Spondulicks Forever!

12,277 lbs per year carbon emissions from our household is not terrible when the Average (more than two persons) American household emits 41,500. Replacing the refrigerator would reduce our carbon emissions by 577 pounds of carbon monoxide per year.

We can cut our pre-tax retirement contributions a bit: in retirement we hope not to have a mortgage, and won't be contributing to retirement programs.

So there are two pats on the back. It is hoped that the increase in disposable income will accelerate achievement of the goals in the Savings Tracks.

On the other hand, I'm not happy that in the first week of recording outgo, we're already up to $644, $944 if we count the last Roth IRA contribution for 2007.

A third pat on the back: I've lost three pounds.

I'm in for the $20 challenge. Yesterday I looked for some coins to put in a jar. I've counted, with my boy, $5.47. Also have $32.95 interest for the month from savings and checking...

We spent $7.99 on espresso and hot chocolate prior to a leisurely stroll through the Olympic Sculpture Park and Myrtle Edwards park. I saw some high-tech company buildings I might send my resume to. As long as it means commuting in less than an hour.

Also used some electrical outlet sealers on the outlets on the outer walls. Here's hoping my heat bills come down by a dollar.

So here's me in August: blahblahblahwindows
September: blahblahblahwindows
October: blahblahblahwindowsandroofinsulation
November: blahblahblahroofinsulation
December: blahblahinsulationONEHUNDREDTHIRTYONEDOLLARS?!?

Didn't any one notice at the natural gas utility that I spent a five-digit figure on windows and a coupla hundred dollars on insulation so I could SAVE MONEY?!? I wash in cold! I keep the temperature at 68F at home, and 58F at night. I clean the filters every five-six weeks.

Budget categories we should cut down to be at national average for our income, according to Mvelopes:

Water/Sewer/Recycling
Groceries
Allowances
Auto Maintenance
Home Maintenance

Budget categories we should raise to be at national average for our income:
Donations
House furniture
Clothing

Where we rule:
Savings
Electricity

I was pleased to see that the nation was spending 22% of its net income on mortgage/rent... ours came to 21.1% but we have a twenty-year mortgage. So we're "just right" with our three bedroom house with yard in the city.

I don't know what to do about the water. We don't have a dishwasher, and we have aerators and low-flow toilets. I looked into tankless water heaters but was convinced that they would cost us more money rather than save. I do crave my hot baths once a month, and even more frequently in the winter... Could it be that my area charges more for water/sewer/yard waste/recycling than others? And my area is dirt cheap (third lowest in the nation) for electricity?

Ready to try it yourself? Here's the

link

Off-topic:
Oh yay. Stock up on the nonperishables and the silver.

to become a person whose intrinsic worth is RECOGNIZED AND APPRECIATED more than the money she is able to give to/earn for other people. I'd like to be valued for my me-ness, rather than sought out near all the time as a potential client.

"I don't want to hang out with you, but I want you to come to my Pampered Chef parties. I don't want to hang out with you but I want you to come to my party so you can give me a gift that I won't bother sending a thank-you card for, and make other people think I am really popular. I don't want to put my real age or my real interests other than my photo studio on MySpace.com, but I am Requesting you Add me as a Friend because you have a kid and live in the area. You don't mean anything more to me than a measure of my marketing success. I'll claim on public forums that despite your 25% or 28% tax bracket and that 80% of your income is outgo that you are a big drain on the American economy but I'm not going to lead you to what I think you need to learn or be so you can be 'as educated about US and world history as' the American citizen claiming all immigrants are a drain on the economy. You need to learn about and study our Constitution so that when you become a citizen your nominal vote can go to a party determined to dismantle it; otherwise you are a drain on the US economy."

Doy... dur... my only value is commoditized and as a potential customer... I feels oh-so-validated in dis reel gud consumer culture...

He made his first consumer purchase at Target on Saturday, with the proceeds from sacrificing a tooth.

Yesterday I read online that: a fair predictor of a child's success in school comes from math skill proficiency in Kindergarten or Grade 1, so I took out some Spectrum Math Workbooks at K and Grade 1 level and told my kid we'd work on them after dinner. His eyes lit up. No, no sarcasm here.

He wanted to work exclusively on the money problems.

This would be a four-wheeled automatic transmission covered automobile, large enough to accommodate two adults 70 and 71 inches tall and a boy who'll sprout from 48 inches to 73 inches over the time we own the car (barring accidents and repossession).

My ideas:
honda accord sedan EX-L
honda accord hybrid
toyota camry hybrid
toyota camry XLE
Nissan Maxima SL
Nissan Altima Hybrid
Nissan Altima 3.5 SL
Toyota Prius 4-Door Liftback

The credit union has repossessed autos, but not the makes and models listed above. I got the above from

myproductadvisor.com. If I start saving now... maybe in 2009 or 2010 I'll have $20K set aside and can buy one in cash or finance for a 24-month period and pay it off in half the time.

I am reading the above mentioned book, written by Henry K. "Bud" Hebeler, and I am already scared.

10-15% a year, which is what we were paying into our retirement, does not seem to be cutting it as a long-term strategy.

