Hi Lauren. I just love how you educate us about different aspects of living in Alaska. You should be the Honorable Tourism Minister to Alaska... I love it.
We moved to Alaska from Houston Texas in 2002. We were shocked at the house prices here and the quality of what we could afford in Anchorage. I kept thinking “Have these people not seen HGTV?” We ended up in Palmer and were able to get a nice little house with an unfinished walkout basement. Over the years we have done different improvements (including a finished walkout basement) and are now pretty satisfied with what we have. We love living in Palmer.
I'm typically a silent subscriber, but this vlog was so informative and is much appreciated. Thank you for the time and effort you put in to your channel.
I live in Pittsburgh, PA but my entire family lives in Alaska. I keep my house temperature at 68 degrees. We’ve had a very mild winter but with the increase in gas heating costs, our monthly bills aren’t reflecting the mildness. I pay approximately $250 per month to heat our 2000 sf home. Our electric have increased substantially as well. It “used to cost” during in the winter about $75 monthly but now about $125. LOVE your videos and never miss one. Thank you for sharing your life!!
Hi Lauren, I’m in England. Thank you for such an informative video! My husband and I plan to visit Alaska when we retire after seeing a travel programme years ago, then I happened to stumble on your channel! I love seeing the differences in how we all live across the world. Like a lot of Europe, Gas & Electric prices in the UK have soared recently (due mainly to the War in Ukraine). We are a family of 6 and pre-war we paid £148 per month for G+E combined…….last bill was £500! Things have got so unaffordable especially as it’s winter, that the Government have stepped in with a help package as many people are having to choose between heating or eating. Our winters are nowhere near as cold as yours, but during a recent cold spell it was -5 Celsius (23F) overnight, and many houses here aren’t always insulated properly. We’ve lived in our detached house for 16 years, purchased for £189,999 but now worth £325,000 (due to renovations and market increase). I’ve recently overhauled our monthly budget to see where we’re at. In total, our outgoings are £3100 per month (mortgage, council tax, TV, Internet, Mobile phones,Life Insurance, Car Insurance, Road Tax, Water bills, Union fees + helping to support our eldest who is living away at University). That doesn’t include food/laundry.toiletries which is around £150 most weeks (£200 on a bad week). Thanks again. I’d love to see a video on schools in Alaska (especially as I work in a school!). Xx
I’m in Scotland and the prices are horrendous. It’s impossible for pensioners and low income families. Saving is borderline impossible for most in the UK now. 🥺 x
I told my daughter that I have always wanted to visit Alaska but I understand things are quite more expensive than down South so I will continue enjoying your videos 😁🥰🥰
Hi, Lauren! I am about an hour and a half east of Pittsburgh, PA. I keep my heat at 66. Last winter, we had a lot of days that were well below freezing so I did turn it up to 68. My family likes to run around the house in shorts and t-shirts all year long and I am not paying a heating bill for them to have indoor beach weather when it’s 12 degrees out! Thank you for sharing so much of your life in Alaska!
Hi Lauren I love how Ms. Luna is so comfortable in your arms. She knows that you are lovely and that you have a very kind heart and a gentle personality. I love watching your vlogs and you and Mark interact with your children. It shows off the grace of our Lord in you all. Blessings. With love from Vancouver, Canada.
this was so helpful & so informative! my husband and i are moving to the muldoon/eagle river area this summer and i have been devouring your videos. we’ve been multiple times but hearing all of your wisdom and facts about alaska has been so great. THANK YOU.
I live on Olympic Peninsula in Washington. I keep winter house at 65 during day 55 at night. I like wearing layers and especially sweaters. We have community well and septic. My dad wanted to move our family to Alaska in the 60s, but mom refused. Love your channel, just found it
I only rent £139 a wk . Mine is private. I'm on government money I can't work got alot of problems with my health. I love watching u Lauren u are educating me I love to learn. X❤❤❤xx
I would recommend insulation between the floor struts in your crawlspace, protect your copper pipes with insulation as well. These are cheap upgrade and provide protection as well
Hi Lauren👋🏼We keep our house at 68, mostly due to me (he’s always cold), and live in Michigan (north of Detroit). I could never live in Alaska, because I love my hot summers too much (as long as my a/c is working!). But I can & do watch your videos until the cows come home! Sending much love💕💕💕
I live in Iowa and I keep my thermostat about the same. 66-67 most days and nights. 69 if I am really cold. In the summer I keep the ac at 74 and usually have a fan going too.
I live in Indiana and keep my winter heat on 71 and air condition on 73-74 in summer. I grew up in the country and we had well and septic system. Enjoy watching you channel❤️
I’m fortunate to live in Canada now in Calgary AB. There is a lot of similarities in how we do things here. We can get quite cold and very hot both extremes. It’s similar we use forced air heating. It’s common to keep the house around 72 F or 21 C.
That last home in Chugiak with the air plane hanger looked absolutely amazing from the outside. The inside was so dated, l disliked the dark wood panels on all the cupboards. I could sit and listen to you talk for hours, you have such a soothing voice. Thanks for sharing 😊
Thank you for sharing! I live in Southern California and an average 3 bedroom home is about 1.6 million. We have foreced air heating but we don't have airconditioning. We keep our house at 69 degress and our gas bill was $150 last month. Our gas bill has gone up the past few months.
Hi Lauren. I love learning about Alaska . It is a fascinating state. We live in New England. Well, Western Massachusetts. During our winter, we keep the house at 62 to 64 degrees and the house has home heating oil..
