A Little R and R

Semco is our gas supplier and I'm a stickler about keeping our SEMCO bill as low as possible. For example, the first year we lived there I was doing a comparison to the previous residents' consumption to try and use less than they did. The next year I wanted to see if our insulation job in the attic helped keep the house warmer.

I read the tips that all of the websites suggest about programming your thermostat, yada yada yada. We've had ours programmed for as long as we've been in the house. We also plastic wrap our old windows to keep the drafts out. This year however I have made some changes.

Previously we would have the heat set at 60 when we were at work and 64 when we were home and awake.

For example:

6:45am 64 degrees

7:45am 60 degrees

4:45pm 64 degrees

10:00pm 60 degrees

This year we're at:

6:45am 64 degrees

7:45am 60 degrees

4:45pm 62 degrees

10:00pm 59 degrees

I have also started chunking money away for our January and February heating bills so when the bills for those months come in around $175 we'll have some already paid. Last year our highest cost month was $190 in February.