Cut Costs, Not Comfort: Eric G's Home Saving Hacks for the New Year

Eric G.: 00:00:47

It's around the house.

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Now, here's one for you that's not on the list that I want to mention, but it's a way to get yourself a tax deduction at the end of the year here.

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Maybe it's time to go through that garage, shop or workshed and get rid of the stuff that you don't need.

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Give a little high grade, go through and go, I've held this for four years.

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I'm never going to use it.

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Donate it to your favorite cause.

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We have one here.

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There's a place here in my area in the Portland metro area that's the rebuilding center.

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These people are awesome.

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And a lot of these companies that are these nonprofits, like, they are hurting right now because with things so expensive, people now go, oh, instead of donating it, they're putting it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace or they're putting it out on Craigslist or offer up.

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Name the list.

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Right.

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That's out there.

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When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered.

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This is around the house.

Eric G.: 00:01:47

Welcome to the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric G.: 00:01:51

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:01:52

Thanks for tuning in today.

Eric G.: 00:01:54

This is your deep dive into your home where we talk everything from interior design to construction to remodeling to the trades to everything else that has to do with probably your biggest investment.

Eric G.: 00:02:07

ways to save on your home in: 2025

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And these are my tips.

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Everything's gotten more expensive.

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Hopefully things turn around for next year.

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But nonetheless, there's a lot of different things that you can do around your house to save some money.

Eric G.: 00:02:23

And speaking of saving some money, this hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grill.

Eric G.: 00:02:27

If you're looking for a killer grill, it's not too late to get one online.

Eric G.: 00:02:31

You can check them out at monumentgrills.

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Com, where you can get a killer Barbecue for under 900 bucks.

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They have got some great products and if you heard us talking about it last hour, you know what I'm talking about.

Eric G.: 00:02:43

There's a great buy there for you in your next barbecue.

Eric G.: 00:02:47

I've been doing a little bit of research and there's a lot of different things you can do to save money.

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And if you have a senior in your home, maybe you're a senior yourself, maybe you're taking care of grandma, your parents, your sister, your brother, whoever it is out there that's in the retirement age.

Eric G.: 00:03:04

You should do a little bit of research because more and more we're seeing states coming up with ways to give basically a tax rebate on their property taxes.

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So they either pay less money or in some cases you don't have to pay them at all.

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You're exempt.

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And it has to come down to, in many states, income, it has to come down to.

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Property has to come down to what.

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What the taxes are.

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Sometimes it'll be a school levy, sometimes it'll be the entire property tax.

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There's a lot of different things going on.

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And I wanted to bring this up today because I've been doing a little bit of research and my par.

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My mom lives up in Washington state and I had a.

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This is a funny and long story.

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So I'm going to try to keep this dialed back and not get too deep in the weeds with this.

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But my mom lives in eastern Washington in Benton county, and I had a viewer or actually a listener up there that listened on the radio talk about the troubles that they had trying to get through the paperwork process of this.

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And I went, oh, wow, something.

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We should be doing this for my mom.

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So we did.

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We went through the process and ironically, we had the same issues.

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So this is what happened.

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And I'm not just throwing these guys under the bus, but this is just something that we should be paying attention to in our elected officials.

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We should be paying attention to making processes easy for consumers, homeowners to navigate, especially elderly that are probably some of our most vulnerable and hardest to get to.

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Maybe the auditor's office where they take care of all the tax stuff.

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Little brother runs up there, takes day off work, cruises down there in April, grabs all the information on the website, shows up with my mom in a wheelchair.

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Guess what?

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Didn't have all the right stuff, couldn't turn it in, even though they grabbed what was on the.

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On the website.

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So next time, a couple months later, my brother has a chance to, when she's feeling well enough to go down there, shows up down at the auditor's office with everything they asked for.

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They make photocopies of it all.

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They do it all.

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They show up with it.

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They go, a, okay, you got everything done?

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And that was in July.

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They said it could take a couple months for this to get processed.

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Wait and wait and wait.

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And a couple weeks ago, he gets an email back from them saying, oh, but we need all this other stuff.

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And then when he asked, I said, hey, what's going on?

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This is my third attempt to do this.

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They said we haven't really trained the counter people up front.

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They don't know what they're talking about really.

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Okay.

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So we send in all this other stuff and I'm like, wow, we have family members helping out.

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But if you were a elderly person with not an easy way to travel around, you're low income, maybe you're just having a hard time moving around.

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And this is the easy button.

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Got a big problem here.

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So I ended up writing him and saying, hey guys.

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Reached out to him an email, I'm doing a story on this for this episode.

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And they came back with a very long and detailed letter of how they need to do more training and went through this whole thing of yeah, it's complex but we have to do our due diligence.

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And ironically the next day after I send my response back saying hey guys, you need to do a better job out there because we're seeing this, this is.

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Somebody brought to my attention that this is a problem.

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Then we went through the process and it was a big problem.

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So hopefully we've created some change here in Benton county because the next day they mailed off a letter saying oh, you're all taken care of now.

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Would that have happened if I hadn't reached out as a member of the media asking questions about how they're processing these things?

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Cuz to me at the time it seemed like they were just trying to make it difficult cuz then they could get their taxes.

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Now do I know that they were doing that?

