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UCGal
Participant[quote=kev374]was thinking of spending a week in Yellowstone but when I priced the trip it was coming to $3000 for 2 including hotel/air/rental car, holy cow!!! Can’t even afford to take vacations to domestic destinations anymore…[/quote]
We’re going to yellowstone, glacier, & grand teton this summer.
It’s *not* cheap.
But I did a spreadsheet (because of my nerdliness) and determined driving there in my own car, even with $5 gas, was the cheapest.I priced airfare w/rental car & in-park ‘rustic’ cabins.
I priced renting an RV from here and driving/campgrounds.
I priced airfare w/rv rental/campgrounds up there.Driving won by a lot. But it made us push the trip longer to justify the 2 days to get there and the 2 days return.
It’s not cheap. For our family of 4 it will be well over 3k, assuming $5/gallon gas.
April 16, 2012 at 10:31 AM in reply to: On a refinance with closing costs, would you just add it to your loan balance or not? #741733ParticipantI’ll be the outlier here. I would pay cash for the closing costs.
But I’m weird. I abhor debt. I would not take any step to increase my debt. I’m working on paying off my mortgage in full. That seems to go against most PIGs mindset of leverage. But for me, it helps me sleep at night.
For me, it’s all about reducing my annual expenses… and mortgage is one of the biggest. If I can get rid of that – I can retire that much sooner. I dream of living like fellow PIG Earlyretirement…. debt free. It gives you career options because you’re no longer driven by paycheck size, but instead by personal satisfaction.
Like I said – I’m an outlier.
Participant[quote=Jessica]HOA pending litigation for construction defects (plumbing and thin walls?) affecting the entire complex. I am still searching for the history and the current status of the pending litigation (lawyer has not answered my calls yet). They only accept cash offers since no bank approves loans on the complex with HOA pending litigation. Thanks for those of you trying to help.[/quote]
Here’s a way to get at last *some* info on where the litigation stands.http://courtindex.sdcourt.ca.gov/CISPublic/namesearch
Select civil for case type
select unknown/all for court location and party typePlug in a party name (HOA’s name would probably work).
If it doesn’t find it – try variations on the HOA name. Or just a partial name.If there’s a hit – you should be able to harvest the case number. It will look something like
“37-2012-000xxxxx-SC-SC-NC”Take that number and plug it into the register of actions.
http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
– select registor of actions. Agree to terms of use, select icon to make sure you’re a person.It pre-fills with the 32-2012… if the case is 2011 or older – modify to reflect that… Plg in the “000xxxxx” number you harvest.
This should give you an idea of what actions the various parties are doing. You can order some of the documents online (for a fee).
Even without ordering the documents you can get a good idea if the case is stalled or moving through the system.
I *love* public databases.
ParticipantHer name isn’t Lillian is it?
A friend was under the spell of a Lillian for far too long. I’m wondering how she’s doing now that he finally got free of her financial extraction.Participant[quote=walterwhite]Www.mjt.org
recommended without reservation.
Founder won a MacArthur genius grant for building this storefront museum hisself.[/quote]
If you like odd museums you should check out the Mutter museum in Philly. Truly cool (and gross, too!)http://www.collphyphil.org/site/mutter_museum.html
But since you’re limiting yourself to SoCal going forward, I guess that won’t happen.
Thanks for the tip on the Jurassic Museum.
ParticipantI just realized that I have had experience with the rental business tax. When we got occupancy on the granny flat they tried to collect it. But we qualified for the exemption because we have immediate family members living there and aren’t charging them rent.
Some point in the future we’ll have to change that. But the tax will be offset by the rental income. I’ll take that trade.
Participant[quote=SD Realtor]heheheh… welcome to being a landlord… this is the only city tax you have to pay as a landlord. (per property)[/quote]
Philadelphia is FAR worse.
They (the city) tax wages. They tax businesses. They tax rentals.When my husband moved in with me and turned his home into a rental the tax forms for the city were FAR worse than anything the IRS ever came up with. And when he worked as a consultant, in previous years, it was so bad that he just sent extra money in – because he knew he’d never win. He’d tried fighting them over a disputed tax and they just kept amping up what he owed that it was easier to pay extra, over and above what he owed, just so they wouldn’t come after him.
San Diego is nothing compared to Philly.
ParticipantA bit schizophrenic.
