For the first time in several years, I have two housemates. In the past few weeks, we’ve gotten embroiled in a heated discussion about the temperature of our apartment. I like to sleep with the heat at around 60. When I’m home during the day, I set it to 66, or possibly 68, but no higher. The two guys I live with would like it a few degrees warmer, which is hellish for me. I guess I’ll be sleeping with the window open all winter…
How warm are your homes? Are guys usually colder than gals?
I love the cold. When it is just a few degrees too warm, I am extremely uncomforable. I live in an apartment, and the heat seems to be pouring out when I least need it, but shut off on the truly frigid days.
Last night I slept with the window open and the fan on.
And in case you aren’t sure, I am not a girl.
MR
My house is not very warm right now. The heat was off over Thanksgiving, and the landlady was away. Got it fixed when she returned. Now it’s off again, and the landlady’s out of town for a couple of weeks. (I’m not complaining [sub]much[/sub]. I like my landlady and she takes care of problems right away. The timing is just sucky.)
Normally, I like a warm house when I go to sleep (about 72F) and turn it down during the day when I am not there.
(former)Roommate would keep the temperature at 55F to 60F (meaning the airconditioning was running all night, summer and winter) AND keep a fan on ‘high’ directed right at the bed, blowing right across my face (and would have kept the windows open too, if possible). I bought extra blankets.
I leave the heat at 80 degrees all night. If it’s any lower I have the sniffles when I wake up. My brother is the same way. I wish we could stand a lower temp, to save money on the gas bill!
This is a conversation I’ve had a lot, so here goes:
I like it coldish - left to myself, I will set the thermostat on 66 and occasionally open the window because it’s gotten too hot. [yes, I’m female.]
I have guy friends who never turn on the heat and leave their windows wide open.
I also know one whose room was always so warm that I couldn’t stay there for extended periods of time.
Most of the female friends I have have their thermostats set around 70 or 72. [The one part of getting my roommate back next semester that I am dreading. At least she sleeps on the top bunk.]
72* when you go to sleep? Egads? That’s old people temperatures.
During the day, the house is at about 65-67. At night, because my husband ( Mr. Polar Bear) is concerned for our daughter and not wanting her to freeze, jacks up the thermostat to about 71. ( I usually wake up in a sweat and crack a window open.) HOWEVER , he puts his heir to bed wearing just and undershirt and diaper, dispite my heir going to bed in a sleeper.
(Last winter, due to the joys of gestating, the temp was kept at around 62 because anything warmer and I cannot breath. I also slept with the window open all winter long.) Our propane and electric bills were nil last winter.
We keep our house at about 65 during the day and drop it down to 60 at night. The kids all have cozy jammies and blanket sleepers so they are comfy. And I can’t sleep at all if the temp is above 70, so I love it cold at night. Plus, with the way gas prices are going this year, I’ll put on a sweatshirt before I crank the heat up. Who knew I would become my father?
I would love my apartment to be about 65 when I am home, and a little cooler at night. However, I live in an old building that was once a very large private home, and each apartment does not have its own thermostat. I am at the mercy of the landlord, who sets the heat to about ten billion degrees (OK, it must be about 80 if not more). All the other residents like it that way. I have my windows open all the time, and often a fan going.
The worst part is that I still must pay 1/4 of the heating bill, even though I have begged not to have this much heat. Thankfully heating prices in my area are fairly low, so this is not really a huge burden, it’s just annoying.
My house is 6 years old and super insulated. I live in the midwest. In the summer we set the thermostat on about 72 and in the winter about 68 for the day and about 64-65 at night. I like the bedroom cool but I hate getting up to a cold house. I also keep the waterbed temp about 88 or so.
For temporary flucuations in temperature, I just turn on the ceiling fans that are in each room.
I like it cool. I can’t sleep if the temp is over 60F. I find that temps over 75F during the day make me drip. I spent most of a Minnesota winter with half of my apartment windows open because I couldn’t figure out how to regulate the radiators.
My mother has ice water for blood. She has to have it in the mid-70s to even be comfortable and constantly acts as if I’m going to freeze into a solid block of ice because my room is (mercifully) unheated. I laugh at her…my philosophy is that if it gets too cold, you can always throw on another blanket, but if it gets too hot you’re basically stuck once you get down to skin.
