I went to oneshare.com and purchased one share of Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) for my child's birthday. I printed out an announcement and gave it to him. He has birthday on the brain. Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is nice too, but there's a Burlington Northern railway a few miles west of us, by the beach, and I wanted something my son could see and identify.
I could also put Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Microsoft (NASD:MSFT) in his Coverdell plan too, as he identifies those company logos readily. Union Pacific will have to wait until Christmas.

When I told my husband what I had done (it was pricey! fees, shipping, framing, gift wrap, commission!) he said "maybe I should start buying railroad stock, with peak oil to deal with." Yes! A possible convert! We can discuss DRPs (thanks for the moneypaper.com idea, baselle) and Sharebuilder.com!



I quipped, "yes, we can be the Monopoly family. I bought Water Works (the WaterShares Exchange Traded Fund PHO), you and the boy can buy the railroads, and I'll look into another utility and maybe some Kinder Morgan Partners and commercial real estate trusts."

My son is, like everybody else's son, unique. And like every US citizen's son, he's a typical red-blooded American male.

He will be turning five.

He is stingy about money.
He likes trains.
My husband is thinking of getting our son the Complete Treasury of Thomas the Tank Engine stories, available at Half Price Books for $20; and I, warped woman that I am, am considering buying a share of Burlington Northern stock for him and enrolling him in a DRIP. He could get an annual report and look at trains and feel good about owning a railroad company.

Is this too weird?

Binge and Purge.

I mailed a cheque to Yamaha for $2395, and another cheque to Moloch. I should clean out my safety deposit box and store stuff in my safe downstairs. And the BoA card, well, it can go into the freezer or something.

I bought wine and fish and chicken and meat. Going vegetarian was not fabulous for my blood, and sometimes having a bison burger or chicken paprikash, or a simply broiled salmon is superb.
********************
Some acquaintances of mine closed on a house. My banker friend said that they should have done so in 2004 (if we want to pick nits, why not July 2003?), but when I said something about a market top she said that interest rates were on their way up, and they would likely not see this rate again in fifteen years. I couldn't argue with that: it'll be forty-fifty years before 5% comes around again.
So, I figure I really do need to do work around the property, because if we move we're going to rent out the house. 5% is 5%!

********************
Does anyone actually know people who used their home as an automated teller machine, refinancing and cashing out for consumer purchases like cars, vacations?
How about for investments, like more university tuition or home renovations?
I wish I took out money for home renovations, but at the time I refinanced to reduce our term, figuring that with a toddler, I'd never have the time to handle renovating the house. Also, I find that as I get older I have less tolerance for debt.

I keep reading that the consumption party was going strong because of the refinancing of 2002-2005, but the people I know who refinanced did so arguably for better rates, and if they did take out larger amounts, they were larger only by $2K-$5K, possibly to roll the closing costs in.

Beyond Coupons: Ways to Save

Knowing the best sales -- how do I do this when I don't listen to commercial radio, nor read the newspaper? A local supermarket e-mails me its flyer every two weeks. Now that I'm on a CSA, I rarely drop more than $30 on a supermarket trip.

Other Things I should do

keep track of expenditures
buy in bulk @ Costco
save for home improvements
keep a price book
grow my own herbs
caulk around windows and doors
upgrade the insulation in the attic
deepclean the @#$%ing house
shop for meat at farmer's markets
try for no-spend days
plan a batch-cooking day
follow a low-cost food plan
read up on year-round gardening
chart the family net worth
make my own lunch at night
soak beans before I go to bed
plan my menus for a week

Keep a list on the fridge of items I want that cost over $50
Collect digital photos of items for sale and post them with item descriptions on expo.live.com, eBay and craigslist.org
Buy a rainbarrel

So, uh embarrassed and tugging at the collar here...

