To be, or not to be... Cheap.

I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my good friends would probably use the words thrifty, economical or just plain cheap when describing me.  I’m often teased for ordering water to drink at restaurants (2 bucks for a sprite, are you kidding me?!), that's just me looking for a way to save a buck.  I tend to try doing a lot of things myself instead of paying someone to do them, even if I don’t exactly know what I’m doing.  I'll figure it out, or at least I think I will.  This has the added benefit of increasing my knowledge base, even if a lot of the info crammed into my brain probably won’t ever be useful again. 

For example, I’ve disassembled a laptop in order to replace a $15 driver for the display, I’ve torn a floor lamp apart in order to replace a $10 dimmer switch, and the list goes on and on.  I believe that food can only get so good, and my willingness to pay for meals at restaurants tops out at about the $15-17/plate price point at the very high end.  Beyond that, I’m wondering why we didn’t just go to buffalo wild wings instead.  I hate paying a lot for clothes and will baulk as the prices go up… pants or a shirt over 20 bucks?!  No thanks; I’ll wait until they go on end of the season clearance. 

That being said, there are some things that I’m willing to pay full price for.  Art, vacations and “toys” immediately come to mind.  While our art collection is small, we have been willing to pay for things that we like when we stumble upon them.  As you’ve also read here, we also like to take at least one nice trip per year, after that, I go cheap and try to make vacations out of work trips (see, I can’t help myself).  I also like nice toys (my camera, tools, etc. come to mind), however I typically search for a good deal before pulling the trigger.

This all brings me to the birthday gift that the CFO gave me that I have yet to pick out, a new gas powered string trimmer (a.k.a. a weed eater).  My dilemma is this:  There are a lot of inexpensive models available at  the typical big box retailers.  However, if/when they break, the college student behind the customer service counter at Lowe’s isn’t going to be able to help me get it running again.  They just don't service what they sell, as if their products never break.

If you are willing to spend 30-50% more, you can purchase one at specialty outdoor power tool shop that has a repair staff with the ability to service the unit when something happens to it.  They also only sell one of the top brands, so the level of product quality appeals to me. I’ve been shopping for almost two months now and I still can’t decide which way I want to go.  I keep leaning towards the nicer option, but those never go on sale and that keeps bugging me.  The store is less than a mile from work and I have gone in there several times, spending time talking to the sales people and playing with the product, but eventually get un-nerved by the price and I walk out empty handed. 

So, why haven’t I bought a nice one yet?  The price and the Sunday paper are the biggest reasons.  I flip through it every weekend and see multiple major home improvement store ads that lure me back to them with the low prices that appeal to my cheap side.  But then I go to one of those stores and their products look and feel cheap (surprised?).   I then go back to the specialty shop, only to look at the price and instinctively do the math between that price versus the cheap one that was in the Sunday sales flier.  Even though I know that I want the nice one, I can't convince myself to pull the trigger. 

I'm glad the CFO gave me the opportunity to select the trimmer that I want, but part of me wishes that she had just bought one...  The yard is greening up and there are some weeds that need to be whacked… I’ve got to make a decision!  Since I just wrote about this, then obviously, there isn’t much else going on around here… We’ve got a concert coming up this weekend, so hopefully I’ll have more to write about then.