Nothing much going on here

No posts merely means not much going on... other than the mid-thigh-deep snow outside (drifts up to our bedroom windowsills - yes, we're on the ground floor - it would be scary if our bedrooms were on the second floor.) Let's not even talk about heating bills. Oddly, though, the heat runs less now than it did during our teen-digit stretch of temps that rang in the new year. The warmest room in our house is the one with the deepest drifts against its wall; could the snow actually be INSULATING our house?



Anyway, we may be starting to feel some loosening up in our cash flow. The pay-in-full bills are being paid each month (another way to look at it is that we're spending "cash," or rather, not carrying credit balances at all, on regular living expenses like food, gasoline, and other incidentals) and of course the regular expenses like utilities are being paid every month as they have been all along, and we're constantly paid up nearly a month in advance on all the revolving credit balances we're working on. Many times I'm just waiting for the statement to be generated so I can make a payment, satisfying the "minimum plus" for that billing cycle. Right now we're paid up through March 8th on everything.

And while the movement seems glacial, I was able to update nine of our credit accounts with balances by bumping them down a percent or more each.

Our other debts (the bank loan which dropped under $4K in January, seemed like a nice milestone) and our car, which has less owed on it than I thought, are coming down slowly (painfully slowly in the case of the car) but at least that's movement in the right direction. I try to concentrate on the positive because frame of mind, while not everything, sure is a lot, isn't it?

Is math nothing but a theory?

Today while driving Jr. 444-14 and Jr. 444-11 to school, we had time for some idle conversation so I asked them if they had ever considered, like I sometimes do, what the world would be like if nothing was flexible. To be more specific, we had a stack of CDs with one crammed half-in, half-out, because there really wasn't any more room in the compartment that probably wasn't made for holding CD's (not sure what it was originally made for. At any rate, I feared that even more scratches were developing in our jammed, crammed stack of CDs.) I took 2 CDs out of the stack and the jam was completely alleviated.

CDs really can't be compressed, I explained. The small amount of flexibility once the maximum stack size has been reached has more to do with the slightly soft borders of the compartment than anything else. I realized that oftentimes we can take liberties (but sometimes we can't - for example, once a container of liquid is full, you really can't add any more to the inside of it); one more folded shirt can be compressed and put into a drawer previously considered full. If you don't care about seat belts, one more person can sometimes be added to a back seat. "Move over everyone, we can fit one more in here."

"Math is completely rigid, though," Jr. 444-14 said. "That's because it isn't real. It's just a theory people thought up to try to understand the world. It can't be proven, though. It's just a theory."

Thanks, Jr. 444, for saving us $50

It's just like us here at the 444 household to be completing a college application in the last hour of the last day possible (due today, so we're getting it in after 11PM.) Well, upon hitting "submit" I got the checkbook ready (even though Jr. 444 offered to pay for it himself but I declined his kind offer), only to read the good news that the application fee had been waived due to the checkbox (that I found upon proofreading; humble Jr. 444 hadn't the slightest clue that he even received the distinction) indicating National Merit Scholar commendation.

We all know that this is connected to the PSAT, which was several years ago. Let's move on and discuss the more-recently-taken SAT. Jr. 444 took the SAT only once, nearly a year ago, and his verbal score was 720 and his math, 770. (I'm not making particular mention of the writing section; let's just say the combined score was 2150 so this goes under the category of "do the math yourself if it really matters that much.")

Sorry to get in a brag but moms are allowed, right? I could talk about apples and their proximity to and trajectory from trees but... no, wait - we are never allowed by best social etiquette to aggrandize ourselves but fluffing feathers about our offspring is to be tolerated in small-enough doses because it comes from those who have been tending the nest for the last 17 years, and if we can't get a gloaty-boast in after all those years of childrearing, well, what's being a parent all about?

Trying to be patient (results are now in)

Comparing past months with this month or next month:

In Dec. 09 we paid $639.50 to interest on credit card debt; next month should be about $558.98.

