TinapBeana's Blog: Money Wars!

OK< a little more frugal this week:

By 10p next Tuesday I will...

Cook three meals that result in enough left-overs for me to freeze (rather than just toss them in the fridge, never to be seen again!). This 1W1G episode is intended to fight my

Frugal Failing when it comes to food.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

It's 33 this morning in upstate SC, which is downright cold, I don't care where you are!

But here I sit, in a house with no heat, cackling with glee and joy. How, you ask?

Right now it's 57 in my house and 33 outside. The house stays relatively warm (well, not-cold!) because it is approximately 80 yrs old and is built like a brick @#$! house! Walls are amazingly thick.

I'm drinking hot coffee and wearing socks, flannel pants, and a sweatshirt, all very cozy. There's a cat in my lap, providing more heat than either of us needs.

The propety we bought had a ton of downed-limbs, 5 yrs worth, plus we had to take down a 140 yr old oak tree in august. So, we have plenty of free wood for the woodstove.

"But what about sleeping?" you ask. "How can you sleep when it's cold, and the woodstove is downstairs?"

The answer my friend is the awe-inspiring heated mattress pad. Went and bought a new one last night in anticipation of this cold front (old one was too small for this bed). Dual control, 10 hour auto-shutoff, and absolute heaven.

We spent 79.99 before 5% tax, and before you run screaming *grin* let me put things into perspective. Last winter I lived in a 900 sf rental house, and kept the thermostat at 65 during the winter. I had a gas bill that ranged from $180-$256 per month. ACK!!!!!!!!!! Big chunk of change for 4 months.

We bought this house in the heat of summer, but noticed that a) it was also gas heat, and b) it is 1700 sf. Visions of the gleeful gas company danced in my head... I called them to move the service, and they wanted another deposit because the house has a bad payment history. Not me, the house.... Does your house pay your bills? If so, how does it write the check? Needless to say I told them nevermind and to cut everything off. Spiteful, I know.

Regardless, I'm sitting here, comfy and cozy with no heat, flipping the gas company off in my mind. Very frugally fabulous!

Sitting over dinner last night, DH started talking about setting it up so he can contribute 6% to his 401k. Not weird for some folks, but downright unusual for DH.

He'd decided before he didn't want the 401k b/c the company match was only in company stock, and that's not necessarily where we want money... But, then again, 6% pre-tax is pretty nice...

Either way, he brought it up and asked me what I thought and we started talking about the possibility of a Roth for him instead. No decisions made yet, but it was still a noteworthy conversation!

As many of you know, I'm debating about what to do with 6-7k sitting in my old 401K. It's pretty funny, because I feel like this money is burning a hole in my pocket. Not that I want to spend it, but that I want to plant it somewhere, water it, and watch it grow!

I think I've decided to go with Scottrade, but I'm holding out until the end of the year. Scottrade's low fees attracted me, their office 2 miles from my house enticed me, and what's pushing me over the edge is that they offer the mutual fund that I've (almost) decided on.

And which one might that be, you ask? Winslow Green Growth Fund (WGGFX)
*Max Front Load 0%
*Max Back Load 0%
*Redemption Fee 2%
*Min Inv 5000
*Min IRA 2000
No loads are nice, the redemption fee I can live with, and the minimums aren't a problem since I'm rolling the 401k. The big pluses for this fund are
A) It is a socially responsible fund that screens stuff I don't want to support with my money
B) Its 5yr, 10 yr, and inception returns are all hovering around 15% give or take

WooHoo!!

And yes, I know past performance is no guarantee of future results, blah blah blah. It's the stock market, I know it's a crap shoot!

I've decided to sweeten the pot for myself in my One Week, One Goal quest. Yes, I've read the threads on 'rewards' and 'treats' and all, but I figured a carrot dangling in front of me couldn't hurt!

So, if I meet my goal in less than a week, I get to buy myself a treat out of the

Change and Buck Bucket.

Please note the 'less than a week' clause: if I put my goal off until the very last minute but still finish on time, it doesn't count. BAH, procrastination, TAKE THAT!

Since I finished 1W1G #1 on Sunday, I bought myself a cup of coffee and a pumpkin spice doughnut from Krispy Kreme. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmm! Cost a whopping $2.55!

