Groundhog Day

 Back in 2017, I took a break and pursued a system. Perhaps, I need to revisit those thoughts.

Everything is expensive, so once again looking at cutting costs and finding means to easy money

First, expenses are compounded from the shear existence of being a family of five. Children have become of driving age, so insuring the licensed drivers is one thing, but having a means for them to commute without mom and dad giving up their car means adding a car. 

We became a 3 car family again in 2021. We demoted the '11 Dodge Journey to our son shortly after we added '18 VW Atlas. 

We are now a 4 car family, demoting our '13 VW Passat to our daughter when we added '25 VW Taos.

Maintenance costs on the older 2 VWs have come up.

Started donating plasma again. Easy money, but I've notice the plasma center is more crowded than the last timeframe I frequented back in '17-'18.

Aside from cutting our unused gym membership, there isn't really much to cut from our budget without getting in the weeds about nickels and dimes.

I've dabbled with upside. It's like using Ibotta or an offer from a credit card in that you have to CLAIM an offer AND use a specific CC on file or take and submit pictures of a receipt. Having to submit credit cards seems like possible scam, but Sam's Club uses the same concept for its extra cashback for plus members.

Upside is FREE money that I get back for getting gas or food I would have bought anyways... thus WIN-WIN.  I actually got a third back when I bought FIVE GUYS. Sure, Five Guys is expen$$$$$ive, but my kid wanted fries for his birthday meal, so I got $8 back when I bought 3 orders of fries.

Shutdown in name only

I am not affected by the government shutdown though I work for the government. 

The farce is hard to explain. The uncertainty exists, but my circumstances aren't easy to explain beyond my organization has a budget that's separately funded.

I feel bad for the furloughed, but they'll get back pay. 

The whole shutdown is meaningless in the grand scheme considering the back pay.

Dizzy start

 Woke up dizzy and stiff. Figured not worth trying to get ready for work so I called off. Woke up 6 or hours later and showered. Felt dizzy still but noticed everything was out of focus like a migraine so I took migraine medicine and did little. Meh. Didn't exactly feel much better but all the stiffness I felt earlier subsided after walking a few miles.

Spending the morning with my mother and her new laptop

Windows 10 is going out of service in October, so my mom asked me to go computer shopping with her. 

She got her last computer while my dad was still alive in December 2014! I guess Windows 7 allowed her to upgrade to 10. Impressive for a machine to be active that long. I think XP lasted a long time too because my previous desktop was XP was purchased in '06 and we got our last desktop in '17. I could be wrong about how long it lasted.  I vaguely recall having a WiFi adapter for that machine but I gave it to my parents before they got the now replaced laptop. I think that machine died and we just used a laptop. I could be wrong.

Computers have come so far in the years that it's funny to think what once was fast is so slow now in comparison.

I could go on about the computer shopping but why? Who really shops for something that has been mostly replaced by the SMARTPHONE?

Meh. Bought same Lenovo laptop computer I got for my kid earlier in the week. It had same specs as the machine my other kid had from last July when her keyboard ceased working so I knew it was a good deal for the price.

Best Buy. Micro Center. Only places we buy computers really, aside from that Sam's Club buy. 

Cost of everything is variable. I got my machine for $299 on Tuesday while we spent $329 today. Mom was stressed about TARIFFS!

Lenovo is what I have for myself. They have decent warranties that can be upgraded until the 1st year's expires so the Geek Squad isn't something I needed purchase.

Must suck being old and thinking weird stuff that isn't relevant anymore.

Mom doesn't understand how my family all has computers... how do we afford to replace them and such. 

We don't exactly. 

Sure the kids each have a personal laptop, but it was necessary to have a computer during COVID during the virtual learning days of 2020. 

We bought a camera for the desktop in our son's room and got a couple laptops for the girls. Neither laptop was a cheap Chromebook but they were affordable especially since we had COVID checks flowing in. 

When our son started college, we got a Samsung or HP laptop for him. I think he split the cost. 

He was still using the desktop which made my doing taxes and other stuff not simple on a phone mean I needed a laptop of my own. I got a small Lenovo from Micro Center for myself during a Labor Day sale in '23.

Our younger daughter had a cheaper $199 laptop that we had to pay to get a fan fixed in '23  then it had the keyboard die a year after she dumped water on it. It was replaced with clearance Lenovo machine that was nicer than mine and only $268.

We tried to upgrade the older daughter's laptop in '23 to Windows 11 when we did her sister's (and fan fix) but it wasn't viable. 

I've been eyeing Best Buy deals of the day regularly looking for a replacement machine, so $299 wasn't an impulse buy.

It's not like the old days when a computer was always $999 or more, while we're not replacing machines every year, but only when they cease to function.

We don't replace phones often either. I've had the same phone since before Covid! Motorola is a good brand for our family it seems. 

We use Mint Mobile so having an affordable unlocked phone is important more than bells and whistles. 

We recently switched our ISP from Spectrum to Altafiber. We used to spend $39.99 when Time Warner was the provider but Spectrum jacked up the price to $88 a month.

Altafiber came into the neighborhood and offered twice the speed for a fixed $70 rate for THREE years. We had the installation done and then cancelled. 

It took an hour plus the next day to be free of Spectrum. I called and talked 35 minutes with them STALLING  and trying to keep me by saying they can be competitive but I kept telling  Guillermo in Texas we already signed a three year contract. Then when I dropped off the equipment, I had to wait in line and the woman knew Altafiber without me saying where I was taking my business.

If you want to lower your price with Spectrum find a reasonable/plausible means to leave and try to bluff cancelling Spectrum. They will probably cave to whatever the "competition" is giving as teaser rates because they are hemorrhaging customers. Do not bluff with bogus rivals, numbers or deals. Spectrum asks 30 minutes of survey questions about your decision to cancel and know why exactly and to whom they are hemorrhaging customers. 

It costs them WAY more to lose a customer than to give a loyal customer a deep discount, hence I suggest bluffing a better rate if you are content with the service beyond the price creeping up every month or so.

taking a day off

Yesterday (Thursday), someone was taken away from work by EMS. It has been warm enough in my facility to have heat breaks declared, so I think it was heat related.

My wife told me I should seriously consider taking Friday off. She said I have been exhausted. I felt like garbage as the day went by and determined she was right. 

Woke up today with stiff upper body and stiff hips. I called off and went back to sleep for another 5 hours. 

I didn't do much of anything. Just rested.

Meh, Iran

Everything entropic is inevitable. Iraq was a mistake. Iran is probably a mistake. Are they the same? Everything is dumb.

I remember '03 buildup and overflow into Iraq. I was meh because Hillary Clinton was for it. She was a senator "from New York," as well as the former first lady of the previous administration, thus privy to  things beyond normal people.

I didn't realize HOW EVIL SHE REALLY is.