Odds and Ends

Well, with the Nepal presentation behind us, this week has been all about getting things done to make way for our as yet unrevealed plans for next year. It has felt really good to be able to finish so many things we’ve wanted to for some time.

As we are staying in the house, we have some pretty big garden landscaping projects underway; we’ve planted some more shrubs and have mulch being delivered tomorrow. This will replace a lot of the grass to make maintenance easier. This also means less worry when we leave for longer periods.

We finished many little odds and ends around the house such as the curtain rod that needed to be fixed. We’ve done many other little things such as that but won’t bore you with the details. They were important, though, because they had gotten in the way of doing bigger, more exciting things.

Our biggest task this week was beginning a new car search. With the trusty old Honda beginning to play up a bit, and with our top secret plans for next year, it’s time. We write this, in fact, still needing to shower off the moral dirtiness of the creepy dealerships (we had to test drive somewhere but plan to buy online). Even though we are buying a car, we are applying frugality principles such as checking consumer reports, online deals/specials, considering used versus new (it’s a good time for new cars because the dealerships aren’t doing very well), and paying close attention to reliability and fuel economy. The biggest application of frugality comes in using websites such as carsdirect.com to get the lowest price.

Expect a few more entries such as this one… but bear with us because we will reveal the secret plan… stay tuned.

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“Life is too short to be small.” (Benjamin Disrali)