I got the gas bill and it was useless.

Number to beat was $83 for last December.

We were billed $75.

At face value we lowered our bill about 10%.

BUT, it's not quite so simple. We were billed for MORE days and according to the bill we used something like 2.06 therms a day this month AND the same last December.

So I pulled up last year's bill and yeah, rates were lowered this year. Go figure!

Also, we were billed for more days in November than December this year.

So, I don't think it really helps me.

November was unusually warm. Some of December was unusually cold.

We got thermal drapes over windows in 3 rooms, plus drapes in another room that hadn't had drapes before. We have kept the thermostat at 68 versus 69.

I am not seeing the point of further being cold. The difference between 68 and 69 might as well be 10 degrees to me. I officially freeze my butt off at 68. Whereas 69 feels cozy to me. IT doesn't matter how many layers I have on. So yeah, don't think I care that much anymore.

We are officially a 69-degree house.

I am starting to believe the energy efficiency of the house makes lowering the house one degree a futile endeavor. So it drops one degree colder over night (we don't heat the house at night) and so in the end we use as much heat as we always do. We still regularly heat the house about 9 degrees every morning. Even though we are keeping it one degree cooler. I guess that is the nice thing about energy efficiency.

I do also think the thermal drapes have helped though. It's hard to tell how much is just in my head. But we wanted to take some of the chill out from the outside walls/windows. I think it is helping. I don't think I could have survived with a mostly 68-degree house the last month otherwise. So there's something. May not lower our bills, but does make the house more comfortable. !!

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I can't believe I already accomplished a goal for 2009. We went to the snow!

We actually had a blast.

We learned that in Northern California, snow clothes season is September through Christmas. Good luck finding snow boots or snow suits in January. (Even though winter/snow barely started a couple of weeks ago. IT's crazy!)

We stopped about 15 minutes from the cabin at Wal Mart and they had nothing. So dh ran in KMart while I ran in Payless. The guy in there told me we would have had better luck in Sacramento. I told him no, the bikinis were out there too; the snow clothes long gone. Kind of annoying if you ask me. While we were there getting some compromise (Waterproof ankle boots) 2 people walked in and asked for snow boots. Wasn't just us! Can't say I get it.

Anyway, it worked out. There was a pair in LM's size (at the cabin) after all. We had also picked up frilly pink boots at Wal MArt, but they didn't seem particularly water proof. Water resistant, not water proof. Dh has some returns to do this week. LM was saved from pink foot wear.

Anyway, we got up there around noon and the kids played a bit while we prepared lunch.

I guess there was a nice 6 inches or so of snow there but over night it rained and it froze over a bit. Not the most ideal.

Anyway, dh the dork decided to park in the steep driveway. I thought we were going to get stuck. Ugh! Luckily the car made it in one piece. We didn't even take the van because it does bad in rain; forget about snow. His car does better in ice and snow, but it is also very low.

I don't think it was a wise choice to park in the driveway and he spent a chunk of the day shoveling "ice" so we could get back out.

Anyway, the whole thing was pretty sweet for us. His cousin did snow blow the driveway the night before so it was just a couple of patches, and the bottom of the driveway where we almost got stuck. Not like there was a ton to do, and there was no way it could have been done with the ice. So, phew.

So they drove 3 hours, took care of the driveway, and then made lunch for us. This was pretty sweet.

Anyway, the kids played in the snow and there was enough to play in, but we wanted to do some serious sledding. However, our niece fell asleep in the room with all the adult snow boots and snow pants, so we decided to wait until she awoke. Then it was just getting late. We decided to call it a day but had not told LM. HE came in and said, "When are we going on the sled???" So I said, "oh, okay, I'll take you on a small sled ride." I was worried about breaking my neck because there wasn't really enough snow, and it was icy. Where there was snow it was deep enough, but not a lot of places to sled because so much had already completely melted around the house.

But we found a couple of small sled paths and gave it a whirl. We ended up sledding about an hour. It was fun. One small ride was enough for LM, but BM and I had a blast.

We then left before it got dark.

The whole day didn't cost us a thing but about $4 gas.

We will definitely try to go up again soon and make it up to more hilly soft snow.

Oh yes, and it was HOT. I just had on my jeans in the sled and my snow jacket. Hat & gloves. I Was sweating profusely. I told dh it felt like it was 60 degrees. What the heck. It turns out it was about 50 degrees. We had expected it to be in the 30s (what the weather had predicted). I would have DIED if we had gone sledding elsewhere, because I REALLY would have bundled up, so best we stayed there. All I knew was my ears weren't cold. I knew it had to be at least 50 degrees. My ears get cold below 50.

