Monkey Mama's Monkey Money Blog

I guess in some regards a lot is going on around here.

I just signed up BM for swimming lessons. I blogged earlier how I really hope he becomes rather proficient in the water this year. Sometimes our pool (with HOA) offers private swim lessons at relatively decent prices (plus can't beat the convenience - we live close enough to walk over). But I haven't heard much about this year. Everything else I am aware of seems insanely expensive except community center - which seems more geared to older kid in big group classes. But BM is getting there - he will be 5 soon and is getting much more comfortable in the water - so I think it's time. I signed up for pm classes in July. Would have done the first session in June but it coincided with our camping trip. $44 for 6 sessions (40 minutes each). I don't think that is so bad. The alternative seems to be a million dollars. Something more middle of the road would be fine. BUT mostly I plan to sign him up and watch closely, and practice practice practice at home. Thankfully, dh agreed to work with him on the days LM is at preschool, after BM quits preschool. I don't enjoy taking the kids to the pool much because neither can swim. Dh usually has no desire to join us at the pool. But I think we need his help. At least until BM gets a little more self sufficient.

I took dh's car to work the other day and realized when I got to work it was pretty darn low on gas. Dh always gets gas for me, to help me out, so I figured I could return the favor. I pushed it all the way home and stopped by the gas station. IT took a while to get a spot because the place was jam packed. (6pm?). Then the scanner for the coupons was not working. I Was not filling up the tank without my 10-25 cents off.

I put in about 3 gallons to get through the week and tried to work my way out of the insane grocery store parking lot with my life. I just don't remember the last time I went over there in the evenings like that. Never again. I felt bad I couldn't even fill up the tank. Though admittedly I Was worried at first I would not be able to at all (with the lines. I had no reason to wait in line all day; it could wait).

Anyway, so that is the plus to working Saturdays. I usually don't see a soul when I fill up my tank on the way to work Saturday. It was a good system. I think I am back to letting dh fill up my car during the day.

In other news, I think my stars are out of alignment. I am excited about my impending vacation, and catching up at work. But this is all offset by some MAJOR drama. We are going to spend the weekend with our parents and as usual, some drama is brewing with MIL.Nothing with her can ever be simple. I told dh yesterday, "Come on. Do I get into drama with ANYONE else? Tell me who is the drama queen here." He *gets* to a major degree the flaws of his mother, and he is usually great with siding with me. But sometimes there is just no reasoning. We came out with a compromise, after a big fight, and so far so good. But I am sure much more drama will ensue before weekend is over. Mostly, as usual, the world will end because I don't want to spend 24/7 with my MIL. I personally have other family and friends in the area who I rarely get to see. She has no concept of why I might want to see them without her. Or on top of that, why I may need a break from her on our long weekend there. I am only spending 24 hours with her or something... When all is said and done I may get 2-4 hours with my parents, and dh will be off with his mom to diffuse the situation, much of Saturday. Not exactly what I Wanted, to spend the day apart from him. But at least it keeps the peace.

MEanwhile, I got kind of a nasty e-mail at work from a co-worker today. So I figure the stars are aligned against me. It was just kind of left field about how I didn't want to do anything to benefit the company (outside of my clients) how this was such a shame.

Huh?

Oh boy. That is another story for another day. I hesitate to say too much about either situation lest someone I don't want to comes along this blog. But for now I am in the land of "You just can't Win!" In this case I am mostly hurt because I don't think my boss has ever had one complaint about me. So for someone else to criticize me so out of left field with no warning is very hurtful. IT just leaves me a little confused, though in my gut I think it is just that person.

I actually discussed the situation at length with my dh and my mother, and I did start to remember how in the middle of tax season after I Was out sick almost 2 full weeks how I Was asked to do something while I Was sick, and someone else ended up doing it. I had completely forgotten, and at least puts a little more context to the situation. Though it makes the whole thing that much more insane. Sorry I was sick and a little busy??? When just yesterday I Told said person I was really caught up and had much of the summer to work on some of this crap work and administrative stuff. So, much is apparently lost in the translation.

IT's also extra frustrating since I have been fighting to keep my head above water these last 18 months or so because we have lost so much staff. I have my priorities and they are my clients. Without them, I don't have a job. This stuff takes backseat during busy season. Though of course anything of great importance would get done. My boss knows that too. I guess that is what is important!

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The only other thing I Wanted to write was it seems in the forums the question is asked a lot, "Why be frugal?"

At the same time, in referring to the idiots I see in real life who live paycheck to paycheck with really no excuse (I mean people with really decent incomes who are just terrible with their money. Which seems to be the norm out here, particularly with this whole home equity mess). In referring to them I guess maybe I have offended some of you who are really struggling.

Likewise, I know it is in times like this that dh and I will get pegged for "having it easy." We have everything easy because we aren't feeling the squeeze.

Ah, if only it were so simple.

I have come to the conclusion over the years, and hanging out around here, that good fiscal health comes primarily due to preparation. OF course there are always stumbling blocks we come across, and some that may even be insurmountable. OF course. I am humbled greatly by how quickly everything we have built up can be taken away tomorrow. IT doesn't take much to be pushed back to the starting line.

But dh and I take great care and planning in our fiscal house, primarily at the hopes of avoiding any such disasters. That's the best we can do.

I think times like this, our planning shines through. Sadly, then, much of it is written off to luck.

Some of the things we do?

For one, of all my varied interests I picked the career that was both the most recession proof and high paying. I think the recession proof part was more important, honestly. As many well paying jobs are high paying in regard to the risk involved.

We also chose to move to an area where it was considerably cheaper to live. I did not love this idea at all when we moved. For us though it was a matter of survival, and quality of life. For now I am very grateful we had the opportunity and happy we made the move. Six years ago I Was mostly bitter about the whole thing.

Obviously these are the larger things we have done, as well as insuring out the ying yang.

As far as the smaller things. We have always tried to save our raises on same level. We always try to think to the future in our budget. Our grocery bill may be "x" but what will it be with rising grocery prices and growing children who will no doubt eat much more in their teenage years. We try to plan plan plan to cover those costs which are unknown.

On the flip side we really faced a large economic storm ourselves in the last several years. We went down to one income, and my health insurance premiums went up 800%. It hasn't exactly been a rosy road. My wages have gone up considerably the last few years, but they are only just now catching up to our expenses with kids and private health insurance, etc.

I think for us this makes an interesting juxtaposition. The masses are freaking out, and our own budget is looking pretty good. Of course, we have much more planning in store to keep it that way. In our 20s we were building wealth and making strides. Today we seem to be well insured, we have a home, and we have most of our bases pretty covered. We are pretty happy with our lifestyle. For now all we can hope is our pay rises with inflation. & if it raises more we have little plan but to save save save with the "more." That is generally how we have always been. With the huge exception of this giant economic sidetrack called "raising kids."

Plus we have a potential second income and shrinking daycare liabilities. So for us, life is good. I can't say about tomorrow, 1000% sure. But I know today is good and we are about as prepared as we can be for tomorrow. I think that is the best anyone can hope for.

& I guess I Wanted to say that if I hope anyone gets anything from my blog, it would be some tidbits on how to weather an economic storm, and to be better prepared for the next one. Likewise, in times like these, and in a position like ours, I see litle need to question our frugal choices. They obviously make life much simpler. It hasn't always been easy, but the end result has been rather nice.

On the flip side, fiscal health is always a work in progress. & did I Say I wasn't feeling any squeeze? Eh, that would be a lie. I feel plenty of squeeze. I just feel less squeeze than I did last year and the year before. Sometimes it is just a matter of perspective. Even with the economy as it is, things are looking up for us compared to recent years. So here's to that, however long it may last. Maybe we are just zigging while everyone else is zagging.

I haven't been eating much this week.

For example, I skipped dinner Monday after my gigantuan lunch. Very strange for me. But believe me - I had plenty of sustenance for the day.

Yesterday we had a work meeting and I filled up on bagels and cream cheese and salami, cookies, etc. (Another free meal I guess). I had plans to stop home for lunch and dh and I got into a heated arguments. I was at a loss what to eat and I thought maybe I was just too upset. Then I realized, once again, I Was entirely full. I went back to work without lunch.

I had a yogurt in the fridge (Was getting old anyway) and so ate that in the afternoon. I think I took another bagel sandwich as well.

For dinner, we still had burrito leftovers, so I finished those off. Dh complained a very small portion was left, but was perfect size for me.

Dh made a quick/simple/cheap pasta dish a couple of nights ago. I didn't particularly care for it.

I was surprised to see he made some mexican casserole last night (another vegetarian dish). VERY spicy.

Surprised since we still have leftover overload (a good chunk of the sausaga/pasts casserole left) and because we will not be eating in all weekend (lunch at a festival, dinner with parents, brunch with parents sunday, and I guess plenty of leftovers for dinner sunday night).

