Joe over at Retire by 40 recently wrote about a potential Financial Independence TV show:
Last month, I had an opportunity to meet with a producer who was doing the groundwork for a reality show about financial independence. When I first heard about it, I immediately thought – this is going to be a snoozer… I love my life, but it is way too ordinary to watch on TV
I’m not so sure Joe is correct. Drama of all sorts goes down in the 1500 household.
Drama in the 1500 Household!
Thermostat wars!
I’ve written about the thermostat wars before. When the weather get cold, Mrs. 1500 likes to turn our home into an 1800 square foot sauna. I’m good with 68 while she prefers the “Nuclear Fusion” setting. Unfortunately, her same desire to sweat profusely extends to our autos.
True story: We were driving around in the middle of winter a while ago and it was so hot in the damn car that I stripped down to my underwear. My goal was to humiliate Mrs. 1500 into turning the heat down. This backfired because she couldn’t have cared less. All I got were puzzled looks from other drivers who wondered why the dude in the next car had no shirt on when it was 20 outside.
Mrs. 1500 note: I’m not sure how true this ‘true story’ actually is. I don’t remember Mr. 1500 stripped down to his underpants in a car, ever. Although once he did remove his shirt. It was about 20 outside, I was driving and in the shady part of the car, he was in the passenger seat, in the sunny part. Colorado’s sun is pretty strong, even in the winter…
Mr. 1500 rebuttal: It’s all true. It happened when we lived in Illinois (Mrs. 1500 has a poor memory) where the sun doesn’t appear for the 7 months of winter.
Water wars!
I’m content drinking water out of the faucet, but Mrs. 1500 will only drink the filtered stuff that comes out of the refrigerator. The charcoal filters* cost an obscene amount of money ($40!) and we’re supposed to replace them about every 3 months. The refrigerator even has an annoying little light that comes on to tell us that we need to replace the filter. Mrs. 1500 wants to obey the “change filter” light (they should have just made it a bunch of dollar signs) while I say: “Screw you refrigerator, I’ll get you a new filter once per year.”
Mrs. 1500 correction to an obvious lie: The filters are good for 6 months. They cost $40, there is a gentle reminder light which I find helpful. However, the first 2 years we lived with this refrigerator, we only changed the filter once.
A new battle recently erupted in our household, but first I must get to last week’s answers. I asked you about why you’re pursing Financial Independence:
Reader SJ and I have very similar brains:
I want none of the above. I’m not even asking for extra time for family as I feel I have a sufficient amount now. What I want from becoming FI is something that, in theory, could be had right now, or it might be something that FI can’t ever afford me: freedom from worry. I am always creating the worst disaster in my head. ..
FI won’t fix all my issues (clearly), but it will definitely give me more confidence that I can handle at least a few of my “worst case scenario” imaginings, like my husband passing away or either of us becoming too old or disabled to work.
FI does make life way less stressful. I’m definitely in a better place with a large nest egg.
Mrs. BITA has wise words:
I have spent my whole life doing one thing. I have become pretty good at that thing. But it is one thing. I have but one life. It seems insane to spend that whole life doing one thing. I want to see more, do more, be more. I want to lie on my death bed (hopefully when I’m really really old) and know that I squeezed everything I possibly could out of my ever so brief time here.
Reader Jazzdelaney had a good comment:
As a community (I dare not call it a “movement”), people working towards FIRE appear to be some of the highest achieving, highest earning, highest innovating, highest aiming, thoughtful and intentional people in our society. We analyze, we deliberate, we plan, we execute, we demonstrate discipline and we have the internal fortitude to eschew peer pressure/social convention. Heck, this group might be considered “the 1%” if that were measured by a different set of criteria.
Here’s the interesting thing – despite being capable of attaining almost any pursuit we set ourselves to; none of us (at least that I’m aware of) believe that acquiring material possessions are a key factor to our happiness. As a group, we could have almost anything and yet we all chose to focus our primary efforts elsewhere.
At the risk of sounding like an elitist, I think that most of us FI people have our priorities in better order than the general populace. We’re a thoughtful, enlightened bunch.
Joe from Retire by 40 had the understatement of the century:
FI is awesome because you can do whatever you want at a more relaxed pace. Life is a lot better now that I don’t have to rush off to work at 7am every morning.
Mrs. Need2Save makes a thoughtful point:
We also want to have more time and resources to give to others through volunteering and charities.
