I have no problem telling people that we are frugly (pronounced FRUG-LEE). That stands for frugal-ugly. We would rather look plain and have a few extra dollars and more free time than visit fancy salons and spas and wear clothes that cost more than we make in a week.
We didn’t even own an iron until a couple of years ago when I needed to make t-shirts (and honestly compels me to disclaim that we haven’t used it since).
A hair dryer? We don’t own one. My wife doesn’t have a hairdresser. She doesn’t even know any. The only time she gets haircuts are when they are free because she gets enough cut off for locks-of-love.
To us, appearance just isn’t the most important thing. Yet, apparently during a moment of weakness, we decided to enter Mackenzie into Macon’s Little Miss Cherry Blossom Pageant.
The pageant isn’t your average Toddlers-and-Tiaras-type pageant. Only “Sunday” dresses are allowed. The kids are suppose to look like kids, not miniature adults. No excessive make-up, hair-dos, etc. Sounds like the perfect pageant for a frugly family like mine!
So first, we had to find a pink dress — in November. If you walk into any store, you quickly realize that red and magenta are the colors of the season. Finding anything pink was a huge challenge. By the way, I got the $60 dress for less than $20. Score 1 for the fruglies!
Next, it was time for shoes. We wanted white dress shoes, but again, those are impossible to find outside of the Easter season. After visiting at least 25 stores, we finally found a pair (and at a reasonable price). Score 2 for the fruglies!
Now, what to do about the hair? Mackenzie is cute in braids, pigtails, or pretty much any other quick hair style, but this warranted something special. We found a curling iron for $5.00 (Score 3 for the fruglies!). After pleading for help on Facebook, and nearly choking from laughing so hard when a Facebook friend suggested that we call my wife’s (non-existent) hairdresser, Kimberlie’s co-worker and friend volunteered to help with the task. This same person also trades Saturday shifts with Kimberlie and made a few wonderful pink bows for us.
Finally, there were logistical matters. We had a 5K scheduled in Milledgeville (and hour away) just 4 hours before we had to be at the theater. (It’s the end of the year and we are chasing points.) That gave us (all four of us) less than an hour at the house to shower, change, eat lunch, and prep my little princess. But, somehow, we pulled it off.
Mackenzie didn’t win the title, but we weren’t “in it to win it”. She did a wonderful job, however.
I think it all turned out pretty well. What do you think?
A little over a year ago, when I still worked for Mercer Law School, a student worker was cleaning out a faculty member’s storage closet. They stumbled across a vintage Macintosh Performa 200 (by vintage, I mean 1992). Thinking it belonged to the technology department, they brought it to us for disposal. I decided to keep it to see if it would work. It didn’t, but it was too cute to trash. I remembered seeing photos and stories on Instructables.com about people turning old computers into working aquariums and I knew that this would be my next project. I promptly took it home.
After some online research, I stumbled upon a great set of instructions by Andy Ihnatko. Like cleaning the insides out of a pumpkin, dismantling the computer required special tools and certain protruding portions of the case had to be removed as well. Between a Dremel and a hacksaw, I finally removed the portions of the computer necessary to build the aquarium. (My apologies for using “Mercer Law” and “hacksaw” in the same blog post.)
The mac, still covered in Splenda
Gutting the mac
Out with the unneeded
Pretty chinese art from 1992
The garbage pile growing
Sawing off the protrusions
After getting the case like I wanted it, I cleaned the outside thoroughly. When the computer was found in the closet, it was covered in spilled Splenda. I also used black spray paint to give the insides a nice, new look. Some vintage macs have Steve Job’s signature engraved in the inside. This one, however, did not.
Next, I needed glass to build the actual tank. I went to Lowe’s and learned they only carry 1/8 inch glass, which wouldn’t support water. Home Depot had the same. Specialty glass shops online wanted big bucks to cut the glass. At this point, I lost motivation and put the case in the attic for over a year.
