Comments on Crunchy Chicken: Freeze Yer Buns Challenge 2008

I feel like I'm cheating on this one, since I live...

2009-03-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm cheating on this one, since I live in LA and found it JUST as it was really warming up.

However, I will say that I had started to switch on the heater after my morning shower just so I could stand by it as I changed into my clothes, but after reading this and seeing if I could do without it, and realized I could, so I haven't turned on my heater since. :) So good work, Crunchy. :)

I wish I had found this earlier. We do 65 during t...

2009-02-26T11:11:00.000-08:00

I wish I had found this earlier. We do 65 during the day and 46-62 at night (depending on our paranoia around our daughter's sleep). I'd really love encouragement to keep it down (and I'll join in earlier next year!)

I've been participating, albeit kind of unwittingl...

2009-02-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've been participating, albeit kind of unwittingly. We've been keeping the temps at 64 during the day (with an hour-long blast of 68 degree heat at 8 a.m.) and 58 at night. Hopefully that morning fix of toasty warm doesn't disqualify me completely, but I think this is a fabulous idea.

Found your site from the NYT article about not hav...

2009-02-07T00:02:00.000-08:00

Found your site from the NYT article about not having a refrigerator.

Live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have not use ANY heating or cooling in ten years. Keep waiting for it to get below 48F inside during the winter to turn on the heat and that never happens. Have south facing windows and the rooms heat nicely during the winter.

My house is 3800 square feet and the utility bill for electricity and gas is about twenty dollars a month.

This is GREAT! I just stumbled upon this site whil...

2009-02-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

This is GREAT! I just stumbled upon this site while amist the jumble, my fiance and I have been doing this for years.
We have lived in appartment buildings for some time now and the one thing they all seam to have in common is baseboard heating. Don't ask me how these so called heating elements have become accepted, as they are not efficient!!
We shut ours off at the breaker box!! Excessive maybe but it has worked for us for years! living so close to our neighbors we seem to get some of their heat, and when it gets too cold we have an energy efficient space heater that we use for the main living area, we hardly turn it up past the first or second setting. I'm so glad to see the response of a challenge like this because most will soon realize how silly we have become to turn the heat so high up in the winter, just to turn around and turn it so far down in the summer.

Here's a simple way to reduce your carbon footprin...

2009-02-04T23:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint/rate of energy consumption - purchase a countertop EM Induction burner (requires magnetic stainless or cast iron cookware) and use it as often as possible to prepare your food. EM Induction heats the cooking vessel, not the surrounding atmosphere, with an efficiency of ~84 percent - far greater than that of an electric coil, gas, or radiant glasstop. It has a two-fold effect in warmer climates because it doesn't create much surplus ambient heat, thus placing less strain on the the air conditioning system, and it can be used outdoors too. It's a minor investment that can drastically reduce your power consumption, plus it's even easier to control than a natural gas burner.

I'm a bit late joining in, but as its my first yea...

2009-01-23T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit late joining in, but as its my first year in a house with gas heat I've definitely been trying to keep the heat turned down.

I started with 64 when I'm home and 62 when I'm not or over night. I'm now down to 62/61 when I'm home and 60/59 when I'm not or overnight.

My big double coated dog loves it - finally she's comfortable here in NC.

We pledge 62 day and off at night, we love to slee...

2009-01-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

We pledge 62 day and off at night, we love to sleep with 2 comforters.... TMI
Mel

Here in MN, we were at 55 indoor temp day in/day o...

2009-01-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Here in MN, we were at 55 indoor temp day in/day out until the beginning of December when DH insisted we up it to 60...

Interesting to note, our baby girl, 11 months, has yet to "get sick" as we've been told would happen if we let it get too cold. IMHO, she's less likely to get sick if the temp change is minimal... going from 60 to 0 is better than 72 to 0, eh?

This is our first winter like this... times before, we were either top-story apt-complex (no heat necessary, basically) or we didn't care (home rental, newlyweds. Shouldn't've needed any heat anyway LOL!)

I'm not that hardcore.. I'm thin blooded. We do 68...

2009-01-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not that hardcore.. I'm thin blooded. We do 68 day and 64 at night. I'm still shivering in my slippers and extra sweaters. brr

Count us in!! Even in our freezing rain we never w...

2009-01-21T18:36:00.000-08:00

Count us in!! Even in our freezing rain we never went over 63 degrees. 60 is our night standard and we go up to 62 during the day. When no one is home we leave it at 55, because we don't want to totally freeze the cats!! :) Believe me, I wear more clothes than ever before in life!! LOL!! During Christmas I even wore my fleece gloves in the house!

I just found this challenge and I think it's great...

2009-01-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

I just found this challenge and I think it's great! We've been living with 40 at night and use either electric space heaters or a wood stove when we're home. I think we had the central heat on (gas) a handful of times at 60 when we have people over or just to take the chill off when we get home in the evening. It's great and super cost effective!

Is it too late for me to participate? Winter is ju...

2009-01-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Is it too late for me to participate? Winter is just now going into full swing up here in the mountains.
We even get snow as late as May up here.

