Geezz is it cold out or what?

I am looking at the thermometer and I have a cool 7 degrees. As I get older I find I am not as thrilled with seeing the snow come as I was when I was a kid. As an adult I have had to consider things my parents did in the winter months that I did not even know about, and as a kid finding a candle to grease up the runners on my sled was the biggest concern. I now live in a mobile home. Anybody who also lives in one in the cold regions know the misery of manning the hairdryer in zero degree weather when the pipes freeze. I have decided I am done with that extracurricular activity. I have enclosed my bladder tank and related piping in that hard board like insulation, making a box around it and the crawl space getting to it. I then took a cinder block and placed it near the bladder tank and upon the cinder block placed a short bedside type lamp with a 60 watt bulb. I ran a heavy duty extension cord into the back room and plugged it in. My crawlspace went from 38 degrees to 44 degrees pretty quickly. I can unplug the cord without crawling under the trailer when the weather is a little warmer. The reason for the cinder block is that it tends to get moist in the crawlspace and the block keeps the electric lamp above ground level. Depending on how long your crawlspace is, and how much duct tape you want to use, and prices of insulation in your area this project will vary in cost. I spent a little under $100.00, but...at 3am when you get up and flush the toilet and the thing fills up and it is zero outside....there is comfort. With the new move to eliminate the old light bulbs I an a little tempted to start hording the 60 watt'ers. I go through about 1-2 a year and I am hoping to be around for another 40 years or so, so I need to buy at least 80 of them to keep my pipes from freezing until I die, just in case they quite selling them anytime soon. It is much more expensive to replace the broken pipes than run a light when the temps get near zero. I would estimate it adds about $30.00 over 5-6 months to my electric bill. This is a do it your self project that is well worth the effort, and anybody with any skill level can do it. This idea was passed to me from my Dad, boy is he smart!

Do-it-yourself Handyman
Click Here!

Have a good one..
Deb

Saving on the energy bill

I do the best I can to keep my utility bills down as far as I can. What I am paying for utilities leaves less for groceries and my effort to pay off those credit cards. If you are a little handy natural energy generation might help. Long before all the sites came around that give you great direction I built my own wind mill. I had a old celling fan that I attached to a Ford tractor generator and nailed it to a large pole type post my clothes line was tied to. I ran wire into my back room where I connected it to a 12v car battery, then connected the battery to a converter I bought at the automotive store. I plugged a couple of old lamps into he converter and lit my back room that way for a few years until the celling fan blades rotted off the generator. It decreased my electric bill by about $20.00 a month, which to some people probably isn't much, but when your a single parent you learn to stretch a twenty into $40. Here is some help with such projects:

Tools for Solar & Wind Energy for Your Home
GO HERE

Simply Solar Guide
GO HERE

GreenDIYenergy (New) Solar & Wind DIY Guide
GO HERE

Solar, Wind, Green - Earth power Energy System - DIY Guide
GO HERE

Earth Power Energy System
GO HERE


If I can not afford to go to the Bahamas I sure am going to do my best not to send my utility company there!!

Have a good one-
Deb

Here is a site to look at.

If you are looking for a work at home opportunity you might want to check this out. It takes commitment, but anything worth while does, doesn't it? It is the site that helped me build this blog. I have never done anything like this before and had absolutely no idea were to start or how. I found it very helpful and supportive so far.

Web Colleagues
GO HERE

Has everybody looked at hundreds of work at home ads yet?

In 1998 I bought my second computer (my first was a Tandy EX I bought in 1980, but the Internet was not public yet so it was not Internet compatible) and so began my Internet search for a job I could do from home. I was a single parent making minimum wage and it was not working for me. So for 12 years I have been searching for something I could do from home that would pay me instead of shoving out all kinds of money to make it work. As a result of my single parent status and being scammed at an incredible rate my credit is shot. The upside is that I do not have to bother with identity theft insurance because any thief that steals my identity will be in for a big surprise..I wish I could only be there to see it. As a result of my years of searching I can tell ya what definatly does not work, and provide some leads for working from home. I have to say though that if it promises instant riches and their is no sweat investment - run - run as fast as you can!!

Where we are all at right now.

The times they are a changing, but It seems somethings never do. If you are like me you are treading water, or trying to keep up with staying behind. Whether you have a job or not, robbing Peter to pay Paul is getting to be the norm around here, and I suspect my home is not the only one doing this.
Whether it is sharpening your do-it-yourself skills or clipping coupons, or starting a new business on the side from home we all seem to be at least trying to keep up with staying behind. There are a lot of good tips and ideas out there as well as companies that understand our pain. Banks do not seem to be part of our click do they?
So lets support each other. We have had our own earthquake here at home, and since we have been a couple of years now been trying to dig ourselves out it seems to be a very slow process. Ideas anyone?