tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137389602024-03-26T10:17:12.713-05:00Dataman's - Technology BlogTechnology reviews, ideas for saving money, and insightful thoughts on modern society.Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.comBlogger362125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-19316809636458794452024-03-22T14:30:00.000-05:002024-03-22T14:30:46.655-05:00Going From Medicaid to Medicare<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">If</span> you are under 65 you only need to pass an income test to qualify for Medicaid. Once you turn 65 you need to pass an asset test to continue coverage under Medicaid. An asset test is the total money you have in bank accounts, stocks, bonds, CD's, and retirement accounts. Just before her 65th birthday, my partner received a denial letter for Medicaid. Then she received a letter asking for a list of her assets. Since she only has a checking account, she went to their office and gave them a copy of her last bank statement. Shortly after that she received an approval letter. Then a week later she received a denial letter, and a week after that, a pending approval letter saying they needed her asset information. It became clear to us that Health and Human Services was overwhelmed with medical assistance requests and letters were being automatically sent based on arbitrary deadlines. In total she received six letters alternating between approval and denial within 6 weeks.</p><p>She decided to call her assigned HHS case worker to try and get the status of her health insurance application. The case worker said that she never received her bank statement. She also said that my partner would need to spend down her assets to $3000 to qualify for Medicaid. I looked it up online and it said that after you turn 65 the income limit is $14,820 and the asset limit is $10,000. The $3000 asset limit is for long term care coverage. Prior to age 65, the income limit is $19,391 for an adult without children. So, with that, my partner has no health insurance and will need to apply for Medicare. It would have been nice if they had told her this was going to happen and listed her options. Instead, you have to figure it out on your own. Going down the Medicare rabbit hole also includes deciding when to apply for Social Security. </p><p>We logged into the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov" target="_blank">Social Security website</a>, and it showed that her full retirement age is 66 and 10 months. If she applied for Social Security today at age 65, she would get $689 per month. At her full retirement age in two years, she would get $785. Her income history is sparce, but at least she had the 10 years of earnings needed to qualify. I'm a few years younger than her, so this is a preview to the decisions I will need to make. My estimated benefit at age 67 is $2699. It would be advantageous for me to delay Social Security for as long as possible. But having to wait another 5 1/2 years will be difficult. My taxable income for 2023 was only about $14,000 and my partner had zero income!</p><p>We also discovered that Medicare isn't free. It gets progressively more expensive depending on how many options you add. Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) has no premium, but there is a $1632 deductible. Medicare part B (Medical Insurance) costs $174.70 per month with a one-time $240 deductible and a 20% co-pay after the deductible. Part C & D (Advantage and drug coverage) vary in cost depending on which company you select and which deductible and co-pay options you choose. They do have free Advantage plans, but the deductibles are so high that it isn't really an option. A plan with dental and vision and $3000 deductible costs about $80 per month. We are expecting to pay at least $260 in monthly premiums. This money would need to be deducted from her monthly Social Security payment. That doesn't leave much for living expenses or saving for future needs. </p><p>Since she is divorced, she qualifies for ex-spousal benefits. But it would only be 50% of her ex-husband's full retirement benefit. Either her benefit amount or 50% of her ex-husband's benefit, whichever is greater. For example, if his benefit was $1700 per month, she would be able to get $850 instead of $785. If you are the divorced spouse of a worker who dies, you could get benefits the same as a surviving spouse, provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more. Widows are due between 71 percent (at age 60) and 100 percent (at full retirement age) of what the husband was getting before he died. That goes both ways, if you made more money than your husband, then he might be due a widower’s benefit on your record if you die before he does. It's ironic to know that the Social Security office considers an ex-spouse to be worth more to you after they pass away.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-11743026009986367262024-02-09T19:28:00.000-06:002024-02-09T19:28:03.168-06:00Free Online Tax Filing Options (2024)<p> For the 2023 tax filing season, the <a href="https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/browse-all-offers/" target="_blank">IRS has several free options</a> for anyone who earned less than $79,000 (Adjusted Gross Income). My partner had no earned income in 2023, but they did receive a $260 refund from the State of Minnesota in 2023. It turns out that Minnesota missed the deadline for this to be considered a COVID relief payment. This means that everyone in MN who received the refund will have to claim it as income on their federal taxes. Unfortunately, Turbo Tax and H&R Block do not allow form 1099-MISC under their free version. They want you to upgrade to their paid version in order to complete your taxes. This is going cause a lot of their Minnesota customers to look for other tax filing options.</p><p>Typically, you are not required to file taxes if you are single and earned less than $13,825. But, in order to qualify for medical assistance, it is a good idea to file taxes even if you made less than the minimum. We had been using Turbo Tax for the last several years. But this year, Turbo Tax asked us to upgrade to their paid version after we tried to enter form 1099-MISC. I had heard that the IRS was offering free tax services, so I went to their website to see what was available. I found out that you can't file for free on the IRS website, but they have partnered with several companies that offer free tax services. On the IRS website there is a filter tool that quickly narrows your options. The tool returned 3 companies that met our criteria for filing federal and state taxes. The 3 companies were "Tax Slayer", "FreeTax USA", and "OLT (Online Taxes)". These companies are located in Georgia, Utah, and Missouri. All seem fairly equally capable, but I found more positive reviews for Tax Slayer and FreeTax.</p><p>Because my tax situation is more complicated, I will most likely be using Turbo Tax again this year. I don't have any earned income, but Turbo Tax makes it easy to import all of my investment information. Last year Turbo Tax charged me $158 for using their Online Self-Employed product. It saved me some time, but I don't feel like it was worth it since my adjusted gross income was under the minimum. I didn't have to pay any state or federal taxes, but I didn't get a refund either. I shouldn't have to pay 1.5% of my gross income to file my taxes. Our family has a small trust which also complicates tax time. It costs $200 each year for tax services on the trust, that's in addition to the 1% annual service fee the bank charges. Beneficiaries have to wait until late February for the trust taxes to be completed before they can finish their taxes. Online tax service companies will definitely feel the impact of the IRS's free tax filing options. But not everyone can use a free tax service. In 2020 among 148 million individual tax returns filed, just 4.2 million were filed for free. An estimated 70% of taxpayers are eligible for IRS Free File, but only about 3% used it in 2022. Now that the word is out, the percentage using the free service will surely increase. I wouldn't invest in any of the paid tax service companies as they will likely see 50% of their business disappear in the next year. </p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-5725134626730377412024-02-02T12:47:00.009-06:002024-03-26T10:16:40.724-05:00Whirlpool WRB322DMBM Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdDSEJ_sHet9y4OdnZ1WbrtCVZtxlGuOk6YBXwQJ7sL_933mSuHGbM0IOxcR553sypHphMd4UzGiQS1xhHIlkpDe6uhxQFHwRRieUFqFviSGCZB5XINuHjUZxH6ssk4KBrYrAMrK9MlOW38RVPqkywQyI4MzFV7Kt3bZbgV7oHZoMqX3xSA_Jp/s2880/Fridge_WRB322DMBM_020124.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2880" data-original-width="2160" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdDSEJ_sHet9y4OdnZ1WbrtCVZtxlGuOk6YBXwQJ7sL_933mSuHGbM0IOxcR553sypHphMd4UzGiQS1xhHIlkpDe6uhxQFHwRRieUFqFviSGCZB5XINuHjUZxH6ssk4KBrYrAMrK9MlOW38RVPqkywQyI4MzFV7Kt3bZbgV7oHZoMqX3xSA_Jp/s320/Fridge_WRB322DMBM_020124.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">T</span>his will hopefully be my last post on the topic of refrigerators. I was able to keep my old fridge running for the last month by placing a fan on the compressor. Even with that, it would still overheat every few days, which would require a 2 hour cool down period before it would start working again. I decided to replace my failing 21-year-old Amana ARB2517CLS with a Whirlpool WRB322DMBM. I found this model was readily available at BestBuy, Lowes, and Home Depot. The suggested retail price was $1999, but each store had it discounted by $500. I decided to go with Lowes because they have a store that is within 3 miles of my home. They also had an extra $100 discount on any appliance purchase over $1000. This knocked the price down to $1399, which was a good deal. With shipping, haul away, and tax, the total came to $1606. I will also get a $105 rebate from the local power company, bringing the cost down to $1501. Such a good discount makes me think that this model might be discontinued soon, as it was first available on the market back in 2014, ten years ago.<p></p><p>It took about two weeks for the fridge to show up at the local Lowes store. They called and said they could deliver it 3 days sooner than the estimated date. We scheduled the delivery for Thursday, February 1st. On the morning of the 1st, they called again to say they would be there in 20 minutes. A large freight truck pulled into the driveway and the fun began. I had removed all the shelves prior to their arrival. They (two Hispanic guys) had to remove the doors on the old fridge to get it out of the kitchen. On the new one, they only had to remove the handles. Once it was in the kitchen, I had them move the door hinge to the left. It looked like they had done this many times before. They plugged it in and slid it into place. Total time for the delivery was about one hour. I installed the shelving and lowered the front leveling pads so that the weight was off of the front wheels and gave it a wipe down with stainless steel cleaner on a microfiber cloth. </p><p>The Whirlpool has about 2 cubic feet less storage and is about 2 inches narrower in width. The missing space is equivalent to taking out the chef's drawer that was in the Amana. The Amana had a spot for an ice maker to be installed, but the Whirlpool came with one already installed. I just need to run a water line to the new fridge and turn on the ice maker. I plan on adding an inline water filter when I do that because the fridge doesn't have one. The Whirlpool has LED lights and digital temperature controls. The Amana was rated at 535 kWh per year and the Whirlpool uses 584 kWh of electricity per year. This is most likely because the Whirlpool comes with an ice maker installed. The inside is nice and bright and without the ice maker running the Whirlpool is very quiet compared to the old fridge. The missing storage space should not be a problem because we also own a chest freezer and a beverage cooler. If it lasts for 20 years like the other one, it might be the last refrigerator that I need to buy.