I’m finding myself wanting a lot of things these days, and having trouble deciding what is worth the money and what isn’t.
As I already mentioned, I’m still waffling over this whole gym membership/Wii thing. I know I need to start getting active, and I just don’t know what the best thing (for me) is. I suspect that whatever I choose is going to involve spending some money.
I think we need a new water heater. We cannot take two consecutive showers without running out of hot water, and the tank takes a LONG time to recover. Our home is entirely electric–there is no gas line into the house. I am aware that gas hot water heaters are more efficient than electric ones, but that’s just not an option. I have no way of knowing how old the hot water heater is, but from the little research I’ve done in the past couple of days, it does not appear that what we have is very efficient at all. (It’s a 40-gallon tank with an FHR of 32, and the energy efficiency is terrible.) I really have no idea what it will cost to replace/install a water heater, nor do I have any idea what we need.
While both of our cars are currently running fine, we recognize that we should probably plan ahead for replacing at least one of them.
Our laptops are also both aging. Rand’s seems to be giving him more trouble than mine is giving me.
We’re both finding ourselves mildly strapped for cash since the holidays and our stay in NYC…nothing we can’t handle, of course, but it means this month is probably not the best time to be spending oodles of cash. Tell me that as I’m enviously eying tickets for both Rent and Mamma Mia at Shea’s this month/next month. Not to mention how desperately I want to shop for some new clothes/shoes. And I’m not even going to get into the whole iPhone thing…
And looking around the house? Don’t even get me started. Very soon, I’m going to be posting some pictures of my kitchen…at the very least, we WILL be tearing down wallpaper and painting in the near future. More on that to come.
So yeah, this is what I’ve been spending my weekend thinking about. I shouldn’t complain too much–I know that we’re in a very good position compared to a lot of people right now. (On the other hand, while I’m hopeful, I have no guarantee that I will have a job in September…)
Ah well. I’m off…got to buy groceries and eat dinner before doing some lesson planning this evening. Any advice on the water heater thing would be welcome!
I will gladly take your aging laptop off your hands…isn’t only a few years old?
This coming from the woman who is working on a free computer her sister-in-law gave me from work who was ready to purchase her first laptop this Fall but ended up breaking up with her boyfriend and throwing the $1,000 into a van instead. Bah.
Hey I think I lost you somewhere. I’m glad I found you though! I look forward to reading about all your adventures!
Blowdown the water heater.
Insulate the tank.
Make sure no drafts are blowing across the tank.
Increase the temp of the water heater and use cold water at the shower to regulate the water temperature of the shower. Be very careful. You can get temp. regulating faucets.
Shorter showers.
Shower together. [my fav.]