My Sister is Going Green Too

I have something to add. Since I have not been in my house in L F, all the lights are off, and the only thing that is working is the fridge, the automatic sprinkler system, and the water heater. The electric bill was $17.85. The gas bill was $3.00 When we were living there, the electric bill (without A/C) was about $80. The gas bill in the summer was about $7. I'm just pointing this out as a comparison. Now that I know $20 was my baseline, the $87 I was spending wasn't too bad.

We bought a bunch of those expensive little light bulbs that use less energy. Oh yeah - they are soooo worth it. I was a little miffed at hubby for spending $8 to $14 per bulb, but they seem to last forever (I haven't replaced any in over 2 years), and the utilities dropped by a good 20% immediately. I just got a good deal that San Diego Gas & Electric was trading out bulbs - if you gave them 5 standard bulbs, they would give you 5 energy saver bulbs for free. We were on it!

And we have those solar lights in the back yard. I keep one in the kitchen, too. It lights up after we go to bed at night (a night light). And it goes off when you turn the lights on. We bought a box of 20 from Sam's Club for $99. The one in the kitchen was discovered by accident. The stake broke off the bottom of it, and Mike set it on the kitchen counter until he could fix it. When I turned off the kitchen light, it lit up. Tada! So we left it there. Moths and beetles aren't attracted to it, so I can see when I go through the kitchen to let the dogs in and out without alerting the yucky critters.

My office is going green, too. We gave everyone firm-logo coffee mugs so that people can quit using paper cups. I will have a paint pen available so people can write their names on the bottoms of their mugs. Keeps the germs from spreading, too. And the office coffee mugs that we use for meetings are a different color.

I found kitchen glasses for about 75 cents each and bought 72 for the office so we have plenty for meetings and for people to use. Although I use my own. We got rid of the bottled water and put in filters instead.

Our vendors are always giving away pens with their names on them, so we collect those and don't have to buy as many. I use samples I get in the newspaper or the mail. I also pick up change I find on the ground. I shop at the farmer's market - much better quality and cheaper. I have a neighbor who has a garden in his front yard as well as his back yard. He's growing corn! I can't tell what anything else is, but it's a tidy garden on a lot that isn't too big. I'm impressed.