Anyone else ready to GET OUT OF DEBT #3 - Page 4

[Piglet68]

that sucks, newmainer.

I guess the question is: how valuable do you think that property is? maybe you could buy up an acre adjacent to your house, thus giving you some kind of barrier to whatever goes on there (and whatever it is, is bound to be noisy!). But...land is usually a good investment. If there's a development going up, plus your house and the others around you, that acre may be worth alot more to someone looking to build a house on that site.

I would do some research and see if the "deal" on the acre is as good as they say. Could be a short-term moneymaker...but do look at it carefully first.

[newmainer]

yes, it does suck.

dh and I talked about it more, and we are thinking that this may be bigger than just our house and our property values. a subdivision or a bunch of McMansions on the lakeshore, even on 3 acre parcels would chop up this otherwise beautiful stretch of woods. It would make a big impact just on the area alone, in quality of life. We are beginning to think that maybe we should get together with neighbors, listen to what they are thinking and maybe togetehr we can talk about preserving it as open space. That would be awesome.

But, i digress from the thread.

[kathsmom]

Newmainer and Kerc,

I have decided to return the purse to TJ Maxx. I thought about it and it really is only good for one outfit, plus I don't like purses that are in my armpit when I have it on my shoulder and this one does sit in my armpit! I have a couple of other things to return that I actually did need, but didn't work (a swimsuit for DS that was too small and a paper towel holder that doesn't work right).

The wheels for my stroller came in the mail today, and I am hoping that DH can get them on and get the stroller fixed, because we are going to see his sister next week for our vacation. If not, then I have some shopping to do for another stroller.

We have been eating out way too often this past week, but DS has been sick and has managed to get the rest of us sick as well. We have been slammed with doctor bills for DS this year. He is getting asthma type symptoms and all the trips to the doctor, after hours clinic, and to the ER are just throwing any gains we have made out the window! Egads! I hope that he stays well after this illness wears off!

Newmainer,

Wow! $35,000 per acre! I hope that you and your neighbors can come together to see about keeping the area as open space as opposed to having it become a subdivision with McMansions! Good luck!

[Peppermint]

Kathsmom- , good descision on the purse

newmainer- your situation just sucks, I was thinking the McMansion thing too, definitely get together with your neighbors, they must be worried too and maybe someone has an insight.

Also- I always try to click your links to see pics of you and yours, but the links don't work . (I love "seeing" the people I talk to)

[Piglet68]

Kathsmom: congratulations on having the willpower to return the purse!!

I made a "luxury" purchase yesterday. A maternity swimsuit from Old Navy. It was on sale for $15!! There's a new water park opening in our local park in two weeks. DD cannot WAIT to go. I was wondering what I would wear as I have no swimsuit, and nothing I could wear in the water that fits my big belly. I had pretty much resigned myself to not being able to go with her and then I saw this sale.

I told DH right away, and he said he thought it was a good deal, and something I would definitely use. I'm actually thinking I might be able to wear it even when I'm not PG...

Otherwise, budget days are quiet. Went over our last month and realized we missed out on about $150 in purchases!! This was mostly gas (DH keeps leaving the receipts in the car) and some grocery purchases. As well as our Netflix membership, and my illicit diaper purchase.

Still, our new overdraft account will cover it all without the $30/item service charges we were paying before. AND on payday I will be transferring exactly that amount back into it, so that we are starting with a zero balance owing. We're feeling pretty good about things these days. Especially knowing we have only 2 more months of this, then our situation will change.

Of course, then we'll be faced with all new budget situations, and that may include a fluctuating monthly income. That is sure to drive me batty!!! s

[Peppermint]

Piglet- you have to tell us you are going to buy something BEFORE you do it .

If anyone else needs a maternity bathing suit, I have a medium black one from Motherhood Maternity that I only wore last summer (and I'm clean ). I, unfortunately, won't ever have use for it again.

[kathsmom]

Thanks everyone for your encouragement in regards to the purse!

Well, I tried to get the stroller wheels off to put the new ones on, but I talked with the stroller company (who was very nice and helpful) and they said a special tool was needed and that some people have all kinds of tools. I was told that I might need to take it to a repair shop and some of them can change out stroller wheels (where do I find one of these? ). I asked if I could send the stroller back to them to fix and they said yes, but then I would be without my stroller for about a month. DH is going to see if he has any tools to get this thing fixed before we go out of town next week. Wish us luck!

Piglet, what an awesome deal on the maternity swim suit! I bought mine at Sears (2 years ago) and it was about $30.