I had no @$#!ing idea that Uncle Sam would be sending me a cheque for $2192.59 USD. I wasn't here on savingadvice.com in March/April 2006, when I was frantically adding up W-4s, deducting my university extension course tuition, and itemizing, bulking up the envelope with schedule after schedule... trying to whittle what we owed down to under 10% of what was due, or else we'd be slammed with a penalty. Three times I worked on our 1040, with the sigh of "okay, next time we get an accountant to do this."

And we have a check for $2192.59?!

Well, it totally looks like I'll be covered for the scooter payment due September 28.

One month to go until my scooter APR resets to 12.99%. I am keenly aware that my predicament is mellower and smaller-scale than the predicament of people (including ACCOUNTANTS, and DOCTORS) who bought too much house on an adjustable rate mortgage. Why is $4300 + ($7400 x 0.1299) such a big deal to me?

I could live on everything in our pantry, except for bread, cereal, eggs and milk for a month.

I have $5000 in savings.
$3400 is coming our way probably within a month, but perhaps later. I'm not counting on that $3400 to save me, but I'll receive half of that "someday." $930 is coming to us within two weeks.

Crash-saving: utility bills come bimonthly -- not sure I'll save much by washing in cold and drip-drying.

Is cutting down on food the best/only way to crash-save? What are other ways?
I can get away until September 14 for paying late on my mortgage, but I don't know how that'll help matters.

Don't want to borrow from friends. My friends will likely not see this as an emergency worth covering, even if I could give them 0.5% interest (6% annualized) for a thirty-day loan.

How about selling books and CDs? Crib? Wedding dress? Premiere issue of Wired Magazine? I may have to go with a 6.9% cash advance from my credit card (from the credit union, not the infernal Moloch that is Bank of America) to transfer payments ($2000 @ 0.069 < $7400 @ 0.1299).

After three years, we are trotting out our goods at vastly marked down prices. I reaped thirty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents.

This is not a sale at my yard. I would have done things differently: computer printed signs, tables, wider distribution of signs and publication (little nickel, newspaper -- bring in the non-computer folk).

I may send things to another yard sale happening next weekend. Or I might sell items on craigslist or eBay or amazon.com. They are mostly books. Lots of my CDs went, which is good. I had feared that my tastes were too wacky/extreme/dated. Nobody has purchased my Chaplin stuff. :-(
or is it C|:-=X?

Bought Barilla pasta at a dollar a pound, saving $4.75 at the store.

Gas bill: $19.06 for the month. YEAH! Consumption down by a third from last year. YEAH!

I want to adopt the pantry challenge -- we have not bought meat in two weeks! We have beans, rice, grains, and fresh vegetables.

Checked my net worth. Zillow's decreased the value of my home by $5K but big deal.

My child's birthday is one week after the 2.9% APR scooter promotion ends. I can't deny him a birthday, but I can postpone a party.

How often do you slough your possessions/have yard sales?

After this concludes, if I don't get an e-mail for the address/date and time of the next sale, I may trade my books in for credit at a book reseller.

A.G. Edwards has a "Nest Egg" promotion. The A.G. Edwards Nest Egg Index ranks the nation's 200 top-performing communities and the 50 states based on residents' personal savings, investing behavior and how well they nurture their nest eggs. Their goal is to show Americans the importance of saving and encourage them to build a nest egg that will meet their future financial needs, such as retirement, college, homeownership and emergencies.

How Well Are You Saving?
Following are some compelling reasons why you should take time every year to check the state of your personal savings:

• America's average personal savings rate was a negative 0.7% in December 2005, which is down from 12.5% in 1981 and one of the lowest personal savings rates since the Great Depression.
• Our negative 0.7% savings rate is the lowest in the industrialized world.
• Only 53% of Americans have a retirement plan in place, and half of American households nearing retirement have $10,000 or less in an employment-based 401(k)-type plan or IRA.
• While the average personal savings rate is falling, costs are skyrocketing for things people typically need to save for, such as college tuition and medical expenses.

Highest scoring states (stand up and give a "hey ya!" if your state is in the top ten): New Jersey, Connecticut (I detect a Yankee frugality here), Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, Colorado and Wisconsin.

