The Big Sale

There is a promotion every weekend at my snowflaking job. A couple of Saturdays ago, it was the big "40 percent off of sale" sale. Well, come to find out even the employees (that meant me too) could take advantage of this promotion! I couldn't believe it. Now, you know I felt compelled to spend my hard earned money. I called my daughter and told her she had to come to the store. There might be something that she "needed". We made our purchases and left my store. Then she and I went to lunch. Then we went to the mall, the big W and the beauty supply store. Of course, we made more purchases. All in all it was an impulsive, expensive afternoon.

One would think that I would be kicking myself. In the past I would have felt like I had a shopping hangover. But guess what? I'm all right with it. Here's why. I had the cash to pay for it! Although I have to use the store credit card to get my discount, I was able to transfer the money from my regular savings to my checking and pay down the card. The total on the card was about $270. Then there was our lunch, the mall, and other purchases. That added up to about $300. Using that money to cover my impulsive spending day didn't impact my debt reduction plan at all. Having the cash to shop...priceless!

Everybody's Talking

Everybody's talking about the tax rebate that we're supposedly going to receive. It seems that very few people think that it's a big deal. Does anyone really believe it's going to "stimulate the economy"? What exactly does that mean anyway? Once the economy is "stimulated" then what? Will the national debt go down? Will the price of oil and gasoline go down? What?

Most of the people I talk to are going to use their rebate (if we get it) to pay down debt. That's how I plan to use mine. My local newspaper surveyed people over the weekend and many of them said the same thing: pay bills. If the majority uses the rebate to pay bills, will the economy be stimulated? I've only heard one person say the he would buy a Nintendo Wii with his rebate. I was shocked. I shouted at him, "No! No! No!" I think he thought I was a lunatic.

My state governor and lawmakers want to stimulate the state's economy. I don't think we're getting a rebate, but they believe we need a tax break. It appears that the politicians can't agree on exactly what to do.

What about your state? Is your state government trying to ease your financial burden?

The Ten-Year Plan

Now that I've told you the "woulda, shoulda, coulda", I'm going to share what I plan to make happen over the next 10 years.

1. Within the next 6-12 months I'm going to take the personal trainer examination so that I can become certified. I just need to study. Would someone give me a swift kick of motivation, please?

2. Pay off all debt for my husband and me within the next three years. My credit card will be paid off by this time next year. Then the focus will be on my husband's debt. In addition, I'm probably going to take on a $4K loan this year, but more on that later.

3. Go back to school for dietetics and nutrition within the next 1-2 years. Getting into the health and wellness business now will allow me to start my side business and work at something I enjoy when I retire from my day job.

4. Turbo save and turbo invest. I'm only putting 1% of my income into my 401K because debt reduction is my immediate priority. As the debt comes down, I want to increase my savings by the amount that I'm reducing the debt and more, if possible.

5. Increase the emergency fund to 3-6 months worth of income. My plan is to make a deposit equal to one month's debt reduction amount each time I pay a debt to zero balance.

6. 5-10 years down the road I would like to buy a condo in an active senior community in a warm climate state. I'm thinking North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Hawaii--a state like that. My husband and I could rent it out until we retire. Once we retire, we'll have a place to live.

7. Retire from my day job on or before December 31, 2017.

This is my official record of my 10-year plan. I think it will be fun to look back at this from time to time to see how I am doing. No more "woulda, shoulda, coulda". Now it's just make it happen!

Hind Sight is 20-20

Last week as I was perusing Money Blogs Smart Spending on MSN Money, I came across an inspiring post from doughroller entitled 10 things I know at 40 that I wished I knew at 20. That got me thinking. Since I just turned 50 last Tuesday, what do I know now that I wished I had know earlier?

1. When I was a junior in college, I told my roommate that I when I graduated I hoped I could find a job that paid at least $10k a year. She told me that wasn't a lot of money. She was right. So I wish I had understood and appreciated that.

