Everybody Loves Your Money

About 6 years ago I bought a table top table saw.  It was $129 and was pretty much the cheapest way to go.  The table saw I really wanted was $450 plus and there was no way I could justify spending that much.  So, I sucked it up and bought the cheapy.  Add on the $40 table for it and I was up to $169.  About a third of what the other cost.

Fast forward 6 years and walk in to my garage and you’ll see that table saw, along with another one.  I picked up a used table saw just like the one I wanted to buy 6 years ago.  I got it for $80 and it’s in GREAT condition.  Apparently a little patience, (or in this case, a lot of patience) pays off.

I plan to sell my old one on Craigslist for $50.  I’m sure someone could use a decent little saw for that price.  So, for a $30 upgrade, I was able to finally get that table saw.

I could have bought that table 6 years ago.  In fact, I could have just as easily bought a new table even nicer yesterday.  With no debt and plenty of money in the bank, I wouldn’t even have felt a 5-$600 expense for a newer fancier one.  So, why didn’t I buy the new one?  I guess it’s really more frame of mind than anything.

Now, if I could just apply the same logic to truck purchases, I’d be in great shape!

My wife and daughter went for a walk this morning and were gone about 20 minutes when the phone rang.  My wife had taken her cel phone and was out on her walk.  She asked me to drive over to where they were to check out a garage sale.  I’ll confess that I normally HATE garage sales.  My stubborn point of view is that we have enough crap in our house that we don’t need to go buy someone else’s crap to compliment ours.

Well, I stand corrected.  As you may know, we subscribe to a fairly frugal method of buying clothes for our daughter.  She’s only 3 years old and really doesn’t care what she wears.  We know that in a few years, she’s going to care a lot more so we try to save on her clothing costs now.  We got a lot of hand-me-downs for the first couple of years but those have all dried up.  Needless to say, we aren’t ashamed to pick up some used clothing now and then.

So, I hopped in my truck and headed over to the garage sale.  When I got there I saw the typical crap sitting all over the driveway and also saw three large sheets with TONS of little girl clothes on them.  My wife had already started picking things out and by the time we both got done looking we had 22 items.  All of them were in like new condition and most of them were either from “Baby Gap”, “Gymboree”, “The Children’s Place” and “Carter”.  All of these brands are quite popular and are good quality.  It was apparent that these people had spent a fortune on clothes for their child.  Anyway, I picked up the pile and walked up to the MAN (always pick the man in a situation like this) and said, “How much do you want for this pile”.  I had also made a comment a few minutes prior that I knew he heard.  I told my wife, “Easy.  You are going to bankrupt us”.  She laughed and knew I was kidding, but he didn’t necessarily know that.  So, when I asked him how much, he thought about it for a second and said, “How about $5?”.  I didn’t even bother to barter with him.  I was hoping to negotiate down to $10 since that’s all I had in my wallet at the time.  He got us a bag, we put all the clothes in and we left.  We got our daughter a TON of clothes and it set us back $5.  Suddenly I’m not as opinionated about garage sales.

I suppose it was inevitable.  My daughter has reached that precious milestone of wanting everything she sees in the store and she believes with the right approach, she’ll get it.  I guess it’s been slowly evolving, but I really noticed it last time we went to the store.  She’s almost 3 years old and firmly has a grasp on the idea that getting more “things” is an enjoyable experience.  We’ve tried not to go overboard with her and in fact have probably bought her a TON less than lots of other parents.  I’m convinced that isn’t enough though.  She is bombarded with marketing everywhere she turns.  She could say “McDonalds” when she was 1 year old.  We had only been there a couple times, but it was firmly entrenched in her brain.

So, the latest episode was at the store a couple days ago.  Like most stores, the local department store strategically places kids items nice and low to the ground where any size squirt can see them.  In this case it was books.  There was a bright pink princess book on the rack and my daughter saw it.  We had to listen to her talk about wanting that princess book all through the store.  We didn’t budge.  We had made up our mind that she wasn’t going to get anything on this trip to the store.  It wasn’t about the money.  Heck, it wasn’t even very expensive.  It was simply principle.  We don’t want our daughter to expect something every time we go shopping.  Sometimes shopping is just to get the essentials.  What we did do is offer her the chance to “earn” it.  If she filled up her “potty chart” (in other words, go potty on the toilet a bunch of times) she could get the princess book with half of the money in the piggy bank.  She could only use half because we are teaching her that she has to save half of all the money she receives.

