scfr's Personal Finance Blog

Recently finished reading "The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life" by Lee Eisenberg.

From the inside flap: "It's the burning question for 76 million baby boomers. It is a question that ought to burn for everyone over thirty. It is a life-defining issue. Most of us don't want to face it, but we have to. It's The Number: How much money do you need to secure the rest of your life? Do you know what your Number is? Do you know how to think about it? Do you know what you want to do with it?"

First of all, I should say that while this is a personal finance book, it is NOT a general advice PF book. It is very focused on retirement, and it is probably most appropriate for folks who already have a fair amount tucked away in their retirement savings and are attempting a "reality check" about where they stand. If you are in the earlier stages of the PF journey (struggling to get out of debt, working out a budget, learning about 401Ks and IRAs and such) then this is NOT the book for you. I know everyone's situation is unique, but I'll throw out "35 and older, if retirement savings are your primary financial concern" as an appropriate demographic for this book. But if you're 30 and are hoping to retire at 50, by all means give it a look-see.

I enjoyed this book. Overall, I'd give it a B+.

The author spends quite a bit of time exploring all of the variables that make coming up with "The Number" so challenging. He also encourages us to think about how we envision our lives in retirement. He met with people who help others plan for their retirement (CFPs and the like). And he visited with people who are preparing for retirement or are already retired to see how they are "living their dream." He attended retirement planning seminars, met with the brain power at Fidelity Investments, and visited "active adult" communities. He writes with a sense of irreverant humor that sometimes borders on the snippy (he did live in NYC for quite a while which may explain that).

This book raised more questions than it answered (and that is not necessarily a bad thing), tho I did come away feeling that I had a slightly better grasp on my Number.

I really liked what he calls the "10 commandments of modern portfolio management" ... his condensation of the rules written about so much in the financial press that unfortunately too many people still don't follow. The following are Mr. Eisenberg's words, not mine, from pages 125-6 of the book. (If I'm breaking any copywrite laws, let me know and I'll delete.)

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* Thou shalt not put all thy eggs in one basket.

* Thou shalt have the patience of a nesting hen.

* Thou shalt know that past performance is no guarantee of future results, nor shalt thou become so exuberant so as to forget that eggs drop, cookies crumble, bubbles burst, and that which goes up will eventually come down.

* Thou shalt not invest in anything thou dost fail to understand.

* Thou shalt not question the divine power of compounding interest.

* Thou shalt not squander long-term returns by incurring frequent trading commissions or excessive management fees.

* Thou shalt honor thy company's retirement plan.

* In particular, thou shalt honor thy company's match --- after all, it's free money.

* Thou shalt take on risk commensurate with thy ability to sleep well at night.

* Thou shalt honor thy age and timeline by properly apportioning thy ratio of stocks to bonds.

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If you'd like to learn more, you can find links to articles by the author at the following site:

http://www.thenumberbook.com/thebook/articles.php

I'd recommend starting with the article "Nailing Your New York Number" from New York magazine.

I think my most important financial tool is my calendar. In my house, I am "defensive coordinator" ... I take the lead in making sure that the money that comes in STAYS in, rather than getting wasted on interest (paid or missed), late fees, penalties, or just missed opportunities.

I do not have an especially organized mind, and so I write oodles of reminders on my calendar. My husband thinks I'm a bit bonkers, but as soon as I become aware of an important date, I stop whatever I am doing and go to my calendar and write it down. Why? Because I learned the hard way just how quickly I can forget things. (And DH may think I'm bonkers, but I can't tell you how many times I have had to remind him of things he thought he would remember! I can't tell you because I already forgot!)

Some calendar notations are specific to a date when action must be taken:
- Days to pay bills or the rent
- Dates CDs are maturing
- Dates taxes are due (annual federal income, self-employment taxes, property taxes, city & state business taxes)
- Business Meetings
- Doctor or Dentist Appointments (who wants to pay no-show fees?)
- Dates library materials are due (who wants to pay late fees?)
- Dates to give the dog his monthly preventative, when his shots are due, or when his license expires (prevention is the best medicine after all)
- Driver's License and Passport expiration dates
- Date lease expires & deadline to give notice if moving out
- Election Days
- Day the postage rate increases (to 42-cents on May 12)

Some notations are general "on or around" reminders:
- Note to call a friend on the weekend, when cell phone minutes are free
- Order free credit report
- Take defensive driving course again to re-qualify for insurance discount
- Fund HSA or IRA
- Schedule a vet, doctor, or dentist appointment
- When it's okay to close a bank account without incurring an early-closing penalty
- When we can get a free carpet cleaning through our landlord

Some are notations in the form of a question. They are reminders to myself not to let things slip through the cracks, to followup if something has not been done:
- Did I receive that refund from Greyhound for my trip to DC?
- Did I get that prepaid gift card from Wachovia for opening the new account?
- Have I received that cashback bonus or those reward point redemption gift cards?
- Did Geico post the 10% discount for taking the defensive driving course?
- Did so-and-so reply to my account query?

On the last page of my calendar, I write notes that extend beyond the current year. Even tho' we are only 2 months in to 2008, I already have 7 notations for 2009 and later. Some of the really far away notations that just might illustrate that my husband is correct when he thinks I'm bonkers include the following:
- "2011 = Estate Tax exemption reverting back to $1mil??? Is there still no spousal exemption for non-citizen spouses? If our net worth exceeds $2mil, we need to think about what this means." --- Please do note the word IF in the preceeding sentence! Keep hope alive!
- "12/21/2012 - 'End of era' per Mayan calendar" --- Please don't ask me what I think this means. I have no idea. Just thought it might be something to think about as the time gets closer
- "~2013: Think about getting long-term care insurance (can pay for premiums w/ HSA)" --- This is a result of my decision to "revisit the whole LTCI question in about 5 years" --- Tho' if the world comes to an end in 2012, I guess it won't really matter, will it?

Wanna peek at a boring investor's portfolio? ...

Are you like me? Do you sometimes wonder what is wrong with you because you aren't getting stratospheric returns on your investments? Do you slightly envy those who so confidently pick individual stocks, buy precious metals, and short put options on future Mars travel (yea ... I made that last one up)?

In the past I have been somewhat apologetic about the conservative nature of my investments. But no more apologies.

I am reading "The Number" by Lee Eisenberg. The Number refers to "How much money you need to secure the rest of your life." This book is not so much about creating a formula for determing your Number as it is an exploration of why coming up with The Number is so challening, and why it must be an on-going, lifelong process. It also offers interesting tidbits in to the world of those who sell financial products.

One passage in the book really jumped out at me (from page 129):

"Risk aversion. Overload. Hubris. That these qualities get in so many people's way, that they louse up investment returns, that they screw up the Number, is deeply regrettable, if only because they can be tempered by a trio of reliable, if boring, traits of character: moderation, balance, common sense."

Yes-yes-yes! Validation! Here's to being reliable and boring! My investments have been seriously thought out, they are working for us, and ... well ... they are very very boring, but no longer embarrassing to talk about.

So, for anyone interested, here is a peekaboo in to the portfolio of this very boring investor. [Why do I feel like I'm about to strip naked in a room full of supermodels?]

