Search found 811 matches

by Mrs.Feeley
Fri May 13, 2016 6:35 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: The Best Reader Sunglasses
Replies: 20
Views: 4852

Re: The Best Reader Sunglasses

I bought several pair of reading sunglasses--with the reading lens on the bottom, clear on the top--from this little business Boomers In the Know (http://www.boomersintheknow.com/). They were cheap enough that I keep a pair in the car, my purse, office, etc. I had planned on getting a pair of prescription bifocal reading sunglasses, but these have served me well enough that I haven't bothered. They do carry polarized sun bifocals (http://www.boomersintheknow.com/posunbi.html). But like I said I bought the cheapest ones they had on the web site at the time and they've served me very well.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu May 05, 2016 10:01 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

When you mention compacting fill.... Around our house where the fence gate is located there's lots of highly sandy soil filled with teeny tiny gravel. Is this what you mean by compacting fill? It probably won't make good fill. If the gravel is rounded, it won't pack well. You want crushed gravel that is highly angular and the smaller the better it packs. Clay also works if you have it around underneath the top soil away from the house. You can easily test it by trying to pack it with a tamping rod. If it doesn't pack, your tamping rod will just keep sinking and moving the material around instead of making it into a hard unyielding surface which is what you want. Ah! Thank you for the clarification! This soil looks like it came from near a ...
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu May 05, 2016 9:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful comments and advice! I've been forwarding them on to my husband and he is grateful for all the advice offered. This cedar rail fence is a very low fence circling our yard and running mostly through gardens. Don't think it would be possible to replace the posts with anything but cedar. It's the sort where you buy the cedar posts with the holes pre-cut and place the rails in the holes when you plant the posts. It's held up well, but after 15 year it's starting to show its age in spots. Again...thank you for all the help, folks! This is great! :beer
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu May 05, 2016 9:50 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

Somebody mentioned "pressure treated cedar"? never heard of that. Normally pressure treated lumber is pine or doug fir, and the stuff rated for ground contact can last 25+ years in dirt. There is a lot variation in cedar and it might last only 5 years or as long as 15-20 depending on the quality (old growth dense heartwood lasts longer than new growth farmed wood and is correspondingly more expensive). Untreated pine,etc might rot in less than 3 years. Traditionally the methods for installing fence posts where just to bury the posts in dirt or set them in concrete. Concrete is the most rigid mounting and is what fence companies usually do for gate posts, but it also causes the post to rot the fastest because the concrete basicall...
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu May 05, 2016 9:43 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

If you just have a handful of posts to install, I would avoid using concrete. Yeah it's easy and quick, but after a few years of freeze/thaw cycles, you have a wobbly post in the ground with concrete on the end of it. Also, it is a royal pain to replace a post if one should rot on you. We always set posts using alternating layers of good compacting fill (non-topsoil) and fist sized rocks. Drop a layer of rocks in the hole around the post then set them in place using a tamping bar, then a few inches of fill dirt, compact with tamping bar, and so on and so forth. In doing this, you are essentially making a concrete style mixture, but using dirt instead of portland cement. Using this method, you don't have to worry about water getting trapped...
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu May 05, 2016 9:34 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

Concrete is the most rigid mounting and is what fence companies usually do for gate posts, but it also causes the post to rot the fastest because the concrete basically forms a bathtub around the post holding water in the wood. This has been my experience as well. Rot resistance posts placed directly in tamped dirt last a lot longer. Also, if you live in a place where you get deep freezing during the winter, the concrete will crack into two pieces inside of a few years as water soaks down between the post and the concrete. As the post dries, it shrinks and the gap just gets wider. I spent a summer building fence on my father's farm 30 years ago and the fence is still standing to this day. Nothing but tamped clay holds it up. Thank you for ...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed May 04, 2016 11:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Re: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

FWIW: I put up a fence in the late 80's. I had no experience when I built it, but read up on it. This is what I did: Hole was 6 inches deeper than the bottom of the post. Gravel at the bottom of the hole (6 inches), plus a little more (couple inches) around the side after the post was in the hole. Then concrete filled the rest of the hole, with a little slope away from wood post so water wouldn't collect and stand against the wooden post. Redwood posts were painted with some sort of preservative, the entire post was coated, not just the bottom. Stunningly, the fence is still standing and the posts are intact. I used to worry when we have big winds, but haven't had any problems to date. It is a solid fence (for privacy), 1x6 cedar planks. P...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed May 04, 2016 11:22 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?
Replies: 24
Views: 4346

Fence Building: Soaking cedar fence posts in preservative?

