Yay!!!!

I had in mind to sell that baby carrier and I just got an e-mail from ebay that they would waive their fees if I Decide to sell my first item this week. Just the kick in the butt I needed. I got it listed. My only competition is not as nice and is at $57 with 1 day to go. I expect to make $60 easy - if not more.

I Was cheking the manufacturers website for some info and saw they are selling brand new $90. I think that is probably about what I paid. I bought it in mind I would sell close to full price someday, as they are impossible to find used - very high demand.

Well, we'll see how much I can recoup. I am already eyeing some unused clothes in baby's closet - new with tags. Stuff that is easy to ship. We'll see how it goes, though obviously going something small to ship and high dollar is the best way to go. Not sure I have much else to offer in that category.

I got way outbid by $3 on those clothes, but oh well, would have put me over budget. Instead I Stopped by Target yesterday and scored with their clearance rack. Got 2 shirts and the cutest skirt you ever saw for about $14. I went $1 over budget for christmas with niece - oh well. Well worth it. I am pleased how good I did on $16 - a pile of nice stuff.

YEsterday was icky, I worked from home. I actually got some work done too - phew. Try working and watching a 15-month-old. I pulled off 3 hours of work, only 1/2 hour with the help of t.v. LOL. & then 2 hours at nap time.

Not a fulll day but beat calling sick this crazy time of year. Dh feels better today.

Was gonna meet a friend for lunch but she backed out. Now I have to go get a $1 lunch - blech. I just need to bring a lunch every monday for these kind of things = or even a frozen dinner. This is the second time this month. I don't really want to eat out since I plan to meet her for lunch thursday instead. Thank goodness for cheap fast food.

Oh yeah - and I am so frigign sick of baby showers. I HATE them. I am so sick of being invited to showers for people I don't really know, for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th child. You know what, it's tacky. IT seems to be the norm these days though. When you get pregnant by accident the 3rd time on the SAME form of birth control you have always used - um yeah - maybe it is time to change. I know you think I am rich and well off and you are so poor, but honey, now I know you make twice as much money as I do. Do like the rest of us do and go buy some used things, go to some garage sales. Maybe then you wouldn't be so "broke." & While you are at it, try some new birth control please. Thanks for not talking to me for an entire year and then inviting me to your shower because you "need" things. I fell for that with #2. I am out. No more baby showers for this lady. If you are not related by blood and I haven't seen your face in person and talked to you on the phone this last year, I am out. I am not going to your gift-hoarding baby shower. I am so fed up. If you invite me to a shower that is gift-optional or a baby celebration, you know what, I Will probably show. But then again, anyone who has the tact to do that, well I probably wouldn't mind getting them a gift after all. ; )

Gosh, I Feel better now. Rant over. Phew.

I can not put my finger on it but my husband never gets sick. Since 1 child in daycare setting, sick sick sick all the damn time.

The weirdest thing is I have escape a few things. Usually I am the one who is always sick. Weird.

Anyway, he just informed me he has a 103 temperature, and I just informed him I am sleeping downstairs. Blah! I do not want to be sick. These next 2 weeks are crunch time at work, and worst thing is I brought 3 hours of work or so home this weekend that I could not do because I was missing some info. Just enough so I could do NOTHING. So I am 3 hours behind from last week, and tomorrow isn't looking so promising.

Anyway, we'll see how nasty it gets. My mother just reminded me maybe it was all the birthday parties. Probably. No more stinking birthday parties - gah. We went to one in April - the first one we were invited to through preschool and everyone there got that nasty bug where you just puke every 15 minutes for a day or 2. It was the worst. We should have learned our lesson. Hopefully this is something minor and mild. *fingers crossed*

YEah, my husband and my son in general have immunities of steel, so I do not know what this whole daycare germ thing is about and why it is so pervasive. My son got his first ear infection (and 2nd and 3rd) at 3 after starting preschool and has been sick a few times aleady after never really being sick his first 3 years. You know it is not like he was not around other kids a lot, but there is something about being exposed to the germs on a regular basis for prolonged periods of time or something. ??? & why dh is so susceptible I can only imagine. I have no clue.

Oh well, in money saving news the storage is just about cleared out. My living room is filled with boxes. Oh well, I will take a house full of boxes and be glad to wipe that monthly expense out of the budget. Yay!

