Yesterday we ate very cheaply.

My parents picked up a pile of bread products at the Day Old Bread Store. A whopping $2 for a giant bag of bread. The GOOD stuff. English muffins, dinner rolls, giant onion rolls, etc.

Anyway, they gave us a pile of it when we were last in San Jose.

(We need to find one of those - we have a wonder bread place but it is a bit out of the way).

Anyway, dh told me a little bit back he had some extra ground beef in the freezer if I wanted to use it for anything. So yesterday I figured a hamburger sounded mighty tasty, but knew I wouldn't get away with it while the kids ate other leftovers. LOL.

So I pulled 2 mini-hamburgers out for the kids, and saved myself a few calories I guess. I was thinking of the nice onion rolls we had from my parents (which were very fresh even 10 days later).

We also still had some dinner rolls, so I put the kids minnie hamburgers in those.

What a hit!

That was my cheap meal of the week since it was all leftover/free stuff.

On the plus side, I got my car back at noon - really nothing wrong with it.

Mechanic called me at 11:45 to say the EGR valve(?) had been stuck, but seems fine now. Plus is usually covered for warranty an extraordinarily long time.

Charged $100, but that's okay. I was holding my breath to more car repairs on both cars. Now they both have a clean bill of health for $100. So not bad. Feeling very relieved. (Likewise, my co-worker just said the Ford dealership quoted her $160 just to diagnose her "check engine" light. What a rip! So though I thought $100 was a bit much, I guess I shouldn't complain. (Family friend mechanic though not as awesome as the one we had back home. But trustworthy at least).

I called dh and asked if he wanted to meet me for lunch and get the car, but he had just heated up spaghetti. I was trying to talk him into it, when I remembered that the fancy Indian place was rather near the car shop (downtown). I didn't have to ask twice. HE said, "I'll be right there to pick you up!"

We decided to go to lunch first and then I could drop him off at the mechanic and let him deal with the time to pick it up.

So we parked a couple of blocks down and realized lunch downtown maybe wasn't the smartest idea. Nowhere to park! We found an empty spot and paid $1.25 in the meter.

We walk to the place and the door is LOCKED. Of course there was a sign, under new management and starting TODAY, closed Mondays. Boy, we felt great about that (not).

So then I just feel jinxed! we were trying to go over there when dh's car died. LOL. I get the feeling that for some reason we are NOT supposed to eat there. Hehe.

But I am super bummed that we didn't make it one last time under old management. Before we had the old chef from the San Francisco location (where we got hooked). Sounds like he had moved on.

So yes, we are crazy and we will try again.

I just don't know when.

Anyway, we walked over to a MExican restaurant and had a so-so meal for $16. What a let down. $16 less for our gourmet Indian meal next month.

We should have cut our losses and left. I had lunch at work and dh had his spaghetti at home. Oh well! It was nice to have a quiet lunch - but we wasted most of our July lunch budget (we usually aim for 2-for-1 coupons and spend $10 on our date lunches.

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I didn't think much about it (since the paper sUnday showed what seemed like a million out of control fires still burning) but when I got out of work today I suddenly realized the sky was BLUE! We had been holed up indoors for almost a week, so I am thrilled.

I don't think the fire situation is grand (not sure) but the wind has blown the smoke elsewhere, for now.

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As promised, our grocery bill. Dh spent $55 picking up some stuff. Got stuff for spaghetti, taco salad, refried bean enchiladas, and some chicken dinner.

We got the husked corn for our spaghetti dinner as well. LOVING the stuff. Our luxury for now.

We needed some bread and cat food, and stocked up on chicken.

I am trying to put a finger on why our grocery bill seems rather unchanged. I think our particular store is slow to change prices.

So I just had to share for opinions. I think for one, prices are usually higher here. So that we are used to. But on the other hand, they don't seem to be rising much.

I don't know how much is regional, store, or if dh is just getting better at meal planning (maybe all of the above).

I did notice we mostly had a lot on hand already for most of the meals we made this week. Which means are regular bills seem to be getting lower, but there is still the occasional monster bill when we stock up on things.



Anything strike you as a good deal? Anything strike you as insanely expensive? Just curious on regional perspectives...

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One more thing. Dh is driving me nuts because he drained all of our wallet cash to buy some more games. They are up on ebay and will be sold by Thursday. So this is okay. But he still has 2 unsold Wiis.

I told him I needed ALL the profits back (he owes $400 to the checking account) plus the proceeds from his projector to pay some one-time bills (like private swimming lessons for BM, etc.).

I am thinking once I get all that back and I will just pull $500 cash from savings and give it to him to wheel and deal. He is driving me nuts. Just messing up my system. Plus I have like 20 cents in my wallet now. I don't use cash, but I like to at least carry a $20.

Anyway, he worried about interest. I told him the 3% interest on $500 amounts to $15 annually. HE can pay me a $1/month fee (profits) and I will be fine.

I of course want the $500 back eventually, as well. But will give him some seed money.

