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moana posted:1. Save an emergency fund of about 6-9 months expenses. For me, I keep about 2 months of expenses in a checking account and the rest in an online savings account like SmartyPig to earn some interest. Checking accounts usually give 0% interest.
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Nov 29, 2010 00:14
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It's about a two to three business day time frame.
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Nov 29, 2010 01:10
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moana posted:It's a short term swing, it doesn't matter especially when you're already above 700. Eventually responsible use of credit will lead to an increase. They have to put a reason on there for your score, just so happens that you had a higher utilization ratio the day they pulled your score. Don't sweat it. I learned today that most places will pull your score on either the 1st or 15th. I had the same thing happen to me and got quoted a rate that was a few points higher, had the mortgage broker check again, and suddenly my FICO was 40 points higher. Lesson learned: Make your credit payment post on the 14th or 28-31st if you're applying for a loan. Bastard Tetris fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Dec 2, 2010 |
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Dec 2, 2010 07:18
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Bastard Tetris posted:I learned today that most places will pull your score on either the 1st or 15th. I had the same thing happen to me and got quoted a rate that was a few points higher, had the mortgage broker check again, and suddenly my FICO was 40 points higher. Not sure where you are going with this. Financial institutions will pull your credit when there is a legitimate need to pull your credit, usually when you apply for something. They won’t wait until the 1st or 15th to do it. Also, for credit cards what gets reported to the credit bureaus is your balance on the cycle date, the date they print off and mail the statement. That is what’s going to get reported for the next 30 days, regardless of the actual balance. Because of that, if you know you will be applying for something in the next few weeks, you can make payments that post right before the cycle date. The balance on your installment loans is less important to your score and they usually get reported on the 1st of the month.
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Dec 2, 2010 16:47
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I've heard several different variations on this concept, but as I understand it, each major purchase is supposed to be a certain percentage of your income, For example your house is supposed to be 1.5x your salary and your car is supposed to be 30%, etc. My question is, what is the general consensus as to what these percentages should be? Is that percentage of annual gross salary, or monthly Net, or what? For example, 20% of my monthly net income would be about 1200, therefore going by that, I can afford to buy a $43000 car. However, 20% of my Gross Annual income would be about 19,000. (Or, even if I go with 20% of my income to cover all auto-related expenses for the month, including car payment, insurance, gas and maintenance, that's still over 35,000) Likewise, 1.5% my Gross annual income is about 135,000, where-as a mortgage payment of 20% of my current monthly income is twice that. So which is it? I'm pretty sure there are no hard rules on the subject, other than having x% of your debt type being tied to your credit rating (And even that, I only know that "Bad" Consumer Debt should not be more than 20% per month). What's the general consensus among the informed?
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Dec 4, 2010 11:21
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SolidKZ posted:For example your house is supposed to be 1.5x your salary This number seems wildly inaccurate. Someone who makes $100,000, can afford more than a $150,000 house, unless you're looking to pay it off in a very quick amount of time. The one I've heard thrown around is that your monthly housing payments should be no more than 28% - 30% of your income. Not sure if that's supposed to be gross or net but I used net when I made my own decisions because anything else seemed like it would leave me a little tight when it comes to the amount I wanted to save. I don't know about car. In my own world, the car you can afford is the one you can pay for out of pocket. If you have $40,000 saved up and you want to spend it on a car, that's how much you can spend on a car. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 18:33
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I think the typical ROT for the house price is that your payment (on a 15yr fixed rate loan) should be no more than 25-30% of your net income.
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Dec 5, 2010 04:08
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SolidKZ posted:I've heard several different variations on this concept, but as I understand it, each major purchase is supposed to be a certain percentage of your income, For example your house is supposed to be 1.5x your salary and your car is supposed to be 30%, etc. Dude you are pretty bad at math. 1200 x 12 = 14400, not 43000. Also, should a car be 20% or 30%? If 20% of your gross annual income is $19,000, how could it also be over $35,000? Or maybe your gross annual income is 9 million? (1.5% of 9 million would be $135,000). There may have been a point in that stream-of-consciousness post of yours, but your terrible math has thrown me off.
