financegirl on Jul 10th 2008 DIY, Frugality, Spending
Ah, the great “do-it-yourself or hire someone else to do it?” debate (also known as “time or money?”).
Well, I’m ready to chime in…
I have a notoriously dirty car. Not the kind with all lots of trash in it, just the kind with lots of dog hair, food crumbs and dust. I told a co-worker that I needed to take it to the car wash, vacuum it out and clean the dash/windows, and his response was, “When my car gets that bad, I just take it to the place down the street and have it detailed.”
Me, being a girl who doesn’t even like pumping quarters into the car wash, found this a little ridiculous. Even though car detailing supposedly “only” costs about $20, I can do it myself for $7 or less (I think $7 is expensive for a car wash, but this one has free vacuums and I usually end up paying less than I would if I had to keep pumping quarters in for the wash and vacuum - I’m pretty slow!).
For some reason, I was thinking about this today (maybe it was the sight of all that hair and crumbs around my stick shift?), and something occurred to me. If my co-worker offered me $20 to clean out his car, would I do it? I think I would!
If I would be willing to do the job if someone else paid me to do it, then I shouldn’t hire someone else to do it for me.
Now, onto the question we do not speak of: If someone paid me $2,992 to paint their house, would I do it? If so, should I be hiring someone to paint mine? Of course, another relevant question would be: If someone paid me to paint their house, would I feel qualified to do it?
I’d like to think I’d pass on that “opportunity.”
Photo Credit: Do-It-Yourself by iamPatrick, used under Creative Commons licensing.
financegirl on Jul 8th 2008 Spending
On Saturday, my husband and I finally bought a new mattress (pictures coming on Thursday!). While this purchase was badly needed and we snowflaked for months to buy it (OK, OK…we borrowed half from our vacation savings and are paying it back out of our next paycheck), I can’t quit obsessing about all the other things I need to buy to go with it.
After all, when you get a new mattress, you also need a new bed frame, a waterproof and allergen-resistant mattress pad, new pillows, pillow protectors, an upholstered headboard and a down comforter…right? So far, all I’ve purchased are the bed frame, mattress pad and pillow protectors, but look how beautiful this headboard is:
Too bad it costs almost as much as the mattress did! Sigh.
This seems to be a theme for me, and maybe it’s universal, but every time I buy something I have a strong urge to buy everything else I want at the same time.
Our home’s exterior is another example: We’re having the it painted in a few weeks, so naturally I want to replace the doors (definitely not happening though), door handles, house numbers and exterior lights.
I guess it makes sense that once you start improving something, you realize how much better it could be if you also did/bought ______. But for now, I’ve got to just cool my heels and be thankful I only have to spend two more nights on an uncomfortable mattress.
This post was included as an Editor’s Pick in the Carnival of Money Stories, hosted by Funny About Money.
financegirl on Jul 1st 2008 Frugality, Spending
I am loving my new blogroll member, Money Saving Mom!
Every week, she shares the best deals from drugstores and grocery stores (even regional ones!) as well as tips and other freebie/deal finds. What I really like about her site is that she tells you exactly where to find the coupons you need, with links to Internet coupons, to shop frugally.
I’m learning so much from her site and the comments/links on her posts. Here are some recent deals I’ve done within the past week or so:
Total Cost: Under $15; Stores: CVS, Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee
Total Cost: Under $1; Store: CVS
You should definitely check it out!
financegirl on Jun 12th 2008 Career, Spending
Thanks, Money Saving Mom, for passing on this great Father’s Day deal:
If you buy $100 worth of Dockers men’s clothing or accessories (before taxes/discounts) from Sears between now and Sunday, you can mail it in for a $75 Shell gas card. This would be a perfect way to get your Father’s Day shopping done, get some needed dress clothes for the men in your life and save on gas! Click here for details.
financegirl on Jun 6th 2008 Spending
As I’ve mentioned before, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up in a few weeks. Many people are not going because the cost is $50 per person with a cash bar, which is quite expensive for my city.
Well, it turns out that the actual cost is only $35 per person, but they are charging $50 per person so they can use the extra money for next time’s deposit (in 10 years!). I am pretty ticked about that since who knows if I’ll even be alive in ten years and because they aren’t being up front about it.
So, my main group of friends has decided not to go to the evening event. However, we’ll be going to a picnic at the park that afternoon with the rest of the class. It has been suggested that we donate $20 per family to attend this event because most of the food is provided (we just have to bring a side). However, I believe the food has been donated by sponsors, so I’m not too happy about that either. It seems to me like the people organizing this event are upset that they’ve had to put out for the $300 deposit on the evening event’s facility, and are trying to recoup the money in whatever way possible (even from those not attending).
Argh!
(Photo Credit: Senior Ball - King and Queen by clarkstown67, used under Creative Commons licensing)
financegirl on Jun 4th 2008 Spending
I’d been hearing about Sarah Jessica Parker’s Bitten clothing line a lot lately, but didn’t realize there was a Steve & Barry’s in my area. Turns out there is, so I went there tonight.
