Monday:
It was that day of the month again yesterday when the electric and natural gas bill hit our inbox. I was surprised that it was only $ 175.04 especially with the A/C on this past month.The bill was for 29 days in which we used 606 KWH and 2 therms of natural gas.This time of the year the gas is only used for range top cooking and to heat our hot water.
Last year’s bill for the same exact period was $ 188.59. We used 665 KWH and 3 therms of natural gas.
Year over year it went down by $ 13.55. I am not complaining since we haven’t had a reduction in our bill in a couple of years. As you all know this is one bill that usually keeps going up. I could tell you that it was something that we did to reduce it but the truth is it was not as hot as last year during this period.
However, it is almost September and heating season is coming faster than I would like. It is time to start thinking about what we can do to lower those heating bills. We had a new furnace put in a month or so before winter ended. It is a little bit more efficient than the original one. So this heating season will give us a better idea of what that will do to lower our usage if anything. We have a couple of leaky windows that we should do something about. And as usual, we need to caulk the windows that need it. We also need to check the weather stripping around our doors and the sweeps at the bottom of them. And I don’t want to forget to make sure we have enough furnace filters to get us through the winter. I believe the cost of those will go up again next month so I am ordering mine now before that happens. We have good insulation in the house and in the attic. So I don’t think that adding to that will do anything.
As usual, I will find the cloth snakes that I use at the bottom of the outside doors and for the bedroom doors that we don’t use in the winter. Most people don’t visit us during this season because our winters here are cold and snowy.
Hubby will get the car ready for winter.
I finally was able to get my hair done at the salon. It needed it badly since I had cancelled my appointment when Hubby was in the hospital.
On the way to my appt. I stopped and did some shopping at Top’s. They had Ronzoni pastas on sale for $1.00 each. I purchased 10 so that I could get the 100 extra gas points. Those will last 12-18 months. That will be the only shopping this week. On the way home, I picked up Hubby’s prescription.
Since one of the pastas was elbow macaroni, I made my grandmother’s bacon macaroni goulash for dinner last night. We hadn’t had it since last winter. I made a double batch which we will eat tonight.
Tuesday:
This morning I paid some bills and did some other paperwork. I am going to cook a couple of batches of white rice in my instant pot and bag them up for the freezer in the portions that we use for a meal. Prepping ahead makes it so much easier at mealtime. I was getting so lazy using the 90 second packets. I will not be buying them again. They are so much more expensive than using the 20 lb. bags of rice.
My project for the Fall and Winter( as my stockpile dwindles) is going to be making many things that I now buy from scratch. Seasoning packets come to mind along with homemade bread, salad dressings, etc.
Most of the meals I make in the next month are going to be based on using up the things in my refrigerator. I need to make space because we will have lots of company the end of September to celebrate a birthday. So the space is needed for foods I will need.
As soon as I throw a load of wash in, I will spend the day working on my pantries.