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Archive for November, 2014

Just For Fun: The Ghosts of Concerts Past

November 25th, 2014 at 09:19 pm

In my career as a music lover, I have seen the following musical artists in concert:
38 Special
Ambrosia
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Boney James (jazz)
Bonnie Raitt (surprise appearance in Jackson's set)
Brian Setzer & His Rockabilly Riot
Cheap Trick
David Cassidy
Eddie Money
Fleetwood Mac
Foghat
Foreigner
George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Honeymoon Suite
Hootie & The Blowfish (2 times)
Jackson Browne (front row once, 2 times total)
James Taylor
Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band
Journey (3 times)
Kansas
Kool & The Gang
Little River Band
Loverboy
N'Sync (took MrsM180 when she was a 'tween)
Night Ranger
Pat Benatar
REO Speedwagon
Rick Springfield
Styx (2 times)
The B-52s
The Doobie Brothers
The Eagles (2 times)
The Outfield
The Zac Brown Band
Three Dog Night
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (front row)
Some of these cost me dearly; others were very inexpensive (like free with fair entrance). I'll have to keep thinking, I might be missing some. I've seen plenty of other local artists, who have never charted but nonetheless put on a great show. How about you? Who have you seen? Spill it! 

Discover Bank Offer

November 25th, 2014 at 06:01 pm

A few days ago, I received an offer from Discover. Open an online checking account, receive a $50 bonus. Um, yeah, OK. Come to think of it, I would like a free $50. So, I funded that today ($25) and will wait patiently until January for my free $50. It is going to look just smashing when I apply it to my car loan.

My mom came down with a bad cold, so we did not go car shopping or Bingo playing after all. Perhaps the weekend after this coming one.

I love a good concert. I was super excited when one of my all time favorites released a new album last month. I was hoping that meant a concert tour was soon to follow. And, it did mean that! I bought my tickets Saturday to see Bob Seger in March. Can't hardly wait. Smile Treated myself to the new CD too.

I pulled out my most recent paystub to see what I will gross this year. It looks like $54,111.47. My aim is to stash 15% of that in retirement accounts somehow, which means $8,116.72. By the end of the year, I will have contributed 3k each to both my Roth and Simple IRAs. Another $1533 was contributed by my employers to my Simple. That leaves $583.72 to go. Round it up a bit just for giggles, and I intend to contribute $700 to my traditional IRA before the year is out.

Car Fund Update; BF House Situation Update

November 21st, 2014 at 09:19 pm

I received a refund of $19 from CarMax for my car tags; I have applied it to my car loan. The balance is now $15,558.60.

My mother has been wanting to go play Bingo. I have found a Bingo hall we are going to try tomorrow. It is $25 per person to play. Afterwards, she wants to go look at cars. She has a full sized truck which was my step-father's (he is now deceased). It is very nice and has low miles. But she has been thinking she wants a small car with good gas mileage. So, tomorrow will be a convenient time to take her to look. I think she will ultimately decide the price of the car would pay for a lot of gas, but we will go look anyway. Smile

Here is an update on BF's house. It is still not listed, but he has decided to take a bridge loan to pay the contractor in full to this point. When I heard this, I piped up to say I would like to be repaid in full at the same time. He agreed. The loan should fund within the next two weeks.

Originally, I lent him 6k from E Fund. Later, I lent him an additional 1.7k from CurveBall. Since making that first loan, I have repaid E Fund 4.5k. This is my plan for the repayment:

1.5k E Fund
.5k Mini E Fund
1.7k CurveBall Fund
4k car loan

I am excited to be repaid. I don't really like mingling finances. I'm glad I could help him avoid disaster, but I am ready to be "unmingled". And frankly, I like my money in my accounts rather than someone else's. Smile

And you know, I don't think I have ever gotten around to posting more pictures of BF's house. The remodeling project grew bigger and bigger, and is still not entirely done. I happen to have this pic on my phone, so I will share it. This is the bathtub in the master bathroom.



It has tiny bubble jets all around the tub, towards the bottom. The tiny garden outside the window is walled in, so the bathtub (and anyone sitting in it!) cannot be viewed from outside. Just to the right is a large shower, room for a crowd in there, with the main shower heads on opposite walls, and 6 body spray jets under one of the shower heads. The only trouble is, you just don't want to ever get out. Smile

Payceck Replacement

November 17th, 2014 at 06:44 pm

Well, I managed to get my replacement paycheck in the bank this morning without losing it. Yay me! My boss had a good laugh at my expense, so at least something positive came from it, I guess?

I had $10 left in my wallet from last payday, and a $160 paycheck from my part-time job. That is another $170 towards my car loan.

I will wait until tomorrow to give my paycheck time to clear, and then I will make an additional principal payment of $248.65. That is the amount of my monthly car payment, and one is not due this month. However, I may as well get used to it. After I make that transfer, my principal balance will be $15,577.60.

