Just The Two of Us

Blowing Money

I'm pretty sure I never posted about our last Spousal Budget Negotiations.  That's ok, there's yet another yearly one right around the corner, I can feel it already festering in my bones.  I know it's coming when I start subconsciously making mental notes of projects/vacations/stuff I want to fight for propose in the upcoming year.

We just actually made our last agreed-upon purchase from our 2011 Spousal Budget Negotiations - well, the last one we'll actually buy this year.  We still haven't replaced our water softener, but that just seems so... so boring that I'm fairly certain we can put that off until 2012.  No, our last purchase was... drum roll please.. the snow-blower.  At least we've paid for it.  We haven't actually seen it yet in person.

RW did quite a bit of research on the perfect snow-blower, got his mind made up on a particular make/model, and then started looking.  And looking and looking.  Oh, and looking some more.  He didn't want to buy it brand new, as this particular model is between $2,500-$3,000.  Seems a little much when one could actually just shovel the driveway.  He's been looking for months, so I was happy when he announced to me earlier in the week that we should bid on one on eBay.

"Great!  Where is it?"  I'm thinking.. oh... Anoka or Minneapolis, perhaps on the outside ring Hudson, WI.  Somewhere in those general vicinities.

"Colorado," he replied.

Oh.  Uhh, okay!  I guess we can work with that.  And really, what are the odds of us actually winning the auction, right?  Can you see where this is headed?  Yes, we actually did win that auction.  We were pretty happy about the price until the last 10 seconds when it went up another couple hundred bucks, but hey... now we had a bigger issue to deal with, mainly we live in MN and aforementioned snow-blower is in Colorado.

"I guess we could road-trip this weekend", I suggested to RW.  RW has cousins that live near Denver, and I have a brother that lives not too far away from there, so we figured that between the 3 families we could find a spare bedroom.

Thankfully, one of RW's fabulous cousins was able to a) find a place that would ship it, b) pick up the snow-blower, c) test out said snow-blower, and d) deliver it to the shipping place.  It's good to have family, isn't it?

So except for that boring (but ok, very-much-needed) water softener, that pretty much wraps up our major purchases from our 2011 Spousal Budget Negotiations.  For the intensely curious, here are the purchases we agreed to for this year:

Snowblower (sweet.  I don't have to pretend to help shovel anymore.)

Dishwasher (oh yeah, baby!)

Vikings Season Tickets (to be honest, there wasn't much discussion over this one, although I think the Vikings ought to be giving a few refunds given their season record, so far.)

Bathroom Cabinet (boring, yet necessary)

Front Landscaping (oh yeah - front landscaping.  We put this one off due to the unexpected porch project - you know the one - the one that started with the damaged screen door and exploded into something uh... larger)

Motorcycle Modification (something something something about the front shocks/suspention.  Didn't pay much attention to this one, except when we forked over the cash.  That, I paid attention to.  Safety first, as RW said.  Sniff.)

Water Softener.

Now for the ones not agreed upon...

New Washer/Dryer (I guess "I don't like how they look" didn't qualify as a good reason for the new purchase.  You can't blame a gal for trying, right?)

i-Phones (x2) (uhhh, our pre-historic-age phones still work, so this was also shot down)

Kitchen Floor (believe you me, this one's coming up again this year.  I knew I wouldn't get much traction for it last year, but I threw it in there to prepare him for this year.  Yup, that's how we roll around here)

Kitchen Cabinets (see above)

New Computer (Oh - uhhh... happy birthday to me.  Not agreed upon, yet still purchased for me.  Yay RW!)

New Carpet for Stairs (again, going to happen this next year.  I'm not leaving our 2012 Spousal Negotiations without a firm commitment on this one)

So, there you have it.  The final outcome of the 2011 Spousal Budget Negotiations.  Stay tuned for 2012.  I promise I won't wait so long this time.

 

It's a Wash

Last December, during our 2011 Spousal Budget Negotiations, one of the purchases that I brought to our negotiations and was ready to fight hard for was a dishwasher.

