baselle's Financial Diary

Slept much, much better on the couch last night, it was quite a bit softer than the air mattress. It took awhile to get into a good position with my neck and upper back straight and not over the side of the couch. I might be able to keep my humanity and sanity by the time the new bed gets delivered and assembled. I guess its a bit more than plunking down a box spring and a mattress over a bed frame. Still..two weeks?

Anyway, did the deep decluttering of the linen closet. The floor became a miscellaneous storage area along with shelves stuffed with bed linens, beth towels, hand towels, dish towels, napkins, tablecloths, pillows. I tossed three boxes worth of stuff - two boxes of magazines (anyone for Consumer Reports 1996?) and fifteen year old scientific journals. It felt a bit sad, but I hadn't looked at them since we moved here six years ago. And there is always the Internet and the library. I bound up a very large plastic bag of clean linens for donation and put it in the car trunk. Out of sight, out of mind...only the memories remain.

I mentioned it to DH in passing. I didn't want to be a complete sneak about this, but I have to use some special strategies with him. Yesterday I mentioned that I put a large catalog out for recycling and that I did the same with his Chilton manual on his old car (the one that was wrecked, now is gone)...he still wanted it! He has this fantasy of putting the manual on the hood of the first 1988 Corolla AllTrak he saw. That book cost $60!, he said. DH never went to college...you get a little blase about book prices when you do!

I'm rolling my eyes here.

My special strategy is to put the manual in the car, because he must be out and about and driving when he blesses some hood with the manual. He can look at the book in the back seat for a week or so. Then I move the manual to the floor of the car, kind of out of sight, then the trunk, and then...poof. If he asks... I dunno, where did you put it?

Transfered $200 into ING today. Its not all my bonus, but a good chunk of it. I figure my raise works out to about $40/paycheck, so I've hiked my pay-yourself-first rate by $25 at the beginning of the month, and $50 at the fifteenth.

Ate breakfast and coffee out today, and celebrated the linen closet by a gigantic fruit and green tea slurpee concoction. Yum.

Another year, and another August sewer, water, garbage bill. Again, the landlord got it wrong in the letter by claiming that the lease said we owe 70% of the utilities. I went a bit stronger than the innocent letter. Instead, I copied the current lease (which referred to the 2000 lease, no changes), and the first page of the original lease, which said 50%.

Now don't get me wrong. It's not the money, its the fact that the lease is a contract. If I paid 70%, it'll suddenly be 70% all the time, and who's to say what it will be in the next bill?

These last couple of days have not been particularly vacation-y, if you know what I mean. We've decamped on air mattresses in the living room which means I wake up with a stiff back. The bedroom floor is dry, but smells a bit musty. Gotta be a bit of mold. Time for another carpet clean, and hit the carpet with the sodium perchlorate. New bed won't be here for a little while, so we might just as well get the carpet in great shape. This afternoon, I lit up a particularly powerful bit of incense in the bedroom and that helped the smell quite a bit.

Today I felt a bit blue because of all clutter. Tomorrow I'm doing my favorite cheer-up technique: deep decluttering. In just fifteen minutes this afternoon I found a quarter. Looking forward to earning some money!

Gotcha reading, didn't I? DH and I spent the first day of our vacation sleeping around...for a new bed, of course. We tried out mattresses from Select Comfort (all those Sunday mornings listening to Prairie Home Companion paid off) and Sleep Country, then rounded out the day by checking out Costco online just in case there was a deal, and reading Consumer Reports online.

A few random notes:
Why do mattress companies all have initials SC? And lots of mattress names start with S; many have "pedic" at the end. You get so that you say...that one!
The sales staff at each place were very nice about their competitors, but they did try to distinguish their products.
DH sleeps hot so he warms up Temperpedics, Latexes, Memory Foam...and that eliminated a lot of choices. (Shouldn't blame DH for this - in a few years, I'll be sleeping hot, too, if you know what I mean.)
We both seem to take a bed of similar firmness.
We both squealed with delight at the idea of an adjustable bed (I can blog in bed)!
DH really liked the massage features..when the massage was going, I kept looking for where the quarters would go.
Shopping mattresses is kind of relaxing. Ten minutes on a mattress with a nice pillow...wake me up when you decide whether you like it or hate it...the stress comes from that its all d%*n pricey because we're starting from scratch (no box spring, and only waterbed bed box).

