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Post by shescrafty on Apr 6, 2016 22:30:16 GMT
We go to OC, MD every summer and we would love to buy a place there. But we live in Pgh., so for us, it's probably better to rent for a month or 2 instead of buying. We used to stay for a month, but now with a college student we stay 2 weeks. We sacrifice all year so we can afford to go. We don't eat out much (and if we do, it's cheaper places). We do other things too to cut back. But you are right, it's worth it! I hope you can get a plan to get your condo! The condos we were looking at were bayside and under $160K. Even with only renting it out sometimes I think we could realistically swing it. OC is only 2 hours from where we live so really doable for quick weekendtrips. Plus now it is hard to be home for holidays and having a place for the 3 of us to escape seems like the best idea, especially since we realistically only have 4 more years before our son goes to college. It would be so nice for us to have a place where he could easily take a friend for a few days. when I was younger I always dreamed about having a place at the beach. We have been hardcore savers before when we needed to save to pay adoption fees. We typically do well when we have a goal and are motivated,
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Post by maryland on Apr 6, 2016 22:32:31 GMT
First off, (((Hugs))) to you shescrafty . I agree with the previous posters who say balance saving money with nurturing yourself and your family right now. It has been a hard year and all of you need some comforting right now. I love the idea of focusing on a positive future goal, but maybe slowing it down a little right now so that you can still be pampered a little. Second, in addition to the What's For Dinner thread, come visit our Pressure Cooker/Ninja 4-1 threads - lots of great recipes and ideas. Since I bought my second pressure cooker, we now only eat out about once per week, a1nd I love that I can do things like I did today and made a pot of fresh cream of asparagus soup in 30 minutes for lunch today, and I have about 6 more servings leftover for future lunches. Finally, and most importantly, if you would ever have time for lunch in Northern VA, I'd love to take you to a Sushi On (used to be Todai) at the Fair Oaks Mall for lunch. Please pm me if that sounds at all appealing and I'll treat you to lunch out! I'll be driving again after my surgery on April 20, so any time after the 23rd works for me. That is so sweet Elaine! The peas are the best!
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Post by maryland on Apr 6, 2016 22:35:00 GMT
We go to OC, MD every summer and we would love to buy a place there. But we live in Pgh., so for us, it's probably better to rent for a month or 2 instead of buying. We used to stay for a month, but now with a college student we stay 2 weeks. We sacrifice all year so we can afford to go. We don't eat out much (and if we do, it's cheaper places). We do other things too to cut back. But you are right, it's worth it! I hope you can get a plan to get your condo! The condos we were looking at were bayside and under $160K. Even with only renting it out sometimes I think we could realistically swing it. OC is only 2 hours from where we live so really doable for quick weekendtrips. Plus now it is hard to be home for holidays and having a place for the 3 of us to escape seems like the best idea, especially since we realistically only have 4 more years before our son goes to college. It would be so nice for us to have a place where he could easily take a friend for a few days. when I was younger I always dreamed about having a place at the beach. We have been hardcore savers before when we needed to save to pay adoption fees. We typically do well when we have a goal and are motivated, I grew up in Bowie, and my parents still live there. My grandmother owned a condo on 133rd st. so our family went for a week every summer. They rented it out, so we didn't get to go more often. It was so much fun!
