Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Doctor's Appointment

I went in to the doctor's office yesterday for my annual checkup and I had a heart to heart with her about all the problems I've been having with the medication they put me on.

Despite marathon training (I'm up to at least 10 miles each weekend), I've managed to gain around 10-15 lbs since they started flip flopping me on different birth control pills.

As a little back story, in college my hormones took a turn for the worse and I started having horrible migraines, cramps, dry heaves, etc that left me in tears. I was in pain and couldn't go to class on certain days. It was like clock work. I knew about what time, what day I'd get sick and i'd pray to vomit because it hurt less than the dry heaves.

My old doctor put me on some birth control pills for a while... but I stopped taking them after I lost a lot of weight because the pills gave me migraines that weren't all that fun. After the weight loss, the symptoms disappeared so he decided it was stress and lifestyle induced and called it a day...

For a few years nothing happened and I was "normal" but then it came back. I had switched doctors and insurance to Kaiser so I had to start at the beginning. After some horrible barium tests a few years ago when the pain got really bad, they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me... but they were able to eliminate a lot of scary possibilities.

Since then I've been switching between different brands and types of all kinds of birth control trying to find something that would even out my hormones... Some brands gave me crazy mood swings, others eliminated my period altogether, some caused Migraines so bad I had to get a separate Migraine medication to take with the Birth Control. All the while i've been watching the scale go up and up...

The last batch of pills they had me go on they kept me on for the last 9 months or so because I'd actually be using them for more then just my hormones since they knew I was getting married and they worried changing brands would cause huge fluctuations in weight even more. Well, the pills gave me horrible mood swings (my poor husband), continual weight gain, and practically no period what so ever... not to mention every 3rd month i'd have such bad pains I had to leave work early so they weren't doing their job...

My main concern right now is the weight gain. I'm 5'1'' and 15 lbs is a lot of weight to have on me when I've never been a rail to begin with. With my marathon miles increasing, my clothes thankfully are getting less tight but the scale isn't budging...

My doctor is ordering a bunch of tests to check on my thyroid again and to make sure I don't have any vitamin deficiencies, etc that could be working with the pills to do some damage. For the next 2 months she's taking me off all the pills to see if the scale responds. I also go back in a few days after fasting for some blood work as well.

We are hoping the scale moves in the right direction and that it's the medication that's causing the weight gain. If it is, it could be as simple as just changing the brand again and or trying to find something that will correct my issues... If it doesn't change the scale, hopefully the blood tests can figure it out and see whats going on.

All I know is that I'm in store for 2 months of crazy hormonal me as i get off the pills and have to possibly deal with the return of migraines and pain every month.... (I pity my husband who has to live with me).

Monday, November 28, 2011

Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving with your families and friends :)

As most of you know, my husband and I spend thanksgiving with my "family" this year. While we didn't walk out and leave my mom's house, I don't think we will be doing the full blown day with them again. My husband and sister just do not get along and he just feels constantly judged and unwanted there and as his wife I can't just sit there and force him to endure that anymore. Thankfully we only have "mini Christmas" with them when we get back from Utah this year.

But we did Black Friday... and it was amazing. It truly deserves a post on its own, so I'll have to get to that later.  I do apologize for the lack of posts this past week. With the holidays and all kinds of evening engagements, it just didn't happen this week... and this week we will be just as busy.

I'll have to do a late Weekly update tomorrow once I finish balancing all our black Friday spending.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The long awaited Dental Update

I'm sure by now you have all read about our dental nightmare here (a top ten post actually)... and then the shocker of us discovering we were being horrendously overcharged here & here and then our decision to fight it out with the insurance company here.

Well after 30 business days, I have fantastic news.

While the dental office might not owe me directly any money for overcharges from dental work i've had done in the course of 5 years, they sure got their bad office practice behinds handed to them by the insurance company for SCB!

When I first started to read through the letter regarding SCB i was a bit nervous. It started out without any credits to our favor and actually had us owing more money to the Dentist at one point.
  • The first filling was correctly billed for $65.00 & while we are still not sure why he needed to have 2 Labial Veneers put in instead of fillings on 2 of his teeth, we where correctly charged $160 & $140 for them... so again, no refund there.
  • But then but another filling was originally billed for $65.00 but should have been billed for $75.00 so then we ended up owing $10.00 more.
But then the silver lining came. 

That "desenstizing" they charged my husband at $115 a tooth times 2 was refunded in full and should have been included at no additional charge from the beginning.

We were $220 in the green.

Then they had to deal with the 3 ceramic onlays that they strong armed us into at $796 a pop (that's after they dropped the price down from the original $850+ dollars a pop when they had our incorrect insurance file.)

Apparently because the dental office could not document and prove that they told us we could have cheaper options and materials (which they really couldn't document because they told us we weren't allowed to use that material in my husbands mouth at all... even though it was much cheaper then the name brand material because the doctor wouldn't put it in even if we wanted it...) So, the insurance company sided on our behalf and agreed that we should only have to pay the out of pocket co-pay for upgrading away from metal... which ment $165 a tooth...

So that meant they over charged us $1,713.00 for the onlays alone. Add in our desensitizing reimbursement and they have to refund our account $1,933.00

let me say it again folks, they owe us:
$1,933.00

Which means my husbands top mouth dental work only cost us $935.00 since he declined the deep cleaning since they wouldn't do it without adding $400 worth of medications. We instead chose to buy him an electric tooth brush with a built in 2 minuet timer to use until January when we change dentists and can get the fillings on his lower bottom teeth fixed.

They have 35 business days from the date of the letter to place the credit to our account which means the credit should be placed on our loan by the end of the year Since our letter was dated early November!!!!!!

Looks like well be having a Happy & Merry Christmas after all! I even think my Roth IRA wants to throw a party in my honor!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Winter Cleaning

Over the weekend we stopped by our house to pick up some supplies for the week and decided to spend an hour or so killing some time before church at our house instead of driving back to the puppy home.

While we were there I decided to remove all our "fall/thanksgiving" type decorations since we wouldn't really be at home much to enjoy them and I hate having them up after thanksgiving... and the counter needed a good de-dusting.

In order to put the fall decorations away, I needed to have my husband take off the mirrored closet doors in the hall so I could get the bins out from under the shelving unit we put in there. So after the mirrors were off I got the bins out, loaded up the supplies in the boxes and as we were putting them back in the closet we both just started going through EVERYTHING in the closet. It was like magic. I didn't even have to fight SCB to make him go through his things!

