Net Worth & Money News: May 2015
June 1, 2015
Change from Jan 2015: 16.8% increase
On Money
I’m working away at Swagbucks to earn Amazon money for household, Little Bean, and dog things we need. Feel free to join using my referral link if you like!
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PiC recently joked he’d settle for a luxury sports car and a very family car. Spending between $90-120K on cars? That’s a riot. So I proposed a swap. If he supports me writing a few bestsellers (ha), we’ll talk cars.
Note: 3 years ago, we paid $20K in cash for 2 used practical family-friendly cars with decent mileage and in great condition. We’ve had to spend on maintenance since, but very little, comparatively speaking.
Of course, his window shopping was stopped sort when I asked which would you want first, fancy car or a house?
Which would you want first? (or at all)
(and then I caught him browsing Trulia. I’d better get cracking and writing!)
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A relative asked me to help obtain a thing for her kid. She said, “he just wants it so badly, you can’t say no, no matter how much it costs.”
In context it was education related and legit in that it is a basic need, though perhaps not quite at the cost she’s willing to pay but, long term, I expect that cost will be negligible. I still don’t grant the premise, though. You can say no, you’re just choosing not to. Own that decision! The phrasing is awfully similar to the excuses often given by people who spend beyond their means as if they tripped and all their credit cards got swiped at that one store they like so much.
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We saved on childcare this month, accidentally. Yay…? I have to say, much as I was willing to spend the money, I didn’t hate getting baby snuggles during the day, even though it meant I had to juggle longer hours to get all my work done AND mind the baby. PiC was great at balancing that out by taking all the nights and cutting some of his days shorter too.
This isn’t a long term solution though, I won’t be able to split my attention across 12-14 hour days that are physically and then mentally demanding.
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Our water and sewer bills are going up another 21% and 11%. This is after an increase last year. Apparently, yay, we’ve been doing well at reducing water usage in response to the drought but oh noes, that means the district can’t cover their fixed costs with the reduced revenue so we get hit with higher rates anyway. Except I don’t know who was paying less because our bill has done nothing but go up ever.
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Our 10-year-old plastic drying rack keeps falling over. Turns out it can probably be revived with some judicious glue. That’s $35 we don’t have to spend on a replacement right now.
On Life
Mother’s Day was this month and for obvious reasons, I have shunned it for the past few years.
For less obvious reasons (perhaps) it just doesn’t resonate with me as a substantive reason to expect/demand a special offering or effort on a randomly mandated day. Not that I don’t think motherhood and creating life isn’t an awe-inspiring thing, I still can’t believe we managed it, I just don’t feel like Mother’s Day is My Thing. I get my kudos from PiC at least twice a week and that’s incredibly meaningful. And that’s enough for me.
That doesn’t stop me from sending cards to people who played a nurturing role in my life though. Like Valentine’s Day, I’d rather not be forced to spend it doing an overpriced, overcrowded prescribed activity, but I don’t mind doing things for people who like it.
Of course that wasn’t enough for PiC who got me yummy donuts, flowers and minded LB so I could get a nap midday. I hadn’t felt this rested in months. (then of course, this happened)
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I was super grouchy that a friend invited us over. Not about the invitation, but that she didn’t tell us until the last minute, as an afterthought, that her kids were home sick and was then surprised that we cancelled. Apparently I should be grateful that she thought to tell us at all! The last time people decided it didn’t matter their kid had a virulent flu because they wanted to go out, it wrecked our wedding reception for me. I spent $20K+ on a party I couldn’t enjoy because I was drugged to the gills and I was laid up for weeks. My system simply cannot handle virii! It’s a near total KO if I catch a flu.
Someone told me that it “wasn’t being inconsiderate” if they have more than one kid, and alluded to my being a first time parent and being unreasonably careful out of inexperience.
Knowing that I have chronic health problems and therefore must avoid getting sick AND that we have a months-old infant, but inviting us over anyway to a germ-infested house isn’t lack of consideration? Just because having sick kids is normal when you’ve got more than one? I think that’s the very definition of not considering the effect on others, isn’t it?
Having sick kids all the time might be normal for some but I don’t really see how that means that parents have this express right to willy-nilly infect others, or to make the decision that exposing me & my kid to germs is a-ok.
Of course that rings familiar when I think of the anti-vaxxer who made the news declaring that if a kid with leukemia catches the measles or whatever from his unvaccinated carrier kids, well, that 5-year-old must have done something to deserve it anyway. Because it’s certainly not his fault for keeping his kid “pure”. /grouch
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I managed to pick up a few books this month to wile away a few bouts of insomnia.
1632, by Eric Flint
Free on Kindle. I was surprisingly engrossed in this.
