What is your thermostat routine? - Page 2

[MoMommy]

We have ours at 72 pretty much all the time. Our bill is usually around $170, I think. This thread is inspiring me to start setting it lower.

[NullSet]

Brrrrrrrrr!

Our's is pushed as far to the left as possible, which I think is 60. My gas bill was about 55 dollars for my house (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and finished basement) last month.

[kvan]

We have ours set at 65ish all day, until dh comes home and tells me how freezing it is in the house....
Then he turns it up to oh, 70.
I have to crank it back down when ds goes to bed or his room gets way too stuffy (and dh sits on the couch in fleece pants, a turtleneck, socks and a blanket)

[Cloth4Colin]

I keep ours at 68 during the day and completely off at night...

[sweetfeet]

I have mine at 72-74 consistantly. Our electric and gas are each only $35ish a month. I'm not sure if my heat is gas or electric. :

[medaroge]

69 during the day and 64 at night

[poppywise]

i feel like our house is always freezing, but... : i s'pose it's not really, no...
68 during day [up to 70 if it is a chilly day] and i try to remember to turn it down to 65 at night.
i think my hands are ALWAYS cold...so i'd like to set it higher, but we can't stomach the $$ bill $$

[MamaOui]

We just moved a few weeks ago, so I am trying to figure out what works for us. Our goal this weekend is to get some plexiglass for our outer back door. There's only a screen in it. We also need to do more to prevent drafts from coming in from our kitchen exhaust vent. My dh insulated a bit more in the cellar.

I have been turning the heat off at night and keeping it around 70 during the day. There is a HUGE temp. Difference between our first and second floors. We just need a bit of time to figure it out.

[bdavis337]

60-62 at night, 62-64 during the day. All depends on the outside temps. We have drafty windows and a furnace from, get this, 1955, so it's only 50% efficient. Once we replaced our old thermostat with a digital one we saw a nice difference in heat consistency, but we're still running about $200/month for gas this winter. YIKES. I'd go lower, but it's just too darn cold.

[mightymoo]

..I have been pretty cold htis pregnancy, so the thermostat has been set pretty high at 71 and I often bump it up. But after looking at our giant gas bill, I decided to take the hit and turn it down to 68 during the day, 65 at night and noticed I didn't really feel that much colder - I think its just a preganncy side effect! I might try to go lower, maybe it would tend to make my DD not rip off all her clothes and run around nude.

I also keep a space heater and will have it blow directly on me if I'm cold - while I know electric is less efficient than gas I think its probably using less overall energy (and cost) to heat just me rather than the whole house. And we spend most of the day in the family room on the lowest level and the thermostat is upstairs, so that means I got to heat the upstairs 3 degrees warmer to make the downstairs comfy.

I like the idea of just having it 'shut off' during the day and only bump it up when it gets too cold - since we have a programmable its easy to just turn the temp up and you don't need to remember to reset it later - when the time zone switches, it automatically goes back to its original program.

[Cutie Patootie]

Holy Smokes! Some of those are pretty low. : I feel like a big waster. :LOL We have recently started to keep ours at 72 during the day and 66-68 at night. Before we had ds we kept it really low during the day, and at night, practically off. Ds loves to run around naked and bathes and all. I just want him to be comfortable and snuggly.

[mammastar2]

We've been keeping it at 60 around the clock, except when we have guests because we'd be embarrassed! Our last gas bill was still $185. Yikes. Another reason to be happy we're moving this month.

[Ravin]

I should add that while we're very grudging w/ the AC at home, I have a tendency in summer to go hang out at the mall ALL DAY (I take a lunch) to take advantage of the free AC.

[artemesia]

60 during the day, 50 at night and kids and I just pile in bed together under a bunch of blankets. I can't stand to sleep in a hot dry room in the winter, of course I grew up in an old house where I'd wake up with ice on the inside of my window so I guess I'm used to it.

[Gemini]

72 during the day and down to 62 at night. I think we need new insulation in the attic because it seems our heater is on all the time. I even have the plastic on the windows.

[mumm]

I guess I really am cheap! 57 during the day, 54 at night. We could go colder at night (4 in a bed keeps you warm!) but we have trouble with pipes freezing. I do use a little heater in the bathroom during tub time for the kids when it is really cold.

btw, just found this forum. nice. happy to see others who are frugal either out of necessity or desire.

[*Jessica*]

We have a digital thermostat (not expensive....maybe $20 at most) so ours adjusts when we need it to to keep the bills down and us warm enough. We keep it at 67* during the day and 62* at night. Our bill last month was a little over $300! We do live in NY and it has been in the teens or lower for a few weeks now, so I'm sure that's why, but our gas bills in the winter are usually over $200/month. We rent, though, so we can't do much about making it more efficient.

[fayking]

wow you guys have huge gas bills! it isnt very cold at all here this week...about 8C/46F, often lower but my gas bill is never more than $28 a month. i do have a small house though, maybe something in the UK is cheaper!

[ctdoula]

Wow, we're cheaper than I thought, ROFL. We set ours at 60 pretty much all the time. Occasionally we'll jack it up to 62 or 64 if we get a big chill Oil is so expensive this year. Honestly, we're so used to it, and our bills have gone way down (compared to previous years where we set it to 64).

[boingo82]

Ours doesn't have numbers, just "low", "high" and "comfort zone". We have baseboard heat (terribly slow/ineffecient) and a separate dial for each room.
Our thermostat routine is,



I turn on the heater, 'cause it's cold, to "low-comfort-zone".

Sometime while I'm at work, DH decides it's too hot, and opens the bathroom window, and turns on the swamp and the room AC. (I am serious.)

He turns off the swamp and the AC right before I get home.

I get home to a freezing house, despite all the heaters being on. I go to the bathroom, sit on the freezing seat and see that the window's open.

A fight ensues.

He swears up and down that he will turn off the heaters instead of opening the window. Also swears not to run swamp and AC simultaneously. Also swears to run neither of these with the heaters on. Also swears not to run AC or heater with window open.

Power bill (which DH pays) arrives, DH wonders how we used $180 of power in 840 sq. ft.

And repeat from the beginning....

Not exaggerating about any of this. Thermostat is just about the only bone of contention in our marriage.