It's like Christmas all over again (home improvements project #3)

(photo: erinwallaceprint.etsy.com)

This IS like Christmas, but almost even better. Since the new boiler's been installed, the next logical step in the Home Improvement Saga was to do some research into getting the house insulated. Recently I had a contractor come to the house to verify that it was not insulated and to give me an estimate for insulation. Right on the first count. Not insulated. The rough estimate was $3 - 5K to do the job. Yikes! Still haven't gotten an exact number from him and that was last week.

In the meantime, I did some research on rebates one could get in Massachusetts on these energy saving measures. I am, after all, getting a $1325 rebate towards the installation of the new boiler, AND a federal tax incentive (credit? deduction? not sure yet), so it behooved me to find out about the insulation. I contacted the folks at the Center for Ecological Technology in Northampton, and they helped me set up a FREE MassSave Home Energy Assessment to get started.

To begin with, I thought that they were simply the "verification" in order to get another rebate AND the tax benefits, BUT NO! I was wrong. They send in an energy assessment dude and he measures up your house and presents you with a "contract" (not a binding thing), to have your house insulated (in my case) and they pay 75% of the cost!!! They assign you a contractor and they only charge you the 25% so you don't even have to go through the rebate process.

This is the best part. He told me the job would cost $2,697 and that my portion would be $633! I nearly peed myself with joy after thinking it would cost around $4,000 to insulate my house, I was now looking at only $633. Needless to say, I signed the paperwork and am awaiting a call from the contractor.

Teapot cards

The photo of the three teapots above is taken from erinwallaceprint at Etsy. I purchased these cards from her this morning after seeing the cat face card on the front page. She's new to Etsy and should surely do well. Three letterpress cards for $12.50! Yay! Check out her shop. She only has a few things in her shop right now but I expect she'll have lots more soon. At least I hope so anyway! Thanks, Erin!