What a great video about Alaska expenses, housing, utilities etc. Location. Location. Location. That’s what impacts all the expenses from taxes to utilities. Susan
Hi Lauren, wow, I’m in southeastern PA, 50 miles outside Philly, we are on 1/3 acre, 3 b / 2.5 bath, 2220 sq ft. our taxes are $5500, we also have 6% sales tax, Local tax, and state tax, we are taxed to death, AK sounds wonderful. This was a great video, thank you for opening your personal business for us to compare and “see” AK. Have a wonderful weekend. 😊
Hi Lauren. Thanks for the information. I keep my home around 60-65 in the winter. I live in So. California so I really try not to use the heat. In the summer, however, I keep the house at 80 during the day and around 76 in the evening. In winter, It is so easy to slip on a warm robe, blanket, or sweater. However, in Summer, it is hard to sleep in an 80-degree room. In Winter, keeping it at 60 degrees helps keep the gas cost down and, I don't get a dry throat or nasal passage with the heater blowing.
Thanks for sharing about the costs of living in Alaska and the different building styles. We are in Lindsay ONtario Canada and keep our house at a constant 72 F year round.
Great video. We don't have any sales taxes in NH so our property taxes are higher just like Alaska. Our cable bill is very high and we don't have a choice. Comcast is it. Our electric is somewhat high as well. We have well water and septic too. No natural gas in our area. Propane and Oil are the choices. We heat with oil and that can be expensive as well. We also have a Generator for the ice and snow storms that occur here. Such a blessing for sure!
We keep our house at 70°. We have snow from November to April, temperatures in January and February typically -20° here in NE South Dakota. We heat with liquid propane. BTW, love your show!
I was so interested in how Alaskans heat their homes. Thank you so much for today's vlog. I really love your channel. I am from Wellington in New Zealand, and we only get snow flurries on the hills during Winter. We get very cold winds from the South thou. Love it when you take us sightseeing. We get a lot of earthquakes as well, and we are known as the shaky Isles, and are in the ring of fire in the Pacific. Much love from New Zealand. xx
Hi Lauren! What a great idea with this video. We live north of Spokane, WA and we keep our heat around 62. Some days we just can't get warm and we may raise it to 65. Electricity has gone up by 30-40% in the last year from what we see.
I loved this video! We live in the SF Bay Area, and last summer our temperature topped out at 118 degrees, and it dips down into the 30's (sometimes lower) in the winter. We currently have snow all over our local mountain, and the temps have been in the 30's at night. We keep our home around 68 degrees or so, but use split units in each room so we generally only run the split unit in our dining, living, kitchen area (it's a huge open space) in the evenings. Power is EXPENSIVE ($1,000ish during the extremes, and they raise the rates incredibly high during the hot and cold months). We are in a major drought, so the cost of water is expensive, especially if you go over your water allotment. We pay quite a bit for internet ($300ish, but it's necessary to have the highest speed internet because my husband works from home). Garbage is reasonable, and we have trash, recycling, and yard waste with an additional 2 bulk pickups per year, and 2 bulk drop off events. Our tax rate is generally county by county, but some cities within counties are higher, I believe ours is somewhere around 8.75%. The cost of real estate in the bay area includes some of the most expensive in the country (we do not live in an expensive zip code, our home is just your average 3 bedroom with office, 2 bathrooms, on a larger suburban lot), but there are areas that are fairly reasonable, you just spend a lot more time commuting (or work from home, which is not uncommon in the tech sector).
Our trash gets collected by the local council at about 4:30 am, every Thursday morning, so you really need to have it out on the kerb the night before. The larger recycling bin is collected every two weeks on the same day as trash but a bit later. (Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺)
When we lived in northern Vermont we kept our house in the winter 66 - 68 and we did not have Air Conditioning. When it got in the negative teens the house would be colder. We also had baseboard copper heating.
I live in South West Scotland near Glasgow in a duplex house. I found this vlog especially interesting & very informative. It's a subject you-tubers all over the world could address & we would all benefit. Alaska is a place in which I once aspired to live. However, Scotland is where we ended up. Your house looks lovely. Two & a half acres is enough to have some animals & homestead if you want.
We have done some “homestead” activities ( milking goats) in the past but it gets a little hard in the summer because we are rarely home. We do have a garden and often have chickens, though we don’t have them at the moment.
I just discovered your channel. Thanks for the 'civilized' homes tour and explaining your home systems. We have a home in Tununak, out on the tundra. We do have electricity but we poo in a bucket and haul in our own water. Currently residing in Washington state. Best to you!
This was a great informative vlog! I love this kind of stuff, and I always love seeing more of Alaska! I also would love seeing these neighborhoods in the summertime. Your monthly bills are pretty much inline with Fresno, California, except your water, garbage and sewer is cheaper overall. Mine bill goes over $100 a month in the summer because I water my lawn and I live on a larger lot. My house was built in 1967, so you got more land back then. The way they build now they would probably fit three houses on my lot. Also, your gas prices are cheaper than ours in Fresno. Alaska gas $3.67 a gallon estimated and Fresno $4.17 a gallon, these are both Costco gas prices.
California always seems to have the highest gas prices with all the extra taxes. I agree with the houses being close together, barely any land anymore, so close together
Wow. I am at $200+ a month for WSG here in WA state, a town close by is at almost $300/month for theirs, and we also have natural gas which is at $45.00/ month.
Thank you Lauren! This was enjoyable as well as informative. Born, raised Texan. Love your home! Fantastic family! And following now on your journey with your pregnancy, praying for you & Mark and precious girls! Thanks again, God Bless 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Lauren thank you so very much for taking the time to give us all the information that you did. It’s amazing to see the difference in each neighborhood. Your house is amazing. Love 💕 y’all!
