South County Girl

Pouts... But I want to Refinance...

2012-03-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

Grumble Grumble…

I saw this on the MSN Smart Spending Blog yesterday and started to get all sad because apparently the FHA will be hiking up their monthly MIP insurance from 1.15% to 1.25% starting April 1^st for all new loans because they don’t have any money.

If you remember back to my old post, Refinancing will never happen, SCB and I have been looking into refinancing since rates have plummeted and we are currently paying 5.25% interest each month…

But despite getting tons of “no cost refinance letters” in the mail, we have been told flat out told that it’s not in our best interest to refinance because we got our loan before the FHA raised their rate the first time around. (So any savings in the interest rate we would get would be eaten up by the how higher MIP payment)…

But then I saw this and got hopeful...

I started to get really excited…

Until I noticed that you had to have purchased your home on or before May 31^st, 2009… I bought in October of that year.

L Now I feel just plain cheated L

Does anyone know if banks are willing to do refinances the old fashioned way and how much they are going charge in closing costs?

I know we would have to get the home appraised... and I think it will appraise for $115,000- $120,000 (probably $115,000 though) and we owe $112,3000 right now...

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-03-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

Cause I so watched this, this week for the warm fuzzies :)

I may be a day behind with this, but i'm trucking along. I'm sick with some nasty cough and some not so pretty mucus/congestion stuff that i'm apparently sharing with SCB... but i'm trucking along and that's what counts.

SCB and I had a nice heart to heart chat the other day and things around our household are massively improving. (which is great for my sanity-- one less stress-or for me-- just work and marathon stuff now).

It also looks like we will be puppy sitting again for a few days so we will have a bit more to add to the slush fund or use to help cash flow some of our goals for the month.

And I love my husband because he's cooking dinner while I write this and it smells incredible.

I want to do a HUGE blog shout out to all the random strangers and people who have sponsored me on my journey to finish 26.2 miles and find a home for a child. The support I've received from strangers, co-workers, media outlets--- It's just incredible. Someone I never met just donated $230.00 to the cause... I'm just blown away. Rain or shine I will finish because all of you give me the courage to do this. If you'd like to help join the cause, donate here... if you want to know why Child Share is near and dear to my heart, read the about me page here... and then go donate so kids don't have to live like i did. But you people are awesome!!!!

Check it out:

Plus I still haven't gotten the copy of the interview I did with Monarch Sports.

Weekly Spending:
March 1st: No spend
March 2nd:

Target: $25.47 (Personal Items)

March 3rd

Subway: $13.74 (Date Night)
Girl Scout Cookies $4.00 (Date Night)
Costco: $9.38 (Milk & Cheese)

March 4th
March 5th

Staterbros: $6.49 (Orange Juice-- since we are all sick here)
Home Depo: $19.20 (Propane tank refill)
Ranch market $5.81 (Groceries)

Money Goals:
We received our tax returns and we have placed them for now with all my overtime in an "extra money" account at ING Direct. We have a few things we need to work on outside of our money goals before we can start attacking these with gusto.

2012 Roth IRA SCG: $443.60 / $5,000.00 (8.87%)
Emergency Fund: $11,651.64 / $12,500.00 (93.21%)
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments).
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $26.31 / $1,000.00 (2.63%)
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.

March Budget

2012-03-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

As we gear up for this month, we have decided to keep most of our budget intact for March and just try and cut back with our spending since we don't really know whats going on with SCB's employment status. All the overtime I get from work is being diverted to our slush fund at the moment to help us take care of a few expenses that aren't in our regular budget that we need to account for while I can earn the overtime.

The slush fund is sitting with $2,600 in it since we got our tax returns back and i've been adding all our extra money to it each month. Before we can start using this money for some of our BIG annual goals, we need to get a few things out of the way. This month we will focus on:

Registering my car: $118.00
Refilling our spare Propane tank
& Getting SCB's lower dental work done now that we got everything square with the insurance and know what they can and can't charge us for things.

If we can cash flow these three items, even better but I fear the dental work will be pricey still and will most likely come out of the slush fund. After we get these three things done we will re-assess the slush fund to incorporate doing a small Easter basket for each of us, Fixing the air circulation vent in the bathroom, finishing the trim and paint the kitchen/laundry door, & setting aside $300 to cover one trip out to Utah for the Winter Holidays.

Then we can add a little giving in and work on our $1,000 car fund and paying 2 additional mortgage payments for the year.

On the job front, I might have a venue come May for SCB to sell his hand crafted pens once a month so we might be able to start a small business for him. This may require more wood turning spending as we will need to buy supplies and start logging sales and expenditures.

But for now, here's our budget for March:

Paycheck #1:

Mortgage (P&I, Property taxes, MIP): $807.77
HOA: $262.50
Christmas Fund: $50.00
Date Night/Spending Money: $64.32
Prescriptions: $15.00

Paycheck #2:

Birthday Fund: $50.00
Prescriptions: $15.00
Date Night/Spending Money: $55.00
Gasoline/Car: $237.00
Groceries: $250.00
Insurance (2 Autos, earthquake, homeowners) $143.00
Utility Bills (2 Cell Phones, Electricity, Internet: $230.00
Roth IRA $220.00

You may have noticed that our budget still doesn't include any "giving" or charitable contributions. Until SCB is able to bring in a paycheck we will be donating our time, talents, and energies instead of our dollars. For one, I'm participating in the LA Marathon again on behalf of Child Share (Click here to donate) and I'm also crocheting some blankets for a cancer ward and an assisted living facility through my husbands church. Add in the fact that I'm also the 2012 chair for Relay for Life for a local city in my area, and a team captain, and you could say there is a lot of volunteering going on in our household.

How we spent our Money Last Month:

Groceries/House Supplies: $275.53
Eating Out: $157.84
Gasoline: $160.22
Car Repairs/Other: $42.24
Giving: $0
Prescriptions: $0
Housing: $1,070.27
Re-occurring Bills (Cell, Electricity, Internet): $221.83
SCB's Wood Turning: $58.96
Gifts: $30.00
Other: $198.24
Medical/Dental/Vision: $288.95
Vacation: $374.38

How we spent our Money thus far in 2012:

Groceries/House Supplies: $493.15
Eating Out: $280.41
Cars

Gasoline: $325.25
Car Repairs/Smog: $116.09

Giving: $123.84
Prescriptions: $24.00
Housing: $2,140.95
Re-occurring Bills

Cell: $271.87
Electricity: $77.10
Internet: $77.88

SCB's Wood Turning: $106.91
Gifts: $44.57
Medical/Dental/Vision: $288.95
Vacation: $374.38

$85.52 Shopping
$168.88 Gasoline / Tolls / Transportation
$119.98 Food/Eating Out

Other: $206.43

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-03-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

SCB trying to cheer me up in Costco...

