Friday, June 28, 2013

In celebration of Friday... Photos





When i'm not home... she takes my shoes into her bed...
she doesn't eat them... she just wants to be with them.


nap time while I read....


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

HOA Increase

Well, another year in and another increase to our monthly payment to our Home Owners Association.

When I bought the place 3 years ago, the HOA monthly payment was $250. It stayed that way in year two until we got the notice that the payment was going to increase to $262.50 a month... which is what we have been paying since and was only a 5% increase.

Starting in August we will need to pay a nice round $270.00... a 2.8% increase since the last jump... and quite frankly, i'm not complaining.

The HOA has been really good about fixing stuff lately. Our Water Boiler was completely replaced and they have been making some nice landscaping changes that have, in my opinion, made our home look nice and more like a home where owners live and less like a place filled with renters who don't care about the property.

Now if only I can get our bong smoking, loud drinking and fighting couple and their roommate across from us evicted, my life will be complete.

My neighbor below us called the cops on them the other night because they not only woke all of us up yelling-- but they have a small child and with my background, I'm not staying silent-- someone needs to step in over there. But my neighbor beat me to the phone. Apparently the lady was screaming at the cops too so i'm sure it wasn't very pleasant all around. I'll get the details later...





Friday, June 21, 2013

The first paycheck

Its one of those moments that deserves its own post! Ladies and Gents, I present the First Paycheck!!


Awe... employment... its sooooo good!



Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Doggie Checkup


So Roxy and I went to the neighborhood vet for her free check-up... which ended up costing me $215.54 in the end. While the check up was free, the tests were not.

They wanted to test her poop for any "worms" and pests ($49.75) since she came from a shelter that's kind of got a wrap for being over loaded and they sometimes put more than one dog in each pen... and in order to put her on a once a month flee and heart-worm preventative medication, we would have to have her checked out for heart-worm too ($43.75).

Those two weren't so bad... and I knew we would have to spend some kind of money there for tests (my two friends that work at places like that told me so).-- They also agreed to come over to teach me how to brush her teeth and clip her nails so we won't have to pay grooming costs if we don't want to.

The $122.04 was for 6 month supply of a flee/heart-worm pills. Apparently flees are becoming immune to the droplet "Advantix" flee killer and its generics (plus apparently you can't wash your dog before and after applying it for a week to make sure there are enough natural oils to make it work so that means at best you can only wash your dog every 2 weeks). Normally Heart-worm wouldn't be an issue in my area, but after Hurricane Katrina, about 800 animals came into our area when they were sent all over the states to find new homes for them, and heart-worm is now becoming an issue again. It's apparently way easy to prevent and a heck of a lot of money to treat. So since we were going to go with the once a month pill for the flees, for a few dollars more they could give us the combo pill that included both flee and heart-worm so we are going to try that.

My poor little love bug was really freaked out by the doggie nurses (she liked the doctor fine) that when the nurses took her in the back for her "poop" sample, Roxy nipped one of them.

But other than that, she's been an angel and she's learning really well and I can't imagine life without her anymore...

and if you haven't guessed, she's more like my dog that SCB's. She likes me better since i feed her, brush her, and take her for walks. He's jealous that she follows me around and when given a choice, chooses me over him.

:)



Monday, June 17, 2013

The chair...

My husband has had this weird issue with breaking chairs...

He's 6 foot 5 inches and just doesn't sit well in them. As a result, he has broken a few chairs since he's moved into the condo with me.

My fiance broke the desk chair for the computer a while back so he was making due with a kitchen chair or the bench for a while... we ended up getting one for free from our church... -June 25th, 2011 From Trash is Treasure
That "kitchen chair" died... and than that office chair, became this shortly afterward...

