An online acquaintance cried foul on Chase Manhattan raising her APR on her credit card to 30% "for no reason" (i.e., no apparent fault of her own; there are at least three reasons why Chase would raise her APR outside of any personal fault: because they can, to make up for lost profits as they are forced to comply with new credit card legislation, and to offset the losses of former irresponsible and fed-up customers).

credit card legislation + Bank + TARP funds = punished customers

If credit card interest = $0.00, account = closed

If credit card interest < $0.01, annual percentage rate = annual percentage rate + 6.50

If credit card interest > $1.00, annual percentage rate = annual percentage rate + 12.00

In honour of yesterday's World Food Day, I gave $50 to Hopelink and $25 to US UNICEF. I expect to have lots of soup this week to compensate, tardy as I was to order the month's supply of beef. Split pea soup, tomato/red pepper, chicken noodle, Good Friday vegetable soup and beet borscht.

Monday October 19 is Meatless Monday in southwestern British Columbia, Bellingham (Washington state) and other places. We'll probably recognize Meatless Monday with udon soup with tofu and wakame.

...does anyone else ever get frustrated with the lack of choice in specific products and wonder why, in a densely populated country, they can't get what they want?

(Me, I want bulk chlorella powder or tablets and non-HFCS soft drinks with fewer than 40 grams of sugar. My brother is going to send me some from Japan, in return for the ancho and chipotle powder that is ultra-accessible even thousands of miles from the US/Mexico border...)

I also wonder why there is so much variety in shampoo/hair products...

The Museum of History and Industry in my fair city is having an event tonight on the thrift of the 1930s, 1940s and 1970s.

Recessionomics: Tips for the Thrifty from the 1930s, 40s, 70s and Today
Health, Money and Home
Thursday, Oct 8, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
In the first of this four-part series, historian Roger van Oosten examines where we stand in the current recession, and suggests no-nonsense tips for moving forward. Guest experts share advice on how to manage health care on a budget, money hacks for squeezing out the last penny, and making sensible financial decisions on a daily basis.
Suggested $7 donation or simply Pay-What-You-Can at the door!

I want to go, but last night my son KNELT to beg me to go to his Open House school night. I sat out of the PTA Fall Potluck, although I did contribute some truffle brownies, and he felt I should have gone. Maybe we can do something bad like spring $$ on Ezell's, go early to his school thing, and then catch this stuff. Why can women not adapt to motherhood by cloning or having extra limbs?

Spending more time at home makes me more present to what needs replacing and turfing. We've been buying bras (at Nordstrom, because I don't know of any other place where the bras fit me so well, and the undercarriage is top quality and on sale), duvet covers, waste baskets and rugs at IKEA. My son kept saying "I could buy this, or this or this. My bank account holds more money than this costs." I found the best way to quash his "can I haves" is with "how much do you want me to remove from your account?" I bought makeup, and coming up next will be knit dresses for the fall/winter season. On account that I have only three dresses, and one of them is for semiformal or dressy occasions and another is for warm weather. A third one makes me look pregnant. So I need dresses, but they aren't going to be Nicole Miller or Marc Jacobs or Jil Sander dresses.

My son also learned that his friend gets $5 per missing tooth. The tooth fairy gives him $1 at our home. He is feeling ripped off. I don't understand: The Upper Plate Metal Sculptor blew $3200 on the boy's orthodontics and the boy feels ripped off?

Three tickets to St. Louis for under $1000. Keep in mind I live on the coast. Also bought expensive pair of shoes, although they were fifty percent off. They are handmade Italian shoes, and when given only two choices of the "every woman is an 8B in a population of 300 million for $49.99" and "these shoes are guaranteed to fit, never to pinch or cause blisters at the heel or crush your small toe for $224" I guess I would choose the latter. Pain is not my good friend. I am not Imelda Marcos, mind. I have rain boots, motorcycle boots, slip-ons from the maternity days, cheap Doc Martens, slippers, trainers/runners/sneakers and these new shoes.

