Cell Phone and 12 Month Service for $50 = Under $5 / month

Right now you can get a Tracfone LG Rebel phone plus 12 months of service for just $49.99 via ebay

Thats a great deal and works out to $4.17 per month for the 12 months.    

It is limited service with 1200 minutes, 1200 text and 1200MB of data.   The phone is pretty low spec too so don't expect to play high end games or anything.      But you can't beat this price for a phone and 12 months of service.

I used Tracfone myself for a year or two and it worked perfectly fine for me.

I heard about this at Fatwallet.


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I'm receiving no commissions on this.

Should I Buy a Telsa Solar Roof?

Tesla just started taking orders on their Solar Roof today.   Is it a good deal as promised?

You can get details on the solar roof along with a quote on the price for your house at the Tesla Solar Roof website.    Plugging in the numbers there myself for our house I get :

Cost of roof  = $45,100
Tax cred = -$10,700
Value of Energy = $27,400
Net cost over 30 years $7000

They make it look good that way.    But what you're really doing is spending $34,400 today to get $27,400 energy over 30 years.   Thats not so good of a deal.

But theres more.     My state and local utility also offer incentives that combined would cut another $8800 off the price.   That gets the net cost of front down to $25,600.    This is a much better deal but I still don't want to spend $25,600 today for $27,400 spread over 30 years.

Really a Solar Roof is going to be best if you're already looking at the cost of replacing a warn out old roof.   Our own home has a very new roof.    So it doesn't make sense to tear off a perfectly good roof to put on a Solar Roof.    We do have a rental property that we replaced the roof on not too long ago for about $7200.    If you figure in the cost of that $7200 roof then going with a Solar Roof instead starts to make more sense.   Youre not looking at spending $25,600 today for $27,400 over 30 years.  Instead you're looking at spending $7200 for a regular asphalt tile roof or getting the Solar Roof for $25,600 along with $27,400 in energy.   Thats really a cost of $18,400 for the energy.   Now you're getting closer.   But its still not really worth it.

The thing that would really make a Solar Roof worth while is comparing it to a more expensive roof.   When I replaced that rental roof we got traditional asphalt shingles as you see on the majority of roofs (at least around here).     However the Solar Roof is a higher quality glass material.   Its more comparable to glass tile roofs or slate shingles.    Those higher quality materials cost a lot more.   Using those materials would cost 2-3 times as much as the asphalt roof.   If you're now comparing a solar roof to a roof that is $10,000 to $20,000 then thats a different equation.     Bloomberg has a graphic comparing roof costs in their article Tesla’s Solar Roof Pricing Is Cheap Enough to Catch Fire

The situation where it makes sense then is replacing a worn out old roof with a new higher end material roof.    If the net cost of a Solar Roof is $25,600 and the comparable alternative is a $20,000 slate roof then you're really looking at spending $5,600 more to get the solar power.   That solar power adds up to $27,400 over 30 years.   The power savings starts at about $600/yr.    The net present value of the 30 years worth of power is over $13,000.     So you're spending $5,600 more net to get the solar power saving $600 a year with a total value of $13,00.    Now that makes sense.

So while I would not run out tear off my perfectly good roof tomorrow for a Solar Roof, it could very well be worth getting one if you have an old roof that needs replacement and you were looking to use higher end materials.

One last point to make is that the Solar Roof has a "infinity warranty".   They warranty it forever the life of the house.   So you won't have to replace the roof out of pocket.    Now I'm not sure how much thats really worth, I didn't look at the details.   But that certainly does add value over traditional roof materials which need replacement.     But a cheapo asphalt shingle roof should last 30 years and a nice slate roof should last 50 to 200 years.   Slate roofs may as well be "forever" as far as most of us would plan.   But the lifetime warranty isn't nothing.

Bottom line:   Tesla Solar Roofs can be a good financial choice in the right situation.   If you're looking at replacing an old roof with a higher end roof it can be a good deal.   It all depends on the specifics.

