What temperature should my heat be set on?

@sedel1027 (17846)
Cupertino, California
October 28, 2008 12:26pm CST
I got our power bill due this month down to $155!!! I am sooo happy! I would like to keep it that low. My husbands PC will be off for a few months so I know that will help. I also know that one of the reasons the bill was $155 was due to the A/C being off almost all month. What should I have my thermostat set on? Right now the house is about 67 and feels really cold (floors are ice cold) and we do have tropical birds, so I am not even sure I should let the temp be that low.
3 people like this
16 responses
@smacksman (6053)
28 Oct 08
If you can turn the stat down it will save a lot for every degree you drop. You will get used to a lower temperature after a while so wear more clothes in the house. You may need to have 'spot' heating for the bathroom and your tropical birds to improve the comfort zone. You say your floors are cold, well put lots of rugs and carpets down as that will help.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
The cold floors are the kitchen, bathrooms, and the front room - all the places that there is tile or wood flooring. I think those areas are cold because the folks downstairs haven't turned on their heat yet. I think last year we have our heat set on 75. I don't remember. I will have to ask my husband if he calls again. What is killing me this year is that our new place has a ton of windows.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
If I didn't have the birds I wouldn't be as worried. We are moving to california next year and my husband keeps saying "it is 68 year round"...yuck
@dvschic (1795)
• United States
28 Oct 08
if you hang blankets in front of the windows you will trap the heat inside. my friend in temecula does that, she has blankets on every window (flannel or fleece) and she just tacks them up. it saves her a ton of money and makes it soft and fuzzy in her house. i dont do that, but i like the cold and we have carpet in most areas. i'd much much rather have tile or hard wood floors, just to help keep it cooler in the summer, but cant afford it just yet. we're in california, so heating isn't that much of an issue, we bought some pj's at target and keep socks on, pile on the blankets and we're good to go!
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
28 Oct 08
wow, I hear 70 is fair (I have a gas heater and gas prices can be ugly too but I have not pay what other people were paying before last winter that was a harsh one in Valifornia (around 300 dllrs)
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
I was told when we move to Caifornia, if we have off base housing, to expect to pay $300-$500 a month for electric.
@ShellyB (5241)
• United States
28 Oct 08
Our average is 30 per month right now, more or less, we live in a small house, and have our computer on all day long and tv is on most of the time but not as much as computer, some nights I make a point of us being in the living room with one light bulb, if we are not in a room, the light is off. We try to save as much as we can. It has help a lot I think because before that our electric bill was close to 50 per month, there are always corners to be cut. If two nights out of the week, your whole family is in one room watching movies, or even each of you doing something different, be it reading, playing games or someone being in the computer it does save electricity.
@icyorchid (2564)
• United States
28 Oct 08
I would set the temp between 70 and 73 that's a comfortable temperature for you and the birds. I would definately not go above 75 though. This will keep the house at a steady temp and also keep your bill down. My new bill was $60! I was SHOCKED!! My heat is run by gas and since I have that on leveling, I don't pay more than $40 a month. So $100 max for electric and heat is not bad at all, that's $160 I will be saving now. Good Luck
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
OMG. That is cheap! I wish my bill could get that low. I think the best I did at our old place was $78 and that was for 1100 sqft. I am hoping with Bryan gone and no one staying up past 11pm our bill will get close to $100.
@icyorchid (2564)
• United States
29 Oct 08
Yea I am hoping it is that low again next month. lol It would be nice to only see that $ amount for a while. lol
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
28 Oct 08
I am so happy for you also. We heat with natural gas and it is going to be expensive this year. I try to leave my heat on 68 sd it does not kick on alot. I also use an small electric heater and keep all doors shut to rooms we do not use.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
68 seems so cold to me! I just checked the ermostat and it is reading 68 and my feet are frozen even with shoes on. I think the windows are doing me in. Of course if I close the blinds, then I have to turn lights on, therby running the bill up. I have been keeping the bathroom doors closed since they have the cold floors (there are heating vents in those rooms though (I don't think there is an area without a vent in this place).
• United States
6 Nov 08
We keep our heat at 67 too. It isnt always the most comfortable setting, but we can throw on a blanket and be just fine. There are times I just want to crank it up and not think about the bill, then there are times when it turns on and drives me crazy because I feel like I might as well be burning money. Id like to get some other options.
