People make resolutions every year it seems. I can't say I have anything I would call a resolution, just areas I want to work on. One is cutting down the few bills I still have (and getting extra money whenever possible). Towards that end I already have done a couple tasks these first two weeks of the year.

First I was going to cut down my newpaper bill. I think it was coming in at $3.50 or so a week. I really didn't need anything but the Sunday paper, but I had let this ride for at least half a year (boooo), and today I finally dealt with it. I called, and of course they tried to convince me to keep my service for 7 days a week. After I couldn't be convinced, all of a sudden they had a great sign-up offer that they would let me in on. Now, my last payment which was only good for 2 months (into March), now has me paid until mid-July (6 months)! Of course I'll have to go through this again, but at least I got the lower price now for just making a phone call. Savings of about $25 a month.

Next I signed up for a $25 from a Bank of America credit card I got in the mail. I need to spend $250 in the coming 3 months to get it. I then paid my online phone and cable bills, as well as made two online purchases of my nutrition drinks. That combined to over $200, so not much to go. I will keep track of the purchases, writing them on the paper offer that was sent to me, then when I have enough, off the CC goes back into storage.

Next I started with the install with MagicJack, a replacement phone service over IP. If this works well, I will cut off my land line service saving $25 / mo. If I need emergency service, I can use my pay as you go cell phone for that use.

And last night I went and bought 20 lbs of chicken leg quarters for $10 yesterday (nice sale price) and spent the evening removing skin/fat (yuck) and freezing them. Now I have enough meat (and high in protein) for my after workout lunches for a few months at least!

And as a final goal for the year (no, not a resolution), its a big one. I am trying to pay off my mortgage by the end of the year. This means taking about 60% of the money I take home after taxes, health insurance, and deferred compensation and paying that amount monthly. I don't know if I will be able to keep up this pace or not. The remaining money will cover my other expected expenses without a lot extra left over. This is going to be a challenge. 2010 taxes are the first year where I don't get any benefit from having a mortgage, so now is the time to put the pedal to the metal and get it over with.

So here's to 2011. Financial freedom is in sight (Total zero debts). Its going to be hard to make it to the finish line this year, but whenever I get there (this year or next) its going to be strange having extra money.

Wasn't that the Exxon marketing pitch way back to show how great their gas was? 1980s or 90s???

Anyway, for quite a few years I have been brand agnostic when it comes to gas for my vehicles. I have kept track of my MPGs and I never really saw a difference in MPG I couldn't attribute to some effect (long distance driving, cold weather, or some such). That is until this past month. I ended up buying gas at a regional convenince mart / gas location that I hadn't gone by in years (I just happened to be in the area). The gas cost about 8% less than other stations in the area, so I quickly filled up. After that fill up I noticed the fuel guage going down quicker than usual. I was concerned I had a problem with the car, but then I remembered I had bought gas at an unusual location.

After the next fill up at a brand name location, I checked the MPG from the prior fillup, and saw the MPGs had dropped 10%. After using up this next full tank, the MPGs went back up to where they had been previously. And have held steady since.

I guess this shows gas is not a universal commodity, there is some difference to the brands, and getting cheaper gas may not be the deal you think it is.

The same people that brought us

"Squeaking by on $300,000" have apparently decided that another in the series is appropriate. It seems this time they couldn't find anyone dumb enough to put themselves up for deserved ridicule, so this one has a hypothetical family making $250,000 and they show how "impossible" it is for them to save. "Where does $250,000 a year go?" The story shows this family of 4 living in various locations around the country, and determines how much they'll spend in each location.

Ignoring the bad math in some spots, they have this family (may as well call them "The Stupids") doing the following:
- Paying extra for a house close to the city center where their jobs are going to be, and then ignore any public transportation. Instead they will use two cars, and then not only pay to drive back and forth, they will also pay an extra $3,000 (in my area) just to park.
- And speaking of cars, they allocate over $7,500 for gas during the year. Ok, lets make gas @ $3.00/gal. That is 2,500 gallons for the year, or 1,250 per vehicle. Assume 15 MPG (pretty poor I know), and that comes out to 18,750 miles per year. Ok, they have a short commute (see above), where the hell are they driving? Are they doing a cross country trip? Who comes up with these numbers???
- They're paying $5,000 just for cleaning, because well... you know... they're so Stupid they can't do any cleaning themselves.
- They have to eat out every day at work for $10 lunches and they eat takeout of $25/week (a meal on the weekend? So we're talking 6 dinners, 7 breakfast, and maybe 1 or two lunches each week. Their food should be less right? The family of 4 pays $13,659, or over $1,100 per month just to eat at home. WTF are they eating????
- Even the dog is costing $1,571 a year. Is the dog having surgery every year? I would have to estimate even with vet vists (admittedly infrequent as my mutt was fairly healthy) I spent no more than $2,000 total over 11 years on my dog.
- Phone, cable, and internet is coming in at $200/mo. Apparently the Stupids never heard of bundled service. And if they're so busy making this great money, why do they even have cable?
- Gas & Electric comes in at $5,280, or $440 per month, every month. Did they buy a home with no insulation what so ever????
- Oh, btw, there is under "Leisure" an entry for "Eating Out". Another $200/mo. for that.

