Bloom Where You Are Planted

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



What is that? Is that a new low for my home value? Yes, I believe that is what we are seeing.

Millions of adoring fans e-mailed me asking how I liked my Ting service. (OK, Ruthie asked today in a comment.) But she is right, I should give some feedback. I heard about Ting right here at Saving Advice, on someone's blog.

I switched to Ting on June 19th, just over 1 month ago. So far, the service is absolutely fine. No dropped calls, no problems getting service out of my area, and that includes Honolulu and Kona.

With Ting, you choose a package size for your minutes, your texts, and your data. You pay $6 per phone line per month.

I have 3 phones, and we chose 1000 minutes, 1000 texts, and no data.

My first bill was $29.95. It should have been more, but they only charged me for 1 line instead of 3. I called and asked, and I was told I would be charged the next month.

When I called, a real live person answered. I don't mean they eventually answered after I navigated a menu tree, either. I was stunned.

My second bill was $49.27. This included the missing $12 charge from the first month, two $1 charges for directory assistance (in Hawaii), and a credit for $9. We didn't use all of our minutes the first month, we used only 456 minutes. The next smaller package from the one I chose is 500 minutes. I suspect if I had gone over 500 minutes, I would not have received any credit. There are no rollover minutes.

I expect from now on, my bill will be right at $44 per month. Unless I keep getting those $9 credits, that is.

Anytime you wish, you can go to Ting's website and view your dashboard, which shows you clearly how many minutes, texts, and megabytes you have used, and how many days until your next bill.

You may change any of your packages whenever you like. The changes will not take effect until your next bill.

And they have finally added another flip phone. (So people won't have to troll for a used one in Ting's forums like I did.)

So yes, I am very pleased with my new cell phone service provider. I would recommend Ting to anyone trying to trim the cost of their cell bill.

I emailed Wells Fargo's customer service yesterday about my escrow account, asking for an analysis. I received a reply today that there is $854.09 too much in there and I will be receiving a check in a week or two. When that comes, I will go ahead and send it on to my Chase Freedom Visa. So it looks like no further balance transfer checks nor dips into CurveBall will be necessary. Yay! Now I have to tackle that Citi MC.

I did my secret shop this morning, and have another one scheduled tonight. The one tonight pays $10 plus reimburses me if I have to buy the product. (I may not need to, that is the point of this particular shop. They want to know if the store is selling popular items before the actual release date.)

My garage door has decided to stop opening. I suspect it needs a new spring. I have scheduled a repair person for Friday afternoon.

I have a situation in my hall bathroom. Someone installed the tub/shower combo incorrectly, and water was leaking into the wall. The gap has now been sealed, but I am suspicious about what may be lurking in the wall. I am going to have someone who knows what they are doing come and take a look. I hope there is no expensive repair required, but if there is, then there is. I don't think it is wise to put off a repair of that sort if it is warranted. I'm not sure how I will fund it, but first I need to find out if there is damage or not.

The battery in my car key remote has died. I have had my car 7 years now, so that is reasonable I suppose. I can lock the car just fine by, gasp, inserting the key and turning my wrist. However, I can't set the alarm. I'm not certain how much that will set me back.

So now you know everything.

On Friday, I did not leave work until 4pm, even though we closed at noon. I continue to fight an uphill battle trying to keep everything caught up.

Friday was payday, so I did a wallet sweep. I had $9 in bills plus coins to deposit, but the line was so long I just deposited the bills at the ATM and saved the coins for another time. This wallet sweep went to Mini E-Fund.

My paycheck was for only 10 days for the second time in a row! The next one will be for 12, but I still lose one day on the deal. My net pay went down exactly $20 as I expected, due to bumping up my Simple IRA contribution by $25.

Yesterday I drove up to camp to pick up J. The camp is located a bit more than 3 hours away. It was his third year and he had another fabulous time. By the time he shows me around and I chat with counselors, a few hours slip by. So picking him up is an all day event.

