2012 Budget Finally in Place

The last piece of our 2012 budget puzzle, Mr. Losing It’s new pay amount, clicks into place today. He is paid every other week, but the first check of the year always contains an extra or two, such a the tiny “wellness bonus,” so we were not able to accurately know until this week’s check what our monthly income will be. All of our monthly budgets have been based on last year’s income, but his pay has increased from last year (slightly) and I think we just may be able to make a real dent in the remaining debt balance this year. Not only did Mr. Losing It receive a small raise at work as well as a cost-of-living raise in his military retirement (after three years without any change), but I am working again, although my income will be irregular for the time being until I can (hopefully) land a permanent part-time position.

All of our basic payment amounts remain the same as last year, although our mortgage did drop by around $25 (and we received a refund of $236 for overpayment of property taxes last year). With the cost of living raise in his military retirement, and the drop in the mortgage, the monthly amount of that check once again covers our mortgage in full. The increase in his work paycheck will all go toward debt repayment. Our monthly grocery budget will remain at $640, but the last two months I have spent $60 – $80 less with the difference going into savings, and I hope to continue that trend this year as long as possible.

For now, all of my teaching income will go into the Hawaii trip fund. We have a goal of saving $10,000 this year, and once that’s accomplished my income will go toward debt repayment. It’s probably going to take most of the year to reach our goal though – I don’t think I’ll get enough teaching hours to really put much away each month.

Finally, we finished our income tax returns last weekend, and all of our tax refund will go toward paying off Credit Card #2. Our goal is to have it gone by the end of April, and then pay off the orthodontist by the end of July. After that we will work on our vacation goal, as well as work on Credit Card #1 and the student loan.

So here we go  - here’s hoping for a very good year!

Some Things We Did Right

It’s been easy as we’ve traveled on our path of becoming debt free to find fault over and over again with choices we made in the past, things that in hindsight we wouldn’t or might not have done if we knew we’d end up with so much debt. It’s been much harder to stop and look at or for the things we did right, things that were difficult or counter-intuitive at the time, that will provide for us in the future.

Here are four things we did right in the past, even though it wasn’t obvious at the time:

• Staying in the navy. My husband ended up serving 22 years in the navy, but retiring from the service was never a sure thing. It was a good life, but a hard life too, with lots of moves and deployments, and other time spent away and apart from each other and family. But, because he did stay in to retire, we have a guaranteed income every month for life, and best of all, outstanding health insurance for life as well. That income has paid our rent or mortgage ever since he retired, and we’ve never had to worry about health care for us or our children. We never thought about what it would be like not to have those things while he was on active duty, but we are grateful every day now that we stuck it out.
• Sticking it out at a miserable job. Mr. Losing It works for a great company, at a job he loves and with people he enjoys working with and for. It wasn’t always that way though, and he went through a really bad stretch a few years ago working under the Manager from Hell. Miserable doesn’t begin to describe it, for a variety of reasons. It was to the point that I almost begged him to quit because we couldn’t take his misery any more. He looked for, interviewed for and was offered other jobs during this time, but none of them could offer the benefits that his current employer provided, so he would decide to stay a little longer while co-workers headed for other employment. Two years ago he was offered his dream position within the company with a boost in pay. We still are enjoying the amazing benefits this company provides, and he will retire next year with a nice pension, something we would have given up if he had left. (The manager was eventually demoted).
• Our cheap house. When we bought our house nearly seven years ago, our goal was to find the cheapest house we could that was convenient to the girls’ schools. This house fit the bill perfectly. Friends and family couldn’t believe we bought this place, in this location, that we “could have done so much better.” But guess what? The house has not only held its value, it  has increased in value and our neighborhood is now a desired location within the city. We could have afforded a much larger mortgage at the time, but every month I am so glad we bought our cheap little house and think about how things might have ended up if we hadn’t.
• Adoption. The biggest reason we have debt is because we adopted not once but three times in our mid-40s and early 50s. We knew with each adoption that we were spending or taking away from our retirement, from our future financial security, but we also knew it was the right thing for us to do, no matter the cost. Neither Mr. Losing It nor I have ever regretted what we have spent to bring these girls home and then raise them, but we thought we would have to work into our 80s because of this choice. However, because we have dependents under the age of 18, it turns out Mr. Losing It can retire early and receive extra Social Security benefits for the girls. By the time our youngest ages out, I will be eligible for my full-retirement Social Security and state pension. Because of our daughters we can afford to retire early and with a comfortable income.

