this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

Our vacuum cleaner broke about a month ago. We've still been able to use it, it just isn't nearly as efficient as it was before it broke. Yesterday, I threw in the towel and decided it needed to be fixed or replaced ASAP.  We knew how much the needed part would be, but I sought out some alternatives. It was my husband who ended up heading to eBay and finding our exact vacuum cleaner. The auction ended that night and if we won it at a good enough price (even including shipping), it would be less than half of the price of the needed part. I just had to figure out how much we were willing to bid for it.



As I'm sure you all know, eBay can be crazy dangerous when it comes to getting you to spending more than you really want to.  I knew what I wanted to spend, but realized that if it ended up going for just a little bit more than that, I wouldn't be happy. I needed to figure out just how much we really could afford to spend (and, of course, make sure that amount wasn't more the price it would take to just take ours to a repair shop or purchase a new one).  Luckily, it's the end of the month and I knew just how much extra money there was in the budget. We also had a pretty good idea of how much it would cost to repair it. With a few minutes remaining on the auction, I entered in our maximum bid and we won! Now we'll have an extra on hand for the part that we need now and for anything else that should break in the future.