I am not comparing to this month, which will be somewhere in between. (edit: turns out to be $627.74 for January) That's because this month does not show the full effect yet of paying off the cards we just paid off, since we received our last billing of interest from them (kiss off, GE Money Bank and Merrick Bank.) My records indicate our highest-ever level of interest was paid in September, to the tune of $686.04.

Minimum payments set by credit issuers to credit cards was: (and I am not including minimums set by those we pay off every month now, since that's N/A, in my opinion; I'm counting only outstanding debt with month-to-month balances, in other words)
$1,213 in November 2009
$1,133 in December 2009
$876 in January 2010

*had to edit: it was $876, not $938 as previously estimated, for January !

A few scenic places

where we used to send our money (but don't anymore.)

Merrick Bank in South Jordan, Utah:



G E Money Bank in Draper, Utah: (notice a theme? Nothing against Utah except... I don't want to send any money there anymore.)


Just for fun, go try out this calculator. Plug any numbers you want into it.

Bankrate's Minimum Payment Calculator

Try out my Merrick Bank card, though. Here are the parameters. First try it at a reasonable interest rate (pick any - I don't know, 6% or 9% or whatever you think is not terrible.) Then try it at the rate they have offered me and will not budge on (why have I not cancelled this card? Utilization only - believe me - that's all I have it for. They'd better give me something.)

$3,300 limit (pretend it's charged up to the max.)
3% of balance as minimum payments
33% APR (the calculator only goes up to 34%!)

Note the difference in time to pay off loan and the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan at the low rate vs. the 33% Merrick charges.

Here's where the evil takes place:

Thanks, honey!

Mr. 444 bought me a Valentine's day present (I know, it's early) and he paid for it out of the proceeds of his online business, which is ongoing. That business venture is subject to fizzling out sooner or later, being an opportunistic bit of capitalism as it is, but it's been good while the gettin' was good. I'm sure he'll post an update on that soon.

Feel free to not post any accolades for the shoes. Two middle-schoolers here have already looked like they were suppressing vomit, by way of reaction. But I love them!

Oh yes, and in other news, I finally ordered a $5 check from Opinion Outpost. I can't believe how much I racked my brain to answer questions for what seemed like 45 minutes for each of two surveys to get that $5. But I don't mind - I'll work my fingers to the bone to get another $5, and another, and another, because $5 is $5 and I can use it.

Another two bite the dust

New additions to the paid-off pile are the Discover and Old Navy VISA.



Note the tires on one of the Sam's Club accounts. Just over $250 of that balance is tires and they are at no interest for six months.

We found by reading fine print and speaking to a customer service representative (the last time we had one of these deals) that if you are nearing the end of such a promotional period, and there is still some balance left on the promotional purchase and you also owe money to the card for other purchases, you can avoid being charged back interest on the promotional purchase when the time limit expires by doing the following:

Call and tell a CSR that you would like to schedule a payment to specifically pay off the promotional balance. I don't know if this is a law and if it is in effect everywhere, but it may be included in the terms of the promotional offer (in the case of Sam's Club cards and Wal Mart cards, it is, or it was for us in our state.) They must then credit the payment as directed by the consumer. I'm sure the account has to be paid and in good standing with at least minimum payments made on other balances for this to work. I'm including this as a tip because many people are not aware of this, and if, at the end of the promotional period, a consumer still owes money to a card, they may then be charged the entire amount of deferred interest - unless arrangements are specifically made to pay the remaining balance owed on the promotional offer before the term expires.

Best bread in the world

Have you ever eaten at the Outback Steakhouse and are you familiar with the brown bread they serve while you are waiting for your meal? Well, even if not, I think you'll like this bread. Pardon the odd measurements; I was trying to adapt this to a quantity suitable to my bread machine. You could make this without a bread machine just as well, I am sure. Most of the many "copycat" recipes out there use white flour, instant coffee granules and an assortment of food coloring to achieve the dark color. That's ridiculous. The more authentic (at least, I think) version out there does not stoop to that level, because dark molasses (I wasn't even aware that there is any molasses other than dark until somebody mentioned it) and real, whole-grain rye flour will take care of any color issues.

