Blow that Dough! - 2018

[Hermit]

We had one from ~2000 but bought a newer on a few years ago from Costco for ~$400. Works great but the battery gave up the ghost... ordered a new one online.... easy peasy.

When I move into my house, I will probably buy a battery and give it another try. I don't have a dog anymore. The problem I had with it was long fur, hair, threads, etc. would get wound around the rotating brush and the bearings that held the brush and would clog up the works. The Roomba included a thread cutting knife that you could use to remove all that stuff, but it was a pain and time consuming to take the thing apart, cut through all the stuff wrapped around the brush and bearings, and put it back together. That is the problem I am not sure has been solved. Have you had problems like that?

 

[Scuba]

When I move into my house, I will probably buy a battery and give it another try. I don't have a dog anymore. The problem I had with it was long fur, hair, threads, etc. would get wound around the rotating brush and the bearings that held the brush and would clog up the works. The Roomba included a thread cutting knife that you could use to remove all that stuff, but it was a pain and time consuming to take the thing apart, cut through all the stuff wrapped around the brush and bearings, and put it back together. That is the problem I am not sure has been solved. Have you had problems like that?

We have a long-haired dog and the newer Roomba and it works like a dream. No issues. Well worth the money.

 

[tmm99]

How long before the roomba no longer functions? A friend of mine replaces his every few years and that's my main reason I haven't purchased one....


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Scuba]

How long before the roomba no longer functions? A friend of mine replaces his every few years and that's my main reason I haven't purchased one....


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

We’ve had ours for 3 years. So far, so good.

 

[pb4uski]

When I move into my house, I will probably buy a battery and give it another try. I don't have a dog anymore. The problem I had with it was long fur, hair, threads, etc. would get wound around the rotating brush and the bearings that held the brush and would clog up the works. The Roomba included a thread cutting knife that you could use to remove all that stuff, but it was a pain and time consuming to take the thing apart, cut through all the stuff wrapped around the brush and bearings, and put it back together. That is the problem I am not sure has been solved. Have you had problems like that?

No, we only have a cat and it works well for us. BTW, the new battery seemed to bring the old girl back to life... she cleans as well as when new.

 

[Aerides]

Question for Roomba fans:

Are they noisy? Could you run it at night if you closed your bedroom door?

If you have a cat, are they fine with it or terrified. (Mine hides under the couch when the lawnmower guy is here.)

 

[harley]

Just as a general warning I'll repeat my Roomba/pet horror story. We had a Roomba about 9-10 years ago. We also had 4 smallish dogs. It worked pretty well, although we had to empty it pretty much after every use (lots of dog hair). The dogs weren't afraid of it and would step out of the way or move to a different part of the house when it ran. However, poor Charlie was getting quite old, nearly 17 years, which for a silky terrier is really getting up there. So one day while we were out, the poor old guy had an accident. Diarrhea. It was unpleasant, but that's part of the reason we had tile floors. They are relatively indestructible. However, add in a Roomba with it's spinning brushes and random wandering tendencies, and we came home to the nastiest Jackson Pollock floor painting imaginable. We had to scrub and disinfect the entire section of the house where the Roomba ran. We also had to disassemble and clean/disinfect the Roomba. It was a nightmare. We put the Roomba away after that until Old Charlie finally left us, and never really started using it regularly again. Eventually when the battery failed we junked it.

So just a word of warning. Technology can be amazing, but in the wrong situation it can create havoc.

 

[googily]

This is where being hard of hearing has its advantages. [emoji16] I sometimes schedule it to run before I get up, and I never hear a thing, since my hearing aids aren't in.

One cat is uninterested, but the other one is both scared and fascinated and follows it around but then scampers if it gets close, then follows it again.

 

[Fleur58]

Screw narrow airline seats! Bought an extra adjacent empty airline seat on 4 domestic flights over 3 hours long that I will take in May and August. I want a wider seat and the armrest when down presses onto my hip! It was still much cheaper to do this than Business Class. The Business class service on these airlines are NOT worth the cost.

 

[Hermit]

I had a new set of Mud Terrain tires installed on my Jeep Wrangler Rubicon yesterday. This is the second set I have put on it so they are getting about 35k miles. Not very good tire mileage, but they work great off road and in snow and mud. Just under $1k for four installed at Costco.

