Yes, I own a pair of $400 roller skates. Did I mention that I play roller derby with the Ohio Roller Girls? Hence, the skates.

I'm normally pretty frugal with the cash. Sure, we buy what we want. The trick is we don't want much.

I was thinking about the skates today, because I really haven't used them as much as I would have liked. I played on game in them, then got pregnant and couldn't play anymore. I have skated maybe 30 or so speed skating practices in them. I just found out today that our league is restructuring and in such a way that a player like me, who has been on maternity leave for 10 months, will have a hard time getting any playing time on game day. My heart is a bit broken.

And, of course, I want to get my money's worth on those skates.

So what do I do? Do I stick it out, go to practices, etc. and risk not getting to play? Or do I leave the league?

I just don't know.

Things are still challenging.
The bean is three months old and still doesn't sleep through the night. dad is dying rapidly of pancreatic cancer.

I have managed to carve out some (very little) time for me, despite it all. Last week,I actually went shopping for fun. Not normally my style, but hey, when in a pinch.

Our savings plan is still moving along nicely. Although, June was expensive. We had to pay $648 to have our storm damaged trees saved and to have some damaged shrubs removed. It's been storming here almost every day for two weeks, and three of those nights were brutal, with tornado sirens blaring to 3 or 4 am.

We also are paying another $300 to have our hot tub fixed. Normally, I am very frugal and conservative, But last summer we bought a hot tub, used of course. It's been a more expensive project than I ever imagined. But we play a lot of sports, and sitting in a whirly hot bath when you have a knee injury or a pulled whatzit is really worth paying for.

That's all, except that I'm ashamed that I haven't made any money for the tiki challenge for a whole month. I guess I can forgive myself, considering.

Two weeks ago I found out my dad is dying of pancreatic cancer. I'm overwhelmed and haven't sorted out my feelings, so I will keep it brief. We don't have much time. Maybe another 1 to 6 weeks.

I just lost both of my grandparents. Grandma in July 2006 and Grandpa in July 2007. Now this. I wonder how much more I can bear.

Whew.

Life is really hectic.

baby bean, at 10 weeks, still sleeps no longer than 3 hours in a stretch. I'm starting to wonder how long I can keep this up! Add in that all day long he wants to be carried around the house-- if I put him down, he screams- and I am one tired lady.

That said, I am trying to get in the habit of cooking, because we can't just eat take out forever. Well, we could, but..

So, I bought a crock pot, which has allowed me to throw random ingredients in, turn it on when beaner finally passes out at midnight, and then have at least something inexpensive and reasonably healthy to eat in the morning.

Note: I am looking for good crock pot cookbooks if you have any suggestions

So far this week: I've made one pot roast and tonight I am making a lentil bean/ Okra stew that my hubby is excited about.(I didn't tell him it was a mainstay of my diet as a 20 year old broke waitress.)

Also, the $6 strawberry patch I planted has yielded at least 12 quarts of berries so far, and I still have more to pick. You can't beat the ROI for homegrown organic fruit!

That said, I have done absolutely nothing for the tiki challenge this month.And, well, nothing in my actual freelance career lately. It seems that until that kid sleeps through the night, all bets are off!

I planted a 1 foot by 3 foot strawberry patch last summer and it has finally paid off. We've collected about 5 quarts from this very small plot so far, and I'm sure there will be plenty more in the coming days. I froze about 2 quarts and we ate the other 3. The hubby said they were the best strawberries he has ever had. I tend to agree.

So, for about $6 in plants, we've had several days of fresh, organic strawberries. Money well spent.

Just putting this out there. With fuel prices where they are would anyone like to join me in tracking No Drive Days? Kind of like No Spend Days, but obviously, driving instead?

The rules: Count only the days where you do not drive. You can walk, take the bus/transit, bike, etc. But no driving your car!

I think it would be a fun exercise and might lead to some savings. I know I would think more about maximizing each trip I do take if I were trying to reach a no drive day goal...

Beanie is officially 6 weeks old. Boy has it been exhausting! He's still not sleeping through the night. But I digress...

Before I had him I had a lot of anxiety about how much having a baby was really going to cost us.

So far, the answer is $385 a month. Of course this will change, but it's the first concrete figure I have.

It is as follows:
$200 to 529 college savings act
$60 in extra insurance premiums
$15 pediatrician copay for monthly visit
$50 in diapers and misc., but that is estimating high.
$60 for breast pump rental

It's not as bad as I had expected.

