Well, I think it is unusually warm for November. (Okay I KNOW it is - LOL).

But we have also not been very quick to turn on the heat. When it hovered between 63-67 overnight we didn't touch the heat to warm up for showers or anything. I do not think there is a day it hasn't risen to at least 69, which is what we usually set it at anyway. But we tend to turn it on the morning so we don't freeze in the shower. But it just hasn't been that cold.

Anyway, I am amazed. We usually are a little whimpy and turn on the heat more.

Then again it is REALLY warm. I took a shower last night and all my warm clothes were in the wash. I just threw on like a summer thing. I was warm. It was weird. So I just slept in it.

I woke up and it is 68 downstairs, which means it will warm up into the 70s throughout the day and I will be walking around in short sleeves and no socks. It's kind of warm.

Just bizarre weather...

I checked our gas bill and it was $45 last year for November. At this rate our bill will be no more than $15. We spend $35/month balanced billing. I think we will easily get it down to $30 at this rate. We turned down the water heater in the summer to lower the bill a few dollars every month. I also was checking past trends. We run the heat max December & January and tend to spend $45 in February and November. The rest of the year we don't need heat. So overall we don't spend a lot on gas.

Electricity costs about double. I have no idea how to get that down any further though. We just don't use much.

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Well, I haven't heard the mice (assumed) that were keeping me awake the whole time the fam was in Florida. Dh had bought traps but I wasn't touching them with a 10-foot pole. I may be a willing accomplice, but I can't do the deed. We even discussed trapping them and setting them free somewhere. Yeah, decided against it.

But anyway, the neighbors cat, which did catch a mouse in our yard, and why I figure they are mice, has been hanging around on our roof, and I haven't heard a thing in a week or 2. Dh also found an area where it looked like they were getting in by the garage (we originally heard them in a wall downstairs) and so he lodged something in the "hole" to see if it would get disturbed. It's just loosely in there but hasn't been disturbed. No noises. Figured maybe the cat was paying off. Scared them off at least?

Then I woke up to scampering overhead the other night. "Oh GREAT," I thought. They are in the attic. (Though admittedly it could have been the cat walking on the roof now that I think about it. But I don't think it was).

I forgot to tell dh until I came home yesterday, so he set traps in the attic. We'll see...

We went up there yesterday. At least it looked clean. No piles of mouse droppings or anything. (I was imagining the worst). I didn't walk in, but between the opening to the attic and our bedroom is the heater and all sorts of ducts and stuff. Dh said he couldn't get over there and couldn't see much. But we didn't see or smell anything, so phew.

I doubt few people will fall into this exact situation. But a good exercise to help you think through some of these things. I think if you are healthy and single an HSA actually is a pretty good deal, especially if you are good at saving.

For a family with high medical expenses in a state that doesn't conform to federal rules. Blech. It gets a little better for us every year. But still not quite there. I don't think. I am trying to run through the #s though.

For starters, our medical expenses will be $10k this year. 7.5% of our income is about $5k. So everything we pay over that $5k (7.5% threshhold) is deductible on Schedule A. We also have a big mortgage and lots of state taxes. Obviously we itemize. So we get to itemize another $5k with our current plan. At a 20% tax rate between fed and state we save $1k on taxes. Our medical expenses are insane (mostly just insurance) but at least we get some tax break.

For 2008 you can put $5800 in an HSA, tax-free. For us that would only be a $870 saving. Because in California they do not recognize HSAs. We would lose the state tax benefit. & though we would put in more we would get a smaller tax break than we usually do.

OF course, our insurance premiums go down. But they go down about $3k/year if we take a $3k deductible. Basically if any one of the 4 of us goes to the emergency room this year, or breaks an arm, we're going to pay $3k out of pocket. I think the odds are very high. Which means we'll probably spend $10k on medical this year, as we usually do. Just happened this is the best deal offered to us this year (actually better than we were offered last year). Because our insurance plan is saying they are giving us more benefits and lowering our out-of-pocket max. So we'll take the lowered premiums, regardless. & save the difference for the deductible we likely will pay some point during the year.

We could put %$5800 in an HSA (which we could do if we put our saved premiums, vision, dental expenses, etc. Certainly don't have dental insurance and that is part of our $10k bill for the year). But we would get a smaller tax break than otherwise, and a more complicated tax return. (Which I prepare but it's a PITA, for sure!!!!! A factor that needs to be considered).

We could put the $5800 in throughout the year and earn the whopping 2%-3% returns most HSA offers (I certainly would not invest the money we would likely need in riskier mutual funds). & most the
HSas charge fees. $25/year at the minimum (which wipes out much of that 2% interest).

So in our case, since it looks like it is also a pain to pull money out of many of the HSAs (certainly not all - but the more convenience the more expensive the account is - keep in mind). If I am going to put in $5800 and use $5800 this year it makes little sense.

I would be far better off investing the money in our savings account, earning 4.5% and paying no fees. I am going to take it out as quickly as I put in, most likely. & still get to deduct $5k on my tax return and save $1k in fed & state taxes...

So this is my thinking here. There are a lot of factors at play here.

Now, if 12/31/08 comes around and we have not paid one dime of our deductible... (LEt me tell you, I am not holding my breath here). Then I would consider shifting the $3k deductible for '08 into an HSA. I am just not sure if it would do any good. We would not be able to deduct anything for itemizing then. So would I be better off keeping it in my bank account and deducting the $2k we did spend on dentists and such? (Itemize that deduction). At least I know I could grow the $3k easier, with less expenses. There is not a huge benefit there. The taxes saved on the $2k actual expense would be $400. Taxes saved on $3k would be $450. Plus it would greatly complicate things and we would pay STATE taxes on the interest it earned and pay fees to the HSA, etc., etc. We'd save $0 but increase complications GREATLY!!!!! I'd rather pull the money out of my savings account when I need it. No Hassle.

What if we go 2 years with no doctor visits and I could put $5800 into the HSA on 12/31/09?

In that case it might be a better deal. The more we save up the better deal it becomes.

It comes down to the fact that I expect the odds of that to be like 10%. Not in our favor. That deductible will get spent.

What if dh goes to work and suddenly our medical expenses are not more than 7.5%? Than the HSA would win hands down. We'd suddenly be in an atrocious tax bracket (as opposed to 15% state for now. If dh worked we'd be in AMT - you know the rich tax. Apparently the difference between 15% tax rate and "rich" is $20k income. In our case anyway...) So yeah, if he didn't have any decent benefits, then we can put away $5800/year easy, invest it, never touch it, take the stinking tax break. Pay our medical expenses out of pocket (wouldn't pay them out of the HSA because the whole point would be to take advantage of the tax-deferred. They are really not set up to let you easily spend it all every year. The point is to save for future).

Or if I get a huge raise and we start losing our ability to itemize. It might start to make more sense.

So yeah, that's what the situation is for us. There would definitely be some future down the road as I expect our income to rise.

For now all I see is a LOT of effort and PITA for a few pennies maybe saved. But we will definitely have to evaluate at the end of the year. The cool thing about HSAs is you have until 4/15, next year, to decide. I will probably do our tax return and play with it and if we come out ahead with the HSA I can fund it 4/15/09.

HSAs are getting better though. The first year I looked at these I think we would have saved $5k/year on premiums BUT they would only let you put $3k into the HSA AND our hospital had like a $10k out-of-pocket. It was lose-lose-lose. Couldn't even take tax advantage of the savings, and likely would get slammed with a $10k bill if any one of us broke an arm or went to emergency.

This year they say we'll save $3k on our premiums, can put $5800 into an HSA, and our max out of pocket is $3k. $5800 is about our out of pocket for all medical expenses besides the insurance so it seems pretty fair. It's getting better... But then you can see when you look closely there isn't a lot there on the HSA side. I am relieved our insurance is offering a better plan though this year. A much more affordable one. It benefits savers who have $3k in the bank and say sure. I know plenty of people who would think it's a great deal but don't have a dime in the bank and wouldn't save a dime. They'd sink fast. For us, it just may work.

& when dh returns to work we need more tax advantaged accounts. I'll take my IRA any day. But it works for people trying to limit income tax, who have a lot of disposable income. I think we will probably fund some of an HSA going forward, as my income grows or if we go to a 2-income household. We'll see...

I hope with time more banks offer HSAs and they get more competitive. I think that is my biggest peeve right now. Very few financial institutions seem to be offering them. They are expensive and the returns look lousy. But they also have far more choices today than they did 2 years ago. So basically for now I figure I have until 4/15/09 to fund it and I am going to hold out for some better deals.

Um, I change my tune. I am starting to see LITTLE in benefits of a HSA for us.

The nice thing is we can still take the reduced premiums. We will be better off to put the money (premiums saved) in our bank account and earn better returns.

The only exception will be if we do not use our deductible for the year. Then we could use the HSA for tax advantage. If not, there will be no tax advantage and we'll get crappy returns (if we spend it we can itemize the deduction). Heck, I might prefer to put it in an IRA if we do not need it. One big factor being the California nightmare where it is not tax-deductible for state. (& earnings are taxed for state).

I'll share more my thinking later. But this is where we land. I am starting to remember more why I never liked these things. They just make no sense in a situation like ours. We'll see... I have to think on it more. But it's where I am leaning. I was discussing it with dh and it occurred to me we would be better off without the HSA anyway. Sad but true.

But I am still relieved to have a more affordable insurance option. Phew.

We haven't had to turn on the heat here. I can't believe it. Well into November.

On the other hand, we don't have a small baby this year and BM is content to run around the house in his shorts. (Takes after his father). We have racheted up the air and heat a bit more than usual in recent years having small kids around. Worrying if they are comfortable. I see a trend this year that we might lean towards keeping the house cooler. Suddenly the idea of keeping the house 60 doesn't seem so insane (we usually aim for 68). I think it is harder to justify 60 though when it just isn't that much colder outside though. If it were 30 outside, sure 60 would be divine. It's all I could figure why we are way too whimpy.

The weather has just been divine though. Coming from the land of "70 year round", Sacramento weather has been really hard for me to swallow. You can't step outside while the sun is out in the summer (though at least evenings are fair - phew). & spring may be okay but the allergy factor is horrendous. I stay locked up indoors. So October/November have been divine. It's been mostly in the 70s and we have been going for lots of walks. This is the weather I miss back home. If we moved to Oregon or something I just don't think I could handle it. I am weather spoiled. It could be a tie between the idea of moving so far from family and the weather, why we haven't made the move. I think the weather may factor even more.

Was hearing on the radio a while back - or maybe it was an article - weather is one of the smallest factors when you move. I cringed. When you come from the land of "70 year round" the weather will make or break you. It is clear to me I have to live in a southern coastal state orelse I may just melt. Hehe. Preferably west coast since I don't do humidity either. Ick.

Well, soon enough it will be cold and the heat will be running. Blech. It gets slightly colder here. Though I would say summer is 10 times worse than winter. But last year we did have some freezes. Lord I hope this is a sign of a milder winter. I don't do ice at all. For the most part I would say winter mirrors back home, but maybe 10 degrees cooler. I think I can handle it. But it is just one more season I can't walk outside. So that's a bummer.

I've come to the conclusion that one year of reorganization can make up for a few years of bad money management. If not "bad", at least less than stellar...

It's interesting.

Just thinking about it as I ponder our 2008 budget, and forward.

I recently came to the conclusion to relax a bit on retirement. I have been trying not to rely so much on my boss's contribution and that is certainly a worthy goal. But I realized, while pondering the budget, that 10% of my income (even a little more) goes to preschool. Which is rather temporary. & the reason I want to hit retirement so hard is less because we need it today, but more for future planning. So thinking about it in these terms I realized both the easies thing and the most sensible thing to do is to consider the preschool money as retirement money. It means we can contribute 5% easy to retirement come this September when we go from 2 to 1 kid in preschool. & then in 2 years we have the 10% contribution easy (total). In the meantime I get 10% from my boss too. Is there any reason to rush it otherwise? At expense of other goals? Not really.

