Our Motor Home Preparation – Phase 1

Johannah

The first of our preparations are all centered around the motor home being “road ready”.  So we set about looking at all the systems to make sure they were in good working order.

WHEELS

First, we had the wheels all aligned, as the truck “felt” like it needed it when it got up to speed on a highway.  And those with “super trucks” like this one, already know that you need a real expert to do that well.  We thankfully had one within a short distance away – and took the truck there.  It did need it.  The alignment was adjusted, and while there we also paid extra to have the “steering wheel” re-aligned correctly.  That little additional aspect will help with knowing more about how the wheels are turned without getting out, or having someone else get out to look. To us it was important as first time owners.

Additionally, we are considering new tires even though the ones on the truck are in very good condition — the reason is that they are “worn” a bit funny from the alignment being off — and new tires would make the vehicle experience less drag and therefore better gas mileage.  The current tires would/could be sold to make up a good portion of the new price – and so at this point it’s a consideration, but not a necessity.

LEVELING SYSTEM

There was the small matter of a continuous beeping noise.  A sensor  was beeping and for a LONG time we couldn’t find out what it could be causing it to do that.  Out came the manuals and we had to read what it could be, run through them and start to rule things out.   Turned out it was the leveling system.  Some of the the stands under the rig needed to be welded and a few needed more serious re-threading work.  We could do this work ourselves (or should I say the “men” could do that themselves!) and so this was minor in costs.  We had to buy a tool or two to help with this but you know men love buying tools so that wasn’t a problem.

PROPANE TANK

We found as we went from one system to another checking “everything” like it was an airplane getting ready for a flight, that our propane tank was empty.  And old.  That meant that we would have to have it “tested” and certified before they would fill it up with propane.  It’s a safety issue and we knew it had to be done.  However, we found out that we could replace the tank with a totally different configuration using 2 tanks and it was less expensive than testing and refueling the old tank.  It would also be easier to hook up to our tailgating grill, DSC05911so we set about doing that.  We now have 2 new tanks and they are full of fuel for less than certification and fuel was for the old one.  Even better these are more or less removable and refillable at any propane location.  I am guessing that the old tank (from 2005) was the best way to do it at the time, but technology has advanced since then.

AIR BRAKES

These were leaking — and we have had to reseal them.  Right now they are holding air, yay!

Phase 1 — Complete!

Phase 2 – Taking it out for a night or two coming up.

 

The Adventure Begins

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Well, it’s one thing to think about it — another to plan it out — but it’s really amazingly fun to actually do it.

So far there are no regrets, and we are hoping that all works out well with this new adventure.   It has technically begun with the purchase of the RV/Motor Home that we will be traveling in — and here he/she (yet to be determined) is!

DSC05590

The plan was always to get one of these amazingly built motor homes that use a Diesel Cummins engine and which can pull with ease and travel a million miles or more!

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AND…. yes, that is RED – and we understand the first owner had it painted that color on purpose and we LOVE it.   It’s a home that sleeps 8, and has a 12 foot garage on the back with wonderfully made and built in tool boxes.  The interior isn’t as colorful – but over time that could change (smile) as we laugh, and sing, cook and enjoy our adventure.

One thing I can be certain of — you will see us coming and recognize us wherever we go!

Moving On to Retirement

Johannah

This is more scary post to write than an annoying one.

Everyone ages and we all have to face the retirement or not portion of our lives.  Some of us have saved – some of us have yet to start – but I’ll bet most of us are somewhere in between.

In my case, I have an IRA in which I have saved for retirement, and I will be old enough to qualify for social security in just a few years ( and …if it’s still available).

The scary part is that my husband and I have always worked and provided for ourselves – we worked for a company that we started over 30 years ago.  I still do.  This company provided everything we needed to live and raise our family.   And in the good years provided for quite a few others as well.  It will feel both strange and unusual to have money coming in to our bank account, or out of our IRA’s without working  — because taking it out, using it up – even though that was the intention when we saved it – seems contrary to everything we did up till now to prepare for this phase of our lives.

One thing I am not consciously worried about is making it on that amount of money.  Besides always trying to live “under” our means, and saving, we have for the last five to seven years cut back on everything.

