Ken Bireta Homeschooling in New Jersey

Home Inspection Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:19:56 PDT

On Monday, we sent our repair request from the home inspection to the sellers. There were only six items, but they are all considered 'major' since water or electricity are involved. Our mortgage commitment letter came so all we're waiting on now is for them to obtain the certificate of occupancy and indicate they'll make these repairs or credit us so we can make them, to the extent they're not repairs required by our township for the certificate of occupancy.

Exited Attorney Review!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:25:34 PDT

Good news: We finally exited attorney review!!! I scheduled the home inspection for Saturday at 9am. With the radon and wood insect tests, we'll probably get the report by Tuesday or Wednesday. It sounds like the sellers agent already permitted the appraiser to do the mortgage appraisal so we should find out how that went soon. Everything seems to be on track, so far, for our July 15th close!

Dance Recital

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:26:32 PDT

Kaitlyn and Ellie enjoyed performing their routines at Body Language Dance Center's recital today. You can see their pictures on my photography website. I created an album for each of them. If they're interested in continuing dance, we'll have an interesting progression. Kaitlyn actually understands the concept now after seeing the different performances of all the older children doing the same dances together during the dress rehearsal. Both Kaitlyn and Ellie exceeded my expectations!

Ellie:

Kaitlyn:

Home Buying Process

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:04:10 PDT

We found a home we'd like to own. Hopefully, attorney review ends soon, possible today. We have completed the mortgage application process, which included a workout of signing and dating more pages than I could have imagined. We've also notified our landlord that we intend to move out. We have closing scheduled for July 15th. The home inspection is scheduled for Monday at 1pm. I'll post more updates as we continue with this process.

Getting Back to Normal

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:11:01 PDT

Things are starting to return to normal around the house. Abby is the only one that is a little sick right now, but she was well enough to get her shots on Friday. Hopefully I'll catch up around the house this week.

Tamra and I have added to the chaos by deciding to look for a home to buy. Our rent increases by 10% per year and every time our rent goes up, our security deposit is increased for the new lease and I'm about done with the increases year after year. We found a home we like and if our offer is accepted we can lock in a mortgage payment that will be less than the current years rent. I think our offer is a little high, but I prefer not to mess around negotiating back and forth. If the seller rejects or counters, we'll have to keep looking. This isn't a market worth paying a premium in.

Kaitlyn has been begging to learn how to read. We wanted to wait until the fall, but with her asking consistently, we decided to start teaching her to read. We started using Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling by Dolores G. Hiskes. So far we really like the reading program. For math we decided to use Math-U-See, for writing we will start with Italic Handwriting Series book A, and for religion we chose Who Am I from the Image of God Series. We'll most likely use the library the rest other subjects, but we're not going to officially start Kindergarten for awhile.

Past Week +: ALL Kids Sick!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:57:51 PDT

It's been over a week and all of the kids have been sick. On top of that, Tamra started that busy 3 week May semester. All three are sick at the same time here and they missed two weeks worth of dance classes that we pay for! I didn't even remembered to weigh last week and I tend to use food for energy to substitute for lack of sleep when kids are wheezing, coughing and breaking sleep (plenty of coffee, too) so now I fear the scale. I prefer when the cold travels and only one kid is sick at a time and I dread sick babies. Hope Abby gets better by Friday so she can get her shots.

Electric Usage Down a Third

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:34:16 PDT

Our unplugging electronics and limiting usage of electronics seems to have saved us over 100 kWh. This month, our electric bill is $39.84 which still sounds high to me, but this is for over a month (readings on Mar 20th then Apr 24th). In April of 2008 we used 322 kWh and last month we used 310 kWh compared to this months reading of 215 kWh and I started this before that month began. This is our lowest reading of the past 13 months (5 kWh/day vs 8 kWh/day in May 2008)!!!

Our gas usage actually increased 1 therm despite reducing the water heater temp. Although, the avg daily usage is down, just not down as low as last June through September. I cant wait until next month to see the full effects of the clothes line.

So, in dollars, we saved $20.35 despite being billed for an extra 4 days!!!

Loading Our New Clothes Dryer...

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:34:09 PDT

Here I am, loading our new ~$63 solar clothes dryer ($44 + $19 s&h and add in another $12 for gravel and 60 pounds of cement and then another $6 for clothes pins for $81 Total). I splurged a few dollars for galvanized steal over aluminum. Now we'll see if it will pay for itself this summer!