Just happened upon your channel because of your Costco trip and morning devotion time. I love your channel! I could not make it in Alaska. We have more than enough snow in Pennsylvania. 😂 Yet I love seeing what living in Alaska is like, and because I am also a believer in Christ, I note your dedication to the Lord and your care for your family. I’m also a huge Costco lover. So I’m a new subscriber! ❤ I made my hubby watch a little bit with me. We enjoyed it together. Thank you for showing us what life in Alaska is like!
I curious about homeowner's insurance and also I assume, if you watch TV, you must stream it as no cable bill. In Fla. a $500K house payment would be comparable, add Home Owners insurance which is extremely high if you can get it, flood insurance, property taxes even with Homestead, electric for cooling, water, HOA fees etc can easily be the same or exceed your costs. $500K housing here is about average on the coast. Price of living the dream!
Good morning Lauren from a cloudy 55* Tennessee, expecting rain this afternoon !! Very interesting video with the different types of housing and utility costs ! Thank you for sharing ! Do you know some of the pay rates for jobs in Alaska .. that would be interesting to hear also ! Blessings to you all!
I loved this video and would definitely like to see the neighborhoods again without the piles of snow. Also, I’d love to see more of your house, maybe a walk thru video of the inside + the apt. I love the wide open area on your main level. We pay about the same thing for internet but on top of that another $100= $250 for tv/internet. Expensive everywhere, we are on a little over 2 acres as well of being on a septic/well. So I get you on that. I’m in Virginia 40miles outside of DC so expensive here as well. I didn’t know you also had an Airbnb that’s awesome. Is that the apt connected to your home or somewhere else? Would love to see & hear more about it as well. Great video I enjoyed it very much
Love your channel! Taking a second Cruise to Alaska in September! Can't wait! Your tips are so helpful! Also, Our neighbors son and young family just moved to Palmer , Alaska! Excited for them and their new Life! I will pass on your channel to them. The wife is a ER nurse and will be commuting to Anchorage for work!
Really informative video I have been somewhat curious about housing in Alaska particularly prices of homes there .Taking the tour with you gave me a real sense of various neighbor hoods actually not so different than anywhere else.I live in New England and a 500.00 thousand dollar home is typical a million dollar home is not as large as the one in your video very expensive to live here .I do think prices of food in Alaska seems extreme although food is out of control everywhere yours is particularly extreme. Thanks so much for this video !!
Here in Charleston SC I keep it at 71 degrees year round…definitely need the AC here. ❤ I am originally from upstate NY, Albany area, just watching all that snow I’m littering shivering lol.
I have central heat & air here in Florida but I don’t use that heat source because it causes me to have sinus headaches. We have about a week where temps fall to the 30’s, so I usually just layer clothes or use a small portable electric heater that has a shut-off feature if it falls over. I look forward to the winter here because I find the summers brutally hot.
Hi. New to your channel. I love how informative you are about Alaska Life. I grew up in Tacoma WA. I was there during the 1964 Alaska earthquake. I will never forget the tremors in Tacoma. Now I live in Tucson. Totally different climate for sure
68° to 70° I keep my house in the winter right now in the center of Washington state where I live it is 8° so I’m at a strong 70°. Love your videos. Have a great day.
I live in a town in the wine country of northern California. A 1400 sqaure foot starter home on a 6000 square foot lot will cost you about 1.5 million dollars. Every once in a while a home will come on the market for about 900K, but everything here is just ridiculously expensive.
lauren, i find your infos about housing very interesting..: im wondering if you would do the same thing of providing us some infos about fairbanks area as well ?
Add food, gas, car insurance, entertainment, and the OMG fund, and you're looking at close to $4500.00 plus a month! That is a lot. Thanks loved your video!
Hey Lauren, I live in eastern NC...temperature this week has been from 50-85*...which is warm for February. I enjoy all your videos but really like the ones where you visit an area & give us the grand tour. Also we live Luna.
I live in Delaware and have the same heat (baseboard hot water) as you do. I keep the heat at 60’F in the winter. Our summers are brutal here, very hot and humid. After twenty years, we just got central air conditioning, I cant wait to use it this summer!
This was a really informative video. My family and I live in Florida but I always have an interest in other states on their housing prices, houses, and cost of living. Of course, no basements here but we have a utility garage for storage. We are on city water and sewer. We are all electric but conservative with our usage. The water here doesn’t taste the best, so we got a filtration system. There’s a hot tub. The garage is kind of my husband’s man cave. Cars are kept outside year round. We are from NY and yes, we had some harsh winters there. Had a one car garage we used when it snowed or really cold. Don’t miss winter. I never realized you had special trash bins to keep bears out. Our trash is 17.00/month. We do have raccoons, skunks, and at times a bobcat. Have to be cautious. I was hoping you could cover home and car insurance costs ( high in FL), vehicle cost ownership like registration. No state inspections? Thanks again, really enjoyed this video. Till next time. Bye Luna.😊
Just found this podcast and really enjoyed it. I went to Alaska in 2002 and I just loved it. I thought of moving to Haines, but it was to expensive for me.. I love hearing about your town, where you shop, what you do as a family ect.
Lauren, I loved this video! Very informative! We moved to Oklahoma/Texas from the Seattle area right BEFORE housing prices skyrocketed there. I also use average billing for electric……you gave high natural gas in the winter and here in Texas we have high electric bills in the summer! Gotta have my AC!!!
First time commenting. Loved this video. Very interesting and so informative. You are so open with sharing your personal finances. Loved the neighbour home tours. Your channel is excellent.
Greetings from Boston MA. My heat source is gas and my monthly bill in Winter is about 400.00 .I keep my heat at 70 degrees and yes I have c/a bc it gets very hot here in the Summer. My city provides sewer system. Water bill is high especially in Summer with irrigation.