1. Cash: Cash makes up the single biggest chunk of our portfolio. Our cash is in MMAs and CDs. [In the past we have had T-Bills as well, and we likely will again in the future ... But not right now, because frankly the yields suck at the moment.] We keep much more cash on hand than the average person needs to. These are the reasons cash is essential for us.
- Cash flow for my husband's business. Squeezing off the business cash flow wouldn't exactly be killing a golden goose, but it certainly would be killing a good ol' laying hen.
- Cushy General-Purpose EF ... one year's living expenses plus ... again, more than the average person needs ... because DH is self-employed and has no guaranteed income.
- Cushions in budget categories where irregular expenses crop up: Medical/Dental/Vision (we have a HSA), Auto Maintenance, Pet Care.
- Cash for the purchase (in cash) of our next house
- Cash for the purchase of furnishings once we have purchased above-mentioned house (we sold almost all of our furniture prior to our move).
- Cash for the purchase of our next car (we are currently getting by with one car, and plan to get by with one for as long as we comfortably can. But we know sometime in the not-so-distant future we may feel a strong desire to buy a 2nd.)

2. TIPS (purchased directly from Treasury Direct): A very slender portion of our portfolio, but worth mentioning since they don't fit in either of the other 2 categories. And they are a little pet investment of mine. As with the T-Bills, we are not purchasing any more at the moment because they are just too white-hot popular.

3. Mutual Funds (almost all in the form of tax-deferred investments) ... This is where our boring investment style really shines! We have 3 Vanguard funds, and they are all funds of funds or balanced funds.

Life Stragety Conservative Growth (VSCGX) = 80% of Portfolio (YTD Return = -3.33% / 10 year return = 6.23%)

STAR Fund (VGSTX) = 18% of Portfolio (YTD Return = -4.84% / 10 year return = 7.38%)

Balanced Index Fund (VBINX) = 2% of Portfolio (YTD Return = -4.23% / 10 year return = 6.01%)

BTW, if I had my druthers, we wouldn't have the VBINX fund. However, we needed to keep a very small portion of our investments completely distinguishable from the others for tax-related accounting reasons, so we chose that fund becaue it most closely resembled our chosen funds, VSCGX & VGSTX.

Also, as simple as our choices appear, a ridiculous amount of time went in to making the choices, and it's a somewhat amusing story (which I'll share at another time).

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Here's the Morningstar X-Ray breakdown of just our mutual funds (percentages rounded off to nearest whole number, therefore total does not equal 100):
Cash = 8%
US Stocks = 40%
Foreign Stocks = 7%
Bonds = 44%


Lg Cap Stocks: 25% Value / 27% Core / 29% Growth
Mid Cap Stocks: 5% Value / 6% Core / 5% Growth
Sm Cap Stocks: 2% Value / 1% Core / 1% Growth

Bonds: All high credit quality, 85% intermediate-term, 15% long-term

Expense Ratio: 0.28%, compared to expense ratio of a similar hypothetical portfolio of 1.42% [This alone is enough to make you break in to a big ol' grin, isn't it?]

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I will be the first to admit that those returns are not one bit sexy; certainly nothing to brag about over on the forums! But I wanted to show that sometimes boring, reliable investments are just fine.

Here are some facts about where we stand:
- Every on-line calculator I can find says that we are on-track or ahead of the game in terms of accumulating what we will need for retirement.
- An analysis prepared for us last year by a CFP, using only our mutual fund investments (not including our cash) showed that we are at 140% of where we ought to be.
- A Monte Carlo analysis that was run for us 1-1/2 years ago showed a 70% success chance of success ... and again, that did not include our cash savings, which presumably (barring any huge business losses) will go in to the retirement funds some day and make our chances of success much higher.

So, maybe being boring isn't so bad after all! I feel pretty good about where we are, and I believe that with continued "moderation, balance, and common sense" we have a pretty good shot at having a secure future. How did we get here?

Rather than looking for the next hot investment, we have focused on:
- Spending less than we earn [This is where everyone has to start. If you don't do this, you are not going to get to your Number. Sorry, it may not be fun, but it's true.]
- Having game, both offense (earning) and defense (keeping big & small spending down, saving, and investing) --- DH is offensive coordinator, and I'm defensive coordinator, but we both play on both sides.
- Running a business
- Sensible investing

Having said all this and having let all of you peek at my boring portfolio, I know I must not rest on my laurels. We have some dreams that don't fit in to the standard "retire at 60 or 65" formulas. I have some ideas about changes I may want to make (such as switching funds from STAR to Conservative Growth), and I need to think about non-tax-deferred mutual fund investing (with part of the cash that we have set aside to buy our house, now that I think it's very likely we'll be spending less than originally planned).

The process continues ...

Great Brunch Out: Today DH & I went to Olive Garden for an early lunch; we both had the all-you-can eat soup/salad/breadsticks combo ($5.95). We had a $4 coupon, so the total with tax & tip for 2 of us came to $10.34 ... Not too bad for a tasty lunch with lots of veggies (tho the lettuce was iceberg), no dishes to wash, and a date with my favorite guy! We don't eat out a lot, so it's always a much-relished treat when we do! [And in case you're wondering, we combined our brunch out with running other errands, so there was very little gas expense.]

Broccoli: Oh I'm still smiling about this... It's been so long since I found a good deal on FRESH veggies! Super Target had a sale on broccoli, the cello-pack bunches for 2 / $3. I had a coupon that I had printed out on-line for $1 off, so I got 2 big bunches of broccoli for $2. Since they charge by the bunch instead of by the lb, of course I chose the heaviest bunches!

Staying Put: We decided to renew our lease, so we'll be staying put for awhile. We do think home prices will drop a bit more, we are completely contented where we are, and it's lovely having our costs so low, so why not wait?
I am kind of burned out on househunting, and am relieved that there is no reason to do any more of that until the fall, when we can get serious about looking (and then hopefully buying) again.

New Job: Forgot to mention that I got a job. It's intermittent full-time ... not contract work, but off & on temp assignments, challenging & enjoyable; I will likely stick with just this until we buy a house.

I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to take many of my dream vacations:

- Alaskan Cruise
- France
- South Africa
- Japan
- Washington DC

(I've done other travelling as well, but these are the ones that fall in to the "long-time dream" category that had nothing to do with social obligations such as visiting family.)

I'm perfectly happy to visit my dream destinations just once, and I don't feel the need to travel constantly. When I went to DC in the fall, it was my first "real trip" in 6 years, and my one (and probably only) trip to that area.

I stretch out my travel enjoyment by immersing myself completely in all of the phases:

Phase 1. Before: Dreaming / Planning / Anticipating (Good for a year or more of happy times)

Phase 2. During (The Trip Itself): Taking it all in, enjoying the fruits of the planning, and being able to leave with no regrets about things left undone.

Phase 3. After: The Fond Memories / Looking at Photos and Souveniers / Being able to relate when you hear stories about the place on the news, etc. (Good for a lifetime of happy memories and a much richer existence)

There are several more places I would like to visit.

I've been to NYC before, but never during the holiday season, and I think it would be really special to see the shops all decorated, to see the Rockettes at Radio City Hall, and perhaps take in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

I'd like to go to England/Ireland/Scotland, to see the lands of my ancestors, to see where JRR Tolkein lived & worked and what inspired him, and to visit the Princess Diana memorials.

But my biggest travel fantasy, the one place I feel almost an ache to visit before I die is ... believe it or not ... Cuba!