I think we may clear $400 this month, though a lot of that is in credit at the "used" store and a lot of that is just in more crap. LOL. But I told dh if he could make $400/month and max out his IRA, it will be a long time before I bug him to get a job.

I think he wants to do more than buy and sell stuff - it does take a lot of time. But in the interim, every little bit helps.

(I do remember July being a slow sell time last year on Craigslist. So we are sort of feeling it. But he sold that Wii last week in a FLASH - so there is hope). For now still holding out for $100 profit/each.

I think I should start scanning my grocery receipts and see what you all think.

We seriously have noticed NO change in our grocery bills, doing nothing different. We might hit $350 this month (a new low actually) and that includes a splurge on sushi the other night (quite unusual).

I do admit we have been eating out a bit more. (All the deals/coupons). Then again, I have been eating out a lot less (for lunch).

Well, I just get the feeling it is largely regional. & little things like our milk price has not gone up since we are charged the same for 2 gallons at a time, as one gallon, now. So since I can't exactly put my finger on it, I am curious how our food prices compare to what you see... (Now I wish I had kept a price book all along. I wrote it off as WAY too time consuming, but now curiosity wishes I had wasted all that time - hehe).

Well, dh made some greek chicken and potato dinner in the crockpot. Also, some spicy hummus. The hummus was okay. (We need to add more spice next time). & the crock pot dish, well, it was pretty good.

YUM!

Reminds me we are getting a new Indian restaurant. I was told it was in the style of our favorite greek restaurant here (more of a cafe I guess). So we are keeping our fingers crossed that it is GOOD!

We have another one, but we aren't a big fan of it. We only went once...

Oh, and dh may sign up for some Indian cooking classes. Forgot about that too. I give you, the Asian cultures know how to cook veggies. I may eat them a little more if dh can master Indian cooking.

Beyond that, we are going to try "monkey munch" today. Oh, it is terrible for you - lots of butter and sugar and chocolate. I saw it on "Jon & Kate Plus 8" last night and of course the recipe was online (just googled it). So, since we are stuck indoors (smoky air) we will have to just make some monkey munch instead...

Since I am stuck indoors I may de-clutter a bit as well. I had all sorts of outdoor plans, so bah!

If you see my weather thing to the left, yeah, that's smoke... Not clouds, but smoke.

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The man and the kids are now addicted to garage sales. LM really wanted to go so dh took him this morning. Every time he comes back with a toy, of course.

I think we will hit a $2k credit card bill for the 3rd month in a row. Woohoo. I say, woohoo, because we earn an extra $30 in cash rewards as a result.

April was my professional dues (reimbursed by employer anyway) and our camping deposit which got us there. (We usually budget around $1300 credit card which includes pretty much ALL our bills - whatever we can card, of course we card - for rewards). May our Disneyland trip got us there in a flash. I expected to get there this month with medical bills or the rest of our camping expenses. But camping remainder was due May and the medical bill never arrived (put off another month...). So, I thought about it and realized I had more professional dues, due soon. I'll just pay them today and hope it clears the card before the month closes.

We also paid $130 to get dh's car fixed yesterday. New battery and new wires and cables and all that. Rather reasonable in the end. We'll drop off my car Monday and that will certainly ensure we hit the $2k. Think we are there already. This month we bought shoes, camping supplies, and dh's receiver. So, it was just spendy.

& no, I don't expect anywhere near $2k bills next month or going forward. Though I may get a $1k medical bill one of these days. They sure take their sweet time, which is fine with me.

I am hitting Craigslist today. I signed BM up for swim lessons and dh is talking about these cooking classes. It all adds up. I have enough baby stuff to sell and cover it though, so cracking at it. I am afraid that my car repairs will probably need to come either short-term or mid-term savings. Bummer. But trying not to touch savings for anything else.

BM also got his school teacher assignment yesterday. Along with a request for $25 for supplies, and $60 for field trips. They just have you prepay everything for simplicity. I don't think it's so bad. There is an option to pay the $60 in 5 installments. I kind of giggled when I saw that. You have to understand we live in a rather upscale community and so, yeah, struck me as strange. Though I guess on some level, it isn't surprising.

I must admit since I never deal in cash, that this is really throwing me off. Suddenly I have to come up with $200 cash between that and LM's private swim lessons. (Awesome deal, I just got that squared away, after months. His lessons are in July). So, hmmmm, yes, stuff to sell. Sell sell sell, deposit the cash, and pay the cash bills. I don't have any cash otherwise, and am loathe to touch savings. Though that really is what some of it is there for. Just a last resort for me.

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A friend just told me she couldn't afford the $1k to fix the A/C on her truck, so she would just live without. (I swear everyone I know has had A/C problems of late. I am thinking this is a perk to an older car - no A/C problems. These are all newer cars - and problems galore).

But then started talking about a new $20k truck she wanted. On and on and on.

Ugh, this stuff just drives me nuts. It's not worth the $1k to fix, so will shell out $20k instead.

& then they wonder how we can afford our lifestyle on half the income, while all the while wondering why we drive OLD cars. I've had one too many people tell me old cars are a financial drain. Yeah, the $130 I just spent to fix dh's car with 90k miles (paid off when we bought it in 2001) is killing us. NOT!

