Oct 19, 2005 17:32
My project for the day was to think about energy use in our house. So, I replaced 860 watts of lightbulbs with 140. I had done the other half of our light bulbs last year, but ran out of bulbs. I still have a few "real" bulbs in a couple of places where I like the light they give off. The ceiling lamp above my bed, and the fixture over the dining table, also, Grace's bedroom light. I like those reveal bulbs, their light is soothing, and Miss Migraine needs soothing in her room and at the table. When they come out with flourescents that look purty, I'll change those over too. Let's see, I also installed an under the cupboard light in the kitchen. The overhead burned out last year and the whole fixture needs to be replaced. The new light will work just fine and use a ton less energy. Now that I see how much I like it, I am going to go back and get one for the other work area. I also put 2 new night lights in strategic places and did a homeschool lesson on why it is bad to turn all the lights on in middle of the night and never turn them off. I get up some mornings and find every freakin downstairs light blazing. I have a verbal aggreement from the worst offender, gameboy, to stop it with the light switches.
I have this goal of not spending any more on my PG&E bill than we did last year, despite the fact that energy is going to cost significantly more. So, I turned all the settings down on the thermostat, turned down the hot water tank, and bought some window film for our few remaining cold windows. I have huge windy windows in my room, which is easily 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house in the winter. Hopefully, the films will help. crossing fingers. Also, I installed a retractable clothes line in the family room so I can go back to hanging a lot of my laundry.
It's not that we can't afford to pay the light bill, but that I think we should be prepared for our energy costs to shoot way up and stay there. A 50 percent jump in one year at the gas pumps and at home sounds like inflation to me! We already saw about a 25% jump in our food bill over the last year or so. Argh, life is getting more expensve, fast.
Oh, one other thing, I finally called the water people about the leak in our main. Why did I wait so long? They will come out later this week and determine who has to fix it, them or us.
I think that is it for today. Tomorrow, I am going to hook up the downspout extension thingies, order some firewood and learn about how to patch the leak in our roof, then the rain can come, the hatches will be battened.