Well the month is over and I feel the need to catch you all up on what's been going on, but I just don't have the words to be honest. I'm kind of down in the dumps so i'll try and post about that stuff a bit later on this week, but here's the nitty gritty details.

We finished up puppy sitting and gained $125 for our efforts...

I tried out a new grocery store that's on the way home from work that's more of a small "mart" but the produce prices were REALLY awesome. (Better than the farmers market I was looking at) So we are seeing how long things last and how good they are before we will make more purchases there.

But other then that I feel like things are beginning to unravel for me and i'm just trying to stay afloat with all the stuff that's being thrown at me.

I think I'll rest easy once the marathon is over with and I can go back to shorter weekly walks with my friend instead of 6+ hours of training. (You Can Donate HERE to sponsor me!)

Weekly-ish Spending:
February 20th:
February 21st:

$2.47 MNT Dew
$38.11 Gasoline
$262.50 HOA fee
$11.40 Little Caesars

February 22nd:

Albertsons: $10.85

February 23rd

Chili's: $40.00 (Date night and Relay for Life Giveback Night)
Woot.com: $12.00

February 24th

McDonalds: $9.46 (Breakfast with SCB when leaving the puppy house

February 25th:

Fresh & Easy: $61.22
Ranchers Market: $9.81
Costco: $62.83 (we got our annual rebate back for over $90 so we stocked up)
Gas: $53.32

February 26th:
February 27th:

Internet: $38.94
Target: $16.00 (Running Socks)

February 28th:

Gas: $13.16 (Rental Car top off)
Walmart: $37.71 (Yarn, Boxer Briefs, Light bulb)

February 29th:

SMOG: $42.24

2012 Roth IRA SCG: $443.60 / $5,000.00 (8.87%)
Emergency Fund: $11,651.64 / $12,500.00 (93.21%)
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments).
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $26.31 / $1,000.00 (2.63%)
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.

Easy Peasy Chicken Cream Enchiladas

2012-02-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

Someone asked me for my recipe for Easy Peasy Chicken Cream Enchiladas so I decided to do a post about it since SCB was begging me to make them again and i decided to wait till the end of the month for the weekly updates. So here's the step by step process complete with pictures. Enjoy the yummy-ness

First you must acquire/prep the Chicken.

You can either cheat and get a precooked chicken from Costco and shred it to pieces, or you can cook about 4 chicken breast pieces in the oven the same night or in advance. We decided to cook the breasts this time and save a few dollars. I had SCB toss some seasonings on them and pop them into the oven with a bit of butter in the dish. Generally 350 degrees for 30 minuets will cook 4 small chicken breast pieces (these were actually 2 large pieces from Fresh & Easy that we cut in half). When then come out of the oven, cut into them to make sure they aren't pink and then shred them up with some forks and set aside!

The Sauce de resistance!

The sauce is made from three ingredients and it all gets dumped into a blender. The base of the sauce comes from the two cans of diced tomatoes WITH green Chili's. I recommend opening a can and inserting a spoon to taste the spiciness against your tolerance level. If its too out there for you, do one can tomatoes with green chili's and one can just tomatoes. If not, use both its tasty and mild in the end. After you dump the canned tomatoes into your blender, add 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Then bust out a chopping board and take a bunch of cilantro, remove the steam edges and chop away... should look like this:

Then hit blend on your blender and the sauce will have a nice pink color to it.

Now we move on to the assembly!

First take you dish and coat the bottom in sauce like this:

Next, layer corn tortillas over the sauce to cover the bottom layer.

Next add a layer of shredded chicken.

Now add yummy cheese

Now we add some sauce

Then cover with tortillas

"Rinse and Repeat" the chicken layer & the cheese layer one more time and get this:

Then top again with corn tortillas

Smother & cover with remaining sauce-- get all the open spaces so use with gusto!

Add cheese, & drop into oven at 350 degrees for 30 minuets.

Since the chicken is already cooked, the oven just heats things up and melts the cheese.

Now enjoy with sour cream, chives, Chips & Salsa, Rice & Beans, or just solo!!!!! (Makes great leftovers by the way!)

Sometimes procrastination can be your friend.

2012-02-28T04:59:00.000-08:00

Sniff... I'll miss the 2012 new Toyota Camry with only 600
miles on it that i'm currently driving while they fix "Stitch"

If you have been following along you may have remembered that my car’s check engine light came on the other day when I was driving home from work. Thankfully, my 100,000 mile or 7 year warrantee won’t expire until March 27th, so I took my car into the dealership, crossing my fingers and kissing my elbows that whatever was making that horrible light appear, was something covered.

I got the call on Monday morning that my O2 Sensor was shot and since it was covered and the part needed to be ordered, I could come by anytime for my FREE rental.

God I love that pretty warrantee I bought (I bought my car certified used and then paid around $1,000- $1500 for an extended warrantee and it has paid for itself time over time.)… and now my husband likes the fact that he won’t have to take me to work at 5am this week!!

But here’s where procrastination is a good thing.

I haven’t got my car SMOG’ed yet…

I’ve been meaning to and I just haven’t been able to find the time. (My next paycheck has 12 hours of overtime on it and 11.25 hours of additional converted vacation on it—a testimony to how busy I’ve been and the fact that it will be a month before I have 2 days off in a row right now).

So, if I would have taken it in to get it done, I would have paid for a SMOG test fee, watched it fail due to the sensor… and then be out not only the test money, but in panic, I probably would have been talked into getting it fixed by some guy at the smog place. And O2 sensors aren’t cheap. The part alone costs at least $100.00 at Auto Zone and since we don’t have the tools or the space to fix it ourselves, we’d be paying at least that 3 times that amount in labor--- especially if it’s the back sensor!

I’m so glad I bought that warrantee. To date its covered

· The faulty power door locks.

· The replacement of my connector hoses, & GAS TANK

· And now my 02 Sensor.

At least one thing is getting better!

Absent...

2012-02-27T07:15:00.000-08:00

I promise updates will be coming shortly...

But i just had a really emotional week....

Really emotional.

and when I was just starting to get to a functional normal, the check engine light appeared in my car...

Life is just plain messy right now.

Kiva Updates

2012-02-21T04:50:00.000-08:00

Kiva is an awesome micro-lending group that allows people all over the world to give a helping hand and allow people to better their lives. I love it because its a hand up and not a hand out. To date I've taken the same $150 and turned it into $700 by re-lending it out once a loan was repaid.

New Loans:

Deiver is a person who is characterized by having worked hard for a great part of his life. Married, and with an 11-year-old son, Deiver works as a foreman at an estate that is close to his house. He also works independently - he has livestock that produce some extra income for him. Deiver dreams that his son can have access to a good education. In addition, he wants his family to have a better quality of life than that which they can obtain now.

