AC, good job! Our improvements were over a length of time too. All have to be accepted by the wife, but at least she wasn't a hard sell.
SDMCF, I got a real kick out of the post where every other line was insulation! I don't know that it's possible to put in too much insulation. I heard an engineer friend talk about diminishing returns on how much insulation to put in the 8000sf McMansion he was building. He decided about an R value of 30 for the roof and 19 in the walls was plenty. Insufficient return to add more according to his calculations.
Some folks just don't get it. It's like trying to sell the idea of adding solar power to someone. They ask, what's the payback time? I say, "About ten years or less." They nix the idea because it "takes to long" to pay back.
Just like the idea of insulating the thing until you can't put more in, insulation and distributed renewable energy do actually pay back at some point in time. Lack of insulation and buying your electricity from the local utility are a constant drain on the budget.