I am a Water Snob

A couple of years ago the town put the water and sewer lines down our street. It's not mandatory to hook in, but even if you don't you have to pay an assessment. I was also told that at some point in the future the town may require that everyone hook in to the water and sewer lines.

My husband decided that since we were being assessed for this that we should hook in. He also thought we would save money on bottled water and the savings could be put towards the tax. I'm not sure of the exact amount of the assessment, but I do know that we were spending approximately $36 each month on the 5-gallon water bottles which translates into $432 a year on bottled water. Our assessment may be twice that.

Anyway, here's my story. I was not happy that he wanted me to give up the bottled water. Water is my beverage of choice. I don't drink soda or juice. When I reach for a beverage, I reach for water. I tried drinking the tap water, but I could honestly tell the difference.

I think we hooked into the city water in November. I believe that it takes at least three weeks to begin to change a habit. I gave it until the beginning of March. I just couldn't do it! I considered adding the bottled water to my grocery budget. But I was afraid I'd get the silent treatment if I just showed up at home with the 5-gallon bottles of water. So, I started buying 2-3 one-gallon jugs. When there was no reaction from my husband, I decided I would give him the money and ask him to go buy the 5-gallon jugs of water.

Last Saturday, I put $20 on the kitchen counter and I asked him. He asked me, "What's wrong with the tap water?" I said, "I don't like it." Now, you have to know my husband. He's an extremely calm person. In fact, he's almost comatose. But after almost 25 years of marriage, I can tell when he's not happy, and he had that unhappy look on his face. All he did was take a deep cleansing breath and went on with his day.

When I came home from snowflaking Saturday night, there was a water contraption on the counter. The next day he hooked it up. It has it's own spout for the drinking water. He said, "Here's your filter. Now the water should taste better to you."

I have to admit...the water really does taste better.

At last...

my 100th post! A true milestone. There are a couple of other milestones too. I've had more than 6000 visitors since starting the blog and over 10,000 pages viewed!

My first post was on October 7, 2007. I was very nervous. I wasn't sure if I should start blogging. But at the time I needed to get my thoughts into words. It was a tough time for my family and me. My husband had lost his job, and I was feeling the pressure of the debt shackles. Those shackles are very, very painful.

I'm so glad I made the decision to keep track of my journey to financial freedom. Blogging and receiving feedback from others is helping to keep me focused on my shackle release program. I am grateful for all the blogging friends I have made and for the encouragement that I have received. Many times I am motivated by reading others' posts and commenting. I find comfort in sharing a good thought or kind word with others.

Over the next several posts, I'm going to highlight some of the entries that I really like. Starting with Eating is to Money as Food is to Debt. This is one of my favorites because I like the title, it was the first post for which I received comments, and it was the first post that I submitted to a Carnival: the Carnival of Debt Reduction!

So to my many readers and supportive bloggers I say thank you, thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Do you think I can write another 100 posts?

A Post Easter Thought

On Saturday at my snowflaking job a coworker asked if I was getting Easter baskets for my kids. I said that I wasn't. Her children are much younger than mine and she remarked that they were excited about Easter because they thought it was going to be a huge gift-getting day like Christmas. My friend said she thought it would be fun to give someone my daughter's age an Easter basket because it could be filled with lip gloss, make up and little trinket types of things. I thought about that for a brief moment, but still was not motivated to run out to get stuff for Easter for C1 and C2.



Even when they were growing up, we never made Easter a huge present-giving day. Because I sold Longaberger, each had and still has a Longaberger Easter basket. I used to put grass in it along with a chocolate bunny and a small toy, for example a stuffed Easter animal or maybe an action figure for my son. Then they would use their baskets to gather eggs at the Easter egg hunt.



I must say that I do think C1 thought I was giving Easter baskets this year. She was shocked when I told her that I wasn't. I'm thinking 22 and 16 and you don't believe in the Easter bunny...no need for the Easter baskets. In the end I did get each of them a chocolate bunny.

How am I doing -- February and March 2008

Happy Easter to everyone!!!!!