Deiver has raised livestock for a long time, and thanks to the experience that he has acquired, his cattle are known for their good quality. Deiver now has some cattle which he has already sold through an agreement that he made with a customer. For this reason, he needs to begin raising some new ones. This is why Deiver is looking to purchase these new cattle to begin raising them; nevertheless, he doesn't have sufficient capital now, so he hopes that a loan will offer him the possibility of buying the cattle to raise them and be able to sell a good quality product to his customers.

Deiver hopes that his business will not end, but that he can continue increasing his sales. In this way, he will be able to continue generating sufficient income to offer his son a better quality of life.

Deiver Fernandez
Repayment Term: 26 months
Location: Columbia
What its for: Cattle/Livestock for breeding

Current Loans:

Diamante Group:
Repayment Term: 9 Months
Location: Honduras
What its for: To stock her store with grains, food, and other materials.
Amount Paid Back: 50%

Juan Fidel Velasquez Lopez
Repayment Term: 20 Months

Location: Guatemala
What its for: Tailoring Supplies
Amount Paid Back: 27%

Paid Back Loans:

Atim Irene's Group: Uganda
To buy supplies for a medical clinic in bulk to lower the cost.

Eal Nub: Cambodia
To purchase the stall she rents in the market each month.

Karla Vanessa Montiel Barahona: Nicaragua
To tile the floor of her home that she and her 3 kids live in.

Rashidat Mumuni: Nigeria
Purchase more cartons of fish to sell.

Seccelambras Group: Peru
Helped the group buy grocery products and other merchandise for sale.

Dustmatov Eralboy: Tajikistan
A pedigree bull.

Paz Y Amor Group: Dominican Republic
Purchase products for her business (Fruits and Vegetables)

Mobateli Plus Group: The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Purchase bags to pack clean water for sale.

Elizabeth Aidoo: Ghana
To buy Yams in bulk for sale.

Zenaida Daing: Philippines
Purchase a sprayer and 2 bags of certified seeds for growing rice.

Altantyya Lhasuren: Mongolia
To purchase meat to sell in her business.

Fight for Progress Group: Sierra Leone
To buy palm oil, rice, and oranges in bulk for sale.

Siguikadi Group: Mali
To buy shea butter and plastic bins for their business.

Obama Group: Tanzania
To sell water, juice, and sodas wholesale.

Lyunge Group: Burundi
To purchase beans to sell to her customers.

La Esperanza Group: Paraguay
To buy materials such as sugar cane, flour, sugar, and coal.

Gbawulu Group: Liberia
To buy cement to make blocks.

Hawa Gull Group: Liberia
To buy bags of rice, onions, peppers, palm oil, and beans.

Mamile Orozalieva's Group: Kyrgystan
To purchase more cattle for breeding

Olga Francisca Cano Romero: Ecuador
To buy fabric, down, thread, fasteners, ect for her business

Janet Ajubyi Ayieko: Kenya
To open another 2 stores in town to sell her goods.

Flores De Dolores: Mexico
To buy shawls to sell in nearby towns.

Jose Elias: El Salvador
To install electricity in his business premises.

Shamshad Samuael Masih's Group: Pakistan
Buy Goats for animal sales business

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-02-20T04:30:00.000-08:00

Weekly Updates:
Busy. That's one word to sum up this past week. I worked Sunday through Saturday straight with an evening meeting in there too... Marathon trained and completed 18 miles... and had my in-laws in town for Friday, Saturday & Sunday... and I have to work on the upcoming Holiday.

Phew...

This upcoming week I have cancelled everything midweek and will not make any plans what so-ever besides going to Chili's on Thursday for Relay for Life giveback night and doing my phone interview on Friday for AM570 Fox Sports Radio.

So besides that i'm committing to no after work meetings, appointments, or gatherings. Since we are puppy sitting this week in the mega mansion, I'll be trying to relax, work on a few crafting projects, and try and catch up on some reading and blogging.

We had a very enjoyable valentines day... Simple but enjoyable. Hubby brought me flowers at work, we ate cheesecake and toasted in our wedding flutes, and then the next day when I was leaving work, I found these guys in my car:

SCB got them discounted the day after V-day.... SOOOOO soft and fluffy!

We also got to enjoy some time with SCB's mom and day. The drove in Friday and left Sunday morning. There was a lace convention so they spent most of their time selling bobbins and lace tools at the convention (which was good since I was either working or marathon training on Saturday so we just met up for dinner)... But it was really nice to see them!

On their instance, we hit chipotle with them for dinner on Friday after we helped them set up their selling stall, and about half way through our food, my father in law found this:

Yup, that's an earring... with a purple gem... EWWWWW

Weekly Spending:
February 13th:
February 14th:

$11.79 Costco Cheesecake
$3.68 Ralphs- Dessert stuff when SCB realized he didn't like cheesecake
$12.93 Sprouts- Flowers
$5.39 Walmart- Card
$11.39 CVS -Card, Dew, & small chocolates for SCB
$6.84 Chipotle dinner for 2!

February 15th:

Costco: $5.23 (Lunch)
Costco: Eye Exam: $49.00
Costco: 2 pairs of glasses $239.95
Walmart: $26.89 (the bears)

February 16th:
February 17th:

$13.68 Chipotle (Dinner with SCB's parents)

February 18th:

$8.00 The Hat (SCB got lunch with his parents while I was working).
$137.79 Cell Phones

February 19th:

Money Goals:

2011 Roth IRA: $5,000 / $5,000. Fully Deposited!!!
2012 Roth IRA SCG: $220.00 / $5,000.00 (4.4%)
Emergency Fund: $11,395.56 / $12,500.00 (91.16%)
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments).
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $0 / $1,000.00
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.

Eye Exam Time

2012-02-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

South County Boy has been needing new prescription glasses for some time now. We had planned to get him new glasses last year, but then we had the Dental Issues and it got put on the back burner.

But now that all our traveling for the moment is done and we have some funds in our slush fund, it's time to bite the bullet and go for it.

Unfortunately when SCB went into the Doctors earlier this year, we forgot to ask about an eye exam. We wanted to buy his frames at Costso since we had a $30 off coupon for this month, and we weren't sure if we had to have their doctors do the exam or not... so we went down to Costco for the exam and the glasses.

While we were there, the receptionist and I were chatting and he told me that for future reference, we could get the eye exam done anywhere. I was mentioning to him how the Greeters are now getting really demand-y about showing your costco card before you enter... and I learned some interesting tidbits from the guy.

If you tell them your getting an eye exam, prescription re-filled/or filled, or going to look at hearing aids, YOU DON'T NEED A COSTCO CARD.
You also don't need a Costco Card if your purchasing Alcohol because of old prohibition laws that are still in effect. So any holiday party your planning with a little something something can now be purchased worry free at any costco WITHOUT a membership. (There's some food for thought, huh?-- and their managers all know about it and shouldn't pull a fuss because if they do, its illegal.)

But back to the eye exam.

