"Today: Windy with rain, heavy at times. High 56F. Winds S at 25 to 40 mph. Rainfall expected to exceed 2 inches. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph."

& then I saw:

"LOCAL GUSTS TO 75 MPH ARE POSSIBLE IN THE MORNING"

O.M.G.

IT is really windy here. & rain is rather "rare" anyway. So might as well be a blizzard for here. I don't look forward to the drive today. I haven't been driving the van since it is garaged with the cracked windshield. But I saw my life flash before my eyes twice this week driving dh's little compact. I don't know if the big trucks just look more menacing after driving the big van so much, but they scare the crap out of me. I almost got ran over by a giant camper on Wednesday. I don't like to be tailgated, but in the teeny tiny compact, yeah, my life flashes before my eyes the way some people drive.

So on a day like this I think I prefer the van. Maybe the little Escort which is very low will barely feel the wind. Or maybe the wind will just blow it clear off the road since it is so little. LOL. I am not sure if wind and rain is good for my windshield though. *sigh* Probably should just take the compact.

We were talking about going up to the snow this weekend. Then dh and I both saw there was a big storm for the weekend. Figures. Blizzard conditions in the Sierras. Think we'll stay home.

This year started rather mild. We always find it hard to get to the snow in tax season, but never make the effort in November/December when we should. Anyway, I remember the first (only) time we took BM was May. IT was a weird year and tons of snow well into May. At this rate I told dh we could just go in May. LOL. The cold started late and this is the first storm of note for the fall/winter.

Yes we also drove through a snow storm in June one year. We were driving home from Reno on a beautiful weekend and all of a sudden it started snowing. Heavily. Luckily our friend had 4-wheel drive. We eventually got out and had a snow ball fight. What the heck, who can say they have had a snowball fight in June? We were all just stunned. Where the heck did that come from? Didn't think to check the weather reports in June.

So yeah, here's to April or May. It makes me nervous really to try in winter anyway. I like the snow on a nice sunny day myself.

Dh's family has a cabin about an hour out from here and they have all their snow gear from generations past. So we go up there, bundle up and head up to Tahoe which is a good hour from there. Of course if it snows down to the cabin, as it often does, we don't have to go far to find snow. But we generally do like to go up in better weather conditions and drive up to Tahoe. It is very pretty.

Dh is not into skiing but I like it a fair amount. Too many ski injuries in the family though. I think it would be fun to take the kids though. For now no one will go with me. But with age it does sound less appealing. Risking life and limb. Of course the same can be said for sledding. LOL. Not quite so fun when you are old and big than when you are young and small.

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

Well, our gas bill was $80. Down 20% from last year. I think it has just been milder. IT has seemed terribly cold for days. But then it was well into the 60s for a couple of days. I went out at lunch and was sweltering. What a beautiful few days.

Dh did remind me last year was extremely cold (we had a few days of freezes which was quite rare).

But anyway, something like for every 1% we lower our bill in Jan. & Feb., we save 1% on a future bill. Lower bill 10%, save 20%.

It's not entirely clear, but I don't think there is much motivation there for us. Our non-winter bill rusn $10-$20 average. (November was $20 and that had some winter in it). Anyway, so if we save 1% or 20% on that? Big whoop! LOL. But we'll see.

Anyway, one reason our bill went down is we turned down the water heater in summer. I turned it up come winter and though it wasn't quite as scalding as I prefer, it was quite comfortable. With our new metered water I figure might as well not make it TOO comfortable. But to be clear I thought it was just fine. Also trying to be mindful of child safety. I never saw the point of turning down the water heater with kids who couldn't even crawl or reach a faucet. BUT these days, yeah, they can get into anything. So turning down the water heater as we were told 5years ago when I gave birth.

I guess dh has been miserable though and he complained. I told him the point was not to make him miserable. Yeesh. Not worth freezing to save $5. So I turned it up 1/2 way between where it was before and where we had it now. We're still tweaking it. But when we figure it out we'll get the sharpie out and mark the dial so we'll have the winter setting and the summer setting. We cut our summer bills in half. ($20 to $10).

So anyway, our $80 bill was rather low. I am not sure how much was because of the water heater. We'll see how our January bill fares...

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In other news, LM is day 2 into potty training! Yay!

We're really lazy in this regard. Know too many people who tried too hard at 18 months and were still trying well into age 4.

Dh and I kind of didn't see the point of training a kid who still needs so much help. & we hate those little potties. Ugh. Too much work and doesn't help when you want to leave the house.

Even though MIL told me a million times she trained HER kids by 2, we were pretty lazy with BM. We had a new baby at 2 and I heard too much about regression. But he was always very interested in the potty. At 3 he started to do #2 in the potty and we just told him, that's it. No more diapers. That's it. We were just very relaxed about it and didn't make a big deal about it for YEARS. As such, my friends with her 4yo asks me how we do it since they still have so many accidents. What do I say? We really didn't do anything. Which is the point. He took the lead.

