One Thing Leads to Another

Today was hard. Every Thursday is now. Jesse leaves before 9am. He does not get home until after 10pm. He teaches all day. I'm a wreck all day and do not get in my "I can do this by myself" groove until 9pm or so. We're working on this, together, but it ain't easy.

Here are the highlights of my day. I just realized that if I share these it may show how low the day was. Tough bricks. I'll share them anyhow.

I hung two loads of laundry on the line! The wind is doing most of the drying and nothing is coming in frozen. I got a load out yesterday. I have two more loads ready for tomorrow, before MORE SNOW falls over the weekend.

Jess called. From work. Enough said.

Anna took two naps. Each was one hour long. In my arms. She's weaning down to one nap. I'm not ready for that yet.

Anna fed me for the first time.

And she said "book" three or four times. She first said this earlier in the week, but now she's using it frequently. That's word #16!

Leah picked up her Legos. David cleaned off his bed so I could put clean sheets on it. Sarah helped with Anna. All after 9pm. That's when I got in my groove. Remember?

I caught up on the few blogs I'm following. I fell off the blogging wagon, in case you haven't noticed. I think? one of the best ways to get traffic and make friends (my goals) is to find a niche, (working on that) comment on others' blogs, (failing. I'm back to lurking.) and write. Write? Oh yes. That.

One of my new favorite places to lurk is at Apron Thrift Girl. I feel really good there, like I fit in. I want to keep going back. Today she wrote about getting good food cheap. I followed the link at the bottom to see if there were any discount groceries near us. Nope. But we may stop by one the next time we are in Richmond. Well, in that Salvage Grocery article there is a link to folks spending $50 or less each week on all of their food. I was instantly intrigued. Could we? How much for the kids? What about all the specialty foods we have to buy due to allergies? How many exceptions would I have to make? Could we still do lots of organic?

The rules are as follows: $50 each week for each adult. One of the writers has a 3 year old. He gets an extra $25 each week. Alcohol is not counted. Caffeine is. Eating out is.

I record all our expenses. I have for almost ten years. It's easy to look at 2009 and see... our monthly average for groceries and eating out, including alcohol, was $653.99. Excuse me?? To meet the challenge we have to spend less than $700 each month. We did it last year without even trying! And the number was even more impressive before I added in what we ate when we traveled. There. The highest moment of my day. (I will disclose that for the two months after Anna was born, the bills were higher. We bought more processed food. I was always eating, to the tune of $825 and $770. Cheap months helped to balance those out.)

I've had numerous friends ask me recently about living frugally. How do we do it? I think that will be my first niche. My goal for 2010 now is to get our monthly grocery bill even lower. How does $500 sound? I'll be back, promise, and let you know how it goes.

And speaking of one thing leading to another: After my last post there was a wonderful 5 year old's birthday party. On that day, Sarah started coughing. 6 days later, I started coughing. Jesse was coughing 6 days after that. This was near the now 9 year old's party, that had to be re-scheduled due to two sick parents. The cough did not spare a single one. I'll do the math for you. David got it on Christmas Eve. Anna started around New Years. Did I mention it came with two days of fever and aches and stayed for two weeks? No? And we traveled for over two weeks smack dab in the middle of hacking and aching? No wonder I fell off the wagon.

lines

I'm trying to get the hang of blogging. Still. I feel like I have no clue what I am doing. I'm evolving shall we say. And dear Face Book is taking a lot of time. Evolving another side. I'm happy with that now and want to turn from Face Book a bit while I try to blog more. All that to say that I've been poking around the blogging sphere and found this:

Isn't that just the cutest button ever?? I naturally joined the challenge and am almost a Super Star! But I have this wonderful helper who prefers to toss things in the dryer. I am not one to argue with husband helpers, so my goal is to maintain Advanced.
So far, so good. In May we did 18 loads of laundry. 16 were dried on our clotheslines. Now in June I did two loads yesterday and hung them both. (That was all the vacation laundry. Can you believe it? Shows how we practically lived in our swim suits.)
Are you up for the challenge? Go for it!!

garbage

I am constantly amazed by what people throw out. On the way home tonight I saw a piano at the side of the road, next to the garbage cans. A piano! I did not stop to inspect it. Goodness! we already own two pianos. But I hope someone does.

My favorite garbage picks: large, solid wood art easel for the kids, hammock, wheelbarrow, push sweeper, living room table and all the materials for the kids' play house. Those are just my favorites. Do you re-use others' garbage? What are your favorite finds?

challenge results & responses

I was delighted to see our electric bill when we got home - 420 kWh! This is much nicer compared to the 505 kWh from last year. Also, our statement runs from the 19th, so our two week absence should help keep January's numbers low. In our two week challenge (from Dec. 1-15) we used 188 kWh of electricity and recycled 42 pounds of stuff.

