I have a cold. People depending on my blood for survival will have to make do with others for the time being, as I'll be deemed ineligible to donate.

Seriously, no new update. I could and will pay off my credit cards this month. Expecting a major windstorm tomorrow -- whee.

I went to a discount outlet village on Saturday: every place asked me for ID when I showed my credit card. It made me resolve to call the places ahead of time, ask about prices of specific items, then getting money from the ATM. My credit card receipt signature WILL match the one on the card -- there's no reason to be lazy and ask for ID. There's no REQUIREMENT to do that. Or I could say no to the ID request, and if they refuse my card, I can make a complaint.

...who was wearing a yellow motorcycle jacket with reflective striping. Sorry to say that apparently the safety design doesn't work during the daylight.

It irks me when people with supposedly "green" methods of transit do dumb things to endanger themselves or others in traffic. Maybe they're trying to be greener by reducing the population.

Although I have considered buying a Prius I understand they are very quiet vehicles and extra attention on behalf of driver, pedestrians and people sharing the road with the Prius is required to avoid collisions. A cyclist was killed in a collision with a Prius on a residential street: the Prius driver didn't see the cyclist and the cyclist couldn't hear the Prius.

Not that I'd excuse inattention among all drivers, but with old trucks, rattling diesel-run VW machines and bikes with loud pipes, one can at least hear them coming. Some pedestrians wear reflective striping and bright colours so we can be seen by traffic. When the visibility strategy fails, how can pedestrians protect themselves? I understand also that not every driver puts on headlights at dusk or at night: what are some good ways for pedestrians to see vehicles driven by people who don't want to be seen?

Snarkiness is not productive. It might be counterproductive. Take for example an anti-tax commercial in which a woman opens the hatchback of her new Subaru and her three children help collect the groceries. She's talking about how she has to watch her pennies these days, yet she buys high fructose corn syrup filled carbonated drinks in two-litre bottles, resting singly in double-bagged flimsy plastic bags.

Gee, every place *I* shop at in Washington state gives me at least a five-cent credit for bringing my own bags. I must be better at watching my pennies.

I am watching my pennies these days, but I'm not about reducing the nutritional content of what I buy for my family or demanding that I remain ignorant about how manufactured or refined sweeteners jeopardize my family's health over the long term because if I and millions of other families learn something, I might not be willing to support the food processing companies by buying their products, and then the terrorists would win. Oops, the snark got out.

Sparkling water with a slice of fruit or some fruit juice mixed in would be better than cheap HFCS. I wouldn't even give that to the food bank. I bet Amy Dacyczyn of The Tightwad Gazette wasn't about feeding her six kids HFCS either. Essentially the actress who is playing a mother is mouthing dialogue scripted by PR personnel working for food processors. Average working class concerned consumers they are.

I could be snarky about HFCS, but if I wanted truly to make a change, I'd be letting people who don't like economic subsidies or free rides, or who don't want their taxes to subsidize people who make unhealthy food choices know what I know, so they can campaign and inform and inspire change. I'd do some cost and nutrition comparisons between HFCS-filled pop (or soda) and water, and let the income-challenged make decisions. I know that I needed information before I could change my food habits: my mom's deathbed plea for me to switch to relatively non-toxic (tomatoes are nightshade plants and have toxins, but man oh man I love them) natural foods was enough for me. Not everyone is as "lucky" as I to be orphaned early, and I doubt snark-filled diatribes of self-righteousness will have the impact that offering self-empowering information as a caring gesture would. I think showing consumers how small investments can pay off later is really the best way to go. People need to see a better way, and maintaining good health at low cost is a non-partisan issue that should have broad support.

Another case: I have a bicycle. I should ride it, but I don't, because I am afraid of drivers who text or talk on the phone while they're moving on the road (I don't mind when they've pulled over and stopped the car). I don't know how to avoid inattentive drivers: I wish they could flash some sign on their vehicles like "I'M CHOOSING TO PAY ATTENTION TO MY PHONE RATHER THAN THE ROAD -- TAKE A DETOUR" when their phones are in use. Being on the road with them as a scooterist or motorcyclist is scary enough. As a bicyclist, I have no gear. The best I can do is wear neon or reflective material, but what good is that when people aren't paying attention to the road? Yet I am getting messages all the time locally to choose bicycling. Why not make it safer for me to bicycle? Some cities are progressive enough to have bike-only lanes. I'd rather ride a bus because I probably won't get badly hurt by an inattentive driver. How do you inform the driver: "Excuse me, I gotta end this call. Someone's placing a HANG UP AND DRIVE bumper sticker beneath my windshield wiper."

I'd like good healthc. I am learning something new often enough to make significant changes in my diet. I don't at all assume I have the perfect diet and lifestyle, but look for ways to improve. I am displeased, yet better off for learning that the Gayelord Hauser product "Vegit" I had used for ten years has hydrolyzed protein, which has monosodium glutamate, an excitotoxin. When the Vegit runs out, I'm relying on the sea salt and kosher salt as substitute for my decade of taste excitement. I am not happy about my prescribed medications falling off the Preferred List of my husband's HMO next year. I'm not happy about paying more, but I'd be okay about making a political stand like ordering from a Canadian pharmacy. I will only allow corporate interference in my life when it's in MY best interest, and not the interest of corporate shareholders.

