More Presents for Me

I like the idea of having a whole birthday month.  I have to work on my birthday anyway, so might as well spread out the fun throughout the whole month of May.  Last weekend, I arranged to have my barn-shed painted.  My handyman has a sprayer and it was just easier to pay him to do it than rent a sprayer from Home Depot 40 minutes away.  It took him and his helper around 6 hours to do it but it is finished and finally completely protected from the weather, even that top back panel I couldn't reach last year.

It still needs the trim painted white but I can do that later myself.

While they were painting, I was inside the mobile home cleaning up after the tenant who didn't exactly leave the place spotless.  Ok, so it wasn't exactly spotless when he moved in last July either.  There was dust on everything and I only got 2/3 of if clean.  I'll go out again next month after I get my water tank, get water delivered, and after my nephew leaves.  

Earlier that morning, at 3am to be exact, I had looked at Facebook after letting my dog out to pee.  I had been checking the garage sale sites daily for a washer and dryer but hadn't seen one.  Now, at 3am, I saw a set within my price range.  There was a phone number to call but, of course, I didn't call at that time.  I left a comment and then waited to call in the morning.  Then I got the cash out of the bank and brought my hand truck, just in case.  Around 10am, The seller replied to my comment that the washer/dryer set were pending sale.  Oh well, I assumed I had lost them.  About 45 minutes later, he posted again that they were still available.  I called immediately but he said another couple was coming to see them so I agreed to wait.  I was sure they were sold for the second time.  He called me back in an hour and said they didn't buy them.  I was thrilled and arranged to switch vehicles with my nephew because he had the truck and begged my handyman to take a break from painting to help me load them.  As you can see, happy birthday to me.  I got them!

I don't have a hook up for an electric dryer yet but my coworker said he would help me install an outlet when I am ready for it.

The washer is temporarily in the living room.  Later, I'll move it to the storage room in the back and hook up water and a grey-water drain that will go to my mesquite tree.

I was so excited to have a washing machine at the mobile home again.  I carried 15 gallons of water by jug and washed the curtains, then hauled the water to the mesquite tree.  I don't have much water out there now so I will wait until I have my new 3000 gallon water tank filled with water and then hook up an inlet hose.  The tank was delivered to the store on the other side of town and I am waiting for my handyman to be available to haul it to my property with his flat-bed trailer.

In other news, I got a new dog.  I know, mother, I'm trying to get less dogs, not more.  Hopefully, I will find a new home for her before I move.  If not, the rescue group will find her a new foster home.  She was one of a mom and pups that I fostered 5 years ago.  It was actually around the same time that my parents and nephew came to live with me.  She got adopted by a family but the people got divorced and remarried and now have small children and she is a very energetic dog.  I think the new wife just didn't like her.  She needs a family that will play with her and take her jogging.

As the only female in a house full of 4 male dogs, she tired of the unwanted attention.  She jumped on the chair with my nephew and booped Jimmy-dog on the head as if to say, "Leave me alone."

This was her when she was a puppy in my backyard.

And this was her mother.  I would call mom a chow chow-cattle dog mix.  Daddy was probably a lab-pit bull mix.

So, I will be trying hard to find her a family.  She doesn't have any medical issues, gets along with large and small dogs and cats, and knows sit, down, shake, and is house trained and kennel trained.  All I need is to find a jogger who wants a partner, bonus points if he/she works from home.

Mortgage Update for December 2016

The gift buying is over and I managed to pay $1,200 extra towards my mortgage principal which brings the total to $22,931.  One year and 4 months left.  Now, to be honest, I haven't paid my credit card bill yet.  I don't get the bill until January 4th and  it's going to be a big one but I don't have to pay it for 30 days.

