Spondulicks Forever!

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.

En route to the library before the weeklong furlough, and to the coin shop to get a guesstimate on some rings left to me by my mom and stepgrandmother, I found a newly issued credit card, unsigned, belonging to "IOA" (initials to shield identity). When I returned from my jaunt I looked up IOA's address courtesy of an onlne state voter registration database and online county records. He was the only IOA in the county, so that made it easy.

I considered returning the card to the bank: the safest thing to do, but they might cancel it and send him a new one. I considered handing it to the place of worship I cleverly worked out IOA went to. But the stalker-way was the fastest, and I wouldn't have to rely on a middleperson's honesty. I changed into something less roadrashy, and took the bike, card and explanatory note ("I didn't use this, but as I didn't see you drop this I can't say nobody else used it -- please check with your bank for any suspicious activity or charges!") to his residence.

I left it with someone I am guessing to be his sister, AFTER asking if "IOA" lived there: considering what she wore when she answered the door, my guess as to how he managed to lose his card in my neighbourhood was well-founded. I did not tell her what it was, only that it was his and I found it and returned it.

I need more practice with the scooter: where I went had steep hills and sharp curves. I did manage to switch out faceshields, something I was too feeble to do with my last helmet.

I'm going to try saving $10/day. With the mortgage reduced by $3.58/day, suspiciously the cost of an 8 oz. latte with tax and tip!, I have only $6.42 left to go.

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.

I would do so much better with a budget and an organization book. This morning I dutifully paid the Visa statement in full, apportioned my HELOC and savings account. I mailed a cheque for our motorcycle insurance, and another for our mortgage.

I hid behind a cabinet to work on my binder at a coffee shop but a darling friend popped in and we had a chat. I have some hours to myself today so I can work on the binder.

Shockingly, for the past eleven weeks, although we have always had a balance on our VISA, we have managed to pay off the statement balance, incurring no finance charges. Today I saw we had paid over $700 toward a $440 balance from the month before, but we've also paid for new glasses as well.

Another surprise: when I received our renewed credit cards, I checked the expiry date on my useless credit card that I never activated, and it is five months from now. But now that a billionaire has come to the rescue of the ailing issuer, I am sure the issuer has no reason to ask me how it can make the card more competitive so I will use it as much as if not more frequently than my preferred credit card.

One credit card is five months away from replacement, and its "remove this sticker/call this number to activate" sticker is still on. It hasn't been used.
It's not willpower stopping me: it's waiting for a reason to use the card. The card fit my needs when I just bought a house and needed a credit history in my own name. But the card issuer hasn't kept the original terms and conditions. The income the issuer garners from messing around with terms and conditions is much greater than what it would earn from the transaction fees from my credit card use. I get to keep the card as part of my credit history, and the credit card issuer gets to claim me as a cardholder who has never defaulted on a payment.

Catherine Austin Fitts stated in a podcast that over 90% of her audience at her speaking engagements claim to not watch or have a television.

My next job or vocation I feel is going to align with my commitment to making people richer, healthier, and/or more spiritually and intellectually aware. That's the closest I've come in a long time to recognizing my purpose, but I've been negative for a long time, because that was what seemed to be the accepted norm. If there is divine guidance I will be led to ways to build confidence, powers of persuasion and paths to partnerships with trusted and effective mentors.

Bank of America sold its global credit card business to Toronto Dominion. Bank of America's mortgage subsidiaries are embroiled in lawsuits by state Attorneys General.

NASDAQ.com - Too Big To Fail: Is Bank of America on Deathwat...

AMERICAblog: The increasing Bank of America Deathwatch

Its stock has fallen nearly 50% this year—the worst decline for any big bank in the U.S. or Europe.

I only wish the deadpool I am in with my friend allowed for corporate entities: I'd love to put Bank of America on my 2012 list.

Should I feel sorry for a bank who altered my grandfathered Versateller account so I could be charged fees? Or for a bank who made my husband go in person THREE TIMES to supposedly close his account, then, when he thought his account had been closed, charged him with a low-balance fee? Why should people be charged after they go through the motions of closing their account? If you're a Bank of America representative maybe you could share this reasoning with us consumer riffraff.

Should my heart break for a bank that bought out my original credit card company and shortened the grace period, upped the transaction fee from 3% to 4%, instituted arbitration, hiked the potential default rate to 26.74 points beyond the prevailing prime lending rate? Balance and usage have nothing to do with it: I haven't used the card since 2004.

