The day I added it all up.
A while after I left, I sat down and totaled what I paid every month — heating and cooling, a cupboard full of cleaners, pest control, the water bill, things I'd never once questioned. Then I thought about my grandparents, who ran a bigger house than mine and paid for almost none of it.
They weren't wealthy. They were taught. They knew which fixes cost a few dollars and which were worth hiring out, and which quiet habits saved money all year round. Nobody ever sent them a bill for what they simply knew.
"They never earned much. They just never paid twice for the same thing."
So I wrote down everything I could remember and tested it in an ordinary house with drywall, a thermostat, and a meter. Three volumes later, it's all here — plainly, so you can do at your own pace what their whole generation took for granted.
