Also, my favorite children’s movies are “The Neverending Story” and “Labyrinth”

:)

Is there a way we can politely bow out of these relationships, without causing many hurt feelings? Also, are there any relatively safe online communities that we could use to find people in our area that share our same interests? I know we can make new friends easily, but we don’t know where to start looking for them…

Thanks!

Is my plan sound? Should I try to put money towards all three at once or is in sequential order best?

thanks,
C

Is my current plan a sound one?

I don’t honestly thing there is anything we can do about the issues with the credit. Everything, literally, is over 5 years old on his report. Two of the bad things are due to fall off in 2010 and the other in 2011. Those are the only bad things on there. Mine doesn’t have any recent things either, all over 5 years old. I’m not due for the free report again until this September and I’ll bet a lot of the things on there from last year dropped off since they were so close to the time frame for reporting. There isn’t anything recent on either one of our histories since we try very hard to take care of our current obligations on time. I was of the opinion that since almost everything on there was bad, that it was important to re-establish something current that shows good. He has a revolving line of credit through GE Money Bank which shows current. I thought that by having a good car loan that his credit score wold improve so that in 3-5 years we’d be in a much better position to buy a house. By then mostly everything bad will have fallen off both of our reports and we’ll be in a much better position.

I hope this is the right place to post this question, but I was just wondering how you first got into blogging, and what you used when you first started out.

Did you start with your own domain or did you start of with something like a Blogger account?

Reading your blog and seeing your passion for writing about frugality and life has made me rather inspired to perhaps start blogging myself.

Any info would be helpful,

Kayla

Consumer Reports still makes money on selling content to database vendors that in turn are picked up and purchased by public libraries.

just today i was buying a used refridgerator for one of the rental apartments we have

i don’t have time to have the old one looked at- the earliest they could send someone out is thursday, and i wanted to get something delivered today so the tenants don’t have to go w/out a working fridge. and it’s already very, very old, so i didn’t want to repair it.

BUT, the guy at the store said he could send a repair guy out to look at it- if it wasn’t worth fixing, they’d deduct the cost of the repair visit from whatever replacement fridge i bought from them. if they could have done it today, i might have gone that route

i only went to this place because the appliance shop i usually buy from didn’t have anything in their used appliance section which was suitable

but i absolutely love the policy they have of deducting the cost of having the repair guy look at it from the cost of the appliance you end up buying from them

maybe there’s a place near you that is similar?

and i bought a used washer and dryer last year for our place- there is a 1 year service contract thrown in for free, and i had them come out already to replace the water pump- i had done a similar repair on another machine a few years ago- again, an underwire from a bra was the culprit.

anyway- i got hte washing machine for less than $200- same w/ the dryer

you don’t have to buy new, and you don’t have to buy used form a private party and deal w/ hauling away the old one or going to get the new one

buying used appliances has really worked out well for me. i only bought a new dishwasher because i couldn’t get one used.

and if you have to buy a new washing machine, or a used washing machine, repairmen have told me whirlpool is the best brand- don’t often need repairs, last for 20 years, and if they need a repair, it’s simple to perform

good luck!

“Of course, this all varies with your situation, but if your plan is one where everything is funded after you cover your deductible, then your plan sounds absolutely correct.”

100% correct. one of the first years my company (’mine’ in terms of i work there not i own it) offered the hsa, all covered services were paid at 100% after the deductible was met. that is a stellar deal but unfortunately extremely rare. my company only did it to get people on board then they switched to a 10% or 20% copay plan the next year. but dont get me wrong. being only 21, the hsa is a fantastic investment.

“I have the hsa, my decucitble is 1500, so i have that in the hsa, but how much beyond that ought i fund?”

that depends on your health plan. if your deductible is 1500, and you save 1500, then all you will do is save enough to pay for your responsibility before insurance kicks in. but even after that happens, you will still have coinsurances, copays, and services that may not be covered that you will still need money for.

“I can take money out w/ a credit card, but yes, only health expenses.”

i dont want this to sound anal, which i know it does, but its a debit card, not a credit card. just want to clarify because theres a big difference between the two:)

“i dont htink there is a yearly cap on what can go in”

there is, for 2009 its 3000 for individual coverage and 5950 for family coverage(those numbers include employer contribution. so if company donates 1k, under individual coverage you can only donate 2k).

“but i certainly cant jsut put cash in it, it has to come through my employer..”

you can. all you have to do is fill out a deposit slip from the financial institution servicing your hsa (available online at their website, via deposit slip in your checkbook if you received one, or call them and have them mail you one) and mail it to them.

“a.) leave in the HSA and b.) how much what i have in the HSA should affect what i keep in my emergency fund”

a) AT LEAST as much needed to cover your deductible. the best case scenario would be to have the same amount in your hsa as what your OOP(out of pocket maximum) is for any given year.

b) you dont really need to differentiate between them. i have 3k in my hsa and 2k in my emergency fund and i just consider myself to have a 3k ‘personal’ emergency fund and a 2k ‘hardware’ emergency fund (cars, appliances, food, rent, that kind of thing)

I’ll give you an example of what we do: I am married with two children. We know that we will have periodic medical and dental checkups (with a copay for each visit), we have prescriptions (copays for each), plus the kids typically get sick a couple of times a year (we throw in a couple of copays for that). We also use our HSA funds to buy qualifying medications, as well. In the end analysis, all this stuff tends to add up to around $1000/year. So we take that out, pretax, since we know we are going to spend it.

