Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Covered California Follow Up...

You may have remembered reading about my first experience with Covered California when I helped my mom fill out an application for help with premium payments...

She got a letter in the mail the other day indicating that she had in fact been approved for assistance help. The letter also said she had 30 days to choose a health insurance plan...

The problem was we were already supposed to have done that, over the phone, when we applied.

So I went over to my mom's house and we let the hold music ring for 40 minutes. Yes, 40 minutes before a person came on the line.

Once we got to the rep, she pulled up my mom's account and told us that our information was still in the computer and the letter was auto generated (what I expected) but since my mom was freaking out, it was worth the phone call to make her feel better.

I also was able to ask the lady for Health Net's contact information because we hadn't recieved the paperwork for my mom to fill out to set up payment and we were told we would get it in November... and with the holiday just a day or two away, we wanted to follow up.

She gave us the number and I dialed and listened on hold for around 10 minutes when a person picked up and she told us their offfice was behind and the paperwork would be mailed on Monday after Thanksgiving, and if we didn't recieve it by the 7th, to call their offices back.

We also took the time to get the phone number to verify that my mom's current health insurance plan would automatically expire on Dec 30th and that no action was needed on our part. That phone call only took 5 minutes.

All and all an hour spent and my mom now has piece of mind until the 7th... when i'm sure i'll have to call and figure out where her paperwork is.

At least both Covered California and her health insurance are putting in the papers my ability to call on her behalf with these matters since she really doesn't understand what's going on.

What I did learn from the letter they mailed us is that if my mom earns less money than last year, she could end up with a Tax Refund from the Affordable Care Act if she qualified for more premium assistance and didn't get it... That's going to be interesting for a lot of folks because the flip side is also true. If you take more assistance than you qualify for, Uncle Sam is going to take it from your tax refund... I wonder how many people will fudge their income lower and get shocked when the tax man comes collecting.

Also they are apparently setting up store front locations to try and sign people up at the mall. I wish I had my cell phone with me, but there was literally a covered California store location the other day.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Our Freezer is here!

 
We finally were able to bite the bullet and pick a chest freezer out. We picked out a General Electric 7.0 cubic foot chest freezer in White from the home depot. We went with the GE modle because there were tons of reviews online for it... and while we may have been able to find a different brand a little cheaper, the reviews were either really poor or non-existant.

We paid $220.00 for the freezer and then elected to pay for a 3 year warantee on Parts and Services for an additional $50.00 because it was a non-returnable item that was only available on homedepot.com and not in our local stores... plus any of the negative reviews talked about it possibly dying in 3 months after purchase so we decided to buy the insurance and go that route.

After taxes ($22.32) we paid $301.32, including free delivery. (We tipped the delivery guys $5 each because it's the holiday season and we're on the second floor.)

I was thinking we got this for a steal because Amazon wanted to sell it for $371.99 with shipping, Sears wanted $259, plus $99 in shipping... Walmart claimed it was an "in-store only item" and our store didn't carry it... Best Buy wanted $229.99 and 69.99 for delivery... Lowes wanted $229.99 with free delivery.

This morning while I was prepping this post, I noticed it went on sale... Yup, the same freezer is only $189.00..... :(   We could have saved $30 if we had waited a couple of days... but truthfully we just wanted to get it before the holidays... but the saver in me feels a little jadded because we did our research (and checked BF ads to see if if was going to go on sale and it wasn't listed).

Oh well. It runs really quiet so far and we found a nice place for it out of the way.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Semi Annual Car Insurance Bills

Our 6 month car insurance bills came in the mail... and no, we're not worried about paying them. 

Not because SCB has a full time job... 

but because we put a little money aside each and every month (like we would for any bill) and pay it into a savings account marked insurance... that way we don't have to scramble for the money when the bill actually comes through 6 months down the line in November and May... which are expensive months for us with Christmas on the horizon in November... and us having to recover from my birthday, SCB's birthday, and mother's day, which always fall in a 2 week period of each other at the end of April/May. 

