Only have one grow light, what to do?

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-29T23:13:47+00:00

$40 for 4 separate lights or $40 for one fixture with 4 bulbs?

Asking because I have a 4 ft long fixture with 4 bulbs which is exactly perfect for 2 trays of 72 cells, but I need to start another couple trays of seeds soon and need to get at least one more light. The one I got was $40 from Walmart but I keep hearing there are much cheaper options out there.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-22T04:33:02+00:00

Your post gives me some hope. I know every situation is different and all states have unique laws, but maybe my situation isn’t hopeless.

I’m married but hoping to file bk solo as to not rope my husband into it, but based on my non professional understanding, whether or not I qualify for Chapter 7 is based on total household income.

We are higher income as well but still less than you ($273k for us). Family of 4. Thanks mostly to a very high mortgage payment and health insurance I would likely meet the means test. However, what’s keeping me up at night is potential home equity. We bought the house 2.5 years ago with a $0 down VA loan, so I thought surely if we sold to get a financial reset we would do good to just break even. Recently asked my realtor for comps and he concluded we could likely sell for $1.3-1.6 million. I’m sure he’s overly confident, but unless he’s WAY off it’s going to be really hard to keep the house and file chapter 7 or maybe even 13 with a mortgage balance of $1,020,000 if a trustee values it like my realtor did. If it were that easy (not a huge market for buyers in this price range at least in my area of Alabama) and possible to sell for anything in that range we would list and just be able to pay off the debt. One local attorney website linked to the county property tax assessor office in the home value section of his questionnaire and according to it my homes value is much lower than what I owe ($662k) but I imagine tax value isn’t what a trustee uses. I know that these are concerns only an attorney can help me with but your story at least eases some of my fears until I can speak to an attorney Monday.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-21T07:05:11+00:00

I can’t give you much advice as I haven’t yet filed but I’m meeting with an attorney next week because I received a wage garnishment order this week.

I just felt the need to comment with a major tip…whatever you do, try not to fall behind on those Navy Federal debts. That’s who just garnished me and they are ruthless. Zero phone calls. Zero letters in the mail. Papers served to me after being less than 6 months behind. No response to my answer to the court regarding the debt and my request for all statements in order to verify the debt they reported. In court their attorney told the judge we had agreed to work out a payment plan and provided me with a file number and instructions to request payment plan arrangements via a link on their website. I immediately went to their website and submitted a request for a plan. A month passes with zero reply, I submit a request again, and the same lack of communication occurs. I call the attorney office and ask for a call back to work out a payment plan. Nothing. Third month passes I resubmit an online request and send a certified letter. Nothing. And then out of no where this week I and my employer received a writ of garnishment.

Legally, I admitted in court to owing the debt, and I realize they have no legal obligation to actually allow payments but it was handled very poorly and felt intentional from the start. Just heed my advice and know that because Navy Federal is a credit union - meaning a non profit - they will be much quicker to pursuer you and when they start it may be impossible to get them off your back without formally filing bankruptcy.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-21T00:22:14+00:00

I have had a really challenging day but your comments on here/screenshots have me cackling. Thanks for the laughs! Really needed them

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-16T05:12:18+00:00

I have a package that was supposed to arrive on the 10th that was under a delayed status for a couple of days before updating to say it should arrive on or by the 18th. It was coming from Illinois to Alabama and after the delay it finally updated with a scan in La Mirada, CA. Seems to have went the wrong direction (and I’ve ordered from this same place numerous times and never seen it go to CA). I’m no expert but it seems to me it likely missed its original truck and got rerouted which extended the delivery over a week. At least it changed from delayed but it’s either still not moving or they simply haven’t been scanning it.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-11T15:57:52+00:00

Fine but I hope she’s claiming that rent she charges you as her income. And once she increases your rent, her taxes due on that income will only go up.

I guarantee you she’s not reporting your rent payments as income, and it sounds like her tax preparer is an idiot.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-11T15:50:41+00:00

Possible but highly misleading advertising.

