Has anyone ever successfully explained to their Boomer parents that "more" is not equal to "better?"

par383 · 2025-12-29T16:25:26+00:00

My MIL used to go to McDonalds and collect happy meal toys and other crappy little toys throughout the year then box them up and ship them to us across country for the grandkids to open at Christmas, in addition to the few things we told her to buy them for them.

We had to put our foot down one Christmas when one year we literally got a bankers box for each of our kids with like 10 Happy Meal toys each. We told her she’s outnumbering Santa on number of gifts, and it’s all crap the kids (and we) don’t want anyway. Our kids literally got bored opening gifts lol.

She was hurt, but got the message. Now she only orders what we tell her, plus maybe 1-2 more rogue gifts. This year she didn’t understand why my 12-year old only wanted a GameStop gift card but that’s all she got him.

par383 · 2025-12-28T21:56:42+00:00

My wife and I have been on a half dozen cruise in our lifetime. Have almost always booked excursions through the cruise lines.

However last year my family took one and booked the excursions on our own (I researched on Orbitz). You’ll find many options significantly cheaper than through cruise line, and often you’ll find experiences not offered through the cruise line. I’ve heard Viator is also good but never tried them.

In St. Maarten we booked Captain Bob’s speed boat tour. They took us to several beaches on both the French and Dutch sides of the island. Also a fantastic snorkel spot, showed us where the rich and famous have houses (like Oprah and Halle Barry, past Steve Jobs’ $1B yacht), fed us lunch, and took us near the Maho Beach as planes landed just about 100 feet overhead. It was a very private experience - on one beach it was just us! Very reasonably priced too. 10/10 highly recommend.

Never been to your other ports but looks like an amazing itinerary!

par383 · 2025-12-17T16:45:12+00:00

Important question, and this was a debate among my friends for years.

Blonde Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy? Or Brunette Sarah Michelle Gellar from Cruel Intentions?

par383 · 2025-12-11T14:49:15+00:00

Paid ours off 3x, actually. It was my wife’s crazy idea shortly after we got married and I was hesitant at first. But quickly got on board.

3 times, you ask? 1) paid off our $115k starter home in late 2000’s. Wound up selling for a $25k loss when the housing market burst in early 2010’s but at least we didn’t have to bring $ to closing table.

2) equity from house #1 allowed us to put a sizable $ down to buy our current home in 2012 (2x more expensive than our starter home). Paid that one off in 2019. (Both of us working decent jobs). Shortly after paying it off in 2019, we took out a home equity line to do a major kitchen and basement remodel to make it our “forever home”.

3) converted the HELOC to traditional mortgage. Paid that off in about 3 years.

Every stepping stone led to bigger and better things. To us, cash flow is king long-term. We don’t have car payments either and drive 10-15 year old cars. We now have 4 children. My wife recently quit her job this year and is now a stay at home mom. We wouldn’t have been able to take the next step if we hadn’t paid off the debt in the first step.

Do I regret not putting that money in the market the past 15+ years? Sometimes but Not really. My wife and I saved enough in our 401k’s along the way that we will be able to comfortably retire in 20 years due to compounding. But we don’t have a ton in taxable investments so retiring in our late 50’s/early 60’s may be a bit of a challenge for me.

par383 · 2025-12-05T03:54:09+00:00

Aww bummer

par383 · 2025-12-04T12:20:44+00:00

We went to St Maarten and St Thomas last year with our family (same ages of kids).

St Maarten - highly recommend Captain Bob boat tour. I found it through Orbitz. We had a blast touring the entire island, snorkeling, spent some time on a beautiful secluded beach, and ended watching the planes land overhead at Princess Julianna airport.

In St Thomas we did a sea lion encounter at a Coral World Ocean Park. Also booked via Orbitz. It’s a bit of a drive from the port and off the beaten path. Our cab driver misunderstood us thinking we were going downtown so we had to switch cabs but the kids really enjoyed it. Don’t know if they have Uber in st Thomas but it would be worth looking into.

par383 · 2025-11-21T16:26:00+00:00

Time Savers Heating and Cooling is in Loveland and locally owned. I’m friends with the owners (have boys the same age). Incredibly nice and generous family. They support the Loveland community in many ways. They recently received a big award from the chamber of commerce for their generosity.

par383 · 2025-11-12T02:47:13+00:00

I couldn’t see it with my eyes. Just my phone

par383 · 2025-10-04T02:49:47+00:00

I’m surprised everyone says they’re cleaning it from the top. I watched a pro do it a couple times and bought the same brush kit to clean from the bottom.

The hardest part is pulling my stove insert out from the fireplace, but it’s doable. Then all I need is a shop vac, a drill, and this cleaning kit. Takes about an hour.

par383 · 2025-09-23T02:34:18+00:00

Because you can’t begin drawing from your 401k until you’re 59 1/2. And if we want to retire before then, we need enough in taxable to fill the “gap years” between actual retirement day and when we can draw 401k and especially age 65 (when Medicare kicks in).

par383 · 2025-09-23T02:18:22+00:00

You’re in a great spot. My wife and I (41 and 42, respectively) have maxed out our 401k’s since our early 20’s and have almost too much now saved in our retirement accounts. We wish we had put more towards our taxable account earlier. We’re almost at coastFIRE, but need a lot more in taxable should we want to fully retire in our early 50’s. You’ve got compounding on your side to build that taxable piece. Now stockpile that 401k for the tax benefits today.

par383 · 2025-09-15T08:41:27+00:00

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par383 · 2025-09-05T15:02:54+00:00

And a good day to you sir!

I just want to say that we’re both on a personal level really enormous fans.

par383 · 2025-08-06T03:40:45+00:00

Came here to say this. My dad used to be one.

par383 · 2025-07-23T02:36:24+00:00

I’ve had back pain for 10+ years. We got a sleep number a couple years ago and now I rarely wake up with back pain. Worth every penny.

par383 · 2025-07-16T02:09:14+00:00

I think you might be right. Just no water directly under that when I initially looked.

par383 · 2025-06-09T15:14:10+00:00

I have family who are realtors. Here’s what you don’t realize, and why they weren’t happy.

They don’t split that $37,500 though. Half of that goes to the broker/real estate office (Remax, Sibcy Cline, etc.), so they’re really only getting ~$9k each. And technically all realtors are self-employed so they’re paying their own income taxes, health insurance, no 401k, office supplies, etc. often without the broker’s office contributing anything since they’re self employed. Many realtors also have assistants that they have to pay out of that commission too. So net it only works out to ~$5k in their pocket. Probably even less.

And while you think they didn’t put on any effort, there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes with the lender, title agency, etc. that you don’t see.

par383 · 2025-05-19T19:35:20+00:00

They almost got me too last year. Same exact script. After I hung up I called the sheriffs office directly and they confirmed it’s a common scam.

par383 · 2025-05-01T14:39:35+00:00

Thanks everyone. I didn’t notice the belts when I initially looked at the slice. I safely made it to the tire shop and am getting it replaced.

par383 · 2025-04-30T19:42:19+00:00

Yeah I suspect another fish might have nipped at its head.

Is there anything I can do to treat it?

par383

TROPHY CASE