Late, late January

I bought my first "Seattle jacket" recently--water-repellant, wind-resistant, and hooded. It will especially come in handy when I have to walk the dog (it's very difficult to juggle an umbrella, a poop bag, and a dog who wants to go in every direction--and yes, again with the poop bags; sorry!). I'm very pleased with it and find it even warmer than my winter coat from Banana Republic--and to top it all off, I got it at a discount!

Had to pay just over $700 recently for some car maintenance and repair, but once again, the repairs were due to no fault of my trusty Civic. (Instead, a mouse had chewed through the wires for my thermostat gauge.) The bulk of the work was for a timing belt and water pump replacement. My mechanic didn't think it was absolutely critical that we do it now, but I chose to go ahead with it as my car is over 8 years old. The car has been good to me; I want to be good to it. Strangely, I was really tired of my car around the 6-year-mark (I even blogged about it), but I seem to have worked through that. There are no new cars out now that tempt me (though one day I'll blog about my idiosyncratic desire for a 70s muscle car). I'm just grateful that my car has served me so well these 8 years, and I'm in no hurry to get rid of it.

I did splurge on something for myself recently: over the holidays, a friend invited us over for dinner, and he served eggnog with freshly grated nutmeg. I couldn't believe how good it was, and immediately started dreaming of nutmeg grinders. They're fairly expensive, but I did pick up a refurbished Peugeot model on Amazon for $17.20. It arrived last night and I had fresh nutmeg in my coffee this a.m.--mmmm mmm!

Frugal Home Mini-Makeover

This is a picture of what used to be the housing for a set of doorbell chimes. The previous owners had yanked out the chimes, but hadn't really done anything with the space--there was a little oak rack of hooks crookedly drilled into the wall, and the old doorbell wires were sticking out of the top. I hated this little corner of the living room, and thought about how I could cover it up!

Then it occurred to me to try and make the most of it--I took out the oak rack and replaced it with the stainless steel dog bone to hold a leash and poop bags*. Once we confirmed there was no power running through the wires, I snipped them off. Then I went to Lowe's to buy the two little stainless steel hooks on which to hang our keys. I pressed the penguin--who I realize is terribly tarnished--into service to hold J's pocket watch.

When we painted the living and dining room recently, we opted to keep the space white. I have to say I'm really pleased with it now--and all I had to purchase were the little key hooks!



The picture's a little off-center, only because I wanted to get my piggy bank in there. :)

*I use store bags to pick up my dog's waste, too, but he poops more than we shop, so I buy biodegradable poop bags from Dirt Works to ensure we always have them on hand. I buy 400 at a time, which doesn't ever last as long as I think it will. We also have a small container attached to the leash filled with yet more poop bags, in case he does a "double" when we're out. And that's probably more than you ever wanted to hear about my dog's bodily functions.

Great news

I forgot to include some good news in my mid-January update: J got a $12K raise! I'm excited about this, not only because it means the debt "noose" will loosen more quickly, but also because he really deserves it.

It's funny, I only feel comfortable mentioning the exact amount here. I told a friend recently that J'd gotten a "pretty decent raise," but I didn't feel comfortable saying any more than that.

Mid-January

I know even some PF bloggers have made this mistake, but somehow that doesn't make me feel less like a doofus: I forgot to make a credit card payment this month! Worse yet, it was the credit card on which I have a little under $5000 at a 0% rate (for about 9 more months). My mind was just wrapped around my car getting broken into--as the days went on, I'd notice other things missing, and so the anger and frustration lingered longer than it probably would have otherwise.

I called earlier this week to plead mercy, but my payment hadn't yet shown up so the woman I spoke to couldn't yet do anything. She advised me to try again next week and assured me that they'd likely be able to waive the fee since I'd been "perfect" so far. I called again today (couldn't wait) and spoke to someone who both credited back the late fee and made sure my 0% rate wouldn't be affected. Thanks, Citi!

Other news:

Emigrant Direct is taking for-ev-er to set up an external funding link with my credit union. First I had to mail them a form and a voided check, then they have to verify the accuracy of the form with my bank (the check's not enough?) and THEN I have to verify two small deposits to my checking account. Come on! Other banks have figured out how to make this process easier, why not EGD?

My insurance agent found me a better rate for this year, only they didn't stop the old policy in time, so my checking account was debited twice for January. I called last Friday but the credit hasn't shown up yet. Urg.

I mailed my umbrella to Gilbert Center. It's going to cost me $50, including shipping. I bought the umbrella on sale for $25, and I haven't since seen a comparable waxed cotton umbrella for under $100, so I suppose I'm still ahead of the game...thought this will likely be the only time I opt to repair instead of replace this particular umbrella.

