heating costs...

[jennickels]

I swear, they just want all us poor people to freeze in the winter. When we got our bill in November it was $142 and we freaked. We didn't have the money to pay it and ended up having to shuffle other stuff around and buy groceries with our credit cards. So we set the thermostat at 60 degrees and froze the next month and our bill dropped to $100 and we were able to pay that with better management. So this month we get our bill for December and HOLY SCHNIKEYS it's tripled from last month and is $345! WTF! We almost never raised the thermostat over 60 and really froze because the average temp was like 29 or something. We wore two pairs of socks and sweatshirts and bundled up with blankets and our bill tripled. I was in tears because we can't afford to pay that. It is almost as much as our rent. How do they expect people to live?

Dh tried calling the gas company to get us on the budget plan but he couldn't get through. He said it would be about $123 a month on the plan but that is a hell of a lot better then now. Luckily this month has been abnomally warm so our bill should be lower. It was actually almost 60 today and you could just wear a sweatshirt outside instead of coats. Crazy weather. I can't wait for spring. I'm tired of always being cold and worrying if the kids kicked their blankets off and are freezing.

I knew heating costs were bad but never had to deal with it before. When we were living with my dad he dealt with the bills and when I lived in Kirskville heating and water and trash was included in my rent. Poor people just can't get ahead. Just when you start to get a budget working and start to pay down your debt something happens (like winter) or your fridge breaking. It makes me want to cry. And actually dh made too much last year to get much EIC back. Last year we got like $1400. This year we get $185. It sucks. We do get the full child tax credit back of $1000 for each kid so that helps and all of our taxes we paid back but it isn't much compared to last year when we got almost $6000 back.

We need so much and have no means to get it. The girls are still in toddler beds with mattresses that are 6 and 5 years old and are falling apart. Owen sleeps on a 2" thick foam mat. Our futon mattress is about 10 years old and a mess. We have no couch or kitchen chairs. The only furniture in the living room is my rocker and the kids little table and chairs. My back is killing me from sitting on the floor all the time. UGH. I am just so stressed over money. We're going to end up declaring bankruptcy after years of doing our best. We are almost never late on bills and always pay above the minumums and have never missed a bill in at least 5 years (not since we were out of work after Meagan was born). Our credit was good but has gone downhill since we moved here. I'm so sad.

Things will work out. I know they will, but I can't keep myself from stressing over it.

Comments

[cschick.livejournal.com]

I know this is now going to be an additional expense on top of the horrid bill--but you might want to try some additional emergency weatherproofing of the house if you think Feb and March may be cold (the plastic that goes over windows, checking and replacing weatherstripping around doors/windows). Your bill is almost the same as our December bill (for a 3,000 sq foot house kept at 68 degrees for a period when the outside temp rarely went above 20 degrees and nights were almost all below 0), so it sounds like the house is poorly insulated and really being leaky with the heat.

(Another cheap fix, if it's easy to do, is taping up leaky ductwork using duct tape. This only really works on easily accessible ductwork, though.)

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I had thought of that but I don't think we could afford it. There are 15 windows in the apartment. 4 in the living room, 2 in each bedroom, 2 in the hall, 2 in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. I'm sure we'll figure something out. I just hate the way they raise the cost of gas just when everyone needs it most. Of course I understand the economics behind it, but still...

They raised the cost of electricity too. our bill was around $40 and I have no idea why. It only got up to $80 over the summer with the AC running all the time and several fans. We still haven't figured out if our idiot landlord hooked the lighted sign to our electric or not. The wires go down to the basement so it has to be us or the preschool. I'm assuming it's us and that makes me mad. But he's an idiot. I'm rambling again. I need to get some sleep I think.

[cschick.livejournal.com]

Oh, and another idea which might not cost you any extra money at all . . . does your water heater run off the same source as your heat, and do you (right now) generally have enough hot water for your usage?

