The difference age makes

A friend and I spent some time discussing a proposal from her parents the other day. Her parents want to cosign an adjustable rate, $0 down mortgage on a condo for her and her sister. The parents will subsidize the mortgage up front, keeping her rent at it's current level but in much swankier digs.

Five years ago when we were just out of school I would have thought this was a great setup. I would have been envious. Now I shake my head at her parent's denial and try to talk her out of it.

The problems are numerous- adjustable rate, when rates are so low? Why oh why would you do that??? I'm guessing it has something to do with crazy factor 2, $0 down. Issue three- she and her sister don't really want to live together. They both like the lifestyle they could have together, but actually being together for the past few weeks they've reverted back to their teen years.

The greater issue is my friend has a shopping addiction. She has just under $5,000 in credit card debt even though her parents paid off her balances this spring to help her start fresh when she finished grad school. I cannot begin to fathom what you would spend $5,000 on in 8 months.

Her rent is pretty low, she has a full time job and has since picked up 2 side gigs to make some extra money. She understands that she has a problem. But every time she struggles her parents try to swoop in. Partially because they love her in their own crazy way and partially because they're controlling. I can't count the times where they've offered a car, apartment, trip, etc to get her to do something their way.

On the phone I told her that I love her and will support her in any healthy way that she needs. I also emphatically said she's not ready for a mortgage. Until she can handle her day to day bills responsibly taking on a 30 year commitment just doesn't make sense. She needs to put in the work to get rid of her debt on her own. More importantly she needs to face her addiction to keep from running up more debt. Then she can think about saving for a down payment.

I'm thinking about getting her a PF book to help her on her journey. Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover comes to mind, but can you think of anything better?

How much is your time worth?

A lot of people talk about the value of your time when talking about things like coupon cutting or running all over time looking for deals. Over the past month my mom and I have been discussing the value of her time.

My mom is 60. She has a master's degree that she never utilized. The degree and my arrival came within a year of each other. Instead of taking pay and benefits cut to start over in the industry where she got her degree she stayed at her secure job with good benefits. She stayed there for 25 years, leaving only when my step father's transfer took them to the south. When they first moved she looked at the available jobs and decided to go into real estate.

Can you guess where this is going? After loosing money in 2008 my mom and her partner hung up their shingles. In 2009 my mom alternated between fretting about work and considering it an early retirement. As an in between she signed up with a temp agency.

For the past month she's been working as a receptionist from 8-6. The people are nice and it's only 5 minutes from her house. She's making a little less than $10/hr. There's a possibility that it could go full time, but in the interview they made it very clear that $10.00 would be the max pay. Though she'd like more that's about average for where she lives.

So is it worth it?

My step-dad is working as a contractor for his former company post retirement. His income covers the household bills and he helps his grandson pay for college. So financially speaking, my mom doesn't need to work. She just misses having her own income. Her schedule for most of the last year included going to the gym 4-6 times a week, keeping their house up to her insane standards, cooking healthy food, reading, and being there whenever I need to talk.

Since she started working she's remembered how hard it is to do all of those things with a set schedule. She's only been working out 1-2 times a week and is stressed about getting everything done. My step-dad admittedly needs to pick up a bit more slack, but he works 4 10's with a 60 mile commute each way. So it's really 12.5 hr days 4 days a week.

I think she shouldn't take the job. If anything I think she should find something part time so she still has time to take care of her (and his) health. I don't need gifts/mom sponsored visits home which accounts for 1/2 the reason she wants her own income. She transferred 1/4 of what she's made so far into one of my accounts for my birthday. I'll get something fun because it will make her happy- but I'd much rather have a healthy mom 15 yrs from now than birthday/Christmas gifts.

An Expensive Yes

Recently my friend Anne got engaged. She and her boyfriend recently took a vacation and I commented to my husband that if he didn't pop the question on the trip I'd have to beat him up. Luckily he did, at a place that means a lot to them, so I don't have to fly across the country and whoop his behind.

