German Efficiency, Depression era frugality -- the conversations of my grandparents

I took a course once where the general theme was that we live our life through conversations, and we inheret our conversations.


I grew up in an uppermiddle class home in San Jose, CA, where dad insisted on keeping the thermostat set at a setting somewhere less than ideal. I don't remember what the temperature was, but I do remember as a little boy getting up at 6:00am to see him off to work and lying down in the kitchen by the only source of heat--the fridge vent--and holding on to a blanket. Very dusty. Lest you make a wrong impression of dad, he also paid for all three of his children's 4 year bachelor's degrees. Also, he bought himself a Porsche one year with a bonus. But no way was that thermostat going up. His parents grew up in Depression era Chicago. Grandma once told me a story about how it had gotten so bad that people would go to restaurants, sit down and get the free water, then squirt ketchup into a glass and call it tomato juice, then leave without ordering anything. My grandparents apparently felt very priveleged that they never had to do that, although they did share a flat with about 3 families.


Mom grew up on a farm in Idaho, the fourth and final child of German immigrant parents, who came to America during war years with not a whole lot more than the clothes on their back and an uncle who had a homested in ID. I remember Grandma at about age 90, shortly before she died, refusing to replace 40 year old worn and tattered drapes, because she didn't need to replace them. At the time she was a millionaire.


So my wife and I have just bought our first house. My parent boths contributed cash so that we could fix it up, as although it is only 4 years old, was bank owned, and needed a couple of appliances, a window, and carpet. We love the house and don't consider it a 'starter' home, even though it is my first home. We bought it for less than the national median, and we live in Thornton, CO.


My wife and I are both successful sales professionals, we have no kids, and we put 20% down and had the same amount of cash left in the bank after. Cars are paid for and we paid about %25 less for the house than the last guy, who lost it in foreclosure did. So we can afford the heat bill.


However, I keep the thermostat down low: 55 degrees at 9:30pm, 64 degrees at 6:30am, 60degrees at 8:00am, and 68 at 5:15pm. And my wife hates it. Just like my mother hated it. I follow G (my wife) around the house, turning off lights, and turning down the thermostat. She turns them up. I suppose it is a good form of excercise.


My frugality really isn't just about saving money--it is more ingrained than that. This is an inhereted conversation from my grandparents. Now I pick up where they left off and have added from my own cultural conversations: 'global warming' 'greenhouse effect' 'carbon footprint.' But rather than simply turn the thermostat up or down further, I am going to create, design and build green. I am going to reduce my carbon footprint through thermal efficiency. I am going to put a smile on the faces of my ancestors, by parents, my wife, and even our cats, and Al Gore. I am the carbon cutter.