Not that I have to agree with everything.

But I got around to watching an older episode last night where she said it was terrible to use plastic around your kids and they will never learn how to manage their money if you do.

Whatevah!

I tried to think back how my parents paid for things. I thought they always used checks or ATM cards. Credit cards as times changed. I don't particularly remember them paying things with cash. I honestly don't remember how they paid for things though, because it simply does not matter!!!!

It doesn't matter how they paid for anything because that is not how I learned about money...

I learned from having an allowance and from having to manage it. I learned from getting a checking account when I was a teen and a credit card when I got my first "real" job and paycheck. I learned firsthand to spend less than I Earned and to pay my card off every month. Of course I learned these because that is what my parents did and that is what they told me to do.

So, no, I don't plan to stop paying all my bills online, mostly while the kids are asleep, and carrying pretty much just plastic in my purse.

I admit it is important for kids to deal with cash. As much as I hate carrying any cash, the kids do carry their cash when we go out. When they shop they have to figure what they can afford and pay with their own money. That is most certainly important. But they are only 3 & 5. They have to learn at a basic level. But I can assure you just because we pull out the plastic, does not mean they will not understand money.

Now, if we only used plastic and we NEVER talked to them about money or taught them anything. Okay, yeah, that is asking for TROUBLE, obviously.

As they get older I am sure they will ask more questions about how we pay our bills and we will most certainly share. For now they use cash, we don't, and it works...

I mean most of their money is sitting in a piggy bank where they can physically see it. They have some money in the bank but they are too young to appreciate how that works at this point. Kids do need to physically see and handle their own money to grasp how it works. I think Suze and I both agree there.

A question was posed in the forums - "How many do you know laid off?"

It's a hard question to answer. I am not sure how open most laid off people are. There's probably some I am not aware of. It seems also to me Cali was hit extra hard in the recent decade, but maybe slower to be hit this round? I am sure we will be hit plenty. For one, the state government is really slow to let people go this round. It's kind of absurd with our budget crisis. Is my memory failing me or it seems like they were quick to cut jobs before Arnold. (2002 comes to mind). I don't know. Not saying either is right or wrong, but when the city's biggest employer hasn't let go of anyone, well, then most people I know are still gainfully employed!

3 people came to mind - a good friend's husband (high tech), a client's hudband (MBA at a giant corporation) and another techy friend who was laid off a while ago but already found another job.

That's all that came to mind though dh's dad worked for a local government and is likely going to be axed, my dad's firm is a start up that depends on venture capital (who knows where that is going - though I think he said they actually got funding for another year) and then all our MBA friends at giant corporations and all our high tech friends. Yeah, pretty much ALL their jobs are on the line.

So it's not like it is all roses here.

I did just find out my uncle was laid off (another state) so that makes it a solid 3 I guess. He's one of those who is always jobless though - no idea what he does.

The economic report from my first 3 tax clients was all sunshine and roses though. But will see as the year progresses and I meet with more of my clients. (Frankly, 2 of them were retired so not like they were worried about jobs!)

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In other news, I briefly mentioned a foreclosure 2 doors down from us. IT was priced $240k, which was extremely aggressive if you ask me.

I was looking forward to a quick, discreet sale. Unlike some in the area that have sat bank owned for YEARS.

However, they did put a giant "bank owned" sign on the property. "Ugh," is all I Could think. So much for discreet.

$240k seemed like an odd price. Kind of on the low side. So I was nosy to see if I could look up the foreclosure data yet.

Well, yes indeed. House was bought in 2006 for $485k.

Bank chose a $240k price because that is how much the loan foreclosed for.

I was actually surprised the foreclosed amount was that low. Did not know these neighbors, but only noticed recently they were driving two $30k cars (maybe more expensive?). They were just very flashy, expensive looking cars. Next thing you know they are moving out with a foreclosure sign on their lawn.

Obviously I know nothing of their story but it seems they somehow sunk $245k into the house? Didn't even attempt a short sale? I don't know. A similar house sold not THAT long ago for almost $300k.

Nothing makes much sense in this market though.

Aw, but the beauty is this. When I looked it up today I saw the asking price has been lowered to $212k.

Okay, I am relieved to see the bank is motivated. Not holding out for exactly what they are owed. Because I now realize that is precisely where they started.

But $212k? Ugh. Boy I hope that house sells fast! For our sake.

For reference, this is the smallest home in our neighborhood, about 1800 square feet. They were selling for maybe $230k or $240k when we bought, mid-2001. So $240k didn't scare me terribly. But $212k is getting into pretty low territory. It's just to that point where everyone in the neighborhood paid more for their house than what they are worth today, it that is the going price. That's kind of scary.

I personally think it will sell fast. But what do I know? I e-mailed it to a friend at $240k and that's how I found out her spouse was laid off. They were house hunting. I think they would die to know they could own this house for $212k. But without a job, they ain't buying. Maybe that is precisely why prices are sinking so rapidly...

But yeah this is the friend who "ashamedly" told me they were "only approved for $200k." I think they $200k buys a pretty sweet house in this market. But the way she said it was so funny to me. Most people think we have a $400k mortgage or something. $200k sounds pretty good to me - I never felt comfortable borrowing much more than that!

I am not worried about our mortgage, but I am keenly aware at a certain price point and/or unemployment rate, our neighborhood could spiral downwards into foreclosure central, pretty rapidly. We prefer to have living, breathing neighbors! IT's kind of frightening. But probably a little early to panic.

& literally when we bought, the difference between 1800sf and 3000 sf was literally $20k or $30k dollars. (It's kind of my pet peeve that so many people thinks big houses cost twice as much in every way shaper or form. I think they don't cost twice as much in ANY way shape or form. LOL). But, um, our neighbors just bought a 3000sf-er (renting their 1800sf home) for $375k!!!!! & if this one sells for $212k? Ugh. What a price differential!!!! I guess it's good for us. The big ones are selling. Just when you think it can't get weirder. I guess today the big house does cost twice as much. You got me there!

I will just have to keep you all updated.

BTW - If we had a better savings rate or more cash, I tell you, I'd be tempted to buy some rental real estate right now. TEMPTING. This house will be a good investment for someone (for the LONG run). We're just not in a buying position right now. At all! Low prices change my tune a bit on the whole rental thing though. If I had the cash, I would consider it.

Which is totally fine. It's just rainy and icky here. I always take a 3-day weekend or two in May to make up for it. Just too much work to do. But since I like working, it doesn't bother me a bit. I particularly like working weekends because it's so peaceful and so few interruptions. When I start getting sick of it (usually when the weather gets NICE), the busy season will be over anwyay.

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I don't have many thoughts on the stimulus. I am waiting for it to be signed into law (don't think it has been?) and then let the experts dissect it. All the commentary on it before there was even an agreement bugs the HELL out of me. A lot of wasted effort arguing the merits of things that probably won't even come to be anyway.

I notice the news reports a lot of misinformation. It's like playing telephone once the bloggers gets their hands on the info. So just be careful what you read. I have read too many conficting things about the latest agreement (formal news reports) to make much of the commentary seriously.

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The kids had a clean bill of health at the dentist. What a sigh of relief - you don't even know.

Phew!

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My Credit Union- wonderful customer service, no fees, many branches, no complaints here. BUT their loan departments SUCK. LOL.

I had applied for a credit card and never heard anything. I mean, I called and they couldn't do anything with the fraud alert on my credit reports. So when they called to verify that I was really me, they said they would get back to me. The fraud alert apparently screwed up the flow of things.

Granted I lost sight of it, but today I decided to call. I couldn't have been denied, could I have? It's been like a month. (Plus I worried if they sent me cards in the mail and someone else got them or something).

So I Called and they said I was approved but my application had expired because I "didn't do anything. " It was a frutsrating conversation because they were like "You didn't do anything." & I am like, "What was I supposed to do?"

Yikes!

So literally the guy was like, "Okay, I extended your application." & was like about to hang up. So I am like, "Um, okay - so what am I supposed to do next???" "Go into the branch and sign paperwork," was the answer. Um, I can guarantee no one said anything about that before. Last I heard was, "We'll get back to you." Not - "Go into a branch to sign paperwork." I Was under the impression it was all online as any other card I have ever applied for.

But whatever, I have to go deposit my paycheck this week anyway.

I asked for the max $15k credit limit and I got it. Woohoo. I was starting to worried I was denied or something!

Their mortgage department was about as annoying. Anyway, I went to them due to my disgust with Chase. Not convinced at this point that this will be any better...

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Along the same lines, we are almost done closing all our balance transfer cards. Mine was a piece of cake. Dh had a blip because they told him he had some rewards available or something and they had to transfer them to his account. (Utter BS, by the way). So I was jealous they wanted to keep his account open but not mine. LOL. I assured dh I was well aware of the awards system and it didn't work like that. We had redeemed all our rewards. So he waited a week or 2 for the phantom rewards to appear, they didn't, and he finally called back to close the account.

I could check that little chore off my To Do list, but I was keeping my last WAMU BT card open for the free FICO score. Chase (took over WAMU) announced they stopped the free FICO but it would last until March.

Um, not. I can still see my past scores but they usually update it monthly and haven't updated it in like 45 days. SO I am going to cancel the card. I have been waiting and hoping, but oh well. Time to kill that card too.

The timing is extraordinarily sucky. I have never had a negative impact on my credit from closing unused cards. So, since I just closed one I was extremely curious what the short term result would be on my FICO. I expected maybe it would maybe drop 5-20 points and maybe that was it. I don't know. I knew it would bounce back quickly. So my score may drop to 780 for a month or 2 or 3. I coud care less. But I Was curious if it would even drop at all...

Basically, now I will never know!

But it will be nice to close the card, for sure.

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I got a $150 refund from my disability insurance premium. I paid in about $300 and got back $150. Not a bad deal! IT's for pretty ample disability insurance. It's cheap because it is through my professional association. But more importantly it's also a good program. They have more money than they know what to do with so we always get large refunds. Funny thing is I thought they were going to try to lower premiums and decrease refunds in 2008, but it was a banner refund year.

More interestingly, I got a notice that they will offer 20-year and 30-year term life insurance policies, starting later this year. Could be interesting. Though I am wary if we will be able to improve on our current policies.

We got our current 30-year term life insurance policies in our 20s. As a result of our youth and high health rating, the policies we have right now are cheaper than anything else we could get today. So I am not expecting to be able to lower our costs. But who knows.

I also have a small annually renewing policy with my professional association (I call it the supplemental SAHD policy - enough for dh to go back to school and/or not work for many years while the kids are young. I could survive without his policy so I felt like he needed a little extra in turn - he'd need mine. This is the "get back on his feet" policy).

Anyway, I may be able to turn that into something more affordable or bigger with their new policies. We'll just have to run the numbers and see.

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Anyway, I could save my $150, but I think I am applying it to my bike purchase. I also got my IRS refund. $50 and horribly slow compared to the state. Go figure! I pretty much have the money for my bike. & I won't have to dig into savings. I am excited!!!!

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Reminds me, we may shop some of the PResident's Day sales this weekend for a new bed for LM. He is outgrowing his toddler bed rapidly. We could maybe get $50 for it on Criagslist - about what we paid for the whole thing (on Craigslist)!

We want to get him a really nice twin mattress (one that he can use forever). BM has my old childhood forever mattress. It is a nice one. So we have not bought a mattress for the kids before. But we want to get him something nice. Maybe a bed too if we see a good deal. The bed itself can wait though. We had wanted to spread out the purchases a bit.

We bought BM a forever bed already. Too bad dh's family only bought him cheap crap. LOL. Orelse we would maybe not need to buy a mattress. We don't buy much new, but the kids' furniture we buy in the hopes to last well into adulthood. Not that it needed to be new to last that long. But I guess it is kind of our one exception.

I have a nice bed from childhood, but it was a waterbed and it is HUGE. We decided to give it away due to the small bedrooms. I guess that is the downside of buying "forever furniture." It's hard to know what will be best in 20 years.

