Well, we'll see how this works out. I have mentioned before that I allow myself 1 small can of pepsi a day - 8 oz can. Dh whines and whines as he buys my 6-packs every week because they are pricey. I frankly don't give a damn because with this system I lose weight. So yay - I don't care how much it costs - I know I just drink a lot less in this form.

Lack of self control is a big part of it, but not all. I generally do not enjoy a big can of soda - it is just too much.

So over the weekend we were at my mom's and I Saw she had little tops for her soda cans - keeps them fizzy and fresh apparently. Interesting, I thought. So I questioned her about them and she said they were great, she ordered them from a catalog, etc.

So I thought aloud maybe I should try those and dh ran with it. When I got home yesterday he had 24 regular sized cans and told me each 12-pack cost as much as my little six-pack - and he was dancing with glee. Interesting since I had no tops yet, had been a passing thought. Luckily he was nice and got me one last round of small cans. HE gives me a week I guess - hehe.

So I just ordered some online. They are different than the kind my mom had, but we'll see how they work - investment will pay for itself shortly...

http://www.sodapoptops.com/order-soda-pop-tops.php

We'll see if they really truly do work and keep the fizz (I have a tendency to throw out the last portion of the soda bottle because it loses fizz towards the end - and loses all appeal if you ask me...). IF they work, I will be happy to switch though I know it will be a lot more work for me and much more of a battle to just drink my 8 oz and save the rest for later. I Will probably just have to pour it in a glass and leave it at that. I Would drink the whole can if I had it in hand. As much as I generally would not like a whole can at home, at work I will mindlessly drink whatever is in front of me. So I will start with the pour and sip rule and just have to pretend the rest of the open can is not calling to me...

We'll see how it goes. I think dh has too much hope in me. If it is a choice between pricey soda cans or a diminished waistline, I choose pricey soda cans - LOL. I have a strong feeling I may be switching back. But I will give it a whirl. I Can do it!

Today I am just trying to decide when to go to the bank. I Was thinking thursday would be good because I should have some time. BUT I have some checks that could clear thursday, money not in the bank yet, just cutting it a bit close. So I will probably go today. THinking 2:00 take a little break and make a bank run. I just want to beat the crowd... Have a paycheck to deposit, CPA renewal reimbursement, $12 from cookie lee sales, and $70 from selling baby stuff last week. A good run... & I will breathe a little easier when the money is in and all the checks can then clear!!

All that and I am about $50 short for the month... But the good news is with the sold baby items, most of the christmas money will go straight to e-fund. WIll not have to rely on christmas to cover the $125 or so I was short originally. So the bills will be paid come christmas, and hopefully some money to the e-fund too!

It is a silly little thing, but realizing we can deposit cash has helped a lot. Our parents give us cash here and there all the time, and we use it as fun money. But no more!! From now on it goes mostly to the bank. Even if we split it 1/2 fun money and 1/2 savings, it is a large improvement. I have no idea why we are so horrible with cash, we just spend it all whenever we come across it, but this is my 2nd cash deposit and I am excited! If I start hoarding all the cash we receive from our parents and from selling things, etc., can be a significant source for our savings. I think this will be a big part of my $20 challenge. Hoarding cash!

Now that I have settled in I think I will try the $20 challenge starting Jan. 1. Took me a while to figure what it is all about - hehe.

For now we start the countdown to dh's surgery. The big snip in just 3 days - oh I can hardly contain myself. I am not a big fan of hormones and pills and drugs and such, so for me I Am just so happy as I near the end of the journey of birth control. For me it will probably end around March - yahoo.

I don't think dh is so excited, he was never a big fan of the snip, but having 2 kids scared him into it I guess. He was dead set against it and then when #2 came, I don't think he could get in soon enough. I wasn't ready for anything so permanent but I got real with myself and realized he may never offer again - LOL. On the plus side he gets a vacation for 5 days because no heave lifting. Once he survives the surgery and see everything still works he will enjoy the following few days I Am sure.

Yesterday I got my cute black shoes in size 9w, because they didn't have 1/2 sizes. Too small. Bummer. The good is I peeked online on return policy, because it wasn't obvious, and saw free shipping and a $5 off coupon, on top of the sale which was STILL going on. So I reordered the same shoes in 10W and saved $11. I will pay a few bucks to ship back the other ones, but will come out ahead! Woohoo! I thought 9 would be fine and 10 would be too big anyway, but man those 9s were small. I underestimate how much my feet have grown in recent years I guess.

Oh well, lessoned learned. I shopped through a conduit - shop.com, and didn't check the website specifically. When I did last night the coupon and free shopping popped out at me. I could have gotten that with my first purchase too. Oh well. The Cutest shoes for $24 now. Just have to wait wait wait. Almost there...

I know that with travel - I always start with cheap tickets or something and then call or check the website directly because there is often deals if you buy direct. I should have known the same for anything when a 3rd party is involved. Will keep it in mind for the future!

For now I am just sad I have to wait another week or 2 for my shoes - hehe. Oh well!!!! Will be worth the wait...

Dh noticed the DVR he got for his dad was on sale $10 more yesterday so he went to get a refund for the difference. Plus tax came out to about $11. He braved the crowds and everything - which I am not sure I Would do - hehe.

His grandma reimbursed him $45 cash for one of the Christmas gifts we had purchased on behalf of other people. I may have $100 cash or so to deposit and get the bills paid this month - phew.

We had a marvelous, marvelous dinner last night. Quiet - with no kids. We took my parents out - dad's birthday - offered to pay - they refused. I handed my mom the personal loan payment for the month and added $20 for my dad's dinner. At least we paid for him - though he paid for us. Oh well, it works. Brought him a bag filled with pistachios and some dark chocolate from Ghiradelli. He was happy - all he needs is food!!!

Oh yes - the reason we were sans kids is we left them with the other grandma so we can sign our wills, trust, etc., etc. All DONE - oh WOW - it feels so good. Just a load off to know everyone will be taken care of as we wish if something should happen. & the medical directives which have of course been on top of our to-do list since Terri Schiavo was in the news. A little late, yes, but luckily in time. Met over by our favorite Mexican restaurant so decided to meet my parents after. It was so NICE and quiet - hehe.

Today we don't have much planned. I have to get work in where I can. Just woke up at Grandma's house, plugged in the laptop, wireless card is working fine and all set up but took me 10 minutes to find an outlet to plug in the dying battery - LOL. Phew. Gotta go get some work done. I have the morning but will see other grandma for lunch and then a 2-hour drive. Maybe will work in the evening too.

I need to clean the house for guests next week and bake cookies for clients. But I have NO IDEA when this will be accomplished. I think dh is busy Monday & Tuesday night so maybe the kids can help me bake in the evening. Cleaning house - who knows when. ??????? I did clean the kitchen/family room yesterday because dh never does and here are just CRUMBS everywhere. I spotted an ant and so decided to vacuum and scrub. Dh was annoyed as we were to leave town, but it will be nice to return to a clean house. A little futile because come tonight it will be back to square one I know.

It turns out the ant problem was in the van anyway. I forgot I had a bag of empty soda cans to recycle from the christmas party Dec. 2 - 2 weekends ago?????? As dh goes to load up the van - he found a mound of ants. I didn't see the lovely spectacle but will no doubt get to clean it up when we get home. I have been chauffering a colony of ants about town I guess - LOL!!!! Disgusting! But it was a frugal thing for us since we decided to let the van air out over the weekend (after a good spray) and took the compact car down which gets twice as good gas mileage. Alls well that ends well...

Oh yeah, we had a Manager who delivered See's candies to clients, most likely on his own dime every year. He was a pretty gruff guy, I will never forget when a client/friend told me he showed up and she thought "oh no - what did I do wrong????" LOL. & he was there with a christmas card and Sees candy. Well he is gone now and it just occured to me a day or 2 ago to fill his shoes but we are so BROKE this month. So I decided to bake cookies. Unfortunately work is too busy so I may just hit up my one friend with the cookies. But there are 4-5 clients I would really love to bring them to. That I don't get to see enough. We'll see... Since they are all the ladies I really enjoy i would be hard to pop in and out and not stay and chat and get behind on work - LOL. But it is a goal I guess. Get all my work done so I can spend 1/2 day delivering Christmas cheer...

My 3yo keeps asking every day if it is Christmas yet!!!! Ah, it's the first year he is really aware, and boy is he ready!

Thought of an interesting idea for a post. Show off all the stuff in my home that I paid nothing for.

Hmmm, where to start. As I started taking pics I kept finding more than I realized.

