An Alternative to a Smart Strip

Photo Credit

A couple months ago, I was making a comment to my husband about how I was tired of the electric bill being so high.  I had cut down the amount we use our dryer significantly, washed the majorityof our dishes by hand, lowered use of our stove in favor of a crock pot and convection oven and did not notice much of a difference in our electric bill each month.  I was frustrated, and my husband came to the rescue.

Todd is a very handy man who knows how frugal cheap I can be.  I have been talking about purchasing and installing smart strips on all of our electronic devices; however, I never pulled the trigger because I did not want to spend the money not knowing how much (if any) it would save in the long-run.  On a weekday that I worked and Todd had the day off, he came up with a better plan to cut off the electricity to all of our electronic devices when not in use at a much lower cost: install a light switch at each device.  The cost for supplies was less than $8 and we have these switches in 4 places around our home.

Switch for the TV, Roku and DVD Player in
the Family Room

When we are ready to watch anything on TV or a movie, we turn the switch on and go about our business.  Having the light switches has not been an inconvenience at all.  We also have one connected to our microwave.  The microwave was glitching out and blowing the circuit for some reason for the first time in the 6 years we owned it.  I really didn’t want to have to go shopping for a new microwave and shell out $200+ for a decent one.  Instead, Todd installed a light switch to the microwave and whenever we use it (we use it a lot less than I thought we did!), we turn the switch on and go about our business.  Since installing the switch, the microwave has not glitched out once nor has it blown the circuit breaker. 

The Switch by the Microwave (can you see it?)

The real question is whether or not this has saved us any money on our electricity use.

My answer is yes!  I was amazed the first month to see a $35 drop in our electric bill (during a really cold month).  The second month, there was a $65 drop in the electric bill (the weather was starting to warm up a little bit, so the furnace wasn’t running as much)! Just this past week, we had another bill cut and we are under $100 for the month!  The lowest electric bill we've had in this house was $77, and this past month was $99, just $22 more than our lowest electric bill.

I am anxious to see how low we can go in the summer months.

For me, lowering our electricity consumption makes the use of solar panels and wind-energy to power our home more attainable.

How do you lower the use of electricity in your home?  

Celebrating 6 Years of Marriage

 Each year of marriage, Todd and I try to get away to experience new places and focus on one another.  We have had some pretty awesome trips over the past 6 years of marriage (including our honeymoon to Seattle & Alaska!).  They include:

Honeymoon: Alaskan Cruise (in-credible!)

1^st Anniversary: Gatlinburg, TN
2^nd Anniversary: Lancaster, PA 
3^rd Anniversary:  Washington, DC  and Chesapeake Beach, MD
4^th Anniversary: Beverly, WV 
5th Anniversary: Las Vegas and The Grand Canyon

This year, our big trip was to Aruba with family so we didn’t want to take another week off for our anniversary (nor did we want a big price-tag for the trip).  Instead, we chose to go to Columbus, OH to visit family friends (my friend from high school and her mom: both who were integral parts of my life during my parent’s divorce) on the opening weekend of their new Bed and Breakfast.  Not only did I want to support them in their new business, but I wanted to spend some time with them before they got too busy because I am confident that the Bed and Breakfast is going to be a huge success.

As with all of our trips, we try to do things as frugal as possible but also make the most of the time we have together.  I am lucky to have a father who likes dogs and especially adores our dog. When I asked if he would want to take our precious pup for the long-weekend, he quickly accepted.  This alone saved us $99 in the cost of taking Lana to the pet resort she enjoys going to.  (We took dad and the family out to dinner as a thank you when we got back.)

On our actual anniversary (Friday, May 3^rd), we were up bright and early packing our bags and preparing the animals for their weekend without us.  We dropped off the pup to my dads and made the 2 ½ hour trek to Columbus.  Before we got to Columbus, we stopped off and got some lunch at one of Todd’s new-found favorite restaurants: Red Robin. After that, we headed to the Columbus Zoo.  Oh how I enjoy animals; however, it saddens me that they are caged up and kept captive. Side Note: If you are ever in the Columbus area and would like to find an animal reservation, please go to The Wilds.  They don’t have all of the exotic animals and monkeys, but the animals are given thousands of acres to roam and live naturally.

