My wife and I have always lived up north where it snows every year.
We had a wood furnace for heating the house and a fireplace as well.
It was very nice during the winter, because we saved a lot of money on fuel. We had 15 acres of property and plenty of trees to cut down for firewood. Things were a lot different when we moved to Tampa. My Mom and Dad moved to Tampa when I was in my forties. I never planned for my wife and I to move to Tampa as well, but I wanted to be there when my dad was sick and my mom could not care for him alone. My wife agreed to move as long as we found a place close to the beach. Property in Clearwater Beach was very expensive, but we managed to find a house with two acres of property and access to a community cool. I knew it was important to have a pool, because the temperatures in Tampa, Florida are extremely hot and humid during the summer and fall months. Another great feature in the Clearwater beach house was the central AC. It was set up with Zone control features that allowed us to change the temperatures in different parts of the house. It was super convenient when we didn’t want to heat the bedrooms on the west side of the house. We didn’t think we would have to use any heat in Tampa, Florida, but there were a couple of days when the temperatures were colder than I wanted to bear.