My husband always has subs working for him, but none of them seem to have much money.
Right now he has a framing crew of four guys. Of course,they are all younger than dh, but 3 of them are in their 30's.
They just all seem to live from paycheck to paycheck, but envy the fact that we live in a nice, big house and drive expensive cars.

These guys come to work every day at 8 am. They take off an hour for lunch to go into town and eat lunch. Then they knock off at 4 pm. Sometimes, they knock off at 3 pm. Or sometimes, they just decided they don't want to work. They take off every holiday and the day before it to. They won't work weekends even tho they might have been rained out for 3 days before. (they work outside, so no work in rain or snow)

On payday, they complain that they have no money to pay their bills and how are they going to get by. One guy is really worried about his mortgage at the bank.

Why don't they look to my dh for an example? They have all know him quite a few years.
Until a few years ago, he went to work about 7 am and came home at 9 pm. I have seen him work til midnight. He normally works on weekends too and on most holidays except christmas.
We take that money and save it, so we can afford nice houses, nice cars and nice vacations. My dh wants nice things, so he works hard for them.
He is finally slowing down and coming home at 6 pm now!
But he will always be a worker, that is just the kind of guy he is!
You can't really expect to live well if you only work 20 hours a week and waste an hours pay and $10 bucks a day to eat out. Dh has always made his lunch and he eats it in 10 minutes and goes back to work. Eating out every day is costing these guys over $100 a week at least, more for the head guy!

My account at the Umbrella bank is now open. I was able to talk on line with a bank rep. and they gave me a user name and password. I only sent the minimum to open the account, but now that I can view the information, I fell more comfortable about it. So, I will start earning 5% with that money.(and send in some more)

I have a certificate of deposit that comes due on Jan. 26th. I thought today I would call around and see what the four local banks were paying.
Since my dh was building spec homes, I like to keep a lot of cash very local so I can get to it quickly and easily!
Looks like three of the banks were paying between 4.5%-4.7%
The other bank, where I actually have the cash, is only paying 4.1% Gosh, my local money market is paying better than that. I guess they are going to let me walk out of that bank with a lot of money. We are talking jumbo C.D with a years worth of interest!! Bye, bye bank!!

Broken arrow mentions passive income in one of his recent blogs.
I just checked and I earned close to $25,000 in passive income for 2007. That is income that I did not have to work for, but instead is just interest income. Of course, as rates go down this year, this income will go down, but still I never thought this day would come!

I love Vanguard. When I go and look at my accounts, there is a place for me to add my investments in other mutual funds. I put in the ticker symbol and the number of shares and my mutual fund net worth is calculated for me daily.
That makes doing my new worth so much easier cause I keep track of what I have in my money markets and savings accounts.

I did find out one thing that I need to do. It you buy or sell share, or you get a dividend at the end of the year, you need to edit the amount of shares that you have, in my case I increased the shares yesterday.
Once this is set up, it is a lot of fun (except when the market is like today) to go in and see your mutual fund net worth.
Before I had a computer, I use to call each company to see what my mutual funds were worth on the first day of the month. This is so much easier!!

Today is Elvis' birthday. I was a big elvis fan when I was young. I have an Elvis' bedroom with all my old 45's and lp albums from when I was just a kid. I have Col Parker's signatures and a set of drumsticks signed by Elvis' drummer, D.J. Fontana!
Happy birthday to the King!

I do a monthly net worth the end of each month. Even tho the stock market went down, my net worth rose about $6000. I think that is because of the saving that I did and my interest. Up sure beats down!

I mentioned yesterday that I budget $160 a week to pay some annual and semi annual bills. They are: property taxes, house insurance, car insurance (5 cars) and car tags (6 tags) I let this sit in my personal checking account which pays no interest.
I really should change this and put this money in my money market checking account which now is paying. 4.1% interest.
I put it in my regular checking account and let it sit as a cushion.
If I put it in a money market account, I will have no cushion in my regular checking.
Cause, I only put in what I need to pay bills.
My question is, how much of a cushion should I put into my regular account? It will have to sit with no interest. I do balance my checking accounts once a month and can monitor them on the computer.
What do you think?

I kind of paniced when I opened up the mail to get my tag bill of $551 and my home insurance bill of $1108.
However, I realized that I do budget $160 a week for those things and I put it in my personal checkbook and leave it there during the year. It does not earn any interest, sadly, but it is always there to pay the house insurance, car insurance, property taxes and car tags.
Both bills are not due until the first part of February and I realized that I will have enough money in my check book to cover it.
I have been trying not to take any money out of savings, and now, I won't have too. That is a relief!!

Well, I got the registration forms to get new tags for the vehicles. The total cost is $551. Do you think they will be dipped in gold or something?

My husband just finished a small custom home and the people came to look at it, for only the 2 nd time, since it was started. (They live in south florida) They were thrilled. Plus, we came in, cost wise, about $10,000 under budget. So, they asked us to finish the basement, giving them twice the living space.
My dh went to pull the permit yesterday for the basement. He asked the lady in charge if she had given out many permits lately. She stated that she had not had even one NEW permit in the past month.
We can see things are really slowing down. The main business in this town is new construction and real estate and no one has anything to do.
I am so glad I have built up such a large savings. We may have to live on that savings for a while, maybe even a year or two. Hope not, but at least it is there.

