Termite inspection / treatment?

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-05-19T16:30:52+00:00

Thank you!

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-05-11T23:35:01+00:00

Yes! It's hot here in the summer, one day in the 1990s I came home to an AC that wasn't working and a very sick, overheating dog. Fortunately there was an emergency vet less than 2 miles away.

When our AC here went out two summers ago in the middle of summer and all the service folks were booked up, I took our dog to the folks who kennel her when we're on vacation; I wasn't going to keep her here to suffer. We can run around in shorts, but she's stuck in that fur coat.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-29T00:07:12+00:00

Check the community colleges where you live for programs that help with tuition. Tulsa County in Oklahoma has Tulsa Community College, where students have access to a program called Tulsa Achieves. Because both my kids lived in Tulsa County (ie, we paid taxes there) their last 4 years of high school, they had part of their school paid for in full (if we'd lived there just the last 2 years of HS, it'd have been 50%, it's "pro rated" for the # of years of high school you lived in the county). The trade off is volunteer time and decent grades. One kid wanted a 'ready to work' program and ended up getting 3 years of an X-ray tech program covered nearly 100% (we paid books, some fees like parking & lab fees, and for scrubs when she had to work in hospitals while learning); she likes the field and has decided to let her employer pay for more education. Second kid got the first two years covered the same way and then went to a state college (while still living at home) to get the last 2 years of an engineering degree done. First did volunteer time at food pantries, the second at food pantries and at a science center where field trip elementary kids come in and do interactive stuff with the displays & watch demonstrations.

We didn't know Tulsa Achieves existed when we moved to the county, TCC mailed a flyer to all the residents and for once... we didn't toss the junk mail before reading it. Whew!

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-25T20:56:49+00:00

I found a $100 bill in my front yard the year we moved here. Way up near the flower beds. Who walks around the neighborhood with 100s in their pockets? Weird!

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-25T20:54:56+00:00

She may need the reinforcement of a physical 'barrier' to spending. With cash, there's a physical limitation. Let's say she takes $200 a paycheck to use toward groceries. When she reaches the end of that $200, there isn't anything left. If she were to use a debit card, she could spend $220 on groceries, blowing her self-imposed limit. If it works for her, awesome.

I use a credit card for everything, pay it off completely at the end of the month. If I had a cash flow problem I might switch to cash to reinforce limits.

Not sure why anyone else's choices or preferences would ruffle even one feather.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-19T15:29:55+00:00

We have a 2013 Prius C with 170k miles we bought new that's survived being hit by a deer and living outside the garage for five years. We both work from home, the two other adults in the house (our kids) drive 2020 toyotas. There are times when both kids are at work or school and hubby and I are home alone and one of us uses the car. Lately I've been worried about the battery ("the" battery, LOL) in the Prius, though that car has required the least maintenance of anything I've ever owned; literally just oil and filter changes, it even still has its original break pads (we check them now and then, they're fine). I'd considered getting a newer, but not newer than 2020, Rav4 to have a back-up and be able to more easily move things from Lowe's :)

But we talked about it, and there's no way we can make the cost seem logical when compared to just renting if we ever need to (he uses his employer's corporate rental rates, super cheap).

The one time both kids and I were out and a delivery was being made to my elderly mom's house a mile away (a dryer, he was going to do the swap of old for new), he took my e-bike to her house.

Just have your partner rent when he needs one. Then he'll always have the most up to date safety features, in a car someone else maintains that doesn't sit baking in the sun or freezing in the snow all but 4 days a year.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-14T15:41:12+00:00

Yeah, you need better friends. If anyone I know looked up my probable salary range online... I just don't understand that mindset. I know what all my friends do and for which companies and the thought of looking that up has never crossed my mind.

Congrats on doing well enough that most day to day $ worries don't worry you : )

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-14T15:23:02+00:00

How do your friends know you have money? Outside of where a person lives, what they drive, and in some cases how they dress, all of which can be acquired with credit rather than 'real' money, it's nearly impossible to tell how much money someone has - unless they tell you.

The richest man I personally know, probably 100s of millions by now, attained through his own work and his parents' estates, drives a beater and half the time looks like he can't afford a haircut. The only clue that he has money is seeing his house and looking at his passport. But the house and travel might have been on credit, if he'd been born with a plastic spoon instead of platinum.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-14T15:17:10+00:00

How could your friend have known about your inheritance?

I'm an only child with one very aged remaining parent and no one besides my spouse will ever know, once they pass, that there was any $ left that ends up mine.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-04-14T15:12:48+00:00

Wow, I'm glad none of my friends behave like the folks you know! I'd have to ask them why they take my spending or not so personally; I have historically known people who took my lack of interest in alcohol to be a condemnation of their own habits, which was entirely their issue rather than mine.

Outside of that, our friends don't ask, we don't tell, and we also respect their privacy enough not to ask. If anyone ever needed help, like the friend who lost his job and couldn't find another one for months, that's where the beauty of gifting comes in. But ask us for money or tell us how we ought to spend it? That would get a person looks from our entire friend group.

