I had grand ambitions of working on the computer while I waited in the hospital – that’s what I did back in January when my husband had his other knee worked on, and I was able to get a lot done.  But during that surgery, I was pregnant.  This time, I had a five month old baby.  I guess it was a bit naive of me to think that I would get anything done on the computer.  At home, I’m able to set him on his mat on the floor by my feet while I work on the computer, but I didn’t want to put him down on the floor in the hospital.  Plus, I figured that I should keep him close to me since his normal routine was turned upside down.  So I spent the last two days holding him, carrying him around in the sling and showing him the sights.  He was a big hit in the physical therapy room, making everyone smile. 

But now we’re back home and getting back to normal (plus crutches and an ice machine).  I participated in the Carnival of Money Stories this week, hosted by Mrs. Accountability at Out Of Debt Again (one of my favorite blogs).    I really enjoyed Money Ning’s story about cancelling cable TV and cutting back on cell phone minutes and saving $100/month in the process.  There are so many things to do with our time besides watching TV.  Well done!  I also enjoyed the article from Free Money Finance about a family they knew who went through a foreclosure.  It sounds like a complicated situation and makes me glad that we’re planning to stay in our first home with a mortgage that gets relatively lower ever year, thanks to inflation and a fixed interest rate.  Another great post is ay Affiliate Marketing Xpert, discussing the things he’s learned from paying attention to personal finance.  A great refresher for all of us.

But one of the points made at Smart Easy Money is that she spent quite a bit of money to take 9 months off and travel, instead of using the money as a down payment for a house or to fund a retirement account (the “sensible” options).  She feels that the experience was well worth it – and I agree.  After college, when most of my friends were getting job offers and setting up 401k plans, I spent two+ years in Africa with the Peace Corps.  There was no retirement plan, but I wouldn’t trade my experiences during those two years for anything.  I came back to the US and got started on my career in the spring of 2001 – nearly three years after I had graduated from college.  And yet I don’t see the time I spent as lost money or wasted opportunity – it was an amazing experience, and worth every penny of income that I would have earned had I gotten a traditional job right out of college.

But as for “stuff” – I just can’t see how it can really make a person happier to have a pair of $700 jeans as opposed to a pair of $50 jeans.  I have friends who tend to be much more extravagant than I am.  One has a penchant for Kate Spade bags and shopping sprees at Nordstroms.  Another recently spent $1000 on a medicine cabinet.  And yet neither of them is as happy as I am – not even close.  In both cases, they seem to be shopping in order to fill a void, and are always searching for the new outfit that will make them feel great about themselves.  But that feeling is never going to come from an outfit, no matter what the designers would have us think.  If you don’t already feel good about yourself and your life, a new outfit – even the best that money can buy – is only going to provide a temporary boost. 

Another issue I have with the idea of extravagant spending is that a good number of people who buy expensive stuff can’t really afford it.  If you’re Madonna and you want to buy a $1000 stroller, go for it.  But if you earn $50,000 a year, that stroller is a significant amount of money, and you probably can’t afford it.  And I’ve written about how much I dislike gift registries, and I don’t think it’s cool at all to ask other people to pay for your extravagances.  Let’s face it – if everyone were smart with their money, we wouldn’t be a nation of debtors, with bankruptcies and foreclosures around every turn.  The fact is that there are plenty of people who can realistically only afford jeans at thrift stores (the only place I buy mine – I consider $10 to  be expensive), but who are buying the $175 jeans instead.  And there are people who can afford $50 jeans who are buying the $350 pair instead.  As a one-time thing, it’s not a big deal at all.  But when you extend that kind of money management over a lifetime, you end up with people in their 50s who have a house full of stuff and only $20,000 saved for retirement.  Not a good scene. 

So overall, I would agree with Smart Easy Money that travel and new experiences are often worth it – even if they’re expensive.  But I agree with Being Frugal that spending huge amounts of money on “stuff” is generally a waste.  They both raised interesting points of view – head over to their blogs to check out the debate and add your thoughts on the matter. 

