Economical is in the eye of the consumer

Trying to do home improvement projects with 3 small boys is no easy task.


Trying to do anything with 3 small boys is no easy task.

Trying to home improve frugally is no easy task.

Trying to do anything frugally is no easy task.

We are currently overwelmed with non-easy tasks.

My parents graciously took the boys on an overnight Tuesday night so that Noah and I could do a few things. Basically we visited Alethea (our new niece) in the hospital, grabbed dinner and came up with a tile game plan. Then Noah went to broomball, I went to work. We both arrived home in the early hours of Wednesday morning to catch a few hours of sleep before the day officially began.

I do better sleeping from 4:30am-9:30am then I do from midnight to 7:00am.

Last night Genna came over to watch the boys so that we could get down to business and finish the bathroom. So we headed to the store to get some cheap tile in order to tile the countertop.
We looked around at all the beautiful tiles, designs, colors, options and... prices.

We finally got a chance to talk to a sales girl. Noah told her we were looking for "economical" solutions for a custom sized vanity countertop.

We maybe should have used the word "cheap".

We were offered a "popular" choice that is a "very economical" option. It would have been $420-$650 and that didn't include the sink. Noah said we were looking for something more economical than that. He still refused to use the word "cheap" or "frugal".

We were directed toward Tile Boards with names like "Neighborhood Park" and "Night on the Town."

It would have been fine, except we were going to have to buy by the box for about 4 square feet of countertop. So we conferred and eventually settled on a Tavertine Hex tile that we could get 4.3 square feet at a time. We got a tile to cut for edging, some grout and a sealer.

Noah asked the girl if she had a smaller bag of grout. She gave us a opened half bag and charged us 1/2 price. Saved us $11.

She rang everything up and gave us the total. It was twice what we expected. She said, "wow that is a good deal, isn't it?" Noah and I glanced at each other.

I could see him adding up numbers in his head. He is a math whiz. I am sure he could see me adding up numbers in my head as well. I was a math tutor.

We glanced at the invoice. The culprit was the sealer. We didn't say anything and took our loot out to the car.

We can always return it.

But before we do, we are going to make sure the sales lady we got the half bag of grout from isn't working.

I am sure she is still laughing.