From my unlinked "Ambitious Savings" page:
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This page began December 6, the feast day of Saint Nicholas. $118.13 was distributed among ten savings goals, the most remote being $147611.83, and the closest being... uh... $5800.00.

Do not expect me to rocket my way to achievement.

Emergency Fund: $8292.43
Taxes: $2560.57
Savings: $3103.61
Repl. Roof: $756.15
Repl. Car: $756.15
Gold/Silver: $280.45
Home Improve: $593.69
Garden/Land: $383.69

DONE:
Roth IRA 2007: $4000.00 (March 15, 2008)
Taxes 2007: $3430.00 (April 2, 2008)

IN PROGRESS:
Emergency Fund: $20000
Savings: $4100
Replacement Car: $4000
Gold/Silver: $1070
Home Imp: $7900
Roth IRAs: $3300
Kid's stock plan: $275
Garden: $1307.20

Goals

Savings:
25% of annual gross income, to be distributed among:
emergency fund: ideally $29,970
long-term savings: ideally $8,000
replacement car: ideally $13,000
home improvement: ideally $23,900
garden: ideally $2,600
kid's stock plan: $400
Roth IRA: $10000
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June 29, 2008 reflections:

Scaling back the emergency fund to $21938. If unemployment plagues us we have $600/week for eleven weeks in benefits, plus $5K in gold/silver.

$10K Roth includes contributions from my spouse as well as from me.

Not thinking so much about the roof right now. Bathroom, kitchen first. Bigger home renovation expense.

Thinking I could get a decent 1998-2000 Protege or Acura for under $10K if I needed one. I don't need a hybrid right this instant.

I don't have to use it right away, this is true. I do have my goals stretched thinly at the moment, maybe because I'm breathlessly scrambling to catch up from daycare expenditures.

If I chose to be influenced by Liz Pulliam Weston, I would use most of it on the Roth IRA and the emergency fund.

If I chose to be alarmed by my home's dropping value, I'd replace the garage door or pay someone for weeding and mowing.

If I chose to be motivated by sustainability, I'd buy a new refrigerator, and a chest freezer, and some bicycle accessories.

If I chose to be rewarded by instant gratification, I would divide among the bathroom, garage door, and IRA contributions.

If I chose to be governed by the PC, I'd buy a new printer, personal finance software, firewall software, and a flat panel monitor.

Decisions, decisions...
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I have a garden. I mailed a cheque for $822.20.

My MMA is down to 2.5%, bummer. I know there are online accounts -- I need most of my MMA available and liquid at present, owing to bathroom renovation.
What this means is that my best savings accounts right now are: my son's account (up to $500), the Save Yourself Account, and the house. Fortunately my credit unions and mortgagor are promoting the "let's talk about the equity in your house" deals... perhaps a raise to $40K in the HELOC isn't out of the question. My line of credit has risen by 20% though, without any prompting from me.

In happy mortgage news, I am twelve payments away from the point where I pay more principal than interest.

I may put more money toward General Electric's direct purchase plan: it's trading at a low, and has a nice yield.
Today I pretended my boy has a future and put $100 in his college fund, and I pretended I was going to live to see 68 and put $280 in my Roth IRA.

So I thought I'd try the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, starting on #4. Except I have some problems:
• My brother expects me to be in Osaka to see him get married next February

Partial Solution: go solo and save 60% in projected expenses. Do I really want to bring a seven-year-old with me on a lengthy flight? Or rationalize that a once-in-a-lifetime combination of seeing my only surviving sibling marry in a country/continent I've never visited is very worth getting into a bit of temporary debt

• I have planned to update my upstairs bathroom, and would prefer not to go into debt to do it

Partial Solution: get into the mindset of "it's not really debt if I put half down and pay the remainder within six months, knowing that I have four times the remainder in my emergency funds"

• Distribution of the cash flow would be optimized if I pushed as much money toward the Roth as I can before my current contract expires -- it doesn't offer me a 401(k) plan, whereas I am instantly eligible to participate in the next contract.

Partial Solution: Start contributing $150/week to Roth until contract starts, then start putting 10% in 401(k). With the first thousand deposited into the Roth, increment the percentage contributed to the 401(k) by 1, and cut the Roth IRA contribution down to $100. It's harder this year, getting that extra thousand. Also, according to two retirement calculators, one at choose to save, and the other at MSN Money, I DON'T have to save 15% of my pretax income. I need save only 9.46%, so that lets me maximize my Roth IRA and lower my 401(k) contributions to 9%. The 15% must be for people who are starting fresh, yet still expect to see Social Security.

• I have gone over my budget several times, and whereas many people in reasonably-priced cities might gasp and point fingers at what we pay for in Gloomtopia, it is a considerable challenge for the overscheduled and underorganized to knock down expenses by 10%. I have to wait for the cell phone contract to expire, cats to die, garden yields to increase, boy to mature out of requiring supervision. I might even have to cut down on my health regimen.

