my birthday rolled around. Parents dead for over a decade so they're no fun. Nifty presents are all colourful: Raoul Dufy print mug, flowers, rainbow Swatch watch, a mystery book. And now a double-scoop of custard: Kit Kat plus vanilla! Five-star Yelp review comin' up!

Deaths: Dead Pool 2013 is already slated, thanks to recent announcements, plus a NY Times online feature about obituaries, including dead pools, so now I have rich sources of names. I'm envious of the people who made their dead pool lists as global and varied as possible: mine was mostly US-based. My friend who gave me the Dufy mug is ranked ten on a big deadpool, I am languishing at position thirty-seven, eighth from last. No money is involved there though. Happy with my current position on a money dead pool.

I'd been secretly hoping I'd get a 38-point bump by today on my for-money list. I am sure I am not the only one.

Dead Pool UPDATE: Dick Clark passed. He's on my list. I better let the fair administrix know.

Thanks for the birthday greetings and wishes! I only wish I had the stamina and focus to keep cheer every day and pass it around as well!

Finished the second of Kyril Bonfiglioli's Charlie Mortdecai crime novels: this one is not so much fun, less violent and more domestic than the first, Don't Point That Thing at Me.

Close to broke again (but not poor) after a trip to IKEA. Hoped to pay with credit card, balance well into the three digits after birthday dinner, gifts, and auto repair and maintenance charges, but didn't have a PIN. I did get a coupon for $1.08 off my next IKEA purchase, and the kid had a fun time at the cafeteria: all the Swedishness reminded him of Team Alfredsson in the NHL All-Star event, where at least six Swedes from Ottawa and Vancouver were on Alfie's team. And what Canadian teams made it to 1st round in the playoffs? That's right, Ottawa and Vancouver. Fortunately IKEA is cheap and I didn't buy more than what I could carry. IKEA's having a "living room event" next week: maybe I'll finally get that Ektorp sofa bed and matching chair.

Scrabble players, according to a

University of Calgary study, really are smarter than most. I feel this is another handicap preventing me from employment. Maybe the real handicap is not knowing what jobs are available where puzzle-solving and pattern recognition are valued and earn ample compensation. Too many people I see at school and at shopping who are hired ignore, disdain and yawn or foolishly argue and lie. I used to think it was me, but I've had great experiences at other places and think I must have crossed the divide into "those kids are rude and have no sense of privacy" codgerdom. I'm happy with that.

Went to La Fontana Siciliana downtown for birthday dinner. Pricy, but worth it for the hidden splendour of a fountain, and to be spoken to in genuine Italian, and in English with heavy Sicilian accents, and to have an hour or two of low-level noise. We were kidless that evening and did not order wine, so kept bill down to under $100.

We started our kidless adventure with an Income Tax cocktail and beer at Cafe Racer. A small barking dog and the tinniness of Van Morrison's "Cyprus Avenue" blaring hurt our ears so we escaped upstairs until the music changed or the volume was turned down. Italian sex comedy music followed so we returned to the bar to be friendly at the request of a regular.

What else? Bought grasses for the front, herbs for the side. Looked at a house for sale near an exquisite bakery on the west side of Seattle. Supposedly an open house but the agent was nowhere to be found, so we snuck into the garage and went to the backyard for a look-see.

Rented "Uzumaki" which seemed vaguely familiar in spots, and "Miranda" which is a comedy written by and starring a woman with my head on my friend's 6'3" body.

After the tax payment, I'm a little better than where I was financially six weeks ago. I can let up on the scrounging and fasting and denial.

Filling up tank for $3.995/gallon: win!
Going to Costco and finding Cheerios and apple juice cheaper than the last visit: win!
Fresh factory-produced bread for under $2: win!

Erik Satie plus un chat avec ennui:

réussite! - warning, French language, but there are subtitles.

The tax payment came out of our account today. I feel as if I'm a post-surgery patient with a malignant growth just removed: weak but hopeful and glad the ordeal is over! I have under $300 in chequing, and that's before the $100 HELOC payment and the $25 automatically added to the certificate of deposit, the $67 for aikido lessons and the $25 monthly payment for our phone. I better transfer some dough from Money Market Account. What I would really like is a good ol' cocktail.

The balances seem abstract to me, except the tax bill, that's as concrete as a two-ton weight. When the proprietor of our espresso hangout says he's noticed our absences, staring at the tip jar, we can see how the $$ we contributed to his fund made a difference.

