Car, carpet and a free storm door

I said that I would update on our new car. We love it.

The screen door/storm door on our back door is bent, dirty, looks like crap and has an every growing hole in the screen that the puppy likes to stick his head through. While Janet was staying with us we checked out the selection at the Home Depot. I was told if I could hold out until Oct I would get a good deal. I watched "the best deals of the year" on doors go by as I held out hope that there would be follow through if I could wait until Oct. It finally paid off to work at the Home Depot. There was an open box door (that was missing one piece, the frame from one side of the door) that is regular $300. They are not allowed to sell this door if it is open and instead of throwing it in the garbage sold it to us for $50. That is right $50.

To sweeten the deal we had found three plumbing pieces (total ~$20) that we did not end up using from our very first trip to Home Depot after taking possession of the house. On the way into the store we returned the items to a gift card. I picked up a towel bar and ring that I had set aside (regular $45 and $35 marked down to $10) and then picked up the door. At the till we gave the gift card for the $73.00 total. She then asked for $2.53. I don't know where the mistake was but I am not complaining.

The door is all glass for a very clean look. But when you want to open the screen you pull the window down from the top and the screen unrolls down. It is very neat. The screen is all hidden away. Giving an uncluttered and clean look!
The day after the door I was walking toward the break room for my last 15 of the day and almost walked into a pile of carpet rolls with green markdown tags on them. "What do we have here?" $20-$50 rolls of carpet. I called Logan to measure the basement and then come into the store to pick me up after work. I grabbed a few hold stickers and put two on hold until after my shift. We ended up getting a further markdown. We got a roll of "Bow River Berber" 12'x14'6" and a roll 12'x 4'. It covers nearly the entire room. We are short about a foot between the stairs and the bathroom, the little nook there. I couldn't be happier with a $40 purchase!
We installed it ourselves. It looks pretty good.
The photo doesn't show where the seams are. The wall behind the chair there is a seam straight across. And then perpendicular to that seam from the middle of the door on the left. $40!

We are new car owners!

We have a brand new car. Brand new. 231 kms. We leased a 2008 Nissan Rogue. There is no worry of repair and large expenses. It has more safety features than you can shake a stick at. And a list of technological tricks that we may never notice but will be very grateful for (including headrests that will respond to breaking to help prevent whiplash).

We are pretty excited. There are no pictures right now as we picked up the car, drove to Auntie Shelley and Uncle Gord's for supper and then drove Matt to the airport and now home to bed (I work at 7am).

More to follow.

Nissan

We went out to look at a second car; the Nissan Rogue. We really liked it. We liked it so much we took out two different Rogues. One was an all wheel drive, the second step up - SL. There was also a demo model that they would lease us that had 10,000 km - the SL with the Premium package. The demo with a few more features was $3 more a month than the new one. We told them we would come back when we had sold our car - they wanted to look at a trade in. We knew that they couldn't possibly give us what we still owe on the car - we were right. So we will have to wait a bit, sell our car, and then go back (probably).

We like the look of the side and back - but Logan is not so keen on the front. I have been reading reviews on the vehicle and it seems to be a common complaint.The interior gets big points. The seats were very comfortable and there was plenty of leg room. And the back seats were also comfortable with lots of leg room.
The SL has heated cloth seats and 16" alloy wheels.
And the back has a cool fold up divider to help keep those couple bags a groceries in place or what have you.

Mitsubishi

As a Police Officer Logan sees things that most of us hope to never have to witness. A growing concern for him is car accidents. He sees many vehicles smashed up and passengers in various states of survival. A very noticeable theme is car vs. any other vehicle. There are so many vehicles on the road that are larger than cars (buses, vans, SUVs, trucks, construction vehicles etc). In all of these scenarios the car is the looser. Because it is lower, the people are lower, the danger level is higher in these loosing situations. This has caused Logan to reconsider our vehicle.

We currently drive a Jetta. It is a 2001, silver, four door great car that we bought in September of 2005. We financed over 5 years - that means we are just at the three year anniversary of our payments. I really like this car. It has served us well and has some great options (heated cloth seats to name the most important). But in the last year and a half we have invested a large chunk of money into it. More money than I expected for a 2001. Just before Logan drove to Regina for Kendra's Wedding he took it in to be serviced - another $700 hit. This past winter we put $1000+ into it (maybe more, we had to take it in 3 times to have it fixed completely), and last spring/summer another $1000. And that is what I can remember off the top of my head. It is running well right now - but for how long.

With safety in mind, and the timing right for the car (I mean it is in working order and repairs are up-to-date) we have started talking about selling the car and leasing a new one.

Ah the Lease vs. Buy debate. After many conversations Logan and I have come to the conclusion that you don't make money on owning a car. After owning it for years you are lucky to break even. Also with older cars you are always wondering when it is going to break down and cost $1000. Not even older cars, ours is 7 years old and costs money every time you turn around. At our age and place in life we are thinking Leasing is the way to go. With a 4 year term we pay the same amount we pay for our loan payment with the protection of a warranty. I think that 4 years is a good time line for us right now too. When the time comes we can decide if the vehicle is still working for us, or if we need to consider something else.

I have done my searching on line (mostly JD Power website).

Today we drove through the auto mall and stopped and Ford to look at the Escape and Edge. And then stopped at Mitsubishi to look at the Outlander. Brochure Image




It was very nice. We really liked it. It has lots of options included, as well as a 10 year warranty, so if we did buy it out at the end it would still be covered. 4 wheel drive, seating for 5 with additional 3rd row seating for two little people (I thought it made sense but the brochure says the 3rd row is not meant for people taller than 160 cm (5') tall or kids in rear or front facing child seats. Don't kids sit in those seats until they are in school. So you have from kindergarten until they reach 5' tall to have people in the back - seems dumb) It was a really neat vehicle and is on the list.

Comfy interior, 6 disc MP3 changer, Blue tooth buttons on the steering wheel.

The seats are really easy fold and tumble flat.

Both the 2nd row (the regular row) and the additional weird 3rd row fold down to create a huge amount of space. The tail gate opens in two places. It opens up in a regular door but the bottom bit sticks up 9"ish. This is meant to protect your bumper if you need to have cargo sticking out the back, it also folds down (you can see the line in the foreground of the photo - which is the inside edge of the bottom bit). The bottom fold down is stable enough to sit on and creates a flat cargo bed.