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-74113570397574901732024-01-07T11:51:00.002-06:002024-01-07T11:51:53.428-06:00Refrigerator Compressor Repair Update<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb8iGQgYLWINilIX9YzyPOEaDe8y0f1bvC_R3-xSYbxxb-OxqO_eCG5Z-w7Lrw-NMfABLdi8Vn-U7ZfTbf43go1jN9RTo4UVQIqFv9kUd9GnQ2hYlNqxOv5kZzGnGlBoG6b-AYEijHtPGlv5kxpU2BXQ0nLviAbEgR7CqadxrXxYn5iL6p_YE/s1440/Tecumseh_Compressor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb8iGQgYLWINilIX9YzyPOEaDe8y0f1bvC_R3-xSYbxxb-OxqO_eCG5Z-w7Lrw-NMfABLdi8Vn-U7ZfTbf43go1jN9RTo4UVQIqFv9kUd9GnQ2hYlNqxOv5kZzGnGlBoG6b-AYEijHtPGlv5kxpU2BXQ0nLviAbEgR7CqadxrXxYn5iL6p_YE/s320/Tecumseh_Compressor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Update on the Amana Refrigerator post: I took a photo of the compressor and found that it has a Tecumseh compressor. This compressor has been known to have bearing issues. An Embraco compressor is supposed to be better than the Tecumseh. Despite having cleaned the coils under the fridge, the compressor was still overheating. It would run sometimes for several days, but eventually the compressor would fail to start. I tried placing a small fan near the front of the exhaust vent to help cool the compressor. This pushed cool air under the fridge. A compressor gets hot when the coils are dirty, the system is low on refrigerant, or the bearings are not lubricated. The coils have been cleaned, and when the compressor runs, it gets things cold, so something inside the compressor most likely is going bad. The compressor will restart after I unplug the fridge and wait for about an hour. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY5QsTaTum0v8Gr7lJighB8yIHN2yohseKVvkEJdT2B5oZ3BRkRTg1s4TWLDL2Xc3iuubxaw1nQe_V-FDtA9kIVrnFOzKhb6UHA8Uy7va6w2466BnFdWJNOKL5LvS0HFh__QMLiO1gLuq53Yn5rbCSDYWe0pCufGAWBuXFE6dITAUmhJL-wiRI/s1440/Fridge_Fan_Test.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY5QsTaTum0v8Gr7lJighB8yIHN2yohseKVvkEJdT2B5oZ3BRkRTg1s4TWLDL2Xc3iuubxaw1nQe_V-FDtA9kIVrnFOzKhb6UHA8Uy7va6w2466BnFdWJNOKL5LvS0HFh__QMLiO1gLuq53Yn5rbCSDYWe0pCufGAWBuXFE6dITAUmhJL-wiRI/s320/Fridge_Fan_Test.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I could install a fan that blows directly on the compressor. But that may only briefly extend the compressor's life. Before I bought a fan that could be mounted in the back plate, I needed to do a test by placing a fan at the back of the fridge and pointing it at the compressor. I found that this worked better than having the fan at the front exhaust vent. The fan I used had a high and a low speed. The low-speed setting was enough to prevent the compressor from tripping the thermal circuit. The fan needed to be a few inches from the compressor for best results. This proved that installing a fan in the back plate would work. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWbbU19MQP8meJSh5TDcYfJ1LFhHkmOuDWNGnMrCPTMNp7KFKCMKhD3lL-J_RVi4c9y9rfiEV4kba_Wq8AuzRXoU1x-eXwdwFyMaxu-Sliht6RbPmExiLYeCNa8Y8M9MXl-cuG3YS4VWhQA44w4sIKeCXd-VDkFSZUXGA3ERvmgCAOzoZdVFj/s1440/Fridge_Fan_Upgrade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkWbbU19MQP8meJSh5TDcYfJ1LFhHkmOuDWNGnMrCPTMNp7KFKCMKhD3lL-J_RVi4c9y9rfiEV4kba_Wq8AuzRXoU1x-eXwdwFyMaxu-Sliht6RbPmExiLYeCNa8Y8M9MXl-cuG3YS4VWhQA44w4sIKeCXd-VDkFSZUXGA3ERvmgCAOzoZdVFj/s320/Fridge_Fan_Upgrade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I found a moisture resistant 92 x 92 x 38mm 12-volt variable speed fan on Amazon for $20. It came with a speed controller, so that it would be easy to adjust the air flow. Most of the newer refrigerators have cheap cardboard access panels, but the one on mine is made of steel. The fan came with nice long mounting screws and metal guard plates. The fan has dual ball bearings and is rated to last over 6 years. It seems like it was made for this application. As an extra step I also ordered some 25x25mm heat sinks with double sided thermal conductive tape. I had to put a slight bend on the heat sinks because the compressor is round. I was able to do that with a vice and a vice grip plyers. I attached 2 heat sinks on each side of the compressor.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2NyFXjun1EKz3Dq0bwQTzGI3En_dTSbM2E2MUHDP27rALRO3HkEfNSZe4p1AsBf4ngWD5ff1JH5HDivGjAhiDkrTyYaRyWL_TCIeyFBIfeZ8oCZpk7dO2Oac0sKP-BmeHG9q_EnrXECh-FhxlLgu9DSdu4YtR9k655xtdXVGpK8g4HsY5KcQc/s1440/Fridge_Fan_CloseUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2NyFXjun1EKz3Dq0bwQTzGI3En_dTSbM2E2MUHDP27rALRO3HkEfNSZe4p1AsBf4ngWD5ff1JH5HDivGjAhiDkrTyYaRyWL_TCIeyFBIfeZ8oCZpk7dO2Oac0sKP-BmeHG9q_EnrXECh-FhxlLgu9DSdu4YtR9k655xtdXVGpK8g4HsY5KcQc/s320/Fridge_Fan_CloseUp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>This was a last resort type of modification. But the refrigerator has been running for a week without any compressor issues. The only problem is that the fan is louder than I would like. It needs to be set at 1/4 speed to get enough air flow. That's about 45 cfm, which should be around 29 dB. I used a phone app to get a dB reading and it shows 60 dB near the back. I made a noise suppressor out of packing foam and placed it around the fan, but that doesn't seem to help. They do make fans this size that are supposed to make less noise, that is an option. The fan solution is working for now and hopefully will extend the life of the fridge a bit longer.<p></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-72429291747377463032023-12-23T11:33:00.004-06:002024-01-21T22:36:15.086-06:00Xfinity Increases Internet Pricing (2024)<p><span style="font-size: medium;">S</span>tarting in January 2024, Xfinity (Comcast) will be raising their prices again. The 200 Mbps internet plan that I use will be increasing by 24%. Right now, I'm paying $62 per month, and I own the modem and router. If you have Xfinity for cable, phone, or internet, you can expect a similar increase for the services that you use. This has become an annual occurrence with Xfinity. They sent me an email a few weeks ago that said they were giving me a $5 discount for using autopay with a credit card. You can get a $10 discount if you use a bank account instead of a credit card. But I figure the fewer companies that have direct access to my bank account the better. Especially Xfinity who was hacked again in October 2023.</p><p>Xfinity is offering a free subscription to Peacock Premium if you have Platinum status. Normally that would cost $5.99 per month. I signed up for the offer because I'm basically paying for it anyway. With the $5 autopay discount my new monthly bill is $71 per month. That is too much for 200 Mbps with a 1.2 TB data cap and my own equipment. The only option to reduce my monthly bill is to apply for the Affordable Connectivity Program. This is a government program for eligible families to receive a benefit of up to $30 per month applied to the cost of their internet service. To qualify the household income needs to be at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For a 1-person household, the limit is $30,120. For a 2-person household, the limit is $40,880. I just found out that the program will stop accepting new applications and enrollments on February 7, 2024. Funding is expected to last through April 2024, running out completely in May, barring further Congressional appropriations. If the program ends, nearly 23 million households across the country are at risk of losing internet access.</p><p>On December 21st, Xfinity sent me an email saying that I had used 75% of my data for the month. Anyone without unlimited data has a data usage cap of 1.2TB (1200 GB). If you exceed the limit, Xfinity will bill you $10 for every 50GB over the limit. Normally, I don't come close to exceeding the limit. I did download a 90GB game on the Xbox, but that shouldn't have caused the data warning. We do stream a lot of movies on the Amazon Fire TV device, so I started to look at that for clues. In the settings menu under "Data Usage Monitoring" you can find "Monthly Top Data Usage". </p><p>The top two data hogs were the FireTV player and the FireTV system. Data usage was 10x the previous month's data usage while other apps were in a normal range. I recently noticed that the FireTV device was auto playing video in the featured contest section on the home screen. Since the FireTV device is on whenever the TV is on, I thought that this had to be what was causing all of the data usage. In the settings menu under "Featured Content" you can turn off video and audio autoplay. This puts a still image in the featured content area instead of streaming video. The change should help lower the amount of data used by the FireTV player.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-14127792410719370492023-12-14T12:47:00.002-06:002023-12-23T11:33:42.777-06:00Amana ARB2517CSL Refrigerator Repair<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BJ2LXVqsnhybruPHVcaQff4T9LVSM52RUTLSq81d-rxln8Fb8ct84sMQMfX_aIWkt4_wOdDUoys9onNmnbdsq8u_51gsEQdiupCN-QdWOn6uggndtc2MX-pRWCkFOhriPvVwKowoGkPhLbedUvPzVjFytlOv6HO_GXyD2mIlc95yaOW2gy9B/s1440/Amana_ARB2517CSL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_BJ2LXVqsnhybruPHVcaQff4T9LVSM52RUTLSq81d-rxln8Fb8ct84sMQMfX_aIWkt4_wOdDUoys9onNmnbdsq8u_51gsEQdiupCN-QdWOn6uggndtc2MX-pRWCkFOhriPvVwKowoGkPhLbedUvPzVjFytlOv6HO_GXyD2mIlc95yaOW2gy9B/s320/Amana_ARB2517CSL.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">I</span> have an Amana 25 cubic foot refrigerator with a bottom drawer freezer that was manufactured in 2002. Refrigerators manufactured today are only expected to last 10-12 years. As you can see from the photo, this one is in very good condition. About ten years ago, shortly after I moved into the home, the refrigerator stopped working. Back then, I replaced the relay overload start device attached to the compressor to get it working again. A couple of weeks ago, it started having problems cooling. It was making a buzzing sound followed by a click every few minutes. This usually indicates that the start relay has failed.<p></p><p>I went online to order the part but found out that the original part number (W67002783) was no longer available. There were a few places that still had it, but the cost was as high as $50. The replacement part number (W10613606) was only $12 with free shipping, so I ordered one from Amazon. When the new replacement part arrived, it was an exact fit, except the capacitor was smaller in size. I installed it and the compressor wouldn't start. I then attached the old capacitor to the new relay and that worked. But, 24 hours later, it was making the buzzing clicking noise again.</p><p>I went online again and found several YouTube videos that explained how the relay device worked and how to test it. Continuity on the compressor was good and it was cooling the fridge when it did run. The relay has a 3-pin configuration to match the compressor. I checked the continuity on the relay socket and the top pin failed when doing a test to the power socket. When I checked the old relay, the connection was good. So, I attached the old relay with the new capacitor and the compressor started right up. After 24 hours, it started making the buzzing clicking noise again. This time, I noticed that the compressor was much warmer than it should be.</p><p>The cooling coils are on the bottom of this model. I routinely vacuum the front grill when cleaning the kitchen floor. But maybe that wasn't enough. I took the plastic grill off and saw that dust had collected on the cooling coils. I fashioned an old toothbrush to the end of a thin nylon rod and attached a 3-foot x 1/2" diameter hose to a vacuum attachment, then I spent about an hour doing a deep cleaning on the coils. It took some time to get all of the dust removed because there isn't much space under there. I didn't want to use compressed air because dust would have gone everywhere. By now, the compressor had cooled down and the refrigerator and relay had reset. I turned on the power and the compressor started up. After 24 hours, the compressor was much cooler than before the coil cleaning. </p><p>There are many things that can go wrong with a kitchen appliance. But if you have cooling coils under your fridge, they need an annual deep cleaning. It can cost as much $2000 to replace a 25 cubic foot refrigerator. I would most likely have to get a less expensive 21 cubic foot unit as a replacement. None of the common brands that I researched had very good reviews for quality and reliability. I didn't want to spend $1200 for something that isn't as good as what I had. The one thing I learned was that the more features a unit has, the more things there are to fail. I was surprised how much better the fridge runs after the cleaning. Hopefully it will last a few more years.