Utah Love + Budget Delights

There's 6 inches of freshly fallen powder outside and I'm in Utah for the last time with my fiance until we come home for Christmas. Never the less, its pay day Friday so here I am with happy updates of all kinds of greatness.

My tax return came in the electronic mail today, so my emergency fund is back to its full glory... $11,000.00 =) and I have all the money for the wedding, except my mom's 5k... but we should be getting that in a week or so.

It looks like our trip to Utah won't go over budget which is fantastic because I didn't actually set any money aside for our little excursion out here, but since all the wedding money is set aside already, we are good to go since i was able to use the unbudgeted money for the month for gas and what not out here.

and even more awesome, we figured out what to do about my fiance's health insurance once we get hitched! His parents have a high deductible plan (it caps at $2500 a year out of pocket) that includes my fiance. But what's great is that my fiance will still be able to stay on it while living in another state and married... so instead of spending 400 or so to add him on to my policy, we are going to keep him on his parents for one year and pay them $82 a month. It will cover all of his prescriptions, and we just have to pay for for doctors visits, but its cheaper to shell out the $120 visit ever 6 months than to go ahead and pay 400 a month and then some for him to go on my plan. I can add him on to my dental and we will get vision too since he has glasses.... but this will allow me to go ahead and still cash out most of my "extra" benefits so my paycheck will now rise slightly when we get married. It gives us a good year for my future hubby to get a good job that will have some health insurance hopefully, or at least the income we'd loose by putting him on my policy.

New Possible March Budget

With the insurance changes, I was able to put more money towards gas for our cars so now i'm sure we have enough budgetted in for Keith to be working and traveling to work, as well as me using my car the way I have been. At most, I have to fill up 3 times a month and with gas rising like it is, $50 fill ups won't be considered outrageous in a month or so.

Without South County Boy to be working, we won't have Fun money, or EF savings... but until we are married, we will be able to get by and still pay a little bit extra towards the mortgage and Max out my retirement account.

All the money for the wedding will be saved up with the tax return the IRS says I should get before March 1st, so the EF will sit at $11,000.00 and we will have all the money we need for the wedding/wedding incidentals.

Paycheck 1

• Mortgage: $808.18
• HOA: $250.00
• Extra Mortgage Principle: $84.82
• Church Offering: $127.00

Paycheck 2

• Church Offering: $127.00
• Christmas savings: $50.00
• Gasoline/car maint $291 (about 3 fill ups a month per car.)
• Food/Groceries: $200.00 (hopefully!)
• Insurance *Home, 2 Autos, Earthquake* $152.00
• My Roth IRA $250.00
• Utility Bills: $200.00 (2 cell phones, electricity, and internet.)

SouthCountyBoy's future paychecks???: (after appropriate taxes)...

• 10% Retirement
• 30% debt repayment (pay back his parents)
• 30% Savings (Honeymoon)
• 30% Spending (10% keith fun money, 10% me fun money, 10% joint fun money)

Insurance Changes

My fiance's car passed its SMOG check!!! (mostly because out of state cars coming into California get to pass under different standards) so, I called my State Farm Agent and talked to my wonderful gal there who changed out premiums and gave us the right coverage we needed for the clunker...



$231.00 for 6 months... & my car insurance went down because we get a 2 car discount... so my new 6 month premium is now $384.00 for 6 months. Our annual premium for Homeowners is $322, and Earthquake is $261... for a total of $1,813 for all of our insurance things... now divide by 12.. $151.08... round up, $1.... so monthly we need to save $152 for insurance.

And for now, we don't need to pay anything because his policy was just renewed recently in December, so if there are any slight changes from his old policy to the new one we will get a bill in the mail in a week or so.

His parents paid for the smog, and car liscence fees, but we will be paying them back (so its added onto his "loan" to them... so we will get a final figure before we come back from Utah next week so he knows how much he needs to pay them back. )

I've been reading through old posts on the blog....

trying to clean everything up... (I never really used spell check at all.... ouch).... and man, the stories looking back on my family dramas and the constant power control issues...

but there was one post so far that completely takes the cake. I called the Recession back in 2006 (see Recession Ephiphany).... I guess I might actually be understanding all this financial stuff i've been absorbing.

