PNW Mama's Personal Finance Blog

Yesterday and this week. We are refinancing our home....for some reason DH thought we would be done this week....he is wrong...it is still going to be another 30 days at least until we sign. They are out approximately 90 days from the start. So here is what it looks like:

Monday: $445 to mortgage company for appraisal and $75 for dd2 soccer camp at high school.

Thursday: $175 to said high school for the privilege of playing soccer

In the next few weeks: school registration...it is all done via mail...not sure what to expect....dd2 will be a senior and I am sure there will be some school costs associated with that (other than things like cap and gown) There will be the studentbody fee, yearbook (which she won't get until NEXT year), and possibly other fee's for classes...on the other hand, I think way back when she was a freshman, I paid $50 for some reason for her senior year....I can't remember but I think there was a credit back for that amount for dd1 when she was a senior. I do have $31 in my scrip account which I can use towards school fee's. Also, dd2 is having her senior pictures done on Wed....I am so excited! It will be 2-3 weeks before the proof's are done and then we will see what she has to offer as far as collections ect. We are not planning on spending a ton, but do want some nice pictures. My brother and sil did dd1's, but due to some family stuff, we aren't speaking right now.

Thankfully the mastercard bill is very low this month and the garbage and water/sewer bill won't be billed until next month (we pay every 2 months).

No big plans for the rest of month except the state fair at the end of the month. DD2 doesn't even start school until the day after Labor Day.

I forgot to add that I also sent $500 to the suv loan on Sat and also stopped at Costco ($225).

DH and I had the past week off. We ended up doing quite a bit, but nothing expensive except an overnight beach stay. Here is what we did:

Sat: Portland Saturday Market (free) and Chinese Classical Gardens (1 free admission and dd2 got a student discount) Also paid $3.50 for parking...much cheaper than taking MAX (our lightrail system)

Sun: Movie....(2) $2.00 off admission coupon

Mon: Portland Rose Garden (free), Japanese Gardens, and Pittock Mansion (2) $2.00 off admission

Tues: College visit...spent $25 for 3 tee-shirts in the campus store and $4.00 for a car sticker.

Wed: DD2 driving test....she PASSED! $9.00 for the test and $60.00 for the license. Coffee with my mom (free...she treated)

Thurs: Beach trip....hotel cost...bought some taffy and a cute starfish ornament....ice cream and coffee treats.

Fri: Home from the beach, dinner out for DH's b-day.

Sat: Family bbq for 3 b-days...movie (free with gift card DH received)

Sun: Pedicure with my sister.

All of these excursions included a meal out. We only ate dinner at home 1 day, and most days included lunch out. We really didn't plan on eating out so much, but that was just the way it worked out. We spent far less though on all of our activities so I think it balanced out ok...after all....we were on vacation. I really didn't want to spend my whole week off cooking and cleaning...that wasn't the point of being on vacation.

So....next week is back to real life, cooking at home and planning for some expenses that are coming up.

Here are a few pictures from our week off...enjoy!

Portland Rose Garden




Chinese Classical Garden



Pittock Mansion



Beach



Japanese Garden

Yipee! DH and I have a week off.

We plan to spend the time doing local things with the exception of an overnighter at the beach on Thursday.

We decided to do a staycation for this week as we had the big cruise in April and we decided to go to VEGAS for a couple of nights in October for our actual anniversary!

Some of the things we have planned:

1. Portland Saturday Market and Chinese Classical Gardens (coupon for that)on Saturday

2. Tour college dd2 is interested in (Tues) and hopefully see dd1 and her boyfriends duplex they will be living in for college this year (they are transferring from previous college and it is the same one dd2 is interested in).

3. DD2 takes her driver's test...Wed...yikes! Prayers would be appreciated....for the parents and the would be driver!

4. Overnight trip to the beach (Thurs).

5. Dinner out on Friday...dh's b-day

6. Family barbeque next Sat for 3 b-days.

We might see a movie on Sunday. Possible zoo trip on either Mon or after driver's test on Wed and/or a visit to Pittock Mansion (coupon). Other possible day trip through the Columbia River Gorge.

There will definately be some eating out, but not every night...though I am not planning elaborate meals for the nights we eat in....after all...we are on vacation!

Here is a pic of the bag my mom made for Christmas...can you tell I am a coffee lover? Finally figured out how to post pics!

Coffee: $3.00

That's it

Yay!

