Life has a way of delivering punches to the gut just when you think things are calming down.
That's what happened this past week.
As I was pulling in our garage from our Daily Ride, I was feeling good about keeping our expenses down this month. I was thinking "I can actually save some money this month." HA!
As I was thinking this I saw the dreaded "Tire check" light on my dashboard. Oh no!
I had that light a couple of weeks ago. I checked the air pressure in my tires and found the culprit. It was my right left rear tire. I filled it up to 32 air pressure and that dreaded dashboard light went out.
Now it was on again. Okay, I know what it is. About a year ago I had a near flat. I took our car to my local trusted garage and "Herb" discovered a LARGE nail embedded in my tire. Great (sarcasm)! Herb put a large patch on my tire. I thought that fixed the problem. Well it did for awhile, but now the problem was back. Off to the garage.
Herb checked the tire and said that's what it was, a "slow leak."
He said he had already put the largest patch on it and the bad news was that the tire had to be replaced. The even worse news was that that tire, Uniroyal, was no longer available. It was discontinued, of course. I would have to buy FOUR new tires. Total cost $915.49. OUCH!
There goes my "savings" for this month. What really hurts is that the tires I have now still have great treads. I purchased them brand new in 2018 for my 2010 Subaru Forester which had the original tires. Okay, calm down Ron. At least you have money in reserve to pay for this unexpected expense.
Then as I was finally able to semi-relax and get back to my normal routine, I detected a familiar smell from under our kitchen sink. It was the smell of standing water.
A couple of years ago I had a leak in my spray nozzle. I'm thinking, "It can't be that, I'm so careful." Well, it wasn't THAT. Upon further investigation I discovered the leak was coming from my garbage disposal. Yes, THAT garbage disposal that I paid $174 to have reset last month. I finally adjusted myself to accepting that unnecessary expense and here I have yet ANOTHER leak.
Time to call my plumber. This is going to be expensive. He arrives the next morning and yes, my garbage disposal is shot. This garbage disposal which I rarely use (I put all my garbage in my compost pile at the corner of our almost one acre lot next to the cornfield). He asked me how old my garbage disposal was. I told him that it was brand new with the house, 2006. He said he's seen this so often, the garbage disposals usually "rust out after 12 to 15 years." New garbage disposal $787.00. Of course that includes installation and my discount for being a member of their service plan.
You know folks it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Again, we're lucky here because I do have a reserve fund for emergencies like this. But talk about planned obsolescence.
Bill and I lived in our Pennsylvania house for twenty five years. Never once did we have to replace our garbage disposal, get all new tires when one tire went flat or even a whole new HVAC system which I had to get several years ago because the original HVAC that came with house that only lasted TEN years. That little baby cost us over $10,000.
As I'm typing this blog, I hear Bill choking on his morning custard. His esophagus is shot. We can't get him a new one at his age. The last time at the hospital they recommended that he get his good through a stomach tube. We're not doing that. We're managing. Just like we're managing with all these unexpected bills.
Maybe next month we'll get a break.
7 comments:
I guess you are more exacting about things than I am. Considering the cost of the four new tires, I could live with the ‘slow leak’. I wouldn’t mind adding some air to the tire every few days. Also if my other three tires were still in good shape, if I had to buy a new tire to replace the leaking one, I would get the same size in a different currently available brand. It wouldn’t bother me to have one different brand tire, I doubt that would even be noticeable. Seems like Herb is taking advantage of you. Sorry for your bad luck this month.
Jim
Ouch! $915.49 for 4 new tires! I just had to have 4 new tires (they were literally bald). I paid $475.00. I have a 2015 Civic Honda. I pray that my disposal hangs in there. I had no idea they were that expensive to replace. Talk about sticker shock these days! Thankfully you have a contingency fund. Always good to have one of those. When it rains it pours like a motherfucker! Thanks to Woody regarding the advice about the vegetable oil once a month down the disposal. I'd never heard of that. I'm starting that routine now! Be careful about Bill chocking on that custard. Aspiration pneumonia can be a real issue for post stroke patients. Hopefully, things will be on the upswing now. If you're like me, I'm always waiting for that other shoe to drop...and it usually does! Take care.
Paranormal John
Jim,
Thanks for your advice but I don't want to have to worry about filling up that slow leak every few months. I thought about that option briefly but decided to just get the new tires. Probably the last I will ever have in my lifetime. My 2010 Subaru Forester has 92,000 miles on it now. This is the longest I've ever had a car. My previous Subaru Forester lasted twelve years. I don't plan to get another car in my lifetime although I would like to have the backup camera new cars have.
Ron
Woody,
I know both repairs are outrageously expensive but that appears to be the going price for repairs and service these days especially here in lower slower Delaware. One thing about Service Today, they do come out right away and they know what they're doing. Of course I'm paying for it to. Hopefully this is the last big repair for a while.
Ron
Paranormal John,
I'm taking Woody's advice also for pouring vegetable oil in my garbage disposal at least once a month. Hopefully there are no more "shoes to drop" for a while.
Ron
Ouch indeed !
Spo,
You know how it is with these unexpected household expenses. Ouch indeed.
Ron
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