SCB destroyed office chair number 2... yup, apparently these things aren't made for 6'5'' tall men who like to lean back in them 100% of the time.  He tossed the broken parts and now its being used as a stool because I don't want to replace it and I don't miss the parts that are missing. :)- October 23, 2011 From Weekly Updates and Spending Goals
about 4 months later.
This chair was eventually replaced with this lovely "freebie" from keith's first job... we had to fix the arms after a little while because the stuffing was coming out and that was the fabric we had in the house. This one hung in for a long while actually-- probably because it was ugly and driving me crazy waiting for it to break. But I digress.

In between this chair, hubby broke another patio chair he was using to play video games.... and then broke this one:

Along with the discarded items and the gnome was our patio chair... Yes. SCB managed to break another chair.... again.... making it the 5th chair he has broken since he moved to California. He has gone through 2 office chairs, one dinning room chair, and 2 folding/camping chairs... I don't know what to do with him anymore...  he always manages to break them right along the arms or possibly the back if there is no arms.... -- From January Purge Fest
Then, something happened... we found this beauty by the dumpster because all the bolts were loose. 5 minutes with a little allen wrench and we get to replace the ugly old work chair (that never actually broke), with this leather beauty. 




 I call that a nice trade up. While SCB might have a job now, and it appears we are spending money left and right this month with Roxy and a little shopping, we aren't planning on making a habit out of it. And we aren't beneath free office chairs :) 

Friday, June 14, 2013

Welcome Roxy

Me listening intensely about
dog food in pet smart...
For the past few months SCB and I have been thinking about getting a dog... and since we don't have to worry about paying the mortgage this month... I started hitting up the local shelters...

and then we went looking together...

and then we met Roxy...

and then Roxy came home with us...

and we have been happier ever since!

She is our new almost 3 year old Australian Shepard mix (mixed with what we don't know), but she's about 20 lbs and slightly over weight for her size. We are hoping regular walks will help slim her down to her healthier weight... but oh man is she a love bug.













She just wants to be petted 24-7 and loves to just hang out with us on the couch. We haven't gotten her to play with any toys yet, but she's great on a leash so far and has been a welcome addition to our little family.

Welcome Home Roxy!

Since this is a personal finance blog, here's the details on Roxy.

She was originally adopted from a shelter when she was 6 months old... but 18 months later, they brought her back because their kids had severe allergic reactions they couldn't live with any longer. She's house trained, smart, does well on a leash, and seems to like people and kids. She's a little shy but she warmed up to SCB and wags her tail at him all the time.

To take Roxy from the shelter: $165.95

  • Adoption Fee: $88
  • Lica: $24
  • Micro-Chip re-set: $3.50
  • Shots and medical terminology (Dhpp-bord, Advantix, Drabies, Drontal): $10.00, 11.25, 9.00, 17.50
  • and a really cheap rope leash: $2.50
  • tax: $0.20



Then we went to Pet Smart for essentials and spent $102.86 on
  • Bone tag id, Harness, Collar, Milk Bones, 3 Dog toys, Water Bowl/Dish, Leash, Small bag of Dog Food, and a good dog brush.
We probably could have gotten a few things cheaper else where... but the perks of Pet Smart is you can take your pet in there and let them smell things.

The next day we went to walmart and got her a pop up kennel and a bed liner for her ($36.43). We have our house sitting this weekend and next week (we talked with them about bringing Roxy since she was a last minute addition and they are fine with it) so we wanted her to have a travel bed/place that feels hers regardless of where she's at.

All in all, Roxy cost us $305.24 in about 24 hours. She gets a free vet visit-- we just need to book an appointment at one of the places on their list.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Refinance- DONE

Actual Fees: $3,146.35
Paid by us:

  • Appraisal: $435.00
  • Credit Report Fee: $12.00 

Rolled into the loan:

  • Origination Fee: $661.25 (we got $423.75 discount off the original $1,085.00)
  • Flood Check Fee: $17.00
  • Tax Service Fee: $84.00
  • Daily Interest Charges: $208.98
  • Initial Escrow Account deposit (property taxes): $612.12
  • Title Services: $1,035.00
  • Recording Charges: $81.00

New loan starting balance: $113,000.00
Since I made that May mortgage payment the other day we will no longer be needing to pay ANY money at closing. In fact, BOFA will be paying us $747.20 at closing and in 2 weeks we should also receive an additional $489.74 from our current property tax escrow account...

