Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

I am really enjoying the weather. !!

I know, July/August will be hell.

But in the few years we have lived here, often May and June have been rather unbearable.

I checked yesterday's weather out of curiosity.

It was 90 during the day & 50 overnight (Fahrenheit).

90 isn't the most fun during the day, but there's also just been a nice 24/7 cooler breeze.

Anyway, we haven't bothered to turn on the A/C until dinner time (start to feel hot while cooking). IT's on very briefly.

We have been flipping on the A/C upstairs, just before bed. Just on long enough to cool the upstairs from 85 or so, to 80. I keep going to bed feeling rather warm, and waking up rather chilly (with the cat sleeping on all my covers - figures). It's been a "chilly" 78 when I wake up - meaning, it feels a little cooler than that. Quite a difference from a stuffy 80 degrees.

It's been just cool enough to make the house bearable most of the day, without any air.

We could probably make do without the A/C if we just opened the windows in the evening...

Likewise, we're going to be gone for a few days camping, so I don't expect much of an electric bill for June. The month is half over and only one more week to pay for electricity...

Yay!

That is the one thing I just have had the hardest time since we moved. We come from "70 year round" weather. There is just no comparison. *sigh*

But this year is on the milder side of our experience here. So I am really much happier this year.

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With our cable all up in the air, I haven't been able to update anything in Quicken for quite a few days. (Something got disconnected when the satellite guy was here - I don't keep the data on my laptop) and dh was gone for a day, and well, he just got it all hooked back up again yesterday.

So this morning I updated all my balances and kept an eye on everything.

I don't like getting so behind. I generally check my credit card balances every couple of days, before I start forgetting what older charges were...

There weren't many charges the last few days, and nothing I had to think too hard about, so phew...

What I was surprised by was our grocery bills for the month though. We have only spent $70 in June thus far.

I said last month it seemed a little high considering how much we had eaten out, and all that.

I figured this month might be a "normal" month and we would see what was really going on.

Well, never mind on that. Nothing normal about only spending $70 for the first 2 weeks of the month.

I admit dh was going to shop today, but we will be gone a few days camping (all food already prepaid).

So, um, yeah, I think it will be a low grocery month.

All I can figure was we overbought last month... Food to spare. But that is mostly dh's department, so I don't really know.

I hope dh spent $100 today though, so I can get my 25 cent gas coupon on the next van fill up. I could probably drive it quite a few more weeks without a fill up (or I Should say, I could probably not drive it much) but we are considering driving it up top Yosemite.

We'll see...

Dh has mastered the $50 grocery bill. Which is fine. Every time we fill up one of our cars we at least have a 10 cent coupon. But hitting $100 once a month is perfect for the van. I assumed he must have hit $100 today - since we have like no June groceries!!

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Work work work

I am just in vacation mode at work.

Today feels like the first time in FOREVER that I could just relax at work and take a breather.

Imagine that?

On the flip side, I did a lot of grunt work yesterday and today cleaned out my office a bit.

I just found piles of old stuff that fell by the way side in the craziness of 2007. 2007 was just some super crazy year.

So this kind of bums me out. Though I am feeling a little more relaxed and caught up, I feel overwhelmed by my long-term To Do List.

Then again, if it has waited this long...

So I am in this weird spot where things are good, but I have a TON to do. STILL catching up from 2007 tax season from hell...

You know, the funny thing is, as I started to catch up, I started to wonder, just what would I do all summer?

The thought right now just makes me giggle.

I have enough chargeable work to fill up the summer. I have a new employee to help train (lots of time). & I have a couple of years of side projects left by the wayside.

I don't think I will lack for much to do.

Anyway, July is a deadline month, I have vacation coming up, and I have some nasty August projects.

I honestly feel like I could work some overtime.

I may attempt some week day overtime. But I am enjoying my weekends WAY too much.

I do get paid overtime so I should probably take some early mornings and take advantage. I'll think on it...

Problem is whenever I do that, I get antsy on Friday and leave early. LOL. I am just not so motivated to push the 40-hour envelope.

It's also no fun to be the only one here before 8 and after 5. At least during tax season I have lots of company.

But yeah, haven't updated on work much. IT's just been pretty busy, but I Feel like I turned a corner this week. I have a few client things to work on rest of June, but all the big & important stuff is done. Woohoo!

Tales from Foreclosure-ville...

Our immediate neighbor's house foreclosed a couple of months ago (will have to peruse my blog for the exact date).

Anyway, was notable because was the first "personal" foreclosure. Certainly the BEST neighbor ever, and were sad, and shocked, to see him disappear into the night.

Likewise, was also an original neighbor whose house foreclosed for way more than the current value. Was notable as a large percent of foreclosures seem to be people who used their homes as ATMs as opposed to the few who bought too high. This is the first one of note in our immediate neighborhood. (EVERY single home that was bought for more than $600k is now bank owned. So those are expected).

Anyway, this morning I noticed a car in front of the house, and looked closer noting the "for sale" sign was gone (hmmmm, I think it had been gone for a while though I just didn't notice). The key lock box was gone from the front door.

On my return home from work there was a new neighbor putting fertilizer on the dead yard.

Well, that is a nice start.

Didn't see them move in, but was 2 cars tonight. I assume they are in process.

Dying to know the sales price.

As I perused the web in hopes the sale was old and on record (no luck) I noticed quite a few of the same model homes still for sale. Some of the other ones have been listed for YEARS. I noticed three that were asking upwards of $375k. For the smallest model. Don't ask me the size, but 3 bedrooms and the small ones of the neighborhood.

This one was asking $280k or so. It will be interesting to see what it sold for.

Since we owe $209k for a house twice the size, I am not shaking in my boots yet.

We're also still just glad we didn't have to pay $500k+ for a starter home (back home). so the value of our house really means little to us. The payment is quite reasonable. That is what matters!!

But it is still nice to know we have some decent equity, all the same...

(I am just recapping for new readers - I am aware I am a broken record. )

So, anyway, I am very happy with our brush with Foreclosureville. There are a few houses sitting around, but so far that is the only one on our street and I am glad the bank had the sense to price it well and turn it around FAST.

Yay!!!!!!!

Some neighbors mowed the lawns a couple of times, but otherwise it wasn't much problem.

I worry that there will be more. I did a search on something like realtytrac.com (not sure exactly where). I put in my zip code and there were just THOUSANDS of homes - REO. I zoomed in on our little community and it was something like 10% home bank owned and 10% pre-foreclosure.

Seriously.

The good thing is our immediate neighborhood is holding out well.

Then again, even in our community, looking at the map, I saw a couple of streets with whole ROWS of homes in foreclosure. Egads.

I think some of our immediate neighborhood is faring on the better side because we were the BOTTOM phase. Meaning we were one of the first few to move in, in 2001. I forget a lot of the houses around here weren't even finished until much closer to the peak in home prices. Those neighborhoods are going down in flames.

Ouch!

So we are lucky a large percentage of our neighbors bought before house prices went too crazy.

It remains to be seen how many didn't borrow more or take on more than they could handle.

I have the feeling there will be much more to come.

Looking at that map, I am thankful our street is hanging on though. I don't want to live on a street with a bunch of foreclosures in a row. I won't rule out the possibility though. Unfortunately.

ETA: Our neighbor foreclosed about 60 days ago. Found the original entry in my blog.

Not bad.

Still feeling relaxed...

I think we have been a little distracted with having a "baby" in the house. We saw a couple of BM's younger friends swimming like fish this weekend. Another one knows how to ride a bike (well he is a couple of months older).

BM is getting pretty confident in the water though, and swim lessons will be icing on the cake.

I told dh he should work on his bike riding with him.

To be fair, my parents gave up on me. It took me like 5 years to learn how to ride a bike. LOL. It's funny. I usually pick up things pretty fast, but biking was not my thing. So in my head I am thinking you are like 10 when you learn to ride a bike.

These are single children. It's all I could figure. I wonder how we got so terribly behind (or are we?).

Well I think it would be quite an accomplishment if BM could swim and ride a bike by end of summer. Things to work on.

I thought once you got potty training out of the way, things would be simple. There is still much to learn. LOL.

Anyway, speaking of potty training, things are going swimmingly with BM. We take a VERY relaxed approach with potty training. People keep asking what we are doing, or MIL, why aren't we doing more. Everyone's got their charts and stickers.

We don't really push it. There isn't much to our "method." It is the "when you are ready" method.

So anyway, BM was trained 24/7 before the time he was 3.

& surprisingly, LM is rapidly approaching that same end. He was a lot more slow and timid on the potty, so I didn't expect much. But peer pressure is kicking in I guess.

Warning - TMI:

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Anyway, I bring it up, because both our kids were #1 on the potty well before 3 - got it down. But they both refused to #2 on the potty. This is the problem with our method. LM takes it a step farther because he refuses to #2 with anyone around. It means he has worn underwear for a long time because he only #2s at night in his diapers. Phew. BUT he refused to #2 the entire time we were in Disneyland because he was sharing a bed with BM. Egads. (Our conclusion...)

Anyway, he couldn't have had better timing, but yesterday he asked to go #2 on the potty. We had told him for a LONG time we would take him out for ice cream when he did. Dh exclaimed this was the best Father's Day present ever (gross, but you know, means the end of diapers is very near - he really only uses them for #2). So anyway, it was nap time, and we had all just unwound from our busy day, and so we all threw on our clothes and got dressed back up to go get ICE CREAM. As promised!

We had offered him fancy ice cream and I had even found a $2 Baskin Robins gift certificate over the weekend. BUT he just wanted to go to thrifty for their 99 cent ice cream (which is DIVINE). Good choice.

So, woohoo!

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Anyway, yes, so dh got the best gift ever. LOL.

Well, Saturday night when the fam got home the kids played outside with sidewalk chalk and ran in the sprinklers. It is becoming a nightly ritual really - let them run around outside. I don't think our yard was great for smaller kids, but I am pleased how it is evolving into a great play place for them. I Can actually sit at the kitchen table with a laptop and relax and keep an eye on them. But the shade in the evening is great (it usually bugs me you can't go outside without melting during the day, but I realize soon enough they will be in school and all that anyway. I guess the shade in the evening is what matters).

The weather has been DIVINE. This is not the June Sacramento weather I am used to. Warm, but nice cool breezes. Unusually cool for June, I think. LOVING it. I was just telling dh if this was how summer was, I could deal.

I took the kids to Fairytale Town yesterday in the a.m., to get out of dh's hair. The freeway is closed again for major repair (a few more weeks off and on) so we had to take a bit of a detour and wasted gas. It's usually such a quick drive. But oh well!!

We were going to see this puppet show there, but the show was rather late. Decided to head home instead.

The weather was PERFECT. Wearing shorts, nice breeze, not cold, not hot. Was just right.

We came home and got dressed for the pool and headed to a community BBQ. ("Free" Food!!!).

I worried it wasn't quite enough to swim, and then sweltered on the walk over there. With a newer neighborhood we just have NO shade. It was HOT on the walk.

They had a bounce house and the kids just had a blast. Ate and got in the pool. Not sure I ever saw it so CROWDED. (We usually go in the mornings and there is no one there). But yeah, just packed, but it was still fun.

I told dh I could see hanging out there and really enjoying if there was ANY shade. We just need more shade. Life would be good with shade.

Who builds a luxury community in SACRAMENTO with no shade? LOL. It will decades before the trees mature to create REAL shade.

Came home, went to ice cream.

Oh yes, and I made dinner. Tried a new recipe called "Spicy Bronzed Chicken" and it was DIVINE. Was about 10 spices mixed up. Dip the chicken in butter (yes, BUTTER) and sprinkle with spice. I rounded it out with pasta roni (because we had some and I am terrible at planning ahead).

Not Bad.

I also did 4 loads of laundry. The first one came out with all this "gunk" and I was at a loss to what it was. Oh, hindsight 20/20. I threw it in the dryer - I didn't see much. Well, when I pulled it out I found the culprit. A DIAPER!!!!!!!!!! We were lucky it did little damage. Dh decided MIL had thrown it in with the dirty clothes (like underwear). Ugh.

I tried to do most of dh's work yesterday, and I have to say, I came out exhausted. Admittedly, he was behind on laundry. LOL. HE has been so distracted by our cable situation (spent all day working on our new internet - having issues). & so the dishes and laundry were way behind. I didn't even attempt dishes. HE has today to catch up a bit.

But I told him I did his work all day and was exhausted. Sometimes a day like that is good to extra appreciate all he does.

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I spent a good chuck of the weekend clearing the house of crap. BUT the house looks like HELL!!!!!!!!

LOL.

It just looks awful.

I got some clutter to clear now.

We have been ordering a lot of stuff for our camping trip and such, so just lots of boxes and stuff everywhere. I have so been enjoying the time to do deep cleaning, the surface stuff has gotten wildly out of control.

For that, I still feel overwhelmed.

I feel like we will never catch up! But we'll keep at it. A little at a time...

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My Craigslist sales are up to $30 today. (Sold some prints).

I was trying to sell them with some crib bedding/decor. I think it is adorable, but it is pretty unique. I know if I find that right buyer I can get a good price for it. But I might have to just give it away.

Too bulky to ship ebay. Though it might be a better venue... *sigh*

I'll just leave it up on Craigslist for a month or something. There's got to be someone out there with my taste in baby room decor. LOL. I will probably steadily decrease the price too. I am the point where I just need to get rid of stuff. !!!!! Though this was something we paid much for and is really nice. So it sucks to give it up for nothing. Bah.

I imagine this is how many people feel much of the time. Most of our baby stuff we bought used and sold for what we paid for it. So, I think this is why this is so extra disheartening. My NICE stuff is useless???? LOL. Yeah, that's why we usually don't buy baby stuff we can't turn around fast.

If dh gets to selling all the strollers we may clear $100 this week. We paid $20 or so for each of them, used, so I think we can clear $20 each too. Will help make up for the crib stuff not selling...

We've already turned around a few strollers because we bought a few to try them out until we settled on what we kept. Just kept buying/selling. Once they are used they keep their resale value pretty well.

I am still feeling a little overwhelmed.

Dh took the kids to San Jose to surprise his mom. She is now officially RETIRED. His dad will work a few more years to secure his pension.

So they went up to surprise her and take her to dinner last night.

So I am feeling very relaxed.

I am getting better at nights alone. I lived her a good year pretty much alone and really, before marriage and kids, I was quite happy to be alone.

BUT I find since having kids, the whole thing about being alone is very WEIRD.

