Even with trying to live with out the ac most of the time and turning things off at the power strip and unplugging many things.. we still ended up with a $385 bill... 2500 killowatt hours used at 13.6 cents per killowatt hour.... And our water heater and stove are all gas, by the way... Sigh.... Have to cut somewhere else...
You live in the great state of Texas so going without AC might be a bit difficult. I don't do well in the heat and I get migraines from the heat so I don't think I would be able to cut back on comfort if I lived in such a hot state.
wow, Jen but then again you have that big new house and we do live in Texas. South Texas on top of it. So, yes the bills are high this time of year, hopefully only alittle while longer.
our electric bill for our first month in this house was 95 dollars. That was with no window units. I'm thinking this coming bill will be around 150 plus. Will be nice when the weather cools down again, power bill will go down too lol.
We do indeed! I know I have shared this before but we get the frozen water hoses, broken pipes and we even have two ski resorts on each side of the valley. What part of California did you visit? Contrary to popular belief, all of California is not warm all year round. But yes, I have walked in shorts in the winter too. Even in Colorado. I have two pictures to post and am going nuts try to shrink them. I have been trying for the past hour. As soon as I shrink them, I will post them. They are a picture of the side garden in summer and one in winter when we had a snow fall.
Ours was about $385 this last month and we just got our bill this month for about the same amount. I was really disapointed at first because I was trying to do everything to lower it, getting ceiling fans putting the temp higher during the day etc.. Then I realized by really reading it, we did use a lot less electricity it was just the electric company just raised their rates again! This is like the second time within a few months. Sam
We had window fans in 5 windows plus a box fan and oscillating fan the first month we were here. I'm curious to see how much more the ac units will be. Too humid to have the window fans in anymore- when the pages to my piano books are curling from the humidity, I can't have the windows open lol. If it's only 50 or so more a month, I figure it's worth it. Dh broke everything down for electricity last week to figure out how much it would cost for infrared heaters during the winter as opposed to using oil. Will cost about 90 a month in electricity vs around 300 a month for oil. Thinking an infrared heater will pay for itself in a month!
Southern California is large and wide. You will find beaches, forests, and ski resorts. So if you were anywhere down the hill, it wouldn't surprise me that you wore shorts. Even if you were up here, it wouldn't surprise me. My family lives in Colorado and my nephews play in shorts even when snow is falling. They are used to it. But, when they came to visit us during spring, they were complaining that it was hot. I can't remember exact temps but it was in the low 90s. Handsome told them they should come and visit when it is 115 like it was most of last week. Then it is uncomfortable. I think a lot has to do with what your body is acclimated.
Okay, MamaBear, I think I got it! WOO HOO!!! I am so bad with computers! I never thought I would figure out how to shrink the pics enough to post them. I tried to keep them a bit larger but I couldn't post them any other way. This is a picture of sunny Southern California, in my side, front yard in the summer. View attachment 1287 This is a picture of sunny Southern California, in my side, front yard in winter. No it isn't Colorado, Alaska, or Canadian snow fall, but it shows that contrary to what some people believe, all of Cali isn't sunny all year round and that in my area, we do need to heat our homes:love:.LOL View attachment 1288 Now, with that said, winters here still can get cold but for some reason it seems as though we are getting less and less snow. I do not believe in "Global Warming" as it is presented to us but our weather is indeed changing. Deep freezes are still faithful but our snow is dwindling. Perhaps it is just a cycle!?:| I do not know.
WOW! When you said that you got snow I was thinking a skiff, you actually had some snow. LOVE your arbor, ds made me an arbor, it is soooo cool. What is the typical low temp in the winter? Is that snow typical?
Patty Samantha and I are coming to visit this winter! She has never seen snow like that. I love your yard it is beautiful.
We woke up one morning in December to 5 ft of snow. My ds had to dig their way out of the back yard to get out because they were pushing snow with the bumpers of their trucks. We normally will get a foot at a time, not 5 ft.
I bet the arbor your son made is lovely!!! I bought mine at Home Depot. You can't really see it in the pics but there is a little picket fence on each side of the arbor. Typical lows are usually in the low teens. We do have periods, short periods, were they can go into single digits but it is for a very short time. I live in one of the valleys of the Mojave Desert were our weather is extreme. We get hot and pretty cold compared to other places in Cali. Except for the higher elevations that hit 0 or below. Snow is usually typical but the amount varies from year to year. The last couple of years we didn't see one flake. :| This last winter we received some but little. Our snow storms aren't like the mountains around us. They have snow and you can see it for months. Our snow comes in shifts. We get some and it can last for a day to many days depending on the storms for the year. Then it melts and you can't tell it even snowed.LOL But we do get the deep freezes faithfully. Usually they hit around early January. Although we have had a couple of white Thanksgivings. But our summers are waaayyy longer than our winters. I wish I had pics of our last snow. It was a big storm that lasted for about a week. We got about four feet of snow and it actually lasted for a bit because we were in a deep freeze. It was beautiful but broke some of our trees. Handsome stayed home because the pass was closed off and on. So basically our winters are cold but not always snowy throughout the winter season like the mountains above us. We actually have a period in winter were we only need a sweater because it is still warmish. I always say that I want A LOT of snow throughout winter but my sister, she lives in Colorado Springs, tells me I will get sick of it eventually.LOL
Wow Patty what a wonderful yard you have. When you get time will you come and help me with mine. Oh it's hotter then you know what today and the humdity they said was 98 percent. WOW like 110 out. Man oh Man. Any way we got two storms out in the ocean that could be to us by the end of next week. Not hurricanes yet. But, we are watching them.
I pray they do not turn into hurricanes! ...and thanks Tiffany and Kris for the compliment. Today was a lovely day. We hit 101 but it was a blessing compared to the 115 we were having. We had a breeze and no clouds so it felt wonderful.
I get tired of the snow and sometimes it is so bad that it leaves us stranded due to road conditions and closures. Last December my kids had to dig their trucks out of 5' of snow "just" to get out of the back yard as the gate would not open. They were pushing snow with their front bumpers. I refuse to drive in the snow!