August 1st:

$3.00 coffee
$582.17 mastercard bill (paid in full)
$7.04 Home Depot (board for fence)
$15.95 (interest charge on equity line)

The last charge really makes me mad....we bought dd2 a car and wrote a check out of our equity line. The reason we did this is we had to wait for reimbursement from her ugtma account. We purchased the car on 7/2 and paid it in full on 7/12. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how and why there was a balance on that account when I looked online. When I called US Bank, they said they charge daily interest. Well that was news to us! If I would have known that, we would have paid for the car with our savings account and then just put the reimbursement check into savings. We haven't used that account in several years so it's possible we had forgotten about the daily interest. Lesson learned for the future!

Haven't felt much like blogging lately....but have been reading and commenting though!

June and July were somewhat spendy....we had money going in and money going out.

Out:
1. Bought dd2 a new bed frame and dresser for her b-day in early June (her bedstand had a broken leg...propped up by a brick and dresser was old and somewhat falling apart) These were unfinished as she wanted them painted black..her room is a pretty blue and her bedcovers are blue, black, white and a bit of silver...throw pillows match bedding...turned out great!

2. Bought a new curio cabinet from an upscale consignment store....bigger than the one we have had for years...not crammed anymore and it looks great on the wall we have it on.

3. DD2's wisdom teeth out ($437.00 our portion)

4. Vet bill for cat (exam and lab work)

5. Gift card for sister for b-day

In:

1. Sold old curio cabinet at upscale consignment store ($75 our proceeds)

2. Sold DD2's old dresser ($20)

3. DH sold 3 wheels off his old car ($100)

4. Reimbursement for wisdom teeth from dental account at work...seperate from flex spend acct($437)

5. Small amount from garage sale...mom, aunt, and sister had one a few weeks ago..we hardly had anything as we cleaned out before our cruise in April....but got rid of everything except 1 thing.

We have several upcoming expenses for Aug...senior pic's for dd2, high school registration, school soccer camp, and high school soccer registration. Also we have a "staycation" next week....have some day trips and an overnight trip to the beach and a family b-day celebration for great-nephew & bil (july b-days) and Dh who's b-day is Aug 10th.

Time to tighten down....Aug is looking very spendy!

DH and I have decided to refinance. We are currently at 4.8% and going down to 3.5% (and to a 15-yay!) with no out of pocket cost, except for a possible appraisal. Since we refinanced about 3 years ago, our mortgage broker said we might get away with an online appraisal for $75 vs $400 for an actual one. We considered going down even further to about 2.8% but that would cost approx $1800 plus the appraisal. Going to 3.5 will save approx $55 a month....going to 2.8 would save about $75. Since we are planning on selling in (hopefully) about 5 years, we think just going with the 3.5 is the best thing. Not sure we could recoup what we would have to pay by buying down points.

Anyway, we are now trying to decide what to do with the "extra" money we are saving.....throw it towards the mortgage? Or up the 401K's? Our mortgage is approximately $127,000

What would you do?

On a side note, if we went down to a 3.5 and a new 30 year mortgage, our payment would be cut almost in half of what it is now....lol. We decided NOT to do that mainly because it could be too tempting to have all that extra money hanging around every month. Sure, we could SAY we would use it wisely by paying down the house or upping the 401K's but it could get real comfortable having that extra cushion around.

Also, we will not throw it at the car loans....my car is now down to $4000 with no interest. DH's care is now down to $9100 with a very low rate (plus we pay extra on the loan every month anyway) and once mine is paid off, we will up his payment even further.

Thanks for your advice and opinions!

to the SUV loan! This now takes us below $5K! We sit at $4500.00!

Crazy! A facebook friend posted that it cost her $106 to fill her tank the other day! She drives a Suburban because she has 2 kids in sports and has to haul them and all of their stuff around.

To be fair, they probably need more space than a car....I spent many years hauling kids and sports equipment around myself. But....my small suv (Ford Escape) has done us just fine....before that, I had annother small suv...a Mazda Tribute.

They also have a sporting event across town this weekend....at least 30 miles each way and she joked that the tank would probably last the weekend and she would have to fill up again.

No thanks! Even though we have a new car payment with DH's new Focus, I am glad we did it.....it might not make sense now (having a car payment and all), but we are working to pay it off as quickly as we can...that and the fact that it gets 34 miles to the gallon is even better....hopefully within the next few months it will even be better.