Okay, our own situation is compromised, but not terribly. I'm doing well with beans, dried peas, grains and vegetarian entrees.

Here's the conundrum: My brother and his wife are expecting in 4.5 months. Yay, and sugoi, right? I sent a little gift to the sister-in-law, or imoto-san.
They live in the second-most expensive city in the world. My brother lives on contracts. Utilities, transportation, clothes, everything is expensive there. Birthing is not covered by health insurance. They can expect to pay, without the benefit of epidurals or painkillers, slightly less than what we were initially charged in 2001 when I gave birth (and I had a jetted tub, excellent food, my own room, and painkillers. It was a rock star experience, complete with vomit but no groupies or Chivas Regal).

They have 500,000 yen saved so far and they fear they can't save an additional 300,000 yen. My sister-in-law will not ask her parents, who live nearby, but my brother has never had a problem asking me for money. So he did.

He is already working long hours, and his wife is too far along to start looking for a job (although, when I was as far along as she, I STARTED a two-year contract).

For me, the best options look like this:
1. Start two novenas: one for my brother to get more money through private lessons or a job in the United Arab Emirates paying much more money; one for me to get a FT/perm job paying over $65K/year, both by the end of October. I know the divine essence doesn't work on my schedule, but I'm willing to extend deadlines.

2. Find some way to leak news of my brother's predicament to my family and to his in-laws. I could get someone to write in Japanese. Offer to match yen/dollars. I may be my brother's closest surviving relative, but I am not his legal guardian.

3. Tell him no.

4. Fix my finances and see what I can give.

I don't know if Japan has installment plans for childbirth services. It seems to me that any uninsured hospital costs over 500,000 Yen should be allowed installment plans, but I don't live in Japan.

update: I did give money when I visited in February, BUT -- I was a guest and they were saving me at least 100,000 yen by letting me stay with them; in Japan I'm SUPPOSED to give money to the couple getting married as a relative and as a guest; I made my sister-in-law embarrassed and uncomfortable I agreed to my brother's request to buy them some specialty food.

it's taken a long time to make these... the immense scope and lack of resources (available resource: me) were overwhelming.

We changed our phone number after CONXTR charged us for voice mail service we never signed up for. Now we have AllianceOne and MRS Associates calling for people who used to have our phone number: this isn't so bad. I'm not getting charged $14/month for services somebody else ordered so they could go eat at Ruby Tuesday's or Outback, and the calls are recordings, mostly. When they aren't they're polite. Can some multilingual person fluent in Hindi, or Urdu or Gujarati please share the appropriate phrase that translates into English as "There is no Abraham here, I have had this phone number for a very short time. Therefore keeping this number on your file will not help you find Abraham. Please remove the phone number from your files. Have a karma-filled day"?

I like the discussion on public health: I thought I was the only person who didn't think it was cool for HMOs to refuse claims from employee benefits when the employee's spouse has a pre-existing condition. Therefore I resolved to relocate back to the homeland. I don't feel like having my health compromised just to make some corporation richer, you know?

I also closed my son's account: it was a School Savings account opened at Washington Mutual. Chase sent me a letter saying my son's assets would be seized by the FDIC if I didn't claim them. I remembered that Chase hasn't exactly improved things for former Washington Mutual accountholders. I love my son too much to let him be nickled and dimed out of his school savings account. There is nothing like a mother's love. Credit union account here we come. Naturally my little one asked me in the bank if he could gamble his funds. Good to leave them laughing.

I have received yet another amendment to terms and conditions from Yank of America. Transaction Fee is to be raised to 4%. Now, my credit score is above 760, and I haven't used the card since August 2004 precisely because BoA can't see its way to being as competitive as my credit union. A big corporation like that, failing to be competitive. Why, butter my buns and call me a biscuit! [rolling eyes]
Maybe this is Yank of America's style of "wealth redistribution": make terms and conditions onerous so no literate, numerate cardholders will want to give it money, or prey upon those who can qualify only for that one card to give "bailouts" to the company.

Is it because of greed and innumerate ignorami that Bank of America has so many customers? Maybe if it lost customers it could be more competitive? Let the tyrant fall, I say. It doesn't seem to want to give me 25-day grace periods, or return the fees and billing cycle structure to what it was when I first got the card and my credit score was lower.

I spoke with Ka(y)cee at Bank of America, and I could only rule that it is because of BoA's fiscal mismanagement that it cannot reward or provide incentives to credit cardholders. It doesn't negotiate.

Or do I want Julie Morgenstern to do a declutter makeover with me? I just need a makeover. No, I need four makeovers: physical, career, financial, and home. The quad track solution project planner.

My hardcover copy of Steve Pavlina's book came last night: hurray! In addition to reading Didion, I'm rereading Orchids on Your Budget, a Depression-era guide for women on making it through dark financial times.

