​Heating and cooling costs are a big part of your electricity bill.  Today we will look extreme ways to save on electrical heating costs.

Water Heater Hacks

When we moved into our present home, there was no working water heater.  We happened to still have a 80-gallon electric commercial water left from our last business. We like to use what we, have so we installed it.  I had already been looking for ways to save on our electric bill and I knew that this water heater, being so large, would cost more money to keep at a constant temperature.  So we did an experiment.

We turned it on until the temperature reached 140 degrees Fahrenheit out of the faucet.  Then we turned it off by turning off the breaker (much harder to do with a propane water heater; it may not be worth it because propane is more efficient, and it could be dangerous if you’re not familiar with lighting procedures and turning off the gas). After turning it off, we kept track of how long our hot water lasted.  Depending on the day and usage, we could get 2-3 days out of turning it on for three hours.  In three hours, the tank temperature reached 140 degrees. The water gradually cooled, but I didn’t need 140 degree water ALL THE TIME. This method still works well for us, and now we do it regularly. 

I thought turning our water heater on and off was quite extreme (like, none of my friends do this!) when the following happened...

A Light Bulb Moment

I was watering flowers in a near drought one day, when I had to wait for cold water because the water out of the hose was so stinking hot.  At the same time, I was waiting till off peak hours to turn the water heater on so I could do my dishes (didn’t quite get it done before 11:00 am).  And it hit me!  I could use this hot water to do my dishes…. this free hot water!  And by hot I mean HOT.  Getting out my thermometer I measure that water at 135 degrees F, hotter than most people set their water heaters at. What else could I use this water for?

Boy #3 was thinking the same thing a few hours later, because the next time I looked out the window I saw him with some shampoo and the hose over his head.  The problem was that the water was too hot, then instantly too cold.  Not to mention, holding the shampoo and the hose while trying to wash your hair was a bit hard.

Just for fun, we measured the temperature at different times of day, calculated how many gallons we got from 320 feet of hose.  In 3 - 4 hrs. (summer time) we can get at least 4 gallons of 140 degree water* to use for our shower.  We decided that if it was a hotter day, we could add some cold water to get the temperature we wanted. We thought up different ways we could make a shower, and then consulted Youtube searching for outdoor showers.  A couple of Youtube videos later, we had put together our own version using what we had around the house.

First, we found a clean five gallon bucket (this one might have held paint at one time).  We took a rope and attached it to the bucket handle.  Boy #3 added a clip to the end of the rope.  Ruining a few buckets by making too many holes, we finally drilled just 10 holes in the bottom of a bucket and found that each gallon gives us one minute of shower time.

​Oh, joy! Do you see the smile on his face?  This shower was  two minutes longer than the navy shower (get wet, turn water off, lather up, rinse off) that we had been experimenting with in the house. Extra time in the makeshift shower!

Are we going to do this all the time? No.  Will you see my family in a line outside on Sunday morning waiting their turn for a shower by the tree?  No.  Does it gives us more choices?  Yes, it does.  Have my children learned a new way of doing something?  Yes, they have!  And boy, was it fun working together on this project!

Other Heat-Saving Tips

Speaking of showers – a person can take a cold shower instead of a hot one.  I read about the health benefits of cold showers** in Tim Ferris’s book, The Four Hour Body.  I tried it….once.  I don’t know if I felt healthier, but I did feel more confident.  (Like, if I can do this, I can do anything).

Lastly, go south in the winter to a warmer climate.  Seriously, we’ve done this. Sometimes you can rent a home or condo (with utilities included) for less than the cost of utilities (fuel oil or propane and electricity) during the winter months in colder parts of the country.  As more jobs become location independent, this may work you. 

Next Steps

What is next for us? My husband has started to become interested in a solar hot water system and penciled out a plan to heat water using the sun, through a series of hoses connected to our hot water heater.  I’m very excited about this, as I’ve read that solar hot water systems cost around $5,000 and almost eliminate the need to pay for hot water.  I am interested to see how this works with our mid-west winters.

Next time we’ll talk about extreme cooling!

