00:00:00.000class is in session hey everybody welcome to unlearn 16 class is in session uh today i'm
00:00:10.160gonna rant today i am simply going to rant i'm in a different location as you can see
00:00:17.600i'm simply going to rant all by my lonesome about what it is to own a home and listen
00:00:24.000Before I get deep into it, I understand that I am very lucky and privileged and thankful that I own a home, but there's a lot of things you're supposed to know about owning a home that nobody ever really tells you.
00:00:41.960You're just supposed to like fumble your way through.
00:00:44.860And then there's just things that become, you know, incredibly frustrating.
00:01:22.020And I forgot to shut it off one year, one time. I forgot to shut it off and it exploded and leaked into my grandma's room. So much water was coming into that room and it was in the middle of the night and I could faintly hear something. I'm like, what is that? That's a weird noise.
00:01:43.540and it woke me up and I came downstairs. My mom, my grandma lived in the basement apartment. I come
00:01:50.800downstairs to the main floor of the house from upstairs. I'm like, that's weird. And I can kind
00:01:54.880of hear it from the garage. So I go out to the garage and all of a sudden I see water, like just
00:02:01.400an insane sum of water. And instinctively, I have no idea what to do. I have no instincts,
00:02:09.160zero instincts when it comes to what I was supposed to do to stop that water.
00:02:13.180And then I'm like, oh, it's blown so much water. It's, it's shooting it at the drywall,
00:02:20.020at the drywall. It's eaten away at the drywall and it's obviously running down into the basement.
00:02:25.780So I go into the basement, my grandma's fast asleep. It's in her room where it's running
00:02:30.660down and it's now flooding into her room. I don't know about a quarter of an inch,
00:02:36.060maybe half an inch. It's wet. It's wet when I'm walking in there. I go in there. I get up on the
00:02:42.580thing. I at least am half intelligent enough to shut off the water to the outside. So I shut off
00:02:51.700the water. I get a guy to come in. They fix it. Insurance, replace the floor, yada, yada. My0.78
00:02:58.040insurance pretty much doubles. I understand. Was that my fault? Would that be considered negligence?
00:03:06.060So if it was considered negligence, then I get it. If it's not considered negligence, and this is just the reason why you have homeowning insurance, why on earth does my homeowning insurance go up double after that is my question. Because in retrospect, I rather would have just paid however much it costs to be fixed.
00:03:28.420anyways so that happened so guys guess what I never want that to happen again
00:03:33.260it's now firmly ingrained in my head you either got to be smart you got to be tough and that day
00:03:40.300I had to be tough and then I got smart so the following year I think or maybe maybe a few years
00:03:48.320thereafter I shut off the water like I do every year and I turn it back on a couple summers ago
00:03:58.220a few summers ago, and it happens again. And I'm like, I shut it off. I'm like, what the heck is
00:04:04.160this? So I get another guy, plumber comes out, his name's Nestor. He's lovely. He comes out and he
00:04:10.100goes, here's the deal. The pipe going from the bedroom, like in the basement, out to the concrete
00:04:18.060of your garage, not even the one going out to the outside, to the garage. When you shut off the
00:04:25.620water and you drain the water, right? So there's nothing in that. The pipe, and I know you guys
00:04:31.020can't see this, you're listening to it, but the pipe going out to the garage is at a little bit
00:04:36.300of angle sloped up. Why would they do that is my first question. Is that on purpose? Because that
00:04:44.400doesn't make any sort of purposeful sense. So if it's angled up, what happens is some water still
00:04:50.100got kept in the pipe? Does that, you know, I turn on the water, some, some water still got kept in
00:04:56.200there. So Nestor goes, well, here's what you have to do. There's this little valve. It's like a drain
00:05:01.820valve inside the house that you have to open to drain the tiny little bit of water that gets into
00:05:07.900there, um, that gets in there and then drain that all out. So it doesn't expand and, and split the
00:05:14.920pipe, which is what it did. So at the end of the day, guys, I don't even want to turn the water
00:05:19.420back on outside. You know, do I need to water my grass? Maybe it's just one of those things
00:05:27.440that I don't want to do anymore because watering, it causes so many problems. And are we just using
00:05:35.500resources for stupid things like really, really green grass? I don't know. Nonetheless, you know0.99
00:05:42.380how many times I watered my grass this summer? Zero. So when I shut off my water just now,
00:05:47.300wasn't much to shut off because there was no water in those pipes. Everything was like
00:05:50.700bone dry. Fine. That's not the point of this podcast. Then at the end of this summer,
00:05:58.840I go out back. Now, do I spend a lot of time in my backyard? No, no, I don't. Do I spend a lot of
00:06:05.100money and a lot of time and a lot of energy on the way my backyard looks? Again, no. Do I like
00:06:12.500the great outdoors. Not especially. But I do have to go back there every once in a while.
