1st Monday of quarantine

mrsconn23

How was the weekend?  

Saturday, we went to my sister's since my grandpa and uncle were in town.   It was a short gathering.  I did make enchiladas for it, and since I forgot to get tortillas from the store, I taught myself to make my own.   

Sunday, we set our damn alarms and went to the store at 7:30am.  We were able to get everything we needed, they were restocking, and it was pretty tame compared to our adventure on Thursday night.   We are good for about a month.  I also rearranged my pantry since we have more food than we normally do.  Our freezers are all full.   It was weird to shop without a meal plan.  Now I have to basically work backwards and figure out what I'm going to make from what we have.  

Once we got home, we put up the food.  I made breakfast, apple pie, and spaghetti sauce.  Cleaned the kitchen, twice. After that I dusted and picked up my office and cleaned out a closet that has been making me twitch for months every time I open it. 

We watched some of Cheer, the F1 series, and the Trump episode of Dirty Money.  The kiddo and his BFF came over for dinner. 

We start packet work today.  I'm making DH print that shit at work. 

Work is looking to deploy WAH to as many as possible ASAP.    This weekend was WILD as far as the rolling information and minute to minute changes.  DefConn keeps asking all.the.questions and I literally keep telling him we're learning together what all this means.  

MissKittyDanger

Welp my city is in process of shut down of stuff.
Our office is appointment only and trying to do everything over the phone. So that's probably most of my day - calls and emails

BUT my coworker isn't feeling well so is in a panic right now, so she's trying to take her temp. Unsure on what's up, she had a client come in and say she had the flu so she's been pretty worried.

We're comfortable on our stock. We tried to keep it lowkey on purchases, but also ensuring we get what we need. M and I have talked about ensure we have a non-perishables stockpile after all this. Just in case the weather, etc.

I also mentioned to M I'd like to donate to food bank when we can - money ideally - and make sure we buy from small businesses. I'll likely start with farmers market because it's close by.

BabyKitten has a dry-air cough, so I let daycare know it's just dry air. She also coughed in my face .... thanks kid. *facepalm*

short+sassy

It feels like the world is going to hell in a handbasket and it's making me sad and a little freaked out for the future.  I keep reassuring myself that everything will be fine, in the end.  At worst (for me), it's just going to be some financial bumps...though maybe expensive ones...in the near future.  But, while I know logically that is true.  Emotionally, all the uncertainty of what to expect is taking its toll.  I am feeling worried and distracted too much and can't seem to help it! 

But here is at least my humor from the weekend.  I went on a typical grocery shopping trip yesterday.  Not quite sure what that experience would be like, though it wasn't too bad.  It was amusing to see what areas of the store were more decimated than others.  As in, where people's "priorities" lie.  Some of the areas I thought would be decimated, like canned soup, where fine.  But soda, frozen pizza, and potato chips?  Mostly gone, lol.

In my area, the police were raiding bars on Bourbon St. on Sat. night because crowds were too large.  I think the limit at the time for any gathering was 250 people.  The mayor put new rules into effect that restaurants have to close by 9PM and bars by midnight, though I don't think that was done until Sunday.  And whatever a location's "occupancy limit" is, will be cut by half.  All schools were closed as of today and through April 13th.

I saw there were a few states that closed restaurants/bars entirely (other than take=out/delivery), over the weekend.

@CharmedPam, sorry you can't go out to eat, lol.  But keep an eye on bank interest rates for that refi you were thinking about.  I'm sure you saw it, but the Federal Reserve just cuts rates to zero/almost zero (not sure which).  Usually banks will follow suit.

CharmedPam

Yeah all our restaurants close starting tomorrow.  Well close for dine in’s. I want to help to restaurants as much as I can so will order for carry out when I can.  But of course I have to be cautious of money. 

Do I need a contractor here first @short+sassy ? To give me a quote to give to the bank for the amount I need to refi? I don’t know how to do this!!!

it says it’a 69 in here, but it’s so flipping cold!  I think I’m going to try to hit the grocery store tonight, later, when the rush dies down. 

Eta: oh, you know how I’m an avid avid fan of Salem MA?  Someone who does tours had a lot of cancelations so on fb he did a 1 hr virtual tour for people online.  I learned new info from him and the idea was GREAT.  I did give him a tip for his brilliant idea and I hope other viewers did too.  It brought back so many memories (sad and happy - my ex and I did a “post engagement shoot” in Salem last year and he passed a lot of sites)

charlotte989875

short+sassy said:

It feels like the world is going to hell in a handbasket and it's making me sad and a little freaked out for the future.  I keep reassuring myself that everything will be fine, in the end.  At worst (for me), it's just going to be some financial bumps...though maybe expensive ones...in the near future.  But, while I know logically that is true.  Emotionally, all the uncertainty of what to expect is taking its toll.  I am feeling worried and distracted too much and can't seem to help it! 

