I have been diligently saving my pennies and dimes for a while to buy a laptop computer for our secondary computing. When my wife is working from home and needs the main computer, it is off limits to the rest of the family and a laptop would be nice for me to get my surf craves in!

My daughter and I walked through the local Best Buy to scope out my options. The last time I was in there they had some clearance laptops that would work just fine and they were in the price range that I wanted to spend.

No such luck this time on the clearance, but it turns out they did have a couple new options right at the price point limit. So I came back home and made some calls (thanks bro) and researched a little online and decided on the one I wanted.

After picking up my oldest from school we drove on over and I said “I want that one!”.

“Awesome, man, but I can’t sell it to you until tomorrow.”

?!?!?!? huh?!?!?

Something to do with the preloaded operating system not being released or licensed until tomorrow. It sounded like a crock of beans to me, but whatever, I’ve got more time than anything else, and it is a good deal.

So it is back to the store tomorrow to pick up my new laptop and give it a whirl. What a let down though. I wonder how many other folks they turned away. Why the heck do they have a product on the shelf that they can’t sell until tomorrow?

Dumb store.

Peace,
Tony

The girls found some Halloween cookie cutters in the dollar section of the local Target a week ago. They have been bugging me and pestering me to make cookies with them since we got them. Since they are off from school for a long five day weekend and the other plans for today fell through, we figured “sure” lets make cookies.

“Give me a couple minutes to find a decent recipe.” I need to find recipes that are easily adjustable to our particular allergies.

“Whoops, looks like we have to run to the store kids, there isn’t enough soy margarine thawed and we’re almost out of flour.”

We’re back from the store in time to cut in the margarine and add the rest of the ingredients. “Well, would you look at that! It says the dough has to cool for an hour in the fridge, and oh my goodness! It’s nap time!”

How convenient, no?

There has got to be an award for stretching a 40 minute recipe into five hours!

Peace,
Tony

Eight years ago today we said our vows. They must have been great because I can’t even remember how many years our anniversary fell on a Friday! At least once, I suppose.

Happy Anniversary hon!

Hmm, I wonder if you will read this today? Here is a frugal tip for folks. When shopping for a gift, make sure to check out the clearance sections too. There is always something to be found. No more hints!

For two and a half years I’ve been using a square of plywood on the metal cabinet that used to hold my radial arm saw as a work bench. It was always frustrating trying to clear enough space to lay out a project, or cut a board with the miter saw.

I had been meaning to put a loft in my shed to move some of the boxes out of our house, stuff that we don’t use often but don’t want to get rid of. Initially I was planning on using 2×4’s, so I picked up 10 or so. After consulting with my father in law, I went with 12′ 2×6’s instead. (Always take the advice of engineers, particularly structural engineers.)

Rather than go through the hassle of returning the 2×4’s, I just left them leaning in the shed. There is always a use for 2×4s.

Sure enough, this month’s copy of Family Handyman came and there were plans for building a workbench. Hey! I’ve got 2×4’s, I’ve got some scrap sheets of plywood, why not?!?

The directions in the magazine were pretty darn easy, particularly the cut diagrams reducing waste. I didn’t build the top shelf because I already have peg board on my wall, but here is the finished project:

New Work Bench

The 2×4’s were on sale when I picked them up. 8′ 2×4’s were $1.40 or so, and I used 8.

The plywood was scavenged (with permission) from the in laws garage: free.

Family Handyman subscription: ~$14

Not a bad workbench for under $40, huh?

Peace,
Tony

*I would have linked directly to the Family Handyman website, but it is heavy with popups and bulky to navigate.

Wow has it been a long time since I’ve updated Dad on a Dime!

We just got back from the gym tonight, and I don’t remember if I wrote about it here or in our old project Dadcenter. I am all about saving money and trying to eke out as much as we can, but one thing that may seem like a splurge ranks in the “need” column for us. That is our gym membership.

The expense of it adds to the importance of getting our butts in there a few times a week. We’re paying for it, we better use it! My wife and I started a running program a couple months ago that has added incentive to getting in there. As an added bonus, the one we joined has steam rooms in the locker rooms as well as a sauna and hot tubs out in the pool area. There is something very relaxing about finishing your workout and sitting for a steam before a shower.