My Cuba obsession began after seeing the Bueno Vista Social Club on PBS. I'm a big jazz lover. [Surprise! I'm not ALL about money.] I have the CDs; when I play them they never fail to lift my spirits. I just pop in a CD, and before long, I'm fantasizing about sitting in a jazz club in Havana, sipping a mojito, surrounded by people of all colors of the rainbow who are enjoying life and each other's company.



Today Fidel Castro resigned. So ... I have allowed myself to become hopeful that someday before I am too old, relations between the USA and Cuba will thaw, the travel restrictions for US Citizens will be lifted (I'm not the sort to go on a "back door" illegal tour), and I'll be able to fulfill this travel fantasy of mine.


My DH knows of my dream (and now you guys know too), and he has promised that, if the travel restrictions are lifted, we WILL take a trip there together. In the meantime, I will enjoy my free travel fantasies, and will keep saving so that there will be no financial barriers to taking the trip when/if the legal barries are gone.
Viva Cuba!

I've been challenging myself to shower without getting any steam on my mirror:

http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2008/02/11/steam-free-mirror-ch...

Today I had given myself permission to steam up the mirror because I cleaned the shower & tub and then showered immediately afterwards.

But I've gotten so used to limiting my hot water usage that I managed to get the shower & tub scrubbed squeaky clean and get myself showered off without a bit of steam on the mirror! That was a pleasant surprise. For cleaning, I just filled a bucket with hot water and used that for wetting down the walls and doing all of the rinsing ... didn't have to leave the water running at all.

I noticed a super nice and unanticipated side effect of this steam free challenge ... The entire bathroom stays cleaner and is much easier to clean now! It makes sense ... no muggy, steamy environment in which ickies (that's the scientific name for them, right?) can multiply means a cleaner room.

Chocolate fans - Time to go buy that Valentine's candy on clearance!

DH will be heading off to the store soon to buy 1/2-price gourmet chocolates. He buys the most generic-looking (un-Valentinesy) boxes he can find, and gives them to his customers when he travels overseas on business.

He usually buys a box for me too. And no, I don't mind one bit that it isn't presented on "the big day." In fact, I like knowing that he didn't pay full price. Society in general probably thinks we're unromantic, but I know you guys understand.

Yes, I know I'm one day early ...

I've added a new section to my "About Me" bio (there on the left), where I'll be posting cool quotes I think about or come across.

The quote just added applies to all of us (I think), and explains why I'm so happy to have found this community.

We're all in different positions financially ... Some of us are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, while some of us are millionaires ... Some of us struggle to pay the bills, while some of us save for vacations and new cars ... Some of us have been in the investing game for awhile, some of us are just starting to learn, and some of us aren't even ready for the investing step yet ...

But each and every one of us is striving to do better ... We're not just dreaming about getting out of debt, or having a secure future, or becoming rich (whatever our individual goals are) ... We're actually woking at it! That's cool. And that's why I enjoy hearing everyone's stories and learning from all of you.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

One of my current pet projects is reducing our electricity usage.

As Ima Saver suggested, I'm monitoring our usage by reading the meter regularly and writing the amount down, then calculating daily kwh. This really does work, just as monitoring your spending by recording every penny spent works.

I'm also turning off and uplugging things when not in use.

I decided not to try to cut back on laundry, stove, and dishwasher usage since we're already careful about those, and we're not about to start eating out more often just to cut down on stove & dishwasher use!

One area where I knew I could stand to cut back was hot water usage for showers, so I came up with the idea of a "steam free mirror" challenge for myself. Our apartment bathroom is smallish (just a single sink, toilet, and shower close together), so it doesn't take long for the mirror to steam up when showering. My challenge to myself is to finish my shower without one bit of steam on the mirror.

It has been almost two weeks, and so far I've been 100% successful! I either keep the temp lower (lukewarm), or shower VERY quickly at a higher temp. I also turn the water off for periods of time during the shower when it doesn't need to be running..

It's not total deprivation. If it's one of those days when I feel the need for a bit of morning pampering, if I'm quick enough and keep the temp low enough, at the very end of my shower I can turn the temp up and stand under the running water just long enough to say the Serenity Prayer and still have steam free mirrors.

In response to a question I received, this is a condensation of information I have posted elsewhere. Hope this little cheat sheet helps anyone shopping for a HDHP & HSA (or just wanting to learn more about them)!

HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan): I chose United Health Care. Blue Cross / Blue Shield also seemed like an excellent choice. I'm sure there are other good ones too.

HSA (Health Savings Account): Exante and HSA Bank seem to be the "big 2," but I chose HSA Resources Bank due to wonderful experiences with their parent company (Stearns Bank).


If you are thinking about getting a HDHP and HSA and want to learn more, I recommend the following sites.


For General Info on HSAs:

ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/ (US Treasury site; lots of info on HSAs; I found the "HSA Basics" tri-fold brochure to be especially helpful)

finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/millionaire/50127 (good article by David Bach)


For general information on health insurance:

healthinsuranceinfo.net


For specific state-by-state info:

nahu.org/consumer/healthcare


For quotes:

ehealthinsurance.com

1. Car Insurance Discount: Geico is good! After DH finished his on-line defensive course, they instantly applied a 10% discount to our auto insurance premium. I thought they would apply a credit to our next bill (for the period already paid for), but they cut us a refund check that we already received. Those guys are fast!

2. HSA: DH went in and got his teeth cleaned, and paid using our HSA. It was the first time we have used our HSA. He said it felt good knowing he was paying with tax-free money. He also said the dentist was great. The January edition of "Austin Monthly" magazine included a "Top Dentists" ranking, so I used that to select a dentist (called several rated as top general dentists in our area, and chose the one that was taking new patients and had the most professional office staff). Someone posted in the forums about dentists being crooks, but I've almost always had great dentists --- only had one bad experience and that was with a guy who was subbing for my regular dentist. I've always relied on personal recommendations when choosing a dentist, but since we are new here I thought the magazine ranking would be a good substitute for word of mouth. The only bummer was that the new dentist doesn't offer a cash discount, but I suppose if you are a "Top Dentist" you don't have to ... or maybe offering cash discounts just isn't as common here in Austin as it was in Seattle.

3. New Account Bonus: Haven't received my $75 prepaid Visa gift card from Wachovia yet (for opening a new account), and it's been 6 weeks... They said allow 4-6 weeks. Guess who I'll be calling tomorrow? Did they think I'd forget? They don't know who they're dealing with!

(Update: Oops --- It's only been 5 weeks! My bad.)

4. Interest Rates: I have a CD maturing Friday. This is a little reminder to myself to try to not get upset when looking at renewal rates and deciding what to do with the CD funds. I already know rates are down, and I can't control the rates. I can negotiate but I can't control. I'll do the best I can and try to be thankful and proud that I have money in the bank.

5. House Hunting: Our current lease will be up in a couple months, so we are at a point where we have to decide if we want to renew the lease (and if so for how long), give notice, or go month-to-month. We went back to look at one house yesterday that we liked and was a good size & price, but ruled it out because of location (nice neighborhood, but in the middle of nowhere). It was disappointing because I had pretty high hopes for that one. Oh well. There are still two houses on our "short list," but I think both are more than we ought to spend, are too big, and will require too much ongoing expense in terms of maintenance, property taxes, etc. So, I am going to step up my efforts to find something small and affordable that DH will like.

We all have many reasons we WANT to save:
- Retirement
- Children's Education
- House
- Car
- Vacation
- Etc, etc, etc --- The list is endless.

