Toilet-Paper-Tracker

I had heard about the “marriage penalty” years ago, but sort of (naively) assumed it had nothing to do with me. I just read about it again, and the article provided this link, where you can see if you’re affected by the marriage penalty. http://taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/marriagepenaltycalculator.cfm

And we so are!!! The more equal your two incomes are, greater the chance of a penalty. D and I make almost the same amount. Together we make $87,800. If one of us made that much, and the other stayed home, we’d pay almost $1300 less in taxes. That is a lot of money!

As a side note - this was designed as a marriage bonus, and did function that way back when there was only one wage-earner per household. It still is a bonus for those families where only one spouse is working. So it’s not really the “marriage penalty.” It’s really the “two working spouses” penalty. (According to the article I read, that is 57% of married people).

It’s a moot point, though, because despite our work experience and master’s degrees, we’re both in careers where neither one of us can make $80k. So there you go. We both work, and we both make almost the same amount.

I just redeemed rewards points on both credit cards.

Card 1 is American Express
We get 6x points on gas and groceries; those are the only things I use that card for.
Redeemed $250 purchase eraser
I put $250 in the virtual airfare "envelope"

Card 2 is Capital One
We get 3x points for everything, so I use that card for everything else.
Redeemed $237.55 travel purchase eraser (rental cars for our trip to the UK and France this summer)
I put $237.55 in the virtual airfare "envelope"

There is now $1357 in the airfare "envelope." We keep building this up so that when it's time to buy our tickets for the next trip we have enough saved up. We go to the UK every other year to see D's family, and France is my reward for putting up with them (just kidding!).

We used to have airline miles cards, but we ended up with just one or one and half tickets every two years (and we'd have to buy additional miles to get the second, and buy the last one outright, but that always cost more because we had to match it to the award ticket's time/date/etc). This method gets us three tickets, no restrictions attached!

Since last April, we've gotten $2338 in awards (in just one year!!), less the credit card fees of $140. So about $2200 (and that's just one year of rewards). Our tickets cost $4482 total (a non-optional expense we have every other year). Wow - that works our perfectly!

I am starting to get excited about the trip, and about summer in general!

When we were first married, and until our daughter was about 2, we only had one car. My husband likes having two cars, and I wish we only had one. Most days we take just one car (I drop him off at work and then pick him up later.

Here is the breakdown on costs of having a second car (these costs are yearly estimates):

- Car 1 (VW GTI - husband's car) - total $1470-1870 per year
registration - $50
gas - $500-900
service - $350
insurance - $570

- Car 2 (Nissan Versa - my car) - total $1338-1758
registration - $37
gas - $420-840
service - $225
insurance - $656

So first of all it's interesting to me that overall the cars cost almost exactly the same amount to run. It's about $125 a month each or $250 for both; actual total for the past year was $233, so pretty accurate.

I think a savings of $125 per month (or $1500 per year) is a lot! D doesn't think it's that much.

Since tracking and spreadsheets are what I love to do, I am going to do a spreadsheet of how many miles we actually drive each week, and see how much they cost to drive per mile. I know this is slightly ridiculous, but it gives me something else to track.

And, just as a side note, D promised that when one of these cars is too old and eventually is destined for the junkyard, we will have just one car after that. So I'm pretty happy. They are both pretty newish (2007 an 2008) so it'll be a while, but I can wait.

With the remainder of the Big Medical Bill looming (I've paid $500 so far which was the deposit), I decided to analyze our budget to see where I can cut to help pay for the bill over six or eight months rather than dip into savings. I'm basically paying myself back since I have the money to pay for the bill. I am looking for about $350 each month.

In the process I found out some things about our budget...

Here's a breakdown:
- Home (mortgage, utilities, repairs) - $1677 (27%)
- Food (both dining and groceries) - $890 (15%)
- F (tuition, clothes, supplies, camp, piano, soccer) - $1042 (17%)
- Auto (servicing, repairs, registration, gas) - $265 (4%)
- Travel (this is carried forward for future trips to visit D's family) - $301 (5%)
- Medical (doctor, dentist) - $200 (3%)
- Personal (cash, clothes, knitting, haircuts, life insurance) - $177 (3%)
- Household (supplies, appliances, etc) - $119 (2%)
- Family Entertainment - $95 (2%)
- Gifts - $85 (1%)
- Pets - $75 (1%)
- Savings - $1200 (20%)