So, how did I spend my vacation days?  It stared off with a half day last Wednesday to take my nephew to the airport.  He wanted to be left at the curb so I was at work by 9am.  This meant I only had to work 4 hours and then I would be free.  I happily left by 2 and I don't even remember what I did after I got home.  On Thursday, I had the whole day off.  I slept late, did at least 6 loads of laundry, mopped the floor, vacuumed the bedrooms, moved stuff around in a semi-organized manner.  It was great.  The weather was great.  Everything was great until I made myself dinner and noticed liquid on the floor.  

I thought one of the dogs was angry at me for mopping but when I threw some paper towels down, it was clear that this was no dog puddle.  This was a major leak.  I threw a towel down and the water just laughed.  I thought the water might be coming from the closest appliance which was the dish washer so I got a wrench and tried to shut off the water valve under the sink.  

While I was trying to do that, my elbow went through the water soaked particle board, which is what my 70's cabinets are made of.  Curious, I easily broke off hunks of particle board to reveal a half inch of water under the sink cabinet.  Then, looking to my left, I noticed water around the gap between the tile and cabinet next to the fridge.  

Orange electrical cord for the Tiny House people.

Pondering that for a moment, I decided to check the bathroom pipes located on the other side of the wall.  They looked ok but the grout was a little damp.  Not wanting to break into the walls at that moment, I decided that it was probably a leak from the laundry drain pipe.

My laundry was mostly finished for the day and I wanted to eat dinner so I stopped the investigation and finished eating.  Then I remembered that I had a ShopVac in the other room.  Perfect for sucking up wet messes.  I dragged all the wet, dirty towels into a trash bag and out to the back porch and quickly sucked up all of the water and mess.  What a handy little machine.

I left everything to dry out and went to bed.  The next day was Friday and I picked up my aunt from the airport and had a nice dinner with my mother and sister.  Saturday was another cleaning day but I did not pursue the laundry leak mystery and that is where I will stop for today because I should just post this or else it will get too long.

Just Too Hot

The new air conditioner arrived today! After much struggling to get the 60 pound box in to the mobile home and out of the box, I managed to get it in to the window. Whew. It was 96 degrees in there. I had some hot dogs. After an hour it was 85 degrees. I think this new AC will work nicely!

I am still looking forward to the evaporative cooler's arrival on Wednesday. I want to put it in the hallway for my poor old cocker spaniel who likes the quiet down there. No rain in sight so it should work for a little while. I believe it has a 4 gallon reservoir but I can spare the water since I will be checking in on my co-worker's cat this weekend and filling up my water bottles at her house and doing my laundry. I still have around 200 gallons in my own tank too. I have been getting 5 gallons from work everyday for the dog's to drink and that has really helped stretch out my water supply.

I have an extra air conditioner now so I could put it in one of the other bedrooms so that I can organise in a cool room. Maybe I can actually get something done on this upcoming 3 day weekend.

Thinking Cool

It is too hot. Outside it was 100F when I got home this evening. Inside it was 90F. I checked out the Home Depot website again and used the store availability button to search for air conditioners and, you guessed it, all sold out. There were 4 evaporative coolers in the model that I wanted but not at the store I was planning to go to on Saturday. I thought about running over to that store at lunch but then the cooler had free shipping so I thought I would just order it and the air conditioner online. I'll have to wait a few days for it to show up but at least I know it is coming and I saved myself the frustration of running around town and ending up empty handed.

In the mail today there was a pool supply catalog. I was looking at it and wanting everything. It's just too hot to even stand outside. Maybe I will use some of my precious water and fill up the kiddie pool for the dogs on Sunday. I hope they don't jump in the pool and then roll in the dirt but they are dogs and they would probably think that was a lot of fun.

Upgrading

I am in upgrade mode or as some people call it, lifestyle inflation. I'm not technically supposed to be buying anything yet but with the weather hovering around 101-106F I am feeling some "needs", specifically, a need for a more powerful air conditioner. I looked online and found one at Home Depot for $200 for a 20'x20' room. That would be great for my living room. I wonder if they will have any in the store since it is so hot right now. When we had that week of freezing weather back in February, I went looking for a heater and Home Depot was sold out. Now we have a heat wave and I am looking for AC's. Maybe the stores will be more prepared. I mean, the freezing weather was not typical for Tucson but everyone knows it gets hot in the Summer every year.

