April 18th - "Tax Refund Plans"

@Yoda_Daenerys I can imagine what you face. I’ve been in my house for so many years, the thought of trying to move frightens me. I do recall when I moved in it took maybe 8 mos or more to finish unpacking the last box.

@ruouttaurmind
If you unpacked the last box within 8 months you are amazing.

I think the average is somewhere between “10 years” and “never”.

@f00l @ruouttaurmind We have boxes in storage that were packed in 1992 when we moved from one apartment to a ‘temporary while they finish the house we bought’. Still in storage. Mostly books.

I feel bad when I think about it once every 6 months or so when we go into storage for other things.

@duodec
Perhaps you ought to unpack them, figure that it what you have re-purchased or no longer need, and sell the rest on Craigslist, or donate them. I think it’s possible that you don’t have an urgent daily need for these books? ; )

<I should talk! I am being s total hypocrit by making such a suggestion!>

@f00l We should. There’s a box of my wife’s Warren Murphy and philosophy books, a box with both of our remaining college texts (we did donate/recycle a lot of them but kept a few that we thought might be useful. I think there are boxes of magazines from the '70s and 80s still there in the back, if the environment hasn’t ruined them.

@ruouttaurmind Sympathies. When we move, hopefully in not too many more years, we’ll have 30 years of accumulated acquisitions, less whatever purging we can do in the interim. Its freaking huge. We won’t need a moving van, we’ll need a convoy. Going to have to do something about that in the interim.

@duodec @ruouttaurmind

I had a rather abrupt downsize from 1900 sf to 450sf (with 19 mo of homelessness in between due to having to chose health insurance over rent). I still have things in storage (hoping to somehow some day get a full time job and then be able to move out of hud) and am working on downsizing to what will fit into maybe 1000 sf (which will mean then I can also get a smaller storage unit and save money that way too). The only way I have found is that you just have to do it. Maybe 3-5 boxes at a time so it isn’t too overwhelming. Then remove from the storage unit anything you are ditching or selling. You will move to sell it faster (or get rid of it faster) if it is parked in your way in the living room. By taking it out, doing the storage unit becomes easier as there is more floor space opened up and you can see your progress which helps with motivation.

Then what you are keeping, repack, label well. Boxes all the same size make moving easier, using packing paper to keep stuff from breaking (not newspaper that leaves behind ink) is also necessary, including stuffing the corners of boxes so they don’t collapse under the weight. You often can get really good free moving boxes and packing paper from craigslist. I got over $200 worth of packing paper for free by spending 2 hours folding crumpled up packing paper from someone’s move. And then as many of their boxes as I wanted. I found it cheaper and better to buy brown packing tape from a moving company (it does come in different thicknesses so be careful with the cheap aspect) than elsewhere.

As far as packing a house - that takes me, alone, about 120 hours (3 weeks of 40 hours).

As far as downsizing - again I think the trick is you either start in one room and handle a small amount at a time OR you start with a category of stuff and work your way thought that. Again only a couple of hours a week (unless you get on a roll). I saved too much sentimental stuff. Took photos of some of it and so managed to then convince myself to get rid of some of it.

When you donate stuff - take a photo the donation pile spread out enough you can see everything. Then get the donation sheet, scan that, paste them both into a word doc. That way you both have it all in one place and you don’t have to remember what was in the pile of junk you donated. Also you have it later if you are audited.

If you are selling stuff, while craigslist and ebay can work, sometimes the neighborhood facebook craigslist equivalent works better. If you are giving stuff to kids, force them to take it out of your house now if at all possible so you aren’t storing it for them (remembering that some adult “kids” still feel more secure if they still have a box of junk at your house).

Of course the other solution is buy good replacement cost insurance, then have a house fire or storage unit fire… a little extreme but much faster (well and you do risk jail time for arson…, minor detail). Oh and another solution, round up the kids and tell them to take what they want out of whatever pile you have created that has the junk you don’t want anymore and then make them haul off the rest for you.

