Looks like our little ones are getting a bit too big for the hand me down furniture they've been living in (a day bed from my bachelorhood) and a convertible crib (now bed) from our first.
Our strategy looks like we'll do the following:
1. convert the convertible crib bed to a full bed $200 (conversion rails). I'm hoping we can save the full size mattress from the day bed.
2. buy a new bedroom set for our littlest. I'm sure it doesn't mean that mommy and daddy's bed is any less attractive, warm, cozy and less scary, but... it does make a nicer cozier room for our littlest. I'm guessing this will be a full bore furniture set from costco $1200 - $1800.
Anyone have any alternatives?
Regards,
makingourway
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
late night shopping for diaper rash ointment
I recently had to buy Desitin for one of our younger children. Desitin has the highest percentage of zinc oxide (about 40%) of all the products offered at walgreens.
Traditionally, we've slathered large amounts all over our children's nether regions. The zinc oxide seems to create a thick barrier that protects and "water proofs" there tender skin -- quickly dissipating emerging rashes and irritation.
We've tried many medicines, triple ointment, boudreaux's, etc... Desitin seems to be the hands down winner.
Although it was the least expensive by weight at Walgreens, it was still $15 for a 1 lb. jar. If I remember correctly, I was able to buy it for about $10 at Baby's R Us in the past.
I bought one jar for tonight, but i'll load up on several at baby's 'r us if the price is reasonable.
What struck me is that emergency creams, diapers, etc... available late night at the drug store are most likely to be priced like cold cereal or cigarettes at a convenience store.
I've always been one to plan ahead, but it strikes me as prudent to create a list of things you should always have stocked at home and buy them pre-emptively. Although this may be difficult in today's economy, the extra cost, might be an unaffordable penalty. What would you put on your list?
Regards, makingourway
Traditionally, we've slathered large amounts all over our children's nether regions. The zinc oxide seems to create a thick barrier that protects and "water proofs" there tender skin -- quickly dissipating emerging rashes and irritation.
We've tried many medicines, triple ointment, boudreaux's, etc... Desitin seems to be the hands down winner.
Although it was the least expensive by weight at Walgreens, it was still $15 for a 1 lb. jar. If I remember correctly, I was able to buy it for about $10 at Baby's R Us in the past.
I bought one jar for tonight, but i'll load up on several at baby's 'r us if the price is reasonable.
What struck me is that emergency creams, diapers, etc... available late night at the drug store are most likely to be priced like cold cereal or cigarettes at a convenience store.
I've always been one to plan ahead, but it strikes me as prudent to create a list of things you should always have stocked at home and buy them pre-emptively. Although this may be difficult in today's economy, the extra cost, might be an unaffordable penalty. What would you put on your list?
Regards, makingourway
Saturday, March 14, 2009
what a hilarious video "are you good friends"?
I was recently watching a you tube video when my eyes wandered to "are you good friends"? I followed the recommended link and low and behold it was hilarious!
A young lady discusses her experience at clothing store where she felt compelled through verbal manipulation to buy a much more expensive gift for her friend.
How often do you have challenges with sales people when shopping?
My strong recommendation is to establish a clear understanding of what you want and what your looking to spend up front. It avoids confusion and might restrain the sales person from cross-selling and up-selling (well at least some times).
The most important tool is a strong sense of discipline - either that or shop on-line! No sales people there.
Here's a link to the video for your enjoyment.
Regards, makingourway
A young lady discusses her experience at clothing store where she felt compelled through verbal manipulation to buy a much more expensive gift for her friend.
How often do you have challenges with sales people when shopping?
My strong recommendation is to establish a clear understanding of what you want and what your looking to spend up front. It avoids confusion and might restrain the sales person from cross-selling and up-selling (well at least some times).
The most important tool is a strong sense of discipline - either that or shop on-line! No sales people there.
Here's a link to the video for your enjoyment.
Regards, makingourway
Monday, December 22, 2008
having fun with fat wallet
A few months ago I became a fat wallet member.
I had used upromise in the past, so i'm familiar with launch pad rebate schemes, however, the discounts from upromise were fairly blase - nothing too special unless the products were quite overpriced - with the exception of occassionally nice discounts from Walmart.com.
Fat wallet seems to combine nice rebates (great stuff with restaurant.com right now) with coupon codes - it's really nice combination.
Furthermore my rebate amount owed has climbed quite a bit faster than with upromise - especially due to judicious use during the holidays.
I've looked at Quicken's new rebate offering, which is integrated with quicken, and find that they have pretty good rates as well (less the coupon codes it seems).
high volue / frequent destination sites seem less motivated to offer rebates.
Regards and holiday wishes, makingourway
I had used upromise in the past, so i'm familiar with launch pad rebate schemes, however, the discounts from upromise were fairly blase - nothing too special unless the products were quite overpriced - with the exception of occassionally nice discounts from Walmart.com.
Fat wallet seems to combine nice rebates (great stuff with restaurant.com right now) with coupon codes - it's really nice combination.
Furthermore my rebate amount owed has climbed quite a bit faster than with upromise - especially due to judicious use during the holidays.
