mjrube94's Blog

We went out last Monday to celebrate Valentines Day / Anniversary. We went to an upscale Greek place. Everything was fine, but not worth the money. (For people who know me, when I say something is "fine" it means it's not really that great, but I don't want to be rude). Anyway, the food did taste good and the wine was great, but we left feeling a little let down.

Then on Thursday we ordered pizza for dinner. Doubly wasteful here because I defrosted something that hubby wasn't really into, so that went to waste and we paid for the pizza. Ouch.

Finally on Saturday we went out to dinner again (Christmas gift, along with a Broadway show). We went for more of a Bennigans-style restaurant and we left feeling great. We each had appetizers, entrees, and drinks, and walked out for $70 including tip.

Needless to say I need to get back to the discipline of NOT eating out so much!

I've been making good use of Paperback swap dot com. I just mailed a few more books and ordered a few I'm interested in. I need to update my inventory on half.com, because that's about to expire. Just need to find the time to go through them all.

Is anyone else amazed that it's already the end of February? The year is flying by, as usual...

Aaaah, I needed this!

We're off on Monday and I'm working from home on Tuesday, so I'm set up for a nice long weekend at home.

I picked my nephew up Friday night. He's staying until Sunday, which basically means that my kids will be fully occupied until then. Tonight we're all going to a friend's house for dinner, and the kids will be going to grandma's for a sleepover on Monday.

We're going out to dinner Monday night. (Cheaper than going on Valentine's Day), and we picked up pizza for the kids last night. I'm making an appetizer for tonight, using stuff I already had in the house, so I'm all set there.

I returned books to the library (before they were due, thank you very much). No fines yet during 2008. I also went to the Post Office to mail books for Paperbackswap.com.

So that about wraps up my spending. I'm planning my menu for next week, looking to use up a bunch of stuff in my freezer, but I'll need to go to the fruit/veggie store, probably tomorrow.

Have you guys tried these? Our printer broke, so I bought a new Dell Printer/Copier/Fax/Scanner for $150 minus a $50 rebate. I also bought an electric pencil sharpener for $20 minus a $10 rebate (ok, a bit of an impulse buy, but with two grade schoolers, I need sharp pencils and I can never get them sharp enough by hand!).

Anyway, a rebate copy of the receipt and the rebate submission form automatically print from the register. You go online, enter a few numbers, and boom, within a few weeks you get a check. I've done this several times over the years and it's always a pleasant experience. (You don't hear the phrase "pleasant experience" and "rebate" in the same sentence too frequently)!

I also deposited a few checks that I had, from my dad and DH's mom to reimburse us for stuff we bought them. The 15th of the month is big for us because that's when I get my first check, I pay most of the bills and get a good handle on where we sit financially. Our first installment of the vacation payment is due ($950) and we're trying to put $1000 toward the HELOC for the renovation we recently did. It'll be tough to get both. We'll see how it shakes out.

I always pay my ccs off in full each month. Last month, I thought I set up a scheduled payment for one of the cards, but I either forgot, or it didn't go through right. Whatever, the payment wasn't made by the due date. I made it the morning after. When I got my bill this month, they hit me with finance charges of $39.54. (No late fee, surprisingly). Anyway, I called up customer service and explained the situation. She told me she would give me a "one-time courtesy credit" and remove the charges on next month's statement. I was all set to pay them, but it's great that I didn't have to. All it took was a phone call.

There have been two other times when a call like this has done wonders. The first was calling Direct Tv a few months back (see previous post), the second was with this same cc, when they charged me the annual fee. (Does anybody pay an annual fee for a cc anymore?). They reversed that charge as well.

I'll keep my eyes open for other opportunities to save money with a phone call. If anyone has any others, I'd love to hear them!

Rereading the frugal books that I got from the library has reminded me of my dilemma: I'm quickly reaching the point where I've taken advantage of the obvious, easy financial changes, and the only things left are things I really (really, really) don't want to do. I guess what I give up going forward depends on how desparate I get!

The other thing I realized is that the advice is basically the same from book to book. Granted, I've read a lot of these types of books over the last few years, but there's not usually much new in them. I find it much more valuable to read through the blogs for a great website or find from one of the fellow bloggers.