If you go and read it, there's more (really!), but I think I have overwhelmed anyone reading by this point. Apparently the Stupids make an amazing amount of money, yet can't for the life of them figure out how to stop the continual wasting of money. These people would have to be dumber than the average American when it comes to finances, yet in the top 3% earners in the richest country in the world, which is just amazing there could be people like that. In fact, they have them overspending by $5,000 to $24,000 per year!

Nothing extrodinary here, but after about 3 weeks with no Half.com book sales I was beginning to think the book sales had stopped. Tonight I got one sold, and a nice one too. A $30 sale for a book I paid $0.50 for this summer. I was reluctant to buy it initially, but I convinced myself I could give it as a present in a year or two if it didn't sell. Its a sports reference book that lists for $80 (yeah, its big - 3,000 pages!)

I'll probably end up using the money to pay for sending out Christmas presents in a week or so. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

No I haven't won the lottery, and technically, I am not debt free at the moment. This is just something that popped into my head this weekend while seeing some estate sales with all their cr@... However that point (being debt free) is no longer a mystical nirvana for me, I can see that point will come not too far down the road. Already I have more in liquid savings than I owe on my mortgage, so I *could* take out everything and pay it off (and be 100% debt free), though I'm not going to do that for now. My one big concern (my car) looks like it may have an easy resolution. My mother wants to upgrade her car next year and I will probably pay her for her very low milage car at that point (based on whatever a reasonable trade in price will be).

So say I'm at that point (house is paid, car is paid and in beautiful shape, no debts). Now what?

========================================
Go for another job? I like what I do, low stress, decent pay, good pension, even has a gym to stay in shape. There's no reason to leave that.

Travel? Heck, I lived overseas for a few years and truthfully I have no burning desire to do that again.

Get in better physical shape? I'm already trying to do that. Plus you really don't need that much money to do it anyway.

Buy the latest and greatest gizmos? I work in high tech all day, I have no desire to be around it 24/7. I don't even watch TV (except for some sports, and I even have less desire to do that than I used to). I've got a computer, 2 TVs, and DVD player, what more do I need?

Fix up the house? Yeah, there are some things to do (replace driveway, new carpet, cut down a tree out front, maybe get a new water heater or furnace though they are working fine). Those are nice, but they won't cost that much to have done. Maybe one or two pieces of furniture could be replaced, but again, I don't need much (most of my furniture I made by hand, and is still very solid). And I have all the dishes, utensils, cookware, bric-a-brac I will ever need (thanks yard sales!).

Invest? Well you can see I have some investments, though not nearly enough to quit my job. I figure to continue investing, though it certainly won't take up all my earnings.

Hobbies? I already have enough to be happy. I'm sure I will buy more, but I doubt all that much. And actually I have started to sell some excess on ebay as I would like more space in the house.

Sell this house and get a house closer to where I work? This idea has intrigued me, but I doubt I will consider it for a few years at least. If I do it, it will be no sooner than 2015 as I think this area's prices will be improved by that time.

Volunteer? I'm not that big on that, though I do some already. It is more than enough to keep me fulfilled already, I don't need to do more.

Go to Vegas and gamble? Ummm NO! Going to shows - yeah that I could see, but gamble? No thanks.
==============================================

This wasn't meant to brag, nor to complain. Just sorta a train of thought. Most people that work towards being financially independent (I think) have a major goal like doing something different for a living or travelling (or not having to move in with a child when they retire because they have no money!). For me, its been the simple matter of not being a slave to others, and being in a position where if someone really ticks me off I can tell them to take a hike and not worry about the consequences. Now that I can see that time coming on the horizon, it makes me wonder what is next.

About 2 months ago I picked up a Christmas Train set for $2 (originally sold for about $45 in the 90's). I took a chance on it, and when I tried to use it, the wheels weren't moving on the engine. After I took the motor apart (three times!) I found a gear was loose, so I superglued it back in place and it worked just fine then. Jump to today and I sold it for $20 (and there was lots of people writing for it too). A 'lil ingenuity and a dab of superglue, wait a few months, and some easy money comes out of it. Nice way to help pay for a little of my latest DRIP purchase.

Today was a annual leave day (for me), which makes it a good day. I mean, getting paid and not driving 50 min. each way and not having to sit in a cubicle, how can that not be a good day?

I stayed in all day (no sense going out in the rain here on the east coast) and got lots done (including a number of financial goodies).

Non Financial:
Made 2 apple pies from apples from backyard tree, made lunches for next week, survived a hard weghtlifting DVD routine at lunch, plus did the weekly kitchen cleaning. (Now I have nothing to do this weekend!)

