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CNET
8 minutes ago
- CNET
One Easy Change Took My Power Bill From Painful to Almost Nothing
When the summer heat kicks in, turning up the air conditioner is an easy choice, but the comfort comes at a cost. With electricity prices climbing and inflation stretching budgets, a recent CNET survey found that almost 80% of Americans feel stressed by high energy bills. The good news is you can stay cool without spending as much. One of the simplest ways to use less energy is also one of the easiest to forget. Turning off the lights when you leave a room cuts down on heat from bulbs, which means your air conditioner doesn't have to work as hard. Over the course of a summer, that small change can make a real difference on your bill. Pair that habit with other smart moves like closing blinds during the hottest part of the day, running ceiling fans the right way, and unplugging electronics you're not using. With a few small adjustments, you can keep your home cooler and reduce your energy costs without sacrificing comfort. Why should you turn off the lights? You've probably been told repeatedly about the importance of conserving energy, but you might be wondering why it's so important. First, reducing your energy usage by turning off your lights is an excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint. Electricity generation is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. By turning off your lights when you aren't using them, you can do your part to reduce carbon emissions and therefore help the environment. Second, reducing your home's energy usage doesn't just help the environment. It also helps your wallet. Turning off lights when you don't need them can help reduce your electricity bills. You'll also extend the life of your light bulbs, which will save you money as well. Pro savings tip Buying a smart lightbulb can help you conserve energy by setting your lights to go on and off at certain times, so no more falling asleep with all the lights left on overnight. The Wiz tunable white LED smart bulb is CNET's pick for the best white-light smart bulb. Details $20 at Amazon How much money can you save? The amount you can save on your electricity bill by turning off your lights depends on the type of light bulb you use. You can figure your potential savings using the light bulb's wattage. Let's say you have a light bulb that's 40 watts, meaning in one hour, the bulb will use 0.04 kWh. Then, you can use your electricity price — which you can find on your most recent utility bill — to figure out how much you'll save for that hour. In the case of the 40-watt bulb, if you pay an electricity rate of 10 cents per kWh, your savings by turning that bulb off for one hour would be 0.4 cents. It's easy to see that number and think it's simply not worth it to turn off your lights more often. After all, what difference does 0.4 cents make? First, remember that the estimate is for a 40-watt bulb. If you have higher-wattage light bulbs, the savings will be greater. Next, that estimate uses an energy price of 10 cents per kWh, but in many areas, the price of electricity may be higher than that. Finally, our estimate looked at the savings of turning off one bulb for one hour. You likely have many light bulbs in your house, and there are far more than just one hour in a month. So when you calculate the savings of turning off all of your light bulbs for many more hours per month, your savings will increase significantly. When should you turn off the lights? You can save money by turning off your lights and fans whenever you don't need them. During the spring and summer, it's a good idea to check in on the peak and off-peak energy hours in your area. Many providers use a time-of-use electricity plan where energy costs rise during peak hours, or hours where the grid is facing higher demand, and lower during off-peak hours. These hours change depending on the seasons, so transitioning between seasons is a good time to check when you're paying the most for energy. During peak hours, usually during the afternoons in the summer, while in the early morning and in the evenings after sunset during winter, it's helpful to be especially diligent in turning off lights and other electronic appliances when you leave a room to cut down on your energy bill. During the spring and summer, daylight saving time is in effect, which means more daylight and less need to have the lights on in your home. A small change can yield big savings Turning off the lights and other electric appliances when you aren't using them is one of the most basic steps you can take to reduce your energy usage and save money on your electricity bill. Even a small change can add up to big energy savings and help reduce your carbon footprint. More money-saving tips for you
Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
My teen is on the spectrum, and her ‘neediness wears on me'
Hi Meghan, I have a 15-year-old daughter on the spectrum. She wants privacy a lot of the time and reminds me that she's 15 and not a baby. But, at the same time, she's so needy. She wants company while she dresses and bathes, general assistance with self-care and meals and wants me to baby her ('I'm your widdle baby'). The neediness wears on me, but I also know she wants my attention and company and is trying to connect as best she can. I feel annoyed with her a lot of the time, and then I feel guilty. I want her to be more independent, but I don't want to push her away. Life isn't easy for her. Any input would be much appreciated; I really enjoy your column. Thanks! — Needy's Parent Needy's Parent: Thank you for your letter. Before we get into how to help your teen on the spectrum, know that your parenting frustration is normal. You are parenting a teen with all the accompanying hormones and ups and downs. Add on that your teen is on the spectrum and wants both privacy and your constant company. This is a lot for even the most skillful parent, so give yourself a break. Taking care of yourself can help you break this cycle of annoyance and guilt. Start by surrounding yourself with a community of other parents in the same boat. Parenting a teen with autism can be isolating, so the important thing is to meet people who understand your unique struggles whether this is in person (highly recommended) or online, therapeutic or casual. I also recommend reading books like 'Growing Up on the Spectrum' by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik to keep the ideas flowing. For teens on the spectrum, daily and 'normal' tasks can often be physically, emotionally and psychologically overwhelming. Holly Blanc Moses, a therapist and autism/ADHD expert, says: 'Your daughter may not have the same energy reserves to complete tasks independently every single day. One day, she may breeze through getting dressed, while another day that same task feels overwhelming. Executive functioning differences and motor skill variations can make daily tasks genuinely difficult.' This isn't due to a lack of parenting love from you or a lack of effort on your daughter's part; it is simply part of the neurotype. Having you nearby soothes her jangled nervous system. Neediness — an unskillful way to get attention — is a common behavior in humans, and we are accustomed to seeing it in little kids. Babies are unskillful (crying) because they are immature, toddlers are unskillful because their needs outpace the speed of their skill acquisition, and teens on the spectrum are unskillful because they need to learn how to identify and communicate their feelings in a way that neurotypical teens may not. Underneath the 'widdle baby' and your daughter's calls for nearness are deeper emotions that she needs more support handling. There are a number of ways you can help your daughter grow more skills, despite the frustration. Because executive functioning skills grow at a slower pace in many autistic teens, break down these basic self-care needs into bite-size steps. Bathing, getting dressed and eating all involve a huge number of decisions; breaking them down will bring your daughter's overwhelm down and, hopefully, will also lessen the neediness. For example, when it comes to getting dressed, Blanc Moses suggests: 'Write down each step of the process. You'll likely discover there are many more steps than you initially realized. Create a visual way for her to indicate how easy or difficult each step feels (perhaps a simple 1-5 scale). This helps identify which areas she feels confident handling independently versus which steps need more support. Create a visual with images of clothing along with the written steps.' Even if breaking down these many steps may seem daunting at first, the more you practice this approach to solving problems, the easier the other tasks may become. Once your daughter becomes more comfortable and independent getting dressed, that confidence may also spill into creating the steps for bathing, eating, etc. Remember: Neediness is a by-product of fear, so the more she can calm her own nervous system with small steps, the more independence can grow. Again, 15 is an intense time for every human, so be sure to build in breaks for your daughter. It is okay to baby her a little bit; most teens love a little babying, and her intense brain will need more breaks from this work than the typical teen. Be patient with yourself and her, and be sure to celebrate even the smallest of wins, pointing out her growth from one day or week or month to the next. Good luck!
Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
At a D.C. library, camaraderie flourishes through mah-jongg
A brief silence descended on the table as Alejandro Bolivar-Cervoni checked the symbols on the white rectangular tiles in front of him to see whether he had the sets to win the game. 'Mah-jongg!' he said as he tipped the tiles over to show the three other players on his table his winning sets. The tiles clacked loudly as they hit the table, briefly overtaking the lively chatter of people playing mah-jongg at a dozen other tables similarly laid out at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on a warm Tuesday evening last month. 'I think if you look at this room, it's so diverse. … It's so important to feel like I can connect to the broader D.C. community,' Bolivar-Cervoni, 34, said. 'And I think it's like the biggest slice of life, the fact that I get to come here every Tuesday and just get to meet with people from all different parts of the city, all different backgrounds.' Mah-jongg night has become one of the library's most popular programs since the first game on April 1. The weekly sessions have attracted around 70 D.C. residents of different ages, ethnic groups, economic backgrounds and skill levels. Bolivar-Cervoni's reason for learning mah-jongg was a personal one: He wanted to honor the memory of his late friend who used to play the game. He joined the mah-jongg sessions at the D.C. Public Library in late May after seeing an ad on a Capital Jewish Museum mailing list. In two months, he formed meaningful friendships with other D.C. residents who joined the sessions. 'It gives me a lot of civic pride to know my tax dollars go to support this place, and I get to really enjoy it and see this community,' said Bolivar-Cervoni, a marketing analyst manager. Across the table, Ardavan Heavans, 50, shuffled and lined up the mah-jongg tiles, getting ready to play another round. Heavans learned to play the Chinese style of the game from his grandmother in Pakistan when he was 5, and he continued to play when his family came to the United States in 1988. He learned to play the American version of the game when he moved to D.C. 20 years later. He said the game transcends cultures and fosters community. 'The world, you know, is so hectic and politics [are] dividing so many groups of people,' Heavans said. 'So, the game is just magical that it has a way of silencing that noise, even if it is for a couple of hours.' Jenna Fischer, 28, learned to play the American style of the game from her mother when she was in middle school and was looking to pick it back up when she heard about the mah-jongg sessions at the library from a friend. Fischer, who lost her job at the U.S. Institute of Peace earlier this year, said that she would have joined and made time for the game nights even if she still had her job. She said mah-jongg nights have created a space where politics is not a priority and the group of players have built their own community. 'I think it's part of D.C. that I might not always get to meet,' Fischer said. 'It's really great to come back and see the same faces and get to know people, in a very often divided city.' April Ovens, the library's support coordinator, introduced the mah-jongg program after she was approached by game instructors Jennie Mak and Jon Gann separately in March. She did not expect the program to become as popular as it did in four months, she said, but was pleasantly surprised to see D.C. residents of various backgrounds take an interest in learning and playing the game. The library opens its doors to residents every Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. It offers participants the opportunity to learn two styles of mah-jongg free — Chinese, taught by Mak, and American, taught by Gann and David Horowitz. Mak, 54, teaches the Chinese variation of mah-jongg — the Hong Kong style, which she used to play with her family as a child there. As a part-time Cantonese language teacher, she started teaching the game to her students last year as a way to immerse them in the language. She then branched out to teach groups of people interested in learning mah-jongg across Virginia and D.C., including at the Cleveland Park Library. She contacted Ovens at the beginning of the year when she saw a growing interest in the game among D.C. residents. 'Mah-jongg is not just a game to me. It's like part of my culture,' Mak said. Gann, 59, a film producer, hosts game sessions with Horowitz, 60, a health policy analyst at the Shaw/Watha T. Daniel Neighborhood Library and the Capital Jewish Museum. Mah-jongg originated in China hundreds of years ago and was introduced to the United States in the 1920s. The game is played in several styles, including Chinese, American and Riichi, the Japanese style. Chinese mah-jongg sets consist of 144 tiles engraved with symbols of circles, bamboos, dragons and Chinese characters. American mah-jongg is played with 152 tiles, including jokers, that are similarly designed to the Chinese sets but have numbers on them. The game is played by four people. The tiles are shuffled and arranged to make a wall that forms a square. The players take turns drawing a tile from the wall and discard another tile in the middle of the table until they form a winning hand. In Chinese mah-jongg, the first player to build a combination of four sets of three and a pair of tiles wins the game. The American style uses the same principle, but players also refer to a card issued by the National Mah Jongg League annually that dictates the set combinations that win the game for that year. The combinations change every year. Mah-jongg was typically played by Chinese and Jewish women, but Horowitz said he has seen a flurry of younger people and men walking through the front doors of the library. Mak said the program has allowed D.C. residents to connect with each other in the past few months. 'We've all been through a lot,' Mak said about the impact of politics on D.C. and its residents. She said the players have built a community by playing the game. 'There's a safe place for us,' she said.
