The Dog Ate My Wallet

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I Want (Doesn’t Mean I’ll Get)

I want a new car. It doesn’t have to be new new, but just new to me. Still, with the recent improvements in MPGs, new new might win out. I even have a legitimate reason for wanting a new car- we currently have two sedans. That means we do not have a car that can accommodate three dogs and a car seat. And since we won’t stop going to the dog park once we have a kid, we kind of need that functionality.

Because C and I are both MPG freaks, we’re not looking at mini-vans or most SUVs. The only SUV exception is the CRD Jeep Liberty they made for a couple of years. But we can’t find those used with less than 100k miles on them, and while diesel engines last longer than non-diesel, we don’t know what specs Jeep built the common rail diesel engines too.

Used Jetta TDI wagons are not only rare, but expensive. The only one I’ve seen for under $10k has over 300k miles on it, and they still want $7,500.

What we’re most likely looking at now is either a new VW Jetta SportWagen TDI or a new Subaru Outback wagon. In recent years, Subaru has made major improvements in their MPGs, and they are wonderful, long lasting, safe cars, just like the VWs.

The Subaru has a disadvantage that it has a regular gas engine, so no running B99 for us, but it’s also about $5k cheaper than the Jetta.

VW currently has a 1.9% APR financing deal for 5 years for TDI models. Subaru has a 0.9% APR financing deal, but their website doesn’t tell you the term length.

And before you ask, yes, I’ve looked at less expensive new cars. The Kia Soul has MPGs comparable to the Subaru for $10k less, but the space in the back isn’t actually big enough to hold two of our dogs comfortably- and my current dogs are small.

Of course, what this all really means is that I should clean out my Chevy (which we’d trade in) so that a dealer would even be willing to take it.

Date: 03/07/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Major Financial Decisions Bookmark: Permalink

Article

Sunday Evening Post #49

Day	Amount	Place	Category
Monday	$40.00	Cash	Allowance
Tuesday	$40.00	Urgent Care/RX	Medical
	$11.00	Pizza	Groceries
Wednesday	$45.00	C’s Birthday	Eating Out
Thursday	$15.00	PT	Medical
Friday	$50.00	Gas	Car
Saturday	$123.00	CostCo	Groceries
	$42.00	Safeway	Groceries
Sunday	$15.00	Safeway	Groceries
	$50.00	Gas	Car

Spent every day this week, partly because of my shoulder injury and C’s birthday.

We filled both cars up this weekend. Also, Safeway is having a buy 2 get 3 free sale on Coke, so I stopped by a second Safeway on Sunday morning to stock up. Still, the total wasn’t bad, just over $400.

On Friday, we also signed up to pay more for cable again. In this case it’s because we have to have a home phone for the adoption home study, so we had to add a service. I’m actually really bummed to be paying over $100/month again, even though J has decided to up his monthly rent to help cover some of the cost.

We are half way through 2012. I’m revising some of my goals because life took some turns I wasn’t quite planning on when I came up with the goals.

1) Be paid for publishing one piece of fiction

Submissions so far: 2

Responses: 1 rejection 1 acceptance

The anthology I had a piece accepted to is now available to buy on Amazon. It’s called Conquest Through Determination.

2) Pay All Adoption Expenses in Cash & Still Pay for C’s College Out of Pocket

We’re doing good here. This was helped tremendously by getting 3x as much in life insurance from the MIL than expected. Our savings is still growing, and we’re in really good shape

Make money publishing my next art/fiction book

This is on hold for now. However, I did have a chance to talk with the artist I want to work with on Friday, and her life has settled down, so there’s a good chance we can start work on this sometime in June. (When my life settles down a

bit.)

3) Attend FinCon12. Pay for the trip with money from allowance/side projects saved/earned BEFORE the conference starts. Goal: $600

Conference attendance paid for. Tickets paid for. The only things left are food and the hotel. I probably won’t have enough in allowance to cover all of it, but it won’t be far off, and the biggest expenses are already taken care of.

4) Become a member of Yakezie (6 month anniversary is Jan 21)

I plan to be a member of Epsilon class when the application goes up in August. I do need to make sure I’m still connecting with new challengers, though, because a lot of the challengers on my list this last time will be Yakezie Delta class members.

In order to develop relationships with new challengers, I have decided that each edition of What I’m Reading on Saturdays will now include a new challenger.

5) Make money from my blogs.

AdSense earnings: $22.01 (They won’t send me any money until I hit $100.) Views on this blog (and all my blogs) have been going down lately, and I know that’s because I haven’t been as active on twitter or commenting in the last few months. As I pick up my activity I expect activity here will pick up and my AdSense income will pick up, at least a few cents or so.