Washington's at #15 on the Nest Egg Index. This doesn't surprise me: I remember looking in The Complete Tightwad Gazette at a ranked list of TG subscribers per capita per state and Washington was up there in the top ten.

Now I want to reread the Yankee Guide to Living Well on a Shoestring and my Yankee cookbook from 1939.

I took the Nest Egg questionnaire and received a score of 720. Not shabby. The national score, as of June 2006, was 631.

I do load it on myself, don't I.

I was in Instant Message chat with a Newfoundland pal. She and I want to visit Los Angeles, primarily Hollywood, next year. I want to meet her: I've been writing to her for over twelve years. I also want to eat at Musso and Frank, and to try out for "Jeopardy!", and to see Catalina. Even my son, not yet five, says he wants to go to Hollywood.

I've got a lot of living to do! I haven't been to CA since 1996, and I want to go soon before gas gets prohibitively expensive. It's $1829.00 for a family bedroom round trip by Amtrak, + $300 food. 3300 miles * $4.19/gallon @ 25 miles per gallon= $553.08 + $300 food + 650 hotel + $410 car rental = $1903.08, and that doesn't include the stay and food and admissions in Hollywood. $74 fewer dollars to ride the train.

My spouse received his notice of stock award. I took it to the Library so I could see Value Line's projections for the company. Then I advised him to sell.

I also addressed and stamped an envelope so he could mail his signed Dependent Care Spending Account form for reimbursement.

I have a fascinating little screed of a book from an interlibrary loan: Larry Roth's Political Frugality – Guerrilla Economics for the Demonized, Devalued and Disenfranchised. I was apolitical for a long time, but when I had my kid I became concerned about his future. I don't want him to be bitter and angry at us for bringing him into the world he'll have to contend with. It makes me sad to know that his standard of living will be lower than ours, no matter what country he lives in.

That's not to say I agree with Roth on all counts or all issues -- I do not. And those of you who are card-carrying [party of choice] members: Roth isn't at all partisan. You can't pigeon-hole someone whose views on issues are scattered along the political spectrum. But I do agree with him that teaching children how to think is more important than teaching them what to think, and it's worth including in a curriculum issues the children will see and experience in real life, instead of the fallacious position "if we don't expose them to this other view maybe they'll never pick it up."

Am I demonized? Only by the radical jingoists who seem to think all immigrants are nonwhite, poor, and don't speak English. They seem to be oblivious to the fact that free trade has brought educated, intelligent, and multilingual immigrants into their country and neighbourhoods.

Am I devalued? Well, yes, and some of that is my fault. In this country you can get Social Security if you get wages to look after someone else's kid, but not if you look after your own. I am disenfranchised as I do not have the right to vote, and that's my choice as well, as I do not trust electronic voting machines, but my consumer dollars are my voting weapon. And the more I opt out of mindless consumption, and work toward self-sufficiency, the more I save, and the more money I have for my arsenal.

Roth concludes: "Our country has opted out of being inclusive; we can opt out of supporting our oppressors with our money. And we can demonstrate to our oppressors how unwise and unprofitable their divisive tactics can be. Racism proved unprofitable in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s. Businesses and government learned that black and white did not matter nearly as much as green.

"In the 1970s when consumers rebelled against the beef and sugar shortages, one thing they discovered was their health was better without eating so much of the products they were boycotting for economic reasons. It was years before the beef industry recovered from the damage they had done to themselves by trying to screw customers."

So maybe consumers will rebel, and get healthier, and fatten their wallets. I would love to see more power returned to the consumers, but I understand that view is not commonly accepted outside the savingadvice.com world.

It was our anniversary yesterday. Twelve years: silk. So I point out to the hubby some WinterSilks aviator scarves: maybe I can wear one when I scoot in the winter. Me, I buy him silk pyjamas: he has never had them, and I find men very attractive in them.

We also ate out. With the kid.