*A note of caution: Legionaries disease is a rare type of pneumonia that can infect immune suppressed people, and is often linked to water.  In my research, I’ve learned the bacteria Legionella is found in warm stagnant water (that is, water that has been sitting for days on end). The bacteria are dormant below 68 degrees and do not survive above 140°C.  I don’t worry about the legionella bacteria, as our water is being constantly moved.  We kill any bacteria by heating the hot water system to 140 degrees at least once a week and we are all pretty healthy. But as with everything you read, you should do your own research and decide what will work best for your family.

**Note from Bethany: I, too, have read and experienced the fact that hot water dries out your skin. In addition, it is recommend that curly- or wavy-haired people at least rinse (if not wash) their hair in cool water because it helps keep the curls tight and prevent them from getting frizzy.

Oh my! This week went by so fast. Hubs and I walked through the orchard the other day and noticed clusters and clusters of green grapes. We didn't realize they were "already" starting to mature. However, it IS the end of July at this point.

1. Froze extra goats milk to use for soap.

2. Painted the porch with DeckOver. It is a no-slip surface paint sold at the Home Depot. It was definitely not cheap (I think we bought at least $70.00 worth of paint) and not easy by any means. In fact, anyone who buys this should know beforehand that it is like cement. The end result was nice, but it took up a good portion of my Monday. 

Regardless, this was a task well overdue. The porch was previously just wood, and would get terribly slippery whenever it rained. More than a few people, including myself, have slipped on the porch and hurt themselves and/or whatever they were carrying. On Saturday morning I was headed out with a box of farmers market goods, and slipped. Thankfully the market stuff was okay, but I scratched up my leg- and worse- stained my brand new jeans. So, the frugal part of this project is not getting hurt and/or ruining personal property.

3. Line dried two loads of laundry.

4. We figured out why Adi was giving less and less milk every day. As it turns out, her kids were poking their heads through the fence and sucking on her. After properly separating the kids from their mom (we switched Barry with Adi, so now he is next door to the kids), I started getting a good 3-4 cups from her every day. We went from having no extra milk to having lots of extra milk in the course of a few days. So by figuring out what was going on, we were able to salvage $4.00-$5.00 worth of milk every week.

5. Sold 4 dozen eggs.

6. Harvested summer squash, green beans, banana peppers, and raspberries from the garden.

7. Worked on my new book. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm putting together a little guidebook on how to eat for $5.00-$10.00 per person, per week. Hubs and I spend between $60.00-$80.00 per month on groceries. With all of the research and new things I'm learning about this topic, we should easily be able to cut it down to $50.00 per month, or $5.77 per person, per week.

I find that there are several camps of people when it comes to frugal food. One group says, "Use coupons!" Another group insists that making everything from scratch is the way to go. Still, there are more people that think CHEAP brands and ingredients are the key to the most savings. 

What I'm discovering is that by mixing and matching all of the above strategies, you can spend a minimum amount of money on food. But there is not ONE answer. For example, some foods are not cheaper made from scratch. It might only cost $0.25 in ingredients to make a loaf of bread, but the electricity it takes to bake the bread ($0.32) more than doubles the cost and you are better off buying bread from the day-old rack at the grocery store. The popular strategy of shopping at 3-5 stores every week to save a couple dollars compels one to spend more time shopping and buy even more stuff, in addition to spending more money on gas to drive all over town.

Heat and Busyness: Enemies of Frugality

Frugal accomplishments were a little slim this week. It was HOT! We had temperatures in the 80's and 90's pretty much all week. We also had things going on almost every might, so between the heat and busyness, I really didn't accomplish a whole lot this week.

Of course extreme heat or cold will bring frugal accomplishments to a halt, but I find that being busy outside the home- running here and there- is an even bigger enemy to frugality. When you are out and about, you spend a lot more money on food and random shopping purchases, and all of your frugal projects are left sitting at home not getting done.

Of course there are seasons, weeks and days where home life falls by the wayside. But I think it's a good habit to NOT over-schedule yourself, especially for those of us who prefer being home anyway.

Goals Next Week:

1. Make one batch of soap.
2. Make goat's milk caramel.
3. Finish reading The Lean Farm. 

So far in this series, we’ve gone over:

1. How to Read your Electric Meter
2. Reading your Bill (How Much Your Kilowatts Cost You)
3. Measuring Electricity Inside the Home
4. Making Choices with What You Know (How Much Energy Does that Dryer Use)?