While the bad choices or decisions are easy to come up with, what are some of the choices that you’ve made that you didn’t realize would turn out right, that would turn out to be a benefit or provide financial security?

Easy, Frugal Baking: Manuel Freedman’s Oatmeal Cookies

I have absolutely no idea who Manuel Freedman is (or was). My recipe dates from when we lived in Key West (mid-80s), but I have no idea where it came from, who gave it to me or any other explanations. What I do know is that these cookies are easy, healthy, and delicious. They contain no added sugar – all the sweetness comes from the dried fruit (which is why cranberries are not the best choice), and only 1/4 cup of vegetable oil – the other fat comes from chopped nuts. Best of all, the ingredients are things I usually have on hand in my pantry, making these a very frugal choice.

The recipe says that the cookies should be sliced before baking – don’t skip this step! They firm up during baking and are very difficult to cut afterwards. The recipe also calls for dates, but I have substituted raisins with success. I’m guessing that other dried fruits could be used as well, but the cookies will be less sweet (or not sweet at all).

Oh yes, the cookies have been kid tested and approved! My girls adore these cookies even though they’re less sweet than other cookies I make or buy. I made a pan the other day and they disappeared quickly, and I was asked not to wait so long to make them again.

MANUEL FREEDMAN’S OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup rolled oats, either quick or regular

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/4 cups finely chopped dates (or raisins)

1/3 to 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 325°. Generously grease a 8″ x 8″ baking pan. Blend flour, oats, salt and oil until evenly mixed. Add walnuts and chopped dates, and 1/3 cup water, mixing together with your fingers until evenly damp (you can add more water if necessary, but dough should not be “sticky”). Press down very well into the baking pan, then cut into 16 2-inch squares. Bake for 30 minutes; cookies will not get dark. Cool completely before removing from the pan.

Menu Plan Monday: Welcome the Year of the Dragon!

Gong Xi Fa Choi! Happy New Year! Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac (1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988 and 2000 are Dragon years). We will be celebrating all day today – the girls will have congee for breakfast, get a special treat in with their lunch, and we will have “long” noodles and jiaotzu (potstickers) for dinner, two traditional New Year’s foods. The girls will also each receive hong bao, the much-anticipated “red envelopes” with cash tucked inside ($10 each for our girls).

Otherwise it’s a pretty typical week here. We’re working at cleaning out the fridge and freezer to get ready for Friday’s big bi-monthly food shopping so meals were planned around what’s already on hand. I plan to make a couple of types of cookies for lunches and the freezer, but otherwise have no baking plans.

Our meals this week are:

• Snake Alley Noodles; potstickers; Asian cole slaw (Monday)
• Tuna noodle casserole; 3-bean salad
• Vegetable pizza (Sunday)
• California roll salad
• Leftovers night
• Pancakes of some kind; fruit
• 3-cheese ravioli w/pesto; garlic bread; green salad

Lunches this week will be Italian wedding soup; ham & cheese sandwiches; cup noodles; corn & chicken chowder; and mini chicken tacos. Breakfasts will be congee; mini pizzas; potstickers; hash browns & eggs; and breakfast burritos.

For more menu and recipe ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at I’m An Organizing Junkie.

Sunday Night Chit Chat

I almost can’t believe it’s Sunday evening again . I sure wish we had another Monday off like we did this past week – I am dreading getting up early again tomorrow morning (I am so not a morning person).

Right now I am:

• Reading: He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum. Right behind mysteries/detective novels from Great Britain or Ireland, I love ones out of Scandinavia. This one’s set in Norway.
• Watching: Nothing. We may watch another episode of Damages tonight though.
• Thinking about: Our tax refund. We just filed our state and federal returns today and although we’re getting money back, it’s not as much as we hoped for so I’ve got to think about how to divide it up and where it needs to go most.
• Listening to: As always on Sunday evening, the dryer – there are still two more loads to dry and fold this evening. The girls are quiet, all busy with reading or homework, and Mr. Losing It is downstairs doing something in the kitchen.
• Cooking: The girls and Mr. Losing It are having a vegetable pizza this evening, using up odds and ends out of the vegetable drawer in the fridge, the last half of a jar of pizza sauce and some remaining mozzarella cheese. I’m going to have brown rice with Punjabi eggplant.
• Happy I accomplished: I finished two books. I also didn’t spend any money this week, and got through a mandatory meeting for WenYu’s upcoming China trip without screaming (a real accomplishment for me – those meetings drive me NUTS).
• Looking forward to next week: Mr. Losing It’s payday on Friday. His new regular pay amount is the last piece in our 2012 financial puzzle. I’m also looking forward to the arrival of our Chinese exchange student on Saturday. We always have a good time with the exchange students, and WenYu will stay with this girls’ family when she goes to China in April.
• Thankful for: My family, for my husband’s job and employer and all the nice people he works with. We went on the employee dinner cruise last night and had a great time!