Read about One Week, One Goal here

Text is The Goal: and Link is http://tinapbeana.savingadvice.com/2006/10/16/1w1g-1_15781/

The Goal:
By 10p next Tuesday 10/24 I will...
Go through my clothes and donate at least one bag to the thrift store. I will also make sure my remaining clothes all have a home in either the closet, the dresser, or in a plastic bin waiting for next summer.

The Result:
Woohoo! Got a 30 gallon trash bag full of clothes, plus filled 2 boxes with stuff that's been waiting to be donated. I put it all right by the door so it would be in the way until I took it out of the house, and today it's in Goodwill's hot little hands.

Text is The Reward: and Link is http://tinapbeana.savingadvice.com/2006/10/23/1w1g-rules-update_16073/

The Reward:
One cup of coffee and a pumpkin spice cake doughnut from Krispy Kreme. Total: $2.55.

My clothes all have designated homes, and summer stuff has been put to bed. This of course means it'll be 80 next wk =/

That's right, MacGyver is the ultimate frugie, and where I find much of my frugal inspiration. Don't believe me? When you take all that is MacGyver and boil it down, you get the two all-encompassing rules of MacGyverism.

1. Work with what you have, because you might not always have what you want.
2. Always have a plan B.

Sound frugal to anyone else? Hm?

Think about it: who else but a frugal frugie could rig a bomb out of a paperclip, lye, a running hose, and a shoestring? OK, fine, anyone with a fair understanding of chemistry could figure that one out, but you all know what I mean (and I know you do!).

All hail MacGyver, the Ultimate Frugie!

Hey, I don't speak Frensh and wasn't sure on the spelling of deaux, ok? Spanish is still a Romantic language! *chuckle, pun intended*.

The burning question on everyone's minds: "Well, was yesterday a great day or not?!?" The verdict is in, and yesterday was pretty darn OK. Left work with a problem to work on Monday, but that's nothing new. Did get to tweak an internationally known logo, which is always a warm fuzzy and may bring a different type of revenue into the company. 1 point for a great day!

Went grocery shopping and spent my money wisely and conscienciously. Another point for a great day! Plus, I got some food storage containers & freezer bags that were on sale & had coupons, and they will enhance my ability to cook big freeze small. Third point for a great day!

All in all, yseterday was great in its own little way. Today is pretty fantastic, too. Woke up awake again, and at 10 till 7. WOW, is that odd for me, especially on a Saturday. In the past 5 hours I've had 3/4 a pot of coffee, filled a 30 gallon trashbag full of donation clothes (plus two boxes of random junk!), done 4 loads of laundry, cut up tee-shirts for cleaning rags, made a curtain to go under the bathroom sink to hide *insert nasty toilet accoutrements here*, and started putting away my summer stuff.

Whew, is it nap time yet?

Still on today's plate: a trip to the thrift store, recycling a !#$!@load of plastic grocery bags, buy a gift certificate to the bookstore as a birthday present, and then at 2 the grand prize: birthday party at a hoity toity restaurant with all expenses paid. WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! There is such a thing as a free lunch!

FYI, it's 7:40a EDT, even though this post says it's way earlier than that. See, I'm not a psychotic weirdo forum-freak (or blogging freak).

Yesterday was allowance day and grocery money day. WooHoo! I didn't feel like I got a whole lot of bang for my buck until I sat down and realized all the non-food items I got.

$ 7.00 - 3 - 12 packs of soda
$ 2.97 - 3 - lrg tubes Aquafresh
$ 3.99 - 1 - 2 pack of toothbrushes
$ 3.99 - 1 - Feline Pine scoopable litter
$ 5.00 - 2 - Ziplock twist'n'lock containers
$ 2.60 - 2 - 22ct boxes Hefty 1qt freezer bags
$ 2.19 - 1 - pk double roll recycled TP

$29.13 - TOTAL W/ 5% TAX

OK, well, that means I spend less than $70 on actual food yesterday, which makes me feel much better... Plus I realized I managed to go all organic except for 5 items, so that makes the $70 even more gratifying for me.

Milk
Bagged baby spinach (I live on the wild side!)
Red potatoes
Sweet onions
Bulk-bin dehydrated veggies
Bulk-bin rice pilaf
Chicken breats
Yogurt *
Bananas
Apples
Chicken broth
Orange juice *
Gatorade *
Frozen green beans *
Frozen corn *
Tomatoes: paste
Tomatoes: diced
Tomatoes: crushed
Canned black beans
Canned pinto beans
Canned kidney beans

As you can see, I like beans and tomatoes. Yuuummmmmmmmm... And Publix just started carrying them in their organic GreenWise brand, so I can still pay a reasonable price. WooHoo!!

