|
|
Viewing the 'Just Thinking' Category
December 14th, 2014 at 01:52 pm
Had a GREAT soup for dinner last night!
Sausage & Kale Lentil Stew Recipe
Text is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sausage---kale-lentil-stew and Link is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sausage---kale-lentil-stew
---------------------------------------------------
This weekend we worked on our Christmas Giving.
Saturday we did a Giving Tree sort. This picture is a small fraction of what was sorted. This charity caters to sick and grieving families. It was the first time we volunteered for the sorting, and it was kind of mind blowing to see all those toys crammed into one building. (Lots of toys and bikes and clothing).
We always take my Christmas bonus ($200) and take $50 each to donate. The kids are both choosing the animal shelter this year. I will probably give $50 to the food bank. (We will do this regardless if I get a bonus or not, but that was just how we started this tradition).
Both kids' classes are doing secret santa with junk food and soda. (After all the endless notes not to send junk to school, don't ask me! I suppose they figured it was cheap and easy, and I appreciate that at least it will be consumables). So we picked those up on the way home from sorting, yesterday.
Dh has been doling out Scholastic gift certificates. Teachers are very happy.
-----------------------------------------------------
Spending:
**Last night I cleaned the kids' shower. It goes a lot quicker when you use the good stuff that dh is hoarding in the bathroom, not the 10-year-old expired shower cleaner. LOL. Seriously, that tub and shower hasn't been so sparkling white in years. IT was some no-scrub thing and it actually worked.
Anyway, the reason I did so was that I got a new shower curtain for the kids. When trying to figure out what to do with some Kohls gift certificates and Kohls cash, that was one thing I was looking at. The kids' "froggy" shower curtain was starting to fall apart. I could probably limp it along, but I figured they would probably prefer something a little more grown up, for the long run. So I did end up picking that up this month. The new shower curtain seems rather flimsy, so we will see how long it lasts!
Of course, I still also have the original original shower curtain. It was someone on the blogs who mentioned that you can just wash shower curtains in the regular wash. Yesterday I did a good wash of the extra long shower curtain I have in there. Which was apparently of high quality and has held up very well (& several washings) over the past 13 years or so. It's extra long for the tall shower but it is also just a clear thing. I had put our old (froggy) shower curtain on the outside for aesthetic and some privacy. (Though otherwise it would be too short for that shower, by itself). I suppose I could tell the kids if they break the new one they will just have to live with the clear plastic. Will see how it holds up...
**I bought myself a new laptop this week. Last week was just one too many days of "fighting over the computers" in this household.
Kind of impulsive, but I had no idea how cheap they had gotten. We did already buy a laptop this year, but every computer in our house has more advanced gaming and video editing capabilities. My needs were far lesser than that. I think it was last Saturday that I joked that I needed a new laptop. Dh kept an eye out on sales and picked one up Thursday? $288 for another Lenovo. Merry Christmas to me!!
Hoping for more peace in the house.. The computer didn't need much more than internet and spreadsheet capabilities, but dh picked out something that should be fairly future proof. (Faster processors and what ever techie goodness he wanted). I had a few wants with the laptop too, so it wasn't just "the cheapest thing we could find". I can't get over the price!
I will either pull the money from savings in January (a blip) or will pay for it with extra Christmas money. Hoping for extra Christmas money!
I am waiting for a $99 Chase refund and I think my parents owe me $150-ish for Ting. So, I guess there is some of that too. (All money due to me, but the checkbook is already fine for this month, so maybe one reason I am not sweating some bigger purchases this month).
**It's that time of year! San Francisco Comedy Sketchfest. They put on a TON of shows and we try to narrow down given the constraints of money and time.
I think a lot of the smaller stuff was kind of "meh" or either not that exciting or worthwhile for a weeknight trip. My pocketbook is happy with that! Dh is trying to arrange companionship for some of the shows. (Babysitting is a challenge, I don't like all the same weird stuff he does, AND I have an early bed time. I will go if he needs me to, or he will go alone, but it's more fun to go with a companion who can stay awake). Which has led to some conversations in our house about, "What is the point of making a bajillion dollars if you can never DO anything?" UGH!! (Don't get me started... You know, we are just the stupid ones who don't make as much money as we should, live in the middle of nowhere, and never have any fun. That kind of thing...).
So far our plan is to buy $200 show tickets. Hoping to cover with Christmas money. Thrilling Adventure Hour (a tradition for us) and a Newsradio Panel. Will have most the cast. (Oh how we miss Phil Hartman! )
I like how that worked out because we didn't want to go too overboard, and the Newsradio was completely unexpected. But is one of our favorite TV shows. Will see if dh can swing any company for some of the other $20 shows. Or if I will be drug along.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
RECIPES
|
5 Comments »
December 8th, 2014 at 08:41 pm
Notes to Self, or, Stuff I do not want to Forget:
**I learned in the forums today that libraries have free museum tickets. As a lifetime avid reader and library user, all I can say is, "Wha?????????"
This is good because I feel like 2015 should overall be fairly low-spend for us on most fronts. Planning two big vacations... I see some free museum visits in our future - should keep us fairly entertained next year.
Oh, and they do Passport services too. I think I knew that but don't want to forget. (Can even use just for passport photos).
**That reminds me that our CU also has some discounts that I probably rarely remember when I actually buy any tickets. Mostly amusement park type stuff. Just adding this to the "note to self" section.
**Credit Union has been profitable lately and is increasing credit card rewards. & a nice snowball, which I will get to at the end of this post!
As to the credit card rewards, 3% cash back on gas, groceries and restaurants. Our other cards are better right now but the good rewards come and go. So I Want to remember this for next time I am shopping rewards, or if I ever lose 6%-back on groceries.
I have to work on remembering the restaurant reward - 3% is more than we get from any other card in that category.
---------------------------------------------------
Snowball:
Our credit union announced a 7.5% rebate on all loan interest paid in 2014. Which would mean a $500 rebate on our mortgage interest. Woohoo! I will receive that in a couple of days!
It probably makes the most sense to plow that back into the mortgage.
But... I am not going to do that right now. I am far more worried about getting 2014 IRAs funded and also funding overseas travel for dh and BM, in just a few months. So, I will happily add this rebate to savings, hoping to reach those goals faster.
I think mostly in the short run I will have a little more cash than I expected, and in the long run I will try to throw the rebate at the mortgage. April should be a good cash month for me and would probably be when I throw it at the mortgage. Once IRAs are funded and overtime is received for tax season.
What's best about this snowball is how out of the blue it is!
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
6 Comments »
December 6th, 2014 at 07:20 pm
I think I am DONE, but still have to help the kids pick up a birthday gift for dh. At least we have some time for that.
Note to self: shopping the first Saturday in December is okay as long as you wrap it up by 10am.
So yeah, I lied. I did go out shopping. I did do as I said I would - avoided crowds and traffic. I guess my sole goal was to get a Christmas present for work gift exchange. I drew the new girl and decided I'd just pick up a nice Christmas decoration. (Recalling a really pretty one someone picked out last year). I printed out some Michael's coupons. I thought Target would be try #2 if need be, but Target opened earlier. I also noticed my wallet is falling apart, so figured I'd look at wallets while I was out.
So stop #1 was Target around 8:30am. Pretty empty and calm and nice so I took my sweet time. Could not find a wallet like the one I had. Could not find almond roca for my dad (the other thing I decided to get while I was out).
I did find a GIANT snickers bar. Dh had told me he wasn't going to do any stocking stuffers but then he was. I figured the kids would love that!
Defeated on the wallet and gift front, I decided to go to Marshalls later, which would be on the way home. When I got to Michaels a little after they opened I realized that there was a Ross next door. I popped in and failed on the wallet and the gift front but I found a good deal on almond roca! I will have to remember that for the future. No one was there and there was no line.
(I ended up getting some almond roca for the kids too and dh was happy with that for the stockings. Phew! I was actually just going to give it to them, but waiting is fine too).
It was probably closer to 9:30 by the time I got to Michaels - they opened at 9. Huge sale there and it was a bit crazy. Waited in line for a bit but at least it was early and they had a lot of registers open.
I found a second gift for my mom - so she is all covered for birthday and Christmas. (I wasn't necessarily going to get her anything but found a $8 gift she would love - the only thing I paid full price for).
Spent about $15 on a cute basket and some ornaments for work gift exchange. I also have a Starbucks gift card left over for last year, to round out that gift.
Saw the perfect gift for Japan friend, though I almost didn't get it! Then I had my "doh" moment that BM plans to be traveling to Japan in April. That's taken care of.
Found the cutest gift for a friend I am meeting up with on Monday. We just have that relationship where we don't necessarily exchange gifts but buy each other cute things here and there. Just, no pressure or commitments, which I love with buying gifts. I spent a whole $2.40 and the gift was perfect!
I also picked up some really cute ribbon which didn't make it into my bag or onto my receipt. I don't know what happened with that. But I will survive.
Hoping that I am now officially done with stores and shopping for the rest of the year!
--------------------------------------------------
Other Doings:
Today dh is taking the kids to stock up on free Scholastic books. Has like $300 in vouchers, in exchange for volunteering. (Much much more than that will go to teachers and school).
Dh also did some de-cluttering and sold a pile of books and video games for $100+ credit at the used store. So, he has close to $150 to spend there now. That will keep him rich in movies and video games for a while.
I closed two credit cards opened for one-time bonuses, and applied for another one. The card I applied for - the website just flashed a "thank you" real quick and went back to the home page. I will wait a couple of weeks and then call and see if my application went through or not. I don't see why I wouldn't be approved, but maybe the website glitched. So the new card is in limbo but I think everything else is officially closed and done with. Just waiting to hear if my $99 Chase Southwest fee is refunded.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Living on One-Income
|
2 Comments »
November 30th, 2014 at 06:57 pm
The picture above is our Christmas tree, a couple of years back.
