Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Nothing in particular; just the sum of all the parts. Tuesday was such a *Monday* at work. A Monday with a full moon. At least yesterday was quiet and I accomplished something. Yeesh.

The kids have this and that going on. Dh put together my elliptical and is now putting together his new computer. So today it looks like a computer parts store threw up in my house.

The elliptical is okay. I can see the benefits, and it is thankfully quiet, but doubt it will entice me to quit the gym. I tried... I just don't want to invest the money, man power, hassle and space to get a gym-quality machine. & I won't be happy with anything less. This is making my $15/month gym membership seem extra valuable. So for that, it is all good.

New cat is keeping us on our toes. He's mostly a well-behaved love. Especially since we have so many people and activity to occupy him. (I could see him easily being bored and in much trouble, otherwise). But, he did almost literally kill himself in the blind cords (I have the childproof cord winders and went through checking them all and installing after that incident - just glad he is okay). HE also tried to run off with our thawing chicken the other night. It was pretty frozen still so he didn't get very far with it. He is serving his purpose - more laughter and lighter hearts - has really helped with the mourning process of losing our pet.

This weekend I have an appointment to check out a local boarding place. Since my set point is about $0 - it is $$$$$ - but we wanted the freedom to travel if we picked up another pet, so it is what it is. The place is pretty cheap and close to home (though extremely highly rated).

He is also a total pig; eating me out of house and home - a good match for my children (boy do they all have some metabolisms! - but their energy level at least matches). Though we are going to take him to the vet re: that. I think it's possible could be sign of medical condition. I think it's a little bit of everything (Was probably neglected in the past and hoarding food, plus high energy). BUT, he also produces so much waste - I do not know if that is over-eating or if could be sign of something else going on. We've had him 30 days and he has not seemed to have gained or lost an ounce, but admittedly I am very much monitoring his food. I have still been feeding him well above average. I just wanted to make sure we weren't over-feeding him. We don't seem to be. I suppose I can relax that we are not starving him either. Because like my children, he acts starved when you only feed him 2-3 times what is recommended.

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I am no longer sad we missed Weird Al concert last year for bajillion dollars. We just snagged great fair concert seats for $20 per person. Now that was what I remembered paying in the past.

The concert is the day before BM's birthday. !!

BM also got his first two college summer class choices. SO, this is his summer:

**Two weeks of Engineering Classes
**10 Days in London (MIL is taking him)
**Weird Al concert

Does he need anything else for his birthday? Um, heck no. He turns 10 this summer...

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Our own vacation plans?

**Family Camp in late June. This is why I am looking into the cat boarding right now. It's 3 nights, but the first time we have really left him any length of time, so I think it will be a good chance to try out the boarding place. We did not pay anything for camp, so I think it's reasonable to splurge on cat care.

**We are going to do another post Thanksgiving weekend in Pismo Beach with my folks. We had the most amazing time last year.

**Hadn't made any plans yet, but want to do a 9-day road trip in October, now that we aren't tied down with pet situation. Would like to see Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Vegas, Bryce Canyon, etc. I am sure we will narrow it down. Heck, we might just wing it. I LOVE road trips and it's been way too long. So it's bittersweet as to the why we are able to do it, but am really excited about this vacation. I love road trips, but except for Vegas and driving to see family in the mid-west MANY times, I have not seen any of the destinations that I mentioned. I am ready for something new and different. Cat boarding will be a must for this trip.

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The next couple of weeks should be pretty busy with school wrapping up. Summer will fly by with all the activity.

**As far as spending...

I treated BM to dinner on Friday night since dh was gone and LM had a birthday party. He chose one of the more expensive options, but it was just the two of us. Buffet, so at least I got my money's worth.

Dh went to a concert in the Bay Area and stayed with his bff, who is moving to Chicago soon. Glad they had some time together. I believe he was planning a script writing retreat next weekend (someone else is offering a place to stay this time - just trying to get away from distractions for 24-48 hours). This past weekend dh only spent $10 on food, but his friend had owed him for concert tickets (so paid the rest of his meals - I think he also visited his folks so probably ate there too).

I didn't get to recycle those shoes yesterday because a friend took BM to the birthday party and we were supposed to pick him up. Well, they hadn't realized how far away it was, so they just stayed and brought him home. Now I have to figure out what to with these shoes!! I may make a separate trip (lunch break some day?) to be rid of the shoes. I wonder if this place is anywhere near the realm of the college - I think it is. BM has some classes there in June. My work is a wee bit closer to the place (thought not a lot).

**Next weekend I want to get the final sweep of the downstairs, and the pool should be open. So I am not really expecting to spend any money. Maybe in June we will talk about something fun - a beach trip and/or some hiking.

**Today I redeemed a groupon. It's probably been well over a year since I have. It was a boot camp kind of thing. Between that and a coupon code I received 20 classes for $34. My aerobics class is 20 classes for $50, for perspective. This would be much closer to home, so cheaper on the gas too.

The downside is that it costs almost 3 times as much (full price) as aerobics class, but without all the gas, it would be a lot more efficient. (It will cost WAY more because I only have to pay for the aerobics classes I attend - this is 5 weeks for $139). I wonder if I really like the classes if maybe I can just mix it up a bit. (I can't see paying full price all year). The plus about this boot camp is it is early morning all week (they do offer one 6pm class). I do far better in the a.m., so I like all the a.m. options.

I don't know when I Can start the class, but hopefully SOON. Ideally it whips my butt into shape and kickstarts me a bit out of my current rut, but hopefully I don't like it too much because I don't want to be swayed into paying so much for fitness. There are plenty of other options out there that are far less expensive, is all.

**I ended up not doing too much yesterday. But happy with small chunks of work. I got through about 7 drawers in the kitchen (just cleaning - nothing to declutter). Easy work, but it was something. I will try to get through some of it this week, as to not be too overwhelmed over the weekend.

I am so excited to get rid of several Goodwill bags one week from today.

Oh, and I removed child safety locks on the silverware drawer. Safety locks because of sharp knives...

We only put these in a few strategic places, but I hear Siamese cats can get into a lot of trouble so I am going to leave the rest for now. That one was kind of annoying "we use this drawer 100 times a day" kind of thing, so I hope everyone appreciates the change.

**I've bagged up a lot of shoes to recycle tomorrow. Hopefully we remember to take them. I should toss them into the car while I am thinking about it.

**I was feeling very low-energy yesterday so didn't do a whole lot. I made some fruit smoothies for an energy boost.

**Dh was out of town, so I figured a car cleaning would make sense - lots of room in the garage. I just vacuumed out the van and tossed some trash. Was not a lot, but it looks MUCH better. The kids had been hoarding packets of sugar in the back (like, restaurant packets). I don't know what the heck. Always interesting finds with kids.

**While in the garage a bit I cleaned up a bit. There wasn't a lot, but a few old toys to toss and little bits of trash strewn around the garage.

The strangest find? The neighborhood kid had put this cute sprinkler thing across our driveway one day and I spotted them at Walgreens for maybe $7. I was very tempted, but for whatever reason resisted. Thought maybe I would keep on eye for summer or whatever. So I am tossing a few things in the garage and I come across this sprinkler thing in our garage. I set it out and at some point the kid came by. I asked if it was his and he said no because his was another color.

Seriously!?! Where in the heck did this thing come from? I SO do not remember ever buying it.

I am relieved I had not bought a second one.

**After all that I took a nap and made dinner and didn't get a whole lot else done.

**Oh, and dh found my MP3 player in the car. WOOT!! This should help immensely with the kitchen work. Music will make the time go faster. I am hoping to make some progress on the kitchen today - does not have to be a lot. I still have next weekend to finish the job and to beat my personal deadline.

I think I am going to scale back on the house cleaning and relax after May (upstairs in the Fall?). But I think I could probably do another run through. For example, I mentioned all the vases I have. I need to go through those and purge some, but it will easier to start with a clean slate. Right now I might have 7 or 8 bags earmarked for Goodwill (dh has a pile of books and toys and games of such, in addition to whatever I have found in the kitchen). So once those are gone and the cabinets are all scrubbed I may go through again. I am sure I passed up a lot of stuff because it was overwhelming. & this is why I every time I do this I find more stuff. I want to be more thorough this round. !! I've got all summer to be more thorough, in small chunks.

**Taking inventory of the garage: Not a lot in there, as I though. BUT, we were saving bags of soda bottles for someone or something. For the school? I don't know. We will toss into our recycle bin over the next few weeks and clear some space. In fact, maybe I should just take a load to work (we have a "recycle" dumpster). This should clear up some space for bikes and such.

**Speaking of the neighbor kids(s) - the sprinkler thing I mentioned above...

There's this new kid down the street who is 7 - an only child I suppose. I swear he comes by our house every single day with some brand new toy he wants to show off.

???

From a child standpoint, I honestly don't even understand "Keeping up with the Joneses." Some other newer neighbors have some electric scooters that BM is always riding. The next door neighbor has some cool bike thing that all the kids are always riding, and the across the street neighbor has an electric car for his live-in Grandson. So the neighborhood kids are always out riding his electric car around. This week it was walkie talkies and "slip and side" with the "new toy every day" kid.

So why would we buy anything for the kids??? Peer pressure, I guess? A feeling to contribute?

I suppose the downside will be when one day our kids breaks someone's fancy toy. But, until that day... Yesterday our house provided sprinklers and water gun water for the play time. Which means all the kids were in front of our house though we have no fancy toys to boast. I didn't think a lot about it at the time, but it is kind of funny if you think about it. Water from the faucet versus the $500 toy car. I suppose we contributed after all.

**BM wanted a fad toy that all the kids have at school. We said, "Sure whatever, if you want to pay for it." I don't think my kids have had very many of these lessons - they don't seem to have much of a sheep mentality. I don't know how much of that is nature versus nurture. I think a little bit of both. For example, I think by nature my spouse is a stubborn contrarian. For me, it feels very learned. I didn't have a fraction of the kids' self confidence at the tender age of 8 or 9.

Of course, LM is totally bored and uninterested in this fad, so only the elder child has caved.

**The county animal shelter takes shoes for recycling. Awesome!! It's just that it is WAY out of the way. I even tossed some shoes past weekend because lord knows when I'd be out that way again.

Well... BM has a birthday party in that area tomorrow. We will take all the remaining broken/outgrown shoes that we have. I just noticed a couple of pairs in the garage that could probably go. For the long run it will just be one more thing to remember, but we can keep a shoe stash and make the run once in a blue moon. & maybe we could find something closer to home, but I have certainly looked before.

**Just got a postcard re: charity pickup on Memorial Day. Woohoo!! I don't care who it is - they win all our crap. In addition, they were advertising for e-waste. This will save dh a trip to Best Buy. (Best Buy only takes 3 items at once?? So this might save us a few trips).

**I finally pulled the trigger on an elliptical purchase. Conferring with dh maybe saved me some hassle.

I have of course kept my eye on the used market and yadda yadda. I have been shopping for well over a year.

I think what has swayed me is the Money Mustache. I LOVE the gym membership but it's inefficient. I don't remember the last time I went - it SUCKS every January through March, at the least (all those New Years resolutions). I love the gym the rest of the year - get it all to myself.

Anyway, two problems with the at-home elliptical:

1 - At $15/month gym membership (& I am pretty sure they will offer me a lower deal when I try to quit) it's hard to breakeven on an equipment purchase.

2 - The size and weight and monstrosity of a good piece of equipment. I really don't want to deal with it. Extra so since I am storing my parents' treadmill at the moment. I'd maybe rather have a good elliptical, but the point of the treadmill is that it is high-end and totally free. {We have plenty of room, but just thinking more long-term. The long-term downsize plan}. & seriously, some of these ellipticals are 300 pounds!! We just don't have the muscle to deal with that - even just to get it moved in.

So... I finally bit the bullet on a new unit. It's in the $300 range, but was on sale. If it's not a total piece of crap it will get good use.

I was leaning towards Amazon just because their customer service is so good. Target had same unit at same price - not entirely sure why I discounted it. So, I ran it past dh before pulling the trigger (he is out of town) and he asked what about a local store, for easier returns. I remembered I had seen it at Target.