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Post by gmcwife1 on Apr 6, 2016 22:46:20 GMT
we decided that one of the easiest things to do was to stop eating out. It gets so expensive for all of us to go eat out and we have been doing well for two weeks. But previously we would eat out at least 2 to 3 times a week. I know it is making my husband nuts because he hates to eat the same things over and over, and just likes to be waited on every now and then. I have a chalkboard in the kitchen and my new saying is, "it is nice to buy things, but even better to buy a place at the beach." I am that will help us stay on track, LOL. We also have to get our bathroom shower and tub area redone. The wall is starting to bubble and we don't want the water damage to get worse. Not exactly a fun thing to spend money on, but very necessary. But the beach is really our long-term goal. do you have anything fun that you are saving your money for? We are saving for retirement and college of course, but the condo at the beach is the only thing in a long time that we can really sets our sights on that is really just for our mental health. It's amazing how expensive it is to eat out and that's the first thing we cut out/down too Currently I'm saving to take my dog to the Samoyed Nationals. They are in Oregon this year which for a yearly national means it's in our backyard or as close as it gets! I was going to go as just a spectator but our breeder wants me to take the dog, so now I have to save a bit more
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Post by shescrafty on Apr 6, 2016 22:48:28 GMT
The condos we were looking at were bayside and under $160K. Even with only renting it out sometimes I think we could realistically swing it. OC is only 2 hours from where we live so really doable for quick weekendtrips. Plus now it is hard to be home for holidays and having a place for the 3 of us to escape seems like the best idea, especially since we realistically only have 4 more years before our son goes to college. It would be so nice for us to have a place where he could easily take a friend for a few days. when I was younger I always dreamed about having a place at the beach. We have been hardcore savers before when we needed to save to pay adoption fees. We typically do well when we have a goal and are motivated, I grew up in Bowie, and my parents still live there. My grandmother owned a condo on 133rd st. so our family went for a week every summer. They rented it out, so we didn't get to go more often. It was so much fun! I grew up in University Park (near UMD) but went to Roosevelt for high school. It was a magnet school so many of my friends lived in Bowie. We live in Severna Park now, so really just 15 minutes to the Bay bridge
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ellen
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,734
Jun 30, 2014 12:52:45 GMT
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Post by ellen on Apr 6, 2016 23:29:40 GMT
We bought a small lake home about 30 minutes away from our house in town almost four years ago. One thing that stopped right away was our annual beach vacation to Florida. That normally ran about $4 to 5k, so that goes a long way toward our payment. My husband was talked into running for city council the year before we bought the house. He gets paid about $300 a month for that. That money goes directly toward the payment. We also no longer have a cleaning lady coming in. So between not going to Florida, not having a cleaning lady, and my husband's city council job our payment is made. We just suck it up for taxes and insurance. I don't spend as much on clothes as I used to. Last year we cut our cable package back to the basic channels and save about $60 a month just doing that. We still buy season tickets for our local college hockey team. We go out to eat, but we've always been people who eat out a couple times a month at the most.
Before buying the place we met with our financial planner to make sure that our retirement plans and college accounts for our two daughters were in good shape before we took it on. We have had additional expenses related to the lake house - building a new deck, redoing a couple rooms, shingles for the garage, rebuilding the sauna. But those things are done and the big expenses are over. It's totally been worth it. We spend weekends there in the spring and fall. We live there the entire summer. We view it as a financial investment that we can use and enjoy. We bought when prices were very low and we know that we could sell it and get all of our money back and then some. The market has recovered and places on our lake are selling before they are even listed with a realtor. We have no intentions of selling it, but we feel good knowing that we could if we wanted.
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Post by kelbel827 on Apr 6, 2016 23:31:42 GMT
I heard about a website on the radio this morning. Checked it out and there are really good looking things. damndelicious.net
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Apr 6, 2016 23:34:34 GMT
I want a king size bed that is so comfy We wouldn't want to leave, a VW camper to restore, a place at the beach to live out our days. all in that order and all in 1, 5, 10+ years respectively.
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caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,667
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by caangel on Apr 6, 2016 23:50:23 GMT
Besides retirement and college, we are saving for a new car (currently have a 2004 Honda Pilot that just hit 168k miles) and our trip to Hawaii this summer.
One thing that helps me stay in the saving mindset is listening to Dave Ramsey (free via podcast, radio and maybe website). Although I don't follow him 100% (we have credit cards that we pay off each month) it is motivational and educational to listen to him. Our only debt is our house.
DH eats out every day for lunch but it is usually cheap food. As a family we maybe go out 1-2 a month, same for date night. We might order pizza 1x a month. Counting calories and eating out doesn't mix very well so I'm not eager to eat out just cuz.
I usually cook extra so that I don't have to cook every night. Leftovers are a wonderful thing.
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Post by redshoes on Apr 6, 2016 23:54:27 GMT
I'm constantly saving so I can take DS to all 50 states and 30 countries by the time he graduates high school. We have it all planned out. Saving for cat food too. Lots of cat food. That's an awesome goal! What age did you/he start traveling for this? I would love to see your schedule/plan if you don't mind sharing it.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,300
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 7, 2016 0:06:51 GMT
Well, we just bought my husband a new car, so we gotta build the savings back up! He's enjoying it and he totally deserves it, it makes me happy for him. He'd been driving a very old crappy car! Next on the horizon is a redo of our kitchen cabinets and countertops and backsplash. I'd love it if we could get it done by the end of the year. We will probably use Ikea to save some $$$. And then next spring is our 25th anniversary and I want to take a BIG trip. We just have to decide where. We have actually cut back on our eating out simply because we can't find any restaurant we both like and aren't sick of! And I can make better food at home, even though I'm a pretty basic cook. We were going to go out for Easter dinner, but we started talking and realized we could have a much tastier ham dinner at home. So we did. But I totally understand that some nights, you just want to be waited on. Maybe you could just have one night a week for "going out." Sort of like I just let myself have Starbucks once a week! It's nice to see you here posting, shescrafty. And I'm glad you were able to get away for Easter and hopefully relax a little bit.
