I actually went to aerobics class today - it had been ages.

I still feel stressed at work, a bit, so came in today.

We'll see how this week goes. If I had all month to work on this stuff instead of like 10 days, would have been preferable. So just a little busy. Plus I am just so ready for vacation.

An Art Museum had some free toddler art program today. I had put it on the calendar ages ago, wistfully thinking I may be free. Well, maybe next time.

Last weekend was very hectic with the whole wedding thing, so we decided to take it easy this weekend. No plans.

Next weekend I have a hike in mind - if it doesn't get too warm.

I also found a hike along the beach in Santa Cruz. The closest becah to our parent's house anyway. We have never taken the kids over there, but was my favorite spot as a child. I saw some nice/interesting hikes along the beach.

Kind of limited as we keep it easy for the kids. But yeah, I Wanted to go to an Art & Wine Festival there in May. So maybe we will pack up and head over there for the weekend, and spend the day at the beach.

When I was young I would boogie board in that water but I think I Would absolutely DIE if I put my feet in. The temperature is like 60 degrees. Oh, to be young again. Yes, no wet suit. Young and crazy.

Which is fine, because the kids don't need to get into that water. Not the calmest waters.

I also need to do some planning for our So Cal trip. We are spending 2 days at Disney and one day at Lego Land if we feel up to it. We left a free day to relax. We were considering going to the beach or going on a hike. I think it would be divine to go lounge on a warm beach. Thinking San Diego. Oh yes, but also considered breaking up the drive with a hiking stop. I just have to research and see if it makes sense.

I was researching hikes online, the other day and saw this gorgeous valley of poppies (I guess they are in full bloom currently). I had originally thought it was Northern California, and then realized it was somewhere way south. I wonder if the poppies will still be blooming in a few weeks. IT looked amazing. I also know there is some Sequoia Forest somewhere down south. So we have to figure what to do.

After 2-3 days walking around amusement parks I am thinking the beach may be preferable though.

Well, we'll keep our options open!

So yeah, I am busy working hard, and dreaming of all the things I Want to do when things settle down. Which luckily should be VERY soon. Once we pass April 30th. Ah, I am going to have to have a celebration!

Oh yes, and if I hit the gym tomorrow, I will really be on a roll.

I was actually surprised how well I fared in class today. I have been trying to walk a bit and it does help. I am never quite as sedentary in the spring/summer months as I get in the winter. So here's to that. I would like to lose a few pounds this summer and get some muscle tone back now that tax season and sick season is over... So yeah, that entails more than a few walks here and there. Trying to get back into it.

I guess I have a roundabout goal to lose a good 8 pounds (or whatever it takes to get back to a size 12. If I lost no weight but toned up, could be close). The goal weight is just where I was before I had LM. BUT I Wasn't fit at all at that time so I am thinking a fit 148 or 146 may be the same as an untoned 142. But for now I am not sure where I will be happy, so 142 is the goal in my head.

I figure I have all summer and it is a possibility.

But weight loss and eating well and all of that is so NOT my strong point. Debt diets are easy. Real diets not so much. I know, and funny how the principles are so much the same. IT's just my own personality. Money = easy. Diet not so much.

BUT if I actually make it, well, the gym has been really great in helping me to maintain in the winter months (& probably in the super hot summer months as well). So it has served its purpose. Money WELL spent. A tax season with no weight gain? Incredible. I think I have lost a couple of pounds actually.

So ideally, in my head, I want to lose baby weight this summer. LM baby weight.

& maybe next summer I will work on BM baby weight. I got 8 pounds from each of them. It's just where my body has settled. So I don't know, my body may be very resistant to weight loss. But we'll see. I'll certainly try.

I have no interest in rapid weight loss though. I like working out, I want to be more fit. We'll see what happens. But I am a big believer if you lose it to fast, it doesn't stick. So 8 pounds over an entire summer? What is that - half pund a week? That I Can strive for.

I was just perusing the stay home vs. work thread (which was actually quite cordial - imagine that) and I had some insight to share.

I am fiercely independent, so it may actually surprise you to know that my mother was a SAHM. Of course, this is probably why dh and I value having a parent home. We felt very blessed growing up that we both had our moms home with us. Dh's mom worked part-time much of his youth, but my mom has not worked since I was born.

Anyway, so when I read comments that women work because they want to be strong role models for their daughters, I kind of cringe. You don't have to work to be a strong role model for your daughter.

Likewise, since I do tend to be fiercely independent, I thought it might surprised some of you to know I Was raised by a full-time, permanent SAHM. & no I haven't rebelled against that at all. I think it was a good thing. I just know it's not for me.

I have always had far more in common with my dad, and likewise, emulate him much more. Probably why I followed in his footsteps more than my mom's. It just feel more comfortable or *right* to me.

My parents were the types who had me doing chores and cooking at a very young age. Not because they considered me a slave, but because they wanted me to know how to take care of myself. It is very striking the way most people raise their kids these days - the idea that if you give them chores you are just using your kids. Huh? How are they going to learn how to sustain themselves? I will never make apologies for my 5yo or 8yo or 12yo knowing how to take care of themselves.

So my parents have always approached everything as me being able to take care of myself. I have no doubt they would treat me no different, in that regard, if I was male or female. When I turned 16 I learned how to change the oil and the tires on my car. As anyone should really know.

Though my mom never had any desire to work she always made it clear that she was strong because she had a degree. That she could take care of us if she needed to.

These days I look back and wonder how capable she would have been, to take care of us if something had happened. But growing up the message was clear - you have to take care of yourself because no one else will. Just because my dad worked didn't mean my mom completely relied on him.

Anyway, with time as I step back and look at my life I find it funny how much dh has married his mother. I hate to say it since we butt heads so much, but I think much of the reason why is because we are both so alike. I realize it more and more every day.

Of course, dh and I have had our own struggles. It wasn't until we had kids and he stayed home a few years that I start to realize I totally and completely married my mother. LOL. I thought I was s'posed to marry my father. You know, you marry someone like your father. But since I am much more like my father, I guess I married someone much more like my mother.

Anyway, just some insights into my own upbringing.

I find it awfully funny that dh and I have been together a good 13 years, and only now we see how we so totally married our mothers. You don't think about this when you date or marry someone. I guess having kids brings out our parents in us.

But yeah. I just had to share because it's kind of funny.

& well to say, if you are a strong woman, a job doesn't identify you as being strong. It will come across whether you work or not.

I was just thinking in terms of the discussion the other day about all the choices/temptations in the city.

I must seem ultra disciplined to not be all tempted by everything out there.

The truth is that, sure, I am disciplined to a large extent. But anyone who thinks I am "perfect" all of the time? LOL.

I just had to share because I went shopping at Target yesterday and spent about $120.

I walked in with a few things in mind and walked out with 10 times as many things.

Of course, this is about how ALL my shopping trips go.

The thing is, I just don't shop much. When I do, I know how much I can spend. (I don't sepnd more than I have cash to spend anyway) & a lot of the times I even buy more knowing I will return much later. Just too hard to decide them. Buy now; return later.

But all that and I Still get sucked in by PLENTY of crap that I don't need.

So yeah, it was actually a pretty typical shopping trip for me.

IT started with the Dollar Aisle. I spent $3 on stuff I didn't need because "it was only $1." That dang dollar aisle ALWAYS gets me. Though it is great for frugal gifts and stuff. & small pleasures I guess.

I also spent $8 on 2 monkey plates and 2 monkey cups. Okay, I Can NOT resist the monkeys!!!!

I put down the chili pepper serving plate (but it was so cheap and cute!!!!!) and some wodden bird that would be so cute in my bathroom. My head is like, "what the hell are you doing? Why do you need a bird for the bathroom? Doesn't even go with anything." I think that one was disturbing to me because I was like - "I have to have this." & I can't really explain why.

So I put it down and talked myself out of it.

I didn't even look at all the monkey stuff. But I couldn't resist at $2/pop. I averted my eyes before I spent $20+ on monkeys. I Seriously just did not look at it all. The plates/cups were a nice treat; plenty monkey for me.

I had gone in to get some water shoes, and to be fair my kids have square feet and are impossible to shop for. So spent around $35 on 2 pairs of good quality shoes that actually fit them. Will be good for camping (how I justified). Not the kind of thing worth shopping 20 stores for, nor could I buy sight unseen online. I think in a few years flip flops will be dandy, BUT they tend to run and fall much. They need something more sturdier for now.

So that was the bulk of it.

Then I got a new wardrobe for BM. Which meant a couple of pairs of sandals and some new t-shirts. He's only grown UP so his shorts from last summer all fit still. Phew.

I used to only shop thrift for him. But I don't even bother any more, with Target now down the street. The convenince factor can not be beat. I can usually buy new clothes at thrift prices there. YEsterday I made out with a couple of shirts for $1.99/each. I don't find Target quality stellar (I wouldn't buy clothes for myself there. I have in the past and decided I prefer clothes that last more than a season, before falling apart). But as rough as the kids are on clothes, works for them. Enough quality for them to both wear and then to pass on to their cousin. So I don't really bother with the thrift thing anymore. Target always has a slew of new clothes at $4/pop. YEsterday I actually avoided the cheapie aisle and went for the higher quality stuff on clearance. MAde out better than I thought I would (I Was surprised when those couple of items rang up under $2).

I love warm weather seasons though because the sandals are more forgiving on their wide feet. I usually spend a lot more money on wide shoes for them when it comes to fall/winter. But they can do okay with regular sandals. My feet are much the same way. If the shoes have give I am fine. All my work shoes are wide size though.

I perused napkins while we were there and was not happy. I didn't like the quality and looked longlingly at the wash clothes and dish towels. I think what I really want is cheap dish towels. I don't like the material they use in cloth napkins.

I mentioned this to dh that maybe I would just buy some dish towels, or wash clothes, for napkin purposes in the kitchen. He reminded me how he had already said we should buy some dish towels and cut them up into more napkin sizes. I had written it off before, but he is right. Probably what we will do.

I think it will be cheaper too. But nicer. They aren't for show. I want something I Can actually wipe my hands with - something more absorbent.

I also did remember to check the home improvement aisle and scored big. 5-paintbrush set for $2.99. Perfect for the kids' water play.

It was HOT yesterday so the kids tried on their new shoes and ran in the sprinklers and painted the sidewalk with water. They had a BLAST. I admit, it was so hot I ran with them for a bit. It was REALLY refreshing.

Dh wasn't feeling so hot and so I picked up a take and bake pizza on the way home too. I scored sliced sourdough bread with cheese/garlic crust. Divine!!! Expensive, but divine. I had asked dh to pick me up the sliced sourdough a while back and he hadn't know what I Was talking about. HE brought home a big thing of unsliced sourdough, which was quite yummy, but not quite the same. So I showed him the packaging and said, "you ever see this on sale?? Buy in bulk!" LOL. Now he knows. IT was almost $5 full price, so yeah. A little luxury...

The pizza would have been $5 if we planned ahead - we usually buy it on sale Fridays - for when we have people over and such. But the $8 pizza was still a good deal.

So it was kind of a simple day. But I had fun shopping, and eating my expensive bread too. Yummy!!!

But yeah, the hot weather made it very apparent that BM needed some new clothes. NEeded some summery shoes and some t-shirts that didn't look a size or 2 too small. I actually did fairly well with him, since he didn't need much. Kids are both in same boat. BM was wearing cloth diapers last year - bulky. So though he did grow much, most of his shorts/pants from last year still fit now that he no longer wears bulky diapers.

I went through and pulled out their clothes that didn't fit, and all the winter stuff I knew wouldn't fit next year. Felt good to purge.

One good thing I did do was resist the urge to buy clothe for LM. He doesn't need any and regardless how you feel about hand-me-downs he gets no short end of the stick. Dh's family is notorious for buying clothes too small. So BM has lots of new-with tage/never work hand-me-downs. He's got plenty. (Plus I have to say I grew up with hand-me-downs and LOVED them. They were new to me. LM feels much the same way. HE LOVES it when I pull out BM's old clothes. The ones I sometimes think are really tired are worn are ALWAYS his favorites. Funny how that goes).

BUT I think since BM has moved up to the Boy section that I didn't see any clothes in LM's size and so wasn't tempted. I wasn't even sure of his size anyway - was the other thing. LOL. I usually get more tempted to buy them a couple of matching outfits. So yeah, made out good that way. No unecessary clothing purchases. Phew... Well this may last a year or 2 until LM joins BM in the boys' section. It was lighter on my pocketbook!

UGH!!!!

It was just about 90 degrees yesterday.

I am bare foot and wearing a light shirt. It's around 73 in the house. Just feels weird. Early April? Summer weather? We get this in May. But early April, kind of weird.

I mailed off my check to the IRS yesterday. Say la vive.

Yesterday was actually a relaxing day. I went in to work a couple of hours and then came home to watch the kids. Dad's cousin is getting married; dh is doing their wedding video. Pro bono work I guess. They don't have any money (both on disability right now - and sweetest people you ever met). He has been trying to strike a delicate balance there as he doesn't want to do a full blown professional video (retails more like $2k-$3k) as it is a lot of work. But he was willing to do a one-camera shoot and do some nice things for them for free. I mean he's not going to charge for materials or anything. But yeah I guess talking to the bride she wanted all this stuff that he is delicately trying to tell her does not come with the free shoot. (If nothing else, he's not editing down 2 camera angles and no one to hold the second camera for free - no one who knows what they are doing anyway. But I think the editing is the part he just isn't going to do). Plus he's been sick and he spent a good 10 hours there yesterday. Ugh. In the 90 degree heat - yes. Guy deserves a medal. But of course, who could have predicted this weather???

My mom couldn't take the heat and visited with us much of the day. Actually she was s'posed to watch the kids so I could work. But then she didn't want our germs. But then it was hotter than Hades and she came over anyway. so made for a nice relaxing day. I Was worried we'd have to turn on the A/C for her comfort, but the ceiling fan was fine for most of the day.

I am going to go into work for a bit today, but more to get a head start on April 30th deadlines, and make up for my missed sick day(s). Not that I Feel any real immediate pressure. Busy, yes, The rest of the month will FLY. Not particularly stressed. Phew...

I am thinking ahead to May and how quickly our Disney vacation is approaching. Woohoo.

We also have our 4 days/3 nights almost squared away for Yosemite - maybe late June.

I am dividing one week of vacation between that and Thanksgiving week.

So leaves me one more week of vacation for the year. I am kind of pondering. Considering divvying it up 3 hours a week for 13 weeks of summer. Cutting out early fridays. It's rather tempting...

Then again, we had talked about going to North Carolina to visit my sister. I would take a long weekend to do so, but may need a couple of days.

A few 3-day weekend is always nice too.

Likewise, I have toyed with the idea of taking a week of in late summer just to laze around the house.

I think my most fondest memories of recent years is my second maternity leave. Was dh and I both home with the kids a good 5 months or so. Very special times. Sure we were busy with the baby, yes. But it was a really nice time. You know the first time I was miserable while pregnant and we had no idea what we were doing, and the return to work was way too soon. But BM was so lucky that second time. He had just turned 2 and he got all that special time with us. It was a much more calm & relaxed affair, and I had an extra 12 weeks off that time (California's paid family leave). Which was really just more bonding time, but very precious.

So yeah, a week sounds QUITE paltry in comparison. But a week to laze around the house sounds rather nice.

On the flip side I can see us taking it much easier next year. Maybe a week for camping and 2 weeks to laze around the house. Well, perhaps...

