No, not a dumpster! (not yet at least)

I went yesterday on the way to the bank to deposit my $14.71 and stopped in at a place I've been wanting to get to for some time.

In my town there is a lady financial planner (referred to her by my Dad's friendly banker friend). We had a nice visit and if she passes a few more of the Frugalis Frustration Level Tests (ha - I won't turn over my money for someone else to manage nor will I just follow all the advice just because someone tells me it's a good idea).

I mean...

...if I don't frustrate HER too much, we might just be hooking up to let her assist Hubster and I with so many of the issues we have right now with facing retirement, downsizing, making a large financial contribution to a charitable 'entity', a possible trust to insure one of my sons is always taken care of, etc., etc., etc. plus all those icky 'end of life' estate planning issues that will likely be soon forthcoming? I need help. I want to hear educated pro/con arguments based on OUR financial picture, not the universal 'average'.

So, looks like I may be diving into the deep end with the big boys.

So far: PRO-
1)She's appears to be - not a snob. Important to me.

2)Hourly fee based.

CON-
1)She ???might??? be really tuned into annuities and maybe even sells them, I'm not sure, but it'll be a hard sell if that's the case as I'm very leary of them.

Nothing is firm yet. Hubster has yet to meet her. He'll have to come away with the same positive feelings (his spidey sense) or it'll be a no go.

We live in a small town. There is another planner in town, but he's a he. heheehee! Anyway, since I'm projected to be the longer liver, I want to start and stay with some one for the long haul (fingers crossed) of my future financial lifetime. I'd rather go with a female who understands finances from a woman's security point of view.

Okay, folks that's all the news that's fit to print so far today.

No-spending has transpired today.

I did come home yesterday and moved that $14.71 out to earn interest and just now updated the $20 Challenge log (a bit - I'm still not done) over to the left.

Thanks to all of you at Saving Advice dot com I was very comfortable in my discussion with her and she was impressed with my knowledge base. She doesn't know I have all of you smarties in my back pocket!!

Would you ever use a financial planner? When?

NJDebbie commented on our low mortgage balance. We bought on a 15 year mortgage, a somewhat smaller house (ie not a McMansion) with lower pricing than most folks do, but it needed lots of elbow grease. And, we've done the work and added a lot of value to our place. There is a good deal of equity tied up in the walls.

I'm ready for it to be paid off, and even as that is about to happen we are thinking of selling! We keep tossing it around.

I love my house, but the acreage it sets on will likely be problematic for us as we age in regards to lawn-care. Two and a half acres of rolling yard that has slopes and cross fences and creeks and LOTS of trees to be weed-eated around. I don't want to have to rely on my kids and grandkids to keep up the yard as I grey.

The latest discussion is just how many months of lawn-care we could have done for us with the amount we'd pay for a realtor's fee if we sold and rebought elsewhere.

We're doing a lot of talking, going back and forth on keeping cash out of a house vs. paying off early. The experts all disagree and we can't make up our minds!

Meanwhile we are doing a lot of getting rid of stuff now so that our kids don't have to go through it like we did on Hubster's parents house. We have way, way too much stuff! Much of it inherited from an admited pack-rat. We've been busy craigslisting and ebaying it.

But first you must sort, clean, investigate pricing, discuss all the finer points, etc. Me? There are days I just want to call the Disabled American Veterans and tell them to send their biggest truck and a couple of hefty workers to haul it all OFF!

Yet my frugal side butt-puckers and then we go back to trying to rid ourselves of 'stuff' and be good stewards at the same time. Being good in this train of thought is a lot of work!! Being charitable and just giving it away sounds ever so much nicer! Having depression era parents that harped the lesson home makes for a tough-row to hoe when the ease of just letting stuff go raises it's head.

How to hack our frugal dna strands?

Any one have a creative idea? thoughts?

...or is slogging through our only option? We've discussed having an auction, etc. There is just so much STUFF!

Hubster and I having major conflabs the last few days about whether or not to pay off the mortgage. If we paid it off today it would be $13,470.06 which is 32.27 more in interest from 8/1 to now plus a $13.00 legal recording fee. Not too shabby. I must say that it takes a lot less fees to get OUT of a mortgage than it does to get in one!

I just updated the sidebar with the mortgage balances over there on the left. I've been quite remiss about keeping all those doo-whatch-a-doodles over there updated. I was nigh on to six months late keeping the mortgage portion over there updated. Of course, all the payments have been made on time.

Today was a no spend day.

Back from mini vacation and need to resolve to tighten purse strings, because before we left I had gotten into a 'spoil me' spending hoo-hah that has to stop! Maybe it was rebellion against the unemployment thing or something. Budgetary restraints have got to prevail here.

House budget spent $22.84 yesterday on gasoliine, used a $50 AT&T reward card to make the purchase, this card was saved for gas for the trip. Used $22.00ish =/- of it on gas while we were gone, and this refills car afterwards. Remaining balance somewhere around $5.

Trip was good - just THE Hubster and I - we got comped dinner out for both of us on two different nights and tickets to two different performances. This was a close to home trip - about 4 hours away. Paid FrugalSon $20 on Saturday for house/dog sitting while we were gone. He had free eats while here.

I'll post some pics of the accomodations when I get a chance. Need to upload them from camera.

Just so you know, this was an inexpensive trip - a 'resort' sales pitch weekend. We paid our dues by listening to the sales presentation, rather got the bums' rush since Hubster still unemployed. However, to their detriment to my way of thinking none of them ever asked us if we had the financial resources to buy w/o a 'salary'. Phhppttt...for all they know I might be a heiress or somethang! Doncha' know!

No biggie, as we already own a timeshare elsewhere and can trade into their resort anyway, plus I'm already on the deed to this place as a co-owner with my parents, I had just never seen the place. I'll inherit it some day and that's the main reason I went was to check it out. I just don't like it when people presume to know our financial status based solely on income. It's a false reading.

Anyhow, back to costs - we had paid a small fee about $99 last September when he still had a job for this package. We ate frugally and packed a box of groceries/snacks/pop along with us. Figured it best to use it while he had the time off. No telling when/if he'll get back to work. Budget for entire trip was $200. Came home with some cash, have yet to count it, but well under budget.

I had a no spend day yesterday.

A good quote I found on a 'horror'scope page - "The border between discipline and habit is often hard to distinguish, but that is precisely the difference that you have to keep in mind... Habit is mindless and unconscious, whereas discipline is self-imposed and suited to achieving your goals."

Went yesterday with CashHappySon trying to get his taxes prepared so he can have money for a large ticket that he has to pay. No fast action there as we got to the free AARP tax assistance at our local library too late in the day to get on the list - they closed at 3:00, we got there at 2:15 which was the earliest he could make it after work and they were already booked. Will try again on Friday.

Yesterday was a spending day as I paid for some custom reframing of an Native American Indian art print that my Dad had gifted me years ago and the picture had slipped from the matting and it needed help. Updated the matting to new colors and it looks great. That cost me $43.00 & some change, but well worth it. Love the new look.

Also bought fast food chicken sandwiches for the crew & FrugalSon's girl-i-o who has now been back in the picture for a few weeks. So, she was over to the house to eat yesterday before they went out to get his haircut and to the community center to workout and walk on the indoor walking track there, then he dropped her at work. Lunch for 4 - $8.32. His hours have dropped drastically and she was told they would be on 'cheap date' status until his hours pick up again. Here's Mom hoping a leopard can change her spots!