A local periodical did a feature last week on a bank on the verge of seizure by the FDIC and of ownership by JP Morgan Chase. It was refreshing and hopeful to read that there are people whose life savings are not at risk in this environment, even if it is because they have very little in life savings.

In short, I want to be the superhero and star of my life, and not play Louise Beavers or Una O'Connor to some over-entitled lazybutt doofuses.

Whee, I have a lower net worth than I had this January, never mind that I diversified and bought precious metals, CDs, I-bonds, foreign currency and bear funds, and contributed over 15% to my 401(k) and am 70% through my annual Roth IRA contributions. Ignore the sustenance of 65%+ equity in the home and prepayments too. Never mind that I improved/remodelled the bathroom. Anyone out there speeding their way in reverse gear like me? Oh wait, Wade Cook and his wife Phyllis have their $1.8 million property in Fall City, Washington up for County auction -- way to default on that Deed of Trust, Wade! Was that part of your high-flyin' "I will make you rich" stock seminars of the 1990s? Think I'll submit Wade's name to Jean Chatzky for an Oprah Debt Diet...

It seems many things are going awry in my world: I've waited far too long for my bathroom countertop to be replaced/fixed; I must redouble, singly it seems, my efforts to be better organized; and the first bid for remodeling our kitchen came in.

How much of this is my fault? The organization of the house and calendar planning, and the bid for the kitchen, as they are self-initiated. I don't have the patience to deal with other people's incompetencies right now, but I have to.

Understand that I'd be back to 2001-era debt levels if I used all my HELOC for a contingency fund, taxes, materials, and labor. I wouldn't do that anyway, because I don't want to poke my credit utilization ratio above 30%. If I used all of our available cash I can kiss goodbye the emergency fund and my Japan trip.

The kitchen is 61 years old. By kitchen I mean cabinets and countertop and hutch for the milkman to deposit glass bottles. No one will buy my house without a dishwasher. I am freaked. But yeah, without the $40K kicking around I'd be in much deeper financial muck.

I will not commence work on the kitchen nor sign any contract until the fershlugginer bathroom countertop is dealt with effectively. I've contacted the store, and the contractor I visited yesterday offered to call and see what the deal was with our bathroom -- I now have a call from the supplier to return! Wish me luck!

If you're feeling generous, post some recommendations for reading about flooring, countertops and dishwashers. Karma will kiss you back.

What I need, and I'll post them here and write them down so I can conjure their apparition: a no-b.s. job with bennies that pays well, and a kitchen-table financial mentor to show me where I can scrape back. I love mom-from-missouri's 100+ list for food savings, but wonder how much of that I can manage with 2 hours of spare time on the evenings I'm not learning Japanese, doing yoga, or decluttering the house.

I'm angry. I know, what else is new? I'm angry because I have just now understood that if I remained angry, I'd be closer to being completely debt-free. But no: I had to be melancholic, lethargic, maternal, content, stuck, pessimistic, distracted. I did not stay quixotic.

MSN Money contributor Liz Pulliam Weston's article "What if we all got money-smart? has fanned my flames.

What if every household in America:

* Paid off credit cards in full every month and carried no high-rate debt? (54% of credit card holders do this; at least 25% of the population has no credit cards)

* Had an emergency fund equal to at least three months' worth of expenses? (38% of Americans actually keep that much savings on hand)

* Saved at least 10% of earnings for retirement?

* Paid off cars before trading them in? (76% of people do this)

* Bought only as much house as it could afford? (2% of households in the country are in foreclosure, so 98%? or are we waiting for 12% of the mortgage-payers to go under?)

I thought 67% of American households were already doing that, and that would be enough. Why does it have to be 100% of households? Maybe I'll just sacrifice some more, and really build up my savings, so I can:
• pay off the mortgage and starve the bank;
• buy real estate somewhere where the crash won't be so keenly felt;
• pay less in consumption taxes and worsen the infrastructure budget, and shame the government(s) I don't approve of.

When I save 40% of our pre-tax income, and prosper in a failing economy, you'll know I am well and truly vexed beyond measure.

"We increased your APR [for Check Cash Advances, Direct Deposits, Cash Equivalents, ATM Cash Advances, Bank Cash Advances, Overdraft Protection Cash Advances and Returned Payments] due to the balances and APRs on this account" to 24.99%

My APR? 12.99%
My prior APR [for Check Cash Advances, etc.] 21.99%
My balance: $0.00

So who's the bad guy here? Me for having a clean account?

I skimmed some sites on moving back, and one suggested I buy a house and rent it out. Not enough money in the budget to go buy another house right now. I might ask some friends to go halfsies with me on a duplex: I could count on them to keep an eye on real estate prices.

Today my first kitchen designer comes through. I am worried about the cost of the kitchen: I have a large enough HELOC to cover it, but the preferred credit utilization ratio is less than my anticipated kitchen budget.