@Kidsandliz I’m in the process of doing that in my carriage house (sorta garage). First I cleaned the center area, then moved everything to the center and cleaned the edges. Then I put in shelves and cabinets around the edges and ordered two cartons of storage tubs online, along with some big screw in hooks for stuff like ladders and weed whackers. Meanwhile I accumulated big boxes. I set up a table in the middle of the room and am now in the process of taking each cardboard box of stuff from the pile in the middle and emptying it onto the table. Then it gets sorted into 4 boxes: keep plastic tub, trash box, recycle box, donate box. I dig through finding boxes of similar stuff so I can fill the “keep” tubs. I label them and put them on the shelf designated for that sort of thing. Once all the sorting is complete, I’ll be hanging shower curtains in front of all the shelves to help keep the dust off. The roof is bad and the windows are just grated so a lot of dirt gets in when we have sandstorms. I’ve gotten about 25% done with this part, gotten through all the holiday stuff. There’s some sad work ahead, sorting through my mom’s meager possessions and properly safeguarding my best friend’s things that his sister asked me to store. But it’s very satisfying after years of disorganization and losing stuff to damage from the elements to have things neatly put away.

@awk I understand it as a super easy way for people to budget in some play money every year that you get in one limp sum.

@luvche21 @awk Exactly. Many people don’t have the discipline to maintain a savings plan. “Enforced automatic saving” like 401k plans and tax returns work well for them.

@ruouttaurmind I’ve always done well with the money I have (I’m only in debt for my house) and still have a decent emergency savings. Even so, I still appreciate the little tax return that I get every year. Maybe in a few years once we’re more settled into our new lifestyle (new job, new house, new kiddos) I’ll budget differently to pay all of my taxes at the end of the year, or even plan it out so that it comes closer to getting no return back.

@moondrake

That is a REALLY BIG boat.

/giphy we’re gonna need a bigger boat

@moondrake
That does look like a monster. It’s bigger than the Queen Mary 2?

@f00l Oasis is bigger than QM2, Harmony is bigger than Oasis. The Cunard boats are lovely, though. I’d still like to sail on one. I just haven’t ever found one sailing from one of the ports I’m targetting. My cruises are usually bookended on a Sci Fi or gaming convention, and we sail from the port nearest the convention city.

Here’s a comparison of Oasis, QM2 and the Titanic (appropriately at the bottom). I’m trying to see what that third boat is.

The third boat in the image is Independence of the Seas, I had to watch their video to find out. QM2 is the world’s largest ocean liner, but she’s no longer among the ten largest cruise ships. I’m surprised that Carnival doesn’t have any entries here, Royal Carribean really owns the big ship club. (Boats with “of the Seas” in their name are all Royal Carribean’s).

Top Eleven (11) Biggest Passenger Ships

1. Harmony of the Seas
2. 3. (tie)
      Allure of the Seas
      Oasis of the Seas
3. 5. 6. (tie)
         Anthem of the Seas
         Quantum of the Seas
         Ovation of the Seas
4. Norwegian Escape
5. Norwegian Epic
   9, 10. 11. (tie)
   Freedom of the Seas
   Liberty of the Seas
   Independence of the Seas

@moondrake

Call Cunard and get them to bargain w you on cabin price, if they still do that. Or look for the deals.

I would think you could find a fan convention in London or Paris or elsewhere in Europe.

I think they still do the NYC to/from Southampton round trip all summer long, one way ship, the other way British Air; unless you’re rich or leisurely and can go both ways on ship?

I have never sailed on a cruise ship. But I have gotten an insider private tour of the old QE2, and that thing was astonishing. It was not a ship for binge drinking party cruises and crazy theme stuff like that, tho they prob do some theme stuff. It was a ship for classy and literate adults, even in the cheap seats.

On their winter round-the-world cruises, they used to give serious pay and luxury accommodations and travel arrangements to Nobel prize winners, best-selling, well-respected writers, and well-known economists and foreign policy experts and the like, in exchange for a single 1 hour lecture or Q/A with the passengers. Tho the guest lecturer was free to do more if they wished.

Cunard was after the best and most interesting, and they bagged a lot of really fascinating guest lecturers. Many of these lecturers found the passengers on board to be so charming and such great conversationalists, that everyone all wound up doing voluntary informal “salons” every day.

@f00l The cruise isn’t the problem. Per Expedia, air from EP to NYC then from Southampton back to EP is a little over $8,000. That’s four years of vacations just for the airfare to connect to the ship. If I were able to pick up a great travel deal to Europe that I could connect to Cunard, I’d do it. But I’m not spending the price of a new car on one cruise and connecting air.

We travelled on Holland America to Alaska a couple of years ago. HAL is an old world style cruise line and it was a very pleasant journey. I prefer midsized ships over the giant ones. I did want to cruise Oasis class once, so when Board Game Geek picked Harmony for their trip this year, an Oasis class boat so new she still had her price tag (just uner $1 billion) on her, it seemed like a great opportunity.

