Single Guy High Impact Saving

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.

It was a year (or maybe two) ago I wrote how going to yard sales can give a very interesting view on how some people fritted away money left and right on erm... c!&p, and now don't have money for basic needs like utilities, or even housing. Of course this was while I was visiting with relatives living "in the countryside" as I like to call it.

Quite possibly (make that probably) in the past year I have come across people moving out of the area I live in due to financial issues as well. But yesterday I came across one, that while they didn't say it directly, must have blown some serious wads of cash, and now had nothing but bills to show for it. It was late in the morning, so I probably missed some interesting items, but lets see - what did they have?
* Padded chair with speakers built in
* Some really expensive looking furniture
* Brand new wrought iron curtain rods and unopned very nice curtains (these are what I bought and installed in my kitchen)
* Some type of mini electric arcade (like you would find at Brookstone - are they still in business?)
* Fancy glassware
* Nice dresses
* Lots more high end bric-a-brac.
* Nice jukebox
* And last but not least - *TWO* cars sitting on the front lawn for sale. Both very high end cars, one some type of sports car, the other I think was a new BMW of some type. New fancy rims, new tires, nice and shiny. They wanted $35,000 for each one. Whew!

And the house, for this area anyway, would probably sell for $750,000 now (make that well over a million a year or two ago).

While I was looking someone that was helping this woman sell things commented "Well its not like you're going to have room for these things when you move into your condo." Yikes. While condos can be extra nice around here, most of them are just glorified apartments. Just keep the money spent on the junk I saw (and buy one reasonable used car instead of the two there) and I swear you would have enough money to pay a couple *YEARS* of mortgage payments, even on a house that size. I guess they thought the good times would never end. She even talked like she was well educated, but obviously some common sense was seriously lacking.

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.

At least thats the pronosis going forward for me as far as I can tell. I had an X-Ray and MRI of my shoulder that has gotten terrible in the past few months, and at today's doctor appt. I figured I would hear that the rotator cuff was a mess and surgery was needed. Nope, a very minor tear, but the big issue is extreme inflamation and capsulitis. So no surgery (which is good), but a long bout with physical therapy (good I suppose, but painful). Now I need to find a therapist close to work or home, and start into the cult of pain.

I need to keep telling myself "No surgery = good prognosis", other wise I'll probably go crazy.

Not sure if everyone knows this or not... but with all the changes coming in the next few years due to the health care overhaul, one thing that is going to look less appealing are Flexible Spending Accounts. I used to put in a certain amount, knowing that if needed I could spend on many over the counter items and stockpile if needed. Well this year is the last for that. Coming next year, most (or is it all?) OTC items will NOT be eligible for flexible spending. I'm not really complaining, I was surprised a few years ago when they expanded the elibility to include OTC items, so I'm just dissapointed now. With everything else going on with healthcare, costs are supposed to go down overall. I hope so, but we'll see. I'm betting my costs will go up, though not horribly. (Actually I'm fairly sure it will go up, since now I will have to pay taxes on my health insurance premiums - now this sucks!)

I've been watching for many months now my retirement accounts refill after last year's free fall. I never lost faith in the accounts, though I was surprised at how quick everything bounced back. With my plan to supersize my early year retirement account deposits (which I started in 2008), last year was a super year for my accounts (I deposited a lot early in 2009 when prices were at their lowest). My retirement sites show my "Personal Performance" for last year at over 50%. Oh, if only I could do that every year! (Can you imagine? You would only have to work a few years, then retire on your earnings. That would be crazy.)

The accelerated pay-down of my mortgage continues. I put in an extra $325/mo., and with the current payments already 80% principle, the end is in sight. The accelerated payoff date is currently mid 2012. I suspect if my finances are pumped up enough, I will probably just pay it off totally late 2011 / early 2012 and look at the payoff money like a short term CD earning the mortgage rate.