I had a good phone screen yesterday: a half-hour call turned into a 95-minute conversation. I hope to interview in person next week. This is a full-time permanent position that will not be cut back in an economic downturn. My concern is transit: I fear my options would be limited to scooter, car, carpool or vanpool. It piques me that there's so much promotion about riding transit: it's a no-brainer if I'm going downtown or to a major employment center on the Eastside, but try going to a minor employment center in an industrial park in another county 24 miles away and there's no hope to make it taking fewer than three buses or two hours. The commuter rail runs counter to my route (I would have reverse rush-hour). Is it my fault for choosing a house in a major city and getting away with public transit for most of my years in that house? Should I spend $28.00/day on transportation (rail fees) to prevent "climate change" when gas would cost me $36/week by car or $20/week on scooter? I see that my choice to ride the bus for free hasn't singlehandedly reduced gas prices or eliminated the threat of climate change.

Enhanced Services Billing, Inc. fraudulently placed $8.43 in charges on my husband's bill, claiming I entered some contest or otherwise gave approval for them to set up voice mail. Unlikely, as I have voice messaging already, and was thinking of giving that up as a teleworker seldom thinks to pick up the phone to check for messages.

From the FTC Website:

The FTC's complaint, filed with the settlements, charged:

* that ESBI falsely represented that consumers were legally obligated to pay charges on their telephone bills for web sites and other items they had not ordered or authorized others to order for them;
* that ESBI unfairly attempted to collect - or arranged for local phone companies to collect - payment of charges from consumers for web sites and other items they had not ordered and that consumers were unable to prevent ESBI from causing such unauthorized charges to appear on their phone bills;
* that BCI falsely represented that consumers were legally obligated to pay charges on their telephone bills for an activation fee and monthly minimum fees for a calling card, when the consumers had neither asked for the card nor authorized anyone else to ask for it on their behalf; and
* that BCI unfairly attempted to collect - or arranged for local phone companies to collect - payment of charges for an activation fee and monthly minimum fees for a calling card that consumers had not ordered and that the consumers were unable to prevent BCI from causing such unauthorized charges to appear on their phone bills.

So, when caught, standard business practice is to continue, only include a paragraph in the billing statement saying that the charges might be fraudulent? Why is this company still in business? Oh wait, DEREGULATION.

So this is what the high gas prices have come to? Young bucks reasoning "oh no evil clowns will eat me if I stop at a stop sign or at an intersection I must show my freedom and liberty and run down the pedestrian blocking my way by walking on the sidewalk instead, or in the crosswalk. Or else terrorists win or something." My life was endangered twice last night, and all I did was walk in a crosswalk, observing traffic (which did not observe me nor a stop sign in return), and on a sidewalk, which was slightly inconvenient to some driver who could not handle a red light at an intersection. They drive crazier than Margot Kidder on my front lawn.

I've never been that kind of a driver: what goes on in their minds other than a whoosh of air? Do they think exactly as I've described in the first paragraph? Is it a chromosomal or hormonal malady I need to be more compassionate toward? Did the blind or hard-of-seeing win their emancipation to commandeer heavy motorized vehicles unattended? Can someone tell me how much money they save on gas by foregoing stoplights at intersections and just veering off through gas stations, or by disregarding stop signs? Is that what saved America from the 1970s gas crisis -- driving like over-entitled jackasses?

I'm going to ask the Mayor's Office how they expect people to choose to go green through bicycling or walking if 'speshully entitled drivers' are endangering them through illegal driving. Do you get a 'speshully entitled' designation for an extra fee at the licensing office? 'Oh I am above stopping for pedestrians who are visible in crosswalks and sidewalks in daylight' -- who sells those decals? Is the idea to free up resources by killing off some of our citizens? I don't think I should be killed off: I contribute consumption, business, and property taxes to my local government, and I think my government therefore should protect its tax base.

My spouse's employer's insurer has decided to suspend subsidizing my expensive prescription, which I had filled and refilled by visiting a local drugstore through the insurer for the last three months. I'm using my own insurance for now. I don't understand how it's supposed to be more convenient or cheaper for me to do mail-order. I don't even know how I would do that: do I just arrange something with my doctor and a Canadian pharma website and pay out of my own pocket? How do healthcare consumers compare insurers and HMO programs prior to enrolling in benefits?

On the plus side, we signed for our new, bigger HELOC, at the time when banks are suspending or reducing HELOCs. I was told that the credit union goes by the county assessment value of the property. I would love to pay for these renovations out of pocket, but Murphy's Law being what it is, the moment I do that would be when my car and my husband's grandmother give up the ghosts, lightning hits my roof, and one of us loses a job (not likely for my spouse -- he provides too much value for what he is paid) causing us to liquidate emergency funds. We also received the lowest/best rate possible. I do appreciate the small compensations of beautiful timing and best rates for refinancing/borrowing. If only I could transfer that skill to the schizophrenic securities market.

Job search energy is picking up, including one FT gig in another country.

One other question, not at all money-related: a third-grade girl from my son's school and bus route invited him to a party. He is 1.5 yrs younger. My husband and I are scratching our heads about why the interest despite the supposed development level and age/sex difference. We didn't know anything about her until the invitation arrived in the mail, and our son said "oh, I have a friend." Should he go? I fear it's going to be pink glitter, rainbows, unicorns, and American Girl stuff, but then again, it could be that our son is not the only boy invited. I hope this is the case. I will call the girl's parent and ask.