New Battle in the 1500 Household
I recently discovered the joy of rolling my laundry. Rolling clothes makes them fit much more efficiently in drawers and suitcases. I have about a zillion t-shirts and rolling brought order to my drawer:
(Mrs. 1500 note: FINALLY, Mr. 1500 speaks the truth. He has more than a zillion t-shirts. Honest to God, he has an entire over-supply of summer t-shirts AND an entire over-supply of winter t-shirts.)
I enthusiastically showed Mrs. 1500 my newly organized drawer and she was like:
Whatever.
She went back to whatever she was doing (probably turning the thermostat up to 90 behind my back). I was disappointed in her lack of enthusiasm, but rolled on.
A couple days later, I was doing the laundry when trouble broke out. I retrieved the clothes from the dryer, dumped them out on the bed and started rolling my shirts. I also rolled Mrs. 1500’s and the kids’ too. (Mrs. 1500 has to stop this ridiculousness right here: FIRST OFF, he did NOT retrieve the clothes from the dryer and dump them on the bed. Second, he rolled **maybe** two shirts – both mine – and then acted like he had cured cancer with his two rolled shirts. Every single one of my shirts is already folded. I don’t have time for this change-everything roll-it-up nonsense…)
Mrs. 1500 came in a short while later and asked what I was doing. I replied that I was rolling everyone’s shirts. She glared at me and then proceeded to unroll all of my hard work and then fold them. (Mrs. 1500 sets the record straight: **unroll all of my hard work** Yeah, two. Sigh.)
Ignore Mrs. 1500. This is pretty much how it went down:
I was disappointed, but not surprised. In my extensive survey of women (2), I have found that they hate rolling. There must be something in that Y chromosome that enables men to appreciate and embrace this critical life-hack. I didn’t even put up a fight because there are more important battles:
Ask the Readers
And finally, we arrive at the questions:
- Do you understand the incredible power of rolling? Have you embraced it in your own household?
- How do I get my lovely wife to embrace a reasonable thermostat setting? (Mrs. 1500 note: And yet, he refuses to allow me to put my ice-cold feet on him when we are in bed. Seriously, if he’s so hot, why not let me remove some of his warmth?!? I’m just trying to be helpful.)
- What is your best life-hack? Tell me something out of the ordinary that you do to improve your routine!
*I’m convinced that these filters are a scam devised by some genius at the refrigerator company. It’s brilliant:
Evil Refrigerator Company Executive:
Instead of just selling a $1200 refrigerator once every 10 years, let’s sell filters (a canister filled with charcoal) that cost $160 every year!
**Mr. 1500 rebuttal: Yes, it is.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
In my sample of woman (1) she rolls part of the time. You should check out our cabinet in the bathroom. Filled with all sorts of rolled up towels. Which are, as you noted, a pretty efficient use of space. So I completely support Mrs. CF in her rolling exercise when cleaning up the wash.
However, for the remainder of the wardrobe we don’t do any rolling. We do have an insane amount of cloth hangers, so we can hang the cloths up to dry (no dryer here) and put them straight into the wardrobe, talking about an efficient household routine!
Team CF recently posted…Career Switch
ha! There is a subset of my shirts that I roll, but other subsets get folded in very particular ways. But I don’t think it has anything to do with gender. Marie Kondo – master of organization – is a huge advocate of rolling very tightly. In fact she goes a step further than your rolls, and stores items vertically after they have been rolled (as in, so you can see the “cinnamon bun” part of the roll up top).
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This is really funny, our towels are actually stored vertically. And yes, Mrs. CF did read Marie Kondo for the fun of it (I just got the summary, never realized this way of storing originated from the book). Has been a rather effective strategy for during/after our last move. Got rid of so much stuff, feels really good actually.
Team CF recently posted…Career Switch
Actually rolling was introduced by my wife for packing for trips. I hadn’t thought to use it for our drawers so you may have just given us an idea or created a war.
We also never use to have a thermostat issue, that’s changed now that we have kids. It’s always if they roll out of their blankets they might wake up… I’m not going to win that one for a while.
Yes the filters are a money play. Revenue stream trumps instrument sale for sustainable company revenue and they know it. We went to a whole house filter (live on a well) which is a once a year up lamp replacement. Probably about the same cost though.
The biggest battle here is over lights. My wife annoyingly forgets to turn off lights when she leaves the room. I go around shutting them off but about a third of the time I guess wrong and get one she plans to come back too. Then the light wars begin;)
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I’m the one who goes around shutting off lights but without fail my husband always shuts off one light as he’s leaving the room, consistently – the room that I’m still in!