Any fence builders here? Here's a question from my better half about planting posts: He's re-doing a section of our cedar rail fence. He built the fence and planted the posts years ago, and for years helped his granddad build fences on the farm. For the most part farmers would simply plant posts in the ground, maybe slathering some tar around the post at ground level. That's how he's always planted fence posts in the past. But doing some Googling he discovered that it's recommended that fence posts: * Be planted in backfilled gravel. He's skeptical. Wouldn't dirt eventually settle in amid the gravel and make all the hassle of using gravel useless? * Be soaked in preservative. What kind of preservative? Does it really make the post last long...
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:46 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?
Replies: 32
Views: 3329

Re: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?

LuigiLikesPizza wrote:Maybe I should just get a wok! LOL
Good heavens, no! Have you any idea what a fire hazard those can be! A little sesame oil and some bok choy and the whole thing can go up in flames!

I am joking, just joking people. :beer

Boglehead wok: old cast iron frying pan with badly warped bottom. That is something I'm not entirely joking about, that's what I use although a real steel wok would work considerably better. If you do desire a wok most second-hand stores are well-stocked with them.
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?
Replies: 32
Views: 3329

Re: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?

I don't think warnings about using prudence when cooking under a broiler are overly dramatic. When I was a kid my mom regularly put out grease fires when broiling chops. Which is why I rarely use our oven's broiler and certainly not for anything greasy. :D
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:42 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?
Replies: 32
Views: 3329

Re: Cooking Meat/Fish/Poultry Indoors?

I only use the broiler for browning fish after I've baked it. And I keep the broiler pan far from the heating coil. Otherwise microwaving fish works really well. I lost an oven to a catastrophic fire while baking chicken. The chicken pieces were uncovered on a lower rack but somehow grease spattered up to the heating coil on top the oven. There was actually lightning flashing inside the oven along with flames, smoke and sizzling until I sprinted down to the basement to turn off the power to the kitchen. An inside wall of the oven was melted. Ever since I've been super-careful and try to keep any roasting meat covered. If it's chicken pieces I cut most of the fatty skin off. I use a roasting drip pan. I put it on the lowest rack. These days ...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:24 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cast Iron Frying Pans
Replies: 71
Views: 11742

Re: Cast Iron Frying Pans

I've used my large cast iron frying pan for baking deep dish pizza and it works very well.

Inspired by this thread and the pizza-making one, I recently bought a Lodge cast iron pizza pan ($35 from Walmart.com). Oh my! The pizza crust crisps nicely on it. Better than on a pizza stone. And using it is so much easier than struggling to get the pizza on and off the stone with a peal without calamity. I plan to use it for other baking. Highly recommended.
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Apr 06, 2016 12:44 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Trying to get a copy of a $20 receipt
Replies: 16
Views: 2751

Re: Trying to get a copy of a $20 receipt

I've had insurance companies refuse to speak with me about billing matters pertaining to my husband's doctor visits. I've also had go-arounds on the phone with employees of the company that manages our healthcare Flexible Spending Account who have refused to tell me why a reimbursement claim for my husband's doctor visit was rejected because it involved my husband's health care not mine. There was an interesting article relating to the topic of family members and HIPAA in the NY Times last summer: "HIPAA's Use as Code of Silence Often Misinterprets the Law" http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/health/hipaas-use-as-code-of-silence-often-misinterprets-the-law.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:24 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 160
Views: 80468

Re: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread

Don't forget to join the Madison Bogleheads for our bi-monthly meeting, this Saturday, April 9, noon at Sprecher's Pub on John Q Hammond Drive on the far west side. Fun, great conversation and burgers. See you there!