And my analysis:
- Home category is usually lower because I carry the monthly amount set aside for repairs forward. I currently have $770 set aside for repairs. Don't really want to dip into this
- Food category also usually (much) lower by about $190. I could plan less expensive meals and get that to $200 or $250 - that amount doesn't need to carry forward, so I can put this toward the medical bill
- Stuff for F is a category where I usually seem to go over (which I guess gets absorbed by the food category. I need to rein in that spending!!
- Auto - I need two new tires, so can't really "steal" from this category
- Travel category is carried forward so even though spending for about a year is low, we spend in one big wad (plane tickets) about every other year. I can't use overage from this category, otherwise we won't have enough when we need to go to see D's family in the UK every other year
- Medical - maybe I need to increase the savings in this category in the future
- Personal - I can't limit D's spending, but this has been lower than projected in recent month by anywhere from $20 to $120, so I can definitely use some of the savings here to pay for the medical bill
- Household - I think I can actively reduce this category, too. It's been lower than expected in recent months, and I've been carrying the balance forward.
- Family Entertainment - I carry forward money for the summer pool membership here, which I just paid. Also stash money here for winter nutcracker tickets. I don't want to mess with this too much, but maybe a little for the short term.
- Gifts - This tends to be accurate over the full year (also gets carried over all the way to Christmas when it's really important that the money is in here!) so even though we're spending very little out of this category now, we will in key months - November for Christmas, May for F's birthday in June, also birthday gifts for F's friends
- Pets - Also pretty accurate over the year although recent months have been lower, so maybe a little from here would be ok.
- Savings - NOT messing with this - that's what I'm trying to avoid! This includes paying down our mortgage, car savings, school savings and our IRAs.

I went to the doctor today for the checkup after my surgical procedure two weeks ago. He gave me the ok (I always like a doctor to say "you're fine" even if you know that already). And didn't charge me for the 5 minute visit. Usually it's $10!

Tonight we go to the school Gala (it's for tuition assistance). Because we are actually recipients of tuition assistance, tickets were half price. Except that we got an email a few days ago that basically said "We have some free tickets; call quickly if you want them. If you've already bought tickets, we'll refund you." I called right away and got two free tickets to the gala! So we'll be refunded next week! Yay! That means free food, too. And we're not paying for babysitting because F is going to her friend L's house.

Ok, it wasn't a free repair; I had Apple Care (which the business purchased for the computer) so I wasn't charged. But I had to pay for Apple Care. I consider it part of the cost of the computer.

I was without the computer for a few days, but I was able to work on my husband's computer using my files which had been backed up on Carbonite. I can't say I was as productive, but I was still able to work.

And I had backed up using Time Machine, so within two hours of getting the computer back (with a brand new hard drive) I was up and running again. The only things I was missing were some printer drivers. And I had to reload Autocad.

Apparently if I had backed up using Super Duper instead of Time Machine (they are similar) I wouldn't have had to reload Autocad. But I reloaded it while I was at the gym, so no loss of work time. Seriously, my laptop was in the corner and I just went over to check on it between tracks, entered serial numbers, etc.

My computer is now so FAST! The old hard drive must have been slowly dying. It slowly got slower (ha!) so that I didn't notice how slow it actually was. But it's so great now!

Here was the only cost of the computer hard drive disaster: I felt sorry for myself so I went to Palacio down the street and got a lemonade (they make it fresh from real lemons!) and then went to the gluten free bakery and got a sticky bun. I think the total for both was less than $10, and I felt a lot less sorry for myself afterward.

So the moral of the story - back up often and in multiple ways. And sometimes you need to get yourself a treat.

Ok, it wasn't a free repair; I had Apple Care (which the business purchased for the computer) so I wasn't charged. But I had to pay for Apple Care. I consider it part of the cost of the computer.

I was without the computer for a few days, but I was able to work on my husband's computer using my files which had been backed up on Carbonite. I can't say I was as productive, but I was still able to work.

And I had backed up using Time Machine, so within two hours of getting the computer back (with a brand new hard drive) I was up and running again. The only things I was missing were some printer drivers. And I had to reload Autocad.

Apparently if I had backed up using Super Duper instead of Time Machine (they are similar) I wouldn't have had to reload Autocad. But I reloaded it while I was at the gym, so no loss of work time. Seriously, my laptop was in the corner and I just went over to check on it between tracks, entered serial numbers, etc.

My computer is now so FAST! The old hard drive must have been slowly dying. It slowly got slower (ha!) so that I didn't notice how slow it actually was. But it's so great now!

