Is your heat on?

So, how long until we turn on the heat at the wildknits home?

In past years the heat did not get turned on until at least October 1st. This year I said - "No heat until the house can't be maintained at 60F during the day". Well, if you check the comments on my previous post, it was below 59 indoors when I got home today (no sunshine to help warm the house).

Any guesses on how long we can last before I cave in (and it will be me that will need the heat - Raynauds does not allow me much flexibility where temperatures are concerned)?

Just to give you an idea of our hardiness:

We spent one winter living in a larger home, heated via an ancient oil furnace (back-up) and a wood stove. The wood stove was installed late in the year and the bulk of our wood ( a logger's truck worth) was green that winter. We would cut it, split it and bring it indoors to dry a bit near the stove (or on top of it) before loading it in. The girls were three, and under one, years old at the time. The three year old was a great help in hauling in the wood. The baby.... she contributed to an elaborate gating system for the stove (she has never taken "no" well, persistence is a wonderful trait in an adult, in an infant???). This was the year that Duluth got three feet of snow on Halloween. We lived in Ashland at the time, but it was a harsh winter.

If the house got to 60F we thought we were living in the tropics! We spent a lot of our time hanging out in the living room near the stove, avoiding the upstairs and back of the house where temps were much colder. Nothing like attempting to nurse an infant through three layers of sweaters - and at the time we were also potty-training said infant. Good times!

There is a theory that you can reset your internal thermostat so you feel comfortable at colder temperatures. I am testing out that theory to some degree. Unfortunately going to work messes with things a bit as the clinic I work at is kept warmer than my house (though my office is on an outside wall and the previous occupant needed a space heater to stay warm).

So, what do you do at your home? Is the heat on? Off? What are your plans for the winter? What is the high temp in your home? What about the low?

The wildknits advantage? Warm wooly items to layer up with (and the down booties I got last winter).