So MIL has been going on and on about this again and we figure diapers are just easier. I said I rather wait until 3 again. That was easy! Though LM shows less tolerance for being wet and dirty, and he wants to be like his brother, he is also way more timid. Thus uninterested in the big potty. but somehow MIL got him pretty trained at her house (well with lots of candy for one) so dh decided to work on it this week.

Still lots of work since we have to remind him and help him onto the big potty every few hours. But he is officially out of diapers most of the day.

Good for the pocket book!

We'll see. I am not very optimistic. But we'll see. He seems to be doing really well.

I can't believe it has been 5 years in diapers in this house. (& yes I know lots of people do it much longer. LOL).

But the end is so near I can taste it.

Since we switched out of clothe and dropped the diaper service, it really doesn't cost very much. The diapers. I mean we change them so rarely anyway I Would be surprised if we spend more than $10/month. Dh just buys the giant bag of generics for $10 every month or so. MAybe $12. But it will certainly be nice to drop them, regardless. In more ways than one! I never liked the disposables (environmentally). But LM has always been very particular and wouldn't wear clothe at night, etc. So we'll see. The less disposables we have to use, the better I will feel environmentally... & he is getting big enough to do all the work himself. Here's to that!!!!

He'll be 3 in summer. & the other thing that REALLY motivated BM was going to preschool and seeing the older kids. He started preschool when he was just about 3. & so LM might be getting a little motivation from that end too.

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

In other news I am feeling good. I stressed way too much about money last year. I think after reviewing our progress from 2007, on our spending, I feel like a load has been taken off my shoulders.

I still roll my eyes at the people who poo poo any luxury in life. That anyone would pay for preschool!!!! For me it means I will have a 7% contribution to my IRA, from 0.8% come September. & certainly I could do 7% tomorrow if I lost my profit sharing. Then priorities would change. I find the luxuries the easiest to enjoy, and the easiest to drop when needed. The interesting thing for us is that many of our luxuries are NOT long-term expenses. I always looked at preschool and our gardener, and the like, as very temporary. & when we save up the money to buy fancy electronic equipment, it is usually a one-time purchase. Not like there are payments. In tough times we have plenty to get us through (or maybe even to sell). In good times we enjoy.

1/2 my emergency fund today is my car. Efund is $12k. But if I lost my job and our efund was draining fast, I'd sell the car in a heartbeat. Another good $12k.

That is the nice thing about the extras. Don't get used to them. Don't make them "needs." But we have to much nice stuff we bought well before kids that we still enjoy. & plenty of other stuff that we enjoy now in times of abundance, but would drop in a heartbeat to make ends meet.

So anyway, our spending is down and we are trying best to save every raise and windfall.

As such I feel more relaxed. 2007 was year of financial. 2008 will be year of something else. Yay!

I actually took some time this morning and last to work on some scrapbooking. I do digital scrapbooking, but am eons behind. Ever since we switched to digital pictures, we print out few. But I arrange my favorites on little pages and print them out. & I find it MUCH cheaper than traditional scrapping. The software cost $30 eons ago, and my dad sends us free photo paper all the time. (He is really into photography and just sends us the leftovers as he is always upgrading). So it is a pretty cheap hobby. So for 2008 I hope to get a little more caught up. I had the most adorable pictures from Christmas and am working on that. I will share some of my layouts when I am done.

Home Prices Must Fall Far To Be In Sync With Rents

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119931831334463571.html

"The study tracks rents and home prices back to 1960 and found annual rents fluctuated at around 5% to 5.25% of home prices until 1995. At the end of that year, the average monthly rent was about $553 (or about $6,600 a year) and the average home price was about $134,000.

But starting in 1996, home prices started to grow much more rapidly than rents. By the end of 2006, they had more than doubled to an average of $282,000, while the average rent had risen 48% to $818. That drove the annual rent/price ratio down to 3.48%.

That means the rent/price ratio is about a third below its long-term average. To return to normal would require some combination of falling prices and rising rents. The paper suggests house prices would need to fall about 3% a year, if rents grew in line with their 4% average annual growth this decade.

Of course, the link between house prices and rents can remain out of whack for years."

Just found this interesting.

That is the nice thing about moving somewhere else and seeing what is so weird about the city you live in. I knew it was expensive, yes, but I had no idea how whacked rents were as well. I just assumed it was always cheaper to own than to rent. ISn't that why home ownership is #1?

So I did a little research on Craigslist and Zillow, and down memory lane as well.

I'd say historically in the Bay Area rents were closer to 10% of home prices (well when we were renters anyway).

Today it looks like 5%. Rents have kind of stagnated, but home prices are absolutely through the roof. (Like they weren't already).

OF course thinking about averages, my ideas of home ownership would change greatly if we lived in an average city.

It has been interesting in sacramento where there is so much overbuilding and so many propertied snatched up for investment. As such rents have been very low. I am just amazed at how little you can rent for here. (Though still glad we snatched up property before it went crazy).