I cannot seem to get a quality haircut for under $60 in this city. My debut at an organic salon (with scalp massage) for a hair cut, shampoo and blow dry was $60, before gratuity.

Bought some seafood, as I'd been going without for a few weeks. I stopped at one place two weeks ago but it was offering $35/lb for Copper River salmon, so I passed. I got it for half that today, somewhere else. Bought cheap (under $6.50/bottle) wine and lemons.

Went on a Costco run with boy -- loaded up the cart. $124.58. No meat nor wine nor clothes: just grains, butter, lunch stuff for his day camp, tomatoes, beans, juice, Ziploc(tm) bags, organic sugar.
Bought discount vitamins too.

Also took the car for an oil change, as it reached its 2950 mile interval. $34.08

My car collided with another car (I was trying to get out of its way), but as there was no physical damage to vehicles nor drivers, I thought 'feh!' and after clearly and carefully asking the other driver how he'd care to proceed, departed). Calling it a fenderbender would be an embellishment, terming it a crash would be an outright lie.

Tried to go to coin shop to pick up my Yen, but it was closed as the brothers had a wedding to go to that day. So that's why I've been slow getting Yen for Osaka. But boy! I'm not sure how I want to proceed with the replacement car -- I've been very blessed to not have had physical injuries over the past three accidents; however, I'm not pleased that I've had three accidents within nine months. I have my lights on at all times, when I was driving the vehicle it was during the day... not sure what else I can do to be more visible, nor how to ensure other drivers are being attentive to the traffic situation and conditions.

Driving wasn't all spendspend though: I deposited two cheques, and mailed an envelope with three Roth and Coverdell deposits equalling the total amount of the cheques deposit. A rerouting, if you will.

Escrow shortage: $277.52
Goal: make further cuts and changes to absorb that $277.52. For 2008, this'll mean a $137.00 savings over six months. I hope my husband gets a raise/cost of living adjustment in excess of $277.52.

My friend asked me for debt-repayment advice. I gave it to him. A half-hour later he called up my husband asking for help researching airline tickets. I do know how it is to have budget setbacks, and believe me I know how it is to want to reward oneself, and not to want to live a completely austere and penurious lifestyle devoid of any treats. But weekend getaways via air: I'm prudent enough to save those for when I have a healthy emergency fund or when I have a car loan paid off. I guess I must have given good advice, because my friend's not taking it. Why then does he ask me?

HELOC request now in the mail. I'm rationalizing this: the kitchen is 60 years old with no remodeling done whatsoever, and my available is about 66% of what I plan to ask for a credit line, and is 75% of what I plan to pay for the kitchen itself.

Oh yeah, stimulus check came. Whee. Valid for one year only. 10% will go to local hunger initiatives.

Faith formation for little ones discussion. Lunch with debt support group ($15.00 -- kaching!). Shop at Catholic supply store ($51.04 -- kaching!), drop gold coin in safety deposit box, photocopy Saturday NYT Crossword at library, drive home. Walk to drycleaner's to drop off clothes, then to mall to get cards, and Father's day gift. Walk home. Drive to Goodwill to drop off used clothing, then to natural foods store to get ginger, kombucha, yerba mate, rolled oats, and eggs ($9.35 -- kaching!). Combine that trip with the bank for escrow shortage payment ($277.52 -- kaching!), and Ezell's for take-out as it's not all that far from where I was ($23.09 -- kaching!).

I wanted to take the scooter today but its battery died from inactive usage: I just didn't have any reason to take the scooter rather than the bus or the car (toting child) until today.

Not long ago $9.00 would have carried my scoot 150 miles...

People in New York and Chicago are having heat waves. Does 54F count as a cool wave for Washington state in June? I suppose I should be thankful that I don't need any air conditioning. Maybe there's someone in Biloxi, MS who'd love to be in my shoes right now.

Either I am detoxifying or I have a food allergy or I have a lung infection: this is my third bronchial irritation in four months. I am treating it with herbal teas, apple cider vinegar/honey concoctions. Commercial cough syrups either have high fructose corn syrup or aren't to be used if one has persistent excessive mucus or a lingering cough.

Being so congested, I did not touch coffee for four days. I had one cup and the head pressure and cramping foot ailments returned. Yesterday I had a cappuccino from someone who serves up excellent espresso drinks, and even with the honey it tasted bitter. With the cold and the espresso, yes, more foot cramping. Normally I'd be sucking back the java juice big time when it's cool and grey outside like this. I wish I could say "hey, I'm saving $10 a week by not drinking coffee" but the truth is we get Starbucks roast for free at the office, and I haven't cheated by having coffee there either. That too has been noticed, with raised eyebrows. I haven't gone without coffee since a week in 1998. My spouse and son will still have their hot drinks at least weekly.
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To treat myself I bought sea salts, epsom salts and some essential oils to help with eliminating chest congestion. We also paid for my kid's haircut, my debt support breakfast, gold coin.
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A friend called me to vent about his plaguing health issue. I have urged him three times to go see a medical professional (too much bureaucracy) or an alternative healer (they don't work). He says he wants to pay off his debts but at the same time is tempted, as we all are, with vacations to the Caribbean or getaways closer to home. I love that he's close enough to me to share his pains and vents, but I don't know if I'm offering him any advice of value. All I do is remind him that his health is his #1 asset to protect and maintain, and he "yeah buts" me. Maybe I should just shut up and listen in future. This is why I don't say much or offer much advice -- too many reminders I don't know what I'm doing, or am stating what everybody knows. If I knew what I was doing I would be able to make all my goals, live my life on one person's income.

