Its time to tell the WHOLE story

President Obama announced with much fan fare today, and the media certainly played the part by hyping it as top story almost everywhere, that the goverment was announcing a new plan to help underwater homeowners.

The Washington Post had this story on its website by noon. I read it anxiously as I waited to pick up my son from preschool. Had someone finally decided to help the good people like us who never miss payments, who have excellent credit, who are just getting screwed by the big banks?? Were my prayers FINALLY being answered.

No.

Turns out that this program like so much of what the government has tried to do up to this point to help homeowners only applies to those whose loans are backed by Fannie or Freddie. What about the rest of us??

My first instinct was to email the reporter and tell him to look into it. But now I have decided I am going to try to look into it for myself, even if its only for me and the 10 or so people that read this, or I should say get this in email, who knows if anyone reads it.

So over the coming weeks I will find out who else this applies to and what, if anything can be done about it.

The sooner we refiniance our 800 sf of love, the sooner we can move out. The sooner we move out the sooner we start planning for the future and maybe, dare I dream, buy another house, our Someday House. This will be house we grow old in and watch our children grow in. We are the people the experts say need to start spending again, but we can't start spending until we know what we will be responsible for in the future for a home that will likely not regain its value for another 10 years.

So, if you are a homeowner whose house is underwater and who has not missed payments, but is not eligible for the government programs because your loan is not backed by Fannie or Freddie, PLEASE let me know. I am going to use my reporting skills, dusting them off after four years...figure its about time, please send me an email or comment here with a way to reach you.

Our story is not a singular one. Perhaps the more voices we give to this, the more likely we too can get a chance. I don't want to get off without paying what we owe, we signed the note thats our responsibility. I get that and would expect nothing less. What I do want is a chance to move forward and live my life. We can't do this until we refinance. Is that asking too much???

What I have been up to..

In addition to getting ready for #2, due any day now, I have also begun blogging on occasion for BeCentsAble. This is a blog I have followed since I first started trying to save money. Here are my most recent posts, hope they are helpful to you:

Patience and Planning, 8/31/11

Keeping your car clean, 8/24/11

Saving Money Around the House: In the Baby's Room, 8/17/11

Spend Less on Pricey Uniforms, 8/10/11

How to save on school supplies, 8/3/11

Checking in

This post is just to see if we fixed our posting problem. Hoping it goes through and you all, wherever you are, are having a great Tuesday.

Top Ten Back to School Saving Tips

I have started blogging for another site that offers a slew of great money saving ideas. Its one of my favorites and I have posted links to BeCentsAble before.

Here is my first post for their new feature, Never Pay Retail. I will also be writing about saving tips around the house (not sure of that title yet).

Thanks to all who gave me ideas, and hope you are staying cool this summer.

Enjoy!

I want to sit at the table

These are the words my Monkey said last night and they are just the latest example of how my frustration level with our 800 sf is continuing to grow.

We were coming home from the grocery store and we told him if he was good he would have french fries for dinner. He got all excited and said he wanted to sit at the table. This means, or so we thought, that he wanted to go to McDonalds. We said no, we were eating them at home and he would eat at his seat. His seat is a cushion on the floor with a bed/breakfast tray as his table. Sometimes the tv is on, other times its not.

"But I dont want to sit on the cushion, I want to sit at the table," he said.

We asked if he wanted to sit at the big boy table in our kitchen, the table that was at that moment piled high with newspapers, bills, magazines, diaper bags and who knows what else.

"Yes, please, Mommy. Can I please sit at the big boy table," he asked again.

My heart sank.

How many moms would jump for joy that their 3 year old politely asked to sit at the table? Me, I cringe because in order for him to do this I have to go move everything and sort it and find another home for it (what nook and cranny is not being used now?). I did, of course, move everthing around. And he did enjoy a good dinner there. But it made me sick and sad that we are so cramped for space that I can't even offer my son a place to eat dinner without having to move 1,001 things first.

One day we will have our someday house, and added to the list of things in our someday house, will be a kitchen table that is exclusively a kitchen table and not a desk/catch all.

Money Diet: Part 1

Could you tell how tired I was yesterday? I was horrified with how many typos I had in that post! I went back and corrected them (at least I hope I found them all) but yikes. As my husband put it so delicately, I have officially entered the phase where no sleep position is comfortable. Oh well.

Now, on to more important things.

