My house had a standard thermostat installed when I moved in, and I just set it on 70°F and left it. My utility bill on my 1,100-square foot home was between $200–250 per month. While that’s not hateful, I figured I could do better.

The following year, I purchased a programmable thermostat for around $35 and installed it. The process took about an hour total time. The shape of the new thermostat was different from the old one, so I had to spackle the old screw holes and paint over the area, so it was around thirty minutes of work over a two-day period. If you can find a thermostat the same size as your current one, it’ll save you even more time.

I programmed it using the following schedule:

Monday–Friday:
06:45 — 70°F
I get up at 7am, so I want it warm (or at least warming) when I arise.

08:15 — 65°F
I go to work around this time, so there’s no need for the house to be at full temperature. Other people might suggest dropping it further, but then the furnace has to spend a lot of time "catching up" at the next time break, and you lose some of the money you saved. Additionally, the walls and floors of the house cool down to this level, creating additional load on the furnace. Five degrees seems to be the sweet spot.

18:00 — 70°F
This is typically when I get home, so it’s time to get the house back up to a comfortable room temperature.

23:45 — 67°F
I go to bed around midnight and sleep under a heavy comforter, so I stay plenty warm in bed. I also find it easier to sleep in somewhat cooler air, so there’s no need to keep the house at full temperature overnight.

Saturday–Sunday:
08:30 — 70°F
This is when I typically get up. I’ll then keep this temperature the rest of the day. If I’m going out for the night, I might manually turn the heat back down to 65–67°F, but this isn’t regular enough to set up a program for.

23:45 — 67°F
Same as above.

The final result? Gas bills of $175–225 per month, saving around $25–50 a month, meaning the thing paid for itself almost right away.

Now, if you or another family member is home during the day, you’ll probably only be able to set the temperature drop at night, so your savings won’t be as dramatic, but even if you only save $5–10 a month, it’ll pay for itself in a year, and if you use similar scheduling for your air conditioning, that’s a minimum of $60–120 extra in your pocket each year.

Take eating out, for example. Many people do it because they see it as nicer and more convenient than eating at home. They can just drive to a restaurant, sit down, place an order, chat with their dining companion, get the meal, pay, then go home. Easy enough.

But when you start adding up the time invested there, it becomes less of a joy (trust me, I’ve done this a lot). For us, it takes fifteen minutes to drive to a decent restaurant. Five minutes to park and get seated – assuming no wait. Another five to ten minutes to place our order. Twenty minutes or so before we get our food. Another fifteen minutes to eat. Ten minutes to get the waitstaff to bring the bill, pay the bill, and leave. Another fifteen minutes to drive home. That’s an hour and a half just to eat out.

Trent Hamm

I’m with him 100%, which is why I eat at home most of the time. Even dishes that take a while to cook usually don’t take more than 15–30 minutes to prepare, and you can use the bake time to do something more productive.

The Simple Dollar is written by Trent Hamm, who systematically worked his family out of near-financial ruin. He did this by making a series of lifestyle changes and smarter financial decisions. The whole story can be read on his About and Financial Biography pages.

While he focuses a lot on personal finance and reviews of personal finance books, he intersperses these with articles on “smart frugality”. This means balancing the fine line of spending less money without being miserly and missing out on fun just in the name of being cheap.

The vast majority of the site is worth reading, but if frugality is your main goal, just check the posts in the Frugality category.