Q&A | Thermostat Settings, Socks, Flour Storage, & Hair Products
I have a frugal question about house temperature as it starts to get colder. Where do you personally draw the line at comfort for thermostat setting, and are there any other considerations? (Like surely there’s a point where pipes would freeze. But I also wonder about pets, though my husband tells me they have fur for a reason LOL. All I know if I can put on a sweater but my cats Chai and Cashew can’t!) Right now heat is on my mind as it’s cold in the Midwest, but the same issue crops up when adjusting the AC in the summer!
I was just wondering if that’s something that’s changed over the years, your thermostat temp, as you’ve been writing about choosing frugality even when financial times are better. I’m sure there’s also an environmental component, to using less energy, as well.
-Andrea
For me personally, this has a lot to do with who is in my household. 😉
Zoe and I can handle cold a lot better than Lisey could (no one was surprised when she moved to Hawaii. Ha.), so I keep the heat set lower in the winter now that Lisey is living on a tropical island rather than in my house.
My heat is currently set at 67 degrees, which does feel a little on the chilly side to me.
But I don't mind snuggling up under my blankets at night to keep warm, and I also don't mind always wearing a hoodie, socks, and slippers in the house in the winter.
On the other hand, Zoe and I both hate being hot. HATE.
Also, my house has old windows that do not seal up tightly, and that seems to let in a fair amount of humidity. So my summer thermostat is usually around 74 degrees, a setting that would be considered rather indulgent by many. But if I set it any higher, the humidity levels get very uncomfortable, and humidity makes me crabby. 😉
I think the "right" answer to the thermostat question really depends on just how tight your budget is (if you don't have the money, period, you might just have to sweat or shiver more than you'd like!), and also what really matters to you temperature-wise.
As I said, I am willing to be a little bit chilly, but my tolerance for heat-related suffering is way lower. So I will splurge more on air conditioning than I will on heat.
Also, as with every frugal decision, I think it's kind to consider the people you live with. Just because I can tolerate the cold doesn't mean other people can handle that (which is why my heat was set higher when Lisey lived here.)
If we want to be kind and frugal, we gotta resist the temptation to have frugality always be the highest priority goal; assuming we have the budget wiggle room, we can show love to our household members by loosening up on the temptation to turn the thermostat up or down, within reason*.
(*I would have said no if Lisey wanted the house at 80 degrees all winter. Hehe.)
Hi! I have a (hopefully easy) question -- do you have a flour storage method you love? I regularly have multiple kinds going at once (right now it's a 25-lb bag of regular King Arthur, plus the smaller-but-still-Costco-sized ones of bread and pizza flour, plus normal-sized ones of white whole wheat and rye). We tend to bake a lot (four growing kids at home!), so go through it fairly quickly but I'd still like to keep it fresh. We don't have enough freezer space to be able to keep it all in there, though.
If you have favorite flour storage containers, I'd love to hear about them!
-Courtney
So, if you are worried about getting bugs in your flour, your best bet is to freeze your flour when you buy it. I've read many places that four days in the freezer is recommended; this kills any bug eggs that are in your flour and then you can keep it at room temp after that.
(Gross as it may be, when bugs turn up in your flour, it is because the eggs arrived in the package. So your best bet is to kill them in the freezer.)
I have a big five-gallon food-grade storage bucket that I keep flour in when I buy a big bag:
but for smaller kitchen use, I just have some plastic lidded containers that I refill from the larger bucket.
Since I have a grain grinder, I don't store whole wheat flour; I just grind it as I need it.
But if I bought whole wheat flour and I didn't go through it quickly, I'd store it in the freezer. Whole wheat flour has more oils in it than white flour does, and the oils can get rancid after a while at room temperature, especially in the summer.
And the same goes for rye flour if it's whole rye.
Where are your compression socks from? They look like good ones and I have not had any luck finding some!
Thanks!! Lauren
I could not remember if I'd answered this question before or not, so just in case: these are the ones I bought (size S/M), and since they are the only ones I've ever had, I don't really know if they are amazing compression socks.
I have no point of comparison!
But they do seem to help my calves not feel as tight and sore after a 12 hours shift on my feet.
Do you have any frugal recommendations for styling hair products I can use on my curly frizzy thick hair?
-Tammy
I am not the best person to answer this because I have very un-thick hair (BOO), but I know that when you go online to read curly hair recommendations, sometimes the products you come across are super expensive.
(Which also happens if you look for skin-care recommendations. Sheesh. Some of those little containers are wildly expensive!)
I am guessing your hair is high-porosity, which means it's prone to being dry. My hair is low-porosity, which means it does not absorb oil very well; the oil my scalp produces just sits on the surface of my hair, which means I look greasy in a hurry.
You can tell if your hair is high or low porosity by placing a single hair in a cup of water. If it floats, it's low porosity, and if it sinks, it's high porosity.
Apologies if that picture grossed any of you out; I vaguely remember that someone was squicked out by seeing hair that is not on a person's head.
Here's some hair ON my head to clear your mind:
Knowing the porosity of your hair can help you narrow down the products out there for curly hair. As I understand it, high-porosity hair usually benefits from heavier, more oil-heavy products (which would make me look like a total greaseball. Ha.)
And hopefully the readers will have ideas for you.
Humidity is an important aspect. We heat our house to 19C during the day and increase heat to 19,5C in the late afternoon. Heating goes down to 16C during from 10 pm onwards (which I think is indulgent) and in the morning I air the living room for 20 minutes before putting the thermostat to day temperature. We work from home a lot, office work. Lower temperatures are not advisable. I did find that going below 19C is uncomfortable when I work.
Some "variables" influencing our heating regime:
If we've caught a bug, the heat goes up by half a degree.
If we have visitors, likewise.
We have warm cardigans and woolen socks (that I knitted).
We have wool slippers with a cork/rubber sole, so no draughts from the floor.
For chilly evenings, we have woolen blankets.
I used to be the person in our household who was always cold, but outdoor swimming made me more resilient to both heat and cold.
My husband lives a more sedentary life than I do, and finds it colder more often than I do.
I am the main housekeeper in our household and when I do chores, I do not need to increase the temperature beyond 16C.
An odd one: we had our locks replaced last year and the outdoor locks are now "three-point" locks that tightly pull the door in the doorjamb. Our front and back halls are now much warmer!