At my new job, I desperately needed some sort of decoration, etc. to personalize my office. Perhaps a conversation piece? One day while riding down Riverside, I discovered a glass shop about 3 blocks from the office. I printed out the dimensions I needed and took it in to see if they could do it. Not only could they do it, but it was only about $9.00. Score!
I came home and assembled the pieces using regular silicone and leak-proofed it with aquarium-safe silicone (which was difficult to find). I also constructed a wooden base to position the glass box on (and keep the electrical, etc. underneath).
Constructing the glass from instructions on the macbook
The glass assembly - waiting on silicone to set
Next, it was time to design the look of the aquarium. My friend/former boss Chris had an aquarium in his office at Mercer for several years and over that time I did a few different shots of the law school as the background for it. That background got rave reviews. Since I work in a beautiful building now, I thought that might be a good plan. I also love bubble bars and Mackenzie picked out some neon-colored gravel, which I bought against my better judgement.
I also needed a light to illuminate the tank, for visibility and to make the fish think its daylight inside. I wanted to go LED even though the price was a little steeper. I found a great LED light that can even be submerged if I ever decide to put it under the water line for about $20.00 on eBay.
Because changing the water would be difficult, I also needed a filter. I found an under-gravel filter online (powered by the same air pump that will generate the bubbles) that is supposedly perfect for small tanks. Since I plan to start with cheap goldfish, a heater/thermometer isn’t necessary. Of course, I can always add one later and go with a better filter.
Upside down case, mounting light into position
Aquarium safe silicone, found at Ace for 3x the price
Under-gravel filter, perfect for small tanks
Here’s the complete list of supplies:
Glass: 10.26 (also bought a second set, just in case — if you want it, let me know)
Silicone: 3.77
Aquarium-safe silicone: 7.41
Wood for the base (select pine): 6.84
LED light from eBay: 20.73
Under-gravel filter: 10.72 (shipping was more than the actual item)
Air pump, tubing, valve, gravel: 17.42
Fish catcher, food, and vacation feeders: 6.89
Distilled water: 1.21
Fish: 54 cents
Total cost: $85.79 (yikes!)
I went a bit over my $50.00 budget, but shipping killed me on a few items (filter, light) and I spent more to get better stuff on others (light, wood). You can purchase a similar sized aquarium kit at a local pet store for $25 or so, but it wouldn’t be nearly as cool.
I also bought a small table to sit it on for $8.00 at IKEA so that any leaks wouldn’t damage my office furniture, but I ended up not using it because it was too small.
I initially set the tank up on Friday to give the water a few days to circulate, I ran into a few problems. The air pump caused a loud vibration noise that was not conducive to a work environment. I also had issues with the gang valve leaking and ruining my background print. Currently, I have removed the bubble stone and I moved the pump to outside of the computer case. I set the filter up to run continuously, but put the LED light on a timer so that it simulates daylight for the fishies.
Today (Sunday), we added two goldfish from PetSmart: a regular orange one and a white one with an orange spot. Let’s hope they are still alive tomorrow when I get to work!
Finished product
Close up
Macquarium
The photos above as well as the video below were taken with my iPhone. I forgot to take a camera! I’ll try to post more shots soon.
Hopefully I don’t get fired for having this at work. Nobody knows about it so far. Remember my motto: It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission!
Looking back on my goals for 2010, I didn’t do so well. As I’ve mentioned several times, 2010 truly was the year from hell. So for this year, I’m basically moving several of those goals to this year:
Run a half-marathon in less than 2 hours.
Reduce my 5K PR to < 23 minutes and my 10K PR to < 50 minutes.
Remember my Year from Hell post from July? It hasn’t gotten any better yet:
In August:
The locks on my car quit working
My lawn mower died
In September:
We had to replace our mattress
Our air conditioner pump malfunctioned, sending gallons of water into the air intake
Kimberlie passed out at a church soccer game — the only soccer game I wasn’t at. We convinced the ambulance and firemen that she didn’t need to go to the hospital.
And so far in October:
We just had to replace the battery and one of the tires on Kimberlie’s car.
