Diolla's Musings Blog

I am sitting here waiting for my sister to show up, she is late.

Wow, who would have thought being out of work would make me so busy. This was Bod Blast week when the campus welcomes all the new students, and although I have 20 years on most of them I went to everything. Had a good time too although except for the non-traditional student gathering, I felt a little old.

HEY, she's here! Time for the Fun Fest.

Later

Not much fanfare, okay with me. The good news was I had 174.90 hours of unused vacation time that will be on my last paycheck (8/22) I changed my witholding so they won't take out monstrous taxes on it.

Next week I will pay my tuition and books on my Visa card so I don't ACTUALLY have to pay them until Sept 15th when the bill comes. I redeemed $30 in rewards this month but those two bills should add up. Plus the money in savings can earn interest for August.

I talked to some people I know and it looks like I have 3 PT job prospects. I would rather work on campus but those jobs don't pay as well. I am not worried though and thought I would get established in class before adding any more.

The adventure begins...

But I also have been careful.

Yesterday at work a friend, who hates her job more than I do, used that phrase to describe what I am doing. She can't quit or even go to a lower paying job because she and DH need every penny just to pay the bills. I feel for her but she has been living on the edge for so long now it has just become her way of life. Big mortgage, big car payment on gas hog SUV a camper & a boat.

I hope things work out for her, she is so young...

I played a Texas Hold-em freeroll tourney tonight, got 116th out of 1015 players, not too shabby for my first ever tourney. For those of you who don't know freeroll means there is no buy-in (cost to play) but the prizes aren't too high either top prize tonight was $125 for the winner. 116th doesn't get anything.

Talked to my sister's this week and told them about going back to school. My older one is real gung ho on education so she was all for it, the younger just thinks it's terrific I can do something that so obviously makes me happy.

Who ever dreamed up this 2 week notice thing? I hate them. I have 7 days to go and I am out of there!

All enrolled as a “Provisional Student”; they are waiting on a transcript from a junior college I attended. Even if the classes don’t count my grades there were pretty good so it may raise my GPA. All my prerequisites are covered by classes I took from this college so I’m good to go.
I am enrolled in the following
Statistics- M & W 4-5:30
Financial Accounting- M & W 5:30-7:00
Business Management Systems- T & Th 5:30-7
Music in the Movies -Th 7-9:30 I need another humanities to become a “well rounded” student, the college calls these General Education requirements. I am 47 years old how much more well rounded do I need to get? On the plus side it sounds a little fun and I talked DS into taking it with me.

Yes they are all late afternoon/evening classes. I was a little worried about quitting so I arranged it so I might be able to work for a little while after the semester started. I did the math though and this will work out fine, financially speaking.

This is actually the easiest semester because most I will have 5 classes.
Total Tuition= $2600
Books = $550
Health Insurance= $900, for a year of coverage though the school.

I am going to apply for some part time work to help supplement my savings plus I will get an “Unused Vacation” check from my employer which should cover the tuition and books. I signed the papers today telling them to not withhold taxes from that one. According to my figures I am already looking at a refund so I see no reason to let them withhold more out of that check that I will just get back in February. Did you know you can’t get the retirement savings credit if you are a full time student? Doesn’t seem fair to me but it isn’t much of a credit for me this year anyway as I have been socking it away in savings preparing for this moment instead of doing my Roth IRA.
Financial Aid is waiting for some paperwork to go through but I am not holding out much hope for this semester since I am so late getting started. With my much lower income next year I should be eligible and there are some scholarships the school gives out based on GPA. My GPA isn’t all that great now because of a lot of fooling around I did when I was in school way back when. I am much more serious now; I expect it to go up.

Anyway, that is the update on me. I am getting so excited about this.

...and enrolled in College. It is scary but my job has become more and more stressful and less and less what I want to do with my life. I did all the math and even without a part time job, which I intend to get, I can manage for quite some time financially.

I am majoring in Accounting/Finance and it will take about 3 years to complete my degree with the credits I already have. Now all I have to do is finish up these last two weeks and off I go!

Wish me luck.

I have been looking for Broken Arrow and he has just disappeared. His Blog is empty, as if he had never been there and his user profile says he hasn't been here since June 16th.