Financial:
* Bought $750 more of my local utility DRIP stock. Currently it is giving over 4% in dividends and given the gov't wants to keep interest rates at zero for the foreseeable future, saving the money in a bank seems a major waste.
* Setup my monthly mortgage payment, setup my monthly credit card payment (only $310!!), paid my semi-annual car insurance payment, and setup a transfer of money to a higher paying online account (all done online of course).
* Called my local phone company due to their letter asking me to consider switching to their service. For a few minutes we discussed rates, and there was nothing they had that was nearly as inexpensive as the local cable company's service. For my time, I am supposed to have activated a $5 Subway gift card that came with the letter. We'll see if that happens, though they are usually good about following through.

Financial / hobby:
* I see a rechargable tool battery pack (still new) I bought at a yard sale last weekend and put on ebay is bid up over $18. Not bad for a $1 purchase. Hey, this will pay for my two slot car sets I got this past month ($10 & $4)!
* Also used for the first time today some weights I bought last weekend (yard sales of course). Got them at about 10% of their in store prices. Fancy brand name stuff - gotta love it

Random thought: I found something good coming from washing dishes by hand (other than the savings and cleaner dishes part). My muscles were tired / sore after today's workout, but doing the dishes seemed to help the shoulders and biceps by having them do easy work and helped loosen them up. I feel much better now.

One of the best ways I have found over the years to save is to learn how to do things yourself. Don't be afraid, put a plan together and do it. I used that motto this weekend as I replaced not only the front brake pads on my car, but the rotors as well. Its the first car repair I have done without Yoda (i.e. my dad). I had a large repair manual for the car, and asked a friend from work over to help. I ended up doing most of the work, but he did bring some tools I needed. Plus having support there was nice, as was having a working car in the driveway in case I needed to go and get something was a nice peace of mind feeling. The parts cost $55, where as a local (and less expensive) garage wanted $220 to do it. I'm sure the dealership would have said $350 or more.

I just was determined to try it and see it through, and I survived (as did the car). I am adding this to the list of things I have figured out over the years. Its much more effective than trying to save quarters all the time (though maybe not as much fun).

Oh, and to make sure he knew how much I appreciated his help, I gave him $50 in gift certificates for a restaurant I used to do mystery shopping for. He said he went there that night and had a wonderful meal.

As for the weekend yard sales, to my amazement I have found more things to get for my mother and get for myself lately. Now a month ago, I picked up a hard to come by and very expensive slot car set that amazingly was never opened (

Its mentioned here). Now that was an wonderful find for me. When I went out the door Saturday I thought wow, why couldn't I find one like that again. Part of my mind said back "Sure, like that's ever going to happen in your lifetime again. Dream on."

So I went out and spent $2 at the first two locations and then saw a sign pointing back to near my house (missed it on the way out), and decided to backtrack. I walk up and there amazingly is a box from the same manufacturer with another set. I figure "Well I'm sure this time its going to be beat up. Just be happy you found another one in any condition, there's no way that could be in great shape." I pull the box lid off, and there is another set, still new, still in the wrapper - again! Ok, final straw - the price has to be extremely high, right? - nope, he's selling it for $10 (This set is bigger than the last one, it definitely sold for around $200). After the $10 exchanged hands, I walked away thinking, wow its Groundhog Day, how could I hit that twice in a month??? Should I start buying lottery tickets???

Guys don't have a thing for fancy clothes, or buying the latest fad, but when they have something they like... they hate to let go. Which leads to my jacket. I have a number of leather jackets, but there is one I have worn religously for years (probably around 10). Its a Wilson's Leather jacket, insulated, and has a removable extra insulated liner. Its a little rough on the edges, but I have used leather shoe touch up dye to make it look nearly like new in the past years. But last year the zipper started to come apart occassionally for no reason, and when I tried it during the first cold snap this month, the zipper wouldn't work right.

Heart broken (ok, maybe thats a bit much) I decided to freecycle it as maybe someone wanted to try to fix it up since it was still nice. I had photos taken ready to post it, but I hated to see it go. Then I looked at the zipper and decided it couldn't be that hard to replace, so I decided to look and see if I could find a replacement zipper. I must say ebay has everything, even zippers, and some were the right length.

Ok, but how do I get it fixed? Time to call in a favor with mom. I have been finding yard sale items for her this year, so we worked a deal. I buy her some replacement machine needles, and we'll try fixing it. I'm looking at a total cost of less than $10 for the fix. Admittedly, I have seen some nice jackets at sales in the $15 - $20 range, but I want MY jacket, as it works just right for me.

As for dating, nothing has been happening, but during a relative's wedding this past weekend I got asked the question of why I have no girlfriend / significant other. It was many hours out of town, in the back woods, so to speak. They said "you're good looking, you own your own home, make good money, nice mannered, ... so what's the deal?" I try to explain the problems with the women round here, how it nothing like where they live, but they think I'm exaggerating. Then today the Wash. Post comes up with a great article about modern dating. I say great, in that shows (inadvertantly) just how deluded some women are in this area. Good god, what attitudes. Anyway... if you'd like to read, go

here. The reader comments are especially amusing. This article will be saved for me to take along on my next trip, so they can understand better the attitudes I have to deal with.

