I live in Southern California, so I can get away with doing this almost year round. But I rarely turn on the thermostat, even in winter. I usually have the windows open to cool off in the summer and in the winter I just wear socks and a sweater. I will occasionally turn on the thermostat when it's extra cold and raining, but that's it. So my heating bill for the year always stays well under a thousand for the whole year. Does anyone else live in an area that they can do this?
I don't live in an area like that but I do tend to keep my thermostat low during the winter. We have cold winters usually, I live in Kansas but I keep my heater just warm enough the pipes won't freeze then I wear sweaters and luge a blanket around to keep myself warm at home. During the night we have a mattress pad warmer that is on a timer and doesn't use much electricity to help cut down on the gas we use during the winter. Also after I bake something and turn the oven off I open the door to the oven to help warm up the house a bit more.
We cannot sacrifice convenience and comfort with savings regarding power. When it is summer, we are a big consumer of electricity with our air conditioner. But lately, we have been saving on the electric bill by turning the air conditioner in high and turning it off after 30 minutes and let the electric fan cool the living room. We have a thermometer so when the temperature rises to 29 degrees C, we turn on the air conditioner again. It is a big savings.
Living in Texas does not make this idea very feasible for me. It can get extremely hot in summer and quite cold in winter too. We've taken several measures to economize on the electric bill, but it won't go away completely. We do dress as light as possible in summer and even take intermittent showers throughout the day. In winter we dress warm but we still need the heat sometimes. Climate control is a blessing we have.
Well this is really one area that I consider myself pretty good at. Maybe it is just the fact that I have a better tolerance to heat and cold than most people, but I rarely use the air conditioning or the heat, and I rely on fans and good old fashioned layering up in the winter time. It makes a huge difference in the bill too, and that is certainly worth it in my opinion. Thanks for sharing.