Freezing Yer Buns?

It's cold out!

Okay, it's San Francisco, so it's not THAT cold out, but you know ... it's coldER than it is at other times of the year, and also I am a big, big pansy, so anything less than 60 degrees = cold in my book.

Now I would like to say that, being a pansy non-withstanding, I have been a Freeze Yer Buns star and have been diligently keeping the thermostat at some obscenely cold temperature.

But I have not.

Instead, my thermostat has been hovering between about 65-70 during the day, and sometimes a bit lower at night.

I have to admit, I haven't been putting as much thought and effort into it as I have in years past. When it gets cold, I turn the heat up a notch. At night, when I go to bed, I'll often turn it down a notch.

The truth is, now that I'm not trying to be SUPER HARD CORE about everything, it's a little hard for me to get up the motivation to freeze my buns off. While there are plenty of people who save tons of money by keeping the thermostat down, we don't save that much money. Living in San Francisco means that even heating the apartment to 70 degrees doesn't take THAT much energy if it's 50 degrees outside. And, oh yeah, I live in an apartment. Heating a smaller space just involves less energy.

As I make these justifications to myself for why I don't WANNA freeze (waaah!) I can't help but think back on this Washington Post article about the rebound effect. The article basically states that though our appliances have become much more energy efficient in the past forty years, Americans still use as much energy as we did in the early 1970s. The idea is this: when we purchase more energy efficient appliances that save us money and energy, we will often end up a) using them more, getting something bigger because it will now "cost the same," or turn around and buy yet another energy sucking device.

Energy efficiency can produce a number of these kinds of unintended consequences. A classic example is captured by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, who writes in the Wall Street Journal:

The biggest energy drain in a home is for heating and cooling. We opted to heat our home with a system that runs warm water through all of the floors. The system is energy efficient, I'm told, and wonderfully comfortable, but it's powered by gas. So while our photovoltaic system will someday help during the summer, it will never help much in the cold months when the sun is wimpy and we're burning gas to heat the floors. Worse yet, the heated floors are so pleasant that we probably overuse them compared with a forced air system. That's a classic unintended consequence.

When Adams opts for a more energy efficient system for his heating, he ends up using more heat than he would have if he had gone for a less energy efficient system.

Bringing it back to Freeze Yer Buns, I'm finding that I'm just like any other American. Given a situation where my heating needs are already fairly minimal I choose to keep my apartment heated to a level that I like it.

Which is fine for my buns, but sort of problematic if the goal is to combat climate change by limiting energy use....

What would you do? If you got a super-duper energy efficient heating system that would allow you to keep your thermostat at 70 without using any more energy would you continue to freeze yer buns? Or would you say "eff it" and get those buns nice and toasty?

I HATE FREEZING MY BUNS

So once upon a time, two years ago, I entered the Crazy Chicken's Freeze Yer Buns competition. (Wait, it's not a competition you say? Oh, how little you know me.)

My goals were lofty, and my determination was strong. I would go the entire winter without turning on the heater in my apartment.

And lo! I did succeed. I went a whole winter never turning on the central heating, and only turning on my space heater a handful of times for a couple of hours a piece. The Freeze Yer Buns champion trophy was mine. (There's no trophy? Then why do I have a sculpture of Crunchy's frozen butt on my mantle?)

And then I moved.

And it turned out?

Places that aren't LA are bloody cold!!

It turns out, that Freezing Yer Buns is SO MUCH HARDER when it is actually FREEZING. Or even when it is you know, 10-15 degrees above freezing like it generally is in Northern California these days.

I do not like it, not one bit.

So, I have become an epic failure at freezing my buns. I have the best of intentions, but, but ... heat is so warm and lovely! Without heat, I get lethargic. I can't do work, I can't play, I can't do anything but think

WHY IS IT SO FRICKIN FREEZING?!! I MISS SUMMER!!!!

Le sigh.

So, um, I suck. But conversely, my buns are nice and toasty.

Freeze Yer Buns, Update Uno

Well, this year, I again decided to participate in The Crunchy Chicken's freeze yer ass off challenge. Of course, last year I was in LA. Where it never really freezes.

This year I'm in London. Where it is cold, but seriously, guys, it is not as cold as I was led to believe. Maybe it's because I spent four winters in the freaking Midwest, but London seems more like Seattle than anything. It's just always kinda drizzly and gross, but it's not particularly cold ... yet.

Anyhoo, I pledged to go without heat in my dorm room. We have individual radiators in our rooms so theoretically we are allowed control over the heat, but I swear there HAS to be some sort of secret heat monster living in the walls, because I haven't turned my radiator on once, and yet it is still always hot in my room. To the point where I often go to sleep with the window open.

