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
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=$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.

**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.

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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.

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.***

**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}.

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**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...

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**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.

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.**

Excellent Article:

Comparing Three Major Levers You Can Pull On Your Retirement Portfolio

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. http://www.mymoneyblog.com/lower-costs-higher-returns-again-...

**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.

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...

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:

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.

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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)
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$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.***

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).

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:

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:

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:

https://z181d126bt4.ting.com

I *love* this post from My Money Blog.

Must, Should, and Financial Freedom

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.

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
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$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
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$393 Balance September 2014

I think he will get to $500 next year!

**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.**

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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.

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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.**

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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.

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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.

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!

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.

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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!

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!

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!

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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.

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Today:

Nothing planned for today.

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.

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

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).

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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.

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!

Things are strangely quiet on the financial front. Heck, things are uncharacteristically quiet all around. I am enjoying the peace and calm.

**General Frugal Doings**

Dh has been wanting to get some D&D going, but strangely enough he has never played. (Seems like most of our male friends are fairly into it). But my younger child is way into it. Dh is starting to feel comfortable enough to be DM and get a game started for the kids and some of their friends. So maybe sometime in the fall. In the meantime, he has found a couple of groups that don't mind an 8yo or 9yo tagging along. So, that has been a lot of free entertainment. I guess they have been meeting about once a month.

Dh also joined a meetup and has gone to several game nights. I guess those are also once a month.

BM's bff is going to a different school this year and so we had invited them over to our house for dinner and a game night last month. I personally kind of want to start just a once a month thing, but it just seems like such a big commitment. We talked about this very seriously with our neighbors but then all hell broke loose in our personal life. & so, I don't know. Maybe it's better to keep it loose, but we should be more proactive on invites when things are calm. Like right now!

This weekend and last weekend was family get-together stuff. Relatives in town and a good excuse to get all the kids together.

Oh, and one other thing. We did some sound recordings this past weekend. My dad has a band that he has had since college. One member has passed on, (well, maybe two have), and the rest of the band is still together. I suppose now that they are all retired they are doing a lot more music. The band has always recorded throughout the years and borrowed kids and in-laws and whoever to fill in the blanks. I have done lots of singing, but am not into solo-ing and no one was going to ask me as long as my sister is around (she is an exceptional singer). But my dad had a song that was kind of perfect for me, and my sister is on the other side of the U.S., and so lucky me! It was fun and we got that all recorded and finished this past week. If LM would take it seriously at all he would have totally replaced me (he has a lot of talent). But maybe in a few years he will be the "strong male singer" my dad has always wished for.

All this to say, we have no problem finding free and inexpensive entertainment.

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Other doings:

**Dh has been really in the groove with his movie stuff lately. He is gearing up to produce a movie and has generated some interest on his script.

He got someone in the industry to read his script (his first script/his "baby") and they LOVED it. Not holding my breath much on that, but it's an exciting lead. (It's also really creative how he got his script to this person. He has tremendous business sense, and maybe that is just the edge he needs. It's definitely been pretty noticeable that a lot of his film making friends lack even the most basic business sense). So yeah, that is kind of exciting.

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Financial Stuff:

**Dh asked me if Target card had closed for the month yesterday and I said, "Sure". I looked it up and it always closes on the third. I suppose that was meant to be "it always closes on the third after they count all your shopping on the third". I've paid all the bills for the month so now I have to go back and pay another $70 or $80. (I had already sent off the payment for the Target balance for the month). Dh did a big grocery run there, yesterday. (Some months we don't even spend that much, so it figures).

Oh well - this will be easy to remember - it cycles with our 2% cash back card. I just don't know that we have ever made any purchases on the third before. Or if it was unusual that those charges snuck through.

When I get home I will make sure I have the cash in the checking account for that - I believe I do. I will finish paying off the balance this week so I can move on.

**I suppose I have one other bill to pay this month. Waiting for my Citi bill and will pay that off next payday.

Then I will get my $200 bonus!

I have decided to put that bonus to the mortgage. That is veering from "the plan" but I can't resist the exact round number that $200 will get us to this month. I think it will even out as I was planning to throw a little something to the mortgage in December. This is probably less than I would have put to the mortgage in December and is likely to keep me happy well into 2015. So maybe it works well with "the plan".

Dh scored a $75 focus group (for 1.5 hours).

Woohoo!

I have no idea what we will do with this money. I expect that I will throw this snowflake to investments.
I don't foresee that he will want to do anything else with it.

