In my last post I outlined hubby and I's frivolous expensive 24 hour trip to New Orleans for a friend's 40th b-day. Well, just on a lark, I checked the airfares again today and found that our airline had lowered the price of the ticket there by $120. I got on the Website and they let me rebook the first flight, and then gave me a refund for the difference. It shaved $240 off the airfare! Sometimes it pays to be curious. I am being frivolous but I still like to get the best deal!

As you know, I spent a good portion of my adult life in New Orleans, and moved to Ohio due to Hurricane Katrina. Well, my best friend's b day party is this week. I have wanted to go for months. All my friends will be there, in one spot, so it'd be great to catch up. Well, the in-laws backed out on babysitting so we can't spend a week down there like w had originally planned. At first I was upset. Our trip was officially cancelled for lack of a babysitter. (Taking Bean isn't an option, trust me, at least not on this trip).

So, this morning, I made an executive decision. We are going on a whirlwind 24 hour trip to New Orleans, by plane, no matter how much it costs. I spent $1300 on the plane tickets, $112 on one night in a nice hotel in the Quarter. I was a little shaky when I hit "book travel", but now I am happy.

We have the money. We really need a break from our everyday life, and my best friend is turning 40. I couldn't resist. I know it is frivolous, but I don't care.

2009 is the year hubby and I start to live the life we want. I don't want to be so frugal all the time that we miss out on life. His parents were like that, and they never once went on a vacation. And now, they are too sick to travel.

We need some adventure, and I have decided we are starting right now.

My mom is going to watch him so we can go. But we have to be back so she can go to work Monday.

In my effort to reduce our monthly expenses, I didn't think I had much to cut. But then I realized we had some stealth bills, you know, bills you pay but don't think about because it's not something obvious like a mortgage or electric bill.

I paid about $25 a month for Webhosting for two web sites. So, I just moved all of my sites to a new company, where the cost is $150 a year (although my first two years are free, long story).

This will cut my Web bill from about $300 a year to $150, although I will still have to pay about $34 a year to maintain my domain registrations. Still, it is a lot less.

Boy, today was trying. Beaner has a cold and turned from his sweet go with the flow self to the not eating, not napping, screaming for 10 hours straight monster. It was so out of character I took him to the doctor. No ear infection, just the cold, and we have to wait it out. Ugh. I hope he is better tomorrow because I was at the end of my rope by the time hubby got home.

I was extra stressed because I just got two freelance assignments last night and I really needed to get the ball rolling today to meet my deadlines. That didn't happen because I usually work during naptime and there were no naps. Ugh.

On another note, January has been an expensive month. so far, I've had to dish out:

$1,400 for half year property taxes.
$590 for homeowners insurance
$250 for two cars' insurance
$200 to renew my car registrations
$1,600 for some new Energy Star windows

Then hubby decided to buy season tickets to our MLS soccer team to the tune of $649.

Plus two bean doctor visits at $30.

I feel like the world is sucking the money out of my wallet.

On a more positive note, I still managed to save $500, and pay $40 extra on the student loan.

Here's hoping Beaner is more like himself tomorrow.

Ah. Time to wax sentimental. I started this blog one year ago today, because I had a life crisis that made me realize I really wanted to own a tiki bar. Now, I'm about $2,000 closer to that goal and A LOT closer to my other financial goals.

This is a very neat community and I am happy to be a part of it.

I am garden-obsessed lately. Here are the coupon codes for two garden companies. I have used a couple of them with success:

Burpee seeds: FC53,BF18, or BN53. All good for $5 off orders of $30 or more.

Johnny's seed: 09-1014,09-1100. Good for free shipping

Also, in other news, I earned a whopping $3.18 in interest on my checking account. I can retire early now...

I just posted that I ordered the seeds last night. here is the plan!

(this originally appeared as part of a longer post on

http://www.middlepathfinance.com

Last August, I drew out a plan of what I wanted the gardens on our half-acre lot, surrounding our 1957 ranch house, to be like. I live in the city, on a typical used-to-be-suburbs but now I'm in the city limits lot. I grew up in the country, in wide open spaces with plenty of sunny room for a garden. Not so here, but despite its limitations, I am determined to convert as much of our land to agriculture as possible.

I'll tell you what I am going to plant on my modest lot, in the flower beds I have reclaimed from lawn.