Sewing Machine Arrived (Singer 7470 Confidence)

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:54:44 PDT

Our sewing machine arrived today and I put it to work. I only read the parts of the manual that I needed to (how to wind bobbin, insert bobbin, and thread). It's much easier than I thought it would be. As far as the actually sewing went, I probably should have flipped the pants around to do it the way the machine was designed! Either way, Kaitlyn ended up with fixed pockets on her jeans! I really wanted the jeans to be facing me the right way, like you wear them. I can't wait until I have to do something inside out!

First Sewing Project: Fix Pockets on Jeans from Ken Bireta on Vimeo.

Finished Selling Stuff (Net: $1,000)

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:30:02 PDT

During our spending moratorium, we decided to start selling a whole bunch of stuff we were no longer using or wanted through Amazon Marketplace and Ebay (both through auctions and set price with best offer option). I have to admit this turned into a part-time job. I was going to the ups store or the post office every two to three days!

We sold everything but my violin. I really want to learn to play it one day and I didn't get any decent offers. We netted just over $1000 after shipping and selling fees which is NOT bad for stuff that was taking up space. We put the money towards the student loans last month and this month we're going to put it towards the sewing machine I mentioned in yesterdays post.

Spending Moratorium Finally Ends!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:02:01 PDT

Easter has come and gone and the brings our spending moratorium to an end. So, the spending moratorium lasted from the beginning of February, through March, and ended in mid-April. It was initially a one month moratorium, but we enjoyed it too much! Tamra and I have been thinking of hobbies that we can use to reduce our expenses. Cooking everything from scratch and making homemade cleaning products will help, but we're planning on learning how to knit and sew. We would like to get new and like new clothes used one season and then resize them and sometimes make something from scratch, when the costs of materials justify it. We also decided we would like to start hanging our clothes outside on a clothesline to reduce our utilities and help the clothes we have last longer.

So, the first week after our spending moratorium, we have a few well researched purchases lined up. I always like to find the highest reviewed items with the lowest possible cost with the intent on purchasing long-term value. Products that are too cheap can work against being frugal (ie no brand sewing machine for under $20) and the luxuries on more expensive products can be hard to justify ($550 machine that does embroidery). But, after plenty of research, I think we came up with a decent compromise between the two extremes.

It was actually very difficult to click the button after the spending moratorium ended. More difficult than I thought it would be, but I managed to click. I hope the sewing machine and the outdoor clothes dryer end up being wise purchases that pay for themselves in the long run. It would also be nice if the sewing machine ends up being a frugal hobby. I've always felt the time we spend reading/talking in the evenings could be put to productive use. Kaitlyn is also close to the age that we can start teaching her to sew.

Well, now the question I have for ourselves is, when the next spending moratorium will begin? We both actually enjoyed the moratorium!

Family Easter Vigil (yes, all 5, three kids 5 and under!)

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:23:54 PDT

We went to the Easter Vigil Mass this year as a family. Last year, I went with Kaitlyn. Many people commented that the kids were so good afterwards. Even the Catechumen, Diane, commented on how good they were and we were two sections over, probably the only people who knowingly brought their kids to this Mass. The kids were really fantastic and Mass went from eight until after ten and then we feasted (Our Church puts out a great spread!!!).

It was a beautiful Mass!!! Monsignor Ron even asked me outside by the bonfire before he started if I knew how long this Mass was. I was right up front because I wanted to make sure that Kaitlyn and Ellie could see the Preparation of the Paschal Candle. We were even the first to get our candles lit for the procession. Tamra was inside with Abby holding our seats. Kaitlyn and Ellie liked participating in the procession behind the Paschal Candle, carrying their candles as well (our service starts with candlelight and we hold candles until the end of the Easter Proclamation). The first of many readings starts with the creation and it stays dark until the Gospel (Christ Raised, Mark 16, 1-7). I like that the readings of this Mass, every year, is pretty much the greatest hits of the bible!

Kaitlyn was really interested, watching the Baptism and First Communion very intently even kneeling up on her chair to see better. She even asked if Diane, an adult, gets "kid's" Communion for her First Communion (he he, think Abby's first food). I'll have to explain more to her later, obviously, since I doubt it would have been a good idea to try to resolve that discussion during Mass.

