Choose your battles carefully.

As soon as my children became teenagers, one of the best pieces of advice was short, simple, and to the point.  “Choose your battles carefully,” was the advice from those much wiser than I.

RIDE THE WIND
In other words, instead of constantly peddling into the wind, make the choice to ride the wind.  Circumstances can be confusing, frustrating, irritating, and at times, even scary.  But, they can be even worse when a person is constantly battling a head wind!  Don’t fight losing battles, concentrate on “riding the wind” and the battles will seem much better.

PICK BATTLES SMALL ENOUGH TO WIN
The same can be said when it comes to home maintenance.  “Those leaky windows drive me nuts,”  or “I get so frustrated with the fuel bill that I can’t sleep at night,” are examples of battles that should be more carefully managed.  As a homeowner, you have a choice to make….live with the drafty, energy sucking windows that you have now, or do something about it!

REPLACING WINDOWS CAN BE A SMALL VICTORY THAT REALLY MATTERS
Peddling into the wind can take on a entirely new meaning when we are talking about replacing windows.  Today’s energy efficient windows contain insulating values approaching R 10.0, and air infiltration numbers that were unheard of a few years ago.  Trying to figure out where to start, and find the dollars to pay for the improvement tend to be the driving force behind a decision to do nothing.  That is, however, the worse thing you can do.  Pick a window, any window in your house (I like to advise people to start with window that they know is in bad shape, or a unit that they regularly interact with.) and make the commitment, the decision, the choice, to get a new replacement window installed into the opening.  Indecision can be a costly mistake.  Choose your battle, make a battle plan, AND follow through.