Florida Homeowners Foreclose on Bank of America

Should I feel sorry for a bank who attempted to foreclose on my uncle's Florida house which he's owned for 18 years because the bank messed up Countrywide paperwork? Or for a bank that doesn't process payments to Wikileaks? Should I weep tears for a bank that attempts to sell properties from under owners who have paid their mortgages in full, and is being sued for illegal foreclosures? This is the bank that makes legal US citizens and residents jump through Patriot Act hoops, but awards credit cards to illegal immigrants.

I'm not going to go into politics: it's obvious who gave this bank bailout money, and that the bank needs restructuring. Maybe a Bank of America or government apologist can explain why restructuring didn't happen in 2008, and if they think the bank used the TARP funds wisely.

update: well some apologist hailing from Bank of America's Jonestown, Guyana branch was here, paid no doubt to do damage control, which means candy floss spin and a complete disregard for the indisputable facts I posted here, and deliberate ignorance of my questions "why should my husband have to go in three times to close one account", "did the bank use TARP funds wisely", "why did restructuring not happen in 2008." See what suckers' Bank of America account fees pay for? It sure isn't documentation quality control.

I didn't choose to be with Bank of America. I didn't know in 1996 that my bank SeaFirst was going to be bought by Bank of America; nor did I know in 2000 that in 2006 my credit card company would be sold to Bank of America.

Yves Smith of the Naked Capitalism announced two weeks ago she was initiating a "Deathwatch" on Bank of America. As we are weeks away from the third quarter of 2011, five years after many 5/1 Adjustable Rate and otherwise subprime mortgages were sold in the frothiest of markets the "stated docs" era, or five-year interest-only mortgagees get payment adjustments, and some retail banking customers wake up and head over to their credit unions, it'll be interesting to see how Bank of America comes up with capital to meet its lawsuit payments, and payments to its own creditors. I tell you this, they won't make money directly through me.

In Mr. Moynihan's most candid remarks yet about the troubled mortgage business, he told the 6,000 listeners who Mr. Berkowitz said were on the call: "Obviously, there aren't many days when I get up and think positively about the Countrywide transaction in 2008."

- Mish's Global Economic Analysis

Attorney General Brown Announces Landmark $8.68 Billion Sett...

Arizona Sues Bank of America

Illinois Attorney General Sues Countrywide

Nevada Attorney General Sues Bank of America

For lengthy excursions up and down (I can't go too far west: four miles drops me into the Puget Sound!) and sometimes east, I bring the colossal Complete Tightwad Gazette to see how I can save $200-$400 a month.

I went to Costco for the first time since May. We ate down our pantry staples during our fiscal crisis and now I have to replenish the distilled water for our emergency kits and peanut butter. I will say that it feels really good to once again have a full freezer, and to be able to have enough meat for the next three weeks.

Did I learn how to save $200-$400 a month? No, but I learned how to save $100 a year. Baking one batch of bread a year and drying clothes without a dryer. I also learned that with some creative deprivation we could save close to $1000 a month, which I would apportion to paying down the home equity line of credit and buying silver, eventually upgrading to buying one half-ounce of gold. I have some gold already, and it is a comfort to me to see my net worth rise while I make lists on what to subsist on in the pantry. I have sold only a mangled mess of a gold chain my mom bequeathed me, and I didn't have that appraised, but it netted me $740 so that was nifty.

We have auto insurance plus a serpentine belt issue to pay for this month, so debt repayment is slow-going. The silver lining is that everyone in my debt group has gone backward: I'm the only one in my group who's maintaining some accountability and preparation right now. I bought a roof for the house, as the roof was probably put on during the Carter administration if not the Truman, and rougher windstorms had blown the shingles off.

Yesterday was our seventeenth wedding anniversary. We celebrated on Friday with a nice dinner out and some improv theater with a theme near and dear to my spouse's heart: sci-fi B-movies where aerosol-haloed women and crewcut Anglo-Saxon men battle monstrosities that would make Orkin men demand danger pay. On our actual anniversary my boy and man went to play Pokèmon, the joy of that being formal introduction to another Pokèmon dad who is a National Book Award winner. We shook hands and he said he'd seen me a few times inside the store, and I said my book club was reading one of his books (truth). "Oh really?" he smiled. Then my family went to the

http://www.skagitriverranch.com to buy some organic meat and excellent eggs. I will eventually buy bulk orders when the refund cheque arrives. Although Skagit River Ranch sells at local farmers' markets, I rarely have a meal plan for meats, and my bags fill fast with vegetables, and you know, those meats are not cheap! I will be eating more lamb and less pork. I have some recommendations for preparation of organ meats as well.