I finally wrapped up my 2007 Flexible Spending Account. A check for $507.42 was deposited today (Yay!). I can now turn my attention to 2008 FSA. I already have about $200 in charges this year, so I'll try to get them in next week.

I also submitted the last set of claims for DS's speech therapist that are covered in network. We only had authorization to use her in network through December, and they wouldn't extend, so I now need to use her as an out-of network. The difference is about $15 extra out-of-pocket for me per visit. Still some coverage is better than nothing.

DH and I were talking about finances yesterday, and the recession that's about to hit (if it hasn't already). I realized that the place where I'm really feeling it is with my electric and gas bills.

I know food has gone up, but it doesn't seem like I've taken such a hit there. I know gas has gone up, but my driving has gone down, so if anything, that's been a wash for me. But my electric and gas bills are through the roof!

I'm on a budget billing plan for both. Both electric and gas are now up over $200/month each. I haven't yet, but it's worth going through the exercise of comparing usage this year over last. My guess is that maybe usage has gone up a little, but not enough to justify the huge hike in payments.

So my goal for the week is to do that comparison, and reread the frugal books to come up with some ideas on how to keep those bills down. Changes won't go into effect until they reset my monthly payment in 6 months, but hopefully I can work toward a credit at that point. Ouch.

A guy at work was running a super bowl pool. I paid $20 for a box, and based on the score at the end of each quarter, you can win money (or not). One thing I like is that your numbers change with each quarter, so if you're stuck with numbers unlikely to hit (5s are always bad), at least you're only stuck for a quarter. I know this is right up there with the Lottery in terms of wasting money, but we're not fans of the Giants or Patriots, so it will certainly make watching the game more interesting.

I took a few frugal books out of the library. One is Jean Chatzky's Pay it Down on $10/day. Good advice, but most I've already taken advantage of. The other is about raising a family on less than 2 incomes. (I forget the exact name), but basically it's about how where you can cut to allow one half of the couple to cut back to part-time. I've read it before, and it's a good read. I want to reread it now to see if there's anything I missed the first time around.

Be Free mentioned in her entry a $5 Walgreens coupon she received. I deleted mine from my inbox because I didn't think I'd be getting to the store today. Inspired by her, I decided to print it out and head to WAG to get my free after rebate items.

I bought Softsoap body wash, Fructis shampoo, Speed Stick 24/7 deoderant, 4 boxes of Kleenex, and 1 Ensure Plus for my dad.

Total cost: 24.04
Minus $5 coup: -5.00
Minus $1 Fructis coup: -1.00
Minus $4 WAG Kleenex coup: -4.00
Minus $.50 Kleenex coupon: -0.50
Dad reimburse Ensure: -9.00
Rebates (w/ 10% bonus): -13.71

So I make $9.17 on the deal!

I'm back from a business trip of a few days. I did great financially, because everything (hotel, meals, etc) will be paid by my company. I did breakdown at the airport bookstore and bought a few magazines to read during my 2 hour delay (on top of the two hours I arrived early)! I actually thought ahead and brought some books with me, but I read them on the trip down.

It's the end of the month, which means that today is the day I calculate my net worth. I have a feeling it's going to look pretty ugly, given the recent slide in the stock market. Our 401(k)s are the biggest chunks of money we have, and the market is down 8% already this year. Good thing I'm not planning on retiring for quite a while!

DH's had a bit of uncertainty on the job front. The company is not well run, and layoffs, relocations, job changes have become the norm. He's ok for now, but it's been very unsettling for us to be in this position. Job security has never been an issue for either of us (thankfully).

He's been working with a headhunter and looking outside the company for a few months now, but it's tough to figure out how aggressive to be. For example, he has his ideal jobs that he wants to pursue. Then there are others that would be ok. There are still others that he wouldn't normally consider, except in desparate situations. How do you know when to stop looking in one tier and start looking in the next one down?

In the meantime, we're taking a closer look at the spending. Nothing drastic (yet), but trying to position ourselves so that if something does happen, we'll be better prepared.

Always a challenge...

I just ordered my groceries from Peapod. What a great service! They sent out two coupons for free delivery (normally $6.95), and I have the total $ amount direct debited from my checking account which saves me another $1. I could have saved $2 if I could be a bit more flexible with the delivery time and date (which I can't). It's great being able to do the shopping from your home computer, no kids in tow, no rash decisions, etc.

