So, i posted a photo in my last post showing the blistered paint on the baseboard in my spare bedroom. There are 2 spots downstairs showing water damage as well, including a portion of wallpaper above the kitchen door. I think i have extra of that wallpaper in the attic.

I spoke to my friend Frank who is telling me it's going to likely be big bucks to repair all this and it'll mean tearing up the walls and getting rid of mold, etc. He has water damage, too and is filing an insurance claim.

I don't think I will since i just recently increased my deductible to $5,000.

I called a guy in town who advertises in the local paper that he removes snow and ice dams from roofs. His charge for a 2-story house is $600. I'm freaking out about the costs already.

He'll stop by tomorrow to look at the house; he said he charges less to just remove the ice dams and snow from the lowest portion of the roof.

If I pay him to do that, then maybe it would be possible for me to keep snow/ice from building up on the gutters for the rest of the winter with the roof rake I just bought today.

I haven't tried it out yet but plan to do so tomorrow. I'm not sure I can do anything with it since solid ice has formed over the gutters, and I'm not sure how far I'll be able to reach with the 17-foot roof rake.

I discovered a frozen stream of water down the INSIDE of the storm door on the kitchen entry. The water had streamed through some wood trim. I set up a small portable space heater to help melt the frozen stream, which had iced up into a small pool on my wood threshold, and i soaked it up with paper towels as it melted; I also had to chip away at it with a butter knife.

I also worked outside this afternoon, basically shoveling a pathway in knee-high snow to the area where I wanted to set up a ladder. I got the ladder set up and against my better judgment, went up and was able to knock off some icicles. I had a small hammer with me that i used to try to chip away at the ice, but it's such a solid block of ice my arm would wear out long before i was able to create a channel through the ice for melting water to flow.

I had also read online that you can cut up some old pantyhose and fill it with sodium chloride, tie the pantyhose at both ends, and then lay it horizontally across the ice dam and along the roof. This will eventually melt the ice and create an opening out where water can flow.

Talked to Frank about all this and he said he'll come over Monday with a hatchet, which might be better to chip away at ice at.

The most important thing i can do now is remove as much ice and snow from the roof as possible, since the snow higher on the roof is feeding and making those ice dams below larger each time it melts a little. If I remove it, I can at least limit the damage.

I read online that some companies use a thermal moisture detector that can tell if there's moisture inside walls before breaking into them. I had insulation blown in there years ago, so that would/could also get wet.

So we could be talking breaking down walls, ripping out insulation and sheetrock, retaping everything, etc. Maybe it'll exceed $5k anyway. I'm really freaking out. I've worked SO hard to minimize my expenses, and this just blows all of that.

Just got a phone call from my neighbors who live on the hill behind my house. He called to offer me eggs from their new chickens, who are laying like crazy. I poured out all my woes to him and he invited me up to their house tomorrow for tea. (He's British.) He said oh yeah, they had leaks, too, but he's not that concerned; he can do all the repairs himself.

Yesterday I noticed drip stains from where water had gotten inside the house due to gutters that are frozen solid with snow and ice. When the sun shone on it, it must've dripped back between window trim and siding somehow.

The drip stains extend down both sides of my back kitchen door and caused all the paint to come up on the piece of trim that goes over the door.

It was very upsetting to see that; now I'm wondering if i have to worry about mold issues and/or if i can just sand, scrape and repaint that wood without worrying about it.

Today, I saw more damage, this time in my upstairs spare bedroom, directly above where that kitchen door is on the 1st floor. A length of baseboard about 3 feet in length is water stained and all the paint is coming up. The wall above it, and below the window, has a ripple in what i guess is damp sheetrock.



The worst thing is, there's a whole lot of frozen snow and ice still up there. I sure don't want to see this damage popping up on other walls, especially those I've wallpapered!

I called Ace Hardware and they have snow rakes they're selling for $43. They are aluminum and extend 16 feet, which should reach the gutters on my house, although with hard-crusted snow above my knees out there, it wouldn't be easy to work.

I don't know if I should try to do it before Tuesday, as they're forecasting very cold weather, a high of 15 or so daytime, 0 or below at night. Starting Tuesday, it should be a bit warmer, but they're also forecasting snow from then through the end of the week!

I already plan to leave all my faucets dripping at night and leaving cabinet doors open under each sink to try to prevent frozen pipes.

As a cost-saving measure in 2010, I decided to cut my (basic) cable, which at that time was costing me $25 a month.

When I talked to the rep, he offered to cut my bill in half (!) and said that price would be good for a year. (Too bad I didn't know they'd do this for all these years I've been paying full price. Of course, I know now they only offer to do this when you announce your intent to cancel.)

So I agreed to keep the cable at the reduced price. Everything was fine for 3 months, but after that, the cable company (Charter) raised their rates and my monthly bill inched up again, from $13 to $18.

I called the cable company again when it happened, but ended up getting in an argument with the rep, who kept trying to explain that my promo rate was still intact, even though my overall bill increased. I, on the other hand, didn't feel that Charter had honored its agreement with me.

So in the face of continued job/money issues, I again decided today to just cancel the service entirely; there are so many alternatives available. I got interested in Roku initially, but decided against it since you need at least intermediate speed DSL to stream the video,and that added expense ($10 a month) would partially defeat the purpose. There's still Hulu.com and my local library. And I'm still prepared to just go cold turkey.

I called today and got a very professional rep on the phone who made everything so easy. He not only reinstated my $13 a month service but is giving me a credit for all the months I've been paying $18 a month. How cool is that? The revised pricing is only good for the length of my original involvement in their "discount program," in other words, June 2011. But then I'm to just call back in again and see if they have other promotions going on; if i again feel the need to cancel, I can do so at that time.

So I'm pleased to have cheaper cable again, although there's a part of me still wondering if I would have been better off saving $18 a month, given that I'm still not working and 1) my unemployment benefits have decreased slightly (by $9 a week), I'm not yet sure why and 2) my expenses have dramatically increased (by $268 a month), due to higher COBRA costs.

I guess discounted cable is OK for now, when you consider I'm also shaving expenses by doing the following:

1. I intend to not renew minutes on my prepaid cell phone in March, saving me $100 for the year. I discovered that I can buy 700 minutes of call time with a Verizon card from Costco for just $20, which comes out to about 2.86 cents a minute, so I'll rely on calling cards (as I've done before) instead of the cell phone. (I also already dropped my ability to dial long-distance on my land line, thereby saving me $2 a month with AT&T.)

2. I also plan to drop my AAA membership, saving me $90 a year. Initially I didn't think i wanted to cancel it since my membership gets me 15% discounts on car repairs at the Honda dealer (In previous years, I spent about $1,000 or more on car maintenance, so the AAA discounts wound up paying for my membership, but last year, I only spent $165 on car maintenance.) I don't intend to get anything other than oil/filter changes done in 2011, knock on wood. Since I'm not driving far or commuting these days, the AAA membership seems superfluous.

3. As mentioned above, I'm limiting car repairs to routine oil/filter changes, about once every 5,000 miles, as well as tire rotations, since they are free at the place where i bought my tires.

4. As blogged about earlier, I'm cutting food expenses by 18% and limiting monthly grocery expenses to $180, instead of the $220 a month I averaged in 2010. I already know I didn't hit that target for January due to my bad math (!) and partly because I included a $40 Costco membership fee as a grocery expense.

I have already switched to a lower cost electricity supplier, increased the deductible on my homeowners a 2nd time (to $5,000) and dropped collision and comprehensive on my 12-year-old car. And of course it's a given that all discretionary expenses, like dining out, entertainment, clothing, Netflix, gifts and routine healthcare, are deferred. (I did recently have a mammogram and plan on seeing my neurologist next week, only so as to be able to renew a prescription I need for the MS.)

So my minimal necessary expenses, which are mostly the mortgage, health insurance, car/home insurance and utilities, comes to $2,212. My net unemployment comes to $1,868 a month, leaving me with a monthly shortfall of $344, which I will try to make up doing freelance writing, online surveys, selling stuff on Craig's List, doing focus groups and of course looking for f/t or contract work.

Looked at another way, if I somehow manage to stick to my spartan budget but do NOTHING to earn income above the unemployment benefits,I'd be out of pocket $4,128 for the year, which, in the grand scheme of things, is not the end of the world. And I'm really in much better shape than many others out there who are struggling to pay off big credit card debt, car loans, student loans, etc. I'll have my home paid off in a few years.

Of course, I plan to work as hard as possible not to dig into savings to make up that shortfall. Thus far in January I've gotten about $375 in freelance work, so I'm getting off to a good start.

I'm afraid the boys are going to have to do their share of belt-tightening during the current stage of joblessness.

