all4money's financial journal

Thanks for the responses to my recent post about how I wanted to go "charitable" this year at Christmas time concerning gifts. I am a huge Somaly Mam Foundation supporter (fighting child sex trafficking in Cambodia) and found that The Body Shop sells reusable tote bags for $5 where $2 of each purchase goes to the Somaly Mam Foundation. So, I had the brilliant idea of buying these bags (like 15 of them) and using the bags as "gift" bags for the normal Christmas presents I will get folks. Sure, they may not look festive and whatnot but they will serve the purpose I aim to achieve... family and friends will still get their useless materialistic junk they expect while I can at the same time give them something to help the environment (hopefully they'll reuse the bag many times) and help my charity of choice. The Body Shop also sells lotion that 100% of the profits go to another child prostitution charity so I'll get a handful of those as well to put in the bags... maybe I can find even more products that support charities and just make huge "gift bags" as the presents. Of course, this very well may blow my Christmas budget out the water but if I combine that budget with my charitable giving budget, maybe all will wash out. If you know of any other websites that sell products to help benefit charities, let me know. Thanks to momcents for the idea!

I posted a year ago about a house that we were interested in...well, that house still hasn't sold yet and they've lowered the price by $86,000 now. We would still love to move into it but want them to go down another $100,000. It needs a lot of work and DH and I just don't think it is worth more than $250k (they started at $435k and it's down to $349k now).

The house is a 1976 brick rancher that needs a lot of updating from end to end. The location is just to die for -- that's really what is worth the money. The tax value on the property is at $269k. Is there any good way to base a market price on what the tax value is?

Here are some pictures of the backyard --- isn't it beautiful!?? Keep in mind that we live in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains so finding a home on such a FLAT lot in the middle of town is nearly impossible. The river is literally the back border of the property and is just wonderful. On the other side of the river is a beautiful golf course -- ahh, location, location, location.

How much would you think we should offer just based on the tax value (and without you even seeing a picture of the actual house yet)?





Oh, and if you are interested... the current owner of the home is an elderly lady. Her sister was the one who built the house and lived in it all these years. Her sister died 3 years ago and left the house to her. It's been vacant for 3 years (it took the lady a long time to clean it out and go through everything)... so it's not like she has to sell it as she has her own home but at the same time she is paying the property taxes and stuff on it so I'm sure she'd like to see it sell. However, based on past conversations with her, she "thinks" the house is worth closer to a million dollars because of its location... um, yeah.

So DH and I would really like to go "non-material" this year with our gift giving. We'd like to donate money to charities in honor of our family and friends. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on junk that no one wants or needs, we just would love to have our money go toward the causes we feel are important this year.

Then, we woke up to reality. There is absolutely no freakin' way that our families would accept this kind of gesture. Unfortunately, both our sides expect nice gifts under the tree for Christmas... a card or certificate acknowledging a donation just wouldn't cut it.

We'll still donate to our charities this year but alas, we'll have to just conform and buy more junk again as always.

Here is a reposting of our estimates of what Oct was going to look like with actual expenses in bold.

1st Weekend in October:

1. Fall Festival at the kids school. Will cost around $20 or so to let the kids go and enjoy the activities -- fundraiser for the school so no biggie.

2. A co-worker gave me 2 free tickets to a Halloween event at a local amusement park. We have 4 in our family so we'd have to buy 2 more tickets which would cost $52. The event happens every year but we had never been before so it would be a real treat for the kids. Even at $52, we'd probably never get this great deal again (basically 50% off), so we'll go. We have to go this particular night as the free tickets are only for this night (opening night) so we'll head out there after the Fall Festival.

3. Going to sis's house 3 hours away for a birthday party for both my niece and nephew. Will enjoy the trip to visit with them but will be spending a pretty penny at the same time.
Birthday gifts to buy = $40
Gas for trip = $50
Eating out with extended family = $100 (I'm expected to foot the bill for dinner)

Total estimated for first weekend in Oct = $262 $132

2nd Weekend in October:

1. Some of DH's family from CA will be here. DH hasn't seen them in probably 15 years so that will be a very nice visit.
Cost of entertaining them will probably be just around $100.