Hubster sold one of his old, Old, OLD computers yesterday for $25 to a young girl off of Craigslist. She'll be happy with it. Another old one he's got on there for $50 hasn't generated any response yet but was put up late yesterday afternoon.

I went Monday over to my booth and collected a check there for January sales. I met my booth rent and made enough to keep me satisfied with the low amount of effort that it takes to generate that income (+$169 & change). I sold a couple of small items on ebay (+$17.82) and shipped them out on Monday (-$2.35).

On ebay one of my books sold this week and Hubster sold one of the computers & monitors laying around the house extra (he's got a bad habit of upgrading REPEATEDLY) for more than we had in it so we're up. And, better - that money ($525 minus ebay & paypal fees) has gone back into the emergency kitty. And nice too - it's out from underfoot where we really had no place to store it so it's been decoratively sitting at the end of my bed.

Also this week FrugalSon paid the kitty back $100 on his remaining balance for his new motor - so he's still down to us to the tune of about $600.

Yesterday Hubster braved the 2009 ice storm to ship out the computer ($35.77) which was covered by the buyer and got the tag renewed for his car which cost $83.50.

A small bit of financial smiles came forth when Hubster reminded me that the checks we are out of will be replaced FREE because of the type of 'Old-Timer' account we have at the bank. Yeah FREE! I'm calling them today to order up.

FrugalSon although not on the schedule (when is he ever on the schedule any more??? They've cut his hours at Burger Arches quite harshly) yesterday got called in for four hours worth of work unloading the truck. When the ice storm lets up we are going into the metro area to see if we can get him on at one of the several major hospitals in our area.

CashHappySon called a night or two ago wanting to know if his W-2s had showed up yet or one of the two checks he's got coming is in. 'Nope' to all three, but I'm fine thanks for asking!! :< He's so self-centered these days - I didn't talk to him but his Dad did - the boy did not even say good-bye but just hung up when he had his answer. GAAAAA! What kind of child have I raised?

I tried to reach him the other day to take him with us when we went to see the new baby, but his cell phone has been cut off - Not a big surprise. I don't know if he's going to work or not - supposedly some girl he works with was going to be giving him a ride. Hopefully he is more polite to her than he's been to us. Fact is, he told me the other day he doesn't care if he keeps his job or not! Exactly the problem I tell him.

Really, does this bald spot on my head show where I've torn the hair out?? I've tried that colored hair spray paint but I'm not sure it's going to work for such a major balding!!! How much is this 'coverage' going to cost me??????


To the $20 Challenge I've got:

$005.54 balance
+010.37 in a purse cleanout
_______
$015.91 MTD

2009 Challenge Total $15.91
Cumulative Challenge Total $1018.69

I listed three more books yesterday and will try to get some more done today. There are scads and scads of them that need to go!

Yesterday was a NSD for me as the only time I left the house was to drive FrugalSon in the ice ruts to work.

FrugalSon found a nickel in the laundry to add to the challenge.

$20 CHALLENGE

$005.49 balance
+000.05 laundry donation
_______
$005.54 Jan MTD

2009 Challenge Total $005.54
Cumulative Challenge Total $1008.32

No, he's not in the doghouse. I start the clothes to washing and he moves them to the dryer and folds and puts away as part of his daily chores that come along with still living at home. He also does dishes on his nights off and every morning puts away the dried dishes from the night before. He's 22. For those of you just tuning in he also pays a small Room & Board stipend to the First National Bank of Mom Frugalis.

I am feeling some better. Yesterday I was dressed to shoes, with makeup done and everything and think I'll be able to get to the same level of alertness today. I do like the newish mucus relieving medication - sorry, this is gross, but it does thin the gunk so you can rid yourself of it. 3 Thumbs Up! Uhhh, yeah, well, I didn't say it doesn't make you loopy! So....ummm yeah, Two Thumbs Up!

Yesterday I was feeling so much better that I got about 10 items listed on ebay. And woke up this morning to see that one of Hubster's computer peripheals did sell and he's busy packing it up now for shipping tomorrow. It was one of four sets he had bought for resale, so at least he's on his way to paying back the CC.

And a few of the things he had listed on Craigslist have sold as well. YEAH HUBSTER. My deal with this is not that we don't have room, but that technology moves at such a fast pace that it's better to move it along while it is still viable!

FrugalSon is down with this creeping-crud now. CashHappySon came by to pick up his **OMG $968 OMG** cell phone bill & several letters from the bank on overdraft charges!! Did I say OMG? O.M.G.!!!

The boychild is one stubborn kiddo and will only learn his lessons the hard way. Of course the cell phone company cut your phone off! What the holy-heck do you do to rack up a $968 phone bill???????

Yesterday was a No Spend Day!

Adding to the challenge:

$20 CHALLENGE

$004.27 balance
+001.22 change from OTC meds & kleenex
_______
$005.49 Jan MTD

2009 Challenge Total $5.49
Cumulative Challenge Total $1008.27

Medical update: Feeling a tad better today, just can't swallow much without pain and now FrugalSon is getting this crud. Hubster had it first bringing it home from his last week of work.

Prices at the pharmacy for OTC for mucus - name brand $20.99 - generic $7.00. Quite a spread! Guess which one I picked?

Of financial news we've heard of yet ANOTHER possible rate hike on utilities.

Thanks to Princess Perky for reminding me, I just made another KIVA loan.

...the axe that is.

I blogged late last month of the possibility that Hubster might be laid off. Well, it happened yesterday.

He's busy today listing stuff on Craigslist that he bought to resell then hopefully off later today or Monday to the unemployment office. He's got a guy coming this afternoon to buy some old stereo equipment. Afterwards we're off to see Gran Torino at the matinee and then out to spend our Christmas giftcards from my Mom at a local retailer. I see new bed pillows in my future with mine. Don't know what he'll buy with his.

Hubster is 62, so could take early SS if he wants to, but we are still 'cussing and discussing' those options. This isn't the end of the world for us as we do have emergency savings, pension options, SS options, 401Ks and IRAs and various other investments and ways to make money at home if the dollar doesn't tank completely!

It would be a no-brainer to go ahead and start drawing SS after unemployment runs out if it weren't for the big difference in our ages. May-December marriages make for some interesting financial discussions when you've never made or saved enormous sums of money. Trying to decide which will keep me into my old age the best way possible is one of the topics dear to his heart during these times. He's been laid off before and we had the same convos then.

Our bills stand currently at a mortgage payment of $353.00 a month if we aren't paying extra to principal and average utility bills of $310.00 a month, and house taxes and home & auto insurance run us $152.50 a month. The basement pantry is full to overflowing so eats are not a problem either.

Here on the desk to add to the challenge...

$20 CHALLENGE

$002.07 balance
+002.01 desk change
_______
$004.08 MTD

2009 Challenge Total $4.08
Cumulative Challenge Total $1006.86

LONG time - no post! Missed you guys.

Of news: CashHappySon moved out on November 1 and I spent most of that month freaking out as he went C.R.A.Z.Y. by going on a debit card rampage and soon racked up LOTS of overdraft fees. Thing is it wasn't a thing he NEEDED, only wanted.

Luckily, I had gone before he moved out and got my name removed from his checking in the unfortunate knowledge that he'd likely do such a thing! He had to sign a power-of-attorney form of some kind. It's weird, I can still write checks on his account, still monitor it via the internet, but will not be held liable if he bounces! After several tongue lashings from Dad & I, he went and cashed in all his savings bonds to be able to bring his checking even.

