I have a Coleman 1850 portable. It's served me well many of times here in the city. Once the snow took out a tree, which took out our main line. I was the only one with power for about 4 days until the line was repaired. Furnace, a couple lights and the fridge/freezer off and on.

Transfer Switch on the house is the best option if you can afford to have one installed. Plug in the generator and throw the proper switches for each desired circuit.

I used about one gallon of gas a day in the generator depending on the load obviously and how often I ran it. Couple hours for the fridge/freezer to maintain and then the furnace to keep us warm and run the TV.

Good to have. Test every few months. Which I'll probably test mine this weekend.