I am so sorry to hear about your situation. Some houses seem to just suck all the funds right and left. Your immediate need is to stay warm and have hot water. I am assuming you have a boiler? First, any chance you can go back to the previous oil company and they will deliver? Second can you install a wood burning stove? We are heating our house mostly with wood this year.

After you have made it through the winter I would suggest a thorough inspection of the house and its systems to determine exactly what is needed and what order of importance. We have used an inspection company that provided 3 separate inspections of a house we were considering buying. The information was very helpful in the negotiations. We also found a restoration contractor who seems to speak to these old houses and helped us understand ours a lot better. These resources helped us form a plan of attack for our house.

Then work from that point on improving. Maybe 1 or 2 major projects a year for a few years. Can you do some of the work yourselves? That can stretch the budget. If it is too much for you to do, you may want to look at selling and get out of there. You may also be able to get some decent financing for some or all of the repairs so you can get at least the very important stuff done without feeling so restricted in the budget. Some companies may offer financing such as heat pumps and/or solar. If you have equity in the house maybe a HELOC would be favorable. This may help get some of the work done so you are comfortable in your home.