The heat is on

I hadn’t lived in a house that was powered by gas heat since my New York days. What I mean by my New York days, I mean preschool. But I dropped out of preschool after a week, so I just mean that time between birth and Army life. It’s just a four-year span, but I just took too long to write about that.

Anyway, Sunday night marked the first time I turned on the thermostat. That was three weeks or so of suffering through lows in the 20s and 30s with only three blankets and layers of pajamas to protect me. It wasn’t until I suffered a major tension headache, coughing fits and sleeplessness did the little light bulb in my head turn on did I fiddle with the heating.

There were two things that scared me: the cost and the danger. I looked around the neighborhood knowing that most of the houses looked like they haven’t suffered a gas explosion, so I felt safer. The cost is what I’m not prepared for. I was hoping to have my car paid off before I needed to use the heating. I still have two more payments left, so I will have money for the January bill. In the meantime, the heating is on for a short time on nights when the lows are in single digits.

permalink | | | 11/13/2007

C

I’ve just moved and we pay electricity now – suffice to say, I keep my heat on 70 and nothing greater. I’m so scared of the bill.

418 days ago | permalink

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