Anne and I met at my first 'real' job. Over a few months we got closer and she became a part of my circle of friends. We had regular chip + guac dates to discuss the guys we were dating. The night before her first date with Oz I ended up spending the night at her house. Maybe there was snow? Or we stayed out too late and I missed the last train? Or maybe because we were in our early 20's and why not? I ended up making her late to the date where everything went wrong in the best possible way.

This weekend she asked me to be her co-maid of honor. Without a thought I said yes because I love her and I love them and I can't think of a better way to celebrate their union.

Then the responsibilities and associated costs hit me. She's in the mid-Atlantic and the wedding will be in New England. I'm not. Assuming 2 trips (combined shower/bachlorette weekend then the wedding) at $300/flight, the trip to the wedding for the hubby, a dress, and food/lodging/alcohol for it all this is looking like a $1.5-2K answer.

On the up side my personal savings fund could pay for this now and I have 18 months to get things sorted out. I'll be renaming one of my ING subaccounts for the wedding and cutting back on my personal spending so I can save more.

The Presumptuous Snow Guy

Over the holidays we got a bit of snow. As soon as we'd shoveled up one storm another 24 hour storm that dumped 8-1o inches came through. Just as I was gearing up to get round one done someone knocked on the door offering to shovel twice (that afternoon and the next morning) for $25. We told him we'd be open to shoveling in the future and gave him our number.

This week we had the first snow with any accumulation for the year. It snowed overnight and into the day. When I left for work it was maybe about 1.5 inches. At this point I should explain that my household has a pretty lazy snow policy. Less than 3 inches and we do the sidewalk and a path to the door and let mother nature take care of the rest. The rest of the week temps should be near 50 and the little bit of snow would melt away. So when I got home last night I was a little shocked that my husband had shoveled. He's been sick and had succumb to Ny*quil by the time I got home so we didn't talk about it.

This morning he found a note on the door from the snow guy basically saying that he hopes we don't mind that he shoveled and he'll be back in the morning for his regular $15 fee.

This is irritating on multiple levels. You never assume that someone has the money to pay you. If you want to work a side business (as many of you are familiar with) you hold onto things like phone numbers and build a relationship with your clients. Also, who charges the same amount for shoveling 2 inches and 6 inches? Finally, who even shovels 2 inches. When it's going to be 50 degrees in 2 days. Though I said our general snow policy is lazy, only one other person on our block (~9 houses) has a shoveled driveway. You shovel the walkway for the kids and let mama nature take her course.

So now we technically owe this guy $15 dollars that we don't have to spend.

What would you do internets?

Overload

Do you ever have so much going on that you don't know where to start? That's where my blog posts are. On my morning drive I think up all sorts of things I would like otshare vut can never decide what comes first.

Last weekend was the busiest I've had in a while and it was great. I went to a crafty baby shower, out to dinner and fell asleep on the couch before 9pm on Saturday. I also took a second stab at our taxes online. Largely because I'm anal.

On Sunday morning I had a horrible sinus headache due to the weather so I chilled on the couch. My doc doesn't want me taking my usual meds so there was much laying around/whimpering. On the way to our to the Super Bowl party I requested a drug store detour, where I met the most unhelpful pharmacist ever and bought a neti pot. We got to the party early enough so that I could help make some of the food and chill with my friend before the boys got loud. I realize that I like cooking for others and being around a group, but I hate hosting. This friend likes hosting so I try to get there early enough to help set up and also help her clean up at the end.

I may have also eaten half a bag of Doritos. Maybe...

Jobs

In last night's state of the union President Obama talked about the jobs that have been saved or created. In this morning's press leading Republican have claimed that the stimulus didn't do much of anything for jobs.

I'm getting ready to go to work this morning, as I have every morning since July 1, in large part due to the stimulus. My position is grant funded. Last year grants shrunk in a major way. So my boss spent a lot of May trying to figure out how we would be able to keep all 5 of us on. In the end we got stimulus funding via a state contract. The stimulus funds are paying for a large portion of the programming we offer, allowing our other grant funds to go to salary.