It went well, we got SCB's updated prescription, picked out a pair of frames for the everyday, and also got him some sunglasses. Costco has a $30 off a pair of glasses (no limit) coupon in their mailer (which was a miss print apparently-- it should have been buy one pair save $30 off the second pair but they are honoring the coupon for those who bring it in.)

In the end we paid $49 for the eye exam and $239.95 for both glasses since we upgraded the lenses a lot since this is something you wear every day and I default to SCB when it comes to glasses since he wears them and I do not.

Yeah for Slush Funds!

I Cut off my hair!

2012-02-16T04:30:00.000-08:00

My Before shot!

After getting our family pictures back (we took then over the Christmas holidays), I finally came to a conclusion that I had been putting off for some time...

My current hair style wasn't doing much for me. Sure it was long, thick, and pretty, but it just hung there and was becoming an ever increasing pain to deal with.

SCB would accidentally pull on it in the middle of the night when he would roll over in bed... I was constantly having to pull it back and braid it to keep it out of my way at work (only to have it still fall in the pool when I was changing lane lines)... and it did nothing to frame my face.

I was beginning to think I was looking like a 12 year old version of myself since my hair went down to almost my waist.

It was time to do something about it.

Who doesn't love this look?

Since SCB got laid off in December, we haven't been able to give financially like we really wish we could and we have been looking for ways to give without requiring a monetary donation since then.

I'm currently teaching crochet lessons at my husbands church and working on a lap blanket to donate to an assisted living community.... I'm participating in the LA Marathon on behalf of Child Share to help raise money for their organization, and i'm the event chair for Relay for Life for my local city. Occasionally we sponsor a Kiva loan online... but that's kind of it for now...

So I decided to look into locks of love and after an hour and a half looking at pictures on the internet, I took in the photo of Mandy Moore and embraced the scissors.

They took my hair and put it in two pony tails and blunt cut 12 inches off. I had too much hair for one pony tail.

yes, two rubber bands full!!!!!! Goodbye 12 inches

Normally when people go in for Locks of Love, they don't come out looking awesome (at least that was the opinion of the guy working the front counter).

Apparently most people with long hair can't pull off a shorter look.

I told the gal cutting my hair that we would need to thin it out a bit for the style to work and I knew it would be slightly shorter then the photo I brought in because I thought they would only cut 10 inches off (but they cut 12 inches so they have a usable length of 10 inches).

Everyone in Super Cuts was astounded when I left. Including the guy at the front counter.

I've been getting compliments everywhere I go! Best $13 hair cut ever!

Mortgage Update + Condo Costs (February '12)

2012-02-15T04:46:00.000-08:00

Mortgage Update:
Principle paid down: $158.64
Interest: $492.00
New Balance: $112,298.88

The pay off date is still January 2039 which is 8 months ahead of schedule and 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 to date 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. 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 which was basically erased when I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... Then the refund I got from my botched tile job gave us $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, but I received a small $70 refund check from closing costs. We also saved $494.04 by living in our condo instead of renting (See Mortgage Update + Condo Costs December '11 for the break down.) Since we tied the knot in 2011 we won't be able to itemize our housing costs so there's no savings there.

All in all, this leaves us $13,442.49 in the hole...

If we assume our home is worth what we paid for, then we have $7,701.12 in equity...

Leaving us about $5,741.37 in the hole.

We also assume our monthly payments are a wash since its cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. Check out Housing Comps 2012 for how we figured that one out.

Thus far for 2012 we have spent $2,140.95 to live in our condo (Instead of $2,787.70 for the apartment) .

Mortgage Payments (P&I, Prop Taxes, MIP:) $1,615.95
HOA: $525
Home Repairs/Improvements: $0
Earthquake Insurance: $0
Homeowners Insurance: $0

If I sold the condo tomorrow, I'd have to sell the property for $134,422.78 to break even.

This assumes a 6% total commission ($8,065.37)
Enough money to refund the amount i'm in the hole for ($5741.37)
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 8 months left on the credit, I'd be able to sell for $122,471.79

Assuming 6% total commission ($7,348.31)
and enough money to refund the amount I would be in the hole for 9 months down the line assuming I make just the minimum payments till then ($4,282.10)

Valentines day!

2012-02-14T04:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day to everyone out there!

I hope you enjoy today and just remember to breathe, to drop the commercial hysteria that makes flowers $40 a pop, and just take the time to spend time with your loved ones.

Valentines day does not need to be about breaking the bank on things that won't really matter in a week or so.

For starters, we'll be leaving the bears in the photos at Walmart because dropping $40 on a stuffed bear that we don't have the space for is just plain silly.... I mean, what do you do with a bear that large after V-Day when your condo is only 700 sq ft???)

But they were really cute and fluffy so we did a quick photo opp before we left them to their own devices... and I'm sure i'll look back on the photo in a few years and laugh at the memories we made during our first year of marriage. *Wink*

But for SCB and I, our valentines day will be less than commercialized, and i'm still excited about it.

This week when we went grocery shopping we picked up some root bear and cream soda, a thing of snicker doodle cookies, and we will be hitting Chipotle for our last B1G1 coupon...

Yup, Chipotle for Valentines day.

Now, before the world erupts and calls us a bunch of non-romantic newlyweds... we aren't. We like romance just as much as the next person, but the reality of the matter is that I've been so busy that we are keeping it really simple so I don't stress out.

I had planned to make his mom's famous "love pie" and to make my Japanese sister in law's authentic gyoza (pot stickers) and end the night with home made chocolate covered strawberries and apple cider toasting in our wedding flutes... when we realized how unrealistic that would be considering I have to work that day and the next at 5:00am... and how i'll be working 7 days straight this week and we have our in-laws staying here over the weekend as well since there's a lace convention out here in CA that they are selling at.

So instead, we will walk down and get our Chipotle to-go (so no dishes for dinner to ruin our mood), & we will still toast in our wedding flutes... we will just use the root bear and cream soda we picked up... and for dessert, the snicker doodle cookies SCB has been craving.

and I bet we'll hold hands like little kids at the table and still have a nice Valentines day. There's something to be said about keeping it simple, sweet and stress free.

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Weekly Updates:

The week flew by to be honest. Since we had to detox from vacation and get settled back into our normal lives, not a whole lot went on to report back this week.

We also had a double grocery spending week since we didn't buy groceries last week and we really needed to stock our empty fridge... and I got to resurrect an old to me, but new to SCB recipe for what I call "easy peasy chicken cream enchiladas"... so I get to mark a recipe off my annual goals for the year to cook new food!

You may notice a charge for Super cuts... Yup, yours truly did a drastic haircut/style change, but that will be its own post with photos to follow. :)

I tried to be productive and tackle the ever growing to-do list, but it just didn't happen this week. I've been super busy with work since we got back, and also training for the LA MARATHON... (You can sponsor me and donate to Child Share here)... and I have BIG news for the marathon....

I'll be interviewed by a local radio station (AM570 KLAC/FOX Sports LA) about my reason to run!!!!!!! It will air on Race day and we will record it before, so expect a post or so about my first radio interview!!!

