baselle's Financial Diary

Sister called last night. The farm auction went off without a hitch. The farm equipment that was still there (!), tools, pig iron, things in the sheds, guns, and the household stuff that sister and family didn't take went for about $20,000.

She told me that she had a pretty good conversation with the executor and got caught up. The second parcel got two estimates - one with house, grounds, and land sold together, and one with most of the land split from house, barn, sheds, and 20 acres. If my sister gets the house and a bit of the cash equal in value to what I get in cash, it turns out that the numbers work if she really wanted the house - she would probably get enough cash to fix up the house, should she choose. Now she's a bit frightened - so far the creditors for mom's medical bills haven't come forward. If that holds it means that my sister and I will inherit in the very high $200,000s.

Sister was hoping that the decisions would be made for her in such an obvious economic way. And a couple of the distant family relations still in east-central Wisconsin really want her to keep the house. They told her that she wouldn't come back if she just took the cash. (Like me) That could well be, but I told her that it was her life. If she had plans for the house, fine, but don't take on a house just because people want you to.

DH was on a funny work schedule, so he was at work today. My opportunity to do something that he is lukewarm about. I saw Good Night, and Good Luck which I enjoyed very much, but I missed the matinee. Yikes! 9$.

Got the shoes at G.I.Joes today for 40$ and a sports bra for 30$. All I have to do is find flipflops for the shower and I'm set.

The farm auction was this afternoon. I wonder how sister and the executor got along? Haven't seen any Breaking News on the Milwaukee Journal site. Fingers crossed.

Feel like I'm coming down with something. Figures, its three days after my flu shot.

Not much happened today. I took the plunge and bought a gym membership to the gym next door at work. Gotta pick up some decent gym shoes. The ones I have are beaten, have holes, and have no ankle support. I have about $263 left of my paycheck, but I'm waiting for my sewer/water/gas bill, which should grab about $120 of it, so I really have about $140 left for gym shoes.

I was staring at the starlings in the trees across the street from my bus stop, but didn't take into account the birds in the trees I was under, waiting. My jacket got spluched. Yuck. Stupid bird with good aim.

Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 5.00 lunch (wonton soup)
Saving log - 4.00 tip box + 40.00 3M DRP

First of all, thanks for the comments about my goal!

About 95% of my emergency savings is in 3 places - an ING account, in electronic US savings bonds at Treasury Direct (1.5 yrs of buying a month at a time), and in 3 DRPs - stocks. I count them because I'm willing to sell the stock if need be, and they are stable, blue chip stocks bought with my post tax dollars, different than my 403B. The other 5% is in my bank savings and checking account.

One of the things sister and I talked about last night came into play this morning. Sister still had in her possession an offer on the same parcel from that same buyer had made to dad a year ago for a bit higher price. Remember, no one threw anything away. The offer was not radically higher, but a worth-your-while mentioning it higher.

Sister asked me what I should do, so I coached her on the innocent letter technique. She put a voicemail on the executor's phone, and then faxed a copy of that old offer to the executor with a note that said, "Gee, I found this in the house when I was cleaning. Why was the buyer willing to pay this price to dad last year? What has changed? (Blink, blink.)

She also mentioned that neither one of us was in a rush. True on my end, but I wonder how true it really is on hers.

I got an email this morning from sister that the executors and sister's lawyer were very interested in that offer, and are going to make a counter offer based on it. The innocent, non-defensive letter (fax) strikes again! It saves everyone's face and the tone lets them help you out.

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $7.62 lunch (had the lamb curry as a splurge)
Saving log - $5.00 tip box

Today was a faux-no spend day. I spent, but I used a gift card that someone else loaded up for me, and I saved half a large sandwich yesterday for lunch today.

Went to a health fair put on at work. Except for the fact that I need to lose weight (and who doesn't?) and my blood pressure is on the high normal side, things look good. Fasting blood sugar at 96 and total cholesterol at 175. YAY. I signed up for a gym membership at work. We'll see how that goes. I normally walk 10 blocks of downtown Seattle to get to my bus, and while it's keeping me from getting fatter, I need to think about improving that bit of my life.

Yesterday afternoon the executors called at work to update me; then sister called me later that night. The executors told her that I had agreed to X, and she was wondering whether that was the case. I honestly don't remember agreeing to anything, just that I understood what the situation was, so I told her that. I suspect that the executors are using divide and conquer, a useful tool when you trying to get scattered heirs to agree to anything. I'll have to keep my comments to myself - the non-committal uh-huh - and ask the executors point blank at the end of calls if I've agreed to anything.

My lawyer friend hadn't called her yet. He told me he would do it tonight.

I'll reach a milestone two days after payday, when I finish my sticking bits of my paycheck into various accounts. I will have saved 12 months worth of living expenses!