Those kind of lazy vacations home are hard to plan. Our parents want to take us so many places. Which is very appreciated, but leaves me longing for some quiet down time. 3 weeks vacation is nice, but not enough I guess. This is only my second year of 3-weeks of vacation, but it barely feels like enough. Funny enough.

Well, this year is an improvement. Our Disney vacation will be rather relaxed. & camping sounds pretty nice too. More our style.

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Anyway, in other news, my FICO score is BAD. Actually I don't really have a pulse if it is bad or good, but I just saw it dropped from around 760 to 700. Egads! (IT dropped to 685 briefly with my ID theft. So this is pretty bad to me).

Anyway, my credit monitoring service has not reported any activity. WAMU send me my score for free so how I saw.

I tried to order my Transunion report to see for myself what was going on. BUT with my ID theft I can't see that one online (Gah!). So I will have to order it by mail. I will. Just annoyed I can't see it now. They're trying to help, but the problem is time is of the essence when it comes to ID theft. !!

I took out a large balance transfer in December and was rather surprised it had little affect on my score. I know my utilization ratio is bad.

I also applied for a refi in late January.

In late February my score was fine. Apparently last month it dropped like a rock. I have to figure it is the Balance Transfer. Or maybe that coupled with the hard credit pull. But certainly there is a lag there, if that is the case. Which is all I could figure. No inquiries or new credit - that's what my triple monitoring says.

But I will check directly with TU to be sure. Huge red flag.

I would say no biggie (particularly after I check my report with that particular Bureau) BUT then I remember we are trying to refi.

!!

700 probably isn't horrid. But I am tempted to just pay back my balance transfer that was due in June anyway. We are trying to save $100-$200/month on our mortgage. Screw the balance transfer.

Then again, if this does ruin our refi possibilities, well, oh well. It is what it is. Our mortgage rate is not bad.

But yeah, I don't think I mentioned, my credit union is suddenly courting me. They wouldn't let me sit on the sidelines and wait for a rate so I went elsewhere. They told me my application would expire in 30 days. 60 days later they called me about trying to lock me in. "Interesting," I thought. Seems they changed their tune.

Someone called me and offered a 0.25% discount rate if I acted by April 15th.

I can't say I took the deadline very seriously, at this point.

Rates have been hovering to the point where we could get 5.5%. For quite a few days. It is only worth it to refi for 5.25% or less. So close, but not there. Only 2 days before my deadline... I wouldn't be surprised if they offered the same deal again though.

So yeah, I don't know. Meanwhile, my CU has called me 100 times and my other broker I haven't heard hide nor hare from. Of course, my CU keeps trying to sell me rates higher than I already have. LOL. But they just seem very desperate all of a sudden. I really wouldn't mind going with them though. So I am rather pleased with the turn of events. & I respect that since rates aren't where we need to be to jump that the other guy hasn't bothered us.

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't refi either. But rates have been so incredibly volatile, you literally have hours to lock in the good rates when they appear. So if they appear again, even for a short while, we're all ready to grab them.

I hope my score doesn't screw it up.

For the long run, my old balance transfer is due in July; we will pay it in June. I think that will help my score considerably, and in the grand scheme of things I can survive with a 700 score in the meantime.

But these are all the gory details...

My gut tells me it's my bad utilization ratio, and there is a lag. But this stuff makes me extremely nervous. You can hardly be too vigilant.

Well I have been rather absent online because dh got the bug. I mean I wrote a lengthy post this morning, yes. But then it's almost 11pm and only other time I have had online all day. Blasphame! So I feel rather one sided today. OR lately. A wee bit busy at work?

In some news, we booked our camping trip for June. Yay! I guess more about that later.

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

I just had to say I have been anti-frugal these last few days, in light of not being prepared for sick hubby. But my frugal tendencies still show.

Dh was sick Thursday (luckily was fine until later afternoon since it is worst daycare day. He was also s'posed to go to a wedding rehearsal but didn't make it - for video. It's a non paying job - relative. So oh well. I think he'll be okay for the wedding - lucky for them).

Anyway, so I came home and the weather was nice. Decided to take the kids out to BK for dinner. Like I had thought about dinner... Bummer as the play structure was closed. A neighbor had told us about a new park so we drove by on the way home to check it out. BUT it was amid a few model homes and rather deserted. I told the kids I didn't think it was a safe place to play. I just didn't feel comfortable there since it was rather in the middle of nowhere.

Anyway, we went to the park down the street but it was rather deserted there as well. Just strange for such a nice day. We didn't stay long. So much for letting the kids run around...

Oh yeah - and the kids had meals while I had a $1 meal. All in all, didn't cost much.

This morning dh was really not feeling well and preschool had no spots (weird for a Friday). So much for that plan.

We picked out the longest movie in DVD format (too bad Ratatouille is on Blu-Ray since it is the longest kid movie I have ever seen - LOL. First one that popped into mind). So yeah, this morning I fed the kids, and dressed them, and put on a long movie, and went off to work. Dh and I debated if 2 short movies would be better. But they were pretty much bouncing off the walls otherwise and about to kill each other. I mused that I could at least work from home later and let them run around the backyard like banshees if they preferred.

At this point I am exhausted. I have NO IDEA how single moms do it. I now realize why everyone tells me my kids give me so much exercise and why I must be so "skinny." LOL. Usually dh does all the hard work.

As I rush off to work super late I notice dh's car has no gas because he has been too sick to go anywhere. More bad planning. I do remember the gas station by my work which mysteriously closed, was open again a few days ago. Phew. I just rode it out - lord knows how long the gas light had been on. Dh usually refills way earlier.

MAde it only to find $3.89 gas. Egads!

The frugal side of me only got 3 gallons. I think 3.5 as I thought about the wedding Saturday - I figured dh could fill up on the way home.

Of course on the way home I spotted $3.69 at the Safeway gas and we may even have a 10 cent off per gallon coupon. I tell you those grocery wars are awesome, and we have been enjoying. But usually takes great care and planning to hit the biggest discounts.

I left work kind of bored around noon and came home and fed the kids and took them to the drop-in childcare chain place. They might as well have been going to Disneyland they were SO excited. I questioned this wisdom of my decision since I figured the morning would be crowded and dh would feel better. BUT then again it was nap time and I was dragging them somewhere with a LOT of activity. Too late to turn back.

I dropped them off and worried much about them all the way to work. Sure they LOVE the place and that is what is important on a big level. But yeah, usually my kids are with dh or at preschool which is like our second family. Plus preschool has a 4 to 1 ratio; not 12 to 1. Okay for date night; not so sure good for 5 hours. So yeah, I worried a bit more than I ever would about them. Likewise, I worried much more about LM who seemed to get knocked around a bit by the older kids. Then again, he is VERY used to it. He told me the worst part of the day was when I came to pick him up. So yeah, they had fun.

The frugie in me had a coupon so it cost me $40 instead of $50 for almost 5 hours of care. Pretty sweet. Preschool would have been $50 for a half day.

The kids were SO exhausted when I picked them up and this erupted into fights of "NO - I am NOT TIRED" whenever the idea was mentioned the rest of the night. But we did put them to bed a good hour early. I guess it was okay. Tired = banshees so it was a trying evening though. LOL.

I came home and made the kids pasta and hot dogs. No planning, but the pantry and freezer had plenty of crap to whip up. You probably get the idea that I can't cook worth crap, but the truth is I only cook when it's last minute and unexpected. LOL. Plus dh is SO into the healthy rounded meals, and I generally am not, that I enjoy giving the kids a treat once in a while. Can't be perfect all the time. Sometimes you just got to let your hair down and eat some food that is not so good for you. But yeah I can cook and I enjoy doing it once in a while. But what you see is not my best work.

At least dh helped put the kids to bed. I think last night too. He's a lot better - he has the same 24 hour thing so I have no doubt he'll be fine tomorrow.

Oh yeah, but I forgot the part where I went back to work around 1:00 and there was a pile a mile high of last minute tax returns. Huh? I was only gone an hour. Most of it wasn't a big deal - people who I knew didn't owe and I put on extension ages ago, just knowing them. I just found it funny that they all showed up the 1 hour I left to take care of the kids.

Boss asked me to look over something today (well he asked me days ago but I was waiting for someone else to finish). I wasn't optimistic but I worked on my parent's tax return while I waited. PHEW! I had wanted to get it out last week, but then we had all been sick.

Anyway, she got it to me right about 6 when I HAD to get the kids; could not leave them more than 5 hours. So all that and as soon as the kids went to sleep I worked for a couple of hours.

Blech.

What a day.

Of course as I sit and type I hear a kid coughing quite a lot in the other room. Oy vey. Sounds like some major germies.

I felt pretty crappy today anyway but I have fingered it as allergies. I think they arrived. Bummer...

Anyway, yeah, next month is a short month for preschool so we had an extra $70 to spend on daycare. So that wasn't really a big deal today. I mean, yeah, I had maybe looked forward to applying that to our camping trip or putting it into an IRA or something. I should know never even to think that. That dang Murphy!

Well, I have made clear that our taxes have been pretty low since we have had kids. Of course, I ran across an old post on the forums when I was searching for some old forgotten topic where someone had assumed I was playing a game with the IRS. I had just never seen that reply before, and it was quite ancient to reply too...

I have to say, no games. Which I have said before. But I Wanted to clarify. I am a W-2 employee. I withhold plenty. On average I owe $0 and get a refund of $0 for tax day. I usually run pretty breakeven. (Owe a few hundred fed, get a few hundred back from state. How it usually goes).

So yes I wanted to illustrate again how living on one income we get to keep a big chunk of our paycheck. & why a second income doesn't always sound terribly lucrative.

Of course, this whole topic reminds me there should be much more tax education in schools. MUCH more. I think people could make much more informed financial decisions if they understood the tax ramifications.

Why am I the only one figuring out that it is not worth 2 incomes and $100k income because the people I know pulling this take homes less money than us at the end of the day? $20k/year daycare? An extra $10k in taxes? Plus all the working expenses. I know a lot of people who make a lot more money than us but have a much more pinched cash flow due to just the basics of working like taxes, daycare, and fuel for commuting. Doesn't even get into the convenience factor (for example, how much money we save with a spouse to cook every day and take care of much of the household, etc). & I AM talking about miserable people who endlessly complain about how they "have to" work. (Not the people who are happy to work; that's another story). I try to educate them and I have helped some. But the rest I think, well, they just think I am crazy.

On the flip side, I look forward to my spouse working some day and maybe maxing out a couple of 401ks. That would make sense. We could put $30k more every year into retirement and pay little more than payroll taxes. So I know taxes will factor heavily into our future working decisions.

But yeah, but why do few people take all this into consideration? BEcause they just don't understand it. & who could blame them for not understanding it? The tax code is insane. But a basic education would help...

Likewise, I saw a comment the other day about average taxable income and tax brackets, and I thought to myself, "what does that have to do with anything?" I really find LITTLE relation between actual income and taxable income. There are a lot of deductions and all that out there. Which I guess my tax return will show. We are in an awfully low tax bracket. I wouldn't consider our income low in the least.

Reminds me, I still have to formulate a post on the taxing of retirees. They don't have any deductions. They don't get much in the way of tax breaks. So their taxable income will often be much higher for much less income than their working counterparts. But I do have to get to that post one of these days. I think the tax code has shifted so much with time, that the idea of lower taxes in retirement was probably once true, but is now greatly a phallacy. I have had more insight into why this year than in past years (but I see it clearly with my highly taxed retiree clients. Another post for another day).

Anyway, I have to say this year is probably our highest tax year since having kids. I did have a ROTH conversion I pulled it out of my tax return for this illustration. Because it just really skewed things. So forgetting that, this is what we had:

$75,000 Gross Wages
-23,000 Itemized Deductions***
-14,000 Exemptions (4)
--------
38,000 Taxable Income
x Tax Rate 10%/15%
--------
5,000 Tax
(2,000) Child Tax Credit (2)
--------
3,000 Net Tax
--------

***Itemized Deductions:
$ 3,000 Medical (mostly insurance)
6,000 State Taxes (mostly property tax)
13,000 Mortgage Interest
1,000 Charity
--------
$23,000 Total Itemized
--------

3,000 Net Tax/ 75,000 Income = 4% effective tax rate.

Thus, I only have to withhold 4% of my income to break even.

For state I withhold 2%.

Payroll taxes? withhold 8.5% (includes California taxes).

So 14.5% of my income is withheld for various taxes. More payroll taxes than anything else.

I have been saying for a while I get to keep 90% of my paycheck. But it looks like our income is inching up a bit and we are paying more. So I guess I should revise that to 85%. But I still don't find 85% half bad.

So I take home almost $65k/year. How much do you have to gross to take home that much? (I often see people say they have to gross low six figures to take home $65k. I think, egads!).

Likewise, we don't have any taxed investing income or stuff like that (well not much anyway) because we primarily invest in IRAs and other tax-deferred investments.

Anyway, yeah, the kids are 5 & 3 this year and this is our worst tax year since having them. We had a couple of $0 income tax years (one year the government paid us - refundable child tax credit when we had our second child). Having a much lower income at the time, taking significant maternity leave, and having non-taxable income sources like unemployment and disability, have made a large difference. We took the retirement tax credit those 2 years as well.

Likewise, when it does come to a second income some day, some things we keep in mind to keep our taxes on the low side are contributing heavily to 401ks, as mentioned. A second income is also when things like HSAs and 529s will suddenly become VERY valuable to us. Whatever we can shelter from taxes... But yes, all VERY on the up and up. As you see there is no elaborate tax strategies here.

But yeah, hell if I am going to withhold more taxes than I need to. Some people seem scared by all that withholding stuff as well. But again, a little more education would go a long way in that regard.

I guess what I should do it pull out our 2001/2002 tax returns and see how much we were paying. Probably a hell of a lot more, before kids. I am sure...

Dh bought a blu-ray disk with a $10 rebate.

I applied for the rebate a couple of weeks ago and it already arrived. (Disney?). Kudos to Disney - fastest rebate I ever got. You know, we constantly apply for rebates and have never had problems (knock on wood). But 6-10 weeks is usually the wait...

Anyway, my mid-term savings balance is $485. I considered transferring the $10 over to the mid-term savings, plus $5, for an even $500.

Heck I'd put that $10 to my IRA if I could. Too small to deposit... Though I guess I could add it to my next auto transfer, but that's just a pain.

Anyway, I also realized I was coming out ahead with this. Dh buys all his blu-ray movies out of his allowance. But I am sure I counted the whole cost. The rebate is a bonus. Gets him to spend less though he justified it only with the great rebate. Well, I just realized this anyway. But I am not adding it back to his allowance. It's gravy.

The only other thing is I am running a $75 or so surplus in the checking account. We'll see how April goes. We don't pay cash for much, but want to get the carpets cleaned. For all the rooms I estimate $75. I think I will deposit this $10 and leave it there until we get the carpets cleaned. Maybe this will kick my butt. I have been thinking about it for a while and pulled out the business card for the wonderful guy we hired in 2006. BUT I haven't called yet...

So yeah - might need it for the carpet cleaning. We'll see. If not, maybe to savings... Want to wait and see how much the carpets cost first.

We don't wear shoes in the house and generally haven't found much need for carpet cleaning. (Plus though our house is large not all the rooms are utilized all the time). BUT the family room is completely thrashed. Would have preferred to wait unil LM is fully potty trained. But it's kind of embarrasing. A couple of hallways could use it. Plus the upstairs bathroom (don't ask me whose bright idea it was to carpet the sink area? Ugh), upstairs hallway (old potty accidents) and the kids' rooms. Dh's idea. Not sure the kids' rooms really need it, but whatever. All that and might as well go over our room to.

