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House projects, ranting
May. 7th, 2010 05:44 pmWe're unemployed again! (This happens every summer)
PoC installed our glorious new kitchen sink and faucet so he could move the old one down to the laundry-room-in-progress. I feel bad that I really can't help with the plumbing or carpentry projects...but really, we don't *want* me to help with the plumbing or carpentry projects.
I've only been off work since Monday, but I've mostly finished removing the dreaded popcorn ceiling from another bedroom and painting the room. (Yes, I've worn a mask for all of this nasty work, since I'm sure our circa 1940 house has lead paint under the popcorn). I think we'll be able to move some of the furniture back into this room tomorrow so that a friend can stay in the other room...which is currently full of two room's-worth of furniture. Next week I hope to start on the largest bedroom...the one filled with all the books and games. There will be a lot of packing to accomplish first! I'm eager to get as much done as I can before I start classes (May 24th) because after that, I don't expect to have much free time. (4 hours of lecture 4 days/week and 3 hours lab 4 days/week, plus homework and lab reports, I'm assuming...for 6 weeks)
Now, ranting:
We had someone in a week or two ago for an estimate on seamless gutters. He was tried to explain their in-house financing options thusly:
"You can spread your payments out over 6 months with no interest, but if you haven't paid in full by the end of 6 months, the interest rate is like 29%. " [okay, fine, no problem there.]
"Or we offer financing--with a downpayment of just $185, your monthly payments would be only $40."
me: "For how long?"
him: "Um?"
me: "For how many months would we be making that payment?"
him: (more nervously) "Um?"
me: "Okay, what interest rate is that payment based on?"
him: (clearly still a bit at-sea) "Well, depending on your credit score, the rate is between 9 and 12%"
Rant: Did he really not expect me to wonder how long we'd be making that payment for? Does no one actually care what the final price of something is? No wonder so many people are in SO MUCH financial trouble right now! Don't get me wrong: I have a lot of sympathy for people who've been unexpectedly laid off, or had their retirement accounts capsize....but I think there's a lot of people (too many!) who fundamentally don't understand how these things work, and are in trouble because they just didn't realize how all this stuff adds up.
The saddest part of this was that he was actually a really nice guy, and (unless he's an amazing actor) I really don't think he was trying to snow us into anything--I think he truly didn't understand why I would need to know this! It's almost as though he didn't understand (himself) that we'd wind up paying more money *total* if we used their financing plan, and I wanted to be able to compare the net price to the total of the net price + interest before we made any kind of decision.
(The net result of all this was we decided not to get gutters from him at all, because we can do it at a much better price if we do it ourselves. They won't be seamless, but they'll be about 1/6th the price!)
Okay, enough ranting. Back to painting.
PoC installed our glorious new kitchen sink and faucet so he could move the old one down to the laundry-room-in-progress. I feel bad that I really can't help with the plumbing or carpentry projects...but really, we don't *want* me to help with the plumbing or carpentry projects.
I've only been off work since Monday, but I've mostly finished removing the dreaded popcorn ceiling from another bedroom and painting the room. (Yes, I've worn a mask for all of this nasty work, since I'm sure our circa 1940 house has lead paint under the popcorn). I think we'll be able to move some of the furniture back into this room tomorrow so that a friend can stay in the other room...which is currently full of two room's-worth of furniture. Next week I hope to start on the largest bedroom...the one filled with all the books and games. There will be a lot of packing to accomplish first! I'm eager to get as much done as I can before I start classes (May 24th) because after that, I don't expect to have much free time. (4 hours of lecture 4 days/week and 3 hours lab 4 days/week, plus homework and lab reports, I'm assuming...for 6 weeks)
Now, ranting:
We had someone in a week or two ago for an estimate on seamless gutters. He was tried to explain their in-house financing options thusly:
"You can spread your payments out over 6 months with no interest, but if you haven't paid in full by the end of 6 months, the interest rate is like 29%. " [okay, fine, no problem there.]
"Or we offer financing--with a downpayment of just $185, your monthly payments would be only $40."
me: "For how long?"
him: "Um?"
me: "For how many months would we be making that payment?"
him: (more nervously) "Um?"
me: "Okay, what interest rate is that payment based on?"
him: (clearly still a bit at-sea) "Well, depending on your credit score, the rate is between 9 and 12%"
Rant: Did he really not expect me to wonder how long we'd be making that payment for? Does no one actually care what the final price of something is? No wonder so many people are in SO MUCH financial trouble right now! Don't get me wrong: I have a lot of sympathy for people who've been unexpectedly laid off, or had their retirement accounts capsize....but I think there's a lot of people (too many!) who fundamentally don't understand how these things work, and are in trouble because they just didn't realize how all this stuff adds up.
The saddest part of this was that he was actually a really nice guy, and (unless he's an amazing actor) I really don't think he was trying to snow us into anything--I think he truly didn't understand why I would need to know this! It's almost as though he didn't understand (himself) that we'd wind up paying more money *total* if we used their financing plan, and I wanted to be able to compare the net price to the total of the net price + interest before we made any kind of decision.
(The net result of all this was we decided not to get gutters from him at all, because we can do it at a much better price if we do it ourselves. They won't be seamless, but they'll be about 1/6th the price!)
Okay, enough ranting. Back to painting.