The interesting thing is there are whipserings of increasing rents while all these homes foreclose. Less available for rent in the interim. I think in the long run there is probably too much property. But then again, as prices fall, we will once again attract many many people from the rest of the state. So it is hard to say.

I guess kind of the interesting thing with falling prices. If prices fall and rents rise, we'll be in a good spot. Because our payments won't rise.

Anyway, as such, you see why I am totally lost on renting as an avenue to build wealth.

I have mentioned my parents probably pay around $5k/year for property taxes and insurance on their million dollar home. Sure they have repairs and maintenance, but they have kept it up well. Certainly no large, looming expenses. They have an older, paid for home (That cost merely $100k 25 years ago) with 2000 square feet. Dh's parents have a smaller house but their expenses are probably very similar. They have a lot more work to do on their house though. Houses were both built in the 70s.

Likewise, grandma sold her house and pays $2500/month to rent a closet. It is a retirement community with food and maid service. So she gets more than just a space. But the renting costs are just crazy. She has been really stressed. We keep telling her to really consider moving closer to us. Lower rents.

OF course, back in 1999 it cost $25k-$30k annually to rent the condo that we paid $260k for. Yeah, we were never going to waste those dollars renting. I rented a room (found a STEAL) for $400/month and dh lived with his parents while we saved the down. But to get a place together would have been at least $1k/month to live on the other side of the railroad tracks. So we just waited a bit. We never saw how we could save up for a house otherwise. Well, more slowly on the wrong side of the tracks perhaps. But not many other options. Likewise I always have thought about the dollars we would save in the long run with a paid off house and no rents to pay!

Reading this article I see a little more why people don't get so excited about that. LOL. Or why they think I am insane to believe owning cost less than renting. But I Am not insane. Just live in bizarro world. IT has it's pluses and minuses.

As such, rents here boggle my mind. I guess I could still be happy to say our expenses are in line with rents, if not lower. Somehow, some way. & might get more in our favor in future years.

For the long run I figure inflation will blow rents out of the water. Which is where it leaves dh's grandma. She obviously never had a $2500 house payment. she's 80. No wonder those rents stress her out so! But I understand why she rents. No longer wanting to upkeep a house.

You can't help but wonder if she would have been better off buying an apartment and hiring a personal chef and a maid. ! I really don't know. But rising rents won't help her. *sigh*

Well I just wanted to do a light post. All this number crunching and 2007 figuring was intense. (But I love it. That's why I an accountant!)

But I did want to say we had a nice Holiday.

Took the kids to the park yesterday. I just wanted some sun and fresh air. It has been terribly cold (for us) so we bundled up real good. Went outside and it was actually a little warm. Was absolutely sweating when we came back. LOL. I am glad we went outside though, I had been scared of the cold. Silly me.

We also watched 3 movies over the weekend. Dh and I watched Simpsons and Bad Santa. Both, eh. Bad Santa wasn't that great BUT the kid in there was absolutely hilarious. It was worth it to see the kid. One of the most bizarre characters I have ever seen. Dh and I were like how did they come up with this stuff? We love bizarre characters I guess. Otherwise lots of sex and swearing and all that. Stupid, pointless plot. LOL. A few funny moments though.

Yeah, I just hate movies anymore. They seem to get longer and longer and more terrible.

I know it dissapoints dh terribly, but most of the time I just let him screen them and refer the good ones. He rarely refers any anyway, but he loves his movies regardless... I just loathe to waste my time for such crap.

Anyway, last night we watched Shrek 3, we just watched it in front of the kids/with them. Not sure they would pay attention, but they were riveted. It was terrible. I remember Shrek 1 being hilarious. This one really didn't have any jokes. I don't remember laughing once. Bah. IT was also much darker.

So 1 long weekend and 3 crappy movies. LOL. It will be a long time before I sit through 3 movies again. PArt of the reason I relented was I was so terribly busy all weekend, I didn't mind just sitting and numbing my tired brain. IT certainly worked. LOL.

I also bought a lamp for the one room in our house without built-in lighting. Long overdue. But I saw a pretty lamp on sale for $20. yay!

Well, this week at work will be rather busy. BUT kind of the calm before the storm. Not too busy. Might be my last weekend off for about 3-4 months. If I am lucky anyway... I have tons to do.

I just wanted to say I have been happy to see so many people returning to the blogs. Yay to the New Years!

& I feel terrible I haven't really had time to read any or participate more. Feeling very one-sided these days. Such it will be for the next few very busy months. But I will try. LOL. It's no fun to just blab blab blab and not read other blogs. I could blab less. But it is therapeutic.

Anyway, this topic has been rolling in my head since the SA blog had a topic about luck. & then since Broken Arrow mentioned how his friends called him "lucky" for paying down his debt. You know, after sleeping in the closet and putting 40% of his salary to his 401k. You have got to be kidding me. I was insulted for him.

But I also wanted to make very clear the other side. I feel very blessed for all the luck we do have. I try to embrace it and appreciate it and even give thanks daily. Sometimes I Care little more than for our food and shelter. & health. The rest really is gravy. But in the rantings of a blog that always doesn't come across.

