Hi Marla,

Yes we heat the house and our water with natural gas. We cook with it too. However, we mainly heat our house with a wood pellet stove. I LOVE these things. If anyone is interested in getting a pellet stove, feel free to ask me about them. They're so great for the environment, and cuddly to sit next to in the winter.

We're careful about how we use electricity is all. We never use a dryer for our clothes, and only use lights when we need them. Our outdoor lights a motion-sensored and we only run the dishwasher when it's full. We have dimmer switches on the lights we use most often, and so it's rare that we have them on the brightest setting.