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A neighbour of ours had a propane fireplace. It didn't save her much on electric heat, but it's much nicer heat.
My in-laws have a wood stove for both cooking and heating. Kills two birds with one stone, and heats their house up nice.
Lots of people pay their Rogers bill without getting rogered.
I was raised to not leave lights on in empty rooms.
I keep my water tank temperature turned low enough that I can either wash dishes or have a bath but not both together without running out of hot water.
Now I have to work on not spending so much time on the Internet. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
I really wouldn't want to eat off dishes you washed while in the bath anyway.
I had a new house and was able to specify to the builder to put in the best insulation upstairs and down. Especially the basement...good and thick. Had huge energy efficient windows put in which was great to warm the house in the morning. I made sure I had an upstairs ceiling fan to keep the warm air down where I needed it. Also had the builder put in low wattage bulbs everywhere.
I think that was I all could get the builder to do for me.
Afterwards I kept the house temp at only 17C and just heated my office where I worked with a space heater - unless I had guests. I lived alone so noone could complain about having to wear a sweater.
I found a corridor near the garage exit that was always really warm so I closed the heating register at that part of the house which was rarely used. That warmed up the livingroom nicely. For about I week I paid closer attention to heat distribution and adjusted all my registers accordingly.
I set my hot water heater to a lower setting - I don't need scolding. I washed clothes and dishes in cold water. I considered a blanket for the hot water heater but the estimated savings I didn't think covered the blanket expense in 20 years.
I also saved water by putting down rocks instead of grass except for a bit in the back yard.
I drive a Prius hybrid to save on car travel. I've already decided to hack my next one to try to reach the 100mpg goal that some owners have achieved.
Its being a sick addiction trying to save and squeeze and seeing how low I could keep my bills. My friends think I'm crazy and cheap [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img] . On the upside I had more money to buy DVDs, beer and plane tickets.
Now I'm in China and saving water and gas are huge issues here and everyone parttakes. Saving waste water from the shower for the toiler is something I want to try to do back in Canada someday. And maybe those wall unit hot water heaters.
For what you pay, you should get rogered.
Wood-fired and oil stoves give off a nice radiant heat for sure. But both wood, fire and combination furnaces have maintenance costs that gas or propane do not. And some people can't live with a wood-buring furnace because of the particulates given off from the wood exacerbating their asthma. With gas and propane, you can route the exhaust chimney directly outside through a wall. It's clean. As long as we sell our electric power to the Yanks at "market prices", we Canadian's are going to be paying through the nose to stay warm in this frozen Puerto Rico.
I hate to quibble, but 'lost leaders' refers to politicians who've gone astray.
'Loss leaders' refers to items for sale at a very cheap price to 'lead' you into the store. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img]
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williamgeorge
[url removed by moderator - buzz off, spambot!]
[ 14 October 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]
The others are likely to bring them back at a higher rate.
That confused the shit out of me when i came here! In canada (and only in canada) hydro means electricity. In the rest of the world hydro in not really a word on its own.
Don't laugh. If you check solar cooking videos on utube, others are from canada too!
My first (experimental) compound parabolic only dilivers 200 watts to the food. (The entire thing cost 30 dollars inclucing the 7 liter cooking pot)!
It works for 3 hrs at a time without having to move it.
If you go solar electric, a 15 watt panel costs about 80 dollars and it needs a 30 dollar charge controller and a battery that costs over 100 dollars. Over 200 dollars already! And how much energy does it diliver?
In a 12 hour day at full production, it might potentially diliver less energy than my solar cooker does in 1 HOUR! (And this only if it could track the sun!)
If you want a commercial product.
GSO solar ovens are made in the usa and you can cook bread, chickens etc in them.
My solar cooker is designed for a 7 liter pot and would be suitable for slow cooking all day if you are around during the day. (But keep in mind that it is experimental).
Brian
Here's one:
1) Spray a cooking pan, pour 2 eggs and spices,
2) Put a tortilla in the microwave with some cheese on it for 30 seconds.
3) Put eggs in tortilla, add some supermarket salsa
Presto.
****
We're saving on gas this month because the heater/AC is broken. Hopefully the landlord fixes things by mid october...
[ 25 September 2008: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]
In Ontario, I've found Price Chopper to be cheapest. Also look for coupons and flyers.
If you're single and the grocery store is under a mile away, do what I do, take a large camping backpack and walk to the store with it, load it up (don't need any grocery bags - save a few cents and the environment) and walk it back. If you're getting frozen goods stick a cooler bag in there for them. This'll save on gas and get you some exercise. Doesn't work so well with kids in tow though.
Frozen fruit and vegetables are cheaper than fresh and some studies say they're just as healthy, if not healthier because they're frozen on the farm rather than having been on a truck for days. Frozen meat is cheaper than the stuff in the styrofoam containers and hey, less styrofoam too. Tofu is a good source of protein and usually pretty cheap. I pay a dollar per pound.
No-name brands generally taste the same and cost less. Some of them actually ARE the same - manufacturers just want to cover more of the market.
