When do you turn on your heat?

bostonbaker

Do you have a date goal or a minimum temperature that you won't go below?

I am trying to hold out until Thanksgiving... HA!  We'll see how that goes.  My house is already down to 63ish.  I am going to have to wear hats around inside.

PunkyBooster

My house is 61 this morning and I'm in SC! Brrr. It was cold this morning.

We turn it on if we can't get warm- if you have hardwood and tile, it will probably go on earlier. I usually try to hold off until Thanksgiving, but it's not always doable. 

We usually have our heat down pretty low though through the winter- mostly to keep the floors warm.

ETA- we lived in 700 sq feet energy efficient condo in Boston. Our heat rocked. Our a/c bills here in SC are 4x the amount our heat bills were up there. Argh. BUT we didn't turn on the heat once last winter in SC, despite how cold it got here (weirdly, it was down in the low 30s some nights) we just pulled on sweatshirts and piled into bed together with the comforter. We'll see how things go this year though! 

AndreaB111

We try to wait until November... But we have a fireplace and a small ranch, so we use that a LOT and it heats our whole house. We have a fire almost every night in the winter. But we don't crank the heat by any means, we usually keep it pretty low, although that'll change when LO is here, we'll have to put it up higher.

Right now we are looking into wood stoves for this winter!

MrsT2008

I try to hold out until November.  We're holding steady at about 65-66 degrees right now.  If it starts to dip lower, I may have to turn it on.  I have started making a fire every night which helps - since we sit in the family room every night anyway it keeps us warm until we go to bed.  We like it cold when we go to bed anyway, so this is perfect sleeping weather as far as we're concerned!

Rock-n-Voll

I was just thinking about this the last few days.  I'd like to make it to at least November, but if it gets uncomfortable we'll turn it on.  Not sure what the house temp is at this point, probably mid-60s-ish.  Since our house is relatively new, the insulation is very good. 

We keep the heat really low though in general, something around 67 degrees I think and then just wear layers, watch TV with a blanket, etc.

bostonbaker

Using the fireplace is a good idea.  We have wood floors and they get really cold.  I think I need to put a rug in my bedroom to make it easier to get up in the morning.

ccbean034

our house has been in the 60's range lately too. H said he doesn't want to turn the heat on until thanksgiving and i had to laugh at him. we'll try to hold out until november. we have a fireplace as well and have fires a few times a week. it doesn't heat up the whole house but at least takes the edge off and makes the livingroom nice and cozy.

PunkyBooster

We have our first fireplace in this house. It's too warm to use it yet, but soon! I am so excited about this, it's ridiculous.

mesa81

I am holding out as long as possible-- we had a fire last night. DH called me at work yesterday to tell me the dog was freezing and he was trying to find his sweater. I don't like having a fire if it's just me (which is most of the time) so I think I'm going to start layering until November or it until it gets unbearable!

Bride0603

My dog shivers if it gets below 65 so ours is already on so she's not cold during the day when we're gone.  I think it's our fault for raising her in sweaters ;-).

MrsC968

Our was holding steady at 66-67, which was fine with me since we cap the thermostat at 68 in the winter. But on Tuesday it was at 65 and DH wanted to give the house a boost. So we turned it on briefly and turned it back off. I would have been fine with leaving it off until it got to at least 64.

Buckeye608

Wow, you ladies who are hoping to hold out until Thanksgiving are much more ambitious than I am!

I don't mind it on the cooler side in the house, I'm prone to crank the a/c in the summer because I'm more uncomfortable being too hot than too cold, and DH is the opposite.

Our house faces straight east and west, and we have tall windows which creates a lot more warmth than I would have expected.

Although I don't think we'll have to worry about it getting too cold yet, its supposed to be around 80 degrees here in STL over the next week! 

Don't Hassle the Hoff

When it gets cold we'll turn it on. I think when I came downstairs this morning it was 63 and 61 in our bedroom. We moved into this house March 31st of this year and so far, we haven't turned on the heat. We're aiming hopefully mid-novemberish. I would wait longer, but I feel bad for my wimpy dogs if it gets too cold in the house.