We live here now.

There was a great post on Treehugger recently that I’ve bookmarked for more serious contemplation.

Although they may be neither popular, nor well known, there are alternatives to the two major housing options of “buy” vs. “rent.”  It seems like every day I personally vacillate between wanting to live in a Parisian apartment overlooking local markets and wanting to live on a lakefront, almost cottage-y property.  In the first case, we’d walk everywhere we needed to go and in the second case we’d generate our own electricity and grow some of our own food.  I just can’t decide whether I want to live with people or get the heck away from them.

We’ll likely be where we are for some time to come, but Dauphin was always a calculated, strategic move.  So far it has pretty much worked according to plan.  We’re closing on houses #8 and #9 on August 1, and our rental income will provide more than we need to live comfortably there.  And for the total cost of all 9 houses we’ve purchased, we still would have been only able to buy the most entry-level of entry-level homes in Toronto. (And, that would be with us paying for the privilege of ownership, not being paid enough that we don’t have to work!)

As I said to Joe last night, although yes, we can consider ourselves “retired” from traditional careers, our “job” right now is to figure out where we really want to live next and how we will be able to afford it.  It’s not as easy as you might think, and you really do need to be semi-retired before you can tackle that task; you can’t know what you really want out of living when don’t yet have the freedom to just “live.”

If I were still tutoring, I would be too busy and preoccupied to really think about what I wanted out of a house, community or local environment.  How was I to know, for example, that I really don’t mind “cooking*” when my previous life was arranged in such a way that preparing food was nothing but a huge inconvenience?  When I had taken probably less than a dozen baths in my whole adult life (and had never seen Joe take a single one!), how was I to know that we would treasure our jacuzzi tub?  There is a lot you discover about yourself when you stop “working” and start doing what might be work for some, but is really just an activity for you.

That’s why I don’t think of it as a “failure” that Dauphin won’t be the place we live for the next 30 years.  Rather, moving somewhere that is decidedly not our retirement paradise was the smartest thing we ever did:

• We had no illusions or unrealistic expectations of the perfect life.  (It was a stop along the way - another phase of the plan.)
• We chose to move solely based on finances (including of course our required amenities and necessities) so there is less of an emotional attachment to where we live.  (Leaving Toronto was emotionally so much tougher than leaving Dauphin will ever be.)
• We put ourselves in the best position to figure out what we really wanted, and didn’t assume we already knew what that was. (How could “Rat Race Rainsbergers” even pretend to know what “Retired Rainsbergers” want or need out of life?)
• Although it wasn’t part of the original plan, travel is such a huge part of our lives that we can somewhat experience and compare locations.  Two weeks ago we were in Ireland and I’m writing this now from Malvern, PA. In August and September alone we’re projected to be in Dauphin, Winnipeg, Toronto, Oshawa, “the cottage,” Brampton, Niagara Falls (ON and NY), Chicago, Turkey, the Netherlands and Costa Rica. If we can’t find something we like, it sure isn’t from a lack of trying!

And, if home ownership in Dauphin means we get to travel like this, then maybe there’s even something to be said for not doing too much of your “living” where you live!

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* - I still hate “cooking” and will refuse to prepare anything that involves the actual cooking of meat. And, much fewer of our meals are actually “cooked” now since we’ve been eating a lot raw. So, I use the word cooking to mean “making meals.” But, what I have discovered is that I like the act of chopping vegetables, I don’t mind boiling things into a soup and as long as Joe’s not sick of honey-mustard, I’m quite happy to make our own salad dressing.

…it’s not the reason you might think. Certainly, if I could avoid paying taxes, I would do so; however, this is not the primary reason I would rather live someplace tax-free. My primary reason has to do with the unnecessary and stunning complexity of the tax rules. Today I encountered a particularly delightful example.

Consider an ordinary-looking receipt. I have to process this for my corporate income taxes. I use QuickBooks Pro to do my books, although I imagine this problem exists in all major book-keeping software. I have to enter a tax code for this transaction in order to get the input tax credit (ITC) related to the GST I paid which, I should mention, comes to $2.49. Look at how hard I have to work for my $2.49.

First, I happily choose tax code “S” for standard tax rate (6% GST at the time, 8% GST in Ontario, where this meal was purchased), then happily enter the net amount of $46.30 into QuickBooks. I see that the total is not the $52.10 I expect, but rather $52.78. Whence the extra 68 cents? Not too bad yet, since this pretty common: some items are only taxed at GST, others not at all, and usually it’s clear what’s what. I fiddle for 10 minutes or so before recalling algebra and solving the following system of equations. (Yep!)