2. A different nephew has a birthday so another birthday gift to buy = $20

Total estimated for second weekend in Oct = $120 $15

3rd Weekend in October:

1. NC State Fair - we try to attend each year as our own little family tradition. We used to live right there but after we moved away, we are now 4 hours from the event. So with tickets, hotel, food, gas etc., this weekend might be pricey at around $300.

2. DH's sister has a birthday so another gift probably at around $30 for her.

Total estimated for third weekend in Oct = $330 $300

4th Weekend in October:

1. Our youngest celebrates a birthday so with her gifts and throwing a party with friends, we are estimating a price tag of around $150.

Total estimated for fourth weekend in Oct = $150 $80

5th Weekend in October:

1. Halloween -- won't probably spend too much on costumes this year. Oldest will be wearing something that I made for one of her school plays and we haven't decided on what the youngest wants to do yet. Got to buy candy for the neighborhood kids so all in all, maybe just $30.

Total estimated for fifth weekend in Oct = $30 $320

THAT'S A TOTAL OF $892!! Geez!

Total for the month is actually $847 which is less than expected. We reallocated some but still came under budget for the month. Still a huge month of non-essentials but at least the out was less than expected.

Ok, our house is on the market not out of necessity but just because we'd like to move to a different house/neighborhood.

I just got a call from our realtor that was interesting. She said a buyer's realtor contacted her and before her clients even want to look at our house, they want to know if we'd take a cash offer of $50,000 less than our asking price. We've only been in the house 3 years -- going down $50k would mean we would be selling for about $20k less than what we paid for it. This may be a good deal for someone who needs to sell but we DON'T NEED to sell. I'm a bit dazed at the "offer" even before they see the place.

After the initial shock, I got my brain cells back into alignment and started looking at the situation. The house that we want is still on the market. So, if we go ahead and sell our current home, even at a loss, we could move forward on the "dream" home. That is really all I can figure as the upside to going so low on the sale of our house. With our current home off our backs, we could potentially strike a great deal on the other end in the purchase of the new home -- the owners of that home moved out of state a few years ago and I'm sure they are extremely motivated on selling the house as it is vacant and just sitting there...year after year... so they may take a low offer. Hmmm ... the thinking continues....

DH gets 3 consecutive emails from Paypal late Sunday night around 11pm. They were receipts for payments for purchases made at iTunes... DH hasn't bought anything off of iTunes in over a year or more. We knew immediately that someone must have hacked into his iTunes account, purchased some stuff, and since his iTunes account is linked to Paypal as the source of payment... voila. He changed his passwords and emailed PayPal and iTunes. Paypal responds within an hour stating that after their "investigation", the charges were valid and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. iTunes waited until Monday to write back and say that they wouldn't do anything without a court order!!! We don't even recognize any of the stuff these hackers bought as they weren't songs or anything "normal"!! Geez. I can only imagine how many more charges would've kept coming through if we hadn't been right there at our computer when those emails were coming in and could immediately change our passwords.

Thank goodness for our good ol' credit card company that we have been with for at least the last 15 years. I called them up, they credited us the amounts, and told us not to worry about the charges. They will figure it out with Paypal from here for us.

Sure, there are horror stories about credit cards and such but not once have we had a huge commotion about charges we didn't ever do. About 5 years ago, someone hacked into DH's paypal account directly and bought a laptop or something from Russia. Paypal didn't bluntly come out and say anything was our fault at that time but it sure was our burden of proof to show that we didn't go to Russia and purchase a laptop! Our credit card company immediately issued the refund for us back then even though Paypal was still "investigating" it. I absolutely despise Paypal's fraud department but with DH on ebay all the time, it is an evil necessity.

1st Weekend in October:

1. Fall Festival at the kids school. Will cost around $20 or so to let the kids go and enjoy the activities -- fundraiser for the school so no biggie.

2. A co-worker gave me 2 free tickets to a Halloween event at a local amusement park. We have 4 in our family so we'd have to buy 2 more tickets which would cost $52. The event happens every year but we had never been before so it would be a real treat for the kids. Even at $52, we'd probably never get this great deal again (basically 50% off), so we'll go. We have to go this particular night as the free tickets are only for this night (opening night) so we'll head out there after the Fall Festival.