I took the two-year-old for some long runs and walks in the stroller to give the new parents a few hours each day to just sleep while the baby slept, but other than stroller time, the toddler didn’t want much to do with me either.   She’s going through a pretty clingy phase with mom and dad – probably because of the sudden change in her status as an only child. 

Mostly, I cooked and cleaned and worked in the garden.  It felt good to help my friend, and to know that she was catching up on some much needed rest while I worked around the house.  When she was awake, we did lots of catching up and chatting – we’ve been friends fro 12 years but we live 3 hours apart now, so we don’t see each other as often as we’d like.

I spent about $35 in gas to get to and from my friend’s house, and I used two vacation days at the library.  Very much worth it.   

• my share of the condo: $130
• groceries: $40
• dinner out: $9
• bottled oxygen for my husband: $26
• two beers from the brewery for my husband: $9
• two stuffed toys for my pregnant friends’ unborn kids: $18
• coffee and a muffin during a walk around town: $5

Grand total:  $237.  Awesome – that’s under my budget.  I drove, so one of my friends put gas in my car, and we all kicked in for groceries, which was much cheaper than eating out the whole weekend.  The oxygen might confuse some people, but it’s something my husband is always looking for.  He loves the idea of extra oxygen as a health enhancer, so when I saw that they were selling bottled oxygen in one of the mountain supply stores, I had to get it.  It seemed odd to pay $26 for what felt like an empty can, but my husband was thrilled, so it was a good purchase. 

When we were at the craft fair, two of my friends bought expensive pottery.  One of the girls is in a relationship with a guy who was cleaned out by his ex-wife, and she’s not sure if the relationship is going to work out because of the financial issues.  But she spent $150 on a few pieces of pottery.  It amazes me how people can manage to forget about their money woes when confronted with something that they’d like to buy.  Out of the five of us, only myself and one other girl made it through the weekend without spending at least $100 on “stuff.”  I found that I wasn’t even tempted.  I used to be, but not anymore.  I admired the stuff at the craft fair, but I really didn’t have any desire to buy anything (except for a $1200 painting, but that was more of a whimsical wish than a real desire, considering the price tag).  I can remember a weekend my husband and I spent in another mountain town 6 years ago.  We spent about $200 on “stuff” at the local art gallery.  Ironically, some of that stuff is in a box in my garage right now, waiting to go to the thrift store, because I’ve reached a point where I don’t want stuff cluttering up all my tables.  It’s a good place to be – a lot less expensive, and a neater house aswell. 

I’m leaving tomorrow for a girls’ weekend with some friends from college.  We’re going to a little mountain town for a few days to hang out and catch up.  Two of the girls are 6 months pregnant right now, so I doubt we’ll do much bombing down mountains on our bikes.  More like sitting around the lodge scrapbooking.  I’m looking forward to seeing them, but it’s always a challenge to stay within our normal budget when I hang out with these girls.  One works for the DEA and between herself and her husband, they make about $160k.  Another is a physician’s assistant and her hubby is a doctor (both part time, so they make around $100k).  They would think nothing of a $700 weekend.  The place we’re staying is $180/night – luckily there are 5 of us staying there, so the total lodging should only be $110each.  But then one of the girls wants us all to go to a spa for an afternoon.  She’s already booked a massage ($70) and a facial ($50).  I think I’ll be sitting by the pool reading a book during that time.  My budget for the weekend is $230, which should be doable.  I’m one of the drivers to get us up there, so my friends will help with gas money.  We’re only going out toeat once, so that will help.  We’re each bringing food to cook, so I have to go shopping today for that.  We’re not leaving until tomorrow afternoon, but everyone is spending the night at our house tonight, since we’re closest to the airport where two of the girls are flying in.  Tomorrow morning, everyone wants to go shopping, so I will be wandering through the mall for a few hours, but since there’s nothing I need right now, I won’t be buying anything.  That will help with sticking to the budget.   I’ll tell you all about it next week. 

