A few household questions maybe y'all can answer

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sarahzylma
sarahzylma Posts: 8
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If any of my words are spelt wrong please understand I'm using my iPhone due to no Internet. :) all comments/help would be fantastic.

First offf; we have ants. Those little black ones. When we get storms they rush into our house. BUT we keep the house mega clean. So I know it's not the food they want. I'm living with my boyfriend and roommate and we're all.... Well not poor... But not alot of money. I'm unemployed right now, lulu works as a carhop at sonic and her money goes towards her bills and a speeding ticket. Jon is a cop; mega hours for low pay.
Is there any household items that will get rid of them? I heard ants hate pepper. But I really don't want to sprinkle pepper all over my house. We have no animals.

Second; our electric bill is insane. Everything in the house is electic. But our land lord said his bill is only $100 at the most. What are we doing wrong?!? We have two AC units. One in the living room window and one in the bedroom. Our lights are normally always off. But AC and fans are on. Our tvs are only on maybe 4 hours a day. I don't get it. Could it be a screw up at the electric company? Cause $250 for electric for one month is insane. When 90% Jon or lulu is gone.


Any help would be amazing

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  • vettle
    vettle Posts: 621 Member
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    AC is the biggest energy guzzler ever. Seriously consider turning it off it you can handle it, or get an energy efficient regular fan.
  • taso42_DELETED
    taso42_DELETED Posts: 3,394 Member
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    Some household items may deter them for a while, but I think you ultimately have to use those traps where they go in, eat the food, and bring it back to the queen. You need to kill the queen to get rid of them for good.
  • writtenINthestars
    writtenINthestars Posts: 1,933 Member
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    Hmmm...is your heat and hot water electric as well? My townhouse is all electric and with AC's I haven't spent over 120. I would suggest calling your electricity provider and seeing if there is some sort of budget plan. Even when I've used my AC's all summer long, I haven't ever gone over 150. The only time we go over 200 is during the really cold winter months.

    Also, are these new energy efficient AC's? And do they absolutely need to be on all the time? Do you leave them on even when you aren't home? Just some things to think about! Good luck!

    oh and I have no suggestions for the ants.!
  • moushtie
    moushtie Posts: 371 Member
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    If you can find the ant nest, a kettle full of boiling water on top of it can cut the population. Plus beach, if you're feeling vindicative. i'm fairly sure hardware stores have the little tubes of ant poison that they trail back to their nest to poison everyone. I didn't think they were that expensive...
  • TrishJimenez
    TrishJimenez Posts: 561 Member
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    If any of my words are spelt wrong please understand I'm using my iPhone due to no Internet. :) all comments/help would be fantastic.

    First offf; we have ants. Those little black ones. When we get storms they rush into our house. BUT we keep the house mega clean. So I know it's not the food they want. I'm living with my boyfriend and roommate and we're all.... Well not poor... But not alot of money. I'm unemployed right now, lulu works as a carhop at sonic and her money goes towards her bills and a speeding ticket. Jon is a cop; mega hours for low pay.
    Is there any household items that will get rid of them? I heard ants hate pepper. But I really don't want to sprinkle pepper all over my house. We have no animals.

    Second; our electric bill is insane. Everything in the house is electic. But our land lord said his bill is only $100 at the most. What are we doing wrong?!? We have two AC units. One in the living room window and one in the bedroom. Our lights are normally always off. But AC and fans are on. Our tvs are only on maybe 4 hours a day. I don't get it. Could it be a screw up at the electric company? Cause $250 for electric for one month is insane. When 90% Jon or lulu is gone.


    Any help would be amazing

    at walmart in the garden section for 5 or 6 dollars you can get a spray with pump that you spray in all your cracks door jams and along the walls and it will kill and keep out just about anything. Works for me. even spiders and roaches. as for the power bill only keep the ac on in the room you are in. Turn it off when you can stand it use a fan only when you really need it. Like if the ac is off and maybe at night. Unplug anything when not in use like your tv and computer. Those use alot of power even when off. Just something I read on the power company website when trying to reduce my electric bill
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    1. Ants won't cross a line of Borax. You can get it at the grocery store. Make a line of it around where they get in (if you know) - especially doorways.

    2. That not unreasonable for the A/C alone to cost that much. Opening and shutting the fridge door will also take a lot of electricity - more than the lights being on.
  • lynheff
    lynheff Posts: 393 Member
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    If you think your bill is out of line, call the electric company. It is possible that your meter is defective. You can write down the numbers yourselves from the meter and track how much you are using. Experiment with turning things off to see if the dials spin more slowly etc. I don't know how old the meter is but it is worth a check, especially if someone in the same complex has much lower bills.
    I occasionally use ortho ant spray. No other suggestions that I can think of. Hope that helps.
  • XFitMojoMom
    XFitMojoMom Posts: 3,255 Member
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    turn off the AC during the day - only use it at night for cool sleeping
    ants - sketchy little *kitten*. I have kids so food is the culprit. I make them sweep up with a dust pan and little brush after they eat. Helped control the ants. Washed the floors with vinegar also helped. But as Taso suggested get the traps and bait - they're cheap and worthwhile.
  • sarahzylma
    sarahzylma Posts: 8
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    Some household items may deter them for a while, but I think you ultimately use those traps where they go in, eat the food, and bring it back to the queen. You need to kill the queen to get rid of them for good.

    We have them all over the house. They don't seem to be helping. And starting to think we're wasting money
  • Nancyhusanu
    Nancyhusanu Posts: 65
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    Not sure about the electric bill, but in our old house I had pretty good luck with peppermint oil keeping the ants at bay. It doesn't exterminate them, but they don't like it so it acts as a barrier. just put it around where they come into the house.
  • lynheff
    lynheff Posts: 393 Member
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    Good point about the "ghost power". I was surprised to find out that instant on TVs and power strips use a very significant amount of electricity even when you are not using them. We put our TV into a power strip and turn the whole thing off when we got to bed. Ditto the computers.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
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    For ants, use COMBAT brand traps. They work really well. Its not about dirt in your house, at certain times of year they venture around.

    Second of all, your air conditioners use far more electricity than everything else combined. Welcome to the world of kilowatt-hours(kwh). Which is the kilowatts used times the hours used. 1kilowatt for 1 hour costs whatever your utility charges for a kwh. 26 cents, 52 cent?

    So your air conditioners could cost you more than $1 an hour.
  • prettyfitchick
    prettyfitchick Posts: 502 Member
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    Set AC to 75 when at home it will actually keep house cooler then setting at a lower temp idk why but I herd it on the news and it really works and we turn our AC to like 80 when not home and I live in TN and the electric bill always go up in the summer and winter months because they charge more with those fees they sneak on the bill due to supply and demand
  • prettyfitchick
    prettyfitchick Posts: 502 Member
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    Set AC to 75 when at home it will actually keep house cooler then setting at a lower temp idk why but I herd it on the news and it really works and we turn our AC to like 80 when not home and I live in TN and the electric bill always go up in the summer and winter months because they charge more with those fees they sneak on the bill due to supply and demand
  • sarahzylma
    sarahzylma Posts: 8
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    Thank you everyone for the help. The AC in the bedroom is now turned off. Jon said we might as well just get a box fan. And I'm thinking of just shutting off the living room one too for now.

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