And we have a curtain behind our north facing front door as well. It dates back from before the new locks and we are keeping it in for extra insulation.
An early thankful is popping up, for a warm home-
@JNL,
That's interesting how the new locks help keep out the draft! I have an old house, and the front door was pretty drafty until we put up a new storm door and better weather stripping.
19°C is about 66°F , which is a touch warmer than we keep
my house. I find it cool most of the time, but I also don't mind layering on the scarves or sweaters. At my work, if my office gets above 72°F,( about 22°C) I start feeling sleepy!
@mbmom11,
Layers to the rescue! Knee high socks also help - I have powerful calves and I've taken to wearing "over the knees" as my knee high socks. They are a tad wide and too long, but that beats the tourniquet of ordinary knee highs.
RE summer temperatures: I read on BBC somewhere that the Australian governement is advising people to paint their houses white, and refrain from using black tiles/shingle to prevent high temperatures in summer. Switching colour can make a difference of as much as 5 degrees C.
We have a neighbour who is growing a climber (not ivy) against his south facing wall and balcony. That house is remarkably cool. The plant also houses the bigger part of the bird population on our block. They do not use AC, but just the plants and blinds. In summer their house has full sunshine from 09 till 19.
@JNL, we also use smart wool socks. Heavy slippers. Warm hoodies and cardigans when at home.
@JNL, if the house is wood, that may not be a good idea. Not a great idea even if brick/stone. Greenery holds moisture. We have nothing growing on the house and only rock around the foundation. Seen too many houses with windows/wood siding suffering the ill effects of watering greenery ground on/around the house. Water is not good for your foundation either. But to each his/her own.
@Selena,
You are right. I had not considered that since in NL the bigger part of houses is stone (double stone for younger houses). There are some streets with wooden Scandinavian houses, some post wwii when there was a real housing crisis, and some in eco oriented neighbourhoods. But generally speaking people prefer brick houses.
We make the decision early after we bought our home to purchase a woodstove. (Our house initially had three fireplaces.) We replaced the largest, draftiest fireplace with that woodstove insert. Later, my husband removed one fireplace and installed a second woodstove in the kitchen. We have access to many, many acres of land (free firewood) and we keep our house toasty in the colder months with the wodstoves. The heat from the one woodstove rises and heats one bedroom above quite nicely, although the members of our house prefer cold temps at night and many blankets. We supplement the wood with our furnace, but recently discovered how well the stoves provide heat: there was a Thanksgiving storm with much lake effect snow and our furnace stopped working the day before Thanksgiving. The stoves and a few electric space heaters we had on hand kept the house at at least 71 for 7 days, until the control board arrived.
Our house is also over 100 years old. In the summer, it keeps cool most days. We know Mr. Smead built our home (his signature and date are on the basement stairs) and it is clear he took advantage of the surroundings to maximize air flow and light.
@MH, are you a Yooper too? We luckily didn't loose power from that last storm.
@MH, Another wood stove lover here. We get lots of free woods from neighbors/new home sites where they are clearing trees. Or we can purchase a $20 permit that allows us to cut wood in the nearby national forest. We keep the house toasty warm, though we have gas heat at night, when the thermostat is set at 64.
As for air conditioning, we are at 8000 ft. elevation in a very dry climate (Rocky Mountains of Colorado) so don't need it. As summer temperatures have warmed, some of my neighbors have installed air conditioning, but we're lucky that our house is very well insulated and so far we've been comfortable on the hottest days with just a fan. (I really can't take heat/humidity -- I'm always miserable if we visit family in Texas in the summer. )
@Julia, YOOPER here reporting for duty. Very western end. Since 1994!
@MH, my husband grew up with a wood stove and spent much of his childhood hauling, chopping and bringing in firewood. Now he wants nothing to do with firewood of any kind and relishes our furnace and thermostat! He was also annoyed when his parents put in baseboard heating after he moved out. Apparently HE was what made their woodstove lifestyle doable!
@Kristin W, Absolutely! His strength was sorely missed, I'm sure!
@MH, the house we just bought has a wood stove insert in the fireplace (with a ledge above for water or cooking or?? Has a temp gauge. I haven't used it yet, but we are also surrounded by woods and have plenty of free wood. I need to get the chimney people over to do an inspection and make sure it's good to go and fire it up! It's been cold here!
@Stephanie, Keewenaw Bay here!
@Kristin W, my parents loved their wood heater as long as they had kid labor to split, stack and haul in wood, feed the heater, sweep up around it, and carry out the ashes. My mother stopped using it when I left home.
@MH, Wood stoves rule. And what else are you going to do with downed trees? We have mostly hardwood in our area. A number of neighbors are happy to when better half removes downed trees. Plus it is excellent exercise - cut, load, stack, split, haul in wood, tend to stove.
@Kristin W, my father dislikes wood floors - grew up in farm houses so nary a hardwood floor in their house. But energy efficient furnaces work different than the ones of your. New ones start blowing hot air ASAP while the old furnaces built up the hot air then let-er rip. Floors are no where near as warm these days as some of us had in our youth. Parental house had a coal shoot (blocked up) and fuel oil at one time, then natural gas. We had fuel oil in our first home during pretty much the coldest winter on record (tenant house on a farm - the inside lock on the west door frosted over). Hence the wood stove as soon as we bought our own place.
We bought a splitter not long after we bought this house (we brought our wood stove with us). As you get older, you have to work smarter. Though the china made steel on the first splitter was no match for the engine on it. It served us well and we made a few bucks selling the engine from it.
@Marlena, and make sure it is cleaned at least every two years. Burn good wood, not crap like ads from newspapers etc. Idiot prior owner of our house burned anything and everything (styrofoam anyone?) - he was lucky he didn't have a chimney fire of epic proportion. The creosote build up was just awful - the installer that moved our stove said it was the worst one he'd ever seen. They hauled out bags of creosote.
@Kristin W,
My husband grew up in petoskey, and he also has many stories about being made to chop firewood. And collecting stones to build a wall my FIL wanted.
Our thermostat is at 65 at all times. Our house's footprint is so small (<750 sq/ft) that that's plenty, and we're also happy to snuggle in a hoodie or under a blanket and/or cats if we're feeling chilly. I have thermal curtains doubled up on the old windows--one on the curtain rod, one on a tension rod--which I'll be reglazing and reinsulating myself come spring. Since we splurged on insulating the basement, our winter gas bill has dropped 20-25%! We have proper winters, too, with negative temperatures. Our highest gas bill last year was $80 vs. $110 the year before (gas heat, stove, and dryer). I redid our crawlspace window wells this summer (insulation foam and new covers), so I'm curious how much that will effect our usage.