Today I sat down to pay bills and make transfers. It felt great to transfer $359 to CurveBall. It did not feel so great to write a big check to Chase Freedom. I paid most of the balance, but wrote a balance transfer check from Citi MC for $433. They are no longer offering me 0%, but did offer me 1.99%. I could have looked for another 0% offer from someone else, but I don't want to have a balance here, there, and everywhere. I also have to pay a 3% balance transfer fee. Mathematically, it would have made more sense to skip the CurveBall transfer and just squeeze out another $433. However, my savings is already below my comfort zone, so I didn't do that.

When I get my August statement, I will be facing the same choice. Not all of my vacation charges had posted before the statement cut off and I do not pay charges which are not yet on the statement.

My car insurance is due 8/5. I will charge it just before it is due, then that charge will show up on September's statement. Car insurance money will be coming from CurveBall.

I also received my last AT & T wireless bill! I was expecting it to be for $114, early termination fee on J's contract. It was for $122, which was a $110 early termination fee plus $12 in "taxes". It will automatically bill my credit card at the end of the month, and that is it, all done.

My car registration was due this month to the tune of $138. I did not pull from CurveBall for this, it fits neatly inside "Everything Else". I just have to watch my Everything Else spending this month, since there isn't much left.

So lots of money out. What about money in?

When my new mortgage closed, I expected a new escrow account would fund and my old escrow account would be returned to me. Instead, the new escrow money went into the old escrow account. A few days after closing, they transferred my old escrow account into my new one. It now has way too much money. I expect they will refund about 1k.

No payment from daughter and son-in-law yet.

Ex-h will reimburse half of J's camp ($242.50) at some point.

I need to decide if I am going to pursue recovering half of the cost of my new fence ($630) from my neighbor or not. Even though by law she should share the cost, I know it will make her angry and she will likely try to cause more problems. I'm not sure it is worth it.

I signed up for a secret shop this morning. I don't do them often but this one is for a business just 2 blocks from my office. It is a fast food restaurant. I will have to spend my own money, but will be reimbursed plus paid $5. It is an easy shop.

I should spend the rest of my day doing chores around the house. We'll see if that happens or not.

Well, it's not my best month, but here it is:



My comments:

Wages - Had a 10 day pay period.

Utilities - This includes the cost of J's and my new Ting cell phones. It also includes a month of Ting's service on top of a month of AT & T's service. With AT & T, you pay after you have received service. With Ting, you pay before. I am still expecting an early termination fee of $114, but I haven't been billed for that yet.

Groceries - Not as great as it seems, since we were gone for the last week. We purchased groceries on vacation too, but I threw that in with other vacation expenses.

Visa allowance - I picked up a few clothing items for J and for myself. I did not count these under vacation.

Everything Else - Wowza. This includes $485 for J's summer camp, $101 for the dentist, an oil change, and $3745 on vacation. This number includes the $800 cash I withdrew from Vacation Fund before we left.

The biggest single expense in there was a decision I made after arriving. One of the main things J and I really wanted to do was to go on a Lost tour. We are fans of the show, it was filmed mostly on Oahu, and you can take a tour of many of their shoot sites. Well, since we arrived in Oahu around noon on one day, planned to see Pearl Harbor the next, and were flying on to the big island at noon on the third day, there just wasn't going to be time. This was a huge mistake on my part, I should have had the agent book us one more day on Oahu and one day less on the big island to start with. But, I didn't. So on the day we arrived, I made the decision to change our accommodations and take the 8 hour Lost tour. Between the tour, changing air tickets, and paying for another night at the hotel at the regular rate (the package rate didn't apply), it was expensive. I regret the extra expense I caused myself by not planning better, but I don't regret that tour; it was fabulous. I think I would have really regretted going to Hawaii and not taking that tour.

The second biggest expense in there was scuba diving. My cousin's family was going, and J really wanted to do it too. I was a little hesitant for him to go, so I asked BF to go along and I treated him. That was only right as BF had not planned to scuba dive. I felt reassured to know BF would be J's diving partner and would be keeping a close eye on him. There are instructors diving too, of course, who also monitor everyone. So the scuba diving for two set me back $500.

