This is the first year that I’ve lived with roommates since 2004. My roommates have slightly differing points of view when it comes to frugality – most obvious when it comes to such things as heating costs this winter.

Roommate #1 is a graduate student, and sometimes frugal. She’ll buy a new dress for a night out, but when it comes to the heating bill she’s willing to bundle up in fleece in order to save. I have trouble sleeping when it’s cold (and yes, even in California it gets cold. Sometimes colder inside than out in my new apartment) so I tend to turn the heat on a bit at night. She’s not frugal to the point of turning it off, but she’d prefer to keep our heating bills down. So would I. But I also want to be able to sleep at night.

Roommate #2 is a teacher, so she makes enough money to live a fairly nice life – especially in our current 3-way apartment share arrangement. The other day, after roommate 1 requested that we use heat sparingly this winter, she told me that she grew up poor and spent most of her childhood with heat-less winters. Now that she’s working, she’s going to pay for heat.

For the past two winters my heating bill was included with my rent costs, so heat was not an issue. If anything, it was the summers that were painful – no one uses air conditioning in Northern Cali.

I would prefer our heating bill to stay low, but I’m not sure how low is reasonable.

How high do you turn the heat on in the winter? And how much does it cost you?