You know that saying, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong"? That seems to be the case around here.
On Saturday, Andrew took the vacuum cleaner to his room. He then proceeded to trip over it, breaking the connector between the power nozzle and the hose. It was irreparable. I tried every glue known to man to put that thing back together. To make matters worse, this is the ridiculously expensive vacuum that we purchases around 9 years ago. Granted, it served us well for those 9 years, but it really hurt that it broke.
Off to Sears we went, after spending several hours researching vacuum cleaners online. It seems that the Kenmore Progressive vacuum, rated #1 by Consumer Reports, was going the be the vacuum for us. We looked at customer ratings for about 15 different vacuums and were impressed by the overall opinion of owners of this machine. It was on sale for $279, and we added the 2 year protection plan for $29. With the plan, we take it in for service once a year (no additional charge) and they fix it up for us (no additional charge). Without the plan, if something happens to the machine (which is bound to happen - lots of electronics on board, and it is made of plastic), you pay $39 to drop it off. If it is something in the first year covered by the limited warranty, they refund the money. Otherwise, you pay that plus any additional costs associated with fixing it up. Seemed to me like the $29 was money well spent. Plus, at the end of 2 years, we can extend it for another 2 years, as long as we own the vacuum.
By the way, I love the vacuum cleaner. It has these lights that tell you when the carpet is clean, and my carpet has never looked better! It renewed the pile on the carpet, and eliminated the need to steam clean it right now. Pretty impressive!
In other Murphy news, we had DHEC come out to our house yesterday morning. Someone called to complain about our septic tank, which has left a bit of a wet spot in our yard at the end of the drain field. Seems we will have to fix that up. It will cost us $200 to have the tank pumped, which we are due for, apparently. In addition, they may need to put a gravel pit in our yard, which will cost about $1500. Yikes!
I guess it is a good thing we sold Paul's truck, otherwise we would be struggling a bit with the septic issue.
Otherwise, things are going well. We paid off 4 small bills yesterday - two doctor bills, a dentist bill, and money we owed back to Publix for vacation pay Paul did not earn. I also called the hospital and insurance company to reduce a $1500 bill for Mandy's ER visit a year ago. It should only have been around $250, but the insurance company did not pay it. Hopefully, that will reduce our liability for that payment. It really felt good to walk to the mailbox yesterday, knowing that we took care of some of those debts!
Now, if we could just get rid of my car payment...
Hope you all are doing well. Love to all!
4 comments:
Can I just ask why such a pricey vacuum right now? If you are trying to pay down your bills, you could have gotten a fairly decent model from a less expensive store than Sears and put about $200 of your vacuum cleaner money towards another bill. A cheaper vacuum will last you several years. It might not have the bells and whistles that your pricey model has, but it will do the job and let you get out of debt even faster.
Just wondering.
Me, too. On the wondering. :-) My cheap vacuums usually last two or three years, but I'm really hard on vacuums.
As for Murphy's Law, I've had that same problem. Every time a little extra money comes in, something goes wrong that somehow seems to require exactly the amount of cash you just got. :-)
Why is everyone up earlier than me? Ok, I was thinking the same thing about the vacuum, but, at the same time, if you feel like you're doing ok with paying down the bills right now, I guess a little practical splurging is ok. They often tell you that if you cut everything out, you'll never stick to your 'pay down the debt' plan.
Glad you like it, at least.
And, hey, did you ever cash in on your annuity? That could put a dent in your debt too!
Hi there - I have the same vac and I love it . It does and excellent job of cleaning and it has an easy to change bag.
I have gone the bagless route and will never do so again.
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