SnakeBlitz33's Journal

[SnakeBlitz33]

Hello Guys and Gals,

I saw that there were a few "journals" on here in this forum and decided to try my hand at it. I already introduced myself, but I will go ahead and do the whole thing again. My name is Seth and I am in my mid-late 20's. I have been married for roughly eight years to Heather and I have a beautiful daughter named Emma. I am a full time college student, studying to be a Biology teacher. By the time I graduate, I will have been in school for roughly 9 years off and on!

I am a former live fish store owner, of retail and services. I worked many, countless hours at that job until I was hit hard by the economy in 2008 and had to close the doors for good. But, taking my experiences from them and building on them, I decided to get back into school and finish a degree. I don't honestly know why I want to teach - many people think that I am crazy for even attempting it. But, I like working with young people and I always enjoyed talking to my teachers as I grew up. I also am passionate about my subject matter - and love to share anything Biology related with people in general. My wife, for example, thinks it's so funny that I "play with the plants" beside my driveway when I get out of the car every day.

My wife is a first grade teacher, and so we thought that since we finally had a little money to play with, we should figure out ways to spend it. She bought a new car, we moved into a bigger place, we got new iPhones and paid more in electricity, water&sewer and all kinds of stuff. We were really back to square one: living paycheck to paycheck. I had a very expensive hobby - saltwater aquariums and freshwater planted tanks. I spent about every penny I earned trying to keep the next level of funky coral or plant alive and thriving. I was also working two jobs and barely had any family time between school, work, and maintaining the tanks. Yes, tanks.

I felt like life had to be easier. I shouldn't have to work all the time and working all the time can't buy me happiness. So, my wife and I decided to try to lower our bills. And we did, we started slashing them as best we could. More information about what we did and how we did it will be posted in the next post (I guess you would call it?)

Since we have been able to save and pay back some debt, the way we look at our future is not so bleak anymore. We are happier, we share more, we do more fun things together - (that are free!) and we are starting to live a better, healthier life together.

Anyways, I just feel like this online forum blog might be a great way to help share my experience all in one place and to keep a dated log of what happened as life continues to come at us! Please share your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and all that fun stuff! I love hearing from people, and I love that I am in a place with like-minded individuals. Thank you again for listening to me.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Our Bills and other money wasters

Electricity

We took a good look at our finances and started to figure out ways that we could save money. The first thing that I always complained about what the stupid electric bill. Every month seemed to be another $340 dollars out of our pockets (less money I could spend on the fish tanks!). So, I got to looking real deep at our air conditioner. Come to find out, the coils had a free-on leak! The condenser was always on, trying to cool the house down this Summer! So, I had the land-lord fix it. Our bill went down immediately by $100 a month. The next thing was that I was keeping the air on even during the day when no-one was at home so that when I got home, it would be cool. That's a no-no now. I turn it off every day I leave the house and turn it on if necessary when I get home. The heat never gets turned on above 67 and the cool never gets turned on below 78. This little trick has saved us an additional $80 a month! Ok, I thought, man, we are getting somewhere....

So, $180 a month in savings... I know I can do better than this because I need my second job to make at least $500 a month to pay for everything on top of what my wife makes. How can we cut our bills even more? I kept looking at the electric bill thinking that there was a better way even still. We live in a trailer and the thing is not insulated well. So, I bought some insulation and stuffed it in windows, sealed up some stuff with tape, calked around the windows and put stop gap around all of the plumbing pipes. I took a candle around the house to see where all the drafts are. For some reason, the front and back doors didn't even have weatherstripping! UGH! Fixed. Bill dropped down by another $40 a month. Still, I thought, $120 a month has to be higher then normal. I got to looking at the washer and dryer, which, admittedly, my wife does most of the laundry (I help, ladies!!). But, I noticed that the washer was not slinging out enough water out of the cloths before being put in the dryer. The dryer always took 2-3 cycles before the cloths were dry. I had my landlord replace the washer. (we are still working on getting a new dryer installed, and it takes about 1.5 drying cycles.) A new efficient washer took us down by another $10 a month.

