Everything I wanted

Today is payday #2 for me! I finally received my first adjunct professor-ing paycheck, and it's a bit larger than I'd guessed to boot. I'd do a happy dance, but the moolah is being combined with our tax return to pay off our credit card. THAT calls for a happy dance, hopefully by this time next week we will be consumer debt free!

I'm in a good place right now. Working hard, definitely. Struggling to manage my time correctly and achieve everything I wanted, for sure. But still, doing well. Upbeat and happy with life. I came across something this week which is apt:

Damn it's a lot of work to have everything I ever wanted.

I laughed when I saw that line. Its certainly true! I've told DJ a few times that I'm really enjoying the right now as well as daydreaming about the future. 

We're headed over to Jackson Hot Springs near Dillon this weekend, in search of snow to cross-country ski on. Though it is actually snowing today, we've been snow-free for the vast majority of the winter. It's the weirdest thing. So we're GTFOOT (Getting The F Out Of Town) for a bit and exploring an area we don't know much about. Looking forward to it. 

And with that sunshine and unicorns update, I'm off for the weekend. Happy Friday :)

I want a new car. Today.

I purchased my 2005 Nissan Altima in 2004 (yep, brand new) during my senior year of college. It's the first major purchase I ever made, that I ever paid off (early!). The odometer just rolled over 80,000 miles. In reality, we "should" own the vehicle for another 5-6 years/ to 200,000 miles.

It also lacks Anti-Lock Brakes, All Wheel Drive and has $5,000 worth of hail damage. My ride, it ain't so pimp.

DJ and I are pretty financially conservative people, though you might not see that from our decisions over the past two years. We've jumped from one big purchase to another: a house, a wedding, a Europe trip. In almost each situation, we anxiously awaited our Tax Return to pay off the credit card which funded said Big Purchase.

Neither of us "like" to do things this way, and we're breaking the cycle with this tax return. Seriously. Our plan is to be consumer debt free by March, and then start stockpiling away money for a hefty down payment on a new (to us) vehicle that has AWD (or front wheel drive with studded snow tires), ABS and will last us for the next decade. If we could make my car last long enough, we might be able to pay cash for such a vehicle.

Except that my car doesn't seem to be lasting long enough. I've gone through 5 headlights in the last 18 months. Assuming it was just the bulbs, we kept replacing the damn things. I finally called last Tuesday and made an appointment with the shop. And then the other headlight went out on Wednesday. No headlights during literally the darkest part of the year. >>>Enter four letter word here<<<

It's apparently a wiring problem, but the shop hasn't figured it out yet.

I also mentioned to them that the fuel door is getting harder and harder to open and close. It had a big ding from hail damage, and I swear, the wind speed from interstate driving has sculpted the thing closed. Is that possible? Because I practically need a pliers to open my "auto-open" fuel door. The dealership today said they'd have to replace the entire fuel door, and custom paint it to match the car. Oh hell no. I'd rather buy a $10 set of pliers for the next 9 months.

I haven't told DJ that little jem yet.

I hate spending money on a car we're going to be getting rid of. But more than that, we don't have the kind of down payment we are comfortable with to purchase a new vehicle. So what can you do, right? Grr.

I wonder if we should re-evaluate the "Single Car Family" model?

A Pocketbook Environmentalist

Last week I discussed my ambivalence about riding my bike to work. It was fairly nice yesterday, but again, I didn't ride to work. I had to return 40lbs of library books. I had a televised commission meeting until 7:30pm, and needed to look presentable. I drove. 

The truth is, I'm really a "Pocketbook Environmentalist." If "being green" benefits my bottom line, or reduces our energy consumption and thus bill, or tastes better, I'm for it. For example:

Now that it's not a frozen pile of dirt, I've begun adding kitchen scraps to the compost pile. I'm probably not "doing it right" but whatever. If we have leftover egg shells, too-old spinach, or anything not meat, I'll dig a hole in the compost pile and bury it. This adds nutrients to the compost, which will be recycled into the garden and landscape beds and produce better flowers and edibles. It positively effects my wallet by letting us keep the smaller garbage bin. 