Now we’ll look at little tips that can save you BIG money.

1. Change your light bulbs to CFL or LEDs.  This is an old tip and I’m hoping that you’ve already switched the light bulbs in your house. CFL are now relatively inexpensive as compared to when they first came out.  LED on the other hand can still be quite costly. I have a few LED and have bought them on sale.  Mostly we use CFL.  There is no reason to be using a 60 watt regular light bulb where a 13 Watt CFL will do.  At first I did not like the color of the light they put out.  But then I learned I had to look carefully at the label to see what I was buying.  I like a soft yellow light (not blue old style florescent light).  Some home improvement stores have displays that show the light the different color bulbs put out, which is helpful.  For cost comparison if I have 20 – 60 watt bulbs on 8 hours a day it will cost me approx.. $1.24.  By changing these to 20 – 13 watt bulbs I save .96 a day or $350.00 a year. 

​2. Sign up for Income or Elderly assistance if your electric company has it.  Most electric companies have programs that reduce the cost of your electric bill if you’re over 65 (sometimes 60), or if your annual household income is under a certain amount.  Whether or not you like these programs (since when is 60 old?), we all pay into these programs involuntarily.  Look at the bill below. You can see an item called Low Income Assist Fund that is added to the bill.  Each month we are contributing to the fund to support these programs. You will also see a $7.00 credit under income assistance. 

Yes, this year the company determined with the amount of people in our family and our annual income we should have a monthly credit.  I won’t argue with them.  $7.00 a month is $84.00 a year! For us, that is a free month of electricity.  And just for being a certain age you can have a credit of $3.50 a month, or $42.00 a year!  Can you do both?  Not with our company; it is one or the other.  Call your electric company or do a quick search on their website to see if there is a program that you qualify for.  

3.    Check your bill for mistakes.  Your electric company makes mistakes.  The first bill I received after changing my time of use rate they flipped the off and on peak numbers!  Yes, it showed 86% of my usage was during a peak time!  Check your bill and understand it so that if an error is made you can have it corrected.  Finding this error saved me $23.00 this year.

4.    Chest freezers are more efficient than upright freezers by almost 60 %.  My chest freezer would cost $2.34 more a month- $28.00 a year- if it were an upright.  Also, a chest freezer costs less money to buy.  In the long run you are saving money on energy AND the original purchase price.

5.    In cold weather, dress warmer; don’t turn the heat up. Add a sweater, socks and shoes. Add extra heat to a room, not the whole house. As an added bonus everyone will gather together to be in that room. Before bedtime, turn on an electric blanket for 30 minutes to warm your bed. Unplug it before you climb in. From there on out you will generate your own heat.  Don’t leave it plugged in all night! The difference for one bed for 30 min. instead of 8 hours is .20.  But for us, 6 electric blankets at 30 min. each will cost $.06 a day or $5.90 a year.  Saving us $113.40 a year (calculated at 90 days a year) by only having them on for 30 min. instead of 8 hours.

6.    In hot weather, do your best not to turn on the air conditioner. Home with the kids? Cool off in the afternoon in a pool, county or state park lake, city spray park, or your own sprinkler.  Go to the library in the afternoon or set up a cozy spot to read or play games in the basement (which is naturally cooler than above-ground levels of a house).  Keeping air conditioning off as compared to running it 3 hours a day for just 90 days out of the year saves us $122.85 per year. 

7.    Continue to educate yourself on electricity usage and your savings are infinite.   Here is one great site: www.michealbluejay.com. 

Next time we’ll talk about extreme ways (at least for we Americans) to save on heating and cooling.

Hi everyone! Frugal accomplishments are a bit late this week because of an internet issue we had, but here they are nonetheless.

1. Sold 4 dozen eggs.

2. Cut curly dock as winter feed for my goats.

3. Picked up aluminum cans to recycle when Hubs and I went for a walk.

4. Picked 7 cups raspberries from the garden, plus a quart of green beans and several heads of lettuce.

5. Made lavender soap.

6. Made a price book.

7. Downloaded the free trial version of Scrivener and spent a few hours going through the free tutorial. I plan on using this software in the future to work on more books.

