Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

I know I know, I run my checking to $0 all the time and I don't need a cushion. I get flack, but well, I don't need a cushion. ask me the last time I had an overdraft.

YEah sure someone gave me a bounced check a few months back and at the wrong time it could have screwed up my checking account. But I saw it right away and it was no biggie.

I don't need a cushion.

So today I log online and see $105 coming out of my checking. O.M.G. I quickly realize what happened - ever since I Sell on ebay my PayPal defaults to my checking account (since I entered that info and got verified). I caught it the couple of times I used it for purchases, but dh asked to use my account for whatever reason and I didn't think about it until $105 shows up in my checking account where I have no room this month.

so I See it and it is no biggie.

I don't need a cushion.

LOL.

But I am so annoyed how this has totally screwed up my budget this month - was to go to CARD. we don't pay cash for flipping anything. We lost $1 in cash rewards! I have plenty of money available and it is no biggie yet I am so ANNOYED. LOL. So now in my head I have a mental note - $100 of feb. expenses going out in jan. Will square it away. & then I transferred $400 from my savings into my checking to cover that and whatever else because I am paranoid now. Screwing up my system too.

Since my short-term savings is all on track I think I may just keep it there and keep a bit of cushion. I'll lose out on the whopping 0.5% it was getting, but I think it will be okay.

Will complicate my bookkeeping system.

YEah but if anyone can tell me how to switch the default payment back to my credit card, I Will kiss your feet. I Can not figure it out. I should probably ask dh so he can redeem himself - he probably could. I know I know - it is not his fault. Well, though he could have just used his own paypal - so maybe it is!

Jan. 8 - $16.30 Groceries
Week 1 total: $374.24

Items bought new in 2007:
Nintendo DS accessories (2) (dh)
Underwear(dh)

Items bought used in 2007:
Nada

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Groceries: Dh was sick today so I ran home around noon and popped by the store since we were all out of milk (Seriously like 1/4 of our grocery budget is MILK and dairy (yogurt, cheese) - we are going to start mooing soon - though it is getting better as kids age and rely less on milk. I just look forward to in 6 months when baby switches to 2% so I can stop buying whole, 2% and fat-free since we all drink something different - it is ridiculous! Then it will be fat-free for us and 2% for the kids I guess - a little better).

I got food for 2 meals (dinners), splurged on some sourdough bread on sale, and about $6 for milk. All for $16 - I was pretty pleased overall...

I also had to run back to get Big Monkey by my work at 5 and I didn't get much done so it was a bad spend day. Likely no OT this week with 1/2 day off today and the gas today was a bit much. So it was a spendy day.

Dh never gets sick, but man, this last year has not been good. I do not know if I should be worried. Compared to normal his immune system is so compromised. Then again he never stays sick very long or gets very sick, so it seems to be working okay. ????? But it is crazy when I am the healthy one and he is always sick - it is bizarro over here.

I spent most the day off-line but had to check a freecycle message, which was with my e-mail so I had to see the comments to my blog, which brought me here - LOL. All sucked in!! & I was all ready for bed!

Tonight we put a pile of the kids' toys for donation. A lot of nice stuff actually. who knew...

Mostly baby stuff. The 18-monther has long outgrown!!!! teethers, baby toys, etc. We didn't do big on paring down the toddler toys. I Argued to get rid of some ABC things since they have so many alphabet toys that are really the same in the end (Say letters, sounds, etc.) but dh wanted to keep so oh well. We made a decent dent. we decided by summer there will be a lot to purge, that baby is starting to outgrow. Works out nice to go through every summer (birthdays) and winter (christmas). We purged more than they got for christmas, which is for one a small miracle. But is good!!!!

& I Feel good about it. Looking around, besides the 2 little push carts and the giant dinosaur, they really don't have *that* many toys. I am always big on not getting them too many toys and I have been a little worried since all my Big Monkey says anymore is "what does this toy do?" LOL. He said that about a stuffed animal and I Was thinking - oh lord!!!! I try so hard to get un-busy toys that are not electronic, but somehow all he has is a lot of busy electronic toys. I have been feeling a little down on my failure to keep material excess out of my house (& struggling how to keep it out when I don't buy more than 5% of it myself - thank you grandma and great-grandma).

But I am looking around and they don't have much. & I am rather pleased (they have a ton by some standards all the same). the baby's room just has baby toys which are mostly on their way out - leaves a couple of stuffed animals and that's about it. Big Monkey has a huge pile of milk carton blocks, some cars and toys that are too dangerous for baby, and a couple of his first toys - a garage and farm set. Oh yes & a basketball hoop, helicopter, and one of those floor mats that is a road one one side and a railroad on the other. That is his room as far as toys. For the most part he has a small toybox and his room looks pretty bare when the toys are away. IT is filled with furniture (2 beds & a desk too) but that is another story - hehe.

Most of the toys are downstairs and I Couldn't even dare to list but they all fit in a large bin - plus a few larger things. OF course the play doh and endless crayons and happy meal toys, and books and puzzles, fill the cupboards (I just told dh we have no need to EVER buy crayons this life - lord knows where they came from - I think grandma is big on crayons - LOL. something else I have never bought. sHould probably start donating those too...).

So I guess by some standards this may be a lot. But I Went to a playgroup recently and this woman lived in a 2-bedroom duplex and had toys EVERYWHERE. IT is just insane. Another friend the same with her tiny 2-bedroom house - the toys are just on overload. Can barely walk in the kids room - just filled with toys, and the living rooms filled with toys too. So today I am feeling a little better that my goals to limit toys have worked somewhat. Or is it just that we have so much more space it all looks smaller????? Hmmmmm... No - we have like 1/10 as many toys. This seems to be the middle class norm, which is extra amusing with all the "whoa is me I am so poor" talk. So as usual we are way ahead of all that nonsense, yet we truly do have too much excess and much to work on - what it comes down to. So what if we have it way more under control than most people we know? Doesn't mean we can't improve...

Well, not much to share on the recipe front this weekend. Dh ended up working late saturday on the movie so did last-minute hamburger helper. Big monkey had seen it at the store and wanted it, and dh humored him because it was on sale I guess. I Said - blech - that stuff is disgusting. But he made up "philly cheese steak" hamburger helper saturday and it wasn't bad.

I made my franks and beans today for lunch. Cut up about 6 hot dogs. (BEcause I like to have a couple left over mostly). cook the hot dogs in a skillet, add drained pork & beans, and ketchup, and wala. Serve it with buttered toast. THat is about usually how I cook - not the healthiest meals - but still beats fast food by a mile. dh is always there doling out the fruits and veggies which I would not have a clue how to approach the way I Was raised - hehe. HAd some salad and apple slices to round it out thanks to him.

HE made a pretty simple casserole for dinner - will post the recipe once I can scan it! Beef, tomato sauce, noodles, is about the jist. Cheese too. Well, you'll see!

Jan. 7 - $26.74 Checks & Deposit Slips
Jan. 6 - $30.11 Junk Food & Dh's toy
Jan. 5 - $95.88 Gas & Groceries & Underwear
Jan. 4 - $85.74 Gas & Lunch & Dh's Toy
Jan. 3 - $74.00 Celebratory Dinner + Health Copay
Jan. 2 - $61.77 Groceries
Jan. 1 - $00.00
---------------------------------------
Week 1 total: $374.24

Items bought new in 2007:
Nintendo DS accessories (2) (dh)
Underwear(dh)

Items bought used in 2007:
Nada

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

Just bought like a lifetime supply of checks and deposit slips. Wasn't the cheapest ever, but I Was pleased with the extra deposit slip option. I am down to using maybe as many checks as deposit slips every month (2-4/month each) so I just wanted a big pile of deposit slips - I never really go to the bank for the most part. Was whining to dh why check printers did not include MORE deposit slips because seems more and more people use bill pay. But then I remember more and more people use direct deposit. I don't have that option so oh well. I ordered a life supply of deposit slips instead. Wasn't terribly frugal, but VERY convenient.

I confirmed dh's purchase ysterday was an allowance item. I keep teasing him about it too - hehe. His balance is -$5 right now, mine is $82 (I bought a jacket last week for $18).

I am frustrated because he was going to save save save, so I put it in our high-interest savings. Oh well, this month is a wash - nothing to add since he took it all out, will move the $5 loss from his allowance to the EF - found $5! In the meantime he is giving me an accounting headache. I will just keep it in checking or something until it hits a limit, like $200, and maybe move over to ST savings. Not worth this high-interest savings back and forth, and keeping track.

I know I had a good start to the year and with an extra $700 or so this month didn't intend to push too much this month.

(Plus I earned around $150 OT!!!!)

But dh asked me to a sell a game of his on ebay - listing #3 for me! Will net around $10 I imagine. I was telling him there was a minimum to pull the money out of paypal and I think we needed more - just thinking ahead to what else we could sell. Then he reminded me we are s'posed to sell a relative's GPS system for them. They offered 50% of the cut, but we refused. He was telling me he might take 20%. Even that is too much if you ask me, but whatever. IT is around $400 so 20% would be pretty darn sweet!!!! So I Am posting them today - we'll see how much that adds to the challenge.

