The spouse and I arranged to bring up the Thomas & Friends train table our son had for several years to the children's consignment store. He brought up the frame, I carried the table leaves. We were ninety feet from the store when a woman and her mother-in-law asked us if we were planning to sell it to the store they just left.

A conversation ensued. They bought our table, drove my husband to the house, while I walked with the mother-in-law (displaced by the bulk of the table in the vehicle). They bought the trains too. We are $65 richer from our four-block walk. This is great: our basement is gaining space! How serendipitous!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

or is it lacking payment stamina? These past two weeks have been the fiscal equivalent of having three pints of blood withdrawn.

We made our last payment for childcare. I signed up for some community education courses: Japanese, Yoga, decluttering and kitchen remodeling.

Mailed the cheques out to the contractor, although he's on vacation.

I showered in our new bathroom. I love the light in it. Everything gleams so brightly, I suddenly note the rust on our shower rod. Guessing $3300 addition to the house value. Bathtub may need a new enamel job: its beige tint doesn't go well with the bright white gleam.

Considering a dawn simulator for the fall and autumn months. I had pondered a big full-spectrum therapy light box but they're expensive, and I haven't had a proper diagnosis of Seasonal Affective Disorder. The dawn simulator would help us both. I should start on the St. Johns Wort now, I reckon.

A new Yamaha battery would set me back a mere $70 on eBay. Considering... one thing I really like about my city is that there are many scooter and motorcycle riders who are generous with their advice. If I get the job in the city 20 miles north I'll lean on the spouse to sell one of our scooters, and consider blowing my car fund. Or -- gasp! -- lease a car. If I knew for certain I'd be back in the home country for keeps within 24 months, I would lease. Ideally, he'd get a ZipCar membership for taking the kid to appointments.

$5000 away from having 67% equity in the house. Watch this happen five years from now.
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Link du Jour: Home Equity Frenzy Was a Bank Ad Come True -- "The Debt Trap" series by the New York Times: banks' advertising campaigns to promote home equity loans and home equity lines of credit.

Huzzah -- a quote for replacing the garage door came in at $900 under what I was expecting. Can you say "freed up money?"

Aiyee -- dreamt last night that the market would drop 600 points today. I typically buy an ounce of gold when the Dow drops 300 points. I'm several drops overdue, but the darn coin shops are closed when I come visiting.

Huzzah -- according to David Wann, my wee house inna city, in an area undergoing 'community condensation', with my small but vital garden, will eventually be considered very valuable as people downscale and move away from the burbs. 2/3 of what David Wann wrote in his book of Simple Prosperity is an Aiyee.

Aiyee -- my child wanted to write a letter to the Tooth Fairy asking to up the payment per tooth to $2200. No doubt to cover emotional damages from seeing and feeling blood, and separation anxiety. What's worse -- he thinks the Tooth Fairy is Dick Van Patten in a pink tutu.

Huzzah -- call me Jimmy Carter, I'm growin' peanuts! A peanut shell dropped by a bird into my raised bed is sprouting. The Urban Farm Boys are surprised to see how well my tomatoes are doing, but what they don't know is that I give them tomato food every week.

Another huzzah -- found a recipe for making creme fraiche. Perhaps that will save me gas-fueled trips to Whole Paycheque.

Our crib went, with mattress and blankets and hardware. The table I advertised on Freecycle had no takers, but it did prompt my spouse to begin repairs on it. I took the cash and bought a ticket to a midweek cabaret show (part of someone's birthday festivities) and checked out the downtown supermarket, where I actually found everything I wanted. I cannot say that about my larger nearby supermarket.

I might try a yard sale in mid-July. Although I've been donating some stuff, it's not enough stuff. I want to believe that the less stuff I have, the more time I have and the more peace and contentment I have.

Referral bonus is all gone now. It went to Catholic Charities Association of Western Washington, Hopelink, North Helpline and MoveOn.org. It's a little spooky how immediately after I commit some act of generosity, I get phone calls from the ether inviting me to do something fun. It's almost as if my decluttering transmits messages.