Beach Trip:

Spent $400. The bulk of that was food, and then the kitty hotel. That maybe includes $20 gas. I won't worry about the rest of the gas (maybe spent $50 gas total).

I don't remember the last time we went somewhere so crazy expensive on the food front. Never?? Their Round table pizza prices were 70% more expensive than our own local RT. We went there on the last night for a "cheap dinner" and couldn't believe the bill. Large pizza was about $30. !!

I'll pull $400 from the vacation budget. It works out perfectly because I also wanted to donate $100 to Camp Sac. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet and so made that donation this week and will pull $500 from vacation budget. $400 + $100. (Since MIL treats for our camp trip we always make a donation instead. Money used to keep up the non-profit camp).

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.

First is the Mendocino coastline. Breathtaking.

Second picture was taken at Glass Beach. Old dump site where the trash has been ground down over the years into a beautiful sea glass beach. When you look closer at some of the rust colored areas of the picture (in person), is remnants of the old dump. There was one part that had an old giant car part and shards of glass. It's fascinating how old trash can be so pretty. Lots of the sea glass on the shore is plastic (red and orange pebbles used to be car tail lights) and ceramic (lots of pieces of china).

Our hotel accommodations were free, think to MIL's endless timeshare points. The property was so beautiful but the rooms were really run down. We are not picky people by any means, but when we got there I think we were both a little uncomfortable. I will say that the place grew on me. The beds were surprisingly comfortable and so we got over it. The beauty of the grounds won us over. Which is maybe why MIL's timeshare covered this place. Usually WAY NICER properties.

So, we finally did it. It took us 13 years, but we finally ventured up north for the beach. Since we now live up north. What was our overall feeling about it? It was beautiful but the drive was so stressful getting there. I don't know if I have ever been on such a windy road in my life and felt really horrible for carsick younger child. (I know I would have been miserable most the drive if I wasn't driving).

Glad we saw it, but think we will stick with Pismo Beach. Oh, and it took us 6 hours to drive home (supposed to be a 4 hour drive). SO... Pismo is a lovely and very easy 5 hour drive with hardly a windy road. I think that is just *our* beach.

We certainly had fun and have no regrets about it. It will just be a long time before we go back again. & new adventures sometimes give us extra appreciation for the places we already know and love.

We are back from a long weekend at the coast, and kids start school this week.

I have no idea how much money we spent, but guessing $500-ish for gas and food and kitty hotel (4 Days).

My parents picked up airline tickets for visiting my sister in October. Phew! Glad that it is confirmed for sure that I don't need to cough up $500 for that (before they changed their mind). Which meant I had $1,000 left in vacation budget, and it doesn't look like I will be spending much in October (We won't rent a car and at worst it will only be $25/night to split a hotel. Just me, so not a lot of food to buy either). $500 should be more than plenty leftover for that trip.

Dh wants to go to Napa next month (I doubt we'd even spend $100) and I am still toying with the idea of going to Pismo Beach for my birthday. The kids don't get their usual day off (Monday after Thanksgiving) so it would just be dh and I. Will probably just make that a last minute decision, based on funds available. I suppose I should just use my Citi reward to book that hotel, and call it a day.

Will post more about our trip later.

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When we got home the Citi card was here. I charged it up already. $215 school lunches for first half of year, $260 field trips, $70 supplies and spirit t-shirts, this month's health insurance, plus $35 to pre-pay next month's insurance. Total = $1,500.

$200 earned - now I wait until I can redeem.

Another summer break has flown by. Kids go back to school next week.

I decided to jump on that Citi offer when creditcardfree jogged my memory that I can redeem the $200 in cash form. Woohoo! I also received an auto insurance bill and was thinking about back-to-school spending, so it seemed like a good time to do a cc bonus (lots of expenses).

School spending:

--Bought a larger and sturdier backpack for 4th grader. 4th grade is really intense at their school.

--Middle schooler doesn't need anything? I have gotten on a wonderful schedule of offseason clearance purchases. He already has an entire wardrobe in the next size up.

--Will prepay school lunches for 6 months. I fund every August and January.

--School requests $25 per pupil, for supplies. Which is one reason I have nothing else to buy.

--Field trip fees. BM's class seems to be fiscally ambitious, overall, so I am relieved they are requesting a mere $60 for this year. But just wait, someone will think that a $600 field trip is a great idea. *sigh* I ned to cough up $200 for the 4th grader. I will just pay it this month and be done with it.

