Comments on: Going Off The Grid Once A Week

By: Mary Q Contrarie

Mary Q Contrarie — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:59:39 +0000

This is a nice idea. Many of your thoughts are really easy to do more than once a week. Air dry your clothes on a line or clothes drying rack year round. Always turn lights off when you are not in the room. Turn off the small appliances and the electronics at the surge protectors.

By: Nicki at Domestic Cents

Nicki at Domestic Cents — Fri, 15 May 2009 11:43:52 +0000

That post by FCN caught my eye and got me thinking too. Could I do that? Hmmmmm …

By: Money Beagle

Money Beagle — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:27:13 +0000

If it’s too hot in the south, we have agreeable four-seasons weather up in the midwest. We do run the AC from time to time but nowhere near the amount that I ran it when I did a six-month assignment in the Florida Panhandle.

By: DD

DD — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:02:55 +0000

I think this is a cool (or a hot) sounding experiment.
Is this your penance for going back to extended cable?

But seriously, you’d have all the above listed pros with none of the cons if you’d cut cable.

Best of luck, hope this goes well.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:00:30 +0000

We force the kids outside on weekends– it saves energy. But flipping the switches isn’t for me– the clock resetting would be enough to send me over the edge!

By: Joanne

Joanne — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:35:55 +0000

The AC debate is interesting. Because of the extreme temps we are getting here in southern Australia, even old-timers who lived decades without air-con are having it installed. This summer just past, our town had its two hottest days on record. One was a full 2 degrees (Celsius) above the record which is an unprecedented rise. Normally temps top each other by partial degrees only.
So the climate is becoming more difficult to endure for many.
On the flip side, all of the extra air conditioners cooling more houses, not to mention bigger houses, have put an enormous strain on our energy supplies so throughout the summer we also had rolling power-outages. Power companies switched off supply to whole suburbs at a time for several hours. We didn’t know when it would be cut and had to be prepared.

By: marci

marci — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:02:19 +0000

As a 6th generation native Floridian – that’s 6 generations in SW Florida – we did FINE without A/C from 1840 to 1970. People really can live in SW FL without A/C. Really! No A/C in the schools and we all played outside! When we got A/C in the house, it was one room – and it was more to keep the no-see-ums out of the house than heat.

Actually, native Floridians usually say they would be happier if the A/C had not come to SW Florida – that way only the natives would be living there And we could have our paradise back to ourselves, without the A/C and tourists

By: Sherry

Sherry — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:30:39 +0000

Mother Nature helped us “go off the grid” for almost 2 weeks when Hurricane Isabel hit! We were prepard in some ways but obviously had not thought thru the hundreds of dollars for fresh food in the refrig. I think trying life without electricity brings many benefits.

1. It breaks one’s dependence on “things”.
2. It can prepare you for those “unforeseen” times when weather or other circumstances takes electricity away.
3. It helps one to “re-set” their internal clock i.e. going to bed when dark & awaking at break of light.
4. Short of cardio-pulmonary problems, few people NEED A/C. I do not agree that A/C is a need; the remark by IRG about living in FL & the need to have it. My 68 y.o. husband grew up in FL without A/C for most of his life & he did just fine. He played high school sports, helped work in the orange orchards & many times worked outside in the heat. No fainting or compromise in thinking. One’s body can & will acclimate to heat; it is not always pleasant but it can be done. A/C is a luxury & yes I LOVE it, but if I had to live without it I could. As an RN, hospitals operated for years without A/C & frankly, good fresh air would do many patients a world of good!

Great post….I’m looking forward to exploring this…

By: IRG

IRG — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:24:43 +0000

I would respectfully point out to those who say that AC is not necessary and that many live without it, that many do but also many have serious health problems and every year, many die because of no AC. (In cities, suburbs, country and globally.)

It IS a necessity for some people–and I would say, that if you work, commute via public transport, and do ANYTHING in high heat and humidity, you need it to just breathe at times.
(I worked a month in Florida in the summer once. My co-workers, healthy young guys, fainted on several occasions from the heat and humidity!)

And the fact that people live without it, doesn’t mean they should. (I’ve visited Louisiana and Florida during hot, humid weather. You NEED AC. You can’t do anything. You can’t think straight and you just can’t function. Mentally or physically. It’s awful. And if you’re ill, it’s life-threatening.)

We live in a big city apartment. Not very big (under 600 sq feet). The apartment’s interior temperature in the summer, once the heat starts up, is around 86 degrees, even with ceiling fans and room fans)

Even with AC, it doesn’t go much below 78 degrees.

We’ve tried to NOT use AC and only do so when we literally cannot breathe. Since we work from home, it’s an issue at times. Too much heat and we literally can’t think straight.

It’s a cost issue as well (we literally cut back on food to be able to afford the AC).

But one of us now has a health condition and getting hot (affects circulatory and respiratory health) like this is no longer an option.

I think a one-day a week energy conservation effort is doable in addition to unplugging as much as you can and seriously evaluating what you really need in terms of electronics, etc.

Again, as someone said, turn off and unplug the TV, entertainment stuff, appliances (prepare all food in advance and make sure it doesn’t require reheating, if you can). We even do line drying in our small apartment for a lot of things. Better for clothes and our budget as well as being green.

However, I would much rather that we could find ways to generate solar energy, along with conservation, to deal with issues. It’s part of wanting to be more green and to reduce the huge Con Ed costs for KWH. (Ironically, we reduced our KWH usage by over 50% and we are still paying almost double what we used to pay, due to increases.It’s a no-win situation.)

It would cut costs and save resources.

We’ve lost power over the years and I will say that if that is life off the grid, I’m not interested.

And I’m not going to apologize for using AC. I’m glad it’s an option, albeit an expensive one.

I’d love to also find ways to power our computers through non-electric sources.

Self-reliance is a beautiful thing, where feasible, but given the infrastructure of places where most people live, the options are limited.

By: marci

marci — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:06:06 +0000

With our nasty wind storms out here, we lose electric too often as it is So yes, I am very very prepared for it.

Rather than resetting all those clocks, yes, it would be almost as efficient to just unplug some things, and then not use the rest. Then see how long you can go without plugging them back in!

Or …. you could just go camping for the weekend.. (not the RV/generator thing, but real tent camping The Ocala National Forest is great!