* Mary Washington asparagus. An heirloom variety, to establish a bed.
* a hot pepper garden, so that we can dry them and use them to flavor our food all year long. We have chosen to grow Kung Pao hybrid, long red slim cayenne, false alarm hybrids and hot lemon heirloom peppers. We'll also plant one or two green pepper plants.
* five each of heritage everbearing red raspberries and royalty standard purple raspberries.
* red pontiac potatoes. We will be 'forcing' these in a trash can, like my grandpa used to do. By stressing the plant you can get great yields without wasting precious space.
* six Roma tomato and six cherry tomato plants. I don't know what variety, as we buy these from my former grade school every year during their plant sale fundraiser. They have always been good producers.
* the herb garden will consist of cilantro,pesto perpetuo basil,and Greek oregano.
* a patch of Ozark beauty everbearing strawberries.
* bloomsdale spinach and nantes carrots, for my raised bed and fall coldframe. I use these to extend the growing season. This will be my first year trying to extend the fall harvest into winter with the coldframe.
* green beans of a yet undetermined variety, at the request of hubby, who could live on these alone.
* the obligatory zucchini plant, also from the school fundraiser. I may get ambitious and plant two, even though I know I'll be up to my neck in zucchini. I have two new recipes for zucchini, and it always makes a great extender for sauces and such, so maybe I can keep up.
* A butterfly garden, including five varieties of echinacea, two types of bee balm, and some butterfly weed. I will frame this flowerbed with butterfly-friendly annuals, and maybe with lingonberries, which are delicious on Swedish pancakes, unusual, and look like an ornamental plant.
* Luffa. Yes, the luffa sponge is a squash, not something that is plucked from the ocean. This will be a fun experiment. They grow as a vine, so with staking shouldn't take up too much space in the garden.
* English lavender, for its aromatherapy qualities.

I get really excited when the seed catalogs come in the mail. I sent in a rather ambitious order today. I am really planning to garden it up and try to preserve food this year. I just read "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbra Kingsolver for the third time, and that is probably dangerous when planning a garden.

I even made some unconventional choices. I have to garden in the front yard because my backyard is all shade, so I try not to raise the ire of the neighbors by blatantly converting lawn to agriculture, even though that's what I really want to do.

So, I do it secretly with plants that look decorative but produce food. The most obvious choice for that this year, is lingonberries. I ordered three. They look like a short, evergreen groundcover, but produce berries that are tart like a cranberry ( a little sweeter) and can be made into preserves that go great with Swedish pancakes.

I wanted to order some black currants as well, but apparently they aren't allowed to ship to Ohio.

Well, I just got the property tax bill. It went up $400 this year. Ugh. This is extra funny because the city sent notices a few months back officially lowering the value of property to reflect housing market conditions, and yet the bill still went up.

This is in part due to a November ballot issue. The city has embarked on an ambitious new school improvement and construction program and needed more money too fund it. It passed by a narrow margin, and hence, I am $400 a year less rich.

Oh well. Good schools lift all boats, so here's hoping this project will help the city schools improve by the time Beaner is old enough to attend.

I have been secretly shopping for cold frame greenhouses, so I can start seeds and expand my growing season. I must have put something out into the universe.

My farmer-- from the family that grows the food for the food co-op I belong to -- called a few days ago to say that he had a cold frame that was too small for the farm to use. I could have it if I wanted it. Someone had given it to him, and he would be happy to give it to me. He delivered it today.

Sigh. Sometimes wishes do come true. I am so thankful for this opportunity.

Inspired by this new-found coldframe, I picked up the book "Four Season Harvest", by Eliot Coleman. It is fantastic. While I am not foolish enough to think I can grow enough food to feed my family even in winter, it did give me some ideas on how to make the most of the coldframe for seed starting and for growing cold-hardy veggies like spinach and carrots later into the season.

This should really help me make my goal of 100 pounds of produce this year!

Geesh. No one will ever warn you how hard the first year with your first baby is, but we are finally settling into a routine. For now at least, my financial fears surrounding having a bean are assuaged, and I am finally able to do some work from home. While he's sleeping, of course, but at least it's something. I know no one ever thinks your kid is as cute as you do, but I thought I would post this picture.



My mom had been bugging me to take him to a photo studio and get some real photos done so I did, and gave them to both the grandmas for Christmas.

