Wide Open Wallet

Moving

2008-06-06T08:26:00.006-07:00

Hello and thanks for stopping by!

In an effort to give my readers the best experience possible I've moved my blog. I will no longer be posting here. Please come visit me at my new home for all the latest and greatest. If you are subscribed you will still receive all the new content in your reader.

Pic by: Toni girl

Opportunity costs of having a baby

2008-06-05T08:34:00.002-07:00

Oh my! Who is that poor poor woman? Yup, that's me just days before the birth of my son.

Ok, now that I'm done embarrassing myself....

Jonathan over at Master Your Card recently wrote about how to get your finances in order before you have a baby. I agree with everything he said. I've also explored the cost to raise a child. But both his post and my own neglected one huge cost. Opportunity cost.

I avoided the topic because it's impossible to calculate and it's different for everyone. But it's not something to be overlooked when thinking about getting pregnant. Here are some things so think about.

Your ability to work may be reduced. It's a lot harder to work overtime when you have a little one. Daycares often charge late fees if you don't pick your child up by a certain time. Or right now your spouse might not mind a Saturday afternoon alone while you pick up a few extra hours, but that might not be the case once junior arrives. Even if you don't work for an hourly wage, staying late to impress the boss might not be an option anymore. Do you take frequent business trips? Is your spouse ok with holding down the fort while you're gone? Make sure you discuss this situation with your partner so there are no surprises or building resentments.

You might have to stay in the area. Is the big promotion you've been working for out of state? Are you prepared to leave your support system (free daycare!) behind? Have you or your spouse always dreamed of raising your child around their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins? Or worse, what if you and your partner separate? Would you be prepared to leave your child behind? I face this situation right now. If I wanted to leave the state my ex could take me to court and force me to either stay or leave my daughter with him.

Speaking of divorce. I know it's hard to imagine when you have baby dust in your eyes but what would you do? When my ex and I separated I was left with my daughter in a two bedroom apartment I could barely afford, even with child support. When I was childless getting a roommate was the obvious choice, but that was a lot more difficult with a two year old in the house. I got some very creepy responses to my ad. Do you have a savings account of your own to rely on if you find yourself as a single parent?

What if your child isn't healthy? It's horrible but it happens, not every baby is born perfect. Someone might have to stay home to care for your child's special needs. It's definitely a worst case scenario but it's still something you should discuss.

10 tips to get your house sold

2008-06-04T08:33:00.003-07:00

You don't want to be a seller with the housing market the way it is today. But if you have found the situation unavoidable, there are some things you can do to make your house more attractive to buyers. The more attractive your house, the quicker it will sell, and the higher the price.

1. Say good bye. You must be emotionally ready to sell your house. All of your energy has to be pointed in the right direction. You're fighting an up-hill battle here, you can't afford to have something holding you back. Start looking at your home from a buyer's point of view.

2. Get rid of your stuff. You want people to be able to see your home, not your stuff. Buyers won't be able to picture their own stuff in the house if every flat surface is already filled. Make sure you hit the closets, cabinets, the kid's rooms, the attic, the basement, and the garage. Take away anything you won't be using before you move. Furniture that is blocking a window or walking path also needs to be taken out of the home. A fully organized and decluttered home makes your home look bigger and allows buyers to see themselves living there.

3. Depersonalize. Buyers don't want to be reminded of who has been living in what will hopefully be their new house. Family photos and your porcelain rooster collection will make them think about you living in the house, not them.

4. Make repairs. Does your faucet leak? Got some cracked tiles in the bathroom? Fix them. If buyers see small repairs they can only assume that big repairs are just around the corner. Besides, you want buyers leaving your home saying "Wow, that was so nice." not "Did you see that hole in the wall?"

5. Show off your view. If you have a view, or fireplace, or some other feature that makes your house special, show it off. Think back to when you bought your home. What made you say "wow!"? Make sure you are highlighting those same features.

