The final tally

We had what was hopefully our last heat wave of the year last week, so it seems like a good time to post an update of how our summer without AC went. We turned it on about 7 times, 6 of which were during a heat advisory (when the temperature was 30 degrees or above for 3 days in a row), and one of which was when we had company over. During those times, we ran it for a few hours at most. I didn't keep track of our dryer usage, but I would guess it was less than 7 times as well over the course of the summer.

Overall, it was a great experiment, and I will definitely try to do the same thing in the summers to come. I feel like our bodies got used to the heat, and the coping strategies we used were effective. I didn't love nursing a sweaty baby before putting him to bed, but it wasn't so bad with the fan on. And the basement was a great place to hang out in the afternoon when the kids had their quiet time. They didn't seem to notice the lack of AC at all, interestingly enough. They would still go to bed with full pyjamas on and the covers pulled up to their necks! They'd even have their blankets on for naps.

The grand total of savings for the summer was 221.51$. I'm pretty happy with that. So is this guy, who learned to walk last week.

Next challenge: hanging laundry indoors to minimize hydro costs in the winter. But I might still have a good couple of weeks left with the outdoor clothesline.