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Post by 950nancy on Apr 7, 2016 0:15:02 GMT
We put my paychecks into savings every month and travel. We have two boys in college, and their College Invest plan should last them both about three years, so we'll have to pay for two years of college. We paid off our house when my husband retired, so our expenses are really manageable for now. My vehicle is 11 years old, but runs well so far so we save for that also.
We live so far from the beach, but it sounds wonderful.
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Deleted
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Oct 1, 2024 9:33:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 0:20:10 GMT
It seems as if the prices at the restaurants have really jumped in the last few months. We went to Chili's, just the 3 of us and have an appetizer, 3 dinners and 3 drinks and share a dessert and spent over $70 makes you think twice about going out. A nice beach place would be wonderful for your family. And maybe you can use it as a rental property to make money off of. Good luck with your venture.
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raindancer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,095
Jun 26, 2014 20:10:29 GMT
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Post by raindancer on Apr 7, 2016 0:22:27 GMT
Currently I'm saving for new furniture. My current furniture is at least 17 years old. I'm sick of it. I am saving so I can buy what I want including all the new accessories like art, rugs and lamps. We are also saving for the usual stuff but a long term goal is to buy a lake house for vacations. It was a pipe dream in Arizona (not many lakes around there) but now that we are on the east coast it can happen. I'm hoping to pay cash in 15 years.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 1, 2024 9:33:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 0:36:18 GMT
My husband and I are saving for a land purchase - 20 to 30 acres in the Texas Hill country. We are going to start a pug farm.
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trollie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,580
Jul 2, 2014 22:14:02 GMT
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Post by trollie on Apr 7, 2016 1:03:44 GMT
Maybe since you were eating out a few times a week, you can cut it back to once or twice a month. That way you are not cutting it out completely. I hate paying for dinners out, but it is nice to treat yourselves occasionally.
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trollie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,580
Jul 2, 2014 22:14:02 GMT
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Post by trollie on Apr 7, 2016 1:05:45 GMT
I get restaurant deals on Groupon. That will make eating out more cost effective if that is a site you can use.
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Post by mikklynn on Apr 7, 2016 1:08:54 GMT
A beach house sounds wonderful. The beach feeds my soul. How lovely to build some new memories with your DS.
We are trying to rebuild our savings. We did a remodel of the kitchen, LR, and DR last year. We made 17 trips to Chicago for DH's medical treatment, and I had cataract surgery with vision correction. So, our savings really took a hit.
We are also saving all DH's consulting fees for a car. His Tahoe has 150,000 miles on it.
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Post by maryland on Apr 7, 2016 1:12:36 GMT
I grew up in Bowie, and my parents still live there. My grandmother owned a condo on 133rd st. so our family went for a week every summer. They rented it out, so we didn't get to go more often. It was so much fun! I grew up in University Park (near UMD) but went to Roosevelt for high school. It was a magnet school so many of my friends lived in Bowie. We live in Severna Park now, so really just 15 minutes to the Bay bridge That's so neat! I went to DuVal (embarrassed to say!!) and my boyfriend went to Roosevelt for the science and technology part (graduated in 1986). Otherwise, he would have gone to DuVal. We actually lived in Glenn Dale, but I usually say Bowie because Glenn Dale is smaller. I went to Univ. of Maryland! When we visit my parents we love to go to downtown Annapolis and Annapolis Mall. We went to the Military Bowl over Christmas because Pitt was playing and my husband went there.
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Post by shescrafty on Apr 7, 2016 1:15:34 GMT
I grew up in University Park (near UMD) but went to Roosevelt for high school. It was a magnet school so many of my friends lived in Bowie. We live in Severna Park now, so really just 15 minutes to the Bay bridge That's so neat! I went to DuVal (embarrassed to say!!) and my boyfriend went to Roosevelt (graduated in 1986). I went to Univ. of Maryland! Too cool! I graduated in 1988 and have 2 good friends who went to Duval (Dawn and Pat?) I was a Pom and remember Duval's uniforms looked like Halloween I also went went to UMD. GO TERPS!
