House Temperature

[hoosiergirl7]

We keep it set between 74 & 76 in the summer and between 72 & 74 in the winter. I am on medications that have the side effect that when it's really cold my fingers & toes get really cold and numb - like ice. So I have to stay warm. In winter I tried wearing socks and slippers to keep the thermostat set at 70 degrees to save money and it didn't work. I was still cold and I can't stay on the couch all day huddled in blankets. Hopefully this winter won't be as cold as last winter and our heat won't cost as much.

 

[Ennazus8810]

68-70. We used to turn it down at night, but now have an infant daughter so we can't do that this winter.

 

[Halle]

We got an energy efficient furnace 2 years ago and were told that you should not turn the thermostat way down (more than 2-4 degrees) when you're away....costs more to recoup the temp. We were shocked...and couldn't believe it until we followed the instructions (2nd Year) after not following them the first year, lower costs when the gas prices were higher.

 

[IDoDis]

During the winter months we keep the house at 70 degrees for a couple hours in the morning and from about 5:00 - 10:30pm. We set it to 60 at night and during the day when no one is home.

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We keep our house at 60° in the winter. If we're home for a long stretch of time in the evenings we'll up the temp to about 64 for a few hours.

We've been keeping the house this cold for a few winters and really don't have any issues with it. My in-laws, however, make sure they dress "appropriately" (heavy sweaters and socks) before they set foot in our house

 

[HaleyB]

My thermostat is set at 80 right now.

We go straight from A/C to heat in Austin, right now it is still A/C. I am ready for fall...

Our heating bill is never over $60ish, but cooling kills us. You just can't win.

 

[charming23]

We keep ours at 68 in the winter. It keeps our house at a decent temp. I always like being able to throw on another layer rather than be too warm.

 

[tlh0726]

68 in the winter and 80 in the summer

One of my daycare kids mom told me that they keep theirs set at 58 and each of them have and electric blanket on their beds to keep warm at night.

 

[DISdreamin']

We have a programmable thermostat and set it to 60 during the day when we are away and bring it up to 67 about 30 minutes before we come home, and also 30 minutes before we get up in the morning. At night we also have it set to turn down to 62 now that the kiddos are old enough to keep blankets on (for the longest time our little one would end up blanket-less so we kept it at 68 at night - which about killed me as I adore snuggling under our big down comforter to sleep in a chilly room!). For summer, we set the thermo at about 78, but will bring it down lower depending on what we are doing.

FWIW, we have seen our budget plan utility bill drop ever since we moved into our house, and I think a lot of it had to do with moving in with an 11 month old child and needing the house warm for her. With her growing and being better-able to maintain her temp, we've been lowering the heat each year by a degree or two. I won't go below where we are now for comfort, and if we need to crank the heat we definitely don't hesitate to do it! Thankfully this isn't our old house where we had $475+ winter utility bills six years ago before prices went nuts!

 

[manning]

My thermostat is set at 80 right now.

We go straight from A/C to heat in Austin, right now it is still A/C. I am ready for fall...

Our heating bill is never over $60ish, but cooling kills us. You just can't win.

Is your house insulated? When our company moved a bunch of our people from chicago to houston many had new houses built and insulated them. Many natives laughed at them for wasting their money until .... they heard about the much lower bills....both for A/C and heating.

 

[locolala]

For now we keep our house in the upper 60s. It feels good in my room right now, a little cool but I like that for when I'm sleeping. I know that when we move to Alaska, the 60s will feel great after the -20 outside, lol. That would be one benefit to living on base... no utility bills!

 

[CKmomma]

Right now I have nothing on at all.

until i read the next sentence I thought you were awfully friendly to be telling us on the Dis about your nakedness!!!

Oh man, it's Monday and my caffeine hasn't kicked in apparently

Back to the topic at hand- I have an 18 mo old and a 6 month old and we kicked on the heat this weekend. It's at 72 while we sleep.
Stupid drafty old house loses heat so quickly! Not dumping money into insulating this one since we're designing the next one!
We have a programmable thermostat but unfortunately my husband worked rotating swing shifts and that doesn't work with his schedule! We are both starting new jobs this week and maybe we can actually use the dang thing now!

