Essential Home Must-Haves You Didn’t Know You Needed

[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the Weekend warriors home improvement show, built by Paul Humber. When it comes to big or small projects around the home, Tony and Cory have got the know how and the answers to make your life just a bit easier. Here they are, your weekend warriors, Tony and Corey. You know, Tony, there are a few things that every homeowner should have. [00:00:33] Speaker B: I would say one of them is a job. Every homeowner should have a job and be able to pay their mortgage payment. [00:00:41] Speaker A: All right, I'll give you that. [00:00:44] Speaker B: That's a first. [00:00:45] Speaker A: That's a big number. [00:00:45] Speaker B: That's number one. [00:00:47] Speaker A: That's. That's pretty good. [00:00:48] Speaker B: You know what else a homeowner should have? A key to their house. [00:00:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that too. [00:00:52] Speaker B: Those are really. Those are two really good things. Am I. Am I. Am I hot? Cold? Am I. Where am I at on your list? [00:00:59] Speaker A: No, those aren't bad. Those aren't bad. Basically, I created a list today of things that every homeowner should have that you might not even know that you need. Or you might say, eh, that's dumb. I don't need that. [00:01:13] Speaker B: Oh, are you settling for something that's getting the job done? But there's something that's so much better, and if you'd experienced it one time, you'd say, I can't live without that. [00:01:23] Speaker A: Well, yes, maybe there's some creature comforts in here that everybody should have, but there's also some things that you literally should have, and if you don't, then you should invest in them. For instance, the very first one on my list, a carbon monoxide detector. Every home should have one. They're not standard, they're not code. Yeah, but you should have one. [00:01:44] Speaker B: I have one in my travel trailer. [00:01:46] Speaker A: Yes, Everybody has them in a travel trailer. That is code because. [00:01:52] Speaker B: Because it's smaller. A smaller space. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Maybe. Or maybe how. It's because how they burn. A lot of them have gas. [00:02:01] Speaker B: Oh, right. Gas heat. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Gas heat. [00:02:03] Speaker B: Okay, okay. That makes sense. [00:02:04] Speaker A: You know, and again, there are homes that don't have gas in them at all. Which I guess if that were the case, then you really wouldn't need one. [00:02:14] Speaker B: Interesting carbon monoxide detector. So it makes sense that you would have one probably in the kitchen. [00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:21] Speaker B: Basically, gas appliances. [00:02:23] Speaker A: If you have any gas appliances, a fireplace, anything burning of any kind, or an attached garage even. [00:02:31] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:02:32] Speaker A: So if somebody's running a car inside of a garage or they, you know, maybe they forgot, maybe they left the car running inside the garage and they came in the house. [00:02:42] Speaker B: Well, I'll tell you what, this is the time of year, believe it or not, that that happens a lot because you go outside and it's freezing cold and you want to get into a warm car, right? [00:02:53] Speaker A: And so you start it. [00:02:54] Speaker B: If the car is parked in the garage, you're like, it's only going to be a minute and then I'm going to get in it and go. [00:03:00] Speaker A: But, you know, you come back in the house. [00:03:02] Speaker B: You come back in the house, you. [00:03:03] Speaker A: Get, say, you know what, I don't want to go to work. [00:03:05] Speaker B: One of the kids, you know, gets you sidetracked and you have to put the dog out, you know, whatever it might be. And then it takes longer. [00:03:13] Speaker A: And then you take a nap. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah, you take a nap, and next thing you know, you have carbon monoxide poisoning. [00:03:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it literally is one of those things. They call it the silent killer for a reason. Carbon monoxide, it's not an expensive thing. You can buy one for probably 25, 30 bucks. You plug it in and then they all have batteries in them, usually for backup. [00:03:39] Speaker B: So what you're saying is we need to double down on the smoke alarm frustration. We have smoke alarm frustration. [00:03:47] Speaker A: No. Well, you shouldn't have smoke alarm frustration. [00:03:49] Speaker B: Carbon monoxide fruit frustration. [00:03:51] Speaker A: Because you should be replacing the battery on your smokes alarms every year. [00:03:54] Speaker B: That's right. [00:03:55] Speaker A: Smokes alarms. Smoke alarms. [00:03:56] Speaker B: This is the thing. People wait until these detectors beep. And then when they, when they beep and they beep in the middle of the night, it's always in the middle of the night, never during the day, oddly. And then it beeps in the middle of the night and you get frustrated because you don't want to deal with it at 3:00 in the morning. So you get a broom or a stool, right? And you get it off there and then you tuck it into a pillow, and then you stuff the pillow into the crawl space. [00:04:24] Speaker A: Or you just pull the battery. [00:04:25] Speaker B: No, even after you pull the battery, they still beep. No, it keeps beeping after the batteries out. [00:04:30] Speaker A: I don't know which smoke alarms you buy anyway, so. [00:04:34] Speaker B: But here's the thing. The batteries will last a year. So if you replace the batteries at the same time every year, then they will never beep at you ever. Because you'll always be putting fresh batteries in every year. Putting fresh batteries in, it's a small investment for smoke alarms and for carbon monoxide detectors. [00:04:56] Speaker A: In a carbon monoxide detector, you usually want to put that. Excuse me, somewhere near the bedrooms. That's where you want them. If you have two floors, one on each floor. It's a good investment to have. [00:05:08] Speaker B: So you don't want to put one in the kitchen. [00:05:09] Speaker A: You can, but I'm saying especially near the bedrooms. [00:05:14] Speaker B: So that's when this. When the carbon monoxide leaves the kitchen and goes to the hall. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Creeps under the door. [00:05:21] Speaker B: Stairs. [00:05:22] Speaker A: Sure. [00:05:22] Speaker B: Down to the bedroom. And then it's. And then by the time your entire house is full, if your. If your bedroom is at the opposite end of the house, it's gonna wake you up. Gas supply. Then it's. You're. I mean, you never make it to the front door. [00:05:37] Speaker A: Then buy 12, put one in every room, put it in your kitchen. [00:05:42] Speaker B: Okay. All right. You got me on that. I'm trying to be captain, you know, argument today. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Apparently, smoke alarms. Same thing. You want to have one in every bedroom. You want to have one in the hallway. You want to have one on every level where it's recommended. Change the batteries, and they also make hardwired versions. It's good to have both. To have them battery and hardwired. But if your home doesn't have them or only has a couple, it's. That's a pretty inexpensive thing to do and it will save lives. [00:06:18] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:06:19] Speaker A: Next one on the list, Tony. [00:06:20] Speaker B: Fire extinguisher. [00:06:22] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:22] Speaker B: And it doesn't do you any good to have a fire extinguisher if you don't know how to use it. It doesn't do you any good to have the wrong type of fire extinguisher in the place where you need it. So if you've got a. If you've got a fire extinguisher that's intended for use for a. For a electrical fire, and you've got it in the kitchen where you're going to have a grease fire, it's probably not the right thing. Make sure that you buy the fire extinguisher that has the type on it that is in the area to do the thing that you need it to do. [00:06:53] Speaker A: Many people don't know that. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:55] Speaker A: I think all fire extinguishers are the same. [00:06:57] Speaker B: Yeah. They're not. [00:06:57] Speaker A: They have ratings or classes on them. You can buy like. Like an ABC extinguisher is a mixed use, and it will. It will cover most common fires. But, yeah, you're right. They have them specific for electrical. They have them specific for grease fires, for other different chemical fires and things like that. So. Yeah. Spend the time. [00:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:18] Speaker A: Do a little bit of research. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Yeah. If you've got an audio room where all of your, you know, wires and electrical components Go to. That would be a great place to have, you know, that kind of a fire extinguisher. But you don't, you know, you wouldn't want to have the wrong kind of fire extinguisher for. For a grease fire in the kitchen. Just make it worse. Right. So, yeah, this. That's a good tip. That's a. That's good information. Do some research. Get a fire extinguisher and have it where you need it to do the things that you need it to do. [00:07:50] Speaker A: I just looked up the different types. CO2 fire extinguishers, foam extinguishers, Class C, CO2 powder, water, wet chemical, class B, and class A. I've got a water. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Fire extinguisher in my kitchen. [00:08:05] Speaker A: Oh, man, there's foam, class D. It's right. [00:08:08] Speaker B: It just dumps right into my sink. [00:08:10] Speaker A: Dry chemical, class K. There are so many different types. So take a minute, go to the nfpa. It's the National Fire Protection association. And read all about fire extinguishers. [00:08:25] Speaker B: Yep, good. [00:08:25] Speaker A: You're an adult. Spend a minute. Yep. [00:08:30] Speaker B: It's a good tip. [00:08:31] Speaker A: Next one, this Tony first aid kit. We just had our emergency preparedness month show that we did in September. So a lot of these things are. We're part of that show, but it's a good reminder. Have a first aid kit with everything you need, including bandages, antiseptic, gauze, you know, medications. You want to have all that stuff together. You never know when something's gonna happen. And just having that there ready to go. I'll tell you what I just added to my first aid kit. Tony, I'm gonna share something with you. One of my greatest fears. [00:09:08] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:09:09] Speaker A: Is I have little kids and one of my greatest fears is choking. [00:09:15] Speaker B: Yes. [00:09:15] Speaker A: I have this, like. I don't know why. It's like an irrational fear of my kids choking. I think it was when my son was probably five or six years old, was eating something like a kid does, crazy. And throwing it, you know, big handfuls. And he was choking. And that stuck with me for so long. We were able to. Obviously able to save him and get the thing out of his throat. But I bought this thing that is made almost like a plunger for your mouth. [00:09:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:50] Speaker A: Have you seen these? [00:09:50] Speaker B: No. [00:09:51] Speaker A: They go over your mouth and nose and then it's got like this plunger thing that sucks air out, but it doesn't allow it to get pushed back in. [00:09:59] Speaker B: Okay. [00:09:59] Speaker A: So it's like you put it down and then you plunge it and it sucks whatever's in the throat out. Wow. Like, almost like a Heimlich, but it's not a Heimlich. It just. [00:10:10] Speaker B: Right. Like a vacuum plunger. [00:10:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like a vacuum plunger. [00:10:13] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:10:14] Speaker A: I added that to my first aid kit. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Nice. [00:10:16] Speaker A: You can buy them on Amazon. I think it was a great thing. It's peace of mind. Like, you can even use it on yourself. You know, if you're choking, you can grab it, put it over your mouth, and plunge. [00:10:28] Speaker B: Wow. [00:10:28] Speaker A: Suck whatever's out. [00:10:29] Speaker B: Nice. Genius. [00:10:31] Speaker A: Eating your Cheerios too quickly. [00:10:33] Speaker B: Genius. I love that. You got to be able to act quickly. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Yes. Well, I mean, you know, before you black out. [00:10:39] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. It happens fast. I feel like. [00:10:43] Speaker A: All right, what's the next one tone? [00:10:45] Speaker B: Emergency lighting. Battery operated flashlights or headlamps for when you have a powder out. You know, we use. We like to use candles and oil lamps at our house. We have them, you know, they. They're always right there. Candles and oil lamps are always in the open. [00:11:05] Speaker A: You guys burn a lot of candles and oil lamps? [00:11:07] Speaker B: No, but they're. But they're on the shelf ready to go year round. And so when the time comes, we know where they are and we do that. Of course. We also have some flashlights and a few things. I don't think I have a headlamp charged, but it is a good idea if you don't have a backup generator system for your home, which obviously is the ultimate dream. If you have extra money or money to burn, a backup generator system for your home would be amazing. But in the absence of that, something to use for light in an emergency power outage situation is a good thing to have. [00:11:46] Speaker A: Yeah. A few years ago, was it last year where we had the big ice storm? [00:11:50] Speaker B: Yep. [00:11:51] Speaker A: And it was in the middle of winter, December or January, and we lost power for a good 16 hours, I think, here. And that was a game changer for me because literally the summer before, I was thinking about this, like, what if we had. I'm not a prepper in the sense of the word, but I like to be prepared a little. So I have my go bags and my get home bags and my, you know, different emergency preparedness things. And part of that was, what if we lose power in the wintertime and we're freezing? [00:12:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:33] Speaker A: So I went out and bought a kerosene heater and just to have. Because I like to work out in my garage in this in the wintertime, and I like it to be toasty in there. But the nice part about kerosene heaters is that you can use them inside your home without fear of carbon monoxide. