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Old 07-31-21, 10:17 PM   #61
ME_Andy
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: New Mexico/Texas
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It has been a long time since I've posted. The family has grown by one and we moved once, downsizing from 1950 sf to 1450 sf. Being smaller and two story, I figured utility bills would drop. But, they actually went the other way. Previously we were topping out around $100/mo in electricity. Now it's not unusual to see $150/mo. I think the problem is that the smaller house is about 10 years older and just not built as well.

I haven't done a ton of efficiency upgrades in the new place. Here's what I can think of:

- heavy drapes
- seal some gaps with foam
- foam in the wall outlets
- Google Nest, upstairs and downstairs

I got the Nests on eBay. Coming from eBay and with a city incentive, they were basically free.

We are also driving less and biking more. Wife picked up a bike trailer in Craigslist recently and that has been great. I bet we drive less than 10k miles combined this past year

I mentioned the reusable AC filters previously. I brought them with me to the new house, but the AC filter size is smaller here. So I carefully chopped and resized the filters. That was kind of fun. I still recommend these filters. They are heavy and well built, very easy to clean. One $13 bottle of cleaner should be enough to last us about 4 years, I figure.

My only caution on the reusable filters is not to use them in overhead applications since they are heavy and could fall on somebody.

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Last edited by ME_Andy; 07-31-21 at 11:13 PM..
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