Mustachian People Problems (just for fun)

[ixtap]

We were going to make a CC spend with the final payment of a cruise.

Now with COVID we've got a CC bonus we're probably just going to have to let go of. All of my strategies for manufactured spending (for example, loading up the amazon account with a pre-paid balance) probably aren't the best idea while I'm on furlough...

I’m a little concerned also about meeting a minimum spend for a CC bonus. Hopefully the massive $ I’m spending on groceries now will add up.

Why are you spending an increased amount on groceries? It's not like California is going to run out of food...

Because we are all home 24/7. No kid eating at school, no kid eating at daycare, no adults getting free meals and snacks at work.

Plus figuring out substitutes on the fly. No tofu at $1.50/lb and only cutlet cut chicken at $5/lb meant that I bought shrimp at $10/lb. on my last trip. No store brand sausage meant full price name brand sausage. Normally, on the rare occasion they didn't have what I want, I would just do without and try again in a few days. Now I am spacing trips out to two weeks, so we need a substitute.

[Kris]

My husband, who loves to cook and loves to read about anything food and drink related, has been telling me about odd shortages and gluts that have been happening as a result of the pandemic.

Two things that are recent gluts: pork belly and chicken wings. No March madness = no wings. And no restaurants = less bacon.

[penguintroopers]

My entire team is being furloughed on the 8th.  Except for me.  I'm the one on the team most able to weather this without pay, I actually asked that I be NOT picked to stay.  But they don't care about that.  So my problem is I really feel for my coworkers.

That actually sounds like an incredibly difficult position to be in :(

Well, they changed their minds and picked someone else to stay, now I'm furloughed!  However it's still sad, our office is down to a skeleton crew, there were about 300 people, my guess (and it really is a guess) is between 25 and 50 remain.  Probably closer to the 25 number.  That in addition to the many thousands that work in the stores all being furloughed.  That's a lot of people without pay for an undetermined length of time.

Sheesh, that's ~90% furlough?! I can't even imagine. I thought we were bad at 40%.

And it seems so weird to be glad to go, isn't it? I wasn't asked to leave, but I volunteered to go. Grateful to do it actually because when I volunteered (like 30 minutes before the deadline), they still need 3 more people to go once I leave...

[Zaga]

My entire team is being furloughed on the 8th.  Except for me.  I'm the one on the team most able to weather this without pay, I actually asked that I be NOT picked to stay.  But they don't care about that.  So my problem is I really feel for my coworkers.

That actually sounds like an incredibly difficult position to be in :(

Well, they changed their minds and picked someone else to stay, now I'm furloughed!  However it's still sad, our office is down to a skeleton crew, there were about 300 people, my guess (and it really is a guess) is between 25 and 50 remain.  Probably closer to the 25 number.  That in addition to the many thousands that work in the stores all being furloughed.  That's a lot of people without pay for an undetermined length of time.

Sheesh, that's ~90% furlough?! I can't even imagine. I thought we were bad at 40%.

And it seems so weird to be glad to go, isn't it? I wasn't asked to leave, but I volunteered to go. Grateful to do it actually because when I volunteered (like 30 minutes before the deadline), they still need 3 more people to go once I leave...

Much worst than 90% once you include the store employees, almost 700 stores with between 5 and 15 employees, plus the field support staff like district managers.  It's a lot.  I hope the business opens back up again soon, and that it doesn't collapse during this time. 

[zolotiyeruki]

My MPP: we got a hefty bank deposit from the IRS yesterday, and don't know what we want to do with it.  Investing it doesn't enthuse DW, and doing so wouldn't stimulate the economy.  I'd love to get a pair of Quick Jacks, but at the moment I'm not particularly inclined (for multiple reasons) to use that money to buy something Made in China.  I'm fortunate enough that my work hasn't been significantly affected by the virus, so we're in good shape financially.

[LennStar]

If you want to pay for something good with the money to stimulate the economy, but a solar panel or something like it and let it be installed by a professional.
May be not enough, but that way the money it not wasted and you have bought someone a few days of employment.