I tweaked this recipe a bit in minor ways; for example: Why use white sugar (you could, it would not make any appreciable difference) when you have brown? And I was a bit worried that I'd get a disappointing shade of tan (I didn't) so I threw in one tablespoon of cocoa. You could easily omit this and I'm sure you'd never know the difference.

Here's the rye flour I used. I was not familiar enough with rye until recently to know that there is refined rye and there is dark, whole-grain rye. I have not made rye bread in long enough that I was shocked to be unable to find rye flour on the shelves of the more pedestrian supermarkets in my town. I went to a mid-scale supermarket (the more upscale ones will have it, no doubt) and found one kind; I lucked into the right variety, apparently.



I put this on the bread machine on the "sweet" setting. Your bread machine may vary. I got my 1980's-model machine last summer for $5 from a neighborhood yard sale and we've been giving it a workout. My only complaint is that the crust burned just a little bit in some parts in the last few minutes of cooking. Next time I will watch it and turn off the machine when there is 10 minutes left of cooking time. Crust nothwithstanding, though, this is the best bread I think I have ever made in or out of the bread machine. Not only is the taste outstanding, but it slices like a dream and is springy and moist. Good luck with it, and enjoy!

1 cup warm water
5 Tablespoons molasses
4 teaspoons oil
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cups rye flour
1 3/4 cups bread flour
2 pkg (4 1/2 teaspoons) dry yeast

Don't worry - yesterday's post may have been a little bit of a rib-tickler but I would not steer you wrong when it comes to something as serious and important as excellent bread (the 7-year-old has already gobbled up several slices - think your kids won't eat whole grains? Think again!)

Click here for link to non-bread-machine recipe.

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Progress review

Here are the cards that we have paid to a zero balance. Some of them are still used but paid for each month in full by the due date, so that no interest is charged. Some are not used for the time being and may or may not be closed.

I have recorded interest charged in a recent month (either the last interest charge this month) or December, or November; in a few cases I had to go back to September, or even last summer) This is because a few cards were paid off recently and a few paid off months ago and I wanted to show a representative interest charge on each and a representative minimum payment that we had been making on each. Obviously, the landscape of our "minimum payments" and "interest we pay each month" charts will change soon.

The interest charges and minimum payments for each card don't necessarily go together, as in belonging to the same billing cycle (although in most cases they do). I had to look up whatever online statements are available and patch it together with my records. I admit that in some cases I picked the "worst" recent month; for example, November for a particular card, since by December I had paid the card halfway down. I wanted to illustrate the monthly damage that these cards, in aggregate, have been doing us, and of course this doesn't detail the ones we are still paying on (none of which are being added to anymore, however.) So here's a look at just some cards we've PAID OFF recently.

Card_________Recent interest charge____Recent minimum payment

M's Texaco.................$18.86........................$41.00
D's Texaco..................$5.40........................$31.00
M's Sam's Club.............$28.11........................$53.00
D's Sam's Club.............$20.30........................$39.00
WalMart....................$16.96........................$43.00
Target VISA................$17.80........................$25.94
D's Juniper.................$8.58........................$13.58
M's Merrick................$81.88.......................$104.00
M's Merrick2...............$54.22........................$97.00
Old Navy VISA..............$14.64........................$25.00
Discover...................$11.49........................$22.00

Booked gains, and here comes the itch

And no, I don't mean itching from stress (I have that, too.) OK, so today being the craptastic market day that it is, following several of the same, I have decided to rein in my risk and liquidate all stocks in my "Trust" and my "Regular" brokerage accounts (this does not include Mr. 444's accounts or all of my accounts... this is not any kind of full accounting for all of our investments.)

I have already withdrawn so much from investments and borrowed from the 401K and played plenty of this lately:

*it's supposed to be one of those classic slide puzzles.

But I am still feeling highly motivated to kill off as much debt as I can without liquidating all investments.

So my "Trust" has only been in existence since 1/31/09 with the exception of some stock with $400 worth of gain that I moved into it "as is." My point is that the remaining $400 or so of gain I got after 1/31/09.

