It’s amazing how money-saving ideas can present themselves. For many years, air-conditioning costs have been a pet peeve of mine. Living through the ungodly hot Texas summers – and having a spouse who will MELT if the thermostat is not set at a cool 73 – hamper my ability to lower our bill by any significant amount.
Yesterday evening, however, our central air-conditioning unit decided to die on us. Well, it didn’t die exactly; the blower part that brings the cool air into the house quit working. The outside unit, a less-than-two-year-old Trane, works fine. We flipped circuit breakers, consulted owner’s manuals, but failed to correct the problem. So we did the only thing we could – opened the windows and turned on the fans. We’re living out our last cool days of spring down here, so the effect was actually not too bad. The air was a little more humid, for sure, but otherwise totally livable.
That night, my curtains blowing in the breeze, I got to thinking. Did we really NEED air conditioning in April? Are we really hot, or do we just need the air to circulate a bit more? And just how much could we save by flipping that little thermostat switch to “off”?
Plenty, it turns out. According to this man’s very helpful site, I’m spending about $130 a month to run my AC unit (based on the assumption that it runs about 10 hours a day, which I think is pretty on target). If I could knock that down by half, to 5 hours a day, I’d cut my cooling costs to $65.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not about to sell my unit on Craigslist. There is a very definite need for air conditioning here in Texas, especially in the dead of summer, when high temps can actually kill you. I realize that in July, I’ll run my unit quite a bit, probably more than I’m doing now. But a $65 savings is $65 in my pocket. And if I can cut down on my AC time during those few weeks that we call “fall” and “spring” around here, that’s a few hundred a year saved. That’s enough for a few months’ worth of diapers for my two sons, or extra money to pay down our mortgage, or – dare I say it? – a haircut for myself.
As I write this, the AC is still not on. I’m going to re-open the windows in a few minutes because we’re heading toward high noon. (The air conditioning unit, by the way, was fine; it was a dirty air filter that was causing the blower to stop working. Lesson learned: change your filter monthly.)
Can you go air-conditioning-free in your neck of the woods? If not, how long can you go without it during the year?
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