Even though some of my vacation spending did not post until July, I have included it all in June. I thought it made sense to have it grouped together.

So, there you have it.

Well, I've been home for a few days. We had fun, but did more activities and less lounging about than I would have liked. I worked Thursday and Friday, took it easy Saturday, drove son to camp Sunday.

What can I say about the trip? We had a great time, and I spent too much money. My camera was in BF's jacket pocket, and he left his jacket in my cousin's dining room! So I did take pictures, just not with my camera. I have to wait for others to share with me. It is so frustrating!

We did a lot of snorkeling. We went ziplining and scuba diving. We went to Pearl Harbor. We did the 8 hour "Lost" tour. We went to a luau. And, I had a delicious mango margarita at a Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

Hawaii certainly is beautiful. Our condo rentals on the big island were very luxurious. Our hotel rooms in Honolulu were right on Waikiki beach. My son had the time of his life. We made a lot of wonderful family memories. I'm so glad my mom went.

I have been waiting for one more vacation expense to post. We had a limo service bus pick us up from my cousin's house and take us to the airport. She paid. When we returned home, the same service met us at the airport and took us back to cousin's house. I was supposed to pay. However, they have never charged me. I suspect that they charged cousin's credit card again. I called the limo service today and they are looking into it. Once that posts, I will have my final tally.

My remaining vacation fund balance will not cover my Visa bill; not even close. I think I will be doing a balance transfer to Citi MC and limping along with credit card debt a while longer. I will divert my vacation savings deposit towards credit card debt until it is paid in full.

Today, BF listed a piece of property his mother owned with an agent. (Not the house, 40 some acres of timberland.) I hope it sells quickly, I want my 6k back!

My new mortgage did fund right on schedule.

I actually took the time to note my net worth figures on 6/30/12, while I was on vacation in Hawaii!

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

I activated the two phones I purchased new from Ting this evening. UPS says my package is arriving tomorrow. So assuming the seller didn't just send me a box of rocks, I should be able to activate that one tomorrow. My new monthly cell bill will be $41 plus taxes. Buh-bye, AT & T!

Here is my new monthly budget starting in July (except that in July I will pay off Citi MC and pay for Ting phones and breaking contract with AT & T, since no mortgage payment is due).




Isn't this a nice change? Look at that new monthly deposit to savings number! This is much, MUCH better.

Other changes:

*smaller take home pay, since I will be bumping up my Simple IRA contributions by $50 per month. I estimate this will cost me $40 in take home pay.

*new lower mortgage payment

*new lower utilities budget, which I totally think I can do!

*gym membership is gone for now. I am walking the trail near my house and using Wii Fit instead.

*monthly Roth contribution is going up.

I am so tickled about these changes. I am looking forward to updating my sidebar under "Debts". That's how you know for certain that I am a nerd.

Well, I was able to purchase a flip phone for my mom used, from another Ting customer. He made a small profit at my expense, but I am still ahead, so I am OK with that. The phone shipped today and should be in my hot little hands in the next day or two.

I was a bit nervous about the transaction, because what if the other party stiffed me? But he forwarded his confirmation email from Ting from when he purchased the phone, so I knew that he had one a few weeks ago. That made me feel better. He emailed me Saturday that he had received the cashier's check I mailed him, and that he would ship the phone today. I checked with UPS and he did ship me a package this afternoon. So I guess my gamble has paid off.

Tonight I need to charge the phones I bought for J and myself, then make sure I have a good list of all my contact phone numbers. I don't know if I can simply transfer the data or not. But I don't have a whole lot of numbers in my phone, so if I have to key them in again, its no big deal.

I am anxious now to get my service switched over and start enjoying my new much lower cell bill.

Yesterday I bought myself a big floppy hat and some water shoes, as well as a couple of brightly colored shirts. I picked up a few things for J as well. I paid for them with gift cards I got for free as a credit card sign up bonus. I just love credit card rewards!

Tonight I plan to swing by Target and pick up some snorkeling gear. It will be cheaper to buy our own than to rent by the hour. Maybe I will try to sell it as we are leaving. I surely don't have much use for it at home.