Now last year when SCB moved in back in February, we put a lot of his things in the closet "just in case" and left them in there. We had books, clothes in various sizes from both of us, all my holiday decorations and things, and also our emergency packs.

As we were putting the fall stuff back in, I pulled out our 24 hour bags and started going through them and checking for expired items. We substituted a few things out, and make a list of things we should pick up when we go out to Utah since those types of supplies are more readily available.

But instead of stopping there, we went shelf by shelf and took EVERYTHING out. My husband tried on all his clothes and rescued a pair of jeans and a pair of shorts... and between the two of us we had 2 trash bags full of good clothes that we knew we would never wear and probably shouldn't keep.

I also stacked up a bunch of books I knew I wouldn't re-read and added those to the pile. I tossed out a bunch of old work shirts that were beyond ratty, and my husband agreed to part with his super soaker because he knew if he was going to retaliate against me with toys, he'd honestly use the Nerf gun instead since that doesn't require water clean up.

We loaded up the stuff and dropped it off at Goodwill on our way to go grocery shopping since the donation center is by our house and on the way there.

When we get back home from puppy sitting i'll decorate for Christmas and go through all those decorations and see what I really like and want to keep and what I should part with. SCB owes me a new holiday reef for the door because he broke mine over the summer trying to cram things into the closet. but now since all the Christmas stuff is in the living room the closet is really empty now!

Woot for successful random de-cluttering!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

I finished the baby Mobil for my
friend!
It seems this week flew by like the last and a lot of my progress at keeping the house clean and put together has been irradiated by being busy all week long. Thankfully though, I got on the ball with some cooking last Sunday and that made all the difference this week.

You see, last weekend I went hunting around online for some recipe ideas and I printed out a recipe for some homemade chili, determined to try it out.  I made a batch of it this week in the crock-pot and I must say not only was it EASY but it was DELISH! All week long we just had leftover chili, salad, and cornbread and not having to cook a different meal each night saved my sanity this week. It seems like I now have two dishes I can make that please my hubby and provide lots of leftovers for the week (Roast Chicken and now Chili). Its a good thing he's okay with leftovers and eating the same thing a few days in a row.

My husband and I are also devising our black Friday plans. We really want to hit Best Buy bright and early to take advantage of the $100 discount they have on their Xbox bundle for the 250 gig hard drive (for his friend). We also are in the market for a TV to replace the really old one in my bedroom (so we can have something new that's compatible with the computer so we can stream TV from the internet in our bedroom-- and use the last of our wedding gift money on it). Stores keep opening earlier and earlier each year so who really knows whats going to happen. If we can't get the deals there we will just buy our TV from COSTCO and we can get the Xbox bundle from gamestop.

We've also been spending money out the nose as we begin holiday shopping, paying some of our annual bills, and knocking out my sister's birthday (which is a few weeks before Christmas).

I also picked up a Turkey for $1.00 Yup. Fresh and Easy was giving out 500 bonus points (or $5 off) a frozen Jennie O Turkey... So I picked up a smaller one that was marked for $6.00 and with the bonus points (which we will redeem in December) so I got a turkey for $1.00. I plan on roasting it after the holidays and using the leftovers for lunches and freezing some of it for another time.

I also got some holiday pay from working on Veterans Day and some other things, so instead of tossing $192.12 in extra pay towards the Roth IRA, we are putting it in a savings account to help make up for the paycheck SCB won't get in January since he's taking 2 weeks off unpaid so we can go out to Utah to see his family. We had $20 leftover from last month that we stuck in there, and thankfully, we will be coming into an extra $175 this week since we're Puppy Sitting again. So that's $387.45 out of the $647 he normally makes :) I'll be working on New years Eve and Day (which are holidays at my work) so the that extra money should give us enough to make up for him not getting 2 paychecks that month. Any leftover money from the end of this month is going toward that little fund since we have good chunks budgeted in for the Roth IRA.

I also helped plan and attend a memorial service for my Ex-boyfriend's new brother in law. He passed away 2 weeks after his wife did. (See Unexpected Memorial Service).

Weekly Spending:
November 12:
  • Costco: $36.96 (Milk, Deli meat, Granola Bars, Chips)
  • Gas: $32.40
  • Fresh & Easy: $40.58
November 13:
  • Home Depot: $4.44
  • Game Stop: $86.18
November 14:
  • Home Depot: $10.74
  • Fresh & Easy: $7.94
  • Marshall's: $37.70 (Christmas Presents)
  • ULTA: $70.04 (Sister's Birthday Presents)
  • Walmart: $21.83 (Toiletries for SCB)
  • Walmart: $4.00 (Perscription)
November 15:
November 16:
November 17:
  • Car Insurance: $389.55
  • Car Insurance: $199.53
November 18:

Money Goals:
Dental Loan: 100% saved up, but only $200 has been paid back to the loan thus far. We should get the letter in the mail from the insurance company in a day or so since its been 30 days since we issued the complaint to the insurance directly, but i've been told we WILL be getting money back. Once I get the details i'll post it all up here in a massive update, but from what i'm gathering, our refund is significant.

Roth IRA: We haven't had time to cash SCB's last paycheck but i know how much is earmarked for the Roth so this update includes my paycheck from Friday and his from last week.  The Roth IRA now has $1,378.90!!!!! Woot!!!! Once we figure out the dental issue, I can't wait for this to grow bigger!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Semi Annual Car insurance bills...

Our 6 month car insurance bills came in the mail this week so its time to pay the piper.

South County Boy: 1991 Ford Escort
Apparently my husband is special because he's ticket and accident free for over 6+ years so he's been claim free for 6+ years so he gets what state farm calls their Superior Driver Rate Level. Hats off to SCB!!!!

  • Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
  • Property Damage $50,000
  • Emergency Road Side assistance 
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage
TOTAL: $199.53 
We get a multiple line deduction ($40.29), a Multi-car deduction ($44.16), Driving safety record ($167.68), California good driver ($49.88), and a loyalty discount ($43.17)

South County Girl: 2004 Toyota Camry
I'm not so nifty because of the ticket I got a while back for that stupid stop sign so i'm classified as a Level 1 for Driving Safety. At least the discounts I get are higher than his... but that's because it costs more to insure my car since its newer and we keep Comprehensive and Collision on mine and not on his. I have AAA so I don't keep road side assistance on my car.

  • Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
  • Property Damage $50,000
  • 500 deductible Comprehensive
  • 500 deductible for Collision
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage
TOTAL: $361.41
We get a multiple line deduction ($74.04), a Multi-car deduction ($69.27), Driving safety record ($212.12), California good driver ($90.36), and a loyalty discount ($79.35)

Since these bills are paid every 6 months we take the amount we pay and multiply it by 2, then add our earthquake annual premium and our homeowners annual premium and then divide by 12 figure out how much we need to set aside monthly to cover all our insurance bills. We currently budget in $143 a month to cover our insurance bills. 

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Changing my last name: some updates

After all the hickups I've already encountered last month with  changing my last name, I decided just to take some time and really try and tackle my name changing list. Its a month later so its time to check up on my progress:

Finished:
Social Security Administration- You can read about it here: It's Official: I have a new last name


DMV- I took off work after I got my SS Card and nailed it out in no time. I even got my new drivers licence in the mail and my new title to my car already (Two thumbs up DMV). You can read about it here: Adventures at the DMV


Work- This one was also pretty simple. I gave the gal in HR my original marriage certificate. She made a copy of it and I filled out a new benefit form and signed it. A few weeks later I turned in my new SS Card to payroll and they were able to change my name on my checks and then the I.T. department had a field day changing all my user accounts and everything at work. It was quite an ordeal but I jokingly told them they would only have to do it once for me. I also changed my beneficiary forms so my "brother" doesn't inherit everything if I croak. SCB gets it and if we both die, it does to one of his brother's kids since they are the young ins and I just can't imagine my sister or my mom getting my financials.


Sallie Mae (Online savings account with multiple CD's)- I have to give props to the people there. I called and they just told me to scan and email them a copy of my marriage cert and just list my main account number and they would handle the rest. They even called me a few times to remind me when I kept forgetting to send it in.


ING Direct: When the guy pulled up my account and saw all my accounts with them he actually said WOW. I got to bash Bofa on the phone with the guy while he put in the name change request. He also told me that ING would do the name change work for me. I don't have to send in a single piece of paper. They will cross check with the social security department and public records FOR me... I got my new debit card in 5-10 days. :) I swear, if they were down the street, every transaction I did would be with them.


Southern California Edison- Literally a 5 minuet phone call. I called there 1-800 number I found on the web and after not finding an option that worked for me I just hit 0 and indicated that I was a residential home. I didn't even get put on hold. They guy came on the phone, I verified who I was and I even added the hubby to the bill in case we need proof or residency for him for anything in the future. I was off the phone in 4 minuets and 20 seconds. That's pretty great in my opinion. Memo to the word, call at 6:30pm on a Friday night.


Cox Communications- So easy, I forgot I did it. I guess I changed my last name back when I had to call about our internet going out.


Sprint- I had to hit zero three times repeatedly to get transferred to a person, but calling on a Friday night at 7:00pm is great. I was off the phone in 5 minuets.


Kohls Credit Card: I kept this one and just changed my last name on the account since for now we use it when we shop there because they mail us 15-30% off our purchases and I buy my work gym pants there and some of my clothes because they have a petite department. They already sent me the new card too!


Bofa Credit Card: I changed this one in person with my banking specialist because its so much easier to get things done when they do it for you. I got the new card in the mail 2 weeks later. I never use it but its the card i've had the longest so I keep it since I can monitor the balance on it every time I check my BOFA checking account.

Doctors/Kaiser: After my work submitted the paperwork I had to call their 1-800 number to tell them of the change so I could get a new card... then I had to call another number to set up my annual doctors visit, and keep my physician (she was trying to move some patients to other doctors to lighten her load but I didn't want to leave cause shes's nice so I get to keep her).

Sharebuilder: Even though my account is basically inactive, its still attached to my ING accounts so I need to get it updated. It looks like its going to take a paper trail were I mail them my marriage certificate and a form... and get those things signed by a notary... which will cost money... so I chose to wait until ING Direct finished their changes to hope they would change it there... but they didn't. So a few phone calls and I had the account closed and de-activated from my ING sign in homepage. It was easier to close the account and avoid the Notary changes for all the paperwork.

David's Bridal Credit Card: It had a $2,000.00 credit limit. I haven't used it in ages so I closed the account since I don't have it set up to monitor online and accounts you don't check online can lead to no where fun in the land if Identity thieves. When I was given the option to close my account, they asked if it was because of A) mortgage, B) loan consolidation, or C) lack of use D) Other. I cancelled the card under lack of use. I know closing accounts will ding my credit score, but this one wasn't opened that long ago and I only used it for my dress.


Home Depot Credit Card: It had a $5,001.00 credit limit.  Again, I closed it. I only got the card for the zero percent interest rate when I remodeled my kitchen and I haven't used it since so I figured I should just close the account now before someone steals the information and goes on a Home Improvement Spree.

Finished Trouble Makers I finally sorted out:

Bank of America: Despite changing my last name at BOFA some time ago, I still have yet to receive my debit card and I got 2 conflicting letters in the mail regarding changing my last name on my mortgage statement. The letter I got in the mail said I needed to submit three things:
  1. My Marriage Cert- which they marked off as received. 
  2. Submit a W9- That was a new requirement to me. No one mentioned this when I phoned the mortgage company and wrote down everything I had to mail in... or when I went in person down to my branch to just have them fax everything over and handle it there. . 
  3. Provide insurance for my property in my new name- Which I already had my local banker do for me.  (which I already did), and it noted that they received my marriage certificate.
So I decided to be smart about this. Instead of calling the number on the letter and spending at least 20 minuets on hold and then taking the time to explain everything to them, etc, I decided to drive down to my bank. It's literally a 3-5 minuet drive away from my house so it seemed like a better use of my time. I found the same guy who was helping me out the first time. I made him call the mortgage department with his special number (not the number on my letter) and after using his pretty reference codes and access numbers he had the matter cleared up in 5 minuets. He verified that I did not need to send in any new documentation (including insurance and a W9). Once that was cleared up I asked again for a debit card to be sent to my house with my new last name. 3 minuets later I was home-- best use of my time all day long. So now I have new checks, a new credit card, my name changed on my mortgage, and hopefully my debit card will arrive in 7-10 days. (It arrived on day 10 and I had to listen to so much identity theft protection ads to activate it that I wanted to vomit.)

