Clawing our way to financial independence

The baby boy and I are sitting here enjoying our first morning with our fire. We have been having stormy weather here on the coast but the wind blew the rain away this morning. It is quite lovely sitting by the warm fire with sun coming in the window. The boy says his hand sure tastes good today.

We heat with both electric heat and our propane fireplace. Yesterday our first tank of propane was delivered just in time for fall weather. Our house came with a 100lb propane tank when we bought it. Last year we used this tank up about every 3-4 weeks. The fireplace heats our living room and kitchen/dining area (house is open concept). We were paying about $100 every month or so from October – March. This year we found out we could rent a bigger tank for $68/year + $35 delivery fee, and save on our propane costs because the cost of propane goes down the more you buy. The new tank is 200 lbs and costs $122 to fill, only $22 more than the other tank half its size.

The fireplace is certainly not necessary, we could heat fully with electricity. It is just nice and makes the house seem cosier. And when the power goes off (as it just did, am writing this on laptop battery power), we still have some heat in the house!