Most of the stuff from boxes will end up going I am sure. I just am not sure when I will find the time. In the meantime we can live like we just moved I guess. ??

I won some more ebay auctions - woohoo. No more bidding wars - I like it better thay way overall. I Was actually surprised because I went to take a nap and just put my real maximum bid. Woke up and was surprised I had won. My christmas shopping is almost done! I have one auction that ends Tuesday and I already put in my maximum bid. We'll see. If I win I Will have 4 brand new shirts for $13 or less, and a tiara and fairy princess wand for a grand total of my $15 budget for my niece. I will be pretty pleased. If I don't win, I have about 2 months to find something better on ebay. I am just so pleased what I pulled out on such a small budget - I think it will be a nice gift. Same for all of them so far. I intended to get my mom one $20 gift but I got her 2 awesome gifts instead - thank you ebay.

I have always believed in the power of positive thinking. I am a very "glass half full" person and little in life really gets me down. In fact, some would argue I am too optimisitc. LOL.

I find it in a similar vein, extremely interesting that putting a little extra effort to frugality and financial goals, how much the money gods seem to be raining on us lately. I have done NOTHING different with my selling jewelry but suddenly I have 5 orders vs. the usual 1 per year from my mom. LOL. They beauty is I didn't have to do anything!!! Dh thinks I am crazy, but I think it is interesting.

I am just kicking myslef for falling asleep at the wheel these last few years. We could have done so much better. I am looking at our budget this month and I am AMAZED at how little we spent and how on track we are. But I am so excited at the track we are on. If overall frugal people have this much to improve, I have no idea what the hell joe blow average is doing. Wasting a lot of money I guess...

Spent some money this weeked. Ah, but it was FUN. I was doing some christmas shopping on ebay. We had budgeted $30 for each kid and I had no ideas for the baby. I was perusing ebay and the abundance of "pretend play" toys like toy tools and toy food, etc. inspired me. I know I do not like the electonic toys overall but looking around we have a lot of flashy toys. I would like to make an effort to build up more of the back to basic toys. I am inspired by my son's preschool which is very big on pretend play. So anyway, I saw a little toy kitchen that I thought was great. IT was cheap but shipping was $20. In the end I went $7 over budget but I think it was well worth it. I will probably buy some toy food to go with it can get for under $5 on ebay. Anyway, it was FUN because I got into a last minunte bidding war and won. I had never done that before and was proud. Instead of $12 I paid $14.50 but I think it was well worth it. The kids will LOVE it. & I am glad I found something so cool for the little one who gets so overlooked. He deserved something big because frankly he never gets anything big. I feel okay with it.

We decided to get my older son a play digital camera. I am keeping an eye out for one in the $30 range. I think he will LOVE it - Fisher Price makes a "kid proof" one.

Today I perused craigslist and ebay for prices on some things I am trying to sell. I think I am going to try my hand at Ebay in the next few weeks - selling. I usually only Sell big things, I find donation and freecycle much easier for little things. & not interested in shipping big things. BUT I did buy a baby carrier a while back for $80 or so. It was the best of the best and they were IMPOSSIBLE to find used. So I bit the bullet and figured I could get most of it back. Since I barely used it - it's in great condition. I was pleased to see a couple on ebay going for $50 with days to spare on bidding. Looks like they are easily going for $60 or even more in the end. I will be glad to get most of my investment back because that purchase was a tough one to swallow.

I also priced baby's highchair, jumperoo and exersaucer at about $30 each. Not quite ready to sell yet, but will be some nice ash in a couple of months. Will try Craigslist.

I am not sure if I ever sold anything on Craigslist. I put a few things up there last year and ended up not going over well. I ended up freecycling them just to be rid because I was in a hurry at the time. But I have vied so much for above said items - I know they go fast. Plus considering I paid $20/$30 each myself - yay I will breakeven in the end.

& now for something light and cute...

Ah, I have a good story today. Dh has been teaching my 3-year-old about planets and all that using a toy monkey as the earth and something else as the sun - a ball or something. For some reason we live on the butt of the monkey in all of his analogies. My son is at the "why? why? why?" stage and sometimes a visual makes more sense. Not that we expect him to really get it.