I’ve noticed that the women that I work with (and it doesn’t seem to matter where I work, it’s the same) need to have it be at least in the mid-70s to be even at the bottom level of comfortable. It kills me…I’m working at my desk with beads of sweat on my forehead from the heat and the woman in the cubicle beside me is complaining about how cold it is!
Oh, I have been there!
For five years I lived in a one room appartment with my heat controlled by a 90 year old woman. It was no less than 90 in my place every day of the year.
Now I have moved (actually, I live in the aforesaid old woman’s appartment now…) I keep the temprature sane. It’s set at 60. If I get cold I’ll turn it up to 66. At night I still sleep with only a sheet and the window open. I just can’t sleep comfortably when it’s warm. If it gets too chilly, I’ll climb under my girlfriend’s flannel comforter, or any of the 3 other blankets she’s got piled on top of herself. 
I am female and live in Vermont.
60 degrees?? I’m shivering just thinking about it!
We keep the temperature between 68 and 71 year round. I wear short sleeves and pants indoors, and if doing so makes me either too hot or too cold, I change the thermostat. It is a pleasure to do, knowing that I can.
Growing up, though, I’d swear my parents kept the temp at 60 overnight. I slept in two layers of pajamas (long underwear and regular wool pajamas) and socks, a blanket wrapped around me mummy-style, with a sheet and a comforter on top of it all. Later, I got an electric blanket and what a godsend that was.
I think my body temperature gets abnormally low or something when I sleep. I can be dozing on the couch, and notice myself getting uncomfortably colder, and I can’t sleep without something covering me, even if it’s just a sheet in summer.
I live in the Boston area, and I keep the thermostat between 55 and 60 at night and when I’m not home. Anything higher than 60 at night and I wake up in the morning with a headache and am really groggy. I can sleep comfortably in temps as low as 45. I’m most comfortable with lots of blankets in a cold room. (Summers are miserable for me unless there is a stiff breeze or rain at night)
While I am home and awake I like it between 65 and 70, though we never turn on half the radiators. The one in our bedroom hasn’t been turned on for 4 years now. We have ancient steam radiators in each room that crank out a LOT of heat. Way too much.
Hmmm. So far it looks like the guys prefer cooler tempertures, while the women are pretty much evenly divided between warm and cool. (Assuming I guessed sex correctly, that is.) Perhaps I’ll show this thread to my housemate so he can see that I’m not a freak for sleeping with the heat turned down…
My house is usually about 65 degrees during the day and about 60 at night. My SO likes it cold.
I am more comfortable at about 80 during the day. But, I let him keep it cold and just wear more clothes. I have a blanket on the back of the couch for when I watch TV.
I don’t care how cold it is at night. The more blankets I have on me when I sleep the happier I am. My SO bought me a little space heater for my bathroom/dressing area so I can warm it up in the morning when I get up. Isn’t he sweet?
I live in northern Minnesota, and keep my thermostat at 60 pretty much all the time. It’s a little cool for just sitting around watching TV, but I almost never do that. Most of my friends think I’m an Eskimo. I think it’s largely about how active you are and what temperature you’re used to, although I’m sure that some things like metabolism play into it as well.
None of this fiddlin’ around with the day and night and summer and winter stuff for me.
The thermostat stays at 68 degrees all the time. Never touch it. Of course, I don’t have A/C, so that makes it easier.
Gotta have it cool in my house to sleep–it’s usually around 60° or so at night, and I have about 2 quilts that I have on the bed. My BF usually has a third blanket with him, so if I ever do get cold, I can curl up next to him.
I love the winter–it’s the only time I ever seem to get a really good night’s sleep.
I prefer the temperature warmer during the day (minimum 23 in summer, higher in winter to account for loss), but fairly cold at night (16-18 is comfortable). I can’t sleep if my face is too warm; the rest of me has to be toasty.
I cherish programmable thermostats. I like the room to already be warm in the winter when I have to get up. I despise air conditioners; even when set to the above-mentioned temps, they’re still too chilly.
But I’m just weird.
I keep the thermostat at a romantic 69. We lower it some at night - it’s easier to sleep when it’s a little cooler in the house.
I have the same problem as jayjay - I’m nice and comfortable in my cube, and the ladies are always cold. At least they lock the thermostats at work, and tell people to wear a sweater if they’re cold.