Thursday, May 29, 2014

Someones in my attic

Walked into the bathroom and saw my husband's head through a new hole in my ceiling...

Apparently hubby found his way into our attic...

and i'm FINALLY getting a new bathroom vent that works!!!

Only been about 5 years since I've owned my place... and the bathroom vent was just never conquered... until now.

Why now?

When they were doing inventory at his work, they discovered a bathroom vent that was a custom order for a client. They client returned it without a refund since he didn't end up want it and so his company was going to toss it out... but decided to just give it to South County Boy instead.

A $160 bathroom vent.

Unfortunately we won't be able to use the built in heater function because our power voltage isn't high enough, but well get to re-do the bathroom switches and we can add a timer for the vent so it automatically turns off after a certain time...

It even has a night light!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I won my diet bet!

I wasn't sure how i'd feel about an online social diet experiment but I ended up loosing 7.2 lbs and lots of inches!!!

I lost 1/2 an inch from my chest... 1/2 an inch from each of my arms, 1.75 inches from my waist, 1 inch from my hips, 1.5 inches from each of my thighs, my calf's now match up and I lost 2% body fat!!!

I find out in a few days how much money I won (they give everyone 48 hours to do their final weigh in and get it verified), but what's really cool is that I'm only half way through with the fitness challenge that's running at work so I might be able to win one of the 3 prizes there... (They are doing 3 challenges, each one has $100 on the line) Most steps, % of body fat lost and % of weight lost. I won't win the steps because some of my co-workers are just huge movers, but i'm hoping I might have a shot at the weight loss one or the body fat one.

To keep me motivated, I decided to do another diet bet, but this one is designed for you to loose 10% over 6 months and keep it off instead of 4% in a month. If I do this and win I will need to get down to 140 lbs and since my ultimate goal is 135 lbs, I'm really hoping putting $25 on the line each month will give me some motivation to keep trucking along and not give up BECAUSE I HATE the idea of LOOSING money, so it seems like a good motivator for me.

If you want to join me on the 6-month Diet Bet transformer, you can click here.

I also decided since this months budget was way shot, to get a small folding treadmill off Amazon for $200 so I can walk in my house while watching a TV show to help get in my daily steps. It will hopefully be here in a week, but this way I won't have to pace back in forth around the condo while I try to get up to 10,000 steps before I get to crawl into bed for the night. Who knows, maybe i'll up my step total to 12k or something once it gets here.

I'm up to 10 miles distance for my half marathon in August, so i'm way ahead of schedule... SCB will be starting his training "any day now."

I'm also still loving my FitBit Zip, and it was really helping me keep on track and stay on pace with the first 4% Diet Bet I did. On a side note, South County Boy has finally admitted that he doesn't use or really need his Fit Bit One... So if anyone wants to buy his, feel free to live me a comment and we can touch base via email if you want to buy a slightly used one at a discount. He likes the $20 one that goes with the Wii fit better cause his Mii can get new outfits when it reaches certain distance goals.

Anywho, the 6 month challenge is based on loosing 3% the first month, hitting a cumulative 6% the second month, 8% cumulative the 3rd month, 9% cumulative the 4th month, 10% cumulative the 5th month, and then maintain the 10% during the 6th month. Its a $25 a month buy in and half the money from each of the rounds goes to the final to give people incentive to stay in it for the long haul.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Semi Annual Car Insurance Bills

It's that time again... Time to pay our Car Insurance bills that is.

Since we budget monthly to pay for all of our insurance bills, we already have the money set aside to cover the $638.43 that's do to cover both of our cars... and after this crazy money month, I'm glad we save a little each month because i'd be pulling my hair out trying to figure out where I was going to find the money!

So how do we figure out how much to save each month? Just some basic Math. We figure out how much each of our policies costs for the year, and just divide by 12 to get our monthly amount.

Earthquake- $187 a year ($15.58 a month)
Homeowners- $297 a year ($24.75 a month)
"Stitch" - $722.54 a year ($60.21 a month)
"Sally" - $554.32 a year ($46.19 a month)

So we should be saving $147 a month towards insurance. Next month we will increase it from our current $143 monthly savings. 

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: $277.16 --> Increase of $1.16 from last year.
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 --> Identical to last year
We get a multiple line, a Multi-car, Driving safety record, California good driver, and a loyalty discount... which apparently saves us $741.64

Monday, May 26, 2014

Puncture Wound Update

Well, it looks like South County Boy's antibiotics did the trick. He's happily recovered from his Puncture Wound.