I've looked at Quicken's new rebate offering, which is integrated with quicken, and find that they have pretty good rates as well (less the coupon codes it seems).
high volue / frequent destination sites seem less motivated to offer rebates.
Regards and holiday wishes, makingourway
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Great deal at restaurant.com 70% off on gift certificates
Occassionally restuarant.com offers 70% off on gift certificates. Since you normally pay $10 for a $25 gift certificate it's a nice deal.
Keep in mind that you usually need to spend twice the value of the certificate - so it's really more like a big coupon. I don't mind paying $3 for a $25 coupon.
The real treasures are when you find a $50 certificate for a fairly expensive restaurant.
You need to check the site occassionally as new deals are offered and the more desireable restaurants offer limited quantities.
Regards, makingourway
Keep in mind that you usually need to spend twice the value of the certificate - so it's really more like a big coupon. I don't mind paying $3 for a $25 coupon.
The real treasures are when you find a $50 certificate for a fairly expensive restaurant.
You need to check the site occassionally as new deals are offered and the more desireable restaurants offer limited quantities.
Regards, makingourway
An interesting review of on-line coupon sites
There's nothing I find more frustrating than looking for on-line coupons. Far too many of the online sites are scams or have little that's current / effective.
PC Magazine recently posted an article recommending 10 top sites. Fat Wallet, one of my favourites was there.
Has anyone tried the others?
Here's the article.
PC Magazine recently posted an article recommending 10 top sites. Fat Wallet, one of my favourites was there.
Has anyone tried the others?
Here's the article.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Reconciling our desire for SUV comforts with mileage requirements
My wife really enjoys the above the road feeling of an SUV, however, our mileage, is poor, compared to alternatives - about 19.x miles per gallon for substantial highway driving.
It seems that what she should have is a smaller commuter car that's safe, drives well and obtains better gas mileage, however, I wonder if any of those fit the raised view of the road.
Maybe a raised view will become less important as many light weight trucks and SUVs sit idle due to high gasoline prices? I don't see any alternatives. I wonder if this interest is behind seeing so many suburban house wives driving physically large (manly looking)SUVs?
We're looking at the honda civic hybrid, but the performance of other hybrids has been quite poor - so we're skeptical that this one will work out. We should know next week.
Regards,
makingourway
It seems that what she should have is a smaller commuter car that's safe, drives well and obtains better gas mileage, however, I wonder if any of those fit the raised view of the road.
Maybe a raised view will become less important as many light weight trucks and SUVs sit idle due to high gasoline prices? I don't see any alternatives. I wonder if this interest is behind seeing so many suburban house wives driving physically large (manly looking)SUVs?
We're looking at the honda civic hybrid, but the performance of other hybrids has been quite poor - so we're skeptical that this one will work out. We should know next week.
Regards,
makingourway
Friday, August 01, 2008
Reducing subscriptions and ongoing costs and new ones
Here's a quick update on the effort to reduce continuing costs:
1. We are cancelling the unnecessary insurance policy - will save $65 per month over the next 12 years. That's $9,360!!
2. Cancelled Park District membership. Saves $135 per month. Looking back the whole thing was a mistake. We can take classes without being members - if we were to do so - and it would cost $5-$10 extra. But we would never take so many that it made sense to join. Plus they receive a tax subsidy so my conscience is salved.
Total saved $200 per month
Less tangible - utility bill reduction
1. We have bought and installed additional compact flourescent bulbs. We have probably gone from 60% - 85% converted. This may have reduced the expense further since we've focussed the bulbs on fairly high use areas. I'll post more on this separately.
2. Pool heater - we've lowered the temperature so it may consume less resources.
3. Household - we've been trying to raise the household temperature to 78 - this may reduce our electric bill
Personal trainer - reduced 10 lesson package from $550 to $400 - we'll continue to do this every two weeks, unless we can lower it further, but it's not reasonable to go much lower.
Additions:
Medicine $65 per month - doesn't look like there's a generic for these.
This weekend I'll take a fresh look at year to date spend and try to eliminate a few more expenses.
Regards,
makingourway
1. We are cancelling the unnecessary insurance policy - will save $65 per month over the next 12 years. That's $9,360!!
2. Cancelled Park District membership. Saves $135 per month. Looking back the whole thing was a mistake. We can take classes without being members - if we were to do so - and it would cost $5-$10 extra. But we would never take so many that it made sense to join. Plus they receive a tax subsidy so my conscience is salved.
Total saved $200 per month
Less tangible - utility bill reduction
1. We have bought and installed additional compact flourescent bulbs. We have probably gone from 60% - 85% converted. This may have reduced the expense further since we've focussed the bulbs on fairly high use areas. I'll post more on this separately.
2. Pool heater - we've lowered the temperature so it may consume less resources.
3. Household - we've been trying to raise the household temperature to 78 - this may reduce our electric bill
Personal trainer - reduced 10 lesson package from $550 to $400 - we'll continue to do this every two weeks, unless we can lower it further, but it's not reasonable to go much lower.