& a couple of my favorite articles that I have shared in the past.
Text is http://smallnotebook.org/2012/12/17/12-tips-easier-christmas/ and Link is http://smallnotebook.org/2012/12/17/12-tips-easier-christmas/
Text is http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/12/17/resisting-the-holiday-spending-trap/ and Link is http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2012/12/17/resisting-the-h...
------------------------------------------------
My job is crazy insane busy during the Christmas season, and so this has been a very big factor in our attitude about Christmas. I don't have the time and the energy and so mostly sit out the season.
Our attitude is also compounded by the in-laws' Christmas gift extravaganza. It's like, the kids got 100 toys from Grandma, so no one else gets absolutely any joy giving them gifts. Even my parents just don't get them anything. I share just to point out that all of the above is more for the adults than the kids. My kids know that their paternal grandparents are a little crazy and excessive but that everyone else we know is the complete opposite. I think it's obvious to them that their experience with Grandma is not the norm. They have never once asked me why no one else gets them any presents - aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. It's never occurred to them that they should be getting presents from everyone. They just think Grandma really really likes Christmas!
I read through those articles again and it reminded me of the final rules of Christmas simplicity in our house. We don't travel and we don't cook. My spouse has a problem with taking the kids anywhere on Christmas day because he hated that when he was a kid - he wanted to stay home and to play with his toys. So, Christmas day is always at home. I am more than fine with that because is I am lucky to get Christmas day off and certainly can't swing more time off than that.
Dh is really good about cooking and helping with cleaning, etc. But we make Christmas a day of rest. I think dh is probably fine with throwing something in the crockpot and maybe we have done that on occasion. But it's my mom who really has a problem with people cooking on Christmas. So she usually insists that we just order a pizza or pick a take and back from the store (our grocery store has great pizzas). Surprisingly, even my MIL seems to like this tradition. She loves the idea of ordering out on Christmas day. I've never lived in a house with a Christmas feast, so all of the above works fine for me. I don't do anything to prepare, and we keep Christmas day very low key.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Minimalism
|
3 Comments »
November 29th, 2014 at 04:25 pm
I got a $50 Ting credit for a referral. Woohoo!
The timing is good because my dad had some setting switch (mysteriously) on his phone and he racked up some crazy data this week. It would have cost us an extra $10, but now we have a $50 credit to offset that!
My mom used to reimburse me $180 every 2 months for Sprint and so I told her to just pay me once every 6 months on Ting. They gave me a check in August (since the first several months were free) and I will ask for one this month since I don't think the Ting credit will be applied until our next bill. Then they will be paid up for the year and I can clear some of the "negative" in my checkbook for them owing me.
Anyway, this week is our Tingaversary and this is how our bills shook out. (This is just our half of the bills).
Dec $0
Jan $0
Feb $0
March $0
April $6
May $30
June $30
July $34
Aug $35
Sep $33
Oct $30
Nov $35
Total = $233 for 2 phones, 12 months of service
That's $19/month average for two phones.
{The first several months were free due to black friday deals, referral credits, and early termination fee (ETF) reimbursements from Ting. It made more sense financially to ditch Sprint early and to reduce our phone bill down to $0 (or even down to $30) for several months. Ting reimburses some of the ETFs}.
I expect that we can do same for next year. We already started out next month with a $50 credit. I am also getting wifi at work, which will significantly reduce our data usage. BM seems more than happy with wifi-only phone and so I don't see adding him to Ting for quite a while. I am continuing to budget $35/month for Ting, but I know we will pay less than that.
Of course through this weekend you can get $100 off a new device or $100 in Ting credit if you buy used or bring a Sprint device to Ting! If you use my referral link:
Text is https://z181d126bt4.ting.com and Link is https://z181d126bt4.ting.com
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
November 23rd, 2014 at 03:58 pm
November is very slow at work and so November is usually my "fall cleaning" month. & with the change in weather and everything.
We have been doing some purging. A charity came by and took a bag of shoes and outgrown childrens' clothing. It had been a while and I had a bag sitting out ready for a while. So I am glad to have that gone. Dh ran an old printer and computer to Best Buy for recycling. I was able to pass on some old church choir music I found to the kids' piano teacher. (She seemed excited! I didn't know what else to do with it, so I am glad she wanted it).
Fiscally, I closed my Chase checking account. I can close dh's in a couple of weeks. I haven't looked at any bank bonuses lately because we had *3* tying up our money. But when these Chase accounts are closed I will keep my eyes open.
-------------------------------------------------
We host Thansgiving every year since we live in the lower cost region and have the biggest house in the family. Of course, we have lots of room, and certainly the biggest kitchen, but neither of us is interested in cooking for 20 people. So we have always done it more potluck style. Which means I look forward to it and don't plan to do much to prep for the big day.
I did absolutely nothing to prep yesterday. Today we may clean up a bit. We already cleared out all the paper clutter in the kitchen area and cleared the formal dining table a couple of weeks ago. (Moved the kids' computer for the season, will move it back to the otherwise unused table after Turkey day). Anything we don't get through today the kids and dh can handle during the week. I don't think we have much to do. Dh already picked up the Turkey and most the groceries. He will probably run back Tuesday for a few items we need to buy more last minute. He is cooking a few side dishes. I whip up a couple of very fast things the morning of.
We all have a small part, so it makes the whole meal more enjoyable and relaxing for everyone.
-------------------------------------------------
Christmas
As to Christmas, I mostly don't partake. Spending is in the $200 range and I think we are mostly done.
**Dh spent about $40 for the kids, throughout the year. (Probably mostly games)
**We spent $10 on my mom
**Dh bought a $30 concert ticket for my dad
**Of course, most of the $200 is probably the kids' spending. I see they spent $75 on gifts for each other and for dh and I.
**I sent an extra $20 to the gardener
Dh is earning an insane amount of Scholastic gift cards this season (more than usual) for the kids' teachers. I was thinking maybe we should give some to the piano teacher this year.
{This is also a substantial part of the kids' Christmas - they go pick up hundreds of dollars of free books every mid-December}.
Employer and In-Laws always pay for their own gifts, basically. (They will both give us more cash than we would spend on them). For employer, I will just write a check in January. For in-laws, dh will sort that out with his sister later.
I am thinking of getting a Kindle for dh's birthday - free with credit card rewards. It won't be a surprise because if I am spending "$200" I want to make sure it is the exact right one. His old Kindle is just fine, but the kids are using it more and he has salivating over the new one a bit (though he thinks the price is kind of crazy, but is fine with Chase or whoever paying for it!)
Interesting side note: DH's current kindle was the first credit card reward we got from this current (4 year long?) credit card extravaganza. We opened an American Express gold card and charged whatever, and they sent us a brand new Kindle. That is probably the only non-cash or non-gift-card credit card reward we have ever gotten.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
November 21st, 2014 at 04:37 am
**I noticed that the projector that we just bought was selling for $200 less today. (Probably has been one sale for a while, isn't that how these things go? Did it go on sale the day after we bought it?)
I wasn't sure it was the same projector, but I forwarded the link to dh. He pretty quickly wrote back that he had secured a $200 refund. Woohoo!
**Dh found a large amount of change, like he always does. It was up on a ledge and so I presume he just felt weird taking it. Because it wasn't on the ground? Don't ask me. Noticed it while picking up LM from school and I was going to let LM grab it on the way home, but forgot.
Anyway, I remembered later when driving the kids home in the evening and BM popped out of the car and the change was still there.
Three quarters and three dimes!
Other Fiscal Doings:
**Payday this week; paid off projector purchase. (When I get the $200 refund I will put it to savings).
**I redeemed $40 cash back from the Citi double dash card. Will throw into investments (snowflakes to investments). I expect to have $3,000 by year-end. (Not ALL snowflakes, but heavily contributed to with snowflakes).
**I harvested gains in the kids' investment accounts. I thought I was going to skip this year, but I can't complain about the market.
I basically just sold and re-bought their funds, to lock in tax-free gains.
**I made a play on Target stock after the data breach and that is paying off this week!
**I paid $2.65 for gas this week.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Investing,
College
|
4 Comments »
November 12th, 2014 at 02:17 pm
My 50,000 points hit on the SW Chase card. Woohoo!
We will pick up a PS4 and an extra controller - I think that will use up the entire $500 gift card (with taxes), unless we can work out a Black Friday deal. Dh briefly entertained the idea of getting a Best Buy gift card and hoping to get it cheaper. I asked if he was insane. He thought better of it. (You know, one of those things people will be trampling each other over and will only have limited quality).
Let's just be happy with "FREE!"
But he may hold off the purchase until after cyber Monday - keeping an eye on amazon deals. I will just get amazon gift cards because is the only PS4 Black Friday type deal I think we will possibly partake in.
---------------------------------------------------
SHOES
**I had bought some athletic shoes a while ago and though I certainly tried them on and was happy with them initially, I think they are too tight and uncomfortable now that I am really wearing them. (Which is the story of my life).
Anyway, I happened to see some double wide mens shoes at Kohls.com. I was not shoe shopping or anything, but I liked the look and I figured I would give it a try.
The funny thing? I have been walking in my Ugg-type boots I bought when I Was left shoeless in Ohio. They are *so* comfortable, and so those are my walking shoes at the moment. (Says the woman who would never walk more than a quarter mile or so in nothing less than a top quality athletic shoe).
But anyway, I bought the men's shoes and thought it would be a shame that I would be athletic shoe-less for a while longer. But these were way cheaper than zappos (with all the kohls coupons). & so I bit the bullet and figured I have my comfy boots in the meantime. (I am not going to aerobics or the gym in my boots, but at least I can do some walking in comfort).
