Here's another article that came out yesterday that mentions the Freeze Yer Buns challenge. It's called Making News: People Who Live Without Heat By Choice.
The most interesting thing about these articles is reading the comments. My post tomorrow will address some of the issues I keep seeing crop up with the general public's response to the challenge.
People have been taught (by the media/oil companies) that it is unhealthy to live in lower temperatures. My kids are pretty healthy compared to their classmates, as was I as a child and I attribute it to the lower interior temperatures, in which bacteria cannot flourish.
ReplyDeleteThese same people who say they can't go lower on the thermostat are the first people out of doors on the first 50 degree day without a coat.
I intend to lower our thermostat even further next year. This year we made it to 56 at night and 60-63 during the day when someone (other than DH) is home. We turn it up slightly when we have company, but out friends have learned to bring slippers and a sweater, and everyone has a good time. And for those who thought it would negatively impact intamacy, what better reason to be snuggled up against someone elses warmth?
We've been heating only with a woodstove for the past four years. The stove has a backboiler to heat the radiators in the rooms we use. We start heating the stove at 5 pm and have a fire until 10:30 and let it die out. The wood has all been free....companies don't want old pallets, people want to get rid of that tree they had taken down, etc. During the day, if I'm home, I wear a sweater, and put in a fire a little earlier. Our only fuel costs have been electricity, but we hope to get solar panels this year to sell electrics back to the grid.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be possible for everyone, since our climate is mild (we live in NW England), but it works for us. There is no reason to have to have your house at 70 degrees or even 65. About 60 is perfectly comfortable.
We don't do this out of need. We are debt free (no mortgage, no credit cards, no car payments, nada), and have plenty of money. But I'll be darned if I'll be beholden to the utility companies (or the banks for that matter).