Re: AC, our house's small footprint means that one centrally located window AC works perfectly well. We aim for 80 in the summer; this is perfectly comfortable with dehumidifiers running. We've also a tower fan that moves around the house. Our highest summer electric bill has been $65, and that's when it was 100+ outside. We bought small on purpose for many reasons, including utilities!
I love reading about other people's thermostat settings- not sure why I'm finding it so fascinating, but I am! We keep our house at 65 during the day and 59 (sometimes 58) at night. I would personally keep it colder during the day and night, but my kids would complain. While I'm sure we're reaping some financial benefits from a colder house, I live in South Carolina where it's SO HOT most of the year, that I absolutely delight in feeling a little chilly. Nothing brings me more joy than feeling cold enough to put on a sweatshirt. Winter and the (southern) cold are two of my favorite things!
@Hana, I too am fascinated by reading other people's thermostat settings!
Heat
We keep our heat downstairs at 64 and our space heaters upstairs at 62 (the downstairs has a furnace, but the upstairs doesn’t have heat as we ripped out the baseboard heating when refinished the hardwood floors).
Cold
We have no air conditioning downstairs, but we put in a window unit in the one room the kids spend the most time. It is set to 72. I’m not sure what the rest of the bottom floor is. Upstairs we have it set to 74. I used to keep our old house (programmable thermostats) at 78 when my husband was at work, but he likes it much colder than me.
Socks
Sockwell socks are my absolute favorite compression socks. They are made in the USA. I have bought them on their website and at our local store store. Their customer service was amazing the one time they sent me the wrong size.
I am your Winter and Summer temperature twin, Kristen ☺️
Tammy, I’ll share what I have used on my shoulder length, curly, not super thick hair. I don’t use this every day, but use it when I want my curls to behave and look more pronounced.
I like that it doesn’t make my hair “crunchy”
It’s Mark Anthony Strictly Curls Curl Envy Cream.
Very affordable. I’m a low budget, not very good with my hair kinda gal, and this helps.
A big tip is to not rough towel dry it when wet. I squeeze it dry with a towel. Comb it out with a wide tooth comb (my hair gets very knotty), then I apply this product to my hair with my fingers, then shake and squeeze it.
I also use Susie clip while it dries up give me more volume on top.
Apologies if that was too much info and not needed ☺️
We must be warm people! Our thermostat is set to 60 currently, LOL. In the summer, we’re pretty indulgent though: 70 at night and 74 during the day. I’m just glad my husband and I have almost the same temperature preferences!
@Midwest Andrea, re: spousal temperature preferences, I had to keep the heat turned higher and the AC turned lower while DH was still living at home. (His comfort range was always narrower than mine, and it got narrower still once the Alzheimer's set in.) But now that it's just me, I keep the heat at 64 F during the day and 62 at night, and I try to keep the AC off as much as possible.
@A. Marie, my mother was from the south, hated the heat (think easy red face) and when Alzheimer's set in, she was always cold, especially since she was already thin and for awhile was even thinner. I spent the night a few times when dad was in the hospital and wished I had brought shorts. She had the baseboard heat on high in my old bedroom PLUS had a blanket, quilt, AND another blanket "in case I got cold".
Made it hard on dad during the summer as he has COPD. Dad was (operative word was) on blood thinners (which don't give you much, if any, bang for the buck after one year+ after stents). He's off of it now but I can tell he is colder as he's gotten older. The heat was *never* that high when I lived at home.
My indulgence is to keep the heat at 70 during the winter. Blind testing has shown that I can tell the difference between 69 and 70. I use a heated mattress pad sometimes, allowing lower night temps. In the summer I keep the temp as high as 78, depending on humidity.
My niblings with thick hair like Garnier Fructis for inexpensive hair goo.
The porosity info is fascinating - wherever did you get that info??? Now I want to run that test on my various niblings to see what they have.
I think porosity might correlate with thickness of hair cuticle. Straight hair has a heavy/smooth cuticle, making it straight and also hard to dye. Curly hair has a scaled cuticle - think of a close-up of sheeps wool, which is a type of hair - which makes it curly and easier to dye.
Speaking of which, here's a tip: you can soften a scratchy wool sweater with conditioner. It's hair, after all. Dissolve a couple of squirts of conditioner in some water (maybe bathroom-sink amount), then soak your sweater thoroughly. You don't need to rinse it, just dry it as usual.
@WilliamB, I can tell the difference between 69 and 70 too. It's a gift! 🙂
@Bobi, me three!
@WilliamB, my hairdresser tells me I have porous hair. My hair is not thick per se, I just have a lot of hair follicles. During the summer, it can take my not all that long hair 7 hours to completely dry - since I go outside during the fall/winter, I have not done the time test. And my plenty of hairs is wavy so if I need to look presentable, I'd best blow dry it after 30 or so minutes else there are kinks that no flat iron/curling iron will "correct". Upside is I will never have thinning hair or be bald. Perhaps the cure to male pattern baldness lies in my genes, who knows?
Although I live in Florida, I live in the Northern part of the state which can get rather cold. On those days when heats is needed, I usually put the thermostat on 65 -67. I don’t mind putting on a sweater if I chilly.
I don’t worry much about Rescue Pup. She is a Great Pyrenees mix and has a thick coat. She actually gets too hot if the heat is above 67. However, I have a calico kitty who will be 17 soon and she seems to get cold. I bought her a kitty heating pad a the big box pet store. She sleeps on this when the weather is chilly.
My bathroom can also get uncomfortably cold during the winter. It is on the northwest side of the house which receives little sun in the winter and the cold wind usually hits this side of the house directly. I have a space heater that I use for about 15 minutes before taking a shower and getting dress. It heat up the room comfortably without making the house too hot.
@Bee,
*** correction — that would be when heat is needed. Correction 2 it heats up the room
Grrrr….
We have started turning our heat up two hours before bed and then turning it down when it’s hit the sheets time. I was miserable trying to fall asleep in a freezing room. And I can’t use hotter down covers because then I wake covered in sweat. I did that last year and struggled mightily with rashes that wouldn’t clear.
