It has been an expensive day

[Clipper]

My wallet is crying. Turned the TV on after supper the night before last off to have supper and when I turned it back on all we had was audio and no picture. Black screen so that I could not even access the menu. Called the Geek Squad. They said it was either the power supply or the screen had burned out. Not worth repairing.

$589 later for a new LG 55 inch UHD tv, and $400 more because Kathy said while we were upgrading to a new UHD tv we might as well buy a home theater system. Best Buy has so many different flat screen tv's and home theater systems that I was there for over an hour and finally settled on a JBL system for $400 The difference in picture quality sure has advanced since we bought our last tv about 5yrs ago. I was surprised how much the prices have come down for tv's. We paid over $1000 for the old one. Hopefully we will not be shopping for electronics for at least another 5 yrs. We brought the new tv and home theater system home and Kathy decided we should hit the furniture stores and buy a new tv stand. We ended up in Johnson City, hit 3 furniture stores and finally found a stand that was on clearance for $180.

$1189 later and a couple hours of out with the old and in with the new I finally sat down to watch tv at 9:30. Me and my wallet were both exhausted.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

WOW when you spend you spend. Yes TV have gone down in price. I bought my Element 28 inch HDTV at Best Buy way back in 2007 and it hold up well. Not sure what I would do if this broke cause I have to save money for at least 2 to 3 months so as to purchase one. HUD keeps ya poor since rent it tied to income so when you get a little extra they take it by raising the rent....I guess that's life.....

Enjoy the TV.

[Clipper]

Thanks PB. We are enjoying the new tv for sure. The picture is so much sharper and bright than the old one. I hear ya about HUD taking your money every time you get a buck or two raise. The government always has their hands in your pockets.

We are fortunate to both have great pensions and sometimes take for granted how fortunate we actually are when we are still able to put money into savings. I remember in my younger days I didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out while we were raising our kids and a foster child. If the TV broke we usually had to finance a new one and pay on the damned thing for months.

It still strikes me now and then that if I did need extra money once I retired I am no longer able to just go work a part time job. Nobody wants to hire a 76 yr old truck driver and I am not into the "do ya want fries with that." Mc Donald's hires constantly but i notice that the only people my age that work there are sweeping the floor, wiping tables and carrying out the trash.

[Ralph]

  Very nice Clipper!  You two worked hard your entire life, you deserve to treat yourselves. 

.

[Clipper]

Sept 26, 2023 14:39:52 GMT -5 Ralph said:

  Very nice Clipper!  You two worked hard your entire life, you deserve to treat yourselves. 

Usually two jobs Ralph. Federal job to live on and pay the bills and part time jobs to save money for retirement and vacations.


.

[BHU]

Those unexpected expenses can sure put a dent in the old budget. I just got an estimate for a new radiator & t-stat for my truck- $725 big ones, parts & labor. It goes under the knife Friday.

[Clipper]

Sept 26, 2023 19:35:43 GMT -5 BHU said:

Those unexpected expenses can sure put a dent in the old budget. I just got an estimate for a new radiator & t-stat for my truck- $725 big ones, parts & labor. It goes under the knife Friday.

Car repairs have gotten ridiculously expensive. You used to get a radiator for about $100 at Canfields and get it changed out for another 50 or 60 bucks. A thermostat probably was about 5 or 6 bucks back in the 70's or 80's.

I have been fortunate in avoiding major auto repairs. We always traded every 5 yrs or so before the vehicle had high mileage so we usually got rid of a car or truck before it needed any expensive repairs. The 2016 truck that we traded for our Equinox was 6 yrs old and the transfer case would not engage the 4 wheel drive. Usually the dealer comes out on top. They gave me $29K for the truck and fortunately they didn't even drive it. My turn to get over on a dealer. I am sure they fixed it and got their money back out of it, but they didn't get to hammer me because of the problem.

[BHU]

I've done a few radiators in my day like you described. One time a few years back I drove to Old Forge with a new radiator for my sister's car that blew & left her stranded there with 3 kids. I was back home in 3 hrs round trip from Utica. Good old days.

[Clipper]

Sept 26, 2023 21:54:41 GMT -5 BHU said:

I've done a few radiators in my day like you described. One time a few years back I drove to Old Forge with a new radiator for my sister's car that blew & left her stranded there with 3 kids. I was back home in 3 hrs round trip from Utica. Good old days.

I corrected a typo in my post. I left off a zero in the price of a radiator from Canfields. The last radiator I had to buy was for a 76 Ford truck and I think I paid about $100 and money back for the core. I bought the radiator and bought beer and steaks for one of my motor pool mechanics to change it out and have a cookout at the house on a weekend. I drove it to work with the pinhole leak until the weekend. Stopped the leak temporarily with the old quick fix, pouring black pepper into it while the engine was cold and driving it. If it still leaked we poured more pepper in until the small leak was sealed.