What a Weekend (and Mr. Bubbles Has a Home!)
First of all, congratulations to our giveaway winner: Janeil! (Mr Bubbles is so happy!)
Be sure to check back this Friday for our next giveaway (the goal is to do one each Friday in Feb).
Thanks to everyone that entered (responses to the question: "Best Valentine's gift" were fun to read--flowers, cards, CDs, chocolates...nothing too saucy!)
And now, my post:
I know there's a saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
Somewhere in the universe that rule has to apply.
But clearly it's not when we are talking about purchasing appliances.
Apparently saving a penny on your appliances actually earns you the opportunity to SPEND two pennies in the not-so-distant future on yet another appliance (In the form of a repair or a replacement.).
BTW: For those of you playing at home, here's a quick tally of the appliances Dave and I have replaced this year: Kitchen Faucet--3 yrs. old; Front door peephole--1 yr. old; Oven heating element--3 yrs. old; Washer--2 yrs. old; Garage door--3 yrs old; Dishwasher--3 yrs. old; and yes . . .
the dryer! (And yes, it too was 3 yrs. old).
I tell you, I'm grateful to have these appliances. I realize I could be washing my laundry on a board in a river. Truly.
BUT, there's really nothing that bothers me more than wasting money. I can't stand it. It makes me so mad when I buy something and it lasts a nano-second OR when I buy something that doesn't do what it claims to do.
It drives me batty, I tell you!
You see, since having kids, I've become a bit of a penny pincher. I'm not saying I'm Mother Teresa by any means, but truthfully, anytime I make a purchase, I am thinking, "somewhere in the world, someone could use this money for food--do you really need this?"
What I'm saying is, I deliberate over my spending more than I probably should. If I can buy something gently used, I will. If I get can a floor model, I will. And if I can stretch the shelf-life on something, I will. (Take for instance, my black work skirt: it's 14 years old. I got it in graduate school. So. True.)
Anywho, I've always felt like this was a good way to live my life--pinching pennies.
Well, at least I thought it was a good way to live my life, UNTIL Dave and I gave 12 hours of our lives to the dryer gods on Saturday.
So, I may have to revise my thinking here with respect to the appliances we buy. Maybe I need to apply the saying, "You get what you pay for" with regards to appliances?
What's your family's strategy for spending on these big-cost items?
************************************************************
And here's the reason for my appliance epiphany:
Tuesday of last week our dryer died. I shopped and price-compared all week long, finding the best deal I could for a replacement. I wasn't going top-of-the-line, I was going for heavy duty and long lasting. Nothing fancy.
But, after listening to the voice in my head, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new dryer. I just couldn't. They are so expensive. We raised $50.00 for Haiti and I'm going to spend $700-1000 on a dyer two weeks later? Are you kidding me?
After a few home depot-type store runs, Dave and I even looked at Costco for a dryer. Again, I couldn't bring myself to buy the dryer. I have a cow (sorry, vegans) when I spend $200. at Costco, I think I'd faint if I heard the clerk say, "That will be $678.21."
So Dave, being the supportive guy that he is, said, "Just tell me what you want to do."
And so I did.
I told him I wanted to go home and find a gently used dryer online. I wanted to buy someone else's dryer with life left in it. (Maybe even be a help? Give someone in need of cash, cash.)
Brilliant, I am.
Here's how that went.
At noon, we bought a dryer from a man 40 minutes away from our home. It was inexpensive, but nice. He was just looking to unload it. We asked if it worked, he promised it did.
It didn't work.
But we only learned that AFTER bringing it home, hauling out the old dryer, borrowing our neighbor Rick, and getting Jonah to run a new electrical cord to it.
So we called the seller. His reply? He asked if he could come to our home and try to fix it. Which he did--at 3pm. (Which I didn't like. Hello, strangers in the house? Awesome.)
By 4:30pm, the seller was still in our home and unable to fix the dryer. I think I was going to start crying at 5:00, so at 4:59 he refunded our money and took the dryer. (So help me, if I turn up missing, someone check the history on our computer and get the dryer guy's number. I've played Clue. I know how this goes: Mr Plum in the Reading Room with a candlestick.)
At 5:30pm, I gave up and said, "I have to do laundry. It's been almost a week." And so I got online again--and just looked for anything that would work for now.
Dazed, tired, and confused, we found one that works . . . for now.
It was really cheap. Not inexpensive--CHEAP. Like less than a date night dinner.
And it's guaranteed for a full week! Woo hoo!
Should make for a fun post when the 7 days are up.