The thing about Amazon is if I call and complain and can't ship it back I know they will refund the money. So I think was mostly why I was leaning towards Amazon. But with our Red Card it was 5% off (cheaper) and free shipping at Target. So decided dh was probably wise. Target has always has great customer service for our needs. A good second choice. I maybe saved $15 going with Target instead.

Will see... I figure worst case we return it and it's back to the drawing board. I won't quit gym until I am happy with alternatives.

Why do I like the gym so much? Safer (not going to be outside in the dark), climate controlled in winter and summer, etc. & I am no fan of running - way too hard on the body. Power walking is okay but I much prefer the elliptical.

Our gym is only 4 miles away and had the awesome benefit of childcare, so was also a big plus when the kids were younger (doesn't really mean much any more). In the meantime, I feel like they have added no less than 5 unecessary lights on the main road, and it can often take 15 minutes to drive there. It's just gotten so inefficient over the years. So why I mention the Money Mustache influence.

Anyway, maybe this will hold me over until we get a closer discount gym - one I can walk or bike to. It will probably happen eventually.

How am I paying for this? 5% of my tax season overtime will cover it. I am not opposed to splurging. I just like to divorce the spending decisions from the income, if that makes any sense. Of course expense decisions have to be based on income and resources. BUT, I guess my point is we really avoid automatically spending windfalls. It's a-okay to just save 100% for a later time, for when a need or want arises. I think this makes for better spending decisions.

**Payday and I only have one financial transaction to transact: Pay off main credit card (which has always been paid off monthly). That's it until next month...

I will just never get over the irony that if you clean up your financial house you don't have to think about money very much. Too often it is assumed you have to think about it all the time and obsess over it. Kind of like dieting - that's not really the best/healthiest way to do things. Change your habits, build up money for a rainy day, and it should mostly be in the background. I love numbers so obsess over it at times, but other times it's just in the background. Lately I have been in more of a "finances in the background" mood. & this is probably largely a function of things going very well financially.

Credit card bill was $3,000 because it included about $1,000 in car repairs, health insurance is $900, Paid some dues and utilities that were reimbursed, yadda yadda. Wasn't a big deal. Car repairs happen and we have savings for that.

May is half over... Nothing big on the horizon for this month. Will see. The same credit card bill has a $300 balance after payment, $200 of that being a new garbage disposal, but the utilities and health insurance will hit around the end of the month.

Yes, dh ordered the garbage disposal FINALLY. Either we will attempt to install ourselves or ask for help. Not expecting to spend any money on that. (I am quite sure my dh is capable of handling it).

For whatever reason dh had got it in his craw to update car stereo. Suddenly it could not wait. Supposedly we are supposed to get Sprint 4G next month, but we have all heard that before... I am sure there is some element that dh wants to utilize full potential of phone when that happens.

Anyway...

The good news is they quoted him about $20 more that it ended up costing. Or, they just tacked on the tax cost to the installation when quoting. Which made it difficult to comparison shop. He had also talked to a couple of Best Buys and they both told him totally different costs. How frustrating!

Anyway, so the grand total was $270 after taxes and installation. We saved a ton going "last year's model." Now he's got the blue tooth and yadda yadda. For the last 20-ish years we have been making do with a cassette tape adapter. (I like that it was rather "future proof." A cassette adapter goes for $7-ish these days. It carried my older vehicles through the age of CD and it carried dh's vehicle - with cassette deck - through the age of MP3 and smart phones).

The new car stereo is fair enough. We only paid $7800 for the car and it was "practically new." Two stereo upgrades in 12 years is beyond reasonable. We would like to keep the car another 5+ years, and can always pull out the stereo system for our next vehicle.

The best part? It didn't cost us a thing in the end. (Not a penny from my salary, so does not impact our savings goals).

He had $120 cash from last focus group plus $100 prepaid visa card from furniture store (refund) and we just got another $50 visa card from another focus group a couple of days ago. It's almost eery how it all just totally matches. The cash is sitting in our bank account, so I will just add $120 to next credit card payment. He charged the $120 difference for credit card rewards. I was going to pay the credit card Friday. So it is all easy peasy. They took both visa cards without a problem. Phew!! (Those things can be such pain to use at times).

The only problem I forsee is since our cars aren't particularly his/hers, I am just assuming that there is another stereo upgrade in the near future. The van has a single CD player that doesn't work, a radio, and a FM transmitter for the MP3 players and phones. That said, I am sure "anything" would be an improvement and dh would be not so set on such a higher end model for the van. Since he does mostly drive the other car, especially for longer trips.

Will see...

As a follow up to an earlier post on my BHAG:

http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/2012/09/14/progress-not-p...

I had posted about my goal to surpass $150k in retirement by age 35, which was a really huge/big/aggressive goal. So I did not beat myself up when I did not achieve at age 35. I knew I would be pretty darn close?

How close? About 5 months after turning 36. Because I achieved the goal yesterday. Well, I think that is AWESOME. Good enough for me...

If investments return 8%, than this means we are earning more than we are putting in, at this point. Since the only retirement vehicles at our disposal are the ROTHs.

I think this is why I am not feeling behind at all with the loss of work retirement plan. It was a very generous 10% contribution by employer. But it was invested conservatively for my mostly "retirement age" co-workers and eaten up by administration and investment fees. Compounding has easily taken over those contributions. Sure, another $8k per year to our retirement funds, in addition, would be awesome. But, it's just we aren't falling behind or feeling the pinch. & maybe $8k only felt like $4k with all the other factors, and we have been easily able to make that up. I appreciate that I had that extra compensation in the years we really needed it - very early on and our lowest income years (maternity leaves and such). This means our retirement was always growing very healthily and is why we were able to meet this goal.

I also just noticed that we surpassed the $200k mark on our investments. Woohoo!! $100k was surpassed some time in 2009. Which means it literally took about a decade to save $100k but only 3 years to turn $100k to $200k. $200k can turn into $400k over 10 years if we don't add another penny. The power of compounding at work. I have this large feeling that the early years were by far the hardest and that we are over that hump. This compounding stuff sure makes life easier.

I also think this is why it is hard for many to understand why my spouse has not had to work. I've said here many times that we always saved 100% of my spouse's income, which laid a nice financial foundation. Anyway, I remember someone telling me very early on that they "to each their own," but how they just could not neglect their retirement like that.

Neglect retirement? Who said anything about neglecting retirement?

I haven't really set the next BHAG for retirement. I am thinking I should just set it to "$500k by age 45." It's about as realistic as "$150k by age 35" felt. It sounds huge, but I know it is doable. A modest rate of return and current contributions (just the ROTHs) will easily put us to $400k+. So $500k is my aggressive twist on the goal. It should be easy to remember. I think that visualization is very important - our subconscious works in ways we don't even understand.

We don't really have anything big planned the next month or so, which is nice, because there seems to be a lot going on.

The kids went to a neighbor's big pool party the other day, and then BM went to a birthday sleepover. They were both just invited to another big classmate party (one each). Dh had been lazy and just grabbed some Target gift cards. He asked me if he should get more and I said, "You know, that would be $60 in one month." !! So, he will look out for some toys on clearance - something like that.

When it rains it pours. Historically most the kids' friends have summer birthdays, like they do. It can get kind of crazy. It's just the crazy started a little early this year. As for our own kids, I am thinking pretty low key birthdays this year.

Other things coming up...

Dh is going to a concert this weekend (out of town).

Next week is school open house and all this costume stuff.

The week after is our annual pool opening BBQ (woohoo - free food). Then the kids' last day of school (they always have a big BBQ).

So, we don't have much that we initiated or planned, but I think there is *plenty* to do.

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I had to share the new compartmental lunch things I got because it makes it so much easier to spice up lunch a bit.

Today's lunch...

The youngest is *loving* these pizza lunches. There is mozzarella cheese under the pepperoni. I experimented with just putting the sauce on the english muffins. I thought it was possible it would get too soggy, but I did toast it first to get it a little more crunchy. Anyway, no complaints from the youngest, so I made it a second time today:



As for BM... They both have appetites, egads, but BM seems to be worse at lunch. I put together some varied nuts, kiwi, and a ham sandwich on garlic sourdough. He then asked for eggs and pickles. I asked him to please eat the nuts last. I have no doubt he could eat it all, but they don't get a lot of time to eat. So, will be interesting to see what he had time to get through. We tend to make him double decker sandwiches to satisfy his appetite. Protein is a must.



These are also the water bottles I bought. The kids seem to really like them. So, just crossing my fingers that they hold up a while. They are rubbermaid and are real cheap at Amazon or Target. But the lids are kind of difficult to flip on and off and so I worry those will probably break first. In fact, I am surprised the kids have not complained more - but they seem happy with them.



We certainly drink our fair share of milk, soda, juice, but also see no point to send them to school with anything but water. I often comment that we *mostly* drink water, which I am sure is a huge key in our lower grocery bills.

I shared this link already as it is helpful to give lunch ideas:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/19/school-lunch-rou...

Her angle is "Real foods" but I am just trying for a more "less plastic/trash/disposable" angle myself. Having the proper tools makes it so much easier. I should have bought these divided containers like *four* years ago. We've always utilized these non-disposable containers, but made it harder to add more sides. Anyway, I am glad I have the tools to do so now. I also have a lot of smaller containers to utilize now - I included some ranch dressing with the kids' carrots last week. The new containers were perfect.

I looked up my old blog posts to see what the final "out of pocket cost" was for our 2012 Sectional Couch upgrade.

Total cost: $525
{We shopped carefully, paid with credit card rewards, and sold old couch to whittle down the actual cost}.

Well, we can bring the total down to $425. !!

We noticed some pink stains under the ottoman. We had noticed them before, but when we got the carpet cleaned and the stains did not come out, this really riled up dh. (Especially considering how filthy our carpets were and how brand new they look now and how all the other stains came out. These are probably the "newest stains" on the carpet, but they are doozies).

I feel pretty "meh" about it because it's under the ottoman and I figured these carpets are mostly toast anyway. The stains are not super obvious due to our carpet choice (which was chosen in an effort to hide pink stains because our cat was always puking up pink food). But dh wanted to go complain and ask for some financial compensation.

They readily appeased him with a $100 visa gift card. It never never never hurts to ask. I sometimes feel like a large percentage of our wealth comes from simply *asking.* & it's so beyond rare when people ever say "no!"

{When I think to all the haggling and price matching and legitimate complaining we do, and "non-refundable" refunds we have asked for, it easily adds up to *THOUSANDS* of dollars over the years. I think this is money that most people just leave on the table}.

Anyway, I informed dh he could apply the gift card to his Amazon account. (I knew this because received a visa gift card for Christmas). He seems pleased with this option.

He does want to buy a new car stereo and a new computer, and so I probably rather he use against one of those purchases. He told me that while he was out anyway he was going to do some stereo comparison shopping. So, will see...

The furniture store was really nice. We ended up at a small store. & I think one reason dh wanted to go complain was because they were right down the street. (A long drive might not have been worthwhile). In addition to the $100, they said they were complaining to the manufacturer about the colored adhesives they use on the bottom of the furniture. So, beyond getting $100, maybe we can save someone else from pink stains in the future. IT seemed like they genuinely were concerned and following up with the manufacturer.

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This has been quite a month for extra income.

**First off, the 4th graders are doing a Pinoeer day this month. Send me your frugal, "make do with what you have" costume ideas, PLEASE! I saw a local rental place for $15, but I decided that is ridiculous. I am sure worst case I can put something together for $15 (that younger child can eventually use). But I doubt we need to spend that much.

This is the year of costume. I already bought a beret earlier in the year for my little "Picasso."

**Around the same time, LM has to be a little pig. (I swear, we have never been asked to bring a costume for anything before - good grief).

Supposedly I am a very creative person (the tests say so), but it doesn't come out in an artistic creative way. I just feel so "DUH..." But I perused very briefly online and quickly came up with very many ideas. How did we survive before the internet?

Anyway, how cute is this?!?



I am so NOT artistic, but I think I can figure it out. & if not, dh can. {It just looks so simple, but so cute}.