We paid $40 before for most of the downstairs. I remember I paid the guy $50 because I thought it was terribly cheap for all he did. So I don't expect it to be much more to add 2 rooms, but we'll see.

It's sposedly likie eco friendly stuff too, but lord if I really buy that. But we haven't cleaned the carpet much with small kids, because of the chemical concerns.

Well if we do get them cleaned, next week I would hope, I think we will institute a no drink rule in the downstairs living areas. Most of the carpet stains are juice from LM's sippy cups. HEck, we should probably outlaw sippy cups. He'll be 3 soon.

I realize when he's potty trained we may need to re-shampoo the carpet. But that's okay. I just don't think it could wait (which means, yeah it's bad. Cleanliness is not usually a main concern of mine).

My parents are the type who would do their own carpets. Spend an entire Saturday shampooing the carpet. Ugh. I didn't get all the frugal genes. I'll go work 1-3 hours on a Saturday to pay the carpet guy. Much preferred. Just how I roll. I value my time and appreciate having the wage to afford it.

I just wanted to discuss my method of saving for different things (different buckets).

I don't think I have the easiest or the best method. But just wanted to share for anyone curious. & to clarify for any blog readers.

Of course, I try to keep a minimal amount of accounts/savings goals. It would drive me nuts to save for like 10 little things. I don't see the point of being so exact. (Much of my philosophy comes from being an accountant. Simpler is good, and being exact is often a waste of time. As long as I am close!). Likewise, I track everything in excel and I probably find it quite simple in an accountant kind of way. I am sure this may be a bit complex for non-accountants. But to me, it just makes sense.

I guess the first thing I have done is defined my savings buckets. Instead of cars, vacations, insurance, and specific things, I divide my savings buckets as follows:

*Short-Term Savings
*Mid-Term Savings
*Long-Term Savings
*Retirement
*Medical Savings
*Emergency Fund

Short-Term Savings

I started this fund last year and added up all of my insurances and property taxes, and divided by 12. I actually came up with a whopping $800/month (rounded up a bit) and found after a full year that it was quite sufficient. I pulled money out for some smaller things throughout the year.

So this year I am adding $1k/month to this fund. It's a work in progress, but I feel like I am about there (with getting this figured out). I am tending to pay all one-time bills, no matter how big or small, out of this account. This year I added subscriptions and auto registartion, etc. Just little stuff like that - I had plenty of room in the $800/month. The additional $200/month is for vacations, car repairs, and christmas expenses, etc. All the stuff I reasonably expect to spend in the year, but that come generally only once or twice a year. In my head I am thinking, approximately $500 for christmas, $1k for vacation, etc. I don't track each expense much beyond that. We always do vacation and christmas budgets though. So we know we aren't going to suddenly spend way too much this year and blow our savings out of the water.

This fund needs to be $1k on January 1 to fund all of the early year expenses. So if I have any money left at 12/31, over $1k, I will transfer it to retirement or other savings (the excess). Last year was year 1 with this method, and we drained the account to $0 come Christmas. So we took $1k christmas cash to give it a kickstart for 2008. (I'd prefer not to do it, but it's our backup plan. It works).

Mid-Term Savings

We have always paid cash for our cars. However, we have historically not paid much for our cars OR we had a hefty second income to pay for them.

Likewise, we have never spent a lot on house repairs/appliances, etc. Certainly not since we have been on one income. Part of our goals was to buy a newer home that needed little work, so we could save for maintenance in the long run. I know this is not a fool-proof plan. But we have been in this house 6 years and have put hardly any money into it. So I would say it has paid off for us.

Anyway, without the second income we were used to, and wads of cash, we had to come up with a plan. So we are trying to save up $5k/year towards our next car purchase and for things like house maintenance, painting the exterior, replacing appliances down the road, etc. I'd say ideally 50% of this is car fund and 50% of this is house fund. IT may have more to it in the future (other expenses/goals), and ideally we'll add more as well. But we keep this money liquid, in cash, and it's a start for us.

We are funding it right now with interest earned off of our emergency fund and other cash. We are also funding it with overtime and windfalls. Overtime and interest equates to about $5k/year, so where we started.


Long-Term Savings

We don't have any money in our long-term savings right now. I think mostly this is money we save that can not be put in an official tax-deferred retirement account. Any money we save beyond official retirement, we have discussed using for college, for early retirement, for enjoying more (nicer vacations? nicer toys?) and/or a contra-mortgage account. We think about how if dh returns to work we will be able to save way more than our retirement plans allow, and where this account comes in. Likewise, with future raises and all that, it's still quite a possibility on one income.

But for now, it's just a dream.

Retirement

Retirement is an easy bucket to keep track of. For now it is 50% in ROTHs and 50% in my employer's plan. But it's all our tax-deferred, aggressively invested investments.

We try to invest a minimum percentage of income, and consider windfalls for maxing out.

Medical Savings

I know, I know. I don't want a lot of buckets. But we switched to a HDHP this year, and our premiums lowered by $250/month in exchange for a $3k deductible. $250 x 12 = $3k, so we have been saving the difference to fund the cash on hand to cover our deductible. In an IDEAL world we will get this to $3k and just tack it on to our emergency fund. If we get to that point, we will divert the $250/month savings elsewhere. Retirement or mid-term...

We are only 4 months into this health plan, and I think we have spent all the deductible we have saved. So this medical savings may be around for a while. I dream of diverting some of that money and saving it. Maybe getting ahead.

Reality is we'll probably spend our deductible every year.

Emergency Fund

I almost forgot the emergency fund. Which is good. I don't really consider it part of our liquid savings, and don't think much about it.

The emergency fund is 3 months of expenses saved up in cash. I actually keep some of it in a ROTH. We always keep a minimum of $5k in the liquid cash account. The rest is in the ROTH, for now. When we have more money, sure we'll keep all of our emergency fund in cash. For now, I couldn't give up the 2007 IRA contribution, so we diverted it to a ROTH. That part of the emergency fund is like out of work for months or house is destroyed, kind of emergency fund. Those are really the emergencies we consider. Likewise, we find the odds extremely slim we would touch it. (My job is quite recession proof & I could hardly see any reason to be out of work more than a day with the current CPA shortage). So why we came up with just 3 months expenses, and why a lot of it is in our ROTH (in cash of course). Likewise, in tough time, a 0% loan from our parents (or low interest rate) is a pretty viable option. It's a big reason why I am not big on oodles of cash right now. Our family has decently deep pockets.

Oh, and I do have to add we have adequate disability and life insurance, etc.

For now though, the efund is doing double duty until we can build up our mid-term fund now. If we had a large expense tomorrow when it came to the car or house, we would have to dip in the efund. But with time we are getting past that. Likewise, with time, we will put more in our efund. For now, it's at the bare minimum I feel it needs to be, and I feel we have bigger fish to fry.

& so that explains all of our different savings buckets.

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

Now, how do I track all these? Well the retirement fund is self-explanatory - those are all in their own accounts.

For the rest, I track them in excel.

I have a spreadsheet for the short-term savings. I add in my $500 every paycheck (for $1k/month) and then deduct all the short-term expenses out, as they come due.

Ideally I keep this in the low-interest savings linked to my checking account up to the first $1k, and then if it starts to accumulate, I transfer additional amounts to my online savings (higher interest).

For the emergency fund, mid-term and medical savings, I just track it all on one spreadsheet. I don't know why, just how it evolved. They are all more long-term savings, and I don't want to track 5 different spreadsheets.

But I just enter all the additions, interest every month, windfalls added, and $250 monthly medical contribution, minus any medical expenses. Then I subtotal each fund on the side, and make sure it equals the ending balance on my register.

As far as reconciling all my accounts, every month I just add up all my cash savings in my spreadsheets and make sure it equals all my cash savings accounts. IT it is close, wala. Once or twice a year I adjust it to my actual cash balance. (Will generally get off with small interest amounts that I don't track - like the 8 cents a month I earn on one small savings account).

& that's about it. It works for me, because I am pretty vigilant about reporting everything on my spreadsheet as I enter it in Quicken. So I have to say it is pretty rare when I miss something. Likewise, this method could be a nightmare to reconcile otherwise. But for me I don't spend a lot of time on it.

Likewise, I do use Quicken to track all of my finances.

Since I have a lot of buckets I am saving for monthly, and pulling money out of monthly, I do not make a transfer for each and every item. Money market accounts only allow you so many transfers a month, and I am afraid I would be way beyond.

So I enter everything in Quicken separately. $500/month to short-term savings with each paycheck. $250 to medical on the last day of each month. I actually have the balance transfers thrown in to complicate things. So I pull the money from savings to pay down the balance transfers (separate entry). & then I enter the reimbursements I need from the medical fund and the short-term savings, for these bills as they come due. All of this was a good 8 entries for MArch, for example.

Instead of doing 8 transfers, I try to date them all around mid-month and end-of month. I add up all the mid-month transfers, and figure out the net - if I need to pull money from savings, or transfer some in. Whatever the net is, is the transfer I do to/from my savings account.

I do the same thing at the end of the month.

Wala.

I like this method too because if I did forget to enter something in excel, I guess it wouldn't be too bad to reconcile. I try to record everything in Quicken as a separate item. Likewise, all my Quicken reports are in great detail. It is pretty easy to reconcile everything in Quicken as well. I imagine if I was reconciling my cash accounts by hand, that this could drive me nuts. But reconciling is usually just a click of the button (or 2 or 3).

I also have all of my regular savings transfers set up in Quicken. They pop up every month, so I won't forget them. I actually generally go through the first of every month and pay all the bills, enter all my paychecks for the month, and enter all the regular savings/retirement transfers (pay myself first). So though it may seem like a lot to remember, there isn't a lot to remember. Quicken remembers for me. I chose $1k/month for my short-term savings because it was easy, more than any other reason. I mean it covers everything, but I rounded up considerably for easiness.

This way, it is kind of a complex system, but it is actually pretty simple in execution.

However, as an accountant, I have to say a plain old paper/pencil system doesn't cut it for me. I like the advancedness (is that a word?) of something like Quicken, coupled with its ease of use. & that is certainly the accountant in me. I want to easily manipulate all my data and generate reports any which way with the click of a button. & I appreciate the time savings of an electronic system. Since most of my entries every month are recurring, it really doesn't take more than a few minutes to pay all my bills every month and track them in Quicken.

Anyway, this is a long entry, so I will share snapshots of my excel sheets, in my next post.

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

I just had to add too, we used to be great savers, but we had no method to our savings. I think a lot of it was we were saving for either very specific things (down payment on a home) or very unknown things, like a cash cushion for life on one income and with maternity leaves.

Likewise, in the past we had a lot of cash and savings, but didn't use it as efficiently as we should have. Not a lot of long-term planning - beyond the tomorrow. IF we had, I really think we would have much more cash remaining today.

So, I just had to add this method has made life tremendously easier. Every dollar has a name, and it makes budgeting easier. There is also a bigger, more long-term, complete picture to all of our savings. & well, that makes a lot more sense.

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

ETA: I just had to add that I have heard of Quicken Virtual subaccounts and I personally find them WAY too complicated.

Likewise, I saw this post which did give me an idea:

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/07/17/several-funds-one-...

I think this was makes way more sense. I have to rework my spreadsheet, but makes sense. I actually do this on my investment accounts already. So I Can track contributions and performance separately (dh's and mine) but also look at the "big picture" total.

Duh, why didn't I think of that for my cash accounts?

Ah, I feel so refreshed.

I have been so swamped in recent years with infants and all that, that I really have had little "me" time. I think in my job and with my husband's wonderful support I have found much more "me" time than most mothers I know. But it doesn't really mean much more than that I demand time for myself.

However, lately I find I have had much more time than I have been accustomed to over the last few years.

I stopped and thought really hard (I think I blogged before) about what I really wanted from life and what I wanted from this in-between stage. There is a lot I have planned for when the kids are older, like more volunteer work, and more work on other hobbies. Likewise, maybe returning to school. Maybe writing more.

For now though, none of these time consuming endeavors appeal to me. My job takes away enough time from family as is, so these were not the things I felt like persuing with more time.

I decided working again on small craft projects and getting out on more hikes with the kids, was what I really wanted.

It has been hard because we planned a nice hike a couple of weekends, ago but dh fell ill. So we rescheduled for this weekend. Sunday was my only day off.

Of course, I woke up Sunday feeling a little under the weather myself. This put me in a pretty foul mood. I decided I Wanted to try anyway, but as we drove into the wildnerness I griped that this is why we never get to do anything like this. !! There's just always something. I was frustrated that as I tried to make time for these kind of things, it wasn't exactly panning out.

The hike quickly alleviated my bad mood though and I actually felt much better after pushing through. I just knew that laying around the house was NOT going to help me. I had been so itching to get OUT of the house.

Anyway, so we ventured out near Folsom, not quite sure what to expect. I had found the hike online, and I don't think of Folsom as being particularly scenic. (There is so much more breathtaking scenery nearby). But as we approached, we marveled at the place hidden away (how would anyone know it was there otherwise? Thank you internet!) and the peacefulness. We did not see one soul the first hour of our hike.

Started along some backyards of some mansions, and a lot of road noises. I was skeptical, but soon enough peacefulness started to settle in and we went through a small "forest."

I was disappointed when we reached the half way point, or the river, and hadn't really seen any animals. ?? Besides all the birds.

Anyway, we stopped and lounged a while, and was surprised how quiet it was for such a BEAUTIFUL day. Saw 2 boats and a couple of people fishing on the banks of the river.

We turned back and took a different trail back to our car, and then I saw IT. A bird was flying overhead, and I looked up an was absolutely stunned. IT was a BALD EAGLE. Um, okay, that bird sure looked like a bald eagle. It was magnificent. I had seen one perched in a tree once in the Oregon wilderness. Just about the most beautiful animal I had ever seen. Unfortunately, with the sun glare I couldn't quite make out as much. & I didn't really know Bald Eagles were in California, so I Was skeptical if that's really what I saw. When I pointed it out to dh and the kids, the glare was too strong and they couldn't make out any features. I thought maybe I was wrong.

Of course first thing when I get home I googled bald eagles, and Folsom, and yes they are there. Though I guess it is quite a rare sighting. I felt so blessed. (& not crazy after all).

Next time I am bringing my binoculars!!

Anyway, the kids did really well. IT was a 2-hour hike (stops and all) and LM fared well, though I wouldn't put him through more, and he did trip a couple of times.

At that age we went on some very intense hikes with BM, but he is a daredevil. & I just don't think we're up to much more this year. LM is very cautious. Which is fine. Mommy and Daddy need to work up to some bigger hikes ourselves. We're getting old and out of shape.

Anyway, they were kind of whiny towards the last half hour and could tell LM in particular was getting quite tired of this whole hiking thing. When all of a sudden the fishermen we had seen come by with a giant catch! They had a catfish that was certainly bigger than LM.

It was perfect timing as that really perked the kids up. They were walking fast and BM decided he wanted to try to catch up to them again. Also, LM said seeing that big fish was his favorite part of the hike.

We also did see some gorgeous butterflies.

On the way back we ran into a few hikers. & towards the end there was some picnic tables on a tremendous vista. It was so gorgeous. The sky was so blue, and just miles of rolling hills. We decided to return for a picnic in the future.



Of course, spring is the time of year to enjoy a hike like this. The hills just get brown and ugly in the summer. Well, that, and in this area it also gets hotter than HAdes.