If you'd like to join our Google Mail group to learn more about out get-togethers, drop me a private note with your e-mail address.
by Mrs.Feeley
Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:26 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: phone gizmos plugged into electrical outlets
Replies: 20
Views: 3812

Re: phone gizmos plugged into electrical outlets

mouses wrote:Do those actually work? I seem to recall seeing years ago dubious ads for extensions via regular phone service that were supposed to work that way but didn't.
My husband bought one of those gadgets from a late-night TV ad. That was 25 years ago. He claimed the principle was that the household electrical wiring works like a long radio antenna. Needless to say the gizmo did not work as advertised.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Mar 31, 2016 3:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Do you pay for yardwork?
Replies: 71
Views: 11225

Re: Do you pay for yardwork?

Although I do the yard work myself when I got bids last summer they ranged from $40-$45 for mowing and trimming. We have a third of an acre which is very hilly.
by Mrs.Feeley
Sun Mar 27, 2016 5:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Question: Should we sue the cable company?
Replies: 26
Views: 5738

Re: Question: Should we sue the cable company?

In general home owner's insurance doesn't usually cover sewage backup damage unless you have a special rider. Even then the riders are usually quite limited. Ours covers only $25K in damage. Sewage backups can cause a lot more damage than that.
by Mrs.Feeley
Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:18 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Unwanted cold call from Mass Mutual agent
Replies: 46
Views: 5897

Re: Unwanted cold call from Mass Mutual agent

Information on the names, jobs, and even salaries of government employees including teachers is usually freely available through publicly accessible government databases. It's part of the public record. My husband gets these sales calls all the time. Usually at work. He also gets a lot of junk through the mail.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Mar 24, 2016 11:59 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 160
Views: 80468

Re: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread

lesleyme wrote:Hello-
First post here. I would like to be included on the email notifications for upcoming meetings in Madison.... Who and how do I email..?
Thank you!
You can join our group by sending an e-mail to Madison-wi-bogleheads@googlegroups.com
Or you can send me an e-mail via Private mail and include your e-mail address.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Mar 24, 2016 4:56 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 160
Views: 80468

Re: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread

Mary G wrote:I just found this message board can somebody tell me when and where the next meeting is in Madison
Hi, Mary! Our next meeting is Saturday, April 9, at noon at Sprecher's on John Q. Hammond Drive, on the far west side. Drop me a private e-mail if you'd like to be added to our Gmail list and kept informed of upcoming meetings.
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Mar 23, 2016 11:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: How to get rid of poison ivy
Replies: 58
Views: 6887

Re: How to get rid of poison ivy

Not a good idea to mow over poison ivy even if it's dead. The sap will become airborne and can burn your lungs.

I keep hitting it with Roundup until it reaches the stage of advanced obliteration.

I keep a bar of Burt's Bees Poison Ivy Soap by the sink in the summer. If you can wash your skin with it right after you encounter a plant it will lower the chance that you'll develop a rash. It also helps prevent skin irritation from other noxious weeds like nettles.
by Mrs.Feeley
Mon Mar 21, 2016 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bad service - Dispute transaction with credit card company?
Replies: 14
Views: 21973

Re: Bad service - Dispute transaction with credit card company?

I suspect that botched hair-coloring jobs are a common occurrence in the salon business as it seems everyone has a horror story about coming home from a salon with a hairdo straight from Monsters Inc. You said your wife got a cut/color job. Was the haircut she ended up with acceptable? That would mean you could file a chargeback only for the dye portion of the affair. I would take Nisiprius's advice. Let the salon try to fix the coloring, and take pictures, but ask for the head stylist or manager to fix it. One advantage of going back to the same hairdressers is that they would know what chemicals and products were used on her hair the first time and would be less likely than a second salon to apply some dye that will turn her hair green. D...
by Mrs.Feeley
Sat Mar 19, 2016 1:19 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Should I have my kids participate in school fundraisers?
Replies: 78
Views: 9191

Re: Should I have my kids participate in school fundraisers?

