Thanks, TVA. You made me finally switch to CFL bulbs in order to save money on my electric bill. The TVA raised their rates by 20%, but I find it interesting that myself and nearly all my neighbors had our bills go up by more than 50% as compared to our bills this time last year. Of course, this has been a colder winter than usual, but that doesn't make the cost hurt any less.

So, I finally bit the bullet and bought CFL bulbs for all the most used lights in the house. I also arranged to have a programmable thermostat installed in my house. A note to people who have electric heat pump heating like I do- you can't just buy a programmable thermostat at Home Depot. Luckily, I know a heat and air guy, so I called him up and he'll install one for me, cheap, provided I program it which he apparently hates to do.

We also checked for any possible drafts this weekend and we will be installing a new weather strip thing on our back door this weekend. For now, a towel helps to keep the draft out. With all these improvements, plus strict exhortations to my children about turning off lights when they leave a room, will the bill get down to an amount we can afford to pay? I certainly hope so, because one month, I can deal with an unusually expensive bill. If this continues, I don't know what we'll do.