6. Paint. A fresh coat of paint in neutral color can really go a long way. Don't forget the outside if it needs it. I heard to paint your front door yellow. My mom swears by this tip. Yellow creates a buying emotion.

7. Stage your home. Make sure that each room has a defined purpose. If you're using your dining room as your office it's going to confuse buyers. Is it an office, or a formal dining room? Pick one and stick with it.

8. Clear the walk. Overgrown bushes and clutter are going to scare buyers away. Trim the bushes and sweep the porch while you're out there. Go ahead and rent a pressure washer if you need to. Then get some cute yellow flowers and put them on the porch.

9. Don't forget the back yard. After you've worked on your curb appeal head around back. Do you need to mow? Has the swing set seen it's last days? Use the same tactics you used inside to clear clutter and make the back yard more appealing. Maybe even a new patio set is in order.

10. Lower the price. It doesn't matter how clean and organized your house is if it's too expensive. If your Realtor suggests lowering the price, you may want to listen. These are tough times. Buyers are looking for steals, a home needs to be below market value to generate interest.

pic by: tromasbronot

Frugal Eats: Crock Pot Minestrone Soup

2008-06-03T08:03:00.004-07:00

This series has been so good for me because I'm always on the hunt for frugal recipes now. Monday has become Frugal Recipe Day around here. This is one that I found during my search. It's actually a few different recipes in one. I took the things I liked out of each. Some veggies that were in the other recipes that I chose not to use were cabbage, peas, lima beans, zucchini, kale, chickpeas, white kidney beans, and veggie broth rather than beef broth. So mix and match as you see fit. I'm sure there isn't a veggie that wouldn't be good.

Since this cooks for a really long time I cut up all the veggies before bed. That way I could throw it in the crock pot before I even fed the kids. At a cost of $4.25 I would think it would be a great meal to come home from after work. It's really chunky and hearty.

Minestrone Soup

3 1/2 cups beef broth (33 cents)

28 oz can crushed tomatoes (1.08)

2 medium carrots, thinly sliced (25 cents)

1/2 cup chopped onion (25 cents)

1/2 cup chopped celery (25 cents)

2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (50 cents)

1-2 cloves garlic, minced (8 cents)

16 oz red kidney beans, drained (58 cents)

1/2 box spiral macaroni (or any kind you like) (63 cents)

2 Tbsp. parsley flakes (10 cents)

2 tsp dried basil (10 cents)

1 tsp dried oregano (10 cents)

Combine all ingredients except macaroni in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 10-16 hours, or on high 4-6 hours. Cook macaroni according to directions and add during last 30 mins of cooking.

Online classes

2008-06-01T08:16:00.004-07:00

I've signed up for classes for the fall semester. I'll be taking two classes: Calculus and Accounting. Sounds fun huh? The price: $454. Which is probably cheap compared to what I would be paying just about anyplace else, but it's still ridiculous.

I had looked through the catalog and picked out exactly which classes I wanted. I was going to go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays nights from 5:45 to 8:25. When I went to register and saw that they have both those classes online. I hate online classes but the thought of not having to drive to the school twice a week was impossible to pass up. It takes me about two gallons of gas to drive to school and back. So with gas at $4.00 a gallon it will cost me $16.00 a week, for 13 weeks. That's over $200! That's almost the cost of another class. And I think it's safe to assume that by the time the end of August rolls around gas is going to be more than $4.00. Who knows where it will be two months from now.

So that's the plan. The internet classes I've taken in the past have all been "at your own pace" type classes. Which I get obsessive about since I just want to get them finished. These are instructor lead, so hopefully they will be a little better. I don't know. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

pic by: NieckQ

One more thing...

2008-05-31T13:44:00.004-07:00

I forgot to mention the most important thing!!

I was editor's pick this week on the Carnival of Personal finance over at Canadian Dream: Free at 45! Thank you very much Tim,for highlighting my article. It was very exciting for me.