Yes it's true. We had lived in our home for 10 years without a dishwasher, absolute proof that it can be done.  However, I was a little tired of the situation, and was ready to go head-to-head with dear RDub to make sure I finally got one.  Now to be fair to RW, it's not like he's cheap, or didn't want us to get a dishwasher.  It's just that we always have in the back of our minds that we will eventually be doing a large home renovation, and the dishwasher will happen at that time.  However I was tired of waiting for the fantasy renovation, and decided to go for the dishwasher now.

When our niece Kristin lived with us, she always commented that we were the only people she knew that had a dishwasher that got better with time.  Haha, that would have been her or RW.  They were the dishwashers during that period of life.

When we brought forward our respective lists at our 2011 Spousal Budget Negotiations, RW immediately agreed on the dishwasher.  Sweet.  I lost no time in deciding what we should get, and a few weeks later we found ourselves at the appliance store making the purchase.  It was a mighty fine day when I saw this in our driveway:

RW got to work, and soon our kitchen looked like this:

And by the end of the day, this:

Turned into this:

Can you see why I might be happy?

So a few weeks ago I was commenting to RW (10 months after aforementioned dishwasher install) how much l love me that dishwasher.  Ok, I didn't say it exactly like that, but I was mentioning that perhaps we should have purchased it.. oh.. maybe 10 years ago?

RW responded: "I don't regret one.bit. not having a dishwasher for 10 years!"

Huh?

He continued, "Because if we had a dishwasher, the kids living with us wouldn't have had any chores."

Okaaaay... Somehow I'm sure we could have found a way to overcome that particular obstacle.

Classic RDub... but here we are 10 years later and really, it's all a wash.  Except now it's also sanitized and dried.  I'm good with that.

Words are Cheap

Remember this?  Remember how I said that I would stick to our 2009 food budget?  And remember how I said that $400 was going towards our quarter of a cow (or steer or bull - I didn't quite know which one).  First the good news.  The good news is that in the ENTIRE month of August (excluding our trip to the meat market to pick up our cow [or steer or bull, STILL don't know which one I got]), I have only spent $19.40 on groceries.

For the intensely curious, that $19.40 breaks down like this:

$0.78 on a loaf of disgusting bread [seriously - RW can barely choke it down, and he even likes airline food]

$4.79 on a watermelon at Costco [I told RW he had $5.00 to spend in the produce department, trust me, he deliberated on this one]

$2.99 on 3 dozen eggs [3 DOZEN eggs - of course that's from Costco!]

$3.45 on a big thing of minced garlic

$7.37 on a huge container of Parmesan cheese [also from Costco]

Hopefully that adds up to $19.40.  I didn't really check my math.

So that's the good news.  The bad news is that RW, typically a very good sport, is already tired of this little game.  The first hint of displeasure came at our trip to Costco.  We were walking the aisles, me with only 20 bucks to spend.  I noticed that his coffee would take up more than half of my measly 20 bucks, so I made an executive decision that Parmesan cheese would benefit both of us, versus his coffee that would only benefit one of us. 

Sort of off-topic, I eventually fixed the coffee problem.  I remembered that I have a big ol' bag of decaf in the freezer... I might have mixed it in with the regular.  RW might not know that.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't.  Now I know that a few of you (I'm thinking of one in particular) will be sorely tempted to pick up the phone to tattle on me to RW, but you just remember... I know things about YOU and I have a blog.  And I'm at your house A LOT.  So there.

Back to Costco.  As we wandered the aisles pretty much NOT buying anything, RW asks...

"So how LONG is this little THING of yours going on?  Like 'till JANUARY??"

RW isn't the only roadblock I've encountered.  You know that $400 that I had to spend on the cow (or steer or bull)?  Well, that cow (or steer or bull) ending up weighing just a tad bit more than expected.  It actually cost $440.  It was slightly disheartening to eat up $40 of my remaining $80 for the year.  Karen, RW and I were in the car yesterday bringing the meat back, and RW, once again, brought up the little $20/month on food.  It was made clear that he's really not into the "budget" like I am (at least we have a witness - just in case it comes up during our 2010 Spousal Budget Negotiations).

