Ikea Visit

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Do you have an IKEA by you? If you do, I’m willing to bet you’ve been there if only to check it out and see what it’s all about. We have two within striking distance of us. We typically stick to one in the south Chicago burbs as it’s not quite as busy. The one in the north burbs is huge and in a major shopping area so it’s like Christmas there every weekend with traffic and crowds.

We were all set to head to IKEA Saturday morning when we realized, why are we going on a weekend when there’s going to be much fewer people there on a Monday? Nicole doesn’t work Mondays so we have the freedom to do things like errands then when it’s less crowded. So in a little while, we’re off to IKEA.

I enjoy walking around the store. They have small “rooms” set up so you can come up with ideas that fit your home readily. And their prices are good. We’ve purchased several items over the years from them including kitchen utensils, lamps, candles, and of course furniture. I’ve never felt like we’ve been ripped off or anything is overpriced. That’s kind of a requirement when you’re going to spend your hard earned money in an establishment.

Also, did you know that IKEA has a restaurant in their stores? Every time we go, the restaurant is the first stop, especially when it comes to breakfast. You can get their basic breakfast – eggs, bacon/sausage and potatoes – for $1! You can’t beat that. But IKEA does! If you’re there for breakfast, coffee is free. Can you tell I’m looking forward to breakfast this morning?

Have a great start to your week today!

Joe-

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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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Just Purchase One Thing From Costco? Not Likely.

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In addition to Target and Walmart, we regularly shop at Costco for groceries. Costco is fun to browse since they carry such a range of items. But inevitability it happens – we end up buying several items not on our list. I know we shouldn’t be so impulsive, but sometimes it happens for good reason. Take our trip today to Costco, for instance. We stopped for gas and a couple grocery items. We planned to stick to our list but it didn’t quite end up that way.
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Home Security Alternative

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Our cutting the cord process is still underway. We started with our landline (post coming soon), and next to get the boot will be our Xfinity Home Security service. Currently, we’re paying $29.99/month but the expense will increase $10 this month. We’ve had the service long enough that we now own the equipment (sans touchscreen and router) so I’m on the hunt for a new hub to control the devices along with giving us app support.

I found the Securifi Almond 3 (which will be released in the next few months) on Amazon. The Almond 3 is a pretty impressive little device. Its predecessors had over 12,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4.5/5 rating. The Almond 3 combines a Long Range WiFi router, range extender, plus home automation hub in one device. What is particularly cool about it is you don’t have to connect it to a computer to set it up; the Almond comes with a touchscreen to make adding home automation devices a snap.

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The device does have some drawbacks. First is the monitoring service. I’m sure we could find a way to incorporate a paid service for this, but that’s one of the expenses I feel we can do without since we can monitor via the app and react appropriately. The Almond 3 will come with a siren which would thwart the majority of burglars anyway. Secondly, there is no camera support on the app. Our WiFi camera will work with the router, but we’ll have to utilize another app to view the camera in the case of a tripped sensor.

Sure, we could just do without home security altogether. We do live in a nice area, and since we’re in a town home there is always someone around who would see if something bad were happening to our home. But as with the landline, it will be well worth the investment for the comfort level it will give me. Plus the price of $120.00 will be recouped in three months after cancelling our security service. The Almond is looking to be a good alternative.

Joe-

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Ting Wireless

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Ting

We just completed our move from AT&T Wireless to Ting so we can save money!

It was a little confusing since it’s been 7 years since we had to change wireless carriers, therefore I had to chat with both AT&T and Ting to determine the proper order in which to set things in motion. Now that it’s done, I figured I’d outline it for anyone else thinking of switching carriers.

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10 Movies That Taught Me A Little Something About Business

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I thought I’d have a little fun on a Monday morning to start the week off. While they may not have taught me how to calculate the payments on a 30 year fixed mortgage, these movies taught me (a little) something about business. This list started out as only 5 movies, but then my list grew to 21! I went with the middle of the road, so in no particular order, I give you 10 of my favorite business related movies.
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Sunday Randomness

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Happy Sunday everyone! It’s a really nice, albeit windy day here in Chicago. Sitting at the computer thinking about a whole lot of nothing in particular, I figured I would jot some of my thoughts down.

  • Hulu – We started a 30 day trial of Hulu this past week. I haven’t had a chance to really browse through the offerings yet. It seems like there’s a good selection of shows/movies. Nicole has been binge watching The Mindy Project though so we’re already getting some use out of it. We’ll post a review of Hulu at some point soon.
  • Mobile phone changeover – We went through a change in service carriers a few days ago. Nicole is putting together a post on it which will be out this week. Keep an eye out on Extrapolate! for the post!
  • Star Wars – Thanks to some free credits we had on Fandango Now we have a digital copy of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We watched it Friday night and we’ll see how many times I can watch it this next week. Yes, I’m a huge Star Wars nerd. I still have all the action figures from my youth to prove it!
  • Quora – I’ve been hooked on Quora since joining a couple weeks ago. Quora is like a better version (IMO) of Yahoo! Answers. The replies are a little more detailed, articulate and actually helpful. Not that Y!A isn’t, but you won’t see any sarcastic or stupid/mean answers on Quora. If you’re interested you can join and follow me.
  • Theme Change – I’m working on a theme change to the ‘ol site. As soon as I run it by the Co-CTO (Nicole) and get her approval, we’ll try a new one on for size. I’m excited to move to a new layout.
  • Garage Sale – We’re running through the house and garage to locate items to sell at a garage sale I’d like to have either late this month or early in May. It seems prime time as I think many people will be looking for garage sales coming out of winter. I didn’t have too much luck inside the house, but I think I’ll find plenty of items in the garage. We have accumulated quite a bit of “stuff” over the years. I think I’m also going to hit a few local garage sales looking for deals so I can flip the item for a better price.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Joe-

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Extrapolate This! – Weekly Roundup – 3/28 to 4/1

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Another busy week. Here we are coming into April and opening day for Major League Baseball. Go Sox! And let’s not forget about hockey. The Blackhawks are once again playoff bound!

Laid Off Or Fired? Now What?

The “New” Retirement Number?

Joe’s Latest Addictions

Free Magazine Fridays

I also added a new Recommendations page giving a few apps and websites worth a try. We don’t endorse anything we don’t already use AND most importantly like!

14-0809_2016 Opening Day

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