Let’s just say that last Wednesday was one of the worst days of my life. In October 2008, I was in my first car accident in my life. In late September 2009, I was in another. Neither of them were my fault and both involved uninsured drivers, leaving me to foot the bill. This week, I was in the third accident of my life. Unfortunately, I can’t elaborate publicly in the event that litigation arises.
Ants seem to invade a different room of our house everyday.
Of course, there are things that have been happening (or not) all year:
The stock market has really sucked for the last few months.
I’m 31 and still not rich enough to retire.
Publisher’s Clearinghouse still hasn’t knocked on my door.
Don’t get me wrong. I still love my life. But even number years just never work out for us. 2008 was equally as bad. 2007 and 2009 were fabulous. Let’s hope I can make it through the next five months alive!
This has not been a good month for technology at my house.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that my Macbook would no longer charge. Then I discovered that my cat had chewed through the power cord. No biggie — I was a little ticked off (especially since this is not the first time that its happened), but I ordered a new one from Amazon. Small setback. Nothing major.
On Tuesday, I we discovered that we couldn’t channel surf past channel 20. We technically only pay for channels 2 – 19 for a measly $16 a month. A long long time ago, when we had high-speed internet installed, the tech “forgot” to put the trap back on. The lack of this trap allowed us to go all the way up to channel 70. That’s $52.00 worth of cable for $16.00 a month. Do the math and that is $3168 for savings since we moved in. Of course, we are very dependent on those upper channels — CNN and History for me, TLC and HGTV for Kimberlie, and of course, Disney for the kids. Restricting us to local and public access channels really sucks!
We went tubing in Helen two years ago and had a great time. This Saturday, we decided to do it again. I wanted to take the small point & shoot camera and my beloved iPhone with me. I knew it was risky so I took a ziplock bag to keep them safe. On the way down the river, I took photos and tweeted and checked email and facebooked. Everything went fine. At the end, it was time to get out so I put the camera and phone in the bag and proceeded to get out of the tube and wade to the riverbank. The water was only about a foot deep so I put the bag in my pocket. All of a sudden, the river got really deep. The water was so cold that I wasn’t concerned with my technology. Somehow, the water seeped through the bag and ruined both: my $170 camera and my iPhone 3G.
Needless to say, this has not been a good month for technology in my house. It looks like we will be going with Dish Network in the very near future to get our channels back. And, since I’m eligible for an upgrade with AT&T, it looks like I’ll be getting the iPhone 4! To cover the costs, I’m dropping my $30 data plan to a $15/month plan. The only problem: there is a 3+ week wait to get the new phone. I am about to lose my mind here!
You’ve probably seen the reports on tv about Coupon Queen, Coupon Mom, Southern Savers, etc. and how they play the drug store game to get tons of stuff for really cheap. Those ladies should just hope that one day they are as good at it as I am.
Each Sunday, I wake up, grab the CVS ad and Sunday coupons, and map out my game plan. I make it so that CVS pretty much pays me to take their junk. What if CVS is out of something on my plan? No problem! There are 2 stores within 4 miles of my house and another 20+ stores within 15 miles of my house.
I’m not one of those folks who usually blogs about how much I save, but this morning CVS paid me 3 cents to take a $10.00 razor, $4.00 to take $10.00 worth of body wash, and 55 cents to take $15.00 worth of cereal.
Over the past few weeks, we have gotten free deodorant, heat wraps, holiday stuff, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, expensive razors, body wash, feminine products, candy, cereal, air fresheners, and tons of other stuff.
We do use most of the stuff, but then some of it we don’t need, especially the soaps and shampoos, as evidenced in this previous post. I don’t even know why I do it. Maybe I’m addicted? The razors in the center photo, for example, are some of the newest models out and retail from $10 – $15 each!
March is over and we didn’t eat out, except for the two exceptions noted in the original goal post: one trip to Chick-fil-A (because of the monthly calendar coupon), and free food at work. Although I can’t quantify any health benefits of the hiatus, I can certainly quantify the financial aspects.