Now I love the idea of going green when it saves you money. Less trash, better for the environment and less money spent on trash removal. Less water usage, better for the environment, and less cost. And on and on... you get the idea.

But lots of people promote green industries, which I agree is the best way to go long term, but too often I think people look at it as a "pain free" way to soothe their conscience, instead of doing what is really best (i.e. finding ways to use less, and *then* using renewable sources).

This thought came up with the arrival today of the latest electric bill. (btw, this month's bill was $36, not bad for 1/2 of August, 1/2 of September) In with the bill were as usual a number of inserts, including one where you can commit to purchase renewable electricity certificates. I looked into these in the past, and basically you just pay extra which subsidizes purchases from renewable sources so that the providers' costs are more in line with other power sources. This just never struck me as a good way to promote this. If renewable is good, and I agree it is, then the company should commit to purchasing some percentage of this power and spread the cost across all consumers, while trying to increase this percentage over time. Then people could concentrate on cutting down on their own usage, which would help the environment more than just buying these credits. And for those that don't conserve, well at least they are buying some renewable power as part of their overall utility cost.

Sorry, just a rant here, as I figure if I can cut down on usage, I'm helping myself *and* the environment, which is really the better way to "go green" all around. I'm not up for subsidizing green power for other users, which is what buying these certificates look like to me.

Some interesting items from the week/weekend.

The numbers 1 & 8: Latest natural gas bill came in this week. My experiment for minimizing my usage seems to have been a success. This past month my usage was 1 therm (therm being the unit of usage used for billing). Normally my summer usage is 7 per month. With no effort, other than lighting the gas pilots when I needed hot water or the stove to cook, I saved about $8 for the month. One thing I really liked on the bill is the line item for "consumption tax: $0.02" I love it when I can pay as little tax as possible.

The numbers 3.5 & 8: This was my favorite laugh from Saturday's yard sales. I got to one where they had DVDs and were marked at $3.50 each (they normally sell for around $2 each in the local market), but wait... the sign says you can buy two for $8. (What a deal!). LOL. Serious math fail there.

The number 3: The cost for a brand new car cover I picked up today. (I was thinking "Only $3? Really?) Unfortunately it is too large for my car, but my mother wanted one, so she gets it instead.

The number 1 (again): Another great buy this weekend was an unopened canister of protein mix you can get from GNC. Sticker was still on it ($30), and I got it for $1. I already have some bags of this I got at BJ's club, but this will be added to my stockpile, saving money long term.

Lots of other good yard sale buys today, including plumbing supplies I needed to get to redo the drains on my tubs. This should save me some good money over buying these at the hardware store, and lots more than bringing in a plumber. This is the type of yard sale finds that make going to the yard sales oh so worth it.

Yard sales this year have been either a feast or famine situation (usually famine). Not sure if thats due to me needing so little any more, or the economy, but it is something I have seen this year. Last weekend I spent 35 cents total on a workout Tee-shirt, replacement vacuum belts, and a mid 30's lithographed American Flag shield that clamps to a car's radiator and can hold 5 flags (mucho cool - looks like you would use it at parades). I'll call that famine. Now the prior weekend I got only 2 things - a workout inflatable ball for $1, and a still new, still in the shrink wrap, slot car race set for $4. The set is one of these large scale sets made in Europe that sells for $200. That was my feast week.

And for those of you that like financial articles, this I think is a great series where they try to come up with just what has happened in the past 40-so years in America for the middle class. I don't agree with all of it, but it is thought provoking:

The U.S. of Inequality

I had not been going to any grocery stores lately ('cept Aldi's) but yesterday I ran out of the last of my almond milk I've been using now to get in shape. Aldi's doesn't carry this type of thing, so before I head to Safeway (and spend $3 on a single carton) I decide to check online to see if there are any deals I should try to get while I'm there. And what do you know, there is a great special on the stuff. Buy a carton and box of cereal, and get $3 off your next purchase. As I look I see there are other specials like that, such as the Nature Valley Granola bars are $1.49 each when you buy 4 boxes, and if you buy five, you get $3.50 off your next purchase. (I think you can see the coupon rolling possibilities here!)

Ok, so far so good. Then I am directed to sites online (coupons.com, ecentives.com, target.com) where I can get great coupons on the granola bars. Same for Multigrain cheerios which are on special too (needed for the milk offer). I just happen to have some coupons for the milk as well (I got them from a blinkie a month ago, and almost lost them). I went to the nearer store (1 mile) and got the last of the cereal they had, and used up my milk coupons, but now I had two gallons of the milk (say hello freezer!). As I started to look for coupons to get some things at Rite Aid, I found more granola bar coupons. As well I was able to find more online Cheerios coupons. Time to reload!

OK, now to store number two (better stocked) 5 miles in the other direction tonight. Here they had milk with coupons stuck onto the milk cartons! Jackpot. More cereal, more milk, more granola bars. And about $1 out of pocket tonight.

