@C40
7 For All Mankind -- my brother moved to LA a few years ago, and became the kind of person that wears 7s... and eventually converted me into that kind of person...
I've heard a few stories about people with 6 year old pairs of jeans that they wear 1 in 3 days... so 2 years of everyday usage. I don't know if the reason I can't reproduce their results is that I wear my jeans differently, or that they don't actually wear the jeans 1 in 3 days like they think they do. I know I'm not misrepresenting how much I'm wearing my jeans simply because they're the only pair of pants I have. (Actually I also have a pair of sweatpants and a pair of suit pants.)
@dragoncar
I wasn't optimistic because they cost more, but because they're made out of a different material. They're 2% spandex and more flexible, so I was thinking they wouldn't fail in the same way that other jeans did. I guess I was wrong though.
Selvage jeans are interesting. Thanks for the word to google.
akratic's ERE journal
I've often heard that clothes (especially shoes and suits) need to rest between wears. Not sure how true that is but maybe a factor.
Also you may just be more active, or wear your jeans a bit tighter/looser (rubbin in certain areas), wash them differently (I hear the dryer is the worst), etc.
My brother wears the same very expensive jeans Everyday. The problem is they are very distinctive so it's obvious they are the same pair. I think if you care what other people think enough to buy designer jeans, maybe you care that theyll judge you for only having one pair.
Of course I'm not judging .. I wore the same pair of lucky jeans until the crotch wore out. I also tend to stand too close to bonfires, so end up with mothholes in my clothes.
Also you may just be more active, or wear your jeans a bit tighter/looser (rubbin in certain areas), wash them differently (I hear the dryer is the worst), etc.
My brother wears the same very expensive jeans Everyday. The problem is they are very distinctive so it's obvious they are the same pair. I think if you care what other people think enough to buy designer jeans, maybe you care that theyll judge you for only having one pair.
Of course I'm not judging .. I wore the same pair of lucky jeans until the crotch wore out. I also tend to stand too close to bonfires, so end up with mothholes in my clothes.
It's more about the fit than the look.
Mine aren't distinctive looking anyway. The same blue jeans that everyone has.
I've been dressing aggressively minimalist for years, and I've never had anyone comment on it. They might notice but not comment, but I doubt it.
There are some fascinating psych studies on how much people notice what others wear. In one of them high school / college age people were forced to wear ridiculous clothing to a party, such as a brightly colored Care Bear t-shirt to a party where such clothing would be inappropriate. Then they ask the guy wearing the Care Bear shirt how many people noticed it. Then they ask all the people at the party what he/others were wearing and compare answers. People *way* over estimate how much other people notice about them.
But anyway, I mean, non-distinctive jeans all look about the same. For a while I had two identical pairs of the same pair of ideal jeans and rotated them, but eventually I decided that was ridiculous. Besides, it's much easier to keep track of my keys, cell phone, and wallet if they just live in that one place, in the jeans.
Mine aren't distinctive looking anyway. The same blue jeans that everyone has.
I've been dressing aggressively minimalist for years, and I've never had anyone comment on it. They might notice but not comment, but I doubt it.
There are some fascinating psych studies on how much people notice what others wear. In one of them high school / college age people were forced to wear ridiculous clothing to a party, such as a brightly colored Care Bear t-shirt to a party where such clothing would be inappropriate. Then they ask the guy wearing the Care Bear shirt how many people noticed it. Then they ask all the people at the party what he/others were wearing and compare answers. People *way* over estimate how much other people notice about them.
But anyway, I mean, non-distinctive jeans all look about the same. For a while I had two identical pairs of the same pair of ideal jeans and rotated them, but eventually I decided that was ridiculous. Besides, it's much easier to keep track of my keys, cell phone, and wallet if they just live in that one place, in the jeans.
-
LiquidSapphire
- Posts: 510
- Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm
I use this recipe to make yogurt about biweekly:
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-se ... eek-yogurt
It says greek yogurt, but all Greek Yogurt is is strained/drained normal yogurt. So once the incubation part is done you have real yogurt.
I think, less than the incubation time, that the temperatures are critical. You must get the original milk above 170 (breaks down proteins in beneficial way) and below 115 before adding the yogurt cultures (higher will kill them). Cooking thermometers help here.
http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/skinny-se ... eek-yogurt
It says greek yogurt, but all Greek Yogurt is is strained/drained normal yogurt. So once the incubation part is done you have real yogurt.