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-5364607915319975502023-11-30T10:20:00.004-06:002023-12-18T10:16:11.782-06:00Struggles of An Intelligent Person<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">I</span> recently saw a YouTube video titled "8 Struggles of a highly intelligent person". I believe that there are many types of intelligence. Some people are good at remembering things, others are able to solve complex math problems with ease, some people are good at building things, and some people are good at art, music, or sports. At a young age, we tend to gravitate toward what is naturally our strongest ability. I also believe that as we develop our intelligence, the area that we spend the most time on becomes our highest area of intelligence. Here are the eight struggles of a highly intelligent person: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>You get bored with small talk. "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt. Highly intelligent people avoid small talk, which can lead to social isolation. </li><li>You are careful with your words. People describe you as reserved or overly serious. In a group setting, you often find it difficult to contribute for fear of saying something few will understand.</li><li>You are socially awkward. People with a higher IQ (intellectual skills) tend to have a lower EQ (social skills).</li><li>You struggle to make good friends. The average person can't relate to a person with high intelligence. The maintaining a relationship is time taken away from intellectual pursuits. </li><li>You don't get out much. Being socially awkward, you prefer to focus on work and education. Because you find crowds socially uncomfortable, you simply avoid them.</li><li>You are overly analytical. This can often lead to paralysis by analysis. You struggle with indecisiveness when you are trying to make an important decision.</li><li>Your mind craves exercise. You prefer activities that engage your mind. You would much rather watch a documentary than a drama or build a puzzle vs. playing a group sport.</li><li>You always feel pressure to succeed. With great intelligence comes great expectations. You must constantly prove your intelligence. There is often a disproportionate fear of failure.</li></ul><div>As I reflect on myself, I can relate to most of these struggles. The only problem is that I would only consider myself to be of average intelligence. In school I achieved average grades in most subjects and below average grades in algebra. I was never successful at sports and my limited musical abilities are only a result of the time that I put into it. But after not being able to progress beyond the basics, I gradually quit spending time on it. Over the years, I worked at various tech jobs, always as a contributor and never in a management role. My greatest achievement was surviving nearly a dozen layoffs over my working years. Now, forced to retired in 2019 at the age of 57, surviving a pandemic and the resulting high inflation, are my latest achievements. </div><div><br /></div><div>The struggles listed above are factors that have limited my ability to gain promotions and greater wealth. I changed jobs only three times after tech school. It felt like more because of company mergers, but my job never changed much after a merger. Only one of my job changes was not the result of a company closing that forced me to look elsewhere for work. For my last job, I sold my house and moved to another State. That was a decision that gave me nine years of my highest income. But again, I was never promoted and stayed longer than I should have. I felt it was probably my last job, so I saved as much money as I could and studied investment strategy. I decided that my days of working for someone else would be over. </div><p></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-90780703100627850752023-11-11T12:31:00.009-06:002023-11-11T12:45:02.427-06:00Shopping at ShopGoodwill.com<p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><b>S</b></span>hopping at a Goodwill store is not what it used to be. In the past it was easy to find good deals. Some people even made money buying items at Goodwill and reselling them online. That has become very difficult because prices at Goodwill have gone up and shipping is much more expensive now. You can still find an item below market price once in a while, but it isn't easy. If you are buying something for yourself, you can still save money vs. buying new, but they have taken all of the profit away from resellers. Even on their online auction site (<a href="https://ShopGoodwill.com">ShopGoodwill.com</a>) it is difficult to get a good deal.</p><p>At times, the Goodwill auction site will not let me connect. If you get a "The request is blocked" error message, you need to delete the ShopGoodwill cookie from your browser. After that, your browser should be able to load the home page. I've seen other technical issues with the auctions, like slow load time and not being able to pay for an item. On one recent auction, my bid was the high bid, but it didn't show that I was the high bidder. I my bid was the same as another bidder. Somehow the bidding system failed, and they ended up cancelling all bids and relisted the item. The item eventually sold for much more than I was willing to pay. This happens a lot. I often lose auctions by one dollar, when someone places a last second bid. I don't like sitting at my computer waiting for the clock to run down before I bid. I decide how much I'm willing to pay and put my bid in a few hours ahead of time. The last thing I want to do is overpay for a used item that is being sold as-is.</p><p>When shopping on the website, I have a set of rules that I follow. The first is to never buy from a Goodwill store that is located in California, Florida, New York, or Washington State. For me, the shipping charge is too high from these locations. Second, is to avoid bidding on items that have a handling fee that is greater than 3 dollars. The only exception would be if they were offering one cent shipping. I mainly bid on video games, so my third rule is to never bid on a game assortment that includes Disney, Just Dance, or old sports games. That may sound weird, but it rules out a lot of assortments. I don't want to play them, and no one wants to buy them. The ones that get a new version every year, like Madden Football, FIFA, NHL, NBA and Call of Duty, are in every assortment. It is rare to find an assortment that does not have one or more of these games. </p><p>There are many ways to search for items on ShopGoodwill.com. My favorite is to enter a keyword into the main search window. That works well if you are looking for a specific brand like "Olympus" or "Logitech". The results will find items in all categories with that keyword in the description. I also use search by category when looking for video games for a specific console. On the advanced search page, you can search specific Goodwill stores that are closer to you or ones that have low handling fees. And, if you are not looking for anything specific, try clicking on the "Newly Listed" link. Items are being added continuously, so you get to see a wide range of items that may be of interest. If you bid on an item, just be prepared for disappointment, because many times items go for more than you think they are worth. </p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-34204477804524273242023-10-30T14:04:00.003-05:002023-10-31T11:10:39.301-05:00Shopping at Walgreens<p> <b>T</b>here is a Walgreens drug store just down the street from us. It is located on the corner of a busy intersection as they are usually found in prime locations in most cities. Walgreens and CVS have been in the news lately for the difficult working conditions being placed on their pharmacists. It is the result of management cutting expenses over the years and understaffing. We have experienced long waits to get prescriptions filled at certain times of the day. The pharmacy at our Walgreens is open from 9 AM till 1:30 PM and 2 PM till 8 PM on weekdays. 4.5 hours in the morning and 6 hours in the evening. The pharmacy is usually busiest at 11 AM and 5 PM. On the surface it sounds like another group of workers complaining about being overworked and under paid. We've seen strikes from teachers, health care workers, delivery drivers, and auto workers succeed in getting management bow to their demands. It remains to be seen if pharmacy workers will be able to improve their working conditions. The retail drug industry has been crushed by opioid lawsuits and has been in cost cutting mode for some time now.</p><p>That is just one of the problems facing Walgreens. They also need to revamp their customer discount system. Someone spends a lot of time placing sale tags on shelves. The discounts are usually 2 for 1 or buy one get one for 50% off. The problem is that the discount is only on select items. It is easy to grab the wrong item, thinking it is on sale, only to find out that it isn't when you check out. On a recent trip to Walgreens, we saw a shelf tag that said buy 1 get 1 free on Lay's potato chips. During checkout we discovered that Ruffel's chips were not part of the deal. So, each bag of chips we had rang up at full price. Our bill was $10 more than we had anticipated. I quickly went back and got one of the Lay's chips that qualified for the deal. We then had the cashier refund both bags we originally paid for. Then we purchased two of the Lay's chips that qualified for the deal. But before we paid for the purchase, we used one of their infamous "On your next purchase" discount coupons that we received from our first purchase. This resulted in an additional savings. They need to get rid of the "next purchase" coupons that print out after you make a purchase and come up with a simple discount system that doesn't cause confusion and wasted time during checkout. That is by far our biggest complaint about Walgreens. The sales tags always seem to be under the wrong item, or someone has put an item back in the wrong location.</p><p>If you're a senior, you can always get 20% off in-store at Walgreens on the first Tuesday of every month with their Seniors Day Discount. Around this time, seniors who are myWalgreens members also get Walgreens coupon codes for 20% off online purchases. These discounts only apply to eligible regular-price products. I have yet to do any shopping at walgreens.com, mainly because we have a store within walking distance. It looks like they have a large number of items with paperless coupons and other site wide discounts. Shipping is free for orders over $35 and free for orders shipped to a store for pickup. Walgreens has numerous distribution centers similar to other large retail stores, so order fulfillment should be fast. I was unable to find information about their return policy on their website. Clicking on "Returns" under "Customer Service" brought up the help menu. I guess someone forgot to test that link. Hopefully their new CEO (Tim Wentworth) will be able to fix things and save them from going under.