Week Three = Done!

Week 3 ended yesterday, with our meter reading 54522 at 12:45PM. Of course, I've been wrong on meter readings before, so I'm quite possibly wrong on this one as well.

During the course of this family project (which will end on August 19th, for those of you who are interested), we've gone from one person in the house to two, and finally back to three when a 6-foot teenager came home to stay roughly two weeks ago. With more people in the house, more energy will be expended, though we are heartily trying our best to keep it down.

We're not altogether sure yet if unplugging things has had the effect that we wanted it to. Judging by our meter, it may not, though we've been very careful in adhering to the rules we set down. The desktop computer is never on when the television is, and all members of the family have been carping at each other to please, please, please turn the lights off and unplug things when they are not in use. Even lamps have been unplugging, necessitating hilarity when trying to shuffle through rooms in the dark and avoid objects...particularly the cat, who being a convenient black-and-white color is almost unnoticable as he lays where he wants - and he does not like being punted like a football across the room. I know people say that humans can see in the dark, but I'm also quite sure that gene and ability bypassed some, including me.

We also had our first no-stove night last night, not by miles of pre-planning but completely by accident. I was already planning on cooking the meat on the grill, but when my son suggested a change in potatoes it left me free not to turn on the stove and instead use the deep-fryer, and what person would ever pass that up, I wonder? Certainly not me. So dinner last night was cooked entirely without our natural-gas stove, something I insisted on upon moving into the house but have come to regret due to the rising costs of energy.

Anyway, the project is moving along merrily and so are we. Hopefully on August 19th we'll have a better understanding of just how much energy we may have used and saved at the end of the 30 days.

Have a good day everyone!