I'd share what I learned with my peers, but you good folk have the author and the title of the book now, so you can go borrow it from the library as I did, and I'm afeared of mentioning what I learned to my friends because the ones who care about this stuff have already retired, and I don't need to hear "oh that doesn't apply to me because I have a trust fund" nor the sobs of people I like when they reflect on their situations and regard them as hopeless.

I'm not out to make you cry -- like I mentioned, you're probably already retired or on track; or if you're only doing 15% in the 401(k) and maxing out the Roth IRA like me, you're just a few clicks away from learning how to change your consumption patterns so you can save more. I'm just saying I was complacent without good reason, and I'm now scared into making better decisions or cutting back further.

Right after I blow $678.11 on R-38 insulation for my attic.
------------------------------------
frequently I wonder if I'm the one in my peer group who's behind, and how I can catch up. I wish I had more friends I could discuss this openly with.

I took the

Living to 100 Life Expectancy Quiz and despite my lack of exercise, and both my parents packing it in before either reached 65 the calculator gave me 90. I was projecting a death age of 70 (cancer) or 71 (car accident), the ages my non-smoking grandmothers died at. Then I could look at my retirement portfolio and say "hey, this is looking SWELL! Four cruises per year until I have my cardiac on the shuffleboard deck!"

I didn't lie on the quiz -- I intentionally answered honestly to get a shorter result. However, I've been eating healthier for the last year and am supplementing as prescribed.

Let me tell you something: Canada may have a lot going for it right now -- a strong economy, progressive government, strong commitment to globally competitive education, no wars for our kids to have to pay off -- yet the fact remains that my American in-laws, shortish and roundish they may be, are still alive and working and have been cancer-free, and my Canadian parents: tall and lean, retired early and were ashes after four years. Does education factor into this? Fewer stress factors?

The life expectancy result was 90 years. Sheesh. I DO have some money saved up: I just hope the US economy can rebound after twenty-five years... but Social Security is projected to be empty by 2042, which is too bad, because I know I could have used that monthly $1015 for a nice hot cup of 2042 coffee... if this calculator is a relatively good predictor I regret not having more children to shelter me in my dotage. I better start exercising so I can have a healthy body to lure the few septuagenarians... go swimming like Gertrude Ederle or mountain climbing like Leni Riefenstahl... but that'd be tough, because septuagenarian single guys are probably gay or divorced with too much trauma to remarry or they have longevity genes...

Ninety. Not looking so swell.

Read article

It’s no mystery to Dale and Darby Brennan why they have not realized their vision of the middle-class dream, despite seeing their income double to $70,000 in the past four years.
...
“We are doing all the right things with our money and I feel like the dream of owning a home is still so out of reach for us,” says Darby. “I don’t want a handout. I just feel like our middle-class income should be enough and it’s not.”

When I first read this, and some incendiary statements recorded in the article, my head boiled over with a long diatribe, and then I remembered my readers deserve better. So read the above and know, that I live a few short miles from this family and when we bought here we were earning the same amount of money, and had a car loan, put at least 15% of our gross income into retirement plans, but didn't have children.

$1050 for house rent is EXCELLENT. I was thinking I could rent my house out for $1600. If I wanted to rent a house closer to the schools where I REALLY want my kid to go I'd be paying $1800-$2000 (two miles away).

$720 for TWO CHILDREN in daycare is EXCELLENT. I paid no less than $910 and for some months as high as $1095 for ONE CHILD for over five years.

They have TWO CARS. We have been a ONE CAR family since 2001, driving the same car since 1996. (Three vehicle family now, but still ONE CAR, plus a FlexCar membership for those winter months.)

They spend twice as much as we do for cell phones, and three times as much as we do for gasoline. Their utility bills are higher as well (and my house is going through some energy upgrades).

Median family income of $75,600 is for King County. These people do not live in either Seattle nor Bellevue. They live in Mountlake Terrace, in Snohomish County where the median family income is $65,273.

The Brennans’ street is the boundary between King County, where the median home price is $440,000, and Snohomish County, where it is $370,000. Even with a fat down payment in either county, which they don’t have, the Brennans wouldn’t qualify for a conventional mortgage on a median-priced home.

House prices have to come down. They are coming down, they're just not crashing here yet like they are elsewhere. I don't get this hotfooting and jumping up and down and wanting a house NOW NOW NOW and saying "I don't want a handout." I don't get the "we're not saving for retirement, we borrow for cars, we have children and student loans and we're doing everything right with our money" thinking.

WSU keeps a special set of statistics on housing affordability for first-time buyers. Those numbers are especially dismal, indicating that the average first-time home-buying family or individual couldn’t afford even 40 percent of the mortgage on a starter home in King County.

TRUE. Even without student loans, car payments and children, a family earning $70K could not buy a HOUSE. A two-bedroom condo out in Lynnwood or Everett, maybe right now. Heck, I can't buy a house where I live on $140K. Well, I could, but I wouldn't respect myself in the morning.

The problem for a lot of the middle class is a consumer mindset, says Dale, a devoted listener of talk radio who says he quickly transformed from a liberal Democrat to a conservative Republican after becoming a father and going to work in a small business.