Dave Ramsey doesn't know my life. He doesn't know how haphazardly I've hopscotched along the retirement/pay off home/big childcare/college funding/home improvement/energy savings mosaic of financial planning. People don't get married a whole ocean away, don't buy homes so antiquated Lucy Ricardo and June Cleaver would feel right at home in because that's all they could comfortably afford (3x gross income, mtg pymt 25% of gross) at the time (which was two years after the very best time to purchase in the 1990s), don't develop life-threatening pregnancy complications that later rob them of their eyesight, don't save up for replacement items and landscaping and sustainability and inflation all at once.
They don't parachute into environments where bubbles are the norm, nor do what everyone else is doing because they don't know any better or haven't ever had disposable income before.

I don't like debt, maybe I don't loathe/hate/despise it as much as Ramsey does. Maybe I've dipped into the HELOC, gotten a vehicle loan at 2.9% APR. But I haven't intentionally missed a payment, nor carried a balance on my credit cards since 2002.

Maybe when it comes to improving the value of an asset or leveraging for a greater gain I put down my mace and shield and learn to love my liabilities. Or do what I can to increase my salary this year. That might mean stop volunteering at my son's school.

I fear the myriad of financial goals means making difficult choices, or learning to prioritize/plan down to the hour my money-saving healthful financial moves and household activities. Sometimes I feel enmeshed in a web of my own devising, only I had thought everything I did was a good idea at the time, or thought I was doing the best I could. No. Taking eleven years to complete Ramsey's baby step #3 of building four months of expenses because I was trying to do #2, #4, #5, and #6 all at once in a frantic race to catch up to the middle class is not doing the best I can. Even if my net worth went up thirty-six times in those eleven years.

Ratios to Aim For:
Assets: Liabilities 4:1
Liabilities: Liquid Assets 4:1

Where I am now:
Assets: Liabilities 3.75:1
Liabilities: Liquid Assets 4.66:1

From WiseBread.com

I have procrastinated putting things on eBay. I don't know how to go about getting packing supplies cheaply, wonder if I have to go to Value Village or Freecycle for a scale, procrastinated funding a PayPal account.

I doubt many will take the majority of our books or CDs (alternative 1990s).

I hope an eBay seller will convince me that even an issue of WIRED magazine circa 1994, or a Zamfir LP would sell. Unlike the husband of the article author, I don't mind selling my WIREDs. The only book I managed to sell online was Sheilah Graham's The Garden of Allah and that was through Amazon.com's zSellers. Would half.com be better?

And how do I sell a big item, like a wedding dress, or a homemade booze cabinet? Is Craigslist my best bet?

How do I choose among Amazon.com, half.com and eBay to declutter my goods?
How would I streamline postage purchases, figure out what to charge (I suppose the scale would help)?

What would sell better at a garage sale? Mugs, glasses, spare kitchen items?

So far, so spiffy.

The multitude of accounts and savings goals mesmerizes me. Minus the tax payment due in a little more than two weeks we are almost at $30K.

Hubby is actually planning a vacation. This man rarely plans, so I feel very loved and special because it's on my behalf (birthday) that we are sailing out of the country (you read right) for a weekend.

Updated Content: I have now a sixth account at TD Ameritrade, the Suze Orman "Save Yourself" fund that a handful of my friends have. I am not proud. I did it for the RETURN.
Fils: 4 accounts
Mari: 4 accounts
Moi: 10 accounts

I also have some ideas for putting the 401(k) noncontributory fund to work, supported by up-to-date research from industrial analysts and current market outlook, and filtered by risk/reward and expense ratios. For the trading account, I'm looking at AAUK; for others: RPIBX, BEARX, and GLD.

Goals I'd like to try for next quarter:
1. Wheedle/coax for return to World's Easiest Contract Job of Adequate Lucre and Awesome Lunchmates.
2. Take a Cascade Bicycle Club Traffic Safety Course.
3. Outfit my bike with blinking lights, buy ugly neon jacket to promote visibility.
4. Remodel bathroom -- boy will be irked; apparently I am the only resident guided by visions to believe there is another bathroom downstairs.
5. Get bicycle tuned up.
6. Apportion equal amounts of savings to Home Improvement, and Mortgage Reduction.
7. Install garden. I am cutting back my initial garden plans by half: this will allow me to pay it off faster and to start on the landscaping.
8. Order cistern: find space for it in the back.
9. Consult with a local rainwater harvesting/plumbing dude about greywater filtration system.
10. Apportion some savings to Swiss Francs, Canadian Dollars, Euros, Yen, Silver.
11. Apply for Passport renewal.
12. Apply for Disability insurance.
13. Learn Japanese.

I invited the Realtor who helped us buy our home in 1999 to come over and give us ideas for what we can do to "upgrade" our house for the cost of what we would have spent to sell (about 11% of the current value, which she sees as higher than what Zillow tells us). Our house and property are a mess, thanks to years of child-tending, depression, laziness, distraction, full-time day care and retirement money-growing. But now, of course, with the market in a tailspin, and credit markets seizing up, I have an emergency fund and some cash to invest in the house. Score one for timing Ms. Goddard! That's up there with giving birth three weeks after 9/11!