00:06:18.600And it was getting overgrown and it looked ridiculous. And, you know, I have bushes that
00:06:23.800have been put in that look nice if they're kept trim, but I don't have a chainsaw. I don't have
00:06:29.840the ability to go up and, you know, all of those kinds of tools. And to be honest, I don't have
00:06:36.120time nor the inclination. So I don't go back there very often. So by the time I go back there,
00:06:40.940it looks like a scene out of Jumanji. Jumanji? Jumanji. Dangerous. You don't know if something
00:06:49.380could take a snap at you. I could have families of people living back there and never even know it.
00:06:55.580I have weeds that technically at this point are trees, so I don't even know if bylaw-wise I can
00:07:00.900remove them because they've gotten that big. So I went out and I looked at it. I'm like,
00:07:04.760oh my God. And then I stepped on the deck and my foot. It's a wood deck, guys. It's a wood deck.
00:07:13.440And at this point, there's about three or four big spots that are just rotted. Done. I could,
00:07:20.520I like the incredible, I could rip it off with my bare hands. So now I know I need a new deck.
00:07:26.220Do I want to do a new deck? No, no, I don't. But at this point, it's just dangerous. Also,
00:07:31.340at this point, you realize that in Ontario, there's this boxwood disease.
00:07:38.400I don't know, pestilence, a plague has infected boxwoods and it's killed. I have them all lined
00:07:44.980up sort of in front of the house. They were beautiful. All dead. It looks, you know, it
00:07:51.240looks like when you slay a vampire on Buffy and it just goes to dust. They're dust. They're boxwood
00:07:58.620dust. So those are done. So those all need to be ripped out. I have evergreens to the one side
00:08:05.680and there may be six of them. One of them's completely dead. Obviously that has to be
00:08:10.900ripped out. The trees at the back are fine, but they're overgrown and overwhelmed. And really
00:08:16.540the backyard's more weed than anything else. So now I have to take care of this. Now I have to
00:08:23.300figure out who's going to do the deck, how much I'm going to spend on the deck. Am I going to get
00:08:28.380um astroturf for the backyard fake grass because my good friend uh melissa got fake grass and she
00:08:36.000said it's the most the best thing she's ever invested in it's fantastic i feel like it's
00:08:40.020right up my alley but that's going to be a cost as well so now at this point i cut the grass it
00:08:45.540looks tidy but i the whole thing's got to go so now in my head i'm like do i do it now question
00:08:53.540that's a genuine question if you could make the comments below if anybody knows anybody amazing
00:08:59.060landscapers deck people um that think it's a good time to deal with this situation now
00:09:08.180throw them email me the number three p-o-m-m-e-s gmail.com i would love to talk about it and try to
00:09:15.940figure something out because it's hurting my brain or do i wait till next spring and just
00:09:19.700deal with it then because at the end of the day nobody's going out there in the winter
00:09:23.540again, nobody went out there in the summer, but so there's another cost, right? And is it to my
00:09:28.780own neglect? Yes. Yes, it is. I don't care. It's not, I want it to look nice. I don't want to have
00:09:37.020to upkeep it. I, I hate even like, like the hose situation's a problem. It's like solidified.
00:09:46.000I can't even unscrew the hose in my, it's a whole situation. I can't even undo it for most,
00:09:52.380most of the time. So that needs fixing. And now I need to decide, well, what do I do? Do I do a
00:09:58.060new deck? Do I do patio stones? Do I just put grass? Do I do the astroturf on the whole thing?
00:10:03.960What do I do about those trees? Do the trees attract bugs? Are the bugs a reason why I don't
00:10:08.220want to go out there? Will I ever go out there? These are a lot of big questions, guys, of home
00:10:13.420ownership. So all of that's happening. So I have that happening. My front looks good, but I'm
00:10:22.360taking care of that. And now it's October 15th and I'm no longer using air conditioning. Although
00:10:29.100we were using, like it was warm in Ontario for quite the beginning of October. So I hadn't tried
00:10:35.000out my heater until today, until today. So I woke up this morning and the house was 18 degrees.