The good news is that we got a medical reimbursement check in the mail (the medical savings account) and DH deposited it yesterday, so we can use it to pay down the credit card or to help pay for things for our vacation to my SIL's home.

Thanks for all of the support that you all are giving to me!

[bamboogrrrl]

Kerc: How wonderful that you were able to get a cc with no interest for a while!

Kathsmom: Way to go on the purse! I read today somewhere that every time you go and buy something on credit, put another zero on the end of the price to find out what it will cost you in interest and in lost retirement $$ over time. THAT was motivational.

Newmainer: That sucks about your land! Is the land around you worth 35k/acre? You can go on www.realtor.com to find some comps. Maybe you could negotiate less $$$ and more property with the seller? If the Nature Conservancy is active in your area, they may be willing to buy the land if it preserves it. BTW: Have I seen you post at the SL discussion forums? Welcome! Those folks rawk - I've learned so much...

Dh and I turned a small fiscal corner this week. I set a goal to pay down our mortgage to a certain point by this December, and we reached our goal this month, 6 months early! We have a 15 year mortgage, and I hope to pay it off in eight years (or sooner!). Have to make the last payment toward dh's Roth IRA and we'll be set.

The next fiscal hurdle will be to fill up the oil tank this summer (ouch! - 500 gallons), and get enough wood cut and split to see us through a few months. We have a lovely (albeit drafty and in need of major TLC) 1860s farmhouse, so plugging up the windy bits is an ongoing battle. Last winter we deinsulated (ack - horrible job!) and reinsulated 2/3s of our attic and it made a huge difference. Must do the last third this fall. Dh is currently rebuilding (after our dog cracked one window lunging at a rabbit) the 7 ft tall windows in our sunroom (my SIL calls it "the observatory") to get them to seal better.

We went out over the weekend to dh's favorite "blackcap" picking spot, and picked about 3 quarts for free! Also bought 5 pounds of cherries, pitted them, and froze them to use in a hard cider later on in the fall. I gotta remember to buy and freeze local stuff in season...

Hey, does anyone do much gardening?

[angel04345]

WOW lots of stuff is going on!!! New mainer we have the same problem! We have land in the country and everyone out there is selling their land off and lots of houses are being built! Its to bad when people turn the country into the city! (we are in maine too!)
I am so glad that you brought the purse back! (if it made you feel better.) I have made a diapers purchase and so am trying to sell some of my dipes to pay back the money to ourselves. We have no credit cards so we just keep a good amount in our checking and make purchases and pay it back. (good but bad idea! no interest but sometimes you don't pay YOURSELF back!)
I think for my SIL I am going to get her a good dipe and then a couple of outfits I really don't have the money but I would still like to get her a nice gift! Its always nice to give something that may inspire something you value! (breastfeeding, cloth diapering.) Its funny because when I started cloth diapering she was the first to scoff at it! The other ideas were fantastic too! I will have to see what I can get her for books at the local resale stores.
Well I am preparing for our lawn sale this weekend. I hope the holiday doesn't make it less productive. Have a nice day ladies.....Good luck and happy saving!

[MamaMonica]

bamboogirrl, we have a small garden and have peas, pole beans, tomatoes, kol rabi and edible landscaping like cherries, blueberries and pears.

At our other house (I still dream bout it. Sigh) we had a 1000 sq. ft. vegetable garden- bigger than the house- and I had loads of food of all kinds-as well as a small butterfly/wildflower meadow. I was so into gardening!

Congratulations on your mortgage paydown. We have plan to be rid of ours, and are staying on schedule. It will take between 3 and 5 years, depending. It's nothing to be super proud of since we've been here 12 years.

We just shelled out $4000 for a deck we really neeed to build. That was just the lumber and trex cost- labor is our own. That money could have gone to the mortgage- but you can't let your house go, either...

[kathsmom]

Yippee! DH was able to get the stroller wheels fixed! So, we don't have to buy a new stroller for our vacation! Woohoo! Now, if I could just stop obssessing over new diaper bags......

bamboogirl, I wish that we did gardening. My DD wants to grow flowers, but it has been so rainy here that it's next to impossible to cut the grass, let alone try to make a place to grow a flower garden. Plus, I hate touching dirt. : I have this weird thing about liking beautiful gardens and yards, but I really don't like doing any of the stuff to get it! DH does all of our yard work. I have pulled weeds, cut shrubs and raked leaves, but I absolutely hate planting stuff. I also have never cut grass in my entire life (and I am 39 years old!).

monnie and bamboogirl, congrats on paying down your mortgage! That is wonderful that you are able to make a lot of headway on it. Monnie, I hear you on shelling out money to improve your home. Our home is 30 years old and since we moved in, we have replaced the furnace, air conditioner (the old ones were original to the home), put in new floor in the kitchen and had to get new appliances (which has helped our electric and water bill a little bit).

