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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,

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Speaker 1: and today we're discussing slashing your monthly utility bills. Joel,

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Speaker 1: that is right. This episode, we're gonna talk about how

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Speaker 1: you can make your home energy efficient. We're gonna talk

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Speaker 1: about ways to cut your power bill, gas, and water,

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Speaker 1: those three main utilities, and I'm looking forward to diving

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Speaker 1: into this one with you, ma'am. Yeah, and water. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: I'm I think that one is one that's Water rates

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Speaker 1: across the country have been soaring, and especially here where

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Speaker 1: we are in Atlanta, it's kind of gotten ridiculous. So

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Speaker 1: even cutting your water bill, it's possible, and we're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk about that as well. I'm excited about it. But first, Matt,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to mention I saw this really interesting video

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Speaker 1: about this musician. His name is Mike Posner, and honestly,

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Speaker 1: I don't really know his music, but he's doing something fascinating.

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Speaker 1: He's walking across the entire country, uh, from coast to coast,

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Speaker 1: and I like Forrest Gump style, right exactly, Like that

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Speaker 1: makes me think of those are the next words coming

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Speaker 1: out on and he he actually kind of looks like

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Speaker 1: Forrest Gumps did when he with like kind of bushy

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Speaker 1: curly hair and like the beard and stuff. Um, but

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Speaker 1: it made me think like he's doing something really intentional.

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Speaker 1: For some reason. This was the task that he felt

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Speaker 1: compelled to take on right now, And it made me

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Speaker 1: think of two of a recent listener email that we

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Speaker 1: got from listener Todd, and he talked about how he

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Speaker 1: ditched his y membership in an email to us. Why

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Speaker 1: m c a membership? Yeah, in order to walk his

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Speaker 1: dog every day in this beautiful part of the country

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Speaker 1: that he's in in Roanoke, Virginia, and even send us

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Speaker 1: a picture of kind of this beautiful mountain view that

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Speaker 1: he gets with every walk with his dog. And I

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Speaker 1: was like, I don't know if every walk is that beautiful.

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Speaker 1: That was a particularly beautiful sunset. Yeah, but that's uh,

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Speaker 1: it's like McAfee's knob. Did you look it up? I

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Speaker 1: did a little bit of research. No, I didn't. I

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Speaker 1: just saw the picture and I was like, well, that's nice.

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Speaker 1: I wish I could walk to their every day. It's

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Speaker 1: a spot. It's on the Appalachian Trail and so there's

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Speaker 1: lots of through hikers. But I guess you can just

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Speaker 1: hop on there and do the hike sort to Alec

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Speaker 1: cart right the quick tangent. Do you have any desire

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Speaker 1: to hike the a t ever No, honestly a little

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Speaker 1: too intense for me. But I don't know with the

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Speaker 1: right in the back of my mind, all right, maybe

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Speaker 1: you want to do with me. We'd have to do

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Speaker 1: it like sooner rather than later though, before we get

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Speaker 1: too old. I don't know. I don't want to be

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Speaker 1: doing it like seventy six or anything like that, you know,

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Speaker 1: but you can. There's lots of old folks that do it, okay.

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Speaker 1: I do consider seventy six old. By the way, if

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Speaker 1: sorry to offend any seventy six year old listeners out there, well,

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Speaker 1: that impresses me all the more people doing it at

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Speaker 1: that age, like that's incredibly impressive. And we had a

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Speaker 1: buddy who did, who hiked the whole a T man.

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Speaker 1: I think it's really awesome. It just honestly doesn't I

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Speaker 1: don't feel a called to do it, but I just

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Speaker 1: love that idea too, of of walking more and taking

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Speaker 1: advantage of the natural beauty that's around you. To see

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Speaker 1: that Todd decided to ditch a gym membership where he

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Speaker 1: was walking on the treadmill or something like that in

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Speaker 1: order to get outdoors. You know, I feel like that's

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Speaker 1: what biking is for me. It's like cool that I'm

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Speaker 1: getting all my cardio in on my way to work.

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Speaker 1: And at the same time, I do feel this like

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Speaker 1: really amazing connection to our city, to nature on that

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Speaker 1: bike ride that I wouldn't get if I was stuck

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Speaker 1: indoors doing my workout. Yeah, man, that's great. You know,

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Speaker 1: when I get out of that, I hear that, and

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Speaker 1: I think what we should be doing is focusing on,

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Speaker 1: you know, our lifestyle now, but just like enjoying our

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Speaker 1: life right now and not getting too caught up with

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Speaker 1: the goals. And so, like our listener Todd, like his

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Speaker 1: goal might be to be fit right and to get

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Speaker 1: in shape, but you don't want to let that goal

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Speaker 1: of being in shape overshadow of your life, and so

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Speaker 1: why not do something you know with his dog, he's

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Speaker 1: able to get out in nature, like enjoy life now

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Speaker 1: you can. It's great to set goals, but I think

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Speaker 1: sometimes when you overvalue those goals and maybe put too

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Speaker 1: much weight on them, you cannot enjoy the here and now.

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Speaker 1: And so yeah, maybe this is a little called our

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Speaker 1: listeners to. It's great to set goals, but to make

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Speaker 1: sure that you're enjoying life the here and now, and

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Speaker 1: we like to do that every Weegio by having a beer,

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Speaker 1: craft beer. Matthew, that's right. Yeah, So today on the show,

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Speaker 1: we are drinking a double Brute Citra in Galaxy I

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Speaker 1: p A by Bear Republic Brewing Company there out of California. Man,

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Speaker 1: they've been at it a long time since and they

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Speaker 1: were kind enough to send this beer out to us. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this one is called Challenge Series eleven and we've never

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Speaker 1: had a Brute I PA on the show before. I

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Speaker 1: don't think. I think I've only had maybe two of

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Speaker 1: these in my entire life. Actually, it's like a really

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Speaker 1: new style. There's like this new fad of trying to

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Speaker 1: combine wine and beer, Like these hybrid style beers and

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Speaker 1: Brute I p A s are kind of another way

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Speaker 1: for them to get kind of the taste of like

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Speaker 1: a champagne a little bit that kind of dryness I

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Speaker 1: feel like into a craft beer. And so yeah, like

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Speaker 1: there's no limit to what people are doing with craft

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Speaker 1: beers right now. Nice, Yeah, Joe, I'm excited to enjoy

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Speaker 1: this beer with you on this episode. We'll talk more

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Speaker 1: about this at the end of the show, all right, Matt,

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Speaker 1: So onto the subject at hand. We're talking about slashing

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Speaker 1: our monthly utility bills. Interestingly enough, I mean, we waste

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Speaker 1: so much money on utilities that could be back in

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Speaker 1: our pockets if we would be just a little more

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Speaker 1: intentional about making our homes more energy efficient. And it's

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Speaker 1: important for us to look at the payback time of

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Speaker 1: any potential energy saving steps we might take. And some

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Speaker 1: of these steps that we're gonna talk about, they're a

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Speaker 1: touch more labor intensive, and other steps that we're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk about in order to make your home more energy efficient,

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Speaker 1: well they're super simple and you could probably tackle them

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Speaker 1: in an hour, not even a weekend, right, Like you

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Speaker 1: could do something really quickly. But it's really important because

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Speaker 1: these are changes that we can make that don't just

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Speaker 1: save us like five bucks today, but they might be

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Speaker 1: able to save us five bucks a month for the

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Speaker 1: coming years if we make that small change to our

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Speaker 1: energy usage. And so, yeah, I think is an interesting

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Speaker 1: topic to cover. Yeah, Joel, Like you said, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: cover sort of a range of different things that you

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Speaker 1: can do to make your home more energy efficient, things

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Speaker 1: that would be easy to do if you even if

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Speaker 1: you lived in an apartment or if you're rented a house,

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Speaker 1: like things that would have an immediate payback. And then