So please consider donating and reading the about me tab to see why Child Share is so near and dear to my heart... and listen in to the radio show if your dying to see what I sound like in action! (they are also going to video tape it and possibly play it on the LA Marathon website and at the race!)

Weekly Spending:
February 9th:

Turbo Tax: $50.15
Walmart: $13.49 (Conditioner, Q-Tips, Deodorant)
Gasoline: $55.63 ---> this hurt after gas was $2.89 in Utah when we left... it was $3.77 here when I filled up.

February 10th:

Ralphs: $3.00 (Groceries)
Red Robin: $35.00 (Date Night)
Mortgage: $807.77 (it dropped down a few cents)
Farmers Market: $2.80

February 11th:

The Hat: $18.16 (Eating Out) --> we were hunting for the SMOG station that apparently no longer exists near there... so we got lunch since we were hungry and disappointed.
Super Cuts: $23.00
$2.78 Nylons
Fresh & Easy: $43.98

February 12th:

Costco: $49.61 (groceries)
Costco: $3.23 (Lunch)

Money Goals:

2011 Roth IRA: $5,000 / $5,000. We have deposited $4k of the $5k we have saved so far.
2012 Roth IRA SCG: $220.00 / $5,000.00 (4.4%)
Emergency Fund: $11,395.56 / $12,500.00 (91.16%)
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments).
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $0 / $1,000.00
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.

Money Money Money!

2012-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

So today is pay day Friday and it looks like we'll be getting some extra money to help replenish our slush fund after we took almost $500 out of it for our trip to Utah.

I turned in all my work mileage before I left about a week ago, and I came to work the other day to find a nice $40 check! I'll use this money for the farmers market this month since I need to have cash for that and I seldom carry any.

We went down to BOFA the other day and pulled off SCB's unemployment deposit off his EDD card and sent that to savings... ($192.00-- brings out EF to $11,395.56!)

I've been working like a slave at work and my paycheck had an extra $128.64, which will help pay for my SMOG and my car registration... which we will hopefully get done tomorrow since i'm working again on Sunday.

But the real kicker is the fact that I did our taxes the other day!

Apparently I get a discount with Turbo Tax since I have an account at Vanguard and since I can never figure out California State taxes and what I can write off, I pay to use Turbo Tax since my tax amount owed is always lower then when I do them by hand (I thought I owed $600, instead i'm getting refunded $637 so its worth the 27.70 I paid for my state return to do it through them). My federal return cost me $22.45, and it looks like we will be getting $1,198 back.

For the first time ever, I qualified for the "savers credit" so we are getting $200 back just for putting money in my Roth IRA (making my investments grow by at least 4% this year by doing nothing at all).

So after all the tax fees from turbo Tax, we are netting $1,784.85 back! Our slush fund is going to dance and we will finally be able to start knocking out some of the things that have been going on our back burner list!

So hopefully by the end of the weekend, my car will be washed (to get all the SALT off it from UTAH), Smog'ed, and re-registered! Then we will start working on getting SCB some new glasses and looking into fixing the cavities in the lower part of his mouth that we didn't do the first time he went in because of all the drama.

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-02-09T04:30:00.000-08:00

Alien Fresh Jerky Anyone?

Weekly Updates:
Before leaving for our trip to Utah, SCB actually got called in for a gig with the painting company we mentioned in this post! Sadly, it doesn't look like it will be a good employment match for SCB after all. After 4 hours of sanding and prep work (which my hubby did really well and could handle), when it got time to do the actual painting, his asthma kicked in really hard because they were working in doors and he had to go home because he couldn't breath even with the mask that was provided for him. Thankfully the owner understood and was kind about the situation with a no hard feelings attitude. He got paid for the few hours he worked and its possible that if the owner gets a gig or some outside work he may call my hubby up then... but for now we won't be counting on that at all.

We enjoyed our trip and spending time with our friends. One of the female missionaries we used to study with before she ended her mission & went home, wrote me a letter to catch up and since she started school in the same area my in-laws and friends live, we were able to met up with her one night for dinner to catch up and hang out.

My friends baby shower went off well and we had a really great time relaxing and taking some time to spend with family. For the first time ever in my life, no one got drunk on Superbowl Sunday.

I also got SCB to go down to the local rec center 2 days so I could do some swimming since I don't like to swim where I work and I need to do some skill sharpening for the upcoming summer season at work. (I know I go on vacation and then pay to use facilities I could use for free at home... bad PF blogger, bad).

Now before you see the spending for our trip I must come out and say that as a whole, we stayed in budget despite the fact that we really didn't spend it the way we initially thought we would. We ended up spending way more on eating out, nothing for groceries, less then expected for our water storage containers, and less on Gasoline. We originally weren't planning on meeting up with so many people throughout our trip for meals, but I made friends with some of my friends family members and there were a few haunts that SCB wanted to go to that we didn't the last time we were out and about in Utah... That and we realized after it was too late that our car "travel" food was bad so that necessitated food out while we were driving all the way home.

So yummy...

Weekly Spending:
January 30th: No Spend :)
January 31th: No Spend :)
February 1st:

Chipotle: $6.84 (Woot for BOGO coupons and not having to cook the day before you leave for vacation.)

February 2nd: (AKA driving to Utah day!)

Walmart: $12.29 (new cassette adapter for the car so my phone could play an audio book while I was driving)
Gasoline: $41.19
Toll Road Fees: $5.25
UPS Over Night Delivery: $30.00 (I forgot the crochet blanket and baby hat I made at home and my best friend had to race over to our house in California and overnight ship it to Utah, were it arrived 10 mins before we had to leave to go to the baby shower.)
Gasoline: $44.90
Burger King: $10.82 (the only thing open at midnight)

February 3rd:

Fitness Center Passes (2 Adults): $8.00
Wise Guyz Pizzaria: $2.45
Walmart: $57.23 (3 water containers and 2 sets of sports bras)

February 4th:

Kneaders: $10.76
Timberline (Wood Turning Supplies): $33.39
Sub Zero Ice Cream: $8.41
Wingshack: $27.48

February 5th: No Spend :)
February 6th:

hello heaven... you are beyond tasty

Fitness Center Passes (2 Adults) $8.00
Craft Supplies (Wood Turning Supplies): $25.57
Ernies Deli: $19.60
Electricity Bill: $45.10
BYU Creamery: $15.03 +$7.51

February 7th:

Gas: $39.81
Toll Roads: $5.75
Subway: $13.41
Chex Mix: $1.84
Alien Fresh Jerky: $13.49
Gas: $31.98

February 8th: No Spend :)

Money Goals:
These should get updated next week when I get paid and when we go down to BOFA and get his last unemployment deposit off his EDD Card.