3. Going to sis's house 3 hours away for a birthday party for both my niece and nephew. Will enjoy the trip to visit with them but will be spending a pretty penny at the same time.
Birthday gifts to buy = $40
Gas for trip = $50
Eating out with extended family = $100 (I'm expected to foot the bill for dinner)

Total estimated for first weekend in Oct = $262

2nd Weekend in October:

1. Some of DH's family from CA will be here. DH hasn't seen them in probably 15 years so that will be a very nice visit.
Cost of entertaining them will probably be just around $100.

2. A different nephew has a birthday so another birthday gift to buy = $20

Total estimated for second weekend in Oct = $120

3rd Weekend in October:

1. NC State Fair - we try to attend each year as our own little family tradition. We used to live right there but after we moved away, we are now 4 hours from the event. So with tickets, hotel, food, gas etc., this weekend might be pricey at around $300.

2. DH's sister has a birthday so another gift probably at around $30 for her.

Total estimated for third weekend in Oct = $330

4th Weekend in October:

1. Our youngest celebrates a birthday so with her gifts and throwing a party with friends, we are estimating a price tag of around $150.

Total estimated for fourth weekend in Oct = $150

5th Weekend in October:

1. Halloween -- won't probably spend too much on costumes this year. Oldest will be wearing something that I made for one of her school plays and we haven't decided on what the youngest wants to do yet. Got to buy candy for the neighborhood kids so all in all, maybe just $30.

Total estimated for fifth weekend in Oct = $30

THAT'S A TOTAL OF $892!! Geez!

Ok, I'll be graduating with my MBA on Dec 18, 2009. I want to go on a huge vacation to celebrate. My only problem is deciding what to do and where to go.

We don't travel much at all so we are a bit foreign to the whole "planning a big adventure" idea. Help?!

Some info... we live in NC. We've been to Disney World in FL which is probably the biggest trip we've taken with our 2 children. DH and I have been on a Carribean cruise and have gone to the Bahamas (trips before kids!).

Anyone have any suggestions on what we should look at? The kids are under 12, if that helps. We'd have about 2 weeks to take off over Christmas Break... so we are looking at the last 2 weeks in Dec.

ANY SUGGESTIONS OR ADVICE WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL! Regarding budget -- I'd like to spend no more than $5,000 if possible.

Thanks!

Ok, I've posted about how we have our house for sale. We put it on originally for $349,000 and about 2 weeks ago, lowered it to $325,000. Our contract with the realtor expires next week and we are going ahead and withdrawing the listing now (our realtor says it looks better on the MLS system as a withdrawal instead of an expired listing). At $325,000, the 6% commission fee would have been $19,500 that we would've had to pay out...and we were only willing to negotiate the price down to $320,000 bottom line. We didn't feel like our realtor was doing much to push our house so we are actually glad to get out of this contract...but rather than going with another realtor...we are now considering whether or not to keep the house on the market as a FSBO (for sale by owner). We could lower the price of the house to $305,000 and still make the same amount of money as we would have with the $325,000 realtor price. If we offered a 3% buyer's commission fee, it would mean that we could put it on at $315,000 for the same payout.

We've never sold a house ourselves before without a realtor. Does anyone have any advice as to whether or not we should try to sell it ourselves? Here are the options:

Option 1 - FSBO
List price of $319,000 (willing to negotiate down to $305,000 if need be)
No MLS exposure
Out of pocket expense for advertising, etc = xxx??
Pros: we control everything
Cons: we don't know anything

Option 2 - FSBO flat-rate listing service
List price of $325,000 (willing to negotiate down to $315,000 if need be)
MLS exposure
Out of pocket expense for listing service = $499 for 6 months
Pros: agent will help with the paperwork, MLS listing will provide realtor exposure
Cons: immediate cash out of $499, 3% buyer commission

We've had 2 houses sell in our neighborhood within the past 2 years. One sold for $318,000 and the other sold for $305,000. However, the $318,000 was much more of a comparable than the $305,000 due to size, style, etc. Therefore, we don't feel our pricing is asking for too much at all.

Has anyone had success (or failure) at selling your home yourself? What should our next step be? I've already created a website highlighting our house (in case we go this FSBO route) and we are willing to do much more to advertise our house. We just need to know we can actually do it ourselves!