Here was the only cost of the computer hard drive disaster: I felt sorry for myself so I went to Palacio down the street and got a lemonade (they make it fresh from real lemons!) and then went to the gluten free bakery and got a sticky bun. I think the total for both was less than $10, and I felt a lot less sorry for myself afterward.

So the moral of the story - back up often and in multiple ways. And sometimes you need to get yourself a treat.

Our mortgage is our only debt, and we're trying to chip away at this as much as possible while still putting money in our IRAs ($5000 each per year).

This month we put $210 toward the mortgage principal: $150 savings (budgeted) and $60 which I got for teaching at the gym.

We've paid $2053 in additional principal so far this year. At the beginning of the year we owed $79,141 and we now owe $73,634.

If we don't make any more principal payments ever again on the loan, it'll be paid off in August 2020. If I just continue to pay $150/month extra, it'll be paid off in October 2019 (which would coincide with my 53rd birthday. But our goal is to pay this off sooner, so every snowflake, ebay sale, swagbucks reward, pinecone reward, craigslist sale, etc. goes toward the mortgage.

I want to note that I make $$43,800 a year and my husband makes $45,000 (gross, not including small jobs on the side when we can). We pay about $14,000 per year for private school.

I really didn't think I'd get this project - but I am so pleased I did! It's for a new pavilion (for classes and weddings) and interpretive trails at our Audubon Preserve. I teamed up for the project with a landscape architect who I really admire (and she's very passionate about educational landscapes!).

Anyway, we'll need to sign the contract this week, so I have a few days to clean up the office, particularly the storage room which was really out of control.

I bought 6 boxes at U-Haul (total $22) which were the right size (12x12x24) to store plans. I've been going through every set of plans in the office, putting them in the boxes (which I stacked up in the corner) and inserting a label in them, as well as cataloging which plans are in which box. I should end up with a lot of space on the shelves (I hope so).

Plus I've tossed a ton of old fedex boxes and duplicate plans as well as some design-stage plans which I don't need to keep once projects are complete.

The next step is to toss a bunch of old samples. Samples go out of date quickly; they introduce new colors/patterns/etc. I can give them to a school (they love stuff like that for art projects).

I hope to be done with all of this by tomorrow afternoon so that I can finish up another project (should be fast) and then start the Audubon next week.

I just like a nice clean, organized office so that I can think clearly.

Computer repair - no charge

Artichokes for lunch - my favorite! Lunch at home.

Dr. appt. - I'm sure I have some sort of copay for this; hopefully not too much.

Ice Cream - For F for doing her piano for the past several weeks, and being generally great about it - a few dollars. But I am not participating. I'll have ice cream at home.

Evening entertainment - Well, it's Spring, so I'll be out on the soccer fields freezing my behind off and watching F's practice. Bringing my sleeping bag in case it's really, really cold.

Dinner - We're having cod and asparagus. I finally figured out how to make really good battered cod - it's the double-dip: flour, then egg, then more flour. I use gf flour.

Then F will take a long, hot bath to get all the grass and pollen off, and we'll cuddle and read in bed. Perfect evening!

Banjaxed is an Irish expression that means "broken beyond repair." (It can also mean "drunk" but my computer is so banjaxed that I'M the one who needs to get drunk except that I don't drink).

My IT consultant also happens to be my husband. He says the computer is definitely not working, and it will never, ever work again.

I should be freaking out, but I'm not and here's why:
- I have my husband's laptop to use (he doesn't take it to work, so I can use it all day tomorrow)
- I have a time machine backup (this backed up my operating system, too and can be used to recreate the entire computer including all preferences) from a few days ago.
- I have a carbonite backup from yesterday (all of my files are saved)
- All of my mail is in the cloud (gmail)
- All of my contacts and notes and lots of other things are on my phone.
- I have Apple Care

So there you go... all of this insurance (that's pretty much what it is, right?) means that this will, hopefully, be more of an inconvenience than a disaster.

Maybe the universe is trying to tell me I need a day off tomorrow. After last Friday's surgery, I've worked a full week, taught two exercise classes and done all of my usual housework. I have to say, I'm pooped.

I'll call our local Apple fixing place and maybe make a genius bar appt., and probably won't get much else done.

I finished the one missing photo book - 2010 - (once that is printed we'll be up-to-date) but I'm going to leave it in Shutterfly and not print it yet. There is a 30% and free shipping promo, but that isn't enough. I "researched" past Shutterfly promos in Facebook (and "liked" Shutterfly), and found that in 2013 there was a 50% off all photo books around July. And I usually get a coupon from them later in the year. I'm going to wait to print this one.

