Money Matters

Well,  I haven't done anything major yet, but I have managed to get my electric bill down to $38 last month! Granted, I no longer have roomates, but I was very happy to see this. The same month, my natural gas bill was $87. So Overall $125! Not bad for a winter month at all! My usual natural gas bill had been averaging about $110-$120 by itself!

Been working on trying to be more efficient with how I use the power that I need.  Granted at $38/mo, I am not using a lot, but I know that there is more I could be doing! I don't have any solar yet, My fridge is 4x larger than I need when it is just me at my house, and there are other small things as well. Ideally, I would like to get electric down to $25/mo, and Natural Gas to about the same on average for the year.

I still don't have a rain barrel set up. Last year I played a little bit with the timer settings for my irrigation system, as well as fixed a leak in one of the sprinkler pipes that was basically throwing away $$. I am still averaging about $80/mo on water, but if I could impliment a rainwater solution for the lawn, I could get that monthly average down to $50 or so.

Last is garbage/recycling/yard debris. That is currently $25/mo on average because I have the larger bins (Even though I don't make use of them all the time). I have been playing with some alternate fuel sources like biomass bricks out of shredded paper to use in a rocket stove. That should help turn one recycled matter into something that is directly useful, especially during the summer, and would offset the natural gas cost even more when cooking! with all the shredded envelopes and papers I could literally use a rocket stove for a few months every day to keep water boiling! (Being paper matter and not knowing the ink source used on some papers, I wouldn't use it to cook food directly, but I would use it to heat up a cast iron pan or pot.)

Overall I have been happy with how much I have been able to reduce my at-home carbon footprint, but I know there is more I can do. I have even been looking at a hybrid car for my next vehicle (I genearlly need a van because of the wheelchair, but if I must I will get a car and just hoist the wheelchair in) and then use the van for family events or when a larger load-area is needed.

Well, that is mostly all for now. Things are calming down so I should be able to get more on here more often.