I think, less than the incubation time, that the temperatures are critical. You must get the original milk above 170 (breaks down proteins in beneficial way) and below 115 before adding the yogurt cultures (higher will kill them). Cooking thermometers help here.
-
Able was I ERE
- Posts: 56
- Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:46 pm
I also had mixed success with yogurt, presumably due to temperature. Recently, I've switched to kefir, which is cultivated at room temperature.
A few differences: kefir is sour, fermented, and contains yeast (can be used to make bread); is typically a thick drink-like consistency, but can be made thicker with more fermenting; needs starter "grains" that are reused each time, even multiplying (give 'em to your friends).
Be happy to share more about my experiences; or grains with any Boston-area locals, but I've thread-jacked enough.
A few differences: kefir is sour, fermented, and contains yeast (can be used to make bread); is typically a thick drink-like consistency, but can be made thicker with more fermenting; needs starter "grains" that are reused each time, even multiplying (give 'em to your friends).
Be happy to share more about my experiences; or grains with any Boston-area locals, but I've thread-jacked enough.
I made yogurt every week this summer when I had access to high quality milk with good success. By high quality milk, I mean raw milk from Jersey cows with higher milk fat. The raw part isn't important since you have to pastuerize it anyway, but non-homogenized milk makes a much nicer textured yogurt (like cream-top yogurt at the grocery). At least use whole milk and it'll turn out ok. I've tried making yogurt with skim milk, but it was like soup.
This is all I did to make yogurt: While stirring, heat milk to 180 on the stove. Cool milk in pan to 115 in an ice water bath. Whisk in 2 tbsp yogurt per half gal (Fage worked best for me as starter, use your own yogurt for the next batch). Put a lid on the pot and leave it in the oven *with the light on* for 8 hours. Take it out and let it cool in the fridge a few hours to set up.
For bonus points, save old jars and do the oven step in those so you have individual servings handy. Don't let your yogurt sit too close to the light in the oven or it may get hot enough to kill the culture. Also, add flavorings after fermentation or weird things happen. Hope that helps! I'm so looking forward to summer milk again...
This is all I did to make yogurt: While stirring, heat milk to 180 on the stove. Cool milk in pan to 115 in an ice water bath. Whisk in 2 tbsp yogurt per half gal (Fage worked best for me as starter, use your own yogurt for the next batch). Put a lid on the pot and leave it in the oven *with the light on* for 8 hours. Take it out and let it cool in the fridge a few hours to set up.
For bonus points, save old jars and do the oven step in those so you have individual servings handy. Don't let your yogurt sit too close to the light in the oven or it may get hot enough to kill the culture. Also, add flavorings after fermentation or weird things happen. Hope that helps! I'm so looking forward to summer milk again...
February 2012
This was by far my lowest spending month in the past two years. Usually at least one thing will come up per month that costs between $100 and $300, but this month, almost nothing came up. Total unusual expenses:
- $15 to repair jeans at tailor
- $15 for a new can opener (I've broken six can openers in the past two years, it was time to get a high quality steel one)
- $20 for a day trip hiking (gas + dinner out)
I don't think the expense level I hit this month is sustainable for me living in the US, but at the same time, I'm not complaining. All of my spending is in line with my values. Next month I'm sure my net worth in years will go down though, due to a cell phone bill, or a big Costco trip, or a plane ticket... or something.
I got access to a Kill-a-Watt, and excitedly started testing various gadgets around the apartment, but I've learned that something must be wrong with my electric bill. It has ranged from $17-19 over the past year, and I split it with my girlfriend, so $10 each. It turns out that our electric bill *starts* with a per customer charge of $17, and then charges by the kWh. It claims we use 5-11 kWh per month, which can't be true, based on the Kill-a-Watt and the fact that we have a fridge and two laptops, etc. I think I'm just not getting charged for the electricity I use. I wonder who is.
I've been working nights most of this past month, working on a project collaborating with people in Korea, so my hours have been more like 4:30pm to 12:30am. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it hasn't been bad at all so far. I like that the gym is empty, the subway is empty, and the office is empty. The only problem is I don't get to see much of my friends and girlfriend, but I do have all weekend with them, and some days my girlfriend doesn't have to go to work until around noon.
My diet has been going well, as you can see from the image above that my scale makes. I started at 188lbs and my goal is 170lbs. Once I get to 170lbs, I'm going to stay at that weight, continue to eat good foods, but more of them, and convert fat into muscle. Let's see how long I can keep on the diet. I've been starting and failing a lot in the past year, which isn't like me.