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Dec 5, 2010 06:51
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FISHMANPET posted:Dude you are pretty bad at math. 1200 x 12 = 14400, not 43000. Also, should a car be 20% or 30%? If 20% of your gross annual income is $19,000, how could it also be over $35,000? Or maybe your gross annual income is 9 million? (1.5% of 9 million would be $135,000). How many 12 month car loans have you ever gotten? 1200*36 (the average car loan) is 43000. I guess my math is terrible if it didn't occur to you to divide 43000 by 1200 before insulting me. - Edit Although I see in retrospect where that might not have been clear enough and it might take effort to decipher my complicated post. I'll simplify it: Is the standard for buying a car 20% of your annual gross ($19,000), or should the car payments on a 36 month loan be 20% of your monthly net($35,000)? Which is more acceptable? Or should I just buy a Koenigsseg SSX because I'm a Gazibillionaire? My Q-Face fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Dec 5, 2010 |
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Dec 5, 2010 09:44
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SolidKZ posted:I'll simplify it: Is the standard for buying a car 20% of your annual gross ($19,000), or should the car payments on a 36 month loan be 20% of your monthly net($35,000)? Which is more acceptable? Or should I just buy a Koenigsseg SSX because I'm a Gazibillionaire? Your monthly car payment can be 20% of your monthly take home. However, that doesn't mean its the standard for buying a car. That is more like the maximum amount you should spend on a car. This calculator has Dave Ramsey's suggested budgetary percentages for major expenses: http://www.webwinder.com/calculators/calcbdgt.html
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Dec 5, 2010 20:44
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KarmaCandy posted:Your monthly car payment can be 20% of your monthly take home. However, that doesn't mean its the standard for buying a car. That is more like the maximum amount you should spend on a car. Those percentages are probably good guidelines, but like any guidelines they are guidelines. For instance, I would be surprised if the average goon is giving 10 to 15% of their salary to their churches and charitable causes. But that's OK, we are probably a younger subset still in school or in the beginning of our careers and families. If you live in a rural area, you will probably likely spend more on transportation and gas, but housing may be cheap. The opposite if you live in the middle of a big city. You might not have a car and transportation will be minimal, but housing not so much. So I guess you can exceed some of those guidelines, as long as you do so deliberately and sacrifice in other areas.
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Dec 6, 2010 02:26
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but this megathread's as good as any. I have an interesting situation. I've spend a while living and working in Europe, and have a European bank account under my name. I have a bit of savings there, and of course it is all in Euros. However, I'm an Australian and am living here in the land down under for the foreseeable future. The exchange rate is abysmal right now (AUD is strong, EUR is weak), but it looks like it is only getting worse. Finance people, what should I do? Should I bite the bullet, transfer most of my EUR to my Aus bank account and convert them into AUD now, or should I sit on them for a year and hope things will get better?
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Dec 7, 2010 07:25
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Morning Bell posted:Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but this megathread's as good as any. How soon do you need the money? If you don't have an immediate use for it, I'd just sit on it. Keep in mind that both sitting on it and transferring it are both currency speculation (unless you're going to spend the money right away).
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Dec 7, 2010 18:56
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I didn't see a thread that would relate to my question and I didn't want to start a new thread so I'm asking it here. A good friend of mine recently broke up with his girlfriend of 6 years. While they were together (~4 years ago) they bought a car. Together. With both of their names. It took both of their names because he has super lovely credit (filed for bankruptcy in his early 20s after purchasing a mobile home with 3 other guys) and she had no credit at all. Needless to say, he's made some bad decisions regarding his credit and this is just one more example of that. She took the car when she left because technically they had gotten it for her and she had made the majority of the payments. Last night he got a letter in the mail, addressed to him, telling him that the loan was in default and if it were not paid they would start the process to repossess the car. He knows the payment was made in September when they were still together so it looks like she's missed 2 payments. They still owe ~$3,000. How bad is this going to be for him? His credit is already crap, I'm sure it can get worse, but not by much. He doesn't have the car and doesn't care if it gets repossessed or not. He doesn't know where she lives, but if they show up with a tow truck he is planning on giving them her work address. Any advice?
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Dec 9, 2010 18:57
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Nione posted:I didn't see a thread that would relate to my question and I didn't want to start a new thread so I'm asking it here. He's hosed. When you co-sign, you are both legally 100% responsible. So if she's not making the payments, it's the same as if he's not making the payments. Get current, or sell the truck and borrow the difference to settle the debt. Chalk it up to being young and stupid.
