programmable-thermostat/2
Personally, we keep it at 52 degrees at night and back up to 65 on weekends. I am looking into getting a wood furnace ~($1k+ install costs) that will pipe directly into my heating vents and water heater to reduce costs further and improve badassity from cutting, splitting, stacking and moving wood!
-chops
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I haven't turned the heat on yet this season, but DC hasn't gotten super cold yet. Inside temp is 63 without having heat on. After finding this blog, I started keeping it at 58 when I'm out and 62 when I'm home. I found that flannel sheets and a hot water bottle kept me cozy and warm overnight. LOVE the hot water bottle.
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We just turned ours on last week. We keep it at 14C (57F) at night and 17C (62F) during the day. We just moved from Winnipeg to BC and the temperature change has been quite drastic. No more -50C winters!
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If you want to push your tolerance even lower, 1) lift weights, and 2) spend more time outside so it feels warmer inside. ;)
DW is out of town for a couple of days so I dropped ours to 58 (she's a tropical girl, I'm a bit more Nordic in nature). Effectively this turned it off for the duration of her absence, because it's not terribly cold here and it only got to around 60, so I'm not sure what my limit is.
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We were at 64, but my husband bumped it up to 65 a couple of days ago. I must run pretty warm because 64 is still t-shirt and jeans territory for me. Gotta love that Minnesota upbringing.
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No heat November is still going strong, but last night was cold!
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I've read in the past that dramatic temperature swings over the course of a day can cost more than not lowering the temperature so much. No idea how true that is, and I really have no way to measure the gas consumption of my furnace using different temperatures.
My previous house was two stories and had zoned heating. I would keep the first floor set to I think 55 degrees most of the time. The 1st floor heat would go to 69 degrees between 4 pm and 10 pm. Second floor would get 69 degrees between 6 am and 8 am and again from 4 pm to 10 pm. The first floor would actually drop all the way to 55 degrees some days when the temps were below zero outside.
The rate of heat loss is related to the temperature difference in/out, so the total loss through the walls is definitely less if you cycle your HVAC as opposed to running a constant temp.
HOWEVER, if you have an electric heat pump, large swings can engage the resistive (emergency) heater, which is much less efficient and can undo the savings. Note that this is not an issue with gas furnaces - with those, heat is heat is heat.
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Heat is at 55 in my house. I heat the body, not the room. My husband has discovered that I turn the heat up to 65 if someone is coming over, and teases me that heat is for company.
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Cannot go below 69 because of a toddler in the house.
Some 8 years ago during a freezing rain the whole town was blacked out for 6 days, and temp inside was 28-30F at night and could go to 32-35F during day hours :)
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For those of you who set it at 68ish in winter, what is your summer temp set to? Seems like most folks cool their houses below that in July.
I grew up in a house that was set to 55 in winter (in Syracuse NY). I would be content with that for a couple months a year (I live much further south), but my husband would not go along with that during the day. So we are 53-55 at night but usually 59-64 in the day (depending on whether he's home or not). I wear a heavy sweater indoors but I definitely draw the line at coats/hats.
In summer, I keep it around 78 during the day and then open windows at night for free AC.
I find I'm much more comfortable overall if I let my body adjust to the seasons a bit... then I'm never as hot outside in summer or cold and shivering on winter walks.
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Cannot go below 69 because of a toddler in the house.
Somehow our toddler has survived night time temperatures of 60 degrees. We had to take the unusual steps of . . . clothing the boy . . . but this should be possible for most people with the right training.
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Somehow our toddler has survived night time temperatures of 60 degrees. We had to take the unusual steps of . . . clothing the boy . . . but this should be possible for most people with the right training.
Gloves and a hat too? Infants can't have blankets so you're stuck with those sleep sack things, but the arms/hands are completely exposed. If I sleep with a comforter, you'd think a baby would need more than a cotton PJ and fleece "blanket"
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If you want to push your tolerance even lower, 1) lift weights, and 2) spend more time outside so it feels warmer inside. ;)
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FWIW, biking to work when it is 20-30F does this amazingly well! I'm now officially always the warmest person in the room. Midwest cold tolerance activate!
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My daughter came into my 65 degree house for supper last night, and rather pointedly put her winter coat back on. Being the caring hostess that I am, I cranked the heat up to 68. God, I just about roasted to death.
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Somehow our toddler has survived night time temperatures of 60 degrees. We had to take the unusual steps of . . . clothing the boy . . . but this should be possible for most people with the right training.
Gloves and a hat too? Infants can't have blankets so you're stuck with those sleep sack things, but the arms/hands are completely exposed. If I sleep with a comforter, you'd think a baby would need more than a cotton PJ and fleece "blanket"
The post said 'toddler' not 'infant'. Our toddler has the following at night:
- Thick flannel pyjamas (long sleeve)
- Thick socks (wool)
- Thick blanket
He sleeps just fine, but occasionally gets too hot and pushes the blanket off.
Nobody needs gloves and a hat at 60 F.
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24 outside
60 inside…sometimes we get a little crazy and crank it up to 64.
Kids are running around in shorts and no shirts.
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My daughter came into my 65 degree house for supper last night, and rather pointedly put her winter coat back on. .
That is nuts. 65 is not winter coat temperature. 65 is the temperature that is often scientifically defined as the lower range of "room temperature." It is also the temperature many businesses and homes cool the air to in summer (or even warmer than a lot of AC overusers cool to). Even in the South (heck, even when I lived in Key West), I don't think I ever saw anyone outside don a full-on winter coat walking around in 65 degree weather. This is what sweaters and sweatshirts and long sleeves in general are for.
59 or 60 degrees also does not require hats or gloves, infant or not. Don't wear cotton in the winter! Wear it in summer. They make infant sleep sacks in micro fleece. Somewhere our great-great-grandparents who did not have central heat are laughing their asses off. These temperatures are not life-threatening. This is a case of what you are used to or not used to.
What is really a pet peeve of mine is that some people actually tolerate cooler temps in summer than in winter. That is not only totally illogical and wasteful and expensive, but also really bad for the environment. I'm certainly not paying to pretend the planet reverses its position each season in my house. I'd rather take the seasons I'm given for free with no carbon emissions.
/rant :)
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I think you would have to be crazy to air condition at 65 degrees or even 70 degrees. I was at a friend's house about five years ago doing work outside in humid 90 degree weather. He had his air conditioner set to 72 or 73 and it was going into a walk in cooler. Most of my co-workers work in an office across town from mine. That office is leased and landlord keeps it so cold in the summer that many people wear long sleeves. It is a LEED certified building and you you would think they would not waste so much energy on air conditioning.
Since I was home all morning today I turned the temperature up to normal, but I forgot to set it back when I left for Thanksgiving dinner. Oh well, it was probably 10 cents or less for that extra nine degrees for six hours.
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One of my brothers--born and raised in northern Ohio--lived and worked in Texas for several years. Poking fun at southerners, he always said that in the summer it was 100 degrees outside and 60 degrees inside. In the winter it was 60 degrees outside, and 100 degrees inside. : D
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As far as I am concerned... 68F is the perfect temp. That is our daytime temperature and we let it fall to 63F at night. In college we lived at 60F all day (west MI) so I can appreciate the sacrifice that many here are making!
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One of my brothers--born and raised in northern Ohio--lived and worked in Texas for several years. Poking fun at southerners, he always said that in the summer it was 100 degrees outside and 60 degrees inside. In the winter it was 60 degrees outside, and 100 degrees inside. : D
Exactly. Maybe it's the little bit of Yankee left in me?!
I turn up the heat in winter for my husband's family (from TX) but my family (from NY and Mass) and friends visiting from Europe always decline when I offer because they keep their houses the same and think it's silly to crank it up.
Sacrifice is not a word I would use for living in a house that is 59-64 during the day and 55ish at night. It's just common sense. I would rather wear winter clothing because it's winter and have a hundred extra bucks in my pocket every month.