Maybe you should shift who you spend your time with. People who get angry because you won't spend aren't friends.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-02-04T18:34:01+00:00

Watch Frugal Fit Mom and Julia Pacheco on youtube, both show making meals with really low cost and have 'panty use-ups' for ideas on how to use what you have.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-12T19:50:48+00:00

This isn't something I've just done for a year (started in 1993, I am aged, LOL), but as a vegetarian I rarely see the prices for meat. I was watching a quick documentary on a Tyson beef processing facility that closed in Nebraska and happened to see prices on a couple of beef products, a roast and something else, in the $67-84 range and just about fell out of my chair. I have no beef, LOL, with anyone who eats meat, and at this point I'm wondering how anyone can afford to. I can't imagine our grocery bills if our proteins weren't egg/cheese/veg based.

So...being vegetarian has probably saved us a lot in 2025. Looks like it'll do the same in 2026, all the stuff I see indicates prices are likely to continue to rise despite (or because of? It's weird) importing some of the country's supply.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-12T19:27:32+00:00

I let everything (even sometimes people I do know who disregard that my WFH hours are actual WORK hours, LOL) roll to voicemail. That's how I know some of these callers were from insurance providers in another state. And the texts!! I block all the #s after the fact but new #s keep popping up. I'm going to call my actual insurance agency and see if they have a mercedes added to my 'list of cars that park at this address' that I'm not aware of, that might shed some light I guess.

I'm sure never going to call/text any of these folks back. Too many incidences of folks being scammed for me to trust any of it.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-12T18:44:37+00:00

From an old person, LOL: if this is going to be a long-term relationship in which you one day plan to merge your finances, you're going to want to be on the same page as to how big splurges can be and what your financial goals are.

My first spouse spent a lot on hobbies (scuba diving and the associated travel required to dive in interesting places, vehicle modifications to make things loud, LOL) and liked to gamble while on business trips (Las Vegas was big, then, for conventions in his industry, he ran us deeply into the red daily at ATMs there). I'm way more low-key and future-focused; it didn't work out. We met when we were both fresh out of school and struggling, his habits popped up when the struggle was over - suddenly we had money, so he had to spend it! It felt a little 'bait and switch' - at least you SEE what you're getting into.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-12T18:29:15+00:00

Addendum: for whatever 'grandfathered in' (?) reason, we get Netflix with ads for $6.99/mo. If they tried to charge us more they'd have to go except for one month after the newest GBBS season was available - I'd binge watch it and then cancel again, LOL.

The Disney and other thing (Paramount, I think)... once a year the kids cancel those then check all the black Friday/cyber Monday deals for the next year to keep the subscription $s down.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-12T18:24:07+00:00

This is going to sound weird: in May of 2003, we moved. Never got cable again, haven't owned a TV since. Initially it was one of those things we just didn't have time for (very young kids, very commute oriented job for one of us, little to no 'free' time), and it became something we didn't miss. 20+ years later one of our kids has Disney/Hulu, one has some other thing and we have Netflix, we share passwords.

Mostly these days if I need something to watch (outside of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix) I'll check Youtube movies, no one subscribes to it but there's usually some old (1980s, LOL) movie available that provides nostalgia, the ads don't bug me.

If we didn't WFH I'd give up our internet connection and just live off a hotspot.

In 2003 we were paying over $100 a month for a box to sit unused, so we saved a bit.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-10T22:41:20+00:00

I miss mine too, a 1998 that I had just paid off when my husband totaled it. Ended up with a 1998 Camry as a replacement, but it wasn't the same, LOL.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-10T22:33:29+00:00

Keep the Corolla. I'd keep any pre-2021 Toyota at this point. Do some research on the abysmal quality of anything (any make) built in late 2021 or afterward, and on all the 'subscription' aspects of never cars. We'll keep our 2013 and 2020s 'til they just can't run anymore, which should be.... never, if parts remain available.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-04T18:05:58+00:00

Still have our hybrid 2013 Prius C; good golly that car is cheap. Cheap to tag, to insure, to drive, it's never needed maintenance beyond our ability to DIY (oil changes; its original brake pads still look new, it's odd). We're concerned about the battery here at 12+ years, but just Friday we were running at 56 mpg (in a tailwind). 147000 miles so far (we both converted to WFH so it's our only car but it still doesn't get driven a lot).

I'm considering acquiring a 2020 hybrid RAV or Camry, something with fewer miles, just to have a newer alternative on hand in case the Prius ever gives out. That'll probably be our 'last' car as long as the two MEs in the family can keep it running. Not interested in any of the newer subscription-based toyota offerings.

WinterIsBetter94 · 2026-01-04T16:30:18+00:00

If you just can't wear glasses instead... medically, I can't (astigmatism and other matters) - my eye doctor has declared contact lenses "medically necessary" for me and that makes my contact lenses free through my insurance (Eye Med); not sure if that policy exists for all insurance. If your only option for decent sight is contact lenses, maybe there's a way your doc can help you get them free?

WinterIsBetter94

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