These days they make the houses much BIGGER but the bedrooms are WAY smaller! Who knew!

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Dh and I are going on a date tomorrow. IT's not a V-Day thing. Just happens to coincide. But since I am working today and we wanted to go to the movies this weekend, we decided on tomorrow. Probably lunch and a movie. Woohoo.

That being said, I guess it is nice to reflect on V-Day about all the love I am blessed to have in my life. My spouse, for sure. Not exactly sure why I met him so young (We met when I was 18 and I Wasn't interested in a serious relationship, marriage, kids or any of that when we met). But you meet that right person and you know you just know you want to be with them forever. I don't know if I was lucky to meet the "one" or if I was luckier to realize it. Stuff I ponder much as my single friends struggle. I sometimes wonder how much was luck or just being open to settling down or simply realizing when I had it good! I can't say I know the answer. My parents met at 18/19 too.

Of course, then there are our parents who are the most wonderful supportive parents ever. They have their faults, but don't we all. I think we'd be hard pressed to do better.

& then there are my kids, the most amazing love I have ever felt in my life.

For all that I do feel very blessed on Valentine's Day.

I can't tell if I have allergies or a cold. Feels more like allergies, but LM has had a bit of a fever with his runny nose. So I don't know!

So I have been miserable, just trying to survive. Haven't worked out in like a week either. Just not up to it. Lucky I could work, though I can't say I have been terribly productive. Ugh, I have so much to do!

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I met an old college/work friend for lunch the other day. She moved here recently. Anyway, we met at Olive Garden. I was looking forward to it because I love OG but hadn't been in AGES!!!!!! Largely because the place is so packed it is miserable to go. I looked forward to a less packed OG but realized something was wrong when I pulled in and there was nowhere to park. At 11:50AM. Yeah.

Anyway, needless to say, OG was more crowded than I had ever seen it at lunch. What in the world? Most of the places by our house have been shutting down and such. The restaurant crowd has really thinned. But apparently certain areas seem to be still thriving!

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So yeah, I now have a bike buddy. All I need is a bike.

I feel like such a dork. I mentioned before, but I used to love riding my bike from my parent's house and to all the surrounding hills, in my youth. We moved here, it was flat, and I was sad. I didn't bring my bike. (Always stored at my parent's house). I figured there was no point riding.

So I have been bike riding more with BM and we have been having a blast. It's been so long that a flat short ride feels like great fun.

Anyway, so on a whim I asked if my friend (at OG) biked (I knew she ran) and it turns out she is an avid biker with no one to bike with.

Which scares me a little, but maybe she will whip me into shape. LOL.

Of course she is making all these plans, and I am like, "whoa I need a bike first."

It will also be interesting because our income levels are very different. She doesn't understand why I just don't get a $800 road bike. Um, because I am just starting back into the sport? LOL. But they both work high level jobs and I see this could be interesting. It's been a while since I spent much time with anyone who was doing well financially. I know people who make as much, but are struggling. I am meeting one for lunch today, we often meet at Taco Bell. So, you know, it's just different. I can afford Taco Bell far more often than OG for a lunch date.

Anyway yeah, a bike is one thing, but all the accessories that come with it are endless. So I think I have my work cut out for me, aiming to make it a frugal hobby as possible.

Also, there was a big article in the paper yesterday about what a bike riding mecca Sacramento is and it showcased a couple of local bike clubs. It was like a sign. I think all in all something like a bike club may be more my thing due to the flexibility, but hopefully I can get my friend to join as well.

I am a dork for writing off the bike mecca when we moved here. I will of course miss being able to ride from my house to some gentle rolling hills, but there are plenty of hills if I am willing to drive a bit. Not what I am used to, but I guess we could do worse.

I am also going to bug my friend in San Francisco to get a bike and see if we can meet up a bit in between for some rides. She was my riding buddy in San Jose.

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Today the kids' have dental appointments. If they both have a clean bill of dental health I think we may go out to dinner to celebrate. Don't ask me why I chose Friday the 13th!

Since BM just had like 10 fillings I am not so worried about him. I doubt 10 more cavities have popped up in the meantime. But LM has not been in a year and I am wary if he ends up like his brother. So I will be holding my breath a bit today!

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Financially, I don't know. With our refi and all the financial strife around us, I feel like we are doing extraordinarily well. I am not obsessing much these days, and blogging much less as a result.

By the same token most days I have no idea how we will afford piano lessons for the kids, afford college, or how I will afford all my bike dreams. You know, it just depends on the day. For now I am happy to be contributing significantly to our retirement and other savings. So I feel like I can relax for a bit I guess.

Now that we have some savings (above our emergency fund) we are also working on some stuff around the house. We've got a few things to take care of, which are keeping us busy too.

& well, work is crazy busy, and I am working on a nice overtime bonus. So yeah, I've been a little extra busy. But also less money obsessed lately. Which is a GOOD thing.

Kind of in a tailspin here.

The preschool is closing. Moving to a faraway state. Moving to cheaper lands.

I can't help but find it ironic that everyone we have come to love here ends up leaving due to the high cost of living. The irony is we moved here for the low cost of living.

It's all relative!

But yeah, dh and I seem to have those rare jobs that translate into jobs anywhere. I think that is our edge here. Our pay didn't suffer with the move; not at all. But for the people leaving, they just don't have the job opportunities.

Anyway, the whole thing leaves me feeling rather frustrated. My dh and I never moved as children. We moved here to build a very stable life for our kids. As stable as we could. Then everyone we come to love moves away. I've known my best friend since I Was like 5. I am not sure my kids will get the same kind of friendships, with everyone moving so much. *sigh*

& then you wonder why the heck no one leaves expensive land (where we come from). Most of our friends are still there! But it's where the jobs are. Few seem to care about the insane cost of living.

Just a lot at play, I guess!

Anyway, we are kind of devastated. & now we are in preschool limbo.

Honestly, I'd be happy to put LM in somewhere insanely cheap (city preschool) for the next 18 months or so, and leave it at that. Dh has been immeasurably spoiled. Anything like what we are used to will be out of our price range anywhere else. Plus the only reason we have him in full days is because it is out by my work, to save on the gas. So I put the seeds in dh's head today that maybe he won't get so much of a break for the next 18 months. But maybe we could really save some money. & he does start school in 18 months.

We have much to discuss.

I think overall this could be good for my job. I spend so much time driving kids and such. We will save on gas. I will have more time for work, 9-5 anyway. So it's not all bad. But we would have been done with preschool soon enough anyway. *sigh*

I am SO glad now we put LM in so early though. It was more to help me last tax season (to give dh a break and to keep his grump level down so I could work more). But if not I am not sure he would have had much time with Ms. Preschool. He was blessed to have a little over a year. He has grown much in that environment.

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We did go to look at a daycare behind our house today. One we could walk to. There were no kids over 2 and it was $45/day. Ugh. (We pay $35/day now). We've got our work cut out for us.

& wherever we end up, has some pretty big shoes to fill!

The good thing is last we shopped, BM was only 2 and few would take him part-time. Why we ended up so far away from home. So, being about 4 and of proper preschool age, I think there will be a lot more part-time, and affordable, choices. Phew.

We had the weekend off work since Saturday was a cleaning/prep day for clients. Carpets cleaned and such.

I could have worked anyway, BUT I worked last Sunday. & as much as I can work from home it's never as productive. Always missing something, don't have my 10-key, etc., etc., etc. Ideally I will get a couple of hours of work done today. But otherwise, happy to take a long, deep breathe before the next 3 months of 6-day weeks.

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Yesterday my parents visited.

My dad spent a chunk of the day helping dh fix his old bike up and diagnosing an electric problem. I think we decided long ago the strobing lights in the bathroom need to be replaced. But for whatever reason dh refused to replace them. He is driving me NUTS. Forgive me for wanting LIGHT in the bathroom. So this has been a long going issue. Believe me, I have threatened to buy light bulbs, but then dh says he will take care of it. Round and round we go.

So anyway, my dad said we needed new light bulbs. Doh. & he doesn't understand our other problem, but it's workable. So, dh said he would buy light bulbs today. Lord help him if he doesn't.

I didn't put that whole thing on my To Do list for 2009 because I thought it would have been done by now!

Let there be light in the shower today! Maybe it will be scary - we have been showering in the dark so long. LOL.

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My co-worker makes these beautiful fleece blankets and sells them pretty much at cost. I bought a beautiful full size one for my mom and a Thomas Train one for LM. We picked them up yesterday. While there I spotted the most PERFECT one for my sister. So I ended up spending $120 on 3 blankets.

Oh, they are definitely my weakness!!!!!!!

But it does remind me of my frugal nature. I had told her what I had in mind but that I had wanted to spread them out. I resisted telling her anything for BM because I did not want to buy 3 blankets at once (which I did do!). Anyway, so BM was rather jealous. I told him that he would have to wait his turn, and in fact I would love nothing more than a full-size blanket myself (I have just a lap one - the first one I bought). I told him I knew we both had the patience to wait.

Anyway, the thing about being frugal or living below your means is that if there is something you really want, you learn to put it off.

I know plenty of parents who would never do what I did. Oh it's so unfair. Well life isn't fair. BM wants a blanket, he can wait until I can truly afford one. LM was just way easier to shop for, truth be told.

So BM and I will wait for ours. Thinking next fall. So hopefully we can have them by next winter!

Of course, funny enough, when my dad left yesterday he mentioned he wanted one too. LOL. Oy vey. & then dh!!!!! He said he was joking and he could share. But that he really likes the one we have but for it being small, like a lap blanket.

I see many blankets in our future. But yeah, not going to spend $300 on blankets today. Phew.

Yeah, my dad is going to have to wait a couple of months, at least. Might as well save pennies for when the weather turns cold once again. Spring is already in the air here.

I'll post pics later though - they are gorgeous. & so WARM and COZY! Can't remember life before them. My mom always knitted a lot of blankets so those are second best. We have a few knitted blankets around, but I think they have fallen out of favor a bit. Both kinds are very durable and warm.

I know it's relatively mild here but we don't turn on the heat at night and we don't pile our beds with blankets. One of those will do, on top of a summer bed and one other blanket. Obviously we don't live up north though!

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Anyway, the day went fast. We went on a long drive to my co-worker's. We had a nice lunch. & we blinked and it was over.

In the morning we did pick up the house a bit. We are not neat by ANY means. LOL. But I think we have been de-cluttering so much, and a little more time and organization lately, and the 3 or 4 weekends away left our house in total disarray.

Yesterday dh put away the Christmas stuff and I cleared some of the piling clutter downstairs. I had been feeling stressed and disorganized and I think that was partly why.

I think we have no weekend plans for a long time. Phew. To be gone so much does become stressful.

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I am pleased to say I have a big long day of nothing to do today. Woohoo!

Well, my goal was to save $6k this year, in more mid range savings (more long term, but not retirement).

I already surpassed $1k - woohoo. I was counting on overtime and stuff like that to fund much of it since I am only saving $250/month from my regular paycheck.

BUT I did get my state tax refund and I also just transferred over $300 to savings since we are in preschool limbo. So it's a good start!

If we were able to save at this level all along, that would be one thing. But we took a savings break for a few years with this whole one income thing. We only made half as much a couple of years in there; half what we are making this year. Difference is night and day. I feel like my stress level will decrease a notch when we hit $20k cash savings again. So close I can taste it. (Probably around $17k today? efund + ST + MT + MEdical savings)) Though honestly, $20k in 2000, pre-kids, was a whole other ballgame. It won't stretch nearly as far. So the sigh of relief when we make it will be very short lived. We live in a much more expensive world now (health insurance for the entire fam, orthodntist and dental expenses, on and on and on).

Anyway, we just re-insituted the mid-term savings fund last year. We have a ways to go.