We'll be keeping our thermostat set for 60 during the day (we've got passive solar with lots of south facing windows, so our temps easily reach in the 70's during a sunny day.)
And we'll set the nighttime temps for 58 degrees.
We use electric blankets at night, though. But at least we're not heating the entire house with propane.

Keep comfie this winter,
Lisa
New Mexico
Central Mountains

Well, we're a bit late, but I'll post what we've b...

2009-01-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well, we're a bit late, but I'll post what we've been doing since it got cold (we're in SW Connecticut and our first New England winter since we're originally from VA). During the day we're at 65/7, and at night I believe we're down to 62.

Count us in from Maine. Just stumbled on this pos...

2009-01-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Count us in from Maine. Just stumbled on this post, but in fact had the heat OFF until New Year's Eve (prior to that, just using a space heater or two now & then.) So until yesterday we generally had inside temps around 11C days, 3C at night. Could've gone all winter like that, but I have a new housemate who was skeptical-- so now we have the thermostat set at 15.5 days, 7 at night. It's been great!

The thermostat is frozen (sometimes literally, it ...

2008-12-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

The thermostat is frozen (sometimes literally, it seems) at 15C (about 60F) day and night. So, if it's not too late, please count us in!

I am in ... I will turn the thermostat down to 55 ...

2008-12-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

I am in ... I will turn the thermostat down to 55 when not here during the day (mon-fri), keep it at 67 when here during day (sat-sun), and at 60 during the night. I have been doing this for years ... I am a hot blooded person, so these temps are comfortable for me!

I would love to post this on my blog. Do you mind ...

2008-12-27T04:05:00.000-08:00

I would love to post this on my blog. Do you mind if I use the picture? Is their a link for this to go to?
Karen
www.gardenchick.com/garden-blog

I'm clearly a little behind the crowd on this. But...

2008-12-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

I'm clearly a little behind the crowd on this. But I've been setting the "wake" temp at 66 and "sleep" temp at 55. Small house, cast iron radiators, and my furnace only needs to take the edge off a couple of times each day. I do wear a hat to bed as it's a bit chilly by late night. I'm hoping to last through winter on just my 3/4 tank of oil. We'll see!

We have an auto thermostat, set for 60 at 7a, then...

2008-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

We have an auto thermostat, set for 60 at 7a, then 62 at 5pm (after sundown and evening at rest), then down to 55 at 10p. We did this last year, and the only occasional discomfort was cold hands and nose. I wear a scarf to bed - no big deal. I plan to order some fingerless gloves.

My husband works in an art studio set at 55. He needs an electric space heater with fan for the really bitter days.

I'm in! I'm in Texas, but dh is a polar bear in t...

2008-12-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

I'm in! I'm in Texas, but dh is a polar bear in the winter and has our thermostat set at 63 most of the time. Bun freezin' is what we do best, lol. Bring on the sweat suits and blankets!

We've been doing it, just didn't "sign up" before....

2008-12-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

We've been doing it, just didn't "sign up" before. For 9 hours at night, our thermostat is set at 55. It's at 68 for 5 hours a day, when we are getting up in the morning and when we're having dinner and getting ready for bed. The rest of the day, when people are in and out, it's 62. On the weekends, we have it at 64 instead of 62, since we're home more. We're in Colorado, so sometimes it really does feel like we're freezing our buns off! Good thing our house is well-insulated...

Our heating system is radiant hydronic so fiddling...

2008-12-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Our heating system is radiant hydronic so fiddling with the thermostat does nothing. It takes a couple of days to change the temp in a room. Still with the kids out of the house this year we decided first not to heat the downstairs bedrooms, and then wondered how long we could go without turning the heat on anywhere in the house. We still haven't turned it on, although I "cheat" with a small electric space heater on the days I work from home. It's been staying between 56 and 65 upstairs, depending on whether we get any solar heat gain, and ~55 downstairs. We do have a wood-burning stove in the living room and can quickly get the temp up to a cozy 68 in the evenings.

Count me in too, I have kept meaning to sign up bu...

2008-12-06T00:45:00.000-08:00

Count me in too, I have kept meaning to sign up but have been too lazy...so now it's time.

It's 59 in my house right now, and I haven't turned the heat on for the year yet. It's actually pretty OK -- the only time I'm miserably cold is when I'm tired or when my thyroid levels are low so this is pretty OK.

DH put up with the house at 85 before turning on the AC all summer, so it's my turn to 'suffer' and him to be cozy. :)

Because this is my first winter in my new home, Lo...

2008-12-02T18:06:00.000-08:00

Because this is my first winter in my new home, Los Angeles, I'm not sure when we'll even need to turn on the heat, let alone how low we can take it, but we'll be trying to keep it off as long as possible and low, when we do need it. Ultimate goal: 55 in the daytime and 60 at night (we work all day and I can't sleep if I'm too cold!). TheBoy, the warm-blooded in our family, will be delighted at the coolness and it'll be nice to use the extra electricity (relying on electric, not oil or gas, to provide heat) at non-peak times.
Right now, I'm not even sure exactly how to use the thermostat. Maybe that'll keep us away from it longer!