I also was concocting an idea for more water storage. One of my friends mentioned a pool party and I was joking about a dog pool party so I started looking for above ground pools online. I found a pool for $150 that holds 2,000 gallons of water. I remembered seeing someone use a pool to hold their rainwater and I was thinking that it would be a cheap and easy way to hold some water compared to buying storage tanks which run about $1,200 for 2,000 gallons. You see, the only water delivery company that I found will deliver water for $120. I'm not sure what the capacity of their truck is but I am guessing 5,000 gallons. I'll have to ask him if he will deliver a truck load for $120. I only asked for the price for 500 gallons and he said $120. Then I asked for the price for 1,000 gallons and he said $120 because that was the trip fee and the water really didn't cost that much. If I bought a pool I would have 2,000 gallons plus all of my water storage tanks have another 1,000 gallon capacity. Of course it is going to rain any week now so I really don't have to buy a pool just yet. Maybe I can catch one at an end-of-Summer sale. It sure would be nice to have that much water. I could do laundry and clean and wash the dogs and even was my truck! Wow...that would be great.

Oh, and one more thing I could do if I had more water, I could buy an evaporative cooler so that my AC didn't have to work so hard and maybe my electric bill would go down. That would be excellent!

Out Of Gas

Propane gas that is. And I'm not out yet but very low. I took my 7 gallon tank to get refilled at the usual spot but they wouldn't fill it because my tank needs to be re-certified. I didn't know it had to be re-certified every 5 years or something like that. The guy said that I had to take it in to town to the propane company. I don't have time for that right now so I have decided to let my tank run out. When it does I won't have a freezer or a stovetop to use in the RV. But now that I have my vinyl flooring in my mobile home, my other fridge is in the right place and I plugged it in. When my RV fridge dies I will have to move my freezer food in to the mobile home. I was planning to do that anyway in a month or two. This is just going to speed things up a bit. I do have an electric mini-fridge in the RV so I can keep things cold but not frozen.

I have an electric 2-burner stovetop in the mobile too. I don't have a place set up for it yet but I soon will...hopefully before the propane runs out. All of this wouldn't be an issue if my RV fridge still worked on electricity because I could have lasted 6 months or more with only my stovetop using propane. Oh well, I'll add re-certification of propane tanks to the long list of chores that need to be done before the RV is sold including replacing the fridge circuit board so that it works on electricity again, buying new batteries, fixing the handles on the holding tanks and replacing the plastic trim around the outside. I'm not going to worry about those things until the Fall. I have more important projects right now.

Mortgage Payoff Progress For November

I finally made my November extra mortgage payment today. I could have done it last Wednesday but I forgot to look up how much to pay from my spreadsheet at work. So I waited until today and made a payment of $2,436 for a new mortgage amount of $30,222 (until tomorrow when my normal mortgage payment goes through, then it will slip below $30k, Yea!).

If I don't pay anymore extra then my mortgage will be paid off in 4 years and 8 months. If I sold as much stuff as possible including my RV, I could pay it off in 7 months. If I stick with the plan to sell some things now and some things after the mortgage is paid off, I will have it paid off in one year! At least I hope it is only one year. A lot can happen in a year and with my dying computer, recent broken tooth, tumultuous renters, and my soon to be adopted dog, I'm sure that one year deadline will be a bit flexible.

Oh ya, and when I came home today the power had been out. All of the clocks were blinking and my refrigerator was making noise. I shut it off and reset it on the electric setting. Then I checked the temperature since it had been off for who knows how long. The fridge said 10 degrees. Oooo...guess what that means? That means the power surge most likely fried the fridge's little circuit board brain. If I remember from last time I think it will work ok on the propane setting. I was hoping to get away from that propane filling chore this winter. Remember when we had this discussion the last time the fridge died? I said I needed a whole RV surge suppressor but didn't want to pay $300. I was hoping to make it out of this RV before it happened again but I wasn't quick enough. Now I get to pay the repairman.