New year, new project right? I started a new charity project, where I will be making sock monsters from old discarded (clean!) socks. I will use the profits to supply formula and baby food to my local food bank.

I only have a skeleton of a Web page for the project, but if you click around I have the "about" pages and such done to give you an idea of what the project is.

And seriously, if you have any socks lying around to help me get started, send them my way, please!

I'll be posting the first of the monsters there soon!

http://www.sockmonsters4charity.org

Geesh. I can't believe it's almost 2009. I still am surprised when I look at the calendar every day and it's nearly Christmas.

Maybe it doesn't seem real because we didn't put up the tree this year. The baby Bean, now almost 9 months, would probably just either try to eat it or pull it over on top of him, so we just decided to skip it. I hope that doesn't make us bad parents.

I will say this is the first year I feel on top of the holidays. The packages were all mailed by Saturday morning, the gifts are wrapped, the cookies are made. This never happens! Usually it's a last minute scramble, and a lot of stress. But I am not stressed this year.

I think part of the difference is that I
1. Made a list in November of what we were getting everyone. And then I used the list only and bought most everything online.
2. Throughout the year, when I saw something that would make a great gift for my family, I either bought it then or bought it when it went on sale. My mom really wanted a fountain for her garden. And I managed to get it 75 percent off in September. I NEVER have shopped that far in advance.

Maybe being a mom makes you plan. Who can say. This is my first year as a mom, so who knows what else is in store.

Now, I am working through my January list of to-dos. don't laugh. Most of it is stuff that has to be taken care of now in order for it to be finished in January.

For instance, I called the window company today. They are coming out tomorrow to measure and estimate for three replacement windows. (It takes about 6 weeks for them to make them and install them)

We had all but these three replaced last winter. Why? Well, we couldn't afford to do all the windows without going into debt, so we prioritized, and these three were considered least important. Now that we have a little money, we're going to do those.

I am having the door between the kitchen and garage replaced. I have it picked out, and will place the order and set up installation right after Christmas. Right now, we have a hollow core door and it lets tons of cold air into the kitchen. I'm replacing it with a solid door and I'll insulate the garage door some weekend, too.

Our "Elvis" bathroom. (Yes, we have a silly Elvis-themed half bathroom), has some plumbing issues. We sprung a leak and it ruined the linoleum tile floor. I need to have that part of the floor redone. And the plumbing addressed.

I maybe could do it myself, but realistically it'd be another 6 months before I could get to it, and I'd really like to have that room just done and finished. Ready to use TRUMPS saving a few bucks this time around.

I also finally have a freelance assignment. Of course, it's the holidays and most people are hard to get a hold of, but I am happy to have the work so it's worth the hassle.

I hope your to-do list is getting shorter.

These are tough times in every profession, but particularly in journalism. Almost every newspaper is cutting staff, cutting budgets, etc. as ad dollars shrink, circulation declines and people read on the Web.

Everyone at my former company feels like there is an ax hanging over their head, waiting to fall. It was sad. Even the managers were bleak and hopeless.

It was the saddest "party" I'd ever been to.

While one editor was trying to hire me for their section, another said they would never hire a new person to replace a reporter who just quit "because it's just not fair to do that to somebody." Meaning, they would just get cut or laid off.

It was very strange.

But, I did have fun catching up with some former colleagues.

Yes, my former company's Xmas party. I was invited by one of the big bosses and my former immediate boss said it'd be fabulous if I came. I am kind of nervous, even though I left on good terms.

I figure it will be nice to talk to old coworkers that I like and maybe network, so I am forcing myself to go.

Ugh. Wish me luck.

I read today's news story about how people actually reduced their overall debt for the first time since 1951, as a society.

Which in my opinion, is one step closer to the right track.

But, of course, talking heads made it sound all gloom and doom and awful that people weren't taking on more debt or shopping.

My favorite quote:


"Everyone over the past three months decided to become thrifty at the same time, but our incomes depend on other people spending," said Englund. "If we all start saving and cut back on our spending at the same time, it means more people will ultimately get fired."

I just found a chart from the National Retail Federation.

Retailers and Wall Street have been boo-hooing about what a terrible year it's going to be for holiday shopping. I don't get it.

