Upgrading Windows, Timesharing, Etc
After ten months, we received a call from Taylor Construction yesterday. It took a while, but we eventually remembered that we'd stopped by their stall at the Mall of Georgia last October, and filled out a card or something. Silly us. So we arranged to have them come out and give us an estimate on replacing our eleven single-pane windows with something a little more energy efficient. Earlier this year, we had storm doors installed, and the power bills this summer have thus far failed to break $300, but I haven't received the 100-Degree Heat Wave Bill (tm) yet. So it only makes sense to get the windows upgraded now before we have an impressively cold winter to provide us with a Big Chill Gas Bill (tm) as well.
I should mention at this point that I first considered upgrading my windows back in 2001 when a telemarketer caught me on a night when I was feeling lonely and talkative. Sears came out and gave me an estimate that topped $10,000. So I thanked them for the estimate and filed it away for future reference. And occasionally I'd stumble across it again and tell myself I should really look into taking those window measurements to other companies like Peachtree, Champion, and Taylor, and see if a better price could be had.
I should also mention that Bev and I have spent many hours over the last year-and-a-half or so looking at houses. Partly because we have hopes of having a kid or two and needing a bigger and nicer place in the future, and partly because it's a good way to kill time when you don't feel like driving five hours to the nearest beach, and there aren't any new CDs or books you want to buy at your friend's secondhand store. Just yesterday, we went out to look at a house in Dacula that was marked down 20k because the original prospective buyer failed to qualify for ANY sort of financing. The fully-furnished model of that particular plan looked nice and appealing, but the stripped-down version's empty kitchen looked woefully inadequate for even a bachelor in a studio apartment. And the mortgage payment at 6% and "current equity" down would come out to nearly twice what we currently pay for our three-bedroom ranch in Tucker. We could afford it . . . if we decided never to have the children that would necessitate the home purchase in the first place. And it would have only shaved fifteen minutes off of Bev's current commute. Not worth it. And the other houses closer to a real halfway point between Bev's job and mine are considerably pricier.
So today we made a decision. We're staying put in Tucker. Bev will explore other employment options starting next year. And we're going to upgrade the house as much as we can. The windows are the most expensive project on the plate right now, followed by the gutters, and replacing some cracked tile and soft floorboards in the master bath. Yeah, we'll lose money overall. Yeah, the market in our particular part of Tucker just isn't moving right now. Yeah, there's a fatal wreck every 24 months within earshot of the house (more on that some other time).
Taylor's quote, after discounts and newspaper coupons we didn't even know existed but received credit for anyway, is roughly identical to the Sears quote from 6.5 years ago. Material costs have gone up since then. After determining that we could spread the cost out over five years through their financing (with rates better than some home equity loans I've seen lately) and have it come out less than a second car payment would, we decided to act.
So now, we have to save money elsewhere.
Bev and I could very easily save a lot of money every year. Unlike a lot of young couples these days, our house payment is not only within our means, it's considerably well below it. So we've fallen into the trap of spending money elsewhere on things we don't really need. And not taking steps to save money, like bringing my lunch to work, or carpooling with each other since my office is only two miles off her direct route. We've made excuses for not doing this before. "Oh, parts of my job require me to drive around and look at projects." "Oh, my hours can be insane when there's a project deadline looming." "Oh, I need to eat out with co-workers in order to socialize and come up with ideas." But they're just that - excuses, nothing more. The company has two of its own vehicles. Bev can work on her grading and lesson plans while she waits for me to find a good stopping point for the night. The company has a kitchen where four or more people usually microwave their meals and sit and talk.
We worked some details out. My car goes through one tank a week, at 30mpg or so. My average fill-up is about $30, due to a small tank. We could save over $1500 if I got up at 6 AM every morning and carpooled. We could save another $1000 or so if I brought my own lunch nearly every day, or ate breakfast at home instead of at Chick-Fil-A or Starbucks. In short, we could pay off these windows in much much less than the five years for which we'll be financing. We might even pay them off before we finish paying off Bev's vehicle. And they'd be paid off way too fast to optimize the tax credit for which we'd be eligible.
These saving steps will also have another positive effect. We'll spend a lot more time together. The first three months of our marriage, we weren't even together except for the honeymoon. The most recent two years, work and other things have kept us from really getting to grow together like a married couple should. We just need more time to talk, cuddle, etc. Not that cuddling is a good idea on a freeway at 65 MPH, but you know what I mean.
We'll start afer Labor Day. We need to get my sleep schedule adjusted a little better first - so I'm not playing KOL or posting to LJ after midnight, and other stuff that might get in the way of a decent night's sleep before a 7 AM carpool. And there's another project deadline and a GCA meeting this week.
We'll be reducing our carbon footprint. But our argon footprint will be shopping at Big And Tall stores . . . :)