$400 to repair my Trinitron Wega Model KV-34HS420 TV!

[cashflo2u2]

This is from an authorized Sony Repair Service 3 towns away. Could a regular TV repair man fix it?

Then got car inspected and needs a new $650 muffler system to pass inspection, the vet for 2 dogs and cat for last 2 trips was $500+, house needs painting at $6,000 (partially budgeted for) and wife need new permenant bridge $3,400. The list goes on.

Retired on fixed income. Every year it is something like this. I can't budget enough for this crap. BEWARE early retirees.

 

[FUEGO]

Time to trash the tv (or craigslist/ebay it as "nonworking for parts only") and get a new cheaper better one for $400+ whatever you can get for the old one. For $400-500 there are some decent 37" lcd's out there if you can shop around and are not too picky.

That is some tough news all at once. I plan to have an known unknown budget item that is very large to cover these one off expenses that are unknowable ahead of time individually but completely expected to happen in the aggregate.

We have some deferred maintenance issues on cars and house (timing belts x2 plus house painting at a minimum) that need to get done by year-end.

 

[crazy connie]

House painting prices have dropped here by a good 50% in the last 2 years. Might be because homeowners are re-learning how to do some things themselves. If you have not gotten current bids, I might suggest doing so.

 

[TromboneAl]

Get a new TV on craigslist.

 

[bbbamI]

Wow...$6k to paint a house.

Sorry for your troubles. As each month goes by, I breathe a little sigh that we've made it thus far without "those" expenses. We've done our best to budget for these types of things...but ya never know.

 

[W2R]

This is from an authorized Sony Repair Service 3 towns away. Could a regular TV repair man fix it?

Then got car inspected and needs a new $650 muffler system to pass inspection, the vet for 2 dogs and cat for last 2 trips was $500+, house needs painting at $6,000 (partially budgeted for) and wife need new permenant bridge $3,400. The list goes on.

Retired on fixed income. Every year it is something like this. I can't budget enough for this crap. BEWARE early retirees.

I know what you mean. It is so hard to predict the unpredictable. I think that about half of what I spend is for things like this. Recently I had some necessary car repairs and maintenance that cost me $850. Ouch.

So far I just budget half for this kind of stuff. But you never can tell.

Get the new bridge for your wife, though. That's the most important of the expenses you have facing you. Maybe the dentist will give you a break if you tell him you don't have dental insurance.

 

[ziggy29]

If the "34" in the model name means a 34" set, I've seen 40" LCD sets going for not much more than $500-600 from time to time.

In some sense it's a shame that the combination of technological advances and high labor costs encourages throwing stuff away instead of fixing it, but economically, it is what it is...

 

[freebird5825]

Sorry you're getting clobbered.
When I did my pre-FIRE numbers, I set aside a huge amount of money per month to handle maintenance and repairs. My current budget for M&R is $800 per month. Hopefully that would represent a worst case scenario.
If I don't need to use it, I put it into muni bond funds to gain some interest.
So far so good, but I stand ready with my bond fund checkbook if something really big comes along.

 

[cashflo2u2]

Here is a picture of the tv. It is one big beast, takes two men to lift it. But it has a fantastic picture and better than all the newer LCD's and whatever. Don't think I could buy one as good for $400.

Amazon.com: Sony KV-34HS420 34-Inch FD Trinitron WEGA HD-Ready CRT TV: Electronics

 

[cashflo2u2]

Yeah, I bought it right after I retired to Pleasantville, or so I thought.

 

[W2R]

I had a similar 34" Sony tube TV until it gave up the ghost a couple of years ago. I loved it! But wow, it sure was heavy. I think it was officially 180 pounds.

My suggestions, as you can afford them, are:
(1) Get the bridge for your wife.
(2) Then, get the car fixed.
(3) Then get a new TV. (Buy it from a place that will deliver and take away your old TV)
(4) Then get the house painted.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Here is a picture of the tv. It is one big beast, takes two men to lift it. But it has a fantastic picture and better than all the newer LCD's and whatever. Don't think I could buy one as good for $400.

Amazon.com: Sony KV-34HS420 34-Inch FD Trinitron WEGA HD-Ready CRT TV: Electronics

I have the 32" version of this TV. It has a GREAT picture (much better than the LCD's when I bought it). I'd like to replace it with something larger (e.g. 46"+) but haven't yet because a) I am cheap and even more importantly b) it is so darn heavy I don't want to face moving it.

 

[cashflo2u2]

Want2retire, I have to fit my teef in there somewhere too. I posted on that before. Thanks for prioritizing my list, I agree wifey poo comes first.

 

[W2R]

Want2retire, I have to fit my teef in there somewhere too. I posted on that before. Thanks for prioritizing my list, I agree wifey poo comes first.

OK, then your teeth come right after hers! Teeth are more important than the rest of the items on your list, in my opinion anyway.