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-51407433746083270852023-09-22T10:00:00.001-05:002023-09-22T10:01:55.824-05:00Early Covid/Flu Season 2023<p><span style="font-size: large;">W</span>hile driving my girlfriend to urgent care for her bruised foot, I noticed that the Walgreen's parking lot was full. This is unusual for a warm sunny day in mid-September. I thought, there must be a lot of sick people out there to have that many people at Walgreen. When we got to the urgent care, that parking lot was full too. They told my girlfriend that she would have a two hour wait, and that was assuming that nothing more serious came in between now and then. I drove her back home instead of having to sit among the Covid/Flu viruses circulating in the busy waiting area. She has an appointment to see her doctor, but that isn't until the end of the month. </p><p>Meanwhile, I have been suffering from flu-like symptoms for the past 7 days. Knowing that it is extremely difficult to see a doctor is a concern. I don't think the general public is aware of how fast and widespread the Covid/Flu has become. My symptoms started with a 101-degree fever, which lasted for several days. Then a sore throat, followed by a mild cough and runny nose. I did not have a loss of taste or smell. The flavor of some foods was actually enhanced. Fruit tasted sweeter, but salty food was saltier. I felt good enough to do some house cleaning yesterday, but it is easy to get tired and over-heated.</p><p>The government doesn't want to have another pandemic shut down, despite a rapidly spreading virus that rivals the early days of the pandemic's first wave. We will have to fend for ourselves this time because too many people complained about their rights being violated last time. The 2023 booster shot is for last year's strain and was not tested on humans. Despite this, CDC is recommending the booster because that is the best we have come up with after 3 years of research. They have a few treatments, but that doesn't do any good if you can't get in to see a doctor. I see more people wearing masks, so some have gotten the word. On Monday, the government announced that they would be offering free Covid test kits. This is a strong sign that the pandemic is back again for another round.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-9054512723892052572023-08-30T11:50:00.001-05:002023-08-30T11:50:49.440-05:00Dead Tree in 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixD5diNePbh5r4fWrZGZTU-kj30RkscjFAP_UWwJDl_wV66pCF8jmsaj_DVNwfV6xI9-NGy7SR9xS1KQtzuOXkE0iZcab35P_Xw2NZXjJneOu4rZ0I5VkrPLnsapCYabmpfNx5L8_ms6DXCsRcxaTmCCqbfsotTSAOeIhVesinQfhnPCFFOpZy/s1004/Dead_Tree_2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1004" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixD5diNePbh5r4fWrZGZTU-kj30RkscjFAP_UWwJDl_wV66pCF8jmsaj_DVNwfV6xI9-NGy7SR9xS1KQtzuOXkE0iZcab35P_Xw2NZXjJneOu4rZ0I5VkrPLnsapCYabmpfNx5L8_ms6DXCsRcxaTmCCqbfsotTSAOeIhVesinQfhnPCFFOpZy/w400-h265/Dead_Tree_2023.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I have several trees, hedges, bushes, and scrubs on my property that require constant maintenance. I usually don't do much with the trees, which consist of a small Birch, an Elm, two Maples, and a couple Spruce trees. There are also three 20-foot-tall Arborvitaes along one side of the house, which need to be top trimmed, but that is a topic for another post. <p></p><p>The photo shows how one of my Spruce trees looked ten years ago and how it looks today. I noticed it starting to drop needles about a year ago. I checked online and found that it is most likely something called Rhizosphaera needle cast, a fungal disease of spruce trees that causes needles to turn brown and fall off. It can occur in trees stressed from drought, poor planting practices or other factors. It has been fairly dry here the last few years, with last winter being unusually harsh. I'm afraid I may have contributed one of the "other factors" by spraying Round Up near the tree in an attempt to eliminate poison ivy from my yard. </p><p>There were also a couple of evergreen shrubs that turned brown this spring that also may have been exposed to Round Up weed killer. I find it unlikely that a mature tree could be killed by weed killer, but it may have contributed to its demise if it was already under environmental stress. I tried homemade weed killers made from salt and vinegar, but that didn't seem to work very well. When you get a poison ivy like rash three years in a row, every time you work in the yard, you will try anything to eliminate the source. Once it gets on your clothes, you pretty much have to throw them out, or risk getting another rash.</p><p>I trimmed most of the dead branches at the base, but at this point, I don't think the tree can be saved. It is in a row with six other Spruce trees which serve as a noise break and privacy fence at the back of the lot. The city may notice it and ask me to have it removed. I don't know if this can spread to the other trees or if the weed killer was the primary cause. Regardless, it will have to be removed before long. I learned today that the annual yard waste drop-off location will be free again this year during September and October. Every year I generate a pile of branches from pruning. With residential burn restrictions in the city, this is my only chance to get rid of the brush pile.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-50887834984116166912023-07-25T10:22:00.004-05:002023-07-25T10:27:27.646-05:00Kobalt 6-Amp Corded Reciprocating Saw Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgl2uwNXb_vHYwZzCPW2vaddphu8IpKC8a5y5k5b06qM3L2-nRI-F8A7-2UqgGtcSJTLh-v_ufNis_MZyY8XnVtcqztMiQ2UDXSWc7z-UMfoDEX_4UBUmdFGek4iITk5B1b-MVPnFzzqLBubxKaNsVju3DKpTKAZALq13BUCcDfzNctTDyPZi/s2880/20230723_142439.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="2880" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsgl2uwNXb_vHYwZzCPW2vaddphu8IpKC8a5y5k5b06qM3L2-nRI-F8A7-2UqgGtcSJTLh-v_ufNis_MZyY8XnVtcqztMiQ2UDXSWc7z-UMfoDEX_4UBUmdFGek4iITk5B1b-MVPnFzzqLBubxKaNsVju3DKpTKAZALq13BUCcDfzNctTDyPZi/s320/20230723_142439.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The Kobalt 6-Amp variable speed corded reciprocating saw features a tool-less clamp and a soft-grip barrel and handle. Kobalt is a tool brand most commonly found at Lowes home centers. I've had this tool on my list for a while now and recently found one in like-new condition at Goodwill. I paid about $34 for it with shipping. Most people these days are looking for cordless power tools. And this one is mainly for light duty use. I saw several being sold on Ebay in non-working condition, so I expect the life span to depend on how much use it gets.<p></p><p>I got a case and one blade with it. The blade turned out to be a little dull, so I ordered a couple new blades. I plan to use it for removing dead shrubs and surface tree roots from the yard. It will also come in handy if I need to cut a board or two. The tool is one of the smallest reciprocating saws you can get, but still weighs in at 4.8 Lbs. The tool-less blade clamp makes it easy to remove the blade for storage. It has an orbital action switch, but I don't know how useful that will be. 6 amps is on the low end for power although the blade moves at 3500 strokes per minute when you give it full trigger. When you buy it new from a retailer, it comes with a 5-year limited warranty. Seventy seven percent of buyers gave it 5 stars and the others mostly complain about it not having enough power or the non-traditional design. You can get this model at Lowes.com for $59 until Aug. 4th, 2023. That is a $20 discount off the regular price. The most popular Kobalt reciprocating saw at Lowes is the Kobalt 24-volt Max Variable Speed Brushless Cordless Reciprocating Saw, which sells for $129.</p><p>This would have helped with this year's deck refinishing project. I had replaced a few boards and repainted the deck in 2022, but the deck needed another coat of paint this year. I replaced a couple more deck boards and gave it a coat of Sherwin Williams SuperDeck solid color stain. I prefer the SuperDeck stain over the Cabot stain that I used last year. Plus, the SuperDeck stain was on sale for 35% off. Hopefully it will hold up to winter better than the Cabot stain. Although, I only put on one coat of the Cabot stain. The SuperDeck stain shown here is Cabin Brown. It is a nice neutral color that looks a lot like composite deck board in this photo. Now the railing color doesn't match. Maybe next year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiluyQdqgAflKJjLOSYuqRo6q_V0DxzwsqB68diLUJHdMu2QGVFlaLpT2PIGIwECULE0WL3MOrIK-JY3FPzPqf783QlFMBt3J6wPrcoq04lLrMUX3Bnrbg8q-XmyIDjmkH2-08Iqb83WHpFyIQzBkJcfvstVS_7HY__hdP3SNpIjht7ikdwkgZY/s2880/20230703_164532.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="2880" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiluyQdqgAflKJjLOSYuqRo6q_V0DxzwsqB68diLUJHdMu2QGVFlaLpT2PIGIwECULE0WL3MOrIK-JY3FPzPqf783QlFMBt3J6wPrcoq04lLrMUX3Bnrbg8q-XmyIDjmkH2-08Iqb83WHpFyIQzBkJcfvstVS_7HY__hdP3SNpIjht7ikdwkgZY/w462-h346/20230703_164532.jpg" width="462" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-10511947817987939972023-06-03T11:33:00.003-05:002023-06-03T11:33:49.325-05:00Fiskars 4-Claw Stand Up Weed Puller<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4LQTeJUyip9KkkeDOZcW0ti4jmdysRKbG4c65l9XrgoE-fyCyvge8rgu__AzBHXwqmwElkCpGngdV3z-6Krd6Yn1vv9PFWB0zVxcYuLfAd6TAR1cEkVBanLNcTeZkC0s2uz55p51F_i16mXw_j4Tz88AKm5KdrJWsyYgohPe-PpfFhEuKg/s970/Fiskars_Deluxe_Weed_Puller.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="970" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4LQTeJUyip9KkkeDOZcW0ti4jmdysRKbG4c65l9XrgoE-fyCyvge8rgu__AzBHXwqmwElkCpGngdV3z-6Krd6Yn1vv9PFWB0zVxcYuLfAd6TAR1cEkVBanLNcTeZkC0s2uz55p51F_i16mXw_j4Tz88AKm5KdrJWsyYgohPe-PpfFhEuKg/w400-h124/Fiskars_Deluxe_Weed_Puller.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> The weed situation in my yard seems to get worse every year. When I first bought the house 12 years ago, the lawn looked amazing. But in the past few years, dandelions have taken over. I tried Scott's turf builder triple action which is a granular weed and feed product. It helped a little, but chemical products are expensive and not good for the environment. I have a neighbor on one side that has his yard treated by one of those professional lawn care companies. On the other side, is a neighbor who does little to their yard other than mow once a month. Over time, dandelions from that neighbor's yard have migrated into my yard. This year I decided to see if I could make a dent in my dandelion population.<p></p><p>The first thing I did was got a couple of buckets, one to sit on and one to put dandelions in. I started in the backyard and used a garden trowel to dig the dandelions out by the root. The backyard wasn't as bad as the front. I wanted to start in the back so the neighbors wouldn't see me sitting on a bucket for hours on end. I managed to get the back done but broke my garden trowel in the process. The neighbor who used the professional lawn treatment, saw me pulling weeds one day and let me use his weed pulling tool. It was one with a long wooden handle. It worked well, but I was afraid I was going to break it. I looked online and found several long-handled weed pullers. After some consideration, I decided to get the Fiskars 4-Claw deluxe weed puller. They call it deluxe because they also have a 3-Claw version. I wasn't crazy about the plastic construction, but I have a Fiskars extendable power-stroke clipper that has served me well over the years.</p><p>The Fiskars weed puller is easy to use. You just center the tool over the dandelion, push down, and pull the handle toward the foot platform, and the weed come out. There is an ejection mechanism that releases the weed once it is out of the ground. I find that I still need to bend over to get the dirt off the root and try to fill the hole left behind. The handle is 39" long, which is kind of short if you are over 6 foot tall. So far it is working fine. The only problem is that it takes about an hour to clear a 5' x 10' patch of ground. I can fill a grocery bag with dandelions in just that small of an area. That should give you an idea of how bad my dandelion problem is. Some dandelions are so tough that they squeal when you pull them out. I assume that is the tap root coming loose. I have starting work on the front yard where the dandelions are the worst. The tool makes it easier, but progress is slow. Once the yard is complete, the tool will make maintaining a dandelion free yard a simple task. That's assuming the tool doesn't break on me before the job is done. You can find the Fiskars 4-Claw deluxe weed puller on Amazon for $47.53 or as low as $40 from other garden supply stores. </p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-61405804939275094542023-01-16T13:40:00.000-06:002023-01-16T13:45:14.355-06:00The Luggage Dilemma<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvop5Of2RpQz1NA8gwyJYRB1LGbHKcjEEWZuIpddUZOgpjdyLCUcRkNHA5oGbTnG6d2WvYrWkhemV5yW4rZfLIwtkCchXrEqmD2HDmLy8yaUwf-9oJ7hB6DKiuE3lgzmZWpKNn7AfnlTrrq33ShWHFkrCuns08-fdYlQCz4JlDRYoAOnGXA/s1600/Goodwill_Luggage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvvop5Of2RpQz1NA8gwyJYRB1LGbHKcjEEWZuIpddUZOgpjdyLCUcRkNHA5oGbTnG6d2WvYrWkhemV5yW4rZfLIwtkCchXrEqmD2HDmLy8yaUwf-9oJ7hB6DKiuE3lgzmZWpKNn7AfnlTrrq33ShWHFkrCuns08-fdYlQCz4JlDRYoAOnGXA/w150-h200/Goodwill_Luggage.jpg" width="150" /></a></div> Trying to save money can sometimes backfire, especially when traveling by air. My partner wanted a larger check-in bag for an upcoming trip. She was looking on Amazon and was about to spend over $100 on a new piece of luggage. I showed her several options on shopgoodwill.com and she found one that she liked. I put the item on my favorites list. Toward the end of the auction there was only one bid. I placed a bid for $11 and won. With shipping and tax, the luggage was only $23.