The Chair Saver - Update

Back in July of 2013 I wrote this blog entry about The Chair Saver Kit. It has been one of my most popular entries. Unfortunately, shortly after posting that blog I started having problems. Eventually the Chair Saver was no longer helping at all, so I had to abandon it.

My current office chair, which I've had for nine years, started sinking recently. I considered the options and decided to give The Chair Saver another shot. I ordered it earlier in the week and it arrived yesterday. I installed it this morning and so far things are looking good.

The kit has changed since the one I bought in 2013. The original kit consisted of four one inch rings and one half inch ring, allowing adjustments between one half and four and a half inches. The new kit contains only three rings, one each in two inch, one and a half inch, and one inch sizes. The max height works out the same, but  there is a bit less overall flexibility in the adjustments. My chair required the maximum height, though, so that was fine for me. The new kit also seems to be made of strong plastic than the old one, which makes me optimistic.

The chair onto which I installed the kit seems better suited than the last one I tried it on. The plastic cylinder cover on this one was able to be pulled down, exposing the entire cylinder. This made it not only easier to install the rings, but also much easier to securely wrap everything with duct tape once I finished. This was a step I had missed originally the last time, but was recommended for users above a certain weight. By completing this step from the start I am hopeful it will make a difference.

I plan to regularly update this blog entry as time passes to share my perception of the product as I gain experience with it. So far I'm pleased, but the same initially true with my previous use of the product.

The Chair Saver

This isn't normally the type of product that I review, but it actually does fit into the theme of the blog, I promise.

Several months ago I bought a new office chair, because we wanted to move mine to the living room to replace the broken one there. After trying out dozens of chairs, I decided on the one that was most comfortable, and that was suppose to be heavy duty. After a while, however, the cylinder that allows the height adjustment began to fail. I found myself having to get up to re-adjust the height several times each day. As the frequency increased I became more aggravated with it, until finally deciding that I had to do something.

I looked for solutions online, and did find a few suggestions. The common suggestion was to replace the cylinder, which can sometimes cost as much as a new chair, but not in the case of a fairly expensive chair like mine. My concern, though, was that the new cylinder would fail just as quickly as the original one, which was not something I wanted to deal with.

Other DIY solutions required doing things that could damage the cylinder further, or even make it so that it could never be adjusted again. One of those suggestions was to adjust the chair to the desired height, drill a hole through it, and insert a bolt to prevent it from moving. While this should definitely fix the problem, I couldn't bring myself to doing something that would all but guarantee the chair would not be suitable for donating or reselling in the future.

Likewise, I was having a hard time justifying buying a new chair, since the old one still worked fine, aside from the cylinder. Fortunately I found a solution that was priced low enough that I thought it was worth trying. The ChairSaver is an incredibly simple product that promises to work on almost any chair, requiring no tools and less than a minute to install. It seemed gimmicky to me, which normally causes me to lose interest in a product. If it did work, however, it would be a simple, fairly inexpensive, solution to my problem.

Ultimately I decided to order a ChairSaver kit to see for myself if it would work. The kit consists of 5 plastic rings that simply clip around the cylinder. Four of the rings are one inch tall, and the other is one half inch, allowing for heights between one half inch and four and a half inches to be set. Once the desired number of rings are in place, the chair cannot drop below that level, regardless of the state of the cylinder itself.

My chair required three of the one inch rings for my desired height. After installing, which required very little time, as promised, I sat down in the chair and was pleased that it did not sink. It has been a couple of weeks since installing the ChairSaver, and I haven't had to adjust the chair once. The only downside is that the chair now has no give to it, aside from the padding in the seat, so makes it a bit firmer. I had never before noticed how much the cylinder impacted the feel. This is a minor inconvenience, however, and likely would have barely been noticed if not for the fact that I still occasionally get sore from the injury I sustained back in the winter when I fell on ice. Another downside for some is the fact that the chair is no longer easily adjustable. If multiple people share the same chair, and each require a different height, they may find it annoying to remove or install rings to get their desired height. At least adjusting the height is possible, however, unlike with some of the other solutions I saw suggested.

Yes, this post is about a specific product to solve a specific problem. However, the thinking can be applied elsewhere. Just because an item is broken, doesn't mean it has to be thrown out, or reused in a different way. Often items can be repaired for a reasonable price, and even when that isn't possible, you may find that others have developed creative solutions for the very problem you're trying to solve. Throwing an item away should be a last resort, even if the item is broken.