We got the doctor's bill in the mail for $74.09 and based off our First and Second visit this year I think we can conclude and plan on his office visits being around $74.09 for the rest of the year.

The unusually high first visit, was in fact as you all guessed, because they had to set him up in the computers and connect him with the system.

Our $105 office visit was again reduced by $30.91 for choosing an "in-network" doctor so we pay $74.09.

So we have paid $335.12 this year towards our deductible of $1,250.00

Apparently we got lucky when we selected our doctors office at random. His co-worker who has the SAME insurance picked a doctor close to where he lives and he ends up paying $300 AFTER the in-network discount to see his doctor for basic appointments.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Ikea is discontinuing the worlds most awesome wardrobe...

Yup, the wardrobe we bought for South County Boy is apparently being discontinued from IKEA...

We were searching for it online on Sunday to verify how much money we needed to set aside for it next month and couldn't find it on-line. With the car repairs this month, we knew we were going to need to wait until next month to pay for the wardrobe, but not being able to find it online was causing me to worry so we got in the car and drove to the store.

We knew that it was in one of their "bedrooms" at the store and would be easy to find... after we went through the store we noticed they had changed the room "model" ...

I pulled someone aside who worked there and they got on the radio to ask about the unit. The store clerk told me it had been discontinued but I could check with the section lead to see if we could "still create" it on our own.

Unfortunately not. They have changed all the drawers and insides for their PAX system... But a light bulb went off in my head and I had her check the inventory of other stores...

The 5 other stores were out... But Covina had 6 of them... It was almost closing time so we knew we wouldn't be able to get to Covina and purchase the unit...

On Monday South County Boy called his boss and he told him he could come in late and work a half day.

We went to Home Depot and rented a truck and drove out to Covina and we were able to pick up one of the last remaining units in stock.

I'm really glad that this month is a 3-paycheck month for me. Instead of just dumping that check into my Roth IRA, we will be using it to cover some of the car repairs, and now the $487.76 we had to pay between the rental truck and the multiple runs to the various IKEA's to get all the parts.

Next month we will be doing a No-Spend Month (Minus my friends wedding) to make up the shortfall to my Roth IRA and get back it back on track.

Thankfully we were able to get our old dresser and night stand into my mom's garage with the Rented Truck before SCB had to go to work...

So our house is now covered in Ikea parts and pieces while its slowly being assembled...

But at least we have both matching units now for the room.

After my Roth gets "caught up" we are going to get some molding to make them look like built ins and then work on making our space look "pretty."

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Internet Price Hike

I'm not sure if you remember back to last year when our internet bill was going to increase?

Knowing that our discount was going away, I ended up changing our plan and locking us into a rate lock for 2 years. All this took place in February of last year, 2013.

I signed up for the rate lock to prevent any immediate price hikes and to keep our bill around $30 a month...

Well lo and behold I opened my statement this month and found our bill had jumped to $47.99

That's a 41% increase and I have no idea why.

I looked on an old statement (since we still need a shredder), and noticed that our price protection had been dropped.

It was supposed to be good for 2 years and now its gone...

So I called...

Apparently in November when we upgraded our internet, we were locked into a "promotional" price... and the promo price for the internet upgrade has expired.

Apparently we still have price protection, but the discount is gone.

While I was on the phone with the rep, without my asking he offered to give us a new promo rate that's $5 a month cheaper.

So our bill will now be $42.99 a month instead of $33.99, for a percentage increase of 26.5%

Why are internet fees allowed to go up more than the cost of inflation?



Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Mortgage Update May '14

Principle paid down: $327.64
Interest: $342.32
Additional Principle: $0.19
New Balance: $109,215.37

The pay off date is June 2033. 

If I continue to pay the minimum on my loan, we will end up paying a total of $69,410.24 in interest over the course of our entire loan. 

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.. and we saved $5,191.81 by NOT renting a place (see Housing Comps 2013)!! Additionally we ITEMIZED our taxes in 2013, saving $702.45 on a federal taxes and $503.74 on our State Taxes. (This is what we would have owed had we not had our property to write off).
All of that "math" leaves us $5,788.18 in the hole. If we assume our home is worth at least what we paid for it ($120k), we have $10,784.630 in equity...

Leaving us a profit of $4,996.45 after 4 yrs & 8 months!

