Finally Friday #4
May 20, 2016
Mood: Inspired
- We put everything on our SPG card for the Starwood points that earns. And yet knowing this, I’m still surprised when I review our credit card charges mid-month and see a $1000 total, think “oh, only $1000.” ONLY? Well, yes. Food, utilities, baby supplies, household supplies, car maintenance, gas, medical stuff, dog food and medications, everything goes on that card. “Only” $1000 is pretty good. My reality is so weird now.
- Come to think of it, I don’t know why AmEx is so nice to me. They only make $95 per year from me and I net at least 3-5x that amount in hotel room reward redemptions annually.
- I notice that Amazon has changed their return process so that they have two options: refund to original payment method, or Amazon gift card. They don’t tell you what the original payment method was, and it defaults to Amazon gift card. I’m sure they were counting on this: I was in a hurry processing my last return and assumed it was paid for by a gift card to begin with so I zoomed right through that screen. Pay more attention than I did, especially if you’re returning big ticket items. You want that money back in your pocket!
- Blackout blinds! Does anyone have them? We’ve been thinking about them for a while and I’m not ready to commit yet. I’d love to know if you’ve had any experience with them or recommendations.
- PiC said to me this week, after some family time: I don’t want to leave (the family) and go to work. I would rather stay home and raise the JuggerLB, so I fully support any plans for early retirement. Music to my ears! Of course, I conduct our finances as though he was fully on board with quitting his job in ten years anyway, it’s just nice to have his enthusiasm about the prospect. And I like that after family time he wants more family time, not to just get away from us like some people.
- As usual, when the whole family came down with some sort of viral junk, JuggerBaby recovered in about 4 hours and the rest of us geezers were laid out flat. Baby germs are the worst!
:: How did you fare this week?
Sorry to hear you’re under the weather again 🙁
We have blackout shades under our bedroom curtains, and personally I find them to be lifesavers, especially during the summer. They don’t block 100% of the light at the edges, but they do substantially darken the room. When I was working night shift they were the difference between getting a good night sleep and not. We put them up in our nursery as well.
Thanks :/ This one I didn’t see coming and I’m not sure if that’s better/worse.
What style of shades do you use?
I’m not sure what the style name is. It’s a solid vinyl-like material on a roll that I believe retracts due to a torsion spring mechanism inside the roll. It’s mounted inside the window frame, so some light peeks around the edges, but it allows curtains to me mounted on the wall with no interference.
Interesting train of thought…
I have Arcadia doors in the bedroom, so blackout shades aren’t very practical. Instead, I got dark-colored, lined draperies from Pier 1, which I combined with some sheers. Together they really block out the light, which does seem to help with the sleep conundrum.
For me a problem is the various little vampires that flash and flicker all night: the electric toothbrush that flashes while it’s recharging; the endless blue flashing of the computer modem and the laptop backing up to the external hard drive…allllll…night…looooonnnngggg…. Have to keep all that junk behind closed doors.
Gift cards: just another manifestation of Amazon’s arrogance. Why would they assume we would want gift cards? Obviously, they don’t, since they discreetly keep it pretty quiet. On this end, tho…I’ve already learned to be VERY careful not to buy anything that might need to be returned.
I’d thought about drapes, too, they might still be an option.
I got blackout curtains from bed, bath and beyond. They were great during the winter and turning out good so far as the days have lengthened. They block out enough light that I’m not bothered anymore whereas before, I would have to put a bed sheet over my regular curtain plus sleep with a sock over my eyes if i wanted any shut eye.
Oh that’d be an easy place to start looking, thanks!