Motorcycle insurance: $224.
2006-7 Children's Theatre subscription (boy likes musicals and stage presentations): $204
Annual Zoo membership renewal: $90
Gift for boy's playmate: $15
Cards: $10
Helmet Halo (so drivers can see me at night): $15
Replacement blinds for bedroom: $35
Flexcar charge: $138 (for $40 annual driver fee, and taxes)

I guess the nice thing is that I have the cash to pay for these, being semi-frugal.

Husband still has not filled in Dependent Care Spending Account Reimbursement Form. Maybe it's just me who thinks $930 would be great to have to pay down the scooter. I wish that weren't so. It would be so lovely to have a spouse that was equally as concerned about saving money as I am, if not more. Obviously I am not miserly when it comes to my son and husband.

My spouse has not had silk pyjamas before, and my son does seem to enjoy live musical theatre. I feel I should encourage my boy's tastes and talents, and three performances over seven months isn't exactly overkill.

These are new "extravagances" for me. I have been cutting back in groceries: no meat for over a month now. We take the kid to playgrounds and farms and the zoo for cheap entertainment, and occasional museum exhibits -- no big spending on XBox or Nintendo. He is too sophisticated for the "just give him a cardboard box" ploy: yesterday he wanted to play SCRABBLE.

Minor as this is, I did get a 10% discount on the Helmet Halo. It was going to be 5%, but I mentioned to the salesclerk that a certain coworker of his (and I named her) traditionally gives me 10%, which is true. I will keep going to this motorcycle parts and accessories place for the discounts and the promotions: Women's Brunch and Fair.
Few motorcycle shops cater to women the way this one does.

Balance Transfer Not Accepted

MBNA seems to think that transferring balances from one credit card to another is money laundering.


American Express Raising Fees and Changing Rewards Program

I'll just mockingly parrot the uninformed who say "the credit cardholders must be at fault or irresponsible." Yes, apparently trying to be smart about balance transfers, or trying to get value from one's credit card, at least if you're a corporate shill or someone from NetVocates paid to rebut forum comments, must somehow equal irresponsibility of the customer. Because golly gee whiz, the credit card companies can't ever be at fault. Greed by companies is okay, but if the customer tries it, that's not cool. Yes, that's a stated opinion by either a quisling or a corporate shill. "click. whirr. no-the-corporate-entities-do-not-have-too-much-power. click. whirr. this message will repeat. Vote for more corporate power or the terrorists will get you. Click. Whirr."

Why wasn't the Bankruptcy Act of 2005 enough for these bozos? Why did they have to reduce the grace period too?

I tell you solemnly, I do not know whom the credit card companies are trying to attract with these reductions of grace periods and eliminations of consumer value-adds. If you read Robert Manning's Credit Card Nation he would have you believe the credit cardholder market is saturated, and thus the credit card companies are trying to poach their competitors' customers through tons of credit card offers. I have learned that if my spouse has a flurry of credit card offers (MBNA, CitiBank, Capital One), it means that some crappy anticonsumer legislation has passed, or that the "cartel" has found a new way to screw customers. And yet these companies act in tandem to close any loopholes a savvy cardholder might use?

The electricity upgrade will cost us $250-$300. Fine. We can use our HELOC on the windows.

Also the stock is delivered as stock. Am wondering if the certificates can be transferred to other stock accounts.

One last thing: as petroleum companies and we addicted consumers freak out about oil production and prices, as Israel skirmishes with Hezbollah, we should remember that every cubic metre of oil produced requires two to five times as much water. In other words, a million barrels a day of oil production translates into roughly 2 to 4.5 million barrels of water used in that same day.

That is why I am invested in the ETF PHO.
Think of all those consumers in India and China the automobile manufacturers and global petroleum companies are wooing. Billions of people. Imagine how much water they consume.

because, as mentioned on a forum here, they will change the terms and conditions agreement of the contract at will and repeatedly,

I am considering applying for the Discover Platinum Gas Visa and ditching the MBNA Platinum Plus card I've had for seven years but haven't used for four.