I transferred $800 from vacation fund to checking, which I will withdraw over the next few days. I will try to spend no more than that, so that the rest of the money in Vacation Fund will be the start of our next vacation. But if I go over, then I do. Some of the activities are expensive. I try to choose wisely, but can't say no to everything. If I did that, we might as well just stay home.

I pulled $485 from CurveBall for J's camp. I had put it on my Visa and it was time to pay up. Ex-h says he will pay half but it will be over the next few months. Whatever.

My brother had 2 new grandbabies on the same day last week. The babies are cousins. One of my nieces had a c-section scheduled, her sister went into early labor the same day. The babies were born in the same hospital, too. We have some sweet pictures of them all swaddled and lying next to each other. Both babies are perfectly healthy. That makes an even dozen grandbabies for my brother! And 15 great nieces and nephews for me. If I never have a grandchild of my own to spoil, I will spoil the greats instead.

Still waiting for Ting to have a flip phone available.

J's phone arrived yesterday. I looked it over, and you know, I think it will be just fine for me. So I ordered one for myself.

I went to AT & T's website, and apparently I can switch my Mom to a prepaid plan using the same phone she has now. So that is what I am going to do in the meanwhile. Hopefully, Ting will come through with a flip phone soon.

I have AT & T for internet too. It is so slow, and I pay $48 some months and $58 other months. It is supposed to be high speed, but that is a laugh. I did a test, and I download at a rate of less than 1 mbps! Comcast is available in my area. I can get service with a speed of up to 20 mbps for $33 per month plus taxes, no contract. So a little less than I pay now and faster internet. Sign me up.

Went to my notary appointment on Friday. The docs are signed, notarized, and shipped via Fedex. I won't close until June 29, but that's fine.

On Sunday, BF and I were doing some yard work, and he said to me "I have an idea. Why don't we use these rocks to make pavers?" What a good idea! I want some pavers, I don't want the rocks, and I want to spend as little as possible. All I need is cement mix and a form.

My daughter and son-in-law got their keys today. BF will be helping them move tomorrow while I am at work.

Work is so hectic right now. The other staff accountant is on vacation, so I am covering for her. We have hired a just-graduated-from-high-school girl to be our fill-in receptionist. She was off today, so I covered for her too. She will be there tomorrow though. In two weeks, the other staff accountant will be book at work and I will be off on my vacation! Can't hardly wait.

I called Ting's customer service line today. They don't know when the flip phone will be available. The man I spoke said it could be today, or it could be a few weeks. Apparently, they are having supply issues.

Based on that, I went ahead today and ordered the Kyocera Brio phone they have available now for my son. I haven't ordered any service, just the phone. The price was $70.00 plus tax, free shipping. It has a QWERTY keyboard for texting, and I didn't want to risk them running out of that by the time they get the flip phone in stock.

I decided to just get a simple flip phone for myself as well as for my mother. The Brio doesn't close, it's kind of like a Blackberry. I don't think it would do well in my purse. And truthfully, I will be just as happy with the simple phone.

So I will just keep checking their site each day for the flip phone. As soon as they have it, I will order two of them and sign up for service.

My sign-at-home mortgage docs arrived yesterday.

My new principal balance is $180,415.20. My new PITI payment is $1081.62.

Why the difference? Well, despite telling me they would transfer my existing impound account, they have added the funds for a new impound account to my balance. This means I will not have to make an additional deposit in a few months. It also means I will receive a refund from my existing impound account. The balance in the account is $1036.15.

If I look at my current principal balance, it is $178,617.49. The interest which will accrue in June will be $781.46. The new impound account is being funded with $1,243.47. Those three numbers add to $180,642.42, which is $227.22 less than the principal balance of my new mortgage. So, there really are no fees with this streamline refinance.

My AT&T contract is now up (on 2 of our 3 phones), so I went to Ting's website last night, intending to sign up. They have eliminated the simple flip phone! I did find a thread in their forums stating they have replaced the one they offered (a Vero) with a different simple flip phone (a Samsung m370). However, it does not appear on the screen as a choice. So I'm trying to find out what the deal is with that. My mother will not use a phone with a million buttons. She just wants something simple with large buttons.