Gotta run! DH needs the computer! Take care, everyone!

[newmainer]

Kathsmom- excellent move on the purse! i always feel so... *responsible* when I do things like that! and you are returning other things too. Great!! I am sorry about your ds though. I hope that things begin to get better.

yes, bamboogrrrl I have been on the SL forums. Unfortunately, they don't notify you by email (at least i haven't figured out how to get them to do that yet) when someone responds to your thread, so it takes me longer to get on those boards. So many people on there are *so* inspiring!! My user name is kjmc.

sorry about my photos. I posted the link wrong and I need dh, my lovable geek, to help me fix it. I'll get on it as soon as possible!

well, no news on the property. I did email 3 different organizations, one that does smartgrowth, but she referred me to a coastal land trust. I emailed them, but have had no response yet. The other organization is part of a national one and I haven'tn heard from them either. The tricky thing about it is that the lake is pretty heavily used- motor boats and stuff. Not a ton, but there is usually a couple on a week in the summer. And 20 acres isn't a whole lot to save, and its not like its endangered species or anything (tho I might try to go out and discover some!). I think a lot of organizations go for the bigger ticket properties- over 100 acres of land, mountain tops and slopes, watersheds, etc... But, it would help keep this lake from being all built up. I was getting sad today, looking out the window at the trees and thinking this may be the only summer we get like this .

angel- where are you in Maine? we're in Rockland.

re: gardening. I love gardening and have been so stoked about finally having our own land to really put my energy into. But now this land thing has got me worried we might not be here as long as I thought and so its dampening my enthusiasm for putting a bunch of energy and money into developing the garden.

On the money side of things, we have switched to tracking all of our expenses in our check register- checks, ATM, and cash purchases, and adjusting the balance *every time* so we really know how each purchase affects our account. Since we are leaving for a big trip tomorrow, I have bought no food and we are really eating things down. all the "treats' are gone and our sugar cravings are kicking in! (though I scored some baking m&ms' at a friends' house who is moving. ate a ton and now i feel ill : ). So, i'm feeling pretty good. Got to keep up with the bills while I am gone, which is a bit of a hassle, but I'm pretty anal about it, so we'll be fine.

Take care, everyone!
kelly

[kerc]

lots to think about/post about.

piglet -- a bathing suit in cleveland is not a luxury item. It is a way to really help your kiddo enjoy the summer. But don't kid yourself into thinking the maternity bathing suit will work for non maternity times But you could try to sell it on the trading post if you think you won't have a use for it post baby.

baby shower gift question -- are you sure she's going to cloth diaper? My fav. gift for those who are pretty sure about cd'ing is prefolds. Yeah, I know, boring, but also cheap. But everyone tells me they are still using them. And then I do a small toy when the baby is actually born.
I also do a small insert into the box with FAQs about cd'ing. Where to buy (i include the proraps 1800 number), how to wash, how many to get, etc.

purse. good to return it. i often have second thoughts about things i've bought. i know if i have second thoughts before the tags are even off, then I don't truly need it.

stroller. awesome that it is now working. I was going to suggest finding out what kind of tool you need and then looking for a smaller hardware store, taking the stroller in with all your kiddos in tow and asking for help fixing it. Sadly often I get better service at the hardware store when I am the helpless female.

gardening. yes we do simple gardening. some flowers on the side of the house and we have a large raised bed garden that usually is mostly weeds. this year we've planted lettuce, spices and a pumpkin. I love doing lettuce -- easy. just plant seeds, water and then when you need lettuce for a salad go out and cut it off. I should probably mention that you need to do leaf lettuce for this to work. We also have a tomato plant that we buy with flowers/small fruit on it for 10 bucks and leave planted in a large bucket on the warm side of the house.

If your kiddos want to plant flowers and you want a low-maintenance way to do it. Buy a large pot (or find a bucket) and some potting mix. Then plant something like impatients or petunias. Water every day, which your kids can do. My 1.5 yr old helps me.

Ok I had more to say, but can't recall...

[witch's mom]

Mentally fell off the wagon this week and began wishing we had a built-in pool. So sick of traipsing to the community pool, which is out in the blazing sun, and began envisioning a lovely shady oasis in our own backyard.

Of course, this would cost some $30,000 or $40,000, require regular maintenance and suck up a lot of energy. Not exactly the direction we want to be going . . .