A great big thank you to those who counted numbers with us. Yes, we planned to do another challenge in January, but the month is running away from me. Maybe I'll be up for it in February, maybe February 2010.

Also, I responded to everyone's comments, only to have the computer delete it. Sorry. So they do not get buried, I thought I'd post them here.
Tina ~ Sarah wants to do January, but I do not. I did not like the weighing aspect either. However, I used it as a math lesson for Sarah. If she weighs 45 lbs without the recycle tub in her hands and 54 lbs when holding the tub, how much does the recycling weigh? Don't forget to subtract the weight of the tub. As long as she kept tract of the numbers, it was not one more thing for me to process. We did not count compost, only metal, glass, #1 & #2 plastic, paper and cardboard.
Maya ~ No worries on having a spacey day. Most of mine are. =) Sarah does "energy checks" throughout the day and especially before we leave the house. She runs through the house and unplugs the appliances. I've seen a small difference, and every little bit helps. It sounds like you guys are doing great with your kWh usage! I don't have any tips for spending less on groceries. I'm trying to get that lower myself, but everyone keeps growing and eating more. I know that menu planning helps. When we move and are away from the menu, our grocery bill soars. I hope to tweak our menu this month and get more soups in. Jesse or I cook every night. We always have leftovers, but the amount is diminishing. (See above: little people keep eating more.)
Melina ~ You are the one who inspired me to get our usage lower. Thank you! I forgot about the dryer. I'm trying the clothes line more this winter. It's working well. It takes about two days for a load to dry, rather than two hours, but nothing is stiff, thanks to the almost constant breeze we have coming off the river. Granted, sometimes this is the result, but I do not mind.

(Our first snowfall on Nov. 21st only stuck to the few things I had left on the line.)

Heating and water heater are gas. Everything else is electric. I'd love to have a solar water heater, heat with mostly wood and cook with gas - some day...

Claire ~ If you participate, none of us stand a chance. =) You are too good! I'd love to borrow your Kill-a-Watt. thanks! The computer is almost always on standby, day and night. I plan to purchase a new one soon - a desktop with the energy use of a laptop.

formula

Back in 1989, my father came up with a formula for buying a vehicle.

For every $100 you spend, the vehicle should go 3,000 miles.

Our 1993 Mercury Villager did this tonight. (woohoo!) It actually met the formula many moons ago for two reasons. #1 Inflation. The formula can now be adjusted to 3,000 miles for every $170 you spend. #2 It has a sticky odometer. Two years ago we noticed it was at 162,512. On the way back from Florida, it still read 162,512 miles. We know how to fix this, but we sometimes forget to push the little button that reminds it to keep counting.

It's a good van. It's served us well. I think I want a new one in the summer. Something with two sliding doors, a rear windshield wiper that does not have a mind of its own, turn signals that work after using the hazard lights and all cruise control options operating rather than only 1/3, 40% of the time. Leather seats would be nice too, but I don't want to be too picky.

ps. In case you do not want to crunch the numbers, it is not easy for a vehicle to "make formula." Only a handful have done so in the last 20 years.

kWh usage

Way back when, I said I'd post our kW hour usage. In light of Sarah's challenge, I thought now would be a good time. BTW, is no one else watching their electricity use and weighing their recycling, other than our fun friend Rebecca, in Pgh? Sarah's still tickled to do this, but she was hoping for more participants. =) She's taking it seriously too. She's limiting David and Leah's TV time, not that they have that much, and inventing games for them instead. *hehe*

Anyhow, I'm not sure how many numbers you might be interested in. I have them all. We've never used 1,000 kWh, and now have it to rarely over 500. My favorite numbers are from July: 853 kWh in '06, 862 kWh in '07, 450 kWh in '08. No AC folks! When I broke down and used it for a weekend in September, we had our highest usage for this year - 489 kWh. August was unusually cool here and our usage shows that at 279 kWh. October was 403 kWh. November was 425 kWh.

Last December we jumped up to 505 kWh. I'm not sure why. I think Jess and I stay up late working in December. I'm hoping to have it lower this year, but we're burning the candles again. Rather, we should be burning candles with how late we're staying up. Instead, we've got the lights on. =)

Our average for 2007 was 444 kWh. The average for 2008 so far is 391.5 kWh.