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Dec 9, 2010 19:06
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Nione posted:I didn't see a thread that would relate to my question and I didn't want to start a new thread so I'm asking it here. Bought a trailer with 3 guys, cosigned a car loan for a girlfriend? Do you think NOW he has learned his lesson? Does he see a pattern? Like BorderPatrol said, he is 100% responsible for the payments, and 100% responsible for any deficiency assuming it does get repossessed. There is almost always a deficiency, but if they only owe $3000 maybe there won’t be, or at least it won’t be that bad. I would tell him to not make payments, but to help the bank find it so they can repo it as quick as possible. They are not required to accept a settlement, but most of them will, so his best bet is to start building up cash to pay for it. He is likely unbankable. It sounds like his credit is more like a trail of destruction; he won’t be able to get a loan to pay the deficiency.
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Dec 9, 2010 19:30
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I'm betting the bills have been going to the dude's house, he ignored them because it's not his car anymore, and she never inquired about them because, hey, out of sight, out of mind. Who wants to pay bills anyway, right?
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Dec 9, 2010 19:35
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Thanks. I think I might contact her and let her know, we were friends when they were together. He's been sending all her mail back to the post office, so I would imagine that would include the bills for the car. They've always paid online in the past, so I imagine he simply assumed she was doing that and having the statement wouldn't really be important. Stupid, stupid people. Thanks BFC, sorry if all this was a bit E/N! And yeah, he knows he's responsible for the money, I was just wondering what they would do to him when he refuses to pay it (which he will).
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Dec 9, 2010 21:01
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Nione posted:Stupid, stupid people. Thanks BFC, sorry if all this was a bit E/N! No apology needed. What I have found is that there is no clean dividing line between  and  and the juiciest e/n is about money. Feel free to elaborate on their horrible breakup!I kind of let it die, but I started a thread of things I saw people do with money. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3337012
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Dec 9, 2010 21:43
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Zeta Taskforce posted:No apology needed. All of his e/n is about money. If money didn't exist, he would be completely rational 90% of the time. The trailer story is actually much more than the breakup. They were together 6 years, she wanted to leave, she left, he's getting over it. Of course, having your ex totally screw you financially when you've decided to SEVER is a bit counterproductive when it comes to getting over it.Now the trailer, there's a good story. He was 20 or 21, him and his 3 best HS buddies decide to buy a trailer in the middle of nowhere for the low price of $30,000 (we're talking meth county, Missouri here). It goes in his name since he's the oldest, longest employed, etc. They all pay the first month on time. After that they start buying paintball guns, video games, sporting goods, new cameras, pot, alcohol, etc. and he's the only one still working full time and paying the mortgage. I would say the trailer lasted about 6-9 months before they had to leave and he had to file for bankruptcy. But 10 years later we're all still talking about "that one time I got super hosed up at the trailer and passed out in the bathroom." This is the ideal example of why you shouldn't buy a home with 3 other people who are not yet of legal drinking age (if for some reason you were considering it and have something seriously wrong with you). Did I mention he spent 7 years working as a collections agent and was really good at it? He knows about finances, I guess a bankruptcy at 21 will do that to you, so I'm lost as to why he thought this car loan was a good idea. AHH, LOVE.
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Dec 9, 2010 22:00
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How does it affect your credit to have inconsistent income? I have two jobs, both paid hourly and both variable. When putting my yearly income on forms, should I just take the average of my last six paychecks and extrapolate it to a year or something?
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Dec 10, 2010 06:19
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ejstheman posted:How does it affect your credit to have inconsistent income? I have two jobs, both paid hourly and both variable. When putting my yearly income on forms, should I just take the average of my last six paychecks and extrapolate it to a year or something? No effect on credit score, but will effect DTI which usually determines how much credit they wil give you. For most unsecured (and even some secured) debt, this is not really verified, so you can exagerate a little, but keep in mind that it can bite you in the rear end if you ever need to file bankruptcy.