DH came back home this morning after buying bird seed from Ace Hardware. He buys it in 50 pound bags which cost $22 plus tax. We have to buy a big bag every few weeks, but the birds are worth it!!They really depend on us, especially in the winter time!!(wonder what they did before everyone had feeders??) We put out corn too for any other critter that wants it.

What is with the birds this winter? They are all over at my house. I have to fill the feeders every single day and I have 4 huge feeders.
My dh will have to get a second job to pay for all those sunflower seeds that they eat. We also put out corn for the deer and any other critters.
Even the price of bird seed has gone way up this year. I guess we need to get another 50 pound bag by tomorrow.

Well, I took your advice and called the bank officials about dh's name being on the loan that BIL took out to fix up FIL's roof.
She said that BIL orginally got the loan in his and his wife's name, but when the bank researched the property, it was in my dh's name, my BIL and my younger BIL
So according to her, my dh is liable for the $50,000 heloc!
That is her bank's policy!

She said not to worry, if BIL defaults on the loan, they would just take FIL's house. The only thing it would do to my dh is ruin his credit.
I don't know about you, but our credit is very important to us, plus my husband is a builder and MUST have great credit.

So next step, dh called BIL. BIL has never filed the quit claim deed my dh gave him. DH Just handed him the paper giving him his share of a duplex house.
BIL handed the phone to SIL, who said, sign the mortgage.
When DH said he would not sign, SIL threw the phone down, the BIL came on the phone and hung up on dh!
We are in shock!!
Now we don't really know what to do next. We called FIL, who told us that they are in the process of buying a $6000 horse, their 7th horse that they own. No wonder they need the money!!

We are snowed in today, so we have been taking down all the christmas lights and decorations. I say we, but my husband has done most of the work. I am just helping him take things up to the attic. It sounds like a good day to pay some bills and do my net worth for the month.
We only have about an inch, but here in the south, an inch keeps you home til the roads thaw up. It is not supposed to get above freezing today, so we may have to have supper at home tonight!!
We have friends that are at their vacation home here right now. They are from florida, so I bet they are thrilled!!

I added up all the interest I earned in my savings, money market checkings and c.d's for the month of December. The total came to $2148.69 That is not as much as last month but the interest rates have all gone down.
I have a c.d. coming due the end of the month and I need to try and find a good rate.
We went to an early new year's eve party last night. It was over at 8 pm. It was called the "running of the trains" The guy has the 2nd largest railroad display in the state of Georgia.
( My husband built his house)

Happy 2008 everyone. They are calling for about 3 inches of snow tonight, so I had better head to the store and get something for dinner. We went to an early party last night. It started at 5 pm and was over by 8pm. Everyone left by 8 pm. too, cause the serving girls took up all the food at 7:30! But, it was nice!!

Some of you may remember that my FIL approached us a few months back with the problem of needing a new roof put on his house.
He had given the house to my dh, and his other 2 sons 15 years ago when MIL passed away and now he does not have the money to have the roof fixed. He lives in Florida.

The cost was supposed to be $12,000. (It wound up costing less) Each son was to pay $4000. The problem was,the other two sons did not have $4000.
Their idea was for all 3 sons to take out a loan for the roof.
We decided to just deed our 1/3 of the duplex to the middle son with the lake front house and 6 horses. He could take our the loan and inherit the entire duplex someday. (FIL is 86)
So, that is what we did. We went to a lawyer and dh quit claimed deeded his share of the house.

Yesterday, we get paperwork from son #2 (BIL), the one that we quit claimed the house to. He is sending us loan papers to sign. Seems that he got a home equity loan for $50,000, due to be paid back in the year 2032!
He got the loan in all three of the brothers names, with my dh name being place first on the loan.
However, since dh knew nothing about this, he just sent us the papers to sign. What is he thinking? Does he really expect dh just to sign for a $50,000 loan on a duplex that he no longer has a share in?
I am really upset, but trying to stay calm. Dh is not upset, just says that he will not sign it. I really don't know what will happen, but I cannot believe BIL is trying to pull this over on us. He already got youngest brother to sign on the loan, but youngest brother has no assets at all, so the bank could never make him pay back anything.
I wish I knew what was really going on??

I think the break in the water main on christmas night has caused more problems. We noticed that the pressure was acting real strange!! Yesterday, I was carrying a laundry basket into our bedroom when I heard noises. It was water dripping out of the light fixture and onto our bed.
Turns out, the toilet upstairs had completely leaked all the water out. (That toilet is never used) What a mess it made.
Then we notice that we barely have any hot water. Upon checking the hot water heater, we find it was leaking also.
Thank goodness for handy man hubby, the hot water heater is now fixed.
We don't know yet how much damage has been done to our bedroom ceiling. It might need new sheetrock and repainting, so this might be an expensive project!!
Next week my dh plans on installing 4 brand new toilets.
Thank goodness for our emergency fund!