HAve a few kitchen items for freecycle - most notably our old toaster oven since I got the new black one for christmas to match the kitchen (As I was pulling ideas out of the air from pushy dh's family). A perfectly good toaster oven - to freecycle I guess.

Dh also bought some jock straps for his surgery that were too small. HE tried one on and the other never worn. I Want to freecycle it but it seems a little weird - LOL. Then I thought about it, since they were size small - maybe good for a kid in sports or something. I just feel weird about an adult male coming to my house to get jock straps. But there is no way I could throw them away either... I guess we'll see if anyone responds. Tempted to throw in the Goodwill pile, but since it is an opened package fear it would just go to the trash.

I have to relist 2 toys on craigslist. Going way down on price. If not will goodwill probably.

We still have boxes and boxes from storage to go through. I am thinking of making a goal to do 1 box a week. The funny thing is with all our junk in storage, our house looked pretty de-cluttered (to show the house). Yet we haven't unpacked the boxes and the clutter still abounds. Where does it come from???? Christmas didn't help.

Dh and I have been meaning to go through and do a goodwill pile of toys. & he has a pile of books to sell too. Will push to get this all done this month I guess.

I have been super lazy lately, so I thought, felt like I have not accomplished much. But then I Remembered we have been gone every weekend, tons of family over with the holidays, etc., etc., etc. IT has been so hectic. Even today I have a little bit of work to do - just so crazy at work, figured I Would squeeze in a couple of hours today. But otherwise the rest of the day is free - phew. & i am in de-clutter mode, so we'll see what we can accomplish!

$20 challenge:

Balance 1/1: $400

1/6: $190 Broker Fees saved 2007
------------------
Balance 1/6: $590
------------------

I was just thinking about how much we changed things these last few months and as I am tracking it I Decided to see how much we paid in broker fees last year. About $200, not even counting any loads. Our new fee is $10 a year (though we may avoid that if we add $1k before to our funds before they take the fee).

I figure that is money saved and I would add it to the challenge.

In fact - on a monthly basis I want to compare how my investments are performing to the broker's. Somehow I feel confident mine will win. But I will separate it from the $20 challenge since it could be a loss. If it is - that is okay, but I want to keep it separate for tracking - I'll net the 2 at the end of the year. I think it could be fun to track. So far $190 saved though!!

Ooooh - suprise surprise - my index funds have fared $130 better in just 3 stock trade days than the broker's picks. In fact - we would have lost money in 2006 if we stuck with him - ridiculous. I won't do an update until the end of the month though - how much saved each month with the low cost index funds. not hte kid of thing you can compare ona daily basis - need a bigger picture. I know it is not too scientific because he bought and sold, but not very often and always had commissions/loads, etc. But what I do know is my self-managed 401k has fared WAY better over the years so it will be interesting to see how much better we do, not just on our own, but with a little more care and overseeing.

Will be an experiment...

Um, well, we had this last night and this is one of the best meals I have ever had. It was SO good. I think the thing is I am not a big veggie fan and I have to get creative how I will eat it. The food processor and lots of spices are my friend.

So dh made this and I tossed in some big spinach leaves and fresh onions on a whim (not the usual food processing) and it just tasted so fresh and good. Picky big son LOVED it too, Little Monkey, not so much. I swear they are opposite - LOL.

Anyway, dh is making 2 boring meals coming up - I Asked him what his meal plan was. So if all this "weird" stuff scares you off, don't fret. I will try to post whatever we cook.

We got the newest Taste of Home "Light & Tasty" magazine last night and I picked out some mac n cheese and chicken strips to try next week. That is more my speed. My dh has been cooking meals at least 3 nights a week for about 5 years so he is getting to be pretty accomplished at cooking and picks some more difficult things. As for me I have not cooked much in those 5 years - hehe - but I Am trying to pick things once once twice a week to do myself - and cut him a break. I've been trying, not much suceeding. We'll see how it goes...

Oh yeah - on this recipe, dh bought the whole-wheat pitas - came with 4 or 6 or something. So we had enough to make again this week (or maybe he could have double batched it and frozen it too - not sure...). Nice it was easy to make 2 fresh dinners out of the ingredients in 1 week. Frankly the falafel was awesome as a stand-alone - pita not necessary. Was telling my mom because she is diabetic and would probably really enjoy - told here I don't think the bread part is necessary. Would be gret to eat with the spinach and onions alone.

Jan. 6 - $30.11 Junk Food & Dh purchase - memory card
Jan. 5 - $95.88 Gas & Groceries & Underwear
Jan. 4 - $85.74 Gas & Lunch & Dh's Toy
Jan. 3 - $74.00 Celebratory Dinner + Health Copay
Jan. 2 - $61.77 Groceries
Jan. 1 - $00.00

Items bought new in 2007:
Nintendo DS accessories (2) (dh)
Underwear(dh)

Items bought used in 2007:
Nada

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

Keeping track, keeping track, not sure how long I can keep this up - LOL. I really would like to compile 1 whole year - but who knows if this is just the over-zealous NEw YEar thing or if I am really that dedicated.

Yesterday was a big spend day. After dh bought his new game thing (I am not even sure what it is - ordered it online) he tells me yesterday he needs to spend money. He says it in that way when he needs to make a large purchase and I start getting exasperated with him. But he is just teasing, he needs underwear because they are all covered in holes - LOL. HE does his laindry so I hadn't really noticed. Frankly mine are getting holy too but I hate shopping and I Am lazy. IT could be a frugal thing, but truthfully it is more a LAZY thing. LOL.

But I am super proud of dh. Wal-MArt sucks, not so much the store itself as a whole, but the worst parking lot every imagines houses Wal-Mart - we both pretty much refuse to go. There is one way in, one way out, a HUGE parking lot and many box stores, and top it off, I have not figured out why, but people check their brains when they drive in there, it is an alternate universe or something. I just drive in there assuming no one is going to look, 1000% defensive driving. People drive around like imbeceles. My favorite is when they are coming out of a parking lane and they look right before they turn right, but they don't look left to make sure no one is coming. but frankly most nobody looks at all.

But anyway, since dh had the luxury to go dueing the day he decided he would because he saw our granola bars on sale there for $4 a giant box (or $16 cents/granola bar). Um yeah, you can not beat that - that is my breakfast often times. So he went and checked out the food aisle and told me he would maybe brave Wal-MArt hell because they had some good prices.

He also handed me the $40 grocery bill and I am super impressed. Everything bought was on sale. EVERYTHING!!!! Stocked up on apple sauce (my other breakfast standby), hash browns, juice, meat, soda, some fruits and veggies.

As for me, I got gas. I noted how much I paid the other day when I had to unexpectedly fill up. Got 2.5 gallons at about $2.60 per gallon. Well it was great I Waited to fill up all the way. I made it to the gas station barely last night with my discount and paid $2.43/gallon - for 17 gallons. Woohoo. & the place where I filled up 2.5 gallons I went out of the way too because it is a "cheaper" one. My word. However, while we were there I Decided to get a car wash - $4. I don't do car washes that often - another lazy thing. But I keep having ot open the back and it is caked with dirt and I figured it was probably time... Total spent - $46.

Oh yeah today I am working and I had intense craving for chocolate. I tend to treat myself on saturdays since I have to work but am making OT - what's $2, eh. I hope to resist more in the future, but today was just one of those days - ran to the convenience store for chocolate cupcakes.

Here is to many tax season saturdays (and lots of overtime too - cheers!)

ETA: dh just spent $28 on a "micro secure digital card." I am not sure if this is allowance or not - probably. I think it is for his Nintendo DS. LOL. Spent 2 months allowance ALREADY!!!!! What a dork ("I am not going to buy anything all year because I want a PS3 that bad!!!" yeah that dh...) YEah right *whatever.*

Updating for 2007.

Mortgage - 1300
Homeowners Fees - 70
Property Tax - 350
Home Insurance - 150
Utilities - 400 (water, phones, cable, electric, sewer, garbage)
Car Payment - 215 (gone soon enough!)
Car repairs/maint.-50
Gas - 300
Auto Insurance 150
Groceries 500
Health Insurance 675
Life & Dis. Insur. 60
Dental Checkups 85 (no insurance)
Loans (Other) 0
Child Care 0
-------------------------
TOTAL $4,305
OR 81%..

Down from 84% in 2006.

Hey - improvement.

Leaves 6% SAVINGS
6% preschool
1.5% gardener
5.5% discretionary

I am both so frugal and so not frugal it is amazing. HAving 80% of my income spoken for by fixed things is not frugal. HAving 5% of my income to spend outside of the "necessities"/big bills is quite frugal I think.

But this is just based on my salary - there are a lot of extras which make it possible to save, one being my overtime pay. It just don't count all that stuff because it is not steady or certain. But makes our savings stance look much less bleak since for now anyway we save all the extra...

Forging ahead.

I Am super excited I found a relatively easy way to share recipes. My dh types them in a database once in a bule moon, but it has been ages... & I have no way to share new things.