Anyway, so when I take offense to being called lucky, these are the stupid things that come to mind from over the years:

1. I am lucky I have disability insurance

Yes, someone told me this when I took disability insurance on maternity leave. A state employee who opted out of the state insurance. regular employees don't have that option (state disability is mandatory).

Do you think with a family to support, that I would have opted out of short-term disability insurance if I was a government employee? Are you out of your mind? It cost um, about $400/year (I am sure optional plans are about the same) and I took about $25k benefits over 2 years. If I had a problem and was put on bed rest I could have continued to support my family. Benefits were around $3k/month. What a load off if I got stuck on bed rest for a few months. I could not imagine NOT having short-term disability insurance when it came to pregnancy.

2. I am lucky that my parent's paid for my college.

Well, um, they didn't. I went to state and worked my butt off to get through. But people always assume I had it real easy, my parents paid. When I was in college I went to a commuter school. Lots of older students. I always remember the few who would gripe on and on and on very loudly how they didn't have a free ride. The rest of us would roll our eyes. Who did? Not many. Most in my accounting classes were single mothers or young parents switching careers, etc. A few of them would gripe because I was young and obvious carefree. LOL. The gripers were usually the young ones. Some of them would obviously hint they thought I Was getting a free ride. Because I got good grades and didn't gripe? I Was working 3 jobs.

I also have a friend to this day that I never had the heart to tell that I pretty much did college on my own. Since I have no student loans and don't see the point, obviously I had an easy road paved by my parents. That's her assumption. She is 40 and gripes endlessly how her parents ruined her life (20 years ago by not paying for her college?). I really like her otherwise and I know she supports her parents financially so probably why I didn't have the heart to tell her. At least my parents don't ask for handouts. Yeesh. I think she has some right to gripe. But over the years it is funny how many people have made similar assumptions. A lot of the time, I don't know, you don't even see the point in saying anything. Whatever.

3. I am lucky to own a home

Well, um living on a $10k wage for a year or 2 out of college and saving the difference for a down payment. If that's luck, then so be it. I chalk it up to hard work.

Starting small with a condo. Most people I have suggested that to look at me like I am crazy.

Or working extra jobs to save money. More crazed looks.

That we moved somewhere where homes cost 1/3 where they did back home (though it broke our hearts to feel like we had to move. )

All things we did.

4. I am lucky to have such a good job

I don't think there is anything I have worked harder for towards in my life and the most frustrating thing to me. When people chalk it up to luck.

For one, when considering careers at age 18 I made a point to choose a career that I loved, would cost little to get into, and would have some measure of job security. Accounting came to mind. This could have backfired because I really had no idea what an accountant did. But I knew I loved numbers and that it seemed like the kind of job that would bring much stability and security to my life. That is exactly WHY I chose it. I didn't want to be in debt up to my eyeballs either, when I graduated. The public college in my home town had an excellent program that was really dirt cheap. & I could springboard that to a six figure career. (As my dad did in the 70s - he is an engineer - went to public school. He wanted to be a TV repairman but a community college school counselor told him to shoot for the gold and it changed his life. & he told me to do the same. Shoot for the gold. Where I got my degree would matter little as he just didn't have the means to pay for more college and he did fine in an industry where they say it couldn't be done. Yes I was lucky to have such wise parents...).

So anyway, I worked very hard, was very calculated in my career choice, and got my CPA license when I was 25.

Of course I just sat in my duff in my youth and it just all fell into my lap. Yeah, sure.

5. I am lucky my spouse can stay home

Yes I am lucky we planned from the day we met that one spouse would stay home. When we combined incomes we always made it a point to live on only one wage. We waited a few years to have kids until we felt financially ready.

All luck???????

Mostly we did the math anyway. One small wage minus daycare and payroll taxes and income taxes amounts to a hill of beans.

I'll take the random focus group money any day.

I don't think most people really think it through. What are they working so hard for? A lot of meals out and money for the IRS?

So those are my main gripes. I think I have heard a lot more stupid things.

& you have probably heard these gripes before.

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Of course a lot of the time I do say little because I do feel very lucky.

I have said many times my parents never handed me a wad of cash (well before this year anyway). & I believe that is a principle in the "Millionaire next door." Most of those millionaires were not spoiled or handed much. Which makes it easier to fight on their own, rather than sitting around waiting for handouts.

But having been raised very middle class I don't discount my luck in the least. I know the things that I had that my parents didn't. Lots of hand-me-downs. Many 0% interest loans throughout the years. Help purchasing my first car (help finding a deal I should say). HAving health insurance coverage through them through college.

Just ALL of the little things that they could not say they had when they were in college. The things their impoverished parents could not do for them. & it all makes a huge difference. That is why I cringe when I read in the forums that you have to pay your kids' college. There is so much more support to give them and to be had that will be appreciated even if you can't foot the entire bill. PArticularly if you raised them to be appreciative of what they do have. There are a million little things my parents did for me that I will always be grateful for.

