With the college kid home, I now am battling two freeze babies with the thermostat! We are going to need to find a suitable solution. I am wearing my lightest summer pajamas possible, an sill am overheating at night. If I could turn the heat below 60, at least at night, I would sleep much better. We've reached a temp of 67 for the day time, cool enough for me that I can move about comfortably, dressed in layers that can be taken off and put back on, though I'd be more comfortable at 65. I see my daughter has lived in hoodies since being home and DH always has a sweatshirt on at night. Our bedroom already feels several degrees warmer than other parts of the house, but when I head to bed and others are still up, it feels stifling. I'm physically tied, but I just don't fall readily asleep.
I'm trying to think about the heat as cozy and warm as opposed to stifling. I think I can nudge the temp down a few degrees about 8:00, and let the others grab slippers, and then maybe another degree or two, getting us to 63 or 64, and we might hit a happy medium. I hate to say it but I a my mothers daughter. She hated being hot all the time I was growing up, but I slept in the lower level, like our family room is now, and it was positively cold down there. I got used to just throwing an extra blanket on at night, or wrapped around me while reading or doing homework. There might be hope for me though because as she aged, her internal furnace seemed to lower to the point that her townhouse could have substituted for a tropical green house it was warm in there.
Whie of course there are energy and cost savings to the lower temperature, and I could say to my daughter, pay the increase. According to The U.S. Department of Energy estimates a household could save a much as 1o percent on electricity if you lower your thermostat by 10 to 15 degrees for an eight-hour period. As we re gas heat, but with electric starters, I assume that would apply cumulatively to both bills, so about $14 a month perhaps. She has DH in her corner though, as her corner is his corner. Are you a cozy and warm person, keeping your heat closer to 70 in your home? Or, are you like me and feel the best solution to being cold is to put another layer on? What drives where you set your heat. comfort or cost, or bit of both?
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
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May apartment complex has central heating so, it has always been warmer than I liked. For some reason, this year it is a lot more comfy at home. In the past I used to spend the entire winter in shorts and short sleeved tees. Nowadays, I am wearing socks and a turtleneck. I like to dress up when I am cold. I think one can sleep much better in a cool room.
ReplyDeleteI love the feel of warm socks on my feet-but not in bed. Last night I did turn it down low, so I'll wait to hear if I get complaints.
DeleteI'm definitely an "I like it cool" person, and it has nothing to do with the menopause - more to do with growing up in England I guess. I HATE being too hot because you just can't get away from it, whereas you can always throw more clothes on (or move around) when it's cold. Four of us just came back from an hour's walk and the two French ladies were layered up like they were going to the arctic and us two Brits were in t-shirts! Nature or nurture?
ReplyDeleteI remember my daughter saying she got got strange looks even in England for being under dressed as compared to our Minnesota winters, England was mild! There is a lot to be said about nature. My internal thermostat was in place long before my 50's, so I think some of us are just hot blooded!
DeleteI must have a cold room to sleep in and luckily my husband doesn’t mind. We live in Colorado and keep the bedroom windows open at night.The heat is at 72 during the winter days because our system is not efficient and then at night I turn it down to 60 and close my bedroom door and open the windows and snuggle under blankets. I also have my vents in the bedroom closed all the time. I sleep much better in a cold room. I really enjoy your posts and I am going to try to comment more. ColoradoGirl
ReplyDeleteThe perfect sleep is those cool spring or fall nights with the fresh air coming through. I'm thinking about that now and would love a really good nap-and it's just 7:00 a.m. I appreciate you reading and what a lovely comment. Thank you.
DeleteMy father died in 1980 and I can still hear him saying "if you're cold, put a sweater on!"
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I keep our house at 67, but if I'm cold I'll start the pellet stove (but then I get too hot...). We keep the upstairs (separate zone) set at 58.
It sure can vary by rooms. It does not help that our bedroom is the warmest room in the house.
DeleteUgh. The other night I woke up because I heard the heat had gone on. DD had set it to 69! I like it at 55 during the night, 65 during the day. I threatened her with a lock on the thermostat if she ever touched it again. In our old house, we had a woodstove, so keeping the temperature steady was difficult. We'd feel we needed a window open in the room the stove was in, but we were comfortable elsewhere...about 65 in the parts of the house furthest from the stove.