Additions:
Medicine $65 per month - doesn't look like there's a generic for these.
This weekend I'll take a fresh look at year to date spend and try to eliminate a few more expenses.
Regards,
makingourway
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Compact Flourescent Light Bulbs (CF) - going for 100%
I've been pondering how we can both help the environment and reduce our electrical usage.
Last weekend at a cost of $110 I replaced the incandescent bulbs in almost all of our ceiling fan fixtures (we have 5).
I still have a large number of sconces and ceiling fixtures that use flame tipped bulbs. Although Costco does not have any, Target does for about $4.50 or so (+/= $0.50) - however these are for the normal ligh bulb width screw base.
I remember seeing a narrower screwbase with an adapter somewhere - but have to track it down.
I'll need 20-30 of them.
With the cost of summer air conditioning, i'm wondering how quickly i'll see a cost savings. Probably not too quickly.
we're currently setting our hvac temperature at 75 degrees. Outside temperature usually goes into the 80s in Chicago for this time of year. I'm wondering if we should raise it 1 degree to 76 - perhaps at night time? Maybe it won't be noticed. We'll have to see how the family accepts this.
I realized that I have not replaced the incandescents in the garage - that may be a morning project.
One of the most challenging projects is replacing the light bulbs in a lofted area of the house that are very high up. Somehow we'll have to tackle that - I imagine as soon as a light goes out we'll replace all of them with long lasting CF bulbs.
Additionally, we should consider converting outdoors lights as well, however, we don't use the outside lights very often.
One question I ask myself, does it make sense to spend $300 - $400 on CF bulbs? We certainly noticed a $50 per month reduction in electrical bills during winter, so i think it does.
One area, where we have little ability to convert are the dimmable can lights in the kitchen (6) and finished basement (12?). The kitchen is a high use area, however, the basement is not. However, I have not yet seen dimmable floods and I wonder how much they would cost. Dimabble flame tip or torpedo style bulbs cost $11+ each. That would be a very big investment!
In the next few years, manufacturers will stop making incandescent bulbs. I can only imagine that chepaer CF and CF dimmable technology will be created. One question remains - will it work with current dimming systems?
Regards,
makingourway
PS I wonder how we're doing lowering our carbon footprint. I have a sneaking suspicion keeping the swimming pool heated in September will not help.
Last weekend at a cost of $110 I replaced the incandescent bulbs in almost all of our ceiling fan fixtures (we have 5).
I still have a large number of sconces and ceiling fixtures that use flame tipped bulbs. Although Costco does not have any, Target does for about $4.50 or so (+/= $0.50) - however these are for the normal ligh bulb width screw base.
I remember seeing a narrower screwbase with an adapter somewhere - but have to track it down.
I'll need 20-30 of them.
With the cost of summer air conditioning, i'm wondering how quickly i'll see a cost savings. Probably not too quickly.
we're currently setting our hvac temperature at 75 degrees. Outside temperature usually goes into the 80s in Chicago for this time of year. I'm wondering if we should raise it 1 degree to 76 - perhaps at night time? Maybe it won't be noticed. We'll have to see how the family accepts this.
I realized that I have not replaced the incandescents in the garage - that may be a morning project.
One of the most challenging projects is replacing the light bulbs in a lofted area of the house that are very high up. Somehow we'll have to tackle that - I imagine as soon as a light goes out we'll replace all of them with long lasting CF bulbs.
Additionally, we should consider converting outdoors lights as well, however, we don't use the outside lights very often.
One question I ask myself, does it make sense to spend $300 - $400 on CF bulbs? We certainly noticed a $50 per month reduction in electrical bills during winter, so i think it does.
One area, where we have little ability to convert are the dimmable can lights in the kitchen (6) and finished basement (12?). The kitchen is a high use area, however, the basement is not. However, I have not yet seen dimmable floods and I wonder how much they would cost. Dimabble flame tip or torpedo style bulbs cost $11+ each. That would be a very big investment!
In the next few years, manufacturers will stop making incandescent bulbs. I can only imagine that chepaer CF and CF dimmable technology will be created. One question remains - will it work with current dimming systems?
Regards,
makingourway
PS I wonder how we're doing lowering our carbon footprint. I have a sneaking suspicion keeping the swimming pool heated in September will not help.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
update on our compact florescent lightbulb push
While most of our lightbulbs have been converted to compact flourescent (CF), we noticed about a $50 savings in electrical bill during the winter - rough drop from $220/mo to $150. We won't see much new with the air conditioning running this summer.
However, we still have quite a few lamps that are not converted. These are the lamps that do not typically lend themselves to CF solutions:
* Ceiling fans with 4 bulbs - we have quite a few of these - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Ceiling fixtures that take 4 candle stick bulbs - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Can lights with dimmers - we have several of these in key areas
While walking throught target I found several interesting things:
1. Spiral bulb style lights that are dimmable - unfortunately I need floods
2. Ceiling fan lights - on sale for $4.59 each - GE energy smart 40, uses 11 watts - I bought 3 to test.
3. CF candlesticks - I didn't buy one, but am planning to do so - also by GE
What I don't care for is the price. Individual GE CF light bulbs are much more expensive than bulk purchased Feist bulbs from costco. Then again, costco doesn't have 1-3 yet, so maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the premium.