I just remember like a year ago they went to San Jose without me (a very rare deal) and I looked very forward to my quiet night. Instead, I was so lonely I almost drove down late at night to join them. !!!

So even now I still find myself about the same. Looking forward to my time alone, and certainly planning to enjoy, and then it not being near as enjoyable as I imagined.

Today was a little better.

Last night I just vegged out. Got a really good night sleep too. But felt lonely.

I woke up and was feeling rather lazy so watched a movie. I then turned the TV off and got into gear.

I've had a few days alone, even an entire week, and I have found myself entirely unproductive. Just exhausted I guess. I generally collapse in a heap of laziness.

Today I was feeling much more motivated.

In my quest to clean the house, I decided to hit the theater room. Dh has a lot of crap in there, that I wouldn't know where to start, and that he would be angry if I went through. So I didn't know how useful this task would be, but the room has been bugging me.

I went through and found a lot of empty boxes and trash and stuff. So I cleaned up, vacuumed, and dusted in there. Not a lot to the room, and still cluttered with all his crap, but look SO MUCH better.

In the family room I also deep cleaned. Not a lot to it in here. Dh peeves me because he piles so much stuff on top of the entertainment center. So I went through and re-arranged some things. Left a few things and toys up there, but it looks much nicer.

I went through all the drawers in the kitchen and made a half-hearted attempt to clean out some old crap. I need a solid DAY to do a good job. But it was a start.

Found some interesting stuff...

So ended up with a large bag to donate and a large bag of trash (not to mention 2-3 bags of recycled paper. Yikes).

I feel overwhelmed, because this was the kind of work that felt good, and really needed to be done. BUT there is little to show for it. It looks slightly better, but not "worked for 3 hours straight" better. Bah.

Likewise, I am thinking about all the work I want to do in the kids rooms and everywhere else in the house. Just feeling overwhelmed.

Most of this stuff has taken a huge backseat with the kids. With small kids I struggled to get much of anything done around the house. So I know logically, when I get a little more caught up, it won't be so bad. In the meantime, just feel very overwhelmed with my "To Do" list.

Paint/Fix Kids' Rooms
Camping trip coming up
Kids' Birthday Parties
Swim Lessons

On & on & on...

June & July will be a bit crazy.

Part of me just wants to relax and enjoy the summer, but I also know I usually don't get this much time, and I have much else to do.

Anyway, even with all this running through my head, I feel quite RELAXED. A day with no kids or husband was quite relaxing. So that is the good. In the end I feel this strange mixture of relaxation along with my feeling overwhelmed. Since when could I just veg out all night and have a couple of hours peace to enjoy a movie. (Or to clean house - which was why I took advantage).

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Well, it is HOT here. It was about 82 last night when I got home, and I was quite proud I didn't need the A/C.

Of course, I went to bed and it felt rather hot, so I flipped it on. Wouldn't you know, it was 87 up there??? Hottest day of the year thus far. No idea how hot it was outside, but 87 was pretty sweltering inside.

IT took a good while to cool off the upstairs to 80. I turned it off and worried I would wake up sweating, but it cooled down enough overnight. Woke up and it was below 80. Phew.

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Tomorrow is Father's Day. I thought it was next weekend for some weekend (assumed). So an entirely unprepared.

For my dad, we paid for his camping trip. We are going with both our parents.

I don't know what dh has in mind for his dad.

I bought dh a T-Shirt. One of his stupid shows had a "T Shirt of the Month" club. Something like $250 for 13 shirts. For one, 13 shirts is like more than one would ever need (I'd be fairly certain more than the number he owns tight now. His wardrobe is very small). So though he could use some shirts and was tempting, it was a bit pricey. He just thought the idea was cool anyway.

So I decided I would buy him the first one, maybe pick out a couple more (you can pick and choose if you prefer - no discount for the bulk anyway - so why bother).

Anyway, but the shirt hasn't arrived yet. I thought I had another week! Bummer.

The kids made him the most adorable cards at preschool though.

I was thinking tomorrow taking the kids to the park or out so dh can sleep in and enjoy the peace and quiet. I had asked him if he wanted us to disappear for the day, but I think it is less of a luxury now that he gets 2 free days a week with the kids in school. He was kind of like, he'll get Monday off, so why bother. He'll be fine.

But I will probably take them out in the morning for a bit. He likes to sleep in and the kids can be rather loud.

I also think I will cook dinner.

Something I haven't done for a LONG while. I rather enjoy cooking, but since I have 1000 other things to do, and dh does it so well, it's just something I never really do any more.

I also haven't been perusing our new cooking mags so much. But one arrived yesterday so I perused it in the peace and quiet vegging state I was in:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/simple-delicious-magazine/archive...

Oh my! Where to begin.

Spicy Hummus
Beer Cheese Bread
Blueberry Poppy seed Cake
Salami Pasta Salad
Corn on the Cob butters
Berry gealtin mold (beautiful - perfect for party)
peanutbutter cup s'mores
ice cream cakes/pies galore

The kids' birthday party is coming up and we made some ice cream cakes from this mag last year. So easy and what a HIT! We got the idea after being turned off by the high price of ice cream cake. But it is always 110 degrees on the kids' birthday. & making them ourselves ended up pretty easy and cheap.

So anyway, those were a hit, and we have some new ones to try this year.

They had one where it looked like watermelon (ice cream was layered with green, and red ice cream with chocolate chips. So CUTE and easy.

Cutest berry gelatin dessert thing. (Simple but looks like you slaved over kind of thing).

So I am getting LOTS of ideas for the party.

Lots of simple appetizers, as usual I guess.

Anyway, they had a great looking spicy chicken recipe as well. So I may be brave and cook dinner tomorrow night, for dh. The chicken looks awesome. I guess I will peruse the website to find a pasta dish to go with it. Didn't really see much in this issue. But some pasta and chicken sounds great. We'll let dh have a break from the cooking tomorrow.

But yeah, we heavily relied on these magazines - subscribe to 2 - to transfer to home cooking from more of a fast food household. The first thing we did to revamp our budget when I became pregnant with our first at the same time dh was laid off. More home cooking. Saved tons of $$$$$$$$$.

So I mention them as much as we can. For now we have a huge arsenal of tried and true recipes, but love trying new things too. It is never boring at our dinner table.

Our other mag (a gift actually) is "Light & Simple" which has all the healthy meals. This other one is clearly not the "healthy" mag. Probably why I likey so much.

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Aside from gas for that long drive, I don't expect to spend much this weekend. The fam no doubt had a few free meals with the fam yesterday and today. Tomorrow we have a BBQ to go to (just walking there).

Dh is volunteering tonight and I may take the kids downtown, so a wee bit of driving around here too. But otherwise don't foresee forking over any cash. Phew.

ETA: Dh is home and his dad gave him $40 for gas.

Well, okay then! That makes $100 gas money they gave him for 2 trips.

We are spoiled.

I haven't felt very bloggy and I don't know why.

Eh.

I see the good in it. I spend way too much time online sometimes...

We are adjusting to Dish. It is going to be a huge adjustments. Our old little TIVO only held 30 hours or so, so I actually spend a fair amount of time watching live TV in the evenings and weekends. TIVO is just for our favorites that we record every week. & a pile of kids shows for the kids, etc.

After work I played with the new setup for a while, trying to figure it all out. I am realizing that this is a VERY different set up. It is not "live TV" friendly AT ALL. I guess the whole point is to record whatever you think you may want to watch and ditch the live TV altogether. Which doesn't sounds so bad. It's just very different. Not exactly where we were at on our old setup. I still have no concept what 330 hours of TV is (how much the thing can hold). It will take a while to figure out this whole thing and strike a balance for us all.

It is so funny that just last week or so I told dh I was going to cut out some of my shows and cut back the TV a bit.

It was a little prophetic. The changeover gives me an excuse not to set up ALL my shows, etc. I think I will cut a few out.

Rather than spend a lot of time figuring out the new system, it might be easier to kind of ignore it.

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Dh's mom sent him a Father's Day Card which arrived today.

The his family buys up cards at garage sales. (Then again, I don't even do cards. All I see is WASTE and I avoid cards and wrapping paper and all that stuff, as much as possible anyway).

Anyway, this sounds like a wonderful, frugal thing to do. At least I can't despise the card since it was bought used.

But last time his aunt or grandma sent us a card filled with cash (Mother's Day?) it arrived wide open. Cash intact, but the envelope was wide open.

Anyway, so today I pull the card out of the mail box, wide open, and I think, "Hmmmmmm, Father's Day..." I look at it and notice the card is opening towards the opening at the top. "Ugh," I think. If there was cash in there, it's long gone.

Wouldn't you know it, there was $40 cash in there?

I am not sure how much was in there, but by some miracle the cash stayed inside.

I told dh to call his mom and tell her to stop buying such cheap envelopes. LOL. Or to at least tape them or something. YEesh.

When I saw it I decided it would be nice money for a big date night this month. Going to dh's favorite restaurant. I asked dh if he agreed, and he is VERY game (excited for the night out). Will probably cover most of dinner... Woohoho!

My dad offered dh a bunch of external hard drives, (old ones he doesn't need/want) and dh is THRILLED. He has been wanting to upgarde his computer. This may hold him off a bit longer. They will be quite an upgrade for us.

We also are having DSL issues. Dh feels really bad, but forgot we switched out most of our upstair phone lines for ethernet. (Don't ask me what that means - I just relay what he says. ).

Anyway, he has just been freaking out about it since the DSL stuff arrived and he realized he couldn't install it.

I venture it is not that hard to run a phone line (as we paid someone to run a bunch of ethernet cables there in the past). I just don't see what the biggy is.

He's annoyed it will cost more money. & he is talking to switching to a service that is $15/month more, to fix the problem.

I'd rather pay the cost up front to run telephone wires. I am honestly surprised he doesn't have a clue how to. I know my dad could help. We can go buy a 100-foot phone wire, or something, in the interim, and get it set up (run it from our bedroom to the den) and then take care of making it look pretty later. NExt time one of our dads are in town... I just don't see the biggie.

I know the phone companies run wires pretty cheap anyway. I really doubt it would cost that much. Wires are already run between the rooms - just different kinds.

Anyway, he is all stressed out, but his dad said he has a bunch of wireless stuff laying around.

For now we have some of our computers networked by wires, and the rest on wireless. (Don't ask me... Mostly into the wires until we got a laptop and we switched some of them to wireless, with the laptop).

So anyway, he thinks he will get everything he needs from his dad, for free, to set it up wireless-ly.

So yay!

When I Was a kid I knew my way around a computer pretty well. I Was always self-sufficient and just figured all this stuff out for myself. Not very handy or mechancial, but there really shouldn't be much to it.

These days I am completely LOST. Dh takes care of that stuff, and I wouldn't have a clue what to do without him. !!! With time all of this stuff has gotten increasingly complicated.

Netowrks and wireless and DSL, oh my. Way over my head...

He is in charge of everything computer, music (CDs and MP3s and all that) and everything cable/TV related.

I guess we make a good team. I take care of the money.

IT works. Though it would probably be good if I had a clue what he has going on in the house and if he had a clue about our finances. We both just know the bare minimum. IT exists and the other person has it handled...

So far, 5 hours +.

The guy got there at 8am on the dot (From our 8-4 timeframe, I'd say we lucked out).

I just called dh and he said the guy was STILL there and it wasn't working. Likewise, the had the order wrong and it also took 5 hours to change the order, so the guy could give him the second DVR.

Egads.

Not a good first impression of Dish.

Well, they were the cheapest. But also impressed dh the most on the phone.

Not so much in person...

LM was very dissapointed. He thought "Mr. Dish" would be a talking dish. I told him well, he would install something that looked like a "dish" on the house. He asked if that dish would talk.

I guess he got his heart on meeting a live Dish!

LOL.

Financial Abundance is very relative.

I don't feel financially abundant because I haven't crossed all my "i"s or dotted all my "t"s. Too many expenses in the near horizon.

Likewise, we've had much more financial abundance, in the past. So I feel broke compared to where we were before kids. VERY broke.

As we approach $20k cash in the bank, 10% to retirement, and $5500 monthly take home, we are getting back to more of the higher level we attained in our early 20s.

It's probably a unique situation at 30 to feel like I am catching up to the abundance I had at 25. & it is certainly not a bad thing to be there again, so young.

Well, close enough I can taste it.

Plus a spouse who is more employable by the day (daycare is going down in price by the minute anyway, and we are no longer the sleepless zombie parents of newborns, so have more to work with). I guess it feel extra abundant to get there on one income. We were there so young because we had 2 incomes.

Anyway, we expect $1800 from the government this month (stimulus).

I expect $2k for the kids on their birthday, probably a bit more.

I know that money is not ours, but it is certainly $2k less *I* have to worry about, as far as their future.

Likewise, I know I will feel $4k richer in just a couple of months, with both of those.

We are also cleaning out the house and back on track with ebay and Craigslist listings.

Money to date: $20.

Slow going, but going. We expect hundreds in the next month or so.

Dh committed to selling his old projector AGAIN. (At this point I am happy with $100. Cash is cash. PArt of the deal when he bought a new one in 2005 was he would sell the old one in the realm of $500. Right now he is asking $300 or something, but he has asked $300 before. I am pushing him to list it at $200 and am peeved. He's listed it a couple of time too high, and at this point I'll take anything).

We'll probably have a TIVO to sell for an easy $100+. We'll see how our new system works first. (New internet and satellite, TODAY).

The expensive part of this completely unforeseen circumstance (mom & pop cable company bought out by Comcast) is that the 2 services will overlap for a time. Need a few days to change over our e-mail and see if we are happy with the system(s). Dh also informed me we need to shell out $50 for a modem. (No doubt financed by sale of TIVO - not compatible with satellite or something - don't ask me). I canceled my June payment to mom&pop/comcast. It was due next week and set up in my online bill pay. Once we are certain (hopefully by Monday) this is the change we want dh will call our old company and ask for a pro-rated June bill. I thought I had paid June, so glad we hadn't, and we have more traction to negotiate. I don't want to pay 2 "cable" companies for June.

Likewise, they already started dropping some of our channels, so we are eager to change, and complain about our bill.

I expect to make $200 with my final MLM sales and an ebay listing to clear out my inventory.

We have 3 strollers to sell (Easy $20 each) and stuff like that.

So it feels like a financially abundant time.

Oh yes, and the fact that my last LARGE payment to preschool was cashed last week. I think that is most of it. What a LOAD off.