Well, let's start this. I am in the process of freecycling this beauty. My boss cleared out some old office furniture and this is how I obtained this. I was annoyed because he had these little short, simple 2-shelf bookshelves as well, which I Thought would be GREAT in my closet for shoes and clothes. BUT he accidentally threw the 2 I had reserved in the junk pile. I am still bummed about that 5 years later - hehe.



These beauties I got from my friend's parents when they sold their second home:


HEre are the hand-me-down china cabinet and dining table (with 3 leaves - this is fully expanded from Thanksgiving). We didn't want these. We had wanted a pool table in that spot when we moved. We took them begrudgingly but they have served us well.





Grandma also gave us her ANCIENT washer/dryer (bought in 1980 or so) because she moved to a retirement community as we prepared for our move. These weren't completely free - we had to buy storage for a while though. But we just replaced them last year. Frankly I liked hers better though they were energy hogs I guess.

Oh, nothing fancy, but this table my mom bought for me when I moved out on my own at 18. Just a cheap Target thing but I think it is still super cute in the living room.



My sister moved across country and was about to throw this in the dumpster. ??? WHat the heck? It is NICE. I Swear she was raised by invisible wolves or something - how someone in my family could turn out so wasteful. She threw out a perfectly nice car last year - I told her I would have bought it!!!!!!



Picked up the table below from an old roommate who left it. When the roommate left we had no chairs and my co-worker at the time gave me her BEAUTIFUL chairs - said she didn't want them anymore anyway. Oh yeah - the table has a leaf too which is super awesome - I think it is fully expanded here since it fits the chairs best but I love we can shrink it down since it is in a small spot.



This recliner in the kids room. My mom bought this chair in early 1980s I believe. The thing is THRASHED but throw a couple of blankets over it and good as new. I will be freecycling in the near future but was awesome for the baby years. Lots of nighttime rocking - it is next to the crib.



Oh yeah - these beauties are from the 70s I would guess. We have a super humongous closet. Since no one else sees it I put all the ugly stuff in here for more storage space. But these have served us very well - lovely cinderblock/wood plank shelving. I also have a 70s styled (very bright) toy box I Store old sweaters in up there.



This one looks much nicer in photo. This is an ancient bureau handed down through the family for years. I think it belonged to my mom's aunt originally or something. I know I got it red and has since been painted blue and then black - hehe.


Just a file cab I think my dad gave me:


Oh - this is just the desk I had as a child. It is REALLY nice. I threw it in for the buy quality aspect of frugalness. This thing looks brand new and is 15 years old at the least.



How about this baby?


LOL. If you have read my blog you know that dh's parents REALLY spoil us. I can't say we would have it so good today necessarily if they didn't. But my parents on the other hand - no way. IF I get $100 for christmas I would consider myself extremely lucky. My parents could not afford this beauty until I Was in my teens - my sister and I played piano, as did my dad. I always assumed they would keep it. But my sister moved cross-country and I moved to a big house around the same time. We had started negotiations for me to buy it since I was closer, and we had some major disagreements - LOL. I Remember telling my dad forget it, I Could find a better deal elsewhere. (I could - he wasn't cutting me ANY slack). Plus I still had a long way to save my pennies. BUT my mom softened up my dad and they gave it to us for Christmas that year if we would pay to move it and give them my upright. A good trade. So I know it doesn't count - but a nice story.

I think pretty much all the bedroom furniture in our house (us and kids) and our patio furnitue was bought new by dh's grandma & his parents. I Can't really brag in the frugalness in that, that is dh's family spoiling.

I noticed as I Was taking pics though that all of our stereo equipment throughout the house was stuff that we bought in the 80s/90s as well - nice stuff. Good quality and no need to upgrade...

But because of all this the only thing we have really paid for in our house is some cheap desk furniture, a cheap entertainment center, all the mattresses in our house, and a really nice sectional couch & TV both bought new. Oh yes, we have a nice sofa we bought pretty cheap brand new, and nice theatre chairs we got a steal on, and dh's fancy projector. But considering this is all we have paid over the years to furnish a large house, not bad. Most of our money has gone to the theatre room. HAving compact cars we have been overall hesitant to buy used in the past - large pieces. We are good discount furniture shoppers. BUT this is part of the reason we got a van. I saw a lot more used furniture options in our future. Plus easier to get free stuff too - if you can pick it up yourself!!!! Down the road when the kids are less harsh on our stuff I want to get some nicer pieces - but will be keeping an eye out from garage sales and stuff. I rather spend my money elsewhere for the most part.

I just noticed another thing - a coat rack my boss passed one to me as well. It is this big, fancy, garish, brass thing, but it is covered with coats so that is why I forgot it - LOL - you can't really see anything but the pretty base. We just were donning coats for a walk in the rain and remembered that one. I am sure I Could go on all day if I kept looking...

I have tried posting on Craigslist before and have never sold a thing. For the most part I usually find a friend who I Will give the item or sell to in the meantime. & I often do craigslist in conjuction with freecycle, where someone comes by for a freecycle item and I get all crazy generous and hand them everything I am trying to sell. Or maybe not even generous, just glad to be rid of stuff. When I didn't really feel like I needed the money.

Today I feel like I need the money!!!

So I finally got around to posting 3 items on Craigslist. & 1 item on freecycle - an old musty bookshelf thing. I keep thinking I will refinish it, and for now it stores piano music. In the meantime it is really ugly and I just want it gone - LOL. I will NEVER refinish it - I Am getting real with myself. So I add a nice piano music cabinet to my endless list of wants until it makes it up to a higher priority. For now I have some other options. I can store the piano music I never have time to play upstairs if need be. Hehe. Though I really should keep an eye out for a nice cabinet, I bet I Can talk my parents into it for next Christmas or birthday or something. If not, it ain't that important. Bathroom repairs and pediatric dentists top my list for now - for when I have money!!

Oh anyway, so wish me luck - hehe. I posted about $125 worth of items. I aim high and hope I can squeeze at least $20 each. But I Am in no hurry, I may initially hold out for a higher price. IF things go like the past I Don't expect much interest though. I did buy a Fisher Price PlayWall upwards of $50 and they were IMPOSSIBLE to find used. So I am selling it and listed it at $40. That one I am most hopeful on because like my baby carrier, they are impossible to find used, I Can probably fetch a nice price.

I listed the jumperoo but I saw 10 on there already, so I may hold out a while until after the Christmas crazies - usually I only see 1 or 2 listed.

& a highchair. I don't know - it is the only thing not in top notch condition. I hope to get $20. Maybe $15. With a new cover it would be gorgeous though - just the cover is worn.

I have no idea how some of these things have held up so well. Most of the kids stuff hasn't - LOL.

I have an exersaucer and a pack n play to sell in coming months. The last 3 years I have given away more baby things than I Could even imagine - mostly to family. I am on the fence how appreciative they really are about how much we invested as the first child bearers in our family's generation. At this point they have enough, and I am mostly giving away things the second baby has used and I didn't give away already. In the meantime family bought some of their own stuff for once - hehe. From here to eternity all the clothes will probably go to family. But it is really nice to get some cash back for a few items that we shelled out some bigger dollars for. Phew. Once we go through this round I don't foresee much in the future. Maybe a crib and a toddler bed down the road.... Who knows...

What dh and I really need to do is go through the kids toys and books and PURGE. For resale or donation. We went through the stuff in July and I Was hesitant to give up much though the kids are spoiled far more rotten than I Care to admit. Today I Am looking at a few toys with little interest from the kids and I Am ready to purge. I will also ask Big Monkey if he will be willing to give up a toy for Christmas donation. I Am not sure if anyone really takes used toys this time of year, but I will try. I want to take this year to get him on the giving side of christmas. HE may not go for it at all - but I will try. HE's 3. If he won't give a toy, maybe we will go buy a toy with his christmas money, and donate it. I Can maybe get him to do that. I am not sure if he is at a age that is willing to give up ANY toys. But we'll see. Regardless od his willingness, a few will disappear. Making room for the christmas barrage - phew.

The books are insane too because the kids love to read (Well mostly be read to though the 3yo does love to read too admittedly - a reading genius). & dh frequents the scholastic sales and the used book stores. AND since his mom is a teacher and has a million+ Scholastic points it seems, we just order endless free books lately. The pile of books are hard to pare down because the kids love them all so much. We'll see what we can do though... We haven't even ordered any in a while at least, we have a full collection, but I know if dh sells a pile he will want to buy more - hehe - the store credits are far better than cash. We'll see how it pans out I guess. We could start a library, I Swear. We go to the library too, but the kids get so attached to their books, and are a little rough with them too. For now the free Scholastic books are pretty sweet. As they age we will push the library thing more. There is only so much space for books around here - hehe.