In the end we went with the Sleep Comfort adjustable. It was actually 19$ cheaper. Of course when your total was at $5,147, what's 19 bucks? (by comparison, DH's original waterbed cost 100$)

The waterbed began to leak this morning, and it was terminal. And yet I'm thankful that:

-we are on the first floor.
-bed bag lasted 30 years, according to DH.
-bed bag blew at about 8am. We got going when it first started. In other words, no waking up to floating slippers.
-we both knew what to do, which was to unplug everything in the bedroom, drain the bed, move dry things to the living room, wash wet sheets, wait for the bed to drain (coffee and the Sunday paper), put drained bag out in the back yard along with the container and the platform, wet and dry vac, shampoo & rinse carpet, run fan to dry.

If I'm buying with the emergency fund, I'm looking forward to getting something else. I've suspected for awhile that the waterbed has been keeping the chiropractor in business. Being able to get regular sheets will be a treat, we can catch up with the latest in bed technology, and if I have to give up the travel part of this vacation, then darn it it'll be the hotel bed at home.

I've a two week vacation starting tomorrow. Wheeeeee! We're planning to go to Canada next week. Go before we need a passport.

Cleared out the valuables from the office, which means cleaning out and depositing the tip box: $53

On Tuesday, the raise and the bonus comes in into direct deposit - 4%, of which 3/4 is raise and 1/4 is bonus.

And to make it a real vacation and a real break from routine, I cancelled my chiropractor and personal trainer for the two weeks. Saved about $280.

The first 4 week T-bill matured yesterday, putting $7.99 into savings.

Spending - 1.75$ coffee + $5.00 lunch (with the tip)

Actually it's a pretty good story.

I was eating lunch alone at the sushi bar in the place that I generally get chirashi sushi. I didn't this time - it was cool and rainy, so I sprung for hot fat - tempura!

An Asian woman tried to get up onto the high chair next to mine. The chair was light, so I grabbed on the back to help steady it. We both laughed.

I went back to eating and watching CNN. I noticed the classic pull out the downtown map and stare it. I asked her if she was looking for something. Turned out she thought she was on the opposite end of downtown from where she thought she was and that she was looking for a specific shop, to show some of her wares - she made ceramic dolls. Then she asked me something that I didn't expect, somehow.

"So how do you tip?"

It turns out that she was from Japan, that she was an english teacher (her english was excellent and she appreciated the compliment), it was her second trip to the United States, but her first real trip by herself. No tipping in Japan.

"Well," I said, "its pretty easy. Its usually 15%. My fast way is two times the tax." (On further calculation, that was closer to 18%-20%)

"Yes, but how do you do it?" she asked.

I told her that if I pay by a card, I'll just add it to the bill and they'll charge me. She had cash..what then? Well, I put the money close to the plate so that the waiter would see, but someone walking past wouldn't really.

"Do you calculate it each time?"

I told her - not really. I guess at it, and I usually tip high, because the waiter's pay depends on it. Two times the tax (I showed her my check, which came) is a quick way to do it. And I taught her that a polite "check please" is perfectly fine.

She was so relieved. She confided to me that this was her first restaurant meal, and she was very nervous. She picked a Japanese place because she thought she would find someone understanding. (Me!) I told that it wouldn't do to eat McDonalds for your whole trip because anywhere else you'd have to tip. She laughed, and at that, I went back to work.

I have to say that she was doing a lot better here than I would in Japan... I'd be tipping!

Lesson paraphrased from lrjohnsons blog -

--Aren't we nickel and diming our savings when we fail to do financial planning on what we save? Saving is one thing; making money and saving money as we make money is another, more important piece.

