We Beat Debt, not to be confused with Web Eat Debt.

It's a new blog of inspirational stories from people who've slain their personal debt monsters.

From its welcome page:

"What we need is a good dose of inspiration and what better than real-life stories of folks who climbed their way out of the debt quagmire! We also love a good success story, it makes us all warm and fuzzy inside.

Apart from personal stories, we will also focus on personal finance tips and tricks and the occasional book review."

Awesome. I am aware that I may sound seditious by rooting for people to overcome personal consumer debt, because "an educated, healthy and confident populace is more difficult to govern," so remember that I'm risking deportation through the seditious activity of encouraging the people to beat debt.

I give up on doing my taxes. I made a boo-boo on the number of credits for the Child Tax Credit and paid the IRS $421.04 this month for my mistake. Oh well. My mistake, and I have the money in my account. I do have a CPA lined up to do my 2006 taxes.

I'm reading Peter D. Schiff's Crash Proof-- a timely read. The only sale I made in the July 26 meltdown was QQQQ, and that was mostly because I need to limit my domestic exposure, and Tim Middleton of MSN Money had sold his. I was, weeks earlier, on a sloughing mission for domestic large-caps anyway. I'll probably do some light trading and messing around in my accounts and limit the domestic exposure.

Even though he is an expert I don't agree with everything Schiff says. I agree with him that plenty of smart, sophisticated, well-educated, financial experts got taken in by Enron. I was on his side when I saw the Summer 2006 Fox News bit where some real estate bulls loudly laughed and talked over him while he stated what was happening and what would happen to the housing market. I'm glad I didn't get taken in by ENR. I did get taken in by some local public companies in the heady 1998-2000 era: so much for paying attention to balance sheets and fundamentals!

About the economy I think Schiff is 95% correct, but I do not think I will be leveraging the equity in my home to get an 8% return elsewhere, as he recommends. I like my fixed 5% mortgage. It helped us during the daycare years. I might refinance if I were completely set on renting out the house.

Chapter 8 and beyond he advertises his firm Euro Pacific Capital. He conveniently glosses over index funds and ETFs, except when he discusses Gold ETFs. Another reason I haven't been selling much is because I have lots of money tied up in Vanguard value or international (value) mutual funds. If it's giving me a hedge against inflation or a high dividend, it's earning a spot in my portfolio.

I have been buying gold, even before the creepy dream I had about my dead mother reaching over me while I was in bed to get to my night table's drawer. She wanted her [insert dollar value of] gold jewellery and I said "I don't keep that stuff in the house, for insurance purposes."

My fact-finding mission, when I return from vacation, will be if my discount brokerage allows me to trade on foreign exchanges. I know the safety of sovereign foreign countries: I don't know how the housing bubble, stealth inflation and excess spending on what looks to be a futile endeavour is good for this country. And for some reason the people who've lived here much longer than I do don't or won't tell me how. I see too many parallels between what's going on now and the Reagan-era "we can defeat Soviet Communism by a spending race! Who ever goes bankrupt first loses!"

Invest in what you know. The problem is you don't really know what's going to happen, and Heaven help you if you have to rely on dreams about dead people to inform your investment strategy.

Like the good parent I am, I wrote a check out to my child's preschool, with even more satisfaction than usual because it would be THE LAST CHECK EVER!
Too bad they don't have daycare check burning parties like they have mortgage burning parties. I bet what I paid in daycare is more than what "All in the Family"'s Archie and Edith Bunker paid for their mortgage.

I dropped the check in the box outside the administrator's office. "Is this a tuition check for August?" she asked.

"Yes. We're going away on vacation this weekend, so I thought I'd get this done with."

"You paid a deposit already," she said, as she reached into the box, withdrew my envelope and returned it to me.

Great! Because with the $1084 BoA Visa bill (hotel deposits), and the mortgage, and the car insurance, and the $600 in cash spending (parking, gas, laundry), I would otherwise have $24 in my checking account if that daycare check were to be accepted.

I have postponed my emergency fund for far too long, using as crutches a home equity line of credit equal to six months' "Must-Haves" (actually unused as of yet, but wait until next month), unemployment benefits, and retirement accounts. We figured that if we started paying down the mortgage, we could maintain a comfortable 55% equity cushion and having an HELOC that was only 6% of the assessed value of the house. And we were still playing retirement catchup: as long the administration spends on projects we don't approve of, and we're getting employer matches, it makes sense to us to shove as much away in tax-efficient retirement funds as possible. 15% and 30% returns (our employer matches) sure
beat the pants off a 1.75% return from a savings account.