I also stumbled onto hot pink construction paper in my decluttering efforts, and LM approved.

I had no idea I had any construction paper, so am making a mental note that we need to find a place to store all things craft for when things like this come up.

**The theme is definitely "costume." A local family is collecting Halloween costumes for homeless children. I am sometimes skeptical of these efforts, and since it is only May I am definitely skeptical. BUT, we have a couple of costumes we keep forgetting to sell at ideal time, and I am in purge mode, so consider it done. I asked dh to drop them off this week. {& yes, it would be awesome if these costumes actually ended up with homeless youth}.

We had: One Nemo costume, a Spiderman costume, Winnie the Pooh, and a karate uniform and a baseball uniform. The karate and baseball were not initially Halloween costumes, but they are long outgrown so I figured what the heck.

**That reminds me, my initial reaction was to keep the Karate uniform. Then I thought, "Wait, when was this last worn? Age 5!?!" Kind of my doh moment that my baby (& his little brother) are not 5 any more. In fact, the eldest is almost as tall as I.

**I don't know how dh lucked into this focus group, but he did one yesterday for Sony streaming products. Boy was he in his element. !! They were trying to get some feedback on a movie/music/game streaming service. Dh's input was, "Stick to the games." They want to jump into the streaming game, understandably, buy it's not like they can really compete with the likes of netflix. & as dh pointed out, he uses the Playstation network and is happy with it, but he is not buying a Playstation for every TV in his house (& obviously competing TV manufacturers will not put the Sony network on their TVs). So they have a lot of logistics to sort out.

$120... Which brings his focus group earnings to almost $500 for the month. He is probably disqualified from doing any more for a year. I think he was able to do this one because last one wasn't really a traditional focus group. They like you to do no more than one per year (though sometimes they fudge when they are desparate for participants).

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Oh, and a few things on the medical front:

1 - Dh had his annual MRI over the weekend. Holding our breaths (though at this point, no new is probably good news).

2 - A family friend is having facial nerve issues (the same nerves that my dh's brain tumor affected - face and ear). So, we are worried about him. He is unemployed, broke and has no (or crappy) health insurance. What a mess. {His net worth is probably negative, though he is in his 60s}.

3 - My mom got her first good blood test results since the flu I gave her in JANUARY. Her doctor was getting concerned about cancer and wanted her to get a CAT Scan. She was stubborn and refused, which I have very mixed feelings about. (CAT scan could have been overkill and I know there are radiation concerns with certain cancers, but I think she could have asked more about alternative tests. & lord knows when my dh's brain tumor ever would have been diagnosed without the hunch of his non-nuerologist Doctor - after two neurologists said he was 100% fine and needed no brain scan - so I really believe in Doctors' gut feelings and sometimes non-logical judgement). But since everything is back to normal, I don't think he is concerned about cancer now. Phew!!

I had to share because this seems to be one of those things where going cheap has never paid off for us (though always seems strongly encouraged by the frugies).

General rule of thumb is to only clean or replace or use up items "half as much" as recommended. Or even less. My other rule of thumb is I'd rather work (to pay someone else) than do a chore that I Can not stand. (There are plenty of chores that I don't mind and am not strongly opposed to. The list of chores I'd rather pay someone is pretty small, but makes life a lot nicer).

Carpet Cleaning...

We had someone come in and do the carpets for about $40 early on. Maybe every 2-3 years was a fine schedule. (I am sure they recommend every year).

Would I rather pay someone $40 to handle it or go through the hassle to rent out a cleaner. *no brainer*

Our carpet cleaning guy disappeared, and so we have been in carpet limbo for many many years. Saving Advice talked me into buying a carpet cleaner. Meh. I don't regret the purchase as it has come in handy (particularly in recent years) to clean up pet messes. BUT, cleaning the carpet would take probably days with this stupid thing and it's not very good (nothing at all compared to professional grade). So, I don't think it has been a useful purchase. But, hey, I got it and maybe cleaned the worst areas of the carpet once.

We were initially thinking of going petless when our cat passed, and new carpets were on the horizon. The kids had really thrashed the carpets (we were way too tired - with babies - to clean every spot as we went and deal with it at that point - a few years later and it's so overwhelming). The cat also did a doozie on the carpet in her final months.

Our family room is where most the cat/kid mess is, so it's not horrible - would just be one room to replace. We also had quite a cat mess in the other room (kept litter box in distant corner - no good non-carpet surface to keep it). I really wanted to clean that corner up ASAP but we didn't get a carpet cleaner out until this week.

This place was recommended as "reasonable" and awesome, and I checked online reviews to see "stains disappeared forever."

After being quoted to pay $150 for what we once paid $40, I was not sure on the "reasonable." One large room, a hallway, and the cat corner. Dh might have said "2 rooms and a hallway" which is a fair approximation. BUT, I had high hopes they would do a very good job, so we bit the bullet.

They came over at 10am yesterday. Dh called me around 1:00 yesterday to tell me they were still cleaning. O.M.G. {I think this speaks less to our mess and more to how thorough they were. Maybe a little of both}.

I was so pleased to come home to a house that did not *at all* smell like chemicals. They cleaned up the pet mess like new - it is sitting right now with a special enzyme treatment. The carpet looks brand new.

**The bad thing about this is I don't really see the point to clean them again for another 10 years or so. If we can abuse them like that and they can look this nice with one cleaning. **

& the word is the carpets will stay like this. The stains won't creep back up. So, will see...

As of today, I am a convert. Screw this do-it-yourself, or cheap carpet cleaning people. Do it right and we can keep this carpet for many decades (which is also way more environmentally sound).

So, we are going to give it a few months (see how things settle) and then probably get the stairs and the upstairs carpets cleaned. (They aren't bad at all as there are no shoes or food allowed upstairs. Cat did not mess much up there). At this rate it might be $200+ to get 3 rooms and our large/open hallway done, but I think it will be money very well spent. (We have never cleaned the upstairs carpet - so it probably could use a scrub). I am crossing "carpet replacement" off our to-do list. I am crossing it off our near-term and our long-term to-do list. I doubt we will replace this carpet ever. Since we only plan to be here another 15-ish years.

So, saving that much money in the long haul makes me VERY happy.

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In other semi-related news, the 2.75% 15-year refi is an evil temptress!! Dh and I had a long talk about it over the weekend. On some level I think we could mostly flip a coin. But, we keep coming across two sticking points when it comes to tying up all our cash in a 15-year mortgage:

1 - We strongly believe in balance. We definitely are the most relaxed we have ever been on one-income and I am reluctant to give that up. We both are. We are richer now and saving more than ever before, so it's not like we have to try as hard as when we were in our teens and 20s. (We also to this day still have less income than we did earlier on, with the one-income situation). As far as "richer" I mean we have more assets. Most our savings is getting invested and compounding since we have far less short-term savings goals and pressures.

2 - We keep coming back to the point that a 15-year mortgage would pay off our home around the time the kids graduate college. BUT, we were just starting to get to a place to *start* to save for college.

We feel like it is better to keep borrowing at 4% (which is hardly anything!) and to 100% never have to borrow again. I am not sure I want to put ourselves in a position to have to borrow (at a likely higher rate) for college. & yes, I have said many times I am not overly worried about it and that college is quite inexpensive here. But I also believe in keeping as many options open as possible. So, we both think it's probably better just to lock in a good 30-year rate for the future.

It's just hard for us to get worked up about the mortgage. We got to have somewhere to live and if we had rented this entire time we would have paid a gajillion dollars more. It's hard to get worked up about the $600/month interest we pay to live in our *dream home* in *California.* It's infinitely less interest and payments than we initially signed up for in 1999 (8.25% on first home. We were paying about $1400/month interest on a CONDO, and renting the condo would have been about $3k per month. This is why it's hard for me to freak out about our current mortgage situation. My housing "Set point" is crazy high. To rent our current home would be $2k per month).

& finally, what would my wiser financial mentors say? Keep the mortgage. Not forever, but just for now.

The reason the 2.75% is such an evil temptress is because we do expect more income and windfalls in the near future. I kind of feel like we should lock it in. BUT, we decided we don't count our eggs before they hatch. This is the most basic of financial principles that we have always followed. We will survive. I think we would survive if we refinanced too, but I think it would be unnecessary stress and pressure.

I am going to keep an eye on 25-year mortgage rates. Rates are getting low enough that it might make sense. I have to run the numbers and doubt we would do this today, but if rates stay low a while, this might be a better compromise.

Yes, I am keeping debt to stay out of debt. But I am choosing debt that has been good to us and we have never had a problem with.

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In other real estate news - I saw final sales price on recent home sale. They asked $375k and sold for $381k. Our home will definitely be worth $400k come summer (if not already). That $381k home sold in minutes. What I am curious about is if homes will zoom past $400k. It seems like a logical tipping point (that things would slow down at $399k) BUT with these low interest rates and home buyers being so "monthly payment focused," I will not be surprised if home prices blow past $400k this summer. I don't think it's sustainable in the least, but it's where things seem to be heading. Will see...

This puts our home at 50% equity. We did not overtly discuss this point in our refinance discussions, but may be in the back of my mind. The main reason we were hitting mortgage so hard in recent years was because we were losing so much equity. Was fighting just to keep 20% equity. Was very important to us to keep that flexibility. Succeeded - saved by the bell. We bottomed out right about 20% equity, and then things bounced back in a flash. It's less pressing now. We are still paying down mortgage much faster than historically, because of lower interest rates, and mortgage chips. So it's not like we are totally ignoring it and not paying down faster at all due to large amounts of equity. We have most certainly learned that equity comes and goes - just try our best to stay ahead of the curve. This time we lucked out. (It got awfully close towards the end of the bottom!!)

**I am very sad that I can't seem to find my MP3 player. These electronics are *way too small* these days!!

I will keep looking...

**I found one treat during my Saturday de-cluttering: a $100 Kohls gift card. What the... ??? Don't ask me. I am delighted I was stupid enough to lose it and forget about it, because it was a very nice surprise. {I'd generally think that I would never find anything like that because am so overly cautious with money}.

As to where it came from? You got me!! I am sure it was a credit card reward, but I will never know why I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. I will just have to enjoy it!!

I have not spent any money at Kohls in well over a year. Probably not much at all in a couple of years, with all the gift cards I had. So, I think this means I won't have to spend any money there this year either. I am hoping they still have the same pants I have been wearing for work - they are really nice but getting tired so I could use a couple of new pairs.

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**I don't think I rule much of anything out of my diet, as we just believe in moderation, BUT I am absolutely horrified by splenda and fake sugars. Especially when it comes to the kids.

So, going to the grocery store yesterday was kind of maddening. I wanted to stock up on some smoothie fixings (juice and frozen fruits) and lunch ideas for the kids.

I ended up doing like a $100 grocery run. Holy cow! So dh was helping me unpack and he pointed out the "light" juice I had gotten. *sigh* Of course it was filled with fake sugars. I will set it aside for our parents - whoever wants it. They are all way into fake sugar - fair enough that we each have a parent with diabetes. When I am old and diabetic I will probably be thankful for the fake sugar.

I told dh, "Ugh! Yeah, it was kind of maddening trying to find the "fat" and the "non-light" version of everything." & then I mindlessly grabbed some juice. Duh...

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So, today I made the kids lunch. I had got so many groceries that I told them no buying lunch this month. It's fine because dh had no plans to shop this week (he usually does a $100-ish grocery run every week). So, it just worked out.

I perused this website for ideas and kind of made a note of lunch items my kids like. BM is easy because he will pretty much eat anything. LM is more difficult, but probably less picky than most kids. These ideas can be used for adults too, to think of more lunch variety.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/19/school-lunch-rou...

Today we did...

LM: DIY pepperoni pizza lunchable & pistachios

BM: turky/pepper jack sandwich + carrots/ranch dip + boiled egg + pickles

Tomorrow...

Thinking tuna sandwich plus some sides. One day this week will have to do a big salad for BM - he LOVES salad. Now I have the containers to oblige him for lunch.

As an aside, the new lunch containers did not fit into the kids' lunch boxes. BUT, I found two that did fit. Phew!! One was a Christmas present from BM for LM (bought for like $5 on clearance) and the other was one I had stocked up on at some point. It looks smaller, but is bigger. Go figure.