Haircut was 20% reduced from last year. I felt so hostile and bitter yesterday I couldn't face goijg with my stylist of late because he's just over the top with the feng shui waterfall, foot massager, and oasis-feel. I wanted someone no-nonsense and sleep-deprived who wasn't afraid to verbally slap me if my hormones urged me to get out of line. Fortunately that didn't happen: I suppsoe if one is self-aware to recognize one's at high-tide, one's going to be more restrained and withdrawn.

Gardening: planted carrots, beets, leeks, parsley, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mint, strawberries, marjoram, dill, tomatoes, anaheim peppers, thyme, oregano. I wanted radishes! We have lots of kale. My son even bought a strawberry plant, and helped me add compost and scratched in tomato/vegetable food with a trowel and watered them with some extra plant food liquid.

It's odd, because someone when taking my deposit there tried to do a hard sell on me. Yet Chase's notification of changes, which includes fees for deposits in excess of $5000, has me considering taking the not-for-profit corporation's assets elsewhere, upon board and membership approval of course!

Are there really so many people who are fine to be nickel-and-dimed this way? Why are banks making credit unions out to be bleeding obvious choices for consumers?

We installed a new door today. Maybe I'll even get around to making the fireplace more efficient. I hate that I can't reduce my gas bill without sacrificing comfort in my home or spending $50K finishing the basement and adding insulated siding. I think it is time to move.

Girlfriend, this Action Plan is divine overness. And refreshingly low in calories, don't you know. It's so simple.
I do get tempted to pay off the HELOC tout de suite, but rather, I should just build that emergency fund (pie!) higher. Build the pie higher!

Then when inflation strikes and the 3% HELOC escalates, the emergency fund can take care of at least some of it. In fact, perhaps my savings should be prioritized post-Japan as:

1. Emergency Fund
2. Prepay mortgage (hey, it's the debt with the highest APR. Is there not a budget guru who advises paying off debts, highest APR first?)
3. HELOC
4. Roth
5. Everything else.

Here's the Goal for 2009. Decide how much you can afford to deposit. Now add 20% to that amount. ..in 2009 you cannot afford to be laid back and do what is easy.
You must push yourself as hard as possible to build your security as quickly as possible.

Indeed.

Requiring some extra iron and ibuprofen today. ugh.

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

I need carnival squash and yams recipes.

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

My root vegetables were applauded at a preThanksgiving dinner, remarkably some complimenters were under 18 (only one of them belonged to me). I know I wasn't a fan of rutabagas, turnips, or squash in my tender years. Today's children have more knowledge of nutritious food.

I am officially joining a gym. I need to get out of the house and slice my adipose tissue. It embarrasses me that I see skinnier moms with younger children. (Oops, there goes my manly blog percentage.)

http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx -- I scored 81.82% on this. Not bad for an immigrant! Maybe I almost know enough to keep up in a general conversation about US politics.
The average score for the quiz when taken online is 78% -- there's a big selection bias compared to the 49% purported to be the average American score. So does that mean average Americans fail a basic test on their history and institutions? is 81.82% a failing grade?

We had a little finance chat at the Indian restaurant yesterday: Mom, Dad, and Tired Little Profiteer (TLP) or Tired Loud Pest, depending on if you too were in the restaurant with us.

TLP: I want a MasterCard.
M & D: Why?
TLP: You can buy anything with a MasterCard.
M & D, backing away from a slippery slope: When you can demonstrate victory over your wants through delayed gratification, you can get a MasterCard. Some debit cards are branded with MasterCard, meaning that the money you already have in your account is taken instantly to pay for things.
M, failing to back away from slope: Some cards allow you to pay for more than what you actually have in your account.
TLP, gleeful: REALLY?
M & D: This is not good.

What happened to the good old days, when he identified my Bank of America credit cards as Cards of Evil?

Yesterday afternoon I identified some blue chips that might be worth purchasing in the view of a long-term holding and dividend reaping. One was MCD (McDonald's). I thought of getting some for the boy -- some junior shareholders start out with companies they know. TLP knows MCD but does NOT like MCD. He was anguished that the Golden Arches were visible from the restaurant. "I hate them!" Yells in the parking lot: "I hate you McDonald's! I don't want to eat here! I'll have to look at McDonald's!" So, maybe not for him. Unless I can coax Andrew Tobias to talk to my little boy about how he used his profits from tobacco companies to purchase Russian television network time to air non-smoking PSAs.

