A little extra money never hurts

This month, we find ourselves in a much better financial position. Our Ebay sales have been great and we’re moving a lot of product. This means that we’ve been able to pay all our credit card minimums and more just from that money. Previously, paying the minimums and a few hundred extra on our personal Citibank card was all we could manage, and it took almost the entire second paycheck we get each month. So for us, liquidating our business inventory and equipment has been a really wise move for us. It also means we’ll pay off the cards that much sooner.

Because our paycheck didn’t have to go completely towards bills, my husband and I splurged a little bit. Last Saturday we spent $100 to pay for a babysitter and a nice meal at a Hibachi restaurant - something we haven’t done in literally years. And since we haven’t had a night out alone in almost a year, it was well worth the unnecessary expense. Could we have done it cheaper? Probably. Would we have? Well, let’s just say I think the money was well spent!

The extra money coming in was also perfectly timed with the arrival of our bi-annual car insurance premiums, so that $330 will come painlessly out of the paycheck - painlessly in the fact that we don’t have to figure out how to come up with it! (And yes, our rates are very low. We got that rate - about $330 a year per car - due to not only our clean driving records, but a good credit score and the fact that we have our Homeowner’s insurance with the same company. Plus we live rurally, so rates are generally lower.)

We’ve been thinking about how to best take advantage of the fact that through our business, our credit cards are basically paying themselves. And we’ve decided that for the next couple of months, we’re going to put as much of that extra paycheck towards our emergency fund as possible, and build that up. We’re also increasing our grocery budget to $150 a month, especially because pregnancy has made me very hungry all the time. To be honest, I’ve been working with a “don’t spend anything” or $100 budget for so long, I’m a bit overwhelmed by how much extra money I have this month to use for groceries!

To be honest, that is where there is a problem.  I’m realizing that the urge to spend - when I have the money - is still there.  I’ve improved - a lot - but it still worries me.  Today I’ve found myself thinking it would be fun to go shopping.  But the thing is, I don’t need anything.  If I go to the store today, without an immediate need, it is very likely I will find something I “need.”

I do have one suggestion that works for this - it helps to make a list of things you will need in the near future - light bulbs,  towels, etc - things you need but you keep putting off.  When you get that urge to shop and give in, go shop for the things you will need, rather than shopping just to browse.  That way you waste less money (only the fact that you might not buy on sale will cost you) and you buy a need rather than an impulse item.

The only thing I can think of is yarn for a baby blanket.  But I need to put that off until I know whether I should get pink or blue!

Container Theory

Everytime I look in a home decorating magazine, I am amazed at how beautiful the homes are.  It’s hard not to be envious of the beautiful spaces! Perfect lines, gorgeous colors, not one flaw in sight - and in the past few years I’ve noticed that the homes have also transformed from sterile showroom spaces to personal spaces - a person’s books, collections, and pictures have made their way to the cover of “Better Homes & Gardens” within the neatly designed rooms.

It took someone else pointing it out for me to realize the truth - a big reason that these homes are so beautiful  is because they are clean and uncluttered.  Kids toys are neatly put away or not even in the room and books are lined on the bookshelf instead of just being thrown up there.   Sure, the paint job is nice, and the furniture looks incredibly comfortable, but the fact that you can see the floor is a major issue, too.

This was  an especially significant revelation for me because we live in a society of clutter.  We mistake the acquisition of things to be a step on the path toward the “American Dream.” More clothes, more toys, more books, more games.  But those things soon leave us with drawers so full of clothing they wrinkle and garages so full of junk we can’t put our cars in there - I’m guilty of the cluttered garage!   We have to buy more organizational bins, shelves, and accessories to attempt to make sense of it all.  Some Americans rent storage units to store all this stuff - or even buy a bigger house!

This is crazy.  Not only do we not need all this stuff, but we couldn’t find it if we did need it!

So my challenge to you, dear readers, is that if you are tired of trying to find new places to put things - tired of your home looking more like the “before” photos on HGTV’s “Mission: Organization” - to try living by Anne Heerdt’s “Container Theory.”  The basic idea is that material things have limits - money only goes so far, objects can only take up so much spaces, food can only give so much energy, and your “container” - or home - has it’s limits, too.