I suspect it is so low as well because he still eats 90 to 95 percent breast milk every day. we are supplementing with formula so I can get some sleep, but we received so many free samples that we could use the free stuff for months before having to buy any.

The diapers are hit or miss.I have reusable cloth diapers but we don't use them exclusively because in many situations, they leak. The last thing I need is to have him wake up too many times at night because his clothes are soaked through, so it's worth it to use some disposables. We pay probably $13 every 10 days or less for disposables. I also included odds and ends, like special baby laundry detergent in this total.

Not too shabby.

Wow. Mother's day. It's weird that this year I too am actually a mom. I'm so used to being the kid doing things for my mom on Mother's Day.

The bean is six weeks old. It certainly has been rough. I knew it would be hard but not this hard! I thought he might at least be sleeping through the night by now, but no...

I haven't had more than 2 hours of sleep in a stretch for 6 weeks now, and frankly, it's starting to wear on me.

Having a life and working? Pretty much feels impossible right now. I was excited today because the hubby watched the bean so I could go to the grocery store. It felt nice to have 2 hours alone!

Boy, funny how life changes, isn't it?

A while back, I read the Automatic Millionaire and it inspired me to put my savings on auto pilot. It is a simple idea, but it's been working out great for us.

I was worried that the checking account would dip or we somehow wouldn't be able to keep up with the aggressive saving strategy I had set up for us, but so far it is working well.

I originally earmarked:
$500 a month to online savings act.
$175 a month to 529 plan
$360 a month to brokerage act
$325 a month to hubby's Roth

I recently upped it to
$600 a month to online savings
$200 a month to 529 plan

and added an additional $100 a month to my student loan payment. (On top of the $293 I already pay).

I've also managed to put more into the savings account than I had originally intended each month, so it seems that $600 has become the minimum saved, rather than the total.

If you had told me 6 months ago that I'd be able to put this much away a month, I would have told you you were crazy. Especially since I gave up my full-time income for freelance and we have since become a one and a half income family.

It's amazing what you can do if you just take the plunge and stop talking yourself out of it.

The end result of all this is that we are more than halfway to meeting our 2008 savings goals, and it's only (almost) May.

We have put $10,685 into various savings and investments. Our goal for 2008 was to sock away $18,600. So less than $8,000 to go.

This really makes me wonder what we were spending all of our money on before!

I was surprised to see that my tax rebate has arrived in my checking account already.

Of course, that spurred a heated debate about how to use the money, even though we think the whole rebate thing is a terrible idea.

We agreed that the hubby can buy a new video game, I can 'spend' an equivalent amount (I already put my $100 in the tiki fund), and then we'll figure out what to do with the rest.

We joke that since the gov't was upset that folks will use the money to pay off debt that we should put ours towards our one debt (my student loan) just to represent...

In reality, it will likely go to the bean's 529 plan or to savings because we are planning to get a new roof this summer. Not very exciting, I know.

In other news, the cost of giving birth to our bean was about $9500 for the delivery. Just got the bill. Insurance is covering all but about $336. That's much less than I thought we'd have to pay. Of course, we still need to get the bill for the two days in the hospital following birth. So we'll see. But I was bracing to pay thousands, just because you never know what insurance companies are going to foist on you, so this is a small relief.

Wow. I'm not usually one to pay that much attention to gas prices. Hubby and I work from home a lot and live close to shopping, but even I had to take notice when it cost almost $30 to fill up my Honda Civic hatchback. The gas tank is barely 9 gallons!
I really don't know how folks with big commutes are doing it...

I don't want to jinx myself just yet but Beanie is approaching 3 weeks old. I just paid the bills and our spending has taken quite dip during that time. I guess all the late night feedings and changings, the need for 24 hour care, etc. is saving us money so far. No energy to go out, I suppose. Although, we are heading out to a rock show tonight. Just waiting for grandma to show up to take over. But this will be money well spent on a well-deserved night out!

My aunt Cam sent $20 in a card for Beanie's birth. I transferred it into the 529 plan. Every little but helps! Maybe in 18 years that $20 will be worth $25!

I also paid an extra $100 to the student loan this month. It's down to about $15,500. Considering I started with $40,000 in 2001, That's not too bad.

When I worked full time, I'd always used any extra freelance money I earned to pay down the loan. Some months, I put an extra $400 or more to it. My goal is to have it paid off in full in the next two to three years.

That's the news. Nothing exciting. We decided we are going to cash the Louisiana tax check and just hold the money in reserve in case it turns out to be a mistake. If it isn't I'll put some of it toward the student loan and some of it into the tiki fund.