Now I have 3.5 gallons of the milk, 10 boxes of the granola bars, enough cereal to last me until Thanksgiving (at least), I have 6 dollars in coupons to use on anything at Safeway, and my out of pocket was about $10.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Retire @ 50 had a posting about how using coupons through Wednesday could be very good money makers, so last night I looked up where the coupons were, and went there after work tonight. I used the coupons, and did strategic purchases to minimize the out of pocket costs.

Here is the outcome:
Total spent on credit cards (which give 5% back too!): $11.04

What I got:
2 bottles of men's multivitamins
2 boxes of Special K cereal
Fusion razor
Big bottle contact lens fluid
2 boxes of crayons
Bag of 20 washable markers
Birthday card I needed to buy for co-worker birthday

Other benefits of purchases:
$9 in register rewards are remaining
$3 mail in rebate for the washable markers
$2.40 reimbursement for the birthday card

After rebate/reimbursement, the cost out of pocket will be $5.64.

Even more benefits:
$0.55 in cash back from credit card
$3 is my usual yard sale price for the razor (and they sell well at that price.)
$2.50 is my usual yard sale price for the contact lens solution (again, I have sold out at that price)
Crayons & markers go to cousin for his children (good will never hurts)

So in the end if I get the money back from all my sources, that will pay 100% of the costs of today, and I will have 2 bottles of multivitamins, 2 boxes of cereal, and $9 in register rewards. Too bad these types of deals only come by once in a great while.

... and I think its pretty good. I received my electric bill for mid June to mid July on Saturday. the usage was almost exactly what I used this time last year, but this year was supposedly one of the hottest ever here in the DC area. We've been suffering with high 90's for what seems like forever around here.

Anyway, the bill came in at under $47 for the month. Not bad for a 4 bedroom house. Now if only the temps would give us a break I would be really happy.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

When you have cut down everything you can think of, its hard to find a new way to save money. This past month I did find a new way, though this method may not work for many people, it worked for me.

It started with a trip out of town to visit relatives. I would be gone for 5 days, and after my neighbor's latest house fire (read my previous post for details on that), I decided it would be best to turn off the natural gas feed to my stove. This stove has pilot lights for the stove top, as well as for the oven. One time I did come back from a trip to find one pilot light was out, so its not like it couldn't happen and cause a problem.

Turning off the gas to the stove was easy to do. I just pulled the stove out about 6 inches, reached over the top and turned a lever to close the line. When I returned I decided I didn't need the stove on for another 4 days, so I left it off. After using it on a weekend (I cook lunches for the week on the weekend) I turned off the gas feed line again.

So for the month I probably had the pilots off for 14 or so days. I got the bill this weekend - the usage, which has been the same every summer month for the past 3 years, was down about 20%. It didn't save me much, I estimate about $3 in gas costs, plus maybe another dollar or two in air conditioning electricity savings (less heat to cool). Still, it was a free $5 savings, with the effort of a minute or two to turn off and on (lighting the pilots takes the most time).

If you use the stove every day, don't use gas, or your stove doesn't use pilot lights, then this won't help you. But it you have a situation like mine, you may want to try it. Its not like it costs you anything to do this.

... for sale that is. As I have bought DVDs at yard sales I have gotten a better handle on which ones are most likely to be hard to find and therefore money makers with online sales. In the past week I have one sale of $9 for a DVD set I got for $3, and then another $9 sale of a set I got for $0.50. I bought a few other $0.50 DVDs that I wanted to get for my own viewing, and I see online they sell for around $15 each. Nice, but I want to watch them first! (and maybe keep them?)

Don't try this without some experience first, otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of DVDs that will get you a dollar or less (and probably net you zero). Generally the most popular DVDs sell for the least - go figure. Supply and demand I guess.

On other news...

Shoulder therapy hit the end today - with pretty good success. I give it a 90-95% success rate. Still some pain is left, but only at the extreme range of motion. Of course with the good has to come the bad - today I re-aggravated a leg injury I had last year. I won't get into how it happened, it was really a wierd way to hurt it, but I almost couldn't walk mid day. Still in pain tonight, but walking is slowly coming back - maybe in a day or two this will be cleared up or at least I will be able to walk normally.

In the "exercise can sure make a difference" vein, a week ago I met up with a worker in another building that I had worked with a few years ago. We started talking, and I could see she was straining to read my ID badge, and then she finally remembered who I was. She said I looked so different, much less weight and looked younger (of course the missing beard made a big difference too). She said the change was something, she had no idea who I was at first. While I know exercise makes a big difference, its nice to see it confirmed.

... just make lemonade (did you really expect something different to finish that statement???)