I took one conversation with an econ professor and I let it dictate the last few years of my life. I hunkered down and saved saved saved so I could get a condo when the prices flat lined....

Thanks Prof Woodward. =)

Week 6 as a Vegetarian.

My 6th week as a Vegetarian

I was house sitting with week, and I therefore I didn’t get variety… I hate lugging 5 grocery bags of things to a house I’m staying at… and then not having enough space in the fridge or freezer for my variety items… so I can to pretty much eat the same simple foods all week, and it was really boring. The first day I was home I cooked a fabulous finger licking dinner… (the fish and potatoes with carrots..)

Breakfasts:

• Fat free Milk
• Sour Dough Bread and Avocado
• Apple Juice
• Cinnamon Raisin Bagel with Fat free cream cheese
• Cliff Bar

Lunch/Snacks

• Yogurt
• Cliff Bar
• Carrots and Humus
• Broccoli cheese soup
• Strawberries with chocolate sauce
• Apple juice

Dinners:

• Bean, Cheese, Cabbage, rice, hot sauce burritos.
• Calamari and Shrimp Tacos
• Raw Top Ramen (there were no crackers and I needed crunchy… so bad… I know)
• Baked crusted tilapia with oven roasted potatoes and carrots… bit of lemon juice.

Tax Deductions for 2011

I learned something new today... and don't laugh... I didn't know what above the line deductions were... I thought you had to itemize to get them... I now stand more informed... which makes me think i'll be taking the standard next year too!

Standard deduction for married couples: $11,600.00
Personal for South County Girl: $3,700.00
Personal for future South County Boy: $3,700.00

With the above the line deductions, we'll be able to deduct South County's boys moving expenses in ADDITION to the standard deduction... Bueno! 16.5 cents a mile..

We also finally have a shot at the SAVERS credit if we get a combined AGI of under $53,000.00 for putting money in our Roth IRA's.

for 2012 we may even get to look at education expenses!

Retirement Update

While my pension is really cool and everything, I don't want to calculate it in my retirement accounts anymore. Essentially it's like my version of social security now that I'm vested. I won't be cashing out the account at 55 because I'll be using it for my pension... So, some changes are in order. Ideally I'd like to get a good mix of investments going so I can get a healthy portfolio of awesomeness built. I like target date accounts because they make things easier for me... but they generally don't go as conservative as i'd like them to be for what I need them to do. I know they will get more conservative as time goes on... but not the way I think they should (we do not want a repeat of the last depression that happened in the market)... but I need the aggressive investing too since i'm young... So i'm going to split my retirement subjects by my age. 100 minus my current age (24) says 76% of my portfolio should be mutual funds, 24% safe investments. So my goal is to reposition my accounts (once i'm able to open the vanguard account) to these percentages. So i've combined my retirement accounts by their type and made a graph... That Green area needs to grow.


Mutual Funds

• Discontinued 401a account: $1,070.98
• Future Vanguard money: $250.00

Money Market/Cd's

• Discontinued 457 account $1,035.29
• ING Roth IRA: $19,395.14

Once my accounts are finally all set up and open, i'll transfer some of the liquid money from ING to my Vanguard account to slowly make the porportions better.... but I can't do that until I actually get the $3,000.00 to open my Vanguard 2040 Target Date Account... than every 3 months i'll rebalance it if one sector is really growing and the other one is floundering.

Pension Value:

• Cash in the account: $15,705.50
• Monthly pension (unmodified) $557.05 before taxes.

What it cost me in real dollars to live in my condo in 2010

Last year in 2010 I spent $14,480.98 to live in my condo.

• (Mortgage, Interest, HOA Fees, Property Taxes, Electrician, Homeowners Insurance, Earthquake Coverage...)

but I got back $1,548.00 from Uncle Sam and the State of California because my condo allowed me to itemize. (This is the amount ABOVE the return I would have gotten back from taking the standard deduction.)

Making my realized housing costs for 2010 $12,932.98... or $1,077.74 a month (not including the equity i'll get from the home when I sell... and that figure includes the cost of all the "extra" i paid on the mortgage as an "expense".)

