I have been saving up for a trip to Italy.
I work overtime at every opportunity, cut coupons and never go out to dinner or a movie.
I’ve been riding my bicycle to work to save on gas and setting the thermostat as low as possible. I was very excited because my goal was within reach. I was only a few months away from having enough saved up to book the plane tickets and hotels. Then I got up one morning and noticed the house was much colder than normal. I saw that the outside temperature was down to twelve degrees and assumed I simply needed to bump up the thermostat setting a bit. Unfortunately, this accomplished nothing. I then tried changing the furnace air filter and replacing the batteries in the thermostat. None of my efforts made any difference and I was out of ideas. I am not capable of repairing a natural gas furnace. I searched online for the most likely cause of the problem and knew that I needed to hire a professional. I was extremely reluctant because I knew the service would be expensive. Most HVAC contractors charge a fee simply for showing up. I called around, checked prices and scheduled a repair with the most reasonable HVAC contractor. The guy showed up, inspected the furnace and gave me some very bad news. A crack in the heat exchanger meant that I needed to invest in an entirely new furnace. I figured that this would be the end of my plan of traveling to Italy. The HVAC contractor then explained a low-interest finance option that would cover the cost of the new furnace. I was able to invest in a higher quality furnace and follow through with my travel plans.