I made some sidebar changes tonight. I’m sorry. I see that my blog looks like crap in MS IE. Please try Firefox instead. It’s way more pleasing.

EDIT: Thanks to NCN! I’ve now fixed things. I moved my Meebo Chat Window to the left sidebar. I will try to log into it in the evenings so you can live chat with me. I’ll also try to set some fixed times as well. It has a group chat feature so we can do this real-time with other bloggers and readers.

Welcome readers of Frugal Duchess and Get Rich Slowly!

Please leave a comment and say hello. The only rules for comments are these, please leave a name so I don’t have Anonymous arguing with Anonymous, and be polite. If you wouldn’t say it to someone in person, don’t say it in a comment.

Glad to have you!

Jim at Blueprint for Prosperity has a local charitable event in the Hampton Roads/Norfolk, VA area. One of his friends runs a charity event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It’s the 2007 Winter Ghent Bar Tour that’s raised $13K in years past. (The 2006 Summer Tour raised almost $7K.) Read the personal story behind the tour.

If you live in the area, please consider attending.

Make a difference. Make-a-Wish.

I have a houseguest on Thursday night. I have to buy new bedsheets for my pull-out couch. This is the first person ever to stay with me when I moved into my own place. In fact, I think that was also a Thursday night. I’ll have to remind her of that.

When she first came to visit, I didn’t have this fabulous Crate & Barrel Potomac Apartment Sofa with Pull-out Bed. (They don’t have the sleeper version on the website. A savvy store saleswoman mentioned it while looking up prices for me. So if you want it, wait till their annual September Custom Furniture Sale. You can get a slipcover that matches your decor.) My friend had to use my new down sleeping bag and Thermarest pad. I felt awful, but that was the first week I was in the place! I had nothing but my bed and desk from my old rented room. I was glad that she got to use the sleeping bag first because it wasn’t yet stinky from camping. (I was leaving on Saturday for the camping trip for which I bought the bag.)

To ensure this is a much better visit, I bought some new bedsheets for her. Usually I put a flat sheet on and tuck it around the mattress, but I wanted to present her with a bed with a full set of real bedding. I’m feeling like I should make an impression as an adult for once. After all, we’ve been friends for years and frequently I still travel like a college student (frugally). Also, January is “White Sale” time, when house linens go on sale. I got a full-size bedding set for less than $30. It’s two pillowcases, a fitted and a flat sheet. The thread count is 250 and I saved about $10-15 off the original price. (In fact, the Target website has it for 35.99, instead of the $27.98 I paid at the store.)

While I was at Target, I got sucked in, but it wasn’t too bad. I bought a wooden spoon to replace one that had split due to my own neglience. (Left it in a pool of water overnight.) I also picked up a real stew pot to submerge a whole chicken to make jook again and save money on dining, two DVD’s, one of which is a gift for said guest’s birthday and a box of Valentine’s Day cookies also for a birthday gift. I think I spent about $65 total, with the birthday present representing about $15 of it.

I feel good that I didn’t spend too much and that I used the opportunity to buy two household items I’ve been meaning to buy for a while (Over a year on the cooking pot). I thought about going to the local thrift store for a pot, but for a second, I had an irrational notion that it was “better” to buy a new one, not really sure why but for $10 and skipping an extra trip, this seemed ok to buy. When choosing pots, I went with the cheap enameled pot since I wasn’t sure that the more expensive shiny steel pot was going to actually provide more value to my stew and soup-making.

So lessons for you?
1) January = White Sale. If you are waiting to buy houselinens. Do it in January. Towels too.

2) Think about what you are buying and why. Comparison shop. Or as Ramit puts it,”Conscious Spending“. Hattip to Wanda atWell-Heeled.

3) Websites aren’t always the best deal, neither are clearance catalogs. Sometimes it’s better to shop in store with knowledgable sales people.

A Prairie Home Companion is now on WAMU on Saturday nights. This past weekend was live from the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with Terry Gross of Fresh Air as a special guest. I loved it. He reminded me of so much of growing up in and around Philly. I remember going to the bodega down the street for penny candy. Throwing our sneakers up on the wire. Taking the subway or train downtown to the Gallery to shop. Driving to Reading for the outlets. Getting soft pretzels from the Amish ladies at Reading Terminal Market. Lining up at Tacconelli’s for pizza.

One thing he mentioned was scrapple. If you are vegan or vegetarian, stop reading now.

(more…)

Kassy at Sparing Change asks, “When should I buy a house?”

Simple answer, “When you are ready for the responsibility.”

People can say they want a home and say the have the money. But if you’re not mentally ready to stay in a place for 5 years, or deal with the maintenance, then perhaps it’s not time for you to take your savings and put a down payment on a place. (My answer actually has nothing to do with Kassy’s question, but that’s what I first thought of in my head.)

When I first moved back from California, my parents offered to help me buy a townhouse in Baltimore. Back in the day, you could still get a place in Hampden for $80K without having to fix up absolutely everything. But I took a look around at my life and decided it wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t love Charm City enough to make it my home for the next 5 years, and I ended up leaving after about 2. I was underemployed and the lack of stable income would probably have hurt me when looking for a mortgage. I am not an easy person to live with and my roommates didn’t always get along with me. Buying a home and having some roommates wouldn’t have been a good idea.