It's shaping up to be a quiet weekend for me. Hubby is taking the kids to MIL's tomorrow, so I'll have the day at home to straighten up, organize, etc. Then I'm off on a business trip Monday for a few days.

Finance-wise, it's been a pretty quiet week. I ate at work a few times, but other than that have stayed on the wagon.

I just can't get my taxes right. After owing an absolute bundle last year (and the year before that, and the year before that), I paid some modest estimated taxes in the first half of last year, then changed my withholding to take more $ out of my paycheck for federal taxes. I didn't do any big time calculation, but based on the amounts, I felt confident that I'd at least be in the ballpark.

I logged onto Turbotax tonight to get an idea of how they would shake out. I'm still waiting on a few mutual fund tax forms (which will only make it worse), and it looks like I'll owe about $1500 Federal this year. I can't figure out the state amounts yet, because I need to have the federal information firmed up first.

What a bummer! One thing that I will do this year that I never seem to do in the past is file my NY taxes first (always get a refund), then use that money to help pay my federal bill.

In other news, brother and SIL called tonight. They booked the house we always get in the Outerbanks for this summer, so I'll have to send her our share sometime over the next month or so.

OK, I had an entry and lost it.

I had a good day today. I returned two things for $120 and $25, went to the bank and dry cleaners, and took advantage of clearance sales at the Children's Place. Also went to Modells to get new sneakers for the kids and a birthday present for a party on Monday.

My thought for the day is the cost of extracurricular activities. Two kids in various sports throughout the winter and spring, and for some reason all the bills are due now! $205 total for softball and baseball, $70 for volleyball, $25 for a soccer tournament this weekend, and $150 for a preseason baseball clinic. Yipes...

I'm getting ready to donate an old car. It was FIL's, and we got it when he passed away. I used it for a while, but started having trouble with it, and it wasn't worth dumping any money into it. It's a 1992, and the book value would be next to nothing, so selling it privately wouldn't be worth it (not to mention a big hassle).

I need to submit our medical receipts to get reimbursed from our Flexible Spending Account for 2007. I have until March 31, but I want the money . We have about $400 left. My printer at home broke, and for some reason I can't access the account at work, so I need to have hubby print everything out. I want to clear that out before I start submitting 2008 receipts.

Speaking of which, I went to the eye doctor recently. It was the first time I've been there in 2 years. I felt like my eyesight was deteriorating, but the doctor said the prescription was very close to what it was before. I bought a new pair of glasses (2 years for my current pair is a record!). We have vision insurance through work ($36/year for the whole family), so the whole thing ended up costing me $150 out of pocket. I was pretty pleased with that.

I'm starting to get my year-end tax statements. This is my least favorite time of year, because I always owe a bundle, but last year, I had additional money taken out of my paycheck, which will hopefully cover it. We shall see...

Wow, I gave into every impulse yesterday! I was picking up my dry cleaning, and had an overwhelming hankering for Chinese food for lunch (it's right next door). $5.67 spent. Ended up being just ok. Later in the day, had a hankering for the new Milky Way hot cocoa at Dunking Donuts. I've been holding off, trying to be good, and gave in. Picked one up for me and one for hubby. $3.60. Again, just ok. Then, a friend of mine asked me to go for dinner and drinks with her. $32.50, but totally worth it. So over $40 spent yesterday on impulse!

Today, in addition to watching football, I'm using up some stuff in my fridge. I had 9 carrots and a bunch of celery, so I diced them, used some to make a sauce, and froze the rest. I also caught up on some laundry and cleaned the house.

Also, on the plus side, we had a busy Friday night (DS had a birthday party, DD had soccer practice). Hubby suggested we order a pizza for dinner, but instead, I made pasta with shrimp and alfredo sauce (had the cream and parmesan cheese open in the fridge; needed to get rid of it, and I had shrimp in the freezer). I felt pretty good about that.

This should be a fairly ordinary week. Busy, as usual, but ordinary.