Thing one. He owed us over $4100 on his car. After much heated discussion he cashed in his retirement savings (BOO HISS) and paid us off. I didn't want him to cash this in, but I also didn't want to worry myself silly over him repaying us and/or losing it when someone sues him over non-payment of such things as his lease, bills, etc.

Thing two. He still owes the hospital about $1300. I'm concerned whether he'll pay them. He has some money left from his retirement cash in checking and we're discussing having him pay them the $300 or so he has currently in checking. He has an agreement with them to pay them $35 a month. As far as I know he hasn't paid them the December payment.

I am trying to divorce myself from obsessing over his finances. I realize he will have to scrape his own knees before he learns - he's always been that kind of kid.

Once's he's flying straight I will of course feel better, and am actually already feeling that way some as emotionally he and I butted heads quite often and it was time for him to wing free on his own.

For Mom to remember:




On another front - FrugalSon's job has cut his hours way back. Fortunately his only bill is his car insurance and his room & board he pays us. His insurance will go up next month as he and CashHappy were on the same policy and I want that changed. They are on each other's car titles as well so they could receive a multi-car discount. That will stop. I don't want one to be responsible for the other's accidents, etc., especially with one away from home doing who knows what.


The Hubster's job is somewhat stable at this time, but there have been lay-offs in his shop, but he'll be one of the last two to go if it comes to that. Currently he is eligible for early retirement and we could gather in pension and Social Security after unemployment benefits run out so there is not too much to worry about there.


I recently returned from a trip to the sunny pacific coast with my Mom to visit my aunt, her sister. We had a wonderful stay and I left home with $125 in cash to spend and came home w/$53. That was after I spent money each day for breakfast for me and Momma as Auntie didn't cook - and we ate lunch out each day and saved half for supper each night. Auntie is 82 and doesn't cook. I put $30 on my CC for that dumb $15 bag fee each way. For my birthday (FYI: I passed one of those monumental numbers on the hill climb)Mom paid my way there and for a nice rental car. Thank you Momsie!! My job was to help her with all the heavy luggage and do all the pathfinding and driving and see that we made all of our flight connections, etc. A really nice trip.

Upon our return my stepdad's Mom passed away and we had that funeral last week. He had stayed home to tend her during her last days. We were actually afraid that she might pass while we were gone. She was a neat lady and had been my step-gran since I was about 12.

Hubster and I had our 26th wedding anniversary last week. I renewed his contract for another year!

I'm back selling some on ebay, and am emptying out one of my junque' booths as the sales there were pretty slim!

I will add another entry later updating my sidebar stuff as I have kept track of it.

Adding 50 cents to the December $20 Challenge.

Hubster has had his 62nd birthday this year and we are checking our facts and figures here. Upcoming work at his job is looking slim. Could we make the jump to full time retirement?

Yesterday I worked on updating our Net Worth Statement for August and things are looking UP! He was pleasantly surprised and had drastically under-estimated what we had so that was a nice bump up for him while he's worrying what his employer is doing.

Yes, you know me and my money tucked here and there style, while I slip him little pieces of paper every now and again and say we've got $XXX,XXX.00 amount of dollars here in this account and $X,XXX.00 here - it had been some time since I had given him the entire BIG picture.

He thinks he'd like to just stay employed and eventually just go to working part time where he's at. Hopefully more work will flow through the pipeline and be scheduled for when they run out of what's currently on tap.

But meanwhile back at the house even if he decided to take early Social Security we wouldn't go too hungry. We wouldn't be living the life of the Astor's but still we'd do okay.

Life's good! Carry on dancing!

My weekend was the scene of the small economies and we rewatched the 'Clash of the Titans' I think the title is - with Harry Hamlin (va-voom!).

While cleaning my bedroom on Saturday morning I found about 7 partially used bottles of lotions (a good sign that I need to re-join the flylady emails) that I downsized into four. Most of these were gifted but still 7 on one bedside stand is WAY too much AND birthday and Christmas and the lotion gifts that might be incoming are on the horizons.

So I combined those even going so far as to add a splash of water into the near empties to get that last little bit of goodness out. The combo jar is what I use to moisturize my feet with before I put on fresh socks for bed so it's of no big import that it's a mixed bag of juicieness in there.

Also on the beauty front I colored my own hair again on Saturday night. My normal night of Lux's House of Beauty treatments! Cost has gone up at the dollar store from $2 a box to $2.75!


I spent a bit of time on Saturday combining the multiple open bottles of jelly, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce and pickles in the icebox. Why do males open another jar instead of looking to see if there isn't another one open already???? Hmmmm?? Probably the same thing that makes women have 7 bottles of lotion going at once!! Ha!

Also in the kitchen we had the ongoing battle of the wire mesh coffee filter vs. the paper ones. I dislike paying for the paper ones but Hubster prefers using them. Don't ask me why as he can't say. GRRR!



Anyway I saw that we are down to the last little stack of paper ones that I got when a grocer was having a 20 for $10 sale about three years ago. That made them 50 cents a bag rather than their normal $1. I bought $5.00 worth that time.

IF I can get in there and get the coffee made first or set it up the night before we use the wire filter. If Hubster makes it sure as shooting it's one of the paper ones. I think I paid $2.98 for the wire mesh filter years back. Ho-hum. I think it's better to use the wire one! I have four reasons - number 1)it costs less in the long run and number 2) the paper ones sometimes fall down leaving me with grounds in my cup and number 3)I can empty the wire one more easily into my garden for composting efforts and number 4)it saves cutting down trees to make more paper ones.

No big fuss but along with shopping carefully for big purchases I think it's these little differences that can make a difference too in the long run on your money.

A tip I use is to buy flavoring extracts and to use dropperfuls of it to flavor our coffee instead of buying the more expensive flavored coffees. It works!

Two Hips & A Hurray for making the little efforts. Say what you will but in the clash of the Titans I still contend that the little things add up to a bit fatter wallet! Speaking of Titans, Mr. Rockefeller believed it too, according the biography about him called "Titan"!

I'm going with Mr. Rockefeller on this one!

Outside the boys and I go to work on the backyard jungle left from the ice storm! Lots of limbs still to be removed from trees and brush to be burned and bagged. See ya on the flipside hopefully without too many skeeter bites!

Adding to the $20 Challenge. This money will be added to my Roth IRA.

My Discovercard $20 reward hit the bank and I've got .12 cents here on the keyboard to put towards the challenge. Those rewards should stack up again rather quickly as we've been putting our gas on the Discover Card as they've got a 5% Cashback bonus going right now on gas purchases thru September.

Who says it doesn't pay to look down??

I found the twelve cents. Eleven of it was found in the lobby at the Dark Knight movie last week and a penny that fell in the floor from taking clothes from the dryer this weekend.

$20 CHALLENGE

$222.66 Aug balance
+020.12 Discover & found & laundry
_______
$242.78 Aug MTD

This is my best challenge month ever thanks to Hubster!

2008 Challenge Total $429.73
Cumulative Challenge Total $958.34

Yesterday I had a personal No Spend Day.

Housebudget bought a newspaper (FrugalSon & I both looking the employment ads over), cold meds, and trashbags at Walgreen's and paid McDonald's for supper. Hubster has the creeping crud of the lunger sort so it's AlkaSeltzerPlus time for him. And there is STILL one corner of the back yard that needs a lot of small limbs picked up & bagged from the ice storm last winter! It's returning to jungle back there and both boys are off today so we've got a plan of attack for it this afternoon if the rain holds off.