New plan with the salaries and the savings: now that our vacation is 18% paid for, and we have four weeks to cough up the other 82% interest-free, we can have a happy time knowing that the cash is there in our account.

The vacation and the windows would nearly clear us out, though. Maybe we should do 90 or 180 days same as cash on the windows. Even if I borrow on the windows I'm getting a 115% return there (replacement wood windows cost is slightly lower than the value they add to our PNW home) with the tax credits.

And maybe the 20% savings could be cut up as follows:
4% - Mortgage
4% - Home Maintenance (including paying back the rest of the windows costs)
4% - Emergency Fund
4% - Replacement Vehicle
4% - Gold and silver

P.S. Why is it that, of the set of Yahoo! Finance content providers, only Laura Rowley makes sense? I can't believe Messrs. Kiyosaki and Stein.

1. Try to teach my son how to tie his shoes.
2. Try to get him to complete his toilet: limit to three squares of paper, flush, put down lid, wash hands, dry hands.
3. Budget: going from $4954/month to $4248/month is going to be SWEET!! I've calculated my budget in the following way: went to census.gov (Microsoft Excel worksheet) to pull average annual expenditures of consumer units in the West in 2003, multiplied that by 1.24 for where I live to get Amount B, multiplied Amount B by 0.77 to get Desired Amount C in most categories except gas, healthcare and housing, and divided Desired Amount C for our monthly budget goal.
Desired Amount C for fuel gas and oil = 0.6 of what West consumer units are paying;
Desired Amount C for healthcare = 0.64 of what West consumer units are paying
Desired Amount C for housing = exactly what average West consumer units are paying.

It's unsettling to see that even in 2003, the average amount spent on shelter per consumer unit was only $15371/year. We paid (PITI) $16620. Mind you, we refinanced into a 20-year mortgage.

And it's interesting to note that what people pay for electricity is what we pay for natural gas, and what people pay for natural gas is what we pay for electricity. Water is much more expensive in Seattle, but that's bundled with sewer and recycling of yard waste and consumer packages.

Reference Link: Happy Family on the Road to Depletion

The Lord and Master:
V by Thomas Pynchon
Twilightwatch by some Russian dude

The Little One:
Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by Ian Fleming
The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater

Me:
The Rabbit Angstrom novels by John Updike
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Just an Ordinary Day by Shirley Jackson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

You might ask "where are you going to find the time to read?" In plotting our vacation time I find that there are some evenings I can spend doing laundry (fun fun) and flicking through the pages of a book. I might spend two or three hours a driving day playing with the boy in the backseat, two or three hours doing driving duty, and two hours reading to myself.

I'm copying some Old Time Radio recordings to CD for our enjoyment on the road: The Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, the Marx Brothers, and Clark Gable in "The Buccaneer," along with some Mercury Theater stuff (the little one likes Orson Welles).

We’ve got to save more! by Henry K. (Bud) Hebeler

Alternative Ideas on the Best Ways to Save Money from PassionSaving.com

Stock Valuation and Predicting Stock Returns from PassionSaving.com

'Prepare to be surrounded by lots of poor people'
Oh big deal. I spent most of my childhood and half my adulthoood being poor. Sure, I'm emotionally scarred from the instability of moving around for cheaper rents and echoes of scarcity programming, and have a lifelong self-esteem problem from being jeered at for wearing the same clothes day after day in elementary school, and have a security problem from being orphaned by poor people at a young age, the rapid technology shift of this grand nation, and not quite adjusting to the ideology of an adopted country. But at least I know how the poor feel. I am lucky that I was poor in a country that believes in a social safety net. If you subscribe to a religion or philosophy that mandates stewardship and acts of charity, you'll be happy to know there will be ample opportunity to do good works.

Wallet Buddy from new american dream.

Taking the bite out of organic

I'm terribly impatient and want everything right now. I want my emergency fund right now. I want to be able to make home improvements without relying on a home equity line of credit--we could use credit cards, yes, or I want us to be making 15% contributions to our retirement. I want my windows paid for in cash. But I can't have them all at once.


I read a compilation of advice on Get Rich Slowly and wish I believed I can singlehandedly manage spending and finances in my house to manage everything else plus accelerate my mortgage.

I wish I had enough disposable income to take care of stocks, IRA, taxes, home improvement, replacement roof, replacement vehicle, gold, silver, vacation, landscaping/gardening, window. These are lofty goals and planned for, never mind the "but lightning might strike!" emergency fund I'm supposed to have.