But the reality is, that in the next year or so, we are going to officially, fully and completely retire from life as we have known it for so many wonderful years.

What are we going to do with ourselves?  Glad you asked.  We are right now looking into obtaining a Motor Home” to facilitate our desire to see the United States from end to end.  A bucket list item that was impossible to fulfill when you own your own business and it’s the only source of your income.

We will buy a used  motor home specifically designed to fit our needs.  We need to have a “garage” so that we can fit the gear (4 wheelers, etc.) that we want to take with us, as well as our sons family.  We will travel the US, stopping and staying for a periods of time and then moving on.  With no clock to punch, no deals to make and no familiar annoyances – I think we might even enjoy this thing called retirement while we are all still “young” enough to do it!

And maybe… I’ll blog about all the annoying things I find along the way!

 

Life’s Getting Confusing

Johannah

I am getting older — oh… wait, we all are getting older. See already I might be confused. I know I didn’t think for one minute that I was the only one getting older, or being confused. Right?

With all the gadgets hitting the market today – is it any wonder that for someone my age it’s not intuitive anymore. I used to think that I could figure things out. Figure anything out. That there was always a simple way to accomplish just about anything, by usually just proceeding one step at a time – in the right direction.

However, I just don’t get it anymore. Do you reach an age where this happens to everyone, or is that the “brain power” needed just doesn’t want to cooperate to figure it out anymore.

In the last few years there have been lots of changes – not only in cell phones but in everything. Now things that are just a year old in some cases are already becoming obsolete. Hey I remember when fax machines were a novelty and we all thought that might eliminate the need for mailing any paperwork again…ever. It was just the 1980’s when microcomputers were just getting into the hands of “regular” people…. and it wasn’t that long ago that almost everything started to become “wireless”.

But for me life isn’t becoming easier or less confusing. Part of that is because I didn’t run to get each new gadget as it appeared on the scene, and I am still not sure of some of the technology. It may save time, but at what risk to you or others.

I am thinking about a woman found dead in her garage some six years after she had passed away. All the money she had was “used” up by the companies who had access to her bank account for payment of her bills. So month after month while she decomposed in the garage, her bank account was paying for things she didn’t need, or want, or could even use. No one came to look for her, no one seemed to care if she lived or died – and it wasn’t till everything she had was used up that they finally checked on that house (after foreclosing on it) and found her dead. I think the whole scenerio was caused by this new technology craze. If she didn’t have “automatic” bill pay – they would have found her so much sooner and her heirs would have had some inheritance, and closure. So while this one “technology” inspired “service” takes some pressure off us humans, it can also leave us dead in our garage while it cleans out our bank account.

And that’s just the beginning of the confusing part for me. If you think about some of the other “advances” in the way things are done, you can see that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The pressure however is on. The credit card companies want you to have automatic bill pay… so you won’t forget and they won’t have to charge you $39 for being late, and 29.9% interest. But what most people don’t realize is that they can “manipulate” their side of the system, so they make you late, and cause you that problem a few times…. and then make you feel pressured into signing up.

In my case it has happened at least twice. AND their “standard” answer is, “sign up for auto pay”…. and mine, “NO way”. I am signed up for reminders and I don’t get them. I go online and set up a payment and it never happens… it just never happens that the payment actually gets made. Their answer: “Oh there was a computer issue that day”…. or “Oh your session might have timed out before our system took the information”, or “Oh there was a solar flare that day…” etc. I cannot believe for one moment it’s only my account that is subjected to such manipulation.

I remember having an AMEX card and cancelling it after my payment (back in those days it was a check you mailed in) .. took more than 20 days each month to get to them. NO … I never thought it really took that long, I think they just didn’t process the payment, or mark it PAID till it was late. Why? To get the late charges and interest, which many customers still today do not question or request they remove.

After it happened twice, I cancelled the card.

If you know me, and maybe you don’t – I pay on time, in full and I don’t play games. That might be the reason I was and am a target for the credit card companies to hassle. I don’t ever pay to have a card, and I don’t pay interest ever and sometimes I even get benefits.

They don’t want a customer like me — and that confuses me.

Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip

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I know that most of you are looking for something annoying to read – sorry not today.  Instead,  I wanted to share my Harris Teeter Super Doubles Shopping trip because it shows that anyone really can do it.