The Downs And Ups Of My RV Fridge

2 years ago my RV fridge broke. It cost me $800 to fix it. Less than a year later it stopped working again and it cost me $160 to fix it even though I got a free circuit board. It still never worked right. The freezer worked fine but the fridge compartment wouldn't cool below 50 degrees. The repairman said to turn it off for a few hours and then try it again. It could be vapor lock he said. I turned it off for a few days and turned it on again. 50 degrees. I gave up and switched to propane power. To my surprise, it worked. I was happy because a replacement fridge with installation would cost me over $3,000, but I wasn't happy with my new monthly propane filling chore. People recommended a bigger propane tank. I said I couldn't lift anything bigger than 7 gallons. People recommended a stationary tank with fill-up service. I balked at the added cost of delivery plus the added cost of maintaining the dirt road so that a propane truck could get down it. I was resigned to continue my monthly propane chore until I could fix up the mobile home, buy a regular fridge and sell the RV.

The last time I got my propane bottle filled was approximately a month ago. I have been watching the green light on the fridge because when it turns red it means I need to switch to a full propane bottle quickly or else my ice cream will melt (we can't allow that!). Yesterday I went outside to check the bottles. I thought maybe I left both bottles open because I hadn't run out of gas yet. One bottle was full, the other nearly full. I was perplexed. I went back inside and looked at the fridge. It was set on electric! The last time I got propane I must have forgotten to push the gas button to switch it over. I checked the fridge temp...40 degrees plus or minus. Yea! My fridge fixed itself! I am so happy! Perhaps it was just vapor lock after all or maybe it didn't like working so hard in the summer. I am very glad it is working now and I hope it continues to work. I was already thinking about the discount I would have to give for a propane-only fridge when I sell the RV. Hopefully it will hang on for a few more years. This also means that my annoying propane fill-up chore only has to be done twice a year because I only use it for the stove top. One less chore, what a nice surprise.

Oh and another nice surprise was my electric bill for last month...$36.99. Nice and low. I will enjoy it while I can. Air conditioning season is right around the corner.

Dare I Go Fridge-less?

My refrigerator choices are:

my unreliable RV fridge currently running on propane
or my mini-fridge with it's non-freezing mini-freezer
or my old non-frost-free fridge in my mobile home.

Then I ran across this article Life Without A Fridge from Path To Freedom. Basically, they live in Southern California and don't own a refrigerator. I used to live in So. Cal. so I know the weather is a bit milder than here in Arizona. They also live within walking distance of a grocery store and pick up food daily. I suppose I could go to the store everyday and only buy enough for one meal. Perhaps I could utilize canned food more. I think the cost of electricity is cheaper than the cost of daily groceries. I can just imagine what I would buy if I went to the store everyday. I'd probably buy those pre-cooked meals from the deli. Plus, buying meals everyday would mean a lot of extra packaging and trash for me. I don't have one of those environmentally friendly stores on my side of town.

So, I'll stick with refrigeration for now. Maybe one day when I can scooter to the farmer's market or grow my own food I'll pull the plug and live without, but until then I'll enjoy my ice cream.

When The Economy Gets Shaky, Stick To The Plan

I try not to dwell too much on the news. I can't control much of what is going on. The best thing I can do is to stick to my plan...no extra spending, pay down the mortgage, keep my job, keep expenses low.

Another week of work is about to begin and I have a bad attitude. I have to keep reminding myself that it is my job that will enable me to pay off my rental house and retire early. That will only happen if I don't quit early.

Here's what I did this weekend to amuse/frustrate myself instead of spend money.

I attempted to complete my airbrushed flames project.


