My List was overly optimistic.

Spouse brought home stuff I didn't ask for, like Vitamin E, a SpongeBob SquarePants game, a memory stick and almond oil, and a moisturizing cleanser instead of the simple moisturizer I asked for, but I can live with that. However, I have bath stuff dating back to 2002 in my cabinet. Many shelves are vacant. Our total came to $150.

Overtime pay was not as fabulous as I'd hoped but it's better than nothing.
****
What's your favourite online retirement calculator? I'm liking the Yahoo! Finance Retirement one, because you can opt to not have social security payments factored in and change variables such as age, retirement date, number of years you'll live in retirement, investment return (7% is safe), and % of present income you'll need at retirement. However, the fact it is rated three stars out of five leads me to think there may be better ones around.

I saw a BBC Channel 4 documentary on families who have been pushed to extreme limits by banks' credit lending. Specifically two family breadwinners who killed themselves over the staggering debts they incurred.

My empathy was with the widows, who not only were bereft of their main income and their life partner, but were left with those mounting bills, harassing calls, and the lingering question why their departed soulmates didn't confide in them earlier, so they could attempt to fairly and judiciously manage the household. Leaving those messes behind is really awful to do to someone who loves you and who's made a commitment to be with you in rich times and in poor times.

If the departed didn't have the trust and faith in their companions to share what's going on, why did they have the trust and faith in the banks to regulate themselves and stop lending them enough rope to do themselves in financially?

I don't have any faith in the megabanks: taking away the terms of my account of ten years doesn't inspire trust, changing the credit cards' terms and agreements for the worse every couple of years doesn't inspire trust either.

Where do people come up with the trust and faith that they'll never be offered the opportunity to borrow more money than they can actually pay back? Or that the person selling them an ARM is certified, regulated, and is telling them everything they need to know? Doesn't anyone have lawyers look over their loan documents that potentially may cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars anymore? We had a lawyer look over ours.

Somehow people have ideas that they'll be saved or bailed out from their recklessness, but prefer their closest confidantes not know. Maybe they haven't had the profound losses at an early age I have. Maybe they don't feel so much of a heavy burden to fend for themselves. Maybe they get better credit card offers or loan terms than I do, or have solid recession-proof, unlayoffable jobs.

My favourite drug store is closing its retail location. This sucks because now I have to go to "hello-I-am-programmed-to-
ask-you-can-I-interest-
you-in-an-overpriced-
valueless-trinket-by-the-front-desk" Walgreen's, where the pap music plays and worthless music is sold. On the bright side, everything is 33% off at the closing store. With some luck I can hold off going to Walgreen's until 2008.

This is why we have a credit card.
Back up the truck!
Shampoo ** one Neutrogena shampoo left**
Dr. Bronner's ** six Eucalyptus bars, one 8 oz. lavender **
Uniball pens ** NO **
Red Bull ** NO **
Toilet paper ** NO **
Facial tissue ** NO **
Bandages ** NO **
Dishwashing liquid ** NO **
Latex Gloves ** NO **
Miracle-Gro for food ** NO **
Cereal: Cheerios, Frosted Mini-Wheats ** NO **
Calcium Citrate Capsules ** YES **
B-100 Vitamins ** YES **
Oil of Olay Moisturizer ** ALMOST **
Caress, Dove (pink) soaps ** NO **
Cleaning sponges ** KINDA **
Club Soda ** NO **
Washing Soda ** NO **
Bon Ami ** NO **
Freezer-safe storage containers ** YES **
CF Lightbulbs ** NO **
Cold medications ** YES **
Emergen-C, if they carry it
Easter Candy ** YES **
Cetaphil ** NO **
Toothpaste ** YES **

I'm setting a limit of $300.

Hubby and I both paid the cell bill. I couldn't remember if I paid it or not, I had this nagging feeling that I didn't (but then I once had the nagging feeling that I made my mortgage payment on time, until the late notice came in). Hubby got an e-mail notice saying the bill was unpaid, so he used the credit card. I finally got around to calling to make a payment and found a $64 credit on our account.