I'm not bothered so much now by the tax bill: I earned that much over the year in interest, dividends, and other investing. Although I am requesting DH change his tax withholding, it seems to me I am a more responsible steward of monies eventually turned over to the government than the government is of monies returned to me. The initial shock of surprise and unplanned expenses ebbs when I understand I have the $ to pay for them. Maybe the refinance changed our tax deductions for us: we pay under $4300 in mortgage interest, pay under $3400 in real estate taxes, the $600 tax for the roof just don't add up to itemized expenses. Last year we paid $5100+ in mortgage interest, and probably $6100+ the year before that. Amazing how fast the $100 savings is redirected to school donations, higher food and gas prices. We shopped and got $68 worth of groceries, but I've forgotten most of what we bought. I remember the produce, and dairy products and Nanaimo bar, we got some bagged cereal as well. Oh yeah, the wines. The wines cost at least a third of the bill. Meanwhile if I use up four vegetables our crispers are halfway to empty.

I wasn't happy with last month's food bill, but I did shop at Costco and buy a bulk order of meat, that's $300.

What's great when the insides are not so great: organic udon in chicken broth flavoured with salt, sugar, soy sauce, and sprinkled with five spice powder and kelp. Ohhhh.

In Dirtnap for Dollars news two of my picks are selling their houses; one has defaulted on her house loan. Try to imagine being in the tabloid news 50 years ago for wearing furs, getting jewels from randy royals, and big divorce settlements, and then defaulting on a house loan when you're five years away from pushing 100.

My Office Professional 2010 arrived today. I hope my 2008-era Dell laptop can handle it.
Extending my spring cleaning to include my PC and my insides. Starting with yogurt smoothies and indoor exercises.

Watching gold and silver slide like cliffside Malibu houses during an Act of God. If I see it below $1690 USD I'll buy a half ounce or one ounce.

According to data from the Federal Reserve Board, the ratio of homeowners’ equity to value at the end of the first quarter of 2011 was just 38.0 percent, the lowest on record. If this includes the 100% equity of paid off houses, I request permission to gulp audibly.

Slept through Ash Wednesday morning Mass. I did get replacement tabs and registration for the car -- well timed, as today they expire, so there is my penance. I also renewed our Scarecrow Video 10-punch account, taking out a Pokemon DVD for tot, and a Guy Maddin film for me (it was two-for-one Wednesday today, so one film would be for free).

No giving up disordered attachments of the flesh, other than the resistance to exercise. I do have some abundance--flesh, books and clutter, but scarcity in other areas. Disordered attachments of the mind and wallet will be surrendered, once I figure out what the disordered attachments of the wallet are. Library fines? Wasted food? Five-minute hot showers in February? Acrylamide-laden potato chips? Extra payments toward principal of extremely cheap loan? Sending heavy pricy coffee table hardcover books to eastern Canada while people starve on the streets? Disordered attachment of the mind is thinking how lowly and lonely I am. Certainly there are others who feel more lowly and lonely but I need to know how to find them to care for them. Thinking I need all the books and back magazines I have is disordered attachment.

Chequing account is now under $100 from now until payday.

Lenten practice possibilities:
sell books on shelves. divide proceeds between donating and debt.
empty a junk drawer.
Push-ups and sit-ups. If a starving, freezing Jew can do them in The Book Thief, I could do them.
clean one floor of pieces of paper.
Fast. Sleep on the floor.
Donations for every Vancouver Canucks win (22 games played between now and Easter).
Donation for every Dead Pool win I get between now and Easter (this should be easy -- I may have hit my limit).

Finally filed paperwork for: official complaint against a neighbour's noise abuse; e*Trade account transfer to TD Ameritrade. Bought a Valentine's Day present for hubby and two Valentine Cards. Also a prescription.
Mailed a birthday card: am still two days behind on my mail challenge. Paid young boy's dues -- took them out of his account.

I am freaked out about the price the pharmacy gave for the one prescription I didn't take home: $319. America must hate me: if that's so, then at least I am not alone. Maybe I'll just fly to Lourdes and have my ailment cured, or douse my eyeballs in holy water. Or I could try the new Flexible Savings Card and run our new prescription cards. I did pay for the $53 prescription.

We received books from the mother-in-law: Jasper Fforde (a welcome surprise!!), Kurt Vonnegut (ditto), lots of Harlan Ellison, a John Connelly book (who he?) and five Ha Jin.

Son is still keen on the Umpqua Bank "Learn to Earn" account registration. He came into my bedroom when I was not yet awake asking for an account application signature: he SELDOM enters my bedroom while I am still in the Twilight Zone between dream and reality. He was in the School Savings program with Washington Mutual in kindergarten: he would dress like a banker on Casual Friday and make jokes about bankers drinking. I volunteered then. That's probably what's getting him fired up about this low-interest plan. I do think it funny that he went to me instead of his father, as his father signed the Guardian part of the application.

Reread my HELOC documentation in the Records Office: apparently my HELOC is for twenty-five years, not ten.
This changes my savings and debt payoff strategy.

