Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Saving Money Challenge: Turn that Heat Down (duh)


This is our thermostat.  It pretty much always stays on 62.  If it's freezing in the morning, I'll pop it up to 65.  Some people think this is freezing.  We like it.  Well, my husband begs to differ at sometimes, but we always know the wife is always right.  

I don't like having a hot house - it makes me feel gross and stuff.  If I'm cold, I just throw on a bathrobe.  Because we live in an old house, for whatever reason (no matter how much we adjust the radiators or try to fix them) - the upstairs is always at least 10 degrees warmer than the downstairs.  This, again, grosses me out because when I go to go to bed - it's like a sauna up there at 70 degrees.  I try to counteract this by turning on our fireplace every cold night.  Not really sure why, but our house has oil heat yet we have a gas fireplace.  The best of both worlds, maybe?  Well anyways, our gas fireplace shoots off a ton of hot air which tricks our thermostat into thinking the house is really warmer than it is.  So the downstairs gets pretty warm (to my standards) and the upstairs is pretty chilly when I do this.  This makes me happy.  It makes my husband cold. 

Point being - if you want to save some money, turn your heat down and throw on an extra layer.  

This post is partially inspired by the group challenge Precious started at Frugal Makes Cents.

2 comments:

MaryAnne said...

I agree with the theory, but I feel colder every year - to the point that it's absurd. We keep our house at 69/70 during the day and as low as 67 at night, and that's with extra blankets and me wearing a sweater AND jacket all day. And still being cold. Ridiculous. I was the kid who wore shorts in 50-degree weather - guess this is karma catching up with me!

So, we put extra insulation in instead, which will pay for itself in a decade or two, hopefully?

Unknown said...

Oh I understand that MaryAnne - I am "much colder" than I was a few years ago. Extra insulation is always a good thing. We don't have insulation in one corner of our house and the walls are always freezing in the winter. My mother keeps her thermostat at 58 - so I come from a line of freaks. 65 is like a sauna to her.