Posted on February 28, 2009 - by admin

Saving Money on your Cooling Bill - Food Spoilage OOG 30

Out of Gas Newsletter - Issue 30 Feb. 28, 2009

Saving Money on your Cooling Bill

++ News -

We would like to take a moment to thank those that have been with us for 30 issues - my how time flys…

Disaster preparation - Recap -

We talked some this past week on safety and planning.

Resources Preparing for disaster.

Creating a Disaster Plan - Preparing an Emergency kit.

Should you Buy a Generator?

During the storms this past week we lost over $200 of food because we would be afraid that it would spoil? So exactly how long does it take food to spoil?

An excellent article covering that can be found here. You can also find more good information on food safety at the usda site.

So should you buy a generator?

Here is an excellent resource for generators - click here.

Price checks on small generators - find them here.

So should you buy one? I would buy one if any of the following are true.
1. You loose power more than 2 times / year.
2. You have a large freezer filled with food.
3. You have small children (or elderly) that can’t withstand cold weather or being without electricity for more than a few hours.

++ Savings Tip of the Week

Saving Money on your Cooling Bill

The information that we gave you about Saving Money on your Heating bill will help to save money on cooling too.

Here are some Cooling specific tips.

1. Do a home energy audit - go to this site - http://hes.lbl.gov/

Enter your zip code in the area provided. Fill out the questions and it will give you specific answers on things you can do.

2. Make sure to close the drapes and curtains when you aren’t at home.
3. Just like we did in the winter you want to turn the temp for the AC up when you go to work or won’t be home for 3 or 4 hours.
4. Use Ceiling fans.
5. Get your air codition serviced - make sure it has freon and is working properly. As we’ve talked about many times before make sure to get several estimates and for work around your home get references, check them and check with the BBB… what may seem like a deal that is too good to be true, probably is!
6. Use your ceiling fans, if you don’t have one then think about installing one. If you like to DIY you can find some details on how to install a ceiling fan here. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,453858,00.html

Next up:

We’ll start on Household Expenses and Supplies (not including Food)