It just so happens that the light fixtures we use the most are the ceiling lights in my office and bedroom and the candlesticks in the hallway.
I still don't have an adequate solution for a dimmable flood, but if I tried, I might find something.
I did find an interesting site called top bulb, which does have an incredibly large volume of CF's of many styles, however, the candle stick bulbs looked almost 100% more expensive than what was available at target.
Perhaps over the weekend we'll move forward and get closer to comprehensive CF utilization.
Oh, one admission, we are not using CF's for outside lights or in our garage - shame on us - we should be. I even have the lamp pole to do the installation!!
Regards, makingourway
However, we still have quite a few lamps that are not converted. These are the lamps that do not typically lend themselves to CF solutions:
* Ceiling fans with 4 bulbs - we have quite a few of these - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Ceiling fixtures that take 4 candle stick bulbs - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Can lights with dimmers - we have several of these in key areas
While walking throught target I found several interesting things:
1. Spiral bulb style lights that are dimmable - unfortunately I need floods
2. Ceiling fan lights - on sale for $4.59 each - GE energy smart 40, uses 11 watts - I bought 3 to test.
3. CF candlesticks - I didn't buy one, but am planning to do so - also by GE
What I don't care for is the price. Individual GE CF light bulbs are much more expensive than bulk purchased Feist bulbs from costco. Then again, costco doesn't have 1-3 yet, so maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the premium.
It just so happens that the light fixtures we use the most are the ceiling lights in my office and bedroom and the candlesticks in the hallway.
I still don't have an adequate solution for a dimmable flood, but if I tried, I might find something.
I did find an interesting site called top bulb, which does have an incredibly large volume of CF's of many styles, however, the candle stick bulbs looked almost 100% more expensive than what was available at target.
Perhaps over the weekend we'll move forward and get closer to comprehensive CF utilization.
Oh, one admission, we are not using CF's for outside lights or in our garage - shame on us - we should be. I even have the lamp pole to do the installation!!
Regards, makingourway
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
what to do with an SUV coming off lease?
Well, our SUV is coming off of lease.
We had thought to buy a less expensive hybrid with better gasoline mileage, however, my wife was unhappy with the vehicle performance and prefers the higher seating / positioning of an SUV - she can more easily see over traffic.
The fact that it's a luxury SUV means that it's much nicer and more comfortable on the insides, as well - though I think that was less important in her decision making - she likes the HP / engine performance.
All said, we need to decide what to do.
We're paying about $620 per month for a vehicle that's depreciated about $15,000. It's worth about $26,000. If I refinance it with a five year bank loan it will be cost $580 per month (via Chase). I'd really like to save more money than that.
Leases are usually cheaper as you pay for the depreciation plus and loan fee (interest) rather than paying for the entire vehicle.
My next bet is to find a less expensive way to refinance the vehicle. Used vehicle loans are often more expensive than new due to lower collateral value, so I find myself in a pickle.
At this point I'll need to research how to refinance affordably. Our credit rating is high so we should be able to obtain good rates.
I do wonder if it's possible to lease the car again. That would may be the least expensive option.
Two other alternatives would be to either:
a. pay in cash
b. user our HELOC
I'd rather not do either in order to maximize liquidity. In today's market I do not feel secure in my employment (though I have been reassured by corporate leadership), so it's best to maintain as much available cash as possible.
I am concerned that:
a. doing nothing - I will overpay because the original lease was calculated at a $40+k principal
b. spend too much time on this as the monthly savings may be very small
Any thoughts?
Regards, makingourway
We had thought to buy a less expensive hybrid with better gasoline mileage, however, my wife was unhappy with the vehicle performance and prefers the higher seating / positioning of an SUV - she can more easily see over traffic.
The fact that it's a luxury SUV means that it's much nicer and more comfortable on the insides, as well - though I think that was less important in her decision making - she likes the HP / engine performance.
All said, we need to decide what to do.
We're paying about $620 per month for a vehicle that's depreciated about $15,000. It's worth about $26,000. If I refinance it with a five year bank loan it will be cost $580 per month (via Chase). I'd really like to save more money than that.
Leases are usually cheaper as you pay for the depreciation plus and loan fee (interest) rather than paying for the entire vehicle.
My next bet is to find a less expensive way to refinance the vehicle. Used vehicle loans are often more expensive than new due to lower collateral value, so I find myself in a pickle.
At this point I'll need to research how to refinance affordably. Our credit rating is high so we should be able to obtain good rates.
I do wonder if it's possible to lease the car again. That would may be the least expensive option.
Two other alternatives would be to either:
a. pay in cash
b. user our HELOC
I'd rather not do either in order to maximize liquidity. In today's market I do not feel secure in my employment (though I have been reassured by corporate leadership), so it's best to maintain as much available cash as possible.
I am concerned that:
a. doing nothing - I will overpay because the original lease was calculated at a $40+k principal
b. spend too much time on this as the monthly savings may be very small
Any thoughts?
