Repair Or Replace

At Jenny's suggestion I recently repaired a paper towel holder we use in our kitchen. This task had been on the "honey do" list for quite some time and to be honest, I was ignoring it. I believe when it broke my first thought was, eh... just pitch it, a new one can't be more than $10 or $15 bucks. I had had it tucked away neatly in our pantry conveniently out of sight so I didn't have to be reminded of something I was supposed to be fixing. The past few days though I noticed it was making appearances around our kitchen out in the open. Upon re-discovering it I thought to myself, hmmm... that's funny, why haven't we thrown that thing away yet? When I mentioned this to Jenny she said I should fix it and do a blog post about it, hahaha!!! So, anyway, here I am... posting about our now fixed paper towel holder.

It was a simple repair. I don't really know why I was putting it off. Anyway, having this project brought to my attention did also remind me I had promised a friend (Matt and Sarah Witry) to fix their cutting board. Funny enough, similarly to how I had found a convenient little hiding place for the paper towel holder, I also had tucked Matt and Sarah's cutting board neatly out of the way at the shop so I wouldn't think about it. Hmmm, I'm noticing a pattern to my procrastination tactics, out of sight out of mind, right?!? In my defense on this one, Matt did say it wasn't a big deal if I didn't fix it. Anyway, here are pictures of the repair job on the cutting board. 

This repair job was a little more involved than the paper towel holder, but it really wasn't tough. I glued and doweled it to prevent it from breaking in another spot and really the only time consuming part was sanding the dowels down in diameter to fit the holes nice and snug. I must say, I am glad I repaired these items and I'm proud of the job I did on them. We could have just thrown away the paper towel holder and bought a new one, but chances are the new one would have eventually broken too. I'm glad I fixed these things. It feels good to repair something instead of tossing it in the garbage. 

I'm a Cheapskate Continued

It's no secret that I enjoy a good bargain when it comes to technology. While my pursuit of bargains is mostly motivated by wanting to save money, for me, being a cheapskate is as much about remaining aware of what I consume as it is about finding a good deal. A perfect example is Jenny's and my phone usage, both home and cell. We use to pay for a land line and also had two cell lines with US Cellular. All totaled together, we were paying over $100 per month for phone service. We never used all of the allotted minutes on our cell plan. Likewise, we hardly ever used our land line but felt we needed to keep it for 911 (depending on a call center's system in-bound 911 calls cannot always be traced to an exact cell location) Bottom line, we were paying for stuff we were not using. Below, I've noted a couple changes we made to our phone usage that saves us a ton of money and actually provides us with more, and better, service. These changes meant some upfront cost but they will definitely yield long-term savings and best of all, we are not tied to contracts.

1.) We purchased an "Ooma Phone" 
Ooma enables your home phone to work using your internet connection. It's a little box that your existing home phone plugs into and then connects via Ethernet cable to your router. You are then able to make and receive phone calls using your internet connection. This type of calling is called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP or Voice Over IP).

The Ooma device normally costs $230 but Best Buy and Amazon usually have them on sale for less than $200. After it is hooked up you only pay a federal telecommunications tax of roughly $3 to $5 per month. The service itself is free and it is not contracted. All of the features phone companies like to charge extra for like call waiting, long distance, caller ID etc... come free of charge. They do charge extra for international calling but at a very reasonable rate (2 cents per min. to Canada). Your account is manageable online so you can set up the $3 monthly fee to automatically charge your credit card. Best of all, your address remains on file for 911 calls, meaning phone companies now have no advantage over Voice Over IP systems. I was skeptical at first that so much could be offered for so little of a cost but believe me, we've had it for 6 months now and it is as good as it sounds. I found out about Ooma through Consumer Reports and several of my friends and relatives now have their own Ooma systems too.

Some Cons: It cost $200 and it was kind of a pain to hook up and get my number ported. If you use multiple handsets I recommend getting a phone that has a main base and comes with other hand sets that only require being plugged into a regular wall outlet. Also, they do a kind of sneaky thing when you set up your account by automatically starting you with their "Ooma Premier" package that gives you additional features you don't really need at an extra $10 per month. I had to opt out to make sure I was not being charged for "Ooma Premier". This being said, I feel the pros of Ooma definitely out way the cons. We've had it hooked up for 6 months now and only pay $3 per month for a pretty rocking home phone setup. 

