Blow That Dough - 2022

[Teacher Terry]

Don, I hope we both get there).

 

[street]

Going out to see a 44 foot trawler. Single 220 HP diesel with hydraulic bow thruster.

Could be the "next one" -

Well, let us know the verdict and a picture would be nice! Lol

 

[Out of Steam]

That is interesting!
I don't fly and never have, and I doubt I ever will. In fact, I never been in an aircraft. Not afraid of height or anything like that. Just never did and never had a desire to fly. My wife and son have been all over the sky. Lol

I used to enjoy flying, and often flew 8-10 times a year for work, but started getting anxious about it roughly 15 years ago. It started with fear of being confined in a plane while waiting to take off. There were a series of such publicized incidents around that time. I believe it is claustrophobia rather than fear of the plane falling out of the sky, and seemed related to my weight at the time, 280-290 pounds.

With retirement and the pandemic, I haven't been on a plane in about 3 years, and don't think I will have much reason to fly domestically in the future. I'm sure I could take a wide body flight to Europe, especially in Premium Economy (looping back to the Blow that Dough theme), without an issue.

 

[street]

Out of Steam, I was lucky that traveling long distant wasn't something that was a must in my career. Really no need to travel in my job other than some large conferences or some schooling. The schooling I did but drove to closer locations and didn't need to travel long distances to get the same results.

 

[f35phixer]

three months in SW Fla for 6000 for trailer park accommodations. 300 for groceries to start, 100 to play and executive golf course WTFO not worth that, booze..... But I'm warm, we had ~ 10 inch of snow in SOMD, tree toppled over from snow etc etc.

 

[Koolau]

Going out to see a 44 foot trawler. Single 220 HP diesel with hydraulic bow thruster.

Could be the "next one" -

RobbieB we are counting on you to set the standard for 2022 BTD!

 

[RobbieB]

Hehe, thanks!

Already thinking about the next call to the broker and how hard to hit the equities (which are way up now) for the next years fun -

 

[NW-Bound]

Going out to see a 44 foot trawler. Single 220 HP diesel with hydraulic bow thruster.

Could be the "next one" -

Oohh, the boat is getting bigger.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, it's so big it has a boom mast to drop the tender which sits nicely above the aft cabin with the queen size bed -

 

[aja8888]

My new tooth cost is chicken feed in comparison to a 44' boat. I guess I need to step up my game.

 

[NW-Bound]

My new tooth cost is chicken feed in comparison to a 44' boat. I guess I need to step up my game.

Diamond teeth?

 

[Koolau]

My new tooth cost is chicken feed in comparison to a 44' boat. I guess I need to step up my game.

Heh, heh, just don't figure it by weight!

 

[Out of Steam]

Out of Steam, I was lucky that traveling long distant wasn't something that was a must in my career. Really no need to travel in my job other than some large conferences or some schooling. The schooling I did but drove to closer locations and didn't need to travel long distances to get the same results.

The Federal Government and contractors I worked for tended to be against long distance driving for work. We would make trips, such as DC to Raleigh, NC, by plane for distances I would always drive on a personal trip.

Of course, they had to consider the hourly value of having someone in a car during the workday when they could have flown home the previous night.

Of course, my example drive wouldn't have gone well because of the snow closure this week.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/...ded-for-15-hours-on-i-95-in-virginia/2926464/

 

[ElizabethT]

New furniture, $6000 per set/room, x 2 rooms, the most I've ever spent on it.

The first room purchase is a beautifully made, lighter wood coastal bedroom set for us, of which I'm most excited about three slim, felt lined drawers that run along the top width of the dresser I'll be using, for jewelry. I have scads of costume jewelry just waiting to be laid out and organized. And the nightstands have built in USB ports, also nice to haves. The set is American made, out of N. Carolina, thus avoiding the issue with back ordered stock if we'd purchased something made in another country. It was in stock, nicely, and is being delivered today.

The other set is for our dining room. It's from Ethan Allen, so made-to-order here in the US, thus also getting around the issues with international supply chains. It will still be about four months to complete, but that's fine. Something to look forward to. Biggest change will be 'retiring' our current dining room hutch and it's array of displayed china and crystal, and moving to an enclosed half-the-size low buffet cabinet. It's time, and I enjoy staying with the times with regard to home decor, my passion.

Here's a snapshot of the look I'm going for in my home in general, dining room in particular. We can see the ocean from our home, thus my turn toward a lighter, brighter decor:

 

[whatnot]

Beautiful dining room. Very light and airy.

 

[wmc1000]

New carpet was on DW's list - $10k now scheduled for install

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Wow street, never flown! My career was mostly travelling as an engineer and consultant with Big Oil and then my own business. If I had to guess, I would guess that I have flown commercially about a 1,000 flights in 40 years of business and pleasure travel. And I have a friend with a fully aerobatic Citabria and I have flown with him maybe 15 times.

BUT...once I retired, you won't get me on another flight unless forced to. I hate the whole process.

When I had a j*b that required travel, I flew on over 2100 commercial flights in an 11 year span. (Multiple airlines) Now I only fly once a year or so. Need about 35,000 more Delta miles to become a certified "Million Miler". Not that you get much for it anymore...

 

[Dean56]

When I had a j*b that required travel, I flew on over 2100 commercial flights in an 11 year span. (Multiple airlines) Now I only fly once a year or so. Need about 35,000 more Delta miles to become a certified "Million Miler". Not that you get much for it anymore...

