What we spend our money on

Some things one buys one thinks afterwards: what a total waste of money. We once bought something called a V-slicer from Verimark. The ad made it look as though one could cut paper thin slices of a rotten tomato with the minimum of skill or effort. Turned out it wasn't even good for slicing a Granny Smith. So it sat in the cupboard for oh, so long, and eventually went the way of all useless and superfluous household gadgets - into the granny flat, where it resides still. Another was a plastic basket with large vacuum suckers which one was supposed to attach to the tiles above the bath to hold soap and other things. It wouldn't stay on, even empty. We eventually glued it in place and it still fell off after a week or so. I could go on - mini vacuum cleaners which didn't suck, plastic hubcaps which fell off on the first corner, popcorn makers which didn't pop, a "generic Weber" which didn't "Webe", microwaves which gave up the ghost or rusted out of existence after an indecently short time ... I guess we all have such lists. And yes, I know we should all be better consumers and take the offending item back and get a refund at the least, or report the retailer to Isabel Jones or whoever has taken over from her. Like I have the time and energy to do that. About 10 years ago we installed a 5 by 3m swimming pool. The problem is it gets the south easter full-on. As a result it has always been cold - seldom getting about 20 celsius. OK, that was warm when I was 10 years old. At our age, it is cold. So nobody swam. I threatened to fill it in and grow roses. More of the pool anon.

But on the positive side, once in a while one buys something that actually works. And works well. And makes an impact on one's quality of life. I can think of a few, apart from the obvious - house, car, cell phone, etc.

For years we did without a dishwasher. I even pretended I enjoyed washing the dishes and cutlery manually. Finally we got one. What a pleasure! And they tell me it actually uses less electricity, less water and produces less environmentally unfriendly detergent than the old way. I'm all for it.

For the first 5 years we were together, we had no TV. This was partly because we had no money, but also because we lived in an area where there was no reception, or very poor reception. Then we got one. We even got MNET. And for a while it was good. But the standard of programs on the SABC went from bad to worse, and the price of MNET went from expensive to unconscionable. So we ditched the MNET and gritted our teeth for another 10 years of the state broadcaster, supplemented with "e". Enough said. Essentially we stopped watching. Every once in a while we would have a look at satellite, but always decided it was too expensive until last December when we took the plunge and got the whole tootle. BBC, Geographic, the lot. It has made a huge difference. There is very seldom a time when I can't find at least one program worth watching and normally I have to choose between 2 or more.

So to get back to the pool. A few weeks back we were shopping at the mall and there was this guy promoting solar geysers (water heaters if you're American - no I am not referring to and misspelling geezers). We chatted and it sounded like a good idea given the proposed Eskom tariff hikes and the green issues. So I asked him to drop round a give us a quote. But I also asked him to quote on a solar heating system for the pool. He duly quoted, I accepted and this last week the systems were installed. There is now a contraption on the house roof, which looks like a black plastic lean to, and a gizzmo outside the bathroom which tells us how hot the water in the geyser is. It changes a lot - but it gets as high as 70 Celsius just from the sun some days. When the differential between what is in the tank and what is in the pipes exceeds 4 degrees Celsius, the motor cuts in and pumps water from the latter to the former. Great. Something similar has been installed for the pool. On the roof of the garage, there are 4 sets of small black PVC lattices, and the water passes through them when the pool pump is running. Simple. The temperature in the pool was 18 C on Tuesday. Today it was 26.5C. OK, we have had some hot weather, but that is incredible. And it hasn't cost a cent in electricity - just the installation. We are not only swimming regularly, but staying in. Definitely a good investment.

Today we drive to Belville, some 40km away, and bought a sleeper couch. We saw it a few months back when we bought a cane chair at the same shop. When opened out it is a double bed. Folded it is a four seater couch. It comes with a thick mattress which looks like a futon. We drove 40km with it in the back of our hatchback! Had to assemble it ourselves, but it wasn't difficult. Remains to be seen what the uptake is, but I have my spot booked for tonight! Hope to add it to the second list ("worth the spend") and not the first ("what were we thinking?").