Recently I have been thinking ahead to retirement, getting up when I want, staying up till whenever, freedom. My wife had pointed out a bit of soffit on our house that needed repair inferring that I might want to take care of this since I wasn't doing anything all day anyway. I am smart enough to know better than to say anything to that so off I went to the lumberyard to collect up the needed supplies. What I saw there was very enlightening and I don't mean that in a good way. My soffit repair requires 1/4 inch plywood about 2 feet by 3 feet and some dimensional lumber to frame it in. I figured I would get enough plywood, 3 sheets 4 feet by 8 feet and replace the entire section at one time so that it would appear nice and new after I had painted it. The last time I had any exposure to the price of plywood sheets like the ones I was after they were priced at about $11 each. Today's price was a hair over $40 each. I wisely chose to cut my own dimensional lumber from