Things are looking up a bit from yesterday. Thank you very much for the supportive comments!

I had lunch with the lawyer friend today and two other friends (more his than mine). We all had or were close to family estate problems. Comforting in an odd sort of way. Lawyer friend offered to call up my sister and "talk her down", and get the full scoop from her side, which I thought was a great idea.

When I got home, I called sister and asked her whether it would be all right if my lawyer friend called, and she agreed. But it gets better. First of all, she agreed that she was acting like a skunk. It turns out that the executor apologized and told that actually they were a bit blindsided by the auction. Both the executor and sister will attend the auction this Saturday, which I think will do a world of good. They hadn't met, they've just called and emailed, so seeing a person instead of a name on bank stationary will calm sister down quite a bit. Turns out that the executor can call things off if the auction is a sham. Hearing that really eased sister's mind. Not to mention the pleasure she'll get introducing him to Nut. Now we're talking fun.

She also got word today that the executors presented the price of the first parcel to the interested parties. One party blanched a bit at the price and dropped out, another only wanted a small piece of land for a building (like that's gonna happen). But of the two parties left, each is very interested and will put up counter bids for us to consider. We're on our way. The apprasials for the second parcel, one complete and one split with house, grounds, barn, & 20 acres and the rest of the land are coming at the end of this week.

I asked sister about her plans for the house if decided on it and got an annoyingly vague answer - a second place, a dog run, a weekend place. Well, its her life. Then she let slip that she really needs the money because she doesn't want to work anymore. I don't get it - if that's the case, then take the money and don't take on an economic boat anchor like a 100 yr old house.

Whew. I feel better already.

Oh yes, and being the beneficiary of that mysterious Wisconsin Employees Trust thingy that mom had : $136. Let's see...lump sum or 30 yr annuity?

II, rather than 2. The blockbuster sequel. The Two Towers after The Fellowship of the Ring.

I described sister as "slightly" or a "bit". No slightly or bit about it. In the last entry, any slightly/bit should be changed to very. She's in a snit again, a flare up on the "why is US Bank the executor?" Now I'm getting the... "why are you trusting them to sell the land? Do you really trust them to sell the land at a decent price?" and the "dad wouldn't have wanted it this way..."

I'll ask my lawyer friend for advice, basically asking the question - how much communication should or can occur between heirs and the executor? I'm pretty sure that the answer is this: the executor is responsible for the efficient collection of debits and assets of the estate, and to disperse the leftover assets to the heirs. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dad be damned. Dad couldn't make a complex financial decision if his life depended on it. And since he's dead, it falls to his estate. Not to the heirs.

Of course I don't trust "them" for the sake of "them" to sell the land at a decent price, but I do trust the fact that the 4% of the estate fee will be the encouragement to sell the land at a decent price. The fee ensures that accepting lowball offers means that they will screw themselves. And I do trust a bank not to screw itself.

And should the heirs be around for the farm auction? Of course not. The household inventory was low and therefore sad, but theoretical. Seeing the stuff actually disappear for pennies on the dollar is going to be heartbreaking. What is sister going to do when she gets there. Buy stuff? Force the bidding up? Cry?

At least in the original plan, if the family collected household items and got a hold of them, we would generate family goodwill. Maybe that's what's really torqueing off sister. Bad decision on her end. After the word about the sinking foundation, she cooled on the idea about inheriting the house.

I'm going to have to warm up the K...yes dear response. Maybe I'll get another friend who mixes ambient music to loop in K... yes, dear to something restful. Oh wait - this is a marathon, and we're only rounding the first corner. A little drum and bass to get the energy going.

One thing's for certain. It's a whole lot easier to save money and buy your own assets than it is to inherit them.

Sister emailed that Nut was at it again. He's been on the grounds of the estate, poking around, exploring...umm, stealing. Sister put her foot down and called the sheriff and asked that the property be watched every so often. Of course, if the sheriff is on a routine, Nut will soon figure it out. He's not stupid, he's just ... Nut.

Sister was also a bit miffed at the household inventory appraisal. I explained to her that he set the price a bit low because if he wanted to buy it he would resell it and he would want to make a good profit if he kept his costs down. Sister is interested in buying most of it. I'm not terribly thrilled - her house is stuffed to the gills. I suggested that she cherry pick and buy up what was appraised the highest.

But finally, sister was very miffed that Nut knew when the farm auction was before she did. She's thinking collusion, and perhaps that's the case, but she's got to realize that the men in these parts behave exactly like hens - clucking and gossiping over coffee. Auction, FYI, is scheduled for next Saturday the 12th. Frugal meisters, if you're near Oshkosh WI, its 5975 Scott Road. Have fun but watch where you step.

