Payback time fiquring for a OWB

[hickslawns]

My Lil' House Heater will have paid for itself by the end of this winter. Installed late last year. Only got about 2-3months use last winter. Being self employed I understand how time is money. There is also the notion that "A penny saved is a penny earned" which holds very true. With the current economy, it might be easier to save money than to try to pry money out of people's hands. Can't blame them. I am not spending mine either until the bank situation settles.

My time is very limited. However, I also have access to all the tools needed for firewood. f450 dump truck with a 10 1/2' bed, dump trailer, dump insert on my Dodge 3500, chain saws, built a splitter to mount onto the skid loader. etc. My time is very valuable to me. However in the middle of the summer we slow down, and it can be slow in the winter if it is not snowing. Sweated my tail off in july and August splitting and stacking. Will enjoy stocking up for next winter during this year's winter months.

It has been touched on about cutting wood being therpuetic. I can not agree more. I can not always get away to go fishing, ride my motorcycles, or other hobbies. I can however find 30 min to an hour at dusk to split some wood. I truly enjoy this. Call me twisted. We all need a getaway. This is one of mine.

The other factor I haven't heard anyone mention is time spent with their families. My 4 year old son loves to be outside with me "working". It slows me down as I need to be ultra cautious as to his whereabouts, but I cannot put a price on the time spent with him. It is absolutely priceless!!! Besides, I would rather set this as an example for him than to complain about the bills as I am on the couch watching tv while my gas meter is rolling. Kids learn by their environment.

Grow a garden. Burn wood for heat. Teach your kids to hunt and fish. Can and freeze food. Teach your kids a way of self sufficiency that is dieing. Might need it someday. If not it will at least let them know where we started as a nation and not everything just comes from the grocery store.

As to the LadyToysDream- I am not knocking you, just can't figure out why someone would own a truck and not put anything in the bed? It isn't an appreciating asset. It is a tool. I have a 4x4 ext cab dually with the Cummins diesel. It is a tool and can be replaced. Doesn't change me or make me any better than my Dad with a reg cab 2wd 4cyl 5sp Chevy Colorado. Heck, even he loads it up with wood and tools. It is the size tool he needs to do what he does. My truck is the tool I need to do my work. Use your trucks or buy a hybrid. Seems a shame to waste such a fine tool. You aren't worried about keeping up with the Jones' are you? Check the news, our tax dollars are about to bail out the Jones'. Go get those trucks a workout

 

[LadyToysDream]

Hi ......

hickslawns--- excellent post

Here I go again, filling in the blanks......
We have owned mainly trucks through the years - Fords. And most of them have been using for hauling stuff. Our latest truck is a 06 F150, 4x4 which has a 4 door crew cab, short box, 17 inch tires. That is his truck to get him back and forth to his full time job. He needs to be able to get down our 1.5 mile hill to town by 4 am in the winter to plow snow. Going through snow as high as the hood sometimes. We get some nasty drifts.
The truck I am driving is the paid for, 03 F150, 4x4, extended cab, 16 inch tires. Which was his get him to work, truck. I traded in a 99 Ranger to get him into his current truck. I been using the 03 to take things to the fleamarket this summer. Course he done some pouting about that....and my remark back to him was....*Look, it's a TRUCK, and I am going to USE it as a truck*. ......
The poor Ranger, I hauled so much stuff on that truck, that I wore out a set of back springs Most of our trucks, we drive on the average of 11 years.
We do own a 16 ft enclosed trailer. And we just sold a small landscape trailer. We intend to buy another trailer.

We raised 7 kids( 6 boys, 1 girl) between us....4 mine, 3 his. I used to keep 2 freezers running, and canned about 600 jars of food each year. And I was a stay at home mom. None of our kids got into any serious trouble. They KNEW better We lived on a dairy farm at the time. Kids had to help with the wood pile in the spring, and summer. When they whined, they were asked if they wanted to do it in the winter. That was a good motivation tool

And now I look back through the years, and am thankful, that times were tough. We learned how to do a lot of things for ourselves.
This summer, we had a nice garden and I did some canning and freezing.
And as soon as deer season gets here, I turn the second freezer back on.

I guess my best example for the kids was when, I got my 2 yr degree, worked 45 hours a week ( 3 part time jobs). My blind sister living with us for 3.5 yrs . Four kids lived with us, and the other 3 came on weekends. I was either doing laundry and or baking / scratch cooking. I rarely looked at any clock , just had to keep moving

 

[Moss Man]

Figuring the cost payback is never that simple. You have opportunity costs to consider also, that would be to take into consideration how much money your $10,000 would earn if it were invested. So if you could have made 10% off your ten grand you could have heated your house for free!! Or not!! Personally I think the cost of heating is only going to go up so every year your payback will get closer. and your house will be as warm as you want it to be. Plus you don't have to pay membership at the gym cuz your getting enough of a work out at home... Your in it now so you may as well just enjoy the independence and forget about what it cost you. Now when they talk of $5 a gallon propane you can just sit back and smile to yourself.

:agree2:

That statement put things in a different light for me, you are saving on many levels under your plan!