OK, I was thinking, man, this is good - about a $105-115 electric bill. Not bad for a trailer. Then, I got to thinking about how much I spent on my fish tanks. I was spending roughly $50 or less on my fish takes per week overall throughout the year. ($2600/year) for those of you who are doing the math. That's a lot of money every single year in fish bills!! I said no more... I sold off most of the equipment I had built up over the years... got rid of rubbermaid tubs laying around full of fish stuff and plumbing parts and remnants of a life once lived. So... I couldn't go without a tank and I still have a small 10g tank set up as a barebones system for the time being. It has a bulb running on it that costs only $1.87 a year to run! (LED) The advantage is, I am no longer spending $2600 a year on fish stuff - and it has lowered our electric bill by another $40 a month. With Winter in Louisiana quickly approaching - I'm not sure what the heating bill will look like, but I'm sure we can bundle up in the house and still be ok if we keep the air off as much as possible.

Cell phones

My wife and I had smart phones. Had, mind you. Our contracts were up at Verizon and I decided that since they were going to let the government freely roam through my records, that I would drop them. At first, I tried to get my phone plan lowered down from $200 a month to something cheaper. They finally went down to $150 a month plus taxes and insurance. JEEZ, no real break at $170 a month. We went again and tried to get it lowered to $120 a month for having two iPhones. They couldn't do it... they said that $170 is as cheap as they could reasonably go. I told my wife - there has to be a better way. So, we talked about it and talked and talked and we finally decided that we honestly didn't need the internet on a telephone as long as we have it on the home computer. So, we went phone plan/carrier shopping. We ended up with two tracfones and two $10 a month plans... we just saved ourselves an extra $150 a month in bills!

Insurance

Louisiana has some of the highest liability insurance rates in the nation, and for good reason - people can't drive well around here. I went and dropped my full coverage insurance on my 16 year old car and my policy went down by another $100. I figured my car is only worth $1000 anyways - if something happens, I can just buy another cheap car. My wife just bought a new used car - which got me thinking... why are we paying 8.3% interest on the car loan? Isn't there something else out there better? So, we had it refinanced by our car insurance company to a lower 6.25% interest rate - which in the long run will mean we will pay less for the car. BAM! Money saved is money earned.

All in all, with ~$530 a month in bills saved and my hobby money curbed, we save on average $800 a month and I was able to quit my second job and we still have money left.

Groceries

Now, we like to eat at home a lot, and we make some pretty good food, but we don't always know what we want to cook... and those nights that we can't decide (about 3 nights a week) we eat out. This is my next challenge - is to start eating at home at least seven days a week with only one Sunday dinner bought out as a "date" with my wife. Ideas are welcome - recipes needed, any ways to make decisions on what to eat when nothing sounds good... how to make resolutions to eat at home at every meal... how to save money while grocery shopping,... how an average person can save money by couponing... all much appreciated.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Future plans, opportunities, goals and objectives

Future plans

I plan for my wife and I to buy some land sometime in the near future. I don't know if it will be this December, or if it will be later after I graduate. I simply don't know at this point. We do know, however, that we want to live in the country where we don't have to deal with noisy neighbors, landlords or other city life. I want to build my own house... I believe that is one of the things I was put on this Earth to do. I have always wanted to do it and I see no reason why someone should tell me that I can't. I want to teach just long enough to pay off the rest of my student loans, to pay off my house and to pay off my land. So far by my calculations, I should accomplish all of that within 5 years of my graduation at the rate that I am going now. I will want to teach for a couple of years after that to save up enough money to establish a greenhouse. I love working with living things and plants are easy to care for and I don't cry near as much when they die. (lol!) But, the purpose of running a greenhouse is to make money with live plants. Thank God I have a green thumb. Right now my father and I run about a 1 acre garden, but it's all for family purposes and give-aways. I'm currently looking to make it into a for profit business.

goals:

Land
House
One more child
Retiring in 10 years.
Running a greenhouse for a little money and living free and deliberately.

