We worked hard, and sometimes hardly worked, today on deciding which of my mom’s possessions she’d be taking with her, what my sisters want, what I wanted, and what would be gotten rid of.  There were children to entertain and feed.  Someone came by to inspect the house.  Someone else came by to look at the plumbing.  It was a great day and not just because I didn’t spend any money.

What a day.  A long day.  An exciting day.  An expensive day.

Train Tickets — $10.50
The kids and I took public transportation to the event of a lifetime — to see Barack Obama speak.  Words cannot express the experience.

Concert Tickets — $88.00
The Son and I will be going to see The Capitol Steps in this spring.  I’m really proud of myself for taking action and getting this done — all too often over the past few years I’ve had good intentions for getting out and doing extracurricular activities and attending special or cultural events with my children but have rarely followed through.  One of my resolutions this year was to build cultural events into our budget.

Bus Fare — $11.00 + $2.00 tip
This was the first time I’ve ever used public transportation to get to the airport.  It was very comfortable and convenient and $13.00 was a real bargain.

Airport Concessions — $2.46
I bought myself a big bottle of Aqua Fina water as soon as I was through security.

Grocery Store — $63.90
Earlier this afternoon I called my mom’s house and spoke with my sister.  I asked if they could please have something in the house that I could eat because I’d be hungry when I arrived.  Somehow she’d understood my request as needing food for tomorrow, not tonight.  Since I arrived close to 10pm, they had long since eaten dinner and didn’t have anything that could easily and quickly be prepared (taking into account, of course, my extensive food allergies).  So we stopped at the local health food store for supplies before heading home.

• organic broccoli — $3.32
• organic green kale — $2.79
• organic red cabbage — $1.37
• organic sweet potatoes — $6.57
• hydroponic tomato — $1.24
• organic bananas — $1.88
• organic green onions — $1.79
• 1/2 gallon Organic Valley 2% milk — $3.49
• Applegate organic roast beef slices — $5.99
• Applegate organic turkey slices — $6.79
• organic white flour tortillas — $1.79
• Kashi Autumn wheat cereal — $3.99
• 6 gallons water — refills — $2.34
• fiber capsules — $15.99
• colby cheese — $3.46

Oh, my.  I can’t even begin to describe the day I’ve had today.  Ups and downs and last-minute schedule changes and general running around like a busy mom without enough hours in the day or tools in my belt.

The day started out quietly enough, though early because I took care of The Daughter’s early morning cross-town commute to school.  She drove.  Quite the excellent peak-rush-hour-on-the-highway driver she’s becoming.  I made it back home in time to give The Husband another break by taking care of getting The Son to his Tuesday classes.

I had planned on a few quiet hours at home to get some office hours in for my job, get some laundry and other household tasks completed, and make a few phone calls.  Nothing doing.  My mom called.

My mom just sold her house.  Surprised the heck out of all of us that it sold this quickly.  It was only on the market for two weeks!  My sister flew out on Sunday to help sort through things, decide what should be kept and moved, and what should go.  A good 98% of it has to go.  Today they called because they’d decided it would be helpful if I could come down and overlap my visit with my sister’s.  Ugh.  My husband’s a real trooper but taking care of both kids’ schedules alone is a monumental task.  Worst part was, I don’t want to be out-of-state on Super Tuesday.

All of the talking and pondering and talking some more ate up every single minute of my “free” time this morning.  Before I knew it, it was time to go gather The Son.  But I’d promised to stop by the bookstore beforehand so I dashed out the door to get that done on the way to his classes.

Barnes & Noble – $31.95
The bookstore had 5 different bindings / options for Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Ever have one of those days where nothing is simple or easy?  Not even the simple and easy things?  I finally decided on a hardback all-in-one edition.  The Son was delighted.  I was happy to invoke my 20% educator’s discount — saved $7.60.

As I was deciding whether to get three books or one, paperback or hardback, The Daughter called and asked if I could come pick her up from school.  Practice had once again been cancelled — this time because too many of the girls had begged off pleading too much homework.  They’re in the final stretch of a “block” (like a semester but shorter) and the Trigonometry and 20+ page research papers aren’t the easiest of subjects to wrap up on time without serious work and much stress.

