1 Piece at A Time

My American Dream. (Some assembly required.)

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Cleared for Takeoff!

We are closing on the house at 2:00 this afternoon. Thank you to everyone who has left encouraging comments along the way. Your words were deeply appreciated. It may be a few days before my next post because we won't have DSL until Monday and we'll be busy moving our belongings. Also, tomorrow is Pancake's and my 10th anniversary. This has been some week!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

You Can Quote Me on That

As a writer, I often find it easier to begin an article if I use a quotation as a springboard for my ideas. Whatever I want to say has probably been said by someone else, and they probably said it better than I ever could. Online Discount Mart has a number of quotes for every occasion. Here are a few fun proverbs:

Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald.--Chinese Proverb

Only the first bottle is expensive.-- French Proverb

So the next time you have to write a speech or give a toast or want to add something special to a card, check out the Quotable Quotes section: http://www.onlinediscountmart.com/quotable-quotes.html

A Few Thoughts about Mindfulness

Fellow PF Bloggers, it's time for a reality check. First, let me say that I enjoy reading everyone's blogs and that I think what we are all trying to do in terms of fiscal responsibility is commendable, but I also think that sometimes we are too hard on ourselves. (We're PF Bloggers not PF Floggers, right?) I often read posts in which bloggers beat themselves up for buying this or that or see comments left by readers who criticize others for not being frugal enough. Case and point: I actually had someone tsk-tsk me for buying my favorite cereal (Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins) because he said cereal is overpriced and I was wasting money. Well, too bad.

A few years ago, a friend of mine gave a lecture on mindfulness, the practice of being fully aware of everything we do. I think we are all pretty aware of every cent we spend and don't spend, save or don't save. It is mindless spending that gets folks into financial trouble—the impulse purchase; the buying-something-just-to-buy-something syndrome; the habit of spending out of laziness. We all have to spend money. Let me say that again—we all have to spend money. And if we get enjoyment out of the thing we're spending money on, why should we feel guilty? Granted, if you don't have the money, and you have to borrow it (e.g. pull out the credit card) then maybe you should refrain, but if it's between putting $50 in your savings or 401K or going out on the town with good friends, by all means go out with your friends and don't feel guilty about it the next day!

I'm not suggesting that we all stop paying down our debt, and I'm certainly not condoning going further into debt, but I am offering a bit of a reprieve now and again from our hyper-frugal lifestyles. There are many enjoyable things in life that are free and there are many enjoyable things in life that cost money. I truly enjoy going out for an ice cream cone every once in a while. Yes, I could buy a carton of ice cream at the grocery store for the price of one cone, but it's not the same because it's not just about the ice cream—it's the experience of sitting outside at the ice cream stand at dusk under the orange sulfur lights, watching other people enjoy their cones, too.

The last few months, I've fallen into the hyper-frugal mindset because we've been saving for a house. I can think of at least three occasions when Pancake asked me out for ice cream and I said no because I didn't want to spend the money. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry I missed those opportunities.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Feeling Pretty Lucky

Friday afternoon was hot and dry, the sun glinting off the windshield of the occasional car that passed me on Route 23, a rural country road west of Oneonta. I was thinking about all of the details of our closing and worried that something would go wrong—a missing document, an overlooked financial detail—that would prevent us from securing the mortgage and our house.

Behind the wheel, I am observant, always keeping on eye out for deer and, during these last weeks since the flood, road damage, so I immediately noticed when the white Buick in the oncoming lane swerved over the double yellow line. The driver seemed to regain control and moved back into her lane, but as she drew closer, the car began drifting again. I moved as far over onto the shoulder as I could without going into the ditch, but the car kept coming, taking off my side-view mirror and wiping out the back half of the driver's side. The impact blew my tire and spun the car sideways until I landed on a small bank on the other side of the road. The other car went off the road and into a field.

When I climbed from my car, I started thinking about our closing and how this could not be happening and then I stopped myself. I was not hurt and that was all that mattered. And it really is all that matters. My husband and I have been spinning in circles of worry and fear for months, and I am through. There is only so much we can control and we have to let everything else go. I am tired of making myself sick with worry, and not enjoying my life because I am afraid. Afraid of what? Finances? Money? That is just stupid.

The other driver, an 86-year-old woman on her way home from the grocery store, was not hurt either. In the police report, she says that she doesn't remember the accident. The State Trooper thinks she fell asleep. He commended me on my driving and avoiding a head-on collision. Had we hit head on at 55 miles an hour, I cannot say what might have happened.