Regards, makingourway
Monday, June 16, 2008
Mixed experience test driving hybrids
We test drove both the Toyota Camry Hybrid and the Toyota Prius Hybrid.
Our experiences were mixed.
The Camry certainly seemed like a very nice car, with decent pick-up, it did not have the performance of a higher end 6 cyl. all gasoline model.
We've been considering a hybrid as a commuting car - something we would drive to work on weekdays and for parents only longer distance drives on weekends.
Although either car would do, we found the hybrids didn't have enough pick-up / acceleration for our tastes and driving styles - which have lots of highway driving.
Prius:
Slow acceleration. Large backlog - perhaps 6 months until delivery. Rear seat headrests a bit uncomfortable - but possibly survivable. Front windshield / dashboard angle makes it difficult to position a third party navigation system (by suction cup on the window) - especially when the electrical outlet is far below the dashboard -almost near the front passenger's feet - this makes it difficult to connect or unattractive to have wires running across the cabin. Plus: does provide detailed usage information for economy driving and battery consumption - neat, but found that I ignored it after a while when I rented a similar model.
Camry Hybrid:
In general a very nice car. Comparable to other Camry's and Honda Acord's. Navigation system was hard to use. No off screen button to zoom in/out that other cars have (honda/acura/lexus). Trunk space diminished due to battery. Head unit does not provide as much driving / battery use information as Prius. Still acceleration a bit lacking.
At the end of the day we were left wondering if it made sense to change our car from our current higher end SUV. I'll post on the decision.
Our experiences were mixed.
The Camry certainly seemed like a very nice car, with decent pick-up, it did not have the performance of a higher end 6 cyl. all gasoline model.
We've been considering a hybrid as a commuting car - something we would drive to work on weekdays and for parents only longer distance drives on weekends.
Although either car would do, we found the hybrids didn't have enough pick-up / acceleration for our tastes and driving styles - which have lots of highway driving.
Prius:
Slow acceleration. Large backlog - perhaps 6 months until delivery. Rear seat headrests a bit uncomfortable - but possibly survivable. Front windshield / dashboard angle makes it difficult to position a third party navigation system (by suction cup on the window) - especially when the electrical outlet is far below the dashboard -almost near the front passenger's feet - this makes it difficult to connect or unattractive to have wires running across the cabin. Plus: does provide detailed usage information for economy driving and battery consumption - neat, but found that I ignored it after a while when I rented a similar model.
Camry Hybrid:
In general a very nice car. Comparable to other Camry's and Honda Acord's. Navigation system was hard to use. No off screen button to zoom in/out that other cars have (honda/acura/lexus). Trunk space diminished due to battery. Head unit does not provide as much driving / battery use information as Prius. Still acceleration a bit lacking.
At the end of the day we were left wondering if it made sense to change our car from our current higher end SUV. I'll post on the decision.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
how expensive can doodlebops be?
Here's a cautionary tale:
My wife went on-line to buy doodlebops tickets. She used the link on the doodlebops site to TicketsNow.
We paid about $130 a ticket for premium seats in the front sections, which felt expensive.
However, we checked ticketmaster and found no seats available.
When we received the tickets they had a face value of $46 each.
While I'm grateful we could buy these tickets, I'm pretty pissed that we had to buy them through a scalper. More importantly, I think it's pretty sleazy of the doodlebops producers to direct consumers to a ticket reseller who charges a premium instead of ticket master or another primary service.
So, here is my advice if you want to see the doodlebops:
1. Use a ticketing service like ticket master to find when they're coming in advance.
2. Buy them through them
3. If you can't, go to Tickets Now to pay a premium
The only downside for saving the money is that you may not be in a front section.
Regards,
makingourway
My wife went on-line to buy doodlebops tickets. She used the link on the doodlebops site to TicketsNow.
We paid about $130 a ticket for premium seats in the front sections, which felt expensive.
However, we checked ticketmaster and found no seats available.
When we received the tickets they had a face value of $46 each.
While I'm grateful we could buy these tickets, I'm pretty pissed that we had to buy them through a scalper. More importantly, I think it's pretty sleazy of the doodlebops producers to direct consumers to a ticket reseller who charges a premium instead of ticket master or another primary service.
So, here is my advice if you want to see the doodlebops:
1. Use a ticketing service like ticket master to find when they're coming in advance.
2. Buy them through them
3. If you can't, go to Tickets Now to pay a premium
The only downside for saving the money is that you may not be in a front section.
Regards,
makingourway
Entertainment '08 Coupon book
Does anyone use the entertainment '08 coupon book?
I just picked up a copy for $15 at Walgreens.
I was attracted to the offer of half price circus tickets - something I would take my children to see - I'm guessing the half price would be covered by the ticket savings alone.
There seemed to be several other coupons for retailers, so we'll see how helpful it is. I know I'd certainly save some money if I ate doughnuts, but I'm too fat for that.
Regards,
makingourway
I just picked up a copy for $15 at Walgreens.