In fact, our newer minivan is so awful, I am sorely tempted to trade it in for an old Toyota. We'll see what the repair bill is this round. The minivan has awful repair bills, which I did not expect in a newer vehicle. So I guess it all depends on the car. But I will take a $1k bill over a $20k bill any day. I know, it's the debt mentality. Get a $300 payment or something and that is better than shelling out $1k. That is the thinking.

I know they will think I have lost my mind when I trade in the van for an older car. But probably what we will end up doing, to get our gas bill and repairs bill down.

Tomorrow I have TWO dates. Woohoo!

I am meeting a friend for lunch.

Dh and I have been trying to schedule a date for a very small comedy tour. Final weekend this weekend. We keep forgetting things (like we were planning last Friday but didn't put 2 and 2 together he was going to be out of town - doh).

So today we went for a walk in the evening and on the way home I remembered. I said - "Isn't tomorrow our date night?" Dh said, "Indian food and everything???" He is so excited. Going to our favorite fancy restaurant (don't remember the last time) and then to the play. Almost forgot... We'll see if I remember.

Ugh. Just so busy busy busy. But that is one thing we just need to do, or else before you know it June is over, and no date!

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Dh has been busy selling Wiis. His profit thus far (gas considered) is around $200. Unfortunately, it's not all cash. A lot of it is just more stuff.

But he's a happy camper.

For this month I am using it to pay the satellite and whatnot. Mostly will be double billed this month as we change things over. Canceling the cable tomorrow, and hoping for a pro-rated bill.

But satellite charged 2 months up front.

ATT charged $50 for the modem.

So I figure we'll cover all this.

I know it will straighten out in the next couple of months - no satellite or cable bill next month. But it is driving me nuts. My budget and set up is "just so" and I don't like it when things rock the boat. I have plenty of cash, but I just don't want to mess with the SYSTEM! Likewise, dh took $400 cash from checking to buy and sell crap. He was all ready to put back $500 yesterday, but he went and bought another Wii. So he is driving me nuts too.

With the stimulus check I may just give him seed money. Problem with that is if I am not a nazi over the money, it tends to disappear. For now he knows I need that $400 back to pay the bills 6/30. I think it's good for him to have a deadline and a dollar amount over his head. Or else before I know it our house is going to be filled with more video game systems and games, in trade. It's already started...

On the flip side, dh is happy as a lamb, and less pressure on me.

For now it's putting pressure off of me, and helping the weird June budget a bit. For the long term we need a real system. x% of profits go to retirement or something. He wants more electronic crap (his big sacrifice of late). I want more retirement savings (my big sacrifice of late). Whenever we talk we are on the same page, but yesterday he told me he was tempted to keep one Wii. So I have to keep a sharp eye on that boy.

I admit he enjoys the freedom of making his own money, and I don't fault him for that. (I admit I am a bit of a control freak too). But since 100% of my income goes to the household, I do have issue with extras going to benefit just him. But this is always a bone of contention with us. I don't want a lot of "stuff" so I can live without, and he struggles more with it.

We'll find a compromise. I think it will mean more in future months when things settle down and the big one is out of preschool. For now I have vacation bills, medical bills, birthdays and camping coming up. Our date will be a bit of a splurge. For now it's just going to the household and us. But August - November is a pretty slow spend time of year for us, so if he can sell some more during that time I really do hope to plump the savings more.

We've also been talking about donating a little more to charity. So, we'll see.

Dh did wedding videos to buy his fancy video camera way back when and has done a lot of editing work to pay for his editing system. It seems fitting he would buy and sell Wiis in order to buy a Wii. This is why I usually have little complaint about his electronic haven. What percentage of our working income pays for this stuff? Not much. IT comes from the gravy. BUT sometimes I do admit I wish he had the same passion for our retirement fund. LOL. He's a saver, but since we have had kids, it's the electronics that motivate him way more. I guess in a sense he is retired. So what does he care?

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Ugh. Changing over my e-mail is turning into a week-long project.

I got most of it done, but told dh he could call and cancel the cable tomorrow.

My old e-mail does not work on the "send" anymore anyway. very frustrating.

I think I seriously need to keep a log of where I keep e-mails. For future changes. I am sure I forgot much. I feel like I changed it with 50 businesses/organizations.

Anyway, to top it off, I saw today yahoo rolled out "ymail." I didn't see it until late in the day, but I was able to come up with a much more acceptable "professional" e-mail close to my name. So though I had already e-mailed all my family and friends, I change it again on them. Yup.

I'll have to go back to all the financial institutions eventually too.

Just tired of it all for now. Whatevah!

My work mentioned the other day changing our e-mails to fight the spam - just so out of control. I don't think I could take it. I need one stable e-mail address!

Though the idea of a spamless ymail sounds pretty divine about now. I guess I could get used to it for a while.

