Astoundingly, this is the first day I’ve smiled while I was in the summer around here.
That’s because the start of September means that the start of the end of summer has commenced, and that’s an immense reason to smile for me.
When you live in this region, putting up with multiple months of non stop heat and humidity is just a little tiny part of it. However, the other several months are lovely, and September is sort of the gatekeeper to that time of year. Now don’t get me wrong, September still comes with plenty of high temperatures and overwhelming humidity, but those afternoons are now numbered. Yet, I’m not smiling due to the fact that air conditioning demand is about to go down. I’m smiling because I have been able to really smash my records when it comes to saving on heating and cooling costs. This hot summer is the high water mark for heating and cooling savings. The last couple of years, I’ve gotten proactive when it comes to curbing the high costs of central air conditioning. When we all first moved down here, there wasn’t much more we really felt we could do other than rely on the thermostat setting for summer. The heat and humidity were higher and more intense than anything we both had ever experienced. So we just stayed inside and applied more cooling with the smart thermostat. But of course, that gets pricey and you end up spending too much time inside. The first year I did the basics, but this year I really poured on the savings by cooking only outside on the grill and hanging out the laundry instead of using the dryer. Those were just sections of it and I’ve saved hundreds over the course of the summer on my heating and cooling costs, which is great for us in the long run.