I read a very interesting post at Free Money Finance and made what seemed to be a a very contrarian reply.
Fundamentally, I believe that parents should pay for as much of their children's college and graduate education as they can without jeapordizing their retirement savings (I didn't mention that part in the comment). We hope our children will help us when our health fails, but we also hope to never be a financial burden on them.
Many others feel that children will not value their education if they do not pay for some or all of it theirselves. I agree that they need to have a feeling of contribution, but in my thoughts, hard work and good grades are more than sufficient. After all what is more important: children paying for college or graduating with excellent grades? I think the later.
Outside expenses, vacations, etc... I really don't have an objection to children pay for their own entertainment, etc.... Free pleasure and luxury can easily demotivate children and lead to idelness. Let the children save up for the pleasures and luxuries.
Another thing I recommend, that few others considered is having children take one or two years off before going to college. Let them explore the world, taste work, travel and experiment outside of school. Give them a chance to mature so they appreciate school all the more. Most of us agree that a college education can be helpful in obtaining many jobs and is necessary for the graduate degrees that other jobs require. Experience in the workforce as an unskilled laborer can be very challenging and motivate a child to improve their opportunities by completing a higher education.
Here's the text from my post, please share with me your thoughts:
I am in disagreement with the let the children pay for college crowd.
My core belief is that it is the parents' primary responsibility to help their children grow and prosper in our society.
My secondary belief is that an active hands on education should focus on values, ethics and responsibility. A child's character cannot be developed without aggressive attention from parents.
I had to pay (75%) for the vast majority of my education at an elite private insitutation. Paying my way and accumulating debt was an enourmous burden and a competitive disadvantage.
I disagree with those who argue that their children should pay for 1/2 or more of their schooling. If they are hard working and competitive students, they should have the opportunity to focus on their education and competing for good grades.
Let chidren save up for personal expenses, vacations, etc....
A large school debt is a significant burden for new graduates who should concentrate on investing as much as possible into their new retirement accounts - not paying off student loans. We all know the value lost by not saving early on. Furthermore, high student debt might disuade children from furthering their education, i.e. "how can I afford graduate school with all these college loans? (I do understand they can be deffered)"
A solid work ethic is what enables our children to be admitted to a most competitive school and to succeed within it. That ethic can and will be dilluted with external work obligations.
For those unsure if their children will value their education if they do not pay for it, I recommend having their children take a year off before attending college - most likely at the child's expense.
Let them work for a year as an intern in the careers they are considering or as an unskilled laborer. Both approaches will educate them greatly and motivate them to excel in their education.
Also, a gap year might help them achieve a certain level of maturity that the entering freshman may not initially have. Think of it as a chance to explore and grow without risking grades.
Have a wonderful evening,
makingourway
Thursday, April 27, 2006
The shoe has fallen - final moving bill & damages
I received the final moving bill today.
It was about $2700 + my deposit, which put me at about $3500 total.
It was about $100 less than what I had expected they would charge. I'll put it in our MM.
It's possible that I could have fought for a $150 reduction in fees to recover lost productivity for a sick worker, however, this is a small rural community and hard nosed negotations of that sort tend to backfire outside of big cities.
There were some significant errors in the estimate. We were told it would cost about $3500 including packing.
We did almost all the packing ourselves, the movers told us we had so much packed that we saved about $4000 in packing charges.
However, this means that the cost of moving was grossly underestimated, because our total cost was virtually the same as the original estimate, which included packing.
We've taken this as a sign that we have too much stuff and must SHED. That's our new plan.
My personal goal is to give away at least 2 boxes of stuff every week.
I gave away a huge amount of furniture and possessions to the salvation army over the last two weeks. The people working there are wonderful! Adding everything up to calculate charitable contributions will be quite a bit of work, but it's part of my plan for today.
have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
It was about $2700 + my deposit, which put me at about $3500 total.
It was about $100 less than what I had expected they would charge. I'll put it in our MM.
It's possible that I could have fought for a $150 reduction in fees to recover lost productivity for a sick worker, however, this is a small rural community and hard nosed negotations of that sort tend to backfire outside of big cities.
There were some significant errors in the estimate. We were told it would cost about $3500 including packing.
We did almost all the packing ourselves, the movers told us we had so much packed that we saved about $4000 in packing charges.
However, this means that the cost of moving was grossly underestimated, because our total cost was virtually the same as the original estimate, which included packing.
We've taken this as a sign that we have too much stuff and must SHED. That's our new plan.
My personal goal is to give away at least 2 boxes of stuff every week.
I gave away a huge amount of furniture and possessions to the salvation army over the last two weeks. The people working there are wonderful! Adding everything up to calculate charitable contributions will be quite a bit of work, but it's part of my plan for today.
have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
New House upgrades - a computer network
I thought I might mention this.
One of the upgrades we included with our house was a computer network (LAN).
As the network was installed during construction it ended up costing us about 1/3 - 1/2 or what it would have cost after construction. In our case I paid $1500.
Although we used electricians (vs. specialized computer networking people), they were experienced installing LANs and had actually used Cat 5e cable already in the house for the telephone lines.
They were also familiar with the special wiring standards used with network cable (there is a very specific sequence that all 8 color coded computer wires must be arranged at the end of the cable - where the rj-45 plastic clip is attached). Failure to do so isnt' a big problem until the wire has to be cut and re-terminated (a new rj-45 plastic clip added). Failure to follow standards usually ends up having the wire order reversed and the cable run essentially useless. I've personally made this mistake and lost 6 hours of time figuring out what I had done wrong.
One great thing about professional electricians is they usually like to do things right. In my case it meant they installed a cable chase (think long plastic tube) running between the first and second floors. This allowed them to easily pull cable between floors without fishing it through cracks and crevices. All in all they did a great job.
My recommendations if you want a LAN at home:
One of the upgrades we included with our house was a computer network (LAN).
As the network was installed during construction it ended up costing us about 1/3 - 1/2 or what it would have cost after construction. In our case I paid $1500.
Although we used electricians (vs. specialized computer networking people), they were experienced installing LANs and had actually used Cat 5e cable already in the house for the telephone lines.
They were also familiar with the special wiring standards used with network cable (there is a very specific sequence that all 8 color coded computer wires must be arranged at the end of the cable - where the rj-45 plastic clip is attached). Failure to do so isnt' a big problem until the wire has to be cut and re-terminated (a new rj-45 plastic clip added). Failure to follow standards usually ends up having the wire order reversed and the cable run essentially useless. I've personally made this mistake and lost 6 hours of time figuring out what I had done wrong.
One great thing about professional electricians is they usually like to do things right. In my case it meant they installed a cable chase (think long plastic tube) running between the first and second floors. This allowed them to easily pull cable between floors without fishing it through cracks and crevices. All in all they did a great job.
My recommendations if you want a LAN at home:
- It's usually about $150 per drop (point to point connection).
- If you use an electrician, make sure he has all the remote locations terminating at a central location.
- make sure your central location is near your cable modem and router.
- make sure your router has enough network ports for each remote location.
- make sure you have enough short network cables that connect from the wallplate at the central location to the router.
- if you don't have enough network ports in your router (most have 4), buy a switch, they are cheap and can give you an additional 8-32 ports. You'll need another network cable to connect the switch.
- make sure your wiring person terminates all the wires into a wall plate or patch panel at your central location. Don't let him leave loose wires hanging out of a hole in the wall.
- your remote locations should also terminate at a wall plate. Don't let the wiring person leave bare wires hanging out the wall.
- make sure every single connection is tested
- you should have a guarantee on the wiring work
- see if they'll throw in a cable chase between floors - it will save time and money in the future
- avoid outside wiring if possible
- See if the electrician will add a second ethernet run to each wall jack for free or cost of materials, pulling two cables instead of one doesn't cost them anything and it can be useful when two people want to use computers in a room or if you want to use an ipcamera.
I noticed that my older computer used by grandma and grandpa was MUCH faster on a wired network than wireless. It seems that boot-up time was cut dramatically.
Also, wired is more secured. My wireless cards picked up several unsecured networks in my neighborhood. Not good for them and indirectly for me.
Here are some advantages of having a wired network in your home:
- More secure than wireless
- Much faster - despite what ads say about 802.11g or MIMO/802.11n wireless standards
- Doesn't require extra wireless cards, which may require opening your computer for installation
- Can be attached to network appliances such as: shared network hard drives, networked printers/faxes, mp3 players, tivo's, ip cameras, etc....
- More resistant to interference from cordless phones and microwave ovens (2400 MHz)
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Keeping an eye on the little ones with IP web cams
Our new house is a bit bigger than the last with our Master bed room further away from our children's bedrooms than before.
It caused a bit of concern that we might not hear them at night if there's a problem.
To address this we broke out the old baby monitors. They're not very good. I think they operate at the 900 MHz spectrum, which was sufficiently unattractive quality for most consumers to abandon 900 MHz cordless phones in favor of 2400 MHz and 5.8 GHz.
Since our house is networked, I had been considering installing network based IP cameras to allow us to look in on them.
I visited Radioshack and Costco.com to find IP cameras that might work.
One of the most impressive was the Panasonic bl-c30a, but it's about $300 each and I need at least two. It's wireless and wired with motion detection, which is pretty nifty. Most of the IP based web-cams include their own mini-webserver. I'm not sure how I'll manage security through my router regarding that, but there will be a way. Maybe the DMZ?
Anyway, I'd like to avoid spending $300 each. The older version is wired, not wireless, but that will do fine for me. It's available at Radio Shack for $199.00 with a $100 rebate - pretty good deal!! I'm going to pick one up at a local store if I can return it (after testing it out).
What I did end up buying was the Mobicam Handheld monitoring System from Costco. It's $129.99 including shipping + sales tax. It's a little different than most IP cameras. Actually it may not even be an IP camera. This is what I like about it:
It caused a bit of concern that we might not hear them at night if there's a problem.
To address this we broke out the old baby monitors. They're not very good. I think they operate at the 900 MHz spectrum, which was sufficiently unattractive quality for most consumers to abandon 900 MHz cordless phones in favor of 2400 MHz and 5.8 GHz.
Since our house is networked, I had been considering installing network based IP cameras to allow us to look in on them.
I visited Radioshack and Costco.com to find IP cameras that might work.
One of the most impressive was the Panasonic bl-c30a, but it's about $300 each and I need at least two. It's wireless and wired with motion detection, which is pretty nifty. Most of the IP based web-cams include their own mini-webserver. I'm not sure how I'll manage security through my router regarding that, but there will be a way. Maybe the DMZ?
