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Post by jesmelric on Mar 3, 2022 18:55:27 GMT
Our gas prices range from $3.89 to $6.99. This is the kind of thing that makes me feel bad about complaining about the prices here
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Post by staytuned on Mar 3, 2022 20:11:37 GMT
I just checked online and gas went up another 10¢ to $3.80 gallon regular up to $4.49 for premium. Any disposable income is already disposed from rising gas and grocery prices.
I can't remember the last time I saw gas prices as low as around San Antonio.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Mar 3, 2022 21:16:30 GMT
It's about $4.20-4.50 here - the oil companies are making BANK out of this.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Mar 3, 2022 21:55:59 GMT
LOL Those prices are high for us.
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Post by Desire on Mar 3, 2022 23:12:11 GMT
LOL Those prices are high for us. Kritter, why is that, is it because Texas is such a big oil producer? Those are really some fantastic prices. So you should have no problem filling your Jags up with premium grade gas, lucky you. Premium grade is a LOT higher here than regular grade.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Mar 4, 2022 0:31:25 GMT
Texas is a big oil producer but the main reason why gas is cheaper here is because of the large number of refineries on the Texas gulf coast. Transportation cost to the pumps in Texas is a lot cheaper than sending it out of state.
I spent much less filling my Jags with premium than ya'll are spending for regular. One of them is soon to be traded in so I am driving it more since I am not letting it go with gas in the tank.
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Post by chapeaunoir on Mar 4, 2022 2:20:46 GMT
We get our fuel from the refinery in Anacortes on Fidalgo Island, which is about 70 miles north of where I live (I've ridden my bike up there a number of times), but it seems to not have made much of a difference, though almost everything is expensive here. We don't drive a ton - mostly short trips for groceries, post office if the weather is just too bad to ride, though like to take trips out of town. Sometimes the car just sits in the driveway for days - it's why I got rid of my car when the only thing working on it was me. We had two stationwagons and someone joked that it looked like we had 10 kids lol.
This weekend is the run for Ukraine - the local running/racing company which sponsors a lot of the local races put up $5000 in funds to match every .50 mile people run in both a virtual and a local run. They were hoping to raise $5000 - I signed up with my donation just after the website went up and it was already up to $6000 donations and the number was changing even as I filled out my race application! The money goes for humanitarian aid.
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Post by sunsetpainter on Mar 4, 2022 3:37:10 GMT
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Post by chapeaunoir on Mar 4, 2022 8:13:24 GMT
pyrexandpearls - we use similar traps that sunsetpainter uses. We have big rats here - BIG RATS. One of the traps caught one that was dang near a foot long from nose to end of tail. Our old traps, the rats used to muscle the bait out and bang the traps shut - not these. They kill the rat immediately, which is important to me. Rats are pests, but I can't stand to see an animal suffer.
We had one rat that was so powerful that it got caught in one of the older style traps and was flying around the attic banging the trap - the DH rushed up there and found it - he brought it downstairs and showed me (thanks) - it was huge. He took it out back and let it go. He said the rat just sat there for a minute looking dazed, and then took off. Yep, it gets another chance.
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 4, 2022 16:00:10 GMT
We had mice in our attic and the mice chew their legs off the glue traps. Fortunately they disappeared rather quickly.
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Post by blissfullymiserable on Mar 4, 2022 21:29:34 GMT
Never in my life have a seen a rat in my neighborhood let alone house. I can't imagine. I'd probably go out and immediately get a cat for a while there was some weird thing roaming around the backyard that looked like a squirrel so I guess it was a squirrel, it looked rather large but had the floofy tail. It was odd and I'm pretty sure it was the same one that I was seeing from time to time. Haven't seen it for a long time.
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Post by Desire on Mar 4, 2022 21:39:38 GMT
We just got our heating oil automatic delivery today, they topped off the tank, the last delivery was 2/4/22 at $4.10 per gallon, the new price is $5.36 per gallon. So, it jumped $1.26 in 4 weeks. The bill is $819.53, the highest oil bill we have ever gotten in any house we ever lived in. When I saw the email that they had made a delivery, I didn't want to even open it.
If the oil bill is paid in 10 days, the oil discount is 22.94, so that brings it down to 796.59, so actually $5.01 per gallon.
I have an electric space heater going here, but our electric bill this month soared too, it was $310.00 on the bill we just received. Hoping for warmer weather, tired of this BS.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Mar 4, 2022 22:35:43 GMT
My combined electric/natural gas bill for last month was $136.48. As we all know, I run a warm house here.
Nobody is cold in this house ever. No bundling up in sweaters etc. here either.
