Happy Halloween!  I was able to pull off Halloween for $20.  Pretty good.  $10 for candy and $10 for my two year old’s pirate costume.  My daughter’s father bought her costume so I got out of that one.  I can tell you that everyone is pretty excited around here!  It’s going to be a long day.

Hot on the heels of Halloween is Christmas.  Hopefully you’ve been planning for this all year.  We kinda do, kinda don’t.  If you get paid biweekly then you should have 2 months when you get 3 paychecks instead of 2.  For us, one of those extra checks comes in October or November.  We use that one to fund our Christmas budget. This year it happened to fall in October.  So that means our Christmas money was deposited in our checking account today!  Yay!  Which gives me exactly 54 days to get ready for Christmas.

This year is going to be tight.  Lack of over time means that we got a check with no padding.  We can do it, but we are going to have to be careful and maybe pass up the “perfect” gift in lieu of something less expensive.  Which is so hard.  I have a habit of thinking “But it’s Christmas!”  I get caught up in the supposed magic of it all and go a bit overboard.  I want everyone to have a great holiday.

If you don’t have a Christmas Budget then this is the time to make one.  If you have been a good saver then you know how much you have to spend and making a budget will be fairly easy.  But even if you don’t know where you are getting your Christmas money you still need a budget.  For one, you need to know how much money you are going to need and can start thinking about what you are going to cut to make it happen.  Secondly, you will then know what you need to be ready next year.   Without a budget you are bound to overspend.  I would probably spend twice what I should if I didn’t have a plan.

To make the budget, list everyone for whom you are going to buy presents.  Then take how much money you have to spend and divvy it up amongst your loved ones.  I hate this part.  Make a list of everyone you love, and then prioritize them in order of how much you love them.  I love this person $50 worth, but I love this person $100 worth.  Bleck.  But it’s got to be done.  Don’t forget things like wrapping paper, Christmas cards, decorations, ect.  If you need to cut people then so be it.  Don’t feel bad.  Send cookies.  If it’s someone who you usually exchange gifts with then let them know ahead of time to avoid awkwardness later.  My best friend and I usually exchange gifts and buy gifts for each others kids.  I can’t do it this year.  They were an unfortunate casualty of our trim budget.  I’m going to let her know that I won’t be exchanging gifts this year.  Who knows, she might be relieved.  I’m sure this economy is hurting her too.

We budget $200 for each of the kids.  I’m curious how much everyone else spends on their kids for the holiday.  So how much do you spend on your kids for Christmas?  And how do you fund your Christmas budget?

Pic by: Krosstok

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I don’t know about you, but around here it’s not the small stuff that falls through the cracks, but the medium stuff.  By medium stuff I mean things that cost between $50-$200, or so.   Stuff we need that costs less than $50 we just pick up without a terrible amount of thought.  Stuff that costs more than about $200 we tend consider it a big purchase and either decide we don’t need it, or save up for it.  But the mid range stuff never gets done.  For example, we really need to get our carpets cleaned.  We figure it will cost about $100.  It’s been about a year since we decided to do it.  Somehow that extra $100 never seems to materialize.  While it doesn’t seem worth saving up for, it also isn’t something we are just going to go out and do on a whim.  So it never happens.

It’s the same with projects.  Big stuff, like landscaping the backyard, get done.  We plan for it, set aside the time, and do it.  Small projects, like changing a lightbulb, happen without thinking.  But the mid range stuff, like painting the bathroom, never happen.   I’ve had a color picked out for our bathroom for about 2 years, but it remains as white as the day we moved in.

It’s hard to put these projects in their proper place.  But these projects are important.  They will add to the quality of our life.  If I could get the two projects I mentioned done I wouldn’t feel stressed out every time I look at our carpets.  And it would make me happy to have some color in our bathroom instead of knowing it’s just another project on a seemingly endless list of projects.

I don’t know what the answer is.  How do we make sure these projects get the attention they deserve?  I guess we just have to make sure we plan these midrange projects just like we do the big projects.  Maybe keep a list somewhere of all the middle stuff we want done and put money towards them just like we do the big stuff.

Pic by: ESwift

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Warning:  I’m about to make myself look really bad.  So if you think I’m some put together super mom then please don’t read this.  Seriously, stop right now!

Here’s my confession:  My wardrobe is an embarrassment.  Most of my shirts I would like to just throw in the trash, but then I would have no shirts.  So I can’t really do that.  And don’t tell me to donate them because these are shirts that wouldn’t even sell in a thrift store.

