When is #1 not #1? When inflation says so.

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 3, 2010

Seen Avatar yet?

I’m guessing a lot of you have since it has earned over $700,000,000 at the domestic box office which makes it the number one movie of all time. It’s also nominated for 9 academy awards, if you’re into that sort of thing. Personally I think it will win quite a few (Best Picture, and all the techie ones).

But when adjusted for inflation Avatar is only the 15th highest earning movie of all time (I say “only” like it’s a bad thing or something). According to those figures, Gone With The Wind is the number one money maker of all time.

Which makes total sense since everything was much cheaper back in the day. I remember my grandparents filling me with stories of how they were able to spend all Saturday at the movies for only a nickel. Now we’re lucky to get out of there without spending $20 - 30 (with popcorn).

This is basically the extent of my knowledge of inflation. :)

But this example illustrates the point well. I went to a 3-D showing of Avatar and had to pay $13 each for Mrs DD & I to take in the show. When my Grandpa took my Grandma to Gone with the Wind he probably only had to spend a couple bucks. Lucky guy!

In other Gone With The Wind news—A theater in my hometown was the first theater to screen Gone with the Wind in the whole state of South Dakota. They make a pretty big deal about it. This same theater has been restored to a playhouse which shows movies in the winter.

It’s a pretty cool theater.

So cool in fact that they host the showings of a local short film competition that I have partaken in for the past few years. You get a weekend to make a movie with a randomly drawn genre and certain other requirements: Line of dialog, a prop, and a character.

This year the genre was Hollywood mash-up which is like “Movie A meets Movie B”. Our team ended up with having to make a film based on the idea of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” meets “The Bourne Identity“. The other requirements were: Line = “I swear…” Prop = a newspaper, Character = JT, a former child star.

Below is what we came up with. It’s no box office champ, but it was the “runner-up” in the Best Technical category:

Frankly DD, I don’t give a damn!

OK, so this post wasn’t really about inflation, I just wanted an excuse to show my film. To make it up to you I’ll also offer up 10 Oscar picks that are sure to be wrong:

Best Picture - Avatar
Best Directer - Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Supporting Actress - Mo’Nique (Precious)
Animated film - Up
Adapted Screenplay - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)
Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)
Foreign Film - The White Ribbon

Until next time,

-DD

P.S. My favorite film of the year was “A Serious Man” by the Coen Brothers, but I don’t think it’ll win anything.

» Filed Under About Me, Economy

Frugal Family Traditions

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 12, 2009

This past weekend my family said “Goodbye to Summer” and “Hello to Fall” (Not just because we turned on the heat for the first time either).

In what is becoming a yearly family tradition we took a hiking trip in a state park which allowed us to enjoy some beautiful fall foilage. I understand that in some parts of the country it is no big deal to look at trees, but here in the northern plains it is. Such a big deal in fact, that we are willing to drive 90 min (one way) to get there.

As a kid, my family also did this. We would join up with my uncle’s family and have a fun-filled day hiking through the woods, finding snakes, collecting leaves, and trying to cross the stream without falling in (My cousin would fall in every year).

The best part of the trip was that we’d get to go to Ike’s Chicken Shack afterwoods. It was a buffet, but it also had a zoo, an arcade, and a old-time movie theater(3 Stooges, Laurel & Hardy).

Add all of this up and it made for a super fun day full of wonderful memories!

So of course I’d like to treat my family to the same kind of fun. Sadly Ike’s closed down a while ago, but the hiking trail is alive and well. So for the last couple of years we’ve been packing up and hitting the road on the first weekend of October.

This year we added a picnic to the mix and the kids were SUPER EXCITED! Who would’ve thought a thermos full of tomato soup and some stale crackers could garner such feelings?

I’m glad they were extra excited. Because the weather wasn’t ideal. It was cool and there were off an on light rain showers all day. But we didn’t let that stop us. In fact the foul weather kept the crowds away (yes, we get crowds in South Dakota) so we practically had the place to ourselves. sica-hollow

It was great!

It was a little early to catch the full beauty of leaves changing color, but that didn’t stop our good time. My wife took some super fun photos (something that you can never have enough of) of the kids & I pretending to explore a hidden jungle while on the lookout for dangerous creatures.

It didn’t even bother us when our picnic got rained on. In fact we took a vote and declared that we’re going to do this every year. Of course that means every year until the kids get too cool to hang out with their parents.