Ha ha!
Have a blanket in the car for cold passengers, or start rolling down your window if you get hot in the car.
What are your utility bills with heat in the winter? I am a woman but am cheap I suppose so we keep our house no higher than 68. We have great hydronic baseboard heat but not great insulation so putting it higher is pointless. I also get cold feet but that is where house slippers during day and wearing socks in bed come into play. However, come summer, I definitely crank that AC if I’m down to minimal clothing and still hot. At least in the winter you can cover up more if you’re cold.
The fridge filter can be a problem if you don’t change it. My aunt never changed hers and she never took the filter out so it became a slow trickle. You can go without the filter (at least on our Frigidaire) but have to put some funky piece in its place.
You and I have almost the exact same problems but it’s my husband with the heat and the STUPID refrigerator filters. He claims he can taste the “chlorine” in the tap water in his coffee – yet he dumps flavored creamer in it. Really! I can live with the little red filter light for only so long though… I will agree with the Mrs. on the cold feet in bed though – why do you men complain about that? 🙂 As for the rolling of the shirts? Haven’t tried that – but I like that you can see them all. When you stack them – you have do use the “dig through” method which messes them up anyway!
As a guy I generally only roll clothes to save space in my suitcase for trips. Otherwise, shirts are hung and jeans are folded. While undershirts, underpants and socks(with their mates) are waded up and thrown in the dresser.
As for the thermostat, my wife is fairly reasonable about (she has a lot assortment of sweatshirts). mainly 69 while we(read as she) are at home (my son and i have the house at 66 when she is away).
I find it much easier having only grey socks in order to skip the matching process
Here’s a hack for you that may help… But a space heater for her that she can take wherever she is (not in the car I guess). That way you aren’t paying to hear the whole house and your wife is happy!
Um, I would be watching your reality show all day long if that ever came to fruition!
Our household seems to be a little more even-keel. I think the one exception is that every night, when we’re sitting in the living room watching our shows, when I’m done, I just shut it off. She always says “how do you know I was done watching TV?”
One night she decided to prove her point. I turned it off and she turned it back on and said “I’m still watching.” I said Ok and went up to bed. The next morning she came down and said “I struggled to keep myself awake after you went upstairs… it was really tough to prove a point!”
We’re back to me just shutting off the TV when I decide it’s time to call it for the night. 🙂
— Jim
Jim @ Route To Retire recently posted…Bringing the Fun Back to the Workplace
In my sample of woman (1) my wife, she rolls our clothes only when we pack for a trip. We hang a lot of our clothes in our closet, well I do.
We don’t have the fight about the heat in our house, 68 is our winter temp. In the summer the battle is on for how cool to keep it. My wife prefers an ice box. We agree to disagree on the summer temperature.
We have the same water filter system. That red light send females into some type of mode that I can’t explain. I believe you can reset the light without replacing the filter, but you didn’t hear that from me.
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OK Brian – do share how you can reset that light? I would owe you a beer or two for that!!
Just push and hold the filter button, just like you would if you actually replaced the filter
Thanks Jeff! Just that simple.
Brian @ Debt Discipline recently posted…Net Worth Update: October 2016
Mrs. PIE like to roll towels to pack them efficiently in the oversized chest of drawers on the upstairs landing. We have lots of towels. Nearly as many towels as mixing bowls. Those beach towel suckers take some serious rolling. Some handy dexterity required to roll those bad boys quickly.
Mrs. PIE also enjoys ironing bed linen. Yep, you heard it right……Stuff that we will lie on and crease within a nanosecond of touching it! I need some of your readers assistance to get to the bottom of this one.
#firstworldproblems
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Very simple: Mrs. PIE is certifiably insane. Unless she enjoys ironing. I hate it.
I don’t even iron the items I wear in public!
Wow, your household really does have a lot of drama!
As far as t-shirt rolling goes, I can definitely see the advantages, but in the Tako household we embrace a separation of duties policy. In other words, the laundry is not on my list of approved duties, so I stay well out of its way.
She seems to have embraced this policy as well. I’ve never once received any feedback on how to mow the lawn better or vacuum the house more efficiently. Pick your battles Mr. 1500, pick your battles.
As far as the thermostat battle goes…well, that was a LONG and DIFFICULT battle. But I prevailed with logic, a pair of cute wool slippers, and a hoodie.