I got an email myself today that I'm scratching my head about. It seems that there is a move afoot at work to have a socially responsible mutual fund as a choice in our 403(b). The email suggested that I encourage my team to vote on the proposal. I don't mind that. I mind that the thought is that I will somehow encourage folks to vote yes, because somehow my co workers have got it in their head that I love socially responsible investing.

Hmmmph. They're not going to like my opinion. For a mutual fund, I like making money. My opinion is that socially responsible investing tends to constrain your choices. Its like the old saying - "good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere." To make money, money's gotta go everywhere. No company has clean hands. Heck, when the economy is going to pot - what do people buy? Yep - cigarettes, booze, and porn. Add the fact that we're in a war so the gummint is going to buy weapons, and the future looks very, very bright for vice.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 4.38$ lunch (curry place has a great friday special)
Saving log - 6$ tip jar

Geez, after only 6 weeks? I try to space out my junk food proclivities, but today it was very rainy and dark in Seattle. I woke up at 7:00 and wondered if I was in a cave and when daylight would come. Worse, I really wanted to stay in nice, warm bed. I bribed myself - a junk food lunch if I would wake up and go to work.

A co-worker wanted to thank me for a couple of emergency projects I did for him. (I work for a non-profit and during fundraising season nearly everything is an emergency project) I picked up a Starbucks gift card as a thank you from another co-worker...so I gave him my card and asked him to load it up. Haven't used the card yet, but it seems like a quickie way to collect goodwill.

Scheduled my next set of I-bond purchases in 2006. 300$/month for 6 months. Since I worked my way up saving 500$, it means that I free up 200$ to buy more DRP stock. I know that there's a calculation (from the Drip Advisor) that you can make on your portfolio to buy stock in the most strategic way. A nice little project. I have a couple of months to figure it out and either pick up an Excel spreadsheet with the calculation or make one.

Tonight the tops of all the trees at my bus stop look like they are covered with black, oblong fruit. Then one of the fruits flutters a bit and settles on another branch. Starlings settling down for the night. Brrrr.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 6.28$ burger, fries, root beer.
Saving log - 3$ in the tip jar

Well, no day away from work goes unpunished. I was hopping today so the day went by fast.

At lunch and learn today we learned about on new medical insurance plan. The old one would increase over 30% from last year. The new plan, a PPO, seems pretty good. Too good. I wonder what the catches are.

The box sister sent was my high school stuff. Evil woman!

Saving log - 4$ tip jar.
Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 4.38$ lunch (curry special)

I was sick, so I stayed home. Actually it was due to eating a large quantity of roasted, salted pumpkin seeds. I was impacted, let's leave it at that. I called it in as food poisoning, and although I wasn't exactly poisoned, it did involve food. What else was I going to say?

Most of the day I slept, except when I ate the last 4 caramels from trick or treating. (Gotta get right back on that horse ) We got 20 trick or treaters last night, last year we got zero. Very unpredictable. Its why I love caramels - they're usually the frugal choice.

Got the household inventory, the executor's summary, and a box from sister in the mail today. I asked for a several items and pictures and I suspect that that's inside the box. The letters were soaking wet in the mailbox; I'll have to email the executors and warn them to send anything that I have to sign in a water-proof envelope.

I'm a bit disappointed by the fixed rate rate on the new I-bonds, but buying a small amount each month ($300-$500) means I have the luxury of keeping them put. I don't have a large lump of money nor time to chase interest rates.

A lot of my co workers dressed for Halloween. I went topical - a medical professional with bird flu . DH, at a different office, went as Doc Holliday. He had the cough from last week. Scratch off another lifetime goal - I got on the bus in full makeup and costume and didn't die of complete embarrassment. Less embarrassment - I lost track of my bus pass this weekend. In Seattle, if you keep a regular routine, the bus driver knows that you have a pass and waves you in. Still, you have to mumble something like, "Sorry - I forgot it in my regular pants."

I ended up with 63$ for the month, not too bad because generally Halloween throws me for a loop. Without Halloween I would have ended up with 102$. With the work potluck it was very nearly a no-spend day - the only spend was a $1.65 coffee.

Got paid today, so the check has gotten farmed out - 445$ for my share of rent, 100$ to ING, 50$ to bank savings, 40$ to 3M DRP. I'm waiting now for what the I-bond rates are going to be. US Treasury tends to be pretty timely - they announce right away.

Didn't get any insights about Mr. Nut from Bugs Bunny, but I did get some laughs. Sister thinks we are at a standoff. Each side has to prove ownership of stuff, and unlike cars, equipment doesn't come with titles. Sister got some more bad news about the house - a corner of the foundation is collapsing. I don't see how she'll make the numbers work, or even why she would want to, but I support her nonetheless.

could not have come fast enough.