But with my newfound skills learned from TeanaP, and the fancy scanning capabilities with my work's copier, I have figured out a pretty easy way to share.

We tend to eat rather well, a family of 4(I know 2 are small but they eat as much as us sometimes, if not MORE). I Say we spend $450/month on food for the most part. So I have been wanting to share more recipes.

So here goes. I warn you that this one is a little unusual, but this is what we ate last night. & frankly quite good!!!! we eat a lot of spicy food so I have to forewarn you is all. If you don't like spicy food, or can't eat it, then don't look at my recipe category - hehe.

& tonight my dh is all excited to try some falafel pitas, which he says were very cheap to make (based on what we hand on hand anyway), so if they turn out good I will post it too.

We cook so much we have all the spices on hand, and then some. That is the pricey part if you just are starting more home cooking. But don't fret too much, a little spice lasts a long while, so once you stock up you don't have to buy too often.

Oh yeah and my older son is a little pickier and sensitive to spiciness, but he loved the tomatoes in this recipe. (I don't think he has ever liked tomatoes at all before and he seemd quite surprised. I Don't think he liked the meat particularly - but just thinking to that and you can make this a meatless dish if you like...)

I was a little worried yesterday because I have been waiting to lose weight - or to see where I land anyway - before buying some nicer clothes/suits for upcoming tax season. Only time of year I really see clients and have to really dress up.

After my last pregnancy I gained 15 pounds easy, my hormones were just whacked out - this is part of the reason I stopped breastfeeding earlier - which I pointed out in the preparking for kids thread - you can plan all you want to breastfeed to save money but it doesn't always work out. I Was having bad bladder, hormone, and weight issues and it all went away the second I stopped breastfeeding. So my son was only breastfed 6 months, though I had planned a year and had made it a year with my first. Oh well. My sanity and my physical well being was more important at the time. I couldn't even work full-time to support my family I Was such a basket case. I went to PT for months and luckily have a very understanding boss. But once tax season rolled around I just quit breastfeeding - if I had known how immediately better I would have felt I would have quit sooner... I still have really weak pelvic muscles and baldder issues but it was so much worse with the hormones. It wasn't even wetting issues like people would imagine, my bladder was literally falling out of place - and it is not a comfortable thing. IT still is out of place to a big degree. The thing that amazes me is the doctors always brush it off as mild. I can't even imagine what a severe case would be like. I will most likely need surgery when I hit menopause, and the hormones whack out again, but I did see they had new laser surgery techniques to tighten the pelvic muscles, I am keeping my eye out. In the meantime I can not even imagine putting my body through another pregnancy which made dh's surgery a little easier to do - such a final thing. I am not sure I Could handle it with my weak muscles - they are about obliterated.

Anyway, so I go and and on and on - LOL - but last year I bought some bigger clothes. & they are too big right now, since I lost about 10 pounds, my regular clothes too small. So I need to buy, if nothing else, a nice suit top, I like to just wear those with skirts and dresses. Since my pant size varies so much it seems just on the time of day - hehe.

But I walked into work monday and was slammed with all these last minute things and I had to go out to a bunch of clients. I Was freaking out if I really had anything suitable to wear. So at the last minute yesterday morning, on a whim, I tried on an old size 10 suit jacket. Didn't even expect to fit it over my shoulders, and by golly, it fit!!!!

The great news is that I don't have to do as much shopping as I thought I needed to do - woohoo.

I was wearing this before I ever had kids - like 20 pounds ago. The funny thing is it looked all loose and saggy over my chest but I Could barely button it. Welcome to my body. But it looked very nice just left open so yay! IT's a little tight, but good enough.


The downside is I noticed it is dry clean only. I know I rarely wear it so maybe it has never been washed. I don't believe in dry cleaning. I usually wash all my dry cleaning clothes, which I try not to buy in the first place. But I am looking at this jacket trying to think if I ever really neevr washed it - it looks quite nice and clean. I don't know if I Should risk putting it in the wash.

Just hope nothing spills on it or anything I guess. Otherwise it should get through tax season just fine wihtout a wash - only need to wear it a handful of days. Phew.

Jan. 4 - $85.74 Gas & Food & Dh's Toy
Jan. 3 - $24.00 Celebratory Dinner
Jan. 2 - $61.77 Groceries
Jan. 1 - $00.00

I will update exact amount later.

YEsterday went all wrong - LOL.

IT was a complicated day. I was going to meet dh and the kids around 11am for toddler class. It is $8/week for basically gymboree for parks and rec. Little monkey was going to start. I used to meet them when Big Monkey went, to watch the little one. Now I was going to occupy Big Monkey (since luckily there is a park and a library there too) while Little Monkey attends the class. So I was ready to shell out $32 yesterday (for 4 weeks).

I was then going to take dh's car because I had to go downtown and he has the little compact car which is easier to park in tight spots - you can park anywhere in this thing.

Since time was so tight I figured I would grab fast food.

But dh calls me around 10am to say little Monkey has a fever. So we skipped class. I looked at my calendar and recalled that I have meetings 2 Thursdays every month so I am pondering if this is a good idea at all anyway. I am trying to get Big Monkey's days switched to T/Th at preschool, but so far no go. On the other hand all our meetings will be cancelled (at the last minute) through tax season - they always are - I don't even know why they bother planning them - LOL. So we'll see - haven't decided yet, though it is so "cheap" compared to anything else, even if we only went 1/2 the time, probably worth it.

So I had to drive the van - blech - which was really out of gas because I figured I wasn't going to drive it all around. So I stopped for a BK meal $2.16 - order 2 99 cent items & brought my own soda (as usual). Then had to get gas, but since it wasn't the cheapest just got 2.5 gallons.

So that is how I sepnt my money yesterday. I think I got just enough gas I don't have to get more until I get home tonight - I have 10 cent off/gallon at the gas station over here so this is where I want to fill up!

SHoot - dh also spent $77 I have to add above - will later. He said he was going to save his allowance dilligently for a PS3. & 3 days into our new allowance he blows almost 2 months (at $50/month). LOL. I am not quite sure he has the discipline he thinks he does - hehe. But we'll see!!!! HE has been telling me he will buy nothing all year but his beloved PS3, but he had to buy something for his Nintendo DS - $77!!!! FUnny thing is I thought he told me it was $60 or something - tax and shipping I guess...

Anyway, little monkey seems to be feeling pretty good today - he was just a little sick - phew.

The funny thing is I picture Ima Saver driving this car down the road as it comes down in price.

http://www.teslamotors.com/

I just saw this guy last night (on the smart public television I watch. Shhhh - you don't have to mention all the trashy reality t.v. I so adore - hehe). Anyway, the guy who started or owned this company, not quite sure, was very interesting. He is actually working with NASA on some space programs, BUT he also has designed this electric sports car. IT is COOL! Both a fancy sports car and an environmentally-friendly car??? Sounds too good to be true.

Well the price is a nice $90k or so. But he was talking about on t.v. about some cheaper models coming out in the $30k-$50k range.

I think I will go start saving my pennies. Maybe in 20 years. Even $30k is way too much car for me - hehe. But when I am old and rich I am going to get me one of these...

Anyway, beyond the car, a fascinating guy. I will have to look up his name.

Okay okay, I know I am still fretting about health insurance, but I had to share this wonderful link:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/faq.shtml

It lays out HSAs rather well.

I am just pondering and maybe they aren't SO bad. My insurance has a new plan that is $3k deductible for family. BEtween that and the federal limits we could not put aside more than about $2800/year BUT it would lower our premiums $5,000/year. The thing is the "out-of-pocket" is way more than the deductible ($7k?). So um yeah I want to put away $5k/year. But I Can't in the HSA.

Plus the premiums would no longer be tax deductible - I didn't even know that! But we only get to deduct $2k-$4k a year (the 7.5% AGI limit), and with this we would get the $2800/deduction (but not for state at all!!!!).

Are you confused yet?

Plus you can invest in c.d.s and stocks, yeah, sure great. But what if you need the money? IF we have enough in cash maybe a 3 month c.d. would do.

The pluses - if we don't need it we could use it for dental bills and retirement...

I just believe in Murphy's Law a little too much. After paying huge premiums for years, I can just see us lower our plan and get slammed by something unforeseen. IT scares me still. But I have to question the logic of continuing to pay almost $10k/year in medical insurance when we can cut it in 1/2 and put the difference away for a rainy day.

Oh well, I have a year to ponder...

I jsut posted a post with good news, but so long wanted to add this separate (just FYI).