I'm not too displeased with how I did in May. The huge overage in "Everything Else" is due to paying for vacation (planned and saved for), paying for son's summer camp (planned and saved for), and lending $500 to daughter and son-in-law (unplanned). If not for those, I would be under $200. What is left is the dentist and medical co-pays.

But I've been slipping in groceries. I've been a little too willing to pick up convenience foods at the grocery store, and even take n bake pizza at Papa Murphy's. And it shows. So, I've got to knock that off and stay under $450.

Well, my Simple IRA money ($2,215.35) did not make it in time to show up on this net worth statement.

My cash is down due to paying for our Hawaii trip.

Investments are down due to market movements.

House value is down.

Car value is up. This continues to surprise me. I've done much better on the car I purchased new than the foreclosed house I purchased at a steep discount! Lol, who'd have ever suspected such a thing could be true?

Debt is down, but will soon jump up a little.

All in all, my net worth is sagging. It is frustrating, but ups and downs are to be expected. I am looking forward to my refi being done, switching my cell plan from AT & T to Ting, and switching my gym membership. Between the 3, I will be able to make nice increases to my monthly savings deposits.

My boss gave me checks for last year's matching and this year's contributions; I mailed them off yesterday. I hope they will hit my account before my next net worth statement, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Either way, the money will be invested soon.

My daughter called over the weekend and said they don't have enough cash to drive out here, rent the house, and get settled, so can they just stay with me for a month? I asked how much she was short. Basically, another $500 would make it work. I had a better idea. I sent a $500 cashier's check to the property manager yesterday, towards their deposit. I raided Mini E-Fund (Piddly Fund re-christened) for most of it. Daughter and son-in-law are to repay me $250 July 1 and $250 August 1. They are finishing packing today and will hit the road early tomorrow. They should be here on Saturday.

I have nothing else to report. My life is kind of boring. :P

I was just looking over my bill book and I see that I have paid everything this month except for Citi MC. (That bill barely makes it before the 30th!) I looked in my checking account and saw that I had $783.76. A balance like that makes me feel rich. Feeling rich leads to spending splurges.

I don't like my balance to get too low, but I don't need that much sitting there. So I transferred $50.00 to the old E fund, and $83.76 to CurveBall. That leaves me $650 and 1 bill to pay with 8 days of May to go.

(I like some "slush" in checking because the first of the month is much tighter than the middle of the month for me. If I actually spent that entire $650 during May, I'd be in trouble.)

I saw this today. It made me chuckle, so I thought I would share.

I received my good faith estimate and some other documents. In 2-3 weeks, I should receive the loan docs in the mail. I need to sign and have them notarized (will make appt for this at the local WF branch), then send them back. I am supposed to close June 30th! They are adding on June's interest to my balance and I skip a payment in July. They will transfer my existing escrow account, so I will be short one monthly deposit (from skipping in July). They will do an analysis a month or so after closing, and I will need to send some money.

My new PITI is $1077.92.

My daughter found a house to rent in a small town about a 30 minute drive from here. Her father met with the realtor today to view it (he is a deputy, and is currently assigned nearby). He said the carpet is a bit worn, but otherwise it is a-ok. New appliances and linoleum, and clean. The realtor emailed the lease to her today, she will overnight it with the deposit, and they will hold the house for her until June 15. She should be moved in before then. Yay! They will stay with me for a day or two after they arrive from Indiana, but then will be moving into their rented house.

I did a wallet sweep today, and sent the proceeds ($4.62) off to CurveBall.

I found this blog recently, and am fascinated. This family of 4 lives on one part-time income. They paid 13k cash for their fixer-upper house in a very rural area.