Before I started doing this (budgeting money into savings), i'd always freak out and panic at having to part with a few hundred dollars suddenly out of no where... But now we don't have to worry. 

South County Boy: 2003 Ford Escort "Sally"
  • Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
  • Property Damage $50,000
  • $500 Deductible for Comprehensive
  • $500 Deductible for Collision
  • Emergency Road Side assistance 
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage
TOTAL: $275.56
We get a multiple line deduction, a multi-car deduction, driving safety record, California good driver, loyalty discount, and a low annual mileage discount ... which apparently is equal to $838.24 in "discounts."

South County Girl: 2004 Toyota Camry "Stitch"
  • Liability Bodily Injury $100,000/$300,000
  • Property Damage $50,000
  • 500 deductible Comprehensive
  • 500 deductible for Collision
  • Emergency Roadside Assistance
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Body Injury $30,000/$60,000
  • Uninsured Motor Vehicle Property Damage
TOTAL: $361.27
We get a multiple line, a Multi-car, Driving safety record, California good driver, and a loyalty discount... which apparently saves us $741.64

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Mortgage Update November '13

Principle paid down: $321.52
Interest: $348.44
Additional Principle: $0.00
New Balance: $111,179.66

The pay off date is June 2033. If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, I will still need to pay $45,791.19 in interest (plus the $23,633.27 I've already paid). Before our refinance, we would have paid $116,404.23 in interest. 


Getting the Keys...

It took me $7,057.08 to get the keys to my condo and then I spent another $17,672.29 to remodel and repair it...  In short, I was -$24,729.37 in the hole on day one...
  • In 2009 I got the First Time Home buyer's Credit giving us $8,000.00. I also got to write off some of the property tax I paid in addition to taking the standard deduction. This gave us an extra $90.10... but then I had to pay an Electrician $95.00 to fix an outlet... We also got a refund from my botched tile job that gave us another $1,265.00.
  • In 2010 I saved $1,087.00 on my federal taxes and $461.00 on my State taxes from itemizing my homeowners expenses. (This is what I received ABOVE what I would have gotten back with just the standard deduction).
  • In 2011 I spent $12.97 at home depot and $72.29 on a kitchen door. When we subtract those costs from what we saved by living in our condo instead of renting, we came out ahead $494.04 (See Mortgage Update + Condo Costs December '11 for that break down.)  We also received a small $70 refund check from over paid closing costs. We didn't Itemize our taxes in 2011.
  • In 2012 we finished our Kitchen/Laundry door which cost us $103.24.. We also replaced both our glass slider doors which cost us $2,957.00... and repaired our dryer for $81.42....It ended up being $3,383.47 cheaper to OWN our condo than to rent an apartment on a monthly basis,  (See Housing Costs 2012 for the break down) so even after we subtract the windows and other minor repairs, we still came out ahead $241.81 by owning our condo instead of renting... 
  • In 2013 we got $52.53 back from challenging my property taxes in 2012. I also refinanced our condo, costing us $447.00 up front for our home appraisal... but we got a check back at closing for $747.20 and a check from my old escrow account for $489.74... We also got to skip a mortgage payment too! In addition, they automatically lowered my property tax value, giving us a check for $86.77
All of that "math" leaves us $12,186.18 in the hole. If we assume our home is worth at least what we paid for it ($120k), we have $8,820.34 in equity...

Leaving us $3,365.84 in the hole after 4 yrs & 2 months. 

For 2013, we will again assume our monthly mortgage payments are a wash since its cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. Check out Housing Comps 2013 for how we figured that one out. For 2013 we have spent $10,740.16 to live in our condo, instead of $15,470.51 to live in the apartment.
  • Mortgage (including additional principle payments:) $8,260.44
  • HOA:  $2,925
  • Small Home Repairs/Improvements:$0
  • Earthquake Insurance: $187
  • Homeowners Insurance: $297
  • Refinance Charges: (-$789.94) This is what we "gained" from refinancing after out of pocket fees.
  • Property tax Rebates (-$52.53) & (-$86.77) 
The year isn't over yet, but so far we have saved $4,730.35 by not renting... and if that figure holds true, it looks like we might break even on our condo this year!