The Roth IRA is over half funded for 2010. When my 2009 tax refund arrives (any day now?) I will probably put the last $2K in. The refund is way more than I meant for it to be (I was aiming for a $0 refund), but due to the timing of my end of year paycheck I put much more into taxes for 2009 than I intended. Oh well, the overpayment was at year end, so its not like I gave the free loan to the government for all the year.

Finally - sorry for the rambling - this was more of a train of thought post. This is what happens when you write up something late at night.

Gambling is just one of those things I never saw the fun in. I guess its from my math background, I just know that its just a fancy way to throw away your hard earned money. A lottery isn't so bad, at least you are told up front what the odds are. But casinos are ... well... not my cup of tea, to put it mildly.

Anyway, if you feel like I do, here is the perfect comic strip to show those that think going to a casino is a great way to spend some time. You need to select Saturday March 20 to view it, and it will probably be there for only 10 days, so don't wait...

Pearls Before Swine

Just a quick note from something I was pointed to online. Here is a link to a bank that doesn't want money. Seriously. If you withdraw money from your account (which by the way is earning 0%) and its a large enough amount of money, they'll pay you to just go away. Now that is just crazy.

Here it is

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.

Some days things don't go right. After doing early morning errands, I returned and tried to open my garage door. As I lifted it, it jamed and I hear all types of noises inside. After some effort I got it open a few feet and was able to get in. Here one of the two spring / pulley / counterweight mechanisms came totally apart, with the spring flying to the other side of the garage, and some parts on the floor. Now it is extremely hard to open the door, and without the spring there is nothing holding it back from crashing back down. I found all the parts except the pulley, so until I can find where that spun off to, I can't try to fix it (if I can even do it by myself!).

And then my Apprentice Bliss Hunter moment came a few hours after that. I had talked with a woman online off and on for a few months, and we met two weeks ago where I paid for a modest lunch, and then we talked and walked for about two hours afterwards. I had a wonderful time, it was very interesting, and she seemed to really enjoy it. When we were leaving she made a point to give me a card and wrote her cell phone number on the back. This week I got back in touch with her and as she was stressed at work, I suggested since the weather was nice this weekend, lets go to the museums Sunday. We could take some sandwiches and a drink, and have a few relaxing hours. She says "That sounds wonderful" (on Thursday), and then today (Saturday) I get the message from her that she can tell we're totally incompatible and wishes me well.

I had very little emotional baggage attached at this point, but I soooooo understand Bliss Hunter's feelings when it comes to dating. If she had been less than happy with me when we met, I could certainly understand. Not everyone connects, of course I get it. But what is it with them having the same values as you, even having good dates, then just pretending it was the opposite, not wanting to even see if something special happens? I'm not really stressed about this, as somehow I found this was going too well to be real. Still the last year has totally jaded my view towards dating. And certainly towards the cries of women that the good men aren't out there. Spare me the tears, I just ain't falling for it any more. These women have issues, and I simply don't get what they are.

Apprentice Bliss Hunter, if you're out there, you're not crazy, and you're not alone. Keep your chin up, and do what you feel makes sense, not what others tell you. In the end all you can do is make yourself happy, at least that's something.

Subtitled: No wonder older folks don't like the internet / computers / modern technology. (Not much finance here, mostly rant)

Been visiting mother 2 states away and she asks me to help her with Verizon combined bill. She has the company take the money directly from her checking account for their monthly bills. On it is multiple credits and debits that don't make any sense, especially since she didn't change the phone or internet service in many months. Years ago I worked in utility billing, so I understand this stuff about as well as anyone, and I can't figure out what they're doing.

So I have the idea, hey, why don't we acess your bill history online, maybe that will give us a clue (Baaaad idea).

Before I start, let me say I build interactive business web sites for a living, so I was appalled at what I went through.

What all happened? First we try to register on a weekend. We go all the way through the registration process, just to have it say at the end, "sorry we're not able to register you now". You do NOT let someone go through a process if it is not available at the end. We try a few times over the weekend with the same result. No explanation as to why, or when we can register. That is insane.