Lost My Paycheck

November 15th, 2014 at 07:20 pm

I lost my paycheck yesterday. My boss handed it to me about 10:30am as he was leaving for the day. (This was the senior partner. The junior partner normally does this task, but he was on vacation last week).

As usual, I separated the check from the stub, placed the stub in an envelope, which I keep in a file in my desk drawer, entered the amount of the paycheck into my check register, inserted the check into my checkbook, and put the checkbook into my purse.

At lunch time, I went to a CVS to get a passport photo picture taken, went to my allergy doctor for my shot, while there I paid my bill and made my annual appointment at the receptionist's desk, then bought lunch at a nearby Panda Express. At each of those three stops I was in and out of my purse.

Later in the afternoon, when I was doing client banking, I intended to deposit my paycheck while I was there, and discovered that it was gone. Bleah!!

I called all three places, but no one had turned in my lost paycheck.

So on Monday, I get to tell the junior partner what I have managed to do.

Phone Woes

November 13th, 2014 at 05:44 pm

J's phone has been acting up. Last night, it stopped working all together. Perhaps it will magically begin working again, who knows? I ordered him a new one. The phone was $149. I went ahead and bought him a car charger too for another $18 (was $20, but I Googled and found a 10% off accessories code). With shipping, it is setting me back $187.65.

I browsed both Ting and Republic Wireless plans. RW is still the better choice for him, even though the $19 per month plan we had is no longer available. Because I am ordering a new phone, I have to choose from the plans currently being offered. We went with the unlimited for $25 per month.

My ex-husband has retired from the sheriff's department. Because he is retired, his share of cost for medical insurance has changed. Our divorce decree stipulates that he is responsible for providing J's medical insurance. The cost for J has risen to approximately $800 per month. We looked into adding J to my plan, and I can add him for just under $400 per month. Of course, that is what ex wants to do. So, we have submitted the paperwork. I will have the cost deducted from my paycheck, and ex will reimburse me. I hope he will regularly reimburse me promptly, but history suggests otherwise.

I wish we could insert spreadsheets into our blogs. I had posted my amortization schedule for my car note into a "page", but the spaces are eliminated and all of the numbers run together. I figured out how to insert an image into a "page". It took three images to show the entire schedule, but at least it is legible. (You load the images to a draft of a blog entry, then just never publish it. You can paste the image number into your "page", and voila, Bob's your uncle).

I received $3.75 from HauserNet, and so made my first tiny extra principal payment to my car loan.

No Thanks, Wells Fargo

November 7th, 2014 at 06:20 pm

My car loan is finally showing up when I log on to Wells Fargo's site. And, I noticed that my balance was 16,099.00. I knew that I would be charged a $99 loan fee, but I was expecting it to be deducted from my checking account. Nope, it got added to my loan balance.

According to my trusty spreadsheet, if I were just paying as scheduled, I would make 72 payments and then still have a balance due of $124.05! Can you imagine? You make the payments you are supposed to make, think you are done, but no, you still owe more money. No thanks, Wells Fargo. I made an immediate transfer of $99 (just love having my checking account, mortgage, and car loan all at the same bank) and we are right back to 16k even.

Introducing My New Car

November 6th, 2014 at 02:41 am

Well, I bought the car. With sales tax and registration, it came to $16,493.71. I borrowed 16k from Wells Fargo and coughed up the 493.71. The balance of car fund is going towards car insurance.

Here it is:



J is so happy to have his own wheels. I am glad he gets to enjoy the rest of his senior year with his own car. He has named the Accord "Rose", since I bought the Focus in Roseville, and that event triggered the Accord coming into his possession.

I added a page showing the amortization of my car note as scheduled. I will edit and update it as payments are made. The first payment is not due until Dec 20th. I will make a full payment on Nov 20th anyway, which will give me a nice start. All extra bits of money will now go towards the car loan.

I keep checking every day to see if the loan appears when I log in to Wells Fargo's site. So far, it does not.

Where will the car payment money come from? I'm so glad you asked. The car payment is $248.65. I had been budgeting $170 for Car Fund which will now go towards the payment. Additionally, I have trimmed $50 each from budgeted E Fund and CurveBall Fund deposits.

I'm trying really hard to come in under budget on groceries, miscellaneous, and discretionary spending. After everything is paid for the month, if I have more than $500 in checking, I will sweep it to CurveBall.

Mortgage Chips To Date

November 4th, 2014 at 04:53 pm

My mortgage payment has posted. I received a $25 credit from Wells Fargo Home Rewards and I have paid an additional $15.75. My new balance is $171,375.00.

Chips to date: $1,535.44

Interest savings this month: $5.37

Interest savings to date: $46.73

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,368.88, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Still small, but slowly building momentum. Smile

Net Worth 10-31-14

November 4th, 2014 at 04:52 pm

Cash is up. Smile
Debt is down. Smile
Investments are up. Smile
Home value estimate is up. Smile