You'll get Silver Medallion status for life, which equates to free baggage.

 

[aja8888]

When I had a j*b that required travel, I flew on over 2100 commercial flights in an 11 year span. (Multiple airlines) Now I only fly once a year or so. Need about 35,000 more Delta miles to become a certified "Million Miler". Not that you get much for it anymore...

I'm a million miler on United. When I started flying on business in 1980, I joined all the FF clubs. I had miles on a lot of them but in later years, United was my choice. Million mile club used to be worth something. But I'm done flying so i really don't care about any of this travel stuff.

 

[Koolau]

New furniture, $6000 per set/room, x 2 rooms, the most I've ever spent on it.

The first room purchase is a beautifully made, lighter wood coastal bedroom set for us, of which I'm most excited about three slim, felt lined drawers that run along the top width of the dresser I'll be using, for jewelry. I have scads of costume jewelry just waiting to be laid out and organized. And the nightstands have built in USB ports, also nice to haves. The set is American made, out of N. Carolina, thus avoiding the issue with back ordered stock if we'd purchased something made in another country. It was in stock, nicely, and is being delivered today.

The other set is for our dining room. It's from Ethan Allen, so made-to-order here in the US, thus also getting around the issues with international supply chains. It will still be about four months to complete, but that's fine. Something to look forward to. Biggest change will be 'retiring' our current dining room hutch and it's array of displayed china and crystal, and moving to an enclosed half-the-size low buffet cabinet. It's time, and I enjoy staying with the times with regard to home decor, my passion.

Here's a snapshot of the look I'm going for in my home in general, dining room in particular. We can see the ocean from our home, thus my turn toward a lighter, brighter decor:

We spent about the same amount (in today's dollars) on Ethan Allen back in about 1970 though it was more like $750/room then. All is still in very good condition and is still very functional. YMMV

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

$5600 to replace an asphalt driveway/walkway with concrete at a rental property.

 

[ElizabethT]

We spent about the same amount (in today's dollars) on Ethan Allen back in about 1970 though it was more like $750/room then. All is still in very good condition and is still very functional. YMMV

Thank you for the testimonial. I will say shopping there was a lovely experience. Wonderful customer service.

 

[zippy2020]

Well, we have plans to spend a few chunks! Does that count, LOL?

Last year was a negative BTD. Travel still wasn't in the cards - we like to do weekday, extended driving trips around Northern CA in a sort of 'circuit' - but hotels were closed up and restaurants locked down, for the most part. Since we travel to dine out and try new restaurants/old favs, our 'eat out' category fell from around $8-12K/yr down to a miniscule 2021 <$750.

Did some house stuff in 2021 - our plans to sell/rent out our home and move to rental or senior living went south with the lockdown - so hired out some of those "really should do this anyway before we sell" projects.

One big ticket item - whole house A/C. It may seem odd that living in coastal NorCA needs A/C! And for the first 25 yrs we would have agreed. Seldom gets that hot, and those statewide heat spells only happened maybe 2-3x/yr. But those spells are now happening much more often, and we are miserable when they do - our house gets A LOT of direct sun exposure. Great for our solar, not so wonderful when the house is literally as hot inside (90+degrees) as it is outside!

So we sprang for it, and although we didn't use it much - maybe 6-8x the first year - it was totally worth it.

Biggest jump in overhead was updating our insurance policies. Hadn't looked at it for dog's years and knew we were underinsured, due to the massive jump in RE values. Basically doubled our quake, homeowners, auto, and umbrella limits. Added to the 50% premium increase on our two LTCi policies, we are now around $12+K/annually as a total for all our insurance. An "ouch!" but feel much better about having mitigated our increasing risks.

So far in 2022 we are planning two medium-sized house projects and one large garden outlay that will have to be done in phases, due to drought conditions. In late Dec 2021 we did do a one-nighter down to Monterey/Carmel which we spent about $1200 on (picked up the tab for traveling with another couple).

It was great to get out again, so we are planning to start traveling again in another month or so. The Omicron surge is making everyone nervous so want some clarity before I start making reservations.

I also made one big splurge on myself. I'm at my computer close to 8 hrs/day, and my office chair is ready to be replaced. My current chair is a Herman Miller and it's been wonderful, but it's at least 30 yrs old. We stopped in at a Relax The Back store, local mini-chain I think, which was having a 20% off sale. I blew $1200 on one of their desk chairs, which should be ready for pick-up sometime next month.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Yesterday we came home and my kitchen light was hanging literally by the wires. So I bought a fancy, sparkly new one for my son to install. Got up this morning and my kitchen faucet was leaking big time so bought a new one. These 2 items were one of the few things I didn’t replace when moving in. My son is leaving in 2 weeks so this was perfect timing to get free labor.

 

[Koolau]

We're expecting our bill from the insurance company for our kids' insurance. Last year, we offered them any kind of insurance they wanted as long as it potentially benefited (protected) our grandkids. One chose to continue and enhance their polices we took out when they were children. Another chose a different policy than we had originally provided (but the old policies keep going on cash value) and the third chose disability insurance. Total bill is $1500 each - $4500 total.

What do you gift to someone? Something they won't buy for themselves otherwise. BTD and YMMV both come to mind.