I've been put out of my misery!

Yes! I have a bill! The total was $166, so I got to put $44 into our electric savings, which now has $436.45 in it. That's only $13.55 away from our $450 goal, so I'm reasonably pleased with that.

So, if we have a $200 or less month in November, then we could have $350 bills for three straight months(December, January, and February) and still be fine. Our electric savings would be sapped, but we wouldn't have to take any money from the rest of the budget to pay for our heat. 🙂 This is very relieving to me. Of course, I'm still hoping for some mild winter weather, but it's good to know there's some money set aside in case we have a very cold winter.

Going heatless this month has taught me that with sufficient motivation(and enough fleece clothes!) I can stand colder temperatures than I thought. Last winter, we set our thermostat at 67 degrees, which was a definite downgrade from the balmy 70 degrees we used to bask in all winter (before the rate increase). I thought that there was no way I could stand to set it even one degree lower, but this month there were many days that our house was 65, 64, and even 63 degrees, and I've lived to tell about it. 😉 In fact, I've decided that we most certainly can sleep at 65 degrees, and that we can even manage 65 during the day if need be. I've had the heat on since Monday, but I've kept it at 65 almost the whole time. Unless I've been sitting still for a while, it doesn't even feel that bad to me.

Now, 63 degrees is another story. The change from 65 to 63 feels like a much larger difference than two degrees, and I don't think I'm willing to go there, at least not on a permanent basis. More power to those of you that can stand that sort of indoor climate though(and a big hats off to Katy, who bravely sets her thermostat at a chilly 60!).

I'll be back later with my food waste photo. 😉