I am so glad I invited her over: she was honest as a real estate professional could be, yet optimistic that we'd have s shorter recessionary/depression stint given our state's export strengths and tendency to be last in/first out in economic downcycles (except for the dark Boeing years of the mid 1970s?). Inventory in the county is at near ten months, but in my price range it's more like three months. She gave us names of the professionals she uses for remodeling and landscaping. This will be a multi-year project, which means that relocating is probably out of the question this year. Maybe in 2011...

In the meantime I'll see if I can raise our HELOC to $60K or as low as $40K. I read on Mish's Global Economics blog an article excerpt where a woman with a $168K HELOC on her Newport Beach, CA property had found it reduced to $10,000. She had never used the HELOC and found her limit cut to 6% of what it was formerly. I myself would be irritated/squawking like a wet hen if my HELOC was reduced to $1,071, and yes entitlement has a mighty squawk to it. I'm wondering if Citigroup's nervous condition has anything to do with the 94% pruneback.

Mish supports Citigroup's stunning move:
Look at this from Citigroup's point of view.

• She has decreasing home equity, most likely no equity.
• California is in decline with a long way to go before houses can be considered affordable.
• The US is in recession.
• People are losing jobs.
• She does not know the difference between money and credit.
• She does not understand the difference between her money and someone else's money.
• She spent $55,000 trying to "make a baby" (mentioned in the article).
• She is about to adopt a child instead (also mentioned in the article).
• Her cash went down and her expenses are clearly going to rise as a result of the last two points. (Yeah, if FT daycare is now 105% that of a mortgage payment, not to mention diapers, and baby food...)

Yet she had $300K to put down on a home and rental properties. How do people with this kind of thinking get money? Stock options? Inheritances? Rich partners?

What will I do if I can't raise the HELOC? Probably just renovate the bathroom for now, pay it off in four months, see if I can get my MSFT contract renewed for another 12, and if yes, then I'm doing the kitchen.

There's my cue to go get disability insurance, because I can't count on using the HELOC for an emergency fund. Truth be told, I had been doing exactly that since June 2006, using the money only for the windows, which added at least as much in value to the house as I had spent on them, and paying it back at the rate of $1400/week.

I dug holes for two strawberry plants purchased this afternoon: Shuksan and Tristar.

I'm going to restrict the garden beds to two for now, and try some garden ovals in the back and in the front, and move the roses somewhere sunny. Maybe the roses can have an oval to themselves in front -- they do a good job at getting me out in the sun and talking to the neighbours.

Maybe it's a hormonal fluctuation, but I've been anxious since Wednesday. Perhaps I should sip some chamomile tea, do a crossword, go out for a walk.

I did prune my roses today, in the sun. A local media gardening expert said this was the time to do it (The All About Roses book I have said April was the time to prune). Seeing all those thin, reedy, large, canes with red leafy growth was initially daunting, but I picked up some momentum and energy and went to it. I think there are some stragglers that might be shovel-pruned soon. The grandifloras did very well indeed (Lagerfeld, and Queen Elizabeth, for any rose enthusiasts reading).

Sharp observers will note that I have shaved one month off my the actual term end-date for my mortgage. I have learned, from looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Inflation Calcula..., that our new mortgage payment, in inflation-indexed dollars, after taxes, is cheaper than the principal and interest was when we first purchased! And that's AFTER a 127% rise in assessment values since purchase. So I don't know who these people are who complain about property taxes in our county: hard to believe that they'd be homeowners in my city. They should try living in the states of New York or New Jersey.

Also went to the Farmers' Market today -- talked with a honey farmer who told me that in the next few months we could expect a 150% price jump for honey. Good thing we have a cool place to store it. Next week I'll bring a cardboard box and my credit card.

I bought a Canadian Maple Leaf gold coin today, as I do at the end of any week where the Dow drops over 500 points, and adjusted my Savings Tracks. I also deposited my first cheque from my current position.

Causing me some consternation is my whack at a budget. I have read Consumer Spending Patterns in my metro area and used the inflation multiplier of 1.26. People are/were, in 2004-2005, still paying less for rent and shelter than we are/were. In our city, expenditures are 20.3% greater than the U.S. average. Why, I don't know. Greyness, misery and self-absorbed PDA-twiddlin' drivers can't be worth THAT much... why do I stay? It's close to where I used to live and still have friends and family, and I don't have to drive in snow, and don't have mosquitoes or cockroaches to contend with, and the jobs are pretty easy to come by.

We lost someone in our debt support group, but for good/happy reasons: she took a job in another state that paid better, and had a lower cost of living. She gets to live near her ailing parents, and will soon have a 4-bedroom house with a swimming pool, in a sunny location. I'm thrilled that she's happy. It would be nice to have some new faces in our little social group, but I guess we're the only people in a population of 600,000 who are freaked out enough by our debts to meet and share goals and work through plans over a social breakfast.

I looked at About.com's Food Storage Calculator. I don't know that I need to keep food for a year: I'm thinking perhaps three months, maybe six at the most. I'm not a member of LDS, but still, getting the idea of building an ark in one's head is just as good as Divine Providence telling one to build an ark, right? And for the agnostics/atheists out there, I'm well aware that the man who kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. also believed the Lord told him to do that too. Perception is reality.

