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Baby It’s Cold….Inside?

October 31st, 2011

The weather outside is turning colder and that means the house is as well. Luckily our home is small and well insulated, sometimes too much, so we crack windows to make sure the air stays fresh. Usually we don’t need to turn on the furnace until sometime after the first of November; this year looks to be no different. Yesterday, we woke up to a chilly 56 inside (29 outside), that’s pretty normal since our nighttime low setting on the furnace is 55. Usually our thermostat is set at 60-63 during the day. (this would be considered warm for Kristen from Going Country who wakes up with her pillow frozen to the wall during the winter).

We’re definitely cold weather loving people. Long pants, wool sweaters and socks are the norm for us; a hot beverage in hand is also common. I’d rather keep my house cold because it makes the outside temp seem a little less harsh, and I grew up with the same kind of thing. I remember often sitting around in the evening in my winter coat because my parents kept the house so cold.

At night we sleep under a thick heavy wool blanket handmade in Colombia lovingly referred to as “Big Nasty” – yeah it’s that warm. We couldn’t keep the house any warmer than 55 or we’d burn up under this blanket!

Soon we’re hoping to put in a chimney so we can finally bring home a wood burner that someone is giving us; we have tons of firewood from taking all those trees down in the spring. Hopefully the house isn’t too hot, I guess we can always crack some windows to cool it off; that will make for healthier air inside anyways.

How cold do you keep your house in winter? Are you a hot or cold weather lover?

27 Comments to “Baby It’s Cold….Inside?”
  1. Mich on October 31, 2011 at 6:14 am

    I dont have the central heating on much at all…live in an old farmhouse on top of a windy valley; so it always nippy.
    Rather put a thick woolly jumper on then the heating!
    If the upstairs begins to feel ‘damp’ then the boiler is put on for a few hours….to do its thing.
    But we do have a big log burner which tends to burn 24/7 in the winter monthes and a Aga in the kitchen.
    i do prefer to sleep in a cold bedroom snuggled under layers. :)

    Reply to Mich's comment

    • Susy on October 31, 2011 at 6:53 am

      A cast iron Aga? I’d love to have one of those someday, or a soapstone wood burning stove for the kitchen.

      We too are of the cold bedrooms with lots of layered blankets!

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Mich on November 1, 2011 at 5:03 am

        Yes. I have a cast iron Aga, a 2 oven model in British racing green!
        Its been insitu for over 20yrs and I love it.
        When its on its like the heart of the house, everyone gravitates towards it :)

        to Mich's comment

  2. daisy on October 31, 2011 at 7:00 am

    I guess I’ve been in Florida too long. We don’t like our house too cold or too warm. That blanket looks so inviting!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  3. tami on October 31, 2011 at 7:17 am

    We keep our thermostat set at 64 degrees heated with natural gas. I have a love/hate relationship with wood fires. I don’t mind the smell WHILE it’s burning. I hate the smell when it’s done. Weird huh?

    I have a 20 year old down comforter that I use ONLY when it gets really cold. Blankets everywhere and (in case of emergencies) there’s always the dogs to cuddle with. They don’t call it Three Dog Night for nothing.

    Reply to tami's comment

  4. Jennifer Fisk on October 31, 2011 at 8:15 am

    My primary heat in my living space is my woodstove. It has a fire view door so now only does it provide heat it provides a feeling of coziness. The thermostat is on 58 and if the fire is out I kick it to 60 which takes off the chill. I have honeycomb curtains on my windows and a thermal drape on my deck door which adds to the coziness. My bedroom thermostat is also on 58. I have a Temperapedic bed which is like a brick when it is cold. I put the electric blanket on preheat to make the mattress pliable and then off that goes. The Goose down comforter keeps the warmth in.
    I do enjoy winter, with snowshoeing and skiing, although this year it is about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. I really dislike those days of summer when it goes past 78-80. We get that for a couple of weeks and it is draining. Fortunately, as soon as the sun begins to set it cools off very often below 60.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

    • Susy on October 31, 2011 at 8:31 am

      We have an electric mattress pad that we use to warm up our cold bed too before climbing in. Makes the bed so cozy on a cold night!