Some of you may know I lived in New Orleans for 10 years, and was forced to move by Hurricane Katrina. (This was my house, which I miss..)

Well, we have been fighting the Louisiana dept of revenue for a good two years over our 2005 tax return. They just couldn't get straight that we moved in Sept. and earned income in another state. Of course, we paid Ohio tax on that income and Louisiana tax on what we earned in Louisiana.

For the past two years, Louisiana insisted that I owed Louisiana tax on all the income we earned, even what we earned in another state.

They wanted us to pay an additional $2,000 or so to them, and had issued a notice that they could start seizing assets. I was very steamed.

After multiple phone calls and multiple faxes of our 2005 state tax returns, I got a surprise in the mail today.

A refund check from Louisiana for a little more than $800. With no note.

I have no idea how they went from you owe us two grand to we owe you $800. I'm almost afraid to cash it, because it's probably yet another administrative error...

I loved New Orleans but general incompetence at every level of government and industry is why we chose to leave after the storm.

This whole tax nightmare has just been a constant reminder not to wax sentimental about going back!

Anyway, I don't know what to do now. Call about the refund or just cash the darn check?

I have posted about how worried I am about the cost of raising our new baby bean.

He's only bean alive 10 days, so it's too soon to tell, but I wanted to start a tally.

We've tried to be economical with everything.

The avg. new parents spends about $6,700 before the baby is born on thing like cribs, clothes and supplies. We spent $600. Everything was used except the crib. We also received many clothes and boxes of diapers as gifts. They have really come in handy!

Diapers: We spent about $200 on reusable cloth diapers, a brand called Happy Heiny's. They are one size fit all, so they should last. We bought some new and some lightly used through a diaper exchange.

Right now, we're using disposables, just because his belly button hasn't healed up yet and it's nigh impossible to fold down our reusable diapers to keep from irritating it.

Food: Right now, it's all about mama's milk. But the pump we borrowed wasn't getting the job done, so we rented one from the hospital for $60 a month. (about 2x was we expected, but still MUCH cheaper than formula.)

If we have to supplement for some reason, I have oodles of free Similac formula samples that the pediatrician and hospital gave me. I also received some free samples of it in the mail from Similac. It's all in the cupboard just in case.

College: Yes, I've been saving for Baby Bean's college since the first Ultra Sound. Right now, we're putting aside $175 a month into a 529 plan, which is enough to max out the $2,000 a year state tax deduction.

Still no word on the hospital bill. I have a 90/10 plan, and for some reason I'm under the impression that our out of pocket is capped at about $3,000. So we'll see. I am expecting to pay at least $3,000 for our birth plus 2 day stay at Chez Hospital.

Oh, and we did pay a $15 co pay at the pediatrician, and we'll have to do that again later this month.

Overall, I'd say so far so good. Beanie isn't totally breaking the bank.

Although, I am wondering how I am ever going to manage to go back to work....

Yay! I added another $15.71 to the tiki $20 challenge today, thanks to some sales on my Web site. That brings the total for the year up to $689.66. Not too shabby!

Well, we finally did it. The new baby Bean (Raymond, after my grandpa who died last March) arrived April 1 at 7 a.m. after only 25 hours of labor. Phew. There is a reason they call it labor and not tickle party.

We've been home from the hospital for 3 days. Everyone seems to be in good health so far. Although, mommy and daddy are exhausted. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't know it'd be quite this hard.

No sleep, constant feeding, crying. Seems like the little guy is either passed out asleep or if he is awake, screaming his lungs out. I'm hoping that's just a phase. He is after all, brand new and the world must seem a bit overwhelming.

He and I are both having a pretty bad week! (Until the week I get the hospital bill...)

Speaking of money...

Not that I can even give it much thought right now but I will have more to add to the tiki fund soon. Probably about $20 but I haven't done the math yet.

And I'll also have another $2,000 to put toward retirement savings, thanks to a check for a freelance project arriving while I was in the hospital. Since I haven't decided whether to do an IRA or a Solo 401k , I'm just going to stash the dough in savings until I have time to think about it.

So that's the news!

My sister stayed over last night. We were talking about tax refunds and such. Somehow, the subject of savings accounts came up. I asked her if she had a high-interest savings account and she looked at me like I was crazy. She said "my bank doesn't pay interest on my savings account."

So I asked her if she'd considered opening an online account and she said "You know that stuff makes my head spin."

