Managing Home Maintenance Costs

They say good friends can enrich your life, but what happens when hanging out with rich friends leaves you feeling broke? This is a pretty common feeling among many people. You feel that you need to keep up with them in terms of paying your share when it comes to going out for dinner, going on vacation or just hanging around.

Unfortunately if they have a larger bank account than you do, chances are you are going to end up feeling that you are spending money that you do not have and you may even begin to resent your friends.

How does this topic blend with home maintenance costs? It is all about managing money and saving money for other priorities. One of the issues we all have to deal with is about how we spend our money when it comes to hanging around with friends.

Hanging out with Rich Friends

Diverse Group of Friends

In my thirty five  years, we have met many people and become friends with a wide assortment of people from various professions. We tend to gravitate to groups of people who are in similar situations as ourselves from a financial perspective. While we hang around with a fun, diverse group of friends they are very different when it comes to how much money we have or earn. We are all smart, hard-working people, we are compensated very differently.

We may have inherited different amounts of money. Some are high-priced lawyers, bankers and people of the corporate persuasion. And then there are those of us who are slugging it out in the service industry, fulfilling unpaid internships or freelancing for pocket change. Some have inherited from wealthy parents and really have no need to work while others are supporting parents who do not have sufficient funds.

What are Your Priorities for Your Friends

So what is the price of being good friends with people who earn significantly more than you? Surrounding yourself with financially successful individuals can be both motivating and inspiring. In fact you can learn a great deal from these friends and often be exposed to opportunities that you might not consider other wise. However, there are times when trying to fit in with friends who earn super-sized salaries can also leave you feeling jealous and insecure.

Everyone wants to feel successful and feel that other people look up to them. At the same time it is all about having fun and enjoying the people around you without taking into account how much money they have. In other words there is a balance to achieve if you can define it and then achieve it with your friends.

Living Beyond Your Means

It is very easy  to live beyond your means when trying to keep up with your friends in a  social circle that has rich friends. Whether you’re splurging on a lavish night out or expensive wedding presents, there’s plenty of room for financial tension when budgeting for your friends’ expensive tastes. None of us want to be made to feel cheap or be embarrassed about how much we spend on gifts or dining out.

Sometimes, well-meaning friends can be insensitive to the diverse income brackets that exist within the group. They may not even realize that they are making some of their friends feel inadequate.  Hosting your birthday party at a pretentious resto with heart-attack inducing prices is one thing. But ordering a pricey bottle of wine plus an expensive  platter for the table and expecting everyone to split the bill is ridiculous.

Managing Get Together

Going to restaurants and parties can be challenging when you have rich friends. While you might order a salad and tap water to drink, they order wine and expensive appetizers for the table.  If they then suggest that the table split the cost of the meal, you may feel that your spending a lot more than you planned. One group friends we go to dinner with always orders desert with their meal and often do not even finish them. We have started telling the waitress that we want split bills right at the beginning to make sure that everyone pays for what they order.

This seems to work well for our group, and everyone feels free to order as much or as little as they wish because it will show up on the bill of the person ordering it. Parties can be the same. We always like to host dinner parties at home, while another couple are not good at hosting and are uncomfortable as a result. They are the ones that tend to pay for everyone when we do go out to dinner, since it is their way of paying everyone back for the dinners they have been to at our homes.

Never Discuss Money Other Than in General Terms

We can talk about all kinds of things with our friends even investments, but we never discuss how much we make. This is just taboo for most people. Although there is one couple who has a business that has become very successful and he likes to tell us how much money his business has generated a year. We are very happy for him since he started from nothing, however sometimes it can get a little tiring to hear it. The point is that circumstances change for everyone, sometimes good and sometimes not so good. We all need to look beyond this and focus in on why we are friends. Good rich friends will the thoughtful too and not make their less successful friends( in terms of money) feel uncomfortable.

If you have comments and would like to add to this post, please feel free to leave a comment which we will add to our post. Spam comments will be deleted.

Ultimately, it’s important to remember that while good friends might be priceless, friendship doesn’t have to come at the expense of your financial security.

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In our last post we talked about, “Cell Phone Insurance – Do you need it?”. This post discusses when to Buy Cell Phone Insurance and what situations might justify spending the extra money on cell phone insurance. For the majority of people we believe that cell phone insurance is expensive and not worth the money. The amount of money you  would need to spend to replace it is not a huge amount so why waste money on cell phone insurance?

