Financially Fried

I'm feeling that kind of financial pressure that has me needing to breath into a paper bag for a minute.  You know what I'm talking about?

I'm sure it isn't anything I can't handle.

Breathe.  Breathe.  Breathe.

December's credit card bill was, um, big.  So was January's.  And for a chunk of time in there Hot was not bringing in a full paycheck. 

Part of that was my excellent new dishwasher.... and I've been without for almost all of 2010 so I'm not complaining about that at all.

The Subie had some issues and cost almost $300 (and two hours of my life) to fix.

The kids started gymnastics... there's another $300.

Hot has had 3 major-ish health issues in 2010... nothing life threatening but all adding up in doc visits and meds and such. 

The pellet stove went on the fritz and cost us almost $300 in part and labor.  The awesome guy that fixes it for us came back a few days later to fix a jam in the auger for free so I can't complain.  I should take him a batch of cinnamon rolls for that.

We had some restoration work done on some antique family furniture.... we got a great deal on it but it was still almost $300 total.

Then January brings the house payment and registration for two of our vehicles. 

And I toasted my brake pads AND roters.....  another cool $300.

I got the breakout for 2010 daycare costs.... I'm not even going to tell you.

This weekend the high speed internet dude is coming to our house and that's going to cost... you guessed it... another $300.

Sweet is doing yet another fund raiser... cookie dough and pasta kits this time. 

Next up is taxes and property tax payment.

The pressure pump is dying.  The built in microwave is dead and I really want to remodel the kitchen.  We are doing the next tiny phase of our remodel plan this spring by replacing the septic system so it is upgraded for a house with more bedrooms. 

Ok... time to focus on SOMETHING ELSE for a while......

Buyer's Remorse

So to address the recent rash of retail therapy in the blogosphere....

Yes, I have buyer's remorse and, yes, I have a small pile of returns to make because of it. 

I'm returning the wine glass rack that won't fit in my cupboard.  I may return the over-the-door rack that I didn't need... but it was on clearance so I might use it somewhere else instead.  I bought 2 extra rugs at Ross but paid about $5 each so I'll hoard those and use them to replace other rugs as the cats yak on them and whatnot.  I'm also returning the 6 cube cubie storage thing I bought at Lowe's.... I don't think it will work and, at $40, it was pricey.

I'm keeping the over-the-door organizer I put in the front closet.  I'm keeping the cheap shelf unit I bought for the laundry room... although it may go to organize the shed because it isn't working well in the laundry room.  I'm keeping the clothes pin bag because I've needed one for about 12 months and it was on clearance.

I'm totally keeping the 2" paint trim brush and the new organizing tubs... love them both.

And the paint and flooring samples were free.

I'm still shopping for the perfect organizing shelf system for the laundry room and now I'm shopping for a good way to turn our bathroom into a dressing room.... Damn... why isn't there an ikea in Montana?

Game

Do you play the CVS game? 

I used to play when they had good monthly freebies but I haven't been for a while.

But I needed more sunscreen.

So here's the deal I did today:

(Buy $25 of aveeno, get 10 ECB)
Aveeno face spf100 3oz.  $11.99, sale:  $10.99
Aveeno lotion spf85 4oz. $11.99, sale:  $10.99
Aveeno skin relief 11oz. $11.99, sale:  $9.99
Total Purchase:  $31.97
ECB:  $10
Aveeno rebate:  $10

Go back and get:
Schick Hydro Razor $9.99
Schick intuition blades (3pack) $10.99
Use the $10 ECB from above
Pay $10.98
Get another $10 ECB (buy $20 Schick, get $10ECB)
Then send in for Schick Hydro Rebate of $9.99.

So all in $56.95 worth of stuff.  Saved $4 in sales.  Saved $20 in ECB.  Saved $19.99 in rebates.

Not the best deal I've done but pretty good for all things I want, need and use.  I love the Schick Intuition razor and blades but they are so pricey I consider them a bit of a splurge for summer.  And Hot really needed new razor blades... this way he gets a razor and 5 blades for free.  And we had to buy new sunscreen before this weekend anyway so why not do a deal, right? 