I'm putting a glorybe tag on this for what I read yesterday that has changed my life: my "eschatological purpose is to make/perceive every moment one full of love and pregnant with possibility and then act on it." I thought of this a few times a day and I think it slightly hued my interactions and thought processes.

1. My brother e-mailed to say he's having knee surgery this summer, but that won't stop his plans to fly literally halfway around the world to visit our Cascadia. He plans to show up much earlier, like maybe next month or the next few weeks.

2. Someone local is selling his 2007 Toyota Prius for $14700, extended warranty, and the Prius has under 50000 miles. The warranty means I wouldn't have to take it to a mechanic, but I probably will anyway. I've been in contact with the seller and tomorrow I hope we will have a test drive. I have enough in cash to pay for the car!

Oohhhh!
If #2 happens, then #1 is going to be a stretch. My brother's not keen on visiting the Rockies, but will stick to islands around the Salish Sea and some cities on the coast, including ours (Vancouver/sibling-ours or Seattle/couple-ours). This suits my budget fine. Canucks tickets, well, that might require a third mortgage...

I saw a Seattle Councilmember come into the closing-fast Greenwood Market. We were lured in by the Everything Up to 40% off signs but wow, now that I have my price book I can see how marked up the merchandise was even with the discounts! Finds: some Saint Andre super-butterfat Brie to use for a posh pasta carbonara with walnuts, kombucha which actually WAS a deal with discount, butter. We were careful about our purchases until we left the dairy and produce, sigh.

As we left, the beginning notes of Talk Talk's "It's My Life" caught me. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up," I said. The lads walked as far as the main ingress/egress where the speakers are when my son stopped and said "No I'm staying until the song is over." We took turns at the water fountain until the song ended, good times. I wonder if the Councilmember likes Talk Talk.

Oh yeah, as of today I finally have enough $$ to feel comfortable buying a Prius should our car die tomorrow.

For my first outing since snowflakes started on Tuesday, I went to Starbucks with my spouse yesterday to go get coffees and then to the post office to mail some bill payments. I wore my mink hat and coat: nobody blinked. We all probably felt like we had been teleported to Juneau. I don't like the money tsunami flooding out of our chequing account at January's end, yet it's a relief to know that some money still remains, and not all of the payments due are monthly or even bimonthly. I only wish more of the payments could be scheduled for after January 27. It'll be a flood going out and a flood coming in.

With the rise of gold and silver prices, I am now past $15000 for our car fund. This is a milestone. I am caught up with my HELOC, next week we get pay stuff.

Wondering if I should buy some Walgreen Co stock. Standard & Poor's Reports plus Value Line say yes. My list of replacement items suggests otherwise. I could buy two shares of WAG, and have some $ left over for DonorsChoose.org. On the forums someone said he'd bought TC and FCX, and the fundamentals and buy prices on those appeal to me: I like 17%+ Return on Equity, some dividends, low price/sales ratios, and natural resources. Now that you know my strategy you also know how not to invest.

Our refinanced mortgage has seen us leapfrog past other recent refi'ers I am tracking. We haven't even made our six months payment yet and already we have paid 6.27% of the mortgage, and by our first year we will have paid over 10%. It took us eight years to get to 33% payoff with our prior mortgage, and now if we don't sell the house we'll be at 33% before 2015 comes around.

This week I did not at any time order coffee or espresso out. I know the week doesn't officially end until fifteen hours from now, but I thought that was remarkable. My husband had only work coffee on Friday.

I will brave jaunts for flour, eggs and canned soups, so I can commence to warming the main floor and our stomachs. I will also brave semi-annual payment of car insurance. This might be the last one we have for our vehicle. I better go bless the heap with holy water so we are protected from driving hell this week.What's great on a snow day? Red pepper soup and brioche!

Downloaded ePamphlet from usa.gov on healthy frugal recipes.

You Can Too!

As I picked up some paper detritus, I found an old printout from grocerylists.org. I love how, in addition to dairy, fish, baking goods, there's a shopping section for carcinogens. I resolve to reduce my intake of parabens this year. I just had bacon burgers last night, au Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, so that will be sad to restrict. Come to think of it, pancetta and prosciutto are processed meats too. I go cry now.

It is nearly the middle of the month and we have spent only $26 on automotive fuel! Yay shut-in lifestyle!

Fave poverty cookbooks: Cooking for College Kids - home ec teacher from Alberta so LOTS of meat recipes. Meat's plentiful in Alberta! More-With-Less, the Mennonite classic. Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Link Du Jour:

Aretha Franklin sings Auld Lang Syne

2011 Spending: It happened. Some of it has yet to happen.
2012 Spending: It will happen.

Hubby bought new clothes at closeout prices!
I made restitution to the library. So good to me: despite a kaput copier, a librarian offered to photocopy the Saturday NYT crossword, for a fee of course, which suited me fine. I paid my dues and got a replacement card.