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Absolutely not.

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Is it weird?

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The day after that they got my response back from their response and all of a sudden my mom's magically approved.

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Who knows?

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That's 100% speculation.

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But as members of the community out there, I hope that all of us out there can make sure that our elected officials are doing their jobs of making sure this is a state law.

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In Washington state there's clear things of what they need and what they don't.

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I'm not sure going well beyond what the, what they call the RCW up there is due diligence or just making it difficult for seniors to get their legal tax rebate because they are getting priced out of their homes when they have a, when they're paying a thousand bucks for taxes and all of a sudden years later they're paying nine or ten thousand dollars.

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That can be tough on people trying to stay in their own homes on Social Security.

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So these are things that I think one, if you've got parents, check to see if there's that there, or if you do, or if you've got relatives.

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And then second of all, make sure that they're going through the process, walk them through the process.

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So I'm sure that this is not the only area in the country that they're having a difficult time navigating.

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If it is, we're lucky.

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But just spend some time.

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You might be able to save yourself, your parents, your grandparents, other family members, four, five, six, seven, $1,000 a year.

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And when somebody's on a limited income, that could be a bunch of money.

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So take a look, see what you can do.

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And I know, guys, you don't have to write to me.

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I do know that like in California, other states like that their property taxes are way different than they are in other states.

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And so that's why this is really a state and local issue.

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I got a buddy down in California, he just got his.

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Got a house from his, from his late father and the property taxes are like 900 bucks a year, where up here they're 6, 7, 8, $10,000.

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So.

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And for a not much different price point house either.

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But that's just how they do it down there.

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They get you 10 other ways.

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So it's not that it's cheaper, they just get you differently.

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All right, guys, we're going to get into some more real numbers here to be able to save you some money on your house.

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And we come in when we come back here after this important break where our radio stations go out and pay the bills with those advertisers.

Eric G.: 00:09:28

Make sure you shop with those gu.

Eric G.: 00:09:29

Guys, if you hear those advertisers out there on the radio, the podcast, they're the ones that keep this radio show going because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here.

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So I do appreciate and say thank you to all of you out there that do shop with the friends of the show.

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Whether it's on your local radio station or the national podcast or the streaming service, those are the guys out there helping us along.

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I've got some other tips coming up here that could save you a ton of money.

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And the next one coming up is going to be H Vac.

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And there's some new rules that are going to make things, I think, even more expensive for a new system that could cost you a fair amount of money.

Eric G.: 00:10:06

So we're going to make sure that we cover that as well as a whole bunch of other tricks and tips for saving you some money for 20, 25.

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We'll do that just as soon as around the house returns.

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Don't go anywh.

Eric G.: 00:12:24

What's up?

Eric G.: 00:12:24

This is Sticks it in ya and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to around the House with Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:12:32

Yeah, we love Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:12:35

And you should too.

Band Member: 00:12:38

1987.

Band Member: 00:12:41

I never want to leave you.

Eric G.: 00:12:45

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric G.: 00:12:48

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:12:49

This is where we do that deep dive into your home.

Eric G.: 00:12:52

Thanks for joining me today.

Eric G.: 00:12:53

to save money on your home in: 2025

Eric G.: 00:12:58

And this hour is brought to you by our friends over at Monument Grills.

Eric G.: 00:13:01

To find a killer barbecue, check them out@monumentgrills.com now one thing before we jump into this is a big one here, the segment, but I want to make sure you can find us out there on social media.

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Check us out.

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We're on Tick tock.

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We're on Instagram, we've got Facebook, we've got our around the house nation closed group where we're showing up projects, funny stuff.

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Anything you find up there, if you're a real person is a safe place that you can go onto and really post up your project.

Eric G.: 00:13:31

If you have questions, there's a lot of celebrities on there.

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There's a lot of different people.

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It's worth taking a look at.

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Just look at around the house nation close group.

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And we do a great job of keeping control of that.

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We don't have any haters on there and the haters, if they do pop out of the woodwork and we accidentally let them in, they get booted quickly.

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So it's a fun, safe place to go.

Eric G.: 00:13:51

You can find me on LinkedIn or all around and of course our website around the house online.com the next 20 years, an interesting one because we know H vac systems as they get more complex to meet energy code and to save you some money on your electricity, keep getting more and more expensive.

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It didn't seem boy handful.

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Years ago, seven to $10,000 was an expensive installed system, a high end system.

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Now you're looking at 20, 25,000 and the more we make these things efficient, which is good for the environment, it's good for your, your energy bill.

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The problem we're running into is that they take more computers, they're more complex, there's more sensors.

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I've got a beautifully installed running carrier infinity furnace in AC system at my house.

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It is beautiful, it runs great problem free.

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Saved me a ton of money on my electricity on the ac.

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It's Multi speed.

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It's zoned, it has all the features that I want that can keep me clean air in the home.

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And great shout out to Pyramid Heating and Cooling on that.

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Thank you for the beautiful install and service on that.

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But here's the thing.

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They're getting more and more expensive.

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And as the EPA and other government agencies come up with greener Freon type products, which is the gas that converts the heat into into cooling and vice versa, that gets more expensive.

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So what are they doing here?

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Next year we're getting all new Freon or gas that's going in these systems.