In case you missed it last week - FrugalSon passed his driving test FINALLY!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-DOGGGIEEEES!!!

Did anyone else see this? Ethanol made not from corn but from beer mash???

This morning on TV - it was quite early here as I hadn't even had my coffee yet - was a morning show of some kind talking about Coors and their ethanol reclamation project.

With our trash service broken it caught my attention. I was beginning to crazily wonder what I could do creative w/ about 17 days of trash???? Later today I found this out on the web from the tag line that I remembered from the show 'waste is a resource out of place'.

"Minimizing our impact on the environment is the right thing to do and it's good for our business," said Molson Coors CEO Leo Kiely. "Bill Coors used to say that waste was a resource out of place - that thinking still drives us today to recycle, reuse and reduce our consumption of energy and materials when and where we can."

I'm not a beer fan but I'm going to try to remember this phrase! I do try often to reuse stuff but I'm disinclined to save 25+ oatmeal containers if I've no use for them. I wish there was a better way to sort & distribute such stuff as you know would be good for churches, schools, scouts and other groups to use in their projects.

"Reduce, ReUse, Recycle!" I recently painted such a sign on an old barn board I had laying around. Put it in my junque booth.

As I'm typing this guess who just drove by? My OLD trash service and FINALLY picked up the trash! They don't know they're out yet! Come Monday they'll find out as Hubster's calling them up AGAIN! And I'll be wanting a refund for the last half of this month.

Oh, did I tell you? FrugalSon PASSED his driving test!!!!

Woooooooooooooohoooo!

good Good GOOD News vs. Bad News

Are we going or coming?? Travels or Travails of the Frugalis Familia?

You decide:

FIRST the good Good GOOD news is that FrugalSon just had his 22nd birthday this month and a few days later?



Hallelujah and pass the beans!! He has driven himself to & from work a few times now and I think we'll see his self confidence grow by leaps and bounds in the near future! Thanks to all of you who've been reading and praying along with me on his trials and tribulations to get past that darn parallel parking portion of the program! See the back history under the tag of FrugalSon as his learning disabilities have held him back for far too long. God bless the sweet little easy going man that he got this time that passed him! I refrained from kissing the test examiner all over but to say we are pleased is a great understatement!

FrugalSon has since his birthday broken up with TheGrrl. She wouldn't quit flirting with another guy at work and even went on a night-walk with him on her break (FrugalSon & she work together) while Frugalson had to stay working, even after he'd asked her nicely not to do it. He'd given her several chances to stop and it continued rather blatantly in his face, so - So long, see-ya si-a-nar-a senorita!

He'd told her that he didn't mind her being friends with the guy but the flirting & walks needed to stop. This girl is 24 years old and I believe FrugalSon was considering buying her at least a promise ring for Christmas this year. In my humble, mother-love aside, opinion I do believe this girl just messed up big time. They've been dating almost a year.

She's gone on a family vacation this week. I told him I'd hustle up another job while she was gone and be out of there before she ever came back if it were me. He'll probably stay, but I'm hoping that she either truly sees the light OR he finds someone else NICER to date rather quickly.

As I already posted earlier, CashHappySon's girl broke off with him earlier last week. So, no girl-i-os around for the moment.

The other BAD news is that yesterday we got a letter from the IRS on some of the income from father-in-law's estate that we did not claim. We had varying pieces of advice from different tax people as to what needed reporting, so it was probably to be expected.

I just quickly glanced over it and gave it to Hubster since he's the one who dealt with all the estate stuff. There is likely an appointment to be arranged to visit with them to see exactly what's what as their paperwork is mightily confusing!

Oh well, in my mind the driver's license outweighs the IRS & girl news in this balance-off! Heads, HE WINS!!

I'm going to give it a month or two for him to smooth out on his driving and then it'll be time for me to dust off my resume and either hit the school yard and/or the work-force!

Other good news is that earlier last month one of our other grown sons finally got married - this is ManOfTheYearSon! She's about to graduate from college w/a psychiatry degree. Big doings party wise went on. I failed to mention much about it because we weren't actively involved in the planning. Her family threw a big party in her hometown which is halfway across the state. We gifted from the registry - a nice fat Lowe's card for "the woman's touch" that's needed at his house. He lives across the metro area from us in a suburb town. Our daughter who lives in California came into town for the 'do'.

Meanwhile back at the house our trash service just posted an increased charge of an additional $1.40 a month. Not too bad, BUT they haven't bothered to pick up my trash at all this month - TWO WEEKS worth and it is beginning to stack up big time!

I've called them and Hubster's called them. They have yet to come get the trash although they autodrafted our payment as usual the first of the month! GRRR! Equipment troubles. Yeah well, rent a pickup truck and come get our trash!! GEE-WHIZ-LOUIZ!!



Hubster made a call yesterday to a new service and they'll be out Monday w/a new cart for us.

I added $2.00 to the Retirement Houseboat ticker over on the left! New total $177.00.

Also new on the left is the Grrls (Lux's Personal) Just Wanna Have E-funds! ticker. See below for a more detailed explanation. New balance $335.00.

Spent $11.05 yesterday on new black t-towels and those multi-color candles for the Frugalis Wine Cellar. What wine cellar would be complete without a Chianti bottle with a candle and all it's drippings hanging about? Will post a pic of it when we drink the Chianti and get a decent amount of wax built up! Who knows maybe it was a 70's thing?

I also signed myself up for a FREE wine-making course in the next couple of weeks. I want to see if I really would enjoy a full on wine-making setup before expending dollars on the equipment. The wine I've made in the past was done in my kitchen w/gallon pickle jars, plastic wrap & rubber bands.

Currently brewing is a bottle of homemade rootbeer. I'll let you know how it turns out. The extract I had is kind of old so it may be a waste of sugar water.

I did finally get pictures up the other day of the wine cellar before we got the floor mopped (this area gets run-off from the hole in the wall when it rains heavily):


http://luxliving.savingadvice.com/2008/08/08/dressing-the-...

Scroll down for the pictures of my hole in the wall!

----
I also added a new ticker as well called "Grrls Just Wanna Have E-Funds!"

This is a checking account I recently started at Fidelity and it didn't really have a purpose. I've been married for 25 years so I don't really think I'm gonna have to fend for myself as in a divorce situation but I figured I'd take the going apartment rental rate here as a good figure to start with. Small studios are renting here for $450 a month. Add another 900 to cover first and last months rent and a 50 to round it up gave me the 1400 figure to start with.

Hubster and I have our combined years worth of emergency fund at another bank. I doubt he's running off* anytime soon (likely NEVER) leaving me stranded but I needed - in my minds eye - to give this account a goal. That's it. It's my personal emergency fund. If I never need it so much the better. (Plenty of women have never seen it* coming!)

I plan to update and adjust the rental rate figure each year on Hubster's birthday which is sometime soon this month.

I have this checking account set-up with an autodraft addition of $10 a month out of my hometown personal checking. Mainly

I started it because I wanted to see how Fidelity's SmartCash checking accounts work before we eventually use them to withdraw from our retirement funds. I've had the account three or four months now and have never written a check on it.

Somehow it has an auto-leveling feature that pulls from one account to keep the balance at a minimum that you set. Checks were free, but it currently pays only 1.49% interest a month. Ehhhhh & Bleck!!

