Weekend festivities
This weekend Al and I did the budget, got new phones and a new phone plan, and purchased a used couch on craigslist.
The budget was painful, as always. It is tricky balancing our desire to enjoy life, Al's need to feel like she is pulling her own wait, and my desire to save money. On the plus side, my saving frenzy is nearing its end (or at least the time when I can save a little less vigorously) as my savings have finally equaled my student loans. That's right, for the first time in my adult life, my net worth is in the black. Now I just need to put enough emergency money away so that I feel comfortable, and then save up enough money to replace the civic.
No, I don't need to replace the civic, but its always been a bit of a POS car whose purpose was to eek me through until I could purchase a real vehicle. It has a constant funny smell, the vents have one setting and the AC has two settings barely cool and off, plus the whole vent system likes to emit loud noises at random intervals which continue until you kick the fan under the passenger dashboard for 3 or so minutes. It is missing internal panels, the floor fabric isn't really connected completely, it has a sealant leak somewhere in the back that results in the trunk becoming damp whenever the weather is. finally, we've begun to see early signs of impending repair work being necessary in the near future. Why am I so defensive of wanting a new car? Because I know I don't need one right now. It is perfectly functional for the moment, and I don't have a car payment on it, and it will probably last for another 30-50K miles before it would make logical sense to replace it.
The new phone plan comes with new phone numbers and new phones. Not terribly exciting. We'll be with Verizon now, since they have great reception in this area (including in the metro tunnels) and since many of my family and friends use them. Will be sending out email with the new numbers in the next day or so.
The new sofa was a whole different adventure. I was able to talk the sellers down to 150 (from 200), and it was a good thing too, because the closest uhaul that had a vehicle was about 30-40 minutes in the wrong direction, which added roughly 20$ to the price of the uhaul rental in mileage. Luckily the torrential downpour waited until after we got the couch in the house, but sadly, it didn't wait until we had finished returning the uhaul and gotten back home. The price actually wound up being a little less than I had asked, because the owners had found some minor (and easily repairable) damage to one of the cushion, and volunteered to knock additional money off. I suggested a 20$ reducation when they brought it up, and they countered with a 25$ reduction. Yes, that's right, they reduced the amount of money they were going to get. I never want these guys on my negotiation team. (I did have a sudden urge to go loony toons on them and try bidding them up ala bugs bunny, but decided that they might not appreciate the humor.
The couch itself is a sectional 'L' style couch with a pull out bed and chaise lounge. Yes, it is a duplicate in all but color to the one mdhensley and finian_mchens got a little bit ago. Of course, they weren't available to help me move my couch. I suspect that they made plans months in advance specifically to avoid having to help me move my new couch. They are very sneaky that way.
But we did eventually get the new sofa in place, and moved the old flip-out upstairs so that we'd have it where we needed for the upcoming weekend. Lots and lots of fun stuff.
The budget was painful, as always. It is tricky balancing our desire to enjoy life, Al's need to feel like she is pulling her own wait, and my desire to save money. On the plus side, my saving frenzy is nearing its end (or at least the time when I can save a little less vigorously) as my savings have finally equaled my student loans. That's right, for the first time in my adult life, my net worth is in the black. Now I just need to put enough emergency money away so that I feel comfortable, and then save up enough money to replace the civic.
No, I don't need to replace the civic, but its always been a bit of a POS car whose purpose was to eek me through until I could purchase a real vehicle. It has a constant funny smell, the vents have one setting and the AC has two settings barely cool and off, plus the whole vent system likes to emit loud noises at random intervals which continue until you kick the fan under the passenger dashboard for 3 or so minutes. It is missing internal panels, the floor fabric isn't really connected completely, it has a sealant leak somewhere in the back that results in the trunk becoming damp whenever the weather is. finally, we've begun to see early signs of impending repair work being necessary in the near future. Why am I so defensive of wanting a new car? Because I know I don't need one right now. It is perfectly functional for the moment, and I don't have a car payment on it, and it will probably last for another 30-50K miles before it would make logical sense to replace it.
The new phone plan comes with new phone numbers and new phones. Not terribly exciting. We'll be with Verizon now, since they have great reception in this area (including in the metro tunnels) and since many of my family and friends use them. Will be sending out email with the new numbers in the next day or so.
The new sofa was a whole different adventure. I was able to talk the sellers down to 150 (from 200), and it was a good thing too, because the closest uhaul that had a vehicle was about 30-40 minutes in the wrong direction, which added roughly 20$ to the price of the uhaul rental in mileage. Luckily the torrential downpour waited until after we got the couch in the house, but sadly, it didn't wait until we had finished returning the uhaul and gotten back home. The price actually wound up being a little less than I had asked, because the owners had found some minor (and easily repairable) damage to one of the cushion, and volunteered to knock additional money off. I suggested a 20$ reducation when they brought it up, and they countered with a 25$ reduction. Yes, that's right, they reduced the amount of money they were going to get. I never want these guys on my negotiation team. (I did have a sudden urge to go loony toons on them and try bidding them up ala bugs bunny, but decided that they might not appreciate the humor.
The couch itself is a sectional 'L' style couch with a pull out bed and chaise lounge. Yes, it is a duplicate in all but color to the one mdhensley and finian_mchens got a little bit ago. Of course, they weren't available to help me move my couch. I suspect that they made plans months in advance specifically to avoid having to help me move my new couch. They are very sneaky that way.
But we did eventually get the new sofa in place, and moved the old flip-out upstairs so that we'd have it where we needed for the upcoming weekend. Lots and lots of fun stuff.