 

[JP.mpls]

I hope Robbie B. approves of this move. I didn't technically blow the dough on myself, but I did blow some dough.


I did something that I've been wanting to do for some time now, but it is also a little messy.


My father and stepmother live on their social security and his small pension. They have a very old home that constantly needs fixing (my brothers and I have done many projects over there). They own this home, they are very frugal, and they are basically happy.


What they don't have is any savings, so larger purchases are very tough to fit into their budget, and they just go without. My father has a very old rusty truck, but it still runs. She has some old rusty high mileage Buick that has been giving them trouble, and I've been wanting to buy them a new or newer car. It would make me happy to do something nice for them, they are two of the most important people in my life, and they would have a reliable and safe car to use every day.


I started mentioning to them a few months ago that they should let me buy them a new car. They are very prideful, and they acted like that was crazy talk. I told them that I could afford to do this, and that it would make me happy to do this.


The Buick broke down again recently, and went to the shop. I started sending her texts of car ads. One or two years old cars with low miles and fairly reasonable prices, and suggested that we go look at them. She agreed to do this.


My sister has a newer Altima that she likes very much. We had her test drive my sister's car, and she really liked it. After driving that old Buick for 10 years, anything would have seemed nice.


I stopped into the Nissan dealer, and was looking around at their used Altimas. Most had 20-40K miles on them for $15K to $20K. The sales guy said they had a few Altimas that the dealer was using to loan out to customers while they did a recall repairs. He had three of these cars left to sell. Anyway he had a well equipped Altima with 3900 miles on it for $16.5K. I thought it was very nice, and at least fairly priced. The sales guy let me drive it over to their house, and I asked them if they liked this one? They drove it around, and said yes, lets get it. Stepmother and I went back the dealer, and I bought them this car. This must be how Robbie B. feels when he just says yes, and spends that dough.


Now the silly part.
I think she feels embarrassed that I bought them a car. I told her we could tell the family a little white lie. That I helped them pick out the car, and I gave them a nice down payment to keep their car payments low. Note: This was my goofy idea.


My goal was to get my father and stepmother into a nice car, not to let everyone know that I could financially do this. I guess I have to get used to the fact that I am FI, and that I'm ready to RE soon. (May 2019 is my target). Observing my life style, home and car, you wouldn't think this about me, but being a stealth FIRE person is a completely different topic.


I would like to hear comments about buying them the car, and please also let me have it on the silly down payment story. Should I just announce I bought it for them if asked? What would you do?


PS: I drive an old 2007 Ford Focus sedan 5-Speed that runs like a top. I really like it. 150K miles, and going strong.


Take care, JP

 

[Moemg]

That was so nice of you ! I would say nothing and just let people assume where the car came from.

 

[aja8888]

Beautiful! There is no better way to blow the dough! If mom won't be mum, maybe she can just say you "helped" with the car and that's it.

 

[REWahoo]

I would say nothing and just let people assume where the car came from.

+1

You can always change the subject if someone asks.

 

[gcgang]

If you can't spend money on those you lov/love you, what good is it?

I wouldn't announce I bought them the car, but if anyone asked, I'd tell them nunya helped get them the car. Nunya? None of your business.

 

[street]

Nothing better then spending some money on others or for a charity knowing you have helped someone. Very nice!

 

[powerplay]

I hope Robbie B. approves of this move. I didn't technically blow the dough on myself, but I did blow some dough.


I did something that I've been wanting to do for some time now, but it is also a little messy.


My father and stepmother live on their social security and his small pension. They have a very old home that constantly needs fixing (my brothers and I have done many projects over there). They own this home, they are very frugal, and they are basically happy.



What they don't have is any savings, so larger purchases are very tough to fit into their budget, and they just go without. My father has a very old rusty truck, but it still runs. She has some old rusty high mileage Buick that has been giving them trouble, and I've been wanting to buy them a new or newer car. It would make me happy to do something nice for them, they are two of the most important people in my life, and they would have a reliable and safe car to use every day.


I started mentioning to them a few months ago that they should let me buy them a new car. They are very prideful, and they acted like that was crazy talk. I told them that I could afford to do this, and that it would make me happy to do this.


The Buick broke down again recently, and went to the shop. I started sending her texts of car ads. One or two years old cars with low miles and fairly reasonable prices, and suggested that we go look at them. She agreed to do this.


