Living Like Ed (36 page)

RESULTS

ELECTRIC BILLS

The best way to get a feel for how much energy—and money—you’re saving is to compare your energy bills. Specifically, you’ll want to compare the year-to-year bills (i.e., the April 2008 bill against the April 2007 bill) to minimize the differences in seasonal usage.

Here’s a chart that makes it easy for you to record your electric bills. First write down the amount of each of your electric bills over the last year (e.g., April 2007, May 2007, June 2007, etc.). Continue to record the amount of your electric bill each month as it arrives. Then subtract the recent bill’s total from the previous year’s to get a sense of your savings, and just how much of a difference all of these Easy, Not-So-Big, and Big Changes have made in your energy consumption.

Since your utility company may increase its rates over time, I’ve included a space to record the number of kilowatt-hours you’ve used. This kilowatt-hour information is also handy to have when you want to purchase a TerraPass or other carbon offset product, or whenever you decide to look into a wind or solar electric system for your home.

GAS BILLS

Just as you’ve recorded your electric bills, you’ll also want to keep track of your natural gas bills, so you can appreciate those energy savings.

Again, start by writing down the amount of each of your monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly gas bills over the last year. Then continue recording the amount of your gas bill each month as it arrives.

Many gas bills include information on daily average use, which is a good way to keep track of your energy use over time. If your bill does not have this feature, you can record the number of therms used or whatever quantity/usage figure your utility company provides.

WATER BILLS

Many of the changes we’ve discussed will cut back on your water usage. This chart provides an easy place to record your water bills, so you can see the difference you’ve made.

GASOLINE COSTS

Many of the transportation changes we discussed in Chapter 2 will affect your gasoline costs, and so will some of the garden-related changes, such as switching from a gasoline-powered lawn mower to a push mower or an electric mower. Here’s the place to keep track of your gasoline expenses over time.

HEALTH BENEFITS

A lot of the changes you’ve been making will have health benefits. Here’s a handy place to keep track of the benefits you’ve seen. In each case, just record the action you’ve taken and then record any benefits you’ve experienced.

For instance, if you start riding your bike to work, you might notice increased muscle tone, better stamina, and feeling more relaxed overall. Or if you switch to earth-friendly paints, you might notice that you and your family experience fewer headaches, fewer allergies, less sniffling, and so on.

To help get you started, I’ve filled in a few of the actions here.

RECYCLING-RELATED BENEFITS

When you start recycling on a regular basis, you’ll notice a real difference in the amount of trash you’re sending to a landfill. It might be fun—and revealing—to keep track of just how full your trash cans are or how many bags you put out for pickup, as you begin getting into the recycling routine.

Perhaps you normally fill up two trash cans each week. Over time, you might fill just one can per week, or perhaps it will only be half full.

You also might notice some other benefits from the various types of recycling we discussed, like giving stuff away to charity, using a service like Freecycle, or holding a garage sale. Here’s a place to record those benefits.

Any extra room in my garage or closets or elsewhere? _____
Any psychological relief from reduced clutter? _____

CHARITY-RELATED BENEFITS

If you donate items to charity—including things like clothes, linens, toys, computers, cell phones, and books—you typically will get a tax write-off. Here’s a handy place to keep track of what you’ve donated and the financial benefit you’ve received.

GROCERY BILLS

When you grow your own food, you should see some real savings on your grocery bill.

YARD-CARE COSTS

If you’ve made some of the other garden-related changes we’ve discussed, such as removing or reducing the size of your lawn or changing from needy plants to native ones, you may see some real savings in your yard-care costs. For instance, you might be paying less for yard and garden maintenance. If you’ve been making your own compost and using it throughout your yard, you might be spending less on fertilizer and weed-control products. And if you’ve stopped buying poisons and you’ve started buying beneficial insects, you should see some cost savings there as well.

Here’s a good place to track your yard-care costs over time.

STILL MORE RESULTS

Many other changes can yield all kinds of great results. For example, if you’ve gotten your kids involved in gardening, they may have learned about the cycle of life or about where food comes from. They might even have developed an interest in cooking.

If you’ve switched from paying your bills by mail to paying them online, you’ve certainly saved on postage costs, and you might even have saved several trips to the post office, which can save time and gasoline.