I have to start taking notes throughout the day so I remember everything when I sit down to blog. Here are my musings from the past few days:

Finally ate lunch at work. I didn't have time to eat breakfast at home, and forgot to pack my lunch, so I was absolutely starving. Ended up getting lunch at work. Bad news: Had sushi, which is expensive. Good news: Paid the $10.67 in cash. Moral of the story: pack my lunch the night before and leave a packet of oatmeal at work.

Got rid of Onstar. It came free for the first year we bought our GM car. After the first year, DH insisted on keeping it, even though we both have cell phones, AAA, etc. Cost about $14/month ever since. They switched from analog to digital last year, and we needed to have the dealer install a part. Things were so crazy last time we went to the dealer that we forgot to have him do it. Our subscription was automatically cancelled 12/31. Sin of omission, here, because I'm not going to say anything to hubby.

I need to cancel Netflix. I've had a DVD outstanding for 6 months (no lie). Can't find it anywhere in the house. DH looked online and the penalty is a $20 charge, so I'm going to eat it and cancel my membership. I'm tacking this on my list of 2007 financial issues, though, since it's really a holdover from that!

I also need to call my water company. We're signed up for budget billing and pay $27/month. (Water's cheap in NJ). I have accrued a credit of about $47, because they've charged us more than we've used. When I went to look at the statement, it doesn't show usage, just the budget billing amount. Bizarre. Also can't check accounts online, so I need to call up. One of my targets for the year with all of my utilities is to reduce usage by 10% (totally arbitrary number). I'm not sure how reasonable it will be for the water bill, because it's so low to begin with, but electric and gas for sure.

I don't have big plans for the weekend. DH is going out with some guys Saturday night, and we're staying home on Sunday. I'm going to take advantage of the time to take down all of the Christmas stuff and put everything away. Lofty goals, for sure...

Forgot to have breakfast at home this morning, just had coffee. Brought my lunch to work, but was still hungry on the way home. I couldn't stop thinking of all of the stuff I could stop and get in the train station - candy bar, slice of pizza, hot pretzel. But I resisted temptation, and hopped right on my train. Didn't stop for a paper either.

I started keeping track of my groceries on the computer. Super tedious, so I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up, but I'll try.

I managed to cross a bunch of things off my list today. Set up an appointment with the eye doctor for Saturday. I haven't been in 2 years, and I can tell that my sight has gotten worse. I'll definitely need a new pair of glasses. Thankfully we have vision insurance, which covers some of the costs.

Speaking of insurance, I finally called them regarding the extension. I need to jump through hoops and fill out all sort of documentation in order for the speech therapist to be considered in-network. Otherwise, I can use her out-of-network. I need to see the forms to see what I'm up against, but I'll definitely fill them out.

I did my first grocery shopping of the new year, and stopped at CVS to take advantage of some of their ECB deals. One of the things I'd like to do in 2008 is to track my grocery spending a little more closely. I'd like to start a grocery book. I tried this last year but it was a bit tedious. Very informative, though, so I'm going to take another stab at it. Curious to see what I learn.

I've been pretty good about cash out so far this year. I spent about $11 for a birthday gift, and I had to spend $44 on a subway pass for work. Not much else. I'm also proud of myself for bypassing Wendy's yesterday while I was running errands for dad, and having lunch at his house instead. Still no money spent at work, either. Not bad.

In addition to the fight I need to have (still) with the insurance company, I need to call my mail order rx company. My doctor was supposed to give me a 90-day rx with one refill, and they're saying she forgot to indicate refill, so I need a new prescription, so I need to straighten that out. On the plus side, they gave me a generic instead of a name brand, which cut my cost from $100 for a 90-day supply to $77.34, which will save me over $90 this year. (It was costing me $150 for 3 months at CVS, so mail order really pays. If you can use it, it's worth checking into).

DS has an art class tomorrow after school, then I'd like to putter around home and get some stuff done. We had company all through the holidays and I'm having trouble getting the house back in order...

Didn't have a chance to speak with the insurance company yet. It's been a busy few days.

Stopped for gas yesterday ($48.25), but I put it on my Shell MC, which gives me 5% on Shell purchases and 1% everywhere else, and I have enough credits that it will be covered. In retrospect, I probably should never have gotten this card, because there are others out there that will give you 5% on gas no matter where you go. But when it came out a few years ago, those other cards weren't available, and the bonuses were tripled for the first three months, which made it really attractive. Perhaps later in the year when I get some other things settled, I'll look at this as well.