Anyway, even as the emergency fund is whittled down by home and auto repairs, we are reminded in now our eighteenth year of marriage that our simplest pleasures: New York Times Friday and Saturday crosswords, reading library books in bed, local walks, regional hikes, podcasts and massages are indeed some of the best.

We bought a Turkish coffee set and bakeware to replace our Mulroney-era baking pans and sheets. Planned spending today include replacement watch battery, and wardrobe adjustment/renewal for the young'un, and some sweaters/skirts to accommodate my new size.

Another thing we did was drop Sprint's family plan in favour of Virgin Mobile's $25/month for 300 minutes. we used two hours this past month, and we get unlimited web, which is cool when one's looking for fee-free ATMs in an unfamiliar area.

Painful last week of July. By painful I mean reducing meal portions because the freezer didn't have any protein in it and interrupted sleep due to hunger, check bounced, and scrounging coins around the house to put gas in the car.

At least we had vegetables, and the cats didn't nip at our ankles.

Why so bad? We scrounged $1649.55 of escrow deposit money for our new mortgage. We finally ditched our mortgagor of twelve years in favour of our preferred credit union, who lured us with a fee-free (no application fee and no appraisal fee, but conveyance fee, documentation fees: whyn't call it "fee-reduced" and be honest?) mortgage for twelve years at 3.75%. First payment is September, and we have three pay periods until then. Also the escrow balance of the old mortgage will come back to us.

For the bean-counters out there: "reduced" time period (the qualification to secure the 12-year means having fewer than 12 years left on the old mortgage, which if we had not prepaid by ten payments we would not have qualified for), reduced interest by an estimated $8700, reduced rate by 25%, and reduced interest&principal payment by 10%.

I thought I was going to blow wads o' dough @ Costco hours after the money came into the account but we've been visiting the closer discount groceries.

July was expensive: painted boy's room, framed a Matisse print, moto insurance, swimming lessons - chess membership, and caved into getting a RotoRooter dude over. After twelve years of managing a congested drain by ourselves. Now I know how to keep the drain decongested, and with us it requires more than baking soda, vinegar and hot water once a month.

I'm hoping that the person who couldn't comprehend what was written but commented (without linking to her SA blog, craven and subpar combo there) anyway got bored with one year's silence and moved on. Good people left too, but past banter experiences have helped me make better choices and question some held irrational beliefs.

It's true I need to let go of a lot of things. I'm just not seeing the value of those comments. I don't visit other blogs and leave comments that demonstrate that I haven't read everything. One could post: "I don't understand what you meant by ____________" or "you write statement A, and that's foreign to me. Is something missing"?

It makes me wonder what the standards for online discourse are. Also, I don't see anything wrong with supplementing facts and references when making a statement or correction (e.g., "Councilmember is one word" "panini is plural of panino" "Dover is the capital of Delaware"), but apparently some people think that's snarky. If the correction is done in neutral language, how is a vulgar retort appropriate? What does it say about someone's worldview that facts are feared and viewed as something to be protected against?

I don't delete comments unless they are obvious spam, or if they seem to be accidental multiple-posts, because expression, uninformed and ill-constructed it may be, is a right, and it's useful to readers to know which commentators to ignore and avoid. How can one tell the good among the bad?

I just ask that people consider when commenting that inferences about their education, personality and cognition can be made by readers.

not for the money but to keep my mortgage funds within the home state

state banks likely to fail in next 12 months October 2009 Puget Sound Business Journal article.

If we did refinance I'd go for the 15 year my credit union is offering, although we'd save a whopping seventeen dollars per month, and it would take us until April 2021 to recoup our refinance costs. At which time the house would be paid off or sold. And heck, if I were wanting to sell, why would I care if my mortgagor was going under?

I'm happy to know that my steady mortgage payments over the past 11 years were not at fault for my bank's dismal return on equity (-37%): I feel no guilt. It's the bank's fault for amassing so many nonperforming real estate construction loans.

Got another Colour of Spring CD, this one is remastered while the other one is out of print, so I guess they are different CDs. Also got a $60 rebate from the insurance company, which goes to: $15 VISA, $15 HELOC, $15 Chequing, $15 Savings.

Listening to the Cocteau Twins. Amazing what sounded ace 20-25 years ago hurts the ears now, but Talk Talk from 1984-onward, Motorhead and the Dead Kennedys always sound excellent.