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Jennifer Fisk on October 31, 2011 at 7:21 pm

        I did the electric blanket vs mattress pad at the recommendation of the Temperapedic customer service. It does make the mattress less like a brick.

        to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  5. Allison on October 31, 2011 at 8:43 am

    My hubby and I are cool weather people. We leave our house set around 62ish during the day…or at least we used to. Now, with the little one, we bumped it to 65ish. We heat out home with oil which is terribly expensive so we have our fireplace going as much as possible to help offset using the oil heat. Next year we hope to put in a heat pump instead and a pot bellied wood burner in our back room :)

    Reply to Allison's comment

  6. goatpod2 on October 31, 2011 at 8:51 am

    I’m not much of a hot or cold person since I have to go out and feed our critters in the heat and bundle up to go feed them in the bitter cold.

    Our house stays pretty warm in the winter months and nice and cool in the summer months since we have geothermal.

    Amy

    Reply to goatpod2's comment

  7. Teresa on October 31, 2011 at 8:53 am

    My husband grew up in the Caribbean and would love to keep our New England home at shorts and tee-shirts temperature all year long but knows it’s not practical. I prefer it much cooler, both for environmental and frugal reasons and because heating tends to dry out my skin so badly, but then my hands get so cold I can’t type. We compromise at around 66 when we’re home and awake and high fifties (as low as the thermostat goes) otherwise. It does make it hard to get out of the nice warm bed in the morning.

    Reply to Teresa's comment

  8. Harold on October 31, 2011 at 9:00 am

    Unless the wood stove is going, our house is set to about 62 most of the time, the wood stove gets it a bit warmer usually up in the 70s in the living room where the w/stove is.

    We still haven’t put the comforter on the bed yet either, usually wait till it gets under 20 outside.

    The thermostat might get set to 60 at night just to save a little on fuel.

    No we do a lot of walking/snowshoeing and since we are now both retired plan to do a lot more of being outside and might even get our old cross country skiis back out. I have a feeling we will be healthier this year because of it. :-)

    Reply to Harold's comment

  9. Daedre Craig on October 31, 2011 at 9:15 am

    I don’t have an electronic thermostat, so my options are kind of limited for temperature control. I keep mine at about 63 if nobody is home for the day (but my boyfriend and I are on completely different work schedules, so that doesn’t happen often). If we’re home, I max out the thermostat at 68. I hate being cold and have terrible circulation, so 68 is challenging for me. I’d love to crank it up to 75, but the heating bills would be too scary!

    Reply to Daedre Craig's comment

  10. Kathy on October 31, 2011 at 9:41 am

    Well, we came home last night to an indoor temp of about 52 degrees. Decided not to turn heating system on yet so I just fired up the gas logs for a little while to take the chill off! I’m not a fan of cold weather but I’m also not a fan of high energy bills nor do I like to sleep where it’s hot. I’d rather have lots of covers! My sister comes over in the winter and usually keeps her coat on!!!

    Reply to Kathy's comment

  11. Barbara on October 31, 2011 at 10:58 am

    We keep our thermostat set between 52 and 56. If we have company comping, we may open ‘er up to 60. Layering, lots of blankets, and early bedtimes all help. :)

    Reply to Barbara's comment

  12. Rick on October 31, 2011 at 11:53 am

    We usually keep our thermostat set at about 67 all day. I work from home and have an assistant who is older and complains that even that is cold. At night we only drop a few degrees to maybe 65. Our little ones thrash around so much at night and kick off the blankets, if we kept it any colder than that they would wake up as Popsicle. If it was just the wife and I we would keep things much cooler.

