Renters Insurance

Renters insurance is nothing more than an annoyance. I have nothing worth insuring besides my car and it already has a policy. Lots of apartments force you to buy a policy as a condition of your lease but sometimes there are ways around this. When I first moved to Austin with my brother we were told to buy renters insurance but we just never did. The leasing office never asked us again. Problem solved.

Later I moved into a room in a house and again the landlord asked me to carry a policy but told me it was optional. So I opted not to. He could care less as long as my rent check came in each month. again, the perfect system. After 6 months he kicked us out of his house so a coworker would have a place to live. Bummer.

My two roommates and I decided to find an apartment together. The lease required that we carry renters insurance. Luckily it didn't state that we each had to carry a policy. My roommate Laquanda had renters insurance so I just forwarded the info to the leasing office and that was that. Another year I didn't have to carry a policy.

At the end of our lease we went our separate ways and I had to find another place to live. I found an apartment where they rented out the rooms individually. It was really cheap and I later found out why. The place was just on the border of being condemned. The price was right. They even had you buy a renters insurance policy instead of paying a deposit. I thought this was pretty crooked but it was cheaper than buying my own policy. It cost around $16 a month and this was nothing more than a worthless bill since I still have no possessions worth insuring at this point.

I only lasted 3 month in this dump before I couldn't take it anymore and leased my own apartment. It's very small but I am the only occupant. Which also means I have to carry a renters insurance policy according to the lease. I tried to avoid buying a policy again but then I was informed I would not be receiving the keys to my apartment without proof of a policy. I had car insurance through GEICO so I decided to go through them to buy a renters insurance policy. They even said I could get a discount on my auto insurance by bundling. Sign me up.

GEICO directed me to another company called Assurance. The policy was going to be $11 a month. Great. I bought it, moved in and forgot all about it.

After a few months I was reviewing my credit card statement and it said Assurance was charging me $16 a month. How could this be? I called the help line to get some answers. After navigating an extensive phone tree and being put on hold a few times I reached an agent. He told me that Assurance was allowed to charge me $5 a month to process my payment. I informed him that was not going to work for me an I needed to find a way to eliminate the fee or I would be canceling the policy. He laughed and told me that the only way I would be able to avoid the fee would be to pay the entire year in full and that in Texas this was a common practice. Then I laughed and told him that sounded like bull shit and I would be calling back in a few days to cancel this policy when I found a cheaper one that doesn't just steal money from its customers. He wished me luck.

After a little shopping around I found a policy with an online renters insurance company called Lemonade. It could be called Fake Insurance Company for all I care. All I want is proof that I have a policy since I never plan to make a claim even if all the filthy rags I call clothing end up getting stolen. $5.75 a month. Then even agreed to cancel my old policy so I didn't need to contact Assurance again. That is a savings of $10.25 a month on something I do not care about. Success.

The next step is to create my own fake insurance shell company based out of the Cayman islands. Then I can write a policy for myself that is just as valuable as the toilet paper policy I am currently paying for at no cost. Not a bad idea.

https://www.offshorecompany.com/company/cayman-islands/

Rucking

The gym is closed. The local pools are also closed. I still need to exercise so it will just need to be outdoors for a while. Good thing it's spring time in Texas so the weather is great for it.

All the exercise gurus on Youtube have made their own quarantine workouts. After reviewing a few I decided to make up my own routine. I start walking, then do 10 push ups, 10 jumping jacks, 10 body-squats and finally 10 lunges. Then I continue walking until my heart rate returns to normal and do it again. This is a pretty good workout for my level of fitness but I decided that I don't want to do it every day. I would like to intersperse it with different workout so I can mix it up. My normal routine is Gym, Pool, rest day in that order.

Somehow I ended up on a webpage discussing the benefits of Rucking. Pretty simple. You get a backpack or "Rucksack" as it's called. Put weight in it. Then go walking. The site claimed that you could get 85-90% of the benefits of jogging but it was much easier on your joints with the correct amount of weight. They recommended starting with either 10% of your body weight or 30 lbs in your ruck. I was sold.

I went to Walmart and picked out a backpack. It was $27 dollars. Normally I would try and find a second hand bag at a thrift store but they are all closed because they are considered non-essential businesses during the shelter in place orders.