6) Be healthier

I walked twice a day Mon, Tues, and Thurs. I left early on Wed and Fri, so only walked once each day. We went to the dog park Wed, Sat, and Sun.

I ate too much at Mongolian Grill for C’s birthday. We had lasagna and apple caramel cheesecake for dinner tonight.

C and I have talked about trying to do better on making our meals healthy and portioning. I also think there’s a good chance I’ll be buying a membership to the local Y, and I’ll work on trying to get in better shape.

And, of course, I know have exercises for my shoulder. PT thinks it’s the bicep tendon because the anti-inflammatories work so well. But I really need to be able to use my shoulder without pain.

Date: 01/07/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Tags: goals, weekly spending Category: Everyday Finances, Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink

Article

What I’m Reading: No Time Edition

The weekends just seem to get busier and busier. I remember those carefree days when I started “What I’m Reading” while C was in school on Saturdays. Now, I feel like I have maybe 20 minutes on my computer during the day.

So here we go for another whirlwind look at what I’ve been reading.

Kids are on my mind. Deal with it. So I’ve loved Average Joe’s series on summer activities to create money savvy kids. This week’s dealt with the hardest to interest group- high schoolers. If you’re looking for ways to teach your high school kids about money, you should check it out.

At Odd Cents, we get another installation of her Living La Vida Frugal series, which is where she looks back at things she’s done to cut spending. This time, she’s talking about lunch.

Making Sense of Cents wants you to ask yourself- Is a House Right for You? It’s a good question. Homeownership is not for everyone. Make sure you know why you want what you want first.

Andrea reads my mind, sometimes. We just had to increase our Comcast bill (we have to have a home phone for the adoption process). It kills me. So what do I find over at So Over Debt yesterday? An Unsent Letter- The Comcast Sucks Edition. Thank you, Andrea.

Smart Family Finance has been on a bit of a hiatus. So I was thrilled to see them back this week. Of course, instead of talking about problems I do have (homeownership, Comcast), they’re talking about problems I wish I had right now- like How to Choose Overseas Health Care Insurance. I don’t know where they’re going, but I want to go, too.

Today, in introducing our new Yakezie challenger, I’m also highlighting the Yakezie Writing Conest, a scholarship contest hosted by Yakezie. (Click on the link and you’ll go to the home page and be able to read all the finalists in the contest). One of those who entered was Multi-Millionaire Road. I can’t help but be amused by his post Personal Finance: Back to Basics- Tired of Seeing the Same Personal Finance Blogs?

Date: 30/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Round Ups Bookmark: Permalink

Article

My Week

C is supposed to write a post for me, but he keeps not doing it. Today the reason was a migraine. But I have really no thoughts for a coherent post, so here are some notes on how this week is going, from a (sort of) financial perspective.

1) It is a good thing I have a medical fund. In addition to getting a bill for a $50 copay for my ultrasound assisted biopsy a month ago, I had an urgent care visit on Tuesday for major pain in my shoulder. There was concern it was a rotator cuff tear. PT today says it doesn’t look like a tear, but I need to be back in PT next week.

2) You should double check your numbers. We got a medical bill for the MIL (no, these things still aren’t all paid) that said the insurance (the right insurance, for once) claimed there was no record of her having insurance. It’s because I made a typo on her policy number. In 30-45 days, we may actually get the real bill.

3) Some people will screw you over, even when you try to do the right thing. My brother borrowed money from me so that he could buy his former partner our as soon as possible, because that was the best thing for all involved. How did that work out for him- former partner stole $3000 from the business account and, as he was also my brother’s roommate, stole one of my brother’s pillows. Yep, he stole a pillow. My brother is actually more upset about that.

4) Despite that, he is able to make his July payment to us early. June was a good month.

5) Speaking of my brother, for a while last night, no one could enter or leave the guest house. A domestic violence situation next door escalated to a hostage situation, and the local police took over the roof and surround the building, allowing no one in or out.

6) In good news for my brother, a local college, which is helping host a Jazz Festival next year, has contacted them to book them to full capacity for 6 weeks next summer. That’s right, a guaranteed 6 week, full capacity booking, one year out.

7) Yesterday was C’s birthday. We went out to dinner.

8) Today is another friend’s birthday. She and I are getting pedis tomorrow and we’re all going out to eat for her birthday on Saturday as her 3 year old wants there to be the singing of Happy Birthday and cake.

So that’s the news for this week. Aren’t you glad you aren’t me?