Roundup

2008-05-31T13:21:00.003-07:00

Happy Saturday! Not to much to report this week. So we'll just get straight to business...

From the PF Bloggers:
Get Rich or Die Trying wrote about how to spot an addiction to plastic. Funny cause I was just researching this same topic. Oh well....
Master Your Card discussed what to do when the collectors come calling. I know it's stressful but it's better to face your debts head on. You can't run from it.
No Debt Plan is offering financial planning help to a few readers. If that sounds like something you would be interested in head on over there.

From around the blogsphere:
Not the Jet Set taught us how to make a rain water collection bin. Unfortunately it doesn't rain in the desert enough to be able to collect very much water. But I still think it's a great idea for other places.
Rocket Finance has an interesting post about national oil. Head over and leave a comment with your feelings on the topic.
Frugal Dad talks about the most expensive $2 he ever saved. The psychology of saving money is pretty interesting.
Mrs. Micah discusses why it was better for her not to have to work during college. I've always been a believer of working during college, but she gives an interesting view point.
Paid Twice gives us 10 ways to stay in debt. If you're doing any of these things, stop right now!

Well that's it. I hope you have a great weekend. See you on Monday!

Our new fridge

2008-05-30T07:35:00.004-07:00

We have a new fridge! It should be here in a few hours. We decided on this one. It's basically like the one we already have but quite a bit bigger, and it has the door compartments that are big enough to put a gallon of milk in the door. Which is awesome. We have outgrown the fridge we have now. Trying to put the groceries away is like putting together a puzzle. And the filters for the ice machine/ water dispenser are easy to change and only $30. So we might actually change them. We would have to buy less bottled water that way.

One good thing about this whole situation is that it happened over Memorial day weekend. Sears was having a nice little sale. It ended up costing us $920 including tax, delivery, set up, and haul away of our old fridge. Remember how I was going to ask if they would deliver it for free? Well, turns out they have a mail in rebate for delivery charges, so I'm getting $75 back from that in 8 weeks. And I put it on my rewards card, so that is another 1% off. Hey, it's something! So all in all we spent $836. Not too terrible. We will be taking the money out of our emergency fund. I'm going to try to pay it back though. I hate taking money out of there.

While I wait for delivery I've set up the cooler to keep the things I was able to salvage from the fridge. Luckily the freezer is still working fine so nothing melted, which would have been bad. We have a deep freeze so I'm going to move the freezer stuff into there. I'm really only losing about $20 worth of food. The big bummer is that I have left over Baked Rig in there, which I was going to eat for dinner tonight.

Fridge shopping

2008-05-29T07:25:00.002-07:00

Nothing like opening the fridge in the morning to get your two year old a cup of milk and being hit in the face with a wall of warm, sour smelling air. Yup, our fridge is dead. My husband has been complaining for the last few days that the food isn't, well... cold. It's cool. But it's not cold. Our fridge used to freeze the top layer of the milk, and lately it's not even very cold. We put a thermostat inside and after a few hours of not opening the door it was 54 degrees in there. Not good. Serious tinkering by my husband didn't improve it even one degree.

One thing that I hate about this situation is that we need to buy a fridge today. I hate making big decisions on the fly. I want to hem and haw, discuss, turn it over, go back and look again, work every option until one choice stands shining above the rest. And to make it that much worse, my husband is working late. So it's up to me to make the final decision, alone. Yipes!

We talked briefly about having someone come out and look at it, but the fridge is 9 years old. And it wasn't an expensive fridge even back then. So it was a quick decision to buy new. The next discussion was about color. Stainless vs. Black. I wanted black and my husband wanted stainless. We talked about it a little bit. We each gave the reasons why we wanted our choice. I brought up the extra cost, he likes the style. We actually both convinced each other and by the end I wanted stainless and he wanted black. haha.

