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1:01

Hello there my friends on welcome back

1:04

Many Mister Nice to ferry and and

1:06

you're listening to episode Four Hundred and

1:08

Fifty. Yes, that's right for fifty of

1:10

Sustainable Minimalist. This is a show about

1:13

intentional, an eco friendly minimalist living. And

1:15

today I have a real. Diverse.

1:18

His show for You today. We're

1:21

covering a diverse set of topics.

1:23

It's unlike the shows I normally

1:25

it offer up in which we

1:27

discuss to one topic for the

1:29

whole shouts. They were talking about

1:32

three very different topics. And specifically

1:34

I'm talking about what's going on

1:36

in my life with regard to

1:38

self sufficiency, sustainability, and intentional living.

1:40

So it's kind of lake. Three

1:43

stories today. The first one is

1:45

the self sufficiency story. It is

1:47

about my. Experiences with

1:49

a hydroponic growing tower I received

1:51

one for Christmas and at received

1:54

a lot of questions lately about

1:56

what they are, whether they're worth

1:58

that, so that's. one and I

2:00

will say that in part one

2:03

when I'm talking about my growing tower I'm

2:05

not getting paid to talk about it and so

2:07

everything I say I am 100% owning

2:10

the good the bad and the ugly that's part one.

2:12

In part two we have a

2:15

sustainability story from my own home.

2:17

My husband and I woke up

2:19

one morning in January and our

2:21

furnace the floor around our furnace

2:23

was covered in water it started

2:25

leaking and so my

2:28

husband and I thought to ourselves is it

2:30

time for a heat pump? Well I'm gonna

2:32

go through all

2:34

of that and

2:36

it's a lot getting heat pump quotes

2:38

plus rebates what it looks like whether

2:41

we're doing it so for anybody who's

2:44

interested in the nitty-gritty

2:46

of completely changing over

2:48

a home's heating system

2:50

to an electric based

2:52

heat pump but that's part two and

2:54

then in part three of today's show

2:57

we're discussing an intentional living

3:00

change that I'm making in my own

3:02

life. It's all about avoiding the busy

3:04

trap and not rushing through my life

3:06

so that's part three. Now I want

3:09

to say too if not

3:11

all of these stories today these

3:13

three parts interest

3:15

you this is a choose

3:17

your own adventure show so go ahead go

3:19

on with your bad self and skip to

3:21

what interests you. We're going to talk about

3:24

hydroponic growing towers first and

3:26

then around the 15-ish minute mark

3:28

we'll talk about my heat pump

3:30

woes and then around

3:32

the 28-ish minute mark

3:34

we'll be talking about avoiding the busy trap

3:36

so choose your own adventure I certainly hope

3:38

you stay for the whole show but your

3:41

time is precious so go

3:43

to what interests you. So now

3:45

we're going to talk about my hydroponic growing

3:47

tower. I received

3:50

a garden growing tower

3:52

G-A-R-D-Y-N tower for Christmas

3:55

what a good gift right? So

3:57

what is a hydroponic growing tower if you

4:00

know what it is. You know what a

4:02

grow system is, right? AeroGarden, it used to

4:04

be a small little growing

4:07

system, hydroponic growing system for

4:09

your kitchen counter. You grew

4:11

some herbs perhaps on

4:13

your kitchen counter. Easy breezy. Came with the

4:16

light. Done. Well, as

4:18

with most things in America, the

4:22

growing, the hydroponic growing is

4:24

getting supersized because now there

4:26

are companies selling growing powers.

4:29

Now hydroponic is a fancy word.

4:31

It just means growing plants in

4:33

water. No soil needed. So you're

4:35

putting usually a plant that's grown

4:37

in soil. The plant is getting

4:39

all the nutrients it needs from

4:41

the healthy soil that its roots

4:43

are in. When you're

4:46

hydroponically growing, you're putting

4:48

food in the water. Then

4:50

the system, the tower has grow lights

4:53

and a water pump. It is mostly

4:55

self-sufficient. And I say it's mostly self-sufficient

4:57

because you still have to do stuff.

5:00

You can't just sit back and relax.

5:02

You have to thin

5:04

out the plants. You have to trim dead leaves.

5:06

You have to replace the water and add the

5:08

food, those kinds of things. But when

5:12

you're growing hydroponically indoors,

5:15

there's no soil. There's no

5:17

sunlight issues. There's no pests.

5:20

And so when there are fewer

5:22

outdoor variables that could impact your

5:24

yield, the probability that you're

5:26

going to succeed and get a higher

5:29

yield is, of course, higher when you're

5:31

doing it hydroponically indoors. And I have

5:33

definitely seen that personally

5:35

for a second. I'm not that

5:37

great at growing things. I'm getting

5:40

better, especially indoors where I can

5:42

control a lot. But outdoors, my

5:44

garden, if I'm being completely

5:46

honest, my garden is in too shady

5:48

of a spot. It's more of a

5:51

experiment. It's a hobby instead of a

5:54

let's get an awful lot of yield.

5:56

I don't get much yield some

5:58

years. So I think say all that

6:00

to say that my growing tower

6:03

indoors has improved my yield as

6:05

somebody who's not that great of a gardener.

