Flipp

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Have you heard of Flipp? It’s the best way I’ve found to check all the sales ads without having to manually flip (get it?) through them or visit each retailer’s website. You can do this directly on the Flipp website, or even better, through the app on your phone or tablet.

The feature I like the most is being able to search for a particular item and seeing which store has the best price. For instance, if I put in avocado, I can see that Aldi currently has the best price at 49 cents each. I also scored my favorite deli cheese, Lorraine Swiss, for only $4.99/lb at our local grocery store. You can certainly get swiss cheese for cheaper, but this particular one is some of the creamiest I’ve found. It’s normally $6.99/lb so I don’t purchase it often. I’ll wait for a sale but I’d always seem to miss it until I discovered the Flipp app. It’s really help cut our food costs down without sacrificing eating what we like.

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Tesla’s Gigafactory

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Tesla’s monster lithium ion battery production facility has been under construction since 2014. What’s crazy to me is that by 2020, the Gigafactory will be producing more lithium ion batteries than the entire world did in 2013.

While it’s still a ways away from full completion, the facility is already manufacturing battery equipment for its current vehicles. The facility is being built in anticipation for the Model 3 – A $35k electric vehicle meant to bring battery powered vehicles to the Average Joe – which was unveiled earlier this year.

Tesla Gigafactory

The Gigafactory is critical to Tesla’s mission of bringing a reasonable priced battery-powered vehicle to the average person. Go big or go home, right? It’s part of the plan for them. Economies of scale will allow Telsa to put out the batteries with a savings of 30% being passed right down to the cost of the vehicle. Pre-sales for the model 3 by mid-May were already at 373k according to Tesla. The Model 3s won’t even ship until mid-2017. There is quite a bit of excitement and obvious demand for a vehicle like the Model 3.

In cooperation with Tesla, a drone captured the construction site back in April. You can get a real feel for the enormity of the facility. I’m looking forward to seeing a similar video once the factory is completed.

In full disclosure, I should point out we do have Tesla stock in our portfolio. I’m not a big fan of individual stocks. A matter of fact, I tend to stick with mutual/index funds, but that’s a post for another day. But with as exciting as this technology is to me, it was as much a no-brainer to own this stock much like we do Apple. I am excited to see such advances in technology like this; how can you not be when you think about our reliance on fossil fuels?

What really got me interested in Tesla stock was CEO Elon Musks attitude about increasing battery technology for “the greater good” so to speak. Back in June 2014, Tesla announced they would not initiate any patent lawsuits against anyone who wants to use the technology in good faith. It’s almost like he’s giving an open-sourced version to the world and saying, go ahead make it better. It reminds me much of the Linux open source movement.

Joe-

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When Cancelling Cable Doesn’t Save Money

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Friday we called Comcast to cancel our cable service.

With it now being re-run season, we felt it was the perfect time to cut the cord, so to speak, and try life without cable tv. I didn’t like the idea of parting with my DVR because I really do love having shows waiting for me to be watched, but I was willing to give it a try. In addition, we already have Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime so there’s no shortage of alternative sources of entertainment, nevermind the fact that it’s almost summer and we want to spend more time outdoors.

An interesting thing happened when I called to cancel – I was offered a lower rate for cable plus internet (at the same speed) than it would cost to retain just internet service. That’s even when factoring in the ridiculous $10 HD technology fee. And of course I’m going to pay that fee because I don’t have a 55″ 4k TV for nothing, you know (it was a splurge/steal at Costco, don’t hate).

Quick rant: Who is still watching standard definition cable, besides my parents, these days? Don’t you think that fee is just a way for Comcast to get even more money out of people? You can get HD channels on your TV over the air with a regular antenna for goodness sake. Anyway…

I kept clarifying with the customer service agent to make sure I wasn’t mistaken, but sure enough, our new package would cost $20 less per month than internet alone and all we had to do was swap the DVR and move down to the cable package they call Digital Economy. Done and done!

We packed up the box and headed to the Xfinity store to swap it. We had to wait a little over twenty minutes to do so, however, because it was a bit crowded on a Friday afternoon. They’ve closed many of their service centers and the ones remaining bear little resemblance to how they used to look when I worked for them well over a decade ago. They are trying for an Apple Store vibe and several days later I’m still not sure whether it works. But I guess if you have to wait around to do something as simple as swap equipment it might as well be while sitting on a cushy ottoman in a dimly lit modern-looking establishment, right?

Overall our bill will be a full $50 less than what we were paying before while still giving us access to basic channels. I call that a win. It’s just funny how much they push their cable service, to the point where you’d be paying more without it.

Now I just have to remember to call back in 12 months when that promotional rate expires and “cancel” my service again.

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Extrapolate This! – Weekly Roundup – 5/1 to 5/7

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What a first week of May it’s been. In typical Chicago fashion, the spring weather is going back and forth from cool and fall-like to the 80’s. Looking forward to some warm days to come.

So far our experience with Ting Wireless couldn’t be better. It’s only been a month, but we’re really pleased. Read all about it and our savings in Nicole’s post about it here or below.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there!


DIY Oil Change – Is It Worth It?

Our First Month With Ting Wireless

Magicjack Review – Landline Or No Landline?

Joe-

Extrapolate This - Weekly Roundup

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First Month With Ting Wireless

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The verdict is officially in, and just as we suspected, we’re saving a ton of money after switching our wireless carrier to Ting. Our first bill, including taxes & fees, was $34.01, which breaks down as follows:

TingBill

What a difference compared to the $135.70 we were paying to AT&T monthly. Plus this first bill was covered by the credits we received so we didn’t have to pay anything. Why oh why didn’t we switch sooner?

