An I just rant about oil prices?

LauraMax

LauraMax

Cathlete
This is the first year I've had oil heat. My bills started at about $350 last fall, & kept creeping up until I was paying $430 a month. $430 A MONTH!!!!!!!!!! For my little 1300 sq. ft. house for pete's sake! I figured my heating costs would be about the same as gas heat, boy was I wrong!

I just paid off the balance of my bill, in the neighborhood of $1000. Never have I been so happy to see spring! I'm thinking next year it'll be cheaper to put a space heater in every damn room & pay the electric prices instead of the oil prices. This is absolutely insanity! How on earth can my oil payment be twice as much as my car payment?????? x(
 
Rant away!!! Fuel oil prices are completely insane. DH just inquired about pre-buy prices in our area (central VT) and they're projected to be OVER $1 per gallon from last year, which was ridiculously high to begin with.

On our end, we're fortunate in that we own a wood lot, so we just bought a wood stove to heat our main living area. So I'll be doing "Chopping-Stacking-Wood-Max" as a primary summer workout.

What kind of heat does your house have (forced hot air, hot water base-board, etc)? There might be ways to make it work more efficiently.
 
It's steam/radiator heat. It's supposed to be more efficient b/c the radiators stay warm after the furnace shuts off. Also I have brand new energy efficient windows. Probably I need some new insulation, but still.........

I envy you Gayle. There's nothing like a crackling fire on a cold winter night, & I'm guessing the warmth projected by a stove helps. I loved the fireplace in my old house--the chimney ran through the 2nd floor master BR so the fire even warmed the upstairs.

I do not, however, envy the "Chopping-Stacking-Wood-Max" workout. ;-)
 
Actually, that's a good - Pacific Gas and Electric offers a service where they come into your house and see where you can cut back on energy. Maybe you Gas and Electric company will do the same thing. We pay a small fortune too!

And don't even get me started on the fact that it cost over $40.00 to fill my MINI's tank! Jeesh!
 
It is insane we have a wood furnace and love it I love splitting & stacking wood best workout ever, until he got a wood splitter. We have enough for 3 years now. Our house came with oil heat so we use a tad bit in the colder spring nights and fall. Something needs to happen to all of this or everyone will be working to heat homes and drive vehicles Looks like we are heading back to horse & Carriage days.

My mom and dad put a space heater in every room and my mom said her electric bill is about 300 some odd dollars.

beth6395

"You didn't pause your dvd and go make popcorn did ya"
-Cathe Friedrich

http://www.picturetrail.com/juicyfruities2002
 
The good I can see come from this - maybe FINALLY people will start getting serious about alternative energy sources. Our neighbors had solar panels installed on their home in the early 80s. Twenty years later and people are just beginning to get on-board with the obvious. I don't understand it. Here in NY, the government actually is giving tax breaks to new developments that utilize solar power and green building. duh!! No one could have thought of that sooner? I know that doesn't help you now, but encourage your local authorities to explore alternatives - the sun is free!
 
>Rant away!!! Fuel oil prices are completely insane. DH just
>inquired about pre-buy prices in our area (central VT) and
>they're projected to be OVER $1 per gallon from last year,
>which was ridiculously high to begin with.
>
>On our end, we're fortunate in that we own a wood lot, so we
>just bought a wood stove to heat our main living area. So I'll
>be doing "Chopping-Stacking-Wood-Max" as a primary summer
>workout.
>
>What kind of heat does your house have (forced hot air, hot
>water base-board, etc)? There might be ways to make it work
>more efficiently.

Gayle, you'll find the wood stove to be AMAZING! We have three, get wood from our own property, and only paid a total of $230 this winter to have our oil tank topped off.

Sparrow

Even after all this time the earth never says to the sun, "you owe me." Look what happens with a love like that.

It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz
 
Be thankful that you don't own and operate a trucking company. I can't help but worry all the time about how we will get through this. We do have a plan B (both DH and I are very employable) but we don't really want to have to go there.

I agree with the above poster. At least unrelentless high fuel prices will force folks to do things more efficiently and also encourage alternative energy options and usage. Hopefully it will happen before all of our US dollars leave the country though.
 
