Need help

[SammeyG]

times blod Well I am like the rest. I need help in ways to reduce my bills. Our electric bill is very seldom below$100.00. My husband is a very hot natured person. We did have the air off for a few day when it was cooler out. But we are having an indian summer. The past few dayswe have been having highs in the upper 80's. I live in the midwest. But I do have goals as weel. To get our c.c debt down. if any one has any helpful ideas pleas send them my way. Thanks

[Darlene]

Welcome Sammy! No air conditioner here. One thing that really makes a difference in our home during hot weather is to open the house up at night when it's cooler and closing the front door and pulling shades down all thru the house during the day. The temp indoors usually is 10º diff than outside unless it's been really humid for days.

[PrairieRose]

Hey, it's nice to have you here at the Village with us. You might wanna check out the debt reduction forum and we have a daily thread called the frugal challenge. There are always lots of great ideas in that thread, showing how we keep our spending down. Otherwise, just sit and read and read and read....there's lots of info here on how NOT to spend your hard earned cash.

[SammeyG]

Thanks for the info. I need all the help that I can get. I want to get to the point that I can take my family on a vaction of some sort. thans

[staceyy]

In addition to our air-conditioning we have portable fans. Somedays we use the fans instead of the air-conditioning and we also will open our windows. I've seen people use swamp coolers instead of air-conditioning also. These are fans that you pour cold water into. They make the air feel like air-conditioning. I've seen them at Home Depot and warehouse clubs.

In the winter, in addition to our furnace we have a log fireplace and an electric portable heater. We sometimes use the fireplace and or heater and turn the furnace down lower.

So I guess what I'm saying is to employ alternate methods to help reduce costs. Hope this helps.

Stacey

[schellie69]

I live in kansas and the summers here are hot and humid,one thing we do is make sure that the filter is kept clean this seems to help the ac run better, I turn the ac off when I can and leave windows open close curtins during day and try not to use oven to cook, But with cold weather right around the couner I leave the curtins open to let in sun to help warm the house, I keep lights off in rooms that are not in use this seems to save alot I also went to floresent bulbs they save some money and every little bit helps it all adds up, I got a egg timer to time kids showers to 15 minutes. I do all my laundry on the same days. Use half of everything (laundry deteregent fabric softner even cut dryer sheets in half) do dishes by hand some say this saves some say using the dishwasher saves guess each person needs to check electric bill and see which saves there. I also watch the companies that i have and if they have specials I check and see if i can get a lower price works on some of the things that I use, I have also been making a grocery list from a bi-weekly menu this seems to help save money buying the things i need to in bulk also saves money in the long run. I have been buying fabric at garage sales and making blankets and curtins (heavy ones) to help keep the house warmer this winter. I started with one thing and worked on that then started another it seems to help to do it slowly trying to do to much over whelmed me and i almost gave up so take small steps and you will see savings hope this helps

[canadian gardener]

I just bumped up a thread that should help, on the top ten tips to save, where a whole bunch of us gave our top tens.

HTH

[sarahsmile]

ceiling fans in the bedrooms are what SAVE us from using air conditioners

[SHOPGIRL]

Check with your local electric company to see if the have an Interruptible Service Plan. That would save you $ on your air conditioning...electric bill.