So. I guess I am technically cheating with the whole Freeze Yer Buns thing, since I'm ... not, but this is SO not my fault! The heat that is under my control is turned off! Can I help it if my dorm happens to have hot ... ghosts or monsters or whatever it is that is turning my room into a freaking sauna?

All I'm saying is that I'm having an easy time of it right now, but y'all know I'm doomed come June. Did I mention that our windows only open about three inches?

Miscellany

Today I got an email from Red Envelope: LAST CHANCE for Romance. Sheesh, Red Envelope, I think I'll survive somehow without your $40 mile high kit thanks. Seriously, and I don't really mean to take this blog into R-rated territory, but apparently everyone else is doing it, do you really need to spend $40 so that you can have ess-ee-ex in a tiny germy bathroom? I really don't get why everything for Valentine's Day has to be so manufactured-romantic. In my humble opinion, chocolates and a teddy bear don't say romance so much as, I-didn't-put-any-thought-into-this-so-I-picked-this-thing-up-at-the-Vons. I love presents, both giving and getting, but I feel like the point of Valentine's Day is often to give presents that are designated romantic, as opposed to giving something that your sig-o will actually appreciate/wants/needs.

In other news my friend Honda IMed me today to tell me that her mom was getting rid of some kitchen stuff, so she snagged a gingerbread man cookie cutter for me. So, yay! No more having to hand cut from paper templates! We're so excited that Honda decided we might need to make summer gingerbread men in bathing suits.

And yes, summer has come to LA. I'm hoping we still see some rain, but last night I was wishing for a fan instead of a rice sock. So technically, there's six weeks of Freeze Yer Buns left, but, I'm going to start preparing for Heat Yer Buns Summer edition, and am on the look out for a used fan.

What else? Project No Waste is going poorly. Somehow I ended up with a loaf of bread that went moldy in about four days. I don't know how that's possible because normally bread keeps at least a week, but it meant I had to throw away about 3/4 a loaf of bread.

And Trim the Fat is going worse. I signed up with pretty much one goal: to reduce the time I spend online. If you've guessed that I've made barely any progress you would be correct. I *have* been spending less time online when I'm not at the office, but that's only because I've been going out a lot. When I get home, I still make a bee-line for the computer.

Next on the agenda for FeGROCMo? Paring down my purse collection. Someone once said that you are either a purse girl or a shoe girl, and I am definitely the former. I have WAY too many purses, but I love them so, so much. So this is going to be a tough one for me.

Oh! Remember the wine corks in my garbage diary? Well, the illustrious Green Bean tipped me off to a place that will take back your wine corks! Check them out.

Okay, I think that's all the updates for now. Any questions?

Freeze Yer Buns- Part Whatever

Anyone else participating feel their resolve slipping lately? I was really good all through December, and never turned on my heat. Then in January I turned on my space heater for a half hour. But last night, the weather dipped down again, and I just couldn't deal so I turned on the space heater for a few hours.

It's not so much that I turned it on, as it is that I *know* that it's been that cold before and I didn't turn on the heat.

I suspect that I might be slipping partly because its just tougher to keep a (heat) diet going as the months wear on, but also because I gave myself 15 cheat days when I started this project. Since I've used so few, it's easy for me to say, "I COULD deal, but why NOT use a cheat day." So I think I'm going to drop my allowable cheat days to 10. Which gives me 8 more cheats left. But there are less than two months to go, so I think I can do it. I hope.

Bills, Bills, Bills

Well, it's that time again, when my most hotly anticipated bill arrives. (Sidenote: you know you're old when you HAVE a hotly anticipated bill.)

My electric bill arrived yesterday. And "Freeze Yer Buns" has been good to my pocket, because my monthly electric charge including taxes and the extra I pay to participate in the GreenLA Program is a mere $16.18. Huzzah!

Just for fun, I plugged in my electric usage into the Riot 4 Austerity calculator. My current electric usage is now 11% that of the average American's.

Of course, I'm lucky living in California. So far my total heat usage this winter has been one half-hour with the space heater on, and I'd guess that my apartment has probably never dropped below 60 degrees. So it's not entirely fair to compare myself to the average American.

But I CAN compare myself to Past Me, and handily, my electric use for this time last year is on my bill. My power usage last year? FOUR times what I'm using this year!

So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about my electricity use. I had other ideas to further cut my electricity use (like trying to find a used power strip with a timer) but frankly, at this point I feel like I'm pretty happy with my current usage, and I'd rather expend the effort in other areas of my life. When some of my financial issues get figured out, I'll probably just switch from 25% green power to 100% green power.