Does that sound doable and reasonable? I think so...

[try2bfrugal]

Great job on the electricity. We went through a similar process and our bills are now a think 1/3 of what they used to be. We also dropped a collecting hobby. For us it was rocks. A dealer bought our entire collection and we sold the cabinet on Craigslist.

I don't know anything about greenhouses but living debt free and without a mortgage or rent to pay and growing some of your own foods sure seems like a good early retirement plan. I scheduled a termite report today to get our house ready to sell so we can downsize next year and lower our housing costs.

[SiouzQ.]

I enjoyed reading your journal, keep up the good work! I like that you are both on board with your goals.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Thank you, try2bfrugal, It's been a long road so far, but I have learned quite a bit along the way. I'm going to try to keep at it every day that I can. It was hard to see my aquarium stuff go, but I knew that in the long run it wasn't going to contribute to the success of my long term goals. Since I love gardening and it is a hobby that pays you back - I was thinking about setting up and running a greenhouse or two. Since I am a biology major, this semester I have had to volunteer at my university greenhouse. We have cleaned up the place, set up the tables, run new water lines, mixed soils and planted cuttings and seeds. The whole process has been very fun and entertaining. Lots and lots of things to do in a greenhouse. The best thing is that there are long periods of doing nothing - and then quick bursts of work in plant sales and an occasional farmers market sale. It's the kind of slow life that I aspire to. My botany professors that I have talked to have given me quite a bit of advice... and they say it is definitely possible to make a minimum of 25k in my local area in plant and vegetable sales. That's all I am looking at, honestly. With a house and land paid, I would only need to pay electricity and insurance and an occasional used vehicle.

SiouzQ, Thank you very much for reading! I appreciate it. I know that it might have been a lot to read at first, but I'm glad that I finally got it put down for someone to read. :D I'm so happy that my wife is also on board with me. It's been a rough ride, but now that we are getting back to basics and have more money for things we really need, it's been getting a lot better. She sees that the lifestyle change has been helping us get back together as a family unit, instead of one of us always working and never seeing each other. Definitely a positive experience.

[Valley]

Thanks for sharing your journey with us:thankyou:

[SteveinMN]

Thanks for the background, SB! (may I call you SB?)


I felt like life had to be easier. I shouldn't have to work all the time and working all the time can't buy me happiness. So, my wife and I decided to try to lower our bills. And we did, we started slashing them as best we could. [snip] We are happier, we share more, we do more fun things together - (that are free!) and we are starting to live a better, healthier life together.
About a year-and-a-half ago, I realized I was badly burned out at work and had to make a big change. I walked away from a six-figure SSJ and have never looked back. No, we don't save as much as we did when I was working. The fancy annual vacations? Pictures and memories. Being the chowhound among my friends, getting to the new restaurants first? Not anymore. I'm getting better at DIY rather than paying someone to do something because we're pooped and stressed for time. I won't say we don't miss the income, but on an absolute are-you-happy-every-day? basis, we're doing fine. You are right: at least above a basic level, money saved is money earned. Congratulations on what you've achieved so far!



This is my next challenge - is to start eating at home at least seven days a week with only one Sunday dinner bought out as a "date" with my wife. Ideas are welcome - recipes needed, any ways to make decisions on what to eat when nothing sounds good... how to make resolutions to eat at home at every meal... how to save money while grocery shopping,... how an average person can save money by couponing... all much appreciated.
There already is a number of threads on this site about just that. What has worked best for DW and me is stockpiling some favorite dinners in meal-sized portions in the freezer. Our microwave oven is good at defrosting food without cooking it, so we can quickly thaw and reheat a meal we enjoy. And they can be meals which are healthful, not those frozen meals-in-a-bag that too frequently feature factory-farmed meat and lots of unpronounceable ingredients. You and your DW also might be candidates for what's often called "once-a-month cooking" -- a big day or two of cooking leaves you set for a few weeks. Oh, and we don't have a separate freezer, just the one that came with the fridge. Slow cookers and pressure cookers help, too, in letting you use cheaper cuts of meat, preparing beans quickly, etc. -- using less energy than a regular stove burner or oven would.