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I actually cooked dinner tonight. Sloppy joes and corn on the cob with onion/butter rub. YUMMY! Corn is just not something we usually have, but I have been bugging dh. HE said the corn (husked) was about $4 for the 4 of us. I told him we need corn once a week from now on. I am not a big veggie person, but corn on the cob is just the best. When I like veggies, I must partake in them more. Maybe once every other week...

I think our grocery bill will seriously be under $300 this month. Don't ask me how...

It's $150 to date. We're all eating out tomorrow. Going to a party Sunday to eat. We're going camping for a few days. I doubt we will even hit $300, since will probably only hit the store once or twice more before July.

I feel less bad for buying so much food at that Tastefully Simple party. It hasn't arrived yet, but will probably lower the july grocery bill a bit since I did get so much food.

It's just bizarro.

Our gas bill, on the other hand, will be insane. Dh drove 80 miles today, round trip, to pick up a Wii. We're driving to Yosemite in a few days. San Jose? Twice.

But dh's parents already gave him $100 for gas and since we paid for my dad's entire camping trip, he decided to ride up with us and pay our gas. We will have to take the van, but will probably be nice to have it.

So it's been a good month overall, financially. Though everything is topsy turvy. Funny how it all works out...

I told dh if he could keep up that kind of grocery bill every month, he could spend the difference on whatever his heart desires. LOL. I said he deserved a gold star.

I think it is just the kind of thing where sometimes we really stock up on stuff on sale, and other months means less to buy. But I think this month will be a record low for us.

We haven't been eating out either, so it's just weird.

I do admit LM has had little appetite lately. Since he can usually eat like a grown man, could be much of it.

Then again, BM tried to eat us out of house and home today (1.5 ears of corn, 2 servings of sloppy joes, and a sandwhich and some fruit and pickles. Dinner. EGADS!) He was sick Tuesday so we just figured he was catching up.

Then again, I think last Thursday they told me he had 6 servings of lunch at preschool. Seriously.

Since the food is included, we should get our money's worth at camp. Between him and my dad. & dh really. Yeesh. My stomach is small so buffets are wasted on me. But the boys in the family will get their money's worth...

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Dh made some kind of meat-stuffed zucchini last night. IT wasn't horrid. I could force down half of one.

His mom makes this lasagna that I believe is zucchini, in place of pasta. I can't stand the stuff, though most people like it. So I was very skeptical. But I tried it and it wasn't so bad.

I think Saturday we are having a greek dinner (new recipes form our Best of Home magazine).

I feel quite spoiled on the food front. Well except for that zucchini. LOL.

We had chicken soup and dumplings the other day.

But yes, Indian Food, Greek, and BBQ. Oh, what a divine weekend...

& how could I forget? Japanese buffet for lunch. Got my coupon. Hadn't been in a while...

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My stimulus is to be mailed by tomorrow.

I am betting on Monday. In the mail box Monday...

We'll see.

Timing is good because I am paying off a $4k balance transfer 6/30. That stimulus check will replace half of it, so I shouldn't take such an interest hit.

I still have my big momma transfer with the awesome CD rate until December or so... So I should get that interest boost through the end of the year. Of course it would be nice to keep it, but now that we feel more on track financially, it will be less needed to going forward. Phew.

The balance transfers were a tad outside of my comfort zone. But at this point I could say that was the easiest money I have made in the last couple of years. I am glad I reached outside my comfort zone...

Didn't even really ding my FICO like I expected. All I learned is there is no apparent rhyme or reason to FICO. It has bounced around between 700 and 770 the whole time I had the transfers. I haven't found a pattern. Last month I had the highest balance and worst utilization and my score was 730. The month before it was 701 and I have no idea why. But 6 months in between it was mostly up to 750-760. Eh. So you know, obviously something really dinged my score that one month. I have no idea what. I was dreading the following month with my $1500 vacation expenses on our regular card, in addition to all the rest and usual, and then my score went up 30 points that month.

So, yeah, I have always said that if you have a good score you don't have to freak out about every little thing. I will now go as far as to say I wouldn't even worry about a balance transfer. (or many transfers).

Logically my score should jump up with these balance transfers paid off. I am just not holding my breath. IT doesn't really matter anyway...

But yeah - I expect to replace the $4k by the end of the year (money saved).

The $10k (big momma) will be a while to replace in savings, but in the next year or 2 I expect to have that much in the bank without the transfers. Maybe interest rates will improve a bit. They have been pretty in the toilet for the last decade though... But certain years have been better. For the long run I want to grow much of our savings with interest.

Does anyone have a deep fryer?

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

Was curious if anyone had one and what they thought.

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

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

Kitchen things are usually safe.

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

Well, I'll try.

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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I also had another topic to write on.

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

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

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

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

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

& so I do have to sympathize.

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

IT's all a little deja vu.

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

I don't know.

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

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

Ouch.

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

I guess a lot of people!

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

WOW!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, lah de dah.

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

Plus the daycare.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is definitely a family fave.

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

For the rest, there is safeway.

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

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

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

Bummer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was COOL having the place to ourselves!

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

That was my splurge for the day I guess.

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

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

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

Huh?

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

Color me confused.

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

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

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

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

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

Rain??????????

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not bad...

