That’s what I’ve been saying all summer. As in… I don’t care what it costs, I’m not skimping on the AC. So I haven’t been. It goes on around 8am, then there’s a midday 2-3 hour break, either when I go out or if I’m cooking, when it gets shut down. And then back on again late afternoon until bedtime. I have it set at 24-25º but it never gets cooler than about 26.5º (single-pane windows, no insulation) but with the fans on it’s perfectly comfortable. And then just the fans overnight.

Used to be I wouldn’t dream of turning on the AC until after lunch but this year I realised several things. The heat waves started way earlier than usual (every year they start earlier), I can’t do my morning chair workouts when it’s 30º in the apartment, and I’m just too old (and cranky) to keep putting myself through this self-inflicted uncomfortable austerity thang… so fuck it.

Then today I received the electricity bill for July and 😱 😱 😱. Holy fuck, about 50% more than last year. This comes hot on the heels of splurging on a new mattress which I also couldn’t afford but I justified it because I wasn’t forced to move this summer so what I would have spent on movers (which I also couldn’t have afforded) I would spend on a mattress instead. Well it made sense to me!

And now I am justifying having my home at a comfortable temperature because, hey, I’m not going on holiday, not travelling, so all that money I never would have spent anyhow because there’s no fucking way I can afford to go on holiday, I am spending on air conditioning. Reader… I don’t have any extra money for any of this! I just have this imaginary money that I don’t spend that I move around here and there in my mind to justify not living like a fucking pauper. What can I say? It’s complicated. But so far it almost works. Sometimes.