Category Archives: Frugality

Frugal Activities

Fixing Your Garage Door Opener By DIY

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Fixing your garage door by DIY via googling the problem

My garage door opener stopped moving the door one day.  My son pushed the button to open it, and the door made it half way up, but then stopped.  The sound of the opener changed from the regular sound to the sound of a vacuum cleaner running.

I googled the symptoms and found a youtube video on what sounded like my problem (the worm gear).  In fact, I was confident that the problem was a stripped gear just based on the sound it now made and some deductive reasoning.  To confirm my belief, the articles I found online stated that the gear only last 10 to 12 years (after all, the gear is plastic).

Since I was very busy I didn’t have time to fix the problem myself so I called a garage repairman to come out and fix it for me.  He came out and didn’t have the part!  He then told me that I had to replace the entire system, door, spring, motor and all.  Now this repairman was perhaps in his teenage to very early twenties (if that!) and I don’t think that he realized that I’m not a fool.  I laughed at him and informed him what I thought of his opinions since my house isn’t that old to begin with.  Unfortunately, I still had to pay him for coming out…  Now I could have tried another “more reputable” and experienced repairman, but since I had the google video and it looked very easy, I did it myself instead!

garage door opener gear replacement

So the first think I did was order the part from ebay (I needed a sears craftman garage door opener gear sprocket kit # 41C4220A) for $25 (free shipping).  Next, I followed the instructions in the following video series:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

I liked this video, especially because the repairman talks about getting the garage door timing set correctly, and demonstrates how to accomplish this!

I’m a DIY (Do It Yourself) kind of guy, so this worked well for me, if you don’t feel very comfortable doing such things, then I recommend not trying it!

I hope you found value in this post, I know I wish I had just did the job myself instead of calling someone out that tried to sell me an entire new system…

MR

The Problem with Being Too Frugal or Tight with Money

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When I was young, I didn’t have any money other than from allowance (which I pretty much was taught to save).

In fact, I was so frugal as a child, I hardly spent any money at all because of the belief that I needed to save it all.  While my financial picture was always pretty good, I missed a lot of great childhood and young adult opportunities because of the belief that spending money on them would be a waste and saving like a miser was the way to go.  This is one part of my past that I would love to change, but that window has past and I can’t time travel.

One of the most vivid memories of being too tight with money was when I was in the school cafeteria and a very pretty girl caught my eye.  She was strikingly beautiful and hot all at the same time.  I couldn’t help from keep glancing over at her.  Well, she caught me looking at her a few times, and with about 5 minutes left of the lunch period, she got up from across the lunchroom walked over to the area where I was sitting and asked me out on a date.  I wanted to go badly, but instead, I made up some excuse because I didn’t have a car and I didn’t have money for a date.  The girl was a knockout in every sense of the word, and I could kick myself for not taking action back then.

Girl Walking Away

Similar events have happened during my college days.  There were numerous times when friends would go to a concert or something that require a bit of money, and I would pass on that occasion because I felt like it would be a waste of money, and because of my own natural frugal behavior.

Not that I’m married with children, I don’t want my kids to behave the same way, but at the same time, I don’t want them to spend wildly either.  It’s a balance that I’m trying to teach them and myself at the same time.  I have progressed, I’m getting better!  I no longer get nauseous when I spend money on smaller and medium-priced options.  I was very pleased when I bought my son a laptop and I didn’t feel ill at all.  It was a wonderful feeling in fact.  Of course, I knew that I wouldn’t have to go into debt to accomplish the purchase too and that always helps…

I have to wonder if I’m alone in my money management style.  I rarely read about anyone with issues of spending, and in fact, I seem to be in the minority with my particular money skills especially since I’m totally debt free…

I’m not going to let the same happen to my kids, in a future post I’ll reveal my plans for them…

So readers, do you have problems spending and are you trying to establish a perfect balance as I am?

Spend some and enjoy life,

Don

Do You Look Poorer Than You Are?

