I've learned a few things about electric usage when coupled with having tenants in your home over the last almost 2 years that I have had tenants in here.
First, I should NOT have "upgraded" the house to a 40 gallon water heater when I bought the place. I figured more people, need more hot water, right? Well, what actually happens is that everyone takes a shower or bath that conumes all 40 gallons worth of hot water. A 30 gallon heater = 10 gallons less of hot water being consumed, the heater being on less - less water and over time, far less electricity being used. I mean, who in their right mind is going to stay in a shower after the water turns cold and it's cold out and inside? I don't have it particularly warm in here, it's 60 degrees, I think, by Phoenix standards that's the ice age come visited your house.
2. It's worth the extra money, if you have such, to buy energy efficient washers and dryers. I was looking at the M-Power reader - it shows me how much electricity is being used at any point of time I want to see it - both of those machines were on yesterday. Well, I turned one off, the usage went down considerably, the other, same effect - I didn't turn off the water heater - it was running re-heating water being used by the washer. You get all 3 of those things running at the same time - it's $1.14 per HOUR worth of use. That's what the reader told me, I assume it to be true. On top of that the water being used. Well, water isn't particularly expensive, but it's still an expense.
In an attempt to get electric usage under control, I'm going to have to try and find some way to get a brand new washer - and the only thing I want is a front loader. They use FAR less electricity. They also use far less water - meaning water heater isn't going to run as long to reheat it's tank full. From what I have been reading about those things, the extra money spent is money saved and then some, X2.
As for Christmas lights - I'm taking them down. I cannot afford the extra electricity and since Christmas is over, goodbye until next year. I usually run them until New Year's. Actually, I may leave them up and then run them on New Year's Day and take them down next weekend. But - ONLY for New Year's Eve. Those lights are also consuming a lot of electricity and my time of wasting electricity on such is over.
So, my next quest is to find a new washing machine and somehow pay for it. I will probably have to settle for a used one - hopefully in good condition. I can sell the set I bought from my boss for probably $125 to $150. They work great - they just aren't energy efficient models. Better than nothing, definitely.
I just spent an hour - yes, an entire hour - scrubbing the main bathroom. The bathtub and walls were filthy. I let it go for a while to see if ANYONE would lift a finger to help with cleaning around here besides me making the boys do stuff. I'm referring to tenants. Not a single one of them does anything around here. I put the trash against the wall in the kitchen yesterday afternoon - just seeing if one of them would even think about carrying it out to the trash can. Yup, it's still sitting there.
Okay, I'll give one tenant a pass - he's hardly EVER here. The newest tenant is mostly here, and though he's clean - it's only with his room and his stuff. The ex-Marine - not a chance. He doesn't keep his room clean, it's a no-brainer he doesn't help clean anything else. He isn't exactly a slob, but still.
It took quite a while to get that sludge off the bathtub floor and the walls. I give this comet stuff a hand - it dissolves it pretty good, but there was so much of it, just plain NASTY.
Well, I'm not going to let it go anymore. I will scrub it once a week and I am not going to say anything to anyone about it. Tenants are hard to get right now - all 3 of these guys pay their rent on time. They don't cook - they just use the microwave. They DO put their dishes into the dishwasher. So, really, the only - but grossest - issue is the main bathroom that is theirs to use. The toilet gets so nasty that I have to clean it every couple of days. I am writing it off as the price I have to pay to keep people here. As for the 2 newest tenants, they are paying me $400 a month, one room I usually only get $375, so I'll keep his other $25 as payment towards "maid service". I was actually thinking about advertising on Craigslist to have someone come over here and I would pay them to clean that stuff - but my good sense prevailed. I can hardly afford that right now, though I could probably get someone to do both bathrooms for $20.
Times are THAT hard, I have seen people on there advertising to do just about anything in your home at dirt cheap prices.
OH!!! I found a 12X16 shed, they are calling it, on Craigslist for $800. It's not totally finished. It has a regular house entry door and a window. I could easily convert the thing into a living quarters. That's almost 200 square feet. That's a good sized room. In fact, my rental bedrooms are 11X15 and I consider them big, excepting the 3rd room which is 13X15. I have asked the person if they have sold it, and if not, how much they will actually take for it. It needs siding, some roof shingles and probably finish the interior.
At the right price, I will take it. I mean - how many people are going to be willing to try and move a thing that size? I don't even know how I would get it onto the trailer to bring it over here. Maybe it isn't so heavy that 5 or 6 men can pick it up and load it. I would have to go get a half dozen illegals over here to unload it and move it to where I want it. I don't even know if the guy has or hasn't sold it, yet, and I have no clue if this person would want to bring it down to - my - price, lol. I've been getting stingier and stingier on my offers. Persistence pays off sometimes, just have to be patient.
Anyway, I want to scrub my bathroom the same as I did the main bathroom today - I had to use almost an entire bottle of that Comet cleaner to get the main one done, meaning I need to go to Fry's and get another bottle, along with some other things.
C'yall later.
ben
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