Today we have basketball practice for DD and DS, then DD has a birthday party. In lieu of gifts, the mother asked that we donate a book to the elementary school library. Seems like a great idea. Then we have friends over during the rest of the day...

I've done well financially so far this year (I know, it's only been three days)! The only money I've spent is $.50 each day for the newspaper. (I don't make this a habit, but with football playoffs coming, you can't beat the NY Post). I've eaten breakfast at home and brought lunch to work so no money spent there.

DS's speech therapist is here this afternoon. We finally won the battle with the insurance company to reimburse us for our costs. Unfortunately, she charges $100 per session, of which $84 is "reasonable and customary". I have a $20 deductible per visit, so they give me back $64 per session. Not bad, considering I thought I'd get nothing for a long while.

I need to resume my battle with them, however. The therapist is out of network, but they gave me an exception to treat her as in-network because nobody else was available in our area. The exception ran out on December 13th, but we still need her. We're trying to get them to extend the date, and they're balking big time. I guess they need to make it difficult to keep them afloat financially, but man is it frustrating! So I'll call and see if I can make any headway with them.

Hubby's uncle passed away, so we need to go to the wake tonight and funeral tomorrow. We'll have to pay the babysitter tonight, and we bought flowers for the wake. (I'd prefer a charitable donation in his memory, but I lost out).

We've also got friends coming over tomorrow and Saturday for dinner, so I'll need to go shopping for that. This year, I'm categorizing that as "entertainment" rather than "groceries" so I have a better idea of what I'm really spending.

That's it for now. Have a great day!

I just finished getting the things together for the kids' lunchboxes. (Gotta love January 1st. Normally I do this at 7 in the morning as I'm trying to get out the door to work, but not this year!). Anyway, I pulled out my packet of oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow, and packed some healthy things to bring to work for lunch.

I spent over $350 last year eating in the cafeteria. (It's conveniently broken out on our pay stubs). Unbelievable. It didn't seem like that much each time I spent $1 or $2, but it really added up. Curious to see if I can keep this up throughout the year.

I also walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes and spent no money, so I'd say I had a pretty good day...

OK. I went through the finances and balanced the checkbook, so I'm ready to start 2008. The day didn't go as smoothly as planned, though, as DS went to the doctor and has strep throat. I'm a little cynical of the diagnosis, because his throat doesn't hurt and he doesn't have a fever, but I'm just a mom. So I paid the copay and got the prescriptions. We were supposed to get together with friends tonight, but are staying home instead, which is just as well.

I didn't have time before the end of the year to submit a few outstanding medical claims, and to finish filing my flexible spending claims, so I'll take care of that later this week. The plus is that sometime in January I'll be reimbursed for these expenses, which have already been paid out.

Broken Arrow's comment to my last post got me thinking. It's not enough to say my resolution is to "watch my money more closely", although of course I want to do that. So I settled on these 4 specific goals to start: 1) No ATM fees. I didn't tally it up, but I easily spent $100 last year on mac fees. All it requires is a bit better planning on my part. 2) No library fines. I can't add this up because I just paid it with cash on hand, but my last fine was over $23 alone! Wouldn't surprise me if I spent over $50 on this last year. 3) Don't eat out/take out unless I intended to beforehand, and no more than once/week to start (including fast food/pizza for the kids). This means that I have to plan my menus ahead of time, and have food on hand that I can cook in a pinch. 4) Don't get food at work. It's subsidized, so it doesn't cost THAT much, but still cheaper to eat at home or bring it with me. I'll think of others as I go along, but this is a start.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy 2008!

I've retrieved my blog from the "retired blog" list and am going to try to get back into the daily (more or less) blogging habit.

I read the entry on this site about not making New Years resolutions. I see the point (why wait until New Years, you don't expect to keep them anyway, etc.), but I've always been a resolution girl. There's something about starting fresh with a clean slate that appeals to me.

So naturally, one of my resolutions is to be better about my finances. That didn't happen in 2007. I didn't track anything, didn't watch carefully, etc.

