Where we went right in 2009

At the beginning of 2009, I was hoping we'd end the year with a nice big chunk of cash in our savings account. That didn't happen, in part because we found ourselves up against a bunch of emergency expenses and in part because we decided to pony up the money for a potpourri of trips (to Destin, Chattanooga, Phoenix, and New Orleans).

That said, I think we made many good financial decisions in 2009. Because we did plump up our savings account early in the year, we were able to pay off our dental work (almost $4K between the two of us), medical bills (for office visits and a trip to the ER), and home repair bills (for a leaking sink, a piping problem in one of our outside walls, and a cranky air conditioning unit) in short order without accruing interest. We paid any balances on our credit cards within 30 days of purchasing (including all travel expenses). We put ~12% of our income into our 401K accounts. We cut back on cable and went out to eat less. We cooked at home more. Perhaps most importantly, we finished paying off our $22K in credit card bills and continued to chip away at our student loans.

2010 may hold some significant changes and challenges for us. It's likely that I will be going back to school in the fall to pursue a graduate degree that will open up more employment opportunities for me (more about that in a future post). I'll be cutting back on my contract work while Trent will be taking on an even more demanding workload than he already has. Our car is turning 10 years old and will soon hit 100K miles, so it's time to start saving for a replacement, just in case. As we make adjustments to our budget, we'll need to make sure we can still meet our other financial obligations, including our mortgage, our monthly bills, our health insurance premiums, and our school loans. My bet is that 2010 is going to be more challenging for us than 2009 from a money standpoint.

As far as personal New Year's resolutions, I try not to go crazy with those. Too much pressure. However, I would like to lose four more pounds (all that's left before I get to my ideal body mass index!), get outside to exercise at least four days a week, continue sailing whenever we get a chance to do so, focus more on the quality of my food (we've been purchasing more organic goods, and I don't regret that at all), and give myself a chance to get creative on a more regular basis. Writing here is a good start!

The Big Easy

I hope everyone had a good holiday season! We just wrapped up a busy month that included a trip to Phoenix to see a friend (for me), a getaway to Chattanooga (for Trent and me), Christmas with my family at our house, and New Years in New Orleans. I can't lie: while these adventures were hardly lavish, they also weren't very frugal. But were they worth it? Yes. Definitely yes. Traveling is my biggest passion.

We saved some money in The Big Easy by renting an apartment with our friends, who also have young children. The apartment was dusty but roomy and affordable; it was located within a block of the Garden District (which consists of gorgeous Southern mansions). We walked a lot. We prepared the majority of our meals at home; in fact, we went out to eat only twice (once to Gordon Biersch near the aquarium, and once to a fantastic Creole-Mexican joint called Juan's Flying Burrito). On New Year's Eve, we stayed in, made dinner, and toasted with a glass of (inexpensive) wine.

I absolutely loved New Orleans, more than I was expecting to. It now ranks with San Francisco, CA and Wilmington, NC as one of my favorite U.S. cities. New Orleans is gritty, artistic, mysterious, a little dangerous, multicultural, magical, and beautifully spooky. I feel like I'd need to visit two or three more times to get the complete NOLA vibe. While we were there, I had the sense that we were in a completely different country. Loved that!

Three months later, I'm back

Obviously, I haven't posted here for several months. The main reason is that we've had an insane number of big-ticket expenses lately, and I just wasn't up for talking about them. They drained our savings account and prompted us to re-evaluate our sailing goals.

Basically, we've decided that as much as we love sailing and as confident as we are in our belief that we'd love the liveaboard lifestyle, sailing will have to wait. I don't know how long, but for the next five or 10 years, it's not going to be a pressing goal. What we've learned is that sailing is extremely expensive, and the boat is just one part of that. Boats need places to live. Boats need parts and repairs. Boats have to meet certain government standards and requirements. We started to understand the oft-repeated assertion that boats are essentially drains in the ocean.

