We are due for another batch of hot, dry weather after a brief reprieve of pleasant temperatures around here. It is hard to imagine but the cold weather will return and we are preparing for it now.
Our house is old. It was built when Lincoln was president and many of the windows are original, leaky and inefficient in spit of Bruce’s best efforts at sealing them. We are finally spending the money to replace them all but it looks like it’s going to be quite a job. None of the windows are standard sizes and most have to be custom ordered. Even then, all of the wood work needs to be pulled off, the leaks caulked and insulated, the new windows installed and then the wood work needs to be replaced. As the old woodwork surely has lead based paint that’s a good thing to do in any case. We are saving a good deal of cash by doing the work ourselves. Bruce had not installed a window in old construction before so the first couple of windows took some time but it should go faster now.
The new windows look terrific and I feel safer with a good means of egress upstairs. With wooden storms on the outside and the windows caulked shut on the inside, getting out in the event of a fire would have meant breaking through both windows. Now, we could just open a window and climb out. I have one of those emergency ladders upstairs. I must remember to remind the girls how to use them and redo the fire escape plan for them. As we age, I am also glad that Bruce will no longer need to spend hours up on a ladder putting up the storms each fall.
Heating our home takes a big chunk of our income each year. We are struggling with decision to replace our aging furnace with a more efficient mode. It will be expensive but the savings will pay off I think. We can heat with wood and have the means to do so but wood is just about as costly as gas around here. We have a wood lot but cutting that much wood would be hard on Bruce and cut in on the time we spend growing food. I guess that’s why we have 3 large sons living close by.
This is a bit off the subject but I have been keeping track of how much paper wast I’ve saved by using cloth napkins and rags rather than paper towels and napkins. I used to buy at least one roll of towels and one package of napkins each week. At $1.79 for the towels and $.99 for the napkins ($2.78X52=$144.56), the savings is considerable. I toss the days used napkins in the load of laundry I do every day in any case so there is no added cost for that. I got most of the napkins from my mom and I made most of the rags from what I had around like old towels and such so this is pure savings. Now I want to calculate the savings from making 7 loaves of bread a week. That will take a bit more time but I am sure I must not spend more than a dollar for the ingredients and energy for the oven (does anybody know for sure?). As the bread we like is $3.99 a loaf, I am figuring a savings of nearly $1100.oo a year. Makes me feel a lot better about the time it takes.
July 23, 2010 at 7:31 am
Wow Kathy, that’s a considerable savings baking bread. I stopped baking our bread about a month ago when it got so darn hot. And I really miss it. For the taste alone (not to mention knowing all of the ingredients) makes it worth baking one’s own bread. As soon as it cools off a bit, I’ll go back to baking. But we’re looking at an upper 90s temperature this weekend, I can’t imagine turning on the oven!(I did make biscuits this week since they bake so quickly.)
Is solar a possibility for you? I know of several people in the northeast who have found that the numbers work. We keep waiting as the technological improvements and cost reduction seem to continue at a brisk pace.Supposedly a big breakthrough is just around the corner. I dream about solar energy. LOL!
July 23, 2010 at 8:04 am
I too gave up paper towels and napkins about 6 months ago, my husband couldn’t just use one paper towel he would grab the roll and start pulling(made me crazy)I picked up extra rags and such at the dollar store and Big lots for next to nothing and haven’t missed the paper at all. I do however have both in our long term storage, out of sight of the family!!
July 23, 2010 at 8:49 am
I echo Barbara’s comment about heat and bread baking. I bake mine at 475 degrees (two at a time in covered Creuset pots inside the oven) so it really adds to the thermal load in the house. Guess I could get up at 4am to bake, ugh!
Kathy, your estimate that seven loaves a week could save $1100/yr suggests that the Country Living grain mill I’ve lusted after for so long would pay for itself pretty quickly. This is exactly the kind of excuse, er, I mean calculation I’ve been waiting for! Donna
July 23, 2010 at 9:10 am
Even purchased in 50# bags, I can’t buy organic bread flour for less than $1.19. I use one pound of flour per loaf and some of that is more expensive since it is whole grain spelt. Then I add organic rolled grains as well.
I figure my materials cost is at least $1.40 per loaf. I bake two loaves at a time, but haven’t figured out what the cost of running the oven is. I only bake when doing so won’t overheat the house, and try to concentrate the bread production into the cold seasons of the year. My guess is I save ~$2/loaf, and I know I can’t buy in my area bread of the quality I produce at home.
July 23, 2010 at 9:59 am
Perhaps your local electric provider could help you with cost of using the oven – ours did. We found the percentage of electric usage around 1.5-2% of our total.
Bread can be baked in a solar oven easily, biscuits do better in a grill because they need high heat for a short period of time.
If you make your own “Bisquick” the time involved in making biscuits/muffins/quick breads is reduced dramatically combined with baking outdoors keeps the work and heat to a minimum.
We live in SW FL so the majority of our electric usage is for AC. Good windows, heavy drapes combined with blinds, caulking and extra insulation in the attic helps reduce that usage. Also, inching the temp up by a degree a week from 74 to 78 has made a difference of around 250 kw less a month. In our winter, we try hard not to turn the heat on but instead open blinds/curtains to let the house heat up naturally. I suppose doing the opposite in your area would work too.
July 23, 2010 at 10:35 am
We switched over to cloth napkins years ago. Acutally, I bought several different colors of wash cloths – a different color for each child. So, when one is lying on the floor we all know whose it is!
We currently live in Arizona and have a terrific garden. However, it is watered almost exclusively with our well because of the lack of rainfall………..we are seriously considering a move because of survivial. We love it here, but if the electricity goes off, for any reason, we can’t get water out of our VERY deep well and can’t rely on rainfall.
Loved your book by the way. It really got us thinking!
July 23, 2010 at 11:22 am
Hi Kathy.
I was wondering if you have tried calling anyone about getting a log truck load of firewood?
I haven’t checked prices this year, because I have a surplus of firewood, but the last load I got cost me roughly 700.00.
I get roughly 6-8 cords of firewood out of a truck load.
July 23, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Oh too well we know the joys of fixing up an old house–ours is (now)122 years old…property bought back when for a wagon and a team of horses! We sure could have built a new house cheaper but we love our place…people even come by and take pictures saying their relative lived here at one time….original schoolhouse on our back acreage. The 80year old neighbors used to ride their horses there.
Lucky for us oak wood is really cheap here in logging country so we have an outside furnace. No dirt/smoke in the house so really love it. We can get a double log truckload(uncut hollow logs) for $250 which will do us all winter plus.
A neighbor has an all solar house with composting toliet and a cistern for water–helps her brother is a solar contracter! MO sure has enough sun…in the western parts they have towns with all the power from wind towers….DEE
July 23, 2010 at 8:51 pm
I’m very lucky to live in a relatively new house that has new windows and is well insulated. However, I grew up and lived in several old homes and no the pitfalls.
I got through stages with the cloth and bread. If I use them (both cloth and homemade bread) half the time, I’m ahead of the game. I’m thinking if I make more homemade bread during the cold weather, I could freeze some….perhaps that’s a good alternative to baking in hot weather.
July 24, 2010 at 9:20 am
Thank you for so many good responses. Lots to think about. I use my solar oven for a lot of things but it has not worked out for bread. I can manage rolls though.