Anyway, hubby just informed me that today my son asked if we REALLY live on a monkey butt. LOL!!!!

The funniest thing is he was asking me just the other day something about the sun and I Went to the monkey analogy and he said, "mom - we don't really live on a monkey." LOL. It was like he was scolding me for getting it all wrong.

Apparently since then we have majorly confused him.

Poor kid.

I remember all the things that really confused me as a kid and the weird things I thought and I really try to keep that top of my mind when I say things to the kids. But frankly, there is no way to know what they are thinking sometimes. Though this may be kind of an obvious one - a way to really confuse your toddler!

& yeah, I find it frustrating all this "why?" stuff. I really try to answer in terms best he can understand for the first 50 whys, but after that I start to burn out. Inevitably you have to end the conversation with "I don't know" or because "that's the way it is." With the more science-y stuff I always end with "go ask your dad." LOL.

Well today is pretty much a fluff day.

Lunch was provided - pizza and soda. Ahhh, I am STUFFED. & then I leave ina few for the Pumpkin Patch - yay!!!!

Oh yeah, I volunteered to drive because of course my control freak side does not want ANYONE else driving my kids anywhere. So I figured I would drive him. Looking at the van and its built-in carseats though, I did mention I could carry 4 children pretty easy - with no carseat maneuvering. Ah, what was I thinking???? LOL. Driving 4 little brats. Eh. I LOVE my kids but I just don't "do "kids as I have said before. Hopefully another adult will drive with me. Hehe. They are all pretty little so no matter I am sure they will be fine. THen again, hmmmm. Little screaming kids. Maybe not so fun. The drive is not far at least. Well, it will be an interesting afternoon! The pumpkin patch they are going to has slides, hayrides, animals to pet, etc., etc. I am sure they will have a BLAST! & a friend of mine will be there as well, I talked her into joining this daycare while back and on the plus side I now have a good friend at all the events. Not why I talked her into it, but hey. Side benefit. Plus we never get together because she lives 30 minutes away, but I See her all the time now and the kids are best buds now - it is cute. Since this daycare is pretty central beween us - close to where she lives and where I Work.

Anyway, I am trying my first no-spend challenge this week - the unplanned one. No spend challenges are in general pretty easy for me. I just don't shop much, don't spend much, all my expenses are pretty planned. That is just how I have ALWAYS lived. Put it this way, I am not a spontaneous person. BUT when I first saw these boards and all these "no spend" days I am thinking, huh, what is this, how hard is it not to spend a few days? Again with my non-spontaneous nature you see where I am coming from. But at the same time, since being on these boards, I have noticed that I have spent a few dollars here and there and not really thought about it. Nothing big, but even to Miss non-spontaneous I am starting to see how it could be a challenge.

So when I Saw the no warning, no spend challenge I thought, sure. I can give this a whirl. It is more interesting because it wasn't planned. If I plan to not spend for a week - easy peasy. But if it wasn't plan and I had to decide today, can I do it? Without stocking up on things first? Looking at the next week the first thought to me is "Easy peasy." Then again looking at the last month I do see a lot of little things did come up unexpectedly - unplanned spending. So in the week ahead I wonder what will come up and if I will be able to say no. I think it will be a learning experience. We'll see! & what's the worst that could happen? I may spend less money than I Would have otherwise. SOunds good to me!

I was even thinking ahead on it today and thinking when my car got low on gas I Could drive hubby's car to work for a few days. In the end I decided that is just silly because it is all the same in the end - I have so and so on my calendar I am going to drive to all these planned events, and to work, no matter what. So in the end it is all the same. I could use his car and not buy gas for a week but then we'll have 2 empty tanks and it's all the same in the end. We'll just have 2 buy 2 tanks of gas next week instead of 1 this week and 1 next. So in the end I'll pass. HE hates it when I drive his car - not worht the wrath. LOL.

HEy I just noticed I had 1300 points so I bought myself a black user name - pretty sweet. Black is my favorite color. I Would have got a glowing name - well I don't think I had enough points - but I use firefox and not internet explorer. That sucks. LOL. I might buy it anyway in the future. I use explorer on occasion.

I am just vegging out waiting for the kids to wake up. Baby slept through the night again. I in turn was wide awake at 5am, but that is good. I feel like my life has been turned upside down the last few months. Usually I wake up early to work out and get stuff done, but that has been so out the window of late. It feels good to have some time.