You'll find a million good ideas and some challenges on this site in any area you want to look. I think you've landed in a good spot.

[razz]

What a good start you have made in getting closer to your goals! Enjoyed reading about the steps.

[try2bfrugal]

My botany professors that I have talked to have given me quite a bit of advice... and they say it is definitely possible to make a minimum of 25k in my local area in plant and vegetable sales. That's all I am looking at, honestly. With a house and land paid, I would only need to pay electricity and insurance and an occasional used vehicle.

That would be a cool hobby / job making 25K from a greenhouse. We both quit our regular jobs, cut our expenses dramatically and have a couple of home businesses. It is much better living this way for us. We have a lot more free time and have fun finding free and low cost things to do.

If you install solar power you wouldn't even have to pay for electricity. There's a lot of cool advice for living super low cost like that on the permie and prepper forums.

This video has been kind of an inspiration for me on how to live stress free, work at home and have very low expenses -

http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/shotgun-shack-redux-mortgage-free-in-320-square-feet/

[SnakeBlitz33]

Thanks for the background, SB! (may I call you SB?)


About a year-and-a-half ago, I realized I was badly burned out at work and had to make a big change. I walked away from a six-figure SSJ and have never looked back. No, we don't save as much as we did when I was working. The fancy annual vacations? Pictures and memories. Being the chowhound among my friends, getting to the new restaurants first? Not anymore. I'm getting better at DIY rather than paying someone to do something because we're pooped and stressed for time. I won't say we don't miss the income, but on an absolute are-you-happy-every-day? basis, we're doing fine. You are right: at least above a basic level, money saved is money earned. Congratulations on what you've achieved so far!


There already is a number of threads on this site about just that. What has worked best for DW and me is stockpiling some favorite dinners in meal-sized portions in the freezer. Our microwave oven is good at defrosting food without cooking it, so we can quickly thaw and reheat a meal we enjoy. And they can be meals which are healthful, not those frozen meals-in-a-bag that too frequently feature factory-farmed meat and lots of unpronounceable ingredients. You and your DW also might be candidates for what's often called "once-a-month cooking" -- a big day or two of cooking leaves you set for a few weeks. Oh, and we don't have a separate freezer, just the one that came with the fridge. Slow cookers and pressure cookers help, too, in letting you use cheaper cuts of meat, preparing beans quickly, etc. -- using less energy than a regular stove burner or oven would.

You'll find a million good ideas and some challenges on this site in any area you want to look. I think you've landed in a good spot.

Thanks! I have been looking into these ideas as well. I love my slow cooker - and have been using it quite a bit lately. It's a life saver when you don't know what else to do. In fact, I have been looking into slow cooker recipes, and there is this idea where you can take and fill gallon sized ziplock bags with the food you want to cook, and have it already pre-seasoned and everything, ready to go... just put it in the pot and add your liquid of choice. :D


What a good start you have made in getting closer to your goals! Enjoyed reading about the steps.

Thank you very much. I do enjoy it!


That would be a cool hobby / job making 25K from a greenhouse. We both quit our regular jobs, cut our expenses dramatically and have a couple of home businesses. It is much better living this way for us. We have a lot more free time and have fun finding free and low cost things to do.

If you install solar power you wouldn't even have to pay for electricity. There's a lot of cool advice for living super low cost like that on the permie and prepper forums.

This video has been kind of an inspiration for me on how to live stress free, work at home and have very low expenses -

http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/shotgun-shack-redux-mortgage-free-in-320-square-feet/

Thanks for the link. That's pretty cool. Yes, I have been thinking of ways to get off the grid as well in the future. Most of it though doesn't seem a viable thing right now, since I am just concentrating on getting land and a house at the moment. I will definitely have to look into alternative energy methods, depending on my location.

