When the temperature starts to dip here in Northwest Ohio, the thermostats inevitably rise. Before Gideon was born JQ and I were of the mindset that you put on an extra pair of socks or a sweater and keep the furnace down as much as possible. At night we would turn it down to 65° or lower in the dead of winter. Our bedspread is warm and we could snuggle up. Sleepy in our skivvies was still comfortable. Getting out of bed in the morning was another story. How quick could we find socks and sweats before we froze our little white asses off? Pretty quick.
Now that Gideon is around we've had to adjust our thinking on the low temps. We aren't outrageous with it—but when you have a little guy who doesn't understand how to pull the covers back over him, you got to give a little. Our thermostat goes down to about 68° at night in the winter and never rises above 72°. We usually keep it at 70° through most of the winter.
SInce we have a furnace that is a whopping 60% efficient, we are heat misers. Or maybe we aren't? If you live in climate with 4 seasons—what's your number? If you live in the warmer states, what do you consider cold? Is there a point where you actually turn on the heat?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
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17 comments:
Actually our numbers are REALLY, REALLY close to yours. I'm definitely more of a 65 kind of gal in the winter (I like to bundle and use blankies) but with Aiden we have changed to between 68-72 also. Of course he's been in bed with us a LOT lately since he's been sick but hopefully we will be working on changing that again soon. :-)
Our numbers are also really close to yours! We usually keep it between 68-72 (sometimes 74 if I'm FREEZING during the daytime). At night, we close the vent to our room since it's connected to the vent to my son's room so he can get all the hot air. So it works out perfectly: he stays warm and we stay bundled.
NEVER above 69. Usually have it set on 68 when we are home, 65 at night. I would prefer about 60 at night, but I lost that battle a long time ago. I would prefer the same temperatures in the summertime, but the electric bill is much too high as it is.
We keep it at 70 during the day and 60 at night. I like having lots of heavy blankets! I'm in MN and just lurve talking temps with friends in CA... telling them what wimps they are, being chilly when it hits 60. But the truth... shhhh... the truth is, I'm just as much of a wimp and just can't handle the cold anymore.
Whoa, we must be Eskimos out here in PA, b/c we keep ours at 59 during the nights, then 63 when we get up for a few hours, then back to 59 during the day when we are not home, then it goes up to 66 after 4:30 (which is usually right before we get home from work).
I'd love to be at your house where it's toasty warm, but our heating bill here is ~$260-$300/month in the winter, so I can't imagine what it would be like if we had the heat any higher!!
If you ever come out to PA, don't forget your thermals :-)
brandy—Gideon sleeps between us after our 6 a.m. feeding most mornings. I'm always afraid I'm going to roll over onto him. I love snuggling with him in our bed, but I don't get much sleep after 6 anymore.
hillary—I just can't bring myself to turn up the heat any higher. Even 72° is painful for us.
nobody—You must have a really well insulated house.
fig—Your secret is safe with me. Well...me and anybody who reads your comment.
kym—The thing is, it's not really that toasty. It's like as soon as the furnace shuts off, the house starts to get cold. I wish we could keep it low and not have ice cold hands.
I hate it when it's too hot. My wife on the other hand is a wuss and needs it to be like 70 all winter long. I'd be happy to be like y'all were pre-baby.
I'm with Kym... our house is big, old, and drafty and thus hugely inefficient when it comes to heating. We have to keep it turned way down or we get absolutely SOCKED with $600+ monthly heating bills. It's kept at 62 during the day and 54 at night. And yes, I'm tired of being cold and ready for Spring to arrive in northwest Indiana!
I am an oddball and don't mind when the house is chilly. But I too live with a small child, so we have the thermostat at 70. Once we move out and are wacky married people with out a kid around, we can freeze our butts off again. I don't like artifical heat. Yes, it keeps us warm but it also gives me bloddy noses and sinus headaches.
In winter, we set ours at 70 or 71 if we're home, it goes to 66 at night, and if no one is home at all it goes down to 60. I try not to have the heat on before October or after April (we're in MO).
In the summer, we have the a/c at about 73 around the clock. BUT...if the temp outside is less than bout 83, we turn off the a/c and open the windows (unless it's really, really humid). I absolutely refuse to turn the a/c on before June 1 or after Sept 30.
But no one minds...we'd all rather be a little too warm than too cold.
Put the little guy in a warmer sleeper - he'll sleep better in a cooler environment, and I think there was a SIDS study done that showed it was better for babies to sleep in a cooler room. We shut the heat registers in the bedrooms at night. 65 at night - and I think 68 at during the day. I've been cold alot this winter, and so I've added extra blankets to the beds, but the kids are used to the cooler temps, and don't sleep well if too warm.
Hi Pixie:
We're exactly the same as you. Georgia's room is really chilly, though. I don't know why since we have a pretty new house and it's supposed to be efficient and all that stuff. And I find her in the morning with more blankets than she started with, which means she's been cold in the night and has fetched more blankets.
I think fantastagal is right, too. Chilly rooms are better for babies because of SIDS. Don't worry too much about this, though. I think Gideon is getting old enough this shouldn't be a big concern.
Usually the high 60's for us. I like 68-73, and a bit cooler at night. I don't like waking up and having to climb out of bed into a freezing room.
Do you use those baby bags? I don't know the official name, but it has little arm holes, and you zip the bag from the top down, like a wearable sleeping bag.
Chuck—I think between 65° and 70° is the ideal number.
blackbyrd—Holy cow! $600?!? I would crap my pants if our gas bill was ever that high. I'm already stressing about next month's bill because it has bee so cold lately. We have no insulation in the walls of the house and if I turned it down to your temps right now I'd freeze. Yikes!
naynay—Headaches, huh? That's interesting—I wonder if that could be the cause of some of our headaches? The artificial heat is so drying so it doesn't surprise me about the bloody nose.
blogarita—We're more like a November—March furnace using family. We rarely use the AC. It will ususally be in the 90s before we turn on the AC.
fantastagirl—We keep him in warm footed sleepers with one blanket. I've read that the best temps for babies is right where we are 68–70°. That's pretty much why we keep it there.
leezer—I wish we could turn it down a bit lower at night. Our walls are thin and I hate to feel icy little hands when Gideon wakes up.
lynda—We don't use any sleep sacks. Like I told FG, we keep him in warm footed jammies and use one blanket. It's a warm fuzzy one that's not too heavy.
Nine years in Arizona have made me an utter wuss. I wear a heavy coat if it is in the 50s outside. We have our heat set around 70-72 when we are home; during the day it is usually off. I've been sleeping with socks on lately and keep a sweater by the bed in case I start freezing in the night. I can't even REMEMBER what real cold feels like. I feel somewhat ashamed.
69 at night... 72 during the day, if I'm home.
Going up in Massachusetts we always had our wood burning fireplace in the winter. If that thing wasn't going the house was COLD. So we kept it stoked. Out here in Vegas we did not put our heat on until almost Christmas and even then we keep it at 62 at night and 65 during the day. But we are never home during the day and the sun pools in the windows and heats the house pretty well. Plus we use blankets and robes and warm socks.
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