2. I got my first department store credit card right after I graduated from college. In those days the major banks weren't chomping at the bit to give college freshmen credit cards. That was a good thing, but according to my dad I needed a credit card to establish credit. So I got one. I actually wished I had...

3. ...got a co-signer for a car loan and paid it off in six months to establish my credit. I had a friend who did that. I was in awe. Unfortunately, I didn't think I could do it too.

4. I wish I had know the value of delaying gratification. Up until now, if I wanted something or thought I needed something, I would buy it even if I didn't have the cash to pay for it. There was never a plan or a budget. I am truly paying for this now as I am learning to delay gratification and budget.

5. Along those same lines, I wish I had been a bigger thinker. If I wasn't going to delay gratification, I wish I would have at least bought bigger, investment type things. For example, a boat or real estate. That way when I finally came to the realization that I was in way over my head, I could have sold something and applied the money towards my debt.

6. I wish I had been financially independent before getting married.

7. I love my husband dearly, but I wish I had realized that his financial understanding was as remedial as mine. We've come a long way. Although we have different approaches to financial freedom, it is a mutual goal. He's very cerebral about it. I'm more tangible. He understands that the credit card is a tool. I'm deathly afraid to use it. For me it's like opening the flood gates.

8. I wish I had taught my children personal finance when they were pre-school aged just as I taught them their manners. It's really been in the last year or so that I finally understood that personal finance and money management is a fundamental. One thing I know is that the best time to teach children is when they're young. This way they develop good habits.

The last items are my mantras. I wish I had always...

9. Spent less than I earned and

10. Earned, saved, invested, and gave to charity.

Perhaps this isn't a monumental birthday for you, that is, one that ends in a 5 or a 0. But what do you wish you had known sooner or what habits have you changed to put yourself in a better financial position?

A Visit to the 42nd Carnival of Money Stories

If you found your way to collectingmycash from the Carnival of Money Stories...Welcome! Welcome! I'm thrilled you decided to stop by. Moneymyths was an excellent Carnival host this week. I am grateful to him for including my Poor Planning post and making it an editor's pick. While you're here, feel free to peruse other posts I have written. If you like what you read, please subscribe in a reader or by e-mail.

Here are my favorite posts from this week's Carnival.

Money Challenge seems to be a relatively new blogger. Make sure you check out her post Loving your Job. She is following her dreams and doing what she loves. My hat is off to her!

Randall confesses that he went a little over budget for Christmas over at Credit Withdrawal. In this amusing post he explains what happened. I think it's great that he was able to pay cash for this purchase!

A super huge KUDOS to Lynnae at beingfrugal. She cut up her credit cards! Go Lynnae!

Next week the carnival will be at Plonkee Money. Hope you check it out!

The Bathroom Project

Our house is over 40 years old. We bought it from the original owners almost 10 years ago. We've worked on it a lot over the years, but it still needs a lot of work. About a year and a half ago, I began removing the wall paper in the master bathroom. I think it's been there since the house was built. It really has been a major production. The wall paper was ugly, and it was every where including the ceiling. Last summer, my husband and I finally got all of it down except for behind the toilet. He said he would have to remove the toilet in order to remove the remainder of the wallpaper. It sounded like a big project to me.

Anyway, I thought that since he was going to remove the toilet, why not remove the vanity and get a new one. The vanity is probably as old as the house too. One thing I did when I came up with this idea was to research what it would cost for a new vanity. I got out my tape measure and got the dimensions of the current vanity. I learned that each part of the vanity is a separate purchase: the faucet, the sink, the cabinet. I truly did not know that. I found something that I liked and decided that $400 was a reasonable amount to spend on the vanity ensemble.

Finally last weekend we went to purchase the vanity. I think we got a great deal. For about $400 we bought the sink and cabinet as a unit, a mirror, the faucet, and a light fixture. As you can imagine, I was very proud.

My husband made the bathroom his project of the week. On Monday I came home from work and he had ripped out the old vanity and taken out the toilet. This was very bad because now I'm thinking let's redo the whole thing! Let's put in a new floor and shower while we're at it! The toilet is relatively new, so that can stay. I'm just thinking that since the room is empty, it would be easier to complete it rather than put in the new vanity and then have to pull it out to put in a new floor down the road.

