You’ve heard me complain about the cost of owning a pool before. Well, the problem of being a homeowner is that when something breaks, you’re on the hook to fix it. Such was the case with our pool recently when we asked a couple contractors to come over and give us an estimate to replace some caulking around the pool and above the waterline tiles.

It turned out to be much more work than just doing some caulking. The first contractor who came over did some “tap tests” along the brick coping (the darker brick that frames our pool in the photo below) and found that at least half of the coping made a hollow sound when tapped. That meant the “mud” compound that secured the brick to the top of the pool wall had eroded away and now water was getting between the brick and pool cement and could cause significant damage, if it hadn’t already. The second contractor also found the same problem.

I’ll shorten the story to say that if we replaced the brick coping, we would also need to replace the tile (attached to the top of the pool wall, just under the brick) due to the way they remove the brick. We would also need to drain the entire pool (covered in “Save Money on Water if You Have A Pool“), which meant filling it back up again. Oh, and they also found that our top step was collapsing from within, so it would need to be cut out, re-poured and re-plastered. Total negotiated cost: $7,000. And that was down from over $8,500!

Ok, so we needed to make some home repairs. While it could have waited, we chose to do the work now since we have the money rather than wait and something bad and unexpected to happen. If that were to occur, then what if we had to sell the house and then the pool problem was found then (or had gotten much worse), we’d be in trouble. But luckily we had the money in our home repair bank account and it didn’t impact our budget (except to continue replenishing the account).

The problem with home repairs

So what’s the big deal? Why did I title the article “$7.000 we’ll never get back”? Well, look at the following photo and tell me if you see anything wrong with the pool:

No? Can’t find anything? Well, outside of the worn out caulk between the brick and the cement patio, which you can only see in person and by looking closely, the average home buyer wouldn’t notice anything wrong with our pool. And that’s the problem with home repairs: Often you put tons of money into a repair that brings no added value to the home. At most, the repair might save you from losing money, but it won’t cause people to say “wow, I’m willing to pay $7,000 more for this house because there’s now a barrier of sealed mud between the brick and pool wall”. We won’t even see that money on a home appraisal when we need to refinance our mortgage. It’s not like a renovated bathroom or kitchen where you can see a marked improvement. It’s hidden away somewhere you’ll never, ever see, and only a seasoned home inspector will find it if it’s gone bad.

Now just to show you a photo of the mess during the repair, which they cleaned up after each day:

The photo above is after they tore out all the old tile and brick. Notice the first step (bottom of the photo). That’s the one that was torn out and replaced after this photo was taken. The amazing thing was an entire crew of about 10 guys worked all day to tear out all the old stuff, while only 2 guys worked for a day to put in the new brick and tile. See the photo below for the results:

We’re still filling the pool in that photo, and the caulking around the coping wasn’t done yet, but that’s basically what changed. Would you, as a buyer, notice anything other than the color change between the first photo and this one? No.

Oh, we also chose this time to repaint our two sheds to match the red brick. In the photos above, the shed on the right was already painted when I took the pics, but here’s some of the final results below (photos taken after we closed the pool for the season…cause that’s how long it took me to finish painting them):

Next up in the spring will be to replace the top row of the retaining walls (partially visible in the photo above) with a red capstone. Then we’ll plant some bushes, etc. with other colors of the rainbow so it’s not too much red back there!

So that’s where a lot of my time and money went in September and October. We painted by hand and brush rather than a paint sprayer, and I’m very please with the results. The funny part is we’ll get far more compliments from the $100 paint job than the $7,000 pool repair.

The following article is courtesy of Coppertone. I normally don’t publish unsolicited articles sent to me, but this one caught my eye because of the items for hand sanitizer and sunscreen.  I’ve added my own notes about each.