I'd been feeding them Fancy Feast with a small amount of dry food for Luther because he relishes it. The cheapest Fancy Feast is at Wal-Mart, generally .50 a can, though sometimes .47 a can during rollbacks. They usually eat 5 cans a day (just 3 oz. each). Which amounts to $2.50 a day for the 2 of them.

Doesn't sound like much, but $2.50 a day x 30 days = $75 a month!

So I've started buying Friskies, which is, I believe, .50 a can, but at 5.5 oz, it's nearly double the size of Fancy Feast. So just a simple switch to Friskies canned comes to $1.50 a day, or $45 a month, a 40% savings.

I know I could save even more by feeding even more dry food, but I really feel it leads to health problems down the road, and besides, Waldo doesn't have many teeth left.

I will let Luther eat more dry food if he wishes, but it will never be more than half his daily intake.

In other news...
I'm bone tired, having chiseled hard-packed snow at the foot of my driveway and then carrying it away for 90 minutes. I think my car will now just barely fit through. The driveway resembles the luge you see in the Olympics. Now, it's snowing again.

A friendly neighborhood cop driving by while i was snow shoveling stopped to chat. (I recognized him becus i had knocked on his door during my census work last summer. He told me my neighbor's yellow barn at the corner of my street collapsed under the weight of all the snow and ice. Too bad....

I wanted to go to the landfill today, but i'm worried that while i can exit the driveway (down hill) i may not be able to get back up it. So maybe i'll wait til tomorrow.

I'm making a white bean and spinach soup for lunch. Still in the name of using up stuff sitting around instead of shopping more.

I am getting pretty close to cancelling my cable again. If they do what they did last time (lower the price), that will be great and i'll keep it, but i want to be prepared to follow through with cancelling if they don't offer to lower it again. After lowering it last time, that lower price lasted all of 3 months and then they had a rate increase and my monthly bill increased by $4 again.

I think i can catch all my favorite shows on hulu. I was also reading good things about Roku, but i wish i had some help setting it up. Roku lets you stream all sorts of video on your TV, but you need more than the basic speed DSL in order for it to work, and, ideally, a Netflix subscription. Roku lets you do away with waiting for discs to arrive in the mail and you simply browse the netflix offerings on your TV and watch whenever you want.

i want to check and see how much intermediate speed DSL would cost me becus my priority is really saving money first, and then finding a cable TV alternative.

I have 2 blog posts to write today....hooray!

This started in 2010 and was/is supposed to be a monthly post, but i noticed in 2010 i only wrote 7 posts. At one point, the company fell behind in posting these things and they didn't need quite as many as monthly.

But this perked up my spirits, in any event. Gave me something productive to do and it's worth $300 to me. I already wrote the one, will do the other tomorrow.

More crappy weather expected tomorrow...snoice. That's snow and ice combined

I already BLEW my $180 monthly grocery challenge! All because my math is so bad even with a calculator (!) that i was already OVER my $180 limit, not $20 under as I thought. So a girlfriend said she was going to Target and Trader Joe's and did I want to go and, stir crazy, I said "hell, yeah," and I spent a little under $20 on food and busted my budget.

It actually bothers me A LOT becus I knew I could've done the challenge.

Upward and onward.

If you caught my earlier post, you'll know I'm just $20 shy of my self-imposed $180 monthly grocery bill limit. You see, I'm trying to lower my #2 expense, and I can see from my records that I averaged $220 a month for food (not including eating out) in 2010. Seems like a lot for a single person.

Spending just $180 a month would represent an 18% decrease in my food bill, so that's what I aim to do. Problem is, I've nearly reached that point now, so I figured I would take stock of what's on hand to see if I can stretch it through month's end. Like a lot of you, I always have stuff that just sits there, takes up space and never seems to get used. So this is a good opportunity to try to use up stuff, especially since I've been known to consume food on the verge of going bad because I hate to waste food.

I like to make cheap meals based around things like eggs (hard-boiled in a salad, fried, etc.) or chicken liver (divine with sauteed onion, mushroom and tomatoes). But here's what I've got in the house:

1. Frozen package of imitation crab meat (pollock), which is yum-e-licious sauteed with onion and carrot over linguine.

2. Frozen 1/2 bag of breaded tilapia (getting sick of this, but i can eat it)

3. half a package of nitrite-free hot dogs (also kind of boring)


4. my neighbor is saving a frozen container of lentil soup for me; in turn, I'm giving her about 15 gourmet herbal teas i don't drink

5. plenty of pasta

6. plenty of rice, dried beans (I can make a white bean soup with the frozen spinach and leftover beef broth i have)

7. A portion of a frozen bag of vegetarian Chinese dumplings.

8. Lots of frozen tomatoes and zucchini from last year's garden taking up way too much rooom in the freezer. I want to give the zucchini to my mother as the it just doesn't appeal to me.

9. I bought an orange so i could make bran/raisin muffins today with orange zest.

10. i think i have some frozen peanut chicken i made. I often have a craving for peanutty anything, just like i do for pesto sauce,but i can only eat so much of it and then I'm really sick of it; that's why i froze it.

So it would seem i have plenty to get by on without any more grocery store stops. What happens is i hit the store for 1 or 2 things i need for something I'm planning on making, and i end up spending $35. The only thing I really plan on getting for the rest of the month is milk, which is really the only thing i drink besides tea and water. I do really like Tropicana now and then but i think I'm giving it up because it's so high in sugars and I'm trying to lose weight.

Lazin' around the house.

Still contemplating walking to the library (30 minutes, there and back) to return some DVDs and then to nearby grocery store to get the Sunday paper.

Did 2 loads of laundry, which included bed sheets and quilts the cat puked on. Also made some rice pudding with some leftover coconut milk I wanted to use up. I decided to fold in some chopped dried apricots after I took it off the burner; they're cooling now, in some cute French dessert cups I inherited from my grandmother.



Watched Catch Me If You Can last night; not a bad movie.

An old friend of mine (actually, an old boyfriend) works at a big life insurance company. It's about an hour's drive away. He told me there's a temporary writing job open becus someone's going on maternity leave for 3 to 6 months. They also have some perm jobs open, but not sure I'm up for the mad commute. So I gave my friend my resume and said i was interested in the contract job right now. Maybe it'll open up some other opportunities, or maybe i'll find i can live with the commute. He already told me this company's not big on work at home arrangements.

Feeling generally anxious just because my basic safety net is not yet in place. Still waiting on unemployment check from 1st week of the month, the first one since I worked the 3.5 month gig. It was delayed becus the COBRA administrator the temp agency sent it too didn't mail me the paperwork to sign til last week (I informed the agency I would be wanting COBRA back in mid-December), so i didn't get it til Friday and i only learned my health coverage was NOT intact when i called the insurer to doublecheck that my neurologist, who i need to see in order to renew my meds, is in their network. She informed me i was not covered, period.

They will "reinstate" me once they receive my signed paperwork. I don't know why it took them so long since i informed the employment agency in mid-December that i would be wanting the COBRA.

I'm also wondering why the amount of the check os about $10 less than it was before. If anything, it should be a little more becus of the payroll tax suspension Obama got passed. I was able to check it by calling the DOL recorded line. I'll have to follow up with them later in the week to find out why. May not seem like much, but believe me,every dollar counts when you're working.

The temp agency also insisted i didn't need any form from them indicating my last day of employment, which i wanted for the Dept. of Labor. Sure enough, that 1st check from 1st week of January was delayed pending DOL's verification of my last day of employment. Sigh. People just do things by rote; they're not really interested in making your life any easier.

I also see that i need to get "pre-authorization" for this particular med i take for the MS from the insurer before ordering it. Not sure what that involves, though i vaguely remember having to do that once before.

But i can't do that til the health insurance gets reinstated, hopefully before my doctor's appointment which is now scheduled for the last week of January. I don't really want or need to go at all since this crappy health plan has a $1500 deductible, so i'll have to pay out of pocket anyway. And the doctor's visit will be a $45 co-pay plus $225 for the office visit.Great. At least I won't have to pay any co-pays for the medication itself; the pharma company picks that up for me vis a vis certain patient discount programs it's worked out with various insurers, and I was able to verify that the new insurer does have such a plan, just like my old one, luckily. So that saves me $240 a year in co-pays.

Today at the mid-month mark I've already spent $160 on food,just $20 shy of my new monthly limit. I am still confident I can stay within budget as I have plenty of food in the house. The $180 monthly limit on food represents a roughly 15% decrease from what I actually spent, on average, in 2010.

That's the official word, but still seems like 3 feet to me.



I'm standing in the driveway looking at the stairs that lead to my front door. It may not be passable for a while, cus I still have the driveway to shovel.



The snow is about 4 inches above my knees.