I wasn't completely happy with it so I watched the Flames video again and ended up painting over it and trying it again 3 more times. Now I am completely frustrated. I had to stop before I tested the motorcycle tank cover's aerodynamic abilities. Maybe I'll try again next weekend.

And now for my usual chores. I filled my RV water tank with filtered rainwater from my collection tanks.


I did my plumbing-less laundry by hauling buckets of water to my washing machine.


I used the wash water to water my baby trees.


I defrosted my freezer and threw out all of the ice blocks that were once edible food.

Before:

After:

Now I know exactly how much food I have. I thought I had a lot more but frozen shriveled hamburger buns and veggie burger ice blocks from last March really don't count as 'food'.

My RV fridge seemed to be cooling well at first. The freezer side freezes but the fridge side hasn't dropped below 50°F. I was just thinking how nice it would be to have all of my food in my RV instead of half of it next door in the mobile home. I could use the RV freezer and ignore the fact that the fridge side won't get cold or I could shut it off and go back to the way it was with my freezer food next door. What I am not going to do is pay the RV repairman $80 to show up and $70/h! If I have to buy a new RV fridge on the day before I sell this RV then that's what I will do (we are talking about over $2,000 for a new one). My mini fridge works just fine for now.

Spring Cleaning: Finally Made That Trip To The Dump

I have been needing to make a trip to the dump for many months now. I had an old stove, washer, and fridge plus misc. trash and no way to get rid of it. Finally I arranged a trip with a neighbor today and I am trash free! It is so exciting.

It took 2 trips to get rid of everything and it cost $10 for each load so I spent $20. The dump was a scary place so I am glad that someone went with me. I had never been to a real dump, only small transfer stations where trash goes in to containers. This place was huge. I drove up the giant trash hill(trash hill had a great view). The smell was nasty. Everyone just lines up and dumps the trash out of their trucks and then the giant earth moving machines drive back and forth and move the trash around. I've seen that on TV but never in person. So much waste! It was amazing.

Near the entrance was a place for recycling but the signs were not clear so I had to ask where to put the appliances. There were also collection spots for things like hazardous household chemicals, computers, and batteries. That's good to know in the future. I think dropping things off in the recycled area is free but I am not sure.

Anyway, it was quite an adventure today. I got a major chore crossed off my list. Now I can go sweep out the garage and make it look purdy. Oh, yes...and when I was loading up the trash this morning, I looked in my water bucket and saw this giant centipede. Eek! I let it go far away from the garage.

The Fridge Is Fixed!

The RV guy came out yesterday. I had to miss 2 hours of work but it's a chore that needed to be done. He replaced the circuit board and 2 fuses in 30 minutes and then I had him clean out the A/C so that, hopefully, it won't quit mid-summer. $165 and my fridge was humming again. Cheaper than I expected, yea! I left it on for the day to make sure it got cold. Now it is unplugged and I will happily use it as a pantry. If all goes well that fridge will still be in working condition when it is time to sell this RV. I just can't afford to be paying hundreds of dollars every year for repairs.

The (not so)mini fridge is now located on its stand where the chair used to be and the cat has her place back on the floor. All is right with the world :)

More Fridge News And DTV Stinks

Yesterday I talked to the RV repair guy who fixed my fridge last May for a whopping $800. He told me the circuit board only had a 90 day warranty but he called back today and said the fridge company, Dometic, is going to send a replacement for free. That is so nice of them! Unfortunately, Mr. RV Guy's rates went up and now he costs $75 just to show up and $85 per hour. Ouch. I decided to go ahead with it anyway and while he is here he can check out my AC to make sure it is in good condition for the fast approaching summer season.

I also decided that I am going to unplug the fridge once it is fixed and keep using my mini fridge. I'm not sure which is worse, using the fridge and having to fix it every year or not using it and risking a problem when I try to turn it on in a couple of years when I want to sell this thing. Right now I feel like risking it. If the mini fridge breaks it will only cost $50 for another one on Craig's List. Just to get the RV repair guy out here costs $160!