It’s time to get rid of the excess stuff.  You will find that your home will feel more peaceful, you will be able to find what you need quickly, and you won’t miss all that extra clutter!

This can be really overwhelming, but Heerdt suggests something in her article that I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed by a project - I break it down into smaller, manageable parts.  When the house looks like a tornado has made it’s way through the living area, I focus on cleaning one area at a time.  If I don’t, it feels so overwhelming that I continue to put it off until the situation becomes desperate.

In the same way, even if all you do today is go through one drawer or one box, you should be pleased with your accomplishment.  Organization is much more taxing on the mind than cleaning!

I do want to make a distinction here:  many people see organizing as simply moving the things they have around so they look neater.  That’s not what we’re talking about here - our organization has more to do with streamlining and simplifying life and getting rid of the excess stuff that drags us down mentally and physically.

Step-by-step: 

1.  Choose an area to organize - a cupboard in your kitchen, or a drawer in your bedroom, for instance.  I would recommend you do an easy area first!

2. If possible, remove everything from the cupboard or drawer.  Wipe it down with a damp cloth (You might as well multi-task and clean while it’s empty!)

3. Neatly put back anything that you use on a regular basis.

4. Anything that’s left outside the cupboard needs to be sorted - get rid of anything you don’t need or that is a duplicate of something you already have.  If you use it enough to justify keeping it, then do keep it, but try not to justify keeping things just because you can’t bear to get rid of it.  Place it neatly back in the drawer or cupboard.   If you can think of something else that would substitute for a rarely used item, then get rid of it.  The idea is that you are streamlining your life.  You are getting rid of the unnecessary stuff!

If you are really struggling with whether or not to keep something, put it in a box and stick it in an inconvenient closet or basement for a few months.  After that few months, anything that’s still in the box needs to be donated!

And if it doesn’t fit?  Don’t keep it!  Make do! You may not want to go to such extremes, but Heerdt mentions how they didn’t have room in her tiny kitchen for a coffee maker - so they just used the stove.  The quickly realized that the simplicity of warming coffee on the stove slowed their busy day and was a pleasurable way to go about the morning.

Not only that, but having a clean, organized house saves money - you can find what you need when you need it.  And when your house is organized and everything has a place, you are more likely to think about where you are going to put  new  items.  When your house is cluttered, it’s easy to just add new things to the piles.  So if your house is neat, it may actually stop you from buying things you really don’t need!

I’m going to start with my dresser drawers.  How about you?

Time to Refinance

Interest rates are really low right now - it’s not a secret. And refinancing can save home owners a lot of money!

Have you considered refinancing your mortgage? Now is a great time to do it, and it can require very little out of pocket money.

Of course, not everyone should refinance. We found it was to our advantage for three reasons:

1. We are currently on a 7/1 ARM with interest only payments. This was useful to us for the short term, when we faced two mortgage payments. Maybe not the smartest when it comes to counting nickels and dimes, but sometimes the best solution costs a little more. But the thought of only paying interest and having no idea where the market will be in 6 years is a scary thing!

2. That 7 year ARM has a 6.875% interest rate. When we locked in the rate back in June 2007, this was a decent rate. Not so anymore! Our good credit qualifies us for the best rate available right now.

3. We have two large required expenses we have to pay immediately that range in the tens of thousands of dollars - our upgraded septic system, and the amount we still owed on our North Carolina mortgage when we closed last Friday. When we refinance, we’ll be able borrow enough to cover these expenses against the equity in our home.

When should you refinance?

These aren’t hard and fast rules - like anything, you have to consider your own situation and how it will affect you.

1. If the current interest rate is more than 1% lower than your current interest rate. Today’s interest rate, according to Bankrate.com, is 5.5% This varies - even looking at banks in our area, I could go to one and get a 5.3% rate and another for a 5.8%! If you can refinance for a percentage point or more, the time it will take to recoup your closing costs will be fairly short - less than two years.

2. If you plan on living in the house for more than a couple years. When you refinance, you will have to pay closing costs on your new loan. In our case, if we go from paying 6.5% to 5.65%, without adding in the extra money we will be taking out for the septic and other mortgage, we’ll break even in about 22 months (we underestimated when we spoke to the gentleman who is doing our refinancing - our actual interest rate is 6.875%.) Since we don’t plan on moving anytime soon, and we’ll be trying to pay down our mortgage, this works to our benefit in the long run.

