Look To Your Windows

I'm always reading tips on how to save on utilities. I mean, as a Business Development Agent for a couple of Retail Energy Providers, I like to post information that can help my clients, both commercial and residential.

Practical? Hmmm

A lot of the stuff I read just isn't practical in today's world. Every ecology article or consumer tips list usually includes things like "line dry your laundry." Who, in this world of two career households, has time to lug a basket of wet clothes out to a clothesline and hang them, then take them in later, and iron them. Trust me, if you line dry clothes, they'll have to be ironed. If you line dry a towel, you can probably use it to sandpaper the deck.

Sure, it will save a lot of electricity, but who has the time or the inclination? Where I live, there are deed restrictions enforced by the community association that prevents you from even having a clothesline with laundry hanging on it. Most large metropolitan areas are like this too.

Grounded In Reality

So, for a tip today, I'll offer this. Think about the heat gain from your windows. Today's home decorating seems to call for minimal window coverings, or what I call naked windows. I've been in many homes that have nothing over the windows except a designer thing at the top. Oh, my wife said that's a window treatment or valance. Some windows have blinds or sheer curtains, neither of which provide a lot of insulation.

Here are some things you can do and they work for business or residential, summer or winter.

1. Install draw drapes that insulate. My wife watches those design programs on TV. She's always raving about the draperies that Candice Olson does on Divine Design, her favorite show. Take a tip from Candice and layer your window coverings with sheers and drapes as she does on many shows. Both of these can be drawn open to get maximum light on cloudy days.

2. If you insist on minimal window coverings, consider getting that tinted solar film. It needs to be applied by professionals but it will reduce your cooling costs.

3. It goes without saying that you should increase your insulation and every year check your caulking and weather stripping.

4. Oh, I've got to say this. Contact me and let me offer you the lowest electric rates possible with one of the Retail Energy Providers I represent.

Bringing Meaning To Madness

There are things you can do to reduce your expenses, but the most important thing is to take action.