Your body will acclimate to changing seasons if you let it. I am too warm in people's houses when they keep it at 68 in winter and too chilly in summer (especially since I work outside in summer) when the house is below about 74.
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How many of the people who are fine with indoor temperatures that follow outdoor temperatures bike to work, or regularly do outdoor activities all year long? How many of the people who think that children will die at 60 degrees F spend the entire winter in climate controlled buildings?
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How many of the people who are fine with indoor temperatures that follow outdoor temperatures bike to work, or regularly do outdoor activities all year long? How many of the people who think that children will die at 60 degrees F spend the entire winter in climate controlled buildings?
I'm an archaeologist so sometimes spend about 50 hours/week working outside... but as I get older and teach more, this is less and less and only in summers. I do now (to my embarrassment) spend most of the winter working in front of a computer in climate controlled buildings. I fantasize about being able to walk to work, but that is not possible with my husband's and my jobs and I do commute in a climate controlled car.
Our indoor temperatures "follow" outdoor temps only in the sense that they fluctuate seasonally. In the dead of winter or peak of summer, the temperature inside our house even with our reasonably frugal thermostat settings is still some 20-25 degrees different from what it is outdoors during the extremes of the day/night.
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Sacrifice is not a word I would use for living in a house that is 59-64 during the day and 55ish at night. It's just common sense. I would rather wear winter clothing because it's winter and have a hundred extra bucks in my pocket every month.
How much do you spending on heat if you are saving $100 a month by lowering the temperature by five to ten degrees below typical? I keep a 1,300 square foot house in Minneapolis, MN at 69 degrees when home and cooler at night and not at home. My highest heating bill last winter was $105. My house is pretty typical for a 1980 house, but I did have new windows installed and the attic air sealed with spray foam.
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If you want to push your tolerance even lower, 1) lift weights, and 2) spend more time outside so it feels warmer inside. ;)
This is our approach: we have a home gym outside, and do a good lifting session to bump our "internal" thermostat. We are limited though by having a geriatric dog who we love very much, and a complaining Brother who... well, we don't want him to freeze, anyway ;)
We keep it at 64 usually (DH and I both have weird schedules and are home most of the time), and turn it to 66 when Brother is home all day (rarely happens). The past few days Dog has been recovering from surgery, though, so we've had it up at 68 since she was shivery and sad.
If we remember, we will sometimes turn it down to 62 at night, but since Brother turns his space heater on high then, it tends to defeat any savings- the gas furnace is much cheaper than the $$ electric space heater, even for 1 room.
How many of the people who are fine with indoor temperatures that follow outdoor temperatures bike to work, or regularly do outdoor activities all year long? How many of the people who think that children will die at 60 degrees F spend the entire winter in climate controlled buildings?
DH and I work indoors, but for DH that is from home most days, and for me, it's only 2 days per week. But we walk to groceries and work out outdoors, so even 64 is toasty inside by comparison.
It's funny about people thinking the cold is so brutal for children and all that. Do you kids not play any sports outdoors, or hike or camp, or go outside at recess? That's just a baffling concept to me. We all spent more time outside than in as children. Even if it was frozen outside, or (much more common) raining, Mom would just hand us the appropriate jacket and we would still go outside to play.
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Sacrifice is not a word I would use for living in a house that is 59-64 during the day and 55ish at night. It's just common sense. I would rather wear winter clothing because it's winter and have a hundred extra bucks in my pocket every month.
How much do you spending on heat if you are saving $100 a month by lowering the temperature by five to ten degrees below typical?
Taking into account that this all varies depending on your house, gas/electric, and regional prices, here is my experience this year.
Last year, our bills were all over $100 with one exception. February and July both exceeded $200/month. I estimate the average bill around $150 (last year isn't in Mint). The thermostat was usually not excessive by the average American's standard (mostly low to mid 60s in winter?)... though this varied considerably depending on whether it was me or my husband who was home and in charge! I also can't say how much of that expense was my better half's crazy window habit (see below!).
This year, through a combination of raising windows on summer nights and late fall afternoons as well as setting the thermostat lower in winter and higher in summer, almost all of our bills are in the $50-65 range (lower than any of our previous bills). We did have a high bill for July/Aug at $126 when night time temps were still too high to open windows and sleep comfortably, but that is the only bill that exceeded $85 this year and it still beat last year's July/Aug bill by almost $90. Overall, we have cut our electric bills for the year very nearly in half. So I'm estimating that we'll save over $600 this year.
Our house (1490 sq ft) was built in 1940 and still has its original windows. The attic desperately needs to be reinsulated as well (this is in the works).
My husband has always been very careless with heat/air. I have come home in late fall before to find the heat cranked up past 70 and the door wide open while he is happily working outside in a hat and coat in his garage shop! He frequently opens windows because the house is "stuffy" and then forgets to close them before turning on heat or AC. So this year in our quest to take charge of our finances, he is finally (more or less) on board with lowering our bills and i'm grateful for that because it is making a huge difference.
Edit: Just to clarify, we're on electric heat, so I'm talking about all of my electricity bill here since I can't isolate heat/ac. We have also cut down on unused lights and "vampire" drains of microwave etc, but I think it's pretty clear that most of our savings is from the thermostat.
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It's less than 62* in our house right now, and I'm sitting on the couch in a tank top and shorts, barefoot. Wifey on the other hand hates this shit.
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We normally set it to 63 when we are home and 55 when we are away or asleep. I'm comfortable, but exist in fleece pants and a fleece jacket all winter. Usually sitting under a blanket. At night it is plenty warm in bed, so I sleep in the same tshirt and shirts as in the summer.
My parents were here so it got bumped to 67 and I was wearing a t-shirt all week; husband in a t-shirt and shorts. Way too warm for winter!
Oh- my summer temps? 78 or 80 when we are home; 84 when we are not. We sleep with a fan on as well.
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Ok, I'm cutting back to 61 in the day time, and I'm joining you bad ass 55 degree night time people. I'm looking forward to comparing the next bill to the one from the same time last year.
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Oh man, yeah, I'm not that badass.
But I have lowered it from our normal 72 to 68 during the day. I'd love a programmable thermostat, though, so it's up to 68 when hubby gets ready if I turn it down lower than that at night.
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15C at night, lots of blankets. The dog doesn't help even if she is on the bed, she is too well insulated.
Day, set at 18 - sometimes I am cold and turn it up to 19, sometimes it is too hot and I turn it down to 17. On a sunny day in mid-winter the thermostat can be at 18 and the house will be at 22. Warm slippers and clothes help, it is just my hands that get cold sometimes.
Summer I crank the AC up at night (down to 22 ) so the effect carries over all day (yes, time-of-day billing certainly affects my electricity use). But this is only when the nights are hot, if I can cool the house with open windows at night I go that route. I may have the AC on maybe 10 days over the summer? But summers are getting hotter, when I was a kid we didn't have AC and we were fine.
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Somehow our toddler has survived night time temperatures of 60 degrees. We had to take the unusual steps of . . . clothing the boy . . . but this should be possible for most people with the right training.
Gloves and a hat too? Infants can't have blankets so you're stuck with those sleep sack things, but the arms/hands are completely exposed. If I sleep with a comforter, you'd think a baby would need more than a cotton PJ and fleece "blanket"
They sell infant sleep sacks that cover the arms and hands, and cold weather swaddles too. IIRC, warm rooms are actually linked with SIDS.
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I decorate with poinsettias through the holiday season...let's say Dec. 1 through Jan. 15. Can I keep my thermostat set to 55 at night? I've been reading that the plants are unhappy if the temp goes down below 60. Anybody have personal experience with this?
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Ok, I'm cutting back to 61 in the day time, and I'm joining you bad ass 55 degree night time people. I'm looking forward to comparing the next bill to the one from the same time last year.