So earlier this year, he upgraded to a $300 unicycle made for riding in the mountains, and he has also acquired all the leg/ankle/wrist/arm padding that makes us both feel better.  Considering the amount of time he’s spent on the unicycle over the last year, our total cost right now is probably about $2/hour - absolutely worth it for all the fun he’s had.  He found out about Munifest last fall, and we decided to go, together with our dog.  We left on Thursday afternoon, with all our camping gear, hiking stuff for me, unicycling stuff for him, and lots of food.  I’m happy to report that we didn’t succumb to fast food at all.  We “cooked” every meal, mostly cereal, sandwiches and fruit.  The total cost for food was a lot less than it would have been if we had eaten out.  And it was much better for us too.   Camping for three nights cost us $39, and that included great bathrooms with hot showers and flush toilets, and a water tap right outside our tent.  Some people stayed in hotels, but we were just as happy in a campground (well, maybe not quite as happy when it was raining and muddy outside, but almost…), and saved a few hundred dollars in the process. 

Overall, the trip cost us about $260, including food, lodging, entrance fees, and gas.  We had an absolutely wonderful time, and both agree that it was money well spent.  And considering we got to spend three days in Moab, doing stuff that we love to do, we think we got quite a deal. 

I wouldn’t necessarily choose AZ as a place to retire – although it’s pretty nice here right now, after all the snow we’ve had at home this winter.  But being here is a good reminder of why we save for retirement.  The people who spend their winters here have all saved enough money to be able to maintain two homes and pay the $500/month lot fee here.  They’re able to travel between their homes, pay their bills, and live comfortably – chances are they’re not doing it on social security alone. 

For compulsive savers like myself, saving for retirement is a must.  But I think a lot of people feel that it’s too far off, and that they might as well enjoy more of their money now.  For all those people, visiting someone who planned well for retirement and is currently enjoying the payoff is a good motivator.  Here’s to our IRAs!

Anyway, since the vast majority of our debts are gone, I’ve stopped writing in my notebook. It was satisfying for a while to see all the zeroes, but now that there’s only the mortgage and Discover Card, I have the numbers in my head and don’t need to write them down anymore. I did start using a net-worth calculator last month, which I’ll keep doing, because I liked seeing everything in black and white. But what about goals? Maybe if I write them down, they won’t always be swimming around in my head, throwing themselves into my thoughts at random times – like when I’m about to fall asleep.

So here are my current goals:

1. To open Roth IRAs in Feb (with the tax refund I expect we’ll be getting), and fully fund our IRAs with a combination of money going to traditionals and Roths (we already have automatic transfers to the traditional IRAs).
2. To bump up our ING contributions to $150 (currently at $100) per month. This is our emergency fund money, so we don’t have any particular goals that we’re saving towards here – just a cushion for the proverbial rainy day.
3. To save $3000 to pay the midwife we plan to use when we have a child, hopefully within the next 2 years. We plan to have a home birth, so insurance will not cover any part of the midwife’s charge.
4. To increase our total net-worth by $20,000 in 2007. At least $8000 of this should be from decreasing the principal on our HELOC, which is currently our highest interest rate debt.
5. To run a 10K in under 44 minutes. My current best is 45:58. There’s a huge race at the end of May near where we live, and I’m hoping to take 2 minutes off my current PR. I’m working on this one right now, by taking a much-needed rest day.
6. To continue writing on this blog. It helps me see what we’re doing right, what we need to tweak, and I love the feeling of community that I have already gained from reading other similarly-minded blogs over the last few months.
7. To return to Tanzania, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the late 90s. I have many friends there whom I would love to see again. And I want to show my husband where I lived and the school where I taught. This goal doesn’t have a definite time line. Hopefully it will be within the next 10 years though. We’ve taken some great trips in the last couple years (New Zealand, Hawaii, Jamaica, Georgia to go to the Masters…) My father is from Ireland, and all of his family is still there, so I’ve been to Europe a few times as-well. I feel really lucky in terms of places I’ve been and things I’ve seen, which is why I feel that I should work on the more practical financial goals on our list before I devote 5 grand to going back to Africa. But it’s on the list, because I might as well dream big, right?
8. To have the option to retire when we’re 55. This doesn’t mean that we absolutely plan to stop working in 25 years, but that we can if we want to. Staying in this house and continuing to live frugally will put us a lot closer to this goal, even if we never make 6 figures a year.

