The Chronic Consumer

Now that the weather is finally warming up and becoming more pleasant, I can start thinking about what to do with the space on my front porch. We don’t have any furniture on it at all because all of our outdoor chairs and tables are on the back deck. Still, it seems like such a waste to have the porch completely empty like that.

I’m not really fond of porch swings or hammocks, so I’m thinking about going with a bench and a couple of chairs instead. There’s a place down the road that sells teak furniture and I know they have just the kinds of benches I have in mind. I have no idea how much something like this would cost, but if it’s reasonable, I’m going to buy it!

I need a new bathroom scale because the one I have right now is nearly 10 years old and isn’t very accurate anymore. Plus, I want a scale that can measure body fat, which is something my current one can’t do.

I saw this Health-O-Meter scale at the store earlier today, and thought it looked pretty decent. It was priced at $50, though, so I didn’t buy it because I’m sure I can find it cheaper at an online retailer.

The health club I go to has a body fat scale, and I’ve been tracking my progress over there. Still, I’d just like to be able to keep up with this stuff while at home too.

I’ll be buying this one soon!

When I went to Barnes & Noble last night to browse through wine books, I also started looking at financial planning books. I’m very worried about saving up enough money for retirement because we haven’t even started yet. My husband and I are both in our mid-thirties, but we don’t have a stock portfolio, bonds, commercial real estate, or any other real investments to speak of. The only assets we have are our two homes, but who knows how much they’ll be worth in the future.

So I ended up buying a book called The New Rules of Retirement and am hoping to get some good information out of it. We’re committed to starting some kind of retirement fund this year, be it an IRA or a mutual fund, so I need to get as much information as possible before we invest. I’ll let you know how this book turns out!

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is learn more about wine, so I’m thinking of either taking a class or buying a couple of books on the subject. As things stand now, I’m utterly clueless about what to look for when I scan the wine racks at local liquor stores, and simply have no idea about how to pick out a decent bottle. This is kind of embarrassing, especially when I’m invited to dinner parties and want to bring the hostess something to serve with the meal.

At any rate, I’m going to the bookstore later tonight or maybe tomorrow, so I’m going to try to grab a couple of relevant titles then!

Even though I’ve been playing blackjack and other card games for a couple of decades now, I still can’t shuffle cards very well. This is particularly true when using more than one deck, which is a must if you want to simulate casino blackjack. So that’s why I want to buy this automatic card shuffler that I saw while browsing through a site called PoolDawg.com.

This automatic card shuffler is similar to what you’d find in casinos and can handle up to four decks. It’s suitable for blackjack, poker, and any other game where you want a good, thorough shuffle without having to handle the cards yourself.

There wasn’t a whole lot of information about this card shuffler available in the product description, but it only costs about $12, so it’s not like I’d be going out on a limb by buying it!

I’ve been making a conscious effort to eat healthier foods recently, which means one of the things I’m working on is my nearly constant craving for snacks. I’m not a big on fruit or veggies as snacks, so I’m trying to find healthier alternatives to the potato chips and cookies that I like to eat. One option that I’m considering is air popped popcorn.

Towards that end, I’ve been checking out various popcorn machines and poppers to see which one would be best for my needs. It turns out that the process isn’t going to be as straightforward as I hoped. There are lots of mixed reviews from customers about the taste and consistency of air popped popcorn, making me think that I might be wasting my time on this one.

Maybe I should just get a full-sized theater-style machine and have at it!

I’m not the kind of person to buy aftermarket auto parts for my vehicles, but my husband is. He doesn’t go crazy and put chrome on everything or modify the engine to get additional horsepower. He just sticks to the basics like rear spoilers, mufflers, and wheels.

He’s currently working on setting up his new van, and I have to say that it actually looks a lot better with these changes. The best part are the black wheels that offset the silver body. Sure, we spent $1200 on the wheels, but now our ride looks very cool!

Anyway, for those of you that do indulge in aftermarket auto parts, where do you usually get them from? Is there a shop near you that you frequent? Do you order them from a catalog? From a website?

Let me know!

I run several blogs and websites that serve as my primary source of income. As such, it’s very important for me to stay connected — even on weekends when I’d rather be out doing something else. But of course, this essentially means that I work 7 days/week and never get a chance to spend time with my family without worrying about updating my sites and answering emails.

I desperately want to change that situation without impacting my income too much. So after doing a lot of checking around, I’m thinking of purchasing a Nokia Portable Internet Tablet.

Specifically, I looked at the Nokia N810 and think that it would be perfect for my needs. It’s small and compact, has a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, and features a 4.1-inch LCD screen. In other words, it’s more portable than a laptop, but bigger and easier to use for Internet browsing than a cell phone would be.

The only drawback to this product is the price, which is currently around $420. That’s a lot to pay for something that I’d only use, say, every other weekend, so I’ll definitely have to think about it some more.