Selective Cheapness

[blas87]

*Living back at home with the parents rant here, be patient with me*

Why the fricken fack do we have to have all organic food, organic milk, and all natural every fucking thing in this house, but as soon as the electric bill from the past cycle comes (OH, INCLUDING A WEEK OF OVER 100 DEGREE WEATHER!), and it's "Don't you DARE touch the A/C, the setting stays where it's at!"

Oh, by the way? That setting? Room temp at my parents' house is 85 degrees. It is NOT ALLOWED to go any lower than that. AT ANY TIME, anymore.

The electric bill was "too expensive". There's "no need" for air conditioning. The cheap bastards won't even let me close all the shades and make ANY natural attempt at keeping the house dark or cooler. I can't have any fans upstairs attempting to circulate air (because upstairs is easily 10 or more degrees warmer) if I'm not around the entire time.

Oh, and of course, it was played up with the entire "I'm not saying YOU made the bill this high, I'm just saying, watch your energy usage here."

That's fine. With all this rent money I'm saving, I'll just spend every fucking day I'm not at work at Wal-Mart or some other place where they have proper air conditioning, or drive the damn 25 miles to my boytoy's place, anywhere I'm not sweating as soon as I get out of the shower.

Yep. Upper 80s and 90s aren't going away for a LONG time, high humidity is due back tomorrow or Friday and we aren't allowed to touch the settings for the AC. FUCKINAYE.

By the way, I don't give a rat's ass if you don't have A/C or if you don't "believe" in it or if you think I'm a wuss because I can't tolerate my bedroom being almost 100 degrees.

[insertNameHere]

I know exactly how you feel, my mom had no problem heating a hot tub that wasn't being used to 80-100degrees hotter than the temp outside... and felt that me using my laptop and leaving it on for 8-10hrs a day was the reason the electric bill was several hundred dollars

[blas87]

I admit to turning it down to 75 when no one else is home during the day. I admit to having my TV on for 1-2 hours before it goes to sleep (this would be when I'm at home sleeping at night, not during my work week) so I don't have to fall asleep in complete darnkess and quiet because I'm afraid of both.....not to mention I still have no radio in my room, other than Pandora on my phone or computer, but as we all know, I can't have that on too much, uses too much energy.

Otherwise, I never use lights, other than a TV or computer. I only watch my TV at night time. I'm barely ever home on the weekends anymore because of seeing someone new or going out with my brother, who is also almost NEVER home. I'm only home at night three or four nights a week, besides last week and this week.

They can afford all organic food and go out to eat as often as my brother and I or myself or my friends and I do..........they buy all kinds of stupid crap and go antiquing and mom shops as much as I do now that she's lost a lot of weight....but NO AIR CONDITIONING!

And in a few months.....the same thing will apply to heat. The thermostat will be set at about 60 degrees, and it will NOT be moved any higher! We cannot afford a refill of fuel oil! This tank must last three years!!!!!!!!!!

[bex1218]

My old landlords did that, so I feel for ya. They are used to the lack of A/C. I cannot live in the heat too long. I get very sick from it, I also sleep better curled up in a blanket since I'm a natural cuddler. Plus my roommate is pregnant so, air conditioning for us. As much as I would love to buy some organic foods (or at least more natural, I'm allergic to a lot of additives) I think we rather have the air conditioning. We can get food cheaply, I just have to read labels.

[bainsidhe]

Nothing wrong with using utilities when it makes sense. Sleeping has been miserable here, I don't blame you for wanting to stay cool, especially at night.

I remember butting heads with former roommates about the damn A/C and heat. When she was pregnant, she HAD to have the downstairs A/C unit cranked and running 24/7, even when she wasn't downstairs. Because you know, she wanted to wake in the middle of the night and journey downstairs to a cool lower floor. I didn't have A/C in my bedroom, so I sweltered all night while an empty lower level benefited from a cranked A/C. Oh, and in winter I'd have to beg to raise the heat, because my bedroom wasn't insulated and it would be 50 degrees while the rest of the house was 65F.

[telecom_goddess]

I'm all for energy saving....and in fact my bf is a terrible energy waster leaving the sound system and or tv on all night when he's sleeping and not even using it (ever hear of a SLEEP TIMER?) Or he leaves the closet light on all damn day with no one home. But one thing I will not budge on is comfortable temperatures. We've had some pretty hot weather here lately and that A/C is at a level that's comfortable. I'm lucky I guess since it can stay on low and still work really well so it's not using that much power. But it stays on right now

One thing I don't use a lot of is heat...I'm the type to keep it at 65 or so cause otherwise I don't like it, too stifling.

