Inspired by the July frugals thread, I wanted to start a july unfrugals thread, just for fun. My July unfrugal was a dulcimer, purchased on Reverb, which my brother correctly calls porn for string players.
I hope someday to be able to do this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6qMmqcwxaU
July unfrugals was our month road trip that cost us 4K. However, we had a great time.
Nothing unfrugal about a trip you enjoyed!Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
We got a chance to see family and friends. My husband had not seen his aunts or cousins in 11 years. Thanks G!
Our unfrugal was having an arborist trim our black walnut tree after our neighbor mentioned some bigger branches were hitting his (new) roof when the wind kicked up.
That session just touched four figures but the guy I hired has done fine work for us before, has been dead on in his esthetic choices, gives us the bigger limbs cut up for our fire pit, and leaves the yard cleaner than when he got there. We also figured this approach would buy us a few years before he has to come back to prune again. That's okay because it costs $$$ to send out a 3-4 person crew (all relatives, not day laborers from the HD parking lot) and a bucket truck and the county certainly gets its cut when he recycles the trimmings. Just a most unexpected expense. Might be frugal yet but I suppose many other people (like the guy who sold our neighbors their house) would have pulled down the tree rather than continue to pay to prune it back.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
Steve, we had a tree get hit by lightening and had to take it down, and then trimmed two others because of absence of one, and then a third because there they were with the equipment. We paid 2700 I think, completely unexpected, and I'm still not thrilled about the fact they took the one down; I think they made the wrong call. If you have someone good, it is completely worth it and probably frugal in the sense you are spending in accordance with your values, and on sustainability.
I feel very unfrugal this month. We also had some tree work done, multiple Ks worth. We had one huge tree taken out - we lost half of it in a windstorm this spring and the remainder - still huge- was not salvageable. Whichever way it would have fallen would have taken out a roof or blocked the road.... We had two more behemoths pruned, which hopefully will extend their lives past our own and allow our homeowner's insurance to continue. DH had more dental work, all of our insurances and property taxes came due, and we replaced our pickup truck. For the first time in YEARS there is a balance on two charge cards, and I am almost in panic mode. We do have funds to cover it all, but I think I would be in more of a panic with no emergency fund, even though I'm paying interest on the cards. I know it makes no financial sense, but it makes gut sense to me. DD, Dsis and I also went to Iowa for a family reunion - booked before the tree issue/pickup truck money was needed - but we paid for all of that with our shared income stream, not out of DH and my incomes. So now I really need to buckle down and pay off my charges, hopefully WELL before the holidays hit! Our house will be paid off by then, also. AND my boss has hinted at a possible stipend to come-here's hoping!
Early morning, amazing job on the income stream vacation and paying off the house by Christmas! Wowsers. I hear you about the emergency fund and wanting one. . .
I have the electrician coming in for discretionary work but that is scheduled for August 1st so this month's budget won't be wrecked.
Priceless!!
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