3. If you want to lower the term of your loan - if you have 20 years left on a 30 year fixed mortgage, it can save a lot of money to refinance into a 15 year fixed - not only will your term be shorter, but depending on the balance on the loan, you may find your payments would actually be smaller. And that doesn’t even account for the amount of money you would save on interest!

4. If you need to switch the type of loan you have. We don’t want to be stuck with a 7/1 ARM in 2014! If we only pay the amount on our statement each month, we’ll still have the same amount of principle 7 years from now. That doesn’t make good financial sense. So if you want to switch from an ARM to a fixed rate, refinancing will allow you to do this.

5. If you want to drop PMI on a home that has increased in value. Homeowners are required to buy PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) if they are putting less than 20% down on a house. Premiums can be hundreds or thousands of dollars each year. By law, lenders are required to cancel the PMI once the mortgagee pays off 22% of the mortgage. However, if you have a house that has appreciated greatly you may benefit from refinancing - the house will be reappraised in the refinancing process and you may not have to pay PMI any longer.

An example:

Purchase Price in 2000: $100,000
Mortgaged amount: $100,000

Percentage of Home’s Value Mortgaged: 100%

Home’s Value in 2008: $125,000
Current Mortgage Balance: $90,000

Percentage of Home’s Value Mortgaged: 72%

A person who is still paying Private Mortgage Insurance in this scenario would save hundreds or even thousands a year by refinancing with the home’s new appraised value.

6. If you need to tap the equity in your home. In my opinion, this reason needs to be used really wisely. Good things to spend home equity on are things that improve your assets - home repairs, home improvements that raise the home’s value (like our septic system or a bedroom/bathroom addition) or to consolidate secured long term debts, like other mortgages. You shouldn’t use home equity to pay off your credit cards (30 years’ worth of interest is a lot more than 2 years’ worth, even if it is spread out) or to buy new clothes, electronics, or to go out to eat. I have seen people who have carefully and successfully used their home equity to live off of when both members of the family were laid off, but it’s a scary thing. Thankfully, they are currently employed and are on their way to paying off that debt!
It’s a lot to consider, but if you think refinancing would be beneficial to you, it’s very easy to go into any bank and get some more information, including the actual costs. We’ve had our appraisal and we are waiting for the settlement statement from our closing in North Carolina. As soon as we get those, we’ll be signing and filing the paperwork that will save us a lot of money in the long run!

January Progress Post (5 days late!)

Let’s see how we did in January:

Personal Credit Cards:

Citibank: Was: $1787.71
Now: $1212.73

We paid off $615.00 on this card this month - $165 of that was snowflaking, mostly from selling our product on Ebay. We also charged $40.02 on the card - all but $6.99 were interest charges.  $6.79 of that were for February’s interest charges, so that number has been inflated a tad.

Business Credit Cards:

Suntrust: Transferred to our Business Citibank for a better interest rate and a much better bank.

Chase: Was: $6236.37
Now: $6138.80 (I paid $125, finance charges of $27.43 )

Citibank: Was: $4927.42
Now: $10,130.14 (This reflects the old Suntrust balance.  I was able to transfer my balance and go from a 14.29% interest rate to a 4.99% interest rate.  I made a payment of $100 to this card, and finance charges were $27.47 - reflecting the old balance.)

Total Credit Card Debt:
Original Debt:                 $18, 954.86
Last Month:                     $18,326.75
Current:                            $17,481.67
Monthly Difference:   $845.08
Total Paid Off:               $1473.19

Accessible Savings Account:
Current: $212.46

(We also have a saving account at our bank in North Carolina that has about $3000 in it.  That’s our current emergency fund - it came from a Certificate of Deposit that finally came due.)

I’m pleased!  This certainly offsets the heartache of the upside-down house loan!  I feel like we’ve been making progress, and it helps that we’ve been able to put extra towards our debt from liquidating our products on Ebay.  We’ve had to pay a lot of the fees and put money in our Stamps.com account for shipping, but we won’t have as many of those costs in the future.  I have another $120 in the process of transferring to our bank account to be put toward the personal Citibank, and another $80 already accumulated in our Paypal!