Anywho... I was planning on visiting the relatives for Memorial Day weekend, leaving Friday morning to make a very long weekend. Last thing I do Thursday night is make a quickie stop to Aldis for a few items for the trip. Almost home, I go to shift, and the clutch falls to the floor and stays there. I'm outta gear, but rolling. I avoid stopping at two stop signs and make it all but the last 100 yards to my house. Unfortunately it was hot and sticky so pushing the car even that little bit was awful. So towed to a local repair shop, I find out the next day my whole clutch assembly needs replacing. Well, the car is really old ('98) and has had no repairs for over a year, so I'm not complaining. But it really screwed me up. Now I can't leave, or do much of anything on a day off. So when I find out Friday afternoon it won't be ready until sometime Saturday, I go into overdrive and prepare to have a yard sale.

I've meant to do this all year, but I hate to not go about looking for treasures (and rarely finding any! ). So I decided to make the best of the situation and get my things ready Friday. Saturday came and I sold alot (and I mean alot) of my CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens stockpiles (along with some other junk I wanted to see gone as well!). Probably 2/3 of the sales were the stockpiles, but I really wanted those gone too. Turned out my take for Saturday was about 40% of the repair bill, soooo... be happy for small favors I guess.

On other items....

Physical Therapy is almost over. Its made a major impact, I'm probably 90% back to what it was before the problems. Now its much more exercise and less stretching and twisting the shoulder. The therapist loves how I put more effort into it than just about anyone she's ever worked with. I work so hard I have to change shirts part way through as the first one is soaked. Two more weeks, and then a doctor's eval, which will probably be the end of it. With only paying co-pays, this has definitely been worth it.

The semi-long distance trip this weekend showed what I can do when I don't push the car. I tried to keep it at 55 (most of the time!) Instead of my usual 38-39 MPG, this time at my fill up, the MPG came in at 42.3. Not bad for a 12 year old, 190K mile car. Nothing special, just a plain hatchback.

My experiement with using almond milk is still going well. The stuff lasts a long time, so I don't have to freeze the milk to make it last, and with coupons the price is about the same as buying 1/2 gallons of regular milk. And it actually blends better with the 100% whey protein mix I have been drinking to help with my after workout recovery. So I am giving it a thumbs up.

I think I got my lowest electric bill ever this past month. While this time of year I usually have a very low bill (it would have been $22+) my utility had a rate case and had to rebate some money based on usage for the past 6 months. So my bill when I opened it was.... $5.00. Exactly. At first I thought this was some type of request for a supplemental payment, but nope, its this month's bill. I know this summer the bills will approach $100, but still its nice for one month.

That's all for today - stay cool.

In a minor burst of doing something I should have done a year ago, I placed two items on Craigslist this past week. Nothing major (a Tonka toy and a grinding machine). The toy took up space, and really wasn't that great, and the grinder was now a duplicate, as I inherited a bigger one. The nice part is while I got a total of $11 for the pair, I paid $8 for them at yard sales 2-3 years ago. I really love getting money to temporarily own items. I really need to list more items for sale (hint to myself).

=== Other thoughts in my life ===

Yard sales were abysmal today - only bought two sweaters for my grandmother. Thankfully my pickups the past two weeks were above average.

Shoulder therapy is coming along. While not perfect, I barely ever think about babying the shoulder any more, it feels so good. Of course right after therapy it feels awful, but that goes away in a few hours.

Oh, lets not get into the stock market. I suppose it will be good in the long run that prices dropped so much now, but it doesn't make me feel better in the short term. This is why day trading wouldn't appeal to me.

Oh, and finally, I'm one month closer to my true independence day - the day I don't have a mortgage and even the oh-so-minor concern that "a job loss could cause me problems" will be gone. (BTW, its currently scheduled for July 2012) While barely having enough in CDs and savings to match what I owe on the mortgage, I really don't have the "just what mortgage worry are you talking about?" feeling yet. By the end of this year I think it will start to kick in though.

Quite often when I try to enourage myself to do the "right" thing (financially anyway) I try to look at the finances from a different point of view. Which is sorta what I am doing when I answer the question in this post's title.

As I have paid my mortgage down, I have looked at how much of each month's payment goes toward interest, as the remaining amount goes back to me as it ups my "equity" ownership of the house. I am now at the point where the monthly interest is only $180, or just $6 per day. Of course there are other bills on the house (utilities, insurance, taxes). Those I estimate are monthly $75, $50, and $250. That totals $375, then add in the $180 and I get about $550, or about $18 / day. That's certainly better than renting a small apartment where I would pay at least $1,000 a month (around here anyway). Its just a different way of looking at how the extra payments on my mortgage help accelerate my payoff, and it makes the extra payments feel more worthwhile.

Now for extra items (if you're up for a long read)...

Physical therapy is going fine. Extra painful during the sessions, as my yelling out in pain at times can attest. Only two weeks in, and my range of motion is almost back to where it should be (ok, in some directions that's true, others I still have a ways to go).

Oooh, I just put in the last $2,000 for my 2010 Roth IRA. Its now maxed for this year (before May no less!). Not sure what I will put that money into, but I have an idea. Now I need to roll over an old 401k into a Roth, and I will be cooking.

