We buy a lot and get great pricing, similar to Behr for higher grade paint.Remember, cheap paint means more coats.

Unless your employer matches your IRA contributions, I would not put a single penny in an IRA.  

I recently moved to CO, have rentals in my home state, renting for the long term and saving my pennies and putting my time and energy toward learning more about REI (thanks BP) for when I'm ready to buy my next property.

There is a retrofit solution to extend the aluminum to a copper wire that is then connected to the outlet.

The risk of fire typically comes where aluminum wire is connected to copper outlets - the two do not perform well together and can separate over time, eventually leading to a spark where a gap has formed between the wires and possible fire. 

There are multiple ways to fix the issue....just have all the contact points pigtailed with copper.

Stained it and put 2 coats of poly on it . . . worked great 

If inflation is here to stay for a while, remember what commodity you are purchasing....land, lumber, copper, plaster, concrete, etc...all commodities in one basket with the bonus of generating cash flow, tax benefits, and ability to get leverage (essentially shorting the dollar that is depreciating everyday).I hope this provides some useful perspectives to think about and discuss. 

If you run a grounding wire from a screw in the box holding an ungrounded 2-prong outlet to clamp on a copper water supply pipe and the water supply is copper ALL THE WAY BACK TO its entry point into the house, the outlet is grounded.

There used to be tons of houses in Detroit that you could buy for pennies on the dollar to construct.