Likewise, dh and I discussed doing small, local hikes in the spring, and venturing out to Tahoe and San Francisco, and Point Reyes, etc., in the summer months. A good way to escape the heat - for sure!!

Anyway, I returned home feeling much better, and refreshed. I am glad I forged ahead and we followed through.

I can hardly think of a better way to spend a Sunday!

Of course, after that, we had promised the kids to a trip to IHOP for their "Horton HEars a Who" special menu. I admit the commercials got ME. I thought it looked very clever and I like IHOP anyway. So we took the kids.

Let me say, this was quite a splurge for us, and we were rather disappointed. I glanced at the kids' menu and didn't see any prices. Likewise, it was a confusing menu. We don't eat out that much, but used to a few choices and clear prices. (USually says it comes with a side, a drink, a dessert, etc.)

Anyway, dh later mentioned the same thing. What's with the no prices? We weren't particularly pleased by this. Though we gathered from some of the prices on the big menu that the Horton special was probably the cheapest choice anyway. ($3.99. They listed a few of the kids' choices - not all - in the $4.99 range on the big menu).

Anyway, of course, on reason this perplexed me was there was a picture of a rather large piece of ham, a large scoop of green eggs (yes - green eggs and ham) and some smaller pancakes. I was thinking - they will serve that for $4.99????

OF course, dh pointed out the false advertising when the food came out. The ham was little itty bitty and the pancakes were much bigger. LOL. I said, well, that certainly looks like a $4.99 meal. Makes more sense.

Anyway, beyond all that the service was pretty blah.

We ordered waters and used a 15% off coupon.

Anyway, I like IHOP, but that experience left me rather bummed. Not the best.

I just got a cheeseburger. But I have to say that the ham/eggs/bacon/sausage meal was pretty tempting. I am a meat lover. I laughed when I realized it was on the lighter menu as "low carb." LOL. I mean, it didn't say it was "light" - more like the specialty menu. But I just laugh at eating all that food in an effort to lose weight or be healthy. Egads! It was tempting to me as a major meat gorging fest, indeed. But yeah, I wasn't going to fool myself that that would be good for me because it had no carbs. Yeesh.

Well, the kids did like their pancakes, but LM was having problems with their big fork. Was having problems stabbing his food with it, and it was probably a bit heavy. So when we left he said, "Restaurants are stupid. I never want to go to a restaurant again." Dh agreed. LOL.

So much for that treat. Though I guess I take pleasure knowing the kids enjoyed the hike 10 times more than a trip to IHOP.

Well, not entirely.

Dh had gotten the art of $50 groceries down at the Bel Air (for 10 cents per gallon, off gas). But then they added the lucrative, spend $100, save a quarter per gallon.

Of course, Safeway has been having better deals of late (and we get smaller gas discounts there, bus discounts nonetheless). But I really prefer the BelAir gas station as far as convenience.

So I didn't have a coupon last week and was out of gas. So dh went shopping at BelAir and got the 25 cent discount, and filled up for me. That was the first time we had reached 25 cents actually. BEcause dh has so accustomed to shopping for $50.

My tank was 1/2 full yesterday, but I did my convenience store/junk run before work yesterday and occurred to me to just fill up while I was there. Dh had no plans to go shopping there and I figure with the quarter off last time I could pay full price and still be farther ahead than usual.

Of course, the gas prices were insane. Yikes! I'll pay a good $50 for my round trip to the Bay Area next week. A trip that was only $20 when we moved here. Ouch. (Well, taking the van instead of the subcompact doesn't help).

I took my lunch to work though and worked most of the day.

In the evening, dh made dinner. and the kids and I played in the backyard after dinner.

I try to avoid the outside because of my usual allergies, and because of my extreme fear of spiders (& the monster spiders that take up in our yard. Egads!!!!) & we have huge wasp problems. Anyway, we had a pest control company for a while, but we really only needed them for the wasps and the giant spiders. They quit doing wasp control so we just figured we'd do it ourselves. OF course, I don't think we did anything last year. Which did not make me inclined to hang out in the backyard with wasps and giant spiders. We tend to go to the park instead, and they spend all their time backyard exploring at preschool. (I think the poor bugs who end up in that yard - LOL. I can't tell you what BM brings home in his pocket. Worms, bugs, etc. Boys!! & though I appreciate their curiosity, I told them to be a little gentler with the bugs last night. One got its head squashed - poor little thing). I know, the gentleness is a lost cause with them. I should let them be...

Anyway, I think it was the first time I really felt I could let them roam around without watching them every second (well last time we really enjoyed the yard was when LM was 18 months??). YEah, 2 years makes a difference. Plus I can always bring out the laptop and just hang out while they play.

Anyway, what spurred our little venture outside is the kids had asked to paint outside a while back, and we never made it out for some reason. You know, the old water painting thing. Bucket of water, some paint brushed, and the kids "paint" the house and the ground. So last night I didn't feel 100% so thought the backyard would be a nice alternative from a walk to the park. Plus it's not wasp season yet. (& I didn't even see any spiders...)

Of course, I remember buying a paint brush specifically for this before LM was born. & I even found it! But the only other thing I could find was a giant paintbrush from when we painted LM's room.

Likewise, it was a little big and heavy for BM, so they fought over the smaller one.

I asked dh to pick up a cheapie brush (or 2) next time he was out. Wouldn't be surprised if you can just get one at the grocery store. Not worth the gas to go elsewhere.

So the kids had a blast. & I enjoyed not having to watch them like a hawk. They have learned pretty well the dos and dont's of outside play at preschool - they play outside so much. You know, last time the 18-month-old was probably eating dirt or something. LOL. So it's nice to move past that age where they put stuff in their mouths, etc.

Anyway, besides all this, for some reason I was thinking about one of my favorite records growing up from childhood. It was "Urban Chipmunk" - country songs from Alvin & the Chipmunks. I looked it up and saw it was out of print and asked dh if he could download the songs. So I played some of those for the kids and they LOVED it.

So I would say that makes a pretty frugal Saturday.

My $2 convenience store run wasn't very frugal BUT it's my treat for working overtime and I'd say I only had to work 5 minutes to earn $2. So, no, not frugal. But I won't sweat it.

For some reason I thought "My Sharona" was on that album, but dh said that was on Chipmunk Punk. I don't remember having that one. Which is funny because I am not a country girl - I am a rocker. But something about that Urban Chipmunk. Very memorable. So we'll download some of those to CD.

I have to tell you those are 2 CDs I would gladly BUY if they were still in print.

Well, I really look forward to a relaxing Sunday.

I'll look at my Quarter 1 Net Worth progress after all my interest posts Monday/Tuesday.

I don't expect much. (same as 12/31? loss?)

We'll see.

The credit card also closes Friday, so a little premature to start summarizing expenses. Though overall, we had a lot of "unexpected" bills this month. I felt like we were well prepared and, even more importantly, I felt we have had more wiggle room in our budget lately. This month most noteable, even with all the medical, daycare, car expenses.

Which is good.

Of course, I try not to get too excited, because this time of year we are always both busy and sick. Not a lot of going out and having fun. Certainly makes the budget easier! We'll see how we fare in summer...

OF course, we were going to go on a 2-hour hike a couple of weekends ago, but dh fell ill. We are going to try again tomorrow. So far it looks like the weather will be okay.

We all went to the park Thursday I believe, and the weather was DIVINE. Since it has cooled off and we even ran the heat a little bit. Today is gloomy and wet. I hope tomorrow is the sunny 65-degree weather promised. We'll see... IT's hard to do much with just one free day a week, at the whim of the weather...

On the flip side, I have had TERRIBLE allergies ever since we moved here. This year - nada/nothing. ??? I mean the last 5 years were horrid in the spring. I maybe only had bouts with allergies once or twice where I grew up, and for specific reasons. So I have been pretty miserable here.

Anyway, I kept telling dh that maybe it was early, but not a thing. Usually I can't go outside on Easter because my eyes get so irritated. But I wondered aloud if it hasn't struck yet because Easter was early.

Anyway, dh just read that pollen counts were at a very high level this year. So I find that interesting. Though I wonder if it is not the pollen, but something else. There are many other allergens. So we'll see. So far so good (knock on wood). I have even questioned the sanity of getting a convertible down the road (you know, my dream) because I have to admit when I had one, I didn't use it as much up here. Weather is just too extreme (From what I Am used to anyway - used to 70s year-round) and in the spring I had to keep the top up and the windows shut with my allergies. So this gives me hope. Maybe I am acclimating!

I also told the kids I would treat them to IHOP. So we were thinking that would be good to refuel after our hike tomorrow.

Seems like we have been getting more restaurant coupons than usual (with the economy) and we will certainly take advantage! Trying to go home for lunch dates more with dh. But we have a coupon for buy one buffet/get one free - for Round Table pizza. Was going to use last week but didn't pan out. Will try next week again. We have the same coupon for a new Japanese buffet. A little further out, but I want to try it. Much cheaper at lunch, and we already pay for the kids' care anyway, during some weekdays. So trying to take advantage more.

IF we can lunch out like that for under $20/month, while the kids are in school? Indeed!!! This is the one thing I miss with the kids. We just don't have the money to eat out much. & I find great pleasure in squeezing these kind of dates in.

Likewise, every other week we can have a lunch date at home. Those are nice too. Just nice to have quiet time together. So rare!

The following weekend, MIL is taking LM for a few days, and we figured we would leave BM at daycare for a few hours on a Saturday so we could get some time out. We keep getting coupons for this drop-in care place and the kids LOVED it. So, woohoo. One free hour and will pay $7/hour for just the one, to leave for a few hours.

Not bad. He has been begging for a return visit. For now we are trying to utilize the place for date night once a month. Maybe more once BM graduates preschool. (Twice a month?).

But the weekend will be busy. We picked that date since I will be in the Bay Area next Sunday. So dh will meet his mom 1/2 way to drop off LM during the week, and I will pick him up Sunday. I think she has not offered to babysit so much lately due to gas. Certainly why we have not asked. IT has popped into mind, we consider the gas, and quickly change our minds... Meeting half way is a 120-mile round trip.

So this will be nice. Fitting the pick-up in with an already planned trip.

For Sunday, I am taking BM to the Holi Festival again this year. It was so fun last year and we are hooked. Great Indian Food, lots of fun, and a big mess. It's a spring celebration where everyone throws this colored powder on each other. LAst year was my first time and I took a friend. We have been looking forward to it again. Woohoo. I am not sure who had more fun, us or the kids? This year we are bringing more people, will caravan down. We'll see how it goes.

The busyness at work is REALLY winding down. It's a tad early, but I am quite stoked. Plus it is only like a month to my big summer vacation. Woohoo!

April is usually busy because I am so behind on everything (regular, non-tax work, and April/May deadlines). But I am pretty caught up and don't expect to work too much overtime in April. I think 2 more Saturdays will do it. I know my family can not wait. Working 40 hours after tax season always seems so easy. Like a calm, relaxing work schedule. So I look forward to it too, of course.

We'll see though. Anything can happen... Just don't want to get too optimistic, too soon...

In the meantime, I am enjoying the pace. I certainly don't mind the overtime either - it will go a long way to fund our savings. I'll get a nice OT bonus in the next month or so. KEeps me going strong all these weekends...

I am SO cash poor right now too. (For my comfort level anyway). So OT bonuses and stimulus payments will go a long way to replenish our reserves. Phew.

"You earned a credit under PG&E's 10/20 Plus Winter Gas Savings Program. You've
received a bill credit of $1.81, which is a total of 1.00% off your total PG&E gas charges from January 1
through February 29. The credit is based on your cumulative gas usage reduction of 1.00%, compared to
the average usage at this location in January and February over the last three years. Thank you for
conserving natural gas and for helping to keep costs down for all customers."

Woohoo.

Actually, I saw this promotion. It was vague. Cut costs by 10% and get a 20% discount on some bill in the spring.

Since our bills in the spring are usually like $10, it was like, eh. Plus we tend to be conservatively minded anyway. Not like we are going to cut our bill 10%.

Anyway, so I got this note in our bill. January/February are the coldest months, so they wanted to reward us for using less. All I Can say is, thank you mild winter. LOL.

Likewise, I am stoked to see they took 1% off our Jan/Feb bills. Now that's something. Since my MArch bill was a whopping $20! (What would 1% be? 20 cents?)

The original wording had made it seemed like you would get a discount on your spring bill. So that was nice. Well, it was on my spring bill, but the discount for the winter months is certainly nice.

I got a note from Chase that if I spend $2k each month, April/May/June that they will give me a bonus $25 in cash rewards. (I round up to $30 since I usually wait to $200 to redeem an extra 25%).

Anyway, we put about $1300 on the card monthly (well, ideally - that is the budget for regular expenses) and often hit $2k during certain time of year (random one-time expenses and such). BUT I doubted it was worth $30 to try to hit in 3 months in a row. I told dh jokingly, asking if there was anything he wanted to buy. There wasn't. HE mentioned it didn't seem worth it. Well duh.

We have a few electonic purchases in mind, but end of the year is the time to buy, and prices will no doubt come down much lower than by $30, if we wait...

I did tell him that if we got the emergency room bill ( never got a bill yet!?!) that I just received word that I could card it. So maybe if we got in sometime before May, would help.

Likewise, we have our big vacation in May and $2k will be no prob.

So we pondered what we could do for June. Of course, now it looks like we may go camping and the fee is a few hundred dollars.

So may just earn another $30!!

Of course, I had kind of forgotten about this since I have not received this medical bill yet. (Phew, since gives me more time to save for it).

Anyway, I recieved my state CPA society dues notice yesterday and it was almost $500. My boss reimburses me, but I always card it for rewards. Woohoo. I'll have to look at the due date and push the payment to June if possible. But I can pay it in April if the medical bill doesn't materialize. Maybe I can push the medical payment to June.

Who knows. I think I have some other dues coming up and some other things I can prepay a bit.

I'll have to keep that in mind and juggle some things around.

Actually, we can also buy our Disney tickets in April, so that might be a wise move too. Spread out some of the costs. We can pay for everything else in May (gas, food, other activities. We won't pay lodging so not a lot of other expenses, now that I think about it).

But yeah, this will take a little strategy!

Real estate bargain hunting
Three lessons from a one-day tour of Foreclosureville:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/day-foreclosureville-s...

Anyway, I found this article interesting. I already mentioned, but some of the real estate activity I See around me is very reminiscent of bubble behavior.

I keep hearing about bidding wars on foreclosed homes.

Well, yeah, $300k for 3000 square feet. Haven't seen these prices, here, since 2001.

So the people who have been bitter and priced out of the market for years are swooping in for their chance. They seem to be quite convinced that now is a good time to buy. Better jump before it gets too expensive.

Overall, I Don't disagree with this assessment. That it is a good time to buy. But, wow. I don't exactly see the hurry either.

I think it raises the point that there is still a very strong demand for home ownership in the area. There is a huge pool of people who can afford $300k homes who could not fathom home ownership for the last 7 years.

Likewise, the part I think I mentioned before was the people I know frothing at the investment properties. The scary thing is they are talking about buying properties they can not afford in any, way, shape or form, without rental income coming in.

You wonder if these people have been paying ANY attention the last few years.

Overall, both groups have great optimism that high prices are here to stay, and it's time to jump on the discount wagon. BEcause it has nowhere to go but up.

Where is all this optimism coming from?

I did read somewhere that prices will yo-yo for a while. I guess, that, I can agree with. It is yo-yo-ing.

IT's certainly interesting to watch from the sidelines.

What next??

I've just always found real estate fascinating. So I rather enjoy watching it all unfold.