This morning, I discovered that Admiral shares are not available in Simple IRAs! Hmmmmph. So I am just sticking with the Target Retirement fund. Oh well, it isn't as if the TR fund is expensive. At .21, it is one-fifth the cost of the American Funds TR I had at Edward Jones. And of course, I have escaped that nasty front-end load. All in all, still very pleased to have moved my Simple to my beloved Vanguard. Now to get my contributions (via payroll deduction) flowing into my new Simple regularly. My boss still has not cut a check to Vanguard. I didn't want to have to ask, but here we are. I know he does payables on or near the 15th. I am all set up, so I want my contributions deposited promptly.

Remember when I cancelled my land line a few months back? Remember my saying I must have overpaid my last bill because AT& T sent me a check for $.05? Well, I have receieved another check marked "overpayment refund", this time for $3.99. I'm not complaining, but I really don't know how that is possible. I have added it to CurveBall.

I received an email from Vanguard today, they have received my Simple IRA money! The email states the funds will appear in my account balance tomorrow.

I spoke with my mortgage consultant today. She said my loan will fund June 30th and my first payment will be due August 1st. My loan balance should go up ONLY by the interest accrued in June. Of course, I could just pay it and not skip a payment in July. However, I believe I would rather use the money to pay off Citi MC and the start up costs to switch to Ting (cell phone service). This will improve my cash flow by $150 per month.

Dare I say it? Things are looking up over here.

My daughter texted me yesterday, the apartment complex has denied them. She has an eviction with money still owed from almost 3 years ago. She signed a 6 month lease, lived in the apartment for a month or so, then moved. She was shocked when they expected her to pay anyway, even though I had told her that was how it worked. She was barely 18. I might have done the same at that age.

So she was upset and says she doesn't know what they will do. A medical bill has drained their savings account, she says. I told her try to find a rental offered by a private party, not a property managment company. Even though they have bad credit, they have guaranteed income from the Army. If they look hard enough, they should be able to find a landlord who finds that attractive. I don't know what else to tell her. I don't want them moving in with me again, it never goes well. Also, I feel adults need to do what they can to make their own way, not do nothing and then wait to be rescued.

I haven't had a return call from the WF mortgage consultant who sent me that letter, so I e-mailed the woman who was doing my Harp 2 and asked her about it. This is part of her reply:

Yes, I just checked and your loan is now eligible for the 3 Step. I will have to cancel the loan we started and we can make the 3 Step no cost, live tomorrow.

Yay! Yay, yay, YAY!

She called me just now, too. My Harp 2 is being cancelled today, will be "dead" tomorrow, and we will open my 3 Step.

So I'm going from 5.25 to 4.125 with no closing costs, and a new 30 year loan.

I'm just going to stick with her, since she gets back to me and certain other people do not.

Today in the mail I received an offer from my lender (Wells Fargo) to do a streamline re-finance. It states the terms are based on my LTV of 147%. It says no application fee, no appraisal and no closing costs (no kidding). The rate is 4.125.

It was mailed to me by the same guy who did my loan last time, but who didn't return any of my phone calls when I was trying to find out more info about Harp 2.

The Harp 2 refi I have going on right now with Wells Fargo does have closing costs and the rate is 4.375.

Why didn't they mention this program before? The streamline refi is a much, much better deal! I am calling tomorrow.

Well, my new Simple at Vanguard is still sitting there with $0.00. Edward Jones has sold my mutual fund shares, and I have nothing but cash sitting in my Simple there. I am impatient for them to transfer the funds! So far in 2012, I have contributed $600 to my Simple, but that money hasn't been sent. I think my boss will write the check when he does payables on the 15th. I sure hope so! He will write the check to Vanguard, then give it to me. I will need to log on to Vanguard's small business site and print a deposit coupon, then send that in the mail with the check. Hopefully, he will do my 2011 matching at the same time. (They ended up filing an extension, effectively extending the deadline for 2011 contributions, since the Simple issue was still up in the air on April 15th). I'm just impatient for it all to be DONE already.

Over at the Boglehead's Forum, they suggested I use admiral shares of total stock market in my Simple, then adjust my holdings in my traditional IRA to compensate. What a smart idea! This will effectively reduce my costs even more. I view my traditional and Simple as one pot of money anyway, so that will work just fine. They suggested the same for my Roth, but I'm not going to do that. In my mind, my Roth has a different purpose, so should be invested for that purpose and allocated separately.