So I started today by calling Direct Tv. I told them that I've been receiving offers from Cablevision, and wanted to see if they could do anything about the price I'm paying. They switched me over to their customer retention department, and offered me $16 off per month ($10 on my basic package and free DVR, which I pay $6/month for) for a full year. They are also giving me free movie channels for 3 months.
As an aside, I did this about 18 months ago with similar results. All it took was a phone call and pleasant demeanor.

I'm looking forward to blogging more. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

I officially ended my participation in the coupon trains today. I've been thinking about it for a while, and have seen several of the train members jump over the last few months for various reasons. I guess I finally realized/admitted that I wasn't getting enough REALLY great coupons from it. I was taking coupons for stuff I could use, but nothing that I couldn't do without. So with that, and the pressure that comes from getting it and knowing it needs to be turned around quickly, and the cost of mailing it ($4 each), I decided to call it quits.

I feel good about the decision though. I've needed to make some small changes like this for a while, so I'm glad to put them in motion. Another change: I'm going to start having my property taxes taken directly from the checking account. I've been meaning to do this for a few years now (I know - pathetic), but I just got my stubs in the mail today and it had the enrollment form for autopay, so now I really have no excuse.

Another long overdue change: I started having the kids do chores. They're 6 and 8 now. They both make their beds, put away their clothes after I fold them, DD sets the table and gets the mail, DS puts the recyclables in the garage and brings up the garbage can, and they both need to clean the playroom together. It may not sound like much, but it's been a really positive thing for me. I'll add more to their list as I think of them.

Finally, though I have mixed feelings about this one, we're dipping in to savings to pay off some debt/bills. We have about $4500 on a 0%cc that expires in September. This was from a home improvement a while back where we added a room and bathroom to our house. We also have $2700 for some other necessary home improvements, and the $1000 tax bill from the audit. So we're cashing in some mutual funds to wipe that all out. We're finally ready to start fixing the bathroom that was damaged in the flood last October, and I want to have the rest of this stuff cleaned up (financially) before we start the bathroom.

So alot's been going on...baby steps, but I feel positive about them. We'll see how it goes.

Ouch...got a certified letter in the mail yesterday. The state of NJ audited our 2004 tax return and found that we understated our income by $2600, which results in taxes due (plus interest and penalty) of about $1000.

I'll double check to make sure, but I think I know what happened...NJ doesn't allow you to deduct 401(k) contributions the same way the Federal Gov't does. I always get multiple sets of W2s, because I work in NY and live in NJ, so I must have submitted the Federal W2 with my NJ taxes, which would show the lower income amount.

Is there ever a good time to unexpectedly be told that you owe $1000? I don't think so, but this hurts more than usual. Sigh...

It's been forever since I've blogged. Looking over my last few posts, each of them start that way. I'm swamped, but I've been swamped for as long as I've had kids, so that can't be it. I guess I just haven't been focusing so much on finances lately. At all. No major problems, everything humming along, but nothing exciting to blog about either.

Before I blog, I like to catch up on a few of the blogs on this site. It seems like many of the "old-timers" that started on this site around the time I did are posting less, or not at all. Remember Retire@50? What happened to her? I used to really like reading her blog. And PricePlus was always one of my favorites. Even the ones that are still posting seem to be doing it less frequently. (Except Ima - I'm always inspired by you!). I check in on some newer blogs now and then, but I haven't been able to follow them as closely as I'd like to. I'm not giving up, though. I just need to figure out a way to do it.

OK, pity party over. Here are some financial happenings over the past few weeks: Went on the annual vacation to the Outerbanks. Always relatively cheap. We split a house with my brother's family, and eat in every night but 1, so it's not that expensive.

Daughter made a travelling soccer team. We're really excited for her, but the letter literally went like this: Dear Daughter, Congratulations on making the soccer team. Please forward $375 and a copy of your birth certificate no later than July 20th. I'm going to track how much I spend on all of this just to see what it runs me.

I need to go cook dinner, but it was great checking in...

You have to be on your toes all the time...I looked at my bank statement online, and saw a $10 maintenance fee. I've never been charged this before, so I looked up the fee schedule and saw that for my regular checking account, there's a $10 fee if you're balance falls below $10. We're not talking average daily balance. We're talking: If even one day during the month falls below $500, you're hit with the fee. I called up and got it reversed, but I need to do some thinking now, as the balance can drop below that with the normal ebb and flow of bill payment. Just another thing to keep my eye on.