The revelation when I shopped was really quite simple: they don't make coupons for almost anything I buy food-wise. All-natural and unprocessed does have a drawback

On the plus side, I've not been sick enough to go to the doctor in over 10 years (everybody knock on wood!), so the money I'm spending on food I'm more than saving on co-pays, deductibles, and prescriptions (which also don't come with coupons).

Alrighty, my $5 initial deposit from Real Life Checking has appeared in GYD today. It's what, the 20th? My account was approved 10/17 and the $5 left RLC on 10/18, so 2 business day turnaround. Not bad...

alright, what's up with the time stamps on the blogs?

it is 11:10a EDT right now, and my last comment said it was written at 8:10a. not in and of itself a big deal, but that means my comments/posts from 7a look like 4a!

even funnier, the forums don't have the funky time stamp issue, so some folks out there might think i'm posting, falling asleep at the computer, and waking up mouse in hand ready to type again.

really, i PROMISE, i'm not a psychotic weirdo forum-freak. well, not always...

Ever have one of those, where you wake up wide awake and feeling good and as soon as you step out the door you know somehow that it's going to be a good, maybe even great, day? That's today!

I woke up before either of my alarms this morning. Even better: I woke up awake. Enjoyed my morning of coffee, reading, and snuggling the cats. Got ready for work, headed out the door, and stopped in my tracks on my porch. We had rain last night, and the whole street looked... good. The sky looked good. My new-to-me yellow Focus 2dr looked great, and there were even birds chirping in my yard. Low, patchy clouds were zooming across the sky like you would see in a movie or commercial, and I could just hear the voice-over guy "At that moment, she knew the world was hers." HAHA, take that, world!

I dunno, it's weird I guess, but today just feels like it'll be fantastic. I got allowance & grocery money on my way in, walked in the office and immediately fixed a problem logo left over from yesterday, and now I'm struggling to reverse-engineer 4 yr old Java code while drinking, well, java. Nothing that seems to fall under the heading of a great day, but that's alright.

THE DAY IS STILL YOUNG!

My name is Tina, and I am a member of Spouses of Spenders Anonymous. *Hi Tina!*

I have been married to a spender for 1.5 years, although we've been together 4. My spender acknowledges he's a spender and has given me control of our budget, but it feels that is where the progress stops.

My spender likes toys, and my spender says things like "We make good money, we should be able to buy what we want". Sound familiar? I agree to an extent, but as a Spouse of a Spender, I feel it's irresponsible to spend money on new toys instead of aggresively paying off debt from old toys.

My spender and I had serious relationship problems about a year ago that are still very painful for me. Also, in the last 4 months I have lost my job, we bought a house (it was a wise decision, believe me!), I got a better job, and we bought a car. Needless to say, it's been a stressful time time, full of changes, all that good stuff.

At this point, I'm feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. I desparately want to get our finances in order, partly I suppose b/c I have recently felt the effects of a layoff. On the other hand, b/c of the issues btwn DH and me, I have a hard time telling him no when he wants something. It makes me feel like a schmuck, and I know I'm not a schmuck.

And so here I am, between a rock and a hard place, balancing my budget and Spendy Spouse.

I've been blindsided by deer!!!

There I was, happily cruising along in my budget software, enjoying the sights of all this month's bills being paid and it's not even the 20th, when I come to a screeching halt at the sight of my balance.

What? I'm $400 down? ACK!!! OMG, WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!??

I start careening about, grasping for my check book and clutching my mouse like a suicide strap, repeating the mantra "There HAS to be an explaination SOMEWHERE!!!" I pass some familiar looking debt payments, and remember I had overpaid 3 that I didn't intend to. OK, but where's the REST?

I turn the corner in my software, and there it is, standing right in the middle of my register.

Hunting Season.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

DH's visions of deer from the very beginning of the month leapt out of nowhere and smashed a big hole in the side of my budget before I had even made a budget.

"I'll get you, Hunting Season! You just wait and SEE!!!" Trashing my budget like that...