But that’s not all…

Our “fall family weekend” wasn’t over yet though. The next day we went to a pumpkin patch that our town puts on. We heard about it before, but never went. Boy were we missing out!

It’s not a real pumpkin patch, but still really fun. Let me explain:

1000 pumpkins are shipped to the fairgrounds. Then different local groups team up and set up games and events for the kids to do (story time, face painting, train rides). Of course, the main attraction is that they get to pick out a pumpkin and decorate it.

pumpkins2

Did I mention, that it’s FREE!

We had so much fun that we decided that we’d try to combine these two fun fall activities every year. The best part is other than a $6 park fee and a half-tank of gas, this was a pretty cheap weekend.

Which makes sense, most traditions usually are affordable. It’s all the other stuff that costs money.

And what do we remember? The traditions!

Last holiday season I mentioned some of my family’s Chistmas traditions or at least the ones we’d like to have. Well, we’re always looking for some more, so imagine my gratitude when a couple of weeks ago REAL SIMPLE had an article with some fun suggestions for new family traditions. Here are the ones that my wife and I thought that we’d try out to see if they stick:

Happy Half-Birthday Celebrate a half-birthday with hamburgers and hot dogs sliced in half, half-filled glasses of soda, and a half-chocolate/half-vanilla cake. In the middle of the party, belt out “Happy Birthday,” but stop singing halfway through the song.
First Snow Festival
The first snowfall of the year merits a warm bowl of “melting snowman soup” (potato soup with mini carrot noses and olives or peas for eyes).
Thanksgiving Turkey Parade
After hours of waiting (hungrily), announce your bird’s grand entrance with a parade. March the turkey through the house, with your eager young guests trailing behind. Musical pots and pans optional but encouraged.
Santa’s Toy Swap
Along with cookies and milk, leave old toys under the tree on Christmas Eve for Santa to take back to the North Pole, where his elves can repair them for other children.

While all of these sound fun, the one we’re really excited to try is the Santa Toy Swap. As mention earlier, my kids have too many toys, this sounds like a great way to “thin the herd.”

How about you? What are some of your fun family traditions? Any off the wall ones?

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Children and Money, Money Savers

DD’s Monthly Expenses - September 2009

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 2, 2009

It seems like I start off every one of these posts by saying I can’t believe how fast time is flying, BUT I REALLY CAN’T!

I think the cool and wet summer we had screwed up my inner clock. It is still waiting for the 4th of July. Oh well…

As some of you know, I track my family’s monthly expenses, and what follows is the tally for September:

$840.39 - Mortgage
$759.20 - Health Insurance
$614.50 - Daycare
$400.00 - Preschool
$399.22 - Groceries
$169.82 - Landscaping
$150.00 - Student Loan
$134.01 - Tennis
$111.76 - Electricity
$111.47 - Vehicle Registration
$103.72 - Phone & Internet
$93.64 - Dinning Out
$92.00 - Events (Film Fest, & Bazaar)
$87.47 - Gas
$76.00 - Medical
$74.19 - Shoes
$66.18 - Dog
$60.01 - Household Misc
$57.98 - Kids Care
$53.32 - Utilities
$28.62 - Beauty Products
$22.26 - Dance Class
$19.50 - Donations
$4.77 - Gift

For a grand total of $4530.03. Yikes, and I thought last month was bad.

Biggest Budget Busters:

$614.50 - Daycare - “Just when I thought I was out…they pulled me back in.” I know what you’re saying, “DD, I thought your daycare closed in June?” It did, this is the final bill…that I’ve been forgetting to pay. So this should be the last time that I pay for daycare.
$169.82 - Landscaping - Four years ago or so, we had some professional landscaping done. A nice brick patio was put in. It was really slick. But The landscaper convinced my wife that we should put in a sandbox in this empty spot between the house & garage. Why not right? I’ll tell you why not, all the neighborhood cats treated it as their litter box. We finally bricked it over ourselves. It doesn’t look nearly as slick as the professional job, but at least that area doesn’t smell like cat poop anymore.
$134.01 - Tennis - I really should include the $74 I spent on shoes too, because that was for my new tennis shoes. I was surprised at this high of a total, until I remembered what it was for: a tournament(came in 2nd) indoor league (3 months) and some new balls. This will be a big part of my entertainment/exercise for the next 3 months, so I guess it’s not too bad.

Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:

$400.00 - Preschool - This total will normally be $450/month. But since my wife is taking the school pictures we got $50 knocked off our bill this month. I hope the pictures turn out. :) Actually my wife is kicking herself for not asking for $100. Live & learn.
$74.19 - Shoes - This might seem odd that I include this here while I complained about tennis up above. Let me explain. I normally spend a lot more on my tennis shoes than I did, so part of me (the part writing this right now) thinks I did a good job showing some restraint. So there.
$4.77 - Gifts - On the same day we bought the bricks to cover up the litter box, my children were invited to a B-Day party. One of their old daycare buddies was turning the big 04. So we settled on three Sesame Street activity books and didn’t break the bank.

~Let’s do the Time Warp~

Last September we only spent $3,370.68.

Those were the days. The big difference that caught my eye was that we didn’t have to cover our own health insurance premiums back then(didn’t start until Jan 09). The tidbit that I found amusing was that much like this year, I was complaining about how much I spent on tennis.

Tennis - Actually this is for a 3 month membership in an indoor court. Last year it was quite a bit more than this, but I played twice a week last winter, this year I’m playing once every other week.I’d say there wouldn’t be much expense in the category the rest of the year, but I just broke a string, so look for that next month.

I guess I have a twisted sense of humor because the amusing part of that is I only spent $55 on tennis last September.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me

Cast Your Vote - Carnival of Top PF Post #6

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 10, 2009

The Writer’s Coin was the host for the 6th Carnival of Top PF Posts. The carnival write-up includes carnival summary and a brief summary of each article. Click through and check out the carnival.

For an easy voting reminder the voting widget is displayed below(RSS readers need to click through to the site to vote).

Also new this week is the “Share this poll” link on the bottom of the voting widget which is designed to provide simple access to any bloggers who want to show the poll in a post on their own site like I did. The purpose is to reward the best content with as much traffic as possible.

» Filed Under About Me

DD’s Monthly Expenses - May 2009

Posted by Debt Destroyer on June 3, 2009

Can you believe it’s June already?

Time is flying by. As most of you know I track my family’s expenses. Here is the tally for May:

$989.40 - Auto Repairs
$830.00 - Mortgage
$664.10 - Health Insurance
$615.00 - Daycare
$496.43 - Groceries
$325.00 - Preschool Down Payment
$305.52 - Household Misc
$205.00 - Student Loan
$179.59 - Shoes (new tennis shoes & summer kid shoes)
$173.84 - Park & Rec Classes
$168.95 - Electricity
$167.94 - Contacts (6 months)
$134.30 - Gas
$124.23 - Gifts (Mother’s Day, Graduation, B-Days)
$116.64 - Clothing
$75.00 - Fun Kid stuff (Chucky Cheese, Zoo, Horse Races)
$70.20 - Phone & Internet
$61.91 - Dinning Out
$57.93 - Dog Food
$53.32 - Utilities (water, sewer, garbage)
$51.99 - Tree
$40.00 - Medical
$4.00 - Powerball

Total Damage = $5910.29

I chuckle when I see this total. I figure it’s better to chuckle than to cry.

Last month I said I wanted to be around the $4000 level. We were doing fine until mid month when the wheels fell off. Then it got really bad when I had our van’s A/C fixed at the end of the month.

Biggest Budget Busters:

$989.40 - Auto Repairs - I’ve already went on about this long enough. It’s just part of vehicle ownership. At least I’ll be riding in comfort on those hot summer days.
$496.43 - Groceries - This looks bad, but about 40% of this is from a party we threw. Every five years or so we throw a big backyard bash…You’re all invited in 2014 for the next one.
$305.52 - Household Misc - Last month I was asked what makes up “Household Misc”, I think I’ll break this out in it’s own post.

Biggest Budget Breakthroughs:

$325.00 - Preschool Down Payment - It may seem strange to put this in the breakthrough category, but I think in the long run this will end up saving us big time. I’ll explain further in a future post.
$51.99 - Tree - Again, this is listed here because I’m looking forward to enjoying the future benefits of this for years to come. I’m told that in 5 years our patio will have shade.
$4.00 Powerball - I didn’t win the grand prize, but I did triple my money ($12.00)

Even when you take out the van repair bill, it was still a very disappointing month. But that’s the great thing about tracking your expenses…

Every month is a fresh start.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me

The Happy Rock’s Monthly Budget Expenses Revealed

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 15, 2009

I haven’t been hiding our expenses, but the truth isn’t we haven’t really been paying attention. Since we’ve gotten rid our debt except for the mortgage and established a fully funded emergency fund, we have earned the right not to budget. Pants in a Can and DD post their expenses and take flak for it, so I figured I am not above that type of scrutiny. I don’t want to be throwing money away when there are many other good causes and uses for that cash.