Well yesterday I spent $30 at amazon. I invested in some mutual fund books. I figure it was a good investment and I Was too lazy to go used. I intended to look at the used options on amazon but they were only $1 or $2 cheaper than new so I figured what the heck.

I also started my christmas shopping. I had intended to start sooner, and I Was feeling silly yesterday that I Felt so behind though it is only Oct. 6 or so - LOL. I am kind of laughing at myself - still have lots of time. But during my lunch break yesterday I perused ebay and found some cute things for my mom. Spent about $20 on 2 gifts (most of it as shippping of course). I had budgeted to buy her one gift - $20 so I was pleased I squeezed out 2. HEr birthday and christmas shopping is DONE - woot.

I also donated $20 to a co-workers grandkids' school - in return for wrapping paper. A good cause and one less thing to buy otherwise - eh. I usually do pretty generous with that stuff so spent 1/2 as much as usual. well within my donation budget.

But overall a lot of money spent this last week.

Set up an appointment with the estate attorney who is a friend of the family. We'll see how that turns out. We don't have significant assets on one hand, but if both my dh and I bite the dust we have $1 mil insurance between the 2 & significant home equity house. I decided we really need to get things squared away. ALive not worth much, dead worth a lot. Don't tell the kids. ; ) Plus as a CPA I know you really need to get your affairs squared away - because when you don't it gets ugly - see it time and time again with clients. I should know better, the fact it has taken this long is inexcusable. Anyway, hopefully by the end of the year we will have our affairs in order.

The Merill lynch guy has not sold any of the funds we asked him to. I am back to square one and want all of our money out - I am so fed up with him - I have no idea what the deal is. It is dh's IRA so he has to take care of it - and he isn't actually in a hurry. Gah. Something else I would like to take care of NOW which there is no reason why I couldn't have transferred the funds by now. I just wanted him to sell so I knew how much cash was in there. I am tired of waiting, will probably start one of the transfers, I guess it doesn't matter if he hasn't sold it yet - I have an idea how much money is in there. LEt the new custodians ask for the money...

I hope to get some time this weekend to go over the budget with dh. PArt of the problem is I do all the money and then he kind of does his own thing, and we don't communicate great. HE doesn't buy much, but one month I will be thinking we need to crack down, and he'll go out and buy a DVD or something. Anyway, I have made a sample budget but he hasn't put any input in, so I am hoping he can look at it this weekend and we can revise it again to fit both our needs. Same with the christmas budget - I put it together but may be missing something he intends to buy, etc.

Communication is good - LOL.

I also had an epiphany. When I Was on maternity we lived on very little. It seemed we spent A LOT less on gas which really helped, and little incidental work expenses. But otherwise I Wasn't really sure why we did so good.

Anyway, our credit card bill averages $1800/month, my goal lately has been $1600, and without all of our vacation stuff and gymboree which I paid for with extra money, our cc bill would have been $1200 this month. Why? I then had the epiphany that when we felt broke we didn't spend money and well, that is why we got by so well on maternity leave - LOL. Seems simple but I didn't really get it before. The amazing thing is we didn't feel at the time we gave up that much. That is the beauty of budgeting I guess - if you do it right.

My husband laughed at the "it would be $1200 except for this and this and this" reasoning - but this is all stuff out of the budget now no problem. We are not going to disneyland or spending $300 on my birthday again anytime soon. Guaranteed...

I am starting to see why I should have $700/month for the temp savings funds - it is really there. Yay!

Also, I have always been a general budgeter but once we started throwing everything on cards to get cash back I have really struggled. Obviously where I went wrong was budgeting a total for the cc. IT used to work, but we only put very miscellaneous and extra things on it before. It was never going to work until we sat down and did a line by line budget by expenses on the credit card -and look I saved $600 easy peasy. IT's crazy. Well, we're getting there anyway...

