Living in the central valley of California, I've discovered a few tricks
to help keep the house warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

First of all, with my helpful friends, my sewing machines, I made drapes
in a cool cream color, lined them with muslin and put in quit batting. This
alone brought down the power bill. Then in the southern facing windows,
I put in some of that plastic film that makes an air tight barrier for cold or
heat. Then I went around with a candle looking for leaks around doors and
windows, and put in new door stripping on the front door, which faces West
and gets hot sun a lot of the time.

Winter time gets "wind snakes" which is what my Grandma called little rolls
of sawdust sewed into heavy fabric lengths and put in front of the door to
keep out cold from sneaking under the door. Smells good too. I get it at some
grocery stores as bedding for hamsters and rats, etc.

Little plastic inserts go into the electrical sockets, they let in a surprising amount of wind.

I painted the 2 large windows on the North side of the house, window glass
and all. That started when my late teen (at that time) granddaughter was watching the lighted house next door, where a single man lives. I heard her say to herself, "Gee, I didn't know you could do that" and right then I made up my
mind to paint over everything on that side of the house. And they got the
quilt-like drapes too.

Out side the windows where the sun beats down I have split bamboo shades
that hang over the windows and prevent the sun from beating in so much.

There are lots of little things we can do to beat the heat, and cold.

With all the bright women on this forum (and gentlemen too) I'm sure that
we can help each other with any problems we might have.

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Try FreeCycle, someone else might be trying to get rid of one.

Or CraiglsList..but be careful there. Always have someone with you when
you pick something up, or meet a stranger. lots of crooks love Craigslist.

One good thing about living in FL. is that we've all got central air which works instantly. Recently we went to bed with a temp of 40* and the next day the temp climbed to the 80s. Just a flick of the dial and we've got ac. for those problem days. A second good thing is that if you don't have a pool, which most do, we just go to the nearest one, like at a relative's house. Or the beach which depending on which part of FL. you live in can be a ten min. drive or an hour, but it's never very far.
We DO get hurricanes though! 8-)

We are thinking about putting in central air.. but since it's my grandfathers building, we have to get permission and it has to be the whole building in order to get that done. Plus it costs a lot...

I'm thinking of making curtains for the kitchen and the living room... We have vertical blinds now in the living room... but they suck! Black out my Bum!

I may make the curtains for the two rooms and give them to my mom at Christmas... providing she lets me take my sewing machine to school... Or when I come home on weekends I can do it... I'll have to get sturdy rods though to put up... just in case one of the cats decide to take after his father and be a curtain hanger...

Alu, I'm glad you are feeling better today. :-)

The temp went down outside too... I might feel off today, but that is do to know sleep and reading all night... I just had to finish the book... :D Anyways... I think I'm going through mild dehydration due to temps... so I've been drinking water... and I shall be getting a few bottles of Gatorade tomorrow...

88 degrees in Indiana, USA

72 in chicago!

Central Coast of California - (Pismo Beach), Absolutely perfect! Sorry to brag. 73 during the day 41 at night. Perfect!

YAY! it's 90 degrees not including humidity! I'm so going to the beach in the next few days!