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Speaker 1: also to yeah, like you said, like the bigger things

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Speaker 1: that that might take a little bit longer. But we're

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Speaker 1: gonna kind of cover the spectrum of the different kind

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Speaker 1: of projects that you can do to your home a

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Speaker 1: little more energy efficient. But before we even actually dive

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Speaker 1: into the tips, right, like, I think it's important to

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Speaker 1: ask ourselves why does this even matter? It's not just

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Speaker 1: about taking care of the earth. And you know the

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Speaker 1: money that you're saving right now, but Joe, like you said,

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Speaker 1: like the money moving forward, right, and even beyond that,

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Speaker 1: the potential for what that money could grow into if

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Speaker 1: you invested that money every month. Don't forget the rule

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Speaker 1: of one seventy three right where you can take a

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Speaker 1: monthly expense and multiply it by one D seventy three,

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Speaker 1: And that's what you could have in ten years if

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Speaker 1: you were to reduce a monthly expense and instead invest

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Speaker 1: that right, So, say you are able to cut a

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Speaker 1: monthly expense by seventy five bucks. You take that seventy

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Speaker 1: five bucks every month, invest it in ten years, you're

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Speaker 1: looking at a solid thirteen thousand dollars. Man, That is

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Speaker 1: a lot of money, that is, yeah, for sure. And

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Speaker 1: and so even beyond that, so you're able to cut

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Speaker 1: a bunch of bills, right, If you're able to reduce

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Speaker 1: some monthly bills, some monthly utilities by two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty dollars a month, in ten years, you're looking at

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Speaker 1: forty three thousand dollars, that's like a whole lot of money.

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Speaker 1: So just keep in mind that recurring monthly expenses have

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Speaker 1: a huge impact on your ability to say for the future. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And we talked about that rule of one seventy three

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Speaker 1: in our just general cutting monthly bills episode that we

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Speaker 1: did a while back. That's right, And so we talked

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Speaker 1: about you know, cutting cable, internet, all these sorts of

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Speaker 1: things that that can help you in how much you're

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Speaker 1: spending every single month. And that rule of one seventy

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Speaker 1: three is just a great thing to kind of grab,

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Speaker 1: grab onto and and kind of to do some basic

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Speaker 1: math that helps you see how much money you could

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Speaker 1: put back in your pocket if you invested that money

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Speaker 1: like you said, as opposed to uh, spending it on

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Speaker 1: whatever you're spending it on that month. And we talked

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Speaker 1: a little bit about our monthly utility bills, but we

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Speaker 1: didn't go into how you can actually dramatically reduce those bills.

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Speaker 1: And so yeah, let's get into that now. Let's first

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Speaker 1: kind of talk about electricity, right, power, the power bill,

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Speaker 1: the power bill, the dreaded power bill every month. And

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Speaker 1: I want to say one thing real quick when it

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Speaker 1: comes to the power bill. I know there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of utilities out there who will let you sign

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Speaker 1: up for something called budget billing, which kind of takes

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Speaker 1: into account the way that you've used power over the

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Speaker 1: previous year and then gives you a level bill every

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Speaker 1: single month. And I think you know that can be

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Speaker 1: helpful for your budget. But for me, I don't like

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Speaker 1: budget billing. And let me tell you why real quick.

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Speaker 1: It's because I actually like seeing how much energy I've used,

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Speaker 1: and particularly like in the summer months, if I have

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Speaker 1: turned on the air conditioner more than I wanted to,

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Speaker 1: I kind of like feeling the pain getting that bill

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Speaker 1: in the mail and seeing that I'm spending more money

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Speaker 1: than I want to. It changes my usage it changes

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Speaker 1: my habits. Uh, and so for me, that's why budget

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Speaker 1: billing isn't as good because I don't feel the pain

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Speaker 1: in the same way. I like seeing the exact amount

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Speaker 1: I used and how much it costs me. Yeah, you know. Actually,

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Speaker 1: in the research for this episode, I came across this

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Speaker 1: thing called the Sense Energy Monitor. Have you heard of

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Speaker 1: this thing or have you seen it? No? What is it? So?

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Speaker 1: It's this device that you clamp onto the the sort

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Speaker 1: of the main cables that go into your circuit breaker box,

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Speaker 1: which sounds kind of intimidating, right, but it looks super easy.

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Speaker 1: And what it does is in real time, it reads

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Speaker 1: the actual amount of electricity that your house is drawing.

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Speaker 1: And it's integrated with an app on your phone, which

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Speaker 1: is crazy to see real time the exact amount that, say,

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Speaker 1: when you're a c kicks on, you can watch it

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Speaker 1: spike and then stay there, or you can plug everything

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Speaker 1: in your house if you want to, and just with

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Speaker 1: nothing else running, you can see how much power your

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Speaker 1: fridge is actually drawing from from the system, how much

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Speaker 1: it's costing you. Totally fascinating. It's actually it's kind of expensive.

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Speaker 1: It's like two or three bucks or something. Well, that

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Speaker 1: sounds like a recipe for ruining my marriage because I

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Speaker 1: would be like constantly on the app measuring how much

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Speaker 1: we're using, being like turn off the I know, I know,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know. It looks super slick. It had

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Speaker 1: amazing reviews on Amazon, and I totally spent way too

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Speaker 1: much time reading about it and kind of checking it out.

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Speaker 1: I might ask for one of these for Christmas or

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Speaker 1: something like that. I thought it might be something totally

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Speaker 1: up your alley as well. Yeah, I know they have

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Speaker 1: like those individual things that you can plug into your

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Speaker 1: outlet per socket, yeah, per socket. But yeah, it's something

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Speaker 1: that's whold home overall the entire house. That's what I

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Speaker 1: want to know. And I'm telling you that the interface

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Speaker 1: was super slick and it looked like you can chart

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Speaker 1: it and kind of keep track of, you know, your history,

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Speaker 1: don't know, like super cool. Basically, like I'm a big

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Speaker 1: fan of running, and like I've got run Keeper that's

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Speaker 1: what I use, and it kind of keeps track of

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Speaker 1: your runs and stuff like that. And you've got this

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Speaker 1: history and you've got your numbers. But to be able

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Speaker 1: to do that with your with your home electricity, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was totally nerd and out on it and might

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Speaker 1: have to add that to the Christmas list. Dude, that's awesome.

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Speaker 1: I love it all right. So let's get into some

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Speaker 1: of the actual specific things that you can do to

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Speaker 1: kind of keep that energy from spiking, the ways that

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Speaker 1: you can cut back on your power usage in order

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Speaker 1: to have a lower monthly bill. And you know, the

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Speaker 1: number one thing that you can do is actually by

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Speaker 1: far the easiest thing, and that is to change your

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Speaker 1: thermostat settings. Of the monthly costs of home utilities come

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Speaker 1: from heating and cooling our home, and so the best

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Speaker 1: way to get around that, right is to change your

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Speaker 1: actual thermostat settings. And you know, most local utility providers

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Speaker 1: say that you should keep your thermostat on sixty eight

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Speaker 1: in the winter and seventy six in the summer to

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Speaker 1: prevent overusing, and that's totally true. I try to go

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Speaker 1: just a little bit beyond that more like see D

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Speaker 1: four in the winter and seventy seven in the summer.

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Speaker 1: It's it's summer is a little bit harder. It could

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Speaker 1: be difficult with the kids running around. Yeah, everyone's like

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Speaker 1: sweating and piste off. I'm with you, though. We try

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Speaker 1: to we actually push seventy eight, and we we rocked

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Speaker 1: the ceiling fans pretty hard. But there you go. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: seven eight in the summer for us, and then in

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Speaker 1: the winter, I think we do sixty seven during the day,

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Speaker 1: but at night that's what you got, big savings right there.

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Speaker 1: May I drive it down to sixty one at night.