Dale Brennan loves his job as the manager of a Seattle-area produce stand.
“Things are to be earned, not for instant gratification,” he explains. “It’s not what you have; it’s getting there.” That's fine with me, what I don't get is converting to a different political ideology because AFTER car loans, student loans and having babies, one decides personal responsibility is a good thing. Because "that other side" can't ever lay claim to personal responsibility. I'm probably irresponsible in spite of wanting to save up to buy a car, or pay off car loans early, and started retirement as soon as I had disposable income, and waited until I was financially 'okay' before having kids, because it's easier for Dale's brain to see people who don't agree with his political viewpoints as personally irresponsible.

I am envious that Darby Brennan can find time to bake bread and help the girls clean their room. We have not-so-hot furniture ourselves, and really modest electronics--so modest the thieves flashlight into our living room and can't see a stereo or TV or computer so they leave us alone. The $20 a month for entertainment is very ambitious too: I think we pay that per person per week. So buying thrift store clothing, making bread from scratch, and using one credit card for gas only: those are things I could certainly do for the benefit of the budget. But is that "doing everything right?"

We had assets equivalent to one year's salary when we bought. It's bad timing that the Brennans have to contend with: trying to accumulate money when rate cuts to bail out homeowners are disincentives to save.

This is like me going up to Vancouver, BC and saying 'guldarnit! Houses here go for $850K Canadian! I can't buy a house on $140K/year!' (No kidding! How about waiting for house prices to come down?)

I guess delayed gratification and being priced out of the market are not partisan issues.

Disclaimer: I do not earn $140K/yr. I just threw that number out because the Brennans' salary doubled over four years, and I wanted to make the point that in the Seattle area, families earning under $150K are priced out right now. If people are still buying homes, it's either because they're downsizing or they have inheritances or they earn in excess of $150K/year.

America's

personal saving rate went up to one whole percent in the first quarter of 2007! I wonder how much of that is due to ING's Orange Accounts and the 7.5% - 8% offered by some credit unions on the first $500 deposited in checking and savings accounts. So when you read mainstream media's gloomy bits about consumer expenditures being down, consider that some people are choosing to pay in cash for a planned purchase, and reflect on the positive saving rate. While Bank of America is amending its credit card agreements to provide for a 32.99% "default pricing" APR, can you really blame people for wanting to save? It's not like Bank of America is actively engaging in competitive practices to encourage credit card use with a rate like 32.99% APR...

I got these from a forum on

Another F@cked Borrower. I may be smug about underconsuming, but comparing my family to that of another American family in a SFR is no big deal. There are still many things we could do, and although I'm in no clear danger now, I'd rather not have to rely on the grace of a divine power to get me through the Depression to come, and I'm dissatisfied with how little we save.

My problem is that my family wage-earners are lazy, scatter-brained and overworked at the same time. The problem USED to be how expensive childcare was.
I can see now where the temptation is to have a maid service, an au pair, a gardener, a landscaper...

#1 live within your means. Get rid of the credit card if you can (I haven't had one since 1998, when I got into trouble with it and had to get a loan to pay off the debt). Consider getting an Amex card, where you have to pay it off in full every month. Unless its a medical emergency, chances are you will survive if you don't have a brand new x,y,z...

#2 Know exactly how much money is coming in every month and how much is going out. Sounds, well, D'Uh!, but I've been amazed when my penchant for magazines has risen to $20 a month because I've neglected to keep an eye on peripheral spending. BTW, if like me you love magazines, consider selling them on eBay after you've read them. Seriously. I have a small eBay business doing just that. I may not make much money, but it pays for itself. There's a lot of collectors out there missing that particular issue of 'Wired' for instance, who will be more than happy to take it off your hands.

#3 Drive an older car that you have paid for. My current car is a Nissan Sentra, almost 10 years old, 70K on the clock. It goes like clockwork and I make sure its regularly serviced. I love pulling up next to a 2005 Hummer, seeing the conflicted sneering/'what if they dent my new car' look on the drivers faces...The same goes for clothes, shoes, eating out, groceries etc...maybe I'm just contrary, but I don't see the point of buying from Abercrombie & Fitch, when there's something equally as nice at Target.

4# Stick all the pennies you've saved being frugal into Tax-free/high interest rate accounts and watch the compound interest grow. Americans as a whole save less than any other Western Country. Which is astonishing, considering the amount of people who come over here (my husband and myself included) to make money.

If I did these, and more, perhaps I'd be too involved and too comfortable to be bothered by the expectation that I and fellow in the black as well as the more fiscally conservative folks are to help bail out people whose choices are made from greed, fear, and innumeracy. (I hope the innumeracy isn't typical of public school education here.)

It's not just the credit card bills for the vacation.

It's the auto insurance: $330
the motorcycle insurance: $270
the motorcycle maintenance: $677
title transfer fees: $19.50
and now, the opthmalogist's exams and orders for new frames: $935
and the kindergarten tuition: $1520
And of course the mortgage: $1570 (I paid some extra -- I'm not yet at the point where the principal part of the payment exceeds the interest, so I pay extra for the principal until it can exceed the interest without my help.)

