Heating season is coming!
Our August budget has changed, but I feel it was worth it.
Wow, here it is only three days into August, and we’ve already altered our budget. The change stems from conversations Hubby had with several local people regarding the last three Winter seasons. According to these locals, we’ve had three very mild Winters. We’ve only been here for the last two, so if what we experienced is their idea of mild, I cringe at what a harsh Winter may entail!
Although we do have a furnace, we heat our house primarily with wood. Last year we ran out of wood before the end of heating season. We were able to get a load delivered in March, but it was unseasoned, so not good for burning. We’ve had more wood delivered since then, but it ‘s hard to gauge how much we will need. My Hubby is referring to this as the learning curve of our new house. We burned wood at the house we moved from, but the setup was different and the climate also a lot milder.
After much discussion, we decided it would be peace of mind to adjust our budget and get an additional load of wood. $375 later, I now have five more chords of wood to stack.
Our budget will take yet another hit as we also decided to top off our propane tanks again. We had hoped our fill in February would carry us through the 2017/2018 heating season, and although it probably would, it is again peace of mind to just get it done. Based on the percentages in our tanks (we have two 1,000 gallon tanks) we should need approximately 250 gallons to get them to the 80% level. For those unfamiliar, that is the maximum percentage of fill to allow for expansion.
Unless doing a pre-buy or price lock-in, propane is always more expensive during the Winter. The cost right now is $1.29/gallon. I still remember a time when prices were over $4/gallon! While that was extreme and there was a lot of price gouging that year, I prefer to fill up our tanks while the price is somewhat more reasonable.
I wrote a check for the wood (thankfully we do keep a small cushion in our checking account!) and will receive a bill from the propane company. The cost of this expense will mean we have a smaller snowball, but we do have peace of mind in knowing we are fully ready for the heating season.
On a side note, it does seem strange talking about colder temperatures when so many are currently dealing with extreme heat. This morning I woke up to a chilly 49 degrees! Brr!
At least I left Idaho before it hit 106F this week. Eek!
Good idea to get heating supplies now and be ready even if it means less to throw at debt now.
Sluggy recently posted…Halfway Done!
The mere thought of that extreme heat makes me sick! I hope our cooler temperatures make our neck of the woods sound even more inviting!
That’s thinking ahead & being proactive instead of reactive. Also, thats a piece of mind that’s worth it in my opinion. Better to be prepared for sure. Good thinking.
That is how we felt about it. I’d rather be prepared and not have to worry about whether or not we will have enough fuel to make it through the Winter.
Sounds like a wise investment! The price of propane now compared to the price during winter is so much lower.
We adjust our budget during the month, too. I don’t like to do it (mostly because I’m type A and like to stick to plans), but sometimes it’s necessary. Last month we incurred some unexpected costs related to my husband’s new job, and there was a surprise fee for my kid’s school (grrrrr). Sooooo… we just added those to the budget.
I prefer to set it and forget it too. But, sometimes things just happen and it becomes necessary to adjust!
Thanks for the reminder on the wood. I can’t recall how many of those little 5.00 bundles of firewood I bought from the store last year (we moved into the rental house in January) but if I can find someone to stack me a half cord on the porch I would be mighty happy to adjust the budget to pay for it.
Depending on where you live, it might be cheaper to get a load delivered! One of those $5 bundles would only last us a couple of hours!
I remember the high cost of propane in the winter. Which is why we would always top off just before the winter hit. Electricity is our beast as we live in a hot climate.
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My fear is prices escalating to the $4/gallon range like it did a few years back. I feel like having full tanks is almost like money in the bank!
Don’t envy you with your electric expenses. For some reason (never could figure it out) our electric bill at our old house was always crazy high. I no longer cringe when receiving that bill.