Dare I say it… winter is wrapping up here in upstate New York and I finally got my first gas and electric bill with an actual read. Armed with new information I sat down and worked the numbers a little to determine how much the new furnace had saved me.
Knowing that I spend just over $1,200 last year in heating oil charges it was a huge relief to know that I paid a total of $604 in gas AND electric from September 24 until February 13. Take out the charges for electric and I am certainly spending less than half of what I was paying for oil. I only wish I had done this sooner.
Once that old furnace was hauled out of the basement I was left with an old oil tank in the basement. In order to get rid of it I posted in on Craigslist – you want it? come and get it: don’t mess up my house. After a little farting around with someone who showed up and had no idea what they were doing I dismissed them and re-posted. This time a little more informed about what the job entailed and was able to find a great guy who came and pumped out all the remaining oil and hauled away the tank. Once that was done I was able to clean out the corner and paint it nicely.
Now I have a much more efficient furnace and extra room in the basement too.
Besides the furnace swap I did decide to build some new three-over-one storm windows for the front porch and pull out the other wooden ones I removed when I moved in.This keeps the snow off the floor and saves me from moving all the furniture into the garage. This in turn makes it easier for me to park inside during the winter. I’d say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Once the winter passes I’ll open the porch back up since these windows only clip in with hook & eye fasteners.
Other than that I haven’t done much of anything around the house. I unlike many of my neighbors have been spared the wrath of the ice damming issues and icicles in general. Likely because the attic floor is well insulated.
As soon as the weather breaks I am looking forward to building a small field-stone retaining wall along the front of the house and considering doing a little repair work on the back patio. Other than that I’m taking it easy.
Ittybittybungalow 
I’m a little late commenting on this – your post got lost down in my inbox – but wanted to say that I’m tremendously impressed with the windows you did for your front porch. A practical solution for the reasons you mentioned, but one that also looks really good. I’m wondering if it also enabled you to stretch the season a little bit as far as use of the porch.
And I’m glad your new furnace proved itself over the winter months. You have your place well nigh perfect, and I’m sure someone will be eager to snap it up when the time comes. Wish I could transport it to North Georgia! It’s just what I would love to have, but they’re in short supply where I live. I would have to build new to get anything similar.
Don’t forget to let us see the retaining wall and anything you might do to the back yard.
Enjoy your summer.