My main goals are just to pay back my debt, buy my land and build my house and not have to pay anything but very minimum bills and repairs when necessary. I want to enjoy life, not race to buy stuff that I really don't need - and keep buying more and more services that I don't require for living.

Thankfully, I have not let myself live by the television. All too many people my age entertain their kids with the television and they tune into facebook and other social medias and are trying to fill every minute of interstitial time with some piece of electronic magic... but I have not forgotten the magic and fun in playing with my kid, teaching her new things, reading great books and short stories. Learning everything I can from non-fiction books as well as from my college studies. I believe there is so much more to life than worrying about where the next paycheck is going to come from.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Speaking of paychecks and everything, I showed my wife the stash of cash that we have built up over the last few months today. Her eyes glowed with appreciation. I took some money out today to pay for a few extra groceries, a movie and a medical bill. Seems like things are coming along pretty well. I hope to have a couple thousand more saved by Christmas. It would be so awesome if by this time next year we are moving onto our own piece of farmland just outside of the city. I would love to be able to move before I graduated from college, but I don't know if it is going to happen. At least if I graduate and then we find the perfect piece of land, we will have a really good down payment. I know most rural development loans don't require down payments on land, so it will be nice to put a good chunk down on it to save ourselves from paying a lot more in interest. Might have to use some of the saved money to bring utilities to the land, depending on if it has it or not. Anyways, ... What I'm really saying is that I'm just dreaming and looking forward to the future, for once!

About a year and a half ago I was diagnosed with depression because of everything going on in my life, including my finances,... so my doctor put me on some depression meds that I couldn't afford, which made me more depressed. I couldn't afford the $120 a month for the pills, so I went without after the first 30 days, which made me more depressed - which I think is normal for getting off depression medication. In the last six months since I have been rearranging things and been able to have more relaxation time and spending time with the family, I no longer feel like I would need medication to feel better. That's an awesome feeling to have! The simple life made my life less depressing. It potentially saved my life... Now today, I am taking a day at a time and feeling much better, but there is a hard road ahead, but at least now I can see the end to my studies and a beginning to my future.

Oh, by the way, Steve, You could call me Snake or Seth, whichever is fine. I'm used to people calling me Snake on other forums. :D

[rosarugosa]

Hey Snake, I've enjoyed reading your journal as well and welcome to the forums. One of the things that helps us enjoy eating at home is stocking a nice supply of high-quality seafood in the freezer: scallops, shrimp, tilapia, & salmon. DH can put together a really nice meal at short notice since these items don't require long defrost or prep time. This isn't the cheapest possible way to eat, but we are not cheap dates at restaurants, so with that as our comparison point, we save a lot of money this way.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Thanks Rosa! I really appreciate the kind words and advice. It has been really hard to cut back on going out to eat lately. It seems like we can never get anything planned. It's been a chore to remember to get anything out of the freezer to thaw. I'm going to have to try to make a habit out of doing that. My wife seems to not ever want to cook, since she says that she is tired all of the time. I do most of the cooking but hate doing the dishes (especially the silverware!)

I guess the next step is to keep the house clean, uncluttered and the dishes completely done every single night, so it's not such a chore to cook.

PS - I made my first deer roast in the crock pot a couple nights ago! Awe man, it was really good. Best of all, the deer meat was free. :D

[danna]

Great post SnakeBlitz
I too was enjoying things too much up to 10 years ago...stopped lots of leaks of money
and was able to quit a really stressful job at 62.
Rent out part of my house to Dd and that pays for most of my housing expenses.
I don't garden as I have a bad back, but put up food by freezing it in the fall when everything is plentiful.
Also, agree with SteveinMN having food prepared in the freezer..meatballs, tomato sauce, casseroles etc ready to thaw
really helps when you don't know what to eat. I have found that is really because we are tried and don't want to cook.
When my DH and I were both working those were often the nights we would do quick things like soup & sandwiches, breakfast for supper, tacos, beans and toast, or even crackers/cheese/raw veggies/olives whatever was in the fridge. Supper does not need to be a big meal every night.
I am finding new ways to save all the time.
I thought I would need to go to work full time to retire and now I figure with the extra taxes and less time it would not be worth it.
I do a little sewing and selling on ebay and that is nice for extras.
Good luck

