Move Over Griswolds, Here Come The Berrys

We visited friends at Mt Annan on the weekend. We had a lovely time and when it was dark we headed out to walk the streets and look at the Christmas lights. It was amazing the amount of work people had put in – there were even baby animals! If you are in Sydney I would recommend you take the trip out to Mt Annan, park the car and walk around the streets to look at the lights.

When we arrived home and saw our poor attempt at Christmas lights (I had put up a set of solar lights in a tree) Mr Berry decided that less is definitely not more when it came to outdoor lighting at Christmas. So yesterday we headed down to the Christmas shop and left armed with more lights than a football stadium.

Apparently you need at least one motorised set.

And I had always wanted icicles.

I also got some more solar lights. They aren’t as bright as the others but you can see the stakes in the picture below. The tops light up and circle through the colours. I also bought some packs of basic solar lights to put on the hedge at the front.

Mr Berry assures me that LED lights use less electricity than the other types (we only bought LED) and I will read our meter over the next few days to see what we are in for. As I have said previously, we are using green electricity so our carbon emissions will not change but it is helpful to be aware of the usage so I can get an idea of the how much the next bill will be.

Living frugally is not about saving every penny you can. It is about not wasting money and using your money wisely. The higher electricity use for a couple of weeks will not break the bank and it has other non monetary benefits. When we were finishing the lights it was dusk and people walking past would stop and chat and the neighbourhood children would stop to look at ‘sea-saw Santa’. We met a few more neighbours last night and I think a little bit more electricity use for a couple of weeks is well worth it.