The good news is that I'm 10% up over 2006's year-end. I lost the December 2007 data when my iPod was accidentally reformatted. More good news: I have a positive net worth.

My pessimistic estimate is that my net worth will go down by 7.9%, even though I will do my best to save 25% of our gross income in retirement funds, HELOC repayment, mortgage prepayment, and something my inner doomsayer is calling "Seattle Skedaddle." Gash and gollars.

I've identified six charities and non-profits, two non-profit advocacy groups and four publicly funded radio stations to fund in 2009.

Happy New Year to you, dear reader. Be well, do good work, stay positive.

I bought some Procter & Gamble in one retirement account, just for something to do.

I have next to no fish in my freezer. I haven't been in the mood to go out to buy any, but rather have been focusing on eating on what we have. We do seem to run out of bread, butter and eggs frequently. My challenge is to run out of fresh fruit and vegetables by Thursday. Considering our CSA box sat outside for two days waiting to be picked up this will indeed be a challenge. Another challenge: finding Worcestershire sauce without high fructose corn syrup. I gave up Kellogg's cereals, Ritz Crackers and non-kosher Coke because of HFCS -- it makes me sad to have to give up Lea & Perrins too.

I bought the dress to wear to my brother's wedding for under $100 at Nordstrom. I rule! It won't make me look old or grotesquely flabby. I won't be able to do much about towering over the bride's family though (sigh).

We lost electricity in our house a few hours after my penultimate Saving Advice post. I have got to add "oil lamp" to my savings goals. It was not fun trudging outside looking for a restaurant that would be open, an not fun imagining what it would be like to wake up Christmas morning in the freezing dark.

I have a budget but am nervous about it as we still need two incomes for expenses, or one income with a fixed 30-year mortgage, a coupla more exemptions and no 401(k) savings plan and no family insurance. The food and the mortgage are what do us in. Next month our amortization schedule shows us paying more in principal than interest without prepayment, so there's something to be glad for.

The Real Change (local newspaper sold by people in need) vendors are branching out -- there were two on the main arterial. One of them sold me a mid-November paper (!!) claiming she was sold out of the current ones. I guess times are tough. I did pay her a whole dollar, same cost for a current paper. I saved fifteen cents as the library was not stocking any current New York Times papers, so no crosswords. Fortunately I have the frickin' impossible Atlantic Monthly puzzle book I bought sixteen years ago.

Off to read some Iris Murdoch and Salman Rushdie. Gotta cleanse early 1990s Manitoba and Peoria out of my head.

Bountiful Kwanzaa, Frolicky Festivus, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Joyous Noodles for the Pastafarians among us.

From the Motley Fool -- nine things preferable to investing in stocks.

1. Make a will.
2. Pay off your credit cards.
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support.
4. Fund your 401(k) to the maximum.
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum.
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it.
7. Put six months' worth of expenses in a money market account.
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker, and never touch it until retirement.
9. If any of this confuses you, or if you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner.

Stocks I might think of: TEVA, GOOG, EBAY.

Requiring some extra iron and ibuprofen today. ugh.

Today -- bean soup with ham hock. Maybe kale along with it. Baked brioche. Made Poires Belle-Helene and apple crisp. Use up the fruit!

I need carnival squash and yams recipes.

The only stocks that look good to be right now are fish, chicken, vegetable and beef.

I don't expect to be doing much saving in 2009. But here's a list of milestones and goals I hope to reach next year.

Roth
Roth 2008 paid in full -- massage
Every $1000 deposit in DH Roth - 2 items from Amazon wishlist
Every $1000 deposit in my Roth - family breakfast out

Emergency Fund:
$1000 contributed -- visit to Tummy Temple
$2000 contributed -- personal trainer @ gym

Home Mortgage:
$20000 paid off in some communal debt track -- facial or massage
$25000 paid off in some communal debt track -- personal trainer @ gym
$5000 principal paid off this year - new pair of glasses
Principal exceeds interest (a freebie: this happens in March) -- restaurant meal
Equity greater than 60% -- James Marsh item
Equity greater than 65% -- Marimekko item

Replacement car:
$500 saved -- flowers
$1000 saved -- LUSH (that's body stuff, not drinkies) spree of $30, plus two magazines
$1500 -- Tummy Temple or visit to Vancouver

College Fund:
$300 contributed: one PreCode movie
$1000 contributed: trip to Vancouver

Japan doesn't use credit cards.
The Yen has shot up.
Japan is an expensive country.
By custom, I am expected to pay about 38000-40000 Yen as a gift to the wedding couple.