Even though we broke even at the end of 2013, I still want to keep track of how much money our condo is saving us each year, especially since we are hoping to stay a few more years. For 2014, we will again assume our monthly mortgage payments are going to be a wash since it's cheaper to OWN our home then to RENT an apartment. (Check out Housing Comps 2014 for how we figured that one out). For 2014 we have spent $5,370.40 to live in our condo, instead of $7,205.00 to live in the apartment.
  • Mortgage: $3,349.80 (P&I)
  • Extra Mortgage Principle: $13.76
  • HOA: $1,350.00
  • Property Taxes: $509.39
  • Small Home Repairs/Improvements: $147.45
    • $6.44 fix something under the sink
    • $53.91 New front door deadbolt
    • $87.10 Bathroom Faucet + Tp Holder
So far we have saved $1,834.60 by owning our condo and not renting an apartment in 2014.

Current Housing Market:
One-Bedrooms 
  • Sold in last 6 months: $220,000 (January 2014)
Two-Bedrooms
  • Asking $260,000
    • Listed 4/10/14
  • Asking $264,900
    • Listed 4/9/14 - $274,000
    • Price Change 5/5/14 - $264,900
  • Asking $265,000
    • Listed 5/8/14
  • Asking $280,000
    • Listed 9/30/13 
    • De-listed 12/18/13
    • Re-listed 1/7/14 - $285,000
    • Price Change 5/9/14 - $280,000
  • Asking $280,000
    • Listed 4/22/14 - $280,000
    • De-listed 5/1/14
  • Asking $289,000
    • Listed 4/17/14 - $289,000
  • Sold in the last 6 months: $228,000.00 (April, 2014)
  • Sold in the last 6 months: $255,000.00 (February, 2014)
  • Sold in the last 6 months: $255,000.00 (February, 2014)

Based on the current market, my unit would sell for north of $200k as a 1 bedroom in awesome condition because the 2 bedrooms in decent condition are listed for 280k.... the fixer-uppers are 260k. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Shelves and Storage

So this month we really wanted to work on a few more practical things like water storage and re-organizing...

We were storing a 15 gallon water barrel under our computer... hiding beneath a sheet and it was starting to get on my nerves a tiny bit.

South County Boy wanted to order another one, but I told him before we did, we needed to find a better place to put not just the one, but the second one he wanted to order as well.

We used to have some rickety metal shelves in the storage closet out on the patio in SCB's shop... but he's long hated them and really wanted to just pick up some ply wood and build his own for sometime now.

So we cut a deal. I told him if he could get BOTH water containers into his shop, he could build shelves out of wood that wouldn't be pretty, but would be much more functional for the space.

After one visit to price out the wood, one visit to pick up the wood, and another visit to pick up more wood to finish, we spent around $125 on plywood and 2x4's... and further cemented the "3 visits to Home Depot" to complete a project. Once the old metal frame was out, we ordered some supplies from Emergency Essentials ($100)... and added not a 15 gallon barrel, but a 30 gallon barrel in addition to a few other items...

Not pretty, but UBER functional.... That seems to be the new trend around here... "functional..."

hmmmm.... I think SCB is getting too much "Say" in how our place should look... lol.

SCB still needs to move the smaller 15 gallon drum next to it in the shop (yes it will fit, we measured), so i'm hoping he will do that this weekend to get it out of the living room... I hate that there is just so much disorder and half finished projects laying around at the moment... Hopefully we will get on a finishing spree and then I can girl the place back up with neatness.

But for now we have 45 gallons stored (plus the 3 smaller camping ones in our kitchen that equal another 15 gallons I think), so a gallon per person per day + some for Dog and light washing/cooking.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Holy Car Issues Batman...

Another one...

We took "stitch" in for his 90,000 mile maintenance check... and this time my STRUTS were shot and needed to be replaced.

***Face Palm***

Between the 90k service, the struts and a few other minor things, we had to pay another $715.57 in car repairs this month. Apparently there are a few other things that are in the "watch" category that don't need to be addressed at the moment, but most likely will the next 5,000 miles....

Why do I feel like this annual goal of mine to have a car emergency fund will never actually happen because of all the car repairs we keep having to endure?

But I am grateful that we aren't living off both our incomes so we can cash flow this again...

It's going to be a tight rest of the month since we had already spent some money on some things BEFORE this happened, (like the bed frame, my garden and some things i've yet to blog about)... but thankfully this month is a 3-paycheck month for me so were hoping there will be a little extra cash on that check that can go towards these repairs so we don't dip into savings.... cause right now we need to find $200 to break even.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Something looks different....

Back when I first got my condo, my bedroom looked like the photo on the left.

I was rocking this nice solid wood oak bed with matching dresser, chest, and night stand...

My bedding matched and my adorable panda collection had prominence...

Fast-forward 4 years and were married, still in the same condo, but the look is drastically changing...

How drastic?