Let x be the amount of the bill attracting only GST, and let y be the amount attracting GST and PST.

x + y = 46.30; 0.06x + 0.14y = 5.80

I solve this, but get the ugly y = $37.775, and that can’t be. Perhaps part of the bill attracts no tax at all. Well, 5.80 / 0.14 = $41.43, roughly speaking. That means $4.87 is not subject to tax at all. But what the hell comes to $4.87 on the cheque?!

Oh wait, there’s a .29, another .29 and a third .29, which I know add to .87. Aha! I can’t believe it: the tomato, jalapeño and asparagus do not attract tax because they are fresh produce!

I’m sorry folks, but this is insane. There is no way Eggspectation is doing this correctly. If that were the case, Pizza receipts would require a mathematics degree to figure out, since they use fresh produce (one hopes) in their food, too. Could you imagine if a restaurant itemized your salad and charged you taxes only on the (processed) dressing?!

Whether Eggspectation is computing their taxes correctly or not, shame on Canada for having sales tax rules with the potential to create this situation at all. It’s ridiculous. It wastes time for vendors, book-keepers, tax collectors… sure, it fuels the bureaucracy and gives civil servants jobs, but that’s not why I pay taxes, and I certainly didn’t want to pay for an absurd system like this!

So that’s why I long to live in Andorra, where at least there is almost no income tax. I don’t know about their sales taxes, though… that bears another look. To the point, though, it’s the complexity of the tax system I want to avoid. If we paid a flat sales tax on everything and a flat income tax, then I would be much happier. Happy enough perhaps not to need to leave Canada.

Sarah forwarded me an instant classic diagram, which I tried to reproduce here, but couldn’t, for Wordpress-related reasons I don’t understand. Look at the diagram if you want to understand any of the foregoing. I have experienced both in horrid detail and all its glory, respectively.

Our last dwelling in Toronto was, we believe, the last house in Toronto proper to have a septic tank. Being a nearly 100-year-old farmhouse, that might not come as a surprise, but being in Toronto, it shocked us. Sadly, we discovered a, let’s say, flow problem with the tank the hard way. It took too much time and too many of someone else’s dollars (another reason to rent in an expensive city) to fix that problem, but it was fixed long enough for us to push the image out of our minds of a sewage marsh at our front door. Of course, the septic tank connection was replaced with what we understand is an entirely illegal hookup to the city’s storm drain, but frankly, that was never our problem.

Backing up computer systems, though, is a pleasure. It is the primary reason I recommend Mac computers to my friends and family. (Really!) Mac OS X makes disaster recovery routine by minimizing down time when disaster strikes. I have yet to see a backup/restore utility on the Windows platform that allows me to resume working within 5 minutes after a serious hard disk failure. Yes: 5 minutes. At the risk of boring you with geeky details, the key point is that when I back up my computer to an external hard disk (USB or Firewire, it works the same), I make the backup “bootable”. This means that my computer can’t tell the difference between booting from its internal hard disk and an external one. What this really means is that since I have nightly backups, when my internal hard disk fails, I simply boot to the external disk, losing on average half a day’s work, then continue what I was doing. When I can take a suitable break, I survey the damage, either reformat or replace my internal hard disk, then (and this is my favourite part) back up the external hard disk to my shiny new internal hard disk. There is no “restore” in this scenario, only backup, and it’s just a question of which direction. I can even add a second external hard disk while my internal one is out of service and backup external disk 1 to external disk 2 so that I always have a backup to work from. It works beautifully for a few reasons: even a disaster means I can resume working in 5 minutes, I can keep working while I’m waiting to replace my failed disk, and it’s easy to move data onto the new disk when it’s ready. I can even just wait until the next nightly backup at around 1.00 AM. Let me emphasize that I have never seen a Windows backup/restore platform allow me such peace of mind. I used to lose on average two full days restoring from a backup on Windows, including buying the replacement hard disk, reinstalling the operating system and figuring out which files to restore and not to restore. Disaster recovery is routine with a Mac as long as you’re willing to pay about $250+ extra for an external hard disk and a copy of SuperDuper!