Current Problems:


Nationwide: I have a random work 457 account that earns 0.10% (yup, less than a percentage point) that was opened when I was 16 and a temp employee at the City gym... Well, I was told a while ago that I can't do anything with the account since i'm still technically an employee with the City even though I received a new hire date when I got my promotion 5 or so years ago. Turns out there may be a way around it now! When I was getting the info as to where to send my letter and marriage cert, I asked about investment options and the guy told me if i open another 457 account with a different institution i'll be able to roll it over and actually get it investing instead of earning $0.10 every 4 months (only option is a liquid savings account or a 1, 3, or 5 year CD all below 1% and are now new options that weren't there before when I called 2 years ago about the account). So I wrote out the letter and copied my marriage cert for the name change but i'm waiting to mail it until I get a call back from the place where my 401a is (ICMA-RC) to see if they can open me a 457 account even though open enrollment has already been closed so I can initiate the process instead of waiting a whole year to do so. If they give me the green light i'll just transfer the money to a new account there, close this one, and then fill out the name change paperwork at the other company.


ICMA-RC: They are sending me a form I have to fill out and mail back to them... but the representative I called about getting an account set up for a rollover ISN'T returning my phone calls.

State Farm: I thought my last phone call over there would have been enough to have sorted out the problem they had with changing my name (it dropped my multi-policy discount because my last names were changed at different times). Well, this week I got 2 new bills with my new last name on them. They never added in my discount so I had to call again and tell them the whole story to only be told they would make the fix again (and hopefully it would work since they finally got my last name changed on our auto policies). I'll have to call back at the end of November just to make sure I won't be not paying a bill.


American Express: Costco Card
After getting my Kohls card changed over the phone, I assumed the same thing would happen over at American Express. Sadly that's not the case. Apparently its "against the law" to change someones name on their card over the phone... (then why could Kohl's????) So, they are sending me a form to fill out and mail or fax back to their office. (I asked if I could email it in and they said no... apparently Sallie Mae is just more awesome then AMX is these days.)...  He also told me that I'd have to go into Costco to change my account there (which is funny because the Costco guy told me I had to change it with American Express)... So now i'm waiting for a form to come in the mail (and its been almost 2 weeks and still no form has arrived for me to fill out)

.... and i'll have to wait in another line at Costco to change my account card once the credit card is fixed.

The Dentist:
While getting my new last name into the computer wasn't an issue, apparently getting my correct insurance account codes were... Apparently they never bother to look and double check my policy so for 4 years we have been mis-filed... and it has led to our HUGE dental fiasco and insurance error which I'm sure you have ready about Here, Here, & Here. Were still waiting on the verdict.

Things I Still Need to do:


Cal-Pers:
I tried to log in on-line to access my account and request to change my name, but they removed my user name and password since my work told them of my name change. So when I went to use their online thing to create a new profile, it told me I already had one, but it wouldn't work. I tried the 800 number but unexpectedly the offices are closed.

County Clerks Office:
I have my case still pending for petitioning my homeowners property tax increase this year, and the case is still under my old last name, plus for future tax years i'll have to make a trip down there to fill out some name change forms but this is on the back burner for now...

HSBC:
My 2% cash back credit card. Until I get the mess with AMX figured out, i'm not touching this one for now.

Costco Card:
Until the AMX is changed, i'm not fiddling with the Costco account... that's just a disaster waiting to happen.

AAA card:
I'm not too worried on this one, I just haven't had time to call and ask for them to send me a new card.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Mortgage Update + Condo Costs (November '11)

Mortgage Update:
Principle paid down: $156.57
Interest: $494.07
New Balance: $112,772.73

The pay off date is still January 2039 which is 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 extra $1,339.10 I've tossed at the mortgage has saved us $4,407.58 (not bad).

It took us $7,057.08 to get the keys to my condo... and another $17,672.29 to remodel and repair it...

In short, we were -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one... 

But thankfully the hole is getting filled in a little bit each and every month.
  • In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. 
  • In 2009 I got to write off some of the property tax I paid on in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10 in our pocket.
  • Then I had to pay an Electrician which took $95.00 from our pockets... 
  • But the refund from my botched tile job gave us $1,265.00
  • I saved $1,087.00 on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes in 2010 from itemizing my homeowners expenses. (This is what I received ABOVE what I would have with just the standard deduction).
  • In 2011 I spent $12.97 at home depot, and $72.29 on a kitchen door.
  • Also in 2011, I got a small refund of some of my Closing Costs which put $70.00 in our pockets.
  • Then we have our current equity $7,227.27 assuming the property is worth our original purchase price
Leaving us about $6,709.26 in the hole.

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $135,619.15 to break even.
  • This assumes a 6% total commission ($8,137.15)
  • Enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for ($6,709.26)
  • and enough money to cover the first time homeowners 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 11 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $122,994.57
  • Assuming 6% total commission ($7,379.67)
  • and enough money to refund the amount I would be in the hole for 11 months down the line ($4,776.14) 
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.

Apartment:
$14,202.00 for the year, or $1,183.50 a month. This figure includes the rent, trash, water, gas, laundry, & renters insurance. It also assumes I stayed in the previous unit i did the prior year so I wouldn't have had moving costs or a new security deposit. I took this rate back in November of 2010 (when I would have had to lock in a new lease rate).

Condo: 
$13,365.16 for the year, or $1,113.77 a month
  • Mortgage (MIP, Property taxes, Insurance, Mortgage) = $808.18 a month $9,698.16 a year.
  • HOA ($250 for 6 months, $262.50 for 6 months) = $3,075.00 a year
  • Earthquake Insurance: $257 a year
  • Homeowners Insurance: $335 a year
That's $69.74 LESS a month than the apartment (which is smaller than my unit). This gives me $836.84 a year I can either toss at the mortgage or use for home improvements while STILL breaking even BEFORE any tax deductions are even considered.

To date for 2011 I've added: $257.54 in Extra principal and spent $12.97 +$72.29 in repairs, leaving me with $494.04 that I can still spend on the condo AND break even. At the end of the year if there is any money left in the account, I get to subtract it from the amount i'm in the hole for.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

I really short Weekly Update for you all... I've been busy planing a second memorial service, trying to cook more, plan the upcoming holiday and our back up plan if all goes south, add in work meetings, and life and its a short update week for us.

I literally spent Sunday getting up at 7am, doing an 8 mile walk with my friend, showered and got dressed for church, prepped dinner for the crock pot, made a batch of cookies and cornbread (for our chili dinner), then raced to church for 3 hours, came home, ate, worked on the baby blanket while the hubby did the laundry (God bless him) and then crashed because I was exhausted....