I appreciate probably the most that I shouldn't have to support them as they age. BEcause they didn't go bankrupt for me.

But I know I am lucky I always had an abundance of food and shelter.

I know that we are extremely blessed to have had kids when we wanted them. I know few who do the same. 1/2 our friends are desperate to get pregnant, the other 1/2 have had 1 or 2 or 3 mistakes. I know that a good measure of planning went a long way for us, but there is so much more to the plan. The powers that be could have had very different plans. A broken condom or years of infertility. I am very humbled to that ever since the friend who bragged she could never get pregnant again, quickly ended up pregnant. LOL. I made a mental note never to get overly confident about good planning. I am all too aware of that .001% chance even with sterilization. I just chalk it up if that happens, I guess it was meant to be.

I also feel blessed we had kids when we wanted them and close in age. If it took a while for the 2nd it could have caused much financial strain. But I think we spaced them pretty well. I always felt like we would try our best though I am all too aware that we don't control the whole game. So I just feel very blessed everything went as we had hoped. I know very few who could say the same.

It doesn't help to this day to hear people criticize the fact that me and my sister are spaced 6 years apart. I just don't know what people are thinking sometimes. & yes my parents hoped we would be closer in age and suffered MANY miscarriages. People need to think a little more before they open their big mouths. !!!!!!

Anyway, moving on. I feel very blessed to be in my career. Yes, I choose a smooth and steady job with little threat of layoff like ever. BUT it has turned into a dream in recent years. With the extreme shortage of CPAs I have job security (& raises) out of my ears. I never dreamed it would be this way. & I really can't say how long it will last. Which is why I am extra appreciative it is like this in my youth. When I have small kids to raise. So it made it so I could take as much maternity leave as I wanted (maybe even years) without any worry of job security. Just how it is. I know this can't last forever and is something to be treasured while it lasts.

Though we grew up in the land of insanely expensive I feel we were very blessed that we were able to move a mere 2 hours away to start over. We at least are still close enough to family. IF we had to move farther out it would have been a much harder choice.

& of course this is without all the obvious stuff. I am lucky that our parents do just fine for themselves and have taken to spoiling us of late. That is the obvious luck. That we are healthy and all that too. (We just found out our neighbors' infant has had 2 heart surgeries already. ! I couldn't even imagine going through that).

I know we are very lucky and I try to be thankful for our luck every day.

But people say really stupid things and sometimes I have to gripe about it. LOL. I just wanted a post that said how I Feel. Somewhere in the middle. We all have a certain degree of luck and we all make much of our luck too.

Reminds me of the Serenity prayer,

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

You can't waste your time worrying about that in your life which you can not control. But there is much you can control. & take responsibility for that part of your life. Amen.

I am not religious by any means, but I think those are the wisest words I have ever heard.

Well again my last post isn't showing up. No idea why.

But I put some 2007 totals. IF anyone cares, look at my last entry.

& Happy New YEar!

Yes, this is it. I am ready for 2008!!!!

But this is the first year I had 2 full years' data in Quicken. How exciting. I wanted to do a comparison. & with the push of a button... Wala!

I like technology.



Auto - gas was up $600. Not bad considering prices and we probably drove way more this year.

Insurance and licenses down a bit

Service up $1k. Thanks new car. I can't say we ever spent near as much with very old cars. Bah. No wonder people with new cars assume old cars cost more to maintain. LOL.

Last year we spent $400 to replace a windshield on an old car and we spent $300 on maintenance and oil changes and such.

This year with the major expensive upgrade to much newer 35k mile car (from my 150k mile,never needed a repair, Saturn) we spent almost $1k to repair my electrical system and $500 for new tires. $200 for the regular maintenance.

Wasn't exactly in the budget. Just not used to these kind of stupid repairs. Windows not working, locks not working. Etc.

Charity - we were more charitable-like. We tend to give more time than cash as a whole. But we gave a lot more to charity in lieu of gifts this year.

Clothing - tried to be more mindful, though I think I paid for much my clothing out of allowance this year. Doubt I spent much less on clothing. I actually shopped less second hand this year. Target is just SO cheap for the kids. Wasn't worth the trip to the second hand stores to pay the same prices.

Childcare - We put LM in 2 1/2 days a week. Upped the costs considerably as the mornings costs much more hourly than tacking on the afternoons. We actually moved BM down to 2 full days from 3 1/2 days, to lower costs (funny how that works out). Just 7 more months of 2??? Phew!!!!

Christmas - about same as last year.

Diapers - I put those with groceries. These were just the cloth diaper service. BM dropped out mid-year and we ended the service a couple of months back. Was well worth it for 2. A little pricey for one who rarely used the cloth anymore.

Dining out - spent $430 less. Not bad!!!

Education - we did karate and a gymboree type class through the community center. We dropped these due to time changes and sending LM to preschool instead. I took on an aerobics class, but I only have to pay when I show. So our expenses here went down (but preschool way up).