Monthly Net Worth Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:01:54 PDT

Well, our net worth is higher than its been in years. We've exceeded that bump on the graph by about 70 dollars. But, it wasn't easy to catch up to where we were last summer. Our net worth is up over $2500 this month at 4.3%. Although, it's really not mathematically correct because some of that is from selling junk that wasn't in our net worth. In accounting terms, some of the increase is a transfer from assets to satisfy liabilities, but the assets were not ever recorded.

Last Month, I mentioned that we had a spending moratorium. Well, in addition to continuing the spending moratorium through Easter, we also starting selling more stuff. We've sold well over $700 of stuff, but I haven't ever added it up. We put everything we were not using that we could sell towards the student loans and we still have over $600 of stuff for sale including my violin :(. We've also significantly reduced our grocery bill (all food) to under $50 per week. All this is really helping to rock the net worth and student loans, but it is more work at home. If we sell enough stuff, we'll be able to make up for the pay cut/furlough we are facing! Unfortunately, we'll eventually run out of stuff :(

We're also continuing to contribute 100% to the money market fund. I believe this is a bear market rally and we will retest lows. Bear market rallies tend to run up 20% and then run down. Nothing positive about this economy right now and a penny saved from loss is as good as a penny earned ;). Current valuations based on p/e ratios and dividend yields for recessions put the historic dow recession value between 4500 and 5500. Although, with all the irrational fluctuations, it's hard to tell if we'll hit those lows. If we miss a few percent after things start turning around, we have plenty of time to reap the rewards of the market, *IF* we ever choose to risk our money in the market again.

Financial Uncertainty and Kid's Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:30:46 PDT

So, the big question is whether or not to let financial uncertainty affect the kid's extracurricular activities. Well, the tenure decision is just over a year away. Although, I think Tamra is doing well with her tenure pursuit, I'm concerned about the state of New Jersey and whether or not the colleges financial status could affect tenure. If Tamra does not get tenure, a move and job hunt is two years away.

What we do know:

- No overload for next Fall - That reduced our 2009 projected income by $3000
- Proposed Furlough - Reduces Next 12 months of projected income by 6-7% (OUCH!!!)

The dance classes for Kaitlyn and Ellie costs about $1000 for ten months. For that, each girl gets 45 minutes of dance lessons once a week (there are about five weeks off during the 10 months).

Now, for some reason, I feel sad about wanting to cut this out of our budget. And I think that will end up being the decision. Two thousand dollars is a lot of money for us. I guess it's important to keep distinguishing between actual needs and wants and dance lessons for a 3/4 year old and 5/6 year old are a luxury. Plus. we can host a lot of play dates/dinners for $100 a month! Hmm, Kaitlyn really does seem to enjoy it though. Parenting can be difficult! This will be a tough one!

Goals For 40!

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:32:57 PDT

Well, I turn 40 in October and I've been thinking about it. Turning 40 still sounds like something that happens to other people. I have been making a small list of goals that I would like to accomplish before I turn forty. So far, my list is:

1) Clutter: Eliminate all the clutter and all the stuff I have accumulated over the past decades. I would like to start the next fifty+ years with less stuff and so much of it is still in boxes from our previous move, three years ago, and some of it is still in the boxes from the move before that, eight years ago. You know you keeping too much stuff when you have a box labeled "junk". I started this project yesterday, but it will take awhile to complete!

2) Weight: I would like to weigh what I weighed in my twenties when I turn 40. I created a bar to track my progress down to what I weighed in my late twenties, the earliest weight that I have recorded. To bad I don't remember what I weighed when I was twenty. That would be the actual number I would like to use. After eight weeks, I have achieved 25%+ of this 40 pound goal having lost over ten pounds already. I'll probably continue losing more after I reach that point.

3) New Profile Picture: I definitely need a new profile picture for my facebook account. That one is three years old already. I'll have to set up the camera and flash one day if an outdoor opportunity doesn't present itself on its own (like a natural shot with me and the kids or something).

4) Be Debt Free: This goal isn't really achievable, but I should be able to accomplish this early next year by the end of Spring (for my student loan, not totally debt free with Tamra's, too). If I were to be able to achieve this by October, I would have to find something to do that provides income that wouldn't interfere with the children's homeschooling. So this might qualify more as a wish that we're working hard on than a goal!

I'm sure I'll think of something else to add and I'm open to suggestions.