So, I looked for a table for my mini fridge so I can get it off of the floor but I didn't see one on Craig's List. Then I thought I should check the Habitat Store since it is near my work and I can get there on my lunch break. They just happened to be having a big furniture clearance sale. I found 3 tables that might work and then I sat on them to see how well they stood up to a heavy weight. I bought the sturdiest one. It is almost exactly the same size as my fridge. The feet of the fridge are set back a few inches so it should be quite stable on the table. Now I just need to move one of the rocking chairs out to the mobile home and get the fridge on the table. I think I might have to call a neighbor again.

Now, about the DTV. When I got home today all 4 of the PBS stations said 'no signal' plus 2 other stations said the same. What good is digital if the stations won't show up??? I unplugged it and went back to my antenna. At least if the analog signal is weak I can still see the TV show. I really hope they improve their digital signal before next year, if not, they will have a lot of complaints.

Bought My DTV Converter Box Today

Armed with my government issued $40 converter box coupons, I drove 35 minutes to a far-away Walmart that had boxes in stock. There were 2 brands to choose from, Magnavox and RCA. Both were $50. I liked the Magnavox design better and obviously, so did most other people because there were only 2 left while there was still a stack of RCA boxes. There was also a notice telling people how to get their $40 coupons which was nice of them. The woman in electronics even asked me if I had my coupons already because she wanted to be sure I was getting the discount.

I should have paid for the items in the electronics department because when I got to the front the cashier had no idea how to ring up my coupons. She called someone over who said, "Gee, I don't know, I was off when they had that training". Luckily, the third person they asked had some idea and they were able to scan the coupons through like credit cards, then I had to sign for each one. The people behind me in line were getting a little agitated.

I brought my boxes home (I have 2, one for both TV's) and found that the enclosed push-on, box to TV connector, did not work on my TV. My TV likes the screw on cables. I found an old screw on cable and was able to get it working. There was an easy automatic setup screen that scanned for channels. Now instead of 6 channels, I get 11! I never knew that PBS had 4 channels playing at once. Ok, one is in Spanish but the others were a surprise. Now if I want to watch preschool shows like Teletubbies at night, I can! The picture is clearer, no more antenna fuzz but 2 of my channels just went out. They started breaking up in to those digital squares and then it said no signal. That's just great. So now if I want to watch then I have to switch back to analog antenna reception. I hope they get those problems worked out before next February.

An Easter Present For Me...My New-To-Me Mini Fridge

Yesterday I found 2 mini fridges on Craig's List but neither person was home when I called. This morning one person responded and said the fridge was already gone, too bad. I searched again on Craig's List using words like- mini, fridge, and refrigerator and I found another mini-fridge mis-categorized in the 'furniture' category that had been listed yesterday. Things in the wrong category are great because less people find them so there it less competition. I sent an email right away and the person called me back around noon. Even though it was on the other side of town I headed to their house right away so I could get it. It took over an hour to get there!

The fridge was on the back patio and she had plugged it in so I could see that it worked. That was very nice of her. It was a little bit bigger than I expected but still small enough to fit in my RV so bigger is better! I paid her $50, her husband loaded it in my truck (it is really nice to have a truck sometimes) and I headed back home with my prize. My only problem now is that it is too heavy for me to carry and getting it through the door with only 2 inches of clearance will be tricky. I have left messages with a couple of friends and neighbors so maybe I'll get it out of my truck tomorrow. I am hoping to take out one of the rocker-recliner chairs and bring in a desk that the fridge can sit on so that it is off of the floor. I'll need more muscle for that little project. Right now I would be happy if it was on the floor in front of my dead fridge.

I wasn't sure what size my mini fridge was so I started looking on the Sear's website since it is a Kenmore.
They had a:
1.7 cuft. fridge for $75
2.7 cuft. for $120
4.6 cuft. for $170
5.8 cuft. for $300
and a 6.0 cuft. for $400

I measured mine and thought it might be a 5.8 cuft. The ones I was looking at yesterday were only 4.6 cuft. Than I looked at the manual that the people gave me and it said it was a 6.0 cuft! Wow! It would have cost $400 if I bought it new!