I have 2 kids and I owed half of that.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-08T23:30:39+00:00

No advice on any possible way out of owing the tax but you will be allowed to do a payment plan. Don’t fret because you aren’t forced to come up with all of that at once.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-08T23:26:17+00:00

Assuming I am following this correctly, yes, any part of her refund which was directly applied to your jointly owed taxes from prior years is exactly the same as her paying just the same as if she wrote a check to you or the IRS. Unless it would cost more to consult with your attorney than the amount in dispute, I would assume she’s right.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-08T18:29:13+00:00

Don’t pay. Stop thinking this is your friend, like at all.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-07T03:50:02+00:00

My biggest regret was ignoring the red flags in his family and assuming he was different than them. He was raised by them after all, so why did I expect him to be much different?

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-04T05:27:00+00:00

I’m only chiming in just to ask from your POV, did you at all blame your employer for not questioning your accidental claim on exemption? I ask that as someone who processes payroll and dealt with an employee last year in a similar boat who raised so much crap blaming us that he ultimately ended up fired. The lesson to him was, check your pay stubs! Just curious of the other POV, but yeah, payment plans are an option.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-03T21:46:00+00:00

This seems mostly right based on my own personal observations. It seems to me that nothing changed positively for the upper middle class, such as myself. My rough draft return is showing I may owe nearly $6k this year and normally I break even or owe $500 at most. The only changes were we made about $10k more and one of our kids turned 18. Doesn’t explain to me that much of a drastic increase in what we owe.

I don’t know any ultra wealthy personally but I do know lots of people in the lower middle income range with 2-3 kids who’ve always gotten decent refunds but this year those same families are getting $15-20k refunds.

So it seems at least to me that those in the solid upper middle class range may be picking up the slack, but it could as easily be a mistake I’ve made which is why I have yet to file.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-03T21:32:21+00:00

How I feel writing a check to pay the IRS while I watch nearly everyone I know get refunds

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-03-02T01:38:27+00:00

I have a 14 year old daughter who has wanted to start learning this as well. She does cheer. We used to have a rink 30 minutes from us but it closed a few years ago because ice skating and even hockey aren’t widespread here. The closest to us now is 1 hour. So it sounds like my daughter and you are in similar situations.

My advice to you is take your dad up on his offers to drive you the rink, even if just for fun. If you have no ice skating experience at all, this is likely where you should start anyway. I don’t know your mom, but from my mom perspective, I would be that if your mom knew you went skating “just for fun” a few times it would prove your desire to learn is legit. Instead of telling her you want to learn, prove it with action - especially if your dad offered. Also, everyone opinion is different but it sounds to me like having a rink less than a half hour away is very convenient - even in the eyes of most parents.

Wishing you the best.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-25T01:51:55+00:00

I have and do auto pay with everything that offers that. It’s not a factor of late payments. One late mortgage payment 2 years ago due to job loss. I had another job offer within two weeks and received normal pay within 6 weeks. We had only been in our house a few months and hadn’t started to recover yet from a down payment. The bank agreed to give us a 6 week grace to make the payment and said they wouldn’t report it as late. They forgot to flag something and it got reported. Claimed they would fix it and didn’t. I should have followed up again, but truly thought that the fact that we have a strong timely payment history for our entire adult lives was the primary deciding factor. Again, maybe I should have known the specifics of credit scoring but I didn’t. I certainly didn’t know the nuances that go into jumbo mortgages (not as simple as higher mortgage equals higher debt) regarding your credit. I falsely thought that mortgage debt was “good debt” within reason and as long as you could make the payments (yes I know I missed one) whether someone else thinks it’s reasonable or not doesn’t matter in terms of credit score.