The average American family spends $2,000 on personal health care expenses each year. Contributing that amount to an FSA can translate to a federal tax savings of more than $500 (assuming the average tax bracket of 27%). But there’s a catch…you need to use all of the funds in one calendar year—or the money vanishes. (CD: We blew through $900 in just 6 months at my new job, and we don’t even have kids! We upped our FSA allowance to $1200 for 2010)

The good news is that many surprising categories of products are typically covered by flex spending accounts. Here’s a handy guide to some seasonal, everyday items often covered by flex spending to make sure you don’t waste a single dollar this year:

1. Hand Sanitizer: Flu season is here, and this year, families and schools are being especially vigilant about H1N1 infection. According to a recent study, only 50% of middle and high school students say they washed their hands regularly. Send kids to school with FSA-approved portable hand sanitizer as an added precaution from getting sick. (CD: I was surprised at this so I did some investigation. It’s a new item on the list, so make sure YOUR FSA covers it. Call your administrator to be sure)

2. Cold Remedies: If you do fall ill, FSA’s got you covered. Over the counter cold remedies such as cough drops and syrups, throat lozenges, and cold medicines are often reimbursable. And if you suffer from high blood pressure, make sure to stock up on a cold medication that won’t raise your blood pressure like Coricidin® Day & Night multi-symptom at the beginning of the season — that way you won’t have to rush out for relief when you’re feeling under the weather.

3. Sunscreen: Dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen year-round to protect against ever-present UVA and UVB rays. Good thing sunscreens with SPFs over 30 are typically covered by FSA. Moisturizers with SPF aren’t eligible, so purchase a sunscreen that’s lightweight enough for year-round, everyday use, like Coppertone® Oil Free lotion SPF 50. Buy now and you’ll still have enough to toss in your suitcase for a winter vacation.

4. Gym Bag Essentials: With after-school sports in high gear, bruises, scrapes, and athlete’s foot are regular occurrences. Use flex dollars on items like bandages and antibiotic ointment, as well as for antifungal athlete’s foot treatments like Tinactin® sprays. To maximize FSA dollars, it’s a good idea to buy a variety of shapes and sizes so no “boo boo” goes uncovered.

While I’m not big on video games, I do enjoy a new game about every 6 months. My most recent purchase was Guitar Hero World Tour, and I love it mainly because I once had aspirations (and the expensive instruments) to be in a band, but I didn’t take the time to learn to play.

But back to the point of this article. Amazon.com has a deal through Sunday, October 31st, where if you buy $80 in games (mix and match between consoles if you like) and you’ll get a $40 credit. It’s a ploy to get you to spend, but with Christmas coming up, you might catch some good deals. I’m eyeing up Guitar Hero 5 and Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout!

Use this link for the sale: Spend $80, get $40 (The deal has ended…but I got my $40 reward!)

Fine Print

• Limit one promotional claim code per household.
• Only purchases bought from Amazon.com as the seller on the www.amazon.com website will qualify for this promotion. It does not apply to the same products sold by other sellers on the Amazon.com website.
• Promotional claim code will be sent via email seven (7) business days after all items in the qualifying order have shipped.
• Promotional claim code is only valid until 11:59pm PST on 12/31/2009.
• Each promotional claim code can be used only once, even if the full promotional credit is not used.
• Taxes, gift-wrap, and shipping and handling charges do not apply toward the minimum purchase amount.
• Promotional claim code cannot be used to pay for gift-wrap, taxes, or shipping and handling charges.
• Promotional claim code may not be combined with other offers in the same order. Generally, only one promotional claim code may be used per order.
• Offer is not for resale and is not redeemable for cash.
• Offer cannot be applied to orders already placed with Amazon.com.
• If you return items purchased using a promotional code, you will not receive a refund for the amount of the offer.
• Promotional claim code must be redeemed at our Web site, http://www.amazon.com, toward the purchase of by products sold by Amazon.com as the seller. If Amazon.com is not the seller, it will be noted on the product detail page.

A story out of Reuters says the U.N. will begin sending food vouchers to Iraqi refugees via mobile phone text messages that they can redeem at local shops.

The “virtual vouchers” worth $22 per family every two months will supplement traditional aid which rarely includes perishable goods, WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella said, announcing the pilot project supported by the mobile company MTN.

“They will be able to exchange their electronic vouchers for rice, wheat flour, lentils, chickpeas, oil and canned fish, as well as cheese and eggs — items that cannot usually be included in conventional aid baskets,” she told a Geneva news briefing.

