August 22nd, 2008 - Day 2: $200 Friday August 22
If I had an extra $200, I’d buy some new appliances for the kitchen. First, a new toaster oven. Which I just did Tuesday night. ‘Tis the season for tomato cheese sandwiches which Maggie and I both adore. Monday, when I unplugged the cord, it was hot enough to almost burn. Not safe. Combine that with the broken power button, which has sticks in the on position (hence having to unplug it to turn it off), which broke over 10 years ago (IE, before Eric and I had even met)–it was time to move on. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one at Sears that was as small as the one we had, so we bought a bigger one with two racks. Won’t fit where the other did so have to rearrange the kitchen. On the other hand, I’ve already used both racks at once so not terribly disappointed.
I’d also get a new microwave. We’re using one that’s about 20 years old, meaning it’s probably terribly inefficient. Sometimes, it doesn’t heat the same way day after day (noticed, for instance, this winter when making hot chocolate day in and day out). But we don’t actually use it very much so have decided to just like with it. We are actually using it a ton these days, so a new one might cut our electric bill a bit.
A new blender. I’ve never been happy with our blender. It doesn’t blend very well unless you only have a cup of stuff in it, which is rather lame. I just put up with it as I rarely use it. The main use is for pesto–which I only do a few times during August/September. Most of the rest of the year it is unused. (I also used it extensively when Maggie was first eating to grind up grains, rice, beans, dry veggies, etc. But I usually only had 1/2 cup or less in there so it worked nicely.)
If there’s still money left, I’d also buy additional pasta cutters for my pasta maker. I LOVE making homemade pasta and it would be fun to be able to make lasagna, ravioli, and a few other shapes.
Find the money: Stop the paid-up additions on my childhood life insurance policy–netting around $50-70/year, or $200 in less than 4 years. (I did this on Monday and this year’s check just came in the mail. In real life, it’s already been sent to the mortgage.)
September 4th, 2008 at 9:34 am EDT
[…] After great frustration with the blender, I switched to the stick blender. Woohoo! It works so much better I can easily make a double batch without problems and tons faster than with the blender. I credit Eric with the idea; he credits me. […]