So now we are without a car and our closing is scheduled for Wednesday but everything is fine. We will get through this and everything else. For someone who constantly plans for the worst scenario, I hadn't realized until Friday that the worst possible scenario is something I don't even want to consider.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Boston Gal had a really good post yesterday, "Neither Quick Nor Easy," in which she discussed the growing trend in living beyond one's means. While the problem seems to have reached epidemic proportions, I am encouraged by the number of PF Bloggers, as well as the current news shows and magazine articles that are starting to discourage that kind of lifestyle. While it is still annoying to have to explain to people why we don't want cable TV in our new house or why we really only need one car, I've come to accept that as part of the territory.

No Need to Wrestle for the Remote

In an earlier blog I mentioned that Pancake's dad often falls asleep in front of the TV while cradling the remote control, making it difficult for me to watch my shows. Problem solved! Last night I found 4TV.com, a free TV site that offers 152 streaming channels, including major networks like ESPN. I got to watch the BBC news, undisturbed, without having to use string and a piece of gum to fish the remote from my father-in-law's lap!

Check it out: http://www.4tv.com

When I Grow Up I Want To Be Like Warren Buffet

The other night, Charlie Rose re-aired the episode "The Life of Warren Buffet," an inspiring piece that revealed the every-man behind the billions. It was surprising to learn that Berkshire-Hathaway, with its modest offices in an equally modest building, employs only sixteen people and that Buffet's favorite restaurant was an unpretentious steakhouse—the kind of place where you and I might dine, with sugar packets on the table and paper napkins. What I gleaned from the show was that Buffet seems to eschew ostentatious displays of wealth—no $15K umbrella stands for this man. In a charity golf tournament in which Buffet was paired with Tiger Woods, Tiger suggested making a wager for "serious money," to which Buffet replied, "All money is serious, Tiger." (The bet, it turned out, was for five dollars. Tiger won, but then Buffet, as Tiger's caddy, asked for 10% of the winnings.)

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

What I Would Do If I Won the Lottery

I don't often sit around fantasizing about hitting the jackpot, but I have been known to buy scratch-off tickets for stupid reasons, the latest being I had a dream that I won $15K. (BTW: I had that dream when we were scrounging together enough cash to finishing paying off our IRS penalties—Go figure!) But every time I watch the new show Windfall I find myself thinking about what I would do with that kind of wealth. First, I'd pay cash for the house we're trying to buy, and then I'd completely renovate it. Next, I'd buy a case of Barbara's Peanut Butter Puffins and join the CSA farm in our town. After that, I'd invest the rest and live my life the way I do now. Frugality is more fun when it's a choice.

http://www.nbc.com/Windfall/money_tracker/

Sample Nivea Body Lotion

Click here for a free sample of body lotion from Nivea. Enjoy!

Hello…Is Anyone Out There?

1 Piece at a Time is attempting contact with alien life forms. I just submitted this blog to BlogInSpace.com, a new site that transmits blogs into…well, space! It's a fun idea and maybe I'll get some new readers. It's free, so go launch your blog today.

Check it out: http://www.bloginspace.com

Zen-ing My Way through the Rest of the Week

I'm resigned to the fact that the clear-to-close is not going to happen any time this week. I phoned my mom last night and told her I would not be able to make it to the mass my sister is having at her church for our grandmother who passed away a year ago Thursday. (I'm not going because I'm afraid that the mortgage company will need something while I'm gone.) We had a good conversation and a few laughs about the house-buying process. She said that if we start saving our money now, we'll have enough to buy the house in cash by the time the mortgage comes through.

I feel strangely calm--which is a change from my usual state these days--and also a bit reflective. Financially, we have a long haul ahead of us, but we've also come very far in the last year. I have to remind myself that everything takes time. We did not get into our situation overnight, and it is going to take time to reverse the damage. We have taken many hard, laborious steps in the right direction, and I am confidant that we are on the right road.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Laugh or Go Crazy

Okay, readers, remember the posts about the floods we had here the last week of June? Well, our county was declared a disaster area and now the mortgage company needs to be sure that our house is still standing. Haha! (Hearty knee slap.) That's a good one. Like I'd pursue a mortgage for a demolished house? If we don't get this mortgage soon, we're going take all of our money and buy a van in which to live down by the river.

Mortgage Update

I'm about to write a not-so-nice review of the mortgage company with which we are dealing. Today, they decided that they needed a couple of cancelled checks. That's all well and good, but they didn't know that they needed these items last Friday? Not only that, but the broker said that our account was with the lender's lawyer and in the final review process, which is obviously untrue if the underwriter is still seeking information. We were told that the clear-to-close (which, last week, they assured us would be Friday or Monday) will not come today (Tuesday). It looks like we'll be here another weekend. I'm getting very frustrated and discouraged.

