Brooke emailed in:
I know that keeping the thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer can be a real money saver. My question what temperatures do people keep their homes at that balance saving money and comfort? -Brooke
We all have different families and circumstances, so what works for one family won’t necessarily work for others. However, just for fun, I’d love to hear what temperature you keep your house at in winter?
Long Island, NY; We keep the house at 72 in the winter and 74 in the summer .
Southeast Pennsylvania, 52 winter day, none winter night, none summer
I guess this would be the first comment from MD.
We leave it at 70 all day during winter and tune it down to 62 during the night. Love sleeping under the covers with low temperatures.
In summer we keep it between 76-78
I prefer the winter over the humidity of summer anytime!
60 degrees in the winter, off during the summer.
Live in MA
Here’s a few tips…
(And I must correct the person that stated the avg desktop Pc uses 2000 watts per hour (maybe if your pc is from the 50’s and takes up an entire Room!!).
-Average PCs consume 185 watts per/hour (on the high end). But yes, make sure you automatically set your pc to sleep after 20 minutes, at the most it will require 2-5 watts in sleep mode. That will save you maybe $10-20 a MO depending on usage.
-Do not leave cell phone chargers plugged in the walls. Or anything meant to provide a continuous current that doesn’t have an on/off switch.
-If you have a laundry room, consider using an interior exhaust ventilation system in the winter (maybe 15 minutes to set up and $15 to buy).
A dryer is literally a 220Volt small industrial heater; designed to dry clothes and waste the heat.
As most people only do laundry when they are home -it Will save you a small chunk of money.
I vary.
Sometimes I like 71-74 in the winter and sometimes 63-66, I’m weird.
As for the summer I like it cold. At night I’m OK with mid 70s though.
Doesn’t make any difference what season it is at all. 66 at night, 70-71 during the day. I don’t see why I should care what the temperature is outside when my comfort is exactly the same. Then again I am willing to pay for the absolute top of the line systems and live in a 2015 home. It’s not that expensive to heat or cool a home that’s sealed and that has variable heating and variable cooling. The thermostats are accurate to 0.5 degrees and each floor is temperature controlled and programmable over a Smart Phone.
Well, we live in Miami, FL and it’s pretty much summer all year round. We typically keep the central air at 78-79 all year, because that’s the natural temperature indoors without the air. Outside it’s usually in the 80s and in summer it can jump to the 90s. If its a nice day we’ll open the doors and let in some nice ocean breeze, but we usually don’t do this because the humidity outside makes everything inside gross and sticky. If it’s really hot we’ll turn on the ceiling fans or eat some ice cream.
What ever temperature suits you is perfectly fine but we have more than enough people admitting they bundle up with many layers and sit under blankets but keep heat down in winters. No amount of saving is worth it. Yes and wearing normal clothes in winters inside the home is not abnormal. 68 in winters daytime, 65 at night, just window units in the summer keeping temp at 73. We are in upstate NY where it is 14f feels like 5 outside right now.
Florida
77 Summer
74 Winter
I’m in Florida. I like to keep it at 68-69 in Summer. As soon as the weather starts getting cooler, usually only for a couple of hours at first, I open the windows to save $. Now that it’s Winter my husband and I keep changing it. We don’t agree on a temp. I do well at 67 but he wants it higher. It was on 69 last night and I burned up. We also have a Tempurpedic mattress which holds on to body heat. I felt like I was being cooked, even with a small fan.
In Wisconsin…post menopause, so I like it cool, but I freeze my hubby if I go too cool. In winter, we like 70 while awake watching TV, but 68 if we are moving around, cleaning house or sleeping. In summer, I keep AC at 73, set it and leave it, but crank it down to 68 if I am cleaning. I hate sweating. Combined heat and electric is $145 a month for 1600 sq foot home with budget plan (set up to pay same each month regardless of use) and we get a discount due to us allowing public service to have a switch on our AC unit that allows them to shut it off if local demand gets high. I have never noticed them shut it off, so, it hasn’t affected me, but I will accept the savings! We use all fluorescent bulbs for lighting and it is just hubby and me.
We keep our house around 62 degrees farenheight in the winter- that is if we are awake. At night we bundle up for the arctic and turn off the thermostat and wake up to a morning of 56 degrees farenheight. No kidding.
Austin Texas, 69 in the summer and 64 in the winter
60-62 is plenty warm enough for me. My parents always had the thermostat at 66 so that’s probably my upper limit. When I go to somebody else’s house in the winter and they have the heat even at 68, I’ll be sweating bullets. It’s so uncomfortable. Sometimes you go to someone’s house and they have the heat set so high they’re walking around in shorts and a t-shirt like it’s summer. That’s just absurd to me. In the summer, the thermostat isn’t set to anything. I guess that’s only for people with central AC? The temperature inside is whatever it happens to be on that day.
I like to keep it around 55-60 during the winter, and 88 during the summer. I like in Indiana
During summer people start feeling cold below 75 deg, during winter start feeling cold below 65 deg. Keep the heat or a/c 1 or 2 degrees above those numbers.
I can’t believe how many people keep a.c. at 78 in summer. Too hot!!! 74 -75 is good for me.
69 summer 64 winter In Texas.
74-75 is WAY WAY WAY TOO hot… I like it 67-69 at night and 70-73 during the day. I dont understand why people have different temperatures for different seasons. The temperature has to stay a neutral temperature for me. I have 3 computers running 24/7 and my bill never goes over 100$.. 50$ was my lowest.
75 is actually on the lower end of what you should keep your temp at during the summer.
I have lupus and get literally sick (like, in the bathroom sick) and will have to open the freezer if I don’t have the AC on in the summer. I live in GA and it gets way too hot. I swell up like a balloon!
That being said, I do TRY to keep it no lower than 73 but it’s usually more like 71 on the 85+ degree days.
I went to go adjust my heat just now (it’s working on getting down to 40 but “real feel” is a couple degrees colder and the humidity tends to make it a bit frigid) and was wondering what people normally set theirs to so I googled it. Found moneysavingmom in the search results and she’s one of my favorite bloggers so I’ve spent about 10 minutes reading 5 years of comments on this hahaha
Anyway I’m thinking I’m going to stick with the 69-71 I’ve been doing when it’s gotten down to freezing a couple times this month! I like bundling up in blankets but damn, gotta be able to move around lol
78 is not hot at all.
I live in deep Texas where we only have two seasons: summer and not summer. So central AC is a necessity unfortunately. In summer I set the air to 79. Winters are mild So don’t use heat much but it’s set at 65/66. I like to force my hubby and cat to snuggle me 🙂 and I can wear my snuggie to bed!
There’s already plenty of comments, but I’ll leave mine. In summer we’re at 81 while we’re at work, 78 when we’re home, and back to 81 after we go to bed (we use ceiling fans while we sleep and in our office, which has no duct work). In winter we’re at 65 when we’re not home, 70 when we’re home, and back down to 65 when we’re in bed. We use a space heater in our office, which gets FRIGID in the winter.
No A/C for summer, but in the winter we keep our thermostat at 62 daytime and 58 nighttime……. But – we juat had another baby so I convinced my husband to turn the main floor’s heat up to 65. 😉 We do have a woodstove in the basement, but heating is tricky to maintain b/c our winters can get down to 40 below zero.
During the day, we keep the temp around 74 in the summer, around 70 in the winter. At night, it’s 65 year-round. None of us can sleep if it’s warmer than that, but guests at our house tend to “freeze” so we keep piles of blankets in the guest room for them to snuggle under and a electric heater for them to use if they can’t stand it.
68-70 during the day and 50 at night in the winter with heating blankets on all of our beds. I love the programmable thermostat so I can set it to bring the temperature back up before we wake up in the morning. Makes it so much easier to get out of bed on those cold days!
We have gas heat and keep the house at 67 during the day and 63 at night. Our upstairs has individual base board electric heaters in each bedroom so they are at 65 at night and 55 during the day. We use the air in the summer when the house gets to 80 and cool it to 75 or so and then at night the ac is shut off except in the bedrooms.
In the winter, we keep it set on 64 degrees during the day. At night, we turn it down to 60 degrees. We dress for the weather and wear at least 2 layers on top a sweater and a long sleeve shirt. We stay comfortable. We also have an Eden Pure heater my dad in law purchased for us that runs all day and night. It works like a dream! We have gotten used to a “cooler” home. In fact, when we visit others we typically roast because we are used to our cooler! We live in the Chicagoland area.
I keep mine at 60 n the winter n 69 n the summer I livd n Minnesota in I work n 40 degree comfort all day long
In the midlands of SC, we keep the temp around 72-74 year round.
We live in Northern Nevada (high desert with usually low humity). We have the heat at 68 (while we are up and at home) and it automatically goes to 60 at night. We have quilts for everyone to sit under in the living room.
We usually keep it about 69 – 70 during the day, about 63 at night. I’d like to keep it cooler at night, but that’s what my husband likes!
We live in SE Alaska and buy heating oil. The cost is around $4 per gallon. That being said we keep the heater at 62 in the day and 60 at night. We often supplement with space heaters because electric is less expensive. I have some friends that keep their home cooler and when I visit I come prepared with wool socks and sweaters ( :
We live in Southwest Ohio and in the winter we keep the therm. b/w 68(that keeps Hub happy) and 72 (that keeps me happy). We are constantly at war over the therm. He turns it down, I turn it up…on and on and on…Not a great way to keep your heating bill down by the way.
In Minnesota, we keep it 68-70 when home and 65 at night. Like to sleep cool. During summer we keep air at 77-78. We do have a wood burning stove to help heat up the room we spend most of our time in during the winter.
We keep our heat at 65 during the day and 55 at night (It never kicks on at night and we set it to start heating up 1 hour before we need to be up and showered). We love to sleep in cooler temperatures under a thick blanket.
In the summer we keep the AC to 78 in the day and 74 at night.
Wow! We must definitely be in the minority here because reading through everybody’s responses I’m a little shocked!!! We keep our air conditioning at about 74 in the summer and use ceiling or floor fans if it’s really hot (we live in the Ohio River Valley so the humidity can be deadly and 80 degree days can easily feel like 100!) In the winter we keep it set at about 72 during the day and have it programmed to kick down to 65 at night. I’d rather keep it cooler in the winter when we can pile on blankets and sweaters than sweat through the summer days just to save a few dollars. In the spring and fall when temps are milder we don’t use either and open windows and use ceiling fans when needed. That saves us a lot during those months. We also went to levelized billing so that we could better budget our electric bill. It can fluctuate as much as $40/$50 a month, but that’s better than having a $150 bill in the spring and following it with a $450 bill in the winter!
This has been fun to read through! We fall in line with the cheap side of things. We burn corn with a stove that my husband and a friend of ours built. We have roughly 1600 sq. ft. to heat (we don’t heat our basement…just a play area / workout [treadmill] and storage) and we keep ours at about 65 in the winter (Northern Indiana…some days temps below zero) and in the summer the central air is set at 80. Yes, we do sit around with blankets while watching TV, but if you are up and moving around, it is usually pretty comfortable. In the summer, if the upstairs gets too hot, we just head to the basement since it stays around 60 year round. We run our ceiling fans and keep the windows open as long as possible before turning on the air since it is not too many days that hit higher than 80 anyway!
When we moved to South Florida, I thought I would die inside our house in the summer. We live in a 101 year old house with no insulation…..seriously, none. We got new windows our first year here which helped, but I remember telling my husband, “I can’t live like this.”
Three years later and our families make fun of us when they come to visit and beg us to pumped up the air. During the hot summer days we keep our upstairs thermostat at 77 and downstairs 76.
In winter, we keep upstairs heat on 67 and downstairs 68.
After a couple of $290 electric bills for a 1670 sq. ft. house you learn that sweating is worth it.
I live in Southern Ohio. Summer is at 80 when the heat index is normal, when it’s high I set it at 75. For winter last year, I kept it on 75/76 and only moved it up to 78 when the chill factor was below zero. This year I plan to keep it at 74/75 and wear thicker clothes and drink more hot chocolate. Gas prices have sky rocketed. HEAP helps but not much with so many people out of work.
Thank goodness there is someone else with temps set in low 70’s instead of all the 67-68’s as my house needs insulation in the old part of house as living room seems cold and freeze even at 73 in winter.
If my thermostat was at 74, I’d have to be a nudist because I’d be so uncomfortably hot. Different strokes, different folks, I guess.
In the summer 69 at night and in the day between 72-74. And in the winter mid 70s both day and night . sometimes maybe a little higher.
These girls I work with are always cold and keep the heat set on at least 74 during the winter. I have allergy/sinus problems and can’t breath with it that hot. I even dress lighter than they do! Was just checking to see the percentage of people who set their thermostats that high. It would be so much easier for them to add clothes than for me to take clothes off (especially in the office). They all even have bedroom shoes, blankets and fuzzy socks in their offices, but don’t use them. Just makes no sense to me.
Oh my goodness I go through the same thing! I live in Texas and right now at night it’s in the 40-50’s but gets hotter in the day. My Inlaws keep the heater at 77 degrees. i told them they can put sweaters on because I can’t walk around naked and they refuse . They said below 76 is way too cold. It’s always a big fight .
We keep it at 65- in the winter during the day and 50 or 55 at night. We use down blanket +a comforter and warm wool sweaters. In the summer it’s 80 or 78. Turn it off when we leave. We live in Texas,but I’m raised in Germany on an old farm,where we had no central heating….
Oh, I guess I should mention that I live in Central Ohio!
Fall = 61-63*F
Winter = 65-67*F
Spring = 58-60*F
Summer = 77*F
I’m so cheap! Also I love not having to pay more than $150 COMBINED gas & electric, no matter what season it is. God bless blankets & fans!
I guess our weather is pretty moderate in the NW compared to some of you folks. And that’s good, cause I’m a wimp! Don’t like to be too hot or too cold. Winter temps are 69 night, 72 day. Summer – 72 night, 75 day.
Completely agree with you. I do the same thing and live in Pacific North West like 30 mins from Seattle. The only thing is I set the house to 70 when we aren’t home. But for the most part it’s 69 at night and 72 during the day in Winter. 72 at night in Summer and 75 during the day.
We live in central NJ… summertime the thermostat is set anywhere between 75 and 78 degrees; wintertime, it’s in the mid 60’s… if it were up to me, it would be at 60 degrees, as I hate the heat and would rather put on some fleecy socks and pj’s to keep warm…
I live in Dallas, TX. We keep it @ 80 in summer and 75 in winter.
I realize after reading this that most everyone keeps theirs in the 60s during the winter, but I just can’t take it that chilly! Our house has gas heat and we are on a concrete slab so our bills are super affordable in the winter. Summer….whole ‘nother story.
We keep our house around a constant 68 to 70 year round in Massachusetts. I am really surprised to see how many people use space heaters in their kids rooms. I always thought they were very dangerous to use. Any specific brands you all are using that are reliable and you trust? Our small bathroom in our old house we are renovating does not have any heat source directly in it so I would love to find a space heater to put in there to get us through the winter. Thanks!
Buy the ones that look like radiators. Very safe and efficient
Summer-78
Winter-68
I live in Texas.
Same with us 78/68
Help…….Hi I live in tx what is best temp for this cold days I don’t like heat very well just want it moderate thanks
I live in St. Louis, Missouri. It can get to -10 degrees in the winter or 112 degrees in the summer.
We keep the heat at 65 degrees at night and 67 degrees during the day. Before kids, I had it at 65 degrees all day.
During the summer, I keep it at 74 degrees. Before the hubby comes home from work, the programmable thermostat was programmed to go to 72 degrees.
We live in the mountains of Colorado (about 8,500 ft elevation). We don’t have a/c, so we just open the windows during the summer/fall. In the winter I have the programmable thermostat ($25 at Home Depot) set at 62-66 degrees in the winter. It may be a bit chilly, but we have plenty of blankets!
Oh, and our electric bill was literally cut in half when we installed the programmable thermostat and set it so low. The previous owners had it set at 74…yuck! We now average $85/mo.
69 all the time! In the summer we keep the a/c on 74-ish during the day, but 69-70 at night.
I live in WA state and I have A frame house that is super cold in winter and blazing hot in summer. Our electric bills are ridiculous. .around $275 per month and that is with propane heat! Propane is an expensive heating source for us keeping the thermostat at 64/65 degrees costs us $350 for around 30 days. So we have our thermostat off and deal with a house at 61-62 degrees.
Debra, is the house insulated?
If it is add more to it have it doubled or even tripled, it will save you in the long run.
Install a wood-burning stove wood is a lot cheaper then propane and is cost-efficient and will heat the whole house you won’t have to be cold anymore
Why don’t you get a pellet stove .? I have one it cost me from 2-4 dollars a day to heat my house at 80 degrees
That depends on what state you live in, i have lived in NJ now since 2011, I had PSE&G as my electric and gas company, I would advise people to learn how to read their meters, and learn the difference in kWh and how they are calculated as well as therms for gas.
We had a 2,040 Sq ft town house, I kept the central heat and AC on 70 year round. My electric bill varied but the average monthly was $140.00
We bought a house in June, 2015 we have two different companies for electric and for gas now, but by monitoring both gas and Electric, my bill last month for Electric was under $50.00 and my gas bill was also under $50.00.
When some one tells me their light bill was $400 and they don’t know why I look them in the eye and say yes you do you just don’t want to care until you get the bill.
Example; if you have a Desk top Computer and you do not turn it off, you can calculate how much it is costing you,
Take the Voltage of the computer and Multiply that by the Amps of the computer to get the wattage.
110 volts times 10 amps= 1100 watts
That is 1100 watts per hour, there are 24 hours in a day that’s 26,400 ways per day, in a month that is 792,000 watts.
kWh= Kilowatt hour meaning 1000 watts equal 1 kWh so 792,000 watts divide by 1000 = 792 kWh.
Most electric companies Charge so much for delivery and so much for supply, per KWh, plus a customer service fee, Atlantic City Electric charges
About 0.1812605 cents per kWh so when you multiply that with 792 kWh
This is just for leaving the Computer on 24/7 is costing you $143.55 a month.
This would only be if you ran your computer to the maximum output of your power supply 24/7 which I can tell you will not last a month. Average house desktop computer will hover around 18-25 watts per hour drastically changing your numbers but your idea is correct. Leaving every thing on costs money but by far the worst culprit is electric heat in a poorly insulated house and close those windows
We live in CT and keep it around 65 in the winter. We don’t have central AC so basically we turn on a fan in the summer or one window unit in extreme heat. I am usually cold in the winter so I wear my fleece bathrobe over my regular clothes all the time during the winter. We are going to install a wood stove soon to help with heating costs so I am super excited about having a warm house without fearing our oil bills!
I live in West Virginia. We keep it on 70 in the summer and bump it down to about 65 during the winter. We love our blankets!
Winter 68, A/C set on 78…Indiana
Ohio, we keep it at 70 in the winter and the air around 76-78 in the summer.
Winter heat is at 55 during the day while we are at work and school and goes up to 58 for a few hours in the evening then back to 55 for sleeping. Summer is hot here in southern Virginia so I have window units in 2 bedrooms for sleeping in the summer heat. I can’t sleep when I am hot. No temp setting, just run it on low during sleeping hours.
live in central pa
two story house, gas central heat with one zone
summer–we keep it at 74 during the day and usually 78 overnight, though the upstairs is always much warmer. we have a fan in our bedroom and will be putting them in the kids bedroom before next summer as their room gets very warm
winter–we keep it at 67 during the day and it drops to 63 overnight. when it is very cold, we put a space heater in the kids room (still in cribs so they can’t get to it) to warm things up. hubby and i have a heated mattress pad and flannel sheets that keep us warm.