Ah, the perks of homeownership... now if I can only get out of the RED... that would be nice.

Mortgage Update + Total Condo Costs

New Balance: $114,243.81

The pay off date (assuming just the minimum monthly payment from here on out) is NOW January 2039... 8 months ahead of schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will pay $111,779.65 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23, saving me $4,624.58 in interest over the life of the loan... all for parting with $1,252.74 a little before I had to!

Total Condo Costs:

• Money paid to aquire the property and get keys: $7,057.08
• Money Spent to Remodel and Repair Property: $17,672.29

Total: $24,729.37

• First Time Home buyers Credit: $8,000.00
• Current equity: $5,756.19
• 2009 Prop Tax Deduction: $90.10
• Electrician costs -$95.00
• TILE Refund $1,265.00
• 2010 Federal tax break $1,087.00*
• 2010 State tax break $461.00*

*The positive difference between what I would have gotten back claiming the standard deduction... and the increased amount from itemizing the housing expenses.*

Current amount in the hole: $8,165.08

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $139,000.00 Assuming a 6% total commission & enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for... plus the $8,000.00 tax CREDIT to the government that would need to be refunded.

If I wait out the remaining 21 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $123,300.00(assuming 6% total commission)

Just FYI-
I look at my monthly payments, property taxes, extra mortage principle payments & my HOA dues as a wash because if i add all those up, its equivalent to the market rate of the apartment complex i'd be living in if I hadn't bought my condo... and that money would be going down the drain anyway.

House Sitting!

They remodled the mansion since the last time I was there...

It looks nice, but like TV show nice... the house still seems way to big to actually live in, but to each his own.

I'm getting $110.00 to house sit and puppy sit which will definenetly help cover what I was short for my marathon entry fee, and pay for my hair cut I got yesterday. I finally found a place that doesn't charge for Length and thickness, and will actually cut my hair how I ask them too.

$16.50 + $5.00 tip! woot woot.

LA MARATHON for CHILD SHARE

Last year I did what I believed was the impossible. I walked 26.2 miles to find homes for children abused and abandoned in the foster and adoption system right here in Orange County, LA County, and Riverside County... and lived to tell the tale...

And I'm doing it again... On March 20th.

I'll be participating in the LA Marathon on behalf of Child S.H.A.R.E (www.childshare.org), a nonprofit agency that helps solve the solution for every beat up, bruised, and abandon child. To date, Child S.H.A.R.E. has provided stability to over 2.700 children, has recruited over 900 families to open their homes and their hearts, and has crushed the national adoption rate by providing families that are adopting children at double the rate of the state system... at a fraction of the cost. In fact, Child S.H.A.R.E. families are consistently honored, featured and recognized throughout the country as models of healthy foster parenting.

and now I’m asking for your help...

My goal is to raise $2,500.00 to find a home for a child... and every little bit helps. $50 helps find a family interested in fostering a child, $100 helps welcome a child into a new home, $250 sponsors a family with support and resources for one month… & Finally, $2,500.00 finds a HOME for an abused Child. Even $1 or $5 can make a huge difference as we attack this problem head on, together as a team. You can sponsor me online by visiting my Firstgiving website: All donations are 100% Tax Deductible.

My training partner and I have already walked and jogged 115 miles in preparation… & this Sunday we will carve out another 18!

As someone who lived through some of these same problems that these kids are facing now, and wasn’t rescued by the system… this cause is near and dear to my heart and I’d appreciate all the help I can get. Feel Free to forward this on to your friends.

Possible March Budget

Since my Fiance will be in california, here's what our budget looks like for March. It will be a good test month for us to see how much we really spend on things. Even though i'll be living elsewhere at night, well be essentially combining everything together.

Paycheck 1

• Mortgage: $808.18
• HOA: $250.00
• Extra Mortgage Principle: $84.82
• Church Offering: $127.00

Paycheck 2

• Church Offering: $127.00
• Christmas savings: $50.00
• Gasoline $243
• Food/Groceries: $200.00
• Insurance *Home, 2 Autos, Earthquake* $200.00
• My Roth IRA $250.00
• Utility Bills: $200.00 (2 cell phones, electricity, and internet.) We can't get on the same plan until August, but after this month I can readjust my cell mins down again since Keith will be here.