I’m sorry, but do you see something wrong with this? I’m sure I don’t see all the details in the article, but I think there’s something basically wrong with

1) Not having enough money for food, thus needing food aid

2) Having enough money to pay for at least a texting plan

I say #2 that way because I’m not going to assume these refugees have $100/mth calling plans, but more likely old fourth-hand cell phones with texting plans worth a few bucks a month, just to keep in touch with home (give them the benefit of the doubt).

Does anyone have more insight into this story, such as first-hand experience of what a refugee’s life is like? What are these refugees paying for their cell service? Where are they charging up their phones (i.e. how are they paying for electricity)?

On the other hand, I’ve known a few people in the past who have pricey cell plans, but use food stamps or free food pantries. Isn’t that just a fundamentally wrong ordering of priorities?

If you live in a moderately urban area, near or in a big city, you may be interested in Restaurant.com. For years, I kept ignoring the emails and advertisements for Restaurant.com until one day a friend of my wife brought her family down for a visit to D.C. from PA. They always hear us talking about Ethiopian food (which is awesome here in the D.C. area), and since they are very frugal, they decided to investigate deals on any Ethiopian restaurants near us so they can try it out. That’s when they emailed us a coupon code for 80% off a $25 gift certificate for our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (Langano in Silver Spring, MD).

I read up on all the fine print and decided it was a good deal, so I actually purchased two gift certificates for $2 each: one to use with our guests and one to use for ourselves another time. I haven’t yet figured out how 80% off of $25 got it down to $2 each, but I took it anyway. Weird math.

Using Our Restaurant.com Gift Certificate

Each restaurant that participates in Restaurant.com must agree to honor the gift certificate, but they can opt for a number of restrictions. In the case of Langano, we had to purchase $35 worth of food to use the $25 gift certificate. With 4 people and a toddler, we could easily do that. That means we would spend a minimum of $12 ($35-$25+$2) for the meal. Not bad for 4.5 people!

Additionally, drinks weren’t included in the $35, and we couldn’t use it for specials or with other coupons, and they would add an 18% gratuity onto the order. We were fine with all this as we always just order water anyway, and I understand why they add gratuity onto the original bill: so people don’t skimp and tip on the discounted amount. Normally, though, I give 20% tip at this restaurant, so they’re actually losing out a bit, but I just chipped in a couple more bucks.

One thing we didn’t realize before using the coupon was that you need to present it before ordering. The main reason is that it takes time to run it through the Restaurant.com verification and they don’t want you to wait till it’s time for your check to go through the whole process. A minor snafu that we corrected the next time we used a certificate.

All in all, we were happy with the gift certificate, since I think we spent under $20 in the end for all of us to eat an Ethiopian feast (which is a LOT of food, contrary to what you might think).

More about Restaurant.com Certificates

One downside of the coupons is if it’s just one or two of you, you might not easily get up to the $35 limit for the $25 gift certificate. We used it for another restaurant in Virginia and we had to buy $9 worth of desserts at the end to get up to the desired amount. Luckily we took the desserts to a party later and everyone enjoyed it, but I recommend planning out your meal beforehand to make sure you’re not going to be spending needlessly. The proprietor really did require us to hit $35 or more before using our certificate.

As for who the site is good for, if you live in at least a semi-metropolitan area, you have a very good chance at finding a wide array of restaurants that participate. Here in D.C., there are literally hundreds within 20 miles of our home or work. It’s a great opportunity to try more expensive menu items for a deeply discounted price, or tack on that dessert you’ve always craved but could never justify the price.

Some more things to note:

• There are always discount codes, so you should never have to spend the full $10 for the $25 certificate. See the end of this article for the current offers, or just search online for “Restaurant.com coupon code”.
• While they call them gift certificates, they’re really coupons as there are restrictions you have to meet.
• Often, though, you can easily meet the restrictions with some planning. When you add the certificate to your cart, you can see the restrictions. Some of the restrictions might include:
  • Minimum purchase amount
  • Minimum number of entrees
  • Exclusion of certain purchases toward this minimum, like drinks, tax, tip, etc.
  • Restriction as to which hours of the day, or days of the week
  • Mandatory tip of X% on the pre-discount amount
  • Dine-in only
  • Cash only
  • One certificate per month max
• There is the possibility that the restaurant could drop out of the program in between the time you buy the certificate and when you go to redeem it. Always call ahead to make sure they’ll accept it, and if they don’t you can redeem it for credit on Restaurant.com to buy a different certificate. That’s something you can’t do with Entertainment Book coupons.
• Watch out for third-party offers when you checkout on Restaurant.com. Some of these offers result in monthly charges, while Restaurant.com is a one-time purchase.

