How I spent my Wednesday Night... (With Sprint & Bofa)

Apparently my "open thank you letter" to Sprint awhile ago was a little hasty on my part. We were supposed to get $175.00 credit on our account after 61 days of use for transferring my number from one cell provider to another one.The standard promotion was for $125.00 but the Rep at the store was going to give us an additional $50.00 to seal the deal...

Only that hasn't happened. I called up the guy who sold us our phones before the honeymoon and he remembered us and apologized for the full credit not processing through and told us it would be all fixed up by the end of business on the Monday we were leaving. We came back Friday and the credit wasn't fixed. I called again and he told me it would be fixed the next day... It wasn't. I called again and he told me he'd call me tomorrow.... and didn't return my call.

So I then called the store I bought my phone from and somehow got transferred to Corporate Sprint where I explained the whole story to an employee and asked nicely for my credit since I'd already made 3 or 4 phone calls about it trying to get the issue resolved already. I even offered to email him the handwritten card and everything so he could verify with the sales guy that they made the promise and so my credit could be posted.

But he couldn't and before I could say otherwise he transferred me to a supervisor... an "escalation supervisor" in fact... who was located in Kansas... I tried calling a building 3 cities over and somehow i'm now speaking with someone in Kansas? (and I wasn't yelling or getting angry so why did I need the escalation supervisor?)

Any who, the "escalation supervisor" very nicely told me that he couldn't do squat until the store made some notation to my account that an additional credit was promised because the Corporate Sprint could not uphold a store promise... even if I emailed him the business card that the clerk wrote everything on... :(

30 minuets of my life wasted... and no credit to speak of...

So I called and left a message for the sales rep AGAIN... and tried the store again (with the proper directions from the supervisor on how to not accidentally get sent to the corporate account problem solvers.)

So then I spent 6 mins explaining my story to another gal who told me by 5:30 she'd have the notation in the account memo box so i could then call Corporate Sprint back and ask for my Supervisor from Kansas so then he could credit my account...

So I killed the hour or so by doing other chores. First I called Bofa's mortgage line. Right before we went on the cruise we got a check from Bofa saying I was getting $70 back from overpaying my closing costs... yup, from the condo I bought 2 years ago. (They are just getting around to this now????)


So I decided to call down to make sure it wasn't some scam or a mistake that would one day come to haunt me as BofA showed up to take my house from me because I took $70 from them and lost a paper saying I needed to repay the amount plus interest ASAP or they would take my home..... (yup, vivid imagination)

So I called and the gal told me it normally took that long to refund any over payments that occurred during closing so the money is actually ours!! (Woot!) It's going to pay for my new kitchen door we just picked up before we went on our honeymoon (AKA, my 2 year homeowner present to myself). But that's all for another post.

While I was on the phone with her, I asked how I changed my name on my mortgage statements and forms. Apparently I need to send them a lot of things:

1. A copy of my new homeowners insurance with my new name on it...
2. Photocopy of my new SS Card.
3. A copy of my marriage cert. 

But then she told me that i could just bring my SS Card and my Marriage Cert to the bank and they could change it there... which seemed easy since I didn't have a copy of my homeowners insurance in my new name. She then told me I qualified for a rewards mortgage credit card that gave cash back (1% everything, 2% cash back, and 3% gas)... and it automatically went to pay down the balance on my mortgage. Which is something I'd actually consider getting... or I could just take the CC rewards checks I get and apply them to the mortgage myself.... but its just so much easier to spend money when its cash. (so maybe?)

But I must say that, that 17 minuet phone call that was far more efficient then all my calls to Sprint combined.

At this point the hubby came home so I dragged him down to BofA and we decided to cash a few checks... and change my name. We took down:

1. My husband's paycheck from 2 weeks ago
2. The $70 refund check from my closing costs...
3. My first check with my new last name (a $23 gas rebate check from work)
4. My SS Card
5. and the marriage cert.

We got my name changed on my checking account and while we were there we also changed my credit card that's through Bofa (the one I never use), but we couldn't change my mortgage account... Apparently I now need to bring a copy of my homeowners insurance in my new name.... (guess I get to do that later when the insurance office is open.)

We got home, I watered my plants and then called back Sprint's corporate line... spent 9 mins of the phone and BINGO. $50 credit towards next month's cell phone bill.

Yeah for leftover dinner nights. I couldn't imagine cooking a full meal after that.

Getting back on track

The hubby's actual white board to-do list... Guess he can
mark off the one about telling me he loves me :) 

Its always so hard to get back into your normal routine post happy vacation bliss. Our finances are all messy right now since I can't remember what I accounted for in our budget before we left, and what we are still waiting on. It looks like its going to end up being a zero sum game for us the rest of the month (thank goodness there is only one more day left and one more paycheck come Friday.)

Besides my mom's birthday dinner and a card and flowers, we are going to try and rein in the spending next month so we can get back on track and embrace the truly frugal people we are... not the spend hacks we have been!

I have piles of projects to finish, a whole lot of half written blog posts, and a new workout ethic to keep up (which I failed at doing yesterday.)

Hopefully I stay sane and get everything together and make a huge dent in my to-so list... or at least my hubby's...

Glitch: ING Direct

Apparently my experience with ING the other day was a "glitch in the system... Here's the email exchange:

Good morning,
I noticed that transfers between my checking account and savings accounts aren't instant anymore and that I need to wait for the next day to have the money moved from my electric orange checking account to my orange savings account. This used to happen instantly and I'd initiate my transfer and the money would be moved... It was a nice feature because once I clicked the "ok" button, I got to see the reward of my savings account grow and I got a good understanding of what was left in my checking account for spending and bill pay purposes...
And now that's not the case. I understand that you are under new ownership and have been bought by Capital One, but I have to ask, Why the change?
One of my favorite features of your on-line banking program was that everything was instant. It made it easy for me to balance my budget every month since I never had to wait for amounts to finish pending to pay bills or to feel good about putting money into savings.
I've been banking here for over 5 years now I have a checking account, 9 savings accounts, and a Roth IRA and a share builder account. Needless to say I consider ING Direct my primary account for savings and bill pay and for investments and I'm not happy with this change. I would really hate to take my business elsewhere since it would be a hassle on my end since I have so many accounts with you, but if you continue to change the things I love about banking with you, then I will have to.