EDITED: While I typed away, I got an offer for my freecycle bookshelf thing. Woohoo. Will probably pick up today. Doesn't get much easier than that!!!! I LOVE it. BEst part the furniture is for a family who owns pretty much nothing. As I read the e-mail I remembered that I have some silverware and kitchen items I was saving for my sister who probably doesn't need it. So I am going to purge a lot with this pickup I Think. Phew. Should all be gone by tomorrow!!

Sold the Wii for about $460 with shipping and all, made around $120 profit when all is said and done. phew - takes a load off.

I wanted to list some of our baby items from craigslist but was not feeling so well yesterday. Hopefully by the weekend, I need to scrub the things down and make them shiny so we get more money for them!!

I got my shoes and they are the cutest shoes ever and I LOVE them, but Land's End apparently makes their shoes super-narrow. They do not fit. Bummer. I am sending them back today. I am sad because I lOVED those shoes. The search for a wide casual pair of shoes continues...

For the most part I am in a daze and could care less about any of this. Dh told me over the weekend that he was REALLY sad because James Kim from Tech TV, and his family, had been missing for over a week. We discussed that they were probably long gone, but how the worst part was not knowing. TO find out that Monday that his wife and young kids were saved. The story is incredible - their car was stranded in the snow in the ORegon mountains. They were all able to stay alive for a week in their car. After one week, on Saturdday, he set out to find help and has not been seen since. Yesterday I Watched the news reports all day and was sad when they called off the ground search for the night around 4pm, they felt they were getting very close - following his tracks and such. THey will resume today with the light of the sun. But each night passing looks less and less promising.

Dh and I discussed it and we figured no matter his fate, as long as the kids made it, that was the saddest part of it all. A 7 month and 4yo. We really took it to heart because our kids are close to that age. I Said if it was me I Would just be glad the rest of my family was saved. BUT there is still hope and I really pray they find him today - alive and well. To him, he may have just wanted his family saved. TO his family, if he does not make it, I Can not even imagine. I imagine I Would feel guilty being saved and him not making it as he tried to find help. & the poor kids to lose their dad. THough they are lucky to be alive, it is pretty bittersweet today, I imagine. THe worst part is still the not knowing I am sure. FOr now there is hope. I really pray they find him today, and that he is still alive and well...

A story like this really makes you stop and appreciate all that you have.

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_120606ORBmissingf...

I have been thinking about retirement a lot lately.

I wanted to pay down my mortgage faster, first. & build more cash too.

But lately I have been thinking that it seems retirement money is pretty protected money. IT is golden. Tax savings vehicle, protected in all/most instances from bankruptcy, creditors, lawsuits, etc. Isn't it? Pay down your house and get sued, it could be gone. I have been thinking that perhaps we should make retirement savings our #1 priority. If we save less cash in the meantime, the retirement money could bail us out too. IT is so golden.

I think overall I will focus on a little of everything - just not put all of my eggs in one basket. That is all I am really opposed to.

I have also been thinking about this a lot in terms of return. Our mortgage is 5.75% interest and I believe with tax breaks it really amounts to 4%. Locked in forever... Before I looked at our cash and thought I have $5k making not that much more. I'd rather pay down the mortgage. BUT looking at my retirement I can easily have $200k in 10 years earning a far better return than my mortgage costs. From that regard it does make sense to focus on retirement money.

In the grand scheme of things nothing much has changed in my plan except once I get up to $15k or so in the e-fund, hopefully in the next year, we are going to focus on maxing out our retirement vs. just saving. I am a safe person and I like cash. But I think this is a good plan. We can still continue to add to the e-fund, small amounts, but contribute considerably more to retirement.

At most now we can save is $10k or so a year - and that would take a miracle - hehe. Maybe most of it to ROTHS and a little to the e-fund. Like $8k vs. $2k. But forget the mortgage 'til we have substantially more income. Maybe we can fully fund the retirement at $8k - wow!!

For now I would like to pay an extra $150/month mortgage if I can, but probably not unless I can also max out retirement. I guess if I can make that my rule - retirement first and then extra mortgage payments, it is not bad. We weren't going to considerably pay down the mortgage until dh got a job, but at that point we will probably be saving WAY more than the most we can contribute into retirement vehicles. At that point we will just be spreading out among all 3 - retirement, savings/investments, mortgage.

Since we have a lot less to work with today, retirement trumps the mortgage by a mile. With my renewed thinking. I am also considering putting off the final payment on my personal loan to next December instead of June. The interest rate is 3% I believe. We can save so much if I don't pay it off early as intended. December would still be 6 months early, but easier to swing, and we would have built up some nice cash too.

I am rethinking my "run out and pay off all the debt" stance. & even moreso my need to hoarde cash. Getting smarter I guess.

My parents taught me about living within my means and avoid debt, which has served me well, but little wisdom in regards to retirement and investing. I am not sure if I would have realized all this without this website. Wow! Nothing is black and white - that is for sure.

No matter what I will not put ALL my eggs in one basket. But I will start putting a lot more eggs in my retirement basket - that is for sure...

Well I update my stats to the right - including my age!!!! Oh my. So far 30 just means insane health premiums to me - hehe. Otherwise I feel way older than my age so it doesn't really bother me - I don't feel older anyway - hehe. I guess the downside is it takes some of the shock value out of my age. Lately everyone is shocked how young I am. Most of the people I identify with are in their late 30s/40s I guess.

Retirement went up a few hundred with market gains - a great month. & added some employer match. I am not going to add any more cash this year, the e-fund suffers. But dang it is sure tempting to add a thousand next month or so and see if I can get to the big $50k!!!! It will have to wait a few months to get there... & if the market takes a turn, who knows how long I guess...

I have $100 cash to deposit so I will put it in the e-fund. I might use some of that money to pay the estate lawyer, but with that whole pay yourself first thing I figure I would just put it in. & we should make some cash this month to cover the rest of the attorney. Deposited $200 this month and earned $25 interest. Just $300 in December to reach our 2006 goal - easy if we sell the wii!!! & christmas windfalls. Leaves $350 in the slush fund for our insurance changes. $40 cash in our pockets too.

Glanced at the budget and pretty good overall. Clothing for kids was a little over budget but that is a more x dollars per year item, and I don't expect to buy them any clothes in December so should be fine. I spend $100 on them like twice a year and I think i budgeted $600 clothes for us all. My stuff came out of birthday money. I could have saved it but oh well. For now I tell myself I have less reason to spend money the next few months - I got a lot this last month or 2.

Our groceries were about $100 over budget and even gas, though under budget, was higher than it should be. Oh well. Groceries are my enemy right now - still working on it. To me it is such a big chunk and the easiest place to shave some expenses. But the grocery budget does not seem to want to cooperate. Oh well, with thanksgiving and all the money our parents gave us for it I guess we were right on budget if you consider that.

Our utilities were WAY low this month - mostly how we squeezed out the $200 I would guess.

I have a misc. column ($150/month)on my budget and this month that pretty much went to our San Francisco trip. Probably $50 of that went to the e-fund. We didn't really buy anything else in this column for the month. Figured I would share because the misc. category can be used for anything and varies widely month to month. Starting january we are going to convert that to an allowance category - probably split it 3 ways - me, dh, and family. We'll see how that works out. Complicated bookkeeping. Probably open a new high-yield account with low minimum, put it all in, and track by category. We'll see how it goes. I think it would be good for the allowance fund to earn interest since dh plans to save his for a big purchase.

Well if I receive more birthday money (probably won't) I will put that to the e-fund too. We'll see!

Oh yeah - almost forgot. Dh's family over for Thanksgiving - put a 10-month-old on the potty?????? Everyone else's jaw is agape. Dh is always saying they are a little weird, and um yeah. LOL. I am just looking at my 17-month-old appalled at what they are doing to their baby.