The meteorologist said there's 2 feet of snow on the ground (and it's still falling), but I can tell you in my town, it's waist-high. Some of that was snow still left from the last storm, but any way you look at it, that's a lot of snow!


I haven't ventured outside yet, but this photo from my kitchen shows a suet feeder hanging from a dogwood tree branch. Notice how close the snow is to the bottom of the feeder. This feeder normally hangs 5 feet from the ground.


See how the snow is packed up against the bedroom window.

When I woke up to this this morning, it was actually a little scary.

I'm glad I don't have to drive in this; anyone who tried to go to work today is nuts, IMO. Well, I wanted some exercise, and I guess I'll get it shoveling.

Remember that 2nd job I applied for at the company where I temped for 3 months? I just got a form letter emailed to me saying they found someone better qualified. I had been fairly confident after my phone interview that they'd call me in for an in-person interview. Wow. Proven wrong again. I'm very disappointed, and there's a part of me that can't believe I find myself in this same situation again. The situation called U-n-e-m-p-l-o-y-e-d. I'm highly educated, smart and very good at what I do. It's really not sustainable.



Kinda feel like a lost lamb.

Driveway at 9:31 a.m....


Driveway at 10:40 a.m...


Hey, I see asphalt!

Actually, the driveway's not completely done. You can't see the bottom where the driveway meets the road. The snow is really packed in there, knee-high, by snow plows. I'll save the back-breaking stuff for later today. Phew. We got about 9 or 10 inches.

I could've used my electric snow thrower, but I didn't. I like to reserve that for when i need to get to work and don't have time to shovel. But shoveling is good exercise and I saved on my electric bill by doing so.

I posed my favorite question on another forum at www.early-retirement.org. I like to ask it at least once a year (!) to see if changes in my situation might warrant different answers. The question is, should I pay off the balance on my 30-year, 6% fixed rate mortgage ($32,000) with money I have in taxable savings accounts.

Being unemployed, I can't refinance the loan, and I don't think it makes sense to pay closing costs on such a small balance. I have ample savings, but they're locked up in mutual funds which I'd be selling at a loss or small gain if I sold now. The only other liquid assets, in money markets, is money i need to supplement unemployment benefits and whatever freelance work i can muster, to live on til i find the next (and hopefully last) perm job of my career.

So anyway, the consensus was, don't pay it off now, wait til you're working again, with a small subset of people saying it won't make much difference now anyhow since we're talking saving $5K in mortgage loan interest if i paid it off now vs. in 4 more years.

I guess I'll take the middle road and plan to just double up my monthly mortgage payments when i get a perm job. This way, i won't have to take a possible loss on liquidated mutual funds. A big reason why I was revisiting this issue yet again was becus now, with monthly COBRA payments of $443 looming ahead, I'll experience a monthly shortfall of roughly $300 in income vs. expenses. That's assuming no income from freelance so maybe what i really need to focus on is hustling up more work. I've already examined every square inch of expenses and cut what could be cut.

Having spent the better part of the last few days cooped up indoors, I've been getting a little stir crazy. This morning, it began to snow. They're calling for about 5 or 6 inches this time. It looks so lovely I decided to venture outdoors to capture my yard coated in white.

Come join me....


Many generations of bluebirds and house wrens have raised their families here. I have 2 in the yard. Sometimes I get two nestings in a single season.


Here's another rustic birdhouse. It's only shortcoming is that it's nailed together and there's no easy way to clean it out at the end of a season. Still, I noticed wrens nesting in it this past summer;they must've done the house-cleaning themselves.


This is a burning bush, I'm afraid, a species that's considered invasive here in the northeast, but it's so picturesque it's allowed to stay. I drastically cut it back last spring so I could view the 4 conifers behind it, but you'd hardly know it.


I see a fence repair in the spring. Truth be told, I'm not sure at this point what to do about it. Should I replace it with maintenance-free vinyl fencing?


I love the twisted growth pattern of this Japanese black pine. I planted it when it was just a wee two-foot seedling 15 years ago; now it's 15 feet high. I didn't think it would ever amount to much, if it even survived heavy deer browsing, but I'm quite happy it did.


This is the view looking up the Japanese black pine.


Well, this is not a view of much, just the fenceline out in back. I'm standing under a giant hemlock tree; the big trunk on the left is a huge sugar maple.

I've shared a lot of other views of my yard in the past, and didn't want to repeat what would be essentially the same images, so I'm tromping to the far corners of the yard in search of something new!


The solar lamps don little white snowcaps.


This large rhododendron has a wind-swept look, doesn't it? I love that look, but it's not caused by winds, rather by deer browsing. You can count on most anything planted that deer like to eat will not have any foliage up the three feet off the ground.

It's very pretty out there. When it stops snowing, I'll be out there with a shovel.

I'm sitting here enjoying my favorite beverage: strong black tea with agave as a sweetener. I've trying out another recipe in the slow cooker, too...peanut chicken, which should be ready about 3:30 pm today.

I hit Costco this a.m. as I was out of milk, so I bought 2 gallons and put one in the freezer. There's plenty of food in the house!

Otherwise, not much new. Had dinner at Frank's Tuesday night and had his delicious lamb shanks and lentils, which he cooked in beef broth with carrots, shallots and mushrooms.

Also on Tuesday, I had that phone interview for the other job I applied for while I was still temping at the same company. It went well, though it seemed very much just a "prelim" interview intended to screen applicants and make sure they meet all the basic qualifications. So I'm hoping to get a call-back for an in-person interview in the next few weeks.

I rented 3 free DVDs at the library yesterday and watched one last night. I wanted to get The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, but someone else has it out.

I've also been walking more this week, though each time less than an hour, when I really need to do more.

I guess I could start my taxes and just use the online form and directions, but I don't see the point since none of my banks (3) or brokerages (2) have sent me my various statements, plus I should get paperwork from my 2 employers for the year, the Census Bureau and the temp job that just ended.

I'm still trying to reopen my unemployment claim, but when you dial in and go thru the automated system, it says "due to the high volume of calls there will be an extended wait time and we ask you to call back again later." Well, I got that message Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday and today. When exactly will they take my call?

I'm really trying to watch grocery expenses, as cutting my annual grocery bill is a goal this year. So i settled for dried cilantro for this peanut chicken recipe instead of fresh. Hope it doesn't make much difference.

I did need cinnamon sticks for my curried beef recipe earlier in the week, and I hated spending like $5.89 for a small jar of cinnamon sticks. At Costco for about the same price you got a HUGE canister of cinnamon sticks! Damn! I'm going to have to remember that Costco is the place to go for cheap spices, though they only seem to have the basics.

I was thrilled to be able to create an online account with the bank where i hold my mortgage, so now i can check my mortgage balance any time without having to call and talk to a live person. It's just much easier this way, and now i can update my mortgage balance here on my profile every month, to the dollar.

I'm still waiting to get paid by a new freelance client I did work for in December. I usually give them a full month before I send a late payment notice, but this one had indicated in an email last week that she was mailing the check out that day. So I watched the mail each day and it never came. Annoying. So I emailed her and said oh sorry, i forgot. It will go out today.

As much as i love new clients, it always produces a degree of anxiety until i get paid, becus you don't really know who you're dealing with or whether they might try to stiff you. With my regular clients, becus it's companies, not individuals i'm dealing with, it typically takes 6 weeks to get paid, but i KNOW they will pay me so it's not a big deal.

Like most clients, she was very anxious to have get the job done asap, but her payment? Not so much. I've never had a client who didn't pay, however, I've had several that were very late, like several months, in paying, and not without me communicating with them on the subject several times. You would think that they would be more considerate when working with a one-man show like me....

Even if it were just a $100 invoice, i would be prepared, just as a matter of principle, to take someone to small claims court (filing fee: $35) to collect that money. I'm basically at their mercy, and it's just too cumbersome and outside common business practices to require an upfront deposit for the kind of quick turnover work i do.

Here's what I managed to do, despite a lingering lethargic mood:

Did some badly needed grocery shopping, walked around the block and back (20 min), worked on a flyer to advertise my freelance writing services and in the slow cooker made a delicious curried beef casserole with wilted spinach and chickpeas.Seasoned with a cinnamon stick and fresh ginger. Very yum. Topped that off with my sister's delicious peaches in gingered syrup. Double yum.

Also picked up stamps at the post office, but they had no tax forms. I'll have to check the library. Also hit the bank to make a deposit and get some cash, which now lasts a long time now that I'm charging everything, even groceries, so I get more credit at year's end from Amex.

Got invited to Frank's place for dinner tomorrow night. Lamb shanks. Another yum. I'm giving him a 2011 hummingbird calendar which I know he'll like, since I turned him on to feeding hummingbirds last summer. He's hooked. He also wants to go look at the bald eagles by the dam sometime this winter. They congregate there becus the fishing's good.