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. All right. [00:12:53] Speaker A: So sure enough, that same winter, last winter, I was able to pull that thing in the house and crank it and our whole house stayed toasty. Our neighbors came over and hung out. [00:13:05] Speaker B: Wow. [00:13:05] Speaker A: All day because their house was freezing cold. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:08] Speaker A: So something to. [00:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good idea. [00:13:12] Speaker A: Add to the repertoire along with emergency lighting. [00:13:16] Speaker B: I'll tell you what, here's one that has come in handy for me just recently. A water shut off tool. So if you need to shut off the water at the, at the city connection, which is out, you know, at the curb or at the, at the edge of your property, it does require a tool. Kind of a long tool with a T shaped handle and a little U shaped tip on the end in order for you to turn that. Because it's. Sometimes it's down a ways and it doesn't have a traditional knob that allows you to turn it. So you need this handle. Well, just recently we had a. We had a water issue in our kitchen and we needed to get that water turned off now. And fortunately we had that very handy, grabbed it, got it turned off quickly and didn't have a major mess to clean up. [00:14:04] Speaker A: Absolutely. That is one of those things. If you're not familiar with how to turn off your water, I would suggest doing it. Both you and your spouse both do it. So you both know how it's done and you both know where the tool is and that that will save so much money. [00:14:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:14:22] Speaker A: If it's needed. [00:14:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:14:23] Speaker A: It's just kind of one of those things. And the tool's not expensive? [00:14:26] Speaker B: Nope. It's not very inexpensive. [00:14:28] Speaker A: What, what are we talking about? 10 bucks at the most? [00:14:30] Speaker B: Sure, sure. [00:14:31] Speaker A: Next one on the list, Tony, is surge protectors. A lot of people have power strips. There's a difference between a power strip and a surge protector. [00:14:43] Speaker B: Well, sometimes there's power strips with surge protectors. [00:14:46] Speaker A: Well, that. [00:14:47] Speaker B: Yes. [00:14:47] Speaker A: But sometimes there's just power strips without surge protectors. Power strips that all they are are just multiple plugs. [00:14:53] Speaker B: Power strip without surge protection. Dangerous. [00:14:56] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it can be. But if you have something that you're trying to protect, like your television or an expensive anything, anything electronic that is expensive when you plug it into a power strip that doesn't have surge protection and there is a lightning strike or anything like that, where there's a power surge, you can roast your electronics. I've had hard drives get roasted that were plugged in directly to the wall. I've lost them, so that's a bummer. [00:15:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:33] Speaker A: Anyway, a surge protector. Add that to your list. It's a good one to have. [00:15:38] Speaker B: I have a. I have a surge protector that is a 10 outlet power strip that is behind my entertainment center area. And I have a. I have a heater. Not a heater. I have an electric fireplace. And so the electric fireplace was on and it was plugged into the surge protector. I'm here to tell you right now, that's a mistake. Don't do that. That heater needs to be plugged in that, whatever I called it, electric fireplace. It needs to be plugged into the wall because it was plugged in there and it overheated at the plug where the plug was plugged into the surge protector. [00:16:20] Speaker A: Pulling too many amps and ultimately the. [00:16:24] Speaker B: Surge protector shut off. And then all I ended up with was a little bit of blackness and some melted plug. But if that had. If, if that had. If that surge protector had not been a surge protector and it had just been, you know, a power strip, just a power strip that caught fire probably and burned my whole house down. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Could have. [00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So that's a scary thing. That's the only thing I've ever really dealt with like that. [00:16:51] Speaker A: But it makes me think of Christmas vacation. [00:16:54] Speaker B: Yikes. [00:16:55] Speaker A: Where Clark Griswold has all the Christmas lights plugged into the multitudes of splitters. Next one on the list, Tony, is a weather radio. The noaa, which is the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Is that right, Noah? It's a weather radio that will alert you when there's an emergency, even if there's no Internet and if you get the right one that have battery backups, even if you have no power. The. No, we growing up, we always had one because I grew up in the Midwest where we would have tornado warnings. And when that little radio popped on and broadcasted its emergency channel over the whole house, we were running to the basement. [00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:45] Speaker A: Not too much of an issue here in Portland, Oregon, but it's a good thing to have nonetheless. [00:17:52] Speaker B: Agreed. It is non perishable food and a water supply that's not old. Right. If you're someone who is storing nonperishable food and water, which you should do for the potential natural disaster or whatever that might come. If you're storing water, you need to replace that water periodically, at least. How often would you say? I'm sure there's. I'm sure there's a recommendation out there somewhere, but it's not. I mean, it probably shouldn't sit for more than a year at least, I would think. I don't know. There's probably a recommendation every six months. Okay, every six months. So you would be