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 "Right from the get-go," remembers the 31-year-old orthopedic
resident in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The problem: Florida native Montijo likes the house a relatively
balmy 75 Fahrenheit (24 Celsius). Natalie, a grant writer who is
also 31, prefers a cooler and comfortable 70F. So the parents of two
came up with an elegant solution, one which might seem familiar to
husbands everywhere.
"The house is set at 70," Montijo deadpans. "She won."
On its face, thermostat control might seem like a trivial issue. But
as any spouse will tell you, small issues can often turn out to have
outsized effects - both on the marital relationship, and the family
budget.
Indeed, according to one recent survey by manufacturer Honeywell, 30
percent of respondents who live with at least one person admit they
can never agree with housemates about temperature. And 27 percent
take matters into their own hands, by changing settings without
others' knowledge.
That easily beats out other household flashpoints like control of
the TV remote, cited by 16 percent of people as a frequent
battleground.
Younger Americans, in particular, seem persnickety about home
temperature, with 39 percent of those age 18 to 34 fiddling with the
thermostat dial on the sly.
According to experts, though, thermostat wars might not solely be
about physical comfort. They might be about other things entirely -
like control over household decision-making, for instance, or about
money matters.
"Make sure you're arguing about the right thing," says Mary Claire
Allvine, an Atlanta financial planner and author of "The Family CFO:
The Couple's Business Plan for Love and Money."
"You might be arguing about temperature, when it really comes down
to stress about bills and cash flow," Allvine says. "So don't talk
about 68 degrees versus 72, when the real issue is that you are
spending more money than you have coming in."
Indeed, there is no denying that the savings from lower energy usage
can be formidable. In the summer, each degree you raise your
thermostat above 72 can save between 1 percent and 3 percent on your
energy bills, according to the California Energy Commission's
Consumer Energy Center.
ENERGY SQUABBLES
David Sylvestre-Margolis knows about energy squabbles all too well.
The 40-year-old publicist and his partner Georges enjoy a spacious
Manhattan pad that can cost a whopping $1,000 a month, or more, to
heat during the winter.
David likes to set the thermostat around 70F, but Georges prefers to
kick around the house in a T-shirt with temperatures in the
mid-70sF. "He wants to have a warm apartment, and then he complains
about the electric bill," Sylvestre-Margolis laughs. "And he doesn't
want to wear a sweater, which I find ludicrous."
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Thankfully, there are some practical fixes that couples can
implement. Programmable thermostats such as Nest, which is a unit of
Google Inc, can help solve the problem, by automatically adjusting
temperature depending on which partner gets home at what time. They
also tend to save users about $180 a year in energy costs, according
to Energy Star, an energy-efficiency program of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Just make sure you are using them correctly. "Technology is only as
good as the user," says Amy Matthews, a licensed contractor and host
of multiple shows on the DIY Network.
"One can purchase a $30 thermostat and have it programmed correctly,
and save more money than the $200 thermostat that is wifi-enabled
and not used correctly."
If you suspect the issue goes much deeper than haggling over a
degree or two, couples can also adopt more drastic measures. Allvine
suggests swapping bill-paying duties for a few months, which can
help drive the point home on energy costs.
"If the real issue is that one partner is a saver and the other is a
spender, then it's usually the saver who is always getting stressed
out," she says. "So switch the roles of bill payment for a while,
and have the spender be the one to write those checks. Then they
have to take on that responsibility about how tight money can get."
As for Harvey Montijo, he is at peace with the outcome of his
household's Battle of the Thermostat. Since he works the long and
erratic hours of a medical resident, and his wife is home much more,
"she is the one who gets to make that decision," he says.
"But it does mean our bills are a little higher. And it means I have
to wear a sweater."
(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance;
Editing by Lauren Young and Lisa Shumaker)
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