Irony of it all is I don't particularly like venison, not to mention I could have bought 93% lean ground angus at $0.99 per pound and filled way more freezers than Hunting Season will.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Alright, I started stashing the change and dollar bills from my allowance a week ago. Here's my grand total


$17.00 dollar bills
$ 9.75 quarters
$ 4.70 dimes
$ 1.00 nickels
$ 0.99 pennies
------------------------
$33.44 total


Granted, I had about half the change already in a change jar (I just kept adding this money to that same stash), so the actual total is about $25. Still, not to shabby!!!

Alright, here we are on Day 2. My account was approved yesterday, and I was waiting for my $5 initial deposit from Real Life checking to GYD.

RL checking showed a $5 withdrawal this morning. Sweet! Went to GYD/Apple Bank website, and needed a telephone banking PIN to be able to access their online banking. Since I was approved for the account yesterday, I didn't have said PIN. (Please note, I didn't say PIN number *chuckle*)

Well, I called AB at 2:15 EDT, and was off the phone is under 7 minutes, off to check my email where my PIN was being sent.

I received my email at 2:26, PIN included, and everything is working just as one would expect. WooHOO!!! The deposit still hasn't shown up on their side of the house yet, but I will continue to watch with baited breath.

On 10/18/06, custline1 wrote:
Apple Bank normally mails a letter to the address provided in the Grand Yield Direct application confirming the account and providing the internet banking password. To facilitate the process please use the password provided in this email as you have not yet received this letter.

Response:
Thank you very much for your courteous and prompt service: as a new 'online only' customer, it is greatly appreciated!

tinapbeana

It was all chilly and rainy yesterday and therefore I declared it a soup day. Got home from work, put soup on, and after a few hours the verdict was in: YUM!!! Best part is I have several quarts worth of soup now that it's fall!

Only problem: today is going to be a high of 77, tomorrow will be 80.

Go figure!

You know the one, that you're being taken advantage of? Yeah, that one...

I'll just start by saying I love DH and I know he loves me. But we're all grown, and we know that loving someone doesn't mean you always treat them the way you should, and doesn't mean you don't take them for granted.

So, with that being said, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a pretty crappy deal aroud my house, and I'm about fed up with it.

Monday I got home from work before DH. Actually,he'd been off work a few hours and was at my dad's cigar store, but whatever. I got home, built a fire in the wood stove, started dinner, put laundry on, yadda yadda. He gets home, sits down in his chair and says something to the effect of "There's a fire going and dinner's cooking, all I need are slippers and a drink and I'll be happy."

I looked at him and simply said "You know, I thought the same thing when I got home from work."

ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!

I know the example above may not seem like much, but it is as they say the straw that broke the camel's back. We both work full time, we both do our own personal laundry, but that's where the equitable split of labor ENDS, and I'm getting fed up with it.

He cooks once every other week or so, but hasn't washed a load of dishes since we bought this house in July. Washes his own clothes, but dirty towels and sheets could sit around and moulder to rags without him thinking to put them in the wash. Likes to snuggle the cats, but hasn't touched their litter box in a year and a half. It goes on and on an on...

I get home around 6p during the week and have 5 hours before it gets to be bed time. I start dinner, do dishes, put on laundry, clean the cat box, fold laundry, sweep the floor, take out the trash (!!!), put on more laundry, and DH will yell from the den "Hey, whatcha doin'?" WHAT? What the hell do you think I'm doing?

Long story short, I'm starting to feel more like a single mom than a married woman with no kids. It's been annoying for a while and it's starting to move towards creepy. I have to remind him to take medicine, I have to remind him to collect days worth of dishes from around his chair and at least bring them in the kitchen. I go to the fridge and find out he's left an empty milk & OJ container in their rather than setting it out on the counter (or heaven forbid even rinsing it out and putting in the recycle bin).

I've asked him nicely to help, that didn't work. I've broken down in tears about this, that didn't work. I made up a chore list (because he asked for one saying he didn't know what needed to be done), and that didn't work. I'm running out of options and it scares me. I found out he almost cheated on me about a year ago, and he said it was because I was tired all the time. Well what the #$*^!@ do you expect when I work 8 hours and then come home and work 4 more?!? No wonder I'm tired all the time...

At any rate, I'm getting more and more frustrated and, as you can probably tell, I'm starting to seriously resent my DH. Any practical suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It's 54 and raining here in upstate SC, which to me makes it a perfect SOUP DAY!

What do I have at home? 32 bean dried mix, dehydrated veggies, can of chicken stock, 1 onion, couple of potatoes, pre-cooked rice. Sounds like soup to me!