Entertainment - we pretty much spent the same - I just changed my classifications this year. This year only includes our Blockbuster online rentals at $19/month.

Gifts Given - we didn't give less gifts at all this year. not at all. Just shopped a lot smarter!!! (P.S. a relative said I bought too much only though I only spent $15 each on her kids. Reatail full price looked like $50 each and she thought I bought too much. Isn't that funny!!! Bought brand new too. Sales and coupons...) I used to penny pinch for ourselves and splurge on everyone else. I have since learned that is silly!

Groceries are down on average $110/month. All dh. don't ask me. We eat the same. I really notice little difference to our diet or eating habits. We have been clipping more coupons (just a few) and just planning meals better is all. Dh makes a batch of salsa almost every week now with leftover vegetables. The chips are always on sale dirt cheap if you know when to buy. We switched to bulking up on non-perishables on sale. IT was hard at first because it grew our monthly expense in the beginning, (we had a month or 2 of $600 bills) but with time it seriously has brought it down. Big time. Now we spend $400-$450/month. I think we could go a long ways to bring this down too. shop produce more locally (farms, farmers' markets) and the like, is one idea. I just told dh to pick up spices in the ethnic food section. What an idea.

To be fair, one kid dropped out of diapers, and the other dropped out of formula, and now we buy milk in bulk/sale since both kids are now on 2%. Those helped a lot too.

I leave this $500 in our budget because the kids will grow. I do the same with gas in our budget. Just to leave wiggle room for growing prices and known factors.

Household - is gardener and stuff for the house. Last year we had pest control, but the cheap place quit. They only came 3-4 times a year and had a gurantee (so would come more if need be). But they quit and we didn't see anything reasonable. Dh decided to self spray. We haven't yet, but really should before the spring. The wasps are terrible. We really don't have any other pests though and generally thought pest control was overkill (most our neighbors pay $60/month!!!!! We took the gardener instead!).

This year our big pest expense was mouse traps. (Didn't catch any - neighbors' cat did. Phew).

Housing - when first got Quicken think I put a couple of mortgage payments there. Ignore.

ID Theft - signed up for monitoring since my ID was stolen. May drop it. Considering it. Was invaluable for a few months though while I cleaned things up.

Insurance - Disability and home insurance went down $400. Likewise I added $100 premium to our life insurance. Upped it since we had the wiggle room.

Interest expense - was car loan. Only consumer interest I paid in my life. Was only 3% though and paid off in April.

Kids - just an old classification. Now use clothes and misc. categories.

Medical - only went up $500 though are premiums went through the roof. For one, we only went to the dentist once in 2007. (summer. We went december before and january after. We do go every 6 months, just how it worked out. Guess more like 7 months.

Misc. - I budget $150/month for misc. Just the extras and to buy some wiggle room. & I don't like to over-categorize everything. This one is hard to compare as I have changed some of my classifications with time using the software. We probably spent around the same. This year included a $1200 HDTV and stand. So not bad! Oh yes, this year we included gym membership. I also allocated about $100/month when we had extra money to take kids to museums and zoos and such. So I think we spent this money much better this year. I know where most of it went. Last year we had a lot more junk, stupid purchases. This year included a beard timmer, rock climbing, birthday ballons for the kids, passport, new phone, movie theatre visits, etc. Just stuff like that that I am not going to categorize since we spend so little on. (I should breakout the gym membership in Quicken though - just haven't yet).



Mortgage - some reason paid 13 payments last year? So skewed the comparison.

Moving expenses - was storage and prep for house sale last year. We never moved and didn't try this year.

PErsonal care - this is just haircuts. We started going to the beauty school for the kids year-end. $4 haircuts for BM and $2 for LM. Can't beat that. I get 2 haircuts a year and dh goes every so often - mostly him. I am not into makeup and all that foofy stuff. So we don't spend much on that stuff. I put shampoo and deoderant and the like in the grocery budget. I just don't liek a lot of categories. IT's all stuff we "need."

Professional dues - these are actually my poilitcal contributions. My boss reimburses the rest of my dues. & these are voluntary. I Felt more generous this year.

Recreation - just moved to miscellaneous this year.

Subscriptions - we subscribe to our cooking mags (which help our grocery bill) and the paper and a few other real cheap things. Mostly all I did this year was switch to paying the paper once a year. No idea why not before. Saved a bit.

Tax - Increase in tax is mostly payroll taxes due to raise.

Utilities - Well dh did drop HBO late last year. But we upped our cell phone - upgraded to more ours from our ancient, ancient package. Our water switched to metered last month and dropped significantly. Our local cable company dropped our bill $20/month for no particular reason in October as well. we get more channels now. Eat that Comcast. We also started budget billing so less bills the last few months.

Vacation - 2006 we went to Hawaii and Vegas. This year we went to Japan, Florida, Vegas and a cruise. I also included a trip to Monterey and San Francisco in the "vacation" category this year. Both years much was paid for by relatives. So the $600 increase isn't bad for all we did. (For Japan and Florida all we paid for was treating to dinner and some international phone calls).