We've also learned that we aren't willing to give up everything to save for this dream. We like to travel; we like to explore new places. Are we going to stop doing that for five or 10 years in the hope that we might be able to do it by boat? Apparently, the answer to that question is no. For New Year's, we're going to New Orleans with some of our friends, and next June, all three of us are going to celebrate Trent and my 10th anniversary with a trip to western Montana (a special place to us, as that is where our son was born). I am excited about these excursions, and I don't feel guilty about spending money on them. I grew up taking yearly roadtrips with my parents; those are among my happiest childhood memories. Those adventures were learning opportunities. I want the same for my son. (We've been careful to pay for these trips with money we actually have.)

Like I said, we've had a lot of unexpected expenses in the last few months: dental work to the tune of $3000, a water-damaged wall, a broken sink, a broken toilet, an ER visit for a deep gash to the forehead, visits to the doctor, increased health insurance premiums, etc. etc. etc. It's been discouraging, but I think we're back on track.

That said, despite the obstacles, we're still on the right track. I am happy to report that while we've used our credit cards, we've paid them off in full every month. We still have a cushion in our emergency fund. We're now documenting each and every expense. Our credit scores have increased. Our school loans have decreased (albeit by only a small amount). We've been contributing ~15% of our income to our 401Ks. Trent found a new contract gig and a side gig, too.  

I like writing about money and finances, so I'm going to start writing here again. Some of our goals might have changed, but what hasn't changed is that we're still dedicated to pursuing financial freedom.

Living aboard - a question

Like many young couples (30 is still young, right?), our lives are full of job obligations, parenting, and financial strategizing. Beneath the surface, though, runs our desire to cut the literal and figurative docklines and go sailing. It's something I think about every day. It's what motivates us to work hard, play frugally, and spend wisely (well... usually).

We talk about selling this place in 3-4 years, purchasing a boat, and living aboard. From my landlocked vantage point, I get the impression that we should be able to manage it, especially if we either buy the boat outright or put a big down payment on a loan. As long as we have Internet access, we should be able to keep the jobs we have now, meaning we won't lost any (or much) income. We wouldn't have a mortgage or the house-related expenses, though of course we'll obtain plenty of boat-related financial obligations.

When it comes to money, I sometimes overlook the finer details. I'm often overly optimistic and fail to realize it until I'm drowning in unanticipated expenses. So I'm just trying to get a better sense of whether our plan is really feasible.

A couple of questions for those of you who live aboard: how much do you spend per month on marina fees? What do those fees include? And - do you think you spend less living aboard than you would if you lived in a traditional home?

We work hard for the money, do-do do-dooo...

I've slacked off on posting lately not for a lack of things to say, but because I don't have enough time to say it. This August has consisted of work, work, and more work. I think we're somewhat overcommitted right now, job-wise, and yet I don't think we can afford to cut back in any area; one of Trent's highest-paying contracts ended for good a couple of months ago, and now we're playing catch-up. 

We've put our son in daycare 20 hours a week (which he absolutely loves, by the way - that in itself makes it worthwhile) so we have time to tackle our work and do it well. Ideally, we'll be able to make more money even with the daycare expenses than we would if one or both of us let some of our other contracts run out. We'll try this until December and then re-evaluate.

I truly enjoy my job but I do wish it paid more. I've stopped calculating my hourly wage. It's too depressing. Every now and then, I scrounge around for some possible alternatives on the job boards, but I don't see anything that appeals to me or for which I am qualified.

One week spending diet

We're on a mandatory one-week spending diet until we get paid again next Tuesday. Thanks to a slew of recent bills (health insurance, cable, phone, etc.), student loan payments, and my dental work (which I did pay off as planned), we have little cash left in the checking account. That makes me uncomfortable. Usually, I like to see it pretty well padded because Bank of America is very sneaky about how and when they post transactions. Sometimes I feel like they WANT to catch us off guard and see us go into the red.

We won't be going out to eat, nor will we do any full grocery runs. We'll wait on paying the water and electric bills (they won't be late, but normally we send in our payments right away). If worst comes to worst and we don't think we're going to make it on what's in the account right now, I'll transfer more over from savings - but I really do not want to do that. 

Membership Perks

Today I discovered that Capital One charged me a $59 "Membership Fee." Wow. So glad to be part of the Capital One club.

My balance on the card *was* zero. Really, this was too kind of them.