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.
Money Well Spent
October 10th, 2012 at 01:34 pm
October 10th, 2012 at 01:55 pm 1349873734
October 10th, 2012 at 07:17 pm 1349893067
October 10th, 2012 at 10:01 pm 1349902898
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.
October 11th, 2012 at 05:02 pm 1349971346
October 12th, 2012 at 05:14 am 1350015259
You'll note that almost everything above can be eaten, set down, picked up, and eaten later, without going bad or getting "cold."