Saving money vs. natural sunlight

I love sunlight. I love living in apartments that are south or west facing to maximize the amount of natural light you get during the day. The downside? An increase in energy expenditure and more expensive power bill in the summer. One of the first tips you will read about when looking up ways to cut energy costs is to keep your curtains drawn during the summer.

We haven't bothered to put curtains up in the 4+ years we've lived here, partly because the whole process of picking out which curtains we want greatly stresses me out. But partly because I always want the blinds open when I'm home.

The other weekend we went out and bought curtains and rods for our bedrooms (it wasn't in the budget, and that stressed me out for a few minutes....but luckily being frugal and thrifty with most of our purchases allows us to have some extra money for random expenses like this).

We bought the energy efficient/blackout curtains and so far they have been great! We can keep them drawn all day while we're at work and as soon as we get home open them up to let in sunshine.

I am quite pleased with our purchase...and hoping to see (even a minor) change on our power bill next month. If curtains, rods, & hooks are not in your budget, here is a really cheap, although not beautiful, way to block out the light.