With two 60+ degree days in a row and many more in the forecast, I think we’ve safely rounded the corner… I’ve been fighting to hold this post back, but the time has come.

We made it through the entire winter without turning on our heat.

I gave a small space heater in the bedroom an initial try last winter and it cut my winter gas bill down from $50/mo to $15, but this year we employed its use as a regular solution. There is a small increase in the electric bill to account for it ($10 minus whatever the increased cost is of there being an additional tenant this year), but it’s easily offset by the savings.

Two people, 550sqft, and a space heater designed for a room half the size that it’s in (can still make us sweat) = ~$500 savings this winter. An abnormally warm winter is also to thank for a portion of that.

Sure, my neighbors may have had to increase their usage due to my likely leeching, but… Well, I’m going to adopt a very American attitude on that one and say “not my problem.” They’re loud and obnoxious… they deserve it 😉

The lowest temperature we hit was 65 after a pair of frigid, windy days, but for the most part it has hovered between 68-71 with an average on the lower end of that. On those bitter cold days, the temperature was easily negated by wearing a little more clothing than usual in the house. No, not winter jackets, but substituting a typical tee on top for a sweatshirt… NBD.

We’ll likely be moving (locally) in the coming year so unfortunately, I doubt we’ll ever repeat this feat, but it just goes to show how cheap living in an expensive area can be:

Rent: $1095 – They just hiked it! We’re so out of here 😉

Cable/Internet: $50 – Basic HD with internet (we manage this with Netflix streaming, but that’s not a necessity so I’ll leave it out of this example).

Electric: $35 – Central AC.

Gas: $15 – Cooking and heat.

Taxes: $0

Repairs: $0

Next quest? To figure out why my bank account grows at such a slow rate.