My new birthday year:
- read at least one Stanley Elkin book
- defy death and eat more oysters, liver and shellfish
- paint the railings and porch
- read one Michael Ignatieff nonfiction book
- read five banned/challenged books from Radcliffe Publishing's Top 100 list: one must be from an African-American author
- adopt as heroes those idolized by nerdy fifteen-year-old British boys
- read one book by each of: Steve Pavlina, Dick Davis, Dorothy Day, Hannah Arendt
- watch one Mizoguchi film
- watch one Kiarostami film
- get a new roof
- enroll in Yoga or Qi Gong course
- repaint living room, boy's room
- read either The Epic of Gilgamesh, two George Eliot novels or three Charles Dickens books
- reduce debt by $9606 (includes mtg, HELOC, interest due from mtg)
- increase savings by $9606 (includes reduced interest on loans, interest, dividends, profits, investment purchases)
- work on raising my vibrational frequency

Am buying one share of Procter & Gamble.

Today is April 15, in America's innumerable Starbucks locations that is "Sustainable Deadbeat Junkie Tax Day": bring a refillable tumbler or travel mug and get free drip coffee: Pike Place or bold. I chose Pike Place. My right eye, eight hours later, is still angry with me for taking the free coffee.

Apparently half-a-cup of coffee is the most my body will tolerate. Bah.

Work was great today: my "client" let me borrow her Hildegard von Bingen medieval chants CD, and Talk Talk's "Natural History" CD (I had the cassette somewhere), and gave me "The Colour of Spring." I also received an Adrenal Tonic tincture, and get to browse her herb, meditation, spiritual and health materials. For nobody else would I take this low-paying job. I get to shop for organic stuff with her, visit the library, run errands on a great street, and she's taking me out to a fabulous Chocolaterie next week for my birthday. She thinks I am a fabulous cook too. I must not get out much: I wonder if there are many other women in the city with such a strong overlap of interests and sensitivities. And apparently I do little wrong: I found Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds in a discount retail outlet, having been convinced for years I could order it only by mail order, and cheap top-grade supplements for her.

HELOC balance is down $83, and I am 0.0565% closer to being debtfree. Still at 3% interest rate. As Kodos or Kang would say, rubbing tentacles together: "Good, good."

Found some money while I was trekking to my brokerage firm to make a Roth IRA deposit. Fourteen feet away from the money I found was a man standing against a wall, facing the street, with his hat turned up in his hand. Guess what he wanted, but didn't feel like bending over to pick up?

Haiku for Joan.of.the.Arch:
A man stands begging
Meanwhile fourteen feet away
Money lies waiting

Did what feels like miles of walking but was probably just 1.5 miles with filled grocery bags, being all Florence Nightingale or Chicken Soup Brigadier to the sick and indigent in my community. Then I came home to beautiful notes from my second cousin and his mom thanking us for sharing a beautiful time with them Sat. night (yeah, we ate with Ludacris -- no joke) and for the gifts. I feel so appreciated my heart is glowing. I just feel it is sad that the appreciation comes only from people who are MENSA-level and higher, which means I'm missing out on 49 times more appreciation. However, the lonely, sick, hurting, bereaved are comforted, and in my spirituality/religious realm that counts for something. I still wouldn't mind Karma giving me a nice $65K+ yearlong contract.
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D'OH! Remember my last post about patience, and my friend? She's told me about my state's Prescription Drug Plan Program so I can apply for a Discount Card for reduced-price meds!

Dunno why, but the image of leeches sucking my blood seems apt for the Internal Revenue Service's annual collection of income tax.

My animals hear the birds, see the sun, feel the warming air and howl to be let out. I see the film and lecture calendars, feel the thinning fibres of my faded wardrobe, and itch to spend/redirect money. A dress here, pair of jeans and earrings there, a bit to the HELOC.

Certainly the baseball tickets are an extravagance, and judging by the way I was treated when attempting to buy them I will not be buying baseball tickets anytime soon. It's refreshing to know, I guess, that the economy has rebounded to the point where merchants feel confident enough about revenues to treat its customers like criminals or crap. "We can't have a smooth and friendly business transaction or else THE TERRORISTS WIN! OMG! LOL! WTFBBQ!"

I watched John Daker's

stirring medley (safe for hipsters, agnostics and non-Christians) of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" and "That's Amore!" this morning. Went to church yesterday because I fear crowds: good idea, as heathen hubby was working on-call and yelling obscenities when we got home. Would hate to have to get up early with "#%@$".

Little child received chocolate, hubby received bacon and eggs scrambled with tarragon, creme fraiche and roasted red peppers.

I was one of under a thousand people who solved Mike Reiss's NPR Sunday Puzzle Challenge, but the guy who blogs for geekdad.com won and got Benedictine nun Sister Joan Chittister to read the prizes for him: lucky cur. I'd love to have a job where being clever at solving puzzles led to a big salary: anyone have any ideas?