Teething

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:51:17 PDT

Well, I'm sitting here with a teething 4 month old on my lap. The bottom two teeth broke trough yesterday and the day before. She's been fussier than normal for a good week already. I thought it would be a good idea to preserve the moment in case we ever consider a fourth. After Ellie, our second, we were done. And then we thought, another would be nice and just over nine months later we were blessed with this beauty. This post will serve as a reminder. :)

Spending Moratorium - February Results

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:59:48 PST

Yes, I compiled the numbers and inputed them at networthiq.com and we finally did it. With the help of the spending moratorium, we improved our net worth this month (2.68%)! It's nice to see the graph take a turn to the better. Now, the moratorium can't take all the credit. Since I'm regaining time in the kitchen with Abby getting older (4 months old, yesterday!), I've resumed all the baking of our bread products. I've been working on that since January. I've also transitioned a major portion of our diet to plenty of inexpensive soups from scratch which I make in five quart batches. On paper, our grocery budget is $100 per week, but we've only been spending about 2/3rds of that.

Our assets increased by over 2% driven mostly by the move from stock funds to the money market fund and inflation indexed bond fund in the 403b (80/20, but the bond fund lost some since the move, might go 100% money market, comments?). We would have lost our deposit and then some if we stayed in the stock funds!

Our liabilities decreased by 1.1%. Our spending moratorium yielded an extra $930 to send to the student loans for a total of $1344 (200% increase, sent $414 last month). In addition to reducing our food budget, we've suspended budgeting for clothing and medical until May 1st (currently over $100 in reserves in each ing savings sub-account) and an improvement to our heating system started saving us over $100 per month as well. Our medical insurance is really good which lowers what we need to have saved for medical expenses (Abby, from conception through birth only cost $15 plus $3 per refill for prenatal vitamins). Losing debt is just as much 'fun' as losing weight! We'll be continuing the moratorium through Easter, so I'm looking forward to next months update.

If you are really bored, details are available if you click through the graph below.

Free Haircuts! (Ellie's Trim)

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:21:11 PST

One of the things we do to save money is not pay for things we can do ourselves. Haircuts are included. Tamra cuts the girls hair and I cut my own and Tamra's hair. I did Kaitlyn's hair once and ever since the hair cuts for the girls seem to occur slightly before I think they need them. When I did Kaitlyn's, I did it right after I washed it in the bathtub thinking that way I don't have to deal with a mess on the floor. I didn't consider that hair cut when wet will be much shorter when it dries. It was one of those slow moments, I guess, because I should have known better. Tamra's hair always turns out great and I really never cared much how my hair looks.

Tamra took this picture after we ate:

Video: Ellie's Frugal Birthday...

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:29:32 PST

Updated to add an embedded video from Vimeo, but I'm not sure if it will show up in the facebook notes, but you can access it on my blog or on vimeo...

Ellie's Birthday! from Ken Bireta on Vimeo.

Spending Moratorium - Ellie's Frugal Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:55:16 PST

Below are photos from Ellie's birthday. Our spending moratorium meant we had to have a frugal birthday (although we tend to do this anyways). Tamra's dad and wife came over and we're going to have homemade pizza for dinner. We had the homemade cake this afternoon since they have quite a drive after dinner. I made a chocolate cake with orange cream cheese frosting (both the cake and frosting recipes are from the book that came with the kitchenaid mixer). Tamra did the decorating. It was great, but since we've made this cake, minus the fishbowl theme, at least three times in the past two months, we knew it would be ;).

Tamra brings out the cake:

We sing Happy Birthday:

3-d fishbowl cake side 1:

3-d fishbowl cake side 2:

Spending Moratorium to Reduce Student Loans

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:43:52 PST

Our spending moratorium has been and will continue to be used to reduce our student loans. So far we have sent $1209 this month towards our student loans and my scheduled payment of $135 will post Monday (scheduled for the 28th) for a total of $1344. Last month we sent in $414 so our spending moratorium yielded an extra $930 to send which is almost a 200% increase. I'm looking forward to updating our net worth chart next month (on the left, hosted by networthiq.com). I plan on updating it sometime on Tuesday. I've already collected most of the numbers, but I'll have to wait until the student loan payment posts to update it.