Now to check the ad online to see if they have any other good ECB deals... I've got $10 in ECB to roll before August 1.

The OTHER gift giving months....

Well guess what? I'm thinking about budgets again.

We did NOT do the CSA this year. It was $300 for 12 weeks last year and I loved every minute of it. But.... for $25/week I can buy a lot of veggies at the farmer's market so that is what I've decided to do. (Along with Project Garden Plot (aka Ha-ha, try to get in HERE, deer)... which you may hear more about later.) So chalk up that point to freaking out about the economy. And I'm saving a few pennies to buy myself some new clothes after the baby..... or, well, in the fall. And a couple new maternity bras because people, mine are RATTY.

But what I'm really thinking about is gifts.

June-July is birthday, graduation and wedding months around here. This year we have one graduation gift, three wedding gifts, our anniversary, 3 kid birthdays, several family birthdays, Father's Day and um, that's all I can think of right now.

What do you get for graduation gifts? My husband says the only appropriate graduation gift is either cash or a check. So I'm going with that. And a card from the dollar store. Now to decide how BIG the check should be.

The wedding gifts we have for this year are mostly Hot's former students. They pretty much get a standard gift.... Target gift cards. So that's fairly easy.

For our anniversary, Hot got a chop saw. Or a miter saw. Or, well, it's a big ass 12" saw that will allow me to add exponentially to his "honey do" list. We are both thrilled. It is a little fuzzy as to what I got for our anniversary. Technically, I got new tennis shoes for Mother's Day (but I mostly used gift cards to pay for them) and the game "Pass the Pigs" from the kids.... I love that the kids get me a new game every year.... it is a tradition and a laptop for our anniversary. I think. But I haven't gotten the laptop yet. By the way... suggestions??

For Father's Day, Hot is getting (honey are you reading? Don't look.) reloading equipment. Really expensive reloading equipment. And a new cheese slicer... because he broke ours. Oh, and a very cool new silicone flipper.... because I banned the metal one to the bbq (it killed all my cookware and electric frying pan) and he broke the nylon one.

Sweet got 2 new pairs of shorts ($25), new swimming trunks ($9), a transformer ($11), a fake ipod ($20), a transformer music player thingy ($13) & a school backpack ($13.. I love Lands End clearance). I think that is all we got him. He's getting yet another transformer when the baby is born and maybe some school workbooks and school supplies.

Tuff is getting new swimming googles, a pink flashlight and, um, some other stuff for her birthday. And, um, something when the baby is born. Yikes... I better get on that, huh?

The baby is getting some new diapers and some pacifiers.

Father's day.... hmmm. My dad will get... something.... probably snacks from Costco... he loves that. Hot's dad will get money towards his season football tickets. My grandpa will get a card with a note telling him we put xx amount of money into savings for college for our kids in his name. He loves that. Oh, and pictures of the kids.

I haven't even thought about all the birthdays we have in June.... Hot got my mom a spidey because she mentioned she lost hers and he loves the one she got him. It's this stretchy spiderweb looking thing with plastic hooks on the sides that you can move around. You put it over a load of junk in the back of the pickup. He thought of that all by himself. I'm so proud. Then we have his sister, a 9-year-old niece and his dad. June is a busy month.

I feel the urge to document all of this out so I can figure it out and get busy because, well, ack, I'm going to hatch a baby here in 3 weeks or so....

Are you buying a new car??

Wise Bread has a post up about new car incentives. Anybody gonna bite?

I have some extremely un-frugal confessions to make to you, internets....

We bought a new car.

Well, ok, we traded in the 1999 Toyota Camry for a 2006 Toyota Sienna.

It's fancy. XLE and AWD. Leather seats and automatic doors and second row captain's chairs. I make everyone laugh when I exclaim over some clever little feature that is "like they designed it for kids" or something.... who, exactly, do I think they are marketing these minivans too? Non-families? But I do love the tinted windows and built-in pull-up window shades.

