hating Murphy

[sinopa27]

I just got my mind made up on facing my debt. Started my budget. I have no money in my emergency fund and now Murphy has showed up at my house. I need a new kitchen faucet. It's leaking and has already been repaired. I need another one.

How soon did Murphy show up to your house?

How do I handle this without an Emergency Fund.

I refuse to use a Credit Card!!!

[mamamia]

Well the 1st thought that came to mind was www.freecycle.org.
Are you a member of it in your area. If not, I'd fet signed up. It's a great way to give/get things. I'd try that first, and also www.craiglist.org. They too have a "For Free" section. You can also make a request for a faucet to either group. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Other thought was get a "cheapie just to get by. Even if it only lasts a year or so, things might be better for you financially by then. Check out WalMart, Kmart, etc. Do you have any outlets or such in your area?

Hoping you find one. Murphy does visit all too often. Believe me, unfortunately I too can testify to that

hang in there,

Theresa

[sinopa27]

I priced one a few months ago when it broke the first time and I saw a beautiful one for $125. I also remember seeing the same one I have in the $40 range. I am buying the same one I have until I get out of debt and budget the one I want.
Is that correct??? Or should I try to get the beautiful one that is better quality now and deal with it???

Teach me to think smart. Thanks FV family

[Siebrie]

Hi Sinopa27,

I don't now how handy you are, but I'd go for a faucet that is exactly the same as the one you have now. That way, all the holes are already on the right position, etc. I do not have the tools (nor the experience) to drill holes in the wall or to enlarge the hole in the work surface.

Then, I'd try to get it as cheaply as possible. Put a picture of the leaking one on freecycle and see if you can find a free one. Take the picture to a shop that installs taps/kitchens and ask if they have an old one lying about.

[nodmicks]

When ours was shot but we were not set to buy we went to Menards and bought their cheapest faucet (19.99). It seems most fit very standard.

Depending on where it is leaking you may not need a whole new faucet but just to adjust it or add new rubber rings. Where exactly is it leaking?

[tervsforme]

I would also suggest to start with freecycle or Craig's list. Also, every saturday Lowe's puts a bunch of stuff on clearance and they just put it on tables in the aisles. It's different every week, sometimes it is returned stuff, or maybe a little damaged or just stuff they want to get rid of. I got some light fixtures really cheap by going on a saturday.

[DAAC3DEC]

you can get great deals at the "habitat restore", do you have those?

[Grainlady]

A new faucet will cost between $20-$50, which is a standard basic model that will fit almost any sink. Check thrift stores for one. If you know any plumbers, see if they have any faucets they have salvaged from a job that you could get free.

Home Depot has a video on how to replace your faucet (scroll down towards the bottom of the page:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...FQsMDQodyEwelg

You can probably find how-to information at your local library.

It's imperative you secure an emergency fund, even if you need to be creative to find the extra money, as your best deterrent for Murphy.

-Go to all the public parks, soccer and baseball fields and "harvest" aluminum cans from the trash containers and turn them in for cash. Hubby and I regularly walk the ditches close to where he works and pick-up cans and add the money to the emergency fund. Summer is a more lucrative time for this, but you can find cans all year round.

-Sell something (have a garage sale, etc.).

-I save my $1 bills and use them to fund the emergency/Christmas account. I deposit the money once a month into an account at the bank so it isn't easy to use. I have never saved less than $500 in $1 bills, and have saved as much as $1,000 - so don't discount the power of the dollar.

-I cut my own hair, but budget $20/month for it and pay ME. I take that $20 and put it in the emergency/Christmas account, so that's $240 a year added to the account just for cutting my own hair.

-If you haven't done a budget yet, I bet once you do you'll start to find money to contribute to your emergency fund. Even small amounts add up.

Reduce the amount of money you spend on groceries UNTIL you have a $500 mini-emergency fund. Purchase less meat and use more less-expensive meat substitutes.

Stop paying for things that are completely unnecessary during a financial crisis - (cable TV, newspapers/magazines, soda, coffee, snack foods, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products - just to name a few) - until you have an emergency fund established.

About the faucet....
As long as you can shut the water off to the faucet and otherwise don't experience any major leaking, you can live, albeit inconveniently, without it until you can afford or find a replacement.

You can store water in other containers for general use. If you have a large beverage cooler/water jugs, they will work well to hold AND dispense water beside the sink.

My sister uses her large electric (30-cup) coffee maker to heat water when they go camping, as an example of how to heat your water. It's a little safer than carrying hot water from another faucet. I use an electric kettle to heat water for clean-up and doing dishes EVERY meal. It only takes 5-cups of hot water, plus about 5-cups cold water to do dishes in a small plastic tub, and rinse in a small amount of cold water. I use approx. 1-gallon of water TOTAL to do dishes - washing AND rinsing.

I also use "saved" water for kitchen duty. Saved water is what I keep in 3-gallon jugs from when we run the cold water out of pipes before it gets hot enough to take a shower.

You can also use a couple plastic tubs or large mixing bowls and do your dishes in the bath tub. As everyone who has remodeled a kitchen can attest to...

[Greebo]

If it's leaking it may only need new washers $5 instead of $20

[Holding Pattern]

You asked how soon? Within about 2 weeks of our EF in place, the car needed $400 in repairs that were not elective.

[AnW819]

I am worried about stupid Murphy showing up here sometime soon...We dont have our EF yet...working on it (waiting for a paycheck) and I can almost see the cloudy skies already...

But I will get through it and so will you I would definitally get the cheapest one possible. $40 is not TOO too bad...and even if you do not have an EF yet, it should not effect putting money in there because you are suppose to get that $ in the FAST so it will be only $40 less (say you put $200 in this week...it would be $160 which is still good!)

Good luck hun

[Russ]

I priced one a few months ago when it broke the first time and I saw a beautiful one for $125. I also remember seeing the same one I have in the $40 range. I am buying the same one I have until I get out of debt and budget the one I want.
Is that correct??? Or should I try to get the beautiful one that is better quality now and deal with it???

Teach me to think smart. Thanks FV family

$125?? For a faucet? because it's beautiful?

First lesson...time to do some :thinking:

Tell us - Is this $125 faucet a WANT or a NEED?

[Libby]

Once you've determined that the entire faucet needs to be replaced, have you checked the flea market? While traveling down in the US my family loves to go to garage sales and flea markets lol - more junk to tote home right? But I have noticed that there were a lot of junky booths that sold used tools, faucets etc. Maybe see if there's one that's similar to yours - size wise and maybe if you share your story the seller may knock off a few more bucks for you?

[NikoSan999]

He never leaves our house. He has taken up permanent residency in the spare bedroom. Comes out about once a day to kick up his heels and let us know he's still there. If I could get away with it I'd shoot his ass.

[Wendy99]

I hate Murphy & need to get on the ball again .. just seems like I'm sinking more than floating some days ... I would go with the $20 faucet. We did that a year ago and it's still working fine. I'ts not pretty, but it's functional.