ING's Response:

Hi Saver,
Need to move money? No problem. Transferring money to and from your Orange Savings Account and Electric Orange is quick and free-of-charge (and who doesn't like that?). Just follow one of these steps:
-Sign in to ingdirect.com and click the 'Transfers & Deposits' tab. You can do this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
-Call our Interactive Phone Service at 1-888-464-7868, which is also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There's no limit on the amount of transfers (or "deposits") to the Orange Savings Account; however, the Government makes us limit your transfers (or "withdrawals") from the Orange Savings Account to 6 or less per month. These rules don't apply to checking accounts, so transfers to and from Electric Orange are unlimited. Transfers to your linked external checking account are usually completed within 2 business days.
Thanks,Erik

My Response (after I filled out a survey indicating how unhelpful I found their reply):

Thank you for your response Erik... but it failed to answer my question. I already know how to transfer my money from account to account.
I was inquiring as to why you changed your policy.
Before when I transferred my money from my Orange Checking to my Orange Savings, it happened instantaneously and I received my confirmation email within minutes. The screen showed the transfer and the money was moved and wasn't "pending."
Now when I transfer money, I have to wait till the next day to have it moved from my ING Checking to my ING Savings...
I would like to know why this change has taken place.

ING's Response:

Hi XXXXXXXXX,
When making an internal transfer through ING DIRECT, the funds are available instantly. We only place funds on hold when a Customer transfer funds from their external linked checking accounts. If you have any further questions, just let us know.
Thanks,Michelle

Me again:

Good morning Michelle,
Unfortunately that wasn't the case when I initiated a transfer the other day. I had to wait one business day for all 5 transactions from my Orange checking account to 5 different savings accounts at ING.
Was that a fluke or apart of some website update that was going on?

ING's Response:

Hi XXXXXXX,

There may have been an error as internal transfers post immediately.
Thanks,
Joe

Anyone else have issues????  

ING Direct Changes

Last night while i was attempting to rectifying all of our accounts (and failing), I logged into ING Direct and was hit with a very interesting new change.

Before I tell you about that though, I thought I'd update you in case you haven't heard. As part of the Bank Bail Out that happened months and months ago, ING DIRECT was sold off to Capital One... and no one around the blog-o-sphere seems to be happy about it...

And it looks like we had good reason to be upset about the sell off. The first email change happened weeks ago and I didn't mention it on here because it doesn't really effect me too much. "They" (the goons at Capital One), decided to limit the amount of money people were allowed to transfer or get their hands on in one day from no limit... to only $5k (and left a little note at the bottom that if you need more they will transfer it, but only after a phone call....)

Then last night they stopped instant transfers with no warning. Normally you could pull money from your checking account into savings (and savings to checking) instantly. No waiting. The next screen showed all the changes automatically. Now you have to wait for the next day for the money to move... and I'm not pleased with that change at all. One of the features I loved was that it was instant. If I ever miscalculated something I could always just make a transfer from savings to checking and not worry about it...

I love the bank the way it was was, why change it? All the accounts are at the same branch, on the same screen, but no... not anymore. I have A LOT of money there and if they continue to play these games with me, my money will move elsewhere...

Please don't die my little orange bouncy ball...

Were Back!

Our honeymoon exceeded our expectations. It's amazing what a week away from your phone, the internet, work, and your family can do to feed the soul. While we didn't spend much if any time laying pool side, we really enjoyed ourselves.

We arrived in port early, and due to some arrests from the previous sail we weren't able to get on the ship for some time. We killed time people watching and exploring the Queen Mary.

Once we got settled in we hit dinner and met a fantastically fun couple. We made a point to meet up with them a couple of times during the cruise to help make the games and shows more enjoyable.

We went para sailing in Catalina... and if you've never been, I highly recommend it :)

After trolling through Ensenada, I was reminded of the blessings we have here at home. We went on a "blow hole" tour and our guide made a point to show us all the project areas and the factories that make a lot of goods for the states...

We spent our last full day at sea on the ship attending shows and games... and eating way too much yummy food :) We even hit the ship's casino for a bit and found out a few interesting . Apparently drunk people load machines up with money, play a little, and then walk away and out of the casino leaving cash just in the machine for the next person to play... we got a few "free" games in this way and when we went to get some cash from the ATM  we found $20 just sitting in it unclaimed.

After packing up and getting our last sit down meal we put in our room service order, caught a comedy act, and then called in a night.

We were off the ship in no time in the morning since we carried our own luggage off. Even with parking we kept to our honeymoon budget in tact and even had enough money left over to pay for the mounting gear to put up my new hammock chair :)

We decided that we like cruising so we will be redeeming our second set of vouchers in the future... possibly around our birthdays next year.

Phone calls... Phone calls... & more Phone calls

We were trying to get a bunch of loose ends finished up before we headed off to relax.

Dentist Appointment
We called the dentist and scheduled an appointment for South County Boy to get his check up and cleaning done for the first Saturday in October since that was the earliest we could get him in without it affecting his work schedule. We know he's going to need to get a lot of work done.... we'll be saving up a big chunk of dough because we really don't know how much it will end up costing us even with the insurance... especially since the insurance isn't the best in the world when you need work done. It's great for cleanings and checkups mind you, but not the best all around. Thankfully though, my dentist is fabulous and I heart her work so that makes up for any downsides that come along with the insurance because without it, I would never have tried her office.

Sprint Wireless
We got our Sprint bill in the mail... and we noticed our $125 credit... but it was supposed to be $50 more. I saved the card that it was originally written on and I called the guy personally who sold us our phones. He remembered us cause we cracked jokes while we were there... and frankly no one forgets the newly married couple when the wife is 5'1'' and spunky and her husband is 6'5'' and a wall flower :) He told me he'd call me the next day... and when he didn't return my call I called him back again. He told me that by Monday my account should be fixed so we are holding off making the payment until we get back from our trip... If not I told him that we would call him again personally when we got back state side...

DMV
I went ahead and called the DMV and made 2 appointments for the same day during the first week of October . Once to change my name on my license. One to change the title on my car into my correct name. Well see how that goes next month. 

Sprint again...
We needed to call to find out about any charges we may or may not receive from being on a boat with our cell phones... Apparently Airplane mode is safe so we can use our phones still as e-readers when we want to read pool side :)

Our internet went out...

I came home from work last week to a horrible discovery... Our internet went out... No blog access... No message boards... and no way to watch the season finale of my summer dirty pleasure show (Big Brother).

I tried to reboot my husbands computer... reboot the router... and the modem... but I came up completely dry. I tried my Laptop to see if it was just his computer but no... it was also infected.

Thankfully though, we have smart phones. I figured out how to watch the TV show on my phone (thanks You Tube) and then curled up in bed while I waited for SCB to come home and work some magic with his computer skills.

When he got home he did everything that I did again to make sure it couldn't be fixed with a re-boot. Then  he tried to connect the internet cable directly to his computer (instead of through the router) but that didn't work either. He was out of ideas and patience so I took my phone and googled the phone number for Cox.