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15% Rebate Promotion at Ebates this Week

For their "birthday week", Ebates is running a promotion this week with 15% rebates for 200+ stores.
A few example stores :
Petco
Kohls
Macy's
Staples
JCPenney

Standard Ebates blurb: To get cash back from Ebates you need to be signed up with Ebates.  Then simply go to Ebates to get the referral to the store before you do your shopping.  I also get a referral bonus if you use my links to sign up with Ebates.  

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Mass Transit Usage By State

Have you been yearning to find out how Delaware ranked in usage of mass transit versus the other states?    I know you have.   I used a couple data sources to figure the number of annual trips in mass transit taken per capita for each state.    Spoiler alert:  Delaware is #22.

I got the annual trips per state off of Table 4-4: Urban Transit Ridership by State and Transit Mode: 2013 at Dot.gov.     I then divided by the population of each state for 2013 found at Enchanted Learning.com


Here is the list alphabetically by state :

State	Annual trips per capita	Rank
Alabama	1.6	49
Alaska	6.9	32
Arizona	15.1	18
Arkansas	2.0	46
California	37.4	7
Colorado	20.8	13
Connecticut	12.5	20
Delaware	12.1	22
District of Columbia	639.9	1
Florida	14.6	19
Georgia	16.1	16
Hawaii	52.0	5
Idaho	1.7	48
Illinois	52.3	4
Indiana	5.3	34
Iowa	7.4	31
Kansas	2.6	42
Kentucky	6.2	33
Louisiana	8.3	28
Maine	4.1	38
Maryland	24.2	12
Massachusetts	63.5	3
Michigan	10.0	25
Minnesota	19.1	15
Mississippi	0.7	51
Missouri	11.3	23
Montana	2.4	43
Nebraska	3.5	39
Nevada	26.7	11
New Hampshire	2.9	41
New Jersey	44.0	6
New Mexico	7.9	29
New York	201.9	2
North Carolina	7.4	30
North Dakota	3.5	40
Ohio	9.7	26
Oklahoma	2.0	45
Oregon	31.7	10
Pennsylvania	36.1	8
Rhode Island	19.5	14
South Carolina	2.4	44
South Dakota	1.8	47
Tennessee	4.8	35
Texas	11.0	24
Utah	16.1	17
Vermont	4.4	37
Virginia	8.9	27
Washington	34.9	9
West Virginia	4.6	36
Wisconsin	12.3	21
Wyoming	0.8	50

Here is the sorted list with the highest usage level on down :

State	Annual trips per capita	Rank
District of Columbia	639.9	1
New York	201.9	2
Massachusetts	63.5	3
Illinois	52.3	4
Hawaii	52.0	5
New Jersey	44.0	6
California	37.4	7
Pennsylvania	36.1	8
Washington	34.9	9
Oregon	31.7	10
Nevada	26.7	11
Maryland	24.2	12
Colorado	20.8	13
Rhode Island	19.5	14
Minnesota	19.1	15
Georgia	16.1	16
Utah	16.1	17
Arizona	15.1	18
Florida	14.6	19
Connecticut	12.5	20
Wisconsin	12.3	21
Delaware	12.1	22
Missouri	11.3	23
Texas	11.0	24
Michigan	10.0	25
Ohio	9.7	26
Virginia	8.9	27
Louisiana	8.3	28
New Mexico	7.9	29
North Carolina	7.4	30
Iowa	7.4	31
Alaska	6.9	32
Kentucky	6.2	33
Indiana	5.3	34
Tennessee	4.8	35
West Virginia	4.6	36
Vermont	4.4	37
Maine	4.1	38
Nebraska	3.5	39
North Dakota	3.5	40
New Hampshire	2.9	41
Kansas	2.6	42
Montana	2.4	43
South Carolina	2.4	44
Oklahoma	2.0	45
Arkansas	2.0	46
South Dakota	1.8	47
Idaho	1.7	48
Alabama	1.6	49
Wyoming	0.8	50
Mississippi	0.7	51

I don't see any real surprises here.    Its almost a ranking of highly urban states to mostly rural states.
D.C. and NYC have very high usage rates.    Wyoming and South Dakota do not.


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