My husband got a mailer for an Easy Orange mortgage offer: five years at 3.75% APR, up to 75% of the home value borrowed, no points, with free bi-weekly payments. We're tempted. I like our 20-year mortgage with 12.5 years remaining, and I don't yet have a financially stabilizing and sustaining income. Also the payments are made electronically: paper checks incur $50 fees. I didn't see anything about making extra principal payments whenever on the INGDirect Website. Maybe this doesn't look all that appealing after all.
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taxes: We owe $890. I guess that's not horrible. I will do more tax and finance planning this year. I did this without booze (did you know doing your taxes sober takes 1/3 of the time and 1/2 as much paperwork? The IRS should include this handy tip on its 1040 package: do your taxes sober!), and now am going to get an overpriced junky bag of potato chips and kombucha and watch A Bit of Fry and Laurie (more people have seen Stephen Fry open his iPad package -- is that not tragic?), and subversive French classic Zéro de Conduite.

When I read what people nationally pay for water and sewer, it's about $50-60/month. With us, it's $69. We have solid waste with yardwaste pickup, and pay $33 month for that. So we pay over $100/month. Average consumption a day was 107 gallons for three people. Per capita 60 gallons is average. So we're saving water, but paying over $100/month for this... we have a low-flow toilet, watersaving clothes washer, watersaving dishwasher. Only thing I can think of is that when we're trying to be nice to the natural gas company and keep the temps at 64-66F during the day in winter, we take long hot showers and soaks. And I'm drinking much more water and tea.

We're paying $8.98/CCF for sewer and $3.50/CCF for water. Sioux Falls citizens pay $2.56/CCF for the same usage we have.

The residential bill here, on average, is about $240 for two months. It went up 22% over two years. We will be very lucky to see bills under $200. I think I'll put up signs like 'if it's yellow let it mellow' and take the Dr. Bronner-style bath of sponging the body with a gallon of water and Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soaps. More ways to save water

here.

Just got off the phone with Comcast sales flunkie who wanted to upsell the Comcast service we have for higher speeds. I told him I wasn't interested in spending more days without food for the purpose of giving Comcast more money. I told him I was pissed about doing everything I could afford to bring down energy usage in my house: 11% water, 33% natural gas, but rates went up even higher, and didn't need to be making conscious decisions to have more money escape our house without a return on investment. When he asked what we used the service for I answered for my husband's vendor/outsource work which his multinational corporation decided it was too poor to pay for itself. I love that these calls are monitored, and I love that these soulless drones and managers are oblivious to consumers' sufferings and increased bills. The next time some drone says "I understand" I'm going to ask him or her about his or her credit debt, or if "I understand" is written in their script which they must carefully copy.

$826 for another week.

$140.11 to COBRA -- pass
$100 for food - $50 left
$40 for gas (scooter & car) - $31 left
$16 for entertainment
$9 for postage - $7.68 left
$125 for credit card (trying to pay this weekly to avoid interest) - paid
$100 monthly extraction of payment to HELOC. - scheduled on March 15
would like $58.26 more to go to HELOC to keep it exactly at 14% of my mortgage, but I can wait until payday for that.

This is the month where we get bills for electricity and water/sewer/recycling/yard waste, and those are typically $250 - $270.

I am not looking forward to doing taxes.
Maybe I can postpone payment of mortgage until April 5.

I submitted a claim for orthodontic treatment for the year, and a claim for prescription glasses. We'll see processing for those, what, eight - twelve weeks out?

My wireless phone provider is not effectively blocking the phone numbers I don't want texting me. I visited the website to triple-check that the number to be blocked was in the blocked database and yes, it was. Corporation logic is this: Customer follows procedure, it fails, answer "I don't know" when asked why and offer some other suggestion not on the website customer visited. Corporation congratulates itself for offering exemplary value and customer service. I know of Tracfone and Virgin Mobile -- if I get another text from the fat-fingered ditz the wireless phone provider can say goodbye to my account -- customer account closed due to service incompetence.

The weird thing is that I calculated our mortgage and HELOC, and they're manageable on my spouse's salary. We drive one car and one scooter, and put maybe 600 miles a month on the car (how can that be? we don't drive 20 miles a day!). We also do not dine on steak more than twice a month, and have been choosing to walk to a neighbourhood restaurant during happy hour when we want to eat out.

I've been energy testing my supplements: chlorella yes, Source Natural Visual Eyes a no. Ubiquinol, despite Ray Kurzweil, is a no. Fish oil, calcium/magnesium and Vitamin D, yes.
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on the blessings front: $4.64 from old insurer, credit balances of $2.70 (car) and $87 (house) from new insurer. Cheques to follow in three weeks. I look forward to a 0.9% decrease in mortgage payment.