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Dh finally agreed to take LM to the drop-in childcare place today. Phew. They have both been grumpy. Some reason dh thinks it is more for his sake than LM's. Puh-leez. LM needed some play time and a break from daddy I think. LOL. But anyway, those expenses can be carded and paid off next month. Woohoo.

Not sure how things will pan out in the long run, but for now, drop-in care will do. Same budget - $70/week. Buys about 9 hours, with no meals. More pricey, but not horrid.

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I got our natural gas bill and it was down $20 or about 20% over last year. What gives?

Weather has been very mild and gas rates also went down. I don't think I can take too much credit here! But it's nice.

Winter lasted like a minute here. What the heck? I usually hate winter. This was a piece of cake.

We actually got some rain this week which also warmed up the outside a bit. WHen I woke up yesterday the house was 66 (It was 68 when I went to bed). Today was 65. January is usually our coldest month; temp usually drops to 60 inside, over night. We are fast forwarding into warmer weather. No doubt on track for a low gas bill in february too.

PG&E also has some new feature where you can look at your gas usage by day. There are many days we show NO gas usage. Too little to register anyway. Weekends are worse - I turn up the heat more than the ice boys, do more laundry, bathe the kids more, etc., etc. But I have said many times, dh and I do not skimp on hot showers. I wish I knew what kind of hot water heater we have. IT just looks standard. I Can't help but wonder if our meter is broken. Then again, you can hear it fire up when someone takes a shower. Doesn't seem to use much gas most of the day otherwise. ??? I don't remember being sold an "on demand" water heater but it seems to function like one in many regards. It has an insulation blanket so I can't see what the heck the brand or model is. IT's just a giant mystery. If I knew what the heck it was I would tell you all to buy one!!! We only pay $10/month MAX for gas most of the year. I'd consider us hot water hogs when it comes to showers, though we are pretty conservative otherwise. (We wear are clothes more than once, don't wash much in hot water, etc., etc.)

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The snow in the mountains is calling to me. Weather was predicted snowy in Tahoe Saturday and clear and warm Sunday, so we were considering a snow trip. But today all I see is snow AND rain for the entire weekend, as of today. Blech. Will postpone for another time. Will have to keep an eye out for a nice sunny day. Not making that trek in snowy or icy weather, for sure.

Was also excited because I had the entire weekend off work. But I have plenty to do!

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My parents are visiting tomorrow so we may hit some bike shops up here. I may buy a bike. So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I had 2 tax clients and they both seemed to be doing just fine. Banner years, really.

Then again, a few have canceled due to layoffs and such. & granted, these were the FIRST people. The early birds who tend to get the worm.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how tax season progresses.

Out of curiosity when I was preparing 1099s I added up receipts for the clients I work on (what my boss bills). For reference, my Corporate clients paid about $300k (very loosely) in 2008. Individual tax returns - my specific clients - about $15k.

Our individual clients are a necessary evil - not money makers - and I think we are kind of glad to see them thin out a bit. This year will definitely be thinner. IT just gets to be too much work because you are doing taxes for the owners of these corps, then you take on their kids, and then their grandkids, and all their neighbors. & ugh. We have pretty much stopped taking any new clients for many years, but we don't say no to referrals, and then you end up spending a lot of time on people who should be using Turbo Tax or H&R.

Anyway, I share because I said many times before taxes are not our bread and butter. Corporate taxes, yes. Individuals? Not so much... The numbers paint an interesting picture, huh?

I honestly think if we lost all those people we would do a happy dance. Those numbers were eye opening, even to me. You know, the rest of the work is very annual. But, individuals, you just got to cram them in Feb. & March. For an extra 5% revenue? Blech.

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Note: Reasons you may get a W-2 that does not reflect an employer funded HSA. Because employer fails to tell their accountant. O.M.G.

HSAs are a NIGHTMARE in Cali. I am reconciling client's December's bank statement and they have all these payments to a HSA plan for their employees. We did their W-2s like 4 weeks ago. Shoot me now.

They're a nightmare because Cali does not recognize HSAs and so it will be considered taxable compensation for Cali. It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

BUSY HERE.

I have no idea how single parents do it. & 2-working families either. IT's not a slight to the working ones; just don't have a clue how you DO IT! LOL.

I am exhausted over here.

A weekend home and not working will be nice (carpet cleaning at the office - woohoo) but then again we may go to the snow.

Anyway,

**Preschool Shopping. Ms. Preschool is s'posed to call me when she returns. I called today and her hubby said again, "She'll e-mail me." Whatever that means. On one hand, last time they took time off with BM it was the end of the world. LM is very different. He could care less. Last month has spoiled me so I am shopping local preschools. Problem is they all cost 10 times as much, or only offer a fraction of the hours for our budget. We'll see! But cutting the commute may be nice either way. Cutting the price too may be okay. Considering keeping one day a week here if she ever returns. But I am realizing how draining it all is for me 2 days a week since it's by my work, and far from home.

**Ran into an old college friend on Facebook who lives in Sacto too. I think I heard through the grapevine at some point that she moved here, when I Was knee deep in babies. She is a fitness nut and has some bikes in her photos. I am excited since I Wanted to get back into biking soon. I may have found a biking buddy???? We'll see! I am at a point where I have more time to reconnect with people, so you know, why I never seeked her out before. Plus I have been finding more and more people. I don't have a million friends on facebook. I am one of those who always prefers to have a very few close friends. So finding them is very neat!

**Dh got called in for a $65 focus group, and I for $85. Well I got a message. It's not a sure thing for me. But I have been feeling like money has been abundant lately, and yeah, this is just one more abundance thing.

I have to run!

I did a sum up of the last few days in my last post.

But I had to share my bad spend day today.

I work in a pretty horrible area really and so if I come in on the weekends I prefer not to leave the building until the end of the day. Particularly Sunday because I thought I would be alone.

(But I wasn't - yay)!

Anyway, made a quick sandwhich in the morning and figured I'd grab a soda and chips at the gas station across the street. It's my "weekend working" splurge - I usually grab some soda and a high-calorie snack. I figured it would complement my sandwhich.

Anyway, ran to the store, bought some soda and chips, and drove over to work. Somewhere along the way I realized my sandwhich seemed to be missing AND the car was awfully low on gas.

I called dh to ask if he noticed the gas light come on yesterday on the drive home. He said no because *I* was the one driving. *Doh* I hadn't noticed, but my powers of observation are pretty shoddy. LOL. So I am wondering if it has been on for 50 miles or if it just turned on. I think it had just turned on.

Anyway, I also whined I forgot my sandwhich and he said he would bring it. But the whole thing seemed kind of silly. So I ran back to the gas station a couple of hours later, for a frozen dinner. (At least those prices aren't bad).

Anyway, I decided to just grab 3 gallons of gas at the Chevron. Last I saw gas was $2/gallon (at the ARCO anyway) so I figured $6 would be well enough so I wouldn't have to fill up again until Wednesday.

I peaked at the sign while I was paying and saw $2.13, so seemed well enough. Until I got out to the pump and saw it was $2.23. "What the heck?" I peeked around the corner at the price sign again and saw it had been divided into cash or credit. Ugh. Though all I Could see was the cash side from the inside of the mini mart. I don't like carrying cash and any other time I would have charged it anyway. We usually don't pay near as much as Chevron prices anyway. BUT it was just $6. If I had noticed at all I would have paid cash.

So anyway, today ended up a little spendy!

Much going on...

**Dentist appointment Friday in Bay Area. Clean bill of health. (I wasn't nervous about our appointment, but am crossing my fingers for the kids in February). BM has horrible baby teeth (very cavity prone). Anyway, I worry if LM took after BM. I have never been cavity (or problem) prone. Dh - not as an adult. Paying thousands in dental bills (fillings) was nothing I planned for because nothing from my personal frame of reference. So I am holding my breath a bit, hoping for some improvement since the last visit. & hopiung LM fares better as he nears the same age.

I am more worried from a health perspective, but yeah, the financial stress would follow if he was still getting more cavities!

**We also had our first 2009 doctor visit. It went exceptionally well though.

Anyway, for one, our HMO is coming under fire for not getting people in fast enough and stupid stuff like that. I read the newspaper articles and I am thinking, "Do they have the right HMO? Huh? Since when is it hard to get in? For ANYTHING?!?" But anyway, this is probably not the BEST example. Because this is about the most serious thing we have called the Doctor about in a long time. But we dropped off LM with Grandma Tuesday night and she called to say she was concerned he was urinating every 15 minutes. We didn't know what she was talking about and figured she was exaggerating. Plus he gets in these phases. Figured it was the stress of staying with MIL or something. Don't get me wrong, he was in great hands, but she can be a little crazy all the same.

Anyway, we saw him Friday after our appointments and he was running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. Egads.

So Saturday morning we called the doctor at 8am and we got in at 10am. I was very confused though. I figured this must be something really bad that he is being rushed to the doctor. I felt horrible that it had been 4 days before anyone called the doctor. I mean, MIL didn't exactly make clear how worrisome his behavior was. & anyway, I figured they'd send us to the lab first. So why are we going to the doctor?

Well, we went in and they did lab tests in the office. It took about 2 minutes. I guess it's been a while since I went in for any lab tests. Holy Cow! This is the way to do it! Doc came in and said they had screened him for kidney infection or diabetes and he was negative on both (sigh of relief). So he tries to tell us it is "potty training." I remember I wasn't concerned because he had done that during potty training, BUT that was AGES ago. It was different when we saw it firsthand, you know. So I wasn't very pleased with the results at that point. OF course, the doctor said he would examine him anyway, and in the end it turns out his privates were just iritated. Now, that makes sense. Just gave us some cream, instructions to keep the area extra dry, and sent us on our way.

Wonderful experience. Plus, it's not the first time we have had to rush to the Doctor in San Jose. So makes it all the better.

Anyway, when we returned to Grandma's house she said, "$20 well spent." Ugh. It was more like $200, but yes, VERY well spent, thanks! ($20, I wish! LOL).

The funny thing was he was getting better anyway Saturday. I mean, he way toned it down. So, it was kind of moot. I think it was clearing up on its own. If we had driven down Saturday to pick him up I think we would have chalked it up to crazy MIL or something. Like, what is she talking about?

**I went bike shopping with my dad yesterday and am eyeing a $400 bike. Will see... If nothing else, I have narrowed down what I want to look for in a bike.

I looked at a very sleek top notch (by my standards) bike for about $440 at quite a hoity toity place in San Jose. (Actually the lower price range of the bike I wanted). I made a mental note to actually buy my bike in Sacramento. I may be able to get something a little cheaper since Sacramento is not the playground of the rich as much as the Bay Area is.

I found something similar for about $380 at another shop. It wasn't quite as sleek looking, but had about all the same features. & was the most comfortable thing I have ever sat on. Ever. LOL. I also preferred it in the sense as I think the other one would be a larger theft target. I don't want to get mugged for my bike, for sure. (& yeah - it was about $60 cheaper).

Which leads me to another conundrum. I think in the end I may buy 2 bikes. One for around the neighborhood, and one I may actually keep inside the house and only use on longer rides. If I buy this bike, I would just have to be extra careful with it.

Then again, $400 for a bike that should last a good 20 years and is so high end, is not bad. Technology has gone a long way since I last avidly biked.

But then again, it's only worthwhile if the thing doesn't get stolen. & you know, we generally try not to draw attention to our larger purchases. But a bike is harder to hide.

Anyway, before yesterday I wasn't quite sure what I wanted. So now I know. If I end up with a $400 bike, I will probably take a year to save up for it and shop around.

I am also going to look around for a hitch so BM can ride on the back. Either something that can connect his bike when he gets tired or in more dangerous conditions, or an actual wheel, pedals, handlebars thing that attaches to the back. It might be expensive to get something safe. & certainly no rush. But yeah, biking can be a pretty expensive hobby. For now, I just want a bike. & we will go from there. No hurry, at all. Time is something that seems to get more abundant with time. So during tax season there is no rush. When the heck would I ride? But as the kids get older, something I Want to get back into. So, certainly no rush here. But I am really excited all the same. The thing was a beauty! I decided to go with a hybrid. It weighs a whopping 27 pounds. I mean, the thing just weighs nothing.