[TomTX]

If you want to pay for something good with the money to stimulate the economy, but a solar panel or something like it and let it be installed by a professional.
May be not enough, but that way the money it not wasted and you have bought someone a few days of employment.

Installing an EV charger gets a 30% tax credit (nonrefundable, cap of $1000 credit for personal). Presumably this would include any electrical upgrades needed.

[Roger D]

But the risk is not zero. Ergo, no take-out for this family. We have plenty of food in our larders and plenty of time to make it.

You can easily zero the risk by microwaving the take-out until it is steaming. The real reasons to prefer home-prepared food over take-out are because the home cooking is likely to be more nutritious and less expensive.

[merula]

My MPP: we got a hefty bank deposit from the IRS yesterday, and don't know what we want to do with it.  Investing it doesn't enthuse DW, and doing so wouldn't stimulate the economy.  I'd love to get a pair of Quick Jacks, but at the moment I'm not particularly inclined (for multiple reasons) to use that money to buy something Made in China.  I'm fortunate enough that my work hasn't been significantly affected by the virus, so we're in good shape financially.

I'm in the process of making a list of local small businesses and buying gift cards. What I'm torn about is whether it makes sense to be placing orders other than gift cards from places that are still open, like getting takeout or taking advantage of the local bookstore's neighborhood deliveries. On one hand, I don't want to be part of people having to go to work if they don't want to, but on the other hand, the economic multiplier effect would seem to be better served by actual purchases, including keeping people working if they can.

[Uturn]

A local free range farm is selling whole processed chickens today for $1/lb because the restaurants they supply are closed.  But I cannot get there because I am working a large client with an outage today.

[Catbert]

For some reason I never read this thread until about 4 weeks ago when I suddenly had even more time on my hands.

My MPP is that now I've read all 150 pages of this thread.  What to do with my time now?

My second MPP is that I've been making substantial Roth conversions the past few years to lessen the tsunami of RMDs coming.  Substantial as in filling the 22% bracket. So...no need to worry about what to do with the Covid 19 stimulus check.  I'm not getting one because my AGI is too high.  Or maybe that's a humblebrag rather than MPP??

[markbike528CBX]

For some reason I never read this thread until about 4 weeks ago when I suddenly had even more time on my hands.

My MPP is that now I've read all 150 pages of this thread.  What to do with my time now?

I suggest all 19 years of schockmercenary. A week of 8+ hour days/nights will be expended amusingly. Call back when you are done, and I'll suggest more.

[Loren Ver]

Grumble:  My Employee Stock Purchase from my old employer is no longer going to be serviced by the current company so they are charging $65 a year to get people to move the money out.  You can move it to one of their regular brokerage accounts blah blah.  I don't particularly like the company (Merrill Lynch) I only have it because I got a good deal on stock while working.  So I would prefer to close the account if I am going to do any moving.  Well now I would have to sell the stock to get it out and the market has just tanked.  So sell at a loss or wait?  If I get out soon, I might be able to get my fee back.  I'll also have some losses for the year I'll need to fill in for ACA purposes.

On a related note: USAA is getting out of the brokerage game, I have a Money market and a taxable index fund with them.  I am debating moving them somewhere else to consolidate accounts.  Again with the selling things I don't need to be sell in a down market.  If I do sell, that will fill in some of the income hole for ACA created by the loss from the ESP listed above.

UGH.  As a buy and hold investor, this just erks me.  It is totally not like buying and holding at all :D.

I could also just sell these things and then not reinvest them and use them as spending money for the coming year....

Blargh.

[Sibley]

Grumble:  My Employee Stock Purchase from my old employer is no longer going to be serviced by the current company so they are charging $65 a year to get people to move the money out.  You can move it to one of their regular brokerage accounts blah blah.  I don't particularly like the company (Merrill Lynch) I only have it because I got a good deal on stock while working.  So I would prefer to close the account if I am going to do any moving.  Well now I would have to sell the stock to get it out and the market has just tanked.  So sell at a loss or wait?  If I get out soon, I might be able to get my fee back.  I'll also have some losses for the year I'll need to fill in for ACA purposes.

