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where the utilities are relatively cheap.
Back in NJ, we typically spent anywhere from $300-450 per month in the winter for gas, even when keeping the thermostat down and wearing sweaters in the house (4 bdr). With the extremely humid summers, our electric bills often ran into the $200-300 range, and that was with staying out of the house with the AC off as much as possible in the early afternoons. Water was also ridiculously high.
I'm amazed at what we don't spend here in utilities. First off, with the dry heat in the summer, we typically don't even run the AC in the house until after 2PM - and that's during unrelenting periods of triple-digit temps. The homes are also well-designed to let heat travel unimpeded to the top floor so the ground floor stays relatively cool. Our water bill rarely tops $30 a month, and that's with an automated sprinkler/drip system going 4 days per week in the summer. Back in NJ, $50-100 a month was the norm. I don't know how we'll do on gas this winter, but with the daytime temps currently running in the 50s-70s, we only run the heat after 6PM (and I know some relocated Easterners who almost never run the furnace out here).
But, yeah, if you live up in that snow belt, there's hell to pay when it comes to utilities.
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