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

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

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

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Spinach-Manicotti

Dinner last night!

Yes, I did have a meatless day. Actually had cheese enchilada at lunch so, yes, meatless. We don't eat meat every day. (Just seems like we have been lately).

Anyway, this recipe is DIVINE. Love it.

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Dh and I are spoiled this week. We had date lunch yesterday, so he could run an errand for me.

Tonight he has a volunteer appreciation dinner. So we will drop off the kids for 2 hours and get a "free" dinner. Daycare will be around $25, but will be worth it. We may even win some prize? Kids will be in daycare about 10am - 8pm. They couldn't be happier. (Weird kids. Grass is always greener... They wish they could go more - and this week they get their wish).

The local public TV station does a great job on their appreciation dinners - we always enjoy. For the longest time it was our only standing date night. One night a year out?

Not much else up this week.

Today BM had an evaluation at the school - for Kindergarten. Dh told me while they were waiting he read a sign about how they had won $10k (a teacher had won some award). NEither of us knew he could read "$10,000." Don't ask me - nothing I showed him. LOL. (Dh figured I had been showing him bank accounts or something).

We imagine he did well enough in the evaluation... He knows things we didn't even know he did. Kids are scary sometimes...

I don't think we have much planned for the weekend, though I may pull for a local hike if the weather is nice. Dh wants to drive to San Jose next weekend, so no driving for us. The car needs a break and so will the gas budget. After all the driving this month... 2 trips to SJ & a trip to LA. Yeesh.

The pool opens Monday and we will enjoy. But mostly low-key, and low-spend, in the plans. We will eat in, watch some TV, run around in the background, go for walks, and go swimming. All free free free. If the weather is awful we will hole up indoors and increase the TV watching I guess. But if not so bad we may go for a drive I guess. Just not too far... OF course if it is bad we will go to the gym. We'll still get our workout but harder for the kids to run off their steam. But these are all very low cost activities.

The calm of it all sounds rather attractive after our big vacation... The low cost sounds even better!

Oh yeah - and free lunch tomorrow - from a vendor. I honestly usually don't get this much free food.

I haven't been eating much this week.

For example, I skipped dinner Monday after my gigantuan lunch. Very strange for me. But believe me - I had plenty of sustenance for the day.

Yesterday we had a work meeting and I filled up on bagels and cream cheese and salami, cookies, etc. (Another free meal I guess). I had plans to stop home for lunch and dh and I got into a heated arguments. I was at a loss what to eat and I thought maybe I was just too upset. Then I realized, once again, I Was entirely full. I went back to work without lunch.

I had a yogurt in the fridge (Was getting old anyway) and so ate that in the afternoon. I think I took another bagel sandwich as well.

For dinner, we still had burrito leftovers, so I finished those off. Dh complained a very small portion was left, but was perfect size for me.

Dh made a quick/simple/cheap pasta dish a couple of nights ago. I didn't particularly care for it.

I was surprised to see he made some mexican casserole last night (another vegetarian dish). VERY spicy.

Surprised since we still have leftover overload (a good chunk of the sausaga/pasts casserole left) and because we will not be eating in all weekend (lunch at a festival, dinner with parents, brunch with parents sunday, and I guess plenty of leftovers for dinner sunday night).

I think this rounds out meals for the entire week. So you got a glimpse anyway.

Dh made us some chicago style pizza "casserole" (quick/easy recipe) on Sunday night. The dough is store bought and he puts it in a casserole dish and tops with all the fixings. Quick, easy and divine. I'll have to see if I can find the recipe.

For last night we still had some leftover burritos, so dh made some homemade salsa to go with it. For Cinco de Mayo. Our salsa recipe is actually mexican, so seemed fitting. I had asked him anyway when we would have salsa again. It had been too long! We've been stocking up on chips on sale, and no fresh salsa to dip them in!

I actually did not eat dinner last night - but for chips and salsa. !! I just remembered as I my boss treated me to lunch (very rare treat) and I was just STUFFED. I came home and took me a bit to remember why I was SO full. I told dh I was going to skip dinner. He said - "you mean you will eat later?" I said "no, I mean I am too full to eat dinner." & then I fell asleep early, and certainly did not wake up hungry. Geez. That was some lunch. I had bacon cheeseburger and fries. Was just a very large meal for me.

So I pretty much was free to feed yesterday.

We have a lot of plans this weekend and probably won't eat home so dh said we'll probably just have leftovers the rest of the week. He is making some pasta/garlic/chickpea casserole maybe tomorrow. I don't remember it, but I guess we'll see.

BM is going through some major growthspurt. I was thinking of making pancakes and/or eggs for breakfast. LM woke me up at 5am, so there is time... Unusual for a week day, but I think that kids needs some extra FOOD.

Dh ran to the store last night to get some milk.

Since he does all the shopping he keeps telling me has NOT noticed grocery prices going up. As I track our monthly expenses I have to say he is not crazy. At first I thought it was just small increases he wasn't noticing, though he has a rather photographic memory and we don't even keep a price book (because it is way too time consuming but also he seems to do a good job keeping most of it in his head. Obviously a price book would be even better, but his brain/memory doesn't do half bad).

