Easy Way to Save

Moving into a much larger house than our last one has been a steep learning curve in terms of wasting and using resources.  I have always prided myself on trying to be as energy efficient as possible.  We only have one car, we use front loading washer and dryers, we use the air dry cycle on the dishwasher, I reuse my own bags, I take 4 minute showers, I compost our food, I refuse to water the lawn in summer.   But I have been feeling like a bit fat hypocrite since we have moved into this house. 

Our first utility bill about knocked my socks off, the electricity part of the bill being $381 and that was just for 5 weeks!   At our old house with the heat pump, the electricity was more like $60 for 5 weeks in winter.

I don't know how the people that lived here before just let things go they way they are without trying to make it better!  I keep finding incandescent bulbs in fixtures all over the house, the fridge was set far too cold, the dryer isn't working correctly and takes over 2 hours to dry the clothes, the hot water heaters were set to scalding, the baseboard heaters either won't turn on or won't turn off.  It baffles me that people can be in such denial of their wastefulness!

The other thing that we realized that was broken was the toilet in the master bathroom.  The floating device would never properly engage and so water was running constantly.  Also, it was a big, water wasting tank.  So we bought a toilet kit to fix the leak and when Trevor ran to the store to get another part he also came back with this dual flush handle.  So simple and easy to install and is already cutting our water usage on that toilet in half!

Now I just have to convince Trevor to let me get rid of the hot tub.  I know he loves it, but we rarely use it and I am disgusted by how much electricity it must be taking to keep that monster hot.