The ongoing goal to live GREEN!

Green living is tough and in some cases very expensive!  We recently purchased a new home.  It was built in 2007 and sat empty for two years due to many circumstances.  That enabled us to purchase at an amazing deal!  The home was advertised as an "Energy effecient" home.  I was very excited about this possibility because we had spent numerous dollars upgrading insulation, weather stripping and doors at our last home.  The home was a foreclosure so we bought as is.  Our home was in the stage builders commonly refer to as "Punch List" meaning everything is suppose to be done accept for the few minor things that are left unfinished or need to be touched up or re-done.  Great.

We bought the home patched walls and caulked the numerous windows that had never been properly caulked and painted with an environmentally friendly paint.  Yeah on our path to GREEN.

Six months later and cold weather hits & we find out there are problems with our energy effecient heat pump...so we fix it.  There are windows leaking air like a sieve so we re-caulk & in a few cases have them re-done.  Then we discover that our front door which has great weather stripping is severly warped and air blows through it like an extra a/c vent.  So we have now purchased a new fiberglass energy effecient door.  Yea! Now remember we repainted the entire house when we purchased....well a house that has not been ocnditioned has a certain amount of settling and adjusting to the conditioned space...so all the wood molding has now had time to settle and adjust to it's space and there are numerous cracks & seperations in the paint.  My next task will be to go through & caulk & touch up the moulding so your eye isn't distracted by all those lovely little black seperation lines.  UGH.  The joys of a new home.  We have also discovered that there is insulation missing in some parts of the house......probably due to a builder trying to make things look done so he could get it sold.  So we are working on our energy effecient goal and adding more insulation.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Having purchased the home with great bones and a lot of things all ready done our cost is minimal compared to what it could be and once we are done it will be a home that is truly an energy effecient home!

The one bright spot is that our rock ladden yard is shaping up nicely and my composter is tumbling and producing lovely new mulch that this spring will be added to my first raised bed "Lasagna Garden" so that we can reap the benefit of organic veggies. Woohoo.  It is so exciting watching the process take shape and laying out the guidelines for our future little garden, ordering the seeds and planning a spot for everyone's favorite pick. 

Do I think it's all worth it? Uh, well, yes.  Yes, I do.  The expense will pay off and the home we are building is helping us teach our children how to adapt and look for ways to do things for themselves and to help our environment and take care of the things around you.  It's a road our grandparents took naturally and one that we are learning to navigate again. 

Happy green living to you.  Feel free to share your triumphs or horror stories on the road newly traveled.