I love you, Suze Orman.

I do. I love her. Because we never get to go out on Saturday nights (well, we could, but we're often too cheap to get a sitter and too tired to wrangle our deceptively innocent-looking son at a restaurant), Trent and I see her on her show every weekend. I think it's a great program. She alerts people to things that they might not otherwise know - for instance, how to deal with debt collectors or how much to put into a retirement account during a recession etc. etc. Suze Orman is a financial goddess. Go Suze!

Still, sometimes I feel a little perplexed by her advice - namely, her advice regarding emergency funds.

Suze is a big advocate of having an emergency fund that contains eight months' worth of living expenses. Now, I don't want to get into our personal financial nitty-gritty here, but between our mortgage, our student loan payments, our credit card payment, grocery bills, gas and electric bills, monthly homeowner's association dues, and random stuff like oil changes and doctor's visits, let's say that we have minimum monthly expenses of $3000. 

Essentially, then, we're supposed to have $24,000 in an emergency fund.  

...No problem. We'll get right on that. 

But tonight, Suze suggested that people try to have a years' worth of savings in their emergency funds. The rationale is that the economy is terrible, unemployment is high, there are no guarantees, and so on and so forth. 

So that would ramp up our ideal emergency savings to $36,000. And that's just for the emergency fund. That's not for all of the other funds people talk about these days: college savings fund, car fund, vacation fund, holiday gift fund...

Honestly? By the time we save up $36,000, we'll probably have recovered from this recession and entered the next one. Kidding. When there's a will, there's a way. Currently, we have steady jobs; there's no reason we can't save. But still, for us, saving that amount of money is going to take a good long time. It isn't something that's going to happen by the end of 2009. Or 2010. It's just a little overwhelming. 

I'm curious to see what people think. Does a years' worth of savings seem reasonable? Am I just way out of the loop in terms of thinking that this is a lot of money for an emergency fund? Is everyone else way, way ahead of me? If so, did you start saving when you were, like, six years old?

Zoo Day

Wouldn't this little guy make the perfect pet?... Maybe not.

We went to the zoo today, taking advantage of our brand new family zoo membership, which we purchased for $85 ($10 off the original rate, thanks to a coupon we received in the mail). That's not an inexpensive buy, but we think it's worthwhile in our case. Here's the rationale that went into our decision-making process:

1. Our son's interests: He likes animals, and he likes being outside. We knew this is something he would enjoy very much. The educational factor doesn't hurt, either.

2. Bang for the buck: The membership costs less than a total of two non-member zoo visits for a family of three. Our zoo isn't too far away from where we live, and we know we will be there more than twice throughout the spring and summer.

3. Guest options: We're allowed to bring one guest with us, gratis. This will come in handy when our families visit in April and May (my parents and Trent's mom will be here in April; Trent's dad will be here in May). This is something our families will enjoy, too.

4. Something to do with the neighbors: We are good friends with our neighbors, who have two small children. They have a zoo membership, too, so this summer we plan on doing a few group visits to the zoo. 

5. It benefits a good cause: I know not everyone approves of zoos, but from our perspective, zoos help preserve species that are losing their hold on their once wild territories. We think preservation is important. We're impressed with the upgrades our zoo has made to benefit its animals, and we know that a little of the money from our membership will go towards more positive changes.

6. It gets us more involved in a larger community: Because we work from home, it's easy for us to stay within a three-mile radius of our house and rarely venture out. We don't want to do that. This summer, we want to explore not only what our local community has to offer, but what our city has to offer, too.

We stayed for about two and a half hours this morning. Our son loved the monkeys (figures - since he's one, too), the macaws, the reptile house, and the meerkats. By the time we reached the petting zoo, he was tuckered out. We'll save that for the next time.

$282

Bad news: That was the price of the urgent care visit I made in January, when adult-onset allergies (which I'd not known I had) knocked me out for a good week. I received the official bill today. Of course, my ultra-basic insurance plan did not cover it.

Good news: We will be able to pay for it immediately with real money - not the credit card. I'm not sure if we will have enough in our checking account, but if not, we can pull some over from our savings account. I hate touching the savings account, but it's much, much better than the alternative, which is what we would have had to do a year ago when we had almost no savings whatsoever.

The bill doesn't make me happy, but this sign of progress sure does.

The long view

Today has gone on...and on...and on. Trent worked this morning while I entertained our son. We switched places in the afternoon. Late in the day, I realized I have more to do this weekend than I'd originally thought, which means that Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday will be spent at my computer. My eyes hurt already.

At times like these, I'm grateful for the long view that our goals provide. Sitting here for four or six or more hours at a time seems worthwhile when I remind myself that we're working towards our goal. The effort we put in now will hopefully pay off later - granted, a lot later, like five or six or seven years down the line, but it'll happen. Without the goal, I think I'd be less than inspired. I think I'd feel kind of depressed, actually, and then I might soothe myself by purchasing a trip to Costa Rica.

