Ah, the spouse has revealed to me he reads this. Expect sanitized Erma Bombeckisms now. Soon my son will be reading these too.
Net worth statement is up 1% from last month. Retirement accounts balance are tantalizingly $3000 lower than the mortgage loan balance. The "Car loans" entry is clear. The spike in retirement account balances is almost solely responsible for the increase.
The gotchas: we'll likelily be billed for my kid's social communication therapy (Bleah) because insurance won't cover it. It's not a rehabilitation treatment from a difficult birth and complicated pregnancy: I suspect what he has is genetic.
A wee gotcha: we're shoppin' at BOEING SURPLUS. Tomorrow is the last day for specials on: credenzas, computer tables, chairs with wheels and office tables. Plus a 20% discount for Boeing employees. Using my FlexCar membership to "rent" a pickup truck. Time to remeasure the office's area space.
Next saving trick: yet another computer for the spouse to work on his MCSE. Estimating $850 for that.
Stock bonus still hasn't come. Dammit, and I need new clothes too -- new trenchcoat or raincoat, new blouses, new pants, new tights, earrings...
Link of the Day: From SmartMoney.com,
I sometimes feel I miss out on coupon fun. Our family doesn't go for much processed food nor fast food anymore. We run to supermarkets for quickie "oh I didn't realize we ran out of..." trips. We don't see coupons for stuff we like -- garlic bread, flour, whipping cream, fresh herbs. I wish I had some evidence and proof that none of the chemicals, additives, preservatives and flavourings in the processed food contributed to diabetes or cancer, and were equally as healthful as the fresh stuff we buy. Then I'd be couponing too.
My starbucks coffee is free so I don't pay attention to the tsktskers who go on about the "latte factor." I have one or two espresso drinks a week, but I also get access to NYT crosswords, so there's some subsidy.
I am reading the simple life -- thoughts on simplicity, frugality, and living well. It's edited by Larry Roth, the same man who wrote the Political Frugality book. Check out this paragraph.
While I was happy I had gotten my start twenty years earlier, I began calculating the price increases I had absorbed. My salary had increased five times, but my housing costs had increased more than eleven times, and a new car was six times what I paid for one in 1971. It occurred to me that Americans could not continue to survive their expenses outrunning their means for much longer.
I totally relate to this. We are not so careful about costs of eating out -- I splurged on saltimbocca, because it'd been at least six months since I had veal -- but I don't colour my hair as much as I used to, we don't have cable, we don't have mobile phones, we don't have two cars. Our stylist has figured out that my spouse has been "cheating on him" going for the $10 haircuts.