There's our numbers. Sarah wanted to know if our meter ever stopped turning. We discussed the fridge and fish tank. They're always running, and have to. A few months ago we got in the habit of unplugging most of our appliances when they are not in use - TV, VCR, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine. We have one computer that is on all day and asleep all night. I'm working on that habit. Gotta' shut the thing off! Speaking of which...

energy challenge

Sarah is looking for a family who wants to conserve energy as much as she does. =)

The challenge is to recycle as much as possible and use as little electricity as possible. She wants you to weigh the material you recycle and track your kWh for the next two weeks. The prize is: "You will have taken care of the planet and made it a much better place."

Anyone up for the challenge?

The recycle tub has a few things in it. We'll wait until it's full before Sarah weighs the stuff.
We're off to find our meter and learn how to read it.
starting at 69701 kWh folks

thrifting on Little Creek

Today I took Sarah along, hoping to find her a fall jacket. This girl does not care about labels. She tries something on, checks for how it "feels" and needs to see if she can RUN. So, if I find zip sweaters from Gymboree and American Girl for $4 each, but the rolled sleeves fall as she's racing down an aisle or they feel "heavy", back on the rack they go. At our last stop we finally found something. Of course I don't recognize the tag, but she's happy with it, and she can run. I also got her a cloak, since she loves them so.

Here's my $31 stash.




breastplate to complete David's Halloween costume, 8 children's books, cloak, complete chess set, small baseball glove, 3 matchbox cars, lap desk, classic pooh, dress for Sarah, dress for Leah, Sarah's sweater jacket and a mermaid costume

oh...the money

Yesterday we decided to get Washington Mutual's 1 year CD at 5%. As of this morning, Washington Mutual no longer exists. We knew they weren't stable. Even with FDIC insurance, I'm still glad we didn't go that route. Now the question is: which route to take? I went to a "Women and Investing" class on Tuesday. We know we're not buying a house here. Our protection plans only need a bit more cushioning. So it's time we diversify and move our savings into growth plans, an exciting and overwhelming route.

One option is to just spend money, which is what I did this week. ;)

Big purchases: water filter This will pay for itself in less than a year, plus we'll reduce our plastic use. Now we might be able to fit everything in our recycle bin!

rainbow arches pure pleasure purchase here folks =) I've wanted this for ages, didn't get a birthday present this year, the kids play with them every time we visit a friend who has them, and it's the best price I could find.

curriculum David and Leah finished their first concept so quickly; I got the student books for 2, 3 & 4.

Small purchases: thrift store finds! 4 wooden bowls for play kitchen - $1, monkey drum - $.98, reversible fall jacket for David - $4, raincoat for David - $3, sweet tin pail - $.49

My favorites are the rain coat and pail. The pail has the softest painting on it. I can see it holding toys or art supplies. Dave's new coat is too big, so it will last a few seasons, plus it is blue with yellow trim. I was given rain boots for him in the spring that are yellow with blue trim. How cool is that? cheap and matching too!

Here's my pretty pail and David in his rain gear.

On the flip side, I donated 8 bags of stuff to Samaritan House and have a pile of books to give away. In May I took on the challenge to declutter 2008 things in 2008. I was just shy of 1,000 in July. Now we are at 2,118 items given away, recycled or thrown out, and still counting. =)

Crisp Memories

ooo! I love this weather! For me, this is the first day of fall. The air is crisp and cool. Thoughts of bonfires, my hoodie IUP sweatshirt, apple cider and the color orange all come to mind. I'm going to wear orange tomorrow in honor of the weather. =) A bit of sunshine would have been nice, but I still delighted in the day, even the light rain that started on my morning walk.

There may be a few more days in the 80s here, but it is nice to have my windows open, and have to SHUT them at night. I'm chilled and thrilled. :) Sunday was HOT however! With a heat index of 102, I stopped counting the hours of AC use. On Saturday morning, we were at 12. By Sunday am it was 21. At least one of the units was on all day and the ceiling fans were doing their duty too, so I gave up. I think I made it through the summer with under 36 hours of AC use! This was accomplished with a relatively cool Aug, two weeks of vacation in both June and July and living in a small, one story house that is fairly well shaded, across the street from the inlet of a river that provides breezes. I'm hoping it all added up to some savings. I'll post our comparative kw hours once I get them gathered.

So here's the memory part of my thoughts tonight. I'm pining for Paris. We went last October, and I just want to run off there now. I'd take a few girlfriends, (or maybe dhubbie again ;) lounge in the parks, stroll through the streets, get lost in the museums and dash for the RER. So, if it was 20 degrees colder, I'd dig out the scarf I knit for France and go sit on the river wall in Ghent. Hearing this song: I Will Follow You Into The Dark Artist: Death Cab doesn't help. We first heard it at the wedding we attended in Pont-de-Pany. Now it brings back everything - smells, tastes, sights, sounds. *sigh*

Here are some bits 'n' pieces of the sights for you:






Happy, delicious memory making to you and yours!