We're Off!

Actually we will be leaving in a couple of days but here is our schedule as it stands now:

• We will go to Manila on September 1st (arrive on September 2nd).
• Hubby will stay in Manila while I go to Japan to visit friends from September 4th to 8th.
• I will go back to Manila on September 8th then we will fly to Davao in southern Philippines to visit family.
• On September 18th we will return to Manila then fly back to Seattle the next day.
• Between September 20th and 28th we will organize our stuff and pack in into a moving van.
• On September 28th we will drive our stuff to Las Vegas then put in in storage there (we KNOW we will be moving to Las Vegas at some point and figured it would be better to move in the fall than in the dead of winter).
• We will stay in Las Vegas from October 1st to 11th and find a house to make an offer on.
• On October 12th we will go to Connecticut to visit family and so hubby can play in the World Poker Tour tournament.
• That is as much as we have tickets for, after that our schedule is open.  We would like to catch a cruise from New York to Florida like we did last year but if it is out of our budget or not scheduled when we want to leave we will fly directly to Atlanta and stay there with the SIL until our house closes in Las Vegas.  As soon as it closes we will fly to Las Vegas and move in! Whew! Hopefully we will get to spend Christmas in our new house in Las Vegas.  I never thought I would say I am tired of traveling but I am tired of traveling!

Gah! Back to Square One

So our lender called yesterday and our condo is a no go. 
(If you are a new reader, I'll give you the Reader's Digest version on our condo story: currently we are homeless.  We sold our house and nearly everything in it at the beginning of the year and have been traveling and staying with friends and family along the way.  When we ended up in Las Vegas a couple of months ago, a cousin said 'you HAVE to buy here now because prices are SO low'.  And they are.  We decided to make Las Vegas our home base and within a couple of days of arriving we found the perfect condo and promptly made an offer.  Since it is a bank-owned property, we weren't too distressed that the process to buy the condo was stretching out for months; as we are currently in Seattle and will be heading to Asia next week, it isn't like we need to move in any time soon.)
So fast forward to yesterday.  After signing a massive amount of documents over the past couple of months, getting the financing in line, and having the inspection done, the very nice lender lady called and told us that the selling agent was an idiot (not in so many words but I know that's what she meant).  The selling agent had put down that the condo was FHA and VA approved (meaning the buyer--us--can get one of these standard loans for the condo--some condos are not FHA or VA approved because they have a too high vacancy rate or too many of the units are renter instead of owner occupied).  Everyone--our realtor, our lender, and us--went on the selling agent's assumption and proceeded to move forward with the sale.
Turns out this development is not FHA/VA approved so the lender said that if we want the condo, we will need to make a cash offer (being the nice lender that she is, she also warned us that if we do buy with cash, we would have a difficult time in the future selling the unit because, again, the new buyer would not be able to get a loan for it).
I don't happen to have $64,000 in cash laying around and while I am super tempted to borrow the cash from a couple of people that I am sure would loan it to us, no questions asked, it goes against my number one rule of never borrowing or loaning money to family or friends as this is the surest way to end up with people hating you (ie: if you get sick or lose your job and can't pay the loan, the banks have a built in cushion whereas friends or family who do such a thing don't so you have not only sunk your own self financially but someone else as well. Not a good idea).
So the personal loan idea is out the window and we are back at square one.  Since hubby really, really wants to live in Las Vegas, our new plan is to come back from Asia, get a rental truck, drive our meager belongings down there and put them in a storage unit (currently they are in a storage unit in the Seattle area), find another place to make an offer on, then head to the east coast for a couple of months until the home closes then fly back to Vegas and move in. Whew. If only it is that easy!

Lots of Links...To Save You Money

I'm cleaning out my favorites file again and came across these useful money-related links that I wanted to share with you:

• 5 Ways to Get Cheaper Medical Care
• Eat Like a Traveler and Lose Weight
• Free Entertainment for Life
• 10 Products You Don't Need to Buy (Because You Already Have Them)
• Free Romance Novels
• 11 More Ways to Get Extra Cash
• Used Textbooks are Cheaper Than Digital 92% of the Time

25 Ways to Send Your Kids Back to School on the Cheap

The mall was a madhouse last weekend and it only took a few minutes to dawn on me that it was already time for kids to get ready to go back to school.  Where did the summer go? It went by so quickly!  Here's a bunch of ways to get your kids off to school this fall without breaking the bank:

1. Buy school supplies now while they are on sale.  In fact, get enough school supplies to last them for the entire year instead of paying top dollar to replenish their supplies later in the school year.
2. Start school shopping for clothes at garage sales and thrift stores then work your way up to discounters (Ross, Marshalls, Walmart, and TJ Maxx) then hit the mall.  Hopefully by the time you get to the mall, most of your shopping will be completed.
3. Sign up for free or reduced school breakfasts and lunches if you qualify.
4. Always make your kids a simple, healthy breakfast before they leave for school in the morning if they don't eat breakfast at school--they will be more likely to pay attention in class.
5. Review cell phone plans.  My sister pays $100 per kid for their cell phone plan which is shockingly high IMHO.  My prepaid plan costs only $30 per month.  Look at all of your options and find the cheapest plan based on current use (ie: some kids text only so look for a plan with fewer calling minutes and more texting minutes).
6. If you are having a rough time financially, look around at community programs to see if you can get free backpacks/haircuts/school supplies/vaccinations/etc for your kids.  There are a half dozen programs in our area that are offering these things to get kids ready to go back to school.
7. If your kids don't qualify for free or reduced school lunch (or you question how healthy these lunches are) get your kids in the habit of taking their lunch from home.
8. When our boys were in school, we would go to Walmart and buy 24 pair of the exact same socks (black, boy's athletic socks) this way we never spent time hunting for matches for their socks in the morning because they all matched!
9. Get your kids into a routine and stick with it.  When kids automatically (kind of) do homework every day after school, automatically (kind of) go to sleep at the same time each evening, and wake up automatically (kind of) each morning, the routine eventually becomes a habit.
10. Start reading with your kids before they go back to school--it gets them into the rhythm of learning before the school doors even open (get free books from the library of course).
11. Have your kids walk to school (in a group, of course) if at all possible.  I know many parents who will drive their kids two or three blocks to school when it is cheaper (and healthier!) for their kids to walk.
12. Better yet, walk with them if you can.  It will improve your health as well.
13. Consider a babysitting co-op if you and your neighbors have kids roughly the same age.  If each parent takes a day to watch the kids before and after school and you have five parents willing to do this, you will end up with free before and after school care for your kids.
14. Make sure you have after school snacks ready for your kids when they get home.  Preferably something healthy and simple to make (this saves going through the drive-thru on the way home because everyone is starving).  Things like popcorn, vegetables and hummus, cheese and crackers, etc are inexpensive and easy to serve.
15. Encourage your kids to participate in sports and extra-curricular activities.  Yes, there is some added expense, but busy kids are kids that don't have time to get into trouble (definitely a more expensive proposition).  It also develops life-long skills and looks good on college applications.
16. Look for hand-me-downs.  Whether it is clothes or sports equipment or expensive school supplies such as graphing calculators, ask around to see if friends or relatives with older kids could provide these to you at little or no cost.  Of course you will want to return the favor by sending things your kids no longer need to those who could use the items.
17. Don't forget Freecycle, eBay, and CraigsList where you can find cheaper-than-retail versions of everything from cell phones to sports equipment to clothes.
18. When clothes shopping, look at summer clearance items that can be used into the fall.  Flip flops, tank tops, and shorts are often on sale now but these items seem to be year-round apparel for teens in our area.
19. Encourage your kids to work and split the cost with you for items they want but don't need (iPad, etc).  Obviously you don't want them to work so much it interferes with school but small jobs on the weekends can bring in some cash.  I'm absolutely shocked at the huge number of kids who graduate from college then complain that they can't get a job because they have absolutely zero work experience!  There's no reason kids can't learn how to make a bit of their own money.
20. Buy for next year.  When the kids were young and growing I would often shop for super duper clearance items that were too big for them; I would buy the item then bring it out at a later date and surprise them with new clothes throughout the year.
21. Seek (free) help with homework.  The kids surpassed my math skills around middle school.  For those homework problems that you can't figure out, find free home work help online here.  Also, our local library has a free homework help section on their website.  Plus you can Google just about anything these days.
22. Avoid high legal fees (and the whole legal process!) by keeping your kids occupied and supervised.  Many of the kids I saw come through the juvenile justice system were there (aside from having lousy parents) because they were left bored and unsupervised and then one of their other bored and unsupervised friends would say "hey let's go do (fill in the blank with something illegal)."
23. Apply for scholarships NOW.  Apply for every one that your kid would even remotely qualify for.  A free higher education is a very good thing.
24. Participate in your kid's school life as much as possible.  Kids with parents who are involved in their school life (by volunteering, helping to coach a sports team, helping to chaperon a dance, etc) often have kids who are more successful.  You don't want to be your kid's BFF but you do want to be connected.
25. Another reason to keep your kids busy with activities--when you limit their exposure to TV and other advertising, you will be able to save money.  I was shocked at the amount of advertising kids see in only one cartoon program when I watched TV with my nieces a few months ago.  Of course after they saw this they immediately NEEDED the item.  Eekkk.