Our new loan is a 20 year fixed rate mortgage at 3.75%. Our Monthly payment (P&I plus Property tax) will be $771.99 a month instead of $802.98. We get to drop 7 years off our mortgage (since we are already 3 years into the original) and save $30.99 a month in the process.

WOOT.

We will also get to skip a June monthly payment because our first loan payment will not be due until August 1st so we will pay that next month in July.... so that's another $802.98 we don't have to spend that we were planning to spend this month!

and SCB should be getting his first paycheck any day too... It's weird having extra money... Looks like we should get pretty set-up with our annual goals this month... especially since i'll have holiday pay and overtime on my next 2 paychecks.... and were puppy sitting for a whole week as well.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Food in May

I finally had a moment to load up the last of the food receipts for May and all I have to say is June will be very interesting. We are going to need to seriously tweak how we do our meals now that SCB has a job. First, we will need to adjust our portion sizes for our dinners cooked because SCB will not have access to a microwave or a kitchen of any kind for lunch. He's literally working outside and will be taking a lunch in a cooler each day to work-- and he normally eats leftovers throughout the day when he's at home.

And, I'll be cooking most of our meals from now on so I will naturally lead to more meals that are healthier in nature since i'll be eating most of the leftovers. June we will most likely go over our food budget while we figure out our new system... 

Costco is slowly getting more and more of our business-- but again, not for everything. We are only a 2 family household, but we have learned that its smart for us to buy certain items in bulk because we will actually use them before they go bad. This month we are only tossing 1/2 a gallon of milk because of 2 power outages that hit our home and the fact that we had Relay For Life preparations which meant we didn't cook much last week and were out of cereal for SCB to eat with milk and didn't have time to get more at the store. 

We got some INCREDIBLE deals on meat this month because I had some coupons for $2 off a sleeve of burgers... which were already on sale for the holiday weekend so it was awesome getting them for 3.99 a sleeve after the coupons... but again, $94.41 in groceries for only $65.01 because of their mailer coupons and their store app-- we can't beat it! Yes, we don't buy everything there anymore now that we found a local produce place and because we hit up other stores for pantry items, but they provide our "main" meal ingredients so we hope they stick around. Only thing we tossed was 1/2 a package of corn tortillas... The other one went into the freezer since they were B1G1 free...

SCB wasn't feeling very well earlier in the month so I had to to a "get better" market run for some soup and broth and milk and ralphs was just closer that any other store on the way home... The chips and Gatorade we bought for the arts alive festival to go with our picnic lunch so we wouldn't buy food from the food trucks there, and again Ralphs was around the corner... for the most part we really don't shop there much anymore. As for Mission Ranch Market-- their produce is CHEAP-- and since its so cheap I didn't feel that bad when I had to toss some of it out during the month because what they call a bunch of spinach is actually like 3 of what I would have gotten at Sprouts for 1/3 the price too! With us being so busy this month, we couldn't hit the store we normally pick things up from because of time, so I got eggs and a few other things here because it saved us some time... I had to toss a few bean sprouts out, I froze 4 of the bananas in slices because we didn't get to them fast enough so i'll toss them in my smoothies and wait to buy more until I use them. We also had to toss a cucumber out-- 2 was too many since they are TWICE as big as one and 1/2 the cost.


Walmart came out the big winner in terms of the money we spent there and the amount of different items we picked up. Since SCB is now working and we didn't have much notice for a start date (and with us being busy as all busy), we went with traditional more portable lunch items like chips, sandwiches, granola bars, etc... then add in Relay For Life and that meant more picnic type/convenience foods.... 