Ah, I wish I had more time to puruse the boards, but I have too much work to do today - LOL. Darn work! ; )

I did ramble on about rents which I know no one cares - I live in crazy land. LOL. This is why no one randomly visiting my blog and viewing my stats can not appreciate that I own a very nice house in CA and only owe $215k on it. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I am STILL reisisting the urge to pay it down faster and put more money in savings. It is hard. I know I need liquid cash more. The fact that we owned a home at 22 (with 20% down) is cause for applause. Sometimes we dream of moving to ORegon and putting a good $400k in the bank (well last year when our house was worth more anyway). Plopping $50k down on a similar house and semi-retiring while the kids are young. But for now we are suckers and stay. More for family than anything... Though when our equity was up to $500k for a while I Was ready to throw family out the window - we could fly down and visit every weekend with that money. ; ) But housing prices have dropped considerably. So yeah if you paid me $500k I would move from family, that is what we have learned in recent years - the price of family - LOL.

In our first home we had over $100k equity when we committed to this house - we were going to have a $100k mortgage here when we moved. But it dropped overnight. So live and learn. I know friends in other states who can not get past our equity, but I can't get too excited about it. Here today, gone tomorrow. Even if we decided to cash out today there is no guarantee we would be able to get what we think we could - anything can happen tomorrow. So I no longer get excited about equity. Frankly I am just happy we own a home. Extremely extremely grateful. I grew up thinking we could never afford to live in California at all.

Oh anyway, I meant to post and tell everyone who is getting a good night sleep to have a good night sleep on me. ; ) You know those of you wihtout small kids and multiple jobs and staying up studying, those of you without sleep disorders. But I must say I have gotten some REAL sleep this last week. I really hesitate to say it without knocking on wood. But things are well in sleepy land. The only thing worse than my son not sleeping well, due to teething, is the constant input from other people about all we are doing wrong regarding sleep. Okay, my son has horrible painful teething and that is hy his sleep has been disrupted. But over time with the lack of sleep you ebgin to question yourself and wonder if everyone else is right. & then finally your baby sleeps full nights and even begins to put himself back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Hallelujah. I don't know why I let other people get to me. Phew.

Ahhhhh, sleep is such a luxury these days and I feel in the lap of luxury today. Feels good...

I will enjoy but try not to get used to it. More teeth are on the way...

Was lazy today:

$52.17 cash for 2006
- 1.08 BK Lunch
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$51.09 remains
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I tend to do a $1 lunch every week so I thought today was a good day because it was Wednesday.

My dumb plan for the week was hosting a get together at my house thursday. I did not intend to serve dinner, and chose this option to avoid a $10 - $15 dinner. Oh well. Now I am buying pizza instead due to pressure - LOL. & then all the birthday presents - my word. Oh well, I like my budget to be flexible - so I will probaly chalk this one to eating out & I do have a gift budget. I just did not foresee using it this month or next and was going to use it for christmas instead!!!!!! But oh well - who knew october was such a birthday month! For now I will lump it where I can, just means less gift buying an eating out this month.

Ahhhh, the daycare thread is still being beat to death but on my drive to BK I was pondering something I didn't even thing about. With my first son I drove home at lunch every single day to be with him, and then he napped every afternoon from 1-5. He's a sleeper. I had no idea how good I had it of course - LOL. Another reason why the mommy wars perplexed me. So I don't see my son from 8-12 but I see him before nap and when he wakes up, does he notice I am gone 8 hours a day? Not really!

& then this was the son who we felt at 1 may be ready for preschool or daycare if hubby wanted to get a job. OF course my second son threw us for a loop. I Was lucky CA had a new law at the time and I got 12 weeks paid home. Disability - not full pay - but enough to get by. & then after all that I had to work PT 3 months because he refused to drink from a bottle. & then I had PPD issues and I just could not work full speed again until he was about 6 months old.

I look at him today and I can not imagine putting him in any care - he is such a "baby" still at 15 months. HE is not even walking yet. My older son was just the difference of night and day. At 1 he was like a 2-year-old. At 3 he is like a 5-year-old. I am guessing my baby is on par for being a normal baby, but the whole thing is weird, my other son fast forwarded through this stage so fast. I had no idea there was this stage between "baby" and "full blown toddler."

& sleep? Ha! The baby does not sleep.