2011 Roth IRA: $5,000 / $5,000. We have deposited $4k of the $5k we have saved so far.
2012 Roth IRA SCG: $220.00 / $5,000.00 (4.4%)
Emergency Fund: $11,192.80 / $12,500.00 (89.5%)
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 (2 additional mortgage payments).
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $0 / $1,000.00
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account.

Still Away in Utah...

2012-02-06T12:54:00.000-08:00

In case you have been wondering where we are, we left Thursday afternoon for Utah for my friends baby shower the nano second I got off from work.

Updates to follow in a couple of days, but here are some pictures of our trip for the time being.

Best exit road sign ever...

Kneaders... Home of the unlimited $5 french toast breakfast... mmmmmm

While we didn't get any snow falling, there is white slush in the shady parts
of the lawn and snowflakes on my car window.

YUP, gas is under $3 a gallon here...

Bet ya never had ice cream made to order and frozen in front of you with liquid Nitrogen...

Hope everyone had a great SuperBowl Weekend!

February Budget

2012-02-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

This month we need to smog my car, cash flow a trip to Utah and back, handle valentines day, and still deal with my husband being out of work and trying to meet our goals for 2012.

When we put a close on 2011, we had a few hundred dollars left over and a paycheck we had yet to receive from SCB's last week on the job. We took this money and put it in a slush fund savings account instead of our emergency fund since we knew we would need to pay for our Utah trip and a few un-budgeted expenses in the beginning half of 2012.

I've also been adding all the overtime from my last 2 paychecks to it, along with any extra money we were able to hang on to as January ended. This little slush fund now sits pretty with around $1,200 in it! Woot!

So, we will be using this money to cover some of the abnormal costs we will have this month like:

Our Going to Utah Budget (We are driving out for our friends baby shower)

Gasoline there, around town, and back: $250.00
Water storage jugs (to replace all the 2 liter mountain dew bottles under our counter). We aren't sure how much this will cost, so we have marked it HIGH, but we want to get some good containers that will hold enough water for 2 people for 3 days: $100.00
Pen/Wood turning supplies for SCB since we are going to start an online business for him on Etsy: $50.00
SCB lunch out with his friend while i'm at the shower: $20.00
Groceries: $30.00

California Auto Stuff

Smog: This will hopefully run us $50 or less so $50.00
Car registration: $118.00

So if all goes to plan, our slush fund should have around $600 in it when all that is said and done. I'll also get the opportunity to add some money back to it with some planned overtime that will happen later in the month. We will use any remaining money to get SCB some new glasses and to finish up the rest of the dental work he needs now that we have that horrible insurance mess behind us.

THE REST OF THE MONTH BUDGET

Paycheck #1:

Mortgage (P&I, Property taxes, MIP): $808.18
HOA: $262.50
Christmas Fund: $50.00
Date Night/Spending Money: $64.32
Prescriptions: $15.00

Paycheck #2:

Birthday Fund: $50.00
Prescriptions: $15.00
Date Night/Spending Money: $55.00
Gasoline/Car: $237.00
Groceries: $250.00
Insurance (2 Autos, earthquake, homeowners) $143.00
Utility Bills (2 Cell Phones, Electricity, Internet: $230.00
Roth IRA $220.00

Groceries/House Supplies: $217.62
Eating Out: $122.57
Gasoline: $165.03
Car Repairs: $73.85
Giving: $123.84
Prescriptions: $24.00
Housing: $1,070.68
Re-occurring Bills (Cell, Electricity, Internet): $205.03
SCB's Wood Turning: $47.95
Gifts: $14.57
Other: $8.19

Changing my last name: some updates part 2

2012-02-01T04:30:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for the year (See my 12 for 2012) is to finally get my new last name updated on all my accounts so I can combine, close, and simplify. My last recap on the subject showed I had finally made some progress, but I still had a lot of work to go. Since we are done with the first month of 2012, I thought it would be good to post a bit about my progress.

Finished:
Social Security Administration
DMV
Sallie Mae
ING Direct
Southern California Edison
Cox Communications
Sprint
Kohls Credit Card
Bofa Credit Card
Doctors/Kaiser
Sharebuilder – Closed Account
David's Bridal Credit Card – Closed Account
Home Depot Credit Card – Closed Account
Bank of America
State Farm
Dentist

Progress updates:

Nationwide: (old work 457 account) I just went ahead and had them change my last name since I have to wait until I tackle the name change on my accounts at ICMA-RC before I can initiate a roll over. So for the time being, THIS IS DONE!

Cal-Pers: I tried calling the Cal PERS number back in November to get my account unlocked so I could view my information and change my name... but their phone system had a 5 hours wait... No joke... 5 hours to talk to a person. So I emailed them about unlocking my CalPers account with their online help system. About a month later on December 6th, I emailed again with my request Que number since I hadn't received a reply unlocking my account. They sent me back a message saying I was still in line and they would process my inquiry as soon as possible... Another month passed and nothing happened so I emailed them again about my request on January 3rd and then I didn't hear back. I finally emailed again a few days ago and they called me and finally got my account unlocked! While I was on the phone with the rep, she verified that my name change was automatic and all my service credit is where it should be.

ICMA-RC: I finally got the rep to speak with me and mail me the correct forms so now I need to fill them out for 2 accounts… Why 2? In order to roll over my nationwide 457 deferred comp account, I needed to open a 457 account here during open enrollment, which happened before I got the name change papers… So, once I get my name changed here, I’ll take my Nationwide 457 account and dump it into my new 457 account that I can make contributions to… and then take my old 401a account that I can’t make contributions to and roll that into the new 457 account so I only have 1 account there. Ya, way confusing.
American Express / Costco Card: I haven’t done anything yet… I know, bad girl….

County Clerk’s Office: I have yet to receive a date for my hearing about the increase in my property tax… so until I hear about that (which I filed with my maiden name, I’ll be sitting on my hands here.)

HSBC: Now that I got my new card in the mail and know they have reissued me one in the first place, I can contact them about the name change.

AAA card: No progress…

Sunday Brunch with my family...

2012-01-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

My mom called me up last Monday and invited my husband and I to Sunday brunch since it had been a month or so since i'd seen her. She offered to treat and told us that my sister, her fiance and his mom would also be there and she was really hoping we could skip out on church and go. Since my mom and I have been getting along better, and since we knew that my sister would have a buffer (her future mother-in-law) there, we agreed since it looked like it would be a mellow ordeal with nothing too intense.

We picked up my mom at her house since she doesn't like to drive after she fell at work. (She was off for 2 weeks on medical leave and had to getting by using crutches. She's still healing and has a hard time going down stairs now while she heals).

We pulled in, parked, and went inside to find just my sister and her fiance... apparently his mom wouldn't be able to make it... and to top it off they were already sitting in the bar at a booth with 5 glasses of champagne on the table...

Now normally ordering drinks for everyone along with yourself would be seen as a polite gesture if you arrive early (or at least asking for a round of water....) but when you know that 2 people coming will not be drinking champagne and you order it for them anyway to make a big deal out of the fact that they aren't drinking... and then demand within 2 seconds of sitting down that everyone toast, and clink glasses and drink up is just plain rude.

