… computer!  Which was quite necessary, in the modern scheme of things.

We have been putting off the wheedling from our teenage son for well over a year, but the time had come: our old desktop lasted years longer than any other computer we’ve owned and it was one step away from crashing completely. Also, our son requires a computer for an online high school course — not to mention his regular classes — and I was paranoid that the old one would crash and breath its last after John leaves for California and I’d be left here not having a clue what to do.

My husband is the computer guru, not I. He’s the reason the desktop lasted even as long as it did — over five years? My, how times have a-changed! When he researched this time around, he reached a realization, “I am at the time of my life when I am getting off the tech-train.” He no longer has the interest or time to keep up with the latest and greatest in chip power speed and super high-powered ninja-bytes. (Can you tell I have no idea what I’m talking about?)

But John at least knows what the specs mean when he’s standing there determining which one he should ultimately purchase for our purposes. He visited three different local stores looking for a mid-grade PC with sufficient upgrades to keep it from becoming obsolete in just a few years, but without the unnecessary bells and whistles that cost an arm and a leg: we don’t need the thing to design the next space shuttle or calculate the speed of light; we just need enough of a machine to handle email and homework programs and carousing around facebook.

He ended up bringing home our first Gateway PC — no new monitor, as the one we have works just fine (much to our son’s chagrin).

With tax: $670.96.

Based on John’s research leading up to the purchase, we had estimated spending about $600, before tax. The first two stores didn’t have what he was looking for in stock. The third store had the one he wanted, but right beside it was the Gateway for $30 more (before tax) but with specs that added up to a lot more:

• i3 chip
• 8 MB RAM
• 1000 MB hard-drive*

*see below for an explanation and the corrected specs!

This was vs. the quad-core chip, six GB RAM, and 750 GB hard-drive of the Dell he’d originally planned on buying.

Lest you think I sound like I know what I’m talking about, I’m just writing down what John is telling me. All in all, I thought he did very well within the budget we had set for ourselves. He also knows how to install these things and set everything up. Did you know they want $70 to come out to your house and do that for you?

He bought a computer, and I got a much-needed night out.

I got a much-need night out with the ladies last night while Conner babysat (yea, for teenage siblings!) and John did the final computer shopping. I enjoyed a yummy soup and half-sandwich ($7.87) from Panera before the girls and I headed to a live concert and soaked our souls in the soothing tunes of an amazing new (to me) Christian singer-songwriter and pianist — who also just happens to be blind.

Pizza for The Boys: $19.98

Unbeknown to me, “The Boys” were ordering out a meal of their own, courtesy of Father John.

All in all, it ended up being a rather expensive day.

(At least the concert was free.)

Laptop Woes

It could be so much worse, of course. (Can’t it always?) But my laptop is also on its last legs!

Do I need a new laptop? Hmmm… define “need”, exactly. No, a laptop is not necessary for human survival. But it does greatly help me maintain sanity.

HOWEVER. A new laptop is simply not where I want to put more money right now. Not now. So John spent the afternoon cleaning up my laptop and generally running scans and wipes and… well, I don’t really know what all. But it is running so much better. (Thanks, honey!)

This is How You Budget

In the interest of planning ahead for the day the laptop does finally die… What laptop do you use or otherwise recommend? Bonus if you can give me an idea of how much it goes for, though these prices like to change as much as the weather in the Midwest, don’t they?

Do tell, and help this girl start planning the $$ accordingly. I thank you in advance.

**Update**

Ha! Forest just pointed out in the comments that he was very hopeful that I mistyped when I outlined the computer specs above? Did I ever! Here are the correct comps:

• Intel Core i3 550 chip
• 8 GB RAM
• 1 TB hard-drive (which I now know is the same thing as 1000 GB)

As John explained, “That’s what you get for interviewing me while I’m trying to watch the Florida-Alabama game!”

Just look at this as further proof of how clueless I am about such techie things.

As I mentioned in my last post, my husband is TDY right now, which is military-speak for a business trip. I don’t envy him being in West Texas in August! Although it hasn’t exactly been roses and rainbows up here in Ohio, either. Blech.

Military Per Diem: Excuse to Spend? Or Opportunity to Save?

When John goes TDY he typically receives some kind of per diem, depending on the place and the purpose of the trip. He was rather surprised to learn that he was going to get, like, $35/day per diem for this TDY. After all, he’s attending a class on a base with a chow hall. But within 24 hours of arriving, John figured out that a lot of wining and dining is expected as part of this course: networking and all that. There goes the per diem — and then some, if you’re not careful. Right away he started thinking about how much mandatory fun he could get away with skipping out on. One other guy in the class was like-minded, so he wasn’t the only one doing the math.