On my education blog, I wrote about the Rainsberger-brand of political activism: supporting causes that aren’t necessarily personal, but which are in keeping with personal goals or philosophies.

That post was prompted by the attempted railroading of our beloved Zenn car by various levels of government.

Unlike the contradiction in my volunteer work for the “Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents” (being neither a parent nor currently residing in Ontario), the contradiction in our support for ZennMotors (as a car-less and license-less couple) is a little more complicated.

I’ve always, ultimately, enjoyed the fact that we couldn’t own a car even if we wanted to. (You know, the whole pesky not being legally allowed to drive, and all.) I do think that some of the hype around alternative fuels, alternative transportation and alternative energy hides the root problem that too many of us just plain use too much.

Being car-free is a statement in and of itself. So, how do I reconcile that with the fact that it looks like we’re finally going to buy a car?

On an individual level, there’s little doubt that NOT owning a car is better for the environment than owning a car — any car, even the kick ass cityZENN that we’ll buy in Fall 2009 (or whenever it finally does roll off the line).

Looking at the bigger picture, though, I can’t help but think that owning this car might be the best thing to do.

It would be unrealistic of me to think that large sections of the population are going to go completely car-less, as we have always been. Our car-less lifestyle in which we

• (a) use fewer resources
• (b) plan every shopping trip very carefully and never just “run out for one thing” and come home with a dozen things we didn’t really need
• (c) generally never buy more than we can carry
• (d) use public transportation guilt-free knowing that we can BOTH sleep, read or just generally tune out
• (e) never worry about insurance or the rising costs of gas
• etc. etc. etc.

. . . is almost always met with a cute “oh that’s quaint” pat on the head. “But we could never do that.”
But, when we tell people about the cityZENN, everyone’s excited! (Yes, we’ve discovered that the company is not (yet) publicly traded because several people have even wondered about buying up stock in the car, in addition to the car itself.)

And, although we live a car-less lifestyle (in that we deprive ourselves of ownership) it’s not entirely accurate to say we live a car-free lifestyle. We do use cabs and take rides from others when the situation arises.

While we have long since determined that a taxi lifestyle beats car ownership in the personal finance arena, the truth is that most of the taxis we take are gas guzzlers. (Props to the ‘peg for having hybrid taxi fleets — more often than not our Winnipeg taxis are hybrids, but we’ve yet to take one anywhere else.)

Our friends and family haven’t crossed the chasm into hybrid ownership. (Unless they’re just saving the “good” car for special occasions!) So, our car experiences aren’t particularly environmentally-friendly; they’re just minimized in frequency.

I have to think that owning a cityZENN for those situations might just tip the scales environmentally. I think, come 2010, our goal should no longer be, “I never want to pay for gas,” but instead, “I never want to ride in a car that uses gas.”

We’re past the stage where we finances have to be the primary concern. Although, we can never forget that it was a lack of car ownership (and similar financial thinking) that helped us achieve our current financial position.

I think it’s our responsibility to support this revolutionary product, this Canadian company and champion the cityZENN. Although it might seem like a step backwards for us personally, I think the effect is negated by the huge step forward this car would be for others.

So, tax-time permitting, next week we write the Manitoba equivalent of the G1 driver’s license!

And Dad can take Joe on driving lessons in Oshawa at the end of the month.

Fasten your seatbelts . . .

Free Money Finance posted the 10 most hated money-saving tips according to the comments he’s received over the years, writing over 700 tips.

These aren’t necessarily earth-shatteringly new strategies, but that’s not the point of this list. The point is, these are the common-sense tips to which people claim to be decidedly immune. Do check out the list for yourself, but noteworthy for us is that sitting in the number one hated money-saving tip:

1. Move to a lower cost-of-living city

You can’t say we didn’t invite y’all. That you refuse to take us up on it only leaves more houses for us. (Closing on #6 and #7 currently, by the way.)

We don’t really have that much snow, but the temperatures are cold enough to keep what little there is on the ground. It’s been enough to force me to buy boots, but not a winter coat yet.

More excitingly, though, is that we finally got the rest of our stuff moved in! There wasn’t really all that much — maybe 15 medium and small boxes, but the big ticket items were the key: kitchen pantry, dressers, Joe’s organ and the Sumo!

Clothing-wise, we’d gotten very good at living with whatever a medium-sized suitcase can hold. It now seems both ridiculous and obscene that I unpacked a dresser drawer full of only socks, underwear, nylons and pyjamas. For the last six months, I’d been living with less than that in total.

