Monday, October 27, 2008

Saving money the old fashioned way - Sure it's hot as hell but I don't need to go to the spa now

So Bossy - or as I like to call her, Bossy - is having this thing called a Poverty Party and I knew immediately I had to get involved because a poverty party has got to be better than the Pity Party I usually throw for myself.

Here's the gist: Things suck right now, economically speaking. People are now, more than ever, trying to save some scratch in new and inventive ways. I'm all for that, because who knew two kids could be so expensive? Not only that, but Mr. C and I decided this summer would be the perfect time to buy a new house. And if I hadn't thrown my crystal ball across the room when it told me I had a week's worth of laundry in my future I might have realized that now was not a good time to get into even more house debt. Maybe.

Okay, probably not because this house? She was made for us. I truly believe that. She spoke to me and told me so.

No, my meds don't need to be adjusted. Why do you ask?

Anyway, with money tight my husband and I are thinking of ways to stretch our dollar. You know, paper money being so flexible and all. We've already proven our commitment to saving some cash in some ways and here's another way:


This is the wood stove in our Great Room. I call it our Great Room because, um, it's great (duh), but also because when the stove is lit and there's a roaring fire in it you can take a Great big sauna in that room and sweat out all that Great box 'o wine.

Throw one of those steamer pots on top and it will also clean out your pores. See how I just did that? I just saved myself hundreds of dollars in facials.

It doesn't matter that oil prices are starting to fall a bit, we've decided to try to heat our house a good portion of the fall and winter with this stove. Of course, the first weeks don't count because of the money we had to sink into that ugly ass child safety gate around the stove. But that was an important purchase because -

Hot Stove + Sensitive Baby Hands = Nasty Flesh Prints + Smell of Burnt Flesh + Emergency Room Co-Pays.

My math is not so good but I'm pretty sure the sum total is money out of my pocket for things like skin grafts, therapist bills and aromatherapy candles.

And the television is just to the right of the stove, so the way I figure we'll also save money on electricity because we won't be able to sit in this room to watch TV because it gets hot as Hades in our Great Room. Great.

This is just one of the ways we're making our money go farther. Tune in next time to see how I use plain old black beans to not only feed my family for days but also as an inexpensive preschooler toy!

15 comments:

Pgoodness said...

LOL. Well, I'm no good at math either, but I'm pretty certain baby gate will save you some money!

Patois42 said...

We installed a wood stove two years ago, and it has made such a big difference in our energy bill. Granted, I won't win an environmental award, but as a three-kid breeder, I wasn't going to anyway. (I do make a point of not using the stove on the days we're asked not to by whatever-the-heck-that-governmental-agency-is-called.)

Avalon said...

If you hang some wrinkled clothes in the sauna room-----volia! No more ironing either!

BOSSY said...

Lord Bossy is on the floor.

And no, she's not calling herself 'Lord Bossy', but rather she's saying, "Lorrrd!"

Who's still hanging in there with this ridiculous comment?

Right, so anyway, Lord, Bossy is on the floor laughing because when she lived on a farm in Virginia she had this *exact* configuration of blazing wood stove and baby/dog gates -- fer christakes!

SciFi Dad said...

You could also cook bacon on the top of that stove... mmm... bacon...

SciFi Dad said...

Sorry about that. I got distracted. You could cook bacon on top... mmm.... bacon...

Shit. It almost happened again!

And then the room would smell like bacon... mmm... bacon...

motherbumper said...

Ohhhhhh I see a new business venture: Mrs. Chicky's Sweat Lodge Emporium.

Anonymous said...

And it's cute!!!

Heather said...

Listen to you all glass half-full and stuff!

Anonymous said...

You make me want to spend some time in a sauna and I don't even like that stuffy-ohmygod-I-can't-breathe feeling.

11111111 said...

Hmm, strange concept--a wood stove in a house... hmm....

Alex Elliot said...

I was just talking today with a couple friends born and bred in MA about wooden stoves. Seriously, before I came to MA oil tanks and wooden stoves were things I read about but had never seen. I do really like the idea of a wooden stove though. Not the oil tank; I would switch back to gas in a second.

Meg said...

I would love a wood stove....and the added benefit of pore cleaning, sauna baking and bacon...mm...bacon. Well, that's sold me. I want a wood stove in my next house

LifeBehindTheCoach.com said...

Enterprising!
L x

Kate said...

This is good. I can get idea on having a new business. you're amazing