But it didn’t take long for others to notice, as he wrote in an email just a couple of days after his class started:

“Ok, so today already I ducked a lunch engagement AND another dinner.  And someone asked me if I was poor.  I just said no, but some simple math told me eating at fancy restaurants twice a day for $25-30 a pop was far in excess of the $35 or so they were giving us per day.”

Knowing him, he’s paraphrasing what he actually told the guy (I’m assuming it was a guy). But these aren’t fast food restaurants these people are going to here, and they’re not sitting down and ordering off the appetizer menu and sipping ice water, either. Just the booze alone for some of these guys eats up their per diem, I’m sure. And while I’m all for going out and enjoying yourself now and then, and I totally get the professional-social networking thing…  Every Day?

Easy Come, Easy Go

His situation reminded me of a friend of mine whose (military) husband always over-spends his per diem and makes no apologies about it. He goes TDY often, and she actually factors in more spending in the budget when he’s away then when he’s home. “He’s eating steak and ordering out a few beers almost every night.” That adds up. But he feels like he works hard and so he deserves it. This is not uncommon.

There is the bit about how it costs money for them to eat when they’re in their own home, too. There is that. So it’s not like going over your per diem should break the bank, assuming you’re spending less on groceries while you’re spouse is away. But I’m just trying to keep things simple here.

John’s about half-way through his TDY now and I just ran some numbers. So far, he has spend roughly $377.13 on food. (This is not an exact calculation as I am going by his debit transactions, and all of these may not have been for food.) That averages out to about $27 a day. So he’s managed to do pretty well. Some of this was for start-up, too: he got a few grocery items to keep in his room for a few easy meals, so those dollars will of course stretch further. (Farther? I have never understood that rule.)

Of course it’s nice to “make money” when your husband goes TDY. And some manage to do that every time. But I know so many who don’t. Sometimes it’s mindless, and sometimes it’s more purposeful. I’m going to go out and enjoy myself and not worry about the cost.

How about you and yours? I know there’s a lot of military peeps out there. Does your spouse watch his spending while he’s TDY? Or is he “on vacation”? Those who aren’t military but your  spouses (or you) travel a lot for their job: is it all reimbursed? Or do business trips really wear on the budget?

There can be a lot of pressure out there, to wine and dine and schmooze and act like it’s nothing to drop $50 on a meal and a few drinks. That guy who asked John if he was poor? Oh, I’m sure he said it in a joking way, but just his asking says so much about the judgment he was making… about John, perhaps. But I’m thinking even more about how her perceives others would view him if he were to make the same choice.

***

Addendum: Thank you guys so much for your comments and input on the previous post. I plan to respond to you each individually. Alas, it is very late, and a pile of laundry is not going to fold itself and is threatening to fall on top of this laptop as I type. I will be getting back to you all shortly. You’ve given me a lot of food for thought. I sorely appreciate it.

Absolutely beautiful day in Ohio. The humidity dropped exponentially overnight.

Just in time for our impending road trip to Kansas: Land of Heat and Humidity.

Ick.

July is not the best time to visit Kansas. Only August is worse.

I blame this trip on my cousin, who’s getting married. Even though we’ve visited Kansas in July more times than I’d like to remember. And in August. I really don’t know why we do this. It’s a habit I’m thinking of stopping. Until the next wedding. Anyone reading this in Kansas? Fall is beautiful, really. So is Spring. And Winter weddings really shouldn’t be underestimated.

What’s up with people always getting married in the Summer, anyway? Why is that the tradition? Is that just an American thing? I’ve never really pondered that before…

We got married in May. I don’t think I ever mentioned it, but we celebrated 16 years last month.

We got a new bed. And slept in it. That’s what happens when you’ve been married a while: you get excited about sleeping. And not waking up with a sore back. We were quite pleased.

I don’t mean to sound grumpy. But I just re-read this, and I’m reminding myself of a curmudgeon.

That’s a funny word, curmudgeon. I don’t think I’ve ever used that one before. Cantankerous, yes. But not curmudgeon.

The Nature Park was spectacularly beautiful today. I took lots of pictures. The kids loved creeking and discovering things like tadpoles and fossilized rocks and deer that aren’t skittish when you creep in close.