replacing the water that you're storing every six months and you don't want to store it? Probably. This is my opinion. [00:18:53] Speaker A: I don't. There's facts about it. If you want me to just read that. [00:18:55] Speaker B: Well, I'm gonna say I don't think you should take an old milk jug that had milk in it and clean it out and fill it with water and store it like that. I don't think that's the way to do it. No, I think you're. I think you're assuming some things if you do that and it's probably not the way to go. [00:19:09] Speaker A: Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, you should. [00:19:10] Speaker B: Have a new container that's never been used for anything else. [00:19:13] Speaker A: You can sanitize water containers. Okay. You can, you can easily sanitize them, but yeah, a clear water jug like that is probably not a great idea. And the sealant or, you know, the cap on it's not terribly. [00:19:28] Speaker B: Right. Watertight. [00:19:29] Speaker A: Yeah, water tight. They make containers just for storing water. They have a nice airtight seal. You want to keep them in a cool, dry place, less than 70 degrees. You don't want to, you don't want them getting too hot and you want to keep them out of direct sunlight. That's kind of the guidelines. So usually like in your garage, right? [00:19:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:53] Speaker A: Pretty average temperature spot out of the sun. [00:19:59] Speaker B: And then you would take that container, after six months, dump it out, fill it up again. And this is just tap water? [00:20:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yep. [00:20:06] Speaker B: You're supposed to have three gallons per day per family member. [00:20:11] Speaker A: That is correct. [00:20:12] Speaker B: Three gallons per day. [00:20:14] Speaker A: So depending on what type of emergency you're facing, you know, that's really up to you. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we're looking for earthquakes. So a potential big earthquake for us could knock us out of electricity and any sort of long distance travel for a long time. [00:20:37] Speaker B: I mean, also from what we've read about the potential earthquake, the subduction zone earthquake, that we would also not have fresh water available to us. [00:20:48] Speaker A: That is correct. We wouldn't have fresh water lines, electricity. [00:20:50] Speaker B: Water lines in the ground. And electricity and gas that's in the ground that brings us fresh water will all just be churned up and tore up. It'll be a mess, an absolute mess. It's not going to be. Yeah, we're not going to just have that available to us. Liquefication yeah, that's what they called it. It was. It's not a good thing, bad situation. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Next one on the list, Tony, is a basic tool kit. If you're a weekend warrior listening to the show, you probably already have this. But if you don't, you want things like, you know, basic hammer, screwdriver, set wrenches, pliers. I always like to have a nice roll of duct tape, some zip ties. [00:21:27] Speaker B: Zip ties, Just multiple sizes of zip. [00:21:30] Speaker A: Ties, things like that. We've got plenty of shows on our podcast here that talk about things. [00:21:36] Speaker B: Essential tools. [00:21:37] Speaker A: Essential tools. If you want to. [00:21:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:40] Speaker A: But if you don't have just the basic stuff, man, go out, spend a little bit of money and start collecting your tool collection. [00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah, we've talked about this a lot. If you've got a two story home, you should have an escape ladder that gets who, the occupants of the second story down to the first story without using the stairs in the home. Because a stairwell oftentimes can be engulfed in flames and not give. Not be passable during a fire in the home or an earthquake situation as well. So you should have an escape ladder, like a rope ladder, something that is in a bag that's tied up, that's stored there and hook it on the. [00:22:23] Speaker A: Sill and throw it out. [00:22:26] Speaker B: You should test it. You should drill with your family in case you're all upstairs and you all have to go down. You should, you should practice with that thing. You don't want an emergency to be the first time you've used it. [00:22:41] Speaker A: You throw the ladder out the window, forget to tie it, tie it to. [00:22:44] Speaker B: The window, and there it went. Yep. Yeah, you don't want that to happen. So you should, you should drill with that thing, make sure it works properly, Store it where it can be easily accessed. That's a good tip. [00:22:56] Speaker A: Here's one, Tony, that we mentioned earlier on the show. But a generator, again, when I had that big 16 hour power outage in the middle of wintertime, I was able to. Because it was in winter, I was able to take a lot of the food that we had in the fridge or the freezer. The fridge I wasn't too worried about because it still stayed pretty cool in there. But the freezer stuff started to thaw out, so. But it was so cold outside I was able to throw it in coolers and throw it in the backyard. Oh, yeah. Funny as that is. [00:23:27] Speaker B: Smart. [00:23:27] Speaker A: And all the food, I wasn't worried about it. But the generator allowed me to plug in the TV and the DVD player and we were able to stay a little bit entertained. [00:23:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:40] Speaker A: You know, with the two kids, with. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Your mind off of the. What was going on. [00:23:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So a generator. It's a great thing to have. If you don't have one, you can buy small ones for, you know, a couple hundred, 300 bucks. [00:23:53] Speaker B: That's really small. [00:23:54] Speaker A: That will do the job. That's what mine is. And I was able to run everything I needed it to do. [00:24:00] Speaker B: Okay, good. [00:24:01] Speaker A: But yeah, you can get big ones. Spend a few grand on them. Whatever your needs are. [00:24:06] Speaker B: Yeah, whatever your needs are. [00:24:08] Speaker A: Next one on this, Tony, is a backup battery for your phones. [00:24:12] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. [00:24:13] Speaker A: In a prolonged power outage. [00:24:15] Speaker B: A power bank, they call it. [00:24:16] Speaker A: Yeah, power bank. I have a power bank that I bought at Costco. And you plug it into the wall and just stays plugged in and it stays fully charged. And in an emergency, I can just unplug it off the wall where it's, where it lives. And it's always fully charged. And it has enough to juice, to charge probably a phone from dead four times. [00:24:40] Speaker B: Oh, nice. [00:24:41] Speaker A: Yeah. That's four separate phones fully charged. It's very nice to have around. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Agreed. That is a good one. [00:24:48] Speaker A: Power bank. That's a good one. [00:24:49] Speaker B: Power bank. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Next one on list, Tony, is rechargeable batteries. [00:24:54] Speaker B: Like regular rechargeable batteries. Like double A, double A's, triple A's, C's, D's. [00:25:00] Speaker A: Correct. [00:25:01] Speaker B: Man, I cannot think right now of anything that I own currently that takes a C type battery or a D type battery. [00:25:12] Speaker A: Oh, really? [00:25:12] Speaker B: I mean, I feel like they're going away. Do you think they're going away? [00:25:18] Speaker A: Um, maybe. I actually have a few things that take C and D batteries in their lanterns. [00:25:25] Speaker B: I used to have a lot. [00:25:27] Speaker A: I have these lanterns. But I bought a new lantern that has its own built in battery. So you just plug it into the wall and it charges up. But then I have another one that does that as well. But it has a spot for D batteries in the bottom for a backup. Okay, so it does both. [00:25:48] Speaker B: I also bought a lantern that has its own battery. It's made by Makita. It's a very nice lantern. It also is a radio. It's crazy. And it's Bluetooth capable. [00:26:02] Speaker A: It does everything. [00:26:02] Speaker B: It does indeed. Except. Except make breakfast. The only thing it doesn't do is make breakfast. I'm working on that. [00:26:08] Speaker A: They have a separate Makita thing for coffee. [00:26:10] Speaker B: That's true. That's absolutely true. Makita makes a coffee maker. [00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Anyway, I like the rechargeable batteries. You Know, it's a little more sustainable than buying the 50 pack of double A's with kids. I mean, the amount of AA batteries that are in use in my house right now is incredible. [00:26:29] Speaker B: Wow. [00:26:30] Speaker A: And I like the rechargeables. You can store children's toys, huh? Everything. Xbox controllers and remote controls. All right, you name it. [00:26:40] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Not so much toys anymore. They're over that. [00:26:43] Speaker B: Got it. [00:26:44] Speaker A: The next one, Tony. This one is a little more technological. [00:26:47] Speaker B: Xbox controllers are not toys. [00:26:50] Speaker A: Well. [00:26:53] Speaker B: They'Re more adult toys, but they're still toys. [00:26:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I play with toys then. [00:26:57] Speaker B: Yeah, well, of course we do. Okay, go for it. [00:27:00] Speaker A: A mesh router. Do you know what that is? [00:27:03] Speaker B: I do now. I didn't before you explained it to me, and then I went out and bought one and now I'm a card carrying member. [00:27:11] Speaker A: A mesh router. Back in the olden days of 2010, when you went and got Internet from Comcast or whoever, they would send you a box that was its own little router and everything mixed in together. The Internet, modem to it, modem, router, everything. [00:27:31] Speaker B: Modem router, yeah. [00:27:33] Speaker A: And it would broadcast whatever for your home. Well, over the years, things have changed technologically and those things just don't work that well. They're not. It's efficient. [00:27:46] Speaker B: Well, yeah. And another thing, I'm just going to throw this out because I know another thing is this. So many more devices. [00:27:53] Speaker A: That's what I was going to say. [00:27:54] Speaker B: In our lives now that access the Internet. And so the more devices you have that access the Internet, the more busy your router becomes. And at some point you have overpowered its capability. [00:28:08] Speaker A: I mean, I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you I probably have at least 50 devices in my house that are connected to the Internet. [00:28:14] Speaker B: Wow. [00:28:15] Speaker A: I mean, think about it. I have GoPros that every time I turn them on, they connect to the Internet. You know, laptops and iwatches and phones and smart speakers and bulbs. I have bulbs that connect to the Internet. I have a lock on my front door that connects to the Internet. It's like there are so many devices. When you say that 50 devices, people are like, yeah, right. But when you really start adding it up and thinking about the different things and you pull open your router and you look at all of the devices and then all your friends that come over and attach to your devices, that list is substantial. The old systems just don't hack it. They cannot handle the amount of devices in, the speed and the traffic. I had so many issues before switching to a mesh router. And I'll explain what that is in a second. But I had it where devices would just get dropped and the Internet would just go out constantly. And it was all from that single point router that just couldn't handle it. A mesh router. A lot of the newer ones can handle up to, I mean, hundred or hundreds of devices at once. They have satellites, so you have one that's connected at the base, and then you have another one and maybe three total. And if you have a larger home with multiple floors, and you would go to the backside of your house and have zero Internet because just the signal was so weak, this solves that problem. It creates almost like a. I don't even know what you would call it. A mesh. [00:29:59] Speaker B: Like a force field. [00:30:00] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:00] Speaker B: Where like a spider web, they all. [00:30:02] Speaker A: Work together and create coverage around your house that is fast and dependable. Yeah, dependable. [00:30:16] Speaker B: Reliable. [00:30:18] Speaker A: So they're not cheap. You know, you go out and spend 2, 300 bucks on a good mesh router setup. I use Orbi. I bought it from Costco. I love it. And I mean, I've had it now for two or three years and have not had a single issue. [00:30:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:38] Speaker A: I mean, I used to reset my router. If you're still doing this. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:41] Speaker A: Daily resetting your router every day or once a week, then you need a mesh router. [00:30:46] Speaker B: Yeah. I was doing it, too. [00:30:49] Speaker A: Wi Fi 6. [00:30:50] Speaker B: I was having the same problem. Yeah. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that anymore. [00:30:54] Speaker A: Yep. [00:30:55] Speaker B: But it's like someone would come over and their phone, which had previously connected to my Internet, would connect to my Internet. [00:31:01] Speaker A: And then years ago. [00:31:02] Speaker B: And then it would drop one. [00:31:03] Speaker A: Yep. [00:31:04] Speaker B: And then somebody would be like, hey, my. What happened to your Internet? And be like. Other people would be like, it's working fine for me. [00:31:10] Speaker A: Yeah. My wife. My iWatch works. [00:31:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:12] Speaker A: What's wrong with your phone? [00:31:13] Speaker B: Frustrating. [00:31:14] Speaker A: Anyway, that's a good one to have. That will change your life. [00:31:17] Speaker B: This is a really good one. Another thing that was. That I was introduced to by you, of course, because you are so technologically savvy. Receptacles with USB chargers built in. I love that. It's very nice. I mean, I remember the first one I bought was like 60 bucks, which that was a long time ago. And now they're much less expensive, more affordable. [00:31:41] Speaker A: You can buy like 2 or 3. [00:31:42] Speaker B: Packs now for 20 and available all over the place. But they really are really are awesome. And probably before too long, it's going to be USB C. They are, yeah. [00:31:53] Speaker A: You can already buy them. You can buy USB C and this is kind of getting in the weeds of technology if you're not a techie person. But USB A is kind of a big blocky one. And there's USB B and C. C is the newest. It's kind of oval shaped, smaller, more efficient, they charge faster, they use more juice. But the nice part about having the built in receptacle with the USB port right in it is that you can. [00:32:25] Speaker B: Still use the whole outlet. [00:32:26] Speaker A: Yeah, you can use the whole outlet. [00:32:28] Speaker B: And you don't have bricks and be charging a device. You don't have to buy the bricks. [00:32:31] Speaker A: Yeah, these stupid bricks that are massive. And then you plug it in and you've used up your, your outlet space just to charge your phone. [00:32:39] Speaker B: Very smart. Very, very. Something you can't do without once you've had it. They're amazing. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Those also will change your life. Here's an interesting. I added this one in here because I thought it was. I was out today and the sun was burning in my windows. [00:32:58] Speaker B: Okay. [00:32:59] Speaker A: Adding a reflective coating to windows that see full sun. In the wintertime, it's not that big of a deal. But in the summertime, if you want to reduce your solar heat gain in the inside of your house and save some energy, you can buy new windows with low E coating. That's one that has that reflective. But you can also buy a coating that you can squeegee on like from the inside. [00:33:26] Speaker B: Okay. [00:33:29] Speaker A: That will change your life. [00:33:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that seems like it would if I, I mean, I don't think, I don't think I've got windows. I mean I kind of have a full wrap covered porch situation going on. [00:33:41] Speaker A: You got a nice shade. [00:33:43] Speaker B: Yeah. So I don't really get that sort of all day bright sun coming in any of the windows. But I can see if you can reduce the solar heat gun gain coming through a window, then you will spend a lot less money air conditioning your home. That's real money. That's real money. [00:34:02] Speaker A: As opposed to fake money. [00:34:04] Speaker B: As opposed to monopoly. [00:34:06] Speaker A: Monopoly, Yeah. [00:34:08] Speaker B: A smart thermostat. I don't have a. I'm gonna let you talk about the smart thermostat. I don't, I don't have a smart thermostat. [00:34:15] Speaker A: Well, yeah, you're unique because. [00:34:17] Speaker B: Yeah, I have, I have space heating. My home has space heating. So I kind of have a smart thermostat. [00:34:25] Speaker A: But not really built into your finger. [00:34:27] Speaker B: Yep. [00:34:28] Speaker A: It's like I'm cold Just turn it up. [00:34:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. [00:34:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Smart thermostat's just one of those things. They've gained popularity over the years. And the nice part about them is even if you don't want to go smart, you can go programmable. Like if you got the old school thermostat that you literally walk up to and slide back and forth to change the temperature in your house, I would upgrade to, at minimum, a programmable thermostat. So that way you're not wasting heat, you're not wasting electricity all day when you're not there. You set it to turn off at a certain time, turn on at a certain time, so when you wake up, it's not freezing. It's just a. It's a great thing to have if you don't already have one. [00:35:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree with that. [00:35:14] Speaker A: How about a whole house water. Water filtration system? [00:35:18] Speaker B: You know, I mean, if I didn't live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, where in my opinion it is the purest, cleanest, best tasting water on the planet, I probably would consider that for my home. But literally, our water is amazing. [00:35:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it's hard to justify that one. [00:35:39] Speaker B: Our water is not hard. Our water has no foul smell, or smell, foul flavor. Our water is cold and fresh and clean. And Oregon water is amazing. At least while I'm at Valley water is amazing. [00:35:52] Speaker A: Well, I grew up in Flint, Michigan, so having a whole water filtration system is a good idea. [00:35:59] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I can't speak to it. But I'll tell you what, I got a water filtration system on my travel trailer. And when I travel around and there's yucky water places, I don't have to deal with it because I can filter the water that comes to my trailer. And that is nice. I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to do it without. [00:36:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:18] Speaker B: Which I have, by the way. [00:36:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Going along with water. How about air filtration? [00:36:28] Speaker B: Yes. [00:36:28] Speaker A: Adding a high quality air purifier in your home if you have pets or if you're in an area prone to wildfires like we are. Having a good air purifier is priceless because they tell you to shelter in place, they tell you to stay in your home, but the air inside, air quality inside your home isn't that much better than outside unless you're purifying it. I personally have lots of allergies, so when we get into allergy season, I crank my HEPA filter on and I sleep way better. And it's life Changing. So if you're like me, definitely spend a little bit of money and get a nice air purifier. [00:37:14] Speaker B: Yeah, you can. You can get a air purifier with a HEPA filter on it. You know, that will move a decent amount of air for less than 200 bucks. [00:37:23] Speaker A: Oh, easily. [00:37:24] Speaker B: And. And I mean, obviously you get it too small, and then you got to have four or five or six of them to do your house, depending on your house. But. But I've got several I bought, and they were not expensive, but I turned those babies on and let them run. And, man, it makes a big difference in the home. I mean, I have a dog, and so. Yeah. [00:37:47] Speaker A: Do you ever go on vacation and come back into your own home and go, what does that smell? You ever do that? [00:37:53] Speaker B: I mean, of course your own home. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Smells weird because you've been gone so long. [00:37:56] Speaker B: I definitely have done that. It sets off a switch with me, and I am immediately spend the next 24 hours finding it, killing it, and masking it. [00:38:14] Speaker A: Well, I know. Well, and here's the thing. That's what everybody else smells when they come to your house. [00:38:19] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. [00:38:20] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:21] Speaker B: And so I immediately rectify that if I walk into my house and I smell something, especially if I can't identify it. If I can identify it, then it's an easy solution. [00:38:31] Speaker A: If you know that it's dog butt, you can rectify. Clean the dog. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah, clean the dog. That's right. But if you can't figure out what it is, you know, you're dropping lemon peels down in the. Down in the disposal and spraying Lysol inside your garbage cans. And. Yeah, you're doing everything you can think of. Cracking open that crawl space thing and making sure there's not something coming from down there. Yeah. [00:39:00] Speaker A: Hate. [00:39:01] Speaker B: I've been there. [00:39:01] Speaker A: My crawl space. Hate it. Next one on the list is, depending on where you live, a dehumidifier and. Or a humidifier. If you live in a really dry climate, having a humidifier will reduce allergens. It will improve your air quality inside your home. But same goes for if you live in a really humid area. Here in Oregon, we don't. We. We don't have these issues here because I. It never gets humid here. Like, if it's over 30%, people are dying. [00:39:37] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:39:37] Speaker A: In Oregon, it's. [00:39:38] Speaker B: It's a rare occasion. I mean, it definitely has happened, but it's a rare occasion. [00:39:42] Speaker A: But again, I grew up in Michigan and having 95% humidity in the air was pretty common and we. We couldn't live without our dehumidifier. [00:39:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yeah, I visit Arizona pretty regularly. [00:39:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:56] Speaker B: And you know, you. There's a huge difference between where we live and what they're dealing with there. [00:40:02] Speaker A: Next one on this, Tony, is a cordless vacuum. [00:40:05] Speaker B: Cordless vacuum. [00:40:07] Speaker A: Whether it's a small one for grabbing up quick cleanups or if you've got pets and kids having to drag out the big vacuum with the plug and hoof that thing around the house. We've bought. We have two. One little one for like, you know, small messes and things. Like almost like a new dust buster. [00:40:28] Speaker B: Sure. Sure. [00:40:28] Speaker A: You remember when the dust buster came out? [00:40:30] Speaker B: Oh, man. My mom had a dust buster and she loved. [00:40:32] Speaker A: Yeah, they're awesome. The newer ones are way better. Like this new small Dyson. That thing is awesome. And then we. We replaced our home vacuum with a battery powered vacuum. And it's nice because you don't have to unplug it. You can rip through your whole house. Vacuum the whole thing on one battery. [00:40:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Nice. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Call it a day. [00:40:54] Speaker B: That's smart. [00:40:55] Speaker A: And if you don't want to do that, get yourself a robot vacuum. [00:40:58] Speaker B: Oh, baby. [00:40:59] Speaker A: Don't you. You have one? [00:41:00] Speaker B: I have a Roomba. Yeah. I love my Roomba. But you know who doesn't love my Roomba? [00:41:04] Speaker A: The dog. [00:41:05] Speaker B: My dog. And she. I cannot get her off of fighting with that thing. [00:41:10] Speaker A: Really. [00:41:11] Speaker B: So we have to run the. We have to take the dog upstairs when you go to bed at night and lock the dog in the bedroom with us so that the Roomba can run downstairs while we sleep. Yeah. The Roomba is amazing. I love that they have. They have some new ones now. The one that we have, you have to remove the tray and dump all of the stuff that's in it and put the tray back in. But now it has a tower that. Where it rests and charges. [00:41:43] Speaker A: Docks. [00:41:43] Speaker B: It docks into this tower and it basically transfers the waste. Yep. Into the tower. Yeah. [00:41:51] Speaker A: Wow. [00:41:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's. It's pretty cool. I think I'm thinking about an upgrade. I've had mine for probably going on 10 years. Wow. And so it's time. I think mine is. Mine has so many scars from the dogs biting it and clawing at it and wrestling with it. We've had it repaired several times. [00:42:10] Speaker A: Hilarious. [00:42:11] Speaker B: The dog, man, it's like a. It's like a boxing match. Every time they get. [00:42:17] Speaker A: They get after Rhett. [00:42:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:21] Speaker A: Next one on list, Tony, is a outdoor motion sensor light. If you don't have outdoor motion lights. Invest in some. [00:42:29] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. [00:42:30] Speaker A: They are amazing for security, for energy savings. You know, if you're always. If you're getting home, especially in the wintertime when it's dark at 4:30 and you know, you're walking up your steps to get to your front door and you're, you know, in the dark, put in a motion light. It's nice. You have to keep them on all the time. They turn on when you need them, they turn off when you're not there. And they're great for security. So if you get someone creeping in, they turn on. [00:42:57] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. It's great. I mean, I don't know what I would do without mine. Very helpful. Indoor plants. This is great. I love this. You know, I remember when we were not indoor plant people, there was a time when, I mean, there might be one or two, but there's a difference between the way we were and the way we are now. There is no less than 30 plants really living, breathing plants in my inside my living space. [00:43:30] Speaker A: Did you read Erin's book? [00:43:31] Speaker B: Oh, man, so many times. Love Erin's book. [00:43:34] Speaker A: Our friend Erin Harding, she wrote a book called how to raise a plant and make it love you back. Yeah, she's like an indoor plant guru. [00:43:43] Speaker B: Yeah, she's the plant whisperer. [00:43:45] Speaker A: Yeah. You should check that book out. [00:43:46] Speaker B: Yeah, It's