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Archive for January, 2010

We made the National News

January 10th, 2010 at 02:52 pm

and not for being the marijuana growing capital of the world....

I have lived in California my entire life and I think this is the worst I can remember or maybe because it is the most recent.

I was sitting right here working on finances when the earthquake hit. It was hard getting to the door of my office, which I had closed to keep Ally out. My little dog was running down the hall. I scooped him up and got to the front door. My husband, Ally and daughter were in the dining room area where DH scooped up Ally and they made it outside behind me. Our hanging flower baskets were still swinging 20 minutes later.

Financially we don't have earthquake insurance because it is so expensive. No damage done to our house, but we are about 30 miles north of the epicenter.

Also DH pointed out that our half a case of water is not doing to do much, so we need to get an emergency kit made and put out in our shed or somewhere we can get to it.

Otherwise on the financial front, earlier in the day, we ran out errands and paid cash everywhere sticking to our cash only challenge for the year.

Staples was running a rebate on paper for $1.00 a ream after rebate. I ran out of paper this week (I don't use that much) and went in to get a ream while DH checked out at Winco (spent $41.92)and luckily they had a standing ad right when I walked in the door. So I got 2 reams (limit was 2). I think it may run through today if anyone needs it. They had other items that were $1.00 after rebate too.

We spent $42.37 at Costco, which included $12.27 for dog treats, so our total groceries for most of the week was quite low, but we have lots of meat in the freezer and a full pantry. So basically we bought milk, half and half, big bag of broccoli, big thing of salad lettuce, bananas, apples, tomatoes, yogurt, bread, lunch meat, Diet Rite raspberry soda, brussel sprouts and Gerber snack items for Ally.

DH just left to drive to town which was much harder hit, to check on his business and his parents who lost their old china and glasswear.

Ummm.... found my mistake

January 7th, 2010 at 10:13 pm

I entered the AMEX payment as 1/1/2009 instead of 2010. Whew at least I found it. I have been using Quicken for the past 10 years or so.

However, I use YNAB for budgeting. I know it is time consuming to enter both, but until I am sure the newest version of YNAB is adequate for tax reports, I will continue to download into both. If I enter transactions every few days it is not that bad.

Okay I confess, last year I quit using YNAB around July/August when life got way too crazy planning both my mother's 80th birthday party AND my granddaughter's 1st.

I am not throwing any huge parties that I know of this year, so I am hoping to stick with it.

How can quicken be messed up already?

January 7th, 2010 at 06:01 am

It's January 6th, what is going on?? I made a $2000.00+ payment to AMEX and quicken is not showing it in either the AMEX account or the bank account it came out of, yet my bank account balance is correct, AMEX is not. What did I do??

Isn't this the year I am going to finally be organized and on top of things??

Maybe I should just start over with a new quicken file for 2010, especially since I cannot download Chase right now and need to make a new account. I don't really compare from year to year, well I do, but I print out at the end of the year a total spending category report.....

DH and YD are at a San Jose Sharks game tonight, and I am home alone with my granddaughter for another 24 hours. Today went good. She is the happiest baby ever. Hoping DH can stop at Trader Joe's on the drive home to pick up some peanut butter.

2010, Time to Begin

January 1st, 2010 at 07:03 pm

Well 2010 is starting out with possible bad news. It is very hush, hush, but I was told I may be losing my job to outsourcing. I have been at the hospital for 13 months. It is possible I could get a different job in the hospital or I could do transcription again from home for an outsourcing company. The problem is the great health benefits I have.

DH and I sat this morning before he left for work (just to close out the 2009 books) and worked out our plan. Groceries and household paid for with cash that will be kept in envelopes in our safe. Gas may be charged on AMEX (Costco), but DH will give me receipts to pay immediately. Travel will also be charged on Amex, but that will most likely be sparse this year. We have a large AMEX bill as usual and we have enough to pay off all credit card debt (put YD and SIL's flight home on another) AND we have enough to cover January's expenses.

So I am following the YNAB plan of living on last month's income. If I had know I was possibly losing my job I would have made some different choices in the last few months. DH bought me an IPOD for my birthday and I suggested we take it back. He was very hurt by it and said we can just deal with the loss of the job if and when it comes.

We can survive on DH's salary alone, even budgeting $600.00 a month for health insurance, but we will be pinching every penny until it screams! DH has never participated in the finances except to be the main spender since he grocery shops and works 2 blocks from Costco. I told him no more bringing home filet mignon on the spur of the moment from Costco.

I told him I need help in being frugal like starting geranium clippings for hanging baskets this year instead of buying plants (other types of flowers). In other words we need to look at every aspect of our life, not just food.

My mammo and annual exam are scheduled for January and I am hoping to get my colonoscopy scheduled this month (first screening). I know I have health insurance at least through January since I have not been laid off yet. Who knows, it could be six months, but apparently it is in the process. I am going to live like it is my last day of work every day.

We have plenty of food in the freezer. We were able to pick up a case of Foster Farms chicken breasts at Costco for $1.39 a pound. So we have 108 frozen chicken breasts along with the rest of the side of beef and some venison from this year. Living in zone 9 for gardening, I think we can plant lettuce, spinach etc next month (we eat a lot of salad since I am low carb). We still have kale and swiss chard producing. We also have about $1800 in gift certificates for Winco (western cheap grocery store) that was DH's bonus from work.

So my goal is $300 for food and household (cash, not including Winco). Gas is hard to budget since we have to get to work, but last year it ran around $300 a month. I have plenty of yarn and fabric to keep me busy and I have been utilizing the library for reading. DH also got me a bunch of I-tune gift certificates along with the IPOD, so I don't plan to spend anything for that. Apparently the library where my daughter lives lets you download books, so she is getting a library card and will let me use it too because I would love to listen to some books on tape while gardening and cleaning, etc.

So I am trying to not be worried, but it is kind of hard at this point in our lives (I just turned 52, DH turned 51 in September).

So 2010, time to begin!