<p></p><p>Goodwill had listed the size as 17L x 10W x 32H. When the luggage arrived, it looked bigger than I expected. Not having taken a commercial flight in a while, I decided to look up the limits on check-in baggage size and weight. The size limit is 158cm (62 in.) and the weight limit is 50 Lbs. for most airlines. The size is calculated by adding the L + W + H. Goodwill's size description comes to 59. Unfortunately, the measurements need to be from the widest point and include the handles and wheels. Goodwill must have measured from the top, which is the narrowest point. My measurements at the bottom were 21L x 12W x 33H, which adds up to 66, which is technically over the size limit.</p><p>I tried to find the manufacturer's specifications, but I didn't have any luck. In 1993, American Tourister was acquired by Samsonite. In 2009, American Tourister was acquired by Astrum International, which also owns Samsonite. I'm not sure how old the luggage is but it must have been discontinued years ago. There are luggage manufacturers that cheat on the size. So, I searched online to see if anyone had issues with over-sized luggage. Some responses indicated that the weight limit was more important and that being a few inches over was not an issue. But more often, responses said that the limit is the limit, and you risk getting your luggage flagged as over-sized.</p><p>The penalty (fee) for checking over-sized luggage is $200 per bag, each way. That is enough to scare most travelers into compliance. You can buy a quality brand-new set of luggage with one over-size baggage fee. Which leads to the dilemma: Do we take a chance with the Goodwill luggage? It would be fine if you were traveling by car. But the risk of having your luggage flagged as over-sized is too great. No wonder no one was bidding on the larger luggage auctions. The employees that write the descriptions for Goodwill auctions often don't have a clue about the item they are describing. Items can't be returned because they are sold As Is. Even if it could be returned the shipping fee would exceed the price of the item. I may try to sell it on Ebay, save it for a future road trip, or donate it back to Goodwill.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-67060241575334721372023-01-02T11:48:00.004-06:002023-01-02T11:48:54.978-06:00Fire TV Stick 4K Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RSYlXLm8ohX4tmSdX74tREmaVeOLJi5oDEiHh_6gDe-yyvv7H1m-akQ176iNLRUihbL6ySi5Ky0D0LtLgxGbk4UQTVBb03tFuUVCjizb4eG7asQCnKtmEgHrgaicd5F6r_81_Ki6FR0iNe3jiZJv4IKmxbPntgP0wjJtN76sWFzqljbZdg/s768/FireTV-4K.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="768" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0RSYlXLm8ohX4tmSdX74tREmaVeOLJi5oDEiHh_6gDe-yyvv7H1m-akQ176iNLRUihbL6ySi5Ky0D0LtLgxGbk4UQTVBb03tFuUVCjizb4eG7asQCnKtmEgHrgaicd5F6r_81_Ki6FR0iNe3jiZJv4IKmxbPntgP0wjJtN76sWFzqljbZdg/w315-h221/FireTV-4K.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>Back in 2019, I was informed that my Roku 2 HD model 3000x would no longer receive software updates. I took advantage of a discount offer and upgraded to the Roku Express+. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and I was starting to become disappointed with the performance of the Express+. The internet connection would always show a poor signal, streaming video would become out of sync, and the device would warn about overheating. I have been a Roku user for quite a while at this point and was kind of in limbo about what to do next. I knew there were other options, but I wasn't sure about changing to a different streaming device.<p></p><p>Fortunately, someone made that decision easier by giving us an Amazon Firestick 4K device for Christmas. It may not be fair to compare a Roku device from 2019 to a Firestick from 2022, but here are the specifications of both:</p><p>Firetv Stick 4K (Model AFTMM)</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>MediaTek Quad-Core 1.7 GHz</li><li>1.5 GB DDR4 RAM</li><li>8 GB Storage</li><li>Wi-Fi 5: 802.11 b/g/n/ac</li><li>4K 3840 × 2160 @ 60fps</li><li>Alexa Compatible</li></ul>Roku Express+ (Model 3910X)<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>ARM Cortex A53 Two-Core 900 MHz</li><li>512 MB RAM</li><li>256 MB Storage</li><li>802.11bgn single-band wireless</li><li>1080p HD with up-scaling from 720p</li><li>No Voice controls</li></ul>The specs show that the Firetv is far superior to the Roku Express in all aspects. I decided to install the Firetv in place of the Roku on our Samsung 55" UHD 4K Flat Smart TV. The installation was fairly easy except for the warning message about insufficient power from the USB port on the TV. I took a look at the power adapter, and it said 5V@1 Amp. I made sure the USB port on the TV was the same and ignored the warning message. The menu system on the Firetv feels a lot like Amazon Prime. It took about 4 hours to adjust the settings and install all of our streaming apps. By then I was starting to get used to the menu system. The main thing is that the Firetv was able to make a good connection with our 5 GHz wifi band. With the improved performance, it is more enjoyable watching streaming content. For the month of December, we used about 700 GB of data. The 100 mbps limit I set on the router is working and there is no noticeable impact to streaming quality. <p></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-70159521502281218492022-12-09T13:41:00.005-06:002024-01-21T22:36:35.552-06:00Xfinity Increases Internet Pricing (2023)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDarUdqoMyMSNEEjPqaT979jgzF8Sgf1IMiTz2bWm82icT8-VbIlSIi3qVUfq6E1-YxGSlZUNgatAeayu61VqOKamHowcrQS9_JXGD7HBL-7JFMyUa3Kj0cS3nEN29lC8zwujoEq6zDYlJ-SldnF8G4Z_XMRGLbUHHtkVJhmP9LN30n227Q/s624/Comcast-Xfinity-Long-Logo-624x117.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="624" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDarUdqoMyMSNEEjPqaT979jgzF8Sgf1IMiTz2bWm82icT8-VbIlSIi3qVUfq6E1-YxGSlZUNgatAeayu61VqOKamHowcrQS9_JXGD7HBL-7JFMyUa3Kj0cS3nEN29lC8zwujoEq6zDYlJ-SldnF8G4Z_XMRGLbUHHtkVJhmP9LN30n227Q/s320/Comcast-Xfinity-Long-Logo-624x117.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Well, it didn't take long for Xfinity to announce a 2023 price increase on Internet. Just one month after bumping the speed up on their Internet service, they are raising the price. Here are the new 2023 plans:<p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Connect: (75 Mbps) Old $60 - New $61</li><li>Connect More: (200 Mbps) Old $70 - New $73</li><li>Fast: (400 Mbps) Old $80 - New $83</li><li>Superfast: (800 Mbps) Old $90 - New $93</li><li>Gigabit: (1000 Mbps) Old $100 - New $103</li><li>Gigabit Extra: (1200 Mbps) Old $110 - New $113</li></ul><div>Performance Select (My plan) isn't on the list anymore. Since the speed is now 200 Mbps, I guess they now call it "Connect More". They seem to change the plan names every year, depending on who is in charge of their marketing department. My December 2022 statement says that the price of my plan will increase by $4, from $58 to $62. That is $11 less than the new price for the "Connect More" plan.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another confusing thing is when you try to change your plan, the Xfinity website shows discounts for new customers. For example, the "Connect" plan has a price of $24.99 and the "Connect More" plan has a price of $39.99. The details say: "Offer ends 12/21/2022. Limited time offer. Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. New residential customers only." Why am I being show this if I am an existing customer? The discounts last for 24 months, then increases to the full price. $62 for 200 Mbps is a good deal if that is now the price for 75 Mbps. But it wouldn't surprise me if my bill went to $73 at some point.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just as I suspected, last month was a challenge to stay under the 1200 GB download limit. We had to reduce our video streaming time during the last few days of our billing cycle. With the 200 Mbps speed, streaming apps are using HD quality because they no longer have a slow speed to deal with. I may have to restrict the speed on the router for the smart TV. That would hopefully allow other devices to use the higher speed and we wouldn't have to worry about the monthly download limit as much.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even the discount for paperless billing and auto-pay is changing from $10 to $5. I checked my account settings and noticed that I don't have those settings activated. I had been getting both an email and a paper copy of the bill, but I plan on changing to paperless and auto-pay for next month's bill. Hopefully, I can get the $5 discount which would bring my monthly bill down to $57. </div><p></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-38748498737228978722022-11-03T10:58:00.001-05:002022-11-03T10:58:27.619-05:00Xfinity Increases Internet Speeds<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwHWG2m6C5bK87GUmqAvHeLBAVFqY3ROqyqbLBy22JniOhczGNkCQ6c13GBgbimyiNH3pxJ_Tz8Tn7_XWXbgRoJCsS3ngzvLmApRg0HKVpyS69iN8VkmrEIsby3huP_5rAo72mGOoQlj_C0Pk4x2iRvDu8GXd3GyfV-_xDpkD8Z_rJF-7Bw/s320/Linksys_EA6350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="320" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwHWG2m6C5bK87GUmqAvHeLBAVFqY3ROqyqbLBy22JniOhczGNkCQ6c13GBgbimyiNH3pxJ_Tz8Tn7_XWXbgRoJCsS3ngzvLmApRg0HKVpyS69iN8VkmrEIsby3huP_5rAo72mGOoQlj_C0Pk4x2iRvDu8GXd3GyfV-_xDpkD8Z_rJF-7Bw/s1600/Linksys_EA6350.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> A few weeks ago, I received a text message from Xfinity (Comcast) which said that they had doubled my Internet speed from 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps. It has been 3 years since I made a post about upgrading to the 100 Mbps speed and how I had to adjust the settings on my Linksys EA6350 AC1200+ Dual-Band router. The speed increase was a nice surprise. It also got me thinking about all of the devices on my home network and what type of connection speeds they were getting.<p></p><p>My router supports the following connection protocals:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>802.11G - 54 Mbps @ 2.4 GHz</li><li>802.11N - 450 Mbps @ 2.4 or 5 GHz</li><li>802.11AC - 1200 Mbps @ 5 GHz</li></ul>In the real world you might get half of these advertised speeds. It depends on a lot of factors, such as distance and router configuration. There are 9 devices in my home that connect to the router. Two computers, two smart TV's, two cell phones, an Ipad, the Alexa, and the Roku box. One of the computers was using an older Hawking wireless-G USB adapter. A speed test showed that this computer was only getting about 12 Mbps. I looked around and found a guy selling used Linksys AC600 USB adapters on Ebay for $11. The retail price is around $40, so that was a good deal. Most newer computers and laptops have Wifi built in, so there is less demand for USB Wifi adapters, unless you have an old computer.