I like to make decisions based on facts.  Now I’m not a pure, technocratic, heartless decision-maker but, all things being equal, I’ll always weigh my decisions towards cold, hard facts.  I understand how other people come to decisions and I appreciate that, but it amazes me how, given the facts, two people can come to two completely different conclusions.

I have this odd clock on the back of my head that tracks the age of all of the appliances I’m responsible for.  I know that’s weird but, since I own rental property, I try to be prepared for the next plumbing/electrical/toilet/furnace/appliance crisis.  The worst situation, in my mind, is a hot water heater failure.  You just can’t ignore it for a day since it usually results in shutting off all water to the house and a large amount of hot water spewing all over the basement.  It’s always a same day repair and it’s never convenient.

Three years ago my head clock went off over the hot water heater in my house.  I remember my dad and I changing it but I couldn’t quite remember when.  So I dug out the receipt (yes, I save receipts) and realized that the “9 year” hot water tank was 18 years old!  I was sure failure was imminent.  Not that big of a deal but I decided when it failed I would replace it with a tankless system.  I had installed one in my guest house next door and I loved the fact that I wasn’t keeping 50 gallons of water in the basement cooking at 120 degrees all of the time.  Cold water in one side of the little box on the wall, hot water out the other side.  Your hand on the spigot has total control of the electric bill.

What I did realize was, when it did eventually fail, I wouldn’t have time to order one online and wait for it to be delivered. So I bit the bullet, bought one, and sat it on a shelf in the basement.  Fast forward three years.  Two weeks before Christmas, with the impending arrival of a house full of guests, I decided to just change out the heater.  I warned Peg I would have to turn off the water for an hour or so, which didn’t thrill her, but I got up at 6:00 and had the thing pretty much installed before she managed to drag herself out of bed.  Another post-retirement project complete.  I’m in utility bill heaven.  Folks think I’m being green.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I’m being cheap, and I’m proud of it.  If being green doesn’t save me money then I won’t have any part of it!

It’s been installed for a month now so I asked Peg the other day how she liked the heater.  I know it was an odd question since most wives only care about whether or not hot water magically comes out of the pipe when you rotate the knob, but I guess I was looking for a little praise for my good planning and efforts to be an efficient provider.  I told her that I had actually shortened the time I spend in the shower since I now had complete control of water heating energy usage.  I had also been conscious of my water usage in the kitchen and only use hot water when I need hot water.  I almost dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back.  Her response was a little different.  She told me she was taking longer showers since she knew, no matter how long she stayed in there, we wouldn’t run out of hot water.

And there you have it.  Given the same situation, two completely different conclusions.  Peg’s conclusion isn’t necessarily a bad conclusion.  It won’t raise our bills since what we’re saving in “standing losses” will be offset by higher “demand” costs, but it is diametrically opposed to my goal of pinching pennies.

When we make any decision we need to make sure we agree on what the end state is.  Is the goal to save money or is it to provide more service or is it to do both. Some of that has to do with worldview but part of it has to do with those who will always set aside logic and common sense if their “feelings” disagree with reality.  But that’s a discussion for a future chapter.