We should also be hearing from the dentist insurance company any day now... Cross your fingers!

November 5:
  • Fresh and Easy $41.22
  • Woot $10.00 (T-shirt stocking item for the hubby he picked out)
  • Food Storage Money: $60
  • ATM: $20 -Home depot tool run.. $10 pocket money for SCB
November 6:
  • Michael's $10.75- Yarn and Stuffing for Christmas presents. 
November 7:
  • Electric Bill: $43.83 
  • Gas: $38.37
  • Gas: $20.01
November 8:
    • Ralphs: $21.21 (Christmas Shopping)
    • Marshalls: $62.75 (Christmas Shopping)
    November 9:
    November 10:
    November 11:
    • California Fish Grill: $27.43 (Date Night)
    • Relay For Life Registration Fee: $25.00 (Giving)

    Friday, November 11, 2011

    Car Registration!!!!

    I really want to throw a fantastic party right now. We got SCB's vehicle sticker notice in the mail... and it was missing something.

    That huge STOP sign at the top that says we need to take his car in to get a SMOG check at a TEST ONLY station. (Which in English reads-- your car is so old we make you go to the more expensive test sites to bill you more money for your SMOG check to make up for the smaller amount you pay to register your vehicle each year.)

    But here's the real kicker...It also didn't tell us we needed to take it in to get a regular SMOG at any center.

    The STOP sign is not on our notice... we just have to pay $82.00 to register his car.

    I have no idea why we don't have to SMOG his car this year. SMOG checks are required every 2 years for cars older than 6 years and his car qualifies for that... but we assumed he would have to get his car checked over again because when we had it transferred from Utah to California in February we only had to pass out of state emission levels.... not California standards... so we just assumed we'd have to face the SMOG check...

    But apparently we don't!!! So it looks like we get to keep the car for another year!!!! Which is fantastic because it gives us time to save up some money to replace it later down the line.

    We really don't think it will pass CA emission standards the next time around and according to KBB, the trade in value of his car is $319.00 or $694 private party since he has a '91 ford Escort with 141,561 miles on it... and its not a looker... its a clunker. BUT it runs and for as long as it runs and passes SMOG its our wonderful commuter car with character.

    But realistically, if we come across a repair that's going to cost us more then the car is worth to make it pass SMOG, it might be time to retire the 20 year old mighty engine that could.

    There's also a little silver lining in what we could get for the car when we go to part with it. As long as we take it to a CAP- Contracted Dismantle Place under the cars own power and it has:

    • All Doors
    • Hood
    • Dashboard
    • Windshield
    • at least one side window glass
    • drivers seat
    • one bumper
    • exhaust system
    • all side and or quarter panels
    • at least one headlight, one taillight, and one break light
    • has operational pedals
    • can go 10 yards on its own power
    • drive ability not affected by steering or suspension damage
    • and if it can start through ordinary means without the use of starting fluids or external boost batteries
    It can be accepted into the California Vehicle Accelerated Retirement Program...

    The program is administered by the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) and provides $1,000 per vehicle and $1,500 for low-income consumers for unwanted vehicles that have either FAILED or PASSED their last Smog Check Test and that meet certain eligibility guidelines.

    Basically we can receive $1000 for his car, or $1500 for his car if we classify as "low income." There's a few things you have to do to qualify to retire your car, (apply and get your letter, then drive the car up to a dismantle site-- it also needs to have a clean title in your name only) but they pay you on the spot... and since his car is worth less then what we could get for turning it in or selling it private party, this looks to be our best option for when we need to let it "rest."

    They require all those parts to be on the cars so people don't try paying $100 for a car to turn it into $1,000.00 by towing it to the site.

    Thursday, November 10, 2011

    Fall Crafting...

    You dig the color swirls, I know :)
    Back when my husband and I picked up all of our Halloween/harvest decorations, we also picked up a crochet craft magazine since I like to make things and I was looking for ideas... and I've been having a good time with it. (The female missionaries who have stopped by the house are just amazed by it... well that and the fact that I make my own bread which isn't that common for living in Orange County).

    I picked up the hobby in college. Once of the RA's in the student housing area would teach it while she manned the help desk once a week and I picked it up and was able to do simple things (like scarves, and a very simple solid blanket which too forever!) by the end of the semester. Fast forward a few years and after watching some awesome you- tube video "how to's" I made my first beanie.

    A close up of the baby blanket I made for my sister in law
    And  then with some instruction from my friend, I was able to follow my first pattern as I made a baby bobble blanket for my at the time "soon to be sister in law" last year when I heard she was expecting a baby.

    It gave me something to do to burn off my nervous energy about meeting SCB's WHOLE FAMILY for the FIRST TIME...

    The thing took forever to make but i was really proud of it when it was finished. It was the first time I used a pattern and I didn't make any mistakes on it and it just looked so pretty and put together that I was almost sad to see it go away, lol. But I hope Allen likes his baby blanket :)

    My New Pillow!
    So its fall now and I just get this itch to make things... and now, I'm proud to say I've made my first pillow!!! The back side is the same color blue as the the 2 front squares but i'm trying to decide if I want to embroider on any leaves in tan on the blue squares and them make a reverse pillow for the other side of the couch with a tan back and do blue embroidered leaves on the front side of the tan squares... Thoughts?

    Normally most of my work ends up being gifts (I don't have my own blanket yet, but I've made 5 that have been gifts for other people over the years, each one better then the last) so I think the pillow set will be the first decorative thing I make and keep that's not a hat or a scarf, lol... but you never know... it could end up being an Christmas present by the time this season is over with... but for now I have some time to think about it since I have a few other projects lines up first.

    I'll be making a baby Mobil for our expecting friends in Utah! I wanted to make sure that the Mobil in the magazine I saw was something that would work with their decorating ideas, etc, so I sent her a photo and asked if she would like her little girl to have it and she answered with an enthusiastic YES so last week we picked up all the supplies and I started on it! Its my second pattern project and i'm finding a little trouble with some aspects so I may have to tweak it and do some refinement on my end, but i'm excited to see how it turns out.

    After the Mobil I might try and make a hooded baby afghan in soft pink yarn for her daughter as well. I'll have to follow another pattern to do it, but once you get the first few rows done its mostly repetitive and easy to follow along. Since her husband's family has not been too thrilled or supportive about their soon to be bundle of joy (an unexpected blessing you could say), they decided to stay with her parents and moved out of his folks house. Since she's not getting a lot of support and love, i'm trying to do my part since i'm so far away and have no real idea about anything babies.--- But i can learn to make cute things.

