Thursday, January 25, 2018
Quiet Wednesday
It has been a rather quiet, uneventful day, today. I went to the office even though I would have preferred to have stayed home. I did have a productive day at the office, so that was good. In the afternoon, I went for my walk around the block. I walked the sake route I took, yesterday, but varied it a little bit, so that I went past the community garden on my way out, rather than on my way back. Today, however, I didn't pause to take any pictures. I am consistently walking for 30 minutes, although I am not focusing on the speed or the distance. I am still at the building up stamina, stage.
The gas company emailed me my bill and it is $206, this month! Guess who believes in keeping her house toasty warm?! I don't spend money cooling the house in the summer; I choose to spend it to warm up the house in the winter. I budget $100 for gas every month. In the summer, my gas bill is often less than $20 per month; what I don't spend in the summer helps to pay the higher bills in the winter. I turn the heater off when I leave for work in the morning and turn it back on only after I come home in the evening and have aired out the house for a bit. I keep the unoccupied 3rd bedroom door closed and when daughter isn't home, I keep the doors to her bedroom and her bathroom closed, as well, so those rooms don't need to be heated. But the rest of the house is open plan, so I can't close off the family room if I am sitting in the living room where the heater is. If I was looking to reduce the heating bill, I suppose putting on another layer would be an option, although I am usually wearing 2 or 3 layers and socks, as it is. A warmer house in the winter is one of my indulgences.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Quiet, uneventful days
- A productive day at the office
- A sunny, warm afternoon in which to walk
- Being able to take my afternoon walks
- A warm house in winter
After I came home from work, I watched some TV and relaxed. I exchanged emails with a friend and video chatted with my daughter.
How was your day? Do you heat your home with natural gas? Do you average out your yearly heating costs and budget the same amount each month or does your budget vary?
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You sound a lot like me Bless. I'm not wasteful in any way, but if I'm cold then I have no problem in putting on the central heating.
ReplyDeleteQuiet and uneventful is good. It will be the same here today as Lily is off school as she's a bit poorly. Mummy cuddles on the sofa and TV time I think. X
Jules, I hope Lily feels better, soon. Definitely time for Mummy cuddles and TV!
DeleteI added up what I spent on my gas bills for 2017 and I came under budget. Not by a lot, but enough to help offset next month's bill. :)
I wish we could use natural gas for heating and cooking, but there aren't gas lines in our neighborhood. I think you shouldn't be miserable in your own home, so I'm with you for keeping it warm. Is Dancer a lap cat? A cat on my lap is where I get some of my warmth.
ReplyDeleteNo, Dancer is not much of a lap cat. He will occasionally consent to be on my lap for a minute or so (always on his terms, of course), but he'd rather snuggle next to me than on me. Which is where he is right now, as I type this. :)
DeleteYou can well afford double your gas bill in the few colder months that you have since you don't cool your house in the summer, which to me, is unbelievable! I think I'd rather do without heat (because you can pile on blankets, etc) than AC (because once you're naked, there's nothing else to take off!), at least here in FL.
ReplyDeleteOur house is completely heated and cool with electricity. One of our heaters/AC unit used to be natural gas for heat and electricity for AC but when it was time to replace it, I picked an electrical unit and had the gas line disconnected from my house. I just don't like the danger associated with natural gas in my house and also having to pay yet another provider.
I have a budgeted amount for electrical that varies most months based on historical usage for that month, but anything that doesn't get spent gets reported to the next month all year so I have yet to not be able to cover a bill, either due to extra cooling or extra heating.
Have a good day, today, Bless! I hope you are warm enough now!
Ha, ha, Nathalie, I do have ceiling fans and pedestal fans and a window a/c unit for the bedroom for those really hot days. But, generally, I am fine until the temp. inside the house goes above the mid 90s. That's when I wear my tank tops and my only pair of shorts!
DeleteI, too, carry over the surplus budgeted amounts from month to month. For a few months, however, from about March to about May, I run a deficit, but I don't worry too much about it, because there are extra funds in the checking account to cover it. It's probably not the best way to budget, but it works for me. :)
Most energy companies in the UK offer monthly payments where they average a years worth of bills over 12 payments. Heating via a gas boiler and radiators is most common. Some heat via electric heater and in many rural areas where there is no piped gas they used liquid gas for which they have to have a large tank in the garden. Enclosed wood burners are getting very popular nowadays though there are safety concerns over the fine soot particles which get into the lungs. Coal fires (which present the same problem) are much less popular that they used to be, mainly because they are messy to clean up and coal is very expensive.
ReplyDeleteEloise, the gas company does have that payment option, here, too - they call it the level pay plan and they average the costs for 6 months at a time, adjusting the payments at the end of each 6 months. I guess, in a way, that is what I am doing, too, except I budget the set monthly amount and keep any extra amount in my bank account instead of the gas company's bank account. :) As far as I know, my other utility company (for water and electric) doesn't offer that option.
DeleteWe have natural gas and our bill is almost double what it normally is, but we have a fairly large house, had some bitter cold, and many house guests from December and into January so I have just been able to turn the upstairs heating unit down to a much lower temp. I anticipate no guests in February and hopefully the weather will be warmer. (it has already warmed to our normal winter temps)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to keep the heating bills down when winter is colder than normal, isn't it? And you wouldn't want your guests to be cold, either. Hope February will be warmer for you. :)
DeleteOur home is heated via a furnace in the basement which is gas powered. We have vents in all rooms that circulate hot air. You simply set the thermostat to the temperature you want. In the summer these same vents provide cold sir from the air conditioning unit that sits outside. It is probably the most common form of heat and air where we live.
ReplyDeleteWe do not choose monthly budge billing as I like yo know exactly how much each month we have used. We do turn the thermostat back at night so it is cooler when we sleep and back up in the morning. Additionally we have electric ceiling heaters in each bath room. These are very nice for extra heat or for those times when the furnace is not on but you would like some extra heat taking a shower etc.
As long as you are able to pay your heat bill I don't think you need to feel guilty. You are so frugal with everything else.
Thanks, Sandy. I read helpful articles that talk about how to set the thermostat lower and feel I should perhaps do more (some people used to colder winters would probably consider our winters too mild to turn on the heat in the first place!), but this is more or less my one indulgence! Plus, I live in a very drafty, poorly insulated house because a lot of these older Southern California homes have no insulation worth mentioning! Maybe, one of the things I should do is have an energy audit done and some weather proofing of the house. It's yet another item to add to that master to do list, I have somewhere. :)
DeleteWe heat our home with our pellet stove and just use a fan mounted on the hallway to push the warm air down to our bedroom. I do keep the other two bedroom doors closed most of the year to keep the cats out of there and also to help with the heating bills. When the grandkids are spending the night, we keep the back bedroom open during the day and then put a portable electric heater in their at night for the boys since they like to have the bedroom door closed to sleep, just like they do at home. :)
ReplyDeleteYour pellet stove sounds like it does a good job keeping your home warm, Debbie. I read that they are considered to be very energy efficient.
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