Paid the MasterCard bill today....ugh! Approx $3000.00. Most of it was from the new tv that we purchased before we went on our cruise. Picture was having some issues and the tv was about 5 years old. DH cannot live without his beloved tv, so a new one is ours. It is pretty nice....a smart tv....can view YouTube on it (yeah...oh wow) and NetFlix is on it too as well as the internet. We did not however, get one with 3D. A co-worker has one of those but she has small kids. I am not a huge fan of 3D and neither is DH so we opted out of a tv that had that.

Anyway, May had 3 family birthday's with gift cards at $25.00 each.

Mother's Day had us buying some pretty flowers for our Mom's. DH asked what I wanted but I said nothing....we had our cruise and I got some stuff then.

We relaxed over the long holiday weekend but ate out a few times. We went and put flowers on my grandparents graves. My mom gave me some money to defray the cost. My maternal grandparents are buried on somewhat of an incline and there is no way my mom and aunt can navigate that...especially since the ground was wet and muddy. My paternal grandparents are buried on flat land, but my dad has a degenerate muscle disease that makes it very hard for him to walk....it is getting worse and worse and he is finding it harder and harder to get out. My sister, nor my brother and sil offered to go so it fell to DH and I....no bother though, we were happy to do it. We also went out and purchased some flowers for our yard and pots. Almost forgot to add....2 baby shower gifts for the girls at work.

It was a long and busy May, but we had some good times spent with family and friends

Hopefully June will find us spending a little less money! I didn't really realize until I typed this out, how much spending we really did!

So, a few weeks ago, DH and I were visiting with our insurance agent. We had to get a new life insurance policy as our current 20 year term (where does the time go)? policy is expiring. We got all of that set up and then started our annual review.

Our agent (who we really like and trust) brought up umbrella policies. Part of the reason she did, was because we have a teenager and a semi-adult (20 year old who lives with us during the summer since she is in college). She was explaining to us that if something tragic happened, obviously we could be sued. We have $250,000.00 on our homeowners right now and that an umbrella policy of 1 million might be a good idea. She said that people that tend to sue, typically will settle if someone has a 1 mi umbrella policy rather than going to court. If you only have $250K, they are much more likely to go after your other assets like your 401K ect. She also said that an attorney could argue that someone with $650K in assets, and only $250K on your homeowners policy, wasn't doing their due diligence.

So, for about $17/mo we could have this umbrella policy....we can afford this no problem.

Our agent is not pushy or dramatic.....just offering the information up.

So...my question is for all you is....does anyone have this policy? What if any is your experience? Any pro's or con's that you could think of on why we should or shouldn't do it?

Thanks much!

To the SUV loan! We are getting this thing paid down SA friends!

$5000 to go!

We had a story on our local newscast this evening. They were talking about how cash is eventually going to go away. They were saying how "most" people wouldn't care anyway in this day and age. They had an author on who wrote some book about it....saying how expensive cash is....to print it, haul it to the bank ect.....also talked about how filthy it was...he likened it to passing a used tissue!

They were showing how now a days, you can use your smart phone for just about anything....how someday (maybe now)? you could even use it to pay people like your babysitter or server in a restuarant just by touching your phones together.....transferring the money and all.

It was interesting to say the least....what do you think?

I had a goal to hit $25,000 for savings and we did it! We are now at $27,000.

Going to update my sidebar to reflect a new goal....$30,000!

Wish us luck!

Finally feeling like I am back to the land of the living....the 3 hour time difference really kicked my butt! Have done nothing this past week except work, make dinner, dishes, and watch tv! It did help however, that ALL of the housework was done before we left....that was the plan! And it worked beautifully!Now I am feeling up to normal and the house needs to be cleaned this weekend.....

Anyway, May is shaping up to be busy....the weekends at least....I don't think we have one free weekend this month except Memorial Day. This weekend dd2 has the SAT....have to be there at 7:45am about 30 min away....ugh! Sunday she is getting her hair cut and colored. Next Friday, we are having a baby shower at work for the 2 gals that are expecting....brunch at my bother and sil's house on Sunday. The following weekend we have a family birthday celebration for 3 of dh's family.

Gift's that need to be purchased:

2 baby shower gifts (both girls)!

3 b-day gifts/gift cards for dh family (mil, bil and nephew)

1 b-day gift card for my aunt....normally don't buy for her but she did get me something on my b-day and both the girls last year....feel somewhat obligated.