But it goes beyond wanting to save ... I believe we all MUST save. Driving home from the grocery store the other evening I started thinking about the rising price of food and how these increases must be affecting families of very limited means, especially those who have not saved any money. It makes me sad. I'm especially sad for the children of those families.

We all must save, because we have only limited control over the cost of essentials such as food and shelter. Without savings, how will we absorb a sudden spike in prices?

For example, let's say you are a family of 4 and your average monthly food expenditures (eating at home and dining out once in awhile) is a moderately frugal $500. [I know some of you will think this is an outlandishly high amount for a family of 4, and some of you will think it's not nearly enough. That's not the point. Plug in another number if you like.] If, over the course of a couple months, food prices rise by 20%, suddenly the same food is costing you $600, $100 more per month which equals a whopping $1,200 increase per year.

How are you going to absorb that extra cost while waiting for your next COLA or raise? And what if you don't get a COLA or raise? How are you going to pay an extra $1,200 per year for groceries?

You might decide to cut back on your food expenses, perhaps by eliminating the once-a-month meal out and switching to lower cost alternatives (more frozen veggies and less fresh, for example). But that probably won't make up for the entire cost increase. And you may cut back in other areas. But what if you are at a nearly bare-bones budget? There may not be a lot of places you can cut back. Are you going to make your children and yourself eat cheap food that is of poor nutritional value?

***If you have savings, you have given yourself the gift of a financial shock absorber in the event of dramatic price increases on essentials.***

You can rework your budget, perhaps cutting back a bit here and there while simultaneously allowing your grocery spending to increase a bit to partially keep up with rising food costs. [To use the example mentioned above, that family of 4 might increase their food allowance by $40 per month, make up $30 per month by making some changes to their food consumption, and cut back $30 in other areas. Where are they going to get that extra $40 a month without ringing up credit card debt? From their savings ... either by temporarily reducing the amount they save each month, or perhaps temporarily dipping in to it until they can find some new or higher source of income and replace it.]

I realize that blogging about the NEED to save on a "Savings Advice" site is like preaching to the choir, but I hope that anyone who might read this who doesn't have any money saved will take it to heart.

Please do whatever you must to accumulate some savings. Everyone's circumstances are different and for some people it is really challenging to save. But you must do it, even if it is just a little.

Even if it's just a little thing you can do to save, go ahead and do it! Skip the weekly Lotto ticket and put $1 in your savings jar. Walk or take the bus instead of driving and bank the gas money. Something ... anything ... is better than nothing.

Thanks for all the great advice you guys give!

Power Bill: I hated my last power bill ($94), so I am now Whacking The Mole, unplugging things and asking myself and DH: "Are you watching that?" ... Thank you LuxLivingFrugalis! I also started reading my electricity meter ... Thank you Ima Saver! It really does help when you see how much you are using on a daily basis, rather than waiting until the end of the month and being "surprised."

Hair Cuts: DH has hinted that he wouldn't mind my cutting his hair ... Last time I was at Costco there was an electric clipper set w/ instructional DVD that was $24.99 and I went ahead and bought it ... In 2-3 haircuts, it should be paid for ... Thank you DisneySteve! (I'll admit I'm quite nervous that I'll screw it up, but I'm going to do it anyway.)

Dunkin' Doughnuts Coffee: This is actually a question for you coffee fans. Our Costco is now carrying Dunkin' Doughnuts Coffee, 40oz bag of Original Blend (Medium Roast) for $15.99. I currently use the Kirkland Signature brand, 48 oz for $7.99. The instructions on both packages call for using the same amount of coffee (heaping T per 6oz cup). I like what I am using just fine, but I have heard folks here and elsewhere raving about Dunkin' Doughnuts Coffee. I think buying one bag of this might be nice as a treat but ... Is it really that good? Do you think it's worth paying 2.4 times as much for? [Ms. Koppur, are you reading this?]

Haven't done an update on the house hunt for awhile, so here goes.

We have been doing LOTs of looking. All over the place. Not finding much focus. I started to get a bit frustrated and told DH I was starting to feel like this:



DH talked our situation over w/ one of his new golf buddies who is in real estate, and he said feeling like that is not uncommon for househunters here in Austin. The "problem" (if you can call it that) is that there are just so many nice areas in Austin to live, and if you are not limited by some factors such as job location, it can be very hard to narrow down your choices. In some towns, you can pretty quickly settle on one part of town you want to live in ... but not so here ... Too many great choices!

Nevertheless, we decided to focus on one particular area, one particular age of home, and one particular price range. Armed with those parameters, we found 6 houses to look at on Sunday that looked nice and ventured out boldly, feeling very confident. Well ... when we saw what sort of neighborhood we would be living in while finding a house that met our parameters, we realized that just wasn't for us. [Hmm ... isn't it funny how the internet photos didn't show the falling down trailer with 3 junker cars in the yard and Christmas lights still up on the same block ... LOL] We either have to spend more, lower our standards, or change the geography of our search.

So, back to square one, sort of ... Although I do feel better, because I know that we were able to set up some clear parameters once, and even tho they did not turn out to be the right ones, if we did it once we can do it again!

DH finished his on-line defensive driving course yesterday evening, then took the test and passed (w/ a fantastic 95% score ... pretty darn good in any circumstance, and really terrific considering the course was in English, his 2nd language). We immediately get a 10% discount on our auto insurance, good for the next 3 years. The course cost $20, and at the discount (based on our current premium) is $125 over 3 years, for a net savings of $105. It took him about 6 hours to complete the course, so that means he netted about $17.50 per hour of work ... Not too bad! Also, he seemed to really get in to taking the course and learned a lot ... He's not a bad driver, but if the course makes him even less likely to get in to an accident, then it definitely was worth the time! [When / if we purchase a 2nd car, I plan to take the course also.]

We filled our gas tank for the first time since getting our new tires at Costco. DH does a rough calculation of gas mileage each time he fills up (he uses the odometer to keep track of mileage between fillups) and he says our gas mileage improved from about 26 MPG to 28-29 MPG. Not sure if we can call the results of one fillup a trend, but I sure do hope it stays that high. I don't know if it's because we now have better (new) tires, or if it's because Costco fills their tires with Nitrogen ... I had never heard of filling tires with Nitrogen, but there was a brochure at the Costco Tire Center explaining how Nitrogen is supposed to improve handling & improve gas mileage. The tires on our car now have little green caps on them instead of black, which apparently is the symbol for nitrogen-filled. I can definitely say that the car handles better, tho' again I can't say whether that's because we now have new tires, they are filled with nitrogen, or both. I'm not a car person, so I can't offer an intelligent opinion on the "filling with nitrogen" issue, but would love to hear what others think. By the way, we didn't have to pay anything extra for the Nitrogen. That's just what our Costco Tire Center is using now.

I splurged this past week when grocery shopping. I bought a carton of Tropicana orange juice, and a bag of fresh baby spinach. Each was $2.99, and neither were on sale. [With the soaring cost of produce, we've been eating much more frozen lately, and buying fresh only when we find a "bargain."] They were both on my grocery list, so neither was an impulse buy but was a planned splurge. Hard to believe I spent that much, and hard to believe buying fresh produce that is not on sale is now considered a splurge! Funny times we live in, eh? They sure tasted GREAT, and they are good for us too ... DH & I both enjoyed every sip and bite...Yum!

