# Save money. Adapt to the weather outside.



## WhatInThe (Jan 8, 2014)

Save Money-set your thermostat as low as possible. Which means you want to live as close to the outside temperature as possible. The doesn't mean you keep the house at 33 degrees in the winter or 100 degrees in the summer. BUT the 70s are kind of high for winter  as are the mid 60s for summers. If people could keep their thermostat in the mid 60s in winter and the mid 70s in the summer people would save a lot of money or heat and air conditioning. AND be much healthier in that both heat and air conditioning can dry you out which is bad for the lungs and sinuses. 

I know too many who try to control their environment rather than themselves. You can control what and how much you wear, how you dress, how much water you drink. But to try to create an artificial polar opposite environment(pun intended) is expensive and not realistic. Nor practical. Acclimating to the weather outside is a much healthier and cheaper life style. 

I know financially and physically able seniors who complain they can't get heating subsidies to keep the old house in the 70s in winter. They're upset they make too much anyway between social security and investments and yet they feel entitled to heating subsidies because they are a senior.

One key to keeping warm or cool is to be in good shape. Especially cardiovascular wise. The body circulates blood to heat or cool itself. If you want your extremities warm keep the blood flowing. Along with keeping your upper torso or internal organs the warmest. The opposite is true in summer. Keep the upper torso cool. The body's priorities are to keep the internal organs going first and foremost. I think it's easier to control what's going on in/on your body than it is to control the environment in an entire house.


----------



## Diwundrin (Jan 8, 2014)

I tried something along those lines.  I'd read that if allow 10 days for the body to acclimatize you don't feel the cold so much.  I only lasted 2 days and caved in.  Wuss.  But I save a bit in summer as I don't even have air-conditioning or use the ceiling fans, I don't mind the heat.

People do adapt though. I saw footage of an elderly Russian woman who had to carry her shopping into her wooden house through the window as the snow was piled up over the doorways.  Inside her walls were covered in ice!  She lived like that each winter with nothing but a small wood stove to huddle and sleep near, and had survived it for years.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 8, 2014)

Unfortunately much of society has become "boxed-in" - they live a large part of their lives in artificial environments, and have lost the ability (or the will) to acclimate. 

I've always wondered about the "snow-birds" that migrate every year from the North to the deep South to escape the cold, then have to blast the A/C to survive. They've been making that trip for many years, so I don't think it's a matter of physically acclimating but of controlling their minds.

Good post!


----------



## Old Hipster (Jan 8, 2014)

That's no problem at our house, we have a very small house and have a free standing gas stove in the living room for our heat. And no air conditioning in the summer, but it would be rarely needed anyway.

We know a few people who winter in Arizona, they have another house there. And some go down with their extremely HUGE 5th wheels. I don't get why they go there either, it is so sweltering hot, they have to stay indoors with the air conditioning going 24/7. Like I say, I don't get it!?!


----------



## Diwundrin (Jan 8, 2014)

We get the same mass migration here. The Victorians head for Qld to winter over.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 8, 2014)

TWHRider said:


> I will probably get guns aimed at me, rotten eggs, apples, and bananas thrown at me BUT the OP's post is one of the smartest ones to come down the "SeniorForums" pike in a good long while.  IMHO, it needs to be stickied in a prominent place



Seconded.




> Unless one is a farmer or a serious hunter/fisherman, very few folks our age have such a blessing.  At least that's how I look at this place  -- a blessing until I pick up the manure fork the first time on a given day - lol lol



A farmer I can certainly understand, but perhaps because I'm neither a fisherman nor a hunter I don't see the exercise aspect of those activities. 

Unless you're walking 20 miles each way every day to your favorite fishing hole, or you're dragging a huge buck out of the woods every day (WITHOUT an ATV!) I just don't see where the "exercise" part comes in ...


----------



## Old Hipster (Jan 8, 2014)

Yeah damn wussies anyway! 

Well said TWH.


----------



## Bullie76 (Jan 8, 2014)

WhatInThe said:


> Save Money-set your thermostat as low as possible. Which means you want to live as close to the outside temperature as possible. The doesn't mean you keep the house at 33 degrees in the winter or 100 degrees in the summer. BUT the 70s are kind of high for winter  as are the mid 60s for summers. If people could keep their thermostat in the mid 60s in winter and the mid 70s in the summer people would save a lot of money or heat and air conditioning. AND be much healthier in that both heat and air conditioning can dry you out which is bad for the lungs and sinuses.
> .