I spoke with my sister the other day about her finances. She's a SAHM with two kids under 3 years old. Her husband works 45-50 hours a week just to make ends meet but they are barely getting by. He brings home NET around $420 a week or about $1,600 a month. Ok, do the math here... their house payment is $600 and their car payment is $650 each month. Yes, I wrote that correctly - $650 for one car payment!!! Her van broke down in the middle of the interstate while she had the two kids with her and her husband swore that she would never be stranded like that again... so he goes off and buys her a brand new van costing around $35,000!

nyway, that's $1,250 right off the bat just for house and car payment. Then add in about $400 in utilities, cell phones, cable, etc. There is absolutely no money left for food, gas, savings, emergencies, diapers (yes, the kids are still wearing diapers!). I don't know how much they have in credit card debt but I'm sure it's a scary number. Oh, and I didn't mention how far behind they are on all their bills so they spend probably a good $200 on late fees alone each month.

I asked my sister how they manage each month and she said that they just pay whatever is being in jeopardy of being turned off that month. So this month, it was the power bill. Next month it will be to pay on the van some. The next month, who knows?

It's a very sad situation. They are good people and aren't lazy by any means. However, they are stretched way too far and it's hard for them to catch up to even see where the break even point might be each month. My sis can't work right now as they can't afford child care, especially with her husband working very long hours. He has a good job but it takes him away from home quite a bit for days at a time. She did have a 401K and an IRA from when she did work but they cashed all that in about 4 years ago to avoid bankruptcy. He has no retirement savings at all. He is about 42 and she is 38.

I see the toll this takes on my sis and it bothers me not to be able to really help them. I give her a few hundred dollars here and there when I can but it hardly makes a dent into anything for them.

We had taken a mini-vacation a few weeks ago over the 4th Holiday. Now, it's onward to our real summer vacation that we'll be taking in NC beginning next week...

Day 1: Carowinds (amusement park)
Day 2: Great Wolf Lodge (water park)
Day 3: Great Wolf Lodge
Day 4: Camping (just bought a great tent on sale!)
Day 5: Explore the NC Outer Banks
Day 6: Outer Banks
Day 7: Outer Banks
Day 8: Outer Banks
Day 9: Return Home

We've budgeted $2,500 for the 8 days. We've been to Carowinds but as for the rest of the activities, even camping, it will all be new to us so it should be fun!

Well, I did it. A couple of days ago, I signed up on Facebook and it's been fun. I've "connected" with several folks that I went to high school with. I found one girl that is now a fairly successful model. She's done a lot of print work and has been in a few commercials and a movie. I NEVER in a million years would've pegged her as becoming a model!! Interesting how life turns out sometimes.

Back on finances, July is the month that my raise goes into affect (we get paid on the last day of each month). That gives us an extra $550 after taxes more a month or over $6,500 more NET each year. Yea! It'll be a welcome addition to our net cash flow each month.

Our house is still sitting here stagnant. We've just found out that a house in our neighborhood (which was rented and not on the market) was sold a month or two ago for just $305,000. We've got our house listed for $349,000. This is not good at all. Of course, our house is bigger, nicer, and all that jazz but yikes. Our contract with the realtor runs out Aug 31. We've decided that if the house doesn't sell by then, we'll just take it off the market until next Spring. It's not like we have to sell and I'm not sure I want to just give it away either. I just hate that I won't be able to buy that house I posted earlier... But, if things don't work out, it's not the end of the world. We are just fine where we are, both have really good stable jobs, and luckily are not caught in a dire financial situation like many are in today's economy.

So, we decided to stay local for our 4th of July vacation.

Friday, July 3: We went canoeing for 10 miles - took 5 hours, stopped for a picnic and had an overall great time.

Saturday, July 4: Spent the entire day with family at cousin's house - cookout, fireworks, etc. Cousin has a great pool so the kids got to swim which was fun.

Sunday, July 5: Went to local amusement park. Kids had a blast.

Cost of 3 days =
$47 canoe rental
$10 food purchased for cookout
$15 fireworks purchased for cookout

$72 Total

The amusement park tickets cost $50 but I paid for them last year at a local charity auction (got them for 1/2 off regular prices).

All in all, a great and cheap vacation!

Now, I'm in the mood to go camping. There was a campsite on the river where we pulled off for our picnic and that gave me the bug for trying our hand at tent camping this summer. I'll have to go and buy all the gear, i.e. tents, sleeping bags, etc. so it might be a bit costly but I think the kids would enjoy it. There are so many great places to camp where we live and it would be a shame for our kids not to experience camping while they are young... I hope to go within the next few weeks so I'll keep you updated.