MBNA reduced the grace period to 20 days.
According to a Website, Discover still has 25 days, plus a 0% balance transfer introductory rate for 12 months. Plus 5% rewards for using the card for gas. I could get a whopping fifty cents back at the gas pump!

MBNA switched to American Express from Visa. Why, I don't know. I think one has to pay the American Express off in full every month, right? So what good would those convenience cheques with the 0% offer for nine months do me?

Then again, Discover's CEO didn't die, leave his idiot son in charge, who then made so many deleterious changes and bad decisions that the company's profits went down by 94% so that it was engulfed by Bank of America either.

I checked bankrate.com and whoa! 20 day grace periods are now the rule, not the exception!

It occurred to me, yesterday, that we do not know when the stock bonus is coming. We do know the non-US employees receive it in August. Maybe it won't arrive in September.

My scooter payment rate hikes up to 12.99% after September 28. I have $4618.78 left to pay.

Our savings is down to $2084 as hubby took money from it for his weekend.

Checking is at $1775 but the childcare payment hasn't yet been processed. When it does expect $930 deducted.

CDs have $2147.

My spouse has claimed he faxed in reimbursement claims for June and July but I nagged him into checking his balance yesterday and what do you know! the balance is up to $800 and the claims have not been processed.

I could crashsave and liquidate everything. $400 liquid. Yeah. Awesome.

Dammit, I need to have a yard sale! And what was I thinking prepaying the mortgage! Oh yes, I was thinking "I need to sell every piece of crap I have and get solvent before the iceweasel elites try to stomp on my calloused, bloody hands as I cling to the middle class. They're trying to ruin me." And "my housing equity is going to be cut in half when the bubble deflates." And "jiggers! I want to be able to reduce our vehicle fuel expenditures to $1200 for 2007."

Sometimes I suspect Al Qaeda's strategy is just to threaten the US enough to scare the populace into bankrupting itself ("live for today! pay 18.99% interest! for tomorrow we might all be dead or wearing beards and burqas and paying 0% interest!") and surrendering all of its civil rights. They're probably laughing their booties off at the national deficit.

The MAD TV recurring segment cracks me up every time.

I feel more peaceful, oddly, knowing that if I have problems achieving those goals I'm supposed to have achieved, then there are millions of people in my boat. It's not a little liferaft, it's the Queen Mary.

Considering the nation's saving rate, I think anyone who earns the median income or lower and manages to increase her net worth year after year, home equity excluded, is doing a great job.

Anyone who sacrifices a dear toy or hobby or reduction of luxury expense (mine is eating out) for the ability to afford more later or live better should be congratulated and applauded.

I've noticed I haven't given myself any victories. I need to give myself a chance at winning. Get the resume overhauled -- circulate it. Sell the books and CDs and things. I try too much in one day, or one week.

I attended a seminar on Rainwater Catchment. From a 1998 article: "Considering the cost of water in King County may double in the next decade, a UW experiment in catching and reusing rainwater could be a harbinger of good things to come."

It's the candyass, anxious self dreaming up lurid scenarios of getting gouged for necessities (energy, healthcare) that scavenges for ways to either prevent or offset rising energy costs or ways to invest cash to survive those rising costs.

Sixty-six months ago I switched from oil to natural gas: $6400 outlay (including a gas line installation) -- I think now we've seen it pay for itself. We thought seven-eight years at first, but thanks to rising oil prices... (yes, I know natural gas is going up too, but we have a more efficient heating system)

This would involve getting into debt, like the electricity wiring to enable telecommuting, but we have to think about the possibilities:
* is it worthwhile to make an energy change that pays off 10 to 15 years from now? (one could roll the costs of a rainwater catchment system into the selling price of the house)
* how to space the home improvements for minimum pocketbook pain
* how large and sophisticated a system to get

We thought we were so smart getting a Fisher & Paykel energy efficient washer, and a Niagara low-flow flapperless toilet. Then I learned what the Germans have.