My parents refused to allow me to sell stuff for fundraisers when I was a kid. I was faintly annoyed by not being allowed to go door-to-door selling stuff with my friends, but not terribly annoyed because I usually went with them anyway. I remember one time asking my friend, who was older and wiser than I was--she was 9 at the time--what all the "No Solicitors" signs meant. They seemed to be on all the doors that we knocked on. She responded that according to her dad solicitors were lawyers and people don't want them knocking on their doors because they're often selling insurance. Not to worry, she said, the "No Solicitors" signs clearly did not apply to us.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Mar 17, 2016 9:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Growing dahlias
Replies: 6
Views: 970

Re: Growing dahlias

I live just north of you and find growing dahlias very easy. I would say my overall gardening skills are poor to average. :D In the fall you need to dig them up, separate the tubers and store them in the garage wrapped in plastic for the winter so they don't dry out. I bought one potted plant from a local nursery and ended up with probably a dozen plants in a few years. Important thing to remember is they don't like to be crowded. Give them a try! Good luck!

By the way I try to avoid buying any plant from big box stores unless it's in a pot. Bulbs and tubers in bags are often dried out and are no bargain when most are DOA.
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:58 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Making new mulch bed yourself - what do I need?
Replies: 35
Views: 7233

Re: Making new mulch bed yourself - what do I need?

Forgot to add that when we want to kill off grass or weeds we rake leaves over the area and leave it ideally for a year, even two, but sometimes just a few months helps. Otherwise the easiest way to get rid of vegetation is to pull it up with a pitch fork. That way you can dig up the soil underneath and recondition it with mulch and/or add new soil as needed. A neighbor used to hire a guy with a tiller to come in every spring and dig up his gardens.
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Mar 16, 2016 5:11 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Making new mulch bed yourself - what do I need?
Replies: 35
Views: 7233

Re: Making new mulch bed yourself - what do I need?

A prior owner of our house used some super heavy-duty landscape fabric around some of the bushes and walkway edges and twenty years later it still seems to be working pretty well. We dump new wood chips on top of it every few years and rake away the old stuff and haven't had any problems with weeds growing through it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any landscape fabric nearly so heavy. The landscape fabric I've used around gardens and bushes has been a disaster. Even when I use double or triple layers. Eventually weeds grow through it, the mulch breaks down and within about 4-5 years I have a real mess and a struggle to pull it up. :annoyed These days I use just mulch with Preen, as others in this thread do. I usually just order ...
by Mrs.Feeley
Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:57 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Duct cleaning
Replies: 41
Views: 6294

Re: Duct cleaning

I have posted this photo here before, I think. This was before we moved into our present home- the smell when we took possession was "wet dog" and I had to have the ducts cleaned before I could sleep here even one night. Very much worth it. And yes, I viewed the filter before they began and it was clean. http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae249/cearbhaill/crapforpublic/DSC01524_1.jpg Whoa! When we moved into our house, an older house, I had it done when we put in a new furnace and they pulled out all sorts of weird crap from the ducts including big chunks of fiberglass insulation. I recently had the ducts cleaned again, after we lived in the house for nearly twenty years. They put a camera into the ducts and it showed pretty heav...
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:47 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Dogs & my mailbox
Replies: 37
Views: 8613

Re: Dogs & my mailbox

It appears as though my mailbox and nicely landscaped area has become the public bathroom for all of my neighborhood dogs. I work from home and watch various owners walk their dogs past my driveway and every single one of them stops to do their business. I'm guessing it's a scent / territory thing that they all have to leave their mark. Is there anything I can put out to deter this from happening? Plant bushes or even flowers around the mailbox post. Yews are good. So are tall day lilies. Anything that will prevent the dog from stepping near the post. Often when a few dogs in the neighborhood start marking something like a post or rock all the other dogs in the neighborhood will have to sniff and mark it too. We had a rock on the edge of o...
by Mrs.Feeley
Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:36 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Ever successfully appealed a property tax asssement?
Replies: 27
Views: 3987

Re: Ever successfully appealed a property tax asssement?