Flush flush flush flush.

However, what we get for all that money flushing:
* reliable and safe transportation for us all, and for one-at-a-time
* frames with prescriptions to meet our changing vision, before the husband's excellent benefits go away
* access to half-decent and full-time education for about 19% of daycare/preschool, and an opportunity to meet other parents of kindergartners; entry into what I hope to be a familial community
* a place to live for 30 more days. It may be a great time to rent, but for those with houses paid for or who know that a SFH would rent for more than what they pay in PITI and utilities, it ain't such a hardship to have a mortgage.

Yesterday morning, with a minute to kill before leaving for a walk to the bus stop, I brought out the slow cooker and put it next to the pork tenderloin recipe my husband printed from the Internet. I also brought out all the non-refrigerated ingredients, and the pork tenderloin, and set them by the recipe and the slow cooker.

What do you know, when I walked in at 6:15 pm there were the good smells of dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and a very tender and flavourful pork tenderloin. With organic chard, and potatoes. And we have lots for sandwiches and leftovers. We're both to thank: he found a recipe 20 hours before it was to be ready and printed it out, I brought out the ingredients onto the kitchen counter in the morning so he'd have sufficient time to prepare.

But I know there are many more things I could do and should do.

I'm rereading Frugal Living for Dummies and it looks like the author is from my part of the world! Maybe I can overcome the HCOL.

I am very keen to try a price book. The challenge of affording a weekend at Newport, Oregon ($300 for gas, hotel, meals) or tankless water heaters strictly on food savings is very appealing.

We've cut down a lot on our supermarket adventures, except for the dairy purchases--they must be fresh, the supermarket does offer organic and rBGH-free dairy options. Going to the farmer's market is more fun: I get to meet the farmers, I learn more about their products, and I can quiz a master gardener or a sustainable-agriculture expert. And I pay the same price as everyone else without having to have a 'card'.

Other challenges:
1. cutting down on water usage, implementing the rainbarrel. It's rained quite a bit here, and is the barrel up to the downspout? No.

2. finding creative alternatives and ways to cut the budget when expenditures in one category go up. After seeing the documentary "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox," I may try the very water-frugal method the ninth-generation chemist performed himself for the camera to clean his hair, his face, and his body. (If you plan to see the film, have no fear: there is no nudity in the demonstration.)

I'm also gently coaxing the spouse to try walking more with me. On Sunday we all walked 1.9 miles on a roundtrip to my child's prospective school, to acquaint everyone with the correct and shortest paths. I do this to gauge time, in case we have a good morning, or lots of budgeted time to walk the tot to school. We probably should bike it, eventually--the hills and traffic scare me.

And it seems the early signs of the economic apocalypse are upon us. And me with credit card debt. Ah. Made a full payment for July's charges. I have been assured by a coworker that there'll be lots of work to do from next week until October. I can pay off my vacation with that, although I do have some savings.

Went school supplies shopping for the boy yesterday. An exciting experience, but boy was getting rowdy and bouncy with his "I want! I want!" regarding backpacks and lunch sacks. We have one more item to purchase.

We did get to listen to Jim Cramer's meltdown on the radio. And the boy thought it was funny to see a well-dressed man have a tantrum (I watched the Colbert Report segment on Jim Cramer). Okay, the remark "I want to recommend buying 'Washington Mutual' for the yield but I KNOW PEOPLE!" I found raucously funny.

And although we saw several Countrywide buildings (and a stadium! Anyone remember Qualcomm Stadium? Or was that 3COM? I forget) by the 101 as we entered and left Los Angeles, we only saw signs of the slowdown when I walked the boy to his prospective school yesterday. Seven houses. One sold.

I don't feel angsty anymore. I am not blind to anything I was present to prior to vacation, but I was responsibility-free more or less for two weeks, and am reassured I can live creatively and with integrity regardless of my money situation. I have diet suggestions and a gentle, easy yoga routine, land I can grow vegetables on--my tomatoes are doing great! And my husband and son now have their passports.

My paycheque distributions from now until October 15:
25% living expenses
25% credit cards
25% windows
10% emergency fund
10% house and garden
5% gold

Windows are getting installed September 13.

My beef supplier is offering investment opportunities. For sustainable, close to organic and close to us beef, and for a 10% guaranteed return, I'm considering getting some shares. The minimum investment is $1000.

Seattle Urban Farm Co. offers the creation of organic gardens. Nice, but I have access to seed catalogues, and can rent implements. Mostly I want: garden design help, garden creation and irrigation system help, some fruit in there like strawberries, and maybe some herbs and flowers too.

I'm reading American Mania by Peter C. Whybrow, a neuropsychiatrist at UCLA who offers an interesting hypothesis about the allele for exploration and risktaking that is predominant in immigrants to this country.