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2008/05/frugal-brown-bag...

I actually really enjoy this blog, and found this to be a decent post. Though personally I prefer to eat even cheaper lunches. But hey, sure beats eating out every day. (Well, depends. I can get a decent meal at Taco Bell or BK for $2).

Which I guess is my own lunch plan. Leftovers, mixed up with sandwiches (bologna, slami, tuna, whatever), mixed in with runs for $1 fast food meals and buy-one-get-one-free lunch buffet dates with dh.

I guess between all that I get plenty of variety. Though I am quite happy on a lazy day, when we are out of lunch meat, to just slap together a PBJ sandwich.

Anyway, the disturbing thing to me was reading all the replies on the above blog post. I have to admit I have some food issues of my own. Growing up my parents didn't cook much and never made me ate what they cooked. If I didn't like it I was free to fend for myself. I notice as I try to set an example for my kids that it is really hard for me to sit down and eat what is prepared for dinner. It is really hard for me to plan a week of meals in advance because I rather eat what strikes my fancy that very night. It's just how I was raised. But I also realize this is a terribly nasty habit, and a terrible example for the kids. I still work on it, much.

For lunch however. I don't know. It's so busy at work I rarely put much thought to lunch. I don't make a big production of it and often I just eat while I work or surf the net. I don't really care what I eat. I learned long ago if I behaved the same way at work, as at home, that I would be broke and extremely overweight. So I make it a rule to take food to work and that is all I can eat. No runs to the convenient store for what I really want, etc., etc., etc.

I have settled in this routine quite easily. It's not a big deal. I never feel deprived. Dinner is for the good stuff.

So it was kind of funny to me reading all these replies. That everyone is too good for wonder bread sandwiches (I'd eat them every day) and can't brown bag lunch because it is too boring.

It just struck me funny. & like they are all a bunch of spoiled brats or something. Seriously. Wah wah, we have to have a gourmet meal for every lunch?

Of course, I admit as much as I only eat what will tickle my fancy for dinner, the other issue my family had was we pretty much ate the same things over and over and over. So I admit I have a pretty high tolerance for monotony. I guess that could be part of it. But still. It seems to me that people are a little too attached to exciting lunches. Man, I love my food, but I don't exactly *get* it. I guess maybe this is much that is wrong with our society now. Food is s'posed to be EXCITING. People forget that it really is just s'posed to sustain us.

As long as I am not hungry (after eating) and it tastes okay, then I am good.

I of course work on my own issues on some level whereas I look at food as comfort. But it is funny how I don't really deal with that in the confines of work. & if I want to get the hell out of the office at lunch time (which I usually don't really care) then I go to the mall and go for a walk. Sure beats going out and eating a large calorie meal. I never understood why you had to eat to escape the office. If I worked in a safer area I'd just go for a walk, right outside, instead. There are plenty of alternatives to eating. I didn't know there was a rule you could only leave the premises at lunch if you were to EAT. I don't think there usually is.

Well, yes, I already said May would be spendy.

Just charged about $1k to the card (& it's only the 7th?). Almost $600 in medical bills (emergency room and hearing test for dh - most of it hearing test - as I mentioned before). Also paid $400 for the rest of our camping reservation. At least there should be no more money spent on that trip but gas. The food is included. I would have preferred to pay that in June, but they wanted the money this month. On the charge card made little difference when I charged it, this month. So just got that taken care of. The medical bills, I generally only have a week or 2 to pay them. I just waited so I could put it on the latest charge cycle possible - waited until after the 4th so it would be on May's bill.

We expect to charge around $1500 this month, for Disneyland. I guess we'll see how much we spend...

& so the spendy month begins.

May is kind of crazy.

But in July I will only pay 50% the usual preschool bill (& monthly going forward) and we will get our stimulus rebate.

So, yes, I look forward to July...

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Oh yeah, and dh had $100 charge removed for 2007 lab bill. Way to go dh! I asked what the deal with it was and he said no one knows, that they are just idiots. So, we'll see. For now the word is we don't owe it. We'll see what the bills say. I don't always have the faith in one phone call clearing up stuff like this.

I think this rounds out meals for the entire week. So you got a glimpse anyway.

Dh made us some chicago style pizza "casserole" (quick/easy recipe) on Sunday night. The dough is store bought and he puts it in a casserole dish and tops with all the fixings. Quick, easy and divine. I'll have to see if I can find the recipe.

For last night we still had some leftover burritos, so dh made some homemade salsa to go with it. For Cinco de Mayo. Our salsa recipe is actually mexican, so seemed fitting. I had asked him anyway when we would have salsa again. It had been too long! We've been stocking up on chips on sale, and no fresh salsa to dip them in!

I actually did not eat dinner last night - but for chips and salsa. !! I just remembered as I my boss treated me to lunch (very rare treat) and I was just STUFFED. I came home and took me a bit to remember why I was SO full. I told dh I was going to skip dinner. He said - "you mean you will eat later?" I said "no, I mean I am too full to eat dinner." & then I fell asleep early, and certainly did not wake up hungry. Geez. That was some lunch. I had bacon cheeseburger and fries. Was just a very large meal for me.

So I pretty much was free to feed yesterday.

We have a lot of plans this weekend and probably won't eat home so dh said we'll probably just have leftovers the rest of the week. He is making some pasta/garlic/chickpea casserole maybe tomorrow. I don't remember it, but I guess we'll see.

BM is going through some major growthspurt. I was thinking of making pancakes and/or eggs for breakfast. LM woke me up at 5am, so there is time... Unusual for a week day, but I think that kids needs some extra FOOD.

I got the fam out to a hike yesterday. IT was another new one (as most of them are; we haven't been up to much hiking since moving out here).

I had heard great things about this lake - it is some kind of government park and they keep cows and horses and goats there (the animals we saw). The lake is home to the biggest geese I have ever seen. Biggest and Loudest. Egads!

They also had a nice playground.

Yesterday was s'posed to be 80 degrees and was a bit on the warm side for this place. Not a ton of shade. Though unlike last weekend, there was at least a small breeze.

Anyway, so we checked it out and liked it much. We ate a picnic lunch (which the kids LOVE - LOVE picnics).

We then set off on a hike that started along the creek that bordered the park.

I forgot that I had read to bring a change of shoes. The geese poop was pretty bad, but the trail is apparently a very popular house trail. So the kids just had to announce the horse poop they saw every couple of feet. LOL.

We saw some kind of white crane, some brilliant bluebirds, and I spotted a lizard. Also, lots of butterflies. Some fish in the creek. We also saw some yellow-billed magpies. I think they are magnificent and had not realized until recently that this is one of their only habitats. I think they only live one other place in the world. Anyway, they have been hit hard by West Nile. I have not even seen one in a couple of years. It was nice to see they haven't gone entirely extinct, though I guess there is great danger of that with the West Nile virus.

Anyway, so the walk along the shady creek path wasn't so bad but we looped back around all the corrals on the unshaded side of the park. Poor animals?

Dh mentioned it wasn't such a nice hike without the shade. I said well, next time we could just turn around and go back the way we came. Doh. IT was actually kind of nice. The kids love creeks of course. Though I made a mental note that maybe we should avoid popular horse trails in the future. The last hike we did was a horse trail, but not a well used one, so it wasn't so bad. LOL.

I am kind of disappointed we have moved so rapidly to summer weather here though. YEsterday was okay but I wouldn't go there on a day that was any hotter.

There are plenty of amazing hikes we have in mind 1-2 hours away. With gas prices though I don't know how much we will be able to do. But I expect in the summer to try some coastal hikes and maybe stuff closer to San Francisco (NICE summer weather - stays rather cool by the shore. Will be divine to get away from the 100-degree-heat here).

Yesterday I also worked on cleaning house, and by the time we got home from the park I was absolutely exhausted. No need to go the gym - I got plenty work out yesterday. Full body workout.

Of course the kids wanted to go back to the track AGAIN. They ran 3 laps Saturday night. Dh and I were too exhausted. We said how about a night off from the track. YEesh.

LM also had an unfortunate incident with his imaginary friend. LOL. BM has always been good at telling jokes and getting a rise out of people. But LM has not been into that so much. So yesterday he told me he had gotten into a fight with his little friend. Which was an interesting turn of events, since life is usually so rosy for them. So I asked him a few questions about it. I brought it up at dinner to dh, wondering if he had heard. Then BM asks LM, "did you do something to wormy first?" Kind of like, let's be honest here. (Yes his best friend is wormy the worm. Don't ask. LOL). So LM gets a mischevious look in his face and exclaims, well, yeah, "I ATE him!" & he starts laughing this evil laugh. Dh and I were kind of appalled actually. I mean seriously, this is his best friend, he talks about him 24/7. But if he wanted to get a rise out of us - OMG - that worked. Just SO out of left field. BM also looked horrified - he kept saying, "You are joking, right?" LM was rather vague. But later he told me Wormy was out on a date, so I think Wormy is okay. Phew.