Sales are projected to rise 2 percent this year.So why are retailers acting like it's the end of the world if sales are still higher than last year???

As is clear from my last post, I'm thinking ahead to 2009 and what I and we as a family want to accomplish.

The great news is we met our savings goals for this year. We made a person (who is now trying to chew on everything in the living room), I made money even though I don't have a full-time job anymore. I dealt with yet another tragedy when my dad died in July.

It's been action packed.

In 2009 we might not do as well. I sat down to write out some concrete savings goals-- like I have on the sidebar right now. And it occurred to me that we will be making less money next year. Mostly because I have zero work lined up, and it appears that many media companies have laid off workers AND slashed their freelance budgets, so there is just less work out there.

So, we will have to make due with less. And hope that my career and self-esteem make it out of this financial crisis. I'm not even sure if I will make enough to fully fund my IRA.

As such, our goals have changed. They are more and less ambitious.

Savings-wise, they are less ambitious. Only the basics will get money in 2009. Our high-priority goals are to put as much into our EF as possible, fund the 529, and to pay off as much of our one debt-my student loan- as possible.

We've worked hard to lower our monthly committed expenses and have done well. The student loan is the stumbling block. It alone accounts for 45 percent of our must-pay bills every month.

Having this loan makes my lack of work all the more frustrating, since this degree was supposed to help me make money and yet again in a way it's an obstacle.

Also, I mentioned before that I want to write a novel (my first) in 30 days next year. I have decided not to wait for National Write a Novel Month in November and to start Jan 1. I think this will make me feel better about my work life and help me accomplish one of my life goals.

I may fail spectacularly on all fronts, but I figure it helps to aim high.

What is the best thing(s) you have ever bought used, either from a thrift store, a garage sale, etc.

Right now, mine is the air popcorn popper that I bought from my neighbor's yard sale for 50 cents. 50 cents well spent. We use it several times a week, the popcorn is healthier because we don't have to use oil to cook it AND there's no icky pan to clean up. I love my popcorn popper.

My second choice is the vintage 1950s L sofa with ottoman I bought at a used furniture store for $100 about 10 years ago. It is by far the best looking and most comfortable couch I have ever owned.

I'm going through all of our bills today. I'm trying to see if I can lower or eliminate my bills.

So far, I switched to digital phone with our Internet provider. We'll be saving $14.34 a month, and we will be getting free unlimited long distance with that. (We had no long distance on our other phone, and paid more.)

I am at a loss about what else to cut, though. We do pay $11 a month for curbside recycling, but I don't think the hubby will give that up. we could just drop off our recyclables once a week at the Home Depot, but it is convenient to just drop stuff in the bin and put it out once a week.

Any thoughts?

Looking out the window today it seems like every house on the block but mine has paid a lawn service to come in and rake, mow, and leaf blow. It's like this all summer long all through my neighborhood.

We make a decent living, but I still feel too poor to pay for lawn service. Then again, if I had a million bucks I'd still rake my own leaves and mow my own grass.

It seems wasteful to me to pay someone to do something you are perfectly capable of doing yourself.

Am I missing something?

With the end of the year fast approaching I wondered if I was going to meet this year's ambitious savings goals. Thanks to a windfall (well, money from work we did during Hurricane Gustav),we made our last BIG goal, and topped off the savings account with another $1628.

The only things left for this year:
$100 more for the 529 plan
$47 more for the car fund
and of course
$216 or so for the tiki fund.

Here's to hoping we make it!

Every presidential election, we host an election party. We print out maps of the U.S. with the electoral votes for each state and each guest makes their prediction using red and blue crayons. As we watch the returns, we fill in the "actual" map. Whoever's guess map is the closest to actual wins a tacky trophy and fake gold medal. It's fun. Tonight we are cooking on the grill, then popping popcorn for return watching. I'm expecting maybe 10 people. It should be fun. Happy voting everyone!

Well, I am "fall" cleaning. It's my new entertainment since I am trying not to spend any money this month. I was so inspired by of all things, an interior design book where a homeowner said to "Buy less, buy better, and buy only what you love."

And surprisingly it's been a wake-up call. I think anyone who wants to go on a spending diet should first be forced to face all the demons lurking in their closets.

I have found so much stuff that I wasted money on, just sitting in my closets. I think I am going to be posting a lot on Craigslist and eBay this week.

