January 4, 2010

every penny counts

Over the past 10 years of being home owners, we have learned some valuable lessons that I thought I could share with you.
Our family currently lives in a part of the country that has seemingly mild winters. Temperatures will dip down in the 20's on occasion, but over all, it warms back up.
{two days ago I was spray painting picture frames - today we are in the 40's}
So today's topic will be heating and cooling our home.
But before we get started, here is a little test for you to do ...
go around your home, placing your hand just over the outlets that are on the exterior walls. Do you feel anything? You aren't suppose to.
If you did feel a draft, this is one little way that you could be loosing heat in the winter and coolness in the summer.

the solution

In just a couple of hours, Woody managed to go around our entire home placing these seals in every exterior wall outlet.

The seals are set snuggly over the gap but do not make it difficult to screw the plate back on.

I am linking to :

10 comments:

  1. What a great idea. I need to save all my pennies too. Here in the desert our air conditioning bills are sky high in the summer. Maybe this would help. Thanks. Hugs, Marty

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  2. I have never seen these! what a great idea. I'll tell the Hubs!
    PS Thanks for joining Book Club!

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  3. every penny really does count in our home too!
    my hubby covered all the outlets this fall in this amazing stuff... thanks for letting everyone know about it
    many blessings
    patricia

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  4. Hi Tricia Anne! I love this "every penny counts" post, and think you should do this as a series! :) I love finding out new ways to save a bit of money, and am definitely going to check this idea out! Thanks for sharing! :)

    Happy New Year to you, and have a wonderful day! :)

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  5. This is an excellent and simple thing to do and I will be checking my outlets tonight when I get home. Thanks for the reminder!

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  6. Thanks for the reminder! I have needed to pick some up for some time now.

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  7. Another way to stop drafts around outlets is with the safety plugs that are used for keeping toddlers out of them. I kept mine for years after our last little one got too old for them...and then forgetfully decluttered them on a very hot summer day.
    I don't know if it is safe or not, but I also read in the tightwad gazette many years ago that you can make your own out of styrofoam trays. Never did it because we always had those toddler safety plugs before.

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  8. i also read the tw gazette and remember about the Styrofoam trays ... thanks for the reminder to check the outlets... I'm sure it would help tremendously. Our house is so drafty especially on windy days!
    In the summer the wind could also be a problem-- blowing hot air into the a/c rooms...not good.

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  9. Great tip, I'm sure we have tons of drafty areas in this house. I'll check my outlets!
    ~Michelle

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  10. That's such a GREAT tip! My husband just did that a few weeks ago... it made a HUGE difference! Especially in the basement! Thanks!

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