Working the swing shift

It is hot everywhere in the United States right now, no doubt about it. Since this is my husband’s busy season, we are all home more in the summer, relying on our local power grid to keep us cool and powered up.

Two weeks ago, during a super-hot and humid time, I noticed our lights dimmed every time our AC kicked on.  Not quite a full on brown out, (which can sometimes be harder on electronics than full on blackouts) but enough dimming to make us all stop and take notice.

Erring on the side of caution, I decided to voluntarily cut back our electricity consumption during peak hours.  

Here’s what I did:

1. Make sure lights, radios, laptops, etc. are off if not in use.

2. Turn AC up a degree or two until I heard complaints about it being hot. (76 or 77 depending on humidity).

3. Turn up all ceiling fans. They run day and night here and make a big difference.

4. Run the dishwasher later in the evening, around 8:30pm.

5. Do laundry later in the evening as well and hang up light tops and shorts to air dry.

6. Keep my freezer stocked. A stocked freezer stays cooler longer thereby easing the power used by this power hungry appliance.

I know these are little things, but I feel like they are making a difference. And doing chores later in the evening has been a blessing, allowing me more time to connect with my family and friends, garden and do other tasks that I normally save until later or don’t get to at all because I’m tired.  

I find I don’t mind working the swing shift that much.

Do you have rolling brown outs or black outs in your area? If so, what steps do you take to help ease your electrical usage?