Our downstairs is cold and upstairs is pleasant in comparison. (But then still too cold at bedtime if we don’t play the adjust the heat game.)
We’re talking 1-2 degrees to go from miserable to wonderful.
Thermostat settings is one where we don't flex our frugal muscles as much. We're frugal in other ways to give us the flexibility to set it at whatever makes us feel most comfortable.
In the summer, we keep the thermostat at 72. DH has MS and being hot can make his symptoms much worse.
In the winter, we keep the thermostat at 71 during the day and 67 at night.
@Beverly,
We aren't frugal when it comes to temps, either - though more for comfort reasons. DH tends to get hot sooner than I do, though after going through "the change", I don't get as cold as I used to. (I don't have hot flashes anymore, I just don't get as cold). We keep our thermostat set on 69 degrees year-round. That seems to be the "sweet spot" for everyone in our household. One time, an HVAC service man came to give our furnace the usual seasonal cleaning/maintenance, saw our thermostat, and said (with some disapproval), "isn't it set kind of high?!?". No, no it isn't.
@Liz B.,
Also, DH works from home, and we get LOTS of humidity, especially in the summer. It makes me VERY crabby.
My DH hates being cold. People are astounded to hear we have the temp set to 82 in the summer (though sometimes I bring it down to 80). As a result, we don’t run the AC as much. Luckily we don’t have much humidity! And it’s cool at night and early in the morning for all but a couple of weeks a year, which helps.
Winter, though, is a whole different ballgame. I’m almost always too warm while he says he’s freezing. And he does wear sweaters, slippers, etc.
A comfortable temperature is definitely something I cant compromise on because I would just not be functional or pleasant to be around. I would much rather save in other areas. In the winter we keep it at 71F (and this is with me still wearing sweaters, socks, slippers) and bump it down to 65F at night. Its a bit tricky because our upstairs where we sleep is always several degrees off from where the main living space is. In the summer we still keep it at 71F and often its quite cold in the living room and uncomfortably hot/humid upstairs.
I keep the thermostat at 70-72 but programmed to go down during the day when no one is home. Life is too short to be cold. I am definitely in the "I'd rather be sweating than freezing" category.
Loose hair is gross but I live in a house of females so it's everywhere and I can't get away from it.
@Battra92,
Amen about "life is too short to be cold".
I much prefer a cool house and am loving that the weather is cooling down!
When the heat is on, our thermostat is set to 65F during the day and 62F at night. At this temperature, my daughter wears footed fleece pjs to bed and my son sleeps in shorts with his fan going. We run the whole spectrum of temperature preferences! We have a lot of south facing windows and on sunny days (even in winter) our house gets lots of free heat.
When the AC is on, the thermostat is at 75F during the day and 67F at night. Our multi-story house is on one central unit, and the upstairs is regularly 5 degrees warmer than the downstairs in the summer, so it’s 72-80F upstairs. It makes it miserable upstairs to avoid deep freezing the first floor (or freezing up the AC unit).
I used to be really bothered by so much AC and tolerated a much warmer house, but after I had my babies my body switched to running hot.
@JenRR, I forgot to add, that we have always had big dogs in our house. They prefer the house to be on the cool side. My current dog has a thick coat and would love to have the house colder in the summer, but settles for napping on the wood floor near the vents on the cooler level of our house.
In Europe, at least where I've lived, people don't usually have air con. Most of the time it's fine as our temperatures are cooler but it's not fun during heatwaves!
I don't feel the cold very much and usually am okay with an extra sweater and blanket.
Like A. Marie, I had to accommodate DH when he became disabled. The house would be way too warm for me many days in the winter, but he was relishing the warmth. In the summer, we set the A/C at 78 or 79F, which meant I was often warm and the humidity would be rather high in the house. Since he moved out and now is gone, I set the downstairs temps at 65 in the winter and 78 in the summer. I have a programmable thermostat upstairs and it keeps my room at 73 at night and 80 in the day in the summers and 66 at night and most of the day, but warming up to 72 for about 3 hours at bedtime and 2 hours at rising, because while I like a warm snuggly bed in a cool room, I detest crawling out of bed to a chilly room at 5:30 a.m. It's hard enough for me to get up in the black dark already - I sure don't want to make it harder by being chilly, too.
I've been using brands like Shea Moisture, Aussie and another one I can't remember to do my curly (non-porous) hair. I am not totally satisfied with them, though, so I keep looking while trying to keep in a budget.
When I was young, my friends and I would drive to the lake and go swimming. We all were curious as to why, when they ducked under water the first time, their hair went down as they did and came up soaking wet, but my hair floated on the surface, mostly dry, as I went down. I was an adult before I found out about porosity of hair.
@JD, My thermostat is also set to heat up the house for a couple hours in the evening and before I get up in the morning. The kids get showers in when the house is warmer and I don’t want to make getting up early any more painful than it needs to be!
I also must consider the other person in the house. My husband is a stroke survivor, but with a lot of disability. His entire left side is paralyzed, and when he gets cold, that left arm and leg will stiffen and sometimes spasm, making every day tasks even more difficult. In the winter I turn the thermostat down to 68 when he goes to bed, and would turn it lower, except if he gets up at night, it's too cold. If I get up before he does, I turn it back to 70 for the daytime. If he gets up first, he jacks that thing up to 72, in addition to running the portable heater in the den, where he usually spends the day. When I get up, I quietly turn it back to 70.
Summers, I try to keep it at 72 or 73, but I don't tolerate the heat as well as I do the cold. Again, hubby can't tolerate it being too cool. So for us, the frugality has to take a back seat to comfort.
I once lived in a 60-yr-old house that had an attic fan. That was the best in the summer. We had tall trees in our yard, and between the two, it was late June or July (in Alabama) before I had to turn the air conditioning on, and then it was usually because of the humidity. On the other hand, I have also lived in New Mexico, where the swamp cooler was enough til June, and then, being a night shift worker, I HAD to have air conditioning to be able to sleep during the day.
@StephanieLD, You reminded me of our attic fan in our Colorado house. Cooled the house down in 20 minutes as it pulled the cool night air in. Lovely.
I've always lived in places where the thermostat settings have pretty much nothing to do with the temperature. In our condo, the thermostat usually reads 73-75F but it's definitely not that temperature--I'm in a t-shirt, jeans, and wool socks and feel chilly; my daughter sleeps in fleece pyjamas with a quilt and a wool blanket on top. If it was really that hot, I'd be in shorts. So the temperature is kind of a mystery! If we're hot, we turn it down; if we're cold we turn it up.