68 in the winter, 73 in summer. Even then in the southwest our AC runs almost constantly. In the winter the kids like to warm up in the morning with some warm oatmeal, blankets, and sit in front of a fake fire space heater.
We keep it at 60 in the winter, and since we don’t have the option of A/C, it stays whatever the outdoor temp is in the summer. In winter, we often have no power and since our house is heated by electricity… “Plan B” footie pajamas for kids (even “big kid” sizes are sold now…), down comforters on all the beds (they can be machine washed) and hot tea/cocoa/cider from the camp stove (outside of course). We are moving next year back into a home with wood heat, and I am looking forward to being toasty-even then the power is out!
We keep ours on 62 degrees in the winter and 78 in the summer. Luckily though we haven’t had to run either air or heater in about a month as we live about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, TN. (Helps too that we have 3 large dogs- Rottweilers, and one tiny chihuahua. Amazing how much heat they produce and all of them love to snuggle in the cold weather!)
Colorful Colorado
Summer Settings
AC: Daytime 78, Night: Off (use windows and fans). If gone for an extended period of time, off.
Winter Settings
Heater: Daytime: 64, Night: 60 (use sweaters, socks, extra blankets). If we are gone out of the house for an extended period of time drop it to 50.
My question is .. what is your method of heat or A/C and how much is your average bill?
I am in a suburb of St Paul, MN and we have the following:
AC – Daytime 78, Night 76 which is electric and our bills have been about $150 a month this summer (extra hot)
Heat – Daytime 70, Night 68 which is natural gas and our bills are about $150 a month
Now, we are on budget for natural gas and since our water heater is the only other gas appliance our bill when the heat is not running is a little over $25 a month. Our monthly budget was $80 a month last year, but we had such a large credit, it dropped to $8 a month for about 4 months and now it has evened out to $45 a month.
In South Central PA – We keep it at about 62 when we are up and around and turn it down to 58 at night and when we are at work. It can get pretty cold outside, but when it is 30 outside and you come into a nice warm (in comparison) house it feels good. Also, it is just my boyfriend and I and we like to cuddle up on the couch with lots of blankets and watch movies and eat popcorn in the winter.
I live in New England – out house was built in the 1870s
Summer – we have no central air – so windows open most of the time, except when it will be extremely hot, we close the house up in the AM to keep in the cool air from the night
Winter – 63 in the day, then 58 at night – you will get use to the cooler temp.
We are in Southeastern PA and we keep our central air at 76 during the summer. I am going to try to keep the heat at 68 this winter(lower if I can get away with it). We do have 3 zones in our house though. Hubby was already complaining yesterday because he was too cold and it was only 69 in the house. LOL
We live in NW Arkansas. Our thermostat is always set at 68 degrees in winter. Our house is poorly insulated, so in the dead of winter, we have to use a few electric oil filled radiators in the bedrooms and living room to keep our heat pump from running constantly.
We live in southeast Idaho and our winters get frigid. We usually don’t make it above 0 degrees between December and March. We keep our thermostat at about 65 because we use a wood burning stove to do most of our heating.
Wow! It’s so crazy to read all of these! We live in Southern California fairly close to the beach, so our weather is temperate all the time. We don’t have central heat or air. I don’t even know how to set a thermostat! We have no AC, but we have ceiling fans. We have wall heaters in each of the rooms that we almost NEVER turn on. We keep our windows open almost all year round. It’s 8:00 am and I’m sitting here in a t-shirt next to an open window. I guess I’ve never been so happy to live here!! Our electrical bill usually runs in the $40 range per month.
Summer we keep it at 82-85 and turn it down when we’ll be home, to 78-80 or a little less if we’re busy around the house. Winter, somebody likes it cold, so between 65-68 except at night when it might be lower.
We live in southeast Michigan. We keep our heat at 65 from 10 pm to 6 am and from 11 am to 5 pm. The rest of the time it is set at 68. We are fortunate to have a southwest exposure on the back of the house and large windows that help heat the house on sunny days.
We keep it at 68 in the winter. Anything to save on the cost of using gas heat.
In the DFW area:
Summer – 80 during the day, 85 at night. Upstairs/downstairs thermostats set about 5 degree’s higher when we are not in those parts of the house.
Winter – 67 during the day, 58 during the night. Again, upstairs/downstairs thermostats set about 5 degree’s lower when we are not in those parts of the house.
And I have to say… we freeze during the winter at that temp so tend to wear sweaters and use lots of blankets. I know those in the north will laugh at us freezing at those temps – but we are so used to the 100+ heat that anything below 80 is pretty cold.
Okay, I start the winter thermostat at 68 but usually make it down to 66 toward the end of winter…allows us a chance to acclimate to the changing seasons…plus the bill is always pricer in Jan & Feb so I try to make sure we are conservative those two months for sure. With the ac I start us at about 82 and maybe dip every now and again to 78. Although any time the temp outside reads below 78, window are open & my whole house fan is used to pull the cool into the house. If I can cool the house in the summer then my air doesn’t actually kick on until around 2 PM!
Wow…this is an enlightening post. I’m a southern bell…so maybe I just like it hot…when the units are on..which they haven’t been for the month of September and litte in August…
Summer:76
Winter: 74
If you have effective tips to save on the bills (for instance, from one source I heard that it was good to keep doors closed to isolate rooms…and recently I’ve heard its better to keep the doors open for circulation in the home), I’d love to hear them!
We live in MA and keep the heat at 60. We all have down comforters and fleece pajamas so we are plenty warm- we had the attic re insulated a few years ago and that makes a huge difference in comfort. We also have a fireplace in the family room and love to hang out there in the winter. If it is really cold we will turn it up but we try not to.
I grew up in Maine living in an old underinsulated victorian house heated mostly with wood and unheated bedrooms so 60F sounds toasty to me!
68-69 in winter, 77-78 in summer; we have a newer home in Nebraska; my daughter’s room is above the garage and gets cold in the winter, so I won’t go lower than 68 even at night
We keep ours at 68 during the day and then after midnight it drops to 60.
Summer time A/C set at 82 and ceiling fans on only in rooms that we are currently in.
early Fall – Open up the doors and windows between 7am – 9am to cool off the house then pull the shades down, crack the windows open and shut the door. A/C off unless it gets to be above 85 in the house.
late Fall to Winter – Open up the shades in the afternoon to warm up the house. Start using the wood stove when it’s in the 40s but, Don’t use the central heat for back up. I live in NE Texas.
When we are home and awake, it tends to be around 67-68. When we sleep or are away, we drop it to 64.
We have a programable thermostat. We too, try to play a family game and not turn it on until sometime in Nov. and/or if it drops at night to 32 or below. If we feel cold, just put on sweats and socks! At night and during the day when we are out of the house, it is set at 65. Early morning and after school until bed, 68, and we’ll bump it up to 70 if it’s super cold outside. Think I read some literature from the utility company that states if you put your thermostat on extreme highs and lows, you run the chance of creating higher bills. Better to keep the temps in a more even range. You might want to check that out with your company. Also, cooler temps are more condusive to a better nights sleep. Snuggle under an extra blanket or try flannel sheets. We like to remember our forefathers and be thankful!
We are lucky to have many very large shade trees around our MN house, so typically we only have to run the A/C when temps get above 95 (as we’re about 10 degrees lower inside with the shade)- we do run fans to create some air flow during the summer. My hubby just cracked and turned on furnace yesterday. Usually we push it as late into the fall as we can, but my nephew is staying with us for the long weekend and he was wondering why our house is so cold- it was only about 60 inside (40s out)- he set the thermoset to 65 and loaned him a sweatshirt!
I hear you on the big trees- we just had to take down the two that shaded the bedrooms and I am not looking forward to next summer’s A/C bill.
I live in Adelaide, South Australia, where we get extremely hot summers and cool to cold winters. In winter we have the heating set to come on at 16C (61F) and in summer the cooling only comes on if it gets above 30C (86F) in the house. Otherwise our bills are too high. Sometimes we change these temperatures for guests as they struggle to cope!
Kate
We live in the Chicago area and haven’t yet turned in our heat. My folks and our family have an annual contest to see who can go the longest! (we usually lose) At night, our heat goes down to 56 and during the day, it’s 60-62, depending on how cold/windy it is. Of course, I turn it up when company comes over, but everyone knows to wear sweaters when they come over. (summer AC is usually around 70-72)
I live in western New York. We are on budget billing (we pay the same amount every month, year round) that totals $271 per month. We had a terribly hot summer, but we try to run the a/c at 78 during the day and 75 at night. The reason we keep it cooler at night is because the upstairs of our home, where the bedrooms are, doesn’t cool off well, so in order to sleep comfortably we have to turn it down. In the winter, we run the heat at 58 at night. We have a programmable thermostat, so it comes up to 63 or 64 around 6 AM when the first person gets up, then up to 66 or 67 around 10 AM, then up to 68 at 4 PM. Sometimes, though, we have to kick it up to 70. We also have a kerosene heater that we use on the main floor of our home from January through March or April. We do have five adults living in our home; last winter, two had jobs outside the home. I should also mention that my husband is a cancer patient, so it’s important for him to be comfortable, especially in the winter.
have you thought about installing an attic fan? We installed one this summer (we’re outside Syracuse) and it really helped with the summer heat in the upstairs bedrooms… at least until the temps got over 87 or so. They aren’t very expensive… $200 or so.
I am a stickler for the 78 in summer and 68 in winter rule. Although this summer our temps here in GA got so high, the air couldn’t even keep up. Once my husband deployed in July I cranked it up to 82 and the air still ran most of the day. Right now is about the perfect time of year for us because I can open up the windows and run the atticffan during the day and it keeps the house about 72-75 and then I shut it all up at night and it warms up to about 78 or so which I like when I sleep!!
Northwest IL – Personally I like my natural gas heat at 70 during the day and 68 at night. A/C I would set at 78. Hubby usually cranks the heat up to 74, and the A/C down to 75. We are always changing it!
We replaced our heating and air last year, wow what a difference!!! I’m more comfortable during the summer at 76, hubby prefers it at 74 (or lower). Not sure yet on the winter. I turned on the heat yesterday and set it originally at 70, but then cranked it up to 72.
we live in NC and i keep the house at 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter (65 at night). we live in a 1700 sqft home (2 stories) and only have one “zone”, so upstairs gets a few degrees warmer.
We bought our first home a year ago. We moved in late fall and turned our heat to 82. When the gas company came by on a Sun asking/checking for leaks since our cost was triple the neighborhoods we went to 72 which is not comfy for me, but a better bill. I use plastic on all the windows, do not heat the finished basement. Our home is 3000 sq ft. I will buy electric heaters this year to keep us comfy.. We keep AC at 76/78 in summer. When I was growing up the top of water would freeze if left in a glass on the counter in winter and you could see your own breath. Needless to say I love being warm in winter and summer now:)
I think we may be the only family in the midwest who keeps their house warmer at night. Last year I tried to take it down to 60/62 at night but we kept getting sick. I switched to 66 at night and 64/62 during the day, lower when it’s just me at home. It seems to be easier to keep warm during the day since I’m moving around more and when my son is home he’s always jumping and running around.
I think a lot of this depends on where you live. We’re near Chicago and keep it at 67-69 in winter and around 76-78 in summer. We have a 20-year old house with windows as old and pay upwards of $200 per month in heating or cooling during the high use winter and summer months. Our house is around 1500 sq. ft. I would love to save more money but with three little ones under 7 we are at the limits of our comfort with frequent overnight wakings! And upgrading windows just isn’t in the budget right now. We’ve already had temps in the 40s this week with overnight lows in the 30s… winter is already here (but I’m holding out hope that it won’t stay this cold this soon)!
72 year ’round
When I owned and operated a daycare, I learned it was not legal to have the temperature set at less than 68 degrees, but that was never a problem as we are a solid 72 degrees year-round household. I am very surprised that people like it as cold as they say on this site.
there is a difference between liking a low heat temperature and liking keeping the extra money in your pocket rather than forking it over to the utility company. 🙂 I like the extra money in my savings account, so I keep the temperature low.
I live in Texas and we’ve had record temps all summer long with over 100 days of over 100 degree weather. With that being said, I keep the A/C on at 81 during the day with ceiling fans on and it goes down to 78 later in the afternoon with the programmable thermostat. We are lucky to live in a 1 story house between 2 2 story houses, so they tend to shield us from the intensity of the sun and it doesn’t get *too* hot. (all being relative!). But our A/C broke down over the summer and you can bet we were willing to pay to have it repaired b/c you can’t live w/o A/C in Texas!
We keep our AC at 78F or 80F, depending on the outside temperature in the summer. We run our heat at 68F during the times we’re home, and 60F when we’re not home and overnight. If it’s really, really cold out we’ll drop the lower temp down to 58F at night. We live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in Minnesota and have natural gas heat and electric AC.
Lea
We have a 2-zone heat with programmable thermostats. When I give in to turning the heat on (usually November), our first floor is set for 67 degrees at 5am and goes down to 65 degrees at 7am. It goes back up to 67 at 3pm, then down to 58 at 10pm. Weekends stays at 67 degrees from 7am-10pm, 58 degrees overnight.
Our second floor where we have our bedrooms goes up to 67 degrees at 5am and goes down to 60 degrees at 7am. Back to 67 at 3pm and down to 58 degrees at 10pm. Again, weekends are 67 degrees from 7am-10pm and 58 degrees overnight. I am chilly during the day and will sometimes sit at my computer with a hot water bottle on my lap. But our gas bill is over $300 per month in the winter at this low temperature.
We have central air, one zone, not programmable. I do not feel it is very efficient, as we have it set at 70-71 degrees and I’m still warm. We are most comfortable when it is set at 68 degrees, but our electric bill is $350 during the three summer months, so I usually don’t set it lower than 71 if I can help it.
We are not on a plan with either our gas or electric company, as when one is high, the other is lower, and they usually balance each other out.
This is funny reading! I live in Southern California (originally from snow country) and when it is 60 degrees in the morning (talking mid-January) I feel frozen. Bear in mind, the houses here are not built for cold and every rental we’ve lived in is SUPER drafty with cheap single pane windows. We never turn the heat on at night, and keep it at 68-70 in the winter. Although, we have a space heater for the baby’s room that stays at 75. In the summer, the air goes on once it hits 80 in the house.
72 in the winter and 75 in the summer
My husband is a quadriplegic, and as a result, cannot control his body temperature. That said, we still try to keep our home at a reasonable temperature. Over the summer, we run our A/C (new last year, yay!) around 72-73 degrees. In the winter, we try to keep it around 70 degrees. It’s a little cooler in the winter than we’d like it, but we have an oil burning furnace, and just don’t want to pay for the oil. Oh, and we live in Southeastern PA.
We live in FL and yesterday we were finally able to turn off our A/C! Yeah! It feels so nice to have fresh air in the house. In the summer it is set at 75 and in the winter the heat is on 70 during the day and 68 at night. But by “winter” I mean pretty much just Jan and Feb. Our winter electric bills are no where near the cost of our summer ones.
I keep it set at 67 during the day and 63 at night(I turn it up when I get up and turn it down right before I go to bed). In the summer it is set at 77 during the day but I crank it to 70 at night. I always try to economize, but I don’t hesitate to turn it up or down as needed for my comfort. Menopause has my internal thermometer all over the place!
Whoa, you all like it cold! We are around 75-80 in the winter and 62-65 in the summer. We have always lived in new, energy effiecient homes and on average pay plans for gas/electric we never pay more than $120 and usually get a credit.
64 during the day and 57 at night–we live in WI so have to be very careful about our heating costs!
I live in the NE corner of North Dakota, where I can get to -50, without including windchill, so we try to keep it at 68 degrees. I cover all windows with plastic to help, and we bundle up at night!
We keep our thermostat at around 60. We have not had to turn on
the heat yet and will hold off as long as possible. We usually dress
warmer if need be.
We keep our air conditioning at 75 in the summer, and the heat on 69 in the winter. We have a wood pellet stove that runs most of the winter here in Ohio, so the heat doesn’t kick on a whole lot. I don’t mind being a bit warm in the summer, but I really hate the cold, so I like being cozy and warm with the pellet stove. Also, we have propane heat and propane is expensive, and the wood pellets are pretty cheap.
We live in AZ (Phoenix) so during the hot 110* summer months we keep it at 79*. We also are on our utility’s “time of use” program during those hot months. So, actually I run it much colder (75*) during that timeframe (usually in the mornings) and then let it run the higher temp in the afternoon. So it’s pre-cooling our home. In the winter months we run our heater at 76* (we have a natural gas furnace). For us here, winter is not a cost issue. It’s the summer months that is the issue 😛
We’re still at 100* here (in late October!) so our electric A/C is still running at 79*. Uff! Can’t wait until it cools down, we can open our windows and use God’s “A/C” 😉
We’re in Phoenix too and we just switched to the 3-hour time of use plan this year. In the summer our air cranked down to 68 in the morning then kicked up to 85 during the pricey time. On the REALLY hot days the house got that warm and the AC kicked on within the 3 hour window 🙁 . My preferred temp. is about 78 ish but my husband prefers about 74. We compromise in the 75-76 range. We run our heater in the low 70s in the winter.
We live in North Phoenix also. We keep our air at 81-82 in the summer. Our house is 3300 sq ft, so the electric bill gets crazy in July/Aug. In the winter we try to not turn the heat on if possible. If we do, it’s only 60 or 65. We put our little ones in blanket sleepers to keep warm. The “budget billing” program (paying the same amount each month for electric and gas) really helps to spread out the expense from the summer months.
I live in the Phoenix area too and the AC bill gets really frustrating! We keep our 1500 sqft house at 80 in the summer and it’s still close to $300. The 3-hour plan works good for us, too (especially in the winter) although our AC guy swears cranking it up and down makes it harder on everyone, just to keep it as warm as you can stand it. Our neighbor works for SRP and he says the time of use plans are huge money makers for them since most people aren’t diligent about minding their usage. Since he told me that I’ve tried really hard to be careful about it and pay attention. He says most people would be better off on the regular no frills plan. We use the budget billing too and it’s a life saver (our bill even went down $20 for the next year, I guess being hot was worth it!)
My husband also figured out how to ‘sleep’ our computers so they aren’t usually energy or producing heat at night and it’s really helped reduce the heat and costs. Seems small but it’s helped a lot.
72-74 in the winter, 74-76 usually in the summer. Except when I was 6 months pregnant with twins in October of 2009. We didn’t have anything on. I just opened the windows and turned on the attic fan to make it as cold as possible. My husband figured out that everytime he had had enough and went to close the windows, the house was at 57 degrees. I guess that was his limit!
We live in an old farm house with a converted attic that our girls sleep in. It is always much, much warmer up there in the summer, so we keep the thermostat at 78. During winter months, 68 during the day, 65 at night. We haven’t turned on the heat yet, so it’s actually been 63 some days in the house.
We keep the air conditioner on 84 during the day and 80 at night during the summer. We keep the heat on 58 during the day and 55 at night during the winter. We bought a one story house so we could save on climate control. Our thermostat settings and the one story house help us save hundreds a month compared to our neighbors. We live in Austin, Texas.
