Well the credit card arbitrage process has been slowed considerably. I got my first statement and was ready to get my $50 Target gift card, only to find I was 350 points away about. & the only way I can see to get 350 points is to spend $350. Easy enough on one hand, but most of the stuff I pay is already set up automatically and I doubt I will spend $350 in gas and such for the next month.

But I did need to fill up so I dug out the card and spent $50 on gas today. I did need to pay the diaper service and was getting pretty late so I just paid 2 months - $106. I then signed up for our next community center classes at $50. & suddenly I am $200 closer to my goal. On a regular month I could spend another $150 easy, but I don't want to take the card on our cruise. Of course it wouldn't be the worst idea to run all of our cruise expenses on dh's card, just easy to keep it all separate. Hmmmm. An idea as I am sure he will run up against the same thing. I guess I will have to check when his card closes for the month. Will probably have to wait another cycle regardless, for the whole balance transfer thing. But that way he can put all the groceries and his gas on the rewards card - for the 3%, if he run up his card with the cruise stuff. Win-win!

I signed up for karate & swimnming. I only show up to aerobics 1/2 the time, so I still have a good month left. & we decided to drop toddler class for a while. I can't get off work during the day - it is just too much. So BM gets swimming, preschool, and karate and LM gets nothing. Then again every toddler class, about 15 minutes into it, LM tells me he is ready to go home anyway. HE seems to enjoy it enough, but 15 minutes is his limit I guess. So we are dropping it for now, maybe indefinitely. We just got to get him out of diapers and maybe we could afford to drop him off at preschool once in a while, which he would much prefer. Just LOVED getting to stay there last night.

Well for June/July I Expect to get a $250 rebate from Chase, as well as $100 in gift cards from Citibank. What a nice windfall. & then around $90 the first month of arbitrage. It will go down considerably every month as the new rule is the minimum payment is 4% of the balance or something - they just upped it which works against us. Oh well. I still expect to make in the realm of $500 - $1k, so no complaints overall.

Interestingly I got another 0%, no fee, balance transfer offer from Chase. I think I have a chance of a higher limit with them because we have had our card quite a few months by now. But all the same I decided those up front offers are no good because lord knows how much they will really give you.

Oh, but back to my card, waiting one month isn't the worst. They denied a credit increase online, but with my credit score I expect to be able to up it if I call in person. Only exception if they freak out about all the credit I just applied for I guess. Well, we'll see. It's worth a try, but $20k is a good start, where we are at for now.

& how weird will it be to say, "I have $20k in credit card debt." I can imagine just saying it out loud to freak out friends and family. They would seriously think we lost our mine because we are so anti-debt for the most part anyway.

Oh gosh, I hope we don't get too used to this!

Preschool is out last week of june & unpaid so we were going to save $70. We have been doing so good and living so budget-tight overall we decided to splurge. So we paid $40 to Ms. Preschool so she would watch the kids last night. We went to a gourmet Indian restaurant. Oh, it is just the best food ever, and we have been getting spoiled since they opened one in our city (an international restaurant we would hit occassionally in San Francisco as a treat). Now since it is so rare we get out without the kids, it is mostly where we go. But of course, as I mentioned before, my tolerance for really spicy food is going so downhill since we don't eat it that much. We eat a lot of more mexican spices at home -peppers and such, but it in no way shape or form prepares you for the curries and such of ethnic food I guess. I didn't even get the spicy stuff since my tolerance has been getting so low lately, and disapointed so I just kind of felt sick afterwards.

But the good thing is we usually spend $50 here and dh noticed a coupon in the paper way back with no expiration. He wondered aloud if they had forgotten the expiration date, and saved it. & lo and behold there has been an occasional coupon since, with expiration. So dh dug out the old coupon which was 20% off. Not bad. So we spent $40.

So all told, night out is $80. Yeah, that means we can afford a night like that all of once in a very blue moon. I really just don't know how people do it. Of course, like I always say, silly me, I want a nice house and financial freedom so I am less inclined to spend a lot of money on babysitters and eating out. Then your friends ask if you are really that bad off, and I am just wondering how anyone can afford a regular $80/night. Yeesh. Of course they wonder how we can just drop a grand on a t.v., so it is all a matter of priority I guess - LOL.

But dh and I were talking about it because we have never been much of a couple in the way of going out. Before we were married we always did our own thing - own friends, own vacations. I don't even think we spent a New YEars together until we had been together 5 years. We're just weird like that. Since we've been married we do a little more. But frankly, I found it beneficial that is how we lived our life before kids, because lord knows now the only way we get out is if we get out separately. So I guess we established some good habits for our sanity overall.

BUT I got this friend who I keep saying we need to do a girls movie night at our house and she keeps saying we should get babysitters and make it a couples night. I am thinking, are you out of your mind? You are turning our free evening of fun into a $40 night for me. LOL. So anyway, I swear we have had this convo like on 10 separate occassions. She doesn't get that I don't want to do a couples night. I know our hubbies - neither of them are interested. & she is probably equally frustrated with me that I don't get she wants to do couple things. But you know I told her there was pretty much no way I could get a babysitter. If nothing else, can't afford it. & then dh has been rock climbing with a movie buddy and his girlfriend. I guess they started getting insistent that I need to come along one of these days. Dh said at the time he was like, yeah sure, we need to all go out one of these days. But then he thought about it later and was like, wait a minute. No way. He told me if we actually had babysitting - free from grandma - or not free - he sure as hell would not give up some free time with me. It's a catch-22. HE was just saying, gosh, people without kids just don't understand. I told him to invite them over for dinner sometime and I would try hard to stay up past 9 - LOL. We can put the kids down and watch a movie or something. But overall, yeah, we were never into the couple thing and I think we are even less into it now. But this is why dh values his theatre room so much, because it is rare we really get out or go to the movies. HEck he goes to the movies alone all the time because it is just easier. I am not into the movies so why add $50 for a babysitter and a ticket for me.

Which reminds me - we watched "Little Miss SUnshine" last night. I think our new t.v. may help our marriage a bit - LOL. I do not really like watching movies in the theatre room overall. I am just weird that way myself. I'm going to watch a movie, I am going to watch it in bed. Where I am REALLY comfortably. I could care less that the t.v. is only 20 inches or whatever it is. It's a t.v. - I see the picture, I hear the sound. What more do I need. We even got comfortable theatre seating with time but I still feel the same which drives dh BATTY. LOL. So last night he said he really watched this movie. I said fine, but I'm watching it in bed. & for once it didn't end up in a fight. He was like, okay then! 50 inches of t.v. bliss. Lord knows he rather watch it on the big screen, but at least he stopped whining with this t.v. LOL.

Anyway, the movie was SO good. Dh insisted he heard this movie was really good, but I just really have a problem with movies. They take a lot of time. & if I am going to spend 2 hours watching a movie, more and more with time I just get fed up. Most of them are so bad these days. So I was wary, but this was seriously a FUNNY movie. We were both just laughing out loud most of it. To me that is the measure of a good comedy. So go see it!

ETA: SInce I can't comment... YEah, I remember being paid $2/hour to babysit, etc. Of course, we are extremely particular with the kids since they are so young still. Their preschool teacher, family, and a couple of my friends who we trade with are about who I trust. When they get a little older I think overall we can save a lot of money hiring a teenager nearby for a little less. But overall it has gotten pricey with time, indeed. Ms. PReschool charges $13/hour for both kids pretty much. But during the day I only pay $4/hour for 1, even though he is nowhere near full-time. So it kind of works out. She donates the money to a family in Africa so that always helps me stomach it a little bit more. & $13/hour for the best babysitter ever - worth it once in a blue moon...

http://tracypress.com/content/view/9467/2/

Well the whales are getting closer to the ocean. Very close! But they still have a ways to go. I think we were starting to give up hope on them. Who knows if they will even survive once they make it back out to the ocean, but at least they will back in their own habitat. They were both injured by boats in the river.

They've been hanging around in the rivers around sacramento (around 90 miles inland?) for over 2 weeks.

I imagine for anyone who enjoys the rivers during Memorial Day weekend and such it has been a PITA too. Seems like all the waterways have been closed entirely as they have been trying to herd the whales out.

Anyway, dh told me this morning they had made it to Golden Gate bridge which sounded great, but I pulled up an article and it seems like they aren't quite there yet - a ways to go. Go whales!

OMG - what the heck did I get myself into? I had a few boxes in the bedroom, and well I was hell bent on cleaning out the room. But as I Was posted I didn't want to do too much work - LOL. I didn't realize these boxes were from my office and the kitchen too, etc., etc., etc.

So I probably spent a good 3 hours, heavy lifting and all that too. I told dh afterwards it was good, because it felt good to get through it all, and I wouldn't have done it otherwise - LOL.