    Speaking of cute, when my mom in law came to visit last weekend we got to sit down and look over some new patterns and designs and now i'm also going to try and make some little pandas for all my husbands brother's kids for Christmas since she's wants to encourage the girls to learn how to crochet themselves... so it looks like i'll be a crafting queen for awhile. Good thing the weather is getting cold enough to make me stay inside.

    Wednesday, November 9, 2011

    Friends are powerful

    I'm not sure if I really blogged about some of the emotional side effects of helping plan and attend my Ex boyfriends sister's funeral...

    While I knew it would be a bit awkward with certain people for obvious reasons, what I wasn't expecting was for people who call me their friend to my face flip and pull a 180 and shut me out and make me feel like an outsider and the plague.

    What makes it more ironic is that those same people who shut me out were once the people I defended and befriended when no one else would. So instead of being my friend they chose to side with the very people who isolated them...

    A sad eye opener, but I got through the day and was there for my Ex and his family members and that's what counted and that's what mattered. While I may have received some insight I wasn't planning on gleaming that day, in hindsight, I'm now glad it happened.

    I learned something slightly profound through the experience. It's not about the quantity of friends you have... but the quality of the friends you have and keep season after season in your life. While i'll admit that yes, the rejection and the inability to "be my friend in public" hurt and put me in a bit of a funk for a week or two, I came out on the other side a little wiser and really grateful for the friends I do have.

    Its funny how when you get low, your real friends come out of the woodwork to lift you back up again.


    • Out of the blue my friend who's away up north at college started texting me just to catch up and chat about halloween and how it would be lame since we couldn't have her annual party this year since she's stuck at school... We chatted for a bit and it was nice to just reconnect.
    • One of my friends joined the planning committee for an event i'm running at work so I get to see him once a month now at our meetings... 
    • When my best friend heard I was in a funk and feeling friendless she came over on her way home from work at the spur of a moment and had dinner with me and my husband so we could just hang out for an hour or so.
    • And then my old marathon training buddy called me up and we worked out a new training plan and started working on it and now I get to see her once a week. To top that off, at the Halloween party we went to, another gal said she'd love to join us and train for the marathon too...
    • Our friends from Utah emailed us a baby bump photo and it was nice to be able to kind of connect with them on their journey to being parents even though were so far away right now...
    • My "bro" is all down for helping me do a Team for the event i'm planning at work... 

    I could keep going.

    Sometimes its more important to focus on the good things and people in your life and not focus so much on the loss or the supposed loss that comes from change.

    Sometimes its just healthy to let go of the past and love where you are in life.

    Tuesday, November 8, 2011

    Family in town!

    SCB's dad's old steel toe work boots... now the
    property of my hubby-- and a black pair. :)
    We just finished a weekend jammed pack with family frivolities! and the good kind because my husbands parents came in town to visit!

    His parents got in on Friday night and left early Monday morning so I took Friday and Monday off from work to clean and tidy the house and to catch up on laundry before and after his folks visit. Since we won't be seeing them for thanksgiving this year, its nice to get to see them in November. SCB's mama does lace work by hand (she made me a wonderful handkerchief that I carried with me down the isle at our wedding) and his dad wood turns the bobbins that people use when they do lace work by hand, so they came out to see us and to also sell some of their work at a convention that wasn't too far from our house.

    It was really nice to see them and spend time with his mama and learn a few useful things along the way :)

    I know it sounds really stupid, but I've never cooked a Chicken before... an actual whole chicken. Sure i've dunked chicken breasts in shake and bake coating and tossed them in the oven, but It's been a goal of mine for years to learn how to buy a whole chicken and cook it. Roast chicken simply one of those good "cook it and get 3 or 4 different meals out of it" foods and so it was something I really wanted to learn how to do... that and make homemade apple crisp. :)

    So i learned how to brine a chicken and i'll be baking it in the oven for supper! We did the homemade apple crisp last night and it was so yummy! I also learned how to grill butternut squash and realized its REALLY GOOD (I'd never had it before) and they brought it out from their garden (man I wish I had a plot of dirt) in case we wanted one for another day but when they realized I didn't even know what to do with it, we added it to dinner one night while they were here.

    On Saturday we spent the whole day up at the lace convention and I got to learn a bit more and help them sell items from their booth. I also got to browse through some crochet books and learn a few tips about patterns. We ended Saturday night out at Chili's for dinner since that just seems to be our "family" go to restaurant.

    Since his family stayed over until Monday, I also attended my first full 3 hour church session with them at my hubby's church. It was very interesting and a bit confusing at times, but it was also "Fast Sunday" so they had a different line up then normal I guess. For where we live, the service didn't start till 2pm so we didn't end up having our first meal of the day until 6 or so that night after we got home and got the burgers and the butternut squash on the grill.  In the next few days I'll be posting some posts on my husbands religious background and some missionary visits we have been having lately over the past week or two.

    We also had them pick us up some canned goods and foods from a store in Utah that was having their annual case lot sale. We looked up the ad online and emailed him mom what we wanted and they drove it out to us. So we were able to start stocking up some non-perishable foods to have a more established kitchen pile for a fraction of the cost! For $60 we were able to get:
    • 2 huge tins of Almond poppy seed muffin mix. (just add water and bake)
    • 1 huge tin of Blueberry muffin mix. (just add water and bake)
    • 12 large cans of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce
    • 12 cans of olives
    • 12 cans of kidney beans
    • 12 cans of black beans
    • 24 cans of tomato sauce
    • 6 "kiplers" --some canned fish thing my husband loves....
    Normally would try and keep 3 of each canned item listed above in the house so if we fall short in the grocery budget we can always eat out of the pantry, but its just a nice feeling to have a good amount of food here that we could whip up if friends show up, if something goes wrong either job wise, or if "the big one" comes and were stuck here for days on end.

    Then toss in the fact that last week 6 people lost their jobs at my husbands work... and i'm just glad we have more items in the house then before... and because we got them in Utah and his parents didn't mind driving them out to us since they were staying here anyway, we were able to get them all for a better price then we could have here.

    The key now is to keep the stock pile good and not just eat through it until the cabinets are bare. When we use something, we will continue to replace it at the store and just put it up by expiration date so the older dates go in the back and the newer dates go in front.