(Navel-Gazing Alert: Be prepared to read the word "I" many times. Although this is a very self-absorbed post, if you are feeling discouraged about your financial situation, it is my hope that my little story will encourage you.)

For you young 'uns who may not know who Ann Landers is, she wrote a no-nonsense advice column that was published in newspapers nationwide for decades.....

Reading one of Ann Landers columns when I was in my mid-20's led to what Dr. Phil would call a "defining moment" in my financial life. I had forgotten about it until recently, when I was thinking about the state of my finances and pondering how I had gotten from where I was back then (anxious, had some nice department store clothes in my closet, but at a low point ate nothing but spaghetti noodles w/ ketchup for 2 days because I was out of money and that was all I had in my kitchen) to where I am today (contented and confident ... no Warren Buffet, but let's just say I'm pretty sure I'll never have to eat spaghetti w/ ketchup again unless I want to).

I don't remember what the reader had written to Ms. Landers about, but they were basically whining about how they were not good at something-or-other because their parents had not taught them properly. Ann Landers' reply was that the reader, who was by then an adult, had the responsibility to take charge of their own life, parent themselves, seek out the information necessary, and teach him/herself the needed skills.

Growing up, thanks to my parents and educators, I did learn some very important money-related lessons. I knew the value of hard work and earning my own money, to give to those less fortunate, to take care of (and refurbish) things to make them last, to make health insurance a priority, to balance my checking account, to pay off the balance on my credit card every month, and to build a good credit record.

However, I knew diddly-squat about comparison/bargain shopping, budgeting, saving, or investing. Emergency Fund? Retirement Savings? HAH! I knew nothing about any of those things, and I had an assortment of lame excuses, but the biggest one was that my parents had not taught me ... WAAAAH! So, Ann Landers response to that whining reader was a wake-up call to me ... I realized with quite a bit of embarrassment that I was just like that reader, sitting back and moping instead of taking responsibility for my own financial life.

I wish I could report that I immediately set out on a course of self-improvement and became a perfect financial wizard within 6 months. That wasn't what happened. Still hasn't happened, in fact! But I did start taking wobbly baby steps ...

The first thing I did was go to a bookstore and examine every single book on the shelves about personal finance. I don't remember how long I stood at that shelf, but it was hours. I ruled out books with a narrow focus (I was looking for good, general, broad advice). I also ruled out books that were offering pie-in-the-sky, get-quick-rich formulas or books where the author seemed to be hyperventilating (I did not want to add to my sense of anxiety). The book I ended up choosing was "Making The Most of Your Money" by Jane Bryant Quinn. I had seen Ms. Quinn in Newsweek magazine, and she seemed to offer very sensible advice in an intelligent but clear style.

I started reading that book and applying the principals. I did not do this as quickly or as systematically as I ought to have, but I stuck with it and made halting progress.

I started by "forcing" myself to save a bit from my paychecks. Back then, I was unfamiliar with the expression "pay yourself first" but it was what I did. When I went to the bank to deposit my check, I would put a bit away in a CD. [This was a comfortable first step for me, because I knew I could access that money, by surrendering some interest earned, in event of an emergency. I never did cash out a CD early.] This step was made more challenging by the fact that at the time I was dating a guy who was terrible with money, and he scoffed at my little attempts to save. [I told him about opening my first CD and he said it was such a small amount that it did not matter. Boy was he WRONG! It did matter!] I decided to keep my saving secret from him, and I kept at it.

Eventually, I saw my efforts at savings pay off. When minor emergencies arose, I was able to take them in stride. When I got married a couple years later (not to the guy who mocked my savings efforts but to my wonderful, supportive DH), I was able to pay for my own (modest but nice) wedding in cash.

I also started doing price comparisons, bargain-shopping, and buying in bulk where appropriate. I cut back on takeout food and started eating at home more and more (nothing fancy ... sometimes it was just the stereotypical single gal's sandwich eaten while standing over the kitchen sink). At that stage in my financial development, I still was not tracking my spending or working with a formal budget, but I was learning ways to cut back to make saving easier.

I really ramped up my efforts after I got married. I think it was the realization that I was suddenly responsible for a person other than myself that pushed me to become even more serious about securing our future. I started tracking every penny spent, and developed a budget. Many an evening after work I could be found sitting on our bed with the budget book (a green columnar ledger) and receipts spread out on the comforter. As time went on, we trimmed our spending more and more, gradually learning to spend less without feeling deprived. We budgeted ahead for irregular expenses (car repairs, taxes, pet illnesses, etc.).

We started saving for a down payment on a home, and I started reading up on home buying. When we did buy a home, we did not go for the amount the lender said we could afford. By that point, I felt confident in my own ability to "crunch numbers" and I calculated on my own what we could comfortably afford ... We ended up setting our sights a bit lower than originally intended and bought a condo.

When DH's company started offering a 401K, we began contributing to that. I don't remember the percentage we started at, but it was a small amount at first that we gradually increased. (A few years later, when my company started offering a 401K, we immediately started contributing up to the company match, and eventually raised the amount even more.) I started reading about mutual funds, and I chose 2 funds that required no minimum initial investments but we could invest in by having $50 automatically deposited each month. Neither of those funds were roaring successes and we ended up cashing them out in a little over a year, but they were part of the learning process. I read about a then-brand-new Treasury investment called TIPS and opened a Treasury Direct account. [That one was more successful. We still have our Treasury Direct account, and I still buy TIPS in addition to T-Bills.] I took a tax course at H&R Block.

Then, we started to prepare for DH to pursue his dream of owning his own business. I've blogged previously about the steps we took to prepare for him to leave his company and go out on his own, so won't bore you again.

http://scfr.savingadvice.com/2007/04/20/how-to-prepare-finan...
That step has had the biggest payoff in terms of our financial life. It was a big step. But it was all of the little steps taken previously, learning to budget and save and invest, that made this big step possible.

Of course, we didn't stop there. When the internet became part of our daily lives, I started shopping around on-line for the highest-yielding bank accounts. We bought a house. We paid off our mortgage, while maxing out our tax-deferred retirement savings. We relocated to a lower cost part of the country. Our budget is a constant work in progress. I'm still trying to learn as much as possible about investing, and know I have much more to learn. I constantly seek out new sources of information (newspaper, books, magazines, on-line) that I can learn from and then apply what I have learned. Just this week at the library, I checked out another new finance book, "The Number" by Lee Eisenberg (note that I now check books out from the library instead of buying them!) ..... I joined the Saving Advice forum! .....

I know I still have much to learn. I want to find sensible ways to (legally) lower our tax bill. I must decide a reasonable amount to spend on our next house. I am trying to get a handle on how much we really should have saved by the time my DH turns 50, when he plans to try out for the senior golf tour. And there will be other issues that I haven't even thought of yet.

It's a never-ending journey that I assume won't end until the day I die.

When I think back on the girl I was when I read that Ann Landers newspaper column, I can honestly say to myself: "You've Come a Long Way, Baby!"

I read that financial knowledge peaks at 53 ... I'm excited to see where I'll be by then!

Thank you, Ann Landers! May you rest in peace.