Interesting and scary since California is scaring away high-income tax payers with some pretty hefty taxes. I have to say there is not much you can do to avoid tax at the individual level - most tax avoidance schemes happen at the corporate level (in response to some comments in the article). Though admittledly those making billions may have some tricks up their sleeves. But we have many clients in the $200k-$1 million income range who don't get much in the way of deductions, outside what you and I do. (The exception being big retirement benefits - but more at a corporate level all the same. Only business owners are making this much):

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/102197.html

I was just thinking the other day why was "multiple pregnancy" unforeseen for tax purposes, but not a regular pregnancy. Do you know how many people conceive by accident??? LOL. They read my mind:
http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=23018

Gender Pay Gap, Once Narrowing, Is Stuck in Place
One big group of women has stopped making progress in narrowing the gender
pay gap: those with a four-year college degree. The gap between their pay
and the pay of male college graduates has actually widened slightly since
the mid-’90s.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/business/24gap.html

I always wonder if these studies truly consider the time taken off to raise children. In my office the women are happy to work part-time and have flexibility, are all busy with children. None of the men are asking for flex time, work part-time, running kids to school and doctor and such. If I get paid a little less because I demand more time with my kids, so be it. I am just not sure how fair these studies really are. Or maybe just lucky not to have come up against this in my industry (to date). I know at the peon level we the men and women were all paid the same. At the level I am at now the men are interested in management and the women are not, of course that reflects in our pay. There are no single or childless women in my office though. But my boss bends over backward for me to put my family 1st and you can't put a price on that. I'd work for less for this kind of job any day. Low stress and lots of flexibity, but paid well too.

I got my raise!!!!!! $4k!!!!

(Can you believe this is one of my smallest raises ever? The industry is crazy...).

Anyway, yeah a measly $4k raise and a promotion to more management. I have gotten $6k raises without promotion, but whatever. I was VERY pleased and doing a dance of joy until I sat down to really think about this.

That is the good for sure.

The bad, if I had not lowered my health insurance plan, my raise would have been completely eaten up by health insurance. For now we pay less monthly but are open to more out-of-pocket costs. We'll see how it pans out.

As I started to realize this and think ahead my next year's raise will probably be eaten up by increases in premiuns (& maybe this year's eaten up by out-of-pocket expenses) then I Wasn't to thrilled.

though the bright side is definitely that I have enough raises to cover these - geez louise.

Anyway, planning ahead I decided to get my boss's insurance rates. I am looking at them right now, $730/month for a family of 4, boss would pay $250, $480 out of my pocket, for a plan with a high deductible, but not high enough to be a eligible for a HSA. I think my current insurance is around that for a HSA-qualified plan. *sigh* Just the writing on the wall that we will likely switch to high-deductible next year, or soon, and so I am feeling down about it. I can not believe still my boss's plan does not offer much benefit - I guess his rates have raised accordingly over the last years.

So anyway, I am super stoked that I am looking to set aside $300/month EASY and $500/month when the car is paid off (soon) and that is super duper awesome, brings me to about 10% savings rate. & I told dh I would not be bugging him to get a paying job this year - 1 more year to work on his movie ventures and strike it big (with no pay). This is all very well and good, and great and awesome, but the whole health insurance thing still stresses me out. *sigh* All this cash will be needed perhaps if we switch to high-deductible plan later. Well, at least we'll have it. I did not feel comfrotable switching with so little cash right now. So overall is a step up. & dh is pleased!

Anyway, if I ever come across bitter, just had to say I am not. LOL. I am not bitter at all. It is so funny how we come across over the computer sometimes. When I am PMSy yes I can be a pain, but most of the time I Am pretty happy, if you didn't notice. Just a side note. I Cirnge that I would come across bitter I guess because I am no NOT a bitter person.

Oh yeah - so though I am going to save my entire raise going forward and pretend like it is not there (too bad no direct deposit - would make it so much easier but I Am discilplined enough - it's okay). But we decided to eat out tonight to celebrate. Nice to splurge once in a while. The funny thing it has been SO LONG since we ate out really we weren't really sure what to do. Decided to order in greek.

The other thing today is that I changed my investment portfolio. I am feeling very bearish on the market and moved more over to bonds. BEfore I had cash and stocks and I Was fine, but I noticed recently that my portfolio did semi-decent in the 2000-2003 years because my bond fund was making some really big returns. I Decided I made some nice stock gains these last few months, but with this bearish feeling it was good to move some back over to bonds. My old 401k had a new PIMCO bond fund that was actually pretty decent, easiest way to move to bonds and avoid fees (401k has no fees no matter how little I put in each fund). So I exchanged my stock market index, which is the worst performing, but cheapest (13% of funds in my control) over to the bond. Dh has about 35% of our money in a total stock market index now, so was a good move, and the rest in other stock mutual funds, so it works out well I think. IT was hard to see how bonds were helping us in the short-term but I See the bigger picture now... So we're at 15% cash, Around 15% bonds overall (in all mutual funds) and 70% stock. Good enough for me. I am a safe person, but I See the value in the stock for the long-term, I have already ridden 1 bad wave and came out ahead. But at the same time I like to have a little cash just in case - at least it is not under my mattress.

I really still have no idea how bonds work and probably why I shy away. But my conclusion is they do good when the market is otherwise bad. This may be a bad assumption, but cash rates were low and market was way down, and bonds were pulling 10% in the early 2000s. For now I put some in, and a loger-term goal for me is to really understand the bond market better. One of these days. I should look for a "bond market for dummies" book...

Anyway, I have to rework my budget now!!!! WIll get cracking tonight... See where this puts us. In the green at least for this year - phew!

I want to track all my spend days out of curiosity. I think I will update daily, but in the grand scheme of things just keep a running total how much I spend each week. I am trying to decide how much to include of dh's purchases. & groceries and gas. I think I will list groceries and gas, since you have to go out and buy these things, and we could cut back, but none of the fixed bills I pay, and utilities and such. I was going to say maybe include only things I go out to buy, but I forget how much I buy online - ebay and all - hehe. I guess I will have to include dh's spending too. If I included just me about all I would ever buy is gas once a week but he does do a lot of household shopping.

Well here goes so far...

Jan. 4 - $32.00 Toddler Class for 1 month
Jan. 3 - $24.00 Celebratory Dinner
Jan. 2 - $61.77 Groceries
Jan. 1 - $00.00

I did skim the bill and it was all groceries.

& well I just might have to get gas today... But I am curious how many no-spend days we come up with for 2007 as a whole.

Yeah, the IRS has a withholding calculator and I Recommend it to people all the time. It is a lot easier than figuring out a W-4 schedule.

BUT I had been thinking I should probably get 14 exemptions and I was thinking of pushing 16 on my W-4 this year. I always get a big state refund ($1500 or so) and I figure easier just to claim more fed exemptions, pay the balance with my state refund on April 15th. Plus I know all the tax laws and can monitor it to make sure I don't hit the penalty for underwithholding, which I wouldn't at 2 measly exemptions at 15%. Means I may be underwithheld $1k, but there is no penalty for being under $1k or less due at April 15. & state refund will no doubt be more than what I owe.

Anyway, I went to IRS Calculator to see where I was at and it said 12. My own calcs as I already said were 14. I thought maybe I Should just leave it 14. But I did my tax return (a draft anyway) and did some planning for 2007 and still came up with 14. The IRS I have concluded is CONSERVATIVE. They want your money. So just know that - LOL.

They say 12, I claim 16 - take that. 14 would be pretty break-even, a small refund. So 16 just kind of keeps me under penalty and I rather earn interest all year...

My boss always gives me the eye when we are talking about exemptions in seminar - it cracks me up. 4 personal exemptions, $20k easy in state taxes and mortgage, health insurance galore (some of it deductible) and the child tax credit for 2 kids, plus only 1-income, makes a lot of exemptions. No one around here is claiming so many exemptions because they either have a 2nd income or they rely on big refund checks. I Swear I haven't hardly owed a penny on April 15th in years. But it is funny, 16 is the highest yet, he is probably wondering about me. This is the most I every have pushed it. But I will keep an eye on it. If I get a raise I may move it to 15, or lower it later in the year as I monitor it.

I calculate I may be able to squeeze another $40-$50/month with this increase AND our state disability rate actually just went down. Will save me $11/month. & wala, I have my new health insurance premiums covered with or without a raise.

Still praying for a big raise to make my savings goals easier this year. Waiting waiting waiting, couple of more weeks. But is nice to know I am in budget regardless.

ETA: I forgot to mention I get a decent bonus in May where way too much is withheld which is also why I feel comfortable under-withholding a tad. It makes up for that measly bonus I get once 40% is taken out - blah. LOL. I usually keep 90% of my checks and have a right to 90% of that one so it just annoys me to no ends, this is how I battle it... I swear I will probably get a small federal refund for 2007 if I count that.

It was a good weekend after all. Went to San Jose after all, for the kids mostly. They had so much fun. Their 'cousin' had a birthday and he has a TON of cousins from the other side of the family so the kids all had a pile of other kids to play with - had a blast. All that and our gas is way under budget this month still - crazy - with FOUR trips to San Jose!?!. Ah, it all ends this week as Big Monkey returns to preschool. & more gas...

