Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Keep Yer Cool wrap-up

Keep Yer Cool ChallengeSeptember's going out with a bang - well, as much as it does around here. Sunny skies and mid 70s. But, nothing to sweat too much over.

We don't have air conditioning in the house so there was zero temptation to use any there. There were only a couple nights where it was too hot and, now that I think about it, I never did bring the fan up. We kept the house cool by closing blinds and opening/closing windows at the appropriate time of the day to take advantage of natural heating and cooling effects.

There were a couple times where I used air conditioning in the car mostly to prevent arriving dripping with sweat for a few important functions particularly since I stopped using anti-perspirant and the sweat was more pronounced. Otherwise, open windows (except at freeway speeds so it doesn't impact mileage) were de riguer.

Over the last week or so, we've been moving into cooler temperatures sometimes waking up to mid to low 40 temperatures. So, in spite of the spike in temperatures over the next week, I'll be gearing up for another year of the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, which I'll be starting soon.

How did this summer's Keep Yer Cool Challenge go for you?

14 comments:

Robj98168 said...

It was not bad. Sure- i had a few days when I wimped out and Yielded into cool temptation, but almost all summer I survived witrh out the A/C - course it helps that only the truck has A/C-Mostly I found that at night- (I am at work during the hottest time of the day) just the ceiling fan and the living room windows open, and the bedroom windows open- kept me cool just finr. I thank You and my City Light power bill thank you.

katecontinued said...

I don't have A/C so it really didn't apply to my home. But, So. California along the coast was cool this summer. It was pleasant for humans - but not very invigorating for garden produce.

Abi said...

Fortunately, the A/C broke on my car late last year and I have none in my house! I asked my partner not to repair it like he had planned, and voila! No A/C.

I did succumb to using a fan several nights to get airflow through the house...

Now for winter, as long as I don't vacuum the baseboard heaters, we'll keep the breaker off! :-)

EJ said...

Easy-peasy as my 6 year old neighbor says. We did the house with blinds, shades and open windows. Okay even in hot weather. Not humid here, though.

Did use it in the car a few times.

Anonymous said...

oops - I thought fans were allowed?

Well, we did use the fans, although not as much as I thought we would. No house AC; we did use it in the car a few times. Only missed the house AC a couple of times when it was really humid.

My electric bill was WAY lower too - down 45-50% for June & July!

Alison Kerr said...

I didn't know about your challenge so I can't say I did well or poorly. I applaud your efforts.

Despite my care about the environment I have to say I seem to be getting more fussy and spoiled by the year. We keep the house at 78F with the A/C (warmer overnight), so that is something, but nowadays I don't even like the windows open when it is around that temperature outside because I get all lethargic at 78F when there is humidity. I do better with the cold than with the heat.

When we visit our RV I tend to keep the A/C off and open the windows. I don't sleep particularly well with the humidity. Then we spend most of the day outside at 80+F, and I almost invariably get dehydrated and exhausted and I think it's partly because of the heat and humidity overnight. You really have to watch your water balance when you're not using A/C.

Anonymous said...

It had its good days and its bad days, particularly when the weather hit 108 here. I did really well with *mostly* keeping the AC at 76 or above, except for a few times when we had friends over and the heat was too much for them.

I AM looking forward to the winter challenge -- I'd much rather be cold!

mudnessa said...

we did really well, once the challenge started we never touched the ac. used fans to circulate pretty well and it kept us cool enough.

this month we finally got our electric bill below $50. that has always been our goal, we are always between $52 and $55 as opposed to the $150 we had when we had a roommate . . . i dont know what he was doing!!

looking forward to the freeze your buns, we dont have much in the way of a heater anyways so i am going to need some support and heating ideas from all of you.

Anonymous said...

No AC in our apartment--or fans--but kept things cool by opening windows or closing blinds when appropriate.

I teach in the afternoons, so I needed to turn the AC on in the car on the freeway to prevent distracting sweat rings.

Anonymous said...

Came into the challenge in the middle of summer and am really proud of myself. Only used air conditioning when I had company and was able to keep the power bill to $25 dollars in August (for DC that is unheard of)!!! My roommate was so excited!

Anonymous said...

i didn't use home ac all summer. BUT when i visited phoenix and experienced 115 degrees, i could smell my hair cooking while i walked through the parking lot! even then i only hit the hotel ac twice a day for 1/2 hour each. i stayed in the pool as much as possible.

TDP said...

Was doing so well up until late August when the humidity went way up due to local "monsoon" season. Humidity inside condo teetered between 60% and 70%. So I pushed the AC to 77 instead of 79, and used it more often as I have switched jobs and am home longer during the daytime now. The good news is that I will be like mudnessa and have my electric bill below $50 for Sept, so I must have been doing something right. I take advantage of a "pay as you go" metering plan the local electric company offers. I pay more per kwh in summer than those billed for service, but in the winter I pay less per kwh than those billed. I am really looking forward to $25 electric bills from November to April!

Anonymous said...

I have a freeze yer buns question:

anybody have a source for toddler sized long johns? Not a union suit, I need something he can take himself to the potty in, in size 3T. Natural/sustainable is a plus, but cost is more of an issue - I need about 5 sets, to get us through between laundry days in the winter when it takes stuff 2-3 days to dry.

Target had them last year but all the Target stores near us that the web site claims have 3T long johns, don't. And they aren't sellign them online. LL Bean doesn't have any. REI has them for $34/pair, which I will do if I have to but, ouch.

I have never once found toddler long johns at garage sales or thrift stores, apparently nobody else's house is cold like ours. If I find a cheap source, I may buy extra and give them to the teen mom's program, just to get some circulating.

Anonymous said...

we have a central a/c so it uses alot of power BUT we live near the beach so its always cool and we have used it only once or twice since we have been living here so that is great!

Brilliant post!
Cheers,
Bella