Date: 28/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Everyday Finances Bookmark: Permalink

Article

Will There Be Cake?

It’s a question that occasionally gets asked around here when someone is retiring. “Will there be cake?” Such a simple question, so much information tied up in an even simpler answer of yes or no. Obviously, when I leave a job, I always want the answer to “will there be cake” to be yes.

That was brought home to me even more in this last week as a VP of our company, a man who I have been privileged to work with, retired after 30 years. (He’s not really retiring. He’s going to go be a consultant for Milliman.)

He has been a great advocate for encouraging staff under him to grow, to take on new responsibilities. He believed in promoting from within and giving people a chance to shine. He was one of my supporters as I looked to move from an admin role to a management role. I was looking at old organizational charts the other week and noticed that in the last 15 years, another woman has gone from being a supervisor to an executive director, all of it pretty much while reporting indirectly or directly to this man.

He created a culture in his division where staff were free to express their ideas, to come forward with improvements and also critiques of the way things were going. His goal has always been to retain the talent he sees and to help it grow and flourish.

It wasn’t just about the re-orgs he oversaw, or the initiatives he lead, or his amazing knowledge of our industry and the work his staff did. He will be missed because of who he was as a person and as a leader. I don’t know if he really understands the impact he had on so many of the rank and file staff.

Last week there was cake- well, three cakes and two dozen cupcakes, and that was just in the offices on this side of the state. There was another party a two hour flight the next day. Last night there were after work drinks. Today, there was a flash mob of over 100 staff cheering him as he walked out of the building after his last morning at work.

He almost lost it when he got to the corner of the hallway and saw everyone standing there.

I don’t know that I will ever manage 30 years at a single company. I’ve been at this one for 7.5 years, and that’s a record for me. I’ve never stayed in a single position for more than 5 years (and I started looking after 3). I doubt I’ll ever get a flash mob cheering me on my way. And that’s okay. But I hope that anytime I leave a position, if someone asks “Will there be cake?” that the answer is yes.

Date: 26/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: On the Job Bookmark: Permalink

Article

Sunday Evening Post #48

Day	Amount	Place	Category
Thursday	$95.25	Target	House/Medical
Friday	$24.00	Office Depot	House
	$30.00	Consumer Reports	House
Saturday	$35.75	Red Robin	Eating Out
Sunday	$32.25	Safeway	Groceries
	$180.00	CostCo	Groceries

Again, not a lot of spending this week. We did spend money on filing supplies (yay for an organized filing cabinet) and Consumer Reports so that we could look at cribs. We have to have one in the house for the home inspection. It is annoying that many places (target and Babies R Us included) don’t actually carry the cribs in stock. Luckily we live fairly near a Burlington Coat Factory, and their Baby Depot does carry cribs in stock. We found the one we want, and we’ll be back in the next few weeks to buy it.

The house is so very, very close to being ready for the foster license inspection. It’s really just little things left. And, our social worker is on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so by the time she is back, we should be all set and ready to go.

We also need to get appointments to get our fingerprints taken so that the FBI can do our background checks. Once those two things are done, we’re pretty much done except for the waiting. I do need to put together a couple photo collages for social workers and birth mothers, so that they can learn a little about us for help making the right match.

We also discovered this weekend that it looks like we have hardwood floors under our awful, awful carpets. C and I actually both prefer good carpet over hardwoods, but we don’t have good carpet. We might, once the home inspection is done, at least pull up the carpet from the baby’s room and get the floor in there professionally finished.

I have six goals for 2012. As part of the Sunday evening posts, I am tracking those goals, kind of like I do for spending, in order to hold myself accountable.

1) Be paid for publishing one piece of fiction

Submissions so far: 2

Responses: 1 rejection 1 acceptance

The anthology I had a piece accepted to is now available to buy on Amazon. It’s called Conquest Through Determination.

2) Make money publishing my next art/fiction book

3) Attend FinCon12. Pay for the trip with money from allowance/side projects saved/earned BEFORE the conference starts. Goal: $600

No idea where I am allowance wise. However, tickets to FinCon have already been purchased. I got my plane tickets this week, as prices dropped over $100 from last week, making it so that I was able to get them using credit card points and still have enough points left over for a $100 gift card.

I did pay $18 for the travel insurance. C still thinks I overpaid, especially since it isn’t likely we’ll have a baby by FinCon, but I decided I wanted to be prepared.

4) Become a member of Yakezie (6 month anniversary is Jan 21)

In order to develop relationships with new challengers, I have decided that each edition of What I’m Reading on Saturdays will now include a new challenger.

5) Make money from my blogs.

