Not having worked for almost three months, our family was starting to feel the strain.
We had enough money to keep food on the table and pay the bills, but that was about it. Our energy bills were getting so high that I was afraid it was going to put us over budget. I knew we had to do something. Normally, everyone would be out of the house because of school and work. The house was empty for more than eight hours and the thermostat was set for an empty house. With everyone at home, the heating was running continually for the first month. Then we had to start using the air conditioning. With the AC running and everyone in the house, the thermostat had to be kept at seventy all the time. The AC didn’t have a chance to get any rest and neither did I. I was suddenly a mother, teacher, housewife, and still trying to do my work from home. My husband was getting anxious from just sitting around. I told him we had to do something and it was up to him to implement a plan on saving energy. He came up with the decision that we should cut back on the AC. He told everyone that we were going to start running the air conditioning just like we would if we weren’t home. I thought this was a bit too much, but it started to work. Even the kids didn’t complain too much. We saved nearly $50 on the first energy bill and I was sure we would end up saving even more.