Yes, creeking. I think my teenager and his friends made that word up.When I was growing up in Kansas, we called it a crick. (Or is it crik?)

Peter slipped and fell in the water and got his shirt wet.

After that, he walked like Frankenstein. Or a zombie, I couldn’t decide which. (Is there a difference?)

Someday, I will take the kids out and leave my camera at home. And try not to say to myself, “Oh, I wish I had my camera.” But today, I’m glad I had it. The little kids are good sports about it, always willing to pose, when I want them to.

Oftentimes I don’t.

We leave for Kansas in two days. I’ve done nothing to get ready. If you’ve read this far, thank you for procrastinating with me.

Are you so lucky as to have a wonderful, free Nature Park nearby? Or arboretum? Or some other such wonder to experience for merely the price of showing up in The Great Outdoors?

Please, don’t tell me if you do and have never gotten around to enjoying it. Just go, now. And carry no regrets that it took you this long.

Just don’t let it take you so long again.

]]> http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2010/06/free-nature-parks.html/feed 6 http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2010/06/bike-repair.html http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2010/06/bike-repair.html#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:29:01 +0000 jolyn http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/?p=2915

Riding bikes is great frugal fun for the whole family!  Once you’ve accounted for the cost of the bikes, of course…

John recently posted this ad on craigslist:

Popsicles, white skin, and (free!) water parks. It must be the start of Summer!

(I actually took this picture last summer — I forgot to take my camera with me today!)

We may not be out of school here yet in body, but we sure are in spirit. It was difficult bidding a good night to a beautiful evening outdoors, but the alarm clock will ring in the morning.

Whether your summer has unofficially begun or not…

• What is a favorite *Free* summer activity for your family?
• What is a favorite inexpensive snack you have on stand-by for your kids (or yourself!) during the summer months?

Please, do tell! We can all gain some new ideas in the comments — perhaps your favorite will become a new activity or appetizer for someone else!

I really wish I could say I just wanted to get rid of cable. I really, really wish I could say, “Let’s get rid of our TV all together. It would be better for the kids. It would be better for us. It’s a time sucker and it‘s all just a bunch of junk anyway.”

But I can’t. I’m not addicted to TV by any stretch, but I do have a few shows I like to watch. I don’t let the kids watch every day, but it really can be a lifesaver when times are rough. Like when the kids recently took turns staying home from school with fevers and colds — “Little Einsteins” and “Special Agent Oso” were livesavers.

I love my DVR
I like to say that when I die I want to be buried with my DVR. What else can cure the woes of perpetual laundry than knowing you have a good show to watch while you fold it? We don’t rent movies; we don’t even do Netflix anymore because I say our money goes into having that DVR instead.

All that being said, I still wish I could tell myself to just get rid of it all and save us the $50 every month. I really, really should be able to do that. But so far, I can’t…

So when our DVR began giving us problems, we decided to get it checked out. Actually, it’s been giving us problems since day one for awhile, but that’s how lazy we are little importance we have placed on watching the tube on a regular basis; we just never got around to calling.

So the guy comes out with his little “satellite buddy” (his words) and goes up and takes a look. Turns out, a bolt was loose. Has been the whole time. As in, since we got it two years ago. So every time the wind blew — or thought about blowing — and every time it rained — or thought about raining, the dish wobbled more and more and — you guessed it, no signal.It got to where the signal would go out whenever a bird flew by.

So the guy got it fixed. And the good news? It was all still under warranty. So no service call fee.

Warranty? What Warranty?
Actually, the good news is also the bad news. Because I didn’t know we were paying for a warranty. Apparantly, it came free of charge for the first 90 days, then it was up to us to cancel it.

Only I didn’t know we had it. Or remember. Who knows. We had just moved here from overseas, people; I had other things on my mind.

I reckon we’ve paid about $126 for this warranty since we’ve lived here. I asked the guy how much it would have cost him for his service call, and he said it’s $60 just to get him in the door — but the company automatically charges you for two hours worth of labor (so, $120?). Either way, I figure we break about even.
It’s really annoying, though; if I’d known we’d been paying for this I would have had the guy come out a long time ago.

To Pay or Not to Pay
Now the question is, do we keep paying the $6 a month for the warranty? By my calculations, that would come to about $120 for the time we have left in this house.

How much do you pay for cable? Do you have cable? Do you have Tv? Any why doesn’t anyone answer these questions I ask? (Other than my sister — thanks, Carmen!) “Is anyone even reading this? Tap-tap — this thing on?