Kind of like a lightbulb went off in my head.

Anyway, thinking in these terms and looking at our savings plan for 2008 I realized for the most part we on track to save 1/3 of my income. Even if 10% goes to preschool in the interim. Well, not for long!!!

I also realized that on another level if we save 1/3 of my income, we are still living on the same income we made before kids. How bizarre is that? I feel like we have really been living up to our income. & we certainly have much more/more cushier lifestyle than we did 5 years ago! Plus we have 2 more mouths to feed.

But um, nothing has really changed. We haven't lived up to anything. We have done a lot of cost cutting measures in order make it on one income. Wow! It is just bizarre to come to this conclusion. I feel like in the interim we have been living up to our income and I have been fighting it every step of the way. Well, maybe all the fighting has been working better than I realized!

I have been running the #s through my head because it doesn't really make sense. But I think when we had 2 incomes we felt we had a lot more room to waste money. PLUS we have done so much planning that we have far more assets to fall back on, which means we rely on the income a little less. We have newer cars (so less worries about replacement costs in the interim). The cash in the bank earns decent interest which means some of our savings comes from that. Etc., etc.

It's, interesting.

On the flip side, we used to pay a lot more of our income to taxes. So though I may be saving 1/3 of my gross pay in a sense, I also take home a much larger percentage of gross than I used to. & that probably counts for inflation and the extra mouths to feed and all that. To be fair - we aren't doing THAT great. LOL. The tax factor is huge...

Well, I am sure I am missing something. But it's kind of my "aha" moment. Maybe we aren't doing so bad.

Our savings looks something like this:

3% retirement
10% Preschool (to retirement eventually)
13% Short Term Savings (escrow)
7% Mid Term Savings (house/cars)
--------------------------
33% Gross Income Saved
--------------------------

I also understand a large chunk is for short-term savings (to be used within the year). But, um, I wasn't saving that before when we dropped down to 1-income. Nor when I received about a 50% raise over time. So it's all money I wasn't making or saving before. Now I am making it and saving it.

I still want to plump up retirement as much as I can, but am considering working more on cash reserves in 2008. With more cash reserves, we could more easily devote 100% windfalls to retirement. win-win-win. There is a bit of a psychological factor in it all. Of course the more we put to retirement now the bigger difference it makes. So it is a balance trying to figure out the best plan. But we're getting there.

On the flip side, the more cash reserves the laxer we feel on the budget. So part of me wants to put every last time I can to retirement. Forget cash. I guess the psychological factor can go both ways. & of course the more we put to retirement today, the easier it should be in the long run.

All stuff I have to think through. In the meantime it feels nice to think we are doing much better than we thought. BUT don't worry, I don't feel any more relaxed. The whole IRA max is really motivating to me. Because the more we put in there, the more is tax deferred. Which in the meantime encourages to try to save even more than the plan.

The other interesting factor is though my income has gone up so much, it shows little sign of slowing down. So saved raises will go a long way to get our percentages up in the interim.

I think my overall goal is that in about 3 years, when the kids are in school, I want to say to dh, "I don't care if you work." If he wants to buy new TVs and electronics and all that a faster rate, or if he wants to work on a career. He will have that freedom. (& I will largely say you want that stuff - you come up with the money). I want to be able to say that even if I no longer get 10% of my income from my boss in retirement that he does not have to work. He only has to work if he wants to go back to school or if he wants an elevated lifestyle. It's just one level in the path to financial freedom I guess. & I feel we are getting there quicker than I thought we would.

As stands it probably means I would hope not to need a second income in the least by age 32 (which ironically means by age 25 because that is the last time he worked anyway. But today we still think of it in terms as temporary. It has to crossover to a permanent thinking yet).

My goal is still not having to work full-time by age 40. Of course, if he decides to work and finds some success, I may be able to speed this up significantly.

It is interesting. Full blown retirement appeals little to me. I like working. But not "having" to work is certainly a different mindset - a worthwhile one.

In case you ever thought I was full of crap when I said it was clearly cheaper to buy our first home and why we were eager to buy so soon. On a monthly basis it was FAR cheaper than renting. (Keep in mind dh and I kept our rents down to $400/month combined through college and 1 year out as a means to save up a substantial down payment. He lived with parents and I lived with roommates in a more "rent controlled" situation. Th average studio apartment was $1100/month at the time. I rented a huge room in a big house in a nice neighborhood but roommate had been there for a long time and so my rent was very low for the 6 years I did rent).

Home #1:

"Your home purchase breaks even after 0.2 years.

This is based on your home's equity minus a 6.00% sales commission paid to brokers or real estate agents when you sell your home. It also assumes your home will appreciate at 3.00% per year and you have an income tax rate of 25.00%. If you cannot remain in your home for at least 0.2 years you should consider continuing to rent.

We calculated your breakeven point by examining how long it would take to create enough equity in your home to exceed the value of investing your cash on hand. We also accounted for differences in your monthly rent and house payments. If your rent payment is less than your net house payment, we add that monthly savings to your investment. If your house payment is less than your rent payment we subtract that amount from your investment. You may notice that on the schedule at the bottom of this report the investment value can be reported as negative. This happens if your house payment is significantly lower than your rent payment. It illustrates that if you continue to rent the extra cost of renting would, in effect, use up your cash on hand.
Loan Information

Your total monthly payment was calculated as $1,867.39. Your down payment was calculated as $50,000 and you had a home price of $260,000. This is for a 30 year mortgage at 6.000% in the amount of $210,000. Total closing costs for this loan are estimated at $2,000.00.

Your current monthly rent is $2,800. The expected inflation rate of 3.10% annually was used to estimate future rent and property taxes.

The rate of return use for investments was 10.00% per year a..."

Also note that that condo is worth today, a mere 8 years later, what the calculator projects it will be worth in about 2027 years. When you factor housing returns, it paid off even faster. You can argue housing is volatile, but the Bay Area has a long track record of large house appreciation. I don't expect it to be worth only $500k in 20 years, no matter what the market does. Unless the Bay Area becomes a waste land or something...

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

Our second house works out to be about the same though rents are considerably cheaper.

"Your home purchase breaks even after 1.2 years.

This is based on your home's equity minus a 6.00% sales commission paid to brokers or real estate agents when you sell your home. It also assumes your home will appreciate at 3.00% per year and you have an income tax rate of 15.00%. If you cannot remain in your home for at least 1.2 years you should consider continuing to rent.

We calculated your breakeven point by examining how long it would take to create enough equity in your home to exceed the value of investing your cash on hand. We also accounted for differences in your monthly rent and house payments. If your rent payment is less than your net house payment, we add that monthly savings to your investment. If your house payment is less than your rent payment we subtract that amount from your investment. You may notice that on the schedule at the bottom of this report the investment value can be reported as negative. This happens if your house payment is significantly lower than your rent payment. It illustrates that if you continue to rent the extra cost of renting would, in effect, use up your cash on hand.
Loan Information

Your total monthly payment was calculated as $1,647.61. Your down payment was calculated as $68,000 and you had a home price of $290,000. This is for a 30 year mortgage at 5.750% in the amount of $222,000. Total closing costs for this loan are estimated at $2,000.00.

Your current monthly rent is $2,500. The expected inflation rate of 3.10% annually was used to estimate future rent and property taxes. The rate of return use for investments was 10.00% per year after taxes."

It will also be worth what it is today in 25 years according to the calculator. I am not sure how much Sacramento as a whole will support higher housing prices. Curious myself. But um, future appreciation played no factor in our decision to buy. Our house already decreased in value $150k this last year and is still an easy $200k more than we paid in 2001.

If we rented the 2nd time we could have put $100k in the bank (at age 25). We still were better off buying. Even if we assumed the house only grew 3%/year.

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

I never said I wouldn't consider renting in retirement. When inflation is out of the equation. It would probably be the only way to enjoy all the money we earned on our house. Of course we intend to at least downsize in retirement. We really liked owning a condo and it was an interesting way to enjoy home appreciation while keeping costs down. (Or course we paid more for utilities, homeowners insurance and for homeowners fees in our condo. Property taxes were the same. & our current house is twice as big. So things aren't very apples to apples when you move hours away. We moved to limit all of these costs, which were ironically much higher in a small condo in an expensive city. I will take my big house any day. But a big house didn't stretch us - it was a way to simplify for us. Just an illustration how wildly these numbers will vary due to different factors. & why I get tired of hearing how bad big houses are. Our "big house" just might be our key to financial freedom at a very young age. ).

Well I haven't really been feeling well all week. I think I am in a bad cycle. I was sick and then that passed. But I was feeling on top of things at work. Things have been going well. But November is a really slow month in the sense I am barely going into the office. So being sick really screwed me up. So I have been feeling really stressed, and then sick too as a result. Vicious cycle. Of course I have been eating rather well. But I was feeling so crummy I resorted to brownies and soda (I am a stress eater for sure). Which didn't help the cycle. I feel like crap.

Dh actually had a boys' night out last night. In another city. So I was alone feeling crappy. It wasn't so bad but I couldn't make it to the gym as I had planned (limited weekend babysitting). & so it goes.

I feel much better today. It has been raining. I told the kids we could go for a walk today and look for worms and snails. I think I need fresh air, and a little exercise, more than anything. Will try to eat a little better today too. HArd without dh but he should be home soon.

Sometimes I wonder how I could even function without dh. But I did have fun with the kids. They were really good.

BM did a focus group yesterday and LM and I went shopping. I never go shopping, and have been really lazy but needed a few things.

I also needed some hose. I have been putting them in the dryer and have ruined about every pair. I don't remember them all expiring at once like this, so I think it's the dryer. I usually don't dry my work clothes but with our new dryer I have a dryer bag for the small items, so I have been just tossing the bag of hose in the dryer with other things. So one measure I can do to save money is stop drying those things. Yeesh. Live and learn.

I also had to replace BM's mattress pad which dh melted in the dryer. LOL. It was only $20 at Target. Not bad. I thought we had paid a lot more for the waterproof variety.

Oh you'd be proud of me. I was so good at Target. Got some birthday gifts for a friend who is usually quite generous. So spent around $30. & I got BM a really cool shirt while we were there. But they had the CUTEST monkey pajamas everywhere. I can't say I'd resist so well if I saw adult ones (I didn't look). LOL. But for the boys or even for Christmas for my nieces. Oh, I resisted. I have $20 off at Kohls and maybe they will have monkeys too. Will have to go check it out today. I forgot about Kohls in my shopping.

They also had those "little miss" t-shirts, which I think are so cute, at Target for $9.99 (I have only seen them like $25-$30 prior). But they were just of a REALLY cheap quality. I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.

& I know I'll survive.

I also don't know why I haven't been hitting the thrift stores of late. I don't know. For one, pants are such a chore for me to find in a right size, is a huge reason why. They don't always have rooms to try on clothes and I can waste a lot of money pretty quick buying pants in my size that don't fit in the least. BUT shirts are another story. & more sweaters and shirts do a lot more to mix up a wardrobe than adding more pants. Well dh picked up a few things and it inspired me. I just hate shopping so much. Why I avoid it... But um, I think next time I have the urge to go clothes shopping I have to make a pact with myself to hit the thrift store first. I should be able to find a few cute sweaters. & I am sure it beats the crap they sell at Target. (Oh I am quite sure. LOL). I used to buy more clothes there, but they just fall apart. It's great for the kids. Great and cheap. But for the adults, I am not so pleased.

I was just perusing the paper while I was waiting for my turn in the shower, and I just about choked on what I read.

