Posts made by mom2jel

Anybody else trying this?
I got “in” right away, but when I try to complete my purchase I get:
There was a problem loading this website
Try refreshing the page.
If the site still doesn’t load, please try again in a few minutes

Grrrr.

This looks really questionable, I just don’t see a large company using Google Forms?

You’re not missing much by not getting a drone. We tried two different models, both were junk straight out of the box.
20 yr old son is happy enough with the earbuds.

Came up for me at $.99, but I bought it with digital credits I had.

Dick’s Sporting Goods $20 off $100 coupon code (one-time use):
SHOP ONLINE WITH CODE: BFEM201920OFF100
Valid through 12/18/19

Please post if you use it!

I recycled 10 cartridges two weeks ago, and purchased $11 stamps in same transaction (then read the fine print later that said that stamps aren’t allowed).
Nothing shows in my Rewards account. I have 2 ink cartridges left to recycle… do I need to make another $10 to get my rewards to show up??

25 Bonus Points: CATDNA
link

(Can I start a Master Thread?)
Fresh Step Paw Points

www.freshstep.com/paw-points

According to this deal, the $10 purchase can not be gift cards or stamps; which I read after a suggestion on SD to buy stamps
I might have to stock up on some priced-matched Bounty to be on the safe side.
LOL, I guess my procrastination paid off, I’ve been meaning to bring in my toner & ink cartridges for the past two years, I have 15 of them saved up.

@c3 said in Where do you buy tires for your vehicle?:

@mom2jel said in Where do you buy tires for your vehicle?:

If you can wait, the best deal I have gotten was a online-only deal from Costco on New Year’s (Eve? or Day?).

I got that deal for a relative, but that was a price mistake which Costco honored later.

I don’t think it was a price mistake, they had it on their website (Visa Rebate card) and according to SD, they’ve run this sale other years.

LOL, I’m in Minnesota… we don’t bother switching tires fall/spring. I get all-season tires and have never had a problem in the snow (or rain) with them on my '02 Tahoe (or DH’s Silverado, or sons Malibu, Equinox, and Saturn Vue).

If you can wait, the best deal I have gotten was a online-only deal from Costco on New Year’s (Eve? or Day?).
Costco does sell better tires, so if you’re just looking for cheap tires, then check your local farm equipment type store (in Minnesota/Wisconsin it’s Mills Fleet Farm).
Sam’s Club is probably similar to Costco, if you want good tires then just get whichever brand they currently have on sale.
(Disclosure - we have 7 vehicles and 2 motorcycles, I swear we’re replacing tires on something once a year… in husband’s case, he’s gone through 4 sets of tires this summer on his motorcycle - grrrr!)

I love these!
Side note… several years ago I did a taste test for Costco where we got to try about 15 various items so they could get an idea of what to carry in their stores. One of them was the Brazi Bites (they just told us they were brazilian cheese bread), none of us testers had heard of it, and we all loved them.

Fast forward a few months and I’m watching Shark Tank and see them pitch the Brazi Bites! A couple months later, they were at Costco.

P.S. The pizza flavored one isn’t that great. I like all the other flavors, the garlic (purple bag) one I like best.

Note that is week Target has coupons for $10 off $40 pet care purchase or $15 off $60 pet care purchase.
I stocked up on cat litter (I like A&H best, but it’s pricey, best frugal buy is Target’s bucket of clumping litter which is $9.99 everyday which is about 1/2 the price of the big brands).

eBay pulled the auction, I’m guessing that a rogue factory employee in China was trying to sell them and the Wyze company got wise to the auction.

Since I received two different shipping notices from the seller, I’m hoping that mine actually come.

Edit: I received an email from eBay that they pulled the auction, but today I received 2 emails that my camera’s were shipped.

Wyze Cam Pan $11.99:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/123894248502 (limit 2)
This ships from China, so it will take a few weeks to get here.

Wyze: https://wyze.com/wyze-cam-pan.html ($29.99)
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wyze-1080p…07DGR98VQ/ ($37.98)

I bought one of these from the manufacturer this summer; great camera, I was impressed. Only downside is that you need the app to view it, or with Amazon Echo Show or Google/Nest Home Hub. I can’t find a (free) way of viewing on my computer yet.

Thank you!
I was able to redeem for 25lbs of litter

The last Sears anywhere near me is closing - of all places, the Mall of America!

My boys love our Chromecasts - we have OTA television, so they stream their movies from their laptops or phones to our tv’s.

Oooh, with my son’s 10% employee discount I could do some major damage to my RedCard!

I want to use a landscape picture of our city, but have the picture in the shape of Minnesota.
How do I crop (or cut?) a picture into a specific (odd) shape?

UPDATE: I bought a Netgear R7000 from ebay for $55. PITA to set up when CenturyLink gives me the wrong (!) info for the Transparent Bridging, hmph! Egads, everytime I try to get “help” from companies, I find I can do it better myself.

