In my last post, I talked about the reasons we decided to buy a home. Because the housing market was crazy back in 2004, we ended up placing bids on 3 homes before we got one accepted. It was interesting to see the variety of homes that were on the market in our price range – almost all of them had something wrong with them, either in terms of location or condition of the home (my favorite was the home with the Confederate flag-flying neighbors; they made a point to come into the backyard with their raging pit bull...
Monthly Archives: February 2008
I’ll be back on Tuesday
Sorry for the lack of posts – a family situation took us out of state, and we’ll be back tomorrow evening. Be back soon!
The house part i – why we considered buying a home in the first place
So far, I’ve reviewed our student loans and retirement accounts. Today is as good as any to begin the story of our home. We made our move to purchase in 2004, a couple of months after we got married (don’t worry, we had been dating for 10 years prior to getting hitched, so we had been discussing the idea for awhile). We had a couple of reasons for wanting to switch from renters to buyers: 1. The monthly cost of renting was coming pretty close to the monthly cost of a mortgage. Our apartment complex was becoming disgusting –...
Why I love Wednesdays
Yesterday was Wednesday, which is my favorite day of the week. This is the day my son and I travel to a parent-child program, where he gets to play with other kids, make crafts, and cook snacks. I really like this program – the other parents are really nice and my son really enjoys it. The only bad thing is that it is about an hour away. My son always falls asleep on the ride home. This used to be an issue; after arriving home, I would try to gingerly get him into his bedroom to continue napping, which...
Retirement savings part ii – the IRAs
After reviewing our pension and 401k yesterday, it is time to take a quick look at our IRAs. Both my husband and I hold Roth IRAs with Vanguard, and have been really satisfied with the low fees, investment options, and the ease of using the website. We have not maxed out our contributions for this year, and we probably will not be able to unless I find another job where I can work from home in the immediate future. My Roth IRA – $19,677 My husband’s Roth IRA – $2,875 This brings our total retirement savings to $78,006 (401k...
Retirement savings part i – the 401k and pension
After reviewing our student loans, I thought it would be a good idea to switch to something on the savings side. Today, let’s take a look at my husband’s 401k and pension. (I have only had a single 401k in my life, and I transferred it to an IRA, and then to a Roth IRA, after leaving the job.) I am going to use January’s figures since our monthly contribution does not happen for a couple more days. 401k – $46,025 Pension – $9,429 Total $55,454 We started contributing to the 401k plan in April of 2003, and we...
CVS makes me almost like shopping
I almost liked shopping today, but it was only because of the amount of money we saved. Sometimes I think that I am the only female who doesn’t like to shop – I hate buying clothes, shoes, and don’t own any make-up (unless you count my yearly purchase of a tube of chapstick). When I do shop, I know what I want/need, and like to get in and out as fast as I can. All that being said, I have to admit that I don’t mind shopping as much when I know there is a great bargain to be...