00:10:44.380that's right 18 is that chilly yes yes it is that's our starting point now so I have no idea
00:10:53.060how cold it's going to get tonight but that's our starting point um and so I thought oh well
00:10:59.160I'll put on the heat I'll warm it up a little bit put on the heat I go about my day um by
00:11:05.720five six hours later it's 18.5 and I feel the heat and to be honest it's mostly just blowing
00:11:13.500out cool air. So I have a question. So does that mean my heat, my furnace is broken altogether?
00:11:22.440I go down to look at it. It seems to be blinking a red and a green at the same time. Do I know what
00:11:30.400that means? Absolutely not. Am I thinking a pilot light scenario? Yes. Do I know what to do about
00:11:36.960the pilot light? No, no, I don't. Now I know my weaknesses and I know my strengths. Want to know
00:11:44.840what my strength is? Buy a protection plan. So when this happens, you pick up the phone and you
00:11:50.820call somebody and they come take care of it and you've already paid for it. You don't have to
00:11:53.860worry about it. It's covered. It's all covered. Here's the issue. They're not coming out right
00:12:00.480away. Right? Now I'd like to be here. Anna doesn't like dealing with it. She doesn't want any part
00:12:06.280of it. My mom can't deal with it so much anymore. She gets overwhelmed and has trouble getting1.00
00:12:10.880around and Presley loses his mind. So really, it kind of has to be me, but I got to go to work
00:12:16.420tomorrow. I got to go to work tomorrow. They're not coming on. Of course, it's on the Monday of
00:12:21.140a long weekend that I figure this out, right? They're not coming today. They're not coming
00:12:26.380today. They're coming tomorrow between 10 and 2. Reliance. Shout out to Reliance because saying
00:12:32.580between 10 and 2, thank you. I appreciate it. Very classy, very demure, very cutesy. Because
00:12:41.380normally it's a much bigger window, and I was worried it was going to be a window where Anna
00:12:46.800wasn't here, and I wasn't home yet, and then it was going to be on my mom. So I appreciate you.
00:12:52.880Have I given it all to these people? Yeah, of course I have. Of course I have. Now, some of
00:12:59.880you're like, well, Joanna, what are you complaining about? Like, it's not a big deal.
00:13:02.920Well, it still is a big deal because it's still my responsibility. And owning a house and knowing,
00:13:08.880and by the way, that's just a fraction of things that I should have to know about, right?
00:13:13.400Trying to know all of these things and get them all done and taken care of and have a job and
00:13:20.320then take care of your family and then take care, it's a lot, guys. Like, I have a question. Ducks,
00:13:27.420not the quacking kind the kind of venting system in your house how often do you get them cleaned
00:13:35.100and if I don't get them cleaned what are the ramifications
00:13:40.880and why have the duct people stopped calling me altogether did they just give up on me did
00:13:48.560they call me a few times and then say nah she always tells us no because I have got my ducks
00:13:53.100cleaned a couple of times. Once when I first moved into the house, because it was a brand new house
00:13:57.980and you have to get, because of all this, the whatever. And then we got the basement redone.
00:14:01.540I got them cleaned again, not once, but twice because of all the dust and all the crap that's0.76
00:14:06.580in your, right? But they weren't, apparently they weren't very dirty. But now I'm thinking,
00:14:11.020is this what's in the way of my heating vent? Because there's also like, could the power cord
00:14:16.640have been tripped. If the power cord is tripped to your furnace, then those, I'm assuming those
00:14:24.120lights don't blink though. I think that's a solid assumption because I don't, the light switch seems
00:14:30.760to be on and those lights are blinking. If the lights are blinking, the power has to be on.
00:14:35.540Am I right? None of this is to speak to any plumbing issues. So very recently Reliance,
00:14:42.220again, cutesy, demure, classy, called me up and said, would you like extra coverage for plumbing?
00:14:47.760And this is the funniest conversation I've ever had because I already know that Reliance is
00:14:53.880offering this coverage because my friend Ryan told me he just got it. I'm like, that's brilliant.
00:14:59.120I'm going to call and get it. He's like, it's a really good deal. It's like $20 a month. You
00:15:03.720have a problem with plumbing. Boom. Plumbers come, not your cost. Easy peasy. I'm like, I'm in. I
00:15:10.320love it. So I booked that. She called me last week, just out of the blue, like a random call
00:15:18.760and said, you know, she goes, hi, this is Reliance. I just wanted to let you know that we're offering
00:15:25.280a plumbing service or whatever. So if you pay X amount, you get plumbing coverage. And I said,
00:15:33.440yes. Guys, she got a sentence out and she said, plumbing, extra coverage. I said, yes.0.98
00:15:41.900And she didn't even understand what I said. She then went into the sales pitch. I stopped her.
