Week 35: Electricity!

Just typing that word makes me think of Schoolhouse Rock.  LOL

With lowering our water consumption last week, working on electricity this week shouldn't be a big shock.  My only issue is that with our water being reasonably cheap, I haven't tried to cut back on it before.  Our electric bill, on the other hand, gets out of control quickly, so I feel like we're making more of an effort there to start with.  I know that there's always room for improvement however, so that's where I'll start.

I have made a tour of the house and unplugged everything that was not of absolute necessity.  That would be the alarm clocks and lamp in our bedroom (the lamp is plugged in behind the bed and really not convenient to manually plug in every time), the phone in the kitchen and computer downstairs.  Then of course are the major appliances, but I don't plan on messing with those.  I unplugged everyone's nightlights and lamps and the can opener.  This raises the question, why do I have a can opener when I don't use canned goods?  And, why does it always need to be plugged in?  Ummm, I don't know and it doesn't.  So, one task for the week will be to remove the can opener from under the counter and Freecycle it.  Maybe it will help someone else out.

A few days ago, the weather cooled off to the point that I could shut off the air conditioning.  Woo-hoo!  I'm hoping to keep it off as long as possible and not turn the furnace on until at least November 1st (it runs on natural gas, but we are billed for both, so keeping both down is a priority).

This week I will be devising ways to keep our bill lower this winter.  This time of year, it is reasonably low, so long as neither the AC nor the furnace are running.  I am doing this now because if there is an upfront investment, I will need to save for it and I want a few weeks to plan what we can do so I don't dump a great big honey-do list in Hubby's lap.  He hates that!  I can do it a little at a time and he won't be quite so annoyed! :)

A little video, because I can't get that song out of my head!

My money-saving wonder appliance!

Last week and over the weekend, the weather here was unseasonably warm, to the tune of 90+ degrees.  In an effort to save money and use our resources wisely, I don't like to turn on the air conditioning (or heat) until it is absolutely necessary.  I like to make it through June, although that is usually stretching it.  But, turning on the AC in April, NO WAY!  That is just plain craziness.

There are definite detriments to cooking everything from scratch and expecting to live in your non air-conditioned home.  By Saturday afternoon, we were in need of bread, but firing up the oven to bake a couple loaves was out of the question when it was already 92 degrees in the kitchen.  My plan was to wait until after the kids had gone to bed and bake at night, hoping that the heat would be gone by morning.  But, who wants to be up until 1:00 am baking bread, not I.  Hmmmm, and here lies the problem.

Luckily for me, I remembered my roaster oven.  I had used it a few times last summer when it got too hot to use the oven.  It worked pretty well with quick breads and I think I roasted a chicken in there.  I dug it out Sunday afternoon and plugged it in, down in the basement.  My basement, which is at least 10-15 degrees cooler, was an awesome place to set the roaster oven.  Not only do we not hang out down there (so if it gets warmer, no big deal), but it completely eliminated the added heat from the upstairs.  Of course it helped that a cold front had moved in and it was a mild 86 degrees.

So far, I've baked applesauce bread, whole wheat bread, cinnamon bread, cinnamon rolls and a meatloaf in my roaster oven.  I was concerned at the beginning that the lid might collect condensation and that it would cause problems with the bread, but it doesn't and it didn't.  Right now, I have the roaster sitting on the corner of the daycare kids' eating table and I pushed it up into the corner when it was on, so they couldn't get close to it (I don't think the outside would burn them, but I've got a couple curious guys that might try to life the lid and peek in if I wasn't looking.).  I'm not sure how much electricity it uses, but I figure it has to be less than the oven (smaller space to heat).  It takes the same time to bake as it does in the oven, so no added power there, plus my air conditioning remains off.  It's a win, win, win.  The only problem that I have with using the roaster is the space inside limits what dishes I can use.  It's too narrow for my muffin pans, so I'll be making mini loaves for the time being.  It will hold my cake pan, but not a jelly roll pan, which I use frequently.  There will be a learning curve, but hopefully it won't be too bad and maybe we'll be able to make it all the way to the end of June with no AC.