It's occurred to me I am probably more interested in comfort and security than ostentatiousness and opulence. Despite having that risk-taking and exploratory allele. And I have to remember that, if I choose to run back to the homeland with my tail between my legs ("I couldn't do it! I couldn't buy a Mountaineer and a house five times my household income! I couldn't day-trade WCOM and ENR and JNPR! I couldn't see the value in Beanie Babies and the Macarena and Martha Stewart and Tom Hanks!"), I did manage to lure a man who does not share my genetic makeup (only because a Congregationalist preacher was forced into exile 375 years ago is my man here in the New World) to go 2,000 miles from his birthplace.

I think the market is exhibiting bipolar behaviour. Witness the Dow's volatility of late. Read how fund managers and federal economists insist everything's going great as long as you don't include debt, or try to add food, energy and housing costs to the consumer price index. Or the U.S. is in some sort of manic economic phase. I also believe that revolutions come from the masses being starved and deprived into a fight-or-flight point, and at some point the war isn't going to be between the left and the right (it really isn't: check how the left have been in cahoots or capitulating to the administration -- most people who've been polled about Congress's activity as of late are aware there's no real opposition between the left and the right when it comes to corporate sponsorship of legislators) but between the old fighting for their benefits and the young fighting for their livelihood, and the rich fighting for their continued way of life and the poor fighting for the dreams they've been promised and denied. I don't know where I am here... I'm neither young nor old, and I fight for my benefits and my livelihood simultaneously; I suppose because my net worth is above $17,800 I fall on the rich side, but somehow with a six-digit debt and a lack of the outward success markers, I don't perceive myself as such. No one's smashing my windows to get at my books or my software or my Value Village clothing.

I don't want to get involved in class warfare nor age warfare, although as the fiscal squeeze is applied to the bottom 80% of us, I can see the 80% turning inwardly hostile. Remember that with the Rodney King verdict Asian communities' storefronts in Los Angeles were vandalized and torched, although it'd be tough to argue that the first-generation Asian-Americans have been at cause for 300 years of slavery and oppression for the African-American people. If landed immigrants are going to be the first scapegoats and victims, well, then that's my cue to scram, right?

I want a community lifeboat of those who live creatively and keep an eye out for looming danger. I hope that I can find it here without having to return home, and I'm giving myself 16 months to find and belong to such a lifeboat here before retreating for good to the Motherland. This country has produced Duane Elgin, Vicki Robin, Janet Luhrs and Bill McKibben -- maybe there's a growing community of people who are poised for a frugal environment and know what the markers of wealth will be (collateral for local economic trade, health, farming assets).

Four tops, two shirts for me, two pairs of pants for boy, two tops for boy, canister for grains or beans (airtight): $23.47 @ Value Village!

Some were silk, others merino or silk/cashmere... oh to get a natural fibers top at below $3.00! Sweet!

I took the car back to work this evening for some more double-time. Someone tried to give me a humility lesson when I was coming home by motorscooter: apparently working moms trying to reduce their carbon footprint by motorscootering are inferior to a car driver inattentively licking on an ice cream cone when his vehicle is swerving at 70mph speeds into my lane. Yeah, I didn't think my saving a company a million dollars a day or attempting to raise a young boy to skilfully navigate his way around global collapse or recirculating some of my disposable income to cancer charities and homeless program mattered more than somebody else's strawberry ice cream cone either. Well at least I shouldn't. That inattentive driver certainly put me in my place. Maybe I'll be lucky and encounter the same driver, who'll be going 80 mph and talking to his snugglewuggums on his cell phone or bending down to pick up a stray receipt that fell to the floor and he'll finish me like I should be.

20% joint savings
15% Roth IRA 2007 contribution
15% to go to my credit union account

60% to stew in chequing until the monthly "deep cleanse" (mortgage and childcare: half the budget) on the 31st.

The gas prices here are finally high enough that even we scooterists are thinking through our trips: do we really need to be using our oil?

Unapologetically I used the car last night to run errands: deposits, mail runs, fast food, and picking up monies for a raffle. My reasoning: fast food is easier to store in a car, I was mentally depleted and unworthy to be on two wheels, and it would be getting dark by the time I finished my errands.

And today I'll be unapologetically using my scooter to make errands: buying gifts for Staff Appreciation Week at the kid's preschool, and mailing my brother's degree to South Korea. Possibly even a Roth IRA contribution.

But one of these days, probably tomorrow and/or Friday, I will be busing it to and from work.

I want to start bulk-buying as a group at Big Lots or Costco. I want to start stockpiling nonperishable goods and foodstuffs while this inflation is going on... sure, the CPI might be a quoted 3% but as discussed in earlier entries I still use food and energy, two consumption items NOT factored in the CPI.

1. My Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) supplier is raising its box price by $1, a 3% difference, owing to increased expenses.

2. The gas prices have increased 5.5% since last week.

I have brought my lunch every day this week. I also took the bus once. I will have at least eight hours of overtime this week. My commuting bus runs from Mo-Fr, so I scoot when possible on the weekends.

More lentils and garbanzos on the menu for next week. A good thing it is we have free water, juices, carbonated beverages and Starbucks at work. Maybe even, if energy allows, a I may engage in a batch cooking weekend, as my joyboy/sireling/coborrower is on call this week while I have my "death march" to May 8... must be cheaper than ordering pizza.

I wonder if I'm going to see middle-aged and middle-income white men in parking lots begging for gas money again, like I did last summer.

