Jen, I tryed to do alot of things you said to save money on your electric bill and I got it today and all my hard work didn't pay off much, not enough to work so hard at. I saved a big 9.00 and some cents oh big deal. Guess I will just have to live with this ding dong high light bill.
I made a huge effort to reduce my bill and it was $60 more! I'm still hanging clothes out and keeping my air up, but I'm not expecting a lower bill next month.
That would be terribly discouraging. I like to read my electric meter daily to see how we are doing with regard to conserving from day to day. Does anyone do the billing plan? That is where they average your bills and you pay the same each month until you have your settlement month?
I am considering the billing plan, but we haven't lived here long enough yet (must have lived here a year to calculate average). I like the lower bills in the winter, but these high bills in the summer are killing us financially!
Our utility co used the previous owners usage to calculate ours the first year. They ended up owing us several hundred dollars at the end of the budget plan.
Yes, we use the budget. I am thinking about not doing it because we are not using the air conditioning any more. Dh says we HAVE to save money. We are selling our van (2006) to get out from under the payment, he is selling one of his trucks. Until we become debt free, we will not be going out to eat (unless someone else pays) and I am grounded from the car - did I say that before. Must be age He wants to retire and with all these bills, it will be impossible. We also have the house up for sale - we will rent until he decides where we are going to live after he retires. Should be debt free by then - 3 1/2 years.
Today was really hard. ice water for everyone, including the poor dog. We drove in our old 1998 doge mini van out in the country to a friends house for a gas generator (In case we are hit by Dolly). The heat off that engine was like a furnace blast. Ick! Then on the way home the gas generator was spweing gas fume throughout the van, ick! I had my dog with me, because she deserved a time away from the house and she got to roam around the country side. Got her a owl of ice water in the car, when we stopped for water ourselves. DH has decidd that for the next two months of really hot weather, here near houston, we will run the ac to cool the house to a relative cool 80-85 to keep us from heat stroke. So we are no longer AC free. But it is a nice medium. I can't wait for FALL!
I feel for you all with the sweltering heat. If I get too warm I get a migraine and sick to my stomach. It was 90 degrees today and my house is a very comfy 73 degrees (no a/c). I would turn on the ceiling fans but that would mean that I will have to climb up on a chair and dust them off. My asthma and dust don't agree! We keep our dogs shaved down and they stay in the house during the heat of the day. I am curious, if you open your doors and windows at night when it is cooler then close them when it warms up, what temp will the inside of your house be without A/C?
I would only close up the house if we had the AC running, or if we had it running and now want to slowly let it warm up. For example... We may turn it on for two hours before bed, then turn it off. During this time, the windows are closed and will remain so all nite. In fact, the house stays relatively cool all nite and day until about 3-5 pm, when the sun is at it hottest. Also, because of higher humidity, 'round these parts, keeping the dryer air inside and preventing the wetter air from the outside to come in too soon, aids it keeping the cool feeling. So I would never close up the house when it is not being cooled in some way. No no no.. that is like an oven
I was curious if closing it up would be possible. I guess everything is probably pretty much warmed up and not cooled down on its own.
We have to have the air on if we do not have windows open. I have a small house and it heats up fast. The insulation is also poor. The people who built the house did a cheap job. One time we went away for the weekend. We turned the air off because we weren't going to be home. Well, once we came home, it was an oven. The temp was 110 outside. The AC never shut off that day or night. It was constantly fighting against the heat to cool the house down. Our friend repairs AC units and told us to never turn off the AC in the hottest weather. He told us to set it to at least 80 when we are away. It is cheaper in the long run to have it constantly set at 80 rather than it being on all day and night to cool down a baking house. It was a lesson learned.
I remember shivering when I came in from outside and I was wet from swimming. My mom didn't like to be warm so it was reallllllly cool! My house now stays around 73 and I know my mom had our cooler than that. We are fortunate that we have very good insulation. It is R-40 up in the attic. We added to our insulation years ago due to our very cold winters. I guess there is a trade off....................... We have very cold and expensive winters and you have very hot and expensive summers! Sending you some iced tea with lime ladies! :love: I am curious again.................... If you didn't use the air at all, what temp do you think the inside of your house would be?
I think it could easily be in the upper 90's to 100 inside here in the summer with no AC. I haven't tried it. Even with windows up and fans on, I've had it get up to 90 before turning my air on. I agree with Patti, if you turn the AC off or way up and then turn it down, it has to run all day to cool the house off. I do turn mine up some when I'm going to be gone for an extended time, but not off or too high.
If you didn't use the air at all, what temp do you think the inside of your house would be? [/QUOTE] I think it could easily be in the upper 90's to 100 inside here in the summer with no AC. I haven't tried it. Even with windows up and fans on, I've had it get up to 90 before turning my air on. I agree with Patti, if you turn the AC off or way up and then turn it down, it has to run all day to cool the house off. I do turn mine up some when I'm going to be gone for an extended time, but not off or too high.[/QUOTE] I don't take the heat well. So if I have to cool my house to stay well then that is what I would have to do. I went to a friend's house who lives in a mobile home. It was upwards of 100 degrees in there. I felt like I was going to pass out. They had a problem with their swamp cooler and didn't know how to fix it. They are in their 80's. Anyway, I told dh and dh got it going for them. We really felt for them, it was like a sweltering oven.
We have good insulation, as our home is relatively new, only 5 years old. It is hard to explain, but we have a canyon like main living area so any hot air goes waaay up. With the fans running it may only get about 80-85. The comfort level comes into play when you factor in humidity and wind level. On the wettest days, you would be more likely to run fans on high. But, if it is also a windy day, you really don't notice the extra water in the air. It is the non moving wet hot days of august that I fear! hahaha! On those days it might get up to 90 in the house but with no wind, we would have to rely on the fans more. Also, just a side note, we have solid surface floors, so it is not stuffy like it would be in a carpeted area. We have ceramic tiles downstairs and just put your foot down and you cool off real quick! hahaha!
What do you use to clean your ceramic tile? Isn't it nice not having carpet? We have Pergo, like hardwood flooring, but laminate flooring, I LOVE it! Our entry way is stone. Our ceiling in the livingroom is about 10' ft, the rest is about 9'.
Both our living room and master bedroom have vaulted ceilings. The LR does stay cooler than the other rooms, but becasue the Mater BR is upstairs, it get pretty warm up there. We have only laminate floors downstairs, but we do have carpet upstairs. I really want to add more insulation to our house within the next year or two!!
We were amazed at how much of a difference more insulation made in our house. We were insulating mostly for the extreme cold winters.
The insulation is why the cool dryness of the air from cooling it in the late night, sticks around so long. And it is why I don't want to open the window, till it tips the ballance between cool/dry and just simply hot. That is when I open everything up. Like I said, depending on the day, it could be 12 noon ,or as late as 7pm. Taking into considerations the humidity that day, the wind, cloud cover, etc...
