On Oats, Dollars and Power

So I found a cheaper brand of oats, and obviously buy it. Disgusting. I want to give it away now. Problem is it’s a whole dollar cheaper than the brand I usually buy (About R8 cheaper), then again, by the time I publish this entry, and the dollar would have gone weaker still and it’s only 78c cheaper.

Seriously, I try to cut down on the grocery bill, and then I end up with bad oats. I really though I was getting my money’s worth. The box packaging was pretty; it even had one side rounded so it’s not quite square. It claims that it’s Organic. That’s it. That’s the problem. It’s organic. Tastes like dirt. Where the brand goes off the tracks is with the individual sachet’s packaging. It’s plastic-cellophane stuff. Not the papery one from my favourite expensive brand, no. This organic oats is using cellophane as packaging. Rubbish. Save the earth worm, kill a fish type thinking there.

Back to the Rand-Dollar issue. The excrement is going to hit the fan soon-soon here in RSA. Yesterday it was R8,16 to a dollar! I was still waiting for it to drop to about R7,05 or even below R7 so that I can make a donation to WNF. But now, I don’t know if I must just get it over with and pay my R100, or wait and see if it gets better. Ok, if it drops by tonight, I’ll wait it out a bit, if it climbs, I’ll make the payment. The only good thing is that our gold prices are sky high now. As in, the index watchers would have said it was impossible for gold to reach that price 2 months ago. It’s over the $1000 mark now!

I decided to do a bit more about our energy crises. I’ve always been conservative with electricity in my house. No unnecessary lights; I just leave the bathroom light on as it gets used a lot and switching the light on and off repeatedly uses more electricity than if we just leave it on ‘till bedtime. Also Henk is working all hours during parstyd, so I only have my computer or TV on and 1 light inside and 1 light outside. I can pee in the dark. However, I never bothered with the geyser. I worked out that it uses more electricity to heat a tank of cold water than to keep a hot tank warm.
We moved into a new house, and this one’s geyser is outside in full afternoon sun. So this morning I switched off the geyser. I just have to remember to switch it back on tonight. It’s 34C out there today; I don’t think the water will get too cold. Another incentive for my saving initiative is because at this new house we have to pay our own electricity bill. It used to be included with the rent. Now we are more responsible. I’m glad that the pump connected to the irrigation water has a manual switch, so we switch it off when not in use.

Lets see if the geyser thing works. I’ll keep my eye on the bill.