Tomorrow a.m. will be devoted to preparing for my phone job interview.

Sort of a slow moving Monday.

Well, I didn't exactly start off 2011 with a bang...more like a whisper....

Just didn't feel like doing anything today. I kept telling myself, it's warm out today (50 degrees), get your butt outside and WALK....EXERCISE....

I've always been self-motivated when it comes to exercise, but for the past year, I've just felt lazy. Especially now, with the cold weather, I just don't feel like going out in the cold. I am very conscious of the fact that I'm getting older and I put on weight last year. I'm worried I won't be able to take it off becus I'm getting to the point where I can't work out in the yard all day like a workhorse, which I used to do. And, as I pointed out, I'm getting lazy.

So while I didn't ever get to that walk, and here it is turning dark already, I did manage to wash the salt off my car, do a load of laundry and I also spent a good 2 hours cutting back the multiflora rose and bittersweet vines (both invasives)that grew last year up my stockade fence and got into a prized row of 4 evergreens.

It's the kind of thing that if you let it go just one year, it could easily get so impenetrable that you don't want to go in there. Winter's a good time to do becus the foliage is off the vines and ticks are less of a problem. However, it's very difficult to pull or dig out these vines, which are actually on the other side of the fence; cutting them back does weaken the plant, and control it, to a point, so that's what I did.

The vines also capture moisture on the fence, and in the long run will lead to rot and shorten the life of the fence, so all the more reason to do as much as I could.

I could see that the fence really needs another coat of whatever it was I used to preserve the wood. It's a watery white paint. I hope I saved the leftover from the gallon I bought probably 7 years ago now and didn't bring it to the hazardous waste collection last year. Hmmm.

The pines were stunted for many years due to heavy deer browsing. About a year ago, they finally took off and GREW. Now they're all over 10 feet high and finally looking like nice specimens.

The only other thing I did today was check the hyperlinks embedded in my resume, just to make sure they're still working. I did find one bad one and fixed it with a new Url So it works. I also added a new link to a corporate newsletter I wrote at my last f/t job; I found it on the website of the designer I worked with at the time.

I really hope and plan on walking tomorrow. There's nothing else on my agenda. No excuses. I would also like to vacuum my car while it's still warm out. And do a second load of laundry.

I keep losing track of whether today's Friday or Saturday. Wierd.

Well, since I already go to the trouble of tracking all my expenses, including groceries, I decided this year to also make a note of where I shop.

I tend to watch the sales circulars and I also try to shop at grocery stores which I pass by when I'm going somewhere else, to reduce the number of trips I make. So there are 5 different grocery stores I shop at more or less regularly.

Of the $2,642 I spent on groceries this year (see earlier post of all expenses), here's where i spent it, ranked from most to least:

Shop Rite: $976.27
This is my grocery store of choice. They have the best prices. There's not one in my town, but there are 2 within a 15-minute radius of me, and I'll usually be able to hit one or the other depending on what my other shopping errands are.

Stop & Shop: $450.69
This used to be my store of choice (there's one in my hometown) but I no longer prefer to go there as their prices are definitely not the lowest, though as you'll see, they're not the highest either.

Costco: $434.56
I maintain my membership mainly to take advantage of their great price on cat litter ($6.99 for a 40-lb. box) as well as milk and bananas. I use these 3 items regularly and Costco prices are quite a bit lower than any of the other grocery stores. I think the savings on cat litter alone pays for the cost of my $40 membership

Xpect Discounts: $154.24
This is a regional chain with about a half dozen stores in CT. It used to be the place where mostly Latinos shopped, but now the secret's out, a lot of people like me shop there and it's no longer as cheap as it was.

Trader Joe's:$144.89
Trader Joe's is more out of the way than any other grocery store, and that's probably the main reason why I go there infrequently. I see I made 6 trips there in 2010.

Big Y: $89.72
This is my least favorite grocery store, but I use it when I need some missing ingredient, becus the store's just around the corner from where I live. They are the highest priced, though, and I can't stand their sentimental commercials, which unabashedly play on your emotions with lot of American flags and young children. I also don't trust their "buy 1, get 1 free" sales because I suspect they just jack up the price on the one you're buying.

WalMart: $58.54
Given how low their prices are, I should try to buy more food here. It's just not a destination of mine when I think food; I usually just pick up a few things when I'm there for something else. But when it comes to generic prices for many items, they're FAR lower.

Big Lot: $26.06
There's not one near me but I remember stopping here when I was doing the medical research studies at Yale. I bought exactly 2 things here: Pepperidge Farm bread near or past the expiration, and Prego pasta sauce.

Caraluzzi's: $24.06
This is a family-owned grocer that just opened up a 3rd store, in my town. Nice food, nice atmosphere but higher prices on a par with Big Y.

Farmer's Market: $20
I enjoyed the high-priced bread here a few times.

Target: $13.60

Chamomile: $4.26
This is a health food store and a source of wheat berries.

Another thing my analysis revealed is how many freakin' trips I made to the grocery store...any grocery store. I counted 97 individual trips! As I said earlier, I TRY to consolidate trips, and I know there were many times I hit more than one grocery store in a day due to different sales, but I see that when I was mostly underemployed for 2010, I averaged two grocery trips a week! Hmmmm.

Today was my last day temping at the job I started in September. I got a few hugs and some kind words that cheered me up a little, like: "I have a feeling you'll be back here...." Maybe they were just being kind, but after driving home and feeling more than a little sad, I checked my personal email and found an email request from HR at the same company wanting to schedule a phone interview with me for the other job I applied for!

So it's set for Tuesday. I don't think I'm a 100% match for the job, but I'm hoping that with the power of an internal referral and 4 months at the company as a temp worker under my belt, I'll have a better chance at it.

You can bet i will be over-prepared for the interview, as always.

Becus tomorrow is a company holiday, I'd been planning on working long hours Monday thru Thursday to attempt to squeeze in 40 hours, all the more important knowing this was my last week. Then we had the snowstorm on Monday. We got 15" here. I decided to brave the roads at about 11 am against my mother's pleas, and I made it in OK but found just 1 person there with plans to leave within the hour! I ended up staying for just 3.5 hours and left while it was still light outside in case of black ice. So between losing most of the day Monday and all of tomorrow, I was just able to complete 31 hours this week, even after arriving at work at 7:45 am and leaving at 6:30 pm. Que sera sera.

Anyway, looking forward to some downtime (not too much tho) so i can clean my house, walk and do grocery shopping.

I've added my 2011 financial goals to my profile at left. I decided to post two scenarios, because depending on whether I find full-time work or not, my financial goals will be very different.

I already know my goals frontwards, backwards and sideways, but what I like about posting them here is that I can "motivate" myself by checking off each month as an indication that I met the goal (or not).

Because I have taxable savings, it will be easy to fully fund my Roth IRA this year. It's just a matter of transferring money from a taxable mutual fund to the Roth IRA fund.

As you can see, my biggest goal right now is working toward paying off the mortgage. Yet I'll have to keep this on the backburner for as long as I don't work. Just paying current bills will be the priority in that case.

We got 15 inches of snow today but I decided to head in around noon, expecting to see at least half the staff there. Turns out there was just one guy there and he left less than an hour after I arrived. Not supposed to be there on my own, but the guy who left said it was ok with him and I kept in chat message contact with another employee who was working from home. I put in just 3.5 hours and figured it would be a good idea to head home in daylight in case there was any black ice.

The ride home was fine, the ride in, a little messy.

A full day tomorrow. Just 3 more days to go.

Everyone from Delaware to Maine up the east coast is getting slammed with a good 'ol fashioned blizzard.

My plan for my last work week was to work as close to 4 10-hour days as possible, to make up for Friday, which is a company holiday and a day I won't be able to work. Now we have the blizzard making the likelihood of my getting in even 35 hours rather unlikely.

Last night, as I listened to weather forecasts and as the storm began to grow in intensity, I had hoped to just get in to work 2 hours later, but now I'm not sure I'll be able to get in at all. I learned in various conversations with people at work that when there's snow or the weather is bad, many people work from home. As a contract worker, I'm not allowed to do that, and I'm also not supposed to be in the office when a staff employee isn't there, so not even sure I should try to get in. The guy I report to on a daily basis is off this week, so I called and left a message for someone else there.


This is one side of my backyard, with my little tool shed on the right.

I shoveled the driveway twice last night to get a "head start." I think I did about 4 inches each time, and now of course it's covered.


This is the driveway! I took the photo through the glass and screen, and you can actually see a reflection of the window sill in the upper part of the center of the photo. It sort of looks like some big building with a tall chimney,but I assure you, I live in a suburban area. It's just my window.