Edit: Within a week of posting this, I started thinking my review was a bit premature. The clips began to separate, so that one was able to slide over another, allowing the chair to lower. Just when I was about to give up, Andrea asked if I had thoroughly read the instructions, which I had not done. it turns out that there were special instructions for user above a certain weight, that I had not followed. The instructions suggested to wrap duct tape around the assembly once the clips were in place, to prevent them from separating. Once I did this, the chair performed well for a couple more weeks, before it happened again. I re-applied duct tape, taking care to do a better job of it this time, and am hopeful that it will hold for longer. Even if I do have to reapply every two weeks, that is preferable to the other options I was facing.

Update: Shortly after the last edit the problem with the Chair Saver became worse. Eventually it was evident that duct tape wasn't going to be sufficient to correct the problem. I suspect this was because I allowed the rings to lose some of their strength by not applying the tape from the start. I gave up and threw the kit in the trash.

I recently had another chair start sinking and decided to try the Chair Saver again, this time applying duct tape when first installing the kit. I have written about the new kit here, and will post updates there as time passes.

Comic Book Conventions and Simple Living

This past weekend I attended the Lexington Comic & Toy Convention with a group of friends. Since then I have been thinking a lot about how attending such a convention fits into my desire to life a more simple lifestyle. For those of you who have never attended this type of event, which I assume is most of you, I'll try to give you a general idea of the environment. Imagine a large convention hall filled with several thousand comic books nerds, sci-fi geeks, and gamers, many of whom are in costume. The aisles of tables feature a combination of artists, media guests, and vendors, selling everything from comic books to t-shirts to movie prop reproductions. At every turn there is something interesting to see, and to tempt a nerd like myself into spending money.

If you're thinking that this doesn't sound like an environment that goes hand in hand with simple living, you'd be right. In fact, for a former collector like myself, visiting such an event can be much like a recovering alcoholic attending the grand opening of a new bar. Ok, maybe it isn't quite that bad, but it is certainly a challenge to attend an event this like this without going home with an armful of unneeded items. In the past I have collected sports cards, comic books, action figures, Hot Wheels, and even autographs. I use to be a huge Star Wars fan, and would have jumped at the chance to meet anyone associated with the films. Things have certainly changed, however. I left the convention having spent money on nothing other than admission and food. I didn't even stand in line for the chance to take a photo with or get an autograph from the multiple Star Wars guests, including the two major guests Billy Dee Williams and Peter Mayhew.

I had intended to pick up a piece of art from one of the independent artists, but didn't see anything that really caught my eye at the convention. Mostly I just enjoyed looking at everything, and seeing some impressive cosplay. Several years ago I expect that I could easily have spent a couple hundred dollars at such an event. I consider my ability to leave the convention empty handed a sign that I've made real progress on my journey. I'm glad that I am able to attend and enjoy these events, rather than feeling that the only way I can avoid falling back into my old habits is by avoiding them completely.

Hi, my name is Jonathan, and I'm a recovering collector....

Trash Pick vs Being a Self-Disposer

Ever since moving here we've been paying $14 per month for trash pickup. I've often wondered if there is a less expensive option, since we generate so little trash. We have, maybe, a dozen bags of trash per week, and those are the kitchen sized bags and are usually only half full. Its not uncommon for us to skip a week because we forgot to take the trash to the road, or simply didn't want to get back out to do it. Unless there is something in the trash with a strong odor, its rarely a problem for us to skip a week.

Recently I've been thinking about just hauling the trash myself, which is referred to as being a "self-disposer" in the county in which we live. My thought was that we could just store the trash for several months, until we had a full load, then take it all at once maybe, every three to four months. The biggest challenge would be preventing odors, but I think that could be achieved by being careful about what went into the trash, and freezing food packaging until time to take the trash out. We actually already freeze a lot of the food packaging, especially if Andrea has bought several packs of chicken that she has put away and it is still several days until trash day.

Once I started doing some research, to determine the feasibility of my plan, I found out that it wasn't going to quite work out the way I had hoped. The county has mandatory trash pickup, although does allow for self-disposers. The fee for being a self-disposer is $12.00, which allows up to 300 pounds of trash to be hauled to the solid waste station. The issue is that, due to the mandatory trash pickup, self-disposers are required to at least visit the station once a month, and pay the fee, which ultimately makes it a monthly fee. Basically, this means that I could save $2 per month by being a self-disposer, which simply isn't worth it. If I could have only hauled trash off once every three months, and paid $12 per trip instead of $42 for trash pick up service for three months, that would have made it worth considering.