We have a wood stove so our thermostat is set at 62 in the winter and it rarely comes on, even at night. Our upstairs has no heat at all so if it is really cold we have electric heaters that we turn on but only to 65. My Husbands doctor told him to sleep in a cold room and that is fine by me. In the summer we have two window units that I only turn on if the TV says it is going to be a red zone day. I love to hear how everyone else uses there heat.
60 during the day – 58 at night. Even with lots of new windows, insulation, and other things to help ……..it still costs us around $800 a month in the winter to heat our 3,000 square foot rancher.
wow! That is expensive heat! Do you have your attic/crawl space insulated?
Yes, both the attic and crawl space – it cut our bill down to this price. Natural gas heating – all new engery efficient system as the older one broke two years ago. I know part of the issue is having a spread out space – a rancher – no benefit of heat rising to help us out with an upper level’s heat. We wear jackets or sweaters all winter.
We are in texas…so the summer is much higher than the winter. In the summer I keep it on 80-82…it mostly stays on 82. In the winter it is pretty much set on 67, which is only for the months of dec-feb. Spring and fall is open window time…and that is my favorite!
I like to keep the house between 68 and 70 year round.
65 during the day; 59 at night.
In the summer, we keep the AC around 75-78 and in the winter we like to keep it about 66-70 during the day and after we go to bed, its turned down all the way. I get up some mornings and its pegged at 50°.
We have a very old, big house. It is impossible to heat it and be comfy. We keep the thermostat on between 65 and 68 in the winter. When it is really chilly in here, we turn on space heaters when we are in the room. It helps a little. Turning it up any higher just eats too much money. In the summer, I try to keep it on 76 and have the ceiling fans on. When it gets really hot, I turn it down to get is comfortable. There are only 3 vents upstairs for 6 rooms so it gets super hot.
We keep ours at 67 in the winter. Are you going to post what the average reader keeps their thermostat at? I’d be curious to know.
From the mountains of NC:
We have no A/C – temps usually stay in the 80s in the summer.
In the winter, we keep the house at 61-63 during the day and turn it down to 54 at night except in the bedrooms where we keep it closer to 60.
We lived in an apartment in NJ for 3 years which was impossible to heat or cool, so we got used to winter temps of 58-62 and summer temps of 83-86. (Even with a baby). I much prefer the cold, so I’m happy to live in the mountains now!
I’m a bit of a zealot with the thermostat and we live in a drafty farm house in NE. In the summer I have it over 80 but we’re outside most of the time so coming in it feels cool. Once in a while I’ll drop it to 78 when I just can’t take the heat anymore. I’m renovating the house and installing ceiling fans (and insulation) so I’ll probably bump the temp higher during the day since the fans will keep us cooler.
In the winter I normally keep it between 65 and 68. However, we’re putting in a corn burning stove so I’ll bump the thermostat to 70 just so the heater pops on once in a while and keeps the pipes at the other end of the house from freezing.
We live in Anchorage, Alaska so in the winter months we keep it at 70 in the evening/night and 68 during the day.
i am trying not to put it up too high. I hate the cold… but I have it set at 71. I dont want my kids to get too cold at night either… They are 1 and 3 and they still dont know how to sleep without kicking off a blanket at night.
I live in a suburb of Minneapolis. I keep my AC at 74 when we are home during the summer, 78 if we are not/when the kids are home for summer break. It can get to be 95+ degrees, and 80+% humidity here in the summer (heat indexes of 110+) If I adjust it too much, it is too hard on the AC unit to keep up with cooling. I think the poor thing never shut off from about June 20th until September 15th this year. To me, it is worth the extra money to run it, so I don’t have to be hot, and can sleep.
For heat in the winter, I keep it at 71 when we are home, and 66 at night. Unless it is way below zero.
My ex husband does heating and air, and he instructed me to keep it constant when it is forty below, he said it is hard for the furnace to keep up. Last Jan, I never saw my thermostat much below the 71, and my heat bill didn’t get affected much. To me, not having a frozen pipes (and the hassle that entails) is worth the extra 25 bucks. I should preface all of this with I live in a funky older home, that is a walk out in my back yard.
We do not have air conditioning, but we usually keep it at 70 in the winter.
We live in Florida – in the summer our thermostat is set at 78/80 and in the winter it will be 68.
74-76 in the Summer and 68-70 in the Winter. I crank it up or down depending on my littles’ activity level.
I grew up in a household where we really couldn’t afford to pay the heat bill much of the time. On top of that, our house didn’t heat well so the bill was always high anyway, even though my parents were very vigilant to keep it low. As a result, and because my husband and I can afford it, heat/air conditioning are one of the few things we don’t skimp on. On top of that, we live in a condo w/ limited places available for the thermostat, which is on the other side of the wall from our fridge – so it always feels cooler in the rest of the house than the thermostat reads. That said – we keep it at 75 in the winter and 70 in the summer, and I don’t feel guilty at all.
We have our heat set at 62 at night and during the work day, and 65 between 5-10 while were home. We try real hard not to even turn on the heat until November, but I broke down 2 weeks early this year and turned it on a few days ago.
In summer we do like it cool. We have 2 window units, 1 in the bedroom and 1 in the dining room. We have the dining room one on while we are home and just the bedroom one on while sleeping. They are both on only when it is really hot.
70 in the summer and 74 in the winter. I don’t mind the extra money for comfort.
We keep it around 68 in the winter.
The responses have really surprised me here. We’re so lucky to have 4 heat zones in our house. Our kitchen and family room are one zone and they’re on 65 in the winter. The rest of downstairs, dr, bathroom, laundry at 58. Upstairs the heat is 58 during the day and I turn it up in the bedrooms for a short period in the am and bathtime etc to 65. I leave the kids’ rooms at 62 overnight, but our bedroom is down to 55 at night. We have programmable thermostats so it all happens without having to think about it. We only use AC in the summer when it is really hot, over 85 or so and then just in the family room.
I wish we had that many zones! We have one that covers 3,300 sf. We close vents and doors, but some areas are still warmer than we want them to be.
Just a note on closing vents and doors. We did that during the summer too as we only have one system for our entire house. We thought if we shut the vents and doors to the rooms we do not want cooled we are saving money. Well last year we had an green home inspection which included a detailed ac/heat inspection and they told us we were actually causing much more damage by making the unit run harder and we would save money by keeping them open.
I suppose it depends on the situation and the design of the house. Did you block the returns (the ones that suck the air back in to the furnace)? That definitely can cause air circulation problems! Closing a few vents shouldn’t cause the furnace to run more or run less efficiently, because the air escapes out of the vents that are still open.
Hahaha. I read this post thinking that I had read similar polls before and it seemed that there were a lot of regional differences – what makes sense and is frugal in one part of the country is crazy in another part.
Amy’s comment makes it clear – she lives somewhere that “really hot” is over 85. (I about died laughing, sorry, Amy.) I live in Dallas and we hit 85 in March or early April and it just goes up from there. We don’t consider it “really hot” until it’s over 100… and then we set our air conditioner at 85. (Actually, in the summer we set our air conditioner for 85 in the afternoons that we’re not there. When we’re home, we keep it about 79-80.) In the winter, we set it to 60 at night and 65 during the day. I think that’s right for the heater – I’m trying to remember from last year since it has been off since March and we won’t turn it on for another month.
Anyway, I think it’s all different based on where you live!
We keep our set on 68 during the day & 62 at night. We live in IL.
Well, I live on the east coast above the mason dixon line. I am also usually warm when most people are chilly. That being said we keep the AC at 68* in the summer. Right now I have the heat at 66 during the day and 64 at night. When it is really cold I might bump it up to 68 during the day but still keep it at 64 at night.
We have a farm with lots of timber, so we usually just use the fireplace during the winter. I set the thermostat at 66 and the heater rarely kicks on until later at night when the fire dies down.
We keep it at about 60-62 in the winter. That would be cold for some, but we don’t mind bundling up and don’t have kids yet so it works. We don’t have air conditioning so we just run a fan in the summer and hope it doesn’t get too hot!
We keep ours at 65 degrees year around. We can’t tolerate heat at all and can stand coolness better.
Same here! Much prefer to be cool!! 65 through winter (sometimes lower at night!) and 70 in summer (using central air!) Here in Indiana we get both weather extremes!
Rather than worry about turning down our heat in the winter, we installed a woodstove last year. Our gas heat was super expensive…about $3,000 per year in gas (maybe a little more) because we have 9 ft and vaulted ceilings. Not to mention our heat pump kicks in at 40 degrees, so that doesn’t even include the electric heat expense we put out. There was a $1,500 tax refund through last year for installing a wood stove (may have been carried through this year–not sure) if you spent over $5,000 to install it. It was pro-rated if you spent less. We got the full amount back on our taxes. The rest of the expense of installing the stove will come back to us by the end of this winter in savings (two full winters of using the stove). We live in a cold winter area.
We can get all the wood we want because my spouse works in the wood industry. However, anyone can get cheap wood by getting inexpensive firewood permits for national forests. Some large corporations (like the one my spouse works for) sell them if they own a lot of forested land. You can even go to sawmills and buy leftover stuff. You can install a woodstove without the expense of installing a chimney. They only have to put a double layer stainless pipe to the outside of your house and up the side to above the roof level. It’s not unattractive at all. We went for a pricey stove because we wanted to keep it with the price scale of our home and we wanted a very efficient stove. You can go much cheaper than we did…especially if you have a smaller home. Our woodstove heats our entire 3,700 sq ft, two story house to 68 degrees on the coldest floor most winter days without even firing it to it’s maximum allowable temperature. It was a great decision for our situation. Getting wood is hard work, but it is actually a good family activity for exercise and communication. We pack a lunch and go all day. The kids are learning the value of a hard days work, and that it also helps us to save money. We can go on a vacation for what we are saving.
Wood heat is very warm compared to other types of heat as well. You will need a chainsaw, some safety equipment, a pick-up, a splitting maul, and tarps if you do it yourself. If you live in a rural area, folks sell wood off their pick-ups all the time. I would venture to guess it would still be cheaper to go that route if we had to instead of use gas to heat. It’s kind of messy, but it is so much warmer and cheaper than before! Plus, if the power goes out, we can stay warm and even cook on our stove if we would need to do it.
If you can’t get wood easily, another option would be a pellet stove. Most likely a lot cleaner to use as well.
A word of caution about preparing firewood: We have heated with a woodstove for over 20 years and my husband has extensive experience cutting timber etc.. We learned a hard lesson last year about proper safety precautions. He was in a hurry to just split a few pieces to throw in the fire so he had my teen son set up some pieces for him to split with a steel wedge and a sledgehammer. A piece of steel broke off the wedge and went through my son’s jeans and deep into his leg. It was so deep that the Dr. had to dig around for quite awhile to find it and it was a pretty big chunk. Neither one had proper clothing or eye protection. That steel could just have easily gone into one of their eyes. So, moral of the story is heating with wood is fantastic but never get complacent with your safety.
Ditto that! Had my teen split his thumbnail in the hydraulic log splitter this summer — talking when he should have been paying attention. Nothing serious, just one stitch to hold it in place while the new nail grows in, but a manly, bragging rights, kind of injury.
I still have the mittens that my daddy cut with his chainsaw when I was his little helper — double-layer, hand-knit ones. He only got the outside layer, but it taught me how to pay attention! Him, too, I imagine.
Getting your own fire wood is not for sissies, and you’ve got to have your wits about you. It can be downright boring, but doctor bills can surely cut into your savings! But then, if you split and haul enough for a year, you can drop your gym membership!
We heat with a wood stove, too, and we’ve found we MUST use a large humidifier to avoid respiratory issues with such dry air. We have one of the ones that’s supposed to cover a large area (whole house if it’s a fairly small house). The wood stove keeps the heat off all day and most of the night, but we let the fire die out overnight and let the central heat kick on. Our toddler doesn’t like to use a blanket (he moves a LOT when he sleeps, and the blanket ends up wadded up in a corner) and currently needs his door closed to keep him from waking up in the middle of the night (long story), so we need the central heat to come on in order to keep his room from falling to the 50s overnight. We set the thermostat at 69-70, but it doesn’t come on until late, late at night.
Got our wood stove a couple of years ago, and love it. Here in Erie, PA we get more snow than some parts of Alaska, and once the lake freezes it’s frigid! Radiant heat is awesome. Our house is at about 80 tonight and I’m really grateful that our boys put up plenty of wood this summer. We have yet to purchase wood. Once you mention to friends and family that you heat with wood, every severe storm brings a barrage of calls. You can also get some from Freecycle or Craigslist. I just checked last winter’s National Fuel Gas (we do use it as backup in the night or when we’re away — 68-degrees or so) receipts and Feb-April were about $100 a month on our turn of the century farmhouse where we also use gas to heat water.
Our equipment outlay includes a chainsaw, a trailer for our mini van, tarps, and we split the rental of a log splitter with my father-in-law every year (about $40/day 2-3 days max). Of course we have boys, so the labor is only as expensive as the food. And boys need chores anyway . . . keeps ’em out of trouble.
Oops~Sorry! I live in Bethlehem, PA. We are installing an automatic thermostat this winter so will probably set it for cooler when we are not home.
68
I thought I’d mention also that when we lived in Maine (where it was REALLY cold in the winter), we still used our heat on an as-needed basis. We had a propane heater instead of centralized, and would only run it when we were freezing and needed to heat up the space. In the next house, it had oil heat that ran hot water through the baseboards. We couldn’t turn it completely off, so we set it at its lowest setting – 50 degrees. It was really nippy, but we didn’t have any kiddos and we used down comforters at night, so it was do-able.
Shelly, where in Maine did you live? I’ve lived in Maine my whole life, and it dies get REALLY cold up here in the winter.. My current apt has electric heat, and I hate it, because it’s so darn expensive, so I try to keep the heat between 65-70, but sometimes even 65-70 degrees is not enough.. Last Feb, I got an electric bill for $250!! Everytime I take a shower, give my daughter a bath, wash the dishes, use my oven, etc, it goes on my electric bill.. :-/
I read the following on temperatures…
Most people start to sweat when the temperature gets above 78 degrees.
While hypothermia can happen to anyone, the elderly run the highest risk because their bodies often do not adjust to changes in temperature quickly and they may be unaware that they are gradually getting colder. The condition usually develops over a period of time, anywhere from a few days to several weeks, and even mildly cool indoor temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees can trigger it. If you have elderly relatives or friends who live alone, encourage them to set their thermostats above 65 degrees to avoid hypothermia.
Thank you so much for reminding us of this point. Every winter, elderly die because they are trying to save money by turning heat way, way down.
We’re in Texas, and I keep the AC at 79 in the summer. My husband can’t stand it that warm, though, and turns it down to 77. (He’s usually gone 3-4 days a week for work.) In the winter, we don’t turn on the heat at all. If I feel it’s too cold at night for our toddler, I’ll set up the space heater in her room, but otherwise it stays right around 60 degrees without the heat.
I live in Ohio, in the summer I have the air set for 73 and in the winter it’s set for 71. I decided when I bought my house 11 yrs. ago I wasn’t gonna freeze or roast to death.
Absolutely agree! I refuse to freeze my tail off in my own house. Growing up, my parents only used the kerosine heaters….my brother and i would wake up FREEZING…and could see our own breath in the air. So as an adult, I swore- never again! My husband and I have an agreement. He controls the summer, I control the winter. So, 76-77 in summer…..72 for winter. 😀
kid you not we solely heat with wood and keep it day and night between 86-90! No joke! We love the heat!( and the wood)
We live in Vt so a woodstove is second nature for us!
We live in Southern NJ and have moved three times in 9 years. We had a woodstove in our previous house and loved it so much we had one installed in the new house. It is a lot of work, but there is nothing better than getting a fire blazing and opening a window or sliding door to show the germs the way out. I know it seems silly, but cranking the room temp up to the 80-90’s is WONDERFUL! And it cuts our gas bill down tremendously.
Besides saving money, it’s true that it’s actually better for you to sleep in a cooler room.
It gives my hubby and me a reason to snuggle when it’s cold! I don’t mind having a cold house in the winter because I love snuggling up with a blanket to watch a movie or using my oven to bake. And I agree; it’s MUCH easier to sleep when the room is cool.
This is one reason I actually turn the air lower in the summer at night when it’s really hot out! We keep it 78 (day) and 75 (night) in the Summer, and 68 (day) and 65/66 (night) in the winter. We do keep a space heater set really low in the baby’s room (not only for her, but also for me when I go in to nurse her!).
Air-conditioning: 78-79, off at night
Heat: 68 – 69, off at night
Single mom in southwest Ohio using propane in a 110 year old farmhouse…58 in the winter and 82 in the summer. We have ceiling fans in most of the house and actually it doesn’t seem that cold. We do use a space heater in January!
We’re in northern Michigan. My husband is not too picky, but I HATE being cold in winter, so I usually keep it around 70, but if I get a chill I’m not afraid to turn it up. There’s no sense in having to wear gloves and two pairs of sock around the house. I can handle the heat a little better than the cold.
We only have space heaters and keep two rooms at less thatn 65. We do not heat the bedrooms, so sometimes they are under 32.
i just can’t function if i’m too hot or too cold. it gets pretty hot here in the valley, so we’re usually at 76 – 78. in the winter we’re around 69-72.
We never turn our heater or AC on. In the summer, we turn on the ceiling and box fans. In the winter we close up the house, wear sweaters and socks and snuggle on the couch under blankies.
We live in So. Cal, so we don’t get terrible extremes temp. wise. The lowest in the winter is about 40 at night.
We live just south east of Chicago. We keep it at 70 degrees year around. 🙂
We have an older drafty home, and have found it’s the middle ground of all three levels of our home.
We keep our heat at 65 in the winter.And in the summer we have it set to 75.In the summer I am comfortable.In the winter we freeze.We wear lots of warm clothes and we have lots of blankets when we watch t.v..We cannot afford a huge heat bill so we suffer.At night we are nice and warm with all of our blankets.
In winter we keep or heat on 68 during the day and 65 at night. We live in Arkansas so it’s not too bad.
68
I’m definately a wimp. 69 when we are home during the day and 64 at night. I’m guessing it is because we are in the damp Northwest. It just feels colder when it is wet.
I really like the fact that people are giving consideration to their thermostats when thinking about their monthly budgets. I live in Wyoming where the temperature can very easily get into the negative double digits in the winter and the wind blows constantly. We keep our thermostat at 62 in the winter and try not to even turn on the furnace until early November. Until then we rely on a space heater at night to supplement heat in the bedroom. We too have a young one who is three. She survived just fine by bundling up and so do we.
I challenge you all to consider other economical money savers with your other utilities too. Here are a few things that we do:
Unplug all your appliances (except stove, refrigerator, and built in microwave) and only plug them in when you use them. Unplug them when you are done. Up to 20% of your electric bill can come from standby use on items that are plugged in but not being used. We unplug our washer and dryer after each use!
Line dry your clothes if you can and only use the dryer to fluff them at the end. One hour of using a typical dryer uses enough energy to power a cfl lightbulb for a year! Line drying and then fluffing for 15 minutes can save lots of energy and lots of $$$$.
Save shower water to use for other non clean water essential projects. Simply stopper the tub while taking a shower and use the water to flush the toilet (bucket required) or use it to water house plants, water trees, plants, or shrubs outside. It’s definitely not as convenient as hooking up the hose or pushing down on the toilet handle but it can save up to 30 gallons of water a day on typical toilet flushes.
