Well...I broke down....
This blog will be the last one I type from my old pink Sony Vaio laptop...
The fan is dead, it needs a new AC adapter cord prong installed in the back, and when it goes into power saving mode (AKA runs on the battery) the speakers don't work.
3 1/2 years ago when I bought it, I spent top dollar for it. I was proud of myself for saving the $300 and not getting a Macbook...about a year after I bought it, I was wishing I had bought the Macbook as the fan stopped working, the computer overheated, the screen went black, and I lost 12 pages of my opera history term paper...enter an up all night crazed work and cry fest as I tried to recoup my losses....
since then I think I have evolved...some would say in a good way (atleast I would) but others would say that its the exact opposite...
Hello...my name is Brittany Winberg and I am a cheapskate...
I broke down today and bought a new Gateway laptop...I wanted to buy the $300 Compaq...however, the grimace from the sales guy at Best Buy told me that something was up. He confessed that every one of that particular model that he had sold in the last month came back within 1 or 2 days of purchase...I worked my way up to a $379 Acer laptop...they didn't have any left...I was going to buy the display...the grimace again came and the sales guy told me that in about 6 months I'd be back needing a new fan. Enter the following conversation:
"Look...I don't need bells and whistles, I just want a laptop that is going to run Powerpoint, Wordperfect, and not poop out on me... I need something cheap...what about the Gateway over here?" (The next model up in price $499...on sale...) The sales guy lit up...
"I was hoping you would ask about that one. I would buy a Gateway hands down over any other brand, including the Mac." Sales guy smiled...he was kind of cute...I had to banish this thought from my mind...
Sales guy tried to convince me to buy a year protection plan...
"Doesn't it come with a year warranty?"
"Ummm, let me check....(tip tapping on computer) yes it does...so I guess you don't really need it then?"
"Nope...I'm trying to be cheap here." (Besides, it didn't do me much good last time, my Sony started to poop out on me 2 days after the extended protection plan warranty was over...with my luck it would happen again. Why spend money for bad luck?..that's what I thought...)
He tried to sell me a Geek Squad set up plan for $200... that would mean that THEY would put the software on and take off all the trial software icons, as well as give me the back up discs...I was on to their game...
"Doesn't the Windows 7 come with an automatic reinstall option if your hard drive gets infected?"
Sales guy's face fell...darn it, this girl knows her stuff...that's what he was thinking.
"Well, yeah, but if that gets infected too then you have to have the recovery discs."
When he realized I wasn't buying it he finally told me that I could get the recovery discs later for cheaper, about $20 cheaper...so maybe I was doing the right thing...
After this exchange, he finally believed I could install my own virus protection ($20 for a year subscription) and my own Microsoft Office with powerpoint ($100 with the purchase of a new computer) Grand total for new Gateway laptop $632 and some change....I about cried as I wrote the check...
A panic attack followed...What if I need this money later for something more important? What if I get sick and the crappy ISU insurance doesn't cover the procedures I need?
I firmly grabbed my panicking brain by the shoulders, shook it, and told it to shut up and get a hold of itself...
Think of all the hours you'll save because your crappy pink Sony Vaio at home (that you paid twice as much for) didn't have a chance to overheat and shut down on you while you were typing an all too important paper...the music that you will be able to listen to because your computer doesn't forget that its plugged in, go into power saving mode and shut the speakers down...Think of your surprise recital and the power point presentation that you will do instead of printing program notes, saving yourself at least $100 in printing costs (that power point will pay for itself in a few months!) Yes...you cheapskate...you did the right thing, so stop worrying...
Enter the next chapter of the shopping day...
I'm moving into an apartment. I threw away all of my crappy old college apartment kitchen stuff and bedroom stuff...much of it was ratty and beyond repair...not worth saving...but of course, since I've turned into an old skin flint, the experience of shopping with me for new stuff is probably akin to a root canal. (poor Kiersten, my sweet little sister who accompanied me today to get these things can attest to this...she would type an exclamatory AMEN here if she could!)
We were at the store... I was looking for cups, measuring cups, silverware, knives...you name it...I needed it... Of course I was dragging Kiersten all over the store, up and down aisles, from sales display to sales display making sure I had the best deal...She wanted to shoot me...
"Brittany...you're killing me here! Just pick something up and buy it, seriously, you have the money what is the big deal!?"
I felt bad, really I did...I just couldn't help myself. That $0.50 I save could be the difference between enough gas money to get home later on....(or atleast this is what I in my deepest nether regions of my brain somewhere have decided...)I joked with Kiersten:
"Kiersten, if someone came to me and offered to buy one of my kidneys for the black market for an obscene amount of money, I would a) probably do it because we skin flints like to have money in the bank and I would b) hide the cash under my mattress and never spend it for fear that something will come up and I will need it and I won't have it because I spent it...."
We laugh, she shakes her head in disbelief, and I apologize, pick up what I believe is cheapest and move on.
We go to the next store, its a bit faster here because I have an ad to go off of an know exactly what I want, but I still go back and forth over my knife purchase. I'm something of a gourmet in the kitchen (atleast I would like to think so.) so a good knife is worth its weight in gold. I finally cave and buy the cheap steak knives but one really nice sharp chopping knife for my culinary endeavors, this ends up being much cheaper than buying the knife kit I was considering.
We check out and go back to store #1 to get linens and fabric for the throw pillows I want to make a new case for. Again, poor Kiersten is pulled up and down aisle after aisle as I debate thread count vs. cost and cost vs. thread count over and over again....I finally decide that the cheapest sheets are the wrong color and buy the sheets that are $2 more so that my room can be "me"...I also decide on the animal print fabric I had wanted for my throw pillows which was $2 more a yard than another fabric I'd found but wasn't quite as fond of (I've developed a sudden fondness for animal print...its become a sick obsession, I can't explain it, its new but it has taken over my brain.)
The end of the day, I sit at home balancing my smoking check book...UGH....Let's just say this skin flint isn't spending any more money for a very long time...or at least that is what I would like, but because I'm moving on Saturday I have to buy groceries and I still need a few office supplies...I just didn't want to have to pack it 45 minutes to Pocatello...
So here I sit...feeling buyers remorse (which isn't new for me, I always tend to feel it after I shop, even for the things I need like food...I always worry something will come up that I will need the money for more...)
I realize that perhaps being a cheapskate is probably just a part of my bigger anal attentive need to control everything. I seriously have issues...my groceries have to be bagged a certain way, if they aren't I stop as I'm loading them into the car and rebag them the way I like, I have to clean the bathroom in a certain order, I also have to cook food in a certain order....
I'm just a giant ball of nerves crying out to be on VH1's "OCD project". What can I do...I'm sure some people find it endearing, my friends laugh when they grocery shop with me, my mom has gotten used to how I shop for clothes, leaving something behind that I love because I wonder if I will find it cheaper somewhere else... but I worry that its just another thing that holds me back.
However, as I'm typing this, I'm starting to realize that these are some of the little quirks that make me, me.Perhaps I should embrace it.
In the end, I think my cheapskate, skin flint nature will serve me well in the future. I'm not hard to please, just give me what I need and I will be a content and happy little camper...
Embrace your quirks, and learn from the queen of the cheapskates.
That is the lesson for today darlings. Hugs and loves until next time. :)
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