6:07

Alright so that's what

6:09

a hydroponic growing tower is. I do

6:12

suggest you google it if you have access

6:14

to google right now so you can see

6:16

a photo of it and as

6:18

you're looking at the photo you'll notice that they

6:21

are space savers right

6:23

you can grow a lot of big plants

6:25

vertically you do not need a lot of

6:27

space you can do this and then the

6:31

garden website in particular

6:34

boasts that you can grow 30 large

6:37

plants in only two square

6:40

feet yes that is all true you

6:42

can grow 30 large plants in two

6:44

square feet garden also

6:46

says that's enough for a big

6:48

fresh salad every day I wouldn't

6:51

agree with that part of the statement I'm not getting

6:53

a big fresh salad every day but we'll get to

6:55

that in a minute. Other pros

6:58

to the specific garden tower

7:00

I have is that the

7:02

seeds are pesticide free non-gmo

7:04

and of course for me

7:06

in New England right growing indoors

7:08

means that I am extending the growing

7:11

season without indoor growing without a greenhouse

7:13

the growing isn't going to happen in

7:15

my yard just because of winter and

7:18

so I will say too like if you

7:21

have been considering an indoor growing system you

7:24

will receive all the other benefits

7:26

associated with growing your own food

7:28

indoors or outdoors right lowered food

7:31

miles increased nutritional benefit

7:33

because your food's not sitting

7:35

on a truck you'll receive

7:37

a deeper connection with your

7:40

food sources and I will say that

7:42

that has been the number one pro

7:45

in my household having

7:47

this growing tower has been an A

7:50

plus plus learning opportunity for my

7:53

daughters and specifically for my 10

7:55

year old Ani who has completely

7:57

globbed on to the thing she

7:59

heard and eats what

8:01

we grow. Like she loves

8:03

getting a good salad and she eats

8:05

all of it. She checks on the

8:08

plants multiple times a day. She wakes

8:10

up, gets dressed, goes downstairs, checks on

8:12

our garden and she chooses

8:14

what we're growing next. So she really loves

8:16

arugula. So yes, we bought arugula seeds. We're

8:18

growing them as we speak. My

8:21

10-year-old Aunty, she is all in and

8:23

that alone has been worth it for

8:25

me because if I want to teach

8:27

her self-sufficient skills, in

8:29

this case growing her own food,

8:32

this as a learning tool

8:34

has been paramount. Alright,

8:37

so those are the pros. The

8:39

cons. You know I'm gonna say it. It's

8:43

expensive, man. It is really

8:45

expensive. I got

8:48

my system as a guest and thank

8:50

goodness because I don't think I would

8:52

have been able to afford it otherwise.

8:54

The garden right now I believe is

8:57

in the $600 range and that's just

8:59

for the thing. We'll get to cost

9:02

savings in a little bit but that's

9:04

a hefty price tag, man, and I

9:07

am not or at least I haven't

9:09

yet made

9:11

back $600 in produce.

9:13

Absolutely not. That

9:15

said, it is really nice.

9:17

So on the nights when I haven't

9:20

bought enough

9:22

salad, we're out, it's really nice to

9:25

just go over to my garden, have

9:27

my daughter clip the outer leaves of

9:30

my plants and get a bowl full of

9:32

salad for us to eat. Like that's really,

9:35

really nice, I must say. But

9:39

the power is expensive and then on top

9:41

of the tower they really try to get

9:43

you into a subscription, a monthly subscription, which

9:45

we're gonna talk about in a minute. So

9:48

we talked about the good. Now we're talking

9:50

about the bad and the subscription goes into

9:52

the ugly category which we'll get to next.

9:54

So hold on to your hats for that.

9:56

But the tower is really

9:59

a expensive. Full

10:01

stop. Another aspect

10:04

to the design that you

10:06

need to be aware of is that

10:08

the lights, the grow lights, are really,

10:10

really bright. I have

10:13

had multiple neighbors in my neighborhood ask me

10:15

what the heck is going on in my

10:17

front room with all the bright lights because

10:19

I have my tower in it and the

10:22

lights are bright, they shine through the window. And

10:25

don't forget these lights are on for 12

10:27

hours a day. You can turn them off,

10:30

but if you want your plants to grow

10:32

optimally, you're giving them optimum amounts of light.

10:35

Now, you might be wondering, well, what about your electric

10:37

bill if these lights are on, if these bright lights

10:39

are on for 12 hours a day? I will say

10:41

we have not seen a significant change in our electric

10:43

bill. And then

10:45

finally, another bad,

10:47

I suppose, not a bad, just something

10:50

to be aware of is

10:52

that, yes, the

10:54

tower I'm talking of today can

10:56

grow 30 plants. However,

10:59

not all 30 of my plants survived.

11:03

I would say 26 survived. 26.

