One of my favorite teachers in college was a creative genius. He taught us to shift our thinking, to “get out of the box” and be original. But he wasn’t the most pragmatic person when it came to the nuts and bolts of life.
This was a man who traded his car in and bought a new one because the headlight went out. I am not kidding.
Over the years The Wife and I have become a fairly competent man and woman. We do not balk at things like garbage disposals, international airport travel, or Los Angeles freeways. Table saws, sergers, and home electrical systems are old hat.
Responsibility with money, however, is a new thing, but we’re getting better all the time.
Not just better with what we have coming in and going out, but with the things we have too. When something breaks it is so easy today to discard it and buy another one. In fact, a year ago that was my motus operandi for many of the products in our life.
Recently I’ve had two examples of a different way of handling broken things — with great results.
This time of year the occasional black out or brown out is fairly common where we live. At least once a month the lights flicker or dim for a moment and surge protectors complain. The last time this happened our network switch died. No lights, no nothing, dead.
It’s a $50 item that we’ve had for more than two years, so while inconvenient, I didn’t feel too terrible about its demise.
Then again we’re on a budget, right?
So I headed to the manufacturer’s website and poked through the support area. It turns out the switch was a “Prosafe” business model and warrantied for life. A few emails back-and-forth and UPS dropped off a new one a week later without costing us a dime.
Next up an external hard drive stopped working. My first inclination was to check Amazon. I then proudly announced to The Wife that not only is the 500GB drive we paid $112 for now only $71, but 1TB (twice the capacity) is available for $99!
Wait. We’re still on a budget.
Okay, off to the drive manufacturer’s website. Support section. Click. Click. Click… still under warranty after 18 months! New drive in the mail — for free.
These are two items I would have replaced immediately just a year ago without even blinking. I can hardly believe that now.
It would seem living on a budget, on purpose, with spending limits and control over your impulses is not only mature, it saves you money.
Now, who’s in the market for a car with one headlight out?
the Dad
© the Dad, Climbing Out, 2009. | 6 comments