As much as it bothered us to be without our stuff, for me at least it was more annoying because it was a sign that things weren’t done yet. For sure, a dresser is far better for clothing storage than a rubbermaid container on the floor, but I’m not as thrilled about the literal “baggage” that came with it. Yes, it’s nice to own some clothing with sleeves now (remember, the suitcase was packed in June!) but it will be interesting to see how much of it I keep, or at least keep out and not in storage in the basement.

Despite all the frustration over delays with finally “moving in” I know for me, the experience of “living without stuff” was very rewarding. This coincides nicely with our family’s new “pick one couple to buy for” rule. We already bought Mom and Dad’s gift, and I’ve already ordered Joe’s, so my holiday shopping is done! It’s not that I would have minded buying more gifts for more people, but I just don’t feel a need to. And, I certainly don’t want more crap filling up our little house. There are still some things we need. (or do we . . . ?The jury’s still out on that one.) Joe won’t complain about the addition of anything fleece to our household. But otherwise, I think we’re doing pretty well and have managed to adopt the change in lifestyle we were hoping we would.

I figured the epic nature of this story simply demanded the use of Roman numerals.

Most of you have, over the past 5 months, listened to me whine and complain about the general lack of competence of customer service agents, shipping companies. . . basically anyone whom I’m paying to handle issues of importance to me.

I think the wounds are still a little too deep to go back to day 1 with the shower, but don’t worry, the FULL story is coming (and is probably going to The Consumerist as well) but I would like to recognize one individual who made all the difference in this process, and who is singlehandedly the reason that I have a luxury steam shower in my home (albeit still in pieces in the living room, but that’s another story).

Our contract broker in this ordeal was Ms. Beverley Johnson from A&A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. I won’t get into the boring details here, because they really are quite boring compared to the rest of the story — she did her job, she made phone calls to other companies on our behalf (instead of requesting that we relay messages back and forth like the shipping company and manufacturer did), she called us regularly to keep us informed of the process (alleviating some of the stress of my newly acquired full-time shipping detective job) and she KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING.

Sorry to scream, but those of you who know how patient and tolerant I am with the general moronic public will understand.

I have a request, if you have a few moments to spare out of your busy day. Since you know me and my painfully exacting high standards of customer service, and since I have seen fit to post here that Beverley Johnson is the only contract broker a Canadian will ever need, therefore by flawless logic, she must be the BEST CONTRACT BROKER IN THE COUNTRY.

I happen to know that this week (sorry this post is so late) was “Staff Appreciation Week” at her company, so if anyone has a chance to send an email to Mr. G. B. Robins Mr. Dave Costa (gbrobins brobins dcosta AT aabc DOT com — don’t want him getting spam because of this!) and say something along the lines of

“Sarah is the pickiest person I know; she doesn’t like anyone, and she thinks she can do anyone’s job better than they can. But, she raves about Beverley Johnson, so she must be the best service professional in the world!”

then hopefully this dear, wonderful woman will get the recognition she deserves.

I know we often use the power of speech to gripe, complain, and generally vent. But, I was thinking today as I crafted my own letter to Mr. Robbins how good it felt to be able to use my gift of writing irreverent and stand-out reference letters for real good. I hope that I’ll be able to make as much of a difference in Beverley’s day or week as she made in our time of need. (Not that all you guys weren’t supportive as I complained about the shower, but you didn’t really make it get here any faster, now did you?)

So, if you can spare a couple of minutes, please do write on Beverley’s behalf. The logic is simple. I am disappointed with the service of pretty much everyone. I was thrilled with Beverley’s service. Ergo, Beverley rocks. That’s all you need to say.

Oh, and of course, if you need a one-time, contract broker for importing all those BELOW PAR US goods in to the country, you know whom to call. I can give you her direct number.

Most people know that I’m very proud to be an INTJ, so much so that perhaps sometimes it’s tempting to live up to the stereotype than to just be myself. But, what’s not to love about this personality type when you can find cool stuff like this written about you?

They are the supreme pragmatists, who see reality as something which is quite arbitrary and made up. Thus, it can be used as a tool — or ignored. Reality is quite malleable and can be changed, conquered, or brought to heel. An INTJ sees reality as the pawn of ideas: no idea is too far-fetched to be entertained. INTJs are natural brain-stormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them.