Anyway, I'd like to avoid spending $300 each. The older version is wired, not wireless, but that will do fine for me. It's available at Radio Shack for $199.00 with a $100 rebate - pretty good deal!! I'm going to pick one up at a local store if I can return it (after testing it out).
What I did end up buying was the Mobicam Handheld monitoring System from Costco. It's $129.99 including shipping + sales tax. It's a little different than most IP cameras. Actually it may not even be an IP camera. This is what I like about it:
- It operates wirelessly over 2.4 GHz
- Has a receiver with a 1.5" screen. This way you can carry the receiver around the house and grandma doesn't need to learn how to surf to a website. Also, I don't need to setup a laptop in the kitchen while the children are sleeping.
- Has 10' Infrared function (none of the other cameras say they do this)
- Voice activated video (such as when the children cry)
- Portable (can take it when we travel - BIG plus)
- dual power (AC & battery - again great for travel)
- can add up to 2 additional cameras to the same receiver
- has optional PC software and adapter (this I'll need to test out)
- has costco's unconditional return policy
What it may not have is the ability to zoom and pan remotely like the Panasonic.
I'll buy both and compare them.
In my dream world, I'd like to have a complete video security installation covering the front and back of the house, driveway, garage, sides, children's rooms and entry way. Then again, that would be quite expensive.
Costco has a really nifty Q-See product that will do most of what I want, but it's about $1600 and is more of a want than a need.
Has anyone else setup a child monitoring or home security system?
Please share your thoughts and experience.
Also, ethically, do you think it's right to monitor your young children at night?
Have a great Friday,
makingourway
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
help shopping on-line
Smartmoney.com just had a nice article comparing various on-line pricing engines.
I've recently used them determine the current market value for new items I've donated to charity. Results were pretty iffy.
They gave their highest rating to nextag, I site which I hadn't tried yet. They have a very interesting price history feature that could be very useful. Smartmoney said it might help when looking for sales. I think it will also be useful in enforcing lowest price guarantees, ala the type offered by amazon.
Check out nextag and let me know what you think of it.
In January, Consumer Reports had rated shopping.com and shopping.yahoo.com as their highest with froogle, not far behind (if I recall correctly). When I try it, I'll be comparing nextag against those three.
Have a wonderful Thursday,
makingourway
I've recently used them determine the current market value for new items I've donated to charity. Results were pretty iffy.
They gave their highest rating to nextag, I site which I hadn't tried yet. They have a very interesting price history feature that could be very useful. Smartmoney said it might help when looking for sales. I think it will also be useful in enforcing lowest price guarantees, ala the type offered by amazon.
Check out nextag and let me know what you think of it.
In January, Consumer Reports had rated shopping.com and shopping.yahoo.com as their highest with froogle, not far behind (if I recall correctly). When I try it, I'll be comparing nextag against those three.
Have a wonderful Thursday,
makingourway
Shedding
I made a charitable donation to a local food kitchen today.
Mostly food preparation and storage materials to help those receiving meals.
It took me about an hour to compile the list of items valued at about $220.00.
Based on my tax bracket it calculates out to about $98.00 after tax for an hour's labor.
Not too bad.
More importantly, I think there are people that could use the supplies.
I know I'm glad to get rid of the clutter.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
makingourway
Mostly food preparation and storage materials to help those receiving meals.
It took me about an hour to compile the list of items valued at about $220.00.
Based on my tax bracket it calculates out to about $98.00 after tax for an hour's labor.
Not too bad.
More importantly, I think there are people that could use the supplies.
I know I'm glad to get rid of the clutter.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
makingourway
The Cost of Airline Miles sold in customer loyalty programs
Traditionally airline miles have been valued at $0.12 per mile to the consumer. It's a number I've traditionally used in to calculate the cost of purchasing things with miles - flights or otherwise.
Recent changes in MBNA's programs seem to push that value per mile down closer to $.01 per mile (at least for receiving cash in exchange for miles), which incidentally is right where most of the rebate credit cards are at; i.e. 1% back cards.
I recently read an article in the Tuesday April 25, 2006 edition of the Wall St. Journal. It discussed Air Canada's strategy of creating a holding company for its diversified operations (maintenance, air flights, short haul flights, mileage program etc...) and taking the profitable ones public. Their mileage program is qutie profitable.
The program leader explained some details regarding the industry, one of which is that the calculated cost of producing an airline mile is $0.05 per mile. Airlines seek to sell them to banks (credit card companies) at about $0.08 per mile. These numbers can give us an idea on the spread between the credit card company's redemption value to consumers (us) and their costs.
One thought I've always wondered about:
How hard is it to transfer miles from one program to another; for example, if MBNA rules become unattractive (they are now less attractive due to their increasing the cost of european tickets to 60,000 miles), could I switch my miles to a different program?
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
Recent changes in MBNA's programs seem to push that value per mile down closer to $.01 per mile (at least for receiving cash in exchange for miles), which incidentally is right where most of the rebate credit cards are at; i.e. 1% back cards.
I recently read an article in the Tuesday April 25, 2006 edition of the Wall St. Journal. It discussed Air Canada's strategy of creating a holding company for its diversified operations (maintenance, air flights, short haul flights, mileage program etc...) and taking the profitable ones public. Their mileage program is qutie profitable.
The program leader explained some details regarding the industry, one of which is that the calculated cost of producing an airline mile is $0.05 per mile. Airlines seek to sell them to banks (credit card companies) at about $0.08 per mile. These numbers can give us an idea on the spread between the credit card company's redemption value to consumers (us) and their costs.
One thought I've always wondered about:
How hard is it to transfer miles from one program to another; for example, if MBNA rules become unattractive (they are now less attractive due to their increasing the cost of european tickets to 60,000 miles), could I switch my miles to a different program?
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
Monday, April 24, 2006
Unpacking: 18 boxes left
I have 18 boxes left in my office.
They sit in an island in the center of the room, blocking my view of the enterway.
I don't like them.
But I don't know where to put the contents.
Today I unpacked the former contents of my desk.
I've decided to most of my original contents, with the exception of disks and cd-roms. I'm going to build 4 sliding drawers and use 1-2 drawers to host them.
The large deep drawer that formerly hosted my software cd-roms will become a file cabinet for current documents (all stored in files).
Resolution: Put all current documents there in files.
Now I have the use of my desk - at least partially.
The next step is to re-organize my files. The movers didn't sequence my file cabinets, so a-d is on one end of the room, etc....
Once I have this addressed I can catch up and process the endless documents that come out of a move.
Re-loading my desk consumer 2 boxes - bringing me to 18.
I hope the drawers will consume another 2-4 boxes. One box will require a file cabinet - it has my wife's documents. I'm not sure what to do with the other boxes. Maybe you can advise me? I have several boxes (3?) of comic books - it's a weakness of mine. What's the best way to store them?
Regards,
makingourway
They sit in an island in the center of the room, blocking my view of the enterway.
I don't like them.
But I don't know where to put the contents.
Today I unpacked the former contents of my desk.
I've decided to most of my original contents, with the exception of disks and cd-roms. I'm going to build 4 sliding drawers and use 1-2 drawers to host them.
The large deep drawer that formerly hosted my software cd-roms will become a file cabinet for current documents (all stored in files).
Resolution: Put all current documents there in files.
Now I have the use of my desk - at least partially.
The next step is to re-organize my files. The movers didn't sequence my file cabinets, so a-d is on one end of the room, etc....
Once I have this addressed I can catch up and process the endless documents that come out of a move.
Re-loading my desk consumer 2 boxes - bringing me to 18.
I hope the drawers will consume another 2-4 boxes. One box will require a file cabinet - it has my wife's documents. I'm not sure what to do with the other boxes. Maybe you can advise me? I have several boxes (3?) of comic books - it's a weakness of mine. What's the best way to store them?
Regards,
makingourway
Waiting to hear from emigrant for their cash back credit card
We decided to change credit cards - or in reality - add a new credit card and decommission the old one (a mileage credit card from MBNA).
Our old credit card provider enhanced it's points redemption plan, which inadvertainly increased the cost of european tickets from 50,000 to 60,000 points. We like Europe, but we don't like paying more. Furthermore, they capped the value a ticket could cost to europe (or anywhere) at about 1.2% (I don't recall the exact number, but it was close to that amount) the number of points. Alternatively you can use 1% of the number of points as dollars to buy any ticket.
This basically sets the value of MBNA miles at $.01 - $.012 each. Emigrant pays 1.4%. Sounds like a much better deal. Especially in light of the cap.
The Emigrant card is processed through Juniper. Despite their e-mails, I still can't log onto the website to track progress. I hope we get the card. Our MBNA card has a very high limit and with the new mortgage, I wonder if our debt (or available debt limits) vs. income will be a problem for attracting new credit. Better to find out now than later -- say when we plan to buy a second house.
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
Our old credit card provider enhanced it's points redemption plan, which inadvertainly increased the cost of european tickets from 50,000 to 60,000 points. We like Europe, but we don't like paying more. Furthermore, they capped the value a ticket could cost to europe (or anywhere) at about 1.2% (I don't recall the exact number, but it was close to that amount) the number of points. Alternatively you can use 1% of the number of points as dollars to buy any ticket.
This basically sets the value of MBNA miles at $.01 - $.012 each. Emigrant pays 1.4%. Sounds like a much better deal. Especially in light of the cap.
The Emigrant card is processed through Juniper. Despite their e-mails, I still can't log onto the website to track progress. I hope we get the card. Our MBNA card has a very high limit and with the new mortgage, I wonder if our debt (or available debt limits) vs. income will be a problem for attracting new credit. Better to find out now than later -- say when we plan to buy a second house.
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
What old appliance is worth replacing?
Conumer Reports Money Advisor had an interesting article on how long it takes for replacement appliances to pay for themselves on energy savings alone.
The article assumed 20 year old appliances and compared refrigerator, washing machine and dishwasher. Only the refrigerator could pay for itself in 7 years, the rest took longer.
Who would have guessed?
I wish they had added furnaces and water heaters to the mix. From what I've read the two of them consmer the vast majority of household energy.
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
PS Since our house is new, I'm very curious to see what our energy bills are.
The article assumed 20 year old appliances and compared refrigerator, washing machine and dishwasher. Only the refrigerator could pay for itself in 7 years, the rest took longer.
Who would have guessed?
I wish they had added furnaces and water heaters to the mix. From what I've read the two of them consmer the vast majority of household energy.
Have a wonderful day,
makingourway
PS Since our house is new, I'm very curious to see what our energy bills are.