Although house assessment has changed, surface water fees have increased, giving me a $4/month reduction in real estate taxes. The $7/month reduction in home insurance is a blessing. Now to get rid of the $6/month "Green Up!" voluntary charge for green energy...

We don't need no stinking laundry detergent

Heh. I just finished our pack of Dropps this weekend. Now I'll experiment with less detergent and maybe some essential oils for scent. Keeping the Oxi-Clean for stain removal.

Also mixing scentless Dr. Bronner's with baking soda in hope of removing grime from bathtub.

It's been a cheap day: tipped barista ten cents for the "free" hot water in the mug that I brought from home, for the tea I also brought from home. Walked to post office to mail pics of new nephew to my stepmother, Sprint bill ($66.49) and reduced COBRA payment. Splurged on whipping cream and celery -- making beef stock. Whipping cream is popular for cream sauces in my house.

Had a nice little burning of some accumulated papers.

Yesterday we went to the local cinema and paid $3 each for admission to a very entertaining French-language children's film rated 87% on RottenTomatoes.com.
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Videos from Credit Card Revolt
a local is producing these and making a revolt statement against credit cards. The funny thing is I saw one video, saw the angle of the sun and figured 'hey, that's my city!' and then was proven right. Sad when sunlight deficiency defines your territory. (note to historychick and baselle -- is this Beacon Hill territory or Central District/Madrona?)

Sitting for extended periods is bad for your health -- okay the headline was "watching TV..." but seriously, the doctor at least twice mentioned sedentary activity. What if you're watching TV while you're on a treadmill? What if you're reading a book and sitting down? I need to get off my butt and move every twenty-thirty minutes, methinks.

People on a higher spiritual plane would not look kindly on me, but I would not mind causing pain to the credit card fraudsters who use(d) our landline number so we get calls from collection agencies. Way to be good citizens, scum-of-the-earth!

I have been civil and calm talking to live people who call, because although they're collection agency staff, they are looking for people who steal and skip their responsibilities, and they cry and rage the same as I do. No sense making someone else's day bad due to some scamster who would probably chop his grandma at the knees for drugs, or pee on some blind person taking the bus somewhere. Such decency. In this case, I Googled the phone number that telephoned and it's an agency that collects on unpaid tickets.

UPDATE: screw this PauletteG moniker, I should be

Doctor Orpheus here.

1. The contingency part of my remodel budget is sadly getting a workout. Water/drain supply issues and new circuits. Perhaps the solution to the plumbing issue will result in fewer leaks and lower water usage costs.

2. People in my life are being more open with their finances. This is comforting and refreshing, for I was a stresscookie due to believing I was failing to keep up. Several families are sharing experiences in redoing their "never touched" kitchens. There's some relief in buying a home that hasn't changed ownership in 50 years, but there are some headaches too.

3. Milestones reached this week:
20% spending on the kitchen (no reward);
40% costs for Osaka;
90% annual 401(k) contribution;
75% annual Roth IRA contribution;
20% proposed saving for replacement 4-wheel covered vehicle (no reward)

Rewards:
close to retail priced item of clothing (shoes or boots)
daytrip out with the scooter (scheduled for Sunday: I can fill up for less than $10 again! Bonus!)
two neat magazines (I bought ShopSmart, I can have one more)
scented sea salts for the bath, Market Spice Tea (when I empty two tea boxes) and an at-home facial.

4. I am 0.34% away from reaching the 20% mortgage principal paid milestone. One more week...

5. I've read a prediction that the prime rate will be reduced at the Oct. 29 meeting. Please, yes, reduce that rate. I hope I won't be dinged for the $19000 cabinets prior to the rate cut. If yes, I guess it'll be cash, as my credit card doesn't run that high and I don't feel like exhausting my emergency fund right now.

I reserve the right to have sushi on occasion with the coworkers. Seriously, since August I have brought my hipster-ironic 1940s "modern living" lunch kit with me, and remembered to pack a lunch. I hope this will help prevent food from spoiling and help us save some money.

I also suspended our CSA for four weeks while we eat our way through our garden. So far we've eaten only the parsley, basil and the lettuce.

I can't do much to make a sizable difference in my water bill. I will try one method of body cleaning that apparently saves 90% of water.

I was going to bake bread this weekend -- opted for rolls instead, and oh boy, the difference lukewarm water and the Kitchen-Aid dough hook make! These were the best rolls I'd ever made, and I'd used the recipe 30 times. Very fluffy on the inside, wee bit o' crust on the outside.

My splurge today has been for products on the

King Arthur Flour website.

