How fast time flies! This is the first post I'm writing since the new calendar year! Lots of updates. Part of the reason why Dennis and I haven't written anything - though there was certainly much to write about - is because we have been extremely busy. We moved into our new home in early January. There was a flurry of furious activity leading up to that and after that (remodeling and all that it entails, packing boxes, moving, unpacking boxes). Then, not a few days after we moved in, we began to get a stream of family and friends who came to town for Grace's wedding. Both sets of parents were here, plus guests who put up at our new home.... it was festive and busy. When every one did leave, we reset the house and I took a break I very much needed. Instead of cleaning or reading or writing in the afternoon when Zoe napped, I too would sleep. The whole remodeling process - I didn't realize fully - exhausted me. So for about two weeks, all I was capable of, when Zoe was not up, was sleep. In fact, there were days when I had her play next to me while - lazy bones I - slept. When I finally became more rested, I busied myself in the garden... so that's how I didn't post a single thing here the past seven, eight weeks.
Anyhow, here we are, eight weeks into the New Year. Of the goals I set aside for us at the beginning of the year, I still need to sit down to figure how the baseline and how we are doing so far. I think we should be doing better than last year. It depends on the comparison basis of course - comparing the same month year to year? Or just by average? - but I should think that the trend is towards less. Our first energy bill was much lower than the one in Escondido ($40 vs $200 and more). But the comparison is a bit unfair since we had the pool pump we had to pay for whether we like it or not (since keeping it or not is not for us to decide), and the refrigerator, being 16 years old, must be quite an energy guzzler. But that aside, we ran less heat in Jan than in Escondido and we stopped running the heat at all a couple of weeks ago - we figured out that we don't really need it (yay to double pane windows!). Our second bill was shockingly high however. $140 and I think it might be the electric dryer's fault (We had a wonderful gas dryer in our old home). Since then, we bought another drying rack and have been air drying our clothes. (Or mostly, since it has been wet of late. I still hang it out to let it dry as much as possible and then, if it does not dry by evening, stick it into the dryer). We probably saved some on the energy used to wash our clothes because we only ran them cold (partly because of a plumbing issue we just resolved). I intend to keep running them cold only.
Water used - minus the extra water used when guests stayed with us - has been good so far. About $40 was our bill last month (compared to the two hundred some at our old place. So high there because of the gigantic lawn, and in spite of the limitations on irrigation). We continued our skipping showers every other day. That said, I am going to investigate if I take longer showers as a result. I feel that I end up taking longer showers because I double shampoo and cannot resist standing under the water just a bit longer. This past week, I took more showers because I was out in the yard turning compost and digging and all that. Somehow, I just have to have my shower after.
Gas usage must be lower than the last half year of 2009. I'm no longer driving Zoe to daycare, and then another 30 minutes to our new house to oversee the remodeling, and then to wherever I needed to go to research products, and then to home, and then to Zoe's daycare, etc. etc. etc.
Still, I should look at the gas receipts and all to know for sure how we are doing.
We are not doing so well on the consumerism front however. I had Dennis buy new working shirts (on sale, but still quite a wallop). Then there was that Bose Music System for Dennis's birthday (present for him, but really for all of us). Not to mention the books and gardening supply. In short, in two short months, we already exceeded the $1000 annual limit. Not good! Not that I ever thought we could limit ourselves to only $1000. It would be cool though. Surely when we attain that, we would be able to save more!
I'm still researching preschools for Zoe. I think what is going to happen is that I'll keep Zoe with me the next few months and we enroll Zoe in preschool in the fall. The trick is finding one that we would love for Zoe. Having Zoe with me all the time the past few weeks, I concluded that if I ever want to do the home school thing, I have to be supremely organized and would have to work out a syllabus for Zoe. I can't handle it otherwise. Zoe - and I - need structure.