Work is coming fast and furious and I'm now getting the onslaught of questions and little fires and puzzles to solve on a deadline. It's fun and strenuous and makes the day go fast but even after a 45 minute bus ride I'm hyper and it takes the rest of the evening to simmer down.

Then I'm at home and am following via email and phone the latest of sister's fires that she's dealing with. There is one particular farmer who really, really is aggrieved and is taking it out of our hides by "borrowing" ie stealing dad's farm equipment. I'll call him Nut. Nut was at the funeral and the funeral director warned us about him. I have to think that he's unbalanced to say the least. Nut was thinking that dad's stuff was his, he was the son dad never had, that dad was murdered. (!? - the cousin who found dad completely disproved that). Nut called sister and I "the girls" at the funeral even though he's at least five years younger than either of us. Okay, now that really, really hurt. .

I just shake my head at all this. The farm equipment is worth more than the household goods, but we aren't talking about things like a pristine tractor, lovingly preserved and of historical value. Nope, we are talking about stuff akin to a working tractor, machine greasy, with a pelt of oat chaff and dried alfalfa, held together with welds and solders and used parts. Nut has fetched a lawyer himself, claiming that dad had some of his stuff. As I said before, he's taking our junk hostage. Nut's getting sister riled up, and he's even getting me riled up.

And finally its rainy and icky in Seattle and I got my Looney Tunes vol 3 DVD last night. I see a weekend at home watching the art of my best buds: Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freling and Chuck Jones. Maybe Bugs Bunny can give me some comic inspiration on how to deal with Nut.

300$ to an October I-bond, 50$ to Coke DRP, 35$ to WEC DRP, 4$ in the tip box.

Well we decided on the bird in hand approach - the selling price of the land starts at 300K, and the executors will present the offer to the three interested parties, and we see who bites. I still think that this is the best way. The offer is a fair price, strategically low enough so we should have some sort of bidding war on it and we keep our costs at 4% flat (the executor's cut). As DH put it: we want them bidding against each other, not against us.

Sister agreed to it because I agreed to it. I'm sure she's thinking that I'm a traitor, selling our heritage on the cheap. Or maybe not. It could be that she's relieved that I made the decision and she has cover if things turn sour. That's fine - happy to help.

Sister got the household inventory and the auction appraisal on that. $2500. You buy stuff and you buy a ton of stuff and then you buy more stuff. Pretty soon your house gets cluttered, and for what? Worth anything intrinsically? Nope. Buy your stuff, use it up, enjoy it. Don't assume its worth anything except for memories and enjoyment.

Tonight, waiting for my bus downtown, I was watching starlings. The starlings are very active in the twilight these days, tinseling themselves all up on the tops of trees, squawking and chirping as the tree branches would bend from the wind and the weight of several starlings. Ten or so birds would fall out of a tree and swirl around for thirty seconds then alight on the tree next door. It was strange because they were active on just this block. It was like an outtake to a Hitchcock movie.

Put 3$ in my tip box.

Well the phone call was pretty uneventful. After preliminaries about the weather (cloudy here, thank you, just like the stereotype) and football (how 'bout them Seahawks?) the executors and I got down to business.

The assessment for one parcel of land hit about $290,000. There are four parties at various levels of interest. They figured two are real buyers, the other two not. Sister asked for another appraisal and asked them to dig a little deeper to find out about the rumor of commercial zoning. We have a choice - sell now at close to the assessment price (the bird in hand approach) or wait a bit, get the title, then sell using a realtor - who might get a better price but will take a 10% cut (two in the bush approach). Would we get more, would we pay more, would we suffer more, would we have no buyers. (maybe, maybe, yes, possible.). This week the second parcel with the house, household items, barn, and buildings is going to be assessed - with two scenarios. One is house and grounds split, the other house and grounds together.

There were 3 savings accounts that they've rolled up into the money market sweep account. I figure that it was about $10,000 all told. They were still looking for some of the co-op accounts, and are rolling up mom's accounts too, including a mystery insurance account from 1969. They figure that mom's medical bills were at about $90,000.
Cars are going for auction probably for parts. Leftovers will be sold for scrap.

They figure that it will take about 15 months to wrap things up. Land is notoriously non-liquid; that seemed about right in my mind.

At the end I asked for a written summary of what we had discussed.

At lunch, my lawyer friend asked me to make sure that I clarified what these estimates are. Assessment or appraisal? We have two currents, one underneath the other. Assessments should be low for tax purposes, and are meant to be a limit (matter of fact the executors are trying to go under 675K, the limit when we have to *file* WI tax). Appraisal is for the realtor and the seller to try to get a fair (or better than fair) price. They can go high as what the buyer is willing to pay. And then what the buyer bought at will be what the land will be taxed (assessed) at.

Put $45 into savings from my tip box.