The slippers and hoodie help her regulate her temperature better. Women (often) have poor circulation to their extremities, so the slippers help a lot. Heck, even I’ve got a pair to put on when my feet are cold.
Everyone’s personal body temperature is going to vary based on metabolism, and physical activity level. So we regulate our temperatures *personally* by adjusting *clothing* as necessary…not the thermostat.
And yes, she is allowed to put her cold feet on me….
“And yes, she is allowed to put her cold feet on me….”
Where do you live?
We drink a lot of water, and both use the fridge filter. But while ours goes for $50 at the hardware store, I have found generic ones online for $15 which work great.
As far as heat we both like it warm but keep our thermostat at 66. When its cold outside and we are home, we run the wood stove. That sucker heats the basement up to 80 deg while its ~70 upstairs – we spend a lot of time in the lower level 🙂
Mrs CK recently introduced a technique that is something between the roll and the fold. Its 1 extra fold so you can store your t-shirts vertically and can see all the shirts in your drawer… We might be crazy, but could a compromise is the best of both worlds?
I only roll my t-shirts when I put them in a suit case. Otherwise I hang them on hangars. I know it is weird, but I have this closed that would get no use if I didn’t hang my shirts up. Of course my dresser looks really empty because all it has is underpants, athletic shorts and socks…
As far as the thermostat. I have “trained” my family but slowly decreasing the temperature in our house 1 degree every year. I am down to 69 this year and hope to be at 68 next year. Maybe you should get one of those fancy internet connected thermostats then you have control all the time…
Hahaha, I would love to watch a reality TV show about FI. I think it would be freaking awesome–but I’m sure they’ll sensationalize it to the point that we all roll our eyes.
Mr. Picky Pincher and I had a knock-down-drag-out fight when we first started living together. The topic?
How to fold towels.
It was absolutely brutal.
Mr. Picky Pincher folds his towels in thirds, while I simply fold mine in half. He was so adamant about this folding business that I finally acquiesced.
But occasionally I’ll slip in a few folded my way just to get his goat. 😉
Mrs. Picky Pincher recently posted…What a Frugal Weekend!
Mrs Bita said, “I have spent my whole life doing one thing. I have become pretty good at that thing. But it is one thing. I have but one life. It seems insane to spend that whole life doing one thing. I want to see more, do more, be more.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28VgqS7Vk2I
Now I have to watch that movie. And maybe take up an instrument. And find a cave.
Mrs. BITA recently posted…Happy Diwaloween!
Great Post. I find the idea of a FI TV show wrong on so many levels… You can already see how the show will focus on trivial frugality tricks like “riding your bike in the rain!” or “finding used furniture in the alley!” and people striving to be FI will look like lunatics. But, hey, marathon runners getting up in the middle of the night to run in the rain are AMAZING and SO FOCUSSED.
Thanks Nicolas!
I also spoke to the guy doing the show and he’s on the FI path himself. I don’t want to say too much, but the company he works for isn’t into exploitation, so I think it would be a good show.
Thanks for the shout-out! You guys would make a great TV show. hahaha.
Our HVAC has been broken for 5 years and we’ve been too lazy to fix it. I turn on our portable heater when it’s 68 degree. The one thing I learn after 42 years on this earth is that women run colder than men. They are always cold for some reason.
Here is our secret – a DIY kotatsu table. Check it out. We can stay warm while the air is cold.
http://retireby40.org/save-heating-stay-warm/
XX here. Due to my time in the military, I now roll my shirts. They are tight and space efficient. Plus, they’re less likely to wrinkle when they’re rolled vs when they’re folded. This rolling policy extends to under clothes and towels. Everything else gets left in the basket, I mean neatly folded and put away. If a Mr. Gwen appears in my life with definite ways to fold and put away laundry, I will happily let him deal with them!
Gwen @ Fiery Millennials recently posted…Extreme Makeover: Fiery Millennials Edition
I’ve been “rolling my own” shirts for years, but only when packing a suitcase. The idea came to me on a vacation in Jamaica. I couldn’t fit all my newly acquired Marley shirts into the suitcase, and then I rolled one.
And suddenly I knew that “every little thing gonna be alright.”
FI TV? 22 riveting minutes of spreadsheet manipulation and blog comment replying. Sounds killer.
Cheers!
-PoF
When Mrs. 1500 reaches middle age, you’ll be on the same thermostat for awhile, in the meantime remember happy wife, happy life! I met a guy at FINCON who has a great solution for the fridge filter: http://artofbeingcheap.com/refrigerator-bypass/ This link is how he makes most of his blogging income too! I suspect your rocky mountain water is just fine without being filtered.
