There’s an Unspoken Competition Among Michiganders Every Fall

There are a few things that Michiganders tend to pride themselves on.

The Things Michiganders Take Pride In

You can bet we're going to brag about being able to use our hand as a map. Or the fact that we drove over black ice that one time and lived to tell the tale.

Another item to add to the list of things we weirdly take pride in (but all eventually succumb to regardless) is waiting as long as possible to turn on the heat.

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Even though I know it happens to us all, I take it as a personal point of pride to see how long I can wait before turning on the heat when the weather starts to get cool. And I know plenty of other Michiganders do the same.

We're all secretly trying to beat each other at this pretend game that we're inexplicably playing. Not to mention, we're trying to save a few bucks on our energy bills.

Well, it finally happened to me this year... I turned on the heat.

I Finally Turned on the Heat

Call it. The time was 7:06 a.m. on Sunday, October 18.

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't the earliest I've ever turned on the heat. However, it's also not the latest. I used to throw on a pair of socks and another blanket and call it a day to avoid turning on the heat. Now, while we're still trying to wait as long as possible, we end up turning it on a little earlier than we used to because we have a small kid.

So, what about you? Are you a Michigander who's still holding out on turning on your heat? Or have you succumbed to the HVAC gods and turned on the heat for the winter?