Frugal throw-in: apparently TLP provided enough charm and entertainment for us to receive as a gift from the restaurant management a free rice pudding at the end of our meal.

"we're losing money from defaulting customers. We need new customers. We need bailouts. No, we don't feel like going back to 25 day grace periods, nor abandoning universal default and two cycle billing. But we need bailouts."

Heaven forbid you should go back to 25 day grace periods. Or return to 1990s-era terms and conditions. You might get... CARDHOLDERS!

My son is learning about money. He's actually very good at making change, as we saw in Monopoly. For his money math project, we supplied $2.00 worth of change, labelled with his name and 'what is left of Mr. -------'s 401(k) plan'



I've arranged for a free investment checkup for his Coverdell account with an Investment Consultant.

Winterizing: rainboots, socks, gloves, hat. New shoes for boy. Thermal panels.

Kitchen is looking superbly sunny/fresh/happy: peach on top, white molding 5/8 down, mint on the bottom. White cabinets. Even the boy, who was jonesing for RED approved.

Learned the HELOC rate we are currently enjoying at prime - .75 is variable, not fixed. Fixed rate is 2.5 points, or 77.16%, higher than our current variable rate. We have up to fifteen years to pay it off: my original scheme was to pay the HELOC in three. My strategy now is to make small, but not minimum payments (for that would be interest-only: yecch) on the HELOC, ratcheting up as the lending rate rises. Put more money in the emergency fund, retirement funds, paying down the house fund. Then if we're called to pay up in full, we can do so.

I mentioned that our Visa limit went UP $7500 within ten hours of our HELOC withdrawal, yes? "More rope, madam?"

Bought Money magazine: a guilty pleasure for the alarmist feature questions. More recession watch items: one friend wants to sell his condo, two friends want to buy condos (but not my friend's condo) and my buyer's agent would like some extra work. I hope to be invited to some housewarmings in 2009.

Water bill absurdly high this cycle: blaming the garden hose timing, or a plumbing leak, or something.

My blueberry crumble sold for $15 at the bake sale. I am glad I contributed something, given our kitchen has been gutted but for a fridge and an oven. I cut some squares and meant for them to sell individually but someone bought the whole thing including the pan, which was labelled with our contact info.

$15 is a big profit for squares from a 9"x9" pan.

It's a "socially responsible" "future" type of stock. He has Dodge & Cox fund, and Mesa Realty Trust in his fund, and holds some BNI (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) in a DRP.

Maybe I should involve him in these decisions, but his math isn't quite up there yet.

I know someone personally who's gone through a foreclosure. I wondered if he knew of the Hope for Homeowners program or if it rolled out too late or something. I'm wondering, if lenders/mortgagors are so willing to reduce the inventory of REOs, why notice of trustee sales are up so much. Are the programs ineffective, are they useful to only 3% of the population, did the troubled seek out help only to be denied and turned away?
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On my scooter trip yesterday I paid $3.60 to fill up for 120 miles. I did start out with a full tank and it's now 55% full, but still -- it's rare for me to have an eight-hour travel tour for $3.60. It helped to fuel up in the rural areas without so many gasoline taxes too. We talked about how the global recession/depression might delay the peak oil crisis. Fewer vehicles on the road, fewer imports, more reliance on bicycles, car-sharing and public transportation in urban areas. People who freaked out at USD $4.50/gallon and bought Priuses won't be able to easily go back to the SUVs when gas gets cheaper as the flow of consumer credit has contracted: they'll be "stuck" with their 40+ mpg cars for longer than they planned. Then again, they won't be able to borrow for alternate fuel or electric vehicles either. I wish car-sharing companies were publicly traded.
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Fave money podcasts right now: Money Girl and NPR's Michelle Singletary.

How do you gird yourself to open the envelopes and look at the statements: epidural? bourbon? marijuana? gin? yoga? deep meditation? hypnosis?

Even Warren Buffett says that now's the time to buy, so let's have another cup of coffee, and let's have another piece of pie.

