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10-07-2005, 06:47 AM
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#1
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: minnesota
Posts: 13,228
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heating bills
Well winter is coming and Greg is complaining about the new budget payment for the heating bill for natural gas. He says it is Chevy engine size- $396 a month.
Anyone else affected by higher heating bills?
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10-07-2005, 06:52 AM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
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Re: heating bills
I filled my heating oil tank last month. $2.599 a gallon, and it may be the cheapest I pay all winter. Bear in mind that 2 years ago I was paying around $1.30 and last year was mostly around $1.80. Guess what this is going to do to retail sales and consumer spending?
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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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10-07-2005, 06:52 AM
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#3
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 408
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Re: heating bills
My kids are already complaining about the chill in the house. Outside temp is around 37 degrees. I just tell them to put some socks on their feet and toughen up. I am really cheap when it comes to heating the house.
We are installing a new heating and cooling system this fall. Still checking into bids and types. This should really help with our LP usage as our current system is 25 years old.
LL
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10-07-2005, 06:54 AM
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#4
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 408
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Re: heating bills
We locked in on our LP at 1.22 the day before Katrina hit.
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10-07-2005, 06:55 AM
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#5
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Re: heating bills
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martha
Well winter is coming and Greg is complaining about the new budget payment for the heating bill for natural gas.* He says it is Chevy engine size- $396 a month.*
Anyone else affected by higher heating bills?*
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$396 a month! - Yikes! *-- I think the highest Bill I've ever had one month was $240. *But I live in a newer well insulated house. Most of my heating Bills last winter were around $125 a month.- It's supposed to go up about 70% this year. We'll see.
I'm surprised Greg goes for the budget plan. I've looked at it, and you basically pre-pay up front, and they get to use your money for free.
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10-07-2005, 07:00 AM
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#6
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Calgary
Posts: 805
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Re: heating bills
Nope, I'm Canadian so we like it cold in the house. The thermostat is set at 60. If I feel a bit chilly I'll let it run for 10 minutes to warm up the house a few degrees and then it's back down to 60
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I can only be nice to one person today! Today is not your day...tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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10-07-2005, 07:00 AM
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#7
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,450
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Re: heating bills
We locked in on our LP at 1.30/gallon (also before katrina) and will burn more wood this year.
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- Hurry! to the cliffs of insanity!
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10-07-2005, 07:06 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,677
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Re: heating bills
Yikes is right on the $396 a month. We have natural gas and our budget is $117 a month, I expect it to go a little higher though. We've remodeled every room in the house and insulated it very well but there are still problem areas since we have a stone foundation and the house was built in the 1800's. Replacement windows and doors helped a lot but other than what we've done I guess it's just conserve and put on sweaters. Has anyone here tried the new programable thermostats? They say they help a lot but I'm not sure it would in my case since we always turn down the heat at night and when we're not home.
C___
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Dogs aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole. - Roger Caras
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10-07-2005, 07:07 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Crownsville
Posts: 3,709
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Re: heating bills
I'm not looking forward to the heating season. So far I've only had to fire up the furnace 2 or 3 times, but I know it's a'comin. Just checking my records, I paid about $500 for heating oil in the 2003-2004 winter, at $1.19 per gallon. For 2004-2005 it shot up to around $830, at $1.74 per gallon. I'm still locked in at $1.74 per gallon until the end of October, so I think I'll have 'em come out and top me off before the new prices kick in.
Around here, we can usually get by without running the furnace until early October, and at that point it's only a bit at night/first thing in the morning. By the end of April it usually swallows its last gulp of oil until the following fall.
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10-07-2005, 07:10 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
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Re: heating bills
I live in an old 1200 sq ft home that is poorly insulated. I think my highest gas bill(natural) last year was $140/mo* which is a lot for that size of a house. I had the darn thing set on 60. Of course living here in MS I only have a couple of months of winter so I guess I shouldn't complain. It's 62 right now at 8:10am. *
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Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
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10-07-2005, 07:13 AM
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#11
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,677
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Re: heating bills
That's kind of what it's like here Andre, I've only had to turn on the heat a couple of mornings just to take the chill off so I can shower. They say this weekend though our heatwave is coming to and end here in New England..