I can't find the article online, which is a bummer. So I can't share. (I'll keep an eye out). But it was an article about a Manners class for 2-5 year olds.

Where they learn not to bring toys to the table, to say please and thank you, to not talk with their mouth full.

The class is $75 for 6 sessions or about $17/hour.

Yes, people are willing to PAY this to teach their kids to be polite.

Are they out of their minds?????

I guess this particularly struck me as we have gotten A lOT of compliments/comments lately about how polite our kids are. I always scratch my head at that. Um, well, they learn by example. Since we aren't mannerless dolts I would expect them to not to be either.

I Can't say we put a lot of conscious effort into making them polite. so it boggles my mind a bit. I also had 2 different friends over for dinner in recent months who were amazed by the kids table manners, and as their kid ran about the room wildly, said they never made him sit at the table. I actually didn't give much thought to their non-table ways but also didn't exactly see what was so novel about a family meal experience. LOL. Both people thought we were so disciplined with our kids or something, making them sit at the table until we were all done. To us it's just normal civility.

So this article was just the icing on the cake. Paying to learn these matters. Wow!!!

Heck, maybe WE should start teaching some classes. People really pay for this? Hmmmm, a side income stream?

I think mostly it's a sad state of society. & yeah I have seen relatively polite people put no effort into raising polite kids. So the more I think about it the more it bothers me. I am not sure if 6 weeks of classes will do much to make kids polite.

Well, um, I did Fern's energy test thing last week I guess? & it said 94% of US households use more energy than us. I found that quite impressive considering there are 4 of us, we wash diapers and cook every day and someone is always home, etc.

On the flip side I wasn't terribly surprised because our house has a lot of energy efficient features (roof, insulation, windows, etc., etc.) and we have all CFLs throughout the home and all new energy saving appliances. We can easily go 1/3 the year if not 1/2 without turning on the heat and air either (Because of all the energy saving features AND milder weather here).

Anyway, I just go our bill and expected it to be dirt cheap since we were all gone one week this month. We barely used any electricity all of last week with the fam gone. BUT instead the bill would have been $60 after tax ($45 for the energy usage). Yikes! It was bigger than I expected - I expected more like $25 tax and all - if that.

The bill said we used 6 times as much electricity as we did the same time last year. & looking at the little graph of our electricity over the last year - gosh it looks awfully higher than usual this year.

I remembered that they were having problems with our meter and fixed it in March, right around a/c time, and our bills seemed a little higher than usual. So whatever. Maybe we were a but under billed.

BUT I mean our bills last Oct., Nov., Dec. were less than $20 each. LOL. (At least $15 of that is taxes & fees!!!!!!).

So, um we are on budget billing of $54/month now and I now realize this is not terribly realistic. This bill should have been the lowest of the low and it was $60!!

I have the feeling this figure will be raised with time. Won't get to used to it.

At this rate I would project our budget billing to be about $75/month.

To be fair we pay an extra $6/month for green energy, voluntarily. So will put our combined gas & electric around $100/month. Considering the size of our house, all that we do with people home all the time, etc., I still think this is rather impressive. But I think our 94% # is a bit inflated. I'll probably wait for a whole year of corrected billing and try that again. See where we really stand.

Oh yeah the other funny thing is I saw last night something about unplugging all your computers and game systems would save you $20/month in electricity. I had to laugh. My dad is an engineer and told me this was a big pile of BS a while back (we were asking about cell phone chargers - unplugging them). Anyway, I was like, if my bill went down $20/month it would be $0. are they kidding? Well, even with a $45 bill, I still don't buy it. But it makes a tad more sense today.

YEah we did unplug our cell phone chargers and all we got is a big bill. Yeesh.

But yeah, looking at our bills last fall I totally see why the electric company came out and thought something was wrong. I used to just look at the bill total, and they have always been rather low. But yeah, they were obviously under the realm of reasonable once you consider all we were really paying was the service charge, greenergy charge and taxes. I think we were lucky they didn't go back and charge us for under-billed electricity in the past. I have no idea what is up with that.

But now we have a challenge to reduce our electricity. We suddenly have much more room for improvement.

$20 challenge:

$9,171.87 - Balance 11/4

$ 15.00 - Saved parking expense

------------------
$9,186.87 - Balance 11/5
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Um, well, I had a class downtown and it ocurred to me maybe the night before that it would be nice if dh could drive me and I could avoid parking and all that. But he is NOT a morning person and thought better of it. LOL. When I was on maternity leave and such we did this a lot because we were way too poor for a day of parking downtown.

Anyway, in the morning the kids got up well before dawn (still on Florida time - time change does NOT help) and so I mentioned it to dh offhand. I was surprised, but he was game. Anything to save a dollar!

So I decided to add it to the challenge. Something we have done before, but not very consistently. Saved at least $15 on parking. Gas was minimal since we live so close to downtown. (Now that I think about it I would have to drive anyway - duh).

Well the social security class was VERY interesting. I learned much. Will have to share snippets over time (just so much).

Beyond that I got some stomach bug - or food poisoning yesterday. It has just been horrid. I am not sure if I am up to work today. I am feeling better by the minute so I might try to go in the afternoon. I felt pretty weak this morning. We'll see. I had something very similar last month, but since it is just me this time I wonder if I had food poisoning. This also feels like most of my pregnancies, and so every last bit of baby fever I had about my newest niece just went out the window. I was just telling dh I can't believe I agreed to it a 2nd time. LM is swell and everything but lord knows why I agreed to be sick for 9 months again. I must have had hope it wouldn't be so bad the 2nd time. Now I know better. Oh yeah so since this is the time I found out I was pregnant both times (around 4th of November) I think that is why I was really thinking back to my pregnancies. Deja vu. (& no I am not pregnant - 100% - phew!!!!!)

I am not sure about November/December as a whole but October was tight. I don't expect it to be much better.

But luckily today we had good money news.

Dh got a call about a focus group for $75. I guess who knows if he qualifies, but they don't really seem to care anyway. So desparate for people we both did the same one (not sure they really wanted 2 people from the same household... yeesh).

Dh is all disgusted with them since he is a marketer himself. Oh he thought the last focus group was just horrid. He talks about getting hired over there and fixing them. Not only are they so desparate for participants that they bend all the rules, but their questions were pretty awful. Lots of leading questions, and all sorts of stuff. So since we both did the same one I got to hear dh rant and rave about all that was technically wrong with it. Probably more than I care to hear - LOL.

So yeah, I figure odds are they will have one for him soon enough. They call him all the time. Me, not so much.

I also sold $54 in jewelry so made an easy $27 this morning.

All good for the budget.

I was horrible on the overtime with the fam gone since I worked all weekend and then took a good chunk of the week off. LOL. Defeat the purpose. But I had fun. November is a weird month. A little slow and lots and lots of days off. I have so many days off I think I will probably have to work some OT to keep ahead of the curve. I need to catch up on much and December will be terribly busy. But all through November I only come to the office 2-4 days each week. IT's just a weird month. Thanksgiving, Vegas, and lots of continuing education courses out of the office. Those are always easy days too. I am enjoying. If I did something as simple as 4 hours OT each week though then I could make another $400 or so. Something to consider. I don't think it would put me out much as I will barely be at work anyway.

I also think Thanksgiving will be rather simple this year. So phew. My mom and I were just saying last night it would be silly to cook a turkey for 6. Think we'll just go with ham or something. KEep it simple. MIL is all into turkey and fancy and on and on, but it's our house and if we others coming over this year (all the extended family is busy) then who cares. I am going for SIMPLE. IF dh wants fancy then it is all his (I think he did most of it last year. But I don't mind helping more if it is simple!!!)

HEck, my family would be happy with pizza or something.

Well, I am pleased with this Florida trip thus far. Talked to dh and they return tomorrow. Anyway, he said he hadn't spent a dime all week.

As generous as his parents were, it was a pretty cheap trip all around.

Airfare - paid for 5 with miles.

Hotel - paid for condo with timeshare points (I will never understand them and their time share(s). They love it and we get to use it all the time for free. Hey, if they are happy. The cruise we went on was also free through all that. I get the feeling if you look at what they spend on that crap it isn't such a great deal. Why would I get that feeling???).

Disney World - Dh and his dad used our tickets for 2000. We could not remember if we used one or 2 days then (was a 4-day park hopper which we bought because it cost little more than a 2-day park hopper - and never expires. Good move. We had so much money back then as compared to now too - LOL). They checked at the end of the day and s'posedly still 2 days left? Well I swear we went 2 days in 2000. Just bizarre. We will have to go again. Maybe sooner next time. Anyways, LM was free and MIL must have paid for herself and BM.

They went to Gator Land and MIL paid.

I think that was about it. They were going to go to Sea World but didn't make it.

His parents paid for all the meals. He said he would try to buy dinner tonight. Might be in the $200 range with all his family there, but hey, a week for him and the 2 kids in Florida for around $200. What the heck. Not bad!!!

The most ironic thing though was I was telling dh that I wanted to take vacation with the kids next year. I complain about work interfering with my time with them enough and then I took 2 weeks vacation without them and they went off a week without me. & all mostly due to family last minute plans. We have been saying we don't want to say yes to all this next year. We need a break. BUT it is hard to say no. We aren't big vacation people and it looks like we will have spent around $1200 when all is said and done between cruise, Japan, Vegas & Florida this year. Yes a steal for all we have done. But considering we didn't plan and had little time to save it has not been good for us financially. Since our annual vacation budget is pretty much $0. We are usually happy with day trips to the surrounding cities since there is so much to do around here.

So anyway, one thing we had been talking about doing is doing a family camp thing near Yosemite. I don't remember why we were talking about it, but it is relatively cheap and the kind of cheaper/local/down to earth thing we envision ourselves doing more than jetting to HAwaii/Florida/Japan all the time. Obviously not in our budget on one income. So it was so funny his mom mentioned on the way to the airport that she wanted us all to go to San Jose family camp. (I think it is just about the same thing we had been looking at - she said it was near Yosemite or something). I think that's a cool idea. The kids will love it with Grandma/Grandpa and I will get a simpler vacation with them. Plus the kids are freaking spoiled. They need a dose of reality if you ask me.

We also did not expect LM to get much from Disney but he absolutely LOVED it and BM got so much more this time than last year. So we are talking about going there next May with the kids. DisneyLand that is. Kind of a last hoorah before BM starts school and gets busy with schedules and all that. If nothing else I'll get a decent overtime bonus. Maybe even a raise too. I think we can save up some pennies. In our younger days our trips to So Cal were always very rushed and cheap. We don't want to rush it this time. But we might be able to swing a free place to stay with the timeshare thing. We'll drive. The park is expensive but we can eat out of the park and all that stuff we did last time to save money. We might make a few days of it. I don't think it will be an extraordinarily expensive vacation. Just expensive for our tastes I guess. But heck. LM will be free if we go right before he turns 3. He'll enjoy. & May is after tax season and before the crowds of summer.

But yes, I am all excited about that now. Dh was so cute, he called me like 10 times from Disney and kept telling me it wasn't the same without me. Ahhhhhhhh..... I had been to Disney with BM and didn't expect LM to even want to ride anything. So I didn't think I'd really miss much. But LM was one brave little dude I guess. So I think that is why I am all geared up about going again so soon. I missed out. IT's like a do over or something.

I am not sure about next year (except diverting some of my excess overtime to vacation). But after next year I think we'll have to start a vacation budget. I have really resisted it. We're not vacation people but as long as our families keep tempting us we need something more in place. I think my parents did a better job of having an "all expense paid trip" - then my last trip with MIL anyway. But all the same, the inevitable part of all these trips is you feel like a tightwad not to be able to contribute a dime. No matter how you slice it they cost money. & if we save up for better them we save tons by taking advantage of so many paid for trips!

I would also love to save up some money to take BM with me to Japan next time. I had too much fun there. I am getting a taste for travel I guess...