There are supposedly lots of things we take for granted or are psychologically addicted to that we don't really need. Me, I like utilities: heat, gas, electricity, running water, indoor plumbing.

I like having a house to come home to. I like to put non-processed, non-toxic vegetable and animal matter in my mouth where the matter trickles down into my gastro-intestinal system. I like to walk outdoors, onto my property and pick up something that I'd have to wait in line for at the supermarket, have a "speshul membership card" for "speshul 4% deal" to buy.

I even like climbing into a large vehicle and zoning out while someone else drives me and sixty other people eight miles to work. I admit I also like settling into the driver's seat of a warm, covered vehicle when it is wet and cold outside and I have to be somewhere faster than a bus could be.

I like to cover my shoulders, elbows, torso down to my knees, and even to cover my feet. I like to stave off or slow down the physical deterioration of vital organs.

I like to show affection to my friends, and sometimes to my family. I like to redistribute a small percentage of my income to where it's needed more. To top it all off, I would like to have all of the above even when I am not punching the clock or earning a living. I might scale down from a house to an apartment or a "Golden Agers Eco-Commune" hut.

I am hoping then that we will have fewer people in the house, with smaller stomachs, and lots of free time so we can make gifts.

So scaling back is as difficult for me as it is for many other young families. Is there anything above that identifies me clearly as an "over-entitled American?" The transportation, clothing and entertainment costs are easy to cut back. The food and utilities: not so much. I could save on food if I spent money on sprouters, and jars and canning, and soil amendments and rental fees for tillers, and woke up in the dark with a flashlight and a brick to look for slugs, and chest freezers, and vacuum sealers. I could save on energy if I spent money on new siding, a new roof, solar panels, cistern, rainbarrels, a lean-to to store dry firewood. Oh, but there's that insurance thing to think about. It reminds me of the Dilbert comic: "Every item on this list is Top Priority except for Personal Life." My husband and I are trying to think of how we could scale back, wondering if we'll resort to our 1996 way-of-life (one-bedroom apartment, one car, no savings) in the recession. Except we didn't have Roth IRAs to contribute to, and we spent a greater percentage of our budget on food back then than we do now. We bought clothes at retail prices then, and the only apparel I buy at full cost now are undercarriage and shoes. We went to movies three times a week and now, maybe twice a month, we rent from an excellent video/DVD place, or watch stuff from YouTube. I am not ready for this recession.

And yet, I look at what we earn, how infrequently we shop for clothes or drive (still frequently enough to merit having a beater car on weekends), and wonder how to manage our goals of having the mortgage paid off before either one of us turns 55, a year or two of university education saved for the kidlet, while more or less having our expectations and needs met by one salary. I check the Consumer Expenditure Survey for my city for 2005-2006 and doggedly try to whack our expenditures to meet or beat what is spent by the average household unit in our area. It's challenging. The savings goals are to be met by the other person's salary. We're about 60-65%, rather than 50%, and I think some of that is due to food choices, technology we're not really dependent on, and our accelerated mortgage. And we should be able to afford insurance and bring that emergency fund up to six months, but no.
I failed the Kiplinger's Financial Fitness Test because I didn't have an emergency fund of six months' expenses. Truth is, I had emergencies! There's a lot I don't have.

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

First it was 866-526-9732 calling (I never picked up, but Caller ID and Google can't both lie together) more than once.

Now it's market@fastloanopt.com leaving text message spam.

Fastloanopt.com is a domain registered as of March 24, 2008.

IP address : 72.5.175.97
ISP : Internap Network Services
Organization : New.net

My mobile phone provider gives inadequate support for combating spam: a limit of 50 phone numbers or e-mail addresses. I'd rather just not receive the spam in the first place. I called Customer Care where an account rep with subpar comprehension and problem-solving skills pressed for a password. I hadn't had been asked for a password before, and wondered why it was necessary if all I wanted to do was to report and dispute an unsolicited text message spam.

I am not renewing my contract with this provider. If I choose to get another phone, it will have a pay-as-you-go plan, and it will with a carrier that has the same disdain for unsolicited text messages as I do, with superior blocking policies and tools, and with a customer service team that has adequate comprehension and problem-solving skills.

The customer service levels, costs of plans, increase in SMS spam, and increased threats to motorcyclists' and pedestrians' safety from oblivious cell phone users behind the wheel do little to justify the saturation market of these
high-priced toys/distractions. Any business model that profits by charging the unwitting recipient for unsolicited commercial SMS messages is one that, in a morally responsible and sane country, would not work.

