Amy in NY Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 We switched from oil to wood 3 1/2 winters ago and it is a very good thing. Based on current prices, it would cost us almost $5000 to heat our 1500 square foot home this winter with oil. OUCH. Now wood has started going up as well. I didn't order our wood until today and it won't be delivered until September - GREEN wood, that is, for the 2009-2010 winter. It is up to $170/cord unseasoned. The guy we buy from (same guy every year and he is very good to us) can't price me any seasoned wood until the fall but said it was going to have to go up a lot for him to be able to afford to deliver it. I paid $200 per cord last year so I can only guess that is is going to be around $300 this year at the minimum. And while I shudder at paying $300+ per cord for wood, I can't imagine trying to figure out how to pay for oil if we were still heating with it. The effect of the price per barrel is simply unreal and mind-boggling. So, those of you who heat with oil, what do you think you'll have to pay? And those with wood, what are the going prices in your area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 I think our propane is 3.50 a gall. We have a 400 gal tank and two heaters. I dont even want to think about it yet. I am so glad we are not using any heat right now. Jet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeri Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 I bet at least $4.50! Last year we locked in at $2.50! Can';t believe that! Our lock in expires on 7/30. I'm almost thinking about looking into buying another tank and then doing a huge oil fill before 7/30! Like you, we also use a lot of wood, but our layout is different and we can only heat about 1/2 our house with our woodstove :( Also, we heat our hot water with oil! But I am a huge wood scavenger and so far we have managed to get all our wood for free! (Well, we have bought a chain saw and we do pay crazy prices for keeping my dh's truck in working order.) My kids get embarrassed with me because I will see a tree down then park the van and walk up to ask the house owner if we can cut up the tree! So far we have about 5 cords lined up, most of it seasoned at least one year. Fleece and wool will be a good investment this year . . . jeri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandamom Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 licensed firewood dealers last year so we had to pay about 225/cord. But since I'm 10 minutes from another state we went there and bought some significantly cheaper. I'm thinking I should try and get some wood pretty quickly before we're competing with everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Hahah, Amy. Come on over. We have a huge pine that got hit by lightening and is still in out front yard in our posh subdivision!!!! It's never going to move on its own!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 of it coming down. I had followed it for three weeks and decided I'd better dive in while the price was low. It cost us $600.00, $200 more then last year, to fill our tank. We put a lock on it. At least we have oil for this winter. I'm not sure what next year (Fall '09) will hold, but I'm not worrying about that now. The oil company won't let anybody lock in anymore because they were losing so much money. I called back three weeks after we filled up to see what the price was and it was $4.75/gal then. I sighed with relief that I had made the right decision. I haven't checked lately but I'm pretty sure it's not gone down. I'm glad you switched to wood. We may have to do that in Fall 2009. I shutter to think what wood will cost then. A friend paid $75/cord this winter for seasoned wood. We're in NC so at least it's not too cold for very long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Wow! We are all electric, and those seem like big amounts. We have our electric and water/sewer on the same bill each month. Our electric in the winter is probably $130-140 in the coldest months(Jan-Feb), but it will be $80-90 in months like Nov and March. We do live near Atlanta, but we have cold natured kids. Our house is about 1850 sq. feet. My bill for May was only $127 and that was water, sewer, and electric. Amy of GA Darin's wife for 17 years 11yo dd 5yo ds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 anybody has posted that they have trees already cut down and are offering for you to come and get the wood. I found someone tonight. Yay! You never know what you'll find on Craigslist. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Hahah, Amy. Come on over. We have a huge pine that got hit by lightening and is still in out front yard in our posh subdivision!!!! It's never going to move on its own!! Some friends of ours listed their downed tree as 'chop your own firewood' on freecycle and got rid of it really quickly. