You could be wasting heaps of cash by running your furnace (and the AC in the warmer months) when it's not really needed - like when everybody's at work, school, or snuggled under blankets.

If you're really disciplined - you'll remember to turn the thermostat down before you leave the house or before you go to bed.

I tried that for years, but I'd forget.  I'd get home from work and find the furnace had been running all day long.  Or I'd be nearly asleep and the furnace would kick in and I'd have to get out of my warm bed to turn it down.

But, what I really hated was waking up to a cold house - cold air, cold floors, cold bathroom, cold everything - 'cause I'd turned the furnace down while everyone was asleep and it would take about 1/2 hour each morning for the house to warm up.

Honeywell Programmable Thermostats available at:

A programmable thermostat solved all my problems.  I could set it to come on 1/2 hour before we woke up during the week (later on the weekends), turn off about the time everyone left for school or work, come on just before the kids got back from school, and go off again around bedtime. 

I never again had to wake up to a cold house or get that sinking feeling at work - you know the feeling - when you remember that you forgot to turn down the furnace and all your hard-earned money's wasting away.

Get one.  They're inexpensive, fairly easy to install, and they'll make your life a heckuva lot simpler.