What's under your lip/in your nose right now? - Part 2

[hittman]

That's some pretty unfriendly work weather. I guess they really need the money.

I sold some stuff on ebay and had to go to the post office at lunch. I felt like I really had the screws put to me. The box was 20x14x10. I printed a label through paypal last night but had to add something to the box so I had the postal worker weigh it again. Somehow a pair of gloves and some bubble wrap added about a pound and a half. The shipping all together ended up costing about $30 for a 10.5lb box. I should have checked with UPS but promised to ship it today. I think UPS would have been cheaper.

 

[The Rebel]

Flat rate boxes are your friend Hitt. If it fits, it ships and it won't cost you extra due to weight. I sell a lot of stuff through Ebay and all I use are the flat rate boxes. I've shipped stuff that was pretty hefty for under $20 without a problem. I usually go to the post office once a month. I just grab a few extra boxes since they are free.

 

[rothenbj]

I was looking at those also but there was nothing as long as Hitt said he used. The longest I found was the medium flat rate 2 at 12" x 3-1/2" x 14". The large flat rate only came in at 12-1/4" x 12-1/4" x 6". Unless you know of a different sized box or if Hitt's contents could have been divided into smaller boxes, he might have done as good as he could.

 

[hittman]

I probably could have shipped cheaper via UPS but found out after I already printed the label on USPS. It wasn't that heavy, the items were just big.

 

[firechick]

Flat rate boxes are your friend Hitt. If it fits, it ships and it won't cost you extra due to weight. I sell a lot of stuff through Ebay and all I use are the flat rate boxes. I've shipped stuff that was pretty hefty for under $20 without a problem. I usually go to the post office once a month. I just grab a few extra boxes since they are free.

You can order them online and they drop a bundle at your house too. We ship stuff to the out of state kids.

That weather map looked like you might be having some rough weather, roth.

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[hittman]

We have freezing rain that's supposed to turn to snow.

 

[firechick]

Freezing rain is definitely no fun. I'd rather have snow.

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[hittman]

Me too

 

[rothenbj]

Yeah, it's now 3AM, don't ask, and it hasn't started snowing yet although it's supposed to until 8. Then it's supposed to be 4 hours of freezing rain and not get above freezing until 3PM. I sure hope something changes because none of that sounds like something I want to drive in and it's poker day. I'd take a weather out.

 

[hittman]

It stopped freezing rain and has turned to snow with temps starting at 23 and dropping to below zero by tonight.

 

[firechick]

I hope it missed you. Weather lady was calling for freezing rain overnight tonight.

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[hittman]

It's been snowing all day but not accumulating. About an inch on the deck but almost nothing on the driveway.

 

[rothenbj]

I woke up around 8 and it had snowed a couple inches and it had changed to freezing rain. However by 8:30 or so it stopped raining. The two cars I still have in my driveway (my mom's and uncles) during construction were out on the road the last few days during construction. Unfortunately I had to clean the icy snow off the windshields to pull them into the drive and they got iced up before I went out. I cleaned the windshield with hot water, not too bad. By the time I came home the roads were just wet until I got to my road and it still had the slippery stuff.

It should all be gone tomorrow with temps around 50 and a lot of rain. All in all, not a bad development particularly considering that they're getting close to finishing up the siding. Just a little around the sun room to do, the front wall on the front porch and some of the high stuff which might be difficult on freezing Monday but by Tuesday the temps are in the 40s again. Once that's done, hang a few light fixtures and put up the new gutters and downspouts.

 

[hittman]

It's -7 here with a high of 10. We got a few inches of snow. My oldest daughter's boyfriend is visiting from three hours away and was supposed to leave today but is staying until tomorrow. It's supposed to be mid 20's tomorrow and above freezing the rest of the week.

 

[Waho]

Took a drive to the Secretary of State (MI's fancy DMV) this morning to get my car tags and drivers license renewal done. Turns out their computers are down and they're sending people to another branch about 40 minutes away. Normally I do it online, but I need to get my picture taken this year.

I hate my birthday. It's very inconveniently placed 3 day after Christmas, meaning among all the gift buying and regular bill paying, I gotta come up with another $300 on top of that.

 

[hittman]

Ouch! I just paid my personal property tax. It was down to $540 this year. I'm not looking forward to next year since my youngest daughter's car will be added then.

 

[rothenbj]

Ugh, you're in one of those areas or States with PP tax. I just did a check of Jackson County Mo and see what they consider "personal property". How can they consider farm equipment and livestock PP and if that is considered PP, shouldn't things like welding machines, car lifts and computers and telephones in other businesses be personal property? They sure have more ways to extract dollars out of our paychecks to pay to the kings, of which there are many. I just hope your property taxes are reasonable. Mine is getting pretty close to $400 a month but we have no PP tax in this county.

I know at one time the County I grew up in had PP taxes but I think they were based on things like stock holdings. I think at some point they ended them and incorporated the lost taxes collected into the real estate taxes. I just signed a check for $42,000 plus for inheritance taxes on my uncle's estate. Not a bad return to PA for a fellow that only returned to the State 3 or so years ago.

 

[rothenbj]

After I posted, I got curious as to PP tax in the county in VA where I have a second home. Real Estate tax is real cheap, I think around $800 a year on the very modest house I own there. I knew I had to change my "habit" if I ever intended to live there. They basically tax similar to the county I looked up in MO except they do tax business for machinery and tools, not just farm equipment and they exclude livestock.

Having 4 cars now that I have my mom's and uncles and 5 bikes plus a couple trailers, my bill would be a bit excessive. Of course, if I ever moved there I'd probably have a serious reduction in the amount of taxable items I have. It would make sense to move there though at some point. They repealed their inheritance tax back in '07. That could be a substantial shift of inheritance to my heirs as opposed to the government. If I stay here the tax would be 15%. Probably a better move would be to northern S Carolina.

Greenville SC has Feb temps in the lows of around freezing to 40 at night and daytime highs of mid 50s to low 60s during the day in February. August is basically the high 80s, a bit more than I'd like but bearable. Darn it, now I'm looking in SC at homes on Tulia. Could live pretty comfortable down there.

 

[hittman]

About 80% of our personal property tax goes to the schools. I'm actually in Clay county. My property tax is a little over 2k a year. I don't know if that's good or bad.

 

[rothenbj]

Darn, now I'm really thinking of moving south. I haven't really looked at my RE Taxes for awhile. They're a combination of School and local taxes. When I first moved in, they were $3,800 almost 21 years ago. Last year they were $5,581, up nearly 4% this year to $5,794. That's almost $500 a month now rather than the $400 I was thinking. PA is now a cheap place to live although there is one tax benefit. As a retiree, I only pay State income tax on earnings, be it by working or investments income outside of retirement funds. Since most of my money is in IRAs now, especially after taking $60k out of my trading account to cover the house upgrades, most of my income is protected from State income taxes so that saves a but on that end of the tax deal. I haven't even filed for at least ten years although I will have a few dollars I owe this year because I did have a few trades out of that account.