I've filed appeals four times and each time the assessor's office lowered the assessment to the home value I suggested. This includes appeals I've filed for relatives' homes in other cities. I start by finding similar homes that have sold in the past year within roughly six blocks of the residence. I get the final sale prices off the city assessor's web site, along with specifications for the homes including their age, style, square footage, lot size, number of bedrooms and baths, type of siding, age of roof and furnace. I make sure most of these elements match fairly closely those of the house whose assessment I'm appealing. I print the specs and sale prices off the assessor's web site. I include pictures of the houses to show that they're...
by Mrs.Feeley
Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Cast Iron Frying Pans
Replies: 71
Views: 11742

Re: Cast Iron Frying Pans

Here's a video showing how Lodge cast iron skillets are made. Really interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cqmsaf ... e=youtu.be
by Mrs.Feeley
Sun Mar 06, 2016 6:29 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Bread - The Cost and Convenience
Replies: 94
Views: 15760

Re: Bread - The Cost and Convenience

I use one of the no-knead Bread in a Pot recipes that are popular these days. I bake the bread in a $35 cast-iron Dutch oven from Walmart.com. So much better than any bread from the store, no matter how artisanal. And it takes only minutes. I usually bake about one loaf a week. Sometimes more for gifts. Whenever breads like Brownberry go on sale for $1-$2 loaf I buy a few of the whole grain variety to keep in the freezer for sandwich emergencies. You're right, bread is crazy expensive.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Mar 03, 2016 2:50 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Freezing Credit at TransUnion
Replies: 3
Views: 818

Re: Freezing Credit at TransUnion

I had a similar experience as you did Likegarden at Transunion. I've also had problems getting a free credit report from them. Like HueyLD I get the impression that Transunion does not want to deal with free credit reports or people who want to freeze their credit.
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Feb 12, 2016 9:24 pm
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 160
Views: 80468

Re: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread

If you're in southern Wisconsin join us tomorrow (Sat., February 13) for the Madison Bogleheads meeting at noon on at Sprecher's Pub, 1262 John Q. Hammond, Dr., on Madison's far west side. See ya there!
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:39 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread
Replies: 160
Views: 80468

Re: Wisconsin - Madison Meetings - Master Thread

If you happen to be in southern Wisconsin consider joining the Madison-area Bogleheads for our bi-monthly meeting. Noon on Saturday, February 13, at Sprecher's Pub on John Q. Hammond Drive on the far west side near Costco's. See you there and stay warm!
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:35 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Wife just got a VM from a debt collector [Voice Mail]
Replies: 44
Views: 6574

Re: Wife just got a VM from a debt collector

We often get calls from debt collectors searching for people who lived in our house years ago. I used to get calls from debt collectors searching for a long-gone renter neighbor. Your caller might be looking for someone else. If they do claim that you have a debt be sure to ask for proof of the debt in writing. Someone's bill collection dept. may have sold your name to a debt collection agency by mistake.
by Mrs.Feeley
Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:41 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Plan on your Credit Card Getting Hacked once a year....Some Tips....
Replies: 72
Views: 8965

Re: Plan on your Credit Card Getting Hacked once a year....Some Tips....

