Bloom Where You Are Planted

I have been promising these for a long time. Here is a confession: I am not the world's best photographer. I did not even come in second in that competition! And of course, the house is still not done, so it is not staged at all.

Nonetheless, I tried to capture some of the best features and a sense of how the house flows together.

This is the fireplace in the living room. It is between two floor to ceiling windows.



Here is a shot of the living room. See that ladder outside the window? It is the same one as in the shot of the fireplace. The fireplace is just out of range in this shot.




Here is a shot of the front door. We have shifted just a bit to the right from the previous shot. The doorway on the right leads into the kitchen.





And now I've turned 45 degrees, and this is the view from the living room into the pool room.




A shot of the kitchen.



Here is a shot of the sinks and counter in the master bath. This is the same bathroom with the huge oval tub (shared previously) on the raised platform and the walk-in shower for two. The bathroom also features a separate counter with lighted mirror for make-up, his and her water closets, an 80 sq ft walk-in closet, and an area with built in drawers and which could be used for linens or as dressers.



This shot is from the far end of the pool room looking back towards the kitchen. You can see the stairs leading to a room above. There is a bedroom, sitting area, and bathroom tucked away up there.



From the last shot, I did a 180 turn and snapped a shot of the back yard. The field beyond the trees is not part of BF's property.

I have made my scheduled mortgage payment, along with an extra $12.50. I enjoyed a $25 principal payment from Wells Fargo Home Rewards Visa for the second month in a row. My new balance is $170,425.00.

Chips to date: $1,626.26

Interest savings this month: $5.74

Interest savings to date: $63.51

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,555.33, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

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

Here's another overdue entry, nest egg projections based on my end-of-the-year balances.

I take my tax-deferred balance, then compound it at different interest rates until I am age 65, and see how it turns out. If I assume 6k per year of new money, it's OK. If I work until age 67, my Social Security full retirement age, it gets even better.


I'm really hoping to hit 600k, as that will replace about half of my current income. If I do better than 600k, well, I'll just have to find a way to live with that. If I have less than 600k, I will really have to think hard about whether or not I can afford to retire.



And here's the Roth. I intend to use my Roth solely for funding large, irregular expenses. Think new roof or new (to me) car. The idea is to pay for what I need without taking on debt or raiding tax-deferred (thus permanently reducing my monthly income). I had been shooting for 150k. Now that I am nearly 100% certain I want to buy a small condo as my final home, I think 100k will be more than sufficient.

I have been saving 3k annually in my Roth, but for this projection I used 2k for my "current savings rate". Beginning in 2015, that is my contribution plan.



So all in all, I feel that I am in OK shape. Not fantabulous, but OK.

Just for you, Foscavista.

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

My second scheduled car payment has posted. I have updated the spreadsheet on my "My Car Note" page, if you care to take a peek.

This month extra principal payments included $320 from my part-time job, $36.82 from credit card rewards, $15 from a wallet sweep, and $3.25 from Hausernet.

Five payments have now been eliminated from the end, leaving 65 payments to go.

I have made my scheduled mortgage payment, along with an extra $13.59. I enjoyed a $25 principal payment from Wells Fargo Home Rewards Visa. My new balance is $170,750.00.

Chips to date: $1,588.76

Interest savings this month: $5.60

Interest savings to date: $57.77

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,478.65, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Last week, I did a wallet sweep and had $3 to apply to my car loan. A client who usually sends me a holiday card with a crisp $100 inside came through yet again. I applied that $100 to my car loan too.

So, my first scheduled car payment has finally posted. My extra principal payments thus far have eliminated 3 payments from the end. All told, that is 4 down with 68 to go.

I have updated my Car Note Page, if you care to take a peek.

And I had an unexpected surprise. According to my statement, my loan rate is 3.49%. My contract plainly says 3.697%. So I guess the 3.697 quoted includes the $99 fee which was tacked on? That is the only thing I can think of. Not that I am complaining, mind you.

If they want to reduce my rate further, I am OK with that.

I have been enjoying the holiday shots of people's children so much, I thought I would post one from when mine were little. Of course, my pics from this era were not digital, so I had to scan this in. I am afraid I do not have a color scanner. (The kids are dressed in red and white). And of course, it looks like a newspaper photo, which detracts from their cuteness.

But here are my kiddos at Xmas time, 1996. MrsM180 was 6 and J was 1. MrsM180 is making a face because I kept telling her to smile. If I had just let her be, she probably would have smiled beautifully. But I had to keep saying "smile", and she kept trying. J is very suspicious of the entire affair.



I miss the little people days.

If anyone has any tips as to how I could get this looking like a photo, please share!

Update: Still not picture perfect, but so much better! Thank you for the technical help, Starfishy!

Just plodding along with the car loan.

I did a wallet sweep on payday and had $17 to throw at the principal.

I redeemed another $15.15 in rewards from Capital One Quicksilver, and threw that too.

New balance is $15,526.45. Still 17 days away from my first scheduled payment.

I have made my scheduled mortgage payment, along with an extra $14.73. My new balance is $171,075.00.

Chips to date: $1,550.17

Interest savings this month: $5.44

Interest savings to date: $52.17

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,399.23, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

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

(It's just a grading system. I'm actually not unhappy!)




Wells Fargo valued my "new" car at 15.8k on 11/1. I started there, but intend to write it down $300 per month for now.