Awesome! I hope you'll post an update to let us know how it goes. If you missed the temperature tapering off gradually in your region you can always try lowering by a couple degrees at a time while your body catches up.
I really like sleeping in a cold house in winter, cuddled up under extra covers (and seriously, after 5 minutes under these things I'm roasting no matter what the temperature in the house). It's one of the few thing I prefer about winter. Unfortunately, temps are back up around here tonight -- a whopping 64 leftover from daytime open windows despite no heat on! No hibernating for me... :/
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I decorate with poinsettias through the holiday season...let's say Dec. 1 through Jan. 15. Can I keep my thermostat set to 55 at night? I've been reading that the plants are unhappy if the temp goes down below 60. Anybody have personal experience with this?
I don't buy poinsettias, but my mother was crazy for them and growing up we had a couple dozen every year. My father kept our house at 55 not just at night but during the day as well. The only time he ever allowed anyone to turn it up was during annual holiday parties. My mom's plants always made it through New Year's looking gorgeous (though they were placed near the radiators).
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Last night was cold! I left my electric blanket on low. So cozy! I wonder what the cost of the electric blanket is versus the cost of heating my apartment for the night? I'll have to dig out my kill-o-watt. I can guess though!
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My parents had an electric blanket but I never got into it for some reason. We use a synthetic down comforter that is way too hot in summer. Those (or real down if allergies aren't a problem) are great because you can get different weights/warmth ratings. Over that we have a bedspread which is thin but also very warm because it's a synthetic blend, and then if needed there is a wool blend blanket and a fleece blanket to go over top. We have used three but have never needed all four (and my husband grew up in the south with a family that heated to summer temps in winter, so if he's ok you know it is warm).
In summer we just go with one lighter comforter that is fluffy but not dense.
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As far as I am concerned... 68F is the perfect temp. That is our daytime temperature and we let it fall to 63F at night. In college we lived at 60F all day (west MI) so I can appreciate the sacrifice that many here are making!
i agree, i set the a/c at 68 to sleep in, just a little edge of coolness at that temp imo.
if it goes under 68, i'm perfectly fine with it; living in Houston its not going to stay under that very long; allthough it was 59 inside this morning because a cool front is passing thru; should be up to upper 60s inside by monday.
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Question for you folks:
I keep my house at 62 degrees both when I'm home and when I'm not. Because I have a cat. A cat who is 6.6lbs and tiny and she can't put on a coat.
Am I being crazy? Pre cat I would drop it to 55 degrees when I left.
Thoughts?
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You are being a teeny tiny silly. But I understand why.
My in-laws inherited a cat from their daughter in law and it stays outside. Squirrels seem to manage, loads of other mammals manage, and it gets COLD here in Missouri.
Your cat will survive the 55 degree temp. Put a blanket out for her, in a spot of sun, she'll be fine.
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You are being a teeny tiny silly. But I understand why.
My in-laws inherited a cat from their daughter in law and it stays outside. Squirrels seem to manage, loads of other mammals manage, and it gets COLD here in Missouri.
Your cat will survive the 55 degree temp. Put a blanket out for her, in a spot of sun, she'll be fine.
Hahah.
Yeah. :) Sometimes the silly overrules the logic. I'll drop it to 58 for a few days while I'm gone and see how it goes.
Thanks!
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Before we adopted her, my small dog was originally picked up by the pound while sleeping outside during a week that the average temperature was about -10 C. Animals are pretty tolerant regarding cold temperatures. When it gets cold she curls up into a doggy donut and seems just fine.
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Before we adopted her, my small dog was originally picked up by the pound while sleeping outside during a week that the average temperature was about -10 C. Animals are pretty tolerant regarding cold temperatures. When it gets cold she curls up into a doggy donut and seems just fine.
For the record doggy donut is the cutest thing I've ever heard.
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When we lived in Maine and kept the heat at 55, I had down quilts at the end of beds for our cats to snuggle into. One of my cats is a burrower and I would inevitably come home to find her under one of the quilts. The rest were happy curled up on top.
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Question for you folks:
I keep my house at 62 degrees both when I'm home and when I'm not. Because I have a cat. A cat who is 6.6lbs and tiny and she can't put on a coat.
Am I being crazy? Pre cat I would drop it to 55 degrees when I left.
Thoughts?
Is she a hairless cat? Otherwise, she has a coat.
I leave a fleece blanket on the couch for my dog, and she sometimes cuddles into it, but otherwise she is fine with the low temperature.
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Question for you folks:
I keep my house at 62 degrees both when I'm home and when I'm not. Because I have a cat. A cat who is 6.6lbs and tiny and she can't put on a coat.
Am I being crazy? Pre cat I would drop it to 55 degrees when I left.
Thoughts?
I would worry about doing it if you comb her out heavily. But if you let it cool off with the seasons, they will just grow a thicker undercoat. Those things are physics mastery, and can trap a lot of heat next to the skin, with all sorts of awesome radiant currents to keep their skin warm but still dry. They use their arrector pili (the tiny muscles that stand hairs up) to find the optimal spot for air pocketing. Most animals have a much better coat that us- they can customize it second by second!
Let her be fluffy, and she'll be warm =)
ETA: because animals are SO COOL. Contraction of the arrector pili also helps sebum coat the hair shaft, making it "waxy", which keeps it warmer and prevents breakage in dry climates. That's why animals get oily when kept outdoors- the higher the frequency of contraction the more sebum is coated on. Feedback loops!
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Question for you folks:
I keep my house at 62 degrees both when I'm home and when I'm not. Because I have a cat. A cat who is 6.6lbs and tiny and she can't put on a coat.
Am I being crazy? Pre cat I would drop it to 55 degrees when I left.
Thoughts?
I would worry about doing it if you comb her out heavily. But if you let it cool off with the seasons, they will just grow a thicker undercoat. Those things are physics mastery, and can trap a lot of heat next to the skin, with all sorts of awesome radiant currents to keep their skin warm but still dry. They use their arrector pili (the tiny muscles that stand hairs up) to find the optimal spot for air pocketing. Most animals have a much better coat that us- they can customize it second by second!
Let her be fluffy, and she'll be warm =)
ETA: because animals are SO COOL. Contraction of the arrector pili also helps sebum coat the hair shaft, making it "waxy", which keeps it warmer and prevents breakage in dry climates. That's why animals get oily when kept outdoors- the higher the frequency of contraction the more sebum is coated on. Feedback loops!
HUH! Great intel!
She's a short/medium length hair cat, so I don't really comb her at all. XD
Thanks for the reply!
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Question for you folks:
I keep my house at 62 degrees both when I'm home and when I'm not. Because I have a cat. A cat who is 6.6lbs and tiny and she can't put on a coat.
Am I being crazy? Pre cat I would drop it to 55 degrees when I left.
Thoughts?
I would worry about doing it if you comb her out heavily. But if you let it cool off with the seasons, they will just grow a thicker undercoat. Those things are physics mastery, and can trap a lot of heat next to the skin, with all sorts of awesome radiant currents to keep their skin warm but still dry. They use their arrector pili (the tiny muscles that stand hairs up) to find the optimal spot for air pocketing. Most animals have a much better coat that us- they can customize it second by second!
Let her be fluffy, and she'll be warm =)
ETA: because animals are SO COOL. Contraction of the arrector pili also helps sebum coat the hair shaft, making it "waxy", which keeps it warmer and prevents breakage in dry climates. That's why animals get oily when kept outdoors- the higher the frequency of contraction the more sebum is coated on. Feedback loops!
HUH! Great intel!
She's a short/medium length hair cat, so I don't really comb her at all. XD
Thanks for the reply!
