How's your gas bill?

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Mine went from never being over $68 last year to being over $100 the last few months and this month was a whopping $280! Seems the gas co miss guessed the amount of gas we used last month and of course we now have to pay the difference. And this is only for 2 months. Adding what I'd already paid for last month my enitre bill for 2 months totals at $319. Sadly, we don't have any alternative heating devices as we just bought this place last year and are doing what we can as we can pay for it. I have my heater turned to 65 degrees and it is COLD outside and in here! I just hope winter ends soon. I bet somewhere there are elderly folks freezing to death.

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), March 14, 2001

Answers

Elle! I feel so sorry for ya'll. You're probably right about poor folks freezing to death this winter. The oil companies dont care a bit about anybody but themselves and their investors. Where do ya'll live? Are you able to burn wood? What kind of furnace do you have? Thanks. hoot. Matt.24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), March 14, 2001.

Elle, speaking as a chronic 'cold person', here are some tips that will help you to keep warm even when the temps are low. First, take a cayanne pepper pill each day. This increases your circulation and 'heats' you up. Second, wear a hat. Yes, even indoors. My husband thinks it's funny to see me wear my coat and stocking cap indoors, but at least I'm warm. Third, wear thermals, both long johns and socks. I wear them literally day and night. Fourth, find someone to cuddle with under every blanket you have. It helps if they are a 'heater person'. Fifth, use flannel - sheets, quilted shirts, etc. That's all I can tell you, hope things improve for you soon. I'm currently camping in my house as the old water heater shorted out half of the electrical system. That means nothing that pulls 220 works and half of the plug ins don't either. Thank goodness I prepared for Y2K. Woodstove, generator hooked to the new water heater, we're making it, but it is very stressfull. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), March 14, 2001.

Forunatly I burn wood and just use gas for the warmer days when the wood heat would run you out of the house. I cant see burning wood and have to have all the windows and doors open, just dont make sense to me. Any how in the small town where i live in 1999 they introduced nautral gas here, before all there was was propane. Many of the people switched because the nautral gas people said they couldnt raise the price unless the government allowed them to. Well my neighbor lady which is in her 80 had a monthly bill of $280.00 for gas. What is bad is that she only gets about 600.00 social security. Doesnt leave much for anything else after you pay elec. water, food,. And whoever said it isnt right was correct, I think they (gas company) causes the problem of gas shortage then capitalizes on it. sorry for the vent. dale

-- dale (dgarr@fidnet.com), March 14, 2001.

Elle,cut down any drafts that you have by putting 'quilted' type blinds on your windows, you can roll towels up and place them under the door jams. I'll say a prayer for all you who have had such long cold winters. Ours has been fairly mild and very little really cold days. We have a wood insert in the basement which I use all winter. We have total electric heat and air so we don't have a gas bill. Our electric bills have more than doubled. It doesn't sound like it will get much better. Good luck ,

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), March 15, 2001.

I can relate to the frustration. We bought a house two years ago with no stove and a failing water heater. I talked my significant other into buying a gas stove and water heater because they were cheaper then: he's harping on me now as the local paper reports the price of gas going up. I keep asking for him to repair the woodstove we found in the garage, but it keeps getting put off, which sucks because we have plenty of wood! I tried, not much more I could do.

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), March 15, 2001.

I have heated with wood (a woodburner insert in the fireplace which is thankfully located in the center of the house) for the past 3 years. My gas bill used to be $150+ per month (that equates to about $245+ now) but the bill regularly runs $25-$30 now. I have a gas water heater but that is all. I even turned off the pilot light to the furnace. Burning wood is a lot of work and messy and and and. BUT I get to continue to live on my "farm" because of it!! There should be some kind of monetary break for the elderly on fixed incomes!

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), March 15, 2001.

elle- I stopped feeling cold all the time after I started taking vitamin B complex. (All the "warm" tips will help too.) I've gotten all my friends to take it and they say the same thing. I can also relate to the high price problem. We just lost a good renter because we live 25 miles from town and she just couldn't afford to pay for the gasoline to get to work and the doubled price of propane. We can't rent with a wood stove- no will insure the place if we do. Epona- please don't take this as a put-down- it's NOT; just a new perspective and encouragement. I decided a long time ago that if I want something done I will learn to do it myself. My hubby is great but he does a lot already. If he doesn't have time to do something I want done, I figure if he can do it- so can I. It's practice for the time I may be alone. Not that I expect anything to happen to him, but I've had young friends who've lost their husbands tragically and you never know when it could happen to you (or me).