Anyway, we left the party around 8 or 9 and went to MIL's to put the kids down. I don't know if you have noticed but MIL is interesting. She drives me nuts but spoils us too, there is only so much bad you can say I guess. She has treated us extraordinarily well these last weeks with Christmas and babysitting, etc., etc. BUT at the same time I just could not believe her going on and on and on about how many toys this baby cousin has and how SPOILED kids are these days. I just had to hold my tongue. HELLO????? & who bought 99% of the toys my kids own? Grandma! & she was just going on and on and on... On the other hand the kids received a gift that I had not heard about or seen except Big Monkey told me all about it. When I mentioned it she said she was going to keep it because little Monkey could not play with it. ??? LOL. I said well, um, Big Monkney wants his toy and I want to see it so I can write a THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Plus he has many toys that he can only play with away from Little Monkey. I was imagining all these small parts and in fact they were quite large - she said Little Monkey was throwing them so he just could not be near them. (??? LOL still). So we finally confiscated and brought them home. I find it amusing she wanted to keep the BEST gift by far he received - something we had asked for - a cool magnet building set (big pieces for little kids - so as not a choking hazard). I have piles and piles and PILES of toys if she wants to keep some at her house - I think I Will bring her a pile our next visit.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but changing gears, I helped my neighbor set up her Jan. 1 balances in Quickbooks Saturday and it went rather well. But we came across a time-consuming obstacle so I left her to deal with it until we got back in town. Went over tonight and she is officially up and running for 2007! I was going to send her an invoice later but she was eager to pay me today - woohoo. So I received $400. I am going to put $200 to the e-fund, and with interest will push it to $6k even by 1/31. Woohoo!!!!

The other $200 just putting in short-term savings, mostly with income taxes in mind - should cover the 4/15 bill.

This month is a little bad in that I put way too much money aside last month - LOL - like $200. I don't know what I was thinking, I am like $200 short to pay all the bills this month because of this. I am starting to think I should institute a rule that I can only hoarde cash every other month. I mean it is great and all, if it is gone I won't spend it, to some extent. BUT at the same time I am sitting here wondering how much to push to next month and hoping for a raise to cover the difference. The stress isn't worth it - hehe. Actually, it is okay, but I am putting everything I want to save to ST savings instead, not the e-fund, this month. Except all of the $400 because it is such a windfall, some of it must go to e-fund. & next month I will once again hoarde too much in the e-fund, and so the cycle will go. Plus MIL have dh about $60 as a reimbursement for something and he didn't tell me until AFTER I made a deposit Saturday - GAH! I was so annoyed, not expecting $400 today and not wanting to go to the bank just to deposit $60 cash, I decided to start our cash emergency fund. Not planning to keep much, so it is a good start. & I was impressed dh does keep a $20 in his wallet for emergencies. I did the same and stashed $20 in the house. It's a start, and I don't envision saving much beyond that. If we decide we need more than maybe $100 down the road, I wouldn't say anyway. That is the kind of thing you tell NO ONE. Home invasions are a big thing around here which is probably why I am hesitant to even save much in the first place. But having $60 stashed is a good start - beats nothing!

& that is how it's been - I better get some sleep! The fun of staying at Grandma's - Little Monkey was wide awake since about 3am. I am EXHAUSTED!

$20 challenge:

1/1: $400 Side Income (helping neighbor/client with Quickbooks setup)
------------------
Balance 1/1: $400
------------------


I am excited to jump in the $20 challenge and I already have $400 to add!!!!!!! Cheating you say? Nah, it just bugged me to start mid-year, don't ask me why. Probably because I didn't really figure out what it was until the last month or so. So I figured I would wait until January 1. & I received a $400 check today - so woohoo.

My rules... Overall I would like to establish a few rules for my challenge. I had thought about it already and wanted it to be cash basis, and I Wanted to incorporate all the things I have been doing different, both before and after joining savingadvice.com, but after realizing we needed to cut back a little and try to make more as well, around September 2006. I really want to see how much I save by incorporating these rules for a whole year. So my rules are as follows:

1. Will track on cash basis (when cash or discount is received).

2. Includes all money from selling items (but not Cookie Lee since I did that for years before).

3. Will include interest earned on cash savings (since I just started focusing on higher returns on cash, vs. pretty much nil before).

4. I am not going to include coupons and sales and such because I have always done so, and thrift shops, etc. BUT I am trying to do a lot more 2nd-hand and ebay shopping. For stuff I have not done so much in the past I will add money saved to the challenge. For example, I tend to buy the kids clothes from thrift shops but have been finding better deals in bulk on ebay, so I would consider the money saved in this type of instance, challenge money.

5. Any income dh earns will be added to the challenge money. I include it because he has not worked 4+ years and I have been encouraging him to make money, not to pay the bills, but simply to add to our savings and our retirement. This is a new thinking so I will include it. Before we could pay the bills so I didn't see the point, he would make plenty down the road, but now we are focusing on him bringing a little now so he doesn't have to work FT down the road. So we'll see what he comes up with and how it helps the bottom line! **If any of his work requires paid childcare, will subtract that out though. Is a possibility as we are open to it when Little Monkey turns 2 soon.**

6. Includes any extra money I make too outside my salaried job.

7. I get paid OT and am expected to work around 50 hours/week January - April. Any OT pay I receive above and beyond that, and any OT May - December, plus performance bonuses, will be added to the challenge. I am putting a big focus on boosting my earnings at my current job, this year. For the regular/expected overtime I will count it if it goes directly into the untouchable e-fund (or debt).

8. Will include any cash windfalls: credit card rebates (essentially interest on purchases), cash gifts, money found on the ground, tax refunds, etc. This is all not new stuff BUT I have doubled my credit card rebates this year with better rebate offers AND we haven't historically saved gifts, we spend them or counted on them to pay bills. Since we will be saving all of these towards retirement and e-fund, will count. If I don't directly deposit to the untouchable e-fund or retirement, then will not count.

9. I am going to include the fees we are saving on not using dh's broker any more. I am considering tracking those stocks against ours and seeing if we come out ahead. I guess the thing is if we come out behind I have to subtract that out. But somehow I find it unlikely.

All of these measures are the only reason we are really saving anything right now so they will all count to my challenge. Anything else I do new going forward, that saves money, will count toward the challenge.

& we're off!!

It's that time and I am excited. Most of the accountants I know wait until September to claim their refund - extend, extend, extend. So everyone else of course assumes the same of me. Pshaw!!! I will be filing Probably Feb. 1. (BEcause unfortunately dh's stupid broker waits until the last minute - make it March 1 probably - he is usually late with our info). Oh well, the last year to deal with him.

Today is pretty busy at work so I just snuck a little lunch break. BUT I am making headway and the kids and dh are gone tonight so when I get home I was thinking of pulling all the tax info I had. I paid all the bills - I have all the data for our deductions for 2006. Friday or Saturday, or next Tuesday I will plug in the #s to see where we are at.

Usually I am dead on federal and get $1500 back state (which really is nice though it annoys me sometime. Forced savings, but I could use it). BUT this year is unique with our ROTH IRA conversion. I offset it with some stock losses, so we'll see how all that pans out. I paid in a ton to fed already and I think all in all I will get a few hundred back from state and owe a few hundred fed. The beauty of e-file is you get all your refunds right away but the payments you can wait until 4/15. So I want to file as close to Feb. 1 as possible, get my state refund, and sock it away and earn interest on it until April 15th. Could squeeze out a month or 2 of interest. Why not...

But I guess I have a fear that I forgot something or that I messed up my calculations. So I really want to run the #s and see where we are at! & hopefully we will not owe too much...

I also look forward ot month-end/year-end, see where we are at. I think we are a little over budget this month. Credit card closes next wednesday but we are already to our budget for the month. PLUS dh drove to san jose today to pick up the kids and wants to go back this weekend for new years! YIkes! Would make it 4 trips in one month. Oh well, gas is not cheap, but we picked up the kids twice from free babysitting, babysitting doesn't get any cheaper (and safer - staying with grandma - don't trust many else to watch the kids). We haven't decided, but I am doing some freelance work saturday, dh is working on a move saturday night, then driving and partying sunday and driving monday - eeks. Not a relaxing weekend. Not helping the budget. I think I socked away more than I should have this month, but oh well, it's the only way we'll save!!! Will make it up next month. WIll get paid for all this weekend work next month.

I will just be glad when this year-end business is done at work. Knock on wood, but it all seems to be going okay. Though I will probably work late tonight. Somewhat in the hopes of escaping early tomorrow - finishing it all up by noon. I do not like doing things last minute, drives me batty, but only so much you can do with all this last-minute tax planning. I just don't want to be too down to the wire tomorrow night. So I am setting a goal for noon and we'll see where I land. Maybe then I can breathe for a week before the january craziness begins (preparing 1099s and W-2s, oh my). SO back to the grind!

Was reading an interesting article:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBu...

& saw this blurb:

"Warren recommends people's "must have" expenses total no more than 50% of their after-tax income. (Your after-tax income is basically your take-home pay, with any non-tax deductions like 401(k) contributions and health insurance premiums added back in.)

"Must haves" typically include:

Mortgage or rent
Utilities (including phone and television)
Transportation (gas, car payment, car insurance)
Other insurance (life, health, property, disability)
Groceries
Child care
Minimum loan payments
Child support or other court-mandated payments"

So I wonder how many people actually can fit into this mold? Looking at the people I know??? Few and far between! Granted we live in a very high COL area. But still.