I love my mini-fridge. Now I can put off my RV refrigerator repair until I have saved up the money. It costs $60 just to get the guy to come out and tell me it is broken! That's more than my mini fridge cost. I will love my mini fridge even more when it is safely inside my RV and full of convenient, cold food!

Searching For A Frugal RV Fridge Replacement

I found 2 potential mini-fridges on Craigs List for only $50. They would cost $150-$200 if I bought one new at Best Buy or Walmart. The smallest fridge at Walmart is $60+ but it is only 1.7 cu.ft. These 2 used ones are around 4 cu.ft. which will fit nicely in my RV. It is small enough so it won't take up a lot of room which is good because I certainly don't have a lot of extra room to spare. It is big enough to hold drinks and leftovers so it will be very handy. I will have to keep my mobile home fridge plugged in and us it for larger food items.

I had hoped to buy one of those used fridges today but neither person was home or responded to my email. Perhaps they were out of town for Easter. I have Monday off so maybe I can buy one then. It will be so nice to have cold food conveniently located in my RV again. I guess the expensive repairs to my existing RV fridge will have to wait until I am ready to sell it. Until then it will be great to use that empty fridge space as extra pantry space. At least I can put it to good use.

Sneaky Bill And Bad Fridge News

I was sorting my mail today, that's the kind of exciting thing I do when I get a day off...haha. I had 4 letters from Qwest, my internet provider. One was a strange Qwest Rewards Card. I cut it up. I don't need another card in my wallet and I don't want to waste energy on any other reward card other than Discover Cash Back. I can't keep track of them all. Two other Qwest letters were encouraging me to bundle my services. I got 2 letters because they spelled my name wrong...great. And one was a bill that look strangely higher than it should. Of course I had to call Qwest and ask them about it. The agent said, gee, that bill shouldn't increase until next year. I don't think she was supposed to tell me that but I guess if I am not signed up for the "price for life" then my bill will go up every year. I'll put that on my to-do list. She fixed the bill and then I complained about getting double junk...I mean valuable Qwest info letters. She fixed that too. I have never had so much trouble with a bill before. This one needs constant monitoring.

Later on my friend and her husband stopped by to look at my broken fridge. Her husband discovered that the circuit board had a scorched part. I guess it isn't going to be an easy fix. Now I need to decide whether to just buy a mini fridge for $60 or call the RV repair guy who charges $60 just to come out so he can hopefully find the cause of the problem, or just order a new $300 circuit board and have my friend's husband put it in knowing that it might succumb to the same fate. I'm thinking mini-fridge. Too bad I sold the one I had for $70. It would have worked nicely. Maybe I can find one on craigslist.

Poor Little Rich Boy

Today at lunch my coworkers and I were discussing trash. I brought it up because I don't have trash service and it costs $10 to go to the dump so I am trying to find alternative ways to get rid of my refuse. I only generate one bag a week so keeping it around until I have enough for a $10 trip would take a while. We were also talking about old appliances since one coworker recently took some to the dump and I wanted to make sure they were still accepted without charge.

Our boss happened to be eating lunch with us and he made an innocent comment. He said,"You know they take the old appliance away for free when they bring the new one out." Poor guy. He didn't realize that he was talking to the frugalites of the office. Four people answered back at the same time..."Well, some people can't afford new appliances...Some people have to buy used...Some people are pinching pennies...etc, etc". It was quite amusing.

It's just one of the many things that people with money and means take for granted like water and trash service! By the way, he did say that it was ok to drop a trash bag or two in the back dumpster every so often. Maybe I have found my alternative to the dump!

