Money saving ideas (mrstjohnson)

 I am guilty of ...buying mini blinds for my windows and not doing anything with them because I like an open feeling.  My last electric bill, and yes it was cold in GA, was rather high,  so I started closing the blinds when the sun went down.  I don't like it, but....I am curious to see if it will help.

Gosh guys!  62 is COLD???  There have been mornings that it was FORTY two inside our "house"! That IS cold. Since DS replaced the circuit we are plugged in to I can actually run BOTH electric heaters at the same time so it's warmer now....usually in the mid 60's at the lowest.  I've actually gotten to where if I'm in a place that is over 65 I'm so uncomfortably hot that I need to go outside to cool off. 

glenmar

Gosh guys!  62 is COLD???  

Well ... yes, Glenda.  Maybe not *freezing* cold but definitely nippy. Remember what the weather was like in Arroyo Grande? I think all of us here in the Golden State have just developed thin blood or something.  At least that's what my grandmother who was from Boston used to say.

Joyce

Joyce, as a former New Englander, it didn't take me long to adjust to AZ heat.  When I came up to WA, I, too, was cold at 62 degrees.  (But you do adjust back to "thicker blood" the more you're exposed to the colder temps.... that is, if you want to be!  But who really wants to be cold!? lol)

cakana

I have to agree. I'm a big wimp and hate being cold. We have our thermostat set for 70 when we're home. It goes off late at night and comes back on at 4:30 AM and goes off at 6:30 AM. We have a down comforter, so we're toasty when we sleep and the house is warm when I get up at 6. It comes on about 5 PM, so it's nice and warm when I get home from work at 6 too.

Well, I live in Pittsburgh, where its cold alot! If we didn't keep the heat this low, even on the budget, we couldnt afford our gas bill. It's ridiculous so right now we have no choice. When we lived in a townhome where we had electric heat, I had it on 70 all the time, it was great.

But I also want to say, I've been out in Cali when a day I thought was nice and warm, was cold to people living there. I went out in shorts and a tank top and I'd see people all bundled up! haha

glenmar

I've actually gotten to where if I'm in a place that is over 65 I'm so uncomfortably hot that I need to go outside to cool off. 

DH gets like that, anything above 66 degrees he gets way too hot, its kind of funny because his ears will start to turn fire red and I'll just know.

jennyx0023

DH gets like that, anything above 66 degrees he gets way too hot,

That's how I am!  I love the cold weather!  DH is very cold natured and he freezes during the winter because I keep the heat set on 65!!

jennyx0023

 

But I also want to say, I've been out in Cali when a day I thought was nice and warm, was cold to people living there. I went out in shorts and a tank top and I'd see people all bundled up! haha

When we first moved to Davis, which is very dry and hot in the summer, we'd sometimes take a run into San Francisco for the day.  SF is only 75 miles west of us. We'd be in shorts and flip flops, get into the city and find a cold, pea soup fog and everyone bundled up in coats.  This would be in July or August.  We finally learned never to go to SF without a complete change of clothes for everyone.

Joyce

fuzzy_dogs_mom

we'd sometimes take a run into San Francisco for the day.  SF is only 75 miles west of us. We'd be in shorts and flip flops, get into the city and find a cold, pea soup fog and everyone bundled up in coats.  This would be in July or August.  We finally learned never to go to SF without a complete change of clothes for everyone.

We lived in Fairfield for some time and one summer our AC went out. It was 100+ so we decided to go to S.F. It was freezing cold and the first thing I wanted to do was find a store to buy a sweatshirt.

 My dad keeps his house at a little under 60 overnight. I just can't take it. I hate visiting him in the winter because I'm so cold at night I can't sleep. I take every single spare blanket in the house and put it on the bed, then double all the covers over, pile pillows on either side of me (for a sleeping bag effect - no escaping air!), and sleep in sweatshirts. I still wake up in the middle of the night, shivering.

We're keeping our new apartment at 68 during the day, and I can barely take it! I typically wear my regular clothes (jeans or flannel pants and a shirt), a sweatshirt, and a very thick, long robe over it. Then socks and sheepskin slippers. And I drink a lot of hot tea. And I *still* feel cold all the time.

Once a thin-blooded Californian, always a thin-blooded Californian? 

Cita

Once a thin-blooded Californian, always a thin-blooded Californian? 

You definitely need those rice bags!  I don't take mine to bed (I have an electric  blanket) but I use them when I'm watching TV.

Joyce

 Speaking of heat, I usually turn the heat right down when I leave.  The dogs are more comfortable that way and since nobody is home, its not a big deal.  When we get back in the door I just go over and crank it back up and if we have to we keep coats on till its warm enough to take them off. 

That said, yesterday when I left for work Tyler stayed home, so I left the heat on for him.  The girls were in daycare and it was just him home.  Well he decided to do some cleaning while I was gone(amazing I know! don't worry he patted himself on the back til his shoulder hurt) and found that it gets mighty warm in here when you're actually doing something.  By the time I got here, he was in shorts and no shirt.  Uh....its the middle of winter.  If you are warm enough to break out the swim trunks, the heat is toooooooo high!  Turn it down!  No, not Tyler.  He was minutes away from opening a window...Honestly, sometimes I can almost understand why people can get physically abusive...

huskymom

   He was minutes away from opening a window...Honestly, sometimes I can almost understand why people can get physically abusive...

When we lived in student housing there would always be people from a country that didn't have heating for homes because it wasn't needed there or AC for the same reason.  It used to amaze me how many people would crank the heat all the way up then open the windows to cool off or who would go away for a week at a time in the summer and leave the AC running on high so the apartment would stay cool.  Back then the university paid for utilities in student apartments and I always wondered why they never bothered to explain to residents how to use the heat and AC.

Joyce

Hey, I spent 7 years in CA and a year in GA before I came up to the frozen tundra, and I can take it.  I don't LIKE it, but I can take it.

During the day I do layer.  Warm socks, usually slippers too since the floors tend to get damp with the in and outs of the dogs.  But, I make certain that the layers on TOP are easily removed for when I get too warm.  Remember, we don't have heat in the bedroom.  I turn on the space heater in the bathroom for the cats, but can't leave the door open or the dogs go in and bother them, and/or eat cat litter, either fresh or recycled.  I go to bed in my sweat pants and a SLEEVELESS shirt.  The socks come off before I get in.  The pants usually come off a couple hours into sleep.  Most mornings I wake up too hot.

Guess I'm just made of sterner stuff.....