I need to write a small check some time and see it in action. I started with $50 in there in late April. I deposited $250 a day or so later and I earned 5 cents interest on 4/30, .38 on 5/30, .37 on 6/30, added $10 autodraft in July and earned .39 on 7/31. Added another autodrafted $10 on 8/1 and yesterday I added $13.81 in there to round it off to a nice even number of $335.00.

Feeling generous with myself while at Fidelity yesterday I also rounded up my 2008 Roth IRA contributions by $12.00.

Today's mission - clean up my sidebar! I'm doing that by adding some of my historical stuff to the "My Pages" section of our blogs. Did you know we could do that?

I didn't make it over to the junk booth yesterday so I'm going to try again today and THANKFULLY CashHappySon's ex-girl-i-o had the good graces not to show up last night.

I'm going to add a new category over to the left - Houseboat Savings. This is my retirement dream - but definitely not Hubsters. Anyway, I'm going to try and add one of those slide-tickers. Stand ready all you pros to help me, please? Every time I've tried in the past they turn out gigantic and throw my pages off.

Today's Houseboat savings balance $175.00. It may fluctuate a bit as it's invested over at Sharebuilder. For now my goal is to add to it monthly at the rate of $50. The $30,000.00 is totally an arbitrary figure. I would assume that I would be buying a used one and not paying nearly that much, but who knows. That's a pretty plain jane new model w/only the basics and no frills.

Well, I've been working on my basement -in my head mostly this last month. This is what I do - an idea festers around for awhile, then I research, then I look for photos for ideas and then I scour my house and junk booths gathering my stuff then one day it all just gets to be too much headspace rattling and I spring into action. It can happen at anytime - sometimes it's the middle of the night even. Does it work that way for you?

Yesterday was finally THE DAY. With both boys off we spent some time emptying the little apartment room of CashHappySon's stuff. He's basically back living upstairs 99% of the time anyway. For those who've been reading for awhile his attitude is MUCH improved.

We keep thinking one of these days we are going to sell our house and I've got to get the basement 'storage pit' cleaned out if it's ever going to happen.

It will never happen here unless I'm the one that instigates it. Everyone else is happy with the status quo, until they go to searching & cussing for whatever they just know they threw in the pit at some point. As Flylady says, your house doesn't have to be a dumping ground!!

Anywhos, yesterday we started. I have a funky little space under my utility room that needs dirt to be dug out and then cement poured. I'll try to add photos later so you can tell what I'm talking about.

In that area of the basement is like a 3 foot high crawl space and it opens up into what I formerly called the hidey-hole room (we live in tornado country) in the basement, which we've been using as CashHappySon's apartment. So, that dirt area needs to be dug out about 5 or 6 inches down and cement piped into it. That would give a more stable storage environment there for general junk such as camping supplies.

It is also the one area of the basement that needs to be slathered down with that hydraulic cement to keep it from leaking. We did most of the basement when we first moved in. Money constraints at the time didn't allow it all to be done at once. So, that's a need to be taken care of. When it rains heavily that little dirt area leaks water down onto the floor of the hidey-hole room. The hydraulic cement guys are gonna love working in there lying on their backs! NOT!! Needs doing!

The hidey-hole room is the room that I want to dress out as a wine cellar. Yesterday we got all of CashHappy's stuff out of there with the exception of his microwave & dorm size refrigerator. His couch is now in his old room along with his housekeeping stuff all boxed up. Did I mention he's saving $200 a month towards moving out? He's got about $1600 put back right now. I'm good with that but I'd really like him to buy a condo rather than rent an apartment.

Back to the basement. Today we swept really well and vacumned down there. Needed is a good down on your knees scrub out w/some bleach in the water to get it all doozied up. The floor in this room I painted hot pink long ago and it has paint sealer over it, but it's still just a concrete floor and some of the crevises are just going to stay dirty looking as there is no avoiding that.

I took my old ice-cream table down there and some other decorative items from around the house down there. Today I did an "Ima-Saver Liquor Run" and went and bought some wine to fill the racks. What fun! We do enjoy going to wine tastings and the occasional bottle of wine with dinner, and we'll enjoy this wine cellar ourselves with it still helping to sell the house eventually.

CashHappySon is a run to the basement open the door and pitch stuff in kind of kid. I've threatened him to within an inch of his life if he puts anything in that room!

Want to do: Fix the crawl space. Paint the room either a golden or red color. Maybe both?



Get some real wine cellar racking down there. Change out the el-cheapo counter with a nice cabinet. If I can't find the wherewithal to replace the cabinet then do some artistic manueverings to get it to look better than it does now.

Close off the old window space that opens into the rest of the basement (my pantry and library is in that portion along with furniture storage for young men about to fly the coop). If all else fails get a curtain up there to cover that window. I'd love to have a wrought iron grate over it, but I might have to get creative with one of those rubber door mats that look like wrought iron. Get a ceiling up in this room. If that fails to at least paint out all the pipes and wood a deep black, so it fades.

Also while we were down there today I noticed that the little sink has a small leak when the water is turned on - it doesn't leak the rest of the time??? Is that weird? I'm not sure. Will have to get Hubster on that. Wish I could find a great cabinet first and then just fix the leak and change out the cabinet at the same time. The cabinet that is there is one my Dad & I threw in there when we first moved in. I wanted a sink down there and we used an old cabinet from my Mom's last house remodel & a small sink out of my Dad's old travel trailer, so it's just a toss up job that needs mucho refining!

I like the idea of a wine cellar and it's one that's been fermenting in my mind since we first bought this place. My husband has a distant cousin who lives in Austria and makes an award winning wine. His family was also instrumental in starting a major winery the next state over. Our last name is German and we have far distant relatives still in Germany with an open weinhaus that's been operating for generations. I've even been known to brew up a batch or two of honey mead and strawberry and blackberry wines from time to time myself.

I'll try to get some 'cellar' pictures up so you can get a visual on the space. Meanwhile I've added a new link over on the side about freeing the grapes. Some states do not allow shipping of wines. Pooh!



http://www.freethegrapes.org/index.html

edited to add actual photos: Keep in mind there is still much to be done and that my house was originally built in 1942! When we moved here this room was unpainted, there was no sink, the floors were plain concrete and the rock wall did not have the white in the concrete lines. I spent a lot of time painting those in there. Gaaa! It was a cave. When CashHappySon was living down here I called it the belly of the whale - now I'm gonna call it "The Black Grape". Come on in and have a sip!


The pillows are for the small church pew that currently resides beside my back door. It's now white and will have to be painted out black. Much floor scrubbing needed.


One of the two black holes! One has a lift-up door over it (See rough wood over to the left behind the mirror). This slot has a door it just hasn't been installed (see it laying in there all crooked on the dirt pile?). This dirt area is all one big space that sits under my utility room. I only want to dig out just a few inches and get the dirt covered w/concrete. If you look carefully into the mirror in this shot you can see the window & door on the walk-out side of the basement.


As you can see it's a small narrow room, probably 8 x 10. I've got a nice black wall cabinet that's supposed to be going up on those wooden boards that are currently hanging down in the back. Mirror & chest of drawer belong to CashHappySon and will leave home when he does. The window area in the back right hand corner used to be the outside of the house before it was added on to years past. That area needs help. Pipes need rerouting, etc.