Current Housing Market:
One-Bedrooms Listed for Sale in our Complex:
  • Asking $222,000.00 (Days on Market 57)
  • Sold in last 3 months: N/A
Two-Bedrooms Listed for Sale in our Complex:
  • Asking $284,900.00 (Days on Market 10)
  • Asking: $295,000.00 (Days on Market 45)
  • Sold in the last 3 months: $257,000.00 (August, 2013)
  • Sold in the last 6 months: $240,000.00 (June, 2013)

Monday, November 18, 2013

Higher Credit Limit...

I opened my e-mail the other day and found a notice from American Express. We had been automatically approved for a credit limit increase for our account.

Yes, that's right, they wanted to give us more credit. $2,500 more spending power to be exact.

HUH?

I thought that credit was supposed to be harder to get now-a-days? And now they are just dolling it out, unasked for? I remember reading on many personal finance blogs of people paying down debt only to have their available balances reduced and their credit scores being negatively affected as their debt ratios were too high...

and now where are we?

I know that for many people out there there hasn't been a recovery... but I feel like we as a society have begun to embrace a "new normal"... Without getting into politics, we are a divided social economy. There are those who are feeling the recovery, and many more that are not. For those who still don't have a light at the end of the tunnel, I offer my well wishes and hope for a better tomorrow... but for SCB and I, the latter half of 2013 has been good for our family. We refinanced and our condo has increased in value, I got a promotion, SCB got a job, then he got a better job... and now a raise.

I finally feel like we are moving forward after 3 years parked somewhere on the finance highway...

So, we took the extra credit. We don't carry a balance on our Credit Cards... in fact we just pay them off in full every month and use the rewards programs for fun, but having a $9,000 limit will be better for any future loans we apply for when we go to get a bigger place in a couple years.

So here's to the glass half full.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Emergency Fund Update

I got to dump South County Boy's entire paycheck in our emergency fund... and now its at $12,189.47... or $20.47 away from being 6 months of bare bones expenses for us! It feels so much nicer to see that 12 out in front...

Already the air feels nicer and fresher... its good to have money in the bank!

Below is our bare bones budget if we both suddenly lost our jobs:

  • Mortgage $771.99
  • Roxy: $50.00
  • Groceries: $250.00
  • Prescriptions/doctors: $50
  • Bills (Cell + Internet + Electricity) $150.00
  • HOA: $270
  • Insurance: $143.00
  • Gasoline: $250
  • Misc: $100
Total: $2,034.99 a month (times 6 months) $12,209.94. Eventually we will just bump it up to $12,500 just to keep it at a nice round number.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

What i've been spending the last 3 plus months doing...

NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters
&
ITF Wheelchair Doubles Masters

Yup. I've been rolling with the world's best athletes from all over the world as I've been working on the planning committee for an event comparable to the Olympics!

Wheelchair Tennis now has a new home in Southern California and I'm proud to have had the honor or working on the Wheelchair Masters Project.

It may have meant so insanely long hours but it was awesome.

The world rallied behind us... including news stations that came up to give these incredible athletes the treatment they deserved. It was an event like no other... it was awesome...

and now I need sleep...









Monday, November 11, 2013

He got a raise!

SCB got a raise at work! 

Woot! Woot! 

When he was first hired at his job, they started him out at $10.50 and promised him they would review his compensation after he had been working there 3 months to see if he was a good fit for the company... and they kept good on their word.

They sat down and gave him a raise!

He's now getting $11.00 an hour, or a 4.76% raise.

I'm really excited for SCB since this is not only his first "real" (as he calls it) non-minimum wage job, but its also its first raise too!

With our new plan to save his entire income in 2014, this will help us grow our savings even more.

**Happy Dance**



Friday, November 8, 2013

November Budget

Main objective:
For November, SCB and I are going to try and get our emergency fund back to the full 6 months of expenses. Right now we are about $550 away from bringing it back to our comfort level... and with the money SCB brings in, we should make it. We may come a little short since we want to buy our chest freezer this month too, but were hoping we can do both.