2011 Reading: Finished The Pickwick Papers. It's a wonder Dickens didn't go blind or get carpal tunnel syndrome. Watched BBC comedy special Dickens parody "The Old Bleak Shop of Stuff" which is either wonderfully silly or silly garbage, depending on your point of view. Best reads: Beat the Reaper, King Suckerman. Best film: Hugo.

2012 Reading: Burr, I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President (Daily Show writer pens young adult novel, throws in jokes about Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" album), stuff on my shelves, 1Q84.

Major thing I did wrong in 2011: let events beyond my control affect my life.
Major incorrect beliefs in 2011: Opportunities come when I feel ready for them. My stomach will reduce if I reduce my caloric intake.

Things that went right in 2011: Won my dead pool 3-0. Was less in debt in December 2011 than I was in December 2010. School board election. IBM stock price. Mortgage refinance (on a single income!).

From Leo Babauta via Barry Ritholtz, 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity
Try rising early.
Do less.
Slow down.
Practice patience.
Practice compassion.
Find your passion.
Lose weight.
Exercise.
Eat healthy.
Meditate.
Get organized.
Think positive.
Simplify your finances.
Simplify your life.
Accept what you have.
Envision your ultimate life.
Set long-term goals.
Review goals.
Life mission.
Plan your big tasks for week and day.
Maintain focus.
Enjoy the journey.
Create a morning and evening routine.
Develop intimate relationships.
Eliminate debt.
Enjoy the simple pleasures.
Empty your inbox and clear your desk.
Build an emergency fund.
Keep a journal.
Use the power of others.
Read, and read to your kids.
Limit your information intake.
Create simple systems.
Take time to decompress after stress.
Be present.
Develop equanimity.
Spend time with family and loved ones.
Pick yourself up when you’re down.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
Focus on benefits, not difficulties.
Be romantic.
Lose arguments.
Get into the flow.
Single-task.
Be frugal.
Start small and slow.
Learn to deal with detractors.
Go outdoors.
Retire early.
Savor the little things.
Be lazy.
Help others.

Projects for 2012: Classical Education and Writing tutoring for kid, Japanese language, Price book. Get a Real Job, either in US or Canada. Home fix-ups: fence for the back, replacement door for the back, replacement stair material.

Link du Jour:

Otis Redding and Carla Thomas - New Year's Resolution

Last payday of 2011. I crash-saved $400 over the past two weeks. That doesn't sound like much, but I also finally brought the VISA card down to a flat zero balance.

Today we bought a framed illustration of SCTV's Dr. Tongue and Bruno (John Candy and Eugene Levy) for $10. It is not in 3-D. This is a $90 markdown from what we saw at Cafe Racer. I wrote to the artist and said I liked it and he sold it to my husband.

Also bought, finally, replacement motorcycle helmet, at about $80 less than I expected to. Yay for girl rider discounts!!

I logged into paypal, and saw that PayPal threatened to close my account within 30 days if I did not accept all-electronic communications. Deadbeats. Through PayPal I will pay for YNAB.

I also put some $$ into each of the savings and chequing account in my other credit union, because I can never remember how they debit me for annual safe deposit box rentals. It occurs to me I could give myself an "allowance" weekly and deposit $ to these accounts for investing, or secret gift money.

Silver was down 22% for the year in 2011. Gold was up.

Today I used my price book for shopping! I forgot one item but I was in a rush so my spouse could use the car.



I am unhappy about the home value and my equity taking a dive over twelve months despite the new roof but it happened to seven properties on my schadenfreude sheet. Californians who remember 2008 are nodding. Sometimes I think of paying enough down on my HELOC to get my equity past 60% but that would mean losing the APR on my money market account, and jeopardizing my ability to pay in cash for my car. I imagine some people my age have worse scenarios. I've paid just 6% of my mortgage in four months (good!) and have paid 38% down of the sale price for the house for 13 years (ugh).

Wishing you the true and greatest gifts: love, friendship, peace, joy, a warm place to sleep, and a full stomach.

Yes. But tomorrow won't be one: I'm buying turkey sausage for bean soup, ground veal and ground pork for tourtière. My scheme for the next eleven days is to spend under $100/day, and put what I didn't spend into the VISA card, then the HELOC, then into silver, money market account, Procter & Gamble Direct Purchase Plan (DPP), and Walgreen DPP. Target by Value Line and Standard & Poor's judgements is worth buying as a Direct Purchase Plan BUT! The initial purchase charge is equivalent to my TD Ameritrade account charge; and when I signed up to receive the Direct Purchase Plan by mail, the Bank of New York/Mellon website's form did NOT accept my name, although when I used the Contact Us form to complain, my name didn't hold up any processing script.

I have been blessed with heaps of bean sprouts so am making chow mein, chop suey, egg foo yung before they get slimy beyond use. The More-With-Less cookbook is helping me out.

