Churning For...

Hello Dear Reader,

About 2 months ago, I signed up for a Chase Card with a $200 sign up bonus. After spending the required money in regular bills, the question is, what now? I have the money in bonus points on my Chase account. If I was the Jones's, I'd probably use it to pay a down on a couch set, or maybe buy a single fancy rim for my gas guzzling SUV. What should I do though?

I've thought of a couple options:

That would have been nice!

1. Use it for regular budget items. This would go to food, or some essential monthly expense. I wouldn't feel the rush of something shiny, but the $200 it frees up would then need a decision. Maybe I could put it toward an IRA. It isn't a lot of money, but it is something. An added bonus is this could get drawn into our money tree with an unusual pattern signifying it was creatively earned.
2. Buy a freezer. Our chest freeze has been getting full. Maybe I should buy another one and name it Chase.
3. Buy a bike rack. This is the one my wife wants. It would probably cost $150 leaving $50 for something minor like gardening supplies.

Not relevant picture...but it is Lego!!

We almost bought a bike rack at Sports Chalet (first day of sale...not the day of the posting). My wife found the one that a previous salesman said was good. It was $170, and the closing discount is...wait for it...10%!! Wow what a deal! I'm being sarcastic...I told the wife I was unimpressed that a store going out of business couldn't squeeze more discount than 10%, especially since that meant it couldn't be returned to any Sports Chalet store. This brings me to my conclusion. I am so cheap, that even with money basically given to me, I can't bring myself to buy something slightly on sale.

The last option is the wife's sanity fund. We have been married 5 years and she has been wanting a weekend away since our last one was 4 or so months ago. We wouldn't normally need this except for the two year old. This is a good problem to have. I don't have the answer yet. Whatever we decide, I'll need the wife's buy in.

Mad Fientist Financial Independance Calculator

For the people looking to someday retire, this calculator may prove useful. You will need to create an account, but wait! Don't get scared. It's a simple email and password account...no...personal...info! I know the pain of websites wanting non-relevant information. This isn't that. I made a user account and then followed step-by-step instructions. What you do is put your expenses, savings and net worth for a mount and it plots your FI date on a graph. I only have one month right now so it isn't a line but a dot. Here is my picture:

Yes, you read that correctly. At my current rate I have 19 years until financial independence at my current rate, assuming I never get any raises or promotions. That isn't too bad when you think about it. On the left side you can adjust the assumptions for your particular case. Naturally, I have no affiliation with Mad Fientist.  

Jones's Guide To Losing Money

1. Buy as much house as you can afford, wait, buy more!
2. Lease both of your cars. Pay over $200 for insurance...preferably $400.
3. Credit cards are magic. If you have any money issues, use the credit card.
4. Refinance your house to a longer term.
5. Pay $100+/month for each cell phone you have. Buy the latest and greatest.
6. Buy every kid a new iPhone and iPad. No need to consider the child's age.
7. Netflix? That's for cheap people. You need cable. Lots of channels.
8. Eat out every day, drink coffee but from Starbucks, or wait, Starbucks is for semi-fancy people. What you need is #Hipster Coffee Joint coffee.
9. Hire a full time nanny because both parents work full time. Don't calculate taxes, mileage, lunches and nanny fees, otherwise you may realize the second job earns $6/hr.
10. Don't read finance blogs. They will just tell you to invest money. You need money now so you can spend it.

This lady is worried about money but won't budget or clean up her mess.
Just kidding, it's a stock photo.

See this money? You need to waste it! Give it to a salesman!

Money is a big cause of conflict in couples. What if, instead of pursuing every luxury in life, we focused on what is really important? How un-American! You should instead buy a car. Not a Honda...you need...nay, you deserve, a BMW. Or maybe a Lexus. Take your pick, just tell the dealer how much you can afford.

You see, when you outsource processing, you stop planning and work in vain. It is like being a pinball, Life confuses you, you bounce around and don't understand why no matter how hard you work, you never get ahead. You see your kids less and less, the spouse gets more and more pissed, and you become a ghost of yourself. Why? Priorities. You were too busy to make your work and life count. Shame on you. You must pay penance by drawing up a budget, and go over goals with your spouse.

No excuses. Use your brain.

Mr. Money Mustache. A Gold Mine

For the few people who do not access this blog from Mr. Money Mustache (MMM), this website is a goldmine. It is written by a man who retired at age 32 by saving 75% of his income for 10 years, if memory serves me. He documents the way he lives a simple life using a bicycle instead of a car when possible, enjoying Vanguard's funds, saving money, and abandoning the rat race. Here is a good starting point for the blog.