These are just some fun ones we do at our house.
Hope you try something creative too.
We live in Springfield IL. We have some pretty harsh Winters. We keep our heat at 68 degrees during the day, and 65 at night. We also have crazy hot Summers, so the AC is set to 74 during the day. The heat is on now! 🙂
We live in Southeast Michigan:
Winter: 62 overnight; 65-66 daytime; 68 evening.
Summer A/C: 78
In our old place (a second floor apartment), my husband and I had a wood-burning fireplace. We didn’t turn on the heat once during the two winters were were there (we live in northern Virginia). Both of us were gone during the day for work and during the late afternoon/evening, the fire kept us cozy. At night, we just piled on the blankets! The thermostat was broken so we never really knew how cold it was, but I bet it was well into the 50s each morning.
We moved this summer and our new place doesn’t have a fireplace (boo!). We’ll have to turn on the heat this time, but I plan to keep it around about 60 or so. An extra sweater and thick socks keeps us plenty warm.
62-65 in the winter (up to 68 when we have guests). We also have a space heater in the bathroom (turned on when we shower) and one in our toddler’s room (turned on at night).
We’re in the Pacific Northwest (so, no a/c), and in the winter we leave the thermostat at 64. I like to turn it even lower during the night so when I get up, the house is 60 or colder and then I can enjoy the feel of it heating up a little for the day! 🙂
I live in central Florida, and our electricity bill last month was 617! We also have gas just for the hot water heater and its 40 a month. We keep the thermostate on 78 in the summer, and turn it off completely in the winter, but we have never had a bill lower than 400. 🙁
we keep ours at 68. it still feels cold to me but I bundle with a sweater, slippers, and a blanket. We don’t fluctuate during the day since someone is home all day.
Eastern KS
Summer: mid 70s (probably 77/78) I try to avoid turning on the AC for as long as possible, but I get really cranky when I’m hot and KS gets ridiculously hot really early.
Winter: 68 during the day, usually. Sometimes if it’s colder outside, I can get away with turning it down to 64. We also put plastic around our windows in the winter to help minimize heat loss. Space heaters are a good source of heat (turning it on in our bedroom before we go to bed and it’s nice & toasty in there by bedtime)
Growing up, we turned the heat UP to 60. We had a wood stove that heated much of the downstairs, but my mom hated paying for propane use, so she just told us to put on a sweatshirt. Which is probably why I can handle being cold better than I can being hot. 🙂
WINTER 74-76
SUMMER 68-70
WE SPLURGE
I’m in SE Wisconsin, I keep my thermostat at around 70 year-round since I have both gas heat and central air.
We are spoiled here in Southern CA: neither a/c or heat is needed but a few days per year. But OH how I miss the weather changes from my childhood in the midwest! And I would give just about anything for a good thunderstorm!
Have enjoyed reading everyone’s answers, and am giggling about how many spouses will have discussions about proper temperature tonight, as a result of this post!
Jessica,
Can relate to your story; I grew up in northern NH, and my parents didn’t turn the heat on, except for maybe Christmas, and we lived in a Civil War era, uninsulated house! My siblings and I used to test cups of water by our beds to see if they were frozen in the morning. Sometimes they actually had a sheet of ice on them. My parents had just two stoves to heat our 3-story home! Anyhow, now I live in a ranch style home in KY, and I hope I can always enjoy and relish a warm home. Those 64 degree temperatures mentioned made me begin to shiver…..Yikes! I knew I NEVER wanted to live in Maine, when I grew up! My Dad used to joke with me about that!
I live in phoenix, AZ and I guess I’m just used to the heat cause I usually set mine in the summer between 72 and 74 and 76-78 in the winter. My husband hates it cause he has a built in sweater that he can never take off. Lol. If he had his way he would set it to like 68.
We live in N. Alabama and usually keep our thermostat on 75 in the summer and sometimes I drop it down at night to as low as 70 this summer. That was probably due to my hormones after I had a baby though. In winter we usually keep it at 69 or 70 and it stays cranking. I usually drop it to 67 at night. We live in a tri-level house that does not have good insulation. We just replaced our 40 year old windows that did not open/shut or help with heating and air so hopefully it will help.
North Carolina:
80 in the summer(I drop it to 75-76 at night)
65 in the winter and we don’t move it.
And unless it’s needed, ours is never on. When the temps are too much to put up with, we try every option available first, fans, opening windows doors and once I’m done cooking I leave my oven cracked(and I do mean just barely, like 1/2 an inch so it’s still “closed” where you can’t bump the door open) and it heats almost half my home some.
75 year round.
We’re in northern Illinois, where it gets down to 30 below zero in the winter and all the way up to 100 degrees and extremely humid in the summer. We keep our thermostat set between 66 – 68 degrees in winter and 68 – 70 degrees in summer. I don’t mind being a little bit chilly in the winter, but none of our family does well in the heat (must be our Scandinavian blood 😉 ), so splurging a little bit on keeping the house cool and comfortable in summer is worth it to us.
We keep it at about 64 during the day, though about once every 2-3 days, I’ll bump it up to 65 for a couple hours because I’m feeling cold. At night, it’s bumped down to 60.
In the summer, we usually keep it set to 78, though most days, there is one time that I turn it down to 76 for a couple hours. I don’t tolerate heat that well.
I love my programmable thermostat…65 at night while we sleep…goes up to 69 45 minutes before we get out of bed. I have it programmed to not kick on unless it goes below 65 for 45 minutes before we all leave for the day (so it is only at 69 for 1 1/2 hours) it still stays warm in the house and isn’t bad but lowering it before we leave makes sense to me. I have it go back to 69 an hour before we get home and back to 65 at 10 pm to help me get to bed on time!
Once I programmed it we saw a big savings over the prior year…
68 when I’m home, 70 when hubby is!
I live in Southern Illinois, and we keep ours at 60-65 during the winter and about 78 in the summer. It’s not 100% comfortable 100% of the time. However, it’s nice not to have to worry about the utility bill since my house is fully electric. Any time I have the oven on for dinner, cookies, whatever I’ll turn the heat down since the living room and kitchen are one room, and I usually leave it down about 5 degrees till the next day. And to me it’s totally worth throwing another blanket on the bed and cuddling under another on the couch, putting on socks and sweatshirts etc. to save on the electric. Why pay for heat when you cover up with what you already have and not spend a dime.
We keep ours at 73-74 in the winter and 78 in the summer. I can’t function when it’s cold! I’m in Alabama.
we are in SW missouri and we keep it around 70-72 in winter and around 75 -80 in summer. Our 4 year old has always had a hard time regulating her body temp so we try to keep it consistant. not to mention we were without power for 3 1/2 weeks during an ice storm and i REFUSE to freeze in my own home if I dont have to
I like to keep the temp around 65… I am always cleaning/baking or just plain moving around. It gets way too hot if I crank it any higher! I tell my kids if they are cold they should start scrubbing something… they will warm right up 🙂
Live in Huntington Beach, CA and do not have A/C. Heat off most of year unless we have cold snap. On a “cold” day will set at 69. Usually use a gas, efficient, glass enclosed fireplace to heat family room on cool evenings. Heat rises so mostly keeps home comfortable. House is 2600 s.f. Windows open most of the time and ALWAYS at night for sleeping!
I keep it at 72/73 in the summer and 67/68 in the winter. We live in Iowa, and our budget billing is $75 for gas and $76 for electric each month, so I feel really fortunate after reading how much some have to pay!
We live in Hawaii, so we don’t have heat. 😉
But we do have AC, and I choose to not use it, even though electricity is included in our rent. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s green!
We turn on our heater maybe once or twice a year (we’re in CA). But, I usually set the heater on 62, except at night when I turn it off. I LOVE it cool, and it’s easy to put on blankets and sweatshirts to get warm (since, like I said, it rarely gets below 50 in CA). My family prefers it cool, so we turn our AC on 74-year round.
Here in central Ohio- we keep it at 78 in the summer during the day (74 at night) and 68 in the winter. The 68 is difficult for me to adjust to since I am sooo cold natured. You really have to bundle up but it’s not bad.
I’m in Maine… brr… we keep it 63 in the winter, and no climate control in the summer. We also adjust when company comes, but our 10 year old is barefoot most of the time, so it’s all a matter of getting used to it. He’s fine, and so are we!
We also have a programmable thermostat.
Summer – 80 during the day (no one home)
Summer – 72 when home and still up
Summer – 68 at night (allergies are better for us at night when cooler)
Winter – 60 during the day (no one home)
Winter – 66 when home and still up
Winter – 62 at night
Louisville, KY
One more thing…we do turn it up a little if someone else comes over, and we tell people to bring a jacket or sweater, regardless of the season. I have supplied blankets and put my sweatshirts on little children. My parents who are in their 80s visited recently. My Dad said to me, “I hope you don’t spill any water on your floor.” When I asked him why he replied, “because it would freeze!” Ha ha 🙂
South Central Texas
3300 Sq ft 2 story home
a/c @ 78 daytime, 76-77 night time
heater @ 70-71
Go Rangers! 🙂
We have to make up $$ during the winter since we have to run so much air conditioning in the summer. My husband has a medical condition where he can’t tolerate heat well at all. I wear two layers to bed all year round plus a soft and cozy hat (yes, inside!) and wool socks. I used to have to use a heating pad in bed sometimes to warm up, but the wool socks over my regular ones have made all the difference. If my head is warm and my feet are warm, so am I!
During the winter our heat is set at 72 and summer the AC is on 74 here in Oklahoma, but i grew up in Az and absolutely hate the cold!
71 in winter, 74 in summer.
In Florida, I keep the ac at 78 is summer, and 80 in the winter.. but I’ve been just opening the windows since its getting cooler. I avoid using the heat in winter, only used it a few days last winter when it was below freezing.
I’m orignally from Ohio, and we kept the ac around 75 in summer (when we finally got one when I was older), and do not use the heat in the winter. It is too expensive, we just keep the fireplace going all winter long, and it heats the house. My sister had space heaters in their rooms, but slept with the doors open.
Well, here in southern Arizona, we still have the a/c on. I am hoping it will finally cool off so we can shut it off! In the ‘winter’, when if gets here, we have been able to go from Nov. to Feb. without any heat. We have had to turn it on before as it has gotten ‘cold’ here and actually snowed in the the Phoenix valley! Other than that, I love our electric bill in the winter time!
We are in Fl and keep it at 80 during summer and winter I’m not sure I think 68.
This post just might save my marriage. 😀
We just had a big argument about the thermostat and I can now show, unequivocally, that I am actually offering to keep the house much warmer than most. THANK YOU!
I think thermostats can be very inaccurate. At our old house we kept the thermostat at 65 and we were very comfortable. We moved to a new place and now keep it around 73. I like to keep the same temp year round, but DH likes to freeze me out in the winter.
During winter, we set the thermostat at 68 degrees in South Carolina. However, on really cold mornings we turn on our gas fireplace, which heats the main living area up another 3-4 degrees.
we keep our thermometer set at about 64 degrees and dress warm! like to keep the gas bill as low as possible…we are all healthy! we turn it up some when we get company though
I live in central Illinois. We turn our heat off at night and I can’t sleep without a window partially open. We average 50-55 at night. During the day, we keep the heat between 62-65.
Our summer utility bills are reasonable (around $100 for our 3000 sq ft home in North Georgia) but winter KILLS us. Our utility bills (all electric) are about $400 in the winter AND we keep our heat set at about 65. We freeze!
We’re in PA. 68 in the winter during the day since someone is always home, 62 at night (which is a compromise that hubby and I have made since I prefer sleeping in the cold and he prefers sleeping in the *yuuuck* heat). Summer, I like it hot, hubby likes it cold. We keep it at 74 but the house has to get hotter than 80 before we turn it on.
I’m in the Shenandoah Valley in VA. We keep A/C at 79 in the summer (though my husband would love to make it cooler), windows open in the fall and spring, and heat at 67 in the winter (though my husband would love to make it warmer). I can’t ever win with him! But I tell him in the winter when he comes home from teaching PE and is wearing shorts that maybe he’d be warmer if he put on pants!
I’ve heard though that turning it down (mainly heat, but up for A/C too) does not save money because it works harder to reach that temperature when you come home. We used to put it on 55 when we left the house in the winter, now we only do 63-64. Any thoughts on that?
Oh my gracious, Caroline. I JUST had this conversation with my husband. He was complaining about the temperature (70 degrees btw) and was sitting in shorts and a t-shirt with no socks or shoes. Made me so mad!
LOL! My stepson will complain that he is cold while wearing a tshirt, shorts and wet hair and bare feet from his shower and want to turn up the heat- my husband will tell him to put on some appropriate clothes, towel dry his hair and put on slippers and then they will talk about it. Once he is dry and wearing warm clothing the subject doesn’t come up again.
Yay SV of VA! 😉
Here in the Pacific Northwest it is humid and damp. We would all mold if we didn’t keep the heat up. We set it for 68 at night and it goes down to 67 during the day. During the winter or really wet/rainy days we have wood heat to further dry out the house. I think that it also keeps us healthier to have a dryer house.
What about a dehumidifier?
The kids and I are home all day so we’re actually using our energy and my husband works outside in the elements. So during the colder months he wants to come home to a warm house and during the summer he wants to come home to a cool house.
A/c 75-77 degrees.
Heat- 68-70 degrees.
Our bill averages out to $150/mo which is right where we have our budget at.
Between 68 and 70, depending upon how cold or hot I am feeling on that particular day. 😉
In Connecticut we keep it at 68 during the day (we’re home during the day) and 63 at night (sleep upstairs & thermostat is downstairs so it’s probably a little warmer up there). We’re going to try and be a bit better about closing thermal drapes once the sun goes down and opening them when the sun is out to help naturally keep the house warmer. We haven’t turned out heat on yet this year either. One especially brisk morning we did turn on a space heater at the breakfast table though. I’m aiming for Nov 1st for turning on the heat, we’ll see if we make it.
I hate being cold in the winter and we have babies crawling around so I usually keep it around 70 in the winter (we are in Ohio). Some times I make it lower or higher depending on what we are doing. During the summer we also keep it around 70ish. But we also try to keep the whole thing off as much as we can during spring and into summer and then as soon as fall starts until it gets really cold.
68.
It is super hard in our house to save on heat. My husband loves it warm and I would prefer to keep it cooler and wear weather appropriate clothing. Since he works at night from home, I can’t even change it for sleeping, which most posts have mentioned. Any advice for my crazy house? Oh, we live in on the IL side of St. Louis, so we have it pretty cold and pretty warm depending on the season.
We live in Rochester, NY. My rule is the heat doesn’t get turned on until November 1st!
Winter thermostat is set at 68 and very comfortable in an 1100 sq ft ranch. Summer a/c is on when temps reach 90 and we set it at 72.
We’ve had some chilly days this October, but I’ve managed to convince my husband to stick to this rule. Doing some cooking and baking on the cool days helps to warm up the house and if the sun is shining through the south window, it really helps to warm it up. From what some of the other readers have said, I think we could manage to turn it down in the winter and up in the summer to save a few extra dollars!
We live in Orlando – home of the highest utility rates in the country (according to bankrate.com). We leave our thermostat at 82 in the summer – that still runs us $400-$500/month. We only use the heat a few weeks out of the year, and that is less costly since it is gas. We usually keep the house at 70 during that cold snap.
We keep ours at 64 during the winter (61 at night). I totally love the coolness and we all sleep well (kids included) when the house is nice and cool. During the summer, I am guilty of cranking the a/c down to 70. I know. But we live in Atlanta and it gets HOT here. When it’s over 100 outside, I can’t stand a hot house. Especially at night. So our energy bills are nice and low in the winter and through the roof in the summer. I figure it balances out, right? 🙂
We live in Tennessee and we keep ours at 66 in the winter and 79 in the summer. We use extra fans in the summer to beat the heat and dress warmly in the winter to fight the cold.
Winter 70
Summer 75
Yes, we like it warm- we live in SC (in a small suburb of Charlotte NC) and we are from FL. The hotter the better….plus we live in new construction and I am sure that our builder went el cheapo on the insulation. We run our gas fireplace maybe a few really cool nights in the winter and at Christmas for atmosphere and that’s about it, that costs more $$$ to run than the gas heat.
Wow, I’m feeling very spoiled! We have wood heat, which is cheap, cheap, cheap around here (lots of neighbors have dead trees that they don’t want, so we can cut them up for free! Just the cost of keeping the chainsaw running!) So our house is often around 80 in the main living area, 70ish in the bedrooms. It cools down overnight with a banked fire, but we like that too!
Our friends always wonder how our combined gas/electric bills can be SO LOW, but with wood heat, minimal dryer use, no dishwasher, etc. we just don’t have the energy hogs in our house. (Hmm, maybe it helps too that I don’t vacuum much either, I’ll bet that’s another big energy hog!!) 😉
We are in SE Wisconsin, and we have yet to turn the heat on yet. But we ususally keep the heat at 65-68 during the day and about 62 or less at night. We wear sweatshirts/sweaters and slippers or inside shoes. We will use snuggies that I made for all 4 of my kids when doing homework or reading or watching tv. I am the only one that gets cold, but if I wear a turtleneck and sweatshirt/hoodie/or sweater and if I am really cold a scarf(they are fashionable now :)) then I am ok. I works fine for us. When we go away, we turn it down to 50. We are holding off as long as we can to turn the heat on.
We live in NE Wisconsin as well and we keep our’s at 64 – 66 in the winter and around 76 in the summer. We have a boiler (which means hot water heat, no air ducts for central air), so we use window AC units to keep the house comfortable in the summer. For the winter, I figure we have enough sweatshirts and blankets to use for what it would cost us to turn up our heat!
Luckily we’ve done some updates to the house that help as well…new insulated siding, new windows, and we took out our fireplace!
Mid-Michigan, 2-story, 2,000 sq ft home
Winter = 58
This keeps the upstairs at a min of 55, which is recommended for safety of plumbing. We have a couple small ceramic space heaters for the days we’re chilled and do turn it up to 60-62 when guests come over.
Summer = 82
A/C usually isn’t on for more than 1-2 weeks in the summer when temps reach 90 or higher for more than 1 consecutive day.
we live in a single wide trailer, and i try to keep it at 65 or less. of course the minute im not looking daddy cranks it up to 70. we use electric space heaters to supplement. in summer we have 2 AC’s that run almost constantly around 65.
This will be our first winter in our house in Illinois. I will keep it about 68. Hopefully I don’t freeze 😀
This will be our first winter in our house in Illinois. I will keep it about 68. Hopefully I don’t freeze 😀
We keep ours at 77 in the summer and between 70-72 in the winter. We have a drafty older house, so it seems colder than 72 in the winter.
Northern MN – We have a wood burning fireplace that does most of the heating but the gas heater will kick in if it gets below 68 degrees at night.
Winter 67/68
Summer 74/76
We live in Colorado in a fairly new home. We keep the thermostat at 64 during the day, 60 at night, but in reality are upstairs bedrooms are more like 55 degrees throughout the night. In the summer, we use the A/C for a couple months and keep it at 75-77. When we have newborns, we have sometimes used a oil-filled space heater in the bedroom because I don’t like to be chilled to the bone nursing in the middle of the night. We’re thankful for the rather consistent solar heating we getting via windows throughout the winter, too.
