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Friday, April 11, 2014

Good decision



Our Florida trip cost a bit more than I'd hoped, mostly because the van needed repairs. On the other hand, in any given 6 month period any older vehicle will most likely have issues.

We saved a lot of money by not heating our house while gone. This past winter was an expensive one in New Hampshire. No matter how people heated their homes, it was costly. Heating oil prices got crazy. I talked to one person who spent $600-$800 every month on propane, and their primary heat source was firewood. Electric heat in NH is even worse than oil or propane. The only ones who didn't spend a fortune heated completely with wood and had their own woodlots. Of course, it takes some time and energy to process all that wood.

I'd rather go sailing.

We did get a taste of winter by coming home at the end of March -snow, wind, and subzero temperatures. Brrrrrrr! There was some firewood at home, and my daughter gave us some from her supply. The other day I spent $60 on pressed sawdust blocks. They are similar to wood pellets used in pellet stoves, but in big blocks for use as a firewood substitute. The blocks are easy to handle, put out good heat, and burn clean. As the snow and ice melt, more of my firewood is now accessible, so we should be fine.

Our plans for next winter are to stay until after Christmas, then head south for 4 months or so. Fall and early winter will have plenty of heating days. Right now I'm thinking of buying a pallet of those pressed sawdust bricks. I'm near National Forest land. For $10/cord they allow people to pick up dead and down trees for firewood. It's not that hard to pick up a couple cords that way. There's probably another cord or more right on my land from storm damaged trees. It was a tough winter. The prudent thing to do would be have enough wood piled up for 2 years, but that has rarely happened.

One thing about winter, there's always another one coming.

-Sixbears

8 comments:

  1. This winter november- march gas was under 500$.If i was up there i would purchase the logs and add firewood as i could.a friend has whole logs delivered by a logging co for 60$ a cord all he has to do is cut and split as he wants.But it is a 5 cord minimum.

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    1. I've bought raw logs before, and it's an economical way to go.

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  2. I've still got treetops laying around from having my place timbered a couple years ago. It's a shame there's no way to get them to you!

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    1. Transportation, that's always the rub,isn't it?

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  3. Are you saying that you have to pay to pick up dead and fallen trees to use for firewood? If that is so, it's unbelievable...

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    1. Yep, that's the way it is in the land of the free.

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  4. We pay about $107.00 a month on electric on an old home circa 1978..We climbed up and put tons of insulation in our attic, got new windows in and lots of insulation the PUD said it was the best they ever saw, we did it slowly, bought the windows cash with a huge discount they did not use them for the street of dreams, we made them fit with a fellow who did that kind of work for the street of dreams for a good price, cash is king..Now we don't think we will be paying maybe $50.00 a month on our utility bill, we have a tiny home and wear sweatshirts and sweaters most of the time, and only heat up the room we actually stay in our huge kitchen and it is cozy..Good luck on the wood, maybe some people could help you out with the tree cutting?!

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    1. The quickest return, and the first things most people should do is what you've done. Insulation and good windows are the first places to start. The best BTUs are the ones you don't have to use in the first place.

      The wood situation will work out; it always does.

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