Solar starting point:

You have made the decision to get solar . But now you really have no idea where you should start do you call a company, look online to get panels .  

I have knew for years that i was getting solar . I just have never been able to afford them. I first started out by figuring out how much energy that my place used . Then i bought a cheap kilowatt meter . This if you want panels is a very useful tool in finding loads that you can loose in juice . I wanted to drop all loads that wasnt related to comfort . Yep i still take long showers because this is comforting and i know someone may try say its wasting water. But on the contrary mine comes from a water well .So essentially i am recycling.  I found that there was many things that used energy that was just plain waist full .  

Energy hogs :

Your probably going to wonder what is the energy hogs in your house . In mine . Obviously the Heaters was the biggest consumers of energy . My remedy was a mini split heat pump. The next one was the stoves. That unfortunately i cant fix because i dont want gas . Third i am still working on is water heating. I am probably going to get a heat pump water heater to help with humidification this will fix two problems in one . My 4th one was the fridge . I have a older fridge that i dint think would use that much juice . But they can eat up a significant amount of power. The last i just classify as every day things. Laptops,modems things of that sort.

Cut the use:

Why do i say cut your power use. It is much easier to reduce your energy use than to  try combat the use with solar at least right now . Especially if you plan to hire someone . And you may possibly not even have the room to combat it completely if you want to do away with the bill all together. Insulate should be your first thought when thinking solar unless you want to do like some stone age stuff or be uncomfortable which i chose not to do . If you can crawl into your attic and see the wood over your ceiling . You need to invest because your literally fighting a loosing battle . Energy efficient appliances may cost a little more upfront but in the long run will save you some in the long run.  If you plan to go solar do your research cut your bill first by reducing then buying the panels.

Well its getting long . Gotta go its getting a bit long .