How do you handle your cold weather home expenses?

[smokeyblue]

I'm trying my hardest to buy a house. I have put out over $60k in rent in last 10 years! I thought my income was too low, but after some research it might actually be a possibility.

My biggest worry is the winter expense of heat and snow plowing. I live in one of the snowiest and cold places in the US. Plowing at its cheapest is $20/time when the snow falls, and it falls a lot! I was thinking that putting a set amount in a utilities account year round to offset the winte costs. How do you handle these expeses?

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

our utility company has a "fixed" rate program. This means they take out a set rate based on your usage (ours is $75 a month). Then when you use more fuel in the winter your cost dont sky rocket. Worth looking into. The snowest place in the US? What state (just being nosey!)

 

[mamaLori05]

are you able to shovel or run a snowblower on your own? I know it's not the most enjoyable task, but we've never paid for anyone to do our plowing. We live in a very snowy state as well. If not, maybe there will be a middle or high school student that would be willing to do it for less, depending on how long of a driveway you have?

As for heating, you can do what the pp mentioned. You can also make sure you "winterize" your home and that should help too. If windows are leaking, put plastic over them, baby plugs in leaky outlets, basically find a way to cover any drafts in the house. If really interested, We Energies does a thing where they will come out to your house and run some tests to tell you where your biggest heat loss areas are. That way you can do what you need to do to try and correct those problems.

 

[smokeyblue]

I live in Michigan. Our average snowfall is around 140 inches/year. It's not a long driveway, but it isnt short either. I guess I'll put it this way, it's not shovel-length but it would be snowblowable for a dedicated person! My car gets stuck easily that dont think I'd be able be stingy on the snow removal.

I have heard on people who are on a "budget" plan like one of you suggested, that would probably be a good idea. It's only 1000sq feet and has new windows, doors and siding so I hope it is pretty heat efficient, I haven't asked for the averages yet.

 

[kacaju]

we are on the budget plan and I love it. Every month on my bill I can see if I am over or under budget. This way, once a year (March for me) I have to pay the difference (if there is one) but I know what it is and can plan for that

 

[Mommee]

In the summer we have lawn maintenance costs-mower gas, fertilizer, spraying for wasps, mulch, etc. so it works out pretty close to what we pay in plowing. Last year we were plowed 7 times-all the other snowfalls were under 3 inches and didn't need it.

 

[sharonmickey]

As PPs suggested keep utilities on a budget plan, they adjust my payments once or twice throughout the year to match the usage. I keep the thermostat at 62 unless the kids are visiting then it goes up to 65.

As for snow removal, I get up early and shovel - my driveway is fairly long for this area but it saves me money. (We've had more than 50 inches of snow so far this month.) Perhaps if you do not want to shovel you could get a snowblower.

Good luck on you decision to purchase a home.

 

[Gigi22]

Interesting--around here you can get a seasonal contract with companies that have snowplows. It is a set fee for the season, no matter how much it snows. The exception was one really snowy year where the companies asked for more $$. It had snowed so much, no one minded paying extra. DH and I have our own snowblower--when it is no longer useable, we will go to a seasonal snowplow service.

OP--does your house have insulation? Also, how old is your furnace, and is it high efficiency? You should be able to check fairly easily, and it will make a big difference in your heating costs.

 

[hsmamato2]

shovel your own,and save on bills for the gym! or if your driveway is extra long,buy a snowblower on craiglist.....

 

[sharbear]

We moved from an old house to a newer house with a better furnace and windows. I found out that our costs are much lower than my smaller house. In the other house I was on the budget plan and that worked out really well. In this house it's not that high so I don't really worry about the winter months. Check this out and ask what the utility costs are. You may find that with your tax break from interest and property taxes, your monthly costs won't be too much higher than what you are paying.

I'm in northern michigan and we also get alot of snow. We only had our driveway plowed once and it was a fortune! We purchased a snow blower and that works better for us. Look on craigslist, sometimes they have good deals. Also in this area we have places that recondition and sell snowblowers.