 

[DISdreamin']

until i read the next sentence I thought you were awfully friendly to be telling us on the Dis about your nakedness!!!

I had the same thought when I read that post, followed closely by the thought: how the heck high is the heat set in THEIR house?!?

 

[magik]

We got an energy efficient furnace 2 years ago and were told that you should not turn the thermostat way down (more than 2-4 degrees) when you're away....costs more to recoup the temp. We were shocked...and couldn't believe it until we followed the instructions (2nd Year) after not following them the first year, lower costs when the gas prices were higher.

This is the advice I got as well when I had a new heat pump installed. The installer told me all the energy savings you get by adjusting temperature at night or when you're at work gets lost if you vary the temperatures more than 4 degrees.

So, in winter, I keep the house at 69 when home and 65/66 at night or when I'm at work. In the summer, I keep it around 73/74 when I'm home and 76 when I'm not.

 

[Tricia1972]

We have a programmable and have it set to 65 first thing in the morning when we are getting up and taking showers. It drops to 62 after that, and drops to 60 when we're sleeping.

 

[Bearshouse]

I have noticed that no one has said anything about putting plastic up at the windows. We have done this for a few years, we save the plastic from year to year until they start to tear then use the larger ones for smaller windows. We found we save almost $60 a month. Plus we put up plastic on the doors we dont use during the winter months.

Oh and we keep our house at 64 degrees since we all have asthma.

 

[DISdreamin']

I have noticed that no one has said anything about putting plastic up at the windows. We have done this for a few years, we save the plastic from year to year until they start to tear then use the larger ones for smaller windows. We found we save almost $60 a month. Plus we put up plastic on the doors we dont use during the winter months.

If you have older windows, this is definitely a good thing to do! In our new home, our windows are quite decent, so we just have thermal blinds in most rooms (living room, dining room and all bedrooms) that are kept closed for the most part. They cut down on drafts coming off the windows, and they allow us to keep the heat down at a reasonable setting without feeling so cold.

In our old home we HAD to do the plastic over the windows deal - we had $475+ heat bills *with* it in place!! Now we keep the house warmer and our utility bills haven't been over $350 in the cold, dark dead of winter (our budget billing runs $193 a month for gas and electric). Thus, spending $$$ to plastic up our 22 "regular" windows, 2 sidelights on the front door, sliding glass doors and HUGE windows (3) in our entryway would run way more than it could ever save us in the lifetime of the plastic.

 

[dfchelbay]

We're closing off rooms right now, refusing to turn on the heat until at least November. Last year November 10th...trying to last til then. DH broke out the space heater this morning for his office. Closed his office door, turned it on a few minutes, and that's all he needs for a couple hours.

Two years ago, we made it all the way to the Monday before Thanksgiving...let's hope we can push it til then. Heating this house is costly.

 

[tink_lover]

I can't stand to be cold - go figure for a MN girl We keep the house at 72 year round. This year for some reason, everyone's allergies were really bad and we pretty much went directly from air on to heat on a couple of weeks ago.

 

[JandJ]

We replaced our windows and our garage door in 2008 and it made a huge difference. Our old windows were original 1954 and pretty useless at keeping out the hot/cold air. Unless I'm doing heavy house cleaning, like cleaning the floors (the house is all hardwood), the A/C is at 79 or 80 during the day and 78 at night. We put it up to 82 when we go out. By this time of year I can usually open the windows and it stays comfortable. That will last until around March or April, but there will still be days I have to run the A/C. Last year for Thanksgiving we had 13 people and I had the A/C set to 76 because of the hot oven on all day. Once the sun went down we were able to open the windows and it was very pleasant.
Even in Florida we get cold in the winter. It's cold January to February and we don't set it above 66 during the day. Lots of layers and thick socks! If I'm home and cold I use the space heater and that helps. At night we have an electric blanket and a space heater in our bedroom (no kids yet), and the heat goes to about 58-60, depending on my mood