Overtime: looking at 50-60 hour weeks from now until April 3. I have started to wear reflective gear when I scoot now. Must keep thinking: emergency fund, windows, vacation, Roth IRA 2007.

Government fees: $861 to US Treasury, $119 to US Dept of State, $61 to US Postal Service, $260 to US Customs and Immigration.

This week I've worked pretty much for the government. Where's my pension?

You've already figured out that someone who is this intimate about her finances in a public forum could be a little nutty.

Here's what might make me nuttier than a pecan log: I'm waiting for the spirit of Charles Chaplin to inform my investment strategy.

Mr. Chaplin, in 1928, hounded by the Internal Revenue Service for nonpayment of taxes, and at that time the record-owner paying the largest alimony in the history of the United States, had to sell off his stock to satisfy the government and his ex-wife and her lawyers. His market exposure was liquidated before the 1929 stock market crash.

Very few would consider being driven to near-insanity by harassment and having one's world-famous name dragged through mud a silver lining in a dark cloud. Certainly Mr. Chaplin didn't.

Me, I have a good marriage, I'm not world-famous, and I pay my taxes. But I see the dark clouds on the horizon. So does Jim Jubak, and so do other people.

I'm not going to sell out all my retirement funds, but my plan is for 5% gold, 15% cash, 15% international, 15% bonds, 35% domestic stock and 15% T-Bills, at the expense of S&P 500 funds, SPY, QQQQ and MVALX over the next 18-24 months. I don't have quite the short-term outlook many (i.e., boomers) have, but I'm not willing to have most of my $$$ go up in smoke to satisfy hedge fund managers, global banks, and retiring boomers. I got a little caught up in the dot-com craze, but when I heard my coworkers go on about how great EXDS, JNPR and WCOM were, I quietly started to move money into Vanguard index mutual funds. I can buy something at lows -- I wait for the NASDAQ to be at the number equal to the year of my birth, the Dow maybe five times that amount, and start buying.

Or maybe I'll go review Fundadvice.com

Article by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi

High-five from me if you read the whole thing.

I entered my numbers of sale price, utilities, itemized deductions, number of exemptions, home insurance, property tax, with a 3.25% annual appreciation for house values --- traditional rate -- in this spreadsheet and I come out ahead of a renter after nine years. If I had put down 20%, maybe even better.

I suspect anyone who bought at or under three times their household income, with a low enough fixed mortgage rate, would do better than renters after eight to nine years.

I'd feel sorry for the people who bought above that, but they probably have cash, or traded up, or inheritances. At any rate they would have little problem getting a chequing account or a no-doc loan, whereas I had hoops to jump through getting even a chequing account lately, and my documentation of 24-month rent history, money-in-the-bank asset sheet, collection of W-2s and 1040s...

Once in a while I will read an article about personal finance planning that leaves me queasy, proving that yes, I am not doing enough. Will I ever be doing enough? Is it too late to undo some mistakes: 'buying too much house', bringing home something with fur or feathers or fins, buying something with a motor, chips or a battery.

Henry K. Hebeler's articles have me wanting to make conservative plans, like taking a chainsaw to my husband's seldom-used "game table," listing books and my Wired collection on eBay, buying food in bulk and storing it, and investing in TIPs and iBonds. HKH can't take credit for inspiring me to rely less on credit cards and more on cash, the good folks at Bank of America have done that for me.

Credit cards as a tool: yeah, how many people tell you that your tools work better for you the longer you have them, and how many toolmakers reconfigure the tool so that it is more dangerous for you to use each year?

I asked my "if credit cards are so great, why do my terms worsen as my credit report and score improve?" question on an 'Ask a Credit Counselor' forum. I was told I could opt out of a change in my terms and conditions but my card usage would be frozen. I'm not sure if I want to do that yet. I viewed TransUnion's credit report for me and saw that aside from the credit union screening service for my account opening last month, Bank of America has been checking my report practically EVERY MONTH. "Oh come on, she's got to have used 31%+ of her credit somewhere! Keep looking for those 30-day lates!"