So yesterday Little Monkey asks for the potty. Um yeah. He did and he liked it. This is super cool because #1 - I Don't like those little potty seats and Bih Monkey never used them. We have an insert for the big potty. So I plopped Little Monkey on the potty and it didn't scare him. He lOVED it. He would not let me take him off for 5 minutes. I slapped a diaper on him and he promptly peed. Oh well, a start. LOL. I think this is super cool because this is interest way earlier than his brother had (no doubt due to his fascintaion with big bro's potty habits). & maybe sometime next year we can cut budgets out of the diapers. Perhaps. IF so I am putting that money to orthodontia fund. For sure!!!! As for dh's family, maybe they are onto something. HEhe. Big Monkey was 18 months from first interest to fully trained, but we had a baby in between and just didn't even bother with potty training. Figure it would be a worthless cause as I heard so many stories about reverting. All signs are good that this one will train early. As they say they will with those clothe diapers. Didn't go so well the first time but Big Monkey would wear a wet diaper all day without a complaint and Little Monkey FREAKS out. We have to put him in super disposables at night orelse he wakes up upset when he is wet. So I think for that reason and the whole big bro thing he will be out of diapers around 2. I can hope anyway - the budget would like that!!

While everyone is blah, I Feel pretty stellar today. Coming back to work, a job I love anyway, is nice after such a relaxing week. We'll see how the afternoon goes since I think I have taken an afternoon nap almost every day this last week. Ah, no wonder I am so refreshed. I was just thinking it was funny with the talk of when so and so's kid outgrew naps. I am not sure I ever did. Since I can plop down and take a 2-hour nap every afternoon apparently. So yeah, the afternoon may be trying - my body has probably been growing accustomed to 2:00 naps...

I forgot I have seminar tomorrow too - 2007 tax update. YEah, try to stay awake through that - hehe. My dad was asking me something and was chiding me for not knowing capital gains rates off the top of my head. My lord. What people don't understand is the law and everything changes every year. I am pretty much still working on 2005 for most of 2006. & now I have to plan for 2007. There is NO WAY I can keep it all straight. IRA deduction this year - hell if I know - the years all run together. Luckily I have little handy dandy refrences all over my desk. & my bible too - Federal Tax Handbook. Then I don't have to memorize everything by year - geez. Sure, memorize all the retirement maxes for 401k, IRA, pension, etc., + catch-ups for 2005, 2006, 2007 and keep is straight. Not that hard? Try all the other million details that changed from 2005 to 2006 to 2007. At some point you just give up... So we go to seminar once a year just to have it all laid out nice and clear - 2006 & 2007 will be fresh in my head I guess. I can't even remember if this is more of a 2006 or 2007 seminar - LOL. Probably 2006 since 2007 will be a work in progress for a long while yet.

Came to work today and occured to me I hadn't left the house in 5 days!! Wow! Feels weird. & YES I really looked forward to getting out of the house. The kids were driving me a little batty the last couple of days. A few hours in the evening is way better time spent than me spending all day with them. My patience is thin with them - they were both driving me mad. Probably why I am glad to be at work today -phew. I have NO IDEA how dh does it. They are both in a "not listening" stage which doesn't help. Baby was so happy to see so much of me he stuck to me like glue all week, but the last 2 days he would take to getting into trouble, you say no, he laughs. You say no 100 times - he just laughs. Big Monkey hasn't been much better - he is in a stage. Plus I am starting to see it is extra hard with 2 because the baby doesn't get the same treatment - he doesn't get time outs - you can only say no and remove him from the situation. Big Monkey then says, hmmmmm, this isn't fair - why I Do get timeouts and "you know betters" yelled at me all day? So then he acts up more - bah. The other thing is Big Monkey was never really one for temper tantrums. He skipped the terrible 2s pretty much - straight to terrible 3s. PRobably because he could always communicate quite well. Little Monkey is another story - he did a few full-on tantrums this weekend over the silliest little things. Just falling to the ground, pounding fists and flailing. It is AMAZING to me because this behavior is apparently instinct or something. It was not learned. I just kind of roll my eyes and ignore him - wait for him to calm down anyway - so dramatic. It think it is extra strange because he is the quiet one. But then again that is me to the core - I was the quiet one - but I get so stubborn - my mom said I was a temper tantrum child. What goes around comes around I guess. So yeah, today at work is a piece of cake in comparison to the last couple of days.

Oh anyway, we got dh's vasectomy date but it was a Monday in January. Bummer - it would cost $250 in january vs. $100 in December. & Monday would not work. So I gave dh a few dates to try and asked him to call today figureing who knows when he'd get around to it. Well they had a date for Dec. 21 which works out perfect. Woohoo. $100 for a vasectomy - you got yourself a deal! His mom has that week off work, and though it is pretty busy for me, I can sneak off for a day or 2. Especially if I tell my boss why - he will do a dance for joy that I will not be asking for 3-4 months off again in the near future. The last pregnancy did a number on me too - I am still recovering. I Was crying at work a month or 2 back - and my boss is like oh lord - that girl is so sensitive since that last maternity leave. My hormones are still crazed. I think the office will probably celebrate - hehe.

I can hardly think of anything better financially than not to have more kids - hehe. I am not sure if I am so keen to do this now, but overall I know if we are crazy enough to want more kids down the road there is always adoption. Plus frankly, I can still have kids. So my options remain open. I guess if we really wanted to go for the gold I Would get sterilized too. Maybe in a few years.

Why get a job when you can wait in line all night and buy a toy you can sell for 200%+ profit????

Oh yeah - my hubby decided againt all that racket for the PS3 BUT silly me didn't realize there was another game system coming out this week. When we got home last night he told me he was thinking of going. Though I think it is insanely silly, I actually encouraged him to go last night. Why, because our neighborhood is extremely terrible for auto theft AND the kids rooms are right above the garage. Big Monkey and I got home so late we couldn't park in the garage, without risk of waking the light sleeping little monkey. So when I Walked in and dh told me his crazy plan I said, whatever. I Rather him take our most expensive possession to the Best Buy parking lot in his sight all night then sitting in the driveway. This turned out to be a good choice because though I did not turn on a light in the van and I KNOW for a fact I locked the doors, dh said when he went outside a light was on in the van and the driver side door was unlocked. VEry strange but there is no doubt I would have met bad news with such a "come get me" sign on it. Frankly I am not sure if someone was tampering with it I have no idea how the door could have been unlocked or a light on otherwise. Strange. The other reason I did not mind so much is the Wii is a mere $250 vs. the $500 playstation. Though if dh does not make a nice profit I will not doubt be annoyed. Time will tell I guess - I am sure those things will flood Ebay for a while. Maybe closer to Christmas - the last minute shoppers - will be what we wait for.

& yes I am annoyed that dh's sleep schedule will probably be ALL Screwed up all week. Not worth it if you ask me - geez. Today he will be useless, that is for sure. HE is still not home yet - it is 9am. He told me at 8 he got a ticket to buy one so he was "in." I will be curious to hear how many people behind him got tickets and if it was worth waiting in line from midnight.

ETA: looking at the thousands on listing on ebay I am not too keen on this today, BUT I noticed Play Station is still going strong. I Was just tempted to list the thing today because guaranteeing shipping tomorrow might be our only edge. But we decided to wait it out - dh can return it if it doesn't pan out. Imagine waiting all night in the cold to just return it. I am having a bad feeling it may stay in our house for a long while - like forever. We'll see...

Oh yeah, I called dh again and periodically people were yelling "wii." I asked what was going on and he said anytime someone walked out of the store with one, they all yelled "wii." OMG! LOL. What a bunch of crazy people... He said only 4 people in line behind him made it, the rest camped out for NOTHING!!!!!

I have no words...

Woohoo - the month is looking good.

Just deposited my preschool refund and unless I Am forgetting something (I could be), I have another $185 to add to the e-fund. The month is not over yet and dh made $100 on the guitar AND I have quite a few large baby items to sell. We will get $100-$200 through the end of the year - maybe $100 this month. Plus I have $125 cash sitting in my pocket. As I always say I hate cash, but I will splurge a little on our trip today. Hopefully I will have $50 at least leftover, probably more - so makes it pretty certain we can get our E-fund to $6k this month! OMG!!!! To go from feeling like you can not possible save to saving $1k in such a crazy time of year is super awesome. It was mostly working extra and selling things - but I think we can keep that up for a while - the little things really help.

Oh yeah - but wish us luck. Our house is insured for about $200k and rebuilding costs have SOARED these last few years since we bought. Doing our insurance review Monday. Hopefullly the damage isn't too bad - I know we need more coverage on our house. But I don't now what else they will try to sell us. I will probably just be aggreable and then come home, pop on the internet, and research everything and call and cancel most of it - hehe. I am a pushover, and dh isn't but he said he didn't want to go because he doesn't know anything about any of this stuff. Oh anyway, when we moved here I met with the insurance agent and he was really NICE and didn't push a bunch of stuff on me. But he shortly retired, the young whipper snappers are pushy, we'll see. It's hard to know what is necessary or not. Our old agent was always pushing more medical and liability stuff on our car, and I might consider it now that we have a lot more significant assets. Feel like the more you have, the more you have to spend to protect it. On the flipside, they just changed their rate structure so instead of going by zip code they are charging auto insurance by driving record. So though our home insurance may be going way up, I think our auto insurance may significantly decrease next year - woohoo. I Was so bummed when we moved here and our insurance pretty much doubled. Did not make sense to me since it is a less metro area and I drive way less, etc. But with our perfect driving records (knock on wood), our rates have got to be great with the change. I know it was simply the zip code that was totally reaming us. Well we'll see how much a difference it makes next year when the rates take effect. Oh anyway, I put the $185 for savings in the short-term fund because I wil probably need it for insurance - might not go to e-fund after all.

