When I was growing up, the windows were never open. We had air-conditioning, and a programmable thermostat, and we didn't need to open them.
In my house as an adult, we've got the old fashioned kind of thermostat that doesn't make decisions for you. If we're going out for the day, we turn the heat down until we get back home. If it's warm enough, we turn the furnace off completely and open some windows.
I love having the windows open. I can hear the birds, sometimes a frog or two, and the kids playing. If I'm in the sewing room with the window open, I can hear every last "I'm gonna tell Mom if you don't...." drifting up from the yard.
One of these years, we'll have to replace our furnace and we might get a heat pump then, but we'll use it only when it's too hot to move around in the day or sleep at night. Which isn't more than a few weeks a year.
Open windows are a little more work. They mean checking that things are closed and locked up before leaving the house or going to bed for the night. I don't leave windows open when we're sleeping, no matter how hot it's been. Our new house is much safer than our last one (where someone stole the air conditioner out of our bedroom window while I was sleeping in with the babies after hubby had left for work one morning) but that's not something I'm willing to take chances with.
And I don't open upstairs windows if there are children around. Pretty easy around here, since the only upstairs windows are in my sewing room and the attic, where my youngest children don't go.
Opening our windows works for me. To see what works for other bloggers, head over to We are THAT Family.
5 comments:
Our windows stay open pretty much all summer. We close them if we are all leaving the house but we leave them open at night.
I have a large, scary dog so she'd let us know right away if there was monkey business afoot.
We also have good neighbors and we all watch each other's houses to make sure nothing suspicious is going on.
i love open windows but it gets awful hot down here in the south
I love having the windows open. Living in Richmond, VA - it gets hot enough that you do have to turn on the AC. But love, love, love having the windows open. We don't shut them at night - even the lower floor. We live in a safe area and, probably more of a reason, we have a dog. You can't walk in the yard without her telling us. She sleeps inside - spare bed is hers. She hates it when we have company!
My windows stay open all the time from Sep/Oct till Mayish. Some of them get closed when it is down pouring or just so there is a crack open, then opened again, the only thing I don't like is the DUST, oh my, it is never ending. They only get closed mid Mayish for the summer when you can't breathe outside, then opened back up again. If someone wants to break in and clean me out, go for it, I could use new stuff and a lot less of it too. Been 14 years in this house now, and nothing with the house yet. Maybe they are scared of the 4 big ol dogs in the back yard during the daytime and them in the house at nighttime, who knows.
I LOVE having the windows open, and even leave my bedroom window cracked open in winter. Gotta have that fresh air. I put in a window a/c unit in my sewing room but we made a frame with a screen in it, so unless it's 90+ I can still have fresh air.
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