is it unhealthy to keep your house cold

But that’s for the AC and not the heater. I recently have had a Millennial family member move in and she … And that’s actually a habit we picked up well before we started blogging, before we had our retirement timeline set, before we ever thought we’d admit to the internet that we keep our house so cold. hard. :-) I bet if you did like a degree every week or every other week, you could get colder than you’d expect. I dress in many layers, always with a warm wool sweater, long underwear and 2 pairs of socks. That’s way too warm for me now!) He was the guy who got press several years ago for secretly living in a van in the school parking lots the entire time he went to grad school at Duke, in order to avoid taking on debt. :). ;-). We keep it cold at our house unless it is a certain temperature outside. We have no kids, and we still need TONS of help with cleaning. Thanks for the encouragement. It was an unpleasant surprise, to say the least, and made it an easy choice for us: pay through the nose or learn to deal with the cold. :-) But geez — if that’s how you’re wired, then go with it. Love this post, it just confirms it is all personal and we all need to look at what is important to us. Hahahahaha — perfect. How long does it take to heat up a house from when it’s cold? Good call. Sorry, I cannot imagine 56 on a regular basis – a shiver just ran through my body thinking about it. So here goes confession time: (That’s 13 degrees Celcius.) Jen, we’re in Minnesota also. Your email address will not be published. And research shows that turning your thermostat down by 1°C could cut your heating bill by up to 10%. In general we do not run the heat at all it stays off.My husband, daughter and 1 roommate never complain about being cold. Hi Brittany! Apart from comfort I think that is is very important to save energy and the environment. I’ll have plenty of opportunity to test out some of these theories as we’re moving from the South to New England next month. Can’t stand hot bedrooms like it cool and go to bed with a hottie even in summer (ease my poor back). I would drop it a few degrees, except the dozen days or so it is below -40C where we live. We chose the latter! The house is long since paid off — I did that all on my own before I got married — and I enjoy beautiful clothes and great restaurants. And I don’t think we’ve ever gotten cold enough indoors to see our breath… though maybe we have, and I’m just blocking out that memory. Yes! I do use a programmable thermostat to drop it down considerably during the day when we’re not there and only turn it up from around 5-10pm during the week and the daytime on the weekends. SD is constantly windy and winters get well below freezing – the lowest we’ve seen in our two years here was -20 with wind chill pushing it to around -30 to -35. So, we have it pretty good down here in the southwest. Now I feel so “un-frugal.” But so cozy and warm. My SO refused to do another 60 degree winter, so now we’re at 65. Now, I’m usually cold at home, but I’m rarely cold elsewhere. We know it’s the parks pipes because once the water starts flowing, there’s sand that comes out the faucets and our metered bill is always approximately $35. Even staring at the meter and trying to estimate based upon pricing tiers has proven to be a futile endeavor. And yes! You can't get sick from being cold, in fact the temp has nothing to do with weather or not you get sick. I wish we could get there on maids — it would give us SO MUCH peace of mind, because we certainly don’t have time for real cleaning. And yes, I live in LA and yes it still gets “cold” here in the morning and evenings. Ah, a fire. Since the cooler temperature effects your whole body, it can help reduce overall inflammation. I love how the url for this post is “cold” – you guys are hilarious! Make sure he has a doctors visit soon to ensure he’s not anemic. If we buy a pound of organic, grass fed pork chops for $9.99 when the local discount grocer has regular pork ribs for $1.99 per pound, we’re making a conscious decision to spend our dollars on the quality of our food (and hopefully, reduce the dollars spent on medical care as a result), and we immediately know the cost of that decision is $8.00 per pound. II keep my temp completely off at night all throughout the house. I remember waking up some mornings with my night time water half frozen and frost on the inside of my sigle pane windows. I would feel so good if my husband didn’t insist on keeping our house above 80 degrees F at all times, sometimes warmer. This discussion reminds me of an Op Ed piece from the writer Ken Ilgunas from last year. So I found this article to show him, thanks for the information. But then again, you are more than making up for that in the summer when you probably aren’t spending much on utilities. PS: I highly recommend getting a hot water bottle to sit with under a blanket. We for sure need to insulate better, but have had other projects pop up that were more urgent. I grew up in an old timber framed farm house, so heat ducks could only be placed on half of the lower level, and the up stairs was only heated by what heat drifted up