The Cost of a Garden
Our new home is quite nice inside, but fairly barren outside.
The builder generously seeded the outside dirt with little effect. We had him re-seed it and have begun aggressive watering. Clumps of grass are beginning to emerge.
Despite the grass our lawn is quite boring.
We invited a landscaper to look our property over. We're interested in adding several trees for shade, perhaps a fountain and several flower beds. His proposal will arrive by Thursday.
I have a nasty feeling it will cost about $4k - $7k. I'd like to spend no more than $3k. Would you plant a nice garden?
He asserts that we'll get our money back on the sale of the property. I'm very skeptical. What do you think?
Regards,
makingourway
The builder generously seeded the outside dirt with little effect. We had him re-seed it and have begun aggressive watering. Clumps of grass are beginning to emerge.
Despite the grass our lawn is quite boring.
We invited a landscaper to look our property over. We're interested in adding several trees for shade, perhaps a fountain and several flower beds. His proposal will arrive by Thursday.
I have a nasty feeling it will cost about $4k - $7k. I'd like to spend no more than $3k. Would you plant a nice garden?
He asserts that we'll get our money back on the sale of the property. I'm very skeptical. What do you think?
Regards,
makingourway
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Question: where to put my extra cash?
This is a tricky one.
The most critical priority is liquidity for about 50% of it and near-liquidity for the balance.
A small portion is currently earning 4% in a full service bank MM locally - I'll keep it there for immediate needs (20%).
The balance is in an emigrant account earning 4.5%.
Should I keep all of it there?
Should I put 40-50% of it somewhere else that might either be tax advantaged or yield higher?
These are the considerations:
The most critical priority is liquidity for about 50% of it and near-liquidity for the balance.
A small portion is currently earning 4% in a full service bank MM locally - I'll keep it there for immediate needs (20%).
The balance is in an emigrant account earning 4.5%.
Should I keep all of it there?
Should I put 40-50% of it somewhere else that might either be tax advantaged or yield higher?
These are the considerations:
- ibonds
- tax free (atm free) muni's, I'm most seriously considering T. Rowe Price's Tax Free Income muni mutual fund. It's paying 4.42% federally tax free. I think that's the taxable equivalent of 6.4% (yield divided by (1.00 - tax bracket .31 in my case)). Not bad.
- Treasury Bills - state and local tax free but not fed tax free. Mymonyeblog has a nice description on how to do this. 28 days isn't too long a lock up period, I could handle it.
- keep the money in 4.5% at emigrant
Any advice?
I'm concerned that the bond market may have a certain amount of principal risk, but feel I don't understand it well enough - I might call T. Rowe Price to see if I can't talk with some of their portfolio managers - that would be fun. But would I get through?
Your recommendations appreciated here.
Have a wonderful Sunday,
makingourway
$5000 on gasoline!
That's what I've projected we'll spend this year - appoximately.
Between my wife and myself, I estimate we'll spend $5k on gasoline on two cars. Quite a bit of money.
Running the gasoline expense through the business (for business travel only) will shave off about $41.25%.
I might shift to the emigrant 1.4% discount card, which should absorbe a total of 42.65%.
Now how to reduce that even further:
Between my wife and myself, I estimate we'll spend $5k on gasoline on two cars. Quite a bit of money.
Running the gasoline expense through the business (for business travel only) will shave off about $41.25%.
I might shift to the emigrant 1.4% discount card, which should absorbe a total of 42.65%.
Now how to reduce that even further:
- we can't carpool
- we can group errands to reduce driving
- we keep our cars well maintained on an aggressive schedule
- we usually shop at the lower priced station
Can anyone offer any other advice?
Has anyone considered fleet options or pre-purchased gasoline?
Regards,
makingourway
After the move: unpacking the islands
We've managed to unpack the majority of our possessions and even reduce our stored items by about 1/3, maybe a bit more.
Our greatest challenge is resolving the islands of boxes that remain along the center of each room. These are the boxes that contain things you can't decide what to do with.
They may be things you:
Don't know where to put
Our greatest challenge is resolving the islands of boxes that remain along the center of each room. These are the boxes that contain things you can't decide what to do with.
They may be things you:
Don't know where to put
- Don't have space to put
- Are not sure if you still use
- Don't want any more
- Should go somewhere else
- Are too stressed out to decide
Most of our remaining boxes are things we don't have obvious destinations for. Also, we're probably too stressed out with other matters to find the energy to decide what to do with them.
We've managed to clear out almost all the boxes in the living room - a hug accomplishment. The only remaining box has a stereo - which has no obvious home. It might end up leaving the living room and we'll settle for sirius radio when entertaining.
My office has almost 15 boxes. Some I just need to open and put away - such as the boxes containing my desk contents. Other boxes have old things that should really be donated, thrown out or put into storage. Some boxes have things that don't fit easily into book cases or file cabinets. They need to go into deep drawers. I've bought two stacking sets of drawers and will build them on Sunday. Examples of things that will go in them are:
- office supplies
- staplers (esp. the large kind)
- hold punchers
- CD-ROMs
- blank media
- etc...
Which reminds me. We a cabinet with shelves in our living room. I'm not sure how to do it, but if we converted them into deep shelves with strong rolling supports we could put drawers that could hold CD's and DVD's edge up. The kind of drawer hing that rolls the drawer all the way out, so you can see everything in the drawer. It would save alot of space. A stack of DVD's in a shelf blockes the view of anything behind it.
I went to the hardware store and found drawer hinges, but no drawers. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to build drawers? Thanks so much in advance.
In other rooms, especially childrens rooms we have boxes of toys in one room and toy boxes in another. We have books in some rooms, but no bookshelves. This seems like simple logistics. I hope by Wed. we can resolve most of the lingering box issues.
Have a great weekend,
makingourway
Are we addicted to shopping?
We drove into town today and spent about $900 between the mall and Costco.
I can't believe we spent that much - my wife was more shocked by the Costco spending than the mall spending.
Here's the breakdown:
children's shoes 2 pair leather, 9 socks $120
2 cloth shower curtains (the pretty ones that are displayed on the outside of the tub) $130 total
woman's clothing $150
Now I can't blaim my wife for buying clothes, she hasn't bought much in a while.
The children needed new shoes, apparently 2 year olds feet grow a half size every two months and 3+ need their shoes check every four months. We were due.
At costco we bought mostly staple food products. We splurged a little on 2 double-packs of beef jerky ($10 ea.). $500 is actually a fairly average amount for the monthly Costco trip, but we'd been working hard on keeping it under $200. Perhaps with so much defferred shopping, it had built up.
I once did an analysis and calculated we spend $1200 - $1600 per month on groceries. Keep in mind that four adults, 2 children and pets are included. How much do you spend - does this make sense?
I did try to introduce my eldest son to the joys of a milk shake - he was unimpressed. Too bad.
A good amount of the food items were things we couldn't buy in our rural community - a fact of great frustration.
I intend to go back in the next week and buy a number of durable items:
roofed sand box,
large inflatable swimming pool
and a few other things. Will probably run about $600.
After that we need to cool it.
Any thoughts or advice here?
Have a wonderful Sunday,
makingourway
I can't believe we spent that much - my wife was more shocked by the Costco spending than the mall spending.
Here's the breakdown:
children's shoes 2 pair leather, 9 socks $120
2 cloth shower curtains (the pretty ones that are displayed on the outside of the tub) $130 total
woman's clothing $150
Now I can't blaim my wife for buying clothes, she hasn't bought much in a while.
The children needed new shoes, apparently 2 year olds feet grow a half size every two months and 3+ need their shoes check every four months. We were due.
At costco we bought mostly staple food products. We splurged a little on 2 double-packs of beef jerky ($10 ea.). $500 is actually a fairly average amount for the monthly Costco trip, but we'd been working hard on keeping it under $200. Perhaps with so much defferred shopping, it had built up.
I once did an analysis and calculated we spend $1200 - $1600 per month on groceries. Keep in mind that four adults, 2 children and pets are included. How much do you spend - does this make sense?
I did try to introduce my eldest son to the joys of a milk shake - he was unimpressed. Too bad.
A good amount of the food items were things we couldn't buy in our rural community - a fact of great frustration.
I intend to go back in the next week and buy a number of durable items:
roofed sand box,
large inflatable swimming pool
and a few other things. Will probably run about $600.
After that we need to cool it.
Any thoughts or advice here?
Have a wonderful Sunday,
makingourway
Friday, April 21, 2006
How to fight the high price of gasoline
I've been wondering what's the best way to offset or even benefit from the high price of gasoline. Here are some quick thoughts:
a. Pay for gasoline used for business through your company. As long as it's for a business use it becomes 100% expensible. This saves me 41.25% per gallon. It may be the best hedge possible.
b. Use a gasoline rebate card to save 5%.
c. Buy gasoline at Costco - it's usually the cheapest in the area by $0.20 per gallon. That can add up to a 7% savings at $3 / gallon
d. Invest in stocks that will profit from the booming cost in oil. Now it's more than likely that the market has already factored rising commodity prices into oil company prices so there may not be bargains there, just growth. But what about companies serving fast growing asian markets or what about servicing and exploration companies? Invest in them and maybe your money will rise with the cost of oil.
e. Consider alternate energy investments. GE is one of the leading makers of environmentally efficient large scale generator turbines. They're also making a big push into wind generation. You might find other wind generation companies out there.
f. Use a gasoline pricing website to find where it's cheapest. MSN has this feature on their website, so does Gas Buddy. AAa has their comparitor, too.There are quite a few Gas comparison websites out there. You'll want to experiment to find the best.
g. I've often wondered if you can prepay to buy gas cheaper (kind of like gift card) or if fleet cards give discounts - anyone have any ideas?
h. what is AAA doing to help us? I've just sent AAA an e-mail asking them about bulk purchasing, buying cooperatives, etc....
i. improve driving patterns - group your shopping trips and driving together to minimize unnecessary driving.
j. carpool - save 1/2 or 1/3 the cost by sharing it.
k. maintenance -change your oil, air filter, etc... as warranted by your car's manufacturer. These can help add fuel economy.
Any additional thoughts would be welcomed.
Does anyone know or remember what people were doing in the 70s during the oil shock?