Let’s get right into it.

The Happy Rock’s expenses from 4/1/2008 to 4/1/2009:

Notes

Food - Wow!!! I knew we spend a lot of food, but $800 plus a month on food. If you do the per day calculations that is about $6.66 a day per person in the family. The Rockette is a Registered Dietitian, so healthy food isn’t something she is willing to skimp on. We buy mostly organic and as much raw fruits and veggies as possible. The Rockette cooks most meals at home and other than snacks like bars and pretzels meals are made from scratch. We also have two boys(ages 18 months and 3.5 years) who eat all the time and I mean all the time, so that part will only get worse. Part of the high costs were organic formula for the baby. The only bright lining I can find is that the amount is trending down and is now closer to $650-$700 in the last few months. I also know that when we were in debt we weren’t nearly as picky about the food we ate, our dollars were better spent on debt.

Auto Maintenance - High because our 2003 Nissan Murano problems and having to replace 4 tires on both cars.

Auto Insurance - Includes $150 for AAA

Home Expenses - All in all, I think we are doing pretty well. Total home costs of of under $1100 even with ridiculous NJ property taxes. $3300 a year for a 1000 sqft condo with no land is staggering! All our other bills are pretty reasonable since someone is at home 24/7.

Household Misc. - This is the Target runs, diapers, wipes and the like. It could be categorized better, but I don’t go through the receipts to break it out into special categories, so a lot of that spending would be broken up into things like clothing, decorations, etc. It is still a pretty sizable expense.

Child Care - This is for a single sitter who comes to our house and watches both boys 18 hours a week while The Rockette works. It is a sizable return on investment since The Rockette makes nice money as a consultant. The boys will be starting preschool in a few weeks which will cause this expenses to go up a little.

All the other costs are reasonable or very good for a vibrant family of 4 in my opinion in an above average cost of living area.

The only other note would be that the monthly and yearly spending is significantly below our income. We spend way less than we earn and always have which is why we were able to destroy $70,000 in debt , buy a house, adopt two children, put a decent chunk into retirement, and fully fund our emergency fund in the last 5 years or so.

So there you have it. Let me have it. Criticism, bashing, whatever, I am up for it.

» Filed Under About Me, Spending

Scary Movies And A Personal Finance Video Game

Posted by Debt Destroyer on May 8, 2009

We probably were the last people in the world to see it, but Mrs. DD and I finally got a round to watching “An Inconvenient Truth” this past weekend.

It was a very inspiring film (hard to believe a power point by Al Gore would be described that way) and it’s important message will no doubt have an influence on how we live.

But earlier today I saw another film which told an equally disturbing story about our national debt: IOUSA

Actually it’s the 30-minute version of what must have been a feature length film(that I missed). It does a very good job explaining the national debt and why it’s important we take steps now to curtail it’s growth. If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend you take the time and watch it.

Hopefully lots of people will see this and it will have the same kind of impact that “An Inconvenient Truth” has had.

It was produced by The Peter G Peterson Foundation, which seems to be a very cool foundation.

They put out “The State of the Union’s Finances: A Citizen’s Guide.” Which seems to be a print version of the film.

They give updates on a new sporting event sweeping college campuses, Budget Ball. Which is similar to Ultimate Frisbee. This is a new sport that combines not only physical play but also fiscal strategy.

And they also have a personal finance video game called “Debt Ski” about teaching fiscal responsibility to kids (or any other video game players). From what I can tell the game shows that a thrifty lifestyle is easier to maintain and that paying bills using credit comes with pitfalls that you need to be careful with.

I have to admit that I’ve wasted a fair amount of time “researching” Debt Ski for this post. Be warned, it’s fun and also mildly addicting. But I didn’t/couldn’t get past the 3rd level before I had to let my kids play. They are always interrupting me while I work.

But if you’re looking for a challenge, my little girl scored 111,000 on her 2nd try. Have fun!