We have his and hers matching credit scores in the low 800s (out of maximum 850 -- not bad for an immigrant -- Bank of America thinks I suck, but not my credit union! We were offered the very best ever rates, and practically assured the HELOC amount).
We now have a HELOC, subject to approval of satisfactory home value evaluation and presentation of homeowner's insurance. HELOC is for more than I planned to request, but what the hey, I need only keep the debt level to 30% or 33% to avoid being "a credit risk."

No, I am not rushing out to buy a car with the HELOC, in case someone was alarmed or was seeking an opportunity to be righteously indignant. The HELOC is for the kitchen and eventually the roof.

According to the IRS Tax Withholding Calculator and my budget, it is possible for us to live our current lifestyle and still contribute to retirement on my husband's income. This discovery makes me happy, for my husband earns under the median household income in our city.

This means my salary goes toward more retirement, taxes, goals beyond subsistence, and home remodeling, and vehicle replacement. This also means if one of us were unable to work for a spell, we'd get by for more than six months. Or should I say "his" salary, because I earn more...

No credit can I claim for this, but I read online that my mortgagor bank has had a profit over the last fiscal year. Yes, a residential lending institution and bank showed a profit, in the United States, headquartered in a city where many recent mortgages are of the toxic variety.

Losses from residential and commercial construction loans went up, but because the bank is privately owned, there's no urgency in hiking up profits by doing risky mortgages.

So seven-nine weeks ago I had misplaced my ring between emerging from a hot bath to getting into bed. I thought it'd slipped from the bathroom vanity into the garbage. I felt around for it in the garbage (yecch) and couldn't find it and thought "damn, it's gone forever. Oh well, it's only money, and I'm still married."

And, feeling around this morning for a pair of pants in a drawer I obviously don't visit too often, there it was. And now it is on my finger, relievedly.

So the flagging mortgage powerhouse that is somewhat local to my locale has sponsored a children's museum exhibit: Moneyville. I itched for months to take the wee one there, and finally he acquiesced!

boy did we have fun! My husband shielded me from the stock trading exhibit for a while. My kid had fun with the Free Trade exhibit, dumping all the exports into Canada's ocean freighter (!). Most impressively, he agreed to visit the computerized "this is what life is like when you move out of your parents' home" exhibit, in which he made some financial goals: get a promotion, save up $2000 in one year. I helped a little bit: "Hey son, do you want to start out the way Mommy did?" and set him up to share an apartment and have a video game designer job with a university degree. He actually accomplished his goals, choosing overtime and education opportunities the way Mom does, with largely his own decision making, passing up some weekend getaways, CDs, and other hitech doodads. I did encourage him to buy new furniture, attend a concert and a family reunion his "sister" organized. There were bumps along the way, smoothed with the use of a credit card. Sadly, he did carry a balance, but he judiciously paid the card (with 18% APR) off the next statement. Life is not all ramen and Value Village. I'm so proud of my kindergartner!

We also made our own currency, learned how to identify counterfeit money, and saw what part of the world made the largest amount of shirts for export to the U.S. It wasn't Bangladesh, where his shirt was made, and it wasn't Finland/Europe, where my Marimekko shirt came from.

Newspaper article about the notion of wealth. Good to have some validation about unhappiness -- I'm supposedly stressed because of juggling children and career.

Egged on, no doubt, by too much coffee and the crushing responsibility of managing twenty-two accounts, I phoned TD Ameritrade, valued client that I am, and requested to take advantage of a free Amerivest consultation.

Within fifteen minutes someone at the local branch gave me a call. Today is a DEAD DAY at work, not only for me but for the local TD Ameritrade branch so I made an emergency appointment, bringing my folders and my account numbers and statements from other plans with me.

At the end of the consultation, the rep gave me "professional validation" for my fund choices and allocations: "The only way you could do any better would be if you had a Series 7 license and were working professionally managing other people's money."

He is SO getting a holiday card from me!

I have mentioned my impatience before. We were paid today, and I saw that our checking account balance was nearly twice that of the HELOC and I thought "if I pay it off now, I won't have a balance to think of again." Paying it off was like plucking a chin hair.

