I'd add in, "Listen to your architect and builder." This adds the caveat to make sure they know what your budget is and that you will LISTEN to advice on maximizing it. I've had both of them explain calmly and gently that something I wanted to do is probably going to be ghastly expensive. And then proffer an alternative that helps get closer to what we want without spending needlessly. If you listen at the front end of the project regarding siting, design, and site development, you'll save yourself so much more money than can be squeezed out of the budget by altering finishes at the end. Some things I've just had to give up on entirely, but I think I'll be happier in the long run for having heeded professional experience. Now, I'm not trying to build a house for $50/sq ft or otherwise get ridiculously under the market rate. But my husband and I were just talking about prioritizing our budget. Which, for us, means spending money on the things that either cannot be changed or would be very difficult to change later - structural elements, windows, etc. Finishes can be upgraded later, built-ins can be added, etc. I find that if you are upfront with most professionals you work with about wanting to be cost-conscious, they'll suddenly become a font of information about how to do so. It helps to be friendly, polite, and not condescending when you do so. Often I've had this happen when I go to one of them and say, "I'd like to do A, but it's sort of expensive." It is not unusual for the response to be, "Well, if we do B, C, and D over in these other areas of the house, we can probably free up enough of your budget for A. And that's really cool, and now I want to do it, so let me go think about it some more." Most of the time, they go think about it, and then come back with an even better idea. Cultivate your pros. They know so much more about their craft than a youtube video does. (Side note: Most of them also seem to like homemade chocolate chip cookies). Also note that this approach is more likely to get you what you want than telling them, "I want A, and Google says that it shouldn't cost me more than $X, so I think you should do it for that even though you quote more."

Might flush windows dns cache incase its somehow gotten corrupt. open a CMD window from the Run line off the start button menu, then type in; ipconfig /flushdns Then if still happens, you might want to use windows search feature, put a check mark in the box for advanced. Search for the hosts file with no extension; HOSTS standard path is C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts right click and open with or send_to notepad. Its a special text file. Do not open it with anything other than notepad because when you save changes wordpad and some other text views add funny carriage returns and formatting which will screw things up. When you type in www.google.com in your browser, that needs to be converted to an ip number and windows will look in the HOSTS file first...then it looks in recent dns cache' which you just cleared,,, before actually asking your isp for googles street address. Anyhow,, in the HOSTS some less than honest exploits will redirect your google search to them from there,,,, so see if it has google listed in HOSTS with an ip number, if so just disable that line by adding a pound sign plus one blank space in front of it like this... # 209.62.176.52 www.google.net

Thank you Zep. I was starting to wonder what could be causing the delays, you no doubt saved my a whole load of searching around as I may not have associated it with an update.

Hello all, The one and only auto-pay I have set up is thru my old credit union account. I have auto-deposit there for my checks. The CC with the auto-pay is also issued with/through them. (So, I'm not concerned about THAT one, since they already are "connected" - so to speak.) Also, that CC is the one I use for general purposes with a very low balance. I've not had a problem with that, nor any concerns, BECAUSE it is always a low balance - or paid off. It started out (while I was working) - I could opt a specific amount deducted fm paycheck every WEEK (remember the good old days when you got paid weekly?!!! lol), and automatic pymts to pay for my "one and only new car I ever bot". I LOVED it! (The car was also funded thru my credit union). I'd like auto-pay for TWO other cc's, but I don't want the cc's to have direct access to my cr. union acct. I also have a regular bank account which I've had for a very long time, (checking only - I dumped my savings due to their ridiculous monthly fees), and I use this to pay bills. I HATE this bank, but I've had my acc't for about 30 years - so don't want to close the account. What I've been doing for several years is writing a ck fm Cr. Union to deposit into my "regular bank scct" - but only enough to cover bills that I am paying (plus a small "buffer"), so that they make minimal $ on MY $. My balance is always VERY LOW in this account. (I REALLY hate this bank!) I considered setting up CR Union to make auto-deposits to my regular bank. (BUT, then again, I hate to "connect" the two.) And then set up auto-pay on cc's thru THAT account. PLUS, IF I did that, it would be under what I pay out each month,-(utilities, etc.), So...I would STILL have to write another check and go to ATM to make additional deposit every month. Sounds messy, huh? lol! Well, it is! I don't want to close out my regular bank acc't. Too old - and good for FICO??? I WON'T close out my Credit Union - also, too old. (plus I get lot's of benefits.) I've always been against the "online" pay method - Due to various reasons which I will spare you deatils! haha (In general - don't want to RELY on computer do to "crashes". afraid of change, many phishings, and just don't really understand how it works, etc...PLUS, I do NOT want emails to remind/inform me of this or that - I prefer paper coming thru regular mail.) BUT...hubby and son DO pay some bills online. I talked to hubby last night about how it works. I've decided to try it. (Slowly at first - & with a watchful eye) Check out Cr union online options first. See what I can/cannot do online. Sign up for that bank I hate - see what's available - what I can/cannot do - and if there are any FEES. Do an EFT fm Cr union to that bank. See how that works out. If all OK, check into CC's, see what. Try to make pymts online. (I'll start with one specific one first - see how it goes.) As long as I still get my paper statements in the regular mail each month with it all itemized... Hubby DID warn me that when I do the EFT - could take 3-5 days for it to go thru...(but then, it takes that time for regular mail also - for paying bills, that is.) I'll just have to do any bank TRFs a few days ahead. So, I have a lot to check into in next several days. Wish me luck! LOL!