On a related note: USAA is getting out of the brokerage game, I have a Money market and a taxable index fund with them.  I am debating moving them somewhere else to consolidate accounts.  Again with the selling things I don't need to be sell in a down market.  If I do sell, that will fill in some of the income hole for ACA created by the loss from the ESP listed above.

UGH.  As a buy and hold investor, this just erks me.  It is totally not like buying and holding at all :D.

I could also just sell these things and then not reinvest them and use them as spending money for the coming year....

Blargh.

Well, for USAA I've heard that they're selling it as is. You may not like the new company, but could you just let it sit for now and choose an advantageous time to move it?

RE the ESP stuff, if you've already paid the fee for the year, it might be best to just wait until the stock recovers and sell it then.

[TomTX]

Grumble:  My Employee Stock Purchase from my old employer is no longer going to be serviced by the current company so they are charging $65 a year to get people to move the money out.  You can move it to one of their regular brokerage accounts blah blah.  I don't particularly like the company (Merrill Lynch) I only have it because I got a good deal on stock while working.  So I would prefer to close the account if I am going to do any moving.  Well now I would have to sell the stock to get it out and the market has just tanked.  So sell at a loss or wait?  If I get out soon, I might be able to get my fee back.  I'll also have some losses for the year I'll need to fill in for ACA purposes.

Can't you just have them do an in-kind transfer to a new brokerage? Merrill Edge is the free version, and you can sign up for perks at BoA for having a reasonable balance there.

[Alternatepriorities]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email. 

[dragoncar]

if It was me I’d sell for a loss, transfer the cash, and invest in broad market index.  Even if you plan to hold company stock you can sell for a loss and wait a month then buy back anywhere you want.  You risk it going up in that time

[Luckyvik]

My MPP: I found out my Google Pixel 2 won't receive software updates after October. Bloody built in obsolescence.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[Loren Ver]

if It was me I’d sell for a loss, transfer the cash, and invest in broad market index.  Even if you plan to hold company stock you can sell for a loss and wait a month then buy back anywhere you want.  You risk it going up in that time

Indexing is the way I am leaning.  I don't like owning individual stock, only did ESP because they sell it at a great discount so it is usually an instant win.  Then I left the company, then they they split into three companies, then the virus hit.... 

Sure I am also to blame since I sat on it for longer than needed just to see what the triple split would do, 'cause why not :).   It was the path of least resistance since I already owned it.   Thought one or more of triple might be bought by another player and that could have shot the stock up.  I guess it still could. 

I'd be (and am) a terrible stock picker.  HA!  Good thing I like index funds and am lazy.

[Loren Ver]

My MPP: I found out my Google Pixel 2 won't receive software updates after October. Bloody built in obsolescence.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

This, ugh.  The Worst.

[Imma]

If you want to pay for something good with the money to stimulate the economy, but a solar panel or something like it and let it be installed by a professional.
May be not enough, but that way the money it not wasted and you have bought someone a few days of employment.

Installing an EV charger gets a 30% tax credit (nonrefundable, cap of $1000 credit for personal). Presumably this would include any electrical upgrades needed.

We will be paying people to insulate our walls early next month. They can do this from the outside so we are still social distancing, while keeping people employed, while reducing our energy consumption. I have also invested in seeds for our vegetable patch, where we will hopefully raise a large crop now we're not going anywhere over the summer.

[Goatee Joe]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email.

Haha, same here!  Mint is WAY more excited about me getting paid than I am.  Every time I get that email, I'm like... "I did?"  Paycheck is no big deal, and a drop in the bucket of our overall portfolio.  I should probably FIRE, but I just like my job way too much right now.

[Dicey]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email.

Haha, same here!  Mint is WAY more excited about me getting paid than I am.  Every time I get that email, I'm like... "I did?"  Paycheck is no big deal, and a drop in the bucket of our overall portfolio.  I should probably FIRE, but I just like my job way too much right now.

I've been wondering if more people were going to suddenly find their jobs more palatable if they're working from home now and weren't before.

