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bluelight

Had a Miele installed during the kitchen remodel in our previous house and loved it. DH would buy another one in a second. What I actually did though before purchasing the Miele was take some dishes to a local appliance dealer and tried them in both the Bosch and Miele. Turned out that my dishes did...

bluelight

I recently purchased this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-100-MPH-280-CFM-Variable-Speed-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Jet-Fan-Leaf-Blower-4Ah-Battery-and-Charger-Included-P2180/206451819 as a secondary unit for quick clean ups. My husband still has gas blower as we are on a heavily wooded ...

bluelight

You appear to have thought this out well. My husband was diagnosed with Prostate cancer 4 years ago. His Urologist referred him to both a surgeon and oncologist to discuss treatment options. In the end it was decided that the best course of treatment for him was a targeted radiation. He went to an o...

bluelight

My husband made this raccoon baffle for me for less than $10. https://todayshomeowner.com/how-to-make-a-squirrel-and-raccoon-bird-feeder-baffle/ I have mounted on a pole that is about 8 ft from the nearest tree or stationary object a squirrel could use to launch from. I only use no mess mix and cage...

bluelight

I'm still waiting for the single unit washer/dryers to come out to free up some floor space. Until then, my '80's Kenmores are fine. I miss my 90's Kenmore washer. It still ran great, but I left it behind when I moved because the new house came with a newish GE Profile. I hate this machine. It does...

bluelight

Get the Cayman, join your local Porsche club and participate in DE, rallies and treks. You'll have a blast.

bluelight

My house is all hardwood or tile with a couple of small area rugs. I purchased a Shark DuoClean Cordless vacuum with 2 batteries a couple of years ago. It is life changing. Unlike the Dyson, you don't need to change heads to clean carpeting, just change the vacuum setting to carpet. It came with mul...

bluelight

total stock market and total international - VTSAX and VTIAX
3 tax exempt bond funds: VWIUX, VWLUX, VNYUX

bluelight

My COBRA ends in 2 days and I will be starting an individual plan in Oct that I will need until I start Medicare in Jan 2022. My Gold plan in NY is $700 per month (will be about $8,500 per year for 2021) Individual deductible $600. Max out of pocket Individual - $4,000. I estimate about 20K for year...

bluelight

Retired couple living in a HCOL area. House and vehicles are long ago paid off. We live on DH's SS and small pensions as well as tax exempt and taxable dividends. We live fairly frugally and have only needed to tap into savings for vacations. With no travel this year I expect that we won't need to t...

bluelight

I regret being so conservative in my investing when I was younger. I've always been good at savings and contributing to my retirement plans, but not knowing about assest allocation, I had most of my money in savings accounts and bond funds in my 40's when I could have had much higher returns in stoc...

bluelight

We purchased masks from Turtleback. They are thick cotton, have a filter pocket and adjustable ear loops. Made in USA.
https://www.turtlebackcase.com/protective-face-masks/

bluelight

My 2002 Pathfinder is still going strong. I was thinking of replacing it in the spring with a new SUV, but with Covid we go out so little that I'm glad I held on to it. I'd like to keep it to 20, but it is starting to show its age and while the repairs have been few, anytime it needs to go to the sh...

bluelight

I like having an SUV and can't imagine not owning one. I like the visibility and I like having a hauler. When it's time for my current SUV to be replaced, it will be replaced with another SUV.

bluelight

Your current agent may be licensed in both states. We moved from northern NJ to NY and found out after the fact our insurance agency was licensed in both states.

bluelight

The only paper bills that I still receive are property taxes and oil. All other bills and statements are PDF files that I download. I have a file cabinet that is used for anything paper. Very little is stored there so it will take a long time to fill (I purged most of the file cabinet when we moved....

bluelight

Oncall 24/7 rotation was part of my job for the last 30+ years. It usually is in IT. Usually it was part of a 4 person oncall rotation so in any given 4 weeks you had one week primary and one week backup. I also had a 5 year stretch of time years ago where I was primary 24/7/365. Never received extr...

bluelight

Taxable is in intermediate and long term muni funds, and credit union savings.

IRAs are in Vanguard Total Bond and Fidelity US Bond funds.

bluelight

I redid the kitchen in my previous house a few years back and used Starmark cabinets. Very happy with the quality and they are semi-custom. Make sure you get drawers instead of doors and pullouts. They really make a difference.

bluelight

I signed up a couple of days ago for 2nd quarter estimated taxes. Used Firefox. It didn't like the first credit card I entered for verification, but took the 2nd one. No other issues.

bluelight

We purchased a 2013 Audi A6 CPO in the winter of 2014. It's a great car and a pleasure to drive. We ended up with the Prestige model because DH wanted the cornering lights which were only on the upper end model that year. We have not had any issues with the car. I've been looking at replacing my cur...

bluelight

As a single parent (my ex was supposed to pay half, but we never saw a dime) I paid for my DD's college. Her first 2 years were spent living at home, going to community college and I paid for that using savings. Then she transferred to a tech college. I paid for those 2 years with a combination of s...

bluelight

heartwood, I feel your pain. We're in Suffolk County, NY, after having spent most of lives in Bergen Cty, NJ. Currently have 15 K confirmed cases in the county. I last went to the stores in the beginning of March and stocked up as much as I could. Luckily a few years ago, DH insisted we needed to bu...