Kids!

Um, okay. Did I ever mention my kids are weird? LOL. On Friday I was in the mood for a walk, and was also feeling ambitious. Thankfully, dh was up for it as well. I wanted to attempt a long walk to a new park, but dinner was running a little late and we got a late start. We realized we'd never make it. Probably a 30-45-minute walk one way. I was just happy to walk.

So on the way we were trying to cut through the school and I pointed out the track to the kids. The kids LOVE to run around in circles, so the sight of the track was like heaven on earth. At home they run round and round endlessly around the kitchen island. There are many bumped heads and encouragement to slow down, but running around in circles is like heaven on earth for them - we just let them do it. I am sure we are terrible parents, but I don't know - it's really hard to get them not to run around.

Anyway, so this whole giant loop was quite amazing to them. BM ran one lap in just under 3 minutes and was off on another one. LM has do to everything BM does so he also ran 2 laps.

BM couldn't be any happier and LM was yelling "This is awesome!!" the whole time. If only I had thought of it, should have brought them to the track ages ago. I told dh - well when they refuse to nap - I think you have a new "weapon." LOL. Run them ragged at the track.

I couldn't help but wonder if any casual observer would think we were insane. As BM insisted that we time his laps. I imagine the whole thing could look pretty bad - making our toddler run laps - LOL.

Anyway, BM insisted he wanted to run a mile last night. We went to the track (they mostly ran the entire way there and back as well) and they ended up doing 3 laps. I think they both did. BM's time had slowed a bit, and he really wanted to run a full mile. We told him he should probably work up to it a bit more. Mostly I was worried about LM trying to keep up with him. He was running 4.5 minute laps.

But I have the feeling we will make it back to the track tonight and let him run a mile.

Well, that is certainly cheap entertainment.

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Dh and I were going to go to the movies last weekend but we never made it for various reasons.

We went yesterday and dropped off the kids at the drop-in care place. They told us rates go up tomorrow. They suck you in and then raise the rates. !! Up $1/hour.

We have been trying to swing 1 date a month, and they also have sent us a ton of coupons, so I think we'll survive.

Of course, if I think about it, it makes me cringe. 'Twas $40 for 2 hours without the kids. Yikes! They childcare was about $25, and we paid $15 at the movies. (Matinee).

On the flip side, it was absolutely amazing to drop off the kids and do something. Our parents are GREAT about giving us time alone, and their daycare will take them on occassion at night. But all of this takes great care and planning. & with our parents, a 2-hour drive. IT was so weird just to say, "let's go out" and drop off the kids.

I think we likey.

& the kids LOVE this place so they had a blast.

At that cost though it is a luxury we can afford no more than once a month. It was actually our April date which we hadn't gotten to with tax deadlines and all.

In May we have a date - a volunteer appreciation dinner - which is always fun.

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I assumed gas would be more pricey in LA but in the paper there was a story on gas prices and gas is on average 2 cents a gallon cheaper there, than here. I think our best bet is not to fill up the tank in the middle of nowhere. Where the high prices will be. But that is good to know. That maybe gas won't be any worse there. Woohoo.

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I am fed up to here with my health insurer. We have always paid the higher price for co-pay insurance with our HMO. Which means sure we had a $50 co-pay last year (no small beans) and insane insurance premiums, but we have never had any hassle and everything is pretty much covered. I've never received a bill more than $50 or anything like that. We never receive statements or bills - we just had the comfort knowing most anything we would need was fully covered.

Of course, ideally, this is the insurance I would love to keep, but it went from insanely expensive to completely unaffordable, as they push their subscribers more to HDHPs.

So we signed up for the HDHP and I Was thinking it wasn't so bad. Our total out-of-pocket and premiums are lower than they were last year. (I think our out-of-pocket was honestly a good $3k higher last year though it was all stuff we generally never would have used).

So I was starting out looking at this quite favorably. We had a lot of doctors visits early in the year and they charged very little up front. They also sent me the average charge for various services, and it didn't look so bad.

Then I realized this was a false sense of hope.

They bill slower than molasses so the bills are starting to roll in. We eventually got a $400 bill for dh's hearing check. Which we thought had only been $75.

I am not sure how much they will bill for the ambulance for BM, but they recently sent us a notice for $1500. I admit the drive is a bit far (not like the hospital is down the street) but when I had googled ambulance costs the most I saw was $500. ??????? What in the hell would cost $1500 for someone who was borderline if they even really needed it. Not like they hooked him up to machines or anything costly.

So I try not to get too upset about it as it was not the bill. For all I know the bill will be $500. I just don't know.
But the "cost" is apparently $1500.

I have never seen bills and non-bills like this before. I liked when it was all behind the scened.

Anyway, this is the kicker though. The kicker! I got a bill friday for $100 for lab work in 2007. I was livid. It was for dh and he likes to deal with this stuff. So I handed it to him to take care of. I said, when you call, tell them in the last 30 years I have NEVER received a bill. Likewise, I don't understand why it takes ONE YEAR to bill for simple lab work. I think it is an error since we were under the copay plan last year and the copay was $10.

So I know the bill is wrong. But I am just livid that they seem to be going back through old charges and treating them like we were in the HDHP. I didn't pay an extra $300/month insurance last year for crap like this.

Anyway, I had a terrible thought that dh had been told originally he prepaid these lab tests and he made a big STINK about it when they tried to charge him. In the end, after they removed the $10 charge we found out that we had been misinformed in the first place and the prepayment was not for the lab - was for something else. I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I remember learning after the fact that the $10 was a valid charge - after they removed it.

So I have a fear it has something to do with that. Like they are going through old records.

I am sure dh will work it out and just pay the stinking $10. But if I had any idea I would have gotten a $100 bill? Would have paid $10 then.

I almost hope this is it because I would hope this means no more surprise bills for 2007. Ridiculous. At least this would be a logical reason they would go through and see we never paid for it. But it just makes me nervous. What next? This certainly doesn't apply to our 2008 deductible.

Likewise, I have a fear we will get bills for 2008, well into 2009. No sigh of relief here if/when we get through the year under our deductible. IT would be like, let's wait a year and see. I think this whole 12 months to bill thing is completely ridiculous. It is 3-months and going as far as these emergency room charges - the first bills started to roll in last week.

Anyway, so it takes 1 year to bill for certain things, and I keep getting notices and statements and random bills all over the place. The bills are really hard to keep on top of. One itemized all our visits for the last 3 years (thought it didn't charge anything pre-2008). Of course I had to pull that one out and check this lab test was not on there. IT wasn't.

I "only" have 4 bills to compare any future charges to, for now, but I imagine in the long run this will turn into a nightmare. Since I am getting on average one bill every few days.

I imagine by the end of the year I will have 50 random bills that I will have to scour through as 2008 charges roll in well into next year and I am checking to make sure we are not double charged for anything.

So this is how the other half lives?

All I can think is thank goodness we had the premium insurance through my pregnancies. No paperworks; no bills. The thought just gives me a headache. Where we would be if I was pregnant with this freaking HDHP.

Yes, this is the first year that I feel our health plan is not bankrupting us. Yes. There is a plus there. But the hassle factor is like 1000-fold. I am not enjoying this at all. Is this the trade off?

I keep wondering how they keep costs down with this insanely inefficient billing. I imagine all this stuff generally goes on behind the scenes anyway. Only difference is that us and our pocketbooks are now in the loop. It's so convoluted though. Egads!

You know, for the long term I had considered getting into medical billing. (If you can't beat them; join them) or getting in at the accounting department of our HMO. For the benefits.

I have always said I could/would never work for the IRS. I would go insane. I can't tell if this is better or worse. IT's about the same caliber. I don't think I could do it. Just big, inefficient bureaucracy. I better start working on another pan...

Spinach Meatball Subs
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Spinach-Meatball-Subs

This is what we had for dinner last night - lots of leftovers as well.

It's been a red meat week. We don't necessarily always eat so much red meat. That is one thing we have been cutting back on, with time. I assume meat was on sale or something.

Anyway, this recipe has converted us more to homemade meatballs. We realize they aren't that difficult, and boy they are sure tastier than the frozen variety.

Kids LOVE this recipe and a great way to get them (& me) to eat green stuff.

For lunch we had leftovers and PBJ, per usual. You see the trend that we don't really do much for breakfast, and rely on leftovers and frugal standbys for lunch. So a bulk of our cash goes to dinners. & we live on leftovers.

IT was funny when I read that pfadvice article about how so many people are "too good" for leftovers. I had never even realized this. What's wrong with leftovers? There are so many meals that taste better the longer they sit and blend. So anyway, I had just never heard that concept. If it weren't for leftovers I wonder how would we survive. Sure makes life easier since removes the need to cook for EVERY single meal. Sure, a lot of things taste better fresher, but somehow we survive.