Well I had a really nice couple of days but tomorrow is back to reality for me!

I went to work for a couple of hours yesterday and drove to the Bay. I think the powers that be had it out for me since I said "I won't be driving on any bridges." Dh called me (or maybe I called him?) somewhere along the way and I got so distracted, next thing I know I feel like I went too far. Just didn't look right. I told him I think I missed my turnoff to the other freeway and I better go. Of course no sooner then I Decide to turn around I am already crossing a nasty bridge. LOL. All I could think was I am too young to die! LOL. But I guess it wasn't my time.

Well luckily it wasn't. I then had to turn around and go back across and pay $4. Yeesh. An expensive mistake...

I eventually found my way and spent the day with my SIL and nieces. They were both adorable. The 2-week-old took a nice nap on me and the 3yo was a nice distraction since I miss the fam so much!!!!!

Had a nice evening with my parents and enjoyed a peaceful night. (I just don't sleep so well home alone).

I got in the car around 6:15am - running a little late and didn't even think that it is fog season. Usually the drive into Sacto in the morning is just beautiful with the sunrise. I didn't expect much with the stupid daylight savings (love it on the spring end but not on the fall end). So probably why I dragged my feet this morning. Barely saw a glimpse of the sunrise though as I ended up in AWFUL fog. I was lucky I rolled into my mutual fund seminar right at 8:30 (start). Phew. Was really slowed by all the fog. & it was a little scary.

Oh but the good thing about the fog was my window started working again!!!!! All I could figure was it was the moisture in the air? Lord knows. But it works for now and that is good enough for me.

The class was interesting. It was more basic, but I LOVE mutual funds so I enjoyed regardless. & I am sure I learned a few new things. Overwhelming all the same.

Had to pay $11 parking and spent $7 or so on lunch. I had planned for it - a lazy day I guess. But I went to Round Table to get the lunch special. There were a million people there (crowded!!!) waiting for pizza buffet and the like and the lady tried to sell it to me. All I know was the pizza, salad bar and soda combo was $6.69 or something. But she wanted to sell me the buffet for over $8. Um, and why would I do that? The lunch is PLENTY as is. & the line for pizza didn't look too fun. I did not even finish it all. So, nice try. LOL. (My pizza came to me right as I finished my salad so was totally the way to go too).

IT just annoys me my other Sac class is downtown and I wouldn't be surprised if that was $20 parking. Blech. There have been so many facilities without expensive parking. To be fair though, often they have us way out in the boonies at this beautiful hotel, but the gas is probably more than the $11 I spent today. Something to keep in perspective I guess. The class is for my professional license and was paid by the boss so win-win. The instructor today also mentioned he rarely gets young folk in these classes. What a shame!

I also had wanted to have a low-spend week and avoid getting gas, but I didn't realize how low I was on gas. I had to fill up on San Jose. Got a 1/2 tank and should do though.

Oh yeah - tomorrow is back to reality. Work. & the fam returns. But that is cool - I am excited about that!!!!!!! I also don't intend to work this weekend. & I have a class Monday on social security.

I was also annoyed with dh when I got home because I got a $100 cable bill. (& November is tight as is). He told me it was going down $20 and it went up $20?????????? I pulled out the notice that I never looked at and I saw the new price he saw for the cable/internet bundle (like $60) BUT it is not what we have. Doh.

The weird thing though is that they charged us for this new "basic service" which is really expanded basic. But they didn't remove the basic. When I look at the form they sent us it looks like the regular basic is just an option only available to people in certain neighborhoods (like ours). My impression is that you can opt into that instead of the expanded basic package (it cost 1/3 as much but nowhere does it really say what it is - just that it is only available to certain homes). I think they probably screwed up. Like we have the option but why would we want it? That's what it sounds like. Since the new expanded one should cover it? So dh will have to square that away next week. I think it looks like we can easily switch down to the $60 package. Or drop the basic thing and keep our bill the same. Oh yes, dh will love this!!!! But he'll work it out. No way I am paying $100. If it comes to that we'll switch. Their e-mail service has been HORRID but generally their customer service is good as well as the price (beats something like comcast by a mile). So we'll see what happens. I was so peeved when I saw the bill though. I thought dh was all wet and wondered what the heck he had seen. I feel like now they screwed up though I am more confused than anything, for the most part. YEs, the bundle service is a great deal IF we had it. IT depends if dh could give up the friggin "basic" basic, whatever that is anyway. ??? I am like, so we are the only ones priveleged to pay extra for that? & why didn't they just charge us the bundle and then add "basic" basic to it? That would be cheaper than our old bill. Oh no, that would be too easy... YEs, it seems there are many options to clear this up. Threatening to leave might help too. They were great for a while. Just not so great lately...

Well there was a "moderate" earthquake today, centered just a few miles from my parent's home. They said they were on the road and when they got home there were doors flown open and a lot of stuff strewn around. So in the grand scheme of things probably one of the bigger earthquakes we've had. But so far not much report of damage. (IT was a 5.6? Loma Prieta was 6.9).

They heard some people in Sacramento felt it. I Was sitting on the couch eating dinner at the time - didn't feel a thing.

& how bizarre another earthquake in October - World Series Time. Earthquake season I guess.

Well, I am going to San Jose Thursday. & so I Said, glad I missed it. Then I flipped on the news here and they were saying there was a 30% chance of another earthquake around the same magnitude in the next week and 10% chance of one even bigger. I have never hears statistics like that before (certainly don't recall). Maybe I'll stay home - LOL. Like I Want to be there when the "big one" hits.

Nah, I am not too worried. I grew up in earthquake country. For the most part they are relatively harmless. & I am not driving over any bridges or the like this week either. Which was the worst of Loma Prieta when the Bay Bridge collapsed.

I am just glad everyone is okay.

P.S. In the meantime on Sacramento news they are asking for pictures. ??? Um yeah, we all have lots of pictures of the "big quake" 120 miles away. ? Just strikes me as odd - LOL. Can I send a picture of the fallen shampoo bottles from my parents shower? Exciting stuff...

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I saw one on the road (& it was fast!!!)

BEing in the land of Hummers and Escalades and the like I don't know if I should be surprised this is the first one I Saw (not a lot of rich folk around here caring much for the environment) or if I should be surprised this is the first one I saw. We actually followed it out of my neighborhood - we have a lot of extrmeely well off neighbors. So overall surprised I haven't seen more. I've never seen one in the Bay Area either (where the company is based - I thought). I Would expect to see more there - I'll keep my eyes open as I will be in the Bay much in the following months.

My dad told me he thought it was a $65k version. But I looked it up online and it is of the $100k variety. Not sure a cheaper version exists??

My first thought in my dad's confusion was why didn't Ima Saver get one of those??? But sounds like they are still pretty pricey... (I can't imagine paying 6 figures for a car!!!!!).

Yes, my parents visited and took me to lunch yesterday. Then I made them watch Suze - "Can I Afford It?" I think they thought I Was crazy, and then they actually LOVED it. Before getting my finances in gear we always talk personal finance, and seems even moreso these days. I knew they would get a kick out of that segment. They actually watched the whole second 1/2 of the show and enjoyed it. My mom asked when it was on.

My dad also gave me the highest compliment. HE said he doesn't know anyone (probably my age) that has done better with money. I take that with a grain of salt. For one, HE hasn't looked at my financial records so it's just off face value and talk. Secondly, I know a few people who have done better, my age and all. Thirdly, he works with a bunch of people who own million dollar homes, send their kids to private school and buy new cars every year. They have the money to do all that in the most expensive area of the States. Maybe he is impressed my pacheck is like 1/4 and we probably have more to show for it in the end (retirement and savings). But I know he is always talking about the craziness of some of his young coworkers. They make good money, but I am sure in those shoes I Would be keenly aware that it is not given that good money will always be there. Since I obviously would not choose that same lifestyle, I guess that makes my parents proud. Not sure why they are surprised, I am more or less like them. Except much more financial support from them and dh's parents than they ever got. IT gives us quite a leg up. Oh yeah and the whole moving somewhere cheaper thing (As opposed to them moving somewhere insanely expensive when they were starting out). YEah, it makes a big difference.

So, it's nice to get high praise from my dad, but at the same time I don't need a big head. LOL.

On the flip side I am on a low-spend week. I could probably mostly do no-spend if I really wanted to. But I just need to make it through the week on less than $10 or something. Which I think I Can swing. I got 3 gassed cars in the driveway (Well only 2 I guess as of today). I had a $1 lunch out today with a friend. & I will be stuck at seminar Friday for lunch as well. I know I could bring a sandwhich or something. But, eh. The bad thing is that it is by Old Sac and I would LOVE to do some Christmas shopping while I am over there. I am not sure if my parking is paid by seminar or not, but if so I should take advantage. But probably not since it was a rough month. Dh and I need to sit down and discuss Christmas too. Seems impossible to find five minutes to discuss it. SHould call him from work or something - conference call. LOL. But yes, I Would love to get some milk bread and pepsi at the store. (Yes I NEED my pepsi. LOL). I think I Can swing all that for under - um - well make it $15? I have cash. No cards this week. The card is insane. Lord knows what dh is running up on it in Florida. So I am hedging against that. But though I am a little lazy on the food (I could go no spend if I REALLY wanted to) I have an elaborate gas plan. I don't want to buy any gas until SUnday. & I plan to drive 300 miles Thursday... Will be tight.

Some things I forgot to mention last week when I Was stressed with money outflow was that BM had a potty accident in bed (extremely rare) and dh melted the mattress pad in the dryer (gah). He felt really bad but I Was annoyed. I am sure it was a good $20-$30 - fancy waterproof whatever... So will have to replace that... Haven't yet. Not even sure if it is necessary to get such a waterproof one. I should just be grateful it didn't ruin the dryer or anything like that.

On the PLUS side, went to change dh's oil and there was an angry customer making a fuss. The oil change place was embarrased and insisted on giving me a $10 discount for witnessing that. I'll take it!

I also was going through the November numbers because I know October credit card bill is ugly (& one more week to go). I was stressed as I saw a big fat negative, when I finally realized I had shelled out $250 to AAA and Life Insurance. I decided to pull those from short-term savings. Since that was the plan all along. It just flew under my radar until I looked harder. It was a good $150 lower than usual preschool month and it was freaking me out how we could be in the red for November. Gah. Looking rather breakeven. Not sure how December will pan out. I think dh and I Will have to consider any Christmas money carefully. We tend to deposit it for our respective allowances, but we have already spent some money we intended to replace with Christmas money. SO I wouldn't be surprised if most our Christmas money goes to replenish our short-term savings. Dh is just getting out of the red, so we'll see how he feels about that. LOL. He spent his entire years' allowance pretty much on his PS3. I know he is antsy to buy some Blu-Ray movies to watch on it now. OF course his family is big on wish lists so he can ask for all the movies he wants and will probably be fine to funnel the cash to the household.

I also HAVE TO remember to pay the mortgage by December 31. I have gotten in the habit of waiting for the grace period and paying after the first (ever since dh took my "slush" to buy his beloved TV). Anyway, I was thinking today I have to remember orelse it will screw me up tax-wise. I was pondering when I would get my final paycheck and realized 12/31. Wondered if the bank would even be open once I got my check and all that. Then I Realized I am a dummy. I can just transfer some money from savings on the 30th or something, pay the mortgage, and transfer it back when I get my paychek deposited. Phew. (& now that I think about it I will probably have plenty of Christmas money to cover an extra mortgage payment in december).

Anyway, so yeah, it is official, I have an extra $200k coverage on my life. I feel better about that. Will keep just until both kids are in school or dh is working or something. We'll play it by ear. But overall look at it as rather temporary. But gives me further peace of mind.