So, a package arrived yesterday. & it was my shoes!! They shipped On Trac (which is always lightning fast). They never sent me any indication that it was coming overnight - which might have been nice to know. But anyway, I wonder if they did that to compete with Zappos. Which again, is useless if they don't tell you what they are doing. Whenever Zappos sends me shoes overnight they make sure to brag about how awesome they are and how nice they are being.
Anyway, Men's double wide did the trick. They fit so nice! I haven't worn them outside yet, so will see what I find wrong with them when I wear them on my first long walk. But for now I am pleased. (They are black - I wonder if anyone would notice if I wore them to the office today? LOL. Tempted).
-------------------------------------------------
SHOWS
**This weekend we have two shows, that we paid for a while ago. Dh and I may do dinner out while in San Francisco.
**Robot Wars, which is our most favorite thing ever, is coming back! We contributed $100 to a kickstarter they had, which would get us 4 tickets. (We usually pay $100 for 5 tickets, so will consider the $20 an extra donation. We get some swag too, I guess).
I am so excited about that! But it won't be until Spring.
**Dh wants to go to some concert in December and is probably going to go with my dad. He said me might just buy my dad's ticket as a Christmas gift. Sounds good to me, because I had not planned to buy him anything.
That reminds me, we went to Target this weekend (to get LM some pants) and he picked out a gift for Grandma. Just something we couldn't resist when we saw it, $10. So, I guess I have officially crossed off everyone off my Christmas list. (The list is very small, and I Wasn't even sure I'd get my parents anything). Just waiting for a few more packages.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
November 8th, 2014 at 04:11 pm
I guess fall is in the air, sort of/kind of. (Though weather-wise, it is still unusually warm).
Fall always puts me in a baking and cleaning mood. Definitely have been doing a little bit of both.
A lot of it is that work is so quiet. Very slow at work and not going into the office too much.
We host Thanksgiving, and so my plan this next month is to prep the house for that. (I don't know that we usually put that much effort into it. BUT, since we have gotten the momentum going on cleaning I did want to work through sorting some of the clutter and putting things away, versus our usual tendency to throw things in the closet the night before).
Otherwise, it's more of a potluck thing and dh is in charge of all the food/grocery/cooking side of things.
In recent years we have tended to go on vacation after Thanksgiving, but the kids don't get that Monday off this year (bummer) and we have exhausted our vacation funds and are saving up for Japan. I took the day off before I knew the kids didn't have the day off, so look forward to a long Thanksgiving vacation. The final calm before the work storm. Then it's busy busy busy until May.
----------------------------------------------------
We tried an Olive Garden copycat Pasta Fagioli in the crockpot last week. YUM!! My new favorite recipe:
Text is http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/day-305.html and Link is http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/day-305.html
{I love this crockpot recipe site but I never saw the pasta fagioli before! Has always been one of my favorites}.
Today we are making butternut squash soup in the crockpot. One of our favorite recipes:
Text is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/butternut-squash-soup-with-cinnamon and Link is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/butternut-squash-soup-wit...
Edited to add: I have to bookmark this recipe because it was the best roasted seeds I have made. YUM! {I couldn't remember how I usually toasted them; ended up being about 18 minutes to perfection in our oven, at 275 degrees. Tossed in butter and garlic salt. I was better than usual about letting the seeds dry out a little first}.
Text is http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/squash_seeds.htm and Link is http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/squash_se...
---------------------------------------------------
Christmas shopping is mostly done over here. The kids buy us and each other gifts. Dh picked up a couple of things for the kids a while ago. We don't do much Christmas materialism. I sometimes buy my folks birthday and Christmas gifts, but this year I am not feeling it. Probably just a donation in their name. (The bulk of us all have birthdays next month too. Just dh's mom and the kids are off in their weird world of summer birthdays. ). No one in our family with kids wants to exchange anything because grandparents spoil too much. Dh and I bored of getting each other gifts a long time ago. OF course, work is crazy busy at Christmas time and so I mostly sit out the season. That is a lot of it, for me. Means I don't really care to buy gifts OR make gifts or do much of anything Christmas-y.
I picked up a few random things we could use, while shopping. Replacing bath rugs that I am unhappy with (saw a good sale) and replacing BM's broken watch. Stuff like that.
I did go through the kids' clothes. They don't really need too much. (Stocked up on next size up clearances over the summer, that are fitting BM now). But LM refuses to retire pants he is way too tall for and so I told him we could go find some replacements this weekend - in a more appropriate size. Hope I can find something similar?
I also bought a middle school sweatshirt for BM that is too small. Hoping we can exchange it for a bigger size.
Well, I have a date with a squash! (Dh is the chef but I am the sous chef for this dish - I always help him with the task of cutting up the squash - it goes a lot faster).
Posted in
Just Thinking,
RECIPES
|
1 Comments »
November 7th, 2014 at 01:23 pm
**It's Official. Our health insurance is more than our mortgage.
(I am surprised it took this long...).
7% increase this year. Which is probably one of the smallest increases we have had in the last decade. But still enough to bump it up to more than our mortgage.
So, the budget is rejiggered. I will start with the new budget January 1.
Using a "no raise" assumption I am happy with the rejiggering. I am lowering our monthly (long-term) savings rate from 21% to 17.5%. (Which also factors bigger budget increases: property taxes and grocery spending). BUT, if you factor our new income tax savings, this will keep our long-term savings rate at 21%. We will just commit that tax savings to long-term investments. I could certainly change our withholding to get our monthly savings back to 21%, but since it will depend on how the year goes, we will just keep that as a tax refund every year (if we contribute to Traditional IRAs instead of ROTHs). Our taxes are still low enough I could see choosing the ROTHs in a year flush with cash.
I will finish rejiggering when I get my salary figure for 2015. Not sure what I will do exactly with my various monthly savings figures and how I will re-allocate.
I've had a LONG time to wrap my brain around this. So today my feelings are pretty "meh". Some days I am frustrated by how hard we have worked to significantly cut our housing costs, including picking up and moving solely for the cost of living, just to be slammed by the cost of health insurance. Most days though I am just grateful that we have managed our housing (and other) costs so well so that we can handle it. In addition, with my dh's brain tumor, there is no doubt that keeping the best insurance possible was the right choice for us. Having exceptional insurance is priceless, and there is no doubt that we are getting more out of the insurance than we pay in. If not, we would have switched to something cheap and crappy a long time ago.
--------------------------------------------------
Yesterday I took a retirement planning class for my continuing education. As it is with these investing classes, I tend to walk away feeling like I already knew everything. Which is a GOOD thing.
But I did enjoy the class from a "reality check" standpoint.
Lord knows we are very unique, but it is interesting how much of our personal retirement plans and our parents' retirement experiences are actually pretty universal.
I think this is also why I enjoy Money Mustache so much. He touches on most of this. Which can translate to a very unique and different retirement and worldview. But if you don't adopt 100% of what he says (lord knows we haven't) you can still learn a lot from him. I think he comes across as on the "fringes" but the reality is that his financial take is very sound.
Points of note?
--Start saving younger (in your 20s) and you don't have to save nearly as much as otherwise.
--About 50% of people retire before they plan to retire, due to health and job loss. Is true for both our parents. (Compounded with the current economy, this is happening at MUCH younger ages; both our dads ended up giving up finding work and retiring in their 50s. I think historically this is more people plan to work into their 60s and 70s but can't).
--Consumption and spending goes down in retirement. This is true across the board. This is not just a "frugal folk" phenomenon. (That this is fairly universal, I found that interesting).
--Most retirement calculators are focused on "replacing income" and are not particularly useful. Instructor used an example of a mid 30s person making $100,000 per year and needing to save $4.5 million for retirement. Which is crazy ridiculous. Especially in a time when the average retirement savings rate is like 4%. I mean, we are in BIG trouble here, right?
So the instructor did talk a lot about "replacing expenses" as a more useful metric for retirement planning.
--The topic of conversation did come up about how no one is saving anything and how that is panning out. My personal experience is that we have a lot of long-term family friends who have saved nothing for retirement, or who have significantly under-saved. None of them have ended up on the street or are lacking the basic necessities. But, what is obvious is that they lack choice in their life. Many will rely on family or government assistance. The instructor echoed this sentiment. Most are getting by, but it's not the retirement that they envisioned.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
15 Comments »
November 3rd, 2014 at 02:39 pm
Today is payday for me.
I won't be able to deposit my check until later today but the $5,000 transfer I made for property taxes showed up in my account today. So I paid all the bills I planned to. I can pay the property taxes after my payroll check hits my CU today.
I paid the mortgage payment and I paid off most the October credit card charges. The handful of bills I can't charge were already set to pay this Friday.
Next payday I will pay off the projector. IT costs exactly the amount that I usually put into savings every month, so we are just cash flowing it.
Other Fiscal Minutiae:
Received $33 bank interest for the month of October
Redeemed $50 credit card rewards towards my ROTH
Redeemed $50 credit card rewards (cash back) from our gas/grocery card.
Dh earned $35 cash from a focus group
Snowflakes into investment account:
$50 cc rewards (per above)
$15 internet savings (placeholder)
$10 from focus group
-----
=$75 TOTAL
I had planned to use focus group money towards most recent cell phone purchase, but I am projecting $11 left in the bank account at 11/30, so I transferred $10 of that into investments.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Living on One-Income,
Investing
|
0 Comments »
November 2nd, 2014 at 02:37 pm
**Before I forget. We went over our usual Ting data this month and planned for it with all the traveling we did and so on. BUT... Like the day before our Ting month ended dh realized we had only used like 1005 MB of data. He recalled that they had a 5% grace on each tier, so I think that means we could have gone over by 25MB (or up to 1,025MB) without paying for the higher tier. So I set my phone to airplane mode that day and we squeaked by!