I guess when you don't even know you are deprived, it doesn't matter much...

For today I was thinking of breaking out the cereal. we actually do eat name brand cereal but we don't necessarily eat it every day. I actually LOVE the nature valley granola bar cereal. IT is divine. I sometimes pop it into a small tupperware container for a breakfast supplement or a snack at work. But mostly we eat this kind of stuff in moderation so we can enjoy it. (We couldn't afford it if we all ate a heaping bowl every single day). On the weekends I tend to break this stuff out for the kids or we make monkey bread or pancakes; stuff like that. I think today will be a good cereal day though. Feeling lazy for cooking...

Dh ran to the store last night to get some milk.

Since he does all the shopping he keeps telling me has NOT noticed grocery prices going up. As I track our monthly expenses I have to say he is not crazy. At first I thought it was just small increases he wasn't noticing, though he has a rather photographic memory and we don't even keep a price book (because it is way too time consuming but also he seems to do a good job keeping most of it in his head. Obviously a price book would be even better, but his brain/memory doesn't do half bad).

Anyway, so he runs out to get milk yesterday and considered just getting 1 gallon, since we were a little short on cash (credit card closed yesterday and I did not want to put more than we had to on it).

He came home with 2 gallons. He said - "I get it now. I didn't realize milk had gone up to $4/gallon" (even though he read it in the paper) because he has been paying 4.50 for 2 gallons. !!!

Anyway, we just all switched to the same milk so we could get it on sale - we switched around Jan. 1. LM is rather borderline and could have probably used 2% milk for another year, but the rest of us drink non-fat.

Not that long ago we were buying 3 kinds of milk as the kids were at different levels. There is apparently no discount for buying 3 gallons when they all have different fat content.

Anyway, we hadn't realized just how much we were saving with this move.

We probably have some advantage shopping for 4 and buying in bulk, when it comes to a lot of our groceries.

Of course we were going to wean BM off night-time and nap-time milk when he turns 5 this summer. I think it would be reasonable to do the same for LM. If milk keeps rising in cost, I think we will drink it a lot less.

Anyway, I can't help but wonder if grocery prices than affect single people and smaller families more dramatically.

Just kind of interesting.

BEfore I forget - here is a simple recipe:

Cheeseburger Pasta

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-cheeseburger-pasta/detail...

This is my lunch - leftovers. & I look forward to it.

I had burrito leftovers last night (another thing that lasta forever).

I Watched Top Chef last night and they had a challenge to create dinner for four with $10. They were absolutely freaking out. I was imagning a million things I could cook for $10 to feed my family. Burritos would come to mind as awfully close - meat, beans, tomato sauce, spices, tortillas, cheese. Leftovers for days...

OF course, admittedly, we don't eat a lot of gourmet.

Though I was craving salsa on my way home from the gym last night and I wondered if we had salsa since Easter. Probably not with our rounds of illness. Dh said he would maybe make some this weekend. Woohoo. we have some chips - but no salsa. Kind of sad...

The salsa recipe is quite cheap as is usually made primarily with leftover veggies. The chips we bulk up on, when on sale.

No doubt kids are having PBJ for lunch, with grapes, and dh is having some sort of leftovers. We had some spinach lasagna and soup leftover as well.

I was surprised when dh told me he is making another pasta/beef dish tonight. Sausage penne pasta, with cheese and sour cream, etc. Certainly not a light meal, but we eat smaller portions and will have lots of leftovers for next week.

Oh I found this one too - we get most of these subscribing to Taste of Home Cooking mags - LOVE THEM. We have the "Light & Tasty" & the "Quick Cooking" - though they keep changing the names - I couldn't tell you what they are called now.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheesy-Sausage-Penne

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Dh told me today that Raley's (our primariy grocery store) is offering 10% return on stimulus rebates.

I have mixed feelings about it.

It is certainly an easy $180 - will about turn our stimulus into $2k. $2k in free groceries. Wow!

I had earmarked the money for other savings, which we could still do. IT would just be delayed, but I think it would be a record keeping nightmare.

I told dh we could get 3% in the bank and so the true savings will be 7% for us. BUT we would have to be committed to replenish our savings with the grocery savings (easier said than done) and it will be a record keeping nightmare for me. We figure we average $250/month at Bel Air and may take almost a year to recoupe.

Likewise, who wants to carry around a $2k gift card in their wallet for a year? Oy vey. What if it is lost???????

I did look it up to see what other grocery stores are offering and saw since our stimulus is $1800 that they would issue us 2 gift cards for $990. At least that is more reasonable, we can keep the second one under lock and key until we use up the first.

Well, overall I think it is worth it. But I don't think it is as clear cut that we save 10%. WE save 7%. & lord hope that $990 gift card is not lost or stolen. !!!

There is something (a lot actually) to be said for cash in the bank.

I do like the choice to get 10% extra for groceries (as opposed to consumer goods, as many retailers are offering). I am just not sure I am convinced.

We have 2 months to decide, and see how our cash flow is when we get our stimulus in late June.

If we do it this way we will have to keep meticulous track of our grocery receipts and add them up monthly, and transfer that amount of cash to our savings every month.

It might take us 4 months just to replenish our short-term savings. Which is fine, since that is mostly for December bills.

But the more I think about it, the more it gives me a headache. Though I know in the end we'll be ahead $180.

I really think the whole risk factor thing has to be considered though. Since we are pretty disciplined with our savings, I find the odds slim that the cash would be used elsewhere, with all that grocery savings monthly. BUT I am less convinced I like the risk of carrying around almost $1k in my wallet. I usually carry $20 cash most.

Dh is good with his wallet and good at keeping on top of that stuff, but it still makes me a wee bit nervous. I guess we can talk about locking the card up at home and only getting it out for grocery store trips. HE is good at remembering things and I think is probably the best plan. cuts down the risk a bit...

Likewise, I would probably want to save every grocery receipt until the gift card is used. Computers are not foolproof. Last thing I need is a bad card or computer reading issues.

All that in place? We'll probably spend our stimulus in this manner. (Was to go to savings, we'll just trickle it into savings over the next year, with our grocery savings).

I don't think either way this is what the government had in mind.

Anyway, what people probably just jump into, I probably tend to over analyze. Slow and cautious says I.

April is in general one of our spendiest months. So it isn't pretty...



Allowance - I bought books and shoes

Auto - Just gas - Actually $50 under budget. Don't ask me how. No big trips this month I guess. Too busy with work.

Childcare - Included $40 for drop-in care on a sick day for dh. Invaluable since he was sick at a time I could not easily take off work.

I already paid the preschool bill for May. So really, only ONE more month of this. Time flies when you spend too much money. But I am happy this will drop to a much more reasonable level in just a couple of months. BM will drop out mid-July and there is a unpaid week of vacation in there so will only pay $300 or so in July, and $300 monthly going forward.

Dining - About $15 was for my lunches/snacks for the month. $35 at Japanese Buffet. $4 for ice cream out and $10 for a BK run when dh was sick.

Groceries - Good month. Came in $35 under budget. I honestly don't think our groceries have gone up. I thought they had been up a tad the last 2 months, but I can explain that. Dh loaded up on sales stuff in February and in March I bought too much junk. I bought too much junk in April too - but it doesn't show. (Runs to our new Walgreens - it's evil. LOL). A very typical grocery month here. (Includes diapers, cleaning supplies, cat food, cat litter, and all that kind of stuff. I don't break out the "food" because it would take forever. But all the stuff to eat and to be clean and diapered - including cat - goes here).

Household - gardener - and bought some cloth napkins.

Insurance - life insurance (this is for $500k coverage each - we locked in the rate in our 20s. I have some additional coverage through my professional association - since as the bread winner I have more income to replace).

Medical - We had $50 lab charges on top of our premiums

Misc - $150 (budget) to Target and Walgreens for summer clothes for the kids and stuff we needed. Also got some camping supplies for our trip. I spent $10 on sunglasses for the kids too. $5 at Dollar Tree (Toys). & about $20 should probably go to groceries. $100 was for a gift for Mother's Day. We are going in with someone so will be reimbursed half.

Personal Care - haircuts for kids at beauty school. ($4 and $2).

Professional Dues - $375 will be reimbursed. $75 was political contribution along with it, not reimbursed.

Tax - Property Taxes

Vacation - Down Payment on Yosemite trip. Would not be so much but we are paying for my dad - Father's Day gift I guess.

I just realized IRS payment on 4/15 is not showing on here - that was $1200. So yeah, a spendy month...

Then again, everything was well within budget (Except I was thrown off by the IRS amount. But the stimulus rebate makes that rather a moot point).

This is the first full month we dropped using cash. Every dime is accounted for here.

