I’m really pleased that I went ahead and got with it this spring. Honestly, it’s something that I had wanted to do for the last several year but just didn’t get around to it. However, having done just the basics when it comes to preparing for heat season this year, I’m already seeing the results. It’s July now and I’ve gotten my first utility bill that would cover the beginning of the summer. This is when the air conditioning was on consistently. During the spring, we do our best in order to leave the air conditioning off as much as possible. This helps us in a few ways. First, we’re not using so much HVAC cooling that it helps with costs. But perhaps more importantly, not going right for the thermostat allows us to acclimate more naturally to the heat. That’s a very important part of living where we do. The heat and humidity are indeed quite high during the summer. It’s a fact that no amount of air conditioning is going to change. Just trying to go from one place with HVAC cooling to the next is to deny so much of the experience of living here. There is just so much to offer outside that staying in the air conditioning is a non starter for us. However, I did do the sealing up of the house and have added solar shades to stop the direct sunlight heating. It’s all paid off as this utility bill is close to 20 percent cheaper than that of last year with very little effort or hassle.