The entire family has spent the last two weeks battling the common cold. It may have cost a small fortune in facial tissue costs, but in the long run the bills will be better because of the cold. To help reduce the amount of coughing at night, I have slowly turned the thermostat down to 67 degrees. As long as the husband keeps thinking his chills are related to his body and not the actual temperature of the house then the low setting should remain.
We need all the help that we can get this year. The cost of heating our home in winter has slowly gone up in the past, but this year it was compounded by the rise in energy costs. The last bill was enough to set my husband off on a “turn off the light” kick and I almost confessed what I was doing to lower the energy costs, but I decided to leave him thinking that the lights made the difference – any thing to keep him from realizing the air is down.
Little things can make the difference. Running the washer and dryer at night – to help heat the house, keeping curtains closed and even closing off sections of the house are all ways to lower the heating costs in your home. Or you could just wait until everyone is sick and then turn down the heat when no one is paying attention – that works too.