I'm reading The Dick Davis Dividend, a present to myself with my husband's $50 gift certificate (he's had $150 of 'em, and I've used less than my community property share). If I were to accumulate buy stock right now, here's what I'd pick up:

Procter & Gamble (PG)
Gilead Sciences (GILD)
Prudhoe Bay Trust (PBT)

Looking at Canadian natural resources and Canadian & Australian uranium companies for laffs. Some ferrin stahx: SNY, TCK, Probably going to stick with mutual funds, although if my son says something earth-shatteringly wise, I may reward him with a share of Google. I'm trying to see what companies he'd be interested in owning: he's not a Disney/McDonald's/Coca-Cola/Nike kid, but he recognized very early in life the logos for Boeing, Microsoft, RealNetworks and Amazon.com, and spots companies supporting NASCAR entries (Lowe's, Office Depot, FedEx).

I am furthermore being nice to myself by accepting an invitation from a kind and friendly scooterist to trek up to the next county. It'll be slow going, as I'll be with Vespas (think Gulliver among the Lilliputians or Dorothy among the Munchkins), but it'll be more interesting than the major highway and the freeway I took a few weeks ago. And it's not the size that matters, it's the chicness of taking to the open road.

Princeton professor Paul Krugman has won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

On occasion I like to read Dr. Krugman's online column; sometimes I read Dean Baker and look into Laurence Kotlikoff's papers too.

What economists do you read?

Our playlist this evening:
We Faw Down and Go Boom -- Eddie Cantor
Makin' Whoopee! -- Eddie Cantor
Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee and Let's Have Another Piece of Pie -- Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians
Cheer up! Smile! Nertz -- Eddie Cantor
Happy Days Are Here Again -- Annette Hanshaw
I Gotta Get Up and Go to Work -- Irving Aaronson and his Commanders

I should ferret for my Fred Allen, Ruth Etting, early Crosby and George Jessel...

From my routine five-block walk from the bus stop to home, I encounter in this order:

What used to be Washington Mutual but really is now JP Morgan Chase;

closed former Washington Mutual Home Loan Center;

closed Tony Roma's;

vacant drugstore space formerly leased by Longs Drugs (fantastic drugstore).

Do you have a routine walk that takes you past a number of abandoned commercial buildings and lots?

your brother e-mails you from an ocean away with the subject header "What's going on over there?!?!!!?"

My brother asked me if people were throwing themselves out of buildings like 1929, and how we were doing.

Another month, a shorter amortization period. 19.66% of the principal has been paid over five years. Yeesh.

Assessment is 10% higher than last year's. I understand that assessments are about 18 months behind home values. I won't challenge the assessment for two reasons: the county needs my tax dollars as lots of greedyguts here are defaulting on their 'separate properties' they couldn't flip, and the tax dollars go to keep our water clean, emergency road vehicles on the road, public health centers for those who didn't win lotto and came down with diseases; and my credit union looks to County assessments to determine a responsible amount to lend me. Maybe I've undervalued my property, in which case I can go back and redo my net worth statements and then refute the evidence I'm closer to broke now than I was in January. I have worked for my County government, so I do have an informed idea where the money goes. Also, my house has a lower value than 64% of the houses north of the ship canal, and the tax is about 1/45 of our income: shrug.

Seriously considering landscaping. Even if I don't make it across the border next year, landscaping now would be good so that next year, when the dogs owned by irresponsible homeowners come out and bark out their loneliness and frustration, I can put the house up for a quick sale. Or maybe I won't have to, because my tax dollars will have kept Animal Control in business!

We had a hectic day, even though we let the natural sun wake us this morning. I should have gone out earlier, but such is life. I cheated on my fast by having an 8 ounce drip of coffee, settled some more details with the contractor, MAILED MY FILLED BALLOT FOR THE OCTOBER 14 ELECTION, bought food to donate to food banks, returned library books, did yoga, got farmers market goodies, paid mortgage, did laundry, walked to library, got brandy for Poulet á la Moutarde, bourbon for the Man Who Worked Too Much, ordered birthday cake for Spridle errr... my kid, went to Archie McPhee's for loot bag treats, picked up library books, made sausage and peppers where I totally broke my fast, and am now breaking wind (bet you needed to know that)!

