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

Waho

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When my sister in law was in college, she demanded to live in the dorms for the "lifestyle" from all the movies.

She realized the lack of privacy sucks, and moved into a 4 bedroom apartment with a mutual friend and some roommates. He moved out shortly afterwards since he got a paid internship across the city and wanted to be closer to them. The remaining all male roommates decided since she was the only girl, she could do all the cleaning and whatnot, so she moved out of there back to the dorms.

Having learned her lesson about sharing a sleeping space, she got a dorm with 4 tiny cubicle bedrooms and a shared commons. She met her husband around this time and as he was going to seminary to be a pastor, he was wholly against her living in that dorm since she shared the commons with a lesbian.

He's 15 years younger than his next older brother, so he suggested to go live with his brother as they had a house in town and an "extra bedroom." The extra bedroom was an unfinished spot in the basement. The brother and his wife both worked and considered her babysitting their 3 & 5 year olds whenever they left and cleaning the house was part of the deal. She grew tired of that naturally, and moved in with her grandparents that were an hour from campus and commuted for a bit before moving into a studio apartment to finish up the last half of her graduating year.

After graduation, she moved back in with my mother in law for 6 months while waiting to get married since it's untoward for a pastor to live with a woman he's not married to, and eventually moved across state where he got his pastoring job.

And that's how I ended up helping my sister in law move 8 times in 4 years. Not to mention the other 3 times since then. Ugh...
 
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Waho

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Indeed. Averaging 1.1 times per year and since they've had two kids and have moved once since and are discussing moving again now as they has a 2 bedroom home.

It wouldn't be so bad if his brothers that all live less than 20 minutes away would help, but noooo it's gotta be me who lives almost 2 hours away and works 6/7 days a week.
 

hittman

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    Indeed. Averaging 1.1 times per year and since they've had two kids and have moved once since and are discussing moving again now as they has a 2 bedroom home.

    It wouldn't be so bad if his brothers that all live less than 20 minutes away would help, but noooo it's gotta be me who lives almost 2 hours away and works 6/7 days a week.

    Years ago I had a small pickup truck and it seemed like everyone always wanted something hauled. After I got rid of it, I swore I'd never buy another truck. My jeep will haul about as much as a small pickup if I need something but people don't think to ask for help hauling stuff with it. Heck, I hauled 22 bags of mulch in it last year.
     
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    rothenbj

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    Waho, you definitely got sucked in. I was bad in my younger years also (not like you though). If someone needed help I was there to do so. The worst was a gal that I had actually started looking for apartments/houses for that ended up divorcing her husband and she rented one of the apartments I owned.

    She became "kind of" a friend. I know she called me one winter night in the middle of a Penn State Bowl game against ND because she was suicidal. I ended up at her place convincing her that her boyfriend's breaking up with her wasn't the end of the world.

    She didn't kill herself and eventually moved to somewhere closer to the city. Of course she asked if I could help and I got sucked in. It was me, her new guy and her. What she didn't mention was the apartment was a second floor after a series of steps outside leading into the building and the steps up inside the building were steep and long. Still remember the effort it took to get her sofa up those steps.

    Fortunately, that was the last of our short history.

    The funny thing is I never got anyone to help in any of my moves except my previous girlfriend's brother and father helped me get her sofa in this house when I bought it.
     

    Waho

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    The funny thing is I never got anyone to help in any of my moves except my previous girlfriend's brother and father helped me get her sofa in this house when I bought it.

    For as many times as I've helped people move, I've gotten help from a friend exactly once in return.
     

    rothenbj

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    Did you ask? I didn't, I just figured if I could do it myself, I would.

    I did have the advantage that I was never on a time schedule which made a huge difference. I even managed to move a piano myself. I played when I was a kid and then took lessons again in my 20s for awhile. When I got divorced, I sold it to one of the gals on a woman's softball team I was coaching.

    I was able to lift it onto dollies, wheel it thru the house onto a breezeway and ramp it down into my pickup. Her husband helped on the other end getting it off the truck and into the house.

    It was kind of funny, an identical one showed up in the thrift shop I used to volunteer at. I wondered if it was mine.
     

    rothenbj

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    Sad news for the old timers on this thread. Tropical Bob, the inspiration for this thread, that OlderThanDirt started, has passed away.

    We were friends on FB for for a number of years but I got unfriended as his ultra Liberal stance and my #walkaway beliefs conflicted. RIP TB!