    Reply to Rick's comment

  13. Tee on October 31, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Oh I am with you …we keep our thermostat low…not as low as you but our house is drafty…and sadly our heater is inefficient… T make up for that we have a soapstone stove, a wood stove and a pellet stove…
    Lol
    For living in a chilly house we spend a lot of time on heating,lol…dragging wood and such.
    Let us know when and which fireplace you get.
    T

    Reply to Tee's comment

  14. Grace on October 31, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    My parents have an ancient comforter we all love in cold weather. Over the years the cover became sadly threadbare, so Mom recovered it with an old, soft sheet on one side and an old flannel sheet on the other. Something about this combination of materials makes it impossible to stay awake while you are under it. That’s why we started calling it “Mr. Magic.” I love visiting my parents in the winter time and finding Mr. Magic on the bed waiting for me.

    Reply to Grace's comment

  15. Cynthia on October 31, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    Here in windy Kansas we keep our wintertime thermostat set at 60 by day and 58 by night. I prefer sleeping in cooler temps, probably from the early days in our old farmhouse when we didn’t have any heat upstairs at all. I admit there are days I feel chilly, but I know if raised the temperature I would eventually acclimate and probably feel chilly again anyway.

    Reply to Cynthia's comment

  16. kristin @ going country on October 31, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    I prefer cold weather. But I really dislike how my hands, feet, and nose are cold all winter indoors. Fact of life at Blackrock, though. Luckily, there are plenty of positives to living here to compensate for the insane cold.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  17. Sofie Dittmann on October 31, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    Lower 70s is my idea of a good middle ground. To me it’s perfect hiking weather, perfect biking weather, and it is more like the temperatures I grew up around.

    Every year I have to restrain myself at all of the “I just LOVE the snow” comments on FB etc. I like to look at it, photograph it – but after 15 years in this country I am STILL not enjoying it otherwise, especially not driving in it.

    Reply to Sofie Dittmann's comment

  18. mistresseve on October 31, 2011 at 10:44 pm

    I’m really a tank top and flip flops warm weather girl,but I keep the heat at the lower end of the spectrum in the winter. I prefer to sleep in a chilly room with lots of blankets and I hate the dry, stale dusty air from the furnace; so much so that I often open windows in the winter for the fresh air.

    Reply to mistresseve's comment

  19. Amber J on November 1, 2011 at 2:12 am

    We like to keep our furnace around 62, today I went to my daughters school and it was so hot I thought my girls were running a fever. Its no wonder sickness abounds there with the temperature so warm and no air flow.

    Reply to Amber J's comment

  20. Joan on November 1, 2011 at 5:59 am

    We used to keep our thermostat around 60-62 during the day and less at night, unless we had company, when we’d ‘crank’ it to 68. We’d be sweating, but guests were still freezing and wouldn’t visit much in the winter.

    I have to admit though, we’ve gotten spoiled as we’ve gotten older, and now that we mostly burn wood and have a super-insulated house, we usually heat it up to about 72. Generally in the winter we light a fire in the morning and again in the evening, and that keeps us plenty warm. If it is below zero we might keep the fire going throughout the day and night. My husband works from home too, and can’t really type with cold fingers!

    Reply to Joan's comment

  21. KimH on November 1, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    M’honey turns the thermostat all the way down at night… I wake up to some nippy temperatures some winter mornings When we’re home, we tend to keep the temp between 66 & 68. I prefer the 68 mostly.
    We love sleeping in the cold.. and I love crawling into a nice cold crispy bed..

    Reply to KimH's comment

  22. Sherri on November 1, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    Growing up in old drafty houses has made me gravitate to the cool side. Now that menopause has hit (and hit hard!! haha), I’m constantly asking my hubby if he has turned the heat on or up! We LOVE sitting in front of the fireplace (wood-burning) however since moving to a new town we are faced with neighbors who dislike the smoke from the chimney. I would love it if you were to write a piece on the effects of smoke from burning wood…as I don’t have a clue about health effects or environmental soundness, ect… plus it would give me something to counter with when faced with a complaining neighbor…Thank you!

    Reply to Sherri's comment

  23. Heather on November 3, 2011 at 10:12 am

    I’m definitely a warm weather girl! I hate being cold, and I’m ALWAYS cold! We keep our house in the low-mid 60’s at night and when we’re gone during the day, but 70 when we’re home.

    Reply to Heather's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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