So yesterday we stopped by Lowes and Home Depot to take a look around. I was surprised that stainless isn't that much more expensive than black. A hundred dollars or two. But in the end we decided that we are going to buy a black side by side. I adore the french door with the bottom freezer but those are really expensive. The side by side is the most reasonably priced. We decided on black since we aren't replacing the dishwasher and oven right now, and I don't want to have to try to match the stainless later. I think it would drive me bonkers to have non matching stainless. So black it is!

After looking at them in person we went home and shopped online. Sears is having a pretty good sale for Memorial day (that ends today) so I'm going to head down there as soon as they open and see if it would be possible to pick one up today. I don't know how that is going to work since my husband won't be home til long after Sears closes, maybe I can convince them to deliver it for free. Hey, it's worth a shot right. I'll play the poor pitiful mother of two who just needs to keep some milk cold for her kids.

Pic by: Orfield Photography

Inflation

2008-05-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone is talking about all this inflation. How everything is getting more expensive, I know we are feeling it. Aren't you? Just seems like every time you turn around you're paying more and more money for the same items.

While we were making the household budget for June I started wondering how much of an impact all this inflation has really had on our family. I planned on writing a post about how much more we are spending for our basic needs. I went digging for our budget for June '07 to compare it to June '08 and was pleasantly surprised.

Over all there wasn't much change. Technically we are spending less money this month than we did a year ago. Yup, we are spending less. We also made less so that's probably why. I'm sure if we had an extra $300 this month we would be happy to find a place to spend it. But the bottom line is that our basic expenses haven't changed very much at all.

Here is the breakdown...
Mortgage - no change, actually it went down $50 when we got rid of the PMI but we have decided to continue to make the same payment and reduce our principal that much more.
Homeowners Association - increase of $9
Cable - down $3. This one surprised me. I don't think we have gotten rid of anything, I can't remember.
Electric - no change. We are on the plan where you pay the same every month, but they didn't make an adjustment this year at all.
Car and life insurance - down $9.
Cell phones - increase of $3
Car payments - no change
IRA contributions - no change
City - increase of $7
Medical- increase of $25. We have two monthly prescriptions that we didn't have last year.
Groceries - no change. I do spend more time shopping sales and using coupons though.
Gas - increase of $40 and we still think we may need to add a little more later in the month, even with my husband picking up an extra person in the car pool.
Backyard landscaping - increase of $165. We hadn't landscaped the back yard last year.
Pocket money - no change
Other stuff - down $360.

Pretty surprising. The only thing that changed significantly was gas, which I was expecting. There were some one time expenses last year like swimming lessons, a camera, and a surround sound system we needed for our new tv. But this year we had to replace my retainer that I stepped on and broke, had to do some maintenance on our hot tub, and we have a wedding to go to. But over all actual outlay decreased, which is pretty cool.

I'm not saying that there isn't inflation, but my feelings about our budget don't match our reality. I feel pinched, strained, and pessimistic. But it seems that it's more from listening to the news than from our actual situation. Pretty interesting.

pic by: keepin' on

Frugal Eats: Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies

2008-05-26T16:49:00.008-07:00

These are a favorite around my house. This recipe was handed down from my husband's grandma. It's written on a piece of notebook paper that is probably as old as I am. What I really love about these cookies is that since the dough is frozen you can keep them on hand and make as many or as few as you want. You'll spend $2.42 and you won't waste one cookie since you can make one, all five dozen, or anything in between.

Another bonus is the frozen dough is also a great treat, even if you're not in the mood for actual cookies. I made this recipe the other day and when I went to make cookies today most of the dough had mysteriously disappeared.

Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 lb margarine (2 sticks) ($1.03)
1 cup brown sugar (32 cents)
1 cup white sugar (19 cents)
2 eggs (32 cents)
1 teaspoon vanilla (2 cents)
1 1/2 cup flour (14 cents)
1/2 teaspoon salt (less than a penny)
1 teaspoon baking soda (less than a penny)
3 cups quick oatmeal (40 cents)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine wet and dry mixes together. Fold in oatmeal.