(We don't pay our own hydro, and living in a tower it's a pretty efficient forced-air system.)
Wow, I'm an outlier here. I hate being cold just as much as I hate being hot. We prioritize heating/cooling for that reason. We save in other areas. In winter, we keep our house at 70/day and 64/night. In summer it's 75/day and 70/night. My biggest tip would be zonal heating. We have a two story house and have a wall mounted unit for heat/AC in the master bedroom. It was worth every penny! Our house also sports an oily fired furnace and a heat exchanger AC unit plus we own multiple portable heating units which can follow us from room to room, one lives exclusively in the master bath. That said, we heat 2200 sq feet for around $100/month (which actually includes all the electric for our house plus the oil.)
We have the thermostat set at 68 during winter months, and night it is scheduled for 62. In the summer months we try to wait as long as possible to turn on the AC, and usually set it for 74 if I recall right, or 72 if I'm doing something active like vacuuming.
When we have gone too long without turning on the AC, we started noticing damage to paper products and pantry items due to high humidity. Sometimes we have to close the windows due to pollen allergies as well.
I suffer from Raynaud's syndrome, which means that if the house is too cold and drafty my fingers look and feel like they have hypothermia, a bit inconvenient when working from home and typing. I wear warm clothes and slippers, but it doesn't help with keeping my fingers warm. Sometimes I've even worn fingerless gloves or wrist warmers. Luckily my office has a baseboard heater that I can use for a warmer temperature than the rest of the house, if it's very frigid outside.
@Kristina M.,
We sometimes go almost straight from heating to A/C because all three of us suffer from seasonal allergies, which in our neck of the woods (SW Ohio), can start in early spring. I miss being able to sleep with the windows open (DH also doesn't like it, because he hears every tiny sound, sees every tiny pinpoint of light, etc. which disturbs his sleep. sigh.)
I have chronic hypotension (my resting blood pressure is usually at 90/50), and getting too warm lowers it more and makes me dizzy. We joke that Clark is my medic alert cat, because he gets very worried if I'm in a warm bath too long and will insist on getting in to the bathroom to keep tabs on me. So we keep it in the summer around 72, I think. We have a small house and DH put fans at the attic vents to keep hot air from building up. It helps a lot. In the winter I'd rather it be cooler, but DH needs it warmer, and some of the boys' rooms only have one vent, so we keep it 72 then, too.
I live in Finland and it is cold outside but warm inside! Now my condo is saving energy, so it is 72F and we are told not to turn it up.
@TL,
Santa's country is in the north, if I am not mistaken!
I recently read a book set in Finland, following the life of a country girl that moves to the Vasa cotton factory.
Quite apart from the reminder how a country's geography influences events that shape its society - there are some scenes there of farm work in winter. Fascinating. I loved the Kalevala references as well.
Winter sleeping is our fave. We love the house cold at night. Our kids kindly refer to it “ meat locker nights”! They are grown now so we do turn it up from 66. Just at night! When they visit.
Summer is difficult sleep months for me. We use ceiling fans. Fans. Cool ice packs under neck. And AC when needed. My husband truly believes that AC “ makes his throat hurt “. Who knows?
Winter. 68 day. 66 night.
Summer. 76 day. 74 night.
We have a simple programmable thermostat bought on Amazon for 99 dollars. It was recommended by our kind HVAC guy.
@Stephanie, I grew up without AC until the age of 12. After that, I noticed often that AC made me get an instant sore throat. It's a thing.
The temperature ranges are amazing. And I actually flinched at anything below 64' F. My thermostat is not accurate, so there is "up" or "down" and I go by the thermometer above the kitchen sink. My heat is kept to register around 68. In the summer, I can stand some heat and do not register the window ac below 72' F. And I dress accordingly. It also helps that I have ceiling fans.
I have very fine hair and the best products I have found are Soapbox coconut oil shampoo and the matching conditioner. Because I have a perm and want the curls to stay defined, I use a Dove leave in conditioner. I use a pick to comb it with, nothing with clips or hinges or even pony tail holders unless they are soft scrunchies because my hair breaks easily. And at 72y/o, I only have a few errant grey hairs, it is natural brown just beyond dirty blonde. I think it comes from my paternal grandmother, but I also have no children.
As for flour storage, I swear by Lock n Lock. In my mid 30's I baked a lot and bought flour by the 25 or 50 lbs and was gifted a white "garbage can" which was really a commercial kitchen storage container. I was supervising dietary in a nursing home and one of the vendor salesmen got it for me. When I quit baking so much, I moved it to the potting shed where it now holds topsoil that I mix w vermiculite and or gypsum for seed starting.
@Chrissy, do you mean that your hair is still brown at age 72 BECAUSE you have no children??
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, LOL! I'd believe it. I got my first gray hair during my first year of teaching. I named it after my most difficult student. I got about one or two more each year. I continued naming them for a couple of years. Then. . . too many to name/keep straight.
I pretty much match Kristen's home temperatures.
What we have noticed is that, though the temperature is overall consistent, about three minutes before the furnace kicks on, the house will get very very cold. It is as though the furnace sucks all the warm air out of the house, then heats it. Not sure what that is about.
We are in the position of expecting great expense soon, as the central AC is very efficient and works very well, but is over 25 years old and can't have too many years left in it.
I have curly frizzy hair and I have been liking kinky curly hair gel. I put it in when my hair is soaking wet and then plop it in a microfiber towel or a t shirt. Then I add a little but if Harry’s high hold gel mixed with water just to the top and either diffuse my hair if it’s cold or air dry if I have time. Just trying to help out another curly haired friend! There are so many options out there it can be overwhelming. I also really think using a cleansing shampoo once a month-ish really helps. And using a gooooood conditioner really helps. I have very dry hair. So I think that’s high porosity?
We have a programmable thermostat and even for weekend days when we are home, I have it set to our “daytime at home” temperature about every 4 hours. That way if we are chilled/hot or having guests, we can adjust it a bit but know it will go back to our normal within 4 hours.
Curly Hair Products. I love this subject as I have lived with it all my life 🙂
Just like anything I watch for coupons and sales and stock up on my favorites.
