Blow That Dough - 2022

[Koolau]

Well the (roughly) 35 year old Maytag stack washer/dryer is dying. Actually, the dryer still works very well. The washer sounds like a bearing is giving out and the unit is beginning to leak. Our repair guy said it's too expensive to fix, we need to get a new one.

SO, DW bought a new stack unit (to fit in the old space) and we're looking at almost $2K! I couldn't believe it. No way will new ones last 35 years - though we won't need it that long (another advantage of age.) She did get the "big" one instead of the little one so that's about $300 more. Oh, well, I didn't want to trudge to the laundromat at my age. Last we did that was the last major repair to the Maytag. I think it cost us the better part of a $10 bill per large load (wash and dry) so we only need to do about 200 loads to pay for the new unit. Look on the bright side, I always say. (Wait, do I really say that? Naaaahhhh!) Anyway, YMMV.

 

[explanade]

Haven't been into an Apple store in quite a while. Ran in yesterday to get a new 20W charger.
OOhhhh, shiny and colors, as my daughter would say! The new desk top set ups way laid me on my way out the door.
Haven't bought one yet, but it's been on my mind since last night. The red one is pretty, the coral one is also but blue, yellow, pink, blue, purple......! LOL, it's Apple Mac, so I know they are great.

Those are the 24-inch displays.

iMacs with larger displays (at least 27 inches) and the M1 or M2 chip are expected this spring or summer.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I just received a quote to redo floors in half my small ranch house. I definitely want to remove the carpeting. I just had it installed 4 years ago, but it hasn’t held up well. High traffic keeps the pile matted down and I think it looks horrible. I also somewhat made a poor color choice given the wall colors I used when I also repainted.

Square footage: 740
Carpet removal only: $860
Carpet removal + refinishing: $6800
Carpet removal + replacement of hardwoods with new: $11,600

The other half of the house has relatively new hardwoods already in it from the previous owners. For total replacement, I would be matching that color and material as close as possible. The current underlying hardwoods are structurally fine. They just have areas of discoloration from previous coatings that have worn off in places. The colors don’t 100% match the other half of the house, but are in the same ballpark.

As much as I like to blow the dough, I’m struggling with paying $11k to do a total replace, even if that would undoubtedly look best. I also don’t know if I want to deal with resurfacing.

Decisions, decisions. I’ve accepted the quote to pull up the carpet and take it away. That was $5000 of wasted money. I’ll have to noodle on my next steps. I may just buy some nice area rugs and call the discolored hardwoods “shabby chic”.

Update: The carpet guys are here this morning and have removed the carpet and padding. They are now working on pulling up the tack strips and they need to clean up some debris. The original hardwood floors are in better shape than I remember them being. I doubt that I will do anything further with the floors at this point. There is some discoloration in places, but not as much as I had thought. And obviously you can see where the tack strips were in places. But it all looks rather rustic. I think I'd rather live with them as they are than to go thru the hassle of resurfacing them. There is certainly no need to replace them in my opinion.

 

[Dreamer]

Haven't been into an Apple store in quite a while. Ran in yesterday to get a new 20W charger.
OOhhhh, shiny and colors, as my daughter would say! The new desk top set ups way laid me on my way out the door.
Haven't bought one yet, but it's been on my mind since last night. The red one is pretty, the coral one is also but blue, yellow, pink, blue, purple......! LOL, it's Apple Mac, so I know they are great.

My favorite color is green. My green iMac sure is pretty.

 

[tmm99]

I know this is a BTD thread, but I must say I'm glad that we replaced our roof, bought a new car, new fridge and new laptop last year and not this year, as prices have been sky-rocketing.

 

[indiajust]

keep in mind, hardwood is designed for 3 hard sandings before it needs replaced, you take about 1/32 off each time. If you spread it out with one sand every 25 years and otherwise light refinishing, you can easily get 100 years from a good floor.

 

[Out of Steam]

[emoji38]that's why I reupholstered 40 yr old living room set but support on family room set is shot so replacing that. 4k is about right for a new sofa & chair .... add up to 3 months to get it

Yes, we went today. It will be three months until the sofa is done, but it will be out of our house only a couple of weeks.

I've heard of furniture waits for delivery as long as a year.

 

[Winemaker]

Yes, we went today. It will be three months until the sofa is done, but it will be out of our house only a couple of weeks.

I've heard of furniture waits for delivery as long as a year.

It takes a long time to engineer and imbed Chinese listening devices into furniture.

 

[Badger]

The original hardwood floors are in better shape than I remember them being. I doubt that I will do anything further with the floors at this point. There is some discoloration in places, but not as much as I had thought. And obviously you can see where the tack strips were in places. But it all looks rather rustic. I think I'd rather live with them as they are than to go thru the hassle of resurfacing them. There is certainly no need to replace them in my opinion.