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Speaker 1: There you go. You're not gonna get frostbite in sixty one.

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Speaker 1: I mean, come on, it's not gonna happen. Yeah, sixty

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Speaker 1: one totally safe temperature to be at in the winter,

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Speaker 1: but you know, for power again and in the summer months,

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Speaker 1: utilize like your ceiling fans. Pretty much all homes have

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Speaker 1: ceiling fans built in. If you have an older home,

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Speaker 1: that might be something worth actually installing. If you don't

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Speaker 1: have a ceiling fans in your house, don't pull a

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Speaker 1: jol and get one of those like ceiling fans with

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Speaker 1: the with the tiny blades on the that are totally ineffective.

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Speaker 1: Those things are worthless, man, and a waste of money.

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Speaker 1: But even if you aren't super d I y you

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Speaker 1: can just get even a table fan. For me, if

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Speaker 1: I get hot, I have a fan in that I

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Speaker 1: can flip on and I've got that pointed sitting right

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Speaker 1: there for me at my desk, because guess what, for

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Speaker 1: maybe close to eight hours and during the day, that's

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Speaker 1: where I'm sitting. I'm sitting there working and I'm able

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Speaker 1: to keep myself perfectly happy and cool just with a

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Speaker 1: little bit of air movement. Yeah, ceiling fans are awesome.

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Speaker 1: Attic fans. If anyone has an attic fan, make sure

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Speaker 1: to use it. Matt Our first house had an attic fan,

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Speaker 1: and it was freaking awesome, man, because let's say in

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Speaker 1: the spring, where the temperature is eighty two during the day,

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Speaker 1: but it is, you know, sixty two in the morning

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Speaker 1: when you first wake up. You can open up the windows,

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Speaker 1: open up the door, and turn on your attic fan

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Speaker 1: and it sucks in all the cool air cools down

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Speaker 1: your home like eight degrees in like three minutes. It's

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Speaker 1: so nice, man. It just helps you to not have

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Speaker 1: to use the A C nearly as much. I'm a

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Speaker 1: huge proponent of attic fan. Yeah, I've never lived in

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Speaker 1: a house that had an attic fan, but anytime I've

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Speaker 1: seen one of those in action, it kind of blows

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Speaker 1: my mind. All right, So now we need to ask

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Speaker 1: a question. I guess about thermostats. We just talked about

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Speaker 1: setting your thermostat at different temperatures. Where do you come

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Speaker 1: down on the smart thermostats that are kind all the

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Speaker 1: rage these days. Man, I've got one. I'm a big

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Speaker 1: fan of the Nest thermostats. You know, they were greats.

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Speaker 1: I think for a lot of folks who have a

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Speaker 1: predictable schedule though, they cannot get the fancy or nest

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Speaker 1: thermostat right like, they've got different levels. Now they've got

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Speaker 1: the I think it's called the E Nest, and then

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Speaker 1: they have the Nest learning. The Nest learning is the

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Speaker 1: one that automatically will will learn from your behavior and

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Speaker 1: sort of where you set the thermostat and will create

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Speaker 1: its own sort of schedule. But if you have a

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Speaker 1: predictable schedule, you know that every day you're gonna leave,

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Speaker 1: you know, this time of the day to go to work,

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Speaker 1: you don't really need the learning thermostat and you can

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Speaker 1: save yourself. I think it's a hunter Bucks cheaper to

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Speaker 1: get the E thermostat, And so it's basically a programmable

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Speaker 1: thermostat that you can change on your phone at any point,

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Speaker 1: but it's not learning. That's all you need because you

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Speaker 1: set the schedule, you said it and forget it and

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Speaker 1: you're good to go. Man. Plus, it's just awesome to

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Speaker 1: be able to you know, turn down say you forget

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Speaker 1: to turn down the heat, you know, in the winter,

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Speaker 1: or turn up the A C in the summer if

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Speaker 1: you go on a trip, and to be able to

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Speaker 1: hop on your phone and do that and not basically

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Speaker 1: be stress the entire time you're away thinking damn, I'm

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Speaker 1: cooling my house for nothing or I'm heating it for nothing.

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Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, so I haven't made the transition

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Speaker 1: to a smart thermostat. I just disciplined and actually turn

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Speaker 1: it off before you leave, right. Discipline might be one

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Speaker 1: word I would say, probably anal. I'm like, really, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not anal about many things in life, but about

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Speaker 1: the thermostat setting, I kind of am. You're that roommate

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Speaker 1: in college where you would you do the thermostat battles with? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Probably I was that guy. Yeah, And so yeah, at home,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm pretty intentional about what we said it on

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Speaker 1: and when we kind of create a little bit more

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Speaker 1: of a comfortable environment when we're all at home versus

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Speaker 1: you know, when I leave for work and we're kind

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Speaker 1: of heading outdoors bumping it up so that the A

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Speaker 1: C isn't running right. So I don't feel it necessarily

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Speaker 1: the need to get a smart thermostat. I think for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people who aren't as diligent in setting

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Speaker 1: their thermostat settings appropriately, then you know, one of those

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Speaker 1: kind of smart thermostats could be helpful, and especially because,

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Speaker 1: like you said, you can remotely change those settings, which

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Speaker 1: is great. Speaking of that, Matt, So you know, we

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Speaker 1: just talked about budget building, and that's something that a

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Speaker 1: lot of electricity providers offer. A lot of of power

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Speaker 1: companies also give you the choice to do a time

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Speaker 1: of use electricity plan, and they incentivize you to use

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Speaker 1: your electricity at certain times of the day, pretty much

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Speaker 1: like the off peak times that most people aren't using it.

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Speaker 1: And you are on one of those plans. So how's

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Speaker 1: that working out for you, guys? Yeah, it really has

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Speaker 1: worked out for us. And what's good to mention there

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Speaker 1: is that it's only for three or four months out

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Speaker 1: of the summer. Like, so it starts. I don't even

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Speaker 1: think it starts in May. I think it starts in June.

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Speaker 1: I think it's like June, July, and August, maybe September

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Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, that makes sense, like the sort of

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Speaker 1: summer hot, hot months, but it's only for those three

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Speaker 1: or four months out of the year. And like you said, they, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they incentivize you to use less electricity during the peak

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Speaker 1: hours of the day. Uh. And that's basically like like

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Speaker 1: from nine to six or something like that, or maybe

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Speaker 1: it's seven. I forget. I don't know because I've got

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Speaker 1: a set's on my thermostat and I don't even really

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Speaker 1: think about it, right, But so that means that your

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Speaker 1: air doesn't kick on at all between those hours. No,

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Speaker 1: it's on, but we keep it a little bit warmer, right,

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Speaker 1: So so in the summer months it's a little bit warmer,

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Speaker 1: and then once we break into that zone, that period

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Speaker 1: of time when the cost drops, that's when it kind

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Speaker 1: of kicks on. So it's a little bit warmer. In

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Speaker 1: her house, we're a little more dependent on ceiling fans,

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Speaker 1: table fans and things like that. But then I think

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Speaker 1: it's seven o'clock for for Georgia. Power Once that time

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Speaker 1: hits our a c drops a degree or two and

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Speaker 1: the house gets cooler, and for us, I think man

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Speaker 1: it's saved us close to like ten of our power bill,

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Speaker 1: and that's kind of average over the course of the year.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, it is ten times less expensive in those

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Speaker 1: off peak hours. And so in particular, if you get

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Speaker 1: home from work a lot later, or you know that

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Speaker 1: you can do your laundry run the dryer in the evening,

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Speaker 1: or especially say, if you work the night shift or

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Speaker 1: something like that, right if you have a schedule that's

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Speaker 1: reverse of most folks where you're kind of sleeping during

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Speaker 1: the day and not doing much, but then at night

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Speaker 1: that's kind of when you wake up and kind of

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Speaker 1: start your life. But there are some big savings that

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Speaker 1: could be had there. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Matt.

