Temperatures in Phoenix have begun their annual creep skyward. It’s routinely in the 80s and even 90s. One day last week we hit 100 at 11 a.m. Boo.
I went for my physical on Tuesday, and I couldn’t stop sweating the whole time — even after 30 minutes in the air-conditioned building. It probably didn’t help that I took a shower about 20 minutes before leaving, and Tim likes his showers hot.
As soon as I got home, I stripped down to my skivvies and turned on the ceiling fans in the dining and living rooms. I had cooled down within a couple of minutes. Despite our thermostat sitting at 80.
Which led me to think, how much energy could we save if we just didn’t get dressed most days?
Yes, I’m actually being serious. I’m going to see if I can keep the house a slightly higher temperature by wearing less. (Tim won’t exactly fight this.)
The thermostat has since been turned down to 78, our normal temp. But tomorrow I’ll try goosing it up to 79 and see if we notice a difference. If not, maybe we’ll shoot for 80 — especially if Tim decides to join me in the experiment.
We probably can’t get much past that, since sweat can exacerbate Tim’s eczema. But ya never know til ya try.
And hey, this’ll have some other frugal effects too.
For example, less wear and tear on clothing.
Why wear out your clothes if no one’s going to see them? I have around-the-house (aka scrub) clothes to keep my nicer (aka not embarrassed to be seen wearing in public) stuff intact.
Even so, I’ve worn the scrub clothes so often that most of them have holes. Mainly small. But one shirt’s hole is so bad that I keep accidentally putting my arm through it when putting the shirt on.
Eventually, I’ll need to buy new stuff, but… don’t wanna! Especially not while we’re trying to save as much money as possible.
Another benefit? Less laundry.
That’s an especially big deal for us. Tim no longer reuses towels. Since that’s the only thing that stopped the obscene number of MRSA outbreaks, it’s hard to argue that one. And his skin doesn’t like wearing clothes more than once. So between the two, we have a lot of laundry.
Fewer laundry loads means less water and electricity usage. Bam! Savings on two bills purely through inaction.
Also, I’ll get more enjoyment of my bras.
I buy from Victoria’s Secret. I’ve tried others, but VS bras fit the best while still looking nice. Even using sales/coupons, I paid $40-60 for all but one of my six bras. And it’s not like I even see them much.
This way, I (and, of course, Tim) get to actually admire where the money went.
To be clear, I understand that clothing-free isn’t an option for everyone. Those with roommates or children, for example.
But the rest of you… strip! (Just put down a sheet if you have leather. Trust me.)
What unusual ways do you use to stay cool? What’s your weirdest/silliest frugal tip for any aspect of life?
EDIT: Turns out there are health benefits too!
I doubt most men would fight it if their wives/girlfriends said, “I know! Let’s wear FEWER clothes all the time!”
Frugal eye candy, baby.
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Exactly!
Go for it, Abby! I’ve been dressing skimpily at home during the summer months for at least 20 years now. I haven’t always lived in places that had central air and good insulation. And if you’ve never experienced an Arkansas summer, well, be grateful. ;o)
I know from personal experience how hot Arizona gets, especially the part of the state that’s close to Nevada. Do what you must to survive that heat and keep your electric bill under control.
Yep, it should be fun. Also, having to stare at my belly might keep me from overeating. Or I’ll get depressed and eat more.
Time will tell. In the meantime, Tim is loving it!
That is the best feeling after being dressed for work!
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Yeah, I remember when I was trying to work outside the house. Coming back and stripping off heavy work clothes was like stepping into a new (relaxed) world.
Doesn’t everyone do that in the summer? Just kidding, but I did live in a house with lace curtains and real curtains and no AC so my Mom and I never wore real clothes inside the house in the summer. I had a couple camisole and panty sets I wore. And I completely agree on VS bras. Bras almost anywhere are expensive and I like the construction of VS.
I remember a dorm at UW that I was in during a summer semester. It was brick and soaked in the heat all day. My roommate and I had fans on us at all times, sat around in our underwear and still sweated like crazy.
One good thing about Phoenix: Almost any structure has central air.