I am still stressed about our mid-term savings. Looking at the house, thinking the house needs some paint and the fence needs to be replaced. Dh's car is not getting any younger. But other than a strong need/urge to bulk up that part of our savings, life is good. Better than it has been the year before, or the year before that, etc.

With a child out of preschool I have a good $3k/year to commit to that today, that I didn't yesterday. Makes a big difference.

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On the flip side, the doom and gloom in the news is getting to me. I don't know why more today than yesterday, but it really is.

I think I was feeling like things are going pretty good for us.

So I have been feeling rather generous.

In good times, we are quite content to volunteer as hobbies. I like to volunteer at the library and with wildlife rehab. Dh volunteers at the public TV station. We pat ourselves on the back for doing good for others.

I still think it's all good stuff, and they probably hurt more for volunteers in rough times. So I *get* that. IT all helps.

But yet, in times like this it just doesn't seem like enough. The animal shelters are completely over run and the food banks are drowning. So I think we will commit to give a little more to these organizations in the upcoming months. I am eyeing the profits on our Craigslist/ebay sales, and will see what we can do.

IT's very unlike me. We grew up not giving CASH to ORGANIZATIONS. My parents would give you the shirts off their backs, but I don't think they have hardly given to charity. Their frugalness precludes giving away hard-earned cash. They aren't even much for volunteer work either. Which always surprised me most personal finance books recommend giving 10% income away. My parents would flip at that idea. They have generated plenty of good karma without giving away cash. So that is where I come from. I see you don't need to rain cash on other people to do well. (Though my parents would be more likely to give cash to friends or relatives who needed it, then a faceless organization, which is the other part of it).

They are just very giving people, so I have always been able to reconcile this in my head. You don't need to give cash to organizations to be a giving person.

Likewise, it is a bit of a struggle for me to put my financial health behind giving a little more. I feel like I am very close to a goal and I would probably be better off to get there first. That's my parent's voices in my head.

We usually give most of our money at Christmas. What little we do.

But I am feeling strongly like we should really make an effort to give a little more before the giving season.

I may regret it down the road, but for now I feel like I should share some financial abundance.

I admit it is a nice feeling.

& yeah, I think the food banks will top our lists for a while. We usually donate to animal shelters (still top the list in these times - yikes), Red Cross, and a few other things that are near and dear to me, but not so needy as the food and shelter seems to be for animals and humans around here lately... So I think we will shift our giving a bit. We'll still contribute to those near and dear come Christmas. But adding the food banks and extra donations to the animal shelters. Just feels like the right thing to do.

In this economy, I might as well be a millionaire. We feel one in a million talking to a lot of our friends lately.

& I attribute much of it to our anti-debt philosophy. So far we are weathering the storm well enough.

Maybe it is harder to feel generous when everyone has way more bling than you.

I admit it feels very different of late. Our abundance becomes more and more apparent as more and more houses go into foreclosure around us. & more and more people trade in their SUVs for bicycles. So it just feels very different.

We're used to living on a very low income compared to those around us. Also. Which is why it's easy to lose sight of our own abundances. I know a casual peruser of my blog won't realize that we live on an income that qualifies us for aid, locally. It's not a lot for living in California. Though it gets really relative real fast. If you bought a home, paid for, in the 70s, and you have a pension, you can live pretty lean ($
$20k/year?). If you had to buy a house at the peak, well $100k income won't get you very far.

IT gets so relative though, for now I KNOW we have an abundance of food and shelter. That's all that matters. IF I am not worried how to feed my family, I have something to give to a family that is worried. It should really be that simple. I just haven't seen so many hungry people before... I can't say I have seen any in my adult life. Not in my own backyard.

Which I hesitate to say. I live in the city - I have seen PLENTY of hungry people. But I guess seeing so many acquaintances worrying about how to buy their basic bills, is REALLY freaking me out. What I mean when I say I have never seen so many hungry people in my own backyard. Yikes.

I haven't been very posty. Which is good. Have been busy busy getting things done around the house.

I was going to say, the good was we didn't turn on the AC today.

IT was hot, but very windy. (Kind of weird).

May turn the A/C on before bed for a bit.

BUT this isn't really great news. It stayed cooled today because we had major wind. But we also had a large brush fire pretty close to our house. Ugh.

& many many fires in the region.

The fire season is just going to be awful this year. The wind does not help.

Fire is not something I usually worry about (much more worried about floods). Driving home today and seeing the charred fields around our development, and the wind, made me think we should worry more.

Well, yesterday was pretty worthless. I didn't do much.

Exhausted from Saturday I guess.

I went to a MLM sales party. I went because it was my friend. & it was food. I didn't even take my checkbook. I thought if she was short of some sales goal I might spend $20.

LOL.

Oh boy. The whole thing bugged me on some level. On many levels. But I was a sucker. I spent $70. !!!!!!!!!

To be fair, about $20 of it was Father's Day gifts. Some of it I had in mind for the kids' birthday party.

I don't really have any inkling if the stuff was worth it. It's rather vague how much you get for the prices (no doubt intentional). So we'll see.

I generally as a rule don't do sales parties. BEcause they bug me. & it's usually crap I would never buy anyway. I mean seriously, I probably get invited to one every weekend. I have blogged much before that in the mommy crowd you start to feel like people only look at you as a $$$$$$$. So many just trying to make a side income and just want to sell crap to you. I'd rather have friends that invited me to a non-sales party once in a while. Yikes!

So I guess my new rule is no more food sales parties. Even if it is a really good friend who sees me more than as $$$$$$$$$$. I didn't exhibit near the self control I would have liked. The whole time I was grumbling to myself, "what am I doing?"

Without common sense I could have easily spent hundreds.

Most of it was rather, eh. Just add water and you have gourmet food? It's all natural. (It reminded me of fast food in the sense you just add water and go. Add this and go. Blech). IT wasn't terribly appealing because my dh is my personal chef. So a lot of their products were to replace cooking and fresh fruits and veggies, etc. Wasn't seeing the health benefit, or the convenience factor since I have my chef. So a large chunk wasn't appealing at all.

But they get me on the drinks, breads, dips, etc. Oh - the sauces were DIVINE. Since we don't really BBQ I found it easy to pass though.

Anyway, I learned that going to a sales party because the product didn't sound so bad, was a TERRIBLE idea.

When I get the stuff I will carefully consider if it is worth it. The price per serving and other comparable options. But since it is MLM I have the feeling it is all pretty much a rip off. I have plenty of time to find replacement products though, or homemade recipes. Thank you internet! I doubt I would ever reorder any of the stuff.

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Well, yesterday I did gather up how much of my old MLM stuff I want to auction off. I came up with about $700 retail. Dh was appalled. I assured him I had paid little for all of it. We get 50% profit and in general I applied my profits to personal purchases (which we got at 50% off). I couldn't really justify the expense otherwise. So I really and truly had little cash flow going out in this particular MLM. I figure I will probably get $100 easy on ebay - if I just do one lot to be rid of it. Dh was arguing I should break it up into smaller lots. HE maybe has a point, but I just don't care. I want to be RID of the stuff. All at once, preferred. If I am lucky I will get upwards of $100.

With the cable change we will probably sell our TIVO as well. We have a transferable lifetime subscription so we may be able to sell for $150.

Dh went on a garage sale kick this weekend. & bought a couple of things off Craigslist. He thinks he can make $100 off his finds this weekend.

We'll see. He really wants a Wii. He bought one this weekend to sell. He has been seeing a lot in the $200 range (steals). So figured if he buys and sells enough (just a couple at that price) he can raise $200 to buy his own.

Oh boy. I honestly just really wish he had that commitment to our retirement fund. & I think we need to have a talk about it.

For now he is getting a Wii. I am just sitting back and seeing how much effort it takes.

We were to buy a GPS this year, so I think I will encourage him to fund it this way - with ebay sales and such.

From there I think we need to have a talk. I think at least a percentage of his sales should go to retirement. Even is just 10% or something.

Then again, this is probably the biggest thing we quibble about. So if he can make the money he can buy whatever his heart desires. I'd be kind of glad not to worry about how to figure out how to fit in his big purchases in our little budget.

I think he has enough common sense we can strike some deal, that a portion must go to savings. Or that when he doesn't want to buy something, I appreciate the extra income, anyway. Hint hint. We just need to sit down and talk. For now I guess I am sitting back and seeing if he makes as much as he thinks he will.

Truth be told there is a business to be had there. HE loves buying and selling old game systems and games, etc. So this might be an interesting side line for him.

Problem is it makes it way easier to justify buying more stuff, when he makes money off of it. It just feeds his hobby more.

The downside is that there will be considerable tax ramifications here. & complicated record keeping. He needs to start logging his miles to pick up the stuff, etc. Because lord know if we are reporting that income, we need to offset the revenues with all this gas/driving.

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Anyway, he took the kids garage sale-ing yesterday and was going to allow the kids to buy some stuff from their piggy bank cash.

They spent $1 and found $1 on the floor later. Their piggy banks remain intact.

I would love to follow that lesson through and take the kids to the store and have a lesson on finances. Tell them, you could buy this for $20 here. Or for $1 at a garage sale. What do you think we should do?

These lessons should start young.

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On our cable switch (forced since out cable company got bought out) I think we have settled on a package that is $15 more for month. We justified it was okay because with one out of preschool I am saving $300 of that per month, and I have $15 left over. The timing is really perfect.

BUT I had decided to put that $15 to the mortgage, and was bummed on that.

I am paying $13/month for my ID theft monitoring right now. It has been almost a year (maybe 9 months) since my ID theft and it is all cleaned up. I am thinking of dropping that and applying it to my mortgage.

I still haven't decided if I should get a credit freeze or not. *sigh* I kind of would like to freeze it if I can't monitor it daily. & I am still a bit paranoid. But for now, it seems to be under control. The $13/month was priceless in the beginning as we cleared things up. But further out, it is turning out to be less needed. Phew!!!!!!!!!

I am pleased I found a way to afford the cable and the mortgage payment bump, with no change to our monthly budget. Woohoo!

I cleaned 3 rooms of the house yesterday. Deep clean.

It's not nearly as impressive. I took the 3 smallest/least cluttered rooms in the house, and just cleaned them top to bottom.

LM had some stains on his carpet and some gunk on the wall. Stuff like that. The window sills attract way too much dirt, so wiped them down. Vacuumed. Went through seeing if there was anything to toss.

Not really, but did take down his window valence and wall decor. Prepping to redo his room, ideally in July or August.

I had already tossed aside th crib bedding, which matched, to sell. So will list all that together.

BM's room was much easier. He had grabbed a leaf off our tree though and stored it in there. It had made kind of a mess and I ordered him to toss it. I felt lucky not to find any living organisms in there (except for a spider which meant I didn't clean his window sill. Ugh!!) LOL. He had a habit of bringing worms home in his pocket and stuff like that. & a ladybug he kept under his bed at one point. So I Was relieved not to find anything up there - I wouldn't rule it out. He seems to be better but had a talk about leaves.

We had been thinking of buying a new toy box for LM, but realized BM's bed has lots of room for storage. So I pulled his toy box out and put it in LM's room yesterday. Stuff like that.

I even dusted the blinds. !!!!!!

I hit the living room as well. Admittedly the smallest/emptiest room in the house. While I had the feather duster out I went over the piano. I rather ignored it since I usually keep up on it. It is black and covers with dust easily. I usually stay pretty on top of it. So my efforts were to clean what rarely gets cleaned, more than the usual. The living room had some windows/blinds, a couch I went over with the vacuum, and a side table. I tossed its table cover in the wash (has probably been years).

Oh, washed out the cat litter box real well. We keep the box in the living room since it is the farthest room from regular human contact. LOL.

& wala, I deep cleaned 3 rooms.

I half heartedly cleaned the guest bath and deep cleaned the toilet since I needed a few more really disgusting rags to round out that laundry load. LOL.

The dining/kitchen/family room is a little more overwhelming since there is so much clutter to go through. I need to sit down with dh and really decide to toss some things. I may work on today, cleaning it up a bit. The kitchen is a mess right now and needs a light clean up if nothing else.

Dh has his theater room and his office which are rather off limits. Though he has more stuff, like the kids rooms, there is little to clean.

My office is at the nook on the top of the stairs. I probably need to go through it and give my desk a good dusting too. Though not it's own room it is its own space. IT's big enough to warrant a deep clean.

Which also really just leaves our bedroom. I could probably hit that next weekend, with the deep clean (may take advantage since dh and the kids may be gone for a bit).

There is the kids' bathroom (which we use for the shower too) but it is rather kept up.

I could probably spend one solid weekend on the kitchen and one in the family room.

I would like to send off the kids for a weekend and go through the garage too. Admittedly, summer will not be the time for that task.

So yeah, I admit I started rather EASY to get into a swing. With gas prices, might as well stay home and catch up on stuff around the house.

Besides all that, I got the invites for the kids birthday parties out. Phew.

Dh picked up some stuff for me at Target (invites and such) and went to the bank for me. I felt extra productive with all that help.

Of course, the weather here has been quite lovely. Now that I think about it, we should have really gotten out and enjoyed this weekend. Summers when we don't want to step outside may be better for cleaning days.

We haven't turned on the A/C here this month, and really not much since we got back from Disney. Phew. Knock on wood and all that too. But with the exception of the heat wave while we were gone, summer is off to a mild start. Our electric bill for May was rather low too.

Anyway, besides all that, I forgot to mention we listed 3 big things on Craigslist. Which is also nice with the one room at a time deep clean. We can space out the de-cluttering a bit.

We generally sell the big things/donate the small things.

I completely forgot aerobics class yesterday. Doh. I certainly got a workout, but still. Felt like a dork for forgetting...

I also bought a new pair of workout shoes from zappos. They just e-mailed me to tell me my shoes shipped already and the sent them rush delivery at no charge, "just because."

Cool!

I would have loved to buy my old shoes again - some Reebok walking shoes that are just DIVINE. I saw from my order history they are 2.5 years old!! A little worn, time for a change. & I only paid like $45 for those suckers. But they don't sell them anymore. Bummer!! I went for Nikes. I used to be a Nike girl because I would pick them up at the outlets. So I spent a little more than usual, but kept it under $60. If they last 2 years too, well worth it...

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As of today we are looking at AT&T internet and Dish satellite for TV. Oh boy. Dh is going crazy.

Oh yeah, and I inadvertently talked him into the more expensive package. Stupid me.

We'll see what we end up with...

I think we are getting a significant upgrade in our TV setup, with little upgrade in price. Overall, I think we are both pleased with what we have decided on. We'll see how we feel once it is in place. Hopefully switching over this week.