I met an inspiring person this month through CouchSurfing. He's only 22, but already he has ridden his bike from his home in Minnesota to the southern tip of Argentina and back. He also canoed the Mississippi river sleeping on the side of the river banks, in a canoe with a pirate flag. He skipped college, and has lived quite the life so far instead. For money he plays violin in the streets, which has tells me can make him $10-50/day, which is more than enough. He demonstrated his violin playing for me, and it was quite impressive. The most impressive thing was after he was done playing his songs, he asked for a song he should play. I suggested one he didn't know, but we found a youtube of it, and after one listen to the youtube video, he belted the thing out on his violin!
He took me and my girlfriend dumpster diving on Saturday night. We didn't find any food unfortunately, but we did find a Trader Joe's near public transit with an accessible dumpster. It just didn't happen to have any food in it when we checked. This is my second time dumpster diving, the first time we got about $200 worth of food each. Cheeses, a case of beer, packaged Trader Joe's dinners, etc. Both times I've gone with someone who knew what they were doing though. Dumpster diving is quite the rush.
For his next big adventure, he found a free spot on a sailboat crossing the Atlantic Ocean via http://www.findacrew.net and his plan is to try to run around the world starting from where he lands in Europe. This guy makes me look so normal and boring. He leaves Chicago a week from today, which is a shame, I was enjoying his company.
This was by far my lowest spending month in the past two years. Usually at least one thing will come up per month that costs between $100 and $300, but this month, almost nothing came up. Total unusual expenses:
- $15 to repair jeans at tailor
- $15 for a new can opener (I've broken six can openers in the past two years, it was time to get a high quality steel one)
- $20 for a day trip hiking (gas + dinner out)
I don't think the expense level I hit this month is sustainable for me living in the US, but at the same time, I'm not complaining. All of my spending is in line with my values. Next month I'm sure my net worth in years will go down though, due to a cell phone bill, or a big Costco trip, or a plane ticket... or something.
I got access to a Kill-a-Watt, and excitedly started testing various gadgets around the apartment, but I've learned that something must be wrong with my electric bill. It has ranged from $17-19 over the past year, and I split it with my girlfriend, so $10 each. It turns out that our electric bill *starts* with a per customer charge of $17, and then charges by the kWh. It claims we use 5-11 kWh per month, which can't be true, based on the Kill-a-Watt and the fact that we have a fridge and two laptops, etc. I think I'm just not getting charged for the electricity I use. I wonder who is.
I've been working nights most of this past month, working on a project collaborating with people in Korea, so my hours have been more like 4:30pm to 12:30am. I wasn't looking forward to it, but it hasn't been bad at all so far. I like that the gym is empty, the subway is empty, and the office is empty. The only problem is I don't get to see much of my friends and girlfriend, but I do have all weekend with them, and some days my girlfriend doesn't have to go to work until around noon.
My diet has been going well, as you can see from the image above that my scale makes. I started at 188lbs and my goal is 170lbs. Once I get to 170lbs, I'm going to stay at that weight, continue to eat good foods, but more of them, and convert fat into muscle. Let's see how long I can keep on the diet. I've been starting and failing a lot in the past year, which isn't like me.
I met an inspiring person this month through CouchSurfing. He's only 22, but already he has ridden his bike from his home in Minnesota to the southern tip of Argentina and back. He also canoed the Mississippi river sleeping on the side of the river banks, in a canoe with a pirate flag. He skipped college, and has lived quite the life so far instead. For money he plays violin in the streets, which has tells me can make him $10-50/day, which is more than enough. He demonstrated his violin playing for me, and it was quite impressive. The most impressive thing was after he was done playing his songs, he asked for a song he should play. I suggested one he didn't know, but we found a youtube of it, and after one listen to the youtube video, he belted the thing out on his violin!
He took me and my girlfriend dumpster diving on Saturday night. We didn't find any food unfortunately, but we did find a Trader Joe's near public transit with an accessible dumpster. It just didn't happen to have any food in it when we checked. This is my second time dumpster diving, the first time we got about $200 worth of food each. Cheeses, a case of beer, packaged Trader Joe's dinners, etc. Both times I've gone with someone who knew what they were doing though. Dumpster diving is quite the rush.
For his next big adventure, he found a free spot on a sailboat crossing the Atlantic Ocean via http://www.findacrew.net and his plan is to try to run around the world starting from where he lands in Europe. This guy makes me look so normal and boring. He leaves Chicago a week from today, which is a shame, I was enjoying his company.
