Vanquishing My Debt

I'm 29 and trying to get a handle on my finances so that, one day, I can buy a home of my own. I've been reading personal finance blogs recently and decided to start one chronicling my own struggles and success (hopefully). I am lucky, considering the amounts of debt and tales of tragedy I've read about... but I am making some positive changes and moving in the right direction.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Pleasantly surprised (and relieved) by our electricity bill

I have been dreading the most recent electricity bill for some time. I get billed every 2 months, and the last several months have been very hot in my part of the San Fernando valley. It seems that this year we've had a lot of days where the temperature was 100 degrees or higher... though luckily, we were not in the areas that were suffering from power outages during those days.

In our second-floor apartment, I have a ceiling fan in the dining area and a window air conditioner in the living room (might I add that I think the unit is too small for the space, since it doesn't seem to cool anything except the space immediately in front of it?). Shortly after I moved in, I put a ceiling fan into the bedroom and one in the spare room. During the summer, I keep all windows closed and blinds and curtains down. The darkness and fans are very adequate... until the temperature passes 90 degrees or so. Then there's just nothing that we can do. Except wet down our old cat every half hour or so, which doesn't usually go well.

So earlier this summer, we bought window fans for almost every window - 2 in the living room (along with the air conditioner), 2 in the bedroom and 2 in the spare room. We leave all the ceiling fans on all the tmie. During the day, we leave the air conditioner off and turn the fans to expel hot air from the apartment. As it gets dark and cooler, we switch the fans to pull in colder air from outside. So basically the window fans are running 24 hours a day.

Each fan cost us about $30, which was something I balked at when I realized the cost. But it was worth it! We got the electric bill the other day and it was only... (drumroll, please) ... $130! This may not sound great, but with the almost-useless air conditioner going all the time, last summer's bill was about $200. So this summer was cheaper and cooler... plus we have the window fans for several more summers, until they wear out.

Such a relief! I've been dreading this bill, thinking that it would derail my plans to pay off my credit card debt. Huzzah!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home