Ting is so cool on things like that. VERY customer service focused. I had just assumed we were going over. WAY over. It would have cost us $5 if we did, so I Wasn't exactly sweating it.
**The projector came in a little under budget. Will see, but so far so good. IT was quick to set up and it looks phenomenal. (It's 3 times are bright as our old one but it still works in our dark room). IF we wanted brighter, it would have been even cheaper. I guess that is a lot of where the technology has been going.
{I do have one complaint. We've always been very "meh" on the decor of our home theater because you mostly enjoy it in the dark. This is no longer the case. The projector now lights up the room so much! That said, no plans to funnel any money into aesthetics.}
Dh also thinks he can sell the old projector for more than he initially thought. Will see on that too.
Dh thought that he may need a new tuner to enjoy and saw a good sale this week. So he looked into it a little further and decided that he is probably going to be just as happy with his temp fix, which was to buy a $15 cord. Phew!
**I've met my spending minimum for the $500 gift cards from SW Chase. Just waiting to be able to redeem those, so we can pick up a new PS4.
---------------------------------------------------
Of major news, I am upping our grocery budget. The kids are eating us out of house and home! I knew this day would come, but the older child is 11 this year, and Good Grief!
{I've been told he eats more than a teen boy; I've been told this about both my kids for years. But I think it's official that BM has graduated to some new level of eating, and yes I do worry it will get worse when he is actually a teenager}.
Which means a full 20% bump to the grocery budget. I am moving it from $500 to $600 monthly. That is our people/cat/household goods/toiletries/whatever else grocery store budget.
It's past due and I will figure out the entire budget and logistics when I get my salary and health insurance figures for 2015. For now, I know I have some wiggle room in the budget for groceries. (This is one reason why we tend to save all our raises. Save them when they come so that we can dole them out when we actually need them).
I wish I had not mentioned to my dh because he has taken this very personally. We have *never* increased our food budget and he has probably felt for the past 12 years that it is his primary financial contribution to the house to keep the grocery costs down. & he has done a *phenomenal* job. So, in the end, I am upping the budget and dh may work on keeping it down. I don't think that's a bad thing, but I just don't want him beating himself up over the fact that his kids are growing. I think it was quite foreseeable and nothing we can do about that! & of course, prices are rising too, but dh has always been able to outwit rising grocery prices. Which is also nice, but at some point you run out of room for improvement. I don't think we are so broke that it needs any more energy. I am sure we could re-strategize and scout out new stores, and maybe we will when the kids are older, but for now we have the income for this increase and I really don't care.
The reason I Decided to increase the budget so much was I feel like money has been tight the past few months and we have been regularly over-spending. Our "forever" budget has been $500 groceries and $300 gas. The gas budget is very high to allow for ever increasing gas prices. Plus, I used to drive home every day for lunch and just could not bring myself to do so when gas prices shot up. So, I set the gas budget really high but probably have been economizing gas in other ways. In the end, the gas budget has allowed for a little wiggle room in an otherwise very tight budget. We throw all our misc. purchases into that extra space.
I thought maybe I could lower the gas budget to offset the groceries, but we are at $600/month groceries and $200/month (Fairly consistently for 2014). So, no wonder I feel like we have been over-spending. I think $900/month for groceries/gas/misc will be fine. That will give us $100/month wiggle room for all the miscellaneous. Like, if we ever want to eat out or get a haircut or go out anywhere.
In other news, I still don't have my 2015 health insurance rates. ??? Really really late this year. I initially figured ignorance is bliss. I really just don't want to know. But now that our food spending and property taxes have gone up so substantially I am trying to rejigger the budget. Which is fairly useless if I don't know what our health insurance bill will be next month. So, I am thinking about it, but the specifics will have to wait. I guess I will figure a no-raise budget when I get my health insurance figures. Usually we can offset increasing costs with some other decreasing cost. & I think this is true next year. Our taxes have gone down substantially with the shift to funding our Traditional IRAs. I kind of wanted to keep that in my back pocket for dealing with our health insurance when I turn 40. (It's not going to be pretty). BUT... I do have the money for all the cost increases we are experiencing here and now. IT is what it is. Easy come, easy go.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
November 1st, 2014 at 12:56 pm
Rewards Update...
I received a direct offer for a $175 cash bonus that I have decided to redeem. (Spend $500, get $175 cash).
I went through all of my ongoing rewards and revised my 2014 projections. Most of them were lower than expected because have been diverting so many charges to the one-time rewards cards. (Target's website was not showing my YTD rewards so I will have to double check on that later).
{I also kindly let go of $60 in rewards this year, letting my in-laws charge up $3k in our medical bills for rewards. So I will be pleased if we hit the $3k reward mark even with letting go of that $60}.
2014 TALLY:
$175 Cash (AICPA card, Moi)
$200 Cash (Citi card, Moi)
$500 Amazon gift cards (SW Chase double dip, Dh)
$500 Amazon gift cards (SW Chase double dip, Moi)
$250 Cash (Chase Freedom, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Dh)
-----------
$2025 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
+$150 Extra bank interest from a CD promotion
+$500 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back; health insurance & misc. spending)**
+$350 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/3% fuel)**
+$ 60 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)**
+$ 45 Visa Rewards (1% cash back - for places that don't take AmEx - primarily dentist/insurance/utilities)**
**Estimates for the whole year
Grand Total = $3,130
Year 2011 = $4,164
Year 2012 = $2,782
Year 2013 = $2,623
Year 2014 = $3,130
Total 4 Years = $12,699
***Mostly Tax-Free Income***
NOTE: ABOUT $550 FROM BANK CHECKING AND CD PROMOTIONS THIS YEAR. UNFORTUNATELY, THOSE ARE TAXBALE.
Yeah, our next car is going to be paid for with credit card rewards. Heck, if this keeps up, both of our next cars will be paid for with credit card rewards. (As of this moment, we only plan to spend $20,000 to replace our two vehicles).
***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending.***
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Credit Card & Bank Rewards
|
2 Comments »
October 27th, 2014 at 07:49 pm
**Dh pulled the trigger on his projector upgrade.
It's a big purchase, so he had a hard time pulling the trigger. I was kind of surprised that he was having a hard time, but we later discussed how this is probably one of our biggest purchases.
As for me, since we decided to buy it ages ago, I could really care less. The money is already spent, the projector is already paid for - in my mind. I guess it just isn't hitting dh so much until he swipes that credit card.
Dh is fairly convinced that this is the last projector upgrade we will ever do. But I won't exactly hold my breath. I am fine though to replace our 10-year-old out-dated projector. More than fine with it!
It seems that time and technology is buying him something much more top-of-the-line than before. (I am guessing our last projector cost about the same as this one).
This is really a present from dh's parents. I am cash flowing it from my salary in November. We jumped on it a little early due to a sale. But his parents have mentioned they will give us $3k for Christmas. So all along I have just considered this a gift from them. (They can change their minds, but I don't think it's an unreasonable purchase if we have to pay for it ourselves. IT will be fine either way).
{We have a relatively frugal movie theater set up in our house. For those who are reading this and have no idea what I am talking about... We have an extra room dedicated to a large movie screen}.
-------------------------------------------------
**That reminds me, I did a tax projection as the year is nearing its end and I have more firm numbers than I did in January or whenever. Our Traditional IRA contribution will net us a $3,000 tax refund. I am thrilled with this number because this is the estimate I have for BM's Japan trip and this was how I intended to pay for said trip.
This Japan trip is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. We mostly plan to use future Traditional IRA tax refunds to bulk up our savings. We are just planning to spend the tax refund this one year. A splurge like this is something we have never done before and can probably handle restricting ourselves to once per decade or so.
We'd stil also like to send dh on this trip. Time will tell on that. Feeling a little cash poor at the moment! But we don't have to decide for a while...
---------------------------------------------------
**I am also going to go ahead and pay the property taxes for the whole year. They went up about $1,000, from $4k to $5k. Our home has been way under-assessed most the past decade or so and even this assessment was still on the conservative side. BUT, certainly more in the realm of where it should be.
{I suppose this is the silver lining to this housing mess? A long period of LOW taxes?}
So I will probably write a $5,000 check for that next week. OUCH! I am kind of rethinking that on one hand, but then I realize I just have to pay it all by April regardless. It's all the same in the end. So I decided to just go through with it. I am also counting on this to help boost my tax refund a small bit.
As long as interest rates are in the toilet I think I will prefer the ease of just paying this bill once per year. My primary motivation is simplicity.
----------------------------------------------------
All of the above aside, I feel like we have been spending way too much money. October was very spendy.
SO... Trying to reign it in and have a low spend November. Maybe low spend November and December. In fact, all of our spending *should* be done for October. (knock on wood). So, yeah, we will cool it for the rest of the year.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
October 27th, 2014 at 03:31 pm
Text is http://slickdeals.net/f/7289268-motorola-moto-g-verizon-39-at-fry-s-electronics-with-promo-code-in-store-only and Link is http://slickdeals.net/f/7289268-motorola-moto-g-verizon-39-a...
Fry's has in in-store only deal for prepaid Verizon Moto G. I mentioned recently as a good wifi-only phone for tweens or frugies. It's a one-time $39 splurge for a fairly nice phone. Google apps will get you free calling and texts (over wireless). I can see this as a good way to dip one's toes into the smart phones.
