We are Paige and Ryan, a married couple in Vancouver, WA. We have always been green. More in the "Look at all of the money we are saving!" way then in the, "Neither of us bathe in anything but patchouli oil and watch how we shun society.", way.
We live in a house that I bought in 1993. Many of my 18 years here have been spent as a single, workaholic with the obligatory 2 dogs as companion/guard dogs. As we embark on our "dream" project, a little history is required.
About 15 years ago, I had a little accident in the basement and was introduced to the concept of "grey water". I had no idea that every time I threw a few clothes into the washer that 40 gallons of water (40 GALLONS!!!) were being flushed down the drain. Maybe I'm weird, but 40 gallons seemed like a lot to me and I was ALWAYS doing laundry. That started my little experiment.
Now, I don't think that I went crazy by any means, but some of the people that I dated probably did. Once I learned that my sewer rates were based on my water usage during the summer, I embarked on a quest to see how low I could get my water, and by extension, my sewer bill. Soon I was using all of that water on my roses and lawn. I started capturing the dish and shower water also. My usage dropped quickly and soon I discovered that I could do everything I wanted water-wise and use about one unit per month (745.8 gallons). It's too bad that the City of Vancouver's Water Department only lets your bill go so low. For years, our water bill has been $53 every two months.
On those months that we falter and use more water, the bill only goes up a little which is a bummer because there is little incentive to conserve. Aside from the cell phone and Internet, the water bill is our highest utility bill. The electricity bill is another matter.
Living alone for years, my electricity bill was around the same every month. My usage, having a TV, two computers, an old refrigerator, furnace and various other appliances was always between 7- 8 KwH per day. Having an unstable job, I was always looking to save money. I dutifully swapped out my bulbs to compact fluorescents and turned out lights when not in the room, etc... Then, in 1996, my Grandmother moved in. [cue ominous music] .... Overnight my electric bill went into orbit. Who knew that one kindly old lady would need so many freezers. so many freezers Her penchant to crank the heat up and leave every light in the house on at all times along with the attitude that she could afford to pay the electric bill, so why should she care what it was. I remember one summer month when the electric bill was $50!! It had never been that high before. She didn't care. She said, "I'm like the Indians. You can't change me." My Grandmother lived through the Great Depression for goodness sakes!!! I was amazed at her attitude. I am sure that she was shocked by my thrifty habits as well but these habits have kept me living within my means through many a rough patch. When Grandmother moved out in 2001, my electric usage went back down and stayed there! Take that!!
In 2005, I met the love of my life, Ryan. For us, being green is a fun game that we play. The prize being freedom. This blog is about our new project. A house in Washougal that we are going to build. A living house.
Here we will chronicle our journey to research new technologies, plans that we make, resources that we find and this will house our documents and show you how awesome it is to be green!!!
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