Retail vendors (Target, etc.) are even more breach prone than I had thought. I recently listened to a webcast about protection of identities. A security firm has surveyed a large number of U.S. retailers and discovered that most of them didn't have unique identities for their users. At the lowest levels of the business hierarchy, users were sharing login credentials, and this was particularly prevalent among temporary workforce hired around Christmas. Furthermore, temporary workers are more likely to perpetuate a breach. With shared login identities, it's very difficult to determine who has accessed which information, including databases of customer information . Another common problem was that the credentials of former network administrat...
by Mrs.Feeley
Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:36 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Banned from Home Depot Returns
Replies: 206
Views: 153429

Re: Banned from Home Depot Returns

Toons wrote:FYI :happy
Home Depot Return Declined:
http://consumerist.com/2015/07/20/home- ... ing-there/
It would appear from Toons' post that returns made of items purchased with store credits may trigger some sort of blacklisting in the big retail return database service that Home Depot is using. Maybe that's what happened Alan12?
by Mrs.Feeley
Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:44 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Plan on your Credit Card Getting Hacked once a year....Some Tips....
Replies: 72
Views: 8965

Re: Plan on your Credit Card Getting Hacked once a year....Some Tips....

1.) Have a separate Credit Card for stored payments on-line and don't use it for anything else. This makes it unlikely that this number will be Breached and so you won't have to change cards when your other one for daily use gets hacked. I have a card with a low credit limit that I use exclusively for stored payments online. Amazon, Paypal, the phone company and the NY Times. And that's it. That's the card that keeps getting hacked about once a year. I know NYT had a data breach a couple years ago. Wouldn't be surprised if the others have as well. Haven't had any problems with my other cards, the ones I use in person. In general I don't think suffering a yearly cc hack is all that unusual. I have friends who travel a lot and that's what th...
by Mrs.Feeley
Sat Feb 06, 2016 5:11 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Warning on Amazon Subscribe & Save
Replies: 44
Views: 8325

Re: Warning on Amazon Subscribe & Save

Interesting thread. I recently signed up for Amazon Subscribe & Save and after the first month found that the prices on most of the items shot up significantly. Most notably almost $10 on a bag of dog food. I ended up cancelling several items. Time to investigate chewy.com.
by Mrs.Feeley
Sun Jan 31, 2016 5:18 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Unwinding day old terrible car deal for mother-in-law
Replies: 186
Views: 25078

Re: Unwinding day old terrible car deal for mother-in-law

A few years back in our community a local car dealership sold a pricey mini-van to a developmentally disabled woman with no down payment and a loan based upon income that did not exist. She took the sales contract home to show her dad with whom she lived. He called the GM immediately and explained his daughter's situation. The GM refused to tear up the contract. They argued over it for days, with the dad visiting the dealership several times. A week later the dealership drove the new car to the dad's home and left it in the driveway. The dad contacted local TV stations, state agencies, disability advocacy groups, all to know avail. I believe there were also signs and picketing outside the dealership. Eventually a consumer advocacy group at ...
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:52 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Deleted
Replies: 131
Views: 14457

Re: perfectly happy with cable

When my husband and I were first married cable was $28/month. That was 25 years ago. At the time we thought that was a lot but cheaper than going out to the movies once a week. Slowly the cost increased until ten years later it was about $70/month for basic cable, no HBO or special channels. We cut cable then. We figure we've saved at least $15K since then. The History Channel was the one channel we missed, but these days history documentaries are available so many other places it doesn't make sense to subscribe to cable for them.
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:04 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Nutritional supplements - beware
Replies: 38
Views: 4481

Re: Nutritional supplements - beware

I recently watched a special on PBS featuring Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. I found it on-demand... maybe it is still out there. He has good advice about how to eat healthy. I think of his advice when I am grocery shopping & I'm spending a lot more time in the produce aisle! I also watched the Frontline show on supplements. I know we aren't supposed to discuss health matters.. but from a financial perspective, I think money can be saved by eating more fruits & vegetables and just avoiding the supplements . Agree with the bolded. Years ago in a spasm of miserliness I stopped buying multi-vitamins and a few other supplements. I think it saved me about $20/month. Instead I doubled down on the vegetables. Definitely a worthwhile...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Jan 20, 2016 5:06 am
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Do retirees care about their credit score?
Replies: 35
Views: 4329

Re: Do retirees care about their credit score?