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Now the problem that I see, and I'm not an H Vac expert by any means, but the problem that I see is they're running a brand new gas.

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This is not something that was in the commercial world, this is not something that was out there being used regularly.

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They've literally had a couple years of testing and they hope it's going to work.

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So it's just like when you go out and buy a brand new car, it's the first of the model year.

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You're going to be a little bit of a test dummy and you hope that it works, right?

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But with these new technologies, it never gets cheaper.

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So I'm going to expect a 10 to 20% price increase for these new systems.

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Now eventually what they'll do is they will basically sunset that old Freon system, the old gas that's in there and then they can force you into a new system.

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So I'll be honest, if it was me right now, I would be looking to upgrade my H Vac system now versus later because again, you're going to save some money.

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There's plenty of rebates out there that might be eligible in your area.

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You'll have to check because that's a regional or a power company or state thing or there's a lot of rebates out there for stuff.

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It's not, not going to pay for all of it, but it might take the sting out of it.

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That might be a great way to go and can save you money.

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Especially if you're looking at a system, you're like, man, I got 15 years into this thing, I got 18 years into this thing or even longer.

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It's on its last leg because some of these older systems out there, you can't find the gas to put in them, so it's done.

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So how close to you are needing that system?

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Now might be the time to dive in and look at that.

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That could save you a few Thousand bucks and a few thousand bucks is hard earned money where I come from.

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So if you can save a little bit of money, take a look.

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Now, one thing that I do want to mention with this, on this tip, make sure when you're having somebody install this, if it's a train system, it's a carrier, my favorite brand.

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Those systems should be installed by not your truck and the truck guy out there.

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I want to make sure that it's a carrier dealer, it's a trained dealer because you want that warranty, especially with these new products out there.

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You don't want to have the guy that can run down to the wholesale store, pick it up from them, buy it off the back of the dock, come install it and not have a warranty that comes with it.

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Easiest way to find that is head over to.

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If you're shopping around getting quotes, make sure you go on to the brand that they're quoting and make sure that they're over there.

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As a licensed dealer, as a trained installer, sometimes they have like gold, silver, platinum installers, like roofing, one of those things.

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So just make sure that you're dealing with a company that is authorized and has been trained for that system.

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That can save you a ton of headaches and save you money because you're probably not saving that much.

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And the chances are if they haven't been trained on it, they might not know all the tricks and tips and the stuff that's going to go sideways could cost you more in the long run.

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So there's probably not any savings there.

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As I always say, which H Vac stuff the installer is just as important as the system you're putting in.

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You can buy the best system in the world and if you've got a horrible installer, it's going to run horribly.

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So just make sure that you've got that balanced out to make sure you're doing it correctly.

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So take a look at H Vac stuff.

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It's going to be no cheaper than it is today.

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All right, next one here is a little trick that I love to do.

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And it doesn't matter if you have a cable company.

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I've done this with my XM satellite radio, I've done this with the cable company, the phone, cell phone company.

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I call up and go, my bill is expensive and I'm out shopping looking to see what's going on.

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Can you save me some money?

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I've been able to save 3, 400 bucks a year, even as much as about 800 bucks a year just on making some of those calls.

Eric G.: 00:19:29

And your goal is to get to the, basically to the customer deactivation department or their customer retention department because those people sometimes have killer deals.

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I've cut on my satellite radio before.

Eric G.: 00:19:43

I cut 75% off of that thing going, I know I've been with you for, since the beginning of time, since you guys were new, but guess what?

Eric G.: 00:19:52

I'm about ready to go unless we can do something here.

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And all of a sudden they take 70% off your bill and they've kept you there.

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So ask around, get on that phone.

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And when they say, hey, we're gonna give you a promotional rate, jump over into your calendar of choice.

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Whether it's Google, whether it's Apple, whether it's Outlook, whatever you're using for your calendar, set an appointment for a week before that year comes up.

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Say, hey, call X to renegotiate to make sure you get that.

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Because all of a sudden you're going to be cruising along going, where?

Eric G.: 00:20:22

Wow, why did that go up?

Eric G.: 00:20:24

Now you're out of the promotional rate.

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Now you got to do it again.

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So take some time, spend it on that so you can get that dialed in and you'll be good to go.

Eric G.: 00:20:32

That is a great one and that could put some real money back in your pocket.

Eric G.: 00:20:36

Heck, that might buy you a few cool dinners for you and a special one to go out and enjoy a good meal out at your favorite restaurant.

Eric G.: 00:20:44

That's always good.

Eric G.: 00:20:45

Now when we come back here, I've got one that saved me thousands of dollars this year and it's something we should all be doing every year because it starts to add up quick.

Eric G.: 00:20:58

We'll talk about that when we come back just as soon as around the House returns.

Eric G.: 00:21:02

To find out more about us, head to around the House online dot com.

Eric G.: 00:21:06

We'll be right back.

Eric G.: 00:23:54

Hey, this is Ron Keel, the metal cowboy from Kiel, the Ron Kiel band and stealer.

Eric G.: 00:24:00

We are rocking around the house with Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:24:03

Ray is your welcome back to the round the house show, the next generation of home improvement, your deep dive into your home.

