Cast Your Vote - Carnival of Top PF Post #6

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 10, 2009

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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

Community In Action - Daylight Savings Edition

Posted by The Happy Rock on March 14, 2009

Who’s To Blame For Your Spending? You or you? @ Pecuniarities

Use Google Calander To Pay Your Bills On Time @ Free From Broke

6 Steps To Reducing Your Credit Card Interest Rate @ Christian PF

3 Steps To Smarter Shipping Charges @ Gather Little By Little

Making A Budget That Works @ My Findependence Day

FDIC Might Be Underfunded. Should You Withdraw Your Money From Banks? @ Consumerism Commentary

» Filed Under About Me

Community In Action - Big Game Edition

Posted by The Happy Rock on February 1, 2009

Should I Rent? @ Gather Little By Little - We have been tossing this one around as we are in almost the same exact boat. We are leaning towards renting too…more to come on that topic.

Online Bargain Shopping Pitfalls: Top 5 Signs You’re Being Conned @ The Digerati Life

6 Words That Make Your Resume Suck @ Squawkfox

What To Do When You Pay Off Your Car @ PTMoney - Great list. I remember when we fully owned our first car. Great feeling.

4% Mortgages On The Way @ FiveCentNickel

» Filed Under About Me

Community in Action - New President Edition

Posted by The Happy Rock on January 24, 2009

Frugal People Focus Too Much On Outgo @ Frugal Dad - Both are important, but income is often overlooked since it usually takes more energy.

A Good Way To Fund Mortgage Lending @ Wisebread - Very nice accountability in this system, something the US system was severely lacking with the onset of mortgage backed securities where investors carried all of the risk that lenders need to carry.

Do You Ever Plan To Really Retire? @ Bible Money Matters - I don’t!

How To Become A Location Indepen dent Family @ BripBlap

How To Show Love Without Buying Stuff @ Almost Frugal

Debt Reduction Update - January 2009 @ How I Save Money - Keep plugging away people!

» Filed Under About Me, Bloggers

A New Twist to Selling the Van - A Bailout Plan

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 9, 2008

Another page has been added to our selling the van story. You long time readers can skip ahead, but if you want to catch up here is the first part, and here is the second part.

Now for the third installment of “Will They or Won’t They?”

I was having dinner at my parents house a couple of weeks ago and my Mom asked how we were doing financially. I gave her my pat answer that I always give her,

“Just fine.”

But then I made the mistake of offering a little more.

“But we’ll be in much better shape after we sell the van.”

That set off her maternal alarms:

“What’s wrong?”
“But I thought you liked your van?”
“Is the business not doing good?”

After I calmed her down, I did my best to explain to her what our plan was:

Sell the van ($15,500).
Pay off the $11,000 grand we still owed, which would eliminate the $330 monthly payment.
Buy a $4500 vehicle and save up for a nicer vehicle.

She thought I had lost my mind.

I knew a lot of people wouldn’t like our plan (especially her), so I didn’t really give her protest much thought, until…

Later that night she called me up and asked if we were seriously going to sell our van? I assured her we were, right after Native American Day (in South Dakota, Columbus Day = Native American Day). She then proceeds to tell me how much I will regret that decision because I’ll end up with a junker that I’ll have to throw money at and this will money saving idea will backfire in my face.

She then made the offer…to pay off our van.

“What’s the catch?” I asked. She said there wasn’t one. $5000 would be from my money my Dad left me that I gave her to hold onto. And the other $6,000 would be from money my Grandma left my Mom to spend however she wanted.

I was a little fishy right away because where was this offer two years ago when we started my wife’s business and needed almost exactly this amount of money. Plus I could’ve swore I used up all the money my Dad left me for a down payment on our house. I mentioned this to her, and she said she’d check into it. Then I said how about she give just my Dad’s money to me so then I’d have enough for a $9500 vehicle after selling the van. She didn’t like the sound of that.

I knew it was fishy.

Another problem was that I had really wanted to do the responsible thing and sell the vehicle, learn from our mistake, and sacrifice for the next few years until we could afford another used van. But now a personal bailout plan is offered and I’m rather confused.

I know Frugal Dad recently wrote a post saying that you shouldn’t lend relatives money, but what about the flip-side of that coin? and what if it’s not a loan?

Even though it’s fishy, I’m thinking of taking her up on it. We don’t really want to sell our van, the whole point was to get rid of the payment, and this would accomplish that. So Happy Rock Readers I turn to you once again…

What would you do? Are there any pros & cons that I’m missing? Have any of you accepted a “bailout” before? If so, how did it turn out?

I thank you in advance for any responses and please stay tuned for the next episode of “Will They or Won’t They?”

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Cars, Children and Money, Debt Elimination, Serving Others

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