I may have mentioned it before, but I grew up next door to a kid who was my age.  Every time his mother would get in her car, he would sprint for the driveway yelling, “Mom, get me a toy!!!!!”.  Without fail, and I really mean WITHOUT FAIL, she would come back with something for him.  If she was going to get her hair cut, she would take a detour to the store and find something to buy him.  This kid had EVERY toy that came out.  He had no appreciation for money.  By the time he was in the 10th grade he had dropped out of school.  His mother had done so much of his homework over the years that by the time he hit the 10th grade he didn’t know how to do any of it, and she wasn’t smart enough to do 10th grade level work.  Anyway, I don’t want my daughter to end up not appreciating the value of money and end up like him.  (Yeah, it’s an extreme example and I obviously don’t think my daughter will end up that way)  I still remember when he was about 19.  He had gotten a brand new truck that his mom had co-signed for him.  It was only about 9 months later that it got repossessed.  I lost touch with him years ago so I really don’t know how he is fairing now.  I’m guessing he’s probably struggling.

You know something.  It’s about this time every year when my wife and I look at our calendar and realize that just about every weekend for our entire summer is booked.  Between the birthday parties for all of our family, planned trips, and just random other “get togethers” we are pretty much packed.

The other part of this story is that a lot of these weekends also mean some decent expenditures.  We’ve got two weddings that we have to travel for and stay in hotels, a 40th anniversary trip for my parents that is sure to set us back about $700-800, and a few birthday gifts.

On top of those, we also have a few projects around the house that we’d like to get done.  Those most definitely will set us back a bit.  We’ve been digging out an area behind our house where we would like to put a patio. (14X20)  We had talked briefly about a deck, but we decided that just didn’t make sense for us.  I find it far more appealing to just pressure wash the concrete patio once a year rather than stain a deck.  My guess is that the patio will also last us a lot longer.  So far we’ve gotten two bids for the job.  (Just the setting of forms and then pouring the concrete).  The first bid was $1800 and the second was $2500.  When the second guy came, he got done measuring and said, “Well, my minimum price for any work is $2300.”  I guess I was a little surprised that he came in $500 over the first bid so I said, “Oh bummer.  Turns out that’s more than my maximum”.  He looked at me funny and left.  So, we’ll get a couple more bids and then make a decision.  I’ve found it’s always a good idea to get a minimum of 3 bids for any job you want to have done.  I don’t always go for the cheapest, but it gives me an idea of what the “going rate” is.

On top of the patio, we’d also like to completely redo our front yard.  We have a small lawn out front and we’d really like to get rid of some of the gardens and put in a larger lawn.  I have no idea what that will cost, but I’m sure it will be in the hundreds.  We’ll see if we actually get to that.

And, since I seem to have perfected the art of rambling in this post, I guess I will also mention that we changed our cable tv plan.  It turns out that Comcast has a promotion right now that will give us expanded basic cable, OnDemand programming and pay per view movies for $1 more a month than we are paying now.  The introductory rate is $29.99 for three months (then it goes to $46.99 per month which is $1 more than we are paying now), so if we save $16 per month for 3 months, that covers the first 48 months with this new plan so that we are breaking even.  (Then we’ll have the $1 increase).  If that didn’t make any sense, please forgive me.  Like I said, I’m rambling.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend and take a moment to remember all of those that have given their lives for our country.

I got an email late last week from my hosting provider (Dreamhost)  Apparently there was something going on with my database that was causing a spike on the db server.  They opted to just disable my site on Friday.  Well, I started getting a little frustrated when I hadn’t heard anything by Saturday night.  By monday, I was getting mad.  It just kind of struck me as bad business to take my site down and then go home for the weekend.  Then, when I hadn’t heard back by Monday night, I decided to see if I could get the site back up myself.

The fact that you are reading this indicates I was successful.  They had removed my DB account so that my site couldn’t reach it.  I managed to get it set back up and then did a little detective work.  I believe the original issue was caused by my spam filter.  (Spamkarma).  I made a few tweeks to it, and also reverted to an earlier database.  Hopefully that will do the trick.  I’ve still yet to hear about any resolution from my hosting provider.  Argghhh.

If my site drops off the face of the earth again, rest assured, I’ll be trying my best to get it right back up.  In the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you’d call all your spammer friends and tell them to quit hitting my site!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/17/national

Students are facing their highest debt burdens ever.  They are quickly closing in on the $23k cap for student loans and are going to have to turn to the blood sucking commercial banks for more.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/17/markets/markets_newyork

Is the market starting a long fall?  If it does, the more cash you have to buy at bargain basement prices, the better.  I’ve got a reserve account that I’ll be happy to use once we hit bottom.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/personal_finance

Better start saving if you haven’t already.  Pensions and social security aren’t exactly a sure thing.  I’d recommend saving AT LEAST a full 10% of your income.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/14494350.htm

Do the math on a Hybrid.  Even at $3 a gallon, it’s not a “no brainer”.  In most cases, selling your current car and taking the hit, along with the new car’s depreciation and higher cost (than it’s non-hybrid counterpart) eat up any potential savings.

We are off to the family cabin to spend the day with all of my family, including my mother.  :)  It should be a great day.  The weather is clear and sunny with temperatures going in to the mid 70’s.  We are taking our Seadoo up with us and my sister is bringing her boat as well.  All the nephews are very excited to go out on the boat and Seadoo.