To celebrate the completion of my bathroom and garage door savings goals, I am taking some continuing education classes through the local community college: yoga, Japanese, clutter clearing, and how to plan a kitchen remodel.

Gosh!

Back then I had a scooter loan. It was paid off three months later. Income was $5220/net. Now it's larger. The windows are installed. Some goals were neglected, others were replaced. Back then my mortgage payoff-date was 07/2023, now it's 02/2023. I had $1000 in savings for an emergency fund, now I'm nearing $19000.

Back then our outgo was $4957.75, excluding savings, investments, pet expenses, gifts and extra mortgage payments.

Now it is $4943. So the childcare payments get absorbed into smaller childcare expenses, house maintenance, food out, gifts, auto expenses, and taxes. Utilities actually went DOWN 10% from two years ago.

I encourage people, if they're starting their journey from a point of lack, or a disadvantage, perhaps paying off debt or building an emergency fund, to reflect on their progress each year. Granted the gold, housing and equity markets take most of the credit for this, but we're up 25% from two years ago, for the time being.

I received a cheque for $84.81. $35 went toward refilling the car's gas tank, and I saved twenty-nine cents at the pump. Woo woo challenge money. $30 went for my medication. Now I have a two-month supply.

I'm considering giving up some out-and-about time for baking bread, and soaking/cooking large amounts of legumes to freeze in small containers. Yes, friends, I'm rereading More with Less. Some of the introduction, originally written by Doris Janzen Longacre, was penned at a time of grain and fuel shortages and high inflation.

I gotta stop blaming myself for everything. "Oh inflation is here, this is my fault--if I had a vegetable garden up already I wouldn't be paying so much for Community supported Agriculture boxes. I am rotten because I drive a car that gets 28-35 mpg and we haven't yet forsaken our scooters and gas-powered lawnmower. The US dollar is tumbling and I better put my money in gold or else I won't afford to see my brother get married in Japan and then I win the award of World's Biggest Loser. I suck because my 60-year-old house still has a while to go before it can be energy-efficient and I was distracted by child-care and retirement. If only I did a mega Mortgage Equity Withdrawal, remodeling the house to dozens of thousands of dollars, anticipating energy shortages and spikes, I'd be okay today." I require so much reassurance, and when I don't get it I believe it's because everyone else has managed these achievements. Because these ideas don't just come to me from the aether -- I read about Americans doing these energy conservation things. I feel especially ashamed as my goals don't seem all that frivolous: we don't NEED all this stuff, but I sure am attracted to the idea of saving 10-30% off my energy and food bills. I should take the Joe Stalin route and develop a five-year-plan.

Joan.of.the.Arch, I didn't get through much of When All Hell Breaks Loose before returning it to the library, but the first chapter is all about not panicking and keeping a cool head and wits about one. Preparation goes a long way, but so do self-directedness (believing one is entirely and directly responsible for one's life) and confidence.

What I'm reading now is Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life which is entertaining. My kid sees it on the table and says "Jim Cramer yells all the time." I think Jim's editors should have named the book Stay Livid. So far I'm only on the second chapter -- first chapter is very basic for beginners: get out of credit card debt, plan ahead, make a budget and stick by it, reassess when you miss budget targets.

With some preparation and luck, I may Freecycle or junk some large items downstairs. I've got to remain upbeat and positive about our survival chances.

I have 48 hours left on my contract. Most of tomorrow is taken up by an interview and a doctor's appointment.

At the cafeteria I saw two men I loved working with prior to this contract. I told them what I was up to, and what my job prospects were -- I have an offer I haven't yet accepted.

I have to trust that things will continue to go well, and that if they don't, the support of my family and our adaptability and ability to accept certain losses will see us through.

I get scared when I look at

this article and at Calculated Risk.

Then I remember that I have, so far, a very cushy life here, and peoples everywhere have lived through far worse and with far less.

Furthermore, if we get sucked down financially thanks to some rotten central bank dealings, so will hundreds of millions of other people. At the very least, we'll have a mass attitude adjustment and some nasty quarters. Maybe one of us will have a run of unemployment. And if things turn authoritarian/nasty, at least one of us will have a run for the border.

I don't know what the future has in store for me in the next three days, other than some appointments and a goodbye lunch. I might have to give up my volunteer position, I might have to pay people to set up my garden. Is this all worth it to afford disability insurance, pad the emergency fund, and to bend over and accept this year's gold-plated tax-whacking with a J.K. Lasser guide tucked in my motorcycle pants? I hope so.

I also know nothing is forever, and this too shall pass.

