My DH and I are having a major battle right now over the heat. He wants it to be down right freezing. I'm sitting her in sweats, wool socks, a long sleeve t-shirt and a fleece over that. My hands and nose are cold. He's nice and comfy though. I turn the heat up some I'm comfortable and then he turns it down. We cannot seem to find a happy medium. What does everyone else do?
I know the amount of the bill matters but I work hard and feel like so what if the bill is a little higher if I am comfortable in my own house. What do you keep your heat on?
We keep it at 68. A little chilly for me still, but we have lots of blankets.
We also have a programmable thermostat. When we're at work and when we're asleep the temperature goes down to about 63. It really does save some money.
I leave mine set at 65. Occasionally, I will turn it up to 70 in the evenings if I want to sit in the living room. Usually though, I watch TV in my bed and get under all my covers.
You all keep cold houses!!!! Maybe I keep mine extra warm because I live in the frozen artic! We keep our house at 70 at night, 72 when we are home, back to 70 when no one is home.
My dh keeps our insulation well maintained up in the attic (about 24 inches deep)and have made sure our walls have good insulation too. As we remodeled, we added and or replaced insulation.
I'm very cold natured, so I like to keep our house warm. Usually it's anywhere from 70-72. I'm like you tbell, I'd rather be warm and have to pay a higher bill than freeze to death. Plus, if I'm cold, I can't motivate myself to do anything anyways. All I want to do is sit on the couch and cuddle up in a blanket.
My husband, is very hot natured, so we too are always battling over the thermostat. LUckily, I usually win!
and am CHEAP, so I keep it on 58 at night and during the day when I am gone. I am gone from 6:45 in the morning until about 8:30 in the evenings, so it really saves me a lot. Of course, my poor cat probably wishes he could work the thermostat! I keep it on 64 or 65 when I am home in the evenings and on weekends. I usually have a blanket over my lap if I am just sitting around.
We are a big promoter of insulation too! We added to our insulation this summer (in attic, under the floor) and our heating bills have gone down dramatically from last year. We keep our heat on 68 and it burns us up now! I think its practically air tight in here now...
Oh my goodness I'd literally freeze in some of your houses! Mine is usually at 73-74 when we are home. 70 overnight and 68 or so when we are not home. I LOVE my gas fireplace too! I use that to take the chill out of the living room when we are home. Half the time I'm STILL freezing. DH used to be REALLY hot natured but as he is aging he's beginning to be more cold natured, like me. So, we are both happy with these temps. but not necessarily the bill. hahaha
Mine is on 72 all the time. I have a programmable thermostat sitting in a bag waiting for my dad to come install it. When that happens, I'll program it to go down to 65-ish when I'm not home. I can't come home to a cold house. Also, like butterflygirl, I have a hard time motivating myself to do anything as it is. If I were stuck under all those blankets trying to keep warm, nothing would ever get done!
We keep it at 70, but I try to inch it up a little when hubby isn't paying attention. I hate to be cold so I'm usually wearing at least two sets of long sleeves.
around 66. I prefer it around 72. We tried 68 and that is too cold for me so I tried 70 and he complains of being hot. I'm cold natured and perfectly fine with 70ish. I think we will be getting the programable thermostat tomorrow. The problem is we can't settle on anything that is comfortable for the two of us.
so I keep mine on 65 at night and 68 in the daytime. My DH likes in warmer so he sneaks it up. Ironically, I want it warmer in the summer (72-74) so I think hubby freezes me out all summer when he puts it on 68 or so. Maybe it is the stark contrast I want to avoid.
We battle over the thermostat all year long. He likes it cold (68-69) and I don't want it any colder than 72. Now in the summer he likes it around the same temp and I want it to be about 78 inside!
We used to have a programmable thermostat, but when we had the central air/heat put in about five years ago, they advised against it because when the temps change more then 2 (or 3?) degrees the heat strip has to kick in and that uses a lot more energy. He said it was more energy efficient to leave it at a certain temp.
I guess this is just for heat pumps with those electric strips.
We turn the heater on when my nose is so cold I can't feel it anymore.
We have a programmable thermostat that I set to come on to 66 degrees half an hour before I get up in the morning. That way the chill is out of the air when I wake up. It is off at night and when we're gone.
Throughout the day when we're home, we keep it around 65 and if my nose gets frozen, I turn it up to 67 and stand under the heater for a minute or two. That warms me up enough and then we turn off the heater again.