Anyhow, a note about the Disney Circle parental controls on the Netgear… they suck!
I bought a Disney Circle from ebay ($17 “parts only” but it only needed a hard reset, lol) and love it for the different levels and blocking for each family member or device! I’m not paying any extra monthly fees and I get a full range of blocking features (bedtimes, filters, etc).
The Netgear version of Circle is very limited and they want to charge me $5 monthly fee for the options I get for free on the actual device. I was hoping to resell the Circle once I got the router, but it looks like I’m keeping it.

I’m okay with Kmart closing, I haven’t had one close to me for about 15 years.
I’m sad to see Sears go, our local one closed a few years ago and I miss it - they actually had the best prices for kids clothing when my boys were growing up.
We have Kohl’s here (based out of WI) which I like their variety but I despise their pricing; even with their “Big Sale(s)” their prices are higher than JcPenney and sometimes even Marshall’s Department Store (not the discount store).

I really liked shopping online at Sears for picking up at the store, since they had a special drive-up pick-up spot for orders.
Oh, and a couple years ago when I shopped around for mattresses, Sears had the best prices (sale) - especially if you want a specific type of mattress over Costco or Sam’s Club sells. (I actually made a spreadsheet to compare mattresses and prices, lol).

Herberger’s are in Minnesota, and are closing.

If you have a Discover Card, you can redeem your cashback for gift cards too. I used $45 cashback to purchase a $50 Lowes gift card (there is also $100 GC for $90 cashback).
I’ve been doing MyPoints for years and had enough points to redeem for a Lowes gift card.
I also used BeFrugal.com to purchase my item online (store pick-up) for 2% cashback.

I was able to purchase a Rubbermaid 7x7 shed ($649, sale $549) for $429 today

I combined this with a Purina Pro Plan (cat) $5 manufacturer coupon from the sunday coupons a few weeks ago along with the 6# bag of Pro Plan on sale (22.99 -> 16.99) for a cost with tax of $2.xx

Vader the cat is trying to convince me to open the new bag instead of eating the Rachel Ray stuff I bought last week, lol.

I updated with a separate post below.

I upgraded my DSL to 100Mbps and had to get a new modem/router thru CenturyLink (needed bonding capability). The wifi sucks.
I am so confuzzled by routers
I know I want g/n/ac and have a “large” home (3,000sf including basement).
I have young adult males (two that stream); don’t need want it for gaming.
Want 2.4 & 5.0GHz
Don’t want to spend $$$ (would prefer $50’ish range if that’s possible).
Our desktop PC’s have Netgear AC1200 wifi adapters.

Will the Netgear AC1200 (#R6230) suffice?

So, am I the only one boycotting ebates?
(I’ve been using BeFrugal)

@briarycliffs said in Anyone have the latest login for Consumer Reports?:

reference at charlevoixlibrary

Thank you!

I’ve done Janus (original), T. Rowe Price, and Dodge & Cox previously; I moved everything to Vanguard / Mairs & Power about 10 years ago because I didn’t like so many smaller funds.

For myself, I own a piddly $2k of Berkshire Hathaway B through Vanguard Brokerage, DRiP’s with Disney, J&J, General Mills, and also have the Mairs & Power Growth Fund as well as several Vanguard Funds.
I’m a long-term holder and just keep doing the automatic monthly purchase; last year (age 51) I did realize that I need to max my Roth IRA investment each year so I’m doing that and not adding any more to the regular funds.

I started out with my mom “helping” me pick two Vanguard funds ($2k each) back when I was 18; I laughed yesterday with my son that the same scenario is taking place between him and me now.
I don’t think he’ll do much with his investments until his 30’s; I’ve been open with my three boys about my investments so they do know how important the long-term investing is.

My idiot (separated) husband knows nothing about investing (and he’s the type that gets freaked out when the market has a downturn), my parents are 87 and my mom is of the CD’s and Savings Bonds era so I needed someplace to think aloud - because in real life I can’t just go talk to anyone that we have $108k sitting around to give to our boys, lol.

As if anyone cares, lol. I changed my mind after looking at funds.
I think what I’ll do is $25k to Mairs & Power Growth and add $10k to his Vanguard Healthcare Fund (which will then be $25k) and then he can decide later if he wants to move money around.
I’m still going to show him my comparison of different Vanguard funds (Growth Index, Total Stock, and Balanced Index) to see if he has any strong feelings.

Thank you for the suggestions, I researched a bit more and I think I like these:
Vanguard Growth Index $10k (minimum to open acct.)
Mairs & Power Growth $25k (or ?)
Vanguard Total Stock $ ?

Mairs & Power Growth is another one that has done well for me and it seems to weather the downturn in the market (which I’m afraid is going to happen in the next couple of years); they also invest heavily in Minnesota based companies which I’m partial to since we live here.