In September, the dude and I are cranking our 401(k) contributions to 15%, more for me I think. Whatever gets us out of AMT zone.

Edit: As per ~Dawn's request, the article "Doing Better Than Your [Inheriting from Middle-Class or Better Ancestors] Peers" can be found HERE. Enjoy!

I look forward to these like I look forward to my annual property assessments. This may be a broken record for some, but I have not yet encountered a credit card agreement amendment that IMPROVED TERMS FOR THE CONSUMER. I can reject the Minimum Finance Charge Amendment, but they're changing the monthly minimum payment -- I have no problem with that--and a 3% finance charge of the U.S. dollar amount of each overdraft transaction if one has a linked checking account.

Every time I get a credit card amendment from Bank of America, I suspect I did something to mess up my credit. It's a worse feeling than having a patrol car tail me for ten minutes, or hearing "can we talk?" from a manager. I think "I must be an awful customer, why do they do this to me? What can I do to get improving terms from the bank?"

Am I going to have to freeze or cut up my Bank of America card, as I did to the MBNA card three years earlier?

I wonder what it's like to wake up and go through a full day without a financial inferiority complex, or without feeling victimized. I toyed with the idea of writing something truly incendiary (elsewhere), but I've already shared a muted, matter-of-fact reporting here, and here I feel I have fellow soldiers, comrades-in-arms, you know? Fighting the good fight.

Unplanned expenses:
Husband wiped out on his scooter. Lost a mirror, and is bruised in a few spots.

**planned expense**: cats are overdue for their vet visits.

Hubby and I are pulling in overtime this week -- this should be good for windows, taxes, Roth IRA, and vacation contributions.

I was grumpy today: too much grey in the sky, too much wet, too many dark colours. I tried to be happy about the large raindrops that splashed on our windshield, my spouse passing his motorcycle skills test, the delicious taste of homemade apple-pear crisp, seeing a woman riding a scooter with a man riding pillion, seeing motorcyclists ride in the rain (I was too grouchy to take the bike out, so I had my spouse drive us on errands), my good haircut, nobody died or got hurt today, I didn't have to cook.

Oh wait, FINANCIAL BLESSINGS:
1. Hubby's salary got a COLA.
"Warm panda cola..."
2. (Best news of the day) 401(k) has new plan administrator. I just started contributing my 10% last week: no funds, just cash, not because "omg I have teh timing of a goddess and am keeping cash in the market" but because all the mutual funds offered by the prior plan administrator flippin' sucked cow patties: we're talking 5.75% front-load fees and Morningstar 1* "we wouldn't even suggest these funds to Idi Amin and Leona Helmsley" ratings. Sweet relief! Once the Roth and vacation are halfway funded, I'm ratcheting my contributions to the new 401(k) plan up to 20%.

Am trying to corral a list of good techno pop (synthpop) music from the 1980s (I'll take 1977-1987, frankly) to load onto the iPod for a sustained work week (50-60 hours). Any help any Generation X folk can provide would be appreciated. I have: Depeche Mode, Devo, Talk Talk, Undertones, Alphaville, OMD, New Order.

In Debt We Trust is a film written and produced by Danny Schechter, that explores the debt issue. I learned of it from reading Carolyn Baker's blog.

Golly, one could make a number of analogies comparing debt to drugs, couldn't one? Addiction, false needs, anxiety, false sense of security... someone has already made a comparison to the debt industry with organized crime.

I think I'd like to see this film. It would be helpful to have it spelled out to me that I'm not supposed to be saving money so I can afford needs and my own personal wants regardless of where my income is at for my own personal freedom and security, but rather that investors in banks and credit card companies are counting on me to get in trouble so they can buy $6,000 shower curtains and H3s.
If that's not the purpose of my being here, but rather to make the most of the opportunity to grow my income and financial security and do good works for those who need them, then it's key to shut out most of the MSM and any promotions/propaganda/advertising. I'm in it for freedom, not for servitude to Bank of America.
Blogs Chart Slog Out of Debt -- NPR February 2007 story

Now, I can pretty much predict this is going to be about direct stock investing, dividend reinvestment plans, ShareBuilder, shoestring investing. I also know I can take a dozen books on this theme out of the library, or visit a dozen websites.