I added a page on the left to try to track our driving a little better.

http://monkeymama.savingadvice.com/driving-log.html

As with a cash budget, we need to look at our driving habits and see where the drains are.

I mentioned in my last post that my commute really costs little, but that one of our biggest luxuries is really the ability to drive anywhere/anytime.

Of course, as it comes with a higher price, it is something we need to evaluate.

We highly value being able to see visit family.

We highly value traveling around and doing hikes, etc. (So much we would give up our vacation budget to keep the freedom to travel more on a regular basis, within the state).

So we place very high value on being able to pick up and go on longer car rides.

& commuting is not a very expensive endeavor - a fill up twice a month would cover my commute and probably even both of the kids' school commutes.

So everything else is the drain that we want to close so we can enjoy our two extremes.

For now, just trying to keep track and see where we are at.

Dh has been a little Craigslist crazy, but assured me he was considering gas prices in his cost analysis.

I also had to add when I was a kid we never went on vacations, so they aren't terribly important to me (know kids will survive without and appreciate them more with age). The reason being is my parent's entire vacation budget (little as is) generally went to drives to the mid-west every year or 2 to visit family.

Needless to say, I am extremely jealous how close the kids are to their grandparents and cousins. I find that whole thing to be priceless.

They've been staying less with Grandma lately because we have been less inclined to drive, and I assume she has been too (has not asked as much). But she did slip us $60 when we picked up the kids sunday, for gas, so maybe we will get some help there too in ensuring we don't slow down our visits with gas prices. We assumed they had been feeling the pinch too, but I guess it was her way of saying she wants to see the kids more during the summer.

Our gas tolerance is probably rather high. We moved 2 hours away to significantly cut our cost of living. So upping our gas budget to stay in touch is a-okay with us. The alternative is pay $500k+ for a house to live closer. Ugh. So anyway, keeping our living costs so low in comparison, we knew moving here we would have a high gas budget to keep in close touch with family. Particularly since we had kids. I think they are so lucky to have the opportunity to be so close to their extended family.

Well, it is official, Comcast bought up our mom & pop cable company.

We will grieve on that for a while.

They are offering a deal of the same price as we have been paying, for their most premium package, for one year. Considering it as a means to test them out. Also will the most seamless, probably. Dh said the premium package doubles to about $150/month in a year. I worried aloud about this and dh said, "Are you crazy? I would NEVER pay $150/month for cable. Especially if I was working too. When would I have time to enjoy?"

But, for now they also have a cable/internet/phone package that is mirrors what we already have in both price and channels. So for now I don't expect a budget change. We'll probably enjoy the premium stuff and switch to the big package deal in a year.

Phew!!

I unfortunately expect their prices to rise instead of drop (our cable prices have dropped in the 6 years we have lived here and gone with mom/pop).

We also don't expect near the customer service.

I guess it reminds me though, that his TV obsession has exploded with many hours home alone. He has a point, and this is one area where he usually has little common sense. So I am glad he is displaying major common sense in this regard.

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Gas. I had a wonderful long gas post and I couldn't post it. Was it perhaps a sign? I figured it would spark controversy. But trying to summarize:

I was looking at gas articles when I saw gas had topped $4.50 on Wednesday, and came across the West Coast average gas price for the last 15 years or so, every June 4.

Anyway, the last time we REALLY felt the gas pinch was 2003. It was then that gas had doubled just about from the year before. I remember in particular because I was on maternity leave and glad I had nowhere to drive.

I remember my 2005 maternity leave being the same story.

As I looked at the data in this article, gas was largely $1/gallon until 2003 when it topped $2.

This was also when we went down to one-income so we REALLY felt the pinch.

Looking at the numbers, gas has spiked 40% about every other year since that point. This year has not even reached 40% yet. But of course as the numbers rise, smaller percentages are felt more strongly. Of course.

Anyway, in 2005 I couldn't justify driving home at lunch any more. That had always been my luxury. So 2005 with another 40% increase, we dropped that luxury.

I remember dh and I feeling the pinch and everyone we know buying SUVs.

Anyway, so in 2006 I set my gas budget at $300. I was quite certain gas would go up a solid 40% again.

So anyway, reminded me someone seemed all amazed I made my gas budget in April. Which just bugs me. Where is the rocket science here? Gas has been spiraling out of control for years. I try to plan accordingly.

Believe me, we are trying to drive less. We are parking the van. We are considering staying in instead of all the road trips we wanted to do this summer.

But believe me, you don't have to be rich to see gas prices rising and to prepare accordingly. I think people have taken my blase-ness about gas prices as an attitude of one rich.

Ah, I wish. It's an attitude of one prepared. I am not surprised in the least. My budget gas allowed for it.

I am considering that I will probably have to "up" my gas budget for 2009. Maybe to $350 from $300, to be well covered. BUT this year's $300 is well more than plenty to cover a commute that costs about $80 monthly with current gas prices. The rest is gravy and driving is one of our main luxuries.

I guess mostly my point is I set my gas budget very high in 2006. & I haven't changed it since. It will suffice this year.

I am at a loss why so many people on this board are so confuzzled by gas prices. Usually I identify more with this board, but I guess I feel odd woman out. I can't believe I am the only one who saw this coming a mile away???

& don't get my wrong. I totally understand that people are just reaching a tipping point. I am just surprised so many frugal people on a board like this are reaching their tipping points so fast. To me all I see is a long established pattern being continued. Thus where as mostly I see a lot of panic in the masses, I wonder what's new.

I admit though, even with all this said, we are feeling gas pinch. As I said the last time we felt so pinched was when it topped $2. IT changed our lifestyle dramatically. & I sense as gas tops $4 our lifestyle will change quite a bit. It is a bummer that one of our biggest luxuries is our cars. We just love the freedom to drive any time/ any where. But as prices rise, it is a luxury that is harder to justify.

It's also more maddening than usual to live in an area with such subpar mas transit (both expensive and not terribly useful). I would gladly commute to work or take the train to visit family, to have more weekend gas budget. BUT there just isn't much out there. The train, for one, costs like 5 times what it does to fill up the gas tank for a round trip. So much for that...

Anyway, last time gas prices jumped like this was the worst time for us financially. I guess this time around we are in a better spot, and more prepared. That is the jist of my feelings. It does make all the difference.

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But man, how about the news yesterday? Doom and gloom. I was depressed just looking at the news.

I read 1 in 4 homeowners in US has zedro or negative equity.

Seriously? Egads!!!!!

GAs prices up.

Dow down.

Unemployment, highest jump since the 70s?

Oh boy, you get the feeling the country is just about to implode.

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Which also reminds me. I made an offhand comment about the economy to a client yesterday, and she laughed. "The economy?" she said. They had the highest revenue day, ever, last week. This is our most successful client. Mostly doctors. But this one specializes in cosmetic procedures. So, yeah, the rich are still getting their laser treatments and botox. That is for sure.

This bodes very well for my job.

We have 2 young doctors in this area and believe me, they make bank. Where as most of our doctors net around $100k-$500k, after expenses but before taxes,they net millions. I have never seen 2 people who have so much more money than they even know what to do with it. IT's insane, and their businesses are booming. That is my glimpse into the economy. As we get further in the year, we'll see how much the economy is affecting the rest of our clients. I expect expenses up with gas prices, but revenues rather the same since the insurance companies rule. We'll see...

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Well, I have been busily shopping.

Bought 2 camping chairs, and 3 sleeping bags (thank you amazon.com).

Today I need to buy some new shoes - will order from zappos.com. My workout shoes are dead/old/useless. I have waited too long to replace (as usual - a terrible habit I have).

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Dh has been applying for a few side income jobs. He hadn't exactly told me but perusing our shared e-mail I saw lots of correspondence re: video jobs. Many of them paid. Which is actually quite odd because usually there isn't much out there with paid offers. I can't help but wonder if he just saw the ads and responded, not necessarily thinking of looking for paid work but spotting the ads all the same.

I will keep my fingers crossed. !!

He has applied for many jobs, and not gotten anywhere, the last 7 years or so. I mean hell, McDonalds won't hire him. I have NO IDEA what is up with that. We ventured he was over-qualified and kind of gave up. I have posted in the past that we both scooped up jobs like that in the fistfuls when we were in college. But an old guy with a degree? You don't just get those jobs I guess. (Old meaning mid 20s with a degree). I told dh to drop his education on his resume. Seriously. For a McDs job? Whatevah.

Anyway, these jobs were second video camera on wedding videos, for good money. He is certainly well qualified. & also some independent film productions with paid positions. His experience may warrant pay.

We shall see.

At this point I would love to hoarde some cash for work around the house. I think he is motivated to buy toys. We'll find some middle ground. I don't mind that if it motivates him to bring cash. But we have to be realistic too - a large chunk has to go to household and savings.

In the interim we have some catching up to do. In the more long-term, a little extra cash can go a long way to funding retirement.

Anyway, for the first time since having kids dh has some actual TIME to devote to work. & it hasn't been that long that the kids have been sleeping well too. The playing field has completely changed, and you don't know how happy I am to see dh making an attempt at some cash. On one hand I think, "It's about time!" On the other hand I know that times have not been so great the last few years - the kids have kept us insanely busy. Even I find a large amount of time that wasn't there before. & I imagine this is rather new to dh as well.

Likewise, it is nice to see dh applying for way better paying, and yet more realistically achievable, jobs.

A mere $100/month could make a huge difference in our finances/savings.

Well, we'll see!!!

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Oh yeah, beyond all that I noticed a small flood in our backyard yesterday. IT looks like something completely chewed through the flower bed irrigation tubing. I looked at it rather dumbfounded. You wonder if the gardener had been careless, and whacked it with a saw or something, until you see it is completely gnawed through. We had some mouse problems last year. I have no idea what else would gnaw through it. I have to investigate the front yard today. I am confident dh will be able to patch it together with a trip to the hardware store. & I am mostly relieved it seems to be only that one spot. But you got me at a loss there.

Ugh!

We also had no idea one of our trees is fruit bearing. ???? My best guess is purple plum (from web searching). We've had the tree a few years and never noticed fruit until yesterday (& lots of it!). It doesn't appear to be edible to humans. Bummer. I remember when we were house hunting seeing a large yard covered in purple bird droppings from some sort of dark purple fruit. These aren't quite so dark, but it does have me worried. !!!!!!!! Especially if you knew the number the birds have done in the past with their white droppings. I think the only real money we have put to our house to date is bird proofing. Seriously. Thank goodness, before our house and yard was to be covered in purple poop.

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

This weekend:

1 - Clean up the house

2 - Put some stuff up on ebay/craigslist. I have been WAY lazy on both fronts. I probably have an easy couple of hundred dollars to be had if I list some things this weekend. Maybe more.

I feel behind...

We went by McDonalds after preschool to scope it out for the kids' birthday.

Anyway, at one point we walked to the bathroom and as we passed the register, a patron dropped a quarter. I had barely heard the ping of it drop when BM dived for it. I Started to say I hope he was going to give it back (probably) when the guy waved his hand and said, "Keep it." BM couldn't have been happier. HE asked me as we entered the bathroom how much it was worth. HE was quite pleased at his 25 cent find.

The kids are on a roll. I think they found a dollar between the 2 of them, last month. Which is a large percentage of return on their $8 or so piggy banks.

OF course, later, as we were wrapping up at the play land, BM insisted he had to go #2 IMMEDIATELY and dashed for the bathroom. I have been letting him go in his own stall as long as I can see his feet. So LM & I went into the next stall. It had been a good half hour or so, but there was that shiny quarter sitting on the toilet paper dispenser.

I asked BM if he was missing something.

He eventually caught on, but I had LM and pretty much told him, "Finders Keepers." He needs to learn to watch his money a little better. I asked LM if he would be so nice to give it back to BM (his choice), and of course he said no. !!

We were in there a while and as we walked out of the building, LM handed the quarter back over very nicely. I think BM and & had both forgotten about it.

That was my proud mommy moment of the day.

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

I did ask the McDonalds about their parties and they weren't very helpful. The "manager" on duty wasn't very helpful and said he thought it was $80. Not getting anywhere, I asked the point at hand. If they minded if we brought in cake on our own and skipped their party. I think he said something like, "It's a free country." & looked at me insanely why I would ask. I said, well, I want to make sure you don't have a policy about no outside food. The guy says, "I eat Taco Bell here all the time."

Well, okay then!

LOL.

I'll take that as a green light.

The funny thing is I didn't even choose this route out of frugalness. I chose it for simplicity and it really seemed like the most fun (admittedly at the best deal). The simpleness is just showing up with cupcakes, maybe balloons, and ordering HAppy MEals for the kids. The best part is no time limits. We can stay all day if we fancy.

We've settled on 2 parties. The kid party on Sunday between their birthdays. The big family party Saturday. That one will be an all day affair with lots of food, but mostly hanging out.

Our parents always slip us cash for groceries on these events, and the kids will be spoiled with clothes and toys. We usually come out WAY ahead, so my budget is about $0. !!

We'll ask for no gifts at the kid party. No one ever listens, but we'll try. I just want it to be a really casual affair.

I am sick of crappy party favors, but I still feel weird about skipping them altogether. Maybe we should just do balloons... Kids love balloons!

-------

Beyond all that, some guy from Comcast came by trying to sell a package and told my dh that our current local cable company is closing shop in a month.

He gave dh his card and dh is pretty convinced the guy is full of crap. maybe. IT does sound rather odd. But I think one would have to be pretty brazen to leave their card if they were just brazenly lying. My gut tells me it's probably true.

For now our cable/internet package is $70/month. Which may or may not be a great deal, but so far we see it as the best/cheapest (some preliminary searches). Whatever the setup is requires no box rentals or anything like that. All that stuff is over my head, but dh is peeved. He has spent the evening looking at other options and hates them all.

Oh boy. I guess we could face a major price increase to keep dh happy. Or maybe just to keep what I have. I just don't know. Overall we felt we were getting a pretty good deal with the small guys. We were paying $80 until they lowered our bill out of the blue by 15%.

When was the last time Comcast or Dish did that?

Dh and I in general avoid business with the BIG guys. So it will be a shame if we have to join the big corporate giants of cable/satellite. We certainly do not look forward to it. We've been REALLY pleased with our small guys. Their customer service is impeccable and though they have had their issues, we'd take them any day.

We will both be rather bummed if this rings true.

I almost hope the guy was just a shyster. BUT he messed with the wrong guy if he was. Believe me. If he is full of hot air he will rue the day he tried to pull one over dh.

Hell, Comcast will rue the day.