Of course! Just because my first college degree was an economic waste doesn't mean it doesn't come in handy on the internet! =D
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So far we haven't turned on the furnace yet. But we live where the temps have just started dipping into the high 40s (F) at night and staying in the 50s during the day. Average temp in the house is around 65˚. House drops to around 59˚ at night and I just turn on my electric blanket if I get chilled. But that's only sitting on the couch in the living room. We sleep with just standard cotton quilts on the bed (no heater/electric anything) and we're sleeping GOOD. :)
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I love threads like this. So funny!
I get by at 63F and I get a lot of dirty looks from visiting family.
it's no wonder that nobody believes i can FIRE "comfortably".
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I decorate with poinsettias through the holiday season...let's say Dec. 1 through Jan. 15. Can I keep my thermostat set to 55 at night? I've been reading that the plants are unhappy if the temp goes down below 60. Anybody have personal experience with this?
I don't buy poinsettias, but my mother was crazy for them and growing up we had a couple dozen every year. My father kept our house at 55 not just at night but during the day as well. The only time he ever allowed anyone to turn it up was during annual holiday parties. My mom's plants always made it through New Year's looking gorgeous (though they were placed near the radiators).
The poinsettias have been fine at 60 degrees. I put the night time thermostat back down to 55...it's been getting as low as 57 in the house...the poinsettias are still fine. Red, perky, looking happy, very decorative.
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We keep ours at 67 during the day 64 at night at 59 when away for longer than a half a day. It's totally my fault. My husband and kids would be fine at 65 during the day. I'm a southern wuss.
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I have my thermostat set to 65 when waking up/taking a shower, 63 during the day (since my wife and I currently work different schedules and therefore one of us is often home), and 50 at night.
(We have a cat, by the way, and left the thermostat at 50 24/7 when we went out of town for Thanksgiving. She survived.)
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Ok, I'm cutting back to 61 in the day time, and I'm joining you bad ass 55 degree night time people. I'm looking forward to comparing the next bill to the one from the same time last year.
Awesome! I hope you'll post an update to let us know how it goes. If you missed the temperature tapering off gradually in your region you can always try lowering by a couple degrees at a time while your body catches up.
I really like sleeping in a cold house in winter, cuddled up under extra covers (and seriously, after 5 minutes under these things I'm roasting no matter what the temperature in the house). It's one of the few thing I prefer about winter. Unfortunately, temps are back up around here tonight -- a whopping 64 leftover from daytime open windows despite no heat on! No hibernating for me... :/
Updating...
Here are my energy bills from last Winter 2014 / 2015. This is for both electric and natural gas. It includes fixed charges as well as actual usage.
Billing date / Bill Amount (rounded to nearest dollar)
11/08/2014 $ 91
12/10/2014 $140
01/12/2015 $166
02/10/2015 $152
03/12/2015 $150
04/10/2015 $100
Unfortunately, while the local utility charges less than the national average for natural gas and electricity, it charges higher than average fixed charges, such as “meter charges”, “delivery charges”, and “customer charges”. That it reduces the financial incentive to conserve.
In fact, despite having average Sun, my city is rated one of the worst in the U.S. for solar power due to lack of financial incentives and the perverse incentive of low energy rates but high fixed utility charges.
Here are my electric and gas bills for this more Mustachian season, I will update as they come in.
11/08/2015 $ 73 ($18 less than same period last year)
12/11/2015 $ 91 ($49 less than same period last year)
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Looks like I'm not the only one who says - "what the fuck!" when actual usage charge is lower than or comparable to delivery charges on gas and/or electric bills. No really, what the fuck
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60 during the day, 55 at night, A brief leap to 68 in the morning for 1 hour to get my wife out of bed for work. Lately with the balmy east coast weather, the boiler has been powered down.
I have all this great outdoor gear, might as well use it. It takes a surprising amount of layering to be warm while sedentary (working on computer, reading or playing with toddler.)
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For me the most effective way to regulate my internal thermostat isn't layers of clothing but what I'm drinking. If I'm chilly, a cup of coffee or tea is all it takes to warm me up. However, I'm almost always hot rather than cold so I tend to drink as much ice water as I can year round.
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Looks like I'm not the only one who says - "what the fuck!" when actual usage charge is lower than or comparable to delivery charges on gas and/or electric bills. No really, what the fuck
Same thing with my water and sewer bill. I typically use 1,500 gallons per month and the typical combined bill is $45. One summer I reseeded my entire one third acre lot. Keeping the seeds wet and watering the new grass, I used 4,000 gallons per month. The bill only went up by $10 to $55.
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Looks like I'm not the only one who says - "what the fuck!" when actual usage charge is lower than or comparable to delivery charges on gas and/or electric bills. No really, what the fuck
Same thing with my water and sewer bill. I typically use 1,500 gallons per month and the typical combined bill is $45. One summer I reseeded my entire one third acre lot. Keeping the seeds wet and watering the new grass, I used 4,000 gallons per month. The bill only went up by $10 to $55.
Free market forces there. It's very difficult to get off gas/water/electric completely. If you penalize people for conserving by charging high rates simply to be connected, you're more likely to keep people from bothering to conserve and raise your bottom line (every little extra charge helps). Great for business, not so great for the environment.
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Looks like I'm not the only one who says - "what the fuck!" when actual usage charge is lower than or comparable to delivery charges on gas and/or electric bills. No really, what the fuck
For most of the year we pay nothing BUT the flat rate for our gas bill. We only use gas about 4 months a year.
But our water bill is insane and it isn't in the usage. We use the minimum amount we can be billed for most months, and when we do use 2 units it is only a few dollars more.
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60/65 last year, experimenting this year. Winter really hasn't hit us much yet. I managed to get DW to go a whole week at around 58, but then she broke down and bumped it up.
Right now we're set at 55 but it's 65+ in the house so we have yet to settle into a range.
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Here's the breakdown of my October Nicor gas bill: total = $23.10.
Delivery charges: $14.73
Natural gas cost: $6.74
Taxes: $1.63
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My MIL has Alzheimer's and lives with us. If the heat gets the least smidge below 68 she will come out of her room with a scarf over her head, a beanie on top of that and a long coat. On top of a warm shirt and long pants. The main part of our house has 14' ceilings. If we set the thermostat at a constant 68 degrees, the heating cycles on and off much less often. We are also inside most of the day. For as long as she is living with us, it is what it is. Happily, since I hate to be cold, I get the benefit of warmth without guilt, so win-win, sort of. One of the benefits of years of striving to get to FI is that when we get clobbered with a $400 gas and electric bill in the same month that the oven required $400 worth of parts so DH could make it bake again, it doesn't upset the apple cart.
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Just noticed the above post about the elderly relative and keeping the heat at 68. We did the same thing exactly for years., for the same reason. Hey, ya do what ya gotta do.
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I too keep mine at 62-63. We just use a space heater in our room at night and wear pants and sweatshirts around the house. With a hoody and a blanket on the couch 63 isn't that bad. My wife is from Florida so I got her an electric blanket for Christmas last year, which helps curb her issue with keeping it so cold.
We have a 4 month old, but right now she is sleeping in our room in a rock and play next to our bed, so keeping our room at 68-70 at night with the temp controlled space heater seems to be working. When she moves to her own room we may need to up the temp a little bit :(
I also keep the house around 80 during the summer :) My wife doesn't mind that as much though, lol.
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I keep the house at 60F all of the time we are not at home and at night. When we are at home, I have it normally set to 65-66F. The only time it might be a few degrees higher is when our kid is sick, but that's not all that often. We live in a mild climate and generally don't even have to bother with heat until Thanksgiving and it is off by the middle of March. Generally, I only need to purchase propane twice a year. Once in April and once in December.
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Chicagoland resident here:
65F - when we are home
55F - when we are not home
58F - night-time
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I would like an advice, folks. After reading, I've realized that I can do way better with the heat in winter. I now keep it at 68 when the kids and my BF are home, at night it goes down to 66. When I'm home alone I am fine with 66, an additional layer and no prob, I actually went to 64 yesterday. My kids may complaint, but I can tell them to get dressed.