Only you can know how much you spend on healthcare. When I was single and in my 20’s, I couldn’t understand why in the world these health savings plans did anything for anyone. I rarely got sick, and when I did get sick, it usually was a matter of taking a couple asprin, keeping enough fluids and sleeping it off. Now that I have a spouse and a couple of kids, it ends up saving me probably $3-400 a year since it’s pre-tax money.

What follows from the previous is that the healthcare spending is (or should be) a budget line item. If you know that a dental visit and a yearly checkup is going to run you $500 this year, and you are relatively healthy, I’d put $500 in the account and keep the rest in your emergency fund. You might lose out on some amount of savings, but you pick up the flexibility to use the other $1000 for other emergencies — so you trade off the pre-tax savings to pick up the flexibility to deal with any generic emergency that comes along.

Of course, this all varies with your situation, but if your plan is one where everything is funded after you cover your deductible, then your plan sounds absolutely correct. If you know you are going to have some other large outlay for something (examples: new glasses, contacts, eye surgery, orthodontics, medications or other eligible expenses), put the money in to get the tax break.

I have the hsa, my decucitble is 1500, so i have that in the hsa, but how much beyond that ought i fund? my suspicion is that i should put next ot noghtin past that in it, and use my emergency fund/retirement account for other savings. The hsa is a savings vehicle, and i get a decent return on it. I can take money out w/ a credit card, but yes, only health expenses. i dont htink there is a yearly cap on what can go in (or maybe its like 5k, which is way more than i think i’d put in) but i certainly cant jsut put cash in it, it has to come through my employer.. if that makes sense… I’m just wondering given what i’ve said, how much i should a.) leave in the HSA and b.) how much what i have in the HSA should affect what i keep in my emergency fund, knowing that at least all medical emergencies are covered and not comign from there..

We purchased our home 6 years ago with 100% financing split between our 1st mortgage and a HELOC. We are able to make both payments. The 1st is at a 6.375% APR and the floating HELOC rate is 2.75%. We have an emergency fund equal to 105% of the HELOC balance. My question is this, should we: 1) take advantage of low rates to consolidate the 1st and HELOC, or 2) just pay the HELOC off and use that as our emergency fund?

My concerns with scenario #1 are that we will pay 2-3% in closing costs/fees and be extending our term back out to 30 years which I realize increases our interest costs despite the lower rate. I also expect to have to pay the HELOC balance down $30,000-$40,000 to conform to an 80% LTV. The benefit of course is that we lock in the HELOC rate.

My concern with scenario #2 is that the HELOC could be frozen and we could find ourselves with only a month’s worth living expenses in our ER fund.

Maybe there is a scenario #3 that I am just overlooking?

I should add I am a stay at home mom with child #2 on the way.

I am a big fan of thesimpledollar and really look forward to your advice.

Thank you!

HUGE congratulations on breaking that addiction! Really really respect you now.

I think the biggest payback for your older brother would be to continue staying clean and living a worthwhile drug-free life. You don’t know how good he will feel after he sees the results of his help.

Once you’re fully independent of his help, once you have a stable job and you’re glowing with life, he will feel amazingly happy to see that he’s contributed to this big change in your life.

There’s nothing that’s equivalent to that feeling, no amount of money… just pure emotion!

Another very sweet film for younger kids is “Franklin and the Green Night” which is based on an older PBS tv show. Franklin and his friends set out on a great adventure and the movie is exciting but not frightening.

Don’t forget “Babe.” It’s magical. It was my daughter’s first favorite, and some of the first sentences she spoke as a toddler were chatting about the movie. It is truly clever and heartwarming.

We bought a new Maytag, not the most expensive model, when we had our first baby in 1975. It lasted 30 years-3 kids-all played sports, 2 refugee families in the 80’s, numerous extra friends staying for various lengths of time. We had it repaired twice. Once was a motor done by repairman, once was the timer. My dad told me a timer was no big deal, just replace one wire at a time from the old timer to new timer. It worked great.

We have replaced several knobs and refrigerator door shelves. New ones can be purchased online from appliance parts warehouses.

Also, the Forester is going to get you mid-20’s MPG at best. AWD is not the way to get good gas mileage. I’m betting your existing Jeep is getting probably 17? Run 17 MPG versus 25 and it’s not a spectacular amount of money you will be saving.

I’m sorry to deliver some tough love, but with “not handling money well before he met me and mine from allowing my ex-hubby to take priority and pay his stuff first”, you’ve dug yourself a hole. Buying a new car would just be a way of digging that hole even deeper. Step one of getting out of a hole is to STOP DIGGING.

Hubby may want a new car, you may want to drop that minivan — but if you run the numbers you’ll save on gas (and I assume your minivan is paid for), it’s probably a better idea to keep the minivan, dump the Jeeps and get that small car you know has been cared for.

I’d also HIGHLY recommend you and your husband read “The Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey. I’m betting you are trying all sorts of plans and schemes to “get ahead” but you just keep treading water. You need a plan that you both agree on to climb out of your debt hole and not get into it again. Ramsey’s way is one of many to get out, but I’ve found it to be very easy to understand and follow, and we’re currently digging our way out of our own debt hole, ourselves.