Going on an AK cruise soon (Aug 24), and it will be my first time to AK! Found your cruise videos first... just stopping in to say it looks like we have the same fridge, I love my fridge!!!
The mud room in your home reminds me of school closets with the benches….in the uk 🇬🇧 we have what you call town houses and the living room can be at the top of the building…we have (rubbish bins) and we also recycle and the bins are collected on alternative weeks we have 4 colourful bins…bin 1 is for household waste bin 2 is for bottles (no glass) and cans ECT bin 3 is for cardboard and bin 4 is for garden waste….our utilities are very expensive especially our gas….thank you for your vlog
that was soooo informative Lauren.......I loved it.....wow you sure do things differently over there compared to Australia...but then again every Country is different I guess....& so much of Luna...loves the way she snuggles up to you on your lap..my 3 wont do that.....for a start its still too hot here...& you are getting your sun back....yayyyyy you cna have it too...our days are gettn shorter...thank goodness...Autumn just around the corner for us...cannot wait..sick of seeing the sun.........love yas....& please keep these vids coming....I love them xxxxxxxxxxxx
That was very informative. I don't like having an HOA some could be very high. I wouldn't like at all them telling me what I could do or not do. Thanks for the tour.
Lauren thank you for sharing this post because I wanted to know if there were houses more of a modern style house in the city part of Anchorage rather than the ones that we see in the wilderness or wooded areas all the time.🏡
Looks great!! All your hard work really paid off! You have earned a big "Great job"! A sense of pride doing your own work 100%. Looking forward to what comes next!
I live in southern New Jersey. In the winter I keep my down stairs living area at between 68 to 70. We do use blankets at nite when the heat is turned down to about 60 . Dress warmly all the time
Florida here... in the winter we turn heat on if gets below 68 degrees summer 73/74 degrees. Could not imagine turning heater to 80 degree temperature.
Lauren we love your vlogs we are Kentucky we don’t get a lot of snow. We love how your family gets outside and do all kinds of things in the snow. We love all your boys but Everett cracks us up we laugh at him all the time.
I just found your channel and, so glad that I did. Your videos are so informative and well done. I live in Hawaii, and it was so interesting to see how much living in Alaska vs. Hawaii. We do pay sales tax here at some ridiculous rate. We also pay state income taxes based on your income. We are in the 30 percent income bracket.🤣 The cost of the average home is over 1 million $ which is just crazy! Our home was built in 1988 it is 1,270 sf with a garage of 450 sf. Our home is currently valued at $1.250.00. Our home has no insulation. Homes in Hawaii are just basic unless you have a mansion or have done a major renovation. We pay for electricity, water, sewer, internet, cell phones. We are charged a sales tax for everything and we cannot claim what we have paid when we file our income taxes. I apologize for being so long winded but found it so eye opening when I found your channel. I will definitely be watching more. God bless you and your family. Love and Aloha from Hawaii❤️🌺🙏😊❤️
We keep our house at 71 during the day and 68 at night. During the summer we keep the a/c at 73, because it is hard to get it any cooler during the day. East Tennessee
In winter, we keep our home at around 18-19o Celsius (64-66 Fahrenheit) in summer we keep it exactly the same with AC so always at 18-19o Celsius!! Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
Hi Lauren. Your house is gorgeous. This is good info to compare with our country. I have a small natural gas heater which heats most of my house which is around 15squares. I have it on around 18degrees centigrade. I have a reverse cycle electric air conditioner for summer. It gets really hot here in Oz in summer. I have it on 21degrees centigrade. Electricity is very expensive here too now. It’s gone up a lot this past year. I am on town water and sewerage.
Hi Lauren. I just love how you educate us about different aspects of living in Alaska. You should be the Honorable Tourism Minister to Alaska... I love it.
Agree!
We moved to Alaska from Houston Texas in 2002. We were shocked at the house prices here and the quality of what we could afford in Anchorage. I kept thinking “Have these people not seen HGTV?” We ended up in Palmer and were able to get a nice little house with an unfinished walkout basement. Over the years we have done different improvements (including a finished walkout basement) and are now pretty satisfied with what we have. We love living in Palmer.
I'm typically a silent subscriber, but this vlog was so informative and is much appreciated. Thank you for the time and effort you put in to your channel.
I appreciate you being here! So glad you enjoyed this video. Hope to do more like it in the future.
Its such a great channel!
I live in Pittsburgh, PA but my entire family lives in Alaska. I keep my house temperature at 68 degrees. We’ve had a very mild winter but with the increase in gas heating costs, our monthly bills aren’t reflecting the mildness. I pay approximately $250 per month to heat our 2000 sf home. Our electric have increased substantially as well. It “used to cost” during in the winter about $75 monthly but now about $125. LOVE your videos and never miss one. Thank you for sharing your life!!
Hi Lauren, I’m in England. Thank you for such an informative video! My husband and I plan to visit Alaska when we retire after seeing a travel programme years ago, then I happened to stumble on your channel! I love seeing the differences in how we all live across the world. Like a lot of Europe, Gas & Electric prices in the UK have soared recently (due mainly to the War in Ukraine). We are a family of 6 and pre-war we paid £148 per month for G+E combined…….last bill was £500! Things have got so unaffordable especially as it’s winter, that the Government have stepped in with a help package as many people are having to choose between heating or eating. Our winters are nowhere near as cold as yours, but during a recent cold spell it was -5 Celsius (23F) overnight, and many houses here aren’t always insulated properly. We’ve lived in our detached house for 16 years, purchased for £189,999 but now worth £325,000 (due to renovations and market increase). I’ve recently overhauled our monthly budget to see where we’re at. In total, our outgoings are £3100 per month (mortgage, council tax, TV, Internet, Mobile phones,Life Insurance, Car Insurance, Road Tax, Water bills, Union fees + helping to support our eldest who is living away at University). That doesn’t include food/laundry.toiletries which is around £150 most weeks (£200 on a bad week). Thanks again. I’d love to see a video on schools in Alaska (especially as I work in a school!). Xx
I’m in Scotland and the prices are horrendous. It’s impossible for pensioners and low income families. Saving is borderline impossible for most in the UK now. 🥺 x
I told my daughter that I have always wanted to visit Alaska but I understand things are quite more expensive than down South so I will continue enjoying your videos 😁🥰🥰
Please do!