    View Robert Bowden's Obituary and express your condolences
     

    hittman

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    Happy Friday snusers! Our AC hadn't been working quite right and I finally had a guy come to look at it after I couldn't figure out what was going on. It was a company I had used once before and was treated fairly. This tech was good also and did a few things for free that they would normally charge for. It turned out that the evaporator coil is leaking Freon and is too expensive to replace. Our furnace and Ac are almost 21 years old. At first we just had them quote the AC and they came up with a quote of 6200 for just the AC. I was blown away. It sure seemed like a rip off. I called an HVAC company that I've dealt with through my work for many years and had a guy come and take a look and give us a quote. He came in at 6100 for the AC and new furnace both and told us about a $400 rebate through the electric company that the first company never even mentioned. It's not great timing after just paying summer tuition but we're going to go ahead and get the new system and they included a new humidifier for that price. The one we are getting is two higher on the SEER rating of the AC unit also. We run the AC more than the furnace so I figured I'd upgrade a little on the AC. Our furnace is gas.
     
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    Burnie

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    When we replaced our AC years ago, I went to a 15 SEER unit and it dropped our electric bill $100+ a month (normal was over $300 with some months going over $400. :facepalm:). As we use ac most of the year here in Florida, I figure I paid for it in savings in a little over 3 years. Now at worse my highest is around $250, with most months under $200. Well worth the investment to go with a better unit.
     

    hittman

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    When we replaced our AC years ago, I went to a 15 SEER unit and it dropped our electric bill $100+ a month (normal was over $300 with some months going over $400. :facepalm:). As we use ac most of the year here in Florida, I figure I paid for it in savings in a little over 3 years. Now at worse my highest is around $250, with most months under $200. Well worth the investment to go with a better unit.

    We don't get as much hot as you do but I figured it out and we have the air going more months a year than we do the furnace. My current gas bill is half of what my electric is so I'm not real concerned about it even if my gas bill stays the same.
     

    Waho

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    Bad timing aside, I hope it pays for itself quickly!

    We replaced our 35 yr old furnace/AC about 5 years ago with 98% efficiency units. It was about $5500 for a 1600 sq ft house. We actually didn't run the old AC except briefly at night because keeping the house at 74 degrees was over $400 on the utilities bill.

    It ended saving $100 per month on heat and about $180 on AC running it consistently.
     

    hittman

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    Bad timing aside, I hope it pays for itself quickly!

    We replaced our 35 yr old furnace/AC about 5 years ago with 98% efficiency units. It was about $5500 for a 1600 sq ft house. We actually didn't run the old AC except briefly at night because keeping the house at 74 degrees was over $400 on the utilities bill.

    It ended saving $100 per month on heat and about $180 on AC running it consistently.

    That's a huge savings. Our electric is on level pay and no where near what you and burnie were paying before. We are going SEER 16 on the AC but a standard 80% on the furnace. I could have gotten a 95% but it was another 800. We talked it out and my wife and I agreed that it wasn't necessary. My gas bill is only 70 a month running the old unit. The furnace and water heater are both gas. I replaced the water heater myself a few years back.
     

    rothenbj

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    I did the replacement of both units a few years ago and it was in the $5-6k range for oil heat. Between heat and hot water I spent around $350 this year as I bought at just about the bottom of the oil war between Russia and the Saudis. As far as air, living in the woods reduces the need. It was an uncomfortable upper 80s for a few days where the ceiling fans weren't enough so I added a fan.

    I heard today that next weekend is going to be really bad so I'll probably go with A/C if that's the case. As I'm writing, it's a comfortable 72 in the house.
     
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    hittman

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    One of the guys I work with has an earth contact home and is always bragging about how little he runs the AC. I don’t think there’s a day that goes by where either the AC or heat isn’t on in our house and some days in between where both run the same day. My wife has fibromyalgia and says that an uncomfortable temperature amplifies her discomfort.
     
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    rothenbj

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    Darn, I just looked. It's just under 58 degrees with an RH of 51% in here just a bit before 7 AM. Now I have a short sleeved shirt on and a blanket on my legs but if I'm comfortable now, why would I be dressed heavier in winter but feel cold? Curious minds want to know.

    Yeah Hitt, you've got an issue with the Fib. The sensitivity to changes in temp are an issue. It's a shame, it must be awful to live with. Is there anything that helps her with it?

    I just noticed I missed an event. I just went over the $60,000 mark on savings from not smoking and I haven't adjust cigarette cost in a number of years. The cost is now up over $8 a pack. I'll bet I could throw another .25-.50 a pack on the calculation. I think the average was $7 a pack the last time I adjusted.
     

    Waho

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    When I was a kid, we were heading to Florida to visit my grandparents in our most reliable vehicle at the time, a 1989 GMC Suburban with a 454 V8. We had to stop for gas every few hundred miles as it got at most 10 mpg.

    I'll never forgot a guy at an Ohio gas station. Probably in his 60's, skin tanned like leather with years of outdoor work wearing blue jeans, white button up shirt with bolo tie and white cowboy hat. I mostly remembered him as a kid because it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone like that. Now I remember him for what he exclaimed in a thick Texas accent. "Between gas and a carton of cigarettes, I'm out $75 every time I stop at the gas station!" while filling up a dually pickup.

    It's $75 for just the cigarettes now and when gas was over $4? Whew...
     

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