I was happy to hear the there would be no practice but the logistics of having to pick up The Son at 2:45 and The Daughter at 2:45 in opposite sides of a very large, very congested metropolitan area are, well, not simple or easy.  On a mildly congested afternoon, the drive for a lead-footed driver takes 35-40 minutes.  When you have an annoyed 13-yo with a full bladder who fully expected a 12-minute drive home, the drive takes a little longer (because you have to stop back into the very same bookstore you left 15 minutes earlier so the boy can use the bathroom).  Today the drive took 50 minutes.  That meant that The Daughter was in no better mood when finally picked up than The Son had been when I told him he’d be spending an extra 1-1/2 in the car.  No one asked me how I felt about the whole arrangement.    

All that driving gave me a lot of time to think and I came to the conclusion that family has to come first.  So I started making mental plans to make the trip down to help my mom and sister.  The assumption had been that I’d drive — about a 9 hour one-way drive.  I was going to be one tired woman but no one could accuse me of not coming through.

The Husband surprised me, upon hearing my plans, by suggesting that I fly.  Those of you who fly on a regular basis know that with all of the current security measures and the state of our modern air-travel conditions, a 1-1/2 hour flight can take the better part of the day what with needing to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight.  On top of that, I have a 1-hour-plus commute just to get to the flipping airport.  Still, all of that sounds easier than making the drive on my own.  My poor middle-aged, post-stroke, fibromyalgia-suffering body takes a real beating on a solo 9-hour drive.  If one takes into consideration that I’ll be expected to be functional and helpful once I get there, I didn’t fight The Husband too much when he suggested flying.

Oh, and did I mention that flying scares the absolute bejebees out of me.  Really.  I. Hate. Flying.

Anyway, long story longer, tonight I made my second purchase of the day:

Airline — $245.50
Round-trip airfare that will take me out of here tomorrow night, give me five full working days to help my mom (three of which will overlap with my youngest sister) and bring me home to my “loving” family on Tuesday — hopefully in time to cast my ballot on Super Tuesday and have my voice counted in the primary.

Now that I’ve droned on much too long and stayed up much too late (especially since I have a very early wake-up call tomorrow morning and a very late flight tomorrow night), I will bid you all adieu.  I hope to continue to make daily $$ posts but it would be completely unrealistic to even pretend that I’ll try to post anything more complicated or thoughtful.  I hope to resume my not-so-regular regularly posting in a week or so.

I only made three purchases today.  Two were for liquid gold — or, rather, liquids that cost a fortune.

Safeway Gas — $54.72
Most afternoons The Daughter gets a ride straight from school to practice.  Then The Husband picks her up and brings her home.  Most of my chauffeuring duties these days involve The Son.  But every once in a while I am called upon to pick up The Daughter from school.  Today was one of those days.

But before I could go very far, I had to tank up because The Tank was empty!  I pumped 20.199 gallons @ $2.709/gal.  The odometer read 119,478.

Starbucks — $7.16
On the way home, The Daughter very humbly and sweetly requested a stop at Starbucks.  Having no good reason to say no, I said yes.  When we got there, I called The Son and asked if he wanted anything.  Well, naturally.

So we walked out with one caramel frappachino and one vanilla bean frappachino.  Liquid gold.  The kids assured me they were delicious.  And they both remembered (without any prompts and quite independently) to say “thank you.”

Treats for the kids:  $7.16.  Knowing they have a good chance of growing up civilized:  priceless.

Daughter’s School — $200.00
I ran out of Kroger gift cards weeks ago but kept forgetting to buy more.  Since I was responsible for today’s pick-up, I stopped in the office and purchased some.  If I remember correctly, the school gets 5% of all grocery gift card purchases — that would mean $10.00 for the school.  Easy money for an excellent cause.

Church — $15.00
Weekly offering.

Old Navy — ($12.91)
Returned the two packages of men’s size small briefs.  I was talking to the manager about something else and mentioned my frustration about

1. the fact that Old Navy’s boy’s size 18 pants have an inseam that is 4″ shorter than Gap’s boy’s size 18 pants;
2. Old Navy doesn’t offer an waist/inseam sizing combination that fits tall, slim youths (waist size 29 comes only in a 30″ inseam);
3. that there’s a huge size differential between Old Navy’s boys size XL underwear and their men’s size Small.