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Speaker 1: My my sister just switched over to Google Fi from

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Speaker 1: like a traditional cell phone carrier, and she's become so

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Speaker 1: much more cognizant of the data that she's using. It

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Speaker 1: seems very similar to one of these kind of time

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Speaker 1: of electricity plans, because you're just way more thoughtful about

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Speaker 1: the energy you're using when you're directly seeing the impact

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Speaker 1: a whole heck of a lot more. And she's kind

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Speaker 1: of become that same way, Like she's very thoughtful about

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Speaker 1: you know what. I can wait to look that up,

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Speaker 1: I can wait to check my email, I can wait

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Speaker 1: to watch that YouTube video because I know that I'm

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Speaker 1: paying for every single tent of a gig of data.

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Speaker 1: And we talked about Google Fi, you know, back in

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Speaker 1: the day, about and still it's one of the best

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Speaker 1: cell phone providers out there, but it's kind of one

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Speaker 1: of those things where it's gonna help you realize how

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Speaker 1: much data you're actually using. And I think that that

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Speaker 1: can usually typically be a good thing to kind of

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Speaker 1: put that in front of our faces. Let's talk about

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Speaker 1: L D bulbs. You've got these in your house, I

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Speaker 1: know for sure, man. L E D bulbs are truly

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Speaker 1: besides the thermostat settings, they're probably the next greatest thing

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Speaker 1: you can do in order to kind of curb electricity

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Speaker 1: usage at your house, And in particular, the first thing

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Speaker 1: would be to replace the most used lights in your

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Speaker 1: house with ELI D bulbs. It's great to make it

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Speaker 1: an eventual goal to have all of the light bulbs

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Speaker 1: in your house as L E D bulbs, But if

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Speaker 1: you just have a few lamps or a few overhead

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Speaker 1: lights in your house that you use, you know, nine

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Speaker 1: of the time that you feel like are usually typically

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Speaker 1: turned on. Replacing those with l D bulbs is going

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Speaker 1: to result in a major savings, especially because l D

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Speaker 1: bulbs have become so much cheaper these days. You can

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Speaker 1: even at times find them for close to a dollar

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Speaker 1: a bulb. Used to be like twenty bucks of bulbs

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Speaker 1: right right when they first came out. It's like, man,

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Speaker 1: those bulbs are on sale for thirty each, Like what

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Speaker 1: a deal. And when they first came out, the light

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Speaker 1: wasn't very great from l D bulbs, That's true. It

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00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:30,080
Speaker 1: was kind of that like tacky blue light or whatever.

429
00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:34,000
Speaker 1: And and now there's much warmer colors available in l

430
00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:36,320
Speaker 1: D bulbs as you can find out there at the stores.

431
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,240
Speaker 1: And so yeah, especially if you're looking, I know you're

432
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 1: not a fan of this, Matt, but buying the Costco

433
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,320
Speaker 1: and nothing against Costco, just haven't really joined the cult yet.

434
00:18:45,359 --> 00:18:48,280
Speaker 1: So yeah, that episode still to come. Yeah, we'll make

435
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:50,840
Speaker 1: that happen. But buying in bulk from a warehouse club

436
00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:52,560
Speaker 1: is a great way to to get a lower cost

437
00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,159
Speaker 1: on those l D bulbs, and those typically use ninety

438
00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:59,240
Speaker 1: percent less energy than a traditional bulb does, which which

439
00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,159
Speaker 1: is insane. That's big difference. Yeah, that's insane. Anytime you

440
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 1: hear return on anything like that's something you want to

441
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,160
Speaker 1: go for, right and not available typically in the investing world.

442
00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,040
Speaker 1: By the way, exactly and specifically, what that means is,

443
00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:13,560
Speaker 1: over the course of the lifetime of that bulb, you're

444
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,760
Speaker 1: looking at on average, eighty dollars in savings, and each

445
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,920
Speaker 1: one of those bulbs, on average will last about fifteen

446
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,240
Speaker 1: times longer than a traditional incandescent bulb. All right, Matt.

447
00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 1: Another big energy suck in a lot of homes is

448
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,960
Speaker 1: having old appliances. And I'm not the kind of guy

449
00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,920
Speaker 1: that would suggest getting rid of your the fridge in

450
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,520
Speaker 1: your kitchen in order to get a new one that

451
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:36,880
Speaker 1: would quote unquote save you on energy, right, I feel

452
00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:38,639
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about that later, but that's typically not

453
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,000
Speaker 1: a recipe that ends in you saving a lot of money, right.

454
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,000
Speaker 1: It's like buying that new pre is because it's going

455
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,119
Speaker 1: to save you on gas. You know. Usually that's a

456
00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: flawed way of thinking about it. Um. But let's say

457
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,600
Speaker 1: you have a secondary fridge a beer fridge, as something

458
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:53,760
Speaker 1: I'd say, and probably how I would use a secondary fridge,

459
00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:55,760
Speaker 1: not that you have one, not that I have one,

460
00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,000
Speaker 1: but getting rid of that secondary fridge that's in the

461
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,000
Speaker 1: garage or whatever, and pticularly if it's in a garage

462
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,840
Speaker 1: and it gets warmer and it has to use more

463
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,280
Speaker 1: energy in order to stay cool. You're talking about like

464
00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,240
Speaker 1: a lot of money every year that this secondary fridge

465
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 1: is costing you. And older refrigerators are notorious for for

466
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:15,040
Speaker 1: using a lot of energy. And you know what, your

467
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,879
Speaker 1: local utility company might even offer you an incentive to

468
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:20,240
Speaker 1: donate that fridge, to get rid of it, to give

469
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,560
Speaker 1: it to them, And so it's worth it too as

470
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,880
Speaker 1: you're thinking through some of these things to actually check

471
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,359
Speaker 1: out your local utilities website. There might be incentives to

472
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,240
Speaker 1: do a lot of these things. They might even offer

473
00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,119
Speaker 1: a deal for you to get a new programmable thermostat

474
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 1: at a reduced rate. Jump on those rebates. Yeah, tons

475
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,320
Speaker 1: of those rebates on your local utilities website. So it's

476
00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,120
Speaker 1: definitely worth checking that out. And while we're talking about fridges, Jole,

477
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:42,359
Speaker 1: you also want to make sure that you're taking care

478
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,480
Speaker 1: of your fridge. And what I mean by that is

479
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,920
Speaker 1: that you want to clean the coils on your fridge

480
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,119
Speaker 1: or freezer to keep it working efficiently and properly. Most fridges,

481
00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: a lot of times there's like that little plastic grate

482
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:55,760
Speaker 1: at the bottom, and what you want to do is

483
00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:58,360
Speaker 1: just pop that off and take a look up under

484
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,800
Speaker 1: there and tell me what you see. Because if this

485
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: doesn't sound familiar at all to you, or this is

486
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 1: something that you haven't done, you are in for a

487
00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:08,640
Speaker 1: treat because there's gonna be so much junk up under there.

488
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: Typically you want to do this maybe close to once

489
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:12,639
Speaker 1: a year to kind of keep all the dust and

490
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,840
Speaker 1: junk and food whatever gets kind of kicked up under

491
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 1: the fridge. It's gonna look like there's a squirrel limited

492
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 1: beer fridge when you pop it off, like the sarious

493
00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,480
Speaker 1: squirrel all time. So in the same way, cleaning the

494
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: coils on your fridge is essential to that fridge running well.