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April Savings:

*Received $1500 overtime bonus (net of taxes) and deposited into mid-term savings, with another $15 I scrounged up to bring total to $2k.

*Earned $86 interest - added to mid-term savings. Balance is up to $2,087. Goal $5k by 12/31. Stimulus will help that along.

*Contributed $100 to our ROTHs ($50 to Vanguard Total Stock and $50 to T Rowe Retirement 2040).

*Earned $625 in employer retirement plan.

*Set Aside $900 for short-term savings.

*Set Aside $250 to medical deductible fund.

Savings Drains:

*Pulled $50 from medical fund, for bills.

*Pulled $4500 from short-term savings. Property Taxes, IRS, life insurance, money for camping, and cash for political contributions.

I updated my balances to the left. I wouldn't have a negative in short-term savings, but for the unexpected IRS bill. I pulled from there since I will replenish short-term fund with stimulus rebate, when it arrives.

Usually April and December are our big months, when property taxes and our big insurance bills come due. Likewise, IRS time and christmas time, etc.

BUT May is not looking to be much better. It looks like I may have $1500 in medical bills and we will spend almost $2k on vacation. So spendy spendy spendy... I am not particularly stressed about it though, since it fits in the budget. But we will have another high spend month in May.

Net Worth:

I accidentally over wrote my March #s so not sure how I fared compared to last month. (PRobably down? With all the cash outflow...). But our net worth is up $3k for the year. Almost, barely anyway.

Since my goal is to be up $25k-$30k for the year, I have a ways to go.

2008 $20 challenge:

$2,160.00 - 4/16

$ 100.00 - ROTH Contributions - May
86.00 - April Interest
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$2,346.00 - Balance 5/1
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Not terribly exciting - nothing new.

I have a balance transfer (though small) that expires in June. So enjoying a little extra interest in the meantime. Which is the easiest to earn.

I am just trying to share more what we are eating and how we keep costs down.

I have to be clear that dh and I are not so much into hype and diet. WE are, as with anything, just into moderateness and reasonableness.

For one, I Am not going to stock up on organic produce to be healthy. Mostly I am very suspicious of how organic anything with an "organic" label is. So I am not one to rush out and pay double for the privelege of organic. If it meant that much to me I'd grow my own veggies.

Likewise, dh and I Are more likely to home cook our meals, and eat smaller portions. My dh is a stick and since we switched to primarily dining in since I became pregnant with our first child I think he lost a good 10 pounds+. (Not like he had any weight to lose).

Eating home is both healthier and cheaper than eating out. & it is quite simple. SO that is the extent we go to be healthy. We try to avoid junk food and prepackaged foods as much as possible. BUT we don't put a lot of thought into how healthy our food is. We don't count calories or only buy whole grains or go extreme in any direction.

------------------------------

So with that said, last night dh made a beef/pasta casserole for dinner. IT was actually a briefly forgotten recipe that he had found. Hamburger pasta or something - is what it was called. Not the healthiest meal ever, but yummy and made LOTS of leftovers.

Dh ran out of penne pasta so he threw in some egg noodles to round out the pasta portion. Was fine with us.

We also had salad (prepackaged) with dinner. We really love those expensive salads that you mix together (like mexican salad is our favorite - you mix up the salad, chips, and salsa and dressing - yummy - divine). But dh only stocks up on those when they are on sale. Otherwise he just buys a giant bag of plain salad that we go through slowly.

Our kids LOVE salad. Don't ask me why -kind of weird. LOL. But one of the few veggies I can really stomach - lettuce. So we try to eat salad regularly. But yeah okay - we go prepackage there. IF food prices rise dramatically that is certainly one area we can change up a bit to save money - make our own salad. FOr now, call us lazy.

For dessert (Rare) we actually had some ice cream. We had some left over from the weekend. IT was the first night since Saturday the kids had really eaten their dinner and I had promised BM ice cream on Monday. But no dessert unless they eat most of their dinner.

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Today as I left for work the kids were eating granola bars for breakfast. (LOVE the nature valley granola bars - buy them on sale whenever/wherever. USually Walgreens or Target).

Dh doesn't do breakfast so probably saves us money there.

I just have my apple sauce, which is plenty for me.

For lunch dh will probably have leftovers, and the kids will have PBJ. That is just standard lucnch fare. They will probably have apples or grapes to round it out. They also both get one cup of juice a day. BM drinks whole juice but LM's we still water down.

With lunch they will drink water or milk. & they get a small cup of milk before nap time.

I am actually going out to lunch today, though we would have PLENTY leftovers otherwise. Meeting a friend at the buffet.

I assume dinner will be leftovers just because we have so much food.

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Oh yeah, with the rush of busy season over I Feel I have much more time.

Anyway, Tuesday I did go to aerobics (& got my butt kicked as usual). Last night we went for a walk around the lake. The walk was an hour with a leisurely stroll and a stop at the playground. I had guessed 1 mile, but I think it may be a little longer than that. Maybe something like 1.25. I need to re-measure one of these days. I have a pedometer I think which will give me an idea.

Tonight I will go by the gym on the way home. I think I have only been once or twice since I was so sick in February. Mostly just sick or little time, though with the nice weather have been doing much more outdoors. The gym is more for winter and summer when the outside is so extreme.

The thing that struck me when we joined the gym, and I hadn't thought of, was how plopping the kids in the gym daycare while we worked out was little help to them. Dh and I could maybe work out more efficiently, but then they would be less involved. So we try to do much more activity with the kids outdoors when the weather allows it.

I am going to aerobics Saturday and gym Sunday (ideally). We were going to do a small hike this weekend also if it is not too hot.

An active Monkey Mama is a happy Monkey Mama.

Plus I need to get in shape for Disneyland. !!! Will be LOTS of walking.

I wish I could share more what we have done to keep food costs down, and why we barely notice a dent in our budget with rising food prices. But, that is not my department. That is dh's. He does his job well. The better he keeps our costs down the less I care if he ever works again. But I think that is what a lot of people don't get. Though he doesn't bring in income, he has much more time to work on cutting costs. Which is the same in the end. Upping our cash flow.

Anyway, all I can share is what we are eating. I actually am very bad at eating fruits and veggies so every morning I take a small cup of apple sauce. Dh buys the giant containers of apple sauce and I pour a small amount into one of the kids' portable cup (with flat lid) to take to work. I used to drink juice in the mornings. I find this to be a healthier way to get some fruit in my system.

The kids are snacking on graham crackers before preschool. They'll eat a proper breakfast there. (Included in tuition. Which to be fair, does include a fair amount of meals).

The kids will also eat lunch and snacks there all day. I guess to keep in mind that the kids have 2 lunches a week over there, which I am sure impacts our grocery bill somewhat.

For lunch I will eat leftover burritos and rice. I find burritos to be the "perfect" leftover food. I actually requested that dh cook a good leftover meal this week since we didn't seem to have any. (Insert that I am a picky eater - we have lots of leftovers - but I also like things that are easy to pack). So he made them last night.

Dh will eat some leftovers most likely. HE doesn't eat breakfast.

I am not sure what dh has up his sleeve for dinner.

I have a couple of things of yogurt at work in case I ever get hungry. I never seem to lately.

We have some snacks at work (kind of rare - but I know I will probably have a free cookie with my apple sauce today. )

The only other thing I can say is I am a pepsi fiend. BUT I find $1-$2 for a serving of pepsi to be quite insane. I used to keep cans at work, but I tend to over drink them. So I have taken to getting my pepsi fix in the morning. I usually just take a giant plastic cup and pour a small amount of pepsi in there (1/2 can at most) and get my fix in the morning. That way I can take it to work, and not over drink pepsi. (I keep 2 litres at work sometimes, but then I just drink too much. So this is where I am at for now).

Anyway, when I finish my pepsi then I fill up my giant cup with lots of water. Water is free at work. At home we drink tap water (mostly filtered through the fridge).

I have also in the past, reused smaller pepsi bottles and poured small portions in, so I could keep it fresh and fizzy for lunch.

That is how we keep our soda costs down.

I really like the 1/2-sized cans, but we stopped buying them because they are rather expensive. I find those to be perfect serving sizes.

I am toying with the idea of going on a soda diet to lose these few pounds. It will be REALLY hard. But part of the reason I have been losing weight is I have been so sick these last few months and I can NOT drink soda when I have a cold. It is the only time I can not stand soda. So I think the 3-4 weeks I was too sick to drink soda made a difference.

I am trying to warm up to the idea.

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In other news, I had been wanting to save up enough money to invest the kids' UGMA a little more aggressively. Right now I have $1k each (abouts) in Vanguard Star. BEcause it had a $1k minimum. But overall would prefer something more aggressive.

Anyway, I have heard a lot of good things about T Rowe Capital Appreciation. I heard it touted as a balanced fund, and when I look at it, I don't see it. But then again, it like has never had a down year (until now). It looks like the kind of aggressive thing I am looking for. A little more aggressive, but rather "safe" all the same. IT has some bonds I guess which makes it balanced. Though it is much more stock heavy than something like Star.