I was just googling lunch ideas when I ran across this website. I've seen it before because I believe this is where I got the frozen popsicle mold idea for smoothies. (They are flexible and have lids, so are GREAT for lunches). The problem with our molds was they had a gross smell, which affected the taste of the smoothies. I have read to bathe the molds in baking powder and to try again. So, I need to do that this week - will try again. If we could get the smell out, I would totally buy more molds and do DIY popscicles from here on out.

**Redeemed $25 credit card reward (cash) and so added $25 to next mortgage payment.

I changed the due date of groceries/gas card so that I Can charge/pay easier on a calendar month basis. I believe there was a $5 charge between closing date and the 30th, and I decided to just pay that next month. *shrugs* It doesn't really matter either way.

I should do the same with my other credit card. I kind of like the later due date. But it's not due late enough for me to consider paying with the next payday, so it probably makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. I have to pay it off well before payday, regardless. I think it would make life easier. I should just shoot them an e-mail while I am thinking about it.

I got this idea because my Visa just happens to close around the 25th of the month. I always pay off the charges from 1/1-1/30 or 1/1 - 1/31, on a monthly basis. So it was this aha moment that I could still pay off the monthly charges even if all the charges don't make the statement cutoff. This makes calendar month credit card managing infinitely easier.

The credit card companies tend to process this request by "due date." So I have to ask for an "earlier due date." I don't imagine they get that kind of request very often.

**Tomorrow I should be able to redeem $50 credit card reward to my ROTH.

**Next week dh has a $120 focus group. In fact, today I think he was doing a follow up to last focus group (online?) for $50.

**Craigslist sales are not going well, but I am happy to donate that which we can not sell.

**I'd really like to take some time to declutter around the house. I don't expect there is much we can sell. We are way too efficient for that. But I think there is probably some junk we can get rid of. {Who knows - will see what I find}. Dh has got a bit of the declutter bug, which is motivating me to do another run-through of my own crap. With the changing weather and nearing summer birthdays, is probably also about time for a clothing and toy purge for the kids.

This weekend maybe I should just focus on the kitchen. We should get our tupperware delivered today and there are some cabinets in the kitchen we should probably go through.

It's only the past year or so we have talked very seriously about downsizing back to a condo once the kids are grown. So I think I am going to hit the de-cluttering with that mindset, this time. From here on out, I'd like to be ready pick up and move to a condo. Tomorrow. If that is what we so choose. It's a different decluttering mindset than I had before. More extreme, I guess. Before I felt a little bit of, "Meh, we have room for all this crap, so whatever." (Actually, I think my mindset before was, "We have way less crap than everyone else," but I don't think that is good enough).

**Dh got a $5 snowflake yesterday from Craigslist (sold baby monitors). Firstly, I wouldn't have bothered for anything less than $10, but he had so much to sell I suppose it was just whatever - since he was already going through all the hassle. Secondly, yeah, the baby stuff is all LONG GONE. But those have come in handy for a long time, and I am surprised he did not want to keep them. (Particularly for when he watched movies in our theater - impossible to hear the phone or door). We actually pretty much never used the baby monitors in a traditional sense. Just more so we could hear the kids getting into trouble when they were older. I could never sleep with a baby monitor and dh witnessed that I did not need one - he told me I always woke up before the kids started crying. (I don't think I would have known this otherwise - just would have assumed they woke me up crying). So, I found them rather useless versus mother intuition. But I know dh would sometimes watch movies while the kids were napping - stuff like that. So he'd use the baby monitors so he could hear what was going on in rest of house. Otherwise our house is not *that* big or spread out.

No bites on anything else, but we will just donate whatever we can't get rid of. A few toys, puzzles, books, games. I've got a small donate pile too.

**We cleaned up the house this past weekend, so, phew.

I finished most my deadlines at work yesterday. So, today I feel a huge sigh of relief. !! This weekend will regroup and figure what I am behind on - probably have quite a to-do list at home. Same kind of feeling at work. May pause and clean up a bit today, but still piles and piles of work to do - it's all just a little less pressing.

**Dh received an offer for an additional $50 if he did a follow up interview to huge focus group he just did. Cool!! He also has some unrelated $125 focus group this week.

**I should be able to redeem some nice credit card rewards this week (maybe $100 to ROTH and mortgage). Just from regular monthly usage of cards.

**I invested in some tupperware from Amazon and am pleased with what we got. I think I will return some of it though (got too much). Having just made do with hand-me-downs or whatever we have, this is a small but nice investment.

I told dh we should not spend any more money this month, so of course he looks at all the ads today. He shows me this huge tupperware set of a nice variety we already have (though just one or two pieces is all we have of this kind), on sale at Target for $15. I couldn't resist. We need to clear out the cupboards and start from scratch though. I think this set is way more than we need, but at that price we can donate or give away whatever we don't find useful. Heck, the return I have will cover this purchase.

**We are mostly prepared for our fur baby's arrival tomorrow, but our last pet had been declawed before we adopted her. So, it will be a bit of an adjustment. I have invested in a nice cat condo/tree/scratcher (Amazon - not sure when it will arrive). & a scratcher toy that I know my mom's cats love. Will start with that and go from there. I picked up a new pooper scooper yesterday and a couple of cat toys. I suppose we did not have much for old senior cat since she was not very active. We might have some toys somewhere if we can find them. So we bought a couple of the interim.

I am okay on everything else. I had tossed a couple of old litter boxes in my grief rather than clean them out and deal with them (I reasoned I had cloth diapered my kids, and I never throw away much anyway, so I would allow myself to be extremely wasteful in my grief), but I had also bought some larger litter boxes in effort to help aging cat and plan for vacation, so we still seem to have more than we need. One of the newer ones had never been used since kitty refused to use it. I did have the patience and mental capacity to clean the one newer litter box - way too nice to consider throwing out.

Since he will be recovering from neuter surgery, we will fashion him a cardboard box fort to hide in, in the interim. I know I had more cat stuff at some point but not sure where any of it is - probably donated. I used to have a nice cube, but all I could figure is cat didn't use it and we got rid of it. Cardboard will due until the new cat condo arrives.

**Carpet is getting cleaned a week from Monday. A highly recommended place; just really booked up. We have some mess to clean up from old senior cat. Too bad we didn't get it done sooner - it's just been so hectic. I will be pleased to get that done.

Better news yet, dh told me he would go through a Craigslist pile we have in the living room. He feels motivated to clear space for carpet cleaning. Awesome!! Maybe we have enough to sell to pay for the carpet cleaning?

**Speaking of cleaning up around the house, dh is finally caving on replacing the garbage disposal. I really wanted to about 18 months ago but he was being cheap. It's actually been behaving pretty well, but we have a small leak and we think that might be the culprit. It's beyond time. So I am very happy to get that taken care of.

**Dh has been complaining profusely to Sprint about slow 3G. They are knocking $10/month off our bill, but we have to call each and every month for the credit. We have 12 more months on our contract. We did solve some of the mystery. The higher populated areas have more troubles because too many users sharing bandwith. Dh figured that out, and it was our "aha" moment. No wonder we get such fast internet speeds when in the middle of nowhere. Sprint even admitted they were slowing down the 3G while implementing the 4G, which is why they issued the credit. But they also said 4G would be here any day. Like they didn't tell us that 12 months ago. If they don't get it rolled out, we will be long gone. Dh will complain more in coming months. This is totally ridiculous. We might go crawling back to Verizon. Their prices have come down, and we at least know what our usage is. We had no frame of reference before using a data plan. Now we know what we want in a plan and can make a more informed decision. I don't regret using Sprint for the transition because it really was cheapest. & at least dh gets an answer as to why they seem to be getting slower and slower. I hope it is indeed because they are rolling out 4G. For my pocketbook, I hope they just roll the dang thing out so we can stay with Sprint. But I agree with paying a little more so that our phone internet actually works and dh can use phone for what he actually wants to use it for. Fair enough.

**Kids have been complaining about old Frankenstein computer that dh cobbled together for him. So dh broached subject with me. He kind of was talking about one or two computers to replace. I told him I'd rather buy two $500 computers than one $1,000 computer. But again, maybe this could wait another year. HE didn't think he had replaced his computer since 2009, and that it might be wiser to hand down his computer and buy up. My response was: Whatever!! So I finally got around to looking it up today. What happened is the computer he had before just died very prematurely, and it screwed up everything after that. Ideally we would have handed that last one down to the kids, and it would have been much newer. So I just remember it being very annoying, unexpected and $$$$.

So I look it up. We haven't bought a computer since 2008. !!! You could blow me over with a feather. Particularly since dh has no issues and no desire to upgrade.

So I just told him we were both wrong and the good news is we have not bought one single computer in 5 years. (He had guessed it had been 4 years).

So anyway, I think it's fair for him to upgrade and to give the kids this system - it should have a lot of life in it and fulfill their growing needs. Dh is considering getting a laptop too, to replace our netbook. I am totally fine with the netbook. But I am much more open to this investment at this point. Then the kids have access to two computers for schoolwork and gaming. They won't touch my netbook any more. Dh gets super fast desktop. We all win. I feel like dh is always buying computer and computer parts, so this whole thing just floored me. We did upgrade our monitors during last few years, but apparently that was a wise investment during some "no computer purchase" years. (I think some of that was even more my idea). I told him, "I guess it's been all the TVs lately - it all blurs together."

**& that reminds me, the $50 Amazon TV part fix seems to be working. *fingers crossed.* So, hallelujah to that.

What a week!!

I did get last weekend off, but it was kind of hectic with robot wars and such. Which, by the way, was totally awesome. We also got to meet Grant from Mythbusters.

This week was totally insane crazy, but I finished my deadlines around 3pm Friday so I left work. Just, exhausted. I've still got a ton to do, and a couple of deadlines. But I was so determined to not have to work this weekend. So, I think the worst is over. Phew!! Maybe one more week of OT and then it should be pretty 9-5. I will also get a couple of 3-day-weekends in May.

I am very delighted to have a quiet weekend.

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There are a large number of no-kill groups that foster shelter cats and showcase them at local pet stores at the weekends. For reference, I have felt compelled to take one of those cats home in the past though I could in no way shape or form do so. So, we have been by quite a few times, but I swear all the cats sleep and totally ignore us. Learning about the groups has warmed my heart and we have seen quite a few elderly cats gets adopted surprisingly fast. So it's been all good, but I couldn't feel any more like I was getting a signal from the universe that it was *not* time to get a cat. {I am not sure I have ever in my life seen a bunch of homeless cats and been able to resist}.

Dh and I even went to the shelter one day - same kind of thing. Dh even told me he had never adopted a shelter pet, and it was kind of weird and how do you know if it's a good fit? I told him, "You know. Nothing's grabbed me yet, but you will know when you find the right one." So we talked about how we just weren't clicking with any of the animals.

So, anyway, there was this beautiful cat that really caught my attention on the shelter website. They have $5 adoptions for adult cats on Fridays. So I told dh if I finished all my work I would take it as a sign and we should meet up when the kids get out of school.

There were also two black kittens there. I know - bad bad bad!!! Ideally we want a 1 or 2yo cat. BUT, I reason, what's the difference really? IF they are 6 months, they will be 1yo soon enough.

So I did finish my work early, only to find the cat that got me so excited had been adopted out already. But I was committed to perusing the shelter and getting out early. & heck, maybe we could sucker dh into those kittens. (Lord knows if we looked at kittens with the kids, we were coming home with them).

I did notice a pretty Siamese cat that had just been posted to the shelter website, so noted that one.

Shelter is very short-staffed, unorganized and frustrating. It took forever to get to meet this cat, and I wasn't expecting much. Next was going to be the kittens, and lord knows how long this would take, we didn't have a lot of time before closing. Well, they brought out the Siamese and we all fell in love with him. That was it, I did not want to look at any other cats. By some miracle, we all four actually agreed, so what more can you ask for? That is as good as it's going to get.

This is not him, but his general likeness:



He needs to get neutered, so we won't get him until Monday. Which is good, because I probably have some clean up to do around here, first.