After calling that number and getting a new number to call, I was on hold for about 15 minuets before I reached a technical assistant. I told him about our rebooting, disconnecting, and our previous trouble shooting efforts... but he made me do them all again while we were on the phone with him. When the right number of lights wouldn't turn on, he told us we would have to have a someone come out to fix it... (Slightly problematic since we would be leaving for our honeymoon in a mere few days and getting a tech out on the weekend without being stuck in your home for eons is almost impossible).

I asked the Cox employee how much a service visit cost and he was incredibly vague. He told me it could possibly cost $75, or be free... it all depended if it was something that was "our fault" or not. The last Cox employee who came to my house swore up and down that we wouldn't be billed for his work... only to in fact be billed for it which meant lots of phone calls back and forth to get the amount credited and refunded to my checking account... needless to say I just didn't want to go through that again.

While we were chatting, the Cox employee told me that for $3 a month we could have service protection added to our bill that would make all Cox tech visits FREE. I asked him if I signed up for the service now if it would work towards this little hiccup and he said it would... The icing on the cake is that I can cancel the subscription anytime I wanted to (I just can't add it back on for 6 months).

So I decided to sign up for the $3 fee since it would take 25 months for it to equal the cost on one Cox Rep visit to our home... and I'm sure they will have to come back again over the next 2 years most likely. If we need to, we can always cancel it later, but i'd rather gamble on $3 and not have to call about the bill then loose $75 and my time calling them up and complaining.

Once that was all worked out they thankfully had an appointment open for Friday from 5-7pm and I was able to finagle my work schedule so I was home before 5pm... which was good because the tech  called me at 4:50pm saying he would be there in 10-15 mins...

How many techs ACTUALLY show up on time??? AND Within the first hour???

So at 5:00pm he arrived and got to work on our modem. We had a REALLY long cable so the first thing he decided to do was slice and re-configure our cable since the main problem we were having was an inability to get any "signal" power. After splicing our cable and re-setting the system multiple times from the outside closet utility box we were up and running... and he was out the door after 20 mins. Our Friday night was salvaged!  

Guest Post: Fifteen Fabulously Frugal Date Ideas

A re-habbed spendaholic, The Happy Homeowner began blogging as a way to stay accountable and to chronicle her quest for financial freedom. From paying off over $14,000 in credit card debt in one year to purchasing her own condo in the expensive Boston real estate market (on her own!), she shares her financial ramblings, musings, and fabulously frugal ideas here.

Romance and finances.  As a society, we’re seemingly starved for the former and oblivious to the latter.  What is it about the blending of these topics that can sometimes make a grown (wo)man cry?  In my opinion, it’s the lack of awareness that romance doesn’t have to cost copious amounts of money.  Nor does it have to be commercialized, perfect, or over-the-top.  In a world where some people are struggling just to put dinner on the table when others are lavishing their significant others with $400 dinners, it’s obvious that homage should be paid to the fabulously frugal date.  

With that notion, I give you the Happy Homeowner’s Fifteen Fabulously Frugal Date Idea

1. Star Gazing:  pull out a blanket & get cozy in your backyard, nearby park, or beach.
2. Biking Picnic:  load up your bike basket (or backpack) with food that’s already in the refrigerator, hop on your bike, and pedal away. 
3. Beach Day:  head to your local beach or pond and collect a variety of shells, acorns, driftwood, etc.  Have a passerby take your photo and put it in a frame that’s decorated with your finds (hot glue the shells, etc. to a dollar store frame).
4. Road Trippin’:  Get in the car and drive away, making turns only on streets with a certain letter or postings for garage sales, etc.  Make sure to have a map or GPS with you so you can get home!
5. Open Houses:  Find open houses in your neighborhood and explore the homes while you create your own “life’s story” of the two of you living in the house.
6. Tiny Bubbles:  Take a free brewery or winery tour or attend a free tasting in your area.  Pack a picnic lunch to enjoy afterwards.
7. Cherry Picker:  Visit a local farm or orchard and pick fruit.  Turn that fruit into pies and enjoy the “fruits” of your labor
8. Lights, Camera, Action!:  Find out if any movies have been filmed in your area or close to where you live.  Rent the movie first and then go to those spots where it was filmed near where you live and re-create the scenes.  Don’t forget your camera!
9. Burn, Baby, Burn:  Turn a love of sports into an exercise-fueled date—go for a run, play ball in the local field, go for a hike.
10. He Went Thatta-Way:  Start your date by following a random stranger wherever they go.  When they stop or you can’t follow them anymore, pick someone else and do the same.
11. Around the World:  Pick a theme or region of the world and cook a dinner based on the food found there. 
12. Bathing Beauties:  Light some candles, pop some bubbly, and soak your worries away.
13. One Dolla-Holla:  Set a budget of $5 or $10 each and go to the dollar store.  Have a contest to see who can create the best/funniest/most romantic gift for the other.
14. Book Worms:  Read a book together, taking turns but stopping periodically to have the other guess what will happen next.
15. Snuggle Bunnies:  Take a nap together.  Seriously, napping is such an amazing luxury from time to time!

These ideas are in addition to the standard free events, $1 movies, walk in the park, etc. that any Google search can pull up.  The idea is that with a wee bit of creativity, anyone can fit in a fabulous date despite the tightest of budgets.  After all, if we allow our money to dictate our lives and relationships, are we really living?!

Honeymoon time

My hubby and I will be away from the blog this week as we will be enjoying our honeymoon... But don't worry, I have a guest post lined up along with a few scheduled posts to keep you occupied with in our absence.

Sadly comments wont post till we get back on Friday since I'm sure we won't be able to get cell service in the middle of the ocean.

Our tickets are printed, our bags are packed, and we are off and running.

Hope everyone has much fun as we do this week!

Weekly Updates (Spending, Work, & Money Goals)

Weekly Spending-ish

I can't really say why... but we just decided to spend money... Clothes, harvest decorations, eating out for SCB... and we bought a door (but more on that later...) We spent money and I don't really feel bad about it... and next week we will spend more money too because we will have they final cruise expenses. I love my decorations (more on those later too). So i'll just keep this re-cap of our week short and sweet.

September 11

• Fresh & Easy: $44.90
• Costco: $29.64 (Milk, Laundry Detergent, and conditioner)
• Gas for SCB: $38.51

September 12
September 13

• Homeowners Insurance: $335.00
• Earthquake Insurance: $257.00
• Doctor's Bill: $93.19
• McDonalds: $23.62

September 14
September 15

• McDonalds: $4.31
• McDonalds: $8.77
• Kohl's: $40.27

September 16

• Chipotle: $13.68

September 17

• Home Depot: $21.67 +$50.62 +$10.74
• Big Lots: $71.12
• Michael's: $94.12
• Jack in the box: $15.58
• Walmart: $45.96

Job & Work Updates:

There is a guy at SCB's work who got hurt on the job... so they have been operating the last week one man down. So he's been working harder... and longer. Looks like he maybe getting some overtime on the next paycheck or so (not the one he just got)... which will be a nice way to make up for the week he won't be getting paid at all for... but thankfully that's a "three paycheck" month for us so the extra one will be short we think.