So, words are cheap.  I'm dumping the food budget.  Costco, HERE I COME!

Food Shortage

Do you recall the 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations?  Amongst all of the other "categories" we had to agree on, groceries was also on the list.  Now groceries to me are a bit boring.  There are many other exciting things I would like to spend my money on than, let's say, spaghetti noodles and chicken stock.  Since I am the one who does the grocery shopping AND the cooking, RW pretty much left that category up to me.

I really could have gone hog-wild with this monthly grocery money, but I'm no dummy.  Realizing that there was indeed, a finite amount of money to go around in 2009, I decided to go as lean as I could in the grocery budget so we could perhaps beef up the, oh, let's say GIFT category (just in case there might possibly be a Kindle in my future.)  I figured - hey.  There's only 2 of us, how much could we possibly eat?  So I slapped the money into the category and we moved on to other things. (well, I mean other categories.  We didn't move on to other things until about 8 hours later.  I still remember.  Kinda like childbirth.  Not that I would know that, but I can imagine that childbirth would be almost as painful as our 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations.)

So now it's August.  The way that we created our budget, we worked more on the amount for the entire year, not a monthly amount.  We must have thought that we were more sophisticated than a common MONTHLY budget.  A YEARLY budget sounded more empowering.  There's a whole lot more money to be spent in yearly budget than in a boring ol' monthly budget.  I decided that I had better check how much money I had left in our YEARLY grocery budget.

I thought I was doing pretty well.  Seriously - I hardly EVER go to the grocery store (oh, does COSTCO actually count as a grocery store??!).  So I opened Quicken and pulled up the budget.  Hmmm.  That can't be right.  Seriously?  I only have $500 left for the YEAR in the grocery budget?  Seriously?  Seriously.  Actually that wouldn't sound so bad to me ($100 or so a month is pretty doable.  Stretching it, but doable) except for one little itsy, bitsy detail.  That itsy, bitsy detail comes in the form of 1/2 a cow (or steer.  Or maybe even bull - I didn't really specify in my order).

Actually it's 1/4 of a cow (or steer or bull), Karen and I are splitting the 1/2.  And that itsy, bitsy detail eats up approximately $400 bucks.  In case you are math impaired like me, that only leaves me $100 for the REST OF THE YEAR to spend on groceries.  $20/month.  For 2 adults.  On groceries.

Now don't get me wrong.  The sky won't fall and our bank account won't suffer if I go waaay over our grocery budget for the year.  But I don't want to.  I told RW during the 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations that we were only going to spend $X amount on groceries, and so help me I'm going to do it.  Now it's a challenge.  I am going to take my measly $20 each month for the next 5 months and put on a happy face whilst I purchase cheap, old bananas eggs and lettuce.  And if I'm lucky, a couple of loaves of bread.  The bread machine may be getting some use this fall.

What do you think?  Can I do it?  Stay tuned...

Gambling Debt

I have a couple of friends that I play Cribbage with on a regular basis.  Whoever wins 7 games before anyone else gets treated to lunch.  One of our trio reached 7 games today, and most unfortunately, it was not me.  Horrors.

I got to thinking.  With this new budget and all (remember those 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations?), out of which category would this expense come?  I posed the question to RW, ready to fight to the death (well, not really) to make sure it doesn't come out of my "blow" money.  As a side note, I've had about $1 left out of my monthly blow money for the past 2 weeks or so.  Yeah. Pretty much since the 1st week of January.  The 1st of February CANNOT COME FAST ENOUGH.  It's becoming crystal clear that apparently I am accustomed to spending slightly more money than I had anticipated.

ME: "So... M & I owe J lunch.  Bummer, huh?"