We've gone around and around on money. Last year, I had to help her refinance her house so she didn't lose it. She had refinanced a few years before to pay off her car and credit card debt. Do you know how she found the loan? she answered an add on television-- then didn't even read the terms. it was an adjustable rate mortgage with rates about 4 percent higher than what she could have gotten at the local bank-- and it was about to reset to about 15 percent. Ugh. Luckily, we avoided that mess.

That inspired her to ask me to help her develop a financial plan and a budget. So I went through all of her documents, bills, etc. and set up a relatively easy to follow and not too onerous saving and debt reduction plan. 2 years later, it's still gathering dust. And I just found out she cashed out her entire retirement plan to pay off credit card debt. (She's 38).

(This isn't even going into the times I've had to bail her out. I've paid her monthly mortgage twice-- due to no emergency fund when she lost her job. I've also moved in with her to help her save and get ahead on bills, only to have her immediately quit her job after I moved in, because she could now afford to...)

Ugh. It's like she doesn't want to deal with money at all, because she doesn't want to sacrifice or deal with her demons. But yet, the longer you let things go, the bigger the demons.

And here is the worst part-- she works in accounting. She loves her job, but yet she can't seem to translate that into her personal life.

Sorry for the rant. I just worry about her and sometimes it makes me mad.

I saw is article in the NY Times. I'm glad I'm not the only one getting ready to rip out a bunch of evergreens and plant fruit trees in their stead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/garden/13orchyarding.html?...

My hubby and I have been systematically turning all of the existing flower beds around our home into mini farms. Last year, we had literally 50 pounds or more of fresh veggies, just from our own little beds. We didn't buy one veggie all summer, and we just finished the last of the pasta sauce we made from the roma toamtoes. It's one answer to higher grocery costs...

Anyway, here is the article.

I am new to that site, but they just called and asked if I wanted to be a regular contributor. (I'm a financial journalist by trade.)

Just want to get your thoughts on their personal finance section.

A worthy question. I read a lot of personal finance books, so I was intrigued when I ran across this article by David Bach (of Rich Couples Finish Rich fame). He has written a new book about how going green can make you rich and this article is a rundown of the ways you can save or make money by being more environmentally aware.

It's interesting that such a high-profile writer is taking on this topic. Of course, some of the suggestions are things us eco-geeks have been doing for years, like freecycling and donating used goods, but it may be worth a read anyway.

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/millionaire/72749;_y...

The last 1099 finally arrived, so I finished our state and federal taxes. It was almost a wash. We qualified for a $1,130 Federal refund but then had to pay about $900 to the state. So, we have about $200 to spare tax wise. Like a geek, I've already transferred it to the savings account.

I also earned a good chunk freelancing this month. I got a gig covering a securities fraud trial in Ohio for a news service. I've managed to put in a good 70 hours on this project this month. That is welcome money, considering we're two weeks away from having our first baby.

I may be able to earn some more from a related trial this week, but at 38 weeks pregnant, big as a house and swelling ankles, the wood courthouse benches don't seem that appealing. (The bailiffs also keep asking me if they need to go boil water...)

Still, I think I should try to work as much as possible while I still don't have to worry about babysitters...

Last week was a good week for freelancing because Bankrate.com also published another one of my stories, so that is more to the IRA. Between these two projects and another Bankrate project, it looks like I'll be able to max out my IRA by May this year. That feels good.

After that, the hubby may let me use some of my writing money to fund the future tiki bar fund. At least, I have my fingers crossed.

Otherwise, March has been a slow month, as you can see from my Tiki calculations on the sidebar. Only about $20 has gone into the fund so far and the month is halfway over. Oh well, I guess I should expect that number to go down when I have to focus so much of my energy on my main income stream.

I believe your money is your vote. So for the second year in a row, I'm voting for locally grown pesticide-free produce from a local farmer. Last year, we joined a farm co-op for the first time, not knowing what to expect.

Basically, we paid $275 a season for bags of vegetables from this farm. The season is from May through Oct. and we pick up once a week. The food was so good last year. Much better quality than what you get in the grocery store. And it turned out to be a lot of food for the money, so it was a lot more and better than what we could have bought at the grocery store.

(We supplement this with what we grow in our garden. We didn't buy one veggie at the store last summer.)

Throw in that our farmer is super nice, and at the beginning and end of the season gave us tons of hanging baskets, flats of flowers and pumpkins for Halloween. Heck. Why not sign up again?

So I filled out the form and am mailing the check today.

I know it seems like a lot of money up front, but it's well worth it. I'd rather have my grocery money supporting a local farm than a multinational grocery store chain any day.