After walking around the zoo for nearly 5 hours, we were exhausted.  It was time to check into the Bed and Breakfast and grab something to eat.  We ended up eating at a really nice restaurant for half the price thanks to a Restaurant.com coupon that we bought for 30% off (a $50 certificate cost us $14!). The food was delicious, but we were pooped.  When we got back to the B&B, we went straight to bed with our throbbing muscles and passed out.

The next morning, we were up bright and early to have tea and sweet rolls for breakfast before we had to head out to our Segway Tour around Columbus.  Oh my goodness…this was so much fun!  Naturally, after we rode around on Segways for two hours, we both wanted one of our own!  We saw so many beautiful homes and historic places around Columbus, it was great!

After the Segway tour, we went to a topiary park which was so beautiful.  It was one of the few things to do that was free in the area.

After the park, we decided we were exhausted.  We headed back to the B&B and took a 2 ½ hour nap!  For me, this isn’t a big deal because I can do that anytime, but my husband is not a big napper nor does he require much sleep, so for him to get 2 ½ hours of sleep means he was beyond exhausted.  When we woke up, we got ready and headed out to dinner with my friend and her husband.  It was so great to just sit and talk with them for hours. 

Sunday morning, we woke up, had breakfast and went to church with my friend and her husband.  After that, she surprised us with a mini photo-shoot (she is an awesome photographer) for our 6^th anniversary. 

I say this every year and I will say it again: marriage is not easy.

My marriage with Todd is less than perfect with highs and lows.  

We have gone through a lot together, and through it all, we still choose to work on what we have.

As a marriage counselor has told us in the past, “Plan for tomorrow…you haven’t screwed that up yet.”

When those days and weeks are really bad, we plan for tomorrow.  We try to live for today but sometimes, planning for tomorrow is all that keeps us going.

I listen to the following podcasts that help me keep my marriage moving in the right direction.  I highly suggest listening to them if you ever feel like you could grow in your marriage.

• Focus on the Family
• ONE Extraordinary Marriage
• Beyond Your Wedding Day

We had an incredible weekend that was precious in so many ways.  Not only did the time with Todd strengthen our marriage, but I got to spend time with two (very) strong women who inspire me with the way they live their lives (in faith) as well as how they handle struggles in their marriages.  

Battling Sickness

It feels like Todd has been sick for most of 2013.  Every time he gets better, within two weeks, it’s something else.  To say that he has been miserable is an understatement.  I am not used to being sick (I rarely get the flu or a cold; however, when I get sick, it usually ends up with me in the hospital.) or dealing with someone who is sick for what seems to be all the time.  Admittedly, I am not very empathetic when someone is sick more than twice a year, which is not a good attitude to have especially toward my husband!

This past illness (a trifecta of flu, sinus infection AND spring pollen allergies), I started to think about what I could do to help Todd avoid getting sick so frequently. This is what I am going to be implementing in our family to {hopefully} cut down on the amount of times we get sick each year.**

Food

I honestly believe that we are what we eat.  That being said, I am a big glob of sugar and Todd is a big vat of grease.  Can you tell what foods we enjoy most?  We were doing awesome last year on a Paleo-type diet.  We felt great, didn’t feel deprived, and had more energy than we'd had in a long time.  I think it is time to get back on the Paleo-type eating plan with more vegetables, less meat and fewer cheat days.  I would also like to incorporate more juicing into our diets.  To me, raw fruits and veggies are imperative to health and fighting illness. 

Even though we always have fruits and vegetables in our home, I need to make them more accessible to eat when we are hungry or in a rush.  For instance, right now, I have 3 head of cauliflower (Todd’s favorite vegetable to eat raw) and 2 cantaloupe.  I need to prepare these items to keep in the fridge ready for those evenings when we get hungry or just need a snack.  This way, we can avoid going to get ice cream (my favorite food of all time) or picking up something that we should not be eating.