We have a 20-year-old home with 2500 square feet, old windows, and not enough insulation. We keep it it around 65 in the winter if we can stand it. I home school so we are home most of the day. If we have icicles coming out our nose and more layers do not help, I may turn it up to get the chill off. Living in Alabama we don’t experience too many really cold days so that is a plus. Lots of days the heat never even comes on after the early morning. In the summer, we keep it on 79.
Old windows? My windows are a 150 yrs old! :o) They still have wavy glass from when glass was hand made. Luckily our storm windows are only 10 yrs old.
we live in upstate NY (about 60 miles south of the Canadain border!)… last year we say 15 feet of snow, and over the summer’s we face temps in the mid 80s – 90s with 75%+ humidity… just to give you an idea about the weather we face. In short, its pretty miserable here most of the year, lol!
That being said, I have yet to turn our heater on this year (I always wait as long as possible!). When we do turn it on we’ll proably set it to 68 during the day and 60 or 62 overnight (I compromise with my husband). It definantly gets chilly, but we do okay. We use space heaters in the kids’ rooms upstairs and heated blakets on the beds (we still need one more… I’ll be waiting till January or February though. I found our last one on clearance for under $9 late last winter). We currently don’t have A/C, but plan to install a heat pump system (like an AC) in the spring. I’ll probably keep the AC to 78*, although had we had one this summer (while I was pregnant and miserable for weeks!) it would have easily been 75*. The highest bill we usually see (we have a combined gas-electric bill) is just over $300 in the dead of winter… the price of gas is actually reasonable, but we get gouged on “delivery” (through the existig infrastructure) out here.
Rosie, how are you not freezing, I live in SC and already turned my heat on??? Man I am a wimp!
I live in the Upstate of SC and we haven’t turned our heat on yet. It is cold in the house (around 60 degrees F today) but I am hoping to handle it until it warms up again this weekend. Our house was built in the 1920s with no insulation so it is like living in a barn. I keep a small space heater beside me when I am cold and bundle up with a fleece sweatshirt. However, once we do turn the heat on, we keep it around 66, lower at night. If it is really cold, I do all my work upstairs where it is warmer. In the summer, we keep it around 75-78. Here in the south with our humidity, you HAVE to run your air conditioner or fans to keep mold from forming. In the Fall and Spring, we do not use anything at all unless it is super humid (which is why I am cold today!).
I’m in Alabama and I turned my heat on yesterday and am still freezing! I keep my heat at 73-74 in the winter, but high 60s seems to be the norm on these posts. Funny how everyone differs.
its hasn’t been too bad yet. We had a warm early-fall. Right now temps are around 65 high for the day and 50 – 55 at night, so our house temp hangs out between 63 and 67 or 68 on its own. I’m thinking this will be the week we have to turn it on though… over night temps in the 40s and if the house drops below 62 I’ll give into my husband’s cold hands. 🙂 Our house isn’t very old, is well insulated (we have 14 inches of blown-in insulation in our attic crawl space) and has decent windows, so we don’t have any really big heat leaks. Plus I’m 33 weeks pregnant… that could be part of the reason why I’m not freezing yet, lol!
I keep mine at 68* in the winter time. I keep it at 78 in the summer*. I like using the scheduler on my thermostat so when Im sleeping or at work, it turns off or down to save money.
-Daniel
http://www.stayathomehub.com
We live in Washington state, so no ac needed for us!
I like it around 74 in the Winter, although we have a “sleep,” setting that is cooler.
I like to be comfy. I know I’m spoiled, but I hate having to walk around in sweaters and blankets in my house.
62 in Massachusetts. You wonder why New Englanders are so cranky! It’s because we’re all freeeeeeezing 🙂 We have radiators and the heat only comes upstairs if we crank it up over 70, so we have space heaters in our upstairs bedrooms. It’s cold. I have a hard time maintaining a positive attitude about it.
I am hoping our next home will be better insulated and have zones… maybe a pellet stove.
We just got our first house so we’re getting used to it still. Only had the AC on for a few days in August shortly after we moved in. So far it’s only been getting to be about 40F outside overnight and has only gotten down to 60F inside w/o the heat on.
The last few nights we’ve kicked it up to 65 overnight and turn it off in the morning when we leave for work. I’m sure once it gets colder outside I’ll want to bump up even more to keep it warm hehe.
But since we don’t have any kids yet we can get away with whatever we can stand ourselves. Our two indoor kitties are well-rounded, very active and like to snuggle together, so I’m not worried about them.
I have cold urticaria so I maybe shouldn’t even comment (I welt in hives all over my body and inside my body too when the temperature drops to a certain point) but we keep the heat at 69-70 at night and I turn it off during the day unless the temperature is under 45. Then I set it at 71.
Meredth you are the first person other than myself that i have heard that has Cold urticaria. I swell up as well as get the hives. We keep our house about 68 unless it is really cold outside and then i bump it to 70. Good luck this winter.
66F in winter in Columbus Ohio. We have two young children. 80F in summer with a/c although we don’t turn it on until it is 90F outside.
I grew up in MI with no a/c and in a 100+ year old house with no upstairs insulation. My parents kept the furnace at only 52F in the winter. I seriously wore a hat and mittens to bed and had a huge pile of blankets including two afghans, a sleeping bag, a quilt, a sheet and a bedspread.
Don’t get me started on my issues with my parents 🙁
In Arkansas it is either really hot or really cold with not much in between..in summer we keep it about 78, winter around 67..we also use space heaters when needed. I hate being cold!
We try not ti turn on the a/c at all during the summer as we have an attic fan that cools the house really well. Last summer we only turned it on for a few hours when we had company on a really hot day. Last winter we kept the heat around 63-65 but this winter we have a wood stove so hopefully a lot lower!
Wow, I think this post was a wake up call! In the summer we use a window a/c plus fans to cool. Our electric bill runs about $120-$160 in the summer.
I am at a lost about the winter time though. I am super stingy about using the central heat. However, even with our thermostat set at 66 last winter our bill still averaged $340. 🙁
It is so discouraging to endure the cold and go out of our way to save electricity, yet still be faced with an astronomical bill.
Has anyone else had a similar problem? This is our second winter in this house (it’s a rental) and I would love any suggestions to help cut heating costs!
Your utility probably has some free checklists/resources.
I’d look first at insulation. You can lose an amazing amount of heat through door/window cracks etc….You might look at adding insulation to the garage/attic.
That does seem like a high bill to me.
Thanks for the suggestions!
how are your windows? Curtains, especially lined (thermal lining is even better!) can really help with heat loss through your windows. We also used to put the ghetto, thick plastic over our windows in the winter when we lived in a rental with single pane, aluminum framed windows (talk about heat-leaks!). The plastic created a layer of air between the plastic and the glass which help slow down heat transfer too. I’d also check the weather stripping around your doors to make sure you aren’t leaking heat through them. But your heating costs do also have a ton to do with how your house is heated. We rented a home for a few months (about 1400 square feet ranch with vaulted ceilings and no attic insulation!!! Talk about heat leaks!) that was heated solely by baseboard heaters… they were hot water fed and the hot water heater was electic… EXPENSIVE!!! We paid about $350 a month to heat just the front half of the home to 67* (we turned the heat to the bedrooms off becuase the thermostat was broken and we couldn’t lower the heat below 72)… so I totally understand your frustration!
We have decided to put the plastic on all the windows this year, but we don’t have curtains on the windows (only blinds). I didn’t realize they would help so much. That’s something else we will look into.
And I agree about the way your house is heated. Our home was originally a modular home that was made into a house on a foundation and then built onto. I can’t help but think it is poorly insulated and has heat leaks. I’m definitely going to try as much as I can to lower cost this winter!!
curtains or drapes definantly help. I remember in our last rental in college I put lined curtains up over the big living room windows our 2nd winter and it made SUCH a difference. The previous winter we could never sit on the couch under that window because it was just too cold, but we could with curtains up. Target and Walmart both carry “thermally lined” curtains, or you could make them. JoAnns carries black-out liner for about $5 a yard, which blocks light and has thermal properties (we use that in bedrooms), or they have this really heave duty stuff (I *think* its called Windows Warm, but I’m not exactly sure) that is layers of cotton, batting and mylar. Its not cheap (like, $30 a yard) but it will make a big difference… it could make a big impact of a big heat leak spot, like a large single pane window, or a sliding glass door. I lined a pair of curtains with it to cover the sliding glass door in the family room of our current house and it made a very big difference.
You can also call your heating company. They might do free “energy audits”… send someone out to find the heat leaks in your house and make suggestions for how to fix them. A lot of the problems are often simple, inexpensive fixes, like weather stripping and hot water heater blankets.
Good luck!
We had an energy audit a few years ago and it was so worth it!
We heat with propane and our bill is higher than that in the winter. In the hottest summer month, our electric bill is close to that due to central air.
Some areas of the country are just more expensive. For example, when we lived in Nevada a few years ago, electricity was 10 cents/kwh. It’s more than 15 cents/kwh here in New England.
Do you have drapes on every window (especially sliding glass doors)?
We don’t have drapes on any windows! Only blinds. I think that will probably help though. We were planning on putting plastic over the windows as well. Hopefully that will help, even a small drop in the bill will be a relief!
This was me last winter, we’ve moved since, but you have my sympathy! My sweet husband who likes the chill would set a cup of hot tea by my bed–that made getting out of bed a bit easier! I headed to good will looking for wool sweaters too.
In the winter, I keep it at 66-68, depending on how the house is keeping up with the cold outside. I just turn it up if I get cold during the day, add a blanket at night. We do dress in layers. I am a fan of hot drinks and cozy blankets, but we have tried to keep it colder and I have not gotten my chores done because I don’t want to leave the blanket! If after my coffee and getting moving on the household stuff, I am still cold, I turn it up. I am not hard on myself about it. I also try not to compare my bills to others in the neighborhood, who leave during the day and are not a family of 5 including 2 teens (another on the way!)
Using air conditioning is one of our only splurges. My husband grew up w/o central air and refuses to sleep in his own sweat after working outside all day. We keep it at 68-70 in the summer, off most of fall and spring and 67 on winter days and 62 in winter nights.
We keep ours at 66-67 most of the time in the winter (we don’t have central A/C, so in the summer, the house is usually 5-8° cooler than outside).
It is awfully chilly, but when I started staying home with kids, I promised my husband I would keep the thermostat just warm enough so that I don’t have to wear gloves or a hat/scarf indoors.
I live in the great state of Wisconsin where it gets super cold. We keep it at 65 when we are home, 62 at night, and 58 during the day when we’re gone.
73 in the summer, at work and at home. At home we have window units instead of central air. Sometimes my husband sets it to 70 but we try not to run it in rooms when we’re not in and use fan only when feasible. We usually don’t open windows because the way our apartment is situated, there isn’t good air flow.
It never gets cold enough to use the heater. I usually use the a/c in the winter as well.
My temps seem cold compared to everyone else but I get hot really easy and we don’t pay for electricity. ^__^
winter – 68 day, 60 night (space heater w/its own thermostat in baby’s room, which is also over the garage and gets chillier)
summer – a/c at 75
68 in the winter and 76 in the summer. I’ve tried inching it up a degree in the summer, and every time I do, my husband mentions how hot it is. I finally gave up and figured 76 must be our magic number. Same thing in the winter–any below 68 and people start complaining about the cold. 🙂
In north Texas:
Summer–80, 81 at night
Winter–68, 63 at night
I am glad that I am not alone in my heat/AC habits….now I have support when my husband disagrees with me 🙂
We live in Michigan and I keep the heat at 62 during the day and 60 at night (I find if there is too much difference between day/night temps then the furnace just works extra hard to get the house back up to the day temp). We wear slippers and sweatshirts around the house and I do extra baking in the morning when I can (muffins anyone?). Our house is old and drafty so with 3 little kids and 2 small incomes I really don’t want to waste money on heat that is just leaking out through the windows 🙂 I have yet to turn on the furnace (despite cold, rainy, windy days) because it is only October…..I’m holding out til November!
In the summer we deal with the heat and use ceiling and window fans….no A/C.
We recently moved and during our home inspection our inspector told us that since we have a heat pump when we are using the heat we should be careful if we want to lower the temperature when we aren’t home. In most cases if the temperature in the room is more than 1-2 degrees lower than what the thermostat is set to it will kick on the furnace which is much more expensive to run and could easily cancel out any savings from lowering the thermostat. So his tip was if you do adjust the temperature when you are sleeping or not home when you turn it back up do it 1 to 2 degrees at a time making sure the furnace doesn’t turn on. It takes a little more time and you have to pay attention, but it saves having to pay to run the furnace.
My husband and I live in northern Illinois and both work at home. In the winter, we keep our house at 60-62 in the daytime and 58 at night.
However hot the fire will burn! I won’t use the propane if I can help it. Firewood is much cheaper.
We have a wood boiler and this year a solar water heater with infloor heat from Eastlake Alternative Energy so we keep it toasty for free!
winter -69 day, 66 night
78 in summer
When I lived in Seattle, we kept the heat on 68 degrees during the day and 62 at night. They AC was at 72 degrees (but honestly it was only on like 4 weeks of summer)
Now that I live in Phoenix, we keep the AC on 78 degrees during the day and 80 degrees at night, and the heat at 68 during the day and 62 at night. We are not aclimatized yet, so we are always hot in the summer and comfortable in the winter here. But my SIL who has been here for 20 years is freezing in my house in the winter. I’d love to AC to 70 degrees in the summer here, but I can’t afford to.
I am shocked!! We keep ours on 75-76 sometimes higher on a really cold day. In our defense we have a little one with Downs and he is a little difficult as he won’t wear long sleeves or keep a pair of socks on. He also sits on the floor to watch TV and play even though he has a rocking chair of his own, his bed, 2 couches and several other chairs to choose from! Also we have hardwood floors and the vents are in the ceiling so the floor is really chilly and that’s where he is most of the time. If it weren’t for our dear sweet Dominic we would probably keep it around 69-70 hubby, Big Brother and I can always use a Snuggie! Our average pay gas bill is only $60 a month though, which I can handle!
68 in the winter; 78 in the summer. We also have thermostat adjust for when we aren’t home during the day.
We are in Virginia and we keep ours at 68 in the winter and 70 in the summer.
I set my heat at 65 degrees in the winter. My husband likes to bump it up to 70 at night, but he gets his hand slapped if I catch him. He doesn’t realize that with our house facing the south, we get a lot of sun in the afternoon. There are days that my house gets up to 75 degrees during the winter without the help of the furnace. He’s only home at night, so he doesn’t feel all that solar heat during the day. I even have to run a dehumidifier to keep the condensation off the windows. We pay less to heat the house than we do to cool it. I run my central air at 78-80 degrees during the summer.
I should add that I’m in Iowa, and I haven’t turned the heat on yet.
LOL about the hand being slapped!! 🙂
I live in Wisconsin..keep it at 58 during the day when we’re not home. And when we are we keep it at 62-63 and layer clothing, but most times we’re outside walking-yep in the winter even or blowing snowlol…and 58-59 at night.
We moved this spring. This summer I kept the a/c around 75-77. We opened our windows at night when it was feasible. Living in the mountains has some nice advantages.
This winter, I’m keeping it between 66-69 so far. My husband does not do well in cold, but we have a full size fireplace in our apartment. We’ll stock up on wood and go from there. I’m curious to see what our utility bill will be this winter. Already, our summer bill has been lower and we live on the 3rd floor, so I’m hoping for the heat below us to rise up and help keep us warm and the sun to soak into the structure.
It’s interesting to hear what everyone else does!
We are in NH and keep ours at 64 at night and 66 during the day. If we feel chilled we will put on our heat insert for 10-20 min.
We keep our house at 68 in the winter, and we live in NW WA, so our house doesn’t have AC. But during the one week a summer when it gets to 85 inside the house, I start to get really whiny… 🙂
I like 78 in the summer, 70 during the day in winter, 68 during nights in winter.
My husband thinks we live in an art gallery and only likes it between 72 and 75 degrees year round.
We keep ours about 69, and lower at night. In the summer we use the a/c a little bit, but not much. I live northern Canada.
I keep it at 66 during winter, and 72 in summer. Sometimes though I just turn it off and leave the fan running, in the summer I use a dehumidifier and that takes off the need for a couple of degrees of cooling. This summer though was much too hot to turn off the heat pump.
74-76*.
Thank you! But I will admit that the construction of a house has a lot to do with it. We live in a newly built home (in IN) right now, and its always freezing in here (and I am the one the house always wearing like 3 layers from head to toe.) Our old home in CO was masonry so we got away with 65-68 in the winter and 88-92 in the Summer. It just retained heat better and we had huge 25 yr old shade trees in the summer. We have no trees, cold drywall…thankfully we are only renting for a short time! Till then I’m paying homage to my Cuddle Duds.
Living in Northeastern Wisconsin is very cold in the winter.
I live in small one bedroom apartment with electric heat baseboards with a thermostat in each room. I am a bit extreme, in the summer we sleep with a fan on because our apartment air conditioner is in the living room and does no good in the bedroom, I cover the windows/patio door with shrinkwrap plastic from November to April. I keep the thermostat on 50 in the bathroom and bedroom and on 65 in the living room in the evening. I shower at the gym every day. My husband turns the heat up for a little while showering in the morning. We turn the heat off during the day as we both work all day Monday to Friday. I am pleased to say that we don’t ever pay over $100 for heat/hot water/electricity in the winter and we don’t ever pay over $60 in the summer for heat/hot water/electricity.
We set our heat at 70 in the winter and 80 for a/c. Summer is usually comfortable, but I still have to wrap up in blankets in the winter. Brrr!
We are in Alaska, I keep the thermostat at 65 during the day, down to 55 at night. We turn the heat off during late spring, summer and early fall.
We’re in southeast Nebraska: We set it at about 67-68 F for daytime, and at 63 at night or when we’re gone for a few hours. (We love our programmable thermostat!) Our bedrooms are upstairs, so even with the thermostat set low, it’s a few degrees higher upstairs.
We do have a space heater that we use in our den – it was a later addition to the house and is always colder than the rest of the house in the winter. We keep our computer in there, and when we’re working, we need the extra heat. My dad rigged up a little box for us, with a timer hooked up to an electrical outlet, so we can plug in the box, and then plug the heater into the box. The heater has no power unless the timer is turned on – and the timer insures that we won’t go off and leave the heater turned on.
My son has sensory issues, so we have to keep the house cool in Summertime and Warm in Wintertime. 75 for Summer and 72 in Winter. We also get a HUGE discount on our bill for this because I got proof from the Dr. stating he needs the heat and A/C at these temps.
My daughter has sensory issues too. Is this something all companies do or just yours? It’d be so nice to get some relief. She is already having screaming fits because her clothes are too cold in the morning and it’s only October.
I live in temperate California, so even though we have central heat and air in our house, I’ve never turned them on, it just seems wasteful. I’m a big believer in spot heating/cooling, and hope to yank the furnace and AC completely one of these years, and just install room heaters. We already have fans in every room, and a whole house fan.
In the summer as soon as the temperature starts to drop outside, we turn on the house fan to suck the hot air out and get good circulation. We have a new baby, so we did use a portable AC in her room her first couple months, for just a few hours on the really hot days (temperature in the high 80s inside, 90-100 outside). Otherwise, just fans and being smart about leaving the blinds down on the west side of the house, and we’re ok. It’s often in the low 80s, but you get used to it, and it’s dry here, so not miserable like the same temperature would be with high humidity.
