Well, it's officially started. The weather here has been positively weird, cold and rainy for three days in a row. And the southwest parts of our state were supposed to get up to a foot of snow last night. Before Halloween!
So now, it's game on! It's me vs. the cold where I try to keep our house warm without breaking my budget. Oh, it's such a fun game!!! (Not really.) Our house is old and fairly large and has lots of things that don't help with heating it. (Like some ductwork made of wood!) The first winter we lived here we just set the thermostat to a temperature that was comfortable and ended up with an $800 heat bill for one month.
We don't do that now. We have a programable thermostat that we keep really low. We sleep with an electric blanket. We put in all new windows last spring. (25 windows in all, one of which the window guy starts measuring and says, "You know, I don't think I've ever measured a window this large before. Nice...and real cheap too!) We have insulation purchased to go in our attic as soon as we can figure out how to cover up the old wiring that is up there without setting the house on fire. And we bought a corn stove. It runs on corn out of the field and wood pellets you purchase at a store. (Unfortunately, corn is selling really high right now so it's not as great of a money saver as it used to be but it still helps us out by not having to run our furnace as much.) It's by far my favorite energy saving investment. It really helps to take the chill out of the air on our first floor. It makes it a bit more hospitable. You don't feel like you have to wear a sweatshirt or offer your guests one. Plus it just feels cozy especially when it's overcast and drizzly outside.
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