[Imma]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email.

Haha, same here!  Mint is WAY more excited about me getting paid than I am.  Every time I get that email, I'm like... "I did?"  Paycheck is no big deal, and a drop in the bucket of our overall portfolio.  I should probably FIRE, but I just like my job way too much right now.

I've been wondering if more people were going to suddenly find their jobs more palatable if they're working from home now and weren't before.

Yes, absolutely! I enjoy the work but I hate the commute and the habits of my coworkers and our uncomfortable office (cold and draughty). My coworkers are nice enough on the phone but two in particular usually drain my energy when they are sitting next to me. I think I probably work faster and better now.

[Alternatepriorities]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email.

Haha, same here!  Mint is WAY more excited about me getting paid than I am.  Every time I get that email, I'm like... "I did?"  Paycheck is no big deal, and a drop in the bucket of our overall portfolio.  I should probably FIRE, but I just like my job way too much right now.

I've been wondering if more people were going to suddenly find their jobs more palatable if they're working from home now and weren't before.

I’ve been working from home (self employed) for a number of years now. The recent change is DW is and I are now coworkers. This is mostly an improvement. Mint’s enthusiasm is probably a bit more realistic under current conditions.

[Goatee Joe]

Mint sends me a email every time DW or I gets paid... Apparently I am supposed to be way more excited about payday. I mean, sure I'd get concerned if the deposit didn't happen, but with a rolling account balance that always covers at least the next months expenses I don't really get the "Woohoo you got paid" email.

Haha, same here!  Mint is WAY more excited about me getting paid than I am.  Every time I get that email, I'm like... "I did?"  Paycheck is no big deal, and a drop in the bucket of our overall portfolio.  I should probably FIRE, but I just like my job way too much right now.

I've been wondering if more people were going to suddenly find their jobs more palatable if they're working from home now and weren't before.

Yes, absolutely! I enjoy the work but I hate the commute and the habits of my coworkers and our uncomfortable office (cold and draughty). My coworkers are nice enough on the phone but two in particular usually drain my energy when they are sitting next to me. I think I probably work faster and better now.

Strangely enough, the only thing I miss is the commute (I bike to/from work, almost 100% of the time).  Aside from that, teleworking has been GREAT.  Much more efficient than being in the office, fewer interruptions.  I feel a lot more productive working from home, which came as a surprise to me.

[ixtap]

DH has said he might not go back to the office full time. We live about a mile away, so he can always hop on his bike and be there in a few minutes for meetings.

We moved so close due to some chronic pain issues and he loves being able to lay down on his comfy bed when it gets bad, rather than having to find a privacy room to lay on the floor.

[Freedomin5]

I made reusable washable cotton cloth masks for our family. DH wore his to work, and now his coworkers want them too. I asked him how many they wanted. He said 100! 😳

[raincoast]

I'm still employed, but I'm not saving much (more) money as a result of social distancing. I didn't eat out at restaurants much before the pandemic and I walked or biked almost everywhere. I've saved the small amounts I would have spent on the occasional bus ride, but my electricity bill has gone up slightly and I'm doing laundry more often.

Meanwhile, my spendy colleagues are surprised by how much money they have left over in their accounts now. They've become involuntarily frugal.

[LennStar]

I'm still employed, but I'm not saving much (more) money as a result of social distancing. I didn't eat out at restaurants much before the pandemic and I walked or biked almost everywhere. I've saved the small amounts I would have spent on the occasional bus ride, but my electricity bill has gone up slightly and I'm doing laundry more often.

Meanwhile, my spendy colleagues are surprised by how much money they have left over in their accounts now. They've become involuntarily frugal.

I actually pay more now. Electricity, heating (luckily not much now) and even food (because the company heavily subsized the warm meal)

[Just Joe]

My ebike broke. The "clutch" wore out after 3000 hard (hilly big guy) miles. $25 shipped. Easy fix. There is a YouTube video that details the work.

As a result, I have to drive to my closed office this afternoon to pickup the mail rather than being paid to pedal...