In the winter we do a lot of cooking, wear a lot of layers, and tend to settle in one room together with a portable electric heater. It just makes more sense than heating the whole house, when I know we don’t have good insulation (old drafty house). It can get cold enough to see your breath inside on bad mornings, 50s inside, 40s outside. I often run a heater in the room before we go to bed, and use an electric blanket, but once we’re asleep, the blankets and body warmth keep us cozy. This year the nursery will have a portable electric heater that kicks on automatically if the room goes below 60. We also re-insulated that room when we were getting it ready.
Our utilities bill year round ranges from $30 to $40, and I cannot imagine how people with these big bills manage to afford it!
unless you this you’ll never sell the house, I wouldn’t yank the heating system entirely. That would seriously impact your resale value.
We have a a townhouse and live in Chicago. We try to keep it lower in the winter, but my husband and I are just the kind of people that get miserably cold quickly. Yes, we’re wimpy. So after a couple years of being miserable and arguing with each other about it all winter, we finally decided this was just one area where we would only compromise up to a certain point. We now keep it at 68 at night (neither of us can sleep if we’re freezing or piled with 5 different blankets) and 66 during the day. We’d both prefer to keep it warmer but this is the threshold of what we felt we could reasonably stand! We compromise by avoiding keeping it too cool in the summer. Usually we set the thermostat at like 80 in the summer or we don’t turn it on at all.
Being off the lake is cold in the winter.
We just use a small fan in the summer. We turn on our A/C in the summer and our electric space heater in the winter as needed. We have found that this saves us more money than managing our thermostat did.
We live in TX, so it normally doesn’t get REALLY cold, but it can get chilly. I have my thermostat programmed for 68 in the morning/evening and 66 overnight and during the day. My 5yo and I wear sweaters or cuddle up in blankets if we get cold while we are home all day.
I’m in noVA and I will eat beans and rice and generic cereal so I can keep my house comfortable. We have a programmable thermostat and I work from home – some days with the kids and some days they are at school. In winter the house during the day is around 72 and drops to 65 at night and during the summer it is around 72 as well. I have a small space heater for under my desk in my office since it isn’t well heated.
I told my husband that I would get an additional job if I had to before I’d suffer through being cold all the time 🙂
Our utility companies offer a budget plan whereby they average out your yearly usage and you pay 1/12 that amount each month so you don’t get spikes in your bill. They reevaluate it every year. We love it. Our electric bill stays at $165 and our gas is $36 each month. We have gas heat and stove.
Right now with this damp Ohio weather, our thermostat is set at 72. Our house is all-electric but for some reason if we go below 70 it feels extremely chilly. If I’m home alone I’ll turn it down if I’m moving around but we always have blankets in our living room if anyone needs one.
We just moved into a new apartment this spring and it is all electric. I’m feeling the same way about it being quite cool near 70 degrees. Even in the summer with the a/c on, 74 degrees felt quite cool to me. I’m trying to keep ours at around 66-69 right now. I just wear warm socks and slippers to keep my feet warm.
We’re in Michigan. The thermostat has been on 65 since our unseasonably warm weather left. We have solar panels that provide supplemental heat in the living/kitchen area (you know, if the sun ever shines), so that helps take the edge off! But the downside is our bedrooms get SO cold keeping doors closed so our Typhoon Lilly doesn’t get in there and empty drawers. I often run just the furnace blower to help redistribute the heat through the house when the panels are running.
Once the snow starts to fly, I’ll probably set the furnace to warm up to 68 for an hour or so when my husband gets up at 5 am. Just a little bit of nice to start his EARLY day!
Summer – thermostat is usually around 74 or 75. I like that temperature better! 🙂
We live in a small house (1400 sf), so it doesn’t take an awful lot to keep our house warm (or cool). We kept the temperature at 69-70 all last winter because we had a new baby, and didn’t really feel like it cost us more to do so. We pre-buy our propane each year, so other than the initial $$ in June, that’s all we spend. Any extra rolls over for the next year.
Michigan too….. I broke down and flipped the switch yesterday. The wet & 40mile an hour winds got me. Normally, we do not turn the furnace on until November. I set it to 68 & turned it up to 70 just to make sure it worked. Ugh, by the time it was 70 I was sweating and peeling off layers of clothes! Like now it is 68 and I am in shorts and a tank top. If I get chilly, I sit down and warm up with a couple blankets and doggies!
We use to set it at 64 daytime, 59-60 sleeptime. But that was too cold, so last year I told my husband I am not freezing this year. I think it averaged at 68 day and 64 nighttime. Summer time A/C is like 75, extreme heat is 73-74.
Around 64. We use our gas fireplaces more than we use our heat pump, it’s way more efficient.
55 F
We keep it at 69 degrees during the day most of the time and 64 degrees at night. This is in Northwest Indiana.
60-62 during the day and in the kids’ rooms at night. I shut off the heat in the living areas at night and pretty much never turn the master bedroom’s on. (I do turn things up warmer when guests are here… most peeps aren’t used to my chilly ways! ;))
I live in West Virginia. We usually keep ours anywhere from 58 to 62.
We keep ours at 78-80 in the summer. I’m a sahm and don’t mind the heat, and mornings are cool enough that at 78 and with a fan, we’re ok. Winter is more like 65-68, but we have a fireplace we use sometimes, too. We rarely use heat or a/c in the spring or fall because in SoCal, temps are mild and pleasant.
I live in MI and am always cold but keep it pretty low to save money. I keep it at 67 when my piano students are here, 64 when I’m by myself, and 60 at night. I’m always bundled up!
70 degrees all year in super hot then super cold St. Louis….GO CARDS!
you and i must be spoiled, amanda. 🙂 i am with you. i don’t mind a little warmer in the summer but i am very cold natured and often try keeping it below 70 but always end up cranking it back up b/c i’m freezing!
I agree! I am feeling like a major WIMP after reading these posts. Even with trying to leave mine at 70 in the winter my husband comes home and turns on the fireplace as it was freezing.
I hear you. I have med condition that prevents us from keeping it so low. Regardless, I freeze if it’s under 70. Right now it’s 71 in here and my hands are getting icy as I type!
Geez Louise! I would freeze to death or burn up if I lived with most of these people! (LOL) Ours is always around 72 in the winter and 68 in the summer. I like to be nice and toasty when it is cold out! My husband complains some, but he is deployed a lot, so it usually all works out! Our electricity is included in our rent too on base, so I really have never thought much about it. Thanks goodness!!! 😉
I too live in STL – GO CARDS!!!
72 year round
We like it warm in the winter too. Upto 74 in the winter. We are very fortunate that with the surrounding apartments, that we stay pretty warm without the heater for a long time.
We’re the same, 70 during the day year round, and down 67 at night in the winter, but the thermostat is programed to automatically goes back to 70 about 20 minutes before the alarm goes off. I’m home during the day otherwise we would keep it lower, I turn it down if we’re going to be gone all day, or off if we’re out of town. We’re fortunate that we live in a relatively moderate climate though and are currently in a 3 year old one store house that is quite energy efficient so are bills are reasonable. From reading most of the other comments though I’m realizing my husband and I are total wimps!
I’m in St Louis too, GO CARDINALS!!!!
Another one in St. Louis – GO CARDS!!
I keep it about 67 in the winter and and 74 in the summer.
We keep ours around 70 or 71 in the winter and 74 or 75 in the summer. We’re in a split level, so it’s challenging to be comfortable on both levels. And then there’s the part about living in St. Louis – we might use the furnace and a/c both in one day! 🙂
And, oh yes – GO CARDS!!!
I think it must be something about living in MO, (Joplin here) because I keep mine at 70 in the winter and 72 in the summer.
GO CARDS!!!
what ever the weather will make it
65 during the day — there’s always someone home –, 59 at night, and 68 for two hours in the morning when we’re getting out of bed and getting showers. Love the programmable thermostat! Last winter with a young baby we never set it below 65 even at night, but this winter now that he’s a toddler we’re going to try to go back to the routine I just described (which was our pre-baby thermostat settings). (This is in Minnesota).
85 in the summer, not at all in the fall, 75 in the winter, not at all in the spring.. i grew up without a/c so it was like if you hot open the window and if you could put a sweater on.
We live in Florida – our a/c is set on 82 during the day, 80 at night. In the winter time – I keep the heat on 60 that’s *if* we turn it on.
We keep it on 67 in the winter and 82 in the summer. I’m not particularly comfortable at either of those temperatures, but it does save a lot of money.
64-68 during the day/55 at night
I live in Illinois and just resign myself to always being cold in the house in the winter. I wear fuzzy socks and sweatshirts and am seriously considering a Snuggie.
Surprisingly, I don’t get cold at night, even with the temperature at 55. Our comforter is very warm, and my husband is like my own personal furnace. 🙂 We have a programmable thermostat, so the temperature goes up to 66 about 30 minutes before we get up. That makes it much easier to get up.
Love the idea of a programmable thermostat!
I am cracking up at your Snuggie comment…. only because I was just thinking the same thing. I saw this new thing in Walgreens called the Lazy All Day or something… It is basically a snuggie, but has arms and legs. A fleece JUMPSUIT if you will.
I don’t care HOW ridiculous I would look to save the $100s it costs us to run the heat in California in the winter! 🙂
68- north augusta, sc
I’m starting to feel like a real scrooge after seeing all these posts! We live on 1 income, have 3 children, live in MT, and keep our heater at 63 and very occasionally 64 during the day, 59 at night and 55 when we are gone for several days. We do not have a/c.
We do, however, turn the furnace up to 68 or higher when we have visitors as we realize most people do NOT keep their homes as cold as we do.
My hubby and I LOVE a cold bedroom for sleeping.
I drink a lot of hot tea in the winter and we have many comfy blankets throughout the house for cuddling and warmth. 🙂
You’re definitely not a scrooge! When it is 63 outside, it’s a beautiful spring or fall day (IMO) and we go around in short sleeves 🙂
Many older farmhouses (at least here in New England) have no heat upstairs at all, except what drifts up through the vents. It wasn’t uncommon for my grandmother to wake up to ice in the wash basin every winter morning when she was a girl.
Lise, you are definitely on my wavelength! I was feeling really bad because I keep mine in the mid to low 50s at night and when we’re not home. I only up it to 63 or 64 on the coldest of days. We bundle up and use electric blankets at night, since that is a cheaper alternative to the fuel oil my furnace uses.
Lise, you are definitely on my wavelength!
We live in Southern NH and I was feeling really bad because I keep mine in the mid to low 50s at night and when we’re not home. I only up it to 63 or 64 on the coldest of days. We bundle up and use electric blankets at night, since that is a cheaper alternative to the fuel oil my furnace uses.
I live in Maine and heat with oil and wood. I never put thermostat up to more than 62 in winter and leave it in mid 50s at night. (My experience is that Mainers seriously fade in the heat). It’s interesting though–we just had our house insulated–found there was no insulation since it was built in 1945. I find it so much warmer already just using the stove. Insulation in walls and attic cost $2300 but I bet we’ll recoup half that in reduced oil bills this year alone.
Ditto – from another southern NH girl. 🙂 Those outlet clearance L. L. Bean fleeces have paid for themselves over and over and over!
I’m a Mainer transplanted to southern NH 🙂 Smart wool socks are the best!
Yep! SmartWool – do you also get the “irregulars” from the L. L. Bean outlets? Hahaha!
LL Bean fleece pajamas for kids ROCK! I love the outlet when I visit my family.
You’re not the only one! It’s just me at home, so I keep my apartment at 58 while I’m at work, 60 while I’m home, and a little warmer if I have guests. In the summer I’m all for keeping it at 78. Maybe I’m weird, but I love the feeling of curling up under blankets and wearing warm weather clothes in the summer!
I think the colder the climate the lower you can keep your thermostat and get away with it, when its frigid outside I keep mine at 64 but when it’s 50-60 degrees out I freeze to death at that temp and kick it up to 68. I bet that is a good temp for that cold climate, when it’s cold here in Tn, it will run almost non-stop at 64
LOL, you are definitely not a scrooge! I live in MA, and I keep the heat at 65 max during the day, and 58 at night or when I’m out during the day. As for a/c, I only use one window unit in the summer and only on very hot days (90s). It doesn’t have a temp setting.
My parents on the other hand keep their house at 60 during the day, 57 at night. 60 was too cold for me when I lived there though, which is why I keep my heat slightly higher. They also have a very nice space heater now which helps.
What you are all describing is what I grew up with. I was cold ALL THE TIME (even with lots of clothes) I used to sit on the floor radiator to read in the middle of the hallway as a girl. At some point, when I bought my own place, I realized I get really grumpy when I’m cold. Not a great combo when you live in a 160 yr old house in MA. So now, I am willing to pay for heat. 69 during the day, 60 at night. I pay the heat bill year round to make sure I can be warm in the winter! Of course we don’t have AC except a window unit only used when the house gets over 87, so I figure it evens out a bit.
I live in a northern area known for horrible winters. My heat is 60 during the day and completely off at night (usually goes down to around 50). I work from home and often have guests, but they regularly return so the 60 temperature isn’t keeping business away. I will turn it up if someone seems chilled though.
We keep ours at 64 in the winter. But I layer on the clothes on days that I am home. We have Geo Thermal heat which is dry and doesn’t run constantly so there tends to be cold spots. In the evening, we use our wood fireplace to warm up our kitchen and family room. Our bedrooms are on the second floor so they stay warmer. In the summer we have the AC set at 77. It is difficult to get used to the 13 degree temp. change!
In the winter we keep ours at 65-68. We do use a space heater in the livingroom since we are usually in the livingroom or kitchen.
We keep it at 66 during the winter. Right now I leave it there day and night because we have a 3 month old. Otherwise I would drop it to 62.
In the summer I keep it at 74 during the day and 70 at night. Our thermostat is downstairs and we sleep upstairs, so if it’s turned higher than that it gets miserable upstairs.
I was told by the phone nurse through BCBS’s maternity program that keeping it below 65 helps prevent SIDS. I have no clue how but I always put either a sleep sack or heavier sleeper on my babies in the winter and cranked the temp down.
She’s right, the optimal sleeping temp for infants is between 62 and 68, with an infant sleep sack! If you are comfortable, your baby probably is too 🙂
I suspect most of the SIDS recommendations keep babies from sleeping deeply. When babies sleep on their stomachs, their arms and legs don’t flail around, which often wakes them when they sleep on their stomachs. I would think the same is true of lower temps, but . . . I’m no expert!
Lower temps and circulating air help prevent the baby from getting overheated. My baby’s Dr. said that one thing that may cause SIDS is when warm air gets trapped in front of their mouths. Keeping cooler temps and the air circualting can prevent this, as well as putting baby to sleep on their backs. (Which is what almost every Dr. says to do now.) Also, cooler temps help most anyone sleep better (not cold, but cool) it helps to release the hormone that makes you sleepy.
Thermometers are grossly inaccurate a lot of the time. I’d recommend just finding a comfortable, cool temperature and putting space heaters in the bathroom and such.
I meant to say thermostats.
I’ve got electric baseboards, which are similar in running cost and harder to remember to turn off. If you have gas heat, it might not make financial sense to use them on a regular basis to keep some rooms warmer than others. But, even for people with HE heating systems, they can be good for short periods and small rooms. It’s nice to take a shower in a toasty bathroom and get dressed with warm air blowing on you. I just feel really sorry for myself when I have to shower and dress in a cold room.
My husband and I found that space heaters were a HUGE drain on electricity and it was reflected in our bill the next month. It was cheaper just to turn up the heat a few degrees.
Meredith,
I couldn’t agree w/ you more!! We got a new HVAC system put in last year to switch from [highly expensive] gas heat to electric. We couldn’t really afford the gas heat so we ran off space heaters all the time & our house wasn’t even very warm. Now with our new HVAC, we keep it around 75 in the winter [probably no lower than 72] & our electric is actually lower than it was w/ the space heaters!!
We found that turning down the heat and using space heaters jacked up our heating bill so we stopped doing that. We just installed programmable thermostats that supposedly help moderate the temp better and save energy and money.
We do 75 in the summer and 71 in the winter. I am from San Diego, I need a base temp all year long!
66 when we’re home, and 60 when we’re sleeping.
We’re getting a new furnace installed next week, so it’s been pretty cold in the house this week (we’re in IN and it’s been windy, rainy, and cold!). It was 60 when we woke up and I managed to get it up to 64 with some baking and laundry.
Me too. I keep my house at 65 here in MI. Just baked some apple streudel cupcakes, (mmmm) And I am not turning heat on until Nov 1st (trying to at least). As I type I am wearing gloves:)
We keep our house at 62 in the winter and the A/C at 78 in the summer in South Central PA. We do usually adjust it when guests come over. We even did this when my daughter was first born (now 4), and she survived just fine 🙂
Us too! Except not 78 in the summer. 62 in the winter almost the whole time is what we do. We will turn it up for guests, but that is it. We have a 3 year old and he has also survived just fine (it may have helped that both of our houses we have had were two story and the upstairs always stayed a little warmer anyway for sleeping). Just stay bundled up in socks, warm pants and a sweatshirt or sweater and it’s not that bad!
We had an icestorm when DD #1 was three months old that left us with no power or heat other than the fireplace for 10 days so we lived in the family room and we were just fine. Even if we wanted to go to a hotel there were no rooms for a 30 mile radius. We discovered that a chilly house is not so bad even for babies/kids if you have appropriate clothing and blankets. Boiled wool slippers are great.
In the winter we keep it on 68 or 69. However I cannot stand a hot house so in the summer I’m guilty of keeping it on 72 during the day and 70 at night.
We keep ours at 65 degrees in indiana.
Here in Vegas, 1700 sq.ft home , bulit in 2005 :
Winter, natural gas: not on until mid-Jan.
Off at nights, dh turns it on to 70 when he wakes up. I turn it down to 68 or off and open all the blinds, wear a sweater/socks and blankets ( so do my dd’s). I turn it back on when he gets home 🙂
Summer A/C : its set at 82-84.
We have ceiling fans in every room and I close all the blinds on the backside of the house. Its on during the night, but I turn it off when dh goes to work and I don’t turn it on until its 85/86 in the house.
I’m in Vegas, too and I’m impressed by your 82-84 during the summer! We keep it around 79 and turn it down a tad at night to sleep. We’re in a 1600 sq ft, two story town home.
We keep our heat at 68 during the winter — I figure that even for a super chilly day we can certainly just bundle up! 🙂
We are in a single story, so I think that makes a big difference.
I also use a standing fan in the hallway/front room to keep it cool while we do school work ( we are homeschoolers). This year I will be making curtains for the back rooms that face the evening sun and that should make it feel even cooler during the day.
Heating (gas) is included in our rent, so as warm as we want. 🙂
Us too (except oil). It’s a steal of a deal to have heat included up here.
We keep it around 70.
Actually, we are right next to the boiler so we do actually have “radiant” heat through the wall. The heater’s been turned off since May which is quite unusual in my area.
Us too. 🙂 It’s not included for us but is worth the extra money to be comfortable. 🙂 We keep it around 72 all year.
In the summer: 78 – 82
In the winter: 68 – 72
The range is because my husband prefers to keep it more comfortable, while I tend to think it would be virtuous to be uncomfortable (yes, silly). So, since we can afford it, I usually adjust it on weekends and when he’s home in the evenings. When we have house guests, we tend to make it even more comfy.