My bonuses:
I have the ticket paid for.
The overseas currency exchange fee attached to transactions overseas on the credit card is equal to my Home Equity Line of Credit interest rate.
I have bought some Yen already, back when it was 100 Yen = 1 US Dollar.
Only for a few nights am I staying at a hotel or ryokan, and that is for an exceptionally good rate of 8000 Yen.
As the family elder (read: only family member) representing the groom's side, culturally I get the advantage of the groom paying for my dinner. As a gaijin I also get some slack, and as a tourist I get a discounted rail pass to ride Japan's trains. Sugoi!

On the plus side, my gas usage is down by 30% from last year!

I filed this under anxieties because I keep dreaming I'm not going to make it to Osaka, and I haven't kept up my Japanese, and with car repairs, winter gas bills, annual furnace servicing contract and auto insurance I think I'm going to be deeper in debt unless I use my emergency fund, which is I thought to be used for unemployment... and I can't bring myself to borrow from my HELOC for a trip because that's what many people who later found themselves in big trouble did... I'm sure they too were using their HELOCs to see their only surviving immediate relative (excepting husband and son, of course) get married for the first time ever an ocean away, on a trip that years later might be impossibly expensive, and not going to Europe for monthlong tours or Vegas or Disney World...

10% will go to a charity, but I'm wondering what I should do with my "longevity" bonus.

Candidates:
Yen for Brother's Wedding
Finish Roth IRA contribution for 2008
Pay remainder of Visa bill
Car Repairs
Make early mortgage payment for January 2009 to enjoy tax advantage

Using percentages for allocation is allowed. This bonus will come to roughly $900 - $945 post charitable contribution. I cannot cover all of the candidates with the longevity bonus.

Changing Prospects for Building Home Equity predicts that new buyers in 33 overheated housing markets will likely experience negative equity, particularly if they limit themselves to 30-year loans and incur selling costs that equal 6% of the property's value, and buy a house priced at 75% of the median value.

A Low Estimate of Equity Loss for my city was $117,000. Golly! There's my cue to accelerate my house payments.

I'm tracking six properties' mortgages and deeds of trust: one acquaintance/friend and one neighbour are just treading water; two properties have equity above 40%.

I resisted the purchase. I don't need an entertainment laptop, just one to do work on (Viz Studio, Office Ultimate, Quicken, Excel). Although that recent rate cut is leading me again into temptation...

My temptation is a cheap deal on a laptop: an HP dv7t for $900 from Costco Online. I'd be saving $250.
Do I have a good use for one? yes.
Do I have software that is waiting to be used by a newer operating system? yes. Will the laptop serve my needs for the next four years? yes. Am I pondering how to cut my monthly budget by $80 to accommodate this purchase? yes.

I don't NEED it. I'd rather spend my dwindling dollars on auto repairs. However, I like the idea of getting my computing stuff done away from home: on the bus, at a cafe, en route to the gym... I think my Treasurer duties could be compromised by my friends and relatives thinking I'm mucho accessible.

My son asked us yesterday, as we were about to shop at a closing-forever discount retailer for stationery supplies for what turned out to be a useless nonreturnable print calculator (for Treasurer purposes) why people bought stuff that was expensive, that they didn't need. Already he is questioning consumerism!

I was warned to stock up on foreign exchange, or international currency in other words, in a dream, because "inflation was coming" and I "needed to be prepared." The currencies? "gosh" and "gollars" (gold, cash, and CDN/US dollars?)

Restored most of the money I borrowed from my son. We have been selecting recipes from Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner book, and downloading winter squash recipes from the internet. I feel most cost-effective when we eat out of our pantry and incorporate grains and legumes I bought months earlier into our entrees. I also feel cost-effective when we use our slow cooker.

I am creating a new set of goals and rewards for 2009. 2008 was superexcellent for me finance-wise, so am reducing my income expectations by 45%. I will not be saving 22% of my income for retirement, nor 20% of my income for home improvement in 2009.