That’s probably why I was drawn to a particular blog title today called Are You Willing to be Free? It was one of those “you create your own reality” posts, but what I liked was that rather than being peppy and overly motivational, it expressed an idea that I believe is true but most people don’t want to face. Richard Cockrum writes:

Your life is an expression of who you are. It is a stage you have set with those around you.

I love this description. He writes that when we think of defining our life, we do so through what we see (or tell ourselves) in the mirror, or through the dreams and goals we write in our journals. But really, each one of us has created a certain life and it’s evidenced by looking around you every bit as much as looking inside you. So, personal change doesn’t come from changing your internal dialogue alone; you must change what’s around you. I’m not saying this is easy, but it’s not as hard as you think.

I first encountered this idea at a Fast Track to Cash Flow seminar. Many of you know that Joe and I read a lot of personal finance books, especially those that advocate concepts such as “time is the currency of life” and “passive income.” I think we’ve gotten pretty much all we can out of the FTCF organization, but when we did attend a two-day seminar a couple of years ago, one of the speakers conducted an exercise to make you more aware of the external forces at play in your (financial) life. So, try this simple activity: make a list of the 10 people you spend the most time with. This can be face-to-face time, phone time . . . the point is really to figure out who most of your time is spent with. The second part of the exercise can actually be amended for a variety of purposes. Because we were in a financial seminar, we were looking at the financial aspect of our influences. So, for each of those people, estimate their annual salaries and write them down beside their names. Ballpark figures are fine. Bottom line is, the numbers that you see there give you the very likely range to which you’re restricting yourself.

Is there anything wrong with people who don’t make much money? Maybe they’ve chosen a simpler lifestyle or are really good at doing more with less. Maybe they have other priorities that do align nicely with your own values, and that’s why they’re in your life. But, it’s undeniable that these are the people who influence you on a daily basis. If you have a question, you’re going to ask someone in your circle for their advice. If you have a discussion, you’re going to hear their opinions. You’re going to see them live out their particular lifestyle, which is to a large extent a byproduct of their choices. If you’re looking to change your own financial situation, you have to change the larger influences in your life in order to reap the benefits of role models and seeing how the other half lives.

I’ve also seen this exercise used to measure plain old happiness in life. So, beside each person on your list, give them a score (out of 5 or 10 or 18 if you like; doesn’t matter) as to how “happy” you perceive them to be. Whether or not you’re actually correct doesn’t matter so much, because remember, it’s about the influence they are on you. So, if you perceive them to be happy, as far as you’re concerned, you’re seeing a model of happiness. Look at your list of scores. If you’re surrounding yourself with a bunch of 2’s and 3’s, how could you not be depressed yourself!

It seems cruel to think of people as liabilities. We have no problem saying, “If you want to lose weight, don’t keep crappy food in the house.” But, at some point, we also have to loose the human baggage that weighs us down, too. This can be the friend who lives well beyond his means (subtly sending you the message that you can do it too, or at least causing you to spend way too much when you go out with him) or the person who turns every little thing into a drama and sucks you into a vortex of stress and anxiety.

Now, before all our friends and family start to think that this move was just to get away from them and their toxic influences, let me point out that changing the stage on which your life is played out is also about changing the scenery. For example, we wanted to become more environmentally-conscious and active, but it was damn hard to do that living like mole people in a basement without windows! Yesterday it rained here. . . about 4 times, often for no more than 5 minutes at a time. In Toronto, we had very little concept of weather. Weather was reduced to a number or two (the high and the low, when we were really in tune with nature) and it was something that someone else told us. (And, since the basement was always cold, the temperature outside was often meaningless anyway.) We’ve been pretty freaked out by how quickly and frequently the weather can change here! We’re so much more aware of our environment here, whereas in Toronto we could easily miss entire thunderstorms if we were in the basement.

We also changed the inside environment of our home. Instead of cold tile throughout (that’s supposed to be bad for you in bare feet, but I can’t remember why) we have the lovely cork floor. There’s still a lot of construction dust and debris so I only feel comfortable walking bare foot on certain parts of the floor, but I have to say, this floor just feels so good on your feet. Joe dropped a dish and instead of a harsh, shrill clang, there was a gentle thud against the cork — wonderful for my high strung nerves! We even painted the bedroom, the first time we have ever painted a place we’ve lived in, and the escape from greyish-white feels amazing.