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
a. Pay for gasoline used for business through your company. As long as it's for a business use it becomes 100% expensible. This saves me 41.25% per gallon. It may be the best hedge possible.
b. Use a gasoline rebate card to save 5%.
c. Buy gasoline at Costco - it's usually the cheapest in the area by $0.20 per gallon. That can add up to a 7% savings at $3 / gallon
d. Invest in stocks that will profit from the booming cost in oil. Now it's more than likely that the market has already factored rising commodity prices into oil company prices so there may not be bargains there, just growth. But what about companies serving fast growing asian markets or what about servicing and exploration companies? Invest in them and maybe your money will rise with the cost of oil.
e. Consider alternate energy investments. GE is one of the leading makers of environmentally efficient large scale generator turbines. They're also making a big push into wind generation. You might find other wind generation companies out there.
f. Use a gasoline pricing website to find where it's cheapest. MSN has this feature on their website, so does Gas Buddy. AAa has their comparitor, too.There are quite a few Gas comparison websites out there. You'll want to experiment to find the best.
g. I've often wondered if you can prepay to buy gas cheaper (kind of like gift card) or if fleet cards give discounts - anyone have any ideas?
h. what is AAA doing to help us? I've just sent AAA an e-mail asking them about bulk purchasing, buying cooperatives, etc....
i. improve driving patterns - group your shopping trips and driving together to minimize unnecessary driving.
j. carpool - save 1/2 or 1/3 the cost by sharing it.
k. maintenance -change your oil, air filter, etc... as warranted by your car's manufacturer. These can help add fuel economy.
Any additional thoughts would be welcomed.
Does anyone know or remember what people were doing in the 70s during the oil shock?
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Teaching my eldest son to save 5: update
Tags: parenting, saving, children.
We've been saving quarters and he's been particularly interested in obtaining money in order to save up for train rides, so I think the saving concept is going well.
On Sunday we were scheduled to go to the train, but cancelled after he punched my wife. I explained to him that going to the market was a privelege that he would lose if he hit Mommy or didn't obey his parents.
One thing I did notice is that he's very interested in acquiring money. I'm going to monitor this behaviour to ensure I do not have the oppostive problem.
We did have a funny experience one morning. I asked him if he knew what we were going to do today. He said "Train!", to which I replied, "yes, but what will we do first?" "Train," he replied. "What about school," I asked? "School," he said, "no school, train!!!" Children will be children.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
makingourway
We've been saving quarters and he's been particularly interested in obtaining money in order to save up for train rides, so I think the saving concept is going well.
On Sunday we were scheduled to go to the train, but cancelled after he punched my wife. I explained to him that going to the market was a privelege that he would lose if he hit Mommy or didn't obey his parents.
One thing I did notice is that he's very interested in acquiring money. I'm going to monitor this behaviour to ensure I do not have the oppostive problem.
We did have a funny experience one morning. I asked him if he knew what we were going to do today. He said "Train!", to which I replied, "yes, but what will we do first?" "Train," he replied. "What about school," I asked? "School," he said, "no school, train!!!" Children will be children.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
makingourway
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
New domain for makingourway blog!
Tags: blogs, blogging, domain registration, domains.
Based on a recommendation from adventures in m0ney making, I've registered makingourwayblog with 1and1.
The service is very reasonablely priced at $5.99 per year and I get a free year for a .info domain.
Feel free to check out the new links for makingourwaygblog.com, makingourwayblog.org, makingourwayblog.info, makingourwayblog.net. Keep in mind they all point to this blog here at blogger. It's still nice to have my own domain. Especially if I seek to host my own blog or switch to more sophisticated blogging tools.
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
makingourway
Based on a recommendation from adventures in m0ney making, I've registered makingourwayblog with 1and1.
The service is very reasonablely priced at $5.99 per year and I get a free year for a .info domain.
Feel free to check out the new links for makingourwaygblog.com, makingourwayblog.org, makingourwayblog.info, makingourwayblog.net. Keep in mind they all point to this blog here at blogger. It's still nice to have my own domain. Especially if I seek to host my own blog or switch to more sophisticated blogging tools.
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
makingourway
Moving Done - waiting for the shoe to drop
Tags: moving, movers, home economics.
We finished the move.
Am waiting for the movers to send the bill. Unlike most movers, I'm able to pay them with a credit card.
The move itself took two days:
1st 3 men for a total of 29 man hours
2nd 4 men for a total of 51 man hours
I've deducted 45 minutes each day for their lunch times - I hope we won't battle over this point, but I see no reason to pay them to eat.
I expect an average rate of $40 per hour per man.
Best practice: Count boxes
I have no idea exactly how many boxes were used, but my best guess is about 8 boxes day 1 and about 24 boxes day 2. All boxes are priced differently. I'm guessing it will come to $200, but I'm adding a $300reserve in case I'm wrong and to account for the 40 book boxes I bought from them.
All in all, I expect to ower about $3000, which puts me $3750 into the move. Almost all the fees were for moving with a little minor packing.
This would bring me in about $50 over their estimate, which isn't bad at all, except for the large total amount.
We spent an insance amount of time packing our own possessions. The movers estimated that packing could have cost $4k alone if they had done it.
This leads to several thoughts:
a. we simply have far too much stuff - we must get rid of it. Objectively, we almost alway move every 3 years or sooner. We are paying a fortune to have our crap packed and moved. Right now we still have quite a bit in storage.
New Resolution: Lose the STUFF
If we can't sell it we might as well donate it. Donating will get us 41.25% of market value. Not so bad considering how much work selling it all on ebay would yield. I doubt a garage sale would yield any benefit close to that. Perhaps an auction?
b. we're paying to store stuff we can't fit into the house - let's lose most of that stuff, too. Stuff costs money.
c. It's better to have money in the bank or in investments than in stuff you don't use.
New Resolution: Unpack the STUFF
Keeping stuff in storage just doesn't make sense. Especially if you have a big house. Unpack it and force yourself to deal with it.
Here are a few of the doosies we found:
1. a full of 24 containers of fruit juice
2. a box of canned goods
3. 3 way overdue library books we thought were lost
Stuff we still can't find:
1. more library books we know are buried in there
2. Some great finance books
3. Several cases of wine
Financial Debriefing:
Spent budget as planned.
Must dramatically reduce number of possessions and brick brack.
Concern: we are overpurchasing / addicted consumers, otherwise how would we acquire more than we can house?
Any thoughts?
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
makingourway
PS We're still unpacking. We'll save the boxes in the storage unit for the next move. Unpacking goes very quickly until all of the obvious places are full.
We finished the move.
Am waiting for the movers to send the bill. Unlike most movers, I'm able to pay them with a credit card.
The move itself took two days:
1st 3 men for a total of 29 man hours
2nd 4 men for a total of 51 man hours
I've deducted 45 minutes each day for their lunch times - I hope we won't battle over this point, but I see no reason to pay them to eat.
I expect an average rate of $40 per hour per man.
Best practice: Count boxes
I have no idea exactly how many boxes were used, but my best guess is about 8 boxes day 1 and about 24 boxes day 2. All boxes are priced differently. I'm guessing it will come to $200, but I'm adding a $300reserve in case I'm wrong and to account for the 40 book boxes I bought from them.
All in all, I expect to ower about $3000, which puts me $3750 into the move. Almost all the fees were for moving with a little minor packing.
This would bring me in about $50 over their estimate, which isn't bad at all, except for the large total amount.
We spent an insance amount of time packing our own possessions. The movers estimated that packing could have cost $4k alone if they had done it.
This leads to several thoughts:
a. we simply have far too much stuff - we must get rid of it. Objectively, we almost alway move every 3 years or sooner. We are paying a fortune to have our crap packed and moved. Right now we still have quite a bit in storage.
New Resolution: Lose the STUFF
If we can't sell it we might as well donate it. Donating will get us 41.25% of market value. Not so bad considering how much work selling it all on ebay would yield. I doubt a garage sale would yield any benefit close to that. Perhaps an auction?
b. we're paying to store stuff we can't fit into the house - let's lose most of that stuff, too. Stuff costs money.
c. It's better to have money in the bank or in investments than in stuff you don't use.
New Resolution: Unpack the STUFF
Keeping stuff in storage just doesn't make sense. Especially if you have a big house. Unpack it and force yourself to deal with it.
Here are a few of the doosies we found:
1. a full of 24 containers of fruit juice
2. a box of canned goods
3. 3 way overdue library books we thought were lost
Stuff we still can't find:
1. more library books we know are buried in there
2. Some great finance books
3. Several cases of wine
Financial Debriefing:
Spent budget as planned.
Must dramatically reduce number of possessions and brick brack.
Concern: we are overpurchasing / addicted consumers, otherwise how would we acquire more than we can house?
Any thoughts?
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
makingourway
PS We're still unpacking. We'll save the boxes in the storage unit for the next move. Unpacking goes very quickly until all of the obvious places are full.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Move - USPS: Change of Address...oops
Tags: moving, address change, home economics.
The post office just sent a confirmation letter.
It says xxxxx MR makingourway, INDIVIDUAL ONLY.
Oh-Oh!!! The post office isn't forwarding anyone else's mail.
Hmm...that will be a problem.
I called the 800# and they gave me the number to my local post office, which is busy.
I have a feeling this will be a big inconvenience. Don't want to make mail pickup trips to the old house - do we!
Post office line is still busy. I'll have to throw this into the take care of later pile and keep packing. How frustrating!
Have a wonderful Thursday,
makingourway
The post office just sent a confirmation letter.
It says xxxxx MR makingourway, INDIVIDUAL ONLY.
Oh-Oh!!! The post office isn't forwarding anyone else's mail.
Hmm...that will be a problem.
I called the 800# and they gave me the number to my local post office, which is busy.
I have a feeling this will be a big inconvenience. Don't want to make mail pickup trips to the old house - do we!
Post office line is still busy. I'll have to throw this into the take care of later pile and keep packing. How frustrating!
Have a wonderful Thursday,
makingourway
moving - will we really save money by packing on our own?
Tags: moving, movers, home economics.
When we engaged our movers we let them know that we would try to pack ourselves, but might need them.
We managed to pack most of our possessions except the workshop, which the movers packed.
1/2 of our stuff has been moved.
Tomorrow, the rest will be moved.
The movers mentioned they'll need an extra man for all the furniture in the house. I wonder if that's to recapture lost packing dollars or what they really need?
If the cost of moving doesn't expand we'll have saved money, if it does who knows what will happen.
I'm curious and a bit anxious to see what happens.
What do you expect?
Will they:
a. keep to moving budget?
b. go over into the packing budget (despite our packing)?
c. go over both budgets?
The movers claim to have integrity...we'll see.
Have a wonerful Thursday,
makingourway
When we engaged our movers we let them know that we would try to pack ourselves, but might need them.
We managed to pack most of our possessions except the workshop, which the movers packed.
1/2 of our stuff has been moved.
Tomorrow, the rest will be moved.