Next we got registered Monday morning. We get on their site which is filled with a bazillion advertising and whiz bang thingies, but we just want to review bills, which is what the paper bill says we can do. When we go to the registration site it also says we can review bills online. We go to the manage account section, go to view bill, and all we get is the internet portion of the bill, and nothing about what was automatically taken out. WTF is this?

Then I find a link that says oh, if you have a combined bill, click here to access it (why we have to do it this way I don't know, but okaaaay). Try this link and immediately it asks me to log in again. WTF #2? You do not build a site that asks a user to log in again and again. That is really bad design.

Ok, we log in again, only to be put back at where we were before. WTF #3? (I don't think this one needs any more explanation).

OK, lets go the FAQ. There it has a section on what to do if you want to pay or view your bill. I go there and am told I can view and pay my bill online. How? No directions, just a link that says click here to go to view the bill. Guess what??? I am asked to log in again. (%#@#@!!!) After I do that, what happens? I am taken back to where I was when this all started (AGAIN). WTF #4. Who makes answers to FAQs without instructions on how to do basic things? I mean, really, who is this incompetant?

I do more searching and come across a link for a demo site that is supposed to show you how great it is to use their site. Ok, I try that one. What happens? Well nothing actually as the page never loads anything. Try it again 10 minutes later - nothing, half hour later - nothing. Well I have to admit, the demo does show how useful their site is.

My mother (& I) give up at this point and just decide calling will have a better chance to find out what the F they're doing.

No wonder older folks don't use the internet. They want it as a tool, not something whiz-bang. And when the basics dont' work, well of course they're going to go back to paying with checks, using stamps, and having the same more expensive slower life. And where I live I have the option of Verizon or another provider for service (thankfully I don't use Verizon!).

For lots it seems that the day to day little victories are what keeps them motivated. That just isn't enough for me. While I am very frugal, and do like to know what I save based on my habits, I enjoy more looking to milestones I cross to know that what I am doing is working for me.

With that, this milestone isn't something I can easily title, so I'll just write it out...
I now have more in liquid and near liquid savings (savings bonds, CDs, cash, checking) than I owe on my current mortgage.
A sorta esoteric milestone, but I look at it this way: If I lost my job now I could easily live off unemployment while I use the liquid funds to pay off the house. I would still have my retirement funds (401k, 457, Roth IRA), some stocks, and a pension coming down the road (ok, the pension will arrive in 18 years, but still, its something).

Some future goals... (and if anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong in making a list here, I would like to know!!!)
[list]
[*]At my 50th b-day (in 2.5 years) I want to have $250K in retirement funds (could happen if the markets don't tank again as I'm at $150K now).
[*]Have the mortgage gone at that 50th b-day (currently I am paying at a rate that it should succumb 2 months before said b-day).
[*]Have my current vehicle survive until that same b-day, then look to buy a new car in the following year.
[*]Hard to quantify, but I want to be in better shape at 50 than I am now. To that end I have shaken up my daily workout regimen adding more abdominal work, and cut down some on the upper body exercises. Additionally I have started to take some workout supplements. It doesn't cost that much, and if I'm not saving money so I can spend it here, where am I going to use the money?
[*]I also want this house to be decluttered by the middle of summer.
[*]Oh, and I am still looking to have someone in my life, sometime not too too far away I hope. To that end I went out to a singles dinner last week, and paid for a nice lunch with a woman I met online over the weekend. I thought it went very well, but the pessimist in me is expecting the worst at this point. Hey, you can't give up, right?
[/list]

Ok, was that too much info? In any case, I like having the goals to work toward. It lets me know why I'm doing what I'm doing.



Oh and here's a photo of a toy train car I made a year ago. Why? Why not, plus I hope to start making more of them again in the future. (hey, should that be another goal???)