AG Hair Care has been having a 40% off sale - their products are amazing. I love a product they make called Recoil - it is amazing and a very small amount goes a VERY long way. I also love products by Tre Luxe. Again watch for sales. I buy online but they do carry the products in Whole Foods as they are made with all natural ingredients. A jar of the best gel ever - Hi Def Gel is about $14 and will last me 4-6 months. I shop the liter shampoo and conditioner sales at Ulta - I love Ouidad & CurlSmith products. There are several different options based on your type of curls and what they need. I have also been able to find some of my favorites at TJ Maxx or Marshall's at deep discounts. For reference I have high porosity hair that drinks protein and moisture constantly and is NEVER greasy.
Thermostat temps for us range from 65-70 in the winter. We live in GA though and homes are not built to withstand really cold temps so if we dip into the teens 70 becomes the more comfortable temperature. Summers are a different story with strings and often months of 90+ temps. We definitely pay more for AC since 70-72 is what we can stand. I know this is extravagant for some but both my husband and son are hot natured and I care for an elderly person that is miserable in the heat and will pass out, get sick to her stomach etc. so the higher bills are the lesser of two evils for us.
I have had good luck purchasing food grade buckets and lids from Sam's bakery department. They charge $2 per bucket and $2 per lid and store flour, dried beans, sugar, rice, etc quite nicely for us. Given the cost of food grade storage buckets that I have seen, this is a frugal win. I also like that they are sometimes both short and tall varieties available which is great for having items in storage that you can manage to lift while cooking without having to visit the chiropractor.
Our propane furnace is set to 55 in the winter, because I hate hearing it going on and off all night. The woodstove is our main source of heat. It's usually about 68 degrees when it's going during the day. Warmer if I'm baking or using the oven a lot.
No A/C except for a big old window unit that I don't like to put in because of the noise. It does cool down most nights in the summer, so days aren't too bad. It can get a bit uncomfortable in our kitchen by late afternoon, though--which is anything over 80 degrees for me in our dry climate--at which point I retreat to my bedroom with the overhead fan if I can to wait out the heat. There's a reason siestas are a cultural institution in hot places. 🙂
I'm a 68-69 degrees in the winter (amazing how differently those two temps feel on different days) and 74-75 in the summer.
I put flour in the freezer for a few days when I get it, and then store a small amount in a canister and the rest in an air tight container. I don't buy gobs of it though. DH and I just don't go through as much as I used to when the boys were young.
The only thing that works on my frizzy, course hair is It's a 10 Miracle spray in stuff after towel drying...then a light bit of gel...then when styled I run some biosilk all through it and that seems to smooth it. My hair is naturally soooo dry. I could go a week and still not have oily hair or scalp.
I have a 2,000 square foot, one story, passive solar adobe house with brick floors, a kiva fireplace and a wood burning stove. In the winter, the sun shines through floor to ceiling southern facing glass windows and hits a trombe wall and the brick floors, and heats the entire house. The stove or fireplace can take over in the evening if needed. There are baseboard electric heaters in the bedrooms, living and dining rooms and kitchen, but they’re expensive to run and I only use the kitchen and master bedroom heaters on a low setting at night. No A/C, just evaporative coolers that work well in this low/no humidity climate.
I did not know that about hair porosity. It also makes sense now why the “curly girl” type hair sites have suggestions that do not work for my hair - they are for high porosity hair and mine is not!
We have wood stove heat for the great room, kitchen, mud room, because my elderly mom is always cold, I turn on the Nat Gas furnace to warm her rooms in the morning to 68F. Nat gas is our cooking fuel, clothes drier, water heater, furnace and back up generator. My bill for last month was $85. In the summer I set the a/c to 78F and use a tower fan in the kitchen and a small fan at bedside.
We wear smart wool socks, ugg slippers, wool thermals and flannel lined jeans. Last week our temps were low 20's overnight/low 40's during the day.
I store my various GF flours in 3 & 5 gallon buckets, rice, oats and dried beans in 3 gallon buckets in the larder (above ground 55 degree year around food storage similar to a root cellar).
The farm kitties have snuggly beds made of quilts lined with emergency blanket materials (mylar), denim batting, their boxes are lined that they use in the barn and when they are in the house (their choice) they have minky baby blankets that I pick up at garage sales for very little money and they wash up well. 5 of 8 of the cats are Maine Coon and very furry.
My husband says there is maybe a 5 degree temperature range where I'm happy, and he's probably right! I'm miserable when hot, more miserable when cold. One thing we did a few months ago is take advantage of an offer from our electric company. They sent out an energy efficiency company to go through out house and seal leaky spots, even change light bulbs to more efficient kind. Four guys were here for two hours doing the work, and it cost us nothing. Might be worth checking with your electric company.
The descriptions of both temperature preferences and hair differences has explained a lot for me in both cases. Thanks Kristen and Commentariat!
Especially on the hair, I’m doing the opposite of what I need to do for thick curly hair. Kristen, your perfect porosity explanation has me switching to a different product today. I need the oil and now recall how much better my scalp felt when I once used it.
All signs point to you being an excellent nurse as you will explain differing bodily issues and their solutions in other areas too so clearly.
I agree completely on, if you can afford it, considering the wishes of people you live with regarding temperature. My thermostat seems to have died after various surgeries and I am always, always, always cold. As in I sleep with a heated blanket even in the summer (although, to be fair, the summers in northern Alaska was not usually very hot). Still, I was able to keep the temperature down by wearing lots of clothes in the house. Then one day, the husband said that as he ages, he is getting less able to comfortably tolerate cold, so asked that we turn up the thermostat. So, it is now up to 70 all winter. Truth is, if he asked for 85 all winter, I would do that. And I am more comfortable now. Hmmm...I can't believe this just now occurred to me, but I wonder if he said he was cold so that I would be more comfortable!??
After growing up in a hot climate with no air conditioning and living in a cold climate with roommates in who refused to even turn on the heat until Thanksgiving, no matter how cold it got before then, when I moved out on my own I prioritized being comfortable. Yes, i will wear socks and sweaters in the winter and shorts and tank tops in the summer. But then I adjust the heating/cooling to my liking and pay accordingly. Being comfortable is a priority to me! I had a friend that would close herself up with a space heater and a lawn chair in the bathroom and just stay in there all day so she didn't have to heat her apartment. That sounds so miserable to me. Luckily, I have never had to conserve my energy dollars to that extent.