I was attracted to the offer of half price circus tickets - something I would take my children to see - I'm guessing the half price would be covered by the ticket savings alone.
There seemed to be several other coupons for retailers, so we'll see how helpful it is. I know I'd certainly save some money if I ate doughnuts, but I'm too fat for that.
Regards,
makingourway
Updated thoughts on home computers
After our move several of our desktops - older machines but still in and around 3.0 GHz single pentium iv processors didn't survive the move. I'm wondering how the movers will repair or compensate.
What we had left was:
1. My old laptop 3.4 ghz high performance pentium laptop with x800 graphics card - is a good laptop - miserable battery - more of a laptop replacement - just died.
2. an old 3.0 ghz desktop i had reconfigured from being a file server to a desktop
3. my personal laptops for work and home
I'm thinking that subsequent computers may be laptops. I've always chased high performance desktops, but the new laptops have nice landscape monitors and are pretty fast in the procesor department.
The only shortcoming is their usual lack of a dedicated high performance video card, but then again I really never play computer games any more, so it's less of an issue. Furthermore, the prices are pretty reasonable, not much more than what I would spend on a custom built pc (say around $1200).
I expect I'll buy a new laptop for my wife before the year's out. I'm hoping my old desktop replacement laptop (the 3.4 ghz) is still working - as it has decent speed.
What would you do? Would you focus on desktops with faster performance or laptops with better integration and protability?
Regards, makingourway
What we had left was:
1. My old laptop 3.4 ghz high performance pentium laptop with x800 graphics card - is a good laptop - miserable battery - more of a laptop replacement - just died.
2. an old 3.0 ghz desktop i had reconfigured from being a file server to a desktop
3. my personal laptops for work and home
I'm thinking that subsequent computers may be laptops. I've always chased high performance desktops, but the new laptops have nice landscape monitors and are pretty fast in the procesor department.
The only shortcoming is their usual lack of a dedicated high performance video card, but then again I really never play computer games any more, so it's less of an issue. Furthermore, the prices are pretty reasonable, not much more than what I would spend on a custom built pc (say around $1200).
I expect I'll buy a new laptop for my wife before the year's out. I'm hoping my old desktop replacement laptop (the 3.4 ghz) is still working - as it has decent speed.
What would you do? Would you focus on desktops with faster performance or laptops with better integration and protability?
Regards, makingourway
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Inexpensive network cabling
It's actually fairly difficult to find inexpensive network cabling - cat 5e. I'll be using large spools of cable and the electrician's will terminate each end for me.
The best price seems to be about $55 per 500 foot spool. Several retailers sell cable at this price. I was very suprised to see that home depot was one of them.
makingourway
The best price seems to be about $55 per 500 foot spool. Several retailers sell cable at this price. I was very suprised to see that home depot was one of them.
makingourway
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Quick update - massive expenditures
Quite a few things have happened in the last few weeks:
1. We decided to use some savings (my stomache cramps at the thought versus current cashflow) to finish outfitting our house. We reviewed our monthly cash flow and decided it was an acceptable risk.
2. Our second car, the one most frequently used by the live-in grandparents, became unstable and unreliable - stopping for two times in ten days. We had been planning to purchase a third car, but had been delaying the purchase for just such an occassion.
3. The purchases:
1. A mini-van (leased) $484 per month for three years
2. Furniture:
a. office furniture (high quality, best and most expensive we've ever purchased) $5,500 (most of this came out of operating income)
b. master bedroom furniture $1,450 (found a reasonably priced combination factory direct) - probably the lower quality tier, but at this price we can keep it for at least a few years and then either reposition in another room or donate to charity and replace. Bed frame, side tables, wall table/server
c. Flat panel LCD for family room, with stand and hdmi cable $1,900
d. Flat panel LCD for master bed room, with articulating wall bracket and hdmi cable $1,000
e. In August we bought a sectional sofa, ottoman and love seat for the family room at $1600
3. Home Improvements:
a. Fan for extra kitchen (we have an extra room that the sellers outfitted as a kitchen). $160 for hood ventilation unit and $400 for labor + extra for misc parts
b. $xxxx to repair water filtration system.
c. Possible: built-in dehumidifier for basement
d. Repaint master bedroom and remove old wallpaper $800
e. Replace window treatments in maste bedroom $400
f. Convert our propane grill to a natural gas grill $170
There are quite a few consequential decisions regarding the above. I'll write more about them in future posts.
The most important question here is why did we decide to dip into savings to make these changes:
1. Too often we've waited until just before moving to make necessary improvements, never having time to enjoy them
2. We think we'll live in this house for a long time - so we'll be around to enjoy the improvements
3. We've never had matching furniture except recently for the guest room.
4. Much of our past furniture didn't work with the new house (more rooms, bigger size)
5. We felt we could afford the expense, estimating it would be around $13k - $14k
6. We had to obtain a new vehicle with #2 being unstable
I'll also post in the future about several cash flow improving ideas.