There are several reasons this is the case.  First off, clothes are expensive and I really never spend money on myself.  So buying something that costs $20 (gasp!) seems extravagant.  Want proof that I never spend money on myself?  I went to try on a shirt a few weeks ago and my 7 year old was with me.  She said “Is that for me?”  “No” I replied.  “Is if for [her brother]?”  “No” I replied.  “Well then, who’s it for?” The fact that it could be for me was totally out of the question.

Secondly, spending that $20 doesn’t really do much when my whole closet needs to be replaced. I know that small steps will take you great distances.  And I’m getting to that.  But it’s kinda hard to buy one thing when you have nothing nice to wear with it.

Third, I hate to shop for clothes and it’s practically impossible with a two year old.  I get one shot at the dressing room, so it better be a good one. Need something in a different size?  Too bad.  Come back tomorrow.  Or chase a two year old out of the dressing room half naked.

And fourth, I never go anywhere! The people at the grocery store have already seen me in my old T-shirts.  So no need to dress up for them now.

I counted the other day and I own 4 shirts that I’m not embarrassed to wear.  One pair of pants that I like, one pair that I like but are about to rip at the knee any second, and one pair that fits but that I don’t especially like.  That’s it ya’ll!

I’ve decided that I’m going to take $20 out of my allowance every month and buy a piece of clothing.  If I don’t buy anything then I am going to put that $20 aside for a future shopping trip.  It’s got to happen.  I’m going to work up slowly to replacing pretty much everything in my closet.  I will be perfectly happy to throw out all my old clothes. It’s odd and goes against my nature to mandate spending.  But the unwillingness to spend the time and money shopping is what got me into this mess.

So what is a reasonable amount of clothes to own? I’m guessing 4 shirts and 1 pair of pants isn’t sufficient.   This is a serious question.  What is a “wardrobe”?  7 outfits? 10? 14?  Am I allowed to wear the same jeans twice in one week?  How many pairs of jeans should I own? How many shirts?

pic by: striatic

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I will be so glad when October is over.  The most frightening thing around here isn’t the decorations, it’s our budget.  We spent a small fortune.  I let our a blood curdling scream when I saw the totals.  I’m going to print out a copy, tape it to my shirt, and go trick or treating.  I’ll be the scariest person on the streets.

So what was so scary about it?  Well we had two birthdays to shop for, one of which was for my daughter.   While we only got my daughter some books as gifts, we did throw a party which cost just over $100 when it was all said and done.   Neither birthday was properly budgeted for and put us over budget.

We went on our Grand Canyon trip.  Which I mentioned cost about $250.  While we got a good deal, it’s still money spent at the end of the day.   We used money from our vacation fund we had saved up.  And we still have enough to go to Disneyland.

We bought the elliptical machine.  We had the money saved up specifically in a separate account, but it does add to money spent.

We got our wills.  We used money that was set aside to pay off the loan for the backyard landscaping.  Not an ideal use of the money since I would rather use it to pay off debt.  But I feel that making sure my kids are taken care of in case of our death is a necessity.  So I’m glad it’s done.  Either way, it adds another $1,200 to this month’s budget.

There was some other small stuff, like Halloween, oil changes in both cars, warm clothes for the kids, ect.  Stuff we needed that just happened to fall in this very unlucky month.

So quickly adding up those extras it’s about $2,500 that we spent outside of our regular monthly budget.  And we still have a week left!  I’ll try to keep it limited to groceries.

But the horror doesn’t stop there unfortunately.  There is a subcategory that is particularly struggling to stay alive.  My personal allowance.  Poor me, literally.  Me and my husband each get $200 a month for spending money.  I went over budget by about $60 and that includes the fact that I rolled over about $40 from last month.  So that means I spend about $300 just myself.  Blah.  I know I spent about $50 on clothes.  Which is very unlike me and desperately needed. (I’m going to write a whole post about this later in the week.)  I know I went a little overboard on Halloween decorations.  I just love them and it happens every year.  But I would say I spent about $40 there.  Then we each chipped in $100 towards the elliptical machine.   So that leaves $100 on eating out and other stuff.

So all this spending means that we need to be extra good in November since I have a sneaky suspicion that December isn’t going to be very budget friendly either.

Pic by: D’arcy Norman

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I’m going to be lazy and not do a round up this week.  But I did want to you let you know that I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance this week over at Budgets are Sexy.  J. Money was kind enough to include my post don’t let the news replace your reality.

Anyways, I’m loving my new elliptical machine and I’ve used it every day since I got it.  My husband put a TV in there so I can watch Desperate Housewives while I ellipitize.   That was nice.

Oh, we went and signed our wills this week too.  So we officially have wills now.   Feels good.  They came in a fancy fake leather binder and everything.  Now I need to buy a safe to keep them in.  haha.

