Two years ago we did not burn any wood and just heated with oil (outside tank = kero). Last year we waited till the last minute to decide to burn some wood and got two cords of "seasoned" wood. Around $800 for the two cords.
This year, we cut and split close to 3 cords with the help of a few friends. Started off hand splitting until one of my neighbors stopped by and let me know I could borrow his gas log splitter. (Who knew he had one??? I didn't
)
Wood sat on the driveway from the end of June until mid-September. We did not start to burn wood until mid-December because we were not around Nov to mid-Dec.
We burn from when we get up in the morning around 530 or so and last load goes into the stove between 630-700 usually.
I have a Nest learning thermostat and looking at the history while we were away, with the temp set at 50, the furnace ran around 3.5 - 4.5 hrs daily.
Burning the wood during the day, the furnace is only running around 1.5 to 2.5 hrs daily. Given the fact the wood cost me nothing but my time and effort plus about a gallon of gas for the splitter, I'm feeling pretty good about our savings on the fuel oil cost.
Now if I could just find a way to use swim noodles to make wood splitting easier.
Dave