In the process I found a jar of about $10.50 change. Score! I told dh that would get my 8 or 9 $1 meals - just make it my cash for the month. Luckily only about $1.50 of it was pennies. Mostly quarters and dimes. I find it funny because I am not into the whole change thing, mostly as I don't carry cash for the most part. So yeah I could start carrying around a bunch of cash and saving huge chunks, but then I'd have to pull it out of my savings, so it goes. I pay myself first and cash is like if I have any leftover I Can splurge a little, just the way I work. So I find it quite ironic that I have a jar full of change.

I also considered giving it to the kids, filling up their little piggy banks as a start. I could do that too. But mostly I invest their money rather than hold onto cash for them too - same thing. But I thought when will I ever come across a pile of change again? So maybe.

Anyway, I had a big bag of trash and a big bag for ebay. I am rethinking this though. The whole reason I wanted to sell ebay was for items I thought I could get real money for. I am getting real with myself, I don't have time to sell a lot of little things, and I am better off maximixing my time at work. I think I have lost sight of that a bit, and will probably shift most of it to the freecycle/donation pile. Either way it will be good to get rid of more junk.

Dh did say he would try to sell his projector again. 2 years ago when he bought the new one part of the reason he convinced me was because he could sell the old one for $800 or something. I don't know. But he never did, then he decided to keep it. HE did try to sell it once or twice, but it was a bit high. He told me he would probably list it for $500 this week and give it a try again. Woohoo!

Well, we'll see.

In other news I just have one pearl of financial wisdom. If you saw the SA blog it had a nice little post about "what you're not." You're not your house, your car, your material things. & then today I saw the post about the Joneses. & I thought to me what is so simple is hard for many. I wasn't raised to care about the Joneses, to define myself by material things.

I noticed this last weekend when I Was hanging out with my parents and in-laws. In true MIL fashion, she actually said to my parent's face that they have always had it easier than her. I just wanted to hide at that point but my parents actually took it pretty well. For one they are both pretty on par financially, they just choose to spend their money very differently, but overall dh and I Were raised pretty on par and have the same financial views, and I know their income is about the same, etc., I do everyone's taxes. But even more to the point MIL has not a clue how poor my dad was as a kid. He did not have it easier than about anyone I know, so whenever anyone starts on that you just want to smack them, honestly. What the hell does she know being brought up in middle class bliss?

But I digress. MIL I have noticed since day 1 always compares herself to others. & she is miserable for it. She has a very charmed middle class life, but she is too busy worrying how everyone else may be doing better to actually sit back and enjoy. She had the gall to tell me multiple times last year that they are "so poor." HAving come from a truly poor family, comments like that don't sit well, she hasn't a clue what it's like to be truly poor. Not that I really do either, but she can complain about her little home all she wants where I have spent many a summer visiting my dad's family who live in shacks without most of the amenities she has. So it gets really old. The whole thing just annoys me. Blah blah blah, yes you are so bad off, then why the hell did you take 6 adults and 3 babies to HAwaii last year? You seemed to have the money for that. Yeah - that's POOR. (Not).

ANyway, the whole reason I share all this is I had an epithany. My dad could have easily in that situation said, "I had it worse." But the thing is who cares who had it worse, does it really matter? Instead my dad kind of turned it around and pointed out all that they had, as opposed to how bad off MIL thinks she is. & as I Sat there thinking about how what a truly wonderfully happy person my dad is and how miserable MIL seems to be I realized plain as day the only true difference is their attitude. I realized I have NEVER heard my dad complain about how anyone had it easier than him. & he never will. Life is too short for that. & the people who are ALWAYS comparing themselves to others will always be miserable. IT's not productive and it doesn't accomplish anything.

I guess I realize I have received a truly sublime gift from my parents who never measured themselves in terms of their material wealth, and never compared themselves to others. I find with time that these are probably the biggest challenges for most of my friends, even other family, but to me comes easy. OF course I am not these things, of course I Could care less what the Joneses' are doing.

But I just throw that out there because truly if you worry about everyone else a little less and yourself a little more, you will really be amazed at the difference in your life. Plus I guess complaining is just about one of my biggest pet peeves ever. Complain a little less and do a little more - certainly got that one from my dad. IT truly makes ALL the difference in life.

I have this neverending goal to have the house completely clean so it is easy to maintain. I never reach this goal - LOL. But then again I haven't really done that much and it feels loads better. I guess I just set the bar low!

I cleaned off my desk and it didn't take so long though I don't think I have filed anything since December. Not a biggie I guess, once the system is set up, easy to keep organized. I had been kind of dreading it and yet it is all done 1/2 hour later. Piles and piles of papers filed. Then again I have a new desk and filing system from 2005 when baby #2 kicked my office out into the hallway. It's nice actually, a big space and perfect for an office, I should share a picture. But we never really found nice filing cabinets I would leave out in such an open space, just little ones and they are getting kind of crammed. Figures. Probably not so bad as I have 4 file drawers and only one is being used for files. I just have to clean out another drawer and shift some things around. DOh.

I am feeling rather lazy for heavy labor and have no gotten near as much work done as I had planned this weekend. Then again I didn't really realize how exhausted I was until I unexpectedly fell asleep on the couch for a few hours yesterday. Yeesh. Just keep thinking 2 more weeks, 2 more week, and I will have an entire week to recharge my batteries. As much as I love just hanging around home on vacation time, it is nice to get away and not feel obligated to do anything.

I am thinking of unpacking some boxes in the bedroom and for the most part calling it a day unless I receive a sudden burst of energy.

I did a run through the bedroom last weekend and thank goodness because the in-laws decided to come up rather last minute and of course wanted to see our new t.v. set up in there. I think I now have renewed motivation to keep the room up a little better. It isn't that hard since we don't use the room so much, mostly to sleep, but then again I usually just like that the downstairs can be sparkling and the upstairs can be embarrassing, but who cares since no one goes up there. Until now! I guess the nice thing is closing the bathroom door is a must to get the full effect of the t.v. (shutting out the light) so at least I don't have to keep the bathroom sparkly.

I have a pile for freecycle, goodwill, and craigslist in the living room. I think I will make it a goal to be rid of those things before our trip. Then again if I start unpacking boxes the piles will just get worse! I should probably try some ebay selling the next couple of weeks too. Just realized we are still about $1500 away from our efund goal. I am not sure if we will have any cash to add this month otherwise, just has been a little crazy.

In other news dh has done well. I am expecting some Target gift cards and offered one to dh for a 2nd controller for his PS3. Not really necessary at this point, but would be nice. Anyway, he saw them at the used record store and had enough credit to get a controller he realized - if he sold back a few more games. Woohoo. The kids also fell in love with a helicopter toy our neighbor had - said they got $22 at Costco. Dh saw it at Target or Toys R Us or something for $30 and was thinking for birthday - but saw an ad for $20 at Frys today. Woohoo. I had been thinking of just using our target gift cards for kids birthday, but seems like most of it is taken care of anyway. I guess I will just have to buy some clothes. Oh, we'll figure something out. Might even be worth just selling for a slight discount for cold hard cash. But we could probably stock up on necessities on sale as well, just more work is all.

I hadn't updated our allowances and so was updating Quicken and running totals and all that. No point I guess since dh was in the hole and I figured I was too. But I was amused because I updated my allowance balance and I have a $1 surplus for May (well as long as I don't buy anything through the 31st - but not really worried about it. )

On the flip side I did tell dh that I would probably consider his rock climbing (going again tomorrow) an allowance item, but since he is so in the hole, whatever. I also got that whole 2 duffle bag for 1 thing which at the time was not sneaky but I realized if I put that to my allowance it should go to his, so whatever, something we needed, will just pass up the allowance. which leaves me a $50 balance to spend for June. Woohhoo.

I find a lot of it is gray area though, but for the most part keeps us reined in a bit.

So far this year I have used my allowance to cover a big cell bill (I went way over - my fault). Bought some clothes, bought nothing for 2 months. Then this last month I bought a new wallet, replaced the diaper bag, replaced my backpack, and bought a monkey doormat.

I also bought some cannisters for the kitchen which were more grey area. I felt we needed them to organize the kitchen a bit. Though we don't NEED them. I tried to discuss with dh where those or the monkey would fit but he didn't have any input. I think since he is so in the hole, that he didn't want to appear unfair, so he pretty much said, whatever, he didn't care.

I guess mostly for the stuff that the other spouse gets NO benefit of or sees no point in getting, that is what the allowance is for. Mostly for those purchases we can't agree on. So it's May and I have spent $250. I am sure all else being equal dh would not care if I wanted to replace my backpack, etc., so not the greatest examples. But, at other times he would argue. Just the fact that my backpack was no longer usable I guess this time means I could have passed it off as necessary. But it's gray and serves its purpose. In the end it really doesn't matter as long as we are cutting back our spending, that is the point.

When I buy clothes it generally goes to allowance because for the most part I have enough to get by. Dh would never buy clothes though, and so when he does he NEEDS it - LOL. I am cool with that - he bought a couple of pairs of shorts (amazing) and so I gladly let him take it out of the general fund - hehe. As I made him replace his duffle bag - yeesh.