These are the things that swim around in my brain, vying for my attention when I’m drifting off to sleep or pacing myself through a 5 mile base training run. I enjoyed writing them here. I think I’ll write the gist of each one and put them on the fridge, where I can see them everyday. As I look back over my list, I feel very lucky. My list does not include things like ‘lose 40 pounds’ or ‘quit smoking’ or ‘save a down payment for a house’ or ‘get out of credit card debt.’ We have a really good life – everything on my goal list is frosting on the cake. My husband and I make our moderate income go a long way, we I have each other (way better than all the money in the world), we have our pets, we’re both healthy, we’re four years into paying off our mortgage, we have hobbies that make our lives full and entertaining, we have great friends… we have a lot to be thankful for. And with some hard work, some fun, a little luck, and goals posted on the fridge, 10 years from now we’ll have even more reasons to be thankful.

I’m making rice and beans for dinner today.  That’s my all time favorite cheap food (rice and lentil curry is another favorite, but not quite as cheap).  I spent two years in East Africa with the Peace Corps after college.  If I had not been a fan of rice and beans, I would have starved.  Seriously.  I ate rice and beans or ugali (stiff corn porridge) and beans for lunch and dinner about five days out of every week.  We’d have spinach or avocado on the side, but the main dish always included beans.  I didn’t have a clue how to cook when I first went to Africa.  I had lived on sandwiches in college, and basically learned to cook over a coal fire with the help of the friendly villagers who lived near me.  Once I came back to the US, I had a great appreciation for things like electric stoves and sinks with faucets.  And rice and beans. 

My mother-in-law gave me a big crock pot for Christmas last year.  I buy pinto beans at Costco in 10 pound bags for about $5.  I soak a few cups of beans overnight, and then cook them in the crock pot on all day.  I saute a bunch of onions, garlic, and chopped tomatoes, and then add the cooked beans – just like I learned in Africa.  I make a huge pot of brown rice, some sort of green side dish, and dinner is served.  This is usually enough food to last 4 or 5 meals.  And it costs about $7 total, including the rice, beans, tomatoes, onions, and garlic.  Not a bad deal.  And since we have tons of rice leftover, I can make other dishes during the week that need rice.  I love brown rice, but it takes so long to cook that I always make a bunch at a time. 

Another bonus – brown rice and beans is good for you.  It sure beats ramen noodles in the health department.

We found ourselves very drawn to the natural wonders of Hawaii, and tried to avoid the commercial, touristy areas as much as possible.  We enjoyed places like the North Shore of Oahu, with its sleepy small towns and beautiful beaches.  We loved Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and the small towns we stopped in during our travels.  We liked seeing aspects of true Hawaiian culture, and the spirit of Aloha that greeted us along the way.  We weren’t so impressed with places like Waikiki, which is overflowing with tourists and junk for them to buy.  The stores along the main street there – including Chanel and Prada – have nothing to do with Hawaii, and are just aimed at people who are on vacation to shop.  It could have been Vegas.  We ended up there one evening and left as quickly as possible to go to dinner in a smaller town on the other side of the island. 

For us, traveling is about seeing new things that we can’t see at home, experiencing different cultures, and meeting new people.  We got to do all of that during our time in Hawaii.  And avoiding touristy areas (largely designed with shopping and over-priced dining in mind) is about the best way to truly experience a new place, and save money in the process.  One of our favorite places in Hawaii was Volcano National Park, which costs $10 to enter (waived if you have an annual National Parks Pass).  We packed a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and some fruit, and got to spend the whole day hiking around a truly one-of-a-kind place, for less than it would have cost to have lunch in one of the commerical tourist areas of the state.