I dropped off three cans of tuna, one box of macaroni (it was Barilla, the good stuff), and one package of whole wheat spaghetti at the local food bank.

Has anyone used the YNAB software program with success? Has it paid for itself? I have a trial program but only a seven-day trial key.

My Dead Pool 2012 lists are ready.

HELOC: $14950
Target: paid $36.57 (statement balance paid in full before 12/22 due date)
Visa: $220 remaining (statement balance paid in full before 12/27 due date)

Year-end interest on HELOC: $454. My goal was to have paid $10K of debt for 2011, and if I exclude borrowing, I've accomplished that. But my balances currently owed are not $10K less than December 2010: they are $6900 lower.

That $10 Target gift card went to a local women's shelter.

I gave $10 each to two schools in the new school directors' districts.

I am feeling broke because of the selloff. I recognize that I must act against my feelings in investing. Hubby gets paid tomorrow, so I'll see if gold slips below this year's average price, and ask about Maple Leafs: expecting big swings. And it's a triple-paycheque month: that's always good.

If you missed

this post and want to participate in the recipe exchange, please do. And thanks to those joining in the recipe exchange -- you've posted some intriguing offerings!

We were to shop for stocking stuffers but bought things no one really wants in their stockings: AA batteries, socks for boy, a travel mug (that one is going into someone's stocking), and two lampshades.

I have posted about how I like to buy local, but I have to share this anecdote -- there's a lampshade place less than a mile from where I live. When my decades-old antique "shabby chic" lampshade's paper lining cracked apart then broke, I went to the "generations-old family business" to be told nobody made that kind of lampshade anymore, and they wouldn't have the lampshade I wanted unless I requested one custom-made, which would be about a hundred dollars. "Crikey," I thought, "if this place doesn't have it then my lamp is toast!" and I was going to FreeCycle the lamp. Only Target had the lampshades that fit the lamp perfectly at $12.50 so my lamp is lit.

Bought some boxes of frosted bite-size wheat cereal from Target too, to find on the back of each box a plug for "Target Take Charge of Education" so I taped a note to one of the boxes saying it sure would be great if our school were registered in Take Charge of Education, but a school staffer, not a parent nor PTSA member, had to enroll the school. I think I am becoming a Target believer: I used to visit every two months, but now that I have the RedCard I visit every two weeks: always for groceries and necessities, mind.

I also was the conduit for a donated box of pens, pads, notebooks, pencils, and teacher accessories today. I hope/wonder that the teachers will make use of them.

Wondering what to do with the $10 gift card -- give it to boy to buy Pokemon cards, give it to stepgrandmother down in Florida this winter, give it to a women's shelter...

Back then I owed $161,000. HELOC was $20300, Mortgage was $139000, Visa $700 (I didn't carry a balance on the VISA, but noted it anyway).
Now I'm at $132466, with HELOC down by $5000 and Mortgage down by $22000. That's almost $10K/year.

Oh yes, and my credit union opened a branch within seven minutes' walking distance. Calloo Callay oh Frabjous Day!

Spent $100 less than anticipated at Costco, but we didn't get as much as originally planned. Long grain brown rice is hard to get. I would like to thank the thousands of locals who got so p.o'd at their banks and switched to our credit union that Costco opened ALL its stores to participate in our credit union night. The parking was MUCH easier, and we spent no more than twenty minutes in the store, with clear aisles and short waits at tasting stations.

My freezer is now full with three weeks' worth of meals. Thank you, Costco and Credit Union!

Last week my husband found our car's cabin light was on. Not all of us lock the car's doors -- my husband and son don't. Today I found that although we've driven eighty miles since the last fill up, our gas gauge reads as if we've used two-thirds of our 12-gallon tank. Our car gets between 24 to 36 miles per gallon. I suspect someone is siphoning our gas. It'd be easy for them to do if they had easy access to our gas cap by opening an unlocked car door.

Also: used Savings Bond Wizard on my bonds -- I was within $30 guesstimating the accumulated interest. The bonds have a 3.46% yield and a 5.83% rate.

My candidate has done the highly improbable and surpassed her opponent the incumbent in votes today, one week after the election. We are crossing our fingers, fingering our crosses, burning herbs, saying prayers and making wishes this holds up. This might be a "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment as the local newspapers are acting like the incumbent has won a strong victory.

I don't want to jinx anything for her: this year my team lost the Stanley Cup Finals and downtown rioted; I wanted a former Harvard professor/novelist to lead what used to be the "natural ruling party" in the election this year--under his leadership the party for the first time in its 150-year history got third place; the party that became Opposition party lost its leader to cancer; I just want something good to happen to a cause I support. If my candidate loses I will feel that I jinxed her. I am still working for her doing social media because now that she's ahead by 91 votes after an initial 4000+ deficit, the local news has shown interest in the "risen-from-the-dead" which means updates until the county certifies the votes.