 

[vicki_c]

Interesting--around here you can get a seasonal contract with companies that have snowplows. It is a set fee for the season, no matter how much it snows. The exception was one really snowy year where the companies asked for more $$. It had snowed so much, no one minded paying extra. DH and I have our own snowblower--when it is no longer useable, we will go to a seasonal snowplow service.

That's what I was going to suggest. You might pay more than necessary some years, less than other years, but at least you know going into the season how much it's going to cost. That's what my parents have. We had a monster snowblower when we lived in snow country and did our own (well DH did!). Compared to the price of the contracts @ that time and the price of our snowblower, it would have taken 5 years to make those 2 things break-even, but we preferred doing it ourselves.

And you can get smaller snowblowers that aren't terribly expensive.

 

[amberlynnhawkins]

I don't know about the snow plowing costs (I live in Alabama) but other than budget billing, my husband & I invested in a liquid propane heater. It's a cost up front, but it's really saved us in the long run. That way we don't have to run electric heat all the time. Plus, we think propane heats better than electric. Usually we have the propane heat running while at least one of us is at home and turn the electric heat on while we're both gone or asleep. Also, while neither of us is home, we set the thermostat low enough to just keep us from seeing our breath when we get home!

 

[budbeerlady]

We also live in MI. Our driveway only gets plowed IF I cannot get out. We gave our guy a set inch agreement so he doesn't come very often. Dh will dig out the end where the county plows block it up and also up by the house. I think we were plowed out once so far this year and 5 times last year, we have heavy lake effect.

Also when I car shop we make sure it sits higher up so I am not plowing snow, our road is one of the last to be plowed!

For propane call around. Each company can vary greatly for price!!!! We are on the budget plan and I pay $75 a month this year, my highest was $100 per month and our lowest year ever was $45 a month. I do call around each year to make sure my company is still the lowest around.

We also will do the clear window insulators in the bedrooms where it doesn't show and we keep our heat around 65 on a programmable thermostat.

 

[smokeyblue]

I'm feeling a bit better about this. It's forced air natural gas. The furnace is 12 years old I think. So not too new, but still not too old. I'm just glad to hear that bills arent sky high. My b/f has a terribly drafty old home, keeps his thermostat really low, I'd say it's about 1500 sq ft and his bills are over $250 in the worst months (he is not on a budget plan). ,

As far as the snow removal . . . I'll have to look around for contracts. My brother actually plows professionally and does this, but he lives an hour away. I might be able to get away with snowblowing with an occasional supplemental plow on the bad days. I have a co-worker with 4 wheel drive that lives a few blocks away that works most the same days I do or I can call a cab if I'm really stuck. I just have horrific memories of my dad snowblowing when I was a kid. He was out there for hours and he would come in and looked like he'd just run a marathon!

 

[scrapquitler]

I'm trying my hardest to buy a house. I have put out over $60k in rent in last 10 years! I thought my income was too low, but after some research it might actually be a possibility.

My biggest worry is the winter expense of heat and snow plowing. I live in one of the snowiest and cold places in the US. Plowing at its cheapest is $20/time when the snow falls, and it falls a lot! I was thinking that putting a set amount in a utilities account year round to offset the winte costs. How do you handle these expeses?

You can do a budget plan with the electric company to pay the bills evenly over the whole year, but usually they only do that after they can see 1 year of your usage to estimate. If you have oil/gas you can sometimes do they same or pay for a set amount in the summer when prices are lower.

As for the plowing, you can shovel or use a snowblower yourself instead of paying someone to plow. I live in Vermont, and instead of paying per plow, we pay a guy a set price for the season, and he plows whenever there is at least 4" of snow. The choice with him (for our driveway) was we could pay $40 each time he comes (and in a big storm he often comes more than once) OR we could pay $600 for the season (Nov 15-Mar 15). Its a safe bet that he'll need to come more than 15 times in the winter, so we take the contract rate. Maybe some of the guys in your area do the same.

 

[sharbear]

If you are in the snowbelt, just get a two stage snowblower. More expensive at first but it only takes my H 15 minutes at most to clear the driveway.