When thinking of what to post as my very first Frugal Friday post, I decided on telling the story of how we came to have completely FREE HEAT in our house. The year we moved into our c. 1919 built home, the winter of 2005, our heating costs brought us (well, me) to tears! Tony thought the heating system in the house (circulating hot water) was really neat, unfortunately we found out it was very expensive to run! So near the end of our first winter Tony said he wanted to buy a wood stove. I was very apprehensive, as $400 seemed like a lot to spend all at once! Tony was just starting a new job at this time, so money was very tight. But he found a nice wood stove on ebay. (Gotta LOVE ebay!) He won the bid and he drove all the way out to Buchanan, VA to pick up the wood stove. Thankfully I was working for SeniorCorps that Saturday and I didn't see him bring the wood stove into the house. He said he backed the truck up to the front of the porch... um, yikes! Let’s not think about it! ...Our house already had a chimney, which was walled over, so Tony made a whole in the wall, bought the needed pipes at Lowe's, installed them from the stove to the chimney, and he made a hearth for the stove to sit on, and within a few days we were using our wood stove! ~ And we have never spent one cent on wood. Tony works second shift at the shipyard and every few days on his drives home from work (around 1 am) he scavenges for wood. Sometimes he picks up discarded palates behind stores, sometimes he finds wood from downed trees at new home building cites. Last week a friend of his from work gave him as much free wood as he could fit in his truck! ~ Each afternoon before Tony goes to work he chops enough wood for me to keep the fire going through the day and night. ~ I'm getting better at starting fires in the stove! I use to pour cooking oil on the wood, but now I rarely need to "cheat". :) Most mornings I start the fire right after I feed Jackson. ~ I've not always been in love with the free heat though! When Jackson was two days old my Mom and I came home from the hospital to a very cold house... I had to build a fire after giving birth! Let me tell you! -Tending a fire all day long and taking care of a newborn baby is HARD... The only way I managed was I tried to pretend I was a pioneer woman! ~ Thankfully things aren't quite as tight money-wise now and when we have a very, very cold night (in the 20s) we turn on the old heating system for a few hours overnight. ~ All in all, I love having a wood stove! Our house gets REALLY warm! When I burn palette wood I have to be careful not to put too much wood in at a time, because it can get up to 90 degrees in the front room (the room where the wood stove is located)! I have melted the candles out of the sconces twice! [ P.S. I haven't had any trouble keeping Jackson away from the wood stove- I have taught him not to touch it and he just looks at it and then crawls away. Jackson is not allowed to play in the front room (where the wood stove is located) for other reasons as well... mainly he likes to take the books out of the bookcase and get into the tv remotes. I have learned somethings cannot be baby-proofed, so we have a few rooms that are Jackson-proofed: the kitchen, the area below the stairs/dining room, and his bedroom. I always wonder how the Pilgrims and the pioneers kept their babies safe (you'll understand what I mean if you've had the chance to see PBS's "Colonial House" and "Pioneer House") ... I mean how do you baby-proof an open fire!?!]
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