The itch for a new car is temporarily overshadowed by ideas of a cistern (less expensive than I thought) and a greywater harvesting/recycling system.

I realize I'm six months behind or ahead in prepping for a garden and filtration system, but better now than never, huh?

Oh, and I was reminded of the $20 challenge. Through unanticipated discounts and savings, I'm up to $173-something, so I bought two shares of BNI stock for my li'l tycoon, in his UTMA.

A. Gardening
1. Bought one start of English thyme. Why? Because it can be grown year-round.
2. Bought one start of Cupani sweet pea. Why? Because I like the smell of it.
3. Bought one bag of potting soil. Why? To start potting some herbs.
4. E-mailed Seattle Farm Company to help me with my urban farmscape.
5. Am sterilizing my plastic pots with a vinegar-water solution.

I am not kidding myself so much to believe I can tend a backyard garden by myself. But I would like to grow tomatoes (I've read your comment, lostindebt: last May at Mother's Day I got two tomato plants, and they were pumping out succulent fruit like it was nobody's business).

B. Exercise
1. Reserved my spot for an introduction to yoga class.

C. Being sociable/good neighbour.
1. Agreed to donate blood. Now must go buy some iron and some Vitamin C tablets.
2. Paid for tickets for school auction.
3. Strongly considering attending an ice cream social at a community club.

Learned through the Hsh.com calculator that we need an income of $63925.57 to afford our mortgage payment. This is some relief.

Counted forty-four homes for sale as we arced from the Fremont neighbourhood back to our home. Who knew Fremont, Phinney Ridge, and Greenwood areas to be so crappy that people would be rushing to sell early in the year? Or are the looming ARM resets responsible?

Had a nasty dream this morning: in my dream I had a memory of us as a family doing something fun and leisurely in July 1978, and the bills accumulated and came to me in payment this year, as my mother had passed on almost a decade ago. "$16,000? Okay. $37,000? For one little trip? That's pricey, but I can manage." and then a third bill for $310,898. "Holy moly! I can't pay that!"

I think $314098.92 might be very close to what we would eventually pay for our house, with principal and interest. Blood rushes from my head to think about what bill my son would be looking at for our collective short-term fiscal myopia... he might never leave our house.

Nice to know there are still lots of local homeowners out there with lots of money. We went to the Home Show, taking a free local special bus, and had a fun time. However, I was a little bothered by the expectations the booth and seminar presenters seemed to have:

"You want granite countertops, right? Stainless steel appliances?"

"The National Association of Realtors says that you get 3 dollars back for every 1 you put in your kitchen." (This I believe to be false, not just because it's the NAR originating this, but because the payback is more like 88.4%, and that's if you pay in cash, and sell within a year of the remodel.)

Pictures of remodels featured suburban McMansions with two-car or three-car garages.

So much that was outre, and status. All I want is a kitchen with a new ventilator hood that meets code regulations, and space for a dishwasher and a larger refrigerator. I don't need the island or recessed lighting. That should be about $33K-$36K.

We'll see what I can save up by August. Either I'll have finished my contract by then, or I'll be back at my old contract. My credit union had a booth at the show, and I asked about upping the HELOC to $45K. I'd have to reapply for that.

Edit: I saw that a Habitat for Humanity second-hand shop for home remodeling has opened this past week. I might visit and scout.

My 1099 form from last year was mailed to me, one week away from the state sales tax deadline. I underestimated my earnings by $2100. I spent most of the remainder of my evening redoing my taxes, and gathering forms for the energy efficiency credit. Weirdly, I overpaid my city business license tax. I have to explain the situation before the 31st of January -- I am confident that I will not be assessed a penalty for the city tax, as I paid ten times more than I should have. But I do need to explain to them my over and underpayment predicament tout de suite.

I am so relieved to have an accountant this year to help me. Even if it means having to be organized and making copies of my forms. The extra expense of having a competent, clear, objective calculator can be budgeted under "Peace of Mind." I try to do my taxes but it seems to be trickier every year -- education credits, energy credits, home business deductions, dependent care credits, blah de blah de blah. It was more fun to do taxes when it was just the 1040EZ and we'd have a bag of potato chips, some fizzy Aqua Libra, and some 80s synthopop music to help the time pass. Now I can't get ten minutes to myself to do any calculation and the house is littered with papers "yet to be filed": how can I get forty-five minutes to myself to work through the taxes for a first draft, and then for a second draft in which I seem to owe more money, and then the third draft which is typically and foolishly attempted under the influence of a martini, because the amount owing has been incremented from three digits to four?

business taxes
$338.26 - state taxes
$80.41 - city taxes

The biggie, federal tax, is looming... I am thankful I had the foresight to save some money for that.

allowance for him and her
I included an allowance for the young one, who hardly ever asks for it. I had the money in my pocket but the father and I spent it on hot chocolate and cappuccinos. Call Child Protective Services. On the other hand, I've included my kid in the "profit-sharing plan" of a budget surplus.

donations
So many worthy causes, so few dollars.