Flowers for memorial day....will take and put on all of the grandparents.....my dad's parents are burried next to each other and my mom's parents are too, though at different sites....we missed last year so we really need to get there this year....plus since my grandmother passed in Feb, it is a must.

I think that it is......goodness....I hope so!

Sent another $500 before we left for the cruise....we are now down to $5500!

We had a great time on our cruise! We saw 4 islands (Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Curacao, and Aruba)and had some great adventures but I am glad to be home after 10 days away.

Took today off from work (as did DH)...house was clean before we left so all there was to do was laundry and groceries. I am still working on getting back to West coat time....for some reason, that 3 hour time difference really got me this time....I am just dragging today.

Ended up spending about $500 total between shopping on the islands and the ship. This also includes the meals we had on Friday before getting on the ship on Saturday and a meal and snacks on Sunday coming home....it also includes bingo on the ship on a day at sea and some adult beverages and specialty coffee drinks on the ship....all in all....not too bad....I feel so much better knowing everything else was paid for before we left.

Will try to post some pics but I have no idea how to do it on here....any instructions would be appreciated

is the big day! We fly out (at long last) for our anniversary cruise we have had planned for a year. So excited! We will fly all day Friday and then spend the night in a hotel and hop on the ship on Saturday.

As I mentioned before, our cruise, flight and excursions are all paid for in full which is a huge relief and a blessing too!

There are a few expenses that have cropped up (cruise related) but not a worry at all.

DH and I have both purchased a few clothing items.....dh needed some new swim trunks and I needed some new sandals. We also both purchased new sunglasses. A few other clothng items purchased to spruce up the wardrobe. Many of these items were paid for with gift cards we have been saving, plus coupon use and some smart shopping, so not alot of outlay of cash.

A few toiletry itmes also...sunscreen, wrinkle release (for clothes), and a prescription for an ear patch for me....I had a little bit of sea sickness on our last trip so I am hoping I will have none this time....we will see how it works.

Lastly....tanning....we both purchased a small tanning package....I am NOT an advocate of using tanning beds and always wear sunscreen outside...however, I am rather fair, and I wanted to get a bit of color on me since we are going very far down south in the Carribean.

And lastly...a surprise for DH.....I ordered a wine basket to be delivered to our room on Saturday....I am hoping it will be there when we check in! For $39 we are getting a bottle of white wine, 4 or 5 different kinds of fruit, cheese and crackers, and nuts....I am hoping he will be super surprised. I ordered it right through Carnival. He is always doing nice things for me and I wanted to do something that will totally surprise him.

We will be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner out on Friday....our flight leaves at 6am so I am not going to get up and make breakfast and dirty up the kitchen....we will probably have lunch during our layover, and then dinner after we get to Florida and check in our hotel....by then we will probably we falling asleep on our feet and ready for bed!

Ugh! Co-worker came back to work yesterday after having Spring Break off....was telling us that over the weekend they received a call from their MasterCard questioning a charge...yep...you guessed it....fraudulent charge.

I guess she pays $8 a month for fraud protection so she was happy (kinda)?? that it acutally paid off to have that protection....on the other hand....I am sure she wasn't thrilled her credit card was hacked either!

I think this kind of thing is only going to get worse....2 people I know in the past week? Yikes!

Ugh! I feel so bad for her....she logged on to her account this morning before work and discovered she was .19 in the hole...she immediately knew something was wrong...she has some auto withdrawls on Friday and knew she had the money set aside in the account for it.

Sometime after she arrived at work, she got a call from her credit union stating it appeared there was fraud activity on her account.

They closed that account and on Friday she has to head over there to get some things straightened out.

She is not sure what is going to happen with the auto withdrawls....if the credit union will pay them or they will reject.

She feels so violated....

Of course, no idea how it happened...probably skimmed or something....will probably never know.

Hoping it all works out for her

Funny and frugal....I stopped by Wendy's last night for take out since dd2 was gone and it was just dh and I....had a couple of gift cards but wasn't sure how much was one each one....food came to $9.98....whipped out one of the cards and it was for $10.00....she processed the transaction and said...oh there is 2 cents left on it....want me to just toss it? Uh no.....I'll keep it for a future purchase....ha ha.....I am sure she thought I crazy!

