As the summer winds down, I thought it might be prudent to post the things I’ve learned about taking a vacation.  I’ve battled with the decision to take one at all, as I am taking what I can to eliminate credit card debt.  I worked with my wife to come up with a plan that will let us get away - without putting us further in the hole.

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I’d like to thank Clutter2Cash for hosting the 22nd Festival of Frugality.  I was fortunate enough to have my post How Goodwill Saved My Computer selected for the festival.  The whole festival is worth a look, who knows, it could even save you some money!

The problems started when our computer began shutting down without reason.  I have to credit my spouse (who gets credit for most of this) with tracking the problem down to a broken power supply fan.  The fan wouldn’t run, the supply would get too hot, and the computer would shut down automatically.

But the problems didn’t end there.  In the midst of that, our monitor - which was on it’s last legs - finally died.  I’m trying to get out of debt, so I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of dropping another $200 on a new monitor, not to mention whatever the base might cost to fix.  What was I to do?

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I’ll be honest, I don’t enjoy shopping.  It usually means fighting store crowds, not finding what I want (usually) and spending money on something I end up disapointed in.  I can’t get rid of all the store trips in my life, but I have found four ways to reduce my shopping stress:

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Sometimes the small things add up.  This time it was something simple, but potentially costly.  My spouse mentioned that someone noticed a low tire on our vehicle while I was out driving, so I pulled over to check it out.  Sure enough, the passenger side rear tire was very low.

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