Thank you to those who weighed in on my last post regarding what to do for food for an upcoming weekend road trip and for “unmissables”. We are going to pack a cooler for the weekend! Our menu consists of turkey sandwiches, veggie chips, carrots, and celery and PBJ. I’ll be sure to pre-program the coffee pot on Friday before I leave for work, so both Novio and I have a fresh to-go cup for Friday night’s drive.
As far as unmissables – I loved the ideas you all gave, thank you! I will surely use them. A few of you mentioned selling stuff and using the extra cash for such things. I boxed up a bunch of clothes and other items for a spring-time garage sale, but I think I had it in my head that that money would either go into stuff for the house OR to debt. We will see when the time comes. Someone suggested going to the fair with a friend and splitting food (better for the budget and belt!), and possibly bartering with said friend. I love this idea and know just the friend I can do this with (if she’ll be up for it!). Your ideas gave me more ideas, which I will put into play in the future. Thank you!
The second weekend of Fa$ting in 2015 went alright. But guys, I have to be honest, I spent money.
No, no, not on a dinner out, not on Happy Hour, or a new pair of running pants; not even a grande Americano with 2 pumps cinnamon and 1 pump vanilla with room for cream from Starbucks. No, no want spending. Need spending. And it kinda turned out to more than I thought, for 2 reasons.
First of all, paint for our bone-white walls is only $30-ish/gallon (I checked at Lowe’s and Sherwin Williams and it was much more affordable at Lowe’s). But then you need painter’s tape, paint brushes, rollers, and paint trays (all x2 so Novio and I can prep and paint at the same time), and an edger, and a spout-topper-thinger for the paint can. No need to but drop cloths, thankfully. We flattened a bunch of boxes left over from our move and laid those down. We had some large plastic bags left over from some Christmas items and cut the bottom and cut them in half. Worked out just fine!
But the brushes and all that added up. Fast. Including the paint, it ended up totaling about $120. The good news is, if we take care of the brushes/rollers and trays, we can use them for quite a few projects. We finished the first coat in the bathroom last night and we’re very pleased! Finally – some color. Can’t wait to see how it looks after a second coat, and how our bedroom looks with the green “Crocodile Tears” hue we picked out.
The second reason this weekend was expensive is it turns out we need a new dishwasher. The thing worked fabulously for the first 3 weeks we were in the house, and then it suffered a squeaky, noisy, and sudden death. After dancing around with the Home Warranty Company and a local service repair shop, we were given the diagnosis: broken pump. The repairman told us we can get a new pump and get it installed for $338.75 (of which we have to pay $100 deductible and the rest is covered by our warranty) – but he made it a point to tell me, “I want you to know that your dishwasher is 17 years old. So while you’ll have a new pump, the rest of the machine is 17 years old.” {Note: his company doesn’t sell dishwashers, so he’s not trying to get me to buy to benefit him}.
After mulling it over and looking at costs (factoring in the warranty), considering the machine was new when we were still in elementary school, etc., we decided to buy new. A shiny new dishwasher will cost us just over $650 (includes delivery, installation, and hauling the old one away...in order to get the warranty backing, we must have an approved and insured pro do the job, otherwise Novio would take it on). We will get a $238.75 “cash out” from the Home Warranty company, which brings our out of pocket down to around $430.25. Eep! But, we figured it was best to replace now, with the reimbursement from the warranty, than to spend $100 (deductible) to fix it, only for it to break in a year or 2 and then buy shiny new for $650... a potential total loss of $750.
Thankfully, this won’t affect me too bad with the Fa$t; it just wasn’t the most ideal way to start out.
Otherwise, a solid weekend. A friend of mine and her significant other came and visited Novio and me Saturday afternoon. They hadn't seen our house yet, so it was fun to give a tour. She and I have been friends since elementary school and I value our friendship a great deal. She knew about the Fa$t, so in planning for the visit, she was more than willing to bring part of lunch and totally okay with not going out. I made soup and she brought the salad and we had a great time catching up. There was college basketball on as good background noise and entertainment. The Fa$t, personal finance, and the widespread nature of student loan debt came up. It’s good to talk about these things, collaborate, brainstorm, debate. Most importantly, my friend told me she believed in me...more steam for this Fa$ting train.
Sunday morning Novio and I had a breakfast date out! Sorta. We spent nearly 5 hours working a pancake breakfast fundraiser put on by the Pickleball Association we are part of – for working, we got to eat free. I turned to him while we were on our break to eat – must’ve been right around Round 2 of ‘cakes (don’t judge) -- and said, “Hey, it’s like we’re on a breakfast date!” I think savoring little moments like that will make this year seem more fun.
