As part of our "Ditch Debt" effort this year, I was totally shocked when I saw that our heating bill for our home was almost $250. I am determined to find ways to lower this bill.
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I cannot fathom what other people pay for their heating bill because last year I read the Kindle book
How to Save Money on Utility Bills. I then ordered
Magnetic Vent Covers to place over heat ducts in rooms we don't use and close the door so we aren't heating unused rooms. (It's just my husband and me in a five bedroom house.)
My husband installed
Under Door Draft stoppers on our doors that lead outside and to our utility room which is not as insulated as the rest of the house. I have also used a towel or
an energy door guard combined with that.
When I was in high school my mother and I lived in poverty. We weren't eligible for any assistance, and some weeks I had to stretch $2 into food for the entire week. That is how I learned to coupon. I acquired that skill before it was cool because if I didn't we wouldn't have eaten. One of the things we did was turned our heat down to 58 degrees in the day, and 54 at night. Both my mother and I had a good
electric warming blanket from when times were better, so we loved night when we could be warm!
When my mother was in her final years of life, she was often cold, and we kept the house at 72 degrees in the winter much of the time. After she passed, I can remember I dialed it back to 68 and how my step-mother-in-law was miserably cold at that. This year, I told my husband we were dialing the heat back even more. For the heating bill that was $250, we had the heat at 64 degrees. I told Terry we were going to try and go for 62 degrees. I couldn't take it, so we turned the heat up to 63. We seem to be surviving just fine. I wonder if once we get used to 63 if we can bump it down another degree.
When my grandmother passed away this year, I told my husband we weren't getting rid of any of the afghans she had made. A good hand crocheted afghan is warm! And we have a stack that seem to be migrating to the living room. Never overlook these finds at thrift shops and garage sales. Grandma also knitted a number of slippers, and I wish I had more of those. I often find socks not as comfortable because I feel like my feet are restricted. I like loose footwear and other than
hand knitted slippers I feel like there is a straight jacket on my feet.
My husband and I also replaced our drafty windows a few years ago. We purchased the windows and a Catholic Church youth group installed them for us as part of a missions trip. That saved us over $800 a year in heating.
But right now, we don't want to pay $250 a month for heating. So we are going to try to cut costs even more. At this point, we're going to try to keep the house at 63 degrees in January, and I'll see if we can go to 62 in February. I was able to go colder than that when I was in high school.
Space heaters aren't an option for us because our electric bill jumped significantly and they use a lot of electric. I am currently sleeping in the living room because I've been sick and our upstairs bathroom isn't working, and I haven't felt able to navigate the stairs.
So I'll report in next month at how much cheaper our electric bill is because of lowering the temperature one degree. I've heard 1 degree gives a 5% difference, so we'll see.
