I'm blogging about a printer...
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Yep, it's happened. I am blogging about a printer. But it's really about more than that. I have been working on this house for three years. I spent more money than I care to admit on flooring, backsplashes, paint and other things. Need a new backsplash? Done. Hate the tile downstairs? Gone. Yet for the last three years I have dealt with a printer that is almost as old as my seven-year-old daughter. It was one of the first wireless printers and for the last few years it has barely worked. But I kept it. Why? Because it worked good enough. Because I had ink stocked up. Because I'm too cheap to buy a new one. Yep, there is the real reason. I will spend thousands of dollars on making my house look good but won't part with $100 to get a printer that actually works the way I need it to? That's just plain crazy.
After I bought the new shelving for the office, I started putting everything in it's place. What I hadn't thought about when I put doors on the bottom section was this:
My big, old printer just didn't fit. The tray at the bottom won't come off and it's got this big thing in the back:
I have no idea what the purpose of this is because the ink cartridges go in the front.
So, thanks to forces (somewhat) beyond my control I was forced to buy a new printer. The GM at my company swears by the Brother printers. I hopped on to OfficeMax.com and looked at what they had. It was my lucky day! They just so happened to be having a Labor Day printer sale! The printer I was looking at was on sale for $40 off. Oh yeah! I placed my order, loaded up the kids and headed to Office Max to pick up the new printer. There's not much more to say other than this. It fits. It works. It was incredibly easy to set up and by golly I love it!
Ok, so I know it seems to silly to have just written a post about getting a new printer, but it's about more than that. I have been able to get so much more accomplished with this printer. I'm not constantly having to reset the wireless connection or replace the ink after a few printing sessions. I don't have to sit and do nothing as the printing process locks up my entire computer. All of those years of dealing with something that worked "good enough" resulted in hours of lost productivity. Sometimes you have to set aside your "frugal" ways and realize that you are losing more in time than you are in actual money. And as far as the old printer, it has found a home at my son's Mother's Day Out program. The church is happy to have it and will get good use out of it. A win-win situation for everyone.