We of course save for all of the above monthly - will just pull from savings.

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I've noticed the AC was weak in my vehicle but I thought it was just in my head. I learned on a 106F degree day last week that it was NOT at all in my head. UGH!

Anyway, took the car in today. It's very cool today, but kind of muggy. Just really WEIRD weather. I flipped on the AC and it couldn't have felt more cold and refreshing. So, will see. I told the mechanic it's working great now but does not seem to perform in 100F degree weather. I am hoping it just needs a simple recharge. IS probably most likely.

I did look up maintenance records and we replaced 4 tires last year and had some brake work done in 2011. So, if the vehicle needs a big repair, it is long past due. We endlessly save up for car repairs - one of those things that have never been a big deal to us. (Also helps to have a trusted mechanic that keeps repair costs well below average).

EDITED TO ADD: $200 today to recharge the AC and insert dye to find if there is a leak. As of now, no leaks found. I am thinking it is probably a very slow leak that is not worth fixing. But we will follow up on that in a few weeks.

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Car Shopping? NOT ME.

IT's my mom. She finally found a vehicle. She bought a barely used luxury vehicle about 17 years ago, for $20k. It still gets a LOT of attention - it's kind of flashy. It is still often assumed to be fairly new. My parents wanted to replace it a couple of years ago but she just did not like anything else, in comparison.

Fast forward 2 years and they are doing exceptionally well financially, so she is trying to talk herself into a car upgrade. She called me last week bemoaning some awful experiences at the dealerships and how crappy all the newer cars are. I know she was really trying to talk herself into a brand new luxury vehicle, but was feeling very overwhelmed by all the gadgets on the new higher end vehicles.

Anyway, they ended up finding a stripped down 2013 luxury model which is perfect for them. Will only pay $20k-ish after trade-in. I told my dh after talking to my mom earlier in the week that they were so NOT buying a NEW car. I am glad they found something.

I share, because I am feeling so blessed with my own experience and point of view. I can't imagine how different our lives would be if we were afraid of buying used cars. A lot of unnecessary financial stress. I just cringe every time I hear a "I can't survive without a $35,000 vehicle!" comment. Which seems to be like every single person we know. I love to help and educate people, but preconceived notions are mostly impossible to overcome. All I can do is be thankful that we aren't stressing over GIANT car purchases in our own household. & that I am blessed to know that I can buy a VERY NICE vehicle for a bargain.

Woohoo! I finally got the $200 bonus for dh's Chase checking. Phew! I set up another ach transfer from a less popular financial institution, but when I checked to see if the transfer had come through the $200 bonus was already pending. (I wasn't expecting that!) So, maybe it worked the first time. (Though that was well over 10 business days!). Or maybe they just deposited the $200 when they saw the transfer coming through. I don't know, but it did work without a real "direct deposit".


2014 TALLY:

$500 Amazon gift cards (SW Chase double dip, Dh)
$250 Cash (Chase Freedom, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Moi)
$200 Cash (Chase Checking, Dh)
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$1150 TOTAL *ONE-TIME REWARDS*

Notice that these are ALL Chase rewards? Yeesh!

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So BM survived his backpacking trip. We ended up spending about $350 on backpacking gear. I am relieved to get the $200 bonus as I will throw that at the gear.

I would like to say that I was depositing all these rewards to our mortgage or investments, but I think it *all* got spent. Just one of those years. We happened to have a couple of things break just as we got the rewards. IF not for this bonus, I'd pay for the gear out of the vacation fund. But, if I can leave the vacation fund robust it gives us more options for the rest of the year. We leave for the beach next week and I will definitely relax more and not worry about how much we are spending.

It is what it is. Always easier for us to splurge extra money or "Free money". I am certainly glad to have it!

**They are offering free solar setup in our neighborhood these days. The company takes all the tax breaks to subsidize the costs.

We don't use enough energy to utilize. So, phew. Dh is a little more into that than me. I can't say he would necessarily do it, BUT, the whole thing appears to be moot at the moment anyway. So it's not even a discussion.

It is interesting though as several neighbors are taking up the offer and discussing their energy bills. $150-$225/month. We are at around $60/month. Don't ask me! It was our electricity usage that I wanted to work on this year - a rare bill I felt we had room to improve on. We don't really do anything special in this area and since we aren't from the area we aren't particularly used to the heat. On one hand. On the other hand, we don't feel the need to keep our house 70F degrees 24/7. I suppose that is the most of it.