Budget Changes
  • First, we get to add back in our $100 vacation savings fund so we can begin to save up for a trip to visit Illinois while his parents are serving a mission there for the church.
  • We will keep our pocket money to $80 ($40 each in cash)... and keep $100 towards date nights and eating out. 
  • Its three paycheck month for me so my Roth IRA will be getting a substantial chunk of change. Since I wait and just dump the full $5,500 into the fund the last week of Dec or the first week in January, it will be nice to see the balance in my savings account jump up... and even nicer when I have the full balance ready to go.
  • Since we no longer pay SCB's health insurance out of pocket, we have a bit more money floating around from my paychecks. We have decided to list it as discretionary money for the month ($201.08). 
    • Why so much? We want to starting to move towards living off my income entirely and saving 100% of SCB's income. Anything we don't spend from our discressionary fund we will start to carry over to the next month. This is also why we won't be listing additional retirement savings under SCB's paychecks anymore... because its all going to savings come January first (Nov and Dec will be our last two months to get any major spending projects done for the year).
Looking Forward to 2014
We finally took the time to start talking with some financial "friends/advisers" to see what investing and building wealth will look like for us over the next 3 to 5 years.

As we contemplate the idea of starting a family and getting a larger place to accommodate that family, we have also been contemplating the idea of SCB becoming a stay at home dad... and we want to be prepared for the changes that would be associated with that decision financially, should we decide to implement it down the line... so for 2014 we are going to try to live off my income, and save SCB's. Here's our game plan:
  1. Max out my Roth IRA every year like we have been with my income. ($5,500).
  2. Keep $12,500.00 liquid in our money market account as a 6 month emergency fund. Anything more just looses too much money due to inflation and poor interest rates.
  3. Open a new Roth IRA for SCB to act as a temporary savings account/retirement account and aim to put $5,500 a year into it. 
    1. The idea here is that we would pull the contributions out (tax and penalty free) when and if we upgrade our living space... but this option also gives our money the ability to earn dividends and grow in mutual funds... or stay in the account if we don't end up needing it. 
  4. After both Roth IRA's have been funded, we will pay down our condo since we will need to sell it to be able to afford a larger place on just one income... and this provides us with a risk free return on our investment of 3.75%.
Why so little risk?
We looked into more investment type account options, like a brokerage account or putting more money into my 401a, but since we need the money in five years or less, investing in a 401a would lock our money up till retirement, and a brokerage account is a bit risky for our time table, which is around two to three years. If the market is bad, we could loose in a big way... but just dumping the money into savings isn't smart either because the interest rates are horrible.

At least this way we will expose some of our money to the market via the new Roth IRA... but if its a bad few years, its not so much that we would ruin our financial standing for the future because we could always just stay in our condo for a little longer. It wouldn't be ideal, but it wouldn't not be an option either. 

As for paying down our condo, I look at it as a win win. We will have more equity when we sell, which will help us afford something larger if home prices continue to rise... or we will have the equity to refinance it back out to a 30 year mortgage to reduce the payments and keep it as a rental unit if we can swing the new home purchase on our own and wait for the market to come back to sell it.

We can always reassess our plan at the end of 2014, but between trying to max out a Roth IRA for SCB for both 2013 and 2014 in 2014 (we have until march 30th to max out for 2013) that's a full $11,000 before we start to send a dime extra to our mortgage. We may even pull some money out of our emergency fund to fund the additional Roth IRA for 2013 I'f we are short since that has a fast approaching deadline.



