I didn't realize I keep my house so un-naturally cool. Then again, I have 2 kids with Asthma so I need to keep it cool to prevent mold and other allergens, I can't open the windows.
Before you go thinking we are crazy decadent we have a vaulted ceiling in the mater bedroom & bath that positively BOILS during the day which heats the upstairs up to unbelievable temps that just won't drop (not good for Asthma) if we don't keep the whole house cool all day. Upstairs runs about 10 degrees hotter than downstairs, you can feel the heat hit you when you walk up the stairs.
Our thermostat allows 4 changes during the day.
My temps read:
6:30am 69
9:00am 70
2:30pm 67
4:45pm 64
If I am REALLY lucky upstairs will be about 70 at bedtime but downstairs almost never actually hits the target temperatures. Wish we could sleep with the windows open to reduce costs but that's not even in the realm of possible, I guess it's just a part of dealing with health issues. The only time I can open the windows is for a few hours in the early morning every few days when pollen counts are relatively low. In order to keep the bills low I often shut the whole system down from about 7am-2pm or until the house reaches 71, that is if the humidity isn't too bad or the air isn't too freezing in the winter because then I just can't do it at all. PS, the stories about it being cheaper to keep the whole thing on all day instead of turning it on & off are malarkey, I cut my bills by 25-30% doing the totally off in the am on in the pm thing. Our gas runs about $180/month on the year long averaged 'Budget' amount.