The other interesting thing about our current electricity bill is that it is at a "people home 24/7" level. For the long run I do expect it to go down. I'd expect in 5+ years that everyone else in the house will have jobs and be out of the house more.

We do have a very energy efficient home and I guess some part of me presumed all these new homes were energy efficient, but maybe some of them are not as efficient as others. Ours is specifically an "energy star" home.

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I had no idea how much our vacation was going to cost. I mentioned maybe $0 or $1,000. I was just figuring $500. Probably the worst case.

In the end, I think we pulled it off at around $500. (In-laws were sidelined so did not really go anywhere with us. In the end we paid for the entire meals when we were together. Don't ask me. Is why I had no idea where we would end up).

MIL gave the kids $50. They spent $40 on souvenirs and arcade games. I will consider that a wash. We probably would not have done any of the above, otherwise. Though that was another plus for Six Flags. Their arcade was actually reasonably priced.

$20 parking, $400 food, $180 gas. Total is $600. But we will pull $100 from the regular food and gas budget to cover some of the costs. So, leaves $500 to come out of the vacation budget.

Hotel - free with MIL's timeshare
Parks - paid for by MIL and credit card rewards
Kitty hotel - paid for with credit card rewards

I think it was an extraordinary vacation for $500!

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Our total vacation budget is $1500 per year and so that leaves $1,000 for the rest of this year. Was waiting to see how this shook out before we plan trip to visit my sister. Waiting to see how that shakes out before we decide what to do with the kids' fall break.

Well, things are shaking out. My mom is not feeling up to flying out to see my sister and she offered to fly them out here. She feels bad about the whole thing. But I told her I think it is great. I did not want to fly out my whole family and I knew that would disappoint my sister. It just makes way more financial sense to bring her out here.

In exchange, my mom offered to fly me out with one other person in my family. I don't know if I will take up the offer to bring someone else. It will probably just be my dad and I. If she is really intent on being fair maybe they can pay for $400-ish of BM's Japan airfare next year. For that second airfare.

I have never seen my sister's current home or been to her current state (Kentucky) and so I think it's important to still go out there. I do look forward to just having a special trip with my dad.

I also think I can get us a free hotel, from MIL. (Or we may just split a $50/night hotel room). I don't even know if we will need to rent a car.

So that trip is starting to look fairly -$0- on the spending front. & that is a nice surprise!

Since we will likely go visit my sister the week my kids have off of school, dh and I are leaning towards doing something small that week. When I get back. Maybe just Death Valley. Or maybe just Grand Canyon. But don't want to do the whole giant road trip thing, due to time and finances.

We do have a beach weekend planned in August, so it's nice we might have a little spending money for that. I think we will loosen the purse strings on that one. (We already have a free hotel room and may or may not reserve the kitty hotel).

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All of the above is good, because this backpacking trip is going in the other direction. My dad mentioned we could just rent some stuff. So you know, we just got back from vacation and are looking at prices. BM leaves on Tuesday. We probably should have just planned ahead and bought some used gear. !!

Our attempts to borrow a tent are also failing, given the last minute nature of our preparations. I did find a backpack to borrow but also saw some at REI for $99 that were very highly reviewed and could last a lifetime for BM. That I am totally cool with. But haven't seen anything on the tent front under $200.

The University does rent out tents so we will look into that tomorrow. If that does not pan out my dad said he can rent one for us. The REIs around here don't have any rentals? But several in his neck of the woods do have rentals.

Anyway, preparation and planning is probably the #1 key to frugality. & I am feeling a little frustrated with our lack of planning. I am seeing how we could have saved a lot of money with a little bit of planning.

As of right now, will borrow a backpack for free. (Is a friend who owes me a favor anyway). Will probably rent a tent somewhere and then keep an eye for a sale for next time. My dad wants me to buy a titanium bowl and spork. {BM is going backpacking for three days with my dad. I suppose I should have mentioned that at the beginning}. We will owe my dad for some camping fees and so on too, but don't expect that to be much. Like literally a few dollars. Thought we might be driving to drop off or pick up but it seems they have most of that covered. It is a relief that we don't have to drive the van down too. Will just take the gas sipper to deliver BM. Maybe someone can also meet us halfway for that.

I will take all this from the vacation budget. This is also giving me renewed motivation to get that last $200 Chase bonus. That would go a long way to some backpacking gear if he thinks he will want to start backpacking more. (I don't see why he wouldn't).