Weighing The Refrigerator Options

I looked up a new RV fridge on the Camping World web site today. Looks like it will cost $1650 for a new one plus tax after I pay $20 to join the club. Then of course there is the installation fee. Probably at least $200. And in small print it says that the door panels are sold separately. What are the chances that my door panels will fit on a new fridge? This is a 1992 RV so I am not sure.

I haven't called the repair guy yet. I guess I don't want to pay him to tell me it is dead. It has never just turned off like this. The other times I had problems the temperature got slowly lower or higher. One time it was the cooling unit, the other time the circuit board. There is still a chance that it could be something cheaper to repair than to replace it but after spending $800 last summer, I don't want to have to spend hundreds of dollars every year on this thing.

I was able to transfer all of the food over to my back-up fridge with only a few casualties. I was tired and I threw some carrot sticks in to one of the bags. Then I just put the entire bag in to the freezer and, well, now they are carrot popsicles. Having to go outside to another building to get food is very inconvenient. I am almost tempted to start buying lunches out. If I spent $5 on lunch everyday I would spend $2000 after 400 lunches. If I bought dinner out too I could blow through $2000 in no time. Maybe it is better to buy a new fridge in the long run.

Adventures In Laundry

I can do laundry!!! Ok, I'm a little excited about it. My boss came over this morning and I showed him where I wanted the dryer hooked up. Since the garage is kind of far from the RV we talked about moving the washer and dryer up to the mobile home so that it would be closer and indoors. Doing that would involve more wiring, plumbing and trips to the store than I wanted to do this weekend so I was happy to get it hooked up in the garage for now.

We moved the old appliances out of the way(for a later trip to the dump), swept the floor, connected the outlet and moved the washer and dryer in to place. Even though changing out the outlet was an easy switch I was glad he did it because he had the electrical tester to see if the wires were hot. Also, there were only 3 wires for a 4 wire plug and they were marked black, red and green. I would have been confused. Turns out the green one was neutral. I guess the person that put it in didn't have any white tape to mark it.

After we tested the washer and dryer to make sure they turned on, I showed him all of the other things that needed to be fixed. We decided that moving the water pump to the garage and the washer and dryer to the mobile home would be the next project but I told him that if my house doesn't get rented out in March I will move back there until I do find a renter. In that case, the washer/dryer project will get put on hold. I hope I find a renter though. I don't want to move again.

After he left, I transferred as much water as I could out of my collection tanks and in to my holding tanks. I found out that my RV tank holds 75 gallons. I think I could get buy for a month on 75 gallons if I conserved. I put more water in to the jacuzzi too. I have never been so low on water that I had to use jacuzzi water but I like to have it just in case. There are 3 or 4 months where the rainfall is rare and those months are approaching fast so I want to have as much water saved as possible.

I thought all of the squirrels were sleeping now but this little guy seemed to like my greenhouse a lot.

Next I decided to attempt a load of laundry. First I found a trash can to collect the water as it drains. Then I carried three buckets full of water to the washing machine to rinse it out because it has been sitting in the garage for a year. The water didn't look dirty so I thought I would just dump in my clothes and some soap. I was going to do 2 loads but I didn't want to go through the whole process twice so I put in all of my clothes. Of course then I had to add more water.



It took me a while to figure out where the agitate setting was on the washer but eventually I found it and my clothes were happily being washed.


When they spun and the water drained, it nearly filled my trash can so I had to find another trash can to catch the rinse water.
I think that I will use the wash water to water my plants and the rinse water to wash the next load. If that works well I won't have to use as much water each time. I estimate that I used 18-20 gallons total. If I only do laundry once a week and recycle half of the water for the next load I think I can spare the water. I can actually get away with only doing laundry every 2 weeks. I have to do a bigger load but I think it will use less water.

This is the final set up. After all of the hauling and watching and catching for the washing machine, drying the clothes was so very nice and easy. Just put them in and set the timer. I feel civilized again.

Oh look, my chairs in my RV are clear of clutter! I cheated though. I stuffed all of the bags in to the closets. I didn't want my boss to think I was a slob.