This is the phone my 11yo son is using. It's really no big deal to add him to our Ting and to start paying $6/month (his cell and data usage would be so low at this point, I would not expect to pay more than $6/month that we'd have to pay for the new line). BUT, this phone gets him trained in using wireless and conserving data and minutes. Plus, I don't know that he will need more than wireless until he is of high school age. For now, the wireless is far beyond anything he "needs".
**To be clear. THIS phone is not compatible with Ting. It's not compatible with anything but Verizon prepaid plan, as far as I can tell. If you don't activate it with Verizon, you can just use whatever wifi networks that are available to you.**
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
October 22nd, 2014 at 01:58 pm
Excellent Article:
Comparing Three Major Levers You Can Pull On Your Retirement Portfolio
Text is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/retirement-lever-comparison.html and Link is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/retirement-lever-comparison.html
The gist:
--Investor begins working at 25, but saving at 35
--12% savings rate
--50%stock/50% bonds asset allocation
--Salary starts $30k and rises with age
Initial plan, portfolio at 65: $474,000
Change to 80/20 allocation: $577,000
15% savings rate: $593,000
**Begins saving at 25: $718,000**
DING DING DING!!!
----------------------------------------------------
I share because I think this is very important in regards to efficiency and balance. Not helpful if you are no longer 25, but I do share for any young person who comes across my blog.
Our personal average retirement savings rate since age 24 is 12%. I get a lot of comments that we must not be saving enough or will have to work for 50 years. Considering we are well on track to retire at age 50, I am not worried about it.
Of course, we contribute more when we can, and that is important too. I just happened to notice the other day that our "average retirement savings since having kids" was 14%. I think this is counter-intuitive for many. It is most often assumed that our retirement is being sacrificed (with my spouse not working). The opposite is more the case. It's easier to save a bigger percentage of a smaller income. We simply don't have to save as much? (Some years we have put away 20% to retirement; those were our smallest income years, when 20% was just not that much money). That's all there really is to it. But it isn't setting us backwards because the smaller income is more than enough for us to live on and is a fine base for savings percentage.
We personally plan to save more over time. We are savers, and we like to prepare for the worst. That said... I would say that we are pleasantly surprised how well our retirement savings is doing. We've already done the heavy lifting, no doubt about it. Which is kind of ironic because it doesn't necessarily feel like it. IT feels like retirement has been more on the back burner than we care for, due to kids and economy and medical woes. It's nice to look back and see our steady/consistent contributions working for us over the long haul.
Our personal rule of thumb has been to never put less than 10% of post college income to retirement. We started with that, and then got a lot more serious about retirement savings in our 30s. (Maxing out retirement vehicles, around age 30).
P.S. I notice one very important lever left out of this discussion. Fees and costs. MyMoneyBlog has also touched on this point in the past. Text is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/lower-costs-higher-returns-again-and-survivorship-bias.html and Link is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/lower-costs-higher-returns-again-...
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Living on One-Income
|
11 Comments »
October 21st, 2014 at 08:14 pm
**Ooooh, I had really bad misinformation on my last post of this topic. (Which I corrected). Bad information in a good way!
So let's try this again.
Idea for a frugie phone (or good for a tween):
--Verizon prepaids (Moto G) sell frequently for $50 at Fry's. Probably other deals around, but this is the best deal on the west coast.
--If you have Ting or think will eventually use Ting, the Boost Moto G sells for $60-ish at times, Best Buy. The thing about the Boost Moto G is that it is compatible with Ting. (Or if you have a Red Card, just buy at Target and ask for a price match, for an extra 5% off).
We have one of each. The Boost Moto G is still in the box and was bought because my dh has a phone fetish (apparently). BUT, it will be a great first phone for our kids. (Or is a cheap backup phone for us).
The Verizon prepaid is being used by my older son. Has come in really handy for his age range. **This phone has no cell service.** He signed up for a google voice number and can make and receive calls and texts on wifi. So basically, it's a one time purchase and all usage is completely free. As dh said, "There is more wifi than pay phones in this day and age". So it makes sense, for now. He will want cell or data service when he is older, but I don't even know if that will be particularly necessary for a few more years.
Dh thought that BM could not receive phone calls directly on the Verizon phone. So this is the correction. He's had the phone a few weeks and we just figure out that he CAN receive phone calls directly. Doh! (To be fair, it seems like you can't set this up until after you've had your google voice # for a while. Dh felt less crazy after he got himself a google voice # and had the same problem on his phone).
Bonus Idea: If you know someone with Comcast, you can also sign up for Xfinity wifi. We might test this out since dh's parents have Comcast. IT would be interesting to see how much wifi coverage that would give BM.
**We are also able to whittle down our own cell bill a little more, due to recent developments.
Firstly, it was just announced that we will get Wifi at my office. Woohoo! (That's like 90% of our entire data usage, since no one else on my plan is working right now). I presume that will be set up for tax season - maybe in a few months.
All in all, it might save us a whopping $5 a month? Because the data is so cheap to begin with? But I will take it.
Secondly, we installed the hangouts dialer and we can make phone calls through wifi. So that will put a big dent in our minutes. Not as useful for incoming calls and I don't want incoming calls to go to data when I am not near wifi. So we are just using for outgoing calls, but it helps.
Dh went ahead and got a google voice # (which allows for more functionality) and so I picked one up yesterday too.
If our home phone # is 916-xxx-1234, then we each got matching cell numbers. I got the very last "1234" number.
The problem with the google hangouts dialer was that it was just shown as a blocked number when we called other people. Of note, our parents refused to pick up the phone. For their home phones they can now just glance at the caller ID and I think it's pretty clear that it is us, even if they don't want to memorize the entirety of our new phone numbers. The area code and the last 4 digits will always be the same from whichever phone we call.
Anyway, this might also save us a couple of bucks, but we are thinking ahead to when dh might be out of the house more or when we add the kids to our plan. The less we use now the less of a jump it will be to add back more minutes and data, later.
----------------------------------------------------
Other Doings:
**Dh and I went to Napa last weekend for our belated anniversary getaway. We were pretty lazy and did not do much, but enjoyed the quiet time.
I think it was our third trip there and we finally found some good food. Phew! Call us picky, but we just never particularly enjoyed anywhere else we tried. The dinner we did end up enjoying was about $85 (no alcohol, that is all FOOD). MIL slipped us $100 as we left, so dinner was on her. (& the meal was good enough I certainly did not mind spending the money. Yum!!) Otherwise, we just went to the grocery store and ate in for the rest of the time.
**While we were gone, my 11yo informed his Grandma that he is too old to Trick or Treat. This is the first I have heard of this! I guess this a 6th grade boy thing? (I am more than fine with it. Maybe just a couple of more years of the old trick or treating? Little brother is having a hard time with this news).
We all got our monkey PJ/costumes so we hadn't planned to buy any costumes beyond that.
**Today I called AmEx because they decided to start classifying all of my charges as "cash advances". ??? I figured it might sort itself out, but after a week or so I called to be sure. While I was calling anyway I finally asked them to change the due date on my credit card. This means no more driving dh crazy with my endless, "Don't buy that on that card" and "use that card this week". He always keeps it all straight, but I am sure it is annoying. I also fixed the Target card a few weeks back and so both of these are on a more monthly cycle. No more charges on the 3rd or 4th showing up on last month's bill. I should have fixed this *ages* ago but just kind of hate these things and sitting on hold. I am pleased to say I did not sit on hold at all. IT wasn't so bad.
Now we just have to tame our new Citi card. The credit limit is ridiculously low and the card closes on the 15th of the month. UGH! I tried to change the due date online but was denied. So I will let it cycle through a couple of months and then have dh call to fix everything. (It's in his name). I paid some of it off way early because I didn't want to max it out. Yeesh. A $5k credit limit would sound nice at this point.
Meanwhile, the SW Chase card I just applied for gave me like a $22,000 credit limit. ??? I have no idea how they decide these things. Citi thinks we are worthy of a whole $3k of limit. But Citi has always been kind of weird.
**As to the SW Chase, I received it yesterday and threw a couple of month's of health insurance on it. Now I wait for my $500 reward.
**Our promotional rate expired with our internet company but they renewed it with a contract. That is always the catch on these discounts that few seem to mention. We are pretty loyal to our internet company though (little guys) and so we will just take the contract. (Not that they can't get bought out tomorrow - that always happens!) But, anyway, last year we had to call and beg a few times. I am glad they just gave us the deal this time. Phew! I will continue to throw that $15 savings to our investments.
Dh and I had discussed dropping the landline (bundled with internet) if it gave us any leverage. We did not expect that it would. Probably the internet alone costs more. For now the landline stays free with our internet, so we keep it.
This is absolutely the only contract we have right now, besides our mortgage. For that, I still hate having a contract. But I guess mostly it's important not to be up to your eyeballs in contracts. Even in case of job loss I'd probably keep this internet. So I won't lose sleep over it...
**Dh received $35 for a phone survey. This money will go towards that Moto G phone purchase.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
October 15th, 2014 at 04:14 pm
What a nice surprise at the pump!
**Filled up the van today, should be the only time this month. Timing worked out well.
I had filled up 3 times last month because MIL requested we bring van down once when her sister was in town. This month, no one drove the van the 6 weekdays I had off from work. So I guess it all evens out.
I usually fill up the van twice a month. I've just been commuting with the van because we have been doing so many longer trips in the gas sipper.
I like the gas prices today considering we are driving to Napa and San Francisco next week.
**Current carpool arrangements (knock on wood)... Neighbor is picking up kids all week and then dh next week, alternating. I still just take BM on my way to work. I offered to take neighbor child as long as he is at our house in time but they have not taken us up on that offer.