I'm just mums the word about my job and i'm glad i'm now on vacation :)

Money Goals:
Retirement is staying the same this week since we paid for all our shopping and the Doctors visit. We also took $300 and set it aside for SCB's eventual dentist visit next month... and we knocked out our last annual bill for our AAA roadside card ($48). Its good to know that in the event that we get into a bind we have all our annual bills saved up besides our insurance bills since we budget those in monthly.   

• Operation Roth IRA: $486.18/$5,000.00... 9.72% Saved
• Travel Fund: $480.10
• Child Share Fund: $138.00
• General Giving: $185.70

Annual House Bills floating in...

It's September and that means at the end of the month I'll have been a homeowner for 2 years. It's crazy to think that I've had my condo for 2 years now...

Which means in a year from now the $8,000 first time home buyers credit will no longer haunt me and will never need to be paid back.

While I wait on that silver lining as I watch property values tank in my area still, September also brings something new to the mix.

We get all our housing annual bills in the mail.



Earthquake insurance policy 
Since we have a small condo, they don't let us get a lot of coverage because we can only insure our unit and a lot of the values are set on the type of property we have since its "joint use," but here are our specs:

• Building property set at $25,000.00 for a $3,750.00 Deductible
• Personal property set as 25,000.00 for a $750 Deductible
• Loss of Use $10,000.00 -- No Deductible 
• Loss Assessment set as $25,000.00 for a $3,750.00 Deductible

and we get stick paying $257.00 a year for it... but its better to have some coverage than nothing.

Homeowner's Insurance  

Coverages and Limits

• Building Property $25,700.00 
• Personal Property $25,700.00 
• Loss of Use:  Actual Loss
• Loss Assessment: $10,000.00 
• Personal Liability $300,000.00
• Damage to others property $500
• Medical Payments to others $1,000.00 (each person)

All for a $500.00 Deductible.

Its $335.00 (we save $10.00 for a home alert discount, $59.00 for having home and auto together, and $26 for being claim free)

Doctor's Bills and Hot Flashes

If you remember back to last month, South County Boy went to the doctors so he could get his mandatory 6 month check up for his prescription medication renewal. Since we haven't made the leap to put him on my health insurance yet (its cheaper to keep him on his parents plan for now--- even before they decided we didn't need to pay them for his monthly premium!), we called up his Momma to figure out how his high deductible plan worked.

Essentially we discovered that he gets to go to the doctors and not give them any money upfront. The doctor then bills Aetna and Aetna negotiates what we pay for on our behalf... then once they agree, we get a bill that we pay directly to the doctor.

Sounds simple right?

Well don't worry, they messed it up. SCB's Momma (who I adore btw) got a form from Aetna saying our negotiated amount went from down to $93.19 (instead of paying $270.00)... We were thrilled... and then we got the bill and we didn't know if we should be happy or sad.

Our bill was only for $20.00...

I knew it had to be to good to be true so I decided to call and get the "real" story so I didn't have to worry about getting another bill months down the road with all kinds of interest charges or fines when we may or may not have the funds to pay for it. Better nip it in the bud so to speak.

So I called the doctor's office's billing department to figure out what was going on. It took me a few days to call because the first time I called before 5pm my time a recording told me that they were closed. No where on the bill did it say their billing department was on the east coast... The next time I called it was too early because even though the bill said they were open at 8am, apparently they really aren't because my call at at 6am should have worked perfectly making it 9am in the east coast.... So I waited till a day I worked the gym so I could call them at 1pm when I got off.

Once I got through the line the billing assistant put me on hold for a minuet... and then told me she'd be a bit longer  so she could finish her email... yup, she told me I apparently called right in the middle of her email and she'd be with me in a minuet when she finished it.

:/

When she came back on the line and I told her that we got a bill in the mail for $20, but a form from the insurance company saying our negotiated rate was higher. As she was looking up our account information, she started talking about how she was having the worst bout of hot flashes...

no joke. She went on for a few minuets about how either the heater was going off and on full blast at her station or she was just really getting into it with her erratic hormones. (go figure the one time I don't get a recorded message saying "your call may be monitored for quality assurance" I get a crazy lady who needs to learn the meaning on over share).  

Eventually though, she did tell me that the doctors office just didn't wait for the insurance people to finish negotiating our rate and sent us some random billing amount for the time being. Thankfully our account was correct in their data base so i was able to pay our bill over the phone.

We ended up paying the $93.19 that we owed. Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to our next SCB Health project... The dentist. The man hasn't been in years and has at least one cavity... Guess what he will be looking forward to when he gets back from our honeymoon?

Mortgage Update + Condo Costs (September '11)

I got paid on Friday so we sent our mortgage payment in.

Principle paid down: $155.21
Interest: $495.43

New Balance: $113,085.19

The pay off date is still January 2039... 8 months ahead of schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will pay $111,996.75 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23. The little extra I've tossed at the mortgage has saved us $4,407.58 in interest over the life of the loan.

Total Condo Costs: -$24,729.37

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

How we are breaking even:

• First Time Home buyer's Credit: +$8,000.00
• Current equity: +$6,914.81 (assuming property is worth the purchase price) 
• 2009 Prop Tax Deduction: +$90.10
• Electrician costs 2010 -$95.00
• TILE Refund +$1,265.00
• 2010 Federal tax break +$1,087.00*
• 2010 State tax break +$461.00*
• 2011 Home Depot -$12.97

*The 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: -$7,019.43

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $136,303.68 to break even.

• This assumes a 6% total commission ($8,178.22)
• Enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for ($7,019.43)
• Enough money to cover the $8,000.00 tax CREDIT i'd have to repay for not living in the property for 3 years. ($8,000.00)

If I wait out the remaining 16 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $122,980.40

• Assuming 6% total commission ($7,378.82)
• Enough money to refund the amount i would be in the hole for taking into account for the additional principle reductions from 16 more payments ($4,760.88) 

If I add up what I spend on my condo in a given year, its equivalent to (or less) to what my annual costs would be if I lived in my old apartment complex... So all my monthly expenses are a "wash" since I would have thrown the money away paying for rent.  For 2011 the figures are:

• Apartment: $14,202.00 for the year, or $1,183.50 a month [this figure includes the rent, trash, water, gas, laundry, & renters insurance, and it assumes I stayed in the previous unit i did the prior year (ie- no security deposit) and signed a new 12 month lease that started in November].
• Condo: $13,356.24 for the year, or $1,113.02 a month [this figure includes my mortgage, hoa- (which includes water, trash, & gas utilities), taxes, mip, earthquake insurance, and homeowner insurance.]