100% endorse this. My laundry has dropped by half, at least, since I nearly exclusively wear lounging-about-the-house clothes, this has baffled our sitter to no end that we don’t have enough laundry to do every week 🙂 I figure we’re economizing now in advance of future excessive laundry needs when the kid gets into everything and has to be changed multiple times.
Where possible, I like to schedule things so that I don’t have to wear real adult clothes more than once a week 🙂
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This! I wear sweatpants every day, with a T-shirt that does lounge duty for at least two days in a row. Flip-flops, so no socks.
If I have errands or appointments I wear jeans and probably a different shirt — but I wear these things for such short periods of time that I hang them up to air out and then put them back in the closet.
As a result, DF and I generate maybe one load of laundry per week between us. This reduces wear and tear on the washer, cuts way back on the amount of detergent we buy, stretches the useful lifespan of our “good” clothing, and keeps water/sewer and electric bills in check. Works for us.
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Haha, awesome! I tend to be out only in short bursts, so I usually just wear the same outfit 2-3 times, stripping down as soon as I get home.
Ha, we definitely do this at home a lot. Me less so as I am nearly always cold, but T is the exact opposite – always overheating!
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Sounds like Tim and me, except Tim’s the one who is always cold. Less body fat and bad joints.
At least it’s dry heat?
Since I’ve always had roommates (or lived with family) I’ve never done the stripping thing in the summer, mostly just tried to open windows for a cross breeze.
Do you have a clothes line? I bet you could forego drying all your laundry if you hang it up (and have it all be bone dry within a day). That’s something I did all the time when I lived in the Southwest.
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Tim (at least for a while) had this weird conviction that the dryer helped burn off the last of the detergent or something that equated to him declaring that clothes didn’t feel right unless they went in the dryer. I’ll have to check with him again on that one. But I’m worried about dust kicking up if we put them outside.
And cross breezes can be a life saver, especially when you can’t just run around in (almost) nothing.
It doesn’t get that hot where we live. I’m usually more cold than hot, but I’ve always been a big fan of dressing warmly instead of turning up the heat. Good luck with your plan.
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Yeah, when I lived in Seattle and Alaska I was more likely to put on a sweater or get under the covers to keep warm.
MAN…100 degrees and this is just May…that’s crazy. One of our best moves in staying cool was actually a frugal purchase. A couple of years back I bought an old black metal table-top fan…for…a dollar…at a flea market. Brought it home cleaned it up, oiled it and began using . This thing moves more air than the new plastic ones sold today and consumes less electricity. And you can move it from room to room. If you see one at a yard sale give it a try.
I’ll keep it in mind. Our ceiling fans help in that department. I can’t sleep without it on — even in the winter. It’s a good thing Tim has a warm blanket.
love this fab tip
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Thanks!
This reminds me of what my wife and I do during the winter…only in the opposite direction. We start the thermostat at 70, then every other week we turn it down one degree. The time between decreases allows us to “get used” to the temperature….and by the time the coldest part of the winter hits (and utility bills are highest) our normal home temp is around 63 or 64 degrees – but we feel warm and comfy!
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Interesting. I do experiment with slowly turning down the temperature in the winter. But only by a couple of degrees. Tim’s joints are so sensitive to the cool, we can’t get down past 72 or 73. Maybe once we get double pane windows it’ll help keep the place warmer.
haha love this, and I totally do it in the nasty, humid NYC summers.
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I was in NYC in August once. Ick. And your new live-in beau will probably be more than happy with that practice of yours.
100 sounds horrible, especially if the humidity level is also high! It doesn’t get really hot where I live, so for me most of the time being frugal means wearing more clothes 😛
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Luckily, the humidity is low here. So even our humid days would probably have made us laugh back in Seattle. And in cooler temps I swear by layers. Tim and I sometimes wear hoodies in the winter to help keep warm. He has fleece PJ bottoms and long underwear too. It’s better for his joints that way anyway.