But some changes will be happening with the new work shift to dual employment. Especially since I mentioned that SCB can no longer eat leftovers really... or a lot of the boxed type foods he normally makes when I'm not home. We'll still pick these up again in June to have in the house -- but something else I noticed is that we can go to walmart and nothing really ends up in the fridge (it's mostly pantry items).

There produce is more expensive then other places and we get better meat deals at fresh and easy. But with SCB working who knows what we will and won't be buying here anymore. 

SCB's lunch so far has been 2 sandwiches, a large apple, granola bar, treat, and some chips (I buy the bug bag and then measure out a serving into some tupperware and just pop it in his bag with a bottle of flavored water and that's that. So far he hasn't even touched the granola bar at all-- but I toss it in there in case there is a busy day.

Here's a few pictures of what we have been eating this month-- a few are blurry but oh well!

The cilantro lime chicken grill packets from Fresh and Easy.
We bake it in the oven and SCB eats the legs and meat while
I shed mine up and put it in tacos.

Broccoli Fritters/patties. SO yummy the picture doesn't do them
any kind of justice. Think crab cake, but with broccoli!

Tomato and cucumber salad :) Tastes
yummy with tortilla chips

Lettuce, cabbage, toasted sunflower seeds, crasins,
green onion, mushrooms... tossed with some ranch.

SCB's home made onion straw topped
burgers.... So bad for you... but so
GOOD....

Pastrami, Monterrey jack cheese, and sourcrote sandwiches

HOME MADE PICO!!!


Strawberries from my garden!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Ditching the smart phones

Our cell phone contract comes up in July next month and SCB and I have decided we are going to ditch our smart phones and contracts all together...

The one bill I can't stand to pay is the $137 a month for our cell phones. It's almost 3 times our monthly electricity bill... its 4 and a half times our internet bill... and it was a dumb move to get them in the first place...

Since we don't have a land line, we need to keep phones for each of us (one for his business and one for me to use for work, etc), so we are getting burner phones... Yup, Tracfones to be exact.

We ordered 2 track phones from Amazon. For SCB the Samsung T301G Slider with triple minutes for life for $12.99 and since I wanted a phone with a full keyboard, the LG 505C with triple minutes for life for $22.99.

The triple minutes means each time we buy a card with minutes, it automatically triples. Text messages cost us 1 minute of talk time and we can get 60 minute cards (3 hours with our triple minute phones) for $20.00. That $20 card is good for 3 months and then it expires. If we run through that, we just buy a new card.

We know one card will last SCB 3 months and then expire based on his current usage... and if we figure we buy me a new card each month, at most $30 a month will cover our talking/texting time, based on current usage.

For the farmer's markets though, we need a smart phone to collect credit card payments. We have found a portable wi-fi device from Walmart "internet on the go" for $80.00 upfront and then we can buy 500 Mb for $10 and it never expires until we use it... So this will take care of our "data" for the company. There were other free and cheaper options, but they don't have coverage in the areas we need them to cover so this was the best one because it uses the same network as our phones so we know it will work at the market and in our area.

So for less than the cost of the phone SCB would want if we renew our cell phone contracts, we are getting 2 new phones and a WIFI device... and AT max will be paying $40 a month... instead of $137.00

The only thing I'll miss is the GPS tracker on my phone when i'm running. So with the money we are going to save, I will get a cool gps running watch... and with the rest, we are going to save up for a tablet because SCB really wants one.

I can still use my smart phone on airplane mode to listen to audio books and take pictures and SCB can use his old phone at work for an e-reader on airplane mode so it shouldn't be a problem there.

So soon we will be paying maybe $40 a month instead of $137 and saving roughly $1,200 a year. Sounds smarter than a smart phone to me... and if I break or loose my phone I just buy a new one for $23.00

So have you decided to ditch the Smart Phone? If so, what are you using?

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

May Mortgage Update 2013

Looks like there will be another hiccup with our refinance... They are having trouble with the insurance documents from the HOA and with the delay, its best to be safe and cut the May mortgage payment after all.