Oooooh, and DH won't be home until late tonight: he has a Mason's Business meeting. It'll just be me, kitties, soup and SavingAdvice all evening long...

So far so good on this one. My application was approved yesterday, and they sent 2 tiny test deposits to my checking account to make sure I gave them the right routing info. It's supposed to take up to 3 business days, but there they were this morning, ready and waiting!

Now the account is complete and they are initiating the $5 deposit I told them to make during my application process. We'll see how quickly the money goes from my account to theirs.

I'm shocked, and amazed, and pleased all at the same time. My frugalness isn't necessarily rubbing off on DH, but it appears he is noticing and listening to an extent. A spouse that notices and listens, how novel. I'm kidding, of course, but it's still nice.

I bring this whole topic up b/c DH & I have talked about money not once but TWICE over the past 3 days. And not just who's going to pay if we go out to dinner, either. Actual, serious discussion. WooHoo!!

Turns out DH wants to have a beefier EF that what I require. Hey, good to know. Granted, he said "That way, the money will be there if we find something we need, or want"... To which I replied "As long as we pay the money back to the account." Puzzled look came from this, but we'll see.

The rest of this conversation was something like this

DH "We make good money, and should be able to buy what we want."

ME "I completely agree we should be able to buy what we really want and need. But, DH, I want to eliminate our debt b/c it is (hold on a sec, math time $350 old debt $300 car $500 house): $1150 of our monthly take home, over %25!!! Imagine what we could do with that money once it's freed up!"

I saw the lights in his eyes. Pictures of sugar plums and a motorcycle dancing in his head.

Last night's conversation was about what to do w/ my old 401k: roll it or take a disbursement. See, my old 401k plan let you take out loans & pay yourself back with interest (cool!) & payments were drafted from your paycheck. Had 1 loan to buy DH's first motorcycle last year, and then when we found the house we sold the motorcycle and paid off the loan (it cost us $100 to have that bike 1 yr, not bad). Then, took a loan on the 401k balance to put the downpayment on the house. Then, got downsized and there's no paycheck for them to take payments out...

Either way, I can either take a full disbursement paying a fee & having the company take out taxes, or I can have them take the loan balance off the top leaving me w/ enough cash to roll into say a Roth IRA. In this scenario, I'm responsible for the taxes myself. DH has been rooting for a disbursement, until i started to describe what benefits a Roth would give us. No eyes rolled or glazed over, he was interested and listened intently. He even said "We could affprd to put half down and finance the rest by the end of this year, but I know you're wanting to avoid the whole debt thing."

Woohoo! Like water rolling gently over a stone, I too can slowly effect even the toughest of obstacles.

Gonna start this off in a non-frugal fashion:

By 10p next Tuesday I will...

Go through my clothes and donate at least one bag to the thrift store. I will also make sure my remaining clothes all have a home in either the closet, the dresser, or in a plastic bin waiting for next summer.

I've decided to hold myself accountable by posting my goals here, online, where no one knows who I am or where I live and no one can contact me. Perfect!

Another board I was on (which was such a let-down, BTW), had a group that focused on one goal a week. Something small, reasonable, and if possible, attainable. Giving how my weeks seem to be flying by at this point, I figured I could definitely give this a try.

That was about 2 and a half weeks ago =/

Now that I have found my blog away from home, I've decided to bring the idea here.

One Week (any 7 day time period will do)
One Goal (may or may not be of a frugal bent).

I'm so tickled I could snort!

*SNORT*

OK, got that out of my system... Just got the AOK from Grand Yield Direct/Apple Bank: they've decided that I am in fact not a terrorist and therefore am worthy enough to have a no minimum no fee savings account at 5.25% APY. YAY!!!

Now I'm just waiting for my two tiny test deposits to hit my checking account so that I can go ahead and get started on this whole savings game. Translation: I've got a grand earning only 0.5% right now, hurry up!!

Jiggity Jog
Home again home again
Hot Dog!

Needless to say, I'm back from my weekend out & about. I'm tired, I'm sore, and while I didn't strike it rich I feel the entire trip was worthwhile (and still moderately frugal).

First of all, time away w/ DH & family is (almost!) always a good thing. And, when I'm not at home, I can't be wasting electric! I found some good gems, and my aunt bought DH & I a $50 salted bucket of dirt as our housewarming present! It's exciting, b/c there were some very nice pieces in there that we could probably sell off to more than pay for the trip. The hotel was $30 less than expected, and my parents paid for an amazing breakfast this morning. Yummy and frugal over all!