I did largely decide yesterday I would like to go brand new with the bike. For various reasons. Though I will still keep an eye on the classifieds now that I have a better idea what I want! Certainly not the worst plan to go used until I know for sure I will get back into biking. But it's hard to get back into it without an approproate bike, etc.

I am still extremely dissapointed we don't have the foothills in our backyard, here, but I will make do. I realize that flat riding isn't the worst. & if I can get a bike I can take it with me to San Jose (we go enough). & once in a while
I can take a half hour drive out to more hilly rides. I am warming up to it as I have been having so much fun with my crappy $20 Craigslist bike.

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Anyway, I don't remember the last time I wanted to buy something over $100. BUT dh told me there is nothing on his buying horizon this year (nothing large, and there usually is - all the time). So, it just might work out. My turn to be extravagant for a change.

Yes, it does feel a little odd to be looking at these bikes when the economy is in the toilet. But what can I say. We didn't over-spend the last decade, so it's not really much of a biggie to us. In the end our consumption is about where it has always been anyway. At a pretty sustainable level.

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Today I am just working and taking a deep breath before next week. Finished all my W-2s and 1099s well ahead of schedule, BUT there is individual tax returns to begin and Corporate tax returns and all sorts of stuff to do on top of the regular workload. So yes, I do feel a little stressed!

Boy, am I a lucky duck!!!!

State announced for sure it wouldn't issue refunds for tax returns filed this week or later. (Can't afford to pay them right now - delayed at least 30 days - but who knows how long).

Anyway, I got my taxes filed last Monday, after the announcement. I had the feeling I would get it, but wasn't 100% sure.

Well, my check arrived today!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo!

I got $550 for my savings account...

& yes, I lowered my withholdings. Whatever California. You don't want to issue refunds? Then I will just pay you less. I overpaid because Cali is a PITA to figure out so I just told my boss to wihhold $50 a paycheck. This year I decided $30. Yeesh.

I was jolted back to reality this week rather quickly.

Foreclosure 2 doors down. Asking insanely low price of $240k (for smallest home). I don't mind. Last foreclosure so close asked $300k a bit ago and sold FAST. As long as it sells fast I am happy. We don't need a row of forelcosed homes on the street. Some in the greater neighborhood have been sitting empty for YEARS. I am curious which banks own those and which ones are acting so fast. Kudos to the banks owning near MY house!

So, we'll see.

$240k is just about prices when we bought. Still $10k higher. Still have equity equity. YEah, not for long!

Also, lay offs seem to be contagious around here all of a sudden.

I don't know how it is in other regions, but Cali has been hit HARD this decade. Most of our friends and family had lay offs in 2002 with the tech bust. MANY of them had lay offs again in 2005. & of course the same people are being laid off again now (a lot of lay offs last week I guess). I mentioned before the housing bubble was not ALL about greed. I know a lot of people used their equity to get by layoff after layoff. Not sure what there plan of actions is this time. It is scary when it comes to the foreclosures. It's BAD but everyone laid off can only make it worse. Since the people who can afford their mortgages won't be able to if they are out of work for a long time.

It's pretty scary out there. Just wondering if our slice of suburbia will become a foreclosure wasteland...

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P.S. I am closing all my old credit cards and my FICO will still be over 800. How do I know? Because I always close my old credit cards (My oldest card I have only had about 3 years though I have used cards for 15+ years) and my score is just about always over 800. & if it dips down to like 790, well, I could care less. This whole fear of FICO strikes me as completely ridiculous most of the time. Fair enough if you are working on improving a low score. BUT if your score is already 780 or 800, I think you have way more important things to worry about!

What do I know? My score has mostly been 800+ for my entire adulthood.

I did obliterate my score a bit (down to 750, which is the same as 830 to most lenders BTW). Anyway, with all the balance transfers. & then I paid them off, closed the cards, and my score went right back up (to 805 as of Jan. 1).

I am not too worried about it. !

Anyway, if I read one more article or comment how I shouldn't close my old cards. Egads!!!!!

Well, it was awfully decadent to slip off so close to January 31, for the entire weekend.

But we did have a BLAST!

I was second guessing the wisdom of taking 2 nights away as we pulled up to our hotel in San Francisco at 9:30 pm, Friday. Since I had to work all day, was about the earliest we could swing. (Particularly since we dropped the kids off in another city). I was thinking I should have saved the timeshare points for a three-day weekend. But in the end it worked out - glad we did it.

We stayed at the same place we stayed a few years ago. I didn't realize and didn't really have great memories, but we ended up with a nice suite.

The weather was kind of blah.

We went to Ghiradelli for ice cream - it was right across the street. I actually had the idea beforehand because we used to take the 45-minute drive to SF in college, dh & I once in a blue moon very late at night, and pig out on their giant sundaes. So it we decided to relive our youth a bit.

It was a little dissapointing. For one, the place was filled with college kids so we did feel rather old. (The tourists cut out early I guess, and the college kids take over). PLUS they reduced the size of their sundaes by at least half. What the heck????? Good for the waistline I guess, but I had looked forward to an ice cream gourging. What I could barely finish in my 20s was now topped off in 5 minutes. LOL.

Saturday we lounged around and watched DVDs since it drizzled most of the morning. We were meeting good friends for lunch (who I am terrible at keeping in touch with) and they chose a nice restaurant in an old neighbohorhood where another friend had lived in college. We were already in the car when they said they may be an hour late, so we decided to visit the old neighborhood. Not sure if I took dh there much but there's these beautiful cliif side trails just about a half mile down from where we were meeting, so we went on an impromptu hike over there.

The area is called the "Cliff House" and there used to be an old arcade museum there with a lot of old fortune telling machines, player pianos and such. I couldn't find it though I Was sure it had been down by the beach. Dh thought I Was mistaken.

We eventually found out it had been moved to a big warehouse just blocks from our hotel. So we found it in the end.

http://www.museemechanique.org/

So it was definitely great fun going back to that area, and we made it to the museum too, later. Then we met my friend for lunch and drinks. We made all sorts of plans to visit the City more. I was appalled she hadn't seen my youngest since he was an infant. I had just told him I would take him on the Bay Area "subway" sometime soon, so I think we have somewhere to take it to. (He is obsessed with trains, so that will be fun to do someday).

We actually were making plans to go to a sketch comedy show in the evening and to gorge ourselves on Indian food, but the comedy club was sold out and we decided at the last minute to get some Deli Sandwhiches and to go back to the hotel. We walked to the Fisherman's Wharf and all that, but it was crowded and not much exciting there. We decided to be cheap and boring instead.

Sunday we went for a walk around some of our old hangouts (the sun came out and it was just gorgeous that day). But we were kicked out of the hotel at 10am.

We decided to meet my parents for lunch and had some nice, quiet, no-kid time with them. My mom and I just ate sandwhiches while dh and my dad went out to some Asian buffet. So we just had a nice time.

We headed over to a cousin's birthday party at 2:00 to pick up the kids. MIL kept telling us not to come until 4:00, but we knew when the party was and we wanted our kids, so we crashed it I guess. LOL.

WE didn't quite get out until 4:30 and we're hoping to get home in time for dinner.

We got on the road and it was magnificent. One of my most fond memories is our 1st Wedding ANniversary when we took the day off work and went for a drive on the coast, paid for a really fancy lunch on the beach and watched this magnificent lightning storm (quite rare). IT was just one of those incredible days.

So as we headed east towards the hills yesterday, they were just emrald green but there were these massive storm clouds in the distance and rainbows just everywhere. We saw some lightning in the distance and thought we might get quite a show. It didn't really amount to much, but we apparently missed a massive hail storm by about minutes. WE passed a number of accidents that had just happened, and there were piles of white ice around each accident. We marveled how we were lucky we got out a little slower than we intended. We hardly saw any rain the whole drive, so it was actually quite nice. The storm seemed to be heading in the opposite direction. I don't know if I have ever seen such magnificent rainbows though.

Anyway, yeah, I feel completely rejuvenated. Nothing like a weekend of astounding beauty to just rejuvenate your soul. I forgot how beautiful San Francisco can be. & the drive home was incredible.

We ended up spending about $170 for the weekend. Not bad, if you ask me.

$45 parking (2 nights), $20 gas for the car (drove about 350 miles; took the gas sipper), about $25 eating in (breakfast, snacks, deli), and about $80 on eating out, drinks, ice cream. About $60 of that was lunch and ice cream. We ate some fast food with the kids on the drive down. My dad treated for the lunch buffet. I treated my mom to sandwhiches though.

My frugal move was to bring my own soda.

Well, it's back to reality for me. I got some pics I will share later.

I am still alive.

It is just busy.

I was trying to time our weekend away, Bay Area dentist visit, and our weekend off from work (for carpet cleaning) all at the same time. Instead they ended up 3 different weekends. I should have been more insistent about pulling BM out of school early this Friday. This is crazy. We're s'posed to be working all these hours and I get 3 weekends off instead.

So I worked really hard to justify it this week, and well, I guess it has paid off. I finished all my W-2s (8 days ahead of schedule thank you) and made a pretty good dent in the 1099s. I could have gone to the dentist next Friday and drove back Saturday a.m. to work, but I think I won't have to. I may work Sunday instead as a compromise. But glad to be mostly done with the deadline stuff.

Plenty more deadlines on the horizon thought! 2/15, 3/15, and of course 4/15!

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The weather looks sucky (wet and gloomy) for our weekend getaway, but I guess we will survive. It will still be nice to get away.

Dh called to ask if they had a DVD player. Score. He had downloaded season 2 of Big Love. Not that we have HBO he suggested if it was too rainy we could watch some of that and he would record season 3 on the DVR.

It feels like it's been years since we watched that. I'm like, "They are only on Season 3?" Not as behind as I thought.

I LOVED Six Feet Under & Curb Your Enthusiasm but I am not like dh. He has to see everything the second it airs. Or he will just die. I have patience. So I have just been watching them all on DVD as they come out, etc. So if I get hooked on some new shows, I won't sweat it. Dh is another story though.

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Not much else to report. I have struggled with putting in the hours my boss really wants me to work the last few years. Since 2002. He seems okay with it, but he also rewards well financially for lots of overtime. So, I don't know what it is. Getting more sleep, hormones settling down, all of the above, but I feel like I can take on the world. I am going to work hard on extra hours this tax season. The hours I've pulled this week I have not been able to do since pregnancy and kids. They are just so exhausting. In another life I worked non-stop. Not that I wanted to work like that forever. But it's been frustrating to go from that to this. BUT things are looking up.

Even with the fam I don't mind kicking it up a notch for tax season. It's only a few months of the year. Makes the rest of the year feel like easy street really.

Anyway, my main online time is in the a.m. before work, so I will have to work on a new schedule. This week I mostly skipped it (blogging at all). Plus with it so busy I just haven't had much to say!

Well, it only took 8 years of marriage, 9 years of living together, but I *WIN*

LOL.

(& it cracks me up some of the responses in my last post).

I posted yesterday I was reviewing the phone bill and decided to drop long distance. & since dh had talked about HBO Recently, I thought maybe I could talk him into dropping the ridiculous $6/month charge for call waiting.

I wasn't optimistic. At all.

So, I called him and the second I said the words "call waiting" he started to go off. BEcause we have had this fight quite a few times. & he likes to argue anyway.

But he said something about how we HAVE to have it, blahdeblah.

& seriously, all I said was, "But we have our cell phones. If anyone NEEDS to reach us they have our cell phones."

& he stopped his little tirade and just said, "YEah. You are right. We haven't had this discussion since we've had cell phones, have we?"

