So my budget for February got blown out of the water. I had planned out what we were going to pay in utilities but suffice to say, our gas bill was…let’s just say, not an amount I would have liked.
As I see it, two things conspired against me in January. At the same time I was going through Round 2 of the flu, we got hit with really cold weather. Please, no snarks about winters in California. It’s all subjective and you only know what you are used to.
As I was saying, we got hit with really cold weather and my husband and I were battling the flu. To top it off, as much as I love my apartment, it is not insulated worth a damn. The windows are paper-thin, probably installed sometime before the Carter administration, and have never been replaced. When we get hit with bad winds, the windows rattle. It gets really, really cold in my apartment…
So apparently between knocking ourselves out silly with NyQuil, we also turned on the heater. Quite a bit. I blame it on delirium.
Fevers will do that to you.
Normally I am a wear more sweaters, pile on more blankets type of gal. But we met our match with that heater, and now we are paying for it.
Literally.
the random path 
My place sounds like yours, but thankfully my landlord now pays for gas. That sucks you got hit twice!!! 😦
My landlord pays water/trash, but yeah the gas bill is totally ours. Stupid flu! 😉
That stinks, although I couldn’t help laughing at the way you describe how crappy it was. Drunk on NyQuil and crankin’ up the heater. Yeehaw! 🙂
LOL, yeah that’s apparently how I roll 😀
“Please, no snarks about winters in California. It’s all subjective and you only know what you are used to.” Could not agree more Mackenzie. I lived in San Diego for two years when we were engaged and first married and I can understand this much more now. Sorry you got hit with the flu twice.
San Diego is beautiful! 🙂 Do you miss it?
Yeah, that flu hammered me over the head for sure. Ugh…
Sorry to hear you guys had the flu. I think a lot of people did this year.
I find that our heating bills are really high when it hits minus 25 here but we try our hardest to keep our indoor temps reasonable because in the past we would just let the furnace run all day and the bill would easily be $400 for the month. Now it is around $280 a month
Yeah, that flu was no joke; I got slammed!
That’s great that you were able to lower your heating bill! I know some people, who just let the thing run all day and night and keep scrambling each month to pay it.
As a fellow Californian – it’s been cold here! It’s hard when you’re sick and OD’ing on Nyquil to worry about gas bills. There are far more pressing things to worry about – like finding someone to warm a bowl of chicken noodle soup for you! Glad you’re better now and hopefully next month’s bill will be better!
Yes, this winter has been chillier than normal! I am glad I am feeling better too; that flu bug got the best of me.
Here’s to hoping the bill next month is lower 🙂
My gas bill has been off the charts….but I cant keep it cold anymore with little ones now in the house! I’m ready for spring =)
I am ready for spring too!! 🙂
Flu trumps gas bills, every time. It has been really cold here too, but we have even pay, so our bill is the same year round. It resets in June, so I am always anxious to see if it will go up or down. It would suck to get hit with an unexpected bill, but what can you do?
I wish we had even pay here! It would make budgeting so much easier…
We’ve had a pretty mild winter in MN, so our utility bills haven’t been too bad compared to past years. I normally get some resistence from the family as I turn the thermostat down to save, but I got my wife an electric blanket for Xmas…and her using the blanket is WAY cheaper than heating the whole house 5-6 more degrees. 🙂
Ha, I bet 🙂
I feel your pain, just got out heating bill and it’s brutal…still haven’t decided how we’re going to deal with it considering it’s more than double we were expecting…
Our bill was double too! I think this winter is definitely colder than last winter 😦
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