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 4, 2022 23:38:12 GMT
We just got our heating oil automatic delivery today, they topped off the tank, the last delivery was 2/4/22 at $4.10 per gallon, the new price is $5.36 per gallon. So, it jumped $1.26 in 4 weeks. The bill is $819.53, the highest oil bill we have ever gotten in any house we ever lived in. When I saw the email that they had made a delivery, I didn't want to even open it. If the oil bill is paid in 10 days, the oil discount is 22.94, so that brings it down to 796.59, so actually $5.01 per gallon. I have an electric space heater going here, but our electric bill this month soared too, it was $310.00 on the bill we just received. Hoping for warmer weather, tired of this BS. We have a price protect plan so we will make up for what we lost many years ago when the price went way down🤣.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Mar 5, 2022 1:30:30 GMT
I finally sat down today and lined up all the dr bills and the final insurance payments, to see what I owe. Ends up the EMS service overbilled me. They passed on the contract discount to me, probably assuming that I wouldn't figure out all the insurance mumbo jumbo. Fortunately, I use an awesome insurance agent who explained what was going on. The process is EMS bills insurance $X, insurance says hey, your contract says you can only bill $Y, and we're paying $Z (depending on deductible etc). The amount I should have been billed by EMS was Y-Z, but they billed me X-Z. So now I get to write a letter reminding them of their contract with the insurance company. My agent said if the EMS company continues to hound me for the difference after that, I should notify the insurance company who will take EMS to court if necessary. She said that probably 85% of all EMS companies pull this stunt. So folks, if you ever call for an ambulance or EMS, read your bill A few of the other entities (lab, doctor) tried the same stunt. Next week will be fun when I start calling. I have yet to see the itemized bill I requested from the hospital.
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Post by Desire on Mar 5, 2022 5:26:58 GMT
Val - the best thing about turning 65 was when I was finally able to go on Medicare and drop the existing health insurance plan that I was on. I also enrolled in a good supplement plan to go with it. What a relief that was.
Labby - I called several different oil companies today to get prices per gallon on heating oil to compare, three of them said that prices took a big hike on Wednesday in the Northeast. One guy was so nice, said to just try to ride it out as prices will fall and when they do, they will fall rapidly. Like you, way back many years ago we had the price lock-in contract. And then the prices fell way down rapidly mid-way into the season and we couldn't do anything about it - we lost a lot of money on oil that year as we were locked into a higher price. So we said never again on lock-in and prices have stayed relatively stable all the subsequent years until now.
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Post by labbypaws on Mar 5, 2022 13:28:56 GMT
I have $1300 in my oil account so we should be ok with oil. Been a fairly mild winter thus far with not too many really cold days. I am sure they will wait to fill the tank as they will also hope the price goes back down.
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Post by denise15601 on Mar 5, 2022 15:35:15 GMT
I am lucky to be poor since I get energy help through Liheap. A single person who makes under $19,000 a year gross qualifies for help in PA. And a 2-person household has a higher limit.
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Post by pyrexandpearls on Mar 5, 2022 16:55:50 GMT
I am hoping and praying we caught all the mice! We have left the traps up but have not caught anymore since Wednesday and I have not heard anything in either the oven or laundry room that sounded like mice shenanigans. We did end up getting the snap style traps instead of those awful glue traps. I am hoping it is safe to scrub my oven down within in inch of its life now and hope the smell is gone.
I have not even had the bandwidth to tackle the dryer yet. Both DH and I have had a very busy week with one of us not getting home until at least 8 practically every night. I will just hang things to dry for now - though washing the sheets will be a fun task tomorrow!
We received our latest gas/water/sewer bill (all one company and one bill here) yesterday - It was about $250 which I guess is okay-ish, though still more than I'd like. Our electric bill this time of year is around $70 so just over $300 a month total. My mom is in VA and has electric heat pump heat, the norm there, and she said her electric bill was nearly $500 last month! She lives in a 1800ish sq foot ranch and said she keeps the finished basement vents off bc they don't use their downstairs.
Groceries and gas are what are really getting to my budget right now. It was $3.59 a gallon here on Thursday. Ugh
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Mar 5, 2022 17:26:02 GMT
Val - the best thing about turning 65 was when I was finally able to go on Medicare and drop the existing health insurance plan that I was on. I also enrolled in a good supplement plan to go with it. What a relief that was. The insurance company wasn't the issue. All insurance, even Medicare, has contracted prices for services and that is the max they will pay the provider. Per the agreement, the providers are NOT allowed to pass the disallowed amount on to the consumer. Which is why it's a good idea to compare one's benefit statements (claim statements) to the actual bills, if the provider is billing you for any extra over the insurance, beyond your deductible. As for Medicare....this November baby! My agent already has it on her calendar to contact me in July so we can go over plans and then get the enrollment going in August. What I'm afraid of though is my current insurance not approving anything other than emergency work, because a lot of the "routine" stuff is payable under Medicare. Officially they aren't supposed to do that, but in reality they do it a LOT.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Mar 5, 2022 17:27:08 GMT
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Mar 5, 2022 17:39:49 GMT
Chewy always has the best toys.