Well this is a dumb story:

http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/454330.html

"Once Housing Turns, Recovery could be Fast."

Oh I am only too aware of this. I have mentioned many times here, we put up our condo like the day before 9/11 and ended up in 2-house hell for quite a few months. But our refi of the condo (to pull out the down payment for our home) happened to end right before the first weekend of recovery. After months of low asking prices and nothing, we raised the price a bit and sold in a day with competing offers. We had to take it off the market 3 months for the refi and the timing couldn't have been better when we put it back up. Oh yeah, that's the real estate market I know. So um yeah, in California, when things turn, they turn fast. You could get left in the dust.

Also, large returns here have been sustained for many decades. So all very viable. Not sure it is the end of the line for California...

BUT this article is insane. It's kind of like, "get ready, because things are going to go back to the bubble any day now. Yippee!"

I say, eh, give it a good 5 years at the least. Yeesh! Just seems to be jumping the gun a bit. I didn't read the 60 comments yet on the article but will probably be good reading. Will probably add my own too.

I am at a loss what all the freakout is really. I am trying to think - we have been here a good 6 years. Our house would sell EASY for a good 50% more than we paid. That is still a good solid 7% return per year. If you bought earlier you'd have a good solid 10% per year return. So basically only people who bought in the last couple of years are screwed. ???? & the economy is crumbling? Oh yeah, all the ARMs and borrowed equity. Like you couldn't see that would end ugly. Just plain, bad short-term thinking. I kind of wish we lived in a bubble so when the house of cards came tumbling we wouldn't be affected, but I always knew that would be a pipe dream. Well I did talk a few people out of ARMs (& yes they are very thankful today). I did what I could...

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In other news, just wanted to say, I got contact on 6 of the 7 cards (ID Theft) that everything is resolved. Got it all in writing. I'll give the last card another week and then call and see what is going on. Luckily that card is only $900 or so. The smallest of the bunch. Maybe why they are dragging their feet a bit. I actually got 5 of them this last week, and one before my trip. One more to go.

I have to say that it wasn't so bad to clean it up. IT would be even better to see justice served one of these days, but won't hold my breath. Well, it has been exactly 3 months. I will probably wait until January and then double check all my credit reports. They said give it 6 weeks. My FICO is in the 770 range as of today. (Balance transfers and all. sick of hearing how that will ruin your credit score. You just have to know how to play the game!!)

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P.S. I have seen this blog before (Very interesting). This last week he posted that 1/3 of the homes currently for sale in this area are foreclosures and short sales. Eeks! The newspaper is a mess of these statistics, as well as "things will be better tomorrow" articles. Guess it's covering all bases.

http://sacrealstats.blogspot.com/

I got a SW e-mail about low fares of $50 one-way and unfortunately Las Vegas was not on the list. HAve been keeping my eye out.

Anyway, I must have missed one though (maybe while I Was gone?) because as I perused the fares I noticed I could get $50 each way from Oakland. Started to consider it. USually rule out Oakland as you can get decent enough fair at one of the other 3 airports around. & I try to avoid Oakland (BAD area). BUT then I saw round trip from San Jose was $125 each after taxes. Not bad! Was about my limit, just the fare I have been waiting for.

The bad is the returning flight was at 6am or something but since we were going to drive a good 10 hours or so, anyway, I reasoned we would have to be up at DAWN regardless. But this way we could get home MANY hours earlier. I know our babysitters will appreciate.

I hesitated to purchase though because I at least wanted to run it past dh and check my dates. I am pretty certain these are it, but I need to go home and make sure. LOL. I got thrown off by the wrong dates a while back. I want to triple check.

I am pleased though. I believe the time share people were to pay some of the travel anyway. We'll see. Driving will be a good $125 easy. But all the wear and tear and such to factor too. Doubling that for the convenience of flying is pretty sweet. We can pretty much leave any time we want Thursday the day we go. Then return at dawn.

I checked Sacramento as well figuring the cost of gas for a drive down to san jose (& the potential to pay parking though I Am sure we can get a ride). Anyway, nothing under $200 each, or so, from Sacto.

It is probably the best secret we have to getting low fares. We live in proximity to 4 major airports. One of them will always have a deal. & thankfully Oakland isn't always the best deal. HEck, it rarely is. Phew.

Well we'll still have to drive 2 hours to the airport, but what a load off!

Hopefully I Can purchase them tonight. HAve to check on things first...

If I put this on my card I will get a $250 rebate available in a week (credit card). I didn't really think we'd spend enough this month to redeem it this month. Thought I would get in December. What do I know? Gosh, I should just buy those tickets. I know how they will be paid for!!!

P.S. Got the tix! Woohoo!

Gah, If it's not one thing it's another.

Feeling a little stressed this month. Will be one out of control credit card bill. Just too much going on. The fam all got haircuts and changed the oil on dh's car. All little but just adds up on top of the whole Dinosaur, Japan, Florida thing. Also paid the final diaper service bill which was $100. I am just working working working to offset what I can with overtime.

Plus yesterday my car window got stuck AGAIN. Last time it was the same time as the electrical system kaput (on the doors). But it was s'posedly unrelated. Just needed "grease." We'll see. So I am not happy. That on such a new automobile the window can not work. This is BS. I am leaning towards a REALLY used car again every day. The money we have sunk in this auto in comparison, is insane. I budgeted like $600 for the year for repairs on both cars because having always driven very used cars we never spent much on repairs. Sounds weird? Is the truth. So I am annoyed that this car is such a piece of crap in that regard. I have no idea how to grease up the door but will ask my dad to look at it or hubby when he returns. If it's not a simple fix I'll take it back to the mechanic to make right. We were trying to diagnose the electrical system last time so maybe greasing it up is an easy solution.

It's annoying too. It's something so unnecessary BUT it drives me absolutely insane. It will drive me insane until it is fixed. Yet it's hard to justify throwing money at if it comes to that.

Plus the garbage disposal broke on me last night. I thought I was going to have to call a plumber - I figured - great. IT's "everything break" day. I just happened to be running the disposal when the dishwasher spouted a bunch of water up and then I think when it sucked back down it sucked down chunks of food into the pipe. I talked to dh in Florida and just mentioned how we should never run the disposal again while the dishwasher was on. Was obviously the problem as we have never had a problem in 6 years. It seemed obvious to me what happened. But he was all, "It can't be that. That's stupid." I say, bite me. He can fix it next time then. LOL. But I am not touching the thing with the dishwasher on again.

I thought I was going to have to take off the disposal and clean it out. Actually, first I got out the Draino and it said right on it you could use on disposals. But since it didn't seem to be working I went online where it said NEVER USE DRAINO. Gee thanks. So I am scooping out drano and sucking it out with a turkey baster. At a last ditch attempt I took apart the piped under the sink and scraped out all the potato. & I prayed. & I put it back together. & it was all good as new. Phew. I was impressed. I am NOT good with my hands at all. So if I can fix a plumbing problem like that - ANYONE can!!!! There was a U-joint at the bottom which I hope helped contain all the food, and it did. Good as new. Phew.

So yeah - lesson learned. Disposal clog - do not use draino. To be fair, the clog was not in the diposal, but I wasn't sure. Just lucky I had a double sink and the other side was working fine so I was scooping everything onto that side. I figured how bad could it be if that side is working.

Phew.

Though the draino didn't work I imagine it gave the disposal a good cleaning too. LOL.

Oh one more thing. On the money saving side I think we are going to pull BM out of karate for the rest of the year. Is $30/month. They changed the time (& day) & it is just not working. So that is a load off to. We'll revisit next year. As pricey as this month is, all our expenses seem to be going down. It helps!

It is also quite warm here for late October. LOVING the weather. No heat yet... Heck we are closer to turning on the air than the heat. But the house has been holding between 70 & 80 the last 6 weeks or so. (Mostly around 70 but this week is a little warmer).

Oh, this month just looks ugly and I am not sure how November/December will be any better with Thanksgiving/Christmas/Vegas...

I am not proud to say we will probably save no long-term savings through December.

Than again, we knew this and planned it this way. Just feels like a step backwards though we are eons ahead. It's mental! (The reason we jived is because we invested the preschool money - hence we spend more now - AND I get a huge retirement contribution in December. But it still annoys me when our budget is so tight, all the same...)

I am trying to work as much OT as possible with the fam gone though. Will help. Just lord knows when I'll see the check!

Dh talked me into the Walking With the Dinosaurs thing. It looks REALLY cool but I saw no point to take a 2yo. We compromised - said he should get the best seats for him & BM vs. crummy seats for all of us. (No doubt LM would be a little terrified and too young to know what he is missing anyway if he would have enjoyed). But I had wanted to do something nice for my dad and I asked if he was interested. Yes. So we spent about $250. $80 or so is a gift for my dad. (Another gift down). However, dh talked his mom into paying for BM (Christmas present) so in the end it isn't too bad.

But we'll be around $200 over budget with Japan expenses and I would guess more with Florida. We'll see!

I also just paid $100 to diaper service. Last payment! Will send back all the diapers today. With LM picky at night with clothe, going 2 days to preschool (disposables) and them being so busy (out of the house) he has only been using about 10 clothes a week. He has been holding everything in though he generally still hates the potty. So anyway, dh brought this up a while ago and I am loathe to fill the landfill with diapers. BUT the fact is we are anyway with all the exceptions we can't really use the clothe. So, um, he has a point. Will save $53/month going forward. Phew!!!!! Of course will pay more for disposables but I doubt it would top another $10/month. Good move overall. Net $43 saved monthly? BM pretty much NEVER wore disposables and LM rarely did for 2 years. I did my duty I guess.

It will be nice to get rid of the stinky diaper pail.

Now if only he would get potty trained already - would really help with preschool expenses. Probably won't potty train until BM goes to K. Would figure. It's nice to know one day in the near future we will have another significant expense cut though. Yay!

Just wanted to mention also some reasons our grocery bill is down. Less diapers for one (it seems he is using much less). Milk is way down. We were buying 3 kinds of milk for the 4 of us and now we have been making an effort to buy bulk on sale (now that both kids are on 2% - phew). Dh started picking up cat litter in bags as opposed to plastic jugs - said it cost 1/2 as much. That's the latest. Stuff like that has been REALLY whittling down our bill. That is all big stuff I guess. As I said many times I just lump all of our household stuff in the "grocery" category because we really don't spend much on that stuff. I don't wear makeup, we don't spend a lot on household cleaners. IT's just all in one category - easy for me. I throw "out of the ordinary" stuff in "misc." to keep better track of though. But certain things like soap, diapers, cat litter I always put in the grocery category. Since yeah we mostly just get at the grocery store.

In other news I received a $10 rebate. Woohoo. IT was for a free after rebate thing (kids' computer games I think???). But it's not challenge money. I have always been a rebate lover!

That's what is going on here.

For Vegas I put up a $120 deposit and I believe our gas will be paid for, so I told dh we will just have to limit our expenses to $120. Sunk cost. Will off set our expenses when it is refunded. I think we can jive with that. What we really want is some nice meals and that is about it. We can enjoy Vegas pretty frugally otherwise. But every day I do keep telling him this trip is getting more frugal by the minute. (If he wants Dinosaurs means less spending money in Vegas!)

I know some people around here think we are crazy to drive, but we are drivers. Sure there may be some benefits to flying, but the fact is we do not have the money. Makes the decision pretty easy. LOL. No money in the budget so driving it is. We'll save around $300 driving. $300 that we do not have to spend. The choice is drive or not go. I guess in this credit card nation few people "get" that. The irony is we probably have far more in the bank that those who turn their nose up at driving. That is how it goes. I would like to keep it that way! (Having money in the bank...)

Oh yes - one more thing. We always host Thanksgiving but it looks like this year is going to be an easy year. Phew. Only our parents it looks like. As the rest of dh's family have other plans. I think last year we had something like 15 people. As fun as it was, it will be nice to have a simpler Thanksgiving. I actually doubt we will spend much on it. So that is a relief as well.

