I found a
local debt blog and am tempted to invite the woman to our debt support group meeting tomorrow. So refreshing to find Seattleites who save and live on their earned income.I was feeling all punk and angry about my $169 natural gas bill in January -- I know, get the film for the windows, feel for drafts, do an energy audit, I do read the blog comments -- but that's a trifle compared to a $480 gas bill like the author of Debt in Seattle has. She has three little ones. I have one little one. I'm trying to teach him to suck it up and be Canadian about colder temperatures. "When I was your age I had a SNOWSUIT! You've never had one! It got so cold out some days we had to stay indoors." Ah yes, memories of ice fishing, snowshoeing, and skating on frozen-over lakes: REAL WINTER.
I saw on Heating Degree Days the months and their temperatures' differences from a set temperature. There's some ratio calculated where the fewer days with temperatures below 65 degrees, the warmer it is. Degree Days also indicate possible explanations for not seeing predicted savings from weatherization work. With an energy rate increase and cold weather and power outages from a bad winter, what would make me expect savings from keeping the thermostat at 58F at night and 64F during the day?
I tend to forget that my gas bill comes to $15 in the summer months.