The problem is my BF, he can't stand it. I can't tell him to get dressed, he is an adult. And I'm the one who is skinny... (I thought that a natural "insulation" layer gives an advantage). How can I persuade a grown up boy who actually seems tough and likes to do DIY projects with me, how can I convince him that 66 is NOT cold, and for sure 68 isn't cold.
p.s. He doesn't pay my heating bills, so "saving money theory" won't work. He did hint that when and if he moves in, he would like it to be warmer. My plan is to lower the temp even more. How do you guys convince your SO?
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How do you guys convince your SO?
You're an adult use your imagination!;)
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I'm at 68 right now (it's in the low 70's to low 60's outside). Once I'm home it's straight to my boxers. I'd probably need below 65 before I start putting clothes on. I like the cold, which is why I hate living down south.
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How do you guys convince your SO?
You're an adult use your imagination!;)
1. the first part is debatable
2. I cannot use my "imagination!" when the kids are around
3. I was hoping to get some simple generic answer, like tell him casually "you know, honey, Schwarzenegger wear boxers at 66." Is that something? Would that motivate a guy to be more weather resistant.
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How do you guys convince your SO?
You're an adult use your imagination!;)
1. the first part is debatable
2. I cannot use my "imagination!" when the kids are around
3. I was hoping to get some simple generic answer, like tell him casually "you know, honey, Schwarzenegger wear boxers at 66." Is that something? Would that motivate a guy to be more weather resistant.
My DH is a nerd, so YMMV, but he loves the badassity/improved immune system arguments. Also, anytime Brother complains, he likes to say "the colder it is inside, the easier it is to convince yourself to go hiking/workout outside/etc!"
Example Study: http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/icb201599a.html (http://www.nature.com/icb/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/icb201599a.html)
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Our current setting is also 63. DW is a delicate tropical flower so she occasionally breaks (or I surprise her with a morning at 64) and we go higher. I also crank it down to see how far it falls before we notice - sometimes we get to 60 or less. Always push your limits! :D
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We keep the main floor unit at 60 degrees all the time. The upstairs unit controls the bedrooms and we have yet to even turn that one on this year. Some mornings our bedroom is 49F when we wake up for work. Electric blankets work wonders, but it does suck until I'm up and fully dressed.
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Capital of the CSA here (don't remind longtimers that the CSA lost that war)
Haven't had heat or AC on since September.
Current house temperature: 65F.
When it's cold, Mr. Mandalay and I roam about in ancient sweats and slippers (I CLAIM A 20-YEAR-OLD CAROLINA PANTHERS SWEATSHIRT). The Mandalay Beasts (cats) curl up under a heavy 30-year-old couch throw made by Mr. Mandalay's mom but will come out to snuggle with Mr. Mandalay (Pittsburgh Steelers) or me (Pittsburgh Penguins) when we're watching football with the throw blankets out.
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DW keeps it at 61 during the day. Sometimes when she isn't looking I bump it up to 63. Ironically, whenever friends come over they act like they are going to die and chastise me for "not letting my wife turn the heat up"!
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I'm in a 110 year old converted condo in NYC, and I have not turned on my heat this season.
We recently had a frantic building email from our neighbors, who insisted we needed increased security measures in the building as their apartment had been broken in to. It turns out that because during the entire year, they leave their unsecured, uninsulated air conditioners in all their windows, and someone had removed one of them and helped themselves to their electronics and jewelry. That is definitely one way to increase your heat bill.
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Thanks to the unusually warm weather in the Southeast, I haven't used heat (nor A.C.) for 10 days. My goal is to not use heat unless temp drops to 55 inside, then hold it steady there. Unless I have company over. One must be considerate in addition to frugal.
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OK, this story may belong on the Wall of Shame and Comedy, but you guys will probably be more interested.
I just returned from relatives' house for the holidays. They own their home, but since they live in a large city it is more of an apartment-like set up on the second and third floors of a building that has maybe 5 units.
Their neighbors on two sides turn up the heat in winter so high that said relatives do not ever have to turn their thermostat on and are often TOO HOT from residual heat. My husband and I are always sweltering on visits there in winter.
So this year took the prize because one particularly ridiculous neighbor must have had the heat cranked in the 90s since our indoor temp was in the high 70s. Our family got so toasty that at some point said hosting relatives TURNED ON THE A/C to counteract the neighbor-heat!!! (You know, there are these things called windows...) Did I mention that this city is very far north?! Temps outside were unseasonably warm in the 50s, but I am told the situation is the same even when there are large snowdrifts.
Crazy wasteful.
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I continue to keep the thermostat set to 65 during the day and turn it down to 55 around 8pm for 12 hours. It has finally started getting cold here (27-30 at night), and last night for the first time the house actually went down to 55. My flannel nightgown, wool socks, flannel bed linens, and two down comforters keeps me toasty. When I get up, I immediately jump into wool long john bottoms, Uggs, a long thigh-length cotton sweater over wool long underwear top...and put a long knee-length wool sweater on top of that...while I eat breakfast and the house warms up. I don't shower until it's 65. It's working well. No heat bill yet...that will come later in the month. No pets, no kids, no old people...poinsettias and green plants seem quite content.
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^ Kudos! Glad your poinsettias are on board with the new program. That is awesome.
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I shut the heat off when I go to bed and have an electric mattress pad that keeps me toasty all night long.
I also leave the heat off when I am out of the house; when I am home I leave it at 63 and if I get cold I toss
on a sweatshirt or light jacket. I also have a electric heated throw I use if I am watching TV.
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It was 58 outside last night and will get up to 65 today - so no AC needed - yeah:) and certainly no heat either. In the summer he likes 79 and I like 76 and occasionally I need it to be 72-74, you know: Is it warm in here or is it me:)
I turn it to 79 when I leave the house to hopefully save a couple of bucks - not sure if that really helps, but it makes me feel better.
... and yes, it is possible to somewhat adjust to temperature control - at first I had to have 72 degrees all the time, took me a couple of years to adjust to 76 and like I said sometimes my internal thermostat is set on boiling and I need relief.
Ours is set at 67F all the time. Two days a week, we have a sitter come to the house so we want it comfortable throughout the day. We also have a wood burning insert that keeps the living room/dining about 70F. The bedrooms stay much cooler, since the thermostat is about 5 feet from the wood burner. Before we had kids, we'd keep the house around 64-65 (and use a wood stove in the family room), but our 3 year old is not capable of keeping covers on his body all night, so I don't like to let it drop that low. I have found that the temperature of my house has a direct correlation to my mental health in the winter. We can easily go all summer without using A/C, but I cannot tolerate being cold in my house. I layer up at all times, and rarely got too warm, even when standing directly in front of the wood burner. I've had my living room up to 78F at times, and I still had a blanket on. My internal thermostat is broken, and my psychological well being depends on me not feeling like I'm risking frostbite inside my house.
Semi-Related story/rant: When I was growing up, my dad and stepmom heated with a wood stove and kept the central heating set VERY low, with the stairway to the bedrooms closed at all times. My stepmom is pushing 60 years old and has permanent nerve damage in her feet due to suffering frostbite INSIDE her house. Now that they are empty-nesters, they have built a new home and have filled it with absolutely useless amounts of stuff. My dad has had to build 3 pole barns to hold all of his auction/swap meet shit. They each have multiple vehicles, etc. I just want to ask them...was it worth it? Was it worth being so frugal all those years, just so you could blow your money on useless shit now? (and no, it wasn't that they couldn't afford heat way back then) /end rant
My point exactly - why make yourself uncomfortable? To actually get frostbitten in your own abode, because you want to save money on heating cost - well, damaging your health is not smart and potentially quite expensive and miserable.
My DIL is always hot she would probably be happy with 58 year around. Their house is freezing cold to me. Living in Florida I was thrilled to finally see some cool temps. X-mas was almost 90 degrees.