8. Went bent 'n' dent shopping! My mom and I spent Thursday morning at a new (for us) discount store. It was hard to not buy everything in the store, but I had set a budget amount of $50.00, and the total came in just under that.

Some things I bought at the discount store were: ramen noodles ($0.15 each), Craisins ($1.50/ 10 oz.bag), candy bars (only a couple for $0.25 each), disposable razors ($0.79 for 5-pk.), Clif bars ($2.50 for 40 bars), tortillas ($0.50 for 20pk), spaghetti ($0.79/lb), penne pasta ($0.65/lb), wheat thins ($0.75 each), shaped snack crackers (Horizon Organic's version of Teddy Grahams at $0.75 per box), chocolate cake mix ($0.75), sugar cookie mix ($1.00), instant oatmeal ($1.25 for 10 pks), quick oats ($0.75/lb), tortilla chips ($0.75), sausage ($0.65/lb), pepperoni ($4.89  for 2 lb. bag) and sliced ham ($1.39/lb.). There were a few other items I bought that may or may not be a good deal- specifically paper towels and wax/parchment paper/ tin foil. These are items I don't buy often, so I am keeping track of price per unit (square foot) in my new price book.

Most of the food items went in my "vacation" box. These are things that we hopefully won't eat unless there is an occasion where we would be buying junk food anyway... like vacation. Other things I bought were pantry staples or steeply discounted lunch meats for flavoring pizza, soups, and casseroles.

Eating Expired Food?
One thing a reader brought up about discount stores is that the food items are often expired. Looking at all of the bags and boxes I purchased, this is generally true (probably half of my purchases were past the expiration date). However, the meat, for example, had been frozen- likely before the expiration date. Other things that had expired- cake mix, instant oatmeal, junk food- are considered non-perishables for a reason. The expiration date for these items is actually a "Best By" date, meaning that the quality declines slowly after that date, but the food is still very safe to eat (items marked, "Use By [Date]" may NOT be safe to eat). I came to the conclusion that I am okay with eating a $0.07 Clif bar that is outdated. I mean, it's an unopened CLIF BAR for crying out loud, and it was practically free. I think they are still just as yummy.

Another thing I've heard is that Dollar Tree stores will simply put new expiration dates on non-perishable foods before they are put out on the shelf. So those of you who shop at the Dollar Tree for food are probably eating outdated food and don't even know it. And if you don't know it, that begs the question... why should you care? 

9. We bought a bunch of toilet paper last week, and I decided to do an experiment. When I put a new roll in the bathroom, I used a permanent marker to write the date on the inside of the toilet paper  tube. When the roll was empty, I checked the date to see how long it had been. Only 5 days!!! That is crazy for a household of two people. However, the toilet paper we bought was the thick and quilted kind, which is probably why it went so fast. I am going to do the same experiment next time we buy toilet paper (a thinner, cheaper kind, hopefully). I think reusing rags for toilet paper ("family cloth") is really gross, but if you are going through a roll of TP in less than a week, I can see where the savings would definitely add up.

I also put a date on a new tube of toothpaste, and planning on doing our other personal care items (deodorant, shampoo, conditioner) as well. This will help me predict when we will need more and how much I should buy when there is a sale.

10. Used the meat slicer I bought at a garage sale last week to make pepperoni slices from the parts and pieces of pepperoni that I bought at the discount store. I've never bought pepperoni before, so it will be nice to use on pizza and in casseroles.

Goals for This Week:

1. Make yogurt.
2. Clean out storage/craft room.
3. Weed pumpkin patch.

Til next time,
-Bethany

The Great Reveal….

