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GottaDEAL 2020 Black Friday Prize Club Posting Thread


Brad

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Happy leap year everyone! I’ve spent the extra day taking my dog to a new park that has a scheduled dog playtime group. It was chilly but fun, and resulted in a tired out dog which is the real measure of success. Tonight my husband and I are going to do an extra grocery run to get a few extra supplies as my husband has been very concerned by all the Coronavirus reports. Can’t believe February has come and gone already.
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Happy March.  Two months out from making all those resolutions.  How is everyone doing?  My New Year's resolution was to find five hours and $100 per week that could be better spent :reporter: .  I have been doing this for some time, so it's getting more difficult.  Just the same, there is plenty of opportunity for me to 'lean' my life.

 

'Better spent' is pretty vague, but taking a walk, laying in the sun, watching television, and working on this post for two hours all give me pleasure, so I'm not talking about productivity.  Porterhouse steaks, red wine, and fine restaurants are off the table as well.  

 

Three years ago, I got off Twitter and Facebook.  That's what started this.  It wasn't my idea to get off Twitter :2banned2: but I quickly realized how much time I spent getting worked up over things that did not matter.  I quit Facebook while 'hardening' security after an update.  Best security?  Stop using Facebook -- pick up a phone, get in the car, or send an email.  No need to share every mundane aspect of my life and no need to vote on every mundane aspect of everyone else's life.  

 

Every year, I've broken my pledge to spend $0 on television.  It's easy enough to do, but I like playing with new toys and trying new things.  So, I decided to replace 'television' with 'things I do not value'.  Going forward, I will spend $0 on things I do not value.  Difficult at first, but I have developed this voice in my head that has all but eliminated impulse purchases.  I carefully plan my grocery shopping to minimize waste.  No more club memberships.  No more subscribe and save.  Maximizing 'cash back' credit cards (and paying off the balance each month).  It's already impacting my checking account.

 

This year, I have attacked my AT&T spend and participation in news/politics discussions with people who do not agree with me (I like talking politics with those who do  :zim ). 

 

The AT&T monster had gotten out of hand.  I pay for my adult kids' cell service.  It's less expensive that way -- for them, anyway.  When my wife was sick, I added Hot Spot so my oldest could telecommute when required.  We also used it at my sister's camp in the middle of nowhere.  Getting the 'right' Hot Spot features forced me to bump my plan which qualified me for discounts on things that were kind of nice.  This year, I got rid of the Hot Spot feature and the 'kind of nice things' and settled into an unlimited voice and data 'value' plan.  This saved me about $100 per month and no one noticed.  I am also month-to-month, so I am free to jump on a better deal.  That won't get me to $100 a week.  I am also working on my utilities -- unplugging things I don't use and not heating/cooling areas where no one goes.   I hope to cut $100/month off my grocery bill as well.

 

The 'news and politics' vampire is not simply an internet thing.  I have avoided politics as much as possible in real life too.  No cable news, no national news, no local news.  Alexa keeps me abreast of the weather.  When an instigator engages in political discourse, I simply excuse myself.  It's been liberating.

 

After two months, I feel like I am on track to keep my resolution.  I feel pretty good about that.  :gdcheers:    

 

Anyone else crushing their resolutions?  Simplifying their lives?

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Happy March! Don't spend your tax refund all in one place ;)

 

Far as my epidural injection I had last month: since my insurance didn't approve sedation at the last minute I thought I'd tough it out like a man. Everything was going as expected with me telling them if an injection site was helping or not until the very last nerve they hit on my lower right side (the one where my sciatica is hapening). Suddenly it felt like a lightning bolt had shot down my right hip and down my leg and I nearly jumped off the table! I'd say a pain level from about a 2-3 to about a 9! Took a while for my leg to calm down in recovery but other than realizing I need sedation next time the doc said everything went as expected. One more epidural injection (sedation please!) then we'll see about the RFA procedure.

 

Also I'm moving next weekend to a much better and nicer place. Got lots of manly men from my church to help out so I don't have to worry about all the heavy stuff. Wish me luck!

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Happy March 1st!  A day to not be forgotten in my state as we had a massive tornado outbreak on this date 23 years ago.  Several small towns were destroyed and I had no idea because I was tied up with wedding of a family member that day.  We obviously didn't have all this real time info overload from the internet so we knew nothing until we got home later that night and turned on the TV.  

 

Anywho,, I guess this will be yet another year of not one snow flake to fall on my yard.  :(

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February has flown by! Working on our vacation to Disney and that makes me super happy!!

 

We just booked ours to Disneyland this weekend.  Super Excited!  Going to Disney World next year for the big 50 years!  

Checking in for March!  Hope everyone has a happy month!

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Happy March.  Two months out from making all those resolutions.  How is everyone doing?  My New Year's resolution was to find five hours and $100 per week that could be better spent :reporter: .  I have been doing this for some time, so it's getting more difficult.  Just the same, there is plenty of opportunity for me to 'lean' my life.

 

'Better spent' is pretty vague, but taking a walk, laying in the sun, watching television, and working on this post for two hours all give me pleasure, so I'm not talking about productivity.  Porterhouse steaks, red wine, and fine restaurants are off the table as well.  

 

Three years ago, I got off Twitter and Facebook.  That's what started this.  It wasn't my idea to get off Twitter :2banned2: but I quickly realized how much time I spent getting worked up over things that did not matter.  I quit Facebook while 'hardening' security after an update.  Best security?  Stop using Facebook -- pick up a phone, get in the car, or send an email.  No need to share every mundane aspect of my life and no need to vote on every mundane aspect of everyone else's life.  

 

Every year, I've broken my pledge to spend $0 on television.  It's easy enough to do, but I like playing with new toys and trying new things.  So, I decided to replace 'television' with 'things I do not value'.  Going forward, I will spend $0 on things I do not value.  Difficult at first, but I have developed this voice in my head that has all but eliminated impulse purchases.  I carefully plan my grocery shopping to minimize waste.  No more club memberships.  No more subscribe and save.  Maximizing 'cash back' credit cards (and paying off the balance each month).  It's already impacting my checking account.

 

This year, I have attacked my AT&T spend and participation in news/politics discussions with people who do not agree with me (I like talking politics with those who do  :zim ). 

 

The AT&T monster had gotten out of hand.  I pay for my adult kids' cell service.  It's less expensive that way -- for them, anyway.  When my wife was sick, I added Hot Spot so my oldest could telecommute when required.  We also used it at my sister's camp in the middle of nowhere.  Getting the 'right' Hot Spot features forced me to bump my plan which qualified me for discounts on things that were kind of nice.  This year, I got rid of the Hot Spot feature and the 'kind of nice things' and settled into an unlimited voice and data 'value' plan.  This saved me about $100 per month and no one noticed.  I am also month-to-month, so I am free to jump on a better deal.  That won't get me to $100 a week.  I am also working on my utilities -- unplugging things I don't use and not heating/cooling areas where no one goes.   I hope to cut $100/month off my grocery bill as well.

 

The 'news and politics' vampire is not simply an internet thing.  I have avoided politics as much as possible in real life too.  No cable news, no national news, no local news.  Alexa keeps me abreast of the weather.  When an instigator engages in political discourse, I simply excuse myself.  It's been liberating.

 

After two months, I feel like I am on track to keep my resolution.  I feel pretty good about that.  :gdcheers:    

 

Anyone else crushing their resolutions?  Simplifying their lives?

I'm killing my resolution. Mine was to make no more New Years Resolutions and I haven't made one in a few years now.

 

We've adjusted many things in our lives some by choice and some by necessity, we have gotten used to a lot of the changes so when things are back in place that we don't need to have those adjustments in place anymore we still won't need them. I've never had nor will I ever have Facebook I do not feel the need to share everything I do with the world and I'm sure the world could care less anyway. :)

 

That and the amount of stupid I hear is on there would drive me nuts so it's best I'm not there. :sidesplit

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