The movers mentioned they'll need an extra man for all the furniture in the house. I wonder if that's to recapture lost packing dollars or what they really need?
If the cost of moving doesn't expand we'll have saved money, if it does who knows what will happen.
I'm curious and a bit anxious to see what happens.
What do you expect?
Will they:
a. keep to moving budget?
b. go over into the packing budget (despite our packing)?
c. go over both budgets?
The movers claim to have integrity...we'll see.
Have a wonerful Thursday,
makingourway
Move: Sick Mover - what to do?
Tags: moving home economics.
We moved 1/2 of our stuff yesterday.
There was a three man crew.
One of the three was dreadfully sick, coughing all over the place. Dizzy and less productive than one would have expected.
The other two movers worked extra hard. Overall I'm pleased with their performance as a group, though I'm upset that such a sick person was working -- he should have been at home -- and especially upset he was working on my job. I'm being charged by the hour per person.
What would you do?
We moved 1/2 of our stuff yesterday.
There was a three man crew.
One of the three was dreadfully sick, coughing all over the place. Dizzy and less productive than one would have expected.
The other two movers worked extra hard. Overall I'm pleased with their performance as a group, though I'm upset that such a sick person was working -- he should have been at home -- and especially upset he was working on my job. I'm being charged by the hour per person.
What would you do?
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Mid-month, mid-move networth update, taxes & charity
Tags: planning, saving, home economics, goal setting, financial planning, budgeting, networth.
A lot is happening right now - probably too much considering we're moving.
1. I've switched our bank to one that provides a decent level of interest on regular checking and has a competitive money market rate (in the low 4% range).
2. Switching banks meant changing ALL of the EFTs - LOTs of work there. About 10 EFTs are pulling money from my main checking (operating account) automatically. Very tricky to switch them while trying to move my own cash from one bank to another. The ultimate consequence is that I've had to keep extra cash in both accounts while the EFTs are changing. Switching EFTs also means filling in lots of forms!
3. Packing - it's nearly 2 am and I still have tons of packing to do. My wife was so smart. She drove over much of her clothing and unpacked it in the new house. I'm going to have to find time to do the same. I admit I feel strange not having the movers do it, but I do understand how nice it will be to have essential life functions already set-up amidst the clutter of boxes.
4. Packers coming soon. I wonder how much they'll really have to pack. The garage will probably be the worst. Since we're paying for the packing (vs. a corporate relo, we've worked hard to do much of it ourselves). They said they'll reduce charges proportionate to the amount they do -- I wonder what will happen if it's a big reduction - I hope it's a big reduction!
5. Changing addresses galore!! I've contacted many different magazines, financial institutions and government offices to make sure everyone has our new address. I wonder how many will mess it up? It took quite a while.
6. Taxes - I mailed them yesterday. Felt good.
7. Backup - I'm backing up all our data in case there is a problem. I'll move the computers myself.
So quite a bit is happening at once. Tensions are running fairly high in our house - they usually do during moves.
As far as taxes are concerned, we paid:
16.17% of income to feds
4.92% of income to state (NC is one of the high income tax states)
I anticipate that next year's taxes will be even higher (we had some onetime benefits that won't repeat). Probably 22% federal and 5.5% state next year - ugh!
$2M had a nice idea, discussing strategies for lowering next year's taxes.
Our strategies will be the following:
1. Increase charitable giving - especially of items we own that may have appreciated - some collectibles, etc....
2. Direct more income through our business (versus salaried jobs), where we have expenses that will offset a large amount of the income
3. Enjoy the tax deductible nature of mortgage interest and property taxes (we won't be renting this year)
4. Leverage pre-tax accounts such as: dependent care, flex medical spending, 401ks
5. Consider employing our children in the family business, diverting income to them (in lower tax bracket). Set up retirement account for our children.
6. Stay healthy - invest in our health through exercise and nutrition to avoid illness now and in the future.
7. Consider tax free income producing investments such as muni-bond mutual funds (s/t duration) and tax free money market funds - t rowe price offers one that is interesting I think. Will write about it later.
Networth update
It looks like I've taken a $13k hit to the networth so far.
This can be attributed to:
- payment of state income taxes - I owed about $2500, but will get back about $5500 federal - odd isn't it. Won't see the federal money for a while.
- acceleration of insurance expenses through cash flow - I had to fund the trust accounts that will pay for the life insurance policies. That basically meant paying a year's worth of premiums up front, instead of gradually over each month. I'll still need to accrue each month, but at least I'll be able to invest it over the next year. $8k.
- closing costs - expensive things like title insurance etc... Were fairly heavy. But the most annoying was the requirement to prepay a whole year's worth of hazard insurance. That cost me an additional $2800. Of course they're also escrowing taxes, which adds even more money.
I'm hoping my investments do well this month to help offset the outflows (though Tuesday wasn't a good day for anyone who didn't short).
I do think I might remotely be able to save some money by month's end, but it does assume we won't have any more house expenses -- which are more than likely to happen. That means that real savings won't occur until the end of June or so. Ugh!!
Here is a bright spot. We've found at least $2500 worth of charitable donations that we can make. At 42.25% (state and fed) that's about $1000 back at the end of the year. We receive quite a few professional and academic journals. It just struck me that many are quire expensive and would make a very nice charitable contribution to a local library or college. I'm not sure how to value them, but the magazines print a backissue price usually on page 3 or 4 that seems rather expensive. Anyone have any experience?
Have a great Wednesday,
makingourway
Monday, April 10, 2006
Moving - address changes and changes and changes
Tags: moving, address change, home economics.
It's amazing how much information needs to change when you move. Here's a list:
It's amazing how much information needs to change when you move. Here's a list:
- Post Office (online)
- Bank (maybe online)
- Credit Cards (usu online)
- Social Security (not easily done on line)
- Utilities: Electric, Gas, Propane Service, Telephone, Cable, satellite, Internet, VOIP - 9/11 service, XM radio
- IRS (download form on line and mail - impt for refund checks)
- Library
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Insurance Policies
- Professional Associations
- Social Organizations
- Recreation centers: YMCA/YMHA, Country Club, etc...
- Family
- Friends
- Employer & Payroll Service
- Accountant
- Lawyer
- Brokerage accounts
- Mortgage providers (usu done when you buy the house, but not always if you own > 1)
- Auto loan providers
- Any lenders not included above
- Schools
- Anyone who owes you money
- Anyone you owe money (ethically you should tell them)
- Self-storage
As a strategy, I've been pulling aside my mail and making a list of everyone I can imagine. It's quite time consuming, but there's really no faster way.
Does anyone have a more efficient on-line approach?
Have a great Monday,
makingourway
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Teaching My Son to Save - follow-up on Step 4 - we did it!
Tags: parenting, saving, children.
Today was a success.
My eldest son successfully remembered where he put the money he had hidden (he also found some extra small change).
I told him after his nap that we would go to the market and let him purchase a ride on the mechanical train - if he still wanted to do it. He did and was very excited about it. Asking me to either drive faster or stop so he could get out.
When I was unsure which market had the train (we have several in town), he accurately gave me the name of the correct shop. I was impressed.
We then went to the market where he spent quite a bit of time digging his savings ($0.50) out of his pants. Little hands and small pockets present a challenge. He then put the money into the machine and rode the train. He was very happy.
Afterwards, he listfully looked at several candy vending machines. I asked him what was more important: candy or the train. He replied the train.
I then told him what will we do tomorrow. He replied "Money?". I told him yes, we'll give him a quarter tomorrow, a quarter the next day and on Wednesday he can ride the train.
I'm hoping this idea of saving works out (and deferred gratification).
We called grandma today and he told her he'd been saving. So the idea is slowly building.
I think I've got at least 4 more train rides before I need to find a substitute.
Question for readers: Does anyone know of any books that address money issues with toddlers?
Have a wonderful Monday,
makingourway
Today was a success.
My eldest son successfully remembered where he put the money he had hidden (he also found some extra small change).
I told him after his nap that we would go to the market and let him purchase a ride on the mechanical train - if he still wanted to do it. He did and was very excited about it. Asking me to either drive faster or stop so he could get out.
When I was unsure which market had the train (we have several in town), he accurately gave me the name of the correct shop. I was impressed.
We then went to the market where he spent quite a bit of time digging his savings ($0.50) out of his pants. Little hands and small pockets present a challenge. He then put the money into the machine and rode the train. He was very happy.
Afterwards, he listfully looked at several candy vending machines. I asked him what was more important: candy or the train. He replied the train.
I then told him what will we do tomorrow. He replied "Money?". I told him yes, we'll give him a quarter tomorrow, a quarter the next day and on Wednesday he can ride the train.
I'm hoping this idea of saving works out (and deferred gratification).
We called grandma today and he told her he'd been saving. So the idea is slowly building.
I think I've got at least 4 more train rides before I need to find a substitute.
Question for readers: Does anyone know of any books that address money issues with toddlers?
Have a wonderful Monday,
makingourway
Teaching my eldest son to save - Step Four - the first purchase
Tags: parenting, saving, children.
Today should be the day my eldest son makes his first purchase. He's saved up 2 quarters and has been eager to buy a ride on the mechanical train.
Unfortunately, he's been quite tired and is still sleeping. We may have to delay his train ride until tomorrow. If so, we'll give him another quarter today.
I had been worried that he would play with the quarters and lose them or otherwise misplace them. Yesterday, I asked him where they were, he thought a little bit and then went to the side table and found them. He then removed them and put them in a drawer in my office -- he said it was safer there. Very cute. I'm curious to see if he remembers where they are now. We'll find out when we collect the quarters or add a new one to the collection.
I really can't wait to see the joy on his face when he rides the mechanical train. I wonder if he'll enjoy it more knowing that he saved up for it?
Have a wondeful Sunday,
makingourway
Today should be the day my eldest son makes his first purchase. He's saved up 2 quarters and has been eager to buy a ride on the mechanical train.
Unfortunately, he's been quite tired and is still sleeping. We may have to delay his train ride until tomorrow. If so, we'll give him another quarter today.
I had been worried that he would play with the quarters and lose them or otherwise misplace them. Yesterday, I asked him where they were, he thought a little bit and then went to the side table and found them. He then removed them and put them in a drawer in my office -- he said it was safer there. Very cute. I'm curious to see if he remembers where they are now. We'll find out when we collect the quarters or add a new one to the collection.
I really can't wait to see the joy on his face when he rides the mechanical train. I wonder if he'll enjoy it more knowing that he saved up for it?
Have a wondeful Sunday,
makingourway
Move update
Tags: moving, movers, home economics.