I miss him.

I haven't tried to add pictures before.
So I am going to try one of my house.

I was having a water main put in and the roofers were doing the back so it's not the best picture but I want to try this.



I will see how it works. I wish I could preview my blog entries but I haven't figured out a way to do that either.

Well since it worked maybe I'll add more pictures of the work in progress. Here in the beginning most of it won't be visible though.

I am so excited about the upcoming 5 weeks- Next week I get my last paycheck from my seasonal employment-May 2nd regular paycheck- May 9th-Last child support check and Stimulus check- May 15th Regular paycheck- May 23rd-Bonus check from seasonal employment- May 30th- Another regular paycheck (3 check month)

I called the contractor and they are coming out to level my house in May. Once the house is back on level with proper support beams I can start some of the other renovations I have been planning for the last 3 years.

A friend is coming to take out some of the big trees that shade my backyard so I may even be able to get something to grow back there.

Our neighborhood is having a block sale which may be a chance to get rid of some of the junk that has accumulated in my shed (and make a little cash)

My son is graduating from High School. It has been a LONG 10 years (the first 2 weren't so bad)

May is going to be a GOOD month.

Today is payday and I am just shy of making my first financial goal of 2008. After today's deposit I will be $200 short of having my Emergency fund fully funded. It has been about 18 months simce I became debt free and when I started I had alot of trouble with this particular goal.
I wasn't very focused. I wanted to save up to do my home renovations, I wanted to save up for a newer car, I wanted a new computer. Then I started having difficulties at work which made me realize that what I WANTED wasn't what I NEEDED. I needed to focus on one goal at a time and the most important one was the emergency fund.
When I split my savings into all those different goals none of them grew very fast and it was hard to stay motivated. It reminds me a little of Dave Ramsey's debt snowball where you focus on one debt at a time, I need to focus on one savings goal at a time to keep me motivated.
So now I am looking at finally finishing one of my most important goals and it feels good.

He is a strange boy, doesn't want to drive. Finally I just told him he was going to go take his test this week and if he flunked so be it.

He didn't flunk (knew he wouldn't)

So at 18 he can now drive himself and I am no longer a chauffer.

YEAH! Plus his insurance was cheaper since his grades came up this year (Senior year easy classes)

Well I finally got off my duff and did some little things around the house. A light fixture near the front door, very handy when getting home after dark, had been broken for over a year so I replaced it this weekend. I had budgeted $25 for it and it cost $6 so I bought the new motion switch I had been wanting for the Kitchen. That light is always getting left on because when we leave that room we usually have our hands full. Installed it last night and it is working!!

My son's voice teacher offered to take down all the trees in the backyard so that I can get some sun back there and plant a garden. The ones in the front shade the house well enough so all the ones in the back can go (about 14 with 6 being full grown large trees) I need to contact the electric company and ask them to take down the service line for the day. Hopefully they will do it for free but I would still come out ahead since I don't have to pay big bucks to get the trees taken down. BTW-He has been doing this for years and has insurance and everything, he uses the wood to either heat his house or he sells it. Cheaper for him since he has the skill and cheaper for me cause he does it more for the wood than the money.

One of our grcoery stores is running a special where if you buy 10 items it will rebate you $5.00, limit 3 rebates per transaction. I plan on making 3 runs this
week to stock up on things I buy all the time anyway. I always stock up on the things that are on sale for a great price and then get my $5 on top of that. Last night I got 20 mixes I use all the time for $20 and then received $10 back making the usually $1.79 mixes $0.50. It looks a little silly buying things in large quantities but it will reduce my grocery bills in the future. I just wish that coupons were more available around here. I have tried the couponing sites but most of the stores around here won't take printables and there just aren't many other ones anywhere.

I sometime wonder what my stuff says about me.

I live in the most run down house in my neighborhood. I picked the neighborhood because it is a nice neighborhood and picked the house because it needed alot of TLC and fit my needs. I like fixing up ugly things and making them beautiful again but for now I live in the worst house in a nice neighborhood. Do the neighbors pity me?

I drive a 12 year old Nissan Sentra. It has been a good car and has not caused me any problems. Most days it is just parked outside the house because I like to walk but I also like go go places when I walk so I walk to work, the grocery, the library pretty much anywhere I need to go is within walking distance. Is my kid ashamed of me for driving around in that old beater, can't I afford a nicer car?

