Posts made by mom2jel

@cacher said in Still Use Windows Media Center?:

Daum potplayer

I’d never heard of it, here’s the link for anyone else curious.
https://potplayer.daum.net/

Our Minneapolis StarTribune paper subscription includes a free digital subscription to the Washington Post (link).
Might not hurt to check if your local (large city) paper does too.

My only input is that I think you can’t go wrong with Vanguard.

I did our landline (CenturyLink) to Google Voice via Ting.com in August.
My son bought a new phone, so I took his old Galaxy S5 and ported our landline to it via Ting for a month ($6/device).
Porting took exactly seven days.
I let the phone number (landline) “sit” on cell phone for a good month (bluetoothed it our Panasonic cordless phones) before I then ported it to Google Voice.
My old GV # automatically forwards to new GV (landline) until January 2018.

I have an ObiTalk 200 and set up 3 of our Google Voices on it. Getting the ObiTalk set up correctly took me a few weeks (mistakenly set up #'s in “circle of trust”).
Our old landline # now calls our home phone’s (Panasonic cordless) as well as my cell phone (via Google Voice).
I have another GV I’ve always used as a “junk/spam” phone # (especially for craigslist), I have the GV set to “Do Not Disturb”. If I’m selling something, and expecting a phone call, I just turn that option off.

Another plus with having multiple GV on ObiTalk is that I can dial out using another #, like calling a used car place with my spam GV # by just dialing **3 (it’s the third GV # on my ObiTalk) before dialing the phone number.

Once the landline # was finally ported to GV, I transferred the cellphone to FreedomPop; set up our second GV # on that. There was twice that I lost internet (once my fault with modem/router, other with CenturyLink), so I used the FreedomPop phone for data to check on DSL outages, etc.

Thank you!

I had a salesperson tell me back in September that PetSmart was going to stop selling Blue Buffalo now that Target is carrying it; they must have been wrong.

@tuskers I can’t get the link to come up (I copied & pasted entire link with & without the period at the end).

Darn it! I just bought an OXO 8". Oh well, as long as their dishwasher safe, I’m in.

My (elderly) parents have Dish (tv only), and I need to get them better internet (they can only get 1.5mbps from DSL). I wasn’t thinking far enough ahead and signed them up for Comcast Internet (supposedly 10mbps at their house) a few days ago; I’ve already bought them a Arris Surfboard modem.

Question: can Dish & Comcast come in the same cable?
I’m guessing “no”.
Anyone know if Comcast will install another cable into the house? (and how much?)

Unfortunately my dad is a huge curmudgeon and I don’t want to have to interrupt his precious tv time by even walking into the tv room where he spends his entire day.

ETA: the little bit I can figure out is that Dish Internet would actually be the DSL that we can’t get higher speeds from.

Also see this thread in Technology

“Offer is no longer available”

Without running $$, I second Costco.
When I rented a car (week), they had the best rates.

If you have a Lands End Outlet near, you can go into the store to order (any $) and get free shipping.

I can personally attest to the fantastic quality of LE items - especially their backpacks (good for kids through middle school, then I recommend SwissGear backpacks for high school & college kids)

The LE winter coats are the absolute best for Minnesota winters; the quality of them last through a hand-me-down between three sons, and still in good enough shape to sell them when they have outgrown them.

Darn it! Two of my boys wear size 13

Has anyone tried this for Sam’s Club?
I noticed today that the Mobil 1 was on sale for $27.78 (for 6 qts).

ETA - nevermind, WalMart is slightly cheaper.
FWIW - one guy on SD says Mobil honored his Sam’s receipt for his rebate.

@jtownsucks46 said in Team Kiva: PhatWallet (formerly known as FatWallet):

@mom2jel Is there the potential to make money or is this solely charity?

Charity only - BUT, you can get all of your $ back (if you wish) if the loans aren’t defaulted.

I originally put in $100 and made four loans; when the money was paid back, I kept re-loaning (and donate a small amount each time to offset the Kiva costs). That $100 helped 59 people!

