Ever since the big scare over the coronavirus, my husband and I have switched to working from home. In some ways, it’s been a really beneficial transition. We have eliminated a rather long and stressful commute to the downtown area. We no longer need to get up as early, battle traffic or worry about arriving on time. There’s no reason to dress in anything but comfortable sweatpants and T-shirts. We’re able to be more flexible with our work hours and see a lot more of each other. We aren’t forced to take a whole day off from work to meet the electrician, plumber or HVAC contractor for maintenance or repairs. However, the house used to be empty all day. We had the thermostat programmed to adjust and conserve energy while we were both at work. It saved us a lot of money on our utility bills. Once we switched to working from home, the furnace and air conditioner were suddenly running a lot more often. There was additional wear and tear on components, greater energy usage and a significant rise in our monthly expenses. Since my husband and I share an office, we only use one room in the house for the majority of our work hours. It seemed ridiculous to maintain the whole house at the ideal temperature. I got in touch with a local HVAC contractor and inquired about the upgrade to zone control. This home improvement wasn’t overly expensive and has definitely paid for itself through energy savings. We now have a thermostat installed in each room that allows us to customize the temperature settings.