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A recent conversation with a colleague at work made me realize that I look and dress poorer than I am.

During a soccer tournament this past fall, my daughter’s team went to a water park called Kalahari Resort where her soccer team competed.  Now to participate in this tournament, the parents would have to pay for a few nights at this expensive (but still affordable) water park.  In the past, a younger me would have said “WHOA!” wait, that’s crazy expensive…  The trip came to around $500, and while not cheap, still doable.

Now here is where it gets interesting…

The work colleague that I mentioned earlier was in the break room talking about the trip to a subordinate in her department.  I commented on how great her son was and she started talking about the tournament to me.  I agree and said I thought it was a great time for my daughter too.  At that point, she got a funny look on her face.  She said, “YOU, were there?”  I replied, “why yes, it was a wonderful experience for my daughter“.  She then started asking me about the trip and if I went inside the water park.  So then I actually had to prove to her that I was there by pointing out some of the highlights of the park and some of the gameplay that happened on the field.

I didn’t put much thought into it at the time, but now I realize that she was really questioning me to see if I really went.  It was a pricey trip, and she’s a VP, so I guess she thought such a trip would be out of my price range.  I think she started asking about the features of the park because she didn’t believe I actually stayed at the hotel!  Now I don’t know her well, so I guess if you judge me by my clothes and car, it would make sense that such a trip would be out of my affordability range…  Perhaps if it was an event that happened every weekend, it really would be outside of my price range…

While I’m not rich, it made me start to wonder how many people are out there that are very rich and dress like they are poor?

This might surprise people, but I bet the majority of people who are rich don’t necessarily want things that are fancy, no flashy cars, or Armani suits…  I’m not just talking “millionaire next door” types either!  Look at Sam Walton or Warren Buffett, both were super rich, but didn’t look the part, no Great Gatsby’s there!

If you were rich, do you think you would look the part?  I know I would buy a little more trendy clothes, but not much!  And for my car, a normal sedan or SUV would be enough for me, although perhaps a Lexus for the car, that’s not too luxurious, right?

Anyway, I just thought I’d share my story with you, I hope you got a chuckle out of it, I did!

MR

Frugality Taken Too Far – The Great Egg Switcheroo

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Frugality isn’t robbery, or at least being inconsiderate of others!

As I mentioned in a previous articles, I’m starting to lose weight, trying to alter my lifestyle.  Part of my routine is eating two eggs in the morning for breakfast during the work week.  My morning stable has been two eggs.  I’ve actually always been a big fan of eggs, so I’m very familiar with both the weight and the shape of extra-large eggs.

This past weekend, my wife went shopping and I asked her to pick me up a carton of eggs, since I was down to my last two.  So she returned from the store, and my extra-large carton of eggs was in the fridge as expected.  Today, I decided to hardboil my eggs for my breakfast meal for next week.  I picked up the carton out of the refrigerator, and had a feeling something was wrong.  I open the carton up, and all 12 eggs were there as expected, so I chalked it up to nothing and started getting ready to cook them.

 

white egg

 

So I proceeded to cook up a batch of 12 eggs.  After my 15 minutes of cook time, I drained the eggs and was putting them in the carton when it hit me!  The eggs were wrong!  They were much to small and light.  Actually I think it was when I put the eggs back into the carton and they were so loose that I realized that someone has switch the extra-large eggs for a smaller size (guessing I would say they were medium-sized eggs)!

This cheap act that someone performed means that I only get 75% or less of what I would normally eat if I were to have two extra-large eggs.  I was steaming mad!

So some person swapped out the extra-large eggs that should have been in the carton for medium eggs (or large eggs).  Such a moved probably saved them 20 cents per carton.  So this darkly frugal person, saved less than a quarter and in the process ripped me off.  Nice…

So if you find yourself in the store getting eggs, make sure you open the carton and even take one of the eggs out, because who know what kind of unscrupulous person may have performed an Egg Switcheroo on you too!

Be forwarned friends!

MR