Well, things turned out ok last night. We came home to discover that the water main in front of the house broke.
The crew came over about 7 last night to dig up our front yard. They also called the power company out to locate the power line.
I was sure we would be without water, electric and heat all night, but we were not. Only without water for a few hours and everything was fixed.
It was a nice christmas, just wish the poor guys did not have to work out in the cold on christmas night.
We had a honeybaked ham for dinner last night. With only the 2 of us, we will be eating ham for a loooooong time!!

We have had a wonderful christmas day, very laid back. Opened presents, went to waffle house for a late lunch, drove around looking at the houses my husband has been working on.
Then we came home and discovered the water main in front of our house has burst and there is water bubbling up from the ground and over our driveway. (This has happened twice before) They had to tear the yard up and even repave the driveway.
The power line is right next to the leak, so our guess is they will turn off the water and the electric.
Looks, like we might be without water, heat and power on christmas night.
Oh well, I've got my love to keep me warm. Merry Christmas!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a merry christmas. I am so fortunate to have my wonderful husband to spend christmas with. I am sorry for all the lonely people spending this holiday alone. Let's all count our blessings!

Today is the shortest day of the year, daylight wise, that is. The nice thing about it, starting tomorrow, the days will start getting longer!! I hate it when it gets dark this early. 5:30 pm and it is dark outside.

I have already given out paychecks this morning. The framing crew decided at 11:30 that they would knock off work and not come back to work until Wednesday morning.
Everyone I know thinks that we are rich. My husband has worked 7 days a week for as long as I have known him. He generally takes Christmas day off. He works the rest of the time.
My framing crew workers can barely pay their bills, I know some get food stamps. But they can afford to take off 4 1/2 days to celebrate christmas??

I am not complaining,if you can afford it, do it!! My dh has never ever had a paid holiday, so he works!!

Gosh, I sound like a scrooge, don't I? I have to realize that I am married to a workaholic!! That is one reason I have been able to save money as well as I have.

Last night, the check engine light on the car came on. Have any of you had this happen? But what was so upsetting is that is came ON, in the brand new corvette. This car only has 600 miles on it. I hope this is not a sign of bad things to com.
I took it to the dealership first thing this morning and after a few hours, it is fixed. Of course, it is under warrently, so no charge, but still a problem like that at 600 miles??

I invited a new friend to join this site. I had lunch with her today and found out that she is very frugal like I am. She is living on the interest from her savings and that is my goal in life. She does live very simply; a lifestyle my husband is not ready for yet, but some day, I hope to be just like her.

Stuff! I wish I had known that I don't need so much stuff!
I watch everyone around me running around like crazy, shopping, shopping, buy more stuff to give to everyone on their list!
At what age do you finally realize that you really don't need any more "stuff"? I know people that are even my age, but still spend all their free time shopping and buy more stuff.
Do you remember what you get for christmas? Most people don't, cause they get stuff that they really don't want.

I did some collecting of things when I was younger and now I am stuck with all this stuff!

If and when I ever move again to a new house, I am getting rid of most of this stuff!!

I think I have finally learned my lesson, but I wish I had learned it a long time ago!

A few years ago we talked to some senior citizens about building them a new house. I was surprised when they talked about getting a mortage!
I just read a short article what stated that 40% of all seniors age 62 to 75 will retire with mortgages and some of them never expect to pay it off.
Boy, I hope they get a lot bigger social security check than I do. I could never pay a mortgage on $538 a month.
Glad I paid mine off many years ago!

I wish I had know about mutual funds when I was younger. My family knew nothing about money matters except that they were frugal and paid cash for everything.
I started work at a young age and always saved at least 10% of what I made, but I always put my money in a savings account.

If only someone would have turned me onto mutual funds back then, what a head start I would have gotten.
although there were not a lot of mutual funds in the 50's and 60's there were some. One, called twentieth century back then, (now American century) would take deposits of any size, so anyone could own a mutual fund.
I wanted to learn about investing, but had no one to give me advice.
I looked in my tiny library, but there were no books on finances.
I finally bought a copy of money magazine and have been reading it for over 20 years.
I read everything they said about mutual funds and sent off for about 50 prospectus!
I read everyone of them and decided on the Twenthieth Century because I could open a mutual fund with only $50. That $50 has turned into $50,000.

Now, I tell every young person I meet about the smart thing to do, open a mutual fund account when you are young!!

This year was the 1st year that I got a social security check. It started in January. Since this is new, unexpected money for me, I have added it to my challenge money every month and never spent a penny of it. I get a whopping $538 a month. I am not making fun of it, I have never made very much money. My highest year of working full time, I made a little over $8000 that year.

In the mail yesterday, I got notice that I am getting a cost of living raise. I am sure I have told everyone that my lucky number is 13. (I got married on Friday the 13th) Well, my raise is going to be $13 a month. So, as of January, I will be getting $551 a month! I wonder how anyone can actually live on social security?? I am glad I have always been a saver!!