A few days ago, the wife tells me she needs a new sewing machine as the old one finally took a big dump and died.
Like most of us, money is a bit tight but she needs one, however, that wasn't in the budget for Christmas present list I already bought for her.  No doubt she needs it so I had to come up with a way to generate some cash reserve to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deal on the Brother machine she wanted to order late Sunday at the Cyber Monday sale price.   So now all that was left was how to come up with the reserve to pay for it.    
I also needed some 7.62 ammo for my M1A as I was down on my supply.   I was looking to increase my stash by some 560rds, however, purchasing 28 boxes of WWB 7.62 ammo at 75¢ per round + tax would cost $420.00+tax or
$444.36 plus gas or $420.00 on-line plus shipping.   As luck would have it, I had collected 560rds of WCC true once-fired brass that my son's friends, who I took out to our range over the summer, gave me (free brass is good!!).   My costs for the other components (Win 748 powder, Win LR primers, and 147grn Surplus FMJ bullets) worked out to 29¢ per round so my total cost to
handload 560rds of 7.62 was only going to be $162.40.
I told the wife that I could save us over $282.00 on my ammo over buying commercial (which I never do but it keeps her happy) so that we had that much to spend on a new sewing
machine for her.  She was thrilled because that meant that she was able to get a one step fancier version than she'd originally figured on.  Our son got a free Amazon Prime account with his Kindle Fire so we had him
order her new machine last Sunday night with free, two day shipping with the understanding that we'd pay him back before the bill came due at Christmas.  
Anyway, this morning after resizing, decapping, and trimming a batch of the brass on my 650, I ran them through my Super Swage to remove the crimp and then into the tumbler while I processed the next batch.  All told it took me ¾ of an hour to get all 560 pieces of brass prep'd and ready for handloading.  Next I swapped toolheads, poured in the Win 748 powder, loaded up the primer magazines with Winchester LR primers, and pulled out a bag of 147grn FMJ bullets. After adjusting the powder charge weight at 45.7grns and dumping the brass into the casefeeder in a little under 1½ hours I'd wrapped up handloading all 560 cases and now had a 50 cal ammo can almost full of 7.62 ready to go.  All that was left was spending the next 10 minutes cleaning up.  All told, after a late breakfast, I was done just in time for lunch.    

This afternoon, FedEx stops by with her new sewing machine and after
she
got it set up and running she's happy as a clam.  It's got a bunch more
programs, does monogramming, and even has an automatic needle threader
so she's set.  As all you who have
been married awhile know; when the wife is happy everyone is happy so it's a good day today and should be a good night tonight too . . . . .      
So here we are getting ready for dinner.  My wife is a happy girl with her new machine, I got to enjoy my morning handloading some 7.62 to enjoy with my M1A, and best of all I saved enough so that we could afford to get her the machine she wanted without breaking the bank.  All in all it was a great day!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That sounds like a very good day!  
 

Far be it for me to argue with "wife logic".  Sounds like you've got the situation under control.



Every pull of the handle is like money in the bank.

You should start loading 50BMG and then you could save enough to buy a new rifle every couple of weeks !

Merry Christmas!

Sounds pretty win-win to me. I took the wife unit out and she got a new purse the other day that she was drooling over. I came home and ordered powder and primers from Powder Valley. Who said marriage wasnt fun

Brilliant!!!

At 55, and having been married for 33 years to the same wonderful woman.......I will say GREAT JOB SIR!  to all them there youngsters who don't yet know how to make it work, you've given a very good example

Nice, sounds like a wonderful day! I know exactly how bad it can get when the wife's machine goes down. I know my wife's Singer sewing machine better than my Dillon 550. It all pays in the end because she always holds the flash light when I run into one of those situations in life when I need a third hand lol.

Happy wife, happy life.

With all the crap that I buy if my wife wants something, I get it for her.  Its pretty rare that she wants something over $20.00 so it's pretty easy, but I make it my mission to hook her up.

I dont understand your logic but if your both happy good for you!  

And let the people say, "AMEN!"

win win!

Always good to get extra Wife Points!  Never now when you come across a good deal on a press, components or even a new rifle or pistol.

I can totally relate on the sewing machine purchase.  In the last 14 months my wife got these.  Hopefully now she can start up her business and make some money

ETA: My wife is a cheapskate at heart and it almost fell out of my chair when I told her that I thought she should buy the Handi Quilter below and after telling her how much it cost she said....okay in 3 seconds  She lets me buy stuff though even if I don't have the "fun money" for it if at all possible so I figure I paid her back.


This one last week:

+87 for being resourceful

Marriage is about give and take.  I give my wife a spa day and she gives me a Redding Big Boss II.  I send her off for a couple of hours of trail riding and she gives me a few boxes of bullets or a jug of powder  :D

My logic is actually . . . . . . . . well, my post was really more of a tongue in cheek way of justifying my reloading
setup to myself and for once in a while reminding her that it really is a
hobby that more than pays for itself.  Like you, my wife rarely wants much so anything she wants, she gets.  How she's put up with me these 39+ years is still a mystery.   She's always been right at my side no matter what.  Just lucky I guess.



 

now that makes sense, sometimes tongue in cheek gets lost over the internet.  I'm glad you made both things work, and its always nice to keep mama happy

Cool!

My wife put the sewing needle through her finger in home ec, so she does NOT like sewing machines.

She also sees money spent on guns as a form of money in the bank.  "Money in the bank" is her code to live by, so I am golden.  They may all look the same to her, but there seems to be more than she remembers a few years ago.

Well done!

quid pro quo is always a good deal

Nice work Steve.

I need to try some of that voodoo economics on the misses.  

Nothing wrong with that as it is a valuable skill  In all honesty I have found it pretty fun to run my wife's new Handi Quilter.  Any machine that can do 1500-2500 stitches every minute for hundreds of millions of stitches without fail is an awesome piece of engineering.


I have told my wife though that we are now basically even on our hobbies so she can't hold that over me anymore

Oh yes, I can sew.  I've made fishing stuff, patched my favorite hunting shirt and in fact I've got to get my brown jacket out and fix the inside pocket's rip.  Yep, sewing is a useful skill for men as well as the womens.