So all in all, I finally feel like we’re making progress on our credit card debt, if nothing else!  It feels wonderful!

Unhappy about Necessary Debts

I admit it.  It’s been over a week since I’ve posted.

This past week has been frustrating - and disheartening.

On the positive side - we close on our house in NC on Friday!  That’s nearly $180,000 of debt gone!

However…we have to bring $10,677.82 to closing.  Ouch.  (I did an estimate before and I was way off.  I didn’t include the 2o08 taxes we would owe, the final mortgage interest payment, or the deed and register stamp fees.  All told, that was about another $2000 we have to bring to the table.)

We struggled a lot with how to deal with this.  The closing attorney didn’t get the exact numbers to us until this morning (we knew it’d be between $8000 and $12,000.)  We had already talked to our bank about doing a short term loan until we refinance in a couple weeks (more about that later) but there was no way they’d be able to process the money in time.  After hearing about our situation, both lenders we spoke to though that we should consider doing  a cash advance or using a balance transfer check on our credit cards - because it was the only way we were going to get the money wired to the closing attorney on time to close.

Thankfully, my husband talked to a businessman in our church about our situation and he and his wife offered to lend us the money for the next two weeks.  We’re hoping to have it directly wired from his account to the attorney.  We will be paying all fees, of course, and we want to offer them the interest we would have otherwise paid.  I also told my husband that although there is no way I’d let the debt go unpaid, I wanted to write out a promissory note.  It would make me feel better knowing that they have legal recourse against us if we didn’t pay.  I absolutely hate the thought of borrowing from a friend!

But there’s more:

We not only owe this amount, but by law, all homes sold in our county now have to comply with new septic laws, which means that most people will have to install new septic systems.  We knew this when we purchased the house, and we got quite a bit off the price because of it.  We were expecting our old house to sell with cash to spare, which we would use to pay for the septic.  Unfortunately, the market being what it is, we had to sell for nearly $50,000 less than what we originally asked, so we don’t have the funds we expected to have.  Oh, well!   It’s truly a case of “You win some, you lose some.”

So between the new septic system and the money we need to pay off our old loan, we are going to need about $25,000.  There’s no way around it, and we can’t wait on either.

But here’s where “we won some” - mortgage interest rates are low right now.  We just locked in at 5.65% for a 30 year fixed, which is quite a bit lower than our current 6.875% 7 year ARM.  It will take less than 2 years to break even after the closing costs.

So we plan to refinance, but we will actually be refinancing for more than we owe. We’ll refinance for around $122,000 and take the extra $25,000 to pay for the septic and to pay back our friend.  This will happen as soon as we get the appraisal and the settlement statement for the closing on Friday.  That day we’ll wire the money we owe back to our friend and stick the rest in savings until the septic company bills us.

Not the ideal.  I hate adding more debt, but I knew this was coming.  Still, it’s disheartening.  It’s just more debt.   It will also raise our mortgage payment to about $900 a month, which will make things a little tighter.  Thankfully, we are close to getting another card paid off, which I’ll post about soon in my January Progress Post - 5 days late!

Cleaning on a Dime

A lot of people, including myself, swear by the “magical” powers of vinegar.

Okay, I don’t think vinegar is magical, but it’s some pretty good stuff.

I started using vinegar as an all-purpose cleanser when frankly, I didn’t want to afford the $3 bottle of bathroom cleaner, the $4 countertop cleaner, the $3 bottle of degreaser…and the list goes on.

But vinegar isn’t the only substitute for commercial cleaning supplies!  Check out this list:

The Bathroom:
The Toilet bowl:  Dissolve stains with two denture tablets.  Even cheaper?  Scrub it!  Hydrogen Peroxide will disinfect any surface- pour it in at full Over-the-Counter strength and let it sit for several minutes.   Scrub and flush.  Peroxide can bleach colors a bit, so use caution when using.

The Counter:  This is where I love vinegar.  It has disinfecting qualities and does a nice job removing those dried water marks on the counter without leaving streaks.

The Shower/Bath:  I generally use vinegar on these as well, and baking soda to remove stains and soap scum (it freshens the drains a bit at the same time!)  I’ve been told Washing Soda is great as well.