And this fugger has more storage than my kitchen. I'm not kidding.

And I dropped several hundred on some fancy-schmancy glass coating that promises me a crack-free windshield for 5 years.

Anyone out there remember the windshield on my old Toyota pickup? Yee-gads. The things we do in our youth.

Here's the funny part.... I never get to drive it. Nope. I'm still driving the Subaru. Hot Stuff has fallen in love with the van and drives it everywhere. I'm ok with that.

And still no car payments. (Yes, I'm bragging.)

Now, you might ask, short of selling a kidney or pimping out Hot Stuff on Tuesday nights, did we do that?? Helifino.

We got lucky.

I'm such a cheap-ass when we bought the Subaru (shortly after Tuff was born) they offered 5 years of financing and I decided to eat more mac-n-cheese and do it in two..... which put us, after the down payment, with payments around $500/month. (2.9% financing) We finished those up in October. (I had to take Hot with me to be the "heavy" when I told the insurance agent we wanted to drop it to liability-only.... still not sure about that decision.) And, knowing Hot was not going to be put off much longer, I had been skrimping for a down payment for a new jumbo-vehicle. It wasn't much of a decision.... Hot wanted a minivan with all-wheel drive. That leaves us with a long list.... a Sienna. I wanted a 2006 because that's when they upgraded the safety features. He wanted a 2007 but I vetoed that on grounds of budget limits. We found a good deal on this one and it was owned by people with no kids so the back seats are flawless. So we gutted it up and went for it. The financing was pretty sucky.... 5.5%... so we skipped that part. I'm still pretty pleased with the deal we got... I think it was fair.... even if I'm not completely in love with the idea of driving a loser-cruiser. I'll get over it.

Huh. That story wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. I got to play guitar hero at the dealership and enter a drawing to win a tv or a laptop or an ipod.... I'm still waiting for them to call and tell me what I won.....

The B Word

Elle has a post up about the dread word... BUDGET.

I don't have a copy of the most current budget for our household right now but here are some estimates:

House Insurance: $850/year
Pellets: $750/year ($250/ton)
Daycare: $8500/year
Vehicle Insurance (3 vehicles): $1700/year (geez-UM. Need to shop this around.)
Property Tax: $2000/year
House: $10,000/year
Propane: $300/year
Vehicle Licensing (3 vehicles): $600/year
Student Loan: $4000/year
Electricity: $1800/year (is $150/month average?)
Land line: $480/year
Cell phones: $1020/year (3 phones)
Internet: $265/year
Netflix: $200/year
Fuel: $3600/year
Groceries: $2400/year (this seems low)
TP & Stuff: $1800/year
Entertainment/Gifts: $1200/year
Hot Stuff Lunches: $400/year (not much in winter.... lots in summer)
Spending Cash: $960/year
Things I'm failing to report: Donations, shopping, home repairs, car repairs.... um, what else?

SHIT. It isn't pretty when you list it out like that, is it??

Things we've dropped: $47/month for health club membership is on hold until June.... I'll probably pick it back up for the summer so we can swim but I have to add Tuff for $6/month so maybe not. Video store rentals..... we were spending about $30/month so netflix is a great deal for us plus we can get tv shows and no fuel expenses driving to town to get or drop off a movie. Take out pizza.... we get take-n-bake from Costco or make it at home now.

Things we are getting more careful about: I'm planning to "shop" our insurance... but I've been saying that for years. We've done more "winterizing" work on the house but the price of electricity is out of control. We are watching our credit card bill more closely and really working to keep it under $1500/month. We are saving for some major home repairs that are going to strike at any moment.... like a new roof and a new water heater. I really want text messaging but I'm not getting it yet. I also really want high speed internet.

Things I WANT but I'm not buying because of the economy and/or our budget: frontloading washer/dryer, recliner, dvd recorder, new slipcovers for the couch, a new mattress, new flooring, headboards/bedframes.