    When we go out of Christmas we might come home with powdered milk and yeast because its WAYYYY cheaper out there then here. In California it seems like you can only buy yeast in little one serving packages... (Not cool).

    Since this was the first shopping list/journey we had them do for us, we only picked up things that we currently ate in meals already... and added in the muffin mixes which I'm just really excited about! They are good for 10 years if sealed, 1 when opened and it's simple baking. All I have to do is add water and to be quite frank, baking weather is here. With our old slider doors, our house gets really drafty and nothing fixes drafty like baking does. (On our home improvement list we need to finish the kitchen door edging and paint, look into getting the bathroom vent thingy replaced or cleaned, then start saving for new windows for both our sliders-- because both are custom sizes... go figure.) But now I have muffin mix... and after looking around I realized I don't have any muffin tins (just mini muffin tins)...  so I called my mom and i asked her if I could have her old muffin baking pans since she doesn't use them, and she told me yes. So i'll probably make a batch of muffins this week for breakfast if I get time.

    Monday, November 7, 2011

    Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

    We had family in town and they just drove away a few minutes ago so this post is a little late (and our weekend family visit recap will come later)

    Since Halloween fell on a Monday this year, I got to dress up for work (I repeated an old costume from a few years ago--a Greek Goddess) and a lot of other people did too! Some departments even did theme costumes so we had the whole cast of Harry Potter and even Snow White and the seven dwarfs since one department consisted of 7 guys and one girl! (clever clever). After work I came home and did a little costume change-er-roo since Chipotle was doing their $2 burrito promotion night (if you dressed up as a farmer, farm animal, or farm implement you got a burrito for $2 and the proceeds went to charity.) We went as country farmers and I finally had an excuse to bust out my cowboy boots. Sadly though, despite buying a whole bag of candy for Halloween, we didn't get a single trick or treat'r... even when we left for Chipotle we left a bowl of candy on our doorstep and returned to find it still full... I guess people don't really trick or treat the condo area when there are houses nearby... either that or they only bother with the first floor units because stairs for Candy must be too much effort. 

    We had some guests over this week from my husband's church again... but this time it wasn't just to get to know them and have dinner. Before we got married I agreed to go through the "discussions" when we had time with some missionaries because I wanted to at least understand what my husband believes even if its not something that I believe myself. Since my hubby isn't really active in his faith at present, by my getting more knowledge and information about his faith we will be able to focus and find places of commonality that we can incorporate to our marriage. The 2 female missionaries unexpectedly stopped by with a guy from our neighborhood last weekend and asked us if we'd be interested in doing the discussions and we told them that now was actually a good time so we started this week. They brought a younger couple with them that lives nearby so it was nice to get to meet a new person or two (especially since we are going to church this week because SCB's family will be in town visiting). I'm not too sure what to really expect, since Wednesday was the first "discussion" but we shall see. (and i'll keep you all updated on how we are making our marriage work with our different faith backgrounds). 

    My husband also learned this week that a childhood friend of his was lost and killed overseas by an IED... He was really torn up about it since his fondest memories are running around as a kid in Oklahoma with his friend. I'm trying to think of something we can do in memory of his friend to help him and to show his support for the military... Any ideas?

    Weekly Spending:

    October 29:
    • Fresh & Easy: $55.82
    • Gas: $40.52
    • Costco: $14.68
    • Quick dinner @ Costco: $7.16
    October 30:
    • Walmart: $39.08 (Crochet supplies and blank DVD's)- Its fall and my hobbies tend to change with the seasons around here so i'm in crafting mode. Since our friend is expecting a little girl around February, I sent her a picture of a baby Mobil and asked if she would like it for her daughter and she came back with a resounding YES so I picked up the supplies for that out of last months budget. But I should have plenty of yarn leftover from the project to keep me occupied for the season. :) We also picked up some burn-able DVD's for a project for my hubby. 
    October 31:
    • Chipotle: $4.00  ---Boo-rito fantasic!
    November 1:
    November 2:
    • $10.70- Dog tags made to remember my husbands dear childhood friend. 
    November 3:
    November 4:
    • Mortgage Paid: $808.18 (P&I, Property Tax, & MIP)
      
    Money Goals:
    Roth IRA: $601.90/ $5,000.00 -12% There!
    Dental Loan: $2,686.00/$2,686.00 -100% There!-- Still waiting on the insurance company to investigate any credits we are owed. 

    Friday, November 4, 2011

    I get another free gift card!

    To keep our budget intact, I use a few online programs that give me free giftcards in exchange for viewing ads, taking surveys, or purchasing items through their site link up. This isn't a sponsored post BTW, I just like sharing simple ways to help reduce your everyday costs.

    One of these little frugal hacks/programs I use is MyPoints. Every few days I get an ad in my email box or a survey to fill out and I earn anywhere from 5 to 50 points for clicking on the ad or answering there marketing questions. When I get about 3500-4000 points, I redeem them for free $25 gift card. I maybe spend 5 minuets a week if that and I generally get to redeem 2 or 3 free $25 gift cards a year.

    I personally hate buying things for the house like dishwasher soap, shampoo, razors, deodorant, etc so I try and use my free gift cards for these purchases because it makes them less painful for me in the long run.

    Last week I sent away for my second free $25 gift card to Target this year since we are getting low on a few household basics. Since i've been busy, I haven't been able to participate as much as I have in the past so I don't think i'll earn anymore gift cards for the rest of the year, but $50 free dollars is still a nice little reward for clicking on some ads and doing the occasional survey.

    If your interested in a Mypoints referral link, email me at Southcountygrl@gmail.com and i'll send you one :)

    Thursday, November 3, 2011

    My husband lost our AMX card... (part 2)

    If you missed part one in the saga, you can view it here: My husband lost our AMX card (part 1)

    So after getting dressed up in costumes and heading out for a Halloween party, SCB found out that he was missing his AMX card when he tried to get gas at a Mobil station.

    He started getting upset and flustered since he didn't have his card and he needed to get gas. Thankfully, he had the debit card on him so he ended up using it to fill up his tank since my purse was at the house.

     When I asked him when the last time he used the AMX card was, he told me he had used it at the fast food joint earlier that day... the very same place that didn't give him a receipt for his lunch.

    The wheels started clicking in my head and I was a bit peeved at the idea that he lost his card at the fast food joint he wasn't supposed to have gone too... especially after I had got up on one of my "sleep in" days to make him that 3 sandwich lunch of awesomeness.