Wow, you've had a great month! Decreased expenses, decreased weight and met like the ERE yoda of the 21st century. Seriously this, guy deserves an ERE merit badge or something. He has truly crossed over to the other side of FI, not even needing assets to supply an income. Sounds like an interesting guy...
Yeah, who needs assets or income when you have a tent, more food than you can eat in dumpsters, and the balls to pitch your tent anywhere and eat anything. His net worth in years is either zero or infinity, depending on how you look at it.
@JasonR, I grilled him on the dumpster diving for my own purposes, so here are the details you asked for:
First of all, he and his friends dumpster dived the entire trip down the Mississippi. It was something of feast or famine, where when they'd find a good dumpster, they would get ~4 days worth of food from it for all of them. For example, one day they stumbled across 9 cakes. So for the next two days they ate nothing but cake.
From what he told me, I think the tier list would be this:
tier 1: Trader Joe's
tier 2: small bakeries, local grocery stores, non-chains
tier 3: chain grocery stores
(tier 1 and tier 2 might be need to be flipped, not sure)
The good thing about Trader Joe's is all the food is packaged, and they rarely use compactors. The bad thing about the chain grocery stores is the usually have a compactor. The good thing about the local stores is they rarely have a compactor, and often throw out fresh baked goods, etc (but unfortunately they won't be packaged).
We gathered at my apartment to search the internet for grocery stores. We found found a few about a mile from my apartment, but I'm 3.0 miles from downtown Chicago, so those were almost guaranteed to be locked or compactors or otherwise inaccessible. So we hatched a plan instead to take the subway to the end of the line, to a suburbish town with a Trader Joe's a Whole Foods and a big chain store.
Then the ERE yoda said he was going to go check the stores within a 2 mile radius of our apartment. We thought this was a bad idea, because it was 20 degrees out, we don't have a car, there's no public transit to these places, and they were very unlikely to be good locations. He insisted that he'd just run a four mile loop and check them all and be back in 35 minutes. At first my friend volunteered to run with him, I think because he assumed the ERE yoda was just kidding, but he was dead serious, and my friend later had to sheepishly back out. This friend would later back out of even coming with us to the suburbs, so he was 0-2 for the evening.
40 minutes later the ERE yoda returned from his run, confirmed that all nearby stores were locked, had a glass of water, and we were ready to take the subway for an hour to the end of the line. We circled Whole Foods and the chain store, noticed that they had compactors, and immediately moved on.
Then we went to Trader Joe's and he was excited by the lack of a compactor. I was sketched out, because the dumpster was behind a locked fence, the dumpster was located within view of a condominium complex, and there were still employees in the store, despite us going 1.5 hours after it closed. Get this, he jumps up over the fence, clears it, opens the dumpster, and drops himself in. Me and my girlfriend stand there awkwardly outside the locked fence, frozen, talking to each other, and generally drawing unwanted attention to the dumpster. He rummages around inside there and tells us that unfortunately it's all normal trash, empty wine bottles, cardboard, etc. Bad luck.
Let me tell you also about the other I went dumpster diving and was successful. It was again with CouchSurfers (surprise, an online community centered around letting travelers stay on couches for free has fairly high overlap with ERE). In Boston before I moved to Chicago, I met a young couple who eventually admitted that they got a lot of food from dumpsters. They offered to take me one day, and of course I accepted. We met around midnight and drove their car out to a Trader Joe's 45 minutes from the city that they knew was a good spot. They do this a lot, so they were prepared: flashlights for everyone, hand sanitizer in the car, and a tarp in the trunk.
This dumpster is in a dream location, in a secluded alley behind the big shopping complex. And plus it's ~1am at this time, so totally quiet and deserted. We laid the tarp down on the ground and got started. The dumpster was not locked at all, and we simply reached in and took out bags. Rather than rip them, we untied the knots from the top and looked inside. Anything good we put on the tarp. When we were done with a bag, we just tied it back up. Eventually the tarp was so full of food that it was pretty much all we could fit in their trunk.
There was a 16 pack of beer, with 15 beers in it, and one broken bottle. There was 7-8 blocks of cheese. There were packaged dinners, like Chicken Marsala with Rice, etc., that retail for $5.99 but "expired" that day. There was organic yogurt. There were packaged chicken sausage, pesto flavored. Basically there was a random assortment of exactly what you'd find inside a Trader Joe's store. Except we got it all for free, and it was all perfectly good, despite the fact that the packages said it expired that day or the next day.
