Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Paying to Save On Energy...Now and Later

I'm in North Dakota now, for the North Star Quilting Guild's annual show. It's beautiful here -- rich, dark farmlands, with fields that stretch on forever. The skies do, too, with wispy cloud shows and rich colors as the sun set. I'm on the 11th floor of the hotel, and it's like watching a show. Yow.
    I start the judging part of this gig tomorrow morning at 8. 



Taking me to the airport today, the Brick pointed to to the dashboard -- "More than 30 mpg." he said. We just got a 2011 Subaru Outback, as our 'major' vehicle. (Our beloved Jeep Cherokee is at 240,000 miles and climbing, with several new problems developing.) The Jeep only gets 13-18 mpg now. Just by driving the Subaru, we're making every gallon of gas stretch a little further!

This model looks a lot like our new baby

I thought about this more, about the windows we'd just had replaced in the house. In spite of the huge winds we've had this week, and the heat set very low, the house has stayed quiet and reasonably warm, with no telltale puffs of cold creeping in around the windowpanes.Yet our energy bill continues to go down, slowly but surely...

Yes, these all cost extra. Making energy-saving changes often does...at first. But how often can you spend...and gradually make that money back? The Subaru has a sterling reputation for reliability, and we got a better price on it than we'd hoped. The windows look classic and keep outside sound to a minimum. (And yes, we got a good price on them, too. You couldn't ask for better than Dustin at Prestige Products.) This is actually our second batch of windows -- we ordered the rest after the first set of windows weathered a winter, spring and summer beautifully. Even better -- they unlatch and fold in sideways, making cleaning much easier! (Yes, they do estimates, and they'll replace windows a few at a time, if that helps your budget -- click here to see more. Tell Dustin Dave and Cindy sent you.)


This idea, of spending to save, was hard for me, at first. After all, I belong to a family of Hollanders who are used to fixing things with spit and duct tape. Spending $$ is spending $$!
    But if your money is going for a quality product that promptly starts putting money back in your pocket...even my Hollander dad could go for that.

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