[Greenway]

Just gotta wave the flag of temptation at you, SB ... I have a friend who has a set of hydroponic tanks. He's raising fish that he feeds mainly on duckweed that he's also raising - he was talking about tilapia but I'm not sure if that's the fish or it's carp. The water circulates into a second tank full of veggies that are growing in water and fertilized with the fish waste. So he's got his hobby And he's raising food And he's not spending so much because the system is a more or less "closed loop", he doesn't have to spend a whole lot adding things to it.

I know this isn't exactly cheap, it still requires maintaining temperature and water flow. Just want to say I think you're doing an awesome job of reinventing life, just don't lose sight of the stuff you love the most, you might just be able to find a niche for it!

[Selah]

Love your online journal, SnakeBlitz! Great progress, and very exciting to hear of your plans in development! Loved hearing about your wife's "glow of appreciation" when seeing the numbers on your fatty bank balance! :)

[SnakeBlitz33]

Thanks for the kind words ya'll.

We haven't had the internet at our house for about a week. You know what? The first three days, I really missed it... and then I started finding other stuff to do. The house hasn't ever been cleaner! My daughter started playing with her toys more and stopped watching the television so much. She stared at the fish in the 10g aquarium for a long time - longer then I would expect a 20 month old's attention span to be. Of course, not having the internet at home did affect my ability to do school work at home - and I even had to leave the house one evening to take an online exam, but I think it was worth it not having the internet at the house for a while, it got me back to some roots. I picked up my ukulele and practiced for an hour or so each night, and it was wonderful watching my daughter "dance" to the music that (I!) was playing.

So, as a challenge to some of you - turn off the internet for a few hours, or a day - or (involuntarily like me, for a week.) and see how much you can go and accomplish... See how much you actually get done!

BTW, I can't wait for my daughter to be out of diapers. Diapers aren't cheap! Can't wait till potty training - $75 a month is at stake!!

[SnakeBlitz33]

So, this morning I was looking at my sad 10g fish tank. A 3w light bulb over it, a small HOB filter... freshwater fish and plants. I ran out of food for the fish this morning. I was thinking that I could save myself $5 a month by not buying more food for them. Then got to thinking about the electricity and how often that I actually look at it. For me to really enjoy it, I would have to put quite a bit of time and energy and money into fixing it up to something that I used to do. Then I wondered if I should even keep it at all. So, today I am putting out an ad on Craigslist to sell it for cheap, and preferably to a youngster who appreciates it. I got started in aquatics when I was around 9 years old with freshwater tanks. I hope to inspire another kid one day.

This December my wife and I are going to go to the bank and to a land realtor to see what steps we need to take in order to buy some land in the country with a small habitation. There should be quite a few options out there around in our area. I have looked at listings in our area and we can buy land for about 10k an acre. How close it will be to our jobs is yet to be determined. Frugal living, decreasing our expenses, figuring out easier and better ways of doing things have set us up to start achieving out dreams.

Do ya'll think it's better to pay on a rural development loan for the next two years instead of renting... or renting for the next two years and then getting a loan once I get more gainful employment? I couldn't start building my house until I have a steady cash flow after I get my teaching position. I'm thinking that I could buy one acre and pay it off and then buy an ajacent property and pay it off... until I get however much land I need to do my greenhouse business or whatever else life may be in store for my wife and I. :D

[SteveinMN]

Do ya'll think it's better to pay on a rural development loan for the next two years instead of renting... or renting for the next two years and then getting a loan once I get more gainful employment? I couldn't start building my house until I have a steady cash flow after I get my teaching position. I'm thinking that I could buy one acre and pay it off and then buy an ajacent property and pay it off... until I get however much land I need to do my greenhouse business or whatever else life may be in store for my wife and I.
I'm sorry you had to say goodbye to a long-time hobby, at least for now. I've done that a time or two and it was the right decision to make, then and now. But it had to be a "head" decision because the heart wanted no part of that.