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Well to get frostbite with central heat, you'd have to have no heat on at all in temperatures below freezing for quite a while. So thermo set to 30s, not mid fifties to low sixties. I don't think anyone is pushing that here.
I was very comfortable working from home yesterday at 58 degrees in a long sleeve tee shirt but the heat was kicking on to keep it there so I threw on a sweater and turned it to 57.
When summer rolls around I'll be happy at 78 or 79.
Seasons are good. Spice of life. Trying to get better about respecting the seasons in the food I buy too this year -- also easier on both environment and budget.
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Well to get frostbite with central heat, you'd have to have no heat on at all in temperatures below freezing for quite a while. So thermo set to 30s, not mid fifties to low sixties. I don't think anyone is pushing that here.
Technically you can't even get frostbite unless it's below freezing, so yeah, it would have to be pretty damn cold in the house for a long time in order to get frostbite. I'm thinking temps would have to drop into the 20s (I'm assuming she would also have warm clothes on so just hitting the freezing mark wouldn't be adequate to give true frostbite). If that actually happened then it was pretty intense, like in the olden times. I doubt it's even possible for my house to get that cold between thermal inertia and passive solar heating, but I live in the relatively balmy mid-atlantic.
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I suspect the 'frostbite' is actually due to some sort of underlying health issue - bad circulation or diabetes.
Just my hunch.
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Agreed, Neustache.
When I lived in Austin we tried to go a winter without heat, and it took my boyfriend having to carry me from my desk chair to the tub because my feet had gone yellow-purple and numb to turn it on. I suspect I may have Raynaud's disease, but who knows. I had actual (selling girl scout cookies in single digits for four hours) frostbite when I was younger, and it was a similar progression of colors from white to yellow and purple and then to red when feeling returned, even though I was wearing sweatpants and socks in a 50 something degree house.
We keep our house around 65, and I can take pretty much any temperature so long as I have an electric blanket for my extremities when I'm getting in to bed. Everyone has their own comfort levels.
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Onlykelsey -
You just reminded me I have Raynauds. Or had. Haven't had symptoms in ages! Weird. Totally forgot all about it until now.
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Instead of using the thermostat I try to use active heat management. The thermostat is set at 55F, so the heat doesn't come on automatically at all. If it gets too cold, I turn up the thermostat and let the room heat up. Then I turn it back down to 55F. The idea is to mindful of heating and to avoid having it just run automatically in the background. In the summer it is the same with AC.
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67 downstairs, and we have little kids. Just always keep socks and a sweater on them and they are fine.
Ill try this for a while maybe even try to bump down to 66.
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So I started my whole doubling-down-on-the-energy efficiency thing in about April, and I've been using Mint to track expenses since Jan 2015, which means now every month, I can see my utility savings for same time of year, and it is a thing of beauty!
Last year in Jan:
Electric (including heat): $125
Water: $38
This year in Jan:
Electric: $58
Water: $14
Total savings this month - $81
Jan bills are a little weird because we travel for the holidays in Dec (the billing period). I think we are actually doing better than this on average. My goal is to save $1000/yr on utilities over pre-April 2015 expenditures. I'll have a better idea in February if this is realistic.
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We had those round Honeywell thermostats in our house (4 zones) and they were always left on, wasting heat.
This Fall I replaced them all with programmable thermostats. During the work week I set night time for 58deg, from 6 to 8:30AM I set them to 64 deg and from 6PM to 10PM I set them to 64 deg. During mid-day they are set to 58deg.
This has helped a lot in our oil consumption. I haven't run the numbers yet but, the programmable thermostats are a good idea.
Rob
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We had those round Honeywell thermostats in our house (4 zones)
How f'ing big is your house???
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Bring it down to 62 before bed. Wake up and we send our son to school and go to work. Before I leave for work I set it at 56. If it's a sunny day the light comes in through the large slider door and has a greenhouse effect. We get home around 5pm and bring it up to 68 or so.
Biggest advantage is to compartmentalize. We have a 3 bedroom house and shut the vent in the 3rd room (used for storage) and close the door. Also keep the vent in the basement closed.
Weekends use a bit more energy but we try not to set it over 65 on the weekends and dress warm. Our house is not huge and our utility bills are very low. I keep the energy usage low more for environmental reasons than saving a few bucks.
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Wow, some of you folks are pretty hardcore. I've read that Americans use twice as much energy per capita as the rest of the world; You wouldn't know it from reading this thread.
We only really heat the house for about 1 hour in the morning and a couple hours in the evening. The rest of the time we just accept what temperature it is. It probably never gets above 68, and hardly gets below 60 indoors.
The kids do just fine, even the infant. We put a couple layers on them and they stay plenty warm.
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65 during the day, if it is a very cold day, we may bump it up a degree or two.
60 before we go to bed.
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Here are my energy bills from last Winter 2014 / 2015. This is for both electric and natural gas. It includes fixed charges as well as actual usage.
Billing date / Bill Amount (rounded to nearest dollar)
11/08/2014 $ 91
12/10/2014 $140
01/12/2015 $166
02/10/2015 $152
03/12/2015 $150
04/10/2015 $100
Unfortunately, while the local utility charges less than the national average for natural gas and electricity, it charges higher than average fixed charges, such as “meter charges”, “delivery charges”, and “customer charges”. That it reduces the financial incentive to conserve.
In fact, despite having average Sun, my city is rated one of the worst in the U.S. for solar power due to lack of financial incentives and the perverse incentive of low energy rates but high fixed utility charges.
Here are my electric and gas bills for this more Mustachian season, I will update as they come in.
11/08/2015 $ 73 ($18 less than same period last year)
12/11/2015 $ 91 ($49 less than same period last year)
January update …
01/12/2015 $166
01/14/2106 $99 ($67 less than same period last year)
I can't take full credit for this 40% savings. December 2015 was much milder than December 2014.
I've cut back the nighttime temperature even further, to 52. I find that I actually sleep better! With all the blankets and clothes, I find that after about six hours asleep with the thermostat at 55, I tend to wake up too hot (especially my lower body).
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^ That is awesome!
Yeah there have been some studies that temperature fluctuations are what cue sleep hormones (even more than light) and so allowing temps to drop at night helps with insomnia. I definitely sleep better when it is cooler at night than during the day.
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January update …
01/12/2015 $166
01/14/2106 $99 ($67 less than same period last year)
I can't take full credit for this 40% savings. December 2015 was much milder than December 2014.
I've cut back the nighttime temperature even further, to 52. I find that I actually sleep better! With all the blankets and clothes, I find that after about six hours asleep with the thermostat at 55, I tend to wake up too hot (especially my lower body).
You should also post degree-days so people have an idea how cold your climate is. It will also give you a good comparison of Dec 14 to Dec 15 as you already mentioned it is more mild.
http://www.degreedays.net/
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Here are my energy bills from last Winter 2014 / 2015. This is for both electric and natural gas. It includes fixed charges as well as actual usage.
Billing date / Bill Amount (rounded to nearest dollar)
11/08/2014 $ 91
12/10/2014 $140
01/12/2015 $166
02/10/2015 $152
03/12/2015 $150
04/10/2015 $100
Unfortunately, while the local utility charges less than the national average for natural gas and electricity, it charges higher than average fixed charges, such as “meter charges”, “delivery charges”, and “customer charges”. That it reduces the financial incentive to conserve.
In fact, despite having average Sun, my city is rated one of the worst in the U.S. for solar power due to lack of financial incentives and the perverse incentive of low energy rates but high fixed utility charges.
Here are my electric and gas bills for this more Mustachian season, I will update as they come in.
11/08/2015 $ 73 ($18 less than same period last year)
12/11/2015 $ 91 ($49 less than same period last year)
January update …
01/12/2015 $166
01/14/2106 $99 ($67 less than same period last year)
I can't take full credit for this 40% savings. December 2015 was much milder than December 2014.