Giving

While the majority of my blog is dedicated to saving money and being very frugal with the money I spend, today's post will be about parting with some of your money via giving. 
I have always been very helpful by nature.  If someone is hungry, I will buy them a meal, if someone is cold, I will buy them a coat.  And then some years ago, I learned about tithing.  Even though I am not religious and don't go to church (I tend to go randomly if I come across a church that interests me but I think God can be found everywhere so adhering to strict religious doctrine tends to make me want to run the other way), I learned about tithing and have been tithing a part of my income ever since (it's probably been about ten years so far).  The weird thing is that it really does seem that what you give away tends to come back to you multiplied.  So while it is not right to determine how much to give based on a particular financial calculation of how much you intend get back, giving and tithing seems to open the flow of money both coming from and going to you.  This is how I give away some of my money:

• I tithe monthly to the Unity/Daily Word organization.  This is about as close as I come to a regular church. I love the positive message of this religion and I read Daily Word quite often to find inspiration.
• I give randomly to organizations, churches, non profits, and events that need funding.  This was much easier to do when I actually had a good income coming in.  These days I mostly give my time and effort instead of money since I have much more of the former than the latter.
• I give my money, time, and effort to the non profit I started some years ago.  After volunteering and working with various groups (kids--not my thing, the homeless--definitely not my thing) I started working with refugees and immigrants and then it hit me that working with this group is exactly my thing.  So as much as I can, I still work with this group and tend to automatically run into many situations when traveling where I can help other refugees and immigrants too.
• I rarely donate to political causes because I think most politicians are....well there is no polite way to say what I think of most politicians.  However I am a big fan of Ron Paul so during the last election when he was having an online fundraiser that raised over $4.2 million in one day, I donated and was a part of that which was a very amazing feeling.
• Sometimes I come across causes that I just feel pulled to donate to like these ladies that I saw on a television program and thought they should be supported.  They help so many people that I felt like I should help them.
• Finally, there are emotional pulls that I sometimes can't resist.  When I saw this girl's story tragic story, especially since her death happened so close to where we are, I felt compelled to donate and amazingly, what started out as a girl trying to raise $300 for charity has now grown to over $1 million in donations.  Being part of that gives me the chills!

The bottom line is that while being frugal with your money, especially if you are still trying to get out of debt, is obviously the most logical thing to do, don't forget to give away a little of what you earn.  Carefully spending your money is one thing, but hoarding your money is totally different.  Share and give when it is needed and you will be amazed at how your generosity is repaid!

Yikes! I'm So Stressed!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, it's been a zoo around here!  So before I go off and have a meltdown from all of the stress I have been under, I'll give you a quick update:

• We will be leaving for Japan and the Philippines in a few weeks.  It looks like the trip will be way more expensive than we had planned.  The price for air tickets within Asia has increased a lot since the last time we were there, ditto for hotels in the Philippines.  This may be our last big trip before we regroup, earn some more money, and put more money back in savings.
• Someone from my husbands family started a FaceBook "clan" group page and there are currently 296 people in the group (!).  I posted on there that we should have a meet up when we get to the Philippines since that is where most of the family lives.  I assumed that "meet up" was the same term as here in the states--you set a date, time, and place and people show up, buy a beer, chat, and whatever.  Hubby reminded me that if I arrange to meet with anyone there they will expect me to pay since I am the "rich" American and I did send the invite. Ayayay.  I can barely pay for myself let alone 200+ people!
• It is taking forever to close the condo.  I knew that because it was a repo it would probably be more complicated than a standard home purchase but the unprofessionalism and apparent incompetency of some of the people involved is astounding.  They send a bunch of documents, say sign these, the documents aren't complete or accurate, I call, they call back, I am stubborn about not signing any legal document that isn't both complete and/or accurate, they relent, I am grouchy...ayayay.  You would think that if the place is vacant, bank-owned, and the mortgage company is just waiting to pay for the property things would move along faster but apparently that isn't so.  I am hopeful that it will eventually close.  Sometime.
• My non-profit, the one that I founded almost a decade ago, is on rough financial footing like most non profits these days.  I went to the Board meeting and our treasurer said :"raise $5000 by the end of this month or we will have to close". Yikes!  I haven't done much with the organization over the past year but it is like someone saying pay up or we will get rid of your kid!  So I have been writing grants like a maniac and we have been asking everyone we know if they can donate.  There has got to be a better way to fund a non profit besides writing grants and crossing your fingers...
• We figured out that we will need to rent a moving van, fill it with our stuff, and tow our car behind it when we move to Las Vegas (if and when the condo closes!).  It looks like we may not move until the first week of October.  Just thinking about all of the work makes me cringe.
• I am trying to study up on my Japanese since I hardly remember any of it and most of the people I know in Japan don't speak English.  I was going full speed ahead then kind of hit a wall and haven't picked up the book in a week.  I don't know what's wrong with me but I have to get back to studying!
• There hasn't been much sun here since we got back which probably isn't helping with my mood (it hasn't even reached 85 degrees yet this year in Seattle!).
• For the life of me I can't stick to a healthy eating plan (and it is showing!).  Oh to be young, super active, and be able to eat anything without gaining an ounce.  Starbucks is going to be the death of me!
• Money, money, money.  I guess most of my stress is money stress.  There are so many things I want to do (buy a whole new wardrobe since I have been wearing my current clothes for almost a year, buy lots of nice--read, expensive--gifts for my friends in Japan, easily pay all of our travel costs and then moving costs) but we simply don't have the money to do this.  It was easy in the beginning to be frugal and not spend money because we weren't doing much but staying with family and hanging out.  Now so many expenses are cropping up that I need to win the lottery or something (except that I don't play the lottery so this would be difficult).

I think that is all so far.  Sorry for the downer.  I hope the rest of you are having an amazing summer!

And More About Me...

I saw this post over at the My Half Dozen Daily Blog and thought I would play along.  It's basically a question/answer thing that gives a bit of insight about the person so here's my answers:

• What is bothering you right now? It's taking SO long for the condo to close and I am getting more frustrated by the day!
• Do you like celebrity magazines? No. Hell no.
• When was the last time you were ill? Why?  A few years back, the first day we got on the cruise ship hubby and I both came down with the flu.  We were flat on our backs in bed for the entire week.  The good part was we had someone to cook and clean for us but we missed the entire cruise.
• Do you feel you belong in a different era? Yes, 1800's.  I like social rules and they were more defined back then.
• Who owns you?  Nobody really but hubby would come the closest.
• One place you would love to visit? Europe, we never get there, it's always Asia.
• Did you skip school? All. The. Time. But I showed up for the tests and did well so the teachers didn't care if I went to class or not.
• Ever played an instrument? No but I love to sing.
• Favorite alcoholic drink? None, I hate the taste of alcohol but if I HAD to drink it would probably be a strawberry daiquiri.
• Do you follow fashion? Not since I quit working and started traveling. Jeans...check. T shirt...check.
• What color are your eyes? Do you like the color?  Blue/grey. Yes.
• What is the furthest you have traveled from your home? How far was it?  Philippines.  I think it is like 6000 miles or so.
• What is the coldest temperature you have experienced? Where?  Skiing in the Cascades, probably around 10 degrees or so.
• What is the hottest temperature you have experienced? Where?  125 degrees in Death Valley. I had to get out of the air conditioned car just to see what 125 degrees felt like.
• List your three wishes.  #1 that I could help anyone who needed it, #2 that I would become a wealthy writer so I could do #1, and #3 that I could have let people in my life know how much I appreciated them before they died.
• Are you keeping a secret from the world? Yes.
• If you could go back in time and give advice to yourself 10 years ago what would it be? To go cash only back then, we would have been positioned much better for the recession instead of flailing about like most everyone else when the recession started.
• Have you changed in the past 10 years? Drastically. I think I am a much better person now.
• Is abortion wrong? I've never had to determine this for myself but I think in many cases, no (for people who use it for birth control, yes).
• Do you like long train/car journeys? Yes, I love any type of journey.
• Have you ever considered writing a novel? Yes, it's almost done.
• Have you ever punched someone in the face? No, I don't like to be mean to people.
• What is your sense of humor like? I find Frasier, Murphy Brown, and Who's Line hilarious.  Whatever kind of humor that is.
• Are you a good person? Yes.

Well, that's more about me!  If you do this list in a blog post, please link back to Moralia's blog so she can list it with the others.