RW: "You LOST?!" [and thank you for pointing that out to me dear ~ clearly I had already forgotten]

ME: "Just a question - what budget category does that come from?  I think it CLEARLY fits into the 'Eating out with others' category [you may remember that this particular budget item ~ DINING ~ ended up taking up approximately a quarter of our 7 HOUR 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations, and was eventually split into 3 different sub-categories...]

RW: "Hmmm.  Would this not be considered 'gambling debt'?"

ME: "Seriously! [RW continues to stare at me] Seriously??"

RW: "Well, what other category would it fall into?"

ME: "Come ON.  We don't even have a 'gambling debt' category!"

RW: "Then tell me - what is the more appropriate category?  It IS gambling debt, is it not?" [RW was clearly enjoying himself right about now, and trying not to smirk while I struggled for a stellar logical reply]

ME: "'Dining out with others'!  That is the category!"

RW: [laughing] "Yeah.  I suppose that's the category."  [long pause] "Could you soften me up with a back rub?  It would probably make a difference in my decision."

ME: "Oh please.  You already agreed with my point of view.  I don't have to 'butter you up' now."

RW looks at me with a pleading, 'don't you feel sorry for my aching back' look.

ME: "Well... I suppose you could 'soften me up to softening you up' if you go do those dishes..." [aren't I clever?!]

I guess I wasn't as compelling as I thought I was. He's still flopped on his chair.  Which is not even remotely close to the kitchen.  If one were really going to gamble, gamble on the fact that I'll be doing those dishes tonight.

If I can't get Across, you'll need to get me Down

Last night I was sitting in my office working on the computer while RW was in the next room flopped on the couch watching TV.  I had half an ear listening to the TV, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what he was watching.  Odd music at random intervals.  No laugh track.  Talking.  Silence.  More talking.  Sounded.... extraordinarily boring facinating.

ME: [calling out from my desk] "What are you watching?"

RW: "This thing on crossword puzzles.  It's really amazing!"

Well, I don't know about you, but that really piqued my interest, but not in a good way if you know what I mean.  I was more wondering what had gotten into my husband to be so enthralled with a tv show on crossword puzzles.  I'm going to have to chalk it up to another casualty of our 2009 Spousal Budget Negotiations.

A couple of weeks ago I told RW that we needed to sit down for an hour or so and whip out our 2009 budget.  No big deal - zip through the categories and throw semi unrealistic and highly optimistic numbers into a spreadsheet and then call it a day. We will follow our budget to the letter of the law until approximately 12:24 pm on January 1st, and then it will slowly fade into black again until next year. Or so I thought.  RW had slightly different expectations, which quickly became apparant to me.

RW: "How about eating out?"

ME: "Oh, we don't really eat out anymore.  Not really an issue."

RW: "Hmm. Really?  According to the past 2 years, we've averaged over $300/month eating out."

ME: "Oh.  Is that an issue?"  [big brown eyes batting at my husband]

RW: "Let's talk about categories.  If we take people out to eat while visiting family in California, what category does that go into?"

ME: "Why does it really matter? Let's just pick one."

RW: "No, we really need to talk about this.  Is it 'entertainment'?  Is it 'dining out'?  Is it 'vacation'?

You can see how this went.  7 HOURS LATER (and perhaps 1 or 2 teeny-weenie temper tantrums) we had it all worked out.  He gave up something, and I gave up something.  Which brings us to our crossword puzzle show.

I believe I had to give up the most.  I had to give up our cable tv package.  Sadly, it wasn't even so much about the money as it was that RW thinks he watches too much tv, and I suppose I'm the one left to suffer.  Through shows on crossword puzzles.  Because we have crappy channels.  We now have only 3 cable channels - C-SPAN (entertaining as it is, I'll take HGTV thankyouverymuch), the Spanish channel (no comment), and CNN (that one's ok).

So last night I walked into the den and sat down on the couch with RW to watch our measly entertainment about New York Time's Crossword Puzzles.  Watching a crossword puzzle tournament doesn't just have the same excitement factor as let's say...John & Kate + 8, or House Hunters, or Deadliest Catch, or Ice Highway.  You get the picture.  RW turned to me and said with the highest level of sincerity:

RW: "That was the coolest Crossword Puzzle documentary!"

