I live in a damp climate and I refuse to turn the heat on.. I just wear layers and drink tea.

I am fortunate to have a fireplace. I love these coffee bean fire logs call Java logs, they don't make a mess and smoke out the place like wood (making my white paint black) better for the environment not cutting down trees.
They are recycled spent coffee grounds keeps them from ending up in landfills and produces far fewer emissions than wood or artificial logs. I have made my local corner store carry them and get rid of those Duraflames.
http://www.java-log.com/

I miss keeping the windows cracked during the winter with the radiator on. I seriously loved that. TN has the perfect seasons, IMO.

Now I live in a climate that doesn't get a proper winter, you are never quite comfortable enough to crack the windows, and use our fireplaces as storage for candles.

Sigh...I'm so tired of Florida.

I honestly love some 18 degree weather. I think I prefer the option of bundling up and wearing layers, opposed to not being able to remove enough clothing to breath comfortably.

I always wash dishes by hand...which reminds me of watching the Autumn leaves dance to the ground from my kitchen sink window. I am so homesick, folks. :(

Enjoy it!!!

I just put on the flannel sheets last night, to stave off having to put on the electric blanket.

However, with my mom on dialysis and with a blood thinner in her, she's ALWAYS cold. She has the heat on, but not noticeably (especially upstairs), and still sits downstairs with a turtleneck, sweater, a fleece poncho and three afghans on her.

We've tried everything to help her, from a giant fleece robe to hunter's socks, to an electric blanket for the couch. She either disregards them or makes excuses why they won't "do" for her.

When it comes to saving some money though, we're going to have to do without as much heat this year, our expenses are too tight.

it started this morning - as soon as we figured out how to put a battery in the digital thermometer. Before that, it was pretty cold. What would we do without heat?
Tabitha - http://www.fromsingletomarried.com

ps - that should have read digital thermostat. Not thermometer. I'm so glad it's Friday!

Despite having lived in Chicago my entire life, I HATE the cold. I'll take a muggy 95 degree day over a crisp 60 degree day anytime! I never put on my a/c during the summer, except in rare instances, but I have the heat blazin during the winter. On the coldest days I always have the heat up around 90. Thank goodness I live in an apartment where the heat is included AND I get to control it! I won't live anywhere that I can't control the heat.

my recent apartment has radiator heat (the last two years my previous apartment had gas-forced air) and i couldn't be happier. i've missed the clanging and the dry heat. because i don't always control the heat it is sometimes downright frigid in my apartment. i take these opportunites to roast vegetables, or bake--the house gets warmer and i have something good to eat as well! as for sleeping i wear a hoodie to bed and remove it as i get nice and toasty under my mountain of blankets. ahhhh, there's nothing like a chicago winter...

in college, i ran my blowdryer for a couple minutes then dressed in a hurry.

We haven't turned our heat on yet. I'm due to give birth in five weeks and am constantly uncomfortable warm... even when it's in the 40s at night! My husband is wonderfully good natured about it all though. Aside from us joking about how my constant rise in temperature is saving us on our heating bill, I make sure that his side of the bed has more than enough blankets -- I'm perfectly fine with just a top sheet these days! Just 5 more weeks and hopefully I'll respond to drops in temperature like a normal person again. :)

amiencc, I am the polar opposite of you! Literally! For me, the colder the better. I'll turn the heat on if it's 60* or below in my house, but not before. And I run the a/c year round in my car on the lowest setting. In my house, I'll keep the a/c on set at 75 (the warmest I can stand it) until it's cooler outside, then the doors and windows are open all the time unless it's raining outside.

I should live someplace colder... Ah, to be back in the snow. I come by it honestly. My dad went to Northwestern for college and would sleep with his bed under the open window and occasionally wake up with snow in his ear - a sign of a good morning!

LilyC--
Yikes! Snow in his ear! Well I guess he was healthy and had a robust constitution though.. I personally don't take to the cold too well, but it seems to me that people who do, and like it, are usually blessed with a strong make up. .. I do think I might miss the northeast weather if I moved somewhere warmer though, as I do appreciate the 4 seasons and the freshness of the Fall. We turned the heat on for the first time this morning just to take the edge off... and my 18 yr. old cat is using me as her warmer! Other than that I also dress in layers (in the house), socks are a must, lots of blankets, heavier curtains, lots of cooking in the stove, especially soups!

my dog is the king of cozy. he comes in handy in the colder months. and so does the cat!

In ma apartment building (with readiators) heating season started 2 nights ago, unfortunatelly with leaking readiator in my kitchen HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM thank god its not so cold yet!...

If it was up to me, I would have turned the heat on days ago!! But my apartment building has central heat (so we just pay for electricity to run the blowers) and it's still set on air-conditioning! It takes a few weeks to transition.
This happens every time the seasons change, and I end up dealing with it using a space heater. I love how much money I save on heating and cooling overall, but I do miss having control over when I switch from a/c to heat.

I just put flannel sheets on our bed last night and have been drinking hot tea for about a week.

I have something in common with Heidi -- my bf is on dialysis as well, which means he's cold just like her mom. Thankfully he's been more receptive to electric blankets and layers, plus he's enjoying the bounty of my lifelong fetish for blankets.

This is interesting, because I came home from work tonight, read the thermostat at 58 and decided it was time to put on the heat. Only, the thermostat is very testy, and the heat won't come on. It is not uncommon, in upstate NY, to experience flurries in October. I would say mid-October is heat season. I am glad the thermostat is being grumpy tonight, because I needed to think twice and invite the dog to sit on the couch with me!

Here in Madison, we've just had our first few days of cooler weather. My landlord just turned on he heat this morning (I have radiators) and I'm actually kind of dissapointed. I love lighting candles, making tea and curling up with a blanket and a kitty.

My favorite time of year! I grew up in Michigan and we always have had a woodstove and would use that to heat the house. I miss the woodstove, dry heat always felt good. Now, I live in NC. I turn the heat on until December or January. I just add layers and a heating blanket, if that! I usually have the window cracked at night because I have always slept better when the room was cold. I miss the fall back home!

I'm lucky - I live in Colorado and it stays pretty warm where I am at (not in the mountains) and my apartment is on the first floor, with southern exposure. It fills with sunlight all day, and then as the sun sets, it cools off. I think I used my airconditioning 3 times this summer...just to get air moving. I haven't had to use the heat yet, it's still pretty warm here, 70 out right now....

I had this same problem with my last landlord. On particularly cold days, I'd light a bunch or candles, and that would usually warm things up a bit (noticeably, at least). Snuggling in bed with a cat is good too.

Once, I used my bread machine to make bread... in my bedroom (a very long ways from the kitchen in my weird apartment), which was a wonderfully insane thing to do. It wasn't that much warmer, but it smelled delicious and made me feel warm.

Soup for dinner would probably be helpful too. I always feel overheated when I eat soup.

For anyone else in this situation, it would be helpful to look up your city/state's laws on the matter, because once it gets to a certain temperature, landlords are often required to turn the heat on, and many landlords will ignore this if it will save them a few bucks. Something to think about.

I laughed when I read the Oct 5 2008 comment from Colorado.
My first year here, that was first snow date.
I'm in the Denver metro, but the weather is foothill-like.

I'm cheap. Seriously cheap. Showering in a 57-degree bathroom cheap.
But I'm moving to a heat paid apartment with a programable thermostat. Yay.
Still, there's no need to force heating, so I use a portable heater in the bathroom and refuse to turn on the heat until the temps are lower 40s. And I'll turn it off when it rises.
Blankets, baking, soup/beans simmering all day, slippers and snuggling --solo or not --in the down comforter make transition days oh so much better.