We decided to nix the Busch Gardens trip for the 4th. It would've cost around $1500 for us to spend 3 days there -- just didn't seem worth it. Instead we decided to take our kids canoeing tomorrow for the first time. The oldest DD has wanted to go forever so we decided to go for it. The river is just 30 minutes away and for a 10 mile adventure lasting about 5 hours, it only costs $47 for all 4 of us to go! I'll pack a picnic and we'll stop on the river to have lunch - it'll be great! We'll then spend Sat the 4th with my cousin who is hosting a cook out for our extended family - yea, no cooking or mess I need to deal with! Then Sunday we'll go to our local amusement park, of which I got tickets at 50% off last year at an auction. So, all said and done, we've reduced our expenses for the weekend by a truck load and we'll still have a great time staying local.

1. Wasn't too bad on the weight loss track even though I didn't make my 5 lb mark (lost just 3). Oh well... will do better in July! Notice how it varies sporadically each day -- but I just worry about the first and last day's weigh-ins.



2. I had been awarded a $1,000 scholarship back in Feb to help pay for grad school from my professional association. I submitted for reimbursement yesterday so that will be super nice to get that check soon.

3. DH has gone through his closets of collectibles and has sold so much in June. I wish he'd sell everything and at the same time stop buying anything but alas, that is just a dream... so I'll take what I can get.

4. We have planned on doing the Busch Gardens/Williamsburg tour over the 4th weekend. I hope it won't be too hot! I also hope that it won't be a budget busting vacation either.

5. There isn't too much word on the house front. The buyer's realtor won't get back in touch with our realtor concerning the status of their client's interest on our house. So, the conversation we have going on now is whether or not we want to (1) go ahead and place an offer on the new house contigent on the sale of ours or (2) reduce the price of our house first and see if we get any bites. I really don't want this house to get away from us - we've seen so many and this one fits the bill for us. I can tell you guys this... within the last 6 months, 2 houses closed in this same neighborhood for $100K less than the asking price of this house that we want. We plan on offering $100K less than their asking price based on the comparables. So, since this is such a low offer, we didn't know if they would even entertain an offer with a contigency... but there is absolutely no way this house would appraise for what they are asking.

I always love seeing pictures posted so I thought I would post this one of the house we are seriously looking at buying...



What do you guys think? And just for fun, how much would you pay for this house just based on this one picture? The house is over 3400 sq ft, 0.77 acres, built in 2002, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 2 car garage, stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, etc.... we absolutely love the location!!!

As I've posted before, we have our current house on the market for sale and so we've been looking for a "new" house. This one just fits everything that is on our must-have list. We have one very interested couple looking at our house and once they bite, we are definitely going to put an offer in on this one!

Summer vacation plans -
DH and I are planning to take our kids to Busch Gardens Williamsburg VA in late July. Anybody ever been? We've not and think it should be a fun trip. Ticket prices on their website are outrageous though. Geez, when did it cost so much to take a family of 4 to go have a little fun? We are planning to be gone at least 3 days since it's so far away from home... don't know what else we'll do while we're in Williamsburg. I wonder if our kids would be too bored with a visit to Colonial Williamsburg. So, with hotel stay, gas, food, and ticket prices, I'm sure we'll end up spending well over $1200 in 3 days! Ugh.

1. Started on a health/weight-loss kick back on May 1. I lost 5 lbs in May (attached a graph tracking actual weight per day). Glad to see the trend going down instead of up! I hope to lose 5 more in June...



2. My first summer school class is killing me. It's regression analysis (aka: yucky statistics) and is just horrible. I swear that if I can just pass it with a 'C', I'll be a happy camper.

My second class starting in July will be a bit more interesting... it's consumer behavior.

3. In spite of the economic turmoil hitting our budgets for the new year (starting in July), my boss has signed in a 9% raise for me!!! I feel like those AIG and CEO guys that everyone told to give back their bonuses. It shouldn't be fair that I get a raise while at the same time we are having to let people go at work. My boss says that it's an equality thing with my own position, budget problems or not, and that I shouldn't concern myself about it.

4. Had a free lunch today at Applebee's. My MIL took me and the family out today so that was nice! She's also invited us over for Friday night dinner so that's another free meal this week... gotta love free food!

