Word came just this week that we have officially lost more than 40% of our 401K retirement acount.
That's right.
6 figures gone in the blink of an eye.
Gulp.
Well, it's nothing that the rest of the country isn't dealing with and makes our debt reduction efforts all that much more important.
Feeling the need for some good financial news for a change, I excitedly opened our utility bill (I know, my life is a little, um, boring?). Yippee! We continue to reduce our electric and gas bills substantially.
From mid-December to mid-January we reduced or electricity usage by more than 30 kWh and our gas usage by 2.73 Th per day over the same time period last year. Translated into dollars, we saved $163.35 over last year's mid-December to mid-January bill and the average temperature was colder this year than last.
Since September, we've saved $334.85 over last year.
What have we done?
Well, this year dh put plastic up over most of the windows and caulked around others. We've kept our thermostat below 65 most days and turned it down to 55 at night. We've replaced all the lightbulbs in the house with compact fluorescents and are much more aware of turning lights off and reducing phantom loads.
I feel much less guilty now about the high efficiency fireplace insert we installed in October (for which, by the way, the surround and tile repair is not yet finished...) Our firewood for the season, about 2 cords, cost $400. It looks like we'll recoup that fuel cost before the winter is even over. In a couple of years, we'll likely recoup a lot of the cost of the fireplace insert as well.
So, a little bit of good news for a change...
3 comments:
I'm really sorry to hear about the 401k.
Very nice on lowering electricity usage!!
We've discovered that using power strips to completely turn off not-in-use appliances has reduced our usage tremendously. We even have our modem and router on a power strip, which gets turned off when the last person awake (usually me) goes to bed. Anywhere where we have a group of electronics (tvs/dvd players/gaming systems) or appliances (in the kitchen, the microwave and toaster oven are on a power strip, which is turned on only when those items are being used), they are all plugged into a power strip that is turned off when those items are not in use. By doing that (and replacing regular bulbs with CFLs), we've been able to reduce our electricity usage quite a bit.
I also discovered that our utility provider offers a 100% wind-generated program, which ended up not costing more per kWh, so I switched us to that plan end of last summer.
The H-E fireplace insert sounds nice! It doesn't get nearly as cold here (Tx) as it does there, and we've never used our fireplace, ever. I wish it wasn't such a huge ordeal to have it removed completely . . . but it is, so we won't.
We have a few power strips, too, but need to be more vigilant about using them - and adding a few more.
I wish we had the option of switing to wind power - I'm pretty sure our energy provider doesn't offer this, but will certainly check into it.
I love fireplaces! It's too cold here to use one without having some kind of insert. I would be tempted - even in Texas! - to use it just for atmosphere.
Gack, that is just painful about the 401K. I'm sorry to hear of such a hit for you. But congrats on the lower utility bills! I think your post really shows the difference that can be made just with relatively minor changes. Many people I know resist doing anything because they think that it takes so much time or up front investment (people have cited solar panels!). But it really doesn't have to be an inconvenience, just eased into as a part of life.
I wish our utility provider had a wind program - although there have been rumblings about it, there is such a grip on the market here I am doubtful.
One of the things I have found (in addition to the power strips to cut the power totally from electronics when not in use) is to try to combine the use of energy. When I make cornbread, e.g. I'll also pop in a batch of muffins and quick bread even if I don't need them at that time so that I can take advantage of the hot oven. Freezing what I don't need then also makes life quicker later on. If I am canning, I'll use the water after for cooking noodles or making steamed bread. If I am cooking a meal that requires long cooking time on the stove/oven and tends to keep pretty well, I'll make a double/triple batch so I don't have to use all that energy again next week. Little things sort of require some thought, but like you said, it becomes normal soon.
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