He commiserated and acknowledged the issues with both the underwear sizing and the inseam offerings.  It seems likely that they’re heard those complaints before.  As for the sizing differences between Old Navy products and Gap, he said that even though Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic are all owned by the same company, they all three purchase separately from different manufacturers and that there’s no carryover from one brand to another.  Not the answers I really wanted to hear but for the first time I really felt listened to.  I hope that someday The Son will once again fit into Old Navy pants since the store is much more convenient for us and, naturally, less expensive than Gap.  But for now, Gap’s more generous inseams are what The Son needs.

The good news is that The Son should be able to make it through the rest of winter and this spring with the pants he has.  The two pair of boy’s size 18 Old Navy khakis that he really likes are simply too short but he does have three pair of Gap cords and one pair of Dockers khakis that I picked up at a thrift store last fall.  The Dockers are still a bit big and look a bit silly but not quite as silly as the too small Old Navy khakis.  He’ll need a whole new collection of shorts this summer but hopefully we’ll be able to get those at Old Navy since inseam measurements aren’t as critical with shorts.

But all of this gets us no further in our Great Underwear Search of ‘08.  So far we’ve tried Alfani, Calvin Klein, Old Navy, and Tommy Hilfiger briefs — with no success.

Old Navy — ($20.97)
Returned the wool pea coat that The Daughter bought early this month while shopping with her grandmother.  I exchanged the coat last week because the original coat was losing a button as it was not a simple matter of reattaching it (had a fancy ribbon and toggle button arrangement).  Once I got the replacement home, The Daughter started rethinking the overall usefulness of the coat and decided, in the long run, to return it.

Old Navy — $31.74
While I was busy chatting with the manager (see above), The Daughter was busy shopping and found a pair of brown suede cork wedge shoes that she liked.  I think they’re pretty hideous but she had a pretty good argument for having a pair of brown dress up shoes and, besides, our new clothing allowance arrangement means that I only veto purchases that I consider inappropriate.  Other than that I’m trying to keep a hands-off approach to her clothing purchases and give her free-rein in choosing what to buy and how much to pay.  The full price of the shoes was $31.74 but The Daughter applied the $21.35 gift card she received during the exchange of the pea coat so only $10.39 came from this month’s clothing allowance.

Kroger — $95.07
They had furnace filters on sale (not a huge savings but every $4.00 helps) and I need to replace mine again in another four weeks or so.  The filters accounted for about $30.00 of this total and will be entered in to my budget as a Household: Consumables expense, not a grocery expense.

• two 3M furnace filters — $13.99/ea. (saved $2.00/ea.)
• Idaho potatoes — $2.40
• sweet potatoes — $2.32
• onion — $0.36
• green onions — $1.29
• broccoli — $2.95
• red cabbage — $1.75
• Fruitabu smooshed fruit leathers — $4.49
• Coleman ground beef — $4.91 (frozen for future use)
• Coleman ground beef — $6.29
• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal — $3.69
• Meadow Gold sour cream — $1.59
• Spectrum canola oil — $5.19
• Naturally Preferred maple syrup — $5.29
• Arm & Hammer baking soda — $0.99 (small box for kitchen)
• Arm & Hammer baking soda — $1.29 (large box for laundry, etc)
• 2 Promax energy bars — $1.59/ea.
• 2 Balance energy bars — $1.00/ea.
• 3 Pria energy bars — $0.89/ea. (saved $0.10 ea.)
• Sunsilk shampoo — $3.99
• Crest sensitivity toothpaste — $4.39
• Colgate toothpaste — $1.50 (saved $1.19)
• bag credit — ($0.15)

Obama for America campaign — $25.00
Another donation.  His win in South Carolina was pretty exciting but the real reason I donated again is because of what I’m learning about him from reading his book,
The Audacity of Hope.  The book is very readable and accessible — but most of all it’s speaking to me and my internal conflicts between my own liberal and conservative ideas and philosophies on a very deep and personal level.  I have been deeply moved by the level of insightfulness and wisdom that exists in Obama’s writings.  I’m convinced that he can both lead and inspire and do good things for this great nation of ours.

I realize that laying my political affiliations out like this might turn off present and potential readers/subscribers.  I spent some time pondering whether or not to come out of the political closet and finally decided that honesty is the only acceptable policy.  My initial and over-riding goal in beginning and maintaining this daily dollar diary was (and is) transparency.  What good is an honest and transparent look into the daily financial life of a middle-aged middle-class suburban wife and mother if I can’t be honest about my political leanings?

Basketball.  Most of the day today was dedicated to basketball.  And food.

~ o o o O o o o ~

First I had to “bribe” The Son to come to the game and work concessions/admissions.  I promised him lunch.