Well Friday I shut my office door and got a lot done. That was good.

It was a nearly no-spend day, except for the coffee in the morning. Had lunch with my new boss (she took me out) at my usual curry place and we talked abit about her job and my job and how I got into my job and a little bit of the office gossip at that time. And we talked a bit about death and inheritance and probate.

Lucky thing, too. I got back and got a voicemail at work from the executor. Basically it was arrange a time to call to update me on what they are doing, have done, etc. Monday at 8:00 am my time, 10:00 am their time, and they'll call me (unless of course, it turns into 8:05 am and I call out of sheer nervousness - hah hah). I come to work a little late on Monday. I asked them whether there was anything I needed to do or to get from my end. Nothing, so I don't think I'm going to get a grill.

I talked with sister, who wants a detailed breakdown from the executors of everything that they have been doing. She passed on an email from her lawyer talking to the lawyer of the farmer who had has some of our broken farm equipment. He's asking for a list of his broken items that are on our property. In other works, he's holding some of our broken farm stuff hostage for some of his broken stuff. Just charming. It would be laugh out loud funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

Finally, I added 7$ to my tip box, bringing my current total to 40$ this month. I started the tip box in July 2004. I totaled all the savings that came from there - 756$!

Saturday was routine - a couple of grocery stores and back home to make beef barley vegetable soup.

Well only my coworkers called on the phone. Go figure. Swatted at a number of work related problems that I jokingly call horseflies because what do they buzz around? Yep, bs. Anyway, the horseflies kept me from doing what I wanted to do today. Time to call in the heavy artillery tomorrow: shut the door, and hit the DND button on the phone.

Except that I'm supposed to get more calls from the executor. Sister is now livid about the land assessment on one of the pieces of the land. At $290,000 she thinks its too low and that somehow its not taking into account the fabulous rumor of "some of it is zoned commercial". It's 72 acres of land, not El Dorado, hon. ...And from her, the money realization about what inheriting the house actually means. ...And she thinking that the executors aren't telling her about mom's medical bills.

I'm finding that my lawyer friend is right. I'm riding sister's waves of emotion. She's up, she's down, she's hearing things (and worse, beginning to believe them), she's closest so she's the main contact for the executors and while she was good at finding money, she's not the money/financial mastermind, and so I think she's nervous about asking questions. Worse, I'm getting swamped by her emotions. I have to try and use dry logic to get her to step back and think about what is actually being done.

I'm feeling flashes of anger myself. Why can't she step back? I know why. 2000 miles of distance and not being bugged by that particular swarm of horseflies.

I got called at work today by one of the executors in Wisconsin. He was asking whether I had gotten and filled out the W9 they had sent, which I did. It was to get me in "the system" and probably to make sure that I existed. I told him about the irony of that letter and the SSN card from the lawyer. He got a kick out of it.

It was a good opportunity to ask a few questions.

The list of funds and fee structure they sent me was for information and CYA purposes. They have been picking up and rolling in little savings accounts from mom and dad into a money market sweep account, ie a money "bucket". The original account of mom's that started sister's grudge with the bank, well, the bank executors needed a court order to roll it in and put into the bucket. I'll have to mention it to sister that it was nothing personal. Even the bank needed industrial strength legal means to get at it, and it was one of their own accounts.

The executor asked whether I knew anything about an insurance policy grampa got for mom when mom was one. Yep, no one threw anything away, and luckily it looked insurance-y enough that we stuck it in a file. I didn't know anything.

He asked about the Employees Trust piece of mail. Sister got it too and was asking about that. We mused a bit on where mom must have worked to get it - he thought she had to be a teacher, I knew that she had worked at the public library, and I think that was where it came from. I explained that I had filled it out and sent it back and that it looked like they were searching for beneficiaries. The executor told me that he'll have to explore this a bit further - it'll go to us but if a beneficiary was not named it should go through dad's estate bucket first.

Later that day I missed another Wisconsin call (I was in a meeting with my boss.). Sister later emailed me the land assessment had come in. Zoned agricultural and at 4K/acre, but I think that there are 3 estimates. Wonder which one they used? I could tell from the email that sister wasn't thrilled.

I get the feeling everyone's going to call me tomorrow.

The triggers were all pulled today:
Moved $250 to savings to buy the October I-bond.
Wrote a $35 check to DRP#3.
$3 in the tip jar.

Decided after several weeks of due diligence to start a 4th DRP (Marshall & Ilsley, a mid-sized Midwestern bank), so I ordered it from Temper Investment Services. I wrote a voided check and tried unsuccessfully to fax it from work. We have phone and fax issues - grrr. I found a Kinko across from where I eat lunch and it worked there. Now I wait for a few weeks. I bought it before the 25th, so hopefully I caught their schedule correctly. If not, my stocks are a buy and hold, so what's a few more weeks when your timeframe is years?