Anyway, I heard the idea on the radio and am considering it. When I looked up the fund it looked rather promising.

Yesterday Thriftorama was asking about education savings and I was looking up Coverdells a bit since I don't know much about them.

I am more confused than ever! LOL. Honestly, none of my clients are saving for college or ask about it. Why I haven't a clue - I just don't deal with this area of the tax code much.

I thought 529s could pay for transportation and room/board, but everything I read yesterday said no. I honestly think those were old articles because I did have a client who used their 529 for this stuff last year and I remember double checking all the rules. So I share that as a caveat to be careful what you read. The rules have changed much over the last few years. Though it leaves me feeling I have MUCH brushing up to do.

I also was reading about ESAs (Coverdells) and thought they looked pretty darn appealing. I do not like how 529s are so limited (in investment choices). ESAs are much the same, but with dollar limits. But can be used for more expenses and can be invested just about anywhere. I was just about sold until I read they expired in 2011, though it took me a while to research if that was still true.

Yes.

Most of their benefits expire anyway.

But they can be transferred into 529s.

Anyway, I also read something new that I did not know. With the Coverdells, if the oney is not used for education because your child gets a scholarship, there is no penalty. I had not realized that. That had been one of my beefs with college savings plans all alonog - what if your child got a full scholarship? I know a lot of people who have. & as my kids are rather bright, I don't think it is a false hope that they may have a paid-for education.

Anyway, so this is much of what I learned yesterday.

From what I could glimpse, and considering how little ESAs are given any credence in the investment community, I think the writing is on the wall that these will probably get phased out. Kind of a shame. I always prefer to invest in things like ROTHS where you can invest almost anywhere, as opposed to 529s and HSAs which are VERY limited.

I am leaning towards funding an ESA for the kids this year, keeping in mind if my prediciton is right we can roll it to a 529 in future years (maybe when there will be more investment choices). The minimum is $1k at T Rowe. !!!! Perfect. The kids will probably get $1k each for their birthday and that is what I am thinking for now. I already have a T Rowe account, so will be easy to add those on.

I am also considering if I will resume $50 monthly contributions for BM, once he is done with preschool. That money only has so far to go and I wanted most of it to go to ROTHs. BUT I always go back to as long as I am getting 10% retirement contributions from my boss, as long as I am saving, it matters little where it goes. It probably is more useful towards college than towards our retirement, while we have such a retirement windfall. Plus the more we get in college earlier the less we will have to save later.

I am thinking of diverting $50/month for BM, and then the same for LM when he is done with expensive preschool.

Well I have a couple of months to think on this.

Not a lot of time online this week. !! I guess since less time working and less time online? OF course, beyond that, just in spring cleaning mode.

I cleaned up my office today and I feel SO relaxed.

OF coursed, having the time to take a breath probably has more to do with it than anything. Though cleaning up a little does calm me.

Oh yes, and my last client came in with her e-file signature today. I think this is a stellar new record - I have no clients on extensions - none that I sign for anyway. !! Woohoo!!!! Tax season is officially over for me. Though I have one for my boss that is about done, and one that I am waiting for info on. But still, no more for me to sign. & having 2 in limbo in April 30th certainly is not bad (I am sure I had way more last year, at this time).

I also got all my April 30th deadlines out, but now I have a slew of 3/31 financial statements to work through (behind with all the deadlines) as well as a couple of 12/31 and business tax returns that have not been completed. I think I will be pretty busy before my vacation.

In other news I keep reading about food and gas. To be fair, I *get* how this affects the lower class. But am I The only one sick of the middle class going on and on and on and on? Though I notice a slight increase in our food bill, it is not much at all. As far as gas, it has been inching up. It affects how often we drive to San Jose to see our family and stuff like that. But if we were going broke over a $300 monthly line item in our budget, that would be kind of sad. I probably under-estimate the benefit of us only having one commute, and a short one at that. & I admit gas prices have affected our habits. Likewise, I am trying to brace myself for the worse case scenario. (Which is probably much farther down the road).

But I keep reading about people who have doubled their food budgets. I haven't a clue what you all are doing. Ours has gone up 10% tops, to date. We just don't spend that much on food to begin with. I expect it will get worse, yes. That is why it's kind of scary when people are freaking out so much, so early.

Is it just me?

I also have to admit that part of the reason our food costs have been down is we have been shifting to more eating out. The amount in our budget has not gone up - for dining out - but with these coupons (& desparate restaurants) we have been eating out twice as much on the same budget. We are certainly taking advantage where we can.

In other news, we did run the A/C 2 days this week, already. Today was considerably cooler, so we'll see. But, ugh - the heat!! IT got to about 83 upstairs so we flipped on the air for a while before bed - to make it comfortable - the last 2 nights.

We haven't turned on the heat in well over a month. But A/C season usually does not hit until late May. Though certainly it is a fluke - today was much cooler.

Finally, the medical bills are starting to roll in from BM's ambulance ride in early February. I Received a $200 emergency room bill (mentioned before) which was nothing, but yesterday the ambulance notice arrived. $1500. !!!!!! His deductible is $1500 and we already paid around $500 in doctor visits, lab tests and with the emergency bill we already received. So... IT wasn't the bill and I expect the bill will be $1k.

I was talking to my mom when I opened the bill and she offered to pay the $1500. It REALLY stressed me out though it really shouldn't have. I was clear that our premiums were $3k lower this year and in the grand scheme of things it wasn't a biggie. I am used to paying out the nose for medical insurance/expenses.

But my mom was quite insistent and I Was in little mood to argue.

I know you will probably never believe me but these are NOT the parents who raised me. My parents don't go handing me money for no reason. This would be the second biggest windfall I have ever received from them. (Largest windfall being a cash gift they gave me last year).

On the flip side, I have said it before, and I will say it again. This is the way parents should do things. Don't give you a dime and teach you to take care of yourself. LEarn to expect nothing from others. Then when you are old, wise and figure it out, share the wealth a little. Sounds good to me. IT has much to do with their unexpected windfalls in recent years as their elderly relatives pass on. VEry unexpected they would get anything from my father's poor family. Instead they have received well over six figures. IT just happens to coincide with me getting my financial affairs extremely in order. I think I appreciate it more than I even would have 5 years ago.

On the flip side, it makes me feel bad to an extent because if my parents decide to give me $1500 and I get $1800 from the IRS, well geez. It's easy to make progress with these sorts of windfalls. Chalk this one up to another easy year.

I'd bulk up my mid-term savings with both. I want to get it to $5k before I consider using some of that money for stuff around the house. This would get me to $4k by summer. (& since the medical bills are well covered).

We'll see. I am not going to ask or anything, but if I get a check in the mail, I won't have any qualms about cashing it.

I will admit we are spoiled by our parents.

I am proud we are where we are mostly of our own sweat. But I admit that this kind of cash infusion makes the upward climb 1000 times easier. IT also makes me think often how different our kids have it from us. Whereas our parents were intent on us learning to take care of ourselves, they seemed to have lost their minds and want to spoil us and the kids, now that we have kids. IT's kind of strange. HAlf the time I think, "who are these people?" Then I go into my own worries if our kids will be too spoiled and really get things on a level dh and I do. OTher days I think they will have ALL the opportunities in the world. If they have 2 generations ahead of them who do things right and have some money to spare. LUCKY kids - for sure. I'll try my best to make them understand how lucky they are. That's all I Can do. Our family tree was changed by our parents. No one before them had any wealth. IT's amazing to see what a difference it makes as it starts to trickle down.

Though I know anything can happen. Our parents can use all their cash up in nursing homes - who knows. But for now they seem to have some abundance and they want to share. For that we are VERY blessed.

Well, we had a blast yesterday.

In the morning dh took BM to the grocery store and I took LM to Kohls to look for shoes. I realized this was not a great choice because we were in a hurry and the store was big. LOL. Dh wondered what took us so long - I said "little legs, little legs."

Likewise, I have mentioned this is a pet peeve of mine, but people use strollers WAY too much. Lazy kids. LOL. The thought popped into my mind when I read an article about how people were prolonging stroller use with their kids. I guess I may be an evil parent but we took LM to Six Flags LAST year, when he was barely 2, and did not use a stroller. I do not expect to use a stroller on our 3 days in Disney. LM has legs; he'll be fine. He's almost 3 now.

We bought a double stroller when BM was 2 and LM was born. I don't think BM has hardly ever used it; certainly never needed it. (Mental note; need to sell that sucker).

Anyway, I saw a bunch of very old kids in strollers yesterday so it was mind boggling. I mean I Saw kids who looked WAY older than my 4yo in strollers. So that just bugged me. I admit LM is more borderline. But there is no doubt that my 4yo can walk as well as we can.