$70.48 LESS a month than the apartment (which is smaller than my unit)... giving me $845.76 a year I can either toss at the mortgage or use for home improvements while STILL breaking even BEFORE tax deductions are even considered. To date for 2011 I've added: $257.54 in Extra principal and spent $12.97 in repairs. Total: $270.51/$845.76. I'm hoping at the end of the year to take the balance that is left and add it to the principle on the loan to make it break even.

Emergency Prep Work

Its been an interesting few months globally in terms of disasters. We had the horrible news and damage from Hurricane Irene... Fires burning through most of Texas.... Then there was a HUGE power blackout that affected South California, Arizona, and then some... (we lucked out and didn't loose power)... and then there was the hail storm... and that did it.

Yup, freakishly random Thunder, Lightening, Rain... and HAIL... on my patio... bouncing off my BBQ.

September is supposed to be emergency preparedness month (according to some random website) and as I watched the lightening illuminate the sky and the thunder shake my nerves, I felt really unprepared... Then the hail started and I went to the sink and started cleaning out old mountain dew bottles and filling them with filtered water. I filled everyone I could find in the house that had a cap still.

According to most of the earthquake preparedness sites, they say you should be prepared for 72 hours in the event of an emergency at the very least.

My husband and I have kits made up in the closet for emergencies... and every so often we look through them and add to them, but we have never stored up any water... the most important thing we would need to have... especially when our building water goes off so much. They say you should have a gallon per person per day... and after filling up all the 2 liters and 1 liter bottles I could find we officially have enough water for each of us for 3 days.... Needless to say the next time we buy 2 liters we will be saving those too.

Since we re-used containers and the seals aren't that great, we will need to go ahead and swap them out in a few months with clean water.

But for now I feel a bit better knowing we have water stored up in case it doesn't come out of our tap.

Why I Married My Husband... (Reason 1)

The other night we went out to dinner for my friends birthday and we dressed to the nines: Heels, Cute stylish dress, jewelry, make-up, and hair... and South County Boy in some slacks and a nice button down shirt.

We had a good time despite the fact that my Ex was there with his best friend (who now hates me). We all played nice and while we were eating our dinner, SCB didn't feel so well. He got up to walk around a bit and tried fresh air, but it wasn't helping him too much. The loud restaurant, the slightly unfriendly people, and a few awkward moments weren't helping much. We made it though dinner and declined a night out at David Busters (one of my hubby's favorite places) because he just needed to go home and lay down. He didn't want the computer, or ice cream on the way home... all he wanted to do was just lay down.

So we headed home... and after about 15 yards my feet started to kill me in my shoes (the ones I had worn though out our wedding with no pain... apparently my lack of walking all the time had ruined my ability to survive shoes with elevation).

I decided to ditch them and walk barefoot towards the car since I could already feel 3 blisters on my feet. The place we were at was like an outside mall so it was like walking on sidewalk. Everything was going well until we had to cross the black pavement towards the car. I looked down and was about to walk to the car when my husband... who was already not feeling well, told me to wait.

He said he'd bring the car around so I didn't have to walk in the street...  without my shoes.


He drove me home and I followed a second or so behind him while I grabbed my stuff so he reached the stairs first... and in that moment I knew why I had married my husband.

He slipped off his shoes and he left them there for me at the bottom of the stairs and walked up in his socks...

Why?

Because we have cobblestone steps (lots of little hard pebbles mixes together with cement) and he knew I didn't want to walk up the stairs without shoes... or put on my heels of death again...

I heart him.

Weekly Updates (Spending, Work, & Money Goals)

Weekly Spending-ish

We had a few unexpected things happen this week so we decided not to spend our $75 refund check on Costco extras. We budget $250 a month for groceries and since we only have 4 grocery shopping weeks this month, we will be using the extra $50 in our normal grocery amount for the necessities like laundry soap, conditioner, ect. The treats will have to wait till later in the month to see if we can work them in since we had an unplanned trip to Walmart on our docket. SCB's wrists have been killing him lately so we got him two good wrist supports. We also picked up some personal care items for him while we were there.

My moms birthday is coming up next month and she likes this discontinued perfume from Avon... so we went ahead and ordered it off Amazon for her because it was the last one in stock and it was a great deal even with shipping. We will pair the perfume with some flowers and take her out to dinner somewhere most likely. We also have 2 other birthdays to plan for this month. My "aunt" and my old roommate. We attended a nice birthday dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory for my old roommate on Friday and we picked her up a $25 gift card to Target for her birthday because its her favorite place to shop and her and her boyfriend are trying to save money, so whether it helps with groceries, clothes, books, CDs, it was a good choice. For my "aunt" we are planning on picking her up some candles she likes and pairing it with a cat figuring we picked up at the street fair over our honeymoon. We may toss in a bottle of wine or something but we haven't decided yet. In our new married budget (which I will post once SCB gets his next check since he did change his withholding) you will see a new birthday fund is set up. We are going to start setting aside $50 a month (like we do for Christmas) to cover birthdays so we aren't scrambling around once we get really focused on our goals. 

This week also started a few firsts for us. We got PERSONAL fun money! SCB spent his on Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew, and some quick fast food type meals while working. Fresh & Easy had a sale on Mountain Dew, 4 for $11 so he got 8 cases for $23.49 (after a $5 off $25 coupon) in addition to the 4 cases I worked into our regular food budget! We won't be adding our personal spending to our weekly spending logs since the whole point is for SCB and I to have money we don't have to tell the other person what we spent it on... but he wanted to highlight his Mountain Dew purchase and picture. But I will add when we each get fun money to our weekly spending updates.

Fun Money:
$40 South County Girl
$40 South County Boy

September 4

• Fresh & Easy: $53.05
• McDonalds: $8.08 (breakfast date)
• Gasoline: SCB $60.49 (ya, $60 for a single fill up... gas hit $3.99 again this week.)

September 5

• Walmart: $34.44 & $23.10
• Amazon.com: $15.99 (My mom's birthday gift for next month)
• Target: $23.65 --Friends Birthday (I bought the gift card and a card with a partial gift card I had gotten from Offermatic)

September 6

• Electric Bill: $44.67

September 7
September 8
September 9

• Cheese Cake Factory: $50.00
• Mortgage Payment: $808.18

September 10

• Gas for SCB: $37.34
• Prescription Refill $4.00
• Walmart: 38.20 (Black T-shirt, Yoga Pants, gum, Pencils, and 2 cereal storage containers)
• Islands: $27.00

Job & Work Updates:

Both of us are still happily earning money, which is really spiffy :) Work has been an adventure for me balancing a lot of  crazy things all at once and its only going to start getting busier next month as I begin to roll out and plan a huge work sponsored event. I'll be cherishing our vacation and break from everything that's not our cruise. In terms of work for me, I did work the Monday holiday so my next paycheck will have some overtime on it, plus about 3 hours of overtime from a Harassment training day we had. The last 2 paychecks I've had have been "normal" for me (the first few checks that haven't had any overtime on since SCB moved to California)... But October should be a busy month for me so that won't be the case there... which is probably good because SCB isn't getting paid vacation for our cruise because he hasn't been there long enough. He also picked up a partial shift on Saturday so he may get some overtime for the week if he's paid for Labor Day (which I believe he is).