Some name ideas:

Senor Chang

Sir Catsalot

(I like Ziggy, but no one else does). We will give it some time. We still don't have a strong sense of his personality, from our brief meeting.

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The shelter experience?

When I adopted my last cat, she had been abandoned by prior owner. They had filled out a questionnaire a mile long, that I still have. Then, I remember them absolutely grilling me and giving me the third degree. To be fair, it was the first cat I had ever owned as an adult, and they were mostly concerned that we both worked full-time and cat would be alone. That is what I remember them grilling me about.

This shelter experience? Gah. Supposedly the owner dropped him off yesterday - surrendered. But he didn't know the cat's name or sex. ??? What is that about? I've got nothing. (That was all they really asked on their questionnaire. Not what kind of food he eats, favorite toys, personality, yadda yadda). I am skeptical if he was someone's pet or what the heck. But he warmed up to us pretty fast and all you can do is go with your gut.

& yeah, he hadn't been neutered, so that kind of sucks that we have to deal with that. That we get to bring him home fresh from surgery.

Oh, and then they kind of just shrugged and took our $5 and that was that. No third degree this time, for sure. They seemed happy that we were alive and breathing, and that fit their requirements to be good pet owners. Maybe having a record of keeping one cat for its whole long life was good enough for them - we had filled out a brief questionnaire.

So, the whole thing was kind of weird. I feel like we are flying in very blind. But kitty needs a home, so what can you do? (We live in a different city now, but is helping me to appreciate how well run the other shelter was).

He is 1-year-old so I think he will be a good fit for the kids. A little more high energy than they are used to.

We finally got around to watching Kumare on Netflix. I thought it was excellent. The movie is about a man who pretends to be a spiritual guru and gathers a following - "hoping to prove the absurdity of blind faith." It wasn't quite as I expected, it's a movie that will really make you think.

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I don't know if I have ever particularly had brussel sprouts before. There were some brussel sprouts at Easter and I was pleasantly surprised how good they were. So dh tried a new recipe last night - we are brussel sprout converts. Even LM (the picky one) didn't think they were bad. BM (not picky) was not a fan.

Roasted Garlic Brussel Sprouts

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roa...

MIL's recipe was just to roast in the oven with some salt and pepper blend. Probably tossed in olive oil. YUM.

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I invested in some tupperware last night. I got some divided containers so I could spice up the kids lunch a bit, and fulfilled some container needs we have. I just went with the cheap plastic stuff because most our current stuff is "disposable" or "came with food packaging" type stuff that has lasted many many years for us. So, it was not a big investment. Will see what works for us and at that point can buy more of what we like, and can clear out some of the old/sad stuff in our cupboards. It was a small investment, but will be a nice one. I also invested in some re-useable watter bottles.

Well, the *big* push at work is over, but I can't say things have slowed much. Still crazy busy for a while.

I did receive a very nice OT check. That said, I did not clear more than last year because of our tax situation. It's a bummer to earn more but to bring home less. So, I have $4700 for our China fund. I saved 100%, as was the plan. (This was also the first time I did not receive straight OT - definitely a bit of a bonus, which was nice!)

I was looking at our checkbook today trying to figure why I was feeling worse off than expected. But realized we still have not received dh's $400 for study. That will be much better. It really should have been here by now.

Dh is cute. He was surprised I was planning to save 100% of OT with upcoming car repairs. Silly boy. (We save for car repairs throughout the year, and he should know this).

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Having always driven much older cars, there seems to be a pattern where certain cars eat through certain parts quite often. On dh's car it has always been the motor mounts. We took it in and was as I had expected. Oh well - is the only thing we have ever really replaced first 150k miles (aside from the obvious - batteries, tires, brake pads). But it's definitely official - this car eats motor mounts! (Replacing them every 50k miles or so is infinitely cheaper than buying up in car - plan to keep this car another 5+ years).

Mechanic recommended that we replace the timing belt (probably should have done sooner, but don't take vehicle in very much). So, I thought we had replaced some belt around 100k miles but realized it was just the fan belt when I looked it up. We decided not to drive the car until we can get it back in - might be in the shop two days. So kind of an inconvenient week. We take it back tomorrow, as they were too booked to just keep the car. This will be by far the most expensive repair we have ever had on this car - and don't expect anything like this for a long while. The vehicle is very low maintenance, but belts and such do need to be replaced when you keep a car a long time.

While checking records I noted we will probably have a couple of tires to replace on dh's car this summer. Will wait until late summer, but will be good to replace before fall.

Mr. Money Mustache had a post about the amazing health benefits of walking.

I've got other stuff to blog about, but holy cow was this post timely.

So, we will never win any awards for walking, as the neighborhood we live in initially had a -0- walkability score. So, I hardly doubt we deserve any pat on the back for our walking skills. But I have griped on here before (particularly when kids were little) how I saw little use for strollers. How it bothered us how low expectations parents have for their kids to walk on their own two feet. & now I am pondering how that translates into lifelong habits.

This particularly came up this week because dh was watching other children. We live about 3 blocks from the school (though BM has been moved to another campus with the older kids - they outgrew the first location). Even after driving to pick up BM, dh just walks to pick up LM. It is the path of least resistance. The traffic is totally crazy. & by the time you find a place to walk and park, you might as well just go home and walk. So, the other day LM had arranged a play date and dh picks up this kid. He said, "OMG this kid walked SO SLOW." For reference, this kid is 8. So, anyway, they are just walking home and no rush, so whatever. But, he had to walk him back to school to meet up with the kids' mom. So, this kid is driving dh nuts because he is so slow and whiny about the whole thing.

So, it is what it is. Don't offer to walk him back to school - mom can pick him up next time. Except, he had agreed to babysit some other kids the other night. But when he picked up BM from school (& Was in a rush to get LM picked up immediately after) they had begged dh to just take them home with him for a playdate. Which was no biggie, but by the time he gets all their crap from the mom and everything and they arrange things, he is running really late to pick up LM. Plus, he has no room in his car for a fourth child. So, they drive home and walk to school. He's got a kindergardener with him now. & the kid is about as whiny and slow as the 8yo. & he asked dh to carry him. !!

So, dh has just had enough with these kids. I could maybe kind of sort of cut the Kinder some slack (he is 5), just based on our culture. BUT, then again, the 8yo is whiny and slow because no one made him walk anywhere when he was 5.

In the end, dh made them all walk on their own two feet, and they all survived.

The funny thing is when I came home, totally clueless, I had asked the kids if they wanted to go to the park. Good thing they said no, because it was a bit of a walk. LOL. I could just see their reaction if we started walking to the park - dh should have warned me!!

But again, this is our observations as suburbanites who probably walk infinitely less than we should. Mr. Money Mustaches posts often about how absurd and illogical our car habits are. This just kind of falls into that realm.

I also have one more observation on car culture. We are the weird/unique ones in our neighborhood who walk whenever it's 3 blocks or less. There are reasons people regularly drive one to three blocks (to neighbor's home, to park, to pool). One reason is time. They feel really pressed for time. But the less obvious reason is "crap." There is a really strong correlation between how big your car is, how much you use it, and how much crap you must carry with you everywhere you go. Of course, my first child was born in 2003. It was the height of SUV/monstrosity travel system stroller culture. We just never quite *got it.* We did fine with our small vehicle because we never bought into the crap. {I've actually been noticing that both cars and baby gear are slimming down in recent years. Thank Goodness! Not everyone has to go small, but some of us would like the *choice*}. So I really noticed this when it came to baby crap. Of course, planning to cut our income in half at the time, we were thinking through to what we really needed and what we could live without. Obviously we could live without SUVs. & then what followed was needing baby gear that was small and compact, so that became our focus. As well as simply doing without a lot of unnecessary crap. (& even if we had a large car, we still had a preference for more light and compact stuff - I don't think that would change things for us).

But anyway, I think my neighbor is the epitome of all this. I totally lover her, but she can not walk anywhere. She regularly drives the 1/8 mile or so to our house. The 3 blocks to the park or the pool. Why? Because you can't go to the park without 5 wheeled toys for 2 children. You load up the car. You can't go to the pool without a feast and a pile of toys. Load up the car. & so I think there is a strong correlation between walking and *stuff*. We regularly walk to the park and the pool, and I have no idea why we would need to bring anything we can't carry. It is just so much SIMPLER.

So there you go: The Auto Crap Trap

Crazy busy with work these days. I think I am over the hump, but feeling pretty "blah." I decided it's probably understandable since we put our cat down and I haven't had a lot of time or energy to process that. My mom has also been having health problems. So, I don't think life will magically be all happy after April 15th, but maybe I can start putting myself first again (better eating, sleeping and exercise habits). I have been letting those things slide, quite unusual for me even during tax season. So, I learned that it doesn't work and to put myself FIRST. Because everything else seems to follow from there.

It will be busy for a while, but am looking forward to a 3-day weekend in mid-May.

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So, I have a million things I could blog about, but will leave it to a couple of good links.

My Money Blog paid off his mortgage. (Which as I recall, was a crazy gigantic mortgage** - $500k+ range - somewhere in California). I will share the link because the reasoning was interesting. He had been planning to be a stay-home dad, but since baby was born, they have abandoned that plan. His wife wants to be home more, he is not as interested, and so they are doing the both-part-time thing for now. I think this is so important because most parents won't really know what they want to do until child is born. I have often said if I had to do it all over we would have done the both-part-time thing. Some parents are cut out for being home full-time with 10 kids, and some are CEO work-out-of-home types, but I think the vast majority of us fall somewhere in the middle. & I think it's hard to even know what *type* you are until you actually have a baby. You won't know until you have *your* baby. & even once you have your first child, your next child may be an entirely different experience. I would say working was never *any* big deal with my eldest (I went back after 8 weeks), but was more difficult when my younger was aged 0-3. So I was thinking seriously of cutting back for a time, but now all that is so moot any more. Both kids are in school now (age 8/10) and are becoming infinitely more independent by the day. It's amazing how much circumstances change so rapidly with kids. The more you plan for various scenarios the happier you are going to be as a parent, so I think this was very much worth sharing: Surprise surprise, another new parent falls to Plan B. (I think this happens more often than not, but I don't think most people are nearly as prepared for these scenarios).

**As to the "crazy gigantic mortgage" comment - I don't think it's that big of a deal since he is quite young and mortgage-free. But, just to point out that this was no small feat, to pay off a very large sum on the extremely young side.

So, congrats to MyMoneyBlog for being debt-free!!

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/paid-off-mortgage.html

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Mr. Money Mustache also had an awesome potentially life-changing post. I really think this is the *key* to happiness:

A Peak Life is Lived Off-Peak

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/04/07/a-peak-life-is-liv...

Basically, if you want to be happy, don't waste a lot of time in line and sitting in traffic. It's easier to find happiness when you aren't following the herd.

I can think of many examples big to small, and is a common theme in my own blog.

What is leaves me pondering is how much of this is just in my very nature? No doubt that we understand this on a very HUGE scale having made our low-cost-of-living move. We wanted to make life 10 times more simpler? We picked up and moved to a "far less desirable" region. Which has always been funny to us, because it feels virtually identical to where we have moved from. Except without all the downsides of extreme over-crowding. !! So you could argue that maybe it's just easier for us to see the benefit of living more off-peak. It's hard to ignore when you change your life so dramatically with such a small move. BUT, I think there is more to it than that. What came first, the chicken or the egg. Why are we the only ones in a large group of very intelligent friends and family who said, "Screw this, I am out of here!" You really have to delude yourself to believe that you live in the only place in the universe worth living, the only place you can be happy, and that it's worth paying $700,000 for that 2-bedroom starter home. Dh and I just never quite *got it* and that was with an emotional attachment to the only city we had ever called home. But we had enough common sense to realize life could be better elsewhere. Or at least just as good. But it turned out way better, which was maybe the surprising part to us.

So, I think we probably have off-peak tendencies anyway. It might just be our natural inclination to seek out the "different."