But here is at least my humor from the weekend.  I went on a typical grocery shopping trip yesterday.  Not quite sure what that experience would be like, though it wasn't too bad.  It was amusing to see what areas of the store were more decimated than others.  As in, where people's "priorities" lie.  Some of the areas I thought would be decimated, like canned soup, where fine.  But soda, frozen pizza, and potato chips?  Mostly gone, lol.

In my area, the police were raiding bars on Bourbon St. on Sat. night because crowds were too large.  I think the limit at the time for any gathering was 250 people.  The mayor put new rules into effect that restaurants have to close by 9PM and bars by midnight, though I don't think that was done until Sunday.  And whatever a location's "occupancy limit" is, will be cut by half.  All schools were closed as of today and through April 13th.

I saw there were a few states that closed restaurants/bars entirely (other than take=out/delivery), over the weekend.

@CharmedPam, sorry you can't go out to eat, lol.  But keep an eye on bank interest rates for that refi you were thinking about.  I'm sure you saw it, but the Federal Reserve just cuts rates to zero/almost zero (not sure which).  Usually banks will follow suit.

It’s not a bad time to refi if you can! In addition to lowering rates the Fed is buying mortgage backed securities to try and keep banks lending to people. 

banana468

CT schools are now all closed effective tomorrow.   Our town closed effective noon on Fri (and they were already off due to a professional development day). 

I WFH so my job is the same but now I have an audience. 

My ILs are in town and helping but I'm reaching the point that if FIL continues to go out they won't get to see the kids.   Sorrynotsorry.   

DH works for an employer that has sadly not embraced the WFH concept.  It's frustrating and as it stands he's facing the possibility of working all week and then being home for 2 weeks.   I am less than thrilled.   I think he's increased the likelihood of our exposure.

I do not think the boomers are taking this seriously.   It is a trying time to tell them that I think they're flat out wrong. 

charlotte989875

H is also WFH now so we’ve coordinated where we can work and who needs to make sure the dog doesn’t interrupt. Schools here are closed until April 20 and bars/restaurants are required to only have 50% occupancy. The liquor authority was citing people yesterday who were overcrowded. 

We haven’t done a shopping trip even for regular groceries so H is going to attempt it tonight. We need a ton of stuff so good luck to him. I’m basically staying indoors. Someone who works in my building was diagnosed over the weekend so we’re WFH so a while. 

CharmedPam

charlotte989875 said: It’s not a bad time to refi if you can! In addition to lowering rates the Fed is buying mortgage backed securities to try and keep banks lending to people. 

I JUST paid off my largest credit credit so I’m hoping my score goes up.  Should I wait to see how long that takes?

charlotte989875

Also are anyone else’s parents not taking this seriously, like at all? 

My Dad has COPD and an aortic aneurism and he and my mom went out to dinner at the busiest place in town Friday night, then even after all St. Patrick’s Day things were cancelled the town decided to do a makeshift parade anyway and then a party at someone’s house so of course they went because “we needed to do something to celebrate”. Y’all were not even Irish! 

I can’t with them. My sister is panicking and I said I wasn’t even going to call and listen to their excuses. 

CharmedPam

@charlotte989875 , I think my parents are taking it more and more seriously... they’ve already cancelled some stuff.  We had plans to meet on the 28th and have a hotel in place, nothing was cancelled yet but I think we will when it gets closer and nothing has changed.  We’re (bro and I) worried about my Dad who has chron’s disease so his immune system is weakened.  I’m not sure if he’s going into work.  I’ll have to call and ask actually. 

MyNameIsNot

It's starting to feel like the new normal here. We've pretty much been WFH since last week. We did have a really productive weekend here. We finished unpacking all the boxes in the bedroom and dining room, hung shelves and the TV, and got the remaining items out of the garage. The last things we have to do for the move are to unpack a few boxes in each of out offices, hang all the artwork, and take the rest of the broken down boxes down to the basement storage room. I'm working on my office boxes while I listen to calls, so hoping to have that done by the end of tomorrow. We'll finish the rest of it this week or weekend. I can't begin to describe the relief from being settled in. This move has encompassed our lives for the last 6 months; I'm so excited to just be able to relax without a huge to-do list. 