11:06

So I don't know what happened to the

11:08

other four I would have expected, because we're

11:10

reducing variables when we're growing inside, I would have

11:13

expected more like 28 to all 30 survive. So

11:17

I wasn't thrilled when only 26 of my

11:19

plants survived. And by the way, I did

11:21

everything perfectly because I knew I was going to talk about

11:23

it on this show. So it's not

11:25

like Stephanie screwed up. I did everything

11:27

exactly to the letter. All

11:30

right. So, so

11:32

now let's get into the ugly and the

11:34

ugly, of course, there's only one ugly and

11:36

it is the terrible, horrible subscription model, the

11:39

subscription model for anything in my

11:41

opinion kind of stakes, but especially

11:43

with regard to my garden growing

11:46

tower, the, the

11:48

subscription is $40 a month,

11:51

Your growing tower will work without it.

11:53

And I'll get back to that point

11:55

in a minute, but they give you

11:57

the first month free. So A. Three

12:00

month subscription see can try it out

12:02

you were in, put all your information

12:04

your credit card information in particular and

12:06

then they charge you monthly. Okay

12:09

so our a free month and gonna try

12:11

it of course, especially since I know I'm

12:13

gonna tell you about it. I sign up

12:15

for the month. And than the

12:17

second months I do not get an

12:19

email saying they're going to charge me.

12:22

I do not see any way to

12:24

cancel on the app and so what

12:26

I do. Instead of calling customer service,

12:28

I just change my credit card information.

12:30

I change the expiration date to the

12:32

wrong date to see if the charge

12:35

will go through. Case I don't

12:37

know I had did this. I just didn't want

12:39

to get on the phone a customer service I

12:41

suppose. So I. Changed. The credit

12:43

card information and guess what? They still

12:45

charged me again with no notification. They

12:48

discharged the credit card on file even

12:50

though the expiration date was on. Okay,

12:53

so I see the charge go

12:55

through. I say. Well, that's my

12:57

own faults. I'll do another month

12:59

of the subscription. There are some

13:02

perks to being a subscriber. The

13:04

big one in my opinion is

13:06

cheaper seeds. But.

13:09

Okay, so it's my fault. I'll I'll

13:11

eat the forty dollars that month. The.

13:13

Next month. The.

13:15

Date: Hit me like to

13:17

a came on too quick. I had

13:19

put the date in my calendar to cancel

13:22

the subscribe san. I miss states and

13:24

so I get charged forty bucks and I

13:26

say oh have no I'm not been

13:28

charged forty dollars again for the subscription. So

13:30

I get on their site bought saying

13:32

on their website and say I want to

13:35

cancel my subscription and either talking to

13:37

a real human and they'd real human said

13:39

absolutely you know you can do so

13:41

so easily on the app and I said

13:43

oh no you can't do it so

13:45

easily I spent at. least eight minutes of

13:47

my life try to find the cancel button

13:49

and i couldn't find it that's why i

13:52

just changed my credit card information and so

13:54

then she sent me these alarm directions to

13:56

try and figure out how to cancel it

13:58

online of cancel it on the app Excuse

14:00

me. And so, all right, and

14:02

so then I say, you didn't notify me that

14:04

you were gonna charge me again. Where's the email

14:06

notifying me of this five days ahead of time?

14:10

I would like it if you take

14:12

back that $40 charge that

14:15

you just put on my credit card. And

14:17

she said, no, she's sorry, she can't

14:19

do that. Once I'm charged, I'm charged.

14:22

That really made me mad. So

14:26

I made sure to say I would be

14:28

saying something on their social media accounts. And

14:30

I would be telling all my friends that

14:32

their subscription model is predatory. I went on

14:35

and on. And then they canceled the $40.

14:38

But my point here is to say that

14:40

they made it really darn hard to get

14:42

out of the subscription model once I was

14:44

in it. And that to me

14:46

is predatory. That's the

14:49

ugly. The ugly to me

14:51

does not outweigh the good.

14:53

The good is that my daughter's on board

14:55

and as somebody who doesn't know how to

14:57

grow stuff on C-Yield, those are

14:59

all great things. But the other

15:01

issue here too, let's not forget is the

15:03

plastic. You have to keep buying their seeds

15:05

to fit into their system and that's a

15:08

good amount of plastic. So here's

15:10

my tip to all of you who are

15:12

interested in a growing tower. If

15:14

you wanna hydroponically grow and you have a

15:17

bit of know-how or if you have a

15:19

bit of grit and are willing to teach

15:21

yourself something, I would definitely suggest

15:24

you make a tower yourself. If

15:26

you listen to my episode with Kevin

15:28

Espiritu of Epic Gardening, it was episode

15:31

429, LinkedIn the show notes

15:33

if you missed it. But if you listened,

15:35

you heard Kevin say that you can make

15:37

a hydroponic tower yourself

15:39

for a fraction of the

15:41

cost of these grow towers,

15:43

which number one, of

15:45

course, are expensive at the outset,

15:48

600-ish dollars. And number

15:50

two, try to trap you into that

15:52

expensive monthly subscription. So

15:56

I Would suggest making your own if you

15:58

have the... Yeah, absolutely.

16:01

If you don't have the skills are

16:03

you don't have that interest in acquiring

16:05

those stars? And you have six

16:07

hundred dollars to pay for the tower.