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I heard this on the radio the other day and I can’t believe I forgot about it til just now.  Companies are popping up where you can lease solar panels.  That is so awesome!  I am very very interested in putting solar panels on our roof but according to the research I’ve done, it’s just not cost effective.

According to Find Solar it will us cost about $27,000 to buy solar panels that would provide 25% of our current electricity.  Which if I finance that over 15 years at 5% the payment is over $200.  Hardly worth it if you consider that I would only be saving about $50 a month in electric costs.   Granted, there are tax intensives and programs to help cover the costs, but still.   I don’t see it being worth it anytime soon.   I mean, $200 a month is more than whole our electric bill.

But now there is an option to lease.  This is exciting.  In the news they mentioned a company called SolarLease.  (I wonder how they came up with that name?)  They have a calculator that helps you estimate the cost of the lease and how much it will save you in electric bills.  I plugged my numbers in and they estimate that our lease would be $38 a month and it would save us $28 a month in electric bills.  So over all it would cost $10.  But that is quite an improvement over buying them.  Plus, since the solar panels would be providing us electricity during the day, we could switch to the time of use plan and probably lower our electric bill more than $10 a month.   It’s definitely something to keep in mind.  We just got a notice the other day that the electric company is raising their rates.  So we’ll see.  This might actually become a reality for us.

Pic by: Chris Kantos

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As you know, I just got back from spending a few days with my dad.   My dad provides more blogging fodder than anyone I know.

My dad makes a good living.  He owns a couple of profitable businesses and has worked very hard his whole life for what he has.  I’m his only biological child. He got married about 9 years ago to a woman who had a 13 year old son (he’s 22 now).

My dad is fairly frugal, but my step mom always has the best most fanciest things.  Name brand everything.  Shoes, bags, belts, watches, sunglasses, cars, vacations, you name it.  Ok, fine.  Not how I would choose to spend money, but whatever.  I know my dad pays all the living expenses and she works so all her money is spending money.  I really don’t care how they handle their finances and if my dad wants his wife to have fancy things then so be it.  It’s not my business.

I met my step brother’s wife for the first time this week.  I couldn’t help but notice that she was also dripping in the best of the best of everything.  Think Paris Hilton here, complete with little dog.  Prada belt, Manolo Blanhnik shoes, diamond encrusted watch, brands I’ve never even heard of which I’m sure are  expensive.  I looked like I had just crawled out from under a bridge compared to her. I’m sure my entire outfit cost less than her haircut.  So at one point I casually ask my dad what my step brother and wife do for a living.  I already knew they lived with him.  Know what they do?  They are both unemployed.  NICE.  Come to find out that my step brother hasn’t even graduated from high school.

So that really irked me.  Where’s my Prada belt?  Where are my shopping sprees in Las Vegas?  Where are my month long Hawaii vacations?  Last year they (step brother and wife) went to L.A. for three months because they were going to become actors.  Hahaha.  Which my dad paid for, of course.

And these are not the only people my dad is supporting.  He also supports my Grandma, Uncle, and a cousin, all of which are also unemployed.  And I know he also sends regular money to his in laws.  I’m assuming they don’t have jobs since they are probably in their 70’s.

So my dad supports at least 8 people (his wife, step son, daughter in law, mother, brother, niece, father in law, and mother in law).  There may be more.  I don’t know who lives with his mother and father in law.  I think they have a son who lives with them so maybe throw him in there too (I know he doesn’t have a job, he’s disabled).  But of those 8 people only 1 definitely has a job.

Honestly, supporting his in laws and even my grandma doesn’t bother me so much.  But my step brother and his wife, my uncle and his daughter that does bother me.  There is just no reason for it.  No reason!

Here’s the hard part.  I don’t want my dad to send me money.  I’m not looking to get on his payroll.  (Which is probably why I’m not on it)  When my dad sends me money I appreciate it.  But I don’t expect (or want) him to pay my bills.  I want to be an adult and earn my own way.  I want to own things I can afford.  But it’s frustrating to have my dad helping out so many people and not be one of them.  I would think I would have some bling before my step sister in law.  You know?  Maybe I could get some money before my loser uncle who is 50 years old and still living with his mom.  I’m just sayin’.

I guess my question is when does it become your business how your fully functioning parent spends their money? When do you get to say “Hey, what the heck is going on here?”  Do you ever get to say that?  What good would it even do?