Helen of Sparta, by Amalia Carosella
Free on Kindle as part of the Prime First thingie. I’ve always liked Greek & Roman history and the focus on Helen for a change was engaging.
Crow Hollow, by Michael Wallace
Free on Kindle as part of the Prime First thingie. Just ok, I thought. Something about the plot and character building felt a little weak.
Okay, so here’s the deal with Mother’s Day: it’s true, this “holiday” has indeed been co-opted as a Hallmark Holiday and so annoys some of us skeptics. However, it has its uses…or rather, some years from now it will have its uses.
Funny about Money recently posted…Fix-up Mini-Frenzy
Oh dear…i hit the wrong button and posted instead of edited…sorry!!
So, the uses of Mother’s Day:
When the Kid comes of age, s/he will wander off into the world, and your paths will cross less and less often. In your dotage, you will come to miss the Kid.
But if you have the Kid socialized to think of Mother’s Day as an excuse to for a family get-together with something fun going on (not necessarily gift-giving: a nice dinner or a concert or a picnic at Golden Gate Park…), then in the future the Kid can be guilted into coming to see you on Mother’s Day.
Craven as this sounds now, when you are old, “craven” begins to seem more like…mmm…”practical.” Take advantage of everything you’ve got, for the Urchin certainly will…over many years.
Fancy car or house? How about a Winnebago? Then you can have both, and park it wherever you please. 😉
Funny about Money recently posted…Fix-up Mini-Frenzy
Winnebago: maybe some day I’ll actually want to be able to drive a house down the road! hah!
Does that or does that not sound like grand fun! And by the time your chance rolls around, the things will be self-driving. You’ll be able to party your way down the road. 😀
Funny about Money recently posted…Does Breast Surgery for DCIS Save Lives?
Ok that sounds more fun than my original vision of driving with clenched teeth and too short legs.
A great big “grrrrr!” for the acquaintance who knows you have a chronic illness but almost didn’t tell you her kids were sick. That would be like forgetting to tell someone who’s allergic to seafood that you put shrimp in the stew.
Fie on anti-vaxxers, too. I wonder about the really extremist ones: If their own “pure” kids got measles (or whatever) and wound up profoundly disabled or dead, who would they blame? But, oh, wait, they probably WON’T get measles (or whatever) because so many people around them actually vaccinate their kids. Sigh.
Donna Freedman recently posted…Formal vs. colloquial.
I explained to her again how seriously I have to take these things, I’m hoping she’ll actually respect it now.
The irony that the antivaxxers are breaking herd immunity but still benefiting from it irks me.
Explaining to people who do that is like trying to fix stupid: an exercise in futility.
Funny about Money recently posted…Does Breast Surgery for DCIS Save Lives?
Dang, I hear you on the sick kid thing. Having other people tell you what risks you’re willing to take with your health? The nerve.
Unrelated note: I thought you guys already had a house? Or is it that you rent and also are landlords? (confused)
Taylor Lee @ Engineer Cents recently posted…Buying A Fixer Upper: Worth It?
That’s what I thought! I have to live with any consequences, and so does PiC, and so does my child. It’s not “just a cold” or “just being sick” for us. It can be crippling.
All of the above. 🙂 We have a small place, rent one for my family, and own a rental.
Oh I’d be very unimpressed with the friend who almost didn’t tell you about the sick kiddies… I mean, it would make me pause as a relatively healthy adult. Play dates and hang outs can be rescheduled around germs. I don’t consider that being overly cautious as a first-time parent… but having a baby a few months old at home – well I’d be way more strict on enforcing it.
Regarding bills going up… oi! Our biggest one is in the grocery store. The numbers have absolutely sky-rocketed the past 6 months or so. I’m a savvy shopper, but I can’t keep the budget where I want it. Unless we eat a heck of a lot less stuff, it just isn’t happening. Thankfully most of our bills are relatively stable in our personal accounts. Our rent covers everything, even electricity! And our condo fees on our income property only go up about $6/year and that includes things like water. So I can’t complain too much on those bills, but man… why do we have to eat to live? 😛
Alicia recently posted…Financial Update: May 2015 and a Giveaway!
Not that I was looking for validation but thank you for speaking up for the relatively healthy section of the population since I can’t anymore! 😀
Oh wow, that’s wonderful that your rent includes electricity and other utilities. Our fees went up $20/month, I think I forgot to mention that too. So that’s another fee nibbling away.
We eat to live because OMG food is so goooood! 😉
Babies deserve caution just because they are babies! I had to coach my husband to wash his hands before he touched his stepdaughter’s infant. He has not been around babies, so he just didn’t know.
the gold digger recently posted…Go read Ask A Manager
Thank you, that too! I don’t mind people not knowing but being totally dismissive is much less ok.
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