The Curtain Management System

Well it’s October 9th and it was over 90 today!! What’s that all about???!!! Maybe we should all start paying attention to this global warming thing.

We have central air so I shouldn’t be complaining, right? Wrong! I have a husband who has decided that we should use the air conditioning as little as possible. This has been going on all summer. He refuses to pay more money to “The Man.”

In this case “The Man” is the energy company, whom he believes producing less energy to make it look like there is a shortage and therefore charge higher rates. We’ll discuss his paranoia level another time.

While I agree with my husband on a philosophical level that not using the central air is good for the environment, the reality of temperatures over 90 degrees does have a significant influence on my behavior.

I really can’t complain too much. During the hottest part of the day today I was sitting in a nicely air conditioned office. It was actually a bit cold in the conference room. He is the one here at home suffering in the heat.

In comes the curtain management system. What you first need to understand is that we live in a 1950’s Rancher with a finished walkout basement that faces North/South. One of the things I loved about this house when we first saw it was the 10 foot wide window in the living room and the bright open layout. For the first year we lived here I just had sheers on the window in the living room so I could enjoy the light (and they were cheap). I am a light person – I hate a dark room. I will turn on lights even during the day to make a room brighter. This drives my husband nuts.

Anyway, about the time dear hubby heard about potential energy rate hikes it was decided that we should by “real” curtains for the living room and dining room. Something heavier than sheers, that would help insulate the windows in the winter. Well, any excuse to shop, right? I went looking for new curtains.

I found some curtains I really loved and of course we then needed new curtain rods to hang them and the things to hang on each side of the window so I can pull the curtain back to let in the light.

After the new curtain rods, curtains and tie backs were hung my husband then explained the curtain management system.

During hot days he will go around the house closing the curtains on the windows where the sun is starting to come it. Thus preventing extra heat build up in the house. Then as the sun moves through the day he will open the curtains previously shut to let in the breeze and close others which will keep the house cooler during the day and minimizing the need to turn on the air conditioning. On cold days he does exactly the opposite. He opens the curtains to let the sunlight in and warm up the house keeping the heat from needing to kick on as often. It took me awhile to buy into the curtain management system. Since we have a basement that stays relatively comfortable unless it’s really humid out, I didn’t complain too much. I just retreated to the basement and stayed there – since that’s where our family room and my office is it wasn’t too hard. However, after we got out first Gas and Electric bill this summer I have to admit I was convinced. It was just $150 dollars. That’s for a 2700 square foot house that has 6 people in it all day with computers, video games and TVs going. Not bad really. Maybe everyone should try the curtain management system….