Mostly though I think the allowance has done its job. Dh might have bought some big things, but there are no little purchases to be had. & I have certainly reined in my spending compared to the last couple of years.

As you do notice that for the most part dh buys electronics and I systematically go through the house replacing old things. It feels like a neverending battle. But I am not all innocent either as the monkey doormat and the mounds of clothes certainly show.

Which reminds me dh and I were having an allowance discussion because a friend who makes good money but always seems so bad off mentioned her husband had a $600/month allowance. I about choked when she said it (looking at our $50/month allowances). I was telling dh and he reacted the same. Imagining all of the many electronic gadgets he could buy and then explaining he couldn't even spend that much money in a year - $7200 or whatever it would be - LOL. To be fair I said I did imagine it probably included gas and eating out and all that, which we just include in our budget. We mused how we probably could not afford any of our luxuries if we ate out so much ourselves.

But digging deeper, between the 2 of us, $1200/month allowance. Hmmmmm. We both would spend maybe $100 on gas, maybe $50 on eating out on a good month, $100 on a bad month. Maybe $100 on just misc. items, and $300/month/each left over to play with? I'd put mine in a ROTH frankly. LOL. Dh would be in electornic heaven - he could probably buy whatever he wanted. But that is when dh told me, that he decided he didn't put much value on experiences. We had already had a big convo about this before, that most of the stuff we put our money to we still have and use. We put a lot of money to his theatre room and the TVs and our laptop, but these are things we use every day, and get continued benefits from. Neither of us is inclined to spend the money we don't have on eating out and stuff we won't remember. So yeah, I have to give my friend the benefit of the doubt, that that includes all spending money, but I do notice they spend a lot of money on cars, hair and nails, eating out, vacations, etc. Whereas we are likely to spend little on any of these things so we can have a nice home and dh can have his electronics playland instead.

I am happy for people who love their vacations - reading the cheap vacation blog post. I agree mostly with the concept. But as a kid we never had fancy vacations. Personally I could not see spending $1500 on a vacation myself. Not every year any way. I guess for me I always appreciated the one time we went to Disneyland, the one time we went to Hawaii. It was SO special because we had never done anything like it before. So I know too many people who think we are so deprived we aren't into the whole vacation thing, but somehow I don't worry about it too much. I have said before though, we live an hour from the family cabin, 2 hours from Tahoe, an hour or 2 from the beach, and lots and lots of camping nearby. While the kids are younger we can do plenty of that with very little money and I think they will be just fine. Probably get out a lot more than I did as a kid. Plus grandma treated us to Hawaii last year, and our cruise and Florida this year. The kids will be SPOILED regardless. But if not for that I really could do without. It's just not a big deal to me. I think my family were always mostly homebodies, and we follow suit a bit. I think why we value having a nice home. We want our home to feel like a vacation. I guess I don't see the need to have to get away to enjoy. For the most part, vacations are just something I will never really *get,* just from the way I was raised. I see plenty to keep me occupied in my own backyard, and that probably helps.

& funny enough dh feels the same way because he was vacationed out as a child. Vacations were big in his family and always a huge deal. He has been everywhere and seen everything so for the most part he rather sit at home - LOL. IT's kind of funny how we were raised so opposite in that one regard but have the same viewpoint today. Honestly, I get annoyed he is not a little more adventurous sometimes. I guess it can go so many ways.

I am stoked. I pulled out an old dental bill in the $300 range and figured it had been my last filling. Either I was wrong or they were nice to me, maybe it was easier this time, I don't know, but the filling was only $130. So basically about $200 less than I intended to spend. Woohoo.

& well, glad to get that over with. Not fun! A little sore. Not so bad either, but I am wimpy when it comes to the drill I guess.

I had SUCH a pleasant evening with my parents last night. & drove home today - more traffic than I cared for but I guess I have concluded that the drive is just so BEAUTIFUL in the morning, loved it. Plus frankly all the way to the Bay yesterday I was thinking "neener neener" to the holiday traffic - it looked awful in the opposite direction pretty much the whole 2-hour drive. I am not sure why it didn't occur to me that I wouldn't face the same on my return home though - doh. Luckily most everyone headed out Friday though - the traffic was only bad for a little stretch this morning. I got quite a late start too.

When I got home dh and I went out for a pretty fancy lunch. Was divine. & his parents are treating for Greek tonight. (My parents treated me to pizza and donuts).

I took the opportunity after lunch to get caught up on some work and update Quicken and all that jazz. This month has just been so horrid. Was just discussing with dh. On the plus side, since we will be gone a week next month, maybe our grocery and gas bill will be down a tad to offset. Well, maybe groceries, since driving to LA and back probably won't help the gas bill now that I think about it. Kids and fam will be up here so we may be stocking up on food for them anyway. But we'll see. Wishful thinking anyway.

On the plus side, just planning to lay low this weekend. Phew. Not a lot of money to spend. What I really need to do is clean the house. & hang out with the kids.

In other news, something I haven't blogged much about, is we really want to do some hiking this summer. There is so much around. Our little experiment with LM didn't go so well, but hoping things will look up better next year when he is closer to 3. We took BM in a couple of big hikes in Hawaii last year right before he turned 3 and he just LOVED them. Anyway, we want to try to do some smaller ones this year, there is a wildlife preserve nearby and thinking about something like the redwood forest in the San Francisco area - something easier for the little one (Admittedly more of a drive which I think at this point we want to avoid with the finicky one). But stuff like that. & I was telling dh about some blogs I read here about geo-caching and we were checking out the website. I was a little surprised because dh was very gung ho about it. I think we might give it a whirl. Since I have I believe $150 in Target gift cards coming and not even sure what to use it for we were thinking of maybe picking up a little GPS system. Well, we'll see. I think if we go through the effort we want to get a rather nice once, but if we can get 1/2 of it free or something, why not.

As usual lately I think who is this guy and what has he done with my husband? He is not a particularly active guy but suddenly he is all excited about hiking and camping and all this stuff he never seemed to take an interest in before, but now he is all excited about with the kids. & geo caching he is all gung ho on. I tell you 5 years ago if I brought it up he would just look at me like I am crazy and what's the point. I guess all this stuff is a little more fun with kids. But well, I have always enjoyed a good hike or adventure and dh was never on the top of my list to invite along - LOL. But I am actually feeling rather pleased. This is all stuff I LOVE and glad the family wants to participate too. Makes me happy. Even better, for the most part, a hike is free. & anything that doesn't put more money stress on me sounds pretty grand!

I do have to say though, dentist aside, I had a pretty nice & relaxing day/night yesterday. I think I can handle a week of this. My vacation is coming up very soon and thank goodness my mom found my birth certificate while I Was visiting too - phew. I need it to board the boat - still skeptical if my passport with come through. Now no more worries, as I got the birth certificate at least.

Dh is also planning on hiking Mt. Shasta this year. With my dad. I would love to go, but I have a leg injury which for the most part prevents me from doing anything like that. Maybe a day hike is my limit and I would be in pretty bad pain. Dh almost didn't want to go though because he is worried about me - pfffffft. I think I am a big girl and will be just fine.

His mom also was trying to talk me into this florida trip - oy vey. They can't imagine why I don't want to go. I just don't see the joy in flying all the way to Florida for the weekend when it will be SO busy at work. Plus I think they would all kind of enjoy a family thing, and I wouldn't mind having some free time myself!!!!! Anyway, as I understand it, condo, flight & DisneyWorld are free because they had just enough miles and room in the condo without me, so that is probably most important. But the kids are so young too I Feel mostly like, yeah, be my guest, drag them to DisneyWorld for the day. Doesn't sound fun too me - LM is way too young to enjoy it - I am not even sure why they would drag him along. No, don't really feel like I am missing much. We'll definitely take the kids again when they are older though, that is what I look forward to. Plus my new niece is due to be born in that time frame - I'd rather stick around to meet my new niece!!!!

Of course Murphy's law, each of these trips is planned for last week of July & October which are like the only 2 weeks the rest of the year I can't get any time off work - deadlines. What in the heck. But then again, if the fam is gone those 2 weeks I will have more time to cram at work AND to relax at home. win-win. We just have to work out the details got Mt. Shasta - if grandma wants to take the kids for a few days - then it sounds rather divine to me. & lord knows dh just needs a break.

$20 challenge:

$6,998.02 - Balance 5/3

$ 72.00 - Interest

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$7,070.02 - Balance 5/26
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For whatever reason, most my banks like to post interest around the 25th, so got most of it. Will get around $2 from my 2 smaller savings accounts, on the 31st, so rounded up to an even $72. Close enough.

Passed the $7k mark!

Was updating Quicken, retirement is still up above $53k. I recall it being around $49k in December. Moving right along...

http://punny.org/

Oh yeah, I thought this was interesting. Honestly I Would be willing to do none of those things for $50 mil.

I am not sure where along the line I learned money isn't everything, but I notice this even around here when the whole what would you do with lottery money stuff comes up.