2.) We've also changed our cell phone provider. We had been paying US Cellular for 2 lines at about $42 per line. After getting sick of that we got Tracfones which are pre-paid cell phones. We have been using our Tracfones for 4 years now with pretty decent results. While they seem under-equipped when compared directly to a smart phone, they get the job done and only cost $10 a month per line. For that we've been getting 100 minutes for each line monthly. More minutes can be added anytime if you run low and Tracfone does support text messaging as well as some really basic web browsing and e-mail. The phones themselves only cost $10 to $40 depending on the model you choose and can be purchased at Target (qwerty keyboard and touchscreen phones are available).

We found that having Tracfones in conjunction with a land line (Ooma), worked pretty well. It has forced us to be conscious of the amount of time we are on our cell phones and the savings is really phenomenal compared to what we had been paying US Cellular. The drawback to Tracfone for us has been the lack of apps and that the web browsing and e-mail are very limited. To accommodate for these shortcomings, I purchased an i-touch and after installing a couple "telephone/texting" apps, I found I was basically able to use my touch as a smart phone when connected to a hot spot. So, for two years now, I have been using my i-touch in conjunction with my Tracfone to essentially have a smart phone at very low cost. This unfortunately means I do have to carry two devices and have two numbers but I have found it really isn't too bad. I just think of the money I'm saving and it seems worth it.

Now, the really awesome cell phone savings to report! Jenny and I have be watching a start up company called Republic Wireless since early 2011. They offer a smart phone that prioritizes using a wireless internet connection when it is available instead of cell towers ($19 per month / $200 to buy the phone).

Calls are made and received via VOIP while supporting e-mail, web browsing, text messaging ect. just like a normal smart phone. When you move outside of a hot spot, your phone automatically connects to their towers (they contract with, and use Sprint's towers). Here is the really amazing part, they don't limit your usage. Unlimited calls, data and text! They do however encourage their users to be aware of how they use their phones and ask that you prioritize hot spot use. Because their phones are able to use hot spots when available they can charge WAY less than the average smart phone plan. They do not require a contract, you can keep your old number and cancel anytime. So Republic Wireless let's you do exactly what I'm doing with my touch and Tracfone but with one device and one number. Jenny just received hers and has been enjoying it quite a bit. I will be getting one soon.

The Cons: The upfront cost of $200 is a little tough to stomach. Also, this concept is still in Beta so you're kind of left on your own if you run into trouble. The good news is that they have a very informative website and usually any questions you have can be answered if you're willing to dig a little. They do have a 30 day cancellation policy, so you can try it risk free.

So there it is. We were paying over $100 per month for our phone services and now we pay about $40 per month. That's $720 of savings a year! I could buy a rocking banjo with those savings, or find another worthy cause to be giving it to!

Thanks for reading.         

Growing Hops & Brewing Beer

Here is a little update on the hop growing and beer brewing. Gary and Linda have been growing hops in their back yard for me to use for making beer. It's been really neat to see something we planted grow and produce an ingredient for the beer I brew. Here are some pictures to show our progress.

Here is Gary picking some hops.

After picking them we let the hops dry and then seal them up in zip locks and put them in the freezer. I've noticed that using home grown hops does a lot for the flavor of the beer. It's been really neat to make beer using something I saw as it grew and then share it with friends and family to see their reactions.

Putting the hops in the boil.

Siphoning from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket.

A tasty (half drank) home brew. Delicious!

The hops come back each season stronger and more full. I'll try to get a picture so you can see their progress at the end of this summer. Thanks for reading!

Stand Up Desk

My brother-in-law Ben asked me last Summer to make him a standing desk. A standing desk is exactly what it sounds like, a desk that you stand at. Being a PHD student at the University of Toronto, he does a lot of reading and a lot of paper grading which means A LOT of sitting. He wanted something that could collapse down into a compact space but still be sturdy and offer a decent work surface. I came up with the following.

I then felt inspired to convert my own desk area into a stand up work space. Using some defected futon frame parts I created a little stand to use with my current desk so I now too have a stand up desk! The first week of using it I have to admit my legs and feet were sore, but after about two weeks I had made the adjustment and now I barely even notice I'm standing. My posture seems to be much better and I do actually feel better at the end of the work day because I haven't been hunched over in my chair for 9 hours.

Thanks for reading!