<p></p><p> AC600 is capable of 600 Mbps instead of 1200 Mbps, which is still more than the 200 Mbps speed from Xfinity. The Hawking adapter didn't even show the 5 GHz connection option, but the Linksys AC600 had no problem connecting to it. I ran the speed test again and still got 12 Mbps download speed. I went into the router and cleared out the priority settings and set the 5 GHz channel to 802.11AC only at a channel width of 80 GHz. This time the Linksys AC600 adapter got 178 Mbps. Other devices on the network are now getting similar speeds. The best was 220 Mbps on the Ipad Pro. I don't know how the Ipad managed to get a faster speed than 200 Mbps, but I think processor speed plays a big role. I noticed that the range on the 5 GHz channel is about half that of the 2.4 GHz channel. Devices that are only 20 feet away often show a weak signal. The router is located in a lower-level laundry room on one side of the house where the cable connection is located. I would have to somehow relocate the router to the center of the house to improve 5GHz signal strength.</p><p>Xfinity has increased all of their Internet speeds. Options are now 75 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 400 Mbps, 800 Mbps, 1000 Mbps, and 1200 Mbps. My bill is $58 per month. New customers can get 200 Mbps for $39.99 per month for 24 months. I just hope they don't decide to raise prices now that they have so generously increased connection speeds. My download speed is faster, but they still have the same 1.2 TB data limit. In October we came close to the limit for the first time. Now with faster speeds, I'm afraid it will be easier to go over the data limit. If you log into your Xfinity account, you can see how much data you have used. But for some reason the link doesn't always work for me. </p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-61831510777279741512022-10-13T12:04:00.008-05:002022-10-14T11:34:09.551-05:00Living With Cats<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAt5PQNQwnsWqn1YD8s7FBpha9LT27BkEg61-Mj198QlS3EAkjgKZkIQnInRVAcbrCJ7Wsz_h9XR3fH54h1C5jOn65lxGvuf0HSFEo9Fys27dLqzrA26dxYwCCQXNwBLzHprK1C82JRGeIsR_Wci047cp5nrUeUbhNTVVDXc5rcGVhmZ-aA/s800/Our_Cats.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYAt5PQNQwnsWqn1YD8s7FBpha9LT27BkEg61-Mj198QlS3EAkjgKZkIQnInRVAcbrCJ7Wsz_h9XR3fH54h1C5jOn65lxGvuf0HSFEo9Fys27dLqzrA26dxYwCCQXNwBLzHprK1C82JRGeIsR_Wci047cp5nrUeUbhNTVVDXc5rcGVhmZ-aA/s320/Our_Cats.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Every pet owner likes to talk about their furry friends. We have two cats; one is an orange tabby and the other is a white calico mixed breed with Ragamuffin and Ragdoll traits. Our two cats have very different personalities. The ginger cat is independent minded and likes her daily routines. The white cat is more active and friendly but fears loud noises. The white cat spends most of her time downstairs in our finished basement. <p></p><p>The ginger cat likes to spend her day upstairs until she is ready to start her evening routine. The younger white cat likes to play rough and will try to pick a fight with our older cat. I guess that's why our ginger cat spends most of her day upstairs avoiding the white cat. But they do like each other's company from time to time as the photo shows. My house mate sleeps downstairs with the white cat, and I sleep upstairs with the ginger cat. She likes to stay up past midnight and sleep until noon. The white cat sleeps on her bed and the ginger cat sleeps on my bed. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48JL6Tqm0W56lnBN53z2vbFSOA8ByAFA3olhl7oblu-ljZcw9WyM88c4KSyZ8Y0lMi6qsfWxD0Y2TD3rRvmS13ba8ZE6r54PhSiAflDz-eJ0OiTsJk8F4u5lMn7kYYcZeSL9UpiiRBkjrm8QmRRGz_sncKOvbj_ygQeWPucILwxEothlWzw/s800/Ginger_Cat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48JL6Tqm0W56lnBN53z2vbFSOA8ByAFA3olhl7oblu-ljZcw9WyM88c4KSyZ8Y0lMi6qsfWxD0Y2TD3rRvmS13ba8ZE6r54PhSiAflDz-eJ0OiTsJk8F4u5lMn7kYYcZeSL9UpiiRBkjrm8QmRRGz_sncKOvbj_ygQeWPucILwxEothlWzw/s320/Ginger_Cat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The ginger cat's evening routine starts between 9 and 10 PM. She will come downstairs where we are watching television. After visiting the litter box, she jumps up on the half basement ledge wall to look out the window. After making sure there are no critters in the yard, she will either come and sit on my lap or find a spot across the room to wait until it is time for me to go upstairs. I'm usually ready for bed between 11 and 12 PM. <div><br /></div><div>As soon as I get up, the ginger cat will follow me upstairs. When I go into the bathroom to brush my teeth, she jumps up on the vanity and tries to get me to pet her. When she sees that I am ready to leave the bathroom, she climbs over to the toilet and sits on top of the tank. This is my cue to pick her up and carry her to the bed. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcr0m7cnWGcxoPw8AHjVj_LR2fZtYxTeFZSzhPL8y-LkJ_akuNP6OTpeX9cd9Z0Mo2RBlc2uclF-_fW0EkZMFY-DCpF4o6KHSvElrTR4d8qlSz1dSHuLl1A9H8eilxJIBWqTpr3f9lhYF9Ck3ufVIak5ExIlF2TrOuc9YH5uMhTCtcQ9oZAA/s800/Mystic_Cat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcr0m7cnWGcxoPw8AHjVj_LR2fZtYxTeFZSzhPL8y-LkJ_akuNP6OTpeX9cd9Z0Mo2RBlc2uclF-_fW0EkZMFY-DCpF4o6KHSvElrTR4d8qlSz1dSHuLl1A9H8eilxJIBWqTpr3f9lhYF9Ck3ufVIak5ExIlF2TrOuc9YH5uMhTCtcQ9oZAA/s320/Mystic_Cat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On cold nights, she waits for me to get under the covers and then comes over by my head and taps me on the shoulder. When I lift up the blanket, she crawls in next to me and lays down. She usually lays next to me for a short time and then, when I'm ready to fall asleep she crawls out and finds a spot at the foot of the bed. If I wake up during the night, she sometimes uses that as an opportunity to get under the covers again. In the morning she follows me into the bathroom and waits for me to finish my shower. She then follows me into the kitchen where I fill the food dish and make my breakfast toast and coffee.<p></p><p>I often don't see the ginger cat for the rest of the day, unless I'm working on a project that she needs to supervise. The white cat is always around when we are downstairs. She likes laying on our laps and begging for treats. She also likes to go outside with me on the deck to investigate the outside world. In the winter, our white cat loves sitting in front of the fireplace. But as far as routines go, the ginger cat wins the prize for the most detailed and consistent routine. </p></div>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-32344018631949564392022-10-05T11:38:00.003-05:002022-10-05T11:49:21.449-05:00Covid-19 Timeline<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXTa-S6LNZHAV_M_-6rpdc8dHprKWtnWqOP8sfgq0xNdWRWzt6nuSw_XYxemSFELjqDaUrC04AKHsXVC-QVY9r3c-m4w3E9DDZUnFFK8MrARUuh-o7oxZ98cWjRc87PggGb9eBJa4_ejefryGx2aE3JFvPv6xny0F4ykTrwe-gEmY2KCrOg/s692/CDC_Covid_Cases_100422.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="692" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEXTa-S6LNZHAV_M_-6rpdc8dHprKWtnWqOP8sfgq0xNdWRWzt6nuSw_XYxemSFELjqDaUrC04AKHsXVC-QVY9r3c-m4w3E9DDZUnFFK8MrARUuh-o7oxZ98cWjRc87PggGb9eBJa4_ejefryGx2aE3JFvPv6xny0F4ykTrwe-gEmY2KCrOg/s320/CDC_Covid_Cases_100422.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On March 11, 2020, after more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. There is an interesting timeline of events related to the pandemic on the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html#" target="_blank">CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline website</a>. Today we have had more than 619 million cases and 6.55 million deaths worldwide. This all happened within 30 months. The virus continues to mutate and reinfect. The medical community is bracing for a resurgence of cases this fall and winter. <p></p><p>Looking at a map of new cases in the US, shows that the virus is still widespread in every State. Although, the numbers are lower than they have been, the fact that almost every State on the map is in the same color range shows how persistent this virus is. Just when they come out with a new booster shot, a virus mutation appears on the scene, rendering the vaccine less effective. Requirements to travel by plane in the US are confusing. Do you need a document to prove that you are fully vaccinated? Do you need a document showing you have tested negative for the virus? A lack of compliance and reduced safety guidelines would explain why the case map still looks like it does.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevmzDvPAVjjGK-_Go1mfX1d5vYoweynzUVw3jqJvgX832KmmXUoo6qyWVf_1DhkCvZfATmLAEnLgEd6xlq2ZaQVXQodH3Rjyr0ne6Owkr8UuD30KZHm4SJTVfgJYTWYdJw1jUltjG9zfk9XKkpdFjN_CY15lT623bNsI_Iwn0ggrvFYoySg/s694/CDC_Covid_Deaths_100422.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="694" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevmzDvPAVjjGK-_Go1mfX1d5vYoweynzUVw3jqJvgX832KmmXUoo6qyWVf_1DhkCvZfATmLAEnLgEd6xlq2ZaQVXQodH3Rjyr0ne6Owkr8UuD30KZHm4SJTVfgJYTWYdJw1jUltjG9zfk9XKkpdFjN_CY15lT623bNsI_Iwn0ggrvFYoySg/s320/CDC_Covid_Deaths_100422.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Death rates are lower with many counties reporting no deaths in the last week. But a few States still show darker colors, like Oklahoma. It is unusual that one State would report an 850% increase in the death rate. The only explanation is that the report is showing an administrative reporting delay of some kind. States now only report weekly statistics and States like North Dakota are no longer reporting deaths. With the treatments they have now, you are less likely to die from the virus. Although some people develop persistent health issues. <div><br /></div><div>One recent study found a 50%-80% risk for Alzheimer's disease in the year after COVID-19 for people who are 65 or older. Scientists focused on patients over 65 who made a medical visit during a 15-month period from Feb. 2, 2020, to May 30, 2021. During this period many patients may have delayed getting tested for AD, which could explain the higher percentages. It is still cause for concern now that so many people in the U.S. have had COVID and the long-term consequences are still emerging.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUL3NX_LOwH9COYLTmgLLtGfOwkY4lAAdSyD-70g4jJeetG-IrdleIj9ruw9WeOJ1oCmp6PvtJST5MVHCkVNjwIGqIjGEK51HChEFy6EtwMkcx5alOXwypHET7e8__xDLTQORKK4BbCqcU0rYyr3zmlGWPTnqba5OgU6w4hvR9DKre_sjzQ/s773/CDC_Covid_VRankings_100422.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="773" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLUL3NX_LOwH9COYLTmgLLtGfOwkY4lAAdSyD-70g4jJeetG-IrdleIj9ruw9WeOJ1oCmp6PvtJST5MVHCkVNjwIGqIjGEK51HChEFy6EtwMkcx5alOXwypHET7e8__xDLTQORKK4BbCqcU0rYyr3zmlGWPTnqba5OgU6w4hvR9DKre_sjzQ/s320/CDC_Covid_VRankings_100422.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The blue map shows how each State ranks in vaccination rates. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this map unless you go to healthdata.gov and drill deeper into the <a href="https://healthdata.gov/browse?tags=covid-19-spr&page=1" target="_blank">data for each State</a>. Oklahoma is ranked #37. Wisconsin is in the middle at #24 with Minnesota coming in at #20. States in the northeast make up most of the top 10. <div><br /></div><div>New Covid subvariants could drive a fresh wave across Europe and North America by the end of November, experts have warned. New Covid variants could fuel winter surge, experts say. These are just a couple of the headlines that have come out recently. Not sure if we should be more afraid of new Covid variants or Putin's nuclear weapons. It may be a while yet before the WHO and the CDC declare an end to the pandemic. When they do, States will lose the generous government funding they need to battle the virus and COVID vaccinations will no longer be free. <p></p></div></div>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-5196991829994747722022-09-26T13:08:00.005-05:002022-09-26T13:15:59.533-05:00Home Values Dropping Fast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4ltC0hZYL0WoBLyY-l4YpJGRXWVuKohp3IfVvZ4TRpaoSiUyYlYikMeS5A4vaxdaGzfPSwp2xq5kNVqyzT6BwpnR_GNTRS9X1xSUvLr1-2rUusfRrf9ZYcsMBxYOOPf9zKRHx5e1JBAJU0IbJDgXgU6IrtOuTXGkQzsV682Y6QRzQbKbSA/s595/Home_Value_092622.