If we cut the stimulus out of our budget I would be working 1/3-1/2 time right now. Our admin assistant (a single mother of a preschooler) would be unemployed or not working more than 1/3 time.

We're not sure what will happen in July. But we're working hard to accomplish our goals and looking for new grants to keep us going.

Sharing Passwords

I do 98% of my banking/bill paying online. I'm also the one in my marriage who handles the bill paying. My husband is in charge of starting up service when we need it and we alternate calling in when there's a problem. This system works for us in every way but one- passwords.

For my personal accounts I use a system with a word (ie green) a number (ie 49) and the domain name of the sight. So at Bank of America my password would be green49boa. The root stays the same but the domain name makes each individual password unique.

My husband rotates through 3-4 passwords that look something like ThYgIfRk. Something I will never ever ever remember.

We've tried coming up with a root to use my system, but all of the things we can agree on I think anyone else could easily figure out if they know basics of our life (or take a look at facebook).

This is slightly irritating when I have to call Comcast or Verizon to deal with a service issue. The greater problem is this doesn't pass the 'hit by a bus test.' If I got hit by a bus tomorrow my husband wouldn't be able to get onto most of our online accounts.

So how do you share this info? Do you create a password together? Is there a piece of paper buried somewhere in your house with all of the passwords written down? Do you just not worry?

Utilizing My Best (Appliance) Friend

When we bought the house we bought a freezer for the garage. Until recently it was largely a place to store meat purchased at rock bottom prices. This fall I slowly started taking it over and I'm loving it.

Right now in addition to meat the freezer holds 3 casseroles, freezer jam, whole wheat flour, cooked beans, burrito filler and some shredded zucchini from the garden. I've accepted that on most weeknights I don't have the energy to say no to the temptation of fast food. This fall the Huz and I ate way too much take out and I'm working to break the cycle.

With the caseroles I make a double batch of our favorite recipies on weekends where I'm feeling particularly energetic/domestic. I put them in the fridge before work and into the oven when one of us gets home.

This weekend I made a bulk version of my favorite lazy dinner, which will take the laziness factor to a whole new level. The weeknight version is a can of black beans, a can of tomatoes, chopped onion, and whatever other vegetables we have around cooked together for 10-15 with some spices. The ultra lazy verzion- 3 cans of tomoatoes, 4 cans of black beans, a few carrots on the verge of looking scuzzy, shredded zucchini from the freezer and spices. I stored it in burrito sized portion so either of us can defrost, wrap in a tortilla, and have dinner.

At some point last year (November maybe?) I made 2 big batches of beans using this recipe from the Crockpot Lady. If you have a crockpot and don't know about this blog head on over. It's my husband's favorite recipe site. I honestly can't remember the last time he made something other than pasta on the stovetop. I've made quite a few yummy recipes from the site, but bean recipe is my favorite. It's cheaper, less pantry space, and most importantly- they taste better. They're not super salty or too mushy (unless you leave them too long). I've done this 4-5 times with lots of success each time.

None of these things has taken more than an hour of my dedicated time. Which is nice, even on the less frenzied weekends. I'm embracing the lazy.

How Much Would You Spend On _____?

So far this year I have not been able to get back in gear at work. It took me 2 days to accomplish my Monday morning to do list. 2 DAYS. I also can't seem to accomplish much on the blogging front- this post has been hanging around since last Wednesday...

Here's a little something to pass the time. I got it from Budgets are $exy. For each category list how much you would spend on the item.


CATEGORY Sara J. Money
Purse (or Wallet): $85/40 $20
Winter jacket: $150/80 $100
A pair of (knee-high) boots: $80/60 $40
Formal dress (or suit): $150/100 $100
Pants/jeans: $50/30 $40
Computer: $1,500 $1,500
Tennis Shoes: $75/50 $40

I listed the most I would spend and then what I usually aim to spend in that category. Every once in a while you come across the special item worth a splurge, but day to day I'm aiming for the lower prices.