At one point a car drove back there behind the store. I got spooked and hid behind the dumpster, but the guy who was taking me there came out in full view so he could also get a good look at the car. They kept going without stopping. I'm not sure why they were there. We decided to call it quits after that, moved the tarp with all the food into the trunk, tied back all the bags, and closed the dumpster. Basically you couldn't even tell we were there. But we were rich with free Trader Joe's food that would have been wasted otherwise.
@JasonR, I grilled him on the dumpster diving for my own purposes, so here are the details you asked for:
First of all, he and his friends dumpster dived the entire trip down the Mississippi. It was something of feast or famine, where when they'd find a good dumpster, they would get ~4 days worth of food from it for all of them. For example, one day they stumbled across 9 cakes. So for the next two days they ate nothing but cake.
From what he told me, I think the tier list would be this:
tier 1: Trader Joe's
tier 2: small bakeries, local grocery stores, non-chains
tier 3: chain grocery stores
(tier 1 and tier 2 might be need to be flipped, not sure)
The good thing about Trader Joe's is all the food is packaged, and they rarely use compactors. The bad thing about the chain grocery stores is the usually have a compactor. The good thing about the local stores is they rarely have a compactor, and often throw out fresh baked goods, etc (but unfortunately they won't be packaged).
We gathered at my apartment to search the internet for grocery stores. We found found a few about a mile from my apartment, but I'm 3.0 miles from downtown Chicago, so those were almost guaranteed to be locked or compactors or otherwise inaccessible. So we hatched a plan instead to take the subway to the end of the line, to a suburbish town with a Trader Joe's a Whole Foods and a big chain store.
Then the ERE yoda said he was going to go check the stores within a 2 mile radius of our apartment. We thought this was a bad idea, because it was 20 degrees out, we don't have a car, there's no public transit to these places, and they were very unlikely to be good locations. He insisted that he'd just run a four mile loop and check them all and be back in 35 minutes. At first my friend volunteered to run with him, I think because he assumed the ERE yoda was just kidding, but he was dead serious, and my friend later had to sheepishly back out. This friend would later back out of even coming with us to the suburbs, so he was 0-2 for the evening.
40 minutes later the ERE yoda returned from his run, confirmed that all nearby stores were locked, had a glass of water, and we were ready to take the subway for an hour to the end of the line. We circled Whole Foods and the chain store, noticed that they had compactors, and immediately moved on.
Then we went to Trader Joe's and he was excited by the lack of a compactor. I was sketched out, because the dumpster was behind a locked fence, the dumpster was located within view of a condominium complex, and there were still employees in the store, despite us going 1.5 hours after it closed. Get this, he jumps up over the fence, clears it, opens the dumpster, and drops himself in. Me and my girlfriend stand there awkwardly outside the locked fence, frozen, talking to each other, and generally drawing unwanted attention to the dumpster. He rummages around inside there and tells us that unfortunately it's all normal trash, empty wine bottles, cardboard, etc. Bad luck.
Let me tell you also about the other I went dumpster diving and was successful. It was again with CouchSurfers (surprise, an online community centered around letting travelers stay on couches for free has fairly high overlap with ERE). In Boston before I moved to Chicago, I met a young couple who eventually admitted that they got a lot of food from dumpsters. They offered to take me one day, and of course I accepted. We met around midnight and drove their car out to a Trader Joe's 45 minutes from the city that they knew was a good spot. They do this a lot, so they were prepared: flashlights for everyone, hand sanitizer in the car, and a tarp in the trunk.
This dumpster is in a dream location, in a secluded alley behind the big shopping complex. And plus it's ~1am at this time, so totally quiet and deserted. We laid the tarp down on the ground and got started. The dumpster was not locked at all, and we simply reached in and took out bags. Rather than rip them, we untied the knots from the top and looked inside. Anything good we put on the tarp. When we were done with a bag, we just tied it back up. Eventually the tarp was so full of food that it was pretty much all we could fit in their trunk.
There was a 16 pack of beer, with 15 beers in it, and one broken bottle. There was 7-8 blocks of cheese. There were packaged dinners, like Chicken Marsala with Rice, etc., that retail for $5.99 but "expired" that day. There was organic yogurt. There were packaged chicken sausage, pesto flavored. Basically there was a random assortment of exactly what you'd find inside a Trader Joe's store. Except we got it all for free, and it was all perfectly good, despite the fact that the packages said it expired that day or the next day.
