The heat is on, and it's no longer included.
So my first gas bill came on Friday. I knew it would be a bit of a shock, after living in an apartment with heat included for nearly 6 years...and waking up to toasty, clanky radiators every morning... but I didn't realize just how high it would be. Umm, $281, yikes. As a result, this weekend's projects include: 1) Readjusting the thermostat, 2) Putting up that plastic stuff on the windows.
So far, we have plasticked up 3 windows in the basement, and Adam already says he feels a difference in the bathroom. We're about to install it on the octagonal living room windows, as that has always been the coldest spot in the house. So for about $12 worth of stuff, if our gas bill goes down next month, I'll be very happy.
What do people keep their thermostats at? When I was growing up, and to this day, my parents keep theirs at 74 degrees all day and night. I used to think was normal and got into many an argument over temperature with former roommates, who I decided were just maniacal ice queens. Now that I'm paying to heat a 3 story bungalow, maybe they weren't so crazy after all. I am trying to go a few degrees colder now, keeping it at 68 or 69 during the day and 66 at night.
I will report back on how all this works out.
5 shout-outs:
Last year, my wife and I kept it at 71-72 in our first winter in the bungalow. This year, with a baby, we've argued a bit over this...she wants it up at 73-74, and I tell her that, given our recent gas bill ($383, which is about $100 more than this month last year), we're gonna try 72 again, and I bet she'd barely notice.
That said, we try to turn down the thermostats to 68-69 in the morning when we leave...and plan on getting programmables sometime soon (hopefully), to solve the "remembering" problem. :)
We picked up a programmable thermostat at Lowes for $40 or so and it works pretty well. It lets you do a different program every day which is nice. Programming it is kind of a beast though - it's not a very intuitive interface.
Maniacal ice queen here! I remember those arguments. We currently keep our programmable thermostat set to 69 during the day (when the kids and I are mostly at home) and 67 at night. It used to be set at 70 during the day, but since I might be jobless in 2009, I bumped it down a degree to save some money. I haven't noticed a difference, but Sean says it feels colder. I say, put on a damn sweater.
Um......then..........We are total ice people. ( Man... 67 sounds WARM to us). During the day when we are not home, 56 and @ night 60, we do use space heaters in the rooms we are in at the time. We wear sweaters.
Wow - with the exception of Jenni, your houses must all be so toasty! Our thermostate is programmed to 64 during the day and 58 at night, and that's in Wisconsin with a nine month-old in the house.
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