1. AAA MMA / Bank of America: Anyone else have the AAA-endorsed MMA? I do. It was with MBNA, but then MBNA was bought out by Bank of America. I was pleasantly surprised to see the rates stay high for awhile after the merger, but I recently got a letter from AAA and it seems they and BofA "got a divorce" at the end of the year. I checked the APY on my BofA account and it had gone down a bit. It's not to the point where I'm going to close the account yet, but I am disappointed and will keep watching that account closely. It's getting harder and harder for us savers to find good rates. *sigh*

2. Credit Unions: Broken Arrow made a comment on my last entry that made me think I should look in to CUs again. I had looked in to opening a CU account in the past, but the rates they paid just weren't attractive enough, so I basically of ruled them out indefinitely. BA's post reminded me that I should stay open to new ideas, so I checked out CUs in my area. Unfortunately, they still don't make sense for me. Either I'm not eligible to be a member, the rates paid are too low, or the rates that are attractive are on accounts that have requirements that don't work fo rme. For example, uhcu.org offers a checking account that has a beautiful APY of 6.01%. However, it has the odd requirements that you have 10 debit card transactions and an automatic deposit transaction every month. I don't use debit cards, and I can't get an automatic deposit. I guess CUs must work for some people because I've read entries by people who love them, but they just don't seem to be a good fit for me at this time.

3. ETFs: ETFs are another thing that I have looked in to and they just don't seem to make sense for me. As they grow more popular, I look at them as an option occasionally; just did it again. I'm going to stick with my low cost mutual funds. Frankly, I'm puzzled as to why ETFs are so popular.

4. CVS: I'm still trying to figure this one out, how some people are so thrilled with the deals they get. They did not have CVS in Seattle, so CVS is new to me since moving to Austin. I looked carefully at this Sunday's flyer, but didn't see anything enticing. It may be because I buy most of my hygiene / toiletry / cleaning items at Costco and get better prices there by buying in bulk (buying the store brand when available). The other things in the CVS flyer seemed to be big brand name junk food or prepared food items, not things I buy regularly. I also do Harris Interactive surveys, and I can get free gift cards to use at Target for the few things I don't get at Costco or at the grocery store. For now I'm not jumping on the CVS bandwagon, but I'm going to keep my eye on those posts of those of you who are fans!

5. Suze, Suze, Suze! Suze Orman was on Larry King the other day. She made a comment about the real estate market. She said rather flippantly that you can get a bargain on a house if you can buy a house for $100K when they are asking $200K. That's 50% off of asking (obviously). That may be a reasonable number in some parts of the country, but not here in Austin where prices have not increased as dramatically. But of course my DH latched on to that comment. We have been having disagreements ... We both think prices are going to fall further, but he thinks they are going to go WAAAAAY down and so we should wait indefinitely or offer about 60% of asking price. I, on the other hand, think that if we could get a reduction of about 15% on a competitively-priced asking price on a house we like, that would be a fair deal. Suze, Suze, Suze! Am I going to be stuck in this small apartment for YEARS thanks to your casual comment?!? We'll see.

6. Tire Shopping: We're almost due for new tires, so I've been price shopping. Compared Firestone, Discount Tires, and Costco. We decided on Costco, as their total price for the same tires is lowest. It probably helps that they are having a $60 off sale that they seem to have each January. Some time in the next couple weeks, we'll plan a shopping and lunch trip to Costco. [You can't make an appointment, and usually end up waiting about an hour, so we might as well have lunch and do some shopping while we wait.] We're going with 80,000 mile tires which of course involved a discussion as to whether our car would last that long. It's a Toyota Camry that has almost 120K miles. We decided for that car 200K miles should be no problem. Total cost will be just under $300.

7. Estimated Taxes: 4th and final estimated tax payment for 2007 taxes must be mailed by tomorrow. I'll drop a check in the mail this evening, after the mailman has come and gone for the day. Of course I could wait until tomorrow morning, but I'm always nervous that something will happen and I'll be unable to mail it. Very silly, I know, but that's how my mind works, and I'll be da**ed if I end up getting a penalty for paying late. As always, I will be writing "YOU'RE WELCOME!" on the memo line. Yes, it's silly & a bit immature that I expect thanks for paying every penny of taxes I am legally required to pay, but somehow writing "You're welcome" on the check helps keep me from getting angry when I pay my taxes.

8. When I was preparing to pay for the new tires and for my estimated taxes, I started thinking back on my financial life and how I got to the point where I could absorb "irregular" (tho expected) expenses like these so smoothly, without stress ... There was a clear turning point (what Dr. Phil would call a "Defining Moment") that I had forgotten about until now. I'll write about that next time, as it may be a bit long. But as a teaser, I'll just say that Ann Landers deserves much credit! Curious? Stay tuned ...

In November, I wrote about getting a new HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan):

scfr.savingadvice.com/2007/11/02/new-health-insurance-policy...

The next thing I needed to do was open a HSA (Health Savings Account). It was difficult choosing which institution to use for our HSA (none of our options seemed perfect), and 2007 tax year contributions don't have to be made until April 15th, so I put off making the decision.

However, it's time for DH to get his teeth cleaned, and of course we'd like to pay for the cleaning with tax-free money, so it was time for me to get on the ball and choose a HSA.

There's a fee when you open a HSA, and there is a fee when you close a HSA (no matter how long you've had it), so I wanted to choose the institution where I thought we'd be happy staying for a long, long time.

I narrowed my choices down to 3:
- Exante Bank
- HSA Bank (division of Webster Bank)
- HSA Resource Bank (division of Stearns Bank)

Exante Bank: I kept this as a top-3 choice because it was recommended by the health insurance company and I think I read that we would get reduced fees, etc with them because of the insurer we chose. But I ruled them out first. Their web site wasn't user friendly (no search feature, etc) and I couldn't find info on fees. Called customer service, and they said that fees varied so they did not publish them, but that the schedule of fees would be sent AFTER I opened my account ... um, not acceptable! Truth be told, I felt like I was dealing with an insurance company instead of a bank, and since they were recommended by the insurer I'm suspicious. I'd rather keep my HDHP and my HSA at arm's length from each other, with myself in the middle & in charge.

- HSA Bank (division of Webster Bank): Kiplinger's rated this one highest, mainly because of their high interest rates and low fees. I did find their rates to be a bit higher and their fees a bit lower than many others. I'm not familiar with Webster Bank: bankrate.com currently gives it a 3-star rating which is okay.

- HSA Resource Bank (division of Stearns Bank): I've been banking with Stearns Bank for awhile, and I adore them. Their customer service is hands-down the best I have ever experienced from any bank. It's very personal; when you call, you get a live human, and in fact you can speak with the same specific live person if you want to. I ask questions, and they never make me feel stupid or fail to answer clearly. Current bankrate.com rating is 5-star, and since I've been dealing with them it has stayed high. Unfortunately, their interest rate is a bit lower and their opening fee a tad higher than HSA Bank. And the worst part is that they charge a $25 annual fee (while HSA Bank charges none)!

On paper, maybe I should have gone with HSA Bank. But I decided to go with HSA Resource Bank in spite of the annual fee. Emotion played a role in the decision. It's reassuring knowing that if ***KNOCK ON WOOD*** DH or I suffered a medical crisis or long-term illness, our HSA is with a solid insitution that we can rely on for excellent, highly personalized customer service.

I did my app on-line, printed it out, and mailed it off with our initial contribution this morning. Then I scratched "Set Up & Fund HSA" off on my calendar where I keep a list of things to do called "Important This Month." Ahhh.