Savings Strategy Update: The Emergency Fund Goal

I read an article in a free issue of O (the Oprah magazine) in which Suze Orman strongly suggests that your emergency fund should equal eight months of income. It sounds difficult to do, but it would be worth it to have that kind of peace of mind, so I did the calculations. The first step for me is to get the emergency fund started with one paycheck for each of us. Step two, as suggested by Mapgirl, is to allocate 10% of our monthly net income to that savings account. I calculated that it will take 6 ¼ years to fund our emergency account, which isn't too bad when you consider that the average car loan is 5 years.

Still No Word on the Clear-To-Close

Yesterday, our lender's corporate office was having technical difficulties—no phone or computers all day long. We talked to our representative on his cell phone a couple of times, but by three o'clock, he called it a day and said he'd get back to us tomorrow.

Monday, July 10, 2006

It's 2:54. Do You Know Where Your Mortgage Is?

I don't. Still no word from the lender on the clear-to-close. And I sliced the middle finger on my right hand, making it very difficult to type. Penny-pinching can be hazardous to your health. I was returning soda cans for deposit, so I wouldn't have to use any "real" money to buy my father-in-law a newspaper, and picked up a can by sticking my finger in the razor-sharp top. Bled all over the grocery store parking lot. Not a pretty sight.

List or Find Office Space at Office2Share.com

I wish I'd know about Office2Share when we were still in Wichita. We leased the top floor of a building and then tried to sublet half the suites. We ended up renting space to a theater troupe for peanuts and then traded out an office for massages from a massage therapist. I think if we'd used a service such as this, where we could have listed the space we had to offer, we would have been more successful and made a few more dollars.

The service also allows business owners to search for space to sublet as well. If you work from home and are looking to rent office space, I'd recommend checking out their site:http://www.offices2share.com

Losing Patience

I just heard my last marble hit the floor and roll under the recliner, and now the cat's got it. I'm a fairly patient person, but I'm really starting to lose it when it comes to this whole mortgage process. The lender has everything it needs to issue the clear-to-close, but now it's with the lender's attorney, who is evaluating the package for "investment worthiness." What the?!? Investment worthiness—doesn't that seem like something they should have looked at before now? I'm sure that this is just a formality (that's what I keep telling myself, anyway), but c'mon folks, it's been 53 days since we put in an offer on the house.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

New PF Blogger Quo + Blogroll Love

Check out PF Blogger Quo's new site at Money-Up. If any of the readers of 1 Piece at a Time have a link to my blog on their site, please let me know so I can return the favor.

Reducing Our Phone Bills

I read an article in a free issue of Good Housekeeping about trimming your phone bills. Quite honestly, we need to take a machete to ours. Because we own two businesses, we have VOIP, two cell phones, and a land line for personal calls. I'm going to give up my Sprint cell phone and get a pay-as-you-go plan, and I might be able to talk Pancake into doing the same thing. We need the VOIP, and we need the land line, so we have to start looking for better rates to reduce our costs.

Pancake has a headset and I'm going to get him to try iCall. iCall offers free calls in the USA and to Canada, free unlimited inbound calling, and customizable voicemail.

You can download it here:http://www.icall.com

The Longest Weekend Ever

Pancake and I are trying to entertain ourselves during this interminably long weekend. It's not a long weekend in the traditional sense—just the standard two days—but since we're not spending any money and my in-laws are here at the camp and we're anxiously awaiting the clear-to-close on our house…well, you get the picture. Friday night we had some free fun at the Fair on the Square, a local event that runs every Friday throughout July. There was music and food and a small traveling animal exhibit. Saturday we poked around some used bookstores, and last night my in-laws went to a concert and we had a few hours alone. But today, I have no idea what we're going to do today.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Ban Free Sample

Click on the link to get your free sample of Ban. Enjoy!

I Never Claimed I Could Dance

I've been watching more TV than usual lately because it's free, and last night I saw a clip from the FOX show So You Think You Can Dance? in which a very serious contestant was upset by his score and then tripped during his dance routine and landed on his face. I'm not a fan of American Idol, but this looks like it could be fun to catch when I'm not busy trimming my cat's claws or obsessing about our closing date.

You can check out clips at http://www.fox.com/dance

Friday, July 07, 2006

Taster's Choice Free Sample

I received my free sample of Taster's Choice, and since it comes in individual serving "straws," they are handy to take on the road or vacation (in case your room doesn't have a coffee maker).

Get your free sample here: Taster's Choice

Free Passport Photos at ePassPortPhoto

In August we'll be going to Pancake's family reunion in western NY and if we want to head over the border to Canada, we'll need passports. I've found a site that lets you do your own passport photo for free.

Check it out: http://www.epassportphoto.com

Debt Reduction/Savings Strategy Update

Mapgirl suggested we allocate 10% of our income to savings, and after reviewing our budget, I believe we can manage it. So after we sock away the initial "one paycheck for each of us," I will set up an automatic transfer to the HSBC account for 10% of our biweekly check. I've decided that any "disposable" income left at the end of the month (money left from over budgeting or money we've saved by spending less on groceries or utilities, etc.) will go toward debt reduction. Thanks Mapgirl!