And lunch today was in the Uwajimaya food court. Uwajimaya is an asian grocery store on steroids, along with a bookstore, food court, and mini-shopping center. It was the 10th anniversary, so everything was 10% off.

G*d, I hate that. 8:11! I dressed in a hurry, took a quick number one, ran out the door and made it to the 8:30 bus. Made me feel like an elementary school kid again. I made it to work 20 minutes late. At least we're not in a place where you punch in and as long as you get your projects done, you're fine. Stayed an extra 15 minutes, though.

Got the Employees Trust letter from my mom's work. You see, when my mom died two years ago, none of her estate got settled. Dad wasn't up for it. She died at 61 from breast cancer so she missed social security benefits. Sister and I were collecting papers from her too. We'll settle it all together, I guess. Anyway, they were basically beating the bush for beneficiaries - sister and I. Based on what was checked, they were going to get mom's death certificate from my sister.

I got another odd piece of mail from US Bank. It was a list of their mutual funds, with a letter from, well...let me put it this way: if the executor was Batman, this was Robin. Robin talked about "we may invest..." Hmmmph. Not at these fee rates. Since there was no application, I will take it under advisement, and have another chat with my lawyer friend.

I got two pieces of mail today.

#1 - from US Bank in Oshkosh, asking me for my SSN.
#2 - from sister's lawyer. Inside was my original SSN card with my signature from when I was 11 yrs old. Found amongst father's papers. I probably popped it in a file during that paper-o-rama week with sister.

Coincidence, or does it rise to the level of irony? Discuss.

Paid $350 to credit card. With that, the debt that I took on during dad's funeral has been paid off.

Yippee!!!!!
Since its retroactive from the end of August, the paycheck is about $120 (net). I figure the raise will be about $40/ paycheck, and along with the net $50/paycheck salary adjustment and the original promotion it means that I'm making 20% more now than I was in January. Thank you, emergency fund!

It'll bulk up my ING account, but I'm seriously considering bumping up my 403(b) to 15% up from 12%. On the other hand I don't really like my fund choices. There's always starting a Roth, or just simply going it alone and bumping up my stock and I-bond purchases.

And then what to do when the inheritance comes in. I also got a phone call asking for my mailing address re: mom's death benefit. I called them back and gave them my address. I wonder what that is?

But as for now, I broke down and bought new shoes and ordered the Looney Tunes vol 3 DVD. Spent the $120.

In the last few days:

So sister made her wishes more public to have the house, barn, and a few acres around it, and to put the kibosh on the family to get items. I'm shaking my head here - why beg me to "hurry up with that email to the family asking them about the items they were interested in..."? I put a lot of energy into writing that email. I wanted to be clear, precise and succinct. It wasn't shoveling a few IM shortcuts together This jerking around made me look like a fool. Maybe that was the plan to force the issue. Of course with me in Seattle and all the other players in Wisconsin, the midwest, and the east coast my thoughts are expendable.

Sigh. When I get conspiracy thoughts I know I need some serious handholding. I forwarded sister's email to my lawyer co worker and we had a lunch and an informal (non-billable) chat. This is what I got:

a.) According to the will, I inherit equally with my sister.
b.) Nothing can happen without my agreement.
c.) I can simply "cash out" my half - in other words, take my half in cash. Sister gets a lot less cash and the grounds and house. To the executor and the lawyer, that is a very easy transaction.
d.) Sister's changes of mind and of heart are very common. She might well change her mind several times throughout this process.
e.) You will never persuade sister or get her to see your viewpoint. Lawyer friend role-played with me as a joke. Sample -
Me: Fine by me that you get the house.
Him (as sister): why do you hate us and want to torch the place and don't you have at least one good memory of the farm?
Me: Okay, I don't want to torch the place. What if I want the house?
Him (as sister): what, you're trying to screw me over, you don't think I can own and keep up this house by myself?

In other words, [O]K...yes, dear was the right response. I'm to keep saying it. Often.

In other news, the electric bill came in. $68.06. (Summer rates, and Seattle comes pre-airconditioned) I budgeted $70. Yes! Added $8 in the last couple of days to my tip box. I get paid tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see what my job evaulation has earned me.

My email to the family was a big hit. Everyone wants to go, get a truck, and take everything. It wasn't what I wrote, but now we've started a gold rush that sister and I are going to have to manage.

Talked to sister on the phone this evening. Sister and her partner definitely want the house and a couple of acres of grounds for... something. Maybe a bed and breakfast (I'm shaking my head here). If they want to put the effort in, fine, it will take a lot of effort. Makes sense why she kind of doesn't want everyone coming in a truck to take everything. Why the he&& did she ask me to send that email to ask everyone about what they wanted? I feel like I'm jerked around. But she'll have to buy out my half.

