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  • Originally posted by GVChamp View Post

    Re: excess houses. Yeah. People buy way too much house, IMHO, though I don't think they realize it. My wife's friend has some 3000 sq ft monstrosity between her and her husband, and they complain about how they don't have enough space. What the hell?! How can you not have enough space? Plus people accumulate crap to fill things endlessly. Almost everyone I see with a basement has a basement that's in total disarray and used for general storage up the wazoo. We're reallllllly trying to avoid that in our crawlspace.
    .
    From all the moving the wife and I did, we developed a 6 month system.

    If it isn't used for 6 months (not including holiday decorations ect) it gets thrown out. Some items may get a 6 month extension, but if we have not used it in a year it definitely gets thrown out.

    Houses in Florida don't have basements. It boggles my mind all the storage rental places here. I cannot imagine paying someone to store my junk.
    Last edited by Gun Grape; 27 Jun 18,, 02:07.

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    • You can seal the exposed edges of particle board or MDF with paint.
      The big problem with both of those materials is that they don't grip fasteners like solid wood does.

      On a personal note I'm allergic to MDF. Must be something in the glue. If the sawdust gets on me I break out in a rash. If I'm around it when its being cut without wearing a mask, I have whats close/similar to an asthma attack.
      Last edited by Gun Grape; 27 Jun 18,, 02:12.

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      • Originally posted by Gun Grape View Post
        On a personal note I'm allergic to MDF. Must be something in the glue. If the sawdust gets on me I break out in a rash. If I'm around it when its being cut without wearing a mask, I have whats close/similar to an asthma attack.
        You might be allergic to a species of wood used alongside others in the MDF. I'm allergic to red oak. Found that out when I worked in a furniture parts factory and had to work gluing, tenoning, sanding, and mortising the stuff. Like you've described with the MDF, I broke out in a rash. I just dealt with it though.

        I wouldn't buy red oak furniture though for my home, and I haven't had to work with red oak now for 13 years.
        "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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        • [QUOTE=GVChamp;1042742

          Re: excess houses. Yeah. People buy way too much house, IMHO, though I don't think they realize it. My wife's friend has some 3000 sq ft monstrosity between her and her husband, and they complain about how they don't have enough space. What the hell?! How can you not have enough space? Plus people accumulate crap to fill things endlessly. Almost everyone I see with a basement has a basement that's in total disarray and used for general storage up the wazoo. We're reallllllly trying to avoid that in our crawlspace.

          .[/QUOTE]

          If I had a 3000 sq ft. house, although my parents once had a 3500 sq ft house after the downstairs was refinished, I would use only 1000 sq ft for the living portion and the other 2000 sq ft for my garage. If just me I could live with a big garage and my living quarters above the garage.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by Gun Grape View Post
            From all the moving the wife and I did, we developed a 6 month system.

            If it isn't used for 6 months (not including holiday decorations ect) it gets thrown out. Some items may get a 6 month extension, but if we have not used it in a year it definitely gets thrown out.

            Houses in Florida don't have basements. It boggles my mind all the storage rental places here. I cannot imagine paying someone to store my junk.
            That's why I could never live in Florida.

            If I were to ever own a proper home, I'd want two basements. A full basement, then another basement beneath that. I'd use it as a retreat from high temperatures in the summer, as a root/beer cellar, a fallout shelter, and use air flow to pump air up to utilize as air conditioning in the summer, and 55F worth of free heat in the winters.

            This is, of course, dependent on whether my settle 50 or 100 miles upriver somewhere near the Hudson Bay plan as a farmer/hunter-gatherer in 20 years is viable or not. It might just be pie in the sky, and I might have to settle for less. ;-)

            I also have a tendency to give/throw away anything I don't need. I can fit everything I currently own in three storage bins.
            Last edited by Ironduke; 27 Jun 18,, 09:38.
            "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

            Comment


            • Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
              If I had a 3000 sq ft. house, although my parents once had a 3500 sq ft house after the downstairs was refinished, I would use only 1000 sq ft for the living portion and the other 2000 sq ft for my garage. If just me I could live with a big garage and my living quarters above the garage.
              I know a guy with a place like that. He even has a fireman's pole to slide down from his living quarters down into the garage. Not joking.
              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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              • I guess I am at the other end of life. Nearest IKEA is 130 miles away...and I already have enough Allen wrenches, so....

