If your energy bills and food cost doubled

[Faize]

If your energy and food cost doubled what else would you cut back on ?
The House just passed Cap and Trade yesterday and if it passes in the Senate and becomes law energy bills will probably double. (home energy , gasoline so it will effect food prices too)

I am really frugal but in the summer my area often reaches over 100F .
We run ac to try to keep the small house at 80F and my electric bill is already scary to look at in the summer. My hubby will not want to turn that AC off and my house is already energy efficient . I don't even want to have to have to contemplate the effects this might have but realize I am going to have to if it passes.

So if prices double what would you do ?

[jess323]

we are installing a tankless water heater, as that is a big energy culprit.

Ifmy bill doubles, I will have to think of something... because our bill is already averaged at 200 a month. And its jsut me DH and two year old DS... our temps get high... and I often find my DH putting the AC down to 70!!! I am fine with a fan on and leaving the Ac at 76 ish.

If prices did double- I would trade my car in for a hybrid, invest in making my house more energy efficient. and continut couponing my patootie off!!! lol

[c-treen]

I don't know what I would do. There is not much room for me to cut back. I don't run an AC much at all in the summer but do use gas to heat in the winter. I don't have a car so I can't cut back there. :shrug7: I guess my kids would have to give up their few extra activies and the pets would have to start going. :sad:

[coldpizza4breakfast]

I'm not sure what we'll do. We already are very frugal (our expenses for virtually everything = about 15k a year). ... dh is going to go back to school and we are thinking of renting our house out and getting a 5th wheel and a truck to do some traveling after his school is over in a year. Gas would somewhat be a factor if we do this but we'd be parked a lot too so it wouldn't be too bad - and that would pare our living expenses down even more. I don't mind being cold-ish in the winter and we can chop wood if we have to (we live in the middle of 20 wooded acres) but I hate being hot so the aircon is running frequently - esp at night for sleeping upstairs. We'd make up for that by not using lights if we had to and selectively turning off the hot water heater.
My daughter's partner is unemployed right now, but getting unemployment, and she's going to school full-time and working part time. They have an 18 mo. old so not sure what they would do. They are doing work to their house right now to improve it's energy rating, and they heat w/ wood in the winter for the most part but the fans they run are electric.
My other daughter lives with us but her work commute is almost an hour ea. way daily... the gas $ will hurt her the most. We've looked into her moving closer but w/ her animals that makes it hard, and the town she works in is a college town so rents are so $$.
It's going to get very interesting to say the least. I have no doubt that this bill will pass the Senate. And something does need to be done - we rely way too much on oil and ffuels but this is going to hurt.

[tn20]

I am preparing right now by stocking up on anything I can, so when (not if, IMO) prices skyrocket, we will be able to buy as little as possible. Our energy bill isn't too high as of now, but if it doubled, along with gas prices and food costs, I don't think I would be able to be a stay at home mom any longer. That is, of course, if I could even find a job in this economy. (My area is heavily reliable on the timber industry and the unemployment rate is through roof.)

My DH works for a company that produces cable, including power lines. It could go either way for him. Either they update the power grid and increase wind/solar power facilities, which increases the demand for the cables. Or it becomes too expensive to operate the company in the US, so they move the plant overseas and DH loses his job.

It makes me sick to think about this... and so many people are so blissfully unaware of what cap and tax, uh, I mean cap and trade really is and what it will do our economy and our lives. It will force more companies to operate over seas, so there will be no reduction in overall greenhouse gases. Higher prices for us, a huge loss in US jobs, and NO benefit except to corporations and foreign countries.

[Faize]

Originally Posted by jess323 we are installing a tankless water heater, as that is a big energy culprit. Ifmy bill doubles, I will have to think of something... because our bill is already averaged at 200 a month. And its jsut me DH and two year old DS... our temps get high... and I often find my DH putting the AC down to 70!!! I am fine with a fan on and leaving the Ac at 76 ish. If prices did double- I would trade my car in for a hybrid, invest in making my house more energy efficient. and continut couponing my patootie off!!! lol

I looked into the tankless water heater myself and didn't like the fact that it did not put off enough hot water at a time for two different people to shower in both baths at once . My house is just a few years old and my water is pretty efficient and set at a low temp. To change it now I would be looking at about $500 for a new water heater , plus permits , plus labor to have it installed . I had a switch installed so I can turn it off now when I want . If this passes I think I will just start turning it off at night and when we are not home.

Buying a hybrid I wouldn't even consider . They are under powered and overpriced . I bought a new truck two years ago that gets good gas milage and have it fully paid off . The hybrid would need to be plugged in at night to charge if I wasn't using gas and that would also run my electric bill up a lot . Gas would really have to go up a heck of a lot for it to be worth while for me to take on another car payment. If it gets that bad I guess I won't be driving my truck much , I'll use my horse =P
(I live in the country)

[Faize]

Originally Posted by c-treen I don't know what I would do. There is not much room for me to cut back. I don't run an AC much at all in the summer but do use gas to heat in the winter. I don't have a car so I can't cut back there. :shrug7: I guess my kids would have to give up their few extra activies and the pets would have to start going. :sad:

I had not even considered how it would effect pets. That is very sad .
I guess if you live in the city and can get access to public transportation the per gallon gas increase won't directly hurt your ability to move around (that's good) but the increase in food and heating bills will probably hurt someone like you the most.
This ticks me off cause there were lots of campaign promises about not raising taxes on people who made less than 200,000 a year yet a 50% increase in power cost/gasoline amounts to nothing less than a tax on every single person in this country.