A couple of need-spending hiccups, but really I avoided the Wants pretty well, and was able to enjoy hosting company and a breakfast out without spending extra!
As far as unmissables – I loved the ideas you all gave, thank you! I will surely use them. A few of you mentioned selling stuff and using the extra cash for such things. I boxed up a bunch of clothes and other items for a spring-time garage sale, but I think I had it in my head that that money would either go into stuff for the house OR to debt. We will see when the time comes. Someone suggested going to the fair with a friend and splitting food (better for the budget and belt!), and possibly bartering with said friend. I love this idea and know just the friend I can do this with (if she’ll be up for it!). Your ideas gave me more ideas, which I will put into play in the future. Thank you!
The second weekend of Fa$ting in 2015 went alright. But guys, I have to be honest, I spent money.
No, no, not on a dinner out, not on Happy Hour, or a new pair of running pants; not even a grande Americano with 2 pumps cinnamon and 1 pump vanilla with room for cream from Starbucks. No, no want spending. Need spending. And it kinda turned out to more than I thought, for 2 reasons.
First of all, paint for our bone-white walls is only $30-ish/gallon (I checked at Lowe’s and Sherwin Williams and it was much more affordable at Lowe’s). But then you need painter’s tape, paint brushes, rollers, and paint trays (all x2 so Novio and I can prep and paint at the same time), and an edger, and a spout-topper-thinger for the paint can. No need to but drop cloths, thankfully. We flattened a bunch of boxes left over from our move and laid those down. We had some large plastic bags left over from some Christmas items and cut the bottom and cut them in half. Worked out just fine!
But the brushes and all that added up. Fast. Including the paint, it ended up totaling about $120. The good news is, if we take care of the brushes/rollers and trays, we can use them for quite a few projects. We finished the first coat in the bathroom last night and we’re very pleased! Finally – some color. Can’t wait to see how it looks after a second coat, and how our bedroom looks with the green “Crocodile Tears” hue we picked out.
The second reason this weekend was expensive is it turns out we need a new dishwasher. The thing worked fabulously for the first 3 weeks we were in the house, and then it suffered a squeaky, noisy, and sudden death. After dancing around with the Home Warranty Company and a local service repair shop, we were given the diagnosis: broken pump. The repairman told us we can get a new pump and get it installed for $338.75 (of which we have to pay $100 deductible and the rest is covered by our warranty) – but he made it a point to tell me, “I want you to know that your dishwasher is 17 years old. So while you’ll have a new pump, the rest of the machine is 17 years old.” {Note: his company doesn’t sell dishwashers, so he’s not trying to get me to buy to benefit him}.
After mulling it over and looking at costs (factoring in the warranty), considering the machine was new when we were still in elementary school, etc., we decided to buy new. A shiny new dishwasher will cost us just over $650 (includes delivery, installation, and hauling the old one away...in order to get the warranty backing, we must have an approved and insured pro do the job, otherwise Novio would take it on). We will get a $238.75 “cash out” from the Home Warranty company, which brings our out of pocket down to around $430.25. Eep! But, we figured it was best to replace now, with the reimbursement from the warranty, than to spend $100 (deductible) to fix it, only for it to break in a year or 2 and then buy shiny new for $650... a potential total loss of $750.
Thankfully, this won’t affect me too bad with the Fa$t; it just wasn’t the most ideal way to start out.
Otherwise, a solid weekend. A friend of mine and her significant other came and visited Novio and me Saturday afternoon. They hadn't seen our house yet, so it was fun to give a tour. She and I have been friends since elementary school and I value our friendship a great deal. She knew about the Fa$t, so in planning for the visit, she was more than willing to bring part of lunch and totally okay with not going out. I made soup and she brought the salad and we had a great time catching up. There was college basketball on as good background noise and entertainment. The Fa$t, personal finance, and the widespread nature of student loan debt came up. It’s good to talk about these things, collaborate, brainstorm, debate. Most importantly, my friend told me she believed in me...more steam for this Fa$ting train.
Sunday morning Novio and I had a breakfast date out! Sorta. We spent nearly 5 hours working a pancake breakfast fundraiser put on by the Pickleball Association we are part of – for working, we got to eat free. I turned to him while we were on our break to eat – must’ve been right around Round 2 of ‘cakes (don’t judge) -- and said, “Hey, it’s like we’re on a breakfast date!” I think savoring little moments like that will make this year seem more fun.
A couple of need-spending hiccups, but really I avoided the Wants pretty well, and was able to enjoy hosting company and a breakfast out without spending extra!