I've cut back the nighttime temperature even further, to 52. I find that I actually sleep better! With all the blankets and clothes, I find that after about six hours asleep with the thermostat at 55, I tend to wake up too hot (especially my lower body).
The sum of most recent gas and electric invoices is $60 for an 1800+ sq ft house.
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Not bad, especially if you have a real Winter season where you live.
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I'm convinced that saving on heating/cooling is down to active thermostat management, ie turning heat/cooling on when you need it, and then back off. My unscientific theory is that if you turn on a thermostat and just leave it, your HVAC is working to keep things at that steady temperature. Being more mindful of managing the temperature allows you to take advantage of your body's natural ability to acclimate, and save a lot of money while you're at it.
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I wish we could let our heat go lower but we chose warm-weather birds as pets. Their preferred ambient temperature would be around 85F if they could control the thermostat. They will tolerate our human temperatures (if they're healthy) but I feel guilty making them suffer at less than 70F. Hopefully we can make up for it come summer.
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I wish we could let our heat go lower but we chose warm-weather birds as pets. Their preferred ambient temperature would be around 85F if they could control the thermostat. They will tolerate our human temperatures (if they're healthy) but I feel guilty making them suffer at less than 70F. Hopefully we can make up for it come summer.
Depending on the outdoor temperature, you've chosen to pollute a lot by getting those birds. Our waste is one reason why so many species are going extinct.
(Was that too harsh a post?)
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I suspect Dezrah is now flipping you the bird.
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Irony upon irony.
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would anyone suggest turning down the heat but putting a small space heater in the kids room? we have to have them in two different rooms now so we would need two small space heaters. We would also have to keep the doors open so we can hear them
we keep the heat turned down downstairs a down during the day, but cannot freeze them at night. We can always use extra covers and clothes but they really can't.
Basically, is this energy/cost effective?
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Heaters can be a fire and a bit of a safety risk (particularly in a kids room, they have a tendency to do stuff like poke the glowing red element) and most of them are electric . . . which is often more expensive to use for heating that gas.
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Heaters can be a fire and a bit of a safety risk (particularly in a kids room, they have a tendency to do stuff like poke the glowing red element) and most of them are electric . . . which is often more expensive to use for heating that gas.
I woud keep them up high so they cannot touch.
We are all electric.
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Heaters can be a fire and a bit of a safety risk (particularly in a kids room, they have a tendency to do stuff like poke the glowing red element) and most of them are electric . . . which is often more expensive to use for heating that gas.
I woud keep them up high so they cannot touch.
We are all electric.
Are you on a heat pump, though? Space heaters are electric resistance, which is much less efficient than a heat pump. The question is whether heating smaller spaces is enough of a trade off - that and when temps drop below about 40 outside, air source heat pumps switch to a resistance backup.
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would anyone suggest turning down the heat but putting a small space heater in the kids room? we have to have them in two different rooms now so we would need two small space heaters. We would also have to keep the doors open so we can hear them
we keep the heat turned down downstairs a down during the day, but cannot freeze them at night. We can always use extra covers and clothes but they really can't.
Basically, is this energy/cost effective?
I really doubt it, especially with open doors. I do that sometimes in my bedroom but it's well insulated with a 100-lb dog and about 7.5 feet across.
Maybe electric blankets, depending on their age?
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We usually keep our heat at 64 and bump it up a degree or two when we're feeling cold. I finally programmed the thermostat, so now it's 66 from 6 to 7 am, 60 from 7 am to 5 pm (I work from home sometimes but have been comfortable with an electric blanket and some tea), 64 from 5 pm to 11 pm, and 63 from 11 pm to 6 am. Interested to see whether/how much our gas bill is affected. Now if only I could figure out how to lower our electric bill...
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There's an awful lot to be said for the efficacy of an old school hot water bottle. It's cheap, it works well for a good long time, and there aren't too many risks even with little kids.
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There's an awful lot to be said for the efficacy of an old school hot water bottle. It's cheap, it works well for a good long time, and there aren't too many risks even with little kids.
Oh, yes! or a sock filled with rice and microwaved.
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There's an awful lot to be said for the efficacy of an old school hot water bottle. It's cheap, it works well for a good long time, and there aren't too many risks even with little kids.
Oh, yes! or a sock filled with rice and microwaved.
camp fire rocks wrapped in blankets.
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Here are my energy bills from last Winter 2014 / 2015. This is for both electric and natural gas. It includes fixed charges as well as actual usage.
Billing date / Bill Amount (rounded to nearest dollar)
11/08/2014 $ 91
12/10/2014 $140
01/12/2015 $166
02/10/2015 $152
03/12/2015 $150
04/10/2015 $100
Here are my electric and gas bills for this more Mustachian season, I will update as they come in.
11/08/2015 $ 73 ($18 less than same period last year)
12/11/2015 $ 91 ($49 less than same period last year)
January update …
01/12/2015 $166
01/14/2106 $99 ($67 less than same period last year)
I can't take full credit for this 40% savings. December 2015 was much milder than December 2014.
I've cut back the nighttime temperature even further, to 52. I find that I actually sleep better! With all the blankets and clothes, I find that after about six hours asleep with the thermostat at 55, I tend to wake up too hot (especially my lower body).
February update . . .
02-10-2015 $152
02-12-2016 $100 ($52 less than same period last year)
This month I clam full credit for my 34% savings. This year averaged one degree colder than the same period last year.
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Got a puppy, and had to go back to my pre-Mustachian 68 degrees 24/7. I stopped my 55/65 as soon as I got him home, and immediately went to 65 degrees 24/7. As I posted on the thread about coats and sweaters for dogs, he seemed fine with it, but I started to find him camping out on the heating vents. I'm not so frugal that I want to freeze my pup, so 68 it is. Sigh. The utility bills will just be whatever. Gotta do it.
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I won the low temperature contest yesterday, unintentionally! Waking up to a house in the low 40s isn't much fun. Damn heater/thermocouple. Fixed though!
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I am so impressed with this tread.
I would have never thought to go this low.
I will definitely try harder next time.
Thanks so much for starting.
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We don't use the thermostat.The heater is old and smells funky, plus it's over the door and next to the windows, so the heat just goes right outside. Also, the entire exterior wall is floor-to-ceiling windows, and the seals on the double-paned glass are broken or something because the heat just goes right outside (and condensation gets up between the panes). And the cold comes right inside--if it's 25 degrees or less out there, you can feel it from 3 ft away. The temperature in here is very much affected by the temperature outside. The average in here was 50-55 degrees during Chiberia.
We have a small space heater we got on Black Friday a few years ago. Works well enough for 550 sq.ft. We limit it to on twice per day an hour at a time on really cold days (the aforementioned 25 degrees or lower), and I sleep under an electric blanket because I have no ability to maintain body heat. 25-45 degrees we use it to warm up feet/hands, then turn it off, unless we're feeling particularly hedonistic (or sorry for the cat). Hubs has a pair of fingerless USB-heated gloves for when he's gaming (silly Xmas present). We both have warm PJs, bathrobes, and sheepskin slippers. The cat has a giant rice-filled pillow that gets microwaved and put in her cat tree a few times a day (a gift from my mom to her "grandcat.") I guzzle hot tea all day.
45 degrees and up we actually open the balcony door so we can get some fresh air because this apartment has NO ventilation without. The air gets extremely stale and God forbid I burn something while cooking (or our cigar-smoking sometime-neighbor is home), because that smell is permanent until the door gets opened.
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Here are my energy bills from last Winter 2014 / 2015. This is for both electric and natural gas. It includes fixed charges as well as actual usage.
Billing date / Bill Amount (rounded to nearest dollar)
11/08/2014 $ 91
12/10/2014 $140
01/12/2015 $166
02/10/2015 $152
03/12/2015 $150
04/10/2015 $100
Here are my electric and gas bills for this more Mustachian season, I will update as they come in.
