I Give Up-Heats On

[marvholly]

It was 40 outside early this am and 58 in my house. I turned on the heat. No idea if it was earlier or later than usual. I KNOW I try to hold out until 11/1 but I do not remember EVER making it that long.

[constanz22]

Still holding out here in PA.  We had a few nights in the 30's a couple weeks ago.  I had the small space heaters on a bit but haven't had to turn on the furnace yet.  Probably next week from the looks of the forecast.  30's at night with highs in the 50's.  Can't really complain though.  We've continued to have highs in the upper 60's and low 70's, more that 10 degrees above normal for October.  I am happy and thankful for the break though.  The fall is extremely costly with property taxes due so the longer I can hold out from filling the fuel oil tank, the better!

[resolution]

I've been running a small space heater to keep my work area warm. I haven't turned on the furnace for the rest of the house yet.

[Deleted]

We still have open/cracked windows here. But with 6 inches of stone on the house, even with that breeze its still 75 in here....

[Deleted]

I turned the heat on back in September for a few nights.  I had the a/c on last week.  I turn the heat and a/c on as needed - I refuse to be uncomfortable in my own house. 

[skubikky]

Haven't made our first fire in the wood stove yet.
DH is still cutting wood. We still need at least 6-7 more face cords to make it through winter.

[MarleyKeezy78]

I with singlemom, I don't care if I have to put the heat and air on in the same day, if I'm uncomfortable I'll do it.

[movingforward]

Oct 18, 2013 7:36:45 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

I turned the heat on back in September for a few nights.  I had the a/c on last week.  I turn the heat and a/c on as needed - I refuse to be uncomfortable in my own house. 

I agree.  If something else needed to be cut out of the budget in order to be comfortable then so be it, and where I live it isn't unusual to go back and forth between AC and heat in the same day in late Oct and Nov. (and sometimes Dec).  We have hot summers and I keep the air at a comfortable temp when I am home (I do turn it up when I leave).  Luckily, I have plenty of cushion in my budget so a higher electric bill is not a huge concern for me. 

[Abby Normal]

It was 33 when I left the house this morning. Still getting to the 60's by afternoon, but our heat when on a couple weeks ago.

[Taxman10]

is the heat inside your head?

or on the street?

is it on every beat?

How's the pressure?

Are you staying alive??

[Sam_2.0]

I turned on the furnace this morning just to take the chill out a bit. It always smells smokey at first as it burns off the dust in the ducts. DD jumped out of bed and RAN into our room "Mommy!! It smells like cook in my room!!" I thanked her and told her she should always tell mommy when she smells smoke, but I had to laugh that my cooking is so bad she equates smelling smoke to cooking!! LOL.

[deantrip]

We've been down in the 20's at night now for quite some time, and during the day, we now rarely get into the 50's.  So heat has been on for a while, like others posted, I refuse to be uncomfortable in my own home.  My wife feels the same way, though we have differing opinions on comfort.  She would be happy with the house at 85 all the time, I can't hardly stand it at 75.

[giramomma]

We have our heat set at 65 during the day and 60 at night/when no one is home.

Our heat has been kicking on for a little bit in the wee hours of the morning. Next week we are below normal temps by at least 10 degrees..so I expect the heat to be on.

[Peace Of Mind]

Oct 18, 2013 13:52:35 GMT -5 Sam_2.0 said:

I turned on the furnace this morning just to take the chill out a bit. It always smells smokey at first as it burns off the dust in the ducts. DD jumped out of bed and RAN into our room "Mommy!! It smells like cook in my room!!" I thanked her and told her she should always tell mommy when she smells smoke, but I had to laugh that my cooking is so bad she equates smelling smoke to cooking!! LOL.

LMAO!!!  That is both adorable at what she said and hilarious about your cooking! 

We still have the a/c on.  78 degrees during the day and 76 degrees at night.  Mid to high 80's here still.

[mrsdutt]

Oct 18, 2013 7:23:38 GMT -5 oped said:

We still have open/cracked windows here. But with 6 inches of stone on the house, even with that breeze its still 75 in here....

What do you mean by '6" of stone on the house?  Inquiring minds want to know.  Is it a way to insulate?

[Deleted]

The house is faced with 6 inch thick stone on top of what would be normal wall thickness. So, yes the thickness insulates and helps regulate temperature.

Now, if it gets above 90 for a extended period in the summer, enough to heat the mass, it can work aginst us but it is generally beneficial.

