Save Me, CFLS!

Save me, CFLS!One of the first things we wanted to do after moving into the new house was switch out most of the regular incandescent light bulbs to CFLs.  Of course, other stuff got in the way and that goal became low priority.  That was until we got our first electric bill. 

The bill was $40 for 4 days worth of service!  I was shocked!  I was so taken aback that I had Eric call the Electric company to see if our meter was working correctly.  Unfortunately, it was. 

I panicked, thinking our bills would translate to $600 in the summertime.  But then Eric pointed out that we had almost every single light in the home going 24 hours a day.  The home was blazing!  We hadn’t moved in yet or been able to get an alarm system set up so we were leaving on all the lights to make us feel more secure.  We were still shaken up by the robbery that had happened just days before.  We started shutting off the lights and added CFLs to our Christmas wish list. 

It’s funny though - no one really wanted to get us practical things like CFLs or boxes of tile for Christmas.  I guess that’s about as fun to buy as underwear and socks.  Throughout the rest of December we didn’t change to CFLs but we were more conscious by turning off all lights we weren’t using.  We drifted into complacency, thinking the problem was just keeping on too many lights.

Then Saturday we got the bill for the first full month.  Again, shock and horror.  Woah - $200!  That was higher than our summertime bills in the old house and we haven’t even been using the A/C yet!  This was not looking good for my budget.  We simply MUST find a way to lower that bill.

Immediately, we went through the home and counted up all the bulbs we would need.  Brace yourselves.  If we were to replace every incandescent light bulb in this home with a CFL we would need:

That’s an insane amount of light bulbs for one home.  We knew that there is no need to replace all of the bulbs, just the ones where the CFLs would be most useful.  We eliminated the areas with intermittent usage - like closets, the half bath, and the hallways.  We also decided against changing out the 5 chandelier style bulbs in the dining room.  The CFLs look clunky in it and we rarely use it anyway.

We determined that the critical bulbs needed were 24 swirlys, 9 recessed cans, and 6 chandeliers.  We would focus on getting those first then we would work the other bulbs into the budget over time.  As of right now we have changed out about 20 bulbs.  It’s progress and that’s good.

My goal is to get the critical bulbs changed by February so the following month’s bill will be based on the CFL’s with the same cool weather.  That will be a good way for me to see how much the CFLs really help.

This just has to make a difference in that bill.  If not, we may have to revert to using candles!

Image Source: Dano

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Nostalgia By The Truckload

Who doesn’t have one of these?This weekend we are going to visit my family to celebrate a belated Christmas.  It kept getting delayed due to illnesses and conflicts but it looks like my family can finally meet up this time.  I’m looking forward to it but I suspect this trip might set us back in our efforts to simplify and de-clutter our home.

The last time we visited, mom said that I should take all my childhood keepsakes now that we are moving to a bigger home.  I’m sure lots of parent stash away trinkets from their kids’ childhood knowing that they will appreciate those things when they are older.  I think it’s neat that my mom kept some of my toys all this time. 

The thing is, my mom is a packrat and she saved virtually everything I ever played with or owned as a child.  Cabinets and shelves full of old toys, games, souvenirs, hobbies, crafts, you name it.  A bedroom is dedicated to this stuff right now.  Some of it’s sentimental but most of it isn’t.

My older siblings picked through their things years ago and refused to take most of it.  Eventually, I think their rejected stuff got assimilated into mine, creating one massive collection.  Against all wisdom and advice, I have agreed to take it.  My mom saved all these things for us and I think that’s really sweet of her.  Her heart was in the right place.  She didn’t want to throw away the things that meant something to us as kids.  So now I’ll do the honors.

I’m assuming the first truckload will be coming back with me this weekend but I’m not sure yet.  If so, I need to have a plan so the stuff doesn’t become a permanent fixture in a corner of my garage.  Inspired by Brip Blap’s awesome article on learning to let go of pseudo-sentimental items, I’ve decided to do the following steps:

  1. I will go through the stuff and toss anything damaged, incomplete, or just plain un-salvageable.  That My Little Pony that my sister gave a mohawk and multiple earrings comes to mind.  (It was the 80’s - punk was in.)
  2. Stuff that is in decent condition but not unique enough to be sold will be given away to friends with kids and Goodwill.  I think most of it will be in this category.  Hopefully the toys that helped me pass the time as a child can bring happiness to others, too.
  3. Stuff that is in good shape and particularly retro or kitschy might head to eBay.  There may be a few gems among the rocks, who knows.  I’ll have to wait and see.

