Saving Money as Prices Increase

[Jstpssng]

Maybe in Maine?

Yes. Maine Milk Commission: History and Background
Because of this we aren't subject to the Federal Order. Federal Milk Marketing Orders | Agricultural Marketing Service.

 

[Torvy]

Not a big fan of setting retail prices. Wisconsin does that with gas.

Stores here will just use retail milk (or gas) as loss leaders. Get you in the store to buy milk for cheap and you get you other groceries while there...unless you are like my mother, who would spend more money on gas driving to 3-4 stores than she saved on prices.

Federal price floors are for producer prices. Still not a fan, but I like the objective.

 

[daugen]

Yes. Maine Milk Commission: History and Background
Because of this we aren't subject to the Federal Order. Federal Milk Marketing Orders | Agricultural Marketing Service.

interesting info. Next time I buy milk am going to compare retail price of regular milk vs skim. By this chart supermarket should be charging less for skim
milk.
file:///C:/Users/Drew/AppData/Local/Temp/11-2021%20new%20retail%20margins.pdf
not sure you can open this ?

and speaking of milk...I pay a dollar more per half gallon to get organic 2% milk, because not only is it (maybe) a little bit better for me but the shelf life seems
twice as long, sometimes three times longer than conventional milk. I just bought organic milk with a pull date in Mid January. And I've never thrown organic milk out that
got spoiled, always the regular stuff. Seems counterintuitive, you would think more preservatives or whatever would make the milk last longer.
So to not throw out milk, since I live alone and don't drink it every day, though often with bran cereal, I buy the organic and pay more.

I also stopped buying bagged chopped salad, chopping up a head of romaine is pretty easy and lasts longer in fridge.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Cost of Distribution has become significant.

Electrical Utilities used to just Get It Done here, at much lower rates. User-Pay is the buzzword that's been popular for a long time..... unfortunately, shifting the pain there enables other behaviour; shoddy management practices just being one.

Close to home (like your grandparents ur) allows you potentially to manage things yourself..... Wood is one option, if you live rural.

For Power, you'll see some examples on TBN and elsewhere of the classic path to going off-gird in remote areas..... once the line-in cost quote from the Utility shows up, all of a sudden totally off-grid starts looking better.

I recall one thread on here.... owner/builder got "irritated" with the Utility's "You can't pull that off" attitude........ "Hold my Soldering Iron, and Watch This" was his answer. Result was a fantastic off-grid system, @ or below that Line-In cost.

Big $ upfront to put that ^ in place, so not for everyone. Good suggestions/practices in this thread - I do many of the same, but not all....

Rgds, D.

The power company wanted $60,000 to run poles to a neighbor's new house site, so he went off grid. That was a decade ago, and I haven't asked him what he thinks of the new PE systems. He installed a diesel genset for high demand.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Perhaps you should do a little research !

Heat pumps have resistive heating strips for low ambient temps. The more efficient units will run a little below freezing, at the expense of a lot of coil de-icing. I have a modern unit that they told me would sort of work down to 25 degrees, but I stoke the wood stove and don't try it.

 

[kenmac]

Heat pumps have resistive heating strips for low ambient temps. The more efficient units will run a little below freezing, at the expense of a lot of coil de-icing. I have a modern unit that they told me would sort of work down to 25 degrees, but I stoke the wood stove and don't try it.

Not all heat pumps have to use a ''back up heat'' source (ie) gas, resistance heat. Some operate in Heat pump mode only, and have no issues heating well below freezing .
I installed such a unit

 

[arto98607]

Not all heat pumps have to use a ''back up heat'' source (ie) gas, resistance heat. Some operate in Heat pump mode only, and have no issues heating well below freezing .
I installed such a unit

Are you saying this air source heat-pump works well & at a high efficiency at below 0 F (-17.8 C) temperatures as indicated in your post #118 earlier?

I certainly would like to find out more about it if possible.

Like make & model if you don't mind please?

 

[lman]

Are you saying this air source heat-pump works well & at a high efficiency at below 0 F (-17.8 C) temperatures as indicated in your post #118 earlier?

I certainly would like to find out more about it if possible.

Like make & model if you don't mind please?



View attachment 720874

I don't think it ever gets that cold where he's at.

 

[arto98607]

Yeah, I can see a geothermal HP working (at least somewhat) in a cold climate, air source not so much. Doesn't resistance heating kick in below 30° or so?

If the ground loop is properly designed & located (IE. pipe is long enough) the ground temperature near the loop remains relatively steady all your round, regardless of ambient temperature changes.

I have occasionally monitored our ground loop incoming liquid temperature and it's been pretty steady so far, but we've had it only since 2003 ...

The resistance heating in our system is only for backup in case of failure, and so far has never been used.

 

[Diggin It]

Anybody still use fillers in ground meat dishes? I can remember when meatloaf, meatballs and similar had about 25% rice or cauliflower added as a filler/extender.