For those who can't guess, that is the snow is back. Yowza, I got back in to the office for the first day this week, and already we're closed again for tomorrow. As a salaried dude, this sure don't make me sad. The local forecast was for 10+ with the majority of it coming from midnight to 8 AM. For this evening (6-midnight) the forecast was for 1 to 4 inches. Well after two hours (6-8PM) there was already 3 inches on the driveway, and it hasn't slowed down.

The only bad part about this (other than MORE snow shovelling!) is that I had signed up for a singles dinner for Thursday night, and its on the other side of town. This is making me wonder if they'll be able to have it now (and if I can even get there!).

Oh, and btw, the winds are supposed to pick up tomorrow as well. As I've told my relatives up north, we've now become the new snow belt.

Someone on the Washington Post site had the best comment for the start of tonight/tomorrow's storm - "All hands brace for impact!"

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!

And I really do mean that.

As part of my DRIPs I own some Disney stock, not too much, in the range of $1500 worth. Anyway, about two years ago Disney was buying part of some radio network called Citadel Broadcasting. Instead of just buying what they wanted, there was some type of stock swap involved (supposedly to cut down on stockholder taxes - though I didn't buy that even then). So because of this I became the new owner of 4 shares of Citadel's stock (which I think was $6/share back then). So I looked at this and said do I want to pay a stockbroker to get $24 less whatever commision I would have to pay (probably most of the $24), or just keep the junk. So I kept the 4 shares.

Now it looks like I should of just sold them and got whatever money I could (basically the stockbroker would have made money, not me!) I got a letter today that the company is now going into Chapter 11. At least I didn't lose much money with that fiasco, but couldn't they have figured if the number of shares was below a certain number (say 50?) they would just give the shareholders money instead as it wouldn't be practical?

So as I said, thanks so much for thinking about us small shareholders. Its great to know you really care. :P

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.

... or subtitled "The most perfect TV commercial deconstruction ever". OK, I know you're saying "what is he going on about?" Trust me, this is finance related (sorta anyway).

As I was going through some www.fatwallet.com forum postings yesterday(and man they can be hilarious at times), one was talking about marriages and dis-similarities between spouses and their financial "styles". One posting had a link that led to a National TV commercial from a few years back on You Tube. I saw it a few times, and thought it was a horrible commercial then. After reading the comments on the site, I see it as what it really is: the most "pro-greed, irresponsible, oblivious to reality, male bashing" commerical ever.

Click here to enjoy It makes you want to never do business with their company ever (and thats impressive to make a commercial that bad). To really appreciate it, you need to read all the comments (which deconstruct the commercial), and the first two video replys (the 3rd one is just an example of how idiots and video cameras don't mix).

As I read the comments it reminded me of a time many moons ago when a similar situation came in my life, and it would have been too easy to cave in like the guy in the video. My now-Ex wanted to go to college - she was too immature but I felt if that made her happy then let her go. The school asked that I be there when they did the loan paperwork for her so I went. Then they expected me to co-sign all the papers which caught me off guard. To this day I don't know what alarms went off in my head, but something did. I looked at the loan officer and said "This is between her and your school. If you don't want to loan her the money, thats your choice but I'm signing nothing." I then got up and walked out.

If I didn't walk out then my life would probably still be screwed up financially to this day. I probably wouldn't have a house to live in, just an apt. somewhere, and I while I would have done ok, it would be nothing like it is today. There are times I am still amazed how close I got to the edge of the abyss and pulled back. Its scary - really. If there is a moral to the story, its if you know something is a bad idea (and I mean really bad), do not give in to the pressure no matter what.

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.

I haven't posted for a while, and everyone (ok, some) is making 2010 resolutions, so hey, lets see if I can come up with some good ones.

Financial:

•Fund Roth IRA fully by June 30
•Continue max contributions to 457 plan (a 401k plan for gov't types) so that I max out contributions by end of September. This year I maxed out in November.
•Be happy with spending once in a while (yeah, not frugal, but I need to have a life - so to speak)
•Sell more books and other junk to help free up space at home (and make money!). This year I spent more on hobbies than I sold, but it wasn't horrendous, and was actually an improvement. If I can get this year to at least be a wash it would be tremendous.