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Post by denise15601 on Mar 5, 2022 18:24:02 GMT
Val - the best thing about turning 65 was when I was finally able to go on Medicare and drop the existing health insurance plan that I was on. I also enrolled in a good supplement plan to go with it. What a relief that was. The insurance company wasn't the issue. All insurance, even Medicare, has contracted prices for services and that is the max they will pay the provider. Per the agreement, the providers are NOT allowed to pass the disallowed amount on to the consumer. Which is why it's a good idea to compare one's benefit statements (claim statements) to the actual bills, if the provider is billing you for any extra over the insurance, beyond your deductible. As for Medicare....this November baby! My agent already has it on her calendar to contact me in July so we can go over plans and then get the enrollment going in August. What I'm afraid of though is my current insurance not approving anything other than emergency work, because a lot of the "routine" stuff is payable under Medicare. Officially they aren't supposed to do that, but in reality they do it a LOT. I guess you do know that you need a good supplement since Medicare only pays 80%. The supplement covers the rest, depending on your deductible.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Mar 5, 2022 20:12:34 GMT
I guess you do know that you need a good supplement since Medicare only pays 80%. The supplement covers the rest, depending on your deductible. Yup. I even asked my agent about portability of plans or the ease of changing plans should I decide to move when I finally start house hunting. I learned from my mom. She went for the cheapest out of pocket premium on her supplemental plan, even though she could afford more, and ended up paying more overall because her supplemental plan sucked and didn't cover a lot of her (very routine) drugs. Even her pharmacist tried to get her to change plans. My mom was very stubborn, often to her own detriment Meanwhile...partly sunny and 76 on tap here today. Tommorrow we're supposed to be 80 then back down to more seasonable (but still nice) spring temps for next week.
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Post by staytuned on Mar 5, 2022 20:30:22 GMT
We're getting a taste of spring with 65 and sunshine (there are still piles of snow that are refusing to melt) today and 70 and possible rain tomorrow, then back to reality and supposed to be 31 and show showers next Saturday. It felt sooooooo good to be outside and went to IGA for a few groceries. Looks like supply chain is moving again. There were plenty of boxes of their brand saltines, Pillsbury refrigerated dough including crescents and previously impossible to find pizza dough and cream cheese section was packed including Philadelphia brand.
I'll be eligible for Medicare end of year and already getting notices about it, but I'm going to delay because I'm on DH's insurance which is good enough for both of us.
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kritter
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Post by kritter on Mar 5, 2022 21:03:18 GMT
Just finished weedwhacking my alley and my side yard by the garage. Working up to tackling the front yard but may not jump in to it today. Figure I will need an earlier start to tackle that weed jamboree.
I have been on Secure Horizons through United Healthcare and AARP for 13 years now and it works for me. I don't have any health issues (knocking on wood) so don't know how it would be for health compromised folks. I didn't have any doctors going in to Medicare years so didn't have to work around any doctors that only took certain plans. No medicines so don't have to worry about any of that stuff.
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val2525
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Post by val2525 on Mar 5, 2022 21:05:05 GMT
I'll be eligible for Medicare end of year and already getting notices about it, but I'm going to delay because I'm on DH's insurance which is good enough for both of us. You might want to rethink that strategy. There are potential penalties for not signing up at 65. Plus, your DH insurance is liable to change at the whim of his employer. You might also ask DH to check with his HR department about continued coverage for you once you hit Medicare age. Some company plans won't cover a spouse who is eligble for Medicare. Just something to think about. www.ehealthinsurance.com/medicare/resources/whats-the-penalty-if-you-dont-sign-up-for-medicare
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Post by denise15601 on Mar 5, 2022 22:43:02 GMT
71 degrees even right now!!!! It will be nice tomorrow too, but winds up to 45 mph and rain.
I spent a few hours outside using my reacher-grabber to pick up pine cones. And there's still about a million left to pick up. And with the wind tomorrow, there will be 2 million.
I just toss them back under the trees since I don't have to mow there anyway. The pine needles are so thick that nothing grows, except poison ivy. Ugh.
And hopefully, I will have more people coming to pick up the free pine cones that I offer on Marketplace. But it is out of season, darn.
I hate all of the pinecones, but I like the excuse to be outside and doing a little moving around.
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Post by staytuned on Mar 6, 2022 17:43:34 GMT
It is currently 69 degrees and sunny. We're having some high wind gusts today and temps will start falling 30 degrees by bedtime and about an inch of rain overnight. Scattered rain tomorrow and Tuesday morning will wake up to around an inch of snow. March around here has always been fickle. The trees have wised up and stay dormant until spring has finally sprung so I'll know winter is over when I see buds on the branches.
Looks like a local BP station went up to $4 gal. for regular. Others are still at $3.80, but that could change overnight like it did 3 times last week.
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Post by frakinfashion on Mar 6, 2022 17:47:12 GMT
Gas prices are going to go up--there's some price gouging but there is also the horrific mess in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia that will affect them. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
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