We did end up going out some this weekend. DH apparently lives in a bubble. Saturday, he wanted to go to Costco for paper towels. He was also surprised that Home Depot was out of propane. Also, setting foot in costco was a bad idea. It was super crowded, and people refused to do the social distancing thing. I was there for 5 minutes and had to turn around and leave. 

mrsconn23

According to my uncle, who's really embraced the tinfoil hat, this is bio-terrorism created in a lab with the intent to bring further social order in China and also to kill off the boomer generation and older.  But it was released too early? 

Oh and Italy isn't shut down y'all, they just closed the borders.  People are free to move about no problem.  According to his friend of a friend's co-worker's mother's brother or whatever.

My town's chatter page is also ate up with all sorts of the conspiracy theory memes and armchair experts.  Oh and everyone fighting about toilet paper and ridiculing people who ask before they leave the house how bad the stores are (because our town has a Kroger and Walmart only and they've been balls to the wall since Wednesday). 

All that makes this insane time seem so much more surreal. 

mrsconn23

I still can't believe my grandpa flew here on Thursday.  And is flying home today.  He did have santizer on hand and wiped down his seats.  But still...FFS.  

Oh and if his flight was canceled, he was going to rent a car and DRIVE HOME to TX...y'know...no problem.  He's 86.  

Jesus literally take the wheel.  But OTOH, I understand him just coming anyway because it is the last time he may see my mom.  I'm sure it was a catch-22 for him.  

ILoveBeachMusic

I think it is interesting you all are saying boomers aren't taking it seriously.From  what I have seen, it is the young people (teens - 30ish) that aren't taking it seriously. All the shots I've seen of bars and parties look like that age group.

Personally, I'm feeling really down and claustrophobic. I usually an at the gym everyday - nope. I have a treadmill here but hate it and can't use it effectively because of my hip. We are in all likelihood not going on our annual trip to SC. Even though we would drive and are staying in a cottage not a hotel, we're afraid of being stuck down there if domestic travel is banned. We would in actuality be around less people and would be out in the fresh air more than here, but alas! I need to look into canceling. We have trip insurance so we shouldn't be out much if any money.

I might go to Chicago and self quarantine with DD and family. She works in a hospital so can't work from home. She is worried about their nanny who also works for two other families part-time. I could go up there and watch the boys so the nanny doesn't have to come over. I need to talk to her about that. DD is pretty freaked out about the whole situation because of the situations at hospitals i.e. not having enough equipment for the cases that need to be hospitalized.

Stay healthy everyone.

kerbohl

@MissKittyDanger I just heard that one of my local farmer's markets is shutting down for a couple weeks, so I hope that isn't the case with yours!  The big one the next town over from us is still open though.

I had a quiet weekend.  Visited MIL who has decided to hole up for a while due to COVID.  She keeps telling me to get a year's worth of food ... that seems like about 11 months more than necessary to me, but to each their own.  I'm content with my level of preparedness. 

MissKittyDanger

2 updates

1 - I have found a life hack for touching your face! When doing it, only touch your face with one hand. Touch nothing else until you can wash/sanitize.
You're welcome.

2 - apparently Canada will be first to flatline it.
If so, once Trudeau is out of isolation I will send him to the states.

ILoveBeachMusic

Oh and my best friend's Dad passed away last week. He was a very close family friend - like a 3rd grandfather to my kids. His funeral is next Monday, but now I don't know what to do.

Casadena

My company is WFH today to test capacity but no other plans have been communicated and i'm super pissed.  It should not be a difficult decision at this point.  H is WFH for the next few weeks and the babes school is closed from tomorrow through the 30th (we kept him home today).  We're kind of struggling to figure out how we can both effectively work from home with a 3 month old baby AND how H could work and handle babe if i have to go to the office.  My mom may be able to help a little this week bc she's on spring break, but my dad hasn't been feeling well, so idk if we want her here. 

My IL's are idiots and flew to Florida for their annual trip last Friday and are coming home tomorrow instead of Friday as planned bc apparently NOW they realized it wasn't a good idea to go in the first place.  They're going to be pissed, but we're not letting them come over for at least 14 days after they get home.  

Babe has his 3 month appt today and the Drs office is shuffling appointments to get all the well-visits and healthy stuff done in the am and taking the illnesses and sick kids in the afternoon.  Limiting to 1 parent and we have to call and check in from the car - can't wait inside.  I'm glad they're taking precautions. 