Allowances - I don't see them in this report. We both spent around $1k. We budgeted $50/month plus gifts, so was well within budget.

Dh bought some movies and games and a PS3.

I spent mine on clothes and replacing my purse, backpack, suitcase and the like.

But this is perfect for us. Dh thinks I spend way too much on clothes and I can't stand that he keeps a movie collection. I have never bought a movie in my life! Never would. So we allowance it and do our own thing with no nagging.

We'll stick with $50/month for 2008. IT worked well. IT doesn't mean we can never spend more, it's just the nag-free money. We tend to agree on all our other purchases. & without limits, these are the areas we overspend. So it was good for us.

This is the first year we had an allowance since we were first married in 2000. Don't ask me why. This should have been the first thing we did when we went down to 1 income. Doh.

Income (wage) was around $75k. So expenses were about equal. We made our net worth progress with investments, profit sharing, extras (Challenge), etc.

I am hoping the gap between total expenses and my wage grows a little more next year though. But that is one thing we do as a 1-income family. Scrounge up the extras where we can. More time to do so.

I think mostly our wants/needs are in balance too so that is the nice thing. We have always found it rather easy to save raises. We haven't done so well with that the past 5 years on 1 income, but we are re-committing to that. Easiest way to save money. We don't need to up our lifestyle, it seems. We have it pretty good I think.

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All in all we spent a little less than 2006 (barely). Maybe breakeven once you include our allowances (not showing up). But I got a $4k raise and we raised $10k challenge money. So it was a good year!

I think we spent our money much smarter. Less money for stupid stuff, more for more important things. Yay!

Here's to doing even better in 2008.

2008 $20 challenge:

$ 0 - 1/1

$ 50.00 - January Contribution

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$ 50.00 - Balance 1/10
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**All retirement monies to challenge for 2008**

Well, here's my start to the challenge. If I get at least a $100 raise, monthly, this week, I will up it to $100. I usually officially make my contributions on the 10th of the month.

On the horizon this month? well my raise this week, which could influence this # a lot. We'll see. This is one year our health insurance did not go up too insanely. So we might enjoy a raise... (Instead of forking it over to our HMO). The raise will be anywhere from 3-10%. Who knows. Market is probably 10%. I have had it too good to complain much though if I get less. I work for a small business and it has been hard to keep up. My salary has gone up on average 12% annually since I graduated college. Only slowing down the last year or 2 with "only" 3-5% raises.

I also just vested in our profit sharing plan so I wouldn't be surprised if I get the lower end in cash salary since I am earning so much more as a whole going forward. Which is fine.

We also have a carseat and a nice crib bedding set to sell. At least $50 between the 2...

So hopefully a good solid $150 for the challenge this month. Maybe more if I get a big raise!

Oh my, yesterday was exhausting. It was terrible.

I have 2 kinds of tax seasons. Most of them are the gain weight kind. I am a stress eater. Thus, I often gain 5 pounds (& work it off the rest of the year).

Other times it is just so hectic there is no time to eat. I have had one or 2 tax seasons where I lost weight or maintained. Even with the stress eating on my days off. LOL.

Anyway, I forgot to eat lunch yesterday. I scarfed some food down around 3pm when I started to get hungry and remembered.

I got home and wasn't hungry for dinner then.

Dh has been shopping so carefully and I have been pinching my pennies more, I start to think this may be a tax season I can actually make it without gaining 5 pounds.

I also did good on the holidays. I got an ungodly amount of popcorn in a gift exchange, but dh sent it down to a relative's New Years Party. We had it out christmas and I left it out at work for a while but there was barely a dent. I think I gained 2 pounds eating what I did. We were ready to throw it out. Just too much. So hope it went to good use.

Well, I don't advocate not eating and forgetting meals (certainly messes with your metabolism as well which can work against you). But I start to think that maybe there is hope for me to lose more weight. I usually give up pretty much this time of year. The gym membership helps (as I generally am fine to just go for a walk, but the weather is just horrid here. Cold cold, and more cold. It's 30 degrees. It might as well be 20 below if you ask me. LOL).

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In other news, I vested in my profit sharing plan yesterday!!!!!! It's been 6 years. Ineligible year 1, and then contribution and vesting of 20% every year since. My contribution has been on average $6k/year (10% wages). So my balance just went from $25k to $33k with the vesting.

For 2008 I figure at 100% vest I am earning about $600/month into my profit sharing (employer contributes).

The ironic thing is it puts my balance to $33k today (from $25k or so on the 30th before I vested). & our ROTHS are also at $33k. Even steven. Our retirement is 1/2 ROTH and 1/2 taxable now. I always say both probably isn't bad, so there you go. 50/50. LOL. We also plan to add to our IRAs at a similar rate this year. Well, very ideally anyway. We'll see... I expect them both to be pretty neck and neck for a while.

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I participate in a green energy program with our local electric utility. I contribute $6/month voluntarily to pay for more renewable energy sources.

