Clawing our way to financial independence

Krystal posted she received her GST cheque yesterday from the government. We got a letter from the government saying that we are not eligible for the GST rebate because our combined family income is greater than $40k a year. This has been the case since we were married (almost 2 years) and I miss my quarterly $60-$70.

However, I did get money in the mail yesterday. BC Hydro released a $250 deposit we had paid to get our electricity hooked up 2 years ago when we moved back to Canada from some time in the US. Our electric bill is therefore paid for over the next 4-6 months! That was a nice surprise.

I have been trying to be very conscious of our electricity consumption. We have electric heat, but since our house is new, it is well insulated. In the winter we have a small propane fireplace which we can use to supplement the heat for relatively cheaply. I think the biggest two draws of electricity in our house comes from: 1) computers when I am running processes which take days to complete, and run 24/7, and 2) the bathroom fan which Mr Wooly and I both forget to turn off sometimes. We have replaced most of our light bulbs with the new compact fluorescents and are getting better at turning unnecessary lights off. I still would like to reduce our electricity consumption overall and am making more of an effort. My favourite electricity saving device is an old AM radio of my grandmothers. I listen to CBC on this radio, sometimes all day. I only have to replace the batteries (4 D cell) every 5 years or so!