Side note: I also think this is why I don't see "traditional 9-5 work" and "happiness" as mutually exclusive. My job allows plenty of "off-peak" living opportunities. & so I will disagree a bit with the Money Mustache about how limiting the 9-5 job is. It is limiting, no doubt, but jobs come in all shapes and sizes. I have always had a very short/easy commute and a flexible job with plenty of off-peak time to enjoy. These are important to me in a job, and I seek out these jobs very specifically due to my personal preferences. But this maybe explains why I come across so much, "It's impossible to work 9-5 and be happy!" & why I have absolutely never understood that on any level. It's because we are living a largely off-peak life, regardless of my employment. It is interesting food for thought, and I think it's important because some of us enjoy working and more of us *have to* work. So the more we figure out how to balance work and life, the more of us will truly be happy.

**Got paid, so paid the mortgage and property taxes. Added $25 to the mortgage (credit card rewards).

With the "big picture" and home prices rising, will probably shift from less mortgage snowballing to more mortgage snowflaking. Snowflaking I am very fine with (and can accomplish a lot over time). But we've only been extra fierce the last couple of years because we were hanging tight to our 20% equity. Now that we have an "easy 50% equity," just not feeling the motivation. Have other more important financial goals. Like maybe actually starting to save for college. Probably a catchall mortgage/college/freedom fund. I like the idea of just doing 50/50 to mortgage/investing, but I think with so many upward pressures on expenses and downward pressures on income for the foreseeable future that we will instead to "lots of saving and investing" and throw some of the entirely unexpected at the mortgage.

**Redeemed $50 credit card rewards to my ROTH - will have another $50 on May 1st.

**Dh is in the middle of an intense study from the focus group company. I turned down an easy $80 because it was like today, and I ignored calls for several others. I just couldn't add one thing to my workload (it's almost the 15th!!! Will be working 7 days this week). {Of course, they haven't called me in ages, but when it rains it pours}. & anyway, dh was busy with his own study, tonight. It's been a big time commitment - maybe 8 hours?? But they will pay him $400 and it all can be done from home. Some kind of study about making dinner. But he had to go to a friend's house to watch them make dinner, which was tonight. I suppose that adds another couple of hours to the mix, the the bulk of it has been doing things he'd do anyway (like make dinner or go to a friend's for dinner).

This reminds me, a co-worker looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned this study. LOL. I keep thinking that the "Mustachian" mindset is subtle. You can jive with someone really frugal and fiscally conservative 99% of the time, and then something like this and they think you are totally crazy. Co-worker does realize my spouse is unemployed? I understand why she would not consider with her very high income household and with their crazy schedule. But, cut me some slack...

**One problem. Credit card got denied the other day. Turns out a merchant had a security breach and our card issuer was being cautious. Which explains why they hadn't bothered to call me, because it was a wide breach and they changed the numbers on a side swath of credit cards, it seems.

Anyway, since I tried to use the card and called, they told me they would expedite my card replacements. As they had not initially expedited them. I could also keep using the old card until Friday. EXCEPT that when I called the card issuer, they no longer recognized my credit card number. Took forever to find a human to talk to - SO frustrating.

I figured it would straighten out in a few days. It mostly has. But I ordered that wearable sleeping bag for BM. We received it lightning fast, but it's not showing up on my credit card bill at all. Not showing up as pending. Nowhere.

To top it off, now that we got it and got to see the size and see if it works as well as person, I Was ready to buy one for LM. We decided to do child size for him, which is WAY cheaper. SO I just ordered it. Wonder if they will accept my order or if I am on the deadbeat list. I will eventually straighten it out. When I called the credit card company they told me it was a "new thing that they hadn't researched yet" so basically couldn't tell me anything. They couldn't tell me if there were fraudulent charges on my card. I wonder if there was some suspicious charges that they just removed. Not usually their M.O. But I am sure something less noticeable could easily be missing from my bill.

Our online backup usually goes through the first of the month and that never came through either. So dh will have to straighten that out. He's got to update our new card # with Hulu and Netflix too. Most the utilities and insurance only take Visa, so it's kind of spread out so it's not a huge headache to update everything. I updated Amazon and our health insurer.

**Easter was really nice.

IT's been very sunny here actually. Our gas bill was about 50% of what it was last year. We turned off the heat in later February, I believe. I guess that is official that it's more mild than last year. BUT, it was a very stormy weekend. In the end it turns out it worked out for the best to be out of town. Usually our weather is pretty similar to San Jose (we get the same storms anyway). But yesterday Sacramento was more crazy T-storms and even a funnel cloud spotted. We were 100 miles south enjoying beautiful sunny weather. If we knew it would have been so nice, MIL would have cleaned up the pool. Easter is usually a pool party, but every few years we get a storm. So anyway, the storm never materialized down there. I was so relieved to *enjoy* the sun, as I have been working too much to really enjoy the nice weather. The drive home was okay as we waited out the storms. We did pass through an area with a funnel cloud warning. I Was reading all the weather reports on the drive home. So, was happy to get home. Lots of WANRING: DANGER kind of stuff. Wind and floods and dangerous lightning. In the end we didn't see any hail and only drove through a few minutes of heavy rain. Phew! I Was expecting more of a show, but we really didn't see much lightning.

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**I am not sure what has changed from before to now, but dh has been really unhappy with Sprint. Maybe he always has and was getting more frustrated. He called to complain a couple of weeks ago, and they said they wanted to make sure they tried this and that before starting to talk about discounting our bill. Well, they called him back a few days later - actually left him a message while we were at our *final* vet appointment. So, he didn't want to deal with it right then and never called them back to complain whatever they did wasn't helping.

So on the drive down he was griping about it. While in San Jose I talked to my dad about it and he had a long list of complaints too (We share a phone plan - and they both have the same phone).

So on the drive home I told dh he should talk to my dad about it before he calls back. Make sure to report his complaints too. While we were talking about it he handed me his phone to do some speed tests. I Was getting 100 mbps in several spots (even one mile from our home which is basically the middle of a giant city, incidentally where dh spends most his time and got the *worst* readings). 100 mbps download, when they advertise a minimum of 1,000. OF course dh was peeved as the entire drive home I kept picking up, 200, 300, 500, 800. 100 was just the nail in the coffin. I got *one* reading of 1,000+ on a 100-mile drive.

In addition, dh is really peeved with their 4G advertising. We get 4G in the dinkiest towns, and that is it. He didn't necessarily expect it in Sacramento, but is realizing if they can't pull it off anywhere in the Bay Area, that they probably don't have the infrastructure. (That would be a logical place to start - where are the techies and reviewers are). So he did expect to enjoy in the Bay Area by now, as they of course told us "4G is being rolled out" when we signed up a year ago. We regularly get 4G in the car when driving past cow pastures. But that is it. !! Needless to say, their advertising was misleading.

So dh will work on getting some kind of action, help or discount. In the meantime, T-Mobile is rolling out an interesting plan where they are offering "no contract/unsubsidized phone" plans. & what they will do is add $20/month to your bill until your phone is paid off. (Or you can just buy a non-contract phone, probably elsewhere).

So, dh is going to talk seriously to Sprint about the cost to get out of our contract. & will be re-visiting Ting and other options. I think T-mobile won't be any better speed-wise. But, basically, we are at, "I ain't paying a gazillion dollars for this $%&^ if it doesn't work as advertised. T-mobile can give us the same crappy service for $50 less per month."

So we have some serious research and number crunching to do. We may be stuck with Sprint several more months due to the contract. IT was never our intention to stick with them for the long run. We still believe in other options and more cell phone competition, and are waiting for some of the other services to mature. But, I suppose there was an element of being willing to pay a little more for high expectations. Likewise, we had no baseline of what our data or text usage would be and now that we have that information we can start making some better informed decisions. Overall, the industry is still ridiculously priced for what it is. Time to Seriously Consider Plan B.

**Yikes!! We had a super crazy big storm last night. It was hard to get a good night sleep. The thunder was shaking the house. I don't believe I have ever seen such a big storm in California.

**I am glad dh is on the ball because I totally spaced on Easter. The kids seemed so excited about it, and I wasn't entirely sure why. I even teased them and said, "Looking forward to 4 hours in the car??" Because lord knows I am not. I am happy to go see family, eat some good food, and get out of my environment (work work work). But, not thrilled to be in the car 4 hours round trip. Dh's cousin used to host locally, but no longer does. Easter before April 15th is a little brutal. If it wasn't Easter, I would absolutely be working today. (I admit I enjoy the excuse for a break though).

Anyway, so it finally hits me that the kids are excited about their Easter baskets. We never did that when I Was a child, and kids figured out Santa/Easter/yadda yadda MANY years ago. So the thought didn't even cross my mind. It's totally dh's thing anyway. But told him I was glad that someone was paying attention. (HE also tends to spend insane sums and drives me nuts, but it probably fell under my radar this year because I didn't notice. He might have spent a large sum, but it fit in the grocery budget and I never saw the receipt. Or maybe he scaled it back a bit).

**WE did DIY pizza lunchables yesterday and they turned out well (see last post). No pre-planning, but most of the stuff was on sale. Dh just happened to do a grocery run yesterday and so picked up some english muffins, pizza sauce, and pepperoni. I determined the cost was about 1/3 of the lunchable price, per serving (they were on sale - so just compared to sale price, as not sure what full price is). & these costs could be brought down considerably by stocking up on sale, making tomato sauce and/or dough from scratch or with canned tomato sauce, or hitting the discount bread store (where I often get english muffins for much less; free even). To be fair, I didn't count the cost of adding spices, garlic, onions, cheese, etc., because these items are always bought in bulk and are abundant in our home.

Anyway, we made them in the toaster oven and was success!! This would also be a good way to use up leftovers (for pizza toppings).

**The kids' dentist stopped giving cash discount on credit card payments. LM had to go back for some sealants, so had dh just take a check. (I'd hesitate, but it was the last weekday of the month, and was going to pay it off next week anyway, and actually had some cash in the checking account). Glad we did that on a small amount, because they lowered the cash discount to 8%. Credit card discount is 5%. I get 2% back on my credit card. So only losing about 1.1% by paying on credit card. (IF we charge 95% of the full price and get 2% of that back, versus just paying 92% of full price).

We decided we won't bother to pay by cash or check again.

The loss of discount is a bummer, but our new local dentist is dirt cheap (for dh and I), and so we are saving several hundred dollars on our dental bills. & eventually we will switch the kids over which will save us TONS.

**Expecting some OT money in April. Our plan is to 100% save for potential China trip. Regardless, 100% to savings. Unfortunately, I haven't found international travel to be very motivating. (Just not my thing). I think I need a more exciting goal (for me) next year. It's more like an opportunity I feel we shouldn't pass up than anything I am actually that enthused about. In fact, there has been talk of NOT going, and I like that. So many other things I would much rather do with $10k-ish dollars than blow it all on a one-week trip. !! So, will see.

Anyway, I am thinking through purchases I want to do with our cash infusion (also got $300 for doing Grandma's taxes, which will allow 100% savings for the rest). I went ahead and ordered the "wearable sleeping bag" for BM. I Was clear with him that this is an advance on his birthday present. Between this and his Europe trip and college classes, not to expect anything else. I just wanted him to have the sleeping bag before camp in June. We had decided to get it a while ago, but just never got around to it. & if they both really like it, we will buy a second one for LM. It's just that BM literally lives in his sleeping bag, so when I saw this I knew it was perfect. !! We want to check out the size and functionality before we commit to a second purchase. They both could use sleeping bag upgrades anyway, so helps me to stomach the cost.

I am also thinking of investing $25-ish in some tupperware for them - like lunchable style. So, I think those are my big splurges. We pretty much had a prosperous year last year and caught up on some long pent-up purchases. I don't really have anything retail on my horizon. (Last year we finally got LM a bed, got some furniture, upgraded to smart phones, and replaced some appliances and stuff around the house).

Er, I lied. I would like to buy a side table for the other side of our couch. I need to peruse Craigslist heavily. I might set aside $20-ish for that too. Nothing fancy - just need something functional as it won't be very visible. I'd buy a matching table but can't find the one I bought last year, again. Bummer!