Happy New Year!

I decided to spend the first morning of this new year reviewing and organizing our finances. I started by updating our spreadsheet, assessing all of our savings and loan accounts. Then I paid this months mortgage, which was fun because the site is down for mainteance. I almost had a heart attack.

My next step was checking out my credit. I use CreditKarma every other month or so to see how my Transunion score looks. I also took advantage of an annual credit report* from Experian. In September I checked Equifax and in May I'll check Transunion.

Everytime I look at a report it's like a trip down memory lane. I never got into credit card debt, but I did fall victim to the open a credit card for a free _______ (insert usless item here). There are accounts I remember opening and many more with low limits that make me wonder. Past addresses remind me of the family, roomates, schools, and jobs I've had along the way. This credit report also showed the payoff for my car. That made me smile.

I've gone back and forth about resolutions over the past few weeks. Our current financial plan makes things automatic. Short of an emergency or major life change we'll keep making a double payment on the car each month, we'll keep saving for short and long term needs and we'll keep paying our bills on time. So I guess my goal for the year is to stay on track financially. Stay on track and get once full month ahead on the bills. I'd like the money we're using to pay for any given bill to have come to us one month before.

The thing I most want is for 2010 to be better than 2009. For me, for my husband, for our friends and our family. 2009 seemed to have more than its fair share of angst, trauma, and woes for us all.

* You can check a report from each of the 3 agencies once every 12 months.

No Money for You

Yesterday a mild (4-6 inch) snowstorm hit our area. As I was layering up to do the first round of shoveling there was a knock on the door. In the year and a bit we've lived here we've never gotten a "Can I shovel/weed/etc knock." My husband bemoans the how unindustrious the kids in the neighborhood are, thinking back to the money making snowstorms of his childhood.

Generally I like shoveling snow, but this is our 4th shovelable* snow this season. And the season goes until about April.

So a guy knocks, offering to shovel once yesterday and then come again in the morning to take care of the overnight snow. He asked for $15 for the first day and $10 for the next.

We pooled our cash and came up with $16. The huz was doing an airport run last night and was supposed to get cash on his way home. This morning he hadn't gone for cash before the guy left, but the bank is 10 minutes away so he figured he would be back before the guy was done.

The guy shoveling and his fiancee finished up pretty quickly. She showed me which house they would be moving to and said they'd stop back later. The she thanked me profusely, letting me know that the money they earned today would pay for their Christmas dinner.

After 30 minutes and I called the huz to make sure he's not stuck in the snow. Apparently folks in our neighborhood like cash for the holidays- he'd been to five different places (including 2 banks with multiple ATMs) and every ATM was out of cash. I suggested cash back at a store which was finally successful.

I'm glad that our shoveling duties for the moment are done. I'm happier that our laziness may have made the season a little brighter for a neighborhood family.

*Less than 3 inches and we only shovel the walkway

A Thoughtful Thank You

A while back a friend of a friend had her first baby. Based on the past year that's nothing spectacular (other than that whole miracle of life thing). Without thinking hard I can name more than a dozen babies of friends and coworkers that made their appearance in 2009.

This one was a little different though. She didn't plan to get pregnant. She wasn't sure that she even wanted to be a mom. But she's also one of those people who loves those in her life wholeheartedly. When the friend we share has needed help she's always been there- laughing, cursing an ex, or calling in others when a little support was needed. I saw her last May on my trip east. We celebrated our friend's accomplishment, and though she was 6 months pregnant she went out of our way to make our friend and her parents comfortable.

I added two more baby hats to the pile I was knitting and crocheted a little blanket. It was nothing fancy, just sending her and her new baby a little love for their journey together.

Fast forward to yesterday. Going through the mail that piled up when your mailbox* was stuck, I pulled out anything handwritten. Amidst the Christmas cards was an envelope from this mom. Now in general I'm pretty laid back about thank you notes. She sent a text and then a picture msg with the baby wearing one of the hats, so I wasn't expecting anything. Inside was a nice note saying thanks for the items & support for her little family. This was nice, some would even say expected.