Its a bit like this: when we first learn to save, we're trying to pay off debt to keep from drowning; a good saver can tread water for a very, very long time, but not get anywhere; but plan your finances along with saving and you swim somewhere - the stronger the planning, the stronger and faster you'll get away from the sharks and onto that tropical island.

This is my financial plan, and I'm the first one to tell that I have plenty of holes and gaps to fill.

My finances are like a three layer cake. Layer one is lemon - the 6 month emergency fund (for when life gives you lemons). How much is easy: I count paychecks. I don't bother with expenses - if you live at or below your means, your means become a unit of measure. I get paid twice a month, $1100/paycheck, net. My final emergency fund should be $2,200 x 6 or $13,200.

The lemon layer should be lemon creme - gooey and nearly liquid, but it still should earn as much as possible. I have most of my money in ING. I like the interface and that I can move money within a day, but I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the interest rate. So I've put a little bit of it (1 months' paycheck) in a 5% 6-month CD. I'm still not thrilled with the interest rate and that its locked up for 6 months. (Interest rates have been rising, so when its locked up you get left behind) I've been buying 4-week T-bills at a bit above 5%. I have two months worth of paychecks in T-bills spaced two weeks apart, and I've made the transactions repeat. The mature T-bill gets deposited in the same spot that the next T-bill gets bought from.

Layer two is the carrot cake. Intermediate layer (5-10yrs); healthy and diversified, and as tax deferred as possible. But percents and tax deferral matter here. I figure my I-bonds are here (5 yrs), and so is my little DRP portfolio (10 yrs or so). I like my DRPs here, because I can put money into stocks, the dividends are reinvested with nearly no fees. My KO drp charges a $1 to do online purchases (2% fees for a $50 purchase - which is barely acceptable). I pay taxes on the dividends, and I plan to buy and hold, so sell only after I get the long term capital gain (these days, only 366 days), or if the stock absolutely sucks. The inheritance CD is here too, and while I plan to slot it in as intermediate money, I haven't yet finalized my plans.

I don't really have a target dollar amount here, so I don't know when to stop with the intermediate cash. I know that my lemon layer protects me against the bitter carrot bits, sour pineapple, and dry coconut

Layer three is pure chocolate. Long term layer (+20yrs); inflation, fees, and taxes are your primary concern here. I have a current 403B, an old 403B and a traditional IRA. I plan on starting a Roth in 2007; I'm also thinking about converting the traditional IRA to a Roth. I get a match, so it is like adding chocolate chips to the cake. Stocks (equities) comprise 90% of what's in these accounts, bonds 10% - I have a lot of T-bills, I-bonds, and CDs in the other layers. My concern here is that my 403B charges excessive fees, as compared to Vanguard.

Two disparate analogies - cake and swimming - just make sure you wait an hour before doing them both.

Its probably why I started it today. I liked the coincidence. Almost 59,000 hits, but don't get too excited - at least 50,000 of those were caused by me, reading and re-organizing the categories.

Took the last 2 salmon cakes to lunch today, which meant I could do a very light small lunch, just rice and fish - $4.

DH didn't feel up to going out, it was birthday gifts and the card at home. It freed me up to try a test run of contrary1's recipe for extra salmon. Check it out in yesterday's comments. Fabulous! So much so that it will be a secret from the trainer tomorrow. If I got beat up for 5 girl scout cookies...

Got 3 return emails from the mail thievery situation that I sent out Friday night. It was nice that I got them all early Monday morning.

Inspector - what was copied was what was recovered. No lost DRP envelope, but it was comforting. No one's holding back.

WaMu - They sent the CD statement a week before the theft. No holds on the accounts, but I can change the account numbers if I want. Since my US Bond and ING accounts are linked to certain account numbers, that will be painful.

Wells Fargo (transfer agent to the stock) - I can put a hold on the account so that nothing can change without my express permission. My request has to be by letter or fax.

