[Groesbeck Hurricane]

So here I am, running a slight fever, sore throat, my cat does not want to relinquish the typing hands, the dog is outside herding birds and watching the farm, and I'm thinking. Worst of all worlds.

How have we moved to save money in our homes?

On our end:

The following systems were in place when we bought: We cut the aerial electric lines to the barns and pulled out all the old electrical system in the barns (mainly just five open outlets with dead bugs and mice in them and 15 extension cords) and detached garage. Saved ~$70 per month and we were running nothing in the barns and only electric openers in the garage.

Ran underground cables to supply electricity and re-ran all the wiring in the barns and garage. Installed compact fluorescent bulbs, every outlet and switch has a full cover. We are running water heaters this winter. I bought much of the wiring as NOS in the clearance aisle inside the original sealed boxes in 25' runs. We tried to buy everything else on sale but were not fully able to do that. I did hold out for outlets and fittings made in USA and Mexico.


Installed a new propane heater downstairs. More efficient, it heats more square feet using an advertised 80% of the propane. It has been a MUCH milder winter and so we are using MUCH less propane than last year. unfortunately, propane is MUCH higher this year than last. Heater was made in USA bought through our neighbor who is a distributor.


Re-caulked all our windows. Repaired the storm windows and re-installed using caulk. At the same time, we repaired or replaced as needed all the old wood and repainted from dark colors to white. We also took out the damaged windows and sills and replaced with new vinyl clad windows. We also filled in the cracks in our old stone work. Purchased all supplies and new windows through Menard's when they were on sale. Paint and new windows were assembled in USA.


Re-roofed the entire house in metal. Re-clad the chimney in matching metal and had a new top put on the chimney. The roof had an insulation underlay added. We bought through the distributor, paying cash. We still have the written warranty from the manufacturer. The company who did the roof had a crew on a break from their industrial roofing gig so we paid them direct. They did a nice job! Metal roof was made in USA about 80 miles from my home. Do not know the source of origin for the metal.


Put solid form (4'x4' industrial) foam insulation in the attic to ~10" thick. Noticed a difference immediately! The old insulation had "fallen" and was not working so very well. The foam insulation was seconds from the factory. They were findings and were going to be scrapped. We paid about $1.00 per 4'x4' sheet. Sheets were made in Texas.


We have repainted interior with light colors in medium to high gloss. House is lighter in the day and does not necessarily require a light to see with anymore. Need to do same with basement but it will require a complete re-build down there.


We are using the oven in the re-done kitchen. It is much more energy efficient. If we could afford to replace the upstairs refrigerator we would definitely save some money. It is an old ge appliance. I just hate living in a basement and our Maytag will not fit in the space.

We use a high efficiency washer but we have stopped using the dryer all together. Wife repaired the old, antique dryer! She found some steel cable lines run with a plastic cover so we now dry our clothes outside on the line when weather permits. She also found some portable stainless steel clothes racks at the Re-Store for about $12.00 each. We now use those to hang clothes on in the basement.


New pluming from street to house. Old in-bound lines were 1.5" PVC. Oh, they were also installed without glue in many instances! Where we could we ran PEX through the PVC, where we could not we had to dig out and re-do. We also added about 400' of new water lines so we could have water in the pasture.

Some new plumbing in the house but only to replace what was damaged either by me or age. Plumbing was purchased at Menard's, PEX was purchased from a distributor.


Our costs on the new water lines were paid off in about ten months! Our bill is under about 25% of what it used to be! We now pay a couple of dollars above the minimum cost for water delivery in the winter and about twice that in the summer as we water plants and cows in addition to ourselves, birds, horses.

Electric is harder to gauge. The winter has been milder. We ran more A/C last summer and saw a definitive $70.00 drop in the electric bill from cutting the lines. But this winter our electric bill has been between 40 and 45% of what it was last year.


Any other ideas! I'm sure we have missed something! Thinking of a new dishwasher. Running a propane line for an instant water heater has been tossed around but would have to be done in connection with re-doing the basement.