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

October Spending Breakdown

October Spending
Gasoline: $285.27
Groceries: $235.02
Eating Out: $146.69
Dog: $59.72 
Halloween: $89.39
Health Insurance: $178.00
Car Insurance: $47.34
Car Registration: $110.00
SMOG: $71.24
Church Tithe/giving: $606.00
Friends of Scouting: $50.00 (donation)
Cell Phones: $111.35
Internet: $28.99
Electricity: $74.23
Housing: $ 1,041.99
Clothes: SCG $80.00
Clothes: SCB: $119.76
Other: $728.67

What we spent money on in 2013:
Church Giving: $4,717.90
Other Giving:

  • Child share: $50.00
  • Boy-scouts: $50.00

Groceries/Household Supplies: $2,828.69
Wanda and Stitch and Sally (our '91 Ford Escort & '04 Toyota Camry & '03 Escort):

  • Gasoline: $2,173.97
  • Car Registration: $299.00
  • SMOG: 71.24
  • Car Insurance: $567.68
  • Car Repairs: $1,536.74
  • Car Washes: $10
  • Car purchases: $2,000.00

Date Night/ Eating Out: $1,194.24
Cell Phones: $1,304.97
Internet: 297.69
Electricity: $563.98
House:

  • HOA: $2,655.00
  • Mortgage: $7,468.45
  • Refinance: $447.00
  • Earthquake and Homeowners Insurance: $187 +$297

Clothes:

  • SCG: $679.41
  • SCB: $435.22

Medical/Dental/Dr/Prescriptions

  • Heath Insurance Premiums (not thru payroll deduction): $1,602.00
  • Prescriptions: $160.00
  • Dr Bill: $8.00

Holidays/Gifts:

  • Valentines Day: $8.50
  • Easter: $13.47
  • Birthdays: 385.31
  • Mother's Day: $23.73
  • Gifts: $16.02\
  • Halloween: $89.39
  • Anniversary: $176.14

Roxy: Our pup!

  • Adoption fees: $165.95
  • Vet bills: $215.54
  • Food/Toys/Supplies: $301.39

Pocket Money: $350.00
Technology:

  • Portable Wi-Fi: $96.27
  • Computer Parts: $297.32
  • Tablet: $175.00 
  • TV antenna, new key board: $52.45


Day Trips
  • Disneyland: $115.00
  • Relay For Life: $20.00
  • OC Fair: $60.00
  • Concert: $100.00
  • La Brea tar Pit $31.59
Furniture:
  • Couch $667.52
  • Ikea Table: $214.92 
  • LED Lights (3 sets) and 4 folding chairs: $169.28
Other:

  • Expungement Fees: $292.81
  • Tax preparation Fees: $56.98
  • Stamps, Toothbrush heads, Grill Hose $81.52
  • Resume Copies, Plant Container, Craft embroider, Relay For Life Fee: $43.25
  • Camping Backpacks (2): $113.38
  • Yarn for Relay For Life: $93.24
  • Wall mount, and craft eyes: $46.78
  • Slicer and lint roller: $52.05
  • Hair Cut: $49.00
  • Kitchen Items: $39.70
  • Garden Hose, house key/car key copies... $49.26
  • Notary Fee + Birth Certificate $33.00
  • Fan $28.00
  • Make up $43.72
  • Costco Renewal Fee $55.00
  • Amazon (Dog bowls, belt, cables, tablet case)  $59.69
  • Alterations $58.00
  • Baby sitters $30.00 
  • Sealing Photos $200.00
  • 72 Hour kit Food $146.95
  • Sheets for our bed: $48.58
  • Coat Rack: $21.59
  • Hooks: $8.09
  • USPS: $13.09
  • Home depot- Boy Scouts/weblows: $17.28
  • Other: including all those kitchen containers: $231.83
  • Other: $454.25

Monday, November 4, 2013

October Spending overview...

Overspending:
We ended up over spending by $52.80 this month. I assumed our auto debit of $70 for my cell phone was not going to go through this month because I had a $70 credit on my cell phone (from when we were accidentally double charged when we activated my new account.) But it went through...

So, we ended up overspending this month by $52.80. To make life easier, i'm just going to deduct that from Novembers budget and just carry it over since I just stopped our auto payment for next month.

(It's moments like this that I am reminded why we carry a $2k cushion in our checking accounts-- for life's auto-payment oopsies.)

