Signing Up For Crunchy Chicken's "Freeze Yer Buns" Challenge
Last month, Crunchy Chicken posted a new challenge for all of her readers: Set your thermostat for as low as possible and keep it that way till spring. I LOVED the idea and immediately signed up! The idea is not, necessarily, to go to drastic extremes, but "to get you to drop at least one degree."I initially pledged to keep my thermostat set at 65 during the day and 60 at night, but after throwing extra blankets on all the beds, I quickly found that the nighttime temp was actually too WARM and had to adjust it down to 55.
Want to know what else happened when I dropped the temperature? The kids slept in longer. Shhhhhhh. Don't let them hear my secret. I don't know why, but I swear it's true. Ethan hasn't wandered downstairs before 7:00 am and Daphne sleeps in till almost 8:00 am! I, too, am sleeping more soundly, as the house doesn't feel as dry and it's keeping all of our snoring to a minumum.
Savings:
According to Crunchy, for every degree set below 68 degrees, energy consumption drops 6-8%. My heat is generated via our water heater, which makes calculating the difference a little more difficult, since it's always "on" regardless of whether or not the heat is running. Our average gas consumption last year (November 1 - April 30) was 75 Ccf per month, so, I'm going to take a WAG and say that I'll be looking at an average of about 60 Ccf per month. this year. I will let you know if that average actually holds true.
Difficulty Level: 2 out of 5
I like it. Hubby? eh. I think he'd prefer a warmer house and I often catch him turning up the heat when he thinks I'm not looking. But, since I control the temps from 10 pm - 6 pm Monday through Friday, I think he's allowed his indulgence for a few hours at night and on the weekends. Afterall, I may have frozen buns, but I also have a warm heart. Sometimes.
3 comments:
We do this too...my nose is almost always frozen the whole day (unless I drink tea!). Our average monthly use is 30 Ccf. With family here through the weekend, we will probably have to turn it up a little bit more.
Ahhh man! We actually have our temps set the same as yours (knew there was a reason I like your blog so much!) but my kids aren't sleeping in. Anyway, our heat came on at 7am this morning - we're in Northern California so I think it's only the 3rd or so time that it's come up. My husband (who otherwise went to the same school as yours!) complained that it was too hot! Hah! Maybe I'll turn it down another degree or so. :)
Hi!
I just found your blog through Fake Plastic Fish and I LOVE IT!
I just started a green blog of my own and I am so excited to take inspiration from you. Blogging every day is quite a feat with two kids! I am on a twice-a-week schedule now (Friday and Saturday) and I'm thinking that if you can do it every day, maybe so can I.
Anyway, I am commenting on this post because I, too, am trying to go heat-free this winter. I'm pretty lucky because my condo is surrounded on three sides by other units and I only have 5 windows/doors, so the heat stays in if I'm careful. Also, I've always been a pretty warm-natured person, so 60 degrees is ideal if not warmish for me.
I'm super-excited to have found you! Thanks for the wonderful posts - I can't wait for more :)
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