Look, yeah, it could be nice to have $50 mil, but if you have paid attention to anyone who has $50 mil, especially those who won it, it wasn't all sunshine and roses as you would imagine.

That and a fairly strong moral compass, and a general contentment with my current financial situation, means I Would not be willing to drown kittens, trip old ladies, or cheat on my taxes for $50 mil. But I Was kind of surprised the results of the poll because most of the people I know would readily be willing to do any one of these things as they imagine $50 mil would mean the answer to all of lives problems. I guess I just know better.

Well, I am thankful 15% agree with me. I Was expecting more like 0, but it is a little disturbing all the same...

I mean I Think I could do good by the money and carve out a nice life and do some really nice things with $50 mil, but knowing every sinigle person I Come across the rest of my life will want a piece of it, does not sound appealing in the least.

Food for thought. I don't think overall my answer is purely moral. I think it is because I think things through a little more than the average person. I think really that is all it comes down to. Well, and knowing money isn't everything helps too I guess. Then again I Don't even have the heart to squish a spider that I am deftly afraid of, so the whole kitten and old lady thing are out regardless - LOL. & the whole cheating on taxes is a victimnless crime angle - oy vey. Every one of us are victims of that - but I get it - its faceless - that would be more up my alley if I had to choose one...

Well, I lied. I Actually came into work for a bit this morning AND will take some work home. So it is not as much of a 4-day weekend as you may have imagined, but I got a little too caught up in it myself. A short discussion with dh yesterday leads me to believe though that this weekend is not as free as thought. LOL. His mom is coming up which is fine and dandy. I wanted a peaceful weekend, but I told dh I really didn't care as long as I don't have to be social. I Feel less guilty neglecting the kids when they are smothered by Grandma anyway, so I might get some work done and I decided maybe I could take dh to that fancy restaurant that wasn't so bad for lunch - on the price.

Of course, because of this we should just be happy and postpone our date night next week, but it is so exciting to get a date night. We'll just have to make it really cheap. Not doing the FANCY dinner should help. IT may be overkill, but we need a break too.

Sunday I am not sure if we have much planned - but Monday dh is working on some internet sitcom with his buddies.

I guess this means for me I Will try to get all my work done Saturday, and enjoy a nice lunch, clean house Sunday (backwards since the guests are coming saturday - but oh well - it looks a tad better these days) & hopefully means a relaxing fun day with the kids Monday. I just want a day or 2 to not to worry about work. Which means I want to whip out 2 articles, get a few hours of work done, and go on a date tomorrow. In the name of 2 days with no pressing needs, I think I can swing it!

Today I am driving home to see my dentist (Which you all know I have been absolutely dreading - but will good to be done with) and spend a nice night with my parents. Ah, it should be nice. Just to escape!

In financial news, I know gas is crazy but I think to some extent I have been wondering what everyone has been going crazy about. I filled up and it was about $3.10/gallon (As opposed to $3.50 where it was for a bit) and then dh nailed it on the head. There was an article in the paper how gas was up on average 45 cents/gallon nationwide in the last month alone, but it went down here 15 cents or something in the last month. I have no idea why, but now I see why all the hooha and why I did not notice so much myself. So far we have been sticking under budget, many long van trips and all, but I don't really look forward to summer all the same. We're taking the Escort to LA (cramped but cheap) and probably for any other drives this summer. I guess it helps not driving a Hummer (As so many people around here drive - I get really sick of hearing SUV & Hummer drivers complaining about gas prices - gah - mostly because these are the last people it would occur to to drive a little less, much less downgrade their vehicle).

So anyway, gas for me has not been so bad. Not good, but not horrid. IT won't bust our budget until summer, and then we'll probably just drive a lot less to compensate. Admittedly I have been driving a lot more too with aerobics class and such, but WELL worth it.

Speaking of saving energy though, I just signed up for the PEak Corps program here. Which basically means they could cycle off our a/c for 4 hours, technically on a really hot day. But we save $5/month. We pay $6/month to support the green energy programs, so I figure this will offset that (for 4 months out of the year anyway). I first heard of it 2 years back, but with a newborn, wasn't interested in sweltering. THough they say on average they use it 10-16 days every summer (mostly July and AUgust I imagine). For the most part when I first saw this they hadn't even used it that much and now they are requiring all new homes to automatically sign up (they can cancel after) but since only 20% of people opt out, it just means that many more people participating and less chance the a/c will ever be out for 4 hours. I just told dh I was going to do this. If it is too much we can give 24 hour-notice to go to a smaller program - where they can only turn off 40 out of 60 minutes every hour. THat I KNOW we can handle. I always go on and on how our house stays so cool and I am not that worried. Dh argued with me saying it wouldn't affect me and why I Didn't care - LOL. I reminded him this was most likely to happen at peak times. Since I am usually only gone 8-5 and he is more likely to do his own things evenings/weekends, um no, will probably affect ME more. But whatever. I bet you a million to one we won't even notice!!! So we have to swelter for a couple of hours and turn on some fans - big whoop... *rolling yes* But like I said, if it is that bad, we change our minds, downgrade, still save $3.75/month (for 4 months) and get to use the a/c as much as we probably need it anyway.

http://www.bpa.gov/energy/n/reports/Results_Center/ProfileIn...

In other news, our local movie theatre is offering free movies for parents and kids on the summer weekdays. I Think last year it was only on preschool days and LM Was too little/fussy anyway I am sure. This year I think the kids and dh will love it, they have 2 free days a week now. Woohoo. Free summer entertainment is always good. Should 2 & 4 year-olds be watching movies (even though rated g?) You can argue that one but dh is movie king and BM has certainly seen more movies than I care that he has seen. LM we just figure whatever, he's there. I don't think we really turned on the t.v. much before BM was 2, but LM is around when BM watches t.v., and he gets sucked in. Dh and I were just commenting how he probably has seen way more t.v. just for being the younger one. Time will tell if we sucked his brain dry, but he seems okay. So though dragging 2 small kids to a movie would not be on top of my list, dh will be excited. & maybe I could arrange to watch LM while he takes BM a couple of days. Even better... I noticed the first showing was Curious George which both kids LOVE.

Finally, I have gained 7 pounds. Eeks. But it is good. I always gain a few token pounds when I start an exercise program. It must be frightening - my body fat percentage - when I don't work out or something. Today I Was up a good 7 pounds but my skinny jeans fit for the first time since tax season - so Way to Go - muscle gain!!! I have 2 more weeks and had wanted to make a little more progress before the cruise, but oh well. I'll survive. I was lazy and I pay - I have only been doing my aerobics for a month -a nd 1/2-assed at that. I have 7 pounds of muscle and that is better than nothing. My physique is just looking a little better overall. I look so forward to just eating my heart out on the cruise, but there is so much activity on the boat - aerobics, gym, rock climbing, plus if we do any excursions, etc. I would really like to do a bike ride myself. I think it will offset and honestly hope it is a chance to get re-motivated a bit. I find 2 factors working against me since having kids - hormones and time. I Think the time is the worst though. HAving a week to do whatever sounds divine. & I want to whip my body into better shape! & maybe I will be motivated to work a little harder when I get home.

Well I hope you all have a good weekend. I will probably be around online tomorrow since I have so much work to do, but you know if you see me hanging around Sunday and Monday, just chastise me - LOL. I need to get my butt off the computer!

So it looks like I may win $5 or $10. That was easy peasy money. Good to see more people participating in this newest blog competition though. I think they're fun, though I am stumped on Top 10 for now, may sit this one out.

I moved $500 over from bonds to stock. Everything is doing good I guess, but getting way too bond heavy. So did the shift. I just did a big shift a couple of months ago - yeesh. Keeping on top of allocations. Plus it looks like we are up 8% for the year. Not bad, not bad. Cash, bonds, stocks and all... I am still amazed how much we are beating ex-broker's butt, but I guess not having to pay an inordinate amount of fees makes ALL the difference. All that being said we have another 1-2% to beat 2004 & 2006.

I would really like to do some ROTH conversions right now. I keep thinking what if dh gets some giant windfall from this movie and we get pushed to a higher tax bracket? What I should really think is, so what? Like it matters. So we will have that much more money to pay for the conversion. I should just bite the bullet and do it! What are the odds anyway - pretty slim. I have to jinx it to get a big windfall, so be it. That would be quite a jinx. I can't contribute to any of my funds right now because I guess for the same reason - it is iffy if I am entitled to a tax-deductible IRA contribution if any extra money comes in. I should just start the paperwork - lord knows it takes forever. Waiting so far just means a bigger tax bill - all my accounts are doing so well. I don't think I have any bond funds right now either - dh has them all - since we have so little to work with individually I just consider it all one - our money. I have some cash, he has the bonds, we both have everything else I guess. But yeah, I should start paperwork and start converting. Every $100 gain is another $15 tax due to the Feds when I finally do it. It would be nice to be able to add some money to my accounts!

