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Nov 20, 2008    |       17 comments

The Economy is Rippling Down

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I guess it was bound to happen. Our area usually isn’t too affected by downturns and upturns in the economy, but we are finally starting to see the effects of the economy rippling down. The news is starting to report on more businesses closing their doors for good or shutting down for a while. Most of it sounds like a cash flow problem, since demand and consumer spending is low.

Looking in the paper, I noticed that there are less job opportunities – about a 2/3 reduction. Some of that could be due to it being winter. But it’s still lower than normal.

We probably aren’t helping things much at all – we aren’t spending that much money right now. Our favorite restaurant no longer has its flair because we figured out how to duplicate our favorite items from it at home. Even McDonalds isn’t as special since we have made our own modified Big Macs successfully (thanks to Top Secret Recipes).

Plus it’s winter! Right now it feels like 7 degrees out with the wind. BRR. I’m content with sitting on the couch snug with a blanket. There’s no desire to go to any store to go shopping LOL.

There is an article at the MSN Smart Spending blog that asked if frugal people are ruining the economy. Tough question. While I definitely don’t believe frugal people are to blame for the current economic condition, I know that our family is affecting local businesses if we no longer spend money there. It’s a small impact, but if there are more people out there like us – it turns into a big impact.

Nov 17, 2008    |       6 comments

Our House Isn’t Keeping Heat In As Well This Winter

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We have an old house. It’s either 100 years old or very close to it. The last few winters, it has done very well with keeping in the heat. It always amazed me how well insulated the house was. This year is different and I’m not sure why. I don’t have any bills yet to back this up, but I can tell things are different this year with how often the heat turns on and how quickly the temperature drops when the heat turns off. It also feels drafty.

The main thing that we do every year is put plastic on certain windows. That’s basically it because our home already has blown-in insulation and we have a few trees that are nice windbreakers.

Wait a minute. Our neighbor cut down some trees this summer. Could that be affecting us even though the trees were a distance from our house?

According to the USDA:

The reduction in wind speed behind a windbreak modifies the environmental conditions in this sheltered zone. The sheltered zone extends as far as ten to fifteen times the height of the windbreak downwind from the windbreak.

Wow. Those trees were close enough and they were in the right position to block the wind. I was sad to see them go to begin with (there was an owl that liked to hang out on the top of one of them), but now it could be related to our home not being able to fight the winter winds like it used to. I guess we were spoiled and we didn’t even realize it.

I have a few ideas of things we could try to help combat the extra wind this winter. One is to create a small windbreak using snow. That’ll be some good exercise for me and a fun project for me and my son. Doing that should help to at least keep the basement warmer. Then I am going to borrow a trick from a commenter at Lifehacker. To find drafts in your home, burn a stick of incense and take it around your doors and windows. The smoke will change directions when you go by a draft. I can definitely feel them – it’s time to find them and seal them up!

For our future dream home, we are definitely going to incorporate a windbreak.

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