Post Your Wins

[disneysteve]

Since you are retired now, I thought I would ask. Are you covered by Medicare? If you are, does it typically cover everything?

No, I'm only 59, wife is 60, so we're 5 years from Medicare. We were on COBRA from my job until 12/31/23 and then went on an ACA plan on 1/1/24. The upside is that ACA is way cheaper than COBRA by $1,000/month. The downside is the ACA plan has a deductible and high OOP expenses where the work plan had neither so it somewhat balances out.

Actually, ACA will probably end up being even cheaper because I believe our income will come in quite a bit lower than the estimate I used when we signed up. That'll come back to us at tax time.

[crazyliblady]

Two medical billing wins

1. I had an MRI recently. I don't remember the exact amount but they said it would be a little under $1,200. I got the EOB from our insurance company and their allowed rate is $982, about $200 less than I was quoted so I only need to pay that amount.

2. I got a lab bill today for $32.80. I went online to pay it and it said I had no balance. Turns out I had already paid that bill a couple of weeks ago and today's statement must have been generated before they processed that payment.

Not that it's necessarily a good thing, but I'm only $150 from meeting my deductible so at least the insurance coverage will start kicking in and the OOP charges will lessen.

Since you are retired now, I thought I would ask. Are you covered by Medicare? If you are, does it typically cover everything?

[disneysteve]

Two medical billing wins

1. I had an MRI recently. I don't remember the exact amount but they said it would be a little under $1,200. I got the EOB from our insurance company and their allowed rate is $982, about $200 less than I was quoted so I only need to pay that amount.

2. I got a lab bill today for $32.80. I went online to pay it and it said I had no balance. Turns out I had already paid that bill a couple of weeks ago and today's statement must have been generated before they processed that payment.

Not that it's necessarily a good thing, but I'm only $150 from meeting my deductible so at least the insurance coverage will start kicking in and the OOP charges will lessen.

[disneysteve]

I took a planned step on my journey toward retirement and am now a 20-hour-a-week worker. I logged out of my 2nd (irregular) job for the last time today.

Congratulations! That's awesome. You will quickly come to wonder how you were managing to get anything done outside of work when you were full time. Enjoy the added freedom.

[scfr]

I took a planned step on my journey toward retirement and am now a 20-hour-a-week worker. I logged out of my 2nd (irregular) job for the last time today.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Ha-ha, yes I was happy with the $800 but the greedy brain inside me keeps saying what if? (lol). The last paragraph describes how the RNG continues shuffling.

[disneysteve]

Would you have held the deuce where the jack is currently at on that $800 win above? A kicker of 2's, 3's or 4's with 4 aces would have paid $4000. My thinking is that holding the deuce would decrease my chances of getting 4 aces which is needed first, before getting a kicker, hence why I did not hold the deuce. Also, the random number generator (RNG) is constantly changing until the redraw button is pressed so if I held the deuce the time it took to press the button may have not resulted in the 4th ace arriving. Technical stuff but I believe that is how modern day video poker machines operate. Anyway, would you have held the deuce?

There's a reason it's called gambling .

There's no way to know what would have happened. And if the RNG truly doesn't pick the outcome until you hit the button even hesitating because you sneezed or got a text or took a sip of your drink could have made a difference. You take what you get.

[QuarterMillionMan]

This coming Saturday Jamul is giving $20 free play to all and free food.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Would you have held the deuce where the jack is currently at on that $800 win above? A kicker of 2's, 3's or 4's with 4 aces would have paid $4000. My thinking is that holding the deuce would decrease my chances of getting 4 aces which is needed first, before getting a kicker, hence why I did not hold the deuce. Also, the random number generator (RNG) is constantly changing until the redraw button is pressed so if I held the deuce the time it took to press the button may have not resulted in the 4th ace arriving. Technical stuff but I believe that is how modern day video poker machines operate. Anyway, would you have held the deuce?

[QuarterMillionMan]

Profitable day at my local casino and $8.99 steak & 3 eggs, good deal.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Auto parts stores have signs saying recycle used oil here where you pour it yourself into 55 gallon drums.

[Fishindude77]

how much is it to dispose of the used oil?

I wouldn't pay to dispose of oil.
The small amount we generate, I save in a jug for burning brush, etc. Most any outfit that has a large fleet of trucks or equipment has a used oil holding tank and would probably allow you to dump a few gallons in. Outfits pick up this oil for free and repurpose it.
Many shops that generate lots of used oil, use it as a heating source for their buildings.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Another DIY maintenance win. Our RV was due for its 2nd oil change. Last year, for the first, it was a little too daunting, so we had a shop do it. Heavy diesel truck, lots of oil...the oil change itself cost about $700 before tax. One of the fuel filters also needed to be changed, and there was also a diagnostic charge for a question we asked about engine behavior; for a grand total of $982. So goes dining at a heavy truck shop. This year I put on my big boy pants and tackled the job myself. I bought a concrete mixing tub to catch the more than 8 gallons of oil ($19). 8 gallons of new oil was just over $200. I spent $300 on filters (oil, fuel, coolant) but bought enough for two intervals. A wrench to grab and twist off the gallon-sized oil filter, $16. Cabin air filter, $7.

I spent 3 hours studying the maintenance manual gathering details like which drain plug to use (there are a few). And pre-fill filters, or not. And how to prime the fuel system. Where and how many zerks on the suspension to grease. And also, navigating the service schedule to come up with a plan to maintain the rig going forward.

$392 DIY cost, remembering to subtract the $150 in filters that I will use on the next change. And getting my Youtube Diesel Mechanic certification was priceless. Add $12 for my "victory lunch" I bought after I disposed of the used oil at the parts store

how much is it to dispose of the used oil?

[scfr]

I paid our estimated taxes today, a bit early. No matter what happens in the next week, at least that's taken care of so no chance of interest and/or penalties. I looked in to paying by credit card since the processing fees have dropped over the past couple years and it's now possible to net a small amount with a 2% (or more) cash back rewards card, but I decided that the risk of using a third party vendor (risk that the payment wouldn't reach the IRS, risk of them haivng my PII) just wasn't worth the small payoff. I know that most of the wins we talk about in this thread are Offensive Team wins, but Defensive Team wins are important too.

[disneysteve]

I took care of one task on my "retirement to do" list today. I called my insurance agent for my disability policy to discuss if there was any good reason I still needed to carry disability insurance now that I'm retired. I know insurance agents get a bad rap, but I've been with Northwestern Mutual for over 30 years and have had 3 agents during that time and have always found them to be very honest and trustworthy in their advice. True to form, when I explained that I was now fully retired (I had spoken to him a couple of years ago when I went part time), he immediately agreed that there was no reason to keep the policy.

Rather than cancelling immediately, though, he noted that the policy pays an annual dividend on the September 2nd policy anniversary date. If I cancel now, I'd miss out on that dividend payment. He double checked and my premium for July and August (June is already paid) comes to less than half of the dividend amount so if I keep the policy until September the dividend will well more than cover the extra 2 months of premiums. Fine with me. I'll pay for July and August and then cancel as soon as the dividend is paid out.

Once that's done, our annual expenses will drop by $3,100 which will be nice.