by Hope
I can’t remember if I wrote about my heat going out on 12/22, the morning after History Buff arrived for Christmas.
Thankfully things worked out in my favor and we had heat for Christmas.
First, I had been in touch with my trusted HVAC person in the fall to have him check out my AC. He tested it out for me and let me know that he was shutting down his business. Thankfully, I asked them for a referral to a new service. Although, I had yet to contact them.
So when I awoke to no heat, I called them immediately. And gratefully, he came out that day AND I received a check from a client that day.
$180 and we had heat for Christmas.
He did warn me that he wasn’t sure how long it would last. It lasted almost 2 weeks, until this morning. We woke up to 59 degrees in the house and 28 degrees outside.
I wish we had a fireplace. Our home is small enough that it would heat the entire thing easily.
Not Going to Panic
My first thought was panic. I have $100 in savings and about $50 cash. No money for a new furnace, let alone another repair bill.
But this is a new year and I’m determined to have a new attitude and outlook. So we are looking at this as an opportunity. Not sure what for, but there’s going to be a lesson and a blessing from this. I just have to watch for them!
I’ve contacted the new HVAC contractor again. (And have gotten additional recommendations for him since I used him last month, so I’m feeling good about being in the right hands.) And they are going to go take a look while I’m at work today. We will see what they have to say.
No More Debt
One of my Not Going to Happens for 2024 is no new debt. What do I do here?
I have a soft estimate for a new furnace at $2,600. Waiting on a firm quote from the contractor. Needless to say, I do not have that.
Here are the options I think I have. I’m happy to hear if you have other thoughts:
- Borrow some electric space heaters and save til I have enough for a replacement.
- See if they can patch my existing unit and if I can afford that to make it through this year. (I’m not hopeful this is an option, but I have to consider everything.)
- Ask a friend/family member to put it on a credit card, giving me 30 days to come up with the money to pay it off. This is too close to more debt in my mind.
- See if the contractor offers a payment plan. Again, more debt that I do not want to take on.
I am leaning toward option #1 and plan to start making some calls this afternoon. If we weren’t at the very beginning of winter, we would just make it through, and I would have the year to save for a new one. But this winter is supposed to be a cold one. And nights are in the 20-30’s and days in 40-50’s for the foreseeable future.
But I am grateful…I sleep for 4 big dogs. I am plenty warm at night. And Beauty has a new heated blanked on her bed so she’s cozy as well. Grateful for little things in the face of this.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Well, unfortunately it looks like you’ll be taking on more debt unless you commit to utilizing space heaters and heated blankets. It’s going to be really hard to stay out of debt unless you have an emergency fund when things like this come up – which are things you should be able to plan for as a homeowner.
I think having a friend or family member put it on a credit card is the worst idea.
I vote for option #2, followed by option #4. Space heaters can be very dangerous and will shoot up your electric bill; okay for short term if you are waiting for a repair to be completed, but not a good long term solution. borrowing from friends is just asking for trouble. If you really need to go I to more debt, financing through the HVAC company is a better option. But personally, if you can limp along with a repair for another couple months you can save up money and the outside temps will also be warming up some.
Oh wow. That’s a blow for sure. I think option number one sounds like a great plan. Northern GA doesn’t have TOO many freezing events per winter, does it?
Just be careful with the space heaters.
Not only fire risk but also higher cost for your electric bill. We ran some last year and our electric bill shot up overnight.
I’m confused, if you can’t pay the debt you now have what makes you think you can pay back over $2600 in one month?
if you go with the electric space heaters, I would be careful. You can’t leave them on unattended and it will increase your utility bill. It also won’t save your pipes from freezing. I’m also wondering where you got such a cheap quote, I know I got quotes for one recently and it was about 6k for a replacement.
Lowe’s has a 59.5 in w natural oak infrared quartz heater fireplace for $229 that says it supplies supplemental heat for up to 1000 square feet and has safety features like a plug that automatically shuts it off if overheating. The largest complaints seem to be assembly and Lowes offers that for $30. This seems safer than space heaters albeit a little more expensive but you may be able to hobble through winter and save up money to fix the hvac this way. At around $300 ( if assembled for you) with $150 already on hand this seems like the smarter option than borrowing $2600 and potentially not being able to pay bills while rushing to pay that large sum of money back in a month or adding another item on to your must pay when you already can’t pay the must pays that you have.
Since you mention fireplaces I wonder if you should consider an electric fireplace? I don’t know if your furnace is/ was electric but it probably won’t cost more than the HVAC to run. It’s cheaper than the $2600 you don’t have and it may work to heat small areas. Some of these products even have safety features. Our household has one to augment our HVAC( the wood fireplace is not super efficient even though it is pretty and useful if it storms and we lose power.)
I’ve never commented on a blog before , hopefully I do it right.
Make sure you check for upgrading to energy efficient programs. I know Georgia is a red state, but they may have some anyway. I’d suggest checking the gas/electric companies website, and local/state/federal websites as they may have assistance available for replacement.
Hope we haven’t heard from you in a while. I hope you’ve been Ok with all the winter weather.