16:09

Said I would recommend the tower it

16:11

has banned. Overall a positive experience for

16:14

my family. I'm happy I received it

16:16

as a guest because again, I don't

16:18

know that I could have afforded the

16:20

tower. otherwise. but I do

16:22

enjoy it. It makes growing sun and

16:24

at the same time I'm learning styles.

16:27

So that's my hydroponic growing system.

16:29

Were moving on to the heat

16:32

pump and. Will. Start the

16:34

he pumped story and then we'll take our ad break.

16:37

Polysaccharide. He bumps for a minute.

16:39

Why he pumps If you are following.

16:42

The. News if you're following. Him.

16:45

Advancements in. The

16:47

energy sector. You likely have

16:49

heard something about heat pumps,

16:51

and you've likely heard something

16:54

about Electrify in every saying.

16:56

That's the motto as we

16:58

move along the twenty first

17:00

century. Electrify Everything. Well, why

17:02

have you ever wondered why

17:04

the motto is Electrify It

17:06

Everything Well, the reason is

17:08

the electrical grid is getting

17:10

cleaner instead of powering electricity

17:12

west coal burning power plants

17:14

let's say or other fossil

17:16

fuels. The electrical. Grid is

17:18

increasingly being powered by renewable

17:20

sources. So it's being powered

17:22

by solar and wind for

17:24

one, and it's getting powered

17:26

by renewable sources more and

17:29

more Each year, each state

17:31

has different. Targets.

17:33

But. Most states have a

17:35

plan. Each year the percentage

17:38

of electricity coming from renewable

17:40

sources increases and in some

17:42

cases it increases dramatically. I

17:45

have looked up Massachusetts. Plan.

17:48

Before and I've mentioned it on the show notes, but.

17:50

i believe by twenty thirty

17:53

something like eighty eighty five

17:55

percent of electricity here in

17:57

massachusetts must be powered by

17:59

renewable So that's where

18:01

the electrify everything motto

18:04

comes into play. And

18:06

a heat pump, of course, runs on electricity.

18:09

It runs on electricity to transfer

18:11

heat instead of burning a fossil

18:13

fuel. So theoretically,

18:15

if you transitioned your home to

18:17

a heat pump system, you

18:19

will not be burning fossil fuels. You

18:21

will be fossil fuel free. Well,

18:25

was it last month or perhaps a month before

18:27

that? My husband and

18:29

I, we woke up and went down to get

18:31

the laundry. And guess what? Where

18:34

our boiler is in the basement around

18:36

the boiler, there was a decent sized

18:38

water stain on the ground. There was

18:41

water on the ground. And

18:44

I said, husband, hi,

18:47

we have a leak in the basement. And

18:49

it was again, decent sized. It wasn't to

18:51

the size in which we needed to panic, but

18:54

it was a decent size

18:57

leak. And so we cooped up the

18:59

water. We ignored it

19:01

and hoped that it was a fluke and wouldn't

19:04

do it again. Well, wouldn't you

19:06

know, the next day on

19:08

the day after that, we woke up again

19:10

to puddles of water on the floor. We

19:13

called our boiler repair person. They

19:17

came, they looked at it. They said

19:19

this thing is 20 something years old,

19:21

it's time to replace it. We received

19:23

a quote to replace the boiler for

19:25

about $7,500. Okay,

19:28

so replace the boiler, stay on

19:31

oil. My

19:33

husband and I, we thought to ourselves, well,

19:35

we consider ourselves ahead

19:37

of the curve and ahead of the

19:40

environmental curve, let's say. So let's investigate

19:42

a heat pump. Let's investigate it. So

19:45

we got three quotes, and we weren't thrilled about

19:47

any of the quotes. So we got two more,

19:49

we got a total of five quotes. I'm

19:52

going to talk about the quotes, what

19:54

they entailed. We're going to talk about

19:56

rebates, potential rebates, and you

19:59

know, what our plans are. are as we continue

20:01

to think about transitioning away from oil

20:03

and toward a heat pump. We're going

20:06

to talk about that. But

20:08

we're going to have our sponsor break first. So I'll

20:10

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21:52

in our home. It was time to

21:54

replace our outdoor furniture. And my husband

21:56

and I, we went to HomeThreads. We

21:59

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22:01

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22:03

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22:18

Where you live. And

22:23

we're back. Before the break we talked

22:25

about my growing tower, my hydroponic growing

22:27

tower. and now we're talking about my

22:29

wiki boiler. So what on earth my

22:31

household gonna depths of yourselves to see

22:33

catch you up? Our. Boiler

22:36

started leaking. We were told that needs

22:38

to be replaced and that's gonna be

22:40

about seventy five hundred dollars just to

22:42

replace the boiler. Okay, we then sought

22:45

to ourselves. Well you know our air

22:47

conditioning or condenser is really old and

22:49

we've been expecting that to break for

22:51

many years. That's gonna be seven thousand

22:53

when it breaks and and additional seven

22:56

thousand and are. And on top of

22:58

that are hot water heater that is

23:00

also quite old that's gonna need a

23:02

replacement in about five or so years.