That's exactly what I do. Temp was in the low teens last night and I set my thermostat on 63. I'm under covers and plenty warm. Summer time I set it in the high 70 's and run ceiling fans. 

I'm comfortable all year with reasonable utility bills.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 8, 2014)

TWHRider said:


> I guess I was giving modern day hunters a little more credit than they deserve



I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. My student is a hunter and he's always telling me about the new gizmos they have for sale at Cabela's and Bass Pro when he goes to them. Unbelievable, a lot of it - they might as well put a salt lick outside their front door and pull up a chair.



> One lady mentioned the air being so cold, it hurt to breath if she didn't have her mouth covered.  I had forgotten about that as, even on the OH/PA border it wasn't common for us to get that cold unless motion was involved, on the snowmobile.



I had almost forgotten about that as well until this cold streak started - then my first trip to the store reminded me. Now with the ski-mask and scarf I look like your classical convenience store robber.


----------



## That Guy (Jan 8, 2014)

When I turn on the heat, I turn to the cat and gleefully exclaim, "Let's spend some MONEY!"


----------



## Anne (Jan 8, 2014)

We keep the house in the high 60's, lower 70's, and even then, I dress warm as I am one who is always cold.  I handle the cold much better than heat & humidity, tho, so I go out more in Winter than the dead of Summer.

One thing dh and I disagree on, is we have an air circulation system, and ceiling fans; which run quite a bit.  To me, opening windows in Spring or Fall makes a lot more sense than running fans; it's free and airs out the house. I feel I need the windows open, and house aired out when I Spring clean, or it isn't clean.  It's also free, whereas running the fans cost money.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 8, 2014)

Anne said:


> ... One thing dh and I disagree on, is we have an air circulation system, and ceiling fans; which run quite a bit.  To me, opening windows in Spring or Fall makes a lot more sense than running fans; it's free and airs out the house. I feel I need the windows open, and house aired out when I Spring clean, or it isn't clean.  It's also free, whereas running the fans cost money.



Here in PA we call it "doing a Crazy Kraut / Crazy Pole", because all the old German and Polish ladies would fling open all the windows and doors a few times _in the middle of winter_ to clean the air. 

Can't say I find fault with the practice, but it's hell when you're trying to maintain warmth.


----------



## Anne (Jan 8, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> Here in PA we call it "doing a Crazy Kraut / Crazy Pole", because all the old German and Polish ladies would fling open all the windows and doors a few times _in the middle of winter_ to clean the air.
> 
> Can't say I find fault with the practice, but it's hell when you're trying to maintain warmth.



Makes sense, cuz I'm German.  My Mom slept with the window open a tiny bit all Winter long...guess it's hereditary.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 8, 2014)

Anne said:


> Makes sense, cuz I'm German.  My Mom slept with the window open a tiny bit all Winter long...guess it's hereditary.



And oddly enough, with the concerns over out-gassing from carpets and paint and plastics, healthy. 

We so often make fun of old customs without knowing how wise they really are.


----------



## Anne (Jan 8, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> And oddly enough, with the concerns over out-gassing from carpets and paint and plastics, healthy.
> 
> We so often make fun of old customs without knowing how wise they really are.



True in a way - the only heat we had in Winter was a coal burning stove; which didn't smell so good, and I think that's partly why she opened the window at night.
But you've a good point about carpets, etc.  Breathing those chemicals constantly can't be good, either.


----------



## Diwundrin (Jan 8, 2014)

It all comes down to who adapts to what and where doesn't it?  Mum suffered from that "Crazy Kraut" have to have fresh air even when it's coming express from Antarctica syndrome.  Not me.  Hermetically sealed in cold weather for me.  People spend a fortune getting their houses 'draft excluded' then fling the windows up.  

i settle for 20C on a cold night and only use a convection heater which heats very small areas which is all I use most of the time.  Doesn't cost near as much to run as air-con and is a whole lot quieter. It has a thermostat and only operates to keep the temp evened out.  An extra jumper works wonders to keep the power bill down.  (Mind you were talking 'paradise' winters down here, cold = anything below 20c.)

