I do a lot of laundry! A lot of laundry. I am still trying to convince my kids that they can wear clothes more than once if they are not dirty (underwear is the exception). I do about three or more loads a day. As I have already mentioned we are a single income family and need to find cost cutting measures anywhere we can find them. At this time last year our hydro bill was over $350.00 a month, it was killing us! We needed to find something that would cut down on our energy consumption.
I looked into solar panels. I called several businesses and shook my head after each conversation. The first person I spoke to could not understand why I did not want to spend $20, 000.00 to get huge solar panels for all over my yard. I told him I just wanted maybe one or two for my roof depending on the cost, he literally laughed at me and wished me luck. The next few businesses were in the business of selling solar panels to individuals who wanted a solar farm, and could not understand why I would want to use the solar power for my own use not sell it to Hydro. The next, and last business I called told me that for what I wanted I was looking at $8, 000, and it would maybe power my t.v.. It was after that conversation that made us decide that solar panels were not the direction that we were going.
I then looked into waterless tank heaters. I called around for prices, but the big box stores had limited information. We called Reliance Home Comfort, and got some good information and we decided to go with a rental natural gas tankless water heater. We also purchased a natural gas dryer. It was about $100.00 difference from the same electric model, and Sears only had two models of gas dryer that they carried. We called a gas fitter and got the ball rolling. By the time it was all said and done we paid $500.00 to get extra natural gas lines, and the water heater installed, and almost $800.00 for the natural gas dryer. We then wondered if the savings would equal the out- put of cash.
It was the best decision to spend that cash! We have not once run out of hot water, and our hydro bill is less than half of what it was (it averages about $150.00 a month now). Our natural gas bills are only a fraction more. The natural gas dryer is more efficient than the old electric dryer and costs so much less to run. If there is a downside, and it really is minimal, the water has to run longer to get hot. We made back the money we spent on the appliances and pipes in the first three months.
Money well spent!
If anyone is considering the switch, I highly recommend doing it. When we were considering switching things up, we could not find anyone else that had. It was stressful wondering if we were making a good decision. If anyone has any questions, you now know someone who has made the switch, so feel free to fire off the questions!
Now if I could just get the kids to wear their clothes more than once, any suggestions?
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