As the winter months come rolling in, the temperature outside AND inside is about to drop. It’s only a matter of time before we all have our fireplaces roaring, our ovens open in the kitchen, and layers upon layers of clothes on our bodies. Anything to keep warm in this chilliest (and coziest!) time of year!

For most people, the most popular way to warm your house is through a heating system. And whether that’s electric or gas keeping your house toasty, it costs a pretty penny to keep the warmth going. Gas and electric prices seem to get continuously steeper, even if there are ways to reduce the cost of heating with some clever winter hacks.

The only way it could get pricier is if you live with a big family. To one person, 70 degrees is nice and toasty. But to another, that’s miserably cold. It is such a struggle to find a temperature that suits everyone in the house.

And the bottom line? When fussy kids or spouses are constantly playing with the thermostat, your bill goes up and up and up. And we understand that’s the last thing you need!

Autumn Brandon, a wife and mother of three boys, understands this dilemma perfectly. She often finds the heat blasted on high for no reason — which is most mother’s worst nightmare.

Rather than yelling at her family or allowing the heating bill to skyrocket, Autumn decided to school her family in a brilliant an hilarious way.

She left a note on the thermostat for anyone who was tempted to change the temperature in the house. It reads:

“Unless you answer ‘yes’ to all of these… Do not turn on the heat!!!

Are you wearing a hoodie, pants, socks?

Is it November?

Do you pay the gas bill?”

This is a lighthearted but still effective way to to teach your kids one very important lesson: you have no idea how much it costs to pay for this expense. So before you go trying to fiddle with this thermostat, consider how much money we’ll be spending!

To be fair, the average high school kid doesn’t really understand the gravity of one little, harmless dial. Unless you’re accustomed to paying bills, it’s tough to grasp just how expensive changing the thermostat can be; even a few degrees of changed temperature can up your bill. And when you have a mortgage, car loans, old student loans, and a heap of other utilities to pay, the last thing you need is a higher-than-average heating bill.

Hopefully, these kids (and Autumns’ husband) learned their lesson with this funny and truthful little note. This is a great parenting lesson! Without yelling or just dealing with the higher bill, this mom found the most effective way to get her teenage sons to learn their lesson.

What do you think about this hilarious message to Autumns’ family? How do you keep your heating bill down in the colder winter months? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.