Bloom Where You Are Planted

So here is how I did in April.

My retirement accounts have enjoyed a nice bump this month due to market moves and my annual employee matching.

My cash is up because I was paid my overtime yesterday and I haven't done anything with it yet.

My home value continues to find new lows. Goodie.

Recently I uncovered some very negative reviews of the tour company I was thinking of using for our Egypt trip next summer. They gave me pause. I had chosen this particular company because of the reasonable price and a recommendation from a friend of a friend.

I have spoken with my son about it, and he now says he would rather go to Hawaii anyway. My next step is to talk it over with my cousin (she is out of state attending a wedding this weekend). I have been pricing air, hotel, and car rental packages. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this trip would cost quite a bit less than the planned Egypt trip.

Anyone been to Hawaii? Have any tips to share? Things to see?

I ended up adding my impound account refund to my EF, as well as $200 from my bonus. My EF is now a full 3 months of take home pay! I feel good about reaching this milestone.

Also, from my bonus, I sent $600 to B of A Visa, $300 to my Roth, $300 to my son's accounts, and the balance ($700) is sitting in my checking account. My bonus was $2700 gross, which is $300 more than last year, so I was very pleased with that.

I have not yet been paid for my seasonal OT. I expect to clear $1900. I think I will send $400 to my Roth and $1500 to B of A Visa. This will mean I need only another extra $400 (on top of my regular monthly contributions) to hit my goal of 3k for 2011. Also, it will get B of A under $1100. It was $4500 and change in November, so I am pleased with my progress.

I'm wishy-washy I know, but I just don't want to miss hitting my annual Roth targets, because that will lower my odds of hitting my ultimate target, and THAT would be BAD.

Today I received my annual impound account review statement. I was pleased to see it drop a few dollars, which I had expected. My PITI payment is going from 1276.94 to 1273.49.

What I hadn't expected was a refund check for 79.94. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? What a great mortgage chip!

I will have to wait and see what my bonus is before I can say for certain that yes, it is a mortgage chip.

Yesterday I saw one of my favorite clients. She is witty, fiesty and very interested in a variety of things. She is always doing something.

So far, so good, right?

She also lives on a pittance and is constantly hustling to earn some money. She has several part-time jobs and several self-employed endeavors.

She is in her 70s. She cannot afford to stop working. She is fortunate that so far, she still can.

I do not want to end up like that. I will never be wealthy and that is fine. But I do not want to constantly worry how I will eat and put gas in my car when I am in my 70s.

The life insurance money is now safely tucked into my Roth.

On Monday I will be receiving my seasonal OT check (about 80 hours) and my bonus. I expect to clear about 4k.

I am going back and forth on what to do. Please help me decide!

Plan 1
Pay off B of A Visa. Balance approximately 3.2k.
.3k to son.
Remainder to checking towards yard maintenance.


Plan 2
1k to B of A Visa
1k to Roth
.3k to EF
.3k to Egypt savings
.3k to son
.3k to Trad IRA
Remainder to hold until yard maintenance complete, then pay down B of A some more with what is left.

It would feel GREAT to pay off B of A. But without that extra boost to Roth, I may not hit my 3k goal.

Opinions?

On Monday I received a check from InBox Dollars for $47.01. I have already sent it off to B of A (the Evil Empire )towards my Visa.

Yesterday I received a check for $863.68 from my ex-husband for my half of our life insurance policy proceeds. I have deposited it, but that is as far as I have gotten.

Yesterday was BFs birthday. I forgot! My daughter texted me in the afternoon to wish BF a happy birthday from her (she had seen it on Facebook). When I got home, I learned that BF didnt realize the date, so he didnt know I had forgotten. LOL! It was a milestone for him too, the big five oh.

I am feeling tired today. I work until 7 most days and have been working most Sundays since late January. For some reason, my OT isn't adding up too well. OK, OK, I know the reason. I am not the worlds most punctual employee, I often arrive a bit late in the mornings. For that reason, I only count 1 hr OT per day, even though it is closer to 2, and even though I seldom get even a 45 min lunch hour. Also, I do take the occasional Savings Advice break. Its guilt. :P On Sundays, I usually only work 5 hours. Since we are officially closed, I can get a lot of work done in 5 uninterrupted hours.