Didn't hear a plow all night and just praying these wind gusts don't take down any power lines or trees, becus the chance of getting heat back in any kind of timely manner must be low. No vehicles on the road at all.

Now that I've shared a breakdown of my 2010 expenses in an earlier post, it's time to take a peek at my creative efforts to generate some cash during 2010.

Here's the breakdown, ranked from highest to lowest income:

Temporary contract work Sept - Dec): $16,319
I'll be getting one more paycheck the 1st week of January, so my total net is actually a little more. So sorry this lucrative assignment is ending!!

Net unemployment benefits: $13,818

Census Bureau net income: $5,338
This mostly part-time work ran from late April through early August.

2009 IRS tax refund: $3,968
I don't usually get a refund, so this was very helpful, being out of work.

Freelance writing: $1,925
I know I could make more than this in 2011 if I made a greater effort.

Focus groups: $575

Online surveys: $427
The breakdown, if you're interested, is $87 from Pinecone (plus all those fun product samples) and $340 from Toluna.

Interesting, I made just a little less doing the online surveys than I did doing the focus groups. The online surveys are very time-consuming and tedious to do, but at least you can do them at home, whenever you like. I think I prefer the quick cash from doing the focus groups, though.

Medical research studies at Yale: $249
I would have done more of these but I soon found that finding a place to park was a hassle, and you had to pay the meters. Plus the drive made many of the lesser paying studies not worth it.

State tax refund: $141

Gifts: $125

Craig's List sales: $110
I have a few more things I can try selling, but this is a hit or miss kind of thing.

Manufacturers' rebates, discounts: $48

A friend's tag sale: $27
I made a few bucks by bringing some of my own items to a friend's tag sale I was helping out at, plus she gave me a nice bedspread, a bird statue, a glass I liked, a napkin holder and odds and ends like that.

Class-action lawsuits:$22
Just got some notices in the mail that prompted me to fill out a form online.

Jury duty: $20

So total income for 2010 actually came to $43,279, exceeding my radically pared down expenses by $8,600! So I was actually able to save money while being "underemployed."

Merry Christmas, frugal friends. I hope you all have a nice holiday.

I enjoyed a quiet Christmas eve dinner at my neighbor's house. A simple beef stew, I brought a side of broccoli and we had pound cake with a marmalade/cranberry spread and whipped cream on top.

This morning I'm headed to mom's, the sleigh-car is loaded with gifts and I just have to finish making my delicious cranberry/red grape relish.

I'm looking forward to the new year ahead and hoping that, financially speaking, it will be better than 2010.

Onward and upward, Donner and Blitzen!

I've tallied up my 2010 income and expenses, down to the penny.

I spent a total of $34,712 in 2010. I consider that a big accomplishment (necessitated by unemployment), since my annual spending has been:

2009: $40,500
2008: $44,100
2007: $43,000
2006: $44,100
2005: $44,900
2004: $43,000

Of my 31 expense categories, I saw price increases in 6 areas, including 2 of this year's top 7 expenses (clothing and fuel oil). Ten expenses stayed about the same, while 4, including one expense in my top 7 expenses (my 2 cats), fell.

Here's the raw data and ranked expenses (highest to lowest), along with pertinent side notes.

(Keep in mind I was unemployed except for part-time Census work April - early August, and full-time work mid-Sept. through Dec. 31, 2010, and a small amount of freelance writing.)

Mortgage/property taxes: $15,626 / 45% of total spending
This figure includes an extra $2,000 in prepayments. This one expense represents 45% of total spending, by far the single biggest expense I have.

Food: $2,642 / 8% of total spending
First, I want to correct something I said in reply to someone's comment on my expenses in another post. My cat food is NOT included in my food bill; it's kept in a separate category for cat expenses. So this comes out to an average of $220 a month, which is higher than I'd like. This is an area I still need to work on. I spent about the same amount last year.

Health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket: $2,435 / 7% of my total spending
Interestingly, this is about the same amount as what I spent in 2009, but the difference is that in 2009 I worked the 1st 9 months of the year and was out of work the last 3 months, while this year, I was out of work (for the most part) the 1st 9 months of the year and only worked full-time the last 3 months. I managed this by paying for health care but not using it! I expect to see a big increase in my healthcare costs for 2011 becus my COBRA will increase by 57%.

Clothing: $1,678 / 5% of total spending
OK, guilty as charged. This represents a whopping 900% increase over my 2009 clothing spending ($170). What happened? When I got my temporary job in September, they didn't have a business casual dress code, plus I have gained a good 15 pounds since my layoff. I really needed an entire new wardrobe to look presentable. So yes, i got slacks, blouses, sweaters, undergarments, boots, shoes, coats, the whole 9 yards. I do hereby pledge not to spend .01 on clothing of any sort while I remain out of work. Absolutely no need to.

Household: $1,664 / 5% of total spending
This is really the only expense category I have that sort of ends up being a dumping ground for expenses that don't neatly fit into other categories. I try to limit using this category because the effect is that it "hides" spending. For the most part, it's stuff for the house that does not include maintenance. Like, the $200 air purifier I bought would end up in this category.

Cats: $1,405 / 4% of total spending
As you can see, routine costs for two cats is pretty expensive. This includes 3 things primarily: 1. cat food: Fancy Feast. They go thru 5 cans a day which, at .50 a can from Wal-Mart, totals $2.50 daily, or $75 a month. I supplement with some dry food, which is cheaper. 2. Cat litter: I get a 40-lb. box at Costco for $6.99, and this alone is a good reason to keep my $40 annual membership there, I think. 3. Vet bills. Veterinary care around here is RIDICULOUS. A recent ear infection that Waldo had ended up costing me over $400.

Fuel oil & cleaning: $1,399 / 4% of total spending
The annual furnace cleaning costs about $100 and since I skipped it last year, I figured I really should do it this year, since it supposedly keeps things running "efficiently." This expense was 34% higher than last year,mainly due to higher heating oil prices and the fact that I'm keeping the house noticeably warmer this season (67 when I'm home, 64 at night and when I'm gone) just to keep my sanity.

Those are my top 7 expenses for this year.

My remaining expenses are as follows. I think you'll find most of them quite spartan:

Gas: $825 / 2% of total spending
This is 16% higher than last year, but that's because I had a commute during the 4th quarter.

Electric: $778 / 2% of total spending
Despite my having switched electrical suppliers in January, this bill was about the same as last year. I just switched suppliers again last week. Let's see if, this time, the lower price doesn't creep up.

Sewers (loan and usage): $738 / 2% of total spending
There's not much getting around this big bill. The loan portion of it was a mandatory loan that homeowners in different parts of my town had to take out 15 years ago to pay for a sewer treatment plant. I have 5 more years left on payments at 2% interest.

Homeowners insurance: $726 / 2% of total spending
This bill, very irritatingly, rises every year by about 9% despite the fact I've never filed a claim. So i raised my deductible a 2nd time, from $2,500 to $5,000.

Home maintenance: $717 / 2% of total spending
ACJ#$$%!! This represents a 76% over what I spent last year. I looked up my monthly expense statements to see how I incurred this and saw it was because I had to have a plumber over here twice to fix a leaking well water pump and clogged kitchen sink.

Major purchases over $500: $700 / 2% of total spending
I like to keep a separate category for what I consider "major" purchases, and I arbitrarily decided that anything over $500 I would consider "major." This was for the purchase of a new computer, badly needed, in August.

Phone/Internet: $651 / 2% of total spending
About the same as I paid last year.

Car insurance $434 / 1% of total spending
Here's another one, same insurer, MetLife, that keeps raising my rates despite a lack of any claims by me. I know it's a good price, but it makes me crazy they keep raising it. This is 13% higher than what I paid last year.

Gardening: $319

IRS: $250
I don't include various taxes that are deducted from my paycheck since I figure my budget using net income,not gross, but this was additional federal taxes I paid on account of my freelance writing, which amounted to about $1,700 in extra income.

Cable TV: $239
I am prepared once again to cancel this entirely. It was $25 a month for a long time, then when I went to cancel they said they'd make it $14/month for a year, but after just 3 months, they raised rates again and it's up to $18.

Dining out: $230
I love eating out but it adds up so quickly I try to avoid it when I can't afford it, like now.

Gifts: $228
This was mostly Xmas gifts.

Water: $172

Town taxes: $165
I hate these extra taxes becus it's really an extra layer of government we don't need. We don't get anything extra for this.

Car: $164
This was the best budget surprise of the year. My spending here, essentially oil and filter changes, represents a 88% decrease in spending from last year! It just seems that every year I spend about $1000 due to one thing or another needing replacement. This year, I got lucky.