I am finding habits still hard to implement. I wrote that note that said "coupons/used" and put it in my wallet. The problem was that I didn't grab my wallet until I Was practically done with my online purchase of this sleeping bag. (& when I buy things on Amazon I don't look at my wallet since my credit card info is stored). TO be fair, I researched like crazy a couple of months ago, and so felt ready to just purchase. But when I was checking out it asked for a coupon code, so I dug furiously for one. Never found one. I Didn't see my note until I Was ready to pay, so I perused ebay and Craigslist when I saw my note. IT still bugs me that I could make any purchase for $100+ without taking those obvious steps first. & somewhat ironic since there are so many things I would never think to buy full price or "new." Maybe the note will get it through my brain. !! This thinking really should apply to *everything.*

**I still have mixed feelings if we are ready for a new pet, but might peruse the shelter this week. Cat adoptions (age 1+; which is our target anyway) are $5 on Fridays. I threw that in there to say I don't think I need to set any money aside for cat adoption. I paid $80 to adopt my last cat and that still seems to be the going rate (to cover all the vet stuff that the shelters take care of). Of course, I will probably be a sucker and donate some money to the shelter anyway. But, I can do that at the end of the year, versus now when I just spent a pile on vet bills and am taking on a completely unknown cat.

Mr. Money Mustache had a totally awesome article yesterday. About how the best gift we can give our kids is teaching them to work for what they want (versus handing them a materialistic lifestyle).

Just some good stuff, especially for parents. We were raised that way anyway, but it becomes clearer as parents. Do we want to work more and ignore the kids so we can buy them whatever they desire? OR do we actually want to spend time with them and teach them how to thrive? I am very secure that I don't need to spend $1,000 at Christmas or provide my kids a six-figure education. We have all thrived very well without all that.

& to be clear, I don't think this is an impossible thing to get if you have more "spoiling" parents. My bff and my spouse were spoiled rotten in comparison to me (free cars, free educations, free rent, my bff never worked until she graduated college. !!) But they are also both the most fiscally responsible people I know. BUT, that said, they were never handed a materialistic lifestyle either. They were given some nice things, but never taught to expect it. Cars and college can be useful (& neither had a six-figure education or a fancy car or anything like that. Lord knows the car I paid for was more useful than the piece of crap my spouse drove when I met him). I think what's important in these cases was they weren't spoiled on a material level and weren't just handed anything they asked for. I do believe in moderation. I think I Can teach my kids all the same lessons without being quite so extreme as my parents.

I am too lazy to link it - just google it - I think I might have the MMM website on my sidebar.

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The To-Dos are going okay. I got my parents' tax return done. Not much to it and my dad way over-estimated income from my Grandma's estate. Some of it won't be reported until 2013. Other taxable reporting wasn't as expected. So, we wasted a big fat tax-free ROTH conversion opportunity. Bummer!!

Which reminds me, I misunderstood on their health insurance. It is only $1800/month for the two of them. I thought they were EACH paying that. Nothing surprises me when it comes to healthcare... But if you thought I was crazy, I was. !!

& I also got Grandma-in-law's tax return done. She insists on paying me $300, so dh will get the check from her on Easter. It was probably fair in the past as her investments are a tax nightmare. I think she is a case where her broker is making her broker. Way more complicated than any of my wealthy clients, and she just does not have a lot. But anyway, I was able to import 100% of everything electronically, so probably saved me hours. I told her how little time I spent on it this year and she didn't have to pay me, but she is a Grandma.

So, I feel relieved to get those off my back. I filed and paid ages ago, for us and the kids. I don't generally do any other taxes (out of the kindness of my heart), but Grandma and parents are okay. Otherwise, I am just happy to *survive* every tax season. Not willing to do a lot of tax returns for others, pay or no pay.

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Here is a yummy/easy recipe:

Mozzarella Beef Roll-Ups Recipe

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mozzarella-beef-roll-ups

Pizza-flavored roll-ups...

I was thinking to these today because had kids had asked for lunchables last time I took them to the store. I said, "Are you crazy?"

Anyway, dh was telling me how they were being very generous in the sample department today. They were selling two servings of apple sauce in disposable plastic bags. $4 for 2 servings. O.M.G. But they were giving away single servings. He said he was a little taken aback that they would give away a "$2" sample. But also launched a discussion with how ridiculous and wasteful those food packagings are. (I actually often take apple sauce to work, in reusable containers).

So, then it got me thinking that I needed to do some DIY lunchables at home. The kids told me they liked the pizza ones and I immediately thought to this recipe. Tortillas and pre-made pizza sauce would make a good base. Pepperoni and shredded cheese is often on hand anyway. Then I saw the idea to use english muffins. I like that! Bagels would probably be even better for my high-caloric-needs children, but BM informed me he does not like bagels. ??? So I will try english muffins. Tortillas or sandwich thins would work too. I think my kids would starve, is all.

We really need to work on spicing up their lunches. We let them buy twice a week (good value, and they will eat all the veggies). But it's usually literally PBJ 3 days a week. I try to throw in snacks or make them other sandwiches when I make them lunch. But I don't think I have made them lunch since December. Poor kids!! Anyway, I think I will invest in some compartmentalized tupperware and try to get a little more creative.

I also bought some frozen smoothie molds last year, but the experiment failed because the plastic smelled terrible. I think we are in general extra sensitive to that stuff since we try to avoid a lot of chemicals. (It's a theory, I could be totally wrong). As maybe a small percentage of reviewers mentioned the smell, but most seemed to think we are just crazy. !! Well, I am not surprised that we would be the ones to be unable to deal with the scent of the plastic. Anyway, I was looking those up again because I also think those would be GREAT for school lunch and I love making frozen smoothies. So I saw the tip to soak those in baking soda to get out the smell. I will give it a try.

This is an important lesson for the kids. You can have it, but let's be respectful of the environment and our dollars... So instead of always saying, "no," we instead say, "Let's do it BETTER."

**I applied for improved disability insurance earlier in the year (offered by same provider I already have - was new more extensive coverage than previously offered). I just got word I am approved. Awesome!! IT now covers partial disability, which is a substantial improvement.

**Wow, real estate is HOT here. A house sold down the street for $375k (in minutes). That officially puts our home appreciation at 50% over 12 months ago. !! I thought, "Yeesh, I haven't heard anything about real estate picking up so much." So I caught up on the real estate news, and I guess our city is on fire. Apparently also high in the ratings for "flash sales" (or homes that sell within 24 hours). Flash sales have generally always been the norm since we have been homeowners (common enough even in the "slump."). But, it is definitely noticeable today that homes in our own neighborhood are 100% selling within days. (1 or 2 or 3 days - same difference to me. By the time you evaluate your pile of offers and sign on the dotted line, it might take a couple of days). In the "slump," homes priced right would always sell in a flash. (Yeah, it's hard to consider that a slump. Hence, the quotes). But others would languish at higher prices.

Bubble 2.0 is definitely here. I call it that, due to the abundance of zero-down home loans. (And 3.5% FHA loans).

Regional real estate is interesting because it seems to have little to do with regional economics. Unemployment is sky high here and wages/employment have never been overly fruitful. But home values are hyper inflated by outside investors and transplants from LA and San Francisco. So, I wouldn't be surprised if home values fly past $400k this summer. (& if they fly past $500k, $600k eventually, as they have before). Especially since buyers seem more concerned with monthly payments than home values. I have never really gotten a sense where things would settle down. For the past 13 years, real estate has been a rollercoaster ride every step of the way. I think it's some of why I find it so fascinating. If my home didn't swing wildly in value, it wouldn't be so interesting to keep track of.

**We got the catalog for the courses my 4th grader can take this summer at college. O.M.G. It's becoming clear to me he got the engineering genes from my dad. (& my dad will be so jealous!!). I've already guessed what classes he will want to try for, so will see. Electrical engineering, circuitry, designing, that kind of thing. Anyway, I am so relieved we can fit in two weeks of classes with our busy summer schedule. This summer will absolutely fly by.

That's 2 weeks of engineering classes (most likely) and 10 days in Europe. We have our annual camping trip, and summer break is only 8 weeks for the kids. I doubt we will plan anything else in particular. Except finding something fun to do with LM while his brother is in Europe.

**It's been a sad, sad week since we said good-bye to our fur baby.

Dh and I, fatigued by the care of our elder cat, had many many talks probably for years about all the things we would do when we were some day petless. *No more pets.* (At the least, no pets for a couple of years so we can do some longer-term travels).

Well, spiritually, I had a very quick change of heart. I did peek at the shelter. Well, the many shelters and the gazillion homeless cats in our city. & it immediately hit me that I no longer cared for the simplicity of being petless. We have a nice, stable home, and I just couldn't say no. Of course, my spouse is in a space where he thinks this is a choice of grieving and he is actually open to it. I don't think it has anything to do with grieving. IT's realizing that having a pet is a lot of work and responsibility and a PITA, but that's what all the *best* things in life are. & I don't think anything has taught me that quite as much as having children. So, on some level, I think it's just an extension of being a parent. When I Was 23 and picked up my fur baby from the shelter I couldn't imagine being petless. IT was my first decision as a renter-turned-homeowner. These days I can imagine being petless and enjoying it (mostly because I am in knee deep with kids), but I also have very well learned what is truly important in this life. It's love. Bringing more pets into our home is just more opportunity to love.

Anyway, so we will take our time. But, I look forward to adding all that crazy to our life again, when we are ready. Crazy and love.

Mr. Money Mustache has an excellent blog post the other day:

A Lifetime of Riches – Is it as Simple as a Few Habits?

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/03/19/a-lifetime-of-rich...

{Sorry - link is not working right now - check back later I guess - is a great article}.

This clarified a few things for me.

Firstly, I have often blogged on the theme that I don't feel like I have any extraordinary willpower. I literally do not equate savings with willpower. I never have. So reading this was a bit of a "aha!" I don't have willpower, I have good habits. The End!

Secondarily, this clarifies my approach to life improvement. I always approach my life with a "one thing at a time" attitude. While some people thrive on the "Huge lifestyle change" all at once method, and is maybe more crucial if you have to dig yourself out of a big hole (you might have no other choice). I personally like to adapt to one new habit at a time. This is why I roll my eyes when anyone says they have no room for improvement (financially or otherwise). I think I can easily spend my entire life improving my habits. I Feel like there is always always always room for improvement - something to learn. There is never a point where I will stop trying to be more efficient in my finances. If I have accomplished this in the past 20 years or so, I am excited as to what I can accomplish the next 20 years and will keep pushing to improve. But, I have never been interested in a huge makeover/overhaul overnight because I know it would fail in the long run.

I think that though we have always been good savers and debt avoiders (good habits established in our childhoods, with the help of very fiscally sound parents), we have been working very hard on changing our habits since having children and cutting our income in half. Some of it is easy. I don't eat out very much because I can't afford to. The End. It is really that simple. A lifetime of "avoiding debt" habits completely rules it out as an option. I am not going to go into debt to buy things I Can't afford, either.

We still struggle with habits like buying used and using coupons. It still is not the first thing that comes to mind, because we never had the habits that we would "only buy used or with coupons." & we were even loosening up on that kind of stuff when we were both working, before kids. So, it seems to be a constant reminder. I should probably put a piece of paper in my wallet that says "Find coupon/Buy Used." Maybe it's really that simple. It is not always my initial reaction. & so sometimes I don't think about it when I am looking at a purchase that I would be perfectly happy to find used.

This also explains one final disconnect for me. People often equate willpower with good finances and a slim physique. So obviously I am very good with the willpower. Actually, I was raised with horrific eating habits. My nuclear family is filled with obesity and eating disorders. The absolutely only things I did to stay thin were to 1 - marry my dh and 2 - be too broke to eat out all the time. LOL. The End. My spouse was raised with very good eating habits, and that is why he does all the cooking and the shopping. I am afraid that I don't have the willpower to eat well all the time. But, it's almost like hiring a full-time chef to deal with that. & since I can't reach for the credit card, I eat the food that is in front of me. I hope eventually these good habits will overcome the bad habits I was raised with. But I think the bad is *really* hard wired into my brain.