This is a source of sanity for me. For years I have felt like the insane minority questioning the decisions of others. Why does such and such Jones buy something expensive to top such and such Jones. Why am I surrounded by people wielding fancy phones eager to trade them in as soon as possible. The same goes with fancy trucks and SUVs for commuters. I see armies of Starbucks cups, people depressed about their jobs but still spending every dollar of every paycheck and wondering why retirement is so far away.

People wonder why I often don't eat out at restaurants,why our only car is over 15 years old, why I ride a bicycle to work, why I  have Netflix instead of cable, why I am ditching my fancy phone and plan for a cheaper one, why I discuss purchases with the wife, why we keep a budget, why my kid won't have fancy Apple products to play with before puberty, why we mostly have free furniture, and so much more.

Valentines Day For $19.49

The wife and I managed to score babysitting from family for Valentine's day. So, instead of having food at the house with a kiddo helping us keep the romance down, or at a noisy restaurant with a kiddo helping us keep the romance down, we went to Olive Garden and then Cold Stones. We don't typically go to restaurants, let alone 2, on a holiday. However, with this babysitting happening the wife and I felt we were really due for a night out.

Olive Garden is one of our favorite restaurants for a couple of reasons. It is usually quiet. There is no TV blaring telling you stuff you need to buy, or a game you need to watch. The wife and I love this. By the way, I'm getting no funding from Olive Garden for this blog post.

So here is the breakdown:

• We weren't starving when we got to Olive Garden, this helped us not order giant plates becoming leftovers. 
• Olive Garden serves bread forever. It's like Red Robin's bottomless fries. So, we snacked on the bread while we waited for our other food.
• We sampled a glass of wine for free.
• We split their lasagna special for $12.99. This included unlimited soup or salad for 1 person (we only had 1 refill. I ate one bowl, the wife ate the other. If you get excessive with this splitting this they charge you).
• The lasagna order included chicken marsala ravioli and fettuccini alfredo.

This totaled to $14.03 after tax. The wife and I liked our service so we tipped 20%+. We will do this sometimes if we split and the server is nice to us. In this case, they served two different plates with half of each of the three entrees, so there was no awkward sharing. 

This brought the total to $17.00. 

I had promised the wife Cold Stones Creamery ice cream, so we went there next. The wife ordered a little known kid size ice cream with Oreos. It is small, at about 1 scoop of ice cream + topping. However, it came out to $2.49 bringing our total to $19.49.

I paid for these items with my new credit card, which will give me a $200 reward after spending $500 within 3 months. 

Also, just eating a moderate amount of food helped us not be in food coma the entire night.

YNAB Budgeting Tool Basic Review

I have reviewed another budgeting tool! YNAB. My Facebook feed has been telling me it is a good tool and I figured it was time to give it a try. Overall, I liked it. Here is my video:


Here is the link: https://youtu.be/80vGtAGgQto

To sign up for YNAB: http://ynab.refr.cc/CHSSFR4

Thanks for watching!

Reviving the Old Blog

It has been almost a year since I've done a post. Much has changed.

In the past 11 months:

• I went from 35 miles to 2.5 miles from work. Now I drive 0 minutes a week for work.
• My ol' faithful car failed smog. We decided to retire it in state retirement. They gave us $1k for him.
• We save $42/month on car insurance due to only having 1 car, and $175/month on gas. We also save about $80/yr on registration.
• I now bike to work. It is glorious. More on this later.
• Wife and I are now debt free! We sold the fifth wheel that we were living in, paid back a personal loan, a hospital bill, and my student debts. It was about $50k in all! 
• The mower given to us wouldn't work (Googling it suggested it was not an easy fix). Dear wife and I bought a reel mower (more details on how this is going coming up).
• We invested in a chest freezer (more on this too)
• I am about to go from saving the company mandatory 8%, to about 35% through retirement contributions and house savings.
• Contributing the above amount to retirement savings will reduce my tax bill about $1600.
• Wife and I are becoming more Tightwad Gazette and Mr Money Mustache oriented.
• Wife is now a crocheting machine!

I am looking to use this blog to record the new things wife and I try, and our journey for becoming satisfied through a simple self sufficient life.

Budgeting Tool Every Dollar Review

Today I would like to review the Dave Ramsey's budgeting tool Every Dollar. This video gives a good summary of creating an account, setting up the information in the account and getting started. I've used spreadsheets and have considered projects like Mint. However, this is my favorite.

I encourage you to give it a try and see if it fits your needs.