Following the above expenditures, the majority of rooms in our house will have been furnished and updated. The most important rooms not update and subject to future expense will be:
1. Children's rooms - we can go slowly on these as the children are happy with what they have(while young)
2. Living room - we'll need to re-upholster the couch and change the window treatments; est. $1,700 (we can wait a while on this as we're still trying to decide what to do about the couch)
At the end of the day, we've accelerated the furnishing of our house while making necessary repairs. The flat panel TVs are a luxury plain and simple.
Regards,
makingourway
1. We decided to use some savings (my stomache cramps at the thought versus current cashflow) to finish outfitting our house. We reviewed our monthly cash flow and decided it was an acceptable risk.
2. Our second car, the one most frequently used by the live-in grandparents, became unstable and unreliable - stopping for two times in ten days. We had been planning to purchase a third car, but had been delaying the purchase for just such an occassion.
3. The purchases:
1. A mini-van (leased) $484 per month for three years
2. Furniture:
a. office furniture (high quality, best and most expensive we've ever purchased) $5,500 (most of this came out of operating income)
b. master bedroom furniture $1,450 (found a reasonably priced combination factory direct) - probably the lower quality tier, but at this price we can keep it for at least a few years and then either reposition in another room or donate to charity and replace. Bed frame, side tables, wall table/server
c. Flat panel LCD for family room, with stand and hdmi cable $1,900
d. Flat panel LCD for master bed room, with articulating wall bracket and hdmi cable $1,000
e. In August we bought a sectional sofa, ottoman and love seat for the family room at $1600
3. Home Improvements:
a. Fan for extra kitchen (we have an extra room that the sellers outfitted as a kitchen). $160 for hood ventilation unit and $400 for labor + extra for misc parts
b. $xxxx to repair water filtration system.
c. Possible: built-in dehumidifier for basement
d. Repaint master bedroom and remove old wallpaper $800
e. Replace window treatments in maste bedroom $400
f. Convert our propane grill to a natural gas grill $170
There are quite a few consequential decisions regarding the above. I'll write more about them in future posts.
The most important question here is why did we decide to dip into savings to make these changes:
1. Too often we've waited until just before moving to make necessary improvements, never having time to enjoy them
2. We think we'll live in this house for a long time - so we'll be around to enjoy the improvements
3. We've never had matching furniture except recently for the guest room.
4. Much of our past furniture didn't work with the new house (more rooms, bigger size)
5. We felt we could afford the expense, estimating it would be around $13k - $14k
6. We had to obtain a new vehicle with #2 being unstable
I'll also post in the future about several cash flow improving ideas.
Following the above expenditures, the majority of rooms in our house will have been furnished and updated. The most important rooms not update and subject to future expense will be:
1. Children's rooms - we can go slowly on these as the children are happy with what they have(while young)
2. Living room - we'll need to re-upholster the couch and change the window treatments; est. $1,700 (we can wait a while on this as we're still trying to decide what to do about the couch)
At the end of the day, we've accelerated the furnishing of our house while making necessary repairs. The flat panel TVs are a luxury plain and simple.
Regards,
makingourway
Saturday, October 06, 2007
the simplest way to automate bill payment
I recenty talked with a co-worker. He, like myself, travels several days a work week (if not every day). Older and more experienced than myself, I asked him how he kept on top of his bills. His answer...
Have everything charged automatically to his credit card or ACH'd from his checking account.
Frankly, I was impressed with the simplicity, but concerned that he lost his negotiating position for bills he disagreed with. He makes north of $450k, so I expect cash flow is not likely an issue.
I've began thinking more and more about automating payment for repeating bills onto my credit card. Why not? The card's limit would exceed the monthly bills and certainly simplify monthly bill payments.
Here's the question? Do I weaken my position if I have a dispute? Is the simplicity worth the risk?
Regards, makingourway
Have everything charged automatically to his credit card or ACH'd from his checking account.
Frankly, I was impressed with the simplicity, but concerned that he lost his negotiating position for bills he disagreed with. He makes north of $450k, so I expect cash flow is not likely an issue.
I've began thinking more and more about automating payment for repeating bills onto my credit card. Why not? The card's limit would exceed the monthly bills and certainly simplify monthly bill payments.
Here's the question? Do I weaken my position if I have a dispute? Is the simplicity worth the risk?
Regards, makingourway
Over $5000 in expensive furniture
We've been in the new house for a few months, finally having finished unpacking, organizing, re-organizing and unexpectedly repairing things. We're more or less settled.
However, we really don't have the house properly furnished.
Shortly after moving in we splurged and spent $2000 on family room furniture. It works quite nicely.
The dining room is already furnished and our living room, which we don't really use, is awkwardly furnished (old couch).
Here's what we have left to do:
Two of the bedrooms: our son's and the master bedroom need to be refurnished.
Finished basement
Living Room
Office (ordered today)
Today, we just placed an order to furnish my office.
It's been a massive pet peeve for my wife. My office has far too many gadgets and things scattered without a proper home. Also, it looks very basic, graduate school-like. Certainly not in a good fit for the expensie new home.
Since we etertain alot and few of my wife's associates understand what I do for a living, haveing an impressive office seems to be the lasting impression they absorb. Consequently she wants it to look nice. It's amazing how critical a detailed oriented woman can be.