Just a tiny bit of progress this month.

I did play around with the custom colors feature in my paint program, and was able to get a beige for the background, which I like better than the greenish-tan I had been using. So that is something I guess.

Here is my latest tweaked budget. Bring it on, April.

And here is my net worth report. Dipped back under 100k again.

My house value has hit a new low. It seems I say that every month!

I hadn't checked Kelley Blue Book for my car value in a few months and was surprised that it booked a few hundred higher. I must have put in the wrong mileage last time.

Here is my report card for March.

My wages were a bit more than budgeted due to a 12 day pay period. I also managed a nice bit of extra income.

I paid extra on the mortgage with some of Feb's extra income, as planned.

The groceries and utilities really did come in with the same total. It's a coincidence not an error. We did good in both catergories.

This was the second month my water bill was based on usage, not on a flat rate. My water/sewer/garbage bill was $98 per month, but the past 2 months it has been $87ish. So not a huge difference, but definately nice.

I overspent on my Visa. Again. As well as my gasoline and Netflix, we ate out a couple of times, I bought son some needed new shoes, and I made a donation to the American Red Cross for Japan relief efforts. Eating out continues to be a problem spending area for me.

I made my regular Roth IRA contribution, then opened a new Roth at ING (thanks, Ima Saver!) with an additional $200 contribution. After I receive my $50 bonus, I will transfer it to Vanguard.

That was my last gym membership payment.

I paid $420 on my Visa debt, some of which was from extra income.

I haven't paid any medical co-pays in a few months, but the time will come when I will go over.

That's it, end of report.

My target for Roth IRA is 150k. I have made the following contributions:

2008 2k
2009 2k
2010 3k

Current value: 9k

If I contribute 3k per year from now on, I will reach my target of 150k at age 65 if I earn just a hair over 6%. The return isn't guaranteed of course, but 6% is extremely possible. So, I intend to scrape up at least 3k each and every year for my Roth.

In other news, I have a large hedge on the right-hand side of my driveway which was terribly overgrown. BF has trimmed it back neatly, and my nephew and son took care of all the branches. So some progress has been made already, with much more to follow in the coming weeks.

Yesterday, my Mom spent the day at my house, along with son, nephew, nephew's son, and BF. So we were chatting about the sad state of my backyard and the current unkempt state of my front yard. I haven't done much at all with my yards since buying the house. There were other priorities, but the time has come to spend a little money and a lot of elbow grease and get them looking nice. (And I really do want to spend a little money!)

There are a few other items around the house I need to address. I sense some of my B of A Visa money slipping away. {sigh}.

When I bought my house, it was in rough condition. It was a foreclosure, and it had been owned by someone with very questionable taste. I wish I had taken a bunch of "before" pictures! Some of the "selling features":

1. There were bathroom tiles hot-glued onto one wall in the living room, in a sort of checkerboard pattern, but not touching each other. They weren't lined up neatly. Some were brownish, some were gray, some were a metallic copper color. They were about halfway up the wall. Underneath, someone had painted vertical stripes of peach and brownish-red. They hadn't used a ruler or tape or anything. I mean, why would you?

The wall had to be re-textured after the tile came off.

2. Someone had rag-rolled the kitchen walls, and done it badly.

3. The hall bathroom had been painted a very bright green. They had painted the walls and ceiling. They hadn't bothered to remove the mirror, cover the tub enclosure, etc. So in addition to re-painting, there was a lot of paint removing to be done. Good times!

4. One bedroom was painted a bright red. A very, very, bright red. It hurt my eyes. The theme of failing to do any prep work was repeated in the bedroom. They had not covered switch plates, protected the carpet, nothing. The carpet was not salvageable, too many large paint splotches.

I think I will find my camera, take a few "before" shots of the yards, some "in-progress" shots, and some "after" shots. I have some very simple improvements in mind, but I think they will help both curb appeal (in the front) and our enjoyment (in the back) a lot. I really want to keep it low-cost and low-maintenance (in the future).

So last night was bill paying evening, after paying everything, I have $1200 left in checking, and I have another $226 coming in next week. Not bad at all, considering the small 2/28 paycheck. I have decided I will not keep surplus greater than $1500 sitting there, but will instead transfer it to savings.