Anyway, so he runs out to get milk yesterday and considered just getting 1 gallon, since we were a little short on cash (credit card closed yesterday and I did not want to put more than we had to on it).

He came home with 2 gallons. He said - "I get it now. I didn't realize milk had gone up to $4/gallon" (even though he read it in the paper) because he has been paying 4.50 for 2 gallons. !!!

Anyway, we just all switched to the same milk so we could get it on sale - we switched around Jan. 1. LM is rather borderline and could have probably used 2% milk for another year, but the rest of us drink non-fat.

Not that long ago we were buying 3 kinds of milk as the kids were at different levels. There is apparently no discount for buying 3 gallons when they all have different fat content.

Anyway, we hadn't realized just how much we were saving with this move.

We probably have some advantage shopping for 4 and buying in bulk, when it comes to a lot of our groceries.

Of course we were going to wean BM off night-time and nap-time milk when he turns 5 this summer. I think it would be reasonable to do the same for LM. If milk keeps rising in cost, I think we will drink it a lot less.

Anyway, I can't help but wonder if grocery prices than affect single people and smaller families more dramatically.

Just kind of interesting.

BEfore I forget - here is a simple recipe:

Cheeseburger Pasta

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-cheeseburger-pasta/detail...

This is my lunch - leftovers. & I look forward to it.

I had burrito leftovers last night (another thing that lasta forever).

I Watched Top Chef last night and they had a challenge to create dinner for four with $10. They were absolutely freaking out. I was imagning a million things I could cook for $10 to feed my family. Burritos would come to mind as awfully close - meat, beans, tomato sauce, spices, tortillas, cheese. Leftovers for days...

OF course, admittedly, we don't eat a lot of gourmet.

Though I was craving salsa on my way home from the gym last night and I wondered if we had salsa since Easter. Probably not with our rounds of illness. Dh said he would maybe make some this weekend. Woohoo. we have some chips - but no salsa. Kind of sad...

The salsa recipe is quite cheap as is usually made primarily with leftover veggies. The chips we bulk up on, when on sale.

No doubt kids are having PBJ for lunch, with grapes, and dh is having some sort of leftovers. We had some spinach lasagna and soup leftover as well.

I was surprised when dh told me he is making another pasta/beef dish tonight. Sausage penne pasta, with cheese and sour cream, etc. Certainly not a light meal, but we eat smaller portions and will have lots of leftovers for next week.

Oh I found this one too - we get most of these subscribing to Taste of Home Cooking mags - LOVE THEM. We have the "Light & Tasty" & the "Quick Cooking" - though they keep changing the names - I couldn't tell you what they are called now.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheesy-Sausage-Penne

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Dh told me today that Raley's (our primariy grocery store) is offering 10% return on stimulus rebates.

I have mixed feelings about it.

It is certainly an easy $180 - will about turn our stimulus into $2k. $2k in free groceries. Wow!

I had earmarked the money for other savings, which we could still do. IT would just be delayed, but I think it would be a record keeping nightmare.

I told dh we could get 3% in the bank and so the true savings will be 7% for us. BUT we would have to be committed to replenish our savings with the grocery savings (easier said than done) and it will be a record keeping nightmare for me. We figure we average $250/month at Bel Air and may take almost a year to recoupe.

Likewise, who wants to carry around a $2k gift card in their wallet for a year? Oy vey. What if it is lost???????

I did look it up to see what other grocery stores are offering and saw since our stimulus is $1800 that they would issue us 2 gift cards for $990. At least that is more reasonable, we can keep the second one under lock and key until we use up the first.

Well, overall I think it is worth it. But I don't think it is as clear cut that we save 10%. WE save 7%. & lord hope that $990 gift card is not lost or stolen. !!!

There is something (a lot actually) to be said for cash in the bank.

I do like the choice to get 10% extra for groceries (as opposed to consumer goods, as many retailers are offering). I am just not sure I am convinced.

We have 2 months to decide, and see how our cash flow is when we get our stimulus in late June.

If we do it this way we will have to keep meticulous track of our grocery receipts and add them up monthly, and transfer that amount of cash to our savings every month.

It might take us 4 months just to replenish our short-term savings. Which is fine, since that is mostly for December bills.

But the more I think about it, the more it gives me a headache. Though I know in the end we'll be ahead $180.

I really think the whole risk factor thing has to be considered though. Since we are pretty disciplined with our savings, I find the odds slim that the cash would be used elsewhere, with all that grocery savings monthly. BUT I am less convinced I like the risk of carrying around almost $1k in my wallet. I usually carry $20 cash most.

Dh is good with his wallet and good at keeping on top of that stuff, but it still makes me a wee bit nervous. I guess we can talk about locking the card up at home and only getting it out for grocery store trips. HE is good at remembering things and I think is probably the best plan. cuts down the risk a bit...

Likewise, I would probably want to save every grocery receipt until the gift card is used. Computers are not foolproof. Last thing I need is a bad card or computer reading issues.