We keep our thermostat set at 60 degrees all day, every day. We have electric baseboard heat which is the world's worst heat! I freeze all of the time! Even with the heat on a constant 60 degrees, our last electric bill was $351.51! I wear long johns and flannel lined jeans with a sweatshirt and warm socks and shoes and I still freeze!!! As we can afford to remodel rooms we add insulation but haven't been able to see a difference in costs yet. I guess we don't have enough of the house insulated to make a difference. I do feel a difference in the two rooms that are well insulated. I dread seeing the next electric bill. If it goes up anymore we'll have to cut the thermostat down into the 50s. Especially since DH is layed off! I need a raise!
refuse to freeze! I am cold all the time too. I keep our heat up to around 70-72 degrees. Sometimes higher. At night, I will put it about 67-68. I sleep in sweat pants and long sleeve sweat shirts. There is a pile of blankets on our bed. We live where it is cold. My husband KNOWS he had better not say ONE word to me about the temp. I will move to where it is warm with or without him. I think he knows it. I know it's expensive with the fuel, but I don't compromise on this point ever.
He says I have a very narrow comfort zone with the temp. It's true. I personally don't understand why you should be freezing. I think that's abusive. I would be in my bed under the covers.
Have you thought about getting a space heater? I actually got one for my DD. You just plug it in. You need one that has an automatic turn off, one that turns off when it tips, and one that you can adjust the temp. I think I got mine for around 20.00 from Target. What a difference it makes in her room! She turns it on for a bit before she goes to bed or if she is in her room. I am amazed at how it heats up the room. It costs just cents a day to run. In fact, I haven't seen any difference in my heating bill since she started using that. I have even brought it into the living room when I'm extra cold.
Why is he so hot? Maybe he should only wear a short sleeve t-shirt in the house. You can wear sweat shirts/pants. Maybe that would also help.
I wouldn't live in a house where I'm cold all the time. I'm assuming you don't have children. That would be awful for them to be cold.
Ours is on 64 most of the time. Sometimes we'll turn it up to 68 during the day when it's really, really cold outside. When we're gone we turn it down to 58.
I spent part of my holiday break at my parents house, it's just the two of them now, and their house is so cold. I get cold very easily and so my dh and I keep our thermostat probably about the mid 70's during the winter, and in the 60's during the summer. One of us is home all the time. I never get overly warm at all in our apartment. I about froze at my parents house. I wore sweats, socks, a sweatshirt, and a fleece jacket during the day. At night I slept under a sheet, two blankets, and a quilt, still wearing sweats, socks, and a sweatshirt. My parents live in New Mexico, you'd think they live in Siberia or something! I'd much rather be warm than cold at all times.
We keep ours at 68 when we are here and 62 overnight and when we are gone. I am ALWAYS cold. Actually, I just realized a couple of days ago that the key for me is to keep my scarf on....I even wear my hat sometimes. My husband thinks I'm a weirdo. I tell him that being cold is truly painful for me!! It really does hurt!
55 at night, but the house is very well insulated and even when it's below freezing outside, it never gets below 60. It's programmed to go on at 66 before we wake up and when I get cold I bump it up to 68 or 69. Those temps are comfortable for both of us. If I was freezing, I would put it up and pay the bill (within reason of course)
I grew up in a house with no heat and no air.We swealtered in the summer and woke up to frost on the walls in the winter. There is no freaking way I am living like that now.I set the thermostat to make me comfy. Even at night, it is set to a reasonable temp.
This is my first winter using one and I think it's making a difference! I keep at at 62 at night and during the day when no one is here. When I'm home it's set at 68, which has been comfortable (and we've had some pretty cold days!)
I haven't had a bill over 92.00 so far (that's for 1/2 of a house). Hope it stays that way!!!
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01-03-2009, 11:30 AM
Mine is usually at 73-74 when we are home. 70 overnight and 68 or so when we are not home. I LOVE my gas fireplace too! I use that to take the chill out of the living room when we are home. Half the time I'm STILL freezing. DH used to be REALLY hot natured but as he is aging he's beginning to be more cold natured, like me. 
When that happens, I'll program it to go down to 65-ish when I'm not home. I can't come home to a cold house. Also, like butterflygirl, I have a hard time motivating myself to do anything as it is. If I were stuck under all those blankets trying to keep warm, nothing would ever get done!
My DH likes in warmer so he sneaks it up. Ironically, I want it warmer in the summer (72-74) so I think hubby freezes me out all summer when he puts it on 68 or so. Maybe it is the stark contrast I want to avoid. 
I wear long johns and flannel lined jeans with a sweatshirt and warm socks and shoes and I still freeze!!! As we can afford to remodel rooms we add insulation but haven't been able to see a difference in costs yet. I guess we don't have enough of the house insulated to make a difference. I do feel a difference in the two rooms that are well insulated. I dread seeing the next electric bill. If it goes up anymore we'll have to cut the thermostat down into the 50s. Especially since DH is layed off! I need a raise!
I personally don't understand why you should be freezing. I think that's abusive. I would be in my bed under the covers. 