<<The good I can see come from this - maybe FINALLY people will start getting serious about alternative energy sources. >>

We have a neighbor who put in solar panels in the '70s for his domestic hot water. At that time he got a really substantial government rebate for them. I wish we, as homeowners, could get the same thing now. We have a great location for solar, but the initial cash outlay is more than we can get into at the moment.
 
Sparrow - I can't wait! We ended up getting a soapstone wood stove because they're supposed to be pretty efficient. I expect that DH and my dog will both spend most of the winter sleeping in front of it. ;)

I hope I see your $$ savings. That's cool!
 
Gayle, some states ARE offering rebates. Have you checked? I know NJ still does (errrr "still does" might not be the correct terminology, "is now" might be more appropriate). They come through our DEP (department of environmental protection). I think there are fed opps out there as well, if you have the time to dig them up. Of course either will take a pretty fair amount of time b/c I'm certain there's a ton of paperwork involved, but if you're serious about it, couldn't hurt to look.

Just don't use biofuel. Evidently it's taking all the cheap corn away from impoverished countries. :eek:
 
I haven't checked recently, but will now. Thanks for the heads up. Last time was a few years ago, and there were rebates, but they were really paltry at best.
 
I had an "energy audit" this winter, and she told me that radiator heaters are extremely efficient and dont cost a lot to run. Now may be a good time to stock up on them since winter is over and they should be on clearance.
 
I am laughing reading this post line because yesterday i was cussing at the gas pump filling up my suv. Yes I have one a big one that runs on 4 cylinders when i am going "slow" to save energy. HA HA. I put $68 in that bad boy yesterday. I also have a small car that DH drives that gets awesome gas mileage, which makes me feel better for driving the tank. My problem is with carpooling. We have a 3rd row so I can take 7 kids to school and pick them up. I tell myself that is better than having 6 more cars on the road right?
I think that if anyone would make it somewhat easy and affordable to be "green" or save energy people would do it in a heartbeat. I know that we tried to put in a water heater that runs on solar panels, and it was a fiasco start to finish. My rambling point is that a lot of us wish we could do more, and just don't know how.
 
We just purchased a Harmon pellet stove this winter. We were paying $2800 a year for propane, or roughly $400 a month. Now were paying around $150 a month for pellets and $8 for the electricity it takes to run it. We didn't expect it to heat our entire house, but it does, as long as it stays above 10 degrees. The only bummer will be that next year we'll be penalized for not pre-buying as much propane next year and will more than likely have to pay near double for a gallon of propane to use our stove and water heater. Somehow they get you! We would love to go solar, like others in our family, but just can't afford the initial start up cost. I hope our next President gets aggressive with subsidizing alternative energy.
 
I don't really think there's going to be an "easy" way for the average Joe to go green, save energy or whatever. I think we're just going to have to bite the bullet and do it - "it" being whatever works the best for each person.

My pessimistic view is that any government subsidies will come out of our pockets some other way, in higher taxes, higher prices in some other area, etc. We're as much to blame for this mess as the government is, because we've just sat back and watched, and assumed that everything will be okay. And I'm quite sure the oil countries have enjoyed every minute of our complacency.

I don't really know what to do either. I have a wood stove and lots of wooded property. I make use of that. But at the same time, it bothers me, because the more smoke I put into the air, the worse the atmosphere gets. I really need to explore solar power.
 
I think I'm trying to solve this problem in my sleep. I had a dream last night that I had a car that ran on urine. Now wouldn't that be a hoot!! Leave it to a nurse turned bookeeper for a trucking company to come up with that.:7

If someone on this board comes up with a prototype I get a cut!:p
 
Here in good 'ol SoCal we are paying $3.80 for regular unleaded and $4.30 for dieselx(

Our propane isn't much cheaper at $3.26 a gallon! I am hanging my clothes out to dry, taking cold showers and hitching a ride:p

Nicole

Feel the burn!!!
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angie, I think you're on to something!!

ultimately, until the government and corporations want to do something, we're left to our own devices; unfortunately, they both function from the perspective of where the money is, not what is right, so....
 
Rant away! And can you believe that oil companies are boasting about the record profits they're seeing!?! Unbelievable!

We are looking into putting a woodstove in this summer and being prepared for the coming fall. Our "budget" propane bill is $250 a month and we were able to cap 1,000 gallons at $2.65. Of course, that 1,000 gallons has already been used up so we're back at the normal cost. I'll be glad to see nice, warm weather finally get here.
 
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