Speaking of this morning: mom & I played spades w/ family until 12a Saturday night after mining all day. Needless to say, we were pooped and slept like logs. Until, that is, my eyes popped open at 7a this morning. Argh!!! Can oversleep during the week, but can't sleep in on a weekend vacation? Anyways, it was mostly dark & everyone else in the room was asleep, so I put on my gloves and sweater over my PJs to get a notebook from the van and watch the sunrise. BTW, it was 28 this morning in western NC.

Anyways, the sky was perfectly clear so the sunrise wasn't going to be anything great, so I got the notebook, slid my keycard in the room door, and got NOTHING!!! I was locked out of the room at 7a in 28 degree weather!!!

After the first second or two of panic I was fine

I had keys to the van, so I wasn't going to die of exposure. Plus, the lobby was open and serving breakfast, so I went down to get a cuppa coffee and let everyone else sleep a while. An hour later I quietly knocked on the door, and got nothing. No problem, more coffee and let them sleep. Starting to jones for a smoke at this point, but whatever...

10 minutes later DH is speedwalking to the lobby looking completely freaked like he thought I'd been kidnapped. A bit of an overreaction on one hand, but stillv ery heartwarming on the other. Plus I think it earned him brownie points w/ my folks See, he remembered me getting up, but since it was 7a and pitch darm in the room he thought it was the middle of the night and that I'd been gone for who knows how long... Ooops!

Turns out the computer had changed the code on the lock, so neither of the keys worked. Of course, DF had to check this 2x per key before he would go to the lobby, but that's neither here nor there, I suppose.

I love allowance day... I didn't get one as a kid (just got lunch money for the week on Mondays), so I think that's part of the magic for me. My own little bit of money to do as I please. Woohoo!!

Even better: I still had $30 left over from last week's allowance. It's actually probably closer to $40, but I've started stashing all my change AND my doller bills in a drawer at the end of the day. Can't wait to see how that works out...

At any rate, having $30 left over will more than cover my dirt at the gem mine tomorrow, and a fair portion of dinner. A weekend getway for the cost of 1/4th of a hotel room. How Frugal!!

Maybe it's just me, but being frugal and being green are almost hand in hand. Here's some products and websites I find particularly Green & Frugal.

Wrap-N-Mat - wraps up sandwiches instead of plastic baggies
BioFresh Resealable Zipper Produce Bags - 12 bags measuring 10" x 11"
Evert-Fresh Green Bags - 10 Pack, Large (1.5 gallon bags measuring 9" X 21" X 6")
Bag-E-Wash "One box (30) of gallon size baggies washed and dried with Bag-E-Wash™ and reused 30 times each keeps close to 1,000 bags out of the landfill. Plus it also saves you approximately $100.00."
Frugal Environmentalist: A New Take on Resolutions
SimpleLiving Chances are, you are already part of the Voluntary Simplicity movement, and don't even know it![/url]
BagelHole.org Bagelhole.org is a non-profit, non commercial site to help individuals and communities move towards self-sustainability, self-reliance, and autonomy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The saying on my signature "Want to make God Laugh? Tell him your plans" has caused a phobia of the P word in my family for ages now. I guess it helps my vocabulary in a way. Please note the lack of the P word in this post
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I've been mulling over a debt payment 'strategy' to try and get my finances more in order and improve my floundering net worth. It's either increase assets or decrease liabilities when it comes to net worth, so I'm choosing the latter.

I've 'decided' to start hitting it heavy in January, and before everyone gets up in arms let me explain why! The money I 'intend' to put towards debt reduction is 1100 per month. For the next three months I will stash that amount in my current savings, because December will see the holidays, my car taxes, and my first property taxes on the house. ACK! By stashing 3300 over 3 months I will have more than enough to cover all three of those expenses in December, and what remains will hide in savings as a small EF. Sensible, yes? Oh, and for those who've taken a gander at the budget I posted in here, I will also be sending 300/month savings as my monthly 'payments' towards these bills for next year.