Wrap dough into 3 long rolls using wax paper (saran wrap works too) and freeze overnight. Slice thinly and cook on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350.

Roundup

2008-05-23T21:28:00.006-07:00

It's my birthday! Happy birthday to me.... I know it doesn't hold quite the same excitement as when you're a kid but I still get excited. Our favorite BBQ place lets you eat for free on your birthday and I'm planning on taking full advantage. They make their own rootbeer and have the world's greatest floats. I'm looking forward to it.

But here's my roundup..

PF Bloggers:
Get Rich or Die Trying laid out his wedding budget.
Kristy from Master Your Card let us know what she thinks of Dave Ramsey. Make sure you check out the comments. It gets interesting in there.
Living Almost Large asks if you can hide debt. Leave a comment and let her know what you think.

Around the Blogsphere:
Mrs. Micah suggested keeping wedding costs down by having frugal favors. I agree wholeheartedly.
My Two Dollars does a great job of explaining how credit card companies calculate interest. This is so important and was one of the questions I got most often when I worked in credit card customer service. A must read.
Paid Twice gives some steps to take to get your family on board with debt reduction. It's a big source of conflict when one person want to make a change and the other don't. I can see how that would be frustrating.
Being Frugal lists some frugal living tips for beginners. This is a great place to start if you're beginning your frugal living journey.
Blunt Money indulges the idea of gas rationing. That's a pretty scary thought.

pic by: wishymom

Money quotes

2008-05-23T08:10:00.004-07:00

Today is the first day of summer vacation around here and I had my nephew sleep over last night. So that means I have two very excited school aged kids bouncing around my house followed by an equally bouncy toddler. I'm telling you this to explain why I don't have an actual post today.

But to stimulate the money portion of your brain I will give you these....

"Money is not the most important thing in the world. Love is. Fortunately, I love money. "
~ unknown

"If you want to feel rich, count the things you have that money can't buy."
~ Proverb

"Don't tell me what your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are."
~ James W. Frick

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditures nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditures twenty pound ought and six, result misery."
~ Charles Dickens

"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something."
~ Jackie Mason

"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart."
~ Jonathan Swift

"The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any."
~Katharine Whitehorn

"Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle."
~Ken Hakuta

pic by: rogilde

By the pool

2008-05-22T07:39:00.003-07:00

I was watching the news last night and they advertised an alternative to going to the park. Arizona is backwards in that way, we can’t go to the park in the summer time because it’s too hot. Even if you want to brave the 110 degree heat, the equipment is too hot to touch. So their teaser ad for an alternative caught my attention.

They did a piece about a local indoor play area. It really did look pretty cool. It has an arcade, a café, a great big jungle gym thing. All done up in a jungle theme. Pretty neat! They didn’t mention until the end that it costs $8.50 for kids and $3.50 for adults. That means that it would cost me $20.50 for my kids and I to go play. I don’t see how that is an alternative to the park. The park is free.

So today I rediscovered something that is free, the pool in my neighborhood. Technically, we pay for it with our association dues but it doesn’t cost extra to use it. I’m already paying for it so I might as well get my money’s worth. We went up there today and had a blast. We swam for almost two hours. It was great. Everyone was wiped out. And it was totally and completely free. No gas used, no miles on the car, no eating out, no charges to get in, nothing. I will even confess that I didn’t get dressed today. I went from jammies, to bathing suit, and back into jammies. So it even saved on laundry! Now, that is what I call an alternative to the park.

What are some free or low cost things you are planning this summer?

Pic by: Brunna Peretti

Summer Break

Teaching kids about savings

Money lessons from my parents

Credit Protection

2008-05-21T07:44:00.006-07:00

I got my credit card statement the other day and I saw something that made me really mad at myself. No, I didn’t overspend; I realized for the first time that I have their “credit insurance”. It’s called different things with different credit cards but the idea is the same with each. They charge you a small percentage of your balance and say they will pay your minimum payment if you are laid off or become disabled. They will also pay off your entire balance if you die. You are usually signed up automatically when you open a new account. I can’t say it’s a scam exactly but I’m here to tell you it’s pretty hard to actually qualify for the benefits. If you have this on your credit card call and cancel it right away. This service costs about 80 cents for every $1,000 of balance. So for an $8,000 balance you would pay about $6.40.