Exercise

Please note that I am awful when it comes to moving my body.  I need to make a habit of trying to get Todd out of the house before work or after work in the evenings, even if it’s for a short walk around the block with our precious pup.  We have a basketball hoop that has yet to have a single basketball go through its net, we have two bikes, a canoe, and a lot of sticks out in the yard that need to be gathered and burned.  We have plenty of opportunity to exercise…we just need to get off our butts and do it!

Side Note: We have recently decided to take a 485 mile pilgrimage between St. Jean Pied de Port (France) through Santiago de Compostela (Spain) this time next year.  You can read about our journey of preparing for this trip at a new blog I've created here.

Cleanliness

I am not the best housekeeper.  I need to keep up with the dusting and sweeping better than I have been.  I like to see results but I feel so discouraged two days later when I see the dust starting to accumulate again.  This may help with Todd’s allergies and to keep the pet dander at bay.

Essential Oils / Natural Remedies

I have been reading a lot of great information about essential oils and natural remedies.  I am looking into diffusers and what the best brand of essential oils would be for our home to keep sickness away.  If you have any information on essential oils or the diffuser you use, please forward it my way!

A Reliable Family Physician

With the referral from a neighbor, Todd tried a new doctor this past bought of illness and he really liked the doctor.  This doctor takes the time to talk with his patients to get the full background and is not about pushing pills.  Instead, he is all about natural alternatives to those medications!  The older (and more educated) I become about healthcare, medicine, and how prescriptions affect us, the more I am interested in natural ways of healing and staying healthy, so this sounds like the perfect family physician for us.  Todd and I have two different medical plans because we never combined our medical insurance when we married; however, this particular doctor is on both of our plans.

How do you help fight illness in your home?

**DISCLOSURE: I am by no means a doctor.  If you are ill, please seek the assistance of a trained medical professional.  Also, please note that Todd and I have a long way to go to being healthy.  We are both overweight and though I am striving to feed my family healthier foods, getting out more to exercise and doing what we can to stay healthy, we are by no standards even close to perfecting this area in our life.   

Completed Book List: April 2013

One of my goals in 2013 is to read 24 books.
So far this year, I am way ahead of the game.  You may be wondering what I’ve been reading, and this is the list of all the books I’ve completed the first part of this year.

Hannah Coulter by Berry Wendell

Hannah Coulter is a novel about an older woman (Hannah Coulter) who tells her story from growing up during the Great Depression, meeting her husband who was shipped off to war shortly after they were married, and her experiences raising a family on the homestead.  This book made me think about our homesteading roots here in the United States and all that our ancestors lived through in the early 1900’s.  A great read!

 

The Trouble with May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm

May Amelia is a young teen growing up in the state of Washington with her seven brothers.  A tomboy at heart, trouble always seems to find her.   The book tells about the tales of this Finnish girl growing up on a homestead in the early 1900’s in an area with a majority of boys.  When a business deal goes awry, her father and family blame her. This isn’t a “must read” but the book kept me entertained.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

I am not sure why I decided to read this book: maybe my curiosity got the best of me.  This book was extremely disturbing to know what Jaycee Dugard went through as an abducted 11-year old and her 18 years of life in captivity.  The best part of the book is how she has chosen to live her life now that she is out of captivity and her passion to lead and to give her two daughters the best life possible even after all they have been through. 

It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh

I love this book! A must read to anyone who is attempting to get rid of the clutter in their lives once and for all.

Walden by Henry David Thoreau

The sole reason I checked this book out from the library is because an author stated it was one of her favorite books.  I was curious to see what the book was about based on her recommendation.  This book is a book written by Henry David Thoreau in the mid-1800’s about his life of building and maintaining a homestead and living a life of solitude and simplicity at Walden Pond.  This book, though I found it difficult to read in the beginning, turned out to be a decent book.  There were long stretches of the book that I had a hard time relating to or even cared to read.  I wouldn’t say it’s my “favorite,” but Thoreau mentioned many things that are worth contemplating when it comes to living a simple life and several things that he stated still apply today, over 150 years later.   

