Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Going Green and Saving Greenbacks

Winter here in the the middle of Kansas can be brutal, I'm telling ya!  Trying to heat a big house that's all electric is a challenge...especially when you don't have all the drywall on the walls.  We had heard that elecricity was very expensive in this area, but that was an understatement. Two years ago, our electrical bill was over $500 in both January and February.  It was not balmy in here.  I wore wool socks and was bundled up so much that I looked like a bag lady. We also had an ice storm in early December that left us with no power for 8 days.  We aren't on rural water, and for the most part, I love having well water, but when there is no power, there is no water, either. Hey!  No one told us that!  Talk about a wake up call!  Nothing funnier than city people moving out to the country...

So it was time to really start acting on the information I got from blogs, online articles, forums, anything I could find to read online about saving energy, simple living, sustainable living, frugal living, passive solar.. you name it, I was Googling it.  Then I discovered that I could make my own laundry soap!  And cleaners!  And cream of whatever soups!  My obsession grew.  The changes in our lives started gradually, and now are second nature.  We eat better than before and put the money saved into our pocket instead of giving it to Proctor and Gamble.  Our monthly grocery bill runs around $225 a month for the two of us.  I still stock up whenever something is on sale, but my goal is to get it to $200 a month...without Bill noticing it. And our electric bill?  Last January and February, the bills were around $119 each month.

How did we do it?  See 'Putting our electrical usage on a diet'.

Finding the Balance

Bill and I have been married for 38 years.  He's your basic, three bedroom ranch house kind of guy that's married to an extreme home, should-a been a hippie kind of gal.  So, about 5 years ago, we finally agreed on a 4 acre bit of neglected farmland and moved, determined to build a nice house by ourselves. 

I wanted something more 'green' and sustainable, like strawbale, he wanted something that he was familiar with  - like the building process - and more like what everyone else had. It's not that either one of us was right or wrong -  it was all about finding the balance that worked for us.

My passion is to live a more sustainable life, be kinder to the earth and lower my consumerism.  I do believe
whenever possible, use what Nature gives you.  Recycle, repair, reuse, rethink, repurpose - and reusing is more important than recycling.