ReplyDeleteI woke up yesterday and it was 70! I think DH raised it with the intent to turn down and forgot. I was in a t-shirt only by morning I was so hot.
DeleteWe do not live in a cold climate so we rarely get too cold. I keep the thermostat set very low and we wear whatever is necessary to keep warm. You can't gripe about being cold if you choose to wear shorts and a tee shirt in the wintertime (which has happened here)
ReplyDeleteI really feel like people use a thermostat, or air conditioning, in place of just dressing properly sometimes. We battle on the air conditioner as well-I hate artificial cold air and only like the AC when the humidity is high. Funny I can sleep better in a warn room in the summer, probably because the windows give fresh air in the house.
DeleteBeing in Florida it's rare to ever need the heat on. When it does happen to get cold enough we normally don't sleep with the heat on, but might turn it on up to 70 in the morning just to knock the chill off until after showering.
ReplyDeleteThat's what we do in the fall-until DH decides it needs to be permanent. He hates being cold, but then he's in and out of the store all day.
DeleteColder is always better for me. Tommy puts the thermostat on 63 at night. Most of the winter I am still too hot. However, when the weather is in the 30s, it is positively frigid unless I am under the covers with a blanket up around my ears.
ReplyDeleteIt is about 63 outside right now, but thermostat is 64. I have on summer nightgown and am shoeless. No blanket around me. And, I feel fine.
Tommy kept the temp at 60 at night and low in daytime, too, before I came. I still don't have enough warm clothes for around the house, but I rarely need anything really warm. However, I never turn up the heat more than one degree, just enough to knock off the humidity I feel. Even if I were bundled up, humidity would bother me.
When my father was dying from pancreatic cancer, he was very cold. He kept the temp around 80 or above. I almost died trying to help Mama with holiday dinners. I even allowed my children to go out on the porch with just a tshirt on because they were so overheated from the heat, too. They were all sweaty, but I let them go out and told them to take many deep breaths. Our home was mostly frigid during the winter, so they were very uncomfortable in the heat. All three are very warm-natured now, as adults.
As I have gotten older (74), my need for cool has not diminished much.
My mom was near 80 before her heat need really kicked in. When they lived out in the country, she never had her thermostat high,and they didn't move in town until she was 76.
DeleteI'm in Northern California - I either turn it off at night or keep it at 67 if we're having a cold spell. During the day, it is either off or 68 depending on the weather outside. I like cooler temps. I'm much more open to socks and blankets and cozy stuff. If it is too hot, I fall asleep and get lazy.
ReplyDeleteMy son loves the CA weather, one of the man reasons he can't see himself moving back here. My one visit to San Diego and I'll admit, he sure had a point.
DeleteI didn't grow up with central heating, it's a relatively new phenomena for me (and Jon!) We tend to light the wood burner and turn the heating off during the day, cranking it up in the evening whilst we watch TV and are inactive. xxx
ReplyDeleteIn y small childhood home, it ws radiator heat on the old farmhouse, but when the parents built the new house on the same land, that was the end of radiators. I would like to live somewhere with both a stove and radiator heat.
DeleteWe have electric baseboard heaters in our condo - we keep most of the thermostats off, and only put them at 67/15 degrees when it's cold out (like now). When the temps dip into the 40s/5-ish, we put the bedroom up higher then turn it off when we go to bed (and we use a hot water bottle in the bed).
ReplyDeleteWe wear layers of sweaters, and each of us has a blanket when we watch TV.
With your gorgeous wardrobe, it would be a shame not to pull out the sweaters. I love a bit of warmth on my feet when they are really cold, but kick the bottle out once they reach the right warmth.
DeleteWe never have heat on over night, even when the temperatures are below freezing. I sleep naked, in an unheated room, and am uncovered for much of the night as I still get too hot!
ReplyDeleteSome of us are just internally wired differently. My youngest loves her thick sweatshirts, but I have to dress so I can take it off a layer fast as I'll feel like someone just set me on fire with no warning.
DeleteI am usually always cold. But I do like a colder bedroom. I just bundle up and wear layers and have blankets on every chair.
ReplyDeleteThere's something about having a cozy blanket ready for the chill. That is part of my appeal to a cooler house.
Delete71 in our house. Anything in the 60s is freezing....hahhehha!
ReplyDeleteI like 68 degrees, hubby likes 70 but I've noticed as he gets older he gets colder easily and I heat up more easily lol.
ReplyDelete