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One final thing. Our Ting bill is going to be about $120 this month. We went over on our usual minutes with our travels. My dad has also been traveling.

My dad just got back from Japan and was able to use his phone there. Ting pricing was very reasonable. So that is the rest of it.

$120 is still significantly cheaper than our old sprint bill. So I had to talk up Ting a bit and share our referral code again.

$25 off referral link:

https://z181d126bt4.ting.com

Overall, travel aside, we have bumped up to the next data tier with my new phone. I must be using it a lot more. I don't know. So our household's portion of the Ting bill is averaging $30/month instead of $25.

I seem to be on a roll this year for doing really dumb things.

So LM was quibbling with me the other day and I was trying to deposit their birthday money into their accounts and so on. I had a $20 birthday check for LM. He deposited $7 from his piggy bank and BM had $10 from his piggy bank.

Oh yeah, so I found out the "catch" on their 7% accounts. I could not believe they let us open those accounts for the kids without us having to be CU members. BUT, the catch is we can't take money out without going in person. UGH! BM hit the $500 max (for 7% interest) so I told him we could go withdraw interest once or twice a year. I was going to just transfer it out every quarter until I went in and they said I could not do that.

On the deposit side it is okay because they can do phone deposits. Go figure. So I just write them checks to deposit. Usually the kids give us cash from their piggy bank, we put the cash in the allowance money pile (to give back to them later), and I deposit a check into their account. Since they won't let me transfer money into their accounts, from external accounts. It works...

So let's start over. LM had $27 to deposit and BM had $10. I was quibbling with LM and I proceeded to put all of his money into BM's account. TWO CHECKS! From two different people. I told dh that I doubt the CU would even notice. But was hoping I would not create returned check fees and problems.

It's been a week and it looks like they all went through without a problem. Phew! I guess I have to straighten it out on our end, now. Dh is going to deposit BM's $20 check at our CU. We can transfer from that account. Will then put it in our account and write a check to his brother for his CU account. That will straighten out the $20 I put in the wrong account. Then I owe BM $10 and LM owes us $10. I will have to think through that part later.

Okay, so through my work experience, I'd say banks frequently don't look too closely at checks. If they are signed, who they are made out too, the date, whatever. They don't seem to look at any of this stuff! So I am not surprised at all if it all goes through.

BUT... I seem to have been spending a ridiculous amount of time this year straightening out the stupidest little things. So, crossing my fingers that the CUs really are paying that little attention. Could I be so lucky this time?

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Reminds me, I seem to have failed at getting the $200 bonus from Chase since we don't have a true direct deposit. After reading that it doesn't matter. *sigh*

I will do a little more research on that before I give up and close the account. Looks like I should just try from another bank account. I have a couple of CU accounts and I do see reports that some random CU ACH transfers do seem to work. So I will keep trying.

A sure way to vacation success is to go in with low expectations.

Background: In-laws invited us to So Cal for a week. We were wary about the heat and crowds and spending all that time with them, but in the end it turned out pretty well. Unfortunately FIL had an injury and they didn't end up really doing anything with us. ??? So it was kind of weird (to go on vacation with someone and then never see them), but WE certainly had fun.

Disneyland: Glad we didn't spend our own money to confirm that the kids are over it.

My parents took me to Disney once. I always kind of appreciated the magic of vacations like that because they were so rare. Living a 6-hour drive from Disney I certainly know many people who go many times a year and seem to enjoy it. But, dh and I are just so bored with it, and our kids even moreso. (I think they have both been 6-8 times? The older one a couple of times more?). As dh said, "We don't care enough about anything to actually wait in line for it". We saved that for Wednesday and the day started out pretty well but it was so crowded in the afternoon and evening. We gave up and left early. For the most part it was way better than expected and we did all the "long wait" stuff early on before there were any lines. Phew.

The kids still LOVE Legoland and the in-laws did join us for a few hours.

For BM's birthday we went to Six Flags. Best day of our week. We could not believe how not-crowded it was. There was only one ride BM could not get into (didn't want to wait 45 minutes and the ride shut down when he decided to do it last even if the wait was long), was the new one. We told him we will come back in 5 years and everyone will be bored of it. It was surprising how short the lines were on everything else.

So, we decided that he did 11 mega coasters for his 11th birthday.