C___
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Dogs aren't our whole lives, but they make our lives whole. - Roger Caras
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10-07-2005, 07:14 AM
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#12
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,811
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Re: heating bills
We have natural gas at the house and LP at the cabin. *I already filled up the cabin tank before Katrina so ducked that one. * *However, no way to do much on the natural gas except keep it off as much as possible. *I use programmable thermastats since no one is home all day. *I think it helps but I have never run without one so don' t know how much it saves. *The house is way too big so I am closed off several rooms we don't use much and shut off the vents to direct the air to rooms we use. *But it still will cost more than a car payment each month this winter. *The good thing is that even though it gets cold here it is nothing like the upper midwest. *Brrrrrrrrrrrrr *I remember those mornings when it was -30 and never got above 0 all day. *At least here the average winter temp is more in the low 30's so that is not so bad. *
The budgets will have to be adjusted by many on fixed incomes to address not only heating costs but also the inflation in everything else due to higher energy costs. *Hang on to your hat!
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Work? I don't have time to work....I'm retired.
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10-07-2005, 07:16 AM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,463
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Re: heating bills
$396! * Holy Cow. * The joys of Minnesota, eh? * My gas bill for all of last year was $515. *I'm sure this year will be worse, but no comparison. *Still we keep it cold when we're gone or asleep which pretty much covers 23 hours a day!
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10-07-2005, 07:35 AM
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#14
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,071
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Re: heating bills
I think we can beat everybody's story (so far): In '86 we bought our first house at 14% mortgage interest, plus we had a $140/mo. heating bill. Plus we were on the equivalent of a fixed income (no reserves after purchasing the house). Any hot flashes by anyone would have been welcome.
--Greg
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Compounding: Never forget! Never not remember!
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10-07-2005, 07:49 AM
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#15
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Pasadena CA
Posts: 3,340
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Re: heating bills
Maybe one of the small offsets for Southern Cal house prices. It was 95 here yesterday. Cool at night. Our gas bills most months were <$100 last year. The challenge here is to limit AC in the summer.
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T.S. Eliot:
Old men ought to be explorers
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10-07-2005, 07:53 AM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: LaLa Land
Posts: 4,698
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Re: heating bills
Florida is looking better and better. Hopefully this is the last winter in NY.
Not only will the oil and nat gas prices be high but electric is going crazy also.
Martha,
I think it's cool that you remember the 396 chevy motor. Bought one new at 17 in High School when I was young and handsome.
Regards,
JOE
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10-07-2005, 07:56 AM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,071
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Re: heating bills
We have mostly purchased older houses w/ radiator heat, so we can't really use a programable thermostat. But we had one once. I turned the heat down to 60 degrees at night, and one night I woke up with something on my head. A dang bat had squeezed under the attic door, and then tried to crawl into bed with us. Not a pleasant experience. I closed the door, DW went for a broom, and the thing got whacked. No threesomes for us. --until we got the wiener dogs.
--Greg
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Compounding: Never forget! Never not remember!
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10-07-2005, 07:59 AM
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#18
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 557
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Re: heating bills
Our budget has not yet increased, and from what I read the power company has to get a rate increase approval (most of the gas is purchased by them on forward contract).
DW has informed me, however, that she does expect a significant increase, and that I need to be ready for 65 during the day, and 60 at night.
Looks like I'll need a stocking cap!
Uncledrz
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10-07-2005, 08:13 AM
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#19
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Re: heating bills
$1.30 per gallon for propane!* You are so lucky, Maddy.
We got some propane in August at $2.12/gallon, figuring to DCA it and fill up the tank the rest of the way in September.* But of course, prices didn't come down, so we didn't buy any more.
The good news is that we're only using 11 gallons per month (we've kept the furnace off, using wood heating exclusively), so we should be able to make it until next summer before buying more.
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10-07-2005, 08:18 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
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Re: heating bills
Quote:
Originally Posted by uncledrz
Our budget has not yet increased, and from what I read the power company has to get a rate increase approval (most of the gas is purchased by them on forward contract).
DW has informed me, however, that she does expect a significant* increase, and that I need to be ready for 65 during the day, and 60 at night.
Looks like I'll need a* stocking cap!
Uncledrz
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Might need a tube size one too.*
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Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
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