Fireplaces, unlike wood stoves, are terribly inefficient. The only reason I recommend them though is for comfort and when the temp gets so cold outside, heat pumps lose the ability to work effectively. Geothermal solves this problem but is still super pricey.

Solar is also a must-have if you can fit it into the budget now as well.

It goes back to my original point though, that's only for those that are privileged enough to own a home. Those of us that aren't are just going to keep falling deeper and deeper into the hole with no way out.

If you own, work on getting a heat pump, and I like a wood or pellet stove as a backup for when it gets really, really cold.

Most of us rent through, and our landlords are doing whatever is cheapest for them, which is often the most expensive for us.

>I'm currently between 66-68° in the house which is just... Not fun

I've never kept the house warmer than that. It's amazing how different all of our tolerances are.

I also lower the heat to 60 every night, and it doesn't turn back on until the kids are getting home from school. Really cuts down on the cost.

Nope. They just made it look like they did.

I don't like it. We need trained professionals not involved with police for positions like this.

Oh yes, if you meet those income guidelines you are fine for that.

But for buying healthcare from a marketplace, I don't believe it counts as a qualifying event.

Is it? I looked it up last night and it looked like it wasn't, but I was redditing at 2am.

It's so out of touch it's not even funny. I'm in school, and hour household income is about 40k until I graduate, and thats assuming I can even get a job in this market.

We can barely afford rent, we can't afford food.

I could take a job making $100 even a day as soon as I graduate, 5 days a week. The cheapest childcare I've found is $500/wk, and that's just for before/after school.

Most other nations at this point provide childcare as a service, as an investment in the future.

>Medicare is for people aged 65+.

Believe its also for those with disabilities and the like.

>Hi all, sorry if this is a dumb question and I hope it’s allowed. I live
in PA and have no insurance. I need to get confirmation from a doctor
in order to apply for the medical assistance for pregnant women. I don’t
know if I should go to urgent care or if I’m supposed to choose a
family doctor?

You can apply for Medicare now (Or is it Medicaid in this case, I can never keep them straight), they will probably need proof of pregnancy, and it is income dependent.

If you don't qualify, it gets much harder. You are outside of the enrollment period, and you would need to qualify for special enrollment, and for some stupid reason, pregnancy is not a reason.

I originally married my wife just to get her healthcare when she was pregnant, I certainly don't recommend doing that just for that, but it worked for us.

In any case, you've got this! Whatever path you take, you will get through it!

Yep. Honestly it's probably hit or miss which is cheaper to run all the time right now. If possible, I would do anything I could have changed your heating situation

Space heaters, only in individual rooms at night. I set the house to 55 (no real cold spots to worry about), and keep space heaters in the bedrooms.

If you own, by far the best bang for your buck now is an electric heat pump and solar, which has a longer payback period, but I highly doubt we are going to see electric go down at any point, but even a heat pump is a great starting point.

Other then that, wood stoves if you have land, but not my cup of tea.

I don't live in the area anymore, but I would argue there isn't a ton to do without going to Lancaster. To be fair, I only worked in York back then and lived in Lancaster.

Don't move anywhere until you find a job, and recognize that you are disposable.

It's one of the reasons buying a house is so hard now, no promises we will have a job here in a few years.

Driving sucks. Give us more trains.

I always assumed they were trucking routes.

I traveled up 15 quite often. There is a section where it's either Amish or adult stores.

Amish are much more spread out then this would lead you to believe.

That would be really, really bad. Our local ecosystem relies on winters.

It was following climate change models, just as predicted. Why?

I'm so tired. It's basic long term trends it's not hard to understand. One off outliers arent what we look for when studying climate.

As expected with climate change models. More mild, but when we get cold, it gets really fucking cold.

Global temps are on average rising. We are looking at long term trends.

We are fucked. We had a chance to fix this. It was over 50 years ago when the oil companies hid it for profit. Now? It's damage control.

Ahh, so what I'm hearing is take the land from the rich.

And we are likely heading back to it. Who knows what long term effects the fracking chemicals will have.