[indigo]

Tell them if they're so eager to save money to actually GROW their own natural food instead of making everyone else miserable by not turning on the A/C or heat. I live in a converted attic so I feel your pain on the heat. I told my parents either I keep fans on upstairs (and my small A/C unit when needed) or they get me sleeping on the couch all summer.

[lupo pazzesco]

I'm not one who is able to tolerate extreme temps, either. If it goes above 90, I'm not feeling too good, and same goes for if the temp drops below 55. I'm just plain miserable and physically unwell.

When I lived with a roomie back in Houston, it was TERRIBLE. She's from "Bah-stun"**, ya know, so in Texas we HAVE to consider HER comfort. This meant that in winter, when it was 50 degrees outside, the thermostat was turned off. No heat required. And of course, if I dared go in the kitchen or cook something, she'd come running out and turn on the A/C. In winter.

Of course, in the summer it was worse. I had to wear long sleeves indoors and hide under blankets because she'd have the thermostat set at 60, and complain because the pipes kept bursting (we lived in an older apartment complex). Seriously, all I got was bitch bitch bitch bitch, which is why I was SO happy to move into my own place.

Now, living here with the boyfriend, we keep the termostat around 76 in the evening, and 78-80 during the day and just run fans. Saves on the utility bills and we're comfortable. There are ways around it, but I can't STAND people who become thermostat hogs and dictators, I really can't, all in the name of either saving or making it comfortable for them alone.



** She was from Boston. Had absolutely no accent, except when announcing she was from Boston, and then it became "Well, back in BAHstun, we _____". Perfectly clear and fine diction, except when saying "BAHstun..." *twitch*

[AdminAssistant]

My old roommate from San Francisco was the same way! She did two years of college in Buffalo and was an 'expert' in cold weather living. I had to explain the concept of bursting pipes to her God knows how many times, because she would turn the heat off when we weren't at home. Not down. OFF. I had to pull out the lease and show her that we legally couldn't do that. When we could consistently keep the heat on, she would want to keep it at 50 or 55, and just wear a coat indoors.

[Greenday]

These people do realize that it costs more to turn the AC on and off repeatedly than it does to just leave it at one temperature? I had to teach my mom that. She always complains about the electricity bill. We did it my way last month and holy crap, the electricity bill wasn't high. She's also the one prone to wasting electricity by leaving stuff on.

[Andara Bledin]

Why does it always seem that the ones most prone to bitching about wasting energy and making everything miserable for everybody else are usually also the ones most prone to actually wasting energy?

^-.-^

[Rageaholic]

I could not handle that. It's bad enough when it's 100 degrees and no AC, but I have allergies on top of that (I'm not the only one in my house who has allergies so screwing with the AC isn't too tolerated).

[bainsidhe]

Frankly, Blas's parents seem to be pulling the 'ol power play, where they imply it's her fault utilities are high and also her fault they have to suffer from the heat. Doesn't matter if THEY decided to keep it hot and refuse simple steps of energy savings (fans, covering windows, etc). By golly they'll be miserable to prove a POINT.

Yeah, seen that type too.

[MadMike]

Sadly, the politicians in PA are the same way. They've been cutting public programs and services left and right, and some of them are whining that we need to raise taxes to keep things going. Interestingly enough, there always seems to be plenty of money available when they want to give themselves a pay raise, or when some sports team wants a new stadium.

[protege]

Blas, I know what you mean about the 'climate control.' My parents are the same way. Right now, it's usually set to about 78. Doesn't really do much when you're on the second floor, and it's in the 90s out. There's no point in even turning the air on--the first floor is reasonable, but the second...is a sauna! With my sinus and migraine issues, sleeping in my room there was unbearable during the summer. The A/C would be turned on, but because of the high setting, it really didn't run long enough to cool things off. When I'd protest, I'd either be told that running A/C was "expensive," or that I "didn't know what [I] was talking about" So they'd turn on the ceiling fan in the hallway. Again, it didn't do *jack* because my bedroom was in an alcove off the hallway.

Come winter, similar shit went on. Because there was no cold air return in that room, it was always cold in there during the winter. Damp too, because the windows didn't always seal correctly. No matter how I pleaded, it was always "warm enough" in the house, and attempts to turn up the heat were curtailed quickly...

That changed when my mother had to sleep in that room one night. Dad was seriously ill, I was at Grandma's, and she didn't want to get sick. Mom slept in there, and surprise surprise...it was fucking cold! After that, she not only relented, but I got some serious blankets