If you have not applied for a real estate loan recently, you may be surprised at how stringent they are these days -- almost like they're overcompensating for the days when anyone who could fog a mirror got a loan. If your income (and DW's, if you count it; not sure if you can/want/will be allowed to exclude it) does not now support a loan, you likely won't get one. You could do something non-traditional: I have a line of credit from the old days that would be enough to buy a couple of acres in your neck of the woods. But that would be much more expensive than a mortgage and the way to go only if you found a truly screamin' deal on property you'll never find again.

I don't remember if you have a mobile home or camper in which you could live until you built the house; that might be a better bet economically than renting for another two years in your current location. You'd have to check on local zoning ordinances to see if that's a choice to make and if all the numbers work.

I would be careful about buying less property than you want/think you'll need, hoping you'll be able to buy adjacent property later. I think there have been a few posts in the Housing forum in which people mention buying additional adjacent property when it comes up for sale, but it was additional to their needs, not instrumental to them. All kinds of things can happen to land that is in someone else's hands; that just leaves a little too much to chance for me.

[razz]

SB, your situation may be different than mine but... the cost of a small lot was about the same as a farm. I rent out the farmland which pays for the property taxes, and insurance so very worthwhile. Don't limit the property that you will consider and think of the options available.

[SnakeBlitz33]

Thank you ya'll for chiming in. I appreciate the insight. Just trying to get a good handle on things. Been doing some research and going to talk to a realtor as well as a financial adviser pretty soon about making the transition.

Today has been a pretty good day. I woke up late, but cold. All night last night my AC heater ran and ran and ran. It got down to 29F last night outside and getting only up to 48 today. Seems like winter is almost here. I have got to figure out an easier and cheaper way of heating two rooms in the house every night through winter. I'm fine with wearing a few extra layers of cloths inside the house, but my wife is a hot natured person and likes a bit of warm and cozy in the evenings.

Electric blanket might be a good option for our bedroom, but I'm at a loss to figure out how to heat my daughters room (she is 20 months) with some kind of heater or something to keep her warm at night. Our bedrooms are on opposite ends of the trailer. I'll have to think of something that is child proof and kid safe. I know the heating bill is going to be high if we keep using it non-stop every night.

I sold off an old aquarium lighting system and saved another $350 towards something. It's fun seeing your savings account grow, knowing that you could potentially retire one day earlier rather then later. Getting back to the basics has helped my family grow closer together in ways I couldn't have imagined before I started.

[SteveinMN]

I'm at a loss to figure out how to heat my daughters room (she is 20 months) with some kind of heater or something to keep her warm at night. Our bedrooms are on opposite ends of the trailer. I'll have to think of something that is child proof and kid safe.
It may not be the ideal solution (for a number of reasons), but is there any way your daughter could at least sleep in the room next to yours for the winter? It will be far more effective to heat two adjacent areas than suffer the transmission losses of heating both ends of the trailer.

[SnakeBlitz33]

It has sort of been an Indian winter around here. Lol. It gets cool and then it gets warm again. I got in my last energy bill. I finally got it down under a hundred, and can't be more happy. I am currently tossing around the idea of selling off the ten gallon. The plants are dying and I don't feel like feeding the fish, so that is a good sign that it is time to get rid of the tank. Currently we are going to start working on doing a long term budget plan and start paying off a bunch of debt. I would like to be as debt free as I can be in the next couple of years, and I would also like to start some kind of savings account for our family as well. So, that is what we are currently working on.

[Gardenarian]

My dd slept with us for a long time - excellent bed heater.