Live in a Cold Climate? When Do You Turn on Your Heat?

I'm in northern VA and I have already used it a couple times. We have had a couple nights when it's in the 40's and it makes the house get into the 60's. I don't like it to go under 70 inside.

NJ - I wait it out as best as we can. Without anyone getting sick. In the morning since I have a small apartment just before the kids wake up I put water to boil. It warms the house quickly. This way my kids are not so grumpy. When its too cold they don't want to get out of the blankets. I try to till the first week of November. If its not too cold by then.

Last week it was freezing here. We turned it on. :(
I try to go as long as possible but it was really cold.
This week-I was ready to turn the AC back on! But I resisted!

I'm in MA we try not to run the heat until nov occasionally we turn the pellet stove on to get the chill out in the morning. It's been pretty chilly the last few nights but the house has stayed at 65.

I live in NJ too, not far from you. Good windows and insulation will make a huge difference in your heating bills. Also, it depends on if you have older radiator heating or a newer system. Our last house was bigger and very old. We never had the house in the 70's unless the wood stove was on. Our heating bills were still high, not to mention the cost of oil! Our current house is newer and although he also have a wood burning stove, the insulation and windows are so great we have not turned on the heat yet this season. The lowest it has gotten is 65 in here and it warms up during the day from the sunlight. Do you have a dehumidifier? Sometimes instead of turning on the heat, if it's damp, it dries everything up and makes it feel much nicer.

I keep the heat on almost year round. For about a month or two I can shut it off (when it gets into the 70's, yeah our "summers" in Aug/Sept are usually in the 70's, maybe a week or 2 at 80 or 90 but that's it)... but it gets DAMP here. It's apx 50 degrees and damp 10mo out of the year. I mean, I could buy dehumidifiers for every room and run them 24/7 but that would be a lot more expensive/less efficient.

Whenever it's below 68 my heat comes on. Keeps the mold from growing and the wood from warping.

Our heating costs (oil) are expensive as well, but a lot LESS expensive than the furniture and walls growing mold (not just in replacing the moldy areas, but also having a child with breathing problems... we're talking 50k-100k in med bills every week he spends in the hospital), and a lot less expensive than needing to replace the structural and decorative elements of the house every few years as the wood warps.

I live in Ohio, and there are weeks where we have the heat on one day and the air on the next lol. We have turned our heat on already, for only a few days so far. Our heating bill never gets over $250 even in the coldest months so its not too bad. It depends on your home. Years ago we owned a very large house (5 stories) and our heating bill was $900 a month in the winter. We sold that house after 2 winters. So now, $250 a month seems cheap!

i live in the middle of the country (kansas) and we sleep with the windows open and the fan on until oh, about first frost i guess. our heating bill isn't NEAR that much! but i LOVE to sleep in the cold, with a ton of blankets. and unless it's the weekend, we are away from home at school and work all day so i don't see a point in turning it on. i wait a lot longer to turn the heat on, than the a/c. i hate being hot! good luck with your bill this year!

I'm in Long Island, so right there with you!

I like my home around 65, so when it is consistently staying well below, like around 60, than I turn on the heat. I live in Alaska, so it will not be much longer before it has to come on.

I turn on my heat when I get cold. It's snowing just a few thousand feet above me, so the heater went on last night. However, it's supposed to be back in the 80's next week.

Chicago, never know what weather we will have. The last few days have been warm and it is actually hot in my house today. I try to hold out until at least the end of October. We insulate the house and keep the heat off until it is 38 or so at night. Sweaters and extra blankets help. Once it gets to freezing though, the heat gets on. But we keep it down at night to try to save the heat.

We live in MN, I had mine on already one weekend this year, it was less than 60 degrees in the house and I was cold! But, now we are having a heat wave and have had the windows open at night!

I'd say, when it gets cold, we turn it on, and in MN we never know when that will be!

We live in southern Va near Virginia Beach.
Sometime by the end of Oct we switch from AC to heat.
When the nights start getting into the 50's.
Sometime by the end of May we switch from heat to AC.
When the days get into the low 80's and the humidity soars.
During these transitional months there are times when heat/ac can be off and we have the windows open.

We live in southern Michigan and really it just depends on the weather. A week ago is was chilly enough that we felt we needed the heat on (high temp of 47 one day). Now this week it's been mid 70s to almost 80 every day. Go figure.

I think the most we paid for heating was around $200 per month (we have gas heating).

I'm in NH and I already turned it on a few times. It is included in my rent though so I don't have to worry about the extra charge.

I never turn it off. The thermostat is set year-round, so whenever it goes below 62 at night or 68 during the day (at times/days when we're home) the heat kicks on. I'm in Massachusetts and the past two days have been chilly. On Thursday morning it was 58 in my bedroom, but that's the coldest room in the house and rest of the rooms were at 69 or higher so it didn't kick on. I definitely heard it kick on this morning, but it's supposed to be hot this weekend. Life is too short to be cold.

We live in Minnesota. A few weeks ago I was SO tempted because our highs were in the 40s and lows in the 30s and it was SO cold in here in the mornings...but I knew it would only last for a few days so we all toughed it out. Now it's way above normal...upper 70s, low 80s...and I am almost regretting that we look our air conditioner out three weeks ago. :)

I turn it on when I absolutely can't bear it anymore. I have poor circulation, so I know that when I feel very cold everyone else is probably okay...but once we DO turn it on, I crank it. I like it to be warm all winter...usually set it around 74.

Thanks for reminding me - I actually turned it on for the first time this morning and forgot to lower it again. House was around 59 degrees this morning so I upped the heat to 64.

I usually like to wait until the end of October too, but it seemed really cold this morning out in L.I.