Pray for me. (Actually, pray for Dave. LOL!)
Be sure to check back this Friday for our next giveaway (the goal is to do one each Friday in Feb).
Thanks to everyone that entered (responses to the question: "Best Valentine's gift" were fun to read--flowers, cards, CDs, chocolates...nothing too saucy!)
And now, my post:
I know there's a saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
Somewhere in the universe that rule has to apply.
But clearly it's not when we are talking about purchasing appliances.
Apparently saving a penny on your appliances actually earns you the opportunity to SPEND two pennies in the not-so-distant future on yet another appliance (In the form of a repair or a replacement.).
BTW: For those of you playing at home, here's a quick tally of the appliances Dave and I have replaced this year: Kitchen Faucet--3 yrs. old; Front door peephole--1 yr. old; Oven heating element--3 yrs. old; Washer--2 yrs. old; Garage door--3 yrs old; Dishwasher--3 yrs. old; and yes . . .
the dryer! (And yes, it too was 3 yrs. old).
I tell you, I'm grateful to have these appliances. I realize I could be washing my laundry on a board in a river. Truly.
BUT, there's really nothing that bothers me more than wasting money. I can't stand it. It makes me so mad when I buy something and it lasts a nano-second OR when I buy something that doesn't do what it claims to do.
It drives me batty, I tell you!
You see, since having kids, I've become a bit of a penny pincher. I'm not saying I'm Mother Teresa by any means, but truthfully, anytime I make a purchase, I am thinking, "somewhere in the world, someone could use this money for food--do you really need this?"
What I'm saying is, I deliberate over my spending more than I probably should. If I can buy something gently used, I will. If I get can a floor model, I will. And if I can stretch the shelf-life on something, I will. (Take for instance, my black work skirt: it's 14 years old. I got it in graduate school. So. True.)
Anywho, I've always felt like this was a good way to live my life--pinching pennies.
Well, at least I thought it was a good way to live my life, UNTIL Dave and I gave 12 hours of our lives to the dryer gods on Saturday.
So, I may have to revise my thinking here with respect to the appliances we buy. Maybe I need to apply the saying, "You get what you pay for" with regards to appliances?
What's your family's strategy for spending on these big-cost items?
************************************************************
And here's the reason for my appliance epiphany:
Tuesday of last week our dryer died. I shopped and price-compared all week long, finding the best deal I could for a replacement. I wasn't going top-of-the-line, I was going for heavy duty and long lasting. Nothing fancy.
But, after listening to the voice in my head, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a new dryer. I just couldn't. They are so expensive. We raised $50.00 for Haiti and I'm going to spend $700-1000 on a dyer two weeks later? Are you kidding me?
After a few home depot-type store runs, Dave and I even looked at Costco for a dryer. Again, I couldn't bring myself to buy the dryer. I have a cow (sorry, vegans) when I spend $200. at Costco, I think I'd faint if I heard the clerk say, "That will be $678.21."
So Dave, being the supportive guy that he is, said, "Just tell me what you want to do."
And so I did.
I told him I wanted to go home and find a gently used dryer online. I wanted to buy someone else's dryer with life left in it. (Maybe even be a help? Give someone in need of cash, cash.)
Brilliant, I am.
Here's how that went.
At noon, we bought a dryer from a man 40 minutes away from our home. It was inexpensive, but nice. He was just looking to unload it. We asked if it worked, he promised it did.
It didn't work.
But we only learned that AFTER bringing it home, hauling out the old dryer, borrowing our neighbor Rick, and getting Jonah to run a new electrical cord to it.
So we called the seller. His reply? He asked if he could come to our home and try to fix it. Which he did--at 3pm. (Which I didn't like. Hello, strangers in the house? Awesome.)
By 4:30pm, the seller was still in our home and unable to fix the dryer. I think I was going to start crying at 5:00, so at 4:59 he refunded our money and took the dryer. (So help me, if I turn up missing, someone check the history on our computer and get the dryer guy's number. I've played Clue. I know how this goes: Mr Plum in the Reading Room with a candlestick.)
At 5:30pm, I gave up and said, "I have to do laundry. It's been almost a week." And so I got online again--and just looked for anything that would work for now.
Dazed, tired, and confused, we found one that works . . . for now.
It was really cheap. Not inexpensive--CHEAP. Like less than a date night dinner.
And it's guaranteed for a full week! Woo hoo!
Should make for a fun post when the 7 days are up.
Pray for me. (Actually, pray for Dave. LOL!)