23:05

That's. The Blue another alarmed about

23:07

Seven thousand. Seven thousand for a

23:09

new water heater. Seven thousand for

23:11

a new air conditioning condenser. Seven

23:13

thousand for a new boiler that

23:15

sony one thousand dollars right there.

23:17

Okay, but only one of the

23:19

things is broken as of less

23:22

moment. So irate. Let's talk about

23:24

the could see that we'd outside

23:26

quotes. And by the

23:28

way, these quotes. War. For all

23:30

of the following. Action

23:32

Owners to remove the boiler to

23:34

remove the hot water heater which

23:36

by the way said by the

23:39

boiler to remove the oil tank

23:41

to replace the hot water heater

23:43

with a hybrid electric water heater

23:45

and replace the to existing air

23:47

handlers that we have with electric

23:49

air source. He pumps all of

23:51

those quotes. they're doing all of

23:53

those Action items. The. lowest

23:55

quote to transition to

23:57

heat pump system was

24:00

about $40,000. And then

24:02

the highest quote was in the mid 50s. I

24:06

know. Did you

24:09

just start to get anxiety? Because even me just saying

24:11

those numbers is giving me anxiety. Well,

24:13

you might be wondering, well, what about

24:16

the rebates? There's got to be rebates

24:18

to go all electric to electrify your

24:20

home. Yes, there are

24:22

rebates. But they make rebates so

24:25

hard, don't they? They make them

24:27

so confusing anywhere from contact lenses

24:29

to heat pumps.

24:31

Oh, gosh, they just make them hard on purpose,

24:34

don't they? Well, there

24:36

are state and federal rebates.

24:39

For the state of Massachusetts,

24:41

there is currently a rebate

24:43

for up to $10,000. There

24:46

are specific rebates associated with the heat pump

24:48

itself, the water heater and the thermostats, but

24:50

altogether they max out at about $10,000. And

24:52

to make it even more

24:56

complicated here in Massachusetts, they assess how

24:58

much rebate you're going to get based

25:00

on the weight of the

25:02

stuff you're installing per ton. So the rebate

25:05

is $1,250 per ton. We think

25:09

that we would if we were to go

25:11

forward, we would get the full $10,000 state

25:14

specific Massachusetts specific rebates.

25:17

Okay, then there's also a federal tax

25:19

credit, it is up to $2,000

25:22

for the heat pump at the moment. And

25:24

there's perhaps we're not sure don't

25:26

hold me to this because again, they make tax

25:29

credits and rebates confusing on purpose. But we

25:32

think there is a $600 rebate

25:34

for the hot water heater, perhaps.

25:37

So all together in terms of rebates, we're looking at

25:41

a little over $12,000 taking off the quote, right? So that lowest

25:46

quote of 40,000 is now moving down to

25:49

like 28,000. Okay, we're

25:52

getting sort of close. Let's not

25:54

forget though that in my specific

25:56

situation, our air conditioning is going to

25:59

need to be replaced. very soon

26:01

our hot water heater is

26:03

going to be replaced very soon and we

26:05

anticipate that plus the leaky boiler coming in

26:08

at around $21,000 so $21,000 in

26:13

the next five ten years or $28,000 now it's starting to look like

26:15

more of a choice

26:19

financially but

26:21

we need to remember too here

26:24

that a heat pump no longer

26:26

runs on fossil fuel so if

26:28

you have an oil person

26:30

coming to your house in

26:32

the winter months and silently filling

26:36

your home with oil and then sticking

26:38

the bill in the mailbox you would

26:41

with a heat pump no longer have any

26:43

of that so in terms of cost savings with

26:45

a heat pump it's really hard to say how

26:47

much we would be saving if we switch to

26:50

the heat pump. Heck it's hard

26:52

to say if we would even be saving

26:54

money at all because sure we won't have

26:56

the oil person coming we're by the way

26:59

if in terms of paying for oil we

27:01

did out the math and we're spending about

27:03

about four to forty

27:05

five four thousand to forty five hundred dollars

27:08

a year on oil alone that we're burning

27:10

right so we're not going to be paying

27:12

that anymore however a heat

27:14

pump runs on electricity and so

27:17

we definitely anticipate our electric bill

27:19

shooting up and nobody can tell

27:21

us how much our electric bill

27:23

is going to go up we

27:26

definitely expect it to go up we do

27:28

not expect it to go up forty

27:31

five hundred dollars a year more because that's

27:33

again what we're spending on oil but we

27:35

can't sit here and say right now that

27:37

we're going to be saving a lot of

27:39

money an awful lot of money because we're

27:41

no longer buying oil. Okay

27:44

so I want to pause here

27:46

and just mention that Elizabeth from Cleveland

27:48

hi Elizabeth wrote to me last summer

27:51

and mentioned that they converted their

27:53

1923 single-family dwelling from a gas-powered boiler

27:59

radiator system to a heat

28:01

pump for heating and cooling. So they got

28:03

two separate systems, one for the second floor

28:05

and one for the first floor, and together

28:07

they cost her $23,000. She believes they

28:11

are sufficient for her

28:13

Cleveland winters, even

28:15

in those low days that got to the teens.

