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The great HDTV saga of 09
Ever since the holiday sales of 2008 (probably even earlier), I’ve been waiting and waiting to get a new LCD HDTV for our house. About that time we were tackling the last of our debt and it was clear that making such a substantial purchase was not going to be the right thing for us as a family. We also knew that just repaying our debt wasn’t the only thing to think about; completing Baby Step #3 (3-6 month emergency fund) was the next big priority on our list.
Fast forward to November 2009. We’ve completed our goal, and we recently decided that this purchase was something we could seriously be researching. We (Julie left it to me to find a good deal) eventually decided on a new model from Samsung. Specifically, it’s the Samsung LN40B500, an economical version of the rest of the 500 series. They’ve basically removed a couple HDMI ports and lowered the contrast ratio (most people won’t notice this). The result is an excellent TV at an equally great price.
[affiliate link]
New TV, big deal, right? Well, this was particularly fun because we had been planning and patient for such a long time. To be able to walk into Best Buy knowing that the money we were about to spend had been specifically designated was a really freeing experience. It was a far cry from other major tech purchases I’ve made before where the only thing I was feeling walking out of the store was guilt because I knew I really couldn’t afford the item I’d purchased. For a technology fan like me, this was a great day.
Next up… Blu-Ray? Nah, hopefully we’ll add a Roku 
8 excellent holiday albums for under $8
It was November 2007, and I made a major mistake: busting out the holiday tunes prior to the passing of the Thanksgiving holiday and the true start of the Christmas season. No big deal, right? Oh, yes it was. You do not want to get sick of your favorite season songs prior to the boom following the fourth Thursday in November. Believe me.
So, this post is altogether appropriate as we’re all full from our Turkey Day deliciousness and in need of some great music to get in the Christmas spirit. We thought we’d put together a list of 8 excellent holiday albums which you can download for under 8 bucks each. We have a holiday tradition of selecting a new album each year to add to our collection. So, here they are!
Andrew’s Picks:
Julie’s Picks:
*under $8 if you use the coupon code “MP34FREE“—$3 off
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Yes, these are links out to Amazon and will bring us between 75 and 80 cents each should you decide to purchase. We may not be doing this for our health, but why not send a little love our way?
Happy Thanksgiving from Andy and Jules [video post edition]
Spoiler alert: we are totally grateful this Thanksgiving. It’s been a great year, and we’re excited about where were headed in the coming year. But don’t take it from us, take it from… us? (Warning: Andrew tends to get a lazy eye in videos and still shots.)
Our Story, Part 3: the great house hunt of 2007
Welcome to a special Wednesday edition of Our Story. We’ll get back to regular Friday updates next week, but we’ve got something great coming up for Black Friday this week. Enjoy!
Fall 2007 was a pretty cool time in our relationship. We had recently been engaged, and had decided to start thinking about buying a house that I could live in until we got married in April 2008. The biggest thing we learned during the process? Get a realtor, and a good one. And that’s just what we did.
One of my colleagues (who happens to come from a real estate family) was able to refer us to Graham Duryee, the office manager for Greenridge Realty in Holland. Now, we’re guessing that as the manager, and with the amount of real estate experience that he has, Graham probably had bigger house fish to fry, but he more than willingly took on our modest little home purchase, and we’re so glad he did. The amount of knowledge the man has about what he does is really tremendous, and the guy is an excellent salesman as well.
The first house that we looked at was one that we found while driving around town, and it didn’t really end up working out. Nice house, but it didn’t really meet our space desire: 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms. Taking this into consideration, Graham came back with a list of 6 houses in our price range and with the bedrooms/bathrooms we were looking for. He took us through all 6 on one Saturday in October, and it was pretty cool because my sister and her husband happened to be visiting at that time as well and they were able to come along with us. We liked the houses, but the first one we saw really stood out. After going through the hurdles of figuring out financing and so forth, we went for it!
A couple thoughts on the purchase and what we might have done differently, looking back now:
- We did not have a full 15% to put down to avoid PMI, so we borrowed a portion of our down payment from family. The party we borrowed from was totally gracious about repayment, but we don’t necessarily think loans among family is the best option. Obviously we don’t totally look down on it, either. We just felt that, after we made that decision, that the loan was something we needed to knock out quick! (See a future post on this subject.)
- Along the same lines, we might have waited to buy the house. The real estate bug got to us! We could have potentially rented for 1 or 2 years and then purchased after we had saved up. If you’re right out of college, single, newly married, hold off for a while! It will help you to figure out what you’ll need in a home. Thankfully, our house seems to fit us like a glove!
- We ascribe to the Dave Ramsey philosophy that your house payment should be no more than 1/4 of your take home pay. He does allow for some flexibility, but we still ended up pretty tight with that figure. That being said, we probably couldn’t have gone much lower in house, either. You just have to be really thoughtful about what could potentially happen in life and be prepared.
Just a few thoughts as we look back on one of the most fun parts of our engaged/married life so far.
Have a question or comment? Leave it for us below—we want to hear from you!
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Look for the next edition of Our Story next Friday.
The big Black Friday round up
Julie and I have braved the Black Friday sales for a couple years now, including the last two years. In 2007, we left at 5 AM to brave the lines at IKEA for a chance at a free couch and the promise of a definite free breakfast. We didn’t get the free couch, but we definitely came away with full stomachs! Last year we didn’t head out quite as early, but we did complete our entire Christmas shopping in just one day—we were pretty proud of that. There’s nothing pressing this year, but we will be heading out on Saturday morning to pick up a special item at Walmart (more on that in a later post).
That said, we are still keeping an eye on the Black Friday deals, and it seems there’s not a lack of information already on the web about the savings you’ll be able to find in the early morn after Thanksgiving. Here’s a round up of some good Black Friday sites, blog posts, and deals that are interesting to us.
Blog Posts
HOW TO: Use Social Media to Find Black Friday Deals (Mashable)
The Top 11 Black Friday Deals of 2009 (blackfriday.fm)
Black Friday Shopping Tips: How To Get The Best Deals On The Things On Your List (Bible Money Matters)
Black Friday 2009 Free Stuff (My Dollar Plan)
Hunt for Black Friday deals from your iPhone (Mashable)
Be prepared for Black Friday tech deals (Webware on Cnet)
Websites
Amazon’s Black Friday Deals — a whole week of deals starting today, Monday, November 23
Overstock.com’s Black Friday deals — they’re calling it a “shopping experience”
BlackFriday.fm — nice collection of scanned ads, and a database of all the items on sale
BlackFriday.info — another good site with coupons, a shopping list feature, and online deals
Fat Wallet Black Friday rumors
TGIBlackFriday — another round up site, this one including an iPhone app as well
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Photo Credit: hermanturnip // Creative Commons
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