My good old Ford F150 has been a bit ill lately.  I’ve had a persistent but not constant misfire in the #4 cylinder that’s been giving me fits for the last couple months.

Spark plugs and wires have been changed in the recent past, and a local shop even replaced a computer they said was faulty, along with an ignition coil.  That seemed to fix the problem for about a week, and then the misfire came back.

So today was truck fix’n day.

Some guys on a Ford F150 forum suggested that I check the heater hoses that carry hot coolant out of the heater core.  If those hoses had a leak, it could drip right down onto the #4 spark plug and cause a short in the plug well.

So today I checked that.  No drips from the hoses, and considering the temperature outside, the hoses weren’t even perspiring; I wish I could say the same for myself.

As a last ditch effort, I pulled the #4 spark plug out and replaced it with a spare I had sitting on the shelf.  Voila that seemed to fix it.

A good test drive down the highway revealed no evidence of a misfire, so I’m slightly relieved.  If I can go several days without a problem, I’ll just assume it was a bad plug.

Money Saved?

I vowed that if I couldn’t find the problem today, I’d make an appointment at Ford for a quality diagnosis.  I’ve taken the truck to my local mechanic, and while I thought he fixed the problem, it showed back up less than a week later.  That was after he spent nearly $700 in parts (the computer, plugs, wires, etc) to fix the problem.

The local Ford dealer will charge me at least $75 for a diagnosis (refundable if I have them do the work to fix the problem) and while I have a high level of confidence they’d find the problem and fix it, it will surely cost me a fortune!

So the fix really cost me about $8 for the spare spark plug I already had, and a half days worth of my time.

Not bad for being a tightwad, do-it-yourselfer…

Perhaps if my current career hits the skids, I could go on to be a mechanic… but only if truck driving school doesn’t work out!

Frugal Living, General auto repair, Ford F150, saving money

I’ve got two neighbors and a good friend out of state that have put their house on the market for no other reason than “they just want to move”.

All three couples have two kids, and all three live in good sized, three bedroom houses.  After pinging each of them that it’s really a great time to buy a house, so long as you can sell your existing one, they all followed with the same response: “we’re just bursting at the seems in our existing house, so it’s time for a change”.

Honestly, I can’t say that I agree that “we’re bursting at the seems” is a good enough reason to sell your house.  Two of the three couples will only get their money back from the initial purchase three years ago, and the third stands to make about $5,000.  And that’s if they get their asking price.

I can’t help but think that these three families are busting at the seems, not because if the increase in the number of kids they have, but because of the increase in “stuff” they have.  One has a basement that is packed so full of stuff you can’t even walk around in it; none of it is kids stuff.

I’ve gone to great lengths to get rid of the “stuff” my wife and I don’t use.  If there’s a box in the storage closet that hasn’t been opened in 5 years, there’s probably no good reason to keep it’s contents around.

What does every square foot of your house cost?

The way I look at storage is in mortgage payment per square foot.  Take the overall monthly house payment (add in taxes and insurance) and divide that number by the total square feet in your house.  Mine comes in at $0.65 per square foot.  So those Tupperware bins stacked up in the basement holding all my wife’s college t-shirts is costing me about $4 per month to store.

When you put it in those terms, those t-shirts sure would make good rags to wash the car with!

Frugal Living, Real Estate housing market, storage

I am a self proclaimed tight-wad, verified three fold by independent sources.  With that, it’s inevitable that I would shop around for the best deals possible, saving pennies along the way.  I am not, however, penny rich and pound foolish, and I understand the value of my time.

So it should come as no surprise that I’m a coupon guy.  Every Sunday I look through the paper and pull out the coupon brochures (as well as the Best Buy ad) and go through them, pulling out coupons for items we use routinely.  Toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, green beans, frozen pizza; all fair game.

I read with interest today from an article in the Wall Street Journal about the natural progression of coupons in the digital age.  From the report:

“In the past four months, coupon usage has surged about 10%, according to Inmar Inc., a coupon-processing agent. And increasingly, shoppers are skipping the scissors and getting coupons online or having discounts sent to their smart phones and rewards cards.” -Source

Really.  I could go digital!

Kroger has come into the digital light by sending its free text messaging coupon program to the national level.  The program, provided by Cellfire Inc. sends deals via text message to your cell phone on a regular basis.  All you have to do is click on the link in the text message and the discount is added to the Kroger discount card.

Then there’s the good old internet.  I’ve used coupons.com before to find deals on toothpaste, which is a bit more forgiving because I’m not really particular on brand.  Colgate, Crest, whitening, tartar control… it really makes no difference to me, so long as its the price leader on the aisle.

Coupons.com has been hit and miss with me, because the coupon selection is fairly limited and focused.  The site usually has some coupons for Bausch and Lomb products, which we frequently use, and some various cleaning products.

One major deal they have right now is 35% off the Entertainment Coupon book with free shipping.  The book is typically $20 and we usually get ours from the neighbors kid who sells them for school.  The book easily pays for itself, plus some.

As always, the key to using coupons is to only use them on products you would typically buy.  Using a coupon on a product just because you get 35 cents off is like buying a $100 coat because it was 10% off.

Frugal Living coupons, Frugal Living