Eric G.: 00:24:10

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:24:11

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

Eric G.: 00:24:13

talking about ways to save in: 2025

Eric G.: 00:24:21

And if you just joining us on the radio or on the streaming out there, we talked about senior tax credits.

Eric G.: 00:24:28

We talked about buy H Vac now.

Eric G.: 00:24:31

Make sure you get that now before the price increases.

Eric G.: 00:24:33

And then of course call in your cable company and phone company and negotiate a better deal.

Eric G.: 00:24:40

Now this next one here, I noticed that it kept just sliding up and sliding up, and finally I'm like, whoa, okay, this is almost doubled in three years.

Eric G.: 00:24:51

And that was my car and homeowners insurance, and it just got out of control.

Eric G.: 00:24:57

And the company I was working with, now I have an independent person.

Eric G.: 00:25:01

Let me say this first.

Eric G.: 00:25:03

My buddy Tony is my insurance guy, and he's always got me covered because I like to be able to talk to somebody I know.

Eric G.: 00:25:11

And guess what?

Eric G.: 00:25:12

It's awesome.

Eric G.: 00:25:13

I don't like dealing with the big companies, many of them that you see on commercials without a local agent.

Eric G.: 00:25:19

I know I got somebody if I have a problem, I call them, go, dude, what happened?

Eric G.: 00:25:24

Why is this doing this?

Eric G.: 00:25:25

And I got somebody I can talk to, somebody that I used to work with, somebody I know.

Eric G.: 00:25:29

I like that personal relationship versus calling up a customer service line and hoping somebody is in the United States I can talk to so I can actually understand what they're saying.

Eric G.: 00:25:39

That's the tough part.

Eric G.: 00:25:40

Sometimes customer service, oof.

Eric G.: 00:25:43

To get people to understand what's going, that can be a battle.

Eric G.: 00:25:46

I want to have that personalized service.

Eric G.: 00:25:48

So I called up Tony and went, dude, why is this thing going up and going up and going up, and they're getting harder to deal with.

Eric G.: 00:25:56

This company was wanting me to put all these apps on my phone to save rates and all this other stuff.

Eric G.: 00:26:01

And I'm like, okay, I'm done.

Eric G.: 00:26:03

I'm done with this.

Eric G.: 00:26:04

And he went, I got you, brother.

Eric G.: 00:26:06

Went out, got new quotes for the same coverage.

Eric G.: 00:26:10

Now, this is the key.

Eric G.: 00:26:11

We didn't cheapen out on stuff.

Eric G.: 00:26:13

The same coverage, and it saved me about three grand in a year.

Eric G.: 00:26:18

And equally good company.

Eric G.: 00:26:20

So you can save yourself some significant money, Especially if you're on one of these online ones that you jump online.

Eric G.: 00:26:27

You got it.

Eric G.: 00:26:27

It's easy.

Eric G.: 00:26:28

See the commercials all the time on television.

Eric G.: 00:26:30

Call your local insurance agent.

Eric G.: 00:26:33

And what I like about Tony, and he's an organ Washington, Tony Russell insurance.

Eric G.: 00:26:37

I called up Tony, and he's got multiple companies he works with so he can go out and find the best deal.

Eric G.: 00:26:42

This is exactly what I did.

Eric G.: 00:26:43

Goes, yeah, those guys are getting crazy.

Eric G.: 00:26:45

Boom.

Eric G.: 00:26:46

Let's go to this company.

Eric G.: 00:26:47

And he took care of me.

Eric G.: 00:26:49

That's no special deal.

Eric G.: 00:26:50

It's just there's no insurance sponsor here that's given me anything.

Eric G.: 00:26:55

That's just I out of pocket expenses.

Eric G.: 00:26:57

And Tony's not even an advertiser in the show, so this is a little Free promo for Tony, but save some serious money and check out to make sure you're covered.

Eric G.: 00:27:06

Now, if you're in California or one of the Gulf states, be a little careful.

Eric G.: 00:27:11

That's why it's good to have somebody to talk to.

Eric G.: 00:27:13

I've got friends that are in California that can't change their insurance coverage because if they do, they'll get canceled because they're not renewing or changing coverage down there.

Eric G.: 00:27:24

There's a lot of state farms and stuff down there that are doing that.

Eric G.: 00:27:27

You got to be really careful with where they're not doing any new coverages in areas down there.

Eric G.: 00:27:33

Navigate this correctly, you can save some serious money, which I like.

Eric G.: 00:27:36

Price check your automotive homeowners insurance, flood insurance.

Eric G.: 00:27:40

Sometimes if it's a FEMA thing, can't do much about that.

Eric G.: 00:27:43

But earthquake.

Eric G.: 00:27:45

Make sure you got all the special writers.

Eric G.: 00:27:47

Go back in our in our episode here in the recent future, I think it was this last fall.

Eric G.: 00:27:52

Take a look.

Eric G.: 00:27:52

We did an episode on the podcast.

Eric G.: 00:27:54

It aired on the radio as well, with virtual home inventory, and we gave you some really good tips on your insurance, how to really negotiate that and make sure that you've got everything covered.

Eric G.: 00:28:03

Walk through your home with the camera.

Eric G.: 00:28:05

It's a good episode to go back and check out.