I admit I don't completely understand all of the ends and outs of profit sharing plans but I was clarifying something with my boss yesterday, for a client, and realized I have more guaranteed to me today than I realized. I thought I wasn't eligible for my contribution unless I Worked a full year, but I Am eligible after working 1000 hours. So I added my contribution through November to my tally. Woohoo - added $2500. I had accrued some of it already but don't want to get into profit sharing plans and why - hehe. But I will start accruing that every month. Well after I hit 1000 hours next year. & the coolest part is at the end of next month I vest another 20% and will add another $5k to my balance. Next year I should vest about $6k and get an $8k contribution, so next year is looking pretty good. I have a round idea in my head that I Want to get our Retirement up to $100k by the time we are 35. Depends on the market and other factors, but I think even if dh doesn't work until then that we can do it.

Oh anyway, my birthday is coming up and christmas. Since most of the shopping is done I Expect to save a big chunk in december - we will probably get some nice cash and I Am putting it straight in the bank. I was thinking about it in regards to the luxury thread because I Feel like we have quite a few luxuries. BUT this time of year it is like dh and I Are not even exchanging gifts - we see no need. I think having a little luxury in your life it ieasy to give up a lot of things. Oh yeah, and my friends around here think I am absolutely DEPRIVED because I don't want anything for Christmas. Is it that hard to see that I am satisfied with what I have? LOL. HAving the money to enjoy things throughout the year and hire a gardener, and have dh stay home. Those are all the luxuries I enjoy through the year and I can forego the materialism that is Christmas. I think I will survive. & plus the truth is though my family is not big on gifts and my mom will probably get me something silly that I Will promptly freecycle - LOL. The truth is MIL absolutely spoils us rotten and she will get me some nice gifts that I will enjoy, and some cash. So don't feel to worried about me. Though frankly I am hoping to get gift cards or cash because I need a new suit for work. Ah, here I go being all practical...

Ah, well everyone have a great weekend. We are taking the kids on the BAy Area subway equivalent today and spending the day in the city. I hope the kids enjoy it - I am sure it will be quite an adventure for them. Hopefully I survive. I am a little nervous because we went to a playdate last night with my travel buddy for today and I guess the preschool teacher told her our 2 monkeys are quite mischevious when they are together - they can not be alone. This is the first I heard this so of course I figure we have to watch those 2 like a hawk - they do get pretty rambuctious together too. Hopefully we won't have to turn right around because they can't behave or something. LOL. We'll see. I am sure they will be fine, but you know if it's one of those days somoething is in the air, or someone is in a funk, it can spell disaster. But if it goes well, I really hope to plan more trips like this in the future just my son and I. I think he would enjoy.

Um, well, first I Spent too much time here today so I am vowing to myself not to come online tomorrow. I wil break this vow unless I spell it out here to be accountable to myself - hehe.

I tried to read everyone's list, but might have missed a few. Hopefully I will catch up. I like Tina's idea to make a category for 'list.' I hope more people do so, so we can catch the lists we missed more easily.

I think I Added 3 items to mine and I think I don't want to add any more. I imagine you can easily get your list out of control this way. IT is what it is and I think it is closed - hehe. I reserve the right to change my mind.

Today was super cool because I know on that thread about giving things away some people had said that when you give you are rewarded. I totally believe in karma and all that and probably why i am a "lucky" person overall. But frankly lately I am tired of giving and giving and giving, and other people being so UNgiving. Just for example, we lent and gave away all of our babys tuff to SIL, and the only thing I Wanted to borrow from her with my second son was a baby bathtub, since her child was 1 at the time. & she wouldn't let me borrow it. What the hell?????? Reminds me she would not give me back something she had borrowed and I needed back, as well. I Will give someone a ton of hand-me-downs, but they are trying to sell something I would just give away and they won't even budge on the price for me. Stuff like that - I am SO fed up with people. BUT today karma hit fast. Ds's preschool teacher called and was clarifying how much of a refund she owed me. I thought she had already sent the check in the mail, but since she hadn't I told her to keep $100. I figure things were tight for her and she is super awesome. It's for christmas but I figure it was silly to wait a few weeks - she probably needed it now. She was super grateful. & then later I met a friend for dinner who I hadn't seen in years, and I figure I would swing it however, but he offered to pay for my dinner - insisted really. I didn't expect it at all and it felt really good. So my spend day today turned into a no-spend day like that - woohoo. Though I guess maybe in a sense I spent $100? Nah, I just decreased my refund...

Oh well it is nice to be grumbly and think why bother being nice. & then to have someone be nice on a day you are feeling that way. Know what I mean?

Anyway, it was quite strange today hanging out with someone I haven't seen since having kids and stuff - reminding me of my carefree youth - aaaaaahhhhhhh. I guess he moved to San Francisco recently and I have a really good friend who lives over there but I never visit in the city because she lived in such a bad neighborhood. But she just moved, so we were making plans to hang out in the City soon, and I Was thinking cool now that I know 2 people there. But I was thinking back and figuring this other girl is like my best friend and I have seen her a few times back home and such but I don't think I have hung out with her, without the kids, since I had my first son over 3 years back. That is just sad. Everything is so crazy and the distance doesn't help, but it just feels so weird to talk about plans to take a day off for myself and go to a museum and out to dinner and all that stuff the single people do - hehe. Anyway, we are trying to plan a visit in December, we'll see how it pans out. This weekend I Am taking my son to the city on the rapid transit - kind of a dry run - I guess we'll see if I Will be up to taking the route alone. I Am sure I will be. When we moved here I figured we weren't relaly that much further from SF, but have since learned driving is not an option. I rather drive 2 hours home and then another hour into the city, then get into the city from this isde, over the bridge. IT is the worst thing ever if you ask me. I used to take the train from the other side, just less familiar with the area on this side, and it is annoying because it is a good hour drive to get to the train - it is a pretty large trip all the same - though probably faster than driving and sitting ont he bridge for 1 hour waiting to get past the toll booth. I Talked to my friend today if it was possible to get those fast passes even if you only use them once or twice a year - the electronic chips so you can zoom through - you know. He said probably possible, but not always faster, since he traveles a lot for work and gets stuck on the bridge all the time, fast pass and all. Bummer.

I guess I Am excited because just as I Was gaining independence from my first son I got pregnant all over again. I don't intend to do that again anytime soon -hehe. I See some freedom in my future - woohoo.

Oh yeah, I Was going to say I have been trying to meet other people around here, but it is always so mom-centric - people I meet for playdates, or even on a night out all we do is talk about the kids. I look forward to spending time with people that know me pre-kids, and talking about something else. Though I will probably bore them and talk about my kids the whole time, huh? Anyway, I am super excited at the prospect.

Oh yeah - I forgot to say why I felt so overwhelmed. Work is crazy tomorrow since I intend to take next week off. YAY! But next week I am preparing for the big feast here AND doing some freelance work. Plus I have a few appointments thrown in to keep me on my toes. Saturday is the big trip to the city. I Figure Friday night I could do all my last minute planning and such. But then I just came online and saw I have a playdate tomorrow after work. OMG! I totally forgot. I am officially overwhelmed. This is why I have to keep off the internet - I have much to do!!!!

I know flowers are pretty extravagant - especially the lazy just buy them online angle - LOL. But ds's preschool teacher is so wonderful - wanted to do something special. Ds even helped me pick out a beautiful arrangement of yellow and white daisies and roses in a yellow happy face mug. Yellow is his favorite color and he is so happy I knew she would appreciate it - would remind her of my super cheery son. Plus he picked out one of the cheaper arrangements - all the better - hehe. I would have swayed him if he hadn't.

So I go to check out and apparently I bought flowers from this site about 2 years ago, and I had a $10 coupon. They just automatically applied it. So my $40 extravagance turned out to be only $30. I think that is pretty sweet!!