What I wasn't expected was a restaurant.com gift certificate. This new single mama took the time to go online, look through restaurants in my town, and choose one that she thought I would like.

All in all I thought it was a sweet and thoughtful way to say thanks. I may even steal the idea.

*Despite living in a single family house we have one of those units on the corner where everyone has a tiny slot.

How to spend way too much money at the grocery store

A) Go hungry
B) Go with an informal list
C) Don't stick to said list
D) Bring no coupons
E) Go as a snow storm approaches or as snow falls from the sky

For extra credit:
F) Repeat 12 hours later.

Student Loan Surprise x2

Last Friday I took the day off to use some of my use it or loose it time. I missed my early December net worth calculations (time just got away from me) and decided to catch up. I logged into all of the accounts, plugging balances into Excel and noting the progress we've made. The mortgage was looking good. The Prius is pretty close to our year end goal. Then I logged into my student loan account.

A while back I wrote about getting my interest rate reduced .25% by setting up auto debit payments. Each month I make sure that a few days ahead of the 3rd (my payment day) the cash is in my ING checking account. Each month the funds get pulled out without incident. Until December. On the 3rd the funds were happily sitting there. I scheduled some transfers for other things on the 4th and moved on with my life.

You see where this is going right?

The student loan people didn't pull things until the 4th. At a low moment in the transfers (there were multiple in and out) the student loan people try to get their money. But it wasn't not there. At this point I abandon updating the spreadsheet and get on the phone.

While holding for an agent and then holding for her supervisor (when talking to me about my money you can't sound like my 15 yr old cousin) I poked around on their site. Then I found surprise #2- the happy surprise. After 24 on time payments my interest rate will fall 1%. I don't have to ask or do anything. I just start saving money.

I was worried that surprise 1 would jeopardize surprise 2. That night I paid the amount due ($88 instead of the $315.99 we usually pay), and a $15 insufficient funds fee. Tuesday the page online with the info about the interest rate dropping move from 20 to 21 on time payments. I think they're one of those places where you're on time within 15 days of the due date. Not that I'll be taking advantage again.

The final bit of student loan news comes from 2 extra payments. Above I mentioned the monthly payment vs the amount due. Right before I started this extra payment thing my mom sent in an extra payment for my birthday or something. As an aside, I love that she knows paying off debts is so important to me and will send funds to debt instead of sending my something I don't need. Back to the student loan- the company that manages my loan is one of those irritating places where if you want to make an extra principal payment you have to include a note and mail it to a special address. Mom didn't do this so each month they collect more than they need and sit it in a 'bucket' until there's a full payment and then forward the date.

I think the 'bucket' thing is bs, so I only paid them what was due and sent the rest as an extra principal payment. They actually got 2 checks because earlier in the week I wrote out a check to kill my 4th loan. Loans 1-3 have balances in the $7,000-8,000 range. Loan 4 has a balance of $270. Though it shouldn't, loan 4 really really bugs me. Earlier in the fall during a financial talk I said I wanted to pay off this little loan because it bugs me. My husband shook head at my crazy but said he was fine with it.

So we should start the new year with the student loan $500 lighter and by the end of the first quarter the interst should be lower.

Use it or Loose it

I'm off today. Not because it's a good time at work, or I have plans to do something fun. I'm up against a vacation hour deadline. The larger nonprofit that I work for decided that we can no longer accrue paid time off with no cap at the start of the fiscal year. By the start of next fiscal year we can have a max of 80 hours. Each quarter the max we can accrue goes down to ease us towards 80.

As of Thanksgiving I had 7.5 days to take. On top of the 2 days we get for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and the half day we get after the company luncheon*. The catch is if I am over the limit I don't accrue anything in January.

I have to check again but I think I'm within 10 hours. I'm going to go in and leave when I'm ready next week. Any left over hours will be donated to the employee leave bank. I'm also going to spend these days off planning the 11 days I need to take during the first quarter of 2010. There may also be a few check requests for work.