I've been reading elsewhere about people considering replacing their mid1990s vehicles. I've been considering replacing ours. I'm angsty about the complexity of scope and enormity of costs for updating our home and the looming car replacement. I might get into consumer debt again, but I plan the maximum amount of debt to be $16700 at a time.

Our water bill is lower than it was last year, by about 11%.

A question on another forum is: "What are you willing to sacrifice for financial security?" At this point I would not sacrifice my good, real friends, nor my health. I don't know that I'd sacrifice something that took 2% of my budget, like education or car insurance. I would sacrifice my animals, but the spouse wouldn't go for that. We turn down the heat, the animals come onto the bed. I'd sacrifice fifteen-twenty minutes of my day for some spiritual peace of mind, and sacrifice an additional twenty minutes getting exercise. It's true I'm not willing to make any further cuts in my lifestyle to reduce my expenditures. I might seek alternate actions to paying retail/full-price for necessities all the time, but that's it. Maybe sacrifice an hour a week in some simplicity circle.

Maybe the question isn't worded appropriately. Here's what I would do to create more time for myself, time invested in improving my quality of life.

• Do a time budget.
• Study who and what you are investing your time in.
• Identify who and what wastes your time.
• Look for opportunities to achieve more energy for yourself with your time.
• Look for opportunities in collaboration with other members of your immediate family.

I read Carolina Bound's entry today and used my search engine of choice to find this article about Jeff Yeager and his suggestions for a financial detox. Refraining from eating out is something we're gently working into. We haven't gone to a "cloth napkins and tablecloth" restaurant for two weeks -- that's notable for us.

I was dopey-morose reading the Refrigerator forum threads... last month we went to a warehouse sale for refrigerators and did not find an EnergyStar refrigerator that was short enough to fit beneath our 1940s-era built-in cabinets. I refrained from making snarky comments on the forum about remodeling a kitchen for $30,000 so I could buy a larger, energy-efficient refrigerator -- for frugality. I am glad that I refrained, for now I have found one:
GTH16BBSLWW. I'll probably end up paying $700 for it, but running it will take $3/month. Our current 1980s-era fridge is a little off with the cooling: freezing some areas and wilting some vegetables. The gasket seal leaks cold air. In a month I will have the money for replacing the fridge (from the home improvement budget).

Also, a link to an interview with Benjamin R. Barber, whose book Consumed I am, uh, consuming...

I keep meaning to write something and then I'm dissatisfied or the topic degenerates. Let's keep this realistic but bright. I compared my 2006 and 2007 end-of-year statements. Most striking to me was that I had paid 9.4% of my mortgage principal. I also have mortgage payments in CDs coming due for the next six months.

I can't and won't try to beat the astounding $60,000 increase in retirement assets. The imaginary $40,000 home property increase over the past twelve months will disintegrate as I project, dourly, a 7.8% decrease in home value on account that my "developmentally delayed" metropolitan area has just arrived to the housing bust. My challenges will be to live creatively on less and to generate other streams of income. Maybe Prosper.com will be in my future with Treasury Direct. A hand to the government and a hand to the people.

And my other challenge: treating myself if/when I meet certain milestones with my monthly budgets or meeting a savings goal: Wise Traditions membership, hair colour, massage, Amazon.com wish list item, aromatherapy oils from The Herbalist, a concert, lessons, a CD, a trip to a restaurant I've been meaning to try...

Budget categories we should cut down to be at national average for our income, according to Mvelopes:

Water/Sewer/Recycling
Groceries
Allowances
Auto Maintenance
Home Maintenance

Budget categories we should raise to be at national average for our income:
Donations
House furniture
Clothing

Where we rule:
Savings
Electricity

I was pleased to see that the nation was spending 22% of its net income on mortgage/rent... ours came to 21.1% but we have a twenty-year mortgage. So we're "just right" with our three bedroom house with yard in the city.

I don't know what to do about the water. We don't have a dishwasher, and we have aerators and low-flow toilets. I looked into tankless water heaters but was convinced that they would cost us more money rather than save. I do crave my hot baths once a month, and even more frequently in the winter... Could it be that my area charges more for water/sewer/yard waste/recycling than others? And my area is dirt cheap (third lowest in the nation) for electricity?

Ready to try it yourself? Here's the link

Off-topic:
Oh yay. Stock up on the nonperishables and the silver.

Are you tired of me mentioning my area is expensive?

Food: $786.97 (includes eating out, vitamins, cod liver oil, spirulina, booze, pet food, four major food groups groceries)

Housing: $2379.20 (includes mortgage, household operations, apparel, services, furnishings, utilities, savings plan for new roof)

Transportation: $1257.20 (includes savings plan for new car, FlexCar usage, maintenance, gas/oil, parking, public transport, taxis, insurances, lube jobs, license fees)

Living: $883.54 (includes healthcare, entertainment, warehouse store membership, allowances, toys, games, birthday gifts, cards, stamps, personal care products/services, veterinary costs, reading, education, miscellaneous, cash contributions)

Subtotal:$5813.35
Savings: $ 948.69 ( 16.3%, includes IRA)

I received these numbers from a 2005 Survey of Consumer Expenditures, used mostly numbers from the second-highest quintile, and multiplied by 1.21 to account for stealth inflation, and for the attempt of reducing expenses by 10%.