I have never tried rolling my shirts. I think my fear is that they would come out a wrinkled mess, especially for those that I may not have worn in quite a while.
Money Beagle recently posted…Life Insurance – Because Dying Is Not So Abstract Anymore
In the reality TV, if every episode went something like this, I would totally watch the episodes. The sarcasm, the humor, the attacks, everything is perfect! And you didn’t even need a director or producer!
I’m glad that you stood up for what you believed in while riding your car but.. Don’t you feel it was too much?! (Assuming and believing that it did happen :))
We roll when we’re traveling but not at home. Maybe should implement this at home for space saving purposes.
Sounds like you guys have more dramas than our household. Thermostat problem? Start buying Mrs. 1500 some indoor jackets, some good thermal socks, and a pair of down booties. Mrs. T has learned to wear these warm clothes when winter comes as we keep our thermostat temperature low too.
The best part of winter at home is padding around in thermal socks, fleecy yoga pants and a hoodie. I am the one always turning down the heat because my husband wants to wear shorts inside in January. Indiana doesn’t work that way unless you want gigantic gas bills. I do not. So, I turn it down and put on my cozies, he turns it up and puts on shorts…and around and around we go. Good times.
If the kids care one way or the other they have never said so. Wise children. I think my youngest has an internal combustion engine anyway. Never cold, always on the move.
I roll everything for everyone for travel. There’s no real need to for clothes at home since we both don’t have THAT much clothing. It’s an ongoing process to make sure it stays that way since I won’t get rid of things like my free but sentimental Chuck Finley tee from Comic-Con circa 2008.
I don’t know what’s considered out of the box around these parts, I think everything I do is normal 😉
I do like stopping in the middle of my work day to cook dinner though. It’s a nice break from staring at the screen and yelling at it for 6-8 hours, I can get the family fed and off bed between those key hours of 6-8 pm and then pick up my work day later in peace on second shift.
If you decide to get rid of that Chuck Finley shirt, I’ll take it.
I’ll check to see if we have an extra hiding somewhere!
Revanche @ A Gai Shan Life recently posted…Grief, hiding in my closet
I live in Colorado too.
Whenever someone talks of “rolling”, I don’t think of laundry.
Perhaps you should take Mrs 1500 out around 4:20 and have her roll her own. Maybe then she’ll be a bit mellower about the temp.
ESI Money recently posted…Millionaire Interview 1
The questions you ask are weighty ones and must be given serious thought and consideration.
1. “Do you understand the incredible power of rolling? Have you embraced it in your own household?”
Mrs BITA: I have been rolling for a year now and I will never go flat again. Mr. BITA marches to a different drummer. He neither rolls nor folds. He accumulates a pile. He sighs and moans and groans and grumbles while the pile threatens to touch the ceiling. Then he attempts to hang _everything_ up. I’m not joking. He thinks all things belong on a hanger, with the possible exception of socks. Inevitably, he runs out of hangers. Then he steals mine. I steal them right back. The tension reaches a fever pitch. Most of the pile is hung up, but a portion of it lies around, looking forlorn, waiting for the next laundry load to join it so that it can start it’s monumental growth cycle again.
2. “How do I get my lovely wife to embrace a reasonable thermostat setting? (Mrs. 1500 note: And yet, he refuses to allow me to put my ice-cold feet on him when we are in bed. Seriously, if he’s so hot, why not let me remove some of his warmth?!? I’m just trying to be helpful.)”
Mrs BITA: I side with Mrs. 1500 here about warmth sharing. Mr. BITA’s stomach is where cold limbs go to roost. I insisted that we put this in our vows. About the thermostat: I’d love to help but I’m locked in my own personal battle. I am still working on persuading Mr. BITA that we must have the ceiling fan on _every_ night, the weather notwithstanding.
3. “What is your best life-hack? Tell me something out of the ordinary that you do to improve your routine!”
Mrs BITA: I have many hacks. I do. I swear. When you asked the question though, my mind went completely blank. I’ll check back in when my thoughts return from wherever they decided to scoot off to.
Mrs. BITA recently posted…Happy Diwaloween!
I didn’t put it in our vows… What a mistake.
Although I *did* make sure he would wear a wedding ring before I said yes to the proposal.