Why then am I paying $49, plus a $15 Discover U fee?

Because authors and community educators Bobbi and Eric Christensen are teaching the class, as I found out on this website. Don't let the year on the page fool you -- a quick check of DiscoverU tells me it's actually 2007 they're offering the class.
It'll also be neat to find people who have investment plans but a typical, average for the area income, people I'd have more in common with. My current stock taxable accounts are worth $318. I should grow them, but emergencies and distractions have kept me on the rung of rebuilding our cash cache. I've been bad about keeping to my goals because they're unrealistic, and no one is holding me accountable. Maybe I'll find an investment buddy I can share research activities with at the class.

This topic is regenerated every few months on the forums. I see lots of Dave Ramsey cheerers, and Suze Orman fans, and Robert Kiyosaki followers. I wonder if it's the style, method of exposure, appearance, or tone of these celebrities that garner them fans. If people profit from taking these celebrities' advice, well, their regard and acclaim has been earned.

Tone and style go a long way with me. Mary Hunt's advice may be sound, and her superhuman accomplishment to rescue her family from her disastrous shopaholic "I'm entitled" former habits certainly gives her accreditation as an expert, but her writing style is reminiscent of a screeching harpy, or someone who scrapes her fingernails on a blackboard to get people to pay attention. I like reading Andrew Tobias. No, he doesn't have a radio show. Neither does he host PBS specials or sell FICO products. He doesn't create games or books for kids based on his oft-updated bestseller: The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need.

I forget how I first learned of him but it was close to ten years ago. He used to write daily columns for Ameritrade, then he went solo. His situation is not similar to mine, but his jocular style is so easy to read, and it's not in the "I am a multimillionaire, I know more than you peon, so listen up! If you bought my cassette or signed up for my cruise, you'd..." style -- that is, he's not in sales. Orman, Kiyosaki, and Ramsey all came from sales backgrounds. Investors are attracted to strong, confident, unhedged opinions. Even though the perverse nature of the stock market precludes definitive, unconditional advice, investors want something conclusive to hang their hat on. Television accommodates big time. Investors want to hear advisors with conviction because confidence breeds confidence.

Andrew Tobias prefaces one chapter with Finley Peter Dunne's quip "Trust nobody, but cut the cards." Tobias has gone to Harvard Business School. The advice is sound and sensible, and the style subdued. I can imagine him on a couch or a leather chair, having coffee, relaxed and letting go with the advice. In one 2002 edition of TOIGYEN, he wrote "I do this because I am a candyass." And I thought -- yeah, that's me! A Candyass! A Proud Candyass! Li'l Miss "I NEED SECURITY BEFORE I NEED GROWTH." Have I profited from his advice? I don't know for sure. I do follow some of his advice: buy in bulk when I can, put at least 10% of my income in investments supposedly generating 7% on average, index funds take less work and smaller expense ratios, don't invest in anything I don't understand. Trust everybody, but cut the cards. The chances for success or failure are equal in situations with and without malicious intent.

My choice of financial journalist/expert to read says a lot about me. Andrew Tobias will not play Scrabble with me, although I hear he likes to play online. And he does answer my e-mails, even when I tell him he doesn't have to -- I have respect for his time. He's even published part of my letter. I won't reprint it here: it's not financial.

I also like Larry Roth, for advice on how to retire early and be comfortable without having first gone to Harvard Business School, and how to save your money from legislators who don't believe in your personal rights and freedoms.

I was waiting for this...

Fortunately it still looks like we'll both be employed for the next year, and kindergarten is promising to be lighter on our pocketbooks than $910/month preschool. Another goal could be to save six months' mortgage expenses somewhere outside retirement.

Does anyone know what happens to privately owned mortgage lenders, like regional thrifts, who aren't dabbling in the subprime market when this happens? They'll probably have to tighten their lending standards too, but what else? They're not publicly traded.

I wonder if CDs, gold, and treasury notes and bonds are the way to accumulate cash in taxable accounts so as to pay off mortgage early. I know, "it's risky and bad planning to have too much of your net wo... Right now 49% of our net worth is tied into our principal residence. I feel bound: banks have taught me not to think I can profit i them, stocks are manipulated, bonds might be a sucker's game if they're issued by a debtor nation... what else is there to invest in?

I wonder how else I and my husband could protect our family from this. I wonder why people and companies never ever pay attention to economic cycles and history, or know what follows a boom. Have so few people ever rode a rollercoaster? Ever wonder if bank execs binge and purge or do yo-yo dieting the way they yo-yo mortgage lending requirements?

Thanks all for your responses and commiseration to "when are you having another kid?"

I went on a spree of sorts with the family: we bought a battery tender to work with both our scooters, 20% off. We enjoy supporting our local motorcycle accessories shop: they make shopping great. Received free faceshield cleaner.
Bought at JC Penney a twin comforter (down alternative) for the boy, as we had only hand-me-down blankets, which made me think that if any visitors saw his room, they'd be calling Child Protective Services ("I'm serious! the blankets don't match! they're older than he is!") and a 330-thread replacement set of sheets for our bed, both for slightly less than 50% the regular price.

The frugal thing to do would be to NOT buy the Battery Tender, but juicing up the bike with the car isn't always a viable option, and doesn't restore the battery beyond 80% power. That's cheaper than buying a battery every twelve-eighteen months though. I dislike the backfire of the idea that scooters will save money: I've spent money on boots, helmet, super-reflective vest, helmet halo, battery tender, maintenance. No modifications for aesthetics or warmth. At least I vanquished the temptation to buy an extra set of cold weather gloves ("if you ride for two hours in temps below 50F your hands will get cold no matter what!" said my expert friend).

I learned through my scooter battery experience that although every rider asserts 'it's always the battery' everyone has a different idea of solving the problem. Buy another battery. Check the fluid. Take it in for inspection. Jump it with a car and ride around for two hours. Buy a battery charger. I paid most attention to the Sound Rider! guy who said that scoots like mine don't like the cold, and yes it was 32F the day my scooter said 'hell no! You can't make me go!', so maybe the cold weather got it down.

Then we ate at a neighbourhood Italian comfort food restaurant with organic food. No wine. Kid was bratty-tired, but thankfully the restaurant had a corner of toys and amusements for the children six and under, so despite our limited patience with our squirmy whiny bundle of joy (yes we made absolutely sure he wasn't bothering the other patrons--we may be parents but we are conscientious and not oblivious), we'll be coming back.

Tomorrow I hope to earn six hours' overtime.

Eventually we'll sift through our linens and donate the excess: maybe three lucky homeless people out of over two thousand will have an extra layer to protect them from the elements.

My spouse did not receive WARN (Worker Asset Reduction Notice), either in writing or by telephone, so he's still employed. I guess that's good: he has excellent benefits and can continue to work at home at a schedule that accommodates our household. Too bad he has work pressures. His company's execs are creaming themselves talking of outsourcing and reduction in force. Except outsourcing of executives. Interesting how that works.

Mindboggling.

Answer: "One's all I need to be a parent. One's all I can comfortably afford."

"Why? Do you and your husband work at McDonald's?"

"Daycare is $900 a month."

I don't really feel like saying we can't afford to live here on my husband's income, nor do I feel like explaining that he doesn't feel any impetus to earn more money, or that I earn in any given month 80-120% of what he earns: being a single wage-earner family would be a big drop. I usually shoot back: "are you going to pay for it?"

Usually the people who ask me why I don't have more children are the people who gripe about families breeding more than they need to/can afford. Or are from countries with subsidized daycare. Or are in their sixties.

Before interest-only and option ARMs, before thirty-year mortgages, before subprime credit card companies like Providian and Aspire, even before Social Security, Americans had different ideas about saving, thrift, debt and credit.

