Oh, we are FINALLY home. It was a long 7 days. It was actually a better trip than I imagined it would be--I would even say it was nice--but nothing beats being in your own space again. Only the dog was happier to be home. We sprung him from the kennel last night. Our plane was late, and I called the kennel and asked if we could arrange for an after-hours pickup, and told the owner I'd be happy to pay the fee ($30). However, when we got there she told us not to worry about it--I thought that was really nice. Definitely going to have to send a thank-you note.

I'm feeling a little lazy today; too lazy even to read all of my favorite personal finance blogs which I normally love doing. I've gone to get milk and the mail and cleaned up a little, but that's probably all I'll do today. I go to work tomorrow and then we have a three-day weekend. Maybe by the end of it I'll be back to my normal self and can finalize my 2006 financial goals.

I tried to pay for as much as possible with cash this trip, but I know J put about $600 worth of expenses (hotel, car) on his credit card. Going to have to nag him to pay $600 above what he'd normally put towards the credit card when we do bills.

ING still hadn't closed out my Roth when I checked this a.m., so I called. They said they should be able to close it today. Still feel silly about my mistake, but oh well.

Well, I did something pretty stupid. Remember that Roth IRA I opened? Well, it turns out I'm ineligible for it. Depending on how you file and--if filing married/jointly--how much you and your spouse make combined, you may be ineligible for a Roth. I remember reading that a while back, but I'd forgotten. Also I didn't know for certain how much my husband was making these days. It turns out--and this is a little depressing--he makes four times what I do, and because of how we file, I am ineligible for a Roth, my paltry salary notwithstanding.

Guess my relaxed work atmosphere and 35-hour workweek come at a price.

To be honest, though, I'm a little relieved. I jumped into it without checking it out fully, and I wasn't maxing out my 403b (which would have been almost half my salary!). I think I just liked the idea of having a little batch of tax-free money waiting for me when I retire. Maybe the tax laws will change, or maybe we'll find that we should change how we file anyway for other reasons. I think I'll look into the latter, though I have my doubts we'll do anything differently.

Anyway, I called ING and told them what I'd done. Apparently it happens all the time, which made me feel better. I'm getting the money moved to my savings account. Sadly, however, my Roth account had gone down $10.00. Feh!

I went to Brooks to pick up my beloved KASHI cereal, which was on sale for 2/$5. Good thing I was watching the register, because they rang up at the regular price of $3.49. I was buying some other items, and since I'm not terribly quick with adding things up in my head on the spot, I might not have noticed if I hadn't been paying attention. (A few years ago I probably wouldn't even have thought to pay attention.)

I picked up Money magazine, which wiped out my cereal savings. A new subscription goes for $10/year, and I'm thinking of ordering it after the new year. Several financial bloggers recommend it, and the few times I've read it it's had generally useful info (though I might not use it to pick stocks). Anyone here read it or have anything else to recommend?

I had four no-spend days last week before my spree at CVS yesterday. (At least none of the items were impulse purchases--believe it or not, everything I bought was on a list!)

...at CVS, of all places. I bought:

*a ceramic straightening iron--sometimes I like to straighten my hair and my old one doesn't get very hot anymore
*little gloves to wear with moisturizer to bed--will probably creep J out
*eyebrow groomers--I have "substantial" eyebrows
*bitter-tasting stuff to put on my nails so I don't bite them--yes, it's a nasty habit; it grosses me out and they're my nails!
*red lipstick--I used to wear it in college, and still sometimes get in the mood for it

I had a $10 coupon, but I still spent a little over $70. Then I went to Starbucks and got a pumpkin spice latte, and an iced latte to bring home to J. Another $7 or so. It's all out of my system now.

I can't recall who was looking for this book online, but I'd been intrigued by their description and checked it out from the library. I really like it! The author has an amusing writing style, and the recipes are actually pretty creative (especially for the 70s). I made a bean and potato curry dish last night that was good. The nutritional info is a little out of date, and of course the prices she quotes, but I believe most of the recipes are still considered "healthy." I checked online for prices for this book; unfortunately they're still high.

I had three no-spend days in a row this week. This a.m. I had to ship out a box and buy stamps and spent a little over $12. I was going to take my chances with parcel post, but priority was only .70 more.