Google Keep - notes, reminders, lists that will sync between all of your devices (I shared the grocery list with my family, so they can add items they would like).
MightyText - (similar to Pushbullet) get my phone texts on my pc.
Google Voice!
Android Pay - for storing all of my store rewards cards/numbers.
SecurityMaster - I use it to lock apps on my teenager’s phone, it’s the only one I have found that seems to work and that he can’t bypass.
DinnerTime Plus - semi-recommend for parents of kids/teens (one-time purchase upgrade is $3-4) - works pretty well at limiting cell phone time on kids phones. What I like about it, is that I can update the settings remotely from my phone or tablet (but not pc).
Migraine Buddy
NapTime
Google Drive - I have everything synced to my pc, so I can access my files from anywhere.
Sprint Drive First - they’ve taken it off the store, but here’s the APK. You do not have to be a Sprint customer to use this more info about it. I like it best for the options it has.

Another (laptop) that activated itself!
We had to borrow MIL’s Dell Inspiron laptop that had the horrible Win8 on it. Nice enough laptop for a grandma, but the CPU & RAM suck.
One problem with it after another and I ended up formatting the hard drive (I did not intend on doing this!)
Installed Windows 10 on it, once I had everything set up, I went to check the activation - and it had already activated.

p.s. I’m tired of working on other people’s pc’s!

Team FatWallet on Kiva has changed it’s name to PhatWallet and is looking for new members (lenders)!
Link: Kiva Team PhatWallet (since 2008!)

I personally have made 59 loans, only one of those defaulted.

About Kiva:
Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition.

100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans. Kiva covers costs primarily through optional donations, as well as through support from grants and sponsors.

tl;dr
Join Kiva, loan money to others in need, get your money back (99% of the time) and re-loan it, or transfer it back yourself.

Note: at least at the CVS in Target stores, you need to be 19 or older.
Last year my 18-yr old son tried to get his flu shot (he worked at Target) and we found out this rule (at least in MN).
On Tuesday he and I went in to get our flu shots, it took them a few minutes to run it through our insurance, then told us to come back in 10 minutes for the shot.
All in all, took about 15 minutes. They print out a $5 coupon at their register.

This is what I did…
Took two $5k gifts from a grandmother and put them into a Vanguard mutual fund account that I liked (Healthcare) around 15-18 years ago. We never added any more to it, and haven’t taken out anything; account is in my name. I just looked and it is at $112k. (Oldest son had full scholarship, so his share of this I decided will be towards a home down payment).
Also set up 529 account through our state with T.Rowe Price, return hasn’t been that great - but the tax advantages are good. I make sure to pay the college directly from the 529 account online so that the IRS doesn’t get excited.

Is this college fund for a young child? or yourself?
My personal opinion is to stay away from investment brokers, since you are here asking then you are smart enough to do it yourself.
If I were you, I would split the college savings between your state’s 529 and a good mutual fund. I’m partial to Vanguard and Mairs & Power funds because of their low fees. Fidelity, T.RowePrice are good too. Get the latest issues of Money or Kiplingers Magazines from you library and browse through them, they always have lists of top mutual funds. Once you find a few that you like, you can run the numbers on Morningstar to get another perspective.

Mortgage Insurance - don’t purchase (and if required by lending company, find out at what point you can drop it).
401k - only do if your employer matches; Roth IRA is better for the tax savings when you retire.
Life Insurance - only purchase if you have a home, spouse, children. Make sure it’s high enough to cover paying off the mortgage and your spouse can stay home with the children until they are 18. Chances are you won’t use it, so don’t make it too high that the yearly payment is a stretch for you. Check with your employer if they already offer this, you might be able to raise the $ by making a deduction from each paycheck.
Again - these are my personal opinions.

@sweetclover said in How to buy used/pre-owned car, PWF/FWF style:

I bought a used car from a dealer that was listed below book value, because it wasn’t the kind of car the dealer sold, and they wanted it off the lot to make room for something else.