Well I have to start thinking about Christmas. We already started buying but haven't set the budget yet. Maybe I will work on that tonight... I like to spend like $100 in October, $100 in November & $200 in December. I think we already spent $100 and so seem to be on that track already.

http://www.thestreet.com/s/if-time-is-money-use-the-closest-...

Oh, I have lots of time on my hands today and decided to see what Cliff has been up to. He is the nephew of Jim Kramer(?) and has written some "interesting" articles lately about how you don't need an emergency fund (because that is what your parents are for) and how savings in your 20s makes no sense. So morbid curiosity got the better of me. I wondered what kind of bad advice he was doling out these days!

He actually had a couple of articles that made sense. But then that one popped out. It was pretty much a 4-page rant about why paying the $2 ATM fee is worth the convenience and how all personal finance writers are idiots for being anti-ATM fee. (Because we rather drive out of our way or something). His example how it was like a 1-minute walk to the fee-ATM vs. the 10-minute walk to his bank.

Um, he misses the point COMPLETELY. I for one don't have to pay a fee for ATM whether I go to my credit union right around the corner (part of the reason I chose it - for the convenience) or if I go to a different CU by my work. Or when I visit my parents or go across the country I can go to any CU. NO FEE. The whole point is don't pay fees you don't have to. Convenience is not part of the equation of all. It is easy enough for those of us in big cities to pick banks that are convenient and charge no fees. (Yes he lives in the BIG city). So it would be stupid to waste all your money on fees that you don't have to pay. That is the point we make. Yeesh.

Well I don't want to pick on the guy but I just kind of skimmed through the article thinking, boy, this guy doesn't get the point.

Along the same lines it is really quite easy enough to not pay money for:

Bank fees
Insterest
Overdraft Fees

etc., etc. Why pay stuff when you don't need to?

In his prior article, which was better, he was actually saying how it makes more sense not to pay for things that you can easily get discounted or free. Well, that is exactly the point with ATM fees.

I mean otherwise I could jive with the article. Is it worth it to go way out of your way to save $2 here and there? In many cases, not. But when it is oodles more convenient to avoid that fee, then the whole point is lost on me. I've probably saved thousands over the years avoiding fees like that. & it took little effort.

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

BTW I posted quite a few pictures of my trip as well. Will have to look at my past 2 entries.

Gosh, I have been in SUCH a good mood lately. Back to my old self. I don't know if it is more the vacation, work settling down a tad, hormones, or what. But I'll take it.

I am also trying to arrange a day off to spend more time with my niece next week, while the fam is gone anyway. I knew this weekend would be a bit early but I think she is terrified as everyone returns to work and life next week and she will be home alone with 2. Poor thing, I haven't a clue what that is like. It's bizarre how many benefits there are to a husband who stays home. For one, I never had to be alone with a newborn, or 2 wee ones, until we were all well adjusted. Neither of us had to. She had askes me much about the adjustment for BM and it was probably minimal. If nothing else it was hard for him to be used to being home and then going off to work when my leave was over. But little changed in his world as I went from being busy at work to being busy with baby. But we had special time all the same. LM won't get that since I am not planning any more maternity leaves - EVER. Hehe. YEs I am staying AWAY from the water around here - for sure.

I am sure it goes much in the same way that historically extended families lived together and took more care of each other. I guess we had that in a sense - for a few months anyway.

But anyway, I know I came here last year exclaiming my love for my job and I have been rather grumbly lately. But things are getting better. My workload is lessening dramatically as we are outsourcing more to another state. & well I have LOTS of time off these coming months. I figure I may take a day off to see my niece, but likewise since the fam will be gone I can make up the time working late or working a weekend. Matters little since I will mostly be bored. But times like these I really LOVE my job. Just flexibility to come and go as long as I get the job done. Ten times easier than normal without the fam to take care of. Well, when my SIL first mentioned it I thought, I can't take one more day off. But then I thought about it and figured it would be a nice distraction while I am alone.

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Anyway, a long time ago I bought a bunch of kitchen stuff online (3 years ago?) and I bought an electric skillet that was too big for the dishwasher. I could probably care less (but I don't cook every day either). Dh had a cow and I ended up just giving it to my mom. It was really nice and she loves it. Well, what goes around, comes around. I was telling her about my functional christmas wishlist and all about how dh and his family hates it. But pretty much they can bite me. IT's maddening all the stipulations they have on gifts, yet they insist and insist and insist though around December every year I usually beg them not to give me gifts. Forget about it. But that just opens up more worms. Egads. But anyway, it's just this weird Christmas drama thing, and the best solution I have found is to ask for stuff I need. Or would never buy otherwise. Though I aim more for need. Just puts a load off when I don't have to squeeze x and y into the budget somehow. They think I am crazy but it makes me happy. Maybe stuff a little more on the "I should buy list" but it's not a true need so it will never get bought. Something along those lines. For now I have bathe towels and a rice cooker on there. I have them, they work. But they aren't doing so well either. As I mentioned my list offhand the other day, my mom exclaimed she had a rice cooker that she had no idea what to do with. So I guess that was a fair trade, skillet for a rice cooker?

Anyway I picked it up yesterday and it is NICE. Very fancy. Much nicer than ours. I frankly think we will throw ours out. The pan is scratched up and the it continually unplugs itself. It's frankly annoying. I don't even have the heart to freecycle it, and I have freecycled some nasty stuff - LOL. But we have a bad habit of holding onto things if they work. I guess we are pretty cheap in that regard. Well this will be a nice upgrade.

The other funny thing is I was thinking of buying a pumpkin scented candle last year and never did. I have no idea how it came up in conversation but my mom has one to spare too. Funny how stuff like that works out.

OF course though it sounds nice, I have to work harder on my list now!!!! Bah. I thought I Was making progress on that chore. Hehe.

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

I just saw today that IRS announced that 401k contribution limit will be $15,500 again for 2008. Take note.

I already knew as well that IRAs will be $5k in 2008.

I think catchup contributions are still $5k for 401ks and $1k for IRAS (if you are over 50). Not 100% though.

Now if only I had a 401(k).

Oh I believe I found the other quote I read earlier this month - or it was much like this:

"Many in the next generation of workers will be so debt-burdened (by student loans) they will have to delay home purchases, limit vacations, even eat out less to pay loans off on time, financial experts fear."

I guess growing up in the land of expensive all the things mentioned sound like pretty much the norm. Do I know anyone who bought a house without these "sacrifices"? Not really.

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In other news, I figured when the fam was gone would be a good time to paint the kids' room. One room needs it bad (as we judt did a bad paint job on 1/2 the wall and slapped on the wall border). LM has aggressively peeled off said wall border over time and so the room really needs some paint. But while we are at it we could probably paint BM's room too.

Though we have painted many rooms in the house ourselves we have vaulted ceilings in the main entryway/dining area, so we hired someone to paint that room (maybe $700 or so - money WELL spent. Very professional, unlike our own work).

Anyway, I had mentioned I would paint while the fam was gone, but the idea leaves me exhausted. Especially as I try to cram in years of projects that can only be done with no kids around.

Anyway, I think it is a testament to how things change with time. I read around here so much, "what a waste to pay for "x", or I would NEVER pay that much for "y." The funny thing is I would say much the same when I was younger. Even when we made piles more income. BEcause we were young and starting out and not a lot to show for it. These days, my bones are getting slightly more achy and they money comes easier - in a sense.

So I was thinking maybe I should just hire that painter again - doubt it would be more than a few hundred dollars for the 2 little rooms and I could just go to work and earn the overtime to pay for it. Win-win. I would MUCH rather work than paint!

I even considered surprising dh, but called today just to run it past him. He wasn't too thrilled, but then said what I didn't expect. He said he will paint - he had been planning to do it himself anyway, but I volunteered. I guess we could shuttle the kids off to grandma's for a few days sometime (she is always begging) and he can paint. Or we could do one room at a time and let them share a room as things air out. Either way, if he will do it, it is very workable. Saves me time - phew!!! I don't mind helping either. But the thought of doing 2 rooms AGAIN - ALONE - doesn't sound very appealing. We'll make a project of it - before tax season I hope.

I will still work oodles of overtime because I have much to catch up on here and rarely get the opportunity to work past 5 without feeling a twinge of guilt for not being home with the kids. Can put the overtime to retirement in that case. It probably makes much more sense to do it ourselves. I think dh has tackled 2 rooms himself too so it would be fair if we shared these 2 rooms - hehe. Just whoever has the time when the kids are away gets to paint it seems - over the years.

Not much else to report. I looked at our spending thus far for the month and interestingly our gas bill is huge (no surprise with all the driving out of town. Should decrease through the end of the month a bit though). & our grocery bill was nil. Extra strange since the kids both wanted a sandwhich after dinner and at preschool they said LM was going to eat them out of house and home - LOL. He has been really hungry. Both kids really. BM already grew a good 2-3 inches since July but there is a lot more in him. He may just hit 46 inches before Florida - meaning he could go on almost any ride at Disney World. Dang. (HE just turned 4!). He could easily pass for 6 or 7.

But yeah, I was gone a week and I assume while they are all gone I can budget a good $50 for food - will be PLENTY. The thing is on the flip side I will be bored and probably go out a bit more - maybe drive home to see family and friends for a couple of days. I guess we'll see... Family means lots of free food, but I might want to go out too.

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

Oh yes, we started our Christmas shopping.

I saw a cute kitty purse for my niece (school fundraiser - co-worker) and could not resist. Then it occured to me I have another one to shop for this year.

I haven't got the Christmas budget out yet but I expect it will be much the same as last year. I think I pared it down to $200-$300 and that will be fine. I think as long as the kids are in preschool we will be cutting it down. The exception being maybe nice gifts for our parents who both gave us much cash and fancy vacations this year.

I had dh pick up a $20 GC for the new baby and I have a white outfit that his mom knitted - will pass it along - it is really more girly than masculine anyway - but I no longer have a need for it! I picked up some very nice books at the dollar store for my older niece - a while back - so she will get something too. Oh how I have come to love the dollar store.

BM has a birthday to go to soon as well. Will have to get thinking on that one...

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Oh, one final thing, I should have put this to the top though!

I belong to a local message board that has fizzled out with time, but though it has fizzled it seems everyone returns to share in the joy of their latest purchase. Just recently quite a few people that had not been around in ages had to show off pictures of their new cars. Of their new house. Their latest vacation to exotic lands. It just strikes me as very odd. I guess this is like normal socially.

On the flip side the other day my mom called me "simple." I think many people would be offended by that, but I embrace it. I knew exactly what she meant though. I though, yeah, I like that! I am too simple to be such a "show off" I guess. My material possessions, as many as I enjoy, they just don't mean that much to me overall. In this day and age it seems to be hard to find people on that same level though. Just people not wrapped up so much in appearances and the JOneses and all that stuff. But that is why I enjoy this forum!

Well I Was seriously in the hole last month (new tires and all) and feeling down but then I was looking at November and looks like we will probably have quite a suprplus. For one my income was at around $1k over expenses for this month it appears (we'll see what surprises lay ahead though...). & then I Feel silly for getting all stressed out about it. By next year we should have enough of a cash cushion that stuff like this matters little. But in the meantime when expenses are more than income, I do tend to freak out, even though it is an explainable event and I have plenty of cash.

On the flip side, I got the property tax bill and it was like, "eh." Already have the cash so not sweating it at all. IT's been about a good year I have been saving diligently for bigger expenses and sure makes life easier.

Of course the bill is up around $300 or so over last year. Yeesh. Overall we have it good in Cali. But still. Everyone is talking about challenging the bills and lowering them. Considering we bought at the bottom, not the peak, it doesn't make much difference for us. But the people who bought in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006. Yes, indeed.

