Ben

Our gas and electric bills are pricey too. For the two we generally pay in the region of $400 and over during the winter and summer months. Our home is just under the 3,000sqft. And we are very careful on how much we use. We never have the temperature up high in the winter and we try not to use the CA in the summer too much.

rincewind

I agree, but living in the south where the confederate flag is waved proudly and african-americans are still called n@#%#r, it was a bit of a shock.

My in-laws are extremely racist and use the "n" word all the time, even when talking to african-americans. My father in law has to change the channel when a movie shows a white guy and a black woman together. They are so medievil.

Yorkieabroad

Wow - seems we are the exception rather than the rule - are there any other Texans out there with cheap bills? We had a newborn Jan2003, so we kept the house pretty cool during the summer and pretty warm at night over teh winter (70!) - we weren't consciously trying to keep the bills low - in fact my "to do" list has a whole host of drafty windows/doors to be fixed, proper insulation to be added in the attic etc etc. Maybe things aren't as bad as I thought!!

Ps - Just checked our bills - we've paid between 8 and 11 cents per kwh for the leccy and the gas ihas ranged from 20 t0 (current) 51 cents per ccf

rincewind

A silly question but have you changed your air filters recently?

One month I had a bill over $300 and my wife asked me when I last changed the air filter.



Air filter??? Ooops. After an explanation and location of said air filter (which was a nice color black), I changed it and then our bills dropped back down again.

dunroving

Change them every month. I get a reminder from the thermostat.

Next step is to get under the house and see if the ducting has come loose (or if the neighbours have re-routed my ducting to their house, as suggested by Yorkie!)

Jabba1

And exactly how're they portraying the US over in Europe?

NC Penguin

You are exaggerating about your in-laws, aren't you?

I've yet to see a Confederate flag flying in NC and only this past weekend, the KKK and Nazis held a march in Raleigh. There were less than 100 of them and 600 people protesting against them.

I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but if they want to know how it feels to be called the "n" word, they should come and visit Durham, NC, a predominantly Black American city. If they say the "n" word here, I'll wouldn't be surprised if they'd be lynched.

I hope the other residents of the town/city where your in-laws live aren't of a similar ilk. I'll have to avoid that part of GA.

rincewind

They are every where here. You see them in yards and on trucks.

Trust me, I would love to. It just surprises me that people still hold onto these values.

Just the other day, my mother-in-law mislaid a couple of towels. Here response was: "I guess that 'n' took them!" When she finally found the towels it was: "you still can't trust them 'n's" And she's a baptist too. So hypocritical.

I almost fell off my chair. We've had many arguments about this as we do not want our kids hearing their racist views.

We're moving soon to Texas and I hope it's better there.

Jxab12

At the other end of the poverty scale, I was surprised here in New York by how wealthy a lot of people are. Regularly people are donating a million to the library or 500K to the local school/church etc. Where does it all come from!

Also, I was surprised that not everyone buys American cars as you are led to believe in Europe. There mostly German or Japanese.

NC Penguin

Huh? You live on Long Island. Have you ever driven to the eastern end and seen the Hamptons? There's wealthy neighborhoods dotted throughout the US, maybe more so in the North East of the country.

Some people may favor foreign cars because of the prestige. Whereas someone would prefer to spend $60K (the figure is an estimate on my part. I'm not interested in either vehicle named) on a Mercedes, another American may prefer to buy a Hummer. There's also an element of keeping up with the Joneses mentality too...