Oh, I tried to move the $115 sitting in my Fidelity cash account to my mid-cap fund, but I guess I need $250 minimum. Now that is a conundrum. I am not sure if I can add any money. All the more reason to convert that and contribute the token $135 so I can invest the cash. I was wondering if I sold $135 from the mutual fund and then bought it back with the $250 if that would work. It probably would, but would they rather me go through all that? Gah. Why are these things so dang complicated!

I kind of laugh at myself reading some of the blogs because I pride myself on being a simple person and leading a simpler lifestyle (I guess in comparison to city folk). But I guess you have to keep in mind is I am usually a go go go person, and I have REALLY slowed down since having kids. Then again, maybe it is the kids that make life crazy. I don't know. But I think back to the days I worked and had school from 6am to 10pm and you know, these days are simple if you ask me.

It is also funny because I ran to my friend at preschool the other day and told her that things were slowing down but BM was in karate and I just started aerobics, and all our evening are tied up, and she called me a soccer mom or something. Oy Vey! I think I took offense to it - LOL. But after karate class BM and I sat and watched the ducks at the pond for a good 1/2 hour. I thought soccer moms don't this. I need down time too much I guess. I don't want to push my kids. Though I guess my problem, which I get from my dad, is I want my kids to experience everything there is to life. Honestly I want my kids to take piano lessons, and BM to continue karate if he likes, I want to take him roller skating and bowling on the weekends, all the stuff my parents exposed me to. But it is all to overwhelming all at once. One thing at a time I guess. I am sure at some point it could be translated into the crazy soccer mom lifestyle I imagine, but overall I just want the kids to know there is much out there. & frankly I wish there was enough hours in the day to have 1000 hobbies, but I realize there isn't. I am content with aerobics class for now as raising kids takes 99% of my time.

Anyway, in financial news I now make enough money to qualify for $4k/month disability benefits through my professional association. Awesome Possum since I have been using this as a benchmark for our basic expenses. So I will up it from $3500. IT is only like $200/year premium. I keep hearing how disability is so expensive and so I wonder if this is another one where being young paid off. OF course then I wonder if I should have locked it in in our 20s. For now it is such a good rate though and I am already 30, I Am sticking with it. Though I will start shopping around, would be willing to pay a bit more to lock in a rate for 30 years or something. I could kick myself for not doing that in my 20s. Our life insurance was an incredible deal since we locked in the rates while young and healthy. Then again it is such a bargain through my association. Decisions decisions.

I also tried to up my credit limit online on the citi card (like I want to call them and sit through their high pressure sales tactics - could I call a credit company without a protection package spiel - oy very - Chase has been super obnoxious and Citi doesn't seem much better. Now I do not need protection in case of loss of work - that is what my efund is for!!!!). Anyway, they denied me because I was a new customer, but I tried for dh too on a whim that maybe he had been a customer of Citi before. Well, lahdedah, I just got an e-mail that they approved him a $4k credit line increase just by simply asking online, a couple of weeks after he applied for the card originally. It means we have $16k to BT fee-free between the 2 of us. I am happy. Means around a $500 return - much more worthwhile now. I will call and ask - with my credit score I really can't say they would say no - we don't have much credit to our names overall and I have been reading some people just called and got $25k. That's what I want - LOL. Well, I'll try, inconvenience and all.

I also applied for the WAMU card out of curiosity. Plus it was cute. LOL. They gave me $6k I think - and are transferring it to my Citi Card where I can online request a refund of the credit balance! This BT had a $75 fee and mostly I just wanted to try it out. I am lucky they gave me $6k. If they gave me much less I am not sure I could even come out ahead - but the BT 0% rate is for around 14 months... I now see why Citi is such a good deal, because you can utilize the BT later after you ask for a bigger limit. I knew WAMU wasn't the best deal, but offset against the others, it will up our returns a bit. mostly I wanted to experiment with the whole process. Though it would be FAR easier to just have one card with $25k or something. But I like paying bills and paying with Quicken, and for the first time, will set all these up to pay automatically anyway (keeping a close eye). I think it won't be so bad - just have to be organized and remember when each needs to be repaid in full. So I'll keep you updated!

Today I am meeting some girlfriends for lunch. IT has been too busy but finally just said screw it. I need a life - LOL. & I also have a movie night with my mom's group the week after the cruise. It seems during tax season all the working moms dropped off the face of the earth, but hoping if I host an event or 2 maybe we can move forward. Just happy I can make an event. They have been having a lot of marykay and tupperware parties - blech! I just want a nice cheap playdate for my kids - not be sold crap. & then they are always pushing for pricey weeknight dinners which many of us can't afford. Someone had the suggestion that we meet for a lunch on a weekend - now that I could jive with! We just don't do dinners except that is the ONLY time we can generally find babysitting - but saving big pricey dinners for dates with my hubby myself.

Which reminds me my cruise is in less than 3 weeks!!!!!!! I thought it was 4 weeks away. I am so happy though lord knows where my passport is. Keeping my fingers crossed I get it in time - oy vey. Now I Read that an expired one would suffice just dandy. But I mailed it off to the terribly slow passport agency. Worst case I guess is I can drive to SF the week before and demand my old one back or something - LOL. I just do not like things last minute and mail has been awfully slow so I am terribly antsy about it. I should have lied and said my trip was much sooner - silly me. But I wanted to be fair to the last-minute applyers. *sigh*

Oh yeah, and I have bunco tonight. I felt silly when I realized - meeting my friend for lunch and will see her at bunco tonight too - but it has been too long. Nice to be getting a semblance of a life back - phew. THough lunch and bunco is not cheap either.

Send me money vibes - win win win!!!!

Oh yeah, I am still planning to do Kiva, and maybe Prosper. Kiva soon, like this month. Prosper, I will probably wait until I get my efund to where I want it - plus some ROTH conversions. So maybe in December or next January.... All things on the back burner for right this moment but I want to get to!

I got a wonderful article idea because I keep replying to posts and blogs about usual rules and assumptions about finance and how they don't really apply when you start young/are young.

Like am I worried about paying off the mortgage before retirement? Not exactly. If I take the full 30 years from my last refinance it will be paid off 10 years before traditional retirement age. & neither of us really has a burning desire to retire early. We own our dream home with a fixed low rate. I really don't foresee not having our house paid by 55, nor having the desire to move up.

Today I was commenting on the faulty logic of ROTH IRAs being less favorable in today's dollars. I have a 40-year investment horizon. I should be able to put in $4k/year and take out $1 million plus tax-free in 40 years. Hello. In the meantime I am young and my income tax rate is nil now too. win-win. If your ivvestment horizon is only 10-20 years and you are at the peak of your career income-wise, well then it makes little sense. I'll agree. But as usual I see huge exceptions for being young.

I find myself over and over saying yes, these financial principles make sense when you are in your 40s or something, but the ball game is completely different when you are in your 20s. Of course I would rethink ROTHs if I were in my 40s. OF course I Would work harder to pay off the house sooner if I bought a home in my 40s. Etc., etc.

But I find having a LONG investment horizon changes all the rules.

So is there anywhere else any of you have noticed this?

I think overall I am going to turn this article into more reasons to start investing and taking charge of your finances while you are young!!!

The other obvious one is you can invest less, on an annual basis, for retirement, the younger you start, due to the power of compounding, which really ties into the rest. Why pay off the mortgage early when I have such a long investment horizon, is really what it comes down to. As does all of these. But I figure there are some other things I haven't though of - always helps to have more brains to pick.

Thanks!

ETA: I thought of a good one in the middle of the night and completely forgot. It figures - LOL. Maybe insurance - how you can lock in low rates in your 20s.

I am getting another niece around October - woohoo!

The funny thing though is we gave so much stuff to family being the first to have children. At first we gave freely because it was family, but after a while dh and I started to conclude, this sucks. LOL. We have spent so much on baby stuff and everyone else gets a free ride. Plus we have started selling bigger things. Luckily no one seemed to need them. But we visited his cousin one day and when we got home dh says to me - there is no way we are going to give them any more clothes - they do not need them in the least. Yeah they live in an expensive area but they seem to be doing quite well. & plus BIL's family is large and they have hand-me-downs galore from them too - more to the point. So we were kind of excited to start selling some of this stuff instead, and then dh tells me, well what if SIL has a boy? She'll need boy clothes. & of course she already asked me what I have available to give.

So anyway, the boy clothes I have to sell and donate aren't much, and won't make us rich or anything. But it is kind of nice all the same to not feel like the sole support of all things baby in the family any more.

I think more of my bitterness set in when SIL could not even loan us one item when we had my second. Heck I think she wouldn't give me back some stuff when I asked!!! So I got really annoyed. But I would still feel obligated to help all the same if it was a boy. We're just stupid like that - LOL. Of course anything for a 1-2 year old already resides with dh's rich cousin, so not much we could help her with now anyway.

I shouldn't get too excited though because you never know. I have a couple of friends who were having girls that ended up being boys, so you know, nothing is set in stone I guess.

Oh, but I have to tell you a cute kiddie story.