Yesterday evening I got a chi-chi hairdo at a fancy salon for only the 2nd time in my life. The first time was about 30 years ago, when my mom took my badly-in-need-of-a-confidence-boost-adolescent-self to a nice salon for a Tony Tenille style cut. At all other times, I've either let a family member (mom, sister, husband) cut it, or have gone to an inexpensive chain salon. For the past many years I've just let my hair grow long, and then once in awhile I'd get some whacked off for free at one of the chain salons to send to Locks of Love. Thanks to good hair genetics, I only rarely get a grey hair, so I plan on continuing donating as long as I can.

I've been overdue for a cut, but hadn't had any luck finding a place that would cut my hair for free. I was thinking about letting DH just cut it and mailing the hair off myself. But as luck would have it, my proscratination paid off and I found out that a fancy-schmancy salon here in Austin was giving free haircuts for Locks of Love donors! I went in yesterday and told the very nice young man who cut my hair that he could do anything he wanted with my hair as long as it was age-appropriate, that could be "wash & go" (no styling or product required), and that he left me enough so that it will be long enough to put up in a pony tail when the weather gets hot. I got a nice shampoo, conditioning treatment, cut that took what seemd to me a really long time (much longer than the usual 5 or 6 snips I'm used to), and professional styling with blowdrying. For me, all of this was a real luxury!!! [I know some people treat themselves to something like this often, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but for me things are much more special & appreciated when they only an occasional thing ... As in once every 30 years!]

What I thought was really cool was that my hair is thick enough the stylist decided he could do 2 ponytails, which means that the hair cut yesterday will make hairpieces for two kids. And he was able to cut off a whopping 14-1/2 inches. Yes - Proscrastination does pay sometimes, and not only for me!

Of course, I tipped the nice young man generously ($5 --- I hope that's generous --- Come to think of it I don't know what the going rate is!) since he did such a nice job. And I had to drive to the salon, but it was right by Costco so I made up a list before I went and did a Costco run to make the trip more cost-effective. All in all, I'd say it was money well spent.

Oh ... In case you're wondering what the new 'do looks like, think Diane Keaton without the highlights when she uses less styling product:



And do I plan to keep getting my hair cut at fancy salons? Naw ... Not unless I can get another free cut. But it sure was fun.

Just pulled one of my free credit reports at www.annualcreditreport.com

I know that ideally I should run one every 4 months (rotating the 3 credit reporting companies each time I pull the report), but honestly I'm averaging one every 6 months. I must really try to do better. It's such an easy thing to do; no excuse to not stay on top of that.
I've already made notes on my calendar 4 months and 8 months from now.

The report's clean --- No sign of identity theft --- No companies reviewing my account that don't have a right to (tho' really, why does Discover have to review it EVERY SINGLE month???) --- Whew!

I've checked my SCORE a few times in the past and paid for it, but DH told me that was ridiculous, and he was right. I was just doing it out of a sense of competiveness [as in "my score is higher than xx.x% of Americans, nanananananah."] --- silly, huh?

I no longer care what my score is ... well, I do care a little bit still (am I pathetically competitive or what?), but I'm not going to allow myself to get suckered in to paying for it. All that really should matter to me is staying on top of identity theft.

Five months ago, I wrote about my former neighbors "The Jonses" who lost their home in a foreclosure auction.

scfr.savingadvice.com/2007/08/03/the-jonses-lost-their-house...

The bank that now owns the house just listed it for sale.

Since I have moved away from that area, I do not know how The Jonses left the house. Did they sneak away in the middle of the night? Did the sherriff's office have to force them out?

It is frustrating to think about how The Jonses desire to live above their means (and the mortgage lenders who allowed them to keep refinancing up, up and away) ended up costing so much to so many. For The Jonses themselves, I'm sure it cost them and continues to cost them an incredible amount of stress. (I wonder how their marriage is now?) The bank obviously lost. Their neighbors lost. But there were other losses as well that aren't so obvious: The county and city and all of the citizens who rely on the county and city services lost when The Jonses stopped paying their property taxes once it was clear they would lose the house. Our neighborhood home owner's association and all of the residents lost when The Jonses stopped paying their homeowners dues and the association had to use employee time to file a lien against their home. And no doubt the negative ripple effects spread even further than what I have thought of.

But you know what? In spite of the doom and gloom tone of this entry so far, I actually feel some hope. The reason is the price that the bank listed the house for. I know roughly how much was owed on the house, and I know that the bank is taking a pretty substantial hit selling at the price they have listed for. It's a semi-competitive price, the bank is going to lose money, and someone is going to get a pretty good deal on the house, especially if they can get the price knocked down a bit more. [The list price is about mid-point between what was owed and the lowball offer that DH & I threw out on the house months ago.] This gives me hope because it shows me that at least in this one particular case the bank has decided to "wake up and smell the coffee." They are not trying to maintain an over-inflated asset on their balance sheet. Looks like they are willing to cut their losses and move on. Yes, it sucks for anyone in The Jonses neighborhood who is also trying to sell their house right now and has to compete against that house. But in the long run, mightn't it mean that we are ever so slowly starting to work our way out of the housing market mess?

Here's my unsolicited tip of the day ... Get off of your computer, get out of your car, and physically walk in to one of those new bank branches that are sprouting like weeds. Ask them if they have any special promotions. New branches may have promotions to attract new customers that you won't find out about unless you ask. I did that yesterday.

I was able to open an MMA with an APY of 4.75% that is locked in for 180 days. I really like the "locked in" part given the direction that interest rates have been going. The new branch was offering this higher rate and the lock but other branches of the same bank weren't.

I also opened a free checking account with $100; it doesn't pay any interest but I'm getting a free $75 Visa Gift Card.

I've decided to take it a bit easy on myself for my 2008 $20 challenge. I'm going to keep track of all the times I save money or earn a bit of extra money using methods that I learn about right here on Saving Advice. I will cheat a bit by including things that I learned about from all of you in the past, such as doing Pinecone surveys. Since I learn so much everyone here, I've no doubt my numbers will be big this year! They'll certainly better than 2007.

Here's my New Year's gift to all of you $20 challengers ... My results ought to make all of you feel GREAT, because there is no way anyone did worse than I did.

My challenge was to take my first-ever stab at gardening, limiting my start up budget to $20. I measured my results by estimating the store-bought value of what I harvested.

End result? $19.06 ... 94 cents less than what I started with! Is this perhaps the first time in the history of the $20 challenge that someone ends up with less than what they start out with?

So there, do you all feel even better about your outstanding results now? Happy New Year!!!


P.S. - In case you're wondering, I am REALLY glad that I did the $20 Garden Challenge in spite of the end result, because I learned so much, mainly that even a brown thumb like me can garden. And believe it or not, I do plan on trying gardening again, after we have bought our house.

Since I don't have kids, I've never caught the scrapbooking bug. I've thought it would be fun to do a small scrapbook of my dog, but didn't want to: 1) put the effort in to learning how to scrapbook, and 2) invest in all of the tools and cute doodads that seem to be required to scrapbook well.

Now, Costco Online is offering a "complete" kit for making a small dog scrapbook for $12.99 including shipping & handling. That seems like a very reasonable price to pay if that's really all I'll need. However, I'm skeptical that the kit is really all I will need, so before I spend my money I'd be grateful if any of you experienced scrapbookers could tell me:

1. The kit includes brads & charms. Will I need special tools to use those?

2. If I get the kit and check out a couple books on scrapbooking from the library, will I have what I need to make a fairly decent looking scrapbook? Or, is this something that takes classes and lots of experience to master?