So, back to real life now. Today is grocery day. Good thing, since we're darn near foodless right now. We've done pretty well with the once-a-week shop-up the past few weeks. Went a little over budget, but nothing like what we were doing.

Also, I'm committed to getting on that phone and getting some further quotes about our car and homeowner's insurance. I did the online thing, where I got comparisons from different companies, but now I need to actually take the step to getting us a new, cheaper policy. Been dreading this step because it'll take time and be loaded with annoying minutiae.

We've done GREAT keeping the A/C off or turned way down. There was one night last week when it was 100 degrees upstairs and no one could sleep. So we ran it at 82 degrees for an hour or so. I'm going to be really curious to see the energy bill after this month of sweating. One thing I'm noticing is that we seem to all be adjusting to living in a hotter house. No one's complaining as much, or cowering in the downstairs bedrooms quite so often.

I don't know, the idea of purchasing some open space for $35,000 sounds pretty good to me, especially if you can get neighbors to sign on to a plan that preserves the area.

I love gardening, too, and so do my kids. Especially this time of year when the tomatoes start ripening. We only have one small box and a bunch of pots in sunny spots around the yard. We have a pretty big yard, considering we're in suburbia (almost a third-acre lot), but most of it is shaded by huge oaks, so the garden is limited to areas where the sun shines for at least part of the day.

[bamboogrrrl]

Monnie: I think paying your mortgage off in 3-5 years is something to be super proud about. Most people stretch it out for 30 years or more, so congrats! We're in our second house, living with a mortgage since 1997, and I'm sooooo over having a mortgage payment. I figure that paying it off early is yet another way to pay ourselves first.

Isn't it cool that the whole frugal/simple living thang leads naturally to gardening? I looove hearing about your gardens. I do lots of flowers and shrubs and trees (not too frugal but huge in terms of enjoyment and home equity), and around our back deck we've got several raised beds. One is dedicated to tomatoes - unusually this year we had many seedlings sprout by accident, so I didn't have to buy plants. Another bed is for herbs and mesclun mix lettuces - I could eat my body weight in arugula! A third bed is mainly echinacea (hoping to make my own tincture when the plants become monsters) interplanted with some trumpet lilies and random sunflower scattered by the birds. I try to plant stuff that tastes better if it's homegrown.

Luckily, DH loves to putter in the yard, so that really helps when I have one of my "gardening visions." Every fall, I shop around to get the best deals and plant over 1,000 bulbs, and it's so much easier that he helps. My dad gave us a couple of beautiful Japanese maples that he grew from seedlings (they are about 8 ft tall now). I'm so excited because this year, dh rescued four seedlings from one of them, so someday we will have several generations of these trees. Slowly I am creating a small paradise...but I digress.

Kathsmom: I have the same weird thing about dirt - I HATE the drying feeling of it on my hands...hence my gloves are always on. I loathe weeding, and that's my downfall. Must cultivate some sort of zen endurance about it.

[kathsmom]

bamboogirl: I am glad to know that I am not the only one who doesn't like to touch dirt! DH and DD think I am just crazy!LOL! It sounds like your yard is just so pretty! We have a few trees and all they ever do is shed tons of leaves and make sure that the grass doesn't grow in the backyard. We did have 2 trees cut down and the rest pruned, so that has helped some.

witch's mom: Oh, I hear you on wishing you had a pool in your backyard! DH came home early to take DD swimming at the community pool. The bad thing about the community pool is that usually when I take DD, they end up closing it, because someone threw up or pooped in the pool. YUCK!!!!! I have some friends who just bought a house with an inground pool. They love it! When the pool people came to clean it out (the previous owner had not kept it up), he said that their pool (which is not large) would cost around $30,000 to build now. It cost about $10,000 to put it in originally. Also, that is great about your grocery bill going down. DS had been sick and managed to get the rest of us sick as well, so I have been getting takeout and just going to the store to get a few items at a time. I hope that your electric bill goes down with the steps you're doing to decrease the amount of time you use the a/c.

kerc: great idea about doing the gardening in a planter! I will have to get my act together and take DD to the nursery to pick out a pot and some seeds!

newmainer: I hope that things work out for the land around your home and that you hear back soon from some of the places you have contacted. I need to write down and balance my checking account each time I write a check or use the debit card. I used to do that, but have let it slide a lot lately.

angel: I think the cloth diaper and a couple of outfits sounds really nice.

OK, I know I am leaving people out here! Sorry this became so long! Thanks again to all of you for your support!