This is new for this year since their child is a year younger and was at the other (Walking distance) campus last year. Neighbor keeps telling us he will be working and unavailable but then he is not. Is good for us I guess, but bad to see how unemployed he is at the moment. (They are *awesome* neighbors but their home has shown to be in foreclosure for over a year. Public records. No idea what is up with that. Is the curse of our carpool).
**Reminds me, dh has been helping out divorced (last year carpool) friends with a lot of babysitting. He was assertive that things were not working out so well and it seems they are kind of pissy with us. Whatever! We are not your personal free babysitter. Never minded helping them because they always returned the favor best they could and were very gracious.
Anyway, I hope newly divorced mom was just surprised or feelings briefly hurt and she gets over it. It's nothing personal. Her child is WAY younger which is most of the problem. In a couple of years I don't know that it would matter. Dh is always way too nice about this stuff but always draws the line once it affects the kids. My kids were getting really cranky about it. (I would have been cranky too. I can't say I would have ever agreed to watch a 7yo. But dh has way more patience for kids. It's not just that dh changed his mind. She kept bringing him over 2-3 times more often than she had asked. So, she can't be surprised that dh was getting annoyed).
**Dh got a 3rd and 4th opinion and repaired the crack in our stucco. Final cost? About $4 in supplies, plus borrowed a ladder from a neighbor. Woohoo! I always love it when nasty looking home repairs turn out to be like $10 or less to fix. It happens sometimes.
**Oh, and I almost forgot the best news of all! Did not run the AC yesterday and the weather looks favorable for turning it off for the season. Phew! We have been running the AC every day this month, which is ridiculous.
We usually don't turn on the heat until Thanksgiving. With this crazy weather, who knows...
Posted in
Just Thinking,
House Stuff
|
5 Comments »
October 12th, 2014 at 05:35 pm
I've been keeping an eye out for the SW Chase $500 bonus, with the plan to buy a PS4 with the bonus. (The $500 bonus is paid out with gift cards).
I haven't seen anything, but today on a whim I googled a bit to see when they offered this bonus last year and to try to take a guess when they will offer them again this year. It seems like maybe they have just been offering it all along. ?? I found a working link on a July 2014 post! I was a little wary of that one but found another one posted in the last week (linked to the same offer). So, woohoo!
Here is the link:
Text is http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/10/09/50000-point-signup-bonus-southwest-visa-available/ and Link is http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/10/09/50000-poi...
What is great about this offer is that it stated in the fine print that you CAN double dip this bonus if you have not redeemed for 24 months. Woohoo! (When dh double dipped this card earlier in the year I heard it was a 50/50 chance that he would actually be eligible for the bonus. I was never entirely sure he would actually get the bonus).
I was hoping to get the PS4 last time, but dh got all weird about it. But right now he seems to be in a PS4 mood. Will see when it arrives. I just want to get the PS4 paid for with free money. It will be a good purchase to go with our planned projector upgrade (any month now).
My plan is to just charge up $2,000 health insurance like the day I get the card. So I can cancel it ASAP to get the $99 annual fee refunded.
--------------------------------------------------
Rewards Update! Surpassing $3,000!
2014 TALLY:
$200 Cash (Citi card, Moi)
$500 Amazon gift cards (SW Chase double dip, Dh)
$500 Amazon gift cards (SW Chase double dip, Moi)
$250 Cash (Chase Freedom, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Dh)
-----------
$1850 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*
+$550 deposit to ROTH (Fidelity Am Ex - 2% cash back; health insurance & misc. spending)**
+$450 AmExRewards (6% cash back groceries/3% fuel)**
+$ 75 Target rewards (5% discount Target purchases; mostly groceries)**
+$ 75 Visa Rewards (1% cash back - for places that don't take AmEx - primarily dentist/insurance/utilities)**
**Estimates for the whole year
Grand Total = $3,000
***CAVEAT - I absolutely do not recommend utilizing credit card rewards in this manner, unless you are in full control of your credit card spending.***
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Credit Card & Bank Rewards
|
1 Comments »
October 10th, 2014 at 03:01 pm
Here is a great cell phone deal.
The Moto G for Boost Mobile sells for under $100. But every once in a while it goes on sale for $59.99.
This phone is compatible with Ting!
So my dh did pick one up. I thought it was silly to get for our younger son (there will be better deals by the time he ever needs a phone with cell service - it will be YEARS). But dh did also like the idea of having a backup phone in case we break one of ours. It's not a bad idea in that regard. We also talked about giving this phone to BM so we can just switch it on whenever he needs cell service and switch it off when he doesn't (very easy to do with Ting). I think in the end dh is probably going to buy another one, next time they go on sale. Then BM can have a phone with cell service AND we can have a backup phone. At these prices, whatever...
Overall, this is an exceptional deal for any tween or teen user, but I think also works well for the frugies. This is the phone I was planning to get, until I went with something much more robust. The Moto G is a far nicer phone than the kids really need. Certainly more than we expected to get them in a first phone. This is also the same phone BM already has. (His was a $50 prepaid Verizon deal that he can not activate on Ting).
The Moto G retails for closer to $200 I believe, and even at $200 is a good deal for how nice of a phone it is.
Dh picked up this new Moto G at Target for $59.99 (plus 5% off with Red Card). Target did not have this price, but he price matched a Best Buy deal.
Best Buy currently has the $59.99 deal. (No expiration noted for this sale. As long as they want to offer it).
Text is http://www.bestbuy.com/site/boost-mobile-motorola-moto-g-no-contract-cell-phone-black/3135008.p?ref=199&loc=je6NUbpObpQ&acampID=1&siteID=je6NUbpObpQ-N7KTVKRctkiEb4q4GdCE7Q and Link is http://www.bestbuy.com/site/boost-mobile-motorola-moto-g-no-...
This sale comes around periodically, so it is worth waiting for these deals, even if "now" is not the right time. Just to say this is not a once-in-a-lifetime deal or anything like that. I am sure it will pop up again around the holidays.
Of course, Ting only costs $6 per month for cell service and then you only pay for what you use. Their rates are here:
Text is https://ting.com/rates and Link is https://ting.com/rates
Our household has been paying around $30/month for Ting (for two phones). Much less than that if you count all the referral credits and other credits we have racked up.
Here are the instructions to activate the Moto G on Ting:
Text is http://www.reviewtechnica.com/2014/06/how-to-activate-moto-g-on-ting.html?m=1 and Link is http://www.reviewtechnica.com/2014/06/how-to-activate-moto-g...
Finally, here is my Ting referral code, if you want a $25 credit for signing up with Ting:
Text is https://z181d126bt4.ting.com and Link is https://z181d126bt4.ting.com
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
7 Comments »
September 30th, 2014 at 08:46 pm
I *love* this post from My Money Blog.
Must, Should, and Financial Freedom
Text is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/must-should-and-financial-freedom.html and Link is http://www.mymoneyblog.com/must-should-and-financial-freedom...
"Should is how others want us to show up in the world — how we’re supposed to think, what we ought to say, what we should or shouldn’t do. It’s the vast array of expectations that others layer upon us."
"Must is who we are, what we believe, and what we do when we are alone with our truest, most authentic self. It’s our instincts, our cravings and longings, the things and places and ideas we burn for, the intuition that swells up from somewhere deep inside of us."
"When reading biographies and interviews of notable people, those who made seemingly bold decisions often remark that it really wasn’t. They just did it. It was a Must. I always wonder if it was also scary for them.
That's kind of an interesting point. I am a very intuitive person and I personally don't struggle with bold moves. If it feels right, then it feels right. I can't NOT do it, if it feels right. So I can relate to that. When I look back on my life, I don't remember the fear about the bold moves. There was always a benefit or reward to look forward to.
The initial article that My Money Blog refers to was in regards to career and doing what you love. MMB referenced it as far as financial independence being his passion.
I think the "musts" apply to everything in life.
I was reflecting a bit on this anyway, as dh and I's anniversary just passed. I am so blessed that my parents married very young and were always very supportive. But that's about it. I'm hard pressed to think of any other support to our quick engagement (at 19).
Of course, I can think of many many examples on the "should" versus "must":
--The gender role reversals in our marriage. Life is infinitely easier when you can simply play to your inherent strengths, regardless of your gender.
--Parenting. I think parenting is one of those things that has been an incredible experience as far as fine-tuning one's instincts. Things seem to go fairly easy when we listen to our instincts. Doing what everyone else thinks we should be doing is a recipe for disaster.
--Career choices that I have made trusting my instincts and knowing myself.
I actually completely ignored my CPA employer who was horrified I did not accept a job offer from Arthur Andersen. You may remember Arthur Andersen, Enron's accounting firm. Of course, 15 years later I can look back and just roll my eyes about how melodramatic she was about the whole thing. Good thing I had the confidence to take her advice with a grain of salt. (I turned down the AA job because the culture was not the right fit for me and because it was not the career trajectory I wanted. It's possible she didn't freak out on me until after I turned down the job. Phew).
I could go on and on and on, but will leave it at that.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
3 Comments »
September 29th, 2014 at 09:08 pm
The kids get $2/per week/each "allowance", to learn money management. They have had the same allowances since they were 5. We have discussed raising it but they just don't spend their money! So, will leave be for now.
I don't even think it's so much that they don't spend money. It's more that they are extremely frugal. For example, going in on most purchases together and primarily buying used goods, or just being generally creative with their purchases. Throw that in with generous grandparents and living in different times, and they just don't seem to have much motivation to spend.
SO... I am thrilled that I found 7% interest savings accounts for them last year. If they aren't spending then they are learning the power of savings. & they probably have a nice start to their car funds or college funds. Or maybe they will enjoy the blow money when they are teenagers. I really don't care what they do with it, as long as they are learning delayed gratification, learning not to keep their money under their mattress, and as long as they don't ask us to buy them things. ($2 per week is it. They do not ask us for anything. They know if they want something they can buy it with their own money).