In my efforts to eat better, and still eat cheap, I have started to use almond and soy milk in place of the skim milk I have used for years. Regular milk seems to go bad fast, too fast for me as I live alone and don't use it much. The other types of milk last much much longer. But these milks seem thicker to me, so I have been diluting them with water, maybe 25-33%, which tastes better, and brings the price down close to real milk. And with it not spoiling so fast, it may be just as cheap now. Something to consider.

A person's discussion here on their water and trash rates got me to check my last 12 months of trying to live with minimal utilities. OK, maybe it was a little extreme keeping the house just below 60 this winter, but it was me testing how I could live with minimal usage.

Anyway, here are the results for the last 12 months of bills:
Trash: $0 (I compost & recycle, and usually end up with at most two grocery bags full of trash a month which I can take to a friend's house about once a month)
Water & sewage: $61.79 I shower at work in the gym as well as work out there which really helps (the gym cost $100 last year). If I read the bills right, my usage was around 500 gallons last year. And over half the bill was just fixed service charges, little of the bill was for the actual water.
Electricity: $451.54 (Considering my dividends from stock in that same company was just over $200 last year, that's pretty good!)
Natural Gas: $563.68 I use this for heat, heating water, and the stove.

Grand total of $1,076.92 (or about $90 per month)

Although I've mentioned them before, how do I keep the costs low?

Insulate everywhere you can. I did that the first year I bought the house.
I hand wash dishes twice a week. As I live by myself, this isn't as bad as it sounds. It ususally takes two or three gallons to do all my dishes.
I try to use the stove in the winter, microwave in the summer. That way I add heat to the house when it benefits me.
No clothes dryer. I use a large drying rack, as well as a special sock hanger.
The aforementioned showering at the gym at work. By doing this I not only use less water at home, but I can keep the water heater at very low temps during the week. And showering instead of a bath uses less water as well.
Installed new windows in the home. Doing it myself cost maybe 1/3 of the cost of having someone come in and do it. These were not cheap windows, but good low-E, double pane windows.
No central AC, I use only window AC units where I need to be cool. Last summer my largest electric bill was just under $50. The AC in the bedroom works like white noise, helping me go to sleep. I use fans in the rest of the house to make it liveable.

I'm not sure how long I can keep low rate of utility usage, but as long as I can, the money will go to buying more DRIPs, which means more financial independence for me.

Well I do have power at the moment though it could change any time. Like a few others here, I was in the center of this storm here on the east coast. They are saying it is going to snow another hour or so, but yikes, there is sure enough out there now. Everywhere around here is reporting at least 2 feet of snow. The little I tried to shovel was so packed, you could make igloo bricks out of it. And with no plowing on the side streets around here, its not like I could go anywhere even if I finished the driveway.

One interesting thing... the experiment with really low temps helped, as I was used to having the house cold, so the lack of heat wasn't that noticable. Last night with no power meant the temps dropped in the house, but it was still 50 when I got up in the morning.

Time to go shovel some more!

Not only outside has it been cold (the bad part), but inside too (the good part). Given BA's efforts at living at 50 degrees I have been for the past few weeks trying to keep the temperature down lower, usually 55 at night or when I'm not home, and ~62 when I am home. In addition I use an electric radiator in the bedroom as I spend a lot of time there with my computer and watching DVDs. The temperatures have been abnormally cold, and this week I got both my natural gas and electric bills. They totaled $160 (for my 4 bedroom house). That is higher than I hoped for (in fact the highest total I had in a few years), but it has been very cold (much colder than any month the last few winters) so maybe I shouldn't complain. Everyone I know has much much higher utility bills than I do, so I'm sure my efforts have helped.

This past summer I bought 4 DVD TV series sets with the hope of selling them on Half.com. As it turned out they all sold very quickly. I paid $2 - $3 each, and they usually sold for $9 or more. Now today a Blockbuster store was closing, and today was the last day of sales. I got three DVD TV season sets for $10. They are all selling for at least $10 each, so..... I need to watch them first, then on Half they go!

Hey, I gotta pay for my hobbies somehow.

OK, so what does that title mean? Well, since around May last year I have made a concerted effort to sell the deluge of books my ex left with me. Tons of books, many never read, or only a few pages (Now why did she buy them? I have my theories, but that'll have to wait for another time).

Anyway, since I have put a ton of books on Half.com, there have have been two times when I sold a lot of books in one day. First was the beginning of the college school year and.... now, which just by co-incedence is the beginning of the new semester at college. My book sales were only a few in December, and now that school has started up again, the books are selling.

Just sorta interesting, and something I wasn't expecting. Nice to get more of these out of here.

Nothing overly thrilling here, just lots of news on how if you keep with the plan, it will work. (You know the plan, saving money and making good investments!)

My reirement accounts are now $15k more than they were at the start of last year's meltdown. Of course since then I have put in $3K at the end of last year, $15K so far this year, and $5K into my Roth IRA, so its not like I am brilliant or anything. But at least I didn't panic and pull money out when the accounts were cratering, as they have all made vary nice rebounds.

My "Trash DRIP" (

Read the details here) is at about $900. I'm not getting rich, but it helps.