Sure we could have painted in Toronto. If we’d really cared, we could have changed the floor. But, we didn’t own the place. We could have bought a place in Toronto or a little outside the GTA instead of Dauphin, but then we’d be slaves to a mortgage and I wouldn’t be sitting in my pyjamas at noon writing about my floors; I’d have to be working to pay for them. Not the reality I wanted for myself.

The bottom line is, we do create our own reality. So, if you’re unhappy with your life, you can change it. But, for serious results, you need to think about all the things around you that you have the power to change and the things that you might need to change in order to see a real difference. As Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We may not have created the perfect reality for us yet, but no one can say we’re not trying!

We are in the house. It’s still unfinished, but the work is coming along, and we’re trying to live here for one night. We can’t shower and we can’t cook, but we can sleep, watch TV and be online. In fact, this is the first communication from the new house, and at pretty high speeds, thanks to Westman Cable Internet.

After this, the next step is to be able to cook or shower, I don’t really care which. Our friend John will be working non-stop for about the next 3 days, and he’ll make great progress in that time. Our saga with Wasauna’s shipping department continues, but that’s for another entry.

For the first time in 65 nights, we’re sleeping in our home. That’s important.

One of the primary factors behind our move was the environment — both the environment that we all share, and the environment within our living quarters. When we began the plans for our home renovation we wanted to incorporate

• sustainable, renewable materials so as not to burden the environment
• non-toxic/allergenic substances for air quality and overall health benefits
• alternative energy sources, particularly solar power (since we are in the second sunniest city in Canada!)

Additionally, we decided to go the “small spaces living” route. (And, this was 3 years ago when this topic wasn’t yet being covered on Oprah.) I freely admit that my initial motivation was somewhat out of laziness — I really wasn’t looking forward to the cleaning and maintenance that a house required. Especially when we know from experience that we don’t actually live in that much space. Every place we’ve lived has had at least some area that became junk storage or a room for the cats. Furthermore, every move has involved a non-trivial amount of purging of “stuff.” We knew that we didn’t need that much room nor that much stuff.

So, how have we done on the renovations? Have we been able to stick to our initial plans? Let’s see. . .

THE BONES:

Our house sits on a corner lot 50 ft. by 132 ft. It’s about 625 square feet on one floor, plus a full, open, unfinished basement which gives us another 625 square feet of room.

The good: small space requiring us to keep our possessions to a minimum; lots of green outside; room for an addition if necessary; walking distance to almost all amenities in town
The less good: No real cons/sacrifices regarding our location

THE FLOOR PLAN:

Initially, the house consisted of a kitchen/dining room area separated by a wall on one side of the “hallway” and 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom on the other side. (Bedrooms were 9′ by 12′ and 9′ by 9′ respectively, with a 9′ by 5′ washroom.)

To create a feeling of openness, we took down the wall between the kitchen and living room, as we lls as the one between the bedroom and the living room. We also moved the wall between the washroom and Joe’s office so that the bathroom is now 9′ by 8′ and Joe’s office is 9′ by 6′ (due to the placement of the office window, Joe’s office is a few inches smaller and the bathroom a tad larger). When we looked at where we’d be spending the most time, and since Joe’s larger office became a bit of a clutter magnet in the old place, it made sense to minimize his office space to a minimal workstation and storage area with a door to close out the cats.

The good: open space concept gives flexibility for a small living area,
The less good: We have yet to see how workable Joe’s office is; removing the bedroom wall also removed the bedroom closet, so we need to reintroduce clothing storage; bedroom is now open to living room, so we either need to keep it neat or invest in temporary room division (curtain where the wall used to be? paper room divider?)

THE WALLS:

Although not part of the original plan, all the walls were stripped down to studs, reinsulated and re-drywalled. In the process of having all new energy efficient windows installed, we came across mould in some of the outside walls, so we did a total strip down and rebuild. Not only is it nice to know that we won’t be breathing in toxic mould, but also we can rest easy knowing that proper drywall has been installed throughout the house (e.g. waterproof for the bathroom), which wasn’t orginally the case.

This could have been an opportunity to use a cool, new “green” material for insulation (options ranging from hemp to recycled paper to mushroom spores to used denim) but since it wasn’t part of the original plan, we didn’t really have the time to explore these possibilities and, more importantly, get them to Dauphin quickly and economically! So, while I would have been even happier with a natural substance inside our walls, that will have to wait ’till next time.

