Winter Preparation

Yesterday marked the first "official" day of Autumn. Our temperatures have actually been slightly cooler than usual so it almost feels like fall. It may seem like winter is far off, but sooner than we know, it will be upon us as well. After all, it seemed like just yesterday school was being dismissed for summer and the hot dogs were on the grill for the July 4th celebrations. This year, I am bound and determined to not get caught at last minute scurrying around to get the house winter ready. Instead I am taking on the boy scout motto, "always be prepared."

So today I started working on replenishing our wood pile for the fireplace. If you have ever run out wood in the winter and had to go looking for it you know how frustrating it can be when places are either sold out or all you can find are the rinky dink bags of wood from the grocery store that are over priced. Even though we have some trees on our property they aren't ones that we want to cut down so I stopped off and bought a cord of wood. Something I don't think most people realize is that wood is actually more expensive during "peak" seasons like bbq season, winter, etc. So wood varies in price throughout the year. Going when I did I was able to not only get my pick of fire wood but get it at a slightly lesser price. Every few weeks I am going to buy a cord at a time (or more as the budget allows) to add to our pile. Come winter time when our temperatures start getting cooler we won't have to get out in the weather to go looking for wood. Since we already have it budgeted for before the winter months, it won't put a crimp in our regular household budget. Added to all that, our gas bill will be reduced as we will not have to light up the heater to warm the house.