Money Goals:

Since we finished the Xbox fund, I got to remove it from our goals list. We got to add $220 from house sitting into our Travel fund for our honeymoon. (The balance in there is after we paid for our para-sailing excursion!). We didn't add anything to the Roth IRA with the hubby's first paycheck because we needed to pay for the unexpected prescriptions that we ordered... But I just got paid and once the money gets transferred we should be adding around $160 to the fund and adding more to our giving accounts.

We also took $50 from SCB's paycheck to set aside our Costco Renewal fee for next year. In case you don't know, I like to save up all my annual bills ahead of time so when I get them I can just take the money out of savings to pay for them and not worry. We have our car registration stickers for 2012 already saved, and now we have our Costco bill saved up as well. All we have left is our AAA bill since our insurance bills are budgeted in Monthly... but those bills should be coming in any day now for home owner and earthquake insurance.      

• Operation Roth IRA: $327.73/$5,000.00... 6.55% Saved
• Travel Fund: $480.10
• Child Share Fund: $92.00
• General Giving: $164.00

Electric Bill Updates

It's been a rather exciting week or two for our mail box. After last months GINORMOUS electricity bill SCB and I vowed to not turn on the Wall AC unit unless it was truly bad and unbearable... and we made it though the month. 

 

We made a point to turn off fans in rooms we weren't in and using and we made it a priority to take the extra minuet to turn off lights, fans, and computer monitors before we left for work so they wouldn't be running all during the day. 

 

Since we don't have any windows in our unit (but we do have 2 large glass slider doors), we kept the doors open and the screens shut to give a breeze throughout the day since the sun doesn't directly hit our side of the building (just enough to hit the plants and the deck but not the slider doors)... This easily made our home a good 5 to 7 degrees cooler then the outside all by doing practically NOTHING. When we come home, we can feel the difference between inside and outside and most times that's what makes the difference in how you feel. You don't need your home at 72 degrees when its 100 outside... you will feel just as great coming into a house that's 80 when its that hot out. 

 

Pair the nice breeze with a glass of ice cold water and its heaven without Air Conditioning. We also made a point of not baking and using the oven and stove top that much. Instead we grilled a lot more since the heat from the BBQ was outside, not inside. 

 

In the end the little sacrifices allowed us to make it thought the billing cycle (plus 5 days of us using the AC before we got the GINORMOUS bill) for only $44.67. 

 

what a relief compared to what we spent last month. We would much rather pay that and make compromises and embrace ice water and tank tops then the $100 plus bill from the month before. 

 

Even with yesterdays triple digit weather (and waking up at 4am to find it was still 75 degrees out) we slept fine with the slider doors open and the fan on in the bedroom with just a couple of sheets on the bed (yup, we each get our own sheet so we don't have to share).     

We did use the AC unit for my "Girls" night (which isn't on this bill but will be coming on the next one), but we decided to be smart about it and closed off the bedroom and the bathroom door so the cold air would only circulate though the living room and the kitchen (the two rooms we were using) so it didn't have to run as hard. 

 

It would be smart for us to figure out a way to reconfigure out furniture because the couch sits right next to the AC unit and that person FREEZES when its on... but with our current furniture it just doesn't work. If we are willing to get rid of an end table we could move the couch further down the wall and that would help a bit, but then we would need to find someplace else for the stuff inside the end table drawers. Its still a possibility were working on... especially since the stuff in that area gets seldom used and would probably fit in a bin under the bed... (but if its been seldom used since I've moved in, why do we keep it???????)  but it also means that the artwork and pictures on the wall won't frame the couch and it just looks funny to me when the couch isn't in the middle of the wall... 

but then again, I'm not a big fan of our couch... it was after all, my first roommates ex-boyfriends, Step-Dad's office couch.

Helping my mom buy a car.... part 2

At the end of our first marathon day of test driving cars, she decided on the KIA at what she thought was $30,700.00 before taxes and fees because that was the price on the window of the car... On the front window actually... what we were told was the "Labor Day weekend" price.

But when she called the dealership back and told her she wanted it, they told her is was $32,500.00 and they were going to knock it down to $31,500.00 instead to cut my mom a break. When she asked why it was a grand OVER what she was told, they merely told her that the "window price" was the price if she qualified for every discount they gave (military, student grad, owned a certain car type, etc)...

Needless to say, she was a little peeved and so was I.

They flat out lied to all 3 of us (my mom, my husband, and I) about the price of the car and tried to bait and switch her out of more money. So what did my mom do? She told them she didn't appreciate their business measures and that unless they gave it to her for $30,700 they just lost a huge commission cause she'd walk away on the principle of the matter... and they didn't budge.

What stunk even more was the fact that my mom really liked that car and had convinced herself it was the car FOR her and that all other cars made her feel like she was "settling" for less...

At this point I told her that she should take another look at the Camry Hybrid (the cheapest of her top 3 since at least something she'd save gas money on). We caught the sales man as he was leaving for the day but he stuck around so we could drive it again... and he showed us a regular new Camry that was all tricked out with leather, a sun roof, and GPS navigation. My mom perked up a little bit after that and went home to sleep on it all.

Then Lexus called her and told her she could borrow the car for 4 hours and drive it around tomorrow...

Thankfully she decided to wait till I got off work to go down to the Lexus dealership (despite the fact that a guy offered to send a car to her home to pick her up since she wasn't trading a car in)... and here's the interesting part. My mom wanted my husbands and my opinion of what she should do... and we gave it to her and convinced her not to buy the Lexus...

How did we do that?

• I asked her why would someone give back an almost new Lexus with only 20,000 miles on it... Keith pointed out that it was probably a lease contract so the person didn't take care of it.
• We then pointed out that they CERTIFIED it when it still fell under its original warranty... that's not something they had to do (as the sales man pointed out) so we asked WHY would they go out of their way to do it... probably because they had to fix a bunch of stuff to get it sell-able again and since it wasn't much work more, they just certified it.
• Then we talked about how it was USED and she could spend less for a new car with similar features.
• We pointed out how it wasn't a Hybrid...
• how it was more expensive to insure since it was a Lexus...
• how much smaller the trunk was...
• and for good measure we brought up the fact that she works at a mall with no safe place to park it.

So she called the man and told him she wasn't going to get it. He tried to talk her into coming down and driving it again, but she said no...

