Pennies in a jar

Lots of them! And nickels, dimes, quarters and even a few of the new gold dollar coins...not to mention spare dollars we have here and there. And what was the total...$142 and change!

Every year about this time I dump the big water bottle I have and count the money inside. A few years back I had $131 and thought that was good. I even joked with my husband tonight that I didn't think we would come close to the previous high. I was wrong.

This is how I do it. In July I start collecting all the spare change left in pockets for laundry, on tables, the couch, wherever I find it. I start putting in the water bottle. I also ad spare dollars that we have at the end of weeks floating around, as well as FIP money we receive from aunts, parents, etc. If something is sold on Craigslist, the money goes in the bottle too.

I know $142 isn't a lot. But its nice to have that money NOW and its money we wouldnt otherwise have if we didn't collect and place in the bottle. Even our son has gotten in the habit. He sees spare pennies or dimes on the floor and he runs to place in the big water bottle.

Happy 4th!

The joys of home ownership

We have to have our bathroom redone.

We knew when we bought this place we would have to redo the bathroom before we sold. I was just hoping that when the time came it would be because we chose to do so, and not because we were forced.

As you may remember from last fall, we spent a healthy chunk of change getting the pipes fixed. It appears we will have to spend at least that much again to fix the bathroom. The problem is there is a leak that is slowly spreading water into the base of our son's room. The mold is not bad, so say the experts, but now that we know about the problem both my husband and I want to get fixed. ASAP.

The remodel is not completely huge. We are keeping the sink, toilet, vanity, and mirror (which I hate). We have to have all new shower tile and new floors. And we have to keep our fingers crossed that fixing this will stop the leak in his room AND that when they tear down the walls to get to the leak, that they won't find anything worse.

I haven't been blogging as much as I did before. It seems the thing that is most on my mind is getting out of these 800 sf and what I can do about it. Since there doesn't appear to be an immediate solution, I don't want to sound like a broken record. And since I haven't seen any good deals lately, I haven't been posting those. I hope I can get back to this more, I know now that is a broken record.

What I will say is this though, a friend recently asked me two questions. First, was living here making me miserable? Yes, I quickly replied. I told him that I would do X to get out of this condo and have the banks refinance us so we could rent someplace larger while still paying our obligations here. I said that he could make X just about anything he could think of and the answer would still be the same. I desperately want more space.

His second question was more telling though, for him and for me. He asked if my misery was affecting my life. I said no. Aside from stepping on what seems to be my son's endless supply of blocks and cars (and he is only 2!!!), I am relatively happy. I love my husband, even if he leaves his clothes everywhere. I love my son more everyday. I have great friends and an amazing family. I am grateful for what I have. I know that I am lucky.

But...I am still miserable, something he said was not possible if it was not affecting my life, but I beg to differ, in my 800 sf of love. Hopefully this bathroom renovation will get us one teeny tiny step closer to my goal of getting out of here. At least I am getting my black and white diamond flooring, that's a silver lining for ya!

My book

Like every writer I often fancy myself that I will write the Great American Novel. Those who know me know I already wrote a book, but its more like a reference book and while I am proud of the accomplishment, its not the NYT bestseller I often envision I could write.

I have so many ideas, but the one that is in my head most often is to write a letter to my fresh-out-of-college self. Among tips on dating, girlfriends, boyfriends, roommates, jobs, etc. I would have several chapters on money. This is on my mind now because I am paying my student loan, perhaps THE BIGGEST money mistake of my life!!

No, not going to college or grad school, that was not the mistake. And not putting the majority of my grad school on student loan. No, the mistake was listening to others who swore I had to refinance and consolidate my grad and undergrad loans. As a result of this stupid move, when I locked myself into a 7.35% loan, when all is said and done I will have nearly paid DOUBLE what the original loan was for. DOUBLE!

I had always complained to my husband that my loan was a money pit. But it wasn't until we went and bought a car last fall that he saw in detail how BAD it was. He now wonders how the good people at Citibank sleep at night knowing how bad they are and did take it to the people. It makes me so sick to think about it.

So my biggest piece of money advice for anyone, but especially new college grads or anyone trying to refinance, make sure YOU understand the terms and what you are signing up for. Sure, no one could forsee how low the rates would go so that 7.35% would be sky high, but I had government loans, there was NO NEED to refiniance. NONE.

Now, if only the good people at Citibank (or anywhere else) would allow me to refinance our mortgage....

The mortgage crisis

We pay our mortgage every month. On time. Some months it even arrives early. We pay in full. We bought this condo when we were both employed bringing home about 30percent more than we are now. Our mortgage payment now takes up more than half of our take home pay, which everyone says is a big no-no.

We have tried for more than a year to get Wells Fargo, who I HATE, to refinance or modify our loan. Each time we get rejected for reasons that escape me. We are not asking to pay less than is owed (although we would certainly take it). All I want is to get locked into a 30 year fixed, and if that means we are paying more than we are paying now, than so be it. We can't rent this place out until we refinance, and as I have noted many times, these 800 sf are driving me bonkers!