Keith's paycheck: (after appropriate taxes)... don't know how much till we get it.

• 10% Retirement
• 30% debt repayment (pay back his parents)
• 30$ Savings *(Honeymoon)
• 30% Spending (10% keith fun money, 10% me fun money, 10% joint fun money/things for our place)

Since our regular expenses can be paid out of my regular income, well be able to use Keith's money to suppliment. Once we are married, part of Keith's income will have to cover necessities because i'll take a dip in take home pay once we are covering his health insurance.

After his parents are repaid back, well use that money for paying off the mortgage and the honeymoon savings will be transfered to the EF... the 30% remaining will be added to our regular income stream to help cover the dip in the health insurance so we won't be spending so much then... but its all a rough plan for now until we get more realistic costs lined up.

Paid for the LA MARATHON

It was pricier this year... $156.03. Last year the race sold out so they did away with the charity runners price ($100)... but i registered.

I'm house sitting/puppy sitting for some people I know again, so i'll be getting some extra money from that, and by using some un alocated funds for this month, I'll be able to pay it off.

My 5th week as a Vegetarian

This delicious week came from Ralphs… I got lucky and found some “manager special” items (a Package of good sized Stuffed mushrooms for 99 cents (8 in a package and I got 2 packages), a personal spinach salad with nice treats inside (feta, walnuts, and raisins) for 99 cents too). I also had a work conference and they actually had a vegetarian option (Mushroom, bell pepper and cucumber sandwich with pasta salad!) happy belly!
Oh, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m keeping track of what I’m eating, or being a vegetarian, but I’ve dissolved all my holiday weight gain. =)

Breakfasts:

• Fat free Milk
• Apple juice
• Cinnamon raisin bagel with fat free cream cheese (4 times this week!)
• Sour Dough Bread and Avocado

Lunch/Snacks

• Cesar salad
• Few cookies (I deserved some dessert this week, and I got it free at the grocery store)
• Conference Sandwich… mmmmm
• Carrots and humus
• Apples and peanut butter
• Heated Flour Tortilla with stuffed with Cheese and Cabbage mix (I used a bag of coleslaw that wasn’t prepared… It was actually really yummy and when I do burritos again, I’ll be adding it in.)
• Yogurt

Dinners:

• Salad, Bread sticks, pizza (pineapple and mushroom) (yummy Stone Fire grill)
• Stuffed Mushrooms with Spinach salad with Balsamic dressing, raisins, walnuts, feta cheese.
• Garbage Salad & Stuffed Mushrooms
• Smoothie from Starbucks (when I had my braces off)
• Coleslaw salad (the cabbage mixture with peppercorn ranch and some shredded cheese)
• Cheese Enchiladas and Rice and Beans….

Needless to say, this was salad variety week… which was nice after my heavy Mexican food week I had last week. I’ll be back on Mexican Next week because I got a house sitting gig and its just easier to cart that stuff over than a bunch of other things. ... so soup and mexican again.
Still haven’t had any seafood yet.

Tote Bag Update + Steal on Picture Frames

I got the following reply about my tote bags:

Sorry about that, we will reship out on Monday. Sorry about the
mistake.----Sacks and Such

Not the most professional reply, but as long as I get my bags this week everything will be fine. They didn't mention anything about returning the wrong ones though... I hope they put a bag with postage in there for me to ship the wrong ones back... but then again, shipping costs more than the product did....

---------

I was walking through Walmart yesterday cause I was depressed and I was trying to find a water bottle with a handle/ish thing for less than 16.00 (which was what my friend paid for hers at the sporting goods store and i need a different one for the marathon)...

Well I found something similar for $3.88... it didn't have a pocket for a granola bar, but my shirt has one built in so i figured i'd give it a whirl...

In the process, i found the SAME SET of 10 PICTURE FRAMES I bought on black friday on clearance for $3.00.... and next to them they had 6 picture frame sets with 2 8x10's in them for $3.00, so I picked up 2 of the 6 piece sets and the last package of 1 frames all for $9.79. Now we will definently have enough frames for all the park tables. For the table center pieces we are doing small simple flower arrangements and pictures of Keith and me. So SCORE!!!!

