skipro33
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Sometimes you gotta spend money to save money. Installed solar 3 years into retirement back in 2015 and have not paid an electric bill since. O.K. one year I paid 16 cents, but other than that, nada. To keep the solar install cost down, the cheapest solar is the solar you don't need to buy. I upgraded my appliances to energy efficient ones, converted to LED bulbs, insulated the attic better, awnings on west facing windows and screen doors to take advantage of breezes. This cut my solar design down to 5Kw from 7Kw I would have otherwise needed to run everything.
Bought a fuel efficient car and kept my diesel truck, which is now 15 years old and works fine. For groceries, I go to SAM's and ask the butcher for cryovac sealed larger cuts of meat. Beef short ribs normally $8 or $9 a pound I get for $4 a pound. Bone-in rib roasts I get for $6 a pound on sale and break them down to rib eye steaks they sell for over $10 a pound. Their $5 roasted chickens can't be beat. We'll make a batch of chicken enchiladas and make several meals from one. A 1 gallon jug of coconut oil is $20 from Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A2A88ZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's sold as popcorn oil, but 100% unflavored coconut oil is still coconut oil.
Turned down the water heater temperature. Fill the propane tank, 500 gallons, in July when the local distributor has a $1 a gallon sale.
I do all my own landscaping and a little gardening (deer are too hungry to leave my plants alone and fencing gets me huge bucks with lots of wire tangled in their antlers...) But my wife has been successful growing all her own herbs.
We play host at a campground in Oregon as tour guides to a lighthouse along the coast. 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. Another couple do another 3 days with one day closed. 9 weeks for free. Lots of time for side trips.
Motion lights outdoors and some inside, like bathrooms. Automatic humidity sensor for the bathroom fan too. Turns on and off on it's own. Clothes line to dry laundry. I love that one! I like my bath towels a bit stiff from line drying. I feel invigorated after a shower and scrubbing down with the bath towel to dry off.
Started buying flower seeds instead of plants to garden with. Probably saving at least $500 a year on that alone!
I have 10 hanging pots and a couple dozen other ground pots as well as flower beds with annuals that I now just seed instead of using potted plants from the nursery. There are 10 pots in this photo alone;
.
Bought a fuel efficient car and kept my diesel truck, which is now 15 years old and works fine. For groceries, I go to SAM's and ask the butcher for cryovac sealed larger cuts of meat. Beef short ribs normally $8 or $9 a pound I get for $4 a pound. Bone-in rib roasts I get for $6 a pound on sale and break them down to rib eye steaks they sell for over $10 a pound. Their $5 roasted chickens can't be beat. We'll make a batch of chicken enchiladas and make several meals from one. A 1 gallon jug of coconut oil is $20 from Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A2A88ZW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's sold as popcorn oil, but 100% unflavored coconut oil is still coconut oil.
Turned down the water heater temperature. Fill the propane tank, 500 gallons, in July when the local distributor has a $1 a gallon sale.
I do all my own landscaping and a little gardening (deer are too hungry to leave my plants alone and fencing gets me huge bucks with lots of wire tangled in their antlers...) But my wife has been successful growing all her own herbs.
We play host at a campground in Oregon as tour guides to a lighthouse along the coast. 4 hours a day, 3 days a week. Another couple do another 3 days with one day closed. 9 weeks for free. Lots of time for side trips.
Motion lights outdoors and some inside, like bathrooms. Automatic humidity sensor for the bathroom fan too. Turns on and off on it's own. Clothes line to dry laundry. I love that one! I like my bath towels a bit stiff from line drying. I feel invigorated after a shower and scrubbing down with the bath towel to dry off.
Started buying flower seeds instead of plants to garden with. Probably saving at least $500 a year on that alone!
I have 10 hanging pots and a couple dozen other ground pots as well as flower beds with annuals that I now just seed instead of using potted plants from the nursery. There are 10 pots in this photo alone;
.
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