To add insult to injury, you probably shouldn't jokingly tell the one person who doesn't drink at all and never had (SCB) that you guess he could toast with the small orange juice glass that's half empty and that was used to cut the champagne with...

Oh, ya, and you probably shouldn't request to sit in the bar either...

So, needless to say SCB didn't participate in my sister's toast and she wasn't happy that while I lifted my glass and clinked it around, that I chose to set it down on the table and not consume it. After politely moving SCB's glass away from him (the smell makes him a bit sick), we tried to enjoy ourselves.

While no one got into a food fight or a table debate (mostly because we weren't included in the conversations to begin with), we made it through brunch. To call it a pleasant visit would be an exaggeration though, even by my families standards.

After we had had our fill of food from the buffet, and watched them go through 3 rounds of champagne while eating (including drinking the 2 glasses originally for SCB and I... which they also kept getting re-filled... we then had to sit through another 2 and a half rounds of watching them drink before we could leave because they wanted to make sure that if they didn't "eat" their monies worth, that they would drink their monies worth instead. (and somehow my sister was going to drive herself and her fiance (who came hungover btw) home????)

SCB fell asleep in the booth twice and the second time I just let him quietly dose off and sleep because it was obvious that he wasn't going to be included in any of the conversations and the environment was not fun for him...

Eventually we got to leave, and as I was driving my mom home she let it slip that when my sister's lease is up, she might have my sister AND her fiance move in so they can save money for a house....

(I guess that's why she put a new king sized bed in my sister's old room instead of replacing her 10 year old mattress/bed...)

If you flash back to when SCB and I got engaged and you remember how I asked my mom if I could just come and SLEEP in my old room for a few months leading up to the wedding so SCB could move out here and get a job... so we could date and spend more time together... and how she told me no and I had to ask a family from my church if I could live with them when my own mother turned me down...

then you know that I ended Sunday brunch with a knife in my chest.

Yeah family... Yeah.

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-01-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

Weekly Updates:
This is huge so i'm going to open our Weekly re-cap with it... OUR DENTAL LOAN IS GONE! I went ahead and paid the remaining bill for $2,318.00! BAM! It feels fantastic.

I had to deposit the rest of my Christmas money because we spent it this week.

Harry potter Lego, years 1-4 for XBOX ($21.54)... i'm so addicted!
Vanilla Candles, ($10.75)
History Book off Amazon, ($17.25)
Book, Stuffed Animal, Car Charger, Crochet book($34.80)

We also made our first run at the EDD card since we had to deposit our Christmas spoils. We were able to pull the $107.00 off the card and just switch it to our checking account. (I pulled $5 out for the farmers market I now go to on Friday's).

SCB and I combined our date night with an opportunity to give. Chili's is doing a "give back night" for our local Relay for Life so we decided to do date night on Thursday instead of Friday and went to Chili's so 15% of our bill (we also had a friend come with us) would go towards Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

I'm also training for the LA Marathon on behalf of Child Share. My partner and I did 14 miles last week and 16 this week. I went ahead and matched a few donations that came in this week with funds we had earmarked for giving prior to the lay off. If you would like to donate to help me find a home for an abused, neglected child in the foster/adoptive system, you can visit my donation page! I'm trying to raise $2500.00. If you have read my About Me Page, you know why an organization like Child Share is so near and dear to my heart.

We may need to start shopping around more and outside of fresh & easy. Cheese slices used to be 2 packets for $5.00 on sale when the store opened... then they started going to $2.99 each with the 2 for $5 sale being less frequent. Just this week alone they jumped from $2.99 to $3.49! To that I say no... We hunted through Costco and found out we can get the equivalent of 4 packets of cheese (4 different types) for $8.29, making it about $2.07 a package so we purchased the cheese at Costco this week...

Ground Beef patties at Fresh and Easy run 8.99 for 3lbs... at Costco, we can get a 6lb bag for $17.19 making it an $8.60 equivalent. Last week we picked up frozen chicken breasts because the Costco equivalent put them at $1.99 lb, and fresh and easy was $2.50 lb for fresh chicken... more for frozen. And whole wheat pasta is now sold in 13.25 once boxes for $0.99 instead of 16 oz packages like the normal pasta... Oh, and tomatoes, no longer $0.99 for a package... $1.49 now so they didn't make their way into the cart.

I didn't get a chance to check the price of tortillas at Costco, but we will next time we go since they are now $1.29 at Fresh & Easy instead of $0.98.... and carrots are now $1.49 for 2 lbs instead of $0.98. I might have to try getting SCB to go back to making bread on a regular schedule since a small loaf is now running $2.29. We stopped making bread when he got laid off because we weren't going through it fast enough and I thought it was wasting money by getting tossed out (Store loafs go into the freezer so if we don't eat it one week, its okay)... but we may need to make that adjustment and go back to making our own.

I've also been going to a farmers market to pick up broccoli each week because I can get double the amount for the same price and it lasts longer, but we may start picking up more of our produce if prices start to rise.

Since we picked up a few extra items in bulk this week, we will probably spend more money on groceries than we planned, but with the overtime and some leftover gas money we have from this month we should be fine.

Weekly Spending:
January 23:

Target: $5.82 (Mnt Dew)

January 24:
January 25:
January 26:

Marathon Matching donations: $37.69
Prescriptions: $4.00
Date Night: $48.00
HOA: $262.50

January 27:

Farmers Market, Broccoli & Strawberries-- $3 (Got a $2 parking coupon for walking part of the way there).
Cell phones $134.08
Internet: $38.94

January 28:

Costco: $30.86 (6lbs of frozen burger- $17.19); (Cheese slices $8.29); (Roast Chicken $4.99)
Costco: $4.79 -Lunch
Fresh & Easy: $29.94

January 29:

Money Goals:

2011 Roth IRA: $5,000 / $5,000. We have deposited $4k of the $5k we have saved so far.
2012 Roth IRA SCG: $220.00 / $5,000.00 (4.4%) If we put $220 a month in the Roth IRA, and take my 2 "extra checks" we will be able to max it out. This combined with my pension and my $5.00 a paycheck deductions to a 457 account is 15% of my earned income.
Emergency Fund: $11,192.80 / $12,500.00 (89.5%) We added $100 from SCB's unemployment card and that with the interest that's been growing in the account, puts us at almost 11,200.00. Why $12.5K? its 6 months of expenses for us and 3-6 months of expenses is the recommended amount for an emergency fund so the "money guru's" declare.
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 We want to pay 2 additional mortgage payments this year.
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $0 / $1,000.00 Our cars are both getting older and starting to get up in mileage and since we drive more frequently to and from Utah we need to start saving up money for larger repair bills and to ultimately replace them down the line.
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account when he goes back to working so as a household we put 15% of our income to retirement.