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I wrote the above post a few days ago but wanted to let it rest for awhile and see if I could get a fresh perspective on things.  I don’t want to sound like a whiny ungrateful “b”.  My dad does send me money on occasions like Christmas, birthdays, ect.  Sometimes just out of the blue.  I am very grateful for it and always put it to good use.  He really has helped me out in lots of ways over my life.  If I wanted fancy things I could certainly use the money he gives me to buy them.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I feel like people are taking advantage.  I guess that’s what my problem is.  People think he is just an endless supply of money and since he is so generous they just take and take and take, and it pisses me off.  I don’t see why perfectly functioning adult should be being supported by his brother.  Does that make sense?  Why does a married 22 year old couple need to live off their parents?  Because they can, that’s why.

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One of the family members who was with us at the Grand Canyon was visiting from Russia.  He was actually the reason for the trip.  My dad was taking him all over and trying to show him the country.  Anyways, while they were in Vegas he bought a car.  Not my dad, the guy visiting from Russia.  I didn’t think I heard right when my dad first told me.  He said “We need to go back to Vegas because he bought a car and we need to drive it to San Fransisco so we can ship it.”  I was like “What?  He bought a car?  Why?”  The idea of going to another country, buying a car, and shipping it home is… well… foreign.

It tells you a lot about Russia.  That it’s more cost effective to buy a car here and ship it around the world than it is to buy a car there.  Dang!  What really struck me as odd is that he bought a Volkswagen.  Seems like buying a Volkswagen directly from Germany would be the cheapest, but apparently not.  Maybe he doesn’t have the opportunity to go to Germany.  Maybe our dollar is so bad that even Russians can shop here cheaply.  (Let’s hope it’s not that.)

Anyways, he paid $6,000 for a 2001 Volkswagen Passat with 46,000 miles on it.   The tariff on it was $2,000 and it was going to cost about $1,500 to ship it.  (Those numbers are from memory, I think they are right.)  Obviously he paid cash.  Which impressed the heck out of me.  But when I asked my dad about it he said that it was this guy’s life savings.   Which makes me sad.  I hope he got a good deal an that the car lasts a good long time for him.  I’m sure it will improve his life greatly.

What’s ironic is that he was impressed about how nice everything here is and how nice everyone’s things are.  And it’s really financing and debt that makes it all possible.  As we are all learning about right now, when there is restricted financing it really affects the economy.  So he was impressed at our ability to finance and I was impressed at his ability to pay cash.  Funny how that is.

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I did it!  We took the plunge and moved in together.  Isn’t he handsome?  lol. (Read about our love affair here.)

I had been saving up my online income, and my husband and I put money towards the elliptical machine instead of buying each other anniversary gifts.  So romantic I know!  It’s something I swore I would never do, give up buying real gifts to buy household stuff.  But it seemed wasteful buying a couple of small things when we both wanted this big thing.   This brought us up to $530.

And then the gravy.  My dad gave us a very generous anniversary gift which put us over the top.  We didn’t even have to talk about what we were going to do with the money.

We are now officially saving up for a Sharp Aquos.  It’s my husband’s girlfriend and he’s been cheating on me with her for quite a while now.  I will admit… she sure is pretty.   It’s the largest thing I’ve ever tried to snowflake for.  The first thing was the Wii, then the elliptical machine, and now the TV.  So we’ll see how it goes.

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Well, I’m back from the Grand Canyon.  I was dead tired by the time we got home, but it was a lot of fun.  It’s a tad nerve wracking to have a two year old 6 inches from a 3,000 foot drop.  So we probably won’t go back til the kids are a bit older.  Like 30.  But I do want to go back and hike and stuff.  It was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Ok, great… but how much did we spend?

**** drum roll ****

We spent a grand total of $250.  Aww yeah.  I don’t have the receipts in front of me but it broke down to about $100 on gas, $100 on food, and $50 on trinkets and gifts.

My dad took us all on a helicopter tour.  Wow… it was a big hit.  Seriously, so much fun.  It cost $250 per person but it’s something we will never forget.   I don’t think my two year old will ever be the same.  He liked helicopters before, but now it’s all he talks about.  He even woke up from his nap today telling us how he went on a helicopter while he was sleeping and saw the “big rocks”.   I would love to take him on another one some day.  I did some Googling and they do helicopter tours of Phoenix for about $150.  Which is a lot, but maybe for a birthday or something some day.  It would be really cool.

Some fancy facts:

The Grand Canyon is 255 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and 5000 feet deep.  It started forming 6 million years ago.  Water from the North Rim flows into the canyon, while water from the south rim flows away from the canyon, this causes the canyon to erode rather than fill with water.  About 5 million people visit the Grand Canyon each year.  Which breaks down to about 13,700 a day.

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