Sweet Holy Moses, Set a Closing Date, Will Ya!

I've never felt as powerless as I have these last few weeks while we wait for everyone involved in the buying of our house (lawyer, title searcher, lender, insurer, etc.) to get their collective acts together. Everyday the [insert participant] tells us he can't [insert action necessary to set closing date] until the [insert participant] supplies him with some document that [insert participant] insists was sent two weeks ago. As of 8:53 am we're waiting for the insurance company to issue a binder so the lender will issue a clear to close so the lawyer can schedule a walk-through and then the closing. But wait...the lawyer said that his schedule for next week is filling up and if this doesn't get resolved soon, we might have to wait another week! Please, please,please, don't make me wait another week. Don't they understand that I'm living with my in-laws! If they only knew how every night I sit on the couch next to my father-in-law, who nods off while cradling the remote control, making it impossible for me to change the station to Law & Order, surely they would put a rush on our purchase.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Pancake Frightened By Cheapskate Ways

In Pancake's estimation, I've reached a new low (or high) in my cheapness. We should be closing on the house any day now, and I am paranoid that there is some expense for which I haven't accounted. Consequently, I've been spending hardly any money, and today we had to buy enough food to feed ourselves and Pancake's folks, who have moved to the camp where we're staying until we get our house. Tonight we're making pizza (with veggie topping, no pepperoni, because we have veggies in the fridge and pepperoni is pricey) and tomorrow we're making barbeque beef sandwiches (I already had the meat in the freezer). We also had to make a stop at Family Dollar for personal supplies. I'd been putting off that trip by watering down everything and using free samples, but today I had to buck up and spend $10. While we were there, Pancake wanted to buy a $3 phone cord to replace the messed up one at camp, but I put the kibosh on that, saying we could buy it for his folks as a gift after we move out.

While I'm all about frugal living, I have to admit that I've been a bit ridiculous lately. Once we're in our house, I'll be able to back off a bit.

Table Mate Offer

I saw this advertised on TV and thought it seemed like something useful. Currently, I use a lap desk for my laptop, but I tend to cross my legs when I'm on the couch, or sit in the lotus position, which makes the lap desk not very useful. There is a site that is offering it for $5 less than the TV-advertised price, plus faster shipping time.



Check it out: http://www.tvproducts4less.com/table-mate-2.html

Lady Raptastic: Da Breakup Song

I just got a good laugh out of my best friend whose divorce was finalized last week—and believe me, she needed to laugh. Essentially, you enter the name of the person with whom you are breaking up and then two reasons for the breakup, choosing issues like "stinks," "lives with mom," etc. Very funny stuff.

Check it out:http://www.dabreakupsong.com

PayPerPost: New Revenue Stream for Bloggers

I've been looking for some ways to make a few extra dollars and was directed to http://www.payperpost.com by Blogging Away Debt. It is a good opportunity to recommend products and services (which I tend to do for free when I really believe in something) and get paid for it. When I signed up there were at least fifteen offers from which to choose and the payment ranged from $5 to $10. The post has to be on your site for at least thirty days and your blog has to be at least 90 days old. If you're looking to make a few extra dollars, check it out:

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Hammering Out a Debt Reduction Strategy: First Things First

I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking and calculating as I try to come up with a debt reduction/savings plan that will actually work in real life and not just on paper. Boston Gal suggests in the post Saving Yourself that before you start tackling debt with push payments, you should have at least one paycheck in savings. I think that is a wise idea. What good is it to apply every available cent toward debt if we're only going to have to use the cards when an unexpected expense arises? I'm taking action one step at a time, so here we go:

1) Save one paycheck for each of us and deposit it in the HSBC savings account.

Once we have accumulated a paycheck's worth of savings, I'd like to schedule a reasonable deposit for every week. Does anyone have any suggestions for a percentage of our earnings that should go toward savings rather than debt reduction?

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July!

It's raining here, but my spirits are high—the title came back on the house and we should be able to close by the middle of next week. I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Take Heed: Repercussions of Driving On "Closed Roads"

All roads in our county have been closed since Wednesday. Of course plenty of folks are driving around because they are running low on supplies. We resorted to eating chocolate cake for dinner on Thursday (okay, it was a choice; we did have elbow macaronis in the pantry). It's nearly impossible to expect people who live in a rural community to avoid driving for five days (the roads are still "officially" closed as of Sunday). So what exactly are the repercussions of driving when the state transportation department has declared "all roads closed"? I was told that if you have an accident your insurance company won't cover it! Flood victims beware: you are driving at your own risk, so don't make any unnecessary trips—essentials only, please.