And my "regular" account, accounting for trades made since 1/31 (and I have made no trades in either account from Dec. 31, 2009 until just now) are as follows:

No stocks in either account, as of this moment

Regular account: Booked $854 gain
Trust account: Booked $820 gain

In other words, both accounts have the same amount of money they had in them on Dec. 31, PLUS $800+ each.

I am very tempted to pull out the profit from each and use it to pay off yet another card. The number of cards we have paid to zero in the last few months is impressive, if I do say so myself. I may continue the trend. I really want to pay these cards off, and this $1,674 is money I have now that I didn't have on the last day of the year. (oops, I'm forgetting that $400 of it was brought in as gain over the last quarter of the year, but you get the idea.)

"We're going to eat the goodies"

Just entered a cooking contest. I'll share the recipe with you if I don't win! If I win, I probably won't share it (for privacy purposes). That's a "you win" OR "I win" proposition for readers.

The prize is merchandise supposedly worth $1,800 which I would turn around for cash instead. How much I could get for it - I don't know. I need to pay bills more than I need any more STUFF.

Gas and Electric Bill - OUCH !

* not me

I guess our new windows were only able to do so much for us when the temps dropped to 12 overnight repeatedly. The last billing month was brutal. We are not used to sustained daytime temps in the 20s around here.

Our bill is $334 which is only $52 less than our highest bill last year. The detail is not provided yet (tomorrow or the next day) so I won't be able to see if the rise this month is due to gas, electric, or both in expected proportions.

*Hey, I just had to correct that because I had the wrong figures previously. A savings of $52 or more per month is not too shabby at all.

SO, trying to find the silver lining here: Last year we had TWO bills of $386 in a row. And the cold temps ended right on the day they read the meter (January 15) and went up an average of 20 degrees promptly thereafter. Our meter is next read on February 13, and I'm hoping the short-ish month and the reprieve from the big freeze will bring our bill back down to sane levels. The bill we got last month was substantially lower than the same time last year. I don't hear the heat running nearly constantly like it was a few weeks ago.

Car Thief !

Went to my car this morning to start my 36 mile daily commute and SURPRISE - someone had decided to remove several items from my car overnight. No sign of forced entry - so it looks like I can only blame myself for this one. I usually lock my car , but I was in a hurry last night and skipped this important step. Thanks to the scumbag neighbors who have skipped out on their mortgages and the section 8 unemployed drug addicts taking over our community - it's no longer an option to leave doors unlocked. One of the reasons we moved into our apartment was the quiet , SAFE atmosphere. Well - goodbye Shangrila.

For happier news please see the update to yesterday's post !

Wow, big whopping profit

It all started with what I thought was a financial misstep by Mr. 444.

Without revealing specifics, the boys here have been playing a certain computer game, and a widely-sold (in this country) consumer product began a promotion whereby a code found within each item can be used to enhance features of the game(s) run by a certain game company.

So all you need to know is the familiar scenario of boys needling parents to please buy the product (cost: $1 to $1.60, depending on store and whether it's on sale.) Mr. 444 obliged, bringing home the product - but, not completely understanding the promotion, Mr. 444 generously brought home six. He thought it was something like each code would unlock one component of the desired feature.

It turns out we only needed one. Any more would be redundant. So we were stuck with five units of the un-needed product. I gave the husband some dirty looks for buying six of something we don't consume anyway (or certainly don't need six of). But he meant well. And it was "only" $12 or so that he spent. (He went to a store which charges full list price because he knew that store was sure to have the item.) But even $12 seems like a lot when we're trying to make each dollar go to debt repayment.

A few nights later (last night) he had the idea to see if anyone would like to buy one of these codes online. And they sold lickety-split. For his $12 outlay, he has cleared (after listing fees, Paypal cut, and all else that goes into a conservative estimate) $7 per item. So what do you think we did? We went out and bought two dozen more last night.