I farm/ garden, mostly for the pleasure of it. I like cutting flowers from my yard and having fresh arrangements in the house. I like to give them to friends and take them to work. There's no way I could afford huge bouquets every week! And it also reduces the environmental impacts of shipping in exotic flowers for my pleasure.

I "farm" because I like fresh vegetables, to the point of disdaining tomatoes for 10 months of they year because they aren't fresh. Tomatoes just taste so much better right off of the vine! Same for asparagus, sugar snap peas, potatoes, corn... everything. Growing it at home benefits our budget; a $1.27 pack of seeds is much cheaper than buying 15 heads of lettuce. And it means that we don't throw out half a head of lettuce a week. It's great to run out to the garden and snip chives, basil or cilantro for dinner. We usually don't need these herbs in huge quantities, so having just a bit of them available saves us from buying, then throwing out, a bunch of fresh cilantro every time we make fajitas. Of course, growing these at home removes the pesticides, fertilizers, packaging and energy consumption related to transportation from the environmental cycle. 

Plants, "starting" on the front porch, and pillowcases drying in the sunshine.

We also hang most of our clothes to dry after a short spin in the dryer to remove wrinkles. This is a time-tested lesson from my momma. It means you usually don't have to iron things, unless you want them to look really crisp. It also means you run the dryer for 10 minutes instead of 55, thus saving you money (and energy). Our laundry area has a rod useful for hanging shirts and it's usual to see jeans and trousers hanging from the trim work in our hallway. I want to put up a clothesline in the back yard this summer to be able to dry things more regularly. I strung one up between the poles in our kitchen porch this weekend, in the 40 degree sunshine, but the porch roof throws the area into shade by noon and the house protects the area from wind. It took a while to dry our duvet cover, sheets, shams and pillowcases, but 4 hours in the sunshine is a lot cheaper than an hour and a half in the dryer. 

An impromptu clothesline. 

Are there things I feel "environmental guilt" over? Certainly. We could do a better job of recycling our plastics and paper. We should do a better job. You'll note I didn't say that we should recycle our glass, as doing so would have sent DJ into an apoplectic fit. Here's the deal with glass recycling for us in Bozeman: There is a glass crusher in Livingston, then they ship it to Seattle for reuse. By the time that I drive my glass to Livingston, then they ship it to Seattle for reuse, we've used more carbon fuel to "recycle" the glass than it would to produce new glass. Our market is too small for effective glass recycling, so I toss my glass without remorse. 

Except for the beer bottles. My husband home-brews; we can always use beer bottles. 

On biking to work, and other financial considerations

Gas in Montana is currently $3.59/ gallon. I'm sure that seems "cheap" to many of you already paying $4.00+ a gallon, but for me, it's incredibly galling to pay $50 to fill up the tank of my sedan. Or to see DJ spend $70 filling up his truck.

My Nissan Altima gets decent gas mileage. 20 miles per gallon or so in the city, 28+ mpg on the highway (depending on how fast I'm driving). We only live 4.2 miles from work, and if I don't go anywhere else, I usually buy three tanks of gas every two months, or 1.5 tanks a month. 

I ran the numbers a week or so ago because I was curious to see how much money it costs me to drive to work each day. 

Known factors:

• Distance: 4.2 miles one way, 8.4 total
• Gas tank capacity: 17 gallons
• Gas price: $4.00/ gallon
• Fuel efficiency: 20 mpg

So... trying to remember a little math problem solving here... 

17 gallons of gas X $4.00/ gallon='s $68.00 to fill an empty tank (!!!)

17 gallons of gas X 20 mpg='s 340 miles on one tank

340 miles / 8.4 miles per trip='s 40 trips

8.4 miles per round trip/ 20 mpg='s .42 gallons per trip

.42 gallons X $4.00='s $1.68 per round trip

$1.68 per round trip X 5 times/ week='s $8.40

$8.40 x 4 weeks a month='s $33.6 dollars a month in gas.

... huh. Even with gas at $4 a gallon, $33.60 a month in gas to drive back and forth to work might just be worth the convenience. 