Well, the chest of drawers is gone... and was replaced with a more save friendly unit from IKEA...  But now the bed is gone... its sitting in my mom's garage.

We were able to find a metal bed frame for $61.56 so the other day South County Boy took a work truck home and we moved it over to my mom's house... and now my bedroom looks like this:








Gone are the decorative bedding materials my husband refused to sleep on... and the 4 poster wood bed frame that takes up too much space in our room.... and we have said hello to bed risers (which yes, makes it more difficult for me to get into bed)...

I kind of miss it when I look back on my old remodel photos to see what my place used to look like, but I love our extra room so much more...

I know it will be better once the whole room is complete, but for now, this is what we got and its a little sad... But were slowly making the place "ours" in every since of the word.

Oh, growing pains...

Thursday, May 15, 2014

California Climate Credit

We opened our Electricity bill this week and to my surprise, it was only $17.04.... huh?.... We used the same amount of electricity last month and our bill was $62.19.... The only explanation we got was the following notice:

You Received a California Climate Credit
California is fighting climate change and so can you! Your ill includes a Climate Credit from a state program to cut carbon pollution while also reducing your energy costs. Find out how at energyupgradeCa.org/credit



So I went to the website and found this:

Millions of Californians will see savings on their electricity bill—in April and October for residential customers and monthly for small businesses—from a state program to fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Climate Credit is designed to help all of us in California fight climate change and clean the air. You don’t need to do anything to get the credit, but if you want to join California’s efforts to tackle climate change, there’s a lot you can do. 

The credit goes to households and small businesses located where privately owned utilities regulated by the Public Utilities Commission provide electricity distribution services. That includes customers of PG&E, SDG&E, Southern California Edison, PacificPower, Liberty Utilities and those who buy electricity generation in those areas from direct access providers and community choice aggregators such as Marin Clean Energy.
The amount of the credit varies based on utility or electric service provider.
While its nice to have another $40.00 in my pocket, I'm not sure how I feel about this. Nothing is required to get the credit... and normally in the past you have to do things to reduce energy to get a credit in the summer season... but NOTHING IS REQUIRED... 
I don't know if that's because its a companies money (See the picture for details..) 

But I have to ask.... if I got $40.... how many $40 checks did they have to cash & mail out.... and is this the best way to spend that kind of money? 
Wouldn't it be better to take this money and put in a solar plant instead of dolling it out to all of us if they really want to use the money for energy awareness????

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Puncture Wound

So we have been uber crazy busy the last few days with work.. and SCB more so than normal since they have been prepping for inventory... Which means he's been slacking on his chores because he's been going in early and staying late at work...

But the problem is, so have I. 

So the other night I made a plea and asked SCB to really try and do his chores regularly... pointing out that he hadn't done dishes in a few days but managed to play video games... often... and how I wasn't able to slack on mine at all and that I really just needed help.

He was a little frustrated with the whole situation and huffed off to the kitchen in the middle of the night to do the dishes. He was making a fair amount of noise and apparently decided not to bring his glasses with him since they were by the bed....

and without his glasses, he can't see more than 5 inches away from his face...

so he was doing the dishes blind... without his glasses... glasses he needs to see things with.

Since he wasn't being careful in his angry attempt at housework, as he was finishing, he dropped something on the floor and bent down to pick it up...

And then the screaming was unleashed...

He had dropped the meat thermometer on the floor....

and without his glasses on he didn't realize he was reaching for the meat thermometer.... Which had landed with the pointy end towards his now outstretched palm... and he was grabbing it fast because he was upset that it fell to the floor...

so he ended up forcing the pointed end of the meat thermometer into the lower part of his palm about 2 inches into his wrist... all thankfully near the surface of his skin.

By the time I heard the screaming and got to the kitchen he had already ripped the thermometer out of his hand so I had no clue why he was screaming bloody murder... (nor did our neighbors who would have thought my husband was a sailor and not a Mormon...).

All he kept saying was that he had been impaled over and over again...

(as I type this I keep thinking of that scene in Frozen when Olaf looks down and says, oh look, i've been impaled... but this was much more serious.) 

There wasn't any blood spouting out from the hole, but he wasn't going to let me help him bandage anything either. I kept telling him we should go to the ER, but he said no.

He was determined to fix it himself so he stormed to the bathroom and with one hand grabbed the medic bag, then proceeded to sit down at the kitchen table with his hand shaking while he proceeded to wrap his hand with gauze and tape.... all one handed... Because his wife who is trained in first aid could not be trusted......

