You know those people at the hardware store who stand in front of a single item, staring at it for hours–last weekend I was one of those people. I left for the store with the simple task of buying light bulbs. Little did I know that I would have so many choices. I was pretty sure about the wattage that I needed but did I want energy efficient bulbs or regular? Did we like daylight or soft white? Sure, they had examples of the bulbs but under the harsh florescent lighting in Home Depot all of my options looked the same. I called my dad and he counseled me on energy efficient vs. regular light bulbs. Would I see a huge change in my power bill? No, probably not but they did last longer and they may be worth it. My dad tends to be on the more frugal side so if he said I should buy the more expensive bulbs, I thought it was a good idea.
As for the type of light, my dad told me that it was a personal choice. I usually write blog posts at night and everyone says that picture quality is better during daylight so I thought maybe if I bought daylight light bulbs then it would make up for the fact that I never take pictures in the right lighting. In short I was wrong. Not only bulbs look too green for comfort, I also tried to mix soft white with daylight in a shared space (I mean, really? Who keeps track of what type of bulbs they have anyway?)
First you see “daylight.”
Now you see the soft white. I guess we already had the soft white in the dining area but since they aren’t two separate rooms the different types of light clashed against one another.
Can you see them running into each other on this wall? Keep in mind that there is no difference in paint color. The variation only comes from the two different types of light.
Yes, we’re messy people. We’re working on it. I promise. For now I moved the daylight bulbs into the office but I have a whole other package that is sitting unopened. I may have to try return the unopened package because the idea of these bulbs lasting longer than the regular type is horrifying.
Now every time Peter and I are walking and spot daylight light bulbs in a person’s house we point it out to one another. Personally, I think the lighting is harsh and terrible but maybe someone out there really likes it. What do you think? Have you tried the energy efficient bulbs? Are we really going to save money in the long run or did we just pay seven times as much for an unnoticeable return? Let us know!
About a month ago Peter went to replace the air filter and found out that it measures 21.5”x 21.5”x1″.Can you imagine a more random size? To be honest, before this predicament, I’d never thought about filter sizes. The first time we thought to buy a replacement we thought all we needed to know was whether the vent was square or rectangular. We were that naive. We searched and searched for the right sized filter until finally, Peter talked to an air conditioning company. We learned that they could special order us twelve filters for $10 each. After seeing the prices of store bought filters, I was appalled. Who wants to spend $120 per year on air conditioning filters? I don’t.
That’s when our great friend, Clay, told us about cut-to-size filters. I looked for these at both Home Depot and Lowe’s but only managed to find them at the latter. This particular air filter was only $6. Here’s a picture of the packaging.
Unlike other filters, the Natural Aire does not need a frame. The fibers in the filter are so thick that you can just cut it and put it into your vent as is. This is really helpful if the area around your vent is tight on space because you can bend the filter without worrying about breaking the frame.
We put our old filter on top of the new one and drew a line with a Sharpie to mark where we needed to cut.
Here’s a close up of that horribly dirty filter. We obviously waited longer than we were supposed to before we tackled this task. In fact, I’d be surprised if Peter has ever changed the air filter in the entire three or so years that he has lived here.
The excess filter can be discarded, unless of course you wanted to save it for a fun little craft.
Then you slip the filter in and you’re good to go. It only take a couple minutes.
Those of you who are really observant may have noticed that the filter is actually 1.5″ too short on one side. 20 x 30 x 1 was the largest size that I could find. Even though the filter is slightly smaller, it more than covered the opening when I put it in the vent.
The Natural Aire filter can also be washed, so instead of throwing away a filter every three months (or once a month like the custom ones from the air conditioning company required), you can remove this filter and clean it with a hose. If you opt to clean it, then the filter can last for an entire year. I dont know about you but I choose $6 over $120 any day. Plus, we feel great that we’re not tossing an extra eleven filters a year into the landfills.
Tell us about your air! What kind of filters do you buy? Are they standard sized or was finding a replacement a complete pain like it was for us?