 

 

Saturday Weigh-In

It’s been a gloomy week with a lot of rain and not a lot of exercise. I actually missed being able to get out and walk! The Wii Fit board came out though, and I enthusiastically started doing step exercises (35 minutes per day), but a massive flare-up of the bursitis in my hips ended that after a couple of days. (The flare-up may have been due more to the damp weather than the exercise so I’m going to try it again when it’s drier.) In the meantime I’m staying as active as I can around the house and continuing to watch what I eat.

My weight this morning was 171.4, only .8 pounds less than last week. But it’s still progress so I’m satisfied.

There were bits of blue sky peeking out when I started this, and I was hopeful that I could get out for a walk, but the sky now seems to be filled once again with gray clouds, some of them quite dark, so maybe not. We’ll see . . . .

Easy, Frugal Cooking: Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Easy? Check. Frugal? Check. Delicious? Double check.

Real Simple magazine’s recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala was a winner for the Losing It family from start to finish. We love Indian food, the ingredients cost around $7, everything went into the slow cooker in under five minutes, the house smelled wonderful all day as it cooked, and everyone ate every bite and wished there was more. The only comment we all had was that it could have been a bit spicier. The light cucumber relish that went with the masala was also easy to prepare and went perfectly with the tikka masala.

I substituted frozen tomatoes from our garden for the crushed tomatoes without a problem, and think that a can of diced tomatoes would work as well if you don’t have the crushed tomatoes called for in the recipe. If you do want it spicier, a touch of cayenne pepper would do the trick. The recipe said it serves four, but we got six decent-sized helpings from it. I will probably make half again as much next time though. Finally, if you’re watching your fat intake, it’s delicious without the addition of cream at the end (which is how I had mine).

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA

Masala:

• 1 15-oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 tsp garam masala (Indian spice blend)
• 3/4 tspsalt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Cucumber Relish:

• 1 English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice

Steamed basmati or other long-grain white rice

In a 4- 6-quart slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, tomato paste, garam masala, salt and pepper. (You can also add a pinch of cayenne pepper if you want it spicier.) Remove excess fat from chicken thighs and place the thighs on top of the tomato mixture. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours (or on high for 3 to 4 hours).

In a small bowl, toss the cucumber and cilantro with the lemon juice and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Just before serving, break up the chicken with a fork into pieces. Stir the cream into the tikka masala, and serve over hot steamed rice with the cucumber relish.

Photo credit: Real Simple

 

We Rented a House

Anahola Beach

Phase I of our Hawaiian vacation is complete!

One of my mini-goals for this month was to find a suitable rental for our vacation in Hawaii next December. Yes, that’s a long way from now but everything we had read said that not only were prices higher in December but it could be difficult to find a room or rental if you waited too long. It was better to be too early than too late, so at the end of last year we started looking. This week we found a wonderful place and put down a deposit.

One of the goals of our vacation is to research the cost of living in Hawaii as much as possible, Kauai in particular, as that’s where we dream of moving in 2014. We did not want to stay at a resort or in a resort-like environment, but rather in a home where we had to buy food, drive to go places and so forth. The house also needed to be big enough for our family of five and our son and his family.

The home we’ve reserved is located on the Coconut Coast of Kauai (upper northeast) in Anahola, a great location for exploring the whole island. It’s got three bedrooms, two baths, a big, gorgeous kitchen and room for all of us to get together to eat and celebrate. Although it doesn’t have an ocean view, the house does have a large deck out back with a terrific view of the mountains, and is beautifully landscaped with a yard for our grandson to play in. The house is located near Anahola Beach, and comes equipped with everything we might need including beach gear, boogie boards, umbrellas and other accoutrements. Best of all, it’s affordable! Two weeks in this home will cost us less than 7-10 days at a resort.