I keep reading the locals saying they won't buy until prices settle around $100k again. I personally think they are dreaming. PEople were moving here in droves because it was much more affordable than places like the Bay Area and So Cal. But then with all the equity, the people with no ties here moved on. Cashed out and moved on.

I can almost see it happening all over again...

Anyway, what the locals don't understand is that if the average house here is $250k or so, and the average house in the Bay is $750k. Regardless of jobs, people will move here. They will retire with their Bay Area riches, or they will super commute or telecommute. For this very reason, they are absolutely dreaming if they think prices will ever hit $100k again.

OF course, I think you had to be dreaming to think the $500k prices could be sustained here. I actually would buy that more because there isn't a lot of logic, historically (& I mean long term history) to housing prices in California. They have always been something like 10 times average income. I really thought Sacramento was just becoming an arm of the Bay Area. Problem is all that fast equity run up, and people fled. So, I Don't know. If it builds gradually and slowly, I think a lot of the higher prices may be here to stay. But, then again, as the price differential narrows, the less attractive Sacramento is. IT's a pretty big catch 22. We'll never be Bay Area. But I think things have changed and I would be shocked if $100k houses return.

I could be wrong, who knows. We'll see... I haven't ruled out a significant price collapse in the Bay Area. They seem to be on REALLY shaky ground. I have menioned our relatives who do own homes - with ARMs and TWO incomes. The shaky economy has me worried for them, how they would fare if they lost their jobs, etc. Or if they could not sell before ARM resets, etc. They look strong for now, but looks like pretty shaky ground to me.

I think significant price drops there wouldn't bode well for us. IT really is the bubble that drove so many people here. When prices were high (for many many years), they didn't move here in droves. They moved here in droves when it turned into a bubble though.

But what do I know? I am just watching it all unfold.

I think the bidding wars around here are absolutely fascinating. That is for sure. Not sure I would have guessed that. Seems like PLENTY of foreclosures sitting empty. Why all the rush for a few houses? You got me there...

But dh did NOT have mono. He is better.

Ms. PReschool does not have mono either. She picked up some bug on her mission trip to Guatemela (current diagnosis). Ugh.

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

I also felt I had to be clear about something. Yes, the CPA industry is INSANE right now. But I have had people prod me that I don't seem that busy as I say the industry is.

Well, yeah, duh. That is because I place GREAT importance on work/life balance. I am only working 45-hour-weeks right now. I don't know any other CPA in this area who works that little even during the summers. I mean this is an unheard of work schedule. This is BUSY season. I have twice as much chargeable work to do now than I usually do the rest of the year.

(Did I tell you I LOVE my job? It's a keeper).

Last year a myriad of factors merged to make it the tax season from hell, for me.

This year has been quite calm. Phew!!!!! This is more my speed. & summers tend to be rather slow paced. That's why I had my babies in the summer. I tried anyway, I understood I didn't have full control, but it was nice on my coworkers. & nice on me since I could relax and take some time off.

I am SO looking forward to a slow summer. Last year's never materialized. This summer looks about 1000 times more likely to be calm.

But yeah, I am not sure how things are across the country. But around here. I don't know any CPA who works as little as I do. I am sure they are out there. IT's particularly difficult to find this kind of work/balance without going part time though. Of course, that is my long term goal - part-time. Just not quite there yet.

I have no desire to make oodles of money. I enjoy having a secure job that pays pretty well even for part-time or seasonal work. For the long term, that is why I got into this industry. & I LOVE the work. & though I could aim really high and make twice as much money (& get worked to death as well). Just so not "me!"

So yeah, I am personally not that busy. Doesn't mean the industry is going through a REALLY tough time right now. Which has its upsides and downsides. Pay and job security is obscene. BUT it has been a lot harder for me to keep my ideal work/life balance. Last year was a perfect example. Too stressful. Right now I probably have more responsibility than I care for. But feel like I have little choice. At least I feel this is a manageable level/pace. Until I can go to part-time or seasonal status.

Well, today we took dh's car into the shop for the noise. My dad really didn't have a clue when I showed it to him. Well, he guessed wheel bearings, but still not sure why the air conditioner needs to be on to make the noise. IT sounds a lot more like something with the wheels than the engine. But I Drove it this morning without the a/c and it sounded fine. Just strange. But that is what we pay the mechanic for. To figure out mysteries like these...

(Already paid him $250 this month when the engine light came on, BUT this is the car that we have had 6 years, 80k miles on it, never needed a thing but a minor repair here and there. So if it needs a big repair, I think we'll survive. IT historcially hasn't cost much of anything to keep it running).

Though, on the other hand, I have owned cars older than dirt that didn't need to go in more than once every 6 months. I think 2 visits to the repair shop in ONE month is a new record. Figures. Though leaves you wondering if they messed something up when they last had the car. IT's a family friend and he always takes good care of us, so am not too worried. I doubt that's what it is. I think it's just bad timing. But if it is, I am confident they would own up to a mistake of theirs. We'll just wait and see.

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

Anyway, this morning it struck me that there was a lot of daylight in the house. I toyed with the idea of showering in the dark, and then thought it was crazy. Then I thought better of it. How much light do you really need?

So I came out of the shower very impressed with the cost cutting measure. Dh was like, yeah, whatever, "I never turn the light on in the shower."

Not so impressed. LOL.

But yeah, that is something I Can work on I guess.

Of course, reminds me much of why our electric bill is usually so low anyway. We have a lot of windows and natural light. So we don't use the lights that much. BEsides early in the morning and late at night. For now BM is the light nazi too. If I leave a light in one room for 1 minute while I go to another room to get something, 99% of the time he'll turn it off and yell to me that I left the lights on. I guess dh has trained them well. LOL. God forbid I turn on a light in the house. Dh is a little extreme in not needing light. For one, I like lots of light when I am cooking. So I Can see what I Am doing. So yeah, even then sometimes BM comes into the kitchen when there is still some daylight and switches off the light. "Mommy - you are wasting electricity." Then I say, "um, I Was using that!" LOL. I Can only hope this electricity mindfullness sticks into teenager-hood.

OF course, it would be ludicrous to use a light in our bathroom, during the day, since it is bathed in light from the windows. But we use the kids' shower which is in a room in a room. (Both rooms window-less). I found leaving both doors open allowed plenty of light to see what I needed to. THough it was pretty dim. & we'll probably move back to our own shower as the boys age. Our shower needs work, but the real truth is I hate cleaning bathrooms. So we just use the one. Only one shower/tub to clean then.

But speaking of saving energy, this is the time of year we save the most on our energy bills. On Easter it was around 75 degrees and it struck me that dh's cousin had the a/c on. I am sure he was just making it extra comfortable for the crowd. But it struck me as a little odd. But then again, his old house was on the warn side.

Then this morning, my mom told me she woke up to 60 degrees inside and it was a little chilly. I am not sure why she mentioned it (maybe because it had been warmer for a bit, and the cooled down)? But all I could think was our house has settled to a nice steady 70 degrees day and night. NO heat or a/c needed.

May can have some unbearably hot weather, but I am rather confident we won't need to turn on the heat or air for a good solid month. A/C use in May is generally pretty rare. So it will be a quiet couple of months. woohoo.

Well, several financial things running through my head today that I Realized I haven't mentioned much about.

Firstly, my coworker mentioned recently something about paying individuals through online bill pay. I am not sure why, but I knew I could do this, but never thought to. She brought it up so I looked at it. I entered my gardener and the preschool's phone #s and they immediately pop up. Someone at my CU had already payed both of them, so that was that. Entered their phone # and I was set.

This will save me almost $5/year in stamps for the gardener (I had taken to mailing the checks since it was unpredicatble when I would see him).

The preschool? I usually hand it over, so just one LESS check to write every month.

I am estatic! Kind of like a duh, why didn't I think of this sooner.

My CU is happy to print out the checks AND mail them for me, all at no charge.

Be my guest!

Along with me trying my darnedest not to use cash ever again, this makes for a very cashless/checkless month.

OF course, I did write checks out of my online savings account because I knew I could write them, get them all ready, pop them in the mail closer to the due date, and they would probably clear afterwards. (IRS and property taxes - rather large). More interest for me. So though I could have transferred the money to my checking and done online bill pay, I chose not to. I'll earn a lot more interest, phew.

So still a few checks for me...

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

Also, when I first joined the site and was less organized, I found if I kept extra money in my checking, it would just get spent.

Bad news.

I have been aiming to run my balance to $0 and transfer any excess to savings, very purposefully. Sure, I can spend it, but it is a little extra step than just spending all the money in my account. Likewise, I have been saving more with this mindset. Extra to savings, not splurging.

Anyway, in the course of all this I took out most of the float in my checking account and put it in savings. IT helped me reach my efund goal sooner. Instead of paying bills when I got them I started paying them on the due date instead.

Overall, I am fine with this. BUT I find myself running my paycheck to the bank now (which I have never had to do before, I could wait days/weeks before if I wanted). IT primarily drives me nuts with them mortgage and credit cards. The due date is a little too close to paydate and it makes me nervous every single month. Always the worst case in my head, what if I don't get to the bank with my paycheck in time?

Anyway, I have never lived like this before, and likewise, I am VERY tired of it. LOL.

By the same token, I also feel like our budget is way under control. So one day I was just wishing I had a $1300 windfall and I would pop it in the bank and start paying my credit card and mortgage early again. Then I thought, well. If I could be disciplined, I could transfetr $1300 from my efund to do so, transferring it into my checking account. I think I really could be good about not touching it.

But it would completely eliminate the need to RUN to the bank every payday.

So I thought, this sounds mighty nice. I'm giving it a whirl. We'll see how it goes.

I am sure it will be fine. At some point though I am just going to have a goal to keep an extra $1500 in there or something just because. For the long term no, that is not where I Want my efund to be. & I will lose a little interest (though I guess not much these days). So we'll see... But in the short term, a piece of the efund will do the trick.

I just have to add this is EXTREMELY psychological. It has nothing to do with my budget. IT's just since I put that $1300 in my efund, it got me to my goal much faster. & I am working on other goals now. I have no desire to work on my efund right now. !! (Though this is the first place any unexpected windfall would go!!)

Likewise, I guess I can justify "borrowing it" from my efund more than I could see draining it to make life easier. BEcause them my efund would drop below the goal, and that is depressing!

However, if I was bad and I overspent what was in my checking account, well it would have come from the efund anyway. Right?

So in the end nothing has changed except I made my life a little easier and lost interest on $1300 of my efund. We'll see though.

I don't think the money in my checking account will make me any more inclined to spend it. But it could. If so, I guess the price to pay will be running to the bank every payday. But if I am more inclined to spend it there, well, yeah, that is just psychological too.

I just wanted to be clear it is one big psychological mess. LOL. Which in the ends really makes little difference. !!
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Beyond all that, I am pondering my net worth. My holy grail of net worth is this article:

http://www.emarotta.com/article.php?ID=165

If nothing else, a good starting point and a practical way of measuring progress.

The jist is between ages 40 and 60, you should save 1/2 of your annual spending every year. Well, your net worth should grow by that much every year. Which is very different than your savings I guess. Though I am a good decade younger, I have been aiming for that.

Of course, last year was a year of a windfalls and a great stock year. So the whole 50% thing was easy peasy.

This year is going to be really slow going.

I am trying to think of the givens:

$4k to mortgage (regular payments)
$8k work retirement
$4k ROTHs
$3k Savings
$2k Kids' Savings
($2k) Car Depreciation
-------
$19k Total?
-------

That's kind of the bare minimum I Expect, as long as I am working.

OF course, stock losses will likely take my net worth further down.

So I consulted the holy grail to see what the minimums were. Not sure I was pleased with them, but was rather refreshing.

BEtween age 30 & 35 my net worth only really needs to go up by 1/5 of my spending, every year?

My employers' retirement contributions and the regular mortgage payments has that down pat.

From age 35 to 39 it looks like you aim for 25% of spending every year (to increase your net worth by).

Then at 40 you get to 50%.

Well a $10k-$15k increase will mostly do the job for my true age range. I find that quite doable.

I think I can then be okay to take a little hit for bad stock years. Maybe age 30 was a little too agressive. Maybe I should commit to age 35 to start the 50% per year thing. I mean the thing is, sure, I made it last year. But just not at a sustainable level. Maybe by 35 the average of the good and bad stock years will get us there.

Of course, if I can pull the 50% thing, consistently, starting now, it will put our net worth at about $500k at age 40. I don't find that half bad at all.

Oh well, it suddenly doesn't feel so dire if we don't make our net worth goal this year. But I will still try my darnedest - that is for sure!!! My goal has been more in the $25k-$30k range. & that is certainly what I will shoot for.

To remove the whole housing volatility out of it I just valued my home at assessed value (pretty close to what we paid and far below current market rates). We'll see. I wouldn't rule out having to decrease that either. But of course hoping and optimisitc it won't come to that. The market is a big yo you right now. Low prices got close but then buyers started to move in and snatch up the low prices, and drove up prices again, so who knows. I never counted much on home equity before and I am certainly not trying to track it now. !!

Which puts our net worth at about 50% cash paid into our house and 50% retirement/savings. It's just too depressing not to count all the cash we have paid into our house. I have to count that for now. Over time, it will matter less (should be a much smaller piece of our net worth, with time!!). But yeah, all that is how I arrived at using assessed value. IT goes up something like 1.5% every year. Whereas our house went up 100% in value, and then down 40% in the last few months. Who can keep track??? What a roller coaster... I try to keep that out of all my goal tracking. IF we end up with a lot of equity, even better. But not exactly holding my breath.

For some reason I left mondo replies on many blogs today. Nothing left to blog myself, though I now have many different financial subjects racing through my head. Lot of interesting blogs today I guess.

I did find the most awesome website for boiling eggs last night. I learned one new trick in particular. After you cool the eggs in ice water, take them out and tap them on a hard surface, and THEN put them back in the ice water for 10 minutes.

The shells practically fell off. That last part was a new trick. Of course this website was insane in the details. Also suggested laying eggs on their sides overnight and having them room temperature before boiling, to prevent cracks. On & on. The whole cooking/colling process was longer with her directions, but did work really well. s'posedly no green either. HAven't looked inside yet.

I have found myself all week wondering how did we survive without the internet. seriously!?! It's funny sometimes my coworkers assume I grew up with internet. Um, yeah, I think internet came big when I was about 22. Maybe a decade ago. One thing I have never done is worked without internet. I could not IMAGINE!!!! But all my school years - no internet - not even college. Maybe a little. But I remember it being really clunky and not so useful in college.

Reminds me too, BM starts talking about clown fish and their symbiosis with the sea anenomes and how they protect them from the butterfly fish. HE is going on and on and on and dh and I just look at each other. So I look it up online. Lord knows where this came from but he was dead on. LOL. Likewise, dh asks me last night if the kids' had a particular easter basket. I said, lord knows, but if we told BM one was his last year, he will remember. HE remembers everything. I can't even say "anenome." Nor spell it, apparently.

I do have a rather photographic memory. But I don't remember it being prevalent when I was so young. I mean, he's 4. But he will remember the most random stuff, in detail.

Anyway, yeah, cooked the eggs last night and will devil them today. Plus my stab at very fatty wontons.

Likewise, we did dye a few eggs with the kids. We had everything on hand. At school they had written on the eggs with white crayons, to make designs. I also saw that online so we tried it. I also had the bright ideas to use markers (Washable) so the vinegar and water washed off all the ink. LOL!!!!!!! But we had dye, water and vinegar, so was a very frugal endeavor.