through the staircase. :-), I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a freeze baby (pretty strange for a guy, I think). We expect cold temperatures during the winter, but when highs drop to the single digits or below zero it can be more difficult to keep your house warm. Does that make me a moocher for taking advantage of the radiant heat of surrounding units? We have an interesting strategy to make the most of the heat we do allow though. It’s true that it does require a certain amount of energy to kick-start your heating system and warm your house up when it’s cold. If personal finance can exist, so can personal frugality! Great reason! As I dig deeper, I find evidence to the contrary or rather that you’d have to keep the house super cold in order to deter germs. And do eskimos die young? ;-) Just kidding! 80 degrees indoors is way too warn. LOL We’re all fleece blankets, all winter now. It sounds at first a bit weird to me. We love it! y’all. As I dig deeper, I find evidence to the contrary or rather that … I think we are all aware that using the heater less means more money saved and I’ve shared how to keep warm without cranking up that thermostat but there are actually a few other reasons to keep your home thermostat set just a bit lower this season! ), Related post: Thinking About Frugality More Broadly // A Call to Action. During the winter here in SoCal my house temperature is about 51-59 degrees when I get up in the morning. Everything looks nice, smells nice, and has that “almost hotel” feel about it. Worth checking out! And judging by today’s comments, you’re not alone. Until then, got any camera equipment/photography tips? If we’re out of coffee, I will say: “Let’s go buy more coffee” (at an unfrugal $16 a pound for our organic, shade-grown, locally-roasted beans). I really do sleep better in a cooler room ♥. I mean if someone doesn’T like the cold, why would he chose to live in the mountains? We never consider forgoing things we need, we only occasionally forgo things we want and our fill-the-bucket list is very full. Holy bluebird skies and…. © 2010-2020 The Pistachio Project All rights reserved. What’s an even more interesting question to us is: What will this habit lead to? Good article, Brittany! Keep reading to find out the possible risks and benefits of drinking cold water. Your body does adjust! Unfortunately due to health issues, we can’t keep our thermostat that low, but we do keep it lower than we prefer. Your body has to use more energy when it’s just a bit chilly in your home; all that energy used means calories burned. I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to the cold. :-) (Though I will confess that I totally love it too.) Thanks for the informative article. :). I just hope my sister enjoys sleeping in the cold as I do. I DO prefer a colder bedroom, but I keep my temp the same at all times and do not mess with it ( turning up/down) for a few reasons: My home was built in 1945, with no insulation, and no way to ADD it as it is just boards and sheetrock (or plaster/plaster board, etc.). How they feel and how people look at them is more important. I wear my wool socks and fleece bathrobe even in my 70 degree house! You can save 3% off your heating bill for each degree you lower your thermostat! So it’ll be interesting to see how that all goes when we start traveling more to hot places. Copyright 2015 – 2020 Tanja Hester / Our Next Life. Good for you for spending on what’s important to you! A fire for sure helps! You’ve made a decision for yourself, choosing to trade some warmth for the ability to save more of your money. ;-) And I would die riding in a car in the summer with no AC — so you have my admiration there! :-). Still dropping your temperature on the thermostat for more productivity is worth a try! I’m not an overly large person, so I get cold pretty easily. I would rather put on more clothes and stay warm than to have the heat up so high.. :-). We ever-so-occasionally use an electric radiator, and we less-infrequently use our electric mattress pad heater to make it so we can at least fall asleep. 6 Ways to Keep Germs from Spreading Around Your House. core. Not that our sky is that blue every day, but that is what you get in the cold, dry mountain air, way up high. Like I say we are in North Florida only 35 miles from Georgia. So glad you guys got to UT! 55 is too low and we have a well insulated home with a high efficiency furnace. There are MANY gaps, allowing cold air/wet/moisture in. :-) But we’re amply equipped with fleece everything, which makes a world of difference. Keeping that thermostat lower means you won’t get too cozy. We have been meaning to do the window insulation for a while, but it seems a tad pointless when we know we have such a drafty house overall. I don’t know that we’d go full-on stoic, but it’s good not to get too soft from luxury. Now I will add that you won’t burn calories if you bundle up. Allowing your body to be cold is great for your metabolism. Yes, they do cost a little bit but their wattage is so low that it is pennies compared to heating a whole room and you can sit and type without blue fingers. People think we’re a bit strange to keep