5. Our house is still on the market with no offers. DH and I have resigned ourselves to see how it goes (contract with the realtor up in August) and not to rush into buying anything new in the meantime. If/when we do sell, we can live with my parents for as long as we need to which would help us save at least $2,000 a month in mortgage/utility bills! That could add up! So, we'll just wait and see what happens.

Ever wonder what makes us go crazy at times for certing things? I was just thinking about my current "obsessions"...

1. The Twilight book series... I went to the beach with my in-laws over Easter and MIL brought the Twilight book with her. I picked it up one morning since I had nothing else going on and didn't put it down until I finished it that evening! Then, I had to go out and buy the movie that night so I could watch it. Asked DH to buy me the entire 4-book box set for Mothers Day and now I'm on the last book and feel depressed that I'm about to finish the story. What's wrong with me to be so obsessed with Edward Cullen?!

2. Other people's houses... Why do I care at all what other people live in? I think I'm just too nosy. I look up friends' and co-workers' info on the web and am intrigued as to what their house values are and where they live, etc. Isn't that a form of stalking? Geez. I need a life.

Oh, well. I probably divulged too much on what my current obsessions are and how weird I might be, but I thought it was an interesting thought... What drives a person to think and obsess over anything at any given time? Sure, give it a month or so and maybe my obsessions will turn its contriving mind to something else... it would be interesting to know what my triggers are.

*****
Finished up with the Spring semester and have 2 weeks of no school before the summer sessions start. Yahooie! I have just 3 more classes to go and then I'll be finished in Dec. I have no idea what I will do differently (career-wise) with my newly acquired MBA but at least I'll have it. Who knows in todays economy? It can only help me in the long run - I hope.

My birthday is coming up and I will be 34. I feel like I'm getting so old. I had lunch with my niece who is 15 and her "boyfriend". They are in that awkward stage of young teenage hormones... made me feel ancient! Again, I can only say "Geez". Oh well. I do miss those "unknowns" and the butterflies concerning the dating game. Remember when your palms got sweaty as you got ready for that first date, first kiss, first whatever? I miss that sometimes. Of course, I love being settled down with the family but I can daydream back to those innocent days too.

It looks like the "stimulus" for 2009 will hit our paychecks starting with our March check (we get paid at the end of each month). Between DH and I that means an extra $133+ in net income each month. Now, what should I do with this extra money? I'm back to the question of whether to save this money or apply it to outstanding debt. Hmmm... just glad to have it!

An interesting development is going on at my workplace... one of our directors is on the radar as not being here very much. After looking at her absence record from when she started with us, she's taken a total of 96.5 days from Aug 06 - Nov 08 which includes all sick and vacation leave time... In this same time period, I have had 37.5 days out of the office. I guess I'm wondering if others out there ever track how much time they really take off work year after year.

Auto insurance premium due Dec 22 = $389.96

Spring 09 grad school tuition = $1,314.00

Term Life Insurance annual premium due Jan 09 = $772 (for both DH and me)

That's $2,500 that I just hate to see go out the window so soon after the Holidays... of course we have to throw in our Holiday shopping charges due to pay in January too (we charge everything to get the cash back rewards). Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Another year has gone by already! Geez.

Looking forward to 2009, I sure hope that things turn out alright in our financial life with the economy the way it is...

Biggest Financial Goal:
Pay off the entire $18,000 credit card balance (all at 0% interest) by Nov 09 This means that we need to pay at a minimum $1600 each month. Doable!

Other Goals:
**graduate with my MBA in Dec 09 (ending 3 years of grad school - paid with all cash!)
**sell house (currently on the market), move in with mom for the duration of 2009 to save money to help pay for "dream home"
**increase monthly savings by $200 (or $2400 for the year)


2008 YEAR END balances:
Mortgage = $274,000 @ 5.25%
Car loan = $15,300 @ 5.75%
CC = $18,000 @ 0% thru Nov 09

Hi, y'all. I don't post much but I do visit the blogs each day and read up on everyone's happenings... guess it's my turn to contribute.

1. I got a notice to expect an increase in my grad school tuition for Summer 09. I am doing my MBA program completely online with one of our state's universities and have one more year to go (graduating in Dec 09). Because of the economy the way it is, apparently, the school has decided to increase the tuition cost of just the online programs and not the campus-based programs... GEEZ! So, instead of paying $657 for a class, it's now going to be upwards of $1032 per online class... It doesn't seem fair that they are increasing the online tuition only!