Personal:
•Finish cleaning the house - yeah doesn't sound like much, but I'm having to do major decluttering going through papers, boxes of old stuff, and on and on. It takes time.
•Try the online dating again, of course trying to keep more of a zen philosophy while doing it. At least now I have a better idea of what to expect.
•Continue to volunteer and donate blood. I did two full days of volunteer work last year (DTV conversions) and dontaed blood 4 times. I'll see if I can donate blood 5 times this year. Hopefully there won't be another fainting spell afterwards (ugh).
•Start / finish repairs & tasks about the house.
•Re-start my exercise routine at home. I did it for 2 months and was seeing good results, then I hurt my leg (not exercise related) and was on crutches. As I work-out during workday lunches, I haven't lost most of my improvements, but I really need to get back into the groove again.
•Look into applying for the team lead position opening at work at the end of the year. Sorta like a management position, our team lead person is retiring at the end of the year, and co-workers have asked if I am going to apply. It seems they think I would be a good leader. In my prior job I was asked to do the same thing and declined, perhaps I should do it this time. If nothing else, it probably is the only way I'll be getting any raise.

Long Term (Post 2010):
•Get my retirement savings to $250K by my 50th birthday. It was around ~$150,000 when I checked my accounts on Thursday(401k, 457, and a Roth IRA). While this increase sounds hard, I can put in $16,500 in the 457 and $5,000 in the Roth each year, so that makes $64,000 for three years. The big question is will the markets go up enough to make a $35,000 increase in my accounts over three years. Maybe??? An 8% return should just about do it.
•Determine within 3 years if I want to finish my working career at my current job, and if so find a house to live in closer to work. Current commute is 45 minutes, I'd like to be able to cut it to under 20 minutes (I know, wishful dreaming).
•Finish paying off of current mortgage by 50th birthday. With my throwing in an extra ~$250/mo. I should have the house paid for a few months ahead of that date. I bought it in '98, so that is just over 13 years total.
•Wow, sounds like I have a three year plan. With that, after the mortgage is done, buy a new (new to me) car. My current one is getting long in the tooth, hopefully it can last another 2-3 years.

Whew. Sorry, that was a lot of stuff to read. I know its a lot, but if I can do that, I'll be pretty well set. But isn't that was being frugal is all about? Having a life you can enjoy without worries?

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).

Warning: This is (mostly) non-financial related. (But the guys out there should like it!)

OK, you've been warned.

Ever see those interviews where they ask the person, if you could give your younger self advice, what would it be? Well here is my advice to my younger self, pretty much word for word.

Click here to enjoy! I know the guys on here will know its true.

And here is another great one, just read about this guy's blind date, its even worse than anything I have put up with! A very good story!

Oh well, at least I can laugh about it now. As well, continuing to sell more books online (for the last 45 days I have sold 30 books!) also helps. More money - more space.

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.

Yes, that is the title of today's front page story in the Washington Post. Of course they understand how it will sound absurd, so in the story they go over the numbers for this family living in their own named house on Long Island Sound. The Post has been doing a number of stories on how the recession has been hitting people around the country, with people ending up in some really bad positions. But wow, this one sure comes at it from the other direction.

A few highlights:
A live-in nanny.
$75,000 in child support.
Her bonus will only be 90% of what it was last year.
She'll only make $50,000 on investments this year.

I don't want to be judgemental, but you can

read about it here!

Ahem, any sympathy?

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

Sometimes you go with the best of intentions, and things don't work out. Then other times you aren't even trying, and things just fall into place.

