Furnace

Our furnace was replaced entirely in 1995 when we also replaced our whole house air conditioning system.  We have had few repairs.  The most recent was a thermostat replacement two years ago.  This morning the repairman replaced our ignitor and things are warming up.

I asked him about the expected furnace "life" and replacement cost.  He thinks ours is good for several more years.  A replacement of equivalent power would cost us about $4,800 but would run more efficiently. 

He went on about standards of efficiency dictated by the government and about variable speed blowers.  He claimed we'd save on both electricity and gas with a new unit.  He was just being honest and not trying to sell me a replacement.  I appreciated his candor.

When I blog about our savings at the bank, this is dedicated $ to be used for emergencies like this furnace repair.  If we had to replace the entire unit we'd be digging into investments and/or using our Visa credit card that pays a little "cash back". 

The rule of thumb is to keep 3 to 6 months of normal daily expenses where it can be accessed easily.  That's what's in our passbook roughly.  I will draw on it to cover the $300 check I just wrote the repairman.

Our expected year-end bonus check will go into this account to build it back to our normal balance.  Some of the bonus will go toward our favorite charities after we have both sat together and examined our $ and discussed our expectations for 2013.

Unlike Congress we can not print $ as needed.

til later