I already know I’m keeping a few things, like some favorite childhood books and my miniature dollhouse.  Those items were always intended to be kept, not the junk drawer with a paddleball toy that’s missing the ball or the pressed pennies from amusement parks. 

I will also make sure to do the sorting with Eric.  He can keep me grounded if a wave of nostalgia hits me and I start rationalizing why I should I keep this stuff.  I can hear myself now: “Wouldn’t it be fun to save this for our kids someday”, “But it’s too special”…  Eric has no attachment to these things and can keep us focused and on task.

Once I start getting these boxes I’ll have to report on the interesting things I find.  Besides a lot of children’s books and Barbie Dolls I’m not really sure what’s there.  I bet it will be a fun job sorting these toys.  It’s sure to bring back a lot of memories.  I’ll just have to be careful that it doesn’t bring back the clutter, too.

Image Source: tshein

Smart Move Or Invitation For Junk Mail?

Is it really worth it?I have question for all of you out there. 

When you buy a new appliance or product and it has a registration card, do you actually send it in?

I have TONS of registration cards that came in the product manuals for the new items in my home.  Everything seems to ask for registration.  All of the kitchen appliances, washer and dryer, window blinds, and garage door opener, just to name a few.   Even the $10 vaporizer we got to help ease our colds a few weeks ago has a registration card to send in.   

In the past, I rarely sent in registration cards, especially on smaller items.  I didn’t want to lose out on the warranty but I was afraid it was just the first step to getting flooded with junk mail and advertisements.  Looking at the registration cards for some of these products only seems to confirm that suspicion.  Take for instance, the registration card for my GE cooktop.  It says:

Win $2500! It’s easy. Just register your new appliance and your name will be entered in a monthly drawing for $2500.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I see things like this I immediately think there’s a catch.  There almost always is.  They must get some benefit from the registrations if they’re willing to pay a cash prize to encourage it.  I suspect my information would be promptly sold to multiple lists and the onslaught of junk mail would begin.  Something tells me they might not be so willing to spend $30,000 a year for these registrations if they were simply filing them away and not using that information in some lucrative manner.

Many of the registration cards ask intrusive questions that have nothing to do with their product.  Some of it is for marketing reports and some of it is to determine what junk mail you might be receptive to.  The registration for my toaster is an entire pamphlet, asking questions about my household income, education level, and if I enjoy cruises or stamp/coin collecting.  My storm door registration wants to know what credit card brands I currently use, when I’m planning on buying a new car, and how many magazine subscriptions I have.  I wonder why a storm door company wants to know if I’m interested in “moneymaking opportunities” or “casino gambling”. 

On the back of these cards I spotted a small note in the teeniest tiniest lettering.  It says:

Your answers will be used for market research studies and reports. They will also allow you to receive important mailings and special offers from a number of fine companies whose products and services relate directly to the specific interests, hobbies, and other information indicated above. Through this selective program, you will be able to obtain more information about activities in which you are involved and less about those in which you are not. Please check here if, for some reason, you prefer not to participate in this opportunity.

I love how it makes it sound like I’m going to be missing out on something awesome.  Opting out by checking that box might stop some of the junk mail but I noticed that it says nothing about being able to opt out of the special offers sent from the company you are actually registering with.

Some of the cards seem rather forceful, saying I must register my product immediately but they don’t specify why.  Some even give a deadline of 10 days from purchase.  Yet, on the back of those same cards in tiny lettering it reads:

Failure to submit this registration will not diminish your warranty rights.

In fact, all of the cards have that wording so it’s clear that failing to register my products will not void the warranties on them.  

So, what good does registering do?  On a positive note, there does appear to be some benefits to registering your appliances. 

This has me contemplating whether or not I should send in these cards, and if so, for what items.  

I’m thinking that I may register the large kitchen appliances.  I can see the potential for needing warranty work one day.  The large appliances came with a standard 1-year warranty and the home builder included a 4-year extension.  Because these appliances are big purchases and they have long warranties it may be worth registering them.

On the other hand, my toaster only has a 3-month warranty and that little vaporizer only cost me $10.  It hardly seems worth it to me to register these items unless I want to receive potential recall notices.  If the vaporizer breaks it would probably cost me more in time and shipping to get it replaced under warranty than to buy a new one.  I think the risk of annoying junk mail outweighs the potential benefit of registering these items for me.