I also have a coupon for 25 free prints at walmart that i'll hopefully use for the regular sized frames.

tote bags for the wedding came!

I got the tote bags for the wedding today... but unfortunately they sent me the wrong ones... I got Red instead of Blue... (other than that they are cute!) I checked the forms and everything and they list Blue right on the packaging sheet...

Guess I'll need to contact customer service through Amazon (it was a store thru amazon but not amazon)...

But the bad thing is i need them ASAP so Keith's mom can get them to embroider them. She'll be here in less than 2 weeks and I need her to be able to take them home to her in Utah while she's down here.

January 2011 Spending

With January being a no spend month, here's where my money went...

• Condo (Mortgage, MIP, Taxes, HOA) $1,058.18
• Extra Mortgage Principle $84.82
• Church Giving (LTG) $254.00
• Gasoline $83.15
• Toyota Car Maint $117.03
• Electricity $28.68
• Cell Phone $74.84
• Internet $31.99
• Groceries $153.99
• Perscriptions $15.00

Wedding:

• David's Bridal $327.33
• Vista Print $73.17
• Amazon.com $23.99

So I was able to pay off my dress, get the invites etc. paid for, and get those cute tote bags from Amazon, which should be here any day now.

February Kiva Loan: El Salvador

Jose Elias
Location: Puerto El Triunfo, Usulutan, El Salvador
Loan Use: To install electricity in his business premises
Sector:Food
Activity: Food Production/Sales
Repayment Term:8 months
Repayment Schedule:Monthly

26 year-old José Elías lives in Puerto el Triunfo, in Usulután department, with his parents and siblings. He is an employee and also sells fast food such as 'tortas mexicanas' (a type of sandwich), tacos and burgers. He has been in this business for 5 years. He came up with the idea when he was working at FOSALUD as a service assistant. He wanted to do well and lead a more stable life and so he decided to run his business at the same time.

He is currently requesting a loan to install electricity in his business premises and he also hopes to buy supplies so that he can continue preparing meals for his customers.

This investment will improve his business since his premises will be in a more suitable condition with electricity. He intends to pay back his loan at the correct time. His goal is to improve both his own financial position and that of his family.


One loan is still delinquent.

Group: Flores de Dolores
Location: Atlacomulco, Estado de México, Mexico
Sector:Clothing
Activity:Clothing Sales
Loan Use:to buy shawls
Repaid: $0.00

Shamshad Samuael Masih's Group
Location: Khanewal, Pakistan
Sector: Agriculture
Activity: Animal Sales
Loan Use: To buy goats for animal sales business
Repaid: $2.29

Janet Akinyi Ayieko
Location: Eldoret, Kenya
Repayment Term: 8 months
Activity: General Store
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: To open another two stores in town
Repaid: $4.17

Olga Francisca Cano Romero
Location: Portoviejo, Ecuador
Repayment Term: 6 months
Activity: Crafts
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: To buy fabric, down, thread, fasteners, etc.
Repaid: $18.75

Hawa Gull Group
Location: Monrovia South, Liberia
Repayment Term: 6 months
Activity: Food Market
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: To buy more bags of rice, onions, peppers, palm oil, and beans
Repaid: $22.35 DELINQUENT

LOANS PAID IN FULL:

Zenaida Daing- Farming, Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur, Philippines
Elizabeth Aidoo- Food Market, Wiawso, Ghana
Mobateli Plus Group -Manufacturing, The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Paz y Amor Group -Fruits & Vegetables, Dominican Republic
Dustmatov Eralboy - Livestock, Tajikistan
Seccelambras Group -Food Production/Sales, Peru
Rashidat Mumuni -Fish Selling, Nigeria
Karla Vanessa Montiel Barahona -Housing, Nicaragua
Eal Nub -Fish Selling, Cambodia
Atim Irene's Group -Medical Clinic, Uganda
Obama Group- Grocery Store produce- Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
La Esperanza Group- sugar cane, flour, sugar and coal- Ita, Paraguay
Siguikadi Group- Purchase of selling items -Kadiolo Sikasso, Mali
Altantuya Lhasuren- Butcher Shop- Tsetserleg, Arhangai, Mongolia
Gbawulu Group- To buy bags of cement to make blocks- Monrovia South, Liberia
Iyunge Group: purchasing bigger quantities of beans to sell- Cibitoke, Burundi
Fight For Progress Group- Buy palm-oil, rice, & oranges- Makeni, Sierra Leone
Mamile Orozalieva's Group- purchase more cattle for breeding-Kant, Kyrgyzstan