Overall, I’m happy with my experience, and even bought 5 more certificates to other area restaurants we’ve never tried when they had a 90% off sale (again, how does 90% off $25 cost only $1 each?). Tonight we’re going to try a restaurant in Frederick, MD that we never knew existed if it weren’t for Restaurant.com!

Current Coupon Codes for Restaurant.com

I’ll try to keep these up to date, but take note of the offer expiration date before you click through or try to use the coupon code:

(Note that the banner below is for Washington, D.C., but it’s just a localized banner I grabbed. All major cities have participating restaurants):

After reviewing and giving away 3 copies of the “Skinny On” books, I got a bit of an urge to get through more of my book pile. Up next: “The Finish Rich Dictionary: 1001 Financial Words You Need to Know” by David Bach.

I’ll admit it’s difficult to review a dictionary, and I’m definitely not going to read through the whole thing, but I picked out a few key terms, and skimmed through others, to see how David defines each.

What makes this dictionary different than just Googling the search term, or looking it up on Dictionary.com? Well, not much, but you do get focused financial articles such as “How to buy a home”, “Understanding your credit score”, “Top 10 money mistakes that people make”.

However, I’m not going to try to write a glowing review for one reason. While this is a great resource to have, I foresee only a niche audience who would actually need to BUY a copy and use often. For the rest of us, it may just take up space on our bookshelf as we just find the answers online. But on that note, I’m going to give TWO of you an opportunity to win a FREE copy and see for yourself if it would have been worth buying.

And Now for the Book Giveaway!!!

The contest is closed and the winners notified. Check back to find out who won!

Leave a comment on this article by 5pm EST on Saturday, October 24th, 2009. I’ll use a random integer generator to draw 2 winning numbers, and then email the winners to make sure they’re willing to claim their prize (i.e. send me their mailing address). The winners will have 48 hours to get back to me to confirm, or I draw a new winner. Once confirmed, I’ll announce the winner in a new post.

Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter to learn when the winners are announced and when I post another giveaway.

Contest Rules

• I only ship to the the U.S. – Don’t complain, it’s on my own dime.
• I will ask for your name and address for shipping, but I promise to destroy the information and never sell/share it
• Void where prohibited by law
• You can only enter ONE TIME. If I draw your name and see you’ve entered already, I’ll delete your entry and redraw.

Now comment! This is the most frugal way to get this book. It’s even delivered right to your doorstep (at my cost)!

In just 2 months from now, I should be graduating with my masters degree from The Johns Hopkins University (an engineering degree, not medical). I was accepted in May 2007, and started my first class in September 2007. Now, over 2 years later, I have just 2 classes standing in my way. It’s been a stressful 2 years, and lately my personal and professional life (including this site) have taken a hit due to the stress.

While the program cost roughly $28,000, with a combination of tuition reimbursements (last employer) and a sign-on bonus (current employer), my out of pocket cost for this program was $8,000 or so (I don’t have Quicken with me to check the exact amount). Not bad for a full masters degree from a prestigious, private university.

What is my graduation present?

Good question! For the last 2 years, I’ve been lusting over flat screen TVs, but my wife has told me I need to wait till I graduate to get one as a present. Although I could have just went out and bought it with cash (thanks to getting rid of so much of our other debt), I honored her wishes this whole time. Now that the end is sooooo close, I’ve been picturing that TV in our living room, especially with football season and the fresh fall TV schedule in full swing.

But I’m not settling for any regular flat screen TV. No no no, I want an LED LCD TV. These are the latest TVs that are lighted by light emitting diodes (LED) rather than fluorescent tubes (or plasma, which isn’t really a backlight). The LED LCD TVs are thinner, more energy efficient and give more of a “true black” than regular LCDs, without the ghosting effect that plasma TVs get.