Jewelery: $133
What business do I have buying myself jewelry when I'm out of work? None. This was 4 rings I bought when I was working f/t as a treat for myself. Sort of like a release valve, I needed to splurge, what can I say.

Haircuts: $110

Car tax/registration/license: $90

Dump sticker: $80

Subscriptions: $36
I let all my various subscriptions lapse when I wasn't working, but when I got the full-time job, I renewed my beloved weekly paper subscription, $36 for the year.

Entertainment: $33
Some people spend thousands in this category, but I can find ways to have fun without spending oodles. This was mostly Netflix and $2 movies at the town hall theater.

Birds: $23
This was for birdseed and suet.

Vacations: $22
I haven't had a real vacation of at least a week for about 4 years now. This figure represents what it cost me to go down to see my dad in NJ for an overnight visit.

And there you have it...how to spend nearly $35,000 without really trying!

Cus I learned this week my temporary job won't extend past next Thursday, Dec. 30. Which means....back to being jobless.

I spent 2 days feeling depressed about it all over again, just becus now I know for sure the temp job won't last.

Weirdly, the head of the dept., the one who could hire me if she chose, came over to wish me happy holidays and feigned ignorance about when my last day was and then even hugged me and said let us know if there's anything we can do. Meanwhile, I'm thinking, hire me, dammit!

So next week will be my last week. Since the person who gives me my assignments is out all next week on vacation, he loaded me up with work today to keep me busy all next week. Kind of a funny situation, I'll be more or less unsupervised, and next week i expect staffing will be light, but I just want to get in as close to 40 hours as possible in my remaining 4 days (New Yr's eve is a company holiday of course, and I can't work it.)

So he agreed to act as a reference for me, also agreed to write a little recommendation on my Linked In profile page, even tho the company tells employees not to do that and promised to follow up with the gal looking to fill another spot at the company that I applied for. perhaps something will develop there, but it will likely take a few weeks at least, so of course I'll be looking elsewhere too.

With so many job-related things on my mind, my focus really hasn't been on Christmas. I've been having a bit of a pity party because at the office, everyone on the staff has been in high spirits, what with extra time off and no doubt, big bonuses handed out. me, on the other hand, can look forward to no more work and scrounging for freelance stuff again. What a contrast.

I've already been making lists of things to do in the very near future. Among them:

1. File to restart unemployment benefits Jan 3
2. Call my contact to see if there are any focus groups I qualify for
3. FINISH WALLPAPERING THE BATHROOM
4. EXERCISE and start getting back in shape!
5. File for 2 financial writer jobs in a city over an hour from home, but maybe i could work out a partial telecommute deal.
6. Write up 2 different flyers promoting my freelance work and availability for perm work to area financial services company. Yeah, we're talking a blind mass resume send. The pros never recommend doing that, but I did in fact get a job that way once, just hitting a company at the right time after they decided they needed a communications mgr but before they advertised, and the director of this trade organization decided he liked me enough to hire me without looking all over. Very unusual.
7. Contact my oldest client and see if I can start working on the January blog post.
8. Cancel the Netflix once I return the movie i currently have.
9. Possibly cancel cable if my unemployment benefits are less than what i got before.
10. Don't renew my prepaid cell phone package ($100 a year) and go back to using calling cards for the occasional long-distance calls.
11. Don't renew my AAA membership since i won't be driving much anyway.
12. Email the employment agency and tell them they need to mail me proof of termination, which i'll need to get my unemployment claim going.
13. Look around for a few more agencies to register with, preferably those that specialize in creative talent.

Anyway, that's plenty to keep me busy for the first half of January.

Tomorrow, Xmas eve, i'm going to my neighbor's for dinner. She made a beef stew so it'll actually be leftovers, but i really don't care. I'm bringing over some broccoli au gratin.

I had a mini heart attack today. (Not a real one.)

Earlier in the day, I was wrapping Xmas presents on the dining room table. This year's theme is "organic" and "natural," so I am using plain brown paper wrapping and dressing it up with fern seed fronds I collected from the yard as well as oats (which I also grow), and a few bows.

I had a piece of plain white string, the kind you use for household stuff. I had cut it and was dangling it in front of Luther, who loves to play whenever, however. He leapt at it,and then I remembered I had some name tags upstairs, so I dropped the string to Luther, who has at least 3 other assorted strings laying around the house, while I went upstairs. I came back down in less than a minute, JUST IN TIME TO SEE LUTHER LICKING HIS CHOPS, the way he does when he's just eating something really good.

The string. I looked all around. Could not find it. It was a mighty long string. That's why I hadn't imagined he would actually swallow it. It had to be at least 15 inches in length.

I began freaking. The thought occurred to me that he might need surgery becus the string could become an obstruction or get all tangled up in his bowels. I went online and began looking for information, imagining the many hundreds I'd spend when I don't have the budget for this. Somewhere I read that others had given their cats laxatives daily until the cat passed it, but sometimes they didn't and they had to rush their pets to emergency surgery when the cat stopped eating in a day or two.

I gave Luther the laxative treats, which he loves. They don't call him "Hoover" for nothing!

A little later, i went down to the basement to do a load of laundry and I noticed either cat poop or vomit on the concrete floor. I went to clean it up with a paper towel and I saw that it was vomit.

Lo and behold, an early Christmas miracle...there was the long piece of white string covered with some cat food and a few of those laxative treats.

I feel SO relieved. I immediately threw away 2 of the strings I had laying around the house.


That's him, on the right.

In other news...
Got together with my friend and we drove down to a neighboring town to check out a brand new health food store. They had a huge selection of everything. Now while I'm used to health food store prices, this store was way too expensive for me to consider visiting with any kind of regularity. They did, however, have lots of free samples of stuff, everything from cereal to lip balm to organic raisins to vitamin supplements, so i grabbed one of everything

After that, we hit a gift shop for holiday browsing and then, after debating whether to grab a bite at a cheap diner somewhere when i really didn't want to spend the $$, she invited me over her house and we had a cup of tea and caught up. I gave her her Xmas present early (a collection of chocolates from Trader Joe's) and we broke into a Peruvian chocolate, which was pretty good.

Then, becus I desperately need the exercise, I walked home from her house, about a 15-minute walk, right before dark. It was cold, but I'm so glad I did it.

Last night i watched a good netflix movie, As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me. It was a WWII movie about a German soldier who landed in a Russian concentration camp, escaped the camp and walked 8,000 miles across Siberia back to Germany. It took him 3 years and is based on a true story.

aarghhh.

It's almost too much to wrap my head around now.

When I learned earlier this week that I may not get an offer of a permanent job (still no decision from the company, but they've changed the job description, which no longer fits me to a T), I started getting very anxious. The thought of returning to a long bout of being broke and out of work was not a comforting one. So I did what I do best. I set to work taking another look at my tightest of Tightwad Budgets, looking to see what my current expenses are, what could be minimized, etc. Because the more in control of my situation I am, the less fearful I feel.

I called my homeowner's insurance carrier and increased the deductible again, this time from $2,500 to $5,000, which saved me about $60.

I went online and checked current electric prices and switched again, from Public Power to ConEd, reducing my price per kilowatt from .0999 to .0849. Perhaps it will make some noticeable difference. The lower price is locked in for a year.

I learned how sneaky electric suppliers can be after switching the 1st time. When I switched to Public Power, they had a lower price than the default supplier, but that lower price only held for 3 months, and then they bumped me to a higher price, counting on the fact that most people won't take the trouble to switch electric suppliers more than once. Even though there's no charge to do so. Well, I took the trouble!

So my total monthly minimum expenses seem to be in the range of $2,291. I mean, that's REALLY minimum. Yes, that includes my mortgage and property taxes. Compare this to my more normal monthly expenses of $3,600.

Here is my ranked list of estimated 2011 minimal monthly expenses, based on current data:

Mortgage and property taxes: $1,146
COBRA $444
Food $219
Electricity: $66
Heating oil: $65
Sewer (usage and loan): $60
Gas for car: $57
Homeowners insurance: $56
Phone and Internet: $44
Car maintenance $38
Car insurance $35
Cable TV: $18
Water: $15
Borough taxes $14
Car tax: $7
Dump sticker: $7

Not covered: Health care out of pocket, home maintenance, chimney cleaning, furnace cleaning, mortgage prepayments, retirement savings, dining out, entertainment, clothing, Netflix, gifts, bird seed.

It's totally ironic that I'll be paying $444 a month for health insurance, yet I DON'T INTEND to use it at all. Why? Becus the plan has a $1500 deductible, so if I used it for a few doctor's visits or whatever, I'd be paying the whole bill anyway for most of the year. If I end up being out of work for say, another 6 months, paying the deductible would all be for nothing becus then I'd probably have to satisfy a whole new deductible with a brand new plan. So my strategy is, don't use it at all.