[okisok]

I was disappointed when I got the call to go back to work. I live pretty frugally anyway. Without driving to work locations, having to dress in 'work appropriate attire', going to networking events, social events, going out to eat, etc, I've increased my savings rate to unprecedented levels. This is the most relaxed and happy I've been in my adult memory. I wish I was already FI!! But I have to act happy that I can get back to having a paycheck and 'getting out'. My workplace is pretty small and everyone else is thrilled to be back.

[LennStar]

I was disappointed when I got the call to go back to work. I live pretty frugally anyway. Without driving to work locations, having to dress in 'work appropriate attire', going to networking events, social events, going out to eat, etc, I've increased my savings rate to unprecedented levels. This is the most relaxed and happy I've been in my adult memory. I wish I was already FI!! But I have to act happy that I can get back to having a paycheck and 'getting out'. My workplace is pretty small and everyone else is thrilled to be back.

I wish you all the health you can get!

I hope at least everyone wears masks.

[Gin1984]

I'm still employed, but I'm not saving much (more) money as a result of social distancing. I didn't eat out at restaurants much before the pandemic and I walked or biked almost everywhere. I've saved the small amounts I would have spent on the occasional bus ride, but my electricity bill has gone up slightly and I'm doing laundry more often.

Meanwhile, my spendy colleagues are surprised by how much money they have left over in their accounts now. They've become involuntarily frugal.

I actually pay more now. Electricity, heating (luckily not much now) and even food (because the company heavily subsized the warm meal)

Because I'm not shopping sales our groceries have gone up over 50%!  I can't keep up with that.

[pdxmonkey]

I've been out once to get groceries. Otherwise I've been finally eating all the stuff that's accumulated in my cupboards. My spending is at least temporarily down. Although I did hire a lawn guy this year. March was my 4th lowest spending month out of 27 I have tracked starting on January 2018. April looks like it's going to come in at #6.

That's with consciously increasing my baseline monthly spend on thing like the lawn guy. Otherwise they'd be 2 and 3.

I'm nearing my number/year and I'm supposed to be figuring out the numbers for the lifestyle I would like long term and this situation is making it hard to get accurate numbers as to what my no longer minimal lifestyle looks like. I have a good idea of what my minimum spend looks like from the last 2 years which were very frugal with almost no extras beyond the necessary as I did very little behind work. It's somewhere around $16k annually.

My mpp is...I know I have enough to survive, but this is making it hard to figure out how much I WANT in the stash before I retire.

A very nice problem have as problems go.

[BicycleB]

^Agreed!!

[exterous]

Not really a problem but one of my friends couldn't figure out why my wife couldn't stop laughing at his comment. He mentioned that during these times I could even take out money from my 401k with zero penalty for some nonessential home improvements. My wife just starts laughing because that's how uncharacteristic that would be for me to do. I don't talk much about our savings habits so it took some explaining. Even then I don't think they quite got why that would never come up as a consideration

[ysette9]

Insulation is well worth spending on for comfort alone. We insulated every wall of our house (except the one between the kitchen and living room). Inside, outside, floors, ceilings, everything. It is great for making the house quiet also.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Overcharged at the supermarket. Now I have to go back to retrieve my $2

[BoostJunky]

Insulation is well worth spending on for comfort alone. We insulated every wall of our house (except the one between the kitchen and living room). Inside, outside, floors, ceilings, everything. It is great for making the house quiet also.

What does something like this run you? (Obviously size of home is dependant on cost just looking for a ballpark).

 Did they use spray foam? We are looking at doing this as well.

[ysette9]

They couldn’t do spray foam in our attic space because it was too low. You can only do it in walls if you are opening them up, so new build or gut job. We went with spray in fiberglass. They drill these rounds out of the wall between each stud, blow the insulation in, and plug the whole. You then obviously have to repaint over the patches.

For the attic we had a bunch of insulation blown in. For under the floor we had fiberglass batts places between the floor joists.

We have a small house and maybe we paid $4-5k for all of that?