The poor little sink that needs help! If all else fails I've got some black & white toile fabric to make a sink skirt. The door seen in the mirror leads to the pantry/library/storage area of basement. The tree may not stay, it was just sitting in the storage area and we hauled her in for quick ambiance. The sink looks off kilter #1 because the floor slopes to a floor-drain in that corner and likely #2 because my house was built in '42.



The mosiac artist pallet was already here in one of my booths. New purchase to make the room? A cheese knife for $2.98. This project is likely to cost me a lot more before I'm through!

Finally Hubster got around to cashing his bonus check that I mentioned before and giving me MORE than half of it. I'm taking it to the challenge.

$000.00 balance
+220.00 my 1/2 plus bonus check shared
+000.61 change purse cleanout
_______
$220.61 Aug MTD

2008 Challenge Total $407.56
Cumulative Challenge Total $936.17

Yes, he's a VERY nice man!!! I won the prize when I got him. When I told him I was going to put it back, he just rolled his eyes and told me he wanted me to buy myself something with it. Problem with that? There's nothing I really want or need at the moment. A nice place to be for a frugalista!

Monday night found Hubster and I taking the two youngest boys and their girlfriends out for a steak supper. We are beginning August and our heavy birthday month. We had a really nice evening out w/a few dollars spent. The restaraunt is one of those that provide free cake to everyone in the birthday party. Woo-hoo! Nobody's had their birthday just yet but we've got four to celebrate this month and we had to go when everyone was off work. We normally eat at home and MomFrugalis cooks their favorite meal for them, but this year one of the boys wanted to eat out at a steakhouse. Less work for me, the steaks were wonderful and I looked FABULOUS!!

Then last night both their girls were over and the kids all cooked spaghetti, salad and garlic toast and then after they cleaned up the kitchen they washed both dogs, popped some corn, and we watched an old movie together. Cheap date!

Monday day found the boys and I going south to my Mom's to visit, take stuff to my junque'booth down there. We spent a bit of time in GreatUnc's old house, he passed away about two years ago. The parental units let us sift thru some of the 'good stuff' that had piled up there and we brought home several items to be priced out and sold in my booths.

I haul it out of here and more comes back! It's all good as it usually keeps me in gas money to run down there and see her. The lady at the antique mall there said they had some days last month with zero sales which is quite unusual as it sits on a major highway running north & south and she said they had more than several last month who did not meet their booth rent.

While on our travels we also noted many of the smaller car lots that usually have 10-15 cars on them. Most all of those types had only ONE car sitting on their lots. One of my favorite junk-type consignment stores is closing their business too. T'would appear that times are getting harder in my neck of the woods.

Dear You:

Hubster got a nice little profit sharing check this week of $431.00 and some odd change.

Of course you know what I want to do with it? Of course you do my lil Pupcake...put it into our retirement monies, but he wants to have some money to spend.

"Well, you earned it. It's all yours honey, spend it if you want."

I understand. He does get tired of me always wanting to put back for that proverbial rainy day and we do usually keep our blow money to a strict minimum.

So, the final decision that he came up with? He's going to cash it and give me half and him take half. He wants me to spend mine, too.

Soooo, what to do w/my $215+?????

Likely I'll BUY a couple of savings bonds or some stock or put it towards one of my drips w/$200 of it. And blow the $15 and change on ING savings or whoever's running the nicest rate at the moment. How does that sound???? At those online banks I have subaccounts called CD Savings Escrow. When it gets up to the $500-1000 level and rates are good, I pop off and invest it in a certificate of deposit (old school) and start over saving in it again.

Old dog, same OLD tricks, w/a different twist to make it more palatable for those who like to gnaw their entire bone away on the same day. See me??? - I can do that too, but have a little bone left to gnaw later as well. Dig a little hole here and there, stick in my bones and cover them up for later!!



It's all good! Some things never change.

YEAH Profit Sharing!! YEAH Hubster!

Love,
Lux

~~~
P.S. Yesterday was a No Spend Day!!

Re-deposited $7.28 from CashHappySon reimbursing me for something he bought off of ebay.

Balanced checkbooks yesterday.

~~~
P.P.S. Funny - Hubster & I - our Chinese Horoscope Symbols? Both dogs.

quote from a website talking about the Chinese Dog Symbol:

"They generally have hidden savings accounts for future family endeavors such as family vacations and college tuitions."

Not to worry, I know where he keeps his socks of money buried!!

The Frugalis Fam got back from vacation a few days ago. Everyone had a grand time and we left w/$490 in cash to spend and came home with $332. More to spend on the next vacation.

Ten days in a fab-o resort obtained thru my time-share exchange - our condo was right on the water with fabulous water views from the balcony. We ate out three times as per our norm. We eat out one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner during the week, besides our drive-thru meals on travel days. Those 3 meals went on the charge card to be paid off next month along w/gasoline charges. Groceries were put on the charge card as well. Had extra groceries left over that were brought home. The pups were split up, Toffee my little doxie went to Moms and Carmel went to the kennel. I missed the little buggers. Possibly more vacation details later.

Frugalis - Family of Four
135.00 exchange fee - paid
100.00 kennel fee - paid
114.87 grocery charges (prices were HIGH!)
097.99 meals out charges
089.56 gasoline charges
158.00 cash expenditures - entrance fees, momentos, t-shirts, ballcaps, drive-thru meals, tips
______
695.42 spent
332.00 back to vacation savings

I've added a new etf - FCG over on the left - to my portfolio this week. Put it on automatic investments w/Sharebuilder.

On Tuesday the Frugalis Housebudget purchased a new printer. We've had the old Epson for about 10 years! It was time for a 'refreshing'. Yeah, no more wavy lines and thin ink spots. I'm not sure where the ticket is to give a price but Hubster did his usual research before buying some kind of Canon printer (apprx. $84.00). Ink prices are the kicker, of course.

This week I bought two new light fixtures to update the kitchen and utility room 'rent contractor' el cheapo stuff that is here. Ugh. I'm second guessing myself now and will go look one more place before I have HubsterDearest install them. These I bought are okay, but are fairly tame. I'd like something a little more creative like a mini-chandelier over my sink area. Then, when looking at the ceilings it appears the kitchen ceiling needs to be repainted before that light can go up anyway. Something new makes the old look shabby. Isn't that always the case?

Hope everyone has a happy 4th!

CAN YOU DO THE SCRATCH-N-DENT HIP-HOP IN YOUR FUNKY BOOTS?

Got cases of chicken noodle soup yesterday at the scratch-n-dent for $3.88. Only catch? No labels. So, I spent a bit of time yesterday writing the contents on the cans & boxes. Each year finds somebody sick and wanting chicken noodle soup! Other good buy was pretzels 4 bags/$1. And I got Hubster some funky color shoe-polishes for his cowboys boots which are funky colored for .88 a can.


HOW ABOUT THE LENDER'S WALTZ?

Yesterday my step-dad paid me $50 on the computer he bought from Hubster. These dollars have to go back in the kitty. Sorry Hubster!


CAN YOU DO THE 401-K MAMBO?

This past week I finally got through all the paperwork on CashHappySon's 401-K offerings and got him signed up. Reading them is bad enough but explaining those things to another person is complicated to me, so I fell back on the nice explanation found around page 90 in David Bach's 'Automatic Millionaire' book. We set CashHappy's deferral rate to 18% which should just about match what he's been putting into his Roth.

Still left to do is stop CashHappys' Roth contributions for now. With his car payment, paying room & board here plus trying to save for moving out he can't afford to do both right now.