All the pieces in the collection are in the $8.98-$10.98 price range, and some things were on special for 2 for $15 or 3 for $15. I got a summer top, bermuda shorts, hoodie jacket, two pairs of earrings and a necklace for $49. It was great.
But here’s the best part. The shopping center includes all of the following barganista stores:
Steve & Barry’s
TJ Maxx
Off Broadway Shoes
Target
Old Navy
I could die! This is going to be my first stop for shopping from now on.
Now all we need is a Forever 21 and a more convenient Urban Outfitters.
Finance Girl on May 29th 2008 Spending
Writing a blog is making me realize how incredibly fickle I am.
One day, I’m pining for a new mattress, the next day I need a redecorated (well, more like decorated) living room.
This week, I’ve been wanting a new computer. Badly.
You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as frequently since I switched to Wordpress on a self-hosted server. Well, that’s because my six-year-old iMac likes to crap out everytime I try to write a post. And don’t even get me started on uploading pictures!
So, what am I going to do? But a new $1,800 iMac? I don’t know. I don’t really have the money for that right now (obviously).
So last night I started trying to “fix” my machine. I’m getting rid of all the stuff I don’t need, downloading updates for everything that isn’t running on the most recent version (that my computer will support) and doing weird stuff like removing all the languages except English.
But, a girl can dream…(even a Finance Girl)
financegirl on May 14th 2008 Frugality, Spending
Back when I was interning as a bank teller (Is that the “This one time at band camp…” line of this blog?), my co-worker Patsy used to go through the Walgreens ads methodically and then show us all the things she bought for “free” after mail-in rebates. At the time, I thought this was a little nuts, especially since most of the items were things I saw no use for. So I’ve always been a little suspicious of personal finance bloggers who constantly post about their drugstore “deals.”
Fast forward to today at 5 p.m. I’m positively intrigued by an article on the MSN Money Smart Spending Blog about “The Drugstore Game.”
There is a CVS right by my stepson’s school, but I never go there for anything besides prescriptions because their prices tend to be really high. But I do have an Extra Care card that I’ve never activated, so tonight I decided to give “The Drugstore Game” a try.
I purchased a Schick Intuitions razor for $8.88, used a $4 off coupon, and got a a $6 credit for my next purchase. I also bought Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste for $2.99 and got a $2.99 credit for my next purchase. So, if there are any Extra Care Bucks specials for things I use next week, I can stock up using my $8.99 in credits, which will give me credits to use the next week. I think I love this idea already!
Of course, the main reason I needed to go to CVS was to pick up my antidepressant prescription. Before now, there were only two people who know I am depressed - my husband and my sister (although I’m sure others have their suspicions). So I just have to mention this post from Make Love, Not Debt on the costs of denying depression. I can completely relate to this, and I think it’s great that he had the courage to post about it.
Photo Credit: i never understood the slash by Walsh, used under Creative Commons licensing
financegirl on May 14th 2008 Spending
My 10-year high school reunion is next month.
There is going to be a barbeque on Saturday, an evening event with dinner, a DJ and possibly a mechanical bull (!) on Saturday night and an afternoon outing at the lake on Sunday. People are ticked though because the evening event is $50 per person with a cash bar. In our town, that’s a little ridiculous…
Still, I am probably going.
But that is not the end of the drama. Apparently the popular people planning the event left out some of the class officers, can’t find a bunch of people’s addresses and planned all of the events except for the barbeque outside of the town we graduated from (thus not contributing to its economy) and scheduled the reunion for the same weekend as the town’s annual “Community Days.” So now other class members are blasting them on MySpace and scheduling their own events for that night.
Can we say high school all over again?
Photo Credit: High School Yearbook Photo by stillthedudeabides, used under Creative Commons licensing
financegirl on May 13th 2008 Spending
I knew that stopping the debt snowball to replace our heat pump and hot water heater was necessary, but also dangerous.
You see, once I get started on a home improvement project, I want to keep improving!
Here is my list of things I currently want to do to the house:
- Install a storm door for the front entryway
- Replace the water-damaged storm door that leads out to the deck
- Replace the door leading out to the patio, which doesn’t close right and has rotted in the corner
- Put new knobs and deadbolts on the doors (shiny brass is icky!)
- Tile the floors in the bathrooms and laundry room
- Replace our aging dishwasher, stove and microwave with stainless steel appliances
- Replace our aging washer and dryer with front-loading machines
- Remove the popcorn ceiling texture from the ceilings
- Replace the ceiling fan in our bedroom
- Replace the carpeting
- Get a twin-size bunk bed for my stepson to save floor space in his bedroom and make it easier for his friends to spend the night
Some of these are needs and some are wants, but I don’t want to use our debt snowball payments for any of them. So, it might be a while…
Meanwhile, my husband has this itch to finish the basement (once we’re sure we’ve got the water problem taken care of). I don’t really think this is a good use of our money, but he’d like to at least finish the “office” section of the basement before we have a baby (the current office would be the baby’s room). So, we’re trying to allocate some of our budget toward that without sacrificing our debt repayment.
Conflicting goals are such a pain!
Photo Credit: M. Design Interiors Inc. by decor8, used under Creative Commons licensing
