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UFM: On the 11th day, we failed...

January 12th, 2017 at 04:30 pm

We had a setback yesterday. It was supposed to be our uber-frugal date night. We were both really excited. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned...

It started with a phone call at 2:45 from DH. DD1 (his evil stepson as he likes to call him) decided to counter surf for the first time in the new house. He at about 10 milk chocolate truffles and a small box of mixed milk chocolates. The only good thing is that he somehow did that without breaking the large glass bowl they were sitting in.

DD1 happens to have a lead stomach (I could tell some stories about the things he's eaten), so I wasn't overly worried about chocolate poisoning. But it definitely put a damper on things. I got home about 345 and went to take DD1 out to see if he'd go to the bathroom. That's when I noticed the whole back deck around the hot tub was wet. I picked up the lid to see the water level, and yep, the hot tub is somehow leaking.

By that point, DH and I were both in debbie downer moods. He suggested cancelling completely which I agreed to, but that made me even more upset. We decided to just drain the hot tub completely and winterize it that way. Unfortunately, that way involves a wet/dry vac to clean out the pipes/motor pool compartment. We decided to go to Home Depot to rent one, but renting costs $13 and to buy one outright was $24. I'm sure you can see where this is headed...we spent $24 on a wet/dry vacuum that we hadn't planned. While not necessarily a need, it will prevent much more costly damage that would result from the motor pool freezing. As it is, there may already be damage which is why it started leaking in the first place, but I'm trying not to think about that.

On the way out of Home Depot, we saw a Chinese restaurant. Ordering in Chinese and playing board games is one of our favorite homebody dates. DH asked if it would be cheating if he spent his birthday gift card to treat us to Chinese since our dinner plans were ruined. While it doesn't espouse the mindset behind an UFM, at least he wasn't spending money from our bank account or even his own individual bank account. We ended up having Chinese food, playing Battleship, and marathoning 24. Not the worst way to spend an evening, I guess.

The Chinese food leftovers are lunch today for both of us and will be DH's lunch tomorrow. Since I was out of sandwich meat, that worked out okay.

We're going to try again tomorrow evening.

Day 12 about making excuses came just a little late because that's exactly what we did. Life handed us lemons and we went out and bought soda. I'm going to try and remember this lesson in the future. Spending on something to make me feel better in the short-term when things don't go as planned is probably one of my biggest weaknesses.

8 Responses to “UFM: On the 11th day, we failed...”

  1. ThriftoRama Says:
    1484240148

    You know what? None of that could be helped. It's not like you just caved from boredom and went out and blew money you didn't have to.

    Don't be so hard on yourself!

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1484242087

    I think you handled it very well considering everything! I hope your dog is doing just fine today. A wet/dry vac is a good investment, so many uses when you are a homeowner.

  3. scottish girl Says:
    1484243578

    You didn't fail! I agree, don't be so hard on yourself.

  4. Kiki Says:
    1484269708

    I don't think you failed. The vacuum will come in handy and with a new house there are things you are going to have to buy.

    And the gift card idea is a perfect way of using it. There is no money used as someone gifted you that dinner out.

  5. My English Castle Says:
    1484273760

    Agreed with all these nice women. A wet/dry vac is a joy forever. Really.

  6. MonkeyMama Says:
    1484316101

    I think it's good to be learning and growing, and to be hard on yourself. It's hard to (impossible?) to be debt-free when you make excuses. If you want to move past this debt, listen to Frugalwoods.

    Sorry to hear you had such a crappy day!

  7. pjmama Says:
    1484320795

    I'll jump on the train and remind you not to be hard on yourself as well. You didn't make excuses. You made the best of the situation you were given. That doesn't mean you're a failure. Not by a long shot. You used a gift card - it was DH's choice to use it the way he wanted, right?

    I think even Mrs. Frugalwoods (from the stuff I've read on the site) wouldn't fault you for buying the vac. I think she WOULD have if you hired someone to come and take care of it.

  8. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1484433656

    I agree with everyone - definitely NOT a fail.

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