6) Be healthier

I walked twice every weekday this week. We had a long dog park on Tuesday and went again on Thursday and Sunday.

I ate pretty healthy all week, too. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the amazing chicken in pepper sauce dish C made on Tuesday.

Date: 24/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Tags: goals, weekly spending Category: Everyday Finances, Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink

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What I’m Reading: We Have Hardwoods? Edition

It’s a quickie kind of week. We’re in our last push to get the house ready for the foster home inspection and trying to get the basement and spare room/baby’s room done this weekend.

In good news, we discovered that it looks like we have hard woods under our carpets. We actually prefer carpet for a lot of things, but I’d been thinking of putting laminate in the baby’s room. If we just have to pull up carpets and hire someone to come in and finish the hardwoods, that’s even better.

So, here we go into a quickie roundup of what I’m reading.

American Debt Project is attempting to go 28 days without TV (until the premier of Breaking Bad). In the meantime, she’s pondering important questions like What Kind of Jobs Make You Happy?

Mr. Money Mustache just gave up $1,000/week to maintain his freedom. No, he wasn’t held for ransom, you’ll just have to read and find out what happened.

Jeff at Sustainable Life Blog has made huge progress on his debt over the last few years. This week, he gave us an update on exactly how far he’s come.

Well Heeled Blog is about to move for grad school, and she wants to live without a car in her new home. So here’s the question- Is she crazy?

Newlyweds on a Budget have been struggling to catch up from Eric’s injury in April that left him out of work for 5 weeks. They realized this month that it wouldn’t be quite as easy as they thought, and now it’s time for drastic measures.

And now on to welcome two new Yakezie challengers.

First is Access Not Denied. Since I’m a geek, none of should be surprised by me highlighting his post about super hero movies so far this summer.

We’re also welcoming Travel By Points (especially since I got my plane tickets to FinCon yesterday using credit card points). Since Machu Picchu is one of my dream destinations, we’ll highlight this post about finding a good home base for that trip.

Date: 23/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Round Ups Bookmark: Permalink

Article

Packaging Matters

We try not to be picky about the brand for things where the brand just really doesn’t matter. For example, you don’t need brand name rubbing alcohol or Epsom salts. These things are going to do what they do exactly the same, regardless of the name on the packaging.

At the same time, I’ve found that while brand name may not matter, the packaging does- at least for the Epsom salts.

We use them in our baths to help relieve tired and sore muscles. As such, the salts often sit on the floor of the bathroom right next to the tub. Also right next to a dog water bowl. I have learned that unless I am desperate, I will not buy my Epsom salts from Safeway. I will always make the trip to Fred Meyer and buy Kroger brand. Why? Packaging.

Safeway brand Epsom salts come in a paper milk style container. If it gets damp, the salts get damp and clump, or it starts to break.

Kroger Epsom salts come in a plastic zippable bag- exactly the kind of bag I end up having to put the Safeway container in.

Date: 21/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Everyday Finances Bookmark: Permalink

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Understanding the Target Audience (even when you’re not part of it)

Feeling Left Out Do you ever see some piece of marketing and think to yourself- I am not the target audience for that ad, but I should be the target audience for that product? I accept that I am not going to be the target audience for everything. We watched Zombieland that other night, and since we are not fans of zombie movies, we weren’t the target audience for it, and didn’t find it nearly as funny as my friends who are zombie movie connoisseurs did.

But sometimes, you know you should be the target audience, or at least, you think you should be.

Don’t You Want to Sell to Me? What I’m talking about today are real estate open houses- but not the ones that happen on weekends, or the ones at new construction sites where the models are open every day. I’m talking about the open houses that happen in established neighborhoods and are held on a Tuesday afternoon, from Noon-3pm.

Think about that. Doesn’t it seem incredibly limiting, considering their target audience should be anyone in the market for a home who can afford the one they are selling? Wouldn’t you think that most people who could afford the house are actually working at that time? Do they really want to limit their buyers to families with a stay at home spouse?

Perception vs Reality This is about perception. I don’t perceive myself as the target audience for Zombieland (though I did watch it), but I do see myself as the target audience for houses, and on some level, I feel a little insulted that it appears the realtor doesn’t see me as “good enough” for that house since I have to work during the day.

But that’s my perception. It is very doubtful that my perception matches that of the realtor, though. This is especially true if you do any research into real estate. It turns out, open houses are never about selling that house. Have you been to the open house where the agent tells you at the start that the owners have already accepted an offer? I have- many of them when we were last looking for a house.

An open house has two purposes- for your agent to meet potential new clients or to get other real estate agents into the house.