MN! Winter our outdoor temp is below freezing and often below zero degrees Fahrenheit. I think where you live needs to be factored in!
1. Food buckets-- We've asked at grocery store bakeries for empty frosting buckets to store flour. We keep them in our basement which is cooler.
2. Cats in the house-- I think your cats will be just fine. Plenty of outdoor cats survive/thrive in much colder temperatures that you have in your house. We have an outside stray that has lived on our front porch for more than 1 years. We made a box for her out of old bricks, and we put wood chips in it. She seems to like it, but she also is out roaming about in below freezing weather.
Live 6 miles outside of Boston, MA. AC is at 74 in the summer. House at 67 during the day in the Winter. If I have a day when I feel chilly, I push it up to 68 or 69 for a bit. 65 at night because I have a heating system that is designed to be most efficient by staying at the same temperature. If I lower it too low (below 65) it takes too long to come up to 67 in the morning when it gets to be typical New England cold temps of 0-20 degrees at night. I would actually prefer to have it at 62 at night! I have a relatively small 1280 sq ft. house so it does not cost too much to heat in a year- have Natural Gas for hot water baseboard heat - my cost for the last few years has been just under $1600 for an entire year, so I am not all that concerned about keeping it warm enough to be comfortable - happily will pay and estimated 25-50 more in a year to stay cozy!
We keep ours at 65 F. We have a small, elderly dog who refuses to wear sweaters, and so he has 2 heated beds - these are much more energy efficient than running the heat. We also lean into space heaters, comfy throws, and little luxuries like a heated throw and rechargeable heated insoles (that's for my spouse with eternally cold feet). All of these use just a tiny fraction of energy compared to heating the whole house - we're just heating exactly what and where we need! Works for us and keeps bills way down.
I live with two hot-natured people who walk around barefooted and in short clothing into the depths of winter. I have a failing thyroid and run cold, so I'm wearing a flannel shirt over a t-shirt with a cardigan and have busted out the Smartwool knee socks while they look ready to hit the beach. I love the electric throw I bought last year and so does my sweet Dora Kitty, who wedges her sizeable self next to me whenever I'm under it.
Homes in North and South Dakota, often 60 below with the wind chill. Heater at 68’ Summer air at 70’.
I am also upset of the club of people whose parents swapped from wood heat when they moved out.
I currently have a wood stove and it gets so hot sometimes I fling the doors open. Before this, we had a very inefficient pellet stove and cadet heaters that ran constantly. When we did have a thermostat, it usually hovered around 65 for heat. We rarely had weather hot enough to warrant an AC, but did have a mobile unit for the two weeks a year it got hot.
Wow! After reading these temps, I am officially a cold wimp! My winter temp is 72-73 and summer is usually around 76-78. We have no AC because we live on the top of the mountain. In the summer, the windows are open with the nonstop breeze. If it gets really hot, we just sleep in the basement.
We use oil daily on our hair. We infuse castor oil, coconut oil and almond oil with rosemary.
We live in a hot island with a 90 f /32c average . During the day , open windows, doors and outdoor living. At night during the hot season we run a split unit in the bedrooms often at 82 f/ 28 c .
Right now i have a pneumonia and to ease breathing my airco is at 75f/24c . It’s feel a bit chilly to me.
Electricity is very expensive here and so is water. If you use airco 24/7 . You would spend almost double minimum wage on it. Airco is a luxury here.
And I freeze my flour for 3 days then keep in a fridge.
Well im in the Midwest. It's at 66 during the day goes up to 68 from 3:00 until 10:00 p.m. then down to 58 my husband and I love it cold to sleep. I also HATE being hot so it's 70 24/7.
One of the amazing things about our rent controlled apartment, besides the fact that it is way better for us to rent than buy in our area, is that our heat and air conditioning are included !!! We still keep things reasonable for environmental reasons, but it is nice to not have that worry, and I am thankful for that break.
Unrelated, we are going to Hawaii soon for a long saved up for 20th anniversary and two big birthdays trip. I am definitely feeling weird about spending the money, but I have to remind myself that I’m debt free, on track for retirement and it’s ok to have nice things sometimes.
Late to the topic today, but I’m curious why you don’t turn your thermostat down further at night when you go to bed. I have always lived at 67-68 degrees in the winter but go down to 60 at bedtime. I grew up in a home (in Wisconsin) where complaints about feeling chilly were answered by someone throwing a sweater at you, so I know cold. Extra blankets in the winter take care of the chill, as do cats who curl up next to you.
I live in Arizona. So we splurge on the side of the A/C though I am tolerant of heat and can be fine with the thermostat at 78-80 during daytimes.Husband is good with that too. Also,lots of houses, including ours, have pols in Az and so we can always jump in to cool off and we do!! At night I crank it down to 76 for sleep and that feels cool to me. We are on a time of day program where my night time A/C is waaaay cheaper than daytime.but if it is a heavy cleaning day i will turn the therm .down to 76 to clean for a couple of hours .
In winter, yes, we have “winter” in Arizona, lol.. and we are sensitive to cold, after those 110 degree summers.. but we rarely have our heat on. In middle of winter like Jan/Feb we may have it at 68 and we’re fine .It will come on now and then. I like to sleep cool and in day time I am never cold here in the Valley of the Sun. Sometimes, it is a cold snap and I MAY turn the heat up to 70 degrees for an hour when I first wake up just to be extra cozy.
It’s just me at the house with dogs and cats. I keep the thermostat 78-80 in summer and 64 in winter. I do have a couple of heating pads for the old cats and an electric blanket on my bed for me and the dogs. I’m in and out of the house alot so I like to not have a big a temperature shock. I do wear a sweater and shoes and socks in winter
When we were first married, we were determined to save money on our heating bills, so we kept our thermostat somewhere in the low 60's, and bundles up. And...we ended up freezing and bursting one of our cast iron radiators on a super cold and windy weekend. Disclaimer...we didn't realize all that we should have been doing to winterize our old farmhouse that first winter. Lesson learned!
Our plumber then told us that we weren't actually saving any $ on fuel oil, because it used more fuel to heat up the cold water than if we had actually set the temps higher in the first place!
Another lesson learned!
Now we keep it set at 68 most of the time and adjust when it gets bitter cold and windy!
Replacement windows, a few done each year, have also helped!
