How to lower power bill?

[sylvenmaid]

Ours was $150 this past month which is actually very high for us. We usually never go above $120, but this year has been extremely hot already. Not getting any rain isn't helping. I feel like I'm melting some days.

We just finished doing a bunch of remodeling inside the house. What has already helped tremendously is having caulked before we painted the rooms. I spent a lot of time caulking every nook & cranny, but I can already feel how much cooler the house has been. We also took out an old box fan out the attic that was letting in heat/moisture in the back hall. There was no insulation above it so we added a thick layer and closed it off plus put all new ceiling tile. I also spent the time caulking around all the inside window and door frames. I still need to invest in some thermal lined curtains for my living room. I keep my thermostat at 78 all day and night. I also run my ceiling fans to help circulate the air. I think we should see a drop next month and putting it down to 77 freezes me out now. Go figure?!!

I plan on caulking all the outside window/door frames this fall. It's just too hot to be working outside in this heat.

 

[minnie1928]

For those looking into window film, I have used Gila extensively. I filmed my entire house in NJ (partially for heat, partially for UV protection, partially for privacy). The Gila film works really well, but it does take time to install and you will need 2 people to do it right. It's not terribly difficult, but it is time consuming.

Having just moved to the Seattle area I've started to film these windows. Here I'm filming for the UV protection. I don't want to hang up any of my Disney art if the windows aren't UV protected. But, I don't want to hang up curtains because natural light is so important here most days.