    But I remained calm and I asked him if we needed to go home and check his pant pockets and his work bag before going to the party since he didn't know if it was in there or not. But at this point rational conversation was lost on him since panic and guilt had already set in. He was just plain unable to make a decision and stood there wide eyed and lost trying to decided if he should be focusing on getting gas or heading home.

    While he continued to freak while the car was filling up, I asked him to use his smart phone to find the place he had had lunch at... when he pulled it up he handed me the phone and I called and asked if he left the AMX there...

    Thankfully they had it.

    Since they were open 24 hours I told SCB that post halloween party he was driving over there to retrieve it on our way home no matter how out of the way it was. He nodded, finished the gas, and popped back into the car a jittery nervous mess.

    Eventually we got the card back that night... but my husband was a wreck until we did. When he was driving through the parking lot from the gas station to a drive through to grab dinner, he left his wallet on the roof of the car and didn't notice until we were pulling into the drive thru... thankfully it didn't fall off in the dark parking lot and he was able to get it.

    Then instead of parking in the McDonalds lot to eat, he drove around in circles in a parking lot looking for a place for us to stop where it was "lit" only to finally park us in a deserted business strip with bad lighting... and when he did finally park so we could eat, he almost hit a car coming straight when he was trying to turn into a space.

    Then he stalled his stick shift while we were discussing "the incident" on the way to the party... I decided to play it safe and not bring it up again since I couldn't take over since I can't drive stick and his car scares me.

    Despite everything I have a funny feeling that SCB may think twice before getting fast food again... Talk about Karma eh?

    Wednesday, November 2, 2011

    My husband lost our AMX card... (part 1)

    SCB has been trying really hard to cut down on the fast food purchases, so in turn I have been trying to support and help him with this decision. I've been getting up early on my "sleep in" days and on my "crack of dawn" days to make him lunch. I get everything assembled and I set it out by his work bag so all he has to do it put it inside with his 2 liter re-filled water bottle. When faced with yummy homemade lunch that's ready to eat and requires no effort on his part, he can easily pass on fast food.

    But truthfully, without me, he'd buy fast food every day or starve since making lunch is not apart of his AM faculties.

    I used to just make him 2 sandwiches with cheap bread from the store and I'd toss in 2 granola bars to his back pack along with a water bottle. (That same container of powered Gatorade is still on the shelf in the pantry. He mixed it for about a week and then got lazy and went back to water when he realized I wasn't going to bottle it for him everyday...)

    Then something funny happened. Since he started eating more regularly at work throughout the day, he got hungrier since his body wasn't getting junk and wasn't going into starvation mode every other day... So his lunch grew...

    I got him to start eating 2 small apples (woot, a fruit!) in addition to the 2 granola bars (bought in bulk at Costco). Then we added a bag of chips and I switched from cheap store bread to using homemade since its more filling, tastier, and cheaper (just time consuming to make). I added shredded lettuce to his sandwiches to hide a veggie into his diet (he won't eat just a leaf of romaine on his sandwiches but he likes shredded), and each week we'd buy a different cheese to help with variety and flavor.

    This past week we moved to 3 sandwiches, still made on homemade bread (we buy one loaf of F&E bread in case I forget to make bread each week since I need more than 2 loafs a week). I even started to vary the type of sandwiches every other day so he wouldn't get bored. Generally, they are either made of PB&J, Tuna, cheese, and shredded lettuce, or a turkey/ham combo with cheese & shredded lettuce...

    If I bake, I add cookies in too.

    Ya, I'm an awesome wife... (toots own horn-- Go me!).

    So imagine my awesome self coming home to find out that even though I made him a 3 sandwich superior lunch (which he apparently inhaled at 9am since he forgot to eat breakfast before leaving the house) he ended up stopping by and getting fast food on the Friday that would have marked our first successful WHOLE WEEK without fast food.

    Needless to say I was a bit sad :(

    But it was Friday night and we were planning on going to a Halloween party so i let it go. On the way to my friends house we had to get gas and pulled up to a Mobil on the way. SCB was driving his car so he went to get the AMX out of his wallet to fill the car up...

    But it wasn't there...

    Tuesday, November 1, 2011

    A more environmentally Savvy South County Household

    I signed up at work last month to partner with "its the little things", an organization that promotes small changes that actually effect the environment around you in a positive light.

    For the next year it will be a goal of mine and my households, to try and make 4 changes over the next 12 months:
    1. Wash laundry in cold water.
    2. Use re-usable shopping bags for all purchases.
    3. Try to reduce the amount of bottled beverages we consume at the store (soda, water, juices, etc)
    4. Buy/ Use recycled paper products.
    Since i'm part of a group movement, those 4 were chosen for us as a group to tackle one at a time. I actually do a few of those things already so I may try and take them up a notch when I get to that one in particular, but the website also has an individual monthly plan where they email you one small change you can make each month. 

    So, starting November 1st, I'll be tracking how many loads of laundry I was in cold water (normally all of them) and compare them to my hot water usage.

    Since this is something I normally do anyway, (wash in cold water), I think i'm also going to make a point of being more water wise and laundry observant. Even though we don't get a monthly water bill (or a usage chart since this expense is included in our HOA fee) I'll try my best to be more water mindful (maybe washing things in the delicate cycle if they are my clothes and washing the hubby's separately since his always need a good wash through.

    Here's also a few interesting tidbits about cold water washing:

    • Cold water actually cleans just as well as hot water does... and it saves energy, water, and fabric color.
    • If you wash whites and you want to make them brighter, you can always wash on cold and add lemon juice or baking soda, or Oxyclean if you want to buy a product... If your worried about disinfecting things, apparently they are products out there like Pursue from Amway that disinfects in cold water (you can google it and buy it online from the Amway site). Plus there is always cold water and bleach, but we don't really use bleach that much here... but if you must, bleach and cold water instead of bleach and hot water.
    Some other great tips for to reduce your energy bills:

    • Do full loads of laundry only
    • use shorter cycles for gently worn clothes
    • clean the lint dryer after every load
    • separate heavy drying items (like jeans and bath towels) from lighter ones to make the dryer more efficient.
    • Hang dry when possible
    • and if you have a newer dryer, use the auto dry setting so the machine stops when the clothes are dry. :) 

    If anyone wants to join me out there and try and use cold water for more of their laundry, I'd love to check in with you and note your progress too. Just write a comment or email me at Southcountygrl@gmail.com