Funny enough, it was colder in Sacramento when we got home. It was 25 that night. Yeesh. We should have stayed there - it was more comfortable.

I'll share some pictures later.

I just remembered our biggest money mistake. Eh, give me time and maybe I will remember more. I Admit I am really good at pushing negative things out of my mind so I forget.

But I Was up with the baby at 3am and watching Suze Orman when her show reminded me.

Now I have to preface this with it wasn't "my" mistake - it was my hubby's. but well, we're a team and I could have told him hell no I guess - so I bear some responsibility.

Just out of college and saving a lot he decided to invest in the stock market. Well, he told me one day, "Don't worry - there is NO risk." I remember laughing in his face. We were both business majors in college - what is this no risk crap? - he should know better. My hubby is a very smart man, but don't ask me where his brain went in this idea.

So we invested maybe $10k. We watched it plummet to $5k pretty quickly and just left it in there in the hopes someday we would get some return. To our benefit we were in it for the long haul, not that day trading stuff. BUT even so, when stock plummets to nothing, most likely it will not bounce back in the least. IT was a BIG mistake.

On the plus side we lost it when we had more money than we knew what to do with and so I don't think I had too many sleepless nights over it. All the same it sucks to lose $5k like that. Today we could really use it! We had pretty much forgotten about it until recently and put the remainder towards a new car. IT was like found money so in the end I guess it worked out. IT was there when we needed it.

We still have $1200 in pepsi. IT was the only one that had done well, so we keep it for the long run. I buy enough pepsi I figure I need to own stock in it - LOL.

Overall I Think it was a good lesson to learn young.

I feel extremely blessed to have not made many money mistakes in my young life. No large ones to speak of. A little money education and a LOT of luck I guess???

BUT today I am feeling extra bummed about my big money mistake. If you have seen my posts today, it got me thinking. When I was 12 or 13 or I don't know I got a checking account and at 16 a credit card, with a credit union. My parents taught me that credit unions were free and that was the way to go. Now they did great in the whole don't use debt to buy what you can't afford, etc., etc. and they taught me well. They taught me about savings. I Couldn't have really asked for more. But they really dropped the ball on investing. I guess I Am on my own to figure that one out.

I opened an IRA when I Was 16 and put in $2k. It has been sitting making 0.4% at most for about 14 years. ?????? We have kept all of our savings in our credit unions money markets for the last 7 years. For at least 4 years we had a 30k balance. We made squat on our money!!!

So I Recently started watching Suze Orman and she kind of smacked me out of it. I decided to rollover our IRAs to ROTHs, get rid of my rinkydink 0.5% c.d., and put it in mutual funds. I am still young so I Don't think this will really hurt me that much. But it is still kind of sad to look back and see how much money you could have made the last few years if you were a little smarter. To see how far ahead you would be.

Anyway, so I put our savings in Virtual Bank to the tune of 4.60% APR and I Was feeling a lot better just to have the wind blown from my sales today. *sigh*

I am still figuring this all out...

I have just been shifting from the major mind shift in investing to go as cheap as you can go, to you get what you pay for. Sometimes all the talk of getting the highest interest rate possible and less fees possible, in many instances there is a trade-off. I am still trying to balance all that out in the investment world. I am also not sure if I want to open a new account every time some bank offers a higher yield, as they seem to change with the wind. On the other hand, I need to admit that I do need to review our accounts annually at the very LEAST (if not more often) and reinvest as things do change.

In a similar vein, as a CPA I can crack the tax code and all of it's intricacies, but it is maddening to try to figure out mutual funds and how the fees work, etc. It is so over my head, though I know if I just took the time to figure it out it would benefit me greatly. What I need is a mutual fund book for DUMMIES. Seriously - I am putting it on my christmas wish list. : )

& so I Am in transition trying to decide what changes to make and what my new investing strategies should be. I think by far & #1 I have learned is to reevaluate your options often. Investing is a big job, you just don't do it once and sit back and not think of it again...

Anyway, that is my money mistake with cash. I Am gonna get my dummies book, pay close attention to this site, and reevaluate all of our mutual fund holdings. I will probably find I have made some mistakes with our mutual funds too, I just haven't noticed yet, but I am ready to make some changes. So wish me luck!

Oh yeah, and do not go to your CPA for investment advice. Please please please. Investment is like so greek to me sometimes, it is just so different from accounting. I often come across that mistaken assumption that accounting = finance. It is like apples and oranges. Taxes and budgets we are okay with, but investing, blech. LOL. Not by nature anyway.