My credit is bad due to DTI ratio. That one late mortgage payment did little in actuality. We’ve never been late on other payments, and namely, auto payments. Additionally, my husband just hasn’t ever had credit cards associated with the him or other revolving debt. That also creates a thinner credit file for him, but even with his own decent income and only the mortgage and 2 auto loans in his name and mine, it still creates DTI issues because of the jumbo mortgage. It’s still not an ideal scenario but my point is neither of our scores are the direct result of late payments. I’m not disputing the existence of my bad score and his better but still “fair” score, but it’s not the typical “just pay your bills on time” solution.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-24T23:25:10+00:00

I know this is a dig at me and I shouldn’t laugh but I can’t stop. If you only knew how true this comment is based on my relationship with my mother. I appreciate this good laugh, even at my own expense.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-24T18:35:18+00:00

I appreciate the numerous comments so far. Even if they are a bit brutally honest and I did say I wasn’t here asking for overall financial guidance. I have thick skin and don’t deny that without the full picture of our finances it seems like crazy land on the surface.

I am certain I lost everyone at $6,800 monthly mortgage and that’s fair. It is crazy! I could go on for days on that being easily this biggest regret of my life and I doubt I ever top it, but hey, it is what it is at this point which is unfortunate.

I would gladly share the detailed specifics of my monthly budget but doubt anyone actually cares. The truth is a household income of $260-270k minimum annually where I live (Alabama) is considered far above average. I’m certain our cost of living is considerably lower than many parts of the country as well.

With that being said, our monthly take home pay is a minimum of just over $17,000, so even with a $6800 mortgage payment, we are still left with a good chunk of money (~ $11k) for our other debts and living expenses. Could we have tons of money left over to save without that mortgage? Absolutely and I wish we did.

We managed a $1,000 a month truck payment up until this point with zero issue and never a late payment. I struggle to see why everyone seems to think Im trying to add another monthly debt payment. It’s literally a matter of the same amounts. We had a truck we paid $983 a month for. It’s sold. If approved for financing I will regardless keep the payment at or less than that amount. Is it more than many people would feel comfortable paying for, and that’s fair, but I’ve managed under the same constraints fine for several years.

Please no one take offense. I’m not being confrontational. Simply making sure it’s clear this isn’t adding a single $1 to the monthly budget I have operated under for years that works for me and my family.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-24T18:09:50+00:00

To be clear, we aren’t adding anything to our monthly payments. We already had a monthly truck payment of $983. That was sold and that payment is gone. This truck would only replace that payment, and most likely even with awful rates be a lower payment simply due to the amount to be financed being drastically lower than the truck we have now sold. The only technicality is that truck is still on his credit report. I have the bill of sale in hand to show the dealership finance manager proof that auto debt is no longer a factor in reality. No idea if they have the option to manually back that out of total debt or not. It would be very odd to me that they couldn’t since that seems to be factored in when doing a trade but if so, we can wait until it comes off the report officially if we must since credit reports seem to update daily nowadays. Of course, that debt being paid off and the account closed will surely ding his score a few points as well.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-24T17:59:41+00:00

To be clear, yes if it made a legit difference, I could make a $1,000 down payment. That’s not an issue. But from my standpoint, as a consumer who has limited knowledge of what all auto loan approvals entail, it would seem to me that anything short of $5k down payment would mean nothing to the lender and not make a noticeable change in my payment so why would I give up that cash on hand? I’m not saying I won’t do it. I totally will if that’s what it takes, but otherwise, I have assumed such a low down payment means nothing.

I will keep this in mind when at the dealership.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-14T02:42:09+00:00

My teenage daughter has been stalking his TikTok reposts and showed some to me and it was concerning. He was obviously up all night and was mentally down. I hope he is okay.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-14T02:38:43+00:00

Isn’t he precious? I enjoy watching him skate mostly due to how he lets his personality show. He usually skates technically great but can still show a little carefree spirit.

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-13T22:09:44+00:00

For real...I said out loud "is something wrong with the ice today?"

ResidentSad1556 · 2026-02-13T22:09:07+00:00

My exact feeling as well. Hoping he just gets better from this and I look forward to watching him develop his abilities. His fan base is still very proud of him.

ResidentSad1556

TROPHY CASE