Riding my bike is a good alternative, if I don't have a late night meeting or obligation. For example, I rode my bike to work in the 35 degree weather yesterday. The ride took me 20 minutes (which seems slow; I'm out of biking shape) and was pretty easy, although I did arrive both chilled and sweating a bit. 

I planned to bike from work to an AOII obligation at 6pm, then home before dark at 8:30pm. And then it started snowing. And then there was a winter storm advisory which rapidly progressed into a winter storm warning. Instead of completing my loop, I put my bike in the back of DJ's truck and rode home with him. Had a quick dinner, and drove back into town for my AOII meeting. Drove home at 9pm in a blizzard. 

So yeah, that didn't really work out well. I like getting in an extra 20 minutes of cardio, and the 15-20 minute ride is comparable to driving. The real hassle with biking to work is the uncertainty of it. What if it snows? What if it rains? I usually have 2 night meetings a week; it'd be a fruitless endeavor to ride into work, then make DJ come get me because of weather. I'm also the bag lady, with a lunch bag, purse, briefcase, and sometimes gym bag. How do I schlepp all of that, not to mention coffee, to and fro?

Hopefully the weather will stabilize shortly. I do plan to ride my bike to work frequently this summer, but not because I'll save money. The environmental impact is nice, but I don't have a huge footprint of oil consumption already. I'll bike to work because it's a fun way to add more exercise to my day, to enjoy the weather and to change up my routine. But biking to work 3 times a week probably won't really start until May June.

Money Money

Fingers crossed, and pending our tax return, DJ and I will pay off our wedding sometime in the next week. It's been riding on my credit card since July. 

Yep. Since July we've had what feels like a guillotine over our heads from wedding debt. We kept making big payments on it, but ultimately it was going to take until we got our tax return to pay the damn thing off. I can't wait for the sense of relief we'll feel with all of our credit cards at a zero balance. 

I'm not sure if we made a mistake or not in building a new house and paying for our wedding mostly on our own within nine months of each other. If we'd really looked the elephant in the eye, we'd have probably waited until 2011 to get married and pay for it all in cash. The house purchase made sense, and the wedding was gonna happen, so we just went for it. But in reality, it's been since about June of 2009 since we've been true DINKs (Dual Income No Kids). 

We've had a lot of conversations lately about our finances and how they effect the expectations we have for our life together. We both grew up middle-class kids of parents who are still pretty conservative with their finances. We both dislike carrying a credit card balance, and believe the only "good" debts are mortgages and school loans. Car loans seem to be an unavoidable evil, though both of our vehicles are currently paid off. We vacillate between running monthly expenses on a credit card (to earn points/ airlines miles/ cash back) or paying for it in cash. 

With the end of wedding debt in sight, we're starting to to think ahead. We want to travel; Europe and somewhere tropical next spring. We need to complete the purchase of bedroom furniture, and probably will need new couches soon enough. We both need new vehicles in the next 3 years or so; in fact the -27 degree wind chill killed the battery and starter in my car last week. Nothing like being thisclose to paying off the credit card, only to have to turn around and drop $300 on car repairs. That was after $400 in new tires in November. Of course, we'd like to avoid having two car payments at once, but it seems like we'll both need to get into new vehicles faster than we can pay one of them off. We could afford two car payments right now, but add $700/month in daycare costs towards the end of those car payments in 2013 or 2014 and that we can't do.

I'll put it this way. I spent Friday night running the budget spreadsheet. We make good money; we're both professionals with college and graduate degrees. We have relatively small mortgage payments and living expenses. And yet... there just doesn't seem to be enough money to do the things we want to do. It makes me wonder how our parents afforded this. It makes me doubt that we'll be able to give our kids the same quality of life we grew up with. 

Damn. What happened to the American dream?

Sweet dreams

I did it. After much relentless browbeating conversation with DJ, he agreed to let me order a Real Grown Up Bed on Monday.

I've been drooling over this bed from Pottery Barn for over a year now. It's pretty classic. A sleigh without a footboard. High enough to feel big, but not an overly big bed itself. I'm not a super matchy-matchy person; I'd actually prefer furniture that can be used in various rooms throughout the house as needed. But I like that ordering from PB meant we could, someday buy a coordinating dresser if we wanted.