Initial impressions of the kids spending and savings habits?
LM is the spender. But he is a frugal spender and so he can get away with it.
BM is not a spender at all. What's interesting is that he has a hoarder personality. I really think he just likes to hoard money. & this gives me insight into my own dh (a major money hoarder***). This is kind of counter-intuitive because BM doesn't buy anything but his room is piled high with crap. LM's room is very spartan, by comparison, though he buys more toys. (He also more readily gives them up when he is done - selling old toys to buy new toys, etc.).
***As to being a major money hoarder, I really don't see a downside. But I don't think either BM or my dh are too extreme, either. To the extent that they take it, it is all good.
Progress on savings accounts:
BM, age 11
$388 Beginning Balance August 2013
+ 35 Interest
+ 82 Piggy bank deposits (just allowance?)
+ 35 Birthday money
----
$540 Balance September 2014
He's been working really hard, wanting to top out his interest. (7% is only paid out on the first $500 of his savings account). He is doing so well that I told him I would match him my highest cash interest rate on his money above $500 (which is only earning like 0.1% otherwise). My current highest interest rate is 6%, so I am glad that will keep him motivated.
LM, age 9
$275 Beginning Balance August 2013
+ 27 Interest
+ 42 Piggy bank deposits (just allowance?)
+ 49 Birthday money
----
$393 Balance September 2014
I think he will get to $500 next year!
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
3 Comments »
September 28th, 2014 at 04:09 pm
**Update on the fire: We had some rain and the fire is now 87% contained. It is looking fairly good for the family cabin. Phew!!! It did rain one inch (Thursday?) and there was a flash flood warning; concerns about all the debris from the fire. You can't win! But in the end, it seems the rain helped substantially.**
-----------------------------------------------------
Today I decided to sit down and get the October bills paid since I won't be in town next weekend. Now that I think about it, it is wise to get the October bills paid regardless. Where did the month go???
Bills paid (er, set to pay next week):
--Gardener
--HOA
--Gas
--County (sewer)
{These all come from the checkbook; can't throw on credit - so I pay around the first of every month}.
I set to pay these because I have enough cash in my checking account to cover.
After I get my paycheck deposited next week I will immediately pay:
--Mortgage
--Piano teacher
--September Visa charges
--September Gas/Grocery charges (Amex Rewards card)
--September Target charges (groceries)
Also, will fund monthly investments at that time.
----------------------------------------------------
This month has been spendy.
Where to begin?
**This weekend I am doing a shoe purge.
It is *impossible* for me to find (work/nice) shoes for my feet. BUT, I did a shoe buying binge and actually found some comfortable shoes. I think. (I can never tell until I wear them for like a whole week).
The short version is that after buying more and more expensive shoes at the urging of others ("expensive shoes are always better"), I found a pair of very comfortable and nice looking shoes in my closet. They were FREE. (I had gotten them in order to receive free shipping on a large purchase). I bought a second pair (same shoes) on sale this week for $25. They are not some expensive or fancy brand, I got them at Sears.
Conclusion: Spending more money is NOT solving my problem. I have been thoroughly unimpressed with the quality of any more expensive shoes that I have bought in recent years. The best shoes are free?
Today I will work on returning ill-fitting shoes. I also purged 5 pairs of shoes from my closet. (Kept them for backups but am purging everything not 100% comfortable, now that I have more than one pair of shoes suitable for work. Also, one pair of shoes went to the trash).
**Edited to Add: Final tally. Kept 3 shoes for a total of $75 spent (average $25 x 3). Returned the rest today.**
---------------------------------------------------
Other spending:
--Dh's car had a $600 repair. (We save $750/year per car, for repairs, so that is covered with those funds).
--Dh bought tickets to a show in San Francisco next month. $20/each.
--Target had monkey PJs (basically monkey costumes) on sale for $19.99. That was actually my anniversary present! Dh told me he would have gotten one for himself too (they were in the mens section) but they were out of stock. I saw them on sale online and then the kids wanted them too. PERFECT anniversary gift. Will have to get a picture of us all in our monkey PJs.
Spending other people's money:
Dh's family gave us $80 for our anniversary. Woohoo!
$40 in cash and $40 in checks.
We had planned a decadent lunch out and so spent about $40 on that.
The cash was perfect because we have the school fall festival this weekend. It's like one of the only kind of things we ever go to the ATM for any more. So, it saved us a trip to the ATM. Was happy to donate $40 to the school, in exchange for lots of food and entertainment.
---------------------------------------------------
Dh's aunt returned to Hong Kong and so we turned off the cell phone she borrowed. It is the second time we have activated a 5th phone for a purpose like that. It was $6 for the month (Ting). She did not run up enough minutes or data to push up our bill at all. So, we were able to make her life very easy for $6. We will get the cell phone back from dh's family later.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
2 Comments »
September 23rd, 2014 at 02:40 pm
I redeemed my $200 Citi cash late last week and it already arrived in the mail! Woohoo!
It's already been deposited to my bank account. I will throw it at the mortgage with the monthly mortgage payment (next payday).
I had just enough points leftover to redeem a USB flash drive, 16GB. I am fine and happy with the 8GB (another free drive?) that I put in my car, but for the long run it will be nice to have more space. Plus, BM needed a flash drive for school. I will give him the smaller one. (Doesn't that sound kind of archaic? My dh was not encouraging that route due to viruses and such. Surprised they can't just do it all online. I am sure dh will get it figured out, but we have the drive if it is a true need).
This puts us on track to earn $2,500+ of cash rewards this calendar year. Several of those rewards were "iffy," but they all came to fruition. Phew!
Posted in
Just Thinking,
Credit Card & Bank Rewards
|
2 Comments »
September 21st, 2014 at 04:13 pm
Fiscal Minutiae:
Payday was this past week.
Paid off Citi card (charged up for one-time bonus). Redeemed $200 cash; should receive it next week.
Paid a life insurance bill and transferred monthly (set) amount into savings.
----------------------------------------------------
Dh bought a phone for the kids for their birthday. It was an exceptional deal. It is not compatible with Ting, but the kids do use my old phone for games that they can not get elsewhere. With this phone purchase, they don't have to share the *one phone* so much.
Dh told me he had an eye on some other phone and won't be able to resist next time it goes on sale. This phone would be compatible with Ting. I expressed my displeasure (he's got a PHONE obsession!). My displeasure is because we have plenty of phones (3 already for the kids) and lord knows one of us may be ready for an upgrade before the kids ever need a true cell phone (which will add another hand-me-down to the pile). BUT... I will say this. BM has been using his new phone *a lot* for school. There is some app for video calling that they are using for group projects and so on. The nice thing is the phone will always ring if someone is trying to reach him; no need to leave the computer on and the program up and open (like we do for skype).
The phone is like $50. I have expressed my feelings, but will probably just have to let it go. If we do get that phone then my old phone will have to go. I think dh will agree. (Not sure if we can get anything for it, but at least we can reduce the phone clutter!)
The latest on the phone front? Dh installed the Hangouts Dialer on our cell phones so that we can make phone calls without using minutes. We were testing that out a bit last night and I am sure it will save us a few dollars here and there.
Dh was also toying with the idea of getting a google voice phone #. We decided to put it on the kids' cell phone and make BM the guniea pig, for now. As long as he has a wifi connection he can now make phone calls and send and receive texts. There is also a voice mail feature.
I think this is good middle ground because BM has absolutely no need for a true cell phone right now. It gives him some of the perks, but it's FREE.
We've been bumping up to the next tier on cell phone minutes some months when we travel more. This voice dialer app will keep us from doing that any more. The google voice will also move some of the minutes off of our home phone. (We do pay for minutes on home phone if we go over the base amount). It's not a huge savings, just a few dollars here and there. Every little bit helps!
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
5 Comments »
September 18th, 2014 at 05:54 pm
This drought just gets worse and worse.
Our family cabin is just a couple of miles from the BIG California wildfire.
Sunday we heard there was a fire and started to worry. As of yesterday the fire was something like 40 square miles. It ballooned overnight to 110 square miles. I can't even wrap my brain around that...
Anyway, the fire started a couple of miles from the family cabin. It seems to be spreading north mostly into the wilderness. (Amazingly no structures burned yet??). The freeway is kind of a natural barrier and it seems they are having an easier time containing it on that side. (I think it's the only border that is the least bit contained). So there is hope. {I guess to be more clear: The fire is raging northwards, and a freeway divides the south end of the fire from a large amount of homes and business. Our family cabin is just a couple of miles south of the freeway}.
No one lives at the cabin and it contains no valuables. But, the home was built by dh's late Grandfather. His family would be absolutely devastated if it burned down. Some things are just priceless.
{Dh asked if he should retrieve anything, since we live the closest. No one has requested anything. Probably too late now - the roads are closed and so on}.
Of course, you can't help but feel for all the people who live there. Lots and lots of uncertainty. I heard a few days ago that it would take *weeks* to get it contained.
EDITED TO ADD: They arrested someone for deliberately setting this fire. Terrible!
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
10 Comments »
September 10th, 2014 at 02:00 pm
Yesterday:
In a couple of weeks we celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary; 19 years together.
I saw the *perfect* gift yesterday ($37) and could not resist. Rare and priceless! (I can't share more because I want dh to be surprised, but it's more of an inside thing anyway).
I just happened to see a bunch of things listed on ebay (by one seller) and it took me a while to remember my ebay login - have not used in a few years. Glad I figured it out!
I've probably seen something similar on sale before, but have not been particularly motivated to pay a bunch of money just for the nostalgia factor. BUT, two weeks before my anniversary, I was sold.