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Post by shescrafty on Apr 7, 2016 1:17:48 GMT
A beach house sounds wonderful. The beach feeds my soul. How lovely to build some new memories with your DS. We are trying to rebuild our savings. We did a remodel of the kitchen, LR, and DR last year. We made 17 trips to Chicago for DH's medical treatment, and I had cataract surgery with vision correction. So, our savings really took a hit. We are also saving all DH's consulting fees for a car. His Tahoe has 150,000 miles on it. Bills are still coming in slowly but surely. We are caught up to December (I think) so we still have January at the hospital and then hospice. I can't imagine all the travel you have done for your husband's treatment. I hope a new car is in your future!
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Post by maryland on Apr 7, 2016 1:22:14 GMT
That's so neat! I went to DuVal (embarrassed to say!!) and my boyfriend went to Roosevelt (graduated in 1986). I went to Univ. of Maryland! Too cool! I graduated in 1988 and have 2 good friends who went to Duval (Dawn and Pat?) I was a Pom and remember Duval's uniforms looked like Halloween I also went went to UMD. GO TERPS! That is so funny! I was a DuVal Pom and Roosevelt was our rival! We were always teased about looking like Halloween! I will peamail you and give you some names of the Roosevelt kids I knew. If you don't get it, reply again on this thread and let me know.
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Post by Yubon Peatlejuice on Apr 7, 2016 2:03:20 GMT
I'm constantly saving so I can take DS to all 50 states and 30 countries by the time he graduates high school. We have it all planned out. Saving for cat food too. Lots of cat food. That's an awesome goal! What age did you/he start traveling for this? I would love to see your schedule/plan if you don't mind sharing it. You might be sorry you asked, but ok, here goes. I'm just going off memory here. DS has helped me plan. He is almost 9. U.S. - so far we've been to 10 states - Michigan (live here), Ohio, Florida (5 times), Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii International - only been to US and Canada so far, going to Bahamas in August 2017 - Ireland and Nevada/Arizona/Utah 2018 - Norway/Iceland and Carnival cruise to Belize/Honduras/Mexico (leaving from New Orleans so that knocks off Louisianna 2019 - UK (Scotland/England) and West Virginia/Virginia/Tennessee 2020 - Royal Caribbean cruise to Sweden/Estonia/Finland/Russia/Latvia and 1-2 US trips 2021 - Italy and Costa Rica and 1-2 US trips 2022 - Austria/Switzerland and Dominican Republic and 1-2 US trips 2023 - Viking River Cruise to France/Luxembourg/Germany/Czech Republic and 1-2 US trips 2024 - Viking River Cruise to Romania/Bulgaria/Serbia/Croatia/Hungary (DS wants to go on this now!!! Because he wants to go to Transylvania ASAP) and 1-2 US trips 2025 - Spain/Portugal/Morocco and 1-2 US trips I think I got it all. We'll figure out the US trips little by little so we hit all 50 states. We already knocked off the hardest ones - Alaska and Hawaii. ETA: please don't anyone think we are rich. We are solid middle class. Travel and my cats are the only things I spend a lot of money on. When DS isn't here, I eat Kraft Mac and cheese and Lunchables. I don't get my hair or nails done. I wear cheap clothes and shoes. I keep vehicles 10-12 years. And my house is falling apart. It's all about priorities. lol
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Deleted
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Oct 1, 2024 9:33:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 2:17:13 GMT
That's an awesome goal! What age did you/he start traveling for this? I would love to see your schedule/plan if you don't mind sharing it. You might be sorry you asked, but ok, here goes. I'm just going off memory here. DS has helped me plan. He is almost 9. U.S. - so far we've been to 10 states - Michigan (live here), Ohio, Florida (5 times), Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, Alaska and Hawaii International - only been to US and Canada so far, going to Bahamas in August 2017 - Ireland and Nevada/Arizona/Utah 2018 - Norway/Iceland and Carnival cruise to Belize/Honduras/Mexico (leaving from New Orleans so that knocks off Louisianna 2019 - UK (Scotland/England) and West Virginia/Virginia/Tennessee 2020 - Royal Caribbean cruise to Sweden/Estonia/Finland/Russia/Latvia and 1-2 US trips 2021 - Italy and Costa Rica and 1-2 US trips 2022 - Austria/Switzerland and Dominican Republic and 1-2 US trips 2023 - Viking River Cruise to France/Luxembourg/Germany/Czech Republic and 1-2 US trips 2024 - Viking River Cruise to Romania/Bulgaria/Serbia/Croatia/Hungary (DS wants to go on this now!!! Because he wants to go to Transylvania ASAP) and 1-2 US trips 2025 - Spain/Portugal/Morocco and 1-2 US trips I think I got it all. We'll figure out the US trips little by little so we hit all 50 states. We already knocked off the hardest ones - Alaska and Hawaii. This is amazing! What an awesome thing to do! I am trying to get through right now, well, righ now. Lol. DB has a very small disability income, but it mainly covers his necessities. My income pays all the bills and supports my son, myself and DB. I've depleted my leave bank, so for the next few weeks that I'm off work, my savings is going to take a huge hit and be emptied and then some. Cancer is expensive. I'd like to take a cruise, but it's going to have to wait a bit. I loved reading everyone's responses.
