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Money Well Spent

October 10th, 2012 at 01:34 pm

A while back, while I was still living in the US - don't worry! I'm coming back eventually. - I bought one of those High-Efficiency Washer and Dryer combinations.

This was during my "spend it even if you don't got it" phase, so I'm not even sure what I paid. But that's not the point.

Shortly after I got the pair, the computer went out on the washer. The repairman came and replaced it. He said something to the effect that had I had to pay for it, the part alone was over $500.00.

Five Hundred Dollars!!

So, I went out and bought one of those high-current, appliance-ready surge arresters for about $50 and put it onto my machine. I've had zero problems since.

So, was this "money well spent" or was this "you fell for it, sucker" money? There's no way for me to say definitively, but I'm putting it in to the former category.

5 Responses to “Money Well Spent”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1349873734

    It sounds like insurance that it won't happen again.

  2. snafu Says:
    1349893067

    Sorry, off topic but you mentioned high costs of food on another blog. I wonder if your costs would be more in line if you chose to eat like the locals. When were on overseas contract, we do our best to adapt to the culture, shop like the locals, eat like the locals, use public transportation, etc. We do our best to 'fit in' without changing our core beliefs and values. Someone always befriends us to guide, translate, show us the ropes, keep us from foot in mouth mistakes and provides the best possible experience.

  3. Wino Says:
    1349902898

    Well, Dubai doesn't really have "locals" such as other places. Only 10% of Dubai is "locals" and they are mostly very rich. Note the "very" in that statement.

    Food here all has to be shipped in. It is much like Hawaii in that respect. Granted that we like pork and ham and both are very, very expensive here since this is a muslim country. To give you an idea of the prices, we saw a strip loin (where strip steaks come from) for $62.00 the other day. That's like $12.00 or $13.00 per pound.

    We walked away from the store with two bags in hand (and no strip loin roast) and a receipt for $70. We had purchased the following:

    Two Oscar Mayer ham smoked ham lunch meats, 12 oz each ($16 for the two)
    Hard salami deli sliced, .25 lb ($8.00)
    One pound of ground pork ($8.00)
    Small jar of French Vanilla creamer ($5.00)
    Can of Potato chips ($2.00)
    Pace Salsa, 12 oz jar ($??)
    Sargento cheese sticks, 6 count ($4.00)

    I don't remember what else, but you can see from above how the prices are over here. The good thing is that food is the ONLY item on our budget. Everything else is paid for except entertainment, which we can cut out. We get to keep 100% of our paycheck and we get to expense gasoline, rent, utilities, etc. When you look at it that way, even $10.00 for lunch meat isn't overboard.

    The food goes bad quickly, though. That's because it has spent at least three days getting here, rather than overnight like in the US.

  4. snafu Says:
    1349971346

    I don't mean to sound snarky but you're not getting much nutrition for $ 70. from potato chips, fake creamer, deli salami, OM smoked lunch meat. Grains, beans, vermicelli, canned, dried, fish, chicken fruit & vegetables likely have less spoilage. Anything Halal or packed in vinegar would be typical and less forbidden. Cooking Bali, Singaporean or Indian style can easily be modified to fit N American palate & style. You can get recipes/direction from any of the on-line sites like www.cooks.com and pretend you're in a fun place like Bali.

  5. Wino Says:
    1350015259

    We were grabbing brown-bag stuff. The only thing that was actually for dinner was the ground pork. I typically eat at my desk, and if we did leftovers, it is quite likely that I would have to stop and start several times, and reheating just wouldn't happen.

    You'll note that almost everything above can be eaten, set down, picked up, and eaten later, without going bad or getting "cold."

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