As many of you know, we recently bought a homestead in East Texas. We have about 13 acres with a barn, pole barn, water well and a beautiful 1700 sq foot home. We absolutely LOVE our new home! It's got everything we ever wanted in a homestead: lake access, plenty of room, beautiful scenery, a water well, a barn...it's a very special place, this place we've dreamed of!
It needs a little TLC, and we'll have ongoing projects for a while. Nothing huge, but plenty of things can be done to make our home more efficient.
We knew we'd be facing a higher power bill for a few reasons:
1) The house is 1700 sq feet and 20 years old.
2) There's no city water :) We have a water well - the electric pump uses quite a bit of electricity.
3) Our house needs caulking, weatherstripping and insulation. It's a pier-and-beam, meaning its foundation is elevated. The floors are always chilly because of this! Plus, the house was recently leveled, meaning we have a few cracks around the windows and doors that need to be sealed.
With this information in the backs of our minds, we opened our bill this month to find this:
It needs a little TLC, and we'll have ongoing projects for a while. Nothing huge, but plenty of things can be done to make our home more efficient.
We knew we'd be facing a higher power bill for a few reasons:
1) The house is 1700 sq feet and 20 years old.
2) There's no city water :) We have a water well - the electric pump uses quite a bit of electricity.
3) Our house needs caulking, weatherstripping and insulation. It's a pier-and-beam, meaning its foundation is elevated. The floors are always chilly because of this! Plus, the house was recently leveled, meaning we have a few cracks around the windows and doors that need to be sealed.
With this information in the backs of our minds, we opened our bill this month to find this:
YES...$223.
Well, that wasn't fun.
So, in the upcoming two part series, I'm going to address a few things I've investigated that might help YOU save money on your power bill, too!
Stay tuned ;)
Well, that wasn't fun.
So, in the upcoming two part series, I'm going to address a few things I've investigated that might help YOU save money on your power bill, too!
Stay tuned ;)
- Heather -