 

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  Live the life you've imagined.  As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."  ~Henry David Thoreau 

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." ~Henry David Thoreau

  

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

I don’t really know how to describe this book.  It is a refreshing book of real-life conversations and reflections of experiences the author, Donald Miller, has had with people throughout his life as well as his reflection on how he noticed God’s work in each particular situation.  It is a very down-to-earth book that creates a lot of thought-provoking material on God’s hand in our lives. 

 

Oogy by Larry Levin

Talk about a story that pulls at the heart strings!  This book is about a pit bull (later learned that the breed is actually a Dogo) named Oogy.  Oogy was rescued from being a bait dog in a dog-fighting raid.  The story tells a tale of Oogy’s life as a mutilated puppy, how one veterinary and technician refused to give up on this seemingly happy and unaffected dog and the family who took him in and gave him the love he should have received from the very beginning.  This is a wonderful story about the relationship between a man and his best friend. 

To read more about Oogy (without reading the book), you can go here:

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall

Same Kind of Different as Me is a book above loving one another no matter where you’ve come from and what you’ve been through.  This book is about Denver Moore, a plantation worker and runaway and his relationship with Ron Hall and his wife, a prosperous art dealer and gallery owner.  How in the world did these two men meet and become friends?  It would be way too easy to give away all the details, but I will tell you that this book is definitely worth reading.  This book is an inspiration for me as to the type of person I strive to be and the faith I need to get there.

Nowhere But Up by Pattie Mallette

I could really relate with this book by Pattie Mallette.  This book is Pattie’s story about what she went through as a child, the trouble she got into as a young adult and ending up pregnant as a teen with her son Justin (Bieber).  This is an uplifting and inspiring story of true faith and resilience.

The Fair Tax Book by Neal Boortz

I try not to get into politics, but this book definitely makes me think that the way we pay taxes in America could be different (and better).  The FairTax is about implementing a tax on consumption instead of tax on income.  This book is a quick and interesting read in my opinion.

Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer

After reading so many non-fiction books, it was nice getting swept away with a book that is fiction.  This book is about three sisters who lost their mother at varying stages in their life and all coming back home after years away from their small little island town.  This book was the perfect book to read before getting ready to leave on a tropical vacation to Aruba. 

We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich

This book is written by Louise about her time in the woods without electricity or running water in the early 40’s.  As a homesteader at heart, I enjoyed reading the stories she tells about people coming to visit, how they attained their food and all of the little intricacies that took place while living alone with her family in a location deep in the desolate woods.  Their small town was made up of 9 people within a 25 mile radius. This is an extremely interesting story of living in the woods.


So, there you have it.
I just finished up We Took to the Woods this weed, and I'm looking forward to reading some fiction for a little while.

What are you reading right now?

Starting the Garden: 2013

Puppy is pooped after her vacation at the pet resort.

When we got home from vacation  last Sunday, the weather was beautiful in Northeast Ohio.  It was too beautiful to sleep the day away (which is what we wanted to do considering we didn’t get home until almost 1AM Sunday morning and had been traveling since 10:30AM Saturday morning).  After picking up the pup from the kennel Sunday morning, we went home and got to work on the garden.

Planning in Progress

The first thing I had to do was sort through the dozens of packets of seeds that I’ve purchased and had left over from previous years.  I didn’t realize how many seeds we had!  I then sorted the seeds based on what weekthey need to be planted so that over the next 4 weeks, I can slowly but surely get everything into the ground.  The only seeds I was able to plant were the cold weather seeds like lettuce, strawberry and asparagus seeds.

 

The Attachment on the Weed Eater

 Next, hubby decided to come out and help till the garden.  For the past few years, we’ve wanted to get a tiller for the garden; however, we weren’t willing to pay hundreds of dollars for something we would use a couple times a year.  Upon looking into renting a tiller, we found it would cost anywhere between $45-65/day.  Todd learned that his weed eater has an attachment to till soil and it would cost $99.99 new!  I will willing to shell out the money until Todd found a brand new one on Craigslist for $50!  Cha-ching!  NOW we’re in business!  We’ve already used it 3 times and it works like a charm!