We took the Holland America Westerdam to Alaska. She’s a good looking boat.

@moondrake
Cunard used to partner with British air on sharply reduced London or Paris to/from NYC round-trip package deals, starting on either side, that combined ship transport one way and air the other. I seem to recall that these were pretty good prices.

If these still have decent pricing, you could get one of those packages to handle the transatlantic parts, then you just have to find cheap transport from EL to NYC and back.

Cunard regulars used to be able to cut deals for onboard passage all the time. I don’t know if they still do that.

@moondrake Oh, look! WorldCon is in Helsinki this year! And Dublin is bidding on 2019. And New Zealand is in for 2020. There have to be some cruises around then. Well, now you’ve got me looking. I can’t fathom (ha) doing a con, then having the energy for a cruise.
/giphy science fiction convention

@OldCatLady

What month is WorldCon?

@f00l This year it’s 9-13 August. Used to be Labor Day weekend, but life kept interfering. http://www.worldcon.fi/

@OldCatLady The cruise is the relaxing part of the vacation. We considered Hellsinke, but we were there a couple of years ago so my travel partner didn’t want to go back. If Dublin or NZ wins we’ll go, I’ve been to both but it’s been a while and he’s never been to either so he’ll want to go. My house will be paid off by then so it will be easier to afford. Worldcon is in San Jose next year so there’s almost certainly another Carribean cruise coming with that. We love the Carribean.

@OldCatLady

Cunard does transatlantic back and forth using the Queen Mary 2 all summer every summer I think.

Most people go air one way, ship the other, but they do any combo you can imagine.

@f00l @oldcatlady It might be possible to catch a repositioning cruise about the time of Worldcon, those are crazy cheap. But it may be a liitle early (yep, they are in April and late Oct-early Nov, but as low as $650). When we went to Europe a few years ago we flew to Venice, spent three days there, took a 7 day Mediterranean cruise to Greece, Dubrovnik Croatia, Turkey, and maybe another stop. When we got back to Venice we took the train to Rome, spent three days there, took the train to Paris, spent two days there, took the Chunnel train to London, spent 5 days there in a rented house at Worldcon, took the train to the coast and took a 12 day Scandinavian cruise to Russia (2 days in port), Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Norway, and Denmark. The whole itinerary for about a month of European travel was (air, ground, cruise, house and hotel) ran about $3,500 each, food, excursions, and misc expense not included. But of course food for 19 days of it was covered on the cruise ships.

@moondrake that sounds like an amazing trip.

@moondrake Thought at first the second one might have been the Norway. Sailed on that years ago. What a ship! Shed a tear when it was scrapped.

@OldCatLady
/giphy hitchhiking home

@OldCatLady
So I signed up for the free flight, why not. Email address I don’t really car about, so WTF.

They do fly in and out of DFW.

Curiously, they refuse to fly west from here? The only destinations I found were all east of the Mississippi, altho they do fly to Denver, SLC, and many western and Pacific Coast cities. They just won’t fly us there from DFW. Unless I’m stupid and didn’t read the schedule right, or I failed to allow some scripts I need to allow to see west coast flights.

But I could go to DC, or NYC, or even Martha’s Vineyard.

The east is chill, and I have chill relatives in the east, so I really outta win this. Just 'cause.

@f00l If you start from DC, the west coast destinations show up. If you start from Ft. Lauderdale, you get South America and Mexico. It’s an odd setup.

@OldCatLady
If I win, perhaps I could grab a SW to D.C., visit the family, refrain from counting the empty bottles, then fly west for free, then home on something cheap.

Or perhaps just fly from here to the Vineyard.

Possibilities. Hmmm. I just never win contests. Perhaps for lack of entering. So this one needs to be mine.

@djslack My net refund was less than $200. I don’t think I’d be comfortable cutting it closer than that.

@luvche21 So when’s the BBQ?

@ruouttaurmind Well, the patio will be finished this week hopefully (and it’s gonna look good since we’re doing that cool stamp technique!), then I’m getting a trench digger to dig trenches for our sprinkler system, then I’m installing the sprinkler system, then I’ll bring in a little fill dirt, then hydroseeding (which you have to wait 6 weeks before walking on lots…)

So, sometime around the end of June??

@SSteve Are you incorporated? For me, incorporating the business turned out to be worth the expense and hassle. Becoming an employee of the company simplified my personal returns, and the 1070 corp return isn’t anymore complicated than itemizing a 1040 long form. And of course there are other benefits of incorporation as well.