495
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,400
Speaker 1: It's like changing the filter and which we're gonna talk

496
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,680
Speaker 1: about in your HVAC unit every every few months, right

497
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 1: to keep it running at optimum condition. And that's going

498
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 1: to ensure that your fridge, you know, lasts for as

499
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 1: long as it's supposed to and at the same time,

500
00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: you know, keep those cooling costs down. You know, there's

501
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: other things you can do make sure you're cleaning your

502
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,720
Speaker 1: lint filter. When it comes to using your dryer, also

503
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,760
Speaker 1: use those dryer balls, you guys, use those the wool

504
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,000
Speaker 1: balls that you throw in there. Nope, dude again, I

505
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: was reading about those and kind of geeking out. We're

506
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,880
Speaker 1: totally going to get some of those. They cut down

507
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 1: on how long it takes for your clothes to dry

508
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:00,280
Speaker 1: because they kind of spread the clothes out as they

509
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 1: bounce around, and they evidently work as a natural fabric

510
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 1: softener as well, so you can save money that way

511
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 1: as well. You know what else they say about dryers,

512
00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 1: do your drying batches back to back to back so

513
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:12,479
Speaker 1: the dryer doesn't cool down and have to heat all

514
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 1: the way back up. I like it, man, that's so smart.

515
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 1: And even consider air drying your clothes. Right, it's a

516
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: little more old school, but you can also save a

517
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: ton of money that way, and it's better for your

518
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: clothes as well. All right. Another interesting thing to watch

519
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,359
Speaker 1: out for when it comes to your power bill is

520
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:28,159
Speaker 1: this thing called vampire electronics, which is kind of a

521
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 1: cool name, but but really, keeping your computers and TVs

522
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,639
Speaker 1: plugged in constantly what can cost you? And even if

523
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:36,919
Speaker 1: your TV is not on, or your computer is plugged

524
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,640
Speaker 1: in and charging. But whatever, it's a hundred percent charge.

525
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:41,639
Speaker 1: You don't think that it's actually costing you money to

526
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,119
Speaker 1: continue to have it plugged in. Well, in all likelihood

527
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,920
Speaker 1: it is. And so the best way around vampire electronics

528
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 1: and them sucking money out of your wallet as they're

529
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 1: plugged into the outlet is to have that on a

530
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,120
Speaker 1: power strip, and that way once your computer is fully

531
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 1: charged or when you're not using let's say your TV.

532
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: And interestingly enough, a culprit of this is often like

533
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,960
Speaker 1: a cable box. So even if you're not like watching cable,

534
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 1: if you don't have your TV turned on, it can

535
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 1: be sucking electricity out even though you're not using it.

536
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: And so a power strip turning it off when you're

537
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,240
Speaker 1: not using it and then powering it back on. It

538
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: might be a little bit of an inconvenience, it might

539
00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 1: be a little bit annoying, but it can save you money.

540
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 1: So vampire electronics. That phrase, you know what, it immediately

541
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,159
Speaker 1: made me think of for some reason, Vampire Weekend. No,

542
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: although that maybe would have been more hip. Great band,

543
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:30,520
Speaker 1: great band? What was Bunikula? Did you ever read that

544
00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 1: book as a kid? It was this. It was this

545
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 1: rabbit that was like this vampire rabbit, and it sucked

546
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,760
Speaker 1: all the life or the blood out of vegetables that

547
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:38,879
Speaker 1: they turned white. It totally sounds like a book you

548
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 1: would have predic Why not, Right, anyway, after the break,

549
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,239
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about some more ways that you can

550
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: save money when it comes to your utilities. We're gonna

551
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:58,000
Speaker 1: specifically talk about your gas bill. All right, Matt full Back.

552
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 1: We just talked about cutting your monthly electricity bill. Now

553
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 1: let's talk about cutting your gas bill. And not everyone

554
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,359
Speaker 1: across the country use the same kind of gas. You know,

555
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 1: we down here in the South use natural gas. Up

556
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,639
Speaker 1: in the Northeast, there's a lot of home heating oil

557
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 1: that's used. But I think there are some common things

558
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: that we share in ways that we can actually cut

559
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: those bills. Right, and so again, like those thermostat settings

560
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: are important in the winter, and putting on layers and

561
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,840
Speaker 1: blankets are really important in order to be able to

562
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 1: keep your your house at a lower temperature, therefore saving

563
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: your money when it comes to the heating element that

564
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 1: you're using. Yeah, and when we were talking about power,

565
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 1: we talked about the low end of the thermostat right,

566
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 1: how at night I set our thermostat at sixty one?

567
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: And you know we've got little kids. Are you wearing

568
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:46,240
Speaker 1: like three snuggies or what? No, I won't share exactly

569
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,719
Speaker 1: how I sleep, but it's pretty minimal. Okay, all right,

570
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,360
Speaker 1: But our girls, I think some folks might have heard

571
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: what I said earlier about you know, it being sixty one.

572
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,679
Speaker 1: But we do keep an electric radiator heater in the

573
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,119
Speaker 1: girl's room. And the way that we're able to control

574
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: and make sure that they are at a safe aperature

575
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 1: in our sleeping well is that we actually have a

576
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: thermometer that is in the bathroom that borders their room

577
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,399
Speaker 1: with a little sensor that goes through the wall. I

578
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: just drilled a hole into the wall. The little sensor

579
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 1: pops out, and it measures the temperature in the girl's room.

580
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:14,640
Speaker 1: And so what that means, man, is that we're able

581
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:16,720
Speaker 1: to let the temperature in our house get pretty dang

582
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,479
Speaker 1: cold at night, like we're talking about, but we can

583
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 1: check in on that and see where the temperature is

584
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,280
Speaker 1: in their room without even going in there. And so

585
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:26,239
Speaker 1: that allows us to save a lot of money when

586
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,959
Speaker 1: it comes to gas and targeting that specific room all

587
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: three of our girls are in that room sleeping, and

588
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 1: we keep the temperature in the room at a solid

589
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 1: sixty eight. You know, it ranges that safe temperature for

590
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: us is between like sixty seven and like seventy two

591
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:40,240
Speaker 1: is perfectly fine for the kiddos. Yeah, I feel like

592
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: most people don't consider the prospect of individually heating or

593
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 1: cooling rooms, And I think that's such an important thing

594
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: to think about because most of the time we're spending

595
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,119
Speaker 1: a lot of our evenings in one or two rooms,

596
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,439
Speaker 1: or we don't want our kids to be cold, and

597
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,400
Speaker 1: so we bump up the temperature of the entire household

598
00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 1: so that we can so we can keep our kids

599
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 1: warm and their rooms. For me, I feel like I'm

600
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 1: overheated if we keep the Tampa anything above sixty six.

601
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: But I want my girls to be warmer than than

602
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 1: I am because I just can't handle that much heat.

603
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:12,720
Speaker 1: Les's because they're kiddos, right Like, they don't know it's

604
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 1: wake up and kind of pull the comforter up and

605
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: warm themselves. We've got young kids, and so the thing is, though,

606
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:19,840
Speaker 1: once you get your house warm, you want to make

607
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 1: sure that that heat stays inside the house. So we're

608
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: gonna talk now about some weather stripping and cock like

609
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: when it comes to older houses in particular, man like,

610
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: that is such an important step that you can take

611
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: to make sure that you don't have actual drafts of

612
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: cold air coming through your walls coming through your windows

613
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 1: in the winter. You can buy this sort of ugly

614
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,119
Speaker 1: window wrap that goes over your windows and kind of

615
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: use the hair dryer to kind of shrink wrap. It

616
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,120
Speaker 1: looks a lot like saran wrap, but for your window.

617
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: It's ugly, but from windows that you don't open very often,

618
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: it can actually work and can save you money for

619
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: Have you ever used that before? So I had when

620
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:52,640
Speaker 1: we bought our house. We had it on a couple

621
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 1: of windows, and it made a huge difference. Yeah, we

622
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: kept it on for that winter, but then decided that

623
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 1: we don't really want to re put it back on

624
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 1: every winter. But but no, it does make a big difference.