What Situations Might Require Cell Phone Insurance

Consumers who travel a lot and have a tendency to misplace things might be candidates. Business people who work on construction sites and could easily lose their cell phone. If it is lost on a construction site, it will either be lost in the mud, crushed by something going over it or just disappear down a hole somewhere. If you have a tendency to lay your device down were it could easily disappear you might also want cell phone insurance.

People who get a cell phone through their business and use it for both business needs and personal needs usually can get their cell phones replaced at no charge, provided that it does not become a habit. Most companies have negotiated free cell phone replacements based on the total business that they do with the cell phone providers.  If you are a small business and provide mobiles for people in your company, carrying coverage is not a good idea either due to the high cost inf insurance. It is easier to split the cost of a replacement with your employee or the cell phone provider than pay for insurance for cell phones.

One additional point we would like to remind people when they are doing these calculations and making a decision is whether the insurance is tax deductible or not. Depending on your tax situation, claiming this insurance as an expense reduces the overall cost of the insurance, which just make it more palatable.

Fine Print Cell Phone Insurance Issues

Always read the fine print in a cell phone insurance coverage package. Will you receive a new phone or a refurbished phone which is essentially a used phone that someone else had? How long will it take to get a new phone to you? Days or weeks? What is the reputation of the insurance provider? Do they have a good reputation for paying on time and / or replacing cell phones quickly?

What is the deductible. If it is $50, which means you pay the first $50. Is it really worthwhile to purchase cell phone insurance? Everyone will feel differently about the answers to these questions and will make up their mines as to whether they want to go ahead with cell phone insurance. We believe that it is just not worth it based on all of these issues.

How Long will You Keep Your Phone

Some consumers like to replace their phones every year. They want the latest and greatest that is on the market. They are willing to pay for the newest phone. These consumers probably would not benefit from coverage. If they do lose their phone they do not want a replacement with the same phone. They will want another phone that is the newest release and may even change models.

If you keep your phone for a long time it is worth doing a simple calculation.  Calculate how long it would take to pay for your mobile replacement with your insurance. For example if you purchase another phone it will cost you $150 to replace the phone you have. The insurance is $5 per month, then it is going to cost $150 divided by $5 or 30 months which is 2.5 years.

In other words based on this example, you can afford to purchase a new device every 2.5 years if you avoid paying for the coverage. Every phone will be different in terms of cost and insurance, so take a moment to do your own calculations to see if it makes sense for your situation.

Let us know if you found this post helpful. Well written comments will be approved even with links back to your own web site.

For more information about cell phone reviews, click here.

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We really like the service we get at Costco and also the prices we get as well. Yesterday I took my car into Costco to have the tires balanced, rotated and checked for tire pressure. What a great decision I made to purchase my cars tires from Costco.

Not only did they have the best price at the time of very close to it, they also provide free tire rotation, free tire balancing and free tire checks for as long as I own the tires. When you factor this into the price comparison, this was the best deal. Oh, and I forgot one other thing. My tires are filled with nitrogen at no extra cost and I have to say that the tires have never needed air to be added. The tire pressure as been perfect for the last 6 months and over 10 thousand miles. This is why we spend money at Costco.

New Costco Tires for Your Car

If you need new tires for your car, this is a strong recommendation to visit Costco tires and check out the deals they have. They do have tire sales from time to time, so it is worth checking each time you go to the store for other things as long as you are not in a hurry.

Our last post talked about Costco Tire Rotation. You can read this post to find out how we actually ended up with Costco and purchased the tires from them. However, this post is all about Costco Tires and the service level we get from them. One of the reasons we purchased the tires for our car from Costco, we liked the idea that you can go to any Costco tire store to have the tires rotated, balanced and checked.  In fact, you can go to other countries such as Canada and still receive the same service!

This store is by far the best place to purchase tires from based on price as well as service levels especially for someone who travels a lot and may need their tires rotated while they are en-route.  While some people never bother to have their tires rotated,  the fact of the matter is that your tires will wear more evenly if you do and Costco Tires makes it easy to maintain this schedule recommended by all tire manufacturers and car manufacturers.