My known debts (more on this later) are as follows, highest interest rate to lowest (can't believe I'm actually posting amounts...):

Honda Card $ 2200 (came w/ the marriage)
Car $14900
House $59000 (more below)
Stud. Ln $ 8000
Hospital $ 1100 (DH back surgery last yr)
Inlaws $ 9000 (came w/ the marriage)

By April the Honda Card and hospital will be paid in full, giving me 1200/month to put towards debt. This is also tax season, and my federal income tax return (beefed up by the high interest rate I'm currently paying on the house), goes straight to student loans. Here's where I can't decide what exactly I want to do. If I put the full 1200 towards the student loans they'll be paid of in 6-7 months. If it's towards the car, it will be paid of in 11-12 months. OR, I could split the money up between the car, student loan, and money owed the inlaws.... Hmmmm...

As for the house, we are going to refinance it towards the end of next year. Sister is a loan officer at my credit union and has informed me that, for members, they refinance homes at 5% with no credit check at the appraised value as long as it's been more than 1 yr since purchase. And there's a $50 filing fee. This is good b/c the house will be worth about 20k more than what we owe on it at that point, without any improvements. Refinancing will cut my interest dramatically, and getting 10k in equity will allow us to bring the kitchen from 1969 standards to 1995 standards (plus some roof maintenance). The change in interest rate will be so dramatic that, even with owing 10k more on the note and escrowing property tax and insurance, my monthly payments will be about the same. Which means the $150 I currently set aside each month for property tax and insurance can be put to other uses.

So, there it is, out of my system, my battle 'strategy' in the ongoing Money War.

Alright, I know everyone is wondering how I can possibly have the audacity to put a weekend getaway under the Frugally Fabulous category. Well, I'm frugal and I'm having a getaway, which I think is fabulous

Actually, it could possibly pay for itself and then some, so I'll share. DH and I are going from upstate SC to western NC Saturday morning to meet my parents, aunt, and uncle at the

Mason Mountain Mine to hunt gem stones. Here's how it's frugal:

* We're taking DH's van (aka the company van) there and back, so we don't have to pay for gas
* We're sharing a hotel room with my parents rather thang etting our own (OK, yeah, this might be get a little weird)
* Instead of paying $10-$30 per person for one little pre-salted bucket of dirt that's gone in an hour, we're going for the $25 per person deal where you haul your own dirt and get to search all day long (in our experience, the most enjoyable way to go about it).

And other than the room and the gas, how is this frugal you say? Well, there will likely be a Shoney's buffet involved, but I digress.

This weekend is Frugally Fabulous because previous trips have always netted a hundred dollars worth of stones or more. My aunt & uncle go about 2x per year and have turned around and sold their stones back to the mine on several occasions. Others they've kept, had cut, and then made into jewelry (also profitable).

So, this weekend I'll be hauling backbreaking loads of 50lb buckets of dirt and sitting hunched over a sluce of cold water in 50 degree weather for anywhere from 6-9 hours. Sounds like fun, hm?

Don't worry, if I strike it rich, the proceeds will be broken into 3rds: EF, high debt, and WOOHOO!

Let me just say up front I don't want to do this. Period. It saddens and embarrasses me, which is odd considering I don't know any of you from Adam's Off Ox. Either way, I've done enough guess-timating in my life to know my Net Worth ain't what it should or could be.

I've perused the

How to know if you're wealthy thread, and it also is depressing and frustrating. The formulas are annoying at best, if nothing else because they mostly fail to consider cost of living. The net worth of someone in NY is going to look much better than the net worth of someone in upstate SC.

Let's take 2 folks and make it as simple as possible: assume they have neither debt nor savings, just a job and a house they financed completely.

FROM THE 2000 CENSUS
BROOKLYN NY
32135 MEDIAN SALARY
229200 MEDIAN HOME VALUE
188900 MEDIAN HOME ASKING PRICE
------------------------------------
SALARY + (MHV - MHAP)
72435 simple net worth

UPSTATE SC
33144 MEDIAN SALARY
112500 MEDIAN HOME VALUE
97000 MEDIAN HOME ASKING PRICE
------------------------------------
SALARY + (MHV - MHAP)
48644 simple net worth

By sheer numbers Ms. Brooklyn is doing much better than Ms. SC, even though Ms. Brooklyn can not likely meet her house payment on her salary. Frustrating.

With all that being said, all I know for sure is my net worth is currently negative (big surprise there ), a very obvious Frugal Failing. The good news (if you can call it that), is that this is using a conservative estimate on the value of my house. Going with zillow estimated value, I'm in the black by 10k.

Does that make me feel any better? ummmm, no, not really