I know I have been online way too much, but popped on to order flowers and change my credit cards for as many vendors as I could think of. Since I Switched to a bigger/better rewards card. Good thing too because I realized I never got either my phone bills. By some strange miracle I Was under my minutes on the cell. I had kind of decided a little extra money to call my mom from the car which is the only time I have any peace and quiet - was okay. & yet I managed to stay under minutes too - cool!! ANyway, I have been getting so much JUNK in my e-mail I deleted my 2 phone invoices AND also an e-mail from that lady who had realized her check had bounced and had offered to meet me today to give me cash. I Called her today and since she would see dh tomorrow just said give it to him. She felt bad and had a reasonable excuse - I feel better about it. Phew. I thought she was lying that she had e-mailed me because I did not see, but I really dug deep and finally found it. YEah, at face value it had looked like junk and I Deleted it. oops!!!

Anyway, darn e-mail, I will have to look closer before I hit delete - amazed how much I missed this last week!! The junk has just gotten SO out of control. I Am super anal about all of my bills so unlikely I Would miss one completely. But who knows...

www.networthiq.com

Time for my monthly update I guess. I posted the link before without much interest but I try again. It can make you feel real good, depress you, motivate you, I don't know.

Sure Cali is super expensive, but once you get in, these days anyway, watch your net worth skyrocket. IT is certainly a trade off - housing costs more, but rewards you more as well. Though buying at the peak can REALLY hurt you I guess. IT is hard to say where real estate is. You know, when we bought our condo (1999)and then our house (2001) the sky was falling and we were crazy to buy - it was the PEAK! So here we are almost $300k equity later. So many friends still renting waiting for the peak to be over. Missed the boat I think. Though I certainly bow my head to luck - we certainly never foresaw this!

Well, my net worth is $363k!

Without house, hmmm, $78,000. Not bad. But you see where most of my net worth comes from.

Of course we easily could have really stretched ourselves for some house we could not afford and maybe even have a higher net worth. I am comfortable where we are at - very comfortable with our mortgage no matter how ugly it compares to other areas of the nation. Being comfortable is what is important. At the time we bought a house we felt we could afford on $40k/year comfrotably. I think we underestimated how expensive child rearing could be. But at $70k/year our mortgage is extremely comfortable regardless. Dh could bring in a few hundred bucks a month sure, would be great. But don't need the whole second-income thing to reach all of our goals. In this kind of market it is so easy to get in over your head so I am proud we thought it through and decided getting in over our head was unacceptable.

Actually my net worth was $464k in january. A lot more cash and the house was worth way more. But it is funny, my net worth besides house was $81k. Today it is $78. I feel so behind over that $3k because I have a nice new car now but a lot less cash and a small loan. I am really not that far behind. In fact I Will catch up soon enough. Car will depreciate but we can save and will pay off the loan soon enough. IT is not as dire as I thought. IT all comes down to we have a lot less cash and that makes me uncomfortable. But if not I wouldn't be cracking the whip so much on our finances - I think we will come out ahead soon enough.

Minus real estate I am average for 'All' and Education. Way above average for income and age. (That feels good!) Below average for occupation and state. Throw in the house and I Am doing 10 times better than average. But I don't really like to count it overall - here today, gone tomorrow. Real estate is finicky.

Many topics to post - I Can never be short and sweet - LOL. & the amazing thing is some of you still read my long ramblings. WOW!

I have horrible horrible luck. Just did the drawing for the work guft exchange and for the 3rd year in a row I got a MAN!!!!! Aaaarrrrggggghhhh. I once again have NO IDEA what to buy. You can't appreciate how unlucky this is until you know right now there are only 3 MEN in my office and 9 women. This is probably about the same ratio for the last few years. What gives???? LOL. Oh well, any good manly gift ideas?? My coworkers have helped me out, I will ask around again for ideas this year - hehe.

I am also super super bummed and wanted to ask for prayers and good thoughts for my son's preschool teacher. *sigh* He only goes M & W, and I noticed her assistant was there in the morning AND the evening. I usaully never see her now that he goes full day. HE also told me they watched something on t.v. which they NEVER do. I put 2 and 2 together than she was sick, and was surprised not to see her yesterday either. Knowing this cold has been nasty and long-lasting, didn't think much of it. But another parent came in as I Was walking out last night and asked how she was doing, & "did she just have that nasty bug?" HEr assistant and husband replied, "oh, we will be filling you all in later." What? OMG! So I really pressed my 3-year-old for more details. HE said he saw her because she took herself to the doctor, that she has been going every day, and then came home and went back to bed because she wasn't feeling well. Who knows how accurate any of this info is - he is 3. But I have been really WORRIED about her since. She is simply the nicest and most amazing person I have EVER met. What in the world could be going on? I told dh when we got home and he asked if she could be pregnant. Hmmmm. I doubt it, but she is on her second marriage and though probably 40 or so I just had a 45-year-old friend on her new second marriage - she just had a small child. You just never know, huh? I have the feeling that is not it, but beats her being really ill. Gah, it's really bugging me now. I am going to e-mail my friend who has her son there every day and see if she has any more info.

EDITED. Friend e-mailed back - she said that preschool teahcer is going into the hospital for more tests TODAY - she has been goiing every day it seems. They told her she is having "issues" and will fill us in later. *sigh* I even played detective and checked her daughter's MySpace page - she had set it to private since I last looked. Darn. In the dark for now, but sending lots of positive thoughts that all is well.

Well besides all that, my wish came true. I think I blogged last week that it would be nice if dh could even bring in $50. After looking at last month and the $200 or so I brought in besides my paycheck. I was thinking time he helped a little too! Well he brought home $50 the other day - woohoo. Of course, he sold my guitar, ahem, but he is getting another $50 for it soon - installments I guess. A good deal though, I think - though who really knows - so long ago - I think I bought it for around $50 from my old friend. It is not the prettiest guitar, but easy to play and sounds good. I really like it. Last time I played it? Who knows. I don't know much - I just play a lot of instruments so can pick up the guitar and play a little easily. I never got past the bar chords though - too hard for me - hehe. But dh borrowed it for a movie shoot, and they drew on it - a fake signed guitar for the movie I guess. Then someone liked it so much they offered to buy it for $100. Black sharpie ink and all. I didn't really want to let it go, but being relistic, I have another guitar (looks pretty but not as nice overall - LOL) and dh probably has 4 or 5. I just think it is funny he is out selling my guitars and not his. Hmmmm... But whatever. Makes it another $100 this month. Yay! I know I Am going to use a little of it to splurge when we go to San Francisco next weekend.

I just noticed my bill was only really $25, because I volunteer to pay an extra $6/month to support green energy. I rounded a little, so in the end it was REALLY only $25.

I Was just looking at my electric bill which is separate from my gas bill. It was $20 including a $5 servie charge, $2 or so in taxes, and the $6 voluntary green energy payment. Gas was $11. I don't have the bill online to look at the details. But just amazing how low the bill is with that $6 - don't think I Was paying that last year.

Hmmmm, I have really no idea why it was SO low - the electirc portion was 1/3 of last year at the same time. I am thinking overall weather. We had the heat on for a while a day or 2, but the house has reamined steady between 68 minimum at night and 74 maximum during the day since. Pretty pleasant and no doubt unusual for late October and November. It is raining today and warm overall.

I am starting to worry if they read the meter wrong - hehe.

Oh yeah - and another interesting article from the state CPA society today - on shady credit card companies:

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/moneysmarts/artic...

Well I am honored you are so impressed with my low energy bill - hehe.

I Was driving to work today & heard an ad for energy efficient lightbulbs.

Reminds me that is abig thing for us as well. Plus the house has a lot of open space and windows so we rarely use lighting during the day. It's probably often assumed a big new house is an energy hog, but not the case at all in mant instances. They put extra insulation in teh walls and roof, dual paned windows, more natural lighting, etc., etc.

BUT one huge factor is the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Our has came with light fixtures in each room, with these long-life CFLs. I am not even sure we realized we had such fancy lightbulbs until a year or 2 out and not having to change 1 lightbulb. We are coming up on 5 years in our house and we have replaces one bulb. One went out in the kitchen - probably the most used room - and I thought "oh no!" Are they all going to die at once? Will I have to buy 50 new bulbs? & how expensive are they anyway?????? I was a little frightened, surely lightbulbs that last upwards of 5 years are VERY expensive????

So I looked them up and they really didn't cost that much more than regular lightbulbs. They certainly cost more, but not what I had imagined. & I saw they were rated for 10,000 hours+. !!!!!! NEedless to say the one that went out is a fluke. & since we had 6 lightbulbs in the kitchen we haven't even replaced it. Maybe when 3 or 4 go out it will be time. For now we are just using less electricity than we were before. I should probably go throught the house and take out 1/2 the lightbulbs, probably wouldn't make much difference...