I did this 18-months ago, I was looking for a Chevy Malibu for my oldest son.
I wasn’t on any timeline, so I took my time to look. I found a 2012 Malibu at a Mazda dealership, my son and I went to go look at it because it almost seemed to good to be true at $1000k less than all the other ones I had seen.

I asked the salesperson why it was cheaper and he told me exactly that… it was a trade-in and they didn’t want another brand on their lot.

Personally, I like buying new but with 3 sons, we’ve purchased two used cars (and one motorcycle) for them. New makes sense for me… I still own and am the original buyer of my '86 Camaro and '02 Tahoe (each have about 70k miles on them), neither has had any problems.
According to my boys, I’m not allowed to sell either one of my vehicles because they want them, lol.

Tangent:
You also need to pay attention to your 401k fee’s.
My husband’s employer matched 50% up to 7% of his paycheck, so that’s what we’ve been putting in that past 15-20 years. Then thanks to being able to access his 401k account online a couple of years ago, I then saw the management fees being charged every month to his account. What the heck? I have his $ invested in mutual funds (Wells Fargo as the administrator). I got busy and looked closer at his rate of returns and realized that my Roth IRA through Vanguard was giving me a higher rate of return even though I was putting in a piddly amount each month.

Husband had a hard time giving up his “free” employer matching, but he is getting a much better return on his savings we put into his personal Roth IRA.
Our investments are such that I don’t think we’ll be in the lowest tax bracket when we retire (and don’t have kids to write off, lol), so the tax-free (retirement withdrawal) Roth also makes more sense.

I still have 1% of his paycheck going to his 401k. Last year they added on a Roth 401k option, so I switched him to that. His income varies depending on the amount of overtime he works every week, so I do have to watch the limits of what he’s contributing to each.

I’m lucky that I have an excellent credit rating so much so that the credit card companies want to give me ridiculous credit limits.
Some years ago I was watching a tv show (20/20?) about identity theft which started with credit card theft. The victim recommended capping your credit card limits so that if a thief gets your credit card they can only spend $ instead of $$$, not that you’ll be responsible for the $ (in most cases) - but you do have to prove that it was not you by sending verified/notarized documents to each place a purchase was made.
She said that process was a complete pain, she would have to send the documents numerous times, etc. If the spending cap is lower, the idea is that it limits the number of places the thief can make purchases and then less work for you (there is also a cost of getting the documents and notarization).

Do you really need a $50k spending limit a month? Even $10k? I have all of our credit cards set at $3k/month - except for the Visa that both my husband and I use, is set at $5k (because there’s that time frame between months that charges are there, but the payment for the previous month hasn’t been paid yet). (Yes, we charge everything, and I have it set so that all bills are paid in full, automatically every month - I track it all in Quicken.)

My recommendation, take the average of two months of spending on a particular credit card and call and have the card capped at a little more than that.

And really, do you want a thief being able to scam you for more than you would actually spend on yourself?!

I’m thinking there’s no reason you couldn’t set them up with a prepaid credit card meant for teenagers: www.doughroller.net/credit-cards/prepaid-debit-cards-for-teens/

I started my kids on Visa Buxx (which was okay; you have to go through a bank to get it; fee’s vary by bank and if you are a current customer), then switched to AmEx’s Serve (was named Pass when we used it).
I liked the AmEx version better for their customer service and online access/controls.

I have our credit card limits capped (I’m going to make a different post about that). Not sure how much the credit card companies “obey” that limit though?
I’m partial to Discover, great customer service in my opinion. You could open a Discover It card, and add your relative as an authorized user (they will get their own card with their name on it). Ask Discover to cap it at $500, set up the online account to alert you for purchases over $, and if your limit reaches $. Then you can put a “freeze” on their card if they go over it.

I used HostGator, they were the cheapest I found.
Domain names I use Google, I also use Google Sites (free) for my websites.