Also, I don't want to spend any money that we don't have to spend, so that we throw everything into our medical and auto servicing categories and not have to dip into the EF.

I think that is the real strength of budgeting: being able to adjust and re-tool as needed when things come up. So for right now, my monthly budget for lots of things is going to be less (or zero).

I seem to have money leftover in household utilities (the only benefit of our mild winter here in the Southwest - lower gas bill). Also leftover in insurance since our premium went down (I just need to keep enough in for our annual umbrella policy). And a tiny bit extra in water/sewer. I have saved up some money ($44) in my knitting fund; I'll just have to start over and put this toward the medical bill. There are a lot of places to be flexible.

This month is going to be financially horrible: the medical bills will probably be about $3,000 (or more?) and I just had to get my car fixed ($488).

So, I am trying to look on the bright side:
- we have the money in the EF
- I have now met my deductible for the health insurance
- I got 10% off and a $25 off coupon on the car repair

Instead of taking money out of our EF, I am going to try to shift money from different "buckets" into the auto servicing and medical buckets so that some of the expense is absorbed by going lean on other categories of spending.

So, if we can keep our food costs down this month, that money can go toward paying these bills.

It's all sort of virtual, but it helps me keep track.

Some things on my mind:

1. I can no longer hang D's clothes outside on the line to dry because of his allergies (which cause the vertigo). I only very rarely use our dryer, so I have to hang them in the laundry room instead (they take longer to dry there, but that's not a very big deal - we do live in the land of zero humidity, so it's only 2 days instead of 2 hours). Our sheets are another story. I am not supposed to hang those outside in the Spring either, so the plan is to hang them in the laundry room across several hangers and then get the last of the dampness out with 10 mins. in the dryer. Not using the dryer is not only a financial issue for me, but also an environmental one. But my husband's health comes first, obviously!

2. I rented the Last Exotic Marigold Hotel from the library. Cost: $0. We've wanted to watch it for a while. Since I can easily wait to see movies, the library is a really good option.

3. Trying a new recipe tonight, a penne and sausage bake that I saw here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/penne_and_sausage_pasta_3094. It's not my most frugal ($8 for the three of us for dinner, not sure if it'll create any leftovers), but good for a "meat" night. I'm using chicken sausage since we don't eat pork.

4. We went to a house party today for one of our gubernatorial candidates. I really loved what he had to say, and he was smart and eloquent. His wife is an architect (how could I not like him, right?). But I didn't give any money for two reasons: I do a lot of public work, and I have to declare campaign contributions on my proposals. I won't give money because you never know when my political preferences might alienate potential clients. And secondly, when I give money, I like to give it to charitable organizations. On the other hand, if he gets the nomination, I will gladly give my time as a volunteer to help him get elected.

I am home today recovering from a very minor, simple surgical procedure I had to have (I won't go into it, but it took about 10 mins). Actually I'm recovering from the anesthesia (I got IV sedation rather than be put to sleep which freaks me out); the thing was so minor I don't even have any pain.

Anyway, I was at the surgery center (my dr. wouldn't do it in his office; I asked) for 2 1/2 hours total, and as I said the procedure was just 10 minutes. And the bill? It's going to be about $2900. I knew this ahead of time. Yes, I have insurance; my deductible is $2500, the rest is insurance co-pay (so you can imagine how much the real bill is).

We have the money to pay it, due to the EF, but I am going to ask for an itemized bill anyway. I am also going to call my insurance company and ask if they have arranged a price for something like this since they often do. And I am rearranging our budget, putting underspend categories into the medical "bucket" so we can minimize the hit to the EF.

Any other ideas? Or just pay it and be thankful I have insurance?

F started the week with her new teacher, and so far she's not thrilled. I think the new teacher is really nice (and nice goes a long way for me, better than really mean!). But F says she's not challenging enough.

The spelling words were "too easy" and there weren't enough (used to be 15 per week, now 10). F actually made me call her friend's mom to make sure that they had the same words; she was convinced that she somehow got the easy word list. (There is a small group of them who get challenge words rather than the regular words, but I think this week the whole class has the same list).

Soooo... I had to talk to the teacher this morning who looked shocked that F thought the words were too easy. I didn't tell her that F was screaming at me on Monday: "Purpose! Who doesn't know how to spell purpose?!! And injustice! We had that word in second grade!"