Then my husband took my phone and called a different KIA dealership, explained what happened there, and asked if they would give my mom the car of her dreams for $30,700.00 Three phone calls later (2 of which were from me talking about how its a recession, and how we have a heavy down payment and needed only low term financing for the balance, and how we'd be willing to drive all the way out of our way for it and would love to buy it from them since they were "honest" and "reliable"...), & they caved.

My mom was going to get the car she wanted at the price she wanted...

The new car would come with a 5 year bumper to bumper and a 10 year power train warranty and 2 free oil changes and she'd save money on gas since it was a hybrid... and it was her dream luxury car with everything and then some on it...

So we drove all the way out to disneyland to go get it... It was from a smaller dealership that was less flashy then the one we went to in the OC... It had rained that morning and the black car had a bit of dust on it... and when the gal opened the door so my mom could have one more test drive in it, she started talking about how she didn't like the interior so much since it wasn't solid black...

and walked away...

Apparently without the flashy sales lady, and the nice big dealership, the car just didn't "shine" that much... It didn't feel "Luxury" and she didn't want to buy it anymore...



Maybe, just maybe she's realizing that a car is just a car...

Helping my mom buy a car.... part 1

If you remember back a while ago I think I mentioned that my mom's car got totaled when an idiot hit her... and despite my sister wrecking her car just a week or so later (and insisting we loan her one of our cars AND pick her up from work during our honeymoon week)... my mom actually turned down one of my sister's "fabulous offers" to buy a $60,000 car for only $45,000 because her "friend" worked at a dealership and could get a great deal on it...

But since it was an "offer from my sister", it had strings (or alternative motives) attached to it. Her idea was to get my mom to replace her car so she could "borrow" our mom's spare truck for a while and therefore wouldn't have to buy a car instantaneously or get her's repaired. Thankfully, my husbands wisdom and common sense prevailed and my mom turned her offer down. She decided she's drive the truck and save up for the car she wanted... not the car my sister wanted her to have.

So, that left my sister without any wheels and without much time to hunt for a car since she has 2 jobs... So instead of taking the time to look around and actually keep the rental car she had from her accident, she decided she would just buy the $45k car out on a loan and trade in her car... She now has a $580 a month car payment for the next 6 years or so... after she got around 8k for her trade in... all because she didn't want to spend $3k to fix her transmission on a car she was only 6 months away from owning outright... a car that had a smaller monthly payment then the new luxury mobile she had aquirred...  why would anyone do this? because she couldn't come up with the $3k she needed to replace the transmission.

She took out a $40,000 loan for a car because she couldn't come up with $3k.... 

***cricket cricket***

I'll never understand her logic or reasoning behind that move... I told her she should just get a 3k loan from the bank to fix her car and then keep it... even the auto place told her to do the same... but common sense doesn't hold much if any water in her book...

So how does this all circle back to my mom? 

Well, since she didn't buy the expensive car, she has been spending the last 2 months driving around her 2000 single cab Ford truck---a cast off of her older sister's that my mom needed to take ownership of so her sister could qualify for disability insurance/payments from the goverment because she can't work anymore... (apparently you can't have 2 cars to qualify and she had taken ownership of their dads car when he passed away so she just signed the truck over to my mom.) and she hates it. She hates everything about that truck but she won't get rid of it because it comes in handy whenever someone buys something large... and she likes having a spare car in the family just in case.

So on top of hating the truck with a passion, my mom has also been socilizing with a few of her friends lately since her boyfriend dumped her before my wedding and they all have luxury cars... $80,000 cars.... and on top of getting to ride with them, my mom has spent time in my sister's new $60,000 car... and she thinks she deserves the same kind of refined treatment.

Despite my sister and I having problems as of late (I still haven't talked to her yet--Go me!), My mom has been respecting my reasoning behind wanting to put space between my sister and I and we have been getting along quite well. She called me up over the weekend since my sister is out of town in Vegas and asked if I could look up some car dealerships for her. While I was giving her turn by turn directions to different places, My husband and I offered to take her if she wanted company and another pair of eyes out there... and she accepted so my husband and I spent Labor Day weekend car hunting with my mom.

Sunday we drove down to Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Lexus, KIA, and some other place (I forget). From 10am to almost 4pm (with a grub break) we looked, test drove, and I talked my self horse with the dealerships to insure that my mom's weak self confidence didn't shine though and they didn't give her or show her something that wasn't in our parameters. (4 door sedan, new or certified used with under 30,000 miles... perferably black... with rims... yes my mom actually said she refused to by a car with hub caps because she wanted luxury)...

After narroring her choices down to a fully loaded Hybrid KIA, a certified used 2010 Lexus with 20,000 miles on it, and a new Toyota Hybrid Camry, my mom went home to mull through the options.

Knowing how much money my mom makes (around 35k a year) I thought the cars that ultimately made her "top 3 list" were a bit too pricy. Ranging from $26,000 - $32,000, I really had to bite my tounge. She did let me mention it and listened while I talked with her about it at home, but she wants to have "luxury" because she deserves it and she kept telling us that shes going to pay cash for her car. At first this made me feel a bit better, but then she told me where she was getting the cash from... Her only savings account she has at the bank which she was labeling her "retirement" account. (It only has $50k in it)   .....  :/   Then she started talking about financing $10,000 of the purchase price...

Something my mom has never done before... 

CC Rebate Check...?

So last week we got a surprise in the mail... My husbands pass card arrived way earlier than expected and we rejoiced because it meant we were all set for our cruise adventure...

Well, I found another pretty awesome surprise in that happy little mail slot.

I found our $75 check rebate check from my credit card rewards program... The check that I completely forgot was heading our way...

If you remember back to last month, we went to target to get some decongestant and some ibuprofen and spent over $100 on other things... including some new patio chairs and a small outside table.

At the time in the store we justified the spending because I knew I had $75 in CC rewards that we could cash out at our leisure.... but I forgot that the check.

When it came time to balance our budget I was able to get everything accounted for... including our target spree. I forgot we had the check coming in to pay for that and now its just sitting here... itching to be put to good use.

One option was/is to take it and just dunk it into the Roth IRA... but we have been tossing around the idea about using it to stock up on some things for the house that we need... mixed with a few food luxuries that we want... and that idea seems to be winning.

We'd like to pick up a few more food containers from BB&B to help store some more baking ingredients and allow us to purchase more than one brand of cereal at at time (my cereal container is currently holding oats because we opened our new bag to make cookies for girls night and didn't have anywhere to store them). We also need to pick up a few things at Costco like laundry detergent, conditioner for my hair... but there are also a few frozen food treats that we keep passing over because we can't fit them into the regular budget.  (Like Costco's frozen spinach parmesan ravioli... and their herb crusted fish filets...mmmmm).

