Starting the Year With a Bang

The first few days after the holiday are always busy. Busy trying to take down Christmas decor, unpack from travels, reflect on last year's goals and set new ones and generally trying to be organized for the new year.

I'm off to a good start. I've been busily researching courses and workshops in my local neighbourhood and at my Alma Mater which is quite a bit farther. I've re-enrolled as a student at my Alma Mater and I'm possibly taking a course next week.  It will require several evenings of my time each week for the next several months. Next week I'll know more fully whether I will take the class. If I do take it,  my nephew and I will be classmates. This is hilarious as I haven't been to uni. in decades.

Over the holidays, I purchased several appliances and dealt with all my technical needs (television, speakers, laptop and new operating system for my PC).  All appliances are stainless steel and all were purchased at excellent seasonal discounts.

My appliances were delivered today! Yeah!!

Today, I also got rid of the old refrigerator and stove and have put everything (all the frozen food) back in the new freezer before it began to thaw.   The refrigerator is much bigger than the old one so it also takes up more space. It is heaven to have a refrigerator that is nicely organized inside and has lots of space for everything and more!  I'm still tearing the plastic off the new stove so probably won't use it for another day or so.  Tomorrow the new dishwasher will be installed and the old one taken away for recycling.

To add to my happiness, I found out today that I got another 15% off the dishwasher because the store extended it's sales this week.  That meant another trip to the store for the refund but it was well worth it. I shared the refund with my brother who actually caught on to this sale and went himself to obtain the refund for me.

I didn't take the following photos but they show you what the appliances look like.

Once the dishwasher is installed my kitchen will be more or less organized and I can get back to cooking again rather than eating take out.

One of MY commenters (Judy, below) asked about whether I get rebates from my utility company for the new appliances and whether the utility company would take away old appliances for free and give me a discount on bills.

Oh boy, do I wish that were the case!  The utility company does buy back old refrigerators.  Sadly I forgot about the buy back program and instead paid $30 to the retailer to take my old refrigerator away. I guess that means the company made $60, since they will likely take the refrigerator to the utility company themselves for the $30 rebate.

The utility company does pay an energy rebate on certain appliances. You have to check the make and model of your appliance to determine if it is eligible for a rebate.  Then you mail in all the required information and wait a few months.  When I purchased my washer and dryer I found they were eligible for a rebate. It took about 4 months to process but I was pleased to get it.  If I remember correctly the amount of rebate was about $75.  I'm so pleased with the purchase of the HE washer and dryer because they use so little water and power.

One of my other plans/goals for the year is to investigate and "cost out" some modest renos in the kitchen.  This goal has become a little more heightened in priority because of the refrigerator.  It is actually larger in size though characterized as the store as "standard".  Due to the larger size, the baseboards had to be taken out in the "refrigerator closet" to make room for it to slide in. When I re-do the kitchen counter and possibly the kitchen floor, the "closet" walls can be narrowed a bit to make more room for the refrigerator. Right now you can't see where the baseboards have been removed so things will be fine until the remodel work is done.

So all in all the week has been very busy and the new year has gotten off to a busy start.

I hope you are all having an excellent start to your New Year also!