[Dicey]

We had a gutted house with completely open walls. DH did a lot of research and ultimately decided against spray foam. The prime reasons are that, as @ysette9 well knows, our ground moves quite a bit. This can cause the rigid spray foam insulation to crack and settle over time. So you've spent a ton of extra money and you can still end up with cold spots. We went with Eco-batt insulation and did all of the interior and closet walls and between the floors. It really made the house warmer and quieter and it's more forgiving when the earth moves.

[ysette9]

That is an interesting thing to consider. We didn’t get far enough down the road of even considering spray foam to realize that was a downside in this area. Thanks for sharing; this has mitigated my sense of missing out. ;-)

[okisok]

I've run out of "Tupperware" (repurposed butter tubs, cream cheese containers, etc) because I have so many leftovers and prepped foods in the fridge/freezer.

[Poundwise]

I bought an extra 50 lb bag of flour for a friend who didn't end up needing it, so then I had to wait until I finished up my own 50 lb bag before I could reclaim the closet space taken up by the other bag...

I have to choke back comments like "so what? I've been doing that for years!" when people start gushing to me about how they are growing scallion ends or making their own chicken broth or whatever...

We needed an extra laptop so all our kids could do class Zooms at the same time, so I assembled one good one out of two old broken Macbooks... but the resulting laptop is still so old that many websites don't support the browsers...

[Dicey]

That is an interesting thing to consider. We didn’t get far enough down the road of even considering spray foam to realize that was a downside in this area. Thanks for sharing; this has mitigated my sense of missing out. ;-)

And saved you a big pile 'o money...MO'MO, not FOMO, for the win!

[LennStar]

We needed an extra laptop so all our kids could do class Zooms at the same time, so I assembled one good one out of two old broken Macbooks... but the resulting laptop is still so old that many websites don't support the browsers...

Huh?
Upgrade the browser??

I have no experience with Macs (because I like to be able to do things with the things I own), but even those should allow you to install a recent browser.

We had a gutted house with completely open walls. DH did a lot of research and ultimately decided against spray foam. The prime reasons are that, as @ysette9 well knows, our ground moves quite a bit. This can cause the rigid spray foam insulation to crack and settle over time. So you've spent a ton of extra money and you can still end up with cold spots. We went with Eco-batt insulation and did all of the interior and closet walls and between the floors. It really made the house warmer and quieter and it's more forgiving when the earth moves.

You can also insulate using dried algea. The long ones from the ocean. No chemicals at all and still not burning because of the high salt %.

But of course that is more expensive and there may be no one in your area that does this anyway. I only know of one company in Germany.

[marty998]

Overcharged at the supermarket. Now I have to go back to retrieve my $2

This always makes my day. I like being overcharged at the till, you get the product for free when you point it out! :)

Pity that Coles and Woolies are much better now with pricing. Not as many errors.

[Poundwise]

We needed an extra laptop so all our kids could do class Zooms at the same time, so I assembled one good one out of two old broken Macbooks... but the resulting laptop is still so old that many websites don't support the browsers...

Huh?
Upgrade the browser??

I have no experience with Macs (because I like to be able to do things with the things I own), but even those should allow you to install a recent browser.

These Macs are so old, that Google Chrome/Safari/Firefox no long support them. I know what I'm doing, I'm an IT professional. :D Next stop could be installing Linux, but it would be a hassle as kids want to keep their game licenses, etc.

[LennStar]

We needed an extra laptop so all our kids could do class Zooms at the same time, so I assembled one good one out of two old broken Macbooks... but the resulting laptop is still so old that many websites don't support the browsers...

Huh?
Upgrade the browser??

I have no experience with Macs (because I like to be able to do things with the things I own), but even those should allow you to install a recent browser.

These Macs are so old, that Google Chrome/Safari/Firefox no long support them. I know what I'm doing, I'm an IT professional. :D Next stop could be installing Linux, but it would be a hassle as kids want to keep their game licenses, etc.

How old are they?
I mean too old to support old versions of browsers that barely support the stuff you want to run? Even IE11 does most stuff, and in computer terms that is nearly ancient browser. Maybe Early Middle Ages.