You just don't mess with that man's TV set up. !!!

Do you think they would really do that? Would a salesperson be that desperate?

Well dh is going to call our company tomorrow. They were closed at 5 so he couldn't get through to a person to see if there was any truth to this rumor. We shall see!

Oh my!!!!!

Well, to be fair, I had run it fairly long on empty (was almost 18 gallons as opposed to the usual 16 gallon full up).

But dh filled it up for me and came home and told me, "I don't know if it's full. It stopped at $75." I had to digest that for a bit. It seemed when I bought the van 2 years ago, fill ups were $45.

$75? Huh????????????

I at least assured him it was full. I had only driven it 20 miles on empty and that was a record fill-up. But probably coincidentally the same amount they cap off at.

When he told me it was for 18 gallons, that made a little more sense. But still. WOW!

That was with our wonderful grocery discount. The grocery chains have been great on staying ahead of the gas curve, but times seem to be changing. I passed a Valero that was a good few cents cheaper the other day. I would have filled up there if I had been in the correct lane to turn in. It's close enough to my work that I may frequent that one a bit more. In the past the grocery stores have won hands down. Just have to keep an eye on things. It changes with the wind. No comfort zone. Which is probably much of the shock here. I think the grocery stores absorbed the price spikes for a while, in an effort to gain loyal customers. I was actually quite shocked to see a cheaper Valero because I had gotten accustomed to the grocery gas being so much cheaper.

In the meantime we have a secret weapon. We primarily need one car and the other one last cost $35 to fill up. It will go the same distance on $35 that mine does on $75. Needless to say I am taking to driving dh's car MUCH more these days. IT is ridiculous to commute in the van and ridiculous to go on long trips with it. It's pretty much rendered useless, though fine for around town trips with the kids. It may come in handy for field trips and such. I don't know.

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

Which leads me to our car conundrum. I admit I didn't do my research. I glanced at the 22/25mpg EPA estimates and didn't think much about it when we bought it in 2006.

My cars have always gotten 30mpg+.

Shortly after we bought I did start to regret it. I hadn't grasped what a difference the whole 10mpg made. Likewise, I am not sure I have ever gotten 22 or 25 mpg in the van. It's much worse.

Dh is so sick of me driving his car, he told me a while back and I could just sell the van for a convertible. "Whatever!" he exclaims.

I have seen it many times mentioned that it doesn't make sense to trade in a gas guzzler that is already paid. ???? Why not? For us we got a pretty decent deal on the van and it has thus depreciated little. I would have no qualms selling it for a good $10k (looks doable. We paid closer to $12k, 3 years ago). & buying a much more reasonably priced car. My last car I paid in the realm of $1k and drove 3 years without a problem. The only reason we dropped it is we always considered it an interim car until we could afford a newer minivan. So I know I could get a pretty sweet car in the $5k range. Or $10k. Or $1k. I don't know what I would do.

I've had the "newer" minivan for 2 years and I have not much good to say about it. It is very luxurious and comfortable. That's about all it has going for it.

On an annual basis it has far more repairs than any old beater I have ever owned. The insurance is expensive. Etc., etc. So as I reached that point where I could buy more luxury, I quickly wonder why I bothered. All the reasons I loved extremely used cars are suddenly very magnified.

Dh is on board with me. We could slash our gas bills significantly and buy a less expensive car to boot. I am not sure why the general advice is to stick it out. Certainly makes no sense in our situation. Maybe it makes sense if you have a large car note. But even if you bought a new car and you ate that depreciation, I still don't agree it is your best bet to stick it out. I guess that assumes though you only buy new cars.

Having no car note and being open to a very used car means innumerable options and freedoms. Phew.

The conundrum for me is that the little compact Japanese cars are VERY tempting. I admit I am love with the mpg in dh's car but probably don't want to commit to a car that small. It personally makes me uncomfortable. But he will drive nothing bigger than a Civic. I learned to drive in a "boat" of sorts. Which is why I am stuck with the big car though it makes little sense.

We try to think how often we really need the van and what if we just rented in those instances instead. Lord knows we could live without it, easily.

We go round and round on it.

The thing is when I look at some of the more mid-size cars that would have the same advantages (more room, etc.), the gas mileage really isn't that much better.

So if I am not willing to commit to a small commuter, then there really is no point to make the jump.

In the meantime I think we will take to driving the subcompact and leaving the van for when a second vehicle is necessary. We are certainly changing our mindset. We will pretend much more that we only have once car. We've kind of gone halfway whereas on the days dh doesn't go anywhere I tend to take his car. But I think we are expanding it to on the days that we both go somewhere, the longer driver gets the subcompact.

I also don't think we can afford to drive the van on long trips anymore. The drive to LA went really well in the subcompact, so I am fine with that. We had always wanted a van and made the jump when LM was born. The whole big bulky car seat thing was not working in dh's car, whereas before that I had little issue with the car. Now that the kids are outgrowing the big bulky carseats, well, the subcompact isn't so bad.

But then you get back to square one. If the van is too expensive to drive, why keep it?

Should we just admit that we no longer see the point in having a roomy vehicle? Probably...

I think we will re-evaluate in the winter, when gas prices settle down. Dh thinks that will be a better time to sell it. He may have a point.

I am sure I can do much more research on a roomier mid-size with good gas mileage. I am sure there is much out there. Something like an older Camry may be more our speed.

---------

But, um yeah, I was quite vocal that I thought it was premature to panic about gas prices a few months ago. Even last month. For us, prices have gone up 50 cents in about 3 weeks. & I have to say I am feeling the pinch now. Egads! I don't expect it to affect our budget much. But it will affect our driving habits, that is for sure. & I admit I could be naive in thinking it won't affect our budget much...

Ebay here I come...

I figured out my MLM today.

To start, I joined a MLM back in 2004.

IT was young enough that sales are easy, the profit margin is 50%, and the product sells with 0 effort.

From my experience in it I am not so down on MLMs. They certainly have their pitfalls (MANY) but they can also be somewhat profitable if you do it right.

For me, I did a show and so had to shell out little money to get in. You have to buy just so much product to get in, but the show covered that - my friends bought me in.

I did a few shows, but it was not my thing. The person above me let me borrow her inventory though.

Once you get into inventory, that's a whole other ballpark. But I never carried any. The shows would make good money, though just not my thing. I could sell a decent amount with no inventory, and no effort anyway.

I would never buy the stuff full price, and they welcome "personal shoppers" who really just sign up for the discount.

So it goes.

In the meantime I guess they changed some of the rules on quotas. They quotas are the same (can reach them in my sleep) BUT they changed to anniversary date based fiscal years, from annual years.

No one knows this.

I particularly didn't have a clue.

So they dropped me.

They say they warned me in an e-mail. No doubt lost in my sea of junk mail.

From my conversation today, with them, I turned pretty sour on them rather fast.

"Well, you could always sign up again" {with a big order at only 25% off, and lot's of fees}"

Um, yeah, I think I will pass. (Are they kidding???)

Way to go treating your customers.

I will probably never buy their product again. Way too overpriced at retail.

No more free jewelry for me. But I really rarely even wear it anyway.

I am kind of looking forward to the de-cluttering. I could get a decent amount on ebay with my NWT jewelry, slightly used jewelry, sales supplies, etc., etc., etc. I can toss a lot of their crap in the trash too. PAperwork and such. Woohoo!!!!!!!!

I know it is no real news bulletin that MLMs suck. But I am dissapointed this one went the way of suck.

In the past, the 12/31 quota deadline has been a serious issue. So serious that they allowed a January grace period, for the FIRST time this year.

But believe me, the top dogs do not want to lose their commissions due to this bull crap. The person above me had no clue the rules changed and the person above her is a pretty top dog. She usually calls me, personally, in December to make sure I buy enough to stay current.

No calls; no warnings. I have the feeling they will raise a stink and I may get invited back in at some point.

I will happily decline if that day comes.

Whatevah!

Yeah, mostly just had to vent.

I think my person may take pity on me and give me the profit on this last sale I had. I thought I had made an easy $100 or so until I tried to place my order. Bah!

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

I am probably a sucker for punishment but I was invited to a MLM party over the weekend. (A FOOD one).

I must say, I can not resist FOOD!!!

Likewise, since it is Saturday afternoon and requires no schedule juggling, I will give it a whirl. I won't be surprised if it is cancelled at the last minute (not enough people). In fact, I will be prepared for it.

I don't expect to buy anything. Don't worry.

I usually loathe these stupid parties, but the product is good (though overpriced), and it is a really good friend. *sigh*

Well I don't have much bad to say about the MLM I belong to, as far as my approach to it anyway. It is a very simple side income stream.

BUT I had a friend who wanted to sign up and was gathering orders in an attempt. She changed her mind (which is very fine with me - my recruit number to date is 0 and I have little desire for one. Though I would get some sort of commission. I also have no interest at "working" at this. I am merely signed up for the discount. I stay on for the easy money).

Anyway, she sent me her orders yesterday. I popped online to see if stuff was still available.

& I got the lovely message that my account had been DEACTIVATED.

What the heck?

I called my person and she hadn't a clue. I told her if they had sent me any e-mail warning or anything like that, it was probably lost in my sea of junk mail. I did peak through my deleted e-mails for the week (I was just on there last week) and didn't see anything, though a few missed personal e-mails. Makes me wonder how much I miss!)

Anyway, we chatted and she told me there was no reason she knew of why I would be deactivated.

She told me to call the corporate office.

I don't even know what my ID# is - I have it stored online.

I am just SO peeved.

So, let's put it this way, my days of MLM may be over. I am not really sure it is worth to effort to figure this out. Honestly. But what a way to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I'll call, but if they give me any hassle, I am out. Fine, you don't want my business? Whatevah!

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

I am extra bummed because that was an easy $100 profit that just fell into my lap. *sigh* I may be able to have my person buy the stuff for me, as a last hoorah, and I may be able to pocket the profit. But then I guess my days may be over.

Honestly I spend way too much on jewelry anyway. I was going to quit in 2005 but I kept making my quotas even once I stopped trying, so it's been like, whatever, I'll stay. I hoarde way too much jewelry though. If I am cut out I have a pile of wares to sell on ebay. That's the plus! (Of course, not allowed to sell my wares on ebay while a consultant. But this changes things).

Along the same lines, dh is going crazy over buying used games. He said he found a pile of 12 games on sale for $40. He jumped on it - he said he could sell them on ebay for hundreds.

I am actually pleased. I have been waiting for dh to pick up a side income stream for a LONG time. I get tired of being the one working full-time and making all the side income too.

Anyway, he has MUCH more time now (with the kids in school a solid 2 days a week). So I will give him that. I am glad he is making himself useful. It looks like there could be a decent income stream in this direction.

Of course, on the flip side, this also has a lot of tax ramifications. So it's not pure profit. & this would take significant more work to track than other income sources. But it's still worthwhile.

With the free time he is also putting feelers out for film projects. They are largely unpaid, but the networking/contacts are invaluable.

I admit he is really busy on family projects - weddings and reunions to edit.

& don't even ask the status of our own home videos. It's like the shoemaker's son who has no shoes.

2008 $20 challenge:

$2,346.00 - 5/1

$ 100.00 - ROTH Contributions - June
84.00 - May Interest
------------------
$2,530.00 - Balance 6/1
------------------

This was my last big interest month, for a while anyway, as I pay back a $4k Balance Transfer this month.

Then again, it's not such a big deal. I should have a few thousand in the short-term fund around October - December. I also should received $2k from IRS (straight to savings) in a couple of weeks.

I also am saving much more come July.

So I figure that balance transfer will be easy to make up, soon enough. For the long run that was kind of the plan. Take the balance transfers while my cash was low. Eventually save up the cash to earn the same interest on my own.

Then again I still have a $10k balance transfer earning 5.7%. That will be a little harder to replace (the interest rate more than anything).

But, getting there...

Does anyone have a deep fryer?

Not very bloggy today, but remembered I saw a cute little countertop deep fryer in the $50 range.

Was curious if anyone had one and what they thought.

I think this will be PERFECT for my Christmas wish list.

My MIL goes crazy over Christmas and it usually turns into big drama (God forbid I don't want anything for Christmas, but then when I Come up with something it's too expensive - though what they usually spend - or it's not practical - and on and on and on and on).

Kitchen things are usually safe.

Though then again it is MIL. She is OBSESSED with weight. She will probably HATE this idea.

Well, I'll try.

So yeah, now that I think about it, I already know the answer to a deep fryer. Maybe I should ask for a similarly priced kitchen item and trade it in for the fryer.

I was thinking for frying french fries and gyozas. I am sure I could find much to fry.

I will be saving $315/month come August, with BM out of preschool.

I have been at a loss what to do with the $15.

I decided today I would put that $15 to the mortgage.

My mind changes often in this regard. I think I was putting an extra $30 there for a while, and then stopped.

But I feel obligated to save that $15 and don't really have anywhere else to put it.

So I'll go with that for now.

Actually, I put about $11 to the mortgage to make it an even $1330.

I've said many times I don't see the point in paying down the mortgage any faster without the ROTHs maxed out. (Likewise, I see little point in putting more money to the mortgage just so I can borrow more later for home improvement projects. ?? So I have a tendency to prefer to save up cash for that stuff).

BUT I also don't mind diverting a small amount I wouldn't save otherwise. I like saving big round numbers to cash and retirement, and so upping the mortgage payment a bit, with this small amount, seems rather reasonable. Maybe I will "up" it to $1350 when LM is out of school.

Otherwise, this money would just go to more stuff or food or something.

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

I feel now that I have more time, there is not enough hours in the day for all I want to do.

I have decided to rethink things in terms of where I am at my best for certain activities.

Reading in the evenings before bed is NOT working. I am lucky if I can read 2 pages.

So I am thinking:

Mornings - reading/going to work early
(Going to work early means quiet uninterrupted reading time at work also. Tempting! Like at lunch. Or if I stick around after shift is over for quiet time).

Evenings - crafts (kids LOVE to watch and help).

Exercise - walks with the kids. Gym/aerobics. I do well with these in the evening, though the latter does take time from the kids. But worth it in the long run.

Household Chores - Mornings. I am thinking of taking one weekend morning a week to catch up a bit on stuff around the house. I find on the weekends by 2pm I am spent. I generally nap and am useless after I wake up.

I could work some of these in on the weekdays.

TV - I found recently I am watching WAY too much TV. They are fine for evenings, when I am completely useless anyway. BUT I have been staying up late way too much to get in all my shows. So I think I will cut a few out.

