A New Baby - A New Start

The baby is here! Yep, we are now the proud parents of two boys. Now we have lots and lots to do around here. Once I finally get over the surgery (this baby was a c-section) I have great plans to get moving on some home improvements to save energy around here. I was horrified by our gas and electric bill last month, and know it’s much more this month with the cold and snow we’ve had. Keeping it warm for the baby is a bit of a chore.

I've fallen off the wagon a bit lately. Being so tired at the end of my pregnancy made me a bit of a slacker. I kept up with the recycling, but I could have done so much more. I'm going to keep going this next year - working towards my goals of being lighter on the earth.

Our house is a leaky thing – lots of drafts – so we will be looking at ways to get this under control. We’ve already started by ordering blinds for all of our windows – this will give us another layer to trap the air in. And we will put film on the windows where we can to do the same thing. We also bought a space heater for our son’s room so that we can keep him warm without having the heat cranked up high. Another step will be to get some caulking and use that around some of the windows on the inside. We’ll check out the outside, too, but it’s snowy here right now and a bit awkward to do that. A little weather stripping under one of the doors is in order, too. And lastly, I discovered a couple of places to use some of that expanding foam stuff to block out drafts coming into the house.

I am going to get an energy audit done on the house in the new year. It’s supposed to be around $150 to do this through the LivesSmartBC program and it sounds like a great idea. Someone comes and tells you the best ways to improve the energy rating on your home and then you do the fixes over the next 18months (what you choose to do, anyway) and then you can pay them to come back and re-audit. I understand the first audit will be refunded in the rebates they help you to claim, if you go ahead and do some of the things they suggest. They also help you to apply for all of the government rebates you get for doing things like replacing furnaces, hot water heaters, insulation etc. We have a furnace that’s over 30 years old and a hot water heater that isn’t new, so it’s worth having them come as I think these may end up biting the bullet in the next year, anyway.

I am also having someone come to service the furnace asap. If we are going to use it, we might as well have it working as best it can.

Somehow we’ll get all this done, even though we are spending all our time loving our new little baby and our little boy. It’s time to make this a great place for them – without all the cold spots!