What's the issue? You know it. Money. Before we do any more, I want to know how much it's going to cost. Then I need to figure out how we're going to pay for it...with cash.

Poor Planning

On Thursday, C2 got his driver's license. He was ecstatic! He and his dad called to tell me the good news. C2 said, "Mom, I wanted to be at the commuter lot to pick you up as a surprise, but dad said I have to be on the insurance before I can drive alone."

Insurance? Oh, no! Our car insurance is going to increase! It's not like I didn't know this would happen. My husband and I have talked about it on and off at least since C2's 16th birthday. But did we ever call the insurance company to ask how much it would increase? Of course not. That would have made too much sense. Planning for the increase in our auto insurance is budgeting. Go figure?

I knew this was coming, but I just didn't see it coming. Does that make this a Ninja Bill?

Better News

Last month I posted about my husband's contracting job. Originally it was supposed to start on January 2, but with all the paperwork and background check that got pushed back to January 7. Well, last Thursday one of the company's he interviewed with offered him a full time job! Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! Needless to say, we are all thrilled. He starts next Monday. Now my birthday celebration next Monday will be a double celebration.

One of the things we talked about before he got the information package from this company were benefits. Right now I carry the benefits for the family. My first thought was that I would continue carrying the benefits, and if his company offered an opt out, then he should opt out. I just assumed that would be the least expensive way to go. Especially since I work for a major corporation. Well, I was wrong. This company offers an opt out of $500 per year. Of course, that's taxable. If my husband stays on my insurance, my company will assess a $100 per month surcharge because my husband has health insurance available to him through his company. My husband is good at spread sheets. Here's are our different health insurance scenarios.

C2 and me, husband with new company: cost per month $125
C2 and husband, me with my company: cost per month $134
C2, husband, and me with my company: cost per month $219
C2, husband, and me with husband's company: cost per month $249

I think the evidence is clear. Don't you? I just didn't realize that health insurance companies are assessing such a surcharge. I guess this is that new "consumer driven" health care.

Look How Far I've Come

Since I'm in the debt shackle release program and my monumental 50th birthday is fast approaching on January 15, I've be thinking about how I can have a fabulous celebration without spending a lot of money.

If I were debt free, I would be on my way to Hawaii. But since I'm not, I'll be staying home. I had considered spending the night in a resort on the shore. However, once I crunched the numbers, I decided against it. The room with the ocean view is $175. That's before tax! Naturally, if I go to the shore I must at least window shop at the outlet mall. That could be dangerous. So I figured I should plan at least $200 for possible spending at the outlet mall. Now, I'm up to more than $400. Unfortunately, I've got to eat. So I'm thinking birthday celebration, ocean view resort, husband, romantic dinner at the restaurant at the resort. Not! That would be $150-$200. I so hate spending that much on one dinner. That's my weekly food budget! So one night to celebrate my birthday could cost upward of $600! That's a lot of money for one night. I probably could get an all inclusive in the Caribbean for that amount of money. I just don't want to look back on this birthday and say I spent that much money on one night.

So here's the plan. My family has decided to take me to dinner at a brand new restaurant in town. That's their gift to me. It seems very elegant, and I'm excited to try it. We're going there the night before my birthday. On my birthday I'm going to a very upscale spa near my home. I love spas. I may have mentioned this before, but one day I'm going to visit and have a treatment at an historic inn and spa in every state in the Union. I have gift certificates to the spa. I've been saving them for my birthday. In addition, my husband gave me another gift certificate for Christmas. I'm going to get a hot stone massage, a facial, a manicure and a pedicure for the price of the tip, which I calculate to be about $50.

Up until now, I would have thought nothing of charging the $600 or more to my credit card to celebrate my birthday. Now, I'm looking forward to dinner with my family and a day off from work to enjoy my spa. I'm still on the fence about turning 50 :-).