More stuff you didn't need to know: picked up a book on kitchens, Bob's Red Mill baking book (was hoping to get King Arthur Flour baking book), Slouching Toward Bethlehem (Didion, not Yeats) and Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi.

Organic Valley is offering preferred stock with a 6% dividend, 100 shares minimum at $50/share. I'm tempted, but I guess I'd have to research that... I haven't owned so much of one stock and frankly, I'm slowly growing my allocation of bonds and fixed income instruments -- essentially buying once a month and letting my stocks sink like Virginia Woolf. My rancher/meat provider was offering stock at a 10% dividend eighteen months ago, didn't take up on that either.

Bonus Bible Quote! "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life: and money answereth all things." Ecclesiastes 10:19

(See how nicely that Entry Title skirts any gender or familial suppositions?)

Apparently there's a school potluck on Friday that two of my family members are keen to attend. The schoolchild's ego is tied up in making sure his mom (me) supplies a dish and, more importantly, the dish be well-loved and tasty. I have OODLES of cookbooks, so I am at risk of analysis paralysis. What have been past potluck super-performers as the weather turns cool and grey?

I tried an apple flan and brioche last year. No one touched the apple flan, and only my coworkers gobbled up the brioche. I misunderstood the bake sale market. I keep thinking that the families drive Lexus minivans or Subaru Legacies and have hot tubs behind their $500K houses -- I don't, but I have emotional scars of poverty. Still, one can be not-as-well-off and enjoy good brioche attractively priced...

Maybe a vegan red pepper - tomato soup with some yogurt herb bread...

It was 40F when I left the house this morning. It was 60F inside the house and unsurprisingly no one was really keen to get out of bed. I considered taking the scoot, and am sad now I didn't. I have not yet reset the thermostat from our summer usage. I wonder if this is the year we see a $200 monthly gas bill.

Bought power strip and contact paper for bathroom. I guess an insulating blanket for the water heater is next; maybe a heavier door, replacement screen doors and a weatherstripping moment follow soon after.

The spouse has offers pending on his miniature fantasy army and his scooter. I guess the money will go to the increased cost of our countertops, or pulls/knobs and pendant lamp for the kitchen. When I find my Visa card I'll buy the appliances.

More fun to do: landscaping, Japanese, flooring selection, yoga.

Vignettes of Seattle housing, Sept 2006 purchases then and now:
3 bdr 2 ba 33 y.o. SFH, average 5.5% appreciation since purchase.
2 bdr 2 ba 2 y.o. townhome, 2.4% depreciation since purchase.
3 bdr 1.75 ba 61 y.o. SFH, average 5.3% appreciation since purchase.

Assessments for next tax year are up and out: 5.3% home appreciation average, 10% tax assessment increase. Strangely, the greater percentage was in the improvement value. With the big "condensed community" development happening a little over a mile away, I'd have reckoned the land...

Yesterday evening my son asked me why his bank was going "belly up." I hadn't prepared a response for him. I will have to oversimplify the financial environment for him. In the meantime I am rehearsing him to offer a giftcard to the teller who'll be soon losing his/her job and look him/her in the eye and say "bad lending decisions make the children cry. Your bosses destroyed my budding faith in banking."

The house down the street sold after five months at a 15% discount from the initial price to a newlywed couple.

It has been three days since I signed on a contract and I have: ordered cabinets, designated appliances, shortlisted my flooring options, shortlisted my cabinet hardware, taken paint samples, and am now considering lighting and countertop options. I have spent 10% of my budget already as a deposit and "mind-shopped" 55% of the rest on cabinets and appliances. Wahooga! Dive! Dive!

My 401(k) contributions are down 24.4% since June. Whee. At least it's money flushed down the drain, and not going somewhere irresponsible, like the U.S. government.

Seriously, though, I did cut back on my retirement contributions a little so I could have more money available to pay off the kitchen faster. The bright side is that if lending rates go down even further, spending 4% more from my HELOC money is not going to look all that dumb.

The silver linings of the big market drop is that there will actually be voters who will be thinking about the economy (just like Canada! wow!).