Yeah, you don't want to try to save money on heat in winter. My friends tried it and it only ended up making us frostbit.

Edit: If she wanted to conserve energy, she should've focused more on lights, AC in the summer, and other things. Turning off heat completely is like an obese person not eating because they want to loose weight.

Al Gore is a murderer! Damn you Al Gore!

We turn our heat down to save energy (and money), but turning it off is just stupid.

This is sad... because it reminds me of my father.

With all respect to the old man, he is such a tight-wag...

Kero: How much of a tight-wag is he?

Well... If he has a few dollars on his tight fist and you knock the elbow, so he can let go... he will spread his toes instead.

My father turns the heat off in winter... granted he lives in Dallas, but still...

When my visiting sister asked him why he has the heat turned off in the dead of winter, he replies: "Because it hurts"

No, he doesn't have athritis or anything of the sort...

It hurts his pocket book... True story.

How "cold" does Dallas get in winter? Just curious.

We have been having some days with a lows of high 30s and highs of high 40s... that's now though... a few years ago, we didn't get this low... the lowest it ever got was like 40 but no lower than that.

Wow. These days when it gets to be 30, people in Northern MN say, "Its beautiful out. So warm too"

This is mostly because we can be outside again. For the past couple of days we couldn't because of 50-60 degree below zero wind chill.

Well, I hope you tree huggers are happy.

lol, it's so true! right now 40 would feel downright balmy.
turning the heat all the way off in winter is craziness though. i wonder if it wasn't suicide, at her age she had to have known the pipes would freeze and so would she...

(30-32)/2 = -1C That is beautiful weather!

I thought today was warm and sunshiney, as it's a balmy -10 [12 for you guys], and that's without the windchill.

I thought it was cold in AZ, but our 30'F has got nuthin on you guys.

Last night our heater stopped working at a lil after 10pm. It got 12 degrees outside and it was SOOOO cold in here. Trying to keep the baby snuggled up to me to stay warm was a pain since she kept kicking the blankets off. My two oldest were fine in their rooms seeing as they sleep with 300 blankets on their bed.

Before we went to bed we turned the stove on for about a lil while, and that helped heat it up in here for a bit, but when we woke up this morning, it was freezing in here. Luckily with it being 12 outside, the coldest it got inside was 50ish. There is no way we could have stayed here last night if it was colder than that.

I couldn't imagine freezing myself on purpose just to save energy. Heck, she could have just turned heater down to at least 50s to keep her toilet from freezing, and keep her from turning into a human popsicle.

(edit...you know...not even an hour after posting that, my dang heater went out again...UGHHHHHH...we are NOT staying here another night, lol..leaving in about an hour to hang with friends)

What I found saddest about this was not that she was trying to conserve energy but she was trying to conserve money. That the cost of her keeping warm led her to this tragic end.

I agree. I feel sorry for all those freezing literally to save money. It is a real tragedy.

I know it's dangerous to do that, but I've done it before rather than freeze to death too. It might be worth investing in something like this or this, especially since it seems to be a recurring problem..I heard they work really well. Heating up blankets in the dryer is a good quick fix too, or better yet, electric blankets.

I feel for you, glad you have another (warm!) place to stay for now..hope your heater is working again soon.

As far as the story, very sad indeed. I know utility companies offer assistance to those who can't afford the cost, especially in extreme heat and cold. I wish she would have reached out for help.

Yeah, we don't like to use the stove to warm up with, but with an 18mth old...we have to do something to help keep her warm.

We currently rent, so our landlord takes care of the heating issue. Yesterday the heater magically started working again....today, it was dead. So the guy is out looking for the part, he says at the latest he'll have it by tomorrow morning, but hopes he can find it before the end of the day today. He's a nice older man, who doesn't like the fact we're cold here..lol.