Fast forward to 2004, when I decided to buy a house.. It’s all in there. Basically I bought a home when I was finally sick of roommates and being boxed out of the shower in the morning when I was on the early shift. Sure, I had a few panic attack moments when I realized I was signing my life away to a mortgage, but I took a look around. I knew I wasn’t ready to mow the lawn every week or deal with the roof leaking. I was a bit of a mess when the first plumbing disaster occurred during my first week of occupancy, but for the most part a condo was the right choice for me.

Also, I didn’t overbuy a home. I know someone who ate ramen noodles and had no furniture/crappy old stuff the first year he owned his house. It was a little bit of a stretch for him, but he was down with the daily sacrifices because he really wanted his castle. I’m still very proud of him for his self-discipline. He never complained because he was ready to make that sacrifice.

If you aren’t ready to give up your weekends to a house project, or can’t cope with a crisis at the house, don’t do it. It’s not really about whether or not the real estate market is falling or rising. It’s about where you are in life and whether or not homeownership fits into it. I’m still not ready for a single family house or a townhouse. I fantasize about a bigger condo and smaller HOA payment, but I’m happy with my little home as is and the low maintenance involved. It’s a responsibility I can handle and it’s not so much about the money itself or an investment. Buy a home because you want to create a home and not because now seems like a good time to get into the real estate game. In the end, that will help you make the wisest decision about having a home and it will make you happier when you know it’s the right time.

Pay your fair share by paying an annual fee? NO WAY.

I admit, I carry a balance, but I don’t like this line of argument at all. Why should someone pay an annual fee because some other dum-dum can’t pay their bills ontime?

Sorry, but that’s crap.

Credit card companies make money EVERYWHERE. They make it in annual fees. They make it in interest on card balances. They make it on EVERY TRANSACTION. Even if you are paying the bill in full, as long as you generate transactions, they make money.

POOH on paying an annual fee.

There’s only one card I pay a fee on, that’s my AMEX. Guess what? They have a grace period on late payments. You used to be able to tell them that you put your check in the mail and there was no penalty. (I haven’t used this feature in years so I don’t know if it still exists.)

You can search out no annual fee credit cards at places like Interest.com.

DISCLOSURE: Interest.com is the exclusive ad sponsor of this blog. And no, they didn’t ask me to write this. I wrote it myself because this is an incredibly stupid, non-free-market notion. Geez. Might as well tax me to bail out financial institutions. Oh wait. They already did that. Harumph.

Five Cent Nickel has it available now!

Trust me, I was IMing with him last night and he didn’t finish it till pretty late. He’s pulled out his ‘Editor’s Choice’ top picks at the top. Expect much the same from me when I host Carnival #91 in March.

These are the ones that caught my eye.

Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity does the tax bracket review that someone asked me to do a few months ago.

Searchlight Crusade on what to do if your mortgage loan is declined. I hope I never need this advice! (Shouldn’t the lead off be, if you are declined, are you sure you should be doing this?”)

My Financial Journey on lottery odds. Funny, and yet frightening. I don’t want to be struck by lightning or die in my bathtub. EVER.

My Retirement Blog with a very short and sweet analysis of Roth vs Regular 401k’s. (Can’t these boys think of anything peppier than “My X Blog”?)

Jose at Money & Investing on maybe why your manager wants you to leave, or not. Pretty interesting if you ask me. Something to think about if you’re contemplating a job change in the upcoming year.

Mr. Credit Card writes about a debate Rob and I have had before, do you transfer your HELOC off to credit cards?

William Wallets at A Financial Revolution has a ‘Fixed Income Ladder’ also known as a ‘CD Ladder’. I liked this particular version of it because he discusses how to tweak it for your timing. Apparently I lead a ‘volatile’ life because I have mine laddered for every month with some 3 month gaps. (No, I don’t have a full ladder for all 12 months.)

Generally I avoid posting on weekends, but I wasn’t sure how long this WaPo article was going to last.

Jack Kent Cooke’s daughter is suing her trust fund.

Jack Kent Cooke, for those who don’t know, was the late, some would say great, owner of the Washington Redskins. (Whom I only ever cheer for when they play the even more hated Dallas Cowboys. What can I say? I grew up in Philly. I’ll always hate America’s Team. Says who?) At the time of his death, his finances were poorly structured and put the ownership of the team into turmoil, allowing Dan Snyder to takeover.

I think it’s rather sad that Mr. Cooke did what he could to care for his daughter’s future, but it had unintended consequences. Young Miss Cooke’s trust fund means that she does not qualify for financial aid. $50K a year in annual income is quite a lot. Sheeit. That’s more than I used to make at my last job. But if you’re trying to pay taxes, full tuition, and live at school at the same time, you’re going to have a problem. I think it’s rather unfortunate that the executors of the trust are strictly reading the trust and will not allow disbursements for tuition.

I’m sure people reading this will think Young Miss Cooke is spoiled and ridiculous for going to school full-time instead of part-time or to a cheaper school, etc. But I think I got a lot of the full-time school experience and I don’t think I ever could have focused on school as a part-time student, given how much work-study was a distraction for me already.

It’s essential when you do your estate planning that you plan for stuff like this. I don’t think your good intentions will always get lost, but I certainly don’t think the late Mr. Cooke intended for his daughter to be denied a college education from the executors of her trust fund. The best way to have your intentions known is to state them clearly when you plan it out. If you have a will, make sure it says what you want it to say.

Don’t even ask me what I think happened to the $25K she received annually till she turned 16.

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This blog also had a feed, but I never switched LJ over to the new one. If I did, would you subscribe via LJ?

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