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Dec 10, 2010 13:16
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I made a bunch of 18-year-old credit mistakes years ago and am currently doing what I can to fix it. I currently have $228 in debt on a secured credit card with a $300 limit. A few months ago, my card was near-maxed out when the interest charge hit and put me over my limit ($303.00). The secured card reports to all three CRA's and has never been late, but it has been near maxed the entire time. I'm paying it completely off in the first week of January and leaving it at zero. My question is, I can increase my own limit in increments of $100. As far as being "over limit" on my credit limit, would adding another $100 (bringing it to a $400 limit) to my limit make it look like I never was? I don't think it'd be that easy. The card is with U.S. Bank. I assume since its secured that I have to keep my checking account open. What about if/when the credit card goes unsecured? Could I close my checking account then? I'm very dissatisfied and my job qualifies me for a CU account so I'm taking my money there. If I have to keep it open, I can and will. edit: clarified some words
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Dec 13, 2010 00:04
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2508084 posted:I made a bunch of 18-year-old credit mistakes years ago and am currently doing what I can to fix it. I currently have $228 in debt on a secured credit card with a $300 limit. A bunch? One credit card with less than $300 isn't so bad. quote:A few months ago, my card was near-maxed out when the interest charge hit and put me over my limit ($303.00). The secured card reports to all three CRA's and has never been late, but it has been near maxed the entire time. I'm paying it completely off in the first week of January and leaving it at zero. My question is, I can increase my own limit in increments of $100. As far as being "over limit" on my credit limit, would adding another $100 (bringing it to a $400 limit) to my limit make it look like I never was? I don't think it'd be that easy. Okay, I'm no expert, but looking at what creditkarma.com has told me about my own credit, Your month-to-month balance is not reported. The only things that get reported are late payments, current credit card balance and utilization percentage. That is, what percentage of your total available credit is your card balance? If you paid it off today, your credit score next month would reflect 0% utilization. Ideally you want it at less than 20%, so raising your credit limit by $100 won't do anything but give you more rope to hang yourself with. The difference between 60% utilization and 50% utilization doesn't affect your credit score that much. In other words, don't raise the limit, it won't do anything positive for you. (If you could raise it to $1000 or more, that would be a different story, but don't do that. If you couldn't manage significant payments on $300, you won't be able to pay the minimums on a $1000 balance). quote:The card is with U.S. Bank. I assume since its secured that I have to keep my checking account open. What about if/when the credit card goes unsecured? Could I close my checking account then? I'm very dissatisfied and my job qualifies me for a CU account so I'm taking my money there. If I have to keep it open, I can and will. It depends. How much past 18 years old are you? How long have you had the accounts? If it's not more than 2 or 3 years, Close the Bank and Credit Card accounts and see if the Credit Union will give you a credit card with a similar limit. They'll certainly give you a better interest rate.
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Dec 13, 2010 04:18
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SolidKZ posted:A bunch? One credit card with less than $300 isn't so bad. quote:Okay, I'm no expert, but looking at what creditkarma.com has told me about my own credit, Your month-to-month balance is not reported. The only things that get reported are late payments, current credit card balance and utilization percentage. That is, what percentage of your total available credit is your card balance? If you paid it off today, your credit score next month would reflect 0% utilization. quote:In other words, don't raise the limit, it won't do anything positive for you. (If you could raise it to $1000 or more, that would be a different story, but don't do that. If you couldn't manage significant payments on $300, you won't be able to pay the minimums on a $1000 balance). I can manage the payments fine, my income is enough to cover everything I have and have money left over. I'm paying the whole thing off on January and leaving it there so I don't have to deal with the monthly CC payment anymore. quote:It depends. How much past 18 years old are you? How long have you had the accounts? If it's not more than 2 or 3 years, Close the Bank and Credit Card accounts and see if the Credit Union will give you a credit card with a similar limit. They'll certainly give you a better interest rate. I just didn't know that since my balances do report, would raising the limit make it look better. I never really thought of the balance reporting being unusual, maybe because its a secured card and not unsecured? Thanks for the fast response  edit: double checked my screen caps of my credit reports and Experian is the only one listing monthly balances. Transunion and Equifax dont, they just list credit limit and high balance. High balance being 303$ with a credit limit of 300$. I just hoped upping it to 400$ would change it to high balance, 303$, credit limit 400$ and make me not look bad 
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Dec 13, 2010 04:43
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2508084 posted:5k in medical debt (which has disappeared off my credit report for no reason, but that post is in the Ask/Tell debt collectors thread) and 2 defaulted unsecured cards (about 2k) from 18-21. I'm 24 now. I’m not going to hit you too hard because at my job people who have credit 10 times longer than you do the same thing all the time, and that is obsessing about the wrong stuff. I don’t have special insight on the algorithm FICO uses, but I would guess having a maxed out $300 secured card is bringing you down by 25 or 35 points. If they are tracking your balances, whether they report the high balance in association with a $300 limit or a $400 limit is practically a rounding error. Having unpaid credit cards that have gone to collection is worth 150 points. Nothing much will happen to your credit until they are paid or settled. I think your money is better spent piling up cash and offering them settlements, or paying them outright if you can afford to do that. Trust me when I say this, but if you were coming to me for a loan, I probably won’t even notice if your little secured card is maxed out. I very much will care about unpaid collection accounts.
