To know us is to know that we practice debt-free living. Still. Even if I haven't updated that particular subject tab in quite a few months.
So knowing that, let's go back to the end of last week when we got a phone call from a company that resurfaces kitchen cabinets. Let's also flashback to the summer of 2010 when I thought it would be a good idea to take off all our cupboard doors in the hopes of repainting them.
Hope alone doesn't seem to be getting the job done.
So when this phone call came last week just a day after I was putting my linen collection to work as faux cupboard doors - I entertained the possibility of getting them done.
But I told the phone guy in a no nonsense tone that I don't have time in my schedule to let someone shoot the breeze at my kitchen table if we're not even in the same ballpark money wise. Having absolutely no clue how much a job like this would cost, I told him that 1. We would not entertain any form of financing, and to bring it up would be a waste of time on both our parts and 2. Since we would not entertain any form of financing, and since we are capable of painting the cupboards ourselves - it is only time that seems to be the problem, then for it to be even worth it, it has to be less than $1500.
He put me on hold for a few minutes while he talked to his supervisor, then came back on the line and said that wouldn't be a problem at all. I had already given him a count of our cupboard doors and pull-outs.
Interested then in what they had to offer, especially since they said that $1500 would also include a new kitchen counter - we made an appointment. That appointment was today.
Two hours of my very busy day in a very busy week.
The salesman himself was enjoyable. He grew up just a street north of us, appreciated our humor, and wasn't afraid to say what he thought about our choices. I appreciated that.
We selected a color, we selected countertops, we selected some groovy new knobs.
He was also really good about taking a few bucks off our bill to reflect the fact that we'd already taken off the doors, that we'd take out the sink ourselves, and that we'd also reinstall the sink.
I told him to keep telling me as he tallied what we could do ourselves to get the bill down. Because we are capable.
With this in mind he then mentioned that we could also lower our bill a bit if we just resurfaced the front of the pullouts instead of replacing the boxes.
Me: By how much?
Him: By about $2,000
Me: TWO THOUSAND???? HOLD THE PHONE!!! If that alone is going to take the bill down $2,000, what in the world are we looking at as a whole, because the guy on the phone assured me that you could do our kitchen for $1500
Him: FIFTEEN HUNDRED?????? No way! We're looking at an estimate of (looks down and checks his numbers) Sixteen thousand if we don't do the boxes.
Me: SIXTEEN THOUSAND???!!!!
Me: That's Twelve Times the estimate the guy on the phone gave me! (if we did the boxes)
Me: Our home would only list for about $95,000 in this economy, so how in the world does putting $16,000 into kitchen cupboards even make sense??!!
Me: I could go to Habitat for Humanity and get cupboards for way less than that.
Me: SIXTEEN THOUSAND?????!!!!
Husband: Chuckling and shaking his head through it all (I think he enjoys seeing someone else at the receiving end of my rants)
Salesman: Would you be able to afford $300 a month payments?
Me: I was very clear that we wouldn't entertain financing.
Salesman: $250?
Me: If I could afford $250 a month I'd get myself a new van
Salesman: $200???
Me: I raised my left eyebrow and gave him a look.
To his credit, the salesman understood that the phone person made a big error, and in the end he gave us tips on how to relaminate them and paint them ourselves. Said we should be able to do it for under $500.
That's more like it.
Sixteen thousand dollars. Seriously - who pays that? We could head down to Amish country and get some nice custom builts for that, with money left over. I can totally wait until next spring to do them ourselves if it'll save me $15,500.
It's laughable, really. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've told you that we live in a small house. My kitchen ain't big.
But even more laughable is that we have a new golf ball customer out of the deal - he agreed no hard feelings, and kept his order for six golf balls in tact, so our two hours was worth it. (I think I'll let you just imagine how my husband's balls came up in the midst of his sales pitch)
In fact, we're tempted to invite more salesmen over just to see if we can sell them golf balls, for kicks.