Spend money to save money - part 14

There can be significant savings by being wise with the use of heating and cooling in your home.  Not too many years ago, we purchased a Honeywell 7-day programmable thermostat.  It was about $70 from a local home store.  It was replacing a very simple dial-type wall-mounted thermostat.  There isn't much that can be done with those types but manually turn it up and down.  The advantage with the programmable thermostat is that you can have the entire week planned out so that the house is at a certain temperature when you wake up, when you are gone, when you return home, and when you are in bed sleeping.  This can save you money because heating or cooling is not being done when you are away or not needing it.  Just set it and forget it and that really is its strength.  This type of thermostat does need a couple of AA batteries so that is an ongoing cost.  The Nest thermostat is possibly even a better product because it will eventually program and run itself.  The price tag is about $250 and I hope to have one sometime soon but at the moment, it is on my wish list.  So look at your thermostat and determine what you need.  Perhaps a few dollars on a programmable one will put you in place to have a comfortable home and at the same time save money in the long run.