Heating oil is so expensive, I need to find a way to cut costs

In this part of the state everyone has to buy their heating oil from the same company.

I know it sounds like a government-mandates monopoly – that’s because it is! I cannot fathom how this can be legal, but it’s the law so I have to comply. The winter season in this area is always very intense, replete with ice storms, heavy snowfall, and frozen pipes. Before the cold weather hits, people have to purchase a whole season’s worth of heating oil. It’s not allowed to just buy a little heating oil, you have to buy enough to last for three months. They say that’s because of the snow storms and power outages. With this kind of furnace, using this kind of heating oil, a home doesn’t need electricity to stay safe and warm. My home does have a brick fireplace in the front room, which is something I need to take advantage of more often. The only problem with a brick fireplace is that I have to either buy or chop the wood to fill it. A fireplace burns through wood much more quickly than you would expect. Firewood is expensive to buy, because it takes so much effort to chop and bundle! Right now I still don’t have many options, but I am using as little heating oil as possible. A friend of mine has a stand of trees on his property and offered to let me chop my own wood for my fireplace. This winter is going to take restraint and hard labor, but I will make it work.
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