Put $7 in the tip box.

DH told me about the $5 off any produce coupon after I bought the cheap produce. Normally, I would have used it to buy my ordinary stuff, so today I tried a different tactic - I used the coupon to get fruit I rarely get like white Rainier cherries and an heirloom melon. Total treat for $2.

Joy of Cooking had a recipe for fish cakes that I tried out. I can't ever follow a recipe straight even the first time. Its a quirk of mine.

Basically, the recipe was 1.5 lbs of flaked fish, finely chopped onion, lemon juice, spices (old bay and parsely in the recipe), an egg yolk and 5 tbsp mayo as binders. Form cakes, dredge in breadcrumbs and fry in 2 parts vegetable oil and 1 part butter. Not exactly health food, but darn tasty and a pretty efficient way to hide a small amount of cooked and mashed vegetables. I snuck in three of those leftover little white boiling potatoes.

Cooking is one of the most important frugal skills in my arsenal. Prepared food is always more expensive than the raw ingredients and it sure makes me feel clever when I can hide leftovers in a tasty way. To think I used to joke that the dorm cafeteria used to do the same thing! Except they weren't very clever about it.

I just don't like seeing containers in the refrigerator for more than a couple of days because after that, no one wants to risk taking an exploratory peek or sniff.

Tomorrow is DH's birthday - a restaurant trip tomorrow night. Then in the next couple of days comes salmon salad sandwiches and salmon macaroni salad.

I did my grocery shopping at Larry's Markets, which now has a buyer. Fantastic deals on red & green grapes, peaches, milk, salad in a bag, potato chips, radishes, tomatoes, cheese. 2 large bags and the gallon of milk for 16$. DH got salmon for 1.97/lb. That's an unheard of price even for Seattle. So it will be grilled salmon and the leftovers which will turn into salmon salad and salmon cakes.

DH and I both saved our tickets from the family visit to the artshow at EMP. Turns out that those tickets entitle us to get in free to the Henry Art Gallery where we saw Maya Lin's show Systematic Landscapes. Picked up the other half of sister's birthday gift in the gift shop for $27.20.

Got a different type of exciting government letter - this one was from the US Postal Inspection Service. Our mail had been stolen sometime in mid-July. The City of Seattle had apparently caught the person and USPIS is filing criminal charges. We were also given photocopies of our envelopes, the postmarks dated 7/10 - 7/12, along with the three forms filing criminal charges. I filled out the forms enclosed and sealed 'em. Then I emailed the bank and all my transfer agents.

and then I remembered something. I lost that DRP form July 15. Dang. There was no activity - the check number didn't show in my bank, but no deposits to the DRP either.

Now there is activity. Sigh.

Emailed the postal inspector on the case telling him (her?) about my loss on July 15. That would cap it all if that DRP form was found with the thief.

And its official: trust no one. Red Alert 24/7.

I've noticed in this last year that its not the wants/needs that destroy your frugal will, its the now. Its really not the wants/needs that you have to control, its the later/now.

For example:

"I want it (later)" means that you can negotiate a good price, think about how you can use your want, and talk yourself out of your want when you realize that it won't be used, doesn't match, not your size. For example, I bought an MP3 player in April. I wanted one for at least a year, but I figured out that I really wanted the fantastic ability to carry my entire CD collection in my pocket, and I use it every day. Its still a want, but if I use it every day for a couple of years its a treat that will work out to .33/day.

"I need it (later)" means you have time to save and you have the luxury of treating yourself by satisfying your needs early.

In both cases, the "later" gives you control.

"I need it (now)" means that you had better have planned ahead. Yikes, but things happen. Its dispiriting, but to the frugalista there is no shame.

"I want it (now)" feels you are fighting the entire credit card and consumer industrial complex, not to mention all of your non-frugal friends.

The now is the whim. The now is your friend or your family saying "cheap bastard" to you. The now is low blood sugar that you had better fix by that candy bar. The now creates its own emergency.