We've been terribly busy preparing for the move, so we haven't had much of a chance to post.
Piecemeal moving
We've decided to pack as much as we can to reduce the cost of the movers packing us. Each day we drive over 1-2 batches of fragile items we'd rather move ourselves. In a few days the movers will come and pack what isn't packed and finally move everything in.
Our Strategy
We've been terribly busy preparing for the move, so we haven't had much of a chance to post.
Piecemeal moving
We've decided to pack as much as we can to reduce the cost of the movers packing us. Each day we drive over 1-2 batches of fragile items we'd rather move ourselves. In a few days the movers will come and pack what isn't packed and finally move everything in.
Our Strategy
- Pack & move the precious / fragile items on our own.
- Pack and move the bathrooms on our own
- Pack and move pictures and paintings on our own
- Pack as much as we can, starting with books, our offices and the kitchen
- Partially pack, move and set-up crucial kitchen items
- Pack as much of everything else as possible
- Pack our immediate use clothes in suitcases
- Install telephone, satellite and internet connections before the move
- Let the movers finish packing
- Catalog our furniture and identify where it will go in the new house -- this is the toughest part
- Move
- Unpack
We hope by moving and unpacking the most important rooms (bathrooms and kitchen) we'll reduce the level of chaos the day after everything arrives and be able to attend to normal life duties, such as work, etc.... Most of our food and chine will come later, but we'll have basic tools already available.
Where we are now
Currently the telephone, internet and satellite are installed, most of our bathroom products and artwork are delivered to the new home.
We are in the process of packing and it's moving along well, though we're running short on boxes. We may need to find a source for smaller boxes, since Costco has only box combinations in the store (15 out of 30 boxes are small). We need to find a vendor that only sells small book size boxes and delivers them quickly. We're running out of options.
Alot of time will be spent packing the offices.
Lessons learned
- Small boxes are the most useful. Big boxes tend to be overpacked and become far too heavy. Books are best put in small boxes.
- Try to set-up the bathrooms, toilets and kitchen before you move in.
- Set-up essential utilities first, too.
- Don't put packing tape on wooden floors.
- Make sure you have plenty of paper towels, soap, cleaning fluids and toilet paper in the new home.
- Make sure you have a supply of lightbulbs in the new house
- Don't forget to change your address.
- Packing is a great time to identify the items you want to donate to charity
- Make sure you call Salvation Army or any other charity with plenty of lead time, they may have a fixed schedule and might not be able to schedule a pickup from days to weeks.
I think the biggest opportunity coming from the move is to shed unnecessary possessions and organize our remaining ones more efficiently.
Have a wonderful Sunday,
makingourway
Friday, April 07, 2006
Money Saver - rewards programs
Tags: reward points, shopping, loyalty programs, mileage programs, saving, Money Saver, Saving Money.
NYC Money just posted a wonderful question on her blog about reward programs.
My approach has been to consolidate all of my earnings into a single card (two really - one for personal use and one for business). Once I buit up enough for two international tickets to Europe. Was a great trip. Allowed us to spend more of our vacation budget on high-end hotels.
I'm actually thinking about changing this again.
With ticket prices fluctuating so dramatically, I think I'd do better with a cash reward card. In particular, I'm considering the emigrant rewards card. I think it contributes about 1.4%.
The old formula used to be that rewards points were worth about $0.02 each.
These days they seem to be worth $0.01 each - especially with airline loyalty programs.
Some hotel programs are actually paying 10 points per dollar, but convert down to be worth closer to $0.001 each.
There is another class of rewards program that is much less intrusive and quite helpful. These are the transaction processing programs, such as:
NYC Money just posted a wonderful question on her blog about reward programs.
- There are far too many loyalty programs out there
- They are seldom easy to use and not really designed to encourage you to use them
- It's far too easy to dilute your loyalty "earnings" across too many programs, therefore, never having enough to get anything.
My approach has been to consolidate all of my earnings into a single card (two really - one for personal use and one for business). Once I buit up enough for two international tickets to Europe. Was a great trip. Allowed us to spend more of our vacation budget on high-end hotels.
I'm actually thinking about changing this again.
With ticket prices fluctuating so dramatically, I think I'd do better with a cash reward card. In particular, I'm considering the emigrant rewards card. I think it contributes about 1.4%.
The old formula used to be that rewards points were worth about $0.02 each.
These days they seem to be worth $0.01 each - especially with airline loyalty programs.
Some hotel programs are actually paying 10 points per dollar, but convert down to be worth closer to $0.001 each.
There is another class of rewards program that is much less intrusive and quite helpful. These are the transaction processing programs, such as:
- upromise - contributes to 529 college savings plans
- iDine - rebates a % of hotel and restaurant spending
Upromise is a very nice partner program that contributes a varying % of your spending to a college savings account. They also have a solidly performing 529 investment program. My favorite upromise partners are expedia (1% contribution) and walmart (4% contribution) - online only. Many supermarkets also participate. It's important to make sure, when you're shopping, that the upromise product isn't priced more than a similar non-upromise product -- otherwise you're not really saving anything.
iDine / Rewards network is great if you tend to entertain or travel for business or eat out a lot.
What's beautiful about the above programs is that they're invisible. They process your transactions and automatically deposit or rebate your money. You don't have to do anything (except send someone to college in the case of upromise).
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Advice needed: Moving in: Mailboxes a new expense
Tags: moving, home economics, shopping, mailbox.
I'll need a mailbox for my new house. I've never bought one before. I've run over a few by accident, but never bought one.
Does anyone have any advice or considerations.
Lowe's carries quite a few. They range in price from $18 for fairly cheap ugly ones to $80 for more expensive boxes. A few mid-priced boxes come with posts, while stand alone posts can cost up to $160.
Do I emphasize sturdy and strong or cheap and simple? The box will not be directly near my house or even within view, so it doesn't need to be beautiful.
Thanks for the advice and help.
Have a wonderful Friday,
Making Our Way
I'll need a mailbox for my new house. I've never bought one before. I've run over a few by accident, but never bought one.
Does anyone have any advice or considerations.
Lowe's carries quite a few. They range in price from $18 for fairly cheap ugly ones to $80 for more expensive boxes. A few mid-priced boxes come with posts, while stand alone posts can cost up to $160.
Do I emphasize sturdy and strong or cheap and simple? The box will not be directly near my house or even within view, so it doesn't need to be beautiful.
Thanks for the advice and help.
Have a wonderful Friday,
Making Our Way
Teaching my eldest son to save - step three
Tags: parenting, saving, children.
Yesterday, I had a chance to focus on the idea of saving with my son. We took a family trip to the mall where he promptly asked to have money to put in gumball machines.
Focus on deferred gratification
We walked to the candy dispenser and I asked him, "What is more important and fun: eating a candy right now or riding the mechanical train at the market." He thought about it for a moment and said the train. I asked him again and he confirmed the train. Big success.
Next step: focus on tomorrow
I then asked him if I gave him a quarter tomorrow would he save it so he could go on the train. He said yes. I then told him that grandma would give him a quarter the next day. The day after, we would spend both quarters at the market riding the train. He was very excited about the prospect.
Enabling saving in small children
I realized we need a place for him to hide his money - or at least keep it in a consistent place or we would never find it. We agreed that the side table drawer (his place for secrets - usually secret snacks), would be where he will put the money. Today we'll see if it works. When I asked him where will you put the money, he said, "My pocket." Although a safe place, I predict he'll take the money out to play with and then ultimately lose -- toddlers.
Building a team
I then made my in-laws promise not to buy him rides at the market unless they were with his saved money. Also not to give him money except as part of the savings process. We'll buy little things for him that he wants every so often, but I think if we buy things that he requests on demand, he'll never learn discipline or saving -- it will confuse things, too much.
Of course, make sure grandma doesn't pull out a purse on the way to the market and say, "Look, I've got plenty of change." That will undermine the entire savings process.
Actions
Yesterday, I had a chance to focus on the idea of saving with my son. We took a family trip to the mall where he promptly asked to have money to put in gumball machines.
Focus on deferred gratification
We walked to the candy dispenser and I asked him, "What is more important and fun: eating a candy right now or riding the mechanical train at the market." He thought about it for a moment and said the train. I asked him again and he confirmed the train. Big success.
Next step: focus on tomorrow
I then asked him if I gave him a quarter tomorrow would he save it so he could go on the train. He said yes. I then told him that grandma would give him a quarter the next day. The day after, we would spend both quarters at the market riding the train. He was very excited about the prospect.
Enabling saving in small children
I realized we need a place for him to hide his money - or at least keep it in a consistent place or we would never find it. We agreed that the side table drawer (his place for secrets - usually secret snacks), would be where he will put the money. Today we'll see if it works. When I asked him where will you put the money, he said, "My pocket." Although a safe place, I predict he'll take the money out to play with and then ultimately lose -- toddlers.
Building a team
I then made my in-laws promise not to buy him rides at the market unless they were with his saved money. Also not to give him money except as part of the savings process. We'll buy little things for him that he wants every so often, but I think if we buy things that he requests on demand, he'll never learn discipline or saving -- it will confuse things, too much.
Of course, make sure grandma doesn't pull out a purse on the way to the market and say, "Look, I've got plenty of change." That will undermine the entire savings process.
Actions
- Today I give my eldest child a quarter
- We hide it in the secret place
- I discourage him from removing it
- Remind him that we will ride the mechanical train in 2 days -that's what he's saving for
Questions
- Do I ask him to show me the saved money throughout the day?
- If he loses the money, should I replace it or make him wait another day?
- If he wants a second ride, should I pay for it or make him wait three more days?
Will I be cruel if I am too strict with him?
Any thoughts and comments are certainly welcome.
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Blu-Ray delayed, btw so is HD-DVD
Tags: HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, gadgets, High Definition DVDs, personal computing, HDTV.
Here is a quick update to my prior post on blu-ray and HD-DVD.
Next generation DVD players are very imporant for one reason and important for another:
Very Important
Next generation recorders will allow large volume multi-gigabyte back-up. Apparently blu-ray will store the most data. This is critical when family photo collections, personal data, etc... can easily surpass 10 GB of disk.
Important
Next generation recorders allow owners of hdtv sets to watch true hdtv quality recordings. This is of course important if you have a hdtv player.
In a Wall St. Journal article, Samsung just announced they will delay the release of their blu-ray DVD player until late June in order to complete testing. It will sell for $999.
For other reasons, Toshiba is delaying their release of HD-DVD players until April 18th (now here's a way to spend your tax refund). Toshiba's player should cost about $930. Toshiba's challenge is the lack of available movies in HD-DVD format. Warner home video will be the first producer.