Speaking of walking, when I go to the grocery store I have a little wagon I bring groceries home in. It is a nice collapsable cart/wagon but I wonder, do people think I walk to the store because I can't afford gas? or because I don't have a dirvers license (DUI or the like)?

I pay all my bills online and pay cash for most other things; what does that say about me? How many people pull out cash to pay for their groceries, gas, clothing etc... I don't suppose the envelopes help much with that impression. When being invited out with friends I sometimes get offers to pay for me because they assume I am broke.

I clothes shop mostly at the thrift store but all my clothes are nice and in good repair, no stains, tears or missing buttons. I have gotten compliments on some of my tops, all of which were bought at the thrift store. Except for the clerk at the store I guess nobody even knows about that particular lifestyle choice.

Now, I never really cared about what other people think except I have been trying to date again and most of the men I have been meeting are lower income. I wonder if this might be why? I live the way I do by choice. I am working on my house, I love my car, I like walking and I like my budget. But am I sending out the wrong signals?

I didn't do too well in the saving department last year so I had been thinking about it and how to do better this year. Then things got kinda crummy at work and I actually thought about quitting and getting a low stress low paid job.

Thinking about living on minimum wage made me think maybe that is a way I could save more. I think the problems at work are transitory but... it's pretty bad right now.

So I made up a new budget and with the exception of my Roth IRA contributions and my son's college savings I am going to try and live on $6.00 an hour this year. Even the lowest employers around here pay that.

I have an advantage in that I live in a fairly low COL area and I own a small (pretty crummy) home with a very small mortgage payment. It isn't a slam dunk though because my car is pretty old (1994) and said house is also pretty old.

Here's how it looks

$6 time 40 hrs per week=$240 a week or $960 a month

Tithe 96.00
House payment 165.00
Utilities 180.00 (est)
Food 150.00
Gasoline 40.00 (I don't drive much)
Life Insurance 32.00
CableTV/Internet 108.00
Phone 30
Misc (Clothing, Medical, Pets etc) 75.00
Car/Homeowners Ins 68.00
Property Taxes 44.00

Total=988, I think I can get this down with small frugalities, plus my Utiliies are estimated high. We will see. I may have to call the cable company about a discount. I'd hate to go back to dial up that would be a last resort.

Since it is one week until payday (Jan 11) I am giving myself $200 to pay for this weeks expenses. 2 Utilities are due on the 10th.

Let's see how it goes.

That old song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" keeps going through my mind. When my fortunes changed I could have worried but instead I decided to be happy.

Be happy with a smaller house, with only two people in my family I didn't need a 2000 sf 3 bedroom house so I bought an 800 sf 2 bedroom. Utilities are less plus insurance and property taxes are cheaper too.

Be happy with an older car, I don't have a car payment my personal property taxes are less than the registration fee. I have only the basic insurance because the car isn't worth enough to worry about.

Be happy without the latest and greatest. I still have my old Sony TV I bought 10 years ago. I have had a big screen before but I decided to be happy with the one I have now. Do I really need to hang it on the wall?

Being Happy has had many benefits other than saving money but that is a subject for another post. So right now I am able to save almost 50% of my income for retirement and other goals because I decided to just "Be Happy"

I haven't written anything in here in such a long time I thought I would put up an official notice. No time for blogging these days.

Maybe I'll be back sometime but not for awhile.

Nothing personal.

Okay, I keep hearing about these things and reading about them and I just don't like them.

They sound so diversified and aggressive 90& stocks 10% bonds but what stocks are we talking about? If it is mostly safe, big US company stocks then are you really being aggressive? What if I said I had a portfolio of 70% large cap and 20% mid cap and 10% bonds would you even begin to think I was being an aggressive investor?

I think they give the people who buy them a false sense of security. I actually think alot of people, probably not on this board, think that if they invest in these funds they will have enough to retire on in 2040 or whenever. Put the money in and kaching without any other effort on your part you will have what you need.