@Kidsandliz Medical expenses are a bummer. Before my ex was invited to find a new place to be, I was spending around $10,000 a year for medications for her and her son. My least favorite way to kill a paycheck. Best of all, since she and I weren’t married, I couldn’t deduct a dime.

@jqubed Are you a DIY-er? Gonna paint it yourself?

I decided years ago… despite my considerable skills with my hands, tools, etc. I just can’t paint to save my life. Dunno why. I think maybe it’s because I have a microscopic attention to detail when I do a job, and painting just doesn’t fit into that level of scrutiny. Once I’ve finished the job, every little flaw sticks out like a sore thumb. But when I hire someone else to do it, it’s just done and I never even notice any flaws.

@ruouttaurmind I have no desire to do the whole house. I might do a room, but not the whole house. And my tendency to perfectionism would make it take forever.

@jqubed THIS! Exactly this. My stress over getting it right is not worth it. Paying someone else, worth it.

@RiotDemon Universal Studios! I haven’t been in years, but I had a VIP annual pass to the California park for a few years. Dunno about now, but back then it was good for front-of-line privs. Makes it a whole different day when you can jump right to the front of line for every attraction. Well worth the couple hundred it cost.

@ruouttaurmind times have changed. I remember when I bought my annual pass last time and it was only $150 which was a no brainer since a two park two day pass was $99. Now the least expensive is around $250, and the most expensive is $440 or so. The most expensive one does get you one express pass for each ride after 4pm, and it gets you a ticket to Halloween horror nights on one of their slower nights. It also gets you free parking after the first time.

I only live around 1.5 hours away, so in theory, I could easily go there for a day trip without needing to stay the night in a hotel.

@RiotDemon I’ve always wanted to try Universal on Halloween. I was at Six Flags Magic Mountain a couple years ago and it was fantastic. Four different haunted houses, all very well done, plus characters mingling throughout the park in various types of monster makeup. There was one character that kept chasing my girlfriend with a chainsaw. She was screaming her head off and I was laughing so hard my sides were hurting. It took about an hour for her to stop being mad at me for laughing.

@cinoclav

Ugh. Layoffs always come at the worst possible time.

When I used to work in the corporate world I was mostly working for government contractors who have a habit of hiring for contract. Contract is fulfilled, everyone gets sacked. Next contract comes along, everyone is recalled.

IIRC, I’ve been laid off six or seven times in ten years. My father, who came from the generation when it was extremely common to work for the same company for 30+ years, used to tell me it was because I wasn’t making myself valuable enough to the company. “If you were a more valuable asset…” Oh, Dad.

@ruouttaurmind What’s most frustrating is the fact that there were 4 techs (she ran sleep studies). The guy she worked with was fired from his two previous jobs for different types of harassment. He’s been completely inappropriate to her for several years to the point I’ve almost gone there and beat him senseless. He doesn’t go to their required meetings, the patients don’t like him and he generally sucks at his job. She gets rave reviews from her patients, bends over backwards to attend meetings on little sleep, volunteered for the hospital, and got paid less than the other three who all happen to be male. But the guy she worked with… he was hired by their boss, a friend of his. She was offered about 4.5 months of severance, she deserves 4.5 years of it at least. Hopefully it’s a blessing in disguise, she hated it there.

@cinoclav
I suppose she doesn’t file a harassment complaint because she’s afraid it would impact her hireability down the road?

@cinoclav I know it’s uncomfortable now, but you know the old saying “one door closes, another one opens”. I’m sure she’ll find a better job, one that she likes. And maybe even for more money!

I got so frustrated with the layoff cycle I just started off on my own. No more working for the man, I AM the man. LMAO!

@f00l Her and another tech (a long gone female) had previously gone to HR with other concerns. HR reported the entire conversation right back to their supervisor. No confidentiality, no effort to pursue the issue. It simply made things worse for her. Ever since she was afraid to go to them. This is a good sized hospital system on the Philadelphia ‘Main Line’ who flaunts their company as a great place to work. I don’t know anyone who has ever worked for them (including me) who has anything nice to say.

@ruouttaurmind One can hope. She has so many issues from having worked overnight for so long. I’m not sure she’ll adapt all that quickly if she can find a normal day job but it would be for the best. Her sister works in HR for big pharma so I’m hoping she can help her out.

@cinoclav
FWIW, a lawyer, or a federal or state agency, or federal or state licensing board might take a look at this.