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Here is a quick update to my prior post on blu-ray and HD-DVD.
Next generation DVD players are very imporant for one reason and important for another:
Very Important
Next generation recorders will allow large volume multi-gigabyte back-up. Apparently blu-ray will store the most data. This is critical when family photo collections, personal data, etc... can easily surpass 10 GB of disk.
Important
Next generation recorders allow owners of hdtv sets to watch true hdtv quality recordings. This is of course important if you have a hdtv player.
In a Wall St. Journal article, Samsung just announced they will delay the release of their blu-ray DVD player until late June in order to complete testing. It will sell for $999.
For other reasons, Toshiba is delaying their release of HD-DVD players until April 18th (now here's a way to spend your tax refund). Toshiba's player should cost about $930. Toshiba's challenge is the lack of available movies in HD-DVD format. Warner home video will be the first producer.
Have a wonderful Friday,
makingourway
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Blog design tools - Microsoft will replace Front Page
Tags: Microsoft, Web Design Tools, Blog Design Tools, Front Page.
In a recent newsletter, Microsoft announced it will be replacing it's html editing too, Front Page, with two new tools:
SharePoint Designer is a corporate web design product that integrates with Microsoft's SharePoint web design portal.
Expression will, according to Microsoft:
In a recent newsletter, Microsoft announced it will be replacing it's html editing too, Front Page, with two new tools:
SharePoint Designer is a corporate web design product that integrates with Microsoft's SharePoint web design portal.
Expression will, according to Microsoft:
Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web site design, enabling you to design,
develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites.
Based on that description, I believe expression will be a more direct replacement for MS Frontpage, however, for people creating blogs, Microsoft recommends Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition:
Hobbyists and enthusiasts can also get Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
which is a new, easy to use, and easy to learn development for building Web
sites.
It certainly would be interesting if SharePoint provided a corporate blogging feature that would allow businesses to create and maintain internal blogs as part of their own knowledge management programs. I've heard of a number of businesses promoting internal blogs -- has anyone used one? Would you? How has it helped your business?
I haven't tried a beta of any of the tools, however, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition is available for download here. I'm tempted to try it and see if it helps create tables with clean html that I can import into blogger.
Have a wonderful Thursday.
makingourway
Teaching My Eldest Son to Save - Step Two
parenting, saving, children.
In a follow-up to my effort to teach my eldest child to save, I sat him in front of my desk and watched his reaction when he saw money. He opened and said in his cute toddler voice, "Money!". He then began to play with it. I helped him separate a dime from pennies. After which he continued to separate dimes and pennies. Unfortunately, every coin was now called a dime (if only all my pennies became dimes!).
I then gave him a quarter and asked him if he would save it. He gladly took it and began the challenging process of putting it into his pant pocket. After conquering his pocket I reminded him if he found the other quarter, we could go to the supermarket and ride the mechanical train. He seemed excited about that, but couldn't remember where the other quarter was.
In order to help him learn how to save, I think I need to help him learn where how to put money in a safe place.
Today, we will put money in a drawer. Later in the day I will give him a second quarter and help him put it in the same drawer. Perhaps the next day we will take the money and go to the supermarket.
It seems that some skills are not straightforward -- that they are actually composite skills and that other critical skills must be learned first. In this circumstance he must learn how to safely store things and remember where they are.
Have a wonderful Thursday.
makingourway
In a follow-up to my effort to teach my eldest child to save, I sat him in front of my desk and watched his reaction when he saw money. He opened and said in his cute toddler voice, "Money!". He then began to play with it. I helped him separate a dime from pennies. After which he continued to separate dimes and pennies. Unfortunately, every coin was now called a dime (if only all my pennies became dimes!).
I then gave him a quarter and asked him if he would save it. He gladly took it and began the challenging process of putting it into his pant pocket. After conquering his pocket I reminded him if he found the other quarter, we could go to the supermarket and ride the mechanical train. He seemed excited about that, but couldn't remember where the other quarter was.
In order to help him learn how to save, I think I need to help him learn where how to put money in a safe place.
Today, we will put money in a drawer. Later in the day I will give him a second quarter and help him put it in the same drawer. Perhaps the next day we will take the money and go to the supermarket.
It seems that some skills are not straightforward -- that they are actually composite skills and that other critical skills must be learned first. In this circumstance he must learn how to safely store things and remember where they are.
Have a wonderful Thursday.
makingourway
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
the secret service hacks cybercriminals - theft of tax refunds
Tags: Crime, CyberCrime, hacking, Secret Service, fraud.
I recently read a very interesting article in eWeek. It mentioned 7 recent arrests of cyber criminals by the secret service.
The criminals were all operating independently, dealing in stolen credit and financil information as well as stealing tax refunds.
What was unusual about the article is that it went into great detail as to how the Secret Service found the criminals, lured them (and therefore documented their crimes) and finally identified them.
The article ends up becoming a very interesting discussion of anonymity in the internet.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Making Our Way
I recently read a very interesting article in eWeek. It mentioned 7 recent arrests of cyber criminals by the secret service.
The criminals were all operating independently, dealing in stolen credit and financil information as well as stealing tax refunds.
What was unusual about the article is that it went into great detail as to how the Secret Service found the criminals, lured them (and therefore documented their crimes) and finally identified them.
The article ends up becoming a very interesting discussion of anonymity in the internet.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Making Our Way
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Money Saver: How I get free DVDs - what do they really cost me?
Tags: DVD, shopping, cheap, DVDs, Free DVDs, Money Saver, Saving Money.
I find spending $18.95 or even $12.95 far too expensive on a DVD that might only be watched once or twice.
In the spirit of frugality and household economy I took up the challenge to find the cheapest possible way to obtain inexpensive DVDs.
This is what I came up with (in order of expense):
I find spending $18.95 or even $12.95 far too expensive on a DVD that might only be watched once or twice.
In the spirit of frugality and household economy I took up the challenge to find the cheapest possible way to obtain inexpensive DVDs.
This is what I came up with (in order of expense):
- Buy used DVDs on www.half.com (I choose to only buy DVDs < $5.00).
- Rent DVDs from the public library (usually $1.00 - $1.50 each, some are free).
- Buy used DVDs at garage sales (very hit or miss, often $1-$2)
- Sometimes Craigslist will offer used Children's DVDs very cheaply.
- Make my own DVDs
Here is how I get free DVDs, I make them for my personal use:
- Buy a DVD Recorder - Walmart sells them as cheaply as $100 now, check out the ilo.
- Buy blank DVD's - they can be bought very cheaply from www.supermediastore.com, probably about $0.25 each.
- Schedule a recording. Since I record commercial free DVDs for my children, I usually record either a 2 hour swath of Noggin or play videos I had already recorded on the DVR / Tivo.
- Put DVDs in cases that can be cheaply bought from Costco (in-store).
And there you are.
Now here's a spreadsheet showing the cost.
Wow!!! Incredible, after all that work the cost is $4.20 per DVD.
Now if you make lots of DVDs, the cost will certainly go down.
I really focus on recording PBS children's shows for my children to watch. They are commercial free -- children are so vulnerable to commercials. I don't mind the price in exchange for the convenience. We can take a portable DVD player travelling or in the car and watch better quality video entertainment that way.
All in all, if you want a permament recording, making your own DVD is cheaper than buying used ones via mail. Also, you have control of the content. However, unless you make quite a few, it won't be only $0.29 per blank DVD.
Then again, you might argue that you would normally be subscribing to premium channels anyway so that shouldn't be part of the cost.
Have a great Monday,
Making Our Way
Monday, April 03, 2006
Teaching my eldest son to save
Tags: profile, about me, family, parenting, children, saving.
I often wonder what is the best way to instill values in our children. They are still very young, struggling with counting, etc....
My eldest son very quickly learned through observation that putting a quarter into a candy machine or mechanical train ride would provide fairly instant gratification. He then learned that one of his parents or grandparents often had change. You can imagine what the routine has become.
When he was even younger, I would give him change and we would make a game out of putting it into a piggy bank. While his hand eye coordination was (and is) evolving, it was a very fun and exciting challenge for him. I think the symbolic act didn't sink through.
Recently, we were at the drugstore and he again wanted to put change into a candy machine. This time I had an idea. Maybe he would like to keep the change and save up for something more important. I asked him which was better a candy or a ride on the mechanical train at the supermarket. He preferrd the train, which cost more than one quarter.
I then asked him if he saved enough quarters, would he like me to take him to the supermarket for a train ride. He agreed. He then tried to put the quarter back in the candy machine. We repeated the conversation several times, after which it sunk in. I'm now enforcing the conversation, asking him to help me find two quarters, so we have enough for a train ride.
So far he seems to care alot about finding quarters. I'll take him for a train ride in a few days to see how the experiment works.
Meanwhile, I hope he doesn't break open his piggy bank looking for quarters.
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
Making Our Way
I often wonder what is the best way to instill values in our children. They are still very young, struggling with counting, etc....
My eldest son very quickly learned through observation that putting a quarter into a candy machine or mechanical train ride would provide fairly instant gratification. He then learned that one of his parents or grandparents often had change. You can imagine what the routine has become.
When he was even younger, I would give him change and we would make a game out of putting it into a piggy bank. While his hand eye coordination was (and is) evolving, it was a very fun and exciting challenge for him. I think the symbolic act didn't sink through.
Recently, we were at the drugstore and he again wanted to put change into a candy machine. This time I had an idea. Maybe he would like to keep the change and save up for something more important. I asked him which was better a candy or a ride on the mechanical train at the supermarket. He preferrd the train, which cost more than one quarter.
I then asked him if he saved enough quarters, would he like me to take him to the supermarket for a train ride. He agreed. He then tried to put the quarter back in the candy machine. We repeated the conversation several times, after which it sunk in. I'm now enforcing the conversation, asking him to help me find two quarters, so we have enough for a train ride.
So far he seems to care alot about finding quarters. I'll take him for a train ride in a few days to see how the experiment works.
Meanwhile, I hope he doesn't break open his piggy bank looking for quarters.
Have a wonderful Tuesday,
Making Our Way
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Basic wine tasting information
Tags: wine, wine tasting, wine varietals, drinking.
About Wines - In General
About Wines - In General
- Wine is fun, don't let the wine snobs intimidate you
- Cheap wine may taste better than expensive
- No one is an expert -- it's your mouth
- There is more wine produced worldwide than anyone can or is able to taste and know well.
- Learn the key varietals to obtain a basic working knowledge
Guess who makes the most wine?