The Bath Mat Should Be Dry By June

So the dryers in our apartment apparently both decided to break at the same time, which means I am going unexpectedly green and airing things dry. This is awesome because you know nothing dries your jeans like throwing them over the papasan in your unheated apartment with no direct sunlight.

So everything is basically dry now (sort of) except my socks (why does it take forever for socks to dry?) and my bath mat. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that my bath mat is no drier than it was two days ago. Okay, that's probably an exaggeration. But only a slight one.

Freeze Yer Buns?

Not These Buns!

There are some many days when LA drives me nuts. But there are other days, when I remember exactly why I love this sun soaked city of mine. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy being outside.

Odds and Ends

I'm taking a page from EcoGeoFemme's book today, and trying to be productive today, so this one's going to be short.

After a few days of being (somewhat) TP-free, I can safely say that it is WAY less weird and off-putting than you would think. Up until the first time I didn't use toilet paper, I thought that going TP-free was a big mistake. I was sure I wasn't going to last the month. But frankly, now that I've tried it, I don't think I'll go back.

And in honor of January Less Disposable Month, I also started reading "Garbage Land" by Elizabeth Royte. So look for a couple posts about that coming up. And I *might* do a garbage diary for next week, though I haven't fully committed to the time and ickiness that that would take.

What else? Freeze Yer Buns! I had a nice respite from freezing my buns while I was at my uncle's house and my mom's house. But now I'm back, so last night, I tried out the rice sock for the first time. And aside from the fact that I spilled rice all over the counter while filling the sock, it worked just dandy. So thanks, to Mouse for his suggestion.

And now, I better get to my to-do list. Happy Friday!

Why "Freeze Yer Buns" Isn't So Arduous

It was a sunny 85 degrees in Los Angeles yesterday. Ha ha! We may be a city full of gridlock and plastic surgery, but on the flip side, we occasionally get 80 degree days in December.

(I think that's actually our official motto. LA: it's not that cold.)

Anyway, after a week of freezing my buns off and wondering if I was going to make it through this challenge, it was so nice to come home to an apartment that wasn't icy cold but warm, warm, warm. In fact it was a little too warm. And then I thought, hey, I committed to turning off my heat, I didn't say anything about my A/C. I can run that thing all night long.

I'm kidding! I'm kidding! I didn't turn on my A/C. I didn't even crack a window. Instead I revelled in not being cold, made myself dinner, talked on the phone to a few friends, and went to bed in just a tee-shirt.

It was heaven.

Oh yeah, so far DeSloFooMo is going really well! I actually find myself *excited* to cook. Of course it's only been five days, so who knows if the novelty will wear off. But for now, I'm enjoying this challenge very much.

Freeze Yer Buns- Part III

It's almost the end of the month, so I thought I'd give you a little update about this. So far, so good. I haven't turned my heat on in my apartment at all. It's a huge psychological help that the heat doesn't work too well, so I know that even if I turned it on, it would be forever before the apartment warmed up, and I'm better off just putting on a fleece and wrapping myself in a blanket.

Of course it's not even winter yet, so the true test is yet to come.

Freeze Yer Buns- Part II

So, I decided to go for it. I'm a little nervous, but I hadn't been turning on the heat in the apartment, and it's been okay. It helps that I know that the heating is iffy at best, so even if I did turn on the heat, chances are I wouldn't feel much warmer.

I'm going to keep the heat off this winter, but allow myself 15 cheat days. I think it should be fine, but I'm going to have to adjust my habits. It won't be hot enough anymore to sleep in just a tee-shirt, so I'll have to wear warmer night clothes.

I'll keep you posted.

Freeze Yer Buns

Crunchy Chicken is hosting a challenge at her website asking people to turn down their thermostats this winter.

I admit, I love having my heater on. When I lived in Chicago, I used to do all my studying, sitting on the windowsill with my legs dangling over the old-fashioned heater.

But, I think I am willing to sacrifice my love for heat. So far, I have yet to turn on my heat at home. Okay, I live in Los Angeles, but I HAVE been cold a few times, and I've just tried to bundle myself in sweatshirts and blankets.

I am contemplating responding to her challenge, by not turning on my heat at all this winter. Am I out of my mind? Maybe. Is the challenge of non-consumerism enough? Maybe. But I do live in freaking LOS ANGELES. It never really gets that cold here.

I don't know. I'm not sure if I am mentally ready for another challenge, but I'd like to think I could do it.