The Kitchen:
Surfaces:  Spray diluted vinegar and wipe off.   Anything that is extra greasy can be washed with diluted Dawn dishsoap, including the top of your vent hood and cabinet fronts.

Glass:  I have to admit, we still use Windex.  My husband insists.  But you can use a damp microfiber cloth, too.  Many people swear by diluted ammonia and a newspaper wipe afterwards to eliminate streaks.

Tile/Linoleum floors: That vinegar and water mixture?  It’s a great floor cleaner.  I discovered this mixture after the extreme dissatisfaction of using a Swiffer mop - the solution you buy to put in the mop made my floor sticky!  (Bad for me, but good for Swiffer accessory sales.)  Vinegar and water cleans well without having to rinse and without getting sticky floors.   As far as I understand, the vinegar/water mixture is safe for hardwood, too.

The rest of the house:

Wood Surfaces:  Real wood furniture craves moisture, especially in the dry months like winter.  To keep wood looking good, you should oil it weekly - I use lemon oil, which is available in the cleaning aisle, but  you can also use olive oil, walnut oil, or almond oil.  Lemon oil just smells good!  You can give your wood surfaces a sweep with an oiled cloth and it will moisturize and dust all at once!   This will also drastically improve the appearance and condition of your piece over time since it will prevent cracking and give the wood a nice luster.

Carpet Stains: If you have light colored carpet, a great stain remover is Hydrogen Peroxide (drug store dilution, as always.)  Be sure to spot test first, though, and you do this at your own risk!  I found that hydrogen peroxide will stain one piece of fabric and leave a near identical piece untouched.   Pour the hydrogen peroxide onto the stain, saturating the surface completely.  Use a scrub brush to work the peroxide into the stain, and let it sit for about 60 seconds.  Grab an old rag, double it several times so it’s nice and thick.  Place it on the stain.  Jump up and down on the rag (to soak up every last drop of peroxide.)  When you remove the rag, the stain should be gone.

If you have any color carpet, you can use a Dawn/water mixture instead of hydrogen peroxide.  One other method my father swears by (and his carpets are immaculate) is a diluted spray-on clothing stain remover mixture scrubbed into the carpet.  Of course, the most effective way to deal with stains is to get to them quickly!

Free Gaming

Occasionally (okay, rarely) I find myself with everything done and nothing left to do. I could read a book, write a blog entry, work on a project…but you know, sometimes it’s nice to just sit and relax with a game for an hour or two.  Every since I discovered computer games (I think one of the first was a block breaker game) I’ve been hooked.  I know I’ve spent quite a bit of money on the original Sims game, along with several upgrades (which my computer couldn’t handle!)  I love other simulation and conquest games, too, and SimCity, Age of the Empires, and Civilization II were some of my favorites.  Does anyone else remember the original Masters of Orion?

I also know several people who play online games - in particular subscription games like World of Warcraft.  These can get expensive and addictive!  If you have the extra money just lying about, great!  But I don’t.

In the spirit of gaming, I wanted to pass on several free gaming sites that I’ve tried and enjoyed.  Perhaps some of you can add to the list.

Now I admit that gaming is generally a huge waste of time, so I usually limit my time quite a bit.  I also know what it’s like to be addicted to a game, so it’s important that I make sure I am not becoming obsessed with a certain game.

Online games:
1. Kingdom of Loathing - the online role playing game that makes fun of online role playing games.  It’s a lighthearted (but sometimes crude) game full of mocking and sarcasm.  It’s also full of riddles and mind-benders, so be prepared to think.  This one is great if you are someone who tends to get addicted - you are limited to how many actions you can perform a day, and that ends up being no more than two hours’ worth of actions - if you really draw it out.

2. Neopets - Geared mostly toward younger folk, but you’ll find a lot of adults here, too.  Choose up to four pets to take care of. You can challenge other pets to fights, play games, and chat in the forums.  Many of the adults find a lot of fun in choosing an area in which their pet will excel - for instance, eating all the “gourmet” foods or reading every book in neopia.  Some like to make their pet as strong as possible, or play the mind-bending role playing games available on the site.