Sounds like a good plan. I just hope you don’t get an unexpected visitor 🙂 We have about 4/5 loads a week of laundry…but I hang my out to dry. I usually do a load at night while watching TV and I hand it out the next morning to dry while I am at work. My loads are a good size or I don’t do them. We wear our PJ’s for a few days, we use our towels for a few days, we use our jeans for a few days. A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned!
Yeah, I rewear my pants and, if I haven’t been in them too long, shirts. And we never do half loads. Unfortunately, Arizona is dusty enough that I don’t want to hang our clothes out in the sun. And at least for awhile Tim had a weird conviction that clothes didn’t feel right unless they were in a dryer. I learned to live with it.
Sorry if this is TMI, but I sleep naked lol. In fact, my lady doctor recommended it! We keep our house at 75, summer & winter. If I get chilly in the winter, I run a space heater close by. If I get hot in the summer, I run fans & wear as little as possible. Right now, we’ve had our windows open all day/night. It’s been WONDERFUL! Breezy 60s while we sleep.
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Yeah, we keep our place around 75 or 76 in the winter, and try to keep it at least 78 in the summer. Our ceiling fans really in the summer. And yep, we’re naked sleepers too. It just gets too hot otherwise.
Where I live in LA we don’t get too many days over 90..and no one on the westside has air conditioning, so it can feel pretty darn hot, so at night I lay on top of my covers and take a wet cool washcloth and get my skin wet while the fan flows on me. Poor mans’s air conditioning. I also put a ice pack on my head to keep me cool.
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Ice pack on the head is a good one. I remember being in Seattle where a/c just isn’t really a thing (at least in apartments) when it would get into the high 80s or even low 90s. Really uncomfortable! One day, my very furry cat was panting. Tim and I escaped to movies and malls to avoid our place.
In our Swiss apartment, there is no A/C, just windows. A/C doesn’t seem common here. We haven’t experienced a summer yet, but we’ve been told it doesn’t get very hot, definitely not Arizona hot, and any hot weather generally doesn’t last very long. We are used to hot and humid summers in the midwestern U.S. with A/C, so we’ll see how it goes here. I am imagining the kind of sunny, perfect weather with temps in the 70s that we never seemed to get back home for more than a few days in any given year — but I’m sure that’s probably not quite how it will be!
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I think the 70s to low 80s is just about perfect weather — especially without A/C. I hope that’s what you end up with!
I’ll have to see what summer is like here. We’ve had a few hot days so far and I’ve only turned the A/C on once, when I knew I was going to be gone all that day and didn’t want the dog to overheat if got super hot in the house. On hot days, so far I’ve been able to just capture the cool air in the mornings, close up the house in midday, and reopen after sunset when it cools down. I’ve changed into loose gym shorts and sports bra on those hot days, too, to stay cool. I can usually stand hot days, but if it is hot at night I am miserable and can’t sleep.
I’m not sure I do anything frugal that hasn’t been mentioned before. I do wear most clothes at least two to three times before I wash them. If you get the wicking shirts used for exercise they can be worn a couple times unless you get drenched with sweat when you work out; they don’t hold much stink.
I will put sheets and towels in the dryer because I don’t often have the clothesline space for them, plus I don’t like “crispy” towels. But I use white vinegar instead of fabric softener in my machine so I can get more of the soap residue out of my clothes, too.
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Interesting. I never thought to use vinegar. (We don’t use fabric softeners because most have perfumes that irritate Tim’s skin.) Is there any lingering aroma?
And yeah, wicking shorts are awesome.
Haha this is great. I was in Corpus Christi one Summer and it was my first time experiencing the constant extreme heat you are describing. Seemed like the AC’s have to work twice as hard as they do up here in Minnesota (we do have our hot days, but nothing like Texas or Arizona in the Summer). Due to allergies we typically keep the windows shut year-round. It costs us a bit more but hopefully saves us money on feeling like crap from allergies.
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Arguably, keeping your windows shut keeps all the cool air inside. Riiiight? I remember when I went to DC for the summer, having only lived in Anchorage and Seattle. It was miserable. Cool town, but I had to dress up every day. I was sweating by the time I hit the office, even though it was only a couple of blocks from the subway station.
