Journey of a Homeowner

A true story of a First Time Home Buyer.

This store has so much going for it. They always make sure they have the lowest prices. If they don't they will beat the advertised price by another 10%. Now that is what I call commitment. They even gave me a $100 USD gift card when I purchased my Samsung french door refrigerator. They want you to come back often.

Now that my dishwasher has hit the fritz. I want to use this gift card before it expires. $100 USD toward a new appliance is pretty sweet. Even more so when I can find a hugely discounted item on NFMs website. And it just so happens I did. The Whirlpool Gold with Full Integrated Console GU2275XTVS. This is a sweet stainless steel dishwasher that will go really well with my fridge. I know some people really like to match their appliances but since im going with stainless steel. Its kind of hard not to match. Just have to follow the grain of the steel and I should be good.

The next part is to wait for the call from the A.B. May people. I want to get my $158 USD repair credit to go towards any purchase that I make. Not some cheap over priced piece of crap they want me to buy. I know its a long shot to get them to go this way but its worth trying. I cold have a new stainless steel dishwasher with integrated controls for as little as $140 USD plus taxes. This include my repair credit and my nebraska furniture mart card.

The MSRP on this model is $649 USD. I think I would be getting a pretty outstanding deal on it if all goes my way. This is a current model too. How awesome is that?

I will never have true IMAX video. Thats not my goal. I just want the audio experience. Its just not cost effective in video. Now 1080P is very doable. The cost of HDTV has done down remendously over the past couple years. Even the HD projectors are becoming consumer friendly. You can get an HD projector for as little as $400 USD. That gives you 720P and 1080I. Thats really impressive. Plus they are now introducing LED projectors. The bulb in those are suppose to last from 10-20
years. Compared to a couple thousand hours you get out of the regular lamps that also cost $150-450 USD a pop. LED sounds very promising.

Right now they do not have the lumens (brightness) that you would find in a regular lamp. A couple prosumer LED projectors do exist that have very high lumens. The catch is that they are very expensive. I figure in about a year or two they will have come down in price just like blueray did.

Im thinking I will post pone the video portion of the IMAX project. I can purchase something cheap for now. I want my current Samsung HDTV to be in my room so I dont have to go downstairs to watch TV or play my PS3.

Here are a couple pictures of the base end of my system. Keep in mind that each box weighs over 200 pounds and each speaker adds another 39 each. They are a pain to move up and down stairs. The design is considered a cylinder in a square. This is IMAX or even club quality base.

My new Samsung RF266AERS Refrigerator is amazing. It has so much room. My apartment fridge was
pretty much maxed out. It feels like this thing has twice the amound of room. Plus not having to bend over to see what I want is trully a blessing. I dont keep very many freezer items. Mostly chicken, beef, and frozen fruits.

I had the urge to go out and try and stock it full of stuff. Then I remembered something. When I moved into my first apartment, I did jus that. I went out and bought everything I could think of. It was great. I had everything at my finger tips. Fast forward 2 months later. Half the stuff I bought gets thrown away do to it expiring. Never again I said. Its best to buy for 1 week in advance. If you can shop every 3 days, I would recommend that. You can buy less overall and save that way. Plus you get the advantage of eating fresher food.

The only thing I plan on stocking up on is chicken and goat. Yes I said Goat. If you have not tried it, you must go and find some. I had to search far and wide for it. The only place I know of is a local indian grocery. Goat is amazing. Its easily one of the best meats you can eat. Goat meat is 50%-65% lower in fat than similarly prepared beef, but has a similar protein content. The US department of Agriculture also has reported that saturated fat in cooked goat meat is 40% less than that of chicken, even with the skin removed. Sounds like the perfect meat to me.

The taste is very similar to beef, just not as strong. Texture is more lamb like. Taste is wonderful. Thats my speal on goat. Back to the kitchen.

The fridge is pretty big for my kitchen. I think when I go to renovate, I will recess it in the wall. This will free up valuable walking space and make the fridge cabinet depth without loosing capacity. The kitchen wall is backups to the garage so it shouldnt be an issue recessing it. This will make a bump in the garage but who cares. Its a garage. The kitchen and bathroom will sell this house. The two car garage is only a bonus. I dont plan to do anything with the kitchen for at least a year. Everything now will just be planning.

I went out last night to purchase a fridge. I am so glad I didnt. I can home and measured the two entrances to my kitchen. Both have a width of 31". Im really contemplating tearing down one section of the wall so I can fit the refrigerator that I want. I plan on take the wall down anyway. Just wasnt planning on doing it so soon.
My one worry is that if the wall goes down. Then I must do some additional work right away. Notably the floor. I either have to tile or cover it with something. I just dont want to do something stupid.

At the same time I can save myself all the frustration just by buying a small fridge. Then I just have to hope it has enough room on the inside.

After looking over the counter space. It doesnt look like it will take much to remove the counter. This will give me the clearance I need to install the fridge I want. Plus this fridge with doors off will come in at 29 3/4" inch. This will allow me to get through my kitchen doors.

Oh and I am choosing Samsung. They are going to give me over $625 off the fridge. I am going to get RF266AERS. Its stainless steel and has every feature that I wanted. I think its a good purchase.