Eric G.: 00:28:07

And we took a look back and talked about that in detail in one hour.

Eric G.: 00:28:12

That's a great one to refer back to for this.

Eric G.: 00:28:14

All right, the next one here is an important one and it's one that gets forgotten so much.

Eric G.: 00:28:18

We talked about it last in last week's show a little bit.

Eric G.: 00:28:22

But don't skip on your roof maintenance because you want to extend that out as long as you can.

Eric G.: 00:28:29

And it doesn't matter if you've got a tile roof, if you've got asphalt, if you've got metal, keeping that clean, keeping it maintained, making sure it's not leaking, make sure anything's broken is fixed is a really good key to get the most out of that life of that roof.

Eric G.: 00:28:45

Because I tell you what, if you're in a northern state like I am, where moss likes to grow on everything, my roof has been cleaned so many times that it's getting on its last leg because there's not a lot of granules left.

Eric G.: 00:28:57

So that thing loves to sit there and grow moss on it.

Eric G.: 00:29:02

Now there's moss inhibiting agents on new roofs.

Eric G.: 00:29:05

They're coming out with.

Eric G.: 00:29:06

That's really cool.

Eric G.: 00:29:07

But really making sure that you have the debris off of there.

Eric G.: 00:29:11

If you're in California, you're seeing Stuff up there in wildfires, it's the same here in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.

Eric G.: 00:29:18

Debris on your roof can catch on fire and you got a problem.

Eric G.: 00:29:21

So you want to make sure that you got all that stuff off there.

Eric G.: 00:29:24

It rots the roof out, causes issues.

Eric G.: 00:29:26

Keep that roof clean, keep the gutters clean, keep all that stuff, maintain that roof.

Eric G.: 00:29:31

Because right now, I think the average roof price out there for a new roof is about 30,000 bucks.

Eric G.: 00:29:36

For a cheap roof, that's a big chunk of change you got to write a check for or even finance it.

Eric G.: 00:29:42

Either way, if you can get an added three or four or five years out of it, because you're maintaining it and taking care of it, saves you some money and puts it off.

Eric G.: 00:29:51

So hopefully we'll have some lower oil prices, which could drive those prices down for roofing.

Eric G.: 00:29:57

When oil prices are down and they're more.

Eric G.: 00:30:00

They're more affordable, roofing tends to go down as well because there is so much tar in that roofing.

Eric G.: 00:30:07

It's an important thing.

Eric G.: 00:30:08

So take a look at that.

Eric G.: 00:30:09

That's a big one right there.

Eric G.: 00:30:11

Next up here, when you're talking about trying to save money around your house, take a look and see from time to time as you're doing remodel projects, see what rebates there are.

Eric G.: 00:30:21

Sometimes it's insulation, sometimes it's a heat pump, water heater, sometimes it's windows.

Eric G.: 00:30:27

Depending on what they got going on, there's grant money out there as well.

Eric G.: 00:30:31

If you're in a Gulf coast state or a place where they have hurricanes, where you can actually get money to help cover some of those changes to make your house more fortified.

Eric G.: 00:30:41

We heard that back from the fortified homes people.

Eric G.: 00:30:44

These are great things you can do to use somebody else's money to work on your house.

Eric G.: 00:30:50

Grant money.

Eric G.: 00:30:51

That's awesome.

Eric G.: 00:30:52

And something that's pretty cool.

Eric G.: 00:30:53

Now, here's one for you that's not on the list that I want to mention, but it's a way to get yourself a tax deduction at the end of the year here.

Eric G.: 00:31:01

Maybe it's time to go through that garage, shop or workshed and get rid of the stuff that you don't need.

Eric G.: 00:31:09

Give a little high grade, go through and go, I've held this for four years.

Eric G.: 00:31:12

I'm never going to use it.

Eric G.: 00:31:14

Donate it to your favorite cause.

Eric G.: 00:31:15

We have one here.

Eric G.: 00:31:16

There's a place here in my area in the Portland metro area, that's the rebuilding center.

Eric G.: 00:31:22

These people are awesome.

Eric G.: 00:31:23

And a lot of these companies that are these nonprofits like they are hurting right now because with things so expensive, people now go, oh, instead of donating it, they're putting it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace or they're putting it out on Craigslist or Offerup.

Eric G.: 00:31:41

Name the list.

Eric G.: 00:31:41

Right?

Eric G.: 00:31:42

That's out there.

Eric G.: 00:31:43

So this is something that they're not getting the donations that they used to get.

Eric G.: 00:31:48

So anytime you can help these folks out and get a tax deductible donation that can take off on your taxes, not a bad thing.

Eric G.: 00:31:54

You're helping them out.

Eric G.: 00:31:56

And what I love about the rebuilding center in my area and see if you've got somebody in your area, around there, wherever you are.

Eric G.: 00:32:02

If not, maybe talk to some folks to start.

Eric G.: 00:32:05

One, these guys here have a classroom.

Eric G.: 00:32:07

They teach homeowners how to fix things in their house.

Eric G.: 00:32:11

They do a electrical, they do a plumbing.

Eric G.: 00:32:13

Heck, my friends at Pyramid Heating Cooling just did a great one where they dove in and did it all about H Vac and maintenance and knowing your system, what to do, what you can do to make sure it's running, what you can do and when to call the pro.