Finding out how much energy each item in your house uses can be quite revealing.  When I can choose what time to run an item, I have reported on peak and off peak costs.  When the item is on constantly, I have averaged the price from my bill. Here are my results:

Notes on a few appliances:
Dryer – jeans still not dry after 1 hour on high. 
Water Heater – from completely cold (I shut it off, used the water up, and then turned it back on). 
Fridge – because of the cycling this is more accurate per day instead of hour.
Bread Machine – full cycle, one loaf of bread.
Piano – one hour read still 0.00

Making Things More Efficient

I can use the information above to make better choices about using electricity. We have time of use charges, therefore it is cheaper for me to run the highest consuming electrical items during the off peak electrical times.  I make sure any baking or wash is done prior to 11:00 am.  I will cook most of lunch prior to 11:00 am. We power wash vehicles on the weekend. We try to make supper after 7:00 pm, but this doesn’t always work.

Let’s say I want supper ready at 6:00 pm on Thursday because I’m having company (just because that is the only day that works for them... I would obviously have them over at an off-peak time! – HA HA) and I’ve chosen split pea soup with fresh bread.

Cooking the soup will cost:

Stovetop – 3 kwh - $0.51
Pressure Cooker - $0.13
Slow Cook 8 hours – $0.64

Baking the bread will cost:

Oven – $0.32
Bread Machine - $0.07

Knowing what I know now, I’ll be using the bread machine and cooking that soup in the electric pressure cooker. Simply changing the cooking method can save $0.75 without even trying. If bread and soup is a regular weekly meal, the payoff for making these simple changes in electricity usage is $39.00 per year. On ONE MEAL. 

Family Involvement & Learning Opportunities

When Boy #3 has a new business plan to hatching chicks in an incubator and sell them, I know just what his expense in electricity will be and he can add that cost to his business expense.

In our home we hang our clothes to dry. All of my children start doing their own laundry at age 8. They all earn money in one way or another, and if they choose to use the dryer it costs them $2.00.

They don’t all like to pay. Boy #2 went down to read the dryer usage (on the door) to figure out if he was being overcharged.  Most appliances have a sticker on the back, door, or somewhere that shows the estimated usage.

To figure out usage from the door sticker, he took number of volts (240) and multiply it by the number of amps (26) to get 8240 watts or 8.24 kwh per hour.  He took that 8.24 and multiplied it by our cost per kwh, $0.12.5 (off peak) to get $1.03.

Guess what? Smart Boy was being charged more than the actually usage!  It’s only $1.03, an overcharge of $.97! Am I lowering the price?  Ummm…..no.  We will call the remainder a convenience fee, but what great lessons he has learned!

1. Always check your costs to make sure you are being charged correctly.
2. Calculate the cost of usage when you are thinking about buying something by using the information on the appliance.
3. I don’t need a dryer to have clean clothes.
4. Convenience costs me money, better planning saves money.
5. And a bit of math…..Volts * amps = watts.  To get a kwh you divide by 1000.

 
**When I tested the usage by shutting everything else down and recording the meter reading, I got 4 kwh per hour or $0.52 per hour, but an hour doesn’t always dry everything completely.  The information on the door does not match the actual usage in this case.

We need to look at everything in our homes that consume electricity- or better put, consumes our hard earned money. 

***When I took a step back and looked at my findings, I thought really, do pennies matter?  But beyond frugality, and my attempt to save my family money, there is more.  I don’t believe electricity will always be as reasonable as it is now.  Should it rise, or I move to another area (like Europe) my family is prepared and ready to consume as little as possible. There will be no learning curve for them.  From a green standpoint I also feel we are doing our part to conserve resources – even as a large family.

​Next time, we will look at little tips that can save you BIG money. 

Last week was super productive. We didn't have a lot going on, so I got to spend more time in the house and garden.

1. Made a vase arrangement for the table using lilies and ferns from the garden.

2. Harvested over five quarts of berries, 1 quart of green beans, lettuce and chamomile from the garden. I also harvested a bowl of Japanese beetles for my chickens.

In order to hand-pick the beetles, fill a container 75% full of water and add a drop of dish soap. Then go out early in the morning when the bugs are still sleeping. My beetles LOVE the raspberry patch, so that is where I collect. If they are still tired, you can usually brush or shake the bugs off into the bowl of water. After collecting, I leave the bugs for an hour or two until I know they have all died. Then I feed them to the chickens.

This accomplishes two things. First it gets the bugs off the raspberries without any chemicals, and second it feeds the chickens a nice protein-filled snack. It only takes 15-20 minutes in the morning to do this.