I secretly have always wanted nice office furniture, but constitutionally could not stomache the expense. After much disappointing research - pressboard products from office warehouse stores, Costco unable to meet our interests, my wife finally found home library furniture on-line.
The default configuration didn't work for us - there went the $2,500 promotion. After figuring out what would (including measuring and charting it out), I determined the ideal configuration - that's when $5,000 happened. I felt sick thinking about it.
But as I thought of the alternatives - crap furniture form an Office Max or Office Depot or nice furniture with insufficient breadth of options from Costco I decided to compare the compromise prise of $2500 with the ideal price of $5000. Is it worth spending $2500 now to spend twice as much two years later? I decided to go for the ideal.
I'd like to avoid dipping into my cash reserves or non-retirement investments to pay for it, however, I'm not sure which funds I'll use just yet.
We'll have to wait and see. It's a bit stressful, but my wife will be pretty happy.
After placing the order, the next question she asked me was whether they had bedroom furniture. I asked her if she would mind waiting to see what service and actual furniture quality are like before ordering more. I think she agreed.
Well, I might have dug myself deeper into the hole, but at least I'll by working in a nicer environment (I spend 30 - 60 hours a week in my office).
Regards, makingourway
However, we really don't have the house properly furnished.
Shortly after moving in we splurged and spent $2000 on family room furniture. It works quite nicely.
The dining room is already furnished and our living room, which we don't really use, is awkwardly furnished (old couch).
Here's what we have left to do:
Two of the bedrooms: our son's and the master bedroom need to be refurnished.
Finished basement
Living Room
Office (ordered today)
Today, we just placed an order to furnish my office.
It's been a massive pet peeve for my wife. My office has far too many gadgets and things scattered without a proper home. Also, it looks very basic, graduate school-like. Certainly not in a good fit for the expensie new home.
Since we etertain alot and few of my wife's associates understand what I do for a living, haveing an impressive office seems to be the lasting impression they absorb. Consequently she wants it to look nice. It's amazing how critical a detailed oriented woman can be.
I secretly have always wanted nice office furniture, but constitutionally could not stomache the expense. After much disappointing research - pressboard products from office warehouse stores, Costco unable to meet our interests, my wife finally found home library furniture on-line.
The default configuration didn't work for us - there went the $2,500 promotion. After figuring out what would (including measuring and charting it out), I determined the ideal configuration - that's when $5,000 happened. I felt sick thinking about it.
But as I thought of the alternatives - crap furniture form an Office Max or Office Depot or nice furniture with insufficient breadth of options from Costco I decided to compare the compromise prise of $2500 with the ideal price of $5000. Is it worth spending $2500 now to spend twice as much two years later? I decided to go for the ideal.
I'd like to avoid dipping into my cash reserves or non-retirement investments to pay for it, however, I'm not sure which funds I'll use just yet.
We'll have to wait and see. It's a bit stressful, but my wife will be pretty happy.
After placing the order, the next question she asked me was whether they had bedroom furniture. I asked her if she would mind waiting to see what service and actual furniture quality are like before ordering more. I think she agreed.
Well, I might have dug myself deeper into the hole, but at least I'll by working in a nicer environment (I spend 30 - 60 hours a week in my office).
Regards, makingourway
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Simple pleasures...6 night lights
Yesterday evening I enjoyed an orgy of consumption at Costco. Spent about $550 using about 13 coupons they sent to me in the mail. Virtually everything I bought was a basic staple that we buy on a regular basis, however, I did accelerate consumption of paper towels and toilet paper. I feel a bit bad about the amount, however, I'm certain I just accelerated the rate of spend, so it should net near zero.
One of the non-staples I bought was a 6 pack of multi-colored night lights. For about $12 you get six. Every twelve or eighteen seconds they change colors. It's very nice. the children certainly like them and even visiting adult family members were quite engaged. We've run into the bathroom, turned off the lights and waited a few minutes to see the colors change. My eldest now takes everyone in the bathroom to see the new colors. $12 has yielded about an hour of entertainment and a good supply of lowe energy night-lights.
The best unexpected return is usually on packaging (i.e. the big box the expensive toy comes in). It was quite nice to see an actual interest in what was inside the packaging.
Next posting: Thoughts on cash flow and replacing the furnaces.
Have a great weekend.
Regards, makingourway.
One of the non-staples I bought was a 6 pack of multi-colored night lights. For about $12 you get six. Every twelve or eighteen seconds they change colors. It's very nice. the children certainly like them and even visiting adult family members were quite engaged. We've run into the bathroom, turned off the lights and waited a few minutes to see the colors change. My eldest now takes everyone in the bathroom to see the new colors. $12 has yielded about an hour of entertainment and a good supply of lowe energy night-lights.
The best unexpected return is usually on packaging (i.e. the big box the expensive toy comes in). It was quite nice to see an actual interest in what was inside the packaging.
Next posting: Thoughts on cash flow and replacing the furnaces.
Have a great weekend.
Regards, makingourway.
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