Mini homecoming

My husband's job is great. It allows us to live comfortably on one income while I stay home with both kids. But his job comes with a major downfall. Deployments. Although he has never been away as long as some, the weeks and months he is gone still seem like the take forever to end.

Here we are at the very end of a 2 week trip. He went away on course so we have been very fortunate to talk, text, and video chat several times a day. He flies home tomorrow morning (fingers crossed our temperamental Maritime weather cooperates) so today is spent preparing for his return. In no way does he expect the house to be spotless when he returns but I still at least try to not have the place look like a hurricane just went through it. 

So here is my to do list for today.

• Clean kitchen
• Tidy living room toys
• Fold and put away laundry
• Meal plan

Nothing incredibly difficult but it all has baring on whether the kids cooperate!

What do you try to do before a loved one comes home?

Our Home Energy Report

We are very lucky to have a provincial program who's goal is to get Nova Scotian's to use less power. Plain and simple. There is a ever so slight charge on our bill and that funding goes directly to Efficiency Nova Scotia. Since my ultimate goal is diminish my carbon footprint, I may as well start with making our home as efficient as possible.

Their website is full of information. A program they offer is the Home Energy Report. You answer a bunch of questions about your home and input your power account. It will then analyze your power usage compared to other similar homes in the neighbourhood. It's great. I guess we are pretty good already!

But I want more. It set the automatic goal of "Your goal is to reduce your electricity use by 5% for 1 Dec - 31 Mar." which will be extremely difficult since we have electric heat and are entering our coldest months of the years. Because of this, I have set our real goal of using 5% less energy each month than we did the year prior.  The site gives us well over 50 tips on how to help us reach our goal. It give a description as well as how much $ you can possibly save. There were a bunch that we have already done/do but there are plenty that I have added to my plan.

Everyone can view the tips so I encourage all of you to check it out!
What will you try doing to reduce your home energy consumption?