Well dh had gone to the store and bought eggs.

& the spread today???? Oy vey. I cringe at what you could spend hundreds of dollars on for easter. Our kids got so much candy and puzzles and toys. But we didn't really spend much - maybe $20? Too much. Lord knows what grandma will bring too. But they are having fun - that is for sure.

Guess I had something to blog after all.

Happy Easter!!!!!

Today I am working.

My Saturday working schedule is relaxed. I let dh sleep in a bit. Then I stop by the convenience store and pick up a snack. I get paid overtime during tax season and figured a couple of bucks a week is an okay splurge. I just limit to my Saturdays - helps me get through the day. Likewise, I generally just work what I want to work on and take more breaks than I probably should.

IT's funny how the tendency is for my coworkers to come in at dawn and rush rush rush to get out. Since I have been wide awake at 4am, I should give it a try. But I like just to embrace and enjoy. More my style. I really don't mind working the Saturdays. That's the nice thing about loving my job. I don't have to dread it or live for the weekends or any of that - blech.

I was perplexed today because I thought all I had was the work I had been putting off (ugh!). LOL. But I remembered something I had been planning to do next week which is easy. So I did 3 tax returns and will work on that after I finish my lunch.

Not bad for a Saturday. (The individual tax returns, I actually enjoy).

I have ugly projects for next week though. We'll see. The one I have been putting off, the ones that I am waiting on info for (which will no doubt arrive all at once), and the ugly most complicated thing in the office that we usually squeak out 10/15? My boss says we need to get it out next week.

YEah, we'll see. LOL.

I've been averaging 5 hours a week overtime and I feel rather ahead of the curve.

I've always had pretty high productivity, but I have had trouble concentrating and getting anything done since my second child. PPD issues I guess (or maybe just lack of sleep, or all of the above). I have noticed a marked improvement in the last month or 2. So we'll see. IT seems like this year was a much better year anyway. Last year was just so awful (tax season and all). But I guess that could be much of it. If I am doing my work twice as fast... Well, then it might seem a little easier. Plus on top of all that I think I have gotten over a big learning curve. So everything is just coming easier this year. Phew.

Likewise, at home dh has been less needy/grumpy. Again, the good nights' rests explains much of it. But we put the kids in 2 full days a week at preschool starting JAnuary to help with tax season. I was just telling my mom, what do I know? I worried it would be much for LM, but this was the first time we put them in care for our needs more than theirs. Anyway, he has absolutely blossomed. It has been SO good for him. Funny how that works out. By the same token, he never wants to go home.

Grass is always greener. My kids thinks it's terrible they don't get to go to full-time daycare! & most of the time after a full day of daycare LM just wants to go to the gym daycare with me and play some more. (BM is eager to see daddy, but LM has been so funny. Just play play play, everyone else has cooler toys than us). SO he spends lots of time at the gym daycare though it's not really necessary. He's happy as can be.

What do I know? I thought my little baby would have a hard time with full days...

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

Anyway, I went to the Taco Bell drive thru to grab a bite and dh's car was making a weird noise. We just had a minor repair on it a couple of weeks back, AND this morning I was chatting with my mom. Knock of wood, of course,but I joked how dh's car was so "old" and by most people's standards would be time to upgrade. We joked as we tend to keep our cars 10-20 years. This is a 7-year-old-car.

OF course I jinxed the thing! LOL.

The weird thing is I have no idea what it was - thought maybe a flat since it was a noise like the tires rotating or something. No flat. Hope it's okay to drive home (not far). I'll have my dad look at it tomorrow. At least he can help me figure it out. So I don't have to call the mechanic and say it is making a noise I Can't describe in the least. I am terrible at describing that stuff. My dad will probably know what it is.

My car has also been making minor noises. USually the kind of thing I run it in for (keep on top of it). But I needed an oil change and they always push all this stuff I don't need. I asked dh to take it in and if they said anything about belts or fans it was fine for them to fix. Just convenient, was my guess on the noises. OF course this time they find nothing wrong. What good are they??? (jiffy lube).

Of course dh's car takes precedence once again. I know my fan is giving out and I should take it in before it gets hotter than Hades. But one thing at a time!

Tonight we will decorate eggs with the kids. I was tempted to skip it (they already decorated at preschool). But, eh, dh really wants to. I said maybe we'd do 4 tonight.

Tomorrow morning I am making deviled eggs. I just didn't want to make them, dye them, and then have to peel the shells later. Ugh. So I'll probably cook 4 tonight and another dozen tomorrow. But I LOVE deviled eggs and like any excuse to whip them up.

I also picked out a rather complex recipe from our cooking mags - some kind of fried wontons that are very high in calories - something like jalapenos, cream cheese, in wonton wrappers. Oh my. Of course it said it was like 60 calories per wonton? !! I decided to make them for Easter since they probably don't reheat well, and the last thing I need to do is eat them all.

Will be an experiment. We'll see how it goes.

What I would really like to learn how to make is steamed gyozas. IF these aren't half bad I may give it a whirl. We'll see how this goes. IT was in the "Easy cooking" book, so you know.

Going to dh's cousin's house, nearby, for Easter. IT will be slim with all the sickies and personal drama. I am not sure if any of the kids' cousins will be there!

Oh yeah, and everyone else has to work. Yeesh. Hey, I can swing the day off, why is everyone else working?

Tomorrow is s'posed to BEAUTIFUL Though and the kids will be spoiled by the adults. & there will be all that food for 1/2 the usual crowd. I think it will be pretty nice.

We live in the same city as dh's cousin but this is about all we see him - every Easter. Kind of pathetic. But we LOVE that he hosts and we don't have to host OR drive all the way to the Bay Area. Yay!

If I find a minute I should also take a stab at my parent's tax return... We'll see...

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/03/live-like-a-new.html

Good article, primarily for those who live in more expensive areas though. I know the whole expensive thing really skews my point of view on rents.

But the last line of the article says, "the joy of paying a 2008 price in 2028 dollars"

I am personally enjoying the joy of 1999 prices in 2008 dollars. LOL. I mean we've owned a little over 8 years and the monetary advantage is phenomenal.

I have often said we have friends come over and are a little intimidated by our house. They are completely clueless that our mortgage payment is the same as theirs, for twice the space, or the same as their rents in their crappy apartments. Just clueless.

You can drop the hints, but they just don't "get" it.

OF course this is precisely why we bought so young. To control our housing prices. Which were frankly, insane.

Our mortgage is $1300 monthly and we may get it down to $1200 this year with a refi and lower interest rates.

Plus I guess lowering interest rates has been the other big thing for us. I have mentioned before our first mortgage, in 1999, was about the same but our payments were $1500. Our payments for this house used to be $1500. When we both worked we had a $1800 monthly mortgage for a time as we had a 15-year loan. So to go down to $1300 was like getting a "rent decrease" which of course is quite RARE. & we might be able to pull it off once again.

Anyway, the reason I shared was because I thought it was a very well written article that kind of showed my point of view.

Anyway, reminds me, as far as the refi front. We are in line with a broker (recommended by a friend) who will call us to lock in 5% if it ever materializes. Likewise, my credit union said they wouldn't keep our application on file for more than 30 days, and seemed less willing to work for us (and more expensive anyway). Well, they called me yesterday and said rates were coming down, and they wanted to lock me in. (It's been more than 30 days - for sure!) OF course, not near where I needed to be, but nice to see they came down a bit again. So it's just on the back burner. This other guy obviously wants our business and will call us if he can lock us in. Even 5.25% would be an improvement. Not counting on it, but if it materializes, we're all set to jump.

I had kind of given up in the interim, so was excited when the CU called. In the meantime we paid a good grand off of our mortgage since we started the process. Just with regular payments. The more we pay off the lower our payments will be if this materializes. Woohoo.

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

As far as the great mortgage debate, as with anything, I am very in the MIDDLE. Call me the Middle Monkey. LOL.

I just wanted to be clear, that personally I would rather fund my retirement than prepay the mortgage right now (though I may throw an extra $30/month at the mortgage rather than have it sit in my checking account and get spent. The small dollars I do think can really add up).

The reason is being young and having the tax deferred advantage, I really think retirement is the best bet for my money.

Of course, being young, I expect more income down the road. & so, once the retirement is maxed? Any excess is going to the mortgage. When it comes to having more money than I really need, and the mortgage, I rather just pay off the mortgage. It is certainly the easier solution than figuring out how to invest any excess, and worrying about taxes.

Likewise, our long term strategy is very middle of the road. On one income, max out retirement and then pay down the mortgage ($300/month max - if that), then on to taxable investments.

With a second income? We would save up cash for a year or 2 (maybe invest) because the second income can come or go. Then we would divide the income, after year 1 or 2, to mortgage and taxable investments. split 50/50. That's our plan for now. No clear winner so we figured we'd do both. We maybe even split it 33/33/33 Fun/mortgage/invest. But we just figured we'd save a bit first, then split, and then go from there...

We'd prefer to use the windfalls/second income to pay off the mortgage so that we could live on a much lower salary. Sure, you could invest, but the taxes get complicated, and investing is just not a sure thing.

No right answer here, just my own thought process. My very middle of the road thought process. Kind of the best of all. (Why not do it ALL?) I mean I would really love a well funded retirement and a paid off mortgage by 45. Not either/or. Just going for both.

Dh went in for a throat swab today. Miraculously it was "free."

Huh?

He was really fighting going, but I was just worried. It's been about a week, and something is unusual. Doesn't look like the mild virus the kids had.

Anyway, took a swab to rule out strep. We'll see tomorrow.

If it's not, then he will make a doctor's appointment. We are starting to think he has the dreaded mono.

My mom mentioned it, and we were just like, um, yeah, hadn't thought it but that is very much like what he has.

Likewise, on a whim I called preschool this morning to see if any of the kids had had strep.

Of course, no but she tells me pink eye is going around and she had told some mom a virus had been going around and to bring her kids in with their goopy eyes(because my kids had something like pink eye that wasn't pink eye). Well, guess what, it was pink eye! Ugh. I guess she felt bad. Color me guilty. Now everyone was exposed...

Well, we still have the eye drops we bought and never used. So looks like we may need them. Figures.

OF course, I brought up the mono thing and said but I had not heard of it going around at all.

Um, well, Ms. PReschool said she thinks SHE has it. Except she had thought the same thing (hadn't been going around) BUT she has been feeling down and out for months and has a doctor's appointment today actually.

When she said she was too tired to babysit, she really meant it. I didn't realize she was still dragging so much.

So it will be interesting to see her results. Surprised they had not tested her blood yet, but she said she had been resistant to the idea; thought it was absurd.

Which makes the whole mono thing look more possible all of a sudden.

Likewise I hear it is quite mild in children. MAybe it's just been going around. (Of course don't ask me how you can watch kids for 20 years and never get it - hehe).

Um, if it wasn't for the whole eye thing I'd wonder if they had it mildly (they had sore throats recently, but it came with this whole pink-eye-like thing).

It's probably just some virus. IT could be strep. But I am scared if it is mono.

Shouldn't be huge, but I had the worst case of mono when I was 17. I literally thought I was going to die. Dh looks rather confident, but my brain races to the worst scenario. IF he has it anything like me we'll need full-time daycare AND a nurse. We'll see...

He says, "oh, this is mild." I laughed. I Said, yeah your first week was like my first week. Then I was bed ridden for weeks/months.

I almost hope it's what it is in a sick way because at least I am immune. (Though very mild on poor dh please!!!!)

& like I want to get strep? Ugh.

Oh well, I hope it's not strep and it isn't anything. That would be even better.

We are all so sick of the doctors office though.

I'll keep you updated...

Oh, I almost forgot.

I was listening to the radio and the DJ mentioned he had gone to a BBQ/party over the weekend and it had turned into a business networking thing.

He said one guy put his card out on the counter and started talking about his business, and by the end of the night he had like 10 business cards.

He was like, what the foo??? HE came to relax, not to talk business. Or be sold stuff.

Oh, I cringed because I know the feeling.

A lot of the moms groups I have been in have turned into home show networking things. All the moms are selling something. It gets so OLD. Likewise, I never buy anything, but always watch amazed at all the money changing hands. Who can afford all this stuff??????????? You name it, someone sells it. & I find a lot of people feel obligated to buy out of friendship.

Screw that! I'd be broke if I played that game.

At least I know who my true friends are too...

Anyway, I didn't go Trick OR Treating this year since the fam was in Florida without me. BUT the year before when we went out it was the same thing. We ran into TWO neighbors who were passing out business cards.

On Halloween??????

So TACKY!

I wonder how it was last year. Maybe should be glad I missed it.

I was like, I didn't get the memo that Halloween night was network night. Apparently more than one person had that idea.

Plus I have mentioned that I got sick of people at Library story time and Toddler Time art the community center, cramming catalogs down my throat. Blech!

At least working I don't have to deal with it much.

I admit, I am a home seller. But I never ask anyone. I put my catalog out at work (easy enough to be ignored) and I make most of my sales by people asking me about the jewelry I wear. So I get extra disgusted when people are so rude and tacky. I start to feel like a walking dollar sign. I know you can politely make known your business and just leave at that. Maybe I am lucky I can wear my wares. Means a lot less hussle.

Of course, on the radio the DJ mentioned that if you have to try THAT hard you are probably floundering.

Amen!

Likewise, with the economy these days? Ugh. It's getting worse. I have people that only call me up or e-mail me to try to recruit me or sell me their crap. HAven't talked to them in ages. So tacky and transparent.

I can only hope they all go out of business in this economy. Teehee.

(Believe me, they aren't making any money. Certainly not with all the crap they have to buy from their friends to get them to buy their crap. I think everyone would be happier if they just gave up. LOL).

Anyway, the reason I got into this game was just because I love the product and wanted to buy it on discount. So why I am one of THOSE. LOL. But I find wearing it sells just enough to get me to my minimums and allow me to buy a big chunk of jewelry every year, at half the price, with no money from my pocket. I probably would have quit a couple of years ago but I keep making my minimums with no effort. So I am staying on for now. Until I have to shell out another dime, then I'll be out.

This year may be a little slow. I can tell home sales are down from the desparation of my acquaintances. Ugh.

Well, dh wasn't feeling so hot yesterday (STILL). I looked in his throat, concerned if maybe he has gotten strep or something. Didn't look very strepy, but who knows. The kids had a mild virus and it seems more like what he has. But it has been a good 5 days of him laying around the house (including yesterday anyway).

I insisted on taking LM to preschool, and I don't think he was too thrilled. But I didn't want him watching TV all day. BM can hold his own, and he can watch TV all day. But I think it is a bit much for LM (he is only 2.5) though dh argued that he is better at occupying himself and playing quietly. True. But he also needs a lot more help getting dressed, going potty, eating, etc. At least BM would need little attention all day, and would be fine if dh fell asleep for a time, etc.

So I called the preschool and she had a spot. Phew!!!! Not always a given. I knew not to bother asking if she had 2 spots; likewise, I wasn't going to pay an extra $70 for the day, for 2.

But I thought this was a good compromise. Dh just looked miserable.

He was very resistant though and I know why. He had to take BM in for a blood draw and shots the other day. I don't remember why it came up but I think he was asking if I could help with the kids - watch LM or something. I had a tax appointment at the same time so was of little help. Anyway, I am trying to remember because I think he brought it up, not I. But I said, well, want to take him to preschool? He said, no, too far and expensive. I told him to take him to the drop-in childcare place. Mind you I didn't exactly see why he couldn't just take both kids, but we had a little extra cash and I was in a good mood. He said he didn't think LM would do good there alone. Wanted to warm him up to the place more before he tried that.