I remember it was around May 2 years ago when I was shopping at Target for some maternity bras, and I Was with my son, and all of a sudden he starts exclaiming (he was about 2) - "Those are so cute!!!!" To the bras. Well, they were just plain and white - nothing really cute, but all the ladies around started laughing. Was just So Funny.

So over the weekend I had LM in the shopping cart and was wheeling him around in search of the adorable monkey doormat I saw in the sales ad. I told him to keep an eye out for monkeys. So we went down a bath aisle with little monkey bath accessory sets and I exclaimed how cute they were. So we kept rolling and he saw more monkey stuff so he exclaimed in his little baby voice, with much excitement, "That is so cute!!!!!!" Of course again the other ladies in the aisle start cracking up. IT was really funny to me because I immediately had deja vu.

& well I guess I have to admit that I must exclaim, "how cute!!!!!" a lot. LOL. It's something about this particular age that both boys picked up on it though. Hehe.

I think for the most part I feel blah due to the lack of sleep. I concluded this because I had a wonderful productive weekend, went to bed very happy and just wokr up feeling like crap this morning. Slept maybe 11 - 6, but I like need 8 hours to function, and the whole getting awakend 100 times in between is the biggest problem.

& of course the only reason I got so much done this weekend was I didn't take any naps, which usually I thrive on. Well, maybe next weekend I can catch up around the house, and then resume naps after that. The 4-day weekend I have should help too - phew.

I swear - I never missed a glorious full night sleep in my life, before kids. I value my sleep very highly. I was actually surprised how well I adjusted to the sleepless nights when I had kids. But a mere 4 years later (almost 5 years when you realize pregnancy as well makes it impossible to sleep), I think I am done with it - I want my sleep back. IT doesn't help when older/wiser parents say your kids will always keep you up (with worry if nothing else). I can't even fathom a life of this. LOL. At least once these evil molar finally break through it will calm down for a bit. I hope...

In other news we should find out today if SIL is having a boy or a girl. Yes, I know it is not 1000%, but I am excited anyway. Very very very excited. I kind of hoped its a boy, but then I realized there are 3 boys in the family and only 1 girl, thus far. Either way a healthy baby is most important. But I can go buy those adorable little baby outfits once I find out - woohoo. I have to admit I really enjoy having a niece because I love buying those cute girly clothes I will never get to for my own children. Then again it has been so long since I have had an infant, well I will enjoy regardless, all those little bitty baby things - how fun.

Anyway, things accomplished this weekend:

* Cleaned out kitchen cupboards and threw away so much old food I am embarassed to admit. Some stuff that expired 2000 - 2003. Blah.

*Worked a bit

*Went to to realtor's house for dinner. Had shrimp! Kids met and had an absolute blast. I think it will be great to get the kids together more but not sure how well the adults jived. A little too hoity toity for me which I find ironic since I never got that impression from me. realtor before going to his home. Interesting though. I guess I got tired hearing about how their beautiful upscale home was in the "ghetto." LOL. Oy vey. To their credit, they didn't clarify until we were leaving that a horrible shoothing that took place a few months back happened 2 doors down from their home. Oy vey. But you know, idiots are everywhere. One shooting does not a ghetto make.

*Cleaned up the bedroom - had dh move his dresser to its new spot (displaced by his beloved TV) and set up my shelves and anchor them. We have boxes to unpack from when we were thinking of moving. Now I Can unpack some boxes.

*Added some more things for the freecycle and donation piles. One thing I found in the cupboards was baby food. Also bibs. At least the baby food didn't expire yet or I Would feel really bad.

*Moved old/ancient/horrible recliner out of baby's room and put the toddler bed in there. Will recycle chair. It did us fine through 2 babies with a nice blanket to hide the fact it is completely falling apart. Was a hand-me-down. Will freecycle it. I don't want to think about the crib to bed transition with nights as they have been. Then again he's not sleeping anyway, so why not. We would have to do significant babyproofing to his room though. It was easier with the eldest, we moved him into an empty/bare room. LOL. We'll have to move the diapers and babyproof and yadda yadda. Then again he might sleep better in a bed instead of a crib. WHo knows...

*Light cleaning

*Took the kids to the park Sunday. There is this really cool/big park by BM's karate class with a pond as well. We saw some baby geese there the other night after karate class and just sat on a bench 1/2 hour watching the birds. Someone had thrown food on the ground before we got there but the birds didn't notice until we sat down, so a ton of birds came up to us and BM was just in heaven watching them all. OF course he wanted to hug them all and was upset I made him sit, hands off and all that - LOL. The baby geese were actually kind of ugly, but fun to watch. A bunch of baby ducks too - very adorable. So I drug the family out Sunday. LM loves the birds, but was too enamored by the park to really be bothered by the birds. But a nice park, will have to frequent that one more.

*Ate out Greek Dinner last night. Well ordered in actually. That place is just too good - too addicting...

*Dh went rock climbing (indoor) with some movie buddy - was glad he got out though worried it is an expensive hobby to persue. He keeps telling me how much I have to try rock climbing on the cruise ship. IT doesn't sounds fun to me in the least - I don't like, well, heights. I'll try it but don't expect to like it - LOL. Even worse his best buddy has been doing REAL rock climbs and he wants to go. If you haven't noticed I am not much of a risk taker. Doesn't sound fun to me. Blah. Oh well, it could be worse...

*Oh yeah, went shopping. Spent too much money. What a spendy weekend. We went by Target because they had a sale on some nice duffle bags I had been looking for on ebay. I figured the sale was about the same, but I could check them out in person as opposed to the stab in the dark it was going to seem on ebay. So we all went and dh stocked up on sale items (laundry detergent and such), and I stocked up on bags (found a nice backpack as well since I finally just threw my old one from college away - the thing was thrashed. The new one is 10 times nicer though, and we have some nice bags for our trip. The best part is the duffle has rollers (my other one well it still works fine but it is big and gets heavy - the rollers are a NICE touch), but even better it came with a free smaller bag. Dh has a nasty old little holey duffle bag that has got to be since he was a baby or sonmething. IT's either the bag or me. It has to go. This one is 10 times as nice but he still wants his old one. I just can't take it anymore - LOL. Last time we visited his mom I had a plastic bag and dh had his holey bag and the kids had all their nice bags and I told MIL - such is lif e- the kids have way nicer stuff than we do. But now we are all on par. It is nice to move beyond the plastic grocery bags, personally. LOL. Next on the list is his jacket. I think I even replaced it once since I met him - this old gray hooded sweatshirt. But I don't know what he does to these things - it is just nasty. Washing doesn't seem to help. I guess for his birthday or something - LOL. But I conquered the duffle bag and am very happy.

Oh yeah, but my impulse buy was a giant monkey doormat. Too cute!!!!!

So it was a very busy weekend.

I felt bad we spent so much money, but today it evened out. I just realized preschool is out (& don't have to pay) lasy week of June!!!!! The payment for June is in my May budget, and I was pretty dead on for the month. So now I suddenly have $70 extra. No mind that with the car I didn't put a dime in savings (long-term) this month, and we had a spendy weekend. I told dh we should use the money for a night out. So I reserved a night our next week for Ms. preschool to babysit and we are going on a date.

Actually my boss took us to the fanciest restaurant last week and OMG it was SO good. I told dh what I really wanted to do was take him there. (Plus the lunch prices really weren't that bad - though I guess I have to wonder about dinner). When we couldn't decide what to do I think partly we realized we were kind of sick of going to the same place for dinner whenever we catch a break. At least I am. SUre, it's rare enough, but boring all the same - LOL. So, with babysitting and the fancy dinner will probably spend a little more than the $70 saved. But I REALLY look forward to it!!!!

Oh yeah, but though I did so much and all is well, still feeling overwhelmed. Have to scrub all the bathrooms, get the freecycle/donate/sell piles out of the house, scrub kitchen, pick up the lving room (looks like a tornado has been through). I just want my house back - I hate living in a sty. It was too overwhelming so I just started small with the kitchen cabinets, but it really helps. I didn't realize how bad they were for one!!!! But if nothing else want the house hospitable for dh's family - they are staying to watch the kids when we go on the cruise... I know for a fact MIL will about faint when she sees the cabinets. She knows we are slobs and plus it bugs her.

Oh yes, I also bought some canisters to set out on the kitchen counters, to free up cupboad space - which spurred the cupboard cleaning frenzy. IT didn't free up as much as I had hoped, but will probably buy more. I think it is a good idea overall - we have tons of counterspace but the cupboards seem cramped. Dh and I also got into a great debate how to store spices. I hate how they are stored now and I can't find anything, but he resists change. YEah, sure, I do never cook because I can't find ANYTHING!!!!! LOL. He does get a little possessive of the kitchen, but I do enjoy cooking it would like to do it once in a while too. That whole thing is on hold until one of us devises a compromise. I saw some cute wall spice racks until I realized our kitchen has NO wall space either. Bummer. Dh resists everything that I think is useful. Even a nice drawer organizer would work, but he resists - because the kids would get into them. Whatever. The kids don't get into the knives. But he doesn't seem worried about that one. *whatever* Which reminds me we should probably move them since BM has mastered the child locks. But that's the thing, clearly hte knives are off limits and the kids don't mess with them. I am not sure why dh has no faith in his parenting skills when it comes to spices. LOL. Knives yes, spices no. Sometimes he is really frustrating!