The Real Target Audience Open houses on weekends are all about the realtor having the chance to meet people who don’t already have their own agent. They are early in the process, or the agent they are working with isn’t showing them the houses they want. An open house on a weekend is a chance for your real estate agent to meet potential new clients, and to make it seem like they are doing something to sell your house, but that really only is a seeming.

An open house in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday? That’s an open house that is actually about selling your house, because its sole purpose is to get other real estate agents into your home. This is done for homes that perhaps don’t have great drive by appeal, or really are much bigger inside than they appear on the outside. It is for houses that haven’t generated a lot of interest already.

By holding the open house in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, most other agents have the time to come by and take a look. It gets them to look beyond the curb appeal, to see the awesome landscaping of the backyard, the completely redone kitchen. It lets them see the how big it really is, in a way that pictures just can’t convey.

A weekday open house isn’t about getting a bored housewife to stop in and fall in love with the property. It is about getting other real estate agents in to see the house, agents that might then recommend the property to their clients.

So no, I’m not the target market for a weekday open house, but it’s not because I have to work for a living. It’s because I’m a potential buyer, and a weekday open house isn’t for the buyers. It’s for all the potential buyers’ agents.

Date: 19/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Category: Lessons Learned, Other People's Money Bookmark: Permalink

Article

Sunday Evening Post #47

Day	Amount	Place	Category
Tuesday	$29.00	Olive Garden	Allowance
Thursday	$21.00	Safeway	Groceries
Friday	$21.50	Safeway	Groceries
	$265.50	CostCo	Groceries
	$58.00	Gas	Car
	$0.66	Parking	Car

Less than $400 in spending this week. I’m not really sure how that happened. Probably because we’ve spent the whole weekend going to graduation parties and not shopping.

I did take books to Half Price Books on Monday and got another $40 in cash. C & J took all sorts of old stereo and computer equipment to e-waste recycling on Saturday, getting even more crud out of my house. We are making progress. It’s none of the big ticket items anymore, so it seems slower, but we are getting there.

Our Friday CostCo spending isn’t really all groceries. We bought a new $200 camera, as our old camera (that we bought in England in 2008) finally died on us.

The only other exciting thing is that I’ve changed the look of this blog and of Life by Pets. I think I actually like the Life by Pets look better, but I’m still using free wordpress themes, and the one I’m using for this is one of the few that has a custom header picture formatted correctly for my new custom art (drawn by one very talented 12 year old).

I have six goals for 2012. As part of the Sunday evening posts, I am tracking those goals, kind of like I do for spending, in order to hold myself accountable.

1) Be paid for publishing one piece of fiction

Submissions so far: 2

Responses: 1 rejection 1 acceptance

The anthology I had a piece accepted to is now available to buy on Amazon. It’s called Conquest Through Determination.

2) Make money publishing my next art/fiction book

3) Attend FinCon12. Pay for the trip with money from allowance/side projects saved/earned BEFORE the conference starts. Goal: $600

I’m in the negatives allowance wise.

Plane ticket prices have gone up, so right now, with credit card points, it would cost about $30 out of pocket for me to buy my ticket to FinCon. However, we’re still putting quite a bit on the card each month, and I don’t expect prices will go up much from where they are, and might even go back down again. (Sweet spot for prices out of Seattle tends to be around 4-6 weeks before the flight.) So for now, I’m still holding off on booking the plane ticket.

4) Become a member of Yakezie (6 month anniversary is Jan 21)

In order to develop relationships with new challengers, I have decided that each edition of What I’m Reading on Saturdays will now include a new challenger.

5) Make money from my blogs.

6) Be healthier

This has been a really good week. I walked at work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Thursday I walked twice, and that’s actually my new goal, as it only takes me about 10 minutes to walk around the parking lot. I can do that on each of my breaks and still have lunch for whatever I want.

We also went to the dog park on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I mowed the lawn on both Saturday and Sunday.

I ate no meat on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

So overall, a good week for activity and for healthy eating (well, if we don’t count the multiple deserts eaten Saturday and today at the graduation parties).

Date: 17/06/2012 Author: Erin Shanendoah Tags: goals, weekly spending Category: Sunday Evening Post Bookmark: Permalink

Personal Finance in a World of Excuses

I Want (Doesn’t Mean I’ll Get)

Sunday Evening Post #49

What I’m Reading: No Time Edition

My Week

Will There Be Cake?

Sunday Evening Post #48

What I’m Reading: We Have Hardwoods? Edition

Packaging Matters

Understanding the Target Audience (even when you’re not part of it)

Sunday Evening Post #47

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