Keeping physically active helps me sleep better and puts me in a better mood. I’m sure it has kept my doctor visits less frequent as well. It is a win win in my opinion and something that should be looked at in every budget. Sure, you can buy a work out machine (and we had a couple) but will it get used? That Nordic Track from a garage sale turned into a clothes tree!

We’re really happy with our membership, it bears looking into, for sure.

Peace,
Tony

My wife started calling us bottom feeders. We are proud of it though. There are some incredible deals out there if you are willing to put a little sweat equity into it. So many people feel they need the biggest best and newest of everything. Then the go on Craigslist to get rid of what they don’t want any more.

What the heck, why not buy something for a song? Folks just want to get rid of it. Rummage sales are also a great place to find some awesome deals, but I am very careful there. Some folks think rummage sales are a way to make extra bank and put prices on stuff that are pretty prohibitive.

Any one else a bottom feeder?

Peace,
Tony

Recently we bought some custom colors to paint the lower level of our house. After putting the first coat in the entryway and daubing some of the “accent color” on the wall it was intended for we realized it would look bad. Not just bad but hideous.

There we were sitting with three gallons of custom color paint that we couldn’t return. What to do?!?

My wife came up with the brilliant idea of mixing them to get a decent hue and color that we could agree upon. Mixing one table spoon at a time produced some decent color at a manageable volume. Once we were sure of the mix we did it on the large scale using as much of the colors as we could.

Instead of just being out the cost of the colors, we were able to salvage most of the paint. It even looks good!

Next time the color just isn’t right, try mixing a little with some other paint you have around, it might turn out to be a decent color. We’re very happy with our family room color.

Peace,
Tony

In my surfing today I came across an incredible new product from Jerky.com For those of you who know me know I am an absolute jerky fiend. I can go through a bag of turkey jerky in one sitting! This new jerky from Jerky.com looks incredible.

I’m really lucky to have some play money stashed in my PayPal to cover this, because the price is a bit steep, but it is really unique. I am hoping they won’t run out before the end of the day.

Jerky.com is proud to introduce its signature brand Sasquatch jerky, made only from fresh, hormone-free Sasquatch meat. Prepared the old fashioned way, our hand-sliced strips of 100% premium choice Sasquatch meat are seasoned and marinated to perfection to provide you with the best product available…guaranteed

Jerky.com's newest product!

Enjoy folks!

Peace,
Tony

My wife likes burning candles but neither one of us can see paying $10 or more for those pillar candles that look nice in the fireplace. Our solution? Clearance candles at the big stores and craft stores are often 90% off or more after season. Our last batch we got from JoAnn Fabrics, candy striped candles originally $12 were going for $0.99 you just can’t go wrong.

One other place we’ve picked up some cheap candles is rummage sales. People ditch half burned or even new candles for pennies on the dollar.

Here comes the fun part!
Read the rest of this entry »

I am disgusted with the political climate right now. We work hard and pinch our pennies to make sure we stay as far out of debt as we can. We forgo the big toys until we can pay for them outright, we don’t carry a credit card balance, we put into retirement funds only to watch it disappear and for what?

Legislation being passed to help out everyone who has been irresponsible. Look at the auto industry bailouts. $13 billion to come up with a restructuring plan. The plan? Ask for $30billion more.

Here and I thought bankruptcy made the company restructure to survive. What happened to letting a company go under if they cannot produce a product that people want to buy? One goes under, another may take its place. Keeping the market fresh and assuring new, innovative products to be introduced.

A day after signing the “stimulus package” our president is contemplating help for people with their mortgages. Years ago there was much ado about how everyone deserves a house of their own. Even if they can’t afford it, they deserve it. What happened to earning it?

Then I listen to the radio and at least a couple times an hour there is a commercial for a credit counseling company “If you have more than $10,000 in credit debt, we can greatly reduce what you owe.” WHAT?!? Why are we even bothering with paying off our credit cards? Why are we bothering with saving pennies, paying our mortgage? Frustrating.

I guess it has been already proven there are more people with hands out voting for people promising to fill those hands regardless of personal responsibility.

Anyway, it just seems silly to me to write about saving money when it might be easier to just put my hand out.

We’ll see.