Principle paid down: $170.77
Interest: $479.87
Additional Principle: $0.00

New Balance: $109,513.76

The pay off date is still November 2038 which is 10 months ahead of the initial schedule. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will pay $111,081.60 in interest instead of the original $116,404.23. The extra $1,646.77 I've tossed at the mortgage over the life of the loan has saved us $5,322.63 in interest to date.

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

In short, I was -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one...

But thankfully the hole is getting filled in a little bit each and every year.
  • In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. I also got to write off some of the property tax I paid in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10... but then I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... We also ended 2009 with a refund from my botched tile job that gave us another $1,265.00.
  • In 2010 I saved $1,087.00 on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes 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. When we subtract those costs from what we saved by living in our condo instead of renting, we came out ahead $494.04 (See Mortgage Update + Condo Costs December '11 for that break down.)  We also received a small $70 refund check from over paid closing costs. Since we tied the knot in 2011 we won't be able to itemize our housing costs so there's no savings there for us.
  • In 2012 we finished our Kitchen/Laundry door which cost us $103.24.. We also replaced both our glass slider doors which cost us $2,957.00... and repaired our dryer for $81.42....It ended up being $3,383.47 cheaper to OWN our condo than to rent an apartment on a monthly basis,  (See Housing Costs 2012 for the break down) so even after we subtract the windows and other minor repairs, we still came out ahead $241.81 by owning our condo instead of renting... 
  • In 2013 we got $52.53 back from challenging my property taxes in 2012.
Leaving us $13,062.89 in the hole...

If we assume our home is worth at least what we paid for it (which in this market you never really know...), then we have $10,486.24 in equity...

Leaving us only $2,576.65 in the hole after 3 years, 8 months.

For 2013, we will again assume our monthly mortgage payments are a wash since its cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. Check out Housing Comps 2013 for how we figured that one out. Thus far for 2013 we have spent $5,936.94 to live in our condo, instead of $6,805.00 to live in the apartment.
  • Mortgage (including P&I, Property Taxes, MIP, & additional principle:) $4,177.44
  • HOA:  $1,312.50
  • Small Home Repairs/Improvements:$0
  • Earthquake Insurance: $0
  • Homeowners Insurance: $0
  • Refinance Charges: $447.00
As of today, we have saved $868.06 this year by not renting.

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $119,245.12 to break even... which is 7254.88 less than what I paid for it! 
  • This assumes a 6% total commission ($7,154.71)
  • and enough money to refund the amount we are in the hole for ($2,576.65)

Monday, June 3, 2013

A short Money Update....

So after my long winded budget post the other day, I have some updates for you now that the extra check of all happy has hit my account...

The overtime I indicated that i would be expecting, was that 3 day lifeguard class I taught last month... which meant some big buck-er-oos...

After we tithe, it is enough money to send our first $1,100 lump sum to the Roth IRA like we planed... it also gives us $208.24 to send up to the Roth to make up for last month when we didn't drop the full amount in because we cash flowed the home appraisal... It also gives us the $97.36 we may or may not be in the hole, so now regardless we aren't in the hole for may because we end up with a positive $4.86 to our name... and we still have the May mortgage payment in its fullness if we need to send it in this week if we aren't signing our loan documents.

I already feel so much better... Our outline for June is so much simplier:
  • Pay back May overage if there is one... (DONE)
  • Pay any out of pocket mortgage refinance costs without dipping into the Emergency Fund... 
  • Get Roth IRA Balance to $2,500.00 since we are 6 months into the year... Currently Need: $1,534.85  (DONE)
All we have to do is just cash flow the mortgage refinance! So if we don't pay our May mortgage we are all set with the money we need... if we do need to pay it, we will have SCB's paychecks, and I should have some overtime coming in from the holiday to help... and since we need around $400, we should be all set! and we'll eventually get that money back when they cash out our escrow account from the first mortgage.

Its nice with us each having a job! I could get used to having to worry less about money.... :)