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Old 01-21-2013, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Sarasota, soon to be up north!
9 posts, read 14,283 times
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I know this is a vague question, I'm just trying to get an idea of what our budget would look like up there. My husband is a 100% disabled vet, we're both full-time students and we have three children, so budgeting (and planning) is really important for us. Most of the houses in our price range in the Silver Spring area are 1800 sq ft (some ranchers, some two story, and some townhomes), not sure how much that would change with heating/cooling. We're pretty frugal (we leave our A/C set on 77 here in FL, never turned the heat on! lol), we have energy efficient washer/dryer (although as a family of 5 I do about 10 loads of laundry a week). Since no one is really home during the weekdays everything is off (we do have a good bit of electronics though). Our electric bill here in FL is about $250 a month and everything is electric (A/C, hot water, stove, etc.) Our water/trash/recycling is around $80-$100 a month. We don't have gas down here, but I noticed that a lot of homes up there have gas heating and hot water. I have no clue about the costs of that, and that is my biggest concern. We're originally from Western, MD....and when we came up for the holidays last month we were freezing! Also, I know that you are usually limited when it comes to utility companies, but does anyone have a company they are really happy with, or had a horrible experience? What is the average (if any) deposits for each utility? TIA!
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Old 01-21-2013, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,345 posts, read 26,840,868 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tlandis View Post
Our electric bill here in FL is about $250 a month and everything is electric (A/C, hot water, stove, etc.) Our water/trash/recycling is around $80-$100 a month. We don't have gas down here, but I noticed that a lot of homes up there have gas heating and hot water.
I can give you a few guestimates. Trash and recycling are covered by your property taxes. Water is probably cheaper than in Florida. We paid $45 every 2 months for a family of 2, but you should expect more with 5 people and kids' laundry.

The peak we paid for natural gas heat in the winter was about $230 in a larger house. You cost could be less for a smaller, better insulated house. Our electric costs were about $30 in the winter and over $200 in the summer for the A/C. It is worth having a programmable thermostat, and the electric company has a program giving a saving if you allow them to regulate your A/C in the summer.

Be prepared for periods of electric outages, as storms can knock down trees and leave power out for days. It helps to have a fireplace for winter emergancies.

I believe a townhouse with shared walls would be much more energy efficient than a ranch house. The older brick ranches tend to let heat and cold radiate through the walls. If you are looking to buy, I would ask the owners for their utility bills.
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