Myvesta.org presents for our viewing pleasure ephemeral films.

Also, from Get Rich Slowly see a link to CNN Money's Prioritizer tool. My five money priorities:
1. Save 10% of income for retirement, as Social Security's supposed to be wiped out at 2042.
2. Save for new windows for house.
3. Save $3600 for summer vacation.
4. Save for new roof for house.
5. Save 30% for replacement car downpayment.

I recorded two spreadsheets, one for what I could expect if social security were still around for me (HAHAHAHAHAHA) and one if it weren't. I'm slightly behind in the second scenario, expecting to live on 52% of our current income (no daycare, no mortgage, that combination is 48% of our expenses).

I found a local debt blog and am tempted to invite the woman to our debt support group meeting tomorrow. So refreshing to find Seattleites who save and live on their earned income.

I was feeling all punk and angry about my $169 natural gas bill in January -- I know, get the film for the windows, feel for drafts, do an energy audit, I do read the blog comments -- but that's a trifle compared to a $480 gas bill like the author of Debt in Seattle has. She has three little ones. I have one little one. I'm trying to teach him to suck it up and be Canadian about colder temperatures. "When I was your age I had a SNOWSUIT! You've never had one! It got so cold out some days we had to stay indoors." Ah yes, memories of ice fishing, snowshoeing, and skating on frozen-over lakes: REAL WINTER.

I saw on Heating Degree Days the months and their temperatures' differences from a set temperature. There's some ratio calculated where the fewer days with temperatures below 65 degrees, the warmer it is. Degree Days also indicate possible explanations for not seeing predicted savings from weatherization work. With an energy rate increase and cold weather and power outages from a bad winter, what would make me expect savings from keeping the thermostat at 58F at night and 64F during the day?

I tend to forget that my gas bill comes to $15 in the summer months.

Eight windows, two of them very large (living room). Guessing $375 - $500 for each window, plus tax, plus 15% for contingencies: $5000.00. Somehow I sense it'll be much more. The two windows in our bedroom cost $2000.

I can risk $6000 from the HELOC.
Told Lord and Master I'd feel better with $5000 in savings (not locked up in CDs), and having the tax bill paid prior. I want at least one-third of the cost available in cash before going forward with the work.

low U-factor, under 0.35
high solar heat gain coefficient
argon gas fill

west windows: three
east window: one
-- SHGC lower than 0.55

south windows: two
-- SHGC high
-- U-factor under 0.35

I don't know how to get technical information from the manufacturers' websites: I'm looking at Marvin, Lindal and Andersen.

Whew. It won't reach my brokerage until next week, but still, there's something celebratory about squeezing in that last payment.

An oops though, I've contributed $3250 already. Perhaps the brokerage'll move $150 to the 2007 contribution.

Ten months at $400/month for Roth IRA 2007 contribution.

I bought a $500 CD with a $500/month "add-to" feature. In retrospect I think this might be a bit much. Then again, it depends on what the end expenditure will be: windows, a car, vacation...

Betweem Two Rivers Scooter Calculatorl allows me to get a better idea of what impact my scooter use has on the environment and the economy.

Here's some of the result:

you burn 107.14 gallons of fuel in your Yamaha Majesty each year, and that amount of fuel costs you $277.50. In your other vehicles you burn 88.89 gallons of fuel, which cost you $230.22.

If you did not have your bike, you would be forced to put 10,000.00 miles on your other vehicle each year. This would cost you $959.26 in fuel charges each year. Having your bike saves you $298.06 in fuel costs each year.

If you did not use your bike, you would burn 370.37 gallons of fuel, but with your bike you only burn 255.29 gallons of gas each year. Therefore, using your bike conserves 115.08 gallons of gas each year. Translated into barrels of oil, that represents 5.48 barrels of oil that did not need to be refined for the gas you used.

If 1,847,820 people in this country rode a scooter like you, an entire day's worth of oil imports into this country would not be required, resulting in more than $500 million dollars that the country would not need to devote towards foreign oil purchases.