Hey, I’m all for it. I’m wearing a T-shirt/nightgown as we speak! I definitely save on laundry by working at home. My husband working at home has cut down on laundry too. When he work a suit to work, I basically washed two outfits of his per day due to his underclothes.
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I bet that cut down on things a lot. I can’t imagine how bad it would be if Tim had to wear suits. Ugh.
I wear thin cotton pants and a light tee around the house. These clothes last forever, the lounge bras I wear under them are inexpensive, and it helps with incidental UV exposure (if my SPF goes any higher, I might as well use drywall compound). Weirdly enough, I end up being the one who deals with the heat best- even though the other three inhabitants all wear shorts and tanks.
Our major summer energy savings usually come from fairly passive / less energy using ways. The blackout curtains and window films we use (UV exposure) also have the added benefit of keeping heat in or out- yes, this material made the curtains more expensive, but we did see a drop in energy use. Replacing old weather stripping and making sure our doors fit properly also help. With energy use reduction- our LED light bulbs give off basically no heat (and are insanely energy efficient). We also have both attic and whole house fans- the attic fan keeps heat from building up, and the house fan used the temperature difference to move warmer air into the attic for the attic fan to vent out.
I would love to have ceiling fans, unfortunately the people who built this house were apparently strongly against overhead lighting- the only place we have any is in the kitchen. Which means I’d have to get an electrician in and have him work on every room we’d want one in. I’ve got a kitchen and a tile floor that make this low on the list. Instead, we keep the thermostat at 78 and take it down a few degrees as needed (it’s in a hallway that doesn’t get the same temperature fluctuations as the rest of the house, so sometimes manual adjustment is needed). The unit is a Nest model, which means I can program it from my phone, and it gives us a monthly energy usage email that includes comparisons to the rest of the neighborhood (we are usually lower than average by a significant amount).
Arizonans apparently dislike overhead lighting too. When we were in the apartment, there were only lights in the kitchen and bathroom. We had to go on Craigslist and find some lamps.
Luckily, ceiling fans were already installed in every room (minus bathrooms) in the main house. At least that’s one thing the previous owners got right.
Also, I’m right there with you on the manual adjustment of thermostat. Ours is in the hall, which is small. I suspect it traps temperatures because it rarely feels as cool or warm in the rest of the house. Nowadays, some HVAC units (like the one we installed in the guest house) have portable thermostat, so you can make sure the room you’re in is the desired temperature. I think that’s a feature we’ll look for when the current unit dies. Which hopefully won’t be for a couple of decades.
I’m convinced I would keel over of a heat stroke if I lived in Phoenix. I’m in Chicago and it reached a high of 81 the other day and I thought I was going to melt, lol! <—I'm not truly complaining though, it was a LONG winter.
I think this is a frugal tip my hubby would be super supportive of, hah.
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Yeah, but it’s humid there. Cliche as it sounds, dry heat really is better. Plus everyone’s equipped with central air or swamp coolers here. You’re not actually out in the heat much. (When it’s supposed to be over 105 for a few days in a row, Tim and I stock up to avoid leaving the house.)
And all the stores have a/c. In fact, some go a little crazy, and you can actually end up shivering in the middle of summer.
Or making the “Phoenix noise.” I made that very sound when visiting one summer: ahhhhhhh…….
Until the shivering sets in, it’s grand.
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Exactly.
Ha! OK, maybe not naked, but very light clothes just for around the house? I like it!
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We are naked people in my house as well. In fact one of the selling points for our house was the high back fence so I can sunbathe nekkid when it gets warm enough (maybe next month…? I am in CO and we had f-ing SNOW this past weekend). My bf barely gets 10 steps inside before his pants come off and I am usually all the way bare or just in boy-short undies… gotta avoid cat hair in places you do not want cat hair, lol. Being naked is comfortable, frugal and, bonus, I feel much more relaxed/accepting of my body when I can see all of it more often!
Sounds like an awesome setup. Sorry to hear about the snow, though.
I was realizing that being naked will either make me more accepting of my body or finally get back into exercising. Either way, it’s a nice side effect.