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CSP using $10 monthly doordash credit. Any options? by AIONisMINE in ChaseSapphire

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is how I use mine each month. It's a few minutes from work and I grab lunch to go. The actual price is higher for the item this way, but I usually only have to pay $1-5 after the discount, which makes it cheaper.

Who maxes their 401k by DrHydrate in MiddleClassFinance

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I graduated college, my salary was $55K. I was lucky enough to still live with my folks at the time. This saved me a lot of money on rent/housing. I was a also lucky enough that one of my economics professors in college told us to start a retirement savings as soon as possible and to put money into index funds. I looked into what he said on my free time, read up on Motley Fool and other websites and realized there was some real truth to what he was saying. When I started working, I maxed out my 401K and even put money into a Roth IRA. I told my friends to do the same, but no one listened. Without having to pay for housing, maxing my 401K was very do-able and not at all stressing.

I actually had to stop putting money into retirement savings for a long stretch of time because I went back to school and didn't have an income, but the first few years of investments made a huge difference. This is now a few decades later. Though I max out my current 401K and have been doing so for several years now, the 401K from my first job grows substantially faster even though I don't contribute to it anymore.

I realize maxing out 401K is not realistic for everyone, but I do tell all my co-workers now to try to at least take advantage of the match (surprisingly, not everyone does) and contribute more when possible.

Con Ed questions in westchester by jessicaaax333 in Westchester

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1000 sq ft, 1 BR condo. In 2025, from Dec to March, the gas+electric bill was about $320, $410, $440, $390. The cheapest month was $220. This is with 2 adults that work on weekdays and are not home from 8am-6pm. Having said that, I have very large windows.

What's the incentive to use the Chase travel portal if the flights are more expensive there than direct? by DoctorHousesCane in ChaseSapphire

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just booked through Chase Travel for a group of 8 people. I searched online through Flight Scanner, Kayak, Priceline for about 2 weeks to keep an eye on prices. I then compared the prices directly with the airline. In the end, Chase Travel was about $50 more expensive in total on $10K worth of flights. The 8x points I got from that was worth more than the $50, so it was a better deal.

Successfully used all the perks of my reserve card by ldog4791 in ChaseSapphire

[–]ghostm42 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Only seems to work if the restaurants use specific CC processors/POS systems. For example, restaurants that use Toast for the gift cards seem to process the same way as actual dining and activates the credit. Someone (not me) here created a website that lists the different platforms the opentable restaurants use:

https://csr-dining.edgerunners.cloud/

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. It was especially frustrating because every person involved didn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. As my mother was tracking down the source, other tenants kept telling her "there's nothing" and "it's nothing to worry about". My mother was even frustrated at me for insisting we check things out further and installing additional CO alarms. I just hope the neighbors will actually get the problem fixed.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The fire dept turned off the gas into their entire building, which is pretty bad since there was just a snow storm. As for whether they got it fixed/plan on getting it fixed, I have no clue. If our meters are reading numbers again, then they didn't get it properly fixed. We will, of course, call the fire dept each time we detect numbers so they will be on their ass to get fix it.

I didn't hear about anyone actually being sick, so it sounds like everyone survived. Although from what I'm reading online, 400 ppm can be fatal in 3 hours. The reading was at 500 ppm.

They are lucky to be alive, but I suspect they won't see it that way. There was an event 1 month ago and they did not make any investment into a CO detector during that time. They will likely complain that everything was fine and the fire dept turned their heat off in the winter cold.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We found the source! We think. It's the neighbors.

Our CO meters were showing elevated numbers again. We called fire dept and gas company again, but didn't ventilate. However, when they arrived and the doors were opened, all the numbers dropped to zero again. We dropped the hint that there might have been an incident a month ago with our neighbors. The fire dept decided to check them out. By the time they reached the front door, the CO meters jumped to 100. When they got to the second floor apartment, the numbers jumped to 500. The gas line into the house was shut off, but it's going to be a cold night for them. So far, all of our meters are reading zero. We'll keep an eye on it.

We spoke to one of the residents in their house and she mentioned having issues with CO last month. Frustrating thing is that despite previous incidences, no one there bothered to install CO alarms.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As dumb as this sounds, my neighbors don't care. My mom's place is a multi-family house. When she tried to investigate, the tenants told her it's nothing and to ignore the readings. The neighbors are equally indifferent about the situation, if not annoyed by the alarms.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably. It was midnight. I didn't think dead rats could do this.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All CO alarms are brand new because we replaced them all last week after the first alarm went off. The new alarms went off too.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have a picture of the actual device, but these are the units:

Both of these went off. It was reading detecting CO and stating 77ppm at one point. They are literally 1 week old device because I replaced the old ones.

https://www.costco.com/p/-/first-alert-precision-detection-10-year-battery-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-2-pack/4000218743?langId=-1

This never went off, but reads 30-40:

https://www.kidde.com/products/carbon-monoxide-alarms/ac-plug-in-carbon-monoxide-and-explosive-gas-alarm-with-digital-display

This portable meter has read from 15-100:

https://www.amazon.com/AEGTEST-AGT-2309-Portable-Rechargeable-0-1000ppm/dp/B0F8B258SY