I might have said this before, I will say it again: I want to meet local people who earn what we earn and manage two cars and home maintenance and have $2K left over at the end of the month after post-tax retirement contributions.

I'm reading Bill McKibben's Deep Economy and this NY Times article from 2006 about happiness. I am sad that my lifestyle is not sustainable, and I wonder if I'm going to downscale gracefully enough to remain "above water." What I want is, if my net worth should tumble down 10-15% next year, to be able to shrug my shoulders, do a kickstep, and shuffle down the road, thinking "big deal. As long as I'm happy."

Also, a link to a clue as to where my head has been for the last nine months.

Goal: $16,956.44 in 'Savings' by Feb. 21.
'Savings' = CDs, Savings Accts.
Savings right now: $15,532.20

(I shall look for work from Feb - May, in addition to starting a garden.)

to become a person whose intrinsic worth is RECOGNIZED AND APPRECIATED more than the money she is able to give to/earn for other people. I'd like to be valued for my me-ness, rather than sought out near all the time as a potential client.

"I don't want to hang out with you, but I want you to come to my Pampered Chef parties. I don't want to hang out with you but I want you to come to my party so you can give me a gift that I won't bother sending a thank-you card for, and make other people think I am really popular. I don't want to put my real age or my real interests other than my photo studio on MySpace.com, but I am Requesting you Add me as a Friend because you have a kid and live in the area. You don't mean anything more to me than a measure of my marketing success. I'll claim on public forums that despite your 25% or 28% tax bracket and that 80% of your income is outgo that you are a big drain on the American economy but I'm not going to lead you to what I think you need to learn or be so you can be 'as educated about US and world history as' the American citizen claiming all immigrants are a drain on the economy. You need to learn about and study our Constitution so that when you become a citizen your nominal vote can go to a party determined to dismantle it; otherwise you are a drain on the US economy."

Doy... dur... my only value is commoditized and as a potential customer... I feels oh-so-validated in dis reel gud consumer culture...

I would like to be a healthy, gainfully employed, loving and sane financially secure middle-class/middle-income homeowner. To me, this means:

limiting expected, standard expenditures to $5130 a month. This includes savings and Roth IRA contributions.

yoga and meditation for the stress-free life.

performing at least three times weekly, aerobic exercise strenuous enough for deep breathing and circulation improved enough to stop foot/calf cramping and cold extremities in winter.

maintaining a mostly organic diet of fruits and vegetables, with a weekly allotment of 14 ounces of untainted, non-toxic meat.

working up to nine months of emergency expenses: $28852.

starting subaccounts for replacement car, roof, and water cistern/greywater collection/filtration system.

building an organic vegetable garden in the backyard sufficient to hold twelve crops.

A plus would be a small reduction of the net worth: maybe an 8% cut. I have a pessimistic view of the economy, probably because I am reading Robert Prechter's 2002 book.

I'd love to try coupon-clipping, but those seem to be mostly for manufactured, processed foods and cleaning products. The best I can do so far is to happen upon sales, like I did on Saturday, receiving 40% off a valuable multi-nutrient "whole food energizer", or making my own with baking soda, vinegar and essential oils, or happening upon a Dr. Bronner's discount.

I may reward myself, for meeting my Roth IRA maximum contribution for 2007, with a subscription to Wise Traditions.

Flooding: someone is flooded out of her basement apartment seven blocks north of us. We're not flooded, but we have some water trickling in. When it's dry we'll call a pro in to come look.

Lots of little ideas to write about, not enough time or energy to expand them.

Homegrown link: Saving Advice's own five-step ugly duckling investment guide

Rated G, Safe for Work link for the 1980s synthopop music fans.

My psychological block comes from seeing these large but not large enough amounts trickle into our accounts. What do I mean by "not large enough?" I've been putting $1500 aside monthly into 3-month CDs for our mortgage. Emergency fund not really an emergency fund but a place to park the money for expenses we anticipate in the next six months. Because I don't understand how one can plan for an adequate fund for unanticipated expenses? Who knows what unanticipated expenses cost, anyone?

$10,000 is the minimum deposit allowed for a money market account at our credit union paying 4.x% as of this typing.

In 2008 Roth IRA maximum contributions for those of us under 50 is $5000.

$2,000 is the minimum balance required for a trading account to engage in options or to do any significant trading.

$20,000 is what we expect to pay for a used vehicle two or three years away, including taxes and insurance.

Expenses going up for sure next year: food, transportation, energy, insurance (it always goes up), taxes.

A new roof? $17500? I don't know.
Adding all those up, and seeing 1/36th of that total trickle into the chequing account... My HELOC is for $18,000 only, because I had this idea in my head that if I stuck to one year's mortgage expenses, or 5% of the house value, I wouldn't get into trouble.

I resolve to crack open my mind about saving and personal finance the way I keep my beginner mind open and fresh about politics here. It is the only way, that I know of, to learn how people earning an average income afford short-term, medium-term and long-term necessities and goals without going into debt in an inflationary environment. And to search for opportunities to save $100 more each month without cramping our lifestyle.

