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Reflections February 2015

Perfect Setting

By Eda Suzanne

When we moved into our home that July, we set the thermostat at 72 degrees, the same as we kept our heat in the winter in New York. I turned it down to 68 degrees when we went to sleep. The next morning we awoke chattering. By the end of the first week, we learned that the settings for air conditioning and heating comfort were quite different.

Close friends know that my husband and I are incompatible with respect to the perfect thermostat setting for our central air conditioning. He prefers 79 degrees while I like the 76-77 range. The reason we are still married is we have learned to survive at 77 degrees during the day…if we are both home at the same time. Seventy-eight degrees is the recommended setting by those supposedly in the know. Individual needs and other factors necessitate that the suggested number not be set in stone.

Having a houseful of company is one example when we usually drop the thermostat lower than 77. Hubby learned years ago that since he is usually colder than everyone else, he needs to wear long pants and sometimes a sweat shirt when we entertain. This has been our rule since we moved to Florida. To us, it is important to make guests feel welcome. However, my spouse isn’t happy with the rule anymore. “I’m being frozen out of my own home,” he ranted when company recently left. “Even wearing a sweater is no help anymore.”

The conflict over an acceptable company thermostat setting usually happens when the guests have recently flown to Florida from frozen points north. They have fled homes that they keep heated between 65-70 degrees. I’m tired of being told by them that my blood has thinned, which is why I don’t feel warm at 75 degrees as they do. If it has thinned, why are my jeans too tight? It would be rude to tell them that if I am cold, which is rare when the air conditioning is on, then my house isn’t warm. To be polite, I lower the temperature to the low 70s, turn the fans on high, and hope that as my husband silently stews, the simmering will warm up his blood. The last time I accommodated an obviously uncomfortable guest, my spouse’s “stewing” gave off insufficient heat.

I never had central air conditioning until we relocated to Florida in 1973. When we moved into our home that July, we set the thermostat at 72 degrees, the same as we kept our heat in the winter in New York. I turned it down to 68 degrees when we went to sleep. The next morning we awoke chattering. By the end of the first week, we learned that the settings for air conditioning and heating comfort were quite different.

My older son was reminded of that lesson during the oil crisis in the late 1970s when I had left him home while I went on errands. I returned to a freezing house. I checked the thermostat to see it set at 68 degrees. “WHY DID YOU TURN THE TEMPERATURE SO LOW?” I shouted.

“The newscaster said that to conserve energy, all homes should be kept at 68 degrees,” my son, a model citizen, explained. That night, the local news stations were warning that the 68 degrees was only for heating, not for cooling. The recommended setting for home air conditioners was 10 degrees higher.

Obviously, my guests who felt my air conditioning wasn’t cool enough would not have been interested in the government guidelines. And, when it comes to sleeping comfort, neither am I. My husband has an extra winter blanket on his side of the bed because I lower the temperature at bedtime…a lot.

I shared the story about my warm guests and frozen hubby with a South Florida friend who had recently arrived at her Aspen home for ski season. I was hoping for a suggestion on how to handle the situation if it occurs again. Instead she shared what had happened to her that day.

“My hostess had her heat set to 68 degrees, and I was frozen to the bone…the next time I play bridge in her home, I’m going to wear my ski underwear and two pairs of socks.”

So what do I do if my husband and I are comfortable and a house guest is obviously more than a tad bit warm? I can’t expect the thawing-out Northerners to strip to bathing suits if the only pool of water in the room is that from their perspiration…but I can order Hubby some ski underwear.

 

Eda Suzanne, the author of Retired NOT Expired, is a retired Florida teacher, is now a writer and humorous speaker. Contact her directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or check out her website: www.edasuzanne.com.

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