3. Moola - This is basically a gambling site that you can’t pay in to.  The site gives you a penny (yes, a real penny!) and you bet your penny against someone else’s in a game of mostly chance.  Right now, there are three games to choose from, but the site owners keep promising more soon.  If you win, you would then have a total of $0.02, and you can bet it all in another game, or just bet part of it.   When you get to $10 you can cash out - Moola sends you a check in the mail.  The trick is not to get greedy - once I got up to $80, but then I had a losing streak and ended up quitting at $16.  Just like Vegas. :)  However, it really does work - I did cash out a $20 check, which I just got in the mail.

How do they make their money? Players have to watch an advertisement at the beginning of every game. Sometimes you have to answer a question about the ad afterwards.  However, they tend to play the same seven or eight ads, so you are given the option to “skip” the ad if you already know the answer.

There’s lots more to Moola than that, but I want to get on to other things.

Downloadable games:

1. Big Fish Games - Each day a new game is placed on the site.  You can download a free one hour trial version of most games, which is usually just the right amount of time for me.  Beware, though!  If you find you want to buy a game, it’s very expensive.  If you want to buy several games, I’d recommend that (if you have the expendable income) you sign up for a Game Club Membership.  Games are less than half price with a membership, the downfall being that you buy a credit each month whether or not there’s a game you want.   I have one of these memberships, and I’ve canceled it before with no problem.  I find I will not use any credits for a couple of months, and then one month I’ll use all those saved up credits all together.  So it’s a good deal if you enjoy the games - but it’s anywhere from $7 to $10 a month for the game membership.

You can find a lot of those same games on MSN and Yahoo in their games sections, but I’ve found I have a lot of problems, either with the site or the program itself.  Big Fish Games has proven itself to me in being glitch free and spyware free.

 That’s all I have.  Does anybody else have some suggestions for some good time wasters?

Tax Rebates!

I’m so glad to hear that they’ve passed the tax rebate.  Do I think it will stimulate the economy?  No.  But that’s not why I’m happy.

I’ll admit I’m being very short-sighted when it comes to the tax rebate.  But I’ll be honest in saying that we have two major expenses we need to come up with money for in the next several months, and the tax rebate coupled with our likely tax refund will not only cover these expenses, but leave extra money to put into paying down debt or paying up our emergency fund.

1. I mentioned this before, but we have to put new windows in upstairs.  There are three of them and they are single-paned, screenless, original 1940s windows.  Last summer they were painted permanently shut, but my husband managed to get one to open just as it got too cold to open them.  It was so hot in that room you would immediately sweat as soon as you went upstairs.  A few days ago, during a particularly cold time, I went upstairs to find that the windows had iced over - on the inside.

We pretty much keep this room closed off, but late this summer, this room will become my son’s new bedroom.  As such, we have to make sure the windows work (in case of an emergency as well as for circulation) and that they insulate the room from the cold - and the hot when it becomes unbearable enough to turn on the air conditioning.

We estimate about $200-$300 a window if we install ourselves, but we haven’t begun to price this yet, and the last time we bought a window it was pre-September 11th.  Prices have surely gone up!  We did see an advertisement on TV for windows - bought and installed - starting at $169.  It will be worth looking into, although I’m dubious those windows will be worth it.  I want to make sure we have quality windows if I’m going to pay for them.

2.  The other expense we need to look at is the supercharger in my car.  It’s quickly failing, and it’s costing us in gas mileage. We only use the car when my husband is at work and I have to run to errands or appointments.   I’m not sure what this will cost us.  It still runs and will continue to, but we will pay for the failed supercharger either in a new one or in gas!

Needless to say, this tax rebate is a blessing for us!  I’d love to be able to put the full amount toward debts, but these repairs are necessary, and hopefully we’ll have some left for debt!

Eating Out Way Too Much and Loving It!

Today was Thursday, and so we did what we do most Thursdays - we ate out.

We actually don’t have this in our budget, and it’s okay.  We didn’t spend a dime.

Every Thursday night our good friends have a standing invitation for several couples to come over and enjoy some good cooking, friendship, coffee, and a time to ask everyone else questions they’ve been having - mostly about the Bible.  Many times, couples will bring some food along, but all that does is make sure we have more than one dessert choice!