The land is going to be sold and I'm guessing that we are splitting the proceeds (after debts are paid off) to give us room to manuever. Sigh. Sister was telling about one of dad's friends saying, "don't let them jerk you around, some of that land is zoned commercial. That should be priced at 10000/acre. " She was worried. Not that I'm not, but if the bank is getting a 4% flat rate and they get two offers - one at 10K and one at 5K, which are they going to pick? I told her she has to do some actual research, not taking some old fart's word for it. And she has a lawyer; she'd better be asking questions.

The executor was officially named on Sept 26. Suddenly, everyone but sister is working at warp speed to get things wrapped up. Both parcels of land will be sold, sooner rather than later. It boils down to the house and a few acres around the house. Sell it and auction the household items right away along with the land (executor position), or sell the land quickly, and leave the house for a little while (sister). I was asked whether I had the burning desire for the proceeds.

I told her no, there was no rush from me.

But I'm not sure why sister is stalling. (Like really stalling - 1-5 yr stalling). It could be that she does want the house, or that she thinks the house is worth more, or she's sentimental. She did put a lot of work into cleaning it and she just got done painting it. Selling the house to someone who will immediately tear it down despite her work is probably pretty appalling.

I'm to wrangle up the relatives who took a tour of the inside of the house and were looking around. Dad's twin sister asked for items, which I think I mostly knew about. My notes that day weren't that good - but you know, it was after the funeral, and frankly no one was saying, "I'm gonna hold my breathe and die if I don't get X." We'll see what the gang asks for. Sister will just say no. like she mostly did that day. Or in her tone: NO. And there were other items in the attic we're asking around in the family about.

Put another 5$ in the tip box, but took out 1$ to go into a football pool. Sent another 40$ to the 3M drip.

Went to Costco today for the first time in months. Everything got rearranged so we were against shopping cart traffic most of the time. Picked up socks, undies, (clothes I'm leery of at the thrift store!), AAA batteries, chicken stock, cream of mushroom soup, DH's romaine and coffee, chicken tenders, and a pack of dark teal bath towels. $118. That's why I don't usually go; I can never get out with anything less than 100$.

Put another 50$ into bank savings (not ING), and put another 7$ in the tip box, which eventually goes into bank savings. This is where I pull the funds to buy the savings bonds. Paid my share of the rent ($445). Saw online that I bought over 1 share of Coke stock at the end of the month and bought another third of a share by the quarterly dividend.

Yesterday was just plain weird. I forgot my PDA (Handspring Visor) so I felt naked all day. The bus was packed by mostly rude people (what kind of person can sit next to a 75 year old woman standing in the aisle?), but a few were nice enough. A car cut the bus off and parked right in front of the bus, causing it to have problems getting out of its stop. The driver was incensed enough to get out of the bus and yell at the guy for a minute or two. A few blocks later he mused (over the microphone) why are car drivers so stupid. A passenger shot back: all the bright car owners are on the bus.

I was invited to an inpromptu lunch at my favorite curry place. I barely knew the two of my lunch companions from work, but they were friendly enough. I opened my wallet and whooops -- I had to borrow some money. I was strangely unembarrassed when I asked the woman next to me for a loan.

After lunch I went to the bank, and the only place that had something cheap enough to break a twenty the right way was a Starbucks. So I bought and drank a coffee at 1 pm. Went back to work and paid off my loan. She was a little surprised to get it back so quick (45 min, no chance for interest). Right around 11 pm I knew that that 1 pm coffee was a very, very big mistake.

It set me up for a not so terrific day today. But not much happened. At least nothing weird.

Put $100 in the ING account. Still haven't gotten the heiress letter yet. Sister thinks that only one of us had to vouch for it. Since she's in Milwaukee and I'm in Seattle, if you were mailing a letter in Wisconsin, who would you pick?

Speaking of that, sister - with help from dad's friends - got bushes trimmed up, got the paper and mud wasp nests around the house cleaned up and gotten rid of, a well capped, and the big nasty sump pond cleaned up in front of the house, and the house primed, ready to be painted. She even found homes for the crew of barn cats that were our audience when we were finding paper. On the bad news, several farm implements have gone missing. We know who took them; we are making sure the bank executor knows and is dealing with it (they're earning that 4 flat, remember?). Fall is coming, though, and with it, making decisions that affect the plans of other people. For instance, a farmer rented half of dad's land to grow his crops. If we're going to sell, then the renter needs to know so he can make plans or can buy it out right.

We have a new manager at work. Talking with her a little bit, we seem to have a lot in common.

I got some bubble tea this afternoon, then caught a heel on a crack in the street and promptly tripped and fell, losing my tea. Its a sign to join the bubble tea 12-step program.