Eric G.: 00:32:27

I love when you have a center like that is helping out in the community, given classes.

Eric G.: 00:32:32

And they also do these work days where people go around and help people in the neighborhood that need that can't help themselves.

Eric G.: 00:32:39

Maybe you know the Mrs.

Eric G.: 00:32:41

Smith who's 92 years old and the family doesn't live there or doesn't have any family, they go over there and we'll fix stuff on her house and volunteer and help out in the community.

Eric G.: 00:32:49

Those are great things to support.

Eric G.: 00:32:52

So donate to your local charity.

Eric G.: 00:32:54

Nothing wrong with habitat, but if you've got a local one that's doing even more stuff, awesome.

Eric G.: 00:32:59

See what you can do to help support them.

Eric G.: 00:33:01

I was out at a job site yesterday and they were taking out this maple kitchen.

Eric G.: 00:33:06

Yeah, it was: 2000

Eric G.: 00:33:09

They were deconstructing it, taking it back there and it'll be for sale in the next couple days.

Eric G.: 00:33:14

You're not one, you can write that stuff off as a donation on that remodel.

Eric G.: 00:33:18

Two, it's going to end up in a home.

Eric G.: 00:33:20

Maybe somebody's got that exact same maple kitchen.

Eric G.: 00:33:23

I think it was an American woodmark raised panel Arch top kitchen.

Eric G.: 00:33:26

All right, we come back on our last segment of the hour here.

Eric G.: 00:33:29

We've got a jam packed segment here with a bunch more to do.

Eric G.: 00:33:34

I've been talking a little long here, so I need to make sure to fit it in the show round the house.

Eric G.: 00:33:37

Be right back after these important messages.

Eric G.: 00:33:39

Don't go anywhere.

Eric G.: 00:35:51

All right.

Band Member: 00:36:00

The band is drunk.

Band Member: 00:36:01

It's the end of the show.

Eric G.: 00:36:03

Now.

Band Member: 00:36:03

Drinking down, people.

Band Member: 00:36:04

It's time to go.

Band Member: 00:36:05

It's that time again.

Band Member: 00:36:07

It's last call.

Eric G.: 00:36:11

Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Eric G.: 00:36:14

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:36:15

Thanks for joining me today.

Eric G.: 00:36:16

to save around your home for: 2025

Eric G.: 00:36:20

What are some of the tricks that you can do to keep this going?

Eric G.: 00:36:24

And by the way, this hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

Eric G.: 00:36:27

Check them out@monument.com for that brand new barbecue.

Eric G.: 00:36:30

That way you can be barbecuing this winter, maybe for the big game.

Eric G.: 00:36:35

Have your friends over, show off your brand new barbecue.

Eric G.: 00:36:39

Hopefully you're not in North Dakota where it'll be minus 40, but hey, great barbecuing out there if you're in an area that you can barbecue all year long.

Eric G.: 00:36:47

We've been talking here today about this and some of the stuff that we've been talking about has been really important.

Eric G.: 00:36:52

But one of the next one, we're just talking about energy rebates in the last hour, finding out where you can get free money.

Eric G.: 00:36:59

The next one here, though, maintain everything.

Eric G.: 00:37:02

Make sure that we walk around your house and follow our spring, our fall maintenance checklist.

Eric G.: 00:37:08

Make sure that you got things dialed in.

Eric G.: 00:37:10

If you need that checklist, you can go over to around the house online.

Eric G.: 00:37:13

If it's not up over there, you can always email me over there.

Eric G.: 00:37:16

You can just hit contact us.

Eric G.: 00:37:17

That goes into my inbox and I can get a hold of you there and I can get you that list.

Eric G.: 00:37:21

But making sure that the, the gutters aren't overflowing, making sure that you've got your crawl space clean, no water in it, basement's not getting ratty.

Eric G.: 00:37:32

The caulking and the painting is done, everything's weatherproofed, all those different things, making sure that everything's working correctly, no leaks inside the house.

Eric G.: 00:37:41

Maintenance is always cheaper than having to fix it later.

Eric G.: 00:37:44

So stick on that maintenance plan and make sure that you've got it all dialed in and you should be good to go.

Eric G.: 00:37:50

The one thing that gets forgotten all the time are those appliances.

Eric G.: 00:37:53

Have you vacuumed out under the refrigerator?

Eric G.: 00:37:55

Have you cleaned out the dishwasher and made sure that the, the filters are good there?

Eric G.: 00:37:59

If you're, if you have hard water, you're dealing with that because that can eat up the refrigerator, the water heater, all the different Things that use water, your sinks, your bathtubs, your showers.

Eric G.: 00:38:09

Take a look at those maintenance things.

Eric G.: 00:38:11

Keep things clean, keep things working good.

Eric G.: 00:38:13

Are the toilets dialed in?

Eric G.: 00:38:15

Do you need to run down and get a fluid master set and replace that?

Eric G.: 00:38:18

Because the toilet's not running perfectly.

Eric G.: 00:38:20

That's waste and water you're paying for.

Eric G.: 00:38:22

These are all maintenance things that are little, that can save big money.

Eric G.: 00:38:25

And yeah, that toilet running could cost you hundreds of dollars a year.