In other net worth news, we finally got out of the stock market. Tamra and I are tired of taking a beating and losing the money deposited each month. The 403b just seemed like a giant vacuum cleaner trying to clean us out! So, now we are now 80% money market and 20% inflation indexed bonds. I'm still not sure how I feel about the bonds. Our future deposits will be 100% money market for the time being, though, while we think about it. We 'saved' almost $14,000 from the $18,000 deposited over the past three years from that giant vacuum cleaner. I think we're done with the stock market. I like slow, low risk, simple growth (ie 2-4%). If I could get a CD in the 403b, I would!

February Spending Moratorium

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:16:20 PST

Tamra took the girls to dance class and the baby fell asleep, so I thought I'd finally post a blog post. I read about theNo Spend Challenge at the Mom Advice Blog and it inspired me to write about the February Spending Moratorium that Tamra and I decided to do. Don't worry, I wont catch everyone up for the past 26 days in one post, but I'll try to remember to recap over the next few weeks. Since we've decided to continue the spending moratorium through Lent, I hope to make more time to post about it.

We've been making our own bread products from scratch. It's one of the easiest ways to save money. I make everything except crackers although we'll occasionally buy doughnuts because I don't like to mess with all the oil AND I so do not need the calories in all the left overs. Learning how to make crackers is on my to-do list.

So, today I will feature last weeks loaves of bread (the ones I have pictures of, they don't last long). Last week, I made a pair of sandwich loaves that looked about as perfect as I have ever made. Tamra finally convinced me to photograph them for our family website and she held them for me:

And Kaitlyn holding a piece:

Last week I also made a nice artisan loaf with Split Pea Irish Stew (bread is fat and sugar free, stew is fat, sugar and salt free and 2 and 4 year olds still love it!). I make all of our stews and soups from scratch as well and I do not use salt. I like to make five quarts at a time so I have plenty of leftovers.

A First for Me!!! Donated Blood

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:59:58 PST

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. Well, I donated blood for the first time yesterday at our church, St. James, in Pennington. If my vein didn't "roll", I think it would have went better. My arm was sore throughout the day, but maybe that's normal.

Oh, Abby was born on November 3rd. After 48 hours, she was born at 7:44 pm, weighed 8lbs 9oz, and was 20 1/2" long. Out of the three, she was our smallest. I guess I have a lot to catch up on, but I think I'll focus on keeping up to date. I couldn't believe I haven't posted anything since August! :)

Freecycle...

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:15:39 PDT

Gotta love freecycle!!! Free is the right price! They still haven't mastered holding the 'gas' peddle down and Ellie needs help steering occasionally. The cousins will like this short video...

Power Wheel Fun! from Ken Bireta on Vimeo.

Been Busy, baby on the way...Three Projects Done, Many to go...

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bireta) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:02:30 PDT

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted. I've been a little busy. Three of my most recent projects are photographed below. The projects not pictured include cleaning out the garage to make room for a work area which took a while to set up as well. Tamra manages the list of projects that need to be completed and/or purchased before Abby arrives. I'll post a financial update soon. We've made some headway on our student loans :) thanks to that government rebate check.

project #1:

Project one, above, is a leg and support it attaches to for Tamra's dresser. She'll be happy the dresser is off the floor now that she's growing and leaning will be getting more difficult. Two legs and the support needed to be built. They're connected by lag bolts into t-nuts. My chest is next on the repair list. The drawers are falling apart. We opted to buy tools instead of a bedroom set. We'll save hundreds of dollars repairing what we have and we'll have tools to keep :) that we can use to repair things in the future (dressers cost a couple hundred dollars).

project #2"

Project two, above, is the bunk beds. The bunk bed set we bought for only $179 at Kmart. That's one of the best deals we found so far, but after this I'll be glad if I never see a screw driver or allen wrench again! The bottom bunk is in the family room. My mom can use it when she comes in October. Of course, bunk beds meant buying sheets, mattresses and mattress covers.

project #3:

Project three, above, was a deck gate (built from scratch). I wanted it to match the deck as much as possible. I guess the paint was a bit off, but oh well, it will do until the deck is repainted. This gate is a lot better and I feel more secure with this than the baby gate we had pressured between the two posts (feared one of the kids would lean and it would give way). This will make the yard more usable since we can just open it up and head down. I learned not to assume things. The two deck posts at the top of the stairs ended up not being parallel (wider at top than at bottom) and the spindles I bought from home depot were not identically cut (The decorative insert part varied within the 36 inch posts by up to a half inch).

Here's a picture of the gate from outside the deck (oops, noticed camera focused on Nemo Umbrella (kids patio set handed down from Tamra's coworker)).