You know something. It’s about this time every year when my wife and I look at our calendar and realize that just about every weekend for our entire summer is booked. Between the birthday parties for all of our family, planned trips, and just random other “get togethers” we are pretty much packed.
The other part of this story is that a lot of these weekends also mean some decent expenditures. We’ve got two weddings that we have to travel for and stay in hotels, a 40th anniversary trip for my parents that is sure to set us back about $700-800, and a few birthday gifts.
On top of those, we also have a few projects around the house that we’d like to get done. Those most definitely will set us back a bit. We’ve been digging out an area behind our house where we would like to put a patio. (14X20) We had talked briefly about a deck, but we decided that just didn’t make sense for us. I find it far more appealing to just pressure wash the concrete patio once a year rather than stain a deck. My guess is that the patio will also last us a lot longer. So far we’ve gotten two bids for the job. (Just the setting of forms and then pouring the concrete). The first bid was $1800 and the second was $2500. When the second guy came, he got done measuring and said, “Well, my minimum price for any work is $2300.” I guess I was a little surprised that he came in $500 over the first bid so I said, “Oh bummer. Turns out that’s more than my maximum”. He looked at me funny and left. So, we’ll get a couple more bids and then make a decision. I’ve found it’s always a good idea to get a minimum of 3 bids for any job you want to have done. I don’t always go for the cheapest, but it gives me an idea of what the “going rate” is.
On top of the patio, we’d also like to completely redo our front yard. We have a small lawn out front and we’d really like to get rid of some of the gardens and put in a larger lawn. I have no idea what that will cost, but I’m sure it will be in the hundreds. We’ll see if we actually get to that.
And, since I seem to have perfected the art of rambling in this post, I guess I will also mention that we changed our cable tv plan. It turns out that Comcast has a promotion right now that will give us expanded basic cable, OnDemand programming and pay per view movies for $1 more a month than we are paying now. The introductory rate is $29.99 for three months (then it goes to $46.99 per month which is $1 more than we are paying now), so if we save $16 per month for 3 months, that covers the first 48 months with this new plan so that we are breaking even. (Then we’ll have the $1 increase). If that didn’t make any sense, please forgive me. Like I said, I’m rambling.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend and take a moment to remember all of those that have given their lives for our country.
Just a note from Comcast’s website on the package you are talking about – “You must purchase or rent a converter and remote control for a separate charge to access and other charges may apply.”
Will it be extra for the digital box and remote or is this charge waived as part of the offer? I saw it too, but since we are planning on canceling cable soon, I didn’t check into it any further.
Thanks for the post. I better go check it out!!
Hmmm.
I went back and read the fine print. It says that the first digital converter is included but that additional ones would have a charge. We are only going to get one box so I think we are okay.