Glad to hear the floors are in such good shape. Yes, rugs strategically placed can be a great solution. I have sanded floors in 2 houses that had hardwood floors. There was no other option. It took a couple of years to finally extract all the sawdust from everywhere it was hiding. Although I am no longer able to do the work again I would not even want to hire it out and have to still deal with the sawdust for a couple of years.


Cheers!

 

[gayl]

Supposed to have the new cooktop installed between 12-4 today. Its 2 now so any time.

Update: installer just called. Having a reaction so he won't do it today. I've already waited over a month so whats more time??

 

[Out of Steam]

It takes a long time to engineer and imbed Chinese listening devices into furniture.

Ours will be engineered in a couple of miles from home, so it should go faster.

 

[Koolau]

Amazingly, we got a notification that our new stack washer/dryer was "on the boat" from Cali and we should set up our date for installation. If all goes well, we'll be less than 3 weeks without a functioning system. Heh, heh, you should see the laundry basket! We'll be giving the new stack unit a very thorough shake-down in less than a week (we hope.) YMMV

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Slapped down $266 on a New Fully programmable Multi Format Android / OpenWRT Media Player Box with the New RTD1619DR Chip. It is compatible with our Video/Audio Club. Ordered Direct from China Manufacturer. Now to Pre-Order the New Samsung S8+ Tablet.

And yes, I too am waiting for an update on RobbieB's New (to him) Boat escapades.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Pre-Ordered Samsung Galaxy S8+ with Keyboard cover and lotsa memory. >$1k.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Just had an electric fireplace installed. $6k. It turns out 10,000 BTU with the click of a remote. After years of splitting 6 cord of wood a year I'm giving my ax away, to someone I don't like.

 

[street]

Just had an electric fireplace installed. $6k. It turns out 10,000 BTU with the click of a remote. After years of splitting 6 cord of wood a year I'm giving my ax away, to someone I don't like.

Lol!
I know a few people that live off grid and not sure I could be as maverick as they are. If they don't want to freeze and want to eat, they need wood to survive. I'm past that way of living and like the easy life more as I get older. I still cut/split wood but don't have to depend on it to live each day.

I like the trade you made a lot.

 

[chicamuxen]

Was tired of buying plastic hose nozzles, so went to the place i ordered my hose reels from to see if they have a good hose nozzle. I ordered this one, looks like it should last. I can get repair parts from them, which is good.

https://www.eleyhosereels.com/products/professional-spray-nozzle-set

 

[latexman]

DW's BFF decided to sale their FL condo late last year. DW's BFF had given us a set of keys several years back. We've been there many times, and enjoy it immensely. SWMBO wanted it, so we bought it. I put 20% down and mortgaged the rest at 3-3/8%.

BTD!

 

[pacergal]

My favorite color is green. My green iMac sure is pretty.

Yes, that bright green one was nice! I am still thinking on it, but may wait until summer or later. My laptop works perfectly fine, so it would def be BTD.

I have been on a wave buying lots of little things from Amazon and Target, replacement items mostly (filters for various appliances, clothes for Gkids, knife sharpening stuff for DH). But they do add up to over $1000 so far!

 

[aja8888]

DW's BFF decided to sale their FL condo late last year. DW's BFF had given us a set of keys several years back. We've been there many times, and enjoy it immensely. SWMBO wanted it, so we bought it. I put 20% down and mortgaged the rest at 3-3/8%.

BTD!

What is a SWMBO?

 

[marko]

What is a SWMBO?

She who must be obeyed

 

[aja8888]

She who must be obeyed

Oh,.....I have one of those too! Thanks!

 

[Dreamer]

What is a SWMBO?

Thanks for asking. I had no idea what that meant.

 

[braumeister]

For those who weren't familiar with the SWMBO acronym, I highly recommend the old TV series "Rumpole of the Bailey" starring Leo McKern.

 

[jollystomper]

I had a 24" computer monitor for my desktop and 39" 720p flatscreen for our family room. In the last month I "blew that dough" by purchasing a 32" computer monitor and a 50" TV for the family room (almost went with 27" monitor and 43" 4K TV, but then figured why not spend more ? ). I got more "practical" low end models, and saved some cash outflow by using gift cards from Christmas, but I still think they qualify for BTD status .

They are working out great. The replaced 24" monitor has been cascaded to another KVM switch in the home computing center, and the 43" TV went to the master bedroom, whose 32" TV goes to my workshop area where I can bike and watch TV.

Also, for the family and master bedroom TVs, I BTD on adjustable height table top TV stands, increasing the TV height makes the viewing much nicer.