Post Your Wins

[disneysteve]

We just got an unexpected $1.11 check from our insurance company. Apparently the company was audited by the state and it was determined they overcharged us on one of our policies from 5 years ago.

While I appreciate the gesture, I hate when stuff like that happens because I'm sure between postage, printing the checks, and administrative time, it actually cost the company more than that to issue the check, thus wasting money rather than saving it.

[james.hendrickson]

Okay, so one of the headlights on my 2015 Jeep went out.

Rather than taking it to a mechanic to replace, I googled it, figured out how to change the bulb, and bought the replacement parts myself. I paid maybe $48 dollars and picked up a bit more automotive knowledge. This is far better than paying a mechanic $150 for the job.

[disneysteve]

We've been meaning to sell a bunch of unwanted gold and some silver for ages. We finally did it today. Walked out of our jewelers with a check for $3,261. I was happy with that. Plus it helped the ongoing decluttering by getting it all out of my desk drawer and off my dresser. We kept two diamonds that were in a couple of the pieces and at some point will have those reset into something new for DW.

[Fishindude77]

Beautiful spring day today. Just got finished planting about 10 acres of clover.

[james.hendrickson]

My win is...my dividend income is starting to accelerate. I've been working pretty steadily at getting dividend income for the past few years and I'm starting to get some traction.

Here is a snapshot of what's upcoming for the next few weeks.

[disneysteve]

Beautiful spring day today. Just got finished planting about 10 acres of clover.

What do you do with the clover?

[kork13]

What do you do with the clover?

It's a great ground cover, and it'll grow to a given height & grow pretty slow from there... so it can be pretty low maintenance (although it grows very fast/dense... So if you don't like that natural height, you're mowing alot). It's also beneficial for pollinators, it's soft to walk on barefoot, and because it grows so dense & spreads itself so well, it tends to choke out alot of weeds (and other more desired plants, if you're not careful).

10 acres of clover? That's awesome. I'd love to have my lawn be dominated by clover. There's definitely some downsides (mitigated by getting a "micro-clover" variant), but alot to enjoy as well.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Which free gift would you take? I'm leaning towards the 5.2 quart pot. George Foreman grill is a $69 value but I just do see a need for it. I would make better use of the stock pot.

[disneysteve]

Which free gift would you take? I would make better use of the stock pot.

I would take the one I had the most use for. If I didn't need any of them, which would be the case here, I would take the one with the best resale value on ebay or Marketplace. If none had much value, I wouldn't bother going to claim it.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Good call disneysteve. I don't have a need for any of it but like you said take the one with the best resale value which would be the George Foreman grill which maybe I can sell for half or more of the $69 value. So I will be taking the George Foreman grill now, thanks for planting that idea in my mind. Easy choice now GF grill it will be.

[disneysteve]

Good call disneysteve. I don't have a need for any of it but like you said take the one with the best resale value which would be the George Foreman grill which maybe I can sell for half or more of the $69 value. So I will be taking the George Foreman grill now, thanks for planting that idea in my mind. Easy choice now GF grill it will be.

Happy to help.

One "side effect" of my reselling business is that I approach many things with that mindset. We go to a semi-annual whiskey lottery event at a local liquor store. In addition to winning the right to purchase desirable bottles of whiskey, you can also win a wide variety of prizes. Some are fairly cheap - bar ware and such. Others are more substantial - big screen TVs, grills, nice electronics like an iPad, and more. Just a couple of days ago, I sold a giant Jenga set on Marketplace that we won at a recent event. We also have a golf bag, a bar cart, and a windsurfing board in the garage that need to be sold. So basically very similar to the casino giveaways.

[QuarterMillionMan]

That windsurf board might fetch $500 or more. I don't golf but the golf bag must be a pretty penny. The bar cart I'd have no idea.

[disneysteve]

That windsurf board might fetch $500 or more. I don't golf but the golf bag must be a pretty penny. The bar cart I'd have no idea.

I’ve done nothing to research them yet. I’m sure they are low end as they’re promo items from the liquor companies.

[james.hendrickson]

All - I got up this morning and checked my stock accounts. I saw I had nice dividend payments from Coca Cola hit my balances (I'm holding coke in almost all my accounts). So, there are a couple of observations here:

1) First, slow and steady wins the race, I've been on a budget and buying fractional shares of Coke in my ROTH IRA for years now. Its nice to see it paying off.

2) Dividend investing works, but it takes time.

Neither of these are earth shattering observations, but its nice when conventional wisdom plays out.