Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Hey folks.
If you want to support us and what we do then please consider checking out one of our apps.
New Blackoutcard app: apps.apple.com/us/app/blackoutcards/id6773326309
Hannah's new app: phasesmoothies.com
New Substack: substack.com/@stefanmichalak
So about a year ago I paid a local company to put solar panels on our roof. The panels are currently leaning against a wall in my garden. There's an inverter that cost two grand that I'll never see and I'm never getting that money back. And I'm still paying around two hundred a month for electricity in a house that technically owns ten solar panels.
That's roughly how the whole year has gone.
In this one I go through what's actually left to do on this house, what the quotes came back at, why I'm doing most of it myself now, and what happened with the blackout cards and the app. I also talk about how expensive everything's got out here, and why I moved to Portugal thinking it'd be cheaper and was wrong about that.
It's not a disaster story. It's just an honest accounting of a year where most of what I tried didn't land.
Thanks as always for being here.
Stef
Hey folks.
If you want to support us and what we do then please consider checking out one of our apps.
New Blackoutcard app: apps.apple.com/us/app/blackoutcards/id6773326309
Hannah's new app: phasesmoothies.com
New Substack: substack.com/@stefanmichalak
So about a year ago I paid a local company to put solar panels on our roof. The panels are currently leaning against a wall in my garden. There's an inverter that cost two grand that I'll never see and I'm never getting that money back. And I'm still paying around two hundred a month for electricity in a house that technically owns ten solar panels.
That's roughly how the whole year has gone.
In this one I go through what's actually left to do on this house, what the quotes came back at, why I'm doing most of it myself now, and what happened with the blackout cards and the app. I also talk about how expensive everything's got out here, and why I moved to Portugal thinking it'd be cheaper and was wrong about that.
It's not a disaster story. It's just an honest accounting of a year where most of what I tried didn't land.
Thanks as always for being here.
Stef