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Dec 13, 2010 15:26
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Having unpaid credit cards that have gone to collection is worth 150 points. Nothing much will happen to your credit until they are paid or settled. I think your money is better spent piling up cash and offering them settlements, or paying them outright if you can afford to do that. Oh, I'm very aware my credit was demolished by that. I believe my score sits somewhere in the low 500's. I've been working on getting it taken care of though the debt collectors A/T thread by Cubswoo. If it doesn't get taken off through DV's, I will be contacting them for settlements and such. I didn't figure it'd be a bad thing to build new, good, credit while in the process of getting rid of, or taking care of, the bad stuff? edit: This is from the other thread, but in regards to my 5k of medical debt, it actually disappeared off my credit report before I started disputing everything on it. I still have no idea why it's not there anymore. The hospital and the collection agency are gone from all 3 CRA reports as of 11/11 like it never happened. Long shot that maybe someone here knows why? Its absolutely baffling. ladyweapon fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Dec 13, 2010 |
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Dec 13, 2010 21:04
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2508084 posted:Oh, I'm very aware my credit was demolished by that. I believe my score sits somewhere in the low 500's. I've been working on getting it taken care of though the debt collectors A/T thread by Cubswoo. If it doesn't get taken off through DV's, I will be contacting them for settlements and such. I didn't figure it'd be a bad thing to build new, good, credit while in the process of getting rid of, or taking care of, the bad stuff? Its probably not a bad thing, just that until everything else gets resolved, the upside potential for anything else you do is very limited. If I were you, I would not try too hard to outsmart the FICO algorithm. Your head will spin if you think about all the positive and negative impacts of anything you might do. If they pulled your credit to open the secured card, that was a small negative. It is a new account, which is also a negative. It is current, that is a positive. The positive reporting is more recent than the negative reporting, which is good. The card is maxed out, which is a negative. I don’t know if this tug-of-war has helped you in the short term or not. Maybe it did. Long term it will if it stays current. I would not open up anything else until you clear the bad stuff. The only thing I do know for certain is that time is your only friend (on FICO matters).
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Dec 13, 2010 21:35
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Zeta Taskforce posted:I would not open up anything else until you clear the bad stuff. The only thing I do know for certain is that time is your only friend (on FICO matters). Great, thanks! I have plenty of time. By March 11, all this should be taken care of completely and I don't need anything I can't pay for in cash. The card is going to zero in January, then staying there unless some ridiculous emergency comes up.
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Dec 13, 2010 21:45
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Not sure if this is a good place to ask this or not - but I don't want to make a new thread if I don't have to. I'm looking in to starting an LLC for a small business / hobby I'd like to start. Nothing fancy, or something I could live off of, but I'd like to be able to separate certain things from me personally - and I've been told forming an LLC is a good way of doing it. I've did some research on it, read the Wikipedia pages, took a look at various state incorporation websites and information. But I'm wondering if anyone has any tips about doing it, using a lawyer or going it alone (legalzoom? etc.), or which state would be best. I keep reading it would be better to pick a state like Delaware or Nevada because of their tax structure and related fees.
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Dec 13, 2010 22:32
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Untagged posted:I keep reading it would be better to pick a state like Delaware or Nevada because of their tax structure and related fees. I don't really know anything to help you out, but I look over countless 10-k's at work and many many many of them are incorporated in Delaware and Nevada. I'm not sure of the tax implications exactly, but I'm sure they all benefit greatly from it.
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Dec 13, 2010 22:41
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2508084 posted:Great, thanks! Cool. Anything in particular you are trying to do in March, 2011? Try not to open any more accounts until you need to. Again, I don't know the algorithm, but its probably one of those deals where one positive tradeline gives you 80% of the benefit, the next would be way less, and anything after almost insignificant. Might also be a good idea to keep a low balance, like less than $100 that you pay off every month rather than zero balance with zero activity. If you can conduct the rest of your life with cash, more power to you and I won't stop you, but it's also easier said than done.