I will be on a cruise ship headed for paradise! The best part? Our cruise, flight, and excursions (4) are all paid for....IN FULL!

That's right SA friends.....paid in full. What a great feeling.

The only things not paid for are souviners and "adult" beverages.

Now, we don't drink much at all...but....we do plan on enjoying some tropical cocktails while on this vacation....after all....it is a celebration for our 25th anniversary.

We are so ready to get out of town....it's been a typical NW Spring....gray and rainy with a little snow mixed in too.

I am so excited!

Wow! The checking account is looking pretty awesome right now! lol

We plan to throw $1000 towards dh's new car loan and put the rest in savings.

Part of that will go towards paying off the excursions for the cruise we have in April. We have booked 3 and need just 1 more....need to get it done so it will show on the next credit card statement and I can pay it off.

The rest (after car loan/excursions) will just stay in the savings account.

Another $500 to the SUV loan! We are now down to $6000.00.

We decided to see if we can swing it and continue to send $500 on this loan even though we have dh's new vehicle loan which is $237/mo.

We hope to round his payment up to $300 to get a bit of a head start on paying that darn thing down.

As soon as the SUV loan is paid off we will be sending at least $500 to this loan.

At least it costs less to fill his tank now. He is getting about 30 miles to the gallon right now. He is hoping after 3-5K he will hit 40.

And it is good news.....we are getting approximately $2800 back from federal and approximately $300 to $400 from state.

The reason? Most of it is from the American Opportunity Credit.....for 2010 and 2011 we were eligible for a $2500 credit as our oldest daughter is in college. We also get the $1000 child credit for our youngest.

Per our tax lady....next year it will definately change and we will not be seeing this kind of a refund again for a long time....if ever. We will lose the child credit as our youngest will turn 17 this year. Apparently they will take away the american opportunity credit of $2500 and it will change to the lifetime learning credit which will be $2000. All in all we will lose approximately $1500 in credits for 2012.

She did say our withholdings are right on target though and will re-evaluate next year. We may get a small refund with those changes at least from federal....state is another thing....our state has a state income tax and it just feels like they tax us to death so who knows if any of the above will affect that.

I guess all we can do is wait and see.

It will be nice to have this money though, I have to admit....we were not planning on such a big refund so it is a nice surprise.

More on the plans for that later!

That grocery prices have REALLY gone up? I don't mean just a bit, but like alot! I was shocked when I went to the grocery store on Sunday....this is my usual store for most of our groceries (pantry items) and I just couldn't believe the prices on some of the itmes I regularly buy....they have really jumped!

Add in gas prices these days and it's just crazy!

Boo!

In our quest to save money, we decided to cancel our paper. I tried to cancel and only take the Sunday (since that is our main coupon source) but they don't offer Sunday only....has to be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I cancelled the whole thing. We will just pick up a Sunday paper sometime on Saturday as I usually have some sort of errand to run and can just get it then. It is worth it to us to still get the Sunday for the coupons as I mentioned before. The main grocery store I shop at (Winco) does not take internet coupons so I need that paper for the inserts. Fred Meyer does take internet coupons so I can certainly use them there.

On another note, looks like our auto insurance will go down a bit too with DH's new car....looks like around $10 a month....doesn't seem like a lot but as we all know, sometimes those little amounts sure add up.

Gas for the cars will be interesting. DH's new car will definately get better gas mileage than his one before but with prices going up, up, up, maybe it will even out in the end.

Still doing well with no home phone and just using cell's.

I love saving money!

Portland Metro area: $3.50's to $3.75

How about you?

Ugh! I knew it was coming....

DH has been talking about a new car now for quite a while. His car was 6 years old and had $80,000 miles on it. He drives 40 miles roundtrip to work 5 days a week. With gas prices on the rise, he was wanting something more eficient. He got a Ford Foucus SE.

This weekend he finally did it....I have to admit, he got a great deal, but I am not excited about going back into debt. Luckily (or not?) we are only having to finance about $10,000. Looks like we will be getting a loan at a credit union at about 2.25%...not bad I guess, but I prefer 0% (that's what my loan is at)

The plan is to work at paying these off as quickly as possible. For quite some time now, we have been paying $500/mo on my loan....we are now at $6500....his payment will be around $230 so we decided to pay $300/mo on each car. As funds allow, we may try to send more on my car to get it paid off as soon as possible. These 2 car loans are the only debt other than our mortgage so I want to hit it hard!