But I digress.

I didn't have any luck with the shoes, but picked up a couple of cute pairs of sandals for $10 and 2 pairs sunglasses for the kids for $10. I think it was a good run, though admittedly not what I had gone for.

Then we packed up and went to the Scottish Games festival.

The only bad thing I can say is that it was just about 90 degrees. Considering we had a freeze last weekend; it was quite an adjustment. I am obviously not ready for summer. (Our summers are very hot).

Well, at the games we watched hammer throwing and "Shot Put" type games as well as the Caber Toss.



"The caber is a long section of tree trunk, tapered so that it is noticeably smaller at one end than at the other. The man who essays to test his strength by tossing it raises the pole to a vertical position in his hands, smaller end down, and then throws it into the air and away from him. he must make the large end of the pole hit the ground and the pole fall in such a way that the small end will describe a half circle.
The prize goes to the man whose caber, having been thrown in the manner described, lands on the ground with its small end farthest away from the throwing point. Considerable skill is required to make the throw, as well as considerable strength. The caber is likely to fall over sideways instead of straight forward when the large end hits the ground, or it is likely to fall at an angle or even fall back the way it has come. Therefore, everything else being equal, the longest throw is always that which causes the caber to fall straight away."

We actually saw a few good throws. (Looked insanely difficult). The logs were 18-feet high and weighed 110 pounds.

OF course the professionals made it look rather effortless. When some of the less experienced really struggled you realized what an amazing feat this was.

They also had a historic section which was fun to see.



Don't ask me why but I got no pictures of the bands. I could have sat all day and watched the drum/bagpipe marching and drum majors (I used to be in a marching band) but no one else was very interested. So we didn't get to watch much and I didn't get any pictures. Bummer.

Oh yes, there were also lots of dogs there and we watched a dog herding ducks for a time. During the duck herding, LM Was far more interested in the map:



Finally, the kids section was awesome. They had a cute magic show and all that, and then later balloon animals. We had left and done other things for a time, but when we came back they were having a TP contest which BM participated in. (HE is in the orange wrapping a bigger kid). They had a second TP contest later where BM wrapped up daddy. They had SO MUCH fun. Dh worried that this would give him bad ideas. LOL.

They also had water balloons and other water games, so the kids just had a blast.

Oh yeah, reminds me we saw a pile of whiny/snotty kids. YEesh. I am grateful my kids can behave nicely in public. I think actually I was by far the grumpiest of the bunch (with the heat). LOL. Kids had little issue with anything; nor did I Expect them to. Which made it a nice day.



We spent about $50 on the day (mostly admission; and some lunch). They actually didn't take cards for anything (thought they would for admission) and we didn't really plan well. I Was surprised we had $60 cash honestly. So we really limited what we spent money on likewise. Which was probably a good plan. The lunch was expensive but we didn't eat much due to lack of cash.

On the way home what we really wanted was some ice cream to cool off. We decided to go home and clean up and the kids and I headed off to the store to pick up some ice cream for after dinner - it was getting rather late by then - hard to justify eating the ice cream first, since it was dinner time.

In theory, this was a nice plan, but I got sidetracked and bought some donuts for today, and some soda since it was on sale, etc. Spent $15 at the store. But was preferable to stopping somewhere for ice cream. We spent $7 on some ice cream treats that will last a while in our freezer instead.

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As I pulled the pictures off my camera, I realized that I haven't taken any pictures this year. Yeesh. Why I have shared none.

I did have some from our hike a few weeks back.





& I also saw the funniest picture of the neighbor cat:



She apparently likes our cat statue. LOL. She is very friendly and we don't mind her because she is a great mouser. (Has helped us out; saved us an exterminator, as we had mouse issues last year). BUT I can't say my cat agrees. Does NOT like this cat hanging around, of course.

Finally, we have no idea how, but BM got a cat toy stuck in our chandelier. We figure our ceilings are 18-feet high. & I honestly thought this was going to be a permanent fixture in our house. Dh figured out how to get it off eventually though, with our inadequate ladder...

Just kind of funny. Yeah my kids can behave in public; but I didn't say they were perfect. LOL.



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YEsterday was my day to recover. No responsibilities.

Today I have MUCH to do around the house. A lot of cleaning. Making up for my lack of attention to the house during tax season. I started this last weekend and did not get very far at all. I hope for some progress today.

Dh and I also have a date planned for the movies. I honestly do not remember the last time I went to the movies - it has been a LONG time (to see a grown up movie anyway). So, woohoo!

--------------------------------

Oh yeah - foreclosure across the street. I blogged about it a few days ago. Saw LOTS of people going through this weekend.

It's probably one of the smallest homes in the entire community. These small homes have taken the BIGGEST hit over the last fews. Few have sold, some have been on the market for years. (The bigger homes still sell rather fast; have been all along). So it will be interesting to see if things are picking up or if this one will sit. I am not sure if all the traffic means anything, though I think it would mean something.

I guess practically living next door to this one we shall see. I will see more what is going on. The yard looks like hell. Ugh. I don't look forward to the prospect of this house sitting on the market forever. Of course, also scary if it is an example of things to come...

I noticed Kohl's is having a sale on shoes, and I also have a $10 off coupon. So I will go over there and give it a whirl.

The funny thing is I think I have come to prefer online shoe shopping for shoes. Because it is so hard to find shoes that fit my big/wide feet. I know, doesn't sound like it makes sense, but zappos.com has wonderful customer comments for their shoes and lots of talk how which ones run narrow, etc. So I got may last pair of walking shoes on there and they fit like a dream. If I don't have a great shoe I have a tendon or something in my leg (I don't even remember any more what it was) that gives me a lot of trouble. But my shoes fit great and have held up quite well.

Since they are holding up okay I think I will keep them for walking. BUT they are also getting tired. I would like to get some cross training shoes for aerobics and such. The walking shoes don't seem so great on the gym equipment. I wonder if the cross trainers would be preferable.

Dh thinks I am crazy to spend so much on shoes but he just doesn't understand. I really do notice a difference depending on the type of show I wear. I figure spending a chunk of change is better than being in pain and paying and unable to workout, visiting the doctor more, etc.

Anyway, so Kohls is having a big sale on shoes. I'll go check it out. I doubt they will have much in my larger size, but I will give it a try. Could be considerably cheaper than zappos. We'll see. I could theoretically get a $80 pair of shoes for $40 at Kohls, with my coupon. So that is what I will try.

Ugh.

April & December are our spendy months. April was insane. Life insurance, property taxes, $1k to IRS, on and on and on and on. Mostly prepared for most of it, though the IRS got me. Still sucks no matter how prepared.

Anyway, May and June tend to be our calm months. No bills are due.

So what do I have in store for May:

Vacation - $1500 range

Yosemite - $400 - Apparently due May (I had wanted to charge it in June for extra rewards - Bah).

Medical - $600 - I just got BM's emergency room bill. Well, part of it anyway. Due May. It's trickling in. I figure at this rate we may be getting bills for it in a year, still. I have never received a medical bill in my life, before this. Just the way my HMO is - they take care of it. We pay big premiums, we pay little out of pocket (besides co-pays anyway). Anyway, now that we switched to HDHP, they decide to send us little bills every few days. They are driving me mad. I had to sit down and stare at the thing for a good long time yesterday to make any sense of it. I finally realized it was a "physician bill" which was completely different from our almost identical looking "hospital bill." I figure one of these days we'll get the "ambulatory services" bill.

Plus they keep sending me all these statements that don't include half of what we have been in for. The paperwork is maddening. & yeah, hard to make sense of.

Good news is that BM's emergency room physician only charged $220. Though like I said, I assume more bills to come there. Maybe a hospital bill to go with that?

Dh was charge $400 for a hearing test. Egads. & I was worried about the emergency room visit?

I was rather taken aback, but dh reminded me it had been like an hour long ordeal. I then start to see - 5 minute visit with doctor isn't so bad (little $50 charges here and there for our numerous visits this year) but that yeah, a more intensive screening costs a wee bit more. At least that makes sense.

So - $600 there.

All that is suddenly $2500 in extra bills for May. Eeks.

I told dh that as I tend to be more "big picture" that I haven't been doing so well with managing cash flow. It all fits in the budget, but our cash reserves are rather on the low side until our stimulus check arrives. I think we're okay, but it really couldn't come too soon... If you look to the left, and consider my $600 medical bill (haven't adjusted yet), you see our cash reserves are pretty shot. I haven't even subtracted out vacation yet - egads. Though I have to remember all of these are charged and the cash won't be due until June. Phew. We'll probably save up $2k in the next 2 months for this kind of stuff, likewise.

But today, not a lot of room for more bills...

Yeah, we have our lovely efund, but a chunk of it is sitting in my ROTH. So doesn't help me feel great. I don't want to touch that thing for nothing.

