LA Fitness vs. Retro Fitness

I remember hearing a piece of advice many years ago that has stuck with me in spite of the fact that I have never actually used it: when faced with a major decision, make an alphabetical list of both the pros and cons.  Well, I’m thinking about switching from LA Fitness to Retro Fitness, which is $15 a month cheaper, but I’m far too lazy to list twenty-six pros and twenty-six cons in alphabetical order, but here are some things that I need to consider:

LA Fitness:
- Has a pool, though I’ve never used it.
- Has a sauna, which I’ve used a handful of times, but it’s also full of naked dudes that are just waiting to post Missed Connections about me.
- Has heavy bags, which I used all of the time.
- Full of hot asian babes that’ll never talk to me, ever.
- I have “gym friends” there.
- More machines.
- Closer to my house.

Retro Fitness:
- $15 a month cheaper.
- Nicer (yet fewer) showers, though I’ve never showered at the gym.
- Individual TVs on each piece of cardio equipment.  LA Fintess has a couple of TVs hanging pretty far away that only show CNN or ESPN.
- Full of trashy broads that may possibly one day talk to me.
- Very close to a Taco Bell.

I don’t know what to do!

Tightening Up My E-Wallet

Really, Justin?  That’s the best title you can think of?

Anyway, sorry I haven’t updated in a while.  I may have been neglecting this site, but I certainly haven’t been neglecting my duties as a cheapskate.  While I have long-term plans to get rid of my cable television (something that would have been unthinkable to me even a year ago) and downgrade my gym membership, I’m currently downsizing my web presence and thusly saving myself a couple of bucks.  A year ago, I owned three domain names; rebel-alliance.net (which I’ve had forever), waxeater.com, and fighterhayabusa.com (for my old band).  The band is long dead, so when it came time to renew that one, I just let it go.  I haven’t done anything important with rebel-alliance.net in some time, so once that name expires, I’m going to let that one go as well.  Between those two domains, I’m saving myself about $16 a year.  Granted, that’s not a lot of money, but it’s money.  Next is waxeater.com, which I intend to keep and renew, but I took a serious look at the hosting package I was using to keep it up.  I’ve been hosting my domains with a company called HostMagix (at ~$55 a year) for a while, and everything had been great for years, but their support department (along with their sales department) has most likely fallen off the face of the Earth, because they haven’t answered a single e-mail for over a month.  So I began looking at similar web hosting packages that would most likely cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 a month.  But then I began to wonder; do I even really need a hosting package?  Outside of the occasional MP3, do I ever post anything besides text?  Can’t I just do that using a free blogging platform such as Wordress, Blogger, or Tumblr?  I compared the three sites and found that both Blogger and Tumblr will allow you to use your own domain name to point to your blog for free, while WordPress charges $10 a year.  Again, that’s not much, but it’s something.

As of now, I’ve got waxeater.com pointing to my new Tumblr account.  Tumblr ended up winning out against Blogger due to its much simpler and cleaner interface, though that can change any day.  And if neither really do it for me, I can always cough up the $10 a month for WordPress, which I have some experience with (this site is hosted by WordPress).

So between dropping two domains and moving the third to a free blogging platform that also offers free domain services, I’m saving $16 a year on domains and $55 a year on hosting.  Total yearly savings: $71

Not bad.

It’s Like I Died And Went To Cheapskate Heaven

Remember this website?  I kind of do.

Anyway, Wendy’s fast food restaurant is currently running the Greatest Deal In The History Of Deals right now in the Greater Philadelphia area: Buy a tag at any Wendy’s for $1.00 (with eighty cents going to charity) and score a free Jr. Frosty with any purchase for a year.  I know.  When I first heard about it, I didn’t believe it either, but I stopped by local Wendy’s on Friday and bought one for myself.  It’s real, and I have one, and it’s already paid for itself.