*Does anyone under the age of 60 use this word? I felt really really old typing it there.
**Again with the words my grandma would use.

Does time ever slip away from you? In the midst of all of the post Thanksgiving posts there were some new worth updates. That's a pretty good indicator of the beginning of the month, but it still didn't click.

Now some random thought:
Work was hectic but I'm working on letting go a bit. I have scheduled 1.5 days each holiday week and still have to take 34 hours of vacation between now and then. Yesterday was one of those slow start days so I just took an hour. I'm going to take a little time each day and try to make the few hours I'm there each day really count.

Robbery is expensive. Tomorrow I'll submit our almost full insurance claim. Everything's been replaced so far. All that's left is painting the door to meet HOA standards. That won't happen until spring unless we get a heat wave going. We're dealing with some arctic conditions that are just crazy (we hit the high temp at 4 am). According to the guys at the home improvement store I need a 50 degree day to do a good job. I haven't done the final math, but we're well over $3,000 to replace things. Our deductible is $500 and then there's the stuff that insurance won't cover.

I started a pottery class this week. It's a small group that seems interesting and I'm happy to have another creative outlet. The class is by our city's Parks & Recreation department and comes out to $4/night. The only problem is coming up with what I want to make. I walked in with no ideas and didn't love my first project. Just one more excuse to spend way too much time on Etsy- if you don't know and like hand made things click with caution.

I'm sick of fake news. I don't care about celebrities sleeping around. Or who they're dating. Also, CNN for the love of all that is newsworthy man up and move on.

Hope your holiday seasons have started well!

He's Finally Got It

Today we're finally getting around to replacing my stolen laptop. My husband requested that I check the Black Friday adds before we head to the store tonight. We'd discussed doing the Black Friday thing though I like my bed and generally don't think the deals are worth the crowds.

Anywho, I ask where I should check and he names 2 big box stores and another kinda local option. He starts to mention Wally World, then stops himself and says "wait, no matter how good the deal is you don't want to buy it there right?" I agreed and we moved on. Doesn't seem like much but three years ago there would have been a long drawn out discussion. Today he just take it and move on.

Utility Escrow

Budgeting for utilities can be frustrating, especially in places that have 4 distinct seasons. The increase in winter bills comes when many are also paying for holiday gifts. In our case it's also when my husband's checks take a 2-3 month nosedive. I also wanted a better handle on how much money it takes to run our household month to month.

Last spring I set a utility escrow sub account at ING to help work in this problem. I pulled our last 7 bills (we'd only live in the house 7 months) and did some math to figure out what our average would be. If you have all 12 months just add them up and divide by 12. I was missing spring/summer months, so I took the one summer month I had, multiplied it by 6 and then added the winter month and divided it all by 12. Based on our apartment bills and our lack of AC use I knew that the spring/summer months would be about the same.

To automate the process I added a formula to our spending spreadsheet in Excel. It's set up to take our annual number ($125) and subtract the monthly bill amount that I was already plugging in. At least once a month I spend a few minutes transferring money to/from ING, so this transfer just got added to the mix. Once our bills exceed the annual average I'll pull the money we've been setting aside to pay the difference.

Mmmm

This morning I had 2 slices of No-Time Bread that I made last night with some butter and peach freezer jam that I made this summer. Followed by some knitting and Hulu time. Perfect start to a lazy day.

The Wall

Last night I got home and collapsed on the couch. After a bit I made it up to bed, watched some TV and promptly fell asleep at 8. I'd told my husband not to let me sleep more than an hour, in hopes of getting up and doing something. Looking back that was a pipe dream. He woke me up and got some dinner. We talked for a bit and then he fell out so I played online for a bit. I fell asleep by midnight and slept for almost 11 hours. Today I'm sneezy and stuffy and otherwise relegated to the couch.

I guess getting up early (6:45ish) to do the 30 Day Shred, work stuff, and going out 3 nights during the week was too much. Body, I've taken note. Okay, now no more of this being sick stuff.