If I could prioritize these by likelihood:
1. Windows contract is signed.
2. Vacation reservations for car and hotel are made.
3. Very likely to be stuck with Alternate Minimum Tax.
4. Just because Seattle seems to be the last "hot market", it does not mean that current house values will last. My goal is to always have at least 55% equity in my home.
5. As long as home heating bills grow each year, I know I am not doing all I can to reduce costs.

I have learned about Nalgene, a hard bottle for toting water around, and from "Cheaper than Dirt," excellent quality sleeping bags to keep out the chill.

Mostly I wish I had patience to get the emergency fund in place and the IRAs funded prior to accelerating the mortgage.

Income: $1830 every two weeks (joint; spouse nets $1830 every two weeks on his own)

IRA: $2500 (is now $33,500)
401(k): $8000 (is now $47,100)
Stocks: $1800 (now $1800)

Debts:
Car $14000 (paid off one year later)
Citibank $750 (long gone, cancelled)
Discover $900 (long gone, cancelled)

Budget:
Gas $38 (yes! for the month! Which is what I now pay for my scooter, per month)
Entertainment: $60 (twice that now w/tot)
Clothes: $160 (still)
Food: $280 (twice that now w/tot)
Rent: $250 (my half; rent was $535/mo.)
IRA: $100 (four times that much now)
401(k): $340 ($440 now)

I'm reading American Mania by Peter C. Whybrow, a neuropsychiatrist at UCLA who offers an interesting hypothesis about the allele for exploration and risktaking that is predominant in immigrants to this country.

It's occurred to me I am probably more interested in comfort and security than ostentatiousness and opulence. Despite having that risk-taking and exploratory allele. And I have to remember that, if I choose to run back to the homeland with my tail between my legs ("I couldn't do it! I couldn't buy a Mountaineer and a house five times my household income! I couldn't day-trade WCOM and ENR and JNPR! I couldn't see the value in Beanie Babies and the Macarena and Martha Stewart and Tom Hanks!"), I did manage to lure a man who does not share my genetic makeup (only because a Congregationalist preacher was forced into exile 375 years ago is my man here in the New World) to go 2,000 miles from his birthplace.

I think the market is exhibiting bipolar behaviour. Witness the Dow's volatility of late. Read how fund managers and federal economists insist everything's going great as long as you don't include debt, or try to add food, energy and housing costs to the consumer price index. Or the U.S. is in some sort of manic economic phase. I also believe that revolutions come from the masses being starved and deprived into a fight-or-flight point, and at some point the war isn't going to be between the left and the right (it really isn't: check how the left have been in cahoots or capitulating to the administration -- most people who've been polled about Congress's activity as of late are aware there's no real opposition between the left and the right when it comes to corporate sponsorship of legislators) but between the old fighting for their benefits and the young fighting for their livelihood, and the rich fighting for their continued way of life and the poor fighting for the dreams they've been promised and denied. I don't know where I am here... I'm neither young nor old, and I fight for my benefits and my livelihood simultaneously; I suppose because my net worth is above $17,800 I fall on the rich side, but somehow with a six-digit debt and a lack of the outward success markers, I don't perceive myself as such. No one's smashing my windows to get at my books or my software or my Value Village clothing.

I don't want to get involved in class warfare nor age warfare, although as the fiscal squeeze is applied to the bottom 80% of us, I can see the 80% turning inwardly hostile. Remember that with the Rodney King verdict Asian communities' storefronts in Los Angeles were vandalized and torched, although it'd be tough to argue that the first-generation Asian-Americans have been at cause for 300 years of slavery and oppression for the African-American people. If landed immigrants are going to be the first scapegoats and victims, well, then that's my cue to scram, right?

I want a community lifeboat of those who live creatively and keep an eye out for looming danger. I hope that I can find it here without having to return home, and I'm giving myself 16 months to find and belong to such a lifeboat here before retreating for good to the Motherland. This country has produced Duane Elgin, Vicki Robin, Janet Luhrs and Bill McKibben -- maybe there's a growing community of people who are poised for a frugal environment and know what the markers of wealth will be (collateral for local economic trade, health, farming assets).

I've heard it said it costs a company ten times more to attract a new customer (to replace a lost one) than to retain a customer.

This doesn't work for banks, credit card companies or discount brokerages, judging from my experience. If you doesn't bring in enough fees, they'll cut you loose.

What companies is the word-of-mouth indeed true for? What companies do you give good word-of-mouth business to, without reward of financial kickbacks or discounts? Of the companies listed in MSN's Ten Worst for Customer Service (AOL, Comcast, Sprint, DirecTV, Home Depot et cetera), how many did you dump or diss? What other companies have you dumped or dissed? I know I won't use many of those companies that give poor customer service.