LOL.

So I didn't even have to offer HBO - I could have talked him into it.

Woohoo.

Boy, that was too easy. Should have done this a few years ago.

I mentioned the HBO anyway. I was surprised when told me he only wanted it about 3 months for a particular show.

Since it was his birthday and we hadn't gotten him a thing, I figured 3 months of HBO was a fair enough present.

So now everybody is happy.

It's a wash with the HBO, but when he drops it again, we will be saving about $16/month.

We just slashed our land line bill in half. From about $30 to $15 monthly. We had discussed a lot lately dropping it, but it's a little luxury we like to keep. We only use our cell phones for emergency and calling family (long distance) for the most part. We don't want to use our cell phones for EVERYTHING. Plus, if we did, we would need a more expensive plan with more minutes. So I think this is a pretty good compromise.

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P.S. If you want to know why I HATE call waiting more than anything. My dh INSISTS we have it so people can get through. Anyway, I can't tell you how many times HE has ignored me when I was trying to get through, and he was talking to someone else. Seriously. "Oh it was an important call." "Oh, it was my grandfater long distance." Blahblahblah. God forbid I ignore the call waiting. But he seems to ignore it an awful lot for being so "call waiting holier than thou." I mean that is just the final nail in the coffin for me. If he would walk the walk as much as he talked the talk, then it wouldn't be so aggravating.

The cell phones have call waiting of course, but it's not quite the same. It's not a separate charge. & if I Want to ignore call waiting on my phone, that's my problem. He has his own phone. So the issue doesn't come up much. It's not like he misses calls because I ignore my call waiting. So, phew. May we never argue about call waiting again.

Boy, when I don't update very much, well, I have a lot to chat about...

**I was paying the phone bill and it seemed high. I looked at the bill closer (it's usually the same every month) and thought long distance was the culprit. $10? What did it do? Double?

Looked closer, and long distance was same as prior month, but flat service rate (& taxes) had gone up about $5.

Um, I think we will drop the long distance. We haven't used it since we upgraded our phone plan. I didn't realize how expensive it had gotten. We've been sharing minutes with my parents for a few months at this point. We have plenty minutes. We can call each other for free (which is our main long distance usually) AND we have been using skype more.

The other thing that peeves me about my bill is $6 for call waiting. I HATE call waiting. I think it is very rude; I never use it. But dh wins this one. He hates people who don't have call waiting more than I hate call waiting. If that is possible. Well, I wasn't going to end our union over call waiting, I'll put it that way. LOL. We both feel strongly about our call waiting stances. But it's flipping $6. I think that is crazy. I am going to broach the subject. He had asked something about HBO recently and I said "No way!!!" BUT I would be willing to get HBO if we could drop the long distance AND call waiting. I'll put the offer on the table. I don't expect him to bite. But I rather pay $15/month for HBO than $6/month for call waiting. IT's worth some negotiating.

I think dh loves call waiting more than HBO, but I could be wrong.

& oh yes, we pay $1/month for an unlisted # even though it pops up all over the internet now. It's like, nevermind. More wasted money. So much for unlisted. Gah!

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**I filed my taxes. I would have done it sooner, but for various reasons, couldn't do it until today. The state has said refunds will be delayed 30 days at minumum. I am expecting $600 for our savings (mostly state, if I ever get it). I tried to at least be first in line? W-2, itemized expenses (all detailed in Quicken). We have no taxable accounts but some savings accounts. It was all very simple. I didn't spend more than an hour on it all.

ETA: State just announced filers before Feb. 1 will get refund ASAP. Woohoo!!!! BUT status subject to change. Won't hold my breath...

**I closed my Virtual Bank accounts. I had a token $100 in there thinking I may use the account for some savings bucket, one of these days. Interest rate was not horrid. I noticed it just dropped down to 1% interest rate (from like 2.5%?). Nevermind. Decided to bail.

BUT this was my first high yield online savings account. Ah, the memories. I will miss ya.

I really don't like jumping around accounts too much (what a headache). I am still mostly loyal to GMAC. They may not have the highest rate at any one point in time, but they have a good track record. Slow to lower rates; first to raise them, overall.

Now that my vbank account is closed, I will be open to testing out another high yield bank though. I think 2 is my limit at once. Flagstar bank caught my eye because they have our new mortgage, but it looked like merely promotional/temporary rates. I'll sit and watch for a while.

**I was good and I called a handyman. The good and bad thing about us is we are very cautious. We very rarely make snap decisions. If something needs to be done around the house, we wait. If it's not urgent anyway. As a result, though we had PLENTY of cash in the bank to do everything I want to get done, back in 2005 when some of these things came up, we really hesitated. I am not quick to call it a fault of ours. We have learned over the years that by putting off purchases and such, we often realize we can live without. So it's kind of like, let's wait a year or 2 or 3. The impact on our finances is astounding. BUT at the same time, we probably put off stuff we shouldn't. That is true.

Anyway, we have some issues with our gutters and I didn't want to drag my feet on it. I draw the line at anything that can cause further damage if not fixed ASAP.

Researched and found a very highly recommended handyman. Turns out he could work on all the jobs we need help with right now. I asked him to come out to fix the gutters and give us quotes on the rest. We'd see how we like him.

AND, he never showed up.

I was astounded. 1 - because he was billed as SO reliable. 2 - because Craigslist is filled with desperate pleas for work. I assumed the laborers would be less flaky than usual.

Boy was I wrong. With all that I heard I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt, and called to try to reschedule. For all I know he was incapacitated or something. But he never returned my call.

I give up!

As I perused Craigslist printing out ads for dh to follow up on (I don't have time for this!!!!!) I saw this handyman guy busy posting ads on the day he stood us up. What the heck????

I don't *get* people!!!!!!!!!!!! Too busy looking for work to do the work that is given???

Since today is dh's birthday I will leave it be, but the rest of the week he has some work to do. I've spent enough time as is trying to search out someone reliable. Ugh. I give the job to him!

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**Dh's birthday is today. His mom brought lasagna and pie yesterday. & took us out for Benihana's. I had NEVER been. We had a blast.

Dh's aunt came along. She is moving to China for 3 years to do missionary work and such (she already lived there many years - I didn't meet her for a long time or see her much when we first dated. But we have gotten used to having her around more lately -kids are very close with her).

So it was our "good bye" to her as well.

They asked a couple of times if we would bring the kids to China. What a loaded question. Of course; would be awesome. Um, not sure if that is in the budget!!!!!! Ask me in 3 years. I have the feeling all 4 of us will not go, no. Maybe dh and the kids. I did just go to Japan after all. It's just one of those things where paying for 4 people is so mind boggling. I know MIL would love to take the kids, but they are young enough, I don't think so! I am sure negotiations on that will ensue in the upcoming years. The kids will be very blessed if they are able to go. In the long run MIL will probably take dh and the kids. But then there is the fairness to his sister. & yeah - I just don't know.

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On a frugal note, I am meeting dh for lunch at our favorite buffet. He gets a FREE meal on his birthday.

We also have only spent about $40 on gas for the cars, all month. What the heck? We were hard pressed to stay within $300 some months last year. This month will be $100 easy, even with 2.5 trips to the Bay Area & one trip to the snow. Craziness. We may eke out some extra savings.

Every time my pay changes I look at the flow of bills and see if I need to move anything around. I also evaluate all of our savings contributions, etc.

So I came up with a rough new budget.

Because we pay so many of our bills on our credit card (just about everything we can), I don't have a lot going on in my checking account. This is pretty much how it goes:

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+ 2757 (first of month)

-1400 Credit Card (groceries, gas, utilities, misc.)
- 300 Other/Utilities (Gardener, HOA, water, sewer, gas, electric)
- 500 Short-Term Savings
- 333 ROTH

+ 2757 (mid month)

- 550 Medical Insurance
-1100 Mortgage
- 300 Preschool
- 500 Short-Term Savings
- 500 Long-Term Savings

Of course, if anything else is due in any given month, we pay it from savings (insurance and taxes, etc.). Or any small cash amount that we can not throw on the card. Comes from savings.

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I found the way I had it set up before, I had too much stuff piling up and due at the beginning of the month.

I decided the simplest thing to do was to begin to prepay the preschool payment at the end of the month. This is fair enough. I used to pretty much do this anyway, but had gotten into the habit of paying it with my paycheck on the first. But often I can't pay until like the 5th then. Which is fine, since I prepay the whole month (not required) there have been no complaints. But I think it will be simpler to just pay it on the 31st, going forward. I may have to pull a little out of savings for the first month, which is fine.

I have a built in "emergency fund" in my checking account. The credit card is not due until the end of the month and the mortgage is not due until the middle of the following month. But I just pay them all ahead of time, for simplicity. If I ever needed cash in an emergency that is an easy $1100, by delaying those payments to the due dates.

Anyway, I have been paying paying the credit card around the 20th, which is cutting it a little close for me. Never had a problem (knock on wood) but I look forward to re-arranging some things and paying that on the 1st again. As a result, I won't have to RUN to the bank when I get my paycheck. Phew. I prefer to not care so much about payday.

I can't put anything else on the card. (Mortgage, preschool, most utilities, etc.) Everything else that I can, I do. For rewards, of course. & simplicity though - it's just very convenient.

I was funding the ROTHs evenly every paycheck, but I am loading up one of our ROTHS for 2008 right now (the only one that will let me apply automatic savings to last year), and so figured once a month is fine. It probably makes sense with the current incarnation to switch to once a month contributions, indefinitely.

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This is the extent of my budgeting. We keep the card expenditures at $1400/month. (It will be more when we charge medical fees or dental bills, auto repairs, etc. These are all things we pay from savings).

So if the card is more or the utilities come out to more, it gives us pause. & we re-evaluate.

& of course we take all of our one-time expenses, add them up for the year, and divide by 12, to make sure we save ample amounts.

That is about the extent of my "budget." I re-evaluate it once a year. More often if we get out of whack. I don't like to spend inordinate amounts of time and effort on it. I don't like thinking about it every day. Kind of a PITA if you ask me. Our savings were very much on "auto pilot" when we both worked, our budget was strict, and we saved plenty. Never thought much about it. That is my end goal. Evaluating every month or quarter or year is fine. Every day is too much for me. As much as I love numbers I don't like to obsess over a budget, for sure. I was far happier when I didn't have to obsess so much, and I am getting there, slowly but surely. I think this year is going to be way more relaxed. Phew!

Of course, I mention we budget around $500/month for groceries and $300 for gas. Kind of rules of thumbs (actually, more like maximums). BUT if we have a cheap month elsewhere we don't mind going over a bit. We worry more about the totals than any one particular category too much. Definitely prefer that flexibility.

Just a little peek into my method of madness...

We had a record breaking 74-degree day Tuesday. The weather has been GORGEOUS.

Today is s'posed to be about 70 as well.

Funny thing is I am volunteering outside this morning and it is in the 30s, so I am going to bundle up real good, and then come home and change into some lighter clothes before I go to work.

I heard a joke the other day. Some joke about a guy in Colorado, who is from California. He is wearing shorts and flip flops and comes upon a bunch of locals bundled up on a sunny but cold day. The locals ask him why he is dressed like that and isn't he cold? He says, "Where I come from the sun works." LOL. Yeah, that about sums it up. It's been in the 30s over night but it will heat up well into the 70s, given some sun. & having family from Colorado, yeah, the atmosphere is just very different there. So I really *get* that joke.

Anyway, since winter is like half way over and all we have had is sun for a week, I am thinking this winter will be a breeze. The weather was just on my mind seeing all the posts about freezing, cold, and 30 below. Ugh!

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I am joining the "Ebay Challenge." My goal is actually to NET $100/month income. We grossed $70 ebay already, but I am not sure how much of that is profit. I will figure it out by end of month.

This weekend I need to work on some Craigslist sales, since the last 2 weeks of the month are shaping up to be pretty busy. If anything around the house is going to get sold, has got to be in the next week.