Depending on whether I open a SEP-IRA using the money I earned in my business, we owe somewhere between $3100 and $3200 to the government. The CPA delivered the news by telephone. I have some time to think about opening a SEP-IRA, in which case she could whittle a little bit of the tax away.

If you look at the Saving Tracks on the left, you'll see what I had set aside for taxes so far.

I advised my spouse he must update his tax withholding to reflect zero allowances, and $75 extra withholding. I just started a new contract today, and am reasonably confident I will have enough money for the accountant now and for the government on April 15.

Maybe get him to crank it up to $90 extra withholding considering we're getting the tax advance/stimulus package.

I started a new assignment downtown today. It is lovely to have a mere 25-minute bus ride at rushhour, and lovely to catch the bus thirty feet away from my building. Indeed, having a view of the sound on a sunny day is glorious. I won't say where I work, but I believe I won't hear the phrase "housing bubble" at my new worksite as much as I heard it at the last.

Last year: $491.00
This year: $546.00

I shall surf for better car/home insurance packages -- if I can get a $60 discount for having both auto and home insurance with one insurance agency that will offset my donation to the "ProjectShare" program my utility offers for low-income people behind on their bills.

Everything is going up, sigh. I wonder how people on fixed incomes are managing...

I was asked how much my bill was at this time last year for gas. It was $76.64. My husband and child were away for a week at the in-laws, and I was working outside the house at that time.

The worst bills were (2007):
Jan. bill $147.52
Feb. bill $169.42 (this one made me cry)
Mar. bill $125.59

We were both working at home early this winter.

And the year before (2006):
Jan. bill $127.06
Feb. bill $131.77
Mar. bill $145.72

None of us was working at home at that time.

A longer billing period increased my gas usage.
The weather increased my bill by $14-$23.
I cranked up the heat to 73 temporarily twice to make sure my buns rose nicely. I've also used the oven for this but the oven heat and lack of circulation doesn't allow the yeast to properly expand.

The average similar home uses $103. I use $131. I wonder, again, how much of this is because someone who works at home during the day is not keen on his fingers being numb or tingly-cold. Our basement is not insulated, as it is unfinished. For average energy by day-of-week, it looks like the energy use is least on Wednesday and Sunday, the days my husband is in the house the least, and highest on Monday and Thursday.

Where I get cranky: the cobranded "Bill Center" the Home Energy Tools application, in Step 3, Find Savings, there are no low/no-cost "ways to save for weatherization." The investment ideas have at best a 17% rate of return.

Some graphs show that the average home uses $556 of electrical energy use per year. Mine uses $28. Gas usage, annually was $1103 for the average home. Mine was $846. $737 goes toward heating, $157 for hot water, and $56 for cooking. My heat spike came on Thanksgiving: 5 Therms. I was baking buns and using the oven a lot.

I shrug. There's only so much I can do when I'm home. I called my utility and spoke with an energy use advisor. I told her what I did and what I had expected. Windows reduce heating costs by only 10%. The insulation would do more. She told me that last year, instead of $1.07/Therm, I paid $1.26/Therm. She said for every $100 I spent on natural gas, I was saving $230 by not using oil. Okay. We may have paid $55 more this month but that is also how much we pay for gas for the car this month.

Oh, and for sewer/water/yard waste/recycling? The energy use advisor, who lives in my city and pays even more for her natural gas than I do, told me our city-owned utility charges a very high rate for that -- you might say we get soaked. And we don't even live in the desert.

So here's me in August: blahblahblahwindows
September: blahblahblahwindows
October: blahblahblahwindowsandroofinsulation
November: blahblahblahroofinsulation
December: blahblahinsulationONEHUNDREDTHIRTYONEDOLLARS?!?

Didn't any one notice at the natural gas utility that I spent a five-digit figure on windows and a coupla hundred dollars on insulation so I could SAVE MONEY?!? I wash in cold! I keep the temperature at 68F at home, and 58F at night. I clean the filters every five-six weeks.

Sacrifice without deprivation

I live at an equal or lower standard of living in the same city as Cortni Marrazzo (Correction: Cortni Marrazzo has informed me she no longer lives in Seattle, making most of my post inaccurate. I hope it's still entertaining.), yet my expenses (with savings included) are $5800/month. Maybe because I have a kid. And a house.

The house itself makes me cry. Not because I can't afford it, because I can, but because I see the houses in sunny Phoenix, Sacramento and San Diego that are falling to foreclosure and they are, in the blue blue skies that are their backgrounds, newer and nicer and larger, and with the exception of San Diego, CHEAPER in price, currently. I get the impression that the families were in their backyards in October, grilling! Those emblems of security and family, glistening in the SUNSHINE and yet they are stops on the RepoBus tour. Oh, denizens of the Golden State and Goldwater Country, know that there is a SAD woman chugging down Vitamin D and cursing the darkness and cold, envying even the temporary homerenters turfed out in an economic climate gone bad, and wondering why li'l postwar Cape Cod boxes are still going for near half-a-mil in her sunless area.