You might remember me whining about our cash-strapped situation right now. Again, we're fine, but we definitely don't have a random $600 + $150 shipping and handling lying around for this bed. We received some generous checks for Christmas, and after I realized that applying those funds to our credit card (wedding expenses, ugh!) really wouldn't impact our ability to pay off said credit card any faster, I harassed DJ into letting us buy something we really needed.

It'll be here in mid-February, as it was on backorder until late January. PB says they deliver to your house, and they bring it to the room you want it in. This was the part that made DJ nervous, so hopefully a month from now I'll have fab photos to share and a good customer service experience to rave about!

I'm still on the hunt for a cheap, cool, functional night stand. And so many other things.

Adult financial decisions

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I arrived home from a late work meeting in tears. I'd slid through three intersections on the slick, snow packed roads, and then couldn't get enough traction to get across another intersection before the light changed. Thankfully the other car coming saw my predicament and waited.  

Monday night I had to be pushed out of my parking spot on the street next to AOII. 

Tuesday night I got stuck in the street 100 yards from our house. The City hadn't plowed yet, and last week's snow had been made into mushy white stuff the consistency of cookie dough. Dusty and a kind neighbor pushed me out. 

Yesterday we spent $380 on new all-weather tires for my car. I know what you're thinking; "Courtney you live in one of the snowiest places in the US, why not purchase snow tires?"

For the same reason we haven't, and won't repair the $5,500 worth of hail damage to my car last June. Its 6 years old, has 68,000 miles and it's worth $6,000, not deducting for hail damage. I'm not putting $5,500 (hail damage)+ $700 (snow tires & rims)+ $1,000 (new brakes at 80,000 miles) on a vehicle worth less than that. Doing so commits us to owning my car for at least 5 more years. 

My car is front wheel drive, it doesn't have Anti Lock Brakes. It's 6 years old. I want something I feel comfortable and safe driving to Pocatello to see my parents in, or driving to Colton to see my extended family in. It would be nice to not ALWAYS take Dustys truck when traveling in the winter. Simply put, reinvesting in it is a poor financial decision.  

I bought my car brand new in the fall of 2004. I drove it through my senior year of college. I drove it to and from Kentucky for grad school. Its fine for getting around Bozeman when needed, great for summer road trips. It's been a great car; my family is loyal to Nissan for a reason.  

Which makes what I'm about to type even more shocking; I think I want either a new Subaru Outback (which I've made fun of for at least 10 years now!) Or a new Chevy Equinox (me! The educated liberal elite buying domestic!). Both have all-wheel drive, ABS and really great consumer reviews. Not to mention price points below $30,000.  

But for the next year or 18 months I will enjoy my new all-weather tires. And enjoy a paid off car. And be a grown up about acknowledging that purchasing a brand new car might now be in our financial future.  

New Years Resolutions

DJ doesn’t buy into New Year’s resolutions. He figures that if a person recognizes a behavior as a problem, why not take steps to correct it immediately, on July 29th? Point taken.

I, however, do think it is a good idea to reflect on the past year, and plan for the next while setting goals for achievement. My goals for 2009 were:

1. Pay off my Capital One credit card
2. Get my blood pressure under control (at 25-26 years old, yes).

And I did those things! I’m excited to report that I paid off my Capital One Card in December; a total of over $5,000. Which also explains why I’m so shabbily dressed as of late.

I also brought my blood pressure mostly under control through changes in medication and better eating. Sadly, I did not lose 30lbs in the process, but I do feel better.

Since today is the beginning of a pretty eventful year for me, I’m setting the following goals:


1. Sew a piece of clothing, and wear it


I know the basics, and my basic way around a sewing machine. And I always have a hard time finding something that fits properly. And I’m trying to be cheaper. And Bozeman’s clothing stores aren’t exactly diverse. So why not try my hand at making something for myself? This will probably happen in the fall after El Weddingo.

2. Count to ten more often (be patient)

People say patience is a virtue. I often retort that so are chastity and obedience, and I blew those long ago! But I do need to try to be more patient with others, and myself. Five more seconds will rarely impede my day.