We spent four hours there tonight, and it was the best time I’ve had in…well, a week! The only thing it cost was the gas to get there (and I meant to bring some cookies, but I forgot them in the kitchen.)

It got me thinking - for us, eating out is often a time for us to socialize with our friends.  After church on Sundays some of the same couples have a tendency to go to a hole-in-the-wall diner with the best buffalo chicken salad I’ve ever had! (Cravings….)  We do it because we want to spend more time together, and because it means when we go home we can go straight to bed for a nap.  I don’t know why Sundays wear me out so much, lol.

But I think I had more fun going over to our friend’s house and eating her chili than the diner on Sunday.  And it was free.  And it got me thinking that if I didn’t have this friend who wanted to cook so people would come over on Thursdays, it would be so easy to get a bunch of friends together on a weekly basis for a pot luck - each of us would cook one part of the meal, or perhaps each week would be someone else’s responsibility.  That way, we get all the benefits of eating out - not having to cook, having a chance to socialize - without the negative aspects - the unhealthy nature of most restaurant foods, and the cost!

Is this something that would work in your life?  Do you have friends who would love to start a dinner co-op?

New Books!

I excited today - I received two new books in the mail!

One is Living More With Less by Doris Janzen Longacre.  One of my desires is to figure out how to live simply.  I’m simply amazed at how much stuff we amass in our house, even when we are trying not to bring new things in the house.  Hopefully this book will contain some good, practical information that will help me streamline our possessions and let someone else have the things we won’t use or don’t like.

The other one is called The Prosperous Peasant by Tim Clark and Mark Cunningham.  I actually won this one over at the Get Rich Slowly blog.  If you haven’t read what J.D. has to say, you ought to take a look.  He gets into many more technical financial issues than I tend to - things like investing and retirement.  Almost always a very interesting read!

I did want to mention that if you like to read, PaperbackSwap is an excellent resource. That is where I got the first book I mentioned today.  It’s really simple, and it’s basically free!

The basics:

1. You register on the site with a valid mailing address and valid email address.

2. When you post 10 books you would be willing to give to someone else, you will get two free credits.  The books must meet certain requirements - they can’t be written in or missing a front cover, they can’t be in poor condition, but “well-read” is okay.  Individual members may require more - for instance, I have a requirement that there not be an obvious cigarette smell on the book since I have asthma and the smell may exacerbate it.

3. When someone else requests one of the books you’ve listed, you package it and ship it to them.  When you ship it, it takes one of the recipient’s credits away and holds it in “stasis” until the recipient gets the book.  When the book arrives, the recipient marks it as received and you get their credit.

4.  If you find a book you want (and it’s pretty easy to find one!) you request it.  One of your credits is taken and held until you get the book, and you then mark it “received” and the sender gets the credit.

5.  Books are always worth one credit.  Audiobooks are worth 2 credits.

6. The book you want isn’t available?  You can “wish list” it.  The site works on a “first-in, first-out” basis - if you are the 27th person in line, then you will wait until the 27th copy is posted to get the book.  It’s really not too long before you get the book, since there are usually multiple copies floating around!

There are a lot of other features on PaperbackSwap, but I don’t want to mention everything here.  I’ve been on PaperbackSwap for 2 years now, and I’ve saved so much money on books I wanted to buy - and because it’s so cheap (the cost of shipping a book out is usually $2.13) I’ve been able to read books I wouldn’t have bought, but may have gotten from the library.

Speaking of the library, it’s also a great resource, obviously!  My previous library was very small, and the other branches were also small.  They didn’t carry many books in the genres I was interested in.  My local library here in Ohio is actually connected to the Cleveland branches.  Not only do they carry many books that pique my interest, but they can order pretty much any books since they are part of a large city system!

Of course, used books and library books save money, but they also save our houses!  Fewer books reside on my shelves now, and more valuable credits exist in my PaperbackSwap account.  Less clutter, more organization!  And though I’m the type that gasps at the thought of throwing away a book, I know there are people that do it.  Perhaps reusing will keep some books from ending up in the landfills!

It’s going to be -2 degrees tomorrow, and I know our temperatures aren’t unique.  This week will be a great week to snuggle up under a blanket and dive into a great book!