If you have a farm co-op in your area, I highly recommend it. It's a much better way to buy veggies.

I just ran across this article in BusinessWeek. Apparently Bank of America is brazenly raising interest rates on many of its credit cards. Those affected received notice in the mail, and instructions on how to opt out, but in a letter that was most likely tossed. Some folks are seeing their rates go from 9 percent to 29 percent for no reason!

So if you have a BofA card and carry a balance, keep your eyes peeled.

Here is the article

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/...

When we bought our house two years ago, we knew it needed three things-- a new furnace, a new roof, and new windows.

We finished the furnace in September and didn't honestly think we'd be able to afford a house full of new Energy Star-rated windows for at least another year. (We pay cash for home improvements, no loans).

But one Saturday in Jan. we decided to just shop around and see what kind of windows were out there and how much they would cost us, so we could plan for savings. Boy, were we shocked. A reputable local company was having a 35 percent off sale if you had the windows installed by the end of Feb.

I had no idea windows could be installed in the winter. shows you what I know. And, the windows were a lot less expensive than I thought they would be.

So we went for it. We paid about $5,731 to replace all of the windows in our ranch house. (The regular price, had we waited until summer, would have been $8,817.)

And the big surprise: with some careful budgeting, I've been able to pay for the windows out of regular cash flow, not from savings.

Installation began yesterday. Half the house is finished, including all of the bedrooms. We were rained out today, but I expect the whole house will be finished by the end of tomorrow.

From now on, I'm going to try to schedule our "house" work during slow periods for contractors. Looks like they're a lot more willing to wheel and deal in winter!

I am so mad right now. I knew the Fed rate cuts would eventually affect my savings accounts. Today it finally hit. My Emigrant Direct account was yieding 4.65 percent (APY) last week and is now down to 4.3 percent (APY. 4.05 percent interest) Argh.

It's like the Fed is punishing those of us who did everything right-- we save money for a rainy day and what do we get? The stock market and housing tanks because people were overzealous with debt and yet the responsible people end up suffering.

I know, it could have been worse. I really expected my savings account interest to drop closer to 3.5 percent, given the current Fed rate, so by comparison 4.3 still isn't bad. The whole thing just makes me mad...

As part of my plan to pad the tiki bar fund, I am thinking of selling some of my indie crafts and patterns on Etsy. I have heard mixed reviews. A friend of mine said Etsy isn't that great because most of the site's visitors are sellers rather than buyers. Do any of you have any experience with Etsy? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

A bottle of wine can make a big difference in your life.

This New Year's, about 1/2 way through a bottle of Fuki plum wine, I finally admitted to myself and the world my deepest desire. To be my own boss, and how? By opening my own Tiki bar. I've always been a tikiphile. Collecting mugs at thrift stores and online for years. I have hundreds. I also used to be a Bourbon Street bartender, so I've slung a few drinks in my day. Throw in that I've quit just about every day job I've ever had after two years because I can't stand having overbearing bosses, or slaving away all day to make someone else rich.

So Eureka. Tiki bar it is.

What does this have to do with your blog, you ask? I am going to chronicle my quest to turn any extra money I have into enough money to achieve my dream.

I'm naturally thrifty, which is why I love second-hand shopping so much. But the real question is can you achieve big goals through small, incremental actions? Well, we'll find out won't we?

Along the way, I hope to come up with some ideas you can apply to your own life. We all have dreams, big and small, and maybe we can reach some of them together.

Oh, don't tune out and think this is going to be another boring, preachy personal finance blog. I personally hate that stuff. I'm not going to suggest buying 50 lb bags of bulk oatmeal to save money. Pah-lease. No rinsing out of plastic bags, either.

Here is my plan. I can't afford to use my regular paycheck to save for this project, so I am going to use "extra money".

Just what that is, I'm not sure yet.

I do sometimes sell indie crafts and such, so that will be one source of extra money. Over Christmas I earned $250 selling my handmade items. It was just sitting in my Paypal account. This is the seed money to get this project started.

Change on the street? That too.

I'll probably dabble in some eBay auctions and selling books and videos on Amazon and Half.com. Anything I earn from Google Adsense will go to the cause as well. (So start clicking, folks!)

This "extra money" will go into a high-interest savings account, that way my little bit of money is out there working for me. Once the balance grows, I may move it to other investments. We'll figure it out as we go along.

This is going to be a long, hard challenge. But I hope a fun and interesting one. Won't you join me on my journey?