Next, I needed to find some weights to put in the bag. At first I considered filling the bag with bottles of water because then I could drink the water as I walked. The problem was that water sloshes all over the place and isn't really all that heavy. I also considered buying some weightlifting disks and putting them in the back but I had already spent $27 on the backpack so I didn't really want to spend a bunch on the weights.

I needed something durable and dense. Like my skull. Then it hit me. I could fill the bag with rocks. There are rocks all over the place that I could have for free. I drove to the dollar store and bought a box of large zip lock bags to put the rocks in. I figured if I filled each bag they would weight close to 10 pounds. As I was doing my deliveries later that night I hit pay dirt. Free rocks.

 As I was waiting for my customers Thai Food I filled up 4 bags. Then I put them into the backpack/rucksack.

That night I couldn't wait to try out rucking so even thought it was 11:00 pm I decided to go for a trial walk. Success. I walked about 1.2 miles with the bag and had a great workout. When I returned to my appartment I was bushed. I decided that I would remove one of the bags for future rucks because the sack was too heavy. Today I took another ruck of about 2.5 miles and 3 bags of rocks was the perfect amount. When I get stronger I can continue to add more rocks.

It turned out to be a great workout plan. I would highly recommend taking up rucking until they decide to reopen the gyms. You might even have a backpack already. Then all you need is some weight and somewhere to walk.

Shower Curtain

I have been living with a few roommates to save money. The situation is not working out so I will be moving at the end of this month into a studio apartment. It will be a bit more expensive but how can you put a price on your sanity? My last roommates were great so I thought I could get lucky again. Nope.

One of my roommates named Hector also felt that things weren't working out so he decided to find a new place too. He moved out today. I could tell because when I walked into our shared bathroom he had taken his shower curtain with him. This presented me with a conundrum. How was I planning to take a shower? Most people would just put "buy a new shower curtain" on their to-do list and forget the whole thing. I saw an opportunity to save money. The cost of buying a new shower curtain is much more expensive than just having a wet floor. Which is free. Plus I'll be the only one using the bathroom for the next two weeks.

Skipping my morning shower was not an option. At least not for two weeks straight. I have a membership at planet fitness so I could opt to shower there for the next few weeks but that seemed pretty inconvenient. I could take a "whores bath" in the sink as my friend Jeff used to call them. Probably not going to work. My Girlfriend also has a shower at her place but she lives in the town over and works during the day. Not practical. I suppose I could take an actual bath because there is a tub but then I would have to sit in what I'm sure is a filthy tub. I am not certain I would emerge cleaner that way.

Then I thought, do I really need a curtain? I could aim the shower head towards the wall and put a towel down on the floor. I bet that will work. I can just get in the shower, get a layer of water on me then turn off the shower, lather up and then turn the faucet back on and rinse off. Should be easy.

I would normally be a bit more concerned about ruining the floor and risking not getting my deposit back but my apartment building has this weird thing where you don't pay a deposit. You buy renters insurance instead then they wave the deposit. Essentially, I'm not going to be getting back a deposit no matter how well I take care of the place. If I really break something obvious they could charge me in addition to my insurance but it would have to be something really bad like throwing the oven off the balcony. Even then, not sure this would raise any eyebrows. 

In the end, my shower experiment was a success. I took an abbreviated shower and the floor did not get any wetter than if I had just stood there and let myself air dry. Of course I'll need to go to Walmart and drop $4 plus tax on a shower curtain and rings in a few weeks anyways but that will be an end of February's problem. 

Free internet!

Who can live without access to the internet? My brother and I tried to go without internet in our apartment and it was horrible. We used to drive to a local coffee shop or the library to get online. The baristas would make a big stink if you came in to soak up the "free" WiFi without buying anything.  Between the two of us we spent hundreds of dollars on coffee at these places. It would have been cheaper to just pay to have it at our place. 

When I lived with my next set of roommates, we had WiFi put in and split the bill three ways. It cost us each about $20 a month. Worth it. Our apartment also had a business center where I could go 24 hours a day and get online if I needed a quiet place to blog. After a year and a half we all went our separate ways so I moved once again.

