Working in this heat is exhausting and not very healthy, so I got up early this past Saturday to get an early start on the yard work. Everything was going great, the lawn looked perfectly manicured this weekend, the edging chores went smoothly, hardly a dastardly bug in site, the song birds were singing and the hummingbirds were chasing each other through the garden. I was finishing up just as the mailman came through. What was meant to be a leisurely stroll out to my mailbox Saturday was about to become a very expensive one…
My electric bill had arrived.
Now, I live in the south and the expectation here is that your utility bills are highest in the summer; just like they are in the north during winter. This summer we’ve had over 60 days of 90+ degree weather and I know many of you have been suffering through the hottest summer on record too. But what I found when I opened the bill was enough to almost give me a heat stroke.
I couldn’t believe my eyes…the highest, most expensive utility bill I have ever received in my life was waiting right there for me!
My first thought was to go and turn everything off, unplug it all and tape all of the light switches so no one can turn them on. August is going to be a long, hot, dark month.
Then I realized that wouldn’t last very long, at least not in this heat.
I remembered that last fall I had taken a free Home Efficiency Audit of the house and prepared a plan to make my home more efficient. A moment later, I also remembered that I had only achieved about one-third of my plan.
Oh my intentions were to see it through all the way, but time has a way of getting away from us sometimes. I immediately went off into the house (a rather cool house, I might add), turned the thermostat up a bit and searched for my plan.
I decided to take the audit again to see if there were any changes to what my plan of attack would be. It only took me a few minutes to complete and now my plan has been updated and I’m going to get back on track.
I have quite a few tasks ahead of me; most of them are really very simple and really take a small amount of time to complete. The costlier tasks I have added to my home budget and I’ve also posted my plan to make my home more energy efficient right on the fridge so I see it every day. According to the results of my personal Home Efficiency Audit and the energy saving suggestions, I can trim another $596 off of my annual energy cost. I’ll keep you posted as to how well I do.
It’s definitely worth a few minutes of your time to take Home Depot’s Home Efficiency Audit to find out how you can cut down your energy use and put some money back into your wallet. Best of all it’s FREE!
I’m hoping that the electric bill for August is a little more wallet friendly for all of us!
How are you making your home more energy efficient? Don’t keep it to yourself! Share your ideas below so we can all start saving together.