11/08/2015 $ 73 ($18 less than same period last year)
12/11/2015 $ 91 ($49 less than same period last year)
January update …
01/12/2015 $166
01/14/2106 $99 ($67 less than same period last year)
I can't take full credit for this 40% savings. December 2015 was much milder than December 2014.
I've cut back the nighttime temperature even further, to 52. I find that I actually sleep better! With all the blankets and clothes, I find that after about six hours asleep with the thermostat at 55, I tend to wake up too hot (especially my lower body).
February update . . .
02-10-2015 $152
02-12-2016 $100 ($52 less than same period last year)
This month I clam full credit for my 34% savings. This year averaged one degree colder than the same period last year.
Woohoo! Congrats.
Me so far this year:
Month, 2016/2015
Jan, $58/$125 ($67 savings, 63% decrease)
Feb, $152/$212 ($60 savings, 28% decrease)
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Apologies in advice, as I have not read through the entire thread.
I would roast if my thermostat were set anywhere near 63. Mine has been set at 46 for the last few weeks. Before that, it was set at 56ish, but then Bakari's postings inspired me to go lower.
This morning, I tried to set the thermostat even lower, but it apparently does not go below 45!! So I turned it off. Around the house, I routinely wear warm socks, down booties, long johns, cotton sweat pants, a few layers of shirts, a Buff around my neck, a Turtle Fur hat, a down jacket, and wool fingerless gloves. Right now, in this getup, I am too warm. It is 53 degrees in my house.
Hard to know how much $$ I have saved, because my utilities are tied to those of my rental house, and my tenant has his thermostat set at a crazy 68 degrees. But, the total savings for the last 3 months compared to these 3 months last year is $70. It also helps that I had new insulation put in the rental house.
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I won the low temperature contest yesterday, unintentionally! Waking up to a house in the low 40s isn't much fun. Damn heater/thermocouple. Fixed though!
I hope you were able to fix that yourself, instead of having to pay for a service call.
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Woohoo! Congrats.
Me so far this year:
Month, 2016/2015
Jan, $58/$125 ($67 savings, 63% decrease)
Feb, $152/$212 ($60 savings, 28% decrease)
It's like free money!
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Apologies in advice, as I have not read through the entire thread.
I would roast if my thermostat were set anywhere near 63. Mine has been set at 46 for the last few weeks. Before that, it was set at 56ish, but then Bakari's postings inspired me to go lower.
This morning, I tried to set the thermostat even lower, but it apparently does not go below 45!! So I turned it off. Around the house, I routinely wear warm socks, down booties, long johns, cotton sweat pants, a few layers of shirts, a Buff around my neck, a Turtle Fur hat, a down jacket, and wool fingerless gloves. Right now, in this getup, I am too warm. It is 53 degrees in my house.
Hard to know how much $$ I have saved, because my utilities are tied to those of my rental house, and my tenant has his thermostat set at a crazy 68 degrees. But, the total savings for the last 3 months compared to these 3 months last year is $70. It also helps that I had new insulation put in the rental house.
51 in my house when I got up this morning. But when I'm not under the bed covers, that is too cool for me. I have to up it to 58 to 61 to be comfortable. Maybe next season I will be ready to match your badassity.
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Wanted to try going to 62 (we keep it at 64 currently). Brother came out yesterday wearing head to toe layers, including ski mittens and said, "why do you hate me?" (I didn't think it was very bad, actually, but I guess he disagreed).
Back up to 64. Having a roommate is still saving more money than a little savings on the thermostat, I suppose.
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Wanted to try going to 62 (we keep it at 64 currently). Brother came out yesterday wearing head to toe layers, including ski mittens and said, "why do you hate me?" (I didn't think it was very bad, actually, but I guess he disagreed).
I get the "why do you hate me?" look from my husband every time I tell him to turn of the space heater. I am way more sensitive to cold than he is (my side of the bed has 2 more blankets than his), so if I'm warm it's warm enough. Still better than my cat, who gives me the "you will die in your sleep" stare when I turn it off.
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We set it to kick on at 66F. If we had a programmable thermostat (we're renters) I'd knock it down to 64F at night, but oh well!
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Wanted to try going to 62 (we keep it at 64 currently). Brother came out yesterday wearing head to toe layers, including ski mittens and said, "why do you hate me?" (I didn't think it was very bad, actually, but I guess he disagreed).
I get the "why do you hate me?" look from my husband every time I tell him to turn of the space heater. I am way more sensitive to cold than he is (my side of the bed has 2 more blankets than his), so if I'm warm it's warm enough. Still better than my cat, who gives me the "you will die in your sleep" stare when I turn it off.
I love that animals understand associations like "turning off space heater will make it stop making heat". I include Brother in that group ;)
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We keep our heat at 65 during when we are home and then it goes down to 63 at night while we are sleeping. Our gas bill is usually around $50 in the winter, but the crappy thing is that gas company charges a $30+ monthly customer charge just to be a customer. You get charged this amount whether you use gas just for cooking or if your entire place is gas operated. I also live on the 3rd floor of an apartment building so the people's heat below me helps to keep our place warm.
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Before I had my parrots I could easily stand temperature extremes. I do still try to minimize it by opening windows and using space heaters. Unfortunately I can only use ceiling fans in the rooms they're not in.
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I am just not used to 68 degrees--it's been a couple of years since I kept the house that warm for an elderly relative. I was really happy at 65/55. Now I have to say that at 68 the puppy is very comfortable, but I am roasting. Oh well. Ya can't freeze your dog.
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Ha- since being more active on the forum , aka having my morning coffee while reading posts, I have dropped the heat from 69 to 63 at all times in our house. The dog also has a comforter propped as an alcove on her bed and we wear hoodies and slippers. I also bought the best water bottle on amazon. I fill it from the kettle and it keeps me warm all night and into the early am. My quality of life has greatly improved from this hot water bottle alone. Seriously.
Link for water bottle:
http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Classic-Hot-Water-Bottle/dp/B000MR5RBI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455843191&sr=8-2&keywords=hot+water+bottles
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Tried putting the heat down by one degree, to 67 Fahrenheit 24/7. Puppy is OK with that. It doesn't sound like much, but I am feeling more comfortable and not quite so roasted-toasted.
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I love my 7/4 thermostat. At 66 for 1.5 hr in the morning, 57 during the day. Back to 66 from 5-10 pm then 64 at night.
I'm mostly warm (and I pay the bill...) and would like it lower, but my wife is constantly freezing, and also worry the baby is too cold at night. When my parents visit my mom does nothing but complain it's too cold.. Prefer 73+!! Our electric bill was $300 last month :( All electric heat pump.
Found that my MIL actually just adjust her thermostat up and down manually. I didn't know anyone did that anymore!
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I don't have a programmable thermostat and if I did I would still use it manually. I probably save money not having one because I rely on my current comfort level to determine if I want to adjust it or not. I find with a programmable that whether you are thinking about the temp or not, it will automatically adjust based on its settings, not on how you actually feel in the moment. And what if your schedule deviates and you end up going somewhere after work...and it comes on and you're not there to benefit?
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We don't even have a central thermostat, or central heat for that matter. But then you can't adjust temps in a house like this on a daily basis. High thermal mass means change is a multi-day process. On the other hand, it means we pay very little for it, and if the sun has been shining in the winter, the heaters only come on about 2am. Or 6:15 am, as has just happened now.
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In Pa here. Heat pump so all electric. 12.7 cents per kilowatt hour with PP&L. Last year 2014/2015 during the brutal Winter we had, lots of folks who opted into contracts with non-PP&L electricity generation companies got shafted horribly. Like $600 per month for electric heat because they didn't read the fine print! :( I had some huge monthly bills myself, even with the less expensive PP&L as my generation company. $220 for the Feb/March bill. Thermostat set at 60 degrees.