Wednesday, December 28, 2011

How low will it go? The no heat experiment

I've had a no shopping for a month experiment and now the no heat experiment.  As soon as the company left after dinner last night I turned the heaters off.  We have two separate heating systems in the house, with a thermostat for each.  One is in the family room the other in the hall.  Their temperatures are 63 and 61 respectively.  My bedroom is at 59.  It's 35 outside right now and it's supposed to get up to 61 later today.  I'm not expecting the house to warm up any! 

What am I wearing?  Just a pair of sweats (the sweatshirt has the sleeves cut off at the elbow) and a pair of slippers with fur on the inside.  I have a wrap around my neck, which isn't any different than if my sweatshirt was a turtleneck.  No hat, no gloves.  My fingers are cold.  I know those of you who live in the cold climates must be laughing!  Cold at 61 degrees!  The grand kids haven't noticed it's cold.    I know people who will hang out in t-shirts and shorts in 61 degree weather. Lucky them.  Me, I bundle.  I like 80-90 and won't complain too much during the 30 plus days of 100 degrees.

I'm not turning on the furnace.  I'm not putting a fire into the wood stove.  Maybe I'll have a fire on New Years Day because it's a holiday.  We'll see how we fare.  

I wonder what the next experiment will be?  No cooking with propane for a month?  No, get that thought out of my head!!!!!

3 comments:

  1. You've given us the idea of trying a challenge also. Probably something along the lines of you no buy, eat what you have for a week(s).

    I'm curious how the no heat works. There was a lady that lost her house in Visalia. She was trying to save money by heating by using her fireplaces instead of the heater.

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  2. Temperatures in the SJ Valley are not too extreme. You should fare well without heat if you layer your clothes.

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  3. Well, I am near Chicago and would love to do what you're doing! My thermostat is set at 55F... I heat primarily with my wood stove... If I would get off my lazy butt and shop (that costs $$, though), I could load the dehydrator and that would help heat the house (sneaky, huh?)... I find firewood in a local cemetery (they appreciate me hauling it off)... I try to keep the fire going when I'm home... if I'm dilligent, I can keep the house 65-70F while I'm there.. I do have one of those electric blower fans on the chimney to help send heat out into our living area... it helps a lot and doesn't use much electric... my gas bill for November was $36.11~ slightly lower than last November with it proportionally colder this year (like the bill went down with the temps or my resolve to not freeze went up as the temp dropped!
    How cold does it get there? Wonder if I could turn my furnace off completely? Last winter we had -14F windchills as a norm...

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