tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95440582009-11-20T07:04:44.846-06:00Personal prosperity depends not on how much money you make, but on how much money you keep. This personal finance blog is dedicated to making smart money decisions, living below your means, and increasing net worth.savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.comBlogger717125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-8018795596397862132009-10-28T14:59:00.002-05:002009-10-28T15:13:16.618-05:00

I'm due in just a week and a half with our second baby and I've been doing some serious nesting. We made it this far just buying a few small things for the baby (and getting rid of a lot of stuff we had for our first baby but never used), but in the last week I decided I needed some new blankets, a couple of boutique-y burpy bibs, and some new infant diapers. Of course none of these were needs,

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-27477529769476406942009-10-20T12:19:00.002-05:002009-10-20T13:44:21.286-05:00

Our second Baby Savvy is expected any day now (anytime in the next five weeks anyway!), and my maternity leave falls smack dab in the middle of my employer's benefits elections for next year. I've been trying to do my research and get everything lined up ahead of time, because chances are I'll have a severe case of baby-brain when it's finally time to sign up.One of my biggest concerns has been

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-52631589601593670522009-10-16T11:36:00.001-05:002009-10-16T11:38:48.630-05:00

Official IRS publication here.

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-7486292820341035012009-10-03T06:37:00.003-05:002009-10-03T07:00:33.805-05:00

It's been three months, so it's time for another net worth update. A lot has happened in three months... we traded in a clunker, bought a new car, and sold a third car. I also moved the 2nd mortgage ($~22,000) on our apartment building to a 0% credit card. The interest rate on this mortgage was high enough that we can move it to a fixed rate balance transfer card that isn't 0% in the future if

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-70816349564460560492009-09-29T09:42:00.003-05:002009-09-29T09:58:04.603-05:00

Research in Ireland has found that women tend to be better than men at saving money. Of course, such ‘data’ will likely fuel the old ‘it’s official, women are better than men at something else – add that to the list above driving, multi-tasking and smelling nice,’ argument that has been muttered, countered, and accepted since the dawn of time. Yet, it also shows something more positive, i.e.

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-84195404076832434122009-09-17T09:01:00.003-05:002009-09-17T09:22:12.444-05:00

totally random stuff that I don't have time to turn into individual posts...1. Baby Savvy's (he turns 2 this month!) 529 account has finally broken even... meaning it's now worth the value of the contributions. Not quite the objective of most investments, but considering what has gone on in the two years since we started making contributions... 2. Baby Savvy's favorite things include pumpkins,

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-87068226378051642192009-09-17T08:41:00.001-05:002009-09-17T08:42:39.074-05:00

I received our revised property tax assessment value yesterday. After much back and forth, the assessor has lowered the value to about $210,000 (although she put some caveats in the documentation that make me think this was done rather grudgingly). This will save us somewhere between $100-$200 annual in property taxes, depending on the mil rate.

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-17876155796580242422009-09-14T15:56:00.002-05:002009-09-14T16:00:15.582-05:00

A brief update on this post....Our assessment is under review, and we have been told to expect a revised amount by the end of the week. I was warned that the new amount isn't as low as I argued it should be, but the assessor does think she may have slightly overvalued some improvements we made (specifically the room above the garage). Oddly enough, the increase in question was made during the

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-77422386881674423372009-09-09T15:20:00.003-05:002009-09-09T15:28:41.902-05:00

Mr. Savvy and I have decided to take advantage of some of tax incentives available for energy-saving home improvements. We've been talking about adding additional attic insulation in our house for a couple years, and the federal tax credit for 30% of the cost of improvements, up to $1,500 is a great incentive for doing so. I've just started getting estimates... part of me is a little worried

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-89931831029739662172009-09-07T08:12:00.002-05:002009-09-07T08:19:01.980-05:00

Amazon has the Britax Regent Youth Car Seat (really a car seat and booster, as it fits children 22 to 80 lbs) on sale for $179.99. This seat is usually $249-$279, and shipping is free.This comes at just the right time for us, we are going to turn in our one rental seat and buy this one. It's longevity makes it a good bargain.

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-54936199696047203482009-08-28T07:16:00.003-05:002009-08-28T07:24:15.533-05:00

A couple months ago I posted that our CC debt from our home improvement projects was below the $20,000 mark, a big milestone for us since we've seen lots of unemployment, and quite a few unexpected expenses in those two years (including a $7,000 car when Baby Savvy was born, about $10,000 in home repairs, oh, and Baby Savvy himself!). We'll, we decided to do something I've wanted to do for awhile

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-21186091636308418182009-08-26T20:04:00.002-05:002009-08-26T20:14:15.613-05:00

Just yesterday we received a notice in the mail that our house had been revalued by our local assessor. The notice was complete with supporting documentation, including recent home sales in our neighborhood, annual home price fluctuations for our community of 1,500, and laws and ordinances regarding home assessments. Long story short, our house is now assessed for $39,100 more than it was just

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-74563701848828716782009-08-08T04:31:00.003-05:002009-08-08T04:37:42.834-05:00

We've had our new Fit for over a week now and love it! It's everything we wanted and more... I'm glad we waited to get what we wanted, but I'm also glad we were able to buy it when we did. Despite thinking we had everything lined up for the purchase, it did NOT go as we planned. Our check from the lender didn't show up in time, so we ended up taking money out of our checking account to pay for