This reminds me of celebrities. Do they have willpower or do they have the money to hire chefs and personal trainers? I feel like I literally have a personal chef. & interestingly, I have exceptional workout habits, established when I Was a child. Which again, people seem impressed I can stick to an exercise schedule so seriously. I can't imagine NOT working out - I just can't function without a good exercise regime and have always made it a priority no matter how crazy my schedule was. Again, it really has nothing to do with willpower for me. For me, exercise is just a basic part of surviving. I am a mess without that habit.

The takeaway? The best thing we can do for our kids' futures is to help them establish good habits. !! Secondarily, let's stop beating ourselves up for our lack of willpower, and let's start establishing good habits in our lives. One at a time. If you can implement one solid good habit every single year, is better than beating yourself up for the rest of your life. & start thinking about how to circumvent your bad habits - maybe there are other ways around them, like a super awesome spouse who has good habits that you don't.

**January seemed off to a shaky start as there was so much fun stuff we couldn't turn down. !! But, traditionally January - April is very low-spend/high earn with the tax season. Always a nice jumpstart to the year.

Anyway, we have definitely shifted to low-spend mode. February is always easy because it is short. March has been exceptional. Our AmEx credit card did not close until the 7th, so already paid some March expenses. But I got the closing date fixed, again. So we can pay more by calendar month. (I moved the close date to the 25th. That means we can pay just prepay charges between the 25th and the last day of the month). As it stands, the balance on our gas/grocery card is $40. Dh is getting both cars oil changed this week and will fill up the van for me today (we have a 50-cent per gallon discount). I believe we can absorb the oil changes and the TV expenses in the gas and grocery budget. To be fair, we buy a lot of groceries at Target as well, but the Target balance is $35, including some outdoor toys for the kids. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but I think a lot of it is the new rewards system at our grocery store. I don't even think we have eaten any of those Indian meals this month. Which would lower our grocery bill even further. But maybe some of that eating last month has made all the rest of our food last longer. WE did splurge on corn beef and cabbage over the weekend. We also bought a take-out pizza Saturday because the kids asked and we hadn't eaten out all month. So, what the heck.

**I did redeem $25 rewards to my credit card (which credited $25 against our spending, and is also why our balance is low). I applied the $25 to our next mortgage payment.

**Dh earned $25 from a phone interview - from the focus group company. This interview will decide if he is eligible for the $250 focus group. No word yet.

**Other than all of the above I haven't spent a cent so no coupons or savings to boast.

**We did get our TV part and the TV seems to be working fine. The test will be if it lasts a month, as there were some complaints of these parts failing fast. So, still crossing our fingers that this is a long-term fix. After a month I will feel better about it.

**I just lump all our pet spending in with the groceries. I have never bothered to separate it out. We will always have to feed our cat, right? So, I expect another nudge down on our expenses with the loss of our cat. I don't think I will adjust our budgeting or savings goals as I felt our savings goals were very aggressive and maybe a bit tight. So, I will leave be for a while. IF we continue with this ever downward trend on groceries, I may re-evaluate. I have always left a big buffer in our gas budget since gas is ever rising. But this also means smart driving choices buys us more wiggle room in the budget. I don't think our groceries (& household spending) have ever been less than $500/month on average, but they might be this year. So, buys us more wiggle room, I suppose. Most likely would redirect some of our cost savings to music lessons, in the long run.

**Kitty kitty kitty. We made *the* appointment for tomorrow. Not sure if we will have the guts to actually go through with it. I think dh is taking this harder than I am. Though he hates cats and she is my baby. Ha! So, tomorrow sucks and today sucks, and I will probably turn off my brain re: finances for a while. This is one of those times that illustrates the why of being fiscally conservative. So, I can turn it off and ignore it during these times. I asked dh if he asked any questions when he made the appointment. (Like cost). He said no. I said, "It's okay - I don't give a flip anyway." That is how it goes. I kind of figure ignorance is bliss. He did not ask anything about anything. I am sure he had trouble just making the appointment - as would I. So, we turn off the finances for a while and focus on life.

My mom said she'd take all our cat food and stuff to the shelter for us. I can face that because it is doing something good, but not sure when I will deal with the rest of it all. One day at a time...

We rescued her from the shelter when she was 2. We had her for about exactly 13 years.

Well, by some miracle we made the right decision to keep the "on the fritz TV" as a backup. Our other TV bit the dust yesterday. Yeesh!!

It's ironic, because we have never had so many conversations about how it could last "5 more minutes OR 5 more years," until deciding what to do with our other bad TV. The reviews on bulb life were mixed, so we knew this was a possibility.

*Fingers crossed,* but dh found the usual $300 part/bulb to fix it on amazon for $50. We already ordered it. It had some mixed reviews, but figured it was worth a shot. Even if it buys us a few months or a year would probably be nice. Since we *just* bought a new TV. !!

I had envisioned putting the "newer with a lot more problems" TV in the closet or something, but since it seemed to be working okay again, dh wanted to get it all set up with his old game systems. (To replace the old 10-incher he has been using). IF we were keeping it, he wanted to use it. He wanted to buy a TV stand in December or January and I asked him to wait a few months. Anyway, we decided we could afford the expenditure this month, and he ended up finding a stand for just $50. We just put the TV up on the stand Wednesday night. Got everything all setup. & then the other one goes kaput within about 24 hours. HA!! So, basically, if this happened 2 or 3 days sooner, we may have just moved that TV into our bedroom and be done. & crossed our fingers that it would work for a while. But, now we have put all this effort getting it set up for it's temporary use. Will see...

As long as dh has one "precious," he doesn't really care about the rest. I am surprised he is willing to keep this TV - the one we will try to fix - it has had other issues and he has disliked it for a long time. But he is also disgusted by the disposable-ness of these TVs. I am sure even he envisioned just buying a nice TV and keeping it "forever." Not having to replace "every 3 years, which is totally ridiculous. So if I am happy, and it can be fixed reasonably, he will keep it for the less picky of us in the house.

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

As far as FREE stuff?

The other reason we got the TV all set up in the spare room is that my dad brought up his musical keyboard last weekend. We are "borrowing" it. (Yeah, I think he is giving it to us). So, dh felt pressure to work on clearing that room and moving the TV out of the way, etc.

He was stressing out about where to put the keyboard. I figured we'd make do or buy a stand. Well, it fits *perfect* on my old desk. We had already bought a new tuner for our main living area and put my OLD one up to use with the keyboard. Dh has some speakers from childhood. So, we were able to scrounge up everything else we need. That is how we do it around here. We may spruce it up in the long run, but in the short run there is plenty to make do.

We have a home theater in our house that started with the purchase of a projector. IT still has the original surround sound that dh bought as a teenager. We now have a ceiling mounted projector, a screen and some nice seating. I don't think we really give a flip what the room looks like with the lights on. But you know, the giant screen, the awesome sound, the comfy chairs. What else do you need? Someone just recently asked why we didn't just buy a large TV. Well, it would be big and heavy and it would cost about 10 times as much!?! IT's hard to compete with a 12-foot screen.

So, our music room will evolve the same way. It's starting small with the purchase of a tuner, a hand-me-down (it's really old) and some repurposed furniture. But it will eventually be pretty sweet. For reference, we have many friends and relatives who have gone bankrupt buying this kind of stuff. You just don't have to spend a gazillion dollars to enjoy these type set ups. This keyboard is *really old* and my dad replaced it a long time ago, but didn't really want to let it go. I think he will be happy that we get more use out of it. I think it came up because I asked for his help in evaluating a keyboard to buy, for LM. & he said, "Forget that, I have one you can borrow."

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

The "free" does not end there. I was driving home from work and saw a pile of fairly nice furniture on the sidewalk a few doors down. I walked over and saw that it was free for the taking.

Dh had been talking about getting some shelves for LM. For books more than anything. We decided this would do:





LM did not want to put it in his room but we have tons of room in the hallway. Good storage for joint books and games, so maybe it's best to just put it in the hall by their rooms.

Score extra points since it "hides" all their crap.

What had caught my eye was this:



I did not even realize, but I guess bottom glass piece was missing. I do not care, as I like the way it looked. I like the open bottom shelf.

I put it in my bedroom to replace the shelves I used to have in there:



We moved these shelves downstairs at some point, to house our growing book collection. I had taken the opportunity to declutter. But in the end, I couldn't sell everything, and I can certainly fill up the shelves. It's a little smaller than the old shelves, and I like it. This will probably give me another opportunity to go through my things and purge some more. & maybe I will give up on some of the trinkets I couldn't sell and will just enjoy them.

Oh anyway, dh moved a heck of a lot of books and games from this big shelf to the new little one for the kids. So we will have to go through all that stuff some more. Will be doing some spring cleaning, I suppose. OF note, there is now room for everything sitting on the floor "in front of the shelves."

Frankly, this is how we furnished *most* of our house. Hand-me-downs and such. Though I must admit I never saw furniture so useful and nice on the side of the road. Usually it comes from a friend who is moving or something like that.

We have crossed over. Woohoo!

More cash and mutual funds than DEBT!!!

*Most* our our savings is in retirement funds, so obviously not planning to cash that all out to pay the mortgage. But I am very pleased to be here. What might not be that exciting of a milestone to some is extra huge to us because of the high cost of living here. I don't think we would be in this financial position without or low-cost move.

This is a very tenuous goal, as these things seem to be. So, the next goal is just to KEEP it this way. To get so far on the other side that we will stay there. That might take one year or five years. I don't know. (Historically I find these kind of goals take about 5 years to stick, but that's with the economy in the crapper and everything).

There is nothing spectacular we have done over the years. Save a little every year. Don't borrow any money against home. That's really it. Time does the rest. I share because it's so important just to save what you can. To consistently save and to stay the course. I am sure I would have found these numbers overwhelming or impossible when I Was younger.

Being very debt adverse, the mortgage still has never bothered me much. (Though obviously no plans to keep it forever!!). Why not? Because if we wanted to be 100% debt-free tomorrow, we sell the house. The End. Debt Free. There is certainly a lot of bad mortgage debt out there, but we have avoided putting ourselves in that type situation.

So why is this such an exciting milestone? For the first time I can envision paying off the mortgage and being 100% debt-free, *while keeping the house.* That feels AMAZING!! That means, keeping a roof over our head and not having to pay rent or a mortgage. & to me, this is a level of financial security we have never achieved before. Woohoo!!

I totally understand it's a little premature to get too excited about it. But then again, it only took about 4 years to turn $100k to $200k. Our savings level is back to where it was last we both worked - trying to save about $30k per year. At some point it becomes an obvious choice to save and invest rather than to be "debt free, today."

At current, I still envision paying off the home age 45 or 50. I am 36 today. If we have another good stock market run in the interim, I'd consider cashing out at a peak and being debt free. It just depends on all factors. With these low interest rates I lean towards investing in mortgage payoff (4%) versus bonds and more cash. If interest rates were higher I'd maybe keep more conservative investments in cash or bonds, earning more than our mortgage rate. I am a risk-adverse type, so will not be putting 100% of our money in the stock market. & it seems silly to settle for less than 4% with the more conservative portions of our investments (above and beyond more immediate cash needs). This is something we just evaluate constantly as economic factors change. What I am doing this year might look totally different next year. It wasn't that long ago I had a 6% CD at the bank. So, will see.

In other news, real estate is HOT here. Our house might be worth $350k today and will easily hit $400k this summer. Homes are selling in minutes and going up in $25k increments. Bubble 2.0 is here. (I call it Bubble 2.0 because no one is putting down any money on these homes, nothing seems to have been learned in the first Bubble. I don't feel like we ever got anywhere near true rock bottom with all the investor speculation keeping home values artificially inflated. The market is spiking as real families are actually starting to buy these homes, to live in).

Mr. Money Mustache does it again:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/03/12/a-side-dish-of-fre...

I know many of you are trying cell alternatives, so bring this up for some new ideas.

**My overall feeling is, "It's about time!" This is some of the cell competition we have been biding our time for.**

We are about one-year into our two-year Sprint contract. We are gauging our usage, likes/dislikes, needs, and letting some of the start ups work out their kinks. So, next spring we will be seriously considering other options. In the meantime, I keep my eyes open for new ideas.