While I’ve been saving up for the TV, and prices for LED LCD TVs have dropped drastically in just the last few months, at $2400 and up for the 50″ range, they’re just too expensive to justify, especially compared to their fluorescent counterparts. So what do I do?

Are we out of debt yet?

Another goal that I had was to pay off my undergraduate student loan before I graduated with my masters. Right now, that amount stands at around $6,000. I had the money ready for it, but unfortunately we had to spend $7,000 for pool repair this fall (the bill is yet to arrive).

Which goal is more important to me? Spending $2000+ on a new TV or paying off my $6000 student loan?

I’ll have to admit that I REALLLLLY want that new TV, but right now, the debt is nagging me. While I’ve been back in school, the loan was placed into deferred status, and the federal government has been paying the interest on the loan on my behalf. I’ve still been paying $200 a month over the last 2 years, sometimes more, but haven’t felt pushed to get rid of the debt since I wasn’t paying interest. But now it’s crunch time for 2 goals, and I can only work towards one.

TV or Debt Reduction?

I actually already had this conversation with my wife this past week, and I think I surprised her by saying I’m going to pay down debt and postpone the TV purchase. One reason is that I want to get out of non-mortgage debt ASAP, but the other is that I think the prices on these new TVs will come down even more. I’m willing to spend up to $1500 for a high quality 240hz LED LCD TV in the 50″ range, but not $2500-3000.

For now, I’m going to work hard to pay off that student loan debt. I don’t think I’ll get it paid off in the next 2 months, but at least I can cut it down by another third or more.

And perhaps I’ll make a good example for you, my readers

Eva from Texas! Eva left the following comment as her entry:

I’m intrigued by the willpower book. I hope I win.

I gave Eva 48 hours to claim her prize, and she replied back at the last second. I was ready to pull a different winner, but I’m glad things worked out. I’m sure Eva will learn a good bit from the “The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self Discipline” book, as well as the other two books.

If you want to see what books I’m talking about, go see my review of “The Skinny On” book series.

Congratulations Eva! I still have at least 3 more books to read and review, so keep an eye out for those reviews and contests!

Ooh! It’s not yet halfway through the month and I’m actually publishing the recap for last month. Looks like I’m actually a bit ahead of my normal game

Traffic Sources

At a high level:

Search Engines: 65%

Referring Sites: 22%

Direct Traffic: 13%

Top Personal Finance Blog Referrers

You’ll see last month’s rank after the new rank in (). If they weren’t ranked last month, you’ll see a (-).

1. (1) The Simple Dollar
2. (2) MSN Smart Spending
3. (-) Credit Card Finder (I’m a top 25 BadA$$ Personal Finance Blogger)
4. (4) Cheap Healthy Good
5. (5) Five Cent Nickel
6. (3) My Money Blog
7. (8) Budgets are Sexy
8. (6) Frugal Dad
9. (9) Free Money Finance
10. (7) Wise Bread

Thanks all!

I’ll admit, I’ve had these books to review for a long time, but I’m just getting around to reviewing them. Sorry Mr. Publisher!

“The Skinny On” series takes the Dummies and Complete Idiots idea and makes them even simpler to understand in the form of comic books (with stick people as the main characters). From their website:

Inspired by the widely celebrated Japanese literary form, Manga, The Skinny On™ is quickly gaining popularity for its comprehensive analysis of topical subjects, told in an entertaining story format.

Illustrated and easily read in 1 hour, each subject is explored through the lives of Billy and Beth – normal in all respects except one: they just happen to be stick people.

The Skinny On™ is the brainchild of best selling author, investor, attorney and entrepreneur Jim Randel. Realizing that the traditional book publishing business model was outdated, Randel sought to create a new breed of books, aimed at disseminating information to an audience increasingly used to consuming content on the internet and cell phones. Their quick-read, story format, and short lead publishing cycles allow the series to provide The Skinny On™ current events and topical subjects while keeping readers informed and entertained.

Personally, I can attest that they’re readable in an hour or less, but who is the target audience here? Busy people? Teens? Professionals? College kids?

