Did not use gas heat all winter

[schellie69]

Okay this was a bad year here, and I did not have money to turn the gas on so used small eletric heates in all the rooms. and guess what the electic bill was not any worse then our summer bill and it was a lot less then having both the electic and gas bill so i saved money there were a few days that it was chilly in the house but that was due to the north wind, we just add extra blankets and wore more clothes my oldest ds came up with a great idea for the coldest nights hot water bottles at the end of the bed it warmed the sheets and they kept the feet warm, then we would use the extra water for other things so no waste there. so this was my frugal experment for the winter not sure what i am going to do next winter if i will turn on gas or not we will have to see. but for now we survied the winter without gas and save a bunch of money. heres the break down from the year befor and this year
last year (2006-2007)
eleltric $195.00
Gas $350 (average for winter)
this year (2007-2008)
electrc $195-$225
gas $0.00 these figures are per month from sept to march of each year.

[HandyMom]

Good for you! What kind of small electric heaters did you use? Did you leave them on all night in every room? I wanted to do the same thing last year when my gas furnace kept acting up.

I took the small ceramic heater I bought back to the store because after an hour, it tripped the circuit breaker and became dangerously hot. It was only 1400 watts but it said not to leave it unattended and keep away from curtains or anything that may be flammable. I didn't buy another because I was afraid of it.

I did buy an electric blanket and since then have turned down the thermostat to 65 with no complaints.

[YankeeMom]

Oh I bet that po'd your gas company

WTG!! How cold did it get in your house, temperature-wise?

[schellie69]

I just bought regular heaters none where ceramic they were also not the ones where you can see the lines that get red, 3 were heaters that osalated the kids had small regular heaters that they used in there rooms. I got 2 others that have a thermostate on them they work really well they can actually heat 2 rooms yes I left them on all night with no problems, also when it got really cold i did a load of laundry and used the dry and also turned on my oven to 170 to 200 degrees and open the door that took the chill out of the main floor in the morning I would just try and buy some of the heaters when they go on clearance and see which ones work for you, I am not going to turn the gas on next winter either I saved money in the long run and had less pay out with the electric bill then with both the gas and electic bill, plus i noticed that when i used more electicity the bill was lower so the price of electicity in the winter is lower then in the summer, I figured that the gas company can make a killing on someone else this last winter because i paid enough for gas just to drive my car, had to cut the budget somewhere and that was the only way, to cut the budget, I feel pretty good that I actually tried something that worked and it turned out pretty well.

[mmy2grls]

Could you tell me the brand names of the heaters you used?

I bought an electric heater last year and that thing made my electric bill go up $200 and my meter ran around constantly.

[prairiewife]

Pam - your quite an inspiration of what we can do when we really need to save. We have propane heat and when our heat went out a couple of months ago we used a small electric portable heater and did turn the oven on for a while. It wasn't too bad except waking up in the morning to a 40 degree house. Burr!

What brand space heater do you have as we are looking to buy another one so we can heat two rooms in an emergency.

[banana]

I'm really impressed! You did great!

[perSue]

WOW!
that's a huge savings!
good for you!

that'd be great. I feel horrible for people who _have_ to have gas heat.
where I live, we dont "have" to have it... but electric can still be expensive.

I am SO proud of you and your family for being so frugal and understanding AND coming up with the great idea of hot water bottles.

I dont recall where you may live, but KUDOS!

[M55FF]

Thats pretty cool you were able to use a little heater to stay warm and it didn't cost a fortune. I used them once time and got a VERY HIGH electric bill so I didn't use it since... mostly save it for emergency if the central heat breaks down during a very cold spell.

I see in the newspaper they have some new high tech heaters made using a wood frame made by the amish.
I've been wondering if they work... what kind of heater was it you used?

[schellie69]

I used 3 different types the best two were the osalting ones I got a couple of years ago to use in the basement they are called air tech they have 3 setting cool, low heat and high they even have a timer on them so you can set them up to shut off any where between 1/2 to 4 hours later, the other 2 that i think are great are pelonis they have different controls like low med high, and the other knob is the thermostate i turn it half way and it will heat 2 med sized rooms, plus it shuts off when the room reaches the temp you set the knob at it does not have numbers so you have to play with it to find the right spot, the others that the kids use in there rooms are lakewoods they are good to keep small areas warm they also have a thermoste on them so you can turn them on low all the way up to high which i only used during the really cold spots we had here in kansas, my house only got down to 50 and that was early in the morning when the temp droped down to like 17 or so I just turned the stove on and it took it up to 65 which is where i set my themostate anyway, the kids learned to put layers of clothes on so that way in when it warmed up they could take off something it was an interesting experment the kids acutally did really well with it, they loved the hot water bottles, so did my dh since i would put my cold feet on the bottle and not him (lol) I figured if my grandma could heat here house with just a wood burning stove that using heaters might work, right now it is about 32 out side and my thermostate says it is 65 in here so it is nice and cozy, I think next year i will have dh put a hole in the floor so I can vent the dryer down into the basement one for extra heat and two for the humity house got really dry, but here electricty is cheaper in the winter so it worked out I was able to use the money that i would have spent on gas on paying off some debt and fixing the house. I will be using the heaters next year and going and replacing some with the others that i found work better the ones that i really like are also engery effeicent and use less eletricity then the older ones used to the pelonis are the ones I will be looking to buy since they heat better and use less eletricity and can heat bigger areas. hope this info helps others know that there are other ways to fight high gas prices,

[ThePhilpotts]

I use 2 Honeywell Oscillating Heaters I got from Walmart to heat the RV I'm staying in when I work. The bedroom stays nice and I supplement the other part with another brand. These have the thermostats that are real good.