Keeping Cool Without A/C

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Warm March Day
photo credit: fauxto_digit

We like to put off turning on the A/C for summer as long as possible. We haven’t turned it on yet this year although we may end it up doing so tonight since it isn’t going to cool off much overnight. Anyway, here are a few strategies we use to keep cool without using the air conditioner.

Use Fans- We have a fan that fits in the window in our bedroom that moves a lot of air. We also have several ceiling fans that help us feel cooler. I think it is important to note here that fans do not cool the air. When they are blowing on you they make you feel several degrees cooler but they do not actually cool the air. Therefore, if you are not in the room where the fan is blowing you are wasting electricity by having it on. The obvious exception to this is when the fan is blowing cooler air from outside or elsewhere.

Avoid Creating Heat – Try not to use the oven, clothes dryer, or dishwasher when it is hot. It is also helpful to take your shower or do any other activity that creates heat during the cooler morning hours if possible. Keep the curtains closed on windows that let in direct sunlight.

Drink Lots of Ice Water – Drinking ice water or other cool beverages will cool you off and keep you hydrated. I drink lots of ice water in the summer and the rest of the year as well.

One more tip is to stay in the basement where it is naturally cooler. I hang out there most of the day anyway since that is where the computer is. 🙂

There are many more strategies to help keep cool but I think these are the most beneficial.

May 2009 Goal Review

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F-side
photo credit: FLY2005

This is my monthly review of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

My first goal is to increase my passive income. I made a little progress on that this month. I put most of the money I made from the medical study in my stock account and will use it to buy a dividend-paying stock tomorrow. Anyone have a stock tip? 🙂

My second goal is to lose 30 pounds. I went from 219.2 pounds last month to 218.8 pounds this month. That isn’t very good progress. If you’re entered in my $500 weight-loss challenge your odds of collecting look pretty good.

My third goal is to increase my number of subscribers to 500. I didn’t make any progress towards that this month as my subscriber count stayed about the same. I’ve made some small changes this last week, such as installing a new theme, that I think will help increase my subscriber count. I need to work on promoting my blog and improving my content though to make better progress on increasing the readership of my blog.

It wasn’t a very good month since I only made reasonable progress on one of my three goals. There are some big changes coming in June. I’m not sure if they will actually help me meet my goals but there will definitely be changes.

Also, if you want to enter the $500 weight loss challenge you need to do so now. I will be closing the challenge to new entrants tomorrow, June 1,2009.

Increasing Alternative Income

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This ATM's been drinkin
photo credit: joshuaheller
Earlier this week I asked what you would like to read about and one of the topics you wanted to read more about is alternative income. Thursdays will now be dedicated to the topic of alternative income. I have a category for alternative income but haven’t written much on it lately since I haven’t developed any new sources of alternative income. Therefore I will just update you on how I am doing with my current sources of alternative income. Perhaps I will start breaking out passive income from my alternative income as well. Since I don’t have a job all of my income could be considered alternative income depending on how you define the term “alternative income.” To start things off I am going to do something every day next month to increase my alternative income. There will be weekly updates and I will share any new sources of alternative income I discover.

My Lifetime Goals from 10 Years Ago

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While sorting through my important papers I came across a list of lifetime goals I made about 10 years ago. It is rather sad to see how little progress I’ve made towards those goals. I plan to make much better progress on them in the next 10 years.

  1. Run a marathon.  – This is the only goal I’ve actually completed.  I’ve run 4 marathons since then and plan to add more.  I like the idea of running a marathon in every state and D.C. but not enough to make it a goal at this time.
  2. Write a book. – I wanted to write a novel back then but I’d like to write a non-fiction book now.  I have an idea for a non-fiction book (not personal finance) that I should write a proposal for but I’ve never gotten around to it.
  3. Visit all 50 states.- I’ve visited a few new states since then.  The states I have left are AK, CT, DE, ID, LA, ME, MD, MI, MT, NH, NY, ND, OR, RI, SC, SD, VT, WA, and WI.  I’ll knock out a few of them when I hike the AT later this year.
  4. Visit 20 foreign countries.- At that time I had been to three foreign countries-Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico.  I’ve visited all of them again since then but haven’t added any new countries.  I’ll be in Maine for my hike. Maybe I’ll take a side trip to Canada and 0ne more country to my total.
  5. Be able to retire at age 40.- That didn’t happen. It doesn’t look too bad for 50 though.
  6. Learn Spanish or another foreign language.- This one I put quite a bit of effort toward but didn’t make much progress.  At one point I had some basic Spanish skills and could carry on a simple conversation with a patient Spanish speaker. I never did develop close to the fluency I wanted though and my Spanish skills have diminished in the last few years from lack of use.

Although it has been 10 years these are all still goals I would like to achieve.  Check back in 10 years and I’ll let you know how I did. 🙂

What do You Want to Read?

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To improve this blog I am considering having several days of the week dedicated to a specific subject. This would also make it easier for me to decide what to write about and maybe make me less lazy since one step of the writing process would be partially completed. For example, I used to reserve Saturdays for writing about law school and now plan to use them for posting about good deals. I would like to expand that concept and have Mondays be for frugal tips, Tuesdays be for extra income ideas, etc. I would like to leave at least a couple days open though to give me flexibility on what to write about and to just not post when I’m not feeling creative. Just let me know what you would like to read and I will try to implement your ideas. Of course, this system will go out the window when I’m hiking but I’d like to get it established now and I’ll resume it when I return from hiking.