A little over four years ago, my family moved across the country because of a job offer my husband received.
The new job meant a much higher salary and better benefits.
While it was a great opportunity, it also required us relocating to an area with much colder weather. Up until the move, our kids had never experienced anything but a light frost. Now we’ve become accustomed to a minimum of six months of temperatures well below freezing and an annual snow accumulation of around twelve feet. We’ve learned all about shoveling, plowing, scraping and the wind chill. We’ve invested in wool coats, rock salt and a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The house we bought was originally equipped with an oil furnace. I didn’t realize what an inconvenience this type of heater would be. I needed to arrange for fuel delivery and then worried over running out of oil and being left without heat in the middle of a blizzard. I hated the look of the giant tank and had concerns over leaks. Plus, heating with oil is expensive and dirty. The old furnace was also very inefficient and cost us a fortune to operate. I assumed that converting from oil to gas would be cost-prohibitive. However, when I looked into switching to a modern gas furnace, I realized that the increase in efficiency would help to recover the investment. It was worth it to take out a home improvement loan and purchase an Energy Star rated, high-efficiency gas furnace. There’s no chance of running out of fuel and gas is clean burning. Our monthly energy bills are significantly lower and the house is far more comfortable. The new furnace has made the move to a cold weather area much easier to live with.