Electricity Bill and a Family Update

My closest friends know that I have this crazy mission to see how low I can get my electricity bill. It started when I got a bill in the $85 range, which was the lowest I had seen in... maybe ever. Anything below $100, especially an $85 bill, was unfathomable to me a year ago. I had the big house, and even though it was almost new and energy efficient - radiant barrier roof, double pane windows, lots of insulation, energy star appliances - my electricity bills were high. The house we lived in prior to that was older and not energy efficient, and my bills were very high, which is obscene (and shameful). But part of the reason was all the equipment that was required to manage Mom's illness and that equipment had to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After the $85 bill, I got a couple of +/-$65 bills, followed by two in the $55 range, and my most recent bill... (drum roll)... $46.29. I'm so proud! We put our tv & peripherals on power strips and (I yell about making sure we) turn everything off when we are not using it; we put a CFL bulb in our "night light" that we keep on at night, put our front porch light on a motion detector and we've been diligent about unplugging our phone chargers or other things with fantom loads. i don't use the clothes dryer, unless you count the clothesline in my backyard. But, as I write, my a/c is running. I don't use it often, but it's just plain hot!

Which leads me to the family update - Jamie and AJ broke up. They were engaged for a couple of years. I'm sad. He's a good guy and we all have the same interests in simplifying our lives, being outdoors, hiking, camping, etc. We will miss him. The relationship had just run its course. The good news is that Jamie and Tessa are coming to Alpine for the summer. Jamie is graduating from University of Houston and considering grad school close to our home. We will be thrilled if she decides to stay for the fall semester. She has decided not to walk at graduation, and I'm sad about that. I really wanted to watch her get that diploma. But it's her decision and I support that. We have an RV that the girls will stay in. I'll be watching my electricity bills go up some since the RV will be hooked up at our place for now. But that's ok. I'll use this as an opportunity to educate them about the power of making one small change, like a powerstrip on the tv or unplugging phone chargers.

We are going to the storeroom to start cleaning it out. I'm going to be Freecycling some things, but my Mom's things are still in there, too, and family hasn't come yet to divide things up. We are also getting a few things out of storage so we can build an outdoor kitchen. It will be made from recycled items and we will re-purpose things we already have. Again, following my mantra... DIY and on-the-cheap. I'll post photos as we work on it.