90 Percent Project - Weeks 18-20

Sunday, 12:49 pm

By Kate

Oct

21

2007

Catching up on my Weekly Values for the 90 Percent Project...

Electricity
Week 18: 28 kWh
Week 19: 29 kWh
Week 20: 23 kWh

After two weeks of creeping numbers, I got things back in line a bit more this past week. The previous week involved a lot of laundry and dishwasher use—getting all of Terry’s blankets washed and put away and her several dishes, water dishes and toys run through the dishwasher.

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Gasoline purchased (for 1 person)
Week 18: 0
Week 19: 0
Week 20: 0

Looks as if I’ll go a little more than a month on the 7.435 gallons that I bought on September 22. There’s still about an eighth of a tank left.

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Water (for 1 person)
Week 18: 119.69
Week 19: 209.47
Week 20: 89.77

It’s all over the place, isn’t it? Laundry is a big water eater. I can’t see a way around it. Not much is being used otherwise.

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Natural Gas
Week 18: 3 cu ft
Week 19: 5 cu ft
Week 20: 3 cu ft

A month or so ago, I turned the water heater down another notch. It made a slight difference. Instead of the usual 4 cu ft, it dropped to 3 cu ft. But the 5 cu ft week was because of all the extra laundry and dishwashing.

I think, however, that my gas use will rise slightly even though the water heater is turned down to a fairly low temp. The cold water coming into the house has become colder with the season. Quite noticeably colder. It’s reservoir water that will soon become icy cold and that makes the water heater work harder. Even when the temp is set lower than it has been all summer. That drives me crazy.

In another couple of weeks, my gas utility will double the price for delivery which will make my bill nearly double. It makes me angry to pay nearly $60 for lukewarm water. Most of my use is pilot lighting and that’s a ridiculous waste considering the value I get out of it. My gas use would be cut in half if I could get rid of those damned pilot lights.

I think I’m going to go radical on the hot water heater and keep it turned to vacation setting unless I have a planned need for hot water. Like...turn it up slightly for the morning shower and then turn it back to vacation setting for the rest of the day. And turn it up on the day that I need to do laundry. When I start using the wood stove every day, I will have plenty of steaming hot water for other normal daily use.

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Trash (for 1 person)
Week 18: 23 lbs
Week 19: 10 lbs
Week 20: 12 lbs

I am still in the throes of cleaning out stuff. The basement is a wonderment of collected junk. It’s where everything winds up when I can’t think what else to do with it. It’s also where collected stuff from previous houses still sits packed in boxes. I’m finally starting to clear it out and this will take some time. So, the trash volume will probably be higher than average for a while. Once it’s done, I will be living lightly indeed.

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Consumer Goods
Week 18: $29 - PUR water filter pitcher (for the lad)
Week 19: $0
Week 20: $76 - hardware for hanging quilt ($40), 2 bird feeders ($36).

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Food
Since we haven’t had a frost around here yet, the tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and summer squash are still coming in at the Farmer’s Market. Some autumn veggies, too, now. I am going to miss this abundance when it’s gone. I still haven’t gotten to the apple orchard yet. Sometime this week. Applesauce is begging to be made and put up.