First, if you want to just go to the store with all your coupons and walk around checking prices and matching – that’s certainly up to you, but I much prefer the prepared approach.  Why?  I don’t have to keep walking around the store finding the great deals or spend hours in the store — I let someone else do that for me.

This is also not my regular shopping trip – the trips this week are specifically tailored to the Super Double Event.  To prepare I read several blogs that list the “Harris Teeter match-ups”.  I find these by just typing into my search engine “Harris Teeter match ups and the date the sale starts”.  These blogger sites go to almost extreme lengths to not only to find what’s going to be on sale, but also which coupons match up with the sales, and therefore can get you the best shopping trip …ever (or at least a really good one!).  Some of the sites just match up a few of the best deals for the week, and others provide more — like unadvertised sales and coupon match-ups.  Some even provide the “free with coupons list” or the “under $1.00 lists”.  I find all of these valuable and am so glad they are able to do them for me and the other Harris Teeter shoppers. 

While searching their lists – if I find something I want or need, I will use the provided link (if there is one) and print out a coupon for that item.  I also go up to the Harris Teeter website and check out the E-VIC (their loyalty program) to see if there are any coupons I want to add to my card (these are called ZVR).  ZVR coupons are taken off automatically at the register when you use your card and buy the specific products and are in addition to your printed/doubled coupons.  These sometimes will make an item totally free, and other times even make you a small profit. If you have other cards that give you points, bonuses or rewards or where you can add coupons to your cards – you might want to check those out as well.

NOTE: You must have an E-VIC card to be eligible for the Super Doubles, and sign up online to take advantage of the ZVR coupons.

I always read several of the blogs looking mostly for products I use (first choice) and then for products that with the coupon are free.  Sometimes there are tons of choices, and sometimes not so many.  If there are only a few deals I can do, I don’t even go unless the products are everyday ones we use (think coffee, paper towels, toilet paper, cat food). If I find a lot – I will usually make up to about 4 trips in the 7 days of the sale.  Remember, coupon redemption is limited to just 20 which can be doubled in a day, and so 4 trips = 4 different days.

When doing this I make as many 20 coupon lists as I can.  I go with one list, which has the product, the price, and the coupon I have that match up (and I put the coupons in the order of the list).  I know I should put the list in the order the store is laid out, but I find there are differences in the different Harris Teeters and so far I haven’t gone that far — and haven’t needed to!  If they are out of one of the products on list one, I then go to the next list and pack of coupons to see if I can find something in that one to substitute.  I am rarely prepared to take advantage of a surprise sale on something, but I always can get my 20 items – which makes the trip more efficient for me.

My 04/24/14 Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip
My 04/24/14 Harris Teeter Super Doubles Trip

So let’s see what I was able to do this time.

3 Quaker BIG Chewy Bars, 6 Old Spice Deodorant (one coupon for 2 products), 3 Colgate Toothpaste, 1 Bar of Lava Soap, 3 L’Oreal Advanced Shampoo or Conditioner, 2 L’Oreal Advance Styling Products, 3 Vidal Sassoon Styling Products, 1 Dr. Scholls full innersoles, 2 Mahatma Rice Products (1 coupon on 2)… and then 2 Venus Razor Refills and 2 Snickers bars.  The Venus Razor refills were marked down to $6.24 each and I had one $4.00 coupon and one $5.00 coupon which I used on those (you almost never find them marked down) and I used 2 free coupons for the Snickers Bars.

Grand total for my trip?  $6.78 (tax was $2.97 of that).  You can see on my list I had a ZVR of $2.00 taken off this trip.   It says coupons tendered $105.43, but that might include the sales items, and my extra coupons for my Venus refills, snickers bars and ZVR.

Harris Teeter receipt
Harris Teeter receipt

Yes, I totally enjoyed that trip.  Thank you Harris Teeter for having the Super Doubles event, and especially for not being out of stock of the coupon items.

So do you have a Harris Teeter by you?  Or another store that doubles up to $2.00 face value? 

**Disclosure: I was not paid by anyone to write this article, nor was I influenced in any way – all opinions expressed here are 100% mine.