I’ve mentioned before that I used to work in credit card customer service. I talked to over 100 people a day for two years about their credit card accounts. That means I’ve worked on over 50,000 credit card accounts. Do you know how many people I’ve seen that actually received benefits from the “credit protection”? One. ONE! One person out of 50,000. I’ve worked with dozens of people while they were trying to receive benefits and were eventually denied. I’ve seen lots of accounts go into collections because the cardholder was told they would receive benefits but never did. But I’ve only seen one person actually receive benefits from this insurance.

Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at the supposed benefits.

They will make your payment if you are laid off or disabled. This is only for a certain amount of time, usually a year, and it’s only the minimum payment. The minimum payment on a balance of $8,000 is probably about $160. That is less than $2,000 in potential benefits. And your balance didn’t go down very much. At the end of the year you would still owe quite a bit. They didn’t really relieve you of anything.

They will pay your entire balance if you die. Who cares? You’re dead. If there is another contractually liable person on the account then this benefit doesn’t kick in. If there was not another liable person then there isn’t anyone to collect the money from. No one needs to pay it.

Ok, so hopefully I’ve convinced you that you don’t need this service. When you get your credit card statement this month, take a close look. Make sure you aren’t paying for this service. Credit card debt is hard enough to get out of without having extra charges put on your account every month.

Frugal Eats: Shepard's Pie

2008-05-20T08:10:00.006-07:00

I got this recipe from my best friend of 20 years. This was a staple at her house when we were growing up. She included the recipe in a cookbook she gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I had to halve it because it was way too much food for us, even cut in half we still have leftovers. It’s just solid down home cookin’ and it will fill you up for only $4.39.

I’m willing to bet there are about a billion variations of this dish. It’s one of those types of dishes you can really get creative with. Let me know if you make another version, even if it isn’t especially frugal. I’d love to try it.

Shepard’s Pie

2.5 lbs of potatoes ($1.13)
1 can creamed corn (.52)
1 can corn (.52)
1 lb hamburger ($2)
¼ cup milk (.05)
¼ cup butter (.10)
salt, to taste (less than a penny)
garlic powder, to taste (.03)
onion powder, to taste (.04)

Peel potatoes, chop and put to boil. Cook hamburger, adding garlic powder and onion powder if desired, drain. When potatoes are soft, drain and add salt, milk, and butter. Mash potatoes. (I estimated a ¼ cup of butter and milk, but make the mashed potatoes however you like them.)

In a 8 x 12 casserole dish layer hamburger, corn, then mashed potatoes on top. Bake at 350 for 25 mins.

Other Frugal Eats in this series:
Baked Rig
Garlic Lime Chicken
Sausage and Apples with Pancakes

Guest post

2008-05-19T17:11:00.001-07:00

I wanted to let everyone know that I wrote a guest post for JB over at Get Rich or Die Trying. He is smack dab in the middle of a hectic time. He got married on Saturday and they are also buying a house. So head on over and check out my post. Don't forget to leave a congratulatory comment for the newlyweds!

Time of Use

2008-05-19T09:02:00.006-07:00

The summer in Phoenix is brutal. This is our expensive time as far as utilities are concerned. I know in other places it’s the winter that is the expensive season, but not around here. With the air conditioner running pretty much constantly to keep the house at a reasonable temperature it gets expensive quick. See the pic? It's 114 in the shade, at 6:00pm.