When dh and I both worked we both pulled in the same and we saved his check and used mine for bills. We did tend to use his for extras sometimes, but my check covered the fixed expenses. So overall we were in the rule, and I think at the rate we were saving money, if we didn't stop to have kids sure we could retire by 45 or something. Living on 50% of your income is pretty darn good if you ask me. I would fathom few people do. Kind of curious what fellow bloggers think where they are.

For now we are at a dismal 85% or so. No wonder why I feel so behind sometimes. Even if dh got a job we would still be pushing 60% or so. To some extent I don't fret too much because I have a 2nd potential source of income, and plenty of insurance in place should something happen where one of us couldn't work (Death or disability, etc.). But at the same time going through the calcs, dh would have to bring home $3k/month to get us to that 50% mark. YIkes. Then again, we live so below our means beyond the fixed expenses I guess it is not so bad. The reason we can forge ahead with 85% of our income spoken for every month.

Mortgage - 1300
Property Tax - 350
Home Insurance - 150
Utilities - 400 (water, phones, cable, electric, sewer, garbage)
Car Payment - 215 (gone soon enough!)
Car repairs/maint.-50
Gas - 300
Auto Insurance 150
Groceries 500
Health Insurance 675
Life & Dis. Insur. 60
Dental Checkups 85 (no insurance)
Loans (Other) 0
Child Care 0
-------------------------
TOTAL $4,235
OR 85%!!

The other 15% goes to gardener and preschool. LEaves $350/month for everything else, mostly living expenses not included up above.

Oh my!

Our practically brand new van will be paid off soon and our % will be 81%. That is something I guess.

& yet our house with our homeowners fees (which I probably should have added up there), tax, insurance is 32% of my gross pay, which is within the general guidelines.

As you see insurance is literally eating us out of house and home.

You can argue how fixed some of those expenses are though, that is for sure. (cable? cell phones?)

I am sitting on pins and needles waiting for my RAISE. We'll see where it puts us I guess. What it does to our %.

Right now we are saving maybe 1% of our income. But we save everything above and beyond, that comes in outside my salaried income. & it is not like there is nothing else, the little things build our savings and build us a cushion. But anyway, any % raise I get to take home will all go to saving. So that will feel good. If we could save 10% between paid-off van and a raise, I would be estatic!!!!! Boss is matching me 10%. IT is the kind of thing that would make me back off dh finding a job for another year or 2, or 3, 4, 5. IF we were putting away 20% between my profit sharing and our savings. & we are close...

Oh yeah, and I was feeling bummed how fast the christmas money went, but my short-term savings now has $1800 today - just about a full property tax installment, though it is not due until April. !!!! oh my! That feels good. We have been relying on savings for this the last few years. We really are forging ahead...

PS. I just recalculated the above based on all of our extra money for the year (gifts, bonuses from work, selling things, dh and I Side jobs - we are operating at 73% which isn't 1/2 bad. IF we did not have all these extras believe me I would not have preschool and a gardener - I Can just see the comments pouring in - LOL. But as a % of my fixed take-home pay every month, yeah 85% is a bit crazy. THat is why we do what we can to pull in a little more... & the little more apparently make sa big difference! But still curious to see how the % changes based on my income for 2007, which is yet to be determined...).

Bummer.

Had a philosophical discussion with my dad over dinner last night as for whatever reason the topic of 401ks came up and he said in the past he was unable to contribute the max because of "top heavy" rules.

I wouldn't say I am exactly completely clueless when it comes to 401k and retirement plans. I have audited them (LONG AGO) and deal with them a lot in planning for our clients. I remember auditing the top heavy rules and such, but with our clients today, most of them are doctors with lowly-compensated office staff. If they take a safe harbor plan they can put in as much as they want for themselves and give all their employees 3% of their salary (which doesn't really amount to much with so many small beans employees). So as we discussed it I did think aloud that maybe safe harbor plans were good for our clients but not in different situations. But at the same time I told my dad, that is just crazy. I am sure the laws have changed. I have no idea why you as an employee should not be allowed to contribute 20k if you like (since he is over 50). Top-heavy rules were meant for the owners and their family, nothing to do with employees who were compensated well.

So I wrapped up all my work early (a productive day!!!!) and decided to look up real quick. Lo and behold found the following article which is very recent.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/10/pf/expert/expert.moneymag.mo...

I guess my dad was right and I have to go tell him so - hehe. He gets paid quite well, so it is possible he will come up against this at his newer employer.

As for us, it kind of bums me out as I have been encouraging dh that when he should go back to work to find a job with a 401k. HE can contribute 15k/year then, which will be fine when he is working again - his whole check will probably go to savings and retirement for the most part. I am not too worried since odds are he will get a $30k/year job or something and he won't have to worry about top-heavy rules. But for me if I switch jobs, may be something I would come up against. & hey it would be great if both of us brought in big bucks down the road, but this is something we could run up against. I don't know. IT was just a "tax shelter" I looked forward to.

Just something else to watch out for to ensure we could use it. It just seems silly, of course employees who make more will want to contribute more. Golly gee.

So I learned something and figured I would share.

I feel bad, I was saying I did not have too much sympathy for dh's 1 stitch, but since sunday he has had swelling and bruising from his vasectomy. I am worried how he is doing today - he is home with Little Monkey. He shouldn't have to lift him too much and thankfully Big Monkey is at Grandma's. HE can get pretty rambuctious and keeps us on our toes a little more anyway, so hopefully dh will get some rest and relaxation today. Little Monkey is very occupied with all his new toys.

My parents came over yesterday and did not bring any gifts for the kids. & I am HAPPY about that - LOL. Phew. We had a nice day and them they took Big Monkey home with them to deliver him to Grandma for 3 days or so. I would REALLY miss him and might not be so happy with this arrangement but I Am swamped at work and dh needs his rest. Plus I Was worried Big Monkey would get homesick after so long, but he stayed 2 nights with grandma before christmas eve and did NOT want to come home. I think he will be okay. Hopefully by Thursday he will be Grandma'd out and will decide coming home isn't so bad. & thankfully he goes back to preschool next week. It is hard on me with driving him and all but I think everyone is happier and calmer, he needs activity if nothing else. More than we can give.

I made my christmas cash deposit today. $1475. Sounds pretty sweet, eh? But it won't get far. The $1k I expected from dh's family and essentially will go to pay the estate lawyer, so I don't have to dig it out of savings. Now that is a NICE gift - though - getting that done and out of our hair. Leaves $475. $250 is from work, I am trying to set aside $200 for work clothes and $50 for my boss's gift. The $200 who knows since I already used it to pay our health insurance for january. I still don't know when our reduced coverage will take affect. If Jan.1, then I should get a full $200 refund in time to go shopping for tax season. If not, I will buy less I guess. Just wait and see. Not that I intend to spend it all anyway.

Leaves $225. Already spent $100 on bills - let's say for dh's surgery. Gosh, it is all going for MEDICAL but what else is new.

LEaves $125. Since I used dh's money from his grandpa for bills I told him we would split whatever we got from my mom in 1/2. She gave us $125. We decided $25 to savings & we will both get $50 to jumpstart our allowance funds, which we are starting anew in 2007.

All that and I only saved $25. Pathetic! I think I saved $75 this month already, which is something I guess, but I am not sure - I changed my stats on the right and deleted November - LOL. I'd have to check at home.

On the plus side I should receive around $500 for some side work in January and ALL of it should go to savings. I was feeling frustrated today and thinking forward how to bring in some extra money in January, and I remembered that. That will go straight to savings and I am quite pleased. Plus is the 4th month I believe that I had a full $800 for our short-term savings fund. We are loads above where we were last summer, just frustrating not to have more for Long-term savings and retirment in such a month of extra cash. But if we keep up as is, next december we should be able to set aside any christmas money, it is nice to look forward to.

Anyway, work is CRAZY but I had been crunching all morning and needed to give my brain a break. Phew.

Oh yeah, at home I have been doing dishes, laundry, cooking, watching kids, doing all the lifting, etc. the last couple of days, and work is crazy through friday/saturday. I am lucky I caught a break today. This week is more of the same since dh is still swelling and all. I am exhausted. I have NO IDEA how single parents do it. I am just exhausted. I appreciate what dh does, yes, but even moreso that we don't have to work full-time because this is how my evenings/weekend would be spent. I feel like I Can't catch a break anyway, but at least when I get home I can usually just sit down and play with the kids and not do all of the chores...

Needless to say I will be very pleased when dh is back to feeling 100%!