I am tempted to invite my female friends and fellow goal plotters to either my fave cafe or fave chocolate palace to toast our achievements this year and plan for the next.

Old Joke:
Person #1 to Person #2: "Do you know the difference between labour and capital?"
Person #2: "No, I do not know. What is the difference between labour and capital?"
Person #1: "If I lend you $10, that is capital. If I try to collect my $10 from you, that is labour."

Thank you! I'll be here all month! Try the tuna fusilli!

Household debt decreases, according to Federal Reserve

AmEx still wooing us weekly. CapOne vying for the love and support of my husband.

over $1000 in automotive repair: replacing/fixing an engine mount and tuning up the car. Truthfully I had reached a point where I did not feel comfortable commandeering the vehicle, and I believe I'll enjoy driving the car more now that it is quiet and not pushing back when I ascend and descend hills.

The financial walls are slowly moving in like a climax moment on a cheesy space opera...

Paying off the contractor today.

The cool: Harvard Law professor and All Your Worth co-author Elizabeth Warren is elected Bailout Monitor.

The weird: my brother who has never lived in the U.S. is getting credit card and insurance solicitations. I think it's because he bought some supplements and had them mailed to my house. See kids? You can show yourself to be worthy of American Express's hiked APRs simply by buying supplements, just like ten years of perfect payments and a high credit score qualify you to have... a reduced grace period! You don't need to live here. Don't you feel cherished and comforted that credit card issuers are so scrutinizing?

I have a credit card I haven't used in four years. It's an American Express one. I am wondering why it has an APR if I'm supposed to pay it off in full, because AmEx cards need to be paid off in full, right?

I'm also wondering what kinds of retail facilities accept American Express? Where I bought my spouse's birthday present does not.

I'm all aflutter about what's happening in Ottawa right now, and sad about the much-too-early loss of Calculated Risk finance blogger Doris Dungey ("Tanta"), but here are some preliminary notes, cribbed from last year:

Goals

Savings:
45% of annual gross income, to be distributed among:
mortgage payoff: $1200
emergency fund: ideally $15,000
long-term savings: ideally $5,000
replacement car: ideally $14,000
home improvement: ideally $10,000
garden: ideally $800
kid's stock plan: $1200
Roth IRA: $5000

How much to save:
Somewhere between $6000 and $50000.

How much to pay down
This might sound counterintuitive, but I want always to have at least 55% equity in my house. I want to be above average in how much is owing on the house, and how much equity I have. Currently I am at 59.59%. With luck I will be back above 60% by March.

What upcoming expenses do you need to plan/save for

trip to Japan
car

What to buy, what not to buy
2009 will be a year of frugality, with the exception of a laptop and emergency replacements.
Limiting number of cash charity recipients to six this year, and political action groups to two.

What accounts do you need to open/close/consolidate

The taxable E*Trade account might eventually be sold. When I read about its eventual sale, I will transfer it to where I have my other accounts.

The Save Yourself Suze Orman Plan: close after April 18
Add personal chequing account to PayPal: remove dead account.

What do you need to teach your kids/spouse this year about finance
the glory of compound interest. 0.075 > 0.0025.
trickle-up economics
what to do or invest in in a depression/recession
dividends

What do you want to educate yourself on more
bookkeeping
organic gardening
Elliott Waves and Kondratieff Cycles
the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
developing Web Parts for SharePoint 2007
nutrition
not really education, but Iris Murdoch and the rest of the Rabbit Angstrom novels and many Philip Roth novels I have not yet read, and I'm not proud of that.
MCSE

What do you want to do better in 2009 then you did in 2008

reduce my waist size to 28
stick to a frequent exercise routine
develop and stick to a cleanup routine and schedule that includes the family
track expenditures
eat more raw food
network locally
avoid bad drivers -- OMG! I have my Zune/PDA/GPS/DVD: what do I have to pay attention to traffic for? -- I don't need these people. Insurance companies do.
volunteer or give more
declutter my house -- Freecycle, sell on half.com and craigslist

P.S. I express gratitude for my inner oracle for counselling me five months ago to wait until December 1 to buy stocks. I doubled up on PAYX and took a stake in JNJ.