Tag: Misc

Last week I was reading in the paper that the local water authority released another $450,000 in consumer rebates; this was after the rebates for the entire month of May were allocated in the first 1.5 hours that they were available. (I had called the first day and tried to get a rebate for the new washing machine we need.) I quickly got online, applied for the rebate and presto, my rebate (up to $135) was allocated! I got the paperwork and discovered that I needed to send the paperwork to a new California city, Sacremento. You’d like that the government that administers this rebate could proofread its web pages.

Lately, it seems that the only words I hear associated with Memorial Day are “happy” and “sale”. The word happy definitely doesn’t belong with Memorial Day if you actually look at what Memorial Day symbolizes. It is easy to forget the true meaning of Memorial Day when you hear phrases like “the unofficial beginning of summer”. Today I spent the day with my parents and my son. When I arrived at my parents’ place, I saw that my dad had his flag out at half staff and then at 11 am (he had the time wrong, but doesn’t believe me), he raised it to full staff. (The United States Flag Code says to fly the flag at half staff until noon.)

While I don’t support and haven’t supported the wars of my generation, I do have great respect for those that serve and for those that have given their lives for our country. Memorial Day should once again be recognized for the day that it is, to honor those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country and should not be used as yet another excuse to have the day off and commercialize a holiday.

Years ago when I started with ecommerce, email was an acceptable way to do this including sending credit card information (or at least no one knew better). Today, informed consumers know that email is not the right way to do ecommerce.

I’m ordering new toothbrushes for my son (he was given a “Collis-Curve” toothbrush which is quite effective. If you goto the company’s web site and want to order, you see 3 ways to order: phone, fax, or email. Yes, email! The form on their page is meant to be printed and faxed. To top off the email, it says to submit half of your credit card number in one message and the other half in another message! I almost fell out of my chair when I read this; setting up a secure ordering form isn’t rocket science. Needless to say, I’m not ordering from them.

I’ve gotten a bit fed up with our local paper in that the content is decreasing very rapidly (the quality of the content was always questionable). We decided today that we’d goto Sunday only if it was significantly cheaper. I called and was told that Sunday only was $9/month; we currently pay $11.25/month for every day. I said that I wanted to cancel, so the lady on the phone said that we could get Friday-Sunday for $6/month. Hmmm, so for $3 less per month, we get 2 more days than Sunday alone? I don’t get it, but decided we’ll go for it for awhile.

Our dog will probably be bummed about this as he gets the paper every morning. We’ll just have to throw one out there for him to bring back.

About a month ago when we had our major plumbing problem, we just picked a plumber to do the work and didn’t shop around. We didn’t have much of a choice as we needed the water back on. We chose Rescue Rooter and the plumber did a good job. When he was doing the work, I was trying to do some calculations to see what it really should have cost based on say $85/hour for a plumber (that’s what I was charged in the past for non-emergency work). The plumber said the rate was the same if it was an emergency or non-emergency. The repair cost a lot, but I started to forget about it.

On Friday, I had Rescue Rooter come out to give me an estimate on putting a T in the main water line to hook up sprinklers to prepare for redoing our front lawn. I almost fell over when he gave me the estimate. It was $520. He knocked $50 off and I said I’d get other estimates. I got a call back and the price dropped to $395. Still, this seemed way out of line. I had already dug the hole to expose the pipe, there was maybe $50 in parts and worst case 2 hours of work. At $100/hour, that’s a total (including parts) of $250. I just got an estimate from another plumber (without seeing it) of around $200; this estimate is much more in line with what I’d expect.

So, it looks like Rescue Rooter ripped me off big time to fix our plumbing issue. Of course, there is nothing I can do about it except write this post. Bottom line, even in a plumbing emergency, shop around if you think the number is out of line. In addition, don’t use Rescue Rooter.

When I look to buy lasting goods I don’t usually don’t buy the top of the line as it is not affordable nor would I get the value out of it (however, I do buy my Macs at almost the top of the line). The other day I had to take my circular saw in for service as it didn’t quite sound right; I bought it a few months ago reconditioned. I know I didn’t buy the top of the line (the saw along with a drill, flashlight and reciprocating saw was $199), but didn’t buy the bottom. When I started talking to the folks at the repair shop, they pretty much laughed at me with my saw. These people repair professional tools and my rinky dink saw was basically a toy. I admitted that I knew what I was getting, but it definitely wasn’t the bottom of the line; it did come with lithium ion batteries which should have moved it up a notch. However, they didn’t agree. After talking with the manager for a bit, I learned that the price of the tool doesn’t necessarily mean anything as they get all tools in for repair; it really doesn’t matter the brand (there are only a few manufacturers of electric tools as there have been a lot of mergers).

In any case, in a few weeks, I should have my saw back fully repaired (yes, it should have lasted more than a few months), but since I don’t use professionally, the tools work work fine. If I get at least a few years out of them, I’ll be happy.

Our washing machine started to become quiet noisy during its spin cycle, so we had a repair guy come out to give us an estimate. Knowing that our washer is 8 years old and a front loader, I suspected that the bearings or motor were bad as the whole drum rests on bearings and puts significant weight on them. So, I hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst; the worst being replacing the washing machine. The guy came out, listened to it for about 2 minutes and said that it will cost about $500 to replace and pretty much he wouldn’t do it (he’s only done a couple because most people replace them). Of course, this visit wasn’t free; $35 to tell me that it was broken and had to be replaced. So we have maybe 6 months left before it blows. A new front loading washer with a warranty runs around $800. While not what I want to buy right now (not after my plumbing fiasco which turned into a bigger mess as I had to redo sprinklers in the back as well), but it makes little sense to put $500 into a machine without a warranty which could go at any time.

I hate to basically dump a washer, but for the extra $300, it is worth it to have years of hassle free operation and a warranty.

I’m almost ashamed to admit that this year I received a tax refund. Why? A tax refund means that you (including me) have provided the government with a zero interest loan. Granted I wouldn’t have earned all that much on my refund, but it’s the principle of loaning the government money. In my case, I was self-employed for a long time and doing an accurate estimate of my owed taxes was nearly impossible as my income fluctuated based on contracts I had and ReceiptWallet income, so I always ended up owing taxes at the end of the year. The latter part of last year, I started a W-2 job which kind of changed the game.

In any case, it seems like Americans expect tax refunds and then spend them. The smart thing to do is to adjust withholdings so that you come close to your tax burden and don’t get a refund or only get a small one. For most people with predictable income, this shouldn’t be hard.