Waste Not, Want Not


While I don't think that old adage is entirely correct, I do think it is truth at its core.  Living in an RV I'm learning how truly wasteful we Americans are.  (Me in particular.)  As I walk the dogs around the campground, I look at how folks have their rigs set-up, particularly those who live here now, and appear to have been living here for quite some time.  Most people have an external 100 lb propane tank.  We are, at present, utilizing what was in our 40 lb tank when we pulled in.  It never entered my head to fill it before we parked.  (When we drove ol' Beans up here, I was barely able to think of anything except, hooray!  we've found a place to live.)


Our campground host has told me that we can add an extended stay valve to our tank (which is integral to the motorhome so we can't pull it off and fill it) and then lease a 100 lb tank from him for $25 for as long as we are here.  I may do that, once I get a better feel for how long we will be here.  In the meantime, we use propane to cook and to heat the water.  While we have easy access to fuel, we are living like RVs, not like home owners.  The hot water gets turned on in the morning for showers and then it gets turned off.  No need to heat water that isn't being used.  And, even though we are hooked up to municipal water, we turn off the shower head while washing hair or ourselves.  


I must confess to running the air-conditioner alot.  In my mind it's because of the dogs.  An RV lacks a significant amount of insulation, even compared to the 34 year old house we moved out of.  We didn't have air there, not even a swamp cooler.  We did have a whole-house fan, which was nice once the temperature dropped in the evening.  But, during the day, we drank cold beverages and sometimes went out into the backyard pool I'd set up.  


We don't turn the heat on at night, even though it gets chilly.  We are toasty under the covers, and if we did feel cold, we have two Bichons to warm us with their thermonuclear reactor bodies.  


We will be billed for electricity.  It flows readily into the RV, but I want to practice for when we are in Terlingua and our power comes from the sun and is stored in a bank of batteries.  I'm learning to live small.  It's an adjustment.