Frankly, we feel very fortunate to be able to spend time with our family like this.  While we’ll easily spend $100 on gas for both the truck and Seadoo, and other items, it’s worth it.  This is what having some money in the bank is for.  Being able to spend a little money without any concern for how much is great.  No credit cards here.

Yesterday we spent the day removing a bunch of juniper bushes that were out in front of our house.  The previous homeowner put them in and they had grown up big and ugly.  I know all of our neighbors just hated them.  I would bet we’ve gotten wise crack remarks about those things at least 15 times since we’ve lived here.  We hated them too and the yard looks so much cleaner and nicer now.  I had gotten a bid of $250 to have them (9 of them) removed.  I didn’t think that seemed like such a bad price, although now that we did it ourselves, I’m glad we didn’t pay someone.  I just threw a tow rope around the base of each one and hooked it up to my truck.  Each one pulled out with ease.  These junipers were each about 4-5 feet across so I was really surprised how easily they came out.  Definitely saved ourselves some easy money.

Yeah, I know I have.  We have saved a TON of money by having Tivo.  We don’t rent nearly as many movies as we used to.  If you recall, we spent a total of $155 to get a 140hr Tivo unit and that also covered the first year of service.  (The deal was that we got a brand new 140 hour unit if we prepaid one year of service).  Well, that year ended last month and I just got our first bill for $12.95 for the monthly charge.  I happily paid it and then remembered reading that Tivo has a competitive match offer.  FatWallet and a buddy of mine both reminded me of that.

So, yesterday I called Tivo and followed their menu options to “cancel your service”.  When I finally reached a live person, I asked them if they had a less expensive option than their $12.95 a month.  The woman said “no”, so I told her that Comcast has been hitting us hard lately to use their DVR service and that if we were to sell our Tivo unit on Ebay and then put that towards Comcast’s DVR subscription that would probably get us another year of service for just about nothing.  (which is pretty much a true story)  At that point the woman said, “Well, I can put you on the lifetime $6.95 a month service”.  I said, “You can do that?” (okay, I knew that). She said, “Yes”.  So, with that I now have my Tivo service at $6.95 a month for life (or at least until they go out of business).

Part of me feels a bit guilty about only paying $6.95, but they created this situation by making it available.  Frankly I’m surprised that they don’t read FatWallet and take away this offer.  They aren’t profitable at this point and the more of their subscribers that they allow to call and get this offer, the more money they are going to lose.  I personally love the Tivo concept, but I also realize that there are other options out there now, and there will be even more very soon.  So, while I should probably take a few minutes to feel overcome with guilt, I really don’t have time.  I’ve got a ton of shows on the Tivo that I haven’t seen yet.

It’s been a rough weekend.  Saturday evening I got sick and didn’t sleep all night.  I stayed in bed all day Sunday which is the first time I’ve done that in about 20 years.  Between sleeping and getting up to be sick again, I watched a little TV.

As I flipped through the channels, I finally came upon a show called “The Real Housewives of Orange County”.  The show is basically a chance for a bunch of self involved women to talk about themselves and showcase all the “things” they have.  A few of my favorite tidbits from watching:

-One woman claimed that about 85% of the women in her area have had breast implants

-On an “arranged” jewelry shopping trip, the ladies collectively spent over $44,000 on jewelry.

-One mother “Vicky” was mad at her son for using her American Express card (which apparently he has full access to) to purchase rock concert tickets for him and all his friends.

Believe me, these are just a few of the MANY examples of complete and total absurdity.  This show is an ongoing saga of trying to keep up with your neighbors.  I had to wonder how many of these people are living completely beyond their means.  One woman, while on the jewelry shopping trip, had to soul search a whole bunch before justifying the purchase.  She kept thinking that maybe she could be more productive at her sales job.  That led me to believe what she makes, she spends.

I will confess I watched the shows (it was an all day, or at least a few hour marathon of shows), because it was a bit of a train wreck.  I wish that I could show my daughter these shows (She’s 2) and have her realize how absurd it is.  Unfortunately, with all the shows out there flaunting consumerism, it’s going to be a lot harder than that to teach her that it isn’t normal to go on jewelry shopping trips and have full access to her parents credit cards.

You may recall that a few months ago I posted about buying someone’s wheels and tires from their Toyota.  I always find this is a great way to get new tires (and a new set of wheels) for about the price of new tires alone.  Then I can sell my old wheels and end up getting new tires for about half price.  Well, you may also recall that after that post about buying new wheels and tires, I ended up buying a new truck.

Before I sold my old truck, I took those new wheels and tires off and put them in the garage.  I paid $400 (plus another $50 to get them mounted and balanced) for those and didn’t want to just “give” them away on my old truck.  (I don’t think buyers really care what the wheels and tires look like on the car they are buying, unless they are terribly ugly.)

So, that’s the long winded way to get to the story.  I put the wheels and tires up on Craigslist and sold them today for $650.  Not a bad profit.  Needless to say, if I come across any other deals like that, I’ll be sure to snap them up.