The above was certainly the case tonight. I went to the local Safeway with the plan of getting the 10 bottles for 80 cents each sale (the store is less than a mile away, so I can go just for sales). I had two buy one, get one free coupons, so I figured... 8 X 80 cents is $6.40 + tax (for 10). Not great, but I wasn't in the best mood, and just wanted to spend a little on something I thought I would like.

When I got there I found four bottles of Propel that had coupons on them, so I picked them up as part of my purchase. At the register the on bottle coupons doubled, and the lady used the original price for the amount off of my BOGOF coupons (instead of the sale price). At the end I paid $1.04 (4 Sobe, 4 Propel, 2 Fuze). The lady at the register said "wow" four times. I was afraid she was going to redo everything because I was paying too little. Its weird how these things work sometimes.

Here is an interesting article dealing with some people saving too much for retirement.

How much is too much?
While I can feel there can never be too much saved for retirement, it does make the point that you need to enjoy your money a bit, if you have it to enjoy of course. Before I used to think that if I kept saving as I did, once I hit 50 I at least wouldn't feel like I had to be saving more. I would have enough that as long as I wasn't wasteful I would be fine. Now I'm not so sure about that time frame (for the obvious reasons). My home should still be paid off for before I hit 50, so thats good.

Anyway, after saving so hard for a few years, and knowing that I have a solid job now and semi solid savings, I would be happy to splurge a little, but there is so little I want now, and no one to enjoy it with, eh - what am I to do? No crying here, but sheesh, boy do I feel out of sync with society as a whole.

Damn, if that isn't a depressing title, I don't know what is. As has been reported here by other single guys, meeting single women with, well shall we say common sense and some manners, is so near impossible that it really has effected me mentally this past month. (oh, plus the fact I was going through the dirt and junk of my father's estate this weekend didn't help.)

Before this month I just concentrated on family issues and meeting someone was sorta outta sight, outta mind, which seemed to work for me. But with my life getting back to normal (finally) it is just getting to me being alone all the time, and this time its affecting much more than it ever did. You go online at these match making sites and all you get is obvious scams its ridiculous. I hear its the same for women, but I just don't buy it. And worse, I live in a supposed area of many more single women than single guys. Really? Are they part of the packs of girls doing their best Valley Girl impersonations in the malls while they spend, spend, spend? If so, man, shoot me now.

And to end this on a somewhat better point of view, I have been trying to keep up the with P90X regimine (see my last post) and now I splurged on one (and only one!) of their high priced recovery drink mix canisters. I'll be trying it this week and coming back with a review. And btw, I have lost almost 10 pounds in two weeks, and there is starting to show signs of the workouts.

Well wish me luck, I haven't given up yet. Is expecting a reasonable woman my age too much to ask?

Boy, its been a long time since I wrote anything here. Alot of crud going on in my life, and that sort of leads to the title of this. While I was out cutting the grass tonight, I did what I always do, sorta get into a mental zone, let my body go on autopilot to do the work, and let my mind go through a little self analysis. OK, maybe a lot. Anyway, as I was going over the mess of my life at the moment, I realized this is probably much more productive than going to a psychiatrist (Actually I am very much against going to one, unless you have severe problems ... but that is MHO). And of course the cost is $0 too.

My alternate title for this was going to be "I'm living in a Billy Joel song". Basically the song is (and I'm guessing the title here) "Only the good die young". Everyone "good" in my life in the past year has either died or gotten very ill. Not looking for sympathy, but really, for so many years I had so little of this go on close to me, and then wow, WTF happened? OK, I gotta stop going down this road.

One last thing - not to be an advertisement, but if you are looking at workout routines, and see the one called P90X, OMG is that insane. I thought I was in, well... maybe passable shape. After doing this for a few days I feel like a wimp. If you're not in so-so shape don't try it - I think they have an easier (and older) version called P90. Thats good to get started - I was using that as I found it at a yard sale last year. If I can keep up with this P90X, even if I don't do it as hard as they make it out, I have to get in better shape. I'm hoping I will be able to walk ok tomorrow morning. Aghhhhhh!