28:19

Elizabeth also said that her monthly electric bill has

28:21

only gone up about $100 per month, which

28:25

is on par with the $90

28:27

budget billing that their gas provider

28:29

had been charging them for their

28:32

gas usage. So really, she said

28:34

it's not costing her that much

28:36

more in energy bills.

28:38

So Elizabeth, I just want to thank

28:40

you so much for sending me that

28:42

information and giving me numbers. And anybody

28:45

else who has switched to a heat

28:47

pump, please send me your numbers. I

28:49

won't necessarily share them on air if you

28:51

don't want me to, but I'm just curious

28:54

as to what you were quoted, whether

28:57

you did it, and how much your electric bill

28:59

is now. So I'll leave that there. And now

29:02

you may be wondering, well, what's your plan, Stephanie?

29:04

What are you doing? Your boiler's leaking. Well,

29:07

yes, our boiler is leaking. And even

29:10

though it's leaking, it has not completely

29:12

died yet. It hasn't died yet.

29:14

So it's still working. We still have heat in our

29:16

home. And so because of

29:18

that, and because we're coming into

29:21

warmer spring temperatures here in the

29:23

Northeast, we are

29:25

expecting our heating needs to decline

29:27

in the next few months. So

29:30

our plan, my husband's and I's plan

29:32

right now, is to take the spring

29:34

and summer to assess our finances, maybe

29:38

move some things around and make a

29:40

decision as fall gets closer.

29:42

And we definitely need a working

29:44

heating system. Yeah,

29:47

of course, we really want to heat

29:49

pump our hearts out, right? I of

29:51

course want to practice what I preach

29:53

on this podcast. I'm not

29:55

sure if the money is there at the

29:57

moment. And I really wish that

30:00

there were more incentives on

30:03

the federal and state levels to

30:05

entice families like mine who are

30:07

ready and willing to get off

30:09

fossil fuels to entice us financially

30:12

to actually pull the trigger. So

30:14

stay tuned as to my home's

30:17

next steps because I don't know,

30:19

it's really up in the air

30:21

at the moment. But I also

30:23

want to mention too, I sign

30:25

up for the Washington Post's climate

30:27

newsletter and they

30:30

had a piece that came

30:32

out on Tuesday all about really

30:34

cost efficient ways to manage your

30:38

energy input in your home. And

30:41

one of their tips was something that piqued

30:44

my interest. A lot of them

30:46

were standard like unplug stuff or

30:49

install storm windows on your windows, like

30:51

stuff we've already talked about. But one

30:53

of their suggestions was one we haven't

30:55

talked about before and that was to

30:57

invest in an electric blanket. Electric

31:01

blankets started around $35 and they'll allow you

31:07

to turn down the thermostat on your

31:09

home at night, the heated

31:11

blanket and there are also heated mattress pads

31:13

by the way. You'll sleep toasty in the

31:15

winter even though you've turned your heat way

31:18

down. And because they only

31:20

draw about 50 to 200

31:22

watts, which is similar by the

31:24

way to an incandescent light bulb, the

31:26

cost to run your electric blanket

31:29

and or electric mattress pad

31:31

would be about $20 a

31:33

year if you're basing those

31:35

on US electricity prices. So

31:37

just some thoughts there, maybe not a heat pump for

31:39

you right now, but maybe a $35 electric blanket. Just

31:41

some thoughts. And

31:46

now we're going to move on to the

31:49

third story today coming out of my life.

31:51

And this is the intentional living story.

31:54

I don't know if story is the right word. It's not

31:56

a tip. I don't know what it is, but I must

31:59

say. I have been plagued

32:01

with existential questions as of

32:03

late. Like, why am I

32:05

here? Why are any of us

32:08

here? What on earth is

32:10

the point of living? What is the point

32:12

of this rat race that we find ourselves

32:14

in? And I am, of

32:16

course, the first to admit, I do not have all

32:19

the answers. I don't even know if I have any

32:21

answers, to be frank with you. But

32:23

I do feel fairly confident

32:25

in my belief that

32:27

we are not on this planet to be busy.

32:30

I feel fairly confident in saying right

32:32

here and now that we are not

32:34

on this planet to run around like

32:36

ants in an ant farm. And

32:40

so, while I may not know why

32:42

I'm on planet earth or what

32:44

the point of my life is, like

32:46

what the point of living is, essentially, I do

32:49

know that if I'm smart about it, I may as

32:52

well suck out the moments

32:54

of enjoyment as

32:56

they come. So I

32:58

best be primed and ready and

33:00

willing and able to experience those

33:02

glimmers of joy and peace

33:05

and happiness and connection when

33:07

they pop into my life.