So anyway, whatever, he obviously had no interest in the help available to him and so I figured he'd survive.

Then later, like really late at night, he was like whining again and saying we hadn't resolved anything. I Said, well, I gave you these options and you shot them down. Now you want to take him to preschool? It's too late to call.

It was like I talked him into it and he talked me out of it. & I thought it had been resolved. LOL. At this point I think the whole thing is ridiculous and he is annoyed I don't understand his plight.

So I said, fine, let's start all over. These are your options. You work them out. You deal with it. I am OUT.

Of course, for good measure, I did add that they money he was going to waste on daycare was our babysitting money and would interfere with date night. At that point he thought I was playing dirty. I made clear that this was not a threat. That I thought this was rather obvious. I didn't exactly have an extra $35 laying around. We have been trying to get more into a date night groove. But we spend SO MUCH on preschool. An extra day completely obliterates the babysitting fund. That's a good 3 hours of babysitting.

So he took LM along, and guess what?, it wasn't so bad. (YEesh).

Anyway, so I think he was appalled when I mentioned the idea yesterday. He's not giving up date night for NOTHING. Of course, yesterday felt of much more necessity. I knew LM and dh would both be better for it. Yes, the babysitting fund is obliterated, but I think we'll survive. Sometimes the kids just have to come first. If I have to pay for date night out of my allowance, whatever. We'll work it out. (shhhh, don't tell him that. LOL). I was just going to be concerned about them all day, otherwise, and worried I would get called home if he started to feel worse, etc.

Of course all the while I am just trying to avoid missing any work. It is just so hectic and a terrible time to be sick or be home caring for sick people.

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

Of course after all that and dh's family came over in the evening with their corned beef/cabbage dinner. They just came up for about 2 hours, but we ate our dinner with some beer and had a good time. One day late on the St. Patty's celebration.

Dh seemed to feel a lot better. Hadn't seen him upright in days. So we'll see how that translates today.

MIL brought some pants for BM. I was thinking, does he need pants? When it occured to me that his elementary school-to-be has a dress code. I told her that I would have to forward her the dress code. She was like, "oh certainly. These pants are fine of course?" JEans? Um, no. No complaints because they will be great hand-me-downs for LM. But I realized she buys the kids so much clothes, I should get her a copy of the dress code. Will be a load off me. The clothes she buys are always very helpful, and if she buys within the school dress code once in a while, even better.

Anyway, the pants are nice, and will probably be more useful to LM. But yeah, it is spring here and HOT weather is on the horizon. It's probably going to be time to do some shopping soon. Need to get BM some bigger clothes (since he has grown MUCH since last spring/summer) and have to dig out the hand-me-downs for LM. We try to go through all the clothes twice a year. It's probably time to make another run to Goodwill with the clothes LM has outgrown in the last 6 months... Then pull out all the bigger clothes he can use for the next 6 months or so. His top drawers are filled with clothes he can wear and the bottom drawers are the next size up/next season. We got the giant dresser because it was good for a changing station as well. But it works well with our hand-me-down system. Just worked out that way. BM's dresser is much smaller but all it has is the clothes he wears now. Since he is by far the first "baby" in the family and has no hand-me-downs, well it works. The fam buys him so much clothes too, so clothes are just not a large expense for the kids. Phew!! But they grow so FAST - it is just a lot of work to sort through and keep a step ahead!

I am looking at the credit card and am so confused. I feel like we have spent spent spent but it looks like we could have money to spare this month.

Huh?

LOL.

It's just, weird.

Our budget is considerably relaxed, this year, or we are just adjusting well. (I mean the budget #s haven't changed. Just feels like we have more).

I've already said it 2 or 3 times. But yeesh.

Of course the one thing killing our budget end of last year was all the trips to see family (like every weekend for 2 or 3 months). That's a fine line. We have talked a few times about going to see my nieces or this or that. Which is far more important than money. But gas prices have been getting SO ugly. It's hard to justify during busy tax season anyway, but we have to think seriously about our driving come summer.

Likewise, I asked dh why his mom had not offered to take a kid in a while (she usually begs). I was about to say call and offer her a grandkid for a few days (please!!). Then we started talking about the logistics. The gas. Even if we just met 1/2 way as we have been tending to do.

I said, nevermind. That's one expensive babysitter when you factor the 120-mile distance. LOL. By the same token I imagine it's why she hasn't offered.

Well, this weekend wasn't so hot. Dh wasn't feeling well. While I was at work Saturday he took the kids to the movies. I didn't even ask because I didn't want to know (the cost). But I saw on the card today it was only $14. I forgot LM was free. IT wasn't so bad.

LM did good, sat through the movie and all. Getting to a better movie age. They saw the Dr. Seuss movie.

When I came home dh wasn't doing so hot so I went to the store to pick up some things and made sloppy joes for dinner.

Sunday I had a lot planned, but started feeling like I was coming down with something. (Never amounted to much, so I am thinking it is the dreaded allergies. If so, certainly milder than usual. That's the only good I can say about that. My allergies are just TERRIBLE here - though never really suffered back home).

Every year I look so forward to spring and then I quickly wish it was OVER. LOL. Just still not used to it.

Anyway, Sunday I took the kids to the doctor to get BM's TB test read. He's all certified for school.

We then went to Fairytale Town (a cute little glorified park we have membership too). We hadn't been since fall (just too cold/wet) but we generally go every week or 2 in the milder seasons. I was surprised when we got there to see how PACKED it was. They had easter egg hunts every hour which the kids really enjoyed (lord knows why. Too many people; not enough eggs. LOL). But they loved it and LM got a little bunny "pencil topper" - pretty much what it looks like. He hasn't let it out of his sight since then. HE is in love with his bunny. BM got some jelly beans which he quickly devoured.

I had packed a lunch but could not resist the nachos. Got a nacho and a soda and we all shared each other's food. I am not sure I would have if I had remembered how expensive it was. The day cost $4 for my nachos/soda. Yikes.

In the evening I just heated up hot dogs for the kids. & did the laundry and dishes and all that stuff. Ugh, exhausted!!!!!!

At work the topic often comes up who has time to do anything like shop, cook, run errands... I always say I don't need time for that. That's what my house hubby is for. Listening to them talk I feel like I have the most free time of anyone. (I mean I look at time with my kids as fun time mostly). Likewise, they all say they shouldn't complain because I have small kids and must have it the worst. (Meanwhile dh takes care of most of the household "work" so I don't have to worry about much).

Of course the same people are always constantly asking when he is returning to work. They just don't get it in the least. I don't want to give up my house hubby for nothing! They always look at me like I have a third eye when I say, well, no plans for him to return to work. Not sure if he ever will...

Just not a priority over here. Nor a necessity.

I think mostly they are sick of hearing how I am not miserable like the rest of them. LOL.

Anyway, yesterday dh was still ill, but the kids went to preschool. After I picked them up we went by the store and picked up some chips and chili for my famous "chili, chips and cheese." The kids renamed it to "silly chips and cheese" last night.

I took pitty on dh and cooked the beef stroganoff he was going to attempt. (A new one in our cook book). He looked awful. As I chopped onions I told him I must really love him (oh my poor eyes - I just can't stand onions). But it didn't turn out half bad, and was rather simple. I'll have to scan the recipe and share.

Even with my horrid cooking skills, it was edible. LOL.

I think dh will draw the line at letting me serve dinner tonight though. I was not raised on fruits & veggies and wouldn't have a clue where to start. So my meals did lack well roundedness. Though I did serve the kids grapes with their hotdogs (they asked. LOL).

So dh is chomping at the bit to cook some real dinners and get us back on track. Hehe.

Oh anyway, we were going to go on a decent hike Sunday, but that fell through with the sickies. I guess we'll try weekend after next. Now I remember why we never do anything like that. Seems like there is always something!!!

Oh, and all that talk about gas. Dh's mom is IRish and she is coming up to cook us corned beef and cabbage tonight, late St. PAtty's dinner. (They are going up to their cabin 1 hour away because they got a large electric bill so think the heat was left on or something). So they will be driving by and know dh loves his St. PAtricks Day dinner. Spoiled guy. Plus all his family is coming up Sunday for Easter, at his cousin's house. Usually we do most of the driving, so this is nice for a change.

I saw Lilyc's post on the subject and found the link interesting. Sure there are MANY different ways to figure out how much you should save for retirement. BUT what struck me as interesting was the idea that this model is successful 90% of the time? Hmmm...

http://bankrate.com/brm/news/boomerbucks/20070411_retirement...

Using their table, we should be saving around 11% gross to retirement. (Which we are).

Of course, I came across this the other day as well:

The Easiest Retirement Calculator Ever
http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/retirement/2008/03/13/t...

The interesting thing is using this calculator I do come up with $5 mil for retirement, which is what I have come up with more complicated determinations.

Keeping in mind that I am young (lots of inflation there) AND that I have way too many unknowns at this point.

Will 11% get me there? Hmmmmm. If I work to full retirement age (like 65?). I guess, perhaps.

At first glance I found the first table a little too lowball, but as I run the numbers, it actually is rather in line with my $5 mil goal.

I was pondering as well since a comment was left in my blog that I was probably further along than I though. I thought, oh no, no no no. I am farther behind than I should be.

But the reasons I feel this way are many:

1) I want to max out my retirement while young. So if I am disabled in my 40s, hopefully I have a good start to my retirement. (I always prepare for the worst).

Likewise I want to put more away while my industry is red hot. The pendulum swings both ways.

Finally, I want to put as much in while I can. Because a 2nd income down the road could keep us from putting money in tax-deferred accounts (could raise our income above the tax limits). So we take advantage best we can now, with low taxes and little worry about being over the threshholds.

2) I want to retire early. I would probably love to work well into my 70s or 80s (I am one of those). But in my 40s I want to get to the point where I don't have to work full-time and in my 50s/60s I want to be at that point where I don't HAVE TO work.

As such, I have to cram as much into my retirement in my 30s, because I expect to not necessarily have the income in my 40s to heavily fund it. I want most of it to be funded sooner rather than later.

So, with all these thoughts in mind, 11% seems little lowball. I am aiming for 15% and can easily see getting up to 20% in a few years (with a roundabout goal of 25% max on one income and maybe more with 2 incomes).

That's my goal for the next decade and then maybe we will re-evaluate. Well, that's the thing too. The more we put in now, the less we have to later. That whole power of compounding thing.

Oh, and the other reason (duh) for my worry over our retirement is that it is mostly funded by my employer right now. Which is great, but I want to be sure I can put away the 15% from my own money if my job situation changes. I totally forgot that when I first posted this. But is a big reason why I am concerned about filling it up more rapidly right now, since I am not putting much in myself.

Well, it's nice to hear I have good odds to making my retirement goals.

I splurged today!

Well, not really.

I went out to Taco BEll for lunch. They were out of beef. (You have got to be kidding me). Settled for a bean burrito (was flustered at first).

Wasn't sure if they took credit cards, but for whatever reason I had a pile of change. (I usually spend it, but didn't have that many quarters, and so the pennies and nickels were mounting. Since they were meatless and VERY slow I had plenty of time to dig out $1.28 in coins.

I also went over to the Dollar store (Was pleased they took the card too). I am on a mission to not carry cash anymore. Just tired of cash! Always have been, but these days it is more and more likely to never need cash.

Anyway, it was over in the vicinity of Taco Bell and I have been wanting to pick up some clothe napkins. Don't ask me why I haven't sooner. Cloth napkins are so "us", and yet something we have never done.

I mean our napkin supply comes from the fast food places. We don't buy napkins. But I figured we could also replace paper towels, with napkins. Well, and stop using so much paper as a whole.

Anyway, it's time we bought some REAL napkins!

I was perusing napkins online last week and they all seemed terrible expensive and fancy. Or just UGLY. OR all of the above. I realized I Am particular about napkins. LOL. Ugly or $5/pop? Is that my only choice?

OF course my favorite color is black, but thinking I don't want black napkins that fade to a dull black or grey. So leaves me rather stumped. I didn't want the bright colors ruining the other stuff in the laundry.

Who knew napkins were so complicated?

I think I Could settle for a nice off white though. Boring, but works. At least it wouldn't be ugly...

Anyway, so I thought I'd run by the dollar store.

Well, this one had crap. They had a few really rough cheapie napkins in ugly colors. Not much. Wasn't going to fly with me.

However the store sucked me in and I walked around for a while looking at stuff.

& then I saw hair supplies and struck gold. I mean I am sure I have never paid much for my hair clips, but they all fall apart anyway. So I figured I'd pick some up. Figured they couldn't be of any cheaper quality than I Was used to. Got 6 hair clips and a slew of hair bands for a buck. (I think BM lost most of the last of my hair bands since he had taken to pony tails in his short hair - don't ask. LOL. So I figured a pile of new ones would be nice. Mine were all lost or broken).

& then on the way out I saw some large plastic tumblers with coke logos. Could do without the coke logo (I am personally a pepsi girl. LOL). But beggars can't be choosers. I used them in the bath and the kids ones were getting kind of grimy and looked like they may fall apart anyway. some had broken as well. These actually looked nice quality for dollar store. We'll see. (I had forbid dh from buying plastic cups from there because he bought some small ones for the kids and they all kept cracking). Sometimes it's just hit or miss there.

Mental note to wash them once in a while. The bath isn't exactly clean. Maybe these will last longer.

But yeah, these looked better. 2 for the bath, 2 for the kitchen.

& so I spent a whopping $4, on all that. $4.30 with tax. Plus I earned another dime in cash rewards.

Plus I got a decent amount of retail therapy. Nothing to complain about!

The sad thing is it took me a while to find the dang Dollar Store because I hadn't been there in so long. I usually hit it for party supplies and Christmas stuff. But I don't think I did this past Christmas. It had just been a while. Took me a while to remember what street it was on. IT was the 3rd one I tried. Doh!

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Well, I am going to revamp my Challenge when I have time.

I was doing the retirement thing, because that has been my focus. IT has been slow going.

But I have all this extra money this month and I wanted to put it to the challenge! (But not to retirement).

I decided besides retirement, I also want to include the following in the challenge:

**Medical expenses that we don't have to pull from the medical fund

BEcause... The extra money we have there will go to retirement eventually. If I don't pull anything out of the medical fund this year? Well then I'll have $250/month to add to retirement next year. IT all depends if we get sick or not. Or injured or whatever. But every money saved here eventually goes to savings/retirement. So I think it should count/is still motivating.

**Mid-Term Savings - this really lacks way more than our retirement, right now. & it's really stressing me out. Likewise, if it grows too big, it will likely get diverted to retirement, with time.

So we will focus more on this too.

The challenge was very motivating for me last year and I want to get back into it more.

Woohoo.

So I'll update my totals with the new ruls later, maybe this weekend...

I have to say we are having a good year and we are finding the extras and everything even without the "reward" of the challenge. We just got used to it after the last 18 months or so. BUT I still think it will be more fun, the more we add to the challenge. So I Want to get back into it a little more.

Folks on the edge pinched by rising prices

http://www.sacbee.com/finance/story/785026.html

This article struck me for many reasons.

Firstly, it was a great "whoa is us" about the following:

*Less driving
*No new clothes
*POSTPONING remodels
*Dumping gas guzzlers
*Less dining out
*More walking
*Budget EVERYTHING
*Less cable

Oh, the Humanity!!!!!!!



I know, another one of those...