A water heater, especially if it's running off the same source as your heat, can be a big factor in your consumption (especially during the winter, especially if you're intentionally keeping the house cold). Many have adjustable temps for hot water storage and turning them down a couple degrees can create a decent savings without too much of an effect on hot water availibility. (We have ours set about 5 degrees below the factory suggested temp and have never had a problem with hot water.)

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

you know what--I have no idea about the water heater but it is not big enough for the property. I took a shower this afternoon and ran the hot water for about 3 minutes before I got in so I could clean the tub quick, then I turned the cold water on too and within about 10 minutes I had to turn the hot water up higher. I usually run out of hot water completely after 30 minutes. I mean completely--turn cold water off all the way and turn hot all the way up and it is just luke warm. It sucks. I have to wash dishes with lukewarm water too.

We share water with the preschool downstairs but I doubt they use that much hot water during the day. This building is really old--radiators and all, no insulation in the walls (brick and plaster). It is cold and drafty in the winter and extremely hot in the summer. You can feel the cold coming off the exterior walls. It's just like the apartment I had in Missouri. I used to freeze during the winter and slept with an electric blanket, comforter and heating pad to stay warm.

I have never even been in the basement so I have no clue what the set up is. It's dark and dirty down there and I never saw a light switch. I'm starting to wonder how they even get meter readings since the gas meter is in the basement and we have never let anyone in to see it. The preschool must let them in, I guess. The living room gets a little cold, as does the kids' rooms, but the kitchen and bathroom are just freezing. Our room is the warmest because we actually have a door and we keep it closed. It is about 5 degrees warmer in there then in any other room. The girls don't have a door and Owen won't keep his closed at night.

[cschick.livejournal.com]

We share water with the preschool downstairs but I doubt they use that much hot water during the day. This building is really old--radiators and all, no insulation in the walls (brick and plaster).

Your primary heat loss is probably through the walls then. That's sucks, because there's nothing you can do about it. The only way to fix that is to tear the plaster down from the internal side of all exterior walls and replace with insulation and drywall. Not at a rental property!

My dad keeps singing the praises of boiler-based (radiator) systems, but I don't see them. One of their winter gas bills, two years ago, was over $600. And their house has been renovated and modernized (the plaster taken down and replaced by fiberglass insulation and drywall). This year, they're only running the house at a temp to keep the pipes from freezing and are basically living in the addition they built a couple of years ago (which has a separate and much cheaper heating system). When he heard that our gas bills, for a forced-air system (which he hates and considers extremely wasteful) were less than half his, he was shocked. He's started looking into a forced-air system, but because he didn't put up the ductwork while he was first renovating the house, it's going to be a pretty gigantic project.

[jennickels.livejournal.com]

I can imagine the cost of converting to forced heat, lol. My dad's house is forced air but the outside walls are still brick and plaster in the bedrooms and they get really cold. The living/dining room had been renevated before we moved in so they are drywall and insulated. The kitchen actually has no heat because my dad remodeled it himself and never figured out how to run the duct work to the new part (he took out the wall that had the original vent in it). It gets really cold in there, especially since it is the only room that doesn't have the insulated windows and the floor and walls aren't finished (some have the brick exposed and the floor is just ply wood). One winter while we were living there he told us the gas bill was over $500 for one month.

I always tried to keep the heat down when we lived there, but my dad always turned it up for some reason. That house was so cold with the hardwood floors. Then again, my dad doesn't understand the concept of energy conservation. In the summer I would keep the AC in the dining room set on low at a medium to low cool temp and the room was comfy. My dad would get home at 2am and turn it to extra high and up to 5 (the highest setting) and then go up to his room which had it's own AC and never come back downstairs. I would get up and the floors would be ice and the kids would be shivering on the couch, huddled under their blankets. My dad is nuts sometimes. We were always fighting over the AC. He was never even downstairs so what did he care what I had it set at, you know. As long as me and the kids were comfy. I was trying to save his electric bill. We had 4 or 5 AC's running in the summer. The upstairs and kitchen ones were on non stop because those rooms got so hot and the one in Meagan's room was only on at night to cool the room.