625
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,680
Speaker 1: It's kind of unsightly. A similar option, though, is you

626
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: can use this It's called seal and peel. It's like

627
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 1: this removable cock And so if you know you've got

628
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: old windows, like on our old house, there are windows

629
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 1: that I can stand next to you and literally see

630
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:18,159
Speaker 1: the ground without anything obstructing my side. But like between

631
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: the two sashes, like between the panes of glass and

632
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: the ceiling peel cock, it goes on, but it's not

633
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: meant to be permanent. And so if you want to

634
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 1: open the window in the spring, when the mature starts

635
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: getting a little bit warmer before it gets too hot,

636
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:30,800
Speaker 1: you just peel that off and you can pop open

637
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: your window. It's great stuff, that's nice, you know, Matt.

638
00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people quickly go to

639
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,880
Speaker 1: replacing windows or doing you know, major renovations in order

640
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 1: to make their house feel more comfortable. And new windows

641
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: are nice, but they're really expensive, and they also aren't

642
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 1: going to save you quite as much energy, I don't

643
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,120
Speaker 1: think as you thought they would. And some of these

644
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: kind of interim things, some of these smaller things that

645
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 1: you can do, like the peel and seal cock, are

646
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,200
Speaker 1: a way to save a lot of money on your

647
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: monthly energy bills to make your house feel more comfortable

648
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: without spending a lot of money. That's right. Like, yeah,

649
00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:03,200
Speaker 1: new windows, even though they might be double or even

650
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 1: trouble pained, it's still glass, and so the our value

651
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: on those windows, it's significantly lower than the insulation in

652
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 1: the wall that you have in the you know, the sighting,

653
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 1: like all the layers that you have on a regular

654
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 1: wall are vastly superior to your window. So the fact is,

655
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: if you have a window and you want to have

656
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 1: a nice view to your yard and natural light coming

657
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 1: into your room, like, fact is, it's going to be

658
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: less efficient than if you didn't have windows. But what's

659
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,320
Speaker 1: key here is that you remove drafts so that you

660
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: can remove air flowing in and out of your house

661
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,200
Speaker 1: when you don't want it, in particular in the winter

662
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:33,880
Speaker 1: when that cold air I wants to get inside your house,

663
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 1: and specifically blackout curtains like big things can have a

664
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: major effect in in kind of preventing those drafts from

665
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,800
Speaker 1: coming through and making your house feel uncomfortable. Yeah, it

666
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: creates that insulating layer right there in front of the glass,

667
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: So make sure you close those at night. Yeah, Matt.

668
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 1: And one thing I've got some experience with is insulating

669
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: an attic. That's huge. That's one of the number one

670
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: ways that you can cut down on your heating and

671
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: cooling costs is by having an attic that has proper

672
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: insulation in it. This is something that you can d

673
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: I y, you don't have to hire this out, and

674
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 1: even if you did, it's not terribly expensive. But it's

675
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,840
Speaker 1: not really that hard to do. In particular, like blow

676
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: in insulation. I'm not talking about the spray and phone,

677
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: but I'm talking about the blow in cellulos exactly exactly.

678
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:16,479
Speaker 1: But yeah, my buddy J and I did it in

679
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: just a couple of hours, and you know, he was

680
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,400
Speaker 1: kind of feeding in the cellulo stuff and I had

681
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 1: this long hose and I was up in the attic

682
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: can spraying it and we would kind of go back

683
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: and forth and take the other person's job. It was

684
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 1: kind of fun, uh and and really ultimately you know,

685
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: cut down on the heating and cooling costs. So it's

686
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: something you can do in just you know, a Saturday morning,

687
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: and it's something that often, Like I said, we talked

688
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: about how energy providers will pay you money to perform

689
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,280
Speaker 1: some of these energy saving techniques to your home, and

690
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: that was something that my energy provider, I want to say,

691
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: they paid for almost like the costs sweet rebate that

692
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: was going. Yeah, it was really good. So so yeah,

693
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 1: it's something to look into as well. And while we're

694
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 1: on the topic of insulating, you can instant your water

695
00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:56,960
Speaker 1: heater and your pipes as well. That way you're using

696
00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: less energy there. And if your house has a down attic,

697
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: you know with like the stairs right that kind of

698
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: allows you to walk up through the ceiling, those are

699
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: notorious spots for energy leaks, and so you can insulate

700
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:08,920
Speaker 1: those with these big foam blocks that kind of go

701
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: on top of it, or this thing called an attic

702
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 1: tent where it's sort of seals the whole. You walk

703
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: up the steps and then you unzip it et style,

704
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 1: you know, like kind of go through the can, go

705
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,960
Speaker 1: through the radioactive hatch. And that's a great way to

706
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: to save on your energy costs, especially in the winter

707
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 1: when it comes to your heat. Yeah, one interesting thing

708
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 1: to consider is getting a home energy audit, and lots

709
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: of local utility companies offer free audits in person and

710
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 1: if not, at least lots of times, I'll have an

711
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: online version. And if your local utility doesn't offer something

712
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 1: like that, well, the U. S Department of Energy has

713
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: some online tools that can kind of help you gauge

714
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: where your energy loss is coming from. Um, So that

715
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,640
Speaker 1: can kind of be helpful in at least seeing you know,

716
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 1: where most of your dollars are escaping essentially out of

717
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 1: these crevices in your doors and floors and windows and

718
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. Yeah, Joel, I mean that's

719
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: one of the biggest categories of an energy audit, right,

720
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: is to see where as air getting in or out

721
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 1: of your house. And you know you can kind of

722
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: do that yourself as well. You can d I why

723
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,720
Speaker 1: it by closing all your doors, right, all of your

724
00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: extra your doors, getting a stick of incense or a

725
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 1: few sticks whatever, but then flip on all of your

726
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 1: into your exhaust fans. So if you have a hood

727
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 1: over your range, you know, any bathroom fans that suck

728
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: air out of the house. And essentially what you're doing

729
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,320
Speaker 1: is creating a vacuum, so that air has to get

730
00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: into your house somewhere, and it's going to come from

731
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 1: the path of least resistance. And so you take that

732
00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: stick of incense, you light it, and you go near

733
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: the windows where you think you might have some air leaks,

734
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: and anywhere you see sort of that's you know, that

735
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 1: smooth line of smoke that should be going up. I

736
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: can normally would you know, you start seeing that smoke

737
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 1: kind of disrupted. Well, you know that, even though if

738
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: you can't feel it, that's where you've got air coming in,

739
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,360
Speaker 1: and you can look for ways to to seal those gaps.

740
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: For me, I don't need to light a stick of

741
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: incense in the winter, man. I can stand in front

742
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: of windows and when the wind blows, I can feel it.

743
00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: So through our old crappy windows have a long wind

744
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,840
Speaker 1: to go. Yeah, man, these old homes kind of drafty, right,

745
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 1: all right, So another thing you need to consider is

746
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: furnace maintenance, changing your filters like a few times a

747
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: year at minimum, And if you have pets, you might

748
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: want to consider replacing your filters like every other month,

749
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: because you know what's expensive, What filters are a little expensive,

750
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: but what's more expensive is your furnace not running efficiently.

751
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, in all likelihood, the

752
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: fewer years that you're going to get out of that furnace.

753
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,960
Speaker 1: So being able to kind of extend the life of

754
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: your HVAC system by replacing the filters as often as

755
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,640
Speaker 1: you should, that's gonna be one of the best things

756
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,400
Speaker 1: that you can do in order to save energy. Every month. Yeah, Juel,

757
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: you know another way that we can get our natural

758
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: gas or energy costs down is by lowering the temperature

759
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: on your water heater. You know, by default it is

760
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 1: typically sets at a temperature that will give you water

761
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: that's about a hundred and forty degrees. But you can

762
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 1: turn that down a little bit. You can take that

763
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,719
Speaker 1: down a hundred and twenty, which is still plenty hots

764
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: for your dishwasher or the other needs you might have.