[sapphire12]

Last week, I turned on the heat. The space heater wasn't cutting it and I refuse to be uncomfortable. Now having said that, I can tolerate heat better than cold, so I am not as quick to turn on the A/C, unless it is humid. This week it warmed up, but not too much, so I needed neither heat, nor air.

I've never done both in one day. We have had weeks where I've had to use both, which is just insane, but, I have to do what I have to do.

[alabamagal]

I am in south GA.  No heat here yet.  A/C during the day.  We have about another month of A/C.  Then we turn to heat at night.

I grew up in S FL.  Winter is when you turn off the A/C!

[TheOtherMe]

I'm cheap.  All I have turned on is the space heater while I took a shower and the gas fireplace to take the chill off the past two days.

[Nazgul Girl]

    I would like to keep our heat on at 68 degrees during the daytime, and 65 at night, but DH had a good many veins taken from his legs for his bypasses many years ago, and now has poor circulation.   So, we have to keep the heat on at 74 - 75 degrees for him to be comfortable.   

    Heat in the summer ( with humidity ) also bothers him a lot, probably for the same reason, so we have to keep the AC on quite often.   I would rather just leave the windows open and run fans, but he has a really hard time with just those measures, so we do have the refrigerated air for most of the summer.

    Sometimes, the high temp gets to me in the winter, and I sneak over to the thermostat and turn it down to 70.   Then, he notices within an hour and a half, and we turn it back up again.  

[happyscooter]

No heat here yet.  I'm in NC, we turned the A/C off about a month ago.  Power bill was $59.00 this month.  I am trying to hold out for a few more weeks before we turn the heat on but the temps are supposed to be in the low 60s next week.  We shall see.

[sarcasticgirl]

I'm pretty impressed with our new place. It has been in the 40s and the temp stays around 68-71 indoors. we're on the 3rd floor of a 4 floor building so it is keeping us nice and insulated. 

[Sam_2.0]

Sarcastic - you will probably get all of that heat rising from the first two floors and may not need to turn on your furnace much at all. One thing I miss about apartment living Then again, that can come back to bite you in the summer.

[constanz22]

Mine will be turned on tomorrow.  Bummer...it was pretty dang chilly this am, but sunny with highs in the 60's today.  By Wed, our highs are going to be mid 40's the rest of the week, with overnight lows in the 20's and 30's.  Dang.  Went from 10+ degrees above average for weeks to 10+ below average.  I hate winter and I hate having to run the furnace...

[midjd]

We finally broke down and turned the heat on (briefly) yesterday. It felt fine to me, but I walked over to the thermostat and saw that it was 62 degrees, so figured I should turn the heat on before it got so low that the furnace really had to work to get things back up to a reasonable temperature. I turned the heat off before we went to bed, but it was so hot last night I couldn't sleep! Having a sleeping kitten space heater on my chest probably didn't help

We have a 500-gallon propane tank that usually lasts all winter (at around $600 for a fillup). Delaying in turning on the heat isn't really about being cheap, I just prefer it colder (I'm sweating right now in my 75-degree office).

[Opti]

Probably turning mine on tomorrow or Wednesday as our highs will drop to the 50s
and last night my bedroom dropped to 64. Prefer to have that happen only when its really
cold and my thermostat is set to 68.


OT, but I had good news finally on my utility bill. My foodstamp application finally
made it through the utility assitance folk. What I received in the mail said I was denied
for USF because I didn't hit the 3% of income rule .... which is true in summer because then I only cook with gas and not very much but winter I easily hit 3% plus.

Called the number on the letter which didn't mention I actually did qualify for some benefits
including a one time benefit around Decemeber.  Soon I won't be carrying a balance on
this bill and reading about the shutoff notice of the month. Yay!

[Sam_2.0]

Good point, pumpkinist. LIHEAP benefits usually start Nov 1st. I know they do for KS and MO for sure. Utility companies usually have a Cold Weather program that begins around the same time and offers special payment arrangements as well. If you need them, check them out!

[cael]

Still holding out, no heat yet! It hasn't been that cold up here in MA yet, not for us at least. Our place also warms up during the day because of the skylights, and my neighbor downstairs cranks her heat, so we stay pretty warm. We've woken up and it's been chilly a few times, but we leave for work/school anyway so doesn't make sense to turn the heat on. The cat will survive until the sun warms the place up.

[Deleted]

Still holding on here. Actually i made everyone close windows yesterday and then it got up to 76 in the house... which is warm to me.

Its 74 now.

Around me others must be turning things on though. I've had several calls today about fireplaces and stove flue issues... why do people wait to clean/service/fix things until they actually need heat?

[happyscooter]

it came on last night.  then was in the 70s today.  I can't win.