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
28 Oct 08
We are on budget billing and right now our bills are $168 a month, but we are ahead and next month we will owe nothing:) Instead of turning the heat up and down, we keep ours at 70. This way the house is always warm and we don't freeze. I think if we kept it lower I would be turning it up to heat up and then back down.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
28 Oct 08
Wow. I wish I could get ahead. I just paid our bill that was due Oct 6th! We are in a different apartment than we were last year. Last year our place was older and had more of a draft problem. This place isn't drafty, but a lot bigger and has a lot more windows. I am hoping the people downstairs turn their heat on soon, maybe that will help me out some.
• United States
30 Oct 08
We keep ours at 70 as well most of the time. If need be I will run a couple electric heaters, as my furnace is run by natural gas, the electric heater is cheaper to run.
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
31 Oct 08
Can you dow without the air condition? Can you use a fan instead which might save you on the bill? I live in a hot island and i do try to use it the least possible. I only use it on real hot days when i cannot sleep due to the hot weather. © ronaldinu 2008
@cher913 (25782)
• Canada
29 Oct 08
we have ours set around 70 and this makes the furnace not come on during the day unless it is super cold (its still manageable here in canada - around 5 or 6 c) so we just wear sweaters and that sort of thing around the house and then at night, it does come on to keep us warm.
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
30 Oct 08
That is great! Our electric bill is ridiculously high and averages about $210 a month. I have done all I can think of to keep it down and it seems like nothing helps. I have even started to unplug things during the time that we don't use them. I hope that it goes down some this month. We are never caught up on it. I find that our house is the most comfortable to me on about 74 but I usually keep it at 70. We heat with gas and so I know that the bill will be ridiculous if I don't do something.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
1 Nov 08
i have always heard sit your thermostat & leave it but ol' hardheaded me i don't do that. at night i turn mine way back & have the vent closed in my room because i can not sleep where it is hot. i never set mine any higher than 70 degrees . sometimes i have to move it back some. i do wear plenty of clothes in the winter so i don't have to have it so high. hope u stay warm. i've had my doors & windows opened all day. it's beautiful here. greetings from tennessee.
• United States
29 Oct 08
i wouldnt lower it any lower than that!! i keep mine on 68 but i have to be COLD to sleep but i think normal people usually have it on 70..
• United States
4 Nov 08
Well, since you have birds, you really can't turn it down much more. Winterize as you can, and use a kill-a-watt device to measure how much electricity your various appliances and such are using. Also, kill any energy vampires; unplug them when they aren't being used.
@jackiew (915)
• Canada
29 Oct 08
I think 70 should be fine.That is where i keep my thermostat at.They say to put it on one temperature and forget about it.It is the turning up and down all the time that affects your bill.
• United States
29 Oct 08
well it all depends on how much you can spend a month on you bill because you dont want your birds to get sick you have them because you love them maybe you should look around your house and change you bulbs to the new one if you havent already and they say 65 is the temp to keep your house at in the winter but thats to cold for alot of people all i can say it for you just dress warm wear slipers and such and turn things off when not using them
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
29 Oct 08
We tend to keep ours at seventy, and we turn it down a few degrees during the sunnier days. I'm growing some food plants indoors this year, because they're from the tropics, I really can't have the temperature down that much...but so far so good.
• United States
29 Oct 08
....we had our heat on for a month last year. and then the furnace broke. its still broken... and I'm looking forward to winter, how we survived? we pay about 279 dollars to run the three heaters a month in winter, compared from the 600-1200 dollars we could pay for our oil heater in our low insulation home... It was also educational for Nathan and I because we learned to survive on what we had, and we each caculated how much it cost to run our heaters (nat figured it out last year, then I forgot and calculated it myself this year) we learned something smart to do... (I pioneered it in our house *so proud*) we build "Heat houses" basically we use whatever we have available to build a fort with blankets...chairs... furniture... w/e we have laying around ( we have quite a bit lieing around) and it can get pretty toasty in there, our cats usually join us XD lorl... its nice hanging out in your own fort...I'm really looking forward to it this year :D