Yes, I’m taking the challenge, probably the most difficult one of all for me, because I’m one of those people who always feels cold. At the bookends of the summer, when other New Englanders are still/already wearing their t-shirts outside, I’ve got my scarf on and a sweater. I am unapologetic about that, but not about turning up the fossil-fuel heat that we are, at the moment, dependent on.
So far we’ve been blessed with mostly good weather (61 degrees and sunny right now), but we had a some cold days a couple of weeks ago and turned on the heat. Having a new boiler installed was one of the first things we did after buying the house, as the old boiler was literally an antique. We wanted to see how and if it works properly. We have forced hot water with cast-iron floorboards and about 1200 square feet to heat (1500 if we also heat the guest zone, but we shut that off). Unfortunately there is no way to turn off any of the radiators, so we can’t close the bedroom doors and just heat our living space.
We had a tough time finding the right settings, but the main problem was me. DH and Amie are “warm” people, walking around in their light sweaters – and even that had to be forced upon Amie. I was dressed for deep winter, had my hands wrapped around a cup of steaming tea most of the time, and I was still shivering. DH set the thermostat to 64 degrees during the day (or almost 18 Celsius, which still makes more sense to me) and I complained, I admit. And though I hated hearing that infernal boiler fire up, I turned it up a couple of times.
But I shouldn’t.
So I pledge 64 during the day and 58 F at night.
(That’s 17.7 and 14.4 C)
 Now I’m going to peruse Crunchy Chicken’s Freeze Yer Buns posts from last year to see how I can make this any easier.
Hi! I found your blog via your comment on Sharon’s. Although I live on the other side of the country (Northwest Washington State), I can sympathize with your in-between-season problem… mostly. You see, I have the opposite problem, and I SO wish that I could be the other way… I’m always too warm – it’s actually 55 degrees in my home right now, and I’m contemplating removing a layer of clothing – the tee-shirt on top of a thin, long sleeved tee. Perhaps, in a dream world, we could trade some overheatedness for some chilliness…
:-)
–Erika
Hi Erika, thanks for the proposition but, you know what, I think I’ve already acclimatized! Of course it could be the fever, haha. No seriously, we’re on the mend and I’m definitely more comfortable in our 64 F than I was last week. I did buy some new comfy slippers (no leather!), and of course there is always the little stove-body of my daughter to hug tightly.