Things we've bought but budgeted carefully for: a new fridge (happy anniversary 2006), an elliptical trainer (happy anniversary 2008), a new tv (happy birthday 2008).

How about you?

It is time to support the economy, I'm going shopping....

Ridiculous things I will purchase in an effort to support the economy.... come on now... we all have to do our part.

For the mama:
Be Band
Pink Converse
pale peacock blue curtain panels for the bedroom
Calphalon pans

For the daddy:
mp3 player
recliner
dvd recorder
Metallica cd

For the girl:
Pink Converse
Pink baseball cap
Skirt
lip gloss

For the boy:
jeans
socks
transformers
pre-school workbooks

For the baby:
pacifiers
baby legs
turtle night light
baby socks
Dr. Seuss onsies at Costco

The Dread Credit Card Bill January

Mmmm. Love this post about credit card debt.

Speaking of.... November & December were a little hard on the budget here at The 'Stead.

My "nose job" bill finally came through insurance and cost me more than I thought. Plus Christmas. Plus some serious work on the pickup. Plus another ton of pellets to heat our house. Oh and those omigod-cold temps are going to ding us when the (electric) heat bill arrives.

Well, it's officially taken care of (carrying a credit card balance makes me break out in hives... seriously....) but we made a conscious effort to cut back in January. Unfortunately, the billing cycle is mid-month to mid-month so I have half of December on this bill... but we shopped early so it isn't as bad as it could be... right? Sooth me here.

I'm not going to lie.... I'm not back in the $500/month credit card bills of my singleton days.

But if the bill is around $1500 I'm happy. Andy has cut back considerably on his "daily Bob's" purchases.... going from almost $200/month to almost nothing the last few months. I still spend a lot at Costco but it is our primary grocery source and I've cut out impulse buys almost entirely. We have a big line item for fuel. That's the problem with living in BFE.

We budget $40/each for cash each month. I mostly save mine for bigger purchases... like a dvd recorder or a new recliner. And I pay my library fines. And buy girl scout cookies. And I pay the kids the occasional bribe. This weekend it was a dollar each to help me clean up the dog poo in the yard. They scanned and located the piles and I picked them up. If they were too frozen to scoop they marked them with a croquet marker and I came back for them later that afternoon. It is a glamorous life I lead, isn't it?

Ok, so I know some of you are still gasping at the $1500/month credit card bill.... let me explain. I'm not buying myself a new wardrobe every month or anything. I have a Costco cash-back card and I try to put EVERYTHING on it. Fuel. Groceries. Car repairs. Doctor bills. Home phone. Cell phones. Internet. Netflix. I haven't figured out how to put the electric bill on it yet.... wish I could. Pellets are up to $300/ton and we use about 3 tons per winter.... on the card.

I know. I know. Using a card instead of cash isn't very "Dave Ramsey" of me, is it? But I haven't taken his course and I haven't committed to saving all that money over the convenience of plastic.... maybe someday but not today. For today I just bury my head and say "cash back, cash back" instead of listening to Dave's philosophy...

What about you?

Let's Get Cheap.

Ok, so over at moneycentral they are taking about 8 extreme ways to save money.

My question is... who DOESN'T reuse sandwich bags? Seriously? Those things are pricey.... for a few crumbs you toss them? Really?

The rest of the list, besides the reusing sandwich bags:

Turn your car off -- while it's moving. Ok, well, I don't do that... but I do make it a game to see how long I can go down the pass without stepping on the gas or the brake.

Stop saving money. I'm pleased to report we don't have to do this one... at least not yet.

Make your own cleaning supplies. We do this. It works just fine... it is cheap and enviro. I do miss softscrub. And I do confess to not giving up bleach... I've tried. I can't do it. Not yet. My sister swears by the greenworks toilet cleaner... she says it works so well she seriously doubts it is actually "green" at all. I don't use toilet cleaner because sometimes the dog drinks out of the toilet (sorry, tmi, I know) but I do sometimes give in and bleach it.... she's so lucky her dogs are too short to drink out of the toilet....

