In the way of being more green I have finally convinced my husband to turn off the air conditioning. I know, its the END of September (ahem, we live in Pennsylvania. Northeast Pennsylvania to be exact. I know some people who have already turned their HEAT on.) Anyhow after a battle of wills the AC is finally off and the windows are open and the house smells of fresh, fall air. Of course, I have to put up with my husband storming around snorting his nose dramatically in a not-so-subtle attempt to let me know open windows irritate his allergies. Honestly...I don't care. I love, love, love fresh air and I get, literally, a few days a year to enjoy a breeze flowing through the house, since G2 insists that air be on until October, and the first nice spring day of the year usually finds him giddily adjusting the thermostat to "cool", caressing it like an old friend.
But what does this have to do with anything?? Well its gotten me thinking about ways to lower our bills in the winter...winterizing, if you will. We have a large house, and gas is expensive...so anywhere to cut costs in the winter is golden. My ideas so far:
1. Close the flues to the fireplaces. We don't plan on using them ever, at least for the next 5 years or so, for several reasons. Mainly, it only heats the general vicinity--so either the living room or the basement. Its mostly for ambiance in a house this size that has an open layout, in my opinion. Most importantly though, we have a 1 year old. He is just not at the age that I can teach him NOT to touch the fireplace. Even if we only use it when he's not around, there's still always a chance of something happening. Its better to just...not use them. And closing the flues will keep cold air from entering our house.
2. Close up the rooms we aren't using on a regular basis. This is really just the guest bedroom, and the basement. The basement is a tough one, because its a wonderful, great big space, but it operates on electric heat, so its like paying for 2 heating bills. We basically turn it on when we have company and we might want to utilize the area. I realize as my son grows, we will probably need to keep the heat on down there in the winter, since that's where the toys seem to be gravitating to. But for now--heat on an as-needed basis.
3. Fix the weather-stripping on the front door. Anyone who's come to our house in the past 2 years has probably been whacked in the face with black rubber weather stripping that hangs down. Ghetto, I know. And not very conducive to preventing drafts.
4. Discuss window treatments with my husband. This is another questionable issue. We have NO blinds or drapes of any kind in our house, save for my baby's room. The house faces a beautiful valley, and the view is what makes this house unique and special. The entire front of the house is huge windows and doors; it's open and airy and really--breath-taking. However, part of me wonders if we had heavy drapes that could be closed at night, would it cut down on the energy needed to heat the house? Would it really save us that much? Enough to be worth the cost of good quality and aesthetic drapes? My surroundings matter to me--I can't stand clutter, ugliness, mismatched things, or yucky drapes. If I'm going to be covering up a stellar view, I want something nicer than velvet drapes from Value city on a metal rod, know what I mean?
The view I don't want to cover up...
5. Once again, go through our bills and see which ones can be cut back. Most of the time this is the cable and cell phone bills.One area that we already do pretty well in is not abusing the heat. This is mainly because my husband apparently radiates heat from his own body, and thus needs nothing more. Our thermostat is never above 68. I keep my son's bedroom door shut at all times, and this keeps his room nice and snug. He is too busy to notice how cold it is anyhow, and we just dress accordingly.
So that's my start. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
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