Having spent so much money lately, Kristen and I are really trying to watch our expenses and so far, I think we have done a decent job (albeit has only been for two weeks). I guess time will tell on this one.

Every time I go to Home Depot and walk the aisles, I can think of about ten million different projects that I want to to tackle around the house. One of those many projects I have been eying for over a year now is to replace the porch lights next to the front door of our house. While they are still functional and have an "updated" look to them... they just don't look the same as when they were new. The paint has become bleached in the hot Georgia sun and are no less than twenty shades lighter than the original black powder-coated color they once were. New lights would be a simple project to take on - loosen a couple of bolts, untwist the black/white/ground wires, remove the light, take the new light out of the box, twist the wires and fasten the bolts. Maybe forty five or sixty minutes max.

Well, going back to my story about wanting to save a few extra pennies, Kristen made a comment the other day that we should just repaint the lights. Four hundred dollars for new lights versus six bucks for a can of Rust-Oleum spray paint. I am saving us some money! Maybe a little more time consuming than an hour to hang the new lights - but not too bad. Maybe a couple of hours, right?

Or, so I thought anyway...

After I took the lights off the exterior of the house, I started contemplating how I was going to repaint the lights. Do I tape up the glass panes to keep the paint off or do I take them all out? I like doing things the right way the first time so I opted for the more difficult task of removing the twenty five screws just to get to the freakin' eight panes of glass. And once I removed the glass, I had a heaping pile of metal. I crossed my fingers and prayed [to the Chinese gods that looked over the workers of the sweatshop that originally manufactured the lights in the first place] that I could put back together once painted.

Somehow, after about six hours of sweating, cursing and name calling, Kristen and I managed to put the lights back together. How? I am not sure I really know. But, they look good as new.

You can now call us veterans of penny pinching... well, maybe not... who am I kidding here? We love to spend money. :)