With a toddler, 2 yr. old, and 4 yr. old, we keep it a little warmer than my husband would prefer 🙂 Usually 68 degrees is a good compromise. I’m able to dress the boys warm enough without their little hands freezing to death while they are playing on the floor/crawling. At night it goes down to 65 degrees.
We keep ours at 64 here in PA & I’m home during the day. I do turn it up if people come to visit since they seem to think that 64 is cold but we are used to it and put extra blankets on the bed at night. We use oil for heat & hot water.
I guess we’re the odd ones here- we’re in New England, and we keep it at 66 when we’re home. Before kids, the thermostat was set to 55 at night (although it rarely actually got that cold, typically it was between 58-60). We have a fluffy down comforter that keeps us warm. Now that we have a 1 year old, the thermostat is set to 62 upstairs, where we sleep, but stays at 55 downstairs.
We keep ours at 68.
70 or 71 in the winter with 68 at night. We could probably drop it lower at night, but then we’d freeze the kids out in the basement. They are still little and don’t stay under their blankets well. In the summer 76 when it’s really hot, otherwise I’ll wait until it gets to 78 or 80 to turn the AC on. At night we turn it off and open windows, which isn’t a luxury that everyone has. I live in Utah, so it cools down at night in the summer to at least 70.
We keep our thermostat set at 65. Oil heat has gotten expensive, so we only use it on winter mornings; we’ll kick it up to 70, until we get the wood stove going. We get lots of free firewood from people we know–and people giving it away on Craigslist. I’m a SAHM, so I maintain the fire throughout the day until we go to bed.
We don’t have central AC, and we usually wait until the indoor temperature hits 84 before turning on the window unit AC’s during the day. And we set those to 78 to take the edge off the heat. We do run the bedroom units at night during the worst part of the summer. (We live in South Jersey.)
We are in the mountains of NC and keep ours at 68 in the winter and 76 in the summer (though I’m not convinced our old thermostat and furnace are particularly precise when it comes to temps!). I would probably go without AC in the summer except on the hottest days (we didn’t have it when I was growing up) but my husband is very hot-natured and gets pretty miserable when the house gets above 80. We just found out our gas (heat) rates are going up by 17% so that has motivated us to finish the basement before winter sets in so that we can use the wood fireplace more often!
We keep ours at 67. We have an Eden Pure heater in the living room to take the edge off and it saves on heating costs. We also have a prpane fireplace ethat makes our living area real toasty when we feel like turning it on. I live in Ohio. BTW 4 years ago we kept our heat at 70-71 but we decided to turn it down when I lost my job and that few degrees saved a lot of money. Our budget on our propane went down almost $100 per month. We heat 3000 sq feet.
When we lived in central Illinois, we set it at 63 during the day and about 56 at night (we live in Oregon now and haven’t spent a winter here yet). My mother grew up in Scotland and was used to chilly houses so while I was growing up she always kept the thermostat WAY down. I hated it when I was a kid but now it feels normal to me and other people’s houses feel hot and stuffy. I can’t imagine sleeping with the heat turned up to 70!
66 during the day and 60 at night… and we are always freezing! I keep telling everyone to add another layer!
60-62. The upstairs is still too warm because there’s no insulation between the downstairs and upstairs, but the downstairs would be too cold for three little ones if I set it any lower. We wear layers and make sure to have socks on at all times.
Another good tip is to make sure to get outside every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes. It helps set your reality about how warm it actually is inside your home.
Lastly, think about a nice spring/fall day outside where you don’t need a jacket. What temp is is usually? Set your thermostat at that temp for starters, and then over a few weeks lower it one degree per week. It gives your body and mind time to adjust, and you learn how many layers you need to stay comfortable.
I save my family almost $600 each winter by doing this.
We live in central Iowa, and keep ours at 65 during the day (if we leave the house I always turn it lower, have a lot of guests, or if we are being very active: when I exercise or the kids are running around with friends). At night it is set to 62 degrees. I would go lower if I didn’t have 2 kiddos. 🙂
we keep it @68 both winter n summer…extra blankets n space heaters used for winter nights only…also since we recently renovated we got beautiful windows and in summer they are open n we have lovely breeze right through the house on hot summer days…
68-70 in winter…any lower and we will get sick. I think people have to find what works for them…and we both often wear sweat pants too. We also have a portable radient heater for right where we are in the living room and have in the past used one of those electric radiator heaters beside the bed on really cold nights. I feel that the radiator heaters are safer for sleeping.
In summer we usually leave the temps between 74-77. Depending on what we are doing. We live in central NC.
66-68 in the winter, though we turn it down to at least 60 at night (I like a cold room for sleeping and would love to take it down to 55) and use space heaters in the kid’s rooms. We also keep the vents and doors closed in four rooms of our house year round (it’s a big house) so the rooms we don’t use are not really being heated. But because of terrible insulating that we’re slowly improving, our propane bill is still around $4200 for the winter. Yes, four-thousand, two-hundred dollars.
In PA -65 during the day in the winter. 60-62 at night. It’s cold. We wear several layers. I’d prefer it to be 72 but I love the money we save. When we first brought our temp down to 65 from 70 several years ago we starting saving about $75-$100 a month . We heat with electric unfortunately.
For the summer I keep the air at 78 which to some doesn’t even feel like air conditioning but I tend to be colder than most people.
We keep ours set at right about 69-72. We dont change it very often.
On most days, 3 kids plus one parent is home all day in our house. During the summer, we keep ceiling fans going and the air at 77 during the day and 75 at night. During the winter, we set the heat at 68. Right now we have a baby but we used to keep the heat at 66. It seems to help our electric bill quite a bit. We also use a programmable thermostat so we don’t push it up or down at all. It is set and we leave it alone.
We have a two story, hardly any insulation, old wood windows, no register vents upstairs. We keep ours at 65 and if it is very cold or windy we may turn it up to 68. It is not what I would call toasty, but if you are wearing enough clothes it is warm. At night we all have heated mattress pads. When it becomes super cold the kids will sleep on the couch if they need to. However, last year everyone slept fine. You just don’t mess around when you wake up!!! We also keep a space heater in the bathroom for really cold mornings.
We have a small wood stove that heats several rooms very well, so that helps me keep the thermostat a lot lower, because I can get toasty when I need to. Mainly it’s the bedrooms that are icy, and I like it cold at night anyway. So in the day the gas furnace is set at 64, and at night 60. One winter when I was pregnant, I wanted it much lower, but my husband wouldn’t let me put it lower than 59! And I was still drenched in sweat half the night, while he shivered under a pile of blankets.
Before we had the woodstove, we set it at 66 in the day, and I was miserable all the time, and our bills were still very high. Since then, we’ve replaced the furnace and windows and that’s helped a lot. We also have a lot sun coming in which helps. And I have had several toddlers running around in very little clothing – they never seem to mind that it’s chilly.
If I were rich, I would set it at 72, and never wear layers again!
We live in the frozen tundra of North Dakota, so we keep it at 72-73 with having small children. However, we have geothermal heating, so the bill is minimal. The house used to be my in-laws’s, and I think they only paid $40 a month.
Spring / Summer it is usually 80 degrees
Fall / Winter is is usually 62 to 67 degrees
If we have a house full of people we will move it up or down a few degrees so everyone is comfortable.
Also, in the winter we close off our main living room unless we are having guests because it is big with 4 windows and the front entry way / door. We hang a quilt between the living room and dining room and close the hallway door. The girls grew up calling it the “cold” room instead of the living room. The living room can be a good 10 to 20 degrees cooler compared the rest of the house. Of course the living room has no running water in it or pipes around it so we don’t run the risk of pipes freezing. The first time we did this we save a huge chunk on our utility bill and it makes the other rooms in the house feel cozier.
We use central heating and cooling (electricity) for the majority of our heat, however, we do have a gas fire place that we use if there is a power outage or if the temperature drops below 60 degrees in the winter it will kick on to help add a little heat just for a few minutes. We usually only have the fireplace lit 2 to 4 months of the year and the rest of the year it is completely turned off to save a little extra.
I have a question for those who kept their thermostats low during the day (63 and below) – is anyone home during the day??
That makes a difference. I stay at home and insist on NOT being cold all day just because its just me and the baby.
We are home all day. The body adjusts.
We haven’t turned the furnace on this year and some mornings it is 58 when we wake up. The kids (I have four) have not really complained. DH did mention is was a little bit chilly in the bathroom one morning, but the steam from the shower warmed it up. One of my girls said “I”m cold.” and I replied “You’re naked!” She got dressed and the problem was solved. 🙂
Once we turn the furnace on, we will set our thermostat to 64 during the day and lower it when we leave.
We keep ours between 62-65 during the day, and we are home most days. We wear sweatshirts and socks, all the time…plus, we spend time in the basement (finished, and where our family room is). Basements tend to keep at a constant temperature, year round….varying only a few degrees.
I keep my thermostat set at 72 in the winter, but it seems to run about 4 degrees cooler than it says, so our house is actually about 68. My toddler and I are comfy in our jeans and long-sleeved shirts. We live in central IL.
Oh, and we turn it down to 69 (65) at night.
68 during the day and 62 at night. We are in CA, so that is really not that bad. Although my kids think so , I just say go put on a sweater!
How cool does CA get in the winter months?
Depends on what part of California!
We are in South Orange County, in the foothills! So it can get what we consider cold, in the 30’s, at times. I think one time we woke up and the heater had turned off and it was 58 in the house. The kids were freezing! Usually it doesn’t come on but for in the mornings, I have it set to come on to 68 at 7 am. We only had a few days of real heat this summer, but when it doesn’t cool off outside, makes it hard for the house to cool down with out the a/c
67-68 during the day when we are home and 63-64 at night and while we are at work.
and in the summer, my husband hates hot weather, so it is 70 during the day and 66 at night. He’s okay with saving when it comes to heat b/c we can just wear slippers and sweatshirts, but in the summer our house is an ice box and we waste money.
We usually keep our thermostat set at 62, but can easily lower it if necessary. But, we live in south Texas, so it doesn’t get very cold down here. If it gets down to freezing for more than a few hours, people freak out. We like to keep the house a little chilly just so that we can get full use out of our winter clothes! 🙂
We’re in Nebraska – during the day, I leave it on 71-72 and when everyone is sleeping I turn is down to about 68.
67 during day and down to 62/63 at night. And we live in the northeast so it gets cold! We just invest in slippers and tell kids to layer the clothes and blankets! We also have rice packs that we heat up in the microwave before bed to help keep our beds warm at night. They work great!
We use a wood stove to heat in the winter, so it is typically 70-75 in the day and 67-70 at night. We used the furnace the first year we lived here (wv) and had to keep it at 67 to be able to afford it at about $350 a month. I can’t even imagine what it would be now. We don’t normally use the air much in the summer for the same reason. We let it run for about a month this summer and paid about $380 for that month. the bill does not go up with the wood stove, even with the electric blower we use to circulate it.
We keep our house at 68 usually, currently, we have it on 64 because it has been warming up during the day, but the nights have been a little chilly…especially last night, it dropped below freezing.
We have a digital, programmable thermostate. During the day we keep the heat at 70, and one hour after our normal bedtime it drops to 67. One hour before we wake up it bumps back up to 70. We never change the temperature unless we are going to be gone overnight. This really helps control our electric bill. We live in Indiana and can have some wild weather.
In TN-
65 in winter (light sweater and socks required on all kiddies)
75 in summer (fans blowing on really hot days)
We keep ours at 65 during the day and 60 at night. We are in a very well insulated home, in New England.
62 day/ 55 night in winter
82 in the summer if we use it
We live in N. Indiana.
I would die if my house was on 82 in the summer. We keep our house at 69 in the summer. We are in south Alabama.
We keep the house thermostat set at 60 degrees in the winter. However, we very willingly turn it up when we have guests. 🙂
We leave it at 68 in the winter and 77 in the summer.
We leave our thermometer at about 63…I sometimes turn it up for a few minutes in the AM, then leave it down the rest of the day.
64-66 in the winter, 78-80 in the summer (unless my in-laws are around to complain about how hot it is, lol).
Oops, make that in the low 70s for winter. I just got up to lower the thermostat because it was hot in here, and it is not set to 66, lol.
We keep ours at 66 right now but we had it at 64 last winter before our little boy was born.
We have small children, so we try to keep our thermostat around 70 degrees F adjusting 2 degrees either way if needed.
Winter: 65 when we’re out for the day (like on weekdays when we’re at work/school/daycare). About 68-70 when we’re home. If we’ve got a fire in the fireplace, we turn it off completely.
Summer: 83ish when we’re out for the day, 78-80 when we’re home. We use ceiling fans a ton.
When we’re gone for long periods, like vacation, we set it to closer to 50-55 in the winter and 85+ in the summer.
We have an old school thermostat, so we eyeball the temps and change it when we walk by.
Usually I keep it at 68 in the winter, but this year I may be more stingy. I think I’ll knock it down a couple degrees to see if it makes enough of a difference in our costs to suffer thorough the colder temp.
We live in the Midwest, in an old brick house in the country. We just had windows replaced this summer, so anxious to see how they work with the heat. In the past, we have kept the heat at 64 day round. With our brick house, there isn’t any quick heat up, it needs steady heat so to speak. That was 64 with house wrap and thermal curtains in most of the windows. I think even if we can’t turn the heat up this year, at least we can see daylight and don’t feel like we are living in a cave all winter.
One thing that is a must for me is slippers. The wooly mammoth crocs are wonderful!
KellyH
In the summer I set the thermostat to 78 during the day and 74 at night. And during the winter I set it to 72 during the day and 68 at night. It’s cool enough during the summer that I’m not sweating, and warm enough in the winter to be comfortable (albeit in warmer layers.)
I have MS and have a hard time regulating my body temperature and am always cold (even in the summer) so we keep our winter heat at 70 during the day and 63 at night. I still have to wear about 3 layers but the kiddos are comfortable with one layer!
We don’t skip on temperature. My husband likes it cold in the summer (68 degrees at night, 75 in the day) and I like it as warm as I can get away with in the winter (62 degrees at night, 68 during the day). Now if we could only agree on the numbers . . . 🙂
We keep our house at 68F during the day in the Fall/Winter when we are up and home. Then drop it to 64F at night when we are all asleep and have blankets on. If I’m baking or if the kids want a fire then it gets a little warmer about 70F. In the summer is whatever temp it wants to be…we don’t have central air conditioning. However, if we open window in the evening at night then shut up everything in the day most the time it stays at or below 80.
I have a 6yr, 3yr, 16m old. We have our house at 70 until half hour after bed then it goes down to 62 until a half hour before we wake. We invested in warm pjs for the kids, and the system seems to work great!
We live in an apartment with baseboard heaters and controls for every room. Our bedroom, the living room and the babies room are kept at 65. The bathroom and kitchen are kept at 55 since steam from the shower can help heat the bathroom and the constant use of the stovetop or oven help keep the kitchen warm.
The last few winters we have kept it between 67 and 68 but this winter I am thinking about bumping it up to 68/69 range. I hate being cold and my ideal temp would be 74 but with 4 kids that just isn’t doable right now.
oh yeah at night we lower it to about 64
We keep our house at 68 degrees, until it gets really cold then we do go up to 70.
We have a wood burning stove in our apartment so if it gets a little chilly we just throw another log or two in and in a few minutes we are toasty again
We are all electric, in northern Kentucky, shoty windows. During the winter we keep it at 65 during the day. I may see about lowering it slightly during the night. 65 still feels cold but it saves money. We did notice a savings each time we replaced an old appliance with a energy efficent one. Little bits over time make a different. We replaced an old water heater when that was giving out with a heat pump water heater. About a year later, we replaced a sliding glass door with an energy efficent door and replaced our dishwasher. This past year the frig was dying so also replaced with energy efficency. Each time I saw a drop in kilowatt hours used. Especially with the door and replacing the 17 year old frig.
We keep ours at 65, but we live on the third floor in an apt building and the apts below us heat us right up. So it is normally around 75 anyways. Though Ideally I would keep it at 70 (we have a 9month old).
Well, here in FL we are a but wimpy, so we keep the house at 72 during the winter. If dh had his way, he’d crank it to 75 or something crazy!
During the day in the winter 68-70 depending on the weather outside. During the night we turn it down to 66. We have a split level house, so most of the heat is upstairs….downstairs is cold, but we just where layers down there during the winter or it is very refreshing during the summer months. During the summer we just turn it off…but we live in the Pacific Northwest so not much heat here and no AC either.
I keep mine on 70.
We have a 10 month old baby and keep it around 72 in the winter.
We keep ours at 67. Anything lower is just too cold, especially in the little girls’ rooms.
69 during the winter days and 65 at night. 78 during the summer days and up to 80 during the night.
During the fall I will turn on the heat once the outside temp drops below 60 degrees at that time our thermostat is set to 68 during the winter. If we are cold we put on an extra layer of clothing or use one of the blankets that we store in the ottoman. Also, in the mornings since our laundry room is on the bedroom level I will dry the previous afternoon’s laundry to warm upstairs a little before waking the kids for school. In the evenings we make sure that most of our meals are made in the oven to utilize the heat. During the spring I keep windows open until the indoor temp reaches 80 degrees then we close windows and set the thermostat no lower than 78 and use ceiling fans in whatever room we are occupying at the time. Also, I try to make sure to not use the oven and BBQ outside when at all possible. Hope this helps:)
I keep ours around 68 in the winter (which means it will fall to 66 and then heat back up to 68) and around 78 in the summer (which means the house gets to 80 and then the a/c cools to 78 again).
This is going to be different for everyone as every thermostat varies a couple of degrees and we all have different situations necessitating one thing or another. I think the best answer to save money here is…find the number that is the max cold your family can tolerate in the winter and the max hot in the summer. Put on or take off layers. Close vents in unused rooms. Make sure windows and doors are properly sealed. Get a programmable thermostat so you can lower or raise the temp when you are gone. But you have to do what works for you!
We keep ours set at 67-68 in the winter and 78-80 in the summer.
We leave ours btwn. 60 and 62 while we’re gone at work, then crank it up to 68 for a couple hours in the evening, and let it drop down to 64/65 at night. Admittedly, though, we can go pretty chilly ’cause we don’t have any kids yet, and we’re not home very often.
62 or lower.. I like the cold.. We pay higher bills in the summer cause I hate the heat.
Sue in NJ
68 during the day and 65 at night.
We keep ours at 68 in the winter. The hubby and son run around with t-shirts and light pants and by daughter and I simply wear sweats to stay warm. We do not have central air so that is not a problem at our house. Oh and ours is programmable so it turns down to 65 while we are gone for 8 hours and turns back up to 68 an hour before we are schedule to arrive home and also turns down to 66 while we sleep.
I keep ours at 67. That’s the temperature at which everyone stops complaining about the cold, so that’s where I keep it. ;0)
I live in the frozen north and we keep ours at 67 during the day and turn it down to 57 at night.
68!
We’re in central Pennsylvania. We keep the thermostat around 68 for our pellet stove, which heats the downstairs. I also turn the bedroom fans on (reverse direction) to pull the heat up to the 2nd floor too. The house has ceiling cable electric heat, and every room has a separate control, so on the really cold days I’ll turn the bathrooms and kids’ room on “low” (around 5 on the dial which goes starts at 4 and goes up to 10). I figure those are the rooms where people aren’t always fully dressed, so those rooms can be a little warmer (also the powder room is right next to the garage and gets really cold!)