765
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:53,120
Speaker 1: And you know that can easily save you fifty bucks

766
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 1: right there. Washing your clothes in cold tap water when

767
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 1: you can, uh is the best way to save money

768
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 1: on water heating costs too. And speaking of water map,

769
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: we're going to get two ways to reduce your water

770
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: usage that are easy to understand and pretty cheap to

771
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 1: implement right after the break, right, So let's round this

772
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 1: thing out now with water Agua. The biggest way that

773
00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,160
Speaker 1: you can save in your water bill is to choose

774
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 1: to have a yard that doesn't require lots of water

775
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,760
Speaker 1: or honestly any at all. So much of your monthly

776
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 1: water bill can go towards watering the grass that's surrounding

777
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,600
Speaker 1: your house, when in reality that's something you can totally forego.

778
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:38,360
Speaker 1: And that the problem with water in your yard too.

779
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: Is is that a lot of municipalities, the way they

780
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: build water is that you get built a certain rate

781
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 1: for the water that that you use, but you also

782
00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 1: get built for sewer as well, because they assume water

783
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: that you're using is going down the drain. So obviously

784
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: when you're watering your yard, that water isn't going back

785
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: into the water treatment plant, but you're paying but you're

786
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 1: paying for it exactly. And so that's why water can

787
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: be so expensive when it comes to watering your lawn.

788
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: I will admit we've we have personal experience with this

789
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,000
Speaker 1: because after renovating our house a little bit here, we

790
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 1: totally chewed up the backyard and we wanted to get

791
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,719
Speaker 1: some grass, some rye grass, some clover. We wanted to

792
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,919
Speaker 1: get to get all that seated and started and going

793
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,319
Speaker 1: that way, we have a nice quote unquote lawn back there,

794
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,359
Speaker 1: you know, just we wanted to be green for them

795
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:19,560
Speaker 1: to play on. But that takes some water. And Joel

796
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: I saw our water bell shoot from basically sixty bucks

797
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 1: a month up to one eight, so basically three times

798
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 1: what we've normally been paying just to turn the water

799
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 1: on for five or six minutes. You know, every other

800
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 1: day in the back, just so that see you can

801
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 1: get started each Yeah, that's thanks. Yeah, that's where rain

802
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,280
Speaker 1: barrels can come in handy if you kind of attach

803
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,360
Speaker 1: those two a down spout and and then you can water.

804
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 1: Let's say you give a small garden or you are

805
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 1: trying to grow some grass in the back, Like a

806
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 1: rain barrel can be a huge way to to capture

807
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 1: that water in order to avoid using, you know, a

808
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:53,359
Speaker 1: spigot or a sprinkler in order to water your lawn.

809
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:55,600
Speaker 1: Another way to kind of save water, like a couple

810
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,960
Speaker 1: of really big ways are to install low flow toilets

811
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 1: in your house. And and they make them of all

812
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 1: different shapes and sizes, and they've gotten a lot better

813
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 1: than they used to be. I think when low flow

814
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: toilets kind of first came on the market, people were like,

815
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:10,040
Speaker 1: you have to flush them twice, Yeah, and it totally

816
00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 1: defeated the purpose exactly. They just weren't good that great.

817
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,840
Speaker 1: And now they've gotten actually pretty decent. Yeah, designs a

818
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: lot better on them. Yeah. And so in the same

819
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 1: way where we talked about power companies offering you rebates

820
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,480
Speaker 1: for doing certain things to make your home more energy efficient. Well,

821
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 1: a lot of local water companies will actually pay for

822
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,759
Speaker 1: the cost of an inexpensive low flow toilet if you'll

823
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,839
Speaker 1: install it, or in an expensive low flow shower head.

824
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 1: So those are really good ways where you might be

825
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,319
Speaker 1: able to save water every single month and you're not

826
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,600
Speaker 1: even paying for the cost of the toilet or shower

827
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 1: head that actually helps you get there. Yeah, it just

828
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:48,399
Speaker 1: takes a little bit of elbow grease, and honestly, once

829
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: you install a toil at once you realize it's not

830
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: that complicated. It's one of those sounds hard, but it's

831
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,359
Speaker 1: really not that bad. Yeah, it really isn't so here

832
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 1: for us locally. Uh, the rebate was a hunter bucks

833
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 1: and there were some select toilets that you could get

834
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: for one hundred bucks, So literally they were paying for

835
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:05,239
Speaker 1: the cost of the toilet and all you had to

836
00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 1: do was just swap it out and you get that rebate,

837
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,120
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, you've got a brain new toilet,

838
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,800
Speaker 1: white and shiny, and you're also saving a lot of

839
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:13,399
Speaker 1: money when it comes to your water belt. You didn't

840
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,360
Speaker 1: get the gold toilet, like you know, those are the

841
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 1: nice ones. That's what you should I prefer biscuit, like

842
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:20,239
Speaker 1: the whoever gets those right? Like white? But yeah, like

843
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 1: the super off wide are like the kind of brown

844
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 1: colored ones. They're like biscuit or biscue. I don't know,

845
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,320
Speaker 1: you know what. I'm not a fan personally, but maybe

846
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,480
Speaker 1: folks are. But another approach to if you don't have

847
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:32,280
Speaker 1: that rebate is to adopt the old saying, if it's yellow,

848
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 1: let it mellow. People are gonna think we're weird for

849
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,080
Speaker 1: saying that, but no, man, I've got three kids, and

850
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,359
Speaker 1: if they're all flushing the toilet every time the toilet

851
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:41,280
Speaker 1: is used, that is a lot of water that's getting

852
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,799
Speaker 1: flushed down that we're paying for. And so we we've

853
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,719
Speaker 1: trained our girls to not flush the toilet unless it's

854
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,880
Speaker 1: number two. I worry about my kids, like going to school.

855
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 1: I'm like, are the teachers, Uh like, why aren't they

856
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: plushing the toilet? I haven't got any feedback, but we've

857
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: had this discussion before. This is an ongoing discussion that

858
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 1: you and I have of about our girls. But it

859
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,400
Speaker 1: makes me think about our conversation with Chris and Christie

860
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 1: from Life opted Out about living in a van, and

861
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,320
Speaker 1: they talked about their experience of traveling to India and

862
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,439
Speaker 1: what it's like to kind of use the bathroom over there,

863
00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:13,960
Speaker 1: and the fact that we have running water, we have

864
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 1: indoor plumbing, we have toilets at our disposal. Oftentimes we

865
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:20,720
Speaker 1: have two or three in our house. It's at least

866
00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 1: to quite the sophisticated genteel of life that we have, right. Yeah,

867
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 1: And so like the idea of letting your p just

868
00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,239
Speaker 1: sit there in the toilet and not flushing it down

869
00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 1: sounds ridiculous probably to a lot of people, but just

870
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 1: think about it from a slightly different perspective, uh, and

871
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:37,759
Speaker 1: think about the way most of the world goes to

872
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 1: the bathroom and how easy we have it, And then

873
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:43,799
Speaker 1: think to yourself, like, can I actually just like pe

874
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: a couple of times in the toilet before I hit

875
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:47,879
Speaker 1: the flush button? It's not that big of a deal.

876
00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,000
Speaker 1: Think about See if you go to a festival or

877
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: a concert, right, like, where do you go? Like it's

878
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 1: the porter potties and you know, letting it mellow for

879
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: a little bit in your own house, and a clean

880
00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 1: toilet is way way better than a porter potty. I mean,

881
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 1: come on, like, if you can handle that, and if

882
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 1: you can handle a porta potty or a Johnny on

883
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 1: the spot or whatever you call them. Wherever you live,

884
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 1: you can handle just letting it mellow for a little bit.

