Top 10: What I've Noticed

During this holiday season, we've visited quite a number of people's homes. Here's what I've noticed:

1) Television - Everyone has 2 or more flat-screen televisions - From what I've read, the newer TVs use quite a bit more electicity than older CRT TVs. My household is the only one I've seen that has only 1 TV. And ours is about 20 years old. The remote control barely functions.

2) Lights - Most people like to keep the lights on throughout the house. We rarely keep more than 2 sets of room lights going at once. That;s one reason why our electric bill averages $20 per month year-round.

3) Heating - We set our thermostat to no more than 65F during the day, and 63F at night. I usually see 68F in most houses.

4) Electronics - Ours is virtually the only house without a video game console. And the only one without a high-end stereo/video system. One family we know doesn't have a video game console (they have girls).

5) Cars - Most families we know have minivans or large SUVs, and more than 2 cars. We don't have a minivan, and could probably drop our 2nd car (see communting strategy below).

6) Toys - Most families we know have a huge amount of toys. Our boys have relatively little.

7) Wal-Mart - Few people we know will admit to shopping at Wal-Mart as we do. Instead, most people seem to prefer Costco. I prefer Wal-Mart because I don't like buying huge amounts of stuff that we don't need. Plus Jenny tends to cook our meals from scratch, rather than heat-and-serve dishes so common at Costco.

8) Computers - Most people we know have more than one up-to-date computer. I usually buy a computer once every 5 years, the cheapest model from either Dell or HP.

9) Home Office - Ours is the only home without a separate home/office room. Our desk sits in the living room, with the laptop in a drawer. We don't have WiFi, or wireless internet.

10) Blog - I'm the only one with a blog. Three of them, in all!

UPDATE - Did I mention that we are the only ones I know without an Ipod in the house?