Heat doesn't bother me much but how I handle it in the house is very different here to how it was in Singleton.  Down there you aired the house before 7am then slammed and sealed everything shut for the day.  Any breeze you got down there was blowning across Hell first,  and the house stayed cooler longer without it.  The air-con was run for an hour or so around 3pm to take the heat down a bit then it was okay until the sun went down.

Here on the coast the windows open to a sea breeze has seen this house never go over 30c inside whatever it gets to outside without any air-con or fans to pay for.

I know someone who hates the heat so much the air-con runs day and night and is set at 16C !  Luckily they ain't poor, but that's ridiculous.
They sleep with a winter doona on in the middle of summer because the bedroom is 16C.  .
I stopped visiting them, I damned near froze in that house.  Logic doesn't live there.  They should move to Siberia.


Then of course for those within cooee of one there is the Mall option.:eagerness::smug: :thumbsup:
	
 

The smarter ones are putting in sitting and chatting areas for the oldies who leave home for the day and camp there for the free heating or air-conditioning. At least some of them will buy something while they're there.
 They do it in clubs too.  Some clubs are 'banning' the oldies bringing sandwiches from home with them now.  Fair enough I guess, they aren't charities per se and they have really cheap lunch specials on and it costs them money to cool or warm those cunning old buggers while they knit or play cards to pass the day.
Clever move though for oldies to do that, they get company and comfort for most of their day with little cost at all.


----------



## That Guy (Jan 9, 2014)

When I lived at The Point, I always slept with the window open that faced the ocean so I could listen to the waves.  Of course, I'm in California so it wasn't THAT cold.


----------



## SifuPhil (Jan 9, 2014)

Diwundrin said:


> Then of course for those within cooee of one there is the Mall option.:eagerness::smug: :thumbsup:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That _is_ pretty smart. I just wonder how that would work in certain areas over here with the crime - it would be like a bunch of aging seals swimming around in an area filled with sharks. 

I suppose we have the same thing going on, though (I don't go to the mall, so I'm not sure). I can't blame them for taking advantage of the A/C or the heat, but I agree that the least they could do is buy a McSenior with cheese for a dollar.


----------



## WhatInThe (Jan 10, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> And oddly enough, with the concerns over out-gassing from carpets and paint and plastics, healthy.
> 
> We so often make fun of old customs without knowing how wise they really are.



Thank You. I try to tell people this and they look at me like I am crazy. "Oh the filter will catch any debris." But the heating or air conditioning filter doesn't catch minute particulate matter or chemical vapors. In a lot of new construction local code requires the place be unoccupied for a couple of months before occupancy. They now have low VOC paint for a reason. I know people you used the paint the inside of their house the coldest time of year when all closed up with the older paints.  I digress. 

I saw a documentary onetime on diseases and they said around the 1500s they noticed that people who had more open homes or dwellings had less trouble than people fully closed off. I think it was a French doctor that recommended airing out your house a couple of times a year in winter or cold season.

I tell people so you want to live like John Travolta the Bubble Boy. But I guess keeping the house obsurdly closed off and heated or air conditioned gives the person a feeling of control or security if nothing else.

 You cannot control the enviorment but you can control YOUR health and habits.


----------



## RedRibbons (Feb 16, 2014)

I like to save money, but no way am I going to be cold or too hot. Most of my life I only had fans for cooling (and that is really rough in the South during the summer). I had fuel oil heat in this house for over 25 years, and there was only One large vent for the heat to come out of. About eight years ago, I could finally afford central heat and air - and Baby, I ain't about to go back.


----------



## CPA-Kim (Apr 6, 2014)

I'm in Florida and my electric bill varies from $60 to $100 a month (that is for central heat/ac and all else electric.)  I have a well insulated condo and always keep it between 72 and 77.  I watch the humidity to make sure it is around 50 which is comfortable for me.  I have lived in an extreme climate and I'm just not built for cold Winters.  When I see what others pay for fuel, I'm glad I'm here.


----------



## SifuPhil (Apr 6, 2014)

Thank you for that info, Kim. I've been collecting information on living expenses in Florida and yours seems to fit right in with the rest. Up here in Pennsylvania that kind of bill is just for spring and autumn, and of course those two seasons last all of one month each here.


----------