Job Lead, Dead End.

2012-01-27T04:30:00.000-08:00

Our friends in the next complex over were mentioning to us last week that her dad might have some temp work for SCB... which was fantastic news for us since he's been signing in to Labor Ready every day with no luck and we have yet to receive anything from the state of Utah pertaining to sealing his old misdemeanor... (which prevents him from getting a job with most employers in this current economy)...

So we had dinner at their home, talked construction work, paint jobs, and the type of work SCB would be doing. Her dad didn't seem to mind that SCB didn't have a big background in painting and he told him he would rather have a newbie he could train and teach correctly then a guy who thinks he knows what he's doing and really doesn't. He also mentioned how he needs to let a guy go because his SS Number keeps getting flagged in the E-Verify system, but it would formally take a few weeks because they had to notify him in writing and give him the opportunity to correct the error.

So everything seemed to be going well and it looked like in a few weeks he might have a gig coming up... We continued talking details and her father started talking about how SCB would need to sign up with the temping agency that he hires through... and when we asked which one, we got a case of Deja-vu

He contracts through Labor Ready.

Which leaves us in a bit of a dead end for the moment since this isn't apparently a new lead at all. We were hoping to find another local temping agency or perhaps land this as a temporary gig with a couple real paychecks for a few weeks... but alas, its Labor Ready again.

Just for a little FYI, Labor Ready tends to send people out on jobs not necessarily on a first come, first served basis, but based on the information in your file. If you have done dish washing jobs in the past with them and one of those comes up, they will give it to you over someone who hasn't done that type of work before regardless if you were the first person there or the 25th. (If they keep their customers happy, they continue to call back for more employees later.) The only way around that is to be asked for. That happened a couple times with SCB and his dish washing gig. After we got married and he got a full time job, Labor Ready called him to see if he could work there again. He politely told them he'd gotten a full time job and then the calls stopped.

So for SCB to get a painting gig, he'd have to be first in line on a day when no other painting guys have checked in or could be reached by phone.... or be asked for by name. Here's to hoping for the later.

While her dad has plans to eventually get his own payroll system up and running so he won't be charged $17 an hour to be supplied with a worker from Labor Ready, that move will take some serious time and won't be in the near future.

EDD Debit Card?

2012-01-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

We got a letter in the mail yesterday informing us that South County Boys Unemployment check from the EDD won't actually be a check at all... Apparently they do debit cards that get re-loaded each week after they get the work verification papers that they mail out.

The idea of a debit card is interesting in and of itself, but what bothers and irks me is that the cards are issued from Bank of America.

The idea of having to deal with Bank of America for anything more in my life is a bit unsettling. First I have to keep asking myself how they landed that gig... and how much they are getting paid in fees....

Apparently there *should* be away to take the funds off the card without getting nailed with a fee by either visiting a teller at a bank and withdrawing them or having them deposited into your checking account...

but then again, its Bank of America so who really knows?

Has anyone out there had any experience with the EDD debit cards?

Weekly Updates (Spending & Money Goals)

2012-01-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

SCB doesn't like being unemployed...

Weekly Updates:
Another Busy week. I pulled 57 hours this week between planning my work fundraiser event and working the holiday this past Monday. I'll be excited to see 9 hours of overtime to stick in our savings, and 12 additional vacation hours then my normal amount (Which i'll use in 11 days to head to Utah for a baby shower!)

Speaking of baby shower, I finished the pink baby blanket I was working on, & I figured out how to crochet a baby beanie to match it! I really wanted to get a sweater made for the shower, but it just hasn't happened and I don't think I'll be able to whip one out in 11 days... But I might try if I feel productive.

The picture attached to the post was taken the day before we found out about qualifying for unemployment. He's been really down lately... even with his Mountain Dew. But things might be looking up. He's meeting with a possible employer on Sunday night at his home for dinner to talk about possible work situations for him! **Cross you fingers!**

My sister also emptied her closet and dropped off 3 bags of clothes for me to go through... of which I ended up with one dress and a top... But hey, free is always good.

Weekly Spending:
January 16th: No Spend
January 17th: No Spend
January 18th: No Spend
January 19th:

Mortgage: $808.18
Kaiser Prescriptions: $20.00

January 20th:

Stater brothers $1.69 (Needed Eggs...)
Rubios: $6.99 (hubby needed food while I was working my event)
Frozen Yogurt (Date Night): $7.95

January 21st:

Costco: $25.28 (Groceries)- 10 lbs of Chicken and a block of cheese
Costco: $4.79 (Lunch)
Costco: $35.45 (Gasoline)
Fresh & Easy: $34.47 (Groceries)

January 22nd: No Spend!

Money Goals:

2011 Roth IRA: $5,000 / $5,000. We have deposited $3k of the $5k we have saved so far. I'll probably transfer another $1k to the fund this week since I didn't get around to it last week.
2012 Roth IRA SCG: $0.00 / $5,000.00 (4.4%) If we put $220 a month in the Roth IRA, and take my 2 "extra checks" we will be able to max it out. This combined with my pension and my $5.00 a paycheck deductions to a 457 account is 15% of my earned income.
Emergency Fund: $11,000.00 / $12,500.00 (88%) We will be depositing any money SCB gets from unemployment straight here because we will NOT be increasing our lifestyle on the tax payer's dime. Why $12.5K? its 6 months of expenses for us and 3-6 months of expenses is the recommended amount for an emergency fund.
Paying Extra on the House: $0 / $1,301.28 We want to pay 2 additional mortgage payments this year.
$1,000.00 Car Fund: $0 / $1,000.00 Our cars are both getting older and starting to get up in mileage and since we drive more frequently to and from Utah we need to start saving up money for larger repair bills and to ultimately replace them down the line.
2nd Roth IRA: 15% $0 / ? We're just aiming to put 15% of what SCB earns in this account when he goes back to working so as a household we put 15% of our income to retirement.

We qualified for unemployment!

2012-01-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

South County Boy and I got a bit of good news today. It looks like he qualified for 19 weeks of unemployment. His benefits won't be much, but I feel better knowing more money is coming in for the next 19 weeks at least.

While SCB was making $1600 a month at his work, he didn't work all of the month of December, and since they take your income based on pre-selected 3 month periods... they took his wages that he earned over October, November, and December ($3,853.50) and somehow calculated his highest earning quarter ($2,775.50) and somehow that means we get $107 a week in Unemployment Insurance.

As we mentioned before when we were deciding if we should apply or not, we won't be increasing our life style at all with the additional $400 a month. It will go straight to our emergency fund so we have the money in case something does happen and we need to call on that safety net.

South County Boy has been getting up at 3:45am each morning to go sign in at Labor Ready... but nothing has come of it so far... But we may have a lead on a part time gig with our neighbor from the next complex over. Her dad does contract work and wants to have us over for dinner to meet SCB and see what his skill level is to see if he can help us out!