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Dec 14, 2010 02:27
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Cool. Anything in particular you are trying to do in March, 2011? By February the two DV's I sent (well 1 sent, 1 being sent on Wednesday) will have required a response. If neither respond, then I have to contact the CRA's and tell them to remove the debt from my record since they didn't validate. If one, or both, validate, I'll work out a settlement and pay them off. It shouldn't take longer than March. quote:Try not to open any more accounts until you need to. quote:Might also be a good idea to keep a low balance, like less than $100 that you pay off every month rather than zero balance with zero activity. quote:If you can conduct the rest of your life with cash, more power to you and I won't stop you, but it's also easier said than done. I'm already pretty "cash only." My city is small enough that biking and the bus gets me anywhere I need to go. When I transfer to Uni it'll be in the Bay Area (or a city of similar size and layout) so having a car then would be absolutely ridiculous too. I don't actually own a car right now and for all the headaches cars have caused me, I don't want to own a car. My paychecks cover all my bills and then some. I can't think of a single thing I want thats worth 22% (or is it 26%?) interest.
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Dec 14, 2010 07:25
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2508084 posted:Month-to-month balances are listed on my most recent (10/11) credit report as well as the high balance. Credit SCORE and Credit REPORT are not the same thing. The Score is what matters, unless you're trying to get a security clearance or your score is too low for whatever you're trying to do, in which case they might look at your credit report. 2508084 posted:I believe my score sits somewhere in the low 500's. https://www.creditkarma.com/ Here, it's free.
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Dec 14, 2010 07:51
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Newbie tax/paycheck question: My understanding of paychecks with most (all?) companies is that they deduct taxes for each check based on the premise that you'll be earning that same amount as that paycheck throughout the year. My question is: do they base the tax rate on if you're filing singly or jointly or what? Because it seems like that would affect the tax rate quite a bit.
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Dec 14, 2010 22:18
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Cicero posted:Newbie tax/paycheck question: My understanding of paychecks with most (all?) companies is that they deduct taxes for each check based on the premise that you'll be earning that same amount as that paycheck throughout the year. My question is: do they base the tax rate on if you're filing singly or jointly or what? Because it seems like that would affect the tax rate quite a bit. You determine the rate yourself based on how many allowances you claim on your W-4. 0 allowances would result in more withheld as opposed to 3 allowances for say you, a spouse, and a child.
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Dec 14, 2010 22:42
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|Ziggy| posted:You determine the rate yourself based on how many allowances you claim on your W-4. 0 allowances would result in more withheld as opposed to 3 allowances for say you, a spouse, and a child.
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Dec 15, 2010 00:02
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This thread seemed like a good starting point to ask, but I'm getting conflicting stories (in person and google) on the most efficient way to set a programmable thermostat. I'm sure the same will happen here, but hopefully someone has an irrefutable source they can provide me with. Our thermostat is currently set like this: 5:15-7:15 AM : 64 7:15AM-3:45PM: 54 3:45-9:45 PM : 64 9:45PM-7:15AM: 54 Our apartment is heated by natural gas and a forced air system. My question is obviously, is this the cheapest way to set the thermostat? Or is it cheaper to say do 64 and 59 so that heater doesn't have to work as hard to get the house back up to 64?
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Dec 15, 2010 19:19
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Lyon posted:This thread seemed like a good starting point to ask, but I'm getting conflicting stories (in person and google) on the most efficient way to set a programmable thermostat. I'm sure the same will happen here, but hopefully someone has an irrefutable source they can provide me with. drat, you keep it cold. I would say that you would do better by putting plastic on the windows and whatever you gain by having it at 54 isn’t worth it.
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Dec 15, 2010 19:46
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Lyon posted:My question is obviously, is this the cheapest way to set the thermostat? Or is it cheaper to say do 64 and 59 so that heater doesn't have to work as hard to get the house back up to 64? Furnaces work more efficiently the longer they're on, so you're better off making the furnace work longer by having it heat up the place by 10 degrees instead of 5. You also may want to look into moving into an apartment that is smaller/has better insulation to reduce your heating bill in the future. Those will matter a lot more than keeping the place at 54 vs 59.
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Dec 15, 2010 21:28
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