The company will prob hunker down, try to be hostile, and lie a lot. But it’s not the same as an employee having faith in an internal complaint. The company stands to lose if they screw up an investigation on enquiry from outside. And an outside investigation can force a formal discovery process.

Everything needs to be documented to the greatest degree possible if she goes this way. Also as many witnesses and co-complainants as possible.

@cinoclav I don’t think that’s the way it’s supposed to work legally; that sounds like something for a lawyer to address, and from a big hospital system, there should be better policies in place than that.

@f00l @jqubed I just don’t see her pursuing things with a lawyer unless they don’t modify her severance letter to be more explicit. Some of it is quite vague, like the section where it says she’ll be paid her ‘normal wage.’ It doesn’t specify for how many hours per week or make any mention of the differential she earned for working overnight. There are several loophole type statements where they could totally screw her over. Part of her problem is she’s not one to take a strategic approach, instead she’d prefer to walk in there, flip them a couple of fingers and tell them to go fuck themselves. I keep telling her to go ahead and do that…once she finds a new job and is settled in.

@cranky1950 Mountains! Now that’s what I’m talking about. I’d like to get away myself. A few days in the wilderness, a few times this summer would be great!

@ruouttaurmind You would be surprised how much nothing there is around here, you lose sight of it if you keep to I-85.

@rockblossom

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… criminals suck!

@capguncowboy Nice! I remember when I did ours - a good use of money. It is great for the kids.

@capguncowboy Looks great! I keep trying to talk Mom into doing something similar. She’s been in the house for about 20 years, and two times a year she has to bring in 50 to 75 tons of gravel (driveway is 500 feet). Then it all washes away, and the cycle starts over. In the 20 years she’s been in the house, I can’t imagine how much she’s spent on truckloads of gravel.

@capguncowboy Nice. Looked quite a bit like ours looks now. It seriously needs to be repaved but I have no desire to pay for it. Driveway is about 145’ long so I know it’s going to cost plenty. Mind me asking what that cost you?

@cinoclav I don’t mind at all. All in, it cost $5000. They tore up what was there and put down 2-3" of pugmill chut, then topped it with 3-4" of asphalt. My driveway is 85’ long and up a steep grade. The company I went with bid just a hair less than everyone else, and had better reviews.

@capguncowboy Thanks. Even less incentive to do ours, especially as the old stuff needs to come up too.

@connorbush Amen.

@Mehsturbator

Which phone?

@PlacidPenguin The one the tax refund went towards was an HTC One M9. Of course within a year I had bought and used both a OnePlus 2 and a Nexus 6P. The 6P is my current one, my dad has the M9, and my sister has the OP2. The refund would have covered the full cost of the OP2, but I still had to add in about $300 for the M9 after the tax return. That is an amazing phone though.

@Mehsturbator
Which headphones?

@f00l My V-MODA Crossfade Wireless ones.

@PlacidPenguin
Sure.

@Mehsturbator Or Florida or Texas (I think) or a handful of other states with no state income tax. What sucks for me is I work online, have one paycheck from FL and so I have to pay state tax on that money in the state I live in as they don’t take out my state’s state tax for me. This year it didn’t matter as my taxable income was negative (medical expenses and health insurance), but some year it might.

@Mehsturbator Yep. And in the course of finding that out, I found this tidbit:

The flip-side of the state’s income tax-free status is its high sales taxes. The state’s base sales tax rate is 6.5%. Since cities and counties collect additional sales taxes on top of that rate, in practice rates are typically at least 8% and often higher than 9%.

Lol! We have state income tax AND sales tax rates around 10%. Hooray for our wonderful politicians!

I believe in Texas they make up for no income tax with a healthy dose of property tax.

@djslack Yeah our sales tax just went up to 10% here from 9.5% because the dumbass voters approved a stupid transportation package to the tune of $54 billion. Billion. That we the taxpayers get to front. And how many of these people that voted for it will be around the area in 30 years when it’s finally actually coming to fruition? Ugh.

I think our property taxes are also really high but I don’t own property so I don’t know about that one.

@Mehsturbator You’d know it via the higher rent you’d pay…

@Kidsandliz I live at home.

@Mehsturbator Well then higher rent you will eventually pay.

@djslack
Correct. No state income tax in Texas. Sales tax around here usually varies between 8-9% - each city, county, and school district has their own rate.

And property tax fun too.

@msklzannie Or you could fill up your luggage with all the junk meh sells to deliver to the Koreans who used to inhabit this site and charge enough to cover the airfare.