Old habits die hard and new habits can save money!
I've started a new habit that is saving us money on our electric bill. I've mentioned in an earlier post about unplugging things we don't use often and I did see a difference on the bill. I've taken it a step further and now the whole family is in on it.
We do the monthly averages on our electric bill which means they average our bill throughout the year and we pay the same each month owing anything over that average in May. Usually, because of running the AC, we are over the averages by a good bit this time of the year. For July- we were just $40 over average for the month and if you are here in Atlanta... you know how hot it is.
Here's the habits we are doing and it is working!
1. When we leave the house, everyone turns off all TVs, ceiling fans and we bump the thermostats up to 81-82 degrees. It's hot when we get home but once the fans start running again and we bump the air down- it's very quick for the house to cool down. We don't bump it down to 78 to put the AC in overdrive but we gradually bump it down until we are comfortable.
My new mindset is why cool the air in the house when no one is here! I've really not noticed it being uncomfortable at all and back to normal very quickly.
2. I'm trying very hard to keep the AC at 80 degrees. The fans keep the air moving and it's usually not until the afternoon that it gets uncomfortable if it's really hot outside. It works for us and I realize not everyone can do it but our downstairs stays very cool despite how hot it gets outside. I also make sure I bump the air up into the 80s when I go to bed or upstairs for the night for the same reason. And throughout the day- if we are upstairs, turn up downstairs and vice versa.
3. Turning ceiling fans off in rooms we don't frequent. I realized one day that I didn't really pay attention to rooms that had fans on 24/7 and no one is using these rooms!
4. We had a floor fan in the garage and since we had it- why not use it? We'll use it upstairs on really scorching days to just generate more air flow in the late afternoon.
These new habits are working, my family is doing them without being asked and we're seeing results on the bill!
2 comments:
You know, I am gonna start on the ceiling fans more ... It will be a good test run next month with the start of a new month. I have also read, the celing fans don't really cool the room, they make it just feel cooler. So if no one is in there, who cares?
We also make a habit (our weather allows) to open all the windows at night and then close it up tight as a drum first thing. It normally takes till about 3 p.m. before it finally hits 80 in the upstairs. Has helped a lot!
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and you can also find some interesting videos about ceiling fans at http://www.hunterceilingfanstore.com/ceiling-fan-videos.html This answered a lot of my questions.
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