Anyway, I have always felt more guilty working with this baby because I no longer have the time to go home at lunch. I have a lot more responsibility, and gas prices have been crazy. & he doesn't sleep 1/2 the day away so I miss so many waking hours. Ah, but I get them all back in the middle of the night! ; )

Anyway, I just throw this out to those of you planning ahead for children down the road. Plans are nice but inevitably your children will put a wrench in your plans. LOL. Guaranteed. ; ) My husband and I keep saying when he turns 2 our daycare options will be much greater and cheaper, etc., etc. But frankly, will he be ready for that? At this rate, no. But we'll work it out I guess. That's why I am here and cracking down on my budget. We have been doing just fine, but saving and getting ahead, not so much. I am starting to envision we will do the 1-income thing longer than we planned, so trying to get to a point where it just doesn't matter. Where that 2nd income is pure gravy. BEfore it was going to be retirement, but now I am trying to squeeze that out of my own check. But I know we will make it work.

Well I just RSVPed for 3 birthday parties - yes 3 - and another on the way I know of. & 2 Halloween parties.

Oh my son will be in 7th heaven. He LOVES parties. As for dh and I, eh, we are pretty quiet, low key people. I have no idea where my son comes from and frankly his social life EXHAUSTS us. Of course he thrives from it. This is a big reason why he is in preschool - so we can catch a break.

I tend to be pretty nice with gifts. Usually $20/kid. I spend way more on other kids than I do my own. LOL. But even $10/each for 3 parties is not really in the budget this month. It is tight with Christmas coming up and all. But I got some good ideas from you all. Is 3 parties gonna break the bank? YEah maybe if I didn't get ideas here. ; )

As a working mom I really have trouble mainitaining playdates and such, and I feel bad because dh just doesn't really do them. In the past maybe, but again it really exhausts him. But a friend of mine just e-mailed me and said she was a football widow and up for some sunday playdates. I haven't seen her in ages and that would be great. & then my moms group is revamping and trying harder to do more weekend/evening stuff. Looking at my calendar it is nice, but too late I guess - LOL. My october is completely filled. I hope november slows down a bit!

I am going to be exhuasted and my son is going to have the best month ever I guess - hehe.

I do remember once Halloween hit last year it seemed like the year went in overdrive, and now I see why. January will be here in a blink!!

Ahhhh, got back from Disneyland last night. It was a good trip. I enjoy traveling with a potty-trained child SO much - actually since he is so newly potty-trained - surprised no accidents, etc. Did great on the car ride. Averaged 8 hours each way due to traffic and stops, etc. Oh yeah, and lucky us on the way back - first rain of the season. First rain + long freeway drive = car coated in black muck. $5 carwash upon return home - not in budget. LOL. I am just grateful we only saw 1 accident - you hear the road gets slick with the first rain. & well we really saw all the oil and dirt churned up on all the passing cars.

The weather was perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better trip. We actually happened to get in the park right when it opened (we weren't necessarily gung ho on waking up early but just worked out) and then got a lot in before it started to get too crowded. Left at 4:00 for a nap and dinner. Worked out pretty good. HAd $20 lunch in the park & $10 dinner out of the park. Then returned until close at midnight. My son did great.

All that being said a lot was over his head and he was happy with the carousel. I had no illusion the trip was more for him than us - LOL. But then again thought he would get more out of it. He certainly enjoyed himself though.

All I could think all day was I Was so glad we did not bring the baby. I saw so many miserable parents. & it's like sure you can push around a stroller, but no strollers in line. I Wouldn't have survived more than an hour or 2 lugging around my big boy. Though we did decide maybe we should come back in 2 years, right before baby turns 3. Then he'll be free to get in, but he will be past the diaper and stroller stage. So we hope. It's a plan anyway.

I have no idea how much the weekend cost. Sick of fast food we opted for sit down lunches and a nice big driving break each way so we'll see how it turns out. We did a pretty frugal trip overall, but it still cost an arm and a leg. It amazes me what people are willing to pay for a few days at Disneyland. I would be surprised if our trip topped $400. Maybe $350. 2 night stay, 800 miles in gas, 1 day at park for 3, and food. Plus $12 for a ballon and a lightup necklace. That was our big splurge. I was proud how little we paid for food in the end. We didn't have to pack a lunch, but we did what we could to keep costs down.

