Save money & conserve your natural resources

Save for the Future

Now I’m not exactly sure when or what prompted this behavior to start in our life. Since my wife and I joined in the togetherness adventure to Love, honor and be faithful to, have and still do maintain thru hard work and diligence have managed to not have to worry about making ends meet. Retiring did require some rethinking about our life style but that didn’t hardly cause a ripple in the way we have always enjoyed living together. I guess we started to realize that surviving as a human race is a joint venture and all of us should play our part by conserving our natural resources rather then being wasteful by not doing our part.

We Moved to a Warmer Climate

Today like most of the country were experiencing the effects of winter. We used to live in Michigan where the winters were more harsh. Now were enjoying the fair State of North Carolina. Where Hi is Hey and Pop is Soda. Some of my friends in the north say they couldn’t stand the heat in the summer if they lived here. I on the other hand couldn’t continue to tolerate the cold in the winter in their part of the country. I would rather be warm then cold.

We Use the Value of the Sun

Our home is well insulated and has storm doors and windows. The suns natural path is to rise in the back of the house and when its not cloudy we open the widow coverings and let the sun shine into the house and when it stops shining in the back we close the window coverings and repeat the process in the front of the house. Since doing this routine and reversing the routine in the summer time when it’s hot and other tiny adjustments we’ve lowered our electric bill by eleven percent. Our heating and cooling is created by using a heat pump system. I guess in the scheme of things it doesn’t seem like much, but it makes us feel were doing a small part in trying to do our part and conserve.

We Practice Water Conservation

I forgot to mention in conjunction with the window covering routine we also have made changes in the way we consume the hot water and cold water in our house. For example; when were soaping up in the shower and general hand washing we turn off the hot water till were ready for it to rinse off. And hand washing is generally done with cold water. We also understand by using the dishing washing heat switch that saves a little energy too rather then having the hot water run till it gets hot enough before starting the dishwashing cycle to begin.
When you start paying attention to your water consumption and how you use it, its amazing how little changes in usage can make a big difference over the long haul.

Showers are Quicker

I used to stand in the shower for the longest time and just let the water run over me. Now I’m get down to the business of washing right away and when done, I forgo the old routine and exit quickly and strangely enough feel just as ok with the shorter shower process as I did with the longer routine.

We Use Less at the Meter

I’m sure as ideas come to our attention we will continue to make changes where we can to continue being better caretakers of our naturally resources. We in our home realize the precious value of each unit of things we consume and try to act accordingly. Were all wasting our natural resources and don’t realize that a small change on our part can make a big change at the meter.


Don L. Terrill

photo by Anosmia