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And of course I'm spending it in a house with almost no insulation.
My sister and I are discussing how we can better insulate the house (particularly after some people came around talking to us about using filtered air from the roofspace to adjust the heating/cooling the house).
Basically we have roof insulation, but no walls, no floor insulation. No window or door seals.
And everything costs money, of course - in the short term for installation, and in the long-term for energy usage.
My stepdad is completely on the energy usage front. As much energy as we need to use - doesn't matter where it comes from, so long as it's cheap. He can be - he's not slated to live for another 50 years, hoping that someone develops cold fusion or that governments switch power options to renewable resources.
My sister and I would like to minimise our reliance on conventional energy sources, and we live in an area that gives us that opportunity - where the summers are hot and the winters are cold, but not extreme, or the extremes are temporary and manageable.
So we have solar panels for power during the day, and we've discussed things like composting toilets and rain tanks. The main problem right now is cost. Because I came into this purchase with more capital than B1, so she's taken on the bulk of the mortgage so that we're 50:50 in the house. Which she's okay with. It's all the little extras that we're now seeing that's going to be the problem.
The washing machine has been a bit blinky lately - it's over 10 years old. And when we get a new one I think we'll get both a washing machine and a dryer for big sheets, even if we line-dry most things.
The fridge is still going, but it makes occasional gurgling noises. We keep breaking the refrigerator shelves in the door, too - I have to get a replacement for that. But B1's a bit iffy about too much expenditure - we spent quite a lot on the solar panels.
It's kind of funny - I imagine to my stepdad, we're a bit hippie. We feel like we're not doing enough - there are options out there that mean we can live a little lower on the scale of Occupy Earth, and we can implement them. Composting toilets is not as convenient as flushing all our bodily wastes out to sea, but it's more useful in the long term. And we're thinking more long term/survivalist (although we're certainly not doomsdayers).
I guess it's a "caretaker Christian" attitude to us - God gave us the world, made us to rule over it - but 'rule' doesn't have to mean subdue and subjugate.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is: it's cold, and it's probably not going to change anytime soon.
My sister and I are discussing how we can better insulate the house (particularly after some people came around talking to us about using filtered air from the roofspace to adjust the heating/cooling the house).
Basically we have roof insulation, but no walls, no floor insulation. No window or door seals.
And everything costs money, of course - in the short term for installation, and in the long-term for energy usage.
My stepdad is completely on the energy usage front. As much energy as we need to use - doesn't matter where it comes from, so long as it's cheap. He can be - he's not slated to live for another 50 years, hoping that someone develops cold fusion or that governments switch power options to renewable resources.
My sister and I would like to minimise our reliance on conventional energy sources, and we live in an area that gives us that opportunity - where the summers are hot and the winters are cold, but not extreme, or the extremes are temporary and manageable.
So we have solar panels for power during the day, and we've discussed things like composting toilets and rain tanks. The main problem right now is cost. Because I came into this purchase with more capital than B1, so she's taken on the bulk of the mortgage so that we're 50:50 in the house. Which she's okay with. It's all the little extras that we're now seeing that's going to be the problem.
The washing machine has been a bit blinky lately - it's over 10 years old. And when we get a new one I think we'll get both a washing machine and a dryer for big sheets, even if we line-dry most things.
The fridge is still going, but it makes occasional gurgling noises. We keep breaking the refrigerator shelves in the door, too - I have to get a replacement for that. But B1's a bit iffy about too much expenditure - we spent quite a lot on the solar panels.
It's kind of funny - I imagine to my stepdad, we're a bit hippie. We feel like we're not doing enough - there are options out there that mean we can live a little lower on the scale of Occupy Earth, and we can implement them. Composting toilets is not as convenient as flushing all our bodily wastes out to sea, but it's more useful in the long term. And we're thinking more long term/survivalist (although we're certainly not doomsdayers).
I guess it's a "caretaker Christian" attitude to us - God gave us the world, made us to rule over it - but 'rule' doesn't have to mean subdue and subjugate.
Anyway, the long and the short of it is: it's cold, and it's probably not going to change anytime soon.
no subject
As for your heating problems, your probably still losing more heat out of the windows verses the uninstalled walls. Around here - I'm in a zone that has a real winter - the home improvement stores carry a film that you stick down to the window frame, covering the window. Then you use a hair dryer or something like it over the film and it tightens up and give you another insulation barrier.
Oh! here we go, this store ad has a video showing someone installing the stuff. It's inexpensive and could help a little.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Frost-King-E-O-Indoor-Window-Insulation-Kit-3-per-Pack-V73-3QPD2/100135637
no subject
Me? I like my luxury. But I'm also the one who goes through the 'what if apocalypse' scenarios: what if a crisis happens that means we don't get power, water, sewerage services, fresh food?
And I'll definitely take a look at that. (Although I don't know how available it will be in Australia. I heard that bubble wrap taped around the windows can help with heating/cooling and with sound.)
no subject