                Our living room is Ethan Allen along with 2 heirloom chairs that have been redone. Also a rocking chair from my late brother's house. It is the same model JFK used for his back and its the best chair in the house for me. Master bedroom are two antique dressers and 2 side tables along with a new bed. Side tables and dressers were family heirlooms from wife. My dresser was an antique we refurbished ourselves. Kitchen has a central island where we eat on barstools we bought at local furniture store. The side board is an old poplar wood Hoosier we refinished. Formal dining room is furniture from either my parents house or my wife's parents house. Son's room is local furniture with a new bed...he has moved into his own apartment so he is using the college furniture. Guest room/office has a ton of bookcases from a local furniture store, local store bed and a desk and office chair from Target. Works great. TV Room is a mix of antiques and a new furniture (LAZ Boy and futon/couch) with a brand new entertainment center, TV, DVR & DVD player..

                So for us the furniture is a mix of sentimental (all the antiques), functional (the rocker) & practical (bookshelves, desk, chair, Son's bedroom furniture).

                It's a mix of Etehan Allen meets Greenfront Furniture in Farmville meets Target.

                Oh, we have 1 Ikea mirror....mea culpa.
                “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                Mark Twain

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                • Originally posted by GVChamp View Post
                  My wife's friend has some 3000 sq ft monstrosity between her and her husband, and they complain about how they don't have enough space. What the hell?! How can you not have enough space? Plus people accumulate crap to fill things endlessly.
                  A few months ago i helped cleaning out my parents' attic and basement. That was about 1200 square feet. My father cleaned out another 300 square feet of room used as storage within their own apartment. And between the garage, the attic crawlspace above the garage and the fully stuffed space under the stairs there's at least another 500 square feet of stuff yet waiting. All accumulated over a bit less than 40 years of course.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
                    I guess I am at the other end of life. Nearest IKEA is 130 miles away...and I already have enough Allen wrenches, so....

                    Our living room is Ethan Allen along with 2 heirloom chairs that have been redone. Also a rocking chair from my late brother's house. It is the same model JFK used for his back and its the best chair in the house for me. Master bedroom are two antique dressers and 2 side tables along with a new bed. Side tables and dressers were family heirlooms from wife. My dresser was an antique we refurbished ourselves. Kitchen has a central island where we eat on barstools we bought at local furniture store. The side board is an old poplar wood Hoosier we refinished. Formal dining room is furniture from either my parents house or my wife's parents house. Son's room is local furniture with a new bed...he has moved into his own apartment so he is using the college furniture. Guest room/office has a ton of bookcases from a local furniture store, local store bed and a desk and office chair from Target. Works great. TV Room is a mix of antiques and a new furniture (LAZ Boy and futon/couch) with a brand new entertainment center, TV, DVR & DVD player..

                    So for us the furniture is a mix of sentimental (all the antiques), functional (the rocker) & practical (bookshelves, desk, chair, Son's bedroom furniture).

                    It's a mix of Etehan Allen meets Greenfront Furniture in Farmville meets Target.

                    Oh, we have 1 Ikea mirror....mea culpa.
                    Sound like me. Besides all the older appliances our bedroom furniture consists of two dressers and two night stands (Ethan Allen) dating back to the 60's that were in my parents bedroom. There isn't much stuff in the house outside the linen closet other than my vintage Anchor Hocking Fireware dinnerware and my mother's China set when married. There is the a variety of stuff I would call junk or garbage that my wife tends to store. Yet she is Filipina, she grew up dirt poor, water from the river, food from the trees and so forth. To her this stuff is gold and is to be saved and sent to the Philippines where this stuff makes a difference to her family over there.

                    Of course there is my garage where there are boxes labeled Mazda, Ford, Mopar and General containing wall to ceiling parts for all my cars. If I need a spare distributor, starter, alternator, plugs, wires, gaskets and so forth it is there. Paint equipment, welding equipment and all the required chemicals and paints associated with cars. No one dares call that junk to my face.

                    Oh, have never set foot in Ikea.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
                      I'm wearing a Casio Men's W800H-1AV.