Eric G.: 00:38:29

So that maintenance can save you a ton of money.

Eric G.: 00:38:31

It all adds up and it's all money just bleeding slowly out of your wallet.

Eric G.: 00:38:35

And that's a great way to do it.

Eric G.: 00:38:37

So next one up here is know the issues that are inherent to your home.

Eric G.: 00:38:44

What are you talking about?

Eric G.: 00:38:45

If you have an old pre: 1970

Eric G.: 00:38:54

As those pipes fail, they get smaller in the inside.

Eric G.: 00:38:57

You turn the shower on and there's rusty low water pressure.

Eric G.: 00:39:01

No matter what showerhead you put on.

Eric G.: 00:39:04

Know those things and plan ahead for replacement for them.

Eric G.: 00:39:07

Maybe you've got a: 2000

Eric G.: 00:39:18

You can be working on that.

Eric G.: 00:39:19

a house that was built in the: 2000

Eric G.: 00:39:22

I could be sitting watching TV and I'd hear in the crawl space down below, I'd open the crawl space lid and I have a 3 quarter inch pipe fitting.

Eric G.: 00:39:29

This just let go, cracked like cracks like glass.

Eric G.: 00:39:34

Once it lets loose, boom, it's gone.

Eric G.: 00:39:36

And now you've got water everywhere.

Eric G.: 00:39:38

And now you're doing a major cleanup.

Eric G.: 00:39:40

Know the weak points of your home.

Eric G.: 00:39:42

Okay, I've got knob and tube wiring.

Eric G.: 00:39:45

Oh, I've got a Cutler hammer split main panel.

Eric G.: 00:39:48

That's a fire hazard.

Eric G.: 00:39:49

I've got aluminum wiring in my house.

Eric G.: 00:39:51

It's a problem.

Eric G.: 00:39:53

Pre: 1960

Eric G.: 00:39:59

All of these things understand what they are and understand that you're going to have to plan for that.

Eric G.: 00:40:04

So take a look to see what's it going to take to get it upgraded to something safer, more reliable and working better.

Eric G.: 00:40:12

Understand what those issues are with your home so you can get a good feel for what that is and budget for that.

Eric G.: 00:40:17

If you're doing a kitchen remodel and you've got all these issues, maybe you should wrap that into that project.

Eric G.: 00:40:22

Especially if you already got walls opened up and anything else, at least you can replace the stuff that's behind the wall and maybe do some of that work yourself or get a professional to come in and do it.

Eric G.: 00:40:32

But understanding what those issues are with the plumbing, maybe somebody went through and did white PVC pipe that you use for sprinklers.

Eric G.: 00:40:40

That can be a problem.

Eric G.: 00:40:42

Maybe they went through and did that.

Eric G.: 00:40:43

Take a look at that kind of stuff.

Eric G.: 00:40:45

That's the stuff that you want to keep an eye out for.

Eric G.: 00:40:47

Plumbing now, electrical, the same way, whether you got a bunch of ratty wiring, that there's been a bunch of handymen in there before you that did a homeowner special on it, where you got a bunch of boxes that are not correctly done, things aren't grounded, whatever they are.

Eric G.: 00:41:00

Understand what those problems are so you can get them taken care of at some point so that way you don't have any surprises.

Eric G.: 00:41:05

They don't come sneaking up on you.

Eric G.: 00:41:08

And knowing your electrical system, maybe you're thinking about going out and getting a new Tesla or something.

Eric G.: 00:41:13

You're going to get a vehicle and you're like, oh, my gosh, there is absolutely no way that I can do that on my electrical panel.

Eric G.: 00:41:19

Or you just want to put in a backup generator and you're like, oh, man, my system can't handle this.

Eric G.: 00:41:24

It's just not designed to do that.

Eric G.: 00:41:26

Know your system so you know what the limitations are and what you need to do to get that on and plan for that, plan that out so you know it's going to be working well.

Eric G.: 00:41:34

And the last one here is probably one of the most important ones, and that's keeping it healthy.

Eric G.: 00:41:40

And we talk a little bit about it here in the show.

Eric G.: 00:41:43

Some of you probably think I talk way too much about it.

Eric G.: 00:41:46

But making sure that you have a healthy indoor air environment, either.

Eric G.: 00:41:51

Your water, what's in your water?

Eric G.: 00:41:54

There's a big, huge story out there right now where many of the cities out there had to turn into the epa, what the lead pipe issues were in their city and how to.

Eric G.: 00:42:04

And do they have them identified.

Eric G.: 00:42:06

That was due in October.

Eric G.: 00:42:08

A lot of places still haven't turned that report in.

Eric G.: 00:42:11

That means do you know what.

Eric G.: 00:42:13

Where your water's coming from and do you have lead in there?

Eric G.: 00:42:15

If you're in a newer neighborhood, maybe not so much.

Eric G.: 00:42:18

But what's in your water?

Eric G.: 00:42:20

Do some water testing, take a look.

Eric G.: 00:42:22

Understand what's coming in.

Eric G.: 00:42:24

It could be that there's 20ft of lead pipe out in the street in Front of your house, nobody knows.

Eric G.: 00:42:29

Now it's showing up in your water.