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Anita
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,702
Location: Kansas City -ish
Jun 27, 2014 2:38:58 GMT
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Post by Anita on Apr 7, 2016 2:37:09 GMT
Once we close on our house, we will start saving for a new a/c unit and furnace. They are in good shape, but they are as old as the house, and we know it will only be a matter of time.
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Post by freecharlie on Apr 7, 2016 2:58:02 GMT
Second, in addition to the What's For Dinner thread, come visit our Pressure Cooker/Ninja 4-1 threads - lots of great recipes and ideas I started googling, what is the 4-1? Where would I get one? Can you link? I can only find a 3:1
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luckyexwife
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,069
Jun 25, 2014 21:21:08 GMT
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Post by luckyexwife on Apr 7, 2016 3:05:28 GMT
We bought a small lake home about 30 minutes away from our house in town almost four years ago. One thing that stopped right away was our annual beach vacation to Florida. That normally ran about $4 to 5k, so that goes a long way toward our payment. My husband was talked into running for city council the year before we bought the house. He gets paid about $300 a month for that. That money goes directly toward the payment. We also no longer have a cleaning lady coming in. So between not going to Florida, not having a cleaning lady, and my husband's city council job our payment is made. We just suck it up for taxes and insurance. I don't spend as much on clothes as I used to. Last year we cut our cable package back to the basic channels and save about $60 a month just doing that. We still buy season tickets for our local college hockey team. We go out to eat, but we've always been people who eat out a couple times a month at the most. Before buying the place we met with our financial planner to make sure that our retirement plans and college accounts for our two daughters were in good shape before we took it on. We have had additional expenses related to the lake house - building a new deck, redoing a couple rooms, shingles for the garage, rebuilding the sauna. But those things are done and the big expenses are over. It's totally been worth it. We spend weekends there in the spring and fall. We live there the entire summer. We view it as a financial investment that we can use and enjoy. We bought when prices were very low and we know that we could sell it and get all of our money back and then some. The market has recovered and places on our lake are selling before they are even listed with a realtor. We have no intentions of selling it, but we feel good knowing that we could if we wanted. May I ask what lake? We just bought a place near Vergas, MN. I love MN lakes!
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luckyexwife
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,069
Jun 25, 2014 21:21:08 GMT
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Post by luckyexwife on Apr 7, 2016 3:08:52 GMT
Currently I'm saving for new furniture. My current furniture is at least 17 years old. I'm sick of it. I am saving so I can buy what I want including all the new accessories like art, rugs and lamps. We are also saving for the usual stuff but a long term goal is to buy a lake house for vacations. It was a pipe dream in Arizona (not many lakes around there) but now that we are on the east coast it can happen. I'm hoping to pay cash in 15 years. We were saving for a lake place, and about a month ago we found a great place and bought it. We found it on a Wednesday, and paid cash on the following Saturday! The people selling moved to Hawaii, so it came fully furnished. It was a super sweet deal!
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Deleted
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Oct 1, 2024 9:33:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2016 3:17:56 GMT
When I learn how to make sushi, I doubt we will go out much after that.
I have a hard time deciding what I want , then add in the sealife allergy. I am the customer that waiters hate. So I can just stay home!
I
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Post by elaine on Apr 7, 2016 3:40:38 GMT
Second, in addition to the What's For Dinner thread, come visit our Pressure Cooker/Ninja 4-1 threads - lots of great recipes and ideas I started googling, what is the 4-1? Where would I get one? Can you link? I can only find a 3:1 Like many of my kitchen appliance addictions the Ninja 4-1 started through a QVC Today's Special Value. Well, it isn't the TSV today, but it was about $30 less when it was. There are quite a few of us here who own them. It browns and steams, in addition to slow cooking. It also bakes, but I haven't used it for that. It is a very handy appliance, but I'm not the one to ask, because I love my appliances.
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