Oven Troubles....Again

I am having oven troubles....again. Seems me and ovens just don't go together. I posted back in the end of 2008 about those troubles. Well, it seems it's happening again. I was baking the other day when the oven shut off and displayed error P3. I turned the oven off and restarted it and it worked for awhile before displaying the error again. Last time we had trouble it cost $163 for the part. Now, I am wondering, do we fix it again or start shopping? Our stove is 7 years old. So, I've started popping over to Castanet and having a boo at used ovens. I am prepared to use the BBQ and toaster oven over the summer so I have a chance to research and figure out the best course of action. It seems appliances now are made to last such a short time. It used to be I thought extended warranties were a waste of money, now they almost seem like a necessity! My brother and his wife bought all new appliances for their new home and have already had several serviced, multiple times! They are thankful they got the extended warranty, let me tell you! It seems so throw away to have big appliances needing to be replaced in less than 10 years! Any thoughts?

Vehicle repairs and tires

Even a household with one vehicle can be a costly thing. Ours needs tires! Sigh....Tires are an expensive, necessary, safety involved item! Now let me back up to say that part of our monthly spending plan involves saving for vehicle repairs. We set aside $75. I know it's not much,but it's what we can manage so that's the number!

This weekend as we searched the web for tires we could see $800-$1000 would be the minimum. We also needed some new rims and that was going to add close to the same amount again! We took a look at what we had saved...$483. Hubby headed over to Castanet and searched by tire size. He found a set and researched it further. It was a 10 ply which is a good quality light truck tire. The ad said the seller had 8 tires and 4 rims $300. Hubby went to see them and figured there was about 2 years worth of tire wear there. He asked if the guy would take $250, he said yes! Then it was off to OK tire to get them balanced, $55 and then an alignment(the mechanic showed the heavy wear on one of the tires was due to the lack of alignment), which might even stop the shake we experience when travelling 100km! Alignment cost, $85. So the grand total $390! That leaves us $93 and $75 will be added to that this month....Yeah! Gotta love when things fall into place and having a hubby who can take the time to research and shop for vehicle stuff. I know for some used tires is not an option but there is something to be said for creative thinking...what about checking online for sales in your area? What about seeing what coupons Costco might be offering(we have found that the guys at Costco are more than happy to let you know when the tires are going to go on sale!).What about checking your areas entertainment book to see if there's a coupon for tires?

The lessons I have learned?

1. Saving for things is important

2.Save what you can,even if it doesn't seem like enough

3. Think outside the box

What creative ways do you save money on vehicle repairs and tires?