She yells with me, but with the teacher she's completely non-confrontational. Actually, I spoke to the teacher specifically because yesterday in school she'd asked F if the words were too hard, and F was too shy to say the opposite. I asked her what she did say, and she told me "Mommy, I just stood there. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to hurt her feelings."

I told F we should see how the words are next week, and then maybe have another discussion.

I suspect that maybe it's easier for the teacher, being new, to just have one list of words. But my husband makes this point: we don't pay all this money for a private school to have it be easy for the teacher; we pay for things to be somewhat individualized and we go to this school specifically so that our daughter is challenged.

I got paid by the gym yesterday: $60. So that's another snowflake to the mortgage. And I'm happy to see that my gym pay has gone up $10 each month for the past few months. I used to get about $25 or $30.

This means I'll have $210 to put toward mortgage principal at the beginning of next month.

I'm home from the office right now; I came home from lunch, and to start dinner (it's in the crockpot). So I was able to make a hot lunch (which is nearly done cooking). I'm having an artichoke. I love artichokes, and have since I was a kid; so glad they're coming back in season and are on sale right now! I'll have it with a piece of cinnamon raisin toast and some fruit. This is much nicer than the lunches I bring to work!

I only fix things on my car that I have to fix. When Nissan told me my fuel gauge may be on its way out, I decided just to track my mileage and not go too many miles rather than spend $700. Seriously - $700?!

But there is now a problem I absolutely have to fix. I've made an appointment for next Monday. I wonder how much this will cost.

Here is the problem:

- I can't get the passenger side door open. My key clicker won't unlock it. The door unlocker inside the car won't unlock it. And here is the weird thing - I can't even pry the door lock open physically. I mean that is the failsafe, the easy way to open the door from the inside; it's a safety thing to be able to unlock your door, right?
- Oh - and the trunk is also locked and I can't get it open either.
- And there's stuff in there. I can kind of remember what the stuff is, and if I really need it, my car is a hatchback so I can let down one of the seats and pull stuff out.

I am slightly concerned that the other doors are going to stick shut, too, and I am afraid to leave the dog in the car for even a second while I pick up F from school, just in case she's locked inside.

And what if I'm somewhere, and I can't get the doors to unlock and therefore can't get home? (These are the times I'm glad I live in a small town where we're never far from anything, and a friend could just pick me up. But still...)

And if I haven't vented enough... we found out yesterday our good friends (remember my friend C who just got a job at a non-profit?) bought a new used car (it's a year or so old Mini Cooper S). I'm not jealous. I don't want a new car. I don't want a more expensive car. I just want my car to open!!

OK, now I've definitely vented enough.

I am going to take F to piano lessons and hope we don't get stuck there!

Thankfully it's a frugal grocery week.

We're having:
- tuna melts
- mexican eggs and spinach
- pasta with courgettes and goat cheese
- asian meatballs over rice
- italian soup with ground turkey (crockpot) - this will make about 4 meals (we'll put three in the freezer)
- tamales out of the freezer and salad
- and tonight we're going to F's friend's house for kids and adult party (two of her friends have birthdays - both boys - that are just a few days apart, so they often have a celebration together)

Now I just have to work out what we're having on which nights. Soccer has started again, which means that on soccer nights we need to having something easy. (That is the mexican eggs, crockpot things, something from the freezer).
Monday - piano (we get back at about 5:45)
Wednesday - soccer practice (we get back late - like 7:30)
Friday - soccer practice (7:30 again!)

It's a juggling act, isn't it? But it is absolutely a requirement for me to have a nice meal as a family.

The grocery shopping came to $88.41
- dinner ingredients $35
- lunch ingredients $20
- fruit $6
- staples $11
- breakfast staples $13
- dessert items $3

OK, need to go wrap birthday gifts and play a game with F.

For a week I didn't do any work, and I didn't work on my financial spreadsheets or track anything or stress about things.

We went to California last Saturday, and D flew home on Monday, but F and I stayed for the week, and then went home on the train (Southwest Chief).

We had so much fun! My parents were really wonderful; they didn't want us to pay for anything! They took us to miniature golf, and my mom bought tickets for Disneyland (I treated F to meals - spent a total of $98 there (including parking and food; we didn't buy any souvenirs - that place is expensive!).

My dad wanted to go down to see the USS Iowa (in San Pedro); he used to be in the Navy. That turned out to be a really cool experience, and again, my parents treated. They took us out to lunch afterward. F and I also went to the Getty Center (which is free - you only pay for parking, but since my parents live nearby, they just dropped us off). My mom also bought F a couple of new shirts and leggings and socks.