But keeping the health insurance accomplishes 3 important things I can't do without:

1. It ensures that when I do get a permanent job, the health insurer can't refuse to cover my pre-existing health problem (MS) for a year, or charge exorbitant fees to do so. Chalk this convoluted way things are to our screwed-up health insurance system.

2. It provides coverage in the event of unexpected, catastrophic health problem like surgery or something that would cost much, much more if I were uninsured.

3. It ensures that I can continue to fill my one prescription, the med I take for the MS.

Yesterday I called the employment agency that's paying my paychecks now and asked them what the monthly bill would be for my health care under COBRA. You might say I was pleasantly surprised, because since the agency is too cheap to contribute anything to employees' health care and I pay the full expense already ($425 a month), there would be no increase for COBRA, save for a 2% administration charge.

Still, that's a lot more than the $178 I was paying with the COBRA subsidy.

So, after doing all this number-crunching I felt like things were still "doable," even with the spike in my health insurance costs.

That is, until I reexamined my state's formula for calculating unemployment benefits. I have 2 key questions in my mind about which of 2 formulas would apply to me; maybe I'll call the dept of labor next week to try to get some answers.

Question 1: If I was collecting unemployment in September and then started this temporary job, worked the temp job (full-time) for 3.5 months and now it looks like the job will end 12/31 and I want to apply for unemployment again, do they just reopen my old claim, since I hadn't used up all the money, or will it be considered a new claim?

Dido, I actually think it would be much better if they considered it reopening the existing claim, because then I could expect to get the weekly benefit I got before, about $544 a week. (CT is an expensive place to live.) I already know I could live on that, even with the higher health insurance costs.

But if they treat it as a new claim, then my Question #2 is, Which formula would they use to calculate my weekly benefit rate?

I see from the DOL website there is the "standard" formula which takes the highest average earnings from the 1st 4 of 5 calendar quarters prior to the quarter you file the claim in. In other words, if I file the claim sometime in January, I can't use earnings from the 4th quarter of 2010 to calculate my benefit. I have to use the 4th quarter of 09 and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2010. You'd calculate the average of the 2 highest earning quarters, then divide by 26.

The problem with this is that I didn't work at all in the 4th quarter of 09 or 1st quarter of 2010. I worked for the census burea in the 2nd quarter and then for the census bureau AND the temporary job in the 3rd quarter. But the census was a p/t job and it all works out to a weekly benefit of just $162 a week.

However, the website says that when you can't establish eligibility using the basic formula, you are then allowed to use their alternate formula, which is using the 4 calendar quarters immediately preceding the quarter you file a claim. This would make a HUGE difference in my case becus it was in the 4th quarter that I worked this temp job making very good money, and my weekly benefit would be $554, not $162.

I am feeling very, very nervous about this.

As for the 2nd job I learned about at the company I'm working at now, I did apply but haven't heard anything yet. The guy i work with who told me about it did put in a good word for me, I know.

There was another option that occurred to me. If the company cannot find a candidate who has both the skills they're looking for (strong writer with technical background) and if they liked me, but didn't think they'd have enough work to keep me busy on a full-time basis, I was thinking I could suggest maybe we could work out a 20 or 30 hour work week with commensurately lower pay.

There's 2 problems with that. One, I think the 1st thought they'd have is oh, she wouldn't want to stay here long at the lower pay and as soon as she had an opportunity, she'd find something else. And two, i don't want them to think I'm just desperate for a job, because that would be a turnoff to the employer.

Taking a lower salary of say $40 or 60K would be a lot less than I'd get f/t, but heck, if i can make it work on unemployment benefits i can make $40K or $60K work, for a time.

So I don't know if i should suggest this or not. I know i can't just freelance for them as needed, becus i had to sign an agreement with the employment agency saying I wouldn't work for the company for one year. This is standard, of course.

It's just as well I'm staying inside all day, due to my cold, but I am getting just a wee bit stir crazy, since this is Day 3 of doing so.

It's coming down in sheets and the rain is blowing mightily. They said to expect 2 to 4 inches, and I'm just praying my caulking job on my 2 leaky windows hold. So far, they are. This is certainly the ultimate test.

I wrapped up my Xmas shopping online today. My sister's so difficult to buy for, doesn't give us any ideas and since she hasn't invited my mother or i to her home in at least 5 years, it's really hard to tell what her tastes are like these days.

But i found an interesting website (uncommongoods.com) and ordered a pair of dangle earrings made out of vegetables. I got the beet and mango version, 2 round disks, one smaller than the other and laid on top of the larger one. They dry the vegetables, slice it paper thin and then layer that on top of a copper disk. Very interesting.

I also got her 2 books she wanted, plus a collection of dark chocolate from all over the world. For my mom, I got flannel sheets, a cotton jacket and a new pressure cooker. I got my dad a slow cooker cookbook, but not sure when I'll give it to him. I guess if I don't get a job January 1, I can make a trip down there to Jersey and give it to him then. I also got my friend H. the same packet of dark chocolates, as she's a chocolate lover.

I'm still kind of sick, though feeling better. Maybe I'll have the energy to wrap a few presents on the dining room table.

I managed to do a new freelance assignment I got. I made myself do it becus i may very well need the $ given my current job uncertainty, plus, this is a new client and she'll pay me cash, $100 for an hour or so of work.

I also made my SEP-IRA contribution for this year. It's just for my freelance work and never amounts to much, though of course if I had thought to open it 15 years ago when I started doing freelance, it would have really amounted to something. But anyway, this is just year 2 and I transferred $300 from checking into it. The more tax-deferred investments, the better.

Holed up in the house...talked to my mother, talked to friend N., talked to friend H. Last night for dinner I dethawed a big bag of zucchini chunks from last summer's garden, pureed it in the blender, and added it to a Trader Joe's cream of tomato/red pepper soup, along with sauteed onions and garlic and some leftover brussel sprouts I had. Pretty good.

My plan for next week is to work an extra half hour each day so i can leave work Friday at 3 pm without losing any pay for doing so. Then I'll head to Ikea, which is a lot closer to my work than my home is. I want to browse the lower level; i hardly ever shop there due to its location an hour from home, but it occurred to me that would be a good place to shop for Xmas, altho i'm basically done. I have to say, the renewed job worries really take all the fun out of Xmas shopping. I can't really splurge as much as I'd like after several years of frugal Xmases.

...just a bad cold, but I hate being sick!

I finally had to take off Friday from work, which meant I lost $400, but oh well. I only plan on taking the Monday after Xmas off, and that's it.

I had been feeling relatively positive about my chances of getting this job on a perm basis. After all, I've gotten positive feedback from several avenues, and the 2 other temp writers hired have also left.

But they still wanted to advertise the job. I guess from a due diligence standpoint, they couldn't just say we want Patient Saver. They wanted to see who else was out there. But I learned recently that when they weren't happy with the quality of the candidates that the employment agency was sending them (they chose not to interview any of them), they decided to rewrite the job description and repost it. The problem is, they CHANGED the job description so that instead of it being a 100% writing job, which I'm well qualified for, they're now looking for someone with strong writing skills PLUS the technical expertise, ie, someone who can use this software program (Camtasia) and actually build out the tutorials they produce.

I don't have the technical background, though I could certainly learn it. They know that, but i guess they're looking for the "perfect" job candidate, if indeed someone exists with both the writing skills and the technical skills. Usually, people are good at one or the other. Maybe that's why most companies I've worked for have one or more dedicated writers, and several designers, but not people who do both. You're just using different sides of the brain.

So i was really crushed when i learned they changed the job description. I was told i'm still considered a candidate, but you would tend to think if they wanted me, they'd know right off; if they're still looking for someone better, i doubt they'd change their mind and come back to me.

So, the guy i report to on a daily basis was very kind to give me a printout from the company's careers website with a job he thought i should apply for. Even better, he said he knows the hiring manager and can put in a good word for me. I asked him if he knew something i didn't, that maybe i'd been ruled out for the original job (working with him) and he said no, but he confirmed there was now greater emphasis on the technical skills, and he didn't think i should put all my eggs in one basket. It's not his decision, but I'm sure he has input.

Anyway, i was very grateful that he was trying to help. (He would get a $1K referral bonus if I were hired.) He said, "I'd hate to lose you, but if this doesn't work out, it'd be better for you to move to a different job in this company rather than go outside the company. I certainly agree! He mentioned that the salary range for the 2nd job was the same as the job he has, whereas the original job was one step lower. I need to find out what that range is.