His 401-K plan does not offer an employer match that I could see. But, it did have a place to set up automatic 1% yearly increases, which we did. Thing is, the kiddo is 19. How likely will he be to stay at this place of employment? Ehhh, not too sure, but we're doing what we can while we can.


DO THE HEALTH-INSURANCE MOMBO??

Also yesterday we spent some time on the phone with FrugalSon's employee benefits office getting him signed up for health insurance. He finally got some small scrap of paperwork saying the open enrollment dates, which window was mighty short for use in view of vacation plans. There were no written explanation of benefits forthcoming!! BAHHH! It's complicated enough - try doing it without the info in front of you!

Eventually we got him signed up for health & dental insurance yesterday. They offer disability but the lady did not tell us about it and we'll have to call back another day to get a rate quote! Sheesh, it's always something.

Also on FrugalSon's we'll have to adjust his Roth contributions downward by about $30 a month in order to make his small salary cover everything. He's been contributing the maximum, but we'll just have the insurance and lower the contributions for now and if no huge expenses come up during the year attempt to fully fund his Roth from his emergency or car repair savings at the end of the contribution period.


DO THE HULA??

What I want to know is how do parents with 6 to 15 children handle all the paperwork for all their jobs??? Good grievies!!! I'm tired with just two of them still at home!

My parents generation never had to help with all this stuff because it didn't exist back then! They can say life is easier now, which may be true, but it is more complicated and comes with more hoops to be jumped through - what with the limited open enrollment dates and such! PHEW!


DO THE SHAREBUILDER BOO-GA-LOO!!

For myself there's a problem in my Sharebuilder account which requires me to send a notarized letter. I went to my bank last evening (long hours) and no notary was on duty. I'll be going back this morning to get the darn thing notarized and off in the mail. Due to security reasons it could not be handled over the phone. Pain in the patumpkus!!


I WANNA SEE YOU BELLYDANCE!
This entry reminds me of one of my favorite HAPPY songs - I Wanna See You Bellydance by the Red Elvises! Stop the music from up above & listen to a clip here:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QQZMZQ/ref=dm_sp_alb?...

or listen to the entire song & watch them at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_Ylj87e3g

Great Album!


No, I don't think I can dance - but if they keep those hoops low enough I think I can roll through them!

Anybody have any bunion pads? Ben-gay??

---
edited to add:
Found money in house clean-up:

$20 CHALLENGE
$022.74 balance
+000.28 clean-up
_______
$023.02 MTD

2008 Challenge Total $164.10
Challenge Cumulative Total $692.71

With all the rains the drainage ditches around my house have filled up again and the county is out here digging them out. I went out and spoke with the foreman and they agreed to dump two loads of the sand on our property.

There's a spot that the old owner of our property, who owned his own dump truck, put out a lot of old paving. By county order he was supposed to cover the entire bunch of it but never did as there is one probably 20 x 20 spot that he never did cover over. They've dumped one truck load so far and are still out there digging.

IF we can get it spread before more rains come along then maybe some of it will stick down in the craters that the paving has got. Mowing and weed-eating this area has been a pain for over 7 years. Time to get something done.

Not certain if it'll hold as the area sits on a slope, but any is better than none and if it washes it will wash into another area that could also use the help. The burms (mini-levees) by our creek were about an inch away from being crested yesterday morning.

So, if it washes, that's the area it'll head. So - FREE sandyloam stuff!!! We were just talking about buying a dump load of dirt ourselves. If this will work, all the better. FREE is good!

Something else that's been happening this month is that FrugalSon took most of his Economic Stimulus check and paid for driving lessons. He finishes the *fingers crossed* last one on June 30th and they've got a tiny little car that he's going to use to drive during the driving test scheduled for July 1st and hopefully he'll finally pass that dumb parallel parking requirement. He's 21. If at all possible I NEED him to be driving his'onsomeself around! He could never pass it driving his little extended cab S10 truck. Hopefully with their little car it'll be all systems go!!! PRAY HARD.

Today is a no spend day for me!!

We got all the siblings checks cleared on FIL's estate and closed both of the accounts. FIL's & Hubster's joint account and the estate account. It is done except for jewelry, coins, pics. Those will be finished after our family vacation. YEAH, YEAH, YEAHHHHHHH!!!! As my faithful dear readers know I've been gnashing at the bit because we had beauque'$_$$,$$$.$$'s loaned out to the estate w/no interest being paid. It's back in my hot little hands! YEAHHHHHH!!

We will decide after family vacation what exactly we're going to do with that money and Hubster's inheritance money. Most likely we'll finish funding our IRA's for this year with some of it and I'm not sure about the rest. Some will go to tithe - likely we'll handle that portion by starting either a Family Foundation or putting it into a charitable trust so our tithing will be increased for years to come! I've got a good little sum set aside to make this happen.

Then the rest will go towards ome kind of retirement planning, with the exception of a few minor household things that need doing. Tub & Tile in bathroom appx. $1500 & $500 to widen the return air vent. Other than that it looks like retirement for those dollars. I'd like to do a municipal bond ladder but am not sure I can convince Hubster. Guess what we'll be talking about on vacation?

At the wrapping up, Hubster got the money from the sale of our personal car to one of his brother's two years ago. He was supposed to be making payments if the estate house did not sell by a set date. Well, he never made a single payment.

I never said one word. (A miracle if ever there was one!)

I can hardly eat with the hole in my tongue, canshhhuuuusheee??

So, from brother-in-law's inheritance check we got $2900.00 back. I added a hundred & stuck it in a one year CD this morning.

Rates suck!

It's ideally for car replacement #3. We've already got car replacement CDs for Hubster's car & one for my truck. So, this is for the next vehicle after those so to speak, unless we just need it before then for something. What we do is sell our vehicles outright and then add some money (the CDs) with what we get out of our cars to purchase the next one for cash.

I'm running behind on the $20 Challenge - so I'm cleaning out the wallet($20.50) and adding in some change that was found in various parts of the 'hood (.71) and some ($1.52) that CashHappySon gave me.

$20 CHALLENGE

$000.01 balance
+022.73 assorted
_______
$022.74 June MTD

My second load of sand was just dumped. Yeah FREE!!!!

Last night we went to Hubster's sisters house and met with 3 of the 4 siblings to hand out their inheritance checks.

Finally.

Hubster is meeting with the other brother today to give him his inheritance check and take him to the bank so he can cash it and pay us the $2900 he owes us for our old car.

They had to sign receipts for their checks. Funny thing was that they did not have to be notarized receipts. What would stop someone from forging them?????? Only integrity it seems.

Hubster goes this week w/the attorney to the courthouse w/those receipts in hand to get the estate finalized and then he will close out the estate accounts and we will get our $**,***.** money back that we loaned the estate, plus his inheritance amount $*,***.**. The expense money goes back into our MM account until we decide where to invest it. As far as I can recall we haven't discussed what he's going to do with his inheritance check, but most likely will put it into his retirement account.

By rights I think that the old car money from his brother should go into another CD to help with future car replacement funds.

He also has another account that was him & his Dad's checking account while Pops was alive that many of the bills were auto-drafted out of while the house was up for sale.

That's two checking accounts that can be closed. Two less accounts to be balanced each month! YES!!

There will be a final attorney bill and the sibs were told to save back a couple of hundred dollars each towards paying their 1/5th of the bill.

We've yet to set a date for them to divide up pictures, coin collection, and jewelry. We tried last night but no one would commit. So, for now then it will have to wait until we return from our family vacation.