Stop drinking soda. I don't drink soda or "pop" very often. But try to pry a diet, caffeine free pepsi out of my husband's hand... go ahead. The compromise it buying it on sale at CVS with ECB's.

Move back home with your parents, at any age. Ha. Ha. Ha. If they saw us coming they'd lock the doors... if they had locks on their doors.

Get rid of your carpet. Trying. Can't talk Hot into it. But trying.

Hold a no-spend month. This is a clever idea. Maybe a winner for January when we are recovering from the holidays.

Anybody else? Clever ideas?

July Financial Checkin

Ok. My lordy. I'm over my rant from yesterday.

Over at Money Saving Mom it is time to do the July Fiscal Report.

So we will check in as well.

My June goals were to minimize the costs of attending my brother's wedding, use coupons wisely & effectively (effectively means without making myself insane), and continue tracking our budget. We tend to track more mid-month to mid-month because that's the time frame for the credit card but the mid-June bill was pretty over-the-top due to some spring projects, camping supply purchases and wedding expenses.

July's goals include figuring out how to easily and effectively (again, effectively means without making myself or those around me insane) use Quicken for budgeting, keep costs to a minimum to balance out June's costs and do a lot of fun but cheap activities with the kids.

I also took a long hard look at my closet. And realized I might have to go shopping. Let's recap. I budget $50/month to myself for clothing. I spent $109 for a dress and $20 for undergarments for the wedding. Gasp. I know. But I returned all those sandals in the photo because it was so freakin' cold I wore boots. And I spent $0 in May and $12.49 in April... so it balanced. So for July I went to Ross and got myself about 6 shirts from the clearance section. So I'm set again. I still need a pair of "weekend" shorts, another bra and a "spanx" top..... but my birthday is coming. And I plan to get new jeans this fall.

Have I mentioned I hate coupons??

But....

Here's the deal I just did.....

Background: In July if you buy CVS's 99 cent pantiliners then you get 99 cents in ECB's. So I got one of those last week. Last week CVS had buy Physician's formula mascara for $7.99 and get $7.99 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks) so I did that because I needed new mascara anyway.... the computer spewed out a $3 off on face care coupon.

So today I went in because Olay stuff was buy $20 worth and get $10 ECB's and the night cream that I love is $29.99 and was on sale for $24.99. Then I used the 99 cent & $7.99 ECB's and the $3 off skin care coupon AND a $3 off coupon from the newspaper insert. So I spent $10.01.... and the computer spewed out my $10 ECB and a $4 off a 20 dollar purchase..... so that's a good deal, right?

It's hard not to double count the ECB's.... If you roll them right you should only spend about a dollar per transaction.... but I'm just not that good at it. And I usually just get frustrated and buy what I want anyway....

And this cream will make me really beautiful and take away the sun spots on my cheeks.... so that's worth any cost.

Hard Earned Dollars

Here are thought provoking articles and some great comments regarding cash and credit.

From the great money saving mom site. Just found this site a few weeks ago. Love. It. Wish we had Walgreen's & Kroger & Tom Thumb. (They have a house brand of vodka... in a grocery store. How can you not love that?) But I am going to start shopping at CVS just because of this web site.

From my favoritest money-budget-bargain blogger. Mir. Yes, I AM on a first name basis with her. What? Well, ok.... one time she sent me an email after I asked about some fleece sheets... that's practically bestest friends, right? (By the way.... I didn't get fleece sheets. I still have the same set of dark green flannel moose sheets I bought for Hot Stuff in 2001..... Bless me, I am frugal.)

I think I need to read a Dave Ramsey book.

We are credit card people. We have one account (with two cards) and we put EVERYTHING on the card. I find that if I have cash I spend it and don’t know where it went. If I use the card I’m less likely to fail to put things down when I do the monthly break out of spending. Call me lazy. Go ahead.