I can say, though, that we're saving $35/month in water bills. So the toilet paid for itself in four months, and the washer takes 20 months for it to pay for itself.

We've been thinking about rainbarrels, and indeed the Lord and Master might be buying some before he takes off tomorrow for his weekend. But after last night, I'm thinking larger scale.

Found my mom's 1 oz. gold Canadian coin (turned into a brooch). Now I can honestly say I own gold.

There should be some good kinds of debt other than education and mortgage: is home improvement one of them.

And it's okay to scale down expectations of being able to pay for everything all at once with cash. What matter are investment and prevention. I can't be perfect, but it doesn't get me anywhere to dream that Americans are perfect.

Because if Americans are perfectly attempting to save for retirement and rainy days and education and investing for energy reduction and healthcare prevention, and yet there's the stagnant wages and the negative savings rate, that can only mean the country is going down the toilet. Stay the course indeed.

So I'll imperfectly manage to increase my net worth. That might be the only realistic option open to me right now. Anything above that might be woolgathering.

1. Do my job well.
-- um.
2. Learn skills to take to the next job.
-- Slowly, but starting. August.

3. Network for next job.
-- This month for sure!

1. Keep track of every penny that comes into the house.
2. Keep track of every penny that leaves the house.
3. Record a monthly budget.
-- I designed a budget, at least.

Well, I did #1. #2 I was lax with. #3.

Some victories -- I found my TreasuryDirect sheet with my account number. I'd like to thank the spirit of Charles Chaplin for that: I was putting a book my child and I were looking at (Walter Kerr's The Silent Clowns) back when I saw the stray sheet of paper. Also found I had $325 in a stock account somewhere. I have a stock account with seventeen cents in it too. woowoo!

1. Shop for car/motorcycle/home insurance.
-- I got a discount on my car insurance.

2. Get estimates for wiring.
-- I called an electrician. I need to call him again so he can come over and give an estimate.

3. Assemble 15-30 recipes for next month from "thrifty" sources.
-- I photocopied from Cheap. Fast. Good! and Jane Brody's Seafood Cookbook.

4. Try to work over 35 hrs/week.
-- this didn't work out so well.

5. Start researching -- buying stuff for brother
-- this I did. This relationship is so lopsided: he's asking me for favours and paying me to do stuff because he's overseas. Is there anything I want where he is? No.

My liabilities are $989 lower than last month, and $3482 lower than June. Assets are up $14000 since June. I have to remind myself of this because the cash we have in our account is $400 after childcare and mortgage are accounted for.
I wonder where the money went then I remember: I paid off $1300 principal, and $700 interest.

My spouse swears he faxed in reimbursement applications for June and July child care, but I have not seen any checks in the mail. The balance he has in there is around $800 by now. If he got it out, he could have a fine time this weekend. He'll be riding a train, staying at a hotel. How can I not let him have his fun, when I have had daytrips to the Kitsap Peninsula and to Mount Rainier?

Mortgage will be paid off by June 1, 2023.
One week to go until the stock proceeds come.

Who was it, Amy Dacyczyn? Jerrold Mundis?, who said "don't compare your financial situation to others. What matters is how your financial situation is compared to what it was, and what it will be." I need to always remember that. My financial situation is better, but as the housing prices deflate nationwide, and a recession takes a bite out of my retirement goodie basket, I can't count on it always being this great. Steeling myself for 20% depreciation in retirement balance, and 10% in home -- why? we've actually made some energy improvements: a new furnace, natural gas rather than oil, double-paned, argon-filled energy efficient windows, newer energy efficient applicances, and also, 20% depreciation in home price leaves a price that is commensurate with inflation: it takes 1.208 times as many 1999 dollars to buy our house that would supposedly not ever have appreciated. As houses appreciate maybe 1% beyond inflation, and my area is being revitalized by the city, plus is one of the few affordable places left in the city, I can't see 20% depreciation for the house. No. 10%.