Sprint I use because of the 30% discount and free phone but it made my and my husband's teeth itch when we received sales calls from Sprint people offering to "save us money and offer us a free phone" ("but I already have one! why would I need another, eight months into an existing 24-month contract? Are you suggesting the phones break down early?") but somehow would NOT commit to retaining or increasing our 30% discount. So how exactly are they planning to save us money?

Do you think word-of-mouth is especially powerful? I know among my coworkers we've learned to rely on it. I've given leads to trustworthy auto repair places, and to pasture-fed beef farms.

yet so appropriate for my life.

1. I had my virtual hand slapped for making a change that I misinterpreted as okay (I announced a problem, the recipient said it would be nice if a solution could be found, I offered my change as a solution, and the recipient said 'nice.' 'Nice' is not an explicit 'go ahead and do this' message, I now know and understand. "Communication Breakdown."

2. My Majesty is in the shop for safety recalls, so I'll bus it for awhile. No biggie. "Commuting Breakdown."

3. I got the date wrong on a film noir event, and left work early, on the same date I had an extended lunch across the lake. I got very little work done in a crunchtime. "Communication Breakdown."

4. I've been in a ridiculous e-mail volley about "side salads" for an event luncheon. I was forwarded a link to a restaurant's online menu, with the request that I put my order in ahead of time. I do so. The response is that I have to specify the types of salads. No salad choices are within the e-mail response, so I look at the salad page of the menu and make an order. The second response tells me that my salad is considered a meal in itself and I should choose something else. I'm confused because the price and size of the salad I chose was similar to the prices and sizes of the other salads available on the page. I worry that if I choose another salad I will get a third response telling me to pick another salad. No one should have to go through "what's my side salad" guessing games. "Communication Breakdown."

I'll be happy to get off the road for awhile -- it'll allow me to spend some time on my spouse's scooter, mastering acceleration through a curve and countersteering, and I will save six dollars in gas by not having it for three days! Aggressive drivers have been honking at me because I've been signalling and moving at an accelerated pace in a space (200 ft or larger) between them and the vehicle in front, stopping them from accelerating to their comfort point of three feet behind another vehicle. I don't need to invite rage that way, through assessing 250 ft is adequate space for my scooter, wearing my ultravisible yellow jacket, understanding my acceleration power, and signalling with my lights. I could try also signalling with my hand at the same time, or I could use my ESP to divine if they are hotheads, or I could listen to their acceleration, the "I am an aggressive jerk" birdcall.

5. At the lunch I was at yesterday, I brought my motorcycle jacket because my trunk was already full with my bag, boots, helmet and pants. I was dressed in a nice dress and heels so the motorcycle jacket was anomalous and attention-getting. The financial advisor who sponsored the luncheon I attended marvelled at my bravery to ride over, considering I was pregnant.

I am not pregnant. One big blow to the body image.

So I'm looking at possible dietary and allergy causes for a multitude of complaints: cold hands and feet, anxiety, depression, pessimism, social avoidance. And now I'm trying spirulina, a blue/green algae "superfood" to help balance my blood sugar.

Can you imagine being addicted to lattes, breves, coffee with sugar and milk, and learning that you're allergic to sugar and possibly milk?

I haven't had coffee at work yet today. I've had a lunch with vitamins and two helpings of spirulina.

The good news is that my state population is reducing its gasoline consumption. In fact, not since 1968 has it been the gas consumption per capita been this low: 7.9 gallons a week reported in 2006.

It's ironic that I came across this news item the morning after I did a marathon search and retrieval for Road Tunes to take with us. I feel a little guilty, but then again, what about the entertainers using up fuel and energy to bring "Live Earth" to the masses? Although my vacation is certainly more selfish. I don't want to have many regrets post August about places I didn't see or trips I didn't take. Besides, we went on two coastal trips in an air-conditioned Cadillac in an age of inflation and gas sanctions, so I want my son to live the good part of that for two weeks: "Here's what it's like to plant your toes in Redondo Beach. This is an observatory. This is an homage to excess. This is the country's finest martini---"well maybe not the martini part for the boy.

It does seem to me that we (I speak of my family only) are actually stepping up our gas usage: I'm in the car more frequently, but we're all in the car 80% of the time. I think for zoo visits or family events, my family should be going by bus as often as possible: we have only three months of free ridership for our boy.

I also have started a survival budget worksheet, with which I plan to apportion cyclically funds for things like landscaping, home energy, new roof, replacement car, gold, silver, and mortgage payoff.