I like the comment about the person filing not using brain matter. LOLParticipant[quote=Rhett]Good suggestions, many of them Scarlett and I already employ, but I want to focus on one thing:
Stuffed animals
Unless they are wrapped, it seems that almost nobody takes them any more. We’ve got dozens upon dozens of very, very lightly used stuffed animals, and it seems that the only place they can go is the trash. I find this quite sad.[/quote]
Give a call to Alliance for Africa. They set up refugee families (so kids too) in homes. They are always looking for toys…USA Headquarters
5952 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego CA. 92115
Tel: (619) 286-9052
Fax: (619) 286-9053
Email: [email protected]http://alliance-for-africa.org/contact.php
They took a (very ugly) sofa bed that was rejected by a few other organizations – because they knew they could set up a family in need with more sleeping spots. As long as it’s bug free and not torn, they seem willing to take most things.
ParticipantI’m a big believer in hand me downs. We accepted hand me down clothes/toys when the kids were younger, and paid it forward to co-workers kids.
Our crib was a really nice hand me down from a former co-worker. When we were through with it after 2 kids, we gave it to another coworker who’s wife was expecting their first kid, his 3rd kid is in it.
When I go through the boys drawers to clean out old clothes I make 3 piles:
– Good stuff
– play clothes (perhaps some stains, but lots of wear left).
– trash… clothes that are badly stained, worn out, or otherwise not worth anything.The trash pile gets turned into rags.
The Good stuff gets passed on to friends or to the younger kid.
Everything else gets donated to Salvation Army or Alliance for Africa.Toys get passed on or donated to Salvation Army or Alliance for Africa. I like both organizations because they have extremely low overhead. Not a lot of fat at the top.
(Disclaimer – family member was on the board for Alliance. I know from meeting some of the refugee families they help that even the less pristine stuff WILL get used. If you have nothing, even slightly stained clothes are an improvement.)
http://alliance-for-africa.org/programs.phpApril 10, 2012 at 3:23 PM in reply to: OT – Who will run for President on the Republican side? #741397Participant[quote=markmax33]If Paul were able to capture Texas and/or California which aren’t very Romney friendly, Paul would be able to catch him. I’m not saying it’s likely, but it certainly isn’t a done deal.
[/quote]CA is a winner take all state – so there’s a big chunk of delegates.
But after an informal poll of my coworkers (all GOP types)… I’d say he’ll get about 10% of the vote.
I predict Romney will take CA.
April 10, 2012 at 8:52 AM in reply to: OT: You know the nice thing about having virtually 0% interest in savings/cd/checking accounts? #741360Participant[quote=Cube]I got a 1099 from Chase for $0.02 in interest income.[/quote]
You’re lucky you got it. We had our emergency fund at Wamu (then Chase). About $35k. The interest rate had dropped to about 25cents/month. So we moved it to the credit union (and get about $8/month). We moved it in October or November.When I called Chase to ask where my 1099 was they said they didn’t have to send it because we’d closed the account. @#%$#@%@.
We’re almost free of them. Hubby had 3 IRA accounts with them – and has been having a heck of a time extracting his money to roll it over. Fortunately he’s older than 59.5 – so he can avoid the trustee to trustee thing… which they refuse to do. They actually threatened his credit rating if he closed the account. Bastards.
Participant[quote=briansd1]I think Vegas is poised for a rebound.
The problem is that Vegas is full of trashy people. I’d hate to end up with trashy tenant.
If your friends and relatives like Vegas and would visit frequently, then why not share the cost and buy a pied a terre?[/quote]
Generalize much? LOL
There’s so much more to Vegas than the strip and downtown.April 9, 2012 at 1:12 PM in reply to: OT – Who will run for President on the Republican side? #741306Participant[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal]Markmax –
If you had to guess – how many delegates do you think Paul will end up with?[/quote]I think this number would be hard to guess at present because they have probably infiltrated other campaigns and so are currently disguised as another candidate’s “delegate.” And so are these “delegates” having their own RP-strategy meetings in the broom closet of another candidate’s headquarters?
I think we’ll have to wait a few more months to find out ;=][/quote]
That’s why I said “guess” not “predict”.
MM tends to talk in black/white terms. But it’s a whole lot of grey as to whether this duplicitous strategy will bear fruit.
(I say duplicitous because as you say – they are masquerading as delegates for other candidates.) -
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