I took two steps toward our money diet today. First, after debating for months, we finally decided to let go of my husband's cell phone. He gets one through work and he uses it almost exclusively. Last month he did not spend a single minute online with his phone and sent only 60 texts. I thought this would be saving us $15 a month, turns out we are actually saving $30! Whoo hoo! I realize not a lot, but every little bit helps.

I am still paying more than I would like for my own individual plan and am searching for a better deal. But considering Verizon is available pretty much everywhere and I have always been happy with my service, I am reluctant to jump ship (yet!) I will keep you posted.

Second, I transferred our credit card balance. As I noted earlier, we put all of our home improvements from last summer when our bathroom had to be redone because of mold, on a 0% card. What I didn't realize is that if we used the card we would be accruing interest and there was no way to get rid of the interest unless we paid the whole thing in full -- still not an option. What I mean by this is, assume I transferred $2000 and then spent $200. I assumed if I sent in a payment of $300, the first $200 would go toward the new charges and the $100 would go toward the $2000, thus making my balance $1900. Wrong!

So I transferred the balance again (which I do not like, but like better than paying interest on purchases I thought I was paying off) and now have a 0% deal for 18 months! I will not be using this card at all -- I guess the good thing is that I was able to transfer to an existing account and not a new one.

The lesson learned: make sure you understand all the terms of your credit card. I know this sounds stupid and if you had asked me even last week I would have assumed I did. I was wrong. I shudder to think of how much interest we paid this card before I caught the charges...ugh.

Today was the first day I had to implement changes, so stay tuned for more updates on our money diet.

800 sf of love: 3 Mary: 0

Yup, its been one of those days. And by the time these things happened, it was barely 1 pm.

Its one of the hottest days of the summer. My Monkey is 3 and pretty much loves the pool. Would spend all day there if we would let him. So, after going through the process of getting him and me both dressed, something at 7.5 months pregnant I am even slower at than under normal circumstances, we walk over to our pool with our floaty things, sunblock on, water bottles, towels, etc. Its after 12. Sadly, our pool, since we are still mostly a professional development, doesn't open until 1:30 -- right at the beginning of naptime! As I was walking back I saw at least two other sets of parents walking with young kids. I realize this sounds like a stupid complaint, but its a pain. My Monkey took the closure well and did not pitch a royal fit, but wanted to go to another pool. As if thats a possibility. So Mental note: In our "someday house" a term I have stolen from my college roommate because I love it, we will live near a pool that opens at a respectable hour...chances are this will happen with our luck right around the time our kids get sick of pools and think they are too cool to go. Such is life.

Second defeat came at the hand of our thoughtless neighbor. Decided we would turn the sprinkler on so he could run around and stay cool. The one we are supposed to use, according to condo rules since its closest to us, was not in use, but was also not usable. Turns out our thoughtless neighbors, who I will call Patti and Selma, decided they should run the hose into their patio for exclusive use. I guess I could have just pulled the hose, but their patio looks like the wild kingdom with tons of plants and heaven only knows what else growing in there. I didnt want to yank in case I knocked something over. It just amazes me how thoughtless they can be, as if the hose is just for their exclusive use? So Mental note #2: Make sure our Someday House is almost entirely self sufficient so we dont have to be bothered by selfish people. Ugh.

The final blow was actually the worst one and came first. But it still gives me pause. Our craptastic washer machine was "Fixed" by the idiots at Sears this weekend so after more than a month of it being out of commission and me doing exactly what the guy said to make it run properly, I went to use it. Problem was, the door to the washer/dryer (which are hidden in what was presumably once a closet) blocked the soap dispenser, so I had to pull off. I figured my hubby would fix tonight, so placed away from washer/dryer and near our bedroom in the hall. I assumed it was upright secure.

Wrong.

My Monkey went to walk back to his room and the damn door fell...CRASH! He screamed and I screamed and ran (faster than I have in a long time). How this thing missed him and everything else in that narrow hallway, escapes me. Clearly this was an act of God, because something should have been damaged other than my heart rate, but it wasnt. He was just scared and I was too. Now the door lies flat, halfway in our bathroom and halfway in our bedroom, taking up the entire floor. There it will stay until Daddy gets home. I cant believe our fortune and thank God He was looking out for us, because this could have been a lot worse. A lot.

Now in addition to praying for a healthy baby, I also pray for some resolution to our housing situation, because one of these days someone is going to get hurt due to the space, and that really scares me.