I charged the balance due to the travel agent for Hawaii, then transferred the money (before the bill came). With my refi in the works, I didn't want a 4k Visa bill showing up on my credit report (I assume they will check it again before closing). So airfare, hotel, and rental car are all paid in full. Everything left in Vacation Fund is for food and excursions.

My TIAA Direct accounts are open and funded, I have no money at all in Ally any longer. So far everything is fine with TIAA Direct.

I believe I will skip the insurance when I sign up at T-Mobile next month. That means my total monthly bill before taxes will be $80.43. With tax it should still be under $90, which is so much better than what I have been paying! My savings will go to....savings! My cash is getting much too low for my liking, so an additional $50ish per month will certainly help.

A few no frills gyms have opened up near my home and are competing with each other. I am going to investigate, but I believe I can trim a bit from my current gym membership of $25 per month. My girlfriends (reason I joined this particular gym) never go when I do, so I would prefer a gym closer to home anyway. If I can free up $10 to add to savings each month, that is just fine with me.

And the big news...my daughter and son-in-law will be moving back from Indiana next month! They will be renting an apartment before they get here, my daughter says. They have been pricing them online and it seems they have decided on a complex not too terribly far from my house, so I'm excited about that. Once it was clear and agreed upon they WILL NOT be staying with me, I was very happy with the news.

I am looking forward to a nice quiet weekend. BF was at my house for a week and just left Wednesday. He will stay home this weekend, as will I. J will have a friend over tonight, and I will likely take them to the movies tomorrow. They want to see The Avengers. I want to get some yard work done. I still (yes, STILL, can you believe it?) have an ugly front planter. I want to get it looking better this spring, so my plants are established before winter sets in.

So I have about a month to go until the contract on my line and my mom's line is up. J's line has another year and 3 months to go.

This month, my bill was $148.77. This is an improvement (!) because I am no longer getting those $2 charges for data access (accidentally hitting the button, not actually accessing the web!). Currently, I have AT & T.

I have been pricing T Mobile this morning. I can get a 3 line plan with 1000 daytime minutes, unlimited nights & weekends, and unlimited text, including insurance, for $94.77 per month plus tax (I think). This would be a savings of $40ish dollars per month.

I would have to pay a $105 activation fee ($35 per line). To leave AT & T early will cost me an early termination fee on J's line of $150 less $4 per full month of service, which should equal $114.

If I wait, the early termination fee will eventually go away, but the activation fee will not. Meanwhile, I will still be spending an additional $40ish dollars per month.

I think it is worth paying 1 early termination fee. It is not worth paying 3, so I can't switch just yet.

How about the insurance? It costs $4.78 per month per phone. Maybe I should just get it on J's phone? That would trim another $9.56 per month.

Do you pay for cell phone insurance?

I was very excited about eliminating payment #357, but my pending refi kind of killed my excitement.

Once the refi is complete, I am going to focus on my savings, both cash and retirement, and stop trying to chip away at my mortgage.

I just stumbled onto this a few days ago. There is a new online bank called TIAA Direct Bank. It is affiliated with TIAA-Cref. Their rates right now on savings and money market is 1.25%, which compares very favorably with other online banks at this time.

I have opened accounts and intend to switch from Ally. I have no loyalty, I just want the best rate I can get.

I received my seasonal over-time and bonus this month, so that is where the extra money came from.

"Everything Else" this month included son's allowance and the dentist.

All in all, not my best spending month, but not too awful, either.

Good news! It seems Harp 2 rates have come down a bit. Two months ago, I was offered 4.625% with no points. Today, I can get 4.375% with 1/4 of a point, approximately $450.00. I am moving ahead with the refi, which I am told will take approximately 60 days. This will drop my PITI approximately $150 per month, but reset my mortgage clock.

The month I skip a mortgage payment, I will pay Citi MC in full and just be done with it. That will free up an additional $50 per month.

What will I do with an additional $200 per month? I am thinking Roth and cash savings.

Yay!!