The only way I could pay them back was to cook for them and do the dishes, etc. I helped my mom pick out a new countertop for the kitchen and fixed the rattling noise coming from the refrigerator.

We spent the rest of the time relaxing and going in my parents' pool.

It was a great week, and now I'm back to the usual. Spent the morning vacuuming, put in a load of laundry and I need to do the weekly food shop later in the day.

Will write more about the train later. And also a report on D's allergies.

I've been very good about not buying any new clothing (after my determination in December that I have more than enough clothes already).

I can't say I wasn't tempted by some of the sales in early February, but I didn't buy anything.

However, I did finish this cardigan that was on the needles, so I get a new sweater.

I had to borrow my friend's wooly board (that's the wooden contraption that it's sitting on) in order to stretch it a little bit. I so want a wooly board, but it's about $100. I am going to look in craigslist and ebay to see if someone is selling one used for less.

Anyway, hopefully the cardi is big enough now (I must have knitted tightly!).

PS - yarn was purchased last year (yarn comes out of my knitting budget - yes, I budget for knitting!) and was about $30 (maybe a little less); it's a very soft wool/acrylic.

I am so excited for my friend C - she has been looking for a really long time for a not-full-time job, and finally found one with a great non-profit here in town. I personally wish there would be more part-time jobs for people like me and C who want to drop our kids off at school and pick them up and hang out with them while they do their homework, etc. (This is one of the main reasons I opted to start my own firm rather than work for someone else; I work about 6 hours a day plus about an hour more at home and maybe a few weekend hours).

Anyway, C's husband makes alone what D and I do combined. But they really needed her income because they can't make it on his alone. She used to ask me how we made it on the amount we make, because from the outside our lifestyles are remarkably similar.

We both have one daughter, and they both go to the same private school. We both live in nice houses. We both have cars made in this century. We both eat good, fresh usually organic food that we make ourselves, and neither family eats out very often. We love potlucks and hanging out with friends. We belonged to the same pool last summer. Our daughters both do a few activities after school; both girls take piano. We all have masters degrees (all four parents); C has a PhD. We all like to exercise and hike (this is a beautiful place to hike). We'd all be making a lot more in a different city (ours is known for low pay) but we'd probably have to spend more, too.

There are two really big differences in our lifestyle that account for their need for more income:
- Their mortgage is about double what ours is. This was mostly lucky timing on our part (and some sweat equity! and of course I didn't have to pay for an architect to draw up plans!). Their house is smaller, but it's in a slightly more high-end neighborhood.
- Everything we own, they have the upgraded/fancier equivalent. This goes for food (we shop at Trader Joe's and they shop at Whole Foods), cars (us - Nissan and VW, them - Audi), barbecues (they have that egg thing), art (we have photos that D took and some 20x200's)... and of course their neighborhood. C's husband believes in having the best of everything.

I don't know how I feel about all of this. I do think it's nice to have nice things. Sometimes you just can't afford it. Sometimes you have to be content with what you can afford. Sometimes you can spend more on something you'll have forever. Sometimes it's hard not to be able to buy exactly what you want.

I think that is the essence of budgeting; there are sacrifices (some are easy and some are hard) and some things you won't compromise on.

We've worked hard on the new counter in our office kitchen (that is me and my office-mate J). Nearly done. I just need to paint some edges and caulk. Michaels had the paint on sale, just over $1 each. That's a business expense, but I still try to keep my business expenses as low as possible. Which is probably why I'm still in business even though I'm an architect (and many of my colleagues are really struggling).

Other stuff: Discretionary spending is way down. I think it's the act of tracking it that helps. We always tracked every dime we spend, but looking at discretionary spending on a day-by-day basis is a different thing.

More other stuff: We are going to California to visit my parents. We leave on Saturday. Staying with my parents allows us to do things we couldn't afford if we also had to pay for a hotel. And my mother got Disneyland tickets for me and F (D comes back home on Monday, so this will just be a mother-daughter thing). We've been to Disneyland a lot. It's great to be able to spend the day there, and still come home to Grandma and Grandpa at the end of the day. We are also planning on mini-golf and maybe a horse ride (F is a really good rider) in Griffith Park.

Even more other stuff: My mother has asked for me to send her a grocery shopping list. See? This is way better than a hotel!

