Saying goodbye....to money

We all do it on a daily basis. Whether we like it or not. I take comfort in the knowledge that both Daniel and I put our bills and our children above all else. We try hard to make sure our bills (the few that we do have) are paid and that the kids have everything they need first. Today I paid the electric bill, which is the bane of my frustration these days. We have been researching solar panels for well over a year now because of it. Honestly it makes absolutely no sense, as to why our electric bill is so high in the WINTER months (we don't use Central Heat and Air btw) and so low in the summer months (we use window a/c units, 3 of them). You would think that the bill would be much higher in the warmer months given we live in the tropical state of Florida. We had the electric company come out and replace the meter. That didn't help. The bill has remained at a high rate. Given we use very few lights and very few appliances, it makes no sense what so ever. There is no good reason as to why it is high. I have been unable to wrap my brain around it all. We have sat down with professionals and went over the bills, the electric use and even the fuses and wiring in the house, with a fine tooth comb. No one has been able to explain why it is so high. Irregardless, I paid the electric today. I will make another payment on 2/9/2012 just to keep on top of the damn thing. I am a receipt hoarder for one reason....I got burned the ONE time I failed to keep a receipt. Looking at the receipts for the electric bill I noticed that on average we pay every TWO WEEKS. Sometimes we have paid 3 times in a 4 week time frame. I shouldn't have to pay it that often. I also noticed that the electric company has charged us 5 deposits. One of which was a 450.00 deposit and the other 4 were for 250.00 each! I called them about it and was told they have no record of 3 of those deposits. Thankfully I have the receipts from them. I told them that i am not paying any more deposits and that they can figure out where they went. I have given them copies of the receipts which bear their letterheads and specify that the amounts were for deposits. I am thankful that we own our home and our land. I am thankful that we only have FOUR bills. Electric, Water, Phone/Internet bundle and my cellphone (which is only 40.00 a month for total unlimited and I use it for business). That in itself is something to be very grateful for. There aren't many who can say "Hey, I only have 4 bills every month.".  But when you have an electric bill that averages 280.00 in the summer and 450.00 in the winter.....you tend to feel like you are drowning with just that one bill. Saying goodbye to money is never easy. And we do it on a daily basis. I have always been a "crunchy" or a "tree hugging" mama. Simply because i like natural things. When my kids were babies, I used cloth diapers, cloth wipes, home made baby food, breastfed and "wore" my babies, in addition to co-sleeping and other things. I still prefer cloth wipes over toilet paper (which is literally money down the toilet). -shrugs- Maybe I am strange.