Ack. Cough. Choke. Blech.
Those are just some of the sounds I made as I saw my gas bill this month. My thermostat is set at 65°, which is definitely colder than most people’s, and I have a $200 bill! And it’s only the start of the winter season! Time to rely more on my space heater and blankets! Anyone have any additional suggestions for lowering heating costs? My house is only two years old, so insulation shouldn’t be much of a problem, though I guess I could always use more.
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Still remember you emailing me about Car-Part's website.
never flown?! that blows me away! typo in the 'caliper'. 
I was going to say new windows, but if your house is two years old that shouldn’t be a problem.
Here’s gas-saver: 64 degrees on the thermostat. It’s not fun.
I put a heater in my room and an electric blanket. That has helped!
Maybe you can cut off the vents in part of your house, if there’s an aread you don’t go often.
wow… sad for you, but that makes me feel good! our place has HORRIBLE windows, like you can see holes in them. our bill is only a little more than yours — $265. of course, your house is bigger than our apartment. we’ve been keeping ours anywhere from 62-69, depending on who is home and how cold it is. i try to keep it lower, of course.
i second the vent idea for you.
Um, I had an $85 electric bill this month, that’s it.
You can seal your windows better. They have weather plastic to put over your windows. That’s where most of your cold air comes in.
Other than that, just be mindful of where you have it set while you’re not there. Smokey can handle it a little cooler.
All the vents in my spare bedrooms and such are already closed… I wonder if it’s worth buying one of those programmable thermostats and set it even lower at night and when I’m not home. I’m not sure that’s worth the investment, though considering how low the thermostat is already set. Can’t set it too much lower or my pipes will freeze, based on what I read somewhere…
The joys of electric. You can also check your water heater to see what that is set on as well. Drop that down a few degrees and you can save a little dough. You can always cook something using the oven, and once done leave it open to let the heat out into the house. Use your curtains as well, that way you create an area of air between the windows and curtains that can buffer. Think about your physics years Chris. Otherwise, the only last suggestion I have is to get some roommates. Our bill was always pretty low when we had five roommates both because of splitting it five ways as well as having five extra people producing heat. Playing video games always seemed to get things warmer in our house as well, I think Nick would agree with me on those last two. That’s all I have though.
Lol, use my what…? Curtains? You know I don’t have any in my family room and den, only blinds. Maybe I’ll get some eventually…
I’m assuming your hot-water heater is a gas heater as well. Maybe try wrapping it with a fiberglass insulator. Also, you could turn the thermostat on it down, since you are the only person using hot water. Here are a few ideas in that aspect:
http://hes.lbl.gov/hes/makingithappen/no_regrets/hotwaterbill.html
That is a thought, though I am hesitant to turn down the thermostat on the water heater since my showers haven’t been as warm as I like in past winters. Maybe if I insulate it more, since it is in an unfinished basement, then I can turn it down.
Lol, I have to say something about this since people have kidded me about it before… You said “hot-water heater…” Why do you want to heat hot water?
I make sure to just say water heater now
Your basement ceiling/kitchen floor – is it insulated?
Our little house was seeing $200-250 bills last year and we kept it at 68 degrees. I haven’t gotten a bill for it this month.
Paul
Christmas lights always drive up the bill
Well, if you don’t heat hot water, then it cools down and isn’t hot water anymore. It isn’t always a cold-water heater either.
I’ve heard those programmable thermostats are VERY cost effective! My dad has one in their house and they’ve cut a lot of cost that way, and they live in a really old house!
we have one in our house and its great. I don’t think they are overly expsensive.
I really hope those prices go down before next year…luckily we are staying at my parents while our house is being built or we’d be feeling the same effects. yuck.
I’ve heard that the tankless water heaters also are very effective in reducing cost.