They were also told if they want to buy something from among the coins or jewelry then we'd do it similar to how we did the family auction on the furniture. They can bid, then pay cash to the family kitty and then after all is sold either to them or to someone else via ebay or dealers, then we'll divide that kitty into 1/5s and send out another check.

Last night we discussed having any photos that more than one person wanted scanned and duplicate disks handed out. Hubster & I are going to 'gift' that duty to one of the other sibs!!

After that we still have a 1/2 of a bedroom that is STILL (2 1/2 YEARS LATER) stacked w/FIL's packratted papers to go thru AGAIN! Most of it can be tossed. Some shredded. Little will be saved. The first time through them everyone was too raw to be able to throw them away. I already spent a couple of FULL days shredding lots of things when my FIL moved in with us. I swear my papershredder was smoking at one point!

Anybody have any idea how long to keep the estate accounting records around?

Dear sweet Pops died in 2005. I miss him. He was a loving husband, hard-working, sweet-hearted, family tending man.

I'm over here today making myself some maps! Financial maps of a sort.

With today's ability to link accounts at various financial organizations I thought it was about time I mapped out where all the tie-ins were on the old push/pull of EFTs (electronic fund transfers).

For me it's important to do this and keep it for my own information as well as Hubsters or anyone who survives me to find out where all my little stashes are! I'm notorious for stashing money! A bit here and a bit there. None of my eggs are in one pot it seems.

Besides, there are so many nice enticing bonus savings & CC offers out there for those who can roust up enough change to participate. However it can leave money scattered all around the globe. NICE! IF you can remember where it's all at! Not so nice if you lose track of it.

I need someway to get a visual on it! I try not to be a total rate 'ho and chase rates daily, but I do join in the merry-making from time to time. Can't you just see some accountant going ditzy and cracking his/her mental health over the state of some folks books on their money making efforts from running after all these cool rate offers???

So, how to do it? I just drew a circle with the primary account holder in the center of a piece of paper and drew lines out to various checking, savings and investment accounts. Those that have a push/pull get a double ended arrow connecting them. I'm planning on keeping them with my Emergency Control Journal. Those of you familiar w/Flylady will know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it is something that I will have to keep updating.

Mine is a bit more complicated than some as I'm on all my kids (5) accounts as well as joint owner. So there are accounts spread everywhere and yon w/my name connecting them. And some we do transfer to/from in our own personal family bank kind of system. Example: CashHappySon wants to buy something off ebay and he doesn't have an account. I'll go in on my ebay account and bid/win/buy for him and then we'll just go online to our bank and transfer the money from his account to mine. Or FrugalSon has autodrafted the car insurance for both of them off his account. CashHappy has an automated draft covering his portion transferred monthly to FrugalSon. Saves a lot of check writing!

Plus for the moment we still have two open accounts for FIL's estate.

Anyway, it can get confusing if you've a bunch of accounts. Time to make the maps. One for each person in the house as to their own accounts.

How about you? Is it time for you to make a map/s? Or, do you have a better method? I'd love to hear about it!

Our stimulus dollars arrived today in the checking account. It was under the $1200 by a few dollars. Not sure why that is exactly. Anybody have a clue?

Hubster and I just had our 'state of the nation' talk. He's to get back to me exactly what we're going to do in the next couple of days. We are at an advantage in that we have his inheritance money coming to us fairly soon. Final hearing scheduled sometime mid-June. We have several projects around the house that need doing and we're not sure exactly what order we are going to do them:

1)Replace bathtub (cracked) and then tile the bathroom floor. It will leave a new footprint and the carpet in there is already shot, so these need doing. Even if we stay in the house it can only get worse. If we were to sell, still has to be done. It's a patch job for now, there is some kind of water-proof tape on it at the moment. If you read about Bubba (FrugalSon's) excessive use of TP and the resulting overflows you can see we really need tile in this area instead of just floorboards that are carpeted!

2)There is a pipe in the basement starting to look pretty iffy. It has to be replaced before we have a very wet 'boo-boo'.

The plumbing portions of #1 & #2 can be combined in one visit from a plumber who's a close friend of the family for some savings. I can tile the bathroom myself, except for the fancy cuts, which a niece & nephew will help me with.

3)The air return vent for our heat/cooling system is not large enough and keeps causing the switch to go out as it has to switch on and off too often somehow. This spot needs to be enlarged. Apprx. $500.

4)Our heat and cooling system in now 9 years old. It was the cheapest model the seller could throw in here in order to get us to buy the house. It will likely need replacing sometime in the near future.

I personally vote to put stimulus payment in the IRAs and let the inheritance money cover some of these expenses. We shall see. For today, I'm moving it out of checking into hard labor over at one of the online banks. Now, gotta go check who's paying what interest today!

I am grateful to have this stimulus money returned to us. Because, obviously we're in need of it!

Pic: Annie Taylor, (Queen of the Mist) who, in 1901, became the first person to plunge over the brink of Niagara Falls in a barrel.




Come along Lil'HippyChillen' and sing along with me...




I've been bemoaning the price of my water bill on here lately. This morning on a whim - since it's raining here today - I put out an old trashbarrel under the inside L corner of my roof, where two ridgelines meet, to fill w/rainwater. I'm planning to use it to water the banana trees and tomato plants later this week when the sun comes back out. Don't try this at home if you've got small children about. If you've got kiddos you need a closed system that one couldn't fall into!

Then serendipity led me to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwe_pVOYOrY&feature=dir

Holy Toledo, this place says there are beacou gallons to be had? WOW!

http://www.rainbarrelguide.com/

So, if you are feeling greenly conservation minded you might want to do something similar. As a teen I was constantly washing my hair w/rainwater, but that was back before acid rain and such. Oh, we probably had it, we just didn't know it!

I did speak to Hubster this week about perhaps installing a graywater system of some kind, and he said he thought we could hook one up pretty easily, so we'll see. Doubtful we'll go this far! I was just thinking of hooking off of the bathroom sink or something. I'm not this much of a gardener!


http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/audrey/wa...

This reminded me of my time in Honduras. Many people live w/cisterns year round as their main source of water.

And once I started thinking of this and googling around for pics I found this link that many of you may enjoy sloshing around in:


http://blog.makezine.com/archive/diy_projects/122.html


and this should have a special appeal for a certain someone who opposes composting toilets!


http://www.reuk.co.uk/Rainwater-Toilet-Flush-System.htm


Well, of course I have to categorize this post as INFLOW!

The Hubster got a $1400 a year raise the other day! WOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!! Now that is probably not much to many of you, but it is to us. It was included in his last check and after taxes and more going into the 401-K he'll come home w/an extra $70.00 or so a month.

Inch by Inch - They are finally catching on that he's vastly underpaid for what he does for them!

I am so tickled for him!

Especially in light of today's shrinking economy!!! TA-DA~!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday afternoon I fell down the steps on the side of the house. Poooh! I did twist and I did shout. Uggh! Hubster went by my niece's house and borrowed a foot brace which allows me to hobble around enough to get to the bathroom!

I mentioned in my last blog post that the frig went kaput. Hubster is out shopping for us one right now. He just called on the phone. We are attempting to be wise shoppers and getting the bottom of the line! I think we'll get out with a new machine right at $500. Does stainless keep the food colder? I don't think so.

Putting it on the CC which will be paid off next month. This one will be Energy Star rated at $43 a year to operate.