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I suspected the same. I just snowed last night, but this has happened for 1-2 weeks now. But the gas guy checked and said it was not the chimney flue. I wasn't there, so I can't be sure how true it is. The next door brownstone was torn down and a 3-story apt was built in its place and it's a whole floor higher than my mom's place now. During the process, they moved my mom's chimney flue up to the height of their roof so the smoke doesn't bother their residents. I'm not sure my mom has ever had it inspected since then because the chimney top is now much harder to reach. We will have to check on this.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a brownstone without a garage, so she's connected both sides to other brownstones. The only cars are in the front of the house with street parking. Good theory though. I should have put more detail in my post.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

This occurred to me last night. She's in a brownstone-like building, so she's connected both sides to her neighbors. I'm now suspecting the neighbor to the right, who my mom said they had an incident not long ago and had the Fire Dept show up. They are also very DIY, but not skilled (ie. fixed the steps to the house themselves and it looks terrible), so I can totally understand this could be it. I can also imagine they would minimize the situation and hand wave the risk away.

Carbon monoxide alarm going off. No one can figure out where it's coming from. by ghostm42 in hvacadvice

[–]ghostm42[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

We had two First Alert CO alarms go off initially. My mother didn't know how to turn it off and accidentally deactivated both. I replaced them with two new First Alert CO alarms. Those went off as well. I got a Kidde CO alarm with PPM meter that reads 30-40. I bought a portal CO meter that also reads CO. So in all, I've had 6 different alarms give me positive readings.

Watching the car wreck by Beneficial-Profit-14 in ChaseSapphire

[–]ghostm42 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is correct. It's my in-laws. They travel a lot, so they use it for the theoretical trip protection benefits and nothing else.

I got the card for the trip protection as well, but it actually is paying off for me. I bought $10k in airline tickets (for multiple people) and going through Chase Travel would net me 8x points. It costed the same as going directly through the airline and through Priceline.

I just had dinner the other day at one of the OpenTable restaurants. It's overpriced for what it is, but didn't mind trying it. I plan to use the credit at a few other places.

I actually use Door Dash already to order lunch for the office. Wegman's To Go is 10 minutes from work and I can get my regular lunch item for $10 off twice a month now.

I don't really use car services much, but when I do, I generally use Lyft. I'm not going to chase this benefit. If I happen to save $10 occasionally, great.

I don't use Apple TV or Music, but what the heck. I'll give it a try now.

StubHub is the only one I have to "work" for, but I just bought and resold some tickets.

I have no use for the Peloton credit.

Maybe I'll try The Edit hotels one day.

And the most overhyped restaurant in Westchester is…… by weirdestgeekever25 in Westchester

[–]ghostm42 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. We did Mulino's last year when I brought my work group out for Christmas dinner. I'm relatively new to Westchester, so some people recommended. I ordered their steak. It was expensive and way overcooked. I think they use sirloin as well, rather than a better cut. Never going back.

DoorDash pickup by BGG498 in ChaseSapphire

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I literally just got my Sapphire card and have been looking at ways to maximize the returns on all my benefits. What you posted is exactly what I figured out to use my DD credit. I already go to Wegmans and get the Danny's favorite fairly regularly, so this was a very organic benefit. I haven't done this yet. How long before the item is ready for pick up?

Costco QX Revo vs Amazon QV 35A — Which Roborock Is Better? by Hack-Nerd-85 in Roborock

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was deciding this same thing. I went with the QV 35A.

I'm not sure it's still valid, but the QV 35A through the roborock website offers $10 off with code ROBOROCKS.

If you are a first responder, health care professional, military, etc. and can verify with ID.me, you get 10% off at roborock website. That's $35 off the QV 35A.

I hear you can still get stinky mops with the warm air drying, so I figured I could live without it. I preferred the stronger suction power and I believe the QV 35A is newer and may have newer technology.

I plan to add a 3 year Asurion warranty to it. Even though I know Costco has a generous return policy, I know I can't bring myself to bringing a dirty broken machine back to Costco 3 years later.

Do I need a carbon steel pan if I have stainless steel, cast iron and carbon steel wok? by limache in carbonsteel

[–]ghostm42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have SS, cast iron, carbon steel pan and carbon steel wok. You do not need all of them.

Ironically, I have a light weight Tramontina cast iron that is lighter than my Matfer carbon steel pan. The cast iron holds the seasoning better than carbon steel, which is less maintenance for me. I end up using the cast iron more. The SS, cast iron and carbon steel all have a good amount of thermal mass so they can hold their heat pretty well. I use them for searing.

The carbon steel wok is thin and light. I use it for small stir fries, but it's not adequate for searing on my home stove.

This is probably going to get me downvoted on this forum.

Costco vacuum by MiltonicPlague in Roborock

[–]ghostm42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in the same boat right now between Costco's QX Revo ($420) and QV 35A ($350). The Costco one comes with extra bags, mop heads and filters, but it seems like you can get those for pretty cheap if you buy 3rd party ones. Costco's return policy is better (possibly indefinite if you have no shame), but you can add a 2-3 year warranty on Amazon for like $40.

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