For about $500 or less you can cover the attic with rolled pink fiberglass insulation. That would help tremendously and with long sleeves, gloves and a cheep mask you can do that yourself. It is super simple but if you need to you can hire a handy man to do it for a few bucks. You can do it, I have faith in you!
You are using WAYYY too much heat in order to keep that house warm. First eliminate the lack of insulation. attic is the most important, heat rises.
Check your windows. Are they old? If so make sure that you use plastic over them and check into replacing them. It is expensive, but the pay back would be quick if you get 33% more efficiency which is almost guaranteed. Expect to spend around 10G’s minimum for very good replacement windows. DO NOT SCRIMP ON THEM. Buy the best, they are much more important than insulation. a majority of heat loss is through old drafty windows.
Last, and hardest, LOWER YOUR HEAT IN THE HOUSE AND BUY A SWEATER. If you keep the heat at 72, put it to 68. If you have it at 68 put it at 62. You will become accustomed to the lower temperature quickly. Also lower it when you sleep. It is easier to warm a bed with an electric blanket or extra comforter than to keep the entire house hot.
Also, if the house is empty during day, IE: everyone at work or school, lower the thermostat to 60 or 58 when you are out of the house and raise it when you come home. You can actually purchase a programmable thermostat to do this, but discipline is all that is needed.
If you could use only 20% less propane, you will save between $100 and $200 a month. That adds up quick. That would pay for windows & rolled insulation in less than five years and those windows, GOOD ONES, will save between 35% - 50%.
AND NEVER, NEVER SIGN A MULTI YEAR AUTOMATIC DELIVERY CONTRACT. Go Month to month and CALL WHEN YOUR TANK NEEDS FILLED ANDS ONLY ALLOW THEM TO FILL IT TO 80%. BE THERE AND CHECK ON THEM!
Remember, Propane is a byproduct of petroleum refining, so with O’Bumbler in charge, it will more than likely continue to stay high in price. YOU need to take steps to save yourself from O’Bumbler!
It would appear to me that even a filling contract should not give the provider permission to try to add anything else to an already filled tank and thus would grant no permission to bill for it (unless there is an overall periodic fee or minimum filling charge). The contract only gives the provider the right to refill your tank if it is possible. Not the right to overfill the tank past recognized safety standards. In the meantime you are free to wild-cat fill the tank by any service you please at any time including immediately in advance of the contract visits. So depending on specifics, the contract may or may not mean much.
Tell my wife that. From Bombay where it is 90F year round. Regardless of where they're from, many older people could not tolerate 62 indoors. Britain has customarily had lower indoor temp settings but the elderly have always been a wreck, even before NHS. Here, with Obamacare in the implementation stage it's not a good idea to make yourself sick.
IE: everyone at work or school, lower the thermostat to 60 or 58 when you are out of the house and raise it when you come home.
Poor strategy if you have a heat pump/furnace combo. Unless the system includes an outside thermostat, the furnace is going to be used to bring the temp back up at great energy cost. If the temperature was allowed to stay at the higher level the heat pump could maintain it at lower cost. These scenarios have been extensively modeled by the DOE.