Frugal Freak

Maybe I talk about being frugal too much at work. It didn't take them long to start teasing me about being cheap. I have so many projects that could easily be taken care of with a little or a lot of money but I want to find the most frugal alternative. For instance, when I first bought the property it didn't have any plumbing connected to the mobile home. I looked up pumps and pressure tanks and bought all of the connectors and equipment, then paid a guy to hook it all up. The whole system cost about $600. After he hooked it up he said that he would have just bought a little RV water pump instead. Now I know he was right. My $600 system was over-kill and now I will have to pay more money to replace the expensive parts that broke. If I had talked to more people maybe I would have known that a $60 water pump was a better solution.

When I told my coworkers that my neighbor was drilling a well they said why don't I drill a well? Because I would have to take out a loan to do it and because they are so expensive. Getting a loan for a well would definitley put off building my house for a few more years and building a house is more important than water. I could have a well now and a house in 6 years or I could have a well and a house in 4 years. 4 years sounds much better to me even if I have to conserve water until then. This is the desert, I should conserve water anyway.

When my RV fridge had problems last year they said why don't you buy a new one? They cost about $1500 plus installation. I ended up paying $800 for the repair anyway. Next time, if it breaks I am going to buy a tiny $60 dorm fridge and use the fridge in my mobile home for the rest of the food. Sure, I would have to buy a new fridge eventually but I am focused on my mortgage payoff goal right now. I don't want anything to interfere with that.

Today at lunch I went to the Habitat store to see if they had any porch lights that would work with my motion light adapter. I was surprised that they didn't have very many. One of the guys suggested that I buy a miner's helmet to light my way when I am outside. Ha ha. I try not to go outside in the dark so I can take my time looking for the right light. Of course they thought I should just go to the store and buy one. They don't understand my priorities!