Shop While Costco Balances Your Tires

By the way we just pulled in to the Costco tire entrance and they took our car right away. It was late on a Sunday afternoon, so it was not busy and there was virtually no wait time. We shopped in the store while we waited and they called us to let us know that the tires were ready!

Well, this will be a short post, but we wanted to make sure that Costco Tires is really a good place to shop for tires. If you have found this store to be a great place too, let us know and of course if you have had a bad experience let us know that as well. your comments will be welcome as long as they are on subject and helpful to our readers.

For more info about the right tires for your car, click here.

In our last post we talked about having your home monitored while you are away on vacation or away on an assignment for your employer. Vacant Home Property Management is also important from an insurance perspective. The next question that many people have is what should they expect to pay for this kind of service.

We find that many people do not have any idea of what this service costs and are surprised when they receive a quote. They may be already stretched when it comes to paying for their vacation and then the charges for home property management are added. It is just too much and they decide to pursue other ideas for someone to look after their home, whether it is friends or family. Note that if you are away for work related purposes, most employers will allow you to expense any charges for looking after your home.

What factors go into determining the appropriate charges?

If you have ever hired a repairman to come and fix an appliance, then you already know that they charge a high fee just to show up at your home and then for the time to repair your appliance. In this situation of property management, the property manager is not in your home for any significant period of time. They need to check the security of your home; they need to confirm the heating system is working and that there are no water leaks.

In addition they will collect news papers and flyers. Also perform any other special duties that you may need and have placed on your contract. This is what most people think about and consider that the charges should be based on and yes they are partially correct.

Most people fail to fail to consider travel time to and from your home. This can vary a great deal depending on where you live relative to the property management firm. In addition there are charges to cover wear and tear on a vehicle and gasoline charges to drive to your home. Most property managers must also charge the appropriate taxes for state or local provincial authorities. These charges can add up especially if you live some distance from the property management firm.

Vacant Home Property Management – Charges for Other Services

The basic charge is for a visit to your home to check on the security of your home. This should meet the requirements of your insurance company. Many people require additional services as well. Depending on how long you will be away, you may need someone to cut the lawn or clear snow from the driveway. In dry periods, the lawn may need to be watered. If you are away for a long period, hedges may need to be trimmed as well. Most property managers are comfortable with sending pictures to customers, prior to any additional work being undertaken.

In one situation that we came across, a customer had hired a property manager for a year to manage a home. During that time the shrubs grew a great deal. They really needed to be trimmed to keep the home looking as if it was well looked after. We simply took pictures of the offending shrubs. The home owner decided on what they wanted to have done.

In some cases home owners will do nothing. While others will be comfortable with the work being completed. This work is in addition to the visitation charge and usually is based on an hourly rate. Always ask for a quote prior to agreeing to have the work completed. This applies to all other charges, whether it is snow removal, pool maintenance and lawn care.

Property Management Charges

If you are concerned about the charges for home property management, ask the property manager to explain the charges. Ask for several quotes prior to agreeing to hire a specific company. Also make sure you have a signed contract. It should clearly specify the charges as well as the detailed services that are going to be provided. If they are not on the contract, chances are that they will not be provided. Adding services after the contract is signed will usually involve additional charges.

If you found this post helpful or have other points to add, please leave a detailed well written comment for our readers. Our objective is to educate our readers so that they hire the right company for home property management.

For more information on vacant home checklists, click here.

We have not tried the process of removing scratches and dents from hardwood floors that we are going to describe in this post. If one of our readers has tried this we would really like to hear from you. We have a couple of scratches. Also some marks we want to get rid of but are hesitant to try this approach. We know that you should always experiment first. In an out of the way place on your floor in case you screw up so that it will not be seen. We just do not have that situation and are afraid to try it in a main floor area. Anyone with comments?

What we have is a scratch from moving a piece of furniture across the floor. It is about 3 inches long and maybe a 16th of an inch deep. We have a rug covering it now, but really would like to remove the dent in the floor so that it does not show. The rug is not in the ideal place for us. It happened before we even realized that the bottom of the piece of furniture had a leg that could do that. My husband was so mad, he could spit nails. The floor is only a year old and we would like to be able to remove this scratch or at lease minimize it so that it is not as noticeable.