Hi, Lauren! I am about an hour and a half east of Pittsburgh, PA. I keep my heat at 66. Last winter, we had a lot of days that were well below freezing so I did turn it up to 68. My family likes to run around the house in shorts and t-shirts all year long and I am not paying a heating bill for them to have indoor beach weather when it’s 12 degrees out! Thank you for sharing so much of your life in Alaska!
Hello fellow pa peep. We are 30min north of Pittsburgh. We keep ours at 63 lol
@@akdogmum3929 Hello, PA peep! I like to get all cozy under a blanket with a book and a cup of tea and 63 sounds perfect for that!
Another PA gal here-we keep our heat on 67-68.
Hello! I’m a Pittsburgher. I was wondering if anyone in my area or near by watched this channel.
@@Kim-427 Well now! How about this! My daughter is in the process of moving to Pittsburgh. Hello fellow Yinzer! Bahahaha
Hi Lauren I love how Ms. Luna is so comfortable in your arms. She knows that you are lovely and that you have a very kind heart and a gentle personality. I love watching your vlogs and you and Mark interact with your children. It shows off the grace of our Lord in you all. Blessings. With love from Vancouver, Canada.
this was so helpful & so informative! my husband and i are moving to the muldoon/eagle river area this summer and i have been devouring your videos. we’ve been multiple times but hearing all of your wisdom and facts about alaska has been so great. THANK YOU.
Muldoon and Eagle River are not the same area just so you know, Muldoon is the last neighborhood in Anchorage before you hit the Glen Hwy
I live on Olympic Peninsula in Washington. I keep winter house at 65 during day 55 at night. I like wearing layers and especially sweaters. We have community well and septic. My dad wanted to move our family to Alaska in the 60s, but mom refused. Love your channel, just found it
When I lived in northeast NY, we had an outside wood furnace. It heated water which heated the house. Loved it
70 degrees year round! Winters are very mild here in Central Georgia, and our summers are extremely hot
This is a fascinating way of life....a far cry from Tennessee, that's for sure! Beautiful house.
I only rent £139 a wk . Mine is private. I'm on government money I can't work got alot of problems with my health. I love watching u Lauren u are educating me I love to learn. X❤❤❤xx
I would recommend insulation between the floor struts in your crawlspace, protect your copper pipes with insulation as well. These are cheap upgrade and provide protection as well
Boil heaters are the best. It remains constant and less maintenance and as you mentioned does not dry out you and furnishings☺️
I am in MT and we keep ours around 68-71 in the winter and 75-80 in the summer.
Hi Lauren👋🏼We keep our house at 68, mostly due to me (he’s always cold), and live in Michigan (north of Detroit). I could never live in Alaska, because I love my hot summers too much (as long as my a/c is working!). But I can & do watch your videos until the cows come home! Sending much love💕💕💕
I live in Iowa and I keep my thermostat about the same. 66-67 most days and nights. 69 if I am really cold. In the summer I keep the ac at 74 and usually have a fan going too.
Love the snow. I’m from the south rarely do we get snow 😍
I live in Indiana and keep my winter heat on 71 and air condition on 73-74 in summer. I grew up in the country and we had well and septic system. Enjoy watching you channel❤️
Thank you so much for watching Kathy! We are thankful you're here.
I’m fortunate to live in Canada now in Calgary AB. There is a lot of similarities in how we do things here. We can get quite cold and very hot both extremes. It’s similar we use forced air heating. It’s common to keep the house around 72 F or 21 C.
We keep our thermostat around 65 to 68 in the winter time I’m in Central Texas
That last home in Chugiak with the air plane hanger looked absolutely amazing from the outside. The inside was so dated, l disliked the dark wood panels on all the cupboards. I could sit and listen to you talk for hours, you have such a soothing voice. Thanks for sharing 😊
Thank you for sharing! I live in Southern California and an average 3 bedroom home is about 1.6 million. We have foreced air heating but we don't have airconditioning. We keep our house at 69 degress and our gas bill was $150 last month. Our gas bill has gone up the past few months.
18*c is perfect in Britain for winter home heating..I myself love the cold so I may warm through the home early morning!
Hi Lauren. I love learning about Alaska . It is a fascinating state. We live in New England. Well, Western Massachusetts. During our winter, we keep the house at 62 to 64 degrees and the house has home heating oil..
What a great video about Alaska expenses, housing, utilities etc.
Location. Location. Location. That’s what impacts all the expenses from taxes to utilities. Susan
Hi Lauren, wow, I’m in southeastern PA, 50 miles outside Philly, we are on 1/3 acre, 3 b / 2.5 bath, 2220 sq ft. our taxes are $5500, we also have 6% sales tax,
Local tax, and state tax, we are taxed to death, AK sounds wonderful. This was a great video, thank you for opening your personal business for us to compare and “see” AK. Have a wonderful weekend. 😊
Hi Lauren. Thanks for the information. I keep my home around 60-65 in the winter. I live in So. California so I really try not to use the heat. In the summer, however, I keep the house at 80 during the day and around 76 in the evening. In winter, It is so easy to slip on a warm robe, blanket, or sweater. However, in Summer, it is hard to sleep in an 80-degree room. In Winter, keeping it at 60 degrees helps keep the gas cost down and, I don't get a dry throat or nasal passage with the heater blowing.
