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This week I want to discuss the unknowns of moving to Groovy Ranch plus a few other topics. Individually, the unknowns I refer to are not very complex—but together, they add up to a whole bunch of questions.
The Great Unknowns
Internet
The only game in town at Groovy Ranch is CenturyLink. We can’t get Spectrum/Time Warner where we live, outside the city limits. In the past, we’ve gone to a brick and mortar Spectrum location, signed up, got a modem, and hooked it up. But since we built our home on raw land, we probably need a technician to come out to run lines, or connect us to the nearest ones. But I’m not sure. I plan to give CenturyLink a call this week to find out what’s involved. If an appointment is necessary, I’m not ready yet to set one up so I’m stalling a little.
Cell Phones
Mr. Groovy and I currently use Total Wireless which runs on Verizon. I pay $62 a month for the two lines with 15 GB of shared data. I’ve been very happy with the service, but it doesn’t work well out by Groovy Ranch. Our builder, Terry, his sons Jeremy and Cameron, and his worker Brian, all use U.S. Cellular with no issues. U.S. Cellular runs on Verizon, too, but has a partner agreement with another carrier for rural areas. I think that’s what makes the difference.
So I think we’ll go with U.S. Cellular, but I’m not happy about it. We’ll be doubling our cost for cell phones. The good thing is that we’re not locked into any one carrier so we can try a few. Sprint may be okay in terms of signal strength, but it doesn’t appear to be any cheaper than U.S. Cellular. I’ll try to check with a few more people in town about the service they use before making a change.
Trash Disposal
Outside of the city limits we won’t get regular trash pickup. Our only option for pickup is to hire a private service. But the local dump is only three miles down the road from us and we wouldn’t mind hauling away our own trash—hey, we’re retired! But we don’t have a truck or SUV. We need to get some sort of heavy duty container that will fit in the trunk of our Toyota Camry—one that will be secure enough, with a tight lid, to drop our trash bags in on a daily basis.
Any suggestions?
Ranch Update
Kitchen and Bathroom Cabinets
Jeremy installed the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and did an amazing job. You know you’re in good hands when the cabinet installer is your builder’s son, and he’s gushing about how good they look. Jeremy’s a real perfectionist. He pointed out that the cabinet company sent the wrong stays for the drawers. These stays prevent the drawers from opening all the way. We probably would not have noticed that the last inch of drawer space is inaccessible, but Jeremy did. And he ordered twenty sets of new stays from the cabinet company and will swap them out—a chore that will take him a few hours to complete.
Counter Tops
This week the folks who install the counter tops will come to the house to measure the template. Most likely, the tops will be installed next week. Mr. Groovy and I are picking out the back splash tile today. I scheduled appliances to be delivered this week, initially, but pushed that out to next week. Depending on the work flow, I may delay that one more week.
Window Treatments
Last week Mr. Groovy and I ordered window treatments. Lowe’s had a sale on Bali products and we also decided to use their installation service. They charge $99 for up to nine windows and $10 per window after that—that includes the installer making a trip to measure the windows. We decided on faux wood blinds for nine windows, a roller shade for the three casement windows in the kitchen, and matching panels for the sliding doors leading to the screened-in porch.
I wavered on the price of the panels—vertical blinds in the same material cost a few hundred dollars less. But Mr. Groovy is not a fan of vertical blinds and the panels provide a neater, more modern look. So he convinced me to spend the money. We chose a color scheme that ties in the wood floors, gray and white cabinets, counter tops, back splash, and wood dining table we plan to have built. We’re also adding texture to the room.
All in, we’re spending approximately $1,400 on the window treatments. I seriously thought we’d buy off the rack blinds cut to size for the nine windows. Mr. Groovy would then install them, and we’d leave the kitchen windows and sliders for a later time. I envisioned spending $600 to $700 for the blinds and installation. But after the installer measured, it occurred to me we need the additional coverage for privacy. And I trust that the installer really knows his business—he’s been installing window treatments for 18 years. He’s a man of faith with his own company, and does independent contractor work for Lowe’s on the side.
Move-In Date
It looks like we’ll be in around Thanksgiving. We’ve still got plumbing, electrical, counter tops, another coat of poly on the wood floors, and a few other things that need to be done. We hear getting a final inspection and a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) takes little time. So we’re getting close!
Book Update and One for the Books
Book Update
Books sold: 149 and holding. Did The Groovy Guide To Financial Independence plateau? Say it ain’t so!
Perhaps we can use some positive book reviews? Ahem—if any of you PF bloggers out there would write and publish a review on your site, you’d be helping us out. If you’re willing and haven’t already purchased the book let me know. I can send you a PDF copy.