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Work is crazy. I have a distinct hatred of 1099s. Bah.

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My house is full of icky sickies. Dh and BM have 2 different viruses right now. LM generally doesn't get anything, but he just has a perpetual runny nose. So he may be fine (knock on wood). I guess me being at work insulates me from the germs a bit. It is bad enough to try to avoid one virus, but now I am trying to evade 2. I don't think my odds are very good. *sigh*

I took a bit of a vacation Tuesday to watch the kids, but it didn't go so well. Weather was beautiful, enjoyed the walk to pick up BM. Turned out he had his worst day at school ever, lucky me. Of course, I quickly saw why because he was in a mood. I figured he wasn't feeling well, and he was throwing up soon enough. I thought we would take the nice day to go to the park, and would just enjoy the rare break during busy season, but didn't quite turn out like that!

My parents were also going to visit Saturday but now they won't since my mom is so susceptible to germs. *sigh*

2008 was actually a pretty good year on the sick front. We had that nasty flu early in the year but that was about it. The 2-3 years prior were marked by constant illness. I was relieved that it was true - BM has not picked up anything particularly nasty at school - he's already gotten everything imaginable at preschool. Phew. Maybe we have paid our sick dues for a while. That is what I was thinking anyway. But 2009 is not off to a great start!

Well, it is only January, but 2009 is shaping up much more to be my style. We already said no to a free vacation to Florida. I just want a CALM year. I an NOT a vacation person. I don't want to go on long trips every year. I just don't enjoy them, overall.

I think last year was a step in the right direction. Hopefully this year will pan out. We already told MIL we did not want to go on such a big trip this year. I should probably tell my dad the same. They are into last minute trips lately, as they near retirement and all.

What we did do was book our camping trip this summer, and one weekend away.

Our "vacation" plan is this:

One weekend in San Francisco (mostly free with timeshare)

One weekend in Monterey (Spring or fall? Mostly free with timeshare)

Family Mini-Camp near Tahoe (3 nights) $580 - includes food, lodging and activities

Season passes to amusement park and water park in Bay Area - $275 (free parking)

More weekends at the family cabin (snow weekends, Tahoe weekends, lake weekends in the summer, etc.) FREE

Not to mention, our neighborhood pool opens in May and will be open through September. This is where we spend much of our leisure time in the summers.

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

In years past I have had friends pity us because our vacation budget was the first to go when we had small kids. Um, somehow I think we will survive. Obviously we have a lot of free perks, but I overall enjoy having a lot of 3-day weekends and stuff like that. I really look forward to a relaxing year.

In fact, this is the first year since my maternity leaves that I am planning time off without going anywhere. Not THAT is a vacation. (I think it's somewhat of an accountant thing. Most of my co-workers never really go anywhere for vacation. We just like the opportunity to lounge around at home). I'm swinging 2 weeks at home with my vacation time this year. So I am pretty happy. I guess to me there is no place like home. But I see plenty of fun & excitement in my year as well.

A busy but productive weekend.

I usually do my taxes pretty early (like Dec. 31 if possible) because work gets so hectic. So I rather do my own before I get bogged down in everyone else's taxes.

But anyway, I also read state of Cali may issue IOUs for tax refunds, so I figure maybe I should get mine in before that happens.

Was surprised to get $50 back from the Feds; thought we would owe a bit. I had kind of over estimated some income and under-estimated some expenses. So, phew.

State - $550 back.

$600 - all to savings, of course.

I can't e-file until Jan. 16th though, with the software I have. So I will probably file this weekend then.

I usually play Federal as breakeven as I can and go for a state refund because the state if just so complicated. My boss said I could just do a flat amount per paycheck so I chose $50, which was about half of what the state calculated at 15 exemptions or whatever. So I was just happy to WAY lower my withholding, even if it was still a bit much.

BUT, fast forward to 2009, and the state is big on withholding unnecessary amounts to raise revenue now. Plus, if they can't honor their debts, well, I don't want to pay in too much.

So I think I will from my withholding from $1200/year to $700/year.

I will wait to see what my compensation is, to be sure. This will help offset $240 annual state disability tax raise. The rest of the difference will go into savings. I'll work out the details when I know my compensation for 2009.

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

I also upgraded Quicken over the weekend. That is just not something I want to mess with - I Want a supported version - and my support ends mid-year 2009.

Anyway, got an offer to download it for $39.99, directly from Quicken. I was sold. I had been planning to pick it up from Costco at that price.

The new version has some great improvements and will save me some time.

I am pretty convinced I save way more over the years than I would ever spend on Quicken (buying every 3 years). I think this is my personal best move when it comes to improving my personal finances. It does depend what you are looking for. I haven't tried the budget features because I am not much of a budget person. The accountant in me does enjoy the pile of electronic data though. & tracking (& organizing) every dime.

My one pet peeve with my old version was I could not remove old accounts from the side bars and stuff and still have them show up in "Net Worth" reports. IF there was a way, I couldn't figure it out. BUT now I Can. VERY easily. I may switch to Quicken to tracking Net Worth going forward, which is awesome and will save time too.

I mentioned in Analise's blog - everything is going out of business here.

Restaurant.com e-mailed me today to say that our favorite Thai place went out of business. Bummer!

I paid a whopping $2(?) for that gift certificate, so I think we would have been okay. BUT, they said I could exchange it for another one.

I had no idea they had that kind of guarantee. I am waiting for the confirmation to pick out a new restaurant.

Maybe we should used them sooner rather than later, lest we have to exchange them 10 times. *sigh*

ETA: Ended up going with an Ethiopian Restaurant. Something different...

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I applied for a new credit card with my CU.

Chase was too slow. They have yet to send us an affidavit and dh called them AGAIN this week. They said they couldn't fax it over and gave him more runaround. ANYWAY, I downloaded our card charges for the week, today, into Quicken. Lo and behold, they credited our account for both Fraudulent charges. Hallelujah. Only took a few months...

Anyway, I still feel like, what the hell? Why couldn't they have just told him they'd remove them then. ??????????

Too bad for them - I already applied for my new card. We're out.

My new plan is to not use the card, just to piss them off. They can close it when they tire of us not using it, in a couple of years. Which means I may close one of my other cards. I don't like having more than 2 cards open.

I may have a change of heart too. I am just too steamed to give them my business right now. Taking a break.

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I opened another savings account which pays 0.5% more interest than my money market/checking account. But I am keeping the MM because I really like it. Having checks would not have been a criteria of mine, but I have gotten spoiled by the account. None of this transferring funds business. (The new higher interest account is at the same bank so I can transfer funds instantly and write a check - now you are talking. Both account earn good interest overall).

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Met with our insurance agent yesterday. Nothing changed. I think our house was covered for something like $200k replacement when we bought, and we revised that to almost $400k in 2006, because constructions costs had gotten SO expensive in the boom.

Agent tells me costs have not dropped. Or so little it would make no difference.

I was skeptical. I didn't expect a huge drop on one hand. On the other hand, the industry has been so shaken, you can't tell me costs aren't dropping, or going to drop anyway. Something to research on my own a little I guess. We were kind of at an impasse there. Though I'd frankly rather be over insured. But certainly not WAY over insured. I'll keep my ear to the ground as far as construction costs.

I also had gotten it in my head that our deductibles were $1500 on our cars. They are only $1k. I have no idea where that figure came from.

We have comprehensive coverage on dh's car because it is so cheap and car theft is so prevalent in our neighborhood. I am on the fence about that one. I think we'll keep it for now, but as our cash grows, we will probably drop it. His car was near worthless until gas prices spiked in the summer. (Which made it more valuable and more rife for theft). So, what otherwise would be a no brainer has become rather complicated. More cash in the bank will make it rather a moot point though.

It also looks like we both drove about 10k miles last year. Go figure. Don't ask me how. It was the long trips. My commute is not long and I was shocked to see those #s. I know we drove about 1k miles to Disney and Yosemite. But yeah, that's only 1k. What the heck?

Actually, I think I figured it out. We had begun meeting dh's mom half way for exchanging kids. So if she takes the kids once a month, that is about 250 miles per month. (In the end it is the same as driving to/from San Jose once, just breaks it up a bit). Anyway, yes, we drove to San Jose a LOT less in 2008. But we drove half way a LOT more. THat's probably it.

It will be interesting to see how much our auto expenses drop when LM is done with preschool. It is a little out of the way. As is karate class. As they get older there are more activities and such closer to home. & BM simply walks to school. Quite a difference from driving the kids to preschool out past my work.

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Today I am working. I went to aerobics but will probably have to give up Saturdays for tax season. IF I go to work at 7 I can be done at 1-3. I didn't get here until 9 today though. Not thrilled with that, but will only be a few months.

Working Saturdays for 4 months.

Dh finally booked our weekend in San Francisco (so I will squeeze some time off). The suite averages $150/night. We are staying 2 nights for free (MIL's time share). We will have to pay $40+ to park though. We're staying near the wharf. It's got to be the most touristy area, but I love it for whatever reason. Love those noisy sea lions. I know we will eat well. I am not sure what else we will do. Planning to meet up with some friends for dinner one night. Another friend can get us into the newly re-opened Natural History museum for free. BUT I think we want some alone time too. So, we'll see. It would be nice to check it out and see if it is something the kid's speed. & nice to see someone I only get together with every year or 2. But, I don't want to muck up our alone weekend with all these other dates.

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Oh yeah, more stuff. Dh is proud he went to Safeway and spent $15. Full price was $35. HE saved about 60%. 2 manufacturer coupons, and some sales.

We bought some boots in another county in our quest for snow boots. Never really found anything worthwhile, and didn't need them, so dh returned them. I just noticed the return at Payless was more than we paid, by like a quarter! I mentioned to dh and he said it was probably the difference in sales tax rates. Good point!

Can we run a scam there? Start buying things in Placer and returning them in Sacramento? (Reminds me how shocked I am sometimes in the Bay Area because their sales tax is 0.5% higher. I notice it when I do a fast food run for the usual. We should start doing all our returns in San Jose).

Anyway, I am not sure if Wal Mart was smart enough to figure that one out. I will have to look again tonight. I'll let you know. I have the feeling it was just Payless...

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Entertaining my brain while I work:

http://www.mutualfundshow.com/shows/index.asp

IT's a local mutual fund guy, but a pretty good show. I'll need to find other podcasts and such once I burn through the recent ones.

Well, work has been a wee bit crazy.

New employee is nice, but not so nice for the 1/31 crunch (W-2s, 1099s and such). He needs to be learned. So I think things will be a bit crazy in January, but that Feb - April will be a little calmer than last year. Also, as expected, losing a few of our individual tax clients. Which is actually good. We don't want them. Kind of losing the trouble makers anyway, which is always nice. We are more business accountants who do the individual returns for business owners to be nice. But then they refer their relatives and friends, and next thing you know we are doing a million individual tax returns. So, this year could be good. Though I am sure losing too many clients isn't great either... But I certainly expected it.

In other news, first real life foreclosure (outside neighborhood). Acquaintance has hinted for a long while they would lose their home. Well, it's official. The kicker is guess how much they paid for their little slice of suburbia? $100k in like 1998. Yeah. (Reminds me, dh's cousin got hurt at work and is also worried about it - he paid about $100k too). Yeah, ask me how sorry I am about people who can't afford $100k houses. This is California after all. I can't see past my jealousy that if I was like 3 years older I could have a $0 mortgage instead of a $200k mortgage. But yeah - that's the extent of it. Actually, I don't envy their situation (today) at all. It's just sad.

BUT anyway. The first person did pay $100k for their house. BUT they borrowed upwards of $200k against it. Yeah. That explains that one. So they are in their 40s, with 4 kids, and moving in with relatives.

Our friends who paid $600k for houses worth $300k today? They are still hanging on. Don't ask me how.

There will definitely be more foreclosure tales to come.