2. Our house has been on the market since August... no real big interest in it. Although housing prices have dropped in the country on average, our county has been hit very little so prices are still quite high. Our house is 2600 sq ft, built in 2006 and is listed for $349,000... overall, a fabulous house. We are trying to sell it so that we can find a house on a flatter lot (we live in the mountains) for our children to play in and so forth. We have been actively looking and after looking at probably 50 or so houses, we found the perfect one this weekend! It's a 40 year old brick rancher on a .75 FLAT acre with an awesome river bordering the backyard... and on the other side of the river is a great golf course. This house needs a lot of work but we just can't beat the location and the features of the lot itself. It's listed for $435,000. The next door neighbor's house is worth well over $3million (I'm serious; it's absolutely beautiful). I sure hope that the house is still there when/if we ever sell ours and will cry if it gets sold first. Cross your fingers for us.

My grad school classes start back up on Wed. Charged the $1300 for tuition... money is so tight this month. Somehow we racked up over $7300 on our credit card that is all due by Sept 3.... (we charge everything and pay it off each month). Geez, we've had an expensive month!! Take out the tuition bill and it comes to $6000. DH bought about $1000 worth of stuff to resale leaving about $5000 for regular monthly stuff. We had to do back-to-school shopping and had the summer beach trip to account for --- but still, I don't like seeing our balance so high.

Ok, we just got back from our summer vacation at the beach. We had a great time in general, but you know how it is… we went to the beach with the whole family (12 people total) and that always means drama. My mom has always been like this but she really irked me this time… let me explain.
Mom has this thing with money. Her whole universe circles around money. I guess that is why she has so much of it now.
She gets on my nerves at times even though I expect it and know she’s like this. Mom wanted to have everyone at the beach this year… She was treating my older sister’s family of 4 to this vacation which is fine with me. They don’t have much money and with two small kids under 2 years old, this was the only way they could go to the beach. But, I do not agree with the fact that she was also treating my younger sister and her husband to the trip as well. Mom was paying for her room even though they have great paying jobs, have no debt, and have no children. Me, DH, and our kids have to fend for our own hotel room which I’m fine with as I should pay my own way but Mom did say that she would pay for a few of my meals. Ok, great… Now, Mom is not a fan of going dutch – if you pay, you pay for everyone… and she expects me to pay for some meals but doesn’t expect my sisters to pay.

Day 1 – Mom pays for dinner at The Olive Garden ($110)
Day 2 – Mom pays for lunch at McDonald’s ($45). I pay for dinner at Subway ($25).
Day 3 – Our little core family goes off on our own during the day but we meet up with everyone for dinner. Mom makes it a point to say that my little sister and her husband paid for lunch at the K&W ($60). What does it matter to me?
Day 4 – I pay for brunch ($97) at a local pancake house, Mom pays for dinner ($75) at Ruby Tuesdays, and then we split up for the evening. When we met up again that night, Mom makes it a point to tell me that my older sister paid for a midnight snack at Burger King ($12). Again, what does it matter to me since I wasn’t there anyway?

When we were leaving the pancake house, my mom hung behind as we all were piling out of the building to check and recount the tip that I left on the table. She already knew how much I left to begin with. Why does she do this? She ALWAYS does this when I pay for any meals. And, why does she make it a point to tell me that my siblings paid for meals when I don’t care. She doesn’t make it a point to tell them when I pay for things… but it’s always been that she wants me to know when they do things “good”. And the argument can’t be made that we just make more because my younger sister and her husband make good money too and without kids, they have more disposable income anyway. Here’s the irony in the whole situation… my older sister, the one without any money and a huge amount of debt, drives a brand new 2008 Town and Country to the beach. My younger sister drives a brand new 2008 Honda Pilot to the beach. DH and I drove our 1996 Toyota Sienna - so you tell me, who out of the group should get more of my mother’s “money attention”? I’m not extravagant by any means but yet I’m under the microscope all the time.

