Solar electricity?

Like many of you, I've looked into the idea of going "off grid". I'd like nothing better than to be off grid completely. But its not going to happen yet. So, whats a poor country girl to do, to at least keep moving in the right direction?

UNPLUG.

The first step in going offgrid is to conserve. Figure out where you're willing to sacrifice and where you're not. Figure out what your alternatives are and which ones you like and which ones you don't.

The first thing we did was switch to CFL's. We did that a long time ago, and now they are getting cheaper, thank goodness!

My family is very electric dependent yet, so to go all out all at once is not going to work. Instead, I unplug absolutely everything that is not actually in use. The only things always plugged in are the refrigerator and freezer. I have the washer plugged in because the receptical is hard to get to. I no longer use the washer, but my kids do and my husband does. Baby steps baby steps.

I do have everyone participating in Operation Unplug though.

For those that may not know it, many of your appliances draw a pretty hefty power load even when they are turned OFF. This includes the TV, the cable boxes, the microwave, the computer, the cable modem, the printer, etc. I'm sure there are more. So, in order to make sure we arne't drawing electric that we aren't even using, everything gets unplugged.

The first month I kept track of the electric bill was May. The bill was $85. The second month included part of the time with a/c's running. But we also unplugged everything that month. The bill remained $85. The latest electric bill was $120. But thats with daily use of a/c. And like I said, I'm hoping by next year, we won't even need a/c anymore.

This fall will give us a more accurate idea of how much electric we actually need.

The next step for me is going to be eliminating appliances that I don't actually need, and thus eliminating the need for their electric power. I'll list them in separate posts.