[Faize]

Originally Posted by coldpizza4breakfast I'm not sure what we'll do. We already are very frugal (our expenses for virtually everything = about 15k a year). ... dh is going to go back to school and we are thinking of renting our house out and getting a 5th wheel and a truck to do some traveling after his school is over in a year. Gas would somewhat be a factor if we do this but we'd be parked a lot too so it wouldn't be too bad - and that would pare our living expenses down even more. I don't mind being cold-ish in the winter and we can chop wood if we have to (we live in the middle of 20 wooded acres) but I hate being hot so the aircon is running frequently - esp at night for sleeping upstairs. We'd make up for that by not using lights if we had to and selectively turning off the hot water heater. My daughter's partner is unemployed right now, but getting unemployment, and she's going to school full-time and working part time. They have an 18 mo. old so not sure what they would do. They are doing work to their house right now to improve it's energy rating, and they heat w/ wood in the winter for the most part but the fans they run are electric. My other daughter lives with us but her work commute is almost an hour ea. way daily... the gas $ will hurt her the most. We've looked into her moving closer but w/ her animals that makes it hard, and the town she works in is a college town so rents are so $$. It's going to get very interesting to say the least. I have no doubt that this bill will pass the Senate. And something does need to be done - we rely way too much on oil and ffuels but this is going to hurt.

I'm out in the country too , on ten acres . My daughter will be starting college soon and would have to drive 30 miles each way . We've been talking about her taking some of her classes over the internet if this passes .

Honestly this really has me very worried about what it will do to the cost of food more than anything. My parents / inlaws and grandfather are all on fixed incomes and are already having trouble making ends meet . I coupon pretty hard now to be able to help them out.

I already have a garden but I am going to really up the size this year.
I've also been thinking of seriously raising some chickens for meat and eggs too.

[Faize]

Originally Posted by tn20 I am preparing right now by stocking up on anything I can, so when (not if, IMO) prices skyrocket, we will be able to buy as little as possible. Our energy bill isn't too high as of now, but if it doubled, along with gas prices and food costs, I don't think I would be able to be a stay at home mom any longer. That is, of course, if I could even find a job in this economy. (My area is heavily reliable on the timber industry and the unemployment rate is through roof.) My DH works for a company that produces cable, including power lines. It could go either way for him. Either they update the power grid and increase wind/solar power facilities, which increases the demand for the cables. Or it becomes too expensive to operate the company in the US, so they move the plant overseas and DH loses his job. It makes me sick to think about this... and so many people are so blissfully unaware of what cap and tax, uh, I mean cap and trade really is and what it will do our economy and our lives. It will force more companies to operate over seas, so there will be no reduction in overall greenhouse gases. Higher prices for us, a huge loss in US jobs, and NO benefit except to corporations and foreign countries.

Yeah I am going to really have to look at increasing the amount I stockpile. I am afraid if this passes that there will be massive amounts of lay offs. Solar and wind won't work all over the US and they won't be able to generate enough like that for many years. My area is nuclear powered so our area of the grid should be steady but our prices are already really high.Cap and tax is right .. this is the same exact thing Al Gore tried to pass years ago .. I just can not believe that people are not screaming their heads off just at the fact that they are trying to pass this thing that burdens every single person in this country and will no doubt make unemployment go through the roof. People are going to be very surprised when they get their first bills.

[tn20]

Originally Posted by Faize I just can not believe that people are not screaming their heads off just at the fact that they are trying to pass this thing that burdens every single person in this country and will no doubt make unemployment go through the roof. People are going to be very surprised when they get their first bills.

I totally agree! It is complete insanity! I honestly cannot even comprehend what is going on with this country. HOW could something this rediculous get enough votes?!? And if it passed the house, I would die of shock if it lost in the Senate.

There is not ONE positive thing about Cap and Trade. And all these companies and people like friggen Al Gore supporting it- its because the companies stand to make BILLIONS of dollars off of all the revamping to meet these rediculous standards. Al Gore is supposed to be the first "Green Billionaire" if C&T passes because of all of his investing in Green Technology. No wonder he refuses to debate actual SCIENTISTS about whether or not global "climate change" is even linked to greenhouse gases; he doesn't want to expose his followers to EXPERTS who completely disagree with his point of view.

Plus, the EPA just announced today that the Earth is in a NATURAL cooling and the temp will drop, on its OWN, until 2030! And rumor is, this was kept under wraps until after the House voted. Not to mention that C&T is only supposed to cool the temp something like 1/8th of a degree over the next 50 or 100 years.

I am a 25 year old stay at home mom with only a high school degree, and I get it. Has everyone in Washington DC just lost their damn minds or what???