In my career as a music lover, I have seen the following musical artists in concert:
38 Special
Air Supply
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! 

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

So over the past few weeks, I have been visiting dealerships and taking test drives. I have driven a new Kia Forte, a new Nissan Versa Note, and a new Ford Focus Titanium. I had planned to test drive a Hyundai Elantra too before I made my final decision.

I loved that Titanium. All of the bells and whistles, so pretty, and it rides so nice. The salesman made me a very nice offer too. The MSRP on the car is 26,685 and he quoted me 21,301. It is a good price, but still more than I want to spend. Also, the car has the dual clutch automatic transmission. Ford has been putting those in the Focus and Fiesta cars since 2012, and there are a lot of complaints and lawsuits over that transmission. Of course, some people have no trouble with them whatsoever. I prefer to just buy one with a manual transmission in the first place and avoid the whole issue. There are no Focus cars with a manual transmission and the other features I want sitting on a lot anywhere in my area. If I have one special ordered, I will not have much bargaining power to negotiate a better price. Paying 26k is completely out of the question.

Last night I was browsing CarMax's website, and I found a 2013 Focus SE with a manual transmission, the navigation, heated front seats, and moon roof which I crave, in my preferred color (dark grey) with only 18k miles. The "no haggle" price is 14,998. This price is much more what I had in mind. The car is close enough to new that it should provide reliable transportation for many years to come. I have already called and they have placed the car on a 7 day hold. I plan to go see it over the weekend, and if it is as advertised, I intend to buy it.

As you might guess, J is thrilled with this news.

I have applied for a used car loan from Wells Fargo, and I can get 3.69% on a 6 year loan. I like the rate, and I want my minimum monthly payments as low as I can get them. I do not intend to take the entire 6 years to pay off the car.

I still have full coverage on the Accord. My car insurance premium went from about $90 per month to about $140 per month when I added J as a secondary driver. (This is with the pay-in-full-up-front discount). It will double when I add another car and J becomes a primary driver. I will have to cover this myself until J graduates, gets a job, and takes over his share of the insurance. OUCH!

Today is payday, so my scheduled savings transfers are happening any minute now.

I have made another $20 from a payday loan. The co-worker keeps insisting, so I take it. I have been trying to talk her into opening a savings account for YEARS now, but so far she has not. I have been regularly giving her loans "until payday" for about 6 months now. She always pays me on payday, but a week later asks for another loan. Most recently, I loaned her $160.

I just redeemed $62.36 in rewards from Capital One Quicksilver. I charged the cruise tickets, so that is why it was more than usual. (Even though my mother is paying for our cruise, I charged the tickets to earn rewards points. She has already reimbursed me, and I have already sent the payment off to Capital One).

Previous Car Fund Balance: 1,388.80
Budgeted monthly deposit: 170.00
Payday loan: 20.00
CC rewards: 62.36
New Car Fund Fund Balance: 1,641.16

And credit card rewards are up to $996.33 for the year! Yes, I will definitely make 1k in rewards this year.

Last update balance: 1,124.87

Recent activity:

September interest .68
proceeds from payday loan 20.00
Hausernet decoy mail 3.25
part-time job 240.00

New total: 1,388.80


Going to see a play with a girlfriend tomorrow night, "Spank, The Musical". We will probably have dinner too. This is a girlfriend I don't see often. She had her kids later in life. They are 7 and 3 now, so she doesn't get out much.

Last weekend, I went to see Spam-a-lot with J, two of his friends, and BF. It was a community theatre production in Roseville. The boys all loved it. I try to make play-goers out of people whenever possible!

The weekend before that, I took off both Friday and Monday. One of my dearest friends from childhood was in town for his niece's wedding. He stayed at my house. Between his family activities, we got to spend some fun time together. It had been 9 years since we had last seen each other in person.

That's about it.

My mortgage payment has posted, and I have paid an additional $16.87 to round the balance down to $171,700.00.

Chips to date: $1,494.69

Interest savings this month: $5.20

Interest savings to date: $41.36

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,284.23, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

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

Lately I have been mulling over the idea of buying my final home with a reverse mortgage. Or, if I buy before age 62, buy it traditionally and plan to owe about half of the value at age 62, and take the RM at that point.

I am thinking this way because I want to retire with no mortgage payments. The best way to accomplish this is to own a home free and clear. At this point, that is looking unlikely, unless I opt for a 1 bedroom apartment style condo. Such a home is not without its benefits, but of course has some drawbacks too. If I opt instead for a small single family home with a garage, it is looking as though I will not be able to own it free and clear by age 62.

So, I am keeping this idea on the back burner.

Well, we booked our cruise yesterday. We don't leave for nearly 4 months. That's OK, because the anticipation is part of the fun.

Recent car fund activity includes my budgeted transfer for September ($170), payment from part-time job for August ($200), Capital One Quicksilver credit card rewards ($14.56), and interest ($.44). Car Fund's new blance is $1,124.87.

My mortgage payment has posted, and I have paid an additional $17.90 to round the balance down to $172,000.00.

Chips to date: $1,477.82

Interest savings this month: $5.13

Interest savings to date: $36.16

Eventually, the interest savings on the chips I have already made will compound to $3,248.99, provided I own this house until the mortgage is paid in full.

Today is MrsM180's birthday! She and her dh spent last night at their new place, but will be by this evening for birthday cake.