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoughCollie Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 I think we will pay over $1000 a month for home heating oil. We are going to insulate the attic, doors and windows, hoping to save some money. We've looked at alternative energy sources and they are not feasible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 We just finished getting an electric hot water heater put in and cut off the power to the boiler which was heating all our hot water. We are going to try to get through the winter on one tank (500 gallons) by lowering the thermostat and supplementing with wood. We are also getting our attic and crawl space insulated. Not having to run the furnace to heat the water for the plumbing will help a lot. We are getting wood from some friends who have a 5 acre forest. I don't know how much it will cost yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 in the middle of the living room. But it is probably against some stupid building code.:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Well, I don't fall under your specifications (neither wood or oil). We have natural gas heating (water radiators). Our bill is combined gas & electric. In the winter time it's 300-400 / mo. (In the summer time it's 75 / mo -- we don't have A/C.) Our house is large and OLD (i.e. insullation was non-existant at the time). DH has spent a good portion of time in the last couple of years trying to "winterize" our house. (We've lived here almost 3 years now.) I remember our first winter we had bills in the 750 / mo range!:eek: But, out of curiousity, you didn't say how many cords of wood you go through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie in Oh Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 to the tune of $5000. We live on a wooded lot (3 acres of woods) and we have about 2-3 cords already in the barn. We have propane for the old part of our house and electric in the addition. We are hoping to not use very much propane this year with the wood. We are hoping to pay off our wood stove in 2 years. We gor capped with propane last year at 2.49. I hear they are capping people at 2.69 right now. When we rented we had oil and we paid 3000 that year for a 1500 sq ft house. It is by far the worst, but I think everything is eventually going to catch up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom'sGirl Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 We got an outdoor woodburner last fall and I so love it over having an indoor woodstove. We had moved last summer and got a late start on wood gathering so dh bought a large truck load of wood to supplement what he got and I think it was about $150. With that exception, we always get out own wood. He is very comfortable using a chainsaw and has completed several training classes using chainsaws through his job. The woodburner was not cheap. It probably cost us about $8000 to get it in and we already had hot water baseboard heat set up in the house. With the cost of fuel oil it will pay for itself real soon if not already. DH decided to keep it going over the summer for hot tap water and it uses very little wood. For this, we get free slab wood from the local Amish. The fuel oil tank still has the oil that was in it when we moved in and we will only need it if we need to put the boiler on. There are many sources for wood around here. DH works for the public works department and they have a yard across from their shop where they dump wood that landowners don't want when trees fall or are to near the road. DH will also stop at houses where a tree is lying in the yard and ask if he could cut it up and haul it away for them. His motto is "It never hurts to ask." This is probably way more info than you asked for but I'm happy with this wood burner but we do pay with our time and backs. I don't think I would use wood if I had to buy all of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 to start looking for wood sources now before the mad rush begins in the fall. It's hard to think about heating our homes right now when it's HOT outside, but it might just save a bundle of money. I can't imagine paying $1000 a month to heat my house. Yikes! If that were me, I think I'd have to figure out a way to buy a woodstove. In less than five months, you'd have it paid for. I saw on the internet the other day that some woodstove dealers take 90 day payment plans. HTH! Molly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 We paid $3.05 a gallon (or however it's measured). The $3.05 was the discount spring rate. We use about 2 1/2 tanks through the winter. That means it will cost us somewhere between $1500 and $2000, depending on how cold it get this winter. (we live in a large Victorian home that is over 100 years old, translation: very little insulation) I tried keeping the heat at 64 last winter, but it end up affecting my hands and feet too much, despite how many layers I wore. We ended up keeping it at 67 during the day, 58 at night. The "climate change" has been giving us warmer and warmer winters, right now that feels like a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisN in NY Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 So, those of you who heat with oil, what do you think you'll have to pay? And those with wood, what are the going prices in your area? I. Don't. Even. Want. To. Think. About. It. Last year we paid $243/month (budget). I wouldn't be surprised if it was double that, unfortunately. :willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julesmama3 Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Wow! We are all electric, and those seem like big amounts. We have our electric and water/sewer on the same bill each month. Our electric in the winter is probably $130-140 in the coldest months(Jan-Feb), but it will be $80-90 in months like