Going Green is Making Me Blue!

Hello my dear friends. Every day we are inundated with ways to and reasons why we should "go green". We need to "conserve our resources", "save the planet", "reduce our carbon footprint". I, like many of you, do my best to comply. After years of "doing my part", do you know what I've learned? When they say "go green" they're talking about your money disappearing.  First we replaced our 89 cent light bulbs with the $3 compact fluorescents. That led to the need to buy new lamp shades and covers to fit around the bulbs. The CFs come in different shapes and sizes now, but they came well after the forced conversion. We replaced our old furnace with a 98% efficient model. Now it takes 3 hours to heat the house, so it runs twice as long. To conserve energy we had the house insulated and air sealed, replaced all of the windows with new, energy efficient glass, got a digital thermostat and set the temperature at a steady 66 degrees. (yes, it was cold in here)! As a reward, National Grid tacked a $9 fee on to our bill because we didn't use enough energy. They call it an "adjustment for changes from normal weather". Factoring in all of the improvements we made to conserve energy, it will take us about 100 years to break even. We've also added an energy efficient washing machine. It takes a full hour to do a load and only uses "low suds" dry detergent and bleaches. They cost twice as much and I've yet to see my water bill go down. Don't even get me started on "organic cleaning products". I could go on (and on) but I'm trying to conserve my energy!
Po