3. Mounted/framed some paintings from Honduras and Guatemala. Hubs measured and built frames for the paintings out of scrap lumber, and then I helped him stretch and staple the canvas over each frame. They turned out very nice.

6. Sold 2 dozen eggs.

7. Earned $53.04 at the farmers market. Technically I am taking the months of July and August off, but this Saturday Hubs was busy and I thought I'd take the opportunity to try out a different Saturday market in my home town. This one was smaller, but also had smaller fees and was close by. I was curious to see how things would work out. I priced my baked goods a little lower than I normally do. As it turns out, they were still a little bit higher than the other bakers, but people bought anyway.

At the end of the day, I actually made more money this week at a small market than I did either week of June ($47.06 and $44.36 respectively) at the large market. Though I marked my prices down and didn't sell as much stuff on Saturday, the $15 less in booth fee and $1 less in gas money allowed my net profit to be more. Who knew? Now I can plan on doing the larger market during the month of May (before the small market opens), and then move to the smaller market in June. From June-August I will probably only sell once a month. $53.00 is more than enough to cover monthly summer feed costs for the animals.

The only thing I didn't like about my hometown market was selling (or not selling) to people I grew up with. That was a little weird. I felt like some of the people I knew were critiquing my stuff. I wondered if they thought my products were stupid or overpriced or bad. "Oh, there's Bethany, trying to sell a bunch of stuff she made. I know her- she's not a REAL baker/soap-maker/author/farmer. Let me look at this... nope, totally not legit. I'll bet she doesn't even make any money at this. What a waste of time. What a loser. She should just go get a real job like all the rest of us."

We tend to take strangers more seriously than friends (especially the ones we grew up with), so my suspicions/fears were probably correct in some cases. There will always be a few people who think you are "not legit" just because you grew up down the street. However, the bottom line is that I did make more money and it was easier and less stressful than the large market. So, I'll probably sell there again.

Unfortunately, on the way home one of my tires blew. So, my market car is out of commission until Hubs finds another tire. Good thing I'm not doing market again for a while!

Hello everyone! June was a "more of the same" month for my little hobby farm. 

My major accomplishment last month was creating a spreadsheet and system for feeding animals a consistent amount of grain. For the past two years I've kind of been "winging it" with feeding animals. It was just two goats for the first 18 months, so as long as I was consistent with the amount it didn't matter financially whether I gave more or less feed. But now that I have chickens and 10 goats, I need to focus on keeping feed bills low. This means feeding exactly what they need; no more, no less.

In order to get a more exact amount, I took a kitchen scale, empty cottage cheese container and Sharpie marker down to the barn. I used the scale to measure out one pound of feed in the container, and then I marked the 1 lb., 1/2 lb. and 1/4 lb. lines with a permanent marker. My measurements for 1 lb. of corn, goat feed and layer mash came out almost exactly the same, so I use the same "measuring cup" for all three feed types.

Goats
After some research, I decided to feed Adi 1-2 lbs. of feed per day. I let her eat as much as she wants on the milking stand because she is still producing milk. I've chosen to give the other goats a collective 1.5 lbs., once a day. Technically they should not need any feed because they are on grass, but I feel better giving them a little bit of grain and some of last year's hay just in case. The buck is not receiving any feed right now because he has his own pasture.

At the beginning of the month, I was giving Alex (a fiber goat that kidded in April) 1-2 lbs. of feed every day as well. However, I was only getting 1/2 cup of milk per day from her. After making my feed cost worksheet on Excel, I realized that I was putting $0.41 of feed into her every day for that 1/2 cup of milk. Therefore, a gallon of Alex-milk was costing me around $13.00. NOT a good deal!!! So I stopped milking Alex, and she now shares the 1.5 lbs. of feed with the other goats. It is less work and less cost that way.

Having so many goats has really taken a toll on the pasture and fencing system. We still haven't been able to sell the kids, so they have been busy finding places to get out and weaseling into Mom's pen to drink her milk before I can get any. We have three paddocks fenced off, and I don't think it is enough. One paddock goes to the buck, one goes to Adi (the milking goat), and all eight of the other goats are in the last pen. Goats are escape artists, and the way they go about it is 1) finding a weak spot in the fence (this is usually a place where the bottom of the fence is curling up from them pushing on it) and 2) working on that weak area until the hole is large enough to escape. Just today, in fact, the Pygoras broke through another area and it took three people to get them back in. Thankfully they didn't get in the garden.