It's interesting how life changes. It seems that it was not long ago that our Easters were filled with visiting relatives, Sunday morning church service, Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt, and of course, the big Easter dinner.

Both of my children work in food service. My son is a server at senior living facility and my daugter works at an upscale restaurant nearby. That means neither of them will be home today. The restaurant where my daugter works serves brunch, so my husband and I decided we will have brunch there today.

Anyway, I really want to talk about my finances during the last two months. February was a bittersweet month. I did mange to pay $835 on my credit card, which I am totally thrilled about. The sidebar includes the payments I've made in March too. I paid $1,370 to my credit card debt in February and March. I'm happy to say that my balance is in the single digits! On the other hand, I increased my overall debt by $3995, which is the amount of the loan I got to finance my car. That payment will be $97 per month.

My husband and I spent a lot of time on the weekends in February looking for a car. That means we spent a lot of time eating out. We probably spent $50-$60 every weekend eating out. Sometimes that would include bringing food home for C2 to eat. What's different is that we would pay cash--that's right, no credit card usage for dinners out.

My credit card paydown is my major definite purpose right now. My secondary goal is to be debt free by June 30, 2009. I'm a little off track of my goals right now. Especially with the addition of the car loan. My credit card has a variable rate, which right now is very low. I used the Bankrate calculator to help me figure out when it will be paid down to zero, based on my current interest rate. If I continue to pay $800 per month at the current interest rate, I'll have the credit card paid off in 13 months.

There are additional funds I could use to pay it down sooner, but we have a vacation planned. Rationally, I'd like to say to the family, no vacation, I'm paying down my debt. Emotionally, I think we should go on vacation because we haven't had a vacation in three years, and I think that a change of scenery will be a source of rejuvenation. It will also be interesting to see if we can go on vacation and stay on a cash basis. I think that when we return, I can add those funds to my debt reduction plan. I just increased the vacation fund to $150 per month. We're planning to go away at the beginning of August.

That's how I'm doing so far. Let's see what April brings.

What I would do with the money?

Yesterday's Powerball was worth a lot of money. I know it usually is, but this was one of those very, very, very large jackpots. In fact, nobody had all six numbers, so the next drawing is worth $275 million.

The people on the van and I decided to pool our money and buy 5 tickets for yesterday's drawing. There are five of us on the van, so that set each of us back $1. We all know that the odds are definitely not in our favor, but it's always fun to discuss what we would do with the money if we won. Here's what I would do.

First, I would abandon my job. Many people say they would go to work and flaunt their winnings. Not me. I want to know what it's like to just not show up.

Second, I'd change my telephone number to an unpublished number. I just don't want people calling and calling me. No interviews, please!

Third, I'd move to Hawaii.

Fourth, I'd pay down my debt, my husband's debt and my daughter's debt.

Fifth, I'd set up trust funds for each child.

Sixth, I'd invest in long-term care insurance.

Seventh, I'd have my husband figure out how much we would need to live comfortably for the rest of our lives and invest that amount of the winnings.

Eighth, I would earn my master's degree and a doctorate degree.

Ninth, I would consider plastic surgery.

Tenth, I would become a philanthropist. I would set up a trust fund to give the rest of the money to my favorite charities.

Now, if only I would win. What would you do with your winnings if you won big in the lottery?

Teen Drivers

I've been dealing with the challenge of a teen driver. Wow! What a challenge it is. I am all for young people having responsibilities and independence, but it is very difficult to help them understand that there are still limits.

The Governor of our state has assembled a task force to study and make recommendations regarding what can be done to keep teen drivers safe and alive. This is a very serious issue. In fact, this task force is supposed to report back to the Governor by the end of March.

So far this year in this state, there have been seven fatalities involving teen drivers. This compares to 15 in all of 2007. This is very scary when you consider that we are just in the beginning of March.

There have already been several recommendations. One is to suspend the teen's license for a period of time if cited for a moving violation. Another is to require parents to receive some type of driver education if your teen driver gets a ticket.

I was very surprised to learn that in some states the age for a teen to get a drivers license is 14 years old! What about your state? Is teen driving a hot topic where you live? If so, what steps is your state government taking to help keep teen drivers safe?