Thanks!!!

Today DH & I threw out a lowball verbal offer on a house we like. We were pretty sure we wouldn't get the house (we didn't), but we finally decided that we had nothing to lose by making the offer. To tell you the truth, I was more than a bit nervous about giving the builder's rep the offer. After giving myself a little pep talk and summoning my courage, I walked in to the sales office and presented the offer in a straightforward and respectful way, and the rep returned the favor by replying in an equally respectful way why the offer wouldn't fly. He filled me in on some recent sales prices in the area. I left the house feeling better informed about the market than I was when I went in.[In case you're wondering where my Prince Charming was all this time, he turned chicken and decided to wait in the car!]

I guess you could call this "strike one" in our house hunt, but I actually feel fine about it because it was such a good learning experience. And it was a good reminder that it never hurts to ask!

We'll just keep looking and know that eventually we'll find a house that we like where the seller is willing to sell for what we are willing to pay. [The last house we bought, it was the fourth house we made an offer on. How long will we keep looking? As long as it takes.]

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." - John Quincy Adams

DH had a cute "Aha!" moment last night.

We both like to watch Suze Orman once in a while, since we do learn from her, and usually (not always, but usually) agree with what she has to say. However, DH has expressed that he sometimes finds her style a bit ... shall we say ... abrasive? I felt that way at first, but have come to realize that it's probably in part because she is a very smart / confident / outspoken woman, and in part it's just her schtick (did I spell that right?), her amped-up-for-TV persona.

Yesterday evening we were driving home and discussing a friend who just got laid off, has 4 kids & a wife to support, who has lived a pretty comfortable lifestyle, and yet apparently has almost no savings. My DH (who comes from a culture where saving is more ingrained than it is here) said, "American people spend too much. They need to save more." Then he was quiet for about half a minute, and suddenly his head popped up and his eyes widened a bit and he turned to me and said in a confident voice of realization: "Now I understand why Suze has to scream at them!"

Monday I'll be joining the hoardes at the Post Office, getting my holiday gifts mailed off. Today I got my gifts wrapped. I've been done with my shopping for awhile, but I waited to get the gifts wrapped until today. A dog rescue organization was doing gift wrapping as a fund-raiser at a nearby store, and I decided to take the 2 gifts that needed to be wrapped in there. I've always done my own wrapping, but I sold my wrapping paper at our pre-move garage sale and am waiting to buy any new until we are out of our tiny apartment and in to a house. I gave them 2 dollars ($1 per gift seemed to be the going rate), and that included gift tag & bow. Sure, I could have bought the wrapping supplies for the same or cheaper, but I'm avoiding purchasing anything other than essentials until we have a house, and it was an organization I was more than happy to support.

So, my holiday shopping & wrapping is done. Yea! I spent $175 on gifts this year, $2 on wrapping, plus whatever I spend on postage.

Within my family we have mutually agreed to really limit our gift-giving.

1. DH & I have no children. This is of course the biggest reason why our holiday spending is so low.

2. DH & I don't exchange gifts with each other. Back when we were saving for a house, we decided to save more for the down payment instead of buying gifts. We realized we weren't missing anything, and not exchanging gifts has become a tradition. [Today I was talking with a couple that has been married for 30+ years about holiday gifts. They also don't exchange. The man said that their present to each other is that they are PRESENT for each other. I loved that.]

3. My sisters & I decided several years back that we would stop exchanging gifts, except from time to time if we found something we thought the other(s) would really love. But there is no keeping score, and no "obligation" to give.

4. When my sisters & I had the "let's stop gifting" discussion, we also discussed with our mom. She said that it means a lot to her to buy us gifts, so she continues to give us a gift each year (but she usually spends much less than what she used to). But she said that since she doesn't need anything, there's no need to buy anything for her. I do buy her a gift about once every 2 years (and that includes birthdays and mother's day, so not much gift-buying for her). I only buy when I find something that I think she will REALLY love and use.

5. My younger brother is DD, and he gets a real kick out of exchanging gifts. So, we all buy gifts (both Chirstmas and birthday) for him every year.

6. I have a young niece and nephew here in the USA. They get gifts... of course! My sister has specifically requested donations to their college funds, and I am tickled to honor her request. [My overseas niece and nephew get gifts too, but not at Christmas.]

So, here is a rundown of the gifts I'm giving this year:

- Brother joined me on my recent trip to DC. We agreed to skip birthday & Christmas presents this year, and make the trip together our gift to each other.

- My mom did get a gift this year, a 2-lb basket of assorted organic gourmet mushrooms, ordered through Costco for $45 including shipping. Mom has a major mushroom obsession, so when I saw this gift I knew it would make her very happy. And it did --- She called me all excited right after it arrived!

- Older sister is getting a handmade bracelet, purchased at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in DC for $21. Sis loves African jewelry, and she will appreciate that it was made by a South African group that allows woman to make jewelry while staying home with their children. This will be a surprise for her, since I usually don't buy her anything. She wanted to go to DC, but decided to stay home and fund her EF instead. (I have written in the past about her messed-up finances.) I was really proud of her decision, and thought a little gift from DC would be a way to show my support.

- Niece & nephew are getting $50 each for their college funds. I also purchased a gift for their whole family to share (and so they'd have something to unwrap), a book that I purchased new through Ebay for 35% of retail, including shipping.

And that's it! Some mushrooms, a bracelet, a book, a check, and happy memories of a shared vacation. No shopping frenzy, no spending hangover, no credit card interest, no hit to the net worth. And no unwanted gifts that end up collecting dust or getting tossed or donated.

Here's a tip I just learned on how you might be able to cut the premium on your car insurance: Take a defensive driving course. You can take it ON-LINE ... Pretty neat, huh?

My DH (who is the primary driver on our one & only car) is going to complete an on-line course that our insurance company (GEICO) offers. The cost of the course is $19.95. When he completes the course, we will get a 10% discount on our automobile insurance for the next 3 years. At our current level of coverage, that equates to a gross savings of $124.80 and a net savings (after deducting the cost of the course) of $104.85 over 3 years.

We only have one car, and it is not worth a lot so we don't have very expensive coverage. If we had more than one or more expensive cars, our savings would be even more.

At this link, you can see each state listed with how much of a discount you can expect to receive and if there are any age requirements. In some states the discount is only for drivers 55 or older, and in some states the discount is voluntary. But in my state, Texas, there is a 10% mandatory discount and all licensed drivers are eligible.

http://www.firstnetlearning.com/offerings/costco/html/discount.htm

As you can see, this link is for Costco members. But I found out when I called Geico to verify that it is cheaper if I take the course through them.

If any of you are insured with Geico, here is the link to their course:

http://geico.amersc.com

Hope some of you can use this tip to save on your car insurance!

Yesterday evening we went to the Luminations Winter Celebration at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center here in Austin. The "price" of admission was a donation of 2 cans of food each for a local food bank.

http://www.wildflower.org/luminations/

It's hard to capture the magical effect of over 3,000 luminarias, 5,000 twinkle lights, and strands of gorgeous white & copper lights strung across a Texas stone courtyard where a steel drum band dressed in Hawaiian shirts was drumming carols. And it's hard to not get a blurry picture when you are photographing lights at night without a tripod! But here's a little bit of Texas Hill Country holiday cheer for all of you: