New England B.S. Thread

this is why I have multiple credit cards. It exposes me to more risks of data breaches but those happen far less often at credit card companies than at Best Buy it target or gas stations etc. pop one, fraud shenanigans, use another one in the meantime.

 

I think people who use debit cards are crazy. I learned my lesson as a teenager there--I had to fill out forms and jump through hoops for a fraudulent charge and was out the money in the meantime. Credit cards are no questions asked.

I play the cash back game, primarily using 5 credit cards. Most of what I spend gets me 3% or better back. Last year I saved it up and the cash covered half of a new washer and dryer.

AmEx Blue Cash Preferred - 6% Groceries/Streaming/Tolls, 3% Gas (This has an annual fee, but I spend enough to make the fee worth it over the ordinary Blue Cash card)
Chase Freedom Flex - 3% Dining, 5% Rotating Categories (sometimes they're good like gas or home improvement stores, but this year I haven't used them much)
US Bank Cash+ - 5% Cable and Cell Providers
Amazon Prime - 5% Amazon
Citi Double Cash - 2% anything not covered above

 

I tried that for a while. Then I did out the maths on it all. I was making an extra like $20 a year by shuffling through and trying to remember which card to use for what and when. So I did more maths and chose the card that would give me the most rewards if I just used one card all the time.

 

Plus if the cards have a yearly fee that could negate the cash back savings.

 

A lot of it is auto-pay stuff that I only have to think about once. For anything else, I just deal with my AmEx, Chase, and Citi so it's easier to manage.

I do love spreadsheets, though. I have a financial one where I keep track of everything from account balances to mortgage amortization to oil deliveries over time.

 

Everything is no annual fee for me. I get less rewards but less fees.

That was a joke mostly but yeah I have a ton of stuff in sheets when it comes to finances. Most of it is I go by the goal in work and personal life: automate where possible. My spreadsheets automate everything. I know my stock positions etc. I know what my monthly budget is and from that, what my emergency fund should be, and with that what I would get per month on APR based on 3-6 month E funds, etc. My investment tracking is pretty simple, but it pulls the current stock price. I need to set up the dividend tracking though too, working on that next

 

My only annual fee card is my AmEx. They have a similar card with no annual fee and lower cash back amounts, but I ran the numbers and the extra rewards add up to more than the fee for me so I just pay the fee with the rewards.

Sounds similar to mine. Mine's a Google sheet and pulls stock prices with the =GOOGLEFINANCE formula, compares to what I bought at, estimates taxes if I were to sell, etc. I have a high yield savings expanded out with my direct deposits and the interest factored in so I can see where I should be in a year or two if I don't use any of it.

 

Same but with excel/onedrive. I used to use google but it no longer works with the VPN at work so I had to switch to excel

 

Why can't they make the wiring system bombproof in trailers? I spent half of last Saturday tearing apart my 2 year old inline trailer to get the plate light and the driver side fender marker light to work. Pathetic. Both were cases of failed grounds. Most of the hot leads are attached to the loop with those really cheap, plastic inline splitters that you simply press on. $8000 cargo trailer. Next one I get I might request it to be completely unfinished and no wiring. I'll do it my damn self.

 

I'm going to pick up a truck-side tester this afternoon and at least rule the truck's plug out. If that tests ok, then I'll be just chasing wires until I find something loose... I was messing with the pins, the trailer's connector is sort of crappy. It's actually loosened as I was driving and I'll get a 'left signal fault' message while I'm driving. I might have to just replace the trailer's connector to one that's more secure but we'll see.

 

I paid extra for my trailer to have the "upgraded" arctic plug which is some sort of different, more rubbery plastic that the plug is made out of, and the cord is super heavy duty. It will probably have to be replaced before next season since the contacts seem to be wearing out. Bullshit!

 

Depends on the recipe, really. High-acid or high-sugar foods (like pickles or jellies) are perfectly safe to can with a water bath unit. Anything else (soup stocks, vegetables in water, meats, etc) needs to be pressure canned.

 

So, it's that time of year again!! Can we talk rodent remediation again? I was awoke last night by the sounds of possibly acorns rolling around my rafters. It's possible that I had something actually eating on top of my roof last night, and then dropping the acorn or whatever it had and the sound was it rolling down my metal roof. Either way, the little bastards actually woke me up last night. That's never happened. So I think I have both field mice in my cellar (I know I have those) and chipmunks in my roof and possibly other places. I see chippys everywhere outside. Bastards, no matter how many I shoot outside they seem to come back in numbers.

I use the snap traps for the field mice. I have even caught a small mole in one. They are effective sometimes, half of the time they get the bait without setting off the trap. I have no pets or anything, so I'm considering using Decon for them. Good idea? I also want more details on the water bucket method.

 

What do you want to know about the water in a 5 gallon bucket method?

 

Good results? Do you have to place it a certain way? I need to watch the youtube video I saw on it again.

 

Use coolant. The sweet smell of the coolant attracts them even more. Just be careful what else might sniff around - cats and dogs, etc.

 

No housepets or kids at my place, I want as toxic as I can get. I'm going to buy Decon and more snap traps tonight, but I'm also going to build one of these bucket traps.

 

Sweet deal. I think it's coolant that smells sweet. If not, it's windshield wiper fluid. Either way, just chuck some in the water bucket. It's only a few more bucks, gets that sweet smell. As long as you aren't trying to keep the squirrels to eat afterward