Even though I was disappointed to find out that we are required to dispose of our trash monthly, I understand and support the requirement. In the past it has not been uncommon for people in rural parts of the state to dispose of trash in illegal dumps, rather than pay the fee for trash service. Out of the 120 counties in the state, only 20 have a higher rate of poverty than this one, and the poverty rate is 11% higher here than the state average. It is easy to understand why some might choose to dispose of trash illegally in such a poor area, rather than pay $168 per year for a trash service. I'm not saying that I approve of it, because I certainly do not, but I understand that without requiring trash service many people would choose a less expensive or free method of disposal. When I was growing up my Dad usually burned our trash, which is also bad for the environment. Burning of trash is illegal now as well, although I'm not sure how well enforced the law is.

Buying Gravel

This past weekend I bought some gravel to use for covering the walkway to our back porch. Before making the purchase, Andrea called a few places to check on pricing. I was very surprised to see how much pricing varied, based on the quantity of gravel being purchased. Because of that, I thought it would be a good idea to do a post on the topic.

Home Improvement Store
The first place we checked was the home improvement store. We had previously bought gravel there for the drainage ditch that routes water away from the air conditioner. I expected the price to buy high, but had no idea how high until I compared to other sources. At the nearby nationwide home improvement store a bag of gravel, which covers 0.5 cubic ft, costs $3.58. Based on information I found online, a bag weighs, roughly, 50 lbs.

Even though the price is high, there are some benefits to buying from a home improvement store. The first benefit is that, since the gravel are in bags, it is more convenient for people without access to a truck or trailer. Also, if you really only need 0.5 cubic ft, it may not make sense to buy a larger quantity, especially if you have nowhere to store the excess.

Landscaping Supplier
The landscaping supplier, in the same town as the home improvement store, sells gravel in larger quantities. They sell them by the ton, although will also sell smaller quantities, down to half a ton, and maybe even less. Their price, as of this past weekend, was $15.00 per ton. I was told, however, that prices were expected to go up, because the quarry had informed them that they were raising their prices soon.

The obvious benefit to buying from the landscaping supplier, as compared to the home improvement store, is the pricing. It would take approximately 40 bags of gravel to equal a ton, at a total cost of $143.20. In fact, if buying anything more than 2 bags, the landscaping supplier is cheaper, since a half ton can be purchased for $7.50, compared to $7.16 for two bags from the home improvement store.

Another benefit is that the landscaping supplier has several different types and sizes of gravel to choose from. I went with #57 gravel, based on the suggestion of the employee there.

Quarry
The local gravel quarry is, by far, the cheapest place to buy gravel. The only problem is that they require a minimum purchase of 2.5 tons, which costs $20. This works out to $8 per ton, which is significantly cheaper than the price charged by the landscaping supplier. The problem, however, is that its not easy to half 2.5 ton of gravel. In fact, the weight limit on my truck is around 1200 pounds, so I'd be afraid to trying haul much more than half a ton, although some full-sized pickups would be able to haul much more. I could use the trailer, which can safely haul a ton, or maybe ton and a half, but that is the most I could hope to haul with my current equipment.

If buying in bulk, the quarry is clearly the most cost effective place to buy gravel. What cost $20 there, 2.5 ton, would cost $37.50 from the landscaping supplier. They also have, by far, the best selection. I'll likely buy several ton of gravel from them this summer, and have them delivered, for use on the driveway and parking/turning area.

Even though the per ton price at the quarry is cheaper, the minimum purchase requirement means that for smaller quantities, the landscaping supplier may actually be the best option. If one were to use a truck or trailer that was capable of  hauling a full ton, the cost at the quarry would actually be more, as they would still charge for the full 2.5 ton minimum. However, if one could haul 1.5 ton, then the cost at the quarry would be slightly less.

Obviously these prices are going to vary from one area to the next. This information is based on my experience with local suppliers. I think it is safe to say, however, that buying bags of gravel from a home improvement store is always going to be the most expensive option, and is probably only a good idea if you only need one or maybe two bags.