As of today i've loaned and re-loaned out a total of $600 through KIVA to 24 different groups in 23 different places all around the world. Its amazing what $25.00 can do!

Like Kiva? Think its neat? then Lend!!!!! Visit Kiva!

Ortho hell again...

I went into the ortho office to have my braces removed and my retainer attached. Now if you remember back to Between Dog sitting and planning Vegas... and dental issues or even further, to Invisiline and Braces or even further to Over 2 years ago i started invisiline... then you know i've had plenty of issues with their office.

Well yesterday they tried to charge me $600 for a retainer... I ended up leaving without having to pay but they made me feel so guilty, like I was lying to them and playing games with them...

I'm supposed to schedule my free whitening... but i'm not going to. I don't want to have anything to do with that office again. If I have any further ortho needs i'll be going to my dentist that I LOVE. Plus, my teeth actually look really white with the braces finally off and polished.

Condo Market Value

I needed a fairly large distraction today... so for your reading pleasure...

There are 4 housing associations near my condo (then a really nice upscale home tract, and a park). Occasionally I’ll run stats on one bedrooms in the area to see what they are selling for now, what they have sold for over the course of a year, and what kind of sales they were. Lately I kept noticing articles on the internet about housing, selling prices, and interest rates, so I figured it was time to take a look at the current market.

Association 1
There is 1, one bedroom condo on the market for $110,000.00 (Short Sale). Over the past year this model has sold anywhere from $113,000.00- $120,000.00----- 3 were foreclosures (the cheaper ones)… one was noted as “not an arm’s length transaction” … 2 were short sales & one looked like a normal transaction, but may have also been a short sale (the $120,000 price tag). There is no pool or additional amenities, but they do get 1 covered, assigned space. HOA Fee $300

Association 2
This is where I live. There is currently 1, one bedroom condo on the market for $124,999.00 (Short Sale) Mine is in better condition too. No other “one bedroom” properties have been bought or sold in the past year because my association doesn’t have too many per building (most are 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom units, and a lot of them were sold over a year ago in the beginning of the market flop). HOA Fee $250, includes water, and gas.

Association 3
I call this the Ritz association. They spend wayyyy to much money to make the outside look nice and pretty, and as a result, they keep special assessing the crud out of the owners to make up for the “shortfalls” they are now incurring. Parking is also horrible there. They have 1, one bedroom listed for $174,900.00 and have had a few places sell anywhere from $127,000- 165,000.00 (2 foreclosures and a short sale). They have a pool and detached garages. HOA $303, water included.

Association 4
This is the one association on the other side of the street, making it closer to the shopping center so it occasionally gets graffiti near it on some of the signs and utility boxes… :/ So location wise, this place is louder and tends to get more unwanted visitors, but they have a pool and some covered parking. There are currently no units for sale in the one bedroom range, but they have had one place sell for $152,500.00 (Foreclosure). HOA Fee$250.00

I widened the parameters for 2 bedrooms in my association just to see what was currently on the market. There are 5 properties listed, 3 are short sales for $149,900, $154,990, and $170,000 … and 2 are regular sales, one just listed and the other has been on market for about 90 days for 179,000 and 188,000.00
So considering the single bedroom listed for 124,999 is a short sale and the next 3 properties are short sales too, I think it’s safe to say my condo is worth at least the price I paid for it.

I have a place to stay... an update on the fiance moving to California

After talking with a family at my church, they have offered to host me at their home so Keith can move to California to work before the wedding!


I'm so incredibly grateful... I have no words... I feel truly blessed and loved right now...

Its amazing how many shapes and styles "family" truly comes in.