1. Going to Private College will make you more successful than Public College

Some quotes from an interesting series Laura Rowley did on the subject:

"Research shows that 20 years into their careers, highly motivated students who don't attend the most selective schools earn roughly the same salaries as those who do."

"Studies show the ranks of CEOs, at least, are not dominated by Ivy League grads. Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, found 11 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 firms had Ivy League degrees -- down from 16 percent in 1998. A survey by the Wharton School found that in 2001, 10 percent of CEOs received undergraduate degrees at one of the eight Ivies; 48 percent earned them from public colleges and universities."

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/4665

Granted, there are some situations, maybe many, where a private university will give you a leg up. But is it always worth it at any cost? I would not agree in the least.

By the way, most of the people I know from high school blew too much money on fancy private colleges right away, then returned to public education (then out of money) for their real degrees and/or Master degrees. This always seemed REALLY backwards to me. So I have to add, if you must go to private college, make sure you have picked the degree/career you are going to stick with. That's pretty hard to do at 17/18.

2. Colleges that cost More are Better

Unfortunately I can't find any links to the articles I have seen on this subject. But there was a really interesting article I read a few months back how many colleges would raise their tuition (& accordingly their financial aid packages) to increase interest in the college when enrollment was down. It really worked. If tuition was perceived to be too low, enrollment would drop. Often raised tuition was all it took to spur more interest.

We are smarter than this. Much as many of us here are not too big on brand names in general, why settle for a brand name college that just costs 10 times as much as the others? Substance should be far more important.

3. You have to go into debt to get through College

As with anything, there are shades of gray here. I know plenty of people who needed to take on a little debt to get through college. Sure. The problem here is too many people look at it as an all or nothing proposition. If you can't afford college, and have to throw it all on a card anyway, why pay attention to the budget? I remember getting so sick of people in college who had to pay their own way through who racked up a lot of debt and whined about it while living lifestyles 10 times as grand as those of us quietly working our way through college, working many jobs, and budgeting and cutting expenses. I wasn't really convinced that large car payments and party lifestyles were necessary to get through college.

But mostly my point is, if you think something is impossible it will be. IF you think it is impossible to get through with no or little debt, well it will be. Consider changing your thinking.

At least make an effort to make the debt hurt as little as possible!

4. You can't work while you are in college

Okay okay, so there are some degrees and some people who can not work while going to college. I get it. Go take out some reasonable loans. That doesn't bother me. But too often I see very able-bodied/smart people who would never consider working in college. IF nothing else, is it really that impossible to work a couple of jobs in the summer and earn some money when school is out? I pretty much worked full-time all through college and had a 4.0 GPA. IT took me 5 years instead of 4. Hardly worse for the wear. What do you think looks better on a resume? Someone who didn't work a day during college, someone who worked summers only when school was out, or someone who balanced work and school at the same time. #3 will win by a mile but I don't think #2 will do half bad either. #1 - I don't know. The only exception being lots of extra-curriculars, which if necessary, maybe time to hit the student loans. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but for the most part I see too many "I can't"s where there really shouldn't be.

5. You are a Horrible Parent if you don't provide a College Education for your Kids (particularly expensive ones at any cost)

I think #4 kind of leads into this one. That parents forget their children are able-bodied adults who can help pay for their own college. Really, it won't kill them!

Anyway, I just had to share my experience, and I guess why I feel so strongly that most college talk is a lot of hype. The downside is people get SO emotional about this issue their brain really goes out the window. You don't know how many times I have been called names and considered a moron because I don't intend to save up 1/2 mil to put both my kids completely through medical school, like it is their god-given right. But most of the time I have to admit this kind of response comes from people who resent the fact their parents weren't there for them for college. I understand that gets emotional. But look, there is a huge difference between not being prepared, not supporting your kids, etc., versus just expecting the kids to pull their weight a bit, and not putting college in front of all other financial goals, illogically.

As for my family, my father came from an extremely poor family and had no help with college. He went to state and worked through college, coming out with no debt. Having done so he was able to, through his career, move from the lowest social class to pretty much upper-middle-class. Obviously my father values a college education dearly as it made a HUGE difference in his life.

However, my parents didn't save a dime specifically for my college. I am not saying they didn't save a dime. They had plenty of money to finance my education if they so choose. But they didn't earmark a huge chunk for college or expect me to get a free ride. They wanted me to work as hard as they did for their education because they knew I would appreciate it that much more. Plus the difference here is night and day. I had a middle class family to fall back on which my father never had. They helped me a bit. But they sure as hell refused to pay a dime for private college as mostly they just saw it as a waste of money. If I Wanted something like that, that bad, I Could figure it out. I needed to contribute heavily to my education at first, and then completely after the first year (As well as move out and support myself as an adult. Why not, they had done it from day 1).

Fast Forwarding to today, I have too many friends who can't pay their bills, but have thousands and even hundreds of thousands saved for their kids' college. That is just crazy! Because my parents managed their money much better I don't expect to be supporting them in old age. I truly appreciate that they did not go broke over my college. I have too many friends who had expensive colleges paid for who are now cleaning up the financial mess their parents made.

My point being overall, if you want to save for your kids' college, so be it. It will be a great gift. Just keep in mind that it will not be a great gift to your children if you go into financial ruin over it. Also, keep in mind having parents who made me work a little harder for my college degree was the best gift they ever made me. IT made me a very strong, self-sufficient person. Plus I sure as hell learned to live on a shoestring which is invaluable.

I haven't saved a dime for my kids' college yet, and likely will never earmark a dollar specifically for college for the kids. BUT I can guarantee that they will have opportunities tenfold the opportunities that either I or my parents had. Before you throw stones just know my oldest son already has more in a college account started by grandma than my entire education cost. I think it is pretty overkill. But since they have more wealth to share now, and we are so much further ahead of the game than they were at this point in the game, I am not too worried about it. Even without grandma's money I would feel the same. But it brings a point that someone not saving money for their kids' college and not intending to finance it all, does not a bad parent make. Too often this whole thing is seen as so black and white. There are many shades of gray.

& obviously, I get a little emotional on the subject too.

So there you have it. I think all these myths can really be summed up in one main rule - don't get too emotional about college decisions. That's when you pay far more than you should for your child's education. Look at things a little more critically, do your best, know your child can survive as an adult, be confident that you raised them well, etc., etc.

If you really wanna pay for the best schools and not have them work a day, go for it. Just please don't sacrifice your own life for something that may not be appreciated, or even used. I have too many high school friends who turned their fancy paid-for educations into minimum wage retails jobs. Too many parents are blindly financing educations for just that - minimum wage dead-end jobs. IT seems to be an epidemic in the middle class society I grew up in where parents valued fancy educations beyond everything else, including the outcome of said education. Hopefully my experiences can help other parents avoid the same mistakes.

Man, am I burned out. Work is crazy, feeling behind. I think the worst is everyone else thinks I should be free and have tons of time, but I don't. My boss reminded me he would pay me another bonus if I worked more overtime. LOL. Is that a hint? Well, I always look at the bright side. Though I wanted to cut back my hours, I guess doing the opposite and working more isn't the worst, if it means more pay. I really could squeeze out another $400/month or so if I just went to work an hour early every day. THat is what I really should do.

The thing is that is not a terrible schedule overall, but the baby has just been so difficult and not sleeping well at all. IT comes and goes, but this was not a good week. If I could actually get a decent night sleep on most nights I could probably accomplish twice as much as I have been. Instead I am in a fog and just too behind and overwhelmed. I have been pretty miserable and not very posty. I think mostly I Am spread too thin. I don't like feeling like I am doing a half-assed job everywhere. Ever since I had my second child I just don't handle stress very well - still hormonal stuff I guess. So I am frustrated I don't feel like myself either. I find myself vegging a little too much and feeling a little too sorry for myself which just pisses me off more, because I am becoming what I hate. I just need to get off my butt and do more, but I just haven't been very productive, because I am a little depressed, and just doesn't help the cycle.

I also skipped aerobics class all week -- my word. I told dh I was so excited that I only had to pay when I show up, but he pointed out yesterday maybe that was bad - LOL. It really is - the reason I signed up is I figured if I had to pay I would go. I really wanted to tone up a bit and shed some pounds before the cruise. Instead I think I am gaining weight. But again, obviously sitting around and skipping aerobics is not helping me.