This month I paid $420 to B of A Visa. That's $85 budgeted, plus $149 from EF (sent it $1), plus $78 from selling a credit card reward gift card, plus $8 from Beezag, plus $100 received from someone who owed me $100. My new balance is $3,330.53. I think I will be able to pay it in full next month.

My 3/31 paycheck will be for 12 days, so that will make up for half of 2/28's shortage. My budget is based on 11 workdays per pay period, but the occasional 10 and 12 days do happen. That 9 though was really ugly.

I did a secret shop today at an auto service chain. I needed an oil change anyway, and the shop reimburses up to $33. I actually spent more than that because I went ahead and had my tires rotated and bought new air filters. Still, it took me only 30 min or so to complete and submit the report. Well worth it!

I also went by my gym to turn in a 30 day notice. They offered to make me inactive for 6 months at no charge. So, I went for that.

I enjoyed my day off today so much, I was ready for one! BF and son and I went to my Mom's house. The four of us played cards all afternoon, then had a nice dinner. It was a nice relaxing time. BF has been here more than a week and has bought groceries, so my grocery tab for the month should look pretty good!

Today I received a check for $78 from Plastic Jungle. I logged on to Discover because I thought I should have my $50 check from them, only to "discover" that I hadn't completed my transaction. I still had the same rewards balance. So I tried again and opted for the instant statement credit instead.

And I reached 8,000 pts on Beezag, so have ordered my first $8 pay out from them.

I have decided something else too. I am not going to chip the $128 in credit card rewards I expect any moment now. I am not going to add any new money to my main savings account. I am not going to use my bonus money next month towards savings, Roth, mortgage, etc. Instead, I am going to kill my B of A credit card debt.

I should be able to kill it next month. Following its demise, I will have a bit more free cash flow to use towards savings goals.

So after careful consideration, I have decided to ditch the gym membership. BF and I have decided to start taking bike rides together. I live near a nice walking trail which I utilize when I have a walking partner. I own Wii fit, and Netflix has tons of workout videos for streaming. I am going to miss it, but I really could use the money elsewhere.

It is not a slam dunk gain though, as I have been paying for BF to be on my gym membership in exchange for him adding my cell line and my Mom's on his plan. Since I am cancelling the gym membership, I feel I need to reimburse him for the cost of our lines.

I received e-mails today about my two Offermatic rebates. You have to follow the link in the e-mail which takes you to Offermatic, log-in, and then enter your credit card information. The rebates are pending.

I don't think I am going to chip my rebates. I think I will just use them to help me keep my total credit card charges down to my budgeted $400 per month, something I have not managed yet!

I hope I get some new offers soon. I especially like those gas ones!

This morning on mint.com, I noted that according to Zillow, my home value has fallen another $4,500 to $127,500. I am now at 144% LTV.

Sometimes I wonder: am I being foolish? Am I missing the opportunity of a lifetime? Should I buy a different home for myself at today's prices and just let mine go? Yes, I put 53k down and immediately another 10k on repairs/maintenance, but that's gone and there is nothing to be done about that.

So in January, I applied for two credit cards in order to earn money from InBox Dollars. I was credited $15 for one but am still waiting to be credited $15 for the other.

Meanwhile, one of the two cards is a Discover card. Today I noticed that I have available rewards, and just ordered a $50 direct deposit into my checking account. Yay!

The other card is a Sony Visa from Capital One. I was awarded 10,000 pts which I redeemed for a $100 Sony Style gift card. Today I sold it on Plastic Jungle and will receive $78 cash. Double Yay!!

So hopefully, I will have $128 to chip on my mortgage next month.

On InBox dollars, I did ask about my $15 credit and was told I should look at my confirmation e-mail from Capital One which I should have received when I applied. I didn't receive any such e-mail. I do however have an e-mail dated 2/2/11 telling me that my card has shipped. So in a few days I will try their on-line help again. (They want you to wait 30 days before asking about your credit.)

Additionally, for Valentine's day they had a promotion where if you spent $10 of real money for World Winner games, they will pay you $20. The offer details state the $20 will be credited around 2/28/11. I haven't been credited for that yet, either.

I made my chippy little mortgage payment. Payment #359 is now eliminated, and payment #358 is now reduced to $467.12

I wish I could make this much progress every month!