I had been in debt for six weeks Edit: paying off replacement windows. Hardly a situation to bring the loansharks a-calling, or worthy to pop open a champagne bottle.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Today I cave into my whims and yield into temptations:
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I cannot resist this: the theme song has been going through my head. I love the car, but you know parking that would just be a major headache.
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Bought Volume 2 of the Chaplin Collection from Amazon.com just ten minutes ago. It was on my wishlist for awhile, and we already have Volume 1. My child has been loving Modern Times, and even danced to "The Nonsense Song" yesterday, which made my heart leap with joy. The box set would arrive on Wednesday, so it's a "phantom present": what I think my parents would buy for me if they were still alive. I looked for the box set at my local fave DVD/video rental/sales store, but it wasn't where I could see it.
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it was difficult not to have unkind thoughts about the thoughtlessness of others. Like the guy who was running to catch a bus that runs every 3-5 minutes in early rush hour, and ran right in front of our bus. This put our driver in a very crotchety mood: it's refreshing to see someone who doesn't want to start his day involuntarily killing some fool who chose to abandon safety in favour of catching a bus he'd otherwise have to wait maybe four whole minutes to catch.

And the guy who opened a bus window without consulting those of us who would be affected by the extra draft. Really, if people are going to be that self-absorbed why don't they just climb into their cavernous vehicles as single occupants and stew in traffic, playing their own music, adjusting their own environment temperature and venting? Like asking people who've paid for the same privilege of riding the bus if they want the window opened before doing so is such a big imposition on one's rights and freedoms.

I reviewed my payment history over the past 24 months at my mortgagor's Website. I will have paid under $100,000 in interest for my home at the end of the amortization term. I am also going to be mortgage-free one month earlier than I predicted.

I see that on average, Americans have maybe 54% equity in their homes, a historic low. I have maybe that much equity in my home, after eight years. How lovely to have worked our way up to a historic low. But how many people earning the median income buy their first house in a HCOL area and have instant 50% equity? My friends were IT workers and all put down less than 20% back then: we had the largest downpayment. And the slowest appreciation, because we live in an area with a high % of renters, and a high % of seniors, and we're in the early cycle of a revitalization plan. Swell: not. But at least we never were given the opportunity to be cocky about fast-rising appreciation. My experience living in a past boom-bust-boom-bust area (Vancouver) also contributed to our hesitancy to do much of a Mortgage Equity Withdrawal, outside of a $2500 addition to our refi (lower rate, shorter term) for closing costs.

I am comfortable predicting a 30% reduction in home sale prices over the next five years. OFHEO predicts 1-3% decrease for this year, but I'm certain that the comps in my area have gone down 10% since August. Seasonally they do dip in the winter. Maybe 54% equity after the house plummets 30% in market value is a safe place to be, with a year's mortgage payments available, earning money somewhere safe.

My Gentile family and I went to "Bobo Wonderland" (if you read David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise, and if you are familiar with where I live, you'll know what shopping complex I mean, the one closest to the synagogue, to stock up on Kosher Coca-Cola. For Passover! And the 2-litre bottles were on sale, for $1.66 a bottle. We'll need to have ice cream parties so we can use a bottle without it going flat.

But oh boy, did we out ourselves. We looked in the carbonated beverages section: no yellow-cap Coke. We looked in the Kosher section: no yellow-cap Coke. I ended up asking, and lo! huge display of Kosher Coke in the frozen foods aisle!

King Arthur Bread flour was on sale too, and my Achilles heel: potato chips.

So why would U.S. Gentiles rush out to get Kosher Coca-Cola? Because there is no high fructose corn syrup in Kosher Coca-Cola! The last time I had a Coca-Cola was in October, in Canada. Before that it was a Mexico-bottled (cane sugar) Coca-Cola in a local movie theatre. And it's cheaper to drive to the local Yuppie Shoppolis than it is to drive to Canada...

God must have enjoyed riding pillion with me through north, mid- and south Seattle today, for I was blessed with the crazy thought of doing my taxes again.

I had asked my friends for recommendations, but surprise! the CPA recommended was booked until April 17. I inwardly sobbed for thirty seconds, then bucked up and took another whack at the 1040.