And all those strategies - the counting to ten, the stepping out of the store for 24 hours, the buying of loss leaders, the ordering the appetizer instead of the entree?

All shifts of "now" to "later".

Ate a free lunch today. Okay, the free lunch was so late that I had to buy a little something ($4), otherwise I was going to kill someone, and actually it was a free picnic on the concrete deck of the 62nd floor of the Columbia Tower. A friend works for a law firm and the party was to watch the Blue Angels practice. Hot dogs, wraps, chips, cookies, ice cream, lemon granitas. And to round out each side of the food line: sunscreen at the front of line, tums at the end.

I had a hotdog, chips, and granita, then proudly and politely skipped the rest. "Let the kids have first pick," I said.

The great view was much more satisfying than the Blue Angels; I left for gym right at their second pass.

Found out that my 4% raise goes into effect August 15. Time to save the raise.

Well, we were the redneck carport of the week since the first week of April. And when DH got his mom's white Buick, we were breaking the lease by having 1 good car and 1 busted car on the concrete pad.

DH's front end smashed car is now finally gone, leaving the white Buick. Whew!

DH kept the smashed car out of pure stubbornness - he insisted that "I'd get it fixed" which then segued into "but what about the bumperstickers?" (Note to anyone: here be $1.75 bumper stickers.) and then finally "I want to get some money out of this."

He put an ad on Craigslist, a guy called, drove by, made an appointment with DH and towed it away. DH didn't make any money, but he didn't have to pay any either. And now we are in keeping with our lease.

Added 3$ to the tip box; spent for a $1.75 coffee and an $8 lunch.

Normally I eat lunch alone, so I can do my dividing, but lately I've been eating lunch with lawyer friend's partner to cheer her up and calm her down a bit. There's frugal, and then there's cheap and mean. Lunch on the high end until our nerves settle down.

$3 more in the tip box

Spent $1.75 for coffee, and $8 for lunch. The price per lb of salad rose .50/lb to $5.49/lb. Bummer! Although they still have mango slices, baked salmon, fried mushrooms, and tofu with black bean sauce, so .50 more is still worth it.

Saw the chiropractor checks online, which was a treat in each sense of the word; last week my bank "upgraded" its site. I couldn't get into my bank account so I couldn't reconcile my checks. It could have been worse. I don't use online bill pay, thankfully - that was completely knocked out during the "upgrade". Welcome to the icky side of the digital life.

Worked out at the gym by myself today. Because I'm in the fitness challenge, I have to get weighed and measured. Another personal trainer did the deed, and I got another piece of rotten news - no weight loss or inch loss. To be fair, a bad before number means that its easier to win.

And tonight, I joined a night out party put on by the Seattle Police & Fire Dept to promote block watches. The block in question wasn't my block, but the block on the next street over. We live on a high traffic street so we had no ability to block off our street. No matter - there were at least 3 parties within 2 blocks of us.

Not that much saving going on.

$3 in the tip box, and its payday.

Talked to the chiropractor receptionist, asking why my co-pay checks haven't been cashed. Turns out that the office accountant had been on vacation for 2 weeks. Boy, do I feel like a miserly goob!

Chiropractor asked me how I spent the weekend. I told him that I spent it waiting by the phone for news.

Despite payday, we are all a little bit subdued. A lot of folks at our non-profit knew the people who were shot at the J Federation. Security at our offices is going to go up. We got paid a visit from the Seattle Police Department.

Lawyer friend's partner is alright, but I found out that I knew another friend, initials CG, who worked there and had gotten shot in the knees. Time to circle the wagons, figure out what is needed for her and how to help.

Now for the more mundane:
- I put 7$ in the tip box.
- I managed to "play my cards right" and get a week's worth of breakfast coffee for $1 (usually runs $8.75).
- Payment made it to the transfer agent in time to buy comparatively cheap 3M stock next week.
- Signed up for another fitness challenge, along with the two friends from work. The personal trainer rates are cheaper during this time, and she was in a contest to sign up the most people. Since I put her over the top, she's giving me a free session. Might just as well make gym pay me if at all possible.