I think mostly I am stressed about work. I was very happy to have an easy job and little responsibility. I am resigned to the fact that more responsibility is probably best for my career, and my income. & my boss needs help, too bad I am the only reliable one. I think I am mostly frustrated though because I wanted to be cutting back my hours and not doing so much at work. But my boss needs me, what can I do. HE is trying. He is hiring a CPA in North Dakota and even looking into outsourcing lower level work to India. The shortage of qualified help is insane. The good side of ever increasing pay and incredible flexibility has reached the tipping point. The flexibility only works when other employees shoulder the burden. I got paid $35/hour to play receptionist on Monday because I was the lowest level employee available when 3 people called in sick. LOL. My boss and his wife were appalled when they got back from lunch - where was everyone. Everyone was home sick and the receptionist had to run client stuff to the post office. But that's how it's been. We have 10 employees today. I think we had 15 when I started 5 years ago. Monday there were only 2 of us in the office at 2:00, that was when I got reception duty.

The workload may be down a bit, and efficiency may be up a bit. But then again we have more less qualified employees today as well. Oh well, I don't know if I can ever slide along at easy 40-hour weeks again. Just too much to do, not enough people to help. Still way better than any other CPA firm I have ever seen (most tend to push 60-hour weeks easy). But all the same I have gotten used to a pretty easy work schedule the last few years, as has the family got used to it. THey really resist me working more, which of course stresses me out too.

So that's everything here.

Pretty much blah.

I have been trying to get together with our realtor for about 6 months since he has kids our age. A simple playdate at the park would do. ANyway, they invited us to a BBQ today. IT should be fun. BUT I am tempted to cancel because I feel so behind. But I resist the urge. IT is ridiculous we met him about a year ago - we were looking at houses last year. & only now we get the kids together. Actually, it was kind of funny, I met his wife separately and didn't put 2 and 2 together right away - and yeah we have all been saying the kids need to meet one of these days. We'll see if they hit it off. We need to resume some socialness. I think we usually find we get so exhausted with life we rather hang around home. Then again dh and I are big homebodies. It is BM who is Mr. Social Pants and we try to be more social for him. But it is good for us too. We need to get out more, no doubt. SO hopefully today will be fun!

Oh yeah, and neighbors sold their house. I am dying to see what they got for it. They said they took a knocking, but knowing they paid closer to $300k and asked for $625k (5 years later), I am not too worried about them. Will be curious though as it was only up about a month, if that. I Tell you the 3-bedrooms here SIT - many on the market for more than a year. Neighbor's house is 3000sf, sold without a prob... Who knew... The old adage that small houses always sell is just so not true around here. I am relieved we have a more high-end house because what it comes down to is only move-up buyers are buying right now. But we'll see...

Oh yeah, but I forgot to say - I am taking next Friday off. Good or bad - I don't know - depends if I feel more caught up. Have to get my filling back home. So will probably spend the morning with family and then drive down alone. I really look forward to it (well except for the whole dentist part - drilling, expenses and all) - will probably spend the night with my parents since the drive was so pleasant in the morning last time. I really look forward to a good 24 hours away from it all - ALONE! & a 3-day weekend after that as well. I Would like to just be home, 3 days, no work. Catch up around the house - just behind on everything.

& our cruise can not come fast enough - I am just ready for a vacation!!!!!!! Dh and I are salivating at being away from the kids for about 5 days - twice as long as we ever have. We'll miss them terribly. HEck, we'll probably be bored out of our minds - LOL. But look forward to it all the same... The cruise ship seems to have PLENTY to keep us occupied - that is for sure. But you know, 24 hours a day with no responsibilities, I am not sure we will really know what the heck to do with ourselves. Overall though I expect the break/refresher will be really nice and we will be happy to get back home too. I think I will be content to eat to my heart's content and spend some time in the gym. Luckily my 2 favorite pasttimes are pretty complementary - I usually work out enough to allow extra eating - just not so much lately with kids and family to tend to. But I hope to be active and enjoy, and spend some time lounging on the beach too - nothing I love more than a nap on the beach... Just 4 more weeks......

Which reminds me I want to spring clean and ebay and craigslist and all that, but nothing pays better than my job - - so I think I will survive (& said overtime). I just look forward to cleaning out the house a bit is all...

Well, I peeked yesterday and my IRA transfer has not gone through. As you will recall, Fidelity was so difficult I just bought D&C through them, $75 fee and all, I was tired of being out of the market. Bruce Fund was much nicer and willing to send a request 3 times in a row (as opposed to DC's 1 whimpy failed attempt). But when it hadn't cleared yesterday during the day I started to fear the worst. This internal battle if I should just keep my money at Fidelity for a while for ease (though resigned to the fact I am p.o.ed and likely to move my money down the road) or if I should leave immediately in protest or what. But none of this matters now because I was updating Quicken this morning and a $4500 left my Fidelity account last night. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!

& so go my adventures in investing in the Bruce FUnd. VEry interesting little fund - had to invest through them directly I believe.

Now my conundrum is I have a Traditional IRA account at Dodge & Cox with NO money in it. I was considering contributing $1k just to keep it open. & when the smoke clears, and now that I know I can do a transfer, and I know how to now without getting rejected, LOL, eventually I would probably transfer from Fidelity too. But in the meantime I have a conundrum. Sure it is aggressive to move the money from the efund for that, but it's good. So we get $15k in our retirement this year instead of $14k, nothing wrong with that. But, all the same, my ability to contribute to a traditional IRA hedges on the outcome of the rest of the year. Plus I wanted to convert all my IRAs to ROTHs this year anyway. So can I make a traditional IRA now and then convert it? Maybe, I guess, but so many what-ifs about the year.

I think my best bet is to call D&C and see if I can convert the account to a ROTH before I send in money. Tell them my conundrum and my intentions and that I no longer want to transfer assets from Fidelity. We'll see.

Plus if I use that money it lessens the money I will have for taxes for a ROTH conversion. So I may be best off just closing the D&C account and forgetting about it this year. Why does it have to be so complicated?

I also got a BT offer in the mail yesterday from WAMU. They said they want to give me a $30k credit line. IT does sound interesting, I want to research it a bit more. Of course in fine print they say the average CL is $4k. So what are the odds? If I could get $10k+ I am so in though. Considering asking for $15k BT and see what I get - will research a bit first. This one would have a $75 transfer fee, but seems not too bad, since it would be interest-free for 1 year. Would make in the realm of $500. I don't mind $75. Plus interest on the $75 for 1 year - it couldn't be that bad could it? Of course maybe I should just ask for $30k - then it would really be worth it.

Oh, but back to retirement, it has been hovering around $53k. Not bad. If I can just keep my job another 7 months or so I get a $10k contribution this year as I fully vest. It's exciting as we near our first six figures in retirement! 2-3 years off, and depends on the market, but getting there!

Interesting articles of the week, courtesy of moi.

This one was just interesting - some study about debt and the poor in different areas of the country. Those in high COL areas had LESS debt.

http://www.pfadvice.com/2007/05/16/the-poor-have-less-debt-i...

Tax-free investment gains 2008-2010. I didn't even really know this because it is aimed at so not my client demographic. But interesting.

http://www.pfadvice.com/2007/05/15/tax-free-free-investment-...

Oh yeah - and this is my hottest article of late. Notice I made no mention of the quality of daycare, and clearly I am not against working moms (I am one - duh) but that is how the debate ensues. Whatever. This is why people make stupid financial decisions when it comes to their kids - their brains go out the window when it comes to a deep emotional feeling about what is right and what is wrong, and a feeling that anyone would would do other than you hates their child. Wha???? LOL. Oh just people are funny, read the comments.

http://www.pfadvice.com/2007/05/10/two-income-trap-why-many-...

Oh yeah - and now I have heard of everything - a whale in Sacramento. Everyone is all abub - a whale and her calf got lost and wandered inland - I would guess about 50-80 miles. They've been hanging around Sacramento. But this I guess happened once before and they are hoping to lead them back to the San Francisco Bay today.

http://www.physorg.com/news98613054.html

Today is crazy. There will never be enough hours in the day.

Oh - and one more - a net worth thing.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/pf/0705/gallery.net_wort...

It says on my income I should have a net worth of $244k and based on my age a net worth of 2k. Well okay then, what about based on both combined? Without insane house equity we rest around $200k, which I guess isn't so bad. I am making a much higher wage today than the last 5 years. MUCH more. So right on track I guess.

Oh, except playing where we should be at 35 still showed $244k. As did 39. Well then we are far ahead of the curve. Aiming to have $200k cash/retirement by 35.

I don't feel that ahead of the curve though. What if healthcare costs a billion a year in retirement. That is why we plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Oh - there's more.

House affordability - we are conservative. They suggested the exact mortgage that we have. Creepy. Keep in mind we made much more when we got the mortgage - it was always dirt cheap to us, but is $215k today all the same. I am not sure most here would agree, but all the same, maybe why I have been feeling lately we should have leveraged more house to be in better position for retirement. Oh well.

Certainly don't drive too much car. Most of my cars to date have been in the $1k purchase range.

Some stuff about debt and being too cash poor. Blahblahblah.

Well yeah, don't buy stuff with debt, buy modest cars, etc. For many it is just that simple to get ahead.