I'm pretty sure he was going into some type of shock because his hand was shaking pretty badly....  but all he would let me do was let me get him some ibuprofen... I made sure he could move all his fingers and had feeling in them before he went to bed with his arm over his head... but he wouldn't let me help him otherwise.

The next morning he was in much better spirits, but he didn't have any strength to close anything with his hand... so I did what any good wife would do.

I mocked him while he tried to put on his socks and took pictures until he decided to call the doctor for an appointment.


He made a doctors appointment and the doctor told him he was VERY LUCKY and didn't hit the nerve or the vain. He's taking antibiotics since the major worry is infection.

SOOOOOOO Lucky here folks... You have no idea how...

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

How many trips does it take (Home Depot)...

So our bathroom sink just stopped draining... It wasn't completely out of the blue since it has been getting slower and slower the last few weeks but it just decided it no longer cared to function this week. Originally South County Boy was just going to take it apart to try and clean it... but some how in the process he either broke a piece or discovered something was broken and decided that the whole unit would need to be replaced. About halfway through the dissembling of our sink I caught him watching a few YouTube videos on plumbing... and apparently afterwards my husband felt he now had the expertise to solve and fix our plumbing disaster... Which begs the ultimate question. 
How many times do you have to drive to home depot just to do one house hold project?



The first trip was to pick up the new sink and the necessary materials like putty and tape. Apparently while he was assembling it, he found a piping issue.

The new sink wasn't long enough so he had to drive back to the store to get more sink piping....  After he hooked everything up, the sink was leaking slowly. After more you tube videos he found out that the brand new unit was defective so he had to take it all apart and return it at the store for a new one...


Which brings us to the answer... 3 trips... 
It always takes 3 trips to home depot for a single household project...


Monday, May 12, 2014

Is this disturbing?

South County Boy and I we walking through the mall to go "redeem" my free underwear coupon from Victoria Secret when we saw this...

I remember I thought getting the coupon was good timing because I always seem to loose a pair of panties to Roxy right around the time the coupons come out for a free one...  It's her only fault mind you. She just likes my dirty panties a little too much and if I forget to put them in the hamper, she eats the crotch right out of them.

Occasionally she will get into the overflow trash... (the Costco box that gets dropped in the corner because we are too lazy to carry it to the dumpster, so we generally wait until it gets filled with paper matter and then take it out with the trash)... but she will take a box or a napkin out and shred it... never anything that takes more then a minute to clean, but enough to say "hey, i'm adorable and cute... spend time with me." Once she just took the roll of toilet paper out of the bathroom and placed it in the living room in the center of the room... leaving it fully intact and rolled up... but placed there as if to say "Just dare me to..."..

So anyway, we were heading to the mall to get my free item from Victoria Secret (which is the only reason we ever head down to the mall since most of the shops are empty since they are going to remodel when all the leases are up)...when we walked past that huge red bag...

I was trying to figure out what it was and why it was there for a few minutes before I went up and read the sign... I didn't know if it was some notice about a food drive since it looked like a big kids lunch box... but I assumed it was for some school since it was in the place where they normally have the tally markers for the people who turn in their receipts for the local schools to get points towards a grant of some kind for supplies..

But no... instead I read the sign and was a little taken a back. Here's a bigger shot:



I don't know what's worse... 

Reading the sign and nodding along with it... 
Or realizing that we live in such a world where this sign needs to be placed in a public venue...

Friday, May 9, 2014

A post entirely about my dog... just because

Aww, hug time!
I swear, we have the worlds perfect dog.

She came to us well behaved, trained, and with enough personality that she's a cute character that doesn't annoy us at all.

I honestly believe that she's ruining us for being future parents later in life since the acquisition of a dog is supposed to help train you to be responsible and all. But she doesn't require much from us at all.

Roxy dances with us in the house... cuddles with my shoes... and stays beside me like "man's best friend" when i'm home all day.

She even knows when I'm done petting her and when she needs to go lay down and leave me alone so I can blog.

When we take her down to the park she becomes the adorable pup that everyone wants to meet... literally the iconic "look mommy, there's a doggie" type of dog.

(Mind you she won't play fetch and she has to stop barking like a crazy dog first before people can see her cuteness... so she's generally more adorable by lap 2 in the park when she's more comfortable and has confirmed that no one will in fact eat her... but in my mind she's perfect).

(Yup, I'm "That" proud dog owner... but what can I say... Rescues make the best pets!)

Anyways, everyone down at the park always asks us how we keep her so "white" and "fluffy" and "soft" which naturally leads to the question of how frequently we take her to the groomers...

But we don't take her to the groomers. For the most part she just stays that way - Soft and Fluffy - But about every other month or so she starts to smell a little more like dog then we prefer.