Late this afternoon, there was a shooting at the workplace of lawyer-friend's partner. No names have been released.

I hope she's all right.

One year ago today I got the surprising, shocking word that my dad had died. He had died in his sleep on the farm with plans of breakfast with his nephew, our cousin.

I wish he could have spent his money and enjoyed himself. Perhaps he did, or perhaps lots of money didn't matter to him. We were so different. I wanted to leave the farm as soon as possible and I did, not even thinking about the fresh air, the quiet, green nature, the satisfaction that comes when you are the agent of physical change. He was a shy man, not into working with a lot of people, and enjoyed the city for an afternoon...no longer. He also made a decision and stuck with it - the will we found was dated 1968. He sure wasn't like grandpa; his will came with a couple of codicils and tweeks.

Anyhow, the situation is still that one piece of property was sold, along with the insides of the house and barn, along with the farm equipment, and mom's insurance and 401K has been divided up between us. We still have the second piece of property and the buildings.

Two thirds of the proceeds are in a money market fund. Sister and I each have gotten $45K. I've put the money in CDs and ING to give me a little time to earn interest and to pace myself, but right now it seems like the fixed income places are more compelling.

3M is one of my DRPs. Last night I decided to send that DRP $2000 of inheritance money. Between the mailing, the cashing of the check and the actual buying of the stock, it takes awhile between the decision and the implementation - about 2 weeks. This afternoon I was pleased, in a speculative sort of way, that 3M is at a three year low. My fingers are crossed that it drops a little bit more while my check is in the mail.

I'm also buying another 4 wk T-bill at $2000. This one looks like it is going to be at 5.007%. My 6 mo ING CD is getting shabby, and my brick-and-mortar bank CD is starting to look very, very shabby at 4.35%, but I only have 3 more months to go on that one.

Tomorrow I also buy $100 I-bond.

I guess that instead of shopping for stuff like a lot of Americans, I'm shopping for money. I'd love to buy a dollar's worth for 70 cents; lately it seems like I'm buying a dollar's worth for 90-95 cents.

Put $3 in the tip box.

I used part of the 'literary latte' gift card. One of my gift cards had .25 on it, so it got used and out it went. I realized that I had another $3 gift certificate for coffee in addition to the Starbucks card. ($2.50 + $3) Play my cards right, and I'll have a nearly no-spend on coffee week. It works best, though, if I put the coffee savings in my tip box; then I just displace my coffee spending from money to the cards. Spending feels the same, but it really juices up the savings.

As it turned out, all I spent today was on the curry lunch special for $4.36.

I made two pitchers of gazpacho this afternoon. Gazpacho seems to be the summer recipe for cleaning out the produce section of the refrigerator; minestrone the winter one.

I threw out two heads of romaine and my pound of green beans. That depressed me tremendously, but for my gazpacho I did manage to salvage two half heads of romaine, a few leaves of raditchio (sic), a carrot, green onions, several radishes, and a whole lot of tomatoes, 1 bunch of parsely, 1 bunch of cilantro, grind everything up along with 1 can of chicken stock, 2 cans of tomato sauce (paste tastes metallic--blegh), salt, pepper, lemon juice, hot sauce, 5 garlic cloves, olive oil.

It'll be the all-liquid fiber diet this week.

Seattle this summer has a 'literary latte' deal. Read three books and you get a 4$ Starbucks card, and your name is entered into a drawing. I made it to the library tonight in time to submit my sheet and get the gift card.

Starbucks is not my favorite but it'll be useful for the end-of-the-month drill. I've noticed that the Starbucks card seems to be Seattle alternative currency. You can get one for a prize, as a reward, for recommmending someone for some such. If you look in any Seattleite's wallet, you'll find at least a couple. Too bad there's no easy way to manage the cards. I wish there was an easy way to figure out how much you have on a particular card.

