I'm proud.

I'm proud of myself. I cut my electric bill in half, and we're talking during the summertime. Hot New Mexico summers! Okay, it's not so bad. Usually just in the nineties.

How have I done it, you ask? Are you ready? Do you really want to know? Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

I did it by not using the A/C (not fun) and not using the dryer. When you think about it, if you are not doing A), the A/C, then B), the dryer, will heat up your house anyway. Instead of A/C, we would get a nice airflow going from the front door to the back porch, right through the kitchen. Cooking is kind of unbearable, I try not to use the oven, and the stove heats up the place anyway. It would let in tons of flies, so I had to go buy a fly swatter at the Dollar Store. Good thing I didn't go too late in the season, because they were almost all out of fly swatters! And let me tell you, I am getting to be a dead-eye at swatting those flies and maybe it's helping with my fencing skills too? I can hope.

I figure if my pioneer ancestors could live in those conditions, then I could too. Maybe it will humble me after I've been so proud about bragging about cutting down my electric bill.

The dryer is tricky. This definitely adds more work and wasted time into my day, but so be it for being poor. I am getting more creative and resilient. I have to hang the clothes all around the house on the furniture, on the chairs, on the elliptical (let's face it, that's all they are good for), the dresser drawers in the bedroom pulled out to double as a hanging rack for all those clothes. And then I have to pick up ALL the clothes after they have dried and put them away. We'll not sugar-coat things and say that sometimes it gets pretty messy in here. Especially when I am too tired to put away the clothes that day. As long as the ceiling fan is on and I did the laundry early enough, it is usually dry and sucked of moisture by 5pm. Thank goodness for living in the desert, because our clothes would probably just stink and mildew back in Missouri.

I recently thought of C), turning down the water heater, and D), not using the laptop as much, as a way to save even more money. C) I should have checked LONG AGO because it was at its highest setting! And a lot of the time if we used the bathroom right by the garage (where the water heater is located), then we'd practically get scalded by the heat if we only used the hot tap. D) is more because the laptop gets HOT as it's running and makes it more unbearable in here. Did I mention that the normal day temperature in my house is a balmy 85 degF? And it will still get to 90 degF in the kitchen most days around 5pm, when I have to start cooking dinner. In the past, I would have freaked out and turned the A/C on before we climbed above 78 degF. I sure am excited for some nice cool fall weather, and heck, even winter!

We'll have to see what the electric bill looks like now that I've enacted C) and D), on top of A) and B). Although I am not going to lie to you. Sometimes I get weak (and practical) and turn on the A/C once it gets to 90 degF, or when we are trying to put Adeline down for the night and it's hot as blazes and I know she will sleep better if I turn the A/C on for the hour we are putting her down. I know, I SPLURGE!

That's me in a nutshell. I'm as nutty as ever, going on a Taos trip tomorrow, 600 miles, baby! And then will be doing my first ward choir practice on Sunday as the new ward choir director. Fun! No pianist yet, so I'll be doing that too, I suppose. I LOVE MY ADAM! Adam and I celebrated a wonderful 6th anniversary and we went to see The Amazing Spiderman in 3D! And then we ate a delightful dinner from Pei Wei, I love that place. I love to get brown rice with my Chinese/Pan Asian food, and not have to wait long or pay and arm and a leg for it!

Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Danelle

P.S. Photos of said anniversary. Ooh, I was looking foxy that day!

P.P.S. I got Adam that shirt at the Goodwill and it looks AWESOME!!!