Bakersfield. No a/c until 4:30pm. Day 5

Sorry for posting this so late! I Skyped with mom first thing this morning and then headed to the farmer's market for our groceries. It starts at 9am, so its quite nice to have first pick.

The last day of my no a/c until 4:30pm challenge. I would have to say its been a great success. It got a little hot during the day, but to me, it wasn't intolerable.

We sort of cheated today. Our family had run out of milk and since I have the car for the weekend and next week, I might as well go to the grocery store. We went to Sam's Club since the milk there seems to be the cheapest out of anywhere. Plus with my three year old potty training, the family restroom is a huge bonus while shopping (even though I hate using public restrooms). Another advantage is when it is just me shopping with the kids, I can't pick them up to put them in the cart. They're not fat, they just keep growing! There's a lot less people in the store at 9am so the kids can room to run around and help throw things in the cart.

We returned home and unloaded the groceries. Hubby likes a full fridge, I like an empty fridge-that way I can actually see what is in the fridge and use it. When its full, I can't see anything and when I can't see it, I forget all about it.

Frankie, our English cocker, needed a new dog tag, so I loaded the kids and Frankie into the car to get that replaced. It wouldn't be so bad if he would stay with us. As soon as he sees another animal or person, forget about calling his name. Out of sight, out of mind. Kind of like me! Sort of. The kids had a blast checking out the different animals (mice, gerbils, fish). I swear Petco is a mini zoo. If you can take an animal home, they've got it. Why adopt all those animals when you can just visit them at the store?

I didn't get any dog treats at Sam's like I usually do. So I decided to let the kids pick out one bag of treats for Frankie. I don't think Frankie really cares, he just wants treats! So instead of picking up rawhide bones and dehydrated poultry, the kids pick out wheat gluten-free dog treats. Then they picked out vegetarian treats plus some other health-nut dog treats. I even found yams for dog treats. I'll have to try making those myself. $30 for a bag of dehydrated yams is a little expensive. I might as well buy some healthy alternative dog treat that the kids picked out (even though it was the packaging that did the trick for them). In all honesty, I didn't see any of the dehydrated treats that I usually give my dog at Petco. Very strange. I guess I can enjoy the fact that the dog will now be eating healthier too. Going to Petco is a real treat for the kids. I could care less about seeing animals, but we were there for a good hour looking at things -especially the dog toys.

At home, we ate a mixture of baby spring mix and romaine hearts salad with a few things added in there. I am very grateful that my kids love salad. There has to be dressing on it, but that's easy to make myself.

Starting to get warm at lunch in the house, so we all had some ice water before putting the kids to bed for a nap. We were not going to have the meltdown like last night. No way jose!

After the nap, I noticed the house getting really hot, so I checked the temperature. No wonder it was hot- it was 103 degrees outside! The kids and I drank more ice water and kept the lights and electronics off. They played in their rooms with the ceiling fans going. Thank God for legos, trains, books, and toys in general. They didn't want to go outside, which was fine. I made tater tot casserole using the oven for an hour. It got hot, but I made it after the air kicked on at 4:30. The house pretty much remained hot since our house is set at 78 degrees.

When dinner was eaten I watched a Netflix show on my iPad and the kids decided to go play outside. It wasn't much cooler than anytime earlier. The kids still enjoyed swinging on the swingset and riding on their scooter.

Overall, it wasn't that bad with no a/c until 4:30pm. It is definitely a luxury and an experience I will probably forget within time. It's not as horrible as one might think. We used less electricity and got creative. We didn't change our regular schedule much, but we have been drinking a ton more water.

What's the next challenge?

Bakersfield. No a/c until 4:30. Day 4

Another beautiful hot day in Bakersfield. Day 4 wasn't much different. The weather was mid 90s but that didn't stop us from our usual activities.

We didn't get to go for a walk, but that's alright. We went out back and played baseball and soccer for a long time. Those kids still love to play outside- no matter how hot or cold it is outside! When the kids and I did come in, they did more arts and crafts. My four year old daughter absolutely loved making a construction paper fire truck for hubby's co-workers. She has apparently changed her career choice from model to fire man. All because she got to visit a fire truck. I wonder what will happen if I take her to a lawyer's office?

They've been doing an excellent job of keeping their room clean until naptime. This is when all the toys fly out of their toybox-mostly in my three year old son's room. Trains, cars, tracks, and blankets scattered all throughout his floor. I'm surprised half of them aren't broken by now.

They decided to play instead of taking a nap. Grrr! Mommy needed a nap too. The dark circles under their eyes became even darker after their dinnertime. Quite a few times I've been cheating on dinner and making anything from the freezer. So we had potstickers, mixed veggies, and hot dogs. The hot dogs were left over from my son's birthday party. Might as well get those gone. I hate hot dogs.

After dinner, the kids played outside some more, even though the air was on and running fantastically. The blasting air felt wonderful after warming up food on the searing stove. Too bad it didn't help the kids attitudes and the dark circles under their eyes. Luckily, the kids went to bed and sleep with no problem although they kept repeating they weren't tired. Yeah right.

I actually sat down to watch a movie. I usually have Netflix on my iPad in the background during the day, but I keep a movie on for noise. Occasionally I'll pay attention to it. There's not much I care to watch anymore via Netflix. But I wanted to watch Food Fight and Food, Inc. All I can say is wow.  Maybe now I'll be motivated to eat healthier like I've been wanting to.