Frugalicious: got my hair cut by a woman 1.5 miles away, for my first time. She hadn't changed her prices in ten years, but if she even raised then 20% I'd be paying 25% less than I had with my last stylist. She was informative, experienced and attentive. She gave me so much validation on how I tend to style my hair: I am the laziest woman on earth when it comes to haircare but she pointed out that letting the hair be its natural self was the best thing. I gave her a good tip because I expected to pay $20 more.

I made

tourtière today for a multicultural potluck. Would you believe someone else made tourtière too? Note that the other person is not from the same ethnocultural background I have - she used her father in-law's background, but she has a French-Canadian surname and I... my surname at birth was Belgian. I used the food where I grew up because I thought it'd be unique! I could have made butter tarts but I don't want to be a one-trick pony.

I could have made cabbage rolls!


laugh if you must: this isn't far from the matrilineal ethnoculture

I don't feel sorry for Bank of America

I don't participate in Occupy [MyCity] or Bank Transfer Day. I am posting this two weeks after reading this Naked Capitalism post. As this is commentary on a Bloomberg article, the gist of which had been syndicated/circulated to dozens of online media, it must be that the Bank of America apologists are aware of this and are okay with it, and it is only the ocean-krill trolls who are pooh-poohing consumers' activity in "a competitive market."

Also, my RedCard came today, and I immediately entered my card number in online banking and paid approximately the total of my misplaced bill.

I went to Nordstrom to get some boots. I wanted the 40% off Via Spiga boots but they were not available in my size, so I bought

these instead.

They are pricey: not the most expensive shoe I have, but more than my motorcycle boots, certainly. It's a stretch to afford them, but they are comfortable and stylish, best of all I have until December 27 to pay them off. Everything is right about them: the colour, height of the heel, slouch, fabric, comfort, quality, "eco-sustainability."

Yet I'll be saving money to make up for the cost of the boots: my son asked me how much they cost and I told him. I haven't told my husband and he doesn't want to know.

Tips on saving money on groceries - article on the food items that have leaped by 12 to 15% in cost this year, why they became expensive, and ideas for substitutions or keeping the costs down.

Now subscribing to my favourite (but not frugal) store for weekly sales, and paying attention to Target coupons -- I live near a Target store, which is great because parking can suck. Although we've had a Target Superstore for a few years, we hadn't much incentive to go there for groceries.

Did I mention I went to Goodwill thrift store yesterday and bought: two sweatshirts, two pair socks, one pair trousers, one pair gloves (maybe too small) for the boy; and one sweater, one wine/burgundy pair of pants, one J. Crew shirt, and a dozen other items all for $34.80? Those are nine items off my replacement list.

I answered a survey for King Arthur Flour and earned a $10 promotional discount, so I bought some gift baking mixes for my aunt and sister-in-law and some Bennsdorp cocoa (awesome for hot cocoa!). The $10 took the edge off the $12 shipping fee, but still.

Budgeting $4200 for the month.

Question for those with mortgages: when the payday falls on the 2nd or 3rd of the month, do you wait until that day to pay the mortgage, or do you pay always by the first of the month? With my old mortgage my self-designed payment date range was four days before to four days after. I ask as December 2 is five Fridays away, and that's three pay periods for us (4th, 18th, 2nd).

11/1/11!! 11111 is not a prime number: it is the product of 41 x 271.

DS might not like it, but I'm going to get him clothes for Christmas so I can knock off some of the replacement items. I don't have to be the "fun" parent 100% of the time, just the caring and supportive one.

Two months -- must spend carefully!
I have ten days to use this year's Chinook Book coupons.

The VISA account spirals upward. I sliced 25% off the balance today.

Precious metals at a 10% discount from last month.

My natural gas bill usage was 22% lower than it was at this time last year, with the same temperature.

Hubby's videocard on his laptop is dead, so he bought himself a new motherboard. I am okay with this -- it beats buying a new laptop, and most of the money he used came from his PayPal account.

Schadenfreude update - of the twelve properties I'm tracking, only ten of them have mortgage debt to property value ratios lower than the US average of 69.8%. They were purchased between 1999 and 2000, and although they had refinances and home equity lines of credit, the cash-outs were minimal, under 0.5% of the amount lent.


I don't know, doubt actually, that the $60 VEHICLE (I am not calling it a car -- I know this is going to include scooters and motorcycles) tab initiative will pass. Yet while listening to the talk radio discussion about the proposed measure, I pondered aloud what I can do to save $5/month.

