Quote Originally Posted by Owlie View Post
...
Electric bill: All my appliances are electric, as is the heating, and there is no insulation. Rates are very high here for no obvious reason, and I have a west-facing apartment with two windows. I've been turning the heat way down during the day when I'm not here, but that doesn't seem to be sufficient.
Help!
Outside of pipes freezing, you will also want to check your apartment lease to see if they have a minimum thermostat setting for the winter. My lease has this requirement. Basically this means that if my pipes freeze because I've had the thermostat too low, I pay for the repairs.

I've also been told that when you turn it way down when you aren't there, then warm things back up when you got home, that this uses more energy this year since it has to work so hard to heat things up. My own experiments over the years appears to prove that out. I seem to have better luck when my settings in the winter stay pretty constant - for me that is 67 to 69 degrees, I am required to at least have it set at 65. Since I lost my weight I get cold much easier than at one time, 65 is just too cold for me if I want to do anything more than sit on the couch wrapped up in a blanket.

Tulip's suggestion about YNAB is a good one, but it costs $60. They do have a trial version you can use for a month to see how it works and you can use that experience to develop your own spreadsheet budget if you don't want to spend that money

Personally I keep a budget spreadsheet that does pretty much everything that YNAB does, with the additional benefit that it goes 8-12 months out for all of my usual expenses. This allows me to see the potential effect of some extra purchase on THIS date might have on THAT pay period down the line. For me this is quite beneficial and has helped me to start digging my way out a bit.