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="595" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4ltC0hZYL0WoBLyY-l4YpJGRXWVuKohp3IfVvZ4TRpaoSiUyYlYikMeS5A4vaxdaGzfPSwp2xq5kNVqyzT6BwpnR_GNTRS9X1xSUvLr1-2rUusfRrf9ZYcsMBxYOOPf9zKRHx5e1JBAJU0IbJDgXgU6IrtOuTXGkQzsV682Y6QRzQbKbSA/w545-h286/Home_Value_092622.jpg" width="545" /></a></div>Home values in the US peaked in May 2022. Since then, the value of my home has dropped by 5.7% as of September. With interest rates rising, the drop in value is only going to get worse. I expect to see a full 10% drop from the high by the end of the year. This will bring home values back down to levels seen in December 2021. <p></p><p>Is this good news or bad news? As always, it depends on if you are a buyer or a seller. In my neighborhood there have been very few homes for sale in 2022. There is currently one down the street with an asking price of $395K. That price was dropped by $5K in early September. They will need to drop the price by another $15K to meet current valuations. Having seen the value of our home double in the last 10 years has been nice. But it is unrealistic to expect that to continue. This is a long overdue correction. I just hope it doesn't become as extreme as the correction we are seeing in the stock market.</p><p>Compared to the housing market, the stock market has been a disaster in 2022. This does not bode well for those of us who depend on our investments as our only income. Every time there is a major drop like this, I hear from financial advisors who tell me that this is just part of a financial cycle and that I should continue to hold until things improve. Advisors will point to past corrections and use that to prove their point, having never lived through a correction themselves. Every correction is different. I've lived through 8 major market downturns. This one feels like the start of a two-year period of negative growth. The pain will come for many when they lose their jobs and then their homes.</p><p>I've moved more than half of my money into a money market fund or cash. During past corrections I have taken advantage of higher interest rates on CD's. Sometimes having deposits in several different banks depending on who had the best rates. This was back in the days before online stock trading. Today, you can find CD's online, but I think it would be better to use that money to pay off a mortgage. The value of not having a mortgage before retirement is one less bill to worry about. You need to look at how much you are paying in interest on the loan vs. how much you could get by having that money in a CD. In most cases your mortgage rate will be higher than a short-term CD rate.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-56394350132881141922022-09-05T12:03:00.020-05:002022-09-13T12:11:28.938-05:00Deck Restoration Project 2022<p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ychXdsbzelpEKYdXo9emUIg7A7WZMhgORX669ZqRhyiKvYJEPZphw9DfY1-y_uwpaBc8bCxms3IW461HuwttH8uamQauLLHvuiqYcjzuGniTR0BciKZhRQkGcJwW0dUatRgGBi7lpHQae5zq_70gFsqUBD5ji48CLd5K50APzhmIpexS9w/s3264/20190704_090409.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3ychXdsbzelpEKYdXo9emUIg7A7WZMhgORX669ZqRhyiKvYJEPZphw9DfY1-y_uwpaBc8bCxms3IW461HuwttH8uamQauLLHvuiqYcjzuGniTR0BciKZhRQkGcJwW0dUatRgGBi7lpHQae5zq_70gFsqUBD5ji48CLd5K50APzhmIpexS9w/w320-h240/20190704_090409.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deck (2009)</td></tr></tbody></table>The winters in Minnesota are hard on decks. I have been living here for 11 years and this is the third time that the deck has needed restoration. The last time I repainted the deck was about 4 years ago. I used one of those deck restore products that is designed for older wood decks. The product was very thick and filled large gaps in the wood. It looked good for a few years, but then it started to peel off and expose the wood. This year (2022) I started by removing as much of the old paint as possible.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0MTHA8y9QIQtPGcSbCxzVKFVu6hQwUPa9xPtx6VSV9uAJb6-DoLxbT2ttWZiXkMCjm0o0igPZ1ER4VBCRTG7bu-IJWi3QEu_WX5zB8cp8JEdOijvAUBqqwXbw0uFCWjJE7JLM71hyhrnVBewEYZaz3tNkTWEXTQDi5dDFnTamZXJlQexdw/s1440/Deck_B4_1_090522.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk0MTHA8y9QIQtPGcSbCxzVKFVu6hQwUPa9xPtx6VSV9uAJb6-DoLxbT2ttWZiXkMCjm0o0igPZ1ER4VBCRTG7bu-IJWi3QEu_WX5zB8cp8JEdOijvAUBqqwXbw0uFCWjJE7JLM71hyhrnVBewEYZaz3tNkTWEXTQDi5dDFnTamZXJlQexdw/w240-h320/Deck_B4_1_090522.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vbvXxyZKeDxIMgrxg9WBXjPCmIiejnwPAo5CEq7aBjet6JwlUoagF05LyhQMd1q3uQ3CFW4ULeQ04mLx0f1I6PdTIGAqf15bGgD652N7EWLQvSvBPZa4PgOJTGKyFHrp3mX-Fj-CiBLiFPrTUioKhwQW5wBmMUHoyun18bLRnsb7qzhsBg/s1440/Deck_B4_2_090522.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4vbvXxyZKeDxIMgrxg9WBXjPCmIiejnwPAo5CEq7aBjet6JwlUoagF05LyhQMd1q3uQ3CFW4ULeQ04mLx0f1I6PdTIGAqf15bGgD652N7EWLQvSvBPZa4PgOJTGKyFHrp3mX-Fj-CiBLiFPrTUioKhwQW5wBmMUHoyun18bLRnsb7qzhsBg/w240-h320/Deck_B4_2_090522.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I spent a few hours each day over three months working on the deck. I first scraped and repainted the railing. I then replaced 60 feet of deck board. It just worked out that the boards I needed to replace were every 5th board on the 400 sq ft deck. It would have been nice to replace all of the deck boards, but I didn't have the money for that. Instead, I replaced the worst boards with the best boards I could find for the project. I bought a used 3-inch belt sander for $28, thinking that I could use it to remove the old paint. But the sanding belt got clogged and I ended up scraping most of it by hand. That took a lot of time, but that was less messy and made it easier to collect the old paint chips.</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-kVRW_bYd4zs740HBpfq5UhmwerjGpDVaab4ySHvbAhg3vH1Bhj2zOXck-UWwzbvo73fhW4zspRSPlKe4HcPLz_ObowF9Bwwh4skr3zwpVbs5Sb2nYpm1ifbMLBCnBuOZNcg63ZnUxpt0Hj7IFsLFuP0FR7kv4kAAZOf7NCcdq2_F3duag/s1440/Deck_F1_090522.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-kVRW_bYd4zs740HBpfq5UhmwerjGpDVaab4ySHvbAhg3vH1Bhj2zOXck-UWwzbvo73fhW4zspRSPlKe4HcPLz_ObowF9Bwwh4skr3zwpVbs5Sb2nYpm1ifbMLBCnBuOZNcg63ZnUxpt0Hj7IFsLFuP0FR7kv4kAAZOf7NCcdq2_F3duag/w480-h640/Deck_F1_090522.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Restoration in Progress</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p>I was originally planning to use Thompson's Water Seal on the deck because I had some from a previous project. I realized that I would have to completely remove all of the old paint if I wanted to use the water seal product. After scraping and sanding the deck with 80 Grit in the belt sander, there was still some paint visible in a few places. Thompson's is inexpensive compared to other deck stains, but I found reviews of their product were subpar when used on decks. I decided that if I spent this much time preparing the deck surface, I needed to use the best solid color stain I could find. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7fdx5P55dg4RX8PPThM_JXTYloMeCWEX55Yeoe8WjGnjObnvp3BkV6EbiKxUvcw4JH9BLEDJDavfKfo9-etNk9MCRy4x0QY2jl0XzaYiJ0i9_6oSb6w-fvlrj6PPiA_uhoENp_q9ZSDxGcTC-jO2HEol8P7URnMskkNK_9UPi4ACO3F35Q/s330/Cabot_Stain.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="290" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia7fdx5P55dg4RX8PPThM_JXTYloMeCWEX55Yeoe8WjGnjObnvp3BkV6EbiKxUvcw4JH9BLEDJDavfKfo9-etNk9MCRy4x0QY2jl0XzaYiJ0i9_6oSb6w-fvlrj6PPiA_uhoENp_q9ZSDxGcTC-jO2HEol8P7URnMskkNK_9UPi4ACO3F35Q/w123-h142/Cabot_Stain.jpg" width="123" /></a></div>After some research I decided to go with Cabot solid color stain + sealer. The reviews are 4.4 out of 5 on the <a href="https://www.lowes.com/pd/Cabot-Tintable-Solid-Exterior-Stain-Actual-Net-Contents-116-0-fl-oz/5001615711" target="_blank">Lowe's website</a>. Of course, the best product is going to have the highest price. At $52 per gallon, I needed to complete the project with only 1 gallon. To make sure I had enough, I finished the new boards with the leftover Thompson's transparent stain and added a few ounces of water to the Cabot each time I started a painting session. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Cabot solid color stain covered well and looks great. The boards with the Thompson's water seal have large water puddles every time it rains. I'm glad I didn't paint the whole deck with it. I'm sure the deck will need to be redone again in 3 or 4 years. No paint or stain can hold up to 6 months of winter for very long. Total amount spent on this project was about $200 and 60+ hours of labor. </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWhWx2MGS07P0iz-EFD_lup_2Axs2VBIp-AwOuiz3FDgW_K1H-eN4dANfF3yw4mG0NIFj0V6zFKy5hitwkHSSd96VHAdI3wcDeFdpNR3aF8nNgJ27M0n6aT_RWAM5q89NxkdIKnFWQZTilC3-SR0zPJEFXxPelnVAU1NTUa0kGAmGIa7KpQ/s1440/Deck_F3_090522.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxWhWx2MGS07P0iz-EFD_lup_2Axs2VBIp-AwOuiz3FDgW_K1H-eN4dANfF3yw4mG0NIFj0V6zFKy5hitwkHSSd96VHAdI3wcDeFdpNR3aF8nNgJ27M0n6aT_RWAM5q89NxkdIKnFWQZTilC3-SR0zPJEFXxPelnVAU1NTUa0kGAmGIa7KpQ/w240-h320/Deck_F3_090522.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMP4S1ff0G-o3KMTvWG8laLOKovR4nJbA1K8CwDrYYtAZm3NltO-6iNIXq5hqcCAPZqmXg99fhammrINV6-k1_QxmPe9KL5rstBMpd_OegAppC3JBTMY5TJaHPSRkwPmUyRGcjdocg5eCFwqI2T6v63r-tBIjzBv987Rm-BXux5BIVoHYDUQ/s1440/Deck_F2_090522.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMP4S1ff0G-o3KMTvWG8laLOKovR4nJbA1K8CwDrYYtAZm3NltO-6iNIXq5hqcCAPZqmXg99fhammrINV6-k1_QxmPe9KL5rstBMpd_OegAppC3JBTMY5TJaHPSRkwPmUyRGcjdocg5eCFwqI2T6v63r-tBIjzBv987Rm-BXux5BIVoHYDUQ/w240-h320/Deck_F2_090522.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><p></p></div>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-82302900431056997572022-08-27T10:39:00.001-05:002022-08-27T10:41:35.407-05:00Xfinity Mobile vs US Mobile<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDmTL1blUtmBWEI4Qxa_b9wvkgQYPhudasZabnOPR6Cthw-f_i1tAtYtT_1MODXwNocyo37cNFpDY1jEj3qxjGgJPrIcNYXAYHbue5DqgfYRjxWGmIAEaVC4yTiTrg8DCTix-JOpACvVIfDlV1qWDRbZHTxCihJJvLemGP8M4dY8bHqjf-g/s640/USMobile_SIM.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgDmTL1blUtmBWEI4Qxa_b9wvkgQYPhudasZabnOPR6Cthw-f_i1tAtYtT_1MODXwNocyo37cNFpDY1jEj3qxjGgJPrIcNYXAYHbue5DqgfYRjxWGmIAEaVC4yTiTrg8DCTix-JOpACvVIfDlV1qWDRbZHTxCihJJvLemGP8M4dY8bHqjf-g/w200-h150/USMobile_SIM.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>In my last blog post I compared Xfinity Mobile to the Verizon Small 2GB shared data plan which is no longer available. I expressed concerns about Xfinity's customer approval ratings, annual price increases, and the poor reviews of their mobile app. Despite this I decided to order two SIM cards from the Xfinity Mobile website. After verifying that my phone would work on their network, I had the option to choose a plan or order SIM cards and choose a plan later. I chose to order the SIM cards. The confirmation screen said that the cards would be delivered to the address they had on file for my Internet service. Two weeks passed and no SIM cards. I went back to the Xfinity Mobile website and saw that the order SIM option was no longer an option. So, I decided to chat with Xfinity Mobile help to find out what happened. After the help person verified my identity, they basically said that there was no record of a SIM card order under my name. They told me that I could place the order with them in the chat window. Next, they started asking for information which they said was to see if I qualify. Address, date of birth, social security number, as if I was applying for a credit check. I stopped at the SS number question and told them that I would go elsewhere for my mobile service.