Search results

My grandfather was technically my step grandfather, but he was all I ever knew and I loved him as a true grandpa. For those of you with step grandkids, unless they’re much older when you come into their lives, they really do see you as the full deal!

CA. Our home value has gone up by a lot. I was worried last year that given construction costs we would be underinsured. But the majority of the cost is driven by fire risk.

We are definitely the losers so far. Our homeowners insurance alone went from ~4K in 2018 to 8k in 2020 (we switched providers, but similar rates) and this year they’re quoting 13k. One of the only places still insuring homes in our area, so I think we’re going to have to suck it up and pay.

We went on cal-cobra after being on cobra for the maximum period. Note that any dental or optical coverage you may have been receiving through a cobra plan will be dropped. Somehow I missed that and it makes the cal-cobra price not nearly as good. Other that it was pretty much like being on...

Given the availability of low cost providers, that’s remarkable. DH and I both switched to low cost providers and so far it’s been good. For yogurt, it’s amazing easy to make and much less expensive, if you’re inclined.

Topped $100 filling up my tank today. $6.75 for premium at a new to me station. I usually go to Costco and rarely put gas in the tank, so I don’t know if that was unusually expensive or that’s just the new normal here.

Add us to the list of vaxed and boosted with covid. DD picked it up at school and it’s taken the whole family down. DH has been the sickest I’ve ever seen him, despite getting his second booster at the end of April. Both kids down. Thankfully it was the end of school and I’m not working, so...

I just did a total double take. Is your swimming pool costs per week?? We pay less than that in SoCA for the top of the line service offering with a complex pool, spa and fountain! We have a great pool guy who has offered to service our pool for about half the charge if we work directly through...

I bought from Costco. In stock and delivered to my door within 48 hrs. But I was limited on specs. The model I wanted was a month wait and $700 more from apple. I figure the upgrades would have probably bought me an extra two years, so probably not worth the extra $$.

I came in to say dental, since it’s what I forgot when I did my first budget. Other things that are pushing us up: switching costs of moving and getting the new house where we want it, unexpected expenses with kids, and tree costs, as others have mentioned. We pay a landscaper to do most of...

We semi-retired end of last year. Our rate is 3.5%. It would be lower without a fixed rate mortgage that accounts for about 10% of our spend. I think I calculated 3.28%. This is on a 45 year retirement assuming no downsizing.

After purchasing in February, we finally had our new sleep number bed delivered and set up last week. So far, it’s been an adjustment, to say the least. We bought one with an adjustable frame with lots of bells and whistles. That part we love. DH is breathing so much better at night just being...

Meh. This isn’t a gen Z problem, it’s a consumer problem. And given no finance charges on the installment payments, I don’t really see an issue with it. Way better than kids/adults racking up big cc debt at high interest rates like I did.

We bought a sleep number in February. It will be delivered on Friday. It was ridiculously expensive so it better be worth it. We’ve been sleeping on an 11 yr old beauty rest that developed an awful sag maybe 4-5 yrs in. Though I measured it at over an inch, they wouldn’t replace it under...

Is this second training the end or are there more in sight? And what will their lives look like if he actually gets the job he’s training for? I can’t imagine it’s significantly easier. Like others, I’m confused about whether your daughter is home or not. From your post it sounds like three...

We approached lumpy expenses in a couple of categories. Home expenses were the hardest to model as we moved to a new home shortly before pulling the plug. I found lots of estimates like % of home value, etc…, but I think what was most helpful was pulling out all of the major stuff and looking at...

I should also add that saving to address the 5% tail failure rate has the effect of significantly oversaving in most scenarios. In our situation (50s with young kids) we opted to oversave. But ymmv

4% is NOT a SWR to *never* run out of money. It’s the rate that historically has succeeded 95% of the time over a 30 yr period. I think the ‘new’ rate is somewhere above 4%—4.5% iirc. But if you’re not adjusting your spend for SS, that will have a decent impact on portfolio survival. You need...

Female with apparently a totally male brain. I also saw the figure running towards me. I have spent my life working in traditionally male dominated fields, so I’m not surprised. My guess is my DH would be the opposite.

I would have said I had no idea what you were talking about, but as I heard it described, I have a vague recollection of doing this as a kid with dandelions.

Spot on, IME. And we shared an ulma mater and quite possibly a TAM class. But my memory was an o chem class where my score of 38% earned me a B. Many of the STEM schools take this approach. Weed out the ones who don’t really want to be there by crushing souls the first two years. For students...

Not an engineer here, but I did go to an engineer school and took the engineering version of most of the early classes I needed for my degree. I liked the challenge but struggled a LOT with those classes. I suspect if it’s anything like my school, those first two years are filled with the ‘weed...

I took dd there a few months ago and it was $22! She’s six and has long hair that just needed a trim. I was expecting it to be way cheaper.

We’re limited in who we can use because many insurers will not longer insure in our area. We started shopping around when our already expensive home owners insurance doubled in one year. Found much better rates than our independent broker was able to find. We had two companies that were within a...

I am still mostly masking, mainly because it’s just easy for most of what I do. I went to an event in a banquet hall last week with about 200 people and I was one of the only ones masked. My mother is visiting this week, so I’ve been trying to be extra cautious, but I was pretty surprised to be...