My Honda's thermostat gauge stopped working a month or so ago, and just sits in the "cold" range. When I take it in I'll give them the long list of things a tire shop told me "really needed" to be done. I'm hoping they were just trying to sell me repairs I didn't really need...

Super frugal dinner

Tonight I made my dinner in the manner of Amy Dacyczyn's "refrigerator soup." The ingredients were:

appx. 1 c lentils, previously cooked and frozen

4 c chicken stock, made from a rotisserie chicken

appx. 2 c roasted root vegetables (onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips), leftover from Sunday

a handful of frozen okra from a bag I'm trying to use up (I found I disliked okra, so now I toss it in soups that cry out for something "green"--that way I don't really have to taste it!)

salt, pepper, cumin

And, to top it with, some leftover goat cheese--an idea I borrowed from English Major's Money.

The end result, while nothing I'd order repeatedly at a restaurant, was still pretty good! The broth was the best part--rich, earthy and brown.

Neat survey

Through my employer, I'm taking part in a 6-month survey using the Traffic Gauge device, which displays real-time traffic conditions. I don't get any money for this survey, but I do get to keep the device after the 6-month period (though if I wanted to continue using it I'd have to pay for the service--about $7/month--myself).

Right now the service is only available for Seattle, San Francisco, and Southern California/Los Angeles. I guess that's a pretty clear indication of how bad traffic is here! Sadly, I'm not sure knowing how bad traffic is on a particular road leaves Seattlites much in the way of options...

In other survey news, Pinecone has yet to send me a survey. Waiting...

See a penny, pick it up

...or don't, and suffer the consequences.

Tuesday was my last day of a 2-day stint at jury duty. I took the bus, and on disembarking, I noticed a penny on the sidewalk. I thought momentarily of picking it up, but then considered the flood of people behind me and decided against it. Shortly afterward, I saw another penny on the floor of the courthouse where we were waiting in line to go through security. I passed on that one because it would involve leaving my section of the line and excusing myself to the people standing directly over the penny--quite awkward, I decided.

Well...

Wednesday morning, I checked my email to find that a buyer to whom I'd sold a skirt on Ebay--who had left me positive feedback--was now trying to get the charges reversed. Later, I discovered my car had been broken into, and that the cable I use to listen to my Ipod through my car stereo had been stolen.

Two pennies left where they were, two unlucky events (involving money, even). Hmmmm...

Early January, 2008

When you start really thinking about your finances again, you come up with things to say, I guess...

1) I started looking for better deals for my credit card balances. I've got $5000 on a card with a 0% APR rate (for 8 more months), and $7900 on another with a 6.9% rate for the life of the balance. That's the best I've been able to come up with, short of opening another account--which I really don't want to do. TBH once suggested Prosper, which I've looked at a few times, but haven't yet taken the plunge--the lack of anonymity always gets me in the end.

2) I pulled together funds from my online banks, etc., to come up with an "extra" $400 or so to pay down my debt. I even cashed out the I-Bond I'd purchased a few years ago. I would have liked not to do that, but I'd like to pay down the debt even more.

3) I made it onto the exclusive Pinecone Research Panel! I got an email last Friday informing me that I got in and that my first survey would occur within a couple of weeks. I'll only be paid $3, but maybe it's the start of something more.

4) It has been painful to look at my retirement account balances lately. I went from a high of just over $52,000 in October, to a low in the $47,000s a few days ago. I shouldn't look. I really shouldn't.

5) I have a waxed cotton umbrella that I love--it keeps its shape in strong winds, and the water droplets roll right off the surface. Recently, though, one of the spokes became detached from the frame, and I started looking around for a repair shop. There really are none! Umbrellas have become disposable, it seems. I did find one source, a man in Brooklyn who has earned the nickname "the last umbrella man." (Here's another story about him, from the New York Times.) Now all I have to do is ship him my umbrella. For those of you who might have loved but broken umbrellas languishing in your hall closet, I post his information here:

Gilbert Center
154 East 8th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11218
GILCENTER@aol.com
(c) 917-692-2078

I also bought a tin of wax cotton dressing, because the umbrella also needs to be reproofed. Admittedly, in the end I'll likely have spent more than it would cost to get a new functioning umbrella--but I don't WANT a crappy nylon umbrella that will break in a year.

6) I'll end with a link to a nice story about a retired factory worker who, despite having only an 8th grade education and never making more than $11/hour, managed to save enough to give $1,000,000 to a New Jersey college.