Oh yeah at work, just making sure all of our big clients have withheld enough money for the year, and that their corporations have paid out their earnings, just lots of time-sensitive tax planning. This week is always crunch week for me - I am lucky to get christmas off. On the plus side, I had one HUGE client that the manager left and I remember him staying here until midnight crunching numbers last year, figuring bonuses and such. I worked all day saturday just to get the books up to date through november, was behind on that for other reasons, and was dreading how much time this would take to figure bonuses, the first year I am in charge! I am looking at all these hand written shcedules scratching my head why anyone would write this all out by hand, because 1 change could take hours to fix, so I threw them in excel this morning in an hour or 2. When I get the final receipts for the week it will take me all of 1 minute to get them the bonus #s. Maybe 10-15 minutes if I Want to take my time and double and triple check my #s. Ah, I hope the rest of my clients go this smooth. I am feeling a little relief today anyway... It is amazing to me in the 5 years that I have been year how technology has sped up this entire process. We used to wait for clients to fax over or drop off records and reports, and now for many of them we can just grab their data online. It is incredible. If I wasn't so behind otherwise I think this week may be downright easy but I have quite a few clients I still need to update through november which is the time consuming part. Well, I hope my boss will be impressed with my speed.

& I gotta get back to the number crunching!

Merry Christmas everyone - hope all are having a wonderful Christmas!

We did christmas eve with dh's fam yesterday and the kids got about 20 presents. ???? IT was so totally INSANE and I was a little caught offguard. IT seemed as the grandchildren multiplied they calmed down a little last year and I expected it calmer with a 4th one in the family this year. Well apparently dh's family had a good year because they went crazy. The kids were bored after 1 or 2 gifts so I had to open the other 16 or so. I was really annoyed. Just ridiculous. I know 4 gifts (2 gifts each) were from other family members, but I have no idea which ones - what was from whom. ???? That annoys me too. I forget they also have 4-5 gifts still at grandma's house from the whole cousin gift exchange debacle. Oy vey!

The flip side to all this was that my strategy worked!!!!! We saved so much this year. All the cool toys we wanted to get we put on the wish list. No one paid attention anyway, because I have said before, everything on the wish list is up to major scrutiny, no one likes what we put so whatever. But we decided to buy 1 nice gift each for the kids (they are toddlers) and take the cash and gift cards to get everything else we had our eye on, AFTER christmas.

Anyway, we didn't get much in the way of cash or gift cards this year, but that is a-okay. After yesterday I don't think they need another toy for another year. Or 2 or 3. So because the way we approached it we hardly spent anything on the kids ourselves. AND we haven't opened gifts today yet but I am so PLEASED they each only have 1 gift to open because frankly that is all they want. They have no interest if there is a mound of presents once they open that first gift!

I told dh there needs to be some serious changes to Christmas. I feel awful not knowing what came from my niece's family or from dh's great aunt. I have no idea. I wrote out all the gifts and will call his mom and go through the list to narrow down what was not from her.

Bah, I am trying to be grateful to have too much as to not enough, and I am, but the whole thing annoys me all the same.

Us adults actually made out pretty well. Dh got a cool little travel game system worth about $250. Plus some games. I got 3 books, slippers, bathroom accessories (needed) and a toaster/toaster oven so now that everything in my kitchen is black - I love it! Plus some significant cash. Yeah we made out pretty sweet. It is nice, but I could live without too. I am sure I am forgetting something too. Piles of DVDs, etc.

BUT today should be pretty nice! My parents are coming over, probably no gifts, maybe 1 for each kid max - PHEW. Going to have pizza and fudge and just keep it low key, hang out, play with all the new toys I guess...

& Big Monkey was happy when he woke up that the Grinch had not stolen our Christmas. LOL.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

It's here!!!

Phew, I actually got a lot done yesterday AND plenty time to relax. I ended up working to 3:00 but I did not mind one bit. I Was siting at work thinking I LOVE my job. I lose sight of it sometimes when I Am trying to juggle the kids and all, and has been harder for me working with 2 kids, I just had no idea, the balance wasn't so precarious with just 1 child, but a little too spread thin with 2 - which means I start to feel guilty and such - something I never felt with 1 child. But going to work and not feeling any guilt because the kids were out of town anyway was just immeasurable. I Was just sitting at work thinking I do truly love my job and I Wish everyone in the world did - the world would be a much better place. Well that and I Am super blessed to love a job that pays well. That is a big plus now isn't it. & so is dh as I try and try and encourage him to live his dreams on my paycheck...

WE are about to head out and pick up the kids. Oh yes we missed them terribly but enjoyed the peace and quiet and all we were able to get done. My car is even clean on the inside which is a small miracle... LOL.

The kids will be showered with way too many gifts today, but I will try not to complain. I am truly grateful that we have excess as compared to the other way around, but it is with those less well-off in mind that I would like to really make an effort going forward to teach the kids that Christmas is about giving and not getting. It is hard with the shower of presents from dh's family, but they are too young to really understand and I let them enjoy for now. & I will be grateful for too much - that is for sure. But yes today is a day for a mound of presents for each of us. I will probably enjoy myself too.

Dh just showed me his stitches and I almost had to laugh. His mom keeps saying he is milking it and she was frankly pissing me off. But when I Saw that little itty bitty stitch I did have to control myself and my sympathy has gone down a bit. I Was stitched 10 times till sunday (is that an expression?) with both kids and frankly it wasn't that bad. PArticularly the second time I guess since it was all scar tissue anyway. I admit that the reward and challenge of a brand new baby probably made it a pretty moot thing at the time. But I just have to laugh at the incision & ONE stitch that can not even be seen it is so small. I think he will be okay...

& tonight and tomorrow will be exciting with kids and santa!

Okay - I got my work bonus - $250 - woohoo!!!! I Am looking at my e-fund and oh many I Want to put it there!!!!! BUT I just sent in the paperwork to downgrade our health insurance, and it says on the form they will "let me know when the rate takes affect." Gee great. It asked when I Wanted it to take affect for my dependents so I wrote 1/1/07 all over the place. I don't want to pay a dime to the insane premiums. BUT I got the bill and it is an extra $200 or so, so the bonus check pretty much covers that. I will just pay it and hope I get a refund or premium reduction next month. At least I had the extra money to cover.

I get paid friday. Since I have the money with these last 2 checks to pay all the December bills, I will just hoarde the christmas money until I deposit my paycheck next saturday - will see where I am at then. I am expecting a big check from dh's mother and I need it to pay some bills. It is spoken for! & anything above and beyond that I don't really expect but wouldn't be surprised. So we'll see!!! & the upside is I hope this is the last check from her I Expect and count on. Frankly I did not put any money aside the last 2 months because we paid the estate lawyer. I Can look at it that she paid for that with this check - a nice Christmas gift indeed! But my goal is next December that the money will go to retirement or savings - and so that is a nice thing! I hope this is the last time we are on pins and needles form MIL's big check because we need it for everyday bills...

Yesterday was actually nice. I don't really like scents or anything but I got a lovely candle with a christmas tree scent and I love it. It was kind of funny because if it was any other scent I would have probably put it in the regift pile. The scents in those things are so strong, but I love the smell of this one, it isn't too strong, and I figure I could put it by the fake tree and pretend it is real. I did not even have to burn the candle and my office smells of christmas tree just having it sitting in here all day. I also got a lovely scarf/gloves/hat from my co-worker in our gift exchange. Just beautiful. Plus some unexpected homemade treats and some fancy chocolates from the boss. Made out pretty well - nothing to the regift pile either??? WOW!

Today sounded great and luxurious since the kids are with grandma until we pick them up tomorrow. But this is how my schedule is shaping up. Work until 1pm or so, go to the bank and the grocery store (pick up some pizzas and some stuff for Christmas). This is usually dh's job - the groceries - but he is home resting and healing. So it is the least I can do. But bah, I hate shopping. LOL. I have christmas cards to do (had wanted to get out today but oh well!!! Probably not...). I really wanted to clean my car - something I never get around to doing and I still have a trail of ants to vacuum. They invaded our house too. So I have some spraying and scrubbing to do - we put out some traps and figured we'd get out the raid once the kids were out of the house. We get them so randomly, it's been years, but they decided to invade yesterday for whatever reason. I have a used toy I need to clean and wrap for little monkey. Still have to wrap grandma's gifts too. Dh has a pile of movies and DVDs he wants me to sit down and watch. I have to cook dinner too (not huge, but just takes time). & then we have to leave like 7am tomorrow to go to Christmas Eve brunch tomorrow and pick up the kids. Figured we'd drive back at 1:00 or nap time because easiest, and then we'll be home around 3 or 4. & the weekend will be over!!! LOL. Actually, Monday should be pretty relaxing and maybe I will hold off all the DVD-watching until then... I just feel silly thinking I would have SO much time to myself and looking at my schedule. Oh well, if I had to do that all AND watch the kids I would be in big trouble so maybe I Can do everything 10 times as fast as I imagine without kinds under foot.

Oh anyway - on other funny thing. MIL was over the last 2 days helping with the kids, and last night at dinner she asks us what we got for dh's cousins new adopted baby, and their adopted teenager actually too. ??? We look at each other and say, um NOTHING. Why? LOL. & she looks all appalled and says well they are going to her house today with the kids to exchange gifts. Oh no, she better pick up something "for us." I was super annoyed so I Said look, we have been trying to get away from gift exchanging, so PLEASE do not pick up gifts on our behalf. All the while thinking when was anyone going to fill us in, we never exchange gifts, and though she has a new baby yes, I am pretty certain she did not get our boys gifts the last few Christmases. & we never get gifts for her teenage daughter. ???