I didn't complain about the weather. They didn't complain other than about nap time and not being tired. I guess the kids only worry about one thing: not going to sleep. What a life they live! No thinking required and another successful day.

Bakersfield. No A/C until 4:30pm. Day 3

Well, its been three days of no a/c until 4:30pm. You know what? It's actually not that bad! I didn't get too much done today, but it was worth it.

The kids and I took hubby to work (went out of town), came home, and pretty much did arts and crafts this morning. See- totally worth skipping the chores! ;) They love doing that stuff. It's not that I don't like doing those things with them, I'm just not that creative. The extent of my art skills is cutting out construction paper and gluing stuff on like confetti or yarn. They love using scissors even though it makes a big mess. As long as they clean it up, it's great practice for them.

On Tuesday, the kids got to see a water tender aka a fire truck at hubby's work, so I cut out a little fire truck shape out of construction paper and the kids had a blast decorating them. What a way to say thank you! Plus, they are complaining the kids haven't made them any art work since October. Oops!

They got to watch their usual hour of tv in exchange of their clean room. Lately, it's been Barney and Bob the Builder. I guess its an okay show for them to watch. Apparently the messages on the Barney show are getting to my 4 year old daughter. She keeps singing "Stay Away from Fire" in the Row Row Your Boat tune. Catchy for her. Not that she's usually around fires, but is it a young version of Smokey the Bear?

Kids had PB & J since they ate all their dinner from the night before (no leftovers). I had a small piece of toast. I just can't seem to give up carbs. It's darn hard when I'm tempted to make it. I want to be good at something!

I cooked hamburger helper on the stove inside today and it wasn't too hot. By the time I got done cooking, it was around 4:30 and the air turned on. We ate and then actually went outside to play baseball, soccer, and swing. The kids didn't care that the air turned on. They just wanted to play. Anything. I didn't get to check the temperatures...maybe around 95 degrees? It's at least in the 90s right now, so it's not too horrible and the humidity is almost non-existent anymore. Double score!

Why haven't I done this before? I guess as long as the crayons don't melt in the house, then we aren't too hot I guess. Friday is suppose to be triple digit weather. At least we do have the air if we really do need it. Another successful day of no a/c until 4:30. It's been a huge success so far.

Bakersfield. One Week. No A/C until 4:30.

Life at the Depot is H-O-T! No A/C Hot!

I'm always looking for new ways to cut our budget. I mean hubby works really hard for his money, so why shouldn't he be able to enjoy it too? Other than eating out. I'm currently finding ways to cut our food, gas, etc. budget. I asked hubby how else can we cut our expenses? I'm willing to do anything. Our highest bill after the mortgage and car payment is *dun* *dun* *dun* PGE. Not a big surprise. Alright. We've downsized. I don't vacuum everyday anymore. I only run full loads in the dishwasher and clothes washer. I refuse to hang clean clothes outside- especially with dust and dirt blowing 365 days a year. We'll figure out a way to get those lower, but for now, the a/c has been running non-stop since we got it fixed (and we never go lower than 78 degrees).

Even if it means turning off the a/c on 90+ degree days to save money, I'll try it. Yesterday was our first day. It turned out to be 97 degrees. That's actually not too terrible. The a/c would kick on at 6pm, mostly for the kids getting ready for bed.

How did our first day go? Well, unfortunately, we didn't go for a walk as a family. It was a bummer, but that's okay. The kids and I didn't go outside to get any yard work done like I wanted to, but that's okay. I'm not a huge fan of yard work, but it looks so much better when you do. Plus the yard waste bin was overfilled waiting to be emptied.

So instead of going outside to enjoy the fresh crisp morning air, the kids watched a movie. I'm not a big fan of watching tv all day, but I did promise them they could watch television if their room was clean. Surprisingly their rooms were clean! For once...



The kids never complained about being hot so I didn't either. They had 2 cups of watered down kool-aid while I had ice water and one sweet tea (after dinner). We weren't dehydrated or bored. So I'm really hoping we can cut down expenses aka PGE.Half a day with no a/c, good so far!

It wasn't until I started cooking dinner that it really got hot in the house. Our kitchen receives the western exposure of the sun so even if I don't cook, it's hot in my kitchen every afternoon, even when I don't cook. I was tempted to pull our standing fan in the kitchen, but decided I would just go outside where it was much cooler to start the grill. I still had to boil carrots and put the au gratin in the oven. Whew. I think au Gratin uses the most energy when cooking. We don't usually eat carbs and I can't get myself to just throw the food out of our pantry. We bought it, so we might as well use it.

Hubby came home around 4:45 and complained it was hot. It was hot outside and it was hotter inside. He couldn't stand it being so hot, so he left the searing kitchen to the not so cooler living room. The a/c turned on at 6pm (after dinner was done cooking). It was so nice to have that cool air! I didn't check the temperature at 6pm, but any temperature was cooler than the kitchen!

So day 1 (Monday) was a success! I decided that Day 2 we would cook outside to see if its more comfortable. Who doesn't love grilled food?

Sidenote:

Hubby's office is usually set at 70 degrees, so when he comes home he wants to be comfortable, not too hot nor cold. It really is hard to save money when you are on two different ends of the budget/expenses saving goals. He just cares that we get the bills paid and I am really trying to save money anyway I can. We'd have more disposable income if I worked, but I truly believed that family comes first no matter what. If I only had a job...