Our house closing is scheduled for a week from Friday. Buyer's financing is approved, and our bank has approved the sale. All is ready except for one major detail - our renter. She has not yet found a place to move to. Apparently her boyfriend has moved out, and she can't afford the rent by herself, and she knows she has to move out for us and for her. But, she hasn't found a place yet. My gut tells me she'll be out in time, but it's a little hairy right now.
I talked to my folks about going in together on a lawn mower. They are all for it. I looked at some models on Friday. We're at about the 4k price point - a 52-54" zero turn model. Each of the models has a "good" "better" "best" version. We're looking at the "better" style. We'll probably have something picked out and purchased in a couple weeks.
We bought the girls each a bike this weekend. They were actually their Christmas presents, but we waited until Spring to make the purchase. They are Schwinn models, of high enough quality that we expect them to last many years.
We also bought a washer and dryer set this weekend. Our 15 1/2 year old washer gave out. A repair may have been possible. But, we have six people in the household now, where we only had two when the old units were purchased. We needed higher capacity units to keep up on laundry better. Even though the dryer was still working, we switched that out too, to match capacity.
With March (and now April, too) as cold as it was, we will probably need to buy heating oil again before the heating season is over.
So --- with the lawn mower, bikes, washer/dryer, and heating oil purchases, our savings will be wiped out. We'll keep $800 in the EF. They porch project will have to wait. We hope to have enough saved up by September to get that done before the snow flies again.
Odds and Ends
April 2nd, 2013 at 12:45 pm
April 2nd, 2013 at 01:12 pm 1364908323
I had a Schwinn 10 speed as a kid and was still using it well into adulthood until I gave it away to someone on craig's list when I was in my late 30s. I kind of regret doing that, becus it was a real workhorse, very sturdy.
My whirlpool washer and dryer both broke down in their 17th year, so I figure they had a good run. The dryer still ran but the auto dry never worked and i think the heating element had given out as well. I had to buy a cheaper Sears brand as replacements but so far, so good.
April 2nd, 2013 at 01:20 pm 1364908835
April 2nd, 2013 at 08:48 pm 1364935703
How exciting that the girls got bikes! Great idea to wait until spring.