a $200 grocery budget. Personal preference I guess but I am happy at 52. Not quite sure why we have such a hangup about our gas bill, but we are just not willing to pay that! Even if it were just me and my wife, I don’t think we would attempt that here in South Dakota. We live in northern Florida. When you have been sick with ear infections, bronchitis, pleurisy and pneumonia and can’t afford to heat your house over 62°, it isnt being frugal, it’s being miserable, and its not a choice. When we visit people and their houses are set closer to 70 or even 68, you can tell and it does feel pretty frigid. Not the principle but the more extreme approach. In fact, it is a good idea to reduce the number of times you use your fireplace. Impressively frugal temperature! Currently, 60ºF is fine but it’s been a short experiment so far. I live on the west coast if Scotland so it’s regularly cooler and wetter than the rest of uk but you get used to it and the scenery makes up for the weather. I personally think that setting a budget is the first thing to come. As it is, we pay about $200 a month in the winter to maintain 56, with occasional bumps up to 60 (15º C) when we’re in a treat yoself mood. Think we’re ridiculous for keeping our house so cold when we don’t scrimp in more frivolous areas? We may not all be uber frugal, but we’re being conscientous about our money, with the realization that you don’t have to live a mainstream, consumerist, work-till-you’re-old life. 7. We’ve learned that we can live perfectly well without a lot of heat, so of course I wonder what we’ll eventually give up, realizing that our perceived need of it was an illusion all along. As it turns out, your body likes to be a bit cooler when it sleeps. After all, we’ve already established that we’re quickly prepaying our mortgage despite the math that says we should be investing all that money instead. Culturally they insist on a cooler house. In the wintertime here in Arizona, we keep the temperature at 64 inside (yes, it gets COLD here at night in the winter – even below freezing at times!). One “WTF? We’re going to do it. Instead we use low wattage radiator heaters in both kids rooms to keep them toasty and have an electric blanket for our bed. If I make our laundry soap, dishwasher soap, hand soap, fabric softener or hair conditioner I know the exact cost of those ingredients and how that compares to the watered down, wasteful, over-packaged store bought alternatives. We’re frugal in so many areas these days that this isn’t even a big deal to us anymore, but I do have a theory on why energy savings are so important to us (and maybe to you as well), beyond the obvious (and significant) fossil fuel, earth related issues: we hate the unknown aspect of the bill. //, I’ve been having weird feelings about the word “frugal” lately, especially after reading great posts by Pretend to Be Poor and Creating My Kaleidoscope about what frugality really means (hint: remember the Great Depression?). I could do that at night, but I don’t know about the daytime. The cold air makes your body work overtime, especially the lungs and heart, because they work in unison to keep that warm blood circulating without skipping a … Know that I have no desire to go as extreme as the Our Next Lifers. And haha, yeah, I’m the same way with lights. I keep my house at 57°F. Haha — yeah, I just started tweaking the URLs. I’m hoping my kids catch on like I did, and it saves us some green. We can’t keep the house that cold either. So keep the dial at 18°C, save money and avoid the negative impacts of a cold home . :-). What Temperature Do You Keep Your House At? The one indulgence I permit myself is to have the heat lamp on in the bathroom; that’s one room where I can’t stand being cold. I learned a few things. I am looking forward to sleeping in colder temperatures. Be thankful if you are healthy and being frugal is an amusing “choice”. I think I would be sweating if we kept our house at 25C! But for some reason we don’t apply this same logic to the thermostat. A cooler room means you’ll fall asleep quicker and you will sleep more deeply! What Keeping Our House Cold Has Taught Us. However, I still consider us to be relatively frugal because of the fact that, right now, we are shelling out well over 50+% of our income, paying off debt and eventually increasing our investment options once we reach debt freedom. Germs can spread around the house through contact, air (coughs and sneezes), raw foods (e.g. (Something I discovered with my husband. Oh, and thanks for the mention! My fav line on your post was “smart people can behave irrationally”! Within a few minutes I’m totally acclimated. The beauty of it, though, is that I legitimately love what I do so, even if I end up working a little longer, it won’t be the end of the world. Cheapest way to heat up posting photos and/or full content allowed only by express written permission what elevates snapshot. Contact, air ( coughs and sneezes ), haha — that s... Husband, daughter and 1 roommate never complain about being cold looking to shed some,. Light up those babies, and the snow they say at work your... 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