Some Cheap Shit I Did This Past Weekend

#1 – Trimmed my own bushes.  I hate the heat, so all of last summer, I paid a magical black man to do it for me.  He’s magical because I was sitting at home one scorching Sunday afternoon, enjoying my air conditioning and drinking a lemonade, when I realized that my bushes were completely out of control and my neighbors probably hate me for it and that I would have no choice but to brave the outdoors and trim them at some point during the day.  Just as I finished sobbing and was preparing to actually put on some pants, the magical black man knocked on my door and asked me if I would like him to trim my bushes for me (for a fee, of course.)  Clearly this was a case of magic rather than some sort of extreme coincidence.  And he’s black because his parents were black.Total savings: $40.

#2 – Replaced my driver’s side headlight.  I had replaced the passenger side headlight a couple of years ago with little problem, but the driver’s side presents a huge problem because that’s where the battery is, and it makes it impossible to work without first removing the battery.  I have never completely removed my own battery, and electricity is scary, so I had my doubts, but I was able to do it without a) dying and b) blowing up my car.  Way to go, me.

Total savings: ~$20.

#3 – Ate two more free McDonald’s sandwiches.  After my last order from Amazon.com arrived with a coupon in it for two free McDonald’s sandwiches, I ended up giving them a positive review at work.  The next day, my co-worker came into work with two more coupons for two more free sandwiches that he had also received with his most recent Amazon.com order.  He hates using coupons, and he knows I’m a cheap fuck, so he gave them to me.  Awesome.

Total savings: ~$5.00

 

Free Stuff Total For The Day

One free McDonald’s chicken and biscuit breakfast: DELICIOUS.

One free McDonald’s southern style chicken sandwich: PRETTY GOOD.

One sample of Teddy Grahams Trail Mix: Signed up for it online.  Shit sounds weird.

One sample of Gilette Body Wash: I hate body washes, but it was free.

Fixing The A/C In My Car.

I have a 2001 sedan and the air conditioning has had a leak in the line for a few years now.  I guess it’s gotten worse, because I used to be able to get it refilled for a few bucks and be okay for the summer.  But not this year.  After getting it refilled and recharged a few weeks ago, my A/C is already blowing warm.  If I remember correctly, they quoted me a price of between $150-$225 to fix it.

It’s been in the high nineties for the last couple of days.  Can I survive two and a half more months of this heat without air conditioning in my car?  Let’s find out.

I Spent $.83 On Food Yesterday

I guess I kind of cheated because some of the food was free.  It’s not like I found some incredibly bargain somewhere or something.

Every once in a while – maybe once every three months – work will offer up a free lunch for employees.  Today was BBQ chicken, with cornbread, corn, and potatoes.

Here’s what I ate (and drank:)

Trader Joe’s cinnamon apple oatmeal – $.33 for one serving.
Trader Joe’s vanilla almond bar – $.50 for one bar.
Diet Coke – free.  I took it from the conference room.
BBQ chicken – free.  About an hour later, I went back into the cafeteria and stealthily got a second helping.  I took it back to my office where I wrapped it up and threw it in our fridge so that I could take it home for dinner.  I also took a couple of free iced teas that they had over there for the rest of the afternoon.

That is a grand total of $.83 for the day.  Truly an exciting day for a cheapskate.

Free (Iced) Coffee

Stop by your local Dunkin’ Donuts today between 10AM and 10PM for a free, small iced coffee.  I got mine on my lunch break and my waffle fries went cold in my car while I was waiting, but it was totally worth it.

Free Triple Flex For Old Men

Old men such as myself.

Visit https://secure.startsampling.com/sm/100254/captureAddress.iphtml?item=100254&source=&p= and get your free sample of Triple Flex, a gluclosamine supplement for joint mobility, etc.

Does Your Mom Love Frozen Yogurt?

If so, it’s going to be a cheap Mother’s Day for you.

Today only, TCBY is offering a free cup or cone for mom’s.  If you hate your mom or she’s dead, just throw on a wig and a dress and grab your free treat.