Even though I have teenagers, they are avid followers of Disney Channel's cartoon "Phineas and Ferb". I have to admit, it is hilarious, and I find myself watching it with them from time to time.
We have lived many places in our carrier as an Air Force family, and have lived in many different climates. Texas, Guam, Idaho and Oregon all have their share of pros and cons, but I still enjoyed each one. But that could not be said so far for the grey dimness of Southern Washington.
Back to Phineas and Ferb, there is an episode called "Meepless in Seattle". They are all flying along in this space ship headed to Seattle to save the world, and Phineas asked the question, "How will we know when we make it to Seattle?", right then the sky goes grey, and it starts to pour rain. That is what it is like here, ALL OF THE TIME!!!
My husband is a Seattle native, and has announced that he loves living under the regime of a giant cloud, but I am not sure which one will come first if I have to live here for more than the next 2 1/2 years, a mental breakdown, or a life of husbandlessness.
Anyway, I have tried to find ways to combat this, and the biggest help is by lighting up the inside of our house, but this can lead to a huge electricity bill, and buying a never ending supply of light bulbs, especially if you want it nice and bright.
The past couple of months I have been testing out compact florescent bulbs to see what would work best in our home, and finally decided on a daylight bulb. I went to Home Depot, which is where I found the best deal. A box of 12 bulbs for $17.47, and they often go on sale. We replaced all of the light bulbs in our home with these.
It was an initial investment, and we decided to buy a box every paycheck and start with the most used lights in the house. The investment has paid off, literally. Our electricity bill has come down an average of $10.00 a month since we have installed the bulbs, and we actually leave them on more often. The light is amazing, and we are using about a tenth of the power that we were before.
Each bulb uses 14 watts of electricity, but puts out the same amount of light as a 60 watt bulb. It is estimated that each light will save you a total of almost $2.00 a year. That is $24.00 a year for the whole box, and we used 3 boxes of the bulbs in our house, that is $72.00 a year for us. And the math keeps going. Each bulb is supposed to last an average of 9 years. That can really add up. Of course when they do need to be changed, there are only certain ways to dispose of your bulbs. Our guidelines here are to place them in a separate container next to our recycling. You will have to check with your local disposal company on your guidelines, but I'm hoping we won't have to dispose of them that often.
I know there are also those crazy odd sizes of lights that are hard to find. I have had luck finding fluorescents for those at IKEA. Also, there are fluorescents for your can lighting at Home Depot.
Lighting is one of the most important components of your home, so cut your energy usage, while making your wallet fat.
- Monica
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