My sister has a newer Altima that she likes very much. We had her test drive my sister's car, and she really liked it. After driving that old Buick for 10 years, anything would have seemed nice.


I stopped into the Nissan dealer, and was looking around at their used Altimas. Most had 20-40K miles on them for $15K to $20K. The sales guy said they had a few Altimas that the dealer was using to loan out to customers while they did a recall repairs. He had three of these cars left to sell. Anyway he had a well equipped Altima with 3900 miles on it for $16.5K. I thought it was very nice, and at least fairly priced. The sales guy let me drive it over to their house, and I asked them if they liked this one? They drove it around, and said yes, lets get it. Stepmother and I went back the dealer, and I bought them this car. This must be how Robbie B. feels when he just says yes, and spends that dough.


Now the silly part.
I think she feels embarrassed that I bought them a car. I told her we could tell the family a little white lie. That I helped them pick out the car, and I gave them a nice down payment to keep their car payments low. Note: This was my goofy idea.


My goal was to get my father and stepmother into a nice car, not to let everyone know that I could financially do this. I guess I have to get used to the fact that I am FI, and that I'm ready to RE soon. (May 2019 is my target). Observing my life style, home and car, you wouldn't think this about me, but being a stealth FIRE person is a completely different topic.


I would like to hear comments about buying them the car, and please also let me have it on the silly down payment story. Should I just announce I bought it for them if asked? What would you do?


PS: I drive an old 2007 Ford Focus sedan 5-Speed that runs like a top. I really like it. 150K miles, and going strong.


Take care, JP

I think what you did is wonderful! It's also very much a safety issue for your parents to have a good safe car.

 

[Souschef]

+100! Bless you for doing that.

 

[RobbieB]

I say you done good! You're a good soul -

Yeah, tell the truth if pressed, do whatever the folks want to do. I'm a stealth wealth guy myself, live in a 1400 sq-ft tract house -

 

[GravitySucks]

Bought DM a car and it got me out of buying stuff she wouldn't use, want, or need for the 5 year 0apr loan. It was the best present I ever gave. Kept her safe and low cost transport until her great grand daughter crashed it. Now Mom shouldn't drive anyway so I can't replace it. I did put a paid Uber app on her phone but she won't use it.
Of course DW made sure birthday and Christmas gifts were taken care of for her anyway.[emoji1]

 

[JP.mpls]

I'm surprised that the comments were very favorable. I actually feel good about doing this. I was going to post a few weeks back to get suggestions from this forum on how to accomplish this in a tasteful manner.


I've been thinking about why I want to keep this whole process private. It comes down to this:
- I don't want my father and stepmother feeling bad about it, like they took a handout. It was my idea, not theirs, and I derived great personal pleasure from helping them. I told them several times that it would make me happy.
- My two sisters are the opposite of me financially. Money runs through their fingers like water. That being said, I love my sisters and I don't want them feeling bad, because they are unable to help our father and stepmother in this manner. (They both live nearby them, and do many nice things for them. )



Thanks again for some positive feedback.

 

[JP.mpls]

Now that I've been introduced to Robbie B.'s "Blow that Dough" life philosophy, the money has been flowing through my fingers like water too.


I better watch myself.

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm surprised that the comments were very favorable...

Why? Did you think we were all a bunch of tightwads?

Yes, it can feel good spending money on someone other than oneself.

Quite often it feels even better, if the person you help truly needs something while you feel like having everything you already care to have.

 

[pb4uski]

Question for Roomba fans:

Are they noisy? Could you run it at night if you closed your bedroom door?

If you have a cat, are they fine with it or terrified. (Mine hides under the couch when the lawnmower guy is here.)

A little noisy... I suspect that there are videos of Roombas on Youtube that you could play to get an idea of how noisy they are. I could run it at night with the door closed but DW can't... so we don't. We could probably could run it in another part of the house.

Our cat generally just gets out of dodge and goes to another room when we run it.

 

[pb4uski]

....I would like to hear comments about buying them the car, and please also let me have it on the silly down payment story. Should I just announce I bought it for them if asked? What would you do? ...

Wonderfull thing that you did for your parents.

How they acquired the car is none of anyone's business. Why not just have the story be that you helped them pick it out with no elaboration on how it was financed. If people press about how it was paid for just tell them that it is a rude question and leave it at that.