Thanks for sharing about the costs of living in Alaska and the different building styles. We are in Lindsay ONtario Canada and keep our house at a constant 72 F year round.
Thank you for this very informative video. I also liked the drive along tour of different areas. The Eagles flying around was great addition.
Great video. We don't have any sales taxes in NH so our property taxes are higher just like Alaska. Our cable bill is very high and we don't have a choice. Comcast is it. Our electric is somewhat high as well. We have well water and septic too. No natural gas in our area. Propane and Oil are the choices. We heat with oil and that can be expensive as well. We also have a Generator for the ice and snow storms that occur here. Such a blessing for sure!
We keep our house at 70°. We have snow from November to April, temperatures in January and February typically -20° here in NE South Dakota. We heat with liquid propane. BTW, love your show!
I was so interested in how Alaskans heat their homes. Thank you so much for today's vlog. I really love your channel. I am from Wellington in New Zealand, and we only get snow flurries on the hills during Winter. We get very cold winds from the South thou. Love it when you take us sightseeing. We get a lot of earthquakes as well, and we are known as the shaky Isles, and are in the ring of fire in the Pacific. Much love from New Zealand. xx
I love your house; it is so spacious! My husband and I will have to visit Alaska when we retire!
Hi Lauren! What a great idea with this video. We live north of Spokane, WA and we keep our heat around 62. Some days we just can't get warm and we may raise it to 65. Electricity has gone up by 30-40% in the last year from what we see.
You done amazing on this loved all of it😊
I loved this video! We live in the SF Bay Area, and last summer our temperature topped out at 118 degrees, and it dips down into the 30's (sometimes lower) in the winter. We currently have snow all over our local mountain, and the temps have been in the 30's at night. We keep our home around 68 degrees or so, but use split units in each room so we generally only run the split unit in our dining, living, kitchen area (it's a huge open space) in the evenings. Power is EXPENSIVE ($1,000ish during the extremes, and they raise the rates incredibly high during the hot and cold months). We are in a major drought, so the cost of water is expensive, especially if you go over your water allotment. We pay quite a bit for internet ($300ish, but it's necessary to have the highest speed internet because my husband works from home). Garbage is reasonable, and we have trash, recycling, and yard waste with an additional 2 bulk pickups per year, and 2 bulk drop off events. Our tax rate is generally county by county, but some cities within counties are higher, I believe ours is somewhere around 8.75%. The cost of real estate in the bay area includes some of the most expensive in the country (we do not live in an expensive zip code, our home is just your average 3 bedroom with office, 2 bathrooms, on a larger suburban lot), but there are areas that are fairly reasonable, you just spend a lot more time commuting (or work from home, which is not uncommon in the tech sector).
in northern CA we set the thermostst between 64 - 66F. The tradeoff is setting the A/C to 72F in the summer when outside temps reach 114F .
Our trash gets collected by the local council at about 4:30 am, every Thursday morning, so you really need to have it out on the kerb the night before. The larger recycling bin is collected every two weeks on the same day as trash but a bit later. (Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺)
When we lived in northern Vermont we kept our house in the winter 66 - 68 and we did not have Air Conditioning. When it got in the negative teens the house would be colder. We also had baseboard copper heating.
I live in South West Scotland near Glasgow in a duplex house. I found this vlog especially interesting & very informative. It's a subject you-tubers all over the world could address & we would all benefit.
Alaska is a place in which I once aspired to live. However, Scotland is where we ended up. Your house looks lovely. Two & a half acres is enough to have some animals & homestead if you want.
We have done some “homestead” activities ( milking goats) in the past but it gets a little hard in the summer because we are rarely home. We do have a garden and often have chickens, though we don’t have them at the moment.
I just discovered your channel. Thanks for the 'civilized' homes tour and explaining your home systems. We have a home in Tununak, out on the tundra. We do have electricity but we poo in a bucket and haul in our own water. Currently residing in Washington state. Best to you!
This was a great informative vlog! I love this kind of stuff, and I always love seeing more of Alaska! I also would love seeing these neighborhoods in the summertime. Your monthly bills are pretty much inline with Fresno, California, except your water, garbage and sewer is cheaper overall. Mine bill goes over $100 a month in the summer because I water my lawn and I live on a larger lot. My house was built in 1967, so you got more land back then. The way they build now they would probably fit three houses on my lot. Also, your gas prices are cheaper than ours in Fresno. Alaska gas $3.67 a gallon estimated and Fresno $4.17 a gallon, these are both Costco gas prices.
California always seems to have the highest gas prices with all the extra taxes. I agree with the houses being close together, barely any land anymore, so close together
Wow. I am at $200+ a month for WSG here in WA state, a town close by is at almost $300/month for theirs, and we also have natural gas which is at $45.00/ month.
Thank you Lauren! This was enjoyable as well as informative. Born, raised Texan. Love your home! Fantastic family! And following now on your journey with your pregnancy, praying for you & Mark and precious girls! Thanks again, God Bless 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Come to Ketchikan and see the homes built on the side of the rock walls!!
I did and loved seeing it all! It was amazing! ua-cam.com/video/cwHjPvMhJAM/v-deo.html
Lauren thank you so very much for taking the time to give us all the information that you did. It’s amazing to see the difference in each neighborhood. Your house is amazing. Love 💕 y’all!