The good: Everything brand new! no mould, drywall that satisfies fire code as well as usage needs in damp areas of the house
The less good: Would have preferred green insulation material

THE FLOOR

The floor is one aspect of the house I’m pretty happy with. Our entire main floor (so, basically not the basement) is being covered with cork flooring. When exploring sustainable wood options (carpet was not an option because of my allergies) it basically came down to bamboo or cork. We chose cork because of it’s natural cushioning and anti-bacterial properties. Also, cork seems to be a more common product, at least in our neck of the woods, so it was easier to find people who had actually done it and get their feedback. I also preferred the look of cork, and expect its naturally varying design to be more forgiving to spills, nicks etc. than bamboo, which has more the look of hardwood. At the time I’m writing this, our subfloor is laid, but not the cork yet, so this is probably the thing I’m most excited about returning home to see!

The good: sustainable resource; resilient material that will stand up to wear and tear; naturally cushioning to provide ease on joints when standing/walking; natural variations in colour/appearance diminishes the appearance of wear; no carpets to collect dust/allergens
The less good: we have yet to see how it will hold up to cat puke, but otherwise, we’re VERY happy with our choice based on what we know so far!

THE ROOF

The roofers are weeks behind schedule because of all the rain Manitoba has uncharacteristically been getting this summer, but we have an entire re-shingling, re-routing of drain pipes, and sun tunnel installation planned for the near future. Admittedly, I don’t know what shingles are supposed to do, but new ones must be good for the house! But, the real treat is going to be the the solar tubes/sun tunnels which take light hitting the roof and bounce it into the house through tubes of angled metal. The solar panels will have to wait since the renovation has taken longer than planned and consequently we’re in a rush to make the house inhabitable so we can stop living in a hotel! Despite the delay in diving into solar energy to partially power the house, we’ve got good reason to be very excited about the sun tunnels: lighting is actually the most efficient use of solar energy because there’s no loss of energy during the transfer from one form to another (e.g. light energy to electrical energy). So, at least we’re starting with something that will make the best use of the solar energy while at the same time reduce our electricity usage for lighting. As with the floors, this is a project I feel VERY good about.

The good: A new roof can’t be bad; drains reconfigured for better drainage away from the house; sun tunnels to incorporate natural light; purchased locally
The less good: I don’t know enough about roofs to know what we could have done differently. If anyone wants to let me know, feel free! In my current state of ignorance, I feel pretty good about the roof!

THE KITCHEN COUNTERTOP

Joe’s one wish for the house was a kitchen countertop made entirely of butcher block so that every space could be food prep space. After the cramped quarters he was forced to cook in at 591 Sheppard, how could I possibly refuse him? We researched the material pretty well to make sure it was as sanitary as we believed, and a local cabinet maker undertook the task of creating the 3-inch-thick countertop for us. With everything there is to worry about, I do wonder how seriously we have to worry about toxic emissions from something like a kitchen counter, but it is nice knowing that we were able to replace one typically artifical material from the home and replace it with something natural. I know the trend is to go for stone, but if you’re going to spend that much money, you want something that will look good for a long time. Natural stones like marble just didn’t seem like they were going to cut it. And, if it needs to be repaired? With our butcher block, the worst that happens is we undertake a pretty intense sanding. And, like the cork floor, natural variations are expected so we won’t spend our simplified lives worrying about how well expensive renovations stand the test of time.

The good: natural material requiring only natural cleaning solutions; efficient use of space; generally anti-bacterial if maintained properly; longevity/durability; relatively local product; supported local craftsman
The less good: requires easy but careful, regular maintenance, natural but not sustainable material

THE TOILET

Another absolute must for us was the dual-flush toilet. (As she gets up to pee. . . ) This move was a no-brainer because it’s now possible to walk into almost any hardware centre and pick up a water-conserving toilet. We chose the EcoQuantum Conservation Toilet (4L small flush, 6L big flush) based in part on this review and its MaP (Maximum Performance) rating. . . measured in grams. There were 2 other models available in our local stores, but it was difficult to find information about the brands, and one had a much lower MaP rating. (There was no question in our minds we were going with a water-conserving dual flush toilet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be a little nervous about the undertaking!) A 6L/3L model exists, but that would have required shipping from the US, so we settled on the best local option we could find and find information about. Fortunately or not, depending on how you look at it, Joe and I are also now comfortable enough after 9 years to employ a modest variation on Grandma and Grandpa’s conservation strategy. (I still can’t see outright asking Joe whether he, “wants to go before I flush” though!)