Oh, and the Six Flags by us is just awful. They won't let you carry fanny packs on the baby rides or set your drink down while you ride. Ridiculous $1 lockers by every ride where you have to put your hat and sunglasses. Dh and I both worked at an amusement park in high school and we were just kind of annoyed about everything last time we went to that Six Flags, in comparison. Looking at the website this one seemed to be about the same so I Was resigned to being the "stuff holder" all day. In the end, they had very few rides that requested lockers (BM saw one or two) and they still let you set your hat and drinks to the side for the ride. It's a small thing but it makes a big difference in enjoyment.

Compared to the other crowded parks, Six Flags was heaven. LM and I had a surprisingly enjoyable time though we didn't do many rides. Dh was a sport and rode most the BIG rides with BM. I am just getting too old for that stuff. Dh feels the same way, but he is a trooper. Next time we need to find a friend who is brave enough or tall enough. We could not for this trip. (His best friend is way too short to ride anything!)

I am guessing we spent $500 for the entire trip. Will see where we end up. Six Flags was entirely paid for by credit card rewards. In-laws paid for our other park tickets. We treated MIL to a $100 meal for her birthday dinner but she got us $100 Disney dollars (going to a timeshare talk). So I think we made out pretty well. We could have made the Disney day free, with the disney dollars, but decided to splurge on a ridiculously expensive lunch. $90 for four. IT was okay. If we had spent real money we would have been pretty disappointed.

Dh and I also made it to one show. A podcast one of his favorite comedians does. There were some other $10 shows but the timing didn't work and these are all shows that come to San Francisco at times. So, those will have to wait for another time.

I can't believe we were gone for 5 nights. I can get pretty cranky when we are away from home too long, but I think I am mellowing with age. I seem to travel better. But still very happy to be home! LM too seemed to have a surprisingly good attitude but this morning he told me he was happy to be home and he was going to hug the floor all day. That is usually how I am.

Edited to add: $500 in expected costs is for food and fuel.

I feel like I have been on vacation for weeks. Work is just really quiet. (Clients are mostly on vacation so I am getting caught up with stuff, just doing what I want to do). The long weekend was extremely refreshing (feels like it was more than a week or something). I think a lot of it is that I don't work a full week again until kids go back to school. Two more vacations in that time. I am already winding down for vacation after a quiet couple of weeks and a long weekend.

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I updated my 2014 rewards tally in my last post.

It's been a good money week. I did receive the $2k kids' college money.

I redeemed $200 Chase Freedom reward towards Six Flags expense, as planned. (Just saw my rewards hit today). I saved the rest ($36?) to redeem next month with gas 5% cash back (vacation driving). I expect this reward to be a grand total of $250. Will redeem the remaining $50 next month and will figure out what to do with it at that time.

We received our $500 (SW Chase) gift cards yesterday.

I won't know about dh's other $200 checking reward until Friday?

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I had yet to close the last two Chase Sapphires we opened. No rush, until the annual fee comes due a year after we opened. I probably would have closed them by now, but I did not want to close them while opening other accounts for rewards. In case it lessened our chances for any reason. The checking offers were because we had Chase accounts, and so I decided not to close them until we got our checking rewards, at the least. We have since both applied for new Chase accounts. At the time we both only had one Chase credit card.

SO...

Today I closed my Chase Sapphire card and dh's SW Chase card. The SW chase card was paid off yesterday AND we received the reward. It's best to close that one ASAP to get the annual fee refunded. Crossing my fingers on that too.

I will pay off the Chase Freedom next pay day and close that account. I will close dh's Chase Sapphire as soon as I sort out the SW Chase. Maybe tomorrow.

I can't close our Chase checking accounts before December. I have those set up in Quicken with a reminder. If we close before 12/31/14, we will be eligible to do the same rewards again in 2015. But if we close before December we forfeit our rewards.

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I suppose I have been somewhat in cleanup mode. Also managed to do some light de-cluttering around the house. Freecycling a few items, recycling batteries, etc.

I was going to say I wish that I had anything to sell. BUT, I guess that is not true. I am glad I don't have much laying around that we don't use or need. The difficult part for me is the stuff I don't want to throw away. (Thank goodness for freecycle! So glad to get things to people who can use them, even if can not sell for money or give to charity). I did have two freecycle no-shows, which is really annoying. I got a slew of e-mails of interested parties, but it's hard to tell who is actually serious I guess.

I purged a personalized frame (unique spelling), my very old and tired cat carrier, and a small animal pet leash. The free stuff got enough interest that I will try a few more random things next weekend.