What do you do with your registration cards?  Do you think it’s wise move to register your purchases or do you think it just isn’t worth it in the end?

Breaking The Silence

Looks like we are fresh out - please come back tomorrow!Sorry we haven’t been writing lately. It’s been lots of 7AM to 10PM days and just a short time at home. We didn’t do a good job ahead of time estimating how long we’d have to work on different tasks around both homes.

A quick update - we’ve been robbed! Our new house was robbed and the appliances were taken. The thief broke in and took the most expensive and easiest items to take. At least the thief was courteous and turned off the gas when he snipped the cable to the gas stove. We think it probably wasn’t his first time through this. We’re still dealing with that event but everything is being resolved. It was the builder’s responsibility to lock it up so they bought us new appliances. The only problem is the new microwave is broken. It’s getting handled through the warranty however. C’est la vie.

One thing to learn from all of that is to make sure to get things in writing. I trust the builder and the company to do the right thing, but when it comes to money sometimes people can be funny. It’s always best to get things in writing.

Another lesson - it may be cheaper to seal your own tile but it sure takes a long time. It took us nearly 4 days to get it done. We saved $1300 doing it ourselves, but lost all that time. Although I’m really happy we saved that money, I’m physically exhausted and feel like I’m behind in other areas.

We had a little debate about movers, too. We shopped around a little bit and found different movers estimate things differently. We were concerned about movers that estimated by the hour. Is there motivation to get things done quickly? If our move is done in 4 hours, then the hourly rate vs. flat rate turns out to be mostly the same. However, if the hourly folks take one more hour, that’s another $100. On the other hand, if it’s a flat rate, will the movers rush through and not be as careful so they can save time?

We decided, after some debate, to go with the flat rate. If we get any guff about the amount to move (they made us estimate boxes as well as the items we’d be moving) then we’ll move the small stuff ourselves. We’re not done packing our boxes yet so we don’t know where we’ll end up number-wise.

Here’s to hoping we’re done with the move soon and ready to get back into our groove. I need to get to studying and Melissa wants more time to write. We’ll get there in just a little more time…

Image Source: Mykl Roventine

Saving Money Doing It Ourselves

About a week ago, Melissa wrote about how we were considering doing much of the work on the new house ourselves in order to save money. We’ve chosen to do quite a bit ourselves and save the money we would have spent otherwise. So far it’s working well but taking most of our time. We’re a little bruised and battered from all the physical labor, but after we’re done I think we’ll be happier that we took the time and effort to do it ourselves.

One thing we wanted to do was to add some protection to the walls in the room where we put our litter boxes. We wanted something that looked nice, like Wainscoting, but would add some extra protection to the walls around the litterbox area. We got a quote from a contractor who said it would be $800 in labor alone. We talked to Melissa’s father who had done some of this kind of work before and he offered to drive into town to help us and supply the tools we would need. With his help, we got it done in a single day and it looks great! We saved the $800 in labor by doing it ourselves. I’m not sure how much we saved in parts because we didn’t pursue the work with the contractors but I think we probably saved some money there too. Best of all, I learned a lot about working on a house and used several tools I hadn’t had much need for before and also got time to bond with Melissa’s father which was great. Because her family lives about 4 hours away, we don’t get to see them much, so it was a big deal for them to come up to help us.

We’ve also decided to do the grout sealing ourselves. This has been time consuming and physically a bit rough (your knees and wrists take a beating), but not horrible. We had gotten a quote for $1400 to get the grout sealed (it was an estimate based on square footage so the price might have gone up if they actually came out to quote the work). We spent $100 on sealer so far, and about 3 days (working around other tasks and appointments around the house). We probably didn’t have much choice here because we had not budgeted nearly enough for what we had been quoted. It’s been good honest work and that feels really good too. We may be working at the house about 14 hours a day now, but when we’re done, we’ll have everything in place for our upcoming move.

We were also considering a few other things. This is how they’ve turned out so far :

So far, we are right about on budget. Some things we’ve gone over, but we managed to save money in different areas by researching the best deals or in some cases getting really lucky (Sears had a sale on garage door openers at the perfect time for us).

It feels good to come home exhausted and get a good nights sleep, but I’m missing my time reading and writing. I hope to have a few more moments where I can write up a quick as time (and energy) permits.

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