Saving on heating

When we first moved into the house, the thermostats they installed were super cheap. We had two, one upstairs, one down. There was no programming options on them, beyond on or off.

But oil was cheap two years ago, and we never had a problem with the bills, and never thought about it much - very low on our priority list.

Then last year, our oil bills went up by over $300 a pop during winter, and became harder and harder to find the cash to pay - by the end of winter, I had invested the time and money into some programmable thermostats, and we have had them all year - but not had to fill the oil tank back up yet.

Now it's cold out. It's been down close to freezing at nights, and is 40 - 60f during the day. We have a feature on the thermostats that tells us how long they have been on to maintain the temperature we're programmed.

Today, so far, the downstairs thermostat has been on for 13 minutes. It's warm in here, we're both comfortable, the puppies are happy, the bunny is happy.

We didn't lock in the oil prices this year - we were quoted $4.29 when I did think about it. I'm damned glad I didn't, as today's full tank refill was only $2.79.

They have to be on more as it gets even colder, but it's nice to know that when we're not in, the house can be 62f, instead of a much more comfortable temperature for humans :)