Nov 9, 2008
The Daily Poverty Post.
This is Bossy’s heat and air-conditioning thermostat, and it lives in a narrow first-floor hallway.
Bossy and her family live in miserly conditions when it comes to heating and cooling. They rarely turn on the AC, even on the most sweltering of days, and they wear many layers of clothing indoors during the winter months to save on the gas bill.
But the issue remains: this thermostat has never worked properly. Although it’s supposed to be programmable, it still turns itself on and off at indeterminate intervals. For instance, Bossy will hear the heat kick-on in the middle of the night when the family doesn’t need heat, and nothing makes Bossy more angry. Except when it kicks-on when no one is home.
Bossy isn’t sure how much money she stands to save by fixing this thermostat, but she’s about to find out because she stood with a rolling pin poised over her husband’s head and told him he had until the end of the week to figure it out or face replacement, and when Bossy says replacement she means the husband, not the thermostat.
On to more pressing concerns, namely WHAT IN WHOOEY IS THIS POVERTY PARTY ALL ABOUT?
Bossy understands most of you don’t have thermostat issues, or TypePad, or blog hosts, or even blogs–but Bossy is hoping her own careful examination of the money she wastes by not taking care of business will help others confront their own leaky tires.
Bossy has committed to host this Poverty Party for one entire year, during which time she’s going to examine every angle of debt and the ways we deny our debt–and the ways we can reduce our debt.
Bossy and her family don’t face simple solutions, like Quit That Cocaine Habit, or Sell Off The Tuscan Vacation Home, because Bossy and her family don’t have cocaine habits or vacation homes. So their approach to reducing debt has included wrangling those small things that add up, and eliminating them.
Bossy has basically put a moratorium on spending, where basically means everything that doesn’t include a liquor store. But not spending takes a while to see results, and makes for posts that are even more boring than those about beans and bread, because not spending is like watching paint dry–which Bossy has also done on her blog.
Anyway. Hang in there. This process is longer than an Oprah episode. Bossy won’t forget her original promise to use this space to report her spending and missteps, along with cheap recipes, savings tips, and suggested tricks and goals.
And don’t forget the amazing resource that is the other participating bloggers. Comb the comments for links to the latest Poverty posts across the web!
It won’t be long, and Bossy with see the fruits. I’m blogging for 30 days about all things frugal. This week: beauty tips, budget outlines, and ditching Christmas.
http://jlogged.com/
Maybe the ghosts in your house are cold, or hot.. or both.
You really should go to home depot and get yourself a new thermostat, not that expensive and will really help you steady your wallet from all that heat mismanagment, boss.
Trust me…
Good job Bossy! I don’t have the quick fixes either. But I’m enjoying your poverty posts. I like the way you’re approaching it!
Bossy
My thermostat is set on the same icy #. My hand nearly freezes off when I use a computer mouse. I actually like the fact that my laptop gets so dang hot!
Money saving tip…..get a thermostat/clock combo thingy that will tell you the temp inside your house so you can compare with your furnace thermostat. Our house has bad hot/cold spots. Also, it is usually most efficient to keep the thermostat at one temp. You will use less energy to maintain a low temp. If you turn the temp down at night the furnace has to work twice as hard in the morn to warm things back up. The same goes in the summer. Better to pick a miserly temp & keep it there.
Martha
ps: down slippers that look like moon boots are THE BEST!
I who love beans was looking forward to maybe getting a new bean recipe to force feed my family, but instead read about Bossy fingering things inside a broken zipper. Either way, I’m still hungry for some beans. And maybe some franks?
I’ll hang in there until the party is declared to be over.
It’s true, when you don’t live like a rock star, you don’t think you have too much to give up. I used to be so much better at planning meals and clipping coupons when I had a family of 4 to feed. This Poverty Party made me start planning and clipping again.
I have also started boycotting the Hallmark store and started making cards. I’m keeping track of those savings too.
vuboq: BOSSY! It’s cold in the comment section.
BOSSY: Put on a sweater!!!
Not that this has anything to do with home-heating, but a reader of mine left this in the comments of my recent post on saving money by avoiding Starbucks:
http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadeconveniencefoods
My electric co-op is always sending out energy saving tips and recommendations. It says that programmable thermostats do save money, *if* they’re programmed correctly (I’m looking at you bossy’s husband). It also says to be sure to replace your furnace filters regularly.
“A new programmable thermostat is almost certain to cut your heating and cooling costs. Despite what many people think, keeping the house at a constant temperature all day long does not save money.
By automatically lowering the temperature inside your house by 5 to 10 degrees at night and when no one is there, you can cut your heating bills by up to 20 percent a year.
But a setback thermostat only works when properly programmed.”
I got a programmable thermostat and LOVELOVELOVE it. It turns down the heat during the day and has it come back on just before I stagger in from work. 66 when home, 60 when gone or asleep. And this stole my latest idea for a post, so I will have to think up another one. Probably something to do with having Family over for Thanksgiving and serving spagettios…
I agree with turning down the thermostat when away. It’s true the furnace will work harder to get it back up to temp, but it didn’t have to work for that 8-10 hours. I set mine for 55 night/away (my kitty is a long hair who willingly spends hours outside in the snow). PS. YES, *SNOW* ALREADY HERE IN NORTHERN NY!
Ok, here it goes:
http://thedomesticgoddess.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/dgs-poverty-party/
And, by the way, our thermostat never goes above 64. It gets chilly sometimes but we do have blankets and warm clothing.
Rather than grouse — as is my preferred method of communicating — I thought maybe I’d contribute in a positive way:
Don’t be intimidated by the thermostat. If the one you have isn’t working right, get a new programmable one and install it yourself. I did and (even for me) it was super easy. And cheap.
Thanks for dragging me along! I posted today about shoes budgets and morning coffee. How cliche is that?
Oh, and changing the thermostat should not be that hard for the average handy husband or wife.
We are even tighter with the thermostat–it never goes above 64 degrees. And get this, we don’t have air conditioning.
I love this poverty party. I have met so many new and interesting blogs.
I have a new post up about birthday parties on the cheap.
http://derfwadmanor.blogspot.com/2007/11/building-nest-egg_09.html
WE here in mid-michigan…are FREEZING..however…we decided to put an electric blanket on our family COUCH!! and WOW. IT. has been GREAT.
Yah..I don’t know what my thing is with caps….