At one point a car drove back there behind the store. I got spooked and hid behind the dumpster, but the guy who was taking me there came out in full view so he could also get a good look at the car. They kept going without stopping. I'm not sure why they were there. We decided to call it quits after that, moved the tarp with all the food into the trunk, tied back all the bags, and closed the dumpster. Basically you couldn't even tell we were there. But we were rich with free Trader Joe's food that would have been wasted otherwise.
Great updates Akratic. It's always cool to see your huge net worth increases and interesting hearing about people like Yoda.
I've been thinking more and more about actually doing diving lately. After watching Dive! (A dumpster diving documentary), reading other accounts, and now this, I think it's time...
I do have a half hour drive to Madison or Milwaukee where I'd be doing it (god knows I don't want to start in the small town I live in and end up with my coworkers wondering if I've become a heroin addict or something). I go to Madison about twice a month already - on weekend nights, so I'll start scoping places out before coming home.
I've been thinking more and more about actually doing diving lately. After watching Dive! (A dumpster diving documentary), reading other accounts, and now this, I think it's time...
I do have a half hour drive to Madison or Milwaukee where I'd be doing it (god knows I don't want to start in the small town I live in and end up with my coworkers wondering if I've become a heroin addict or something). I go to Madison about twice a month already - on weekend nights, so I'll start scoping places out before coming home.
Dude, it's a leap year. Now that you've posted one day early, you are NOT ALLOWED TO SPEND MONEY TOMORROW. 
About your electric bill -- hopefully they are actually reading your meter and not doing "estimated" bills. Because when they do estimated bills, they'll eventually come read the meter and bill you for the difference. The bill should indicate which method they are using (although you can afford it, it's not convenient to get a single giant bill at a random date).
About your electric bill -- hopefully they are actually reading your meter and not doing "estimated" bills. Because when they do estimated bills, they'll eventually come read the meter and bill you for the difference. The bill should indicate which method they are using (although you can afford it, it's not convenient to get a single giant bill at a random date).
Thanks for the nice feedback guys.
@C40, definitely post about your dumpstering experiences if you give it a shot. One problem I see is it's best done late at night, like 1am, but I'm not sure if you'd normally be making the trip then.
@dragoncar, yeah I totally messed up the leap year thing. It was a combination of a few things: being excited about this month's expense total, knowing that February only has 28 days, and being all confused by working nights. Yesterday when I was finishing work at 1am, I thought, oh good, I can run my numbers tomorrow. Of course after sleeping for 9 hours it was still the same date...
Oops. Oh well. I shall dutifully not buy anything until March.
I wonder how long I could go without buying anything at all. I have food stock piled for 2+ months, and only used my credit cards 5 total times in February (and I buy most stuff on my credit cards).
@dragoncar, I studied the bill again and tried to confirm your "estimate" theory. I think you're right. Check it out: comed.png. The weird thing is they've done this estimate thing for 13 months now. What if I move out before they ever bother to get a non-estimate reading?
@C40, definitely post about your dumpstering experiences if you give it a shot. One problem I see is it's best done late at night, like 1am, but I'm not sure if you'd normally be making the trip then.
@dragoncar, yeah I totally messed up the leap year thing. It was a combination of a few things: being excited about this month's expense total, knowing that February only has 28 days, and being all confused by working nights. Yesterday when I was finishing work at 1am, I thought, oh good, I can run my numbers tomorrow. Of course after sleeping for 9 hours it was still the same date...
Oops. Oh well. I shall dutifully not buy anything until March.
I wonder how long I could go without buying anything at all. I have food stock piled for 2+ months, and only used my credit cards 5 total times in February (and I buy most stuff on my credit cards).
@dragoncar, I studied the bill again and tried to confirm your "estimate" theory. I think you're right. Check it out: comed.png. The weird thing is they've done this estimate thing for 13 months now. What if I move out before they ever bother to get a non-estimate reading?
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2011 ... 705059973/
Cool thing: "The utility cannot back-bill anyone for more than 12 months, CUB and the ICC said."
Other cool thing: "Customers who get balloon payments can spread the payment out over time without paying interest, she said."
Hopefully they estimate the bill until the meter rolls over
Cool thing: "The utility cannot back-bill anyone for more than 12 months, CUB and the ICC said."
Other cool thing: "Customers who get balloon payments can spread the payment out over time without paying interest, she said."
Hopefully they estimate the bill until the meter rolls over