Our house is appraised a good $150k less than it would sell for today. That is the good, they can only raise it so much. But I am starting to see how "so much" can add up pretty quickly over time. But in the grand scheme of things, property taxes are very fair here. We also pay a lot of bonds that will start to fall off with time. (Much time!). But when the mortgage is paid a lot of those will be gone too. Phew.

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

Articles:

Protecting Your Assets in Case You Find Yourself in Court

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119257410938461156.html?mod=...

I was actually researching this a bit ago and was surprised how little asset protection there is in California. (Particularly as housing values are so high). I did see overall retirement is protected up to $1 mil. Which being married means probably $2 mil for us. For now that is great as we try to funnel all our excess to retirement. But for the long term, it means little. Though I guess I hope that figure would rise with inflation. As my retirement target is more like $5 mil, it makes it more scary. Chalk it up as another reason to flee the state I guess.

Anyway, I don't think we are at the point yet we need an umbrella policy (though maybe we are). But probably the next thing we will look into. Seem to have everything else covered. I would imagine if dh got a job it would be the first thing we would do - as I would expect our assets to increase rapidly at that point. For now as we aren't paying extra on the mortgage (one more reason not to really) or building taxable accounts... But it is something I will start researching in the meantime. Don't really know much about umbrella policies. When you hear about skyrocketing health costs and I look at what our auto insurance would cover in an accident, it makes you think twice. More is probably good. This is a pretty litigous state with lots of people. ANother few hundred a year for extra peace of mind sounds like a small price to pay. But I would like to know more.

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CALIFORNIA
The cost of keeping up
California families must earn far more than the minimum wage and in some cases as much or more than the median hourly income just to keep up with the bare-bones expenses of living, a report released Tuesday said.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/436684.html

This is just an interesting aside about how expensive it is to live in California. I would keep in mind that this article was posted by Sacramento Bee & since Sac is the cheapest area to live in the whole state, maybe does not ring true - and why some of the comments were so, "what the heck?" On the flip side, $72k wouldn't really cover much of a living at all back where I am from in the Bay Area. So um, yeah. Unfortunately I can't read the images on the side - some graphs comparing Sacto to the rest of the state...

"The wage-earner in a family of four with only one working parent would need to make considerably more, $24.22 an hour (or $50k/year)."

I assume the $72k/year figure includes taxes and daycare and such. As well as costs of 2 people working. I always said it was much cheaper not to have 2 incomes, in a sense, while the kids were small anyway. This study shows a $20k/year difference if only one parent works. Interesting.

Well, just wanted to share as I know many people here, and many friends and relatives in other states think we make gobs of money. Sure, we make gobs but it sure doesn't stretch very far. As for us, we live pretty well on the $72k figure. BUT I know so many people around here who freak about the idea of living on less than $100k annually. So it's all interesting. (OF course the interesting part of that is they usually pay considerably more for taxes and daycare and makes us rather even keel with the amount of disposable income we have, even making a good $25k less).

I say $50k/year would easily cover all of our living expenses and we have a very nice home. But all the same we would be hard pressed to live the same lifestyle in today's dollars - renting or owning - either way. We paid a decent amount for a home 6 years ago and it makes all the difference. If not, we'd be moving out of state. All there is to it. Just not interested in shelling out 10 times our income for a dinky house! OR around here maybe 4 times our income these days. Maybe... But glad we don't have to. We do appreciate being able to stay close to our families. I think we would have much tougher decisions to make if we were a few years younger, just starting out. When you are not sure you can pull it off even in the cheapest area of the state, it is a sad state of how bad it has gotten here.

As such, for the older generations who have been in their homes a while these figures probably don't ring very true. For people just starting out, they will need much more though.

It also just occured to me the other day as we look at different ways to reign in our healthcare costs, that our only solution may just be to move. The interesting thing is I could probably keep my pay and benefits if we moved. But we could probably pay cash for a similar house AND slash our healthcare premiums considerably. We worked so hard to reign in our housing costs over the years, I never imagines our healthcare would rival our housing costs in just a decade or so. But being out here it is far worse than it is in other areas of the country. *sigh*

P.S. I looked closer as they had the actual study and the expenses were about in line with whay we pay BUT they allocated $700/month to food for a family of 4 plus around $60 for household supplies and personal care. I think we have all that summed up under $500/month and have been hitting more like $450/month lately. Gosh, it makes all the difference.

In most of California the current median home price is 6 times the current median household income. Places like LA & SF were more like 10 times. Santa Clara where I grew up - median home $700k. Median income $80k. $700k does not buy much there these days - for sure. I mean $700k is either a nice condo or a tiny house that needs a lot of fixing.

Oh well it is very busy here.

Speaking of all this baby business, my niece was born yesterday!!!! She waited for my return. But that kind of sucks because it would have been easier to meet her this weekend when I Was in the Bay Area anyway. Planning to go down some evening (sneak out a little early) and drive back in the morning. A Lovely 2 hours but I can't justify MORE time off work. Dh used to work in the Bay though and I did it often. No traffic- a pleasant reverse commute at least. So I may be gone/busy most the week. Plus the fam is preparing for their Florida trip. Feels like a whirlwind over here.

I also got along so well with my sister (how bizarre) and no doubt part of it is her husband is shipped off to the Middle East (military) I was thinking about planning a visit to see her in NC. The airfare is rather cheap. If she could drive and let me stay with her, it might be a nice distraction for her. IT really wouldn't cost me much. But then I think to my vacation situation. I don't know. Maybe I could swing a red-eye on a Thursday and return on a Monday or something... Heck I should consider it while the fam is gone anwyay. Why not just make things CRAZIER? But yes, that relationship was in the toilet and seems to be somewhat on the mend...

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

Well some articles I skimmed through from when I Was gone. These caught my eye:

Tax Cuts Increased Income, but Hardly Equally

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/business/12tax.html

Lawmaker targets mortgage tax break for larger homes
http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_7150187

Well, um, you know how I feel about this one - hehe. There may be some merits here to these arguments. But overall I roll my eyes. I personally don't live any further out from the center of town than the older areas (actually live closer) and I tire of hearing about our McMansions ruining the environment. OF course my house is not on par with these so not much to worry about. But I tire of hearing people with regular $500 electric/gas bills complaining about what energy hogs our big/new homes are. Get a grip. They are starting to install solar on many new homes which I think is AWESOME. Anyway, my house is 10 times more energy efficient than most older homes. Tired of hearing it. We will likely move out further and buy a larger home sometime down the road, but we'll probably pay cash so I guess I shouldn't fret. I just roll my eyes at the idea that anyone who wants a big house should be punished I guess, since there seems to be many misconceptions in that area. Plus it doesn't really make sense in an area like California. Of course there is SPRAWL - there are MILLIONS of people living here. We have to sprawl. I guess the idea that people with bigger houses commute more doesn't really mean much in an area like this, so the article annoyed me.

Few lenders are willing to make mortgage modifications, survey says http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/11/...

I found this interesting because Suze and Dave keep telling people that their mortgage lenders will work with them, BUT they keep calling and saying they are NOT working with them. Here's the disconnect. I think the lenders are in some big denial stage, for sure. Obviously it is in their better interest to work with those that can handle modifications to their loans (rather than go into foreclosure or short sale). But, um, yeah. They are in DENIAL at this point. I think it may get easier on people who foreclose down the line. For now, the lenders aren't budging. They are taking the foreclosure route first. Just kind of interesting.

FINALLY, I read this article in RD last night.

http://www.rd.com/content/what-to-do-when-foreclosure-hits/

Not particularly interesting BUT it was the second time I read something along these lines:

"Those with adjustable rate mortgages who want to keep their homes—the majority of the ones being squeezed—will have to make big sacrifices: no new cars or computers, and fewer vacations and meals out (and forget extras like an upgrade to a flat-panel TV). "

Um, they are JOKING, right? These are the big sacrifices???? I Read an article that mentioned something very similar a few weeks back. Gosh, I don't remember, but it mentioned something like these "big sacrifices" and I rolled my eyes.

Like the endless callers to Suze and Dave I keep hearing are really concerned about not being able to buy a new car or a plasma TV. Their mortgages are adjusting to more than their entire income. Now that is quite a sacrifice! I think a lot of these people are worried how they are going to FEED their families. Where they will find shelter...

Secondly, I guess if "less vacation", "Eating out less", & driving older cars are big sacrifices, then we live in absolute depravity. I had no idea!

Blech. People need to get a grip.

I don't know, I grew up very well, very middle class. I didn't grow up with vacations, new cars and eating out. Somehow I survived. Little to complain about. I think that the middle class has really changed. I do know plenty of people who would think that those are HUGE sacrifices. For sure. I think this may lead to a lot of the mortgage mess - the blur between wants and needs. But, yeah, I think people being forclosed on have bigger worries all the same. Kind of an insulting statement. & a sad statement about our society I guess. I should send that little quote off to my depression-era grandma and see what she has to say. Yeesh.

Oh my, I am in such a fog. I had a horrible time sleeping on the plane (impossible) and was about to kill dh when he arrived in SF to pick me up in the compact car. What the heck was he thinking? It was actually 10 times more comfortable than the plan though, so not so bad.

But I took a short nap in the afternoon (had arrived 9am) and was able to sleep rather well all night. I think I will be okay. It was nice to have a day to recover. I just said "I am here, but not really. I'll be here tomorrow" to the fam, which was about how it was. I was awake but not really most of the day - hehe. It is so bizarre to travel across so many time zones and in the course of the day be in a totally different land.

Anyway, the trip was WONDERFUL. Had a blast. I can not even tell you how many miles I have traveled this last week. Many many many miles.

My dad said that he probably spent $2k/person on this trip. We kept encouraging his friend's family to visit the US sometime, but I see why they haven't. It can get rather pricey rather quickly.

It was very good to come home and see the kids.

& now they are gearing up for their Florida trip - how crazy!

Well if I have time later I will share a little of my trip - and pictures.

I took maybe 50 pictures - if that. But my dad probably took 2000-3000.

I told him on the flight home that I think he could make money off some of his pictures. He has fancy camera and he caught the most wonderful picture of this big crow in Tokyo - I asked for a blown up copy for my wall. It was just magnificent. He said if I Wanted to set it up he would check it out. I think he may give me a cut of the profits - I have heard of some of those websites where you make money from photos. So I will look into it.

But yes, it was quite an experience. Things with my sister went about 1000 times better than I would have imagined. & I have to say I usually don't travel very well, but this time not a prob. I felt 100% most of the time and the time change was not noticeable at all - we just all assimilated right away so it was a nice trip.

I have to admit it was kind of nice to have a vacation from the fam too. I didn't miss them near as much as I thought I would. LOL. It's just nice to escape once in a while I guess. It is really good to be home all the same. But now THAT is a vacation.

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On return home I found that many of expenses are going down.

LM is very picky with diapers so is probably more in disposables these days than clothe. He has never worn clothe at night. He would wake too frequently. But dh asked me to go down in diapers and I saw price had gone up so it would be more expensive to get 20 diapers a week than the 40 we have now. So we just left. But he is making much progress with potty training (no where near done - but wetting far less often) and dh said they have only been using 10/week. So I admit we should probably just drop the clothe. We went through this with BM. This is a horrible time to drop clothe since it helps in the training, but frankly, he barely uses them anyway. So will save $53/month on diaper service. The diaper covers I do have are pretty much in shreds so will probably throw them out. No point to replace since we were so close to the end. I may have a few decent ones to freecycle but probably not much of sellable quality.

So maybe + $20/month more disposables, but -$53/month on clothe. A wonderful savings. & soon enough no more diapers at all!!!!