It's like that self control study they did with kids a few years ago. The kids in the study each received a marshmallow. They had the option of eating it right away, or waiting a few minutes - and receiving two marshmallows. As noted in the Time article, "A survey of the children's parents and teachers found that those who as four-year-olds had the fortitude to hold out for the second marshmallow generally grew up to be better adjusted, more popular, adventurous, confident and dependable teenagers. The children who gave in to temptation early on were more likely to be lonely, easily frustrated and stubborn." Hmm.

I readily admit that had I been a child in that study, I would have eaten the marshmallow right away. Self control is not one of my greatest strengths, which is probably why I feel so pained these days. I want what I want, when I want it. Waiting? Self control? Huh? Those things are difficult. They require sacrifice.

All I can say is that I'm working on it. So far, so good. But it's going to be a long weekend.

Take the drink from my hand

The "latte factor"* is a big thing with frugality fanatics these days. The idea is that many people can save a significant amount of money if they cut out small, but regular, unnecessary expenses (those daily tall double shot nonfat extra foam extra hot vanilla lattes, for example). Some argue that this can make a major difference to the budget.

I've started to realize that while I am frugal in many respects (I rarely purchase new clothes, we have only one car and no car payment, we go out to eat once a week or less, etc. etc.), I am not at all frugal when it comes to beverages. I'm a pretty literal example of someone who lives the latte factor - or in my case, drink factor. Yes, I like Starbucks. I buy drinks there much, much less often than I used to, but on average, I'd say I get one tasty coffee treat per week. I'm slightly addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper, which I'd never bought until I received two coupons for free bottles of it and discovered that it really does taste like the non-diet version. I have a special affinity for Cherry Lime-Aids from Sonic, that most Southern of all fast-food drive-ins. And - don't judge now - I do enjoy a glass of cheap merlot most nights of the week.

At various times, I've tried to drink more water and edge out these other things, but I'm not a big fan of plain H2O. The tap water here is terrible; I don't care how safe it is, it tastes like a watering hose. I've purchased filters, but I always forget to change them out, and generally it all ends up adding to the kitchen clutter. So if I do drink water, it's bottled water, and then I feel bad for contributing to an environmental problem.

Excuses, excuses.

The Simple Dollar had an interesting post recently about quality of life and whether it relates in any way to consumerism. In theory, I don't believe our quality of life should depend on the stuff we buy. But when it comes to beverages...well, after a long day of staring at my computer, a glass of wine feels awfully good. After a night punctuated by half a dozen wake-up calls from our teething son, a latte does make the next day seem just a bit brighter, a bit more do-able. And in the middle of the day, when I have so many miles to go before I can shut the lid of my laptop, an occasional soda feels like a good pick-me-up (I know - neither frugal NOR healthy! But at least I am honest.)

I'm a lot more observant about my spending habits than I used to be. Sometimes, my observations inspire me to make changes. Other times, I find myself taking no action, either because it doesn't seem necessary or I just don't want to. This drink thing might be an example of the latter. I'm proud of how far we've come with reducing debt and adding to our savings; I'm pleased to see that we're still making good progress, despite my beverage addictions. Therefore, I'm not sure I'm ready to make more cuts. It's something I'll have to consider further.

*I think this was coined by David Bach, of "Smart People Finish Rich" fame.

Fun free things for kids, Part I

I liked Sesame Street when I was little, but I like it even more now because it is the one thing - and a FREE thing! - that can keep our kid occupied for more than two minutes (aside from going to the park - but, contrary to what he wants us to believe, we can't spend 24/7 at the park). Supposedly, it will also educate him and build his self esteem. Every day at lunch, he eats his beloved macaroni and cheese and watches his beloved furry red and blue friends (Elmo and Cookie Monster).

If you go to the Sesame Street website, you can find not only the modern stuff (like Chris Brown singing with Elmo...), but also archives of the oldies and goodies that used to entertain us older folks (though to be quite honest, Monsterpiece Theatre seems a little...boring now).

Observation: Bert, Ernie, and Big Bird get very little air time these days.

Here is our son's current favorite. Feist, in his eyes, is almost as good as Elmo:

Feist counts to four

Hello, Dreamboat!

On a near-daily basis, I check used sailboat listings just to get an idea of what's out there and how much it costs. The other day, I found this little number and swooned:

A 33-Foot Cape Dory Cutter

Aside from the fact that I think "Cape Dory" is the cutest title ever (I know... Trent laughed, too, when I said that), here's why I like this boat so much:

-It's a solid cruising vessel.

-It's got a full keel. We tend to like full keeled boats - they seem sturdy and substantial.

-It's a good size. Some people would consider 33' to be quite small - but let's face it, you don't go cruising if you can't spend time with your family in close quarters. The smaller the boat, the cheaper the upkeep and other expenses.

-It's a decent price.

Of course, "decent price" is relative. For a Cape Dory in what looks to be very good condition, 65K seems like a good deal. Besides, you could always try to get a better price from the owner. But how we will ever have that kind of money to purchase a boat is beyond me. This is where the whole "faith and miracles" thing will hopefully come into play! ;-) - not to mention good, old-fashioned saving and frugality.