Our electric company has a time of use plan that we could sign up for. It provides cheaper electricity during off peak hours, and more expensive electricity during peak hours. They advertise that it will lower our electric bills, which can get as high as $280 a month. During the summer (May 1 through Oct 31) the peak hours are weekdays from 1pm to 8pm. We would pay an average of 18 cents per kWh on the time of use plan vs. an average of 10 cents per kWh on the regular plan. During off peak times we would pay just under 6 cents per kWh on the time of use plan vs. just under 10 cents on the regular plan. There is also a $3 monthly fee to be on the time of use plan.

This is a great plan if you work during the day. I’m kinda temped to give it a try anyways. But I don’t know if it will work for us. Since I’m home all day we keep the air on all the time. Granted we do the laundry, cook, run the dishwasher, watch the most tv, and have the lights on during off peak times. I’m just not sure that is enough to combat the 7 hours of the air running at the expensive rate.

What do you guys think?

Pic by: Foxicat

Roundup

2008-05-17T12:37:00.002-07:00

Another crazy week has gone by. It’s about to get even crazier as this upcoming week is the last week of school for my 6 year old. Yipes! I hope we don’t drive each other too crazy for the next 8 weeks. Anyways, on with the show…

I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance over at Money Under 30 this week. They included my post: Millionaires Drive Minivans. Go check it out if you haven’t already.

PF Bloggers:

Master Your Card presented 6 ways your kids can help out with the budget. I have spent a lot of time considering how much info to give our kids about our budget. On one hand I want them to have a clear understanding of how household finances work, but on the other hand I don’t need them telling their little friends how much our mortgage payment is.
Living Almost Large reminded us to keep contributing to our retirement accounts even though it frustrating when the market isn’t doing so great.
No Debt Plan disagrees with an article that says you need 7 investments.

From my reader:

Tight Fisted Miser admits to 5 crazy things he has done to save money.
Being Frugal says to make reducing your debt a priority even when you don’t have an emergency fund. I agree.
Sense to Save has a guest post about what to ask your insurance company before you have a baby. I wish I had read this article before I got pregnant with my son. I got a lot of unexpected bills during my pregnancy, some could have been avoided if I had only known.

May's Debt

2008-05-16T11:50:00.004-07:00

First off, I realized I’ve been making a mistake in calculating our debt payments. I was including our total mortgage payment, not just the principle and interest. So that messed my numbers up, but I’m too lazy to go back and update my past posts. I’ll just start doing it right from now on.

In May we made a total of $1,853 in debt payments and reduced our debt by $1,075 to $177,840. Which would mean we paid interest of $778. Which seems about right because we pay about $700 a month in interest on our mortgage and about $70 a month in interest on our car loans.

Here is the breakdown...

House	143,108
Van	21,051
Backyard	7,950
Car	5,731

I also added a new section to my spreadsheet that keeps track of the interest I’ve earned. Which is pretty fun. I haven’t included our retirement accounts, I might someday but for right now it’s just our savings accounts. So in April we earned $38.66. Cool! It’s more than I was expecting to have made in one month.

A sweet gift and some jealousy

2008-05-15T08:56:00.005-07:00

My daughter surprises me the heck out of me sometimes. She gets money for doing certain chores around the house and sometimes she impresses me with how she spends it. Obviously, sometimes she heads blindly into the toy aisle and buys the first thing she sees, but usually she doesn’t. I’ve already mentioned how she saved up $76 to take to Disneyland and when she donated some of her money to her school.

Well, yesterday she came home from school and said she wanted to buy her teacher an apple as a present. I suggested buying a fake apple and painting it, that way she could keep it forever. My daughter really liked that idea. So we went to the craft store with $5 worth of quarters in a ziplock bag. She ended up picking out a wood box that looks like a book and an apple decoration to glue on the front. It cost a grand total of $3.50. I thought that was so sweet of her.

While we were at the craft store my son, age 2, fell in love with a teddy bear. It was only $7 so I just went ahead and got it for him. He was just so dang cute with it I couldn’t resist. I have a general rule that I don’t buy the kids impulse items at the store. I don’t think that sets a good precedence. But once in a while they come across something I just have to buy.