I'm canvassing, informally, for good American literature to read on the road. Maybe to kill time in motel laundry facilities, or when somebody has a bathroom break, or in a line to visit the Mystery Spot or at Pink's. Here is my list of candidates so far:
Rabbit, Run -- John Updike
American Pastoral -- Philip Roth
The Penderwicks -- Jeanne Birdsall
Book of Common Prayer -- Joan Didion
Ishmael -- Daniel Quinn
The Public Burning -- Robert Coover
The Burnt Orange Heresy -- Charles Ray Willeford
Pale Fire -- Vladimir Nabokov

and one piece of British Literature:
Middlemarch -- George Eliot, simply because my Virgo friends have read it and I have not.

Feel free to add your suggestions.

I attended a local community group that is aware of the threat of dwindling global oil supply. I have been aware for close to a year, but kept 'blipping out' on the monthly meetings.

It was very good to be there -- I felt welcome, and not crazy.
What can I do to prepare myself and my family?
1. Get out of debt. Eliminate credit card debt first.
2. Imagine your house during a rolling blackout. How could you make it more livable?
-- I think "imagine your house with no power in December" and "imagine reducing your oil and gas consumption by 80% over the next five years."
3. Keep some clean water and non-perishable food around the house.
4. Keep a week’s worth of cash in the house.
5. Get to know your neighbours. Make friends with them.
6. Find a way to use mass transit, or, consider moving closer to work. -- DONE
7. Buy a share in Community Supported Agriculture. -- DONE
8. Learn how to save, store and repair things instead of throwing them away.
9. Consider learning how to garden organically and save rainwater--IN PROGRESS
10. Keep a year's worth of mortgage payments in the bank.

And really, even if things don't get that bad, or an asteroid comes and knocks us out of our orbit, is it so wrong to do any of the above?

We're catching up on housework, buying firecrackers, going out with a close family friend for Chinese, then catching "Duck Soup!" at a cinema. Good times!

Edit: even better times! They had a giveaway at our screening -- a DVD copy of the 1934 film "The Thin Man" -- my favourite film ever, and I won the skill-testing question: "What was the Marx Brothers' father's nickname?"

Even more relevant to the blog, I have a rental copy of Danny Schecter's documentary "In Debt We Trust!"

Blog: http://www.newsdissector.com/idwt/

Did you know that the American Revolution was largely driven by US planners heavily in debt to European banks under onerous terms?

When you begin investigating the 2008 presidential candidates, go to opensecrets.org and check out what credit card companies and national banks are funding which runners.

Go to TouchGraph Google Browser

1. Make sure you have the latest version of Java, Java 1.5
2. Type in your search keywords or a URL, and press "Graph it!"
3. Say "Run" when asked "Do you want to trust the signed applet?"
4. Disable popup blockers to allow launching websites.

Input SavingAdvice.com in the address field, then click "Graph it!" button. You see some thematically connected blogs, plus the Website for Bank of America (hahahahaha!)

This vacation is getting much pricier than anticipated. I don't know why I thought we could get a clean, quiet space with hot water and roomy beds on the coast for anything less than $150 US.
Oh yeah, because I haven't been on a real vacation in three years, and that one was in the comparatively inexpensive southern states (MS and LA) and Missouri.

Credit Card #1: hotels
Credit Card #2: meals and tours
Cash: gas, snacks and incidentals

This vacation is going to soak us. I should get into the mindset of a photojournalist. We'll look at foreclosure-plagued communities, see aquariums, visit the playgrounds of the wealthy, get some sun, dip our toes in the ocean... hey wait, this is beginning to sound like home...

Ahem. Let me start over.

This vacation is going to be great. We'll drive several scenic highways, go where Charlie Chaplin used to live and work and eat, ride a miniature train, enjoy local hospitality and food, listen to some great stories, drive with the top down, meet longlost friends, visit museums, watch silent movies, go on tours, stop at graveyards, romp in large parks.

I think the overtime is going to start this week. Which is fine, because I want to feel I DESERVE a vacation, instead of having work BE a vacation. "Whee--I get to ride my motorcycle on a sunny morning in light traffic, lunch with friends and blog and surf the net!" If one week of overtime is going to yield me the cost of a one-night stay in a four-star hotel in San Francisco, so be it.

Tonight, I call to book a cat sitter and to cancel a reservation at a suspiciously inexpensive SF hotel. And I book the Hearst Castle tour, and possibly a dinner date at a landmark historic Hollywood restaurant.