I'm feeling less irritated by the holiday spending situation. I'm going to make a point of paying for as much of the trip as possible with cash vs. using a credit card. We've already paid for the airline tickets which were the costliest items.

We were pretty much holed up at home from Friday on. Friday we got slammed with snow. I shoveled three times and my back still hurts. I try not to use my back but somehow it happens.

It was a spend-little weekend. Saturday I went grocery shopping. That evening I made a baked ziti dish and froze 6 servings of leftovers. We watched a movie from Netflix (Ring 2--I don't recommend it). Sunday I cleaned, and went out only to buy dog food and treat myself to another holiday latte from Starbucks (eggnog flavored, pretty yummy; will try pumpkin spice next).

J's open enrollment ends this Friday. I'm going to push him to get Long Term Disability insurance. I have it, but he's the "breadwinner" so he definitely needs it. Surprisingly enough, the cost of my LTD insurance is .72 per 100 dollars, and his is .28 per 100 dollars, so the difference in what we'll pay per year is less than $100, and I make about a third of what he makes. I had no idea the insurance cost could vary so widely between employers.

Regarding my last entry, Baselle's comment made me think that perhaps Forbes is a "lifestyle" magazine and therefore isn't in the business of giving good financial advice. I'm actually not all that familiar with Forbes, so I don't know if that's the case--it's still scary that some folks might not know the difference, though. Anyway, it reminded me of another financial tidbit I read in Real Simple, a magazine I actually like. Around December of last year, an article advised that a good rule of thumb for holiday spending on GIFTS ALONE* was 1.5% of the GROSS HOUSEHOLD income. I did the math, and laughed uproariously at the result.

*Edit: I searched around online for this advice elsewhere, and see that other folks are recommending the 1.5% gross income figure for TOTAL holiday spending. There's a chance I got it wrong about Real Simple recommending it for gifts alone, but that's honestly how I remember it because it seemed so ridiculous. 1.5% of GROSS income still strikes me as a hefty amount. We're spending a little over that for travel expenses and gifts, and it burns me up.

I found this "special edition" article by Forbes.com really disturbing:

http://biz.yahoo.com/special/live05.html

These fictional families drive expensive cars, have two homes, and send their children in private schools--but yet they're not portrayed as living beyond their means, even though they save only 1% of their income. The authors admit that "this may not be the most fiscally prudent way to behave, but it is the norm in this country," but I feel that portraying these folks as "living well" is irresponsible. Especially when the article ends with, "So, are you ahead of the game or are you behind?"

I'm sure there are some people who would read that article and feel they're doing something wrong because they don't live like those families.

J did bills before he left for NYC, and we had more money left over than we usually do. It was the same last month. We don't budget--I tend to agree with David Bach that budgets aren't the answer--I think we're just spending less on ourselves lately. It's a nice feeling.

It's almost been a no-spend week; however on Monday I paid the deposit down for our new windows and door ($1400), and yesterday I bought a book from Amazon Marketplace ($12.40, Nice Girls Don't Get Rich). So far, I've brought my lunch every day this week. I'm going grocery shopping tonight so I should be able to manage tomorrow and Friday, too.

I tried making some financial goals but didn't come up with anything earth-shattering. I did realize I likely won't be able to pay off my Chase card ($6550) next year unless we have some sort of windfall. I think I'll try to transfer it to another 0% APR card when my year runs out in March. Sigh...

I'd like to continue putting about $700/month towards retirement, which includes my employer's contribution. Not sure how much I'll contribute to my new Roth.

J is on a business trip in NYC until Friday, so I'm living the bachelorette lifestyle. Not that it's terribly exciting, I was hardly a Sex and the City type in my single days. About the only thing I do that I don't do when he's here is eat lots of garlic and onions. Mmmmm...

Tonight I had pasta with roasted sweet potatoes and onions, with some olive oil, rosemary and parmesan. It's my favorite meal these days; I'll be sad when sweet potatoes go out of season. As usual, I made enough so that I have lunch for tomorrow. I'm going to try to be good and bring my lunch every day, even if it's just pb&j (as it was today).

Not much going on on the money front. I'm continuing to fight off gloomy feelings about the impact of the holiday season on our finances. I will be glad when it's January 2 and things are back to normal. Maybe I'd feel better if I made some goals for the next year--I'll try that.