I also saw at the time that CFLs use 1/3 - 1/4 the energy of regular lightbulbs.

No doubt this helps the bottom line of our electricity bill.

We have really found that investing in the newer energy-efficient appliances and all this REALLY pays off. This is probably our lowest bill ever, and all I Can think this is maybe our first no-heat/no-air month since our new washer/dryer. We had a 30-year-old model before and recently upgraded to the super energy-efficient. Doing laundry every day with kids and cloth diapers and such, we see a huge difference I guess.

Well - check out the CFLs:

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_ligh...

Oh well, my Tuesday update.

Got the electric & gas bill - $30 for last month. Woohoo. You don't know how refreshing it is to come to a site where this is the norm. I have been appalled on other sites I frequent - when gas/electric comes up - people's average bills are $500/month. Seriously. You hear how bad utilities have gotten and I wonder if this is somewhat norm BUT most of these people admit to keeping their house 72 degrees day and night in the winter, etc. The idea of conserving energy has apparently never crossed their mind. As for us, $30 is about as low as it gets, I can mostly thank the weather. We turned on the heat a day or two this last week, and right now it is 73 inside and no heat on for a few days. Next month will be a lower bill than usual probably too - yay. But overall with a new baby we tended to conserve a little less. This year so far I haven't been too quick to turn on the heat - the kids are running around like banshees, keeping warm, and the baby is a lot tougher now and can handle the cold a little better. We'll probably set it to 68 during the day and who knows at night, maybe 60 - it rarely turns on at night at 60 I believe - trying to remember. When the kids are a little older we'll just turn it off altogether at night like we used to!

I just renewed my AAA membership and was surprised looking through all the discounts available. I remember looking through in years past thinking it is all stuff I never use. But I noticed supercuts, payless shoes, a lot of restuarants, and even Pier 39 in San Francisco where we were going to go next weekend. I'll have to check that out. I am bummed though my not too smart with money friend who was going with me might bow out because she can no longer afford it. Am working on dh to come with me. Oh well, maybe it will be a little adventure with just my son and I. You know, just looking at $10 for the train and maybe a lunch out. So it is nothing huge.

Oh yes - and one more thing on saving money - was just paying all my bills and thinking in my head how much I am saving on stamps with online bill pay. I Am sure all you savvy savers use it, right? I used the service through my old credit union and it SUCKED. It was free. But they debited your account immediately even though they just wrote thec check for you - it would often take 2 weeks to clear. It drove me mad. Sometimes checks disappeared and they would want a stop payment fee to cancel it. They drove me mad. Talking to my co-worker who is a bookkeeper she said she worked somewhere before where people with online bill pay were always getting screwed like that. So I thought this was normal. But I was at a very small credit union and I just switched. OMG - my new online bill pay is still free but it is AWESOME. I just set up all my credit cards (before I did not trust the payment would get there in time). A few bills come directly to my credit union, and they do quite a few electronically. For the ones they actually write a check - they don't post it until it clears. HAllelujah. I love online bill pay. I post this because if you have a sucky service, shop around. The difference is probably that this is a much bigger credit union. More resources I guess. Well since I am using it a lot more, not just for the little bills I don't care if are late - LOL - I am now really saving on stamps. The only thing that is annoys me is I run through deposit slips way more than checks. Can I just order deposit slips I guess? I need to.

Oh well, I figured I was good on jewelry the rest of the year and did not intend to spend much this month. Nothing on the horizon, I haven't spent any money in about a week or so. & then yesterday I saw some new cookiee lee jewelry and I absolutely HAVE TO have it. I will probably spend $20 and it is well within budget, but it is annoying me. Darn Cookie and her cute jewelry. LOL. I'll just have to work on sellin gsome to pay for it...

Well, off to vote. Dh was cute when I said I Was going after work - he said - "But the lines will be SO long!!!" Is he serious? Bah. LAst time I went around 5:30 and I was like 100th to vote all day - something pretty dismal for a big city. So he is telling me - remember the RECALL election??? The line was huge. I don't particularly remember, BUT you now, it was the recall election. I think this year will be a little more quiet. I just find it extremely ironic, besides annnoying and frustrating, that Arnold has done everything that his predecessor did 10 times worse. His predecessor took a lot of contributions and had a lot of debt. That was their argument against him. Then Arnold came in and did it 10 times worse. ?????? I tend to vote 3rd parties, and I Was going to this year and thought better. I do not like the democrat in the least and feel he is very budget-responsible. But if I really think about it, I do not foresee him just using billions and billions in future bonds to pay for today's expenses, as arnold likes to do. I want Arnold out. *sigh* Not counting on it, but it will be interesting to see what happens. It would be nice if someone fiscally responsible ran for governonr - but that is just dreaming I guess... Oh well, my political rant for the day.

All the bills for the month are done and paid so I updated the stats. I love looking at my progress. The kick in the butt I need.

I am estimating what the costs on card will be but we have so far had a pretty spectacular month. So I estimaed my boost in savings. $30 interest, $100 from extra income this month (ebay & cookie lee), +$150.

$150 is probably more than my target savings each month, we are so breakeven on our budget, I Am trying to save minimum $50/month. The extra money made all the difference. BUT I am very pleased to report that I actually saved $1000+ this month. (knock on wood since just a few more days - don't want my car to explode). I just did not put it over to the emergency fund because I need it for the estate lawyer. I am so pleased to have the cash to pay her now and not dip into anything else.

I am pleased as punch because though we had a $250 credit on our credit card this month which helped, I had $150 expense on there for my cookie lee sales. IT was our last month paying $56 on the storage. Plus we did about $150 worth of christmas shopping (most of it), bought some clothes for the kids, and spent $40 on birthday gifts. It was a pretty excessive month overall and our credit card bill will be around $1100. $1100?????? In my old budget I just targeted around $1650 - that was my goal. IT was usually closer to $2k. I can not believe what a good month we had, we were not deprived in the least. Includes our anniversary dinner and everything.

Anyway, I need about $700/month to set aside for property taxes and insurance which I never do. But somehow I have it all covered through Dec. 31, so if November is as good I may have $700, at least, for the emergency fund next month. Only thing big is Thanksgiving. but even that family really helps out with food (we host) and I think we will have another banner month. Yay!!!

It was kind of disheartening when I joined the site and thought I Could maybe set aside $50/month. I knew I needed to do something- it was better than nothing. But to see that I have saved $500 in the last 60 days is pretty awesome.

Hubby is dragging his feet on the job thing. IT seems like we are back to square one on that issue, a little extra money could really help. But I don't foresee him really pulling it together. Oh well, at least he is helping me to maximize my income and our savings, it is something. What else can I do...

We are doing so well I Decided to resume extra mortgage payments in january if I get a raise. I started right before my last maternity leave and we just never had the money after that. Then I felt like we needed to save more. We probably do, but I am not happy until I Am paying that sucker down faster... But only if I have d ecent raise to boost our savings and then be able to add to the mortgage. I'll find out in january. Depends what our health insurance premiums go up to too - *sigh*

I just had to say to I had a real estate agent acuqaintance tell me that it was stupid to pay down a mortgage because you pay so little. LOL. She has 2 homes she owns with ARMs. Personally I think *that* is stupid. But anywho. Um yeah, our very first mortgage we had a 15-year loan for 1 year and we paid off $10k over the course of 2 years. Our current mortgage we have had for 5 years and have paid off $11,000. That is $21,000 in 7 years. YEah, we have paid nothing off our house - *rolleyes* Okay maybe $21k is nothing to some people, but it is a lot to me. Oh sure if it wasn't for the kid thing and 1-income thing we would have kept the 15-year loan. Instead I like that our minimum mortgage payment is decent, with a 30-year fixed, and we will add another $500/month when my hubby is working substantially again. On 1-income I am looking to pay $5k off of it next year, just normal payments + 1.5 extra payments, or an extra $150/month. Nothing spectacular. Oh well, I am one of those weirdos who looks forward to not having debts, vs. accruing more. I was also a weirdo who wouldn't buy a house without 20% cash down, so hey. Just call me weird.

My baby carrier just sold for $78!!!! cool.

Basically with shipping and handling the buyer is paying $90 for something that cost $92 brand new.

I am still not sure how much in fees will be eaten up by ebay and paypal - I don't really care. Just glad to gross so much for it!

