Reducing our HVAC budget is strenuous
When the household budget gets tight, I have to make hard choices.
It was nice being able to go out for a meal once in a while, but restaurants are so extravagant these mornings that was the first thing to be eliminated.
I haven’t gone out to eat in more than 2 weeks, which is a bummer until I realized that option saved myself and others more than 2 hundred dollars; Since I am not going out, it means I am driving my car less often. This saves a lot of money on gas & upkeep. I’m considering selling the car, to save money on insurance payments. The hardest option to make was reducing my dependence on a/c, so that I could save money on utility bills. The weather has been so hot, I loathe the idea of shutting off the central a/c even for a few sixths, but it seems I have no choice… One change I made was to cover all the windows in my living room & kitchen with heavy blankets to reduce the heating exchange through the windows. As the AC runs, much of that cooling is lost because of the heat exchange in the glass. When I cover up the windows tightly it reduces that exchange, & traps the cooling air inside. I also shut off the air vents into the bathroom & kitchen, to reduce the floor space being cooled by the system. Of course, the means that when the air conditioner is running I have to stay inside those more than one rooms, because the rest of the house is no longer being air conditioned, let’s hope it helps.