I've been finding more and more ways to save and now make money at yard sales. Last week I got a new pair of wonderful work shoes for $5 & I'm wearing them now. But better is buying things I can resell. Some highlights are 3 books I bought for $1/each. Only one has sold online so far, but I got $13 for it. Two weeks ago I bought a DVD TV season set for $2. I put it on half.com and it sold in three days for $15. (DVDs are going extremely cheap at yard sales this year!)

And I rarely go to Walmart, but when I did a month ago I found in a clearance isle some remote control car/airplane batteries & chargers for $1 each (or less!). I bought 4 and tried to sell only two so far. I got $15 combined for those two. I may list another one tonight. And now I have gotten someone to buy (on Craigslist) a large toy train that I was ignoring for the past 5 years (my bad!) that took up too much space even in its box. Of course they're paying me $10 more than I paid for it!

Now actually this money (and other sales profits) has gone towards my hobby purchases I have made this summer, but the net hobby cost (hobby costs less profits from above) this year has been very minimal (Maybe $250 for the whole year?). So this is great - less clutter, more (or better) of what I really want, and more money I can put to retirement or paying off my house (which with accelerated payments is less than 3 years to go). And that's the goal, no mortgage or other debt, then I don't have to worry about the economy or anything else (not that I worry now, but as I was unemployed for a year at one time, I know how things can go bad quickly).

I'm sure everyone has heard this. You talk to someone from ... say Africa... and they would say you have a lot. Talk to someone from the rich enclaves here in the USA and they would say you have so little.

The thought came to mind when I went to a "grand opening" sale at the local Giant grocery store yesterday. I don't normally go there, as even you take coupons into account, I find going to Aldi's much less expensive. But they had special double your $1 coupons for up to 4 of them, so I decided to go with some coupons and get some brand name things.

As I checked out, and went through the coupons, my purchase of 13 items totalled $14, and I thought thats nice, but I was hoping for better. The lady at the register goes "Wow, you sure got a fabulous deal today." I guess its a matter of perspective.

BTW, if I hadn't gotten the "California Pizza" specialty pizza for $4.50, the purchase would have been under $10, so maybe it wasn't that bad. It included 4 boxes of Kelloggs Raisin Bran, 2 big bags of Lays chips, big Heinz ketchup, two boxes of whole grain pasta, 2 Campells Select soups, and 1 Classico tomato sauce. So no complaints but I was hoping for better!

A sorta rant here, as I try to extricate myself from the overwhelming piles of books left with me from my ex. While this wasn't her only problem, it certainly contributed to her complaining she didn't have any money. She kept buying books, reading a few pages, then buying more books. I know because they are like new, and I often find book marks in them, usually somewhere within the first 50 pages.

Previously I could return some to Barnes & Noble without receipts and get store credits (I was able to get DVDs there for over two years without paying for anything!), but that isn't an option now. So I am selling on Half.com, and this month I have 15 sales (on top of another 25 sold earlier this year). I still have almost 150 listed, and I am still digging out books and listing them when I get the time. Plus I have probably another 200 in boxes that I already checked and won't sell for enough to bother with, so I either sell them at a yard sale for a pittance, try Craigslist, or give them away. Ugh.

I used to like reading books, and I do like to get some money from selling them, but this has really turned me off of books.

OK, rant over. And as an FYI, the sales for this month totalled about $75, so at least that's something worthwhile.

Couple good things so far this month...

Got this month's CC bill, it was only a little over $200. That may sound bad, but it has most all of my expenses on it but utilities (and even some of those), and is usually much larger. That is great! This month will be worse, as I just had a $300 car repair bill. Oh well, these things happen with older cars.

And speaking of utilities, my last electric bill was under $50. Not bad for living in swampy DC. (I've been using only 1 window AC unit)

I've kept up with my new exercise program for one month now. So far I have dropped about 12 lbs, and the muscle definition has definitely improved. And I can even do a chin up now (ok, only 3 at a time, but wow, I never could do that before!)

I donated blood today (so no exercising!). I wish I felt better physically after doing it, but I know its something I should do, so I keep going back.

And I visited my mother the past weekend, and took to her the replacement outdoor grill she has been looking for (her's was 30 years old). I paid $50 and did a lot of clean up on it (and she could see I did a lot of work), so she gave me $75 for the grill and effort which was nice.

Of course now I need to pay my real estate tax bill (bad) but it is only 2/3 of what it had been for the past few years (good!).

Nothing earth shattering above, but hey sometimes thats a good thing, right?

Getting your own windmill has been for the past years has been for the most part an effort in futility (so I've heard anyway). But now comes this product that is supposed to make it so easy to set one up on your house. While it sounds great, you have to wonder if the devil is in the details somewhere.

My biggest gripe with this would be there is no storeage of the power, so if the power goes out you still won't be able to say, power an AC unit for every 15 minutes out of an hour. All you could do is run some lights I would suspect. Still I will have to follow this and see how the reality is when they are on the market.

Your own windmill