That is probably in general our annual vacation budget, we aren't big vacation people. But this year has been kind of unique. We have done a lot of travel already - & 1 more trip to go. Going to Monterey and San Luis Obispo in December. I love San Luis Obispo - if it wasn't so outrageously expensive I would live there. But hubby wanted to do something nice for my birthday since I took him to vegas for his. & then well, that is it. Next year is going to be a dry year. I Am cool with that. We are going to enjoy our next trip for sure. I don't really want to go anywhere with the kids anyway until the little one is out of diapers and bottles and strollers. Anyway, it will be interesting how the whole vacation thing plays out as the kids grow older. My family never did vacations, and we did some bigger things when I Was a lot older. I think I appreciated it more. Dh on the other hand is spoiled rotten. He turned out pretty frugal and okay, so there is hope. But I think he will want to do a lot more travel than I in the upcoming years. We'll see who wins. ; )

Being so close to the beach and the mountains there is really little need for more than the day trips and weekend trips here and there. I am sure even though next year will be dry we will find plenty of day trips to entertain us. I am sure we will make it to the snow and the beach. Will cost little more than gas. Actually, what I look forward to in a couple of years is camping. But as long as diapers are involved, it can wait. In a couple of years I am sure we will be doing a lot of camping. I think the kids will really enjoy.

The other night hubby was out and I gave the baby a wooden spoon to turn his buckets and tupperware into drums. He was having a blast, but my 3-year-old got a little jealous. HE wanted a spoon too! So I gave him one. I noticed it started splintering and told him to settle down with it. But he was beating the hell out of this spoon. It culminated with the spoon snapping in half. LOL. Okay, no more spoons for him.

The funniest part was the next morning my husband looked in the trash and could not fathom why there was a broken spoon on the top of the trash. HE approached me and was like, "What were you doing last night???" LOL.

My son was SO cute Friday too. Wednesday driving home from preschool we stopped by a used bookstore. I just heard a woman in my moms' group owns this store and it is right around the corner from his preschool. So we went in, it was a pretty nice store, bought a few books for ds - $5 maybe. So of course Friday he says he wants to go to the bookstore again. BEing very budget minded I told him we could not go. & mentioned his preschool is sucking me dry - LOL. I put it nicely because I do not want him to stress about it. But all the same I want him to know we can not do x and x because we are putting our effort into this one thing that he LOVES. & as a result we sacrifice other things.

Anyway, he was really cute because I started telling him about how cool libraries are and I Would take him to one soon. We used to go a bit, but since the baby, hasn't been very fun - LOL. But I am thinking we can start fitting in weekly library visits. I was telling him just how cool libraries were for letting you BORROW books, and you don't have to pay money. HE just got all excited and said "I want to go to the library NOW!!!" I did tell him that the library unfortunately did not have cats like the bookstore did, but at this point he was too excited to care. Was just cute how he got so excited. & glad I found an alternative to his beloved bookstore. ; )

My general philosophy on Christmas is I pretty much don't like it - LOL. Our family and friends don't really want for much AND the materialism of Christmas really annoys me. I would rather give give give all Christmas and not receive a thing - donate toys for kids and work in the soup kitchens. Unfortunately, most people I know do not feel the same, or I would totally donate money in their names as a gift. I probably should regardless of what they think. ; )

Anyway, we generally don't spend much and I have never budgeted for it. Most of our family and friends have stopped exchanging gifts, because we all feel a little similarly I guess. I don't remember the last time dh and I exchanged gifts, we just don't see the point, we buy/need what we want throughout the year. I guess it's a pretty good place to be. Though if we had more money sure we'd splurge on each other.

BUT our downfall is the kids. Every year I say I will spend $20/each and donate $100 each in their name because they don'tneed anything and there are plenty of kids out there who really need things at Christmas. But inevitably we stop by Toys R Us and all the toys suck us in. I See cute thing online, and next thing you know I spend $200 on the kids + the $200 donation.

Anyway, due to our usual finances this overage never really made much difference, but this year it just ain't gonna fly. LOL. I don't have $400 to spend just on the kids. So we'll see...

& dang it when I Say I am just going to spend so much on the kids, I want to stick with it. Putting it in writing will make it an easier goal to stick with I am sure. I hope anyway. In the meantime I am staying away from all toy stores and toy ads. ; )

& as a total case in point I bought the kids picture frames last year that spell out their names. I just saw them sitting in the closet unopened. That is not going to happen this year!!!

I am going to go work on a budget!!!