Most of it doesn't fit the above criteria. I don't love it, it isn't nice, and it isn't improving my life. I have a collection or two I love: tiki mugs, surprise, and signed pop-art lithographs, which I framed last night. Everything else can go.

For you HGTV fans out there, I will be redecorating my house with things I already own this month, inspired by what I've found in my closets. Everything that isn't used, useful, or loved is leaving the house.

That same homeowner in the book said to consider everything you own, and if one of your friends would be better served by it than you, pass it on. Christmas may come early for my friends!

Sorry for the rambling. I am overwhelmed by closets.

As I mentioned earlier, my last big freelance project for the year ended yesterday and I don't have anything lined up. At first, I was freaking out, but now that I've decided to just be zen about it, I had a nice day. The MIL left this morning (she was watching the Bean so I could work) and I've spent the day cleaning and doing laundry and puttering around the house in my jammies. The hubby took the bean out hiking in the nice weather.

My friend did sucker me into being a jewelry model at an art gallery during an open house from 4 to 7 (not looking forward to it. I don't like people staring at me!), but other than that, it's been a good day.

I know it's only cleaning, but it feels nice, like I'm getting my house (in my brain and my physical house) in order after a month of chaos.

Well, I am a few days away from the end of my biggest and most lucrative freelance contract for the year, and I am a bit nervous that I don't have anything lined up. I have tried to put some ideas and feelers out there, but I don't have any bites yet. I was really upset about this over the weekend, but I think I have come to a sort of decision to help me work through the anxiety.

The last three years have been a whirlwind. After the hurricane we were on super auto pilot as far as getting jobs and a house and cleaning up our financial New Orleans mess. I guess you could say we were in financial survival mode. Then, in the past two years I had the long illnesses ad deaths of my grandmother, grandfather, and my own dad just this past July. Then, of course, the birth of our own baby Bean 6 months ago. it's been just a whirlwind for three straight years, and I've done everything I could for my family and to make sure we didn't go over a cliff financially.

The point? Well, I was stressing out about not having worked lined up and I started to think that maybe that was a blessing. Maybe it's time I had some down time, and started taking care of myself. Find a yoga class, do a juice cleanse to clear out any junk in my body, and maybe just BE, here and now.

So yes, Now I am finally looking forward to my time off and the end of this gig. The work will come. it will work out. But first, it's time I attended to some of my own needs for the first time in three years, and started tending to my health and well-being a bit.

Geesh. Today was payday and all the money is gone already, sent to this or that bill. The checking account balance is much lower than I like it to be and we still have two MORE weeks til next payday!

This has been an expensive month. On top of normal bills, we have had my in-laws in town since Sept. 29, two more mouths to feed and entertain. I have had the added expense of lunch and parking so I can do a month-long freelance project, and, the county fair, the pumpkin show, and this weekend, my best friend is coming to town to visit.

We also had to pay $307 for tree trimming after a major storm, and $500 to paint the house (still under budget, but still).

I love October. It's my favorite month, but it leaves me feeling like my bank accounts are like a dish drainer.

Hubby just told me that the companies that we host back-up servers for in our basement have decided to stop paying. Great.

We pay $460 a month for the T-1 line to host the servers, and they paid us a total of $800/month for the service we provided.

Looks like it's done, but we still have to pay for the T-1 line until Feb., thanks to our contract. I'm pretty sour about it, as this figured into our monthly savings goals, and now I have an extra $460 a month in bills that won't be covered.

I may ask the company if we can terminate the T-1 contract early. If the fee is cheaper than carrying the line, it just makes more sense.

I should have posted these with the entry about painting, but oh well. Here goes!

Before:


After:

Phew. It was a long hard weekend, but it's finished. the house is painted and it looks great. We primed (with rollers, because our free sprayer leaked) on Saturday, then got wise and rented a power sprayer and finished painting on Sunday. Mom came over and cooked cheeseburgers on the grill for my rag-tag painting crew ( a resigned hubby who hates painting, my sister, and my in-laws. I worked the sprayer.)

With tool rentals and paint, it still cost us only about $500 to paint the house, about $2,000 less than our cheapest professional bid.

I figure I'll use that $2,000 to build a beautiful patio next year.

Doing it yourself is so much more satisfying than paying a pro. I love my house even more after every project I do.