Oooh, the risk. Really - we made a little money (about $35, which is about 300% profit), then went out and spent $24 (our favorite local supermarket had them on sale, with use of our bonus card, for a dollar each, and he cleaned out their stock), thus re-investing the majority of our profit into new inventory for this "business." (The first round cost about $12 - they were not bought on sale - and we cleared, after expenses, about $35, and then we reinvested $24, more efficiently this time, at lower cost per unit, for 24 units, not accounting for a few cents for tax - is it OK if I don't detail for the 6% sales tax in our state or do I have to be more exact? ;o)

So far today we've sold two. People in certain other parts of the world can't buy this particular product, so they're willing to pay us about $9 to get what would cost a buck or two over here.


*** Mr 444 here with an update. We've sold 8 total of the mystery item so far. Our friends in the Netherlands love it and keep coming back for more. The net profit after all fees and costs are factored in is 157%. Not quite 300% but hey - what other investment have you made lately with that kind of return??
The best part is they pay me instantly , and Paypal does the currency conversion and collection. I thought I should mention that I had to endure the "fish eye" from my wife for 10 days after I bought the first 6 items for what was at the time thought to be an over inflated price. I'm really glad I was able to stumble across a way to sell these for a profit. And stumbling across this profit center makes me look around and think "What else can we sell to pay some bills?" There is opportunity everywhere.



Here's an update as of Monday. 16 items left to sell. This is after paying for my lunch at a fine local burger establishment.

Sad day for GE Money Bank

This is the bottom of our Mint list of credit accounts. Only one account shown has not been attacked, although I'm plotting its demise. The others either show a zero balance (as you can see) or they are used for expenses, to be paid monthly when billed.

PAID, PAID, PAID, and PAID

Four cards and their recent balances (within a month or two ago, when I started chipping away at them)

Sam's Club card, mine: Close to $1,600
Sam's Club card, the mister's: Close to $1,200
Target VISA: Close to $1,000
WalMart: Close to $1,100

All paid OFF! Not closed. WalMart will probably not be used, or may possibly be used for groceries. Target VISA is a trash card as well; possibly for PIF purposes but probably not. Sam's Club: Yes - we buy groceries there. To be paid in full when each month's statement is due, just like we're doing with our two gasoline cards and just like we're doing with our two designated VISAs.

One possible outcome of this is that the Wal Mart and Sam's Club cards will be converted to Discovers. Previously we were turned down for that, due to high balances on cards. The interest rate on the associated Discovers is lower than the store cards. Even if the goal is to not pay interest, it seems like a good idea to have cards with lower interest rates, if for no reason other than principle (not principal.) We're working to improve credit, and lower interest is something we are gradually earning. Also, credit limits nearly double each time we pay off a card. For example, when I paid $700 to the $1,600-limit Sam's Club card (which had very recently been at a $1,200 limit), they immediately raised the limit to $2,000. Higher limits are something I am interested in because higher limits and lower balances = lower utilization which lead to lower interest rates being offered... these are basic principles of credit improvement.


Hardy harr... I got this image from Sam's Club's site:





One more balance payoff is scheduled for later this month!

Check the platter while I am out today

I thought I was going to get my head handed to me on a platter, but it's not that bad today (stocks - look at the chart below and the one 3 posts back and we are right in between that right now. I have not seen any need to panic-sell anything.)

I'll be out, though, so keep an eye on things for me while I'm gone. But not too closely. A watched pot never boils. In my case, the unwatched cookies in the oven get burned. OK, I'm mixing metaphors with reality now.

Hopefully everyone's had the experience of meeting someone and just hitting it off, and every time you get together with this person, both of you never run out of things to say, and each of you seem to interest the other with conversational topics and you just get along better than if you had been born twins.

Then on the other hand, there are select people who just don't seem to like you (and the feeling is squeamishly mutual.) Conversation is strained and the time you must spend together (because you would never choose to) seems like a minefield of traps and barbs, a chess game where you have to try to foresee the other person's next move and calculate every answer. Polite chitchat is made but it is exhausting, because all you want is to get out of there and be free of the other person's presence.



I have to spend time with one of those in the second group today. I will be ready to celebrate when I get out. Thankfully, the meeting only lasts one hour.

I'll be singing in the car on the way home.