When we were married, we marveled that we had only one book in common (it was a Douglas Coupland book - I actually despised that book so not sure why I still owned it; I've since gotten rid of my redundant copy).

When D and I moved back to the US, he sent over a partial shipping container; it contained a lot of books! (and some other stuff, but there really were a lot of books).

I don't remember when I stopped buying books and instead borrowed them from the library. D still buys books (and likes to receive them as gifts), and he won't part with books he already owns.

I think you CAN have too many books. Look at our bookshelves - wow! I dust the books every week. And I just did a mega-dust where I took every book off and dusted behind them. And aside from our reference books (one shelf) and photobooks we've had made, we rarely open those books at all. I'd also rather walk by the shelves and see only my favorites - and I do have favorites that I would never part with! (Jasper Fforde, Kate Atkinson, Milagro Beanfield War, One Hundred Years of Solitude).



So I have decided to select one book a week to sell (http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller/sell-your-stuff.html?ld=AZSOATEXTJOINT) or donate to the library.

We used to do PaperbackSwap (which is brilliant if you want another book to come into your life to replace the book you just got rid of. That was my first step to forgoing new books altogether and just visiting the library).

Book no. 1 - Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver). I really loved her book The Bean Trees. I didn't love Animal Dreams, but I bought it and kept it. I am now selling it for $1 over shipping costs. It's not much, but it'd be another snowflake, right?

When I think about the money I wasted buying books I feel slightly ill.

Our meal plan for the week is intended to use up some food that's already in the fridge, since we are leaving next Saturday to visit my parents in California. (Yay! It's going to be about 80 deg. and since it snowed here today, we're pretty excited!).

Potato pancakes and salad
Tilapia with paprika and curry powder and asparagus
Something out of the freezer (probably chicken black bean corn salsa stew)
Grilled cheese with tomato soup
Chicken tacos and guacamole
Pasta with butter and parmesan with peas

We need to have a little food left for D for the following week since he returns on Monday (F and I are staying longer and returning on the train the following Friday). I will be sure to update you on that!

No Spend Days
So this past week I not only kept track of our No Spend Days (discretionary spending), but also kept track of the triggers that caused spending (and the situations where I didn't spend).

Sunday - NSD
what I did to avoid spending: stayed at home in the morning “hanging out” with the family and doing chores, met friends for tennis in the afternoon (free!)

Monday - NSD
what I did to avoid spending: worked hard, brought a Luna bar to avoid sweets craving (peanut cookie flavor - yuck!)

Tuesday - went to the rolfer (I have an appt. every other month)
what I did to avoid discretionary spending: didn’t enter any shops, brought a Luna bar again (this time coconut with chocolate - yuck, again)

Wednesday - gelato $7
spending trigger - promise to F that we'd get a treat. I wasn't going to get a gelato, too, but they had my favorite flavor (honey) - grrr!

Thursday - NSD
what I did to avoid spending - F has an afterschool class, so there was no time to go to a store

Friday - bought lunch at a local supermarket for me and F (goes into grocery budget, but just should have made something at home)
spending trigger - hunger! not having enough time to eat lunch before F’s friend arrived! store is on the way home! Basically I wouldn't have stopped if it was just me, but wanted the treat for F.

Saturday - NSD (just groceries)
what I did to avoid spending - went to the grocery store after eating, so not hungry for "extras" - went to the library to get books for F, stopped by the office, went home to clean house. Too busy for discretionary spending!

It's a no-school day (parent teacher conferences) and things are not getting done. Here is a list of what I have started but not completed:

- The laundry - sheets are sitting wet in the washing machine. At least they're clean; need to hang them.

- Office kitchen - did an hour's work on it - got a lot of the construction waste tossed, cut the countertops and one backsplash, sink cut-out done (but we still need to install the countertops, put in the backsplash, patch/touch up paint, install sink, caulk and clean up).

- D's Birthday Plans - started his card (which I am doing as a "Design-your-own Birthday" - he'll get to choose different options for breakfast, etc.). But not done, and I'm running out of steam (and ideas).

- Chocolate Cake - I promised this to F. Need to go downstairs and just DO IT - it won't take very long. Procrastinating.

- Taxes - This one isn't my fault. Turbo tax is still missing a form. Otherwise, I'm ready to file.

- Check - There was a check that arrived when we got to the office, and I meant to take it with me to deposit. And I forgot it. Oops. While I was at the bank I was going to pay down the mortgage principal with the $205 D made on the side last month. It's popcorn day at the bank.