I stared at him for a moment and then we both burst into laughter.  I guess we'll be finding other ways to fill our time.  And about that budget..?  You better believe that after suffering through 7 LONG HOURS in our Spousal Budget Negotiations we'll be following it long into the year.  I'm guessing straight through December.

So What's In Your Wallet?

I've had somewhat of an obsession overcome me in the past few weeks.  Since I cannot purchase any non-necessity for myself until June 5, I decided I'd just go ahead and really buckle down.... on a .....BUDGET.  The dreaded word.  So the other day I sat down with my Quicken in hand (ok, my computer in hand if you want to get all technical on me..) and started categorizing.

Quicken has this nifty little feature called "Debt Reduction Plan", and I thought I'd run that once I figured out all our categories.  Hmmm.  Interesting information.  According to the Quicken Debt Reduction Plan, we can have our house paid off in less than 4 years - with a few small adjustments.  Or apparently, big adjustments, seeing that I'm not exactly sure where all our money goes.  Thus, my New Year's Resolution.  It's only a resolution because my our budget starts on January 1st, which I have single-handedly decided is the fiscal start of our family's "year", and that just happens to coincide with New Years.  Thus, a New Year's Resolution.

So I whip out our budget.  I even "transfer" money into all the categories so we start our "fiscal year" fully funded.  I was rather proud of that idea.  Of course, this method involves a certain amount of upkeep.  For instance, I was setting up our January payment for our utility bill, and now it involves a "transfer" back into the checking account from our "utility" fund for the exact amount I will then transfer OUT of the checking account & into our city's general fund.  You get the picture.  But like I said, I've become obsessed.  I am READY & WILLING to take on that challenge.

I told RW about this new plan, and he seemed pretty excited about it.  All on board.  No problems whatsoever.  Completely gung ho.  Until the next day when we had this conversation:

RW:  "I think I'd really like a trailer.  Let's look at those over there."

ME: "A trailer?  Why?"

RW: [like, duh!] "To HAUL things with?"

ME: "But you already HAVE a trailer.  It's so big we can't even store it on our property any more."

RW: "But I need a smaller one.  We can use it to do PROJECTS."

[If he really wanted to convince me, he should have re-worded that to say something like: "Honey - I could use it to haul that beautiful , heated tile you'd like on the kitchen floor - so I could bring it home & install it for you this weekend."  THAT might have gotten him somewhere...]

ME: "Too bad it's not in our new BUDGET."

RW: [voice getting decidedly whiny] "You know, I'd like to know what's MINE in that budget."

ME: "How about the $400/month to fly your airplane [that currently doesn't fly]?

RW: [really no good comeback to that one] "Yeah ok."

To bolster up my non-resolution resolution, I've been doing some "blog" research on the topic - and have hit the jackpot.  You wouldn't believe how many people have "Personal Financial Blogs" out there.  It's like some club.  These people actually post their net worth to the world so we can all watch it go up (or down, in some cases).  Don't worry, I won't be turning this into a "Personal Finance Blog" anytime soon.

Some are a pretty wild read, with blog names such as "We're in Debt", "Blogging Away Debt", "My Open Wallet", etc. etc.  But the one that had me rolling on the floor laughing had a tagline that reads:

"One couple's modern odyssey to obtain a net worth of $0."

A net worth of zero, now there's a worthy goal! BWA HAHAHA

So anyone who reads this and has a blog of their own is officially "tagged" to tell the world THEIR New Year's Resolutions... And if you DON'T have a blog, you can feel free to leave your resolution in the comments. And you better do it before January 2nd or so, before you've already broken them.  Not that I think you don't have the fortitude to keep them.  Ummm -  Not that I actually think I have the fortitude to keep mine.  But I'm going to darn well try.

Now back to the number-crunching...