Nov and March. We do live near Atlanta, but we have cold natured kids. Our house is about 1850 sq. feet. My bill for May was only $127 and that was water, sewer, and electric. Amy of GA Darin's wife for 17 years 11yo dd 5yo ds OH My Goodness, I need to move to Georgia! We have electric baseboard heating and we paid close to $500 a month this past winter. We thought about getting a pellet stove but with the way the house is set up we don't know if it will heat most of the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Count me with those who don't want to think about it. We have little control over how much we use, either, because the guests can set the heat in their room. And many, many guests are not at all concerned about leaving doors and windows wide open in the middle of winter, even if they have the heat blasting, taking long showers, etc. DH is looking into get a wood boiler. We can get some of our wood from our own property, and the price of wood is low enough compared to oil that we should make up the cost of the boiler in a few years. The electric ACs we put in a few years ago can also be used for electric heat. We may start asking guests to use those heaters instead of the radiators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julpost Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Unfortunately I am with those who don't want to think about it. Our budget payment for oil last year was $154/mo....I just got the new budget payment amount....$345/mo. We simply can not afford to pay that amount. So I'm not sure what we will do. Fill the tank half full periodically and refill when that bill is paid off?? I don't know. I do know I'll be praying about it and loading up on the sweaters!! We have a woodstove that really kicks out the heat downstairs...the heat does make it upstairs to the main living area, so if we use fans, that may really help. I just bought a cord of wood for $200. Perhaps we'll get another cord in August if possible. I'm glad you brought this up actually. Because I really have no idea how we're going to do it next year. I DO need to think about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julpost Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5MF-44100L I think I'm getting one of these!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIY-DY Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 I bet at least $4.50! Last year we locked in at $2.50! Can';t believe that! Our lock in expires on 7/30. I'm almost thinking about looking into buying another tank and then doing a huge oil fill before 7/30! Like you, we also use a lot of wood, but our layout is different and we can only heat about 1/2 our house with our woodstove :( Also, we heat our hot water with oil! But I am a huge wood scavenger and so far we have managed to get all our wood for free! (Well, we have bought a chain saw and we do pay crazy prices for keeping my dh's truck in working order.) My kids get embarrassed with me because I will see a tree down then park the van and walk up to ask the house owner if we can cut up the tree! So far we have about 5 cords lined up, most of it seasoned at least one year. Fleece and wool will be a good investment this year . . . jeri We didn't "lock in", and ended up paying over $5/gal. for propane. Delivery charge is 100 gal. min., and it ate up every spare penny we had. Thankfully, we don't live where winters are extreme. This year, we're locked in at $2.69/gal. until next March. That is a load off my shoulders like you wouldn't believe! We're hoping to save enough this year to put in a wood burning stove. We have one place where you can load your own wood chunks for $30 for a pickup bed full. (It's scrap leftover from making pallettes! How cool is that?) The wood stinks to high heaven until it's dried out, but that'll help tremendously. Last year, it was a tad chilly in the ol' shack. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 Unfortunately I am with those who don't want to think about it. Our budget payment for oil last year was $154/mo....I just got the new budget payment amount....$345/mo. We simply can not afford to pay that amount. So I'm not sure what we will do. Fill the tank half full periodically and refill when that bill is paid off?? I don't know. I do know I'll be praying about it and loading up on the sweaters!! We have a woodstove that really kicks out the heat downstairs...the heat does make it upstairs to the main living area, so if we use fans, that may really help. I just bought a cord of wood for $200. Perhaps we'll get another cord in August if possible. I'm glad you brought this up actually. Because I really have no idea how we're going to do it next year. I DO need to think about it. Many communitites have heating assistance programs for those who can't afford the cost of heating their homes in the winter. I imagine the programs will be overwhelmed with requests this year, but it still might be worth checking it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 to get our oil/gas from them since they have their tanks on our property, unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 I believe it...we lived in Maine 2 winter ago and we were paying $750 month for oil...I can only imagine what the price is now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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