So I am working on a plan.

I have also struggled in teaching piano to BM. It is something I Want to do, but am unsure how far I can take it (it is a big "no no" to teach your own kids - for various reasons).

Though I am sure it is fine for an intro and the basics.

Dh has started to show him guitar though, so this motivated me.

He is also excited about piano so for now I said remind me every evening and we can have a short lesson. I figure a five-minute lesson almost every day is pretty equivalent to the 30-minute classes I used to do for his age group (no one ever practices at home anyway).

So far it is going well. I tried a bit when he was 3 but just couldn't commit. It is always 10 times easier to teach a 5-year-old than a child any younger. Though he was very bright at 3, I see the ease now that he is so close to 5. Plus I couldn't teach him on the piano before - keys were too heavy. He is ready now for the big piano - yay!

I personally took piano lessons from very young, and learned violin and flute in public school. It is saddening the kids probably won't get the same opportunities at school, but there are a lot of affordable programs all the same.

I always figured I could play any instrument after covering the 3 corners of instruments. Piano is much like percussion and a string instrument. I translated that easily into guitar (with my violin experience as well) and drums. With the flute experience I can pretty much pick up any wind instrument.

So I would like to do the same with my kids. Probably will be piano from me, guitar from dh, and the wind instrument of their choice when they are older.

I think we will wait a while and see where their true interests lie before we start shelling out money for private lessons. Oh boy, the thought makes me cringe. Expensive... But I hope to hold off for a while and teach what we can ourselves.

Likewise, I have kept it up little since I had stopped teaching in 1999. With teaching them it gets me to practice a bit more.

I am relieved it is like riding a bicycle and I haven't forgotten how to play. Though I do sound extremely unpracticed.

I have to admit I am tempted to take on some students to get me practicing again. Maybe when the kids are older. If nothing else I can earn enough money to pay for their lessons. Seriously!

Well, May was an insane spendy month and june should be rather calm (knock on wood).

Credit card closes Tuesday and I count all the purchases until then to May. All the purchases will have to be squeezed into my June paychecks. Not much more room...

So we are fine with the 2 more no-spend days ahead.

BUT our camping trip is fast approaching and we need to purchase some supplies.

WE tend to approach things slowly. Whereas some people might buy an aresenal of camping equipment on a charge card (newbie camper) we figured we would start with a cabin and prepared meals. Our cabin has electricity too.

So it means all we really need is sleeping bags. Even that is questionable as it won't be very cold. Some warm clothes and blankets will probably do.

I was thinking of bringing my yoga/exercise mats for the kids to sleep on, on the floor. Cots provided, but it will be tight and the kids still roll out of bed too much. I am thinking with a little cushion they will be fine on the ground.

I found some decent sleeping bag deals on amazon today, with free shipping. I am very pleased.

Dh has some old sleeping bag I am wary of. I would prefer to buy a new one myself. For him he has a very nice cold weather one.

I still haven't found one - but I'll keep my eye out.

I just saved a bunch of stuff to my shopping cart. Will buy Wednesday...

I found a nice folding chair at a decent price but will shop around a bit.

I found some decent/cheap lamps, though we may have enough flashlights around, for this trip. No lamps needed with the electricity, though would be a good purchase for the long run.

I think if the trip goes well we will buy a tent next year. we may stock up on more cookware and that kind of stuff in the future. As we slowly build a camping arsenal.

The best is today grandma slipped us $60 for gas. Completely unexpected. That will pay for the kids' sleeping bags and a couple of lamps, if we go with that.

I have been wanting a travel chair for a while, so may fund it from my allowance. Not sure if dh wants one too. I should probably shop around a bit more as well.

We have been trying out the cheapies but they are REALLY uncomfortable. So not worth it. The one I found was $40 but had nothing but good reviews.

Thinking on it.

I will peruse Craigslist for all this stuff before I make any final purchases.

I also need new workout shoes (put it off to purchase after Disneyland. Boy my shoes are trashed after that). I think I found some at zappos.com. I LOVE the site with the detailed reviews and abundance of wide shoes. I have been shopping around the local stores and GIVE UP. Will probably spend $50 on a nice pair of shoes. Haven't replaced them in a couple of years, so it is time.

Finally, California has a new law in one month - no more cell phone use in the car without headsets.

Dh bought me one for my birthday but it sucks.

So I was perusing a bit. I think I will ask dh to do some research there. I want something a little more comfortable, and that I can hear.

June may be a little spendy but the $60 from nowhere helps immensely.

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

Which reminds me, I was cleaning up a bit and found a note that our estate lawyer (or family friend, I should say) had moved.

I was going to be nosy and zillow it but had never gotten around to it.

Until today!

Oh my!!!

From being nosy I gathered that they sold their 1500-square-foot home on 1/10 acre for $600k (little more than they paid in 2004).

& they purchased a 2000sf home a good ways out, for $800k. Lot size is twice as big, which is actually a good size for the region.

WOW!

Did I mention how old they are? Like 28?

As usual this stuff just leaves me dumbstruck.

Obviously I wouldn't have a clue how they can afford a home like this. Though I give them points for moving further out and scoring both land and square footage.

Dh's sister paid about that much for a 1200-square-foot, OLD house.

This is our experience with our friends back home. We just scratch our heads. Color us LOST.

On the flip side, I ran to an old college friend at a seminar quite a few months back. She kept asking when/if I may move back to the Bay. (As did dh's friend who lived in like a million-dollar house. You are like - "Hello!!??!!").

Anyway, I have mentioned the extreme shortage of qualified staff in CPA firms, and therefore the huge incentive to bring in qualified people. My last firm offered a $10k bonus if you recruited someone, and that was before it got really bad. (Probably a better chance of winning the lottery then finding someone qualified who would want to work at that job).

But anyway, she started courting me for her firm and seemed very confused when I made it clear we weren't moving back anytime soon. "Why wouldn't we move back?" she asks. I say, "Um, because we can not afford to live here."

She then tells me (she has to be at least 30), oh, well she was still living at home with her parents.

She was apparently clueless how maybe it was a bit too expensive for a young family to stay in the area. Though obviously she was choosing to live with her parents for some reason.

That is pretty much the gist of my experience. Either own a home for $700k+ or live with the 'rents.

& then look at us all weird like why would we ever move????????

Is it just me, or is this some major, insane bizarro world?

I know, I know, it's just the usual. My jaw STILL to this day hits the floor every time I found out a relative or friend paid $500k+ for a HOUSE. You think the shock would wear off at some point.

I have a childhood friend who rents in San Francisco and makes about what I do. She is the only one I understand on some financial level. Her rent is probably bigger than my mortgage. But she doesn't have a family to support either. We do sit around and wonder how the hell our friends are affording these real estate monstrosities, in their 20s. We assume they are in WAY over their heads while we HOPE they have come into some money from family or something. I really haven't a clue...

This weekend has felt largely strange.

BM is off with grandma for a few days.

If I could describe the change, of only caring for one child, in one word, it would be: QUIET

LOL. My wild extrovert is off doing fun things with Grandma and extended family (Completely in his element).

While we have Mr. Introvert. He mimics his brother so much he can be on the loud side at times. But mostly it is blissfully quiet.

But it also just feels very odd to me.

Gas has jumped about a 35 cents in price since we returned from Disneyland. I think even though we didn't have a crystal ball, we planned that trip rather well. I just mention that though because we have been driving, driving, driving. I don't expect to fill up again until after the credit card closes Tuesday. So our gas expenditure was not awful for the month of May. But I had to drive 30 miles to a class Friday. (30 miles each way). I passed the Folsom zoo (sanctuary) on the way and thought we have NEVER taken the kids there and might be a nice treat for LM.

Anyway, dh also drove BM all the way to San Jose. & we will pick him up half way at dinner time today. So, much driving driving driving.

I had wanted to swing LM by Fairytale Town today - enjoy it without his brother. But I realized it is quite on the way to pick up his brother, so we decided to be frugal and drag dh along, and go from there to get BM. MIL will probably treat us to dinner though, so color us spoiled.

Anyway, so yes, LM had QUITE a day yesterday. We did decide to drive him all the way out to Folsom to the little zoo sanctuary. & lo and behold, there was a steam train engine there too. (LM LOVES trains).

So we took a train ride and bought some ice cream.

I actually worried since it was such an expensive month that all this would be way too much. But we spent $8 to get into the zoo, $6 on the train, and maybe $6 on treats. Also about $6 on gas, but it wouldn't mean another fillup this month, so we went for it. It was a nice small splurge. I couldn't help but think while we were there that little kids like LM need this more than things like Disneyland. May be hypocritical coming from me (just coming back from Disney) but I generally never understood why my peers were always taking their 1,2,3-year-olds on all of this kind of expensive activities like concerts and amusement parks. But for the drive we really enjoyed the simplicity of this little zoo. Very much LM's speed, and very much the speed of our budget.

To be clear - Disney was more for us than the kids. I'll admit that any day. LOL. It's the one exception where we go a little crazy.

Oh anyway, in the afternoon yesterday LM got to take a long bath by himself. He was in heaven. Not having to share his bath, etc. Plus I admit I tend to rush baths so I just let him relax and enjoy for a long while. He still threw a little tantrum when it was time to get out.

Of course, I think he was incredibly moody. He was terrible with teething, for many long years (I swear he teethed like a year straight - I didn't get any sleep that year). Anyway, so my mom called and he was obviously really moody at a point. My mom asked if he was getting teeth. I panicked for a second, and thought, wait a minute, he has all his teeth! LOL. She panicked me for a bit there.

No, I think he just misses his brother. Though he will have to get used to it. We have discussed much how little one-on-on LM tends to get, but also realize his older brother is an amazing addition that BM never had. But now that BM is going off to school I know it will be hard on him, but he will get much of that one-on-one at this point.

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Well, the bargaining is not going so well for dh this week.

He noticed there was a garage sale that was selling games for his newest game system. Said the garage sale started 8am Friday. It was a good 20 miles away. So he drives all the way out there around 10am and there is no garage sale. They guy is all shocked and said, well, he didn't expect anyone to show up so early (though he advertised 8am). Anyway, dh says well, he is just interested in the games anyway. So he's got a willing buyer on his doorstep, and the guy says, "Oh I am not ready to sell them. I haven't researched prices yet."

I would have just left at that point myself, thinking some pretty nasty expletives in my head. But dh leaves him # and tells him to call if they don't sell. (He imagines odds are slim they would sell - who knows). When he tells me the story I am just thinking, come on, is it that hard to find games? Forget this idiot!

Anyway, dh researched and saw some of the games were going for $30 on ebay. So he is bummed he didn't push it more - and offered something. He will not pay that much for a used game that is like a decade old.

Oh yeah and he said he think he could have talked the guy into a deal but his wife was their giving him the stink eye. LOL.

But if I have advice for anyone - it is don't advertise a garage sale and specific items, if you are not ready. DOH! Call that the obnoxious experience of the week...

Likewise, dh went into his favorite used CD/game store and saw 10 copies of a game that he has a demo of (BM loves playing the demo) for $20/each. Plus, the second generation of the game is coming out soon. So dh talked to the manager and offered $15. He felt rather confident the guy would be hard pressed to sell all 10 copies at the $20 price.

They guy just said, no negotiations.

Bummer on that.

So dh had a bit of a strikeout this week when it came to deals on games. He's been on a role in other areas lately.

As far as these games, he said he'll go back in a month and try again. He says if he still sees a bunch of copies, and the same price, he will ask again.

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Well, yesterday was very relaxing. Today I should clean house or something productive.

I actually got a book on "math illiteracy" which so far has started out quite interesting.

June... Today is June.

I am thinking I need to work on my diet. I gained weight in Disneyland (admittedly, probably muscle since my clothes seem to still fit fine). But I need to get back to it.

Oh yes, and the city is closing a large stretch of freeway for a good 6 weeks.

I am lucky it does not affect my commute. We have little need to traverse that section of the freeway. But the alternate routes could possibly clog my commute. It will be interesting to see on Monday. I will take a slightly different route to avoid problems (hopefully).

Mostly I am optimistic.

BUT we also have little need to travel too far south. This could affect my aerobic class though. The traffic is usually bad enough during the week, as is. This could help my commute, or make it impossible. I guess we'll see. If it's unbearable I'll just have to hit the gym more instead. I haven't really been great with either...

Plugged things in and am making small progress.

Keep in mind, my goal is to increase net worth by $25k-$30k this year.

As of 5/31, I am up $4900.

I just got a statement on the kids' 529. Their investments are officially down $500 for the year.

You can argue if there money should be included, but I figure the more we put in there now the less we have to come up with later, so I count it, for now. For the long run I am sure we won't.

Retirement is up about $3300. We have contributed about $3300 this year, so basically I think it is safe to assume our investment return has been 0%, thus far this year.

We have paid $1600 off of our mortgage (just regular payments).

Oh, and cash is up $500. Our mid-term fund is doing well, but our short-term fund is in the red, for now. It fluctuates much, but makes our cash savings look pitiful for the moment.

I can pretty much break it down to:

$3300 Retirement Contributions
$1600 Mortgage Payments
$ 500 Cash Increase
$(500)Loss on 529s
------
$4900
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With the market the way it is, our goal will be very hard to meet this year. (Which just means we need to make up for it in good stock years...)

I did it!

I paid the last monster preschool bill. Woohoo.

& that temporary expense is long gone. Phew.

Anyway, it worked out rather well. Ms. Preschool called me yesterday and asked if I could bring the kids T/Th in June.

I looked at the calendar and that would be one less day to pay than M/W.

Woohoo.

So I wrote a check for $560 this month. Not so bad.

I peeked what this meant for July. With the switch back to M/W there will be an extra day to pay for July. & it is a long month. BUT one week is free (owners on vacation) and BM is only attending for half the month.

So July will be $420.

Average month is $600.

I upped my short-term savings to $1k in July, and going forward (diverted $100 of the savings).

I also considered adding $100 to our IRAs in July. I was just setting up everything in Quicken.

I decided to hold off. June is going to be another expensive month with our camping trip, Father's Day, our big date night, etc. July will be a little pricey with Birthdays (maybe). I figure I would earmark the $100-$200 saved for birthdays and camping. Seemed fair.

But August is it. I still haven't decided if I will fund IRAs or bulk up mid-term savings a bit. Or both.

Decisions, Decisions.

I am inclined to bulk up the savings instead. We've got about 12% going to retirement and majorly lack in the "big purchase" savings department. We have for years, but not sure how much longer our luck will hold out.

