[HeyLaughingBoy]

I lived in a smaller house than that (about 900sf) in SW Minneapolis. Built in the late 40's/early 50's, it was really a beautiful little house with trim similar to what you describe.

But then I moved to the suburbs to a boring 1980's ranch house a bit more than 2x the size and watched my heating & cooling bills drop to less than half what they were before. Charming as the Mpls house was, its HVAC costs were insane (since it was my first house, I had no frame of reference). There's a lot to be said for thick insulation and modern windows.

I live in an even larger house now, with a largely glass east-facing wall and my heating bills are about the same as the second house. Again, modern insulation & 12" thick walls makes a huge difference.

[mattbroekhuis]

I gutted mine out and put in spray foam before I moved in. Heat bill never tops 150. I realize that most people won't do this though.

You can get insulation put in without doing so. I think it's called retro foam. Also I'm guessing your attic insulation wasn't top notch?

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Within a month of buying the house I added insulation in the attic. Shudder to think how much higher the bills would have been if I didn't.