January always brings levels of stress when it comes to heating in a winter climate, the tank is low, frigid weather has arrived, and one wonders how to pull $650 out of their butt to get another delivery. Even on a budget plan, one can easily fall behind in the payments. Your eye nervously watches the gauge on the tank, almost daily keeping fingers crossed that it has not moved much.
Right now personally we are looking at 28 percent in our tank, hubby's hours have dwindled again leaving us $130 short on paychecks. The weather turned bitterly cold last night coming in with winds in surplus of 50 miles an hour. Tomorrow and Tuesday are to be even colder, around 2 degrees without wind chill. Being in a trailer, these temps are even worse and it seems in right through the walls and floors with not much in the way of insulation. The thermostat is set to 65 for the day and 60 at night, although I may turn it down to 55 tonight just to help pace how fast we use up the propane.
Somehow we always manage and I always tell myself not to put too much stress on it, but that always seems easier said than done. When the gauge hits 30% I always stress about the propane and how we will figure out a way to get it filled. Food seems so much easier to worry about and easier to come up with and manage what you have then heat. Without heat, who wants to face 0 or below temps with only an electric oven as a heat source?
This time around I actually filled out paperwork for the State of Emergency help with heat, not sure if we will qualify or not but I figured it would not hurt to try. With my health issues right now, I have surrendered to trying to get all the help we can with the future outlook of perhaps me being able to get healthy enough to work again. So if we need help right now to do that, so be it.
Hubby also just told me his W-2 will be mailed out in just 3 days, so that is hopeful to that I may get that and be able to get taxes done and our refund back before the propane runs out completely if I can not get help through the State of Emergency. But in the end, I trust that it will all work out the way it is meant to. Stressing over heat come January is not new to me, it is a stress I usually have all year round as it is the most expensive expense we have below rent.
So in the meantime, conserve, conserve and supplement with the oven to ensure it last long enough for the next fill up! I really wish we had a wood burner!
How about you, do you stress over heating or do you stress more over another expense?
Right now personally we are looking at 28 percent in our tank, hubby's hours have dwindled again leaving us $130 short on paychecks. The weather turned bitterly cold last night coming in with winds in surplus of 50 miles an hour. Tomorrow and Tuesday are to be even colder, around 2 degrees without wind chill. Being in a trailer, these temps are even worse and it seems in right through the walls and floors with not much in the way of insulation. The thermostat is set to 65 for the day and 60 at night, although I may turn it down to 55 tonight just to help pace how fast we use up the propane.
Somehow we always manage and I always tell myself not to put too much stress on it, but that always seems easier said than done. When the gauge hits 30% I always stress about the propane and how we will figure out a way to get it filled. Food seems so much easier to worry about and easier to come up with and manage what you have then heat. Without heat, who wants to face 0 or below temps with only an electric oven as a heat source?
This time around I actually filled out paperwork for the State of Emergency help with heat, not sure if we will qualify or not but I figured it would not hurt to try. With my health issues right now, I have surrendered to trying to get all the help we can with the future outlook of perhaps me being able to get healthy enough to work again. So if we need help right now to do that, so be it.
Hubby also just told me his W-2 will be mailed out in just 3 days, so that is hopeful to that I may get that and be able to get taxes done and our refund back before the propane runs out completely if I can not get help through the State of Emergency. But in the end, I trust that it will all work out the way it is meant to. Stressing over heat come January is not new to me, it is a stress I usually have all year round as it is the most expensive expense we have below rent.
So in the meantime, conserve, conserve and supplement with the oven to ensure it last long enough for the next fill up! I really wish we had a wood burner!
How about you, do you stress over heating or do you stress more over another expense?
This may sound archaic, but would it be possible to pin up some extra blankets on your walls like tapestries from the medieval times? They were used to help with insulation. Not sure if there's a safety hazard with the electric; you might want to check that out.
ReplyDeleteI've actually shied away from any rentals that use oil for heating. In my current crazy place, the upstairs duplex (mine) uses gas and electric. Downstairs uses oil. I opted for the upstairs in large part because of this. My new downstairs neighbors are sh***ng bricks now because they have no idea how much is left in the oil tank, and they can't afford to fill it up. A fill-up is the equivalent of one month of rent!
I hope your paperwork comes through. Here in Chicago the natural gas company cannot turn off your service in the winter, even if you get behind on payments. My 1950s home has no insulation in the walls, either, so gas usage really shoots up in the winter. After a crazy January bill one year, I switched over to the "budget" system and pay a fixed amount throughout the year. It helps even things out, but I still note how much the gas usage spikes and wince.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the gas situation….it is cold here in mid Michigan….we do have wood heat and although it is lots of work it is warm even in our 100 year old house……extra blankets and layers of long johns and jeans ….take care …hopefully you husbands work will pick up soon…..ronaldj
ReplyDeleteI think your situation is exactly the kind that emergency assistance plans are geared towards. I hope that they are quick to review paperwork, and you can get some money to help cover the cost of more oil.
ReplyDeleteIn our early years, my husband, son and I moved into an old house converted into apartments. We moved in on Jan.1. A month later we received a huge heating bill, much bigger than we could afford. We shut off the heat, used a space heater, and lived in one room for the remainder of winter. We later found out that our apartment was paying for the water heat for all the other apartments. We did get the landlord to make some adjustments, but we moved out after about a year.
Good luck!
I agree with Lili above--you should be able to qualify for the emergency assistance. I would check back with them every few days to let them know how dire your circumstances are. My family has had it's share of hard times too (financial and health), but we've pulled through. I'm praying that God will bless you and help you! Take care.
ReplyDeleteI hope you qualify for the heat assistance. Mobile homes are expensive to heat. We are on propane and it cost a lot when we had a mobile home.
ReplyDelete