This city-owned utility charges on average, 1/2 of what PG&E does.

They city-owned utility to my boss's building and offered to give him new energy efficient lighting for free. & it would reduce his electric bills, etc.

Just a perfect example of how they are committed to cutting down energy usage and such.

On the flip side, there was a ballot measure to switch some local cities over to our city-owned utility. It didn't pass, and PG&E fought DIRTY. Having lived here I could not imagine why anyone would vote to keep PG&E and pay twice as much.

Anyway, the point of this story is I saw PG&E has a new "carbon offset" program. I started looking into it more. It is a variable payment that s'posedly completely offsets your carbon footprint. (We have PG&E for gas).

Well, it looks like it would cost us like 65 cents in the summer months (we only use 5-10 therms per month in the summer) and maybe $5 max in the higher winter months.

But I Was skeptical. Is PG&E really using this money for renewable energy? I find it hard to believe 65 cents a month will offset our entire carbon footprint for gas.

A little websearch shows a lot of criticism of PG&E's program, and some really high praise for our city utilitie's.

I guess my gut feel was kind of on.

I am not going to waste my money.

It's nice to see high praise for the one we do contribute to. Of course I am skeptical there too. You have to be.

But be careful out there. There was a big article in the paper the other day that 99% of "green friendly" products were not at all. I have always been very wary of that stuff.

I never understood why so many people around here spend so much money on "eco-friendly" products. Tons and tons. We just try not to use so many products, period. I always thought that made more sense. Vinegar and baking soda. What's wrong with that?

I think it is much the same way for "animal safe" and "socially responsible." I am always rather skeptical with anything of this nature. & further digging usually shows you should be. Organic? Same thing. I think a lot of these items have good intentions, but there is only so much you can do (example mass spraying over Cali organic farms when fighting mosquitos and West Nile virus). & I kind of laugh at the socially responsible funds. How do you measure socially responsible? From what I can see, rather arbitrary. & I think that is the problem with a lot of this stuff. It takes hard to work to really care and make a difference and just not buy the marketing hype. Unfortunately, but that's the way it is. Most of this stuff is really just marketing.

$9.703.87!

Didn't swing anything the last few days.

Good Bye 2007!

Certainly more than I ever imagined.

(& officially, as of stock close yesterday, net worth up $29,798!)

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For 2008, I haven't given much further thought. I guess whatever I add to retirement will do.

It's tempting just to include all savings. Or mortgage prepayments. But I want to encourage retirement savings over all else. So that is my goal. I will live, eat, breathe retirement.

So retirement to the challenge, it is. The thing is I will have a set amount in the budget once we get our raise, but every extra dime we come across SHOULD really go to retirement this year. I think we mostly have everything else covered.

So ideally, my challenge should read much the same. Gifts, focus money, windfalls, extra work, sales, credit card rewards, etc. should go to retirement. Yeah, we'll see!

I am putting interest to the car fund/efund. So that won't go into retirement. Which was a big chunk of the '07 challenge. Only big difference. (& that's the easiest money!).

I am planning to put my entire raise just to the monthly budget (I don't expect much. If it is more I will reconsider). Hoping to add another couple hundred monthly to the slush so that I can put ALL the extras to retirement.

I think I will have my IRA covered regardless. But the other $5k (dh's IRA), lord knows where it will come from. Hoping the challenge will help!!!!!!!

It's not a priority in the budget otherwise, but I think if we continue like last year, we may just be able to scrounge it up. (maxing our IRAs would be 15% gross income, plus I get 10% from my employer. As such we have other fish to fry for now. The new $10k max is a little overwhelming).

If we had another $10k challenge year? Not counting on it in the least! But if we swung more, I would put the rest to cash and taxable investments. Plus I am allocating all of our IRA contributions between now and April 15th to 2007. So we actually have room to put much more than $10k in this year... We'll see... I know one of these days dh will bring in some decent money and we will exhaust our tax deferred investments, so I put everything into the earliest year that I can.

T Rowe is nice because even my monthly automatic contributions can still be applied to '07. I haven't figured out the same for Vanguard... Which is a bummer because it is nice to put it on auto pilot...

Well, here's to 2008! I guess that makes my roundabout goal $10k for the challenge. Here's to our IRAS.

& I already have $50 to add for my automatic retirement contribution for January! (I may up this to $100 monthly for my raise - I'll find out next week - and project another $300/month come late summer or fall when BM is out of preschool. How I plan to fund my $5k).

I am so into "slow and steady winning the race." I have always been so all or nothing in my past. I can save big, easy, but never been much into saving small. But simply adding $50/month every year can make a big difference. It just depends if I get any raise to cover it!!!!! But this is a new me, and this is a nice start to the challenge.

Last year, retirement was not our focus at all. We put in around $350 and had a $1k windfall to add. So I think it will be easy to beat that. $100/month will go a long way... (Yeah it was one of our most pathetic IRA years ever. But I am glad to have our emergency fund back in place, and now we can focus on grander things).