33:09

Now, if I'm busy, I'm

33:12

not ready and able to

33:14

identify those moments, am I? I'm

33:16

going to take this a step further. Being

33:19

busy keeps me from asking big

33:21

questions, doesn't it? I'm too busy

33:24

to let my mind wander. Or

33:26

I'm too busy to question whether the

33:29

grind is working for me. Perhaps

33:31

you find yourself too busy to question

33:34

whether you're just a cog in the

33:36

capitalist wheel and perhaps you're even too

33:38

rushed to decide for yourself whether you

33:41

want to be a cog in the

33:43

capitalist wheel. Business

33:46

can be, for so many of

33:48

us, an existential

33:50

reassurance, right? Being

33:53

busy prevents us from stopping

33:55

and asking ourselves these big

33:58

existential questions. Your

34:00

life can't be trivial or meaningless

34:02

or pointless if you're

34:04

completely booked, right? If your

34:07

schedule is full. And

34:09

so I find myself

34:11

wondering whether our collective

34:14

desire and need

34:16

to be busy, to be rushed,

34:18

is in part an unconscious

34:20

means by which we all

34:22

can move away from discomfort,

34:25

right? We rush so that we

34:27

come up with solutions to

34:30

problems that would benefit from

34:32

us like sitting in the discomfort for a little

34:34

bit, right? We rush

34:37

into decisions or obligations because we

34:39

just want things to be settled.

34:43

Worrying too is rushing in a

34:45

way. It's rushing us out of the present

34:47

moment. It's uncomfortable to sit

34:49

in a state of uncertainty. So we

34:52

fast forward the tape. We worry about

34:54

things to come. We accelerate

34:56

our lives past

34:58

this moment here and now into

35:01

fearful future scenarios, don't

35:05

we? And so writer Tim Crider

35:07

for the New York Times, he wrote, and I

35:09

quote, I'll link to his piece

35:11

in the show notes. It's

35:14

12 years old, but still really darn

35:16

good. Tim Crider writes, quote, idleness

35:18

is not just a vacation or

35:20

an indulgence or a vice. This

35:24

is as indispensable to the brain as

35:26

vitamin D is to the body. The

35:29

space and quiet that idleness provides

35:32

is a necessary condition for

35:34

standing back from life and

35:36

seeing it whole and for

35:38

making unexpected connections. How beautiful

35:40

is that? And so

35:42

we've all heard the advice, stop and

35:44

smell the roses, right? This isn't new

35:47

advice. This isn't novel advice. You've all

35:49

heard it before. So that's

35:51

not my thoughts for you today. My

35:54

thoughts, my suggestion, my invitation to you

35:56

is to do what I'm trying to

35:58

do in my life. Trying

36:00

so hard and that is

36:02

to just simply start noticing when

36:05

you find yourself rushing

36:08

so and That

36:10

rushing could be physically. Yes, you could

36:13

be physically rushing moving your body or

36:15

psychologically rushing. So let's talk

36:17

about that Perhaps you

36:19

might find yourself noticing that

36:22

after a nice family meal

36:24

or perhaps After

36:26

a night out with friends at a restaurant You're

36:29

getting antsy either you're getting antsy

36:31

to clear the table or you're

36:33

getting frustrated at the waitstaff that

36:35

they haven't come about the check

36:37

yet Right that both of those

36:39

examples are examples of rushing. So

36:42

if you find that happening ask

36:44

yourself Why why am I

36:46

getting antsy right now? Why am I so ready

36:48

to remove the plates? Why am

36:50

I so ready for the check to come?

36:52

Why am I so ready to remove myself

36:54

from this beautiful moment that I'm in? With

36:57

the people that I love Just

37:00

sit there for a moment and ask yourself Why

37:02

am I rushing right now? Why am I

37:04

psychologically rushing? or

37:06

maybe If you're

37:09

someone like me and you find yourself having Physiological

37:12

responses to busy ness and rushing perhaps you're

37:14

trying to get from point a to point

37:16

B Perhaps you're sitting in traffic and you

37:18

start to feel that pressure in your chest

37:20

or at that at least that's what it

37:23

feels like For me the stress. It's like

37:25

an elephant on my chest. Perhaps your heart

37:27

rate starts to rise Perhaps

37:30

in that moment you just notice it right

37:33

and you ask yourself. Well, what's the worst

37:35

that can happen if I'm late? It's

37:37

almost always never a life or death

37:40

situation and if it is a life

37:42

or death situation Then certainly rush your

37:44

heart out. But if it's not a

37:46

life or death situation Then

37:48

notice what your physiology is doing

37:51

just notice it and say hmm. That's

37:53

interesting Or perhaps

37:56

maybe you find yourself in the middle

37:58

of enjoying something and your

38:00

natural impulse is to enjoy it for just

38:03

one second and then turn away and move

38:05

on with your busy day. In

38:08

these instances, I invite you to

38:10

notice the beautiful thing or moment

38:13

and then ask yourself, could I enjoy

38:15

whatever this is for just two more

38:17

seconds? Could I enjoy

38:20

this for double the time? I

38:22

posted recently on Instagram that I put

38:24

tulips in my bathroom and there's something

38:27

about fresh flowers in the bathroom that

38:29

lights me up. They make me so

38:31

happy. It's just a simple pleasure that

38:33

brings me joy. Every time

38:36

I go into the bathroom, I receive a small

38:38

amount of pleasure from my pink tulips and I

38:40

love them. I just

38:42

do. What happens is that I look

38:44

at the tulips, I

38:46

notice their beauty and I appreciate

38:48

them and I receive that glimmer

38:50

of pleasure from them. But

38:53

then I immediately move

38:56

on with my life. What I'm working

38:58

on, not just with tulips

39:00

in my bathroom but with all little moments of

39:02

beauty, is to enjoy the

39:04

tulips, let's say, for two

39:06

seconds. If I've been only

39:09

enjoying them for one second historically, now I'm

39:11

sitting there enjoying them for two or for

39:14

five. I'm extending the amount of

39:16

enjoyment I got from them.

