There has been a lot of tension lately at my parents’ house.
I thought that maybe they were arguing or having relationship issues, but soon I realized that there was something else entirely going on under the surface.
Finances are tight right now after my father lost his part time job. Now they’re trying to survive on their two pensions in a time when they still have a few years left on their home mortgage. It was for this reason that my father was working the part time job despite being retired from his former career. Since my finances are relatively stable right now, I decided to jump in and help the two of them out in any way that I can. One of these plans involved finding things within their budget that could be slashed or reduced. I took over their grocery shopping and started utilizing sales and promotions within their existing stores while getting everything else on their shopping list at a discount grocery store. The next thing I did was look at their HVAC system and determine whether or not it was energy efficient. I had an HVAC technician run an inspection on their boiler system after determining that the air conditioner was good. Although the a/c was replaced just four years ago, they’re using an old boiler that was installed 20 years ago. I paid to have a temporary boiler rental delivered so we could see if a new system improved the electricity costs in heating the boiler itself. Just like I suspected, the new boiler had a huge impact on the electricity bill. Now I need to find a permanent boiler to buy for my parents’ house.