My six month job evaluation went very, very well. I scored a 4 out of 5; 5 means we're gonna burn the building down if you leave. And I only had to get a 3, which means we have no complaints about you. The COO put a note into our HR department that I qualify for a % increase according to my offer letter. And its retroactive - my six months was due a month ago.

It will be interesting though. We got a COLA adjustment in August. HR could simply shoot back that they already gave me the increase. Of course, the offer letter didn't mention a phrase like "in lieu of other salary adjustments", so I might well get the rare and elusive double raise. (triple if count the original promotion).

Last night, to celebrate and to get out of the house, DH and I went to the St. Demetrios Church Greek Festival, and I bought $26 worth of Greek foods that I never can seem to find. Taramosalata, the marbled halva, kasseri cheese, the cookie/ baklava sampler (complementary insulin shot taped inside - just kidding), a Greek candy bar. I love trying stuff like that. Always a leap into the unknown. Usually I like to try to pick up one of those charity cookbooks - the church ladies recipes - but the production values are too high so you know all the recipes were written by a professional. We went to a wine tasting - 4 whites and 4 reds for 5$. A couple of bottles were tasty but nothing worth the 15$ - 20$ per bottle.

Hit and miss at the grocery stores - romaine was at good price, chicken stock was at a high. But November, time of cheap chicken stock, will come.

from debtfreeme: how do you buy a stock one at a time?

I first learned about buying company stock and dividend reinvestment plans (DRPs) from my DH, who bought me my first share of Coke 7 years ago. Here's the deal. Many blue chip companies that pay a dividend offer to sell company stock to shareholders through a transfer agent who operates like a bank (most transfer agents are banks). You then send money to the transfer agent, who then buys however amount of shares with the amount of money you gave them. In addition, dividends that your stock generates can be sent to you or can be reinvested to buy more stock. Many of these plans are free, or nearly so. The ones I have officially charge a fee, but the company pays the fee for me.

To read more about them, here are some links...

http://www.fool.com/School/DRIPs.htm
http://www.directinvesting.com/Drip-Information/DripInfo5.cfm
http://dripinvesting.org/drips.htm

The biggest hurdle of DRPs is starting a DRP and getting that first share of stock. You actually have to own that share, it has to be in your name - its different than actually buying that share from a broker, who buys it for you but the broker owns the stock and tacks your name on it. A broker will transfer a share into your name for a fee. If you have a friend who owns a share of a company you want you can ask them to transfer a share to you. Sometimes you can inherit shares and convert them.

After you get the share, you have to send that share to the company's transfer agent with paperwork. That's time, hassle, and other fees.
That's why I used The Temper Enrollment Services for my other two DRPs, here: http://www.directinvesting.com/ Click on "DRIP search" in the top bar. Its a great place. You can type in a company symbol and it'll tell you a bit about the drip.

For the price of a share + 10% of the share (in case the price goes up!) + $30 to $50 on-time-only fee (depends on whether its a big popular DRP or not), Temper does the whole thing for you - buys the share, contacts the transfer agent, has the transfer agent set up the DRP. In my mind, its money well spent. It just takes awhile to set it up.

After Temper sets it up, they leave and you just send money to the transfer agent. Depending on the DRP, you can send big amounts too.

No heiress letter yet, emailed sister to ask whats up.

Had the urge for another bad-for-your-health-life-affirming lunch. Hit Dome Burger for the first time in three years. All their burgers are fresh, the fries were hot, and all the condiments you could want. I had a meeting today so I didn't load up on the onions. Took me back to high school and college; Dome Burger decor reminds me of a college dorm. Prices had gone up about .50 from last I went.

Bought a $300 I-bond today. You buy those at the end of the month because the issue date is set at the first of the month. Buying at the end of the month means instead of a year's wait before you can redeem them, its 11 months.

My $40 bought a 1/2 a share of 3M, so I have 19.66 shares of 3M. Tomorrow $50 will be taken out of my savings account to buy Coke. I should have 61.50 shares of that. (FYI - Dome Burger has a Coke fountain. Ka-ching!) On the first day of October the $35 I sent to Wisconsin Energy Corp should buy another share of that. I should have over 10 shares of that. Compared to my 403Bs, these stocks are a small proportion. I just thought I'd quietly add to my positions, reinvest the dividends (all pay a reasonable dividend and cost nothing to invest in their DRPs). Investing $40, $50 at a time feels way different than plunking down a $1000 at a time - it feels nice, like I'm sending my money away to earn money for me.

Waiting for the paycheck to come on Friday.

Spending log - 1.65 coffee (paid w/change) + 6.00 lunch + 2.75 bubble tea
Saving log - 4.00 tip box + 300 savings bond