Also, I realize that not everyone is going to have access to a quarry, so that may not even be an option for some of you. I highly suggest, however, that if you are in the market for gravel you check local landscaping suppliers. The one I bought from actually works with someone who can deliver larger quantities, although for me it makes more sense to buy from the quarry in that situation. For anyone not living near a quarry, though, it could be worth asking landscape suppliers if they do have someone can deliver. The charge I was quoted was a $40 delivery fee for up to 5 ton. That might sound like a lot on the surface, since 5 ton of gravel would only cost $75. However, when I factor in the time and gas required to haul them myself, even if I used the trailer and hauled a ton at a time, it starts to seem much more reasonable. Making 5 trips, with the trailer, would require approximately 13.5 gallon of gas, which would most likely cost more than the $40 delivery charge. That isn't even including my time. It would take, at least 6 hours of driving time, not to mention the time it would take to manually unload 5 ton of gravel. I think its pretty clear that, at least in my situation, a $40 delivery fee is more than reasonable.

Digital Media

One of my good friends, who happens to be a writer, recently had his first work published. I've been trying to think of a method by which I could help to promote his work that would be relevant to this blog. Sure, I could have just written a post to promote it because he's my friend, but I wanted the post to be applicable to those interested in simple living, even if they have no interest in my friend's work. It finally dawned on me that this fits in perfectly with a post about digital media in general.

The particular work I am promoting is a comic story entitled Star-crossed, which is part of the Shakespeare Shaken Anthology. This particular story was written by James McGee, with artwork provided by Mark Mullaney. The Shakespeare Shaken Anthology is a collection of comic stories based on the works of William Shakespeare. Star-crossed, specifically, is a modern day vision of how Romeo and Juliet's relationship may have turned out, had they, and their marriage, survived.

The interesting thing here, as it pertains to sustainability, is in the way the stories are being released. The individual stories are being released digitally, in phases. The entire anthology will also be made available in print at a later date. While I plan to purchase a print copy of the anthology, this release approach has allowed me to purchase a digital copy of my friend's story, at a much lower price than if I had bought a digital copy of the entire anthology. For those who want to support his project, or are specifically interested in the story, or one of the others, it works out even better as he/she can simply purchase a digital copy of the desired story(ies). The out of pocket expense to the consumer is less than buying the entire anthology, and the resources used for generating and transporting a digital copy is far less than that of creating and transporting a print copy of the entire anthology.

The same model is used in other media as well, especially the music industry. While I most often like to buy an entire album, I do find that there are situations in which I only really like one or two songs from a given album. In these situations, it is much more cost effective to buy the one or two songs I want, instead of paying for the entire album, of which 80%-90% I really don't care about.

While there are certainly individual exceptions in each industry, most media is being made available digitally. This includes movies, tv shows, music, software, games, books, magazines, and of course, comic books. Each type of digital media has it own advantages and disadvantages. Of course they all share one requirement; they all require some device for (dis)playing the media.

Digital Video

Our consumption of digital video can primarily be divided into two categories: streaming video and downloadable video. We stopped subscribing to a cable tv service around 3 years ago. Streaming video services such as Netflix and Hulu have made giving up cable tv much easier. Not only are we able to watch our favorite tv shows via one of these streaming services, but we have discovered many new shows that we would never have been exposed to otherwise. Previously we were playing approximately $80/month for cable tv. Now we pay $7.99/month for Netflix, and recently began paying $7.99/month for Hulu Plus. Even when you add in our $25/month DVD budget, which we haven't touched all year, we're looking at a savings of nearly $40, or half, of what we were paying before.

There are some inconveniences to relying on streaming video. The first is that you must have a device that will play the content. For a long time we used an old laptop with an S-Video connection to the TV. While this worked it was a bit cumbersome to use. Recently we invested in a Roku LT Streaming Player. While this did require a small investment, it was still less than we were paying for  a single month of cable tv service. Many gaming consoles, and some newer tvs include the ability to stream video, so some people already have everything needed except for the monthly subscriptions.

I actually find that I often prefer streaming video, because of the convenience. I've caught myself watching a movie or tv show via streaming instead of from the DVD that we own. However, we have yet to really embrace downloadable video content. We've tried it a couple of times, but when buying a specific title Andrea and I both prefer purchasing an actual DVD to downloadable copy.

There are cases where purchasing downloadable content has advantages. The obvious advantages are the decrease in resource usage and storage requirements. It is also possible to purchase digital copies of new releases before DVDs are available, and often the price for digital copies is less for new releases as well. DVDs, along with all physical media, offer the ability to buy used, however, which can be a big advantage for some. Even if you do not wish to purchase used, it is sometimes possible to find a physical copy of an older video title cheaper than a digital download of the same.