All that in place? We'll probably spend our stimulus in this manner. (Was to go to savings, we'll just trickle it into savings over the next year, with our grocery savings).

I don't think either way this is what the government had in mind.

Anyway, what people probably just jump into, I probably tend to over analyze. Slow and cautious says I.

I am just trying to share more what we are eating and how we keep costs down.

I have to be clear that dh and I are not so much into hype and diet. WE are, as with anything, just into moderateness and reasonableness.

For one, I Am not going to stock up on organic produce to be healthy. Mostly I am very suspicious of how organic anything with an "organic" label is. So I am not one to rush out and pay double for the privelege of organic. If it meant that much to me I'd grow my own veggies.

Likewise, dh and I Are more likely to home cook our meals, and eat smaller portions. My dh is a stick and since we switched to primarily dining in since I became pregnant with our first child I think he lost a good 10 pounds+. (Not like he had any weight to lose).

Eating home is both healthier and cheaper than eating out. & it is quite simple. SO that is the extent we go to be healthy. We try to avoid junk food and prepackaged foods as much as possible. BUT we don't put a lot of thought into how healthy our food is. We don't count calories or only buy whole grains or go extreme in any direction.

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

So with that said, last night dh made a beef/pasta casserole for dinner. IT was actually a briefly forgotten recipe that he had found. Hamburger pasta or something - is what it was called. Not the healthiest meal ever, but yummy and made LOTS of leftovers.

Dh ran out of penne pasta so he threw in some egg noodles to round out the pasta portion. Was fine with us.

We also had salad (prepackaged) with dinner. We really love those expensive salads that you mix together (like mexican salad is our favorite - you mix up the salad, chips, and salsa and dressing - yummy - divine). But dh only stocks up on those when they are on sale. Otherwise he just buys a giant bag of plain salad that we go through slowly.

Our kids LOVE salad. Don't ask me why -kind of weird. LOL. But one of the few veggies I can really stomach - lettuce. So we try to eat salad regularly. But yeah okay - we go prepackage there. IF food prices rise dramatically that is certainly one area we can change up a bit to save money - make our own salad. FOr now, call us lazy.

For dessert (Rare) we actually had some ice cream. We had some left over from the weekend. IT was the first night since Saturday the kids had really eaten their dinner and I had promised BM ice cream on Monday. But no dessert unless they eat most of their dinner.

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Today as I left for work the kids were eating granola bars for breakfast. (LOVE the nature valley granola bars - buy them on sale whenever/wherever. USually Walgreens or Target).

Dh doesn't do breakfast so probably saves us money there.

I just have my apple sauce, which is plenty for me.

For lunch dh will probably have leftovers, and the kids will have PBJ. That is just standard lucnch fare. They will probably have apples or grapes to round it out. They also both get one cup of juice a day. BM drinks whole juice but LM's we still water down.

With lunch they will drink water or milk. & they get a small cup of milk before nap time.

I am actually going out to lunch today, though we would have PLENTY leftovers otherwise. Meeting a friend at the buffet.

I assume dinner will be leftovers just because we have so much food.

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Oh yeah, with the rush of busy season over I Feel I have much more time.

Anyway, Tuesday I did go to aerobics (& got my butt kicked as usual). Last night we went for a walk around the lake. The walk was an hour with a leisurely stroll and a stop at the playground. I had guessed 1 mile, but I think it may be a little longer than that. Maybe something like 1.25. I need to re-measure one of these days. I have a pedometer I think which will give me an idea.

Tonight I will go by the gym on the way home. I think I have only been once or twice since I was so sick in February. Mostly just sick or little time, though with the nice weather have been doing much more outdoors. The gym is more for winter and summer when the outside is so extreme.

The thing that struck me when we joined the gym, and I hadn't thought of, was how plopping the kids in the gym daycare while we worked out was little help to them. Dh and I could maybe work out more efficiently, but then they would be less involved. So we try to do much more activity with the kids outdoors when the weather allows it.

I am going to aerobics Saturday and gym Sunday (ideally). We were going to do a small hike this weekend also if it is not too hot.

An active Monkey Mama is a happy Monkey Mama.

Plus I need to get in shape for Disneyland. !!! Will be LOTS of walking.

I wish I could share more what we have done to keep food costs down, and why we barely notice a dent in our budget with rising food prices. But, that is not my department. That is dh's. He does his job well. The better he keeps our costs down the less I care if he ever works again. But I think that is what a lot of people don't get. Though he doesn't bring in income, he has much more time to work on cutting costs. Which is the same in the end. Upping our cash flow.

Anyway, all I can share is what we are eating. I actually am very bad at eating fruits and veggies so every morning I take a small cup of apple sauce. Dh buys the giant containers of apple sauce and I pour a small amount into one of the kids' portable cup (with flat lid) to take to work. I used to drink juice in the mornings. I find this to be a healthier way to get some fruit in my system.

The kids are snacking on graham crackers before preschool. They'll eat a proper breakfast there. (Included in tuition. Which to be fair, does include a fair amount of meals).

