What was I waiting for. I should have .... sooner!

[donheff]

You guys see a straight line like that and immediately launch into discussions about Web browsers and personal finance?!?

My first three thoughts were:
Sex.
[-]Drugs.[/-] Beer.
Rock & roll...

Didn't wait. Well, the sex part took a while but not for lack of effort.

 

[Tigger]

You guys see a straight line like that and immediately launch into discussions about Web browsers and personal finance?!?

My first three thoughts were:
Sex.
[-]Drugs.[/-] Beer.
Rock & roll...

Hehe, not bad.

I would like to use this opportunity to mention Richard Branson's article on CNN.com. His related documentary is slated for release tomorrow.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html

 

[ERD50]

Interesting thread - it's a subject that flickers through my brain from time to time.

Some of you have already mentioned auto-bill-pay, rewards CCs and such. Agreed, also chrome/chromium browser. I'll add switching to Linux/Ubuntu/Xubuntu to that (though I still have my DW's Mac in the house as a 'back up' for a few things that only rarely pop up that I can't handle).

Funny thing is, most of the non-internet kinds of things like this, that we really, really appreciated are pretty old now. Some are:

1) Electric Garage Opener - Going from no garage in a townhouse to a garage in a SFH was a step up, having to get out and open a door seemed like nothing. I think it was when DW was pregnant, that it seemed like a good idea. Man, not having to stop the car in a snowy driveway on a pretty steep slope, get out, open , get back in, back up the car to get a running start.... it was great! No going back.

2) A Humidifier attached to the furnace, with automatic humidistat. Dry air in winter can be real problem, but filling a stand-alone humidifier, having to clean it and worry about mold/slime, and then - they never really worked all that well. With the control so close to the source, it was hit-miss. The one on the furnace flows water through a drain, so it is always flushing out build-up when it is on. And the humidistat works near perfectly. Set it and forget it. Glorious! No going back.

3) Touch tone phones!

I guess a few more recent things would be GPS, and for us, VOIP phone. That really cut our bill, and no more worries about which area code we are dialing, etc.

I'm surprised no one mentioned ebook readers, seems like lots of fans here.

-ERD50

 

[Major Tom]

I would like to use this opportunity to mention Richard Branson's article on CNN.com. His related documentary is slated for release tomorrow.
War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure - CNN.com

I used to work for him. It was especially fun when he came round for special events/parties etc.

 

[Tigger]

I would like to use this opportunity to mention Richard Branson's article on CNN.com. His related documentary is slated for release tomorrow.
War on drugs a trillion-dollar failure - CNN.com

The movie is now out and can be viewed for free on YouTube:
Breaking The Taboo - Film - YouTube

 

[Major Tom]

The movie is now out and can be viewed for free on YouTube:
Breaking The Taboo - Film - YouTube

Thanks for this Tigger - will be watching it with my breakfast this morning.

 

[gerrym51]

Fill in the blank for whatever you wish.

For me, it's switching over from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome as my web browser. While surfing with IE, my computer was just limping along and hanging on pages. Now, I can actually surf the web in peace again.

ditto

 

[Lisa99]

Getting away from Ameriprise and self investing. Been away from them from almost two and a half years and the vanguard accts are growing like weeds!

 

[obgyn65]

I should have bought an iPad sooner. I just love it. This is why I plan to get a Surface tablet as soon as it comes out, to try new apps.

Fill in the blank for whatever you wish.

 

[W2R]

I should have arranged a way to awaken to something less raucous than the ~~BLATTT!!!!~~ of a cheap conventional alarm clock, sooner. Being a light sleeper, I pretty much had to peel myself off the ceiling every weekday morning when the alarm rang, all my life.

Now, in retirement, I have an alarm clock that will play soft, gentle birdsongs each morning. It is so nice to start the day peacefully like this. I think I am a nicer person because of it. I always awaken, but had I been worried about that I could have set a conventional alarm clock to ring ten minutes later.

I was given my first alarm clock at age 6, and awakened to a scary alarm each weekday for 58 years, from 1954-2012. At some point I could have at least found one with adjustable volume, if nothing more.

 

[Katsmeow]

I would like to ask you auto-payment fans, if you have a bill that's on a cycle other than monthly, how do you handle that? Do you have one account for ongoing bills and one for other expenses, and transfer a monthly budget amount from "other" to "ongoing"? Or do you put amounts for the non-monthly bills in savings until the bill comes? (It hardly seems worth the bother at today's interest rates.) I think either of these methods could be automated if both accounts were at the same bank. Or do you just leave money in a single checking account for months until the semi-annual or annual bill comes due?

I use YNAB (You Need A Budget) to plan my spending. So once something is budgeted in YNAB it is basically no longer available to be spent in YNAB. So if I know that I am going to being paying a particular bill and I budget for it in YNAB it is "spent" even though it still resides in my bank account until it actually gets paid.

As a practical matter I leave enough to cover a couple of month's bills in my checking account. If the interest from savings was of any significance I might not do that but as it is I don't really stress about it.