885
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,320
Speaker 1: Another way that you can save water is to consider

886
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 1: taking shorter showers. And this is one that's gonna be

887
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,359
Speaker 1: tougher for me, because I do a lot of good

888
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: thinking when I'm in the shower, like something about my mind.

889
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 1: It like deactivates and disengages from the normal things I'm

890
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: supposed to think about, and I find that I'm honestly

891
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,240
Speaker 1: the most creative and I come up with fun ideas

892
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: and cool stuff when I'm taking a shower. But if

893
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: you can take a shorter shower, you're gonna be able

894
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 1: to save a lot of money, all right, So what

895
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: about them more expensive upgrades? We kind of talked quickly

896
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:38,359
Speaker 1: about how you're replacing windows is an expensive endeavor and

897
00:38:38,520 --> 00:38:40,200
Speaker 1: it might make your house, you know, feel a little

898
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: more comfortable, and it will also lower your energy bills,

899
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: but it's one of those things that's really expensive to do,

900
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 1: and so it's something that you should really only consider

901
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,839
Speaker 1: if you're doing it for you, not if you're doing

902
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,239
Speaker 1: it for the energy and money savings attached to it.

903
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 1: We'll take solar for instance. Uh, solar can be similar

904
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 1: to a thought of replacing your windows. It can just

905
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,680
Speaker 1: be a really long payback period. You know, in some

906
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,720
Speaker 1: parts of the country, based on some of the government

907
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: incentives that we have right now. In particular, the federal

908
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: government is offering a thirty percent tax rebate on solar

909
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,440
Speaker 1: installations through the end of the year. Well, if you

910
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,440
Speaker 1: really nerd out on energy usage, then that incentive might

911
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 1: be the thing that pushes you over the edge to

912
00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,120
Speaker 1: actually install solar at your home. But you have to

913
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: realize that even with that incentive, even with that rebate,

914
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:29,880
Speaker 1: it's still going to be in all likelihood more than

915
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:32,759
Speaker 1: a decade, potentially close to two decades in order to

916
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,600
Speaker 1: see that investment payback. That's right, Joel. So you gotta

917
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:39,200
Speaker 1: keep that in mind, right, replacing your perfectly good appliances

918
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 1: with ones that are more energy efficient. Right, If you

919
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,840
Speaker 1: have a water here that works perfectly fine, or an

920
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,719
Speaker 1: HVAC or windows, and you're doing that just to save

921
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,760
Speaker 1: that money, well it's it's not really gonna work unless

922
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 1: you're planning to stay there for maybe ten or twenty years. Really,

923
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 1: the most impactful changes that you can have on your

924
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: monthly utilities is by behavior modification. It's certain the cheapest option.

925
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,080
Speaker 1: And that's because you can't always buy or purchase your

926
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 1: way to fix a problem, right like you can't spend

927
00:40:06,120 --> 00:40:08,240
Speaker 1: money to become more efficient a lot of the times.

928
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 1: Often it takes being a little more diligent, being maybe

929
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: a little more discipline, or changing your behavior to truly

930
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 1: save money. Yeah, I think it's important to make sure

931
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,319
Speaker 1: that we mentioned that some of these things you need

932
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:22,800
Speaker 1: to do on a regular cycle, like changing your filters

933
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 1: or like that maintenance, right, cleaning those refrigerator coils, whatever

934
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:30,160
Speaker 1: it is, And so putting those things actually on your calendar, uh,

935
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,839
Speaker 1: in repeat fashion, so that you remember to do them,

936
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,840
Speaker 1: Because if I don't associate changing my filters with a

937
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,600
Speaker 1: specific date on my calendar, then the chances of it

938
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,520
Speaker 1: getting done are pretty much not exists, not going to happen. Yeah,

939
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 1: And so yeah, any way that you can kind of

940
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 1: put it in front of your face, any way that

941
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 1: you can help remind yourself that it needs to be

942
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,879
Speaker 1: done and to put it on a schedule, that's gonna

943
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: help you actually take these steps, as opposed to just

944
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 1: kind of hearing them in one ear and letting it

945
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,839
Speaker 1: go out the other That's right, Chel, I couldn't agree more. Man,

946
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead now and get back to this Beer

947
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: Challenge Series number eleven. This is a double Brutes I

948
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,759
Speaker 1: p A donated to us by Bear Republic. So thank

949
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: you guys so much out there in California. Joel, let

950
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: me hear your thoughts on this one. Yeah. Bear Republic

951
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 1: has been making beers for quite a long time and

952
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,920
Speaker 1: they make some really good ones out there, and this

953
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,399
Speaker 1: one in particular was man fascinating because, like you said

954
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the show, I think I've only

955
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,680
Speaker 1: had one brute I p A before, and it's kind

956
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 1: of a newer style of I p A that, in

957
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 1: essence tries to capture a little bit of what's going

958
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: on in a champagne and a brute champagne. And it

959
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 1: really does have this really interesting for hot sweetness on

960
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:37,319
Speaker 1: the beginning that transitions into this dryness on the back

961
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,000
Speaker 1: end that you would get when drinking some sort of

962
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:42,560
Speaker 1: a brute champagne. And I love how beers can just

963
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: taste completely different than anything you've ever tasted before. And

964
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: this is an I p A like I've never had

965
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 1: so it was, yeah, fun to drink this one today. Yeah,

966
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 1: I'm hoping some breweries around us start making like the

967
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: style because I could totally see this working out well

968
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,560
Speaker 1: here in the South when it gets crazy hot in

969
00:41:57,600 --> 00:41:59,439
Speaker 1: the summer. Like, what do you want? You want something

970
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: that really hits you with a lot of flavor a

971
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:02,839
Speaker 1: lot of times? Or are you looking for something that's

972
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: really clean? And to me, this drink is really clean,

973
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 1: really dry. It reminds me a lot of sort of

974
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,400
Speaker 1: a dry jin martini. You sort of got those floral

975
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 1: maybe even like juniper notes, but there's not that sweetness

976
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,520
Speaker 1: there on the back end. It does finish kind of dry,

977
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:21,200
Speaker 1: all right, James Bond, extra fancy, nicely done. Well, that's

978
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,880
Speaker 1: gonna be it for this show, my friend. So hopefully

979
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,800
Speaker 1: this episode, Matt challenges all of us to be a

980
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,320
Speaker 1: little more thoughtful in in how we look to conserve

981
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:31,720
Speaker 1: energy in our houses. I think there are some easy

982
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 1: winds that we can get and I think it's helpful

983
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: for us to think through these things. Not all of

984
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: these things are gonna apply to you. Not all these

985
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,759
Speaker 1: things are gonna apply to everyone, and especially if you're

986
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:42,440
Speaker 1: living in an apartment, right you're not gonna install solar panels,

987
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,680
Speaker 1: you're not going to change out windows, but there are

988
00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 1: these little things that you can do, even if you

989
00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:48,720
Speaker 1: don't own the house, in order to make these changes

990
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:50,279
Speaker 1: to save yourself some money when it comes to your

991
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,319
Speaker 1: energy bills. So, Joel, I think that's gonna be it

992
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:54,879
Speaker 1: for this episode. Uh, you can check out our show

993
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,640
Speaker 1: notes over at how its money dot com and we'll

994
00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 1: have some links over there with some of the things

995
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: that we talk it's about on this episode. Yeah, and

996
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 1: if you have found this podcast helpful, man, we'd appreciate

997
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 1: a review from you on Apple Podcasts. And you know what,

998
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:09,200
Speaker 1: if you think that we've got room to grow and

999
00:43:09,280 --> 00:43:11,799
Speaker 1: get better, send us an email at how to money

1000
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 1: dot com slash do Better. That's right, we'd love to

1001
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,320
Speaker 1: hear from you, said Joel. Until next time, Buddy, best

1002
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: Friends Out, Best Friends Out,