Another Heated Debate

"The ultimate goal of a more effective and efficient life is to provide you with
enough time to enjoy some of it."
-Michael Leboeuf

Mater queried yesterday about the method Spouse and I are using to heat our home. I told her that we have a small fan heater running in one room- the room we spend most of our time in for reading and working. If we cook we turn on the heat in the kitchen but otherwise we use just that heater. It is the size of a large hardback book but so portable and light. Off went Mater on a miniature lecture, albeit with a good heart, about the perils of wasting money in using a fan heater. She claimed that we ought to be using the main house heater until I mentioned that our building is quite old and the heaters are antiquated, so in all probability we are doing far better with a fan heater.
I finally conceded, once I understood her point was that we ought to buy something other than a fan heater, that perhaps a newer model would be more efficient but, given that we had something better than the house heater, we were at a middle point and happy to coast through the Winter with everything as it was.
My reason for that was simple: if we were to buy a new heater and replace the current one for a hefty sum of money, it would take a long time- longer than Winter- to make up that cost and I assured Mater that our everyday loss was far less than the amount we would spend on a new appliance. She took all this in, and chewed thoughtfully upon it. I wondered idly what her final determination would be.
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed after a few moments. "I've had the heater on in the bathroom for ages! I wanted to take a shower. I forgot all about it!"
Thus, fretting and flustered, she rushed away to attend to her business.