20 Free Things

Here's 20 free things I have done in the past couple of weeks:

1. Went volksmarching (I didn't pay because I am not after any awards.  It was a refreshing 10k walk with lots of great scenery and nice people to talk to).
2. Went to a community meeting for one of the non profits I used to work with (besides seeing people I haven't seen for a while, they serve free snacks.  I love meetings with free food!).
3. Wandered around Costco (and ate plenty of free, yummy food samples plus I didn't buy a thing!).
4. Watched a parade (actually I didn't even know a parade was going on until we practically drove through it so we stopped, parked, got out of the car, and watched it).
5. Went to Barnes and Noble (my favorite place to relax and read magazines for free).
6. Went to a free movie at the Navy base (it wasn't something I would go out of my way to see but it was OK and it was free).
7. Went to a community fair (it happened to be a gay pride fair and I'd never seen so many trannys in my life!  They had lots of free handouts and there was free entertainment as well).
8. Went to a party (friends invited us and there was tons of free food. Yummy!).
9. Gave away a bunch of clothes and shoes I no longer need when I met up with my sister (I love to give stuff away, it's a habit, and it makes other people happy).
10. Took a walk with the hubby along the waterfront (sun, great views, awesome hubby...what more can I ask for?).
11. Got a free drink from Starbucks.  They made a mistake with my drink so gave me a free drink coupon to use later.
12. Made plans with my friends in Japan (via email so that too was free which is way cheaper than a letter or phone call).
13. Found a free car seat for a lady who came into our Center and couldn't afford one (some agencies in our area provide free child safety seats so we just connected her with them).
14. Got enough apples to choke a horse (a friend went to Eastern Washington and brought back a huge bag of apples and gave me a big sack of them.  Yummy...and free).
15. Played racquetball (also free at the navy base).
16. Reinforced my Japanese skills for free (at this website).  I'm still studying away with my books but I like the online quizzes better.
17. Got free white strips (they were sitting in the cabinet at the cousin's house where we are staying and they looked dusty so I told her if she didn't need them I would be happy to use them and she said go ahead.  Now my teeth are getting whiter.  Happy).
18. I've taken a ton of photographs.  I am not a great photographer by any stretch of the imagination but I do like to take pictures and with a digital camera, this is pretty much a free hobby).
19. Got an extra 25% off a purse I was buying.  The sales clerk knew me and asked why I didn't use the coupon that came in the mail (I told her our mail goes to a remailing center and they toss all of the junk mail before sending the rest to us) so she gave me the coupon that went out in the mailer.  So while the purse wasn't free, I did get a free coupon that usually is only mailed to customers and I did save 25%.
20. Found some old clothes I hadn't seen in a while.  I was complaining to hubby that my clothes were old and I was tired of wearing the same thing all the time so before we went to the mall (smart hubby) we stopped by the storage shed and he hauled out a tub of my old clothes.  There was stuff in there I had forgotten all about! So no need to go to the mall, I just picked out some clothes to take back to the house and it was almost like shopping, only free.

My Nephew is an Idiot!

Actually my nephew is usually pretty awesome but when I went to visit him and my sister and her other kids yesterday, he was gone.  My sister said he was out looking for a new truck.  As soon as she said that, I had a sinking feeling.  Mind you he has a new wife, a new baby, has switched jobs quite a few times in the past few years and doesn't make all that much money.  He does, however, have pretty good credit according to my sister.
So off we went to see him at the dealership.  The sales people were circling around him like sharks and he already had a big, new, shiny, 8-cylinder pick up truck picked out, ready to drive off the lot.  When we got there he was waiting for the paperwork to be printed up to sign and I literally went into the office and told him not to sign it!  At that, the finance manager got an odd expression on his face.
Unfortunately, my nephew is the determined sort and he really wanted the truck.  I had this same sort of  "I'm going to get this brand new car and I don't care how much logic and reasoning you throw at me" determination and repeatedly bought cars I couldn't afford simply because I wanted it and the car dealers/lenders didn't seem to care that I was spending 50% of my income on a car that would depreciate like a rock as soon as I drove it off the lot.  So now I am a reformed idiot hoping to use my hard won lessons to teach others.  Unfortunately my nephew was as deaf to my reasoning as I was to anyone who tried to dissuade me from stupid purchases years ago.
Now my nephew is the owner of a brand new truck (which gets like 10 miles to the gallon!) and seven YEARS of $600 car payments. Ugh.  I am so disappointed!