Anyway, so I talked about it with dh later when MIL was gone and she wasn't butting in because she sure likes to butt in. We were both on the same page. I said if we had more money I would love to give him a gift on one hand. On the other hand, Christmas is a VERY busy time for me and this year has been downright pleasant, I had simplified so much. & even so I feel like a chicken running around without a head this weekend - there is so much to do just for the immediate family. So we kind of decided money or no money, we just didn't want to go down that road. We have given them piles and piles and piles of used clothing (some brand new/never worn even) and other baby thing - some big things as well. AND if I see somehting cute for him throughout the year I wouldn't think twice of picking it up. But I just want to take the Christmas part of the equation. The best way is not to return the favor - I can guarantee they won't get gifts next year if we don't give them ourselves.

However, today the kids are going to a gift exchange at their house, where they will get gifts and they will have none to give - LOL. I think it's kind of funny. Since we were told all of 14 hours before this event. & I wouldn't put it past MIL to buy something on her way over. If so, she can deal with it - it an be an annual tradition - she wasnts to make it complicated on herself - so be it. I want no part in it.

Ah, family. Oh don't worry, after Christmas we'll call his cousin and explain the situation and work it out. We've pretty much agreed with my family and all our friends that we don't expect anything from anyone and have taken the "obligation" out of gift giving, and I am sure we can get them on the same page. Dh's family is a little more weird where presents equate love for whatever reason, and we humor his immediate family, but hopefully we can get on the same page with his cousin. This approach is just kind of silly - our love is not measured by our Christmas gifts!

Ah, yesterday was a REALLY nice day.

Dh's surgery went well. He's doing okay. Resting up for a few days - definitely enjoying the break from the kids!

Went to work around 1 and didn't get much done. Was a little frantic. Place was falling apart and in light of last manager leaving I guess I am the "computer expert." That is what I am afraid of - if I am the "expert" then we are in trouble!!! I just told dh over the weekend thank goodness this guy had come on and was doing the computer stuff well because that was not my thing. Me and my big mouth - LOL. I also had a chat with my boss and I got the impression he was very pleased he could rely on me, that I wasn't going on maternity leave again anytime soon - LOL - and he even gave me tickets to a Pro Basketball game in January!!!! I did consider selling them for cash - briefly - but I did offer them to my mom who is the sports fan of the family and she is excited!!!! Her and I will go togetehr - we actually live down the street from the arena - so it will be a fun night - not out of my way or anything! I am not a sports fan but I went to a game when I moved here 5 years ago and it was pretty FUN. Sacramento has great spirit and the games are fun. Can't help but get a little excited no matter how little you care about sports... I forgot to look at where the seats were - was gonna look up though I imagine they are fancy. The ticket price is $230 between the 2 - I should have just sold them, huh? LOL. It's not like he never offers tickets to anyone, but I got the distinct impression it was a direct "reward" for my efforts of late so I thought that was a good sign with a raise due Jan. 1!!!

Not much today financially. Going to work, TONS to do, but not quite as stressed or rushed since I have all day tomorrow to work. I am used to this time of year being crazy and am happy to have Sunday and Monday off. But I have 2 clients to deliver cookies to today, a lot of work to do, then work gift exchange and should get a bonus. Last year was $150 so I am hoping for that at the least! So I look forward to getting a check today, will run to the bank tomorrow probably to deposit.

Reminds me 2 nights I was baking cookies and both time neighbors came by with treats. So I returned the favor to those 2 last night. We had our house on the market briefly in July because we wanted to move and had a contingency purchase with a house we fell in love with. It had been on the market for months and lowered the price by $300k or so - so we did a contingency offer, they took it, and I think 2 weeks later they had another offer. In this market we needed more time of course. Then it became available again and we decided against it. We would never afford so much land and space in California again probably in our lifetime, and it was a great neighborhood, in a completely flood-free zone which is our main point to move. But it was so big I am just not sure we could afford the upkeep. IT was really cool though - a house with an attached apartment - the house was our size - we were to rent the apartment - and it had a huge workshop in the back for music and a game room or perhaps we could rent it or convert it/finish it. So many options. It was pretty cool - but it had 5 bathrooms and 3 AC units, and an old roof nearing replacement. NEed I say more??? LOL. The upkeep would have killed us. Like I want 5 toilets to clean.

Anyway, we delivered cookies to our neighbor across the street last night and she just gushed on and on and on how happy she was we didn't move. It was pretty sweet. Kind of funny though because we have the most awesome neighbors on all sides. The odds are whoever moved in wouldn't be so bad I am sure. But that is another reason why we hesitate to move - what are the odds we would love all our neighbors so much. Well glad the feeling is mutual.

Was up early with a headache, stressed and all I guess. I usually wake up at dawn and dh stays up LATE, like ships passing in the night, but with his surgery today we laid in bed this morning and talked. We still have no idea how 2007 will be, discussing if I get a $1k raise or a $10k raise. Who knows. Stuff at work has been weird, looks like I may have a lot of responsibility and such, lost our new manager. & bad timing as busy season approaches!!!!! But for now it is a toss of the coin. I'll know in 2-3 weeks I guess. IT was fun pondering if we had big money - hehe. Dh just asked that if I got a BIG raise that I get HBO back. I said we'll see - LOL. I said it should probably come from his allowance though I Will have to throw in a buck or 2 every month for Larry David - is all I really miss so far. I did make clear that even if I got a huge raise, we are saving it all. That is when he asked for his beloved HBO - LOL. I don't want to think about it too much though - I may be lucky to get enough raise to cover the increase in our health insurance... No point in getting too excited in the meantime.

So yes, today is the big snip. Send good thoughts to hubby that all goes well. IT is kind of a landmark day, after today we will no likely make any more of these:





*sigh*

OF course yesterday I delivered christmas goodies to clients yesterday and heard all sorts of horror stories. Genitals turning black (too much heavy lifting too soon) and getting pregnant because husband was too shy to get his specimen checked after to make sure all was well - LOL. if that happens here all I have to say is it was meant to be. Sometimes the powers that be have higher plans I guess. FOr now I just hope that no more are meant to be for us - hehe.

Grandma has 2 weeks off and is going to help with the kids and even take them home for a couple of days. Ah. Should be very nice and quiet. Dh will be resting and healing though and I will probably be working. But at least the kids will have some fun and we will get lots of relaxing too. WIll prove to be a nice few days. Weekends like this always sound HEAVENLY but then we just don't know what to do with ourselves and miss the kids terribly. LOL. Can't win I guess... Almost why I am glad I have so much work to do... Will take advantage and get a lot done.

Oh yeah - the pictures - we were baking cookies and Little Monkey found the sunglasses so they started dancing around in their sunglasses. Funny kids - will miss them the next few days...

Made my deposits today, came home and updated Quicken. Still short about $100 for december - not really concerned. But checked the mail and got a $100 christmas check from dh's grandpa. Sweet. For whatever reason everyone in his family from every side is big on cash. No complaints here!!!!! My family, not so much. Okay 1 side is totally poor. & the other side figures they have done enough raising their kids, I guess. I was just pondering why dh's family is so cash happy and mine isn't, just strange in a way. He even has a distant aunt who always sends big checks. Spoiled rotten I tell you!

Anyway, the $100 brings us to breakeven in December. Still $400 left to spend on the credit card too, and stay within budget - will be mostly groceries and gas...

Phew.

Christmas money - there may just be enough coming in the next couple of weeks to finance our wants/needs and to add some to the e-fund. Who knows. Dh wants to put his money towards PS3 - whatever. What can I say. A tight tight year we keep chanting, but a $500 game system when he already has MANY. Whatever... So much for TIGHT! He did give me grandpa's money for bills (didn't give him a choice - hehe). We'll see what we get and compromise I guess - at least he isn't hoarding all the christmas money for this - he is saving his pennies for a few months - we'll come up with a compromise. Maybe he can save 1/2 if he gives 1/2 to the e-fund. Just depends - time will tell...

I need to invest in clothes for work because I am still in in-between size hell. Last year's clothes too big, pre-pregnancy clothes too small. Tax season coming up - need some suits. I seriously have size 16 clothes way too big and 14 way too small. I have no idea if I Can even find anything! Yeah, I want to spend all my money ($200? mostly work bonus) but it is an investment for work. In the meantime my dress hasn't been so hot... I have taken business casual to a pretty casual level.

Kids will get money and we have toys in mind for them. They could probably do well without. But we justified not going crazy pre-christmas by deciding to go crazy with the christmas money for them instead. It is seriously Dec. 19th and they each have 1 toy - and I haven't been tempted to buy more. So far has worked...

On the flip side of all this, I am only $250 away from $6k in the e-fund!!!!!! We have to throw it a bone!!

It all depends how much we rake in on Christmas I guess!!!