Of course, this was a lot better than the last article I saw like this. I mean, this time they talked about the seniors on fixed income and the increasing unemployment in the region. You know, the real problems. So that part I "get" somewhat, and I See that there is pain.

But I can't help but think about all the people who were over indulging with money they didn't really have or couldn't expect to hold up (home equity and inflated paychecks with the strong housing industry, etc.)

Whereas when I read the list of what everyone is giving up in this great time of pain, I think, "You have got to be kidding me." These are things we have always been conscious about, our entire adult lives, whether we were living on $10k or $100k. IT doesn't sound like THAT MUCH To give up. !?!

Likewise, we haven't really been feeling much pinch personally. & I wanted to share why.

For one, we try to avoid over-splurging on luxuries as we build up our savings, pay our debts, and build our careers, etc. I mean, trust me, I think we have plenty of luxury. But there is no way we could afford most of the things on that list above, all at once, together. & beyond that the only thing I saw on the list above that we truly have in excess is cable. Most of our luxuries follow what make us happy not what the JOneses expect of us. Which makes it quite easier to do without the rest.

Two, well yeah, we do budget EVERYTHING to extent. I mean how do you just budget some things and not others? LOL. (Sorry, that line cracked me up. Now we have to budget EVERYTHING!!!)

Three, the secret here is that our budget includes future planning. I am not guaranteed a raise every year, nor do I have a crystal ball about how much our expenses will change year to year. I have been burned bad on medical expenses, and so try to keep that front of mind.

I budget around $100/month more for groceries than we generally use, and same for gas. This is precisely why. So when things start to get ugly, we don't notice a thing. Maybe a little less to savings or splurging when the prices do rise, (what I do with the underages), but the basics are WELL covered.

Four... Along the same lines. We have quite a fair amount of fat we could trim from our budget, with little pain, if prices were to keep rising astronically and/or my pay went down. I mean, sure, no one wants to give up their luxuries. But I think knowing I Could pay all my bills and cover the basics, and even have a little to spare. I think in hard times I could give up the luxury quite easily, in order for that feeling of security and comfort.

Frankly, I wish I was more prepared for a long layoff and such. I Feel pretty confident where I am at, but I am one who likes to prepare for the worst. So I am working on it. Certainly not prepared for the worst. OF course, not sure if we ever will be.

But overall, I think we are in a good spot.

I guess the simplest is we never got used to living beyond our means in the first place. & that we have a little wiggle room and flexibility in our budget. That really makes ALL the difference.

I mean, in this region, the norm in the coming years is going to be figuring out how to survive on wages, and unemployment, when used to living extravagantly off equity and fleeting bonuses. All the while, while prices of the basics are rising. YEah, that is going to hurt. Ouch!!

That almost sounds like my world the last 5 years while our income was slashed in half and our medical insurance skyrocketed our of control. Now we are gaining traction and I am not sure I identify with all the mess... You know, our gas and groceries up $50/month or something. But somehow we'll muddle through... HArdly feels like something worth panicking about anyway.

Dh had a focus group yesterday. $65 for a little over an hour. Yippee. It was the first one this year.

He also had a hearing test (and it went well - his hearing has improved). The charge was $55 - so it will mostly go to that. A wash. But I am optimistic that I won't have to pull any money from the medical fund for all these doctor appointments. Knock on wood anyway, we'll see what the rest of the month brings.

BTW, still no bill on BM's emergency trip. Figures.

Oh yeah, and he has to go in for a blood test and such Friday, for school. I think we pay $10 for blood tests. But I don't know what all they have for him - if he has to see the doc or what. Could be another $75...

Last night BM's eyes got really red. We were worried if we could take him to daycare yesterday with dh's hour-long hearing test and my tax appointments. Ugh. Of course these things happen the rare times we both have plans.

But he woke up good as new. I figured he probably had the same thing LM did, but wasn't quite sure at first. But relieved when he woke up since in the 2 hours between the development of red eye and when I went to pickup LM from daycare, he also looked good as new. I remember looking at him like, huh? I never would have noticed anything.

It's just a weird thing.

Even if it was viral I was not sure the preschool would want him. So was relieved when he woke up good as new.

It's some weird bug though. Earache (or sinus pain anyway), sore throat, red eyes for a couple of hours, and some eye discharge, and that's about all we could figure. No fever or anything. LM just did not vocalize the sinus pain or sore throat, though thinking back it seemed like he didn't eat much the days around his red eye incident.

Anyway, dh has been volunteering much at the TV station, and it seems like the shifts have been getting rather long. So when he went out last night and said it should only take an hour, I must say I was rather confused. I was thinking TV station for whatever reason.

Then he came home with a wad of cash. Aha! I had totally forgotten. So what a nice surprise for me.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention... I read an article last week or so that people walking away from their houses is just a huge problem in California. Like, why make the payments if the house has gone down so much in value? They rather just walk away and start fresh.

Anyway, I read that thinking, gosh, this would never happen if people actually had to put money down on their house. This is just another side effect of this whole mess.

Just, wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Likewise, it really struck me when a fellow blogger said she told her dentist she had a 3-year plan to save up for a down payment on a home, and her dentist thought this was quite an impressive long-term plan. IT's like, what, people don't save for down payments anymore????? Has it historically taken a very short time period to save up for one? With housing prices these days, is it that unfathomable that it could take TIME to save up for a house?????? Coming from the land of expensive I know we were quite rare to save up our 20% so quickly. But, I mean, we knew housing was insanely expensive and it was our priority. IT really wasn't difficult in the least. (From my perspective anyway). But I could easily see being in a position where it would have taken us many years. Though we had a desire to get in the market quick, we wouldn't have bothered if we couldn't do it "right." That is why we moved somewhere where we could afford to do it right.

Anyway, so these days I keep reading these articles about people who couldn't possibly have saved a down payment (not even 1%) but took on $2k-$3k monthly mortgages. My jaw just drops when I read those. If you can't save a DIME, then how in the hell do you think you can afford those mortgage payments? IT just doesn't make any sense.

It is very frustrating to me because when we bought it was more expensive to rent our condo than to buy it. Which was where a lot of our urgency came from. We didn't want to spend too much time spinning our wheels, or worse, falling behind.

But rents have fallen while prices have skyrocketed. There is actually a considerable opportunity to rent and save, and has been for man years. Yet the attitude is just so weird. "I can't save up $50k down by tomorrow so why bother trying. The $36k in annual mortgage payments? Well I think we can do that..."

All the while I think what a dream it would have been to have the luxury to rent AND save up more money first.

What are these people thinking????

I'd be curious to hear from the older crowd how long they saved for a down payment?

It only really took us a year to do it, BUT we had put so much in place to get there. Technically, I could say 5 years. We saved a chunk that final year, but dh was saving steadily through college, and that was where a good chunk of our down payment came from. Then we just saved the difference when we both went from $10k salaries to $30k salaries out of college. We only had to do that one year, and then we were homeowners. So we kind of hyper-saved to get there, but frankly found it the easiest way to do it. We were used to living on pennies and so we found it quite easy to do it that way. I mean it wasn't a big deal to delay gratification for one more flipping year. (Plus if I took another $50 to splurge out of every paycheck it felt like quite the windfall!!! It didn't take much to improve on our college standard of living. Another $1k/year was a 10% raise, etc. AND I no longer had college expenses so, yeah, it was easy). We had to come up with $50k down on our condo. So yup, a good 5 years or so for us...

I figured I'd make this a new post because it is interesting.

I mentioned, in a prior blog, that my dh knew that Target took returns without receipts, and that he tried to return an old game we had gotten in 2004 (from Toys R US actually). & they took it.

I got a comment on my blog that this was nearly impossible - Target has terrible return policies.

Likewise, as I did a web search for Target return policies all I saw was a slew of websites about how HORRID Target's return policy was. (We aren't big on returns so I didn't really know or care. I mean we usually have recipts and return things within the week if we don't like it, etc. Not big on playing the return game, so this knowledge had completely alluded me).

So I commented that I would have to ask dh how he knew about this policy. I really had no idea. (& to clarify what the policy was. I read somewhere online that they take returns under $25 with no receipt. Not sure if it was recent or accurate. But it did ring a bell for me).

So I asked dh. The story was that he had some extra Blu-Ray disks and was wondering, in January, if he could return them to Target. (There was no receipt). So he called and asked Target. They actually said they would take the movies with no receipt if they were under $20. That they allow 2 returns per year with no receipts, for under $20.

To be clear, this was probably for store credit; not cash. (This could be where some of the confusion is?). That's same as cash to me, as much as we shop Target.

So I thought, "Aha!" This is good fodder to remind everyone why it never hurts to ask for things!

Anyway, in the movie case, Target had them priced at $25 and would not take them. Dh was willing to use up his "2 returns" for the year for $40, but they wouldn't bend. They were over $20 so they wouldn't take them.

In the end he got $40 or more from Best Buy instead. I am not sure why he singled out Target except it's close and maybe they charged more for the movies... I don't know. Best Buy is certainly a bit of a drive.

So anyway, when we found this 4-year-old board game with the old design, he figured he'd try their policy, on a whim. Probably the convenience factor.

Likewise, they sell the game for $20, but were willing to give him $14 store credit on this particular game. Lord knows why $14. But I knew it was the easiest and best deal we'd get.

So that is the full scoop...

Also, the whole thing reminded me that dh bought his PS3 at Target, and that they dropped the price by $100 exactly 91 days after he had bought it. We obviously knew the 90-day policy, but figured it never hurts to ask. He said he just asked politely for a price match though he knew he was one day late, and they gave him $100 credit. That was about it.

So you know, return policies are not always completely set in stone!!

I guess this is also a good reminder to keep those receipts. Dh always keeps every receipt on bigger purchases because he regularly watches the ads and price matches thing. I say most of the time he buys something big it goes on sale within months. Murphy's Law, but not when you have the receipt.

I guess I keep receipts too, but I just don't shop that much.

& so it begins...

The school had sent us paperwork that was very conflicting. We HAVE TO turn in this health assessment form next week, though elsewhere on the form it said it was only required for 1st graders. ???

I guess a few parents called to clarify or something because they sent a letter to clarify that it is not required for K. But they want it anyway. But they don't need it until our children turn 5. Huh?

Likewise, they sent an "oral assessment" form which says much the same. It's "mandtory" by May of Kindergarten year (next May) BUT they want it before school starts. But you can just x the "opt out" option.

Oy vey.

Anyway, the deadline made me nervous as we wait for his doc to complete this form. So now all that stress for nothing. There are 200 kids coveting my child's spot, and I just want everything squared away.

So of course I would send dh with the application today, and my opt out, now that they have changed their mind and allowed that we can turn it in without the health assessment. But it's at work where I made copies. So maybe he will turn it in tomorrow...

Then it will be official!! Oh my.

The other surprising thing is that they sent a calendar and school starts mid-August. I was rather surprised, but school also ends mid June. Holy cow. I looked up their old calendar, and indeed they had historically started after Labor Day.

Why 2 more weeks? They are taking off 15 days throughout the year for curriculum development. Obviously people had been complaining because they had all over their website how wonderful this is for the teachers (& likewise the kids) and on and on and on.

Wow...

I just look at the calendar flabbergasted. It hardly matters to us, since dh is home. But I really have NO IDEA how working parents do it.

I count 35 non-holiday school days off throughout the year.

I keep assuming if dh did want to work or go to school or whatever, that my schedule would be quite flexible. It is quite flexible.

BUT I am not sure I could really maintain a full-time status and be home all these days off and such.

So it's just a little mind boggling to me.

Likewise, I don't want to leave my kids at the school daycare full-time. I have no idea what middle ground there is. (I feel like back to square one since full-time preschool was always in abundance, but part-time, anything worthwhile or substantial anyway, was so hard to find. Seems like the choices were mostly 2 hours a week or 40 hours a week. What about the parents who want something in the middle?)

Oh well, worries for a later time. Indeed. Glad this is not stuff I have to figure out now.

Likewise, I look at the calendar and can NOT believe he starts K in just 5 months. Wow.

We had just decided to pull him out of preschool in August so he had a nice month off. Dh just really wanted to enjoy the time with him before he goes off to school. (Of course now I see he won't really be off at school THAT much. LOL).

Anyway, so now we are thinking pulling him out mid-July. Since the preschool was going to be closed the middle week, he will only be going 3 days in July. Will save $200 in July, and $315 in August. Wow.

I think we will use that money for the kids' birthday and for school uniforms (ugh, my pet peeve. S'posedly for the poor, but I am peeved to fit a second wardrobe in the budget. I think, yeah, this is REALLY helping the poor. ???????). I mean at least I could respect it if they said it was for school safety and keeping track of the kids, etc. That I get. But this is not the angle they push for. It just bugs dh and I on so many levels...

So anyway, them pushing the start date early affords me some extra cash to buy some school uniforms. I usually hit Target or the thrift shops for cheap clothes, but not sure if I Want to bother with the specific clothes I need to look for. (Ugh!). Likewise, if I spend a little more, at least I know LM can wear the hand-me-downs. (Though the kids grow so fast even the cheap clothes have lasted them both just fine).

Oh well, it will be a summer project. Should start looking out for sales on bigger sizes...

So yeah, it all comes down to that I only have to slam my budget with 2 in preschool, for 3 more months! Plus, it has been going quite well, and May is a short month (8 preschool days instead of 9). So I think I will survive. I am very pleased that it was not near as hard as I thought it would be. Was a good beginning to the year. (Likewise it shouldn't be that hard to divert it all to savings come August).

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

In other news, I dug out some old stuffed animals because I wanted to show the kids I had a stuffed pooky (GArfield pooky). Was reading a Garfield book and said, I had a pooky and was telling them the story when I lost it on the school bus but found it again eventually. Since I went to so much trouble to find it, BM asks me if I still have it. & frankly, I thought I did! So I went to see. Anyway, for whatever reason there was a pile of nicer/newer toys in the bag - along with the old ratty stuffed animals I could never toss. I assume it was the stuff I couldn't bear to toss. A lot of personalized items were in the bag (maybe just didn't know what to do with them).

Anyway, so I pulled out this personalized Elmo doll that says BM's name. We had gotten it for him around 18 months or something, maybe age 2, and though he adored it, he outgrew it at some point. Or bored with it anyway.

So BM saw it and he just fell in love. He has been carrying it all around the house and sleeping with it. & he is just fascinated that Elmo TALKS to him.

Anyway, this doesn't really seem to bother the LM. BUT the first day I found it I thought, I should get one for LM. He just will not understand why Elmo only talks to BM.

So I wondered if they still made them.

I pop online and couldn't find the exact doll (we ordered it to be personalized).

But I found Elmo "Know your Name" or something like that. This one you program it yourself and can program favorite foods, and friends' names and family names and all this stuff.

Plus I saw it for 25% off and free shipping, so for $30 I ordered one at amazon.

It was probably a little unnecessary. & then of course I start to wonder if BM will be confused or upset why LM's Elmo is SO fancy. LOL.

So I realize I should just give up. Why even bother. !!

But overall I don't really buy the kids toys, so it was a nice little splurge. Grandma buys them so much crap we generally don't need to buy them anything. But it is fun to buy them something once in a while...

Likewise, dh has been going a little overboard with Easter. He clearly has not learned a thing. I said, "I hope you know your mom and your grandma are also buying them a slew of toys and candy." Which is why I could care less to partake in the Easter shopping. I understand the joy and all, and not much money was spent. But it's just all the crap filling the house. I find the best bet is to let everyone else buy the crap, because they insist, and then there is no point for us to. & well I can't believe dh hasn't figured this out yet either.