- Library - this was on the to-do list since a book came in that I'd requested for F; but the countertop took longer than expected. So we didn't get to this.

- Post Office - Also didn't get to the post office for the same reason. Should have left the house earlier this morning!

OK, now that F's friend is over, I am going to stop procrastinating and get something FINISHED!

Since D started his real job (an an employee, no more self-employment!) in the autumn, he's had a few side jobs. Some are photography, some are small web design/updates.

When he makes any money through self employment, he puts a little bit in his business account (which he still has), 20% in our "taxes" account (from which we pay our estimated taxes) and the rest in our personal account.

I haven't done anything with the money. When he was self employed, his income was up and down, so I just left it in the account and took another look at the end of the year. I was used to leaving the money in the account because it all just averaged out to his yearly income.

But now he has a steady income, so the side jobs are all extra. How did I not realize this?

Since January, he has deposited $120 and $85 into our personal account. I talked with him last night, and he said "Put it toward the mortgage!" Yes!

So I get to make another principal payment this month. And he just did another little side job, so there will be more coming in. This is significant money compared to the piddly money I get from the gym each month.

I was talking to the woman I go to for rolfing (rolfing, by the way, is the best thing that ever happened to me, but that's another story). She and I are on the same page on lots of subjects, and I just found out that she paid off her mortgage a few years ago. She's about two years older than I am. I am so happy for her! She said that some people advised her not to do it, but that the piece of mind has been so worth it. Talking to her made me feel even more strongly about getting the mortgage paid off. (Although I still want to put money in our Roths, so it'll be a little more slowly than the way she did it).

What we are now paying toward principal:
- $150/month from our regular income
- gym money (last month it was $50)
- David's side income (probably averages $100/month)
- anything I sell on Craigslist and any other misc.

I've signed up and paid for the last of F's summer camps. Our budget for camp is $1500, but we've paid $1057, and it looks like her summer is as full as we want it to be. I'm going to keep the additional money in the budget, but it looks like we're over $400 ahead!

She'll have two weeks off with no camp, then camp for two weeks, then the next week off, then three weeks of camp, then our trip to the UK, then another week and a half off before school starts.

That's 4 1/2 weeks off with no camp, which is great - we can go hang out at the pool together, do some road trips around the state, go to Albuquerque and play mini-golf...

I got a $10 discount for signing up early for one of the camps. And we are probably going to host a counselor for one of the other camps. We have to make them food, but we get $80 for a food stipend.

We are so relieved! We heard from the school that we are getting about 17% off of tuition. Also, when you have tuition assistance, you get the after school classes for half off (F will probably want to do Geography Club again in the Fall). And... we can choose the monthly payment option without having to pay a convenience fee.

I wrote a very short thank you email. Should I write a note, too?

There is an annual gala to benefit tuition assistance. We didn't go last year, but this year it's much more casual (theme is Western), and tickets are massively reduced for people on tuition assistance so that everyone can go. The year before was a bit of a shock (I couldn't believe that things were being auctioned off for thousands of dollars). But I'm glad because that's where our tuition assistance money comes from!

I think we'll go this year. The ticket price will come out of our dining out budget. Just have to check with my close friend to see if she can babysit for the evening.

Tonight it's Baker's Wife Potatoes - new recipe; I'll let you know how it turns out. It's a pretty frugal recipe, just potatoes, onion, salt/pepper, some sage (which I have in the freezer from the summer garden), a little parmesan and some veg stock, so I hope it's good.

The meal plan for the week (each meal feeds three of us):
baker's wife potatoes with asparagus ($4)
quesadillas with guacamole ($7.66)
homemade pizza ($8)
black bean salsa chicken ($9 - but we will get three to four meals out of this!)
risotto with sundried tomatoes/goat cheese/spinach - D makes this, but I promise I will get the recipe!
very, very sweet salmon with broccoli ($9)
homemade tamales from the freezer with a salad (? - $1 for the salad)

I spent $111 on groceries, but that's because of the two-for-ones at Sprouts Market. I stocked up on chocolate bars (I keep them in the drawer and have a square after dinner) and Luna bars and some other stuff like tea.

- dinner ingredients $35
- lunch ingredients $26
- fruit $4.50
- staples $12
- breakfast items $18
- dessert ingredients $16 (all those chocolate bars and luna bars!)

The weekend dessert this week was Crostata (this is a long story, but basically, I had an Italian friend call a little town in Italy to get this recipe; I make it gluten free. It is amazing, and the whole family ate it all up in a few hours time).