bluelight

My daughter has an ultrasound unit setup in her backyard and she said it works. She has a very deep yard and the dogs would run to the back of it to bark at a neighbor's dog. She ran an long extension cord to the back of the yard and set the device up. It appears to work as the dogs now avoid the fa...

bluelight

I had an Instacart delivery from Costco yesterday. I went on the Costco website and created my order last week. Then tried over the last week to get a time slot, but repeatedly received the "no time slots available" message. I was ready to give up, but figured I would try one more time and...

bluelight

Visit my grand kids. I miss them.

bluelight

When the virus hit New York a couple of weeks ago, I told my husband that he was in isolation. He is in his 70's and has immune and respiratory issues. I have heart and respiratory issues, but I'm a decade younger. I have spent this week stocking up and somehow managed to beat most of the madness by...

bluelight

I was afraid of this scenario when we moved 3 years ago and was lucky that we had the means and foresight to buy a new home before putting our home for sale. It took us almost a year to find a house that filled my husband's must have list. I didn't realize in our new location that single story ranch...

bluelight

We're in a similar situation with a 15 day river cruise through France starting in mid June. My husband and I both have health issues and he will be 74 this spring. Our cruise company also offers a cancellation with vouchers towards a new trip booked within 2 years. In our case they would hold $16,0...

bluelight

We did our monthly Costco shopping yesterday. I loaded the order on the belt, gave the cashier my card and told her to charge it. Before she even started to ring it up, I asked her about cashing my $370 rebate, which I had printed out. She said she could do it and proceeded to cash it out. Then she ...

bluelight

And I can see how it would be a real hassle for them to keep the dog hair vacuumed up every day, or even twice a day. I can't see anyway around that since there is nowhere else for the dog to live. Any suggestions? If they don't already have one, get them a cordless vac. I recommend the Shark. It's...

bluelight

I lived in Fair Lawn for 27 years. We moved to be closer to the grandchildren, otherwise I would probably still live there. It's a nice town with a good school system. I was actually surprised by the number of people who grew up in town and then stayed there once they married and had children. I mis...

bluelight

If you don't intend to use it, don't take it. I was in a similar situation where I was offered a HELOC after a refinance. I never used it, but was charged a fee to close it when I sold my home. If I had realized that was the case, I would have turned it down.

bluelight

We've purchased 2 cars CPO by the manufactuer and I intend to go this route again when I buy my next car. You get a car that has been checked out, and a warranty. It costs a little more to go the CPO route, but it's the only way I will buy a car now. If you belong to a credit union, get your auto lo...

bluelight

Thanks. After the 3rd person told me they didn't have the access to help me with a state form, I had the level 1 support open a ticket to the next level. They should call me back sometime this week. Based on the support or lack there of, that I get from H&R Block, I'll try a combination of impor...

bluelight

I purchased H&R block deluxe and state. First year of using it. I have previously used online Taxslayer. I have run into an issue with the NY State return handling tax exempt dividends from my Vanguard accounts. I spent a few hours on the phone today with H&R block who after uploading my inf...

bluelight

Thank you all for the links, I'll take a look at them.

bluelight

My deepest condolences for your loss. You are an extraordinary person to share your experiences and knowledge with us during your time of mourning.

bluelight

I use last years tax program to estimate this years taxes. Once I've completed my 2019 taxes on H&R Block software, I save as "estimated tax 2020" Then I go through and just edit entries that I think will change for 2020. Very simple and it gives me both Fed and State results. Then I ...

bluelight

About half of my furniture was either purchased used or handed down through family. It allows me to have quality at a fraction of the original price.

bluelight

We were new in 2019 to having to estimate quarterly taxes. Someone on Bogleheads pointed me to mortgagecalculator.org to figure out my 2019 taxes, which was very helpful. I have previously used taxslayer online for my taxes, but would like to find the best tax software that could help me figure thi...

bluelight

We were new in 2019 to having to estimate quarterly taxes. Someone on Bogleheads pointed me to mortgagecalculator.org to figure out my 2019 taxes, which was very helpful. I have previously used taxslayer online for my taxes, but would like to find the best tax software that could help me figure this...

bluelight

Happy update - went to the Social Security office on Jan 14th, submitted our form and proof that I had stopped working. Our request was approved on the spot and we received a credit for the IRMAA amount that had been taken out of the January check in our checking account 3 days later. I'm shocked th...

bluelight

I hope for the same results. I plan to go to the local office with my documentation.

bluelight

My plan is to hold off on SS and taking my pension for at least another year, and do a Roth conversion. I'll make my 2020 estimate just slightly lower than my 2019.

bluelight

Thank you. That's what I thought, but wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly.

bluelight

I retired in 2019. My husband has been retired and on SS and Medicare for 8 years, and we have been paying IRMAA due to my earnings the entire time. For 2019, I have estimated that we will fall under the IRMAA brackets for income and have my doc ready to present (within the next week). Step 3 of the...

bluelight

Alaska with a Holland America cruisetour - Fairbanks to Vancouver with 2 days at Denali.
4 days in Victoria and Vancouver after the cruise. Beautiful cities.

bluelight

I mailed it via Certified mail on Thursday and received notification that it was received on Saturday.

bluelight

When we purchased our house 3 years ago, a single story was all that we would consider. It took almost a year for us to find the house we ultimately purchased, two story homes vastly outnumber single story homes in our area. We still have to use stairs to access the washer/dryer in the basement. Whe...

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