This year, we have decided to plant some vegetables in the flowerbed in front of our home to utilize the space we’ve got.

 

 

Future Herb Barrels

These planters used to house perennial flowers, but this year, they will be growing herbs.  (I know they are really ugly right now, but I haven’t had a chance to get around and take out last year’s dead stalks.)

 

The "Salad Bar"

Even though this looks like an empty patch of soil, there are 5 varieties of lettuce planted in this area.  This is going to (hopefully) be our “salad bar” in the next month or so.  I have never had much luck with lettuce or spinach, so we will see if planting it at the proper time in the season and watering it once in a while will help.

Last year, the chickens scratched up our 2-year old asparagus plants, so this year they are going in front of the house.  I decided to plant them by seed in the front corner of the house fully aware that it will take 2-3 years to start producing asparagus.  I love perennials; however, patience is not my forte.

We have had a lot of rain over this past week.  After a couple of days of rain, I noticed our pear trees are getting their leaves!  I wonder if these 3-year old pear trees will produce any fruit for us this year or not.

Pear Tree

 

Our transplanted red raspberry plants are doing great.  We already have many new chutes coming out of the ground and some green buds forming on the canes.  Oh how I love my red raspberry plants.  No matter how much I neglect them each and every year, they always return the next spring.

Red Raspberries Have Leaves Already

This past weekend, I planted over two hundred peapod seeds.  We really enjoy eating peapods and I am hoping we have enough to freeze or can so that we can enjoy them throughout the year.  If a couple hundred plants doesn’t do it, we may have to turn our entire front yard into a peapod field!

So far this season, that is all I am able to plant based on our last frost date of the year (which will probably be mid-May here in Northeast Ohio). 

How is your garden coming along so far this season?

Back to Reality

Last week, Todd and I went on a family vacation to Aruba with my mom, her husband (very much a father-figure in my life), my 3 brothers and their significant others.  On most vacations we go on, I see the magnitude of consumerism that many people take part of and quite frankly, it bothers me.  I won’t sugar-coat it and tell you that my family didn’t take part in the consumerism because we did.  This is what Todd and I came home with:

 

 

Of these souvenirs, we purchased the change-purse (for $1) and postcards (again, $1).  The t-shirt and reusable bag are from a donkey sanctuary we visited – my mom bought these items for me.  The purchase of the t-shirt donates a bale of hay to the donkeys, which I love.  The reusable bag is something that I have started to collect when we go on vacations because they are practical and don’t take up a lot of space.

Aruba was absolutely gorgeous.

There is no way Todd and I would have gone on our own due to the expense involved in flying there and the general cost of everything on the island; however, it was a great vacation with family.  We are fortunate to have parents that are thoughtful and considerate enough to take the entire family on a dream vacation like the one we just had.  We had a lot of fun, many laughs, and made a lot of memories (and I’ve got pictures to prove it!)  This is the first time I’ve spent any length of time with both of my stepbrothers in the past 10 years my mom and her husband have been married and it was a blast. 

Here are a few pictures from our trip:



View of Venezuela (from plane)

View of Aruba (from plane)

Blue Crabs

Sunset

Our Snorkeling Spot (we went twice - it was awesome!)

Sunken Ship From Underwater (1938)

Sunrise View from Across the Street of our house

Pool lit up at night (view from back porch)

Natural Bridge

Lighthouse

Sunset

Sunset (from sunset cruise we took the day
before we had to leave the island)

 

We are back to the reality of waking up to an alarm clock, taking care of the critters, going to work, and working on the homestead.  Even though I could have stayed in Aruba for another few months, I am happy to be back to our “regular” life in Ohio.  Bulbs are starting to emerge through the soil, there are buds forming on the fruit trees, and life is good.  I wouldn’t exchange my reality for anything.