The good: dual-flush (water efficient); purchased locally
The less good: small flush is still a pretty hefty 4L (other models as low as 3L)

QUESTIONABLE GREENING

No one’s perfect, and while being environmentally-conscious of our choices is extremely important to us, it ain’t always easy being green! There are two areas in which we are trying to make the best of bad situations:

#1. THE SHOWER

If you look up “ridiculous” in the dictionary, you will find the Wasauna A010. This is an absolutely ridiculous item, and I’m not even exactly sure how we ended up with it. But, if you consider “quality of life” as part of our renovation rationale, then this should count for something! In the cold Manitoba winters, a 2-person, enclosed shower actually makes a lot of sense, I think. And, we did make obvious sacrifices living in a basement for 27 months, not the least of which was the “powder room” sized bathroom in which we showered, shaved, and brushed — often at the same time. I suppose I didn’t think of the tiny kitchen as much of a sacrifice since I was never in it, but the morning choreography in (and around, since we couldn’t always both fit in at the same time) the bathroom was not the best start to the day.

Enter the A010, a space-age steam shower/whirlpool tub combination that boasts such features as a foot massager, multiple shower heads (including the rain ceiling), two seats, water reheater for the tub (so you don’t have to refill with more hot water), mp3 player/CD input, speaker telephone, aromatherapy, mood lighting and 360-degree spraying (front and back). Have I used the word ridiculous yet? If the stress of getting it shipped here from the US doesn’t kill us, then I’m soon it will quickly wash away after a few uses of this baby. . .

The good: most energy and water efficient model of its kind available
The less good: uses electricity 24/7; required shipping from US and factory production (carbon emissions); we suspect it will be so nice we will shower/soak more often than we do now!

–THE PLASMA TV

I say plasma only because I think the model we settled on is in fact a plasma. We didn’t set out wanting a plasma per se; our goal was simply something flat. At this point, I don’t think the differences between LCD and plasma are significant enough to matter to us. Our biggest concern is getting a superior product in our price range, so high customer ratings and shining reviews are going to be the deciding factor when we are ready to plunk down the credit card. There aren’t going to be any service technicians in Dauphin, and returning a defective unit will mean at least a 2 hour trip to the nearest city centre, so I want something that will work and last.

Plasmas tend to use more energy than LCDs, and both of these use more energy than an old school CRT, so it will be upon us to unplug the set when not in use. Our PVR set up, however, will unavoidably be a 24/7 operation. We are not likely to kick our television habit, especially with the closest movie theatre and bookstore being 2 hours away. Chalk this up to the quality of life category, too, given that our PVR allows us to be blissfully ignorant of television scheduling (thereby not missing out on life’s other opportunities) and simply watch what we want, when we want, with no commercials. It’s not quite the same as TiVo, but our home-made, computer-based PVR is about as close to that as you’re going to get in Canada.

Update: Apparently there’s a new technology that Toshiba intended (as of March 2006) to start producing last month for availability in Q4 2007. It appears to be a flat-screen improvement upon CRT technology. If it’s close to being a reality, and a significantly better option, we may just watch tv on our laptops for a while.  Now you know what I’ll be doing for the next few days!

The good: we designed the house to only require 1 television that can be viewed from almost anywhere in the house (kitchen, eating area, living room, bedroom) via a swing-arm wall mount; energy efficient model and we will ensure it is unplugged when not in use
The less good: We just can’t beat our TV habit! A luxury item, not a necessity; Home built computer-based PVR including storage drives will need to be powered 24/7; carbon emissions in production and shipping

So, my conclusion is that while we haven’t been the greenest renovators, I think we can be pleased with what we’ve managed to do with our limited knowledge and local resources. There’s definitely more to come once we can live there, see how the space functions and what our concerns are. We certainly haven’t even touched the surface of the more radical options available to us; most of what we did was easily commercially available. We look forward to exploring our alternative energy options including solar panels and geothermal heating/cooling. (Thanks to stg’s comment with a tip on earth warming tubes for free AC, ventilation and dehumidifying!) Updates on those larger projects to come at a later date!