Wow I’ll never complain about our prices here again, holy cr@p; we’re lucky to have Clemson’s forestry school, so their former arborist came and evaluated all the trees on our property. We have a couple white pines that may need to come down in a few years, but he’s going to monitor them. One thing we’ve noticed here is most people try to keep prices down by giving you what needs to be done immediately and what can wait. They apologize all the time for prices, but they’re no where near PA pricing.
Cost saving advice, if you live near a university, see what community outreach programs they have; from health outreaches or job counseling to “free” or greatly reduced classes, you can save $ by taking advantage of available programs. For example, Clemson is currently trying to get rid of Bradford pears in the state. They’ll give you a native species replacement for each Bradford pear you remove. I imagine most universities offer free outreach services.
Your comment made me realize how much I hate spending money on new phones! The prices are outrageous and they purposely build them to start wearing out within 2-3 years. Whether it’s the battery itself or the battery port, the super expensive phones don’t last.
Omg that’s horrible! There was a huge tree across the street that had a big hole in it. Was getting very worrisome. Those neighbors’ driveway goes down from the street so they are never seen, and we really, sadly don’t know them. Long story short, we finally emailed them with our concerns about the tree. They were very good about it and had it looked at and taken down. Good thing!
In Maine, land of lumber and sawmills, if the trees you want to remove are not diseased and can be processed for lumber, you might pay just a small fee or even get paid to have them removed. When we built our garage this past summer, we needed to remove a few from our surrounding forest to make room. Two of the larger ones had lumber value, so we weren’t charged for their removal. Our BFs removed trees from their island property recently that threatened their cottage. He’s a carpenter and paid a small fee for removal of some oak and fine white pine in exchange for some board feet of the planed trees for a project.
OTOH, we know that eventually we’ll be faced with tree removal charges on our cabin property when some of the no-value older-growth trees become a threat.
I hate the taxes and fees added onto services, like the cable, cell phone and natural gas bill. My gas bill is about $34/month as only my stove and outside grill are gas. The actual gas usage last month was less that $1, the rest was taxes and pass thru charges. $30 added to the cable bill, $10 added to the landline charges, $14 to the cell bill; all BS charges and I cringe paying for those, even though I don’t have a choice.
you just reminded me of another thing I hate spending money on: work permits, which feel like a money grab. Our trees are dead, are an imminent risk to falling (and taking out the power lines), and yet our town limits the number you can remove each year (3) and charges $100 for a permit to do so. As I mentioned upthread, it’s been awfully tempting to just let nature take its course.
Sounds like we are neighbors! Our town is nuts about trees. Thankfully, they allow removal of completely dead trees without a formal permit.
Which reminds me… I hate paying for permits! The biggest ripoff was the roofing permit. $1,000. I swear the inspector did not even drive by and just finaled the job. I was sitting at home looking out of the front window waiting for the inspector to show up. He must have had a magic hat making him invisible ! The electrical inspector did earn his keep though. He was meticulous.
As we are ordering, I am keeping a rough tally of the bill in my head. Can’t help it.
She leads with, “I’ll have the Burrito de Chicago with a side of sour cream and a water.” (okay… $14.99)
My turn: “I’ll go with the chicken & rice and a Pepsi.” ($11.99 + $2.99… now sitting at about $30 + tax and tip… call it $40 out the door as long as the server doesn’t spit in the food.)
As the server turns to depart, and I am gazing lovingly at my date thinking, “Whew! Good job, date, for placating my cheap self…”), my date blurts out,
“Oh, one other thing. I also want a Patron double, neat.” (ugh… $17. She just increased the bill by ab out 50%.)
We usually have a bottle of vodka at home in case either of us feels like a drink. That whole bottle costs less than her Patron double. lol
I remember that! These are not in good shape at all. This was two years ago, courtesy of Google Earth (that was edited with the black marks! lol). There’s a lot more missing bark. There may be holes as well. At least they shouldn’t damage our house if they fall. The closest one is 115’ from the nearest corner to our porch and 130’ to the closest point of the actual house.
And the one in our neighbor’s backyard was a lot bigger than these. It’s branches would have been huge trees.
LOL! We don’t go out to eat all that often, so I don’t really care what the bill is. Keeping a running tally in my head would ruin the experience for me. Hopefully your date will get with your program going forward so you can enjoy yourself more.
Yes, paying for taking down the trees in our front yard was a big expense but we preferred that over having black mold from the tree blow into the house.
Happily the firm we hired was able to do it without causing harm to the roof of our house or any pipes. Phew! They also ground the stumps down as was included in the quote.
@thumper1 Absolutely! My son was debating about picking up a car at the airport or by my house when they come to visit in a few weeks. For the $80 difference, I will pick them up and return them to the airport; he will get the car at the local Hertz.
Our town is nuts about trees. Thankfully, they allow removal of completely dead trees without a formal permit.