Treadmill

Sorry it's been a while. Just a little funny update in the life of Andy Parker. As many of you may know, I've become a runner over the past couple years. Winter presents a very annoying challenge for me as I find myself feeling reluctant to get out of bed and brave the cold air. So, being the cheapskate I am, I went to Craig's list and found this treadmill for $50! It's been working just fine and keeping me out of the cold. Check out the controls on this thing, it's totally from the 90's!!! I've already got 13 uses out of it so I figure its pretty well paid for itself. More to come.

Truck Sale Follow Up

It's been a while, but I'm finally following up on our truck sales we had this past Summer. Things went well. I did find that two locations was a lot for me to manage and moving forward I will likely just stick to one spot (probably UNI). We sold a lot and it made for a very exciting week of futon-ing. See below for some pictures that will give you a pretty good idea of how everything went.

Left to right: Me, good friend Ryan Mauritz, Ryan's roomate and now my friend Will. This was the Ames crew. We got ourselves a location on one of the busier campus streets and had the good fortune of being positioned right next to the campus book store. Ryan and Will did a great job. It was really nice to have them there running things on the days I wasn't able to be in Ames.

Left to right: Brother-in-law John Sewell and sister Sara Parker. They held down the fort at UNI while I was running inventory from one place to another. This was our second year being located behind the UNI Bookstore. Sara and John also did a great job and sported some excellent Custom Futons t-shirts!

Ryan playing some tunes.

Lots and lots of futon mattresses! I literally had to stack them to the ceiling.

Sporting some Panther pride.

More mattresses.

My father-in-law Gary helped me prepare all of the pine frames. These too were stacked to the ceiling.

Here I am all loaded up and ready to go!!! This was one of two rigs that was loaded. Each a full-size van pulling a 6 x 12 enclosed trailer full of futons!!!

We did a pretty darn good job getting rid of stuff. I came home with some inventory, but each location did more than well enough to pay staff, cover expenses and end up with black ink at the end of the day. So all and all, a successful trip.

Futon Season

Futon season is in full swing. The shop has been pretty busy lately so that is why its been a while since my last post. This is just a quick update to let everyone know what I've got cookin this Summer in terms of our futon venture. 

Last August we took a trailer of futons to The University of Northern Iowa and had a truck sale behind UNI Book and Supply (the campus's main book store) during their move in weekend. It went so well that this year we are planning on doing it again and adding another campus to the agenda. At the urging of my good friend Ryan Mauritz, I have decided to take a second load of futons to Ames, IA and sell them on, or close to, Iowa State University's campus. I've known Ryan since childhood. He is a great friend who shares my enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and is totally pumped about selling futons. He is currently taking business classes at ISU and considering pursing an MBA.

UNI and ISU's move in weekends overlap so Ryan and his roommate (Will) are going to be running the Ames / ISU truck sale while I hold down the fort at Cedar  Falls / UNI again. Since we are attempting to double our truck sale figures from last year, that means I have twice as much stuff to get ready. Long story short, I've got a garage full of lumber, a store full of mattress building supplies and tired muscles. We will be offering pine futon frames accompanied with black futon mattresses, all of which I have to get ready between now and August 16th. Luckily I've had offers from friends and family to help with all of the prep work and it is likely I will be taking them up on their kind offers to help. 

I've included some pictures below of the UNI truck sale last year and a couple pictures of the supplies I've ordered in to get ready for this years sale too. I'll be sure to do a follow-up post to let everyone know how it goes. Hooray for FUTONS!!!!

We didn't have enough room in our back-room to store all of the foam we needed to get ready for the busy season. So... I stacked it all in the showroom. It looks a little funny but it works. Gary, my father-in-law, helped me unload all of this foam and has also been helping me cut wood for pine frames.

More foam.

I moved all of my tools to our garage at home to make room for the cotton and foam at the store. The store will be a mattress factory and the garage will be a frame factory.

I ordered all of our lumber from a local lumber yard here in Dubuque, Spahn & Rose. They have been great to work with and the quality of the lumber has been very pleasing. The best part... they deliver!!! It was cool to watch. This guy pulled up with a "crane truck" and literally picked up these big stacks and just put them on our drive way. Then I loaded it all into the garage. Sweaty job, but it beats hand picking each board from Menards. 

UNI truck sale 2010!!!

My sister Sara and my Dad both went to UNI with me to sell futons while Jenny watched the store in Dubuque.

Here's my Dad and me. It was so HOT that weekend.

 

I guess that's a wrap for this post. I'll be sure to give an update on how it all goes. Thanks again for reading.