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me

$10 cheese - Living The High Life While Blowing The Grocery Budget

Posted by Debt Destroyer on April 20, 2009

A few months ago I shared some tips on how shave a little off your grocery bill.

Today I will share some tips on how to totally mess up your grocery budget:

Visit friends who are great cooks.
Become motivated by friends to be more adventurous with your cooking.
Find some tasty looking recipes.
Buy a $10 block of cheese.

Before you now it, your grocery budget is gone!

Ok, so maybe it’s not a great idea to follow these steps exactly, but if you’re lucky the results can be quite scrumptious.

Allow me to explain…

Mrs. DD has a good friend who routinely invites us over for dinner. I look forward to these calls, because she is a wonderful cook. The joy of eating must’ve rubbed off on my wife, because she has gotten the bug for trying new recipes(she gets them from Real Simple). And the best part is that most of them have been very good.

And they haven’t been all that expensive either. But then she came cross one for Baked Spinach and Gruyere . Neither of us had heard of Gruyere before. So we had no clue…

No clue that our local grocer sold it for $18.50/pound.

I thought for half a second about giving this meal the ax, but I knew my wife was excited to try it (you can only eat so much mac & cheese). So instead I got the smallest package of it that I could find, but it still came to $10.76.

On 99-cent McNugget night, we routinely feed our family of four for less than I just paid for the cheese. Heck, this chunk of cheese cost more than my entire Spring Break did.

This cheese better be good...

So now that I shared a budget busting recipe, how about we get some of you Happy Rock readers to share some of of your favorite “budget friendly” recipes. My taste buds and my wallet thank you in advance.

Until next time,

-DD

**Update**

The cheese was VERY GOOD, but the dish was not. We both thought it would make a nice dip, but it didn’t do it for us as an entree.

» Filed Under About Me

Grandma, Please Stop Spoiling Our Children

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 19, 2009

Grandparents are great aren’t they?

I don’t know about you, but I have very fond memories of my grandparents. There’s the trips to the zoo, baseball games, & museums. I remember having lots of sleepovers with great food and a never ending supply of cookies. But above all I remember lots and lots of treats and toys.

I see that same pattern repeating itself for my children and their grandparents. And that is wonderful, but…

Our house is full of the crap that the grandparents give their “precious little angles”.

For example, at the end of January my son turned two. The previous Christmas, Santa Claus brought him 4 toy dinosaurs. He loved them! The grandparents must have caught wind of this so for his birthday he must have got every dinosaur the store had.

dinos-toys

“What’s the problem DD, that isn’t so bad?”

You’re right, there is nothing wrong with that. But that wasn’t the only gifts he got from them. He also got a train set, remote control cars, a sit & spin, some action figures, and a bunch of other stuff.

Putting aside the problem that most of his presents were not age appropriate (his older sister has decided that they are her toys), our main issue with our parent’s generosity is that it’s starting to feel like our dinning room has turned into a toy storage room.

I remember a couple of years ago my mother-in-law joking with me, telling me that she could help me fill up my basement and garage. I’m starting to think she wasn’t joking (See the cackle throws you off. You think its a laugh, but in reality the cackle is mother-in-law for “sucka”).

Before I totally bemoan the act of grandparents spoiling their grandchildren rotten, let me say that I love the bags of clothes we get from their rummage sales exploits, and the occasional free babysitting. I’m just wondering if any Happy Rock readers out there has dealt with this before?

Is there a tactful way of looking a gifthorse in the mouth and ask it to lighten up ?

Dropping hints doesn’t seem to work. Neither does saying, “Please don’t buy that.”

We’ve resigned to just smile and bear it.

We’ve tried holding a rummage sale before, but our parents ended up coming to it. It was quite obvious that they didn’t like seeing all the stuff they’ve given to us over the years for sale. Of course in true parent form, they don’t say anything, they just laid on the guilt later on.

So what happens is that we try not to open the things that we don’t think the kids will play with, then we regift. That’s right I admit to regifting. It is a wonderful way to get rid of unused or unwanted gifts! Heck, I think we still have a few wedding presents that we looking to unload.

Just last night we discovered that our daughter has 5 sets of “Go Fish” card games, all given to her by grandparents. Luckily two of them haven’t been opened yet. So look out parents of little girls…if you invite us to a B-Day celebration you know what you’ll be getting.

Do you have any 5’s…Go Fish

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Children and Money, Serving Others