The books are great for anyone new to the topic, whether it be Credit Cards, Willpower or the Financial Crisis. But with any topic, you have to be interested in it to want to learn about it. Therefore, if your kid (or you for that matter) doesn’t care about finances, they’ll probably think even the stick figures are trying to lecture them. But at least it’s one more way to try to teach someone, so I’m all for the concept. Now let’s check out each book, and the get to the giveaway!

The Skinny on Credit Cards

The Skinny on Credit Cards, How to Master the Credit Card Game was probably the best of the bunch in that it taught all the basics about credit cards including interest, budgeting, taking responsibility, avoiding/handling fraud, and more.

The book follows Beth and Billy, a couple of stick figures who don’t always agree on financial practices. They kind of mirror my wife and myself in that Beth is the more responsible one and Billy wants to just go spend money. Beth is careful, while Billy wants to buy a Harley.

The book inserts the author as an “educator” to teach each about credit and credit cards. I didn’t feel like the book was talking down to me at all, and it simplified the concepts into an experience I can use to instruct others in my own personal life (such as my cousins who I KNOW are going to be in big credit trouble when they get their first cards!).

Would I recommend this book? If you’re still trying to figure out the mess of credit cards, or know someone who is, then yes, I would recommend it. If you already understand credit and are pretty responsible with your money, then you probably wouldn’t learn much more from the book.

The Skinny on the Housing Crisis

The Skinny on the Housing Crisis, What Every Homeowner and Homebuyer Needs to Know teaches a different kind of lesson. While some of the lessons are now considered “historical” in that they are meant to reveal what went wrong during the housing boom and bust, the book also teaches good lessons on the importance of understanding mortgage applications, home values, home inspections, credit scores and weird mortgages (the ones they mostly offered to borrowers to get them into a house they really couldn’t afford).

Again, the book follows Billy and Beth, but this time in their effort to buy a home. Again, Beth is the careful one, while Billy wants to jump into the housing market after watching a late night infomercial. They get caught up in the whirlwind many of us (including myself) did and thought they HAD to buy NOW or they would lose their opportunity forever.

Would I recommend this book? While I think everyone needs to understand credit cards, when it comes to the housing crisis, there are videos that explain the whole credit fiasco pretty well. But if you’re considering buying a home, and feel pressured by friends, family, coworkers, or even mortgage lenders and realtors, I would recommend reading the warning words this book offers.

The Skinny on Willpower

I actually just read The Skinny on Willpower, How to Develop Self Discipline as I was writing this article. It took me about 30 minutes to finish, but I’ll admit I skimmed over some of the recaps at the end.

In this story, Beth wants to open a store and Billy wants to lose weight (yeah, funny for a stick person). The author, Jim Randel, makes quite a number of appearances to provide his insight from years of learning about willpower, commitment, goals, and positive thoughts. It’s actually a pretty good book to provide the fundamentals to setting goals and sticking to them, and recognizing things that will distract or deter you from achieving them.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Although I’ve recognized some of the concepts recently as I try to finish my masters degree, work full-time, manage a home and run a few side businesses, I honestly missed some simple things like breaking big tasks down into manageable chunks. Some of it is common sense, but that doesn’t mean it’s apparent to us without someone mentioning it.

And Now for the Book Giveaway!!!

I haven’t given away any swag for quite some time, but as usual I’m going to make it pretty easy for you to enter.

The Prize: All 3 books!

How to Enter:

Contest has ended and winner has been drawn and notified. Check back to the site to find out who won!

Leave a comment on this article by 5pm EST on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009. I’ll use a random integer generator to draw 2 winning number, and then email the winner to make sure they’re willing to claim their prize (i.e. send me their mailing address). Once confirmed, I’ll announce the winner in a new post.

Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed or email newsletter to learn when the winners are announced and when I post another giveaway.

Contest Rules

• I only ship to the continental U.S. states (sorry Hawaii and Alaska) – Don’t complain, it’s on my own dime.
• I will ask for your name and address for shipping, but I promise to destroy the information and never sell/share it
• Void where prohibited by law
• You can only enter ONE TIME. If I draw your name and see you’ve entered already, I’ll delete your entry and redraw.

Now comment! This is the most frugal way to get this books. It’s even delivered right to your doorstep (at my cost)!