Sally is legit:
We finally got "Sally" (our new to us '03 Ford Escort) California SMOG'd checked and Registered, so she's legal now and officially part of our car family now. SCB misses Wanda because she had more get up and gp and because he understood her clutch better, but Sally should last us longer in the long run. It cost us $110 to register her with the state, and another $71.24 to get her SMOG'd...

Thankfully we were able to pull most of this out of savings from our annual bill slush fund, so next month we will have to replace that money so we have the funds for next year lined up to go and ear marked for our cars.

Home Improvement:
We also did a little home improvement. SCB and I are sold on the idea of getting a chest freezer... and in order to accommodate one in our kitchen, we decided it was finally time to replace my free kitchen table with something smaller, and more space saving.

We ended up getting THIS from IKEA for $199.99 in white. I love that it has 6 drawers built in (we keep spare napkins and place mats in some of the drawers but most are still empty), and that we can pull up the other panel and seat 2 more people. If we take it out from the wall, we can cram in a total of 6.

When we were finding a home for our free old kitchen table, a family from our church expressed interest in it. While we were talking, we told them they could have 2 of the 4 chairs and the bench immediately, but that we needed to get at least 2 new chairs for the table before we could part with the final 2 since we weren't big fans of the chairs at IKEA. They offered a swap so they could take the whole set now and we landed these cool wicker chairs for FREE... Initially we planned just to keep them for a week until we had time to go and get 6 matching folding chairs, but we decided that we actually really like them and they match our place settings really well. So instead of 6 matching chairs, we ended up getting 4 white folding chairs from Costco for $86.75 that we plan to keep in the closet and bring them out when we have more company over, and leave the wicker ones for every day use since we keep our table set up for 2 people.

I also got SCB to put up a new coat rack we bought at Target behind our door so he stops putting clothes on the bar stools and I got more of those hooks I love from target so I could hang up his work tote and a few other bags we like to keep around this area so they don't have to live on the floor anymore.

And then there were lights 
We have kind of decided to re-decorate and improve our little condo for the holidays as our main gift to each other... and because I've been here for 4 years and we finally have money coming in and a lot of projects on the back burner... (Hence the new table, chairs, coat rack, and hooks-- are you seeing the trend?)

I love snowmen
Well I've always liked those battery operated candles they sell at costco... and they were on sale this month... (6 candles with a remote for $25)... and we bought 3 sets...

Why three sets?

Because I bought one set and SCB liked them so much he wanted to have them in the bedroom... and some in the bathroom for bubble baths.... and a couple by his desk (my husband likes candles and anything associated with fire even if its fake) so when we went back we picked up 2 more sets before the sale ended....

and we love them. Totally frivolous, but its so nice to watch TV in our bedroom and be able to turn the candles off with a remote and not worry about burning our house down if I forget and leave them on.

Speaking of TV...
We also bought a better TV antenna with a built in booster because we have started watching some TV together at night (and SCB likes the news in the morning while he's getting up) ... and our original antenna wasn't all that great only really gave us one channel constantly... so for around $30 we now can enjoy free TV.

The Attach of the bugs...
Ya, bugs... in my kitchen.... gross.

Somehow the last batch of oast we purchased either got infested or was infested with weevels when we bought them and we didn't notice...

The oat lid to the air tight container wasn't closed properly because it was a cheaper container so they were able to escape...

and they tried to get into other things...

which thankfully they didn't... but in the process of killing and cleaning, we learned something about some of our smaller counter air tight containers...

The bugs couldn't get into the food... but they could get into the lids and right up to the air tight lock ring... which meant when you took the lid off, they would fall in... or your had to pry the lid components apart to get the bugs out of them...

Needless to say, we spent north of $100... maybe closer to $150 (I have a few walmart receipts that I didn't itemize on my spread sheet) on new air tight containers for our kitchen... and the new ones have lids that are constructed out of a solid piece!

So we are hoping to get the new chest freezer next month and when we do, we will replace our oats and will stick them in the freezer for 2 weeks before transferring them to the storage containers so if we do get a bad package, we will kill anything in there from the get go.