I've been working hard at trying to reduce our utility bills since I joined this group nearly (exactly) a year ago.

And the gas/electric has been tumbling down to an all time low.

Of course, last winter was CRAZY warm, and this summer's drought made it impossible to even try to keep up to a nicely watered lawn and landscape.

So I wasn't going to pat myself on the back too much for how much our monthly bills have been coming down, even though I've been working hard to keep my thermostat lower than normal, use a clothes line instead of the dryer, unplug EVERY single unnecessary appliance, keep the lights turned off when not in use, wash clothes in cold water, etc . . .

I was so happy to see this month's bill.  Apparently last month was identical to Sept 2011 in average and mean temperature and billing cycle days, and my gas/electric bill this year was 50%/40% of last year's respectively.

So I guess I truly am making some progress.

This winter our plan is to move our bedroom downstairs and close off the upstairs for the winter.

Oct 2011 we were paying $411 on our monthly budget.  Next month our monthly budget is down to $173.

Hopefully this will continue to save us money!