a really good one. How to raise a plant and make it love you back. It's a good one, Byte. [00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Because one of the issues that we always had, we would get plants and then they would live for a year or two years or something and eventually they would always die off. We couldn't figure out why. And a lot of it was our watering habits. You can over water just as easily as underwater. [00:44:10] Speaker B: That's right. [00:44:11] Speaker A: So being able to monitor the plant and give it what it needs, being. [00:44:17] Speaker B: Able to understand what the problem is based on what you're seeing. [00:44:22] Speaker A: Right. [00:44:23] Speaker B: I mean, the plant will tell you what's going on. You just have to be receptive to it. Yeah. Anyways, I love it. I love the freshness of the air in our home. I don't have. We don't have. At my home, we don't have an HRV or an erv that is introducing fresh air, fresh temperate air. That's the same temperature as the air inside the home. Certainly we can always open the window, but when it's 30 degrees outside, that doesn't last for very long. And when it's 90 degrees outside, it doesn't last for very long. So you can open the window and have the window open and that brings fresh air. But that's not good year round. So, you know, in order to get air, fresh air into the home, if you don't have something that's intentionally doing that, it helps to have plants in there that are giving you the air that you need. Fresh air that you need. Yeah. [00:45:20] Speaker A: A spare set of keys. This is kind of one of those ones that you probably don't think about. But having a spare set of keys either on your property or entrusted with a neighbor. When you lose your keys or whatever, you will thank me by having a hidden set of keys somewhere on your property. And you have to make sure it's secure. It can't be somewhere out in the open where somebody can watch you lift up a rock and have the spare set or have that under the mat. Find a spot around your property and put a spare set of keys in. You will thank me for it someday. [00:46:03] Speaker B: I will one up you fake rock. Instead of hiding a key. Get keyless entry. [00:46:12] Speaker A: Oh, that too. [00:46:12] Speaker B: Keyless entry, folks, is not that expensive. Corey has keyless entry. I have keyless entry. It is a deadbolt with a keypad on it. I mean, you're going to spend a couple hundred bucks and it's fairly easy to install, but once you do, you will never look back. Keys to your home can be a thing of the past. And it's as secure as anything else. More secure. And if you give the code out one time, you can give out a code that can only be used one time. You can give out a code and then disable it immediately after. It can hold, I don't know, multiple lots of codes. You can have maybe a dozen or dozens of codes. And so people can have their own code. And if you only want them to use it once or a couple of times, you can change it immediately after that. But it's very versatile. [00:47:13] Speaker A: The one I have, we have a person that comes to the house and does our bugs. They spray for our bugs and we'll have them come in. But sometimes killers. Yeah, the killers. But sometimes we can't be there. So we give them this code. And it is literally only works for the time slot that they're going to be there. [00:47:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it's very smart. [00:47:37] Speaker A: So they can use that code on Wednesday between the hours of noon and four and that's it. Before it won't work and then after it won't work. [00:47:45] Speaker B: Yeah, awesome. [00:47:46] Speaker A: Same thing. House sitter. We have a house sitter comes and watches the dog. I Can text them the code and I can put a time limit on it. Say this is good between Wednesday and Saturday. And that's it. [00:47:57] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just kind of nice. Yep, it is nice. It's very nice. [00:48:00] Speaker A: You don't have to hand out a key and worry about getting back. [00:48:02] Speaker B: No spare keys. [00:48:04] Speaker A: True. But there are also batteries, so. Well, remember that. [00:48:10] Speaker B: How about this last one? Is this the last one? [00:48:14] Speaker A: Last one. I wonder if there's a lot more. [00:48:15] Speaker B: Is this last one the best one? [00:48:18] Speaker A: I think it is. [00:48:18] Speaker B: I didn't know about it. I'm going to tell you something that you probably don't know about. And here it is. An automatic bath fan. An automatic bath fan. When I jump in the shower and take my super hot shower that I always take. And then you know, the kind that fogs up the mirrors. That is a lot of. That's a lot of water vapor. There's a lot of moisture inside of that room that I've got in there. And you need to get that out or that will settle on the walls and ultimately can cause mold and mildew. And so you want to get that out. Well, they make bath fans now that detect the moisture in the air and exhaust it. Come on automatically and exhaust it out until the. Until the humidity in the room returns to normal. [00:49:07] Speaker A: That's right. [00:49:08] Speaker B: That is. It boggles my mind. And I'm excited and nervous a little. I need to go. I need to go get one. They're probably expensive. [00:49:18] Speaker A: Well, the thing is I purchased these. I installed them in both of my bathrooms because my kids could never remember to turn the bath fan on ever. You go in after them and the walls are dripping water because they're in there for 25 minute showers and you know, the steam just melting down the walls and you know it's just turning into mold. [00:49:39] Speaker B: Y. Yep. [00:49:40] Speaker A: So they make it their motion activated. So when you walk in they automatically turn on. [00:49:45] Speaker B: Nice. [00:49:45] Speaker A: And they stay on for however long you tell it to. 10 minutes, 15 minutes. [00:49:49] Speaker B: Very fun. [00:49:50] Speaker A: So that's nice. But then the humidity factor is awesome. It stays on until the humidity drops down below a certain level. And then they turn off so you don't have to worry about it. [00:50:00] Speaker B: Yep. That's smart. Very, very smart. I gotta get me one. [00:50:04] Speaker A: Yeah. It'll change your life. [00:50:06] Speaker B: I believe it will. [00:50:07] Speaker A: These are the must haves that you didn't know you. [00:50:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So now this is good. If you found something on here that you liked, we're super excited to be able to bring it to you. If you have any questions or you want to share something with us that we didn't cover on the show, you can reach us at weekendwarriors par.com weekendwarriors par.com P A R R.com that's right. [00:50:28] Speaker A: All right. Thanks so much for listening. We'll catch you next time. [00:50:31] Speaker B: Have a great week.