 

[jblack]

FWIW, we had a similar Sony 32" that I purchased back in 2000 and while the picture was fantastic, I've had to personally move it 10+ times up/down stairs between apts/homes and the 178lbs was a huge burden.

Several weeks ago it died a quiet death and repair would have been somewhat similar ($300-400). The book value per eBay and Craigslist wasn't that and who knows how long it would have been until another part went kaput and required more repair.

Fortunately DW and I were already looking to upgrade to a 40" flat HD panel and so we picked up a great new (not refurb) Sony that we had been eyeing for awhile. It was on a crazy special at the Sony outlet over Memorial day. My buddy got a $1200 retail version for $750 and I grabbed the $1900 one for $1000. By far the best price I had seen in months anywhere. They also had no interest / payments for 18 months so even better.

It's MUCH easier to move it around and no regrets whatsoever. With the HD signal it's better than what we had before and no problem at all for us to hang it on the wall or switch it between rooms in the future.

Lastly, if you decide to dump the broken one Sony has an official program where you can drop off sets at several designated locations for environmentally-friendly recycling for free. No purchase of any other TVs required - info found on their website.

Good luck!

 

[al_bundy]

i bought a 26 inch Sharp Aquos LCD 5 years ago for $1600. Checked a month ago and the same one with a better quality screen is now $349. my mom wants a 46 inch LCD and it's around $1000 - $1500

34 inch you should be able to get for around $500 - $700 which is a much better deal than fixing the old one

this is the 21st century. no one fixes anything anymore since it's cheaper to just junk the old and buy new

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

FWIW, we had a similar Sony 32" that I purchased back in 2000 and while the picture was fantastic, I've had to personally move it 10+ times up/down stairs between apts/homes and the 178lbs was a huge burden.

Several weeks ago it died a quiet death and repair would have been somewhat similar ($300-400). The book value per eBay and Craigslist wasn't that and who knows how long it would have been until another part went kaput and required more repair.

Good luck!

I'm hoping my (still working fine) 32" Sony doesn't read this thread.

 

[Rustward]

I remember seeing this model (or one very similar to it -- the Sony 32", CRT) in the stores and wanting one. The picture clarity was outstanding! At the time I did not believe we could afford it. We now have a 34" LG LCD which is OK for us.

 

[TromboneAl]

From Dave Barry's Greatest Hits...

 

[freebird5825]

I'm hoping my (still working fine) 32" Sony doesn't read this thread.

I have one also, bought a long time ago. It is downstairs in the family room and is rarely used anymore.
dh2b is a flat screen addict. He likes his 42" TV better.
I may have to find a good home for the SONY 32", somewhere that will give me a nice receipt for a charitable contribution.

 

[al_bundy]

bit OT but i got my hands on an old Mac yesterday for free. G4 PowerMac with a 400MHz CPU. needs memory and a hard drive.

unless i can find some for free i'm going to junk it. Ebay prices are $150 at best and buying 1GB of RAM for it is going to cost $100, plus another $50 for the hard drive and some more on a used copy of an older version of OS X. makes more sense to sell it for the parts and put the money toward a new Mac Mini even if it's going to cost a bit more

 

[ERD50]

bit OT but i got my hands on an old Mac yesterday for free. G4 PowerMac with a 400MHz CPU. needs memory and a hard drive.

unless i can find some for free i'm going to junk it. Ebay prices are $150 at best and buying 1GB of RAM for it is going to cost $100, plus another $50 for the hard drive and some more on a used copy of an older version of OS X. makes more sense to sell it for the parts and put the money toward a new Mac Mini even if it's going to cost a bit more

$100 sounds like a lot for 1GB memory? I got 2GB for my G5 iMac for $84 through amazon.

The drive can always be re-applied to another computer when the G4 dies, or you decide to upgrade. I have some external FireWire drives, macs will boot from them and I use them as backups for the other family computers.

If you don't have the original disks, you either need the ones for that specific model, or the "retail" boxed versions, which will load on any model with the right specs. Also, while probably not technically legal, you can do a "clone" (use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner) of someone's working version, and boot/run with that. While not technically legal, I don't consider it unethical, as you are just replacing the version that died on the hard drive, which was paid for when the machine was bought.

My kid is still using our iMac G3 daily, purchased in Dec 1999, still going OK and running a retail upgrade of Tiger (10.4.11).

-ERD50

 

[Rustward]

$100 sounds like a lot for 1GB memory? I got 2GB for my G5 iMac for $84 through amazon.
. . .

Sometimes memory for older systems is more expensive.

I did a quick look at Crucial.com and they offer 512MB for $56.99. I'm not a Mac person so I could have looked at the wrong thing. (Apple Power Mac G4 (350, 400, 450, and 500MHz)). Looks like this system uses 512MB modules.

Just randomly picked a G5 iMac and the 2GB upgrade is $27.99.