Joys and challenges of home ownership

My 11th grade math teacher Mrs. L would be so proud of me for using charts, graphs, and formulas in my English classes to teach theme, thesis statements, literary analysis, research papers, and more.

Here we have our home utilities chart with electricity comparisons of the last two months, and one year ago.

What do I notice? What movement can I detect on the bar graph? Blue is reasonable rate, while green is expensive because where we live, the city has a monopoly on utilities and I think they are greedy.

The left side of the chart says: Usage change from last bill: up 102%. From two adults and a dog to —five adults and a dog.

So if I show this chart to my three daughters, I know they are still reeling from enjoying the unspoken luxury of two semesters of living in newer university dorms (built in the last 7-20 years), with all-inclusive utilities, where one can crank the air-con in the fall and spring, or cozy up swelteringly with central heating, while technically leaving all overhead lights on for nine months —and the university just pays for it?!

It’s good to talk about these things so my kids know the joys and challenges of home ownership.

Any teenager would roll their eyes if I told them in the 1900s, I hauled my laundry down three flights of icy outdoor stairs each winter and slogged in snow to another dorm building to wash clothes in one of the 3 machines they had for hundreds of students. Don’t forget your rolls of quarters! Be sure to cut your dryer sheet in fourths to save money!

In the mid-1990s, the dorms had baseboard heat. We didn’t have air conditioning or a dishwasher, WiFi, cable TV, custom furniture or matching duvets, elevators in the three-story dorms, or any modern luxury (we had just one phone number and 1 answering machine, with 1 cassette tape that either had a message from a guy, or it didn’t.)

Of course, refraining from using appliances 5-9:00pm means more time on sunset walks with our faithful pup Ranger, drinking iced coffee on the patio, reading a novel under the aspen trees in the glow of the golden hour, or swimming at the neighborhood pool after dinner.

“Let’s sit in the dark and watch the USA 🇺🇸 win their World Cup game,” I told Ranger.