On the podcast front, Mr. Groovy taped several soon-to-be-released episodes and he is getting more comfortable with the process. He’s now working on his next book, The Groovy Guide To the Muscle-Up. My book, however,The Groovy Guide to Moving Back In With Your Parents is up next in the Groovy Book Empire.
Following Mr. Groovy’s book example, I decided to include stories from several people in the community who’ve moved back in with their parents at some point. However, my book will be much shorter than the “Opus” and will not include sidebar contributions. I’ll share the stories and include a smattering of quotes from the people I interviewed.
So far I’ve talked with and received great material from Jason from Winning Personal Finance, Bob from Tawcan, and Tim from Life for the Better. I have several calls lined up over the next few weeks and a few more I’d like to schedule. If you’ve moved back in with your parents (other than right after college because I’ve got a number of folks in that category), and lived to tell the tale, feel free to reach out.
One for the Books
As Editor, Public Relations Manager, and Chief Bottle Washer for The Groovy Guide To Financial Independence, I’ve reached out to podcast hosts to get interviews for Mr. Groovy. My success rate has been around 75%. Not bad. But this week I had an exchange with a personal finance podcaster that was a little unsettling.
This particular podcaster expects his guests to pay $350 to appear on his show. That takes a lot of chutzpah! The podcaster calls his offer a “sponsored guest” appearance. You can dress it up any way you like, but you’re still requiring guests to pay to be on your show. Now that I know all his guests cough up money to be interviewed, I hit “unsubscribe” on my podcast app. The show lost its validity to me.
The sponsorship opportunities I want to be involved in are those that support the community. This past month Mr. Groovy and I proudly sponsored Women Who Money because Amy and Vicki are doing great work in the community and we want to stand behind them and with them. We asked to become sponsors.
But pay to be on someone’s show? No way. Believe me, I consider it an honor for Mr. Groovy to be invited on anyone’s show. It’s certainly a win/win situation, especially since he has a book to promote. But he also has knowledge and wisdom to share with an audience. And that, alone, should be more than sufficient to warrant a podcast appearance—if the podcaster is interested in Mr. Groovy’s message, rather than his wallet.
Okay thanks for letting me blow off some steam. I didn’t reply to said podcaster because I feared I’d bite his head off. A blog comes in handy for venting once in a while!
A Question for Our Readers
I’m interested in developing a list of inspirational books. What do you recommend?
I’m not looking for books on finance, investing, saving money, goal setting, time management, productivity, frugality, or any of the common topics we normally discuss on personal finance blogs. I’m looking for purely inspirational books—emotionally, spiritually, or books that are biographical, scientific—anything uplifting that makes you feel like a better person after reading it.
For example, one of the most inspiring books I’ve read this year is Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s A Gift from the Sea.
To use my dear husband’s phrase—what say you?
I offer for your consideration the autobiography of General Grant. I am nearly finished with it. For a man who lead the North to victory, and later became president, he did not forget his many failures in life. The man was humble. He never quit. He never gave up. His thoughts on slavery and those he fought with and against would not be out of place today. His insight into Lincoln was equally enlightening. It is really a great read.
I am very glad NYC cleaned up his tomb in NYC, as it was embarrassing that they let it be covered with graffiti in the 1970s and 80s.
Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds very interesting and I certainly could afford to spend a little time on some more historical reading. It’s not an area I gravitate towards naturally.
Excited to see the progress on the ranch!
Quick cell phone tip: Consider Project Fi from Google. My wife and I average $45-50 a month, using phones mostly at home/work where all data is routed via wifi. They are an MVNO that uses Sprint among other providers, which you mentioned works in your area. Our experience has been great. No contract! Down side: may need to buy a compatible phone, although I ran the number and we still more than made it up in the first six months.
More here:
https://www.crispydoc.com/2017/05/31/once-you-go-iphone-can-you-go-back/
Something to think about before spending (I know and relate to your laborious process).
Fondly,
CD
Crispy Doc recently posted…Gasem Started A Blog!
Project FI could be a great solution — if we could get it. I plugged in our address and it comes up OK for 3G.
Right now there’s a question about whether we’ll even be able to get internet. I think we will but I’m just hoping we don’t have to resort to satellite.
The interview was great! Your book is going to turn out fantastic! Let us know if you need anything else!
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The pleasure was mine!
Buddah’s brain. The science and meditation in one book, I found that inspirational. 🙂
I listened to The Wright brothers by David McCullough and found that really interesting. Talk about stick to it ness!
P.s. if it weren’t for blinds, it’d be curtains for all of us!
Thanks for the book recommendations!
Ha, ha. Cute. I’m trying to think of witty retort but I got nothing.
Great update. Wow. You will be moving in there in no time.