I mentioned to dh that I found the *perfect* gift and had to get it, yesterday. He said he had a similar experience and had already gotten me a gift. We mostly never get each other gifts for occasions, so it's funny how it worked out like that!
-----------------------------------------------
Dinner last night was hamburger pasta (basically homemade and "10 times better" version of hamburger helper).
I thought I'd finish my library ebook last night but still have 20-ish more pages.
Dh did some Amazon spending:
$10 CD
$10 gift (upcoming child's birthday party)
$20 splurge (something he has wanted for a long time and he bought to get the free shipping).
{With my $37 purchase, it was a big spend day}.
All of the above went on our 2% cash back credit card.
I confirmed that my $30 bonus made it to my checking account. This means my checking account is reconciled, as of last night (just an automatic thing in Quicken). Get paid Tuesday and don't plan to make any payments until then. $130 in the checkbook, but don't plan to use it.
-------------------------------------------------
Today:
Nothing planned for today.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
3 Comments »
September 9th, 2014 at 01:56 pm
I haven't been updating as much lately. I figured maybe I'd take a "fiscal minutiae" approach for a while.
Monday:
I know it's been asked here and there how married couples manage their finances. It's always been kind of a *shrug* to us because we are so much on the same financial page. Nothing small particularly needs to be discussed. Big things are always discussed.
I suppose this is one reason I do prefer using credit cards. Then it just doesn't matter if we forget to tell each other something. Which makes life very very easy. If anything, I feel bad that I have to nitpick my spouse so much about the credit card charges. Because #1 - I want to make sure unusual charges are not fraud.** & #2 - I need to know how to categorize in Quicken. So I do ask him a lot about every purchase. But overall, in the days of instant information, I always know every purchase that has been made. Which probably makes us pretty lazy on the communication side. Really no need to discuss it much.
**An example for #1. I woke up and saw a pending $20 charge for Walmart.com the other morning. When dh woke up I said, "Did you buy something at Walmart???" He confirmed that he did and filled me in. I admit more communication would eliminate the sinking feeling that my credit card has been used fraudulently. (IT was just a very unusual charge). BUT, you have to balance that with not feeling like you are reporting to your mother with every purchase, know what I mean?
So, I don't know that dh told me specifically about any spending yesterday. But I see that he filled up his car with gas ($35) and spent $2 at the grocery sore (I'm assuming for bread).
He spent $5 on Amazon for some music, which he mentioned. I thought he was going to buy some CDs, but I guess he just went with the digital music. It was some music he borrowed from the library first and was telling me what a great album it was.
Yesterday was a NSD for me (as most days are). Not a slight on dh - he does most of the shopping and errands. I often just have him fill up the gas in the cars, etc.
I had pumpkin chorizo pasta for lunch and will probably eat it ALL week. Dh thinks it made him sick (Doubtful; he NEVER gets sick and I think it was a flu bug). The kids didn't like it (unusual for them). & so I have enough to last me this week and more. (I'll see what I can get through). I usually don't eat the same leftovers *all week*. & I don't remember the last time dh AND the kids wouldn't eat something. Yeesh!
Dinner last night: baked chicken, rice and brussels sprouts.
Today:
Nothing on the horizon for today. Pumpkin chorizo pasta for lunch. I may go visit my friend's shop this week and catch up with her. It will give me a break and it's a food shop. IT's a good week to mix it up a bit.
I just received our internet/landline bill and so put it on the 2%-cash-back credit card. $65. (This is one of our splurges - fiber optic from a smaller local company. Until we can get google fiber anyway. Like many of these things, don't plan to spend this much forever, but biding our time until we have more options).
P.S. I don't auto-pay *anything*. (Though a handful of really small bills that I have to autopay?). I have been told this is because I am an accountant. That is how accountants are, I guess.
Posted in
Just Thinking
|
1 Comments »
September 7th, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Tried a new recipe that was a hit with the adults. I don't recall the kids caring for it much, which is kind of surprising.
Pumpkin-Chorizo Bow Tie Pasta
Text is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pumpkin-chorizo-bow-ties and Link is http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/pumpkin-chorizo-bow-ties
(If the link doesn't work, just google it. It's free to join the Taste of Home website and to see recipes, BUT I generally don't share recipes that need a login. It seems to be finicky right now and depends on the browser I guess. It seems to work in Chrome if you open in an incognito window and earlier it worked in plain old firefox).
----------------------------------------
Went to a party yesterday and had some interesting pizzas.
The kids made "watermelon pizza". The white stuff is coconut. Berries and grapes make a nice topping.
A vegetarian relative also brought some veggie pizzas for her kids. They were surprisingly delicious. Instead of cheese, they grated carrots onto one pizza and added little bits of brocolli. I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was.
Posted in
Just Thinking,
RECIPES
|
1 Comments »
September 6th, 2014 at 03:51 pm
Things are going pretty well financially. Knock on wood. (They never seem to go this well for very long, so will see...). I suppose my positive feelings and measurement of "well" is just that we have a pre-kids level of cash and are saving at a pre-kids/dual income pace. Which was a good measure of financial freedom. Today we have all that plus a heck of a lot more assets.
I still make a solid $20k less than our highest "dual income", but I am taking home more with the $20k+ decrease in taxes. I have been for a couple of years probably, but have had some catching up to do on the savings front. This tax/income interaction is really key on the balance side of things. We could easily make an extra $20,000 - $40,000 and be NO BETTER OFF. I see it every single day. Show me someone who has a $30k higher wage and I will show you someone who is paying $30k more in taxes than I am. This is an important point to understand when it comes to balance. That you can work significantly less and be just as well off.
I personally credit my parents for being extraordinary examples of balance. I don't know if I appreciated it before, but in recent years that balance and the benefits of that balance has become pretty clear. & I know that it seems to come pretty easy to me.
I don't know if I had given it much thought lately, but it really hit me as I was evaluating our current finances. I'd say we are back to our peak financial comfort level, which was pretty darn comfortable. So, what do I want to do with all this financial comfort? With more wiggle room, is there something we should be splurging on?
The answer? Nothing. There is absolutely nothing we want to splurge on. We have more than we could possibly need or want. This wasn't really the answer I was expecting to come up. But that is where our strong sense of balance has put us.
This is all well and good because I have a ton of financial pressures coming up on the horizon. Our plan is actually to do a couple of big splurges, and then nose back to the grindstone. Which is for the best with the economy, with kids nearing college age, and all the other financial pressures we know are on the horizon.
Even our splurges have a solid "Plan B". Which is also an important part of balance. So you don't feel deprived when everything doesn't go as you expect it to. So you don't even feel particularly set back when life happens. Because life will always happen.
Big Splurges?
Dh does have his eye on a $3,000 projector. His parents have already vocalized giving us that money for Christmas and it's all his. I've even given him a thumbs up to keep an eye open for sales. Will probably buy late winter (after cash in hand) unless a sales comes up before then. But we will jump on a sale prematurely if it will put us ahead for the long run. (Fall is when new models come out? So we may make a purchase next month if the price comes down at that time).
Plan B: No matter what we will upgrade his projector this year or next. I am just not sure if we will go with a $1k or a $3k purchase. Either way is a huge step up and will make him happy. I think the $3k purchase will make him more happy for longer. But we are both interested in sticking with a reasonable budget.
You can file this away under, "ridiculous splurge that we never could have justified the past few years." He's also been enjoying his higher quality TV and sulking about his loss of hearing. I am personally happy to see him excited about his movie theater again - the one we bought the extra big house for. We don't plan to downsize for another solid decade, so he might as well use and enjoy. Or the kids are getting to an age where they will use and enjoy.
I admit dh has had this projector on his wish list for a while, but this will do it for him. He's got nothing else on his want list.
The other big splurge is BM's Japan trip in the spring. That is a given and I have a creative way to fund his trip. IT's just that the opportunity popped up now, but it is good timing for us financially. Plan A is for both dh and BM to go, but Plan B is to just send BM. I don't think we will decide until next year. Will see how the next few months go financially and where we are at. It is possible (but unlikely) that my parents will chip in a bit for that trip. So, waiting to see how that sorts out before we commit to anything.
What about me? Well, it is mostly true that I have everything I could possibly want or need. But I suppose I have one caveat to that. What I want more than anything is lots of cash to tide me over for my next job transition. Both of our long-term employment situations are just clear as mud, for the moment. I just want to be able to take some relaxing time off in between jobs. (I don't know if this is possible, but it is what I want). & I want to be able to take my sweet time and find that perfect job. I have always had that time and freedom in the past (which is why my current job is so awesome - I know the awesome jobs are out there). For the first time in this economy I feel a bit of that again - that I have the luxury to take my sweet time and to hold out for that ideal job. It's also been almost a decade since my last maternity leave so I am ready for some time off and a reboot. My next job transition just seems a natural time and way to take that reboot.
& so is the plan. A couple of big splurges and then noses back to the grindstone. It's also that final stretch before BIG expenses like college and so on. If unemployment is never an issue, then we will have plenty of other uses for any savings in the next few years.
One final thought on balance. It probably pains me on some level to plan to spend $9,000-ish that can be set aside to pay 2 months of our expenses in event of job loss. But I am not sweating it. Times are good and we should enjoy. I know it will make any period of unemployment or adjustment easier because we did splurge and enjoy when we could. We've been saying "no" to a lot of things since we had kids and I know there is a lot of "no we can't do that" for the next 10-ish years until we get our kids through college. I think it's important to relax and enjoy when we obviously can. & I think we can do so while being well prepared for all of the uncertainty. & that feels awesome!
Posted in
Just Thinking,
,
Living on One-Income
|
2 Comments »
|