Mostly we just have to get through June without Murphy knocking on our door. I am sure we will be fine, but I am wondering what happened to my fine planning skills.

Of course, we now have a good $2k in our mid-term savings fund, which was $0 for the last 2 years or so. So that's something. We have a lot of catching up to do though.

The stimulus check will pretty much wash out our IRS bill and add a good $1k to our mid-term fund. We're making decent progress.

Just feel a little cash tight in the interim. Hopefully to feel quite cash flush come June. Which also coincides with freedom from daycare costs for BM. Woohoo. Yeah, end of June I should be feeling pretty darn good. (That is when our stimulus is due to arrive, as well as last month of paying for 2 in preschool - will be good times).

Anyway, I hadn't updated my Quicken all week (I guess since work was so busy, I don't even know why). I just did, and was actually pleasantly surprised with our $200 Yosemite deposit and a some $500 in professional dues (most to be reimbursed) that our credit card bill looked quite reasonable. How on earth? I finally pulled up a monthly report and realized we didn't really spend much on groceries this month (maybe $250 to date?) and our gas was pretty reasonable ($200 of $300 budget to date). So left us a lot of wiggle room elsewhere. Phew...

Today I worked quite late and got way more work done than I imagined I would. I decided to take tomorrow off as a reward. I am so stoked. Tomorrow was to be my last Saturday, for the rest of the year hopefully.

I even thought I wouldn't mind going in for a couple of hours and cleaning up my office a bit. I left work at 6pm and got the last deadline (April 30th) off my desk. I was absolutely thrilled.

I am sure I could have justified working (still lots of catching up to do) and we had even talked about me working one day and taking Friday off.

BUT I felt accomplished and decided it would be quite a treat to take the weekend off. Say la vive weekend work.

I love this time of year as well because working 40 hours a week suddenly feels so simple. 5-day work weeks are suddenly quite divine in comparison to 6-days. So life is good. I intend to enjoy this weekend.

I do have MUCH to catch up on around the house.

BUT dh wants to go to the Scottish Festival and I admit it sounds quite fun.

Of course, I saw 90 degrees for tomorrow.

90 degrees??!!??

I also read in the paper that last weekend there was a freeze. I think why I have been so sick this week. We went out Saturday and Sunday and I Was freezing my buns off. I thought maybe I had been jumping into spring a little too heartily.

No, it was so cold that there was a freeze and a lot of crops ruined around here. Craziness. I remember being out, being surprised it was so chilly, and then just being sick all week. I can't help but wonder if it was the cold and the wild weather fluctuations. Certainly didn't help. I didn't quite have a grasp how insanely cold it had been. Our house has stayed rather moderate in all this.

On the flip side, I think I would usually need a little more warming up to 90 degree weather. One extreme to the other. I'll probably be miserable.

But I think the Festival will be fun.

Dh had also been planning a date this weekend. Matinee movie.

So I was pleased to see room in the budget for all this, with dh's wonderful grocery shopping this month.

Oh, and I did find a hike that I wanted to go on this weekend, but not sure we'll have time. Dh rarely wants to go out, so since he wanted to go to this Scottish Festival, I figured it was fair. Maybe we can hike next weekend. Though it was short and close so hope to squeeze it in.

I was so miserable all week I completely gave up on the gym. My aerobics instructor is in Yosemite anyway. I will try again next week. I would love to work out this year without coughing up a lung. This seems an impossible feat this year. Sick sick sick, and more sick.

I am losing weight anyway. I have pinned it on 2 things. I moved offices late last year and I walk MUCH more now. I am on the complete opposite end from the kitchen and the bathroom now. & the copier and everything really. Lots of walking. I am thinking this makes a difference.

I also primarily eat home-cooked meals and eat lunch in. BUT I have been skipping my little $1 junk meals more to save up more cash for more date nights with dh. I really usually don't order much or eat that much grease, BUT I am noticing a difference. I think it is more to it than that. But when I eat less junk I seem to crave it less at home too. I just overall seem to be eating less. It could be much of just being so busy too - too busy to eat/snack/munch. Somehow I am losing weight with no effort. Go figure.

Reminds me, I have been noticing my new office is quite warm. I have one wardrobe for work - my old end of the office is FREEZING. I have been quite warm this week and I start to remember part of the reason we were always so frozen out is the other end of the office gets so hot. I just hadn't thought about it. First summer in my new office. I think I may actually need to buy somewhat of a summer work wardrobe. Imagine that. I just wear my winter clothes all summer, seriously. It is just that COLD usually, inside. Well, it's more like a fall wardrobe - as it doesn't get that cold. But summer is anything but moderate.

I am thinking this will actually be nice/preferable. Though I may invest in a nice fan to help. I don't enjoy the heat, BUT walking outside into the 100 degree heat may be preferable in more summery clothes. I wouldn't know. LOL.

In other news, BM's preschool teacher had a malaria scare. She got the flu in February with us, but has never really recovered. (Though I can't say we have either).

She had been in South America awhile back so they thought maybe she had picked up something. For a while they thought maybe mono. Latest was malaria.

Anyway, she just found out it was actually "just" the flu. The nasty nasty flu.

I am so relieved that she doesn't have malaria, though I really don't know what that it entails or what the ramifications are. Just sounds nasty.

Second incomes: twice the work, half the return:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/Loveand...

I actually came across this article yesterday and thought it was quite EXCELLENT.

Probably all of my thoughts/experiences in a well written article. I mean seriously, I could have written it. Though maybe not so well.

It was just on theme with my post yesterday so had to share.

Of course this article was in terms of families with one high wage and a low wage. BUT we found much to be true with 2 mediocre wages. Dh and I made equal wages when he decided to stay home.

So though the logistics were a little different for us, we came to much the same conclusion.

I particularly like th last paragraph:

"Also on the bright side, discovering that a second income really doesn't contribute much financially can free a spouse to learn new skills, go back to school, pursue an unprofitable dream career or launch a home-based business that may pay little during the first few years. If you're going to work for free, after all, you might as well enjoy it."

Which sums up our thinking beautifully. Dh hated his job, and he wasn't going to stay. I think financially this was much preferable to getting used to a second income that could not be sustained indefinitely.

I realize with time that I don't think we could have timed having kids any better, or that we would have ever been in a better spot to have one of us stay home with the kids.

We graduated college at age 22/23 and worked a few years, saving considerable dollars. Never lived up to the second income, as we didn't expect to have one forever.

We had our first child at 25/26. Dh just turned 32, and he has been home almost 6 years. He will probably return to the workforce, maybe go to college first to update his degree, in his 30s. Plus he already has a degree and a decent amount of experience, which is worth something. & yeah - so he returns to work at 35 or 40 - still has a good 20-30 working years left. (He actually worked 12 years before kids and is eligible for social security benefits as well - so kind of sweet timing there).

I can't imagine establishing myself in a career and working hard many years, and then trying to have kids. I think that way is a hard road, though it is now the norm. I also can not imagine having a kid much younger or before having a degree or some savings. So I think somehow we hit some sweet spot, in he middle. Took some planning, but also quite by luck.

So anyway, I don't think dh would have had the guts to really examine his career otherwise. I remember before we had kids he talked much of going back to school to get an emergency teaching credential (the state of education at the time meant desperation for teachers). I encouraged him many times to QUIT his job and pursue teaching. I told him if he was going to make a move like that, then was the time. When we were young. He just never could do it, no matter how supportive I was.

I remember he was concerned about teaching wages too and I asked him if he was out of his mind. I said, so we'll save $30k/year instead of $40k. YEah, I am really worried about it. (Not).

Anyway, so old habits die hard. Dh said something the other day about pursuing some high wage job. If he wants to because it is something he loves, then sure, I am all for it. More money is good. But his parents have it pounded into his head that you hate your job and make more money. (I find this ironic since my dad loves his job and makes more than the 2 of them combined. Obviously I prefer my parent's philosophy - do what you love). There is a lot to be said for not being miserable AND having money too.

So anyway, he said something just the other day along those lines. I said, huh? Honestly, I prefer he make less so it doesn't all go to the IRS anyway. I think ideally he would make a smaller wage. & that fits in great because he wants to be an artist. So go for it. I wonder how many struggling artists out there wish they had a sugar momma like me. & instead dh struggles and struggles with what to do.

Plus, if he is going to work full-time and make a comparable wage, hell if I'll see the point to work full-time. But when I say this out loud, we fight. He has it somewhere in his head that we need to make a ton of money, though mostly he knows better.

Well, we'll work it out. I was actually surprised the other day when he said he wanted to pursue a $70k-$80k job. I said, great, I can cut back my hours then. & I was surprised when he didn't like this. I did point out that would put us at an insane tax bracket. IF he was happy and wanted to make money, great. But that then I didn't feel as much need to myself. But I know when the time comes if we have