Our cable company is also changing its rates and now is offering substantial discount to have both internet and cable (which we do). It appears they will add HBO to our current package as well. When we had HBO we paid over $100. Now we pay about $80 with no premium channels and it is going down to like $60 and giving us HBO. Strange. We'll see! OF course we ready to drop them because of major e-mail issues, which they finally seems to have resolved. We have been shopping around. But this may be an incentive to stick with it.

& I already mentioned our water will be going sown as we switch to metered water. That is taking FOREVER but should take effect by January.

Oh yes, and MIL gave me $60 cash for the trip to treat for a dinner, so it covered my little shortfall for the month.

I don't think I spent more than $200 on the trip myself, but we'll see. (including the $60 dinner). Paid for one lunch, one dinner, $80 on phone calls home (well worth it). A few souvenirs (very few) and some water/food. My dad insisted on covering most of it. I think I only took $20/$30 and though the far less places took credit than I expected he ended up covering all the food/water, etc. so I didn't spend much on that. Not bad for a week in Japan!!!

More later... Much to catch up on at home and work!

Well, I am off... Pretty much packed. Figure I will run a few errands in the morning, meet the fam for lunch and spend the day - and drive to SFO for our flight tomorrow.

Excited!!!

My sister is here from NC as well. I am thinking of how I have to drive home after our 12 hour flight. & everyone wants to take a one-hour detour so we can just all pile in the van - but then we have 3 very different households to disperse too. But I know I can last 3 hours in the car. Oh what we do in the name of conservation. My poor sister is hopping onto a 2-leg flight to NC upon her return. I just think, thank goodness I am not her!!! (she has an hour drive from the airport as well, to her home). But yes, she is here. I hope we don't kill each other. LOL. I think it might be a decent trip, just us without our SOs or kids. She is so sickingly attached to her spouses (her ex before and now here new hubby) that I think it will be nice to get away from that. She is no doubt annoyed how much I am distracted by kids too.

So we'll see... Her husband actually got deployed a while back. If nothing else I can be a little more sensitive to her current plight. I could not imagine.

I am going to miss my family TERRIBLY. But I imagine the time will go fast. I am not too worried about dh. His parents have monday off and will visit. My mom tuesday. Then W/F they have preschool and Thursday they were invited to the pumpkin farm. Dh could have a break at the gym too if he liked. Then I will be back the following weekend. They have a busy week so it won't be too hard on them. Same for me - I am sure the time will FLY.

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In financial news, my FINAL ROTH conversion is complete. WOOHOO!!!!! I predict that the stock market will commence to plunge. IT was waiting for me to convert all my ROTHs at high levels so I could pay more taxes. Figures. Just watch...

I paid all the bills for October and was short about $25. Blech. BEfore that I was short more but I transferred $50 I had in one savings and $25 from another. Down to minimums. I will be so upset if I have to touch the e-fund. I think next month will be better. We'll see. I need to come up with $25 and I have lots to sell. I am thinking ebay when I return. I have until the 31st. (Or I can take an "advance" from efund I can repay with my paycheck). I just don't want to go down that road and it annoys me October is entirely unpredictable and Vegas is looking more like a cheapie trip by the minute. Bummer.

I got some e-mail from Southwest about great deals the time of our Vegas trip. The "great deal" was $200 RT - per person. Whatever.

But on a whim I thought I Would check out cheaptickets.com again - see if anything has changed. (We mostly plan to drive since it will be less than $100 for the gas). & we like road trips.

Anyway, a RT flight with taxes and all was $117. I Was impressed as I remember flying $50 one way or something as the best Vegas deal I ever found, so this wasn't too far off. I got all excited and told dh that I think we should just fly. Might cost us another $100-$150, but save us about 20 driving hours or something. That I can hang with. This is from San Jose but we could park at my parents' house and cut 8 hours off our intended drive.

I THEN realized I had the wrong date. If we returned on Saturday we could get plane tickets for 1/2 anything I've seen anywhere else. But we were staying to Sunday. Even staying to Monday wasn't as good a deal. I would consider Monday... But we have to Stay to Sunday to get our free stuff and everything, and I can't change the date to take Wednesday off. (Though maybe if we could change our reservation to Wed. - Sat. that could work if we took a Wed. night flight BUT we have babysitters Thurs & Fri. Alas).

Oh well. Now I remember why I traveled so much why I Was younger. The deals to be had are when you don't have to be back at work Monday, or plan around babysitters. & yeah, it only gets worse next year once the kids are in school. Then there is planning around the school year. Though since dh's mom is retiring this year a trip like this would matter little. She could stay and watch the kids while we party. We are SO lucky in that regard.

But yeah, looks like driving...

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/retirement/20071003_persona...

I posted an older article recently; the same points and topic. But this was an updated article at bankrate.com this week.

I am still stuck on this part:

"At age 30, one should ideally have a savings-to-income ratio of 0.1, or 10 percent, and a debt-to-income ratio no greater than 1.7, or 1.7 times your income. Translated into dollar amounts, this means that a 30-year-old with a household income of, say, $50,000 should have $5,000 in savings and an overall debt no greater than $85,000."

Seems extreme to me, and I am not a debt lover by any means.

Of course his reply in this article is as follows:

"People might find that the recommended debt levels are not achievable given the average cost of housing -- this is one reason why many cannot afford to sufficiently save for retirement," says Farrell. "As financial advisers, there is little we can do about the cost of housing, but we can help our clients understand how housing costs may affect financial security."

True I guess, but living where housing has always been insane, you have to suck it up. I tend to notice that people back home are much more fugal (out of having little other choice in order to afford the roof over their head). BEcause of that lifestyle, people can easily afford much more. Of course dh and I drew the line twice at having a mortgage no more than 4 times our income. & we drew the line FAR lower than most people around here. To someone in say Kansas, we are crazy (yes I have many relatives there who think we are crazy. ). But it's all relative I guess. Out here we are cheapskates. LOL. But I have never felt we were stretching it to have such a big mortgage.

There are many reasons why and many factors not considered in this "1.7" ratio:

1 - Interest Rates (very low these days which means you can borrow more for less).

2 - Income Tax Rates (& of course income tax deductions which means the mortgage we pay is not nearly so high once you consider the tax breaks for said mortgage).

I keep reading about how few people get real tax breaks for their mortgage. Um, in Cali pretty much every does.

Also, our income tax rates have been extremely low this entire decade. More disposable income for the mortgage. MUCH more.

3 - 2-income versus 1-income status. 4 times might have been high, but was not including 2 incomes. We never relied on that. On the flip side we could get our ratio down to a solid 2 if dh got a job but I am not sure we would be any better off financially. We would have work expenses, daycare (VERY expensive out here) and our tax benefits would go down considerably. We would be slammed by AMT for one. Could we be better able to afford our mortgage in that case? Not sure it would make much difference. Not to mention that would not help our stress levels and medical expenses are bad enough as is. But seriously.

4 - It really depends on the type of debt. I think it is expected young people will have more high-interest debt. If all you have is a mortgage with a low rate, I imagine you can afford more.

As evidence by the fact that all the other ratios mentioned would be very easy to surpass in our case.

10% income saved by age 30? How about 100%?

Pay off your mortgage by 65? We were planning 45. Even if we never prepaid a dime we'd be debt free by 55. No plans to take on any MORE debt this lifetime.

& so on...

Of course, he does mention the 28% house expenses to income ratio (or did in the last article). I think that is probably much more relevant. We've pretty much always been in that range, and that was always more our measure of affordability than the dollar amount of our loan. (Though for long term thinking I don't think the ratio is bad. We try to keep in mind that if we were ever forced to move there is no guarantee we would get such a good interest rate again, and we are trying to up our savings considerably in anticipation of higher income tax rates, etc. Just because it is good now doesn't mean you should assume it always will be - for sure).

I also heavily agree the ratio should go down with time. The age we expect to pay off our DREAM home is the age many people like to upgrade their home, etc.

Anyway, this article goes on about starting young and the power of compounding as well. Good for the young people.

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P.S. BM is watching TV and just told me we HAVE TO get a TV in our car. I guess he has never noticed those on the road before, but just saw a commercial. He is amazed that people would have TV in their cars and think that would be cool. He looks like a kid on Christmas Day - what a find!!!! Dh and I aren't going for it. Sorry buddy. LOL. Darn commercials...

I know my friends are confused because for many years I said the gym was way too expensive. & well, it was. But um, now we pay less than $30/month for us, locked in for life. & with $400 down we never have to pay for the childcare again either. I am sure for the average gym user this is not the greatest deal (the down part) but we are pretty committed).

Anyway, I met someone who lived by the gym and told her oh we were over there a lot since we just joined the gym. Obviously it is a discount gym but it had everything we need. She wrinkled up her nose a bit and said she was waiting for the new "CA Fitness." My take on that is it is 10 times expensive and 20 times as crowded. Blech. But tell me how you feel why don't you?

The funniest thing though is we live in such a hoity toity neighborhood and dh has run into some of our neighbors there. I was starting to wonder if we should keep our membership to ourselves. We're not the only ones happy for a deal I guess.

Anyway, so yes they are building a new Cali Fitness and we keep getting e-mails from neighbors about the great deals!!! Something like $130/month for 2 adults and $35/month for the kids - probably $35/each (lots of classes and activities - adults and kids). Holy Hell. For a crowded facility doesn't sound very appealing. I have heard people say they don't leave their kids because it gets so jam packed. Dh and I discussed that something like that may be feasible when we both work and the kids are much older. I am not keen to leave my kids there today. IT sounds like overall the kids' program may be reasonable, but they really do stick it to the adult prices then (duh). & yeah, maybe by the time the kids are like 10 the hype will have died down.

So yeah when I Read over and over in like the forums - the gym is a waste. It's like, well yeah, most gyms are very pricey. & people tend to flock to them like cows to slaughter or something... But you know $30/month for "free" daycare and our health, I don't think that is much to spend at all. IT's all relative. They daycare is DIVINE!!!!

Last night was SO nice because dh had a focus group so I came home, picked up the kids, and headed to the gym. I also got a compliment how GREAT they were with the babies (no doubt largely due to preschool and all the babies there). They got to play with a 1 & 3yo while I worked out. Phew. First time back to the gym since that stupid stomach bug. I hope to hit aerobics tomorrow morning but not holding my breath. When I went to aerobics last saturday I was surprised how STRONG I was after a week or 2 of not much. I felt the same way today. Phew. It's just a constant battle to make the time. I figure when the kids are gone I will hit the gym every day. Gear up for the holidays.

I am also not sure what this trip will due to my waistline. Probably much more active than a week at work - lots of walking and such. So that part will be good. I also tend to be a picky eater so we'll see. Maybe I just won't eat much. I will probably tend towards eating less than pigging out. I guess we'll see. I don't look forward to starving, for one. I'll try. Of course traveling with the ULTRA picky eater and the junk food dad, I don't know. I may gain 10 pounds. (Whenever I travel with my parents we get mounds of junk food. Where I learned my bad habits). Since my sister will no doubt refuse to eat anything I am sure we will stock on some more edible items. I am not that convinced I will mind the food at all though. I just won't be eating a lot of weird looking fish. LOL. Or raw fish. I'll give anything a try though.

I lost a couple of pounds but dh lost 10!!!!!!!!!! Men! HE just told me and I was stunned. Gah. He has just been hitting the gym a couple of times a week, not much else.

Same thing when we first went down to one incomes he started cooking every night. We ate out a lot before that time. He was already a stick and he lost a ton of weight then too. Not fair. LOL. His family is all on the extremely thin side - very high metabolisms. I generally enjoy having more meat on my bones (I was a stick long enough in my youth to know the downsides) but yeesh. I am jealous how easy it is for him to lose weight. Generally for me the eating or the working out means I stop gaining weight, but I am not sure I have ever lost weight so effortlessly.