The difference in food expenses from 2009 to 2010: $549.78
Below is a screenshot from my (now obsolete) Microsoft Money report, comparing this March with last March. You can clearly see, that in the Fast Food category, my expenditures dropped from $206.86 last year to only $19.30, which was the aforementioned Chick-fil-A transaction. My Dining Out category, which is generally any restaurant food other than fast food went from $375.15 to Zero!
I didn’t have School Lunch expenses last year, because Tristan wasn’t yet in Kindergarten. His food was built into day-care expenses for 2009. As for the Misc for the month, that $7.00 went to a snack for Mackenzie at the ballpark and purchasing a bag of boiled peanuts to support a non-profit.
It is worth noting that for three days last March, we were at Walt Disney World, so the Dining Out expenses for 2009 may be a little higher than the typical month. Even if I scratched out $50.00 due to the high cost of food at Disney, I still saved right at $500.00. Imagine if we did that every month. That would be an extra $6,000.00 in our pockets!
One thing that amazed me looking at the report was the negligible increase in Grocery expenses: only a $10.00 increase. I guess I have been the coupon king lately, but I didn’t realize that it was paying off that much! We haven’t been eating any differently. On Sunday I grilled some steaks. We’ve had fish several times this month and red meat about twice a week. I’m not sure how the Grocery costs remained the same even though we ate many more meals at home.
I’m happy to report that today is day #27 and we are sticking with it. We did use our Chic-fil-A mulligan on March 6 and I have been extremely creative at finding free food at work.
I failed at the no-Coke goal. I have had three so far this month: one with the Chic-fil-A meal and one after each 12K that I ran. I am happy to report that the last two didn’t even taste good.
(On a separately related goal, I have not posted a Facebook status update since February 28! That one was easy!)
I have tried to talk Kimberlie into calling this silly goal quits. It’s not like we’re doing it for lent or anything worthwhile. This morning we were at the Cherry Blossom Festival surrounded by fair-food. It was horribly tempting. Same story two weeks ago at the Forsythia Festival. But, I think the hardest times though have been the nights where Tristan has games right after work and we don’t get home until 9pm. Stopping at Zaxby’s would be so much more convenient.
This goal really was pretty silly. We are not eating healthier. We are still pressed for time when it comes to preparing meals, so unhealthy frozen foods have become a staple. Maybe that’s better than restaurant food, but probably not.
On a positive note, we have saved tons of money this month. I was more than thrilled at my credit card statement. We only have four more days. I can’t possibly screw it up this late in the game. The hardest decision . . . is where to go eat on April 1.
Our lives have been incredibly busy lately: work, school, t-ball, races, and lots more. With all of those obligations competing for our time, it is so easy to just zip through the drive-thru instead of preparing a meal at home. In the last week or so, we have been eating out several times a day. On Saturday: chicken biscuits after the 5K. On Sunday: McDonalds after church, O’Charleys for dinner. We have been eating out literally every day. That puts a strain on our wallet — and our health. So for the month of March, we have decided to abstain from eating out.
I have also tried to limit my soda consumption in the past. Unfortunately, in our combo-centric world, it hasn’t been possible to do so while continuing to dine out. Who is really going to buy the chicken sandwich combo and fill the cup up with water? So to take the health thing one step further, I have personally chosen to not drink coke during March.
Here are the terms of the restrictions:
When there are events at work that have food, it doesn’t count as “eating out” — even if the food is pizza, etc.
There is one exception: we can eat at Chic-fil-A once (because we have the calendars with the monthly free item).
I am not allowed to drink any coke, even at the events above. This does not apply to other family members.
Today is day four and it has been tough. Really tough. I can’t remember the last time I went four days without a french fry and I never noticed just how many fast food commercials there are on the radio. Also, social activities in the south are centered around food, so pledging not to eat at restaurants are starting to affect social aspects of my life as well. The lack of coke has affected my motivation and energy. It makes running a lot tougher when you take away a primary energy source. I am glad, however, that the symptoms of caffiene withdrawal have passed.
Can I successfully make it through the next 27 days? Tune in and see.