00:15:48.040I said, hun, I'm in. I'm all in. I say yes. And she goes, well, can I please explain it? I'm like,
00:15:54.300why are we explaining it more? Now, what I realized is she's so used to people saying no,
00:15:59.380that without me hanging up, she didn't know that I said yes because that never ever happened. So
00:16:05.380she just continued on the sales pitch of trying to get me this, to buy this thing for $20 a month.0.67
00:16:10.800And I'm not lying about 20 minutes in, I said, I'm going to stop you right here. And she goes,
00:16:15.720oh, I go, can you just listen to me for one second? I'm going to take it. Stop selling it
00:16:23.340to me and just write, how much are we talking? And she said, $20. I said, I'm taking it.
00:16:28.900She goes, and this was her response. Really? And at this point, I just realized like how hard her
00:16:38.200job is and how many no's she hears in the day that her brain couldn't conceptualize of somebody
00:16:44.440actually saying yes. So guys, I had to talk her into it at that point. Now, here's the funnier
00:16:52.020part. So I got all that said and done. I was on the phone way too long, especially since I said
00:16:57.300yes, three minutes in. And at the very end, she goes, well, since I have you on the phone,
00:17:01.880would you also like electrical coverage? I said, listen, can we not push it? You got to know when
00:17:09.300to hold them, when to fold them. Because I said, yes, I was all in. Bob's your uncle. He's got to
00:17:16.660walk away. You can't ask me for another $20 a month. You just got to know. You got to know
00:17:22.460at that point. So nonetheless, I have that coverage too. So I got it all. I just, I don't
00:17:31.720want to be responsible for it. This is the time where you're like, you know, when you're a kid,
00:17:38.000I guess, and just like all those things were sort of taken care of in the ether. You don't even know
00:17:42.260how. It's like everything just worked. Well, everything just worked because, you know,
00:17:47.600your parents, your grandparents, whoever took care of it for you, which I find fascinating.
00:17:54.440I like to go back to that time. So now I'm sitting in a house, a little chilly,
00:17:59.520not going to lie. I'll be sleeping in a sweatsuit tonight. If we're already at 18.5,
00:18:04.760I don't know what that takes us down to. And I'm actually thinking I did a disservice today by
00:18:09.660turning on the heat and going about my day. Cause since it was pumping out cold air,
00:18:12.980probably could have got warmer in here than what it actually did. So that's on me. Oops.
00:18:23.180And outside of that, what else do I have to do? While I'm ranting to you guys,
00:18:30.220next weekend, I have to take my entire school to Halloween Haunt. So if you think I'm being a whiny,
00:18:37.620pathetic mess about owning a home and being responsible, you don't have to take a bunch0.99
00:18:45.060of teenagers to Halloween haunt. Freeze your butt off on a Friday night while people try to scare1.00
00:18:52.220the bejesus out of you and you realize at 49 years old that you can't go on the rides anymore0.97
00:18:56.460because they make you sick now. Because my inner ear is that old and it tells me that I'm not
00:19:03.160allowed to have fun anymore. So I'm just going to have to layer up and drink a lot of coffee
00:19:10.100and wait to handle any kid that falls in the park or any argument that happens between, you know,
00:19:18.380significant others that have formed at the park and then break up at the park. And then there's
00:19:22.420somebody crying at the park. It's going to be a whole night. It's going to be a whole night.
00:19:27.720and then the following weekend, I'll have a Halloween party. Hopefully by the Halloween
00:19:34.340party, the heat works in the house. If anybody has any other, you know, ideas about what to do
00:19:40.980about the heat, please drop them in the comments. I'd really, really appreciate it. Or any tricks
00:19:47.120of the trade. You guys have any tricks of the trade when it comes to home ownership? Things
00:19:52.400that I'm not aware of. And you're like, but Joanna, if you just did that preemptively,
00:19:58.140you don't have to be in this crappy position. I want to hear from you. I want to read it. I want
00:20:03.200to hear from you. And I will take you on, um, you know, I will take you on the journey with me
00:20:10.500as I become more of an intelligent, responsible homeowner with an actual skillset.