Today was sunny and a little warmer than yesterday. I had the same amount of sleep (5 hrs.), but I felt rested when I woke up. I wrote a note to my gardener friend M with instructions about what to do in the garden, but I forgot to leave it out for him before I left the house! I only remembered it when I came home and he called to say he trimmed and cleaned the backyard as there was no note! Oops!
I went to the office and had a productive day. In the afternoon, I went for my walk (I didn't walk, yesterday). I took one photograph, but apparently, it didn't get saved on my phone, because I couldn't find it! Oh, well, it will be another reason to walk back there, next week. I bought myself a package of raisin buns from the bakery that is located along the route I walked today, and that probably undid all the benefits of the walk! LOL! At least it wasn't cake! They had some really tempting cakes in their display case!
Today, I called regarding a bill I had received from the cancer clinic and took care of that - they shouldn't have billed me because I had met my co-pay deductibles and I had provided them with a copy of the letter from insurance, already. The lady I spoke with was very nice, though, and said it will be taken care of.
Then, I called the surgeon's office and spoke with the lady who will be scheduling the surgery, to inform her that I am scheduled to have my pre-ops done one Monday. I wanted to get a feel for when she thought the surgery might be scheduled, because I need to notify daughter so she can arrange to come down for my surgery (the surgeon operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays).
After I came home, I watched some TV and chatted with daughter.
This week, I haven't heard from either Aunt C or friend Rwhich is a bit unusual. I should call them, tomorrow. Hope they are both keeping well.
Today, I received my water and electric bill, which includes sewer service and trash collection fees. This bill is received every two months, so the charges are for a two-month period. I budget $150 per month for this bill, so have a budget of $300 for each billing period. I arrived at the $150 per month figure by averaging a year's worth of charges and dividing by 12 to get a monthly amount. The bill I received today covers the period of 11/16/17 to 1/20/18 and includes the time when daughter came home for the week of Thanksgiving and two weeks over Christmas/New Year. The entire amount of the bill is $243.05 and is broken down as follows:
Electricity (313 kWh) = $55.78
Water (15 hundred cubic feet or HCF) = $87.54
Sewer (based on the amount of water used) = $20.92
Solid waste (trash) = $78.81
Total = $243.05
Up to 1,000 kWh of electricity is allowed at Tier 1 (lowest rate) rates; and I used less than one third of that, so my electricity consumption is quite low. I suppose I could get it down even lower if I don't stay up practically all night and keep the lights on! LOL.
I also had to disable the automatic garage door mechanism because I found that the garage door had opened by itself and was wide open, one night! So, I have been opening and closing the garage door, manually. It's a bit inconvenient and I will be getting it fixed, but, in the meantime, I'll be saving a little bit of electricity usage there, too!
I am allowed up to 16 HCF of water during this period at Tier 1 rates and I used 15, so I managed to stay under the limit, which is also good. It is harder to cut back on water usage than on electricity, for me, because I do water the garden at least once a week.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Getting the medical bill attended to
- Being able to get some additional information from the surgeon's office
- A sunny afternoon walk
- Raisin buns from the bakery
- Money to pay the bills
Weekend To Do List:
- Attend to the garage door
- Put gas to the car
- Do grocery shopping
- Clean the kitchen
- Do the dishes
- Change the bed sheets
- Do laundry
- Water the indoor plants
- Water the front garden
- Call aunt
- Call friend R
- Meal plan/cook
- Paperwork/pay bills
How was your Friday? What are your plans for the weekend? What do you do to cut down on electricity and water usage?
I'm worried about Aunt C, too because she usually calls frequently. Hope she's just had a busy week and is not sick.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Live and Learn. I called her, this morning. I didn't call her during the week because she had said she and her daughter were expecting a relative to visit from England who will be staying with them for several days and I thought they'd be busy with their visitor. But I called this morning and aunt said she's been sick - a cough, not the flu, thankfully. She had seen the doctor and she is taking medications and recovering. She's still working, part-time, so she has been going to work. She was happy I called. :)
DeleteGood for you for getting the walk in and the raisin buns (yum)
ReplyDeleteI could hang more clothes out to save electricity, but we have a neighborhood covenant prohibiting clotheslines and I only have enough portable rack space for 1 load of clothes. Yes I know I can only wash one at a time, but I tend to do laundry on specific days and there is always more than 1 load.
I guess I could turn the heat down a little more but we already keep it pretty cool in the house. Winter is not our big issue though since we heat with gas and only use electricity for the blowers. Summer a/c kills us!
Thank you, Anne. Yes, those neighborhood covenants can be restricting. I suppose you could buy another rack or two, but then, that assumes you have the space to set them up and store them when not in use. I dry all my laundry inside the house. But, then, I live in a climate that is very dry, so things dry very quickly, even indoors. I have one fairly large drying rack, two much smaller ones, and the clothes are usually put on hangers and hung from the door frames to dry. :)
DeleteI am always amazed at how much you get done on a few hours sleep. Has the not being able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour always been a problem for you? I fall asleep right away but wake up during the night. I get up early no matter how the night went but will often take a nap sitting in the arm chair after lunch. I remember when my mum did this and thought it quite impossible!
ReplyDeleteI do think that the dryer is hard on clothes and prefer outside line dried. I do a combination of my dryer, clothes rack and shirts etc. on hangers in my laundry room. We have it so much easier than previous generations.
I hope you get your garage door fixed soon as that seems like a necessity. Do you still plan on getting another washer and dryer? Our dryer is gas - more expensive when purchased but cheaper to run.
Sandy, I think I have always been a bit of a night owl! But, there was a time when I went to bed much earlier - around 10:00 p.m., at least during the week nights. This, more recent, insomnia is partly due to my medications and mostly due to the internet! I spend way too much time on the computer! Blogging, reading, etc.
DeleteYes, I do plan on getting another washer and dryer, eventually! Better do it quickly, too, because I read something about tariffs being put on washers which will no doubt raise the prices, if they haven't been raised already! I am such a procrastinator!