Racine Horlick High School Flea Market | Racine | Wisconsin | April 2011

Racine Horlick High School Flea Market Racine Wisconsin April 2011

Household Repairs as of 12 February 2011

So far this year we have had to replace a part on the furnace that cost us $578.00 with a $20.00 coupon from the telephone book (It was an old coupon, but they took it anyway). The furnace of course went out in the middle of the night on the weekend when the temperature was below zero with and without the windchill. We finally called around 5:oo a.m. and they had a few out on calls all night long. That was less than a month ago.

We have been having a little bit of sewer drain backups, but up until about a month ago nothing too bad. In fact we thought it was the washer at first. We thought the hose was loose, but it was not. It was getting worse and we tried those sewer drain cleaners and such, but they did not really help that much. My brother tried to snake it to no avail. My brother looked at the cold air pipe coming out of the house to see if it was clogged, because we sort of forgot to clean that this past fall.

We finally ended up calling professionals in with a 4 inch auger/snake to go through the pipes. It took less than an hour and cost us $449.33 with a $30.00 coupon from the telephone book. It turned out to be the tree roots growing through the pipes. Stupid tree roots!!! We have wanted to cut the 2 very large trees down for a few years, but the estimates have been so expensive. We want to get rid of those 2 and get some smaller ones. We are afraid they will fall on the house or somebody's car someday. They have both been hit multiple times in car accidents. They have also kept cars from ending up in our house. We like having them for the shade, but it really is time for them to go. We just do not have the money.

I still need to get the car fixed. I have not been able to do that. The one place wants at least $700.00 to fix it and the other places that would fix it for $400.00 to $500.00 do shoddy work according to people I know that work in auto parts stores. I have been told that by more than one person in more than one store.

I need a muffler for sure and possibly the exhaust pipe and catalytic converter.

There is one guy I know who says he can fix my car and if I actually need all the parts the first place that wants $700.00 says I can get the parts from his work for about $300.00. He thinks I might not need as much done as the first place claims I do. They had a lot of gaskets and wires and stuff. He says he thinks he can possibly weld some of the pieces together. As he said that I remembered the first place telling me if I know someone who welds that part of might be abled to be welded because of where the problem is.

To the first place's credit they did suggest that maybe I can get it done cheaper somewhere else or buy the parts and have somebody do it. The first place and a couple of others said it is not that hard putting mufflers and exhaust pipes on. They are actually some of the easier things to replace on a car. I guess that makes a little sense since it is on the outside of the car and uses primarily bolts, screws, and gaskets/clamps.

I wonder how much the car will finally end up costing me.

I wonder what else can break this year.

Last year we had to replaced the refrigerator and washing machine. Of course they both broke on a weekend and the refrigerator broke over Labor Day weekend after I filled it up of course. All I can say thank goodness Lowe's is open every day and has next day delivery on in stock products. They even deliver on weekends and holidays. Everybody else we had to wait days or weeks to get a refrigerator. We got both of them on sale and free delivery. That was really good since we live in the next city over from where Lowe's is located.

Home Depot which is about 1 mile from our home would have charged us for delivery no matter what we paid and they do not really carry anything in stock. Best Buy had a couple we refrigerators and washers we liked, but we would have had to wait for the washer about 1 week and the refrigerator over a week.

They lost out on sales, again.

We do not even consider Sears for appliances or special orders anymore. We have had problems every single time we have ordered or bought something major from them. The refrigerator we did have was from Sears. The delivery people were late, they were rude, they almost broke our door bringing in the refrigerator and they dented the side of the refrigerator and left a black mark on the side of the refrigerator that never came off. When we called to complain we were treated rudely. That was many years ago and we still will not buy from them.

Now I am sure others have had nothing but great experiences with Sears and that is wonderful. I am truly happy for those and I am sure that not all Sears stores are that way. Now that gentleman that sold us that refrigerator was truly kind and helpful and sometimes I seek him out to say hello when I am in Sears. Yes I still shop there occasionally, but I will not do any special orders or order appliances from them unless I have no choice.

To be continued.........

Making a Printable List Takes Time

I decided to make up a printable grocery list today.

I did not finish it. It is strange as I sit down to do it from memory how much we actually buy. There is it seems an endless amount of things we buy for the house on a regular basis.

Think of it as categories like dairy, meat, deli, bakery, produce (fruits and vegetables), canned products (fruit, vegetables, tomato products, baked beans, tuna, et cetera), boxed items (pasta, instant potatoes for some people, cereal, and so on).

It is not just like potatoes or onions it is what kind of potatoes are you buying red, russet, baking, yams, sweet, Yukon gold, and so many more choices.

I know most people would just write down potatoes, grapes, or onions. I look at the ads or what is in season and get that whenever possible. Sometimes I do get what is not on sale if it is not too expensive and I am really in the mood for it like watermelon in the middle of January in the North.

I have not even made it to the other necessities like toothpaste, shampoo, cleaning supplies and such. It is absolutely crazy how many different products we buy either daily, weekly, or monthly.

I am going to make a complete list eventually first by going around the house and writing it down on paper and then finish typing it into the computer. Oh what I have already typed is on four pages because I have the list column followed by a NEED column with an IN CART column next to it. I might add a SALE column and maybe a COUPON column following the in cart column. I have not decided that yet, but it does sound like a good idea. It might help me get the sale and coupon items first.

I am considering putting the multi-page list in one of those three pronged pocket folder so I can put the coupons that go with the list with it easier along with the sales flyers.

I have a feeling after completing this project I will be looking for ways to pare down what we buy or find double duty items (especially in the cleaning area). We have done that a little bit, but we need to do a better job. I need to find out what exactly the family likes when it comes to certain flavors of things like soup and other items so they do not sit on the shelf going bad.

Thanks for reading my out loud online babbling.

Have a great day wherever you are in the world.

I Need A Life Change!!

So, How does a person go about changing their life drastically?

That is my question lately.

I owe too much money.

I work in a low paying, stressful job. I actually do generally like the people I work with even if they drive me absolutely insane some days.

I would love to take a bunch of computer classes, but have no money and the classes run too late at night when I have to get up around 3:30 a.m. every day.

I do have an Associate's Degree in Marketing which has been useless and paid for with Pell Grants.

I want to move, but unfortunately I am the only one working in my house. I live with an unemployed brother and a mother on Social Security who can not drive any more due to Macular Degeneration.

I find myself so exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally. My mom and I want to clear out the house and sell it and move someplace smaller. We even talked about moving to another city and possible another state that normally does not get the kind of weather we do in the north. I know the south has been hit hard this year with bad weather, but that is unusual.

Too many years working part-time and occasionally full-time for less than $8.50 an hour (I have not had more than $8.50 since 1999 and that was because the store I worked at was closing and that is what the liquidators gave me to get me to stay). I am tired of all the stress and no energy. It is starting to take a toll on me. I cry too much, "fake happy" at work to customers because the customers will complain, I have put on weight again, I can not sleep even though I am exhausted, I am snapping at people way too much and am just overwhelmed and it seems like not one person in my life sees it or cares.

I can not even bring myself to talk to the couple of friends that I do talk to once in a while because their lives are actually harder in some ways, but they do have husbands to help pay bills and do shopping and .....