                      My watch:
                      • tells me what day of the week it is
                      • tells me the date, month, and year
                      • tells me what time it is, to the hours, minutes, and seconds
                      • with the press of a button, goes from 12h to 24h
                      • can have two time zones programmed
                      • has an alarm
                      • has an LED light button to see the time at night
                      • has been configured to be within a tenth of a second accurate to atomic clock time
                      • 10-year battery life, water-resistant to 100m
                      • cost $20 ($2 per year)
                      I checked the Casio watch after about ten weeks of ownership, and found that it drifted 8 seconds fast from atomic clock time over the course of that period. Which means it's off by about ~0.14 seconds per day, or ~52 seconds a year. Not too bad.

                      Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                      podcasts ?

                      then there are useful discussions and talks on youtube
                      Would rather read the transcripts. It would take only about five minutes to read the transcript, whereas the equivalent amount of discussions/talks would take an hour to listen to/watch. If I'm going to take the time to listen to/watch something, it's going to be music, film, or some other type of performance art.
                      Last edited by Ironduke; 28 Jun 18,, 16:45.
                      "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                      Comment


                      • I'd prefer reading transcripts as well, but podcasts are better for travel/house cleaning/exercise. If I am cleaning the kitchen and living room, might as well listen to Mike Duncan's "Revolutions" podcast at the same time!

                        Some podcasts, I won't do this, because I can't retain the information. The podcasts are too dense.
                        "The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood"-Otto Von Bismarck

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                        • Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
                          Oh, have never set foot in Ikea.
                          I'd recommend going, but only for the Swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice in the cafeteria, and grocery items. There's a small shop in every IKEA I've been to that sells Scandinavian foods - lots of processed fish products, various drybreads/crackers, and confectionery, etc. It's worth a trip, but only for culinary reasons as far as I'm concerned. Just ignore the fact there's a giant big box furniture store attached to the shop/cafeteria.
                          Last edited by Ironduke; 29 Jun 18,, 16:39.
                          "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by GVChamp View Post
                            30 minutes end to end wouldn't work here unless you're within, say, 7 or 8 miles, and both places are right on the transit stop. 30 minutes would cover my walking time. :/

                            We're also pretty heavily decentralized, so for me, going to the city was a 25 mile adventure. A really common commute is Naperville to downtown Chicago, which is 35ish miles. I think that's the most used regional train route in Chicago, actually. For the most part, the highways are faster, especially since posted speed limits are not adhered to (if traffic permits). Parking is painful, though, and expensive.

                            A lot of us just stick to the suburbs, but a lot of companies are moving into the city, so we'll see if that holds. More companies are moving towards Work From Home, which makes a lot more sense than daily commuting to begin with...
                            I think one of the problems with Chicago as far as traffic goes it that it's wedged right up against Lake Michigan. Chicago is in fact a coastal city beside a (freshwater) sea. Which means you don't have the convenience/advantage of beltways/ring roads that inland metros like Dallas, Minneapolis, or St. Louis have. Which means there are just as many cars per capita with roughly half as many highways to get into and around the city with a motor vehicle, relative to inland metros.
                            "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                            • Originally posted by kato View Post
                              Problem we got here are the insanely rising rental prices. If you're sitting on an old rental contract you keep it. I mean, i could very well do with a room less. Say something nice and cozy, 400-450 square feet or so, one-and-a-half rooms plus a kitchen and bathroom... problem with that is that even if you can find something like that on the market it'll most likely be rented out to some college student at 2-3 Dollar per square feet. Who will then put it illegally on AirBnB for 40-50 bucks per night. Or the city picks it up and puts a family of 8 refugees in there. Or the mafia uses it as a registered residence for twenty or so Romanians.
                              Jimmy McMillan for Bundeskanzler 2020?

                              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                              • New tech thing that I love. Electronic banking. Especially depositing checks.

                                Old way was, once I received a check, filled out a deposit slip and took to to my local branch bank. If after 2PM they processed it the next day and it took 3-5 working days for the money to show up in my account.

                                Now days, You hand me a check. I use the bank app on my phone to take a picture of it front and back (with endorsement for E-deposit only). Within 2 min I receive a text telling me that the image was accepted. Within 30min I get a text telling me that the check was processed and money has been credited to my account. And it doesn't matter what time of day or night I send the image.

                                Works great for me, especially since my primary bank is based in Va. And the nearest branch office is close to 40 miles away.

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