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To those with high bills, is the house up to date with new windows, air sealed and insulation? I spent 4k on air sealing and insulation cellulose etc. anyway my house is only 54 dollars electric and 39 gas 12 month average. It was triple that before all the insulation I had done, serious. I also went thru and replaced all bulbs with leds etc, automatic timers on outside exterior lights turn on during night off in morning. Cost a lot to do it all, but im reaping the benefits.
My old 1k ft home cost double what I am paying now in utilities.
the "American Dream" isn't to own a "big" home; it is to own a home.
+1000
When I see a "big" home, I am so thankful that it is not mine! I used to live in a bigger home and felt like I needed roller blades to get from room to room. Not my cup of tea!
I bought a bulb with a censor for outside from Home Depot, it turn on at night and off when it gets light out and it was like $10 LED.
I wanted to use those, but all my neighbors have yellow lights at night, I wanted the pretty white ones, but the white ones was WAY to bright being LED. So I bought this automatic set up, because I can dim the bulbs to 10% power, still provides light to my areas, and its pretty and not obtrusive to everyone else.
Just looked up those bulbs, cant dim them and all that jazz or I would of gotten them. Sweet things though!
I wanted to use those, but all my neighbors have yellow lights at night, I wanted the pretty white ones, but the white ones was WAY to bright being LED. So I bought this automatic set up, because I can dim the bulbs to 10% power, still provides light to my areas, and its pretty and not obtrusive to everyone else.
Just looked up those bulbs, cant dim them and all that jazz or I would of gotten them. Sweet things though!
They are a great cheap solution, what does it use like 13 watts or less being LED, so maybe 50 cents a month in electric.
If I wanted yellow I would just buy some kind of yellow film and put it on the lamp part.
They are a great cheap solution, what does it use like 13 watts or less being LED, so maybe 50 cents a month in electric.
If I wanted yellow I would just buy some kind of yellow film and put it on the lamp part.
8 watt 60 watt equivalent led's but I have them dimmed down to 10% of its power. So.. I mean, I dont know if it really works this way, but 10% of 8watts, is .8 of a watt. Lol. Unless being dimmed 10% still uses 8 watts, unsure. but yeah, its all cheap.
Another thing that saved me money and time, was a breville smart oven air, can get it on sale 300 bucks. I hated waiting 30 minutes for an oven to preheat every time, several times a day @ 5,000+ watts. then an hour of cooking or whatever
the smart oven air breville is peak of 1800 watts, it cooked 10x better than my oven, doubles as a toaster, works as an air fryer, and its just boss preheating in like 2minutes.
If anyones been looking at them, do it! I bet the hours being removed from main oven definitely saves money. Havnt touched that oven in an year now honestly.
8 watt 60 watt equivalent led's but I have them dimmed down to 10% of its power. So.. I mean, I dont know if it really works this way, but 10% of 8watts, is .8 of a watt. Lol. Unless being dimmed 10% still uses 8 watts, unsure. but yeah, its all cheap.
Another thing that saved me money and time, was a breville smart oven air, can get it on sale 300 bucks. I hated waiting 30 minutes for an oven to preheat every time, several times a day @ 5,000+ watts. then an hour of cooking or whatever
the smart oven air breville is peak of 1800 watts, it cooked 10x better than my oven, doubles as a toaster, works as an air fryer, and its just boss preheating in like 2minutes.
If anyones been looking at them, do it! I bet the hours being removed from main oven definitely saves money. Havnt touched that oven in an year now honestly.
I have a convection oven too but it's not expensive, I use it for toast every morning but I don't use the oven often, but I can make frozen pizza and cook a pork loin in it too, it's great to not have to heat the entire kitchen too since I'm in south Florida. I"ve never preheated any oven more than 5 minutes.
I rented for a while and a few of the reasons I got a house was for the good schools for any future kids, tax benefits, and “forced savings” through obvious appreciation versus renting.
But besides that, I don’t disagree that owning a home in general is overrated. There’s billions of people all over the world who don’t own a home and never will yet they’re doing perfectly fine.
Owning a car will soon be overrated as well IMO with services like Uber or car rentals on an hourly basis for big city living
A home is not only a place to sleep, eat and live but also most people's largest saving account if they didn't overpay.
We are 2 adults who use every room in our 3/2 1800 sf home. We looked into putting an addition above the garage (4th bedroom/rec room) but dropped the idea because we didn't want to go through renovation insanity.
Smaller homes with 2 bedrooms are acceptable in retirement areas but it's never a mistake to have 3 bedrooms, it's the norm everywhere.
But the OP is probably talking about McMansions when he says "big" I assume, 4,000 square feet and larger.
But some people with money want those million dollar homes, it's their way of showing how successful they are. And they may own several in different parts of the country. Snowbirds in Florida, for example, own 2 homes and some of them have a 3rd. Americans LOVE real estate.
Most people think they will cash out and sell their home when they go into assisted living. I've seen several people do this. That's another American dream to finally have no cleaning or maintenance or even cooking. Not my dream lol.
Renting means always being at the mercy of your landlord, who can raise your rent or decide to sell the building and the new owner turns it condo.
"Big home" is in the eye of the beholder. My "big" may be someone else's "small" and vice versa. I don't want to own a smaller home but I am working on getting rid of some of the clutter.
I rented for a while and a few of the reasons I got a house was for the good schools for any future kids, tax benefits, and “forced savings” through obvious appreciation versus renting.
But besides that, I don’t disagree that owning a home in general is overrated. There’s billions of people all over the world who don’t own a home and never will yet they’re doing perfectly fine.
Owning a car will soon be overrated as well IMO.
the OP said big home, i misread it the first time too.
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