I also had to work on Labor Day so I will be seeing some overtime pay on my second paycheck of this month.... So we could put the $75 check in the Roth IRA... and spend my overtime money on the goodies... or we take the overtime money (which should be more than the $75 check) and send that to the Roth and spend the $75.

Its kind of like splitting a windfall 50/50... So, it looks like we will spend the $75 at Costco and BB&B and put the overtime to work in the Roth IRA.

It seems like a good compromise since we will stock up on some items we need (like the laundry soap and conditioner) and we can mix it was some nicer food luxuries and eat in a bit more instead of eating out for all our date nights which could end up saving us money or at least just enjoying dinner more... and the Roth still gets a bit more cash.

We got the passcard!

My husbands old Passport... and his
new pass card tucked inside!!!

My husband brought the mail over from the condo and guess what we found?


HIS PASS CARD!!!


I'm really glad we didn't break and pay the extra for the expedited process because we didn't need it one bit!

At first I really wanted to take a picture of the card itself because it looks really nifty, but then you'd have all of our information and that's a little scary... so you'll have to just admire my husbands old passport (it was returned to him in his envelope) and see the cute little card peaking out from the top of it.

But now we are all set for our cruise... minus packing and stuff like that.

I think once my name gets changed at all the different government branches (i'll be making an appointment at the DMV once I get my new social security card after the cruise to get my new license... and the change my name on all of my various checking and online savings accounts)... so once that's done I'll just go and get a pass card of my own in my brand new name to have in case of emergencies :)

But for the time being I just can't wait for vacation land to be upon us... I could really use a break from work stuff (there are just some crazy personality issues circling around that I don't want to get into on the blog as we are all hoping that its a temporary phase that will go away on its own...  but its just a lot to just deal with on a day to day basis).... plus the vacation will be nice because when i get back i'm going to be uber busy even though its our slower season...

I just hope everything stays in good balance and i'll be able to take car of myself and make time for my husband and my friends. I need to make myself a priority and take care of me so I don't unravel at the seams... This vacation will do so much for my sanity... I can't wait. 18 days!!!!

 which reminds me..

I'm looking for people who may be interested in guest posting on my blog for the week i'll be away? If your interested, email me at Southcountygrl@gmail.com   

Weekly Updates (Spending, Work, & Money Goals)

Weekly Spending-ish

Since we were puppy sitting for the whole week, we managed to stay good on our budget (we won't buy groceries till tomorrow when we go home for the week). Most of our nights were spent in the hot tub or just relaxing while reading, watching shows, and for me, catching up on blogs since I had a monopoly on the mac my hubby wouldn't go near.  =)

We did do one date night mid week when we just couldn't stomach cooking because we didn't really meal plan this week since we were at the puppy house so nothing we had in the house seemed appetizing. (Note to self, this is why we meal plan so we have ideas and ingredients in the house to cook... and a list of all the ingredients we need to make them).

But since I had some cash in my wallet (I set aside more money then I needed to get my hair cut and i decided not to go get my eyebrows waxed because I just didn't have the time and I didn't end up ordering my make up from Mary K because I couldn't get a hold of my sales gal---) so I decided to use some of this cash to treat dinner and save us from the horribly non-functional kitchen. 

We only really had one or two other eventful things happen this week outside of the unexpected charge on our CC that I discovered the other day... When my husband was at work he forgot to grab their work Credit card to gas up the truck and he called half way down to san diego asking his boss what he should do. The answer was to put it on our AMX and fill our a reimbursement form.  We should get a refund check back on the 10th to cover the $85.73 it took to fill up their tank... Even though my man is forgetful, I still love him and I think he's cute (yes, my hubby reads the blog occasionally).

In terms of my family, my sister called me twice earlier this week and didn't leave me a message so I felt no real need to waste my time by returning her call. I know all she wants to do is yell at me and if I don't pick up she doesn't get the satisfaction of screaming. But a little silent treatment isn't enough apparently. She tried to resort to text messaging me saying that I have yet to return her calls ... but it couldn't be matched by my simple reply of, "you didn't leave a message." Needless to say after one more attempt to call me where all she got in terms of a reply was another text message a day later saying the same thing my phone was  silent from her.... until the weekend... where I again didn't bother with replying.

Ya, I feel a little inner glee that i'm depriving her of her little screaming 5 year old tantrum, but after her years or torture I think I deserve to bask in the beauty of being above the situation and her incestuous drama. For once I'll just listen to my gut and not give her the opportunity to tear me down. If it's important, she will leave a message. For now, I just hope not to hear the theme song from the Twilight Zone go off again (thats her personalized ring tone.) 

August 29

• $85.73 (Gasoline for Work Truck)

August 30

August 31

• $40 Chili's (includes donating some money from coloring some "chili peppers" for Saint Judes Children's Cancer Research)

September 1

• $40.31 Gasoline (SCB)
• $100.61 Prescriptions for SCB 

September 2

September 3

Job &Work Updates:

I'm enjoying being back at my regular gym center 3 days a week... and truthfully, I actually look forward to those days the most... despite some CRAZY interpersonal drama that's flooding the work environment. I won't get into it on here because management is aware of whats going on... but we are all just PRAYING it goes away and sanity is restored... Its a bit taxing to deal with every day, but I'm making do and trying to keep busy and that really helps a lot... Thankfully we have just one week of summer left and I have a little over 2 weeks until my happy vacation.  

SCB is still working and liking his job... Other then forgetting the credit card he seems like he's doing everything they have asked him to do. He needs to fix and amend his W2 though.. its still saying that his Single Federally, married on State... and they are taking out $20 extra for federal when its supposed to be an increase in state withholding. (If he doesn't fix it by the end of the month i'll contemplate changing my paycheck to accommodate for his inaccuracies... but i'd rather not)  I'm also gearing up to be more sympathetic to him because this month is going to be a bit harder on him physically because they will be moving a lot of doors this month because they spent most of August delivering door frames... and doors are heavier than frames... (but this won't get him out of laundry, dishes, and taking out the trash.)

Money Goals:

Its September.... and South County Boy got paid... which means we were able to eliminate the Xbox goal 100%!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! We official owe nothing to no one... except our mortgage at BOFA. After this year when we max out my Roth IRA, we will start really hitting hard on our house payments. We are looking to turn it into a 15 year mortgage by just paying a whole lot. As for the Roth IRA, we ended up putting a decent chunk in there, bringing the balance up to $327.73.We are still really open to ideas for awesome charities that you love and would like us to support. Thanks for the ideas so far. We are having fun looking into them!

• Xbox fund: $350.00... of $350.00 saved...100% Saved
• Operation Roth IRA: $327.73/$5,000.00... 6.55% Saved
• Child Share Fund: $92.00
• General Giving: $164.00