In the winter, my wife sets the thermostat at 67 to 69 degrees.  My wife will wear multiple layers of clothing to keep warm, but even then, often her hands are ice cold.

At night, our bedroom is colder than the rest of the house, so my wife will cover up with about 4 blankets.  The kids (especially my daughter) and friends that come over to visit are constantly complaining about how cold it is.

So lately, I’ve been thinking… Is it worth it?  After all, doesn’t it lessen our enjoyment that we derive from our house when everybody (except me) is freezing?

Here the funny thing, I’m not as sensitive to the cold (most of the time, I’ll go around in shorts and a t-shirt), but I’m the one that’s always trying to sneak the thermostat up a few degrees so that it reads over 70 degrees.  Kind of ironic huh.  Here I’m the guy turning up the thermostat temperature, but I’m the one least affected!

I’m sure that most likely, my wife grew up in a house where her family would keep the heat down to save on cost.  It’s funny how things we learned as a child sometimes linger with us for a long, long time!

I think the entire family would enjoy a warm cozy house.  Perhaps I’ll have a  discussion with her about buying a programmable thermostat.  That way we can have a house that is nice and cozy when everybody is away but then have the programmable thermostat drop a few degrees (maybe 5) during the night when everybody is wrapped in a few layers of warm blankets already.

This would be a win-win because everybody (including my wife) would enjoy a warmer house, but at night it would drop a few degrees to save some money!

What I would really like to do is sell my current house and then go down south (east or west coast), and consider buying a house with cash, or putting all the money in investments and have the dividend payment pay the mortgage.  I can imagine looking at little house plans now, looking to pick the perfect one…  But this is just a dream…

What is the optimal setting for your thermostat at home?

-MR

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