Philanthropy for reals: Yesterday Starbucks stores and kiosks in our county handed out $10 gift cards good for funding

DonorsChoose.org school projects. My son's school is a "high poverty" one, and I saw five projects yesterday for which our school teachers requested funding. The art supplies request was funded within hours probably because it was the first project mentioned in the PTSA e-mail and because everyone's child takes art, therefore it's immediate bang-for-the-buck; the special education middle schoolers and preschoolers, especially the latter, are still looking for funding. We funded the special ed projects, because there's never enough one can do for special ed.

We took two $10 cards, as there was supposedly a limit of one card per donor. Then I found that two females took about a dozen cards between them to fund projects. The end justifies the means, I guess. We also visited the Scholastic Book Fair and donated $19.68 worth of books and taxes to our son's class.

Today I give $10 to the local food bank.
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Server outage: Now I am wondering if SavingAdvice.com shares server space with Bank of America.

I will say this for Bank of America: it doesn't send us stupid mailers like "Open an account with $10000 and we'll give you a $150 bonus!" because everyone who hasn't banked with Chase has ten thousand smackers kicking around, right? "Oh I could go to a credit union I guess, but why not take out all the money in my mattress right now and head to JP Morgan Chase? It's obviously a successful company with integrity!"

And everyone who banks with Citibank has $4500 extra in their wallet or hidden in some home safe waiting for the now present moment when Citibank ratchets its fee-free checking account minimums to $6000.

This is why I don't bank with banks: I simply do not have the clairvoyance that bank account holders are expected to have: I'm supposed to know in advance how much to save and when to put it into an account to avoid fees when new terms and conditions kick in. Sorry, not gifted in that department.

Boy is fundraising for his school's walk-a-thon. He is adept at bringing in dough: $70 yesterday by threatening people that his mother would come back the club to play them if they didn't come up with money; then today I dropped him at a cafe to do some soliciting, which I wouldn't do unless I were well-known at that cafe, while I went to the post office. When I came back, he had one signature more with one dollar. I am happy that he had success. The donor looks at me and says "are you the motorcycle woman?" and when I answer yes he pulls out an extra five dollars to donate!

I have to take the scooter out tonight so am thinking of photocopying his donation form and finding everyone under 5'6" at tonight's event to ask for donations. He is going to ask the chess club tonight -- I gave one man there a lift to a bus stop a few weeks ago, and another man there knows his teacher, so it should be a good haul.

Expenditure: $12.68 for paperback gift for mother-in-law; $6.30 to mail it before her birthday.

My English Castle: no exercise except pushing the motorcycle (432 lbs) up a gentle incline.

Paid off our VISA account. It's now at a zero balance.
On track with HELOC payoff and savings, three weeks ahead with precious metals.
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I am happy for my son this school year: he has an excellent teacher, he shares a class with his best friend. During the acquainting/orientation week, my son has had interesting assignments:

1. bring a bag of four things that have special meaning for you, that help define who you are. One item was my country's flag, the desecration of which he told the class would lead to "the Deputy of England's order of beheading."* Another item shared with the class is The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey, an illustrated little alphabet poem about 26 children who die in horrific, vulgar and painful ways. The boy memorized the book when he was three and would recite it for our Goth friends.

* It is not the flag of England. The teacher is from England.

2. decorate your composition book with pictures and photographs. We had too much fun with this and nearly turned it into "Their Satanic Majesties Request," "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," or "We're Only In It For The Money," crammed with people. My treasured moment was when we affixed Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) next to a text strip of "Don't Mention The", and then Evelyn Waugh.

Scroll to 5:45 for the 'Who Wrote "Brideshead Revisited"?'

Waiting for that parent-teacher conference call...
I am determined to become the parent who supervises her child's homework and makes sure it is done well, and unlike last school year my child WILL exceed standards on the Measurement of Student Progress Tests. Not one of seventeen boys in his grade at his school exceeded standards, despite six of those boys taking accelerated math, and despite my child's competency in reading ranking close to two grades higher. It makes me wonder if "Glee", "High School Musical" and Justin Bieber monopolized the content components of the tests.

Otherwise we have no excuse to play in the fields of the staff's minds...

I had to look three times to make sure that the Feds really meant United States Federal Government Authorities when I saw the headline

Feds Sue Big Banks Over Sales of Risky Investments.

What was the point of spending Trillions of Dollars bailing out the Banks if you are going to turn around and sue them for $30Bn and drop their stock price another Trillion, causing them to need another bailout?

Will someone please explain this to me? What I find confusing is some unnamed "saviour of Bank of America" billionaire investor bought some preferred bonds, the day after he had a chinwag with the U.S. President, and then this.

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I completed a series of online cognitive processing tasks with the carrot-dangle of a chance for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. I was identified as "an expert Scrabble player" despite not having played a tournament game for seven years. I did okay against an expert who plays several times a week, and I helped my little tot score 500+ points against an adult two weeks ago, so not all the brain cells have died.