DH and I took our kids to play mini-golf one night and when we got back to the room, the first thing out of mom’s mouth was not “did you have a good time?” but rather “how much did it cost to play”. Same thing when we went to the water park… when we got back, all she cared about was how much it cost to get in…
After spending 4 whole days with her, I guess this just got on my nerves even more than usual. I’m so glad to have gone and spent this time with everyone but let’s just say that I am very glad to be back home too!

So, does anyone else know anyone like my mother or is my mom just very “special” in her own way? 

I thought this was an interesting analysis... here is the last 10 years of our combined salaries:

Year Gross % change
1997 50,611
1998 57,689 14%
1999 55,202 -4%
2000 67,661 23%
2001 63,206 -7%
2002 75,662 20%
2003 82,818 9%
2004 82,458 0%
2005 99,966 21%
2006 89,425 -11%
2007 97,282 9%

The declines in 99 and 01 represented when I went out on unpaid leave to have our children. Also, in 2006 there was a decline because I dropped a part-time job since we were moving to a new part of the state. All in all, I'm pleased with how we have progressed. In ten years, we have seen our gross income increase $46,671.

Update on my last post... DH and I have been looking at that land for the last few days, took parents out for their input, did research with the realtor and tax office... just can't make up our minds. We've always bought brand new houses and have never built anything... the unknown is scary. I am now almost leaning toward passing on this one and to concentrate our efforts on finding something already built. Maybe we'll venture out and just buy a place to rent or flip or something. The possiblities are out there but it's hard to decide on which way to go concerning the risk associated with each option.

Oh, I have the itch to buy a piece of land... help me see the light. It's 1.231 acres for $105K. It's right on a private lake and the area is just gorgeous! It's only 5 miles out of town, work, and school which is very important to us because we don't want to move far out. Yet, it's serene and quiet. We could build our dream home - heck, maybe Ima's husband would help us! Bring me back down to reality and tell me all the reasons to get this dream out of my head. It's all I can think about!

1. Went to Pigeon Forge last week. We had a great time. We visited the Aquarium in Gatlinburg, Dollywood, WonderWorks, and played putt-putt. All in all, we fit as much into 3 days as possible but we could have stayed there a week longer! DH got sick and spent the last day at the urgent care clinic - got bronchitis and was near getting pnemonia.. the doctor visit and the medicines cost $120 (and that's with our insurance!) which threw a unexpected kink in our finances. But, we had a good time and will return later on taking my parents with us next time.

2. Got my raise in today's paycheck finally. It was a long time waiting but sure was nice to finally see.

3. Signing up for Summer and Fall courses today. Grad school is going slowly but at least it's going. I'm halfway through now and so far, so good.

4. April 1 marks the first day of our walking group at work. About 20 of us joined together to walk, walk, walk as much as we can for the next 3 months. It's a local competition that we joined to bring awareness and improve overall health. We've also joined the national "March for Babies" (formerly known as the March of Dimes) campaign and our local walk is April 12. If anyone wants to sponsor me for this great cause, just let me know.

5. My little sis got into a car accident a few weeks ago. It wasn't her fault. Someone ran a red light and smacked right into her. So, her paid off 2001 Honda Civic was totalled. She got a broken nose and other medical issues to deal with now. I'm sure she and her hubby will get a very nice settlement from the accident, especially due to the fact that they had plans to go on an international trip just 2 days after the accident happened... needless to say, that trip had to be canceled. Anyway, the reason I'm posting about this is because, this past weekend, my sis and her DH goes out to purchase a new vehicle. Her DH's car was not driveable anyway so they were left without a vehicle. Instead of getting that lady's insurance company to give them a rental car, they wanted to go ahead and buy one. They bought a brand spankin' new 2008 Honda Pilot. Sis said she got them to accept $32,000 for it. Yes, they can afford it and they are doing very well financially, but didn't I teach her anything?! She's never wanted a brand new car before and she knows that it is a waste of money... I'm just glad it's her money and not mine.

6. My 15 minutes of fame on TV went off pretty well. The interview clip played over and over again this weekend. It was fine, but I'm glad that it's over and hope I won't be asked to be on the show again. I like my privacy and to be anonymous.

7. Finally got around to do doing our taxes last week. We'll be getting a total refund of $1415 which is all that bad. Of course my goal is to zero out but a little refund doesn't hurt. I did my parents' taxes as well. It was weird to see that they earned more in interest than they did working! They've always been savers and it definitely shows. I can't wait until I get to that point some day!