So once again I am pleased with my overall results. My paycheck income was short due to 2/28/11 being a 9 day pay period, instead of the usual 11. And of course I received those beautiful income tax refunds. While at first glance I exceeded quite a few places, it was all planned.

I did fine with groceries and utilities, but I went over on credit card spending.

I went to a baby shower last weekend and bought a gift. Another friend who I thought might be attending had a baby 3 weeks ago, so I bought a gift for her and took it to the shower as well. She ended up not attending, so I will have to make other plans for delivering that gift. A third friend had a baby in January, so I brought a gift for her new baby. That same friend has a 2 year old, and there was some snafu with my attending that shower. Long story short, I brought a gift for the 2 year old. The four gifts did add up.

A few weeks ago, I bought tickets for son and BF and I to see a stand up comic who did a show in my city. Paula Poundstone. It was a great show!

So the gifts and the comedy show together, along with my gas and Netflix, were too much for my credit card spending budget.

"Everything Else" was my 6 month car insurance premium.

Well, I'm glad to be back over 100k. It's been about a year and a half since I was last over 100k net worth. Three years ago, I was closing in on 250k.

Ultimately, I would like to have a net worth of approximately 1 million (600k traditional IRA, 150k Roth, a paid for house). So at age 41, with a net worth approaching 250k, I felt very optimistic about reaching 1 million by age 65. I only needed my net worth to double twice in 24 years. Now I am 44, and to reach 1 million net worth by age 65, I need my net worth to double 3 times plus some more in 21 years.

Wow! What a difference 3 little years can make.

A few months back, I was seeing a specialist medical doctor and had several offce visits. My co-pay for a specialist is $30. Somehow, I overpaid. I received a detailed account transaction list and check for $30 in the mail today. I had NO IDEA it was coming.

So, when I make March's mortgage payment, I will be adding $200 from my income tax refund, $23.10 from Plastic Jungle, $20 from Chase Freedom rewards, and $30 from the co-pay refund, as well as the few dollars I budget to pay extra.

March will be my "chippiest" month yet!

I have decided that I am going to start being better about recycling water bottles, and using that money towards my mortgage.

Looking forward to my next Statement of Net Worth!

Tonight I got up to $50.01, so I cashed in. There is still a $3.00 processing fee, so now I know. However, I did immediately receive a $3.00 bonus, so it's not so bad.

It should ship around April 1, hope it makes it here in time to add to April's payment. If not, it will make a fine mortgage chip in May.

I e-filed my returns on Monday, and today I see that my state refund has already hit my bank account. Thank you, state of California!

This is something new to me. Inbox dollars paid me $3 to sign up with Offermatic. You register your credit/debit card with Offermatic and based on your activity, you are offered rebates. For example, spend $20 at Target, get a $10 rebate right on your credit/debit card. Spend $20 at Shell, get a $10 rebate. So, I went right ahead and registered.

Here is a referral link, if you are interested. If you do Inbox dollars, be sure to link from them to get your $3.

http://www.offermatic.com/refer/19145

The last joint account that my ex-husband and I have is a universal life insurance policy. The benefit amount is 300k on him, 130k on me, and 5k riders on each child. We are still splitting the cost and it has a small cash value (I think right around $1900). Our daughter is 20 and married, living in another state with her husband who is in the Army. Our son is 15. As we are no longer married, the chance of us dying together is quite small. I feel we no longer need this policy. I told ex-husband this several months back, but he wanted to keep it.

Additionally, I have a 50k term policy with ex-husband being the beneficiary. I would like to change that to 50% each child. They are already the primary beneficiaries of my retirement funds.

Ex-husband called me today and says he wants to cancel the universal life policy. He needs his half of the cash value and doesn't want to keep paying the premiums. He says he will up the term policy he buys through work. I said that is fine with me.

So, he will be cancelling that soon and I will be receiving my half. I have thought it over today, and I think I will put my half into my Roth.

Also, my life insurance costs will decrease by $28 per month. I plan to send $25 to my emergency fund and allow another $3 for "everything else".

My emergency fund should break the 10k mark in April. I think that is enough of an e-fund for someone with credit card debt, so after breaking 10k, I will direct those dollars to B of A Visa.