Be Brave Not Safe

Recently, our (not too old) washing machine died, displaying an F71 error code. Considering there are 5 of us in the household, laundry stacks up quickly. So, this is a BIG deal!

Because I was extremely busy with client work I didn’t have time to take on a do-it-yourself (DIY) project at the time. As such, I decided to schedule in-home repair service. It was a Wednesday evening and the earliest appointment was on Saturday. I guess we can wait that long. Back to work.

The next day my wife went online and googled error code F71. Voila, she found troubleshooting documentation that seemed to isolate the problem to 1 of 2 components. While I was encouraged that she found this useful information, still being busy, I elected not to follow the process to confirm…

On Saturday, I found myself rubber-necking (what my wife and I call the process of continuously checking for our expected guest) for a few hours as I anxiously awaited the arrival of the repairman. During this timeframe it was becoming obvious to me that I should try out the troubleshooting steps (now that I have the time) to save the cost of the repair…But, he would be here any minute so I got busy with other chores.

Finally, he arrives. Within 15 minutes he is ready to share the prognosis. It is 1 of 2 components. I’m realizing these are exactly the same components that my wife identified in the online troubleshooting documentation. OK, that is good! Then, the price:

• Component #1: Parts and Labor = $511
• Component #2: Parts and Labor = $325

He then indicates: “My educated guess is that it is component #1.” My thought: “Of course it is.”

I then ask: “How much does a new washing machine cost?” My wife and the repairman both agreed on the range of $700 to $900.

The repairman comments: “Yeah, that is an awful lot to pay for a repair, when you can buy a new machine for just a few hundred dollars more. But, I do have the part in my truck if you want to try it out.”

He then hesitates, waiting for us to catch on…I got it, and said: “What the heck. Let’s try it out.”

By the time he was back in the house with the part I had Amazon.com up and we found the part. The price: $187.

He then says: “That is exactly what I was thinking. We can try out the part and if it works you can buy it online and install it yourself for a whole lot less.”

We then went back to the laundry room. He showed me EXACTLY what had to be done (a simple procedure) to swap out the part. And, it worked! He then reversed the procedure and prepared for departure. The cost of the service call (my home schooling): $60. That, and the cost of the part (online) totaled less than $300!

In his parting words he commented: “I just don’t feel right charging that much money for a simple repair that most people could do on their own.” That had to be the best in-home repair service experience we’ve had.

And, finally, UPS delivered our part. I installed it in less than 10 minutes and we are now caught up on our laundry.

The moral of the story – When a potential DIY project comes up, I will avoid hiring it out if we can wait just a few short days before I can get to it. Doing so saves hundreds of dollars! And, even more importantly, the sense of accomplishment and self-sufficiency is incredible! Oh, the little joys in life 🙂

p.s. – And, my wife never once said “I told you so.” Thanks sweetheart!

How many archaic things do we do which are “no longer” necessary?

Have you shoed your horse lately? I imagine there are a few equestrians out there who could say “yes.” But, for the rest of us, that doesn’t apply.

Now, let’s talk about balancing the checkbook. I haven’t done so in years! Exactly what is the purpose? Now that I’ve got your attention, read on…

Let’s first explore why one (previously) had the need to balance the checkbook. Essentially, we needed to confirm that the balance we had been tracking in our “offline” / paper checkbook matched the monthly statement received from our bank. Often, we found a “surprise” in the form of an ATM withdrawal we forgot to record or that we had recorded an inaccurate amount. On occasion, this resulted in a check bouncing, incurring a bounced check fee and some mild embarrassment. I hate that!

Today’s reality – We no longer have to wait for a monthly statement from the bank to know what our balances are. We have access to “up-to-the-minute” balances on a 24×7 basis as each of our financial institutions provide online access to our accounts via their (individual) websites. More importantly, however, there are tools which can be used to aggregate this information into a single view. I’ve used lots of tools including MS Money (now dead), Quicken, etc. The tool that I’ve found most useful is Mint.com. Intuit (the maker of Quicken) offers Mint, online, FOR FREE. I love that!

Following are “some” of the benefits I’ve found with using Mint:

• You can view the “real-time” balances of ALL your accounts (banking, credit card, investments, loans, etc.) from one screen on your computer and smartphone.
• You can setup payments you have scheduled to make in the future, as well as bill reminders.
• You can review your checking account register, just like you would the old, crusty paper edition.
• You can setup and monitor a budget and financial-related goals.
• Setup takes less than an hour (for dozens of accounts).
• Mint ONLY takes “inputs” from the user, and their financial institutions. That is, transactions (to pay someone, for example) cannot be initiated from Mint. This is a great security feature which gave me comfort knowing that if someone were to hack into my account the “worse” thing they could do was view my stuff. They cannot process transactions on my behalf.
• It is “in the cloud” so you can access your financials from anywhere / anytime.
• And, finally, did I mention? It is free!

So, if up-to-the-minute balances are available for ALL of our financial accounts, in one location (much better than individual checking and/or saving registers) why go through the monthly process of reconciling? When using tools like Mint we are automatically reconciling each time we access the tool as all our accounts are automatically updated with transactions from all our financial institutions. We can view our balances, the transactions that have already occurred, transactions we have scheduled as well as reminders of things that are upcoming that we need to attend to.

Give it a try. You’ll find that you have much better / accurate information on your financial standing, and you’ll get time back in your life that you would have otherwise spent shoeing a dead horse.