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Thanks for bringing up this subject!!! Prompted to muse on my _motives_, I find that most of my not-so-necessary acquisitions serve my desire to express and/or attract friendship or support.

I acquire:

1) practical things, as a hedge against helplessness in case of personal disasters;

2) resources that I might be able to offer to other people -- not only to help them but also to make myself more desirable in their eyes;

3) things that are amusing, partly to entertain my solitary self and partly as a lure, a toy to attract playmates;

4) things that are clever, partly to honor their creators -- that is, create a sort of relationship with them, by expressing "I like you" won't you like me back?"

5) things that are unique or "lost",  to befriend and rescue them from obscurity...

... and probably several other such reasons.

Ironically, of course the more things I acquire, the more un-attracting my personal environment becomes, and the more I _obscure_ who I really am, even from myself...

Eve in Beaverton.

posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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CUT THE MAIN OFFENDER -- HEATING [last paragraph is most essential!]

As a new Oregon resident, I was stunned when, in my all-electric apartment, winter electric bills were triple my summer bill -- and equal to what I'd paid living in spendy Japan.

To reduce this, I focused mainly on reducing use of appliances that heat or chill. By turning on my room heating system only when I couldn't withstand the room chiill -- and cut the next bill down to one-third -- that is, from $90 to $30.

A friend realized this same reduction in more comfort by buying a Heat Surge "electric fireplace" [heatsurge.com]. The energy saved will pay back the approx $300 purchase price in a couple of seasons.

The most ingenious and elegantly simiple device I've found (too late for the past winter) is the Heat Stick [heatstick.com]. It's a fan that takes in heat from the ceiling and pumps it out at floor level, at a mere $80. But the inventor describes it fully on the site and a handy person could build one. It uses a recycled laptop-computer fan in a two-sided wood housing to fit vertically in the corner of adjacent two walls.

Eve in Beaverton

posted 4 years ago
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