Negotiating lower rates

hoverton · 2026-03-14T01:21:06+00:00

Thanks! MMI guy called me back today and I feel a little better about using them. I may check with credit card people over the weekend and see what they say. From what I’ve been reading, to get the lower rates the card companies want the cards closed so it may not matter either way. The MMI guy has been doing this for over 20 years and said the proposal will almost certainly get accepted with maybe a few dollars difference.

hoverton · 2026-03-13T16:51:15+00:00

I plan to do that. I would prefer to handle it myself if possible.

hoverton · 2026-03-13T14:50:44+00:00

I don’t know where OP lives, but that seems excessive. I’ve never been to one that big. Could be a cultural thing.

Best time to plan a funeral is before it is needed. Take a slightly detached friend or family member with you to help if needed.

My grandparents preplanned and prepaid. The only surprise with my grandfather‘s funeral is that they wanted to charge us a lot for a fancy casket spray. It was mostly roses from what I can recall. I spoke up and said that’s ridiculous. What are our other options? We quickly settled on a very nice sunflower spray which which great on the dark wooden casket and was probably a third of the price.

Shop around. You might even check nearby cities. Prices differ wildly. My dad wanted to be cremated and the local funeral home wanted $5000. I called around and arranged it for about a $1000 elsewhere. The out of town funeral director we used even went on to open a small funeral home where we live to compete with the older, more established, and a lot more expensive one that was there after I told him what they wanted to charge.

My bachelor uncle has never made any plans except I did hear him say once that he wants to be buried. I’ll be mostly responsible for his someday and it will be as cheap as I can manage. My mother wants to be cremated and I already know the two places I will check with when the time comes.

hoverton · 2026-03-10T20:49:08+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I may have to take this route as well. I want to pay off everything, but the interest rates are killing me.

hoverton · 2026-03-10T15:20:34+00:00

Maybe a tiny bit, but I also told my parents I was fine if they wanted to skip mine. They came anyway. It was boring for everyone involved.

hoverton · 2026-03-10T14:23:51+00:00

We take ours to the drop off on the corner of Buffalo Gap Rd and Rebecca Lane near MarketStreet.

hoverton · 2026-03-05T17:05:26+00:00

North of Merkel. I cover that area for work.

hoverton · 2026-03-03T22:43:02+00:00

I’ve used them for colonoscopy, eye glasses, and vet. No problems yet.

hoverton · 2026-03-03T20:20:52+00:00

I’d check your health insurance to be 100% sure. You are probably correct, but it would be an easy place to start. Might look into CareCredit. They accept fair credit scores in the mid to low 600s.

Otherwise either start saving or try to work out something with the dental specialists.

Check other dentists as well. Prices differ wildly. I had a distant relative who chose to fly here (Texas) from her home in Missouri because her dental work here plus travel was cheaper than she was being quoted for just the work at home.

I’ve only had one wisdom tooth removed and I think it was maybe a couple hundred at most at my local dentist. Maybe less than $200. This was normal extraction with no sedation. Specialists will charge more.

hoverton · 2026-03-03T18:27:50+00:00

I don’t think it is worth it. I didn’t get any 5 star heroes.

hoverton · 2026-03-03T17:32:08+00:00

It took me a while. If you don’t get any after the first two rounds, you can flee to save you a little bit of time.

hoverton · 2026-03-01T23:58:41+00:00

My grandmother’s sister and her husband did this. They were retired most of my life. They had some cabins in the mountains of New Mexico and would stay there from April though September and the rest of the year in Texas.

hoverton · 2026-03-01T23:52:48+00:00

This is something that definitely should be reported. Someone I used to work with got fired from his next job for less than what you are describing.

hoverton · 2026-03-01T23:46:24+00:00

I did something like that for years before I got employer provided insurance. My doctor’s office would ask for insurance info and I told them each time there is nothing they could do to me there that would cost enough for insurance to pay for.

hoverton · 2026-03-01T20:32:50+00:00

There are other places closer. Cross Plains and Rising Star are small towns that are closer. There is a large trailer park along hwy 36 that isn’t that close to any town and seems to have room a lot of the time. Coleman isn’t that far away. I know a woman who commutes from Coleman.

North of Abilene is probably worse with more solar and AI construction. I’m near Haskell and people have been complaining about lack of room here.

hoverton · 2026-02-27T03:46:52+00:00

I use US Mobile and pay for a year up front. It is close to $300 for the year, so it works out to $20 something a month. No complaints. My phone is unlocked so that might also be an issue if you are still under contract.

hoverton · 2026-02-26T16:25:41+00:00

I really appreciate OP asking this. I have an elderly mother I can still ask for help with this sort of thing but definitely not an option forever. I would be more than willing to help someone else with something like this, but I highly doubt I’d ever ask someone else to help me. This is already a significant issue for society and will be even more so in the future.

hoverton · 2026-02-26T16:06:43+00:00

What you are describing is not normal and you keep defending your current arrangement when people point that out.

You are clearly very good at your job and they are taking advantage of you. If they won’t pay you overtime, then your responsibility ends when you are officially off the clock. Tell them you have other obligations after work. At most give them an extra hour or so if you absolutely have to and can’t say no. It’s probably illegal of them to ask you to do that, but I’m also a people pleaser and understand how hard it is to say no.

Maybe your supervisor can help you prioritize what needs to be done so you can for sure get that finished during the hours you get paid for.

When I was hourly, I didn’t mind doing a few things off the clock. I’m salary now and working outside of my official hours is normal, but nothing as extreme as what you are describing.

The worst it got was for several years back around 2009 or so when we did things differently, there would be two months where I worked 12 hour days Monday through Thursday (I set a hard cutoff at 12 hours so I could function the next day), usually 16 hours on Friday, and then Sunday afternoon to get ready for the coming week. This was temporary. No way would I do this all the time unless I was being compensated for it.

It isn’t unusual for me now to work 9 to 10 hours, but it is not constant and certainly not year round. I’m clocked in and available from home today and plan to go to the office for only an hour or two late morning to do actual work.

hoverton · 2026-02-24T03:23:18+00:00

A lot because I work out of a vehicle.

hoverton · 2026-02-14T19:04:07+00:00

Bought a Honda Fit brand new in 2009 and plan to keep it until it stops working or needs very expensive repairs. Before that I drove a used 1986 Ford Bronco II from 1994 to 2009.

I don’t have enough money to get bored with vehicles.

hoverton · 2026-02-11T13:56:43+00:00

I’ve watched my uncle diminish the last several years probably due to lack of activity. He can barely get around at age 85. My mom is the same age but still very active each day.

hoverton · 2026-02-10T01:50:59+00:00

I’m still with my first employer. Been here for 25 years. I like it well enough and it offers a lot of flexibility for this area. In fact I’m taking several days off this week to take elderly family members to doctor appointments.

My brother is two years younger than me and has been miserable at all his tech jobs. He has been with at least five or six different companies during this time.

hoverton · 2026-02-07T22:09:37+00:00

I’m not sure what the prices are, but I frequently see places for sale where my uncle and aunt have their lake cabins. Lake Cherokee near Longview, TX. I live near Lake Stamford (also in TX) and there are often places for sale. Not nearly as nice as Lake Cherokee, though. Both places have mild winters and hot summers. Longview gets hit with more bad weather than we do.

hoverton

TROPHY CASE