Full disclosure: I don’t think our monthly bill will be quite this low moving forward because we were trying to see how much we could lower it so we were a bit restrictive in our overall usage. That being said, we do have certain habits that keeps our usage naturally low.

Minutes
Who uses their phone to make calls? But seriously, we don’t talk on the phone much, and I’ve been using our MagicJack service via the iPhone app for long conversations with my family since we’re already paying a set amount for that service. No need to jack up our wireless bill unnecessarily.

Messages
Our AT&T plan restricted us to 200 texts per month or we’d pay extra per text, so for years we’ve been using an app called eBuddy XMS to communicate with each other and Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts to “text” with friends and family.

Megabytes
I was grandfathered into an unlimited plan with AT&T so I never bothered connecting to Wi-Fi outside our home and consequently would use about 2 GB of data every month. One of the biggest changes I made after switching to Ting was taking advantage of free Wi-Fi networks when we’re out. I enjoy surfing when Joe is driving and I didn’t do much of that this first month either. Now that I know that it won’t impact our bill very much as long as I avoid the data hogging apps (I’m looking at you, Facebook), I’m going to be a little more relaxed about it.

Final Thoughts
I anticipate our Ting bill will be under $50 every month which is still an $80 savings over AT&T which is awesome.

How to switch to Ting
If you’re interested in switching to Ting, check out my post about our switch for full details, or check out my quick instructions below.

1) Open Ting account, order SIM card.

2) Request that your current carrier unlock your device.

3) After receiving your SIM card, log into your Ting account and choose activate.

4) Request through Ting that they port your number (optional).

5) Once port request goes through your old carrier will automatically cancel your account. Or if you’re not porting a number, call your carrier to cancel your service.

6) Install your Ting SIM card and follow your former carrier’s device unlock instructions.

7) If you have to pay an ETF, send that final bill to Ting and they will credit you back for a portion of it.

Enjoy the savings!

Ting

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To Landline Or Not To Landline? That Is The Question

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magicjack

Our story of cutting the cord (a detailed post coming soon) actually began about a year and a half ago. We wanted to reduce our Comcast monthly bill and the first casualty was phone service. At first we contemplated not having a landline at all. But then after hearing good things about magicJack we decided to investigate it further.

After reading the Amazon reviews, we decided to give the magicJackGO a try. We paid around $50, but now it can be found for $39.99 @ Target or Amazon
which includes the hardware and the first year of service. Even at $50 we figured it was worth a try.

Installation couldn’t have been easier. We plugged the magicJackGO into the power adapter and then into a power strip. Then we connected an Ethernet cable from our router to the magicJackGO Ethernet port. After that it only required a cord from our phone to the phone port on the magicJackGO.

The process of setting up the magicJack service was easy as well. After connecting the actual magicJack device to a USB port on our computer, it downloaded and updated software on the device.

Once installed, the magicJack softphone screen came up which looks like a phone dialer. There is a registration link on the left that takes you to the magicJack registration site to begin the process of account set-up – name, address, new phone number/porting, payment method, etc.

If you have an existing number with your current phone provider, porting your number is simple. You can go here to confirm your number is able to be ported to the Magicjack. After it’s confirmed all you need to do is to go into your magicJack online account, which you should have set up by now, and go to the TRANSFER section of your account to begin the process. The site claims it can take 5-10 business days for the porting to be completed but ours only took a couple of days.

After you’ve set up your account, completed the software updates, and either chosen your new number or ported your existing one, you’re pretty much done. We opted to plug in the magicJack directly into a power outlet and connect the Ethernet cord to it so we are able to make calls through a regular cordless phone handset.

Another nice thing feature is the magicJack App, available for both iOS and Android. You can use the app to make phone calls (from your home number) either via cell coverage or over WiFi, regardless of your location. You can also see and answer phone calls to your home number from the app even when you’re not home.

The one additional cost we didn’t catch when we originally signed up is that there’s an annual 911 fee of $11. The renewal fee for the magicJack service is $35, so your total annual out of pocket expense is $46/year ($3.83/month) if you want to have a landline in your home which is much cheaper than the $15 per month we were paying Comcast.

Joe-

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Extrapolate This! – Weekly Roundup – 4/17 to 4/23

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Extrapolate This - Weekly Roundup - 417 to 423

What a crazy week it’s been in entertainment news, right? Among other deaths this week there was Doris Roberts, Chyna and Prince.

I’ve always felt I grew up in a stellar time for music, the 80’s. I was in my teens for the majority of the decade. And oh, what a decade it was for music. Stadium rock bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Queen. Big hair bands like Poison, Whitesnake, and Warrant. The great alternative bands like Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order and the early days of Smashing Pumpkins. And then there were the one-hit (or two-hit) wonders that were so prevalent during the decade: Come On Eileen (Dexys Midnight Runners), 867-5309 (Tommy Tutone), and Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood). I could go on and on with bands and songs, I can remember them like they just hit the radio. SO many great bands and songs. Prince And The Revolution was definitely part of those memories for me. You have to appreciate the contribution Prince made to music.

Joe-


March Dining Out Expenses

Housecleaning @ ET!

Healthcare.Gov – My Review

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Extrapolate This! – Weekly Roundup – 4/3 to 4/9

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weekend
We had a productive week here on ET! I was pretty happy we switched our wireless service to Ting. We’re only a week in, but so far so good! Being the big movie buff I am, I highlighted 10 movies which showed me a little something about business. And we’re considering switching home security to more of a DIY option we’ll monitor ourselves via the Almond 3 router. I’m really looking forward to the home security change. Not only will this save us $40/month, but we’ll still get the peace of mind to go with having a home security system.

Sunday Randomness

10 Movies That Taught Me A Little Something About Business

Ting Wireless Review

Home Security Alternative

How do your trips to Costco go?

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!
Joe-

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