And check your statements, people. Make sure you know what you’re paying for.

A friend and I planned to see a movie this weekend, but at the last minute she reneged on me — something about a last-minute work deadline or some such nonsense. I was like, so whatever. (Hi, Erin!)

Just kidding. Going to a movie is a pretty big treat for me: the finances, yes; but also just the getting away. And going with a friend is that much more rare — it usually means two moms have the time and money to make it happen at the same time. I don’t know about your world, but in mine that’s a rare occurrence.

We were either going to see “Julie and Julia” or “The Time Traveler’s Wife” — not exactly the type of movie I would ever go see with The Hubs. Chick-Flicks, bah-humbug. Erin and I might try to make one of them next weekend instead, but in the meantime I realized how much I’d been looking forward to going to see a movie, girlfriend or no, and I asked The Hubs if we would go see one of them with me instead.

“No way!” He just laughed. I guess he thought I was kidding.

Then, to my surprise, after I laid on a major guilt trip he acquiesced and said he’d go. But he needed to get some stuff done and we’d have to go in the evening. In other words, no matinee price.

Fast forward a few hours and I realized that I really had no desire to go to the movies with my husband and spend $14 on something he didn’t even want to see. I’d rather spend the time with my husband, so we agreed on spending a date-night in instead, curled up on the couch with a drink and maybe finding something already recorded to watch on our DVR.
I realize $14 may not sound like a lot of money. But with this journey we are on that is how careful I am trying to be about every dollar I spend. August has proved to be quite the expensive month… Looking at the progress of our debt snowball is great motivation to make every one of them count.

The Hubs is a Captain in the Air Force. He was recently boarded for Major and made the cut. Yea!

This is cause for happiness on so many different levels. Yes, it is very exciting that he made the cut the first go-around. The percentage of Captains making the board in his AFSC (aka “job field”) is rather high, so we weren’t entirely surprised. But you just never know until you know. You know?

But this is especially sweet for us because once upon a time The Hubs was just a lowly peon in the enlisted ranks — in fact, we both were. (Yes, that’s how we met. *sigh*) It was a long, hard road for him to finally earn his undergraduate degree. It took the first six years of our marriage, in fact, what with all the moving around and starting over with new schools. (This was back in the 90′s, well before online degrees were so prevalent.)(And yes, we moved a lot, especially back then. Five times in six years, if you want a number.)

The Hubs comes from a career Air Force father, and uncle, and older brother, and various other brothers and relatives who have served in the military. But he was the first one in his family to actually earn a college degree. So to finally earn that degree, then be accepted into OTS (Officer Training School), and become an officer… Well, it surely felt satisfying. And at the time we thought he’d probably make Captain and then it’d be about time to retire. Becoming a major? Is really just icing on the cake.

HOWEVER. Being boarded for major and actually being promoted to major are two very different things. Or at least two very different dates.

Once the board makes its announcement, each selectee is given a line number for promotion. Just like it sounds, you have to wait your turn in line with all the rest of the promotees until your number comes up. It is not unheard of to wait almost two years to actually be promoted. John’s number is such that his promotion, or “pin-on” date, will probably be sometime in the Summer of 2010.

What this means in military terms: The Hubs is currently a major-select.

In layman’s terms: No pay raise yet, so who cares?

Apparently the Air Force does. So much so that they throw a party for you. Oh wait, excuse me. I meant to say, they compel you to throw a party for yourself. On your bill.

The Hubs warned me a couple of weeks ago that he was getting emails about this Mandatory Fun and that each major-select on his base was being asked to contribute $100, towards their own party.

Ooh-wee. That sounds like fun.

He thought he could just ignore it: it felt so much like paying for a bunch of beers for a bunch of guys he doesn’t even know for a promotion he isn’t even getting paid for yet.

But finally he just paid up. You’re just a schmuck if you don’t. He knows of others who paid who had no attention of even going to the party. But The Hubs went — at least he got dinner out of it. And I stayed home with the kids, nursing a cold, and getting ready for my parents who arrive tomorrow from out-of-State. (I finally got the luggage put away from our trip — yea, me!)

Because really, I simply don’t have any desire to attend these Mandatory Fun functions. I’ll go if it’s important to The Hubs, but it wasn’t.

Besides, when he actually gets promoted to Major? He’ll be expected to throw another party, albeit a smaller one, just for his office. Since we’ll actually be benefiting from a pay raise by then, I’ll probably feel like celebrating.