Eat out less. Bring sandwiches to work for lunch. Make your own coffee at home and bring it in a thermos.
also, i belong to a community garden, but this is more educational than anything. this garden has a hedgehog or whatever they're called (gopher ?) that has spectacular burrowing abilities. it digs huge tunnels so when you water there, all the water runs down the tunnel, endlessly. i don't know where it gets all it's energy, there can't be that much energy in brussel sprout roots.
i did have several five gallon buckets full of wheat, to make a seed crop, i should get a few pounds of wheat seed out of that. as far as saving money, what has turned out to be a big producer is brussel sprouts - the leaves, not the sprouts.
for the $2 worth of vegetables that i get from the garden, i probably burn that much up in gas getting to it.
to keep my computer's power consumption down, i used video cards that are able to subsist without an external power connector. it may only save a 100 watts, but it's just my preference. one example among late model video cards is the ATI 4670
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121274
vs. the ATI 4850.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
the 4850 is very fast, the 4670 is fast and consumes about 100 watts less. 2.4 kilowatt hours a day.
i think saving water is important but i'm not sure if there's water shortages in Canada.
- stir frys for dinner, you can put absolutely anything in them
- buy spices, croutons, etc. from the bulk bins at the grocery store
- steal office supplies from work
- give up your television, it's a waste of time and money
- always make your tea and coffee at home
- carry a water bottle instead of buying pop or juice
- buy your clothes at secondhand stores
- washable pads
- drip dry your clothes
- slow down when you're driving, saves gas
- don't carry credit card debt
- take all the loonies, toonies and quarters out of your wallet, save them separately, they really add up
- try homemade gifts, knit a sweater, bake some muffins
- give up make-up
- do more emailing, fewer long distance calls
- plan ahead so you can combine trips
- turn down the heat, wear a sweater
I found "Food Basics" to be the least expensive grocery store in this part of Ontario. Although, it doesn't have the selection that the "Stuperstore" has. But, for everyday items, it's the best. And a few cents on every item really does add up. However, if you end up doing your grocery shopping in two different stores because "Food Basics" doesn't have what you want, or you aren't thrilled with the quality, then you have to factor this in.
I have a daughter living in Ireland, so long distance became an issue. I use "Facebook" to keeps tabs. It really helped. Not that we use it exclusively or a lot, but it eliminated the "check up" calls. Not everyone is into "text" like I am. Some people really need to hear a voice. So, it's not a complete replacement.
I keep meaning to do a study on our T.V. habits to see what we actually watch and compare it to what we pay for. But, if I know Rogers cable like I do, I bet the things I like are packaged off just nicely enough to keep me paying for fifty kabillion chanels I don't want.
My van has removeable seats, and I take one out when there's no foreseable prospect of it being used. I'm sure it pays over the course of a year or so. But I didn't notice an appreciable difference in the gas consumption.
Drive slower? Okay. Just not in front of me, okay? [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
I think the other thing is to just concentrate on doing things the most efficient way until it becomes second nature. Analyse what you do and how you do it, and eliminate wastefull habits.
I try to do that. But I'm sure Rebecca West would love to appear later and tell you what a bullshit artist I am. [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]
I would add:
- bake bread yourself is is about 4 bucks a loaf cheaper for nutritional bread, than buying it in the store. Or make bisquits/bannock instead.
- make your own yogurt, you get almost 3 litres for the price of 1 litre of bought yogurt and it is way better tasting.
- purchase a 20 buck head set for your computer and talk through msn long distance.
- shop garage sales and second hand stores for antiques and collectables to give away as gifts
- change lighting to CF
- make your own jams, marmalades and preserves
- cook 2-3 meals at 1 time, and freeze left overs do not let them go to waste
- bulk flyer shop for all food items and process perishables for later use.
- use heavier window covering in the winter and keep blinds/curtains closed in rooms where sunlight is not coming in.
[img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
One thing I am about to do is replace the elements on my stove. They are old, and inefficient. Just got to find the best price.
I'm told the type of rifle I would want costs between 3 and 5 hundred bucks. But there's also a number of other smaller costs. It depends too, how much of the deer I could actually utilize. I'm deffinately unskilled when it comes to dressing and butchering. So I may have to factor in the cost of an abatoir doing the work.
Either way, can't afford to set myself up just now, so I have lots of time to figure it out.
Have you considered 'bulk' purchasing meat by going with others and buying an entire steer, or even a side or quarter of beef. The same with pork, less so with lamb of course.
The other alternative is 'bulk' buying chicken by buying whole chickens which while a little more up front is actually way cheaper as the average family of four can stretch a whole chicken into 4-5 meals. Way cheaper than buying chicken breasts per meal.
I cook two whole chickens on most Mondays. Those two chickens feed our family of five big eaters through out the week for about 4 meals depending what we decide to do with it.
We have many of our farm customers order 20-25 chickens per year and this gets them a bit of a discount. Same goes for those who buy a couple of our 50 lb boxes of beef. I am sure that other do something similar.
Beleive me, getting someone else to do the butchering is well worth paying for! My partner put herself through school in part working in a small chicken processor. She happily pays someone else to do it, even though she is skilled enough to do all the work ourselves.
I'm not a gun guy or think of hunting as a "sport", so there's no esoteric pay back that way.
I don't even own a gun which shows you how bad of a redneck hick I am. [img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]