The thought of possibly going back to collecting unemployment is incredibly discouraging. I hadn't really considered that a possibility these past few months. Although you've probably heard that Congress extended unemployment for a year, my situation going back to unemployment would be much worse due to the lack of the COBRA subsidy. I was able to live on unemployment by cutting way back on expenses, and so I avoided spending any of my own savings for an entire year, no small feat. But with the lack of the COBRA subsidy, that wouldn't be possible, becus i'd be going from paying $178 a month for health insurance (for one), to probably well over $500 a month.

So what happens in the next few weeks is incredibly important and depending on the outcome, will mean a huge difference in my life. What a contrast. Scrounging again on unemployment, searching for work again for who knows how long, or landing a great job with a global leader and cushy salary that will help me accelerate my long-term goals of paying off the mortgage and building my retirement nest egg so i can retire earlier than age 60 (possibly). Such a stark contrast.

I didn't really have to go there, but I did. It was packed with holiday shoppers. I hit Macy's, Sears and JC Penny. I also enjoyed browsing Pottery Barn and William Somona, but come on! They're so freakin' expensive! As usual, Pottery Barn sets such a lovely table.

I find that Sears is the best value for clothes, although I often find things I like at Macy's when I have a coupon. I got my mother a nice cotton ivory jacket with hood that i think she'll like. I have to say my mom always looks so put together, she's good at layering and matching beaded necklaces to clothes and all that. I rarely buy her clothes for Christmas (always thought I didn't know her taste) but after she mentioned several times how much she enjoyed going through my own castoff clothing that I outgrew, I figured she deserves something new. Believe me, most of my castoff clothing was nothing much to look at.

At Wal-Mart I picked up some flannel sheets; they were such a good buy ($15 per set) that I got one for me and one for mom. I LOVE sleeping in flannel.

At Trader Joe's, I got a really cute stacked pack of organic dark chocolates from all over South America (the chocolates were the size of coasters, not rectangular), tied with a little ribbon and labeled with the countries they were from. Cute, just $10, and I think my sister will like them. She's so fussy and hard to shop for. I also got my mom some dark chocolate with hazelnut, and will use the chocolate bar as part of the gift wrapping on another gift.

I was looking for sleeveless turtlenecks for myself, to replace some stretched out "dickies" i got years ago at Wal-Mart. Couldn't find them. I know Dress Barn has them, but i don't care for the pleating they have below the turtleneck, which looks odd to me.

Last Tuesday was the last work day for the other temp writer. I was very sorry to see her go. We talked a lot and it made the day more enjoyable. We actually have a lot in common. She's back to being unemployed, this after just signing a one-year lease on her rented apartment and buying a new car with loan payments. There is a new writer, a "Dr." and a man, who starts on Monday. I was hoping for a woman I could befriend. I still don't know the status of my job, i.e., will they offer me a perm position by month's end?

I am trying to keep my Sundays sacrosanct, meaning no running around beyond my hometown. It just seems more sane to me, and the day lasts much longer. I don't get much time to just hang around and enjoy my home these days.

Maybe I'll make a lamb stew tomorrow. I'm getting bored with my food choices these days. I like to make a big Sunday dinner so i have some leftovers for the coming workweek.

I hadn't planned on making soup, but I went to Costco yesterday and was forced to dethaw a large bag of frozen zucchini chunks from last summer's garden, just to make room for what I got at Costco.

So...there it was in the fridge, ready to do something with but not looking too appetizing. I was afraid I'd end up with a watery mess on my hands, but it turned out pretty good.

I used some Trader Joe's sweet potato bisque as a base, blended the thawed zucchini into a lumpy puree and added that, plus a lot of sauteed onions and garlic. I also poured in about a half cup of grated peccorino-romano cheese. It's colorful, and i didn't even need to use the light cream I'd bought.

Today was the best kind of weekend day, a stay-at-home day where i didn't have to drive anywhere.

I did 10 minutes on the indoor bike (hey, that's double what i did last time!), then I went outside to refill the bird feeders. Then I swept up a bunch of leaves that always collect at the top of the driveway, and I swept up others parts of the drive, too. I raked leaves elsewhere (not too much), scrubbed a whole lot of bird poop off my car, then came inside to make that soup.

Yesterday i helped my mother unload her art from another show and carry it upstairs. I also got my 25-mile ratchet check after my tire rotation. I have to do it one more time after 500 miles.

I saw outside by the feeders that 2 different birds got nailed by a local hawk. I guess the hawk needs to eat too. Looked like it may have been a titmouse or chickadee.

I also spent some time decorating the house for Xmas. I have a lot of decorations that never make their way down from the attic, but I did put up one tabletop tree with ornaments, a ceramic light-up tree my grandmother made for me years ago and i decorated my "mantel" with greenery so it sort of looks like a woodland scene with birds, berries, sheep and little children dressed in their winter coats and scarves. It's the top of a glass bookcase I have that looks like it could be a mantel.




Outside, i picked up a birch branch that came down in a storm. Its branches had grown very twisty and curvy, so i stuck it in an elongated planter I have and threw a few ornaments on it. It's sitting in the driveway, at the stairway to the front door.

Oh, yes, I did 2 loads of laundry, too.

I have very few friends. But here's the kind of conversation I have with the few friends I have:

Ron is telling me how he plans to dispose of his assets, during and after his lifetime. He thinks he'll be gone within 10 years, due to the prostate cancer. He has no children, and the woman he married twice (once before she left him and once after she left him) lives in her own condo but comes to visit the dog regularly.

He has two nieces. We went to visit them yesterday. When Ron and I were dating, many years ago,we spent a lot of time with his nieces. They were about 10 years old or so then, and I was about 29. Ron was 40.

Now his nieces are all grown up, married,with cute little kids. The older niece is doing very well; she and her husband are both CPAs with good jobs. The younger one is a school teacher who married her blue collar husband when she became pregnant. Ron didn't care for him much, he mostly did odd jobs while his niece is a first grade school teacher.

Ron has helped them out a lot with money when they needed it. His niece wants to have a 2nd child, but her husband said he wanted to save for a big barn to house all his trucking equipment before that. So Ron has made them an interest-free loan of $40,000 which may not be paid back if he dies too soon.

So Ron, I think, isn't really giving them money for a barn, he's giving them money so that Megan can have what she wants: a 2nd child.Don't ask me why the 2 are connected, but i guess it was money issues.

He plans to leave all his money to his nieces and draw down the equity in his house thru a reverse mortgage. After his death, he said, his wife can have the house to live in, mainly so that she can take care of the dog. (They don't allow dogs where she lives.) But she won't get much money out of it becus he'll have drawn down most of the equity out by then.

He realizes now that she's not really his partner, and probably won't be. He's finally realizing he's not getting much out of the relationship with her. He doesn't feel he can rely on her to dispose of his belongings after he dies, so he's made that a stipulation as part of the $40K loan he gave his younger niece, that they would have to agree to dispose of his material possessions.

He's still legally married to his wife and he's on her health plan til he turns 65 in a few more years. She had a slew of very serious health problems which he helped her with; now she's on disability. He was comparing my personality with that of his wife, wo's very different from me. He always makes me feel good becus he says out loud his assessments, which are that i've worked very hard over the years, i have a nice house and live in a nice town and now i have a very good job.

He's very good at validating the stuff you've done well. You're a spark plug, he said. A spark plug! Ron, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me! I'm a spark plug! I actually got Ron to laugh, something that's hard to do these days.

After the cyber knife surgery failed to eradicate Ron's cancer completely, Ron went on estrogen hormones a few months ago, which is supposed to suppress the growth of the cancer. He can only stay on that for 3 years, and then it stops working. So he has to spend 3 years hoping they come up with something else that will work becus that's pretty much his last option. In the meantime, the estrogen is making him put on weight, and he already was overweight to begin with. He's growing small breasts.

And, I learned yesterday as we were driving home from his nieces, he also has a sleep disorder that makes him suddenly feel like falling asleep.

I remembered back to when we dated that he always fell asleep at night within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. Once, he even fell asleep during sex.

He kept saying it was sleep apnea, but i think it has a different name. He started fighting falling asleep as he drove us home. It might partly be due to the estogen, I'm not sure.

But I realized he was falling asleep becus he started slurring his speech as he was talking. At first, I thought he was having a heart attack. I looked at him and could see he was struggling to keep his eyes open. He opened the window for fresh air, and i put my hand on his arm to shake him. I was scared to death. He said he would stop at the Dunkin Donuts a few exits down the road and wouldn't pull over. We made it to Dunkin Donuts, he got caffeine and seemed better. He agreed to take the back roads the rest of the way home so we could avoid the highway, and then he even agreed to let me drive. I was greatly relieved.

So that's how we made it home. Now I have something new to worry about, that my friend's going to crack up the car someday.