# Acres under cultivation per country (as of 2001)
SPAIN 3,052,000
FRANCE 2,258,000
ITALY 2,244,000
TURKEY 1,395,000
UNITED STATES 971,000
CHINA 888,000
IRAN 744,000
PORTUGAL 613,000
ROMANIA 610,000
ARGENTINA 506,000
CHILE 440,000
Number of Vineyards in the USA
Year California United States
2005 2,275 4,929
2004 2,059 4,356
2003 1,869 3,873
2002 1,704 3,469
2001 1,562 3,187
2000 1,450 2,904
Conclusion: No one can taste everything, there are simply too many different vineyards. Wine snobs are only experienced posers.
Enjoying wine is a fun social event. Wine may be something to add flavor and color to a good meal. Wine is for fun!
Tasting wine is an opportunity to tune your taste buds and nose to find new flavors over time, but most importantly, it's your personal experience.
Wine Questions
Question: How do you make wine?
- Collect many grapes
- Place them in a clean container
- Crush the grapes
- Wait while they ferment
- Yeast and sugar in juice mix
- Sugar converts to alcohol
- When yeast is consumed, you have wine
Question: How do vintners control flavor?
During Fermentation (3d - 3m)
- Type of container used for fermentation (often stainless steel and oak)
- Vary container size and temperature during fermentation
During maturation (2months - several years)
- Duration of maturation
- Type of container
Question: What's the difference between red & white wine?
White wine is from white grapes (usu. Green or other colors, but not red or blue colored grapes). Alternate technique (often with Champagne): juice and not skin of red grapes. The skin contains the pigments.
Question: Which wine do you serve chilled?
White wine is served cool, not iced
Wine Tasting Tips
- Drink water between wines
- Rinse out your glass, if you can
- Swirl the wine around the glass to release the aroma
- Smell first
- Drink slowly
- Try to inhale a small breath while you have some wine in your mouth
You're in Trouble If You Taste the Following
- Moldy fruit
- Vinegar
- Chemicals from the dry cleaners, barber shop or hair salon
- Cork
- Flat wine (oxidized)
Varietals
There are about 10,000 different types of wine (aka varietals)
Four common (and well marketed varietals are):
- Chardonnay
- Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio)
- Pinot Noir
- Cabernet Sauvignon
Noble Grape Varietals:
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of Burgundy, France
Cabernet Sauvignon of Bordeaux, France
What is Chardonnay?
- White grape
- Planted in virtually all wine producing countries
- Established brand
- Often oak treatedBurgundyhite burgundy tradition)
- oak tastes toasty, smoky, spicy, vanilla-like or butterscotch-like
- Fruity aromas (apple-like in cooler regions to tropical fruits, like pineapple in warmer regions)
- Medium to high acidity
- Usually rich and full bodied
- Typically dry
- Mid to high end wines usually 100% chardonnay
What is Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio?
- Mutated from black Pinot Noir grape
- White grape, but darker skinned
- Often deeper in color, except Italian Pinot Grigio, which are pale
- Medium to full-bodied
- Low acidity
- Flavors of fruit skins, such as peach or orange
- Oregon is particularly successful with Pinot Gris (compared to CA)
What is Pinot Noir?
- Difficult wine to make, but often greatest potential
- Red Burgundy is the prime model for Pinot Noir
- Oregon and CA produce good Pinot
- Pinot production often limited due to vine's preference for specific climates and soils
- Lighter in color than other reds (Cab and Merlot)
- High alcohol
- Medium acidity
- Medium to low tannin
- Very fruity flavors (red berries) or earthy and woodsy
What is Cabernet Sauvignon?
- Very adaptable and easy to grow
- Best known for Medoc area of Bordeaux and California
- High tannins
- Medium to full body
- Classic aroma and flavor is black currant or cassis
- Good Cabernet Sauvignons can age for 15+ years
- Lower quality often tastes soft and generically fruity (can't taste black currants)
April 2006 Asset Allocation
Tags: investing, finance, saving, retirement planning, allocation strategy.
I was reading $2M's blog and found his posting on asset allocation a great idea.
Here is my asset allocation (on a high level).
I'd like to include a more detailed investment allocation model, but need to figure out a cleaner way of extracting it from quicken.
I was reading $2M's blog and found his posting on asset allocation a great idea.
Here is my asset allocation (on a high level).
I'd like to include a more detailed investment allocation model, but need to figure out a cleaner way of extracting it from quicken.
Stocks - 67% of my investments are in stocks held in various retirement and brokerage accounts.
Bonds - 8.29% are in various bonds held by life cycle mutual funds in my retirement accounts. I generally don't hold bonds outside of my retirement accounts.
Cash - 29% represents a combination of operating cash, short term operating reserve and long term cash reserves. My long term cash reserves are at high interest MM providers like emigrant. My short term operating reserve is at a full service bank. It should earn about 4% in April. My operating accounts currently do not earn much interest 0.25% or so. I will move them to achieve about 2% per month.
Real Estate - 0% this will change when I start tracking my new house in quicken (probably later this month).
Request for comments
- What asset allocation do you have?
- Can you recommend any good discussions of asset allocation?
- Do you know of a tool for modeling predicted risk and returns of asset allocation (other than Quicken)?
Have a great Sunday,
Making Our Way
Saturday, April 01, 2006
April 2006 networth update
Tags: planning, saving, home economics, goal setting, financial planning, budgeting, networth.
Here's my networth update for April 2006.
I will summarize March 2006 and project for the month of April.
Below is my networth chat for March 31, 2006.
The biggest changes are as follows:
- Monthly investment savings which had been occurring through January may be delayed until January to rebuild my operating cash reserve $25k and my cash reserve.
- Tax liability - I've learned that I'll owe NC income tax and be owed by the federal government. Since the federal exceeds NC, I've put it as a negative amount in the liability side; i.e. ($.00). I need to learn more about what federal deductions don't carry over to NC. One big deduction is the state income tax deduction itself. Your state taxes don't give you a discount for what you pay them. Unfortunately NC has very high income taxes 8.25%. Oddly our rural part of the state doesn't seem to get much for it.
- Once again, the credit card liability is a temporary amount that is paid off about every two weeks. I don't charges for more than a month, but because I put everything on it, there's always a balance. I'm almost never charged interest.
Projections for April:
- Prepaid expenses for the new house will kick in and lower our cash (est. $5,500)
- Movinge expenses for the new house will occur (est. $4,500)
- Housing set-up expenses ($3,000)
- Income tax payment to NC ($2,800)
- Continuing education classes paid either April or May ($3,000)
All in all a pretty heavy cash hit for April, most of which will decrease rather than increase our networth. How depressing.
Long shot possibilities:
- Conversion of Variable Insurance - penalties for liquidation ($10,000)
- Increased business income ($2,000)
Networth IQ
I'm updating my networth IQ information simultaneously. You can find it here.
Request for comments
- Any changes you recommend?
- Is the networth table helpful?
- What other information should I add to the May 2006 report?
Have a great Saturday,
Making Our Way
Update on Moving Costs - negotiating with the movers and savings ideas
Tags: moving, movers, home economics.
The Negotations
After procrastinating a bit, I finally began negotiations with the movers.
I compared the two estimates and found the biggest differences to be the following:
The Negotations
After procrastinating a bit, I finally began negotiations with the movers.
I compared the two estimates and found the biggest differences to be the following:
- Mover B had a higher time estimate - this is important because moves are based on time, not flat fee.
- Mover A was charging for transport to and from the job (this is a local move).
- Mover B was also charging ala cart for more services, including carting artwork, whereas A incorporated that into A's fees.
- Mover B made a math error in their packaging costs and was taking forever to correct it.
Based on my experience between the two, I felt that mover B was probably more professional and responsible. At the same time, I would ask Mover A for changes.
The Results
I talked with the owner of Mover A and agreed to hire them based on the following changes:
- They waived the transport fee (almost $300!)
- They agreed to pro-rate or reduce packing fees if I packed more myself
- The reduced the deposit from 40% down to $1000
We reached agreement on all of the above points. Best of all, I can use a credit card to pay mover B, which is very uncommon in the moving business.
Money Saving Tip - moving insurance
Another area I expect to save money on is with insurance. My insurance agent told me that my home owner's policy will cover my possessions while in transit. That will save $600-$650 in insurance fees.
Requests for comments
- Is it a good idea to rely on your home owner's insurance instead of the movers?
- Should I have negotiated for anything else before agreeing?
- What other strategies do you use when negotiating with local movers?
Have a wonderful Saturday,
Making Our Way
High interest rates & Two big banking disappointments - Citibank and Gateway Bank and Trust
Tags: Personal Finance, saving, money market accounts, on-line banking, high interest rate savings.
Citibank
BusinessWeek just posted an interesting article regarding Citibank's high interest savings account -- it's paying 4.5%.
The key take away is that you need to open an EX checking account and have one of the following three conditions to avoid fees:
Citibank
BusinessWeek just posted an interesting article regarding Citibank's high interest savings account -- it's paying 4.5%.
The key take away is that you need to open an EX checking account and have one of the following three conditions to avoid fees:
- two transactions a month
- automatic payroll deposit
- a minimum balance of $1500
They're not really competing with the pure savings nature of Emigrant and other on-line players.
Gateway had offered a regular checking account with a low balance and nice interest, it was called their low balance with interest checking account. If you had $500 in it, you would earn 2% interest. Not bad for a regular operating account. They've since backed away from that and dropped the interest precipitously. Same mentality as Citibank. Now you have to put your money in a WON account and need about $2500 balance in order to earn 2% or more interest. Once again, quite disappointing.
I imagine the move will be very unpopular with many customers.
They have the second highest interest rate and the highest non-promotional interest rate, however, they can't initiate EFT fund transfers between two different banks like most of the more mature on-line banks can. This is a very big annoyance. For example. You get a bonus and want to move cash from your local bank A to Umbrella Bank. Now you have to either wire it in for $20-$40 in fees or mail it in and wait for it to be processed. Think of all that lost interest.
Hmm...maybe things have changed. They told me by e-mail they couldn't initiate an EFT transfer, but now I just saw the following text on their website:
Transfers from a Money Market account to another account, or to a third
party financial institution, by preauthorized, automatic, telephone or computer
transfer are limited to six per statement cycle, with no more than three by
check, draft, or similar order to a third party. If the account exceeds six
transfers in a statement cycle, a fee of $10.00 will be imposed per transfer.
I've sent them an e-mail requesting if things have changed. If they have, bye bye emmigrant, hellow umbrella.
Have a wonderful Saturday,
Making Our Way
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