1. Gold coin purchased.
2. $500 moved to personal chequing/checking account.
3. Received e-mail from TD Ameritrade telling me that savings statements were not okay to use in setting up a Move Money application. This was confusing to me because the Move Money application sent to me said it was fine to do so. I tend to trust documents reviewed by Legal department over Customer Service Representatives responding over e-mail, don't you?
4. E-mailed Samantha Roady, Chief Marketing Officer of GainCapital.com to let her know 'alot' is not a word and to please ensure it doesn't appear in banner ads. I have not yet seen an English language dictionary that has 'alot' as an acceptable variant of 'a lot,' and I am CONFUSED as to how people come to accept it. Are dictionaries the work of the devil? Did some lousy typesetter mess up a primer that was mandatory curriculum reading for 100 million elementary school children decades ago?
5. Still no work done on the windows, nor landscaping.
6. Made $150 payment, not $125 as previously reported, extra to the mortgage. Now my total mortgage interest will be below the magic six-digit figure.
7. Captured to my iPod several applications for Direct Purchase Plans and Direct Reinvestment Plans for companies.
8. Went to the library, recorded from the Value Line (manually so as not to violate copyright laws) the safest and most timely and highest-yielding recession-safe companies. Then I did #7.
9. Received assessment from the County.

Introducing the Hipster PDA

I've been obsessively writing these lists on spiral-bound notebooks I scatter in cars and rooms. Now I can just write them once, put them in a binder clip, and carry them around in my purse. When I get distracted: "buy uranium! invest in Canada! get another ETF!" I can look at my cards and remind myself that "hey, this investment just isn't in the cards for me."

Five year plan

Investment
* Foreign Bonds
* International Small-Cap
* Clean Energy
* Precious Metals and Mining
* Gold (ownership)
* Natural Resources
* Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities
* Water

House
* Garden: pruning
* Garden: raised beds
* Garden: planting (vegetables)
* Double-paned, energy-efficient windows
* Fireplace Insert
* Insulation: attic, maybe basement

-------------------
Homeland Security

Accounts
* Savings
* His Roth
* My Roth
* I-Bonds
* Gold
* E*Trade
* TD Am.
* Tot Coverdell
* Tot Stock
* Prosper.com

Health
* Bicycling
* Yoga
* Gardening
* Organic food
* Walking

Things That Will Happen Before Social Security Faces a Short... - Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker, June 2005.

I sense I'm in a "Red Queen Syndrome" running faster and faster to stay in the same place. If people are wealthier, as evidenced by the nicer cars and larger vehicles and electronic gadgets and trips, how can it be that the average equity in mortgages is going down?

I've also decided that it is not good for my sanity to assume that all the Americans know what I am just learning about food politics, natural living, cancer prevention, climate change, stealth inflation, federal unrepayable debt obligations, and have an unfair comparative advantage. And it's not good for my sanity to assume that all the American middle-income families (except mine) are easily managing "the 60% solution," "the 50% budget," or whatever nifty savings meme some personal finance authors and editors tout, and assume that I'm the one doing something wrong. I'm going to pretend I have the unfair comparative advantage and share what I learn online. Then if I am going down the wrong road, I am sure people will jump on me with corrective statistics, and not ideology. How well does ideology feed and prepare one, anyway?

"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?" -- Rabbi Hillel

Great Safe Withdrawal Rate Debate

Consumption Smoothing

Behavioral Finance Insights -- Actually PassionSaving.com is new to me, and seems to be highly worthwhile.
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I'm still working out ideas in my head about what to save for when there are more goals than money. Still torn between snapping up precious metals funds, TIPS, or just cash.

If you ever had some disposable income, and an arm's length of goals to save for, how many at a time did you choose, and how did you allocate $ for each? For instance, if you had $5000 and eight items, did you rank and prioritize the eight and fund imaginary or real accounts in descending quantities like Goal #1 gets $1000, Goal #2 has $750, Goal #3 500 and so forth; or did you give them equal amounts to begin with, or did you supply the goal with the nearest end date with the largest amount of money?
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Why can't I get the notion out of my head that only renters and people who have over 60% equity in their fixed-rate mortgages, or a paid-off home will be the least scathed with the housing bubble?



Gee, only a 72% YOY increase in Notice of Trustee Sales in our county from 04/1/2006 to 4/10/2006 and 04/1/2007 to 04/10/2007.

Over the past 6 months: 11.7% increase from same term in 2005-2006.
Over the past 3 months: 12.7% increase from 2006.
Over the past 30 days: 35% increase from 2006.
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From The Book of the Bath
and Simple Pleasures of the Home

Pine Bath Oil
-- skin softener. Pour a little into your bath under running water.

