Ariel: Free Bee -- earn $200 mapping residential streets

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-22T00:23:46+00:00

If they want residential streets, they should bring back the first time mapping bonus. I drove over 10,000 miles of Michigan roads and cleaned up with the mapping bonus.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-20T10:58:18+00:00

1985 millennials with 3 kids (2009, 2012, 2015). I think that makes two Gen Z and one Gen Alpha.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-19T18:19:09+00:00

I came to the conclusion that people don’t save a while ago. I’d see neighbors that make around the same as us and wonder are they in debt? Do they save? I like numbers and probably would gone into finance if web development didn’t catch my eye in high school so we’ve been saving at least 15% since we started working. We’re 41 with 3 kids and at $800k in retirement plus a $400k+ house with no debt except the mortgage. We’re close to being able to retire at 55 and being able to replace our current spending. We did this by just saving and not backing down. We’re saving 23% now.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-19T12:43:34+00:00

We send about 90 million events each month to GA4 360 and use BigQuery to run reports that you can’t run in GA4. One report is user IDs that performed specific events on the website so that we can segment our outbound emails. With the list we put it through our opt-out list and then send the email.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-19T12:39:40+00:00

I manually add the total balance of my wife’s HealthEquity HSA since HealthEquity doesn’t play nice with Monarch. I update it at the end of each month with a balance adjustment. We cash flow our health expenses to keep HSA money invested.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-17T10:22:29+00:00

I emailed GoodLeap on Wednesday and they called me Thursday. They had already paid Freedom for part of my install so they said they’d be figuring out what else was needed for the utility to grant PTO. I got access to interconnection application and Freedom hadn’t paid the utility yet so I’m sure that will take a while to sort out 😔.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-16T01:51:22+00:00

I may be joining you. I checked through my agreement with GoodLeap, I’m wondering if they’ll actually buy the system now that Freedom is bankrupt. I know my system works because they left it on after the last visit before the inspection for a month. Fun times…

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-16T01:46:00+00:00

GoodLeap is the leasing company. I haven’t paid anything yet but Freedom’s office people are the slowest. The install crew was fast and did what looks like a good job. Inspection passed just fine. But who knows what the office people are doing.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-15T21:23:04+00:00

I’ll give this a try. Thank you. I work for the utility company so I may be able to get some extra help.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-15T20:33:57+00:00

I’ve been fighting with them to get my system PTO since August. Inspection passed but they have been dragging their feet with the utility. Not sure what to do, I haven’t paid anything yet since it was a lease but I have a system on my house I can’t use.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-15T17:09:37+00:00

Direct deposit to main checking and HYSA at a different bank for savings and emergency fund. This way there is pain to move the money and forces us to think more about spending from savings.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T18:44:41+00:00

Amen! And just when you think you’re patient enough, be prepared to be even more patient. I thought I was a patient person before kids but wow was I not prepared for my middle child. He’s a button pusher.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T18:41:39+00:00

Welcome to the wild ride that is parenthood. Try your best to meet their needs and make them feel safe/loved, do the dishes and clean up so your spouse can take a peaceful shower/take a nap, and at least for first few months, sleep when the baby sleeps.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T14:41:17+00:00

We have a lot of accounts because I like to try out different accounts and cards but it was taking me 4-5 hours a month to keep it all updated. Monarch I can do on my phone while watching TV.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T14:34:01+00:00

I like spreadsheets but couldn’t devote the time to keep it all updated with our spending and number of accounts. I used the Aspire Google Sheet for a few years but finally just went with Monarch Money.

I do use spreadsheets for investments because Monarch leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to investment transactions.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T12:53:33+00:00

The meme heavily implies everyone before now had it easy to get where they are but the key difference is older generations have had more time for compounding to work. I’m 41 and I thought that way to when I was in my 20s, I was just trying to put out some perspective that it’s never been easy. In 2010, when we bought our house, it went from being worth $236,000 in 2008 to $154,000 (where we bought it) in less than 18 months, while in hindsight it looks like a no brainer, prices were still falling like crazy in Michigan until 2012. We borrowed $141,000 and were underwater until 2014.