The many, many positive reviews by previous renters are what really sold us on this place, and chatting with the owner cemented our decision. The house was originally built as a family home, but after their children arrived they decided to move back to the mainland to be nearer grandparents, and now rent the house out most of the year (they use it for a couple of months each year).

So on to Phase II, which will be finding affordable air fare. Most of the charts we’ve seen show that prices for December flights drop in late summer, but we’re already set up for price alerts from a few sources and have our price parameters set. A strong rumor has it that Southwest will start flying to Hawaii again this year as well, which would be fantastic because their fares are so competitive. In the meantime, we will continue to save, save, save!

Wednesday Odds ‘n’ Ends

Once again, some stuff too small for their own blog post.

Must read blog: If you, like us, are on the path of getting rid of debt, Judy’s post today, Ten Years Ago, at We May Be Poor But We Are Happy is both an inspiration and source of wisdom. As always, Judy gives lots of excellent real-life advice based on her and her family’s experiences on their journey to get out of debt and establish a solid financial foundation. (Judy: If you read this, I tried to leave a comment this morning but got stuck in an endless loop of providing my WordPress ID and finally gave up).

Date Night: This Saturday evening, Mr. Losing It will cruise the Willamette River on the Portland Spirit at his company’s annual employee event. A Portland Spirit cruise has been on our bucket list for years, but nothing we could afford. The dinner menu is incredible, we’ll get complimentary drinks, and even thought it will be cold we’re looking forward to enjoying the Portland skyline and other nighttime sights as we cruise.

Gong Xi Fa Choi!: Next Monday is the Lunar New Year, and ushers in the Year of the Dragon. We’ll be having a traditional dumpling dinner that evening and the girls will each receive a red envelope with a small amount of cash inside. From Chinese Zodiac: Your Guide to Chinese Astrology: “Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled. While Dragons frequently help others, rarely will they ask for help. Others are attracted to Dragons, especially their colorful personalities, but deep down, Dragons prefer to be alone. Perhaps that is because they’re most successful when working alone. Their preference to be alone can come across as arrogance or conceitedness, but these qualities aren’t applicable. Dragons have tempers that can flare fast!” Dragons are also independent, like to lead versus being led, and generally enjoy good health. A pretty good description, if I do say so – I’m a Dragon!

Secret Shopper: I received a letter from our credit union yesterday, and discovered I was chosen to be a “service shopper” and will be paid $15 per month ($20 for member service or loan inquiry shop) to stop in at least once a month and document the service experience. Since I already only stop in at our local branch office about once a month, this sounds like a win-win. The $15 will go into our vacation fund!

Menu Plan Monday: Another Birthday This Week

We just finished celebrating Meiling’s birthday, and now it’s time for YaYu’s. Meiling had a big party with her (very nice) friends this past weekend, but YaYu’s 12th birthday will be strictly a family affair. Although it’s the middle of winter, YaYu has asked for 3-Color Salad for her birthday dinner, so that’s what we’ll be having. I’m happy to make it, not only because it’s what she wants, but because it will use up the last of the Christmas ham I’ve had in the freezer. YaYu also wanted her birthday cake to be a surprise, so I’m going to make a lemon layer cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (her favorite).

I’m also looking forward to trying out a new recipe this week, Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala. The recipe looks easy, sounds delicious, and since we love Indian food, I’m hoping this will be a hit. We’re also going to try making our own version of California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai Chicken pizza this week. Pizza is our new Sunday evening meal, when Mr. Losing It has time to make the dough and fix up the pizza. We’re still having pancakes once a week, but they can now appear on any night I’m too tired to fix anything else.

Our menu this week:

• 3-Color Salad (Tuesday)
• Roast chicken; mashed potatoes & chicken gravy; roasted brussels sprouts
• Thai chicken pizza (Sunday)
• Chicken, ham & swiss cheese panini; sweet potato fries
• Chicken tikka masala; steamed jasmine rice; cucumber salad
• Swedish meatballs; lingonberry jam; mashed potatoes with cream gravy; steamed green beans
• Perfect pancakes; yogurt; fruit

Only four days of lunches this week so lunches will be chicken salad sandwiches; cup noodles; beef noodle soup; and tortellini with pesto. Breakfasts will be pumpkin coffee cake; hash browns & eggs; congee; and breakfast burritos.

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday at I’m An Organizing Junkie for more great menu plans and recipes.