The kids will also eat lunch and snacks there all day. I guess to keep in mind that the kids have 2 lunches a week over there, which I am sure impacts our grocery bill somewhat.

For lunch I will eat leftover burritos and rice. I find burritos to be the "perfect" leftover food. I actually requested that dh cook a good leftover meal this week since we didn't seem to have any. (Insert that I am a picky eater - we have lots of leftovers - but I also like things that are easy to pack). So he made them last night.

Dh will eat some leftovers most likely. HE doesn't eat breakfast.

I am not sure what dh has up his sleeve for dinner.

I have a couple of things of yogurt at work in case I ever get hungry. I never seem to lately.

We have some snacks at work (kind of rare - but I know I will probably have a free cookie with my apple sauce today. )

The only other thing I can say is I am a pepsi fiend. BUT I find $1-$2 for a serving of pepsi to be quite insane. I used to keep cans at work, but I tend to over drink them. So I have taken to getting my pepsi fix in the morning. I usually just take a giant plastic cup and pour a small amount of pepsi in there (1/2 can at most) and get my fix in the morning. That way I can take it to work, and not over drink pepsi. (I keep 2 litres at work sometimes, but then I just drink too much. So this is where I am at for now).

Anyway, when I finish my pepsi then I fill up my giant cup with lots of water. Water is free at work. At home we drink tap water (mostly filtered through the fridge).

I have also in the past, reused smaller pepsi bottles and poured small portions in, so I could keep it fresh and fizzy for lunch.

That is how we keep our soda costs down.

I really like the 1/2-sized cans, but we stopped buying them because they are rather expensive. I find those to be perfect serving sizes.

I am toying with the idea of going on a soda diet to lose these few pounds. It will be REALLY hard. But part of the reason I have been losing weight is I have been so sick these last few months and I can NOT drink soda when I have a cold. It is the only time I can not stand soda. So I think the 3-4 weeks I was too sick to drink soda made a difference.

I am trying to warm up to the idea.

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In other news, I had been wanting to save up enough money to invest the kids' UGMA a little more aggressively. Right now I have $1k each (abouts) in Vanguard Star. BEcause it had a $1k minimum. But overall would prefer something more aggressive.

Anyway, I have heard a lot of good things about T Rowe Capital Appreciation. I heard it touted as a balanced fund, and when I look at it, I don't see it. But then again, it like has never had a down year (until now). It looks like the kind of aggressive thing I am looking for. A little more aggressive, but rather "safe" all the same. IT has some bonds I guess which makes it balanced. Though it is much more stock heavy than something like Star.

Anyway, I heard the idea on the radio and am considering it. When I looked up the fund it looked rather promising.

Yesterday Thriftorama was asking about education savings and I was looking up Coverdells a bit since I don't know much about them.

I am more confused than ever! LOL. Honestly, none of my clients are saving for college or ask about it. Why I haven't a clue - I just don't deal with this area of the tax code much.

I thought 529s could pay for transportation and room/board, but everything I read yesterday said no. I honestly think those were old articles because I did have a client who used their 529 for this stuff last year and I remember double checking all the rules. So I share that as a caveat to be careful what you read. The rules have changed much over the last few years. Though it leaves me feeling I have MUCH brushing up to do.

I also was reading about ESAs (Coverdells) and thought they looked pretty darn appealing. I do not like how 529s are so limited (in investment choices). ESAs are much the same, but with dollar limits. But can be used for more expenses and can be invested just about anywhere. I was just about sold until I read they expired in 2011, though it took me a while to research if that was still true.

Yes.

Most of their benefits expire anyway.

But they can be transferred into 529s.

Anyway, I also read something new that I did not know. With the Coverdells, if the oney is not used for education because your child gets a scholarship, there is no penalty. I had not realized that. That had been one of my beefs with college savings plans all alonog - what if your child got a full scholarship? I know a lot of people who have. & as my kids are rather bright, I don't think it is a false hope that they may have a paid-for education.

Anyway, so this is much of what I learned yesterday.

From what I could glimpse, and considering how little ESAs are given any credence in the investment community, I think the writing is on the wall that these will probably get phased out. Kind of a shame. I always prefer to invest in things like ROTHS where you can invest almost anywhere, as opposed to 529s and HSAs which are VERY limited.

I am leaning towards funding an ESA for the kids this year, keeping in mind if my prediciton is right we can roll it to a 529 in future years (maybe when there will be more investment choices). The minimum is $1k at T Rowe. !!!! Perfect. The kids will probably get $1k each for their birthday and that is what I am thinking for now. I already have a T Rowe account, so will be easy to add those on.

I am also considering if I will resume $50 monthly contributions for BM, once he is done with preschool. That money only has so far to go and I wanted most of it to go to ROTHs. BUT I always go back to as long as I am getting 10% retirement contributions from my boss, as long as I am saving, it matters little where it goes. It probably is more useful towards college than towards our retirement, while we have such a retirement windfall. Plus the more we get in college earlier the less we will have to save later.

I am thinking of diverting $50/month for BM, and then the same for LM when he is done with expensive preschool.

Well I have a couple of months to think on this.