Better news - we were out for a walk around our neighborhood yesterday and a neighbor had put a gorgeous Thomasville bedroom set on the curb to give away. We've been looking for new bedroom furniture forever (still have hodge-podge random pieces from college).  I don't know that I could have picked more perfect pieces even with an unlimited budget from a store.   H walked home and got our SUV and SIL/BIL came over with theirs right away (babe and I were guarding it with the stroller, lol) and it's now in our garage to be quarantined, cleaned and put upstairs.  SO excited.  

charlotte989875

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I think it is interesting you all are saying boomers aren't taking it seriously.From  what I have seen, it is the young people (teens - 30ish) that aren't taking it seriously. All the shots I've seen of bars and parties look like that age group.

Personally, I'm feeling really down and claustrophobic. I usually an at the gym everyday - nope. I have a treadmill here but hate it and can't use it effectively because of my hip. We are in all likelihood not going on our annual trip to SC. Even though we would drive and are staying in a cottage not a hotel, we're afraid of being stuck down there if domestic travel is banned. We would in actuality be around less people and would be out in the fresh air more than here, but alas! I need to look into canceling. We have trip insurance so we shouldn't be out much if any money.

I might go to Chicago and self quarantine with DD and family. She works in a hospital so can't work from home. She is worried about their nanny who also works for two other families part-time. I could go up there and watch the boys so the nanny doesn't have to come over. I need to talk to her about that. DD is pretty freaked out about the whole situation because of the situations at hospitals i.e. not having enough equipment for the cases that need to be hospitalized.

Stay healthy everyone.

Oh I’m really pissed at those people, too!!

From the photos in Buffalo it looked like mostly people younger than me, say college and right out of college (I’m almost 35). 

kerbohl

@Casadena What a great find!  I've been lucky and found some great curb treasures, but nothing like a nice bedroom set.  

mrsconn23

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I think it is interesting you all are saying boomers aren't taking it seriously.From  what I have seen, it is the young people (teens - 30ish) that aren't taking it seriously. All the shots I've seen of bars and parties look like that age group.

I thought it was COMPLETELY irresponsible of Howl at the Moon for promoting the bar crawl for St. Pat's day this weekend.  I'm supportive of a ban on bars and restaurants. 

Also mom has texted us and canceled ALL visitors, including us, for now.  I don't blame her at all.  My dad thinks she's overreacting, but I think she's being smart.  

short+sassy

CharmedPam said:

Yeah all our restaurants close starting tomorrow.  Well close for dine in’s. I want to help to restaurants as much as I can so will order for carry out when I can.  But of course I have to be cautious of money. 

Do I need a contractor here first @short+sassy ? To give me a quote to give to the bank for the amount I need to refi? I don’t know how to do this!!!

it says it’a 69 in here, but it’s so flipping cold!  I think I’m going to try to hit the grocery store tonight, later, when the rush dies down. 

Eta: oh, you know how I’m an avid avid fan of Salem MA?  Someone who does tours had a lot of cancelations so on fb he did a 1 hr virtual tour for people online.  I learned new info from him and the idea was GREAT.  I did give him a tip for his brilliant idea and I hope other viewers did too.  It brought back so many memories (sad and happy - my ex and I did a “post engagement shoot” in Salem last year and he passed a lot of sites)

Assuming you are doing a cash-out refi (as in, you have equity in the house), the bank wouldn't require a GC bid(s).  Though if you don't want to do a full cash-out (so to speak), then it might make sense for your own self to have already gotten some quotes, so you have a ballpark on how much you'll need.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Let's say your house is worth $300K.  Your mortgage is $200K.  So you have $100K in equity.  With a cash-out refi, your bank will let you "take out" up to 70% of that (could be more), which would make your new loan amount $270K.  If you're "good" with all that and whatever the new mortgage payment will be, you don't need to do anything else. Either for yourself or the bank.

But let's say you don't necessarily want to take out that much of the equity.  You can get some quotes first.  Let's say they come in around $40K.  But...hmmm...ya know, you also have another $10K in credit card balances.  So, hey, while you're at it...might as well include enough money to pay those off also.  Because why pay 19.99% interest when you could pay 3%!

So then you do your cash-out refi for $250K.  $200K pays off the previous loan.  $40K for your reno work.  And $10K to pay off the rest of your credit card debt.  The bank isn't involved at all in those last two pieces.  That's just you using the extra money for what you want to do with it.  The bank usually doesn't care what you do with it and doesn't put requirements on it.

However, if it is a different loan product than a cash-out refi, that may not be true.  Generally speaking, if any part of your loan is directly tied to the reno work, the bank will usually require quotes.  And not just quotes from any ole' handyperson business.  They usually specifically need to be from a General Contractor. 

MyNameIsNot

In my life it's both the boomers and the super young not taking it seriously. My dad is still in the "it's just a flu, this is stupid" camp, while my youngest co-workers are looking for cheap travel. 