I am also helping a local school board candidate (Challenger) with her campaign. She wants a world-class school district but having been educated in another part of the world I will realistically settle for a school district that doesn't make me itchy to send my kid to Catholic school or to the next school district 35 blocks north, or even the next nation north.

The year looks promising for boy: his tormentor has moved back to his home country; his best friend and another playmate from his old school have joined them at his school, and his teacher who was available at back-to-school night is English. My boy watches UK panel shows and old comedy shows on YT so this will be fun for him. His teacher can tell him about The Old Smoke's Fine Music Culture Contributions (YouTube, no foul language and no nudity)

Today I did some desktop publishing and later I will do a reconnaissance mission on her website and look for ways to make it better, and create a Word document for people to mail their donation forms if they don't want to use PayPal. I actually think she has a great shot of winning, as long as voters in my city learn how the incumbents have been wasting money.

I am relieved. I mailed my payment on August 22, all the way to New Jersey, unknowing of an impending storm on the eastern seaboard. I did not want to be late with my first payment. With the previous mortgage processor, I was given to understand that I had until the fifth of the month to make a payment in full, and then until the fifteenth before having to make a late payment surcharge.

So I am 0.55% closer to paying off my mortgage!

I see that the notices of trustee sales posted on the county records site are for properties behind in payments by nine to eleven months. Many of these properties are "underwater", even from four years ago. Three years ago one had to miss five consecutive payments to get the notice of trustee sale.

Apparently picking blueberries is a popular activity: I didn't see lots of pickers, but the boys were eager to go with me for more berry picking, and an acquaintance was envious that I was out getting bitten by mosquitoes.

What was nice about visiting the farm the second day was not getting arrested. I was behind a uniformed and armed police officer, who was buying his blueberries (he did not pick them) and the cashier asked me if I wanted to pick, and I said loudly "you have my driver's license. I came to get it back, but before I do I will borrow two buckets for picking." So it was gratifying to be completely ignored by the officer for driving to the farm without a license. The officer was ignoring us completely, all about the blueberries.

The blueberries taste great in a pie. This was the first blueberry pie I made with from-scratch pastry. It was late in the evening and my spouse and I had more interesting things to do than to experiment with lattice-tops, so we did the standard two full-crust pie sheets.
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My husband received a call from a debt collection firm. We've had the telephone number for three years so I am thinking some cutesy fraudster gave a "made-up" phone number while applying for credit, and opted not to pay. The debt collection person called to speak to my husband, which is more baffling as we are in no way affiliated with the cutesy fraudster and my husband hasn't given out the phone number to many people.

I took my son and his friend for a serendipitous blueberry-picking outing. We were there for only 90 minutes, and managed only $3.60 worth of fruit, which included some blackberries. The organic blueberries were $1.50/lb. I also bought some lemons, corn, an onion and some lacinato kale. I could sense the antioxidant aura, I tell you.

We would have picked more but my son whacked himself in the nose sharply with a stick, leading to a nosebleed. I gave him some bad advice, the advice I was given on my first nosebleed, then when he decided to throw up and walk dizzily I went to the car for the first-aid kit, which fortuitously contains a book of injury treatment. All that was needed was an antiseptic wipe, and five minutes later he was back at the bushes as if nothing had happened.

The farm has my driver's license, so I have to go back tomorrow to claim it. I will also try for more blueberry picking: I was the tallest picker out there, so I helped myself to the bounties of organic berries 2.5 metres aboveground.

The application session timeout occurs between the timestamp of opening the entry_add.php page and clicking the "Save and Publish" button. This happened three times. I wasn't aware I dawdled that much. I wonder if I'd forgotten about the application session duration parameter or if it were added during my long siesta.

Quick quick: activated new credit cards. Looked at another credit card, useless as it is American Express and has very few benefits, and saw that it is five months away from expiry and still has the "call this number to activate your card" sticker on it.

I don't understand how card issuers cut benefits and advantages and then wonder why people aren't using their cards. Sure, deny people incentives to give you transaction fees, see how that winning policy contributes to your revenue stream.

I felt frustrated because every time I made a full payment on our VISA, the outstanding balance showed to be $900+. I checked the payment history, as I'm two days before the deadline, and I've paid $300+ beyond the statement balance, so no finance charges. For the past eleven weeks we have had a triple-digit balance, but never incurred finance charges at any point in the year. If you pay the statement balance in full before the deadline, it's possible to do this. I am desirous to cut the VISA balance down to zero. It may take weeks before this happens, perhaps months. We lived on our credit cards while inbetween escrow cheques, using them to pay for big unexpected expenses.

Borrowed Jean Chatzky's Pay it Down. Apportioned the 10% from the paycheque into the home equity line of credit and savings. Will buy precious metals shortly, like in a half-hour.