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In other news, BM and I went for a bike ride the other day and he found a laptop bag. I kind of thought, "Ooooh - that's a nice bag" as we have been meaning to buy one. BUT at the same time, I watch too much reality crime TV. Wondered if I should even touch it. Could be evidence.

In the end, I touched it. It was actually a bag with a Bible in it.

The scenario became clear to me at that point. Probably stolen from a parked car; tossed aside when it was found only to be a Bible.

A surname was in the bible but I had no luck tracking anyone in the white pages. There were also 2 church programs, so I tried contacting both churches. They don't seem that interested. I feel bad; no idea what to do with it. I will keep trying for a bit. Reminds me, I should ask around the neighborhood. Can't help but feel it was stolen/lost from our neighborhood.

Anyway, around the same day we found that, I was watching a reality crime thing. Lady was shot to death in her office building for a laptop bag. What was in it? Books! This is my PSA. Laptop bags may not be the best place to store non-valuable items. What a sad world we live in. Maybe I don't want a laptop bag after all. Those things are dangerous. Maybe we just need an unassuming backpack...

Anyway, still determined to find rightful owner. I have more I can do.

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BTW, VERY sorry for the many who have been losing jobs lately. Reading the blogs it appears pretty brutal out there.

I'm cleaning some things up on my blog.

I am out of the $20 challenge. It just did not motivate me at all in 2008, and so I guess I am no longer in.

I think the thing for me was it really motivated me to scrounge up change when we weren't saving much. BUT we are saving a lot more and I am reverting to the "pay yourself first" philosophy much more. I could track that, but it's kind of boring. I don't need the motivation of a challenge either. Believe me, I pay myself first. Nothing will change that.

Likewise, I already posted this in 2007, but I felt I spent too much time and energy chasing pennies. Though I Certainly have gotten some better habits and have embraced some cost savings and other sources of income, I just don't care to spend the time to track it all any more. I guess it's one thing to chase pennies. It's another thing to spend more time tracking the pennies saved. Ugh.

In addition, dh is carrying most of the load here. He is the one who clips coupons, who shops smarter for groceries, and who makes money on the side from ebay and such. As usual, I feel my time is much better spent at my job, where I am paid quite well, even for overtime. So as he picks up some slack, I am happy to focus more on my job. I am far better off chasing a 1% raise than spending an inordinate amount of time to save a few hundred dollars.

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

I'm keeping an exercise log on the side to kind of motivate me. If I can squeeze 3 days a week of moderate exercise during tax season/winter, I am good. The rest of the year it isn't such a challenge.

A am also re-attempting the "New/Used/Free" thing. I think it would be fascinating to track what was brought into our house, and purged, throughout the year. Every year I try, but it gets way too overwhelming. For example, dh went shopping yesterday, so I already have stuff to add. & as usual, tracking what we buy is not the hard part. Tracking what we receive is another story. I know our family means well, but somehow we are a dumping ground for unwanted crap. I have been really good lately about setting it out for donation. BUT I think the charities have been coming around way more than usual due to the Holidays. Averaging once a week pickup. Doesn't get any easier than that. MIL left us a pile of crap, and we set it out on the front porch for donation. However, we gave SIL a toy that she asked to have. & then she sent it back. Guess we could donate it, but we want to sell it. So, stuff like that is just never ending. (& BTW - when we give you something - we don't want it back!!!!!!! I guess she was being polite, but we have been in such a purge mode, both dh and I were extremely annoyed. LOL. Glad it wasn't just me - I think he was more peeved than I Was).

Anyway, yeah, I have my New/Used/Free page on the side as well. Will see how long I can keep up.

Oooh, it happened to us to. I pulled out the Citi BT card of my hubbies and handed it to him yesterday. Told him it would take a minute to close. Don't think he got around to it. (He spent the day having it out with Chase actually. Yeah, I think it's pretty official we are going to leave. They couldn't possibly fax an affidavit over. They have to mail it over. S'posedly this is their 4th attempt. Yeah, sure! Not holding my breath).

Anyway, got the mail and a note from Citi that they lowered the credit line on that card from something like $11k to $2k.

Dh does have a Citi card that he does use as a backup card, so I told him he may want to make a purchase on it if he wants to keep it. Though I don't think we really care if they lower the limit.

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Yesterday I made dental appointments, an appointment with our insurance agent, and called around for a handyman. Haven't got anywhere on the last one, but the rain has let up and we need our gutters looked at. A couple of spots are leaking.

I was REALLY annoyed because we were going to San Francisco in a couple of weekends and dh has yet to make the reservation. He is just annoying me to no end. It was for him, so I told him. "FINE" the other day. If he doesn't want a weekend away. I don't want to hear any whining how we never get away.

Anyway, may work out for the best. We had dental appointments in Bay Area that weekend, but he thought I meant the weekend before. When I corrected him he was pissed off because BM has school. I think my plan was to change the appointment once I got the school calendar, but I never did. The appointments are VERY hard to come by. So I rolled my eyes and told him leaving school a couple of hours early one day was not the end of the world. But I called yesterday to make sure. I was right, I knew the date, but we were able to switch it to a Friday where kids had no school. Phew. So, appointments are still in January, and now I am rather relieved dh did not book the time share yet. We will go to the dentist in San Jose, drop off the kids, and drive up to San Francisco for the weekend. If dh ever books it anyway...

Anyway, yes, I am feeling accomplished.

Egads.

Well, I am getting a good start to my more personal/travel goals. We haven't taken the kid(s) to the snow since 2004. LM has never seen snow. We talk about it, but we never go. I think mostly we are not a fan driving near snow. We're not as bad as the Southern Californians who freak out when it comes to a light rain. But yeah, we aren't much better. We don't do snow. Hehe.

I've actually been keeping an eye on the weather a bit because November would have been a better time than any, but the weather has not cooperated much. We usually end up going in the spring anyway, which is nicer. Lots of snow, but not a lot of cold...

But yeah, with the craziness at work of late, I hadn't looked.

But one of dh's relatives is coming up to the cabin this weekend (& ties in with another goal of ours - to make more use of the family cabin in the Sierras). They invited the kids to go up and to play in the snow too.

I am not sure how it will pan out, they were going to drive up today or tonight and there is a small storm today. BUT because of the storm they predict lower snow levels at about the the cabin. SO that would be perfect. As long as the roads are cleared when we drive up tomorrow. But then we can just meet there and the kids could play in the yard. They will be in heaven!!! OR at least we won't have to drive too far to find white stuff. The cabin is only an hour from us; Tahoe 2 hours.

So what does this have to do with spring? Well, we went to the cabin a couple of months ago and we inventoried the snow clothes (mostly from the 70s) and there was no snow boots in LM's size. So, I knew I Would have to run out and get some snow boots for him. & Maybe I'd get him a whole snow outfit just because there was going to be 3 other small kids there about the same size and not sure we had enough. We just buy stuff and grow the arsenal as the family multiplies.

So I ran to Target at lunch. Seemed like a good idea. I had seen snow suits there and everything.

WRONG-O. I should have turned around and left the second I got there. I walked in and there were bikinis on display.

What the heck????

The pile of snow clothing that was there like last week, was completely gone.

I wandered over to the shoes and though there were two entire rows labeled, "boots," there was only 2 pair of adult snow boots there. What the heck?

They are clearing winter inventory out for spring already? Huh?

I was just very confused.

I did spot a couple of pairs of gloves hidden in a clearance rack, so I did grab those. Figured we couldn't have too many gloves. But yeah, will just buy boots on our way out tomorrow. In snow country. Yeesh.

It's just extra mind boggling to me because we had rather warm weather up until maybe 3 weeks ago. I don't know, I don't usually shop for winter stuff. There is usually no need. So I don't know the winter clothing cycle.

But yes, I am excited to go to the snow this weekend. Yippee.

As for me, I dug out my winter coat when we went to look at Xmas lights on a particularly cold night. It was a snow parka I bought in Utah, at the outlets, in 2000 or so. I was marveling at what a good buy that was. For the rare snow trip. It's a very nice coat. I'd be surprised if I spent more than $30 on it.

I can borrow boots from the cabin.

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In other news, I worked on my investments today and it looks like we were down about 25% for the year. Investment down 25%, but we contributed about as much as we lost. That is certainly an important piece of the net worth pie.

I've been kind of heavy in cash (before I bought up some at the "bottom" - meaning the lowest I have ever seen stocks) and we were kind of heavy in international. But as of 1/1 we are kind of at a good mix, so we will resume contributing about 20% to cash/bonds, 25% International, and the rest domestic stocks, in 2009.

I entered all our balances in yahoo today. As of 1/1. I usually do that every year just to eyeball performance. Performance without regard to current year contributions anyway. I think Yahoo showed us down 40%. I was relieved it was only 25%. The difference was largely due to stocks we bought in November with our cash reserves.

In other news, GMAC Bank started a new online savings product, but I received a letter initially that there was a $500 minimum. Their MM account offers free checks and no minimum, and I have grown rather attached to it. The letter was on offer to convert to their new "online savings" which offer 0.5% more interest. I decided to pass. Particularly since it was so all or nothing, and the new account seemed kind of crappy with the minimum, etc. I don't have a ton of cash and didn't want to deal with the minimum.

Well, I just noticed they removed all the minimums on all their savings accounts. SO I wanted to open one up and use it for savings, but keep using the MM one for check writing. The alternative is to transfer money over to my checking a few days before big bills are due, which is fine. But I have gotten used to the checks and have gotten spoiled. Now I think I will have my cake and eat it too.

I tried to open the account online yesterday but I couldn't remember the login I set up for dh and it wouldn't let me open a joint account without that. Bah. I will have to call and straighten it out.

I like GMAC because their rates overall seem to be competitive. If nothing else, they really drag their feet on lowering rates. I don't like changing banks every 5 minutes.

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Oh - one final thing. I got notice that our house recorded, with the refi. They sent us a notice that they could file homestead for us for $50, plus the fee of a notary.

What a rip. In California, Homestead is automatic. Don't fall for it!

I understand there are some situations when you should file for protection. Mostly if you have more than one home. So you clarify which home should be homesteaded.

BEsides, it doesn't cost $50 if you just do it on your own.

Just another example of where education/knowledge pays. I wonder how many people just blindly pay it. In this case it was fishy to me. It looked like a bill. Like, "You owe us $50." So I looked at it more closely, and tossed it after that.

I saw this story and thought it would be appreciated here.

http://www.sacbee.com/livinghere/story/1504931.html

Treasured finds:
You'd be amazed what you can find on a walk - a boy and his dad prove it

Dh was going to get a dozen eggs for $3+, but spotted 18 eggs on sale for $1.99. Buying in bulk tends to pay off. (Milk is always 2-for-1).

Anyway, I told dh to just pick those up next time and remind me when he does. I'd eat more boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, etc. That's 11 cents and egg!

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I e-mailed the fam about Family Camp. We should think about reservations. The Sacramento one looks largely the same, though a tad more expensive. (We went to San Jose Family Camp last summer). BUT the drive is only a little over an hour from here. IT's near Tahoe. & it isn't quite as treacherous as the 3-hour drive to Yosemite. So, we will try it out. For the long run, if we like it, we may just alternate every year. Yosemite is GORGEOUS, but not sure I want to do that cliff side drive every year. !!

No free kids this year, but looks like the cost is around $500 for 4 days, so not bad. Not bad at all.

We also want to get season passes to Great America (amusement park and water park). Still leaves a chunk to spare in our $1500 vacation budget.

We are staying 2 nights in San Francisco for free in January (if dh ever gets around to getting it booked) so I am not sure if we will go over $1k on our budget this year. Will see. Could do a few more weekends away, BUT MIL will just offer the timeshare anyway.

We may be wise to buy up some camping gear with the rest - that is one thing we want to do more of. But the whole Family Camp makes it really easy and kind of spoiled us.