That said…. We don’t carry a balance on our card. I can’t. It makes me anxious. And you know I go to great lengths to prevent anxiety.

I’m trying to get a handle on what other REAL WORLD people spend on things. Without giving away dollar amounts (yet) I will say…

Our monthly expenses are: cell phones, home phone, internet (dial up), electricity, health club, car payment (only 9 more months…. Just like gestation), student loan.

Expenses I don’t pay on a monthly basis but project out over the course of the year are: propane, pellets, property tax, homeowner’s insurance, vehicle registration (x3), vehicle insurance (x3), house payment, college funds, IRA’s, daycare.

Items to fit into the monthly expenses are: groceries, household (tp & stuff), Hot Stuff’s lunch money, fuel, entertainment (movie rentals & booze & eating out).

So what are YOU spending your hard-earned dollars on?

It's not fun... It's an Obsession.

I may or may not be completely budget obsessed right now because I may or may not have had an UNBELIEVABLE cell phone bill last month. Oops. I promise to try to do better and love as I should. Amen.

I was going through the credit card bill last night. Here is my version of fiscal responsibility...

Me, standing at the (cleared-off-completely-every-night-for-2-weeks-and-it-might-be-making-me-crazy-because-I-can-see-how-insanely-pepto-colored-it-is) kitchen counter eating chocolate chips out of a jar and reading off the various things we've spent money on this month.

*** I need to clarify something here.... most money-management gurus will tell you to cut up the cards to get a handle on your finances..... The Homestead (please-Lord-tell-me-I-dress-better-than-Suze-Orme) school of fiscal responsibility says to have one bonus-earning card and put EVERYTHING on it... then pay it off fully EVERY MONTH. Otherwise you have to try to remember what you spent cash on and run around looking for receipts under the seat of your car and in the lint-trap in the dryer and, well, that just isn't conducive to uninterupted chocolate chip eating.

Hot Stuff is drinking caffeine-free diet pepsi (can I get an "Ick" here??) and complaining I know every dollar he spends and he has no idea what I buy.... like the $8 he spends every day for lunch at Bob's Valley Market. I remind him I take my lunch to work and he doesn't want to know how much I spend at Costco keeping him stocked with caffeine-free diet Ick and ham.

This month I spent $54.89 at Target... a record low. A little bit of Easter clearance & a few important things like baby gifts, dish soap and m&m's. I made up for it by spending $319.99 at Costco.... which totally freaked me out until I remembered about $100 of that was stuff I got for my mom with coupons and she gave me cash for it and I stocked up on diapers & wipes & dog food to donate to the Humane Society. Whew. $127.19 at the local grocery store. Two trips to McDonald's and one night of Jade Garden take out. We were pretty frugal this month.... I was trying to skim the last little bit of money needed to do our IRA's out of the family budget. Of course, there are a bunch of charges for food & drink when Hot Stuff was out of town for training and the state only reimburses at $23/day so we ate it on those expenses and he spends way too much on sunflower seeds, diet pop & eating lunch out but he tries..... and next month I'm going to have to justify the $80 I spent on couch and chair slipcovers ($80 shipped... Pottery Barn.... totally worth it) and $12 (You pay $10 and get a $12 card) for coffee drinks (Buy 6 and the 7th is free) not because I need it but because I want it. And we had $35 this month in movie rentals... but that just provides fuel for my "Let's get NetFlix" plan. Although I did discover the library has the entire "Gilmore Girls" series on dvd so that could keep me occupied for a good chunk of re-run season.

I also finally got it together and switched Qwest & Northwestern Energy to checkfree so I can say "screw you and your 41 cent stamps too" to the post office... at least until I mail Christmas cards. And I've started paying all doctor's bills by phone with the credit card because, well, I might as well get some reward points for that ear infection, right?

Does anyone know of a fabulous FREE rewards credit card? Currently we have an American Express Delta card that costs $55/year (which is just stupid) and I'm switching to the free Costco American Express points card but is there a better deal out there??

So that's the boring budget report for last month....