We keep our winter thermostat at 64, and close the registers upstairs. Heat rises, and warming the ground floor, where we spend more time (kitchen and living room), makes it comfy. Some of the registers upstairs don't close--old house symptom--but as one is in the bathroom and one in DH's office, it is cozy upstairs too. In summer, thermostat at 72, and closed registers downstairs. The cool air falls from the upstairs to the ground floor, for comfy sleeping. I have a really good vent and fan over the gas range, which pulls heat, steam, and grease out of the kitchen, and helps cool it in the summer. The kitchen has two furnace vents and is the warmest place in the house all winter. We love our flannel sheets with a down comforter; light and warm sleeping. It's the cat's favorite napping spot in the house!
We program our thermostat - lower heat at night (we usually have the wood stove going) and it kicks on before better half is up in the morning. Rarely is the upstairs occupied these days and even then, the higher heat during "shower time" plus the shower makes it comfortable for any guest. Plus we'll shut register vents on the main floor to push more heat (or A/C) to the upstairs when needed.
Furnace doesn't run too much during the day and we have a couple of radiant floors. One is on come late November (or when it gets consistently cold - I work in the room during the day and sometimes during the night). We'll turn on the other floor January/February. The radiant floors and heated water for wildlife plus the gutter heater when needed means we pay more for electric Dec/Jan/Feb.
A/C is less of a challenge. We replaced every stinkin' window when we bought the house plus added insulation (including the garage wall that is shared with the house). We run a dehumidifier year-round. It doesn't take long to cool our house so we end up waiting for it to get N degrees before we even turn it on. Since it cools fast, we are likely to have to lower the temp to make the A/C kick on as the house gets "stale". Living rural with a lot of trees also helps quite a bit.
I handle the heat far better than the better half. Far easier to bundle up if you're cold as you can only strip down so far when it is hot. It has to be over 90 outside before I wear shorts. I do think how you handle cold/heat is partly genetic. I was almost 40 before we had A/C in our house.
We typically set our heat at 68 during the time we are home and 67 when we normally aren't (mid day). It drops to 63 at night. Our 18 ft ceilings, granite counters and stone floors make 68 still feel cold in the winter and evenings so I break out a blanket (a heated throw!). In the summer, the AC is set for 76. The downstairs stays decently comfortable as long as we haven't had several hot days. If so, we definitely turn it on cooler before bed for an hour, then use the ceiling fan and nature's AC (open windows) if it's going to drop to the 60's at night. This is an area my guy is definitely frugal. He would rather go up and open all the windows plus the back sliders for the night than run the AC. I do have a portable AC in the upstairs guest room (the hottest room in the house) since it's my day sleeping room when I'm working (night shift).
we are happier with A/C accommodations. One can use layers to keep warm enough during colder weather but there is just so much clothing one can remove to be cool during hot weather. right ??
We live in Las Vegas where it is pretty much always dry. In summer which is very hot here we set the thermostat at 79. Believe it or not it feels very cool when you walk into the house from a 100+% outdoors. In winter we set the thermostat at 62% and bump it up to 70% for a shower. My husband and I both tend to run hot (I used to run cold - but age has changed that). In 2020 we moved here from the Pacific Northwest. We didn't have AC there - just lots of fans which we used all year round - still do. I can't remember what we set the thermostat to in winter - it's very damp there so the cold feels different than it does here - more cutting.
I keep our heat on at 67 during the day and 65 at night. Air conditioner is set at 77-78. For curly, dryish hair (like mine) I use John Freida hair serum.
Heat: sleep 62F, awake 66F
A/C: sleep 76F, awake 77F
I close the draperies to block the sun in the summer, and then open them again once the sun changes sides of the house, and reverse that in winter (or just leave them closed to block cold a bit more than the heatshrunk plastic that's on the windows in winter). If anyone ever complained of cold, I'd remind them that they could always add another layer, or a blanket while couch-potatoing. I've also offered to reduce the temperature to President Carter's White House standards during the energy crisis of 55F. They looked at me aghast and slunk away to add a layer 🙂
I have glass storage containers for flour, sugar, and teas that we've had since 1982. I keep extra bags of flour in the pantry. I go through it pretty quickly so don't have to be concerned with it going bad.
Socks--ugh!!! I'm so tired of the tops of socks making bands on my legs/ankles, and of the toe seams that dig into my feet. Constantly on the look for good socks. Various family members swear by certain brands (Carharrt, Darn Tough, Smartwool, Timberland); I've tried them all and don't like any of them.
And OMG!!! I LOVE KRISTEN'S CURLY HAIR!!!!!! If that's natural, you should wear it that way all the time! It's beautiful and if you airdry it to that, you'll find your hair gains in strength. And, the fewer things you put on your hair (products), the less substance there is to grab and hold dirt, grease, etc. to your beautiful hair.
Wowww! I live in Arizona and I don't think I could visit anyone and I'm sure no one would want to visit me! This has been a particularly warm winter. Most nights the house is still around 75 when we go to bed, which is just fine with me, We keep it at 68-69 at night normally but when I get up, I usually up it to 72. This year we haven't even turned it on yet. In the summer, where our temps are regularly over 110, we keep the house at 82 when we're not home and 80 when we are. At night it goes down to 78. I do a lot of sewing and in the summer I will turn it down to 78 if I have the iron on because it does get a bit warm in the small sewing room - but I love that in the winter!
We keep our heat at 72⁰F, and the air conditioning around 74⁰F. The summer humidity here is ferocious, and if the A/C doesn't run enough, we're miserable.
I have a very narrow comfortable temperature range, so if it gets below 70⁰F or above 76⁰F, I'm not a happy camper, even with fewer layers in the summer and extra layers (plus a blanket and 2 cats if I'm sitting still!) in the winter. We keep ceiling fans running year round to keep the air well mixed, making the temperature more stable.
I can't add humidity to the air to make it more comfortable in the winter because I have a dust allergy, which actually means I'm allergic to dust mite poo (gross). Because dust mites get their water requirements from water in the air, I need to keep the humidity in the house under 20% at least, but under 15% is optimal. So it's pretty arid in our house - desert-style humidity.
Per my lease agreement, I am required to keep a minimum temp of 68 degrees in my unit. I'm used to a lower temp and wearing slippers/layers as needed, so it annoys me that I have to pay for heat that I don't want. Sigh. This is on the list of reasons why I'm moving next year.
I would be annoyed by that too!