At my new place I am renting a single room in an apartment. The leasing agent told me that they have google fiber. Each room is equipped with its own router. She also said that they have a plan where you can get free access to the internet. Sounded too good to be true. Especially since everything else about my new apartment was dilapidated.

I contacted the google fiber representative. The options were that I could come to their office in downtown Austin or they could send me a router in the mail. I was pitched hard on the merits of Google high-speed ultra net or whatever they called it. I inquired about the free internet package. I was told that yes, they did have a free package but it was only a glacial 5 mps. I opted for the free package of course and assured her that if I found it too slow I would upgrade.

The Google fiber office was neat. Right when you walk in they have you sit down in front of a demonstration of to connection speeds. One is the free connection where everything is buffering and waiting to load. The other is the High-speed uber fast connection where they are simultaneously playing fortnight, mining bit coins, watching HD video, and sequencing the human genome without any lag. I was again told how smart I would be if I selected the fast internet and how stupid I would be if I selected the slow free internet. The sales person had the live demo to verify their claim right in front of us. Who could refuse?

I decided to be dumb. I again requested the free internet. Finally I was given the equipment and instructions on how to set it up. Just plug it into the wall and log into your account.

When I returned to my room I set it up and created my WiFi network. There were lots of clever WiFi network names in my building already such as porqueFi and FBI Surveillance Van. I decided to name mine after my swimming hobby. It is plenty fast enough for one person and works great for me since I am either surfing the web on my laptop or on watching youtube on my phone. For Free.

 

Almost free lunch

Saturday is my cheat day. The slow carb diet allows one day a week where I can eat anything. It helps me to stay on track during the rest of the week. I may take a day off of my diet but I never take a day off of trying to save money. Today I set out to claim my totally free lunch.

My gig work delivering from restaurants for favor occasionally produces some nice perks in the form of free food. I collect these offers and save them for Saturday. Often the receipt will offer a free burger with purchase of fries and a drink. Those go right in the trash. I want free food day to be completely free.

My first stop was down to my the office of my apartment building for a free coffee. They also have tea and bottle water available to residents and any hobos who happen to saunter in.

 

Armed with two cups of caffeine I set off to Flyrite Chicken. Last week I had to wait in line for an order for more than ten minutes so the manager gave me this token for $5 off my next visit. 

 

I looked at the menu. They had one item listed at $4.99. The original chicken sandwich. I was concerned that I may be required to pay the tax since this was prepared food. Then I remembered that I have a small cup of coins in my car where I stash coins I find on the ground around town. I decided that if I needed it I could dip into my coin collection and still maintain the spirit of free food day. Luckily the clerk said there would be no tax charged on this item. Score.

Dairy Queen was next on my list. After my last favor order there I received this an offer of a free Dilly Bar if I completed a survey. No money exchanged hands and I received my free ice cream. 

Delicious. My next plan is to continue getting punches on my Amy's Ice Cream card until I can take myself and my girlfriend out for free ice cream. Soon.

Dollar theatre

I enjoy going to see movies at a theater. The experience is more immersive. When I try to watch a movie at home it maintains my attention for about 20 minutes before I start checking my phone. Then I end up in some YouTube rabbit hole and forget all about the move.

There are plenty of theaters to choose from here in Austin but my favorite by far is the Lake Creek 7 theater northwest of town. This is a second run theater which means the movie has been out for a while so the tickets are much cheaper. Usually an adult ticket is under $3. The theater business model makes money on concessions anyways so this can be a profitable venture if they can get the film cheap enough. The screening are usually less crowded too. 

It takes about 25 minutes to drive there. As you can see from the map provided below, each of the blue dots is a theater I drive past to get to the discount theater. All of these are closer to my apartment.

I decided to go watch the new Jumanji movie. Jumanji 2: the next level. It started at 10:20 pm. Perfect. I hopped in my car and drove up. The dollar store next door where I usually pick up a snack for the film was closed. I walked into the theater and someone had cleaned the place up. It used to be a dump so I figured it was under new management.

One for Jumanji please.

Sure. That will be $12.

Huh? What happened to the $3 tickets. The clerk told me that they had transitioned to a normal first run theater and was no longer a discount theater. I turned around and walked out.