Then again I had been toying with the idea of doubling our IRA contributions now and doubling them in January (if possible).

We could also commit the entire $200 monthly to cash savings and then know we will have $300/month for IRAs, come 2010 when LM graduates preschool.

I think that is probably our best best since our retirement seems well enough on track. I just have a large urge to save more aggressively for retirement. But I don't want to do that at the cost of our shorter-term financial health.

It's probably the one area we have floundered with, since living on one-income. We haven't saved much cash. Last year I was able to build a decent emergency fund, but things have slowed. We don't have near enough cash outside that when you consider our appliances are aging, our cars aren't getting any younger, our house will need painting soon, the fence needs to be replaced (builders put in crap), etc., etc., etc.

Of course the major reason things have slowed is because we have had 2 in preschool, for a good 9 months or so. So I am optimistic to get back to a much faster savings clip.

July it will be nice to have a little more cash, but August will just be divine with that extra $300. Woohoo!

Yikes. Guess I am in a bloggy mood today...



I whipped up some muffins at some point over the weekend, and had forgotten the leftovers. So grabbed them for breakfast this morning.

I probably already blogged this in the past, but I just LOVE that jiffy hasn't change the look of its packaging, like ever. For it's blueberry muffin mix.

Love the quick/simple treat. But have blogged often how I am sick of going to the store and trying to find plain pepsi in a sea of 50 different kinds of pepsi, and same for the toothpaste, etc. I go mad.

So kudos to Jiffy for keeping it simple. Some of us like it like that.

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I also had another topic to write on.

Being in California has been interesting since we were in the thick of the tech bubble, when we lived in San Jose, and now we live in the thick of the housing bubble, in Sacramento.

But interestingly, I had some thoughts that I don't see mentioned much in the media.

The tech bubble probably would have ended much worse, but people started dipping into their homes, much to survive. Sure, I have seen more than my fair share of excess when it comes to home equity. But the reason a lot of people started borrowing way over their head was because of the tech bubble burst. I can hardly think of a family I know that didn't face lay offs in 2002-2004. Significant, long layoffs. Even up here in Sacramento. My dad has never been laid off more than like a month in his life and he was out of work well over a year. We figured much of that had to do with age, but employment opportunities have been booming for him the last year or 2. So it seems it was more economy than anything.

So to be fair, a lot of people around here started digging into their homes, merely to stay afloat.

I was thinking about this since quite a few friends are starting to face layoffs, and lament they have barely recovered from the last round.

& so I do have to sympathize.

I was googling the subject a bit and didn't see much. California stastics showed 7% unemployment level at the peak. Today we are already wooshing past 6%.

IT's all a little deja vu.

I think this makes this forecasted recession much scarier. I am not sure how people will get through this round. The debt solution is pretty much gone.

I don't know.

I am surprised there is not a lot more observation about this though, in the media and in other blogs, etc.

OF course, "significant" and "long" are relative terms when it comes to layoffs. I Was perusing California unemployment data and it hit 10% for much of the 70s and 80s.

Ouch.

So anyway, I am back to, "Who couldn't see this coming?" Who could live in this area and not see this mess unfolding?

I guess a lot of people!

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That kind of reminds me I haven't seen gas up past $3.99, like gas stations were hesitant to raise above $4. Well today as I drove to preschool I noted $4.10 gas and $4.15 gas at the cheapie gas stations.

WOW!

I can only imagine what the Chevron on the corner here has gone up to. I'll have to look when I leave work tonight. IT had been holding steady at $3.99, prior.

& this reminds me, when all the gas hype started, I think where I Was with the housing bubble. "Who couldn't see this coming?"

Or maybe I just feel behind the times. Gas has taken quite a chunk out of our budget in recent years. I think we felt the pinch much stronger earlier in our one-income years (it had risen more percentage-wise in the years I had my children). So I found this all rather predictable, felt we were nowhere near the worst, and was unsure why the sudden panic. Though obviously we have reached a tipping point for the masses; I reached my personal tipping point LONG ago. PRobably what it mostly comes down to.

But I do admit that today my jaw dropped when I saw Arco for $4.10. Knew it was coming, but egads.

Likewise, I feel much the same about healthcare. Everyone is freaking out, and I wonder where the hell they have been. Where was the panic when rates increased 300% in a few short years? Not that they have for everyone. But in 2003 it was in the ballpark of $200/month to have full insurance coverage and small co-pays, for us. Now we pay $800/month for the privelege of giant copays and less coverage.

I feel like I should have invested in healthcare stock the last decade, and not be so proud of our efforts to keep housing costs down. For the short term, housing is decreasing greatly, and I am not sure how long until our healthcare costs more than our mortgage. Ouch! The interest on our mortgage is $1k monthly, so it's getting pretty close. At least the principal on our mortgage is a return on capital. But it makes our healthcare look that much more astronomical to look at it that way.

Anyway, with all this running in my head I am not sure what it is. I think just being a major planner and forward thinker means I panicked long ago about all of this stuff and have had time to adjust. It's all I can figure...

Every time I pick up the paper, all I Can think is, "Old News..."

Gas prices are insane and the healthcare system is bankrupting families. Well, where have you all been? I've been here for a while.

Maybe I should start making predictions of the economy. Hmmm... Though I have nothing to predict for now. Healthcare is the thorn in my side, for now. But I'll give you a heads up if I find a new thorn.

Actually, I just thought of it. Income taxes on the elderly. You'll be hearing a LOT more about that in 5 years. I'll be yawning at the headlines, as usual.

(I do need to do a post on that - I really do. I guess I have a fair amount of insider info - preparing taxes and all).

Oh I can assure you the next thorn in all of our sides will be taxes, taxes, taxes. Maybe I should start blogging about that. Seriously.

But back to gas, yeah. I used to drive home every day for lunch. Every single day. I stopped in 2006 because gas prices had just gotten so out of control. So 2006 was a bad gas year for our family (well years like 2002-2006 slowly creeped up to that point). It's just something I Could probably never justify again. I miss that luxury. I just held out until my youngest weaned from breastfeeding. Probably would have cut back on the gas sooner, otherwise.

For now we budget $300/month for gas which gives us quite a bit of wiggle room. We can stretch it farther by driving the van less and the compact more. So that gives us lots of wiggle room. When our gas bills regularly exceeds $300/month is probably our next tipping point. At this rate it is not terribly far away, but I have already made the major sacrifices for gas prices, a couple of years ago... SO for that, it is old news to me. Our next step would maybe be selling the van (far more gas guzzler than I ever imagined) and/or carpooling more. Driving to see family less, etc. Just not there yet. Phew. Though I find those all to be rather small sacrifices except for the big one - less affordable to see our family. That is what I dread, and is already affecting our driving decisions...

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

Well, in other news, dh and I are planning an elaborate date. Oooohh la la.

I got an e-mail about a comedy show coming to a small theater in the city. I have a friend who was in some productions, but haven't talked to her in a while, so wondered if she was involved. Anyway, I mentioned to dh that it looked interesting, and he said he had wanted to go see it - his friend was the Director.

Well, lah de dah.

The tickets will be $25 for the 2 of us, so really quite a splurge for us.

Plus the daycare.

I am a little uneasy since it is only on Fri/Sat night, on the later side. Kids stay up late, so no biggie, but we have been taking advantage of the drop-in care at slow times. So it will be a test to drop them off on a busy night. BM is fine, but LM much more timid. He needs more one-on-one care. But he does good with his brother. We'll see. Not sure it's any preferable to see out a babysitter we don't really know. They love the place at least.

I guess this will turn into a true test of our "freedom." The ability to drop the kids off and go out on a Fri/Sat night sounds absolutely divine. A luxury long ago forgotten...

I think with BM we have reached "freedom." I still worry about LM a bit too much...

Of course, I thought while we were downtown, what we really needed to do was to dine at our favorite upscale Indian restuarant. We rarely go because of the prices, but the food can not be beat.

The night will easily be $100, probably more. With show, daycare and food. But I think it will be a nice splurge.

Well we haven't picked a date for our date yet. Sometime in June. I do look foreard to that.

I was just updating Quicken and noticed our retirement balance is a solid $75k. For now anyway.

This is actually my gross salary for the year. So one years' saved!

Of course, the interesting thing about measuring your goals in terms of salary, is that I for one, had already met this goal last year (maybe the year before). Likewise, in past years I way exceeded this goal (because my income was much smaller...)

So though $75k is a new milestone for me, I can't say the one year salary saved is a new or exciting milestone... It is turning into an impossible moving target that makes me feel a little at a standstill.

If dh returned to work tomorrow it would be a long road to save up one year of salary.

Which probably illustrates much why I so love the idea of measuring progress against "annual expenses."

I guess this idea particularly makes sense for us.

In school we both made $10k annually. Out of school we made $60k combined, and that quickly climbed to $100k.

But then we slowed down for kids and lived a couple of years on $45k (the years I took maternity leave anyway). But my full salary was a mere $50k when I had my first child. In the meantime, my income has ballooned to $75k rather quickly. Though a good chunk of the last decade we really made less than $60k. So it is hard to measure progress in terms of an ever growing income.

Of course, no complaints on the ever-growing income.

But our expenses, on the other hand, have remained rather steady. Probably a bit of a jump when we bought our first home (okay, a significant jump since we lived on pennies before that). & probably a bit of a jump when we had kids. But overall our expenses have remained rather steady and predictable. So we find that a much better measure of our forward progress.

We generally live on $50k-$60k annually (after taxes) so we are trying to grow our net worth half of that, annually. ($25k-$30k/year). If our income grows astronomically (possible, could double if dh returned to work) and our expenses remain the same (possible) than we really need to work on goals that support our lifestyle, not our income. So this is where a lot of our thinking on expenses comes in. Income means little to us. (Which is the ideal!)

But $75k is a milestone, indeed. Of course, I was wondering, recently, when our cash and retirement would hit $100k. I think we will probably hit it in 2009. Not so sure on 2008. But we'll see. (We have a fair amount of cash, in addition to our retirement investments).

We've also paid a good $90k off our house. So our more liquid assets seem to be neck and neck with how much we have invested in our house.

I expect that to change greatly in the future. Our goal in the nearer future is to put away $10k/year to retirement, in addition to 10% contributed at my job. So ideally our retirement will be growing $18k/year or so, plus investment returns, while we are only paying the minimum on our mortgage, about $4k principal every year.

I think our 20s was our decade of home ownership. & we have accomplished a chunk there. I would like our 30s to be the decade of retirement funding. Which is also why I don't sweat the mortgage prepayment. We worked very hard while young to keep our mortgage costs down (putting a chunk down and paying it off aggressively). That work will save us tens of thousands, if not more, in the long run. So it feels like it is off to the next battle - Retirement!

Likewise, I look forward to do the day our cash/investments far exceed our mortgage.

Well, we're getting there.

Anyway, I don't think we will put $10k to our IRAs anytime REAL soon. My goal is about $1500 this year, and $5k next year. But I think we may make it in 2011, when LM is entirely out of preschool. Working up to it. So though our goal is $10k/year, to IRAs, we got a ways to go.

Of course, in our 20s, retirement was only a mere afterthought, after the token 10% contributions we have always done. So I look forward to what we can do with retirement as the forethought. I expect to zoom ahead rather quickly... In fact, my roundabout goal has been $150k in retirement by age 35... (So doubled in 4 years?). Kind of aggressive, but doable.

My dh is going to buy some kind of Nintendo(?) game system for $40 today. Used, with a pile of games.

He told me last night and I think I was only half listening. Then I said, "Huh?????" That woke me up.

I said, "Dude. How many game systems do you have? Seriously."

So he starts listing them all off and we counted 10. & today we will be proud owners of 11.

But I am okay with this. In the grand scheme of things it is a cheap hobby. I just hadn't really realized what a collector he had become.

He also wants to buy a Wii, when they come down in price, of course. He'll probably get one for Christmas in a year or 2.

So yes, my spouse, the game system collector.

The funny thing was he tried to tell me he really only used 2-3 regularly. He just doesn't want to sell the old ones. Perhaps trying to defend himself. I said, "That is not true." Which I actually prefer if he has all this "junk," that he uses it. Except for 2 extremely old game systems he keeps for sentimental reasons, I think all of them get pretty good use. I will give him that.

Likewise, he doesn't buy new games, which is the expensive part of gaming.

So at face value I know many people would think, "OMG - 10 game systems???" and think $$$$$$. But really, it's kind of the opposite. I am amazed at how well some of these were made. Dh bought a great number used, but some of these systems were made in the 1980s. So it is a slow accumulation over time.

As far as the games, for the longest time he subscribed to game rentals similar to netflix. Which is perfect for most games, that are his style anyway. In the last year or 2 he has been selling his old ones for credit at the used store and buying newer games on credit. So the cash flow has been about 0 on the game front. We also get free game rental coupons with our blockbuster online movie rental subscription. He is generally content with one game at a time, and has quite the collection from when we were young and had more cash flow. So it is not an expensive hobby in that regard.

Likewise, our PS2 has always functioned as our CD player and he primarily bought the PS3 for the Blu-Ray player. So they double in function in that regard.

But what do we have?

*Gameboy & Gameboy Advance - I am not sure he uses the old Gameboy at all. The Advance has largely been replaced by the DS2, but I know dh and BM play some games on here occasionally.

*DS2 - This is a FUN toy. We ALL play with it. Maybe LM not so much. (It's a portable system like the Gameboy). Doubled as a TV on our road trip (some kid shows downloaded onto it).

*PS2 - We have a lot of games on this that the kids love - from our childless/bigger cash flow days. We have the snow boarding games which I LOVE, and BM has taken to. We have a really cute muppet game. Dh plays all his big games on this.

*GameCube - There was some reason for this purchase that I don't remember... It gets used for certain games.

*PS3 - used as a movie player more than anything. But dh and BM play games on here.

*PSP - dh got this used rather recently (in trade) and it has all sorts of fancy uses beyond gaming. Don't even ask me what they are. I don't remember but I think dh watched TV wireless - could be HDTV quality. Not sure. He had it modified for some wireless capabilities. He gets all excited about that stuff, I don't even remember what it does. LOL.

*Nintendo - he already has 2 systems. One that is I believe defunct, and one that he has set up upstairs on some old TV. He has a few kids games that they love, up there.

*Atari - defunct. Though I think he would love to set it up. It's just sitting in a pile for now. Not sure how usable it is.

& that's 10...

But yeah, I can say most of this stuff gets regular use. So I will give him that.