Check is in the bank and will be ready in possibly 2-3 days (fund availability at banks is a mystery to me. I would not have settled for "I don't really know" like Mr. 444 did - he must have not been putting on full flirt power with the teller today. I don't put on flirt power - I just act like the person in the minefield paragraph above until they give me a concrete answer.)

I am rubbing my palms together in anticipation of paying off those stinky, lousy bills. I logged onto one of them yesterday to make a partial payment and was actually told that more than two payments cannot be made online within one billing cycle. Can you believe that? What's it to them? I guess they don't want weirdos charging every day and paying every day, but really! They can't legally refuse payment so it can be made by check, through bank bill-pay, or of course for $9.95 or something on the phone. HA! No thanks... See why I'll be glad to be rid of my creditor/debtor relationship with G.E. Money Bank? They're easy to work with if you follow all their little rules but they're obviously set up to profit from hurtin' losers, and they're going to have two fewer hurtin' losers to feast on as of this week.

Boring day; holding pattern; stalking the mailman

Nothing much going on here. Wanted to snowflake/snowball and got out the various checkbooks to see if there had been some forgotten-about minor balance that could kill a bill. Not much there; scrutinized the brokerage accounts and saw $156 sitting there uninvested (meaning it's just held as money-market, which is essentially like having it in a savings or checking account doing nothing) so I transferred that over and chipped away at the big balances that are going to feel a little earthquake when the 401K loan check gets here.

Really thought that loan check would arrive over the weekend and felt affronted that it didn't (not really, but I just can't wait to turn it into paid balances.) Here comes the mailman down the street right now. Does anyone else get their mail at/after 5PM? Really - sometimes that man trudges around in the dark.

Let me total up right now and see if the "Roth and taxable" pile did well enough to absorb the $155 I transferred out.

Friday's total: $32,154.47
Today's total: $32,059.11

So... not quite, since that's a difference of $95.36.

Considering that I took out $155, though, that's not too bad. The accounts went up $59.64, after accounting for the withdrawal.

Before anyone gets their dander up - no, it was not a withdrawal from a Roth. No, it was not a stock sale. It was just slush money sitting uninvested in a regular investing account. That's money you can transfer into checking or savings with one click. So anyway, it went to checking and is now in the electronic pipeline to make two minimum payments way ahead of time and pay for one 10" saute pan (when you cook a lot for this many people, you have to replace the worn out cheap one after a few years) and we did buy that from Macy's and we did pay the entire balance before the statement even cut (yikes!). That's great, because the last thing I need is a store card to juggle and a bill I might actually forget about.



I'm going to hit the mailman with this freshly minted Martha Stewart (let me testify, it can cook a mean pancake, all right) if he does not bring the check today.

p.s. You know it's bad when you have to put on your coat to walk 20 feet to the mailbox!

How 2010 is shaping up

My faithful readers know I was pretty much despondent and sort of fearful on New Years' Day, and also, on New Years Eve, I had been afraid to invest the money that I really wanted to get started growing (the "Trust," which is comprised of actual trust proceeds and an annuity payout.) Without further ado I want to post a one-week status update. First is the picture of the trust as of right now. First line, as you know, represents $2,385 invested on Oct. 28, 2009, and the next three lines represent money invested only one week ago Thursday. Last trading day of 2009, Dec. 31, late in the day. I have to admit I hoped for some gain - any gain, but had no inkling that I'd be up as much as $600.27 on just those three new investments one week later.



Etrade provides charts in which you can track your account's gain and an index may be shown for comparison. It's not much of a chart when it's only a few days' worth of data, and it only includes through yesterday, but what do you think? Not bad for being one week into the year. Let's hope I can keep it up. First I'll show the Trust, then my regular Brokerage, then my Roth. I am not going to put all other accounts here (for example, Mr. 444's accounts, for space consideration.) Let me know if these are not displaying, btw.







Check this out, too. (ReconstructionZone, top left corner.) I am kind of proud, even if a lot of it did come from my mother's annuity. Someone had to do the work of wrangling it out of my sister, though, so I take credit for working for it. ;oD