In the parking lot I decided to weigh my options. I would have wasted an hour with all the driving for nothing if I decided to skip the movie but the only reason I drove up here in the first place was to get a cheap ticket. Had I known the ticket was going to be full price I would not have come in the first place but I was already here.

I reluctantly walked back in to purchase a ticket. I noticed a sign next to the counter. It listed a range of discounts for different groups. Veterans, children, the elderly, and students. I decided that I would attempt to get the student discount. I told that clerk that I just started a 10 week sketch writing class at the ColdTowne Theatre so technically, I was a student. He smirked at my request pointed to the part of the sign where it said, with student ID. Well met. I told him they didn't issue ID's for this program but then I showed him an email which confirmed my spot in the class. He had to get his manager involved but in the end I did end up with the student discount which priced my ticket at $9.74.

There were three people in the theater including me. The woman behind me began cackling like a lunatic at the stupidest jokes during the movie. Next time I'll be staying home alone and streaming something off YouTube.

Car Charger Upgrade.

Six years ago I bought an electronic cigarette in an early attempt to quit smoking. It was trendy. To charge the device it could be hooked up to a USB. I received a wall charger and a car charger. Eventually I quit smoking altogether but I kept the USB car charger. I used the charger to power my iPod in my 98 Lincoln. I would hook one wire up to the tape deck and the other wire up to the power source. Technology.

I started doing deliveries in my car and needed to charge my phone while on the move. Plugging in my phone actually drained my battery. Other drivers were able to charge their phones in their cars, what was the problem? I decided that the Lincoln was old so it must not be putting out the right amount of power and forgot all about it. When I needed to charge my phone I just did it at home.

Recently I bought a new car. I brought my old car charger with me. My new car has a USB slot built right into the dash. It will charge my phone just fine but I filled up a thumb drive with music so I needed to use old car charger for charging my phone. Even with the new vehicle the car charger drained my battery. That makes no sense.  

I looked into it and the E-cigarette car charger has a lower voltage level than a traditional car charger. E-cigarette batteries were blowing up when charged at a higher voltage level so they made this custom one just for their batteries at a lower voltage. When I discovered this I went to dollar tree and picked up a proper charger with a higher voltage for $1.06. It charges the phone just as fast as plugging it into the wall.

I had a suspicion that it was the car charger for years yet I took no action to fix the problem. Why? It is because my default mode is:

Do not spend money.

When you are so focused on not spending money you often make do with things that don't make sense then justify it later with fuzzy logic. You create a habit of saying no. You convince yourself that saving a few dollars is worth having a non-functional phone charger in your car for years when you could spend a dollar to get one that works. The never spend mindset has a cost too. My desire to save money overrode logic and my desire to find an actual solution to this problem. 

The real danger is that you begin to accept the idea of things being good enough or even subpar if you can save a few dollars. Saying no all the time is harmful if it's your default thinking. It spills over into other areas of your life.

I have been losing some weight lately. When I was at my heaviest I told myself, why buy new clothing now? I'm planning on losing some weight so I'll buy some when I get thinner. Now I am a little thinner and some of my shirts and pants are too big. Not huge but they don't quite fit right. I have been telling myself, those are perfectly good shirts, I should wait until I have lost a few more pounds until I buy some new clothing. When I get down to the weight I want, what excuse will I tell myself then? This system is cursing me to constantly wear ill-fitting old clothing. It's easy to talk yourself into anything. Each step seems harmless but taken as a whole the process leads to a bad outcome.

I need to shift my thinking. I have decided that good enough is not good enough. I can still be responsible in my spending and stop fooling myself at the same time. Famous Psychologist Jordan Peterson has a rule in his book "12 rules for life" that says, "treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping." Would I let someone I care about drive around in a car that was breaking down all the time? Of course not. Then why would I let myself do it? I allowed myself to do that for the last couple years. I knew I needed to make a change but I didn't because I thought I could save money. In the end it cost me more to maintain the old car than to buy a new used car. It also cost me a lot in stress and emotional energy.

I want to be able to say yes more. This is my new default mode. How can I afford this? Instead of a no followed with a bunch of logical sounding excuses.