We don’t have A/C, so in the summer we keep the house cool by opening the windows at night and closing everything up in the morning. Unless the weather is 90+ (a few weeks in July), this keeps everything pretty comfortable most of the time.
We are in SoCali so we rarely turn on the heater. Our house is all tile so it says really cold when the weather is cool. I turned on the heater to keep the house at about 68-70ish when its really cold (which seems really silly to say while it’s been in the 100s in Oct). I think this year I’m going to buy another electric heater and just use that in the living room, since it never feels warm in there no matter how much I turn up the heater. Hopefully that will save some money off the gas bill and not add too much to the electric bill. In the summer we keep the house at 80ish, and only if it’s hotter then 95 degrees.
68 in the winter. 76 in the summer.
In the winter we keep it at 68. In the summer we keep it at 74, sometimes cooler though becuase my bedroom is a hot box!
I keep mine on the cooler side… 67 No one is home during the day and people sleep better with cooler air. If we are chilly when we get home in the afternoon/evening I have a little space heater that we can move to the room we are in. I always say wear a sweater or grab a blanket.
Before we were married, my husband kept his house at 58F. I couldn’t handle it being that cold! Last winter we set the thermostat to 65F.
I keep mine at 68-Day and 70-night, we live in a Bi-level and I find that running the furnace fan helps circulate the heat evenly.
Wow, We keep ours at 64 right now and the upstairs doesn’t really have heat right now (Just comes up from downstairs and a little vent). We just moved to the mountains of PA so we might have to break down and turn it up eventually though we prob will be adding a small heater to my boys room since my almost 3yr old will NOT keep a blanket on for anything lol
We have typically kept ours at 62 from 8 PM until someone gets up in the morning. If we are home, we leave it on 66 for the day. I’ll crank it up to 67 if it is bitter cold outside, and I’m having trouble getting warm. On a work day, we turn it back down to 62 when the last person leaves the house. That being said, we’re on a tighter budget due to a job layoff and income reduction, so we may have to reevaluate!
62-68 🙂
We have the program set to 67 during the morning, 65 all day, 68 in the evening, and 61 overnight. We wear sweaters and scarves in the house, always have blankets to snuggle under on the couch, and our beds have many layers of blankets and down comforters. It seems extreme, but when we compare gas bills with friends we find we pay $100-300 less a month than most people we know. That warm fuzzy thought makes me want to put on a cozy pair of socks and dance in the kitchen!
BTW, we started by going one degree less each winter. We’ve tried going colder than this and always end up turning it up a degree or two.
I’m in Ohio and keep ours set at 69 during the day, 63 at night. My son and I find it comfortable, but my daughter says it’s too cold. She would rather be at her grandfather’s because he keeps it at 75 during the day and 70 at night! During the summer, I keep it at 77 to 78 during the day and if I can’t open the windows at night, I turn it to 73. (I can’t sleep if it’s hotter than that, even with a ceiling fan.)
In the summer we keep the house about 78 (but it tends to sneak up to 80 in the scorching texas heat). In winter we keep the heater at 64/65, never warmer, just add more layers!
I aim for 64 during the day, but sometimes turn it up to 66, especially when it is windy outside. At night, we turned it down to 60 last year, but I plan to drop it even lower this winter.
We haven’t turned the heat on yet this year. Some mornings, it is 58 degrees in the house. The kids don’t seem to mind; they still run around half naked.
76 degrees and I pay for it. I like to be super toasty.
we’ve kept our house at 67 the past few days with this cold snap…just to see if the kids can handle it. I’ve only gotten a few whiny “I’m CCCOOOLLDD!” so they just put an extra layer on. 🙂
heat’s included in our rent and with 2 small children in the house (2 under 2) we keep it at 75 all day/night. not the most “green” but it works for our family. if we were paying for it though i’d definitely lower the temperature!
We live in Southern California, so bear that in mind. 🙂
66-68 during the day, and 62-64 at night.
67˚ – 69˚… I have three little ones at home 🙂
Winter usually 67-68 but my daughter is in the coldest room of the house and she’s always cold so she uses a space heater too.
Right now it is 56 degrees outside and the thermostat is set on 64. I am comfortable in jeans, fleece top and socks. In the winter we usually keep it set between 66 to 68- we are gas heat . The summer time it is set between 78 to 80– those ceiling fans really do help. We are a coop which really helps in keeping electric costs down– of course received coop magazine this month and electric costs anticipated to increase 28% in 2015.
68 degrees
68 in the winter, 80 in the summer.
During the summer we keep it on 76. Right now the temp hasn’t dropped too much, so we just keep the heat set at 64 if it happens to drop low. Our basement is cooler than our main floor, so we hang out there more in the summer.
My husband and I prefer our home to be colder so the winter energy bills are always way lower since we don’t turn on the heat till it gets really cold and we always keep it low. I’m not sure what temperature we actually have it set one but I do know that we just wear our “comfy” clothes and use blankets more than we use the heat.
I keep it between 78-80…in the summer between 74-78
We keep ours at 68 during the day, 64 at night during the winter in Indiana. Summer we keep the A/C set at 78.
I live in FL and we keep the air on 80-82 in the summer if we aren’t home but 76 at night because the little ones have night terrors if its a degree warmer than that. In the winter I slowly creep it down toward 65 . We hardly get awesomely cold weather so I make them embrace it.
Hubby sets it at 70, but I turn it down to 68 during the day while he’s at work. I know we could save by turning it down a few degrees, but home is somewhere I want to be comfortable!
If you drop it a degree each month, you probably won’t notice. Your body adjusts. When we first moved back to New England from the Southwest, I had to keep it at 72. Gradually, we’ve dropped it back to 64 and no one complains.
We keep it at 68 degrees. We are all already wearing longsleaves. Our house is all eletric too so keeping it lower cuts the cost and we offset with a real fire in the livingroom fireplace. I also tend to cook more and as we all know, cooking and baking tends to heat up the house anyways lol. Lots of hot chocolate on really cold nights and if there is a threat of loosing power, we all snuggle up in one bedroom, maybe even one bed (but that is kinda crowded wtih two kids that take up more than their fair share lol).
In the 64-66 range. Before we had our son, we kept it much colder (around 58-60), but those days are over.
I try to keep it at 66 during the day, and 60 at night. But we’re in Michigan, right off Lake Huron, and it gets blustery cold! I have been known to crank it up to 72 in February . . . there are a lot of fuzzy socks and pants in our house, and 3-4 blankets or afghans for each person!
Funny, I don’t know how people could stand to sleep with the thermostat at 69 or 70 degrees at night. I program ours to go to 60 degrees at 10 p.m. In the morning the program takes it up to 68 from about 6:30-8 a.m. for showering/getting dressed time, then down to 66 for the rest of the day.
But sometimes I am feeling chilly and put it up to 68 degrees.
Sure it’s chilly in the house, and yet not chilly enough to convince my kids to put on some socks or a sweater!
68 in winter. We’re Texans and pretty wimpy about the cold.
68 when we’re home and 64 when we’re out or asleep.
Ooops those are 4 winter. In summer we try to NOT use airconditioning (this summer was too hot). At night it’s at 72 and day is 76. The air doesn’t get turned on until it’s over 84 outside.
68-71 in the winter, but we live in Texas where winters are mild. If we lived where it was colder, we’d keep it colder and actually use our fireplace to take off the edge. Summers are what get us here. I try to keep it at 80 in the day, but hubby likes it colder and turns it down to 77 when he’s home. We keep ceiling fans running in every room all summer too.
We keep it at 68 during the day and 64 at night.
Right now (in Wisconsin), it’s 45 outside and our heat is not on. It’s 64 in the house. I have sweatpants and a sweatshirt on, and a blanket on me. I’m going to bake bread later to warm up the house. 🙂 We’re toughing it out as loooong as possible!
We typically keep the heat at about 67-68 in the winter. We turn it down to more like 65 if we’re both gone during the day.
In the summer, we typically do not run an A/C since it doesn’t get very warm in WI. We only used it about 1 week this summer…and I think it was set at about 78 degrees then. We stick with fans instead of A/C!
Another trick we use is to just flip the heat (in winter) or A/C (in summer) on for a short time to “take the edge off.” That’s perfect for those cold mornings when it’s going to warm up later in the day!
We heat with wood, and last night was our first fire of the season. We are in Wis to. Have a very old house build 1856. No heater or duct work in it. So we use the wood stove for the downstairs and base board electric heat for the bedrooms when it gets below 20 outside. Still our electric is about $200.00 a month, we have no gas. So From what I read I guess we get by really cheap at $200. We get all our wood free, most from trimming tree lines for farmers near us. It helps them get in and out of fields better and we get the wood free. Well I guess it is not really free, chainsaws, gas, blades and our time are worth something.
We have a window ac in the upstairs and run it on those really hot nights. It is in the hall so keeps the bedrooms mid 70’s even if it is still 90 outside. We throw a heavy blanket over the doorway leading to the stairs to keep the cold up.
I try to keep mine at or around 70. There are times that I turn it up to almost 75 but only for a short time. I do turn it down at night and when I go to work. Keeping the thermostat low and wearing sweaters and blankets just doesn’t cut it for me!
Wow, I always thought our oil heat was expensive, but it sounds like electric is not much better!
Propane is even worse. Our winter bills (I’m in New England) are at least $500/month.
I wonder that too. We use natural gas to heat and I think that’s expensive. Our friend in ME says oil is way more. My neighbor has a heat pump which is supposed to be the least expensive and her electric bill this past Jan. was $350 while ours was $150 but we had to pay for our gas. I’m beginning to wonder if it all evens out in the end……
I’d prefer not to have propane, but it is expensive to change.
It probably does even out! It probably matters more how big one’s house is- more space means more heat to pay for.
and how well-insulated your house is! an old drafty house, while very charming, does not make for low energy bills (I speak from experience)!
True that, I have a 2 storey with a drafty unfinished basement. All hardwood floors. I have to keep heat at 76F in the winter. I have the old cast iron radiator heaters. My bill runs about 158 in the winter. I shut thermostat off in the summer, no central air, air conditioners and ceiling fans , hydro bill is about 80 in the summer per month. Temperature sits at 78, I’m fine with that, I like the warm
Other factors include how many zones you have (e.g. can you control each floor separately), wind and how much natural heat the house gets from the sun. Closely spaced homes in the city retain more heat, too (which is good during the winter, but not so good in the summer).
I keep mine in PA at 66 to 68, but have a new baby coming in Feb so might have to bump it up to 70.
In the summer, It’s usually at about 78
78 in the summer and 69 in the winter. Just enough to keep from sweating or getting too cold. Works great for us and our bills range from $90-$150.
68* is our normal during the winter.
Last winter, we were in a rental that had electric floorboard heat so no furnace. We just ran the heater in the hallway, bathroom and would turn the one on in the living room for a while when we hit -20* last winter (Iowa winters). We bought a portable space heater for our son’s room (north side, little insulation, no trees) since he insists on sleeping with his door closed and the heater would make his room unbearably hot, no matter how low it was set.
Now in our rental, we have a furnace. 68* is our norm, but during the day when we are gone, I’ll turn it down to 64* or so-the dog and cats keep themselves warm. Last night, I did turn it up to around 70 to take the chill out since I had been home sick all day. We close the vents to the upstairs so really the only heat up there is what rises up there.
Today, the thermostat is at about 66*, I’m in sweats, slippers and wrapped up in a blanket studying.
We live in northern va and last year when we were first married and only had one income we had it set at 55* but this year we’re turning it up to 60*
We live in Michigan and turn ours down to 60 @ night. 68 when we’re home and 64 while we’re working (day time). Ours is set on a timer so we don’t mess with it.
Between 67-68 degrees most of the time. Lower if we turn our gas logs on.
We keep it around 60 in the day and 55 at night. Although we live in the sunny south, and there are not feet of snow outside, that’s pretty chilly. I am a SAHM, with kids 1, 3, and 5, and we are home most of the time. We wear lots of layers, always socks and slippers, and I cook in the oven frequently during the winter (because of the ambient heat).
We do use a small electric space heater to heat one room sometimes, if it gets too cold. My kids are mostly fine with this, though they have to be occasionally reminded to put on a sweater. My baby did not start crawling until spring last year, to keep himself off the cold floor. We consider that brilliant on his part. 😉
I live in South Carolina, and we keep our thermostat at around 75 during the day and 71 at night during the summer. During the winter, we keep it aroun 69 both day and night. We are trying to conserve more this year, so this may change a bit this winter.
I work from home and I usually wear a sweat shirt or sweater with warm fuzzy socks during the day to keep warm during the winter.
Usually right around 70-72 for most of winter. We live in northern Indiana where it gets pretty cold and we get a LOT of snow. In the summer we keep the house around 73-75.
68 when we are at home; 65 at night
70-71* in winter
75* in summer
(We live in Florida.)
We live in Minnesota and hate paying a huge heating bill. So 64-66 during the day, 60-62 at night. Lots of layers and blankets! We keep a heater with a thermostat on in our toddler son’s room to keep him at least 65-70 at night. Much cheaper than heating the whole house. Even with those lower temperatures we still average over $200 a month in heating costs in the winter. I guess when it’s -20 outside it’s still hard to heat to 65.
We don’t live in nearly as cold a climate as you do, but we also average $190 – $210, even with temps set quite low. With six kids, I wonder if we are just using a lot more on drying clothes in the winter and heating showers?
68 degress during the day. 🙂
We keep it at 72. We have young children so I don’t fee like I can keep it any lower. We also just switched over to geothermal and are hoping for a HUGE savings this winter!
During the winter in Minnesota, it gets cold. However on sunny days, we leave our shades open so the sun shines in. It warms the house nicely and our furnace rarely runs during the day. Then as the sun goes down, we shut the shades to keep in the heat and it stays fairly warm. It’s cut way back on our bill. 🙂
70 degrees in the winter
74 degrees in the summer
We keep our thermostat set at 71 degrees year round. The house stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter this way. Our utility bill usually runs about $60-$70 a month, sometimes less then this in Spring and Fall and a little more then this in January and February.
Wow I’ve never seen a utility bill that low in my life. If we get our down into the low 200’s we’re doing good.
I’ve had one as low as $54! Now our utility bill is electric only, we have a well for our water. Its just me and my husband, we don’t have any children yet, but somehow our bill is always lower then everyone I talk to about it. We have a modular built home and when we had it built we had it build to code as if it was in the Northern zone of the US, even though we live in East Tennessee. So its really energy efficient.
We had utility bills that low before children also. I never cooked much, only 2 of us showering and didn’t need to wash/dry clothes much. After kids, that’s all changed though. Enjoy those low bills now. Wish I’d see ours in the 60’s again.
We live in Iowa and keep ours 66 during the time we are home (64 at night) and then I drop it to 60-62 when we are gone. We typically always wear long sleeve/sweatshirts and will put flannel sheets on the beds during the winter to help at night.
72 in the winter during the day…our house is pretty drafty. I think we normally have it 65-68 at night, though. 78 in the summer.
66 unless it can’t seem to keep up and then I raise it for cold January days. I wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt around the house and try to do my showering when the house is at its warmest so lately it has been at night instead of the morning. I live in NJ near Philly
In cooler weather we go with 65 at night and 66-67 during the day (I am home all day).
In warmer months the a/c is set at 77-78 during the day and about 75-76 at night (I absolutely cannot sleep comfortably if it’s too hot at night!).
Occasionally we will go lower or higher if it’s just too uncomfortable, but that’s rare.
I freeze my family in both the winter and summer. My highest winter gas bill was $250/month and I called the company b/c it was twice it was the month before but it was one of the coldest months on record and snowed twice (for us in SC, that is alot!) We typically keep the house no warmer than 68 during the day and 62/64 at night. A typical winter gas bill is less than $160 and a typical winter electric bill is less than $150.
I’ll pay the high cost in summer…I just cannot tolerate the heat due to a funky thyroid. My most expensive power bill was in the mid $300’s in summer (gas bill was under $20). This year I did raise the temp in the summer to try to save some money but found I was miserable for a whopping $10/month savings. My summer temp ranges from 66 at night to 72/74 in the day.
Our home is about 2750 square feet and we do have a separate unit in the bonus room (about another 400 sq ft) that I keep set on like 80-85 in summer, 60 in winter.
I assume you heat with natural gas?
Yes, heat and water heater. Dryer is electric.
We also have heaters in both of our boys room to supplement if it feels cooler than it should be. And, ceiling fans in all bedrooms that are used year round. In the Master, we also have a window unit (on the back side of the house) to help supplement the cool in the summer and provide a white noise that helps us sleep better.
I miss natural gas. We have propane now, which is comparably expensive.
69. But we live in the South and aren’t accustomed to much cold weather. 😀
I keep it at 78 in the summer and 70 in the winter. We still manage to get one $200 every winter and summer. We may run the fire place more this to see if we can avoid the high bill in February
My daughter and I are home all day, so we usually keep ours set at 68 or 70.
In years past we have kept our tstat on 69* in the winter but because we have a 2 story home and 1 unit – the upstairs is SUPER hot so we are considering installing a programmable tstat but until then, we will knock it down to 65* this winter and wear extra layers if we are downstairs.
68-69 for daytime in the winter, 65 at night. Summer time — well, we try to just tough it out. (It’s summer, and here in Michigan we waited all year for it to get warm!) If it gets much over 80 in the house, though, we usually break down and turn on the AC.
We’re sitting at 68 most of the time during winter. Our thermostat will creep as high as 74 once the lowest temps hit in Jan./Feb.
We keep our house at 78 in the summer & 70 in the winter.
same
Between 69-72. We have a 2-story and find that it gets very warm upstairs and stays much cooler down stairs, so we typically keep the heat lower, around 69, at night or if we’re spending time upstairs and during the day when we’re downstairs upwards of 72 degrees depending on the outside temp. Probably not the best for money-saving, but we have to stay warm with little ones potty-training and going bare down below.
We keep it at 68 during the day and 65 (maybe a little lower) at night. We have a programmable thermostat so the temp automatically goes down at 10pm.
I keep it at 68-ish during the day and turn it down to 65 at night. (I stay home with the kids all day, or else I’d turn it down during the day, too.)
We live in Michigan, where heating even our relatively small home is expensive due to the cold temperatures in the winter. We generally keep the thermostat at 66 during the day, and it is programmed to drop down to 60 at night. We wear sweaters in the house, and we are perfectly comfortable.
That sounds like us! Socks at night and lots of blankets, but it sure saves pennies to keep that furnace off at night!
At night I have it on 68 but when everyone gets up and starts getting dressed or showering, I turn it up a few degrees until we are all ready! I hate being cold!
We live in South Alabama. We have a gas furnace for about a 3000 sq ft house. We usually keep our heat on 67 when people are home. 65 when no one is home, and 63 at night when we are asleep.
Usually between about 67 – 70 depending on how cold it is outside, not usually more than 70 though if anyone is still cold they put on a sweatshirt extra socks or a blanket. I have been know to have on a pair of regular socks under a pair of fuzzy socks, fuzzy pants, shirt and a big heavy robe.
Thank you all for your comments. I live in Albuquerque.
Depending on how cold it is, I keep ours on 68°-70°. That keeps it pretty comfortable for us. 🙂
My heat is set at 65 in winter(I live in PA).
I live in PA too, we keep ours at 66 in the winter and 76 in the summer.
I’m in PA too. We keep ours at 65 during the day in winter, and 58 at night. In the summer, we use room air conditioners in the bedrooms only, unless it is BEASTLY.