1 cluster pine needles
1 cup baby oil

Put pine needles in a glass container with a lid. Cover completely with baby oil, and cover the container tightly. Store in dry, cool place for 4 weeks. Strain the oil and decant into an attractive glass bottle. You can add fresh pine needles for decoration. Makes 1 cup.
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Facial Sauna
2 drops fennel essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
2 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops orange essential oil

Mix oils together and pour intoa bowl of steaming water. Drape a towel over your head and the bowl and sit, allowing the steam to penetrate your pores. Be careful not to put your face too close--this should be a luxurious feeling, not a painful one.
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Soothing Lavender Bath
1/2 ounce dried lavender flowers
1/2 ounce basil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 pt. witch hazel

Make a powder of the herbs in a mortar and pestle. Steep them in the witch-hazel for 2 weeks. Strain and add to warm bath water as desired. May also be used as an after-bath splash.
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Jasmine Bubble Bath
1 Tbsp. mild liquid soap
2 tsp. oil of jasmine
2 tsp. witch hazel

Combine ingredients and add directly to fast-running bath water.

Jasmine bath #2
2 drops oil of Jasmine
1 cup distilled water

Combine ingredients and add to warm bathwater. Float camellias or gardenias on the surface of the water.
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Lavender Facial Steam
1/4 cup lavender
peel of 1 lemon, dried
2 tsp. rosemary

Add the ingredients to the porcelain bowl, pour in boiling water and steam for as long as you wish.

Personal position: 25% tax bracket. I'm asking these questions because the CPA I wanted to use for my 2006 tax return is a leetle busy.

Convinced my marginal tax rate will rise -- think it's too small anyway, 34% would be better, am hoping for a state income tax. I am very very very unlikely to rise to a higher tax bracket unless the tax code changes significantly -- I'm not privy to the ways of a 60% return on my annual income and at my tax bracket I'm not likely to become privy.

Considering Yanks are living longer, and the attempt to salvage Social Security will be made, and the attempt to pay for the war and to pay down the deficit will also be made, should I be expecting a 50-60% tax rate in my golden years? Is it stupid of me to be contributing to a 401(k) account while I have a 25% tax bracket if chances are very good I will be in a 50% or greater tax bracket when I withdraw my 401(k) funds?

If making significant contributions to tax-deferred retirement accounts place me in a lower tax bracket currently, doesn't that reduce the value of mortgage interest? Should I also then be working to prepay my mortgage? If Social Security isn't going to be around for me when I retire, does that mean I don't have to be worried about a substantial increase of funds and benefits that become subject to federal income taxation?

If homeownership w/mortgage interest payment deductions, and the tax exemption for having a kiddie are reduced when my tax bracket is low in my child-raising years, am I a sucka for contributing as much as I do to a 401(k) plan? Should I just back off enough to get the employer match and grab the energy tax credit instead?

Which is better: living in a currently low-tax country for forty years where I'll have to eventually pay twice as high a marginal rate, or moving to a wealthy, industrialized, resource-rich country ten years from now where I can expect to pay 38%?

How horribly unfair would it be to have a Roth IRA with no annual caps on what one could contribute to it, for a worker who earned under $50,000 a year?

Should I ease off the retirement contributions, currently 10% 401(k) and $4000 Roth IRA, to build the emergency fund and enough resources to adequately start a taxable investment (with margin) account?

Oh yes, the

source of my anxieties: "Who Gets Paid to Save?"

It's rough to challenge the popular belief that you'll be okay if only you'd make a 10+% contribution for your retirement, yet we have faithfully done that, and our liquidity is constrained. And don't tell me my liquidity is constrained because of my mortgage, because renting a house where I am is $150/month extra beyond my utilities, principal, tax, interest and insurance, and I'm paying $27 less than what I was prior to refinancing.

Another tough question: how does an Economics Ph.D., no sorry, make that SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CLEVELAND, or perhaps TENURED PROFESSOR AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY make it through twenty-three years of English-language schooling without knowing the difference between the verbs 'lose' and 'loose'? My mother and father never made it through high school and they knew better.

1. I hadn't yet been out in the sun to pull up weeds. I chose to pull up weeds as a tiny action indicating that yes, I do want to improve my environment and yes, I am deficient in Vitamin D and want that sunlight!

2. I went through a purge -- shredding financial statements we don't need, and found a budget book. I tallied first our income, feeling pretty proud of myself for earning the wage that I do, and then tallied our expenditures:
* a friend's morning wedding in Vancouver, so an overnight stay is in the cards;
* the IRS payment of $860.72 -- bah on me for getting it in two weeks earlier;
* the non-refundable deposit for putting the munchkin in kindergarten: $170/month full-time, and this is a BARGAIN compared to $50,000 of past childcare expenditures;
* my birthday, and I will be one very spoiled princess/goddess with my bitchen waterproof warm imported motorcycle jacket;
* the last hiccup of $750 for my 2006 Roth IRA contribution;
* my kid's social communication playgroup: $40/session, and I haven't kept up payments since the facilitator/therapist moved operations to where there's no billing receptionist;
* thought I might try paying the mortgage every four weeks, so inked in a double payment.

3. I'd been getting to sleep well enough without melatonin and 5-HTP the last few days, but my serotonin reserves got depleted.

This, along with other expenditures like insurance, heat, utilities, food, came to $7800 for the month. This is well above what we bring in. Sure, I put in $450 as a savings category for the vacation, and yes, we have savings, and the tax/mortgage/childcare payments can go through our chequing account without overdraft, but what about the 2007 Roth IRA or the windows or the gardening/landscaping I wanted done for my survival/victory garden? Poof. So no double payment of the mortgage, obviously.