You are so welcome! Thank you for watching Shelly!
Just happened upon your channel because of your Costco trip and morning devotion time. I love your channel! I could not make it in Alaska. We have more than enough snow in Pennsylvania. 😂 Yet I love seeing what living in Alaska is like, and because I am also a believer in Christ, I note your dedication to the Lord and your care for your family. I’m also a huge Costco lover. So I’m a new subscriber! ❤ I made my hubby watch a little bit with me. We enjoyed it together. Thank you for showing us what life in Alaska is like!
I curious about homeowner's insurance and also I assume, if you watch TV, you must stream it as no cable bill. In Fla. a $500K house payment would be comparable, add Home Owners insurance which is extremely high if you can get it, flood insurance, property taxes even with Homestead, electric for cooling, water, HOA fees etc can easily be the same or exceed your costs. $500K housing here is about average on the coast. Price of living the dream!
Good morning Lauren from a cloudy 55* Tennessee, expecting rain this afternoon !! Very interesting video with the different types of housing and utility costs ! Thank you for sharing ! Do you know some of the pay rates for jobs in Alaska .. that would be interesting to hear also ! Blessings to you all!
I loved this video and would definitely like to see the neighborhoods again without the piles of snow. Also, I’d love to see more of your house, maybe a walk thru video of the inside + the apt. I love the wide open area on your main level. We pay about the same thing for internet but on top of that another $100= $250 for tv/internet. Expensive everywhere, we are on a little over 2 acres as well of being on a septic/well. So I get you on that. I’m in Virginia 40miles outside of DC so expensive here as well. I didn’t know you also had an Airbnb that’s awesome. Is that the apt connected to your home or somewhere else? Would love to see & hear more about it as well. Great video I enjoyed it very much
This video is exactly what I was needing. Thank you, thank you!
Love your channel! Taking a second Cruise to Alaska in September! Can't wait! Your tips are so helpful! Also, Our neighbors son and young family just moved to Palmer , Alaska! Excited for them and their new Life! I will pass on your channel to them. The wife is a ER nurse and will be commuting to Anchorage for work!
Cold would rather curl up in a good blanket then heat it although, I keep it warm enough to not freeze the water pipes
Really informative video I have been somewhat curious about housing in Alaska particularly prices of homes there .Taking the tour with you gave me a real sense of various neighbor hoods actually not so different than anywhere else.I live in New England and a 500.00 thousand dollar home is typical a million dollar home is not as large as the one in your video very expensive to live here .I do think prices of food in Alaska seems extreme although food is out of control everywhere yours is particularly extreme. Thanks so much for this video !!
Here in Charleston SC I keep it at 71 degrees year round…definitely need the AC here. ❤ I am originally from upstate NY, Albany area, just watching all that snow I’m littering shivering lol.
I have central heat & air here in Florida but I don’t use that heat source because it causes me to have sinus headaches. We have about a week where temps fall to the 30’s, so I usually just layer clothes or use a small portable electric heater that has a shut-off feature if it falls over. I look forward to the winter here because I find the summers brutally hot.
Living in FL, we rarely turn on the heat. When we do, we keep it around 67°, in the summer our AC is set @ 77°.
Thanks for watching Patty!
Hi. New to your channel. I love how informative you are about Alaska Life. I grew up in Tacoma WA. I was there during the 1964 Alaska earthquake. I will never forget the tremors in Tacoma. Now I live in Tucson. Totally different climate for sure
How do your pipes not freeze during the Winter?
68° to 70° I keep my house in the winter right now in the center of Washington state where I live it is 8° so I’m at a strong 70°. Love your videos. Have a great day.
Aloha from Hawaii, we have no heaters and our air conditioning is the tradewinds. Love your videos…thank you.
I live in a town in the wine country of northern California. A 1400 sqaure foot starter home on a 6000 square foot lot will cost you about 1.5 million dollars. Every once in a while a home will come on the market for about 900K, but everything here is just ridiculously expensive.
lauren, i find your infos about housing very interesting..: im wondering if you would do the same thing of providing us some infos about fairbanks area as well ?
Add food, gas, car insurance, entertainment, and the OMG fund, and you're looking at close to $4500.00 plus a month! That is a lot. Thanks loved your video!
It is a lot!
Hey Lauren, I live in eastern NC...temperature this week has been from 50-85*...which is warm for February. I enjoy all your videos but really like the ones where you visit an area & give us the grand tour. Also we live Luna.
Love this video it was very informative. I was always wondering about the housing and stuff.
I live in Delaware and have the same heat (baseboard hot water) as you do. I keep the heat at 60’F in the winter. Our summers are brutal here, very hot and humid. After twenty years, we just got central air conditioning, I cant wait to use it this summer!
We are outside of wasilla. Heat 4,000 sq ft with wood only. And it’s always 70 plus in our house. We have a pellet stove as backup
Thank you I found this so interesting! I live in Michigan and can relate to some of the cold weather and the cost of living!
This was a really informative video. My family and I live in Florida but I always have an interest in other states on their housing prices, houses, and cost of living. Of course, no basements here but we have a utility garage for storage. We are on city water and sewer. We are all electric but conservative with our usage. The water here doesn’t taste the best, so we got a filtration system. There’s a hot tub. The garage is kind of my husband’s man cave. Cars are kept outside year round. We are from NY and yes, we had some harsh winters there. Had a one car garage we used when it snowed or really cold. Don’t miss winter. I never realized you had special trash bins to keep bears out. Our trash is 17.00/month. We do have raccoons, skunks, and at times a bobcat. Have to be cautious. I was hoping you could cover home and car insurance costs ( high in FL), vehicle cost ownership like registration. No state inspections? Thanks again, really enjoyed this video. Till next time. Bye Luna.😊
Just found this podcast and really enjoyed it. I went to Alaska in 2002 and I just loved it. I thought of moving to Haines, but it was to expensive for me.. I love
hearing about your town, where you shop, what you do as a family ect.