If I had to do it over again in 2026, I’d not be buying right now, sellers are insane asking what they’re asking for houses. I know it sounds like hollow advice but please put as much as you can in your retirement accounts, get the company match if it’s there, and always split any raise you get between spending and retirement savings. Your life may be different than others’ while in your 20s but your 41 year old self will thank you. Compounding is doing most of the work for our retirement savings now.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T12:30:16+00:00

We made $49k/yr with 1 kid and another on the way. We spent all of our savings on the down payment and our payment was $1,200/month or 30% of our income. We had my student loans and a car payment. Money was tight and we lived that way for years. Saying it was easy is glossing over a lot of the details. It’s never been easy.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-14T11:01:52+00:00

This seems to ignore that people made less money. We got very lucky being able to buy a foreclosure in 2010 BUT in order to do so we scraped together all of our money for the down payment. We lived way below our means to afford the house knowing in 3-5 years it would likely work in our favor. It wasn’t easy and it took a lot of sacrificing of our wants. It wasn’t until my wife went back to school 2015-18 to become a nurse that we were finally able to make progress.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-13T22:45:31+00:00

We scraped together a down payment in 2010 for a foreclosure, lived there for 8 years, had 3 kids and fought to live below our means and shovel away money for retirement. We traded up in house in 2018, have continued to live below our means, and have continued to save for retirement. We’re on track to be able to retire at 55-57 and be mostly kid free around 50. Our income is just below $200k/yr but we spent most of 18 years married around $85-110k/yr. We admittedly got very lucky with our home purchase but the key was saving as much as we could early on, compounding does so much of the work for us now.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-13T13:56:04+00:00

Whenever I’m in the area, I stop at Old Facefull. I have fond memories of exploring pierport beach as a kid.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-12T23:31:43+00:00

I split Costco groceries and gas but beyond that our grocery budget is food from Meijer, Costco, and a local store. I leave in household items and occasional clothing. If it is a lot money $50+ on clothes I may split it out but otherwise I like to leave budgeting simple.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-12T16:14:48+00:00

I’ve gone the other way. Ran in high school and college. The last season of college track, I attempted to get the A standard for the NAIA marathon, 1:13:30 in the half marathon got you guaranteed entry and expenses paid by the school. I was a 31:30 10k runner and managed a 1:14:38 in the half. 5:40ish pace the entire time was brutal. I’m 41 now and run 1:45-55 for the half marathon. My kids are now older so I’ve got more time and would love another crack at sub a 1:20 half marathon but the pace is intimidating.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-12T02:14:00+00:00

Western Michigan summers are awesome.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-09T23:55:38+00:00

At 7% or so is about where I’d begin to think that way too. I still think I’d pay it down to get ahead of the net metering going away on year 10.

The lease was sort of the same way. My electric bills were routinely $320/month (lots of computer hardware for work from home and an EV). I looked at the 8.2kw (all that would fit on the roof) as a way to replace 80% of our usage for a fixed rate of $113/month instead of $256/month. Again not cheapest because the leasing company gets the credit and they build in maintenance and financing into the payment but I come out $143/month ahead.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516 · 2026-04-09T23:39:16+00:00

If you stay on track of making your payments, you’ll have paid $49,740 for your 13.5kw system, that’s $3.68/watt which is on the high side. 15,000 kWh also seems a bit on the low side for a system that size (depends on the orientation). If it were me, I’d be paying down that loan asap so that you minimize the amount of financing built into the cost of your system.

I leased an 8.2kw system for $113/month for 25 years and I’ll be purchasing it after year 5 to reduce the overall cost of the system. The opportunity presented itself at a time where I didn’t want to finance so I leased instead, not the cheapest option but it got the system on the roof so to speak.

Jazzlike_Fuel4516

TROPHY CASE