A moving target – every home is different.

Every family has a temperature preference. Your “normal household temperature” may not be the same as someone else’s, but you can acclimate yourself to adjust to the recommended settings if your goal is to manage your energy usage. Eventually, you can move the thermostat down as you get used to different settings. Think about the following approach:

• Set your thermostat at your desired high temperature
• Once you and your family acclimate to the colder weather, lower the temperature in the home by one degree each week.
• This one-degree reduction - maintained for even eight hours - may reduce the home's energy bill by 1 percent.
• Lowering the temperature further and preserving these lower temperatures for longer periods of time may increase energy savings. The gradual change in temperature may not even be noticeable.

Programmable thermostats

One of the problems that people face as they search for that perfect average household temperature is that the perfect temperature changes with circumstances. As a result, people historically have needed to manually adjust their thermostats based on the situation:

• Whether you’re home
• Whether you’re awake
• Whether you have a fireplace and use it
• Whether or not you have small children

In the past, when people forgot to set their thermostats, they consumed energy unnecessarily. Your average house temperature can be achieved at any time if you purchase a programmable thermostat. This technology can take these circumstances into account, and many now include the ability to set the thermostat remotely if you’re not home.

During installation, you can program your thermostats to deliver specific temperatures at set times of the day. These preferences can be programmed for weeks or months at a time. The specified temperatures can be changed and adjusted using the accompanying smartphone app. This allows homeowners to reset their home's temperature from anywhere.

It's not all about the thermostat.

Achieving your average home temperature does not always directly involve your thermostat. There are other ways to reduce energy consumption while keeping your house properly heated and comfortable. Ideas include:

• Closing doors and vents to unused rooms make it easier for the home's furnace to deliver the desired temperature to occupied living spaces.
• Have the furnace inspected.
• Seal cracks around the windows or door frames.
• Bundle up. Dressing warmly, even inside the home, will make your family less reliant on the furnace, allowing you to turn down the thermostat another degree.