As we get older, the less exciting birthdays become.
It is nice to go out for dinner or get a nice card, but as we age, we expect less and less.
That is not going to be the case for my husbands next birthday. We bought our first home together less than a year ago and it has turned out to be a financial nightmare. Everything had to be replaced, including the HVAC system. The heating and A/C work fine, but the problem is how inefficiently it operates. We had our home insulated and we still have issues with keeping the heat and cool in. We had an HVAC company diagnose the problem and we were not very thrilled with the results. According to the company, we need a full HVAC replacement. This was about 6 months ago and we have been putting it off. Little does my husband know, I have been saving up for a new HVAC system for his birthday gift this year. I thought about financing the system, but that would mean a monthly payment that he might have to pay once in a while. I decided to just save up the money and then do the replacement. Around his birthday, I had an HVAC specialist come out to the house and do the final inspection. On his actual birthday, he came home from work to a house full of HVAC techs replacing the HVAC system! While they finished the job, we went to a nearby restaurant to celebrate his special day.