How low is too low?

Adventures in turning down the heat...

Last month I looked at our bank account for the first time in almost 6 months. One of the things I noticed was that the propane company hadn't drafted (taken money out) of our bank account that month. Or, when I looked, the month before. Or the month before that. Something was wrong.

Every year that we've lived here we've signed up for what they call "Level pay" for both our electricity and our propane. Otherwise the electricity use would bankrupt us in the summer, likewise the propane in the winter. So I called the propane company. Where the helpful woman looked up my account and said that I had not signed up for level pay last June. I assured her that I had; that I had signed up for the 7 years previous to this one and that there was no reason to change now. And she very helpfully said that they had no record of that, but if I brought my $1400 down to the propane office that would get me back on to the level pay plan. Otherwise this winter we would be on the pay as you go plan.

Gulp.

I somehow think not!

I thanked her, trying to sound calm and not like I was considering swearing, (and I am a non-swearing person) and got off the phone.

We've always cooled and heated our house to comfort. When you spread the payments out over the whole year it spreads the pain, and you don't see an immediate incentive to conserve energy and/or money. That changed with one phone call.

I looked at my children and decided that if it was warm enough in our house for them to be comfortable in short sleeves and bare feet...it was too warm. And so I re-programmed the programmable thermostats. I changed the daytime temperature from 71 to 69, and the night-time temperature from 69 to 65. And told the little kids to put on some socks.

It hasn't been too bad. Sure, 69 was significantly cooler than 71. I've been wearing more sweaters. They've been wearing more socks. I thought--we can turn it down even farther!

I turned it down to 68 during the day, and 62 at night. Now here's how I decided what time we should let the house cool down to 62. Russ and I have been trying to go walking every morning at 6:15. It really kills me to get up that early, but to be able to combine my exercise with 20 extra minutes of conversation with that wonderful man, I'll do it! We both know, though, that we need to be in bed by 10pm to be able to get up at 6am. So I set the thermostats to cool down to 62 at 10pm.

Ouch.
or rather,
Brrrr...

Last night Russ had to work late. Happy for us he comes home, spends a few minutes with the little kids, and then works here until late. While he was working I was paying the bills which also took a long time. I didn't notice too much that the house had gotten cold because I was still wearing my warm clothes. (And far too focused on the pain in my mouth from an earlier visit to the orthodontist!) At 11pm we decided that it was time to go to bed.

Without really thinking about the temperature I brushed my teeth and washed my face and pulled off my nice, warm clothes. BRRR!!! I was suddenly freezing! Cold pajamas did not make me feel much better, and did you know that flannel sheets that have been in a 62 degree room are downright chilly! We both ran for the bed and jumped under the covers and lay there shivering and laughing. I realized that I had forgotten the rubber band for my braces, and did a 50 yard dash back to the bathroom to grab one. I didn't even put it in--I figured I could do that under the covers!

I was worried about the little kids, who tend to sleep in strange positions not always under the covers. But it was too cold to go check on them! Fortunately their dad is made of sterner (or at least warmer) stuff than their mom, and he got up, wrapped himself in my nap blanket, and made sure they were ok.

I'm thinking that perhaps 62 is, after all, too low. At least for me!