I also vow that if I find a way to do this without relying on one personal finance book alone, I'm gonna write a book.

to talk to someone face to face about finances, someone who is either an organizational person, or a financial counselor, or someone who is in a position similar to mine (net worth, working parents, homeowner). I regret that I am blind in many ways: can't see poverty among me, nor how my own spending habits jeopardize my future; and dumb: can't talk about my fears with my spouse because he'll counter with "you worry too much," "you're like this right before your period," "your expectations are too high."

to start accounting for all purchases and charges in my family, not just the ones that I make.

to read "yes, we've noticed prices going up too and the percentage change is larger than the government-stated inflation rate. You're not paranoid, just watchful."

to be told I'm doing okay. If I can't be honestly told I'm doing okay, because I'm really not doing okay, I want to be shown how I can realistically manage all my financial goals on our current income. And yes this is markedly different from making sure my goals are realistic or trying for more income. I already spend less than I make, so no five-word platitudes or quips to that effect, please.

adequate Vitamin D levels (working on this)

junk in my garage Freecycled, and books and magazines downstairs sold on eBay.

time to exercise

a look at my backyard and see how shady/bright it is and what I can use for gardening.

This would be a four-wheeled automatic transmission covered automobile, large enough to accommodate two adults 70 and 71 inches tall and a boy who'll sprout from 48 inches to 73 inches over the time we own the car (barring accidents and repossession).

My ideas:
honda accord sedan EX-L
honda accord hybrid
toyota camry hybrid
toyota camry XLE
Nissan Maxima SL
Nissan Altima Hybrid
Nissan Altima 3.5 SL
Toyota Prius 4-Door Liftback

The credit union has repossessed autos, but not the makes and models listed above. I got the above from myproductadvisor.com. If I start saving now... maybe in 2009 or 2010 I'll have $20K set aside and can buy one in cash or finance for a 24-month period and pay it off in half the time.

I am reading the above mentioned book, written by Henry K. "Bud" Hebeler, and I am already scared.

10-15% a year, which is what we were paying into our retirement, does not seem to be cutting it as a long-term strategy.

I'd share what I learned with my peers, but you good folk have the author and the title of the book now, so you can go borrow it from the library as I did, and I'm afeared of mentioning what I learned to my friends because the ones who care about this stuff have already retired, and I don't need to hear "oh that doesn't apply to me because I have a trust fund" nor the sobs of people I like when they reflect on their situations and regard them as hopeless.

I'm not out to make you cry -- like I mentioned, you're probably already retired or on track; or if you're only doing 15% in the 401(k) and maxing out the Roth IRA like me, you're just a few clicks away from learning how to change your consumption patterns so you can save more. I'm just saying I was complacent without good reason, and I'm now scared into making better decisions or cutting back further.

Right after I blow $678.11 on R-38 insulation for my attic.
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frequently I wonder if I'm the one in my peer group who's behind, and how I can catch up. I wish I had more friends I could discuss this openly with.

Article: Figuring the size of your emergency fund from Philip Brewer, WiseBread.com

I added my minimum, routine and job hunting expenses. I multiplied that total by four months (discounting the Unemployment Insurance benefits for which I'd be eligible), as I have a working spouse, and came up with a total which, serendipitously, equals the amount I have in CDs plus savings.

So my savings goals look like this:
1. Pay off windows
2. Pay insulation (in full from savings)
3. Maximize Roth IRA 2007 contribution.
4. Build Roth IRA 2008 contribution.
5. Save for replacement car.

Article: Heating Costs to Jump This Winter

My natural gas provider informed its customers that the cost/therm would be going DOWN by at least 10% from last year, so I was initially surprised to read this headline. The dateline included New York, so I thought "that's not PNW." And it would be much more expensive for heating oil -- I had two winters of oil sticker shock before deciding on natural gas. The President and Vice-President helped me make that decision and I have never regretted it. Thanks, guys!

Did I mention I came across an electricity bill from 1998, when I was an apartment dweller, and our bill was 54% higher in 1998 for a 600 sq. ft. apartment than it is for a 2320 sq. ft. house in 2007? We didn't even have laundry facilities in our apartment.

We have received already one bid from an insulation contractor, for replacing the R-5 rockwool in our attic with R-38 polyurethane. We expect another bid from a second contractor later this afternoon. The instant rebate from our natural gas company makes this a very appealing cost-cutting measure.
Our new double-pane argon-filled windows, although still unpainted because of inclement weather, have helped a little too.

I expect lower heating bills this year, regardless of the headline. I do not want to pay $160 for one month's heating (January) like I did earlier this year.

...through two cute boutiques in Greenwood/Phinney Ridge. It wasn't a midlife crisis "must look hip instead of hippy" excursion, but more like "I need to dress more my age, with more class. This T-shirt and jeans thing gets old, especially when I have only three pairs of pants and they're all jeans and two of them I can't get into when I'm bloated. Three years of going without clothes I absolutely need is enough for me in a civilized society, thanks."