Day 2 of mid to upper 90s in Seattle. This time of year Seattle is sunny and dry. Not bone dry like Tucson is, but then again even Tucson this time of year isn't bone dry. Of course no one has AC around here -- why bother for only a week or so of hot weather? -- but it means that the entire city is cranky, out of sorts, and looking for frugal ways to beat the heat. Here are my rules:

#1 - Stay away from other people. This weekend is the Bite of Seattle. At least 100,000 sweaty people, each of whom is at least 98.6F congregating in front of 400F grills and paying at least $5 for the privilege...now doesn't that sound like cool, refreshing, inexpensive fun?

#2 - linger where you know there will be air conditioning. This morning, I was figuring out whether the 2 package for 3$ special on frozen mixed vegetables was a deal. Not really. The deal came from the delightful five minutes with my head in the freezer case.

#3 - catch a second-run movie. Ah, the Crest Cinemas. $3, all times. Air conditioning, darkness, cross ventilation, and a reason to linger. It's the main reason I rarely go to a movie in March and April. I've got to save up on movies to catch in July. FYI: Thank You for Smoking is very funny. Not as funny as Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, which for my money is the funniest movie this year.

Today I bought a little lunch at the grocery store and had a little battle with the cashier. It turned out that its pricing sticker was mixed up with something a lot more expensive, and conversely the expensive thing was priced cheaply. The thing that really got me was the tyranny of the sticker by the cashier. No looking at what I actually bought, or product knowledge - just the "that's how it rung up." Forget worrying about the embarassment E - its your money.

Put 6$ in the tip box yesterday. HR warned us yesterday about possible price rises in our medical insurance.

We are having a heat alert in Seattle tomorrow, so I expect to have another not-so-good night of sleep. Last night our 19 yr old cat kept hurking up, so his food is being cut back a bit.

Today I spent stupid money. I left my bus pass in my yesterday's pants pocket, I had to beg to get on in the morning and pay $1.50 on the return trip home. Lunch out with lawyer friend, but at places charging only 6$. Compared to 10-11$ a month or two ago, we are making progress.

Last night I was going to change a bit of information on my Treasury Direct account. I was so clever a year ago answering the security questions. Too clever: I locked my account. I highly recommend their customer service - no hold, no hold music, just a nice guy who answered the phone on the second ring, asked me some security questions and unlocked my account in all of five minutes.

I've still been doing gym. I haven't been measured lately, so I think I will ask next week. My large gym shirt is comfortable (It'll be years before I become a medium), the upper ab bulge is disappearing and the shirt is not creeping up. Yippee! My trainer is now working with my two co workers, who are now gym buddies and come in nearly every day. I'm excited for them, too.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $6 lunch + $1.50 bus ride.
Saving log - $1 tip box, scheduled a $2000 transfer from ING to another 4 wk T-bill, moved $1000 into another DRP.

Scraped up 48$ from the tip box and put it into savings.

Ate the footlong sub over 2 days to save a little bit. Ordered up DH's gift from Think Geek , DH's birthday card, and sister's birthday card. So $1.65 (coffee)+ $5.72 (2 cards) + $29.00 (DH birthday gift).

Our workplace is talking about converting vacation and sick leave into PTO (paid time off). I tend to accrue beaucoup amounts of sick leave and I'm not terribly interested in starting a family, so it'll be an okay deal for me. The COO had mentioned that there were about 30 people who he felt might be abusing sick leave. I didn't think it was that many, but then again I work for a living.

Bought a new-ish cordless phone at a yard sale for 5$.

One of our cordless phones is busted, useful only for getting the voicemails. The other cordless phone is a bit better, but it is now very touchy - you have to set it in the cradle just so, otherwise it won't recharge. At one point three months ago, for practical purposes we had no phone service for a few hours. I had to email in sick that day.

We'd get a new phone at Best Buy, Circuit City or Fry's Electronics but as soon as DH gets into one of those places, him and his money goes bye bye, so the yard sale find was a true find for us.