What I need right now are a bunch of little health, wealth, family and spiritual victories, confidence boosts to tell me I'm on the right paths.

I need to resist the urge to kick myself for following common advice to allocate my investments to indexed mutual funds, and finding the DJIA has returned a little less than a negative 2% return over the past eight years.

And to be kind to myself for underestimating, yet again, how much taxes we'll be owing. I withheld a little extra, and set a double-digit pre-tax contribution for my 401(k)s, and itemized, but I still have this knot in my stomach telling me to prepare to pay $8,000 extra.

I will make some calculations to determine at what price point it makes sense to buy a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle over continuing to use gas-powered vehicles. It amazed me to learn that a multimillionaire didn't pay over $10,000 at any time in his life for a new car. Will the payback period for buying a hybrid next year be within five years? How long do I expect to own the car?

I feel that, bit by bit, truth is coming to me from all sides, and believe that if I make gradual changes in habits and master renunciation of ego and materialist promptings of my weak flesh, I'll get to where I want to be, where I should be.

I'd like to graph, month to month, the increase in satisfaction for dollars spent, as in Your Money or Your Life. I'd like to notice more how not refinancing my house, how not using the car so often, are saving me money. I'd like to remind myself in the evenings that I could be stretching, meditating, exercising with the tot, looking through seed catalogues, reading Gardening in Tough Times, cleaning my house, writing letters, supplementing my son's education.

...I found the two cafes I went to have "winter hours" posted on their windows, "winter hours" being a euphemism for reduced hours. Where do the university students go to earn tuition/living expenses when the nearby cafes are closed? Where do the cheapskates like me go for warmth and free wi-fi access to freelance instead of keeping the house at a comfortable temperature? I should mention that snow is an infrequent event where I live, and 99.97% of the time our roads don't have black ice, and very often the dusting of snow is gone by the next day.

Actually the first cafe I went to today was closed, although its hours sign indicated it was supposed to be open. This is the fourth time I've arrived during normal business hours to find it closed. Thee other times I've shown up only to find it changed its hours to later. And the owner wonders why he doesn't see me anymore.

Maybe I read too much into this. Then again I recall January 3, 9 am, when I showed up for my hair colour, and the colourist said I was his first appointment of the year and I was doing him a favour, helping him out with his rent money.

business taxes
$338.26 - state taxes
$80.41 - city taxes

The biggie, federal tax, is looming... I am thankful I had the foresight to save some money for that.

allowance for him and her
I included an allowance for the young one, who hardly ever asks for it. I had the money in my pocket but the father and I spent it on hot chocolate and cappuccinos. Call Child Protective Services. On the other hand, I've included my kid in the "profit-sharing plan" of a budget surplus.

donations
So many worthy causes, so few dollars.

I've been reading elsewhere about people considering replacing their mid1990s vehicles. I've been considering replacing ours. I'm angsty about the complexity of scope and enormity of costs for updating our home and the looming car replacement. I might get into consumer debt again, but I plan the maximum amount of debt to be $16700 at a time.

Okay, so from the intertwining of post topics and shared reading over the past few days, it looks like my brain has entered an intentional community with that of

lux living frugalis. I'm glad my brain can do one good thing on occasion.

A follow-up on "I Ask Myself, How Much Do You Commit Yourself" and my Insurance Bill musings, especially after V's comment about targeting and planning charitable giving: I am reading The Better World Handbook and on page 266 is the suggestion of setting up a giving budget.

"On January 1, make up a list of your values. Then find organizations that are working to make those values real in the world. Don't let your giving be dictated by who sends you a request in the mail[, or who makes unsolicited fund-raising calls]. Do some research to find the best organizations and the ones that best represent your ideals. The last step is to set up dates and the dollar amounts that you plan to send to those organizations. A giving budget keeps your charitable giving at the forefront of your mind throughout the year so that it doesn't take a back seat to all of the other ways you want to spend your money."

I like this because it seems to me that groups will try more than annually to get additional contributions. This way I can record my contributions, collect receipts, keep records, and say to those who have their hands out for more: "sorry, my funds have been allotted for other organizations at least as fabulous as yours."

Consider also that charity begins at home: national and global organizations like Unicef and Doctors Without Borders do good, yet making additional room in your giving budget for donating to local non-profit organizations has the added benefit of local community improvement, a difference you can see.

Not only that, but making a list of one's values can be wonderfully focusing for how one chooses to budget time and money for maximum impact. We budget for what's important for us. Time is also valuable -- we should budget time to allow us to accomplish what we want.

GuideStar - Non-profits and charities search
Charity Navigator -- how effectively do organizations put ra...

Last year: $491.00
This year: $546.00

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

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