I bought three pairs of pants, a Ben Sherman striped shirt, and a pink shirt. Also some pink toile pajamas. I practiced negotiating.
These babies are supposed to last me a few years, so I don't mind the price tag. I've found that many of the cheap clothes are functional for a few washings. The clothes I buy at the boutiques get many positive comments.

I am not like this normally. Most of my clothes have been hand-me-downs, with the occasional suits purchased for interviews. I may get more girly-girly and purchase some silver jewellery and accessories as strategic accents away from the parts of my body that are rebelling.

Everyone in my debt group has consumer debt now. It hasn't been like this since 2003. I wonder if it's time to recruit more members. One of us has triple-digit debt, one five-digit debt, and two of us with six-digit debt (we're counting mortgages). However, the higher net worths, and revelry in the glorious vicissitudes of life let us sleep at night.

This is totally off-topic, but I must squee like a fangirl: On MySpace.com I have caught two sons of a man I've long idolized. They have very small networks of friends. I don't know if I'm so bold as to add them, but I e-mailed the most approachable because I liked the music he had on his page, and my son really liked the film clip of his famous dad.

Yesterday morning, with a minute to kill before leaving for a walk to the bus stop, I brought out the slow cooker and put it next to the pork tenderloin recipe my husband printed from the Internet. I also brought out all the non-refrigerated ingredients, and the pork tenderloin, and set them by the recipe and the slow cooker.

What do you know, when I walked in at 6:15 pm there were the good smells of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and a very tender and flavourful pork tenderloin. With organic chard, and potatoes. And we have lots for sandwiches and leftovers. We're both to thank: he found a recipe 20 hours before it was to be ready and printed it out, I brought out the ingredients onto the kitchen counter in the morning so he'd have sufficient time to prepare.

But I know there are many more things I could do and should do.

I'm rereading Frugal Living for Dummies and it looks like the author is from my part of the world! Maybe I can overcome the HCOL.

I am very keen to try a price book. The challenge of affording a weekend at Newport, Oregon ($300 for gas, hotel, meals) or tankless water heaters strictly on food savings is very appealing.

We've cut down a lot on our supermarket adventures, except for the dairy purchases--they must be fresh, the supermarket does offer organic and rBGH-free dairy options. Going to the farmer's market is more fun: I get to meet the farmers, I learn more about their products, and I can quiz a master gardener or a sustainable-agriculture expert. And I pay the same price as everyone else without having to have a 'card'.

Other challenges:
1. cutting down on water usage, implementing the rainbarrel. It's rained quite a bit here, and is the barrel up to the downspout? No.

2. finding creative alternatives and ways to cut the budget when expenditures in one category go up. After seeing the documentary "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox," I may try the very water-frugal method the ninth-generation chemist performed himself for the camera to clean his hair, his face, and his body. (If you plan to see the film, have no fear: there is no nudity in the demonstration.)

I'm also gently coaxing the spouse to try walking more with me. On Sunday we all walked 1.9 miles on a roundtrip to my child's prospective school, to acquaint everyone with the correct and shortest paths. I do this to gauge time, in case we have a good morning, or lots of budgeted time to walk the tot to school. We probably should bike it, eventually--the hills and traffic scare me.

And it seems the early signs of the economic apocalypse are upon us. And me with credit card debt. Ah. Made a full payment for July's charges. I have been assured by a coworker that there'll be lots of work to do from next week until October. I can pay off my vacation with that, although I do have some savings.

Went school supplies shopping for the boy yesterday. An exciting experience, but boy was getting rowdy and bouncy with his "I want! I want!" regarding backpacks and lunch sacks. We have one more item to purchase.

We did get to listen to Jim Cramer's meltdown on the radio. And the boy thought it was funny to see a well-dressed man have a tantrum (I watched the Colbert Report segment on Jim Cramer). Okay, the remark "I want to recommend buying 'Washington Mutual' for the yield but I KNOW PEOPLE!" I found raucously funny.

And although we saw several Countrywide buildings (and a stadium! Anyone remember Qualcomm Stadium? Or was that 3COM? I forget) by the 101 as we entered and left Los Angeles, we only saw signs of the slowdown when I walked the boy to his prospective school yesterday. Seven houses. One sold.

I don't feel angsty anymore. I am not blind to anything I was present to prior to vacation, but I was responsibility-free more or less for two weeks, and am reassured I can live creatively and with integrity regardless of my money situation. I have diet suggestions and a gentle, easy yoga routine, land I can grow vegetables on--my tomatoes are doing great! And my husband and son now have their passports.

My paycheque distributions from now until October 15:
25% living expenses
25% credit cards
25% windows
10% emergency fund
10% house and garden
5% gold

Windows are getting installed September 13.

My beef supplier is offering investment opportunities. For sustainable, close to organic and close to us beef, and for a 10% guaranteed return, I'm considering getting some shares. The minimum investment is $1000.

Seattle Urban Farm Co. offers the creation of organic gardens. Nice, but I have access to seed catalogues, and can rent implements. Mostly I want: garden design help, garden creation and irrigation system help, some fruit in there like strawberries, and maybe some herbs and flowers too.

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.