Lauren, I loved this video! Very informative! We moved to Oklahoma/Texas from the Seattle area right BEFORE housing prices skyrocketed there. I also use average billing for electric……you gave high natural gas in the winter and here in Texas we have high electric bills in the summer! Gotta have my AC!!!
I live in kodiak Alaska and its about the same except for oil no natural gas here or ever. Thank God we burn alot of free wood.❤
First time commenting. Loved this video. Very interesting and so informative. You are so open with sharing your personal finances. Loved the neighbour home tours. Your channel is excellent.
Greetings from Boston MA. My heat source is gas and my monthly bill in Winter is about 400.00 .I keep my heat at 70 degrees and yes I have c/a bc it gets very hot here in the Summer. My city provides sewer system. Water bill is high especially in Summer with irrigation.
Going on an AK cruise soon (Aug 24), and it will be my first time to AK! Found your cruise videos first... just stopping in to say it looks like we have the same fridge, I love my fridge!!!
Thank you. This was very informative. We lived in a split entry...never liked it. We had always had a mud room which was a must have on the farm.
My gas and electricity bills are a total nightmare £339 every mth. It's been on my heating 28/30 degrees inside. Xx ❤❤❤
We heat ours to around 18 degrees c which to is 64F. Hi from Melbourne Australia!
I live in Southwest lower Michigan on Lake Michigan. Keep the thermostat at 68 in winter, same in summer!
Thanks for watching Jan!
The mud room in your home reminds me of school closets with the benches….in the uk 🇬🇧 we have what you call town houses and the living room can be at the top of the building…we have (rubbish bins) and we also recycle and the bins are collected on alternative weeks we have 4 colourful bins…bin 1 is for household waste bin 2 is for bottles (no glass) and cans ECT bin 3 is for cardboard and bin 4 is for garden waste….our utilities are very expensive especially our gas….thank you for your vlog
that was soooo informative Lauren.......I loved it.....wow you sure do things differently over there compared to Australia...but then again every Country is different I guess....& so much of Luna...loves the way she snuggles up to you on your lap..my 3 wont do that.....for a start its still too hot here...& you are getting your sun back....yayyyyy you cna have it too...our days are gettn shorter...thank goodness...Autumn just around the corner for us...cannot wait..sick of seeing the sun.........love yas....& please keep these vids coming....I love them xxxxxxxxxxxx
That was very informative. I don't like having an HOA some could be very high. I wouldn't like at all them telling me what I could do or not do. Thanks for the tour.
Lauren thank you for sharing this post because I wanted to know if there were houses more of a modern style house in the city part of Anchorage rather than the ones that we see in the wilderness or wooded areas all the time.🏡
Looks great!! All your hard work really paid off! You have earned a big "Great job"! A sense of pride doing your own work 100%. Looking forward to what comes next!
I live in southern New Jersey. In the winter I keep my down stairs living area at between 68 to 70. We do use blankets at nite when the heat is turned down to about 60 . Dress warmly all the time
Florida here... in the winter we turn heat on if gets below 68 degrees summer 73/74 degrees. Could not imagine turning heater to 80 degree temperature.
We heat with gas were not use to extreme cold but back in December it got down to 6° the wind chill was terrible
Lauren we love your vlogs we are Kentucky we don’t get a lot of snow. We love how your family gets outside and do all kinds of things in the snow. We love all your boys but Everett cracks us up we laugh at him all the time.
I just happened to click on this video and really enjoyed the trip! I'm glad that you showed the map at the beginning, I needed that perspective;)
Hi Lauren
We keep our heat at 70 here in central Texas. During the summer we keep our a/c on 70.
Thanks Lauren! So very interesting!!
I just found your channel and, so glad that I did. Your videos are so informative and well done. I live in Hawaii, and it was so interesting to see how much living in Alaska vs. Hawaii. We do pay sales tax here at some ridiculous rate. We also pay state income taxes based on your income. We are in the 30 percent income bracket.🤣 The cost of the average home is over 1 million $ which is just crazy! Our home was built in 1988 it is 1,270 sf with a garage of 450 sf. Our home is currently valued at $1.250.00. Our home has no insulation. Homes in Hawaii are just basic unless you have a mansion or have done a major renovation. We pay for electricity, water, sewer, internet, cell phones. We are charged a sales tax for everything and we cannot claim what we have paid when we file our income taxes. I apologize for being so long winded but found it so eye opening when I found
your channel. I will definitely be watching more. God bless you and your family. Love and Aloha from Hawaii❤️🌺🙏😊❤️
We keep our house at 71 during the day and 68 at night.
During the summer we keep the
a/c at 73, because it is hard to get it any cooler during the day.
East Tennessee
Great information! 👍👍👍 Very interesting!
Glad you enjoyed it!
In winter, we keep our home at around 18-19o Celsius (64-66 Fahrenheit) in summer we keep it exactly the same with AC so always at 18-19o Celsius!! Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺
Hi Lauren. Your house is gorgeous. This is good info to compare with our country. I have a small natural gas heater which heats most of my house which is around 15squares. I have it on around 18degrees centigrade. I have a reverse cycle electric air conditioner for summer. It gets really hot here in Oz in summer. I have it on 21degrees centigrade. Electricity is very expensive here too now. It’s gone up a lot this past year. I am on town water and sewerage.
I love that you always give us great videos .
Ther is so much I learned from that video! Thank you for educating.
Glad it was helpful!