-- Peg in NW WI (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), March 15, 2001.

Be happy you're not in the Northeast. I know people paying $500 - $600 a MONTH this winter.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 15, 2001.

Well, out here, propane has fluctuated between $1.61.9 and $1.78.9. Its back down at the moment to 161.

I got the shock of my life just before the move, though... Been used to paying $60 for three months, the final bill on the gas back in IL was $208. for just 25 days. My Mom says it went higher again last month.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 15, 2001.

Thanks for the tips! I am using most of them and we are doing OK. I ma not a "cold" person, but my hubby gets cold easy so he is more miserable than I am. I think this stuff is getting ridiculous. A friend of ours has a daughter in No CA. Her bill for a 2 bedroom apartment was nearly $500/month. Said she has her heat down the 50 degrees and has to wear long undies plus sweat suits when she's home. Elle

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), March 15, 2001.

First time in about twenty years without a wood stove. Great timing. We live in the Pacific NW where electric is cheap, so far. We bought a 1500 watt Quartz tube heater which puts out radiant heat like a wook stove. We use it next to the easy chairs at night and it can follow us wherever we go in the house. It enables us to turn the thermostat which controls heat for the whole house, way down. Saves a lot and we're still comfortable

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), March 15, 2001.

Last year our heating bill, (using wood) was about $800. In November we switched to propane heat and so far our heating bill has been $800. we have about another month of heating left that will run at most $200, so the additional 200 is well worth not having to screw around with the wood, cutting, splitting, stacking moving, sweeping up the dust, dirt, ash and bark. The figure of $800 for the wood is deceiving too because there are the costs of saw maintenece, fuels & oil for the saws, truck & tractor, as well as man hours, storage space etc. In as much as we already used LPG for cooking and backup lighting having yet another fuel seemed ludicrous. I should mention too, that when we started heating with LP the price was $1.99 per gallon, the next time filled up the tank, 3 weeks later, the price had gone to $2.50 and stayed there until this week when I filled up, it has dropped to $2.44/5 we could hang on up to $3.00 per gallon, I would not like it but to go back to wood would be difficult. I might add, I had 4 cords of wood going into the winter, I still have 90% of it left, I do heat my barn shop with wood but not every day, 24 hours a day, the shop is insulated with 6" of fibreglas, the house has little to none. Our winters are mild, lows are 20F with more 40 degree days than not.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), March 16, 2001.

Propane in NJ last month was $1.89. Glad for the woodstove. Before that, the annual propane usage was $1800 annually. Now it's more like $500 (just hot water and kitchen stove).

-- Action Dude (theactiondude@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

What gas bill??? From what I've been hearing, I'm so thankful we have a wood stove. That little bit of extra work is worth it to us! So what's happening to the homesteading spirit?

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

I might add, we don't have to buy our wood, if we did that might be different. We have at least 45 acres of woods and have never yet in 8 years had to cut down a tree. Always plenty laying around.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

I was worried a couple of weeks ago when I saw a post on this forum that someone here in Ohio had paid somewhere around $2.69/gal. for their last propane fill. Ours in December had been $1.70. We just filled the tank again last week and the price was only $1.29/gal. Why such a difference in price within the same state?

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), March 16, 2001.

Some homesteaders are older. Some of us are getting older! Something which seems like a compromise might be more of a necessity, depending on ability. Doesn't mean that the homesteading spirit isn't still active. Might mean that folks are having to make changes, though.... Something to keep in mind I guess.

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), March 17, 2001.

Yeh, and I would venture to say, I am older than most on here! Let's just say I am a senior citizen.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 17, 2001.

I'm not only a sr. citizen, I'm disabled too. My point I'm trying to make is where there is a will, there is a way - usually. Granted not always. I do get kind of tired of people whining and crying about too much work. If they would spend less time whining and crying, they just might get something done.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), March 17, 2001.

-- (noneofyour@biz.com), July 13, 2001