Music

We are not big music consumers. I like to listen to music while I work, but its not a big part of my life. When I'm driving I tend to listen to NPR, rather than music, so have never been drawn to digital radio, such as SiriusXM. I do, however, find that I prefer digital music, either streaming or downloadable content, to having music on CDs. In fact, when I do purchase a CD the first thing I tend to do is to convert it to MP3 format, so I can access it from multiple devices, including those without cd-rom drives. I've also recently started using one of the cloud services for storing my MP3s and am really liking this method. This allows me to access them from any device with an internet connection, without having to keep my desktop PC where they are stored turned on at all times. I was initially using Amazon Cloud Drive, but they enacted limits that I wasn't happy with so I've switched to Google Play.

Like video, one downside of digital music can be the cost. I've found that I can often find a used copy of an older album cheaper than I can buy the same album in digital format. Lately I've been buying, or trading for, some older used CDs, then converting to MP3 and uploading them to Google Play. For newer albums it sees cheaper to buy the digital copy, which of course has the advantage of less resource usage.

Print Media

I'm not sure how accurate the term print media is, when referring to digital media, but that is likely to be how I'll always think of books, magazines, comics, newspapers, etc. The advantages and disadvantages to consuming digital versions of print media are similar to that of other media types. I have found that, for the most part, I prefer physical print media to digital. I certainly prefer reading a physical book to reading an e-book. I also find that the way in which I browse magazines is more suited to physical magazines than digital copies. I have purchased a few cheap e-books that were not available in print form. I can't ever imagine replacing books with e-books. I do know, however, that some people with extensive collections find that the reduced storage requirements of e-books are a big advantage. I have a friend who has been liquidating his comic book collection and switching to digital comics for this reason.

Ultimately, I think it is clear that digital media is the more environmentally friendly option. The reduced resource usage and transportation requirements are big advantages for digital media. Of course, the downside to digital media is that they require a device for (dis)playing the media, which also requires electricity and often an internet connection. For most people this isn't a problem, but for someone who would not otherwise have internet, or who is trying to minimize electricity use, this probably outweighs the advantages. Personally, while I'm a big fan of certain forms of digital media, I can't see myself ever switching over completely. I just hope that the expansion of digital media doesn't result in libraries and other useful services to become obsolete.

One more thing I would like to add is that digital media provides a fantastic opportunity for artists and content creators. It is no longer necessary to find a publisher for a book, or go through the expense of self-publishing. An e-book can be created with minimal expenses. Musicians no longer have to create demo takes to peddle to radio stations and record labels. A video uploaded to YouTube can often provide more exposure than more traditional methods of getting the music out there. Regardless of the other advantages and disadvantages, I believe that the ability for works to be produced and distributed independent of traditional media publishers is reason enough to support digital media.

Check the Warranty Before Throwing it Out

We rarely make a claim against the warranty of products that we buy. Certainly if we had a failure of a major item, such as a car or refrigerator we would try to get it fixed under warranty, but for smaller items I rarely even think about whether or not its still covered by the manufacturer's warranty. We recently had a situation come up, however, where the item was covered under warranty, and using it saved us enough to cause me to re-think this habit of forgetting about warranties.

Andrea had been using a Cuisinart Blender/Chopper for the past several months to blend my breakfast smoothies. It was working out well, especially since the smoothie could be consumed from the same cup it was mixed in. Unfortunately, though, the blender died while she was making pesto with it one day a few weeks back. Our assumption is that the pesto was too thick, and caused the motor to overheat. I expected that we would be buying a new one soon, but before doing that Andrea decided to contact the manufacturer.

They didn't even ask her when the item was purchased, although it would have been easy to look up since it was purchased online. They gave her instructions on how to ship the item to the service center. We had to cover the cost of shipping, which came to around $9. A couple of weeks after shipping the old blender out, we received a package from Cuisinart. Inside was a complete 15 piece set. We assume the old one was either going to be too difficult or too expensive to repair, so they sent us a new one. Since we had only shipped them the blender itself, we now have 2 sets the cups, lids, and blades, which is fantastic.

Had we not checked on the warranty situation, we would likely have spent $70 to buy a new blender. Its possible that Andrea would have gone with a different model, but since this one was working so well, and since we had cups and blades for it, I think she would have chosen the same one. By making a claim under the warranty, we ended up with a brand new item anyway, at a $60 savings over buying a new one.

To be honest, though, my preference would have been for them to repair the old one. One benefit of repairing instead of replacing broken items is that it results in less resources being used. I hope that they refurbish the old unit, instead of just throwing it into the trash. Unfortunately, however, it seems that our consumer-oriented culture would, in most cases, prefer a new item to repairing a broken one.