As my dear Dad says, if you are cold in the house, even in winter – you don’t have enough clothes on. Put on a sweater or a second (3rd?) pair of socks. He believes that too much central heating makes you weak and unable to endure the elements as nature intended. To this day, the thermostat in my house is set at 67 during the day and 50 at night. We live near Buffalo, so it’s no joke. PS – central air is for wussies 😉
Mr. Frugal Turtle got me to roll clothes when we travel, but neither one of us has done that at home, yet. I’ll give it a whirl and see how I feel about it. I could see myself liking it!
I also have to add that Mr. Frugal Turtle lets me put my freezing cold feet against his legs in bed. It. Is. Awesome! I couldn’t believe it the first time I did it and he was ok with it. He says he likes it! I knew right then that I was never gonna let him go.
Too bad Mr. Frugal Turtle is taken…
I only roll when I pack a suitcase, but if my husband rolled my shirts I’d be happy as long as they ended up in my drawer. When he puts the laundry away, he shuffles my clothes with my teenage son and daughter’s clothes. You just never know where your clothes will end up. But, I’m not going speak of it if he’s doing the laundry.
I’m cold all the time, unless its over 80 degrees outside. That said, I’m also cheap, so I keep the thermostat down, wear two pair of socks, fuzzy slippers, sometimes two pairs of pants (leggings with jeans on top) and two shirts with a fleece jacket. Inside the house. Lots of blankets and, yes, warm legs to place my icy feet on in bed.
I will have to add my voice to the chorus of people that roll their clothes when traveling, but not at home. We have plenty of space for our clothes at home, and, like Gwen noted above, they often don’t make it out of the basket and into the dressers anyway…
As for temperature, my partner has an insane need to keep our place absolutely freezing at all times. I carry a blanket around with me to wrap around myself when I get cold (which is basically all the time). I’ve asked for a fleece blanket each year for Christmas going forward until I have one for each room in the house.
1 – I have embraced the power of rolling in my pajama drawer. They look much nicer rolled up than folded (or shoved) in the drawer. Plus it’s easier to see them!
2 – I get constant complaints about the temperature. It’s too hot, it’s too cold. I tell the cold people that if they stop wearing t-shirts in the winter they won’t be as cold. Maybe a gift of fuzzy slippers and an extra warm blanket should be on the Christmas shopping list for Mrs. 1500 this year?
3 – Hm, best life hack-tricky one! I don’t know if this qualifies but I love my Ooma. I got it years ago after paying for home phone through the cable company (cell service in my house is spotty at best and I want a home phone for the kids in case of an emergency). Instead of paying $40 every month the bill is $4. Over the last three years that alone saved almost $1300 with no change in service. Big shout out to Clark Howard for introducing me to it all those years ago.
My wife’s new thing is taking the laundry out of the dryer, bringing it to the den, sorting it, and then just throwing my pile of clothes in my closet. Like, “you are a big boy and can fold and put them away yourself.” And then the rest of the den just has piles of clothes everywhere. She learned this “great” idea from her sister who told her that folding clothes was a big waste of time and that she stopped doing it.
Her sister and her sister’s husband often show up with very wrinkled clothes…..VERY wrinkled.
“She learned this “great” idea from her sister who told her that folding clothes was a big waste of time and that she stopped doing it.”
This is hilarious! I’m laughing with you, not at you! What’s that you say, you’re not laughing at all? Ooops, sorry.
Ummm, maybe you want to spend Thanksgiving with someone else this year so your wife doesn’t get any more great ideas? 🙂
Literally just wrote out a long comment on my phone and lost it due to the amount of ads on the mobile view. Did you change something recently as it never used to be like this?!
I just counted 9 in line ads as well as the static one at the foot of the page.
Might be something you want to look at – most of them are repeats anyway, how many ads of a Hitachi industrial digger do I really need to see?!? 🙂
The world is now worse off because of this as I can’t be bothered to type out my story about the wardrobe hangers war between Mrs TFS and I… 😀
Dah, I’m sorry. I switched to a new ad platform. I need to change this up and I will with a new theme, but I won’t have time for that until next month. I owe you a beer.
Glad to hear it, Thanks! No rush and I will definitely hold you to that 😉
Re: the filtered water. I’d say to get a 2.5 gallon Berkey water filter. It’s way more effective than a charcoal filter. Costs $300. Filters last (as I recall) 5000 gallons, so about 5+ years, and they cost $100 to replace. Also is portable and works in a power outage. Best decision we made was to only drink dechlorinated water from our Berkey. I highly recommend it. Thanks for your blog.