Hard to believe, but we don't play video games every day. We REALLY limit with the kids (like 20 minutes at a time - they are so young). Dh used to spend days playing video games, so he has REALLY cut back. He may play a lot while I am at work, but it's not anything I notice him spending an inordinate amount of time on.

I know, hard to imagine with all those games...

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However, thinking about it, it reminded me of our computer situation.

I probably am rather biased since I am from Silicon Valley and our dads collect computers and computer parts.

But I remember being on an online community like a decade ago and I remember when anyone talked about money problems people would come back and say, "well if you are so poor - how do you have a COMPUTER." I remember always laughing at that. Were they serious? I could find a computer pretty quick for free if I Was willing to go used or hand-me-down.

I always thought maybe the internet subscription was more worrisome, to someone who was really broke. Anyway the idea that only rich people had computers, was foreign to me. Though I am no spring chicken I have always had a computer. I got my first one when I was 3 or 4 (a hand-me-down, of course).

But anyway. Likewise, I have heard the topic come up often how horrible and excessive and expensive it is for kids to have computers.

I sheepishly think, both my kids have computers. LOL.

But we just buy quality and keep everything forever. We have 5 computers, 4 in use. I don't even remember the last time we bought a computer, except for the laptop we bought much more for luxury, in 2005. It's not a very big part of our budget. Every 5 years or so we upgrade one computer and the rest get shifted down. The top dog is dh's editing computer which he uses to do his work. He needs a lot of power for that thing and he has been talking about an upgrade, which won't exactly be cheap. But it's been a good 5 years.

But when he upgrades, everyone in the house will get a new computer. I'll get his. BM will get mine. LM will get BM's, etc.

I couldn't tell you how old our monitors and printers and peripherals were because we have pretty much never replaced them. Not in adulthood anyway.

So yeah, when you buy quality and do the hand-it-down method, we all can have a computer at very little cost.

We probably have a significant advantage in that our dads are computer junkies. PArticularly dh's dad who likes to collect stuff and has just about anything you need sitting in his garage. Dh's monitor did go kaput a while back (it had been on its last leg for YEARS but we finally gave in) and I am pretty sure he got one free from his dad - he just had it sitting in his garage. We have learned to always ask before buy. Which means I don't think we have bought anything computer, outside free store of father-in-law, in a long while.

We haven't upgraded at all to the fancy monitors or anything. But a working monitor, if you don't mind clunky, is easy enough to find for free. Particularly in a computer heavy area like this.

I think when BM starts school we will consider moving one of our older computers into his room and buying him a mouse and keyboard more his size. Give him my old monitor and maybe I can get a new one. A more modern monitor is certainly on my wish list. Just completely unjustifiable for now. & I guess the other plus is we have held out so long they are probably cheaper than I even imagine at this point. Though we will go for long lasting quality over "cheap." You see why...

But with both game systems and computers, we generally let everyone buy the premium, going new. We wait for prices to come down, ourselves. Even if it takes many years. Patience pays.

The kids have computers earmarked for them, but not really in use, for now.

So anyway, I just had to share because I would find it ironic that people would look at our computers or game systems and assume we were broke. In the end we will probably spend $100 this year on game systems (& games). I would be surprised if dh's top of the line computer cost more than $100/year. If he spends more than $500 every 5 years for a faster computer. He builds his own and reuses the parts he can. Though I think he has his eye on something more in the $1k range. We'll see. Technically, he uses his computer to make money, so would probably pay for itself quickly, if he committed to some paid projects to pay for it.

Of course I can't tell you how much stuff we have in our house that we have had since we were kids. The stereo system in our family room is the one I bought as a teen.

When you buy things to keep for decades, it doesn't mean a large annual expense for electronic pleasures. Quite the contrary.

Now, if we had to have the latest and greatest of everything? Well, yeah, I have no idea how people afford all that! That is certainly not our style. We may buy more of that if we resume back to a 2-income lifestyle. But if not, "old and trustworthy" is fine with us. Sometimes it's the only way to have your cake and eat it too.

Of course, thinking back to the games... We're only 30 and dh has quite a collection. I will probably have to work on him in the future in maybe getting rid of some of the old stuff. Maybe for each new system an old one goes. I just don't want to be 50 and have 100 game systems.

Likewise, one of these days we may have to dispose of a computer. Imagine that!

http://www.hurstbeans.com/products.asp

Dh allows the kids to buy treats at the grocery store, sometimes, IF the item is on sale. (Yes, their financial education has already started as they are very involved in the grocery shopping).

Anyway, one day they spotted a package of 15-bean soup (dried product) and thought it looked really good. Dh decided it didn't look like a bad idea.

So we had the Cajun 15 Bean Soup for dinner a while back. We decided it was delish, cheap and healthy. All that for the pretty packaging and varied beans that caught the kids' eye.

So we had it again last night. I think it turned out even better this time. VERY spicy, but we like that. We cooked with sausage.

This is definitely a family fave.

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As far as grocery shopping we primarily shop at Safeway and Bel Air. I think Bel Air shopping confuses much of the frugal crowd, but they switched to more of a "low-price leader" a few years back and we find the prices on most of what we buy to be very similar, though the store is VERY nice and the customer service can not be beat. I think most people assume we pay a premium for all the perks, but we really don't. We certainly could buy many overpriced items in that store, but as far as the basics we find them to be the best prices.

For the rest, there is safeway.

Plus Bel Air gives us 25 cents of per gallon gas, which is a hard perk to beat (Safeway gives us 3 cents to 10 cents).

Anyway, some of the items we buy in bulk at Safeway are cat food and organic apple juice (we're not strict on organic but it's a great deal - this particular juice).

In the last month or so they discontinued both in the larger (discounted) sizes.

Bummer.

My mom offered to take us over to Costco to stock up on this kind of stuff. We don't buy enough in bulk to justify any warehouse membership for now, but we may have to take her up on it in the interim (use her membership).

I will probably look around online and see if I can find the cat food in bulk; maybe shop some of the pet stores.

I have blogged much that we haven't really noticed grocery prices in our particular budget. Not to say it isn't happening, but just to say it hasn't affected us. But these will be two significant increases in price for us - so we will research our bulk options a little more.

(ETA: A quick online search shows these size changes are at the manufacturing level. So we may have little choice. What a way to sneak in SIGNIFICANT price increases... I've seen many of you blog about this - but WOW).

This month will be impossible to get a grip on our grocery budget (or I should say, a feeling about it) because we were gone a week and have had, what seems like, infinite amount of free meals. Next month will be normal and we'll have to see where we are at.

We did splurge on some ice cream yesterday (drumsticks - yummy).

& as a perfect example, dh found a 3.5 pound bag of gyozas at Bel Air, for $10. The full price at Safeway, for 1.5 pounds, was $6. He had bought the Safeway ones because they were on sale, and I found them to be rather good (as good as Trader Joe's, which is way out of the way for us). So if Bel Air's are any good, I think I am sold.

I can't believe we never thought to buy frozen gyozas before. !! Yum yum yum. Much cheaper than eating out, to find them. Though of course not as good as fresh ones, but they really aren't bad at all.

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Yesterday was a pretty simple day. My mom came for a visit and we played cards most of the day. ("Spite & Malice" & "Oh Hell" are our favorites - any other players out there?)

I made sloppy joes for lunch and dh did the soup for dinner. We usually get our parents to treat us out but we were in a simpler mood (tired of eating out this month, for sure).

I think we were all on the same page, so worked out.

In the morning, the kids and I went to Fairytale Town (a little park that is more than a park, here). The place opened at 9 and we got there closer to 9:30. We had been planning a hike in Old Town, but there is a huge jazz festival this weekend - all weekend - and we figured we would probably be lucky to find parking. So we were going to settle on something else when my mom decided to come over. So I had promised the kids a trip to Fairytale Town (we have membership, so the trip is "free" and we haven't been getting our money's worth in the winter months). So we headed over there about 1/2 hour after they opened and I swear for about a 1/2 hour we were the ONLY people there. We hung around a couple of hours until grandma got here.

It was COOL having the place to ourselves!

I did have to buy some nachos - what can I say. They are YUMMY. & hey, it's for a good cause...

That was my splurge for the day I guess.

Eventually some other kids came in (not many) and BM made fast friends with a 6-year-old.

He had actually befriended a 7-year-old at LEgoLand and had spent much the day with this kid, so it was much the same.

I think he is officially "graduated" and ready for Kindergarten. I know most people don't understand why we put our kids in preschool. We are fiercely vocal that the kids don't need a fancy preschool to learn academics (they learn them fine at home) and we also tend to be rather frugal. BUT socially/emotionally we really struggled with developing our child. It was probably extra hard with the man staying home, and not being so invited into the primarily female playgroups. But it's more than that. I have friends who don't let their kids out of their sight but expect them to thrive in Kindergarten in the fall. I think they are insane. No offense, but they are insane. I at least appreciate/understand the thinking when it comes to home schoolers. But I am at a complete loss to the emerging trend to shelter your kids 24/7 for 5 years and not let the kid out of your sight, but when they turn 5 they can magically go fend for themselves at school 6 hours a day.

Huh?

Thankfully that is not the "norm," but I see it a little too often.

Color me confused.

For me personally, we knew we always intended to send BM off to public school in the fall, and didn't feel we were properly preparing him socially and emotionally. So that is where preschool came in for us. We felt we needed help in that area, and searched it out. I see nothing wrong in that. To admit we needed help. I know we could have found more frugal help, but we found this route to be the best/easiest, and certainly no regrets there. Some areas we are frugal so we can splurge in other areas.

Anyway, to see him suddenly have the ability to make fast friends with just about anyone he meets, is quite an accomplishment. He has only one more month of preschool, and I think it has done its job.

I also like how he has a lot of "unsupervised time" to interact with other children. I know the 4:1 ratio he enjoys at preschool is nothing near the 20:1 ratio he will encounter in kindergarten. But at least he has spent much time with other kids without momma breathing down his neck and monitoring his every move. I think he will at least be much more prepared than those kids. He's learned, with much practice, how to solve conflict and get along with other kids, on his own, without adult intervention every second of the day.

We'll see how he does in Kindergarten. I notice he does gravitate to older kids. He may have less patience for the kids in his grade. But hopefully a few of them have gotten the emotional/social education he has. & if not, I guess the other kids will learn fast in that environment.

I guess the true test will be he how he does at school in the fall.

Rain??????????

Last night I was talking to my mom and she said tornadoes has obliterated a little town near Denver (my grandma lives in Denver). I guess they were peeved it got little media mention. So I popped in "tornado" in google and saw quite a few stories online BUT then I saw there was rain, snow, AND tornadoes in Southern California. Holy Cow! Glad we came back last week. But yeah, look at that crazy weather.

Fire season has also started (quite a few months early). On our drive to LA, looking at all the dry landscape, we thought to ourselves, "this is not good." Likewise, a number of fires broke out with the hot weather and such. Will be a long summer... Usually the hills dry out in the summer and the fire season starts in the late summer and fall, before the rains come. So May is a tad early - but the vegetation is just so dry this year. & the weather has already been so hot.

Of course, on the plus side, it is raining...

I was quite bummed to hear the rain when I woke up this morning though. We had all sorts of outdoor plans, all weekend. The weather forecast I see is rain rain rain. I was looking forward to more pleasant weather (under 100 degrees) but the rain was a bit of a surprise. Don't expect it to be much to curb the fire danger though.
The 70-degree weather sounds divine though, if it does not rain too much.

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Last night we had artichokes for dinner. I guess Cali is the only state where artichokes are grown commercially (for the most part) so we are lucky to get fresh artichokes. This is another reason it is worth it to live here - all the fresh, local produce.

We have been enjoying a TV show called "Good Eats." They had a special on artichokes (usually focuses on one food every episode - and VERY interesting). So we watched that and the kids were excited when they saw artichokes in the store. They were on sale so dh picked them up, though he had never braved cooking them before.

So we steamed them for dinner and they came out pretty darn yummy!

I am not much of a veggie person, so we need to work more treats like that into our diet.

I have no idea how much they cost in general but they were on sale for $2.50 each (jumbo size). So yes, definitely a bit of a splurge, but we enjoyed.

They were REALLY jumbo. Almost a full meal for me (didn't expect that).

I asked dh to keep an eye out for strawberries on sale. I love fruit smoothies in the summer but seem to remember finding strawberries expensive in the hottest months. There were many on sale on the side of the road last month. I wasn't thinking. I should have stocked up and frozen them...

But yes, not much of a fruit or veggie person so have no grasp on seasons and such. So I thought to have dh keep a look out for strawberries on sale...

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I reviewed our investments yesterday (kind of on automatic pilot of late) and it looks like the asset allocation has changed little in the last 8 months or so. For a while I had to keep selling international because it was so on fire, to keep our asset allocations. We are still heavy on cash and int'l funds. We are just adding to domestic stocks until our allocations even out.

So I peeked at them yesterday as I haven't really set any sort of schedule yet on that. I should. But I was surprised little had changed in many months, as far as asset classes and the percentages I hold in each class.

As of yesterday, we also appear to be down 1% for the year.

Not bad...

Dh's Vanguard account is down by 2.6%. My cash is up 2.6%. (CD). & the rest of our investments (primarily managed funds) are up 0.25%. Average it all together and we are down almost 1%, for the year. The Vanguard account is by far the biggest piece, so explains that.

I am pleased my managed funds are doing their job though. I expect them to perform a little better than the indexes, in the downturn. That is the hope anyway.

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Ugh, I was not prepared for a rainy day... Bummer.

ID-protection firm's clients sue founder
Even He Fell Prey to Data Thieves, Customers Say

http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_9356426

Um, have you seen this guy's commercial? I just saw it the other day.

He advertises his own SS# in his commercials.

I watch that and think either the guy is an IDIOT or that is not his real SS#.

Well. Jury's out - he's an IDIOT. LOL.

OF course, to be fair, I knew this story:

http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/misused.html

So when I Saw this guy, I thought, "Oh boy. What BS - like that is his real number."

Apparently he was a little naive... Though still quite cocky. Ugh.

Anyway, that was an interesting read.

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Today is SLOW.

I had fun playing "receptionist" today.

IT was fun because:

* No one came by
* No one called
* A client called with a tedious request immediately before my front desk shift. (Good tedious/brainless work for the fromt desk).

So basically, it was fun to sit somewhere else for a while. LOL. OTherwise it's not exactly my cup of tea. I much prefer to sit in my office uninterrupted, where I don't have to be "on" all the time.

There is no one here and I am not terribly motivated. Finishing the tedious stuff and then running for it.

Have a good weekend!