With everything going up (including the cute kiddo's) I was determined to keep down our gas/electric bill. The electric company will average out your last years bill and then every month instead of it going up or down you pay the same every month. Then if you go over, your bill will be higher for the next 12 months. I knew since we added on to the house our bill getting larger was inevitable. I really wanted to try to keep it where we were currently at and not go up another fifty dollars. So this past year I tried really hard to keep the bill down. I even remember some hot late afternoon getting ready to make dinner and dreading the thought of turning on the oven because I didn't want to add to the heat (yes we BBQ A LOT). Then I would be grateful for not being a pioneer woman in a long sleeved shirt, long full skirt, lots of undies under neath and how they had to start a fire just to cook. Believe me I think that if I lived in the desert and lived back then I would definitely be "Washing my laundry" everyday down at the creek, shoes off feet in the water and skirt scantily hiked to my knees. I thought I should just stop whining. Well the time has come for the truth. Not only did I keep it where we are currently at but we dropped another fifty dollars!!! I can't take all the credit we did get more insulation on the house. Yeah I am so happy!