

#Penny pinching packrat full
I bought my iPad and MacBook Air at full price because they had the features I wanted at a cost I could live with. I don't penny-pinch every aspect of my technology life. Personally, I'm fine with these trade-offs. You don't have a network of Verizon stores to help you out in a pinch. The so-so: The selection of compatible smartphones is limited and it helps if you're comfortable being self-sufficient with managing your plan and your phone. The good: For $30 I get 1,200 minutes, 500MB of data, and 3,000 text messages.
#Penny pinching packrat plus
I've written before about my $30 per month no-contract smartphone plan using Page Plus Cellular, a Verizon network reseller. Cheap is good, but cheap with decent quality is much, much better. But when I read deeper, I found way too many quality issues to feel comfortable with the $45 buy. With four out of five Amazon stars, it seemed like a good prospect. My search for a stool to use at my standing desk led me to a cool-looking colorful tractor-style seat. The speakers passed my test, but that's not always the case. I look for glowing praise, but also check for the complaints. What I got was good sound quality in a compact package, with plenty of oomph to handle my simple computer audio demands.Īmazon reviews are the secret weapon of my budget geekery. What led me to these plucky little peripherals were the stellar Amazon reviews for the inexpensive set. It was way past time for an upgrade, so I went big and laid down a whole $10.99 on a set of iMicro Pure USB speakers. I rocked the same set of crummy beige computer speakers for years, and they had a bad habit of picking up air traffic control communications. These iMicro speakers are inexpensive workhorses. Plus, the old desktop is now doing duty as a foot rail under my standing desk. I bought local, using an independent computer maker I can call on if I have any technical issues down the line. There are cheaper options out there, for sure, but I wanted a respectable 3.4GHz Core i3 processor and a 1TB hard drive to last me for a few years to come.
#Penny pinching packrat windows 7
My new Windows 7 desktop machine cost $500. Plus, I was able to fold up an old throw blanket and create a cat nest underneath the keyboard drawer so my disgruntled CNET test cats can still hang out nearby, despite the lack of a warm lap. Is it the best-looking standing desk out there? Absolutely not, but I can live with the aesthetics in exchange for the savings. I fished two large boxes of sealed CDs out of the closet, set them on their sides and raised my monitors and keyboard up to the perfect height. Here's where my moonlighting career as an independent Americana musician really saved the day. I already had a 3M keyboard drawer for use with my antique desk. I moved into serious troubleshooting mode.
