My Television Transitions

We’ve had an interesting history with televisions since we moved to Chicago. During our five years here we have owned 3 televisions and have dramatically changed our viewing habits. In my opinion, what is even more noteworthy is that 3 televisions in 5 years have cost us a single cab ride. Allow me to elaborate:

Our First Television

Our first television was an ancient hand me down that came from my wife’s grandparents farm house. It was a boxed TV with rabbit ears that came straight out of the 1970s and looked exactly like this one, with the old school knobs and all. It served its purpose and provided us with grainy coverage of television shows. Back then we rented an apartment that included a basic cable package. So we jimmy-rigged the thing to sit at eye level when we watched the tube, which was just about nightly back then. While grateful for the TV provided gratis, we kept our eye out for better options without having to pay for it.

Our Second Television

By this time we had moved apartments and discovered freecycle.org. We had a laundry list of items we looked out for on posts and one day we noticed, a few blocks away from where we lived, was a posting for this boxed TV. Sure it lacked high definition but it got the job done. At this point in time we did not subscribe to any cable or satellite packages and were exclusive to regular viewing channels, watching DVDs from the library and playing Super Nintendo. But tragedy (or as I saw it opportunity) struck when the nationwide Hi-Def upgrade went into effect a few years ago. This TV was unable to keep up and we lost the ability to view any form of broadcast programming. I opted not to buy a converter box in the name of doing things other than watching TV. Since then I’ve had an increase in volunteer time, read a ton of books, made time to hit the gym, and my personal favorite, spent more time talking with my wife after work. So this was the status quo for a while, until this baby landed into our lap.

Our brand new Television

To be honest we weren’t actively looking to upgrade televisions. Our viewing habits are trimmed down now to a DVD rented from the library maybe once a week and the occasional Mario Kart race on our Super Nintendo. But every few years my wife’s employer does an upgrade of office furniture and she was on the receiving end of this bad boy. Getting this home though was quite the endeavor as I have come to realize that there is a severe shortage of sizable cabs in Chicago. It took us one weeknight and one weekend morning to flag down a large enough cab to bring this home from my wife’s office and I ended up using about $20 from our entertainment envelope to pay the fare, but I think we came out ahead on the deal! J

In five years we have owned 3 televisions that cost a cab ride from the Loop to the North Side. And here it sits in our living room as evidence that frugality, patience and a little luck will go a long way.

My Dumpster Diving Finds

When you’re a frugal fury fighter dumpster diving becomes somewhat of an art. Over the past few years I have not only saved a few items from the landfill, but I have also added some nice pieces to my living room décor which I am happy to share with you today.

Exhibit #1 & 2 TV and television stand

Now while it’s true that this television only plays DVD’s and picks up no channels, I still love it as well as the stand it sits on. The TV we picked up via freecycle and the stand sat beside the apartment dumpster with a sad look on its face, longing for a new home.

Exhibit #3 The Table

This guy actually has a pretty neat story tied to it. About three years ago my wife and I were going through Crate and Barrel, not to shop but to get ideas on how to arrange our apartment. While on that trip my wife came across this very same coffee table at a very insane Crate and Barrel price. Fast forward to earlier this summer and during the move out season this very same table stared us down as we were leaving for the gym one night. I told my wife if it was still there when we came back then it was ours. It is now ours. Take that Crate and Barrel and your insanely high marked up prices!

Exhibit #4 The Dresser

This piece took a while to grow on me but I am starting to think it livens up the living room a bit. This dresser was also tossed aside near our apartment dumpster during a move out (are you seeing a trend yet).

So with a little patience and a keen eye you too can outfit your place with some new additions just by paying attention, which at the end of the day costs a lot less than anything at Crate and Barrel J

My Wedding

My wedding was the happiest day in my life. It was a living testimony to the love shared between myself, my wife and God. Almost two years removed from the date, I continue to look back on it with the fondest of memories, a smile on my face, and with pride that the planning and follow-thru of the event was an exemplary example (hugely thanks to my wife) of frugality in action.

For starters we took a debt-free and unconventional approach to our nuptials. We opted to pay for our wedding, in cash, on our own without aid from family members. My take on it goes something like this: We have been blessed not only in our careers but also to have based our personal financial decisions and behaviors on God and grandma’s ways of handling money at a younger age. That, along with the fact that my in-laws lived in a house equivalent to an estrogen-filled ocean, led me to lobby my wife that we take the event on our own, so that our families could enjoy and celebrate with us, without worrying about the event “following them home.” Plus, as far as my in-laws go, the people have paid for enough weddings already and may have another on the horizon, so I just thought I’d give them a breather for once J

So, armed with our set budget THAT WE STUCK TO, the cash saved for, we sought out to plan a festive and frugal affair that our family and friends would enjoy celebrating along with us. Here are a few key lessons I learned and that helped us keep costs down.

THE DRESS

Perhaps the greatest achievement in my pursuit of being “The Ultimate Cheapskate” is this bad boy. We got my wife’s dress for FREE!!!! Using one of the best resources known to the internet, we have freecycle.org to thank for this. Now we’ve been freecycling for years now, but when we saw, “Wedding Dress” in one of our daily emails, we just had to check it out. Thankfully, my wife loved the dress and her awesome 4-H (whatever that is) skills allowed the few alterations that had to be done on it go through without a hitch.

The Venue and Date

We chose a place that could accommodate the ceremony and reception at the same location. Our event contract also included a ton of what I call “gimmies” that saved us the hassle of going alone for finding things like: Our wedding cake (included in the ticket price), a decorator who worked the venue before, a favorably priced open bar, and flexibility on the menu. As my wife and I consider ourselves to have diverse palates, the traditional steak/chicken options just sounded (and tasted) bland and boring to us. So our main course were traditional Hispanic options and was LESS THAN the traditional boring packages. Date wise we went with early spring, so we took a chance that there would have been rain (there wasn’tJ, in fact, the weather was PERFECT!), and we were wed on a Sunday. A less trafficked day and at a better rate than Fridays and Saturdays.

Bridesmaids Dresses

Perhaps the coolest thing beyond being frugal, is forcing your bridal party to do it too. My wife had no formal requests, but instead gave her ladies the following (loosely translated) decree, “I want you to look great and be comfortable. So grab your best black dress, only new if you want it to be, and come to celebrate along with us. Don’t worry about style, length or shade, be you and we are going to love having you be apart of our wedding.” Ain’t she great J! And you know what, our bridal party looked great and the “different tones of black” made the wedding pictures look amazing and I would make this decision and recommendation every time. Which leads me to:

Hair, Make-Up and Photography

Free, free and free. Considered wedding gifts, these were tasked to family of my wife whom she knows and trusts, and have had experience making her look fabulous. Her comfort was my best investment.

Flowers

You know what makes for bad pictures? Unpredictable and inconsistent flower arrangements that cost an arm and a leg because they are associated with a wedding. Some petals shine, others falter. NOT OURS! Our flower arrangements were of the replica nature and all looked flawless. Plus, it’s really cool to be 2 years removed from our wedding, have my wife’s bouquet in our living room, and have them look as sharp and beautiful as they were on that day.  

Invitations

Home-made, professional looking and the best I’ve ever seen!

To sum it all up, my wedding was the best money, time and effort spent in my life. And to the woman I married, I’d make the same decision to live our lives together 10 times out of 10.