[kerc]

kathsmom....one thing that grows REALLY well from seeds for me is nastrutiums.here's a pic
and the flowers are generally edible, they are also drought tolerant. the key thing is when the flowers are fading to deadhead (pick the flowers off) or they'll go to seed, which id cool for collecting seeds for next year, but....not so good for lots of flowers this year.

[georgia]

About the pool in the backyard---I suppose the grass is always greener . The house we bought has a pool. My dh fell immediately in . Me, OTOH, as much as I love the water---I HATE having a pool. The fact that I cannot go into the backyard with my dc w/o the CONSTANT fear of someone falling (or jumping!) in is not much fun. I can't garden w/o having someone else there to keep an eye on everyone. We have to keep the backdoor under constant deadbolt, same with our fence. The maintenance and expense of upkeep is killing us. Not to mention the time involved. YUCK!!!!! We bought a cover for the off-season so we could close it up and were set back a small fortune. We'll see if we even open it next year. So, as far as trade-offs go, I'd much rather trek on down to someone else's responsibility and splash around ! Hope this has shed some light on one pool owner's experience!

[Piglet68]

I had a nice little surprise this payday (which was yesterday).

I went and added some more tax credits in preparation for child #2, who will be born this tax year. DH kept bugging me to do it, and I was lazy. Well, for one child, I got an extra 3 credits and that added up to an extra $240!!!!!!!! on my paycheck (I get paid once a month). I cannot believe what a difference that made!

Still, I'm actually glad that I waited, because it means I may just get a RETURN on my taxes for the first time in years and years!!

The extra makes up for what we went over last time, so we'll be starting out in good shape this month!



I no longer feel guilty about the bathing suit.

[lilyka]

First I want to really advise against rental roperty if you are trying to pay off debt. we thought this was such a great id3ea, boiught a duplex and it has just about killed us. The rental income is 2/3 our mortage which is grat when someone lives there, when they pay rent and when it cost us less than thier security deposit to make it rentable again (which has never happened - and for the record we have had 5 renters, 4 law suits, and 12 months where it wasn't rented in the last 3 years. In those 24 months where people lived in it we only collected rent for about 18 of them) And it sucks to watch people dissrespect and trash something you have worked so hard for. It also really a drag to watch your property value decrease so rapidly. They have ruined the carpet, put highlighter floor to ceiling on the walls (which nothing will cover ), they have broken a 98 year old leaded glass window, they drilled holes and carved thier names into solid oak doors original to the house (also 98 years olkd - for 98 years people respected these things!), they stole the drawers from the original cabinets. these are things that cannot be replaced or fixed to match the original.. They have changed the entire look of the house. It just really sucks. So my advice there is unless you get it completely paid off SELL and RUN! My friends thought they had so totally scored by finding someone to take a 3 year lease on thier house and were crushed when they walked in with 2 little dogs (it didn't occur to them to specify in the lease no pets) and smoking a cigarette. They know that thier $300K home will be trashed at the end of the lease and that its value will be signifigantly decreased unless they poor tons of money into it for new paint and carpet and cleaning. totally sucks.

As for the loan consolidating can really save you a lot of money if you do it wisely. If not it can just drag you into more debt. First be sure you are actually saving money on intrest and not just spreading out the payments. Seocndly attitude is everything. Once you have the savings you can use it to significantly reduce your debt (by making extra payments and avoiding a chunk of intrest all together) or you cna can use it to buy stuff you really need and use any extra to reduce debt further, or you can spend it on stuff you want but don't need the very thing that gets most people into debt. Without changing spending habits you will just end up in debt again. So if you do decide to take out the loan I would recommend thatyou look at your list and see what your really need. Some of the stuff could probably wait but some probably needs to be done now. Since you are questing the loan to begin with I would bet a lot of it could wait. I recommend doing only the work you have to do and doing iot as cheaply as you can (while still getting quality). Fixing your windows for example can save you a lot of money on your energy bill so if they are really bad you might want to change them. Ours are original (so that would be 98 years) and a towel stuffed to stop the draft works pretty well (especially once it freezes on ) But then again we would be replacing over 48 window so that is no small chunk of change. You may want to call the energy company, the window people etc and see how much they will save you on energy cost.

Another thing to consider if you do plan on renting it out you have to decide how much will these improvement effect the price at which you can rent (although you also have to consider the neighborhood - ours appraises for $850 but because of the neighborhood the most we can get is $600). That will be something to weigh also. You don't want to go into debt/stay in debt over renovations you will only enjoy for a few years. However if they will considerably up the resale/rental value they may be worth it. perhaps you shoudl consult a real estate agent before deciding.