Thanks, Lux Living Frugalis, for the Daniel Quinn recommendations and verbal bouquet. I do have a lot of fallow time at work, so I'll get the Ishmael books after I finish Road to Serfdom.

And thanks for the "there theres" and understanding that I really just want to participate in a spectrum of advice and experiences, and present some bulletins that people may find useful for re-engineering their spending. Like

Club Orlov's 'Closing the Collapse Gap' slideshow. Some may think this may never happen; some may be unsettled; others may be thinking 'oh good, I'm not the only one out there thinking this way, maybe I can cut down on the Wellbutrin or Fluoxetine.' The important thing is that we're putting our brains to use taking in and analyzing data and choosing between action and inaction.

And this is mostly for me, but if you find use in it, then it's for you too:
"May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith EXCEPT BANKS -- DO NOT TRUST THEM OVER YOUR SPOUSE. THE BANKS SHOULD NOT BE YOUR OVERLORDS!.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you."

I know now this [the gaudy CSS layout] is an April Fool's joke, and so well done you won't

read this unless you're so desperate for a non-ugly page to render in your browser.

I feel very compelled to disengage from blogging. I'm overwhelmed by the "to-do" list I make to ensure my financial survival, and maybe it's all going to go to waste anyway. Let the fascists and psychos and greedheads deplete everything. I've tried for ten years to understand and assimilate to my environment, including therapy, and I've failed. Al Gore has his "inconvenient truth" and I have my "uncomfortable reality." He's getting richer from his though, and I'm wasting away. Maybe I'm having a meltdown and need an intervention. Maybe I'm tired of my questions not being answered. Maybe I'm getting more noise than signal right now. I'm feeling very defeated.

I saw a BBC Channel 4 documentary on families who have been pushed to extreme limits by banks' credit lending. Specifically two family breadwinners who killed themselves over the staggering debts they incurred.

My empathy was with the widows, who not only were bereft of their main income and their life partner, but were left with those mounting bills, harassing calls, and the lingering question why their departed soulmates didn't confide in them earlier, so they could attempt to fairly and judiciously manage the household. Leaving those messes behind is really awful to do to someone who loves you and who's made a commitment to be with you in rich times and in poor times.

If the departed didn't have the trust and faith in their companions to share what's going on, why did they have the trust and faith in the banks to regulate themselves and stop lending them enough rope to do themselves in financially?

I don't have any faith in the megabanks: taking away the terms of my account of ten years doesn't inspire trust, changing the credit cards' terms and agreements for the worse every couple of years doesn't inspire trust either.

Where do people come up with the trust and faith that they'll never be offered the opportunity to borrow more money than they can actually pay back? Or that the person selling them an ARM is certified, regulated, and is telling them everything they need to know? Doesn't anyone have lawyers look over their loan documents that potentially may cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars anymore? We had a lawyer look over ours.

Somehow people have ideas that they'll be saved or bailed out from their recklessness, but prefer their closest confidantes not know. Maybe they haven't had the profound losses at an early age I have. Maybe they don't feel so much of a heavy burden to fend for themselves. Maybe they get better credit card offers or loan terms than I do, or have solid recession-proof, unlayoffable jobs.

In Debt We Trust is a film written and produced by Danny Schechter, that explores the debt issue. I learned of it from reading Carolyn Baker's blog.

Golly, one could make a number of analogies comparing debt to drugs, couldn't one? Addiction, false needs, anxiety, false sense of security... someone has already made a comparison to the debt industry with organized crime.

I think I'd like to see this film. It would be helpful to have it spelled out to me that I'm not supposed to be saving money so I can afford needs and my own personal wants regardless of where my income is at for my own personal freedom and security, but rather that investors in banks and credit card companies are counting on me to get in trouble so they can buy $6,000 shower curtains and H3s.
If that's not the purpose of my being here, but rather to make the most of the opportunity to grow my income and financial security and do good works for those who need them, then it's key to shut out most of the MSM and any promotions/propaganda/advertising. I'm in it for freedom, not for servitude to Bank of America.
Blogs Chart Slog Out of Debt -- NPR February 2007 story

Now, I can pretty much predict this is going to be about direct stock investing, dividend reinvestment plans, ShareBuilder, shoestring investing. I also know I can take a dozen books on this theme out of the library, or visit a dozen websites.

Why then am I paying $49, plus a $15 Discover U fee?

Because authors and community educators Bobbi and Eric Christensen are teaching the class, as I found out on this

website. Don't let the year on the page fool you -- a quick check of DiscoverU tells me it's actually 2007 they're offering the class.
It'll also be neat to find people who have investment plans but a typical, average for the area income, people I'd have more in common with. My current stock taxable accounts are worth $318. I should grow them, but emergencies and distractions have kept me on the rung of rebuilding our cash cache. I've been bad about keeping to my goals because they're unrealistic, and no one is holding me accountable. Maybe I'll find an investment buddy I can share research activities with at the class.