Yeah now I REMEMBER why I had to pay $92 for the dang thing. LOL.

I am so happy my first ebay auctionw as so successful. But I don't really see any more in my near future.

This is a little gem I found a while back.

www.restaurant.com

I was just telling dh if we didn't eat out the rest of the month that maybe we could go out to dinner this weekend for our belated anniversary celebration. He didn't leave much room when he slashed the monthly eating out budget to $30, and I Was planning to go to a $5 buffet this week for lunch.

But I Decided to look up my good old restaurant.com and I Was surprised to see how many new restauarants have been added in recent months.

BAsically you order a gift certificate - most of them are $25 g.c.s that you pay only $10 for. There are a lot of catches, like applies to dinner only (sometimes), doesn't apply to alchohol (fine for us) and the kicker is most of the time a $35 minumum purchase. We found a lot of the time we just ordered more food and paid the same in the end as we would otherwise without all the extra food - so it seems. We weren't really coming out ahead - just fatter and more leftovers - LOL. Though with the kids it would often be big savings if we ordered them a meal, etc.

We haven't used them in a while because only had g.c.s available to a couple of restaurants in our area. But I was looking in the Bay Area since we will be there on saturday and there was a list of restauarants a mile long. We'll have to give it a whirl - splurge on a fancy dinner and maybe stay in the budget...

It is so rare we get out to a movie that is what we originally planned - a matinee hopefully - since we'll have babysitters (family). But dh said he didn't want to waste all that money on a movie. They are all so bad these days anyway. Blech. But I am really impressed with dh. HE is doing his part for sure...

Today he is taking the kids to the zoo and to a local kid park thingy. We have memberships for maybe $30/year each, and believe me we get our use out of them. The only thing is the zoo just got a train and they charge $1/ride/person - even the baby because he is 1 (oh please). So I told him to take some of my cash stash for a train ride. There is no saying no once my son sees that train - he is obsessed. Oh well, the zoo is a good cause. Though I am less likely to go over there lately with that dang train.

& tomorrow they have library preschool storytime.

Ah yes, what a deprived life we lead frugally. LOL. I know people who think it is terrible I do not take them to all of the fancy/expensive places all of the time. I think they are okay...

Well today is pretty much a fluff day.

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

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

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

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

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

Disneyland Story:

I just wanted to say it was funny because I do not know how many people have asked about our Disneyland trip this weekend and said, "How long are you going? What? Just ONE day????" I am trying to think back and I only ever remember going one day. In fact, I thought we were splurging, because with the toddler we figure we better stay 2 nights. Drive up, sleep, 1 day at DL, sleep, and all day Sunday to drive home. IT's about all we can squeeze in. & then the whole, with gas so insane, "Isn't it cheaper to fly????" I budgeted $60 for gas and that will do. Get me 3 airline tickets for $60 and you got me sold, I live down the street from the airport - LOL. & I think 1 day in DL is about all my son can handle. I know he will be EXHAUSTED. Even flying is such an ordeal I don't think it would save much time. We could fly down Friday afternoon, sleep, go to DL one day, and fly back Sunday. Doesn't really lend to more time at DL.

Granted, in all my one day trips to DL, we have never been to CA Adventure, or Legoland, or any of the new parks. Maybe sometime down the road - in years - we'll make a week of it with the kids. For now 1 day at DL is more than enough to entertain the 3 of us. & yeah I think we are going more for us than the kid - LOL. Baby gets to stay home with grandma. Phew...

LOL. I could not resist posting this.

To date these are the kids' favorite toys by far. I know I Said in an earlier post that most of the people I hang around of late do not get any concept other than spoiling their kids rotten. & I am always saying they don't need every little thing their heart desires. Anyway, their favorite toys are case in point I guess, that you don't need to spend a lot of money to keep your kids happy. ; )

I got the shovels and buckets (10 or so buckets in total) for $4 off of ebay. It was probably $12 once you consider shipping, but I needed a bunch of beachy stuff for a beach-themed party. I handed a couple to the kids because I didn't need them all, figuring we'd take them to the park in the future. I can not believe how much they play with those inside the house. My 15-month-old's favorite toys by far!

The tupperware are hand-me-downs from grandma (notice the 70s color scheme) and they are the nicest tupperware pieces I own by far. But this was always a favorite toy for my older son, and now baby is enjoying.

I kicked off my socks yesterday after a walk because it was so hot and baby played with them the rest of the evening.

Oh yeah, and when I was gathering toys for this picture I spotted his little credit card. It was one of those little paper ones you get with the credit card offers. For some reason baby claimed it and thinks it is the best toy ever. I don't know if this means I will have extra trouble teaching him about money, or he will be easy - LOL. It is kind of funny though the way he carries that thing around, almost like a security blanket. It's making me a little scared...

In short, a bucketload of fun for $12.

I also think it is kind of important for the kids to play with toys that are not flashy and electronic - not all the time (believe me they have PLENTY in that category). I don't think we have done as good screening with the baby, have gotten lazy, but it is nice he enjoys some of the non-flashy things. A lot of the time, he prefers them...

When I Tell people we have really had no debt, except our mortgage, they look at me like I am lying for the most part. LOL. I think the general concensus in mainstream society it just can not be done.

I have had people tell me that it is impossible and I can't have a decent credit score then. Well my credit score last I checked was 700/800. But that is another post for another day.

Anyway, as far as the school, people then say - well your parents paid for your school. Um, no. I went to public school & community college. IT so happens the college in my hometown had a pretty stellar accounting program, but I didn't even know what my major would be when I started. That was the point my parents said uh uh no way. I really wanted to go to UCSD, but wihtout a major in mind my parents said I could go to community college or State for a while, and live at home. I did State for 5 years actually, but supplemented with classes in the summer at community colleges.

I was pretty stubborn and moved out on my own pretty fast. I was frustrated my I was out on my own and my parents weren't paying, but that I could not get assistane due to their income. I just had to work a lot of jobs. THe last year I had a semester or 2 paid by sholarships though.

I probably learned how to survive overall from my dad who's parents were too poor, and so he did it on his own. So I followed his example essentially.

I am sure my parents helped a little, but it was not an expensive education overall. Nothing that would have left me in debt either way.

I have taken this philosophy and am not into college funds for my kids. My goal is to pay off our mortgage by then so the money is there if one of them decided to be a doctor or a lawyer. BUT beyond that I leave it up to them to work for it if they want it. I have been pleased after being told over and over this is dumb, that Suze Orman agrees. ; ) I know we can pull the money together if they need help, but they are going to public school, that I Can guarantee...

The other thing no can believe is I have never had a car loan. My philosophy has been to always drive old. Find a car with lo miles (30k at most) that is a 7-10 year old model - even older - and you get a new car that is pretty dang depreciated. The key here is to have a trusted mechanic to give you a thumbs up befoe you buy anything. Though I did look at plenty of cars that at a glance you could tell were not worth it - not maintained well, etc. Big red flag. IF you go for those well- maintained cars, guess what, they look as good as new too since they are so well cared for. I wouldn't say we have had junkers, we have had nice cars, they have just been old. We have 2 very nice cars today. We have probably saved 100k over the years in car payments and interest. I am even getting a cute (used) sports car just for fun in a year or 2. We'll have the money no sweat with all we have saved on cars. & mostly that has freed up a lot of money for other things.

But it is not just the big things. The furniture in our house and a lot of our clothes. IT is all used, used, used. At face value no one would know. We buy the things that people bought and turned around and sold the next day. You can get "new" things and take the benefit of depreciation. Washer and dryer - we have always gotten used ones from the paper. $50/each and we used for about 10 years. we just recently bought a new washer/dryer because we felt we had the money. BEfore then the used did us well. Honestly, I miss the old ones - I like them better - LOL.

Another one is we wanted a 2nd fridge so we got one out of the paper for $50 or so. Was a little ugly but just sat in the garage - what did I Care. ; )

I spend $100/year on my sons' wardrobes. USed/used/used. I mostly buy things neevr worn and with tags still attached.

I have hardly bought a baby item new - people use them for such a short time - there are a lot of nice things to be had used.

Look out for those used bargains and watch yourself bound ahead financially. & keep in mind that used does not always mean it was really, well, used. Take advantage of the things that other people regret buying. ; )

I do like to think that one day we will buy some more "new" stuff. But the more we have the means for the "new" stuff, the more I don't want to waste the money. It really feels like a waste. & Frankly we still can't afford it years later with substantially more income and assets. Maybe one of these days I Will have enough money that the idea of buying new won't feel so overwhelming. In the meantime, I keep buying used...