Right now, the fiber goats are collectively costing me about $12.82 per month. During the winter months, costs will increase to about $53.00. Since getting the fiber in April I have only sold one ounce, so it's not something that can sell itself. The question is if the goats can actually produce enough fiber to sell 2-6 oz. per month ($450 per year for their keep). 

That being said, we are having to make some hard decisions about which goats are staying and which ones need to find another farm. I've just reached a limit of what I can take care of by myself, as well as what can be supported by our pasture and fencing system. 

The good news is that I sold a bulk amount of soap to a retailer this month, so milk product sales were up.

Chickens
I finally got around to butchering roosters last month. We did five, and saved some of the feathers to use for crafts. I canned the legs and wings, and froze the breasts/carcasses to use in crock pot meals.

We did have an additional rooster fatality last month from unknown causes. At least it wasn't a laying hen!

According to Google, laying hens eat 1/4 lb. of feed per day while they are producing. We have a mixed herd of about 35 laying and non-laying birds. Therefore, I should be feeding 8 lbs. 12 oz. of feed daily. However, the hens are free range and have plenty of bugs and spilled goat feed to eat, so I've cut the amount back to 5 lbs. per day (half shelled corn, half layer mash) Chickens, then, are costing $0.80 per day, or $24.80 per month. Previously I was feeding "scoops" instead of pounds, and going through about $30.00 of feed every month. So doing some research and a little math is already saving at least $5.00 per month.

Again though, during the winter I won't be able to sell as many eggs and the feed requirements will go back to 8.75 lbs. per day ($1.40 per day, or $43.35 per month).

Bottom Line

Income
Eggs: $52.00
Milk products: $87.80
Garden produce: $9.50
Other farmers market stuff: $47.42
Total income: $196.72

Expenses
Feed: $42.00
Total expenses: $42.00

Total Net Profit for June: $154.72

Year-to-Date Net Profit: $67.49!!!

Yay!!! We're finally ahead for the year. During July and August I won't be at the farmers market often. I'm going to put my energy instead toward finding ways to cut winter costs and/or improve my Etsy store.

Til next time,
-Bethany

​Today we are going over different ways to measure your electricity inside the home.  Hopefully you know where your meter is and are tracking your daily or bi-daily usage.  You know how much each kilowatt is costing you and you’re considering time of use rates. 

What's Taking the Juice?

​You can find out what is using electricity in your home, item by item, in a couple different ways.  The first way is to simply unplug every in your home and then plug in one thing and a time and record it for an hour.  Some items are easy to unplug like the fridge and freezer (yes, these can be unplugged for a bit – just do not open them during the time they are unplugged and remember to plug them back in – set an alert on your phone).  Others, like the stove and water heater (if electric – do not turn off a gas water heaters or stoves – we are measuring electric usage) need to be shut off at the circuit panel. 

Your circuit panel looks like this:   

 It should be labeled so you can see which appliance is which.  Simply switch the stove and water heater to the off position (or opposite of what it currently is).  You will know if you forget to turn these back on, because after a while your water will be cold and the stove won’t work. 

Consider which appliance you will test first.  Maybe start with the stove.  I have unplugged everything but the stove and am now testing how many kilowatts the stove will use when I bake something.  I record the number that is showing on my meter.  Turn it on, let it run for an hour – bake something – you don’t want to waste this use of electricity!  Read your meter again.  The difference in the two numbers will tell you how much per hour the oven uses.  I can do this with the stove top burners as well.  When I tested my oven, it used 5 kwh per hour. 

I can do this with the dryer as well.  Before, my meter read 1297, and after it was 1301 (a difference of 4 kwh).  I had it running for an hour on high.
 
Option #2: Kill a Watt

The second way to measure is with an electric meter.  I got mine on Amazon years ago – when my electric bill was running in the $1000.00 month range.  This one is appropriately called the Kill A Watt.