Our insurance company (Amica) pulls our credit reports once a year. When I asked an Amica rep whether they use credit scores to determine insurance rates like many other insurance companies do, the rep hemmed and said are were not allowed to reveal how insurance rates are set or what factors they use, but credit scores do play a role in the equation if the scores fall below a certain number. I have heard the same from insurance agents.
by Mrs.Feeley
Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Tax Free Investments for the Disabled?
Replies: 11
Views: 1335

Re: Tax Free Investments for the Disabled?

Tax-free ABLE accounts for the disabled are coming down the pike.

Here is the entry from the Bogleheads Wiki:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/529-ABLE_plan

And here's an article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/29/your- ... -2016.html

And here's a message string from about a year ago on the topic:
viewtopic.php?t=153972
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Jan 15, 2016 9:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Pizza Stone / Homemade Pizza Advice
Replies: 58
Views: 8290

Re: Pizza Stone / Homemade Pizza Advice

I have this one:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products ... DUCTSEARCH

Pre=heat at 400F for about a half hour. Some say an hour. I leave it in the oven all the time.
by Mrs.Feeley
Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:26 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Where to get patio/deck awning cleaned
Replies: 4
Views: 769

Re: Where to get patio/deck awning cleaned

I would attack it with a scrub brush and a bucket of hot soapy water with a light detergent. Then hose it down. Go over it twice in this fashion. If you can't reach it all on a ladder take it down and scrub it and dry it on the lawn. Why pay someone hundreds of dollars to do this when it's probably no more than an hour job?
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:02 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Home Brewers: Where do you brew?
Replies: 6
Views: 938

Re: Home Brewers: Where do you brew?

I always cooked the brew on the back porch and then fermented in the basement. I had to lug it back up to the kitchen to bottle it. I don't brew any more because my basement in present home is too warm for a proper ferment. And lugging 40# of brew up and down stairs isn't fun. The main reason I gave it up is that I can buy beer from my local craft brewer for $1/bottle. About the same as brewing it myself, less satisfaction, less hassle. Yeah, it always seemed to me a lot of hassle for a case of beer. And in recent years so many great craft breweries have sprung up around town there doesn't seem to be any cost or taste advantage to brewing one's own. Still my husband seemed to enjoy it as a hobby. Now that you mention temps, our basement/lo...
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:41 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Home Brewers: Where do you brew?
Replies: 6
Views: 938

Home Brewers: Where do you brew?

Years ago I gave my husband a home-brewing starter kit for a gift and he loved it. For many years he brewed his own beer. Then we moved into a new house where the layout in the basement is cramped, there isn't much room beside the basement sink where he liked to place his brew bucket/gear for easy bottling and clean-up. It's also an awful long trek from the kitchen stove down to the basement So he stopped brewing. He's interested in taking up the hobby again. We're wondering how to reconfigure some area of the house or basement to make brewing and bottling easier. So I thought I'd ask you home brewers....where do you brew? Do you have any shelving/stands/special setup? We have a raised ranch with a large family-room type room on the lower l...
by Mrs.Feeley
Fri Dec 25, 2015 12:17 am
Forum: US Chapters
Topic: My Christmas Gift to You
Replies: 71
Views: 11500

Re: My Christmas Gift to You

Thank you, Taylor! Thank you for your service, for our freedom, and all the years of advice! Merry Christmas! :beer
by Mrs.Feeley
Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:57 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Probably A Dumb Question [Put tennis shoes in dryer?]
Replies: 35
Views: 7146

Re: Probably A Dumb Question

We regularly dry sneakers in the dryer, putting in towels or other items in the dryer so they don't bang around too much. It doesn't get them completely dry, but it helps remove some of the moisture so they don't mildew sitting on the basement floor.

Synthetic fibers usually don't shrink in a hot dryer. It's cotton or silk that you need to worry about. In the past the old rule of thumb was that if you had more than 45 percent cotton in the fabric then you'd have to worry about shrinkage, less so if it was pre-shrunk. If Skecher's Go Walk shoes have a synthetic upper, which one would assume they do, then you have nothing to worry about. Toss them in a dryer on low with a towel.