The Roundup - Sea of Boxes Edition
Posted on November 11, 2007 by Eric
Filed Under Roundups
This is the first, of several, packing edition roundups. Most of our spare time is now committed to packing up everything in the house, making a determination on if the items are worth keeping or if we should get rid of them, but also to catalog all the work that will have to be done on the house before it’s ready to be sold.
One thing that’s going to cost me some money is that I’m probably going to have replace many of the light bulbs. To conserve energy, and to reduce our energy bills, we replaced most every light bulb in the house with a CFL. On top of that, we even reduced the number of bulbs in many of our lamps. We didn’t need 4 or 5, just 2, in at least 4 fixtures. So that’s gonna be an unplanned-for cost when we take those CFLs to the new house and still need light bulbs here.
Anyhow, I did get some time to catch up on my reading this week and here are some of my favorite posts:
Pinyo @ Moolanomy writes about his experience switching service providers. I’ve actually called Time Warner about lowering my rates before and was actually told that if I were a new customer, there were things they could do, but not as an existing customer. It just makes no sense to me why they don’t work with their existing customers sometimes.
Trent @ The Simple Dollar writes about how he prefers to give smaller quantities to a large number of charities instead of a large amount to a few. Melissa and I had this same debate and we wound up taking the other path - giving larger amounts to a few charities. We hope to expand the charities we give to in the next year. There are some really good local organizations we’d like to help support.
Lynnae @ BeingFrugal writes about her opinions on re-gifting. I have to say that I’m 100% with her on this one. I think re-gifting is fine, but you can’t let the person who knew about it find out about it. I think that’s just courtesy. Now, the one other caveat I would add is to make sure not to re-gift something that the giver expects you to see when they come to your home.
Glblguy @ Gather Little by Little talks cautions us to think and research the charities we give to. I think this is definitely good advice. I used to give to several charities that telemarketed to me until Melissa told me about where the money goes with many of those. Turns out they weren’t giving nearly enough to charity and I went out in search of alternatives.
Nickel @ Five Cent Nickel talks about some of your other scores that are related to your credit score. I thought this was really interesting, and I wonder if this had any effect when we applied for our mortgage this week.
Silicon Valley Blogger @ The Digerati Life talks about thedifferent kinds of loans and the risks associated with them. For our mortgage, we never even considered any of the exotic mortgages that are available. We knew what we could afford, and we got a 30 year fixed rate loan. There is something to be said for a consistently priced payment.
Generation X Finance talks about the sub-prime meltdown and how just insane the bailout is. This really upset me. I have good credit, pay my bills on time, and am a pretty safe bet for a mortgage. The best rate I found was 5.875%. Granted, that’s a pretty great rate, but according to this article, those with sub-prime mortgages may get refinanced at 5%. If only I were subprime I could be saving thousands on my home!
Brip Blap wrote a great article on high quality vs. high quantity. I completely agree with this philosophy. I don’t mind paying more for something of quality that will last, or is healthier, or is just plain better, rather than saving the maximum amount of money on item (at least in the short term). His example on choosing a nice restaurant vs. the cheapest restaurant was one in particular that really spoke to me. Eating out, at least for me, is as much about a social occasion and good time as it is about just eating. Eating at home is nearly always cheaper and healthier than eating out so if you go out, have a great time, a great experience, and a great meal.
Image source Fuzzhead
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Thanks for the mention. I wonder if I stop making my mortgage payments I can call the bank and get my 6.25% rate lowered by a point or so? :D
Thanks for including my article Eric!
Thanks very much for the mention! Best of luck packing - it’s always a bit of a pain to get through, but it will be worth it in the end (at least that’s what I always mutter to myself throughout the move)!
The CFL’s cost more upfront, but they pay for themselves since they last longer and use less electricity. But it’s a bite up front, for sure.
Another helpful site for charity research is http://www.charitynavigator.org where you can see what % of a charity’s income goes to overhead. 4 stars is a top designation.
A younger organization has to spend more on marketing/fundraising, so you need to take that into consideration.
Why don’t you buy cheap, regular lightbulbs and put them in the sockets of the place you are leaving and take your CFL’s with you? That’s what I would do! :-)
@Jeremy - if that works, please let me know! :)
@Glblguy - No problem on the include!
@BripBlap - thanks for encouragement. It’s a ton of work to pack, but I know when it’s all done we’ll have cleared out a lot of clutter, organized things better, and have a home that better suits our needs.
@MoneyChangesThings - I definitely agree on the CFLs - they are worth the bit of extra money. Thanks for the information on charities too!
@Loretta - that’s the plan, but it’s still gonna cost some money to get 30 or so regular lightbulbs. The people who move in will have to buy their own CFLs :)