Looking for Inspiration

Since I started my new job back in November, I haven't spent as much time as I would like to spend blogging and reading blogs from my Inspiration list. Because of the holidays and some time off from work, I've had an opportunity to stroll through my blog roll. One of the things I love about reading other blogs is the comments. It's amazing how you can find other fabulous blogs just from reading the comments! Anyway, here's what I discovered by taking a trip through my Inspiration List this past week.

Most posts focused on planning for the new year like Cynthia over at debt marathon. In my opinion, she is the ultimate planner. She has charts, and she's got it figured down to percentages. She's run a marathon in the past, so she knows how to pace herself.

Mrs. Micah and No More Spending are breaking it down. They're setting monthly goals.

Then there are the posts that reflected over this past year. I was very impressed with Marie at Borrower Servant Lender and jvw at Good Life on a Budget. They applied huge sums of money towards their debt. In fact Marie paid off more than $11,000 in three months. Wow! That's how much I want to pay down by December 31!

Another popular topic this week was fitness and nutrition. Of course, I wrote a post on each. But the best was Eden's post at Finance and Fat. He's committed to making a life style change. I'm very excited for him. I told him that I would be reading. I hope you will too.

The most interesting post of the week for me was at Banker Girl. She ponders starting an infrequent bills account. The idea is from Chief Family Officer. I never really thought about it. But now that they've brought it up, I'm going to consider whether or not it would make sense for me.

Lastly, there's racerx. He's coined a new term: the Ninja Bill. We've all had them. It's the bill that arrives just when you think your plan is coming together.

There are always so many excellent posts in the blogosphere. I hope you check out these that I've mentioned. If you like them, consider subscribing to them in a reader or by e-mail!

Two Words about Nutrition

Eat Clean! What exactly does that mean? I don't really like the word "diet". It has taken on a very negative connotation. When I think of "diet", I think of restrictive, can't, not allowed, and don't. Plus, "diet" has the word "die" in it. Hmm. Hmm. What do you think of when you hear or say the word "diet"?

When I think of eating clean, I think of purity. Purity is a positive word to me. So to eat clean means to eat purely. Purely means processed as little as possible. Purely means no junk, very little salt, even less sugar, and no flour if possible. I think those are the culprits.

But it's tough. I know it. Perhaps we should start small. For example, if you're like me and sugar is your poison, we could reduce the amount of sugar that we consume in a day. Now, I know you're thinking everything has sugar. How about decreasing the amount of sugar you put coffee or cereal from two teaspoons to one and one half teaspoons? That's a start, right? Do you have a candy bar in the afternoon? Can you switch it to a protein bar? Be sure to read the label. Some of them have a lot of sugar.

Like Mrs. Micah and Canadian Saver commented yesterday, baby steps. And as racerx said, "Better to try and fail 10 times, than to never try at all!"

P.S. Remember to make water your drink of choice!

Easter, Christmas, and the day after New Year's Day

Have you ever noticed that on Easter and Christmas church is packed? It is truly standing room only! If you don't arrive an hour before the service starts, you're not going to find a seat, let alone a parking space.

That same phenomenon occurs the day after New Year's Day...at the gym. Beginning today and for the next four to six weeks, the gym will be wall to wall people. If you go, your cardiovascular workout will be from your car to the gym door because you will have to park your car in the boonies of the parking lot. Once inside every piece of equipment will have a line of at least five people deep. All of the regulars will look at each other, shake their heads and remark, "Things will be back to normal come Valentine's Day!"

So, what causes this phenomenon? I haven't quite put my finger on why this happens at church, but I think I know why it happens year in and year out at the gym. All of the new faces are those well-intentioned New Year's resolutioners. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that they are trying to get healthy. As you well know, I'm a huge fan of fitness, nutrition, health and wellness.

The point of my post is this: Please, please don't be a New Year's resolutioner this year. Make this the year of behavior changes. If you were at the gym today, I say, "Kudos to you!" Decide that not only will you be there for the rest of the week, but come Valentine's Day you'll be considered a regular at your gym.