Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Book Review and the hydro bill

First the book review.  "Secrets to Parenting your adult child," by Nancy Williams.


"You're still a parent, no matter how old your child is. Roles change, but your love and your sense of responsibility remain. Maybe he hasn't left the nest as quickly as you expected, or she needs career and financial guidance, or he's bringing new members into your family. Whatever the situation, how can you help your adult child without crossing appropriate boundaries?

Licensed counselor and life coach Nancy Williams draws from her own professional and personal experience, and also provides insights from young adults. She will help you navigate these transitions with love, respect, and grace. While every family is unique, this book provides practical tools you can use to help your changing family become the best it's ever been."
This book was actually informative and on occasion there was an "aha" moment.  When we first have children a lot of us  never think much past when they leave school.  However once they leave school and go out to work, or go onto university it's a whole different kettle of fish when it comes to parenting.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with children in their latter years of high school, as I know I would have found it useful for when our two left home to go to university.

One thing I thought was good, is that it stresses that once a parent always a parent whether your child is 1 or 41.  They still need you regardless of their age and I think a lot of people tend to forget that....I am hoping our two don't think that of me and dh......actually I know they don't.

Stars out of 5 : 4.5 this is a good informative book that doesn't lecture you and gives you information that is suitable for any parent of children of all ages.


"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Now for the hydro bill.....I know you're thinking here she goes on another rant about the stupid hydro bill, but actually no not today......

We got a letter in the mail on Monday telling us as of April 28, 2011 we are being switched over to Time of Use billing.  Which is basically where you are billed different rates for different times of day.  For us during the Summer months of May 1st to October 31st

Peak Period is Weekdays 11am to 5pm at 9.9 cents per kWh

Mid- Peak is Weekdays 7am to 11am and 5 pm to 7pm at 8.1 kWh

Off-Peak is Weekdays 7pm to 7am and Weekends and Holidays all day at 5.1 cents per kWh

There has been a right stink about this and people who have already been switched over have ended up with horrendous bills.  However we had this system in Britain when we lived there 22 years ago.  We had storage heaters that heated up overnight on the off peak period to keep the house warm

When I had my home baking business I used to get up early to take advantage of the cheaper prices.  So I am not opposed to this system.  Mind you when I see my first bill I may have other ideas!!!

The only thing I may have to change slightly is doing laundry first thing in the morning at 6am so it is done by 7pm.  However when I do finally get my new washer hooked up it does have a timer on it, so I will put it on the timer.

Hydro has even supplied two sticky labels with all the time periods on it, so will pop one on my fridge to remind me.

Do you have time of use billing for your hydro/electricity where you live?  How do you like it?

8 comments:

Jane and Chris said...

Gill, we've had it since Jan 31. Still waiting for the first bill (and to see if they applied the discount)...I'll let you know.
Jane x

Scrappy quilter said...

We don't have that here, however I have a friend who lives in Ont. who does and her hydro bill has gone up horribly. Hope it works for you. Hugs

Kim said...

In the part about setting your washer to 6 am, I think you meant so it finishes by 7am, not 7pm :)

We have had the time of day billing for a while now. I try to do all my laundry on the weekends. The bulk of our power is during off-peak hours but I could probably do better.

It has gone up some. We used to be billed every 3 months, now we get a bill every 2 months for about the same as before.

Anonymous said...

I'm very careful with when we use our major appliances... Laundry is always on the weekend, dishwasher timer for EARLY a.m.... Etc... Just have to plan around it to save $$. :)

Karine said...

Interesting way of billing...we don't have it in Quebec. We either have equal payment billing, which is where they average out how much electricity they think you will use over the year and you pay an even amount every month or it's basically pay as you go and you bill varies depending on how much electricity you use. That it how I'm billed and my bill usually averages out at about 40$ every two months for my apartment, but I don't heat with electricity so that helps.

Gillie said...

I've done the opposite to you, Gill, come home after 22 years in the States! We have Economy 7 here - so far I haven't taken much advantage of it since the low period is midnight to 7am and we live in a flat and would hate to keep people awake with the noise of the washing machine! However we are moving to a house tomorrow so will definitely take advantage then!

Rose said...

We don't have that but will be interesting to see how your bill does in comparison.

Anonymous said...

many thanks for the book reveiw Gill - I'll have a scout round for a copy since our three children are between 17 & 23 and I sometimes wonder if I'm okay at the adult-parenting lark. Seemed to be so much easier when they were small ^^

{{{SIGH}}}

Tuesday was a mixed bag type of day. Had the appliance repair guy come again to install another circuit board in the fridge.  When hubby got...