I realize that I am still relatively new to handling my retirement investments and I even had a financial planner say I was too aggressive with too much in international funds (20%) I have a high risk tolerance because I have a fallback provision, a pension that pays 70% of my ending salary, so anything I make will be additional to that.

It bothers me though the way these 'lifecycle funds' are marketed. My personal experience is that if you let someone else manage it and don't get educated you lose.

END OF RANT

My bathtub faucet was leaking and after looking it up to see if I could do it myself I called the plumber. Full replacement of the faucet would run around $400 because there is no access, they would have to move the HWH and cut a hole in the wall to access the pipes, but the faucet I have is a high quality faucet that maybe could be repaired from the front. 1 hr and $80+/- (haven't gotten the bill yet) the faucet no longer leaks HOWEVER

On going out my back door this morning I found toilet paper on the soggy? (it hasn't rained in days) ground. The top was off the cleanout for the sewer and water? was coming out. Called the drain cleaner guys (my plumber doesn't do sewers) and $80 later (no more or less paid him on the spot) my sewage is now going to the sewer.

So out of the $126 in my home repair budget I spent $160 today. At least I have the funds to cover it.

I may have to put a little more aside for these things next year.

The bottom of my back porch door fell off. All my friends with trucks were busy this weekend and it is rather critical because my kitty likes to go exploring so I FIXED IT!!

I am pretty proud of myself. I took two 1x4s from the garage, cut them to size and screwed them to the sides. The bottom part was fairly rotted so I took some of that stuff that goes in showers and cut it and put it over the two boards so that the top one where the wood isn't rotted can help hold the bottom one. I know it is temporary but I have a bathroom repair scheduled for next Thursday and I haven't got any budgeted money to spend on a new door even if I could find a way to get it home. I think this spring I will scrounge (?) the salvage yards for another door but with the same style.

My arms are tired but at least my kitty is safe and my stock of stuff is used up a little too. My house was a rental and the landlord would just throw everything into the garage/shed so I have lots of wood and screens and stuff he left behind when I bought it. DS and I did a 'Clean Sweep' on it last summer so everything got organized and anything useless got tossed. There was a piece of metal sheeting I would have liked to have used on the door but I don't have any way to cut it. When I get the new door I might use it to protect the bottom from the dog.

Feels funny posting this after just posting yesterday but I am so proud of myself it actually looks pretty good.

Well DS left for Dads and I am on my own for a WHOLE DAY! (I am being sacastic) Dad has to go pick up his stepson at the airport so DS is coming back Sunday morning. I have so much to get done before then. I haven't wrapped his presents, I need to fix the back door, get by the grocery cause we are out of food and do my laundry (cause DS will need to do his when he gets back)

It used to be my life revolved around him but as he has matured this year I find myself standing back and looking at him as the man he is becoming. I am pleased with him and except for some motivational issues (he is a little lazy) I think he will be a good adult. He has a strong moral character, strong faith, is thoughtful and has empathy for others. He can cook, do laundry, and handle his finances.

Perhaps this is normal, the standing back and letting him run his own life. Maybe it is getting me ready for the day he goes out on his own.

I wonder though what it will be like knowing he is not coming back after the weekend is over?

I seem to be becoming more obsessed with budgeting. It is ironic that this is the case because my budget is mostly set up automatic in case I get sick and cannot deal with things for awhile. If i did nothing budget wise for a week or two my bills would all still get paid, my savings would continue to grow. I do love direct deposit and online bill pay.

It seems to me that the hardest part of budgeting is getting it all set up, knowing how much you need to have for all the little things you buy day to day. I know my hardest one has always been the little things like batteries, light bulbs, TP and all the miscellaneous stuff around the house. I finally started giving myself a small household amount for all those things and it is working okay.

My utilities came in $20 over budget, the bathtub faucet is leaking so I understand the water bill (am getting it fixed this week) but I am not sure what is making the electric so high. I went ahead and increased the budget for the winter but all our heating appliances are gas, it is possible the waterbeds are working overtime since we don't directly heat the bedrooms so I added some extra blankets and told DS there would be dire consequences if he didn't at least cover his bed.

There is absolutely nothing I need to do moneywise until the 29th but I am still looking and playing with this budgeting thing almost everyday. Maybe I need a hobby....Anyone out there need budget help? Ah but there's the rub, what works for me doesn't always work for someone else, budgets seem to be very personal things, like clothes or hairstyles. Each person has their own style.