<p></p><p>Another week passed and no SIM cards, so I decided to go with the next option on my list: US Mobile. I created an account and ordered one SIM starter kit using coupon code FREEKIT. Even though the kit was free, I still had to enter a credit card. A few days later the kit arrived from a US Mobile address in Farmers Branch, TX. Next, I logged into my US Mobile account using my computer to decide on the best plan to purchase. US Mobile has Unlimited, Bundled Data, Pooled Data, and Custom plans. After looking at the pricing, I determined that the best option would be to create a 2GB pool with one line for now. Each line comes with unlimited talk and text for $9 and each GB of data adds $2. The final price on my one-line pool came to $13.48. Adding a line to the pool and transferring an existing number was fairly easy because I did some homework and knew what to expect. The phone I added was my girlfriends new unlocked Samsung S10e. Within a few minutes of entering the information on the US Mobile website, the number transfer and activation was complete. I inserted the dark colored SIM card which uses the Verizon network. The white card uses the T-Mobile network. I powered on the phone, and it quickly showed the US Mobile network connection.</p><p>It has only been a few days, but everything works like it did with Verizon, except that it costs 350% less. After doing a little research into US Mobile, I discovered that the company was founded in 2015 by Ahmed Khattak who was born in Pakistan. It is a private company based in New York. From the emails I received, I would guess that most of their support staff is also from Pakistan. Since all the reviews I've read about their support has been positive, I don't have a problem with this, but some people might. Their website is also easy to understand and navigate. They don't advertise as much as Mint Mobile and some of the others. I found out about US Mobile after reading reviews on websites like <a href="http://www.bestphoneplans.net" target="_blank">www.bestphoneplans.net</a></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-39170928284402289912022-07-17T11:35:00.007-05:002022-07-20T09:44:57.032-05:00Xfinity vs. Verizon<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkCwChvIjjo9gUyH6m2mT9n6DHvdEVDYY-JY8qppq0IoXsAoRTCJD5B1jovVMkSNhJoEuQc7IRC29P1hdRFa69CRFrXjodz2w_ikK2MCZOH2l18qIZs8EZJAXIZHUnkfvzuWcXre6sX72bd3ZVxJF6J6MQ-MMTzEg6mHOQOX3G2er3rhXQQ/s386/Xfinity_Verizon_Logos.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="386" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkCwChvIjjo9gUyH6m2mT9n6DHvdEVDYY-JY8qppq0IoXsAoRTCJD5B1jovVMkSNhJoEuQc7IRC29P1hdRFa69CRFrXjodz2w_ikK2MCZOH2l18qIZs8EZJAXIZHUnkfvzuWcXre6sX72bd3ZVxJF6J6MQ-MMTzEg6mHOQOX3G2er3rhXQQ/s320/Xfinity_Verizon_Logos.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>After Verizon announced a $12 per month price increase on my 2GB data 4G mobile phone service in June, I decided it was time to take a look at my other options. My goal is to have the same level of service with the same or lower cost. Unfortunately, Verizon no longer has a dedicated 4G plan and is trying to force their customers into their more expensive 5G Unlimited plans. I have the Verizon Small 2GB shared data plan. Two lines on that plan was $79 per month in June. I received an email from Verizon on June 28th stating "Due to rising operational costs, you'll see an increase of $12/mo. on your current plan, which will appear on your bill as a separate charge, no sooner than 8.2.22." The bill for July was $83 due to an increase in the surcharge fee.<p></p><p>Previous Surcharges</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fed Universal Service Charge: $0.32</li><li>Regulatory Charge: $0.16</li><li>Administrative Charge: $1.95</li><li>WI Universal Service Fund: $.024</li></ul><p></p><p>New Surcharges</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fed Universal Service Charge: <b>$0.59</b></li><li>Regulatory Charge: $0.16</li><li>Admin & Telco Recovery Charge: <b>$3.30</b></li><li>WI Universal Service Fund: $.024</li></ul><div>You can see an increase in the admin charge. Also, since my phone number has a 715-area code, I have to pay fees and taxes as if I was still living in Wisconsin. It doesn't look like the July bill includes the charge mentioned in the Verizon email. That would mean the cell phone bill will be increasing to $95. The lowest cost mobile plans available are the Unlimited 5G for $35 per line before taxes and fees and a $25 per month prepaid plan with 5GB of data. Verizon is good at adding fees. My current plan fee after discounts is $32.20, plus a $20 access fee for each line. Every time I upgrade to a newer phone, there is a $35 upgrade fee. Xfinity isn't much better when it comes to fees. I only use them for Internet service, and I own my modem and router. I have the Performance Select Internet Plan, with a max of 100 Mbps download speed and a 1229GB monthly data limit. This plan isn't very fast, but it allows us to stream movies without going over the monthly data limit. </div><div><br /></div><div>Xfinity/Comcast offers mobile plans to their <u>Internet subscription customers</u>, and they use Verizon's mobile network. An unlimited talk/text mobile plan for 2 lines with 3GB of shared data would cost $30 per month before taxes and fees. So, instead of spending $153 per month at separate companies, I could get mobile and Internet from Xfinity for $93 per month. Although, Xfinity does bill mobile service as a separate auto-pay charge and, if you move and have to cancel your Internet subscription, they add a $25 fee to each mobile line on your account. The other option would be to get both mobile and Internet service from Verizon. That would be $145 per month. Not much savings there unless you consider the customer support factor.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have concerns about having both services with Xfinity because of their historically low customer approval ratings and annual price increases. The Xfinity mobile app is rated 3.8 out of 5 on the Google App store. There are many 1-star reviews from people complaining about the poor quality of the app and lack of customer support. The cost savings is why most people switch to Xfinity mobile. But it also depends on the value you place on good customer support. I have looked at Mint Mobile but didn't like the fact that you have to pay up 3 or more months in advance and they are not on Verizon's network. US Mobile was another strong contender, but their app also had poor reviews. Consumer Cellular has great customer service, but their plans are not as good as Xfinity. If you are a Xfinity Internet subscriber, consider using my affiliate link if you are thinking about switching to <a href="http://go.xfinityrewardcenter.com/track/click/30061504/referafriend.xfinity.com?p=eyJzIjoiMURUU0k1cENFX2U3Z3pGQ0hVMkVoNENxT3hnIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDA2MTUwNCxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3JlZmVyYWZyaWVuZC54ZmluaXR5LmNvbVxcXC9TaGFyZVRoZUF3ZXNvbWVcXFwvMVJYTEE0P0NNUD1FTUNfUkFGXzFSWExBNF93YWxraW4mdD02Mzc5MzY1NTU4MTEyMDI5MzImYz1lblwiLFwiaWRcIjpcIjgyODBkZGNiZGUzMzQ4OWE5OThmZDA0OTI5M2RkZGU0XCIsXCJ1cmxfaWRzXCI6W1wiM2NhZWY0NDg1YjhmYWEzNWY3YjMzNDE0Y2I2YTk4MjQxNzNhNTVkNVwiXX0ifQ" target="_blank">Xfinity Mobile</a>.</div><p></p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-26327630447039099182022-07-05T12:43:00.005-05:002022-07-05T12:48:54.233-05:00Unknown Amazon Prime Charge<p>Last month I noticed an $8.11 charge for Amazon Prime on my business debit card. I don't even have this card linked to my Amazon account. Sometimes the bank doesn't get the name of the vendor correct, but I decided to ask Amazon if they knew anything about the charge. I used a form on their website to ask my question, which was a mistake. Since the credit card wasn't linked to my account, they couldn't see the fraudulent charge, and everything looked as it should. Another month went by, and the $8.11 charge showed up again. This time I requested a call back from Amazon to discuss the charge.</p><p>The customer support person was pleasant and seemed experienced with this type of problem. They had me add the debit card to my account so that they could view the Amazon transactions against it. Sure enough, they spotted the two $8.11 charges right away. Amazon informed me that someone else had the card linked to their account and was using it to pay for their monthly Amazon Prime subscription. I said that I thought Amazon Prime costs more than that per month. They told me that the user had a discount subscription. The only discount that I know of is a student discount. Students get six months free. After that, they need to pay the student rate of $7.49 per month. $7.49 + Tax = $8.11.</p><p>So, the freeloader was a student (or someone posing as a student to get the discount). Amazon claimed privacy rules wouldn't allow them to give me any information about the thief. It's good that Amazon protects the identity of customers and I'm sure the thieves know that. Amazon said they would refund both charges and suggested that I get a new debit card. I called the bank and did that the next day. This is the second time that my business debit card has been compromised. Last time there was also a small charge that appeared, but it wasn't from Amazon. The bank doesn't let you create a transaction alert smaller than ten dollars, so you can't see these small charges unless you log into your account. I only use the card for business related online transactions. I suspect one of the places where I used the card has a data leak. </p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13738960.post-9927660798827210442022-06-30T10:38:00.001-05:002022-06-30T10:42:09.446-05:00Roe v. Wade, (1973 - 2022)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkfJ5aUk8bk6heW7tiNE1eFdwRcOhhswggBgJop4LItb8vpEyVOweWN5jWBXjxABR8s7CTstbgU14FtVR7hO8AhLZzUXal4porpakCcBFAGsTPxmVlRD2N_Z_qCeIZg-GS0augxM505a8PmkrE1DaLtB0j3jow0RvAwjQwPSSk4Sat5s-bQ/s770/US%20Birth%20Rate_063022.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="770" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkfJ5aUk8bk6heW7tiNE1eFdwRcOhhswggBgJop4LItb8vpEyVOweWN5jWBXjxABR8s7CTstbgU14FtVR7hO8AhLZzUXal4porpakCcBFAGsTPxmVlRD2N_Z_qCeIZg-GS0augxM505a8PmkrE1DaLtB0j3jow0RvAwjQwPSSk4Sat5s-bQ/w400-h236/US%20Birth%20Rate_063022.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />It's been almost 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion. Since that time the birth rate has gone from 16 per 1000 people in 1973 to 12 in 2022. That is a 25% decline (see chart). <p></p><p>On Friday June 24, 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court unexpectantly reversed Roe v. Wade, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly a half century, no longer exists.</p><p>The U.S. birth rate has fallen precipitously since the 2007, with no signs of reversing. In 2019, there were around 3.75 million live births in the United States. Half of all states and nearly three quarters of all counties experienced more deaths than births in their populations between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, according to U.S. Census Bureau. For the past century, deaths followed an overall trend of gradual, linear increase each year. Then, between 2019 and 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, deaths in the United States increased by 19%.</p><p>Add to that an aging population and it is no surprise that the government is concerned about future population growth. A large number of people reaching retirement age needs to have an equal number of young workers to maintain the economy. Otherwise, the government will no longer be able to provide social programs for older Americans. It is very possible that by reversing Roe v. Wade our government is indirectly trying to increase the population or at least slow the declining birth rate. A humorous tweet this week from Bette Midler suggested that they should ban Viagra, (but that wouldn't increase the birth rate).</p><p>The government has been playing a game of social and economic manipulation for years. Just recently there have been news reports that the Internal Revenue Service, Railroad Retirement Board and other federal agencies have been stocking up on thousands of rounds of ammunition. IRS special agents are allowed to carry weapons, but it is unclear if the IRS is stockpiling guns and ammunition as part of a grander scheme to hoard weapons and get them away from Americans amid the recent mass shootings.</p>Budget Homepagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01963453209542438539noreply@blogger.com0