34

That number has been in my head since Saturday. It has become a number that represents not just a goal, but a new quest. One that will challenge and push me in ways that I'm not even sure i can handle.

34 is the number of dollars that Deb Welsh said that she spent on power last month. I didn't even know that was possible. We were talking about her life and her life without turning her air on and she commented that without it she had transformed the amount she spent on power and the how she had adjusted to summer heat last year.

I thought about it, and even admired her a bit, but i didn't think much about it until Sunday afternoon when I sat down to pay my bills for the month and I wrote a check to Alabama Power for $142.14. That number sounds completely ridiculous when you set it next to 34.. watch 34/142.14. See how huge that number looks?

The problem that I have with Deb is that if I talk to her for too long, she starts making sense. The other problem that i have is that I'm starting to think that she is right. It is ridiculous for me to spend that percentage of my disposable income on air conditioning. So, I have decided to at least try to move toward Deb's 34. Sunday night I moved my thermostat to 85 and ducktaped the control. I know that is a long way from turning it all the way off but the goal for this month is to get the power bill to $75. When we get to that point we will look at how much I have adjusted or how miserable I am and decide where to go from there.