Post Your Wins

[crazyliblady]

I donated a bunch of stuff today, including a vacuum in working order, a scanner, a pipe stand, a couple of cigarette rollers, and a nylon loofah back scrubber. I like to take stuff like this to a local thrift store called the New to You and Reuse it Shop, because it benefits the community in multiple ways.

[bjl584]

I've been busy the past couple weeks installing a second kitchen in my basement.
The stove is now up and running, all gas and electrical lines are run.
I just need to get a few odds and ends and the project will be complete.

I had most of the material, and the stove was used from an estate sale.
I only have around $100 in the whole project so far.

The goal is to have a second kitchen for canning and baking to keep the upstairs from getting too hot.

[james.hendrickson]

I paid off an extra 22 bucks towards my mortgage. Its a very small win, but still a win.

[disneysteve]

We finally got a break from the unrelenting heat and humidity we've been dealing with all summer. Not only has it been terribly uncomfortable, it's made outdoor activities quite unpleasant if not outright dangerous. This morning we woke up to temps in the low 60s and low humidity for the first time since spring. I took the opportunity to do a couple of hours of yard work. I cleaned up all of the overgrowth between the house and the AC compressor including cleaning out the basement window well that sits there. Then I moved to the front of the house and trimmed all of the hedges. I subscribe to the "never let the perfect be the enemy of the good" mindset so it may not be pristine but it's easily 90% better than it was.

Of course, I did this the day after installing the new doorbell camera so every time I got in view of it, all 3 of us got notifications. I could have disarmed it but didn't want to risk forgetting to turn it back on.

[disneysteve]

Does it record video to an SD card, cloud service, or other device such as an external hard drive?

I'm not entirely sure. I know there is a subscription service you can pay for, which we won't be doing. I don't know about the other stuff. We really don't care. Like I said, the #1 reason we got it is so that we'd get a notification when a package is delivered. FedEx rings the bell but USPS, UPS, and Amazon do not, so my wife is always tracking the deliveries and waiting around for them to come so she can get them promptly. Now she won't need to do that since we'll get notified and see when they arrive.

And I also want to be able to send away solicitors without opening the door. Nobody of any importance ever rings the bell. It's always somebody selling something. It will be great to be able to get rid of them without getting off the couch or having to run down the stairs.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Does it record video to an SD card, cloud service, or other device such as an external hard drive?

[disneysteve]

Not entirely a financial win but it is somewhat.

My wife has been bugging me for a while to get a video doorbell. We finally ordered one a few weeks ago and I finally installed it today. The financial angle is that we got a refurbished 1st generation model which was quite a bit cheaper than a brand new 2nd generation model. The specs were more than sufficient. I really didn't see any benefit to the newer model except for the unit itself being smaller. The HD video quality is more than enough to see what's happening. We didn't need 4K or whatever the fancier model had. All we want is to know when Amazon drops off a package and to be able to say "go away" to anyone who rings the bell without us having to open the door. This will accomplish that just fine.

And now my wife is happy which is always a win.

[srblanco7]

My daughter and family spent last weekend at our place. They live out of town now but have always banked with a local bank here. Anyway, they went down to the bank and paid off their mortgage free and clear while here, did it in only 5.5 years.
I'm pretty happy for them. Not may pre-40 families have a paid off home.

They don't have any car loans or other debt either. I'm guessing their house is in the $400k range of value.

Wow. That's pretty incredible and sets them up for so much future wealth building. Great as well that they are (by all appearances) on the same page with regard to limiting debt and managing money.

[srblanco7]

Some small wins over the weekend.

Did an oil change and tire rotation on both cars.
Installed a door in the basement.
Ran gas line for a stove I'm installing.
Did some minor electrical work at our cabin.
Fixed a non running chainsaw.

No way of figuring out what all that would have cost if I paid someone to do it all for me, but I saved a lot by doing it myself.

That's an impressive list of tasks requiring a varied list of skills. Impressive that you have the skills to take care of all of that on your own.

[crazyliblady]

My daughter and family spent last weekend at our place. They live out of town now but have always banked with a local bank here. Anyway, they went down to the bank and paid off their mortgage free and clear while here, did it in only 5.5 years.
I'm pretty happy for them. Not may pre-40 families have a paid off home.

They don't have any car loans or other debt either. I'm guessing their house is in the $400k range of value.

That's awesome! It takes a lot of focus and discipline to remain so committed to paying off debt. Please tell her congratulations from me!

[disneysteve]

I saw a curb alert post in our local Facebook group yesterday afternoon. I hopped in the car and went over and got a huge tote with 2 sets of china. One set will get listed on eBay. Most of the other set is getting sold to Replacements Ltd for about $300. Postage will be about $50 so my profit should be right around $250 plus whatever I can sell on eBay.

[bjl584]

Some small wins over the weekend.

Did an oil change and tire rotation on both cars.
Installed a door in the basement.
Ran gas line for a stove I'm installing.
Did some minor electrical work at our cabin.
Fixed a non running chainsaw.

No way of figuring out what all that would have cost if I paid someone to do it all for me, but I saved a lot by doing it myself.

[kork13]

Not really a "win" per say ... but I couldn't find the old thread talking about companies that really do customer service right. So I'll just put it here.

I'm a devoted water drinker, almost to the exclusion of all else ... generally at least 3 quarts a day. And so, my water bottle is always at my side, sometimes jokingly referred to as my "security blanket." I've had my 40oz HydroFlask water bottle for something like 5 years, with 3 military deployments, countless flights & road trips, and hundreds of thousands of miles under it's lid. It's always reliably kept my water ice cold all day, even in the sweltering desert heat. Unfortunately, it recently stopped keeping my water cold -- tragic! Admittedly I'm not totally shocked, because a steel bottle with that much "experience" has naturally picked up plenty of bumps & dings over time, which I assume somehow compromised the vacuum contained within the bottle. But with a bit of research, I learned that apparently HydroFlask has a stellar warranty program -- if it ever fails they'll replace it, no questions asked .... and that's basically just how it went. With a couple emails back & forth, now I just need to ship it back to them for a free replacement. They even let me pick a new color of choice, because my current bottle's color is no longer in production. The only sad part is that I'll lose all of the stickers that it's accumulated over the years from my various adventures. Oh well, I guess I'll have a blank canvas to start over with.

So, I just wanted to call out a great company that really stands behind a truly great product. HydroFlask has my stamp of approval!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

My daughter and family spent last weekend at our place. They live out of town now but have always banked with a local bank here. Anyway, they went down to the bank and paid off their mortgage free and clear while here, did it in only 5.5 years.
I'm pretty happy for them. Not may pre-40 families have a paid off home.

They don't have any car loans or other debt either. I'm guessing their house is in the $400k range of value.

Congratulations what an accomplishment and amazing feeling!

[Fishindude77]

My daughter and family spent last weekend at our place. They live out of town now but have always banked with a local bank here. Anyway, they went down to the bank and paid off their mortgage free and clear while here, did it in only 5.5 years.
I'm pretty happy for them. Not may pre-40 families have a paid off home.

They don't have any car loans or other debt either. I'm guessing their house is in the $400k range of value.