Well, apparently this upset my daughter quite a bit. This morning she burst into tears when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. After some coaxing she told me that she is sad because my son got something brand new but she didn’t. I reminded her about this weekend when she got a new bathing suit and a new dress but my son didn’t get anything. That made her feel a little bit better.

I tried to explain that if she is going to be jealous every time someone else gets something she doesn’t she is going to be sad all the time. I don’t know if she really understood, but I hope she did. I know it’s hard when you’re six, but if this is an attitude she carries over into her adult life then she is going to be a creditor’s dream. I can’t let that happen!

Pic by: Zohar Manor-Abel

An interview

2008-05-14T07:40:00.002-07:00

I've had the awesome opportunity to be interviewed by David over at My Two Dollars. Please go check out answers and find out a little bit more about me. I know you're dying to.

On a personal note, remember I got a job cleaning for an elderly woman? Well, she is doing amazingly well and doesn't need me anymore. I'm bummed cause I really liked doing it, and the money was good for what I did. Oh well...

Frugal Eats: Banana Nut Bread

2008-05-13T08:24:00.004-07:00

I made this recipe for my classmates on the last day of class and it was gone in about two minutes. I don't even think everyone got some. It was delicious, super easy, and only cost $2.55.

Banana Nut Bread

1 cup sugar (19 cents)
1/2 cup shortening (27 cents)
2 eggs (32 cents)
2 cups flour (19 cents)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (81 cents)
1 teaspoon baking soda (less than a penny)
3 soft, ripe bananas, mashed (96 cents)

Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs, flour, soda, bananas, and chopped nuts. Pour banana bread batter into 1 greased and floured loaf pan. I took some extra sugar and nuts and sprinkled them on top before putting it in the oven. Bake at 325° for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. This banana nut bread recipe makes 1 loaf.

Are you trying to make a change?

2008-05-12T08:52:00.003-07:00

One thing in my life I would like to change is my weight. I would like to lose 10 pounds, 20 would be awesome. It’s really hard. I’ve been frustrated with this 10 pounds for at least 6 months now. I have to admit I’m not working very hard at it. I make great plans, but at the first sign of ice cream I decide I will start tomorrow. I also know that there are not any magic “get skinny quick” schemes out there. Only hard work and less food will get rid of these extra pounds. It’s a simple math equation. I need to burn more calories than I eat. So if I want to lose weight I have to either to work out, or eat less. I’ll be stuck with these pounds until I feel like doing one, or both, of those things.

It’s amazing to me how easily I can change the above paragraph to describe getting out of debt.

One thing in my life I would like to change is my debt. I would like to pay off my cars, the house would be awesome. It’s really hard. I’ve been frustrated with this debt for at least 4 years now. I have to admit I’m not working very hard at it. I make great plans, but at the first sign of a sale I decide I will start tomorrow. I also know that there are not any magic “get rich quick” schemes out there. Only a higher income and less spending will get rid of these extra debts. It’s a simple math equation. I need to earn more money than I spend. So if I want to reduce my debt I have to either make more, or spend less. I’ll be stuck with these debts until I feel like doing one, or both, of those things.

Weird huh?

What changes are you trying to make in your life? Leave a comment or write a post on your blog and leave the link.

pic by: Toby Yu

Roundup

2008-05-10T10:25:00.003-07:00

Hello everyone! Another weekend is upon us. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope you have a great one.

Master Your Card gave us five ways to teach kids about finances. Which is something of great interest to me.
Girls Just Want to Have Funds navigates the murky waters of the US health care system. I agree that it's a mess. I'm sorry she has to deal with it. I'm sure she will share what ever she learns.

Blunt Money shares a trick to painlessly increase your 401(k) contributions.
Frugal Dad had the great idea of recreating his first date. How romantic... and frugal!
Remodeling this Life discusses why she likes being frugal.