When I first moved into my house in 2004, I was a single gal in my late 20s and I was new to the world of home ownership and maintenance. I knew how to sew buttons and mend tears in my clothing, I knew how to cook, but I had no idea how to deal with things like water valves, electrical breaker boxes and lawnmowers.
There were a few things I tried to do to be frugal that resulted in utter disaster. I figured it would be easy enough to install the washing machine all by myself – after all, who needs a plumber? Just tighten the hoses into the right sockets (or whatever you call them), right? Except, I didn’t realize that I needed a special tool to get them really tight, and after about a month of slow leakage, my entire living room and kitchen flooded.
Then there was the time I decided it would be okay to bypass Austin Energy's “Call Before You Dig” – a free service that locates your underground utilities. I was in a big hurry to plant my Texas native flower and herb garden so I wouldn’t have to waste precious water on the lawn or on seasonal pansy blossoms. Except, I accidentally cut off one of my utilities with a shovel. I won’t mention which one, so I don’t get into trouble. (Let’s just say it didn’t pose any danger and wasn’t extremely necessary in an era where everyone uses cell phones.)
But there were some instances of success! One of my favorite things to do, growing up in Southern California, was to open up the windows on a mild day and let in the breeze and fresh air. Except, when I first moved into my house, there were no screens on the windows that had been installed in 1977 when the house was built.
After looking into the cost of getting them professionally custom-made, I decided I had two choices: go without screens or make my own. I went down to Lowe’s and got myself five items: screen mesh, screen frames, screen corners, spline and a spline roller. I was able to borrow a hacksaw from a friend (and if you’re a single woman, you’ll probably have good luck borrowing one too).
Without looking it up on the Internet (because how-to sites hadn’t yet taken off) or using any kind of manual, I set to work on making my solar screens. Putting together the frame is easy – you simply take the measurements of your windows, cut your frames to size, and connect them with the plastic corners like a game of Tinkertoys. Using the hacksaw can be a little bit tricky, but it if you also happened to be lucky enough to borrow a miter box, it makes life easier.
Installing the screen (also called "solar mesh" at home improvement stores) was the truly frustrating part. You lay your screen out over the frame, making sure you have more than you think you need, because once you start rolling in the spline with the roller, you lose some of surface area. Then, you have to be careful to roll it evenly so it doesn’t warp your screen. And if you do it too many times, you ruin the mesh and pretty much have to start all over.
Regardless, after some cursing and sweat and bruised knees, I made four screens for the front of the house, one screen for the side of the house, and two screens at the back. They’ve held up pretty well since 2004. During the summer, my electricity and water bill combined averages about $125-$150 – that is for an 1,100 square foot house.
I do a few other things to keep my energy costs down during the summer. That is, by using less energy! I keep the air conditioning set at around 82 or 83 degrees. As soon as we get a rain that cools things down, I open up all the windows (my screens keep the mosquitoes out), so all the hot air gets sucked out.
I also have ceiling fans installed in all the rooms. I went cheap on those – I opted for the Harbor Breeze brand from Lowe’s, which tend to run between $69 to $89. From what I understand, if you can spring for the higher quality, well-calibrated fans in the $200-$300 range (check out Texas Ceiling Fans), they make a huge difference in cooling the air. But a ceiling fan is still better than no ceiling fan. (Well, except for an off-name brand even cheaper than Harbor Breeze that resulted in a melted motor and a dangerous electrical fire hazard.)
Aside from planting native flowers and herbs, or zeroscaping your lawn, there are other things you can do reduce your water usage. Don’t leave the water running while you brush your teeth. When you’re washing your dishes in the sink, get them all soapy first and then rinse them off instead of leaving the water running the whole time. If you use eco-friendly dish detergent, it also makes less foam which speeds up the time it takes to rinse them. Try a six-minute shower – I guarantee it’s possible even if you're ultra-dirty.
My last tip for reducing energy on the cheap is not to use your dryer (that is, if you can manage to do your laundry during the day). The other day, I accidentally left a wet kitchen towel in the backyard in the middle of the hot afternoon, and it dried almost instantaneously. Why hadn’t I been drying my clothes this way all along? It was good exercise hanging all my clothes on the line, and you can have that “airy fresh” scent without using dryer sheets.