Where I live I am considered rural. Our internet is provided by satellite which kind of sucks (more expensive and very low data caps (the most expensive plan I used to have is $140/mo for only 20 gb/mo). Plus when bad weather happens it is pretty unreliable. Same thing with the satellite TV I am forced to get as well.
There has been a company that is interested in supplying broadband here so hopefully that goes through.
I take my trash to the local dump as well (about 2 miles). Have a 3rd vehicle mainly for that. I prefer it to be honest because you can take trash out when you need to instead of waiting for the scheduled day
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The other thing about trash pickup I don’t like is that you have to leave the bins by the curb for pickup. Whether you do or don’t kind of makes it easy for people to figure out when you’re away for more than a few days.
The issues you mention with satellite I’ve heard from others too, especially with regard to bad weather. Fingers crossed on the broadband.
Those are the things that seem to get overlooked in the city vs rural debate – the monopolies of services and just the straight up inability to get some. We live in town, but we definitely experience that when we travel. Nice break when it’s for a trip, a bit more frustrating when it’s every day life.
Haven’t gotten around to reading the book yet, to be honest 🙈 Hoping for November when life is not so absolutely bonkers.
If we were still working the connectivity issues would be much larger. We needed strong WiFi and good phone service since we telecommuted. Now it’s not that critical although it certainly will be nice if all runs smoothly.
For cell phone you might check out Google’s Project Fi. Calls are made through wifi whenever you’re on wifi. They partner with T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular for cellular service. The U.S. Cellular coverage map looks good in your area. Cost is $20/line plus $10 per GB of data and you’re only charged for what you use. I never use even a GB of data/month so my bill is typically $26 – $28/month. This month they’re giving me a $20 Florence relief credit so my bill is $6.21. I didn’t ask for the credit, just something they did.
I predict you will grow tired of disposing of your trash – especially without a pickup.
We put up cheap mini blinds in our upstairs rooms when we moved in. They were to be a temporary solution. Does 15 years still count as temporary? Last month I put up some light-blocking shades in our bedroom. LIFE CHANGING!!!! Not even kidding.
Can’t believe how quickly Groovy Ranch is coming along. If you have a construction loan then a quick builder is saving you serious money.
Brian @ The Graying Saver recently posted…Dear Past Self, Thank You for Taking Those Risks on my Behalf. Your Friend, Present Self.
I wonder if Project FI is out in rural areas. I’ll take a look, thanks. The other thing is we have no idea yet how strong our WiFi will be.
We may grow tired of the garbage thing but we’ll probably get an SUV in another year. That should help.
I’m so glad to hear the shades were life-changing! I completely understand. About the “temporary” situation too — which is why I thought we better do the kitchen and the sliders right. Chances are they won’t get redone for at least ten years.
350 bucks. those are some titanium stones! mrs. me made a lot of our window treatments. they’re just simple curtains. we have one set of those fancy cellular blockout blinds that insulate a little too. but all that being said we’re not very picky and kinda cheap on that stuff.
i was in my substandard “starter marriage” in my early 30’s and we moved from new orleans back in with my mom in the country for a few months. it was hell.
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Had we left the kitchen and porch sliders for another time, we would have gone cheap, too.
For the most part we’re looking at simple lines and furniture that allows the house to make a statement on its own. Sometimes simple is inexpensive, and sometimes it’s not!
Agreed on the titanium stones!
Does it count that we “moved in” with my husband’s parents half of every week last year as husband Mom was in and out of the hospital and then as we moved them to Assisted Living? I’m telling you, what an experience!
I’ll be thinking abut that book possibly. Congratulations on your ranch progress.
That doesn’t sound like fun, Susan, but you’re a good daughter!
Are you still in Greece?
Yes! Just waking up for the last day. This is really a blast. Not that my in-laws aren’t loads of fun either!
You know it’s getting real when you’re down to the details of the move. Your window treatments sound great and along with all the new cabinets and countertops, I have a bit of envy. We’re hoping to renovate our two bathrooms sometime in the coming year. That’s a project that we’ve put off for a long time and it’s overdue.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing more photos as things get completed at Groovy Ranch!
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Thanks, Gary!
At least you have two bathrooms and can do one at a time. In NY we renovated the one and only bathroom we had. That was not fun!
In Charlotte we redid a bathroom through Lowe’s. So far we’ve had good luck with their services and subcontractors.
Hmm..I have stopped posting as much but will try and get a review set up. I think I already reviewed it on amazon and that should help…
As for the home, you are so close. Seems like some minor decisions to be made. Nice work!
Yes, that was a great Amazon review. Thank you so much!
Definitely all the major stuff is behind us now. Counter tops are going in tomorrow!
I feel you guys on the Internet. Our only option is AT&T and it was a mess to get them to finally give service. As in it took a year from the time we moved in.
Because our house was new construction, we didn’t have a street address the last time they ran DSL lines in our area. So, they were “at capacity.”
