Being a homeowner isn't all it cracked up to be. Don't be me wrong, I still love the fact that I own my house. I just was not at all prepared to deal with this much stuff this quickly. I'm keeping my head up, even if it's not easy.
I closed on my house 3 months ago today. In three months, I have fought with every utility company just to simply get utilities switched to a single family home from what was once a duplex. That was an ongoing battle in some cases. Aside from the initial move-in madness, things went well the first little while I was in the house. I spent plenty of money adding little things here and there for security and privacy... alarm system, security door, bars on the windows, and of course blinds all over. These were all anticipated things, though. Since then, I've purchased a surveillance system which was way more complicated than I expected, so it's not yet installed...it's just taking up space until then.
Then came my attempt to caulk/seal all the windows to keep out the draft. It turns out caulking is a lot of work and with gaps as big as 1/2" in some spots, caulking is useless. Not to mention, my single-pane windows are massive, so caulking only helps a little bit anyway. I finally got curtains because of the breeze flowing through my giant single-pane windows. I was proud of that purchase, but now I realize that I need more than that. As temperatures dropped to 20 degrees in Atlanta last night, I came home to a 62-degree house that wouldn't heat to above 63 degrees all evening. Space heaters are life-savers, but they are not at all energy efficient.
So, now what? I have to up the ante on weather-proofing my house. Storm windows or something...here's the kicker, I don't know how to install any of this stuff! I don't know anything about weather-proofing. I'm practically from Florida. This isn't really an issue down there. I also have never lived in a 90-year-old, poorly insulated house. That brings me to my next issue...I need more insulation in the exterior walls. All I see are dollar signs in every direction.
So, now let's review this list of what needs to be done just to get through the winter: add storm windows or window film (if possible), add insulation around the perimeter, hang drapes, check/add insulation in every possible location that may be lacking. Not too bad.
Of course, let's back up and look at the other pile of poo I'm dealing with. My water usage has been about quadruple (or higher) what it should have been the past couple of months. So, in addition to winter, I may have a plumbing leak. I've spent 2 weeks trying to get the watershed morons to come out and check my meter (which is locked down, so I can't check it for leaks myself). That doesn't even take into account the fact that I first disputed the initial bill a month and a half ago. I'm just hoping that if there is a slow leak, it doesn't freeze and cause bigger problems right now.
That brings me to my next issue...unexpected problems. That's why we have homeowner's insurance, in many cases. Well, what happens when 2 months after getting the house insured, you get notified that your home insurance is being cancelled? Yeah. I've been fighting that one too, and unless I get it resolved, I will not have home insurance in a few days. Their reason for cancelling is based on the appearance of my roof...no gutters looks sloppy, but it is sufficient. That's it. Because the seams appear to be separating, they won't insure my house. Despite the fact that I can point out 10 houses w/ the same roof appearance (and older than mine). I assume some of them are probably insured.
So...Happy New Year... let's all freeze, leak, and lose our insurance! I'm keeping my head up though. The worst-case-scenarios that could happen will to cost more money than I want to even think about, but at least if I get the worst of it out of the way now, things in the future will go more smoothly. I hope.
But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 2:3-5
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