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-35664325285596563732009-07-31T10:34:00.002-05:002009-07-31T10:45:18.651-05:00

we are closing the deal on our new car today... of course not without some extra stress. This is the last day the dealership we are working with will honor the Cash for Clunkers program, and our loan check from PenFed hasn't arrived.We are going to get a check from a HELOC we have with a local credit union and refi into an auto-loan with Penfed once we have the title. I don't want to miss this

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-30406055617379571282009-07-29T06:21:00.003-05:002009-07-29T06:39:17.047-05:00

We pick up our new Honda Fit this week! I blogged about our hopes/plans back in May to trade in our truck and sell our Civic in favor of buying something that had at least four doors and could accommodate two car seats. After much research, discussion, planning, and weighing our options, we have decided to take the plunge.Mr. Savvy's truck is being traded for a $4,500 rebate under the CARS

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-67175936615016810882009-07-17T07:25:00.002-05:002009-07-17T07:30:17.354-05:00

Penfed has a great balance transfer offer on their credit cards... 2.99% for the life of the loan. The transfer fee is a reasonable 2.5%, with a max of $100, making this a great deal for those with high interest rate student loans (or those with lots of credit card debt who aren't comfortable rolling from 0% to 0% deal). I believe the minimum monthly payment is 2% of the total balance, but I

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-58731975455504368772009-07-17T07:18:00.003-05:002009-07-17T07:24:17.714-05:00

I've received a handful of emails over the past month wondering if I had any good sources for 0% balance transfer offers. This list offers a rundown of current offers that either have no fee or a capped fee. Although the market for deals like this is pretty dry, there are still a couple on there that are okay.Thinking ahead to an offer we currently have that will expire when our baby is still

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-79909056772962908122009-06-28T07:29:00.002-05:002009-06-28T07:51:44.523-05:00

It's a few days early but it's been so long since I published a networth update that I wanted to get one out while I had a chance...It's been a good six months. Mr. Savvy's been working a lot more than he did last year, his industry is starting to pick up..... however he was told last week that he may not be working at all in July. We'll see what happens. We still work on limiting our spending

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-61390100328840137392009-05-17T07:31:00.004-05:002009-05-17T07:37:06.901-05:00

Update on 2009 goals....1. Declutter! - We always have a stack (okay, pile) of towels in our bathroom that doesn't fit in the cupboard. Today I finally decided to bite the bullet and get rid of some towels. It wasn't difficult to sort out the ones we don't like, and now we have plenty of room to keep our towels folded neatly in the cupboard. This took about 20 minutes to solve a clutter

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-64201571674179913322009-05-17T07:20:00.003-05:002009-05-17T07:30:51.174-05:00

The NY Times has an entertaining article on DIY Blunders - Even to Save Cash, Don't Try This Stuff at Home, that I just couldn't resist posting. The author is trying to make a good point, sometimes it is worth it to go to the professionals, but I have to laugh at the examples used in the article. Most DIYers learned long ago to do the research first, before purchasing materials, performing

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-36997853385547809472009-05-17T06:31:00.001-05:002009-05-17T06:49:49.399-05:00

I wrote a couple months back about selling our two-door Civic and buying a Fit... at that point we had the check in our hands and were ready to purchase, but we decided to hold off because we were still a little uncomfortable taking out a car loan in an uncertain economy. Now it seems like we might have a great opportunity if the Cash for Clunkers plan gets passed... we might get rid of both our

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-88168658553663053512009-04-15T06:45:00.003-05:002009-04-15T07:48:10.800-05:00

These days you are more likely to catch me reading Mothering instead of Smart Money, but when I saw this article I just had to share. Mothering has an excellent article, ,Nursing by Numbers: How Breastfeeding Boosts the National Economy. The numbers aren't just thought provoking, they are shocking. I've posted some snippets below, but I highly recommend reading the entire article, as it is

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-2912881795960332792009-04-02T08:31:00.002-05:002009-04-02T08:37:20.596-05:00

Now that Mr. Savvy is back at work on a more regular basis, we've been able to make more progress on our debt repayment. I don't have an exact number because some of my accounts won't update in Yodlee, however a little effort with pen and paper tells me that we have a cash versus cc debt number of ($25,000). This is an increase from ($29,294) on February 1, or $4,294 in just two months!We still

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-8103228326664489912009-03-29T19:02:00.002-05:002009-03-29T19:06:26.300-05:00

I love listening to This American Life every Sunday, broadcast on my local NPR affiliate. This week's broadcast featured an especially interesting story about what happens when a bank fails. They mention the fact that in the US right now there is an average of one bank failure a week. You read that right, one bank fails every week. What was interesting was the way in which the FDIC goes about

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9544058.post-86500841303815165612009-03-11T08:43:00.002-05:002009-03-11T08:52:59.993-05:00

I haven't posted much in the last month. Thinks have been good for us... Mr. Savvy's job is pretty steady again, which is a nice change from this time last year. He thinks he's got solid work through June, with the exception of any weather-related days off. He's employment status is very fluid, so I think the gradual uptick in work is an early indicator that the economy is starting to recover

savvyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02544254698136250262emitch@gmail.com14