Since Roxy really likes us... she often visits us when we are in the bathroom. It doesn't matter if its toilet time or a relaxing bath, she comes right on in and wags her little nub of a tail and demands affection and attention.

She'll even put her paws up on the side of the tub and reach in as far as she can so lick our faces when she's gotten all the water off our arm that she can reach... so in those moments we just pick her up and drop her in the tub with us.

Yup. It's that simple for us.

We just pick her up and place her in the nice warm water.

Now she won't climb in on her own mind you... but she doesn't try to jump out and run away from us either. She just stands there and takes it. If the water level is low enough, she'll sit down and wait until we tell her she can get out and get her towel rub down... and then she just walks over to me and lets me towel dry her off.

So like I said, WORLD'S BEST BEHAVED DOG!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Happy Birthday to Me

I'm 28 now... 

Happy Birthday to Me!





















Yeah, for a birthday garden. I already love my patio so much more now. It gives me a place to sit and try to relax because work is WAY insane right now and i need a little sanctuary.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Cable Maintenance

While we were out in Utah, hubs and his brother decided to work on the wiring in our house. Yes, you read that correctly. We were in Utah, a completely different state... but hubs and his brother wanted to work on the wiring in our California Condo. 

Apparently he's on a DIY kick and I can't really stop him at this point. 

We mentioned in our computer fan post that SCB's brother basically does wiring and computer and IT networking for a living so he always has parts and pieces laying around. His brother is currently living in their parents house while they are on their mission in Navoo Illinois for the church, so most of their parents things are just stacked in boxes all over the house in rooms they aren't using.

The garage is a nightmare though. You can barely squeeze a car inside. Since SCB wanted to use his dad's tools to sand down that table pallet he brought with him, he ended up re-organizing his dad's garage by the time he got the tools out and put back away. When he was finished, you could open all doors on all sides all the way and walk around the car. His brother was so thrilled, he decided to help us out with some of our cabling issues in our condo. 

We used to have the Ethernet cable wrap around the entire living room wall, go through our bedroom door and then down around the baseboard of our bedroom and then to the printer... and to the XBOX so it could be hooked up to the computer and the bedroom TV. Basically a lot of cables and cords were visible and it wasn't very pretty. 

We have been talking about moving our computer into our bedroom when we remodel with new furniture, and putting the TV and SCB's possibly birthday present out in the living room. To make it look nice, we wanted to eliminate all the cabling. 

So his brother hooked us up with this: 


I have no idea what it's really called, but it's basically the size of an outlet, but it allows you to take up to 4 cables, plug them in from the living room, and then transfer them to the bedroom without all the excess cables wrapping around the wall.


Since SCB ruined my drywall saw trying to cut down a tree branch in the park one time, he had to use a drill to make small holes in the drywall that he could then use a knife of some kind to cut the hole for the panel... but now there are less cable issues in our condo and things are working better again! I can't wait until we get the new bedroom furniture taken care of and get a chance to really change up the look of the condo again. After almost 5 years in the same place (after moving every year almost for 5 years prior), I think it will be a welcome change in scenery.  

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Diet Bet...


So last month I signed up for a diet bet on-line through the Shaytards to help kick start my 1/2 marathon training and really get going on the fitness bandwagon... and I have to say I love it.

It's honestly the best $30 bet I've ever placed on myself. There's something about the accountability of the group and all the posters that's just made it awesome. From what i'm hearing from other people who have done past Diet Bet's is that the group I joined is just so active compared to others which is what makes it so motivational in the end.

I'm just glad to kiss the 160's goodbye and you know how hard it is sometimes its just start and get over the initial hurdle.... and this was really helpful for me.

I got about 2 weeks to go and just a pound to win back my money so i'm happy so far!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Homemade "Instant Oatmeal"

South County Boy got a hankering for oatmeal the other morning... and we didn't have any more "instant" oatmeal packages laying around in the cupboard.

You see, I stopped buying them a while ago because they are really expensive in comparison to buying a bunch of oats... so I wanted to try to see if I could make my own instead.

I was playing on Pinterest and stumbled upon a bunch of different recipes to make your own instant oatmeal packets... so I decided to just make my own. Considering my husband eats 2 packets of oatmeal at a time (sometimes 3), getting those boxed servings would cost us about $3 a box... and that would give him only 4-5 servings.

Sprouts was out of organic oats when I stopped in so I just picked up regular ones... but that whole bag only cost me $2.84 (the picture of the bag was what was leftover after I made him his oatmeal packages). So it was definitely cheaper to make your own.