The goal for the planet is to reduce our energy use by 80% over four decades. This is a decent start. Of course, if I rode a smaller scooter or a bicycle, the savings would be greater.

I also had a no-spend day.

There's a house on our street, 3 bdr, 8520 sq ft lot, 4 bedrooms and a den (converted from a basement downstairs) that has been on the market for five months. The flipper bought in August at $380K, spent eight weeks on DIY remodeling, then put it on the market at $549,000, which made my husband and me laugh mightily. Two months later it went to $540K. Woo woo! In January the seller priced it at $519K. Everytime I see some interested party check out the house I want to yell out "Bid $479K!"

Now it's at $499,995. We're looking at this downward slide of expectations as a comedy moment. I value my house at $368K (Zillow says $399, OFHEO says $416) and it's not that much different. Instead of going for $xxx950 or $xxx900 or $xxx500. Gotta reach that magic $500K! The problem? Old construction in our area doesn't sell for more than $450K. He might get $480K for it, I think. Someone did a renovation on a larger house and it's stood on the market yet unsold for a full year.

But what's congesting the market I think are flippers competing with each other in neighbourhoods they don't understand. It's good to know rich morons aren't moving into our street.

Today I start writing down everything I spend money on.

It feels good to have a month's planned expenditures in a chequing account.

Yesterday I told the lads that we are scrimping $500/month to be set aside for the purchase of a recent vintage automobile. Our car is now exactly at 130,000 mi. We've owned it for nine years. Contrary to my born-again "green" attitude, I am considering, among the Toyota Prius, a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Passat 3.6, or a BMW 325i, as we have several low-fuel or no-fuel commuting options: carpool, flexcar, motorscooter, bus, bicycle. I want an automobile only because we do get foul weather on occasion--it snowed here today--and I have a small child who justly does not feel safe riding behind us on our scooters, and there are times I tote more than just drycleaning/librarybooks/3bagsgroceries. I'm not going to keel over and die in a messy pool of guilt because my car gets only 24 mpg when our other self-commandeered options get 80 mpg and 55 mpg and more use out of them -- we don't drive our kid to many places other than friends' birthday parties, appointments outside the city, or roadtrips.

My husband was asked why we don't have two cars. Since 2001 we've been bouncing around from having one to two cars in our driveway: I don't really buy cars, I just 'rent them' or 'maintain them' while their owners are overseas. They're expensive to insure, feed, park and maintain.Driving is actually more pleasant now, because I don't have that defensive "everybody hates me and my fuel efficient freedom, I must protect myself from jealous killers who pretend to be oblivious with their Blackberries and cellphones" mantra behind the wheel that I do on my scooter.

Today also in earnest I start planning for what could be the first and last major roadtrip we take as a family this summer: a cruise down as much of Highway 101 as we can. I'm budgeting $3400 for twelve days. It'll be like Steinbeck's 'Travels with Charley.'

I will buy the Consumer Reports April Auto issue, or look at it in the library.

I am $900 away from maximizing my Roth IRA contribution for 2006.

I ordered seed catalogues from Landreth, Seeds of Change, Territorial Seeds, Abundant Life, and Heirloom Seeds. I saw an article on MotherEarthLiving.com about the ten best beginner crops and really just want to stick to herbs and a handful of vegetables: green leafy sturdy varieties; tomatoes if I can.

My wackiness for this week is 'how to apportion out the overage to crawl toward my individual savings goals.' Better than last week's quarterly neurosis of 'I am going to live my life in poverty'. My husband said I should be happy that I fared better than my parents but gee, isn't faring better than dysfunctional high school dropouts who spent most of their lives in the poverty line a low expectation?

I saw that the energy credit for windows tops out at $200. Not quite the heftiness of the solar energy credit. I know I've posted before about the question of energy savings using solar energy. Now, I am concentrating on windows. We'd been wanting to finish up our windows replacement from two years ago.

I must remember that if I sink because of deflating home equity and mutual fund NAVs, so too do my friends and associates.