Loosened the purse strings

I am not one who likes to spend a lot of money … mostly because I don’t like to waste what I have. When I need things, I tend to go for the cheapest version I can get away with. My coffee table and tv stand came from KMart. My kitchen table came from Target. My dresser and computer desk came from Walmart. I even got my stereo from Walmart.

There have been times when I’ve actually spent more money, but that was either because I had to or I had tax refund money to use. My couch is actually pretty nice. Don’t remember the name of the place I got it, but it was an actual furniture store. The only real bad thing is that it’s over 4 years old. And for my bed, I did get a nice mattress and box spring. But I skimped on the bed frame … went with the cheapest thing they had … it’s just the metal frame to put the box spring on.

And my most recent spring was my laptop. But it took me forever to save up for it. Bills and groceries and other necessities kept getting in the way. But it did replace my nearly 8 year old desktop (which is still running and will be turned into my media center after I finish removing all the other stuff that it doesn’t need anymore).

Since I got the laptop, there are some accessories that I’ve wanted to get. I already got a wireless optical mouse. But I needed a carrying bag for sure. And now I’m thinking of getting a KVM switch so I can use my monitor with my desktop and my laptop. And the mouse too. Then I could get rid of that corded beast … LOL. Not sure about the keyboard though. I actually don’t mind the one on the laptop. The only beef I have is that there is no number pad. But that’s what you get when you get a 15.4″ laptop … there’s no room for that separate number pad. But I’m getting used to the embedded number pad (if that’s what you call it) on the keyboard. When I do use the keyboard for the laptop, it takes some getting use to again. I was also thinking about getting a cooling pad, but I’m not really sure I need it. That will be the last thing I get, I think.

But the main thing I needed was the laptop bag. I wanted the messenger bag style one. I really don’t like the backpack ones. My work laptop has a backpack. I find it really awkward. I wanted to get one here in town so that I could actually get my hands on it to check it out. If I got it online, all I would have to go by are the pics. I went to Best Buy first. They’ve got crap for bags. Didn’t have much for KVM switches either. They only had one brand and 3 models of that brand. They had very few bags to choose from. So, I was outta there in less than 10 minutes. I went to Office Max next. They only had one KVM switch there. But they did have more bags to choose from. And some were even on sale. I think I spent 15 to 20 minutes looking at them. There was one that just kept calling my name. And it was one that was on sale. I was hoping to get one for around $25. This one was regular priced at $62.49 but was 25% off … so around $46-47. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to spend that much, but I thought about it. I paid over $900 for my laptop. I want a bag that will keep that investment safe. So I got the bag. Now I can’t wait ’til I go somewhere with the lappy so I can use it. This is what I got …

Targus 15.4″ Urban Messenger

Click to enlarge

I think I’m going to get a KVM switch from Dell. I got a $25 coupon from the earlier this week. It was a “thank you” for buying a laptop with us kinda thing. I looked at what they had for KVMs the other day. I was hoping to pay around $25 for one (as I started this post saying … I’m a cheapskate). So with the coupon, that means I could get a pretty nice one if I still go with that. Or maybe one even cheaper. But I really don’t know what to look for … what brand to get … what’s good. I’ll just have to see what they have and then see if I can find some reviews on them. Anyone out there reading this have a KVM? Any pointers on what to look for?