Each time they reject us they immediately ask us to start short sale proceedings! They called at 8 pm on New Years Eve to do this and I nearly lost it. We do not want to do short sale!!! And why would they? They would lose money. Why won't they help us to pay what is owed? We want to be fair. We are not asking for special treatment.

We have excellent credit, well north of 700 for both of us on all three credit tables. But when I read articles like this, I wonder, should we just stop paying? Would that finally get their attention?

This is what gauls me the most about this crisis. People who don't pay, who are falling behind and over extended and taking advantage of the system, they are the one's who get help. But us, the honest people, get nothing. A very good friend named Pat told us that in order to get the bank to pay attention, Pat stopped paying. Eventually the bank did pay attention, the loan was modified and while Pat still owes the same amount overall, the payments have actually gone down!!

I actually hate Wells Fargo. I am sure they are not alone in their inability or lack of a desire to help. While I don't want to do anything to hurt our credit, something I have to believe will help us in the long run to keep high, I also sometimes wonder if not paying is the way to go?

Wow! I can't believe its been a month

May just flew by!

As many of you know we had a rough month, sickness wise. The Monkey began the month recovering from his tick bite. Then as soon as that was over, he came down with strep..which infected me with a severe case of conjestion. THEN, as soon as his strep was over he got the stomach flu...the apparently 7 day variety, which in turn infected us AND every member of our family who cared for him while we couldn't!!

I am sorry I missed so many deals, and I know I did. Furthermore it gauls me how much we spent taking care of our sicknesses, Mucinex ain't cheap, neither is Pedialyte!

Hopefully June will be better and I will be back to daily postings. If you are still reading, thanks for sticking by...I promise to try to be better.

-Mary

Why I love Harris Teeter

This is going to be shorter than I originally envisioned, but my son's naptime is surely coming to an end soon.

First, as I noted on the Facebook group page (not a fan, join here), Harris Teeter is offering triple coupons through Tuesday, May 4. What this means is, if you have a coupon worth .98 cents, it becomes $2.97. More likely you have a 75 cents coupon, so that becomes $2.25! They are tripling coupons up to 99 cents, so that $1 off is just a $1, but the others are worth big bucks!

Second, I love HT because the customer service really does seem to be better than other stores. A friend told me he once mentioned to the fish department he wished they had more of XX fish (sorry J, can't remember what it was exactly). A week or two later, sure enough they had XX fish.

On Tuesday, during my second trip of the day (needed to get in before the sales changed the next day), they were out of the eVic special, an email alert I get giving me even more savings. Fitzgerald, the very nice meat manager, searched for me throughout the store to tell me he checked in the back and no dice they were out. BUT, I could get a comparable item for the same price. So I got a $9 piece of pork loin for $4. And the one I got, was NICER than the one they had on sale!

Third, I love HT because the prices are generally as cheap or cheaper than other stores. I have noted before I shop specific stores for specific items (ground beef and coffee come to mind), but for general shopping when you combine their coupon policy with their general prices, its just a better deal (time and gas money wise) to shop there. When I did my shopping on Tuesday, I only noticed ONE ITEM of my regular staples at Giant (Special K Fiber Bar) that was cheaper there than at HT.

So with great coupons, good selection, good customer service, etc. I have decided I going to do most of my general shopping at HT. My time is money too!

What kids really need...

My son has a birtday coming up. He will be 2.

A lot of people have asked about what to get him for his bday. With our 800 sf of love, he really doesn't need anything (or I should probably say not sure I can handle him getting more since there is only so much my very generous brothers and sister-in-law can store in their basements). I tell them trucks, books and cars are always safe bets. He absolutely doesn't need clothes though since we are on the gravy train of hand me downs between my husband's cousin (whose sone is 6 months older than ours) and our godson, who just turned five.

I told Marie, my faithful-blog reading Mother-in-law, and my own Mom, that what my son really needs is either more space or more money for college. This article in today's New York Times scared the bejesus out of me!

I went to Providence College. I graduated 13 years ago. There is no chance I would have gone there had the tuition been anything close to $53k! I worked as an RA, in the library and took out student loans(that we will still be paying off when my son goes to college) to go there. I say proudly going there was the single best decision of my life, without it I never would have met my husband or had my son, and these two people mean more to me than anything in the world.

Many people feel this way about their college educations. It scares me though to think about how on earth we are going to pay for our son's education, and thats 16 years off. We do have a 529, but its got a paultry amount in it. The article has definitely encouraged me to start putting more in, even if its just $20/month.

If you don't have a 529, get one! If you do, make sure you are putting away what ever you can. And if people ask what to give your child, be honest. Sure they want to give fun gifts, who doesn't, but if you want to be honest, tell them what Katie and Jimmy really need...and its not a new truck or Barbie doll.