Yes I still owe. No, it's not $5600. It's $872. I used the computer calculator, and not a beverage napkin this time. I had some Talk Talk playing ("Missing Pieces") and was enjoying some fragmented 'bliss out' moments that come after an extended tour ride on the scooter. I miscalculated initial wages, the Dependent Care benefits declaration was new, and I didn't include the Child Tax Credit in my first pass either. I also saw I could deduct my business license expenses.

But $872 is very manageable. I can save for that in two months no problem. It's also under 10% of the total tax withheld too, so no penalty!

My spouse does not watch his 401(k) balance too often. When he asked me for help with asset allocation I thought I would swoon with delight and pride. I won't go into excruciating detail: I'll just say that, left unchecked for a few years, 67% of his portfolio went to large capitalization funds (!!!) and 9% was in bonds.

I advised him to be more equitable and conservative with his asset allocation categories -- he moved his percentages, double digits in most cases to index funds, and distributed 5% to "Stocks Gone Wild": Science & Technology.

I am breathing a little easier about possibly going into debt next year.
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My Schizoid Budgeting Style

* SpongeBob [my husband looked over my shoulder and said 'THAT'S ME! I AM SPONGEBOB!']: "WAIT! DON'T TELL ME!! You want me to run down to the store and buy Mrs. Puff something she doesn't need! Then you want me to run back here so you could say" (imitates Mr. Krabs and looks likes Mr. Krabs with the eyes), "'Arr SpongeBob, you're spending all me money!'. Then I'll say 'But Mr. Krabs, I'm only doing what YOU SAID!!!!!!'. Then you'll say we're not talking about this" (SpongeBob draws a square in the air with his fingers), "or this" (draws a triangle in the air with his fingers and starts to get frustrated), "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (He draws scribbles all over the screen until the whole screen is black).

Mr. Krabs [uh, me?]: But I really need this! (spongebob runs down and buy Mr. Krabs the item, and runs back)

Mr Krabs: YOU'RE SPENDING ALL ME MONEY SPONGEBOB!

Spongebob: But I'm only doing what you told me to!

Mr. Krabs: Well I can't help it, if you're loose with other people's money.
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Gee, I wonder why my husband runs away when it's time for our monthly Finance Chat.

Current Balance: $0.00
Last payment amount: $2049.11
Last payment date: 09/13/2006

Happy Days Are Here Again -- Requires RealAudio-compatible plug-in.

To answer fern's question: Insurance for me is $271. Gas for 7200 miles is $420.00

The funny thing is that I saved a few hundred dollars by borrowing @ 2.9% -- had I waited later I would not have had the promotional discount, and my 2005 dollars would have to rise by 3.2% for 2006 dollars.

debtfreeme, I answered your questions in a private message. Thanks for your support and interest.


Yamaha Majesty YP400S. 395cc displacement.
Typical Mileage: 60mpg.
Highway Mileage: 65mpg.
Maximum Speed: 95 mph.
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Childcare deposit: $615 (0% interest -- goal to pay off by November 1, 2006)

Credit card: $649 (6.9% interest -- goal to pay off by October 10, 2006)

Mortgage: $157500.48 (5% interest -- goal to pay off by April 15, 2014)

I went to oneshare.com and purchased one share of Burlington Northern (NYSE: BNI) for my child's birthday. I printed out an announcement and gave it to him. He has birthday on the brain. Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) is nice too, but there's a Burlington Northern railway a few miles west of us, by the beach, and I wanted something my son could see and identify.
I could also put Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Microsoft (NASD:MSFT) in his Coverdell plan too, as he identifies those company logos readily. Union Pacific will have to wait until Christmas.

When I told my husband what I had done (it was pricey! fees, shipping, framing, gift wrap, commission!) he said "maybe I should start buying railroad stock, with peak oil to deal with." Yes! A possible convert! We can discuss DRPs (thanks for the moneypaper.com idea, baselle) and Sharebuilder.com!



I quipped, "yes, we can be the Monopoly family. I bought Water Works (the WaterShares Exchange Traded Fund PHO), you and the boy can buy the railroads, and I'll look into another utility and maybe some Kinder Morgan Partners and commercial real estate trusts."