I did a double service for hubby in each container too.

Recipe: (Double serving)

  • Dash of salt
  • 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup of Rolled Oats
  • 2 tablespoons "oat flour" (I took the rolled oats and put them through the wheat grinder, but you can use a food processor or a blender)
  • 2 Teaspoons powdered milk
  • Add 1 cup water and microwave

I also made one small "regular" sized container for me.

  • Dash of salt
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup of oats
  • 1 tablespoon oat flour
  • 1 teaspoon powdered milk.
I made mine with milk in the microwave at work (I think I added around 1/2 a cup of milk to it... maybe a little bit more.

My only suggestion was to cook it a little longer then normal since the majority of the oats are whole in the homemade version versus the "quick" oats you can also get in the store...

But what made me happy was that the taste and texture were correct... which hasn't happened when I've tried the from scratch stuff in the past. I think the key is the extra ground up oats that get added in. That helps blend the two together.

Friday, May 2, 2014

May Budget

Stitch needs a check up:
Since we weren't able to take my car into the shop last month because we spent over $900 to make SCB's car road worthy, we need to take my car into the shop for some hopefully just general maintenance.  I feel kind of tricked because we ended up paying almost a grand in car repairs and we wanted to save a grand for future car repairs as one of our savings goals... so now I feel like we have to do that goal twice... and take my car in to the shop... so this month, my car is going to just get a check up and we will revisit the whole car savings fund later this year.

I Want a Garden:
After that, I get to plant a little container garden on our patio for my birthday. We tossed out the plant containers/holders earlier this year because a lot of them had warped from being around the condo for a few years in the sun and were cracked. We aren't going to go crazy, but I want 2 flower boxes to hang on our patio to make me happy. 

Shelves and Storage Items:

We would also like to buy and pick up some more long term storage items and do some re-arranging of SCB's man-cave shop.

He hasn't been wood turning much these days with the full time job so we are thinking of tossing out the metal shelves in there that I got for free and buying so wood and building some shelves so we can move our water storage outside so it's not hiding under our printer in the living room...

(yup... its hiding under our pallet table)

We also want to pick up another 15 gallon tank, if not a slightly larger one since we could fit 2 in the outside closet no problem... and a few other items from our church cannery. I just feel like its something we should be doing now, so we are going to do it. I think it will also help us make more food from scratch.

Shredder:
If you look at what we actually buy and purchase each month, then you know we still need a shredder... the piles of papers that need to be shredded are driving me crazy, so we are getting a shredder so I can de-clutter... and it may turn into the great purge of 2014, but I don't care. Hubby is on board and we just want to de-junk our place and get stuff done so we can make room for:


NEW BEDROOM FURNITURE!!!!!! 

That's how excited I am to get moving on this project. I'm at the point where part of me just doesn't care if we dip into savings to get it done but I need to face lift this sucker I call our condo home.

I've had my wood bedroom set since I was 18... Its been in every apartment I've ever lived in... and i'm ready for something that's ours... The couch and the kitchen table were the first 2 things we bought as a couple and i'm ready for our room to be our room... and better organized...

Maybe we will even upgrade and get a bigger bed? who knows, I don't but I want to get started on it like yesterday...

May Budget:
Spending
Mortgage: $771.99
Church Tithe: $580.00
Other Church offerings: $40.00
Groceries/Household Items: $300.00
Date Nights & Eating Out: $100.00
Pocket Money ($40 each): $80.00
Cell Phone Work Reimbursement: $60.00
HOA: $270.00
Utility Bills: $150.00 (Second cell, Electricity, Internet)
Gasoline: $250.00
Discretionary: $174.95
Husband's Paychecks: $1,040.08 for Condo re-design!


Savings
Christmas Savings: $50.00
Birthday/gifts Savings: $50.00
Vacation Savings: $100
Car Registration Savings: $25.00
Roth IRA: $275.00
Insurance Savings: $143.00
Prescriptions/Doctors Visits: $50.00
Roxy (Dog) Savings Account: $50.00

Thursday, May 1, 2014

What we spent in April

April is                 D... O..... N..... E....                     Done!

Phew... I was wondering if this month was going to actually end. It seemed so long when we had that $900 car repair bill to handle... which actually came toward the beginning of the month because we wanted to get the repairs out of the way so we could buy bedroom furniture... so since we did the car repairs at the beginning of the month it meant that I had to wait for the paychecks to come in to clear it officially from our accounts and I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS...

