So after incentives, the solar hot water is about $3k on the new house. Last house there was an additional utility incentive and price was less so it was about $1500. At that price, even with NG availability, payback is 5 year range. New house is all electric so payback is still less than 10 years. My payback goals are 15-20 years. Solar PV is right about there - I just don't have a great roof for it. We may get a group buy where the goal is 10 year payback and even with my east roof, it maybe worth it. ES certification with blower door test does not have a requirement for smoke test I guess. Maybe if it fails, then it does. For me - I just got the pat on the back. The only problem with that $2k incentive is proof. My current house uses less than 1/2 the energy of code houses but I bet I couldn't prove that before it was done. I will have to check into it but I'm not sure the new house could ever make the cut because of the huge east windows with minimal overhang in a cooling climate. If they don't take those things into consideration, then 50% should be possible and solar hot water would put me over that. The overhangs are limited by things outside of my control - but there are wind issues that also limit overhangs. The governing body counts the overhang as footprint and has significant restrictions. Now an awning can come later....

So many people with issues with parents...sad. I was loved, I had toys and gifts,dresses, dolls, books, sport stuff, games,I lacked for nothing . But as I got older, I think I tried to "recapture" my childhood. As an adult, I loved antique shows, flea markets, garage sales. Any time I saw something we had in our house growing up, I had to buy it. I even bought too many rose bushes and planted them in my garden, trying to re-create my Grandma's rose garden. I now have a linen closet stacked with doilies and tablecloths I'll never use, sets of fancy glasses too fragile to use, things like that. Oh, and on the funny side, my daughter cleaned out my bathroom just yesterday. She found eleven bottles of Listerine. I don't know, I hate the stuff, it burns... I remember buying one bottle because it did everything, whitens teeth, freshens breath, makes gums healthy, strengthens the enamel. I'm just always looking for something to make me happy.

The world is drowning in excess textiles. It is a subject that has managed, in the recent weeks, to filter down through the massive coverage of our dire political situation. pending pandemic of disease, and unprecedented meteorlogical storms into the above the fold reporting. Most of what we give away has little to no value to anyone else. Even the third world communities are awash with it and it is filling up landfills on distant shores. I have seen the backrooms of the charity stores that are filled to the ceiling with stuff. Many of us have our stories how the charity has refused to take this or that when we brought it to them. There is just so darned much excess, of everything. I have done my fair share of it. Just yesterday things went from my house to the SA, including some clothing. Right now I still have a stack of mostly unworn things that I am trying to find a home for. When you read the business reports, one thing that seems to be happening is that retailers selling women clothes are registering a down turn in sales of clothes. There are many speculative reasons for that. Jane Fonda has declared that she is not going to buy anymore clothes for the rest of her life. Laudable? Maybe. But, considering her age and the fact that she likely has rooms full of clothes, it can't be much of a sacrifice for her. Still, it is symbolic and I certainly hope that it resonates. I am still pouring things that I need to get rid of out into the waste stream. But I have taken great efforts to not buy more stuff to replace it. It is hard to go against the tide of consumerism. It is such a strong tide.

Are they rats, or mice? I guarantee you that they are in more than just your garage or your neighbor's. Both rodents can chew through many things, including walls, and they can squeeze in through the smallest of openings, even the corners of the garage door. If you see poop, you have rodents and your neighbors have rodents, too, if your houses are joined like that. You should put some traps out. Use the kind that clamp down and kill the rodent. Those sticky traps are much more cruel than just snapping its neck. And poison may kill more that just the rodents in your garage. Rodents dont just go away on their own. Rodents should be taken seriously. They get into things and leave pee and poop that can be ripe with disease. Get rid of all that stuff and welcome to the world of declutting! You will face many decisions as to your stuff and each makes a personal decision. Sometimes, things do survive to still make a statement decades later. My MIL had put into my husband's baby book a large picture that he drew of himself when he was five. Now that he is 70, that picture is priceless! I have saved a few things like that from my own kids. The objective is to only keep a small and organized number of things that will be accessible to be viewed and appreciated. That means shedding most of it. You need to cull and edit and organize. For paper things I highly recommend using 12'x12" binders that have the D rings that snap open so that the pages can be easily manipulated. Those small ones that use the screw posts are not really that easy to work with. Amylou,. that china has become an albatross around the necks of the younger generation, along with the china cabinets that it often gets stored in. So many inherit it and so many are trying to get rid of it. My sister was the lucky one who got the old "collectible" glassware and dinner ware. She is trying to find someone who wants it. She has a wide variety of different things from pre mid century. There is only so much of it that you can find a use for. Sure, you could use it as everyday, but why do that when the more modern stuff is so much easier to use? My daughter saved everything from the remains of an old airplane ticket to giggle notes written to her friends. It was all mixed up in a couple of big tubs in the attic where it sat for over a dozen years, forgotten. I did not even ask her about it because I know that she will still save everything just like that. I culled, edited and organized what seemed to be a generous sampling of things and trashed the rest. She has forgotten all about all of it so she will find this edited version of it when I am gone. We can't easily park our car in the garage, either. It is a single family house but the garage is the smallest it can possibly be. You can barely open the door to get into the car in the garage, I find better use for it as a utility place to do projects and to keep the garden equipment, bike, and an extra fridge for summer produce. It is much more useful to me as a utility room. that is just off the kitchen. I guarantee that it is NOT full of storage bins and I am working on paring down tools, unused garden things and the such. Welcome to the liberation that comes from ridding your life of excess baggage!!!! Anyone who has cleaned out the house of a parent will have some ideas about the pain and turmoil of doing that. I hope to NOT do that to my kids.