Winter will be here soon

Last winter we made a real effort at lowering our electric bill. We turned down the electric heat to a minimum and started heating our house with fire wood instead. It turned out to be a very wise decision and for the first month we actually used wood instead of relying on electricity we lowered our bill with nearly 50 %.
It's still funny how bad we thought it was the first week, but by the end of winter we had lower temperatures indoors than ever and it didn't bother any of us. By lowering the electric heat to an uncomfortable level we had to keep the fire going to be comfortable, that worked out really well. And the fact that I'm the one getting up first so that I can start a fire.

Can you guess what I'm doing this weekend?

This is how much we got for the winter, we already got a part of the pile split and stacked inside our wood shed, but there's still a lot left to take care of and we already had our first freezing temperatures for this fall. I split it into smaller logs because our wood stove are to small to handle big logs. The system starts to boil or the fire goes out, it's easier to just split it before stacking. The best part is that it requires less wood that way. One more benefit is that I get all the kindling I need too, since I get it all done I have less work during winter.
We also got some stacked in our front porch, it's walled in but has no heating, so now we can fill up more right outside the front door instead of getting wood out of the shed every other day. Improvements are always nice.

The only thing we're not entirely sure of is how much fire wood we actually need for the winter, but this pile is probably going to last. If we have some left by spring I'll be happy. I was a bit anxious before we finally got the wood delivered, we've had such high electric bills that I didn't want to go into this winter without fire wood. It's hard work and my back is already killing me, but I know it'll be worth the effort. If we do this right we'll lower every bill this year instead of just a few and I'm so looking forward to that.

What are you up to this weekend? I'll be happy to hear!
I've started my way around to get more updated, but I'm not there just yet.

Until next time, be well.
//S