In other news, school ends next Wednesday. I think I'm looking forward to it more than the kids. I had to drop some cash for teacher gifts...well worth it. I'm one of those that know I could never do that job, and appreciate the fact that these people put up with my child plus 19 others every single day.

I've been pretty unfocused with my finances lately, so I don't have much more to report. Got to get back on the wagon...

I forgot where I first heard about the paperback swap website, but I decided to give it a shot. My sister passed along 3 dozen paperbacks...the kind of quick-read mysteries that I used to enjoy. But I find I have so little spare time now, and when I have time to read, I'd rather read different types of books. So I posted them all, along with old books of mine.

The company gives you 3 free credits (each credit allows you to "buy" a book) when you post your first 9 books. Thereafter, you get 1 credit for each book that you swap. The only cost is for you to mail a book if someone else wants it.

So I ordered 2 finance books that I haven't read, as well as a diet book that I had many moons ago but have since gotten rid of. Even better, 3 of the books that I posted were on other members' wish lists, so if they confirm that they want them, I mail them out and get 3 more credits. Cool find. Can't wait for my "new" books.

MIL is thinking of maybe moving up by us in a year or two when she retires (or not). There is a brand new townhouse community that would be perfect for her. We went to the open house today (with her) and she liked it, but I think she got cold feet about actually moving.

Our original plan was to buy it now and rent it for the year or two until she gets here. Now we want to see if we could rent it indefinitely and more or less breakeven, so if she never decides to move we wouldn't be taking a loss.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no experience as a landlord/second property owner, so I have my work cut out for me. I need to run the combination of numbers (down payment/mortgage/term), and research expected rents. I also need to read up on the accounting/tax issues surrounding owning a second property. The fun never ends...

This is the best one I've had in a while, though it definitely cost me. Dropped the car off for an oil change and other regular maintenance (should be about $200). Got my passport renewed (a whopping $107). It expires in June, so I had to do it. I've been thinking of getting the kids passports just so they have them, but it would be $92 each for them, so I'm going to wait on that for a while. Went to Walgreens and picked up a bunch of their free after rebate items. No $ out of pocket as I used a WAG giftcard. Went to Eckerds for 2 FAR items and to use a raincheck. Went to the post office to mail a half.com book, and went grocery shopping. Paid the town taxes, and went to the bank. Phew, I'm tired just writing about it.

So I think I'm pretty much caught up with life. DD needs to write thank-yous for her Communion gifts, and I need to figure out how to upload the pictures from my digital camera to the computer. I'm assuming it shouldn't be that tough. Wish me luck...

Inspired by Kashi, here's my US map. I hope the link works. Only 18 states (35%). There are a few that I'd still like to hit, but I just don't see most of them happening until retirement...


create your own personalized map of the USA

So the Communion was a success. Everything went well, DD was a bit nervous but did great. The party was followed by a 3-day business trip which is now over so I can relax a bit.

I'm working from home tomorrow and plan to get back on track. Property taxes are due and need to be dropped off, the car needs to go for an oil change, and I need to renew my passport. Looking forward to a productive day...

A few years back, I opened up savings accounts for my kids at Affinity Bank in California. They had a special program where the first $500 earned 10%. I received a letter in the mail today stating that they've changed the program requirements and, in order to keep that rate, the custodian of the account (me) needs to have a "Gold Checking Account". Minimum balance is $500 and there's an $8 fee per quarter if you don't meet it.

I suppose if I lived in California and needed a regular checking account, this might be a good deal, but given that I'm in NJ, it's not that hot. So I'm going to write them a letter asking them to close the accounts and forward me the money. Bummer. At least it was good while it lasted.

I see that I haven't posted for a while. The Communion is Sunday, so I've spent most of my spare time taking care of the last minute details associated with that. Hoping to be more in the swing of things in the middle of next week.

In the meantime, we did pay off the HELOC with Hubby's bonus ($6300+), so that's cool. Still waiting for my NYS tax return to come in. I asked for it to be sent electronically. I'm assuming that since I waited to the last minute with everyone else, they're running a bit behind.