The Vanguard Total Stock seems similar to MP Growth so I’m not sure if I should do that one.

I guess I’m aiming more for long term for him as I do my researching. When he eventually gets a job he should be making decent money as an actuary. This son doesn’t spend money, like at all, so if he lives at home for a year or so (and I’ll have him maxing out his Roth with automatic investing) he should actually be okay for a house downpayment (he already has a decent car).
I really stay away from bond funds, I know I should invest in them but I just can’t stand the low returns.

Vanguard Healthcare Fund mutual fund: “(invests in) domestic and foreign companies involved in various aspects of the health care industry, such as pharmaceutical firms, medical supply companies, and research firms.”

It’s done really well for me; example, twenty years ago we were given $10k that I invested in it. Didn’t add to it, just left it be for college funds. It’s now at $107K. Since my son had scholarships that covered all of his college expenses, he’ll get his 1/3 given to him. When I looked at the “gift tax”, I can give him the full amount this year since he’s still our dependent (next year he should be working and I probably won’t be able to claim him).

My 23 yr old has currently invested: $15k Vanguard Healthcare Fund, $5k Vanguard Prime Money Market, (and $3k Vanguard Healthcare Roth IRA).
He will be receiving $35k; I’m thinking he’ll want to pull funds out for a home down payment within 10 years. He isn’t working so putting into IRA isn’t doable right now. What Vanguard fund type do we look at putting this gift into?

I’d like to keep it semi-simple for him by keeping it all at Vanguard, one other possibility is Mairs & Power Growth Fund.
ETA: he has no debt.

…
Back when I started investing in mutual funds, there were a lot less choices; I look at Vanguard now and I’m so confused. I’ve had my Vanguard various funds for over thirty years and they’ve done very well so I haven’t looked at what else they have to offer.

Scroll to the last post: https://phatwalletforums.com/topic/712/consumer-reports-library-login/12

For those interested in purchasing Wusthof for decent prices, I recommend EverSharp.
It is a family-owned store and I think they are the only Wusthof outlet-approved store in the U.S.
(Free Shipping for $49+ purchases)

@marcopolomle said in DNA testing: 23&me $69 or $139 (Health Reports) OR Ancestry.com $59 thru April 25th:

Why would anyone pay to give their DNA to anyone ?

For me personally it was for the health portion, my son has an incurable immunology disease that no one else in either family has ever had. I spotted an ad by 23&Me looking for people like him and he was able to do his for free. Then I became curious about mine and my parents (both elderly, so gotta do that now or lose out) health concerns, the genealogy portion is a fun side thing for us.

I have a friend from from school days that was adopted, she did one of these tests to see if she could find relatives - she did! It’s been fun seeing her find her family this past year (1 full sibling, several 1/2 siblings), her birth father passed but she was able to meet her birth mother (adopted mother has passed). While there doesn’t seem to be a connection with her birth mom, she is wonderfully discovering her sisters and they enjoy visiting each other.

Here’s how bad RoundUp can be… I asked my husband to buy some Marsh Hay (no seed heads) to cover my strawberry bed garden for the winter. Instead, he brought home “ditch straw” that a friend of his cut from his hobby farm. That ditch straw received years of overspray from the farm fields and became immune to RoundUp and all other weed killer (general use and farm use).

The ditch straw that my idiot-husband put in my garden completely ruined it. It is a raised garden bed that had been filled with a clean, weed-free garden soil and was basically weed free for over 10 years. That ditch straw seeded itself, we could not get rid of it by any means… pulling it, various types of weed killer, the vinegar/salt/dishsoap killed the leaves but not the roots. We even covered the garden in heavy black plastic for a year to try and bake it out. I battled those farkin’ weeds for over 5 years and they only multiplied every year.
We finally had to remove all the soil and haul in new soil.

My brother has had bee “colony collapse” twice with his bee hobby hives, the problem was his neighbor using RoundUp; once my brother talked to the neighbor and the RoundUp use was eliminated, he hasn’t had a problem the last three years.

My mother grew up on a farm (1940’s) and she raised me to be natural (“semi-organic”) as well. As a little girl in the summer, I took the nightly dishwater out to pour on the weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk or driveway. She gardened the same way her father farmed, very few chemicals were used. In my cheapness, the only chemicals I use in my garden is fertilizer.

This isn’t political, it’s using common sense. Think back to when you were growing up, there was a lot less “stuff” out there that now pretends to make our lives easier. I’ve been making a lot more items myself the last few years, including windshield washer fluid, washing machine detergent (powdered), glass cleaner, stinky shoe refresher balls, etc. I never set out to be a “granola cruncher” but when I saw how few cents it takes to make my own cleaners that work just as well as the $$ stuff, I don’t look at myself as “granola-y” but more as a smart consumer saving money and the environment.