3. Grow a vegetable garden and try to can salsa

I did make the landscapers put in the drip lines for gardening. I should use them. And DJ makes excellent salsa’s (hold the jalepenos please). So why not?

4. Take on less responsibility

I am, inevitably, always running behind and juggling four bags of stuff to do. I’ve got lists, spreadsheets and calendar reminders. And we don’t even have a dog or a kid. It seems like I rarely have a night off. Is this a woman thing? Do we all overbook ourselves to the point of being crazy? Regardless, I’m going to prioritize, delegate, and let some things go. Or find a more efficient way to do them.

5. Make it to work by 9am every morning

I often have late night meetings for work. Three a month, to be exact. And when I get home at 9:30am, I really don’t feel the pressure to get into work by 8am, especially when I’ve just built up four hours of Comp Time (government employee). And everyone I work with understands this. But I feel like less of a professional walking in the door at 10am. So, unless I’ve already requested to take the morning off, I will try to make it into work by 9am every day.

6. Not lose my mind while wedding planning. Or my friends and family.

See also number four and number two. I’m struggling planning a wedding. Really, I’m not having much, if any, fun. But I’m doing it, and on July 11th we will wake up married.

That’s it so far. Six neatly organized goals for the year. They accompany a laundry list of other things to do like organize the office, get the house settled and decorated, and go to the gym daily. But these are things I will do regardless of making them a goal.

Are you setting New Year’s Goals?

Joint finances?

DJ and I met with an accountant today to discuss my eligibility for the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers. I’m pretty excited to say that I’ll be getting probably $8,000+ back in taxes, which will seriously beef up the rather paltry savings account. And DJ will get a nice sum back too.

Sidenote: as we were standing in the lobby, I mentioned to DJ that while I sucked at math in college, and hated it, I kind of thought it would be fun to be an accountant. :::BAM::: Mom, MOM! Wake up! You fainted at ME saying I wanted to be an accountant.

Source

Back to the point, we’ll be filing separate taxes for the 2009 tax year (since we’re still separate, duh). And I asked the accountant if we should file joint taxes for 2010, since we’re getting married in 2010. His answer was a yes, since it streamlined the process and made the whole refund thing more streamlined.

We are, however, at my insistence, going to maintain some kind of financial independence from each other once we’re married. Frankly, it just seems easier. I don’t have to worry about not knowing what he’s spent out of our checking account; he doesn’t have to worry about me not tracking purchases down to the penny in a register. This is called the “Yours-Mine-Ours” strategy.

Source

And I think every woman should retain some level of financial independence. You never know what will happen in life, and my parents paid for a college education so that I can always provide for myself. I’ll take that a step farther and keep the majority of my finances my own. Independent.

We did set up a joint checking and joint savings account in November though. The bank where my accounts are offered a promotional deal if we got our mortgage through them and opened a joint account at that banking institution.

The plan for semi-joint finances is as follows. DJ will transfer all of his accounts over to the bank where my personal accounts and our mortgage are in the next month. We will both continue to have our paychecks direct deposited into our personal checking accounts, and from there will set up auto-transfers of a specified amount via online banking into our joint checking account. Bills paid out of joint checking will be the things we share. Right now, that’s only mortgage, home insurance, taxes, and cell bills. Eventually though it will include car insurance, groceries, etc. All of these will likely be set up on an auto-bill too, so we won’t have to think about it.

Source

Mine, Ours, Yours

Right now the joint savings account is only seeing action as a wedding fund. We’re both putting a specified amount into it each month, so we don’t have to put wedding expenses on charge cards. Once El Weddingo is past, stuff like tax refunds and monetary gifts will probably go into our joint savings account.

Our personal accounts are that, personal. I don’t care to know how much DJ has in checking. Or for DJ to know how little I have in checking. My personal accounts will pay for stuff like girl’s weekends, gifts, fun money, etc. And we will both only be able to see the accounts our names are on when we log into online banking.

Do you think it’s foolhardy to try to keep accounts separated? Are you an all-in type of person? Or did you join accounts, but now wish you wouldn’t have?

Do you think this plan is going to go down in a ball of flames in a year?