Mrs. Marrazzo pays more for DSL than I do. We do pay for lattes twice a week, three times during the shortest days of the year. I do not have a sun roof on my car, because I am in a land without sun. I am scratching my head as to how to save more money. I do not have a gym membership but rather walk for exercise. I do not know why a Seattleite would not visit Scarecrow Video, choosing to rent DVDs from Netflix, unless the Seattleite was not a cineast(e). My last seven video rentals came from the public libraries. I guess that is where I would splurge more than the average person -- I like REALLY GOOD, independent, classic and foreign films. They bring meaning and colour and escapism to my humdrum, melancholic, grey existence.

I am not commenting on the SA blog because the cookie preserves my name and e-mail address, and I'm afraid someone from the same work IP address will see my contact particulars. But I am disappointed. I personally know people more frugal in my community.

My second vehicular accident in three months. Once again I am not at fault. This time was in our car, with all of us. I am not happy, but we all are safe and unhurt and for that I am thankful.

But I have a trickle of dollars in my new car fund and no collision insurance as the car is eleven years old. I can't get a new vehicle on a trickle of dollars.

Seriously, the rearview mirror is dangling by its cables and there's some paint transfer.

My poor fractured mind is trying so desperately to attribute meaning and pattern to this, but no. I'm angrier now than I was when I was physically injured (whiplash) in the motorcycle rearend mishap, because my son was in the car. I guess I've earned my Mom Badge.

Important message: if your child is in a booster seat or child seat in an automobile accident, get it inspected, much as one would a motorcycle helmet after a two-wheel spill, to see how much impact was absorbed and whether it is safe to use again.

It has come to my attention more than once that I have a narrow, skewed idea of the rest of the country's finances, even though I am a Constant Reader of personal finance forums and blogs. I hang out with people who are either debt-free or actively minimizing their consumer credit and home mortgage debt obligations. Their reality is my perception. Until the Federal Reserve publishes its quarterly Flow of Funds report.

Federal Reserve Flow of Funds (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Consumer Credit Debt Growth grew by 6.1%
Home Mortgage debt growth grew by 6.8%

Consumer Credit borrowing is the highest it has been since 2001Q4. Home mortgage borrowing in 2007Q3 is the lowest it has been since 2002Q2.

Debt outstanding in 2007Q3: a staggering $10,399,400,000,000 for home mortgage. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. An all-time high of $2,516,400,000,000 for consumer credit.

Think about where that money goes. Whose pockets does it go into? Does it evaporate?

I'll probably remove this later, but here goes...

Yes, free speech is a mighty fine thing. I consider it hucksterish and misleading, however, when finance lending and locksmith companies open up blogs here as extensions of their marketing activities because it's of no cost.

"Hey, I see that Curves and Jenny Craig have free blogs, I think those places are the best for me to market my donut and pastry business!"

There's nothing in the Code of Conduct that prevents these people to open their blogs. If they misread their target market or are so desperate to take whatever free space is available to them, they'll doom themselves soon enough. Edit: it looks like people know when their intelligence is being insulted, or when a company is marketing without integrity. I hope these 'commercial but don't want to pay advertising rates to give Jeffrey and Nate any revenue owed to them' blogging entities share their thoughts, issues, goals and daily musings about their personal finances and money today. You know, the way we other bloggers do, the way that the text on the Member blogs home page reads.

I had to get some ibuprofen because I kept slapping my head: "D'oh!"

Seriously, David Bach's book has some simple ideas that I'm eager to implement, but there are, thanks to hindsight, also paragraphs of unintentional hilarity:

"In 2002, Fannie Mae created what it calls the American Dream Commitment, a program to provide $2 trillion in funding over the next decade in order to increase homeownership in America by 18 million new families." (p. 168)

"In 2002, President George W. Bush announced a goal of increasing the number of U.S. homeowners by 5.5 million over the next eight years." (p. 166)

"As U.S. housing prices climbed steadily through the late 1990s and early years of the twenty-first century, some people began to worry if we were experiencing a real estate 'bubble,' similar to the unjustified run-up we saw with 'dot-com' stocks." (p. 165)

Getting back to 2007...
I was not happy to hear that the attempt to change the Alternate Minimum Tax rules to give middle-income families was vetoed in favour of retaining tax advantages for private equity fund managers. I know wars and social programs need to be funded somehow, and maybe middle-income people are falsely claiming entitlement in this case. After thirty years of being the economic martyr for the top and bottom 10% of the US population, you'd have to have either amnesia or some mighty gall to demand a tax restructure so you can afford food, transportation, clothing, education, healthcare and shelter. Who gets paid to listen to the middle-income? No wonder the voting population is low here... the middle-income people have figured out long ago few people are fighting for their interests.

Still, this infuses me with fresh motivation to downscale my expenses even further, to give my money to underserved populations (i.e. disadvantaged, not private equity fund managers) AND to increase my pre-tax contributions, anything legal to avoid the AMT. As if rising prices weren't enough: time to investigate bartering, "grey markets" and picking up some new skills.