I hate spending money before its in our checking account... but it wasn't just the car repair we had to worry about. The sink in the bathroom wouldn't drain (post to come on that one) so we had to fix that too... then there were running shoes for SCB... and the big birthday surprises which meant we ate out a bit more than we wanted to (we spent most of my fun money on eating out so its really worse than it shows below)... but somehow at the end of the month EVERYTHING balanced out and we didn't have to pull into savings... which is a miracle... But I will admit that we closed the month a few days early on the 28th so I could get groceries again and we are counting that as the start of May...

Our grocery and household average is getting closer to that $300 mark, but who knows if we can get it closer in May.

April  2014 Spending:
Someone likes to take my place after I get out
of bed in the mornings...
  • Church Tithe/ Giving: $620.00
  • Groceries: $266.94
  • Car
    • Gasoline: $235.85
    • Car Repairs: $918.08
  • Housing:
    • Mortgage: $771.80
    • Extra Principle: $0.19
    • HOA: $270.00
    • House Repairs: Bathroom Faucet + Tp Holder: $87.10
  • Eating Out: $119.94
  • Gifts:
    • Birthdays: $576.75
    • Other: $9
  • Fun Money: $80.00 (Always $40 a month per person)
  • Work Cell Phone: $60.00
  • Electricity: $62.19
  • Internet: $33.99
  • Medical: $148.00
  • Someone enjoyed his burger a bit too much.
    • Doctors Visits: $74.09
    • Prescriptions: $31.36
    • Allergy Pills: $32.38
    • Cold Meds: $10.17
  • Other:
    • Polarized Sunglasses: $17.16
    • Diet Bet: $30.00
    • New Shoes: $138.51
    • Game App: $.99
    • Rental Car: $34.78
    • Cutting Boards: $7.26
    • Batteries: $8.00
What We Spent in 2014:
  • Church Tithe/ Giving: $2,780
  • Groceries: $1,162.25 + Household Items: $91.15
  • Automobiles
    • Gasoline: $868.65
    • Smog: $51.24
    • Registration: $104.00
    • Repairs: $918.08
  • Housing: $4,328.49
  • Attempting  to eat healthy in a restaurant... 
    • Mortgage: $3,087.39
    • Extra Principle: $13.57
    • HOA: $1,080
    • Small house repairs:
      • $6.44 (fixing under the sink piping)
      • $53.91 (New front door deadbolt)
      • $87.18 (Bathroom Faucet + Tp Holder)
  • Eating Out: $459.71
  • Date Night: $2.00 (Movies)
  • Clothes:
    • SCG: $91.44
    • SCB: $70.13
  • Dog: $38.28
  • Fun Money: $320.00
  • Cell Phones: $281.35
  • Electricity: $242.23
  • Internet: $135.96
  • Gifts:
    • Wedding: $100.00
    • Other: $38.93
    • The world's biggest flower!!! Just as big as
      I am!
    • Birthdays: $576.75
  • Medical:
    • Prescriptions: $41.36
    • Dr. Visit: $235.11
    • Allergy Pills: $32.38
    • Cold Meds: $10.17
  • Other
    • $27.45 (Wedding Card, Walking Safety Light, 10 Storage Boxes)
    • $4.69 (2 car key copies)
    • $24.09 ($5 dry Vac, 7 house key copies)
    • $3.26 (post Office)
    • $10.79 (MLP dog tag, running light)
    • $3.21 (Bug Spray)
    • $347.75 DYSON Pet Vacuum (Kohls)
    • $208.18 Disney Half Marathon
    • $208.18 Disney Half Marathon
    • $9.12 Laundry Basket
    • $27.98 (Running Arm Band, Computer Cable, Computer Microphone,Nose hair trimmer.)
    • $91.98 Turbo Tax/State and Fed File
    • $13.18 V-Day items.
    • 21.55 (Metal Skewers, Organizer bins, Shower cleaner)
    • $7.83 OTC Medications and Water bottle
    • $361.19 Vacation to Utah: 
      • Food: $124.66
      • Gas: 187.30
      • Someone fell down... Roxy came to his rescue.
      • Other: $49.23
    • $51.60 (Postage and Handcrank/solar radio)
    • $35.54 (Audio Book, Journal, card, etc)
    • $55.45 (15 Gallon Water Barrel + Solar Batteries)
    • $30.98 (Food Slicer)
    • $3.41 (Postage)
    • $24.82 (CPU Fan + Workout gloves)
    • $5.90 (Straws)
    • $17.16 (polarized sunglasses)
    • $30.00 Diet Bet
    • $138.51 New Running Shoes
    • $0.99 Game App
    • $34.78 Rental Car
    • $7.26 Cutting Boards
    • $8.00 Batteries