The Recommended Process

Removing a scratch or dent sounds pretty simple. The steps are as follows:

• Wet the scratch or dent with a little bit of water
• Apply a wet cloth or paper towel over the dent, and then
• Move the iron in a circular motion across the towel for 3-5 minutes
• Make sure there is a lot of stem being generated and do not allow the iron to stay in one place for long to avoid over heating the floor.

We were told that this does not work on all hardwood floors especially those with finishes. You definitely want to try this in an area that is out of the way before trying it on the floor in a high visibility area.  Older hardwood floors were the finish has worn off are probably the best to try this process on.

Applying heat over a damp cloth may in fact lift the finish off or at least remove the shiny look that your floor may have. Sanding with a very fine sandpaper or steel wool may buff it back to the shiny look, but not always. Try it first somewhere out of the way. I know we keep saying this, but we cannot emphasize it enough.

Removing Scratches and Dents in Hardwood Floors

Dents that have been around for a while may also have dirt lodged in the crease or depression. Even with the treatment above you may find that light sanding is going to be needed in order to remove this dirt. Before you start sanding, ensure that you have a plan for dealing with the floor area to be sanded after you remove some or all of the finish.  Sometimes you can match the existing finish and do a patch job. Which will be almost invisible. However again experimentation is encouraged before trying it on the main floor.

You definitely do not want to end up with a floor that has several colors or tones to it which stand out even more than the dent or scratch did.  If it does not work in your experiment you definitely do not want to try it in the main spot.

If you have tried this or have comments on removing dents or scratches from hardwood floors, leave a comment. Both of us will benefit and we will help our readers at the same time.

What do you do if you need recharging electric vehicles in the  apartment  building you live in. If the superintendent finds out and tells you that you are not allowed to use this electrical outlet, what do you do? This is a huge impediment to sales for electric vehicles that need to be recharged every night.

It is just one of the many problems that the fledgling  electric vehicle industry is facing. In our last post we talked about how to provide an electric recharging stations. Also how the infrastructure needs to be upgraded. In another post we discuss the same issue in condo buildings. Were owners of the condo would not allow one car owner to recharge his vehicle.

Recharging Electric Vehicles – Issue

People do not want to be bothered by these kinds of issues. The supply of power is going to be the single issue that will prevent many customers from getting on the electric vehicle bandwagon. The car industry needs to solve this issue. They need to try to resolve much of the negative words in the press. These are real problems that need to be solved and unless they are solved, the electric vehicle is not going to sell well.

Apartment buildings are even worse in some ways because owners do not want to incur any more cost that will impact their overall profit. Upgrading the electrical system to handle the increase power draw and adding outlets in the parking garage, not to mention the electrical usage are big negatives for the owners. They are unlikely to spend money until there is some perceived advantage for them such as competition or profit.

Profitable Recharging Stations in Apartment Buildings

The apartment building owner is motivated by profit. If we are to solve the recharging station issue for electric vehicles, the entire industry will need to figure this out. However we are focused on apartment buildings in this post, so we will stick to that subject.

The owner will need to spend some money to install electrical outlets at a number of parking spots in his parking garage. He will need to make sure that the electrical system can handle the increased electrical load. They may even need to upgrade some the circuits to handle this increase load. Load can be determined by the number of cars that would be charging at the same time. the cost of these upgrades must be amortized over some period so that he can recover his cost plus a profit. There is also the cost of electricity that is actually consumed.

With these two numbers the apartment building manager now knows what the cost will be to provide electric charging stations for electric vehicles.  He may or may not want to add an additional amount to this number so factor in his profit.  Sounds easy doesn’t it, but there is one more problem and it is very difficult to solve.

Not Enough Demand for Electric car Charging Stations

No apartment building owner is going to spend any money at this point. Especially for one or two vehicle owners that may want to charge their cars in his buildings. Right now he needs to recover his cost in a a reasonable time. He cannot charge all of the upgrade cost to one or two owners.

We think that this situation will gradually resolve itself over time as demand increases. Especially as availability of stations becomes a competitive issue. Governments can also help as well by offering incentives to provide these stations.  It may take 10 years to reach the tipping point. However we are very confident that we will get to a heavy concentration of electric vehicles. This will drive solutions that are cost effective for drivers as well as apartment building owners and condo’s as well. It will become common place to offer recharging stations in apartment building parking garages.

The auto industry has to get in on this and start doing some of the things needed to help the industry along. They need many locations to charge your vehicle were you pay for the power at reasonable rates.