We also need to take more advantage of the family cabin in the Sierras. Mostly free; we could rent boats and stuff like that. Things to think about.

I see a very cheap and fulfilling year of vacation, for 2009.

There is talk of MIL taking us to Disney World in 2010. Actually, she wanted to do it this year, but the rest of the fam wanted a breather. For BM, would have been 4 years of Disney in a row. A bit much, if you ask me. But we're thinking about it for 2010. It would be largely paid for; no way I Could justify otherwise. Disneyland is closer, but dh's Grandfather lives in Orlando - which is the draw. Though I fail to see the point to visit if we are going to spend all the time at Disney. It's a catch 22. We still have two one-day tickets for Disney though. We bought 4-day park hoppers in 2000 (when we had much more money to spare) and used them over the years. That was a good investment! I failed to see the point at the time, but now on much less income, it's nice. & it's nice if we actually use them too. Otherwise, not such a great investment.

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I signed the kids up for their January Karate class. Since LM has no preschool, we were going to let him give it a try.

Fee went up. $35 up from $30. Ugh! Which means, $70 for the two. I hope they enjoy! Will see how LM like it, and go from there. It is through the city and infinitely cheaper than any other Karate class I have come across. Then again, it's hardly a class worth $8.75/class if you ask me. I wonder if it is because enrollment is down. IT's more of a "fun" class than anything - not terrible technical.

I double checked and my aerobics class is still a mere $2.50/class for 2009. Phew. It's give and take I guess.

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I thought of an interesting analogy I hadn't thought of earlier. I know the frugie crowd, and a lot of the non-frugie crowd, think we are CRAZY to spend so much on our kids preschool.

It just occurred to me the other day that the payments were like a car payment. I think the thought just flitted through my mind that we could bank the payments for our next car, when LM finishes up there.

& it got me thinking.

I am crazy to spend $300/month for 3 years. (Granted times 2, since we have 2 kids). But people telling me this think nothing of a $600/month perpetual car payment.

Huh?

It was just this interesting train of thought I had. YEah, next time one of those people bug me. I guess I could get real loud and annoying about how much they spend on their cars. Maybe that would get the point across. $300/month for 3 years is worth it for a car, but not for our well-being and the greater good of your family? YEah, whatever.

I guess I largely realized why we could afford it too. BEcause we don't have car payments. The reason being because we don't spend much on cars.

Yeah, I'll have to remember that. PReschool is such a short-lived expense, it just annoys me to no end when I get a lot of unwarranted input on the subject. & I do. A LOT.

I never thought I would see the day!

Dh sold his Game Cube. He doesn't give up game systems lightly. I posted a while ago he has something like 10. I think that's before he started buying them up for BM. I don't even want to know how many we have now.

BUT, since the GameCube games can be played on the Wii, he decided to let it go. He was reminiscing about it today at lunch (I know, gag. LOL). All the memories. I just smiled and nodded. I may have rolled my eyes a bit too. But as he reminisced over the memories of his GameCube I realized I was lucky he sold it.

Proceeds gone back into his buying/selling games & systems.

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Reminds me, I have another bag set out for donation today and another charity is coming by next week. They average once a week this time of year. It's been pretty sweet.

Set out our old drapes, some toys that the kids volunteered to give up, some old belts and a fan, etc., etc., etc.

Last week I set out a bunch of Christmas stuff. Old lights (we are going to buy LEDs) and a pile of Christmas crap MIL dumped on us. & whatever Christmas stuff we don't use, that was donate-able.

We also found a pile of boxes in the closet when we got out the Christmas stuff. We finally had room to stuff it in the recycle bin. Well, some of it. Broke down the rest of the boxes for next week, hopefully.

So, still in purge mode. IT never ends.

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Got the HOA dues today. They sent some notice, a while ago, about our first dues increase ever, but it made no sense. So I wasn't sure what our dues would be!

Got the bill today. Up $8/month. Eh. I can handle that. IT's a 12% increase but we went 7 years with no increase. We actually had our dues lowered in the early days.

So, now full of knowledge, I can say our bills are going DOWN $100 come Jan. 1:

Mortgage -$200
Health Ins. + 71
Short-term disability (mandatory state tax) +20
HOA + 8
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Bills going down $101/month in 2009
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We had a lot of our bills decrease last year, for various reasons.

Preschool bill goes down $300/month, come mid-2010. So I feel on a role.

IT certainly won't always be like this, but enjoying it while I can.

I assume I will have enough raise to cover the $99/month expense increase, so I Can save the entire mortgage decrease, but we'll see...

Since my camera is a little on the old side, and big and bulky... (I hesitate to call a camera bought in 2002, old, but technology has improved substantially since then!). Anyway, I would love to take more pictures and work in a 52 or 360 picture project, but I find it unlikely I will take many. It's not a little discreet camera I can take with me everywhere. !

But, we did go on a bike ride and I snapped some pics I had been meaning to share.

For one, I tell people all the time I have the best of all worlds. We live in the city and the country. It's kind of nice.

& I also wanted to show our little park oasis and the sea of empty home lots that has come to glut our city.

So, where to begin...

These pics were snapped on the corner - at the end of our street.





& I am surprised it turned out, but you can see the downtown skyscape in this picture. We are very close to downtown (just a few miles). When we moved in there were no homes in between us and downtown, so we used to have a more clear view.



& this is just looking back at our development. The border of suburbia.



There is just nothingness, farmland, rivers, etc. as you head west (or north) from there. We pretty much live on the northern/western border of suburbia and there isn't much else out there. Most of the development is east (higher land/closer to the Sierras).

Well, here is a glimpse of the sea of undeveloped home lots:





These are models that have largely been abandoned. They have a security camera and the lawns look manicured, but I have not seen a soul there in over a year. This is across a major road, so doesn't directly affect us or our home values. But is pretty close to us, yes.



Whoever bought these homes, lucked out in some sense. But gives you a sense of some of the monstrosity they were building. & yet, though I am sure they paid top dollar for a very small patch of land, they kind of lucked out and got a lot of empty space. Depends how you look at it I guess.



& this is the park we found in the sea of unbuilt communities. We love it because it is SO peaceful - never see anyone over there. It is surrounded mostly by empty home lots. We had a picnic there one day and though we could see downtown in the distance it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere because it was so peaceful. So we just LOVE it.



Anyway, my friends went to school in this area in the 90s, and having grown up in the Bay Area, we always called Sacramento, Cow Town. LOL. I think because LA, Bay Area, and the coats are so desirable, that Sacramento is considered the armpit of the state. (That is what I hear it called). But I think it gets a bum wrap. It's way cheaper, it's way less crowded, and it's rather close to both Tahoe and San Francisco. We have kind of been reserved to the fast growth, as it is exactly what happened to San Jose when we grew up there. IT was farmland in the 70s, and by the late 80s it had pretty much become an extension of San Francisco. Sacramento was kind of going in the same direction. So, we were used to it. Over crowding, disappearing of farmland, etc., etc. LOTS of people living here and working in San Francisco. That's the way of California. But, if we are lucky enough to revert back to a bit of a cow town as other areas of the state once again become somewhat affordable, that sounds good to me. The bubble burst has its perks for us, I guess.

One more thing - we thought we were super smart to buy in the first phase of a new development. Well, we were in our situation. But, yeah, not so smart for people that bought in new developments the last few years. A lot of builders have gone bankrupt, and a lot of unfinished developments. I feel lucky now our entire neighborhood is built up. No empty lots or half finished homes. & you can't build much community if you only have a couple of neighbors. It leaves those desolate homes pretty susceptible to theft, etc.

So, Phew.

Where do you frugies buy earrings? That is my questions of the day. (Particularly nickel-free earrings).

Yesterday I went to aerobics, the bank (deposit Xmas money) and to Target and Kohls. Got home around noon and pretty much slept the rest of the day. So I'd consider it a lazy day. Though with a sprinkling of productiveness thrown in.

But shopping is something I rarely do - just no time. It is AMAZING how much free time I seem to have these days with the kids getting bigger. I could spend half the day shopping and still have 1.5 free days. IT's been a while - babies can be rather demanding!

& this is bad. It is easy to save money when you have no time to shop.

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I'm getting lazy about balancing all my spreadsheets ("savings buckets") to my bank accounts. Maybe only balance to the dollar every other month any more. So I balanced it yesterday. I was actually only $1.50 off (probably some forgotten interest) and so I added it to the mid-term savings. It was a nice surprise.

I transferred $200 into my ROTH MMMF (cash). From Xmas money. This puts our ROTH EFUND at precisely $7k. ($5k is in taxable cash accounts). I had been adding the interest to our savings and keeping more elaborate bookkeeping than I cared for. So, I contributed $200 to my ROTH AND got the amount to an even $7k. Thus, I am going to invest the earnings back into the ROTH, going forward. I think I need $50 to buy, so could be a while. But, that will make my life easier and my ROTH bigger.

We are earning about $20/month in cash which will keep going to the mid-term savings fund. So, still some interest growing our other savings.

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I returned 3 gifts at Target for a $40 gift card. Not bad! I was going to buy BM some clothes, but ended up getting myself a few treats. Some Christmas-y earrings, and a winter hat. & a plain black shirt. I had gotten one in purple and decided I could always use another plain black shirt for under sweaters and such. So I exchanged that one for black, in a smaller size.

(BTW - I don't think I have EVER returned a gift. I am getting stingy - hehe. I usually regift or donate, so it was just different. Mostly I don't like the hassle, but there was enough to return it was well worth it. & there was no line at Target for returns at 10am in Saturday. I was shocked, but pleased).

I got BM some pajamas, underwear, and socks as requested. In the end I spent $30 of my own cash. But I thought it worked out well.

He still needs pants. They had some that would even do for school, but NONE in his size. Yeesh. Will have to try again later. Piles of 5s and piles of 7s, but no size 6!

I then went to Kohls with my "$10 off" and came out forking over $80. It's the way it goes?

Actually, I found a light, black sweater, that I had been searching out for AGES. I thought it was $20-something for sale, but it rang up $33. I was overly optimistic I guess when looking at the prices. But something I have been searching for forever, and I actually really like the fit. So I keep it. I just wanted something to cover up a bit on some of my dresses. But nothing too heavy or warm either. I also spent about $50 on earrings.

So, the story on the earrings...

I LOVE earrings. I used to have a giant earring collection and enjoyed wearing "different" and BIG earrings when I was younger.

BUT, my dream was to get more piercings and I got my wish probably around age 16. I have 3 holes in my left ear and 2 holes in my right ear.

Well, WORST thing I ever did. Since then my ears became very sensitive to earrings, and then I was working where multiple earrings were not allowed (about 3 years in high school and college) and then I was completely broke in college and too busy to worry about earrings anyway. So I just stopped wearing them. Entirely!

Which is kind of sad.

So when I was shopping yesterday I thought, "I want some earrings."

When I sold Cookie Lee jewelry I would buy some, but in general, too heavy for me. Which is saying a lot - I like big earrings. But I just didn't mesh well with CL earrings.

So that was another obstacle to my life with earrings. As it was the only jewelry I bought for many years since it was of good quality and deeply discounted for me.

Anyway, Target really didn't have much, but had some cute Xmas-y earrings. I spent about $12 on 4 pairs.

Now, Kohls had nice earrings and they were mostly 60% off. I decided to stock up on a few basics and just start over.

I don't know what happened to most of my earrings, but I have some more modest/professional ones. I have to go through them, though my ears are so sensitive I just kind of wanted to start anew.

& I am well aware of the magic of clear nail polish!

For the long run, if I am going to get back into earrings, I need to get more frugal about it. It's one of those things I can't see buying used though. & cheap is not good for my ears.

Kohls was a good start. On sale they had some nice earrings at reasonable prices. I may run to Claire's and pick up some "sensitive" earring studs. I would like some more studs. But I can slowly accumulate larger earrings, and I don't need that many. That is the good thing!