Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr
Our car took a week-long convalescence last week, and the bill came to about what you’d expect for a stay at a swanky spa: $1,258.04.
Clunk, indeed. Except that’s the sound of our wallets hitting the floor.
The total is about 9 car payments; of course we finished paying off the car about [...]
Tags: repair bill · Volkswagen
Laugh-out-loud funny examples from frugal’s dark side in today’s New York Times, including:
A poor Minneapolis woman whose attempted DIY toilet fix cost her a ceiling, a car bumper, and some garage shelves and gardening supplies;
Another woman who bleached her hair so badly that it broke off; and
Several wicked cases of food poisoning.
Tags: Frugal fail · fun · New York Times
Image by stevegarfield via Flickr
Tivo is busted.
It’s been giving us fair warning, acting flaky for weeks. So we scheduled a service call, set for Monday morning. Meanwhile, DirecTV sent us robo calls over the weekend cheerfully advising us that a problem in our area had been fixed — did we still need that call? We [...]
Tags: DirectTV · lousy customer service · Tivo
Have you ever noticed that some gifts are all about what the giver wants when they have to be around you?
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like the extra set of silverware my mom gave me for me at Christmas, because our 8-piece set could no longer keep up with a family of 4 + [...]
Tags: gifts · slide show
Image via Wikipedia Timing Belt.
Once in awhile I am smarter than I think, but only, of course, in hindsight.
Last month, after finally paying off the Volkswagen, we took it into the dealer for the 60,000 mile service. And were surprised by a $2,190 bill to replace the timing belt, water pump, and leaking cam seals. [...]
Tags: MoneyNing · timing belt
Image by Augapfel via Flickr
Scenes from the House of a Little Bit Broke:
We’ve got a big birthday party coming up this weekend for my son, who’s turning five.
Naturally, then, this is the week that his little sister comes down with croup, and has been up all hours the past two nights in a row.
My [...]