Well everything is back to normal here with the return of my computer. Came in under budget and I even talked them into a discount for paying cash. Christmas shopping is finished and the tree and nativity is up.

This month is a big transition month for me, it is the first month in over a year I haven't done a zero based budget. I am getting away from the paycheck to paycheck budget and switching to a monthly budget. The only problem is I need to have enough leftover at the end of the year to pay January's bills and expenses so I am just letting any extra sit there waiting for January without giving it a job. Usually I would transfer it to my Target savings. Since December is a three paycheck month I can swing it. I will pay all my monthly bills, withdraw the cash and put the money aside for my irregular expenses on January 2nd. If it goes right I won't spend January's paychecks until February 1st. To give him his due I am modeling this after a system I saw on the 'You need a budget' website.

Talk about personal finance it is funny but I use Dave Ramsey's envelopes, Mary Hunts freedom funds David Bachs automatic transfers and now budgeting from YNAB. The only one I haven't borrowed from is Suze and that's just because she didn't have anything I could use. Plus she drives me nuts, I cannot watch that woman.

Well, time for bed. Tomorrow I have to work both jobs so it will be a long day.

My DS wanted the computer upgraded for Christmas so it went to the shop yesterday. I am already going into internet withdrawl so I am surfing away during my breaks and lunch at work. I am still waiting for the dream list estimate to come in but together (DS savings and Christmas Gift money) we have about $400 for this. Wish me luck, we are hoping to get a new video card with video capture abilities and at least double the RAM we have now (512k).

Someone asked me at work why I didn't just get a new computer? My computer is now custom made and gets upgraded usually once every year or so, If I saved that money every year and bought a new one it wouldn't be any cheaper and this way I get exactly what I want. Last time it was a new hard drive and a DVD burner, this time more RAM and a better video card. Next year who knows what I will want it to do? I couldn't have predicted my DS's interest in making videos and burning them to DVD's.

I am just hoping we can get it all done within the budget. Christmas shopping is done so this is the last big expense for December.

I have always told my son that unless you want to do something forever never do it more than 3 times in a row, if you do it becomes TRADITION.

On the Sunday after Thankgiving we always decorate the Church and afterwards Barb serves everyone Ham & Beans. The other people bring stuff but Barb always makes the Ham & Beans it is TRADITION. Well this year Barb was going to Illinois for her daughter's wedding. They thought about moving it to a different date, they asked Barb to make them ahead anything to avoid breaking TRADITION. But Barb was going up early and staying to take care of her Grandson during the honeymoon there was no way she was going to make Ham and Beans this year. I knew Barb felt guilty SO..me being the rabble raiser I am said "There are other people who can make Ham & Beans" Guess who got to make them?

The package said serves 50 and there are usually around 15-20 people there so I thought that would be enough. Barb gave me her TRADITIONAL recipe and I cooked up a humongous pot of Ham & Beans and took them to the Church. Everyone was perfectly happy, everyone had seconds, I felt really good about it. Hopefully a new tradition was started, Barb is not the only person in the church who can make Ham & Beans.

And neither am I.

Okay I knew this was coming but DS kinda blindsided me with it yesterday. His choir is going to Chicago and the teacher wants $100 deposit by December 5th. Why December? Why are property taxes due in December? Don't all these people realize that December is NOT a good month to throw extras into the mix. I suppose I am really just whining because I have the property tax money sitting there in savings and the Christmas money sitting there waiting to be spent so all I really have to come up with is the $100 deposit ($50 if I can get ex to split it) but WHY DECEMBER! Arrrgh.

I enjoy everyone elses so I thought I'd give it a try. Don't quite know what to say yet but I am sure something will come eventually.

The Holiday season is just started and is already wearing me down. I need a good cover story for the busybodies at the office who keep asking me my plans. Somehow it is sad (to them) that I just plan on staying home, making Ham & Beans for the Hanging of the Greens at Church Sunday and probably bake a turkey cause they are real cheap right now and I love turkey sandwiches and homemade turkey noodles. I don't mind so much being alone for the holiday but the funny looks are starting to bug me.