11-1-12

7:50am

First of the month means bills need to be paid.

Getting flustered trying to figure them all out.

Where do I cut back, what needs paid right now?

Going to have almost everything paid

except, once again, I have to short

my electric bill by $90.00. 

I got the gas bill all caught up after not paying 

it at all last month.

I figured catch the gas bill up because it's

the one utility that's going to go up

for the next 5 months or so.

The electric bill should be starting to come down

so that's why I shorted it.

Doing the best I can with what I have.

Don't have much to go on and payday

is 8 days away.  Living paycheck to paycheck

totally sucks.  Haven't had to do this in quite some time.

Please pray that we find a buyer for our truck!

That would help us out sooooooo much!

I just got up and with everyone gone to work

and school, I turned the heat down to 66 degrees.

That'll shave some off the gas bill if I can

do this for about 7-8 hours each day.

I usually keep it at 72 degrees but have read that

it makes a difference on your bill for

every three degrees you can cut back.

So 72 minus 6 degrees is 66 degrees.

I'll just throw on some extra clothing

til about 3:00pm then I'll turn it back up to 72.

Right now it's 41 and feels like 34 degrees.

Supposed to get a little more sun shining through

those clouds in the next week so will have

curtains and blinds open to take advantage of that

to help some to heat the house. 

I usually watch tv while home.

Well I got up and turned that off as well to save money.

Made a trip around the house to turn more things off.

Unplugged microwave, turned off a couple fans,

a nightlight, unplugged an XBox and a DVD player. 

8 hours a day times at least 30 days a month

is 240 hours of not using those appliances

so that's gotta shave some electricity off the bill.

I've already managed to somehow get

the electric bill down about $90 since last month.

I'm sure that is partially a result of running the 

air conditioner a couple months ago

when we had higher temperatures outside. 

10:30am

Spur of the moment thing I decided to do.

I made a temporary solar window heater.

I know I do not have the money to buy

supplies to make a real good solar

heater at this time.  Unless we sell the truck

is the only way I can make one.

So here is the cheap way of making one-

I had a screen I found in the basement.

Came with the house and cannot find

anything that it would go to.

I built and duct taped a box the size of that screen.

On the backside of the box I cut out square holes

on each end that would fit a small fan that will

be ran by way of a small solar panel.

I cut it just a little smaller than the fan so it would fit snug.

Make sure to cut another hole at the

other end so air has a way to come out!

I taped sides of cardboard around the box

leaving an opening where the fan would be.

You still need those sides though so be sure to save them.

Place your cans inside the box

between the two squares you cut out.

I then cut two cardboard strips half the width

of the sides and taped them at the top and bottom

once all my cans were in place.

This is used to help hold the cans together since

they are not glued.

Place these cardboard strips above the space where 

the fan will go and above your other hole.

This is now what it will look like.

Now let the painting with flat black paint begin.

Oh yeah I got a headache now.

Be sure to spray paint one side of

those two extra cardboard side pieces that will go near the

fan openings.

Insert the small fan into the hole and

tape your side pieces on once dry.

Be sure to make a small hole in one of the

side pieces where your fan will go and run

the wires from the fan through it. 

Next take the screen and lay it on top of 

the cans.  Duct tape in place.

This will keep the cans from falling out

of the box.  Plus the screen is a good conductor of heat.

Since this is an inside solar heater placed in

a window I won't be using a piece

of glass for the top.

Now attach the wires from your fan

to the wires on your solar panel.

This solar heater is very lightweight

and can easily be picked up and traveled from room

to room if need be.

Here it is sitting in my dining room window

tucked up underneath the top of the blinds.

You can't really see it from the outside of the house.

And here it is in my son's bedroom window.

The solar panel is sitting in the window 

in front of it.

It took me a couple of hours to make this.

Now It's almost 11:00am and I'm

going to lay down and take a nap,

something I have yet to do this week.


2:25pm


I ended up putting a piece of thin glass from one
of the poster picture frames on the solar heater.
Wasn't an exact fit but was better than nothing.
My solar fan isn't running at the moment as the
batteries need a little bit to be charged by the sun.
I ran the fan to the outside of the house.
Even without the fan I can still feel heat coming
out the top hole!

3:20pm


Since the grocery budget for the next week is much much
slimmer than last weeks, I had to decide what to do
for drinks around here other than milk and juice.
Kids won't be having pop this next week!
Instead I have a bunch of Kool Aid canisters
sitting in my pantry that already have the sugar in them.
As much as I don't like to give them Kool Aid,
that is what they will be drinking this next week.
I've already started making some up to
store in the fridge.  I reused saved 2 liter pop 
bottles which are about a half gallon each.

 

 For breakfasts this next 8 days will be 

either cereal or pop tarts

with milk or chocolate milk made with

the chocolate powder I got free from a vacated apartment.

Plus I still have some frozen chocolate milk

in the freezer I bought marked down .50 cents for 1/2 gallon.

I bought a year's supply of pop tarts

after Christmas last year when they

had holiday mark downs.  .50 cents a box of 16 poptarts.

I bought something like 20 boxes of them!

Who cares if they are gingerbread or holiday berry flavors. 

4:15pm

Supper tonight was going to be sausage, biscuits

and gravy.  But I only have one can of biscuits

and realized that would be enough for 5 servings

or enough to fill everyone up.  The more I fill

them up at supper time the less likely they'll

want to snack before bed.  This is what I call

a rib sticker meal.

So I'll still make the sausage gravy and will pour it

over some homemade mashed potatoes instead.

-2 packets gravy (free from mom)

-5 to 6 small to medium potatoes (free from mom)

(saving my larger potatoes for baked potatoes

and can have them as a meal by themselves)

-2 cups water (free)

- 1 pound sausage ($1.00 save-a-lot) 

-butter, milk & salt (.25 cents)

TOTAL COST TO MAKE $1.25

serves 5 @ .25 cents a serving.

My saying is and always will be,

"Do what ya got to do with what ya got to do it with!"

5:25pm

Just sat down for supper and all of a sudden

the palm of my left hand started itching really bad!

I hope that's a sign. 

The rib sticker meal is working!

This is how I feel after eating, ughhhh!

7:25pm

This was about 6:30pm tonight,

a beautiful sunset.

Another photo of mine was posted

on channel 10's Chris Bradley's Facebook page (meteorologist)

:0)

I love taking weather photos.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty

8:10pm


Daddy and Boo playing pool against Mommy
on the computer.