But then my grandma (older than a boomer, in her 80s) is also in that camp. She was still doing social stuff at the church on Friday. She woke up Saturday with shortness of breath and chest pains, went to the hospital, and has now been diagnosed with some sort of pulmonary disease. They say it's not covid, but of course they didn't test her. Even with this, I know she won't stay home, but now she's really high risk. 

Casadena

kerbohl said:

@Casadena What a great find!  I've been lucky and found some great curb treasures, but nothing like a nice bedroom set.  

it had to have been right after they put it out - there's no way it would have lasted long on the curb.  We got so super lucky!!  I'm glad i decided to stay and "guard" it with the stroller too - there were multiple cars that slowed down to look at it .

ETA: from my quick googling of similar pieces, we probably scored about 4k in free furniture yesterday.  

short+sassy

CharmedPam said:

charlotte989875 said: It’s not a bad time to refi if you can! In addition to lowering rates the Fed is buying mortgage backed securities to try and keep banks lending to people. 

I JUST paid off my largest credit credit so I’m hoping my score goes up.  Should I wait to see how long that takes?

I know a lot of my credit cards have a thing on their website where I can check my real credit score online.  Depending on where you were in your cycle when you paid it off it should reflect on your score within 30 days, but it could be even less than that.  If it were me, I'd check about once a week to see when the payoff "hits" and, hopefully, see my credit score rise.

The lower Fed rate is going to be fairly temporary.  But I'd think "temporary" will probably be at least a few weeks, if not longer.  However, if your balance was already below a 25-30% utilization when you paid it off, it probably won't make as much difference to your credit score and I'd jump as soon as I saw banks dropping their rates.

ILoveBeachMusic

mrsconn23 said:

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I think it is interesting you all are saying boomers aren't taking it seriously.From  what I have seen, it is the young people (teens - 30ish) that aren't taking it seriously. All the shots I've seen of bars and parties look like that age group.

I thought it was COMPLETELY irresponsible of Howl at the Moon for promoting the bar crawl for St. Pat's day this weekend.  I'm supportive of a ban on bars and restaurants. 

Also mom has texted us and canceled ALL visitors, including us, for now.  I don't blame her at all.  My dad thinks she's overreacting, but I think she's being smart.  

Yes I think your Mom is doing the right thing too. Yes it is totally irresponsible for bars to promote large groups. Did you see that the governor has just called for bars and restaurants to close?

MissKittyDanger

@kerbohl Nothing said officially because they don't open until mid-April, so I'm guessing they're waiting to see what happens. Likely shutting down though.

short+sassy

Casadena said:

kerbohl said:

@Casadena What a great find!  I've been lucky and found some great curb treasures, but nothing like a nice bedroom set.  

it had to have been right after they put it out - there's no way it would have lasted long on the curb.  We got so super lucky!!  I'm glad i decided to stay and "guard" it with the stroller too - there were multiple cars that slowed down to look at it .

ETA: from my quick googling of similar pieces, we probably scored about 4k in free furniture yesterday.  

I like that you all have been looking for a new bedroom set anyway!  Even an average one would have set you all back a chunk of change.  It makes it an especially amazing find.

Jen4948

Working, but I have the feeling that it won't be long before we're working from home.

Meanwhile, I wash my hands all the time and observe otherwise self-imposed quarantine and social distancing.  :'(

banana468

RE: boomers
-My aunt thinks that she and her husband are in their 70s and they're not that high risk.  She's also shrugging off how easily this spreads. 
-FIL is continuing to go to places like Lowe's because they decided that this was the time to work on their kitchen.   
-My dad went out yesterday to get grass seed because it's time to grow the lawn. 

mrsconn23

ILoveBeachMusic said:

mrsconn23 said:

ILoveBeachMusic said:

I think it is interesting you all are saying boomers aren't taking it seriously.From  what I have seen, it is the young people (teens - 30ish) that aren't taking it seriously. All the shots I've seen of bars and parties look like that age group.

I thought it was COMPLETELY irresponsible of Howl at the Moon for promoting the bar crawl for St. Pat's day this weekend.  I'm supportive of a ban on bars and restaurants. 

Also mom has texted us and canceled ALL visitors, including us, for now.  I don't blame her at all.  My dad thinks she's overreacting, but I think she's being smart.  

Yes I think your Mom is doing the right thing too. Yes it is totally irresponsible for bars to promote large groups. Did you see that the governor has just called for bars and restaurants to close?

FINALLY.  IL, OH, and MI called it before us.  I mean, come on.