Double A Penny - Step 19 - The Ups and Downs
Not much has been happening (stake wise) so there hasn't been a good reason to post anything.
I managed to find a bit of change on the ground since then, fifteen cents ($0.15).
I did have a job to fix a computer but was a little slow in picking it up and they were able to find other ways to get it fixed.
Unfortunately, I have not been doing to well. My feet have slowly been going bad on me for the last five years and I recently tried physical therapy, which kind of made it hurt worse. Last week my doctor put needles (medicine) in my ankles which helped a little, but I am still in alot of pain.
Pain in your feet seems to make you very exhausted and I have had to sleep alot more than usual.
I have been moving a lot slower these days. Which is a problem in this day and age with everything speeding up in the world at phenomenal rates. It is hard to keep up anymore.
I am still trying to figure out how I am going to compensate for the 62% increase in my home heating bill just from last year. Since moving into our home four years ago the cost to heat it has increased nearly 400%.
This is the second and last energy crisis I will be going through. Back in the 70's I started looking into Alternative Energy, in fact I use to get Mother Earth News when it was just a tacky, couple a page newsletter and my very first job was with a now defunct company that sold Alternative Energy systems for Wind and Solar.
I was about 16 then and I answered a classified ad for them. They were looking for an engineer and I thought "I can do that job". Cocky teenager!
The president of the company was so surprised I had the "Audacity" to answer the advertisement and that I had a pretty good experience with electronics, he gave me a job as a technician.
It was a good job, though as a stupid kid, I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. I eventually had to give the job up because my (1962?) Sunbeam Alpine, that I traded with someone for my Honda 360 motorcycle, never would start and it was difficult to get to the job. It was a fun little car, could go from 0 to 80 in about 5 seconds or so, if you could get it started and the electrical system didn't catch fire or the throttle wouldn't stick, giving you the terrifying ride of your life.
Anyways, I have always wanted to have a totally self sufficient home, what they now call a Zero Energy home. But it was difficult back then to do it, never really had the money, so I have been basically trapped in the standardized home purchasing or building cultural structure. I always thought everyone was building way to big and wasteful but it was too expensive to do otherwise, and alot cheaper to build like everyone else was although I kept building or buying smaller and smaller if possible.
I have always been an Ultra-Frugaler and have managed to reduce dependency as much as I could within the framework I was forced to operate within but......
I regret not fighting harder to go Alternative, and especially now with energy costs going through the roof. But perhaps it just wasn't time. I have started to do a lot more research and I will definitely be going Alternative in my next home. Passive solar, active solar, geothermal, if possible, Hydrogen generation systems or any other system I can find that will get me away from conventional sources that can fluctuate at the whim of someone else.
If I can do that, make this home, I will have finally fulfilled the dream I have had since the time I was that cocky teenager, but perhaps just a little less audacious and a little more wiser after 30 something years.
Present Stake: $1610.98
Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Regards,
Xinfinitum
This Double a Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Plan "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". It is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to one million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
posted by Xinfinitum | 5:00 AM PermaLink
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