How's your Heating Bills

[myself]

well, it might be unrealistic for you personally, but i think in general it depends on one's preferences.

Yes, I guess you're right there.

But in my case, I have (and have had for years now), early stages of arthritis in most of my joints.
When I lived in my parents house (68 degrees was high for us then), my fingers, feet, and knees would actually ache. And some folks think they know what bone chilling cold is.

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by myself

Yes, I guess you're right there.

But in my case, I have (and have had for years now), early stages of arthritis in most of my joints.
When I lived in my parents house (68 degrees was high for us then), my fingers, feet, and knees would actually ache. And some folks think they know what bone chilling cold is.

yes, i would imagine cold would definitely aggrevate the arthritis... wondering, have you every tried a heated mattress pad? we turn ours on about an hour before bedtime and it heats the sheets and blankets to a nice toasty warm, plus it has dual control so one of us can have our 'bed' warmer than the other.

[Elgin526]

I'm on natural gas for heat, water heater, dryer, and cooking. We have a 2 story 1300 sqft 60 year old home with almost no insulation, but newer windows. January gas bill was $134 but we had a warm December. It's been much colder this month so next month's bill should be much higher. I'm still doing better than last year though, the drop in gas prices has been a big help.

We are looking to replace the furnace in the next year or two and we will be adding insulation as we rehab the house (we are going room by room, paying cash as we go along) so in the future I hope our bills will be lower. Not this winter though!

[myself]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

yes, i would imagine cold would definitely aggrevate the arthritis... wondering, have you every tried a heated mattress pad? we turn ours on about an hour before bedtime and it heats the sheets and blankets to a nice toasty warm, plus it has dual control so one of us can have our 'bed' warmer than the other.

Well, since I usually sleep for about 6 hours a night, that's only 6 hours of time that I'd be thawed.
I'm perfectly comfortable in my underwear under one light bedsheet up to my waist with the temperature in the house. If it were entirely up to me, I'd have the night time temperature around 70-71, which would cause me to use the blanket.
Thanks for the thoughts though.

[Ima saver]

Tinap, I agree with you . I like my house cold and I think I can sleep better with it cold in the house. My house is 60 most of the time, I do warm it up for taking showers.

[puppypal]

Well I can relate, Tinapbena
cold would definitely aggrevate the arthritis...
I too have them-there aches and pains that tend to tell ya the forcast! LOL
I normally keep covered more than the avg. person at night. With my aches and pains and stiffness I can't not.........Got to love getting older.

[threebeansalad]

Our house is oil heated. We pre-bought $800 worth in August-- ONE WEEK BEFORE OIL PRICES FELL. Arrghhh. In other words, we locked oursleves in at a higher price. Last year we didn't pre-buy and oil prices only went up so we thought we were being wise this year. DH says we're doing well at conserving our purchase and shouldn't need to buy anymore this winter (we get a $$ credit for if there's any a balance left over at the end of winter). I can't think about it for to long without feeling agitated!

[Ima saver]

So far, I have spent $800 too and I think that will do me for the rest of the winter. We heat one of the garages and that is kind of waste ful, but it is to keep the pipes from freezing.

[frugalmomof1]

So far we spent $450 on pellets, and we just filled the oil tank for $448. The pellets should last until mid-march, and the oil should last all year (hopefully!!!)

[cicy33]

so far for me the cost does not seem much different than my central heat. Our gas cost is only around $100 per month. does not of course include the electric cost for lights but allowed a little more for the cost of running the motor on the furnace. Am I missing something? and it does get cold here, for the past month it is has been above 45 one days the rest are around 30 and below and the nights are coooollllldddd, we are running our heat and it is usually around 68 - 70.

[myself]

I did have a thought though.
There are several factors into the heating bills.
1) Overall square footage that is being heated.
2) How many floors (more than one story, and the heat can travel upstairs, since heat rises)
3) What shape the windows/doors are in (i.e. triple pane vs. single pane, seals are good vs. seals are bad).
4) How old the heater is.
5) How energy efficient the heater is.
6) What method is used to heat (oil, propane, natural gas, firewood, pellets, etc.).

Our heating bill works out to be about 73¢ per square foot, and it's a two story with a foyer that opens to the second floor.

[LuxLiving]

Originally Posted by threebeansalad

Our house is oil heated. We pre-bought $800 worth in August-- ONE WEEK BEFORE OIL PRICES FELL. Arrghhh. In other words, we locked oursleves in at a higher price. Last year we didn't pre-buy and oil prices only went up so we thought we were being wise this year. DH says we're doing well at conserving our purchase and shouldn't need to buy anymore this winter (we get a $$ credit for if there's any a balance left over at the end of winter). I can't think about it for to long without feeling agitated!

threebeansalad - does your oil company have a minimum that they'll come out to deliver?

I'm thinking about people who dollar cost average invest and some do similar w/their car gasoline (I think it was Matt Green on this board who did this). They just buy on a rigorious schedule. For investors it maybe $100 a month, every month on the first. For the gas buyer who's hoping to even out his prices, he stops religiously every Friday night after work and puts in $20. Over time their costs average out. Sometimes they are buying higher and other times lower.

Could you do something similar w/your heating oil?? (we don't use heating oil in my part of the world so if I'm being dense, consider the source! )

[myself]

For auto gas, I simply fill up whenever I have to stop (right about when it hits empty).

A lot of the oil companies were allowing their customers to pre-purchase oil, at a set price. And then have it delivered at a later date.


I just checked last night with 2 additional propane suppliers for our area. Their prices were $2.85 and $2.75 (or $2.25 if we needed 400 gallons or more). Then I checked our current supplier's price, and it was $2.19. I guess I'm sticking with the current supplier.

[shelbylovesmelby]

I'm scared to see the bill next month as we've had sub zero temps for over a week now

[LivingAlmostLarge]

My bill was super high for the cold weather we've had these past 3 weeks.

[cicy33]

I was actually upset with my bill being 220 but discovered there are people in my town with similar sized houses and theirs are over 400. This increase in my area is really bad. Our electric company increased their rates 55%. no that is not a typo. Of course what is going to happen is more people are going to apply for electric bill assistance. my bill personally went up $80 this month. (has been 140 for the past two months) I expected a little raise but not 80 bucks!

[Ima saver]

i just got propane delivered, it was $1.90 a gallon. My dh stayed home with me today. He can't believe I keep the house this cold all day. He says it is warmer at work, and he is working outside!![Automated by GetSmile]