Well I just got the second propane delivery in just 2 months. First time was about $450. This time was $600.

That's $600 used in just 2 months and it isn't even Winter yet!

Yeah, definitely won't be spending more than a year in this house.

Conserving

I had been told the fill up I got in Oct. would last 4 months, so figured I'd be refilling in Jan. at earliest. It was just nagging intuition that led me to even go out to the back of the house to even check the levels yesterday.

I'm supposed to call for a refill at 20% remaining, because they only come out to my area on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was at about 7%!!! And it was a Thursday, meaning I'd missed the delivery window for that day and would have to hope there was space for me on Tuesday at earliest.

So yesterday I started worrying a little about running out of heating fuel, cooking fuel, and hot water heating fuel. I mean, at the rate I was burning through it, 7% wouldn't necessarily last half a week. I was going through 9% per week, and that's including some weeks I didn't need the heat at all due to a warm spell.

So I turned down both thermostats to 65 (normally 70), closed off one of the bedrooms that I don't use, reheated frozen pizza in the toaster oven for dinner, decided to make breakfast with just the electric appliances instead of cooking stovetop, then went shopping for more foods that can be cooked with electric.

Surprise!

Imagine my delight when an hour after I got home I saw the propane truck pull up... on a Friday!

I guess he figured I would run out before his regular delivery to my area too, so went out of his way to fit me in the very next day.

I actually met him as he drove off the first time he delivered for me, and he is a really nice guy. I love it when people prioritize giving others what they need, not just what they are owed. That's real community.

But now that I've made my energy conservation adjustments, I realize these are things I should have always been doing. Well maybe not so much the cooking with electric, since most of the electric power supplied to this area comes from coal burning in Colorado. But definitely I'll continue with turning down the heat, covering up the windows more with my thick curtains, even though it makes it darker inside, and closing off unused rooms.

The funny thing is, if the owner of this house wasn't too cheap to pay to get the place connected to county gas lines, I would probably still be doing what I had been doing. Even the high price wouldn't have changed my behavior. It was only the inconvenience of needing to keep track of usage and schedule deliveries, risking running out entirely, that made me realize that my habits were not ideal.

Of course, I say that as I sit here wearing 3 sweaters and my muscles aching a little from tensing to create heat. Didn't even need to put on a jacket to run to the store. (There isn't a lot of fat insulation on this little body.)