39:18

I don't know why I'm on this earth. I

39:20

don't know why I'm here. I don't understand what

39:22

the point of living is but I do know

39:25

that if I'm here, I might as well suck

39:27

the marrow out of those moments of joy. That's

39:30

what we're talking about today. Final

39:33

example for you, maybe you are

39:35

like me and you are your

39:37

home general. When

39:40

I say general, I'm talking about a war general. You're

39:43

the general. You're in charge. You are

39:45

the person that gets stuff done. Perhaps

39:48

you're the person who ensures that everyone's eating

39:50

their meals when it's meal time, when

39:53

they're showering, when they're supposed to be

39:55

showering. They're getting to bed by their

39:57

bedtime. This is me in my house. I

39:59

am the general. general. My husband,

40:01

he is way more relaxed about time

40:04

and schedules. And guess what he has

40:06

that privilege, right? Because he has me

40:08

to be the general and ensure that

40:10

everything goes off without a hitch. He's

40:12

relaxed because he's privileged to be relaxed

40:14

because he has me but anyway, we'll

40:17

leave that there. I am

40:19

working hard on being less

40:21

of a militant general in

40:24

the afternoons and evening and

40:26

more of a relaxed and

40:28

go with the flow type of mom. I'm

40:31

working on it. It's hard to change my

40:35

personality, but I'm working on it. I actually

40:37

really love being a mother to a 10 year

40:39

old and a seven year old. I

40:42

really love it. I get so much

40:44

enjoyment out of my daughters and I hope they're getting

40:46

a lot of enjoyment out of me as well. I'll

40:49

be frank, I did not so much love

40:51

the baby and toddler stages.

40:54

I'll be completely honest, I hated them.

40:56

I hated it. But I really love the

40:59

ages my children are now. And

41:02

so these days, my family together in

41:05

the afternoons and evenings, we're doing a

41:07

puzzle. By the way, plug

41:09

for magic puzzles, Google it magic

41:11

puzzles. If you have older children,

41:13

I strongly suggest

41:15

a magic puzzle. They're amazing.

41:18

Get one try it. They're

41:20

worth they're worth every penny.

41:22

They're so fun. They have a

41:24

trick at the end. They're hard.

41:26

They provide family bonding. They're like

41:28

puzzle 2.0. It's not

41:30

just a boring jigsaw puzzle. Let's leave it like

41:32

that. So anyway, we've been doing magic puzzles on

41:34

the evening. Why am I

41:37

rushing my children off to bed

41:39

if I can extend my

41:41

moments of joy with them for a

41:43

few more minutes? Like what's five

41:45

more minutes? What's going to bed five minutes

41:47

later in the grand scheme of things? It's

41:50

nothing. It's nothing. So sit

41:52

in the moments of joy instead

41:55

of rushing and notice

41:57

when you're rushing to the next thing because

41:59

guess what We're rushing towards everybody.

42:02

Guess what we're rushing towards? We're rushing

42:04

towards the inevitable end that is going

42:07

to come for all of us at

42:10

some time. Hopefully a long time

42:12

from now, but who really knows? So when you

42:14

experience a moment of joy, enjoy it.

42:18

My final word for you today is, of

42:21

course, yes, to notice when you're

42:23

rushing through your life because the

42:26

best investment of your limited time

42:28

on earth is to spend

42:30

it with the people you love and

42:32

with the people who love you back. So

42:35

that's my final word for today. Real quick, before

42:37

we say goodbye, we do have an eco tip

42:39

and it is super practical. It

42:41

comes from Julie. Julie says

42:43

she reuses a lot of glass jars

42:46

to store bulk food items, but sometimes

42:48

you know it to be true. If

42:50

you love jars, there's that lingering smell.

42:53

She learned recently that if you add

42:55

a few drops of yellow mustard into

42:57

the jar and then some water and

43:00

then you swirl it around, the odor

43:02

gets removed. She doesn't

43:04

know how or why it works, but she says, oh

43:07

my goodness, yes, it works. She does

43:09

want me to add in the caveat that it

43:11

doesn't seem to work on metal lids. Try

43:14

baking soda on that, everybody. But yes,

43:16

you've heard it here first. Thanks to

43:18

Julie, yellow mustard can remove odors from

43:20

glass jars when you're looking

43:23

to reuse them. Love it. Or don't

43:25

look away. That's tomorrow. And

43:27

then on Tuesday's show, we're discussing

43:29

family dinner. We're bringing back the

43:31

family dinner, the benefits, the

43:33

why, the how, all of it.

43:36

I'll see you then. Reach out if you need me. Thanks

43:38

for listening and see you soon.