Homeowning for Dummies

Or maybe just common sense 101?

A few months ago, I tossed the top of my motion sensor activated trash can lid on to the floor one day when changing the trash bag.  It never worked quite right again.  It seemed like the mechanism inside the lid didn't have enough torque to open it completely.  Every so often it would open all the way, but just once.  I thought I had broken it when I tossed it to the ground.  The hubster said it was batteries.  I dismissed him because we had just changed the batteries and the last set lasted for over a year.

The other day it just completely died, so I thought I would try to change the batteries.  Even if didn't open all the way, a little crack at least allowed me to push it completely open.  Once I opened up the battery compartment, it all became very apparent what the problem was.  Two of the battery ends were completely corroded.  I'm guessing that the connection was shoddy and that's what was causing the malfunction.  Since we only had two batteries and there were 4 batteries to change, I chose to only change the corroded ones and rearranged the batteries.  And VOILA, it worked.

So yeah, lessons learned... don't always disregard your spouse and change the batteries.

Home Owning Guide for Dummies Part 2

This is almost a two parter, but not really.  This lesson just happens to deal with the furnace.  The more I think of it, it's a three parter.

Part 1:

When making the transition from apartment to house, take note that in some places the gas and electricity are handled by TWO different companies.  The hubster and I found out the hard way.  By hard way, I mean, our heat got turned off in January due to non-payment.  That was a big WTF moment.  It was further complicated by the fact that I was on travel for work and I had to make the calls because the condo was in my name.  Setting up utilities is not fun.

Lesson learned: So if we ever move, we'll know to contact both the electricity and gas company to set up service.

Part 2:

Air filters, not just for your car.  Again, our heat shut off in the middle of winter.  We tried and tried to get the furnace to turn on.  We knew the gas wasn't turned off again.  I make damn sure to pay that bill every month.  It's cold in Ohio in the winter.  What the hell could it be?  We just happen to be friendly with an HVAC guy and he walked us through the fix.  Apparently, you need to change the air filter that sits right next to the furnace.  You know what?  Who the hell knew that houses even had air filters?  Not me?  Have you ever changed the air filter in an apartment?  No, I didn't think so.  I've never seen my dad change an air filter in the house, much less see him carrying one.  We were lucky that we knew our friend or else we would have spent a pretty penny on having one come out.  The fix was pretty simple, so at least we'll know what to do next time we forget to change the filter.  I don't I'll ever forget that since I think the furnace went down after we had been living at the condo for at least a year and I'm sure I can remember to change the filter once a year.

The recommended time is like once a month, but I change it once every three maybe.  I go up and check the filter and compare it to past filters.  Yes, there is a pile of filters in my furnace room (even the original offender).  I use those to gauge when to change.  I also keep them because the actual size of the filter area is about half the size of the filter, so I reuse them too, but the hubster didn't come up with this solution until after we had gone through 2 packs of filters.

Lesson learned: Change your air filters!

Part 3:

In the middle of last winter, we finally invested in a programmable thermostat.  It's been a blessing and a marriage saver (the hubster hates being cold - I like to save money (aka I'm cheap)).  So I've grown accustomed to not waking up and freezing my ass off trying to get ready for work.  The temperature at night is set to 58 degrees and kicks back up to 68 around 6:00 am.  So at night, we still sleep with a space heater on our bedroom.  Before the programmable thermostat, the rest of the house was freezing.  It's so nice to wake up and walk into the bathroom without wanting to jump back in to bed.  There are other reasons to jump back in to bed - mainly to go back to sleep - but being cold is not one of them.

Anyway, I woke up this morning to a cold bathroom.  WTF?!?!  You know the first thoughts that jumped into my head?  If you guessed, did I pay the gas bill? (see part 1) or did I change the air filter? (see part 2), then you are correct.  I walk the dogs and feed them, then head upstairs to see what's going on.  The furnace is off, but the filter is fine.  I go back downstairs to see if the gas is still on.  Stove turns on fine.  I'm getting upset because I do not want to pay for an HVAC guy to come out and fix the damn thing.  What do I do next?  I storm into the bedroom, wake the hubster up and say the furnace is not on.  He sleepily and nonchalantly says it must have popped a fuse.  Could it be that simple?  I go to the garage, flip the switch, come back inside, and head upstairs.  Success!  The fire is re-lit in the furnace and all is well with the world.

Lesson learned: Check the fuse!

So what is the overarching lesson to be learned here?  Among other things, we are ill prepared for home ownership.  Seriously, why doesn't anyone tell us these things?  Like the garage light bulb I wrote about here. It didn't kill us to learn these things on our own, but just a hassle.  They seem like such silly lessons that perhaps our parents should have endowed this knowledge upon us.  Or maybe type up some like checklist of things to do when things go wrong.  I feel so inadequate and unprepared.  Just like finances, but that's another story/vent for another day.

Home Owning Guide for Dummies Part 1

We bought our condo in 2006.  Somewhere between then and now, the garage door light bulb went out.  I want to say it's been out for about a year and a half.  We tried replacing the bulb with a regular light bulb.  No dice.  We tried one of those energy efficient ones.  Again, no dice.  We thought it had to do something with the unit, but we didn't want to buy another one.  So we gave up.  Our nice neighbor asked the hubster about it one day and he kindly looked up the issue in his manual.  By the way, his garage door is super quiet compared to ours.  He said we needed a special garage door light bulb.  The hubster stored that little tidbit away for eternity, never to actually act on it.  I come home from work yesterday and Mr. Neighbor asks if the hubster fixed the light yet. I say he hasn't gotten around to it.  He hands me a light bulb.  I'm amazed and grateful and say thanks.  Today, the hubster screws in the new bulb and voila, let there be light.  We are idiots.  Thanks, Mr. Neighbor.  File that under things no one ever tells you about owning a home.  So now I don't have to get into my car in the morning in the dark.  Yay for the little things