I found the owner's manual on the Internet. FYI, that aspect of the Internet really makes yard sale finds extra valuable. I remember when you paid a premium for stuff if the manual came with. Now (devil horn alert) you can bargain someone down because of no manual, then go and find it on the Internet.

The second wedding was tonight. It was a small, lovely ceremony. There was a wedding toast/advice free-for-all. Mine was to remember that getting married is one thing but being married is an even bigger task.

I wrote a check and an OCP slip out for 35$ to a DRP and I put it in my purse along with the latest Netflix return. My first stop was the grocery store. In addition to groceries, there is a blue mailbox in the parking lot. After parking, and about a third of the way to the mailbox, I reached into my purse and just found the Netflix envelope. No DRP envelope. Back tracked, but no envelope. Okay, maybe it means that I forgot to put it in my purse. Mailed the Netflix DVD, ran my errands, got back home, looked around, dug behind the couch...

No DRP envelope. Found the cover envelope that everything came in, so I wasn't imagining things.

I want to think that a good samaritan found it and mailed it, or tossed it, or even would stick it back into my mailbox. I fear the opposite - that someone opened the envelope, steals the check and my account, or worse, sells the shares I have. I mean we aren't talking thousands, just hundreds, but ick.

What to do?

Gosh, how to not sound snarky but man! DH just got yanked around every which way. The original plan was that MIL (at 82) would be in Seattle for a day or two passing by as part of a tour of Victoria and Vancouver. Two relatives from Spokane came, one bearing flu. MIL caught the flu, and from that came a round robin of phone calls.

First MIL was not going to rejoin the group, then she got a doctor's clearance after a couple of days, then she was (and had DH make the plans), then she didn't feel up to it again. Which meant that MIL would have DH book ferries and taxis, then cancel them again, and then have to call other well meaning parties conveying the latest, conflicting story. What a waste!

There's pride and there's decisiveness. Even the idiot frugal DIL knows that. Finally even MIL realized that it was crazy to go on.

And to the tour guide trying to guilt me out by saying that she sat with MIL in the hospital at 3am: congrats, lady, for doing your job. It ain't all oohing at the Space Needle.

Curry lunch, payday, and $3 in the tip box. Waiting by the phone for the next strange installment.

Again - spent the $1.75 for the coffee and $3 for the tip jar and ate the sandwich from the work refrigerator; but best of all, for an after-lunch walk I went to Elliott Bay Book, perused the used section and found The Millionaire Next Door for $7. In the wedding gift pile it went. Of course, I had to check for condition, see that there was no notes in the margins, or at least see if the notes weren't of the "this sucks!" level. So I reread my favorite parts.

Of course, I'm still not a PAW (prodigious accumulator of wealth). Even with the saving and the current advances on the inheritance, I'm still about $50K from being an AAW (average accumulator of wealth). But I know I'm not a UAW (under accumulator of wealth). And I'll get to the million dollar stage eventually.

I bought my first T-bill today. A 4-week bond is 4.89%

Tomorrow will be the curry lunch and its payday.

All I spent today was for a $1.75 coffee, and I put 3$ in my tip box. We had a free lunch if we were willing to listen to the CEO talk about the usual.

Lawyer friend would have none of it - he invited me to the little curry spot. Tempting because if I got the special, it would be $4.36, but on the other hand, free is $0.

Last Tuesday I bought the footlong, cut into four pieces for 2 days - tomorrow will be the other half. Friday can then be the any-vegetable-curry for $4.36. I might be able to get away with what's in my wallet for the rest of the week. Nice.

But the very nicest twist today is that I got free organic produce at the Pike Market, using a Wednesday-only-$5-off coupon. Not very exciting - Yukon Gold potatoes and purple scallions, but I have another coupon, so I'll be back next week.

Found 3 pennies yesterday. 2 were out in the street, all mangled. It disproves my theory a bit about where to collect change. It could be that plenty of people saw them, but no one dared stand there in the middle of the street picking up a penny. Call me a daredevil.