Eric G.: 00:42:31

Have water testing done every few years, see what you got.

Eric G.: 00:42:33

It's just like radon testing.

Eric G.: 00:42:35

Good to do it, especially after any earthquake type activity you have in your area.

Eric G.: 00:42:39

Get it retested again, make sure that's dialed in.

Eric G.: 00:42:42

Air testing.

Eric G.: 00:42:43

There are some great inexpensive air quality monitors out there that you can look at and go, wow, we got some issues.

Eric G.: 00:42:50

And in the future we're going to be bringing on a smart home system.

Eric G.: 00:42:53

We're going to talk about, and this is a buddy of mine that I've shared the stage with on speaking stuff who is a one of the most qualified people out there for designing this type of system.

Eric G.: 00:43:05

I'm just going to tease you a little bit with it, but this is a full smart home system that works on indoor air quality and it uses the existing stuff in the house.

Eric G.: 00:43:15

This isn't a company trying to sell you a bunch of parts and pieces.

Eric G.: 00:43:18

This is a management system that they hook up to your existing stuff.

Eric G.: 00:43:22

Might have to add a few sensors here and there, of course, but they're not trying to get you to replace all these big things in your home to use theirs.

Eric G.: 00:43:30

So this is something I think is going to revolutionize indoor air quality for people out there that are really wanting to dive into that.

Eric G.: 00:43:37

So I'm excited to talk about it.

Eric G.: 00:43:39

It's something that's new, it's something that I've been talking with this guy for almost a decade about him building and we've had a lot of conversations like, oh man, I just can't wait.

Eric G.: 00:43:47

What if you did this and this and we'd have all these conversations in passing right before we go on stage, sometimes on stage together.

Eric G.: 00:43:54

And he did it.

Eric G.: 00:43:55

So I'm excited for that.

Eric G.: 00:43:56

And so we'll bring Jim on the, on the show here some point here in the next, next month or so and discuss it because I think it's going to be something that revolutionizes life inside your home.

Eric G.: 00:44:06

And the other thing is just be careful what you're doing.

Eric G.: 00:44:09

Chemicals wise, it's the holidays, right?

Eric G.: 00:44:12

Make sure that you don't have too many things making sense.

Eric G.: 00:44:15

There's all these different plug in type things that can, you know, give the scent of Christmas, the scent of this, the scent of that, whatever you're looking for.

Eric G.: 00:44:24

Problem is look at the chemicals that's putting in your air.

Eric G.: 00:44:27

Just trying to make it smell really good could be creating some absolutely horrendous indoor air quality.

Eric G.: 00:44:34

And just because it's an essential oil doesn't mean you need to be vaping it, which is what you're doing with some of this stuff.

Eric G.: 00:44:41

So you walk down the grocery store aisle and you see all these things.

Eric G.: 00:44:44

A plug in the wall and they've got the oils in there and they're yellow, orange, green.

Eric G.: 00:44:49

I don't want to breathe that to you.

Eric G.: 00:44:51

No.

Eric G.: 00:44:51

Where's it going?

Eric G.: 00:44:53

Smack dab in your lungs.

Eric G.: 00:44:55

Think about what you can use.

Eric G.: 00:44:56

It's going to be healthy.

Eric G.: 00:44:57

Instead of trying to mask odors, let's get the odors taken care of.

Eric G.: 00:45:01

Maybe that's better ventilation.

Eric G.: 00:45:03

Maybe that's better fresh air coming in.

Eric G.: 00:45:07

Maybe it's just running the fan when you've got people over to help make that smell just a little bit better.

Eric G.: 00:45:12

But take a look at that.

Eric G.: 00:45:13

That's a huge one right there.

Eric G.: 00:45:14

And if you've got any tricks or tips that saved you some serious money, send us a note.

Eric G.: 00:45:20

Head over to around the House online dot com.

Eric G.: 00:45:22

Love to hear from you.

Eric G.: 00:45:23

And maybe we'll put it up in next week's midweek special.

Eric G.: 00:45:27

If we have something like that's going to be popping out, that could be really cool.

Eric G.: 00:45:30

Excited for that?

Eric G.: 00:45:31

Always love hearing from you guys out there.

Eric G.: 00:45:34

Just head over to around the house.

Eric G.: 00:45:36

All right, everybody, have a great rest of your weekend.

Eric G.: 00:45:39

Man, I can't believe the holidays are creeping up so fast.

Eric G.: 00:45:42

They're just right around the corner.

Eric G.: 00:45:43

If you're getting ready to buy stuff online.

Eric G.: 00:45:45

We're starting to get to that normal time of the year where guess what?

Eric G.: 00:45:48

Cutoff dates are approaching.

Eric G.: 00:45:50

You might have to be doing the the Amazons and that kind of stuff to get it there in time.

Eric G.: 00:45:55

And you know how the shipping problems occur this time of year.

Eric G.: 00:45:58

This is when it does.

Eric G.: 00:46:00

I'm Eric G.

Eric G.: 00:46:01

Thanks for tuning in to around the house.

Eric G.: 00:46:02

We'll see you next week.

Band Member: 00:46:16

Somewhere unseen and undiscovered Anywhere beyond the me love is a love song let's be lovers we're all over the radio Take my hand I know where to go all over the radio with.