Bad Idea!!!!!

Eh, it probably ain't the worst idea. IF you are a planner and disciplined, etc., etc. they are a bad idea. If not, maybe they are good for you.

BUT, in recent years I have heard more and more of mortgage companies not paying your homeowners insurance and property taxes on time. I think it has come to light a lot more in recent years as homeowners insurance is so hard to come by, and the increased outrage of being dropped when your mortgage company does not pay your bill for you.

But here is a new bad in this equation -a VERY bad incident with a family member. They paid off their house in the last year or so. (Very good, right????). Apparently, this family member had the impounds set up. Upon paying off the mortgage, and not receiving a bill when the homeowners insurance expired for the year, it lapsed.

Maybe they would have fiugred it out sooner rather than later, but right after the lapse a woman tripped in front of their house. She threatened to sue for injuries due to a large crack in the sidewalk. They called their insurance company to discuss their options, only to find out they did not have coverage. OMG!!!!!! IT is a blessing that they found out so soon, but the curse they found out too late.

The city denied responsibility for the sdewalk due to a new law in the last few years that homeowners were responsible to call and tell them if there were repairs to be made. Something like that.

Just a BAD confluence of factors, and unfortuantely my relative will be left holding the bag.

Anyway, hadn't heard much in a while and assumed it went away. Found out today they are officially being sued. *sigh* That just sucks!!

As it stands, insurance companie have agreed to pay anything above $100k and they are maybe okay with that. However, said relative has been bursting with glee that retirement is in less than 2 years for her. does this mean she will have to work longer???

Will this case be thrown out as frivolous??? Stuff like this just doesn't seem right...

Send good thoughts I guess.

In the meantime, if you do have impounds and you pay off your mortgage soon (or have paid it off recently), make sure you don't lapse your coverage. Because only you are looking out for you.

"Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else" -Dave Ramsey

"The more I am willing to be disciplined, the more numerous my options. The more carefully I plan, the bigger I dream, the better my life becomes and the more joy I experience." ~Mary Hunt, of Cheapskate Monthly

I have heard the Dave Ramsey quote in recent months and the Mary Hunt one now on this site. I LOVE these quotes so much, they speak to my lifetime financial philosophy.

Those around us scoff at many of our financial choices, our choices to buy very used cars (people looked at me like I was crazy when $5k was my car spending limit). I don't spend money on makeup and clothes, and I have many friends who think A am absolutely deprived. I don't like coffee and never go to starbucks, again always with the peer pressure (why would I drain my money on something I do not LIKE???). & then mention not being able to go to a $100 spa on the weekend (I hate massages and all that anyway - I guess lends to my frugal nature) & imagine the looks of PITY!! Beyond that I think last week I did not want to spend $25 to go to a concert for kids. OF course I sound absolutely deprived.

People do not realize it is not that I Do not have the money or the means to do so. But I choose other things with my money. Obviously what I value is reflected in my budget. & things I do not value I do not mind giving up in the least.

On the flip side, people come to our house and their jaws drop. YEah my husband has a dedicated home theatre room, but with some frugal choices it probably cost less than most t.v.s I see around here. HAving a 5th room on a house for this dedicated room is another story, but we moved somewhere cheaper to afford such. Yeah we have a really nice house and a smaller mortgage than anyone in our age range that I know. I just think it is proof that the little things add up. I think the only thing more shocking than seeing our house is people finding out they are paying more for rent or mortgage than we are on our mortgage 90% of the time.

I have been told I Am stupid for not believing in ARMs, but all I know is I Can sleep at night. & I have locked in a low rate for the next 30 years, what can beat that?

The looks of wonder and amazement when I Was able to take not only the standard 12 weeks maternity leave (CA has disability pay for this time) but even another month or 2 even though my hubby doesn't work.

The jealousy that my hubby doesn't work.

I get the feeling that many around us have not put 2 and 2 together. The sacrifices have reaped the rewards.

So seeing those quotes just nailed it all on the head for me. We do really live like no one else it feels a lot of the time in all of our frugal choices. Yet I also get the feeling we live like no one else in our options. & as mary Hunt points out, I Feel that we are happier than the average joe blow as a result. I love my job, I feel like working part-time to support my family is an option down the road, and I guarantee, barring the unforeseen, that we will retire young.