Well, they installed new lines on an adjacent street to offer faster service. Unfortunately we weren’t on that line, but the salesman said we were now qualified. So they ended up installing it despite the snafu.
Today, we have 5 Mbps. We don’t stream a lot, so it’s good for what we do. And, it’s way better than paying for satellite internet.
We bought a wifi repeater and bummed internet off our neighbor during the gap. It wasn’t always a reliable connection, but it was better than nothing. And, thankfully we had a nice neighbor.
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I’m hoping we won’t run into those problems, Josh. Thank goodness for nice neighbors.
Between the house behind us and the other newly constructed one on our street, I’m fairly confident we’ll get something. It’s very sparsely populated where we are so hopefully there won’t be an issue with capacity. If Mr. G and I weren’t retired it would be very sticky because we both needed a strong connection to work from home.
$350 to be on a podcast. Unheard of! I’m dying to know who it was! I agree on the vertical blind. I feel like they are always breaking, and they kind of flop around. My faves are plantation shutters. Hope you get all the details of the house figured out. I’m sure that will be a little bit of an adjustment.
I don’t like the flopping around with vertical blinds either. And they can look kind of dated too.
Plantation shutters are beautiful. I know they can be expensive but I think it’s worth it with the right kind of windows and home.
I’m usually blunt but somehow I don’t feel it’s right to call out the podcaster publicly. He wasn’t disrespectful or anything. Power to him, I guess, if he can get payment — but it won’t be from me.
Good luck with moving. The kitchen sounds great. I can’t wait to see more pictures. Ugh. I hate window treatments. They are so expensive. If we ever get our dream property, I’d skip them. Mrs. RB40 probably wouldn’t like that, though.
Paying $350 to be on a podcast? That’s nuts. They should pay you.
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Thanks, Joe. I hear you about window treatments. In our last home we had 8 just in our sun room. All in we had over 20 and it was a bit overwhelming.
Nuts. Yes, exactly!
I can SOOO relate to those moving “unknowns”. Our internet is so bad in the mountains, I have to drive down to the library for Skype calls/podcast interviews. Frustrating beyond words.
As for trash service, we only live 2 miles from our local dump, but found it cheaper to hire a local trash company ($20/month for weekly pickups vs. $10 every time I go to the dump).
Ranch is looking amazing, Thanksgiving can’t get here fast enough! Interesting book? I just read “Island In The Sound”, an interesting look at life on an island in Puget Sound, WA circa 1965. A simpler time, an interesting read.
Mountains are tough!
The library by Groovy Ranch is way to small to find privacy. I might be better off at McDonald’s or their parking lot if it’s really bad.
I’ll have to find out if there’s a charge at the dump. I believe we may pay a fee in our taxes for trash, up to a certain number of pounds per year, even if we don’t get pickup.
Thanks for the book tip! I think I’d like that.
I live in the mountains of North Carolina. I use Virgin Mobile for my phone. I have no problems where I live, but service is spotty one town over.
I have Skyline for wifi…it is the only choice.
I do take my trash to the dump. I compost all non animal food items, so I end up with only one trash bag a week.
Can I recommend Watership Down? I finished a few weeks ago. I read a lot, and this was one of the best!
You’d think one town over wouldn’t make a difference and the technology would be perfected by now!
Watership Down! Thanks, that’s a blast from the past. I never read it but I certainly heard of it. Perhaps I’m thinking of the film?
Lizzy – we have Skyline wifi at our cabin and they are far superior to Spectrum/Time Warner, which is what we have in Raleigh.
And I second the vote for Watership Down. Great book.
Can’t wait to see y’all move in to the Groovy Ranch!
So exciting.
One of my favorite inspirational authors is Og Mandino and a favorite book of mine is “A Better Way to Live.”
Thanks, Kathi. I’m pretty sure I’ve read something by Og Mandino but I can’t remember which book, LOL. A Better Way to Live sounds like a good place to start.
For inspirational books read “Touching the void” by Joe Simpson. Survival at it’s most difficult.
And if you get Sprint service at the groovy ranch you might want to try Virgin Mobile. I pay only $35 a month for unlimited everything, no contract, leave anytime.
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I was going to say the same thing! I also have Virgin Mobile and it works great. With my iPhone on auto pay, the bill is only $30/month. If Sprint works in that area, also look into Boost and Ting. There’s got to be a cheaper option than Sprint.
The progress on the Ranch is amazing! You both must be so excited 🙂
$30 a month is more my style!
We’re super excited. Thanks, Kate! And I owe you an email.
I haven’t found anyone yet who has used Sprint near Groovy Ranch. We spoke to 3 more folks today who use U.S. Cellular. Thanks for the book recommendation Dave!