Good Times — $7.10
Did you know that Good Times uses Coleman all-natural beef?  Did you know that they’re much more expensive than Wendy’s?  The Son ordered two full-sized cheeseburgers and a medium soda.

~ o o o O o o o ~

Then, what’s a sporting event without munchies?  Avoiding munchies is even harder when you’re working concessions.  Between The Son, The Daughter, and the girls who needed a short-term loan,   I dropped $5 in cash on munchies and drinks.  At least I didn’t have to pay any admissions fees since it was a home game.

After working and watching during the girls’ game, I took off to run a quick errand while the boys warmed up and then started their game.

~ o o o O o o o ~

Marshalls — ($42.93)
I returned the DLO FM transmitter I bought early this month.  I love the DLO FM transmitter I use in The Tank and bought this second unit for The Daughter to use in The Husband’s Subaru.  But then I found a Belkin transmitter at Costco.  This unit will fit better in the Subaru and it came packaged with several cool additional accessories.  Plus it was the last one on the shelf and was drastically reduced.  We decided to keep the Belkin (though, honestly, after using both I feel the DLO is a superior product).

~ o o o O o o o ~

I got back from the errand in time to watch a very exciting but disappointing finish to the boys’ game, collect both of the kids, and finally head home.  But nothing is ever quite that simple, is it?  Of course not.  The Daughter was hungry.  And we were completely out of milk.

Wendy’s — $5.80
The Daughter ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, a side salad (instead of french fries — good for her), and a small Dr. Pepper.  I don’t like the kids to drink caffeine but I don’t police it as much as I used to when they were younger.  Neither one consumes much caffeine — certainly not daily doses.  I figure she could be into a lot worse things than a Dr. Pepper here and there.

And the last stop of the day:

Kroger — $17.47

• gallon of Horizon 2% milk — $4.88 (saved $0.07)
• 1/2 gallon of Horizon chocolate milk — $2.99 (saved $0.50)
• 1/2 gallon Dole orange/peach/mango juice — $3.34 (saved $.035)
• Planter’s mixed nuts — $2.99 (saved $2.00)
• Keebler chocolate chip cookies — $2.99
• bag credits — ($0.15)

Ah.  An honest-to-goodness no-spend day.  In other words, this wasn’t a delayed-spending no-spend day.  I had no pressing errands and no impending expenses that were simply put off for another day.

~ o o O o o ~

But is it really possible to have a no-spend day?  A day on which you don’t spend a single penny?  I would say no; it’s impossible for me to have a day completely free of any type of expense.  Why?  Because I have monthly bills.  Like a mortgage which represents 29, 30, or 31 days of use each month.  I lived in my house today.  And I used my furnace today to heat that house.  And I used electricity to wash and dry clothes, to light my house after dark, to run my computers and my dishwasher and even the TV.  And I drove both of our cars today — using gas, being insured, incurring wear-and-tear.  So, yes, it’s true that I did not make any direct purchases today.  But I did, in a way, spend money.

What do you think?

Alternative Care & Supplements — $140.46
Another Lavage session (aka colon hydrotherapy, aka colonic).  My IBS is flaring; I’m in a bad insomnia cycle; my fibro pain is increasing.  I’m trying to take care of myself, as best I can.  I’m hoping that these additional supplements will produce some good results.

Speech Therapy — $60.00
Another speech therapy session for The Son.  We’ve moved forward on an idea I hatched a few months ago to have The Son blog.  I might not be the most objective person on this subject, but The Son is a very good writer; very witty and clever.  Today he “turned in” his first blog post.  If he keeps it up and posts on any sort of regular basis, I’ll share a link so my readers can check it out.

Qwest — $210.21
I’m still trying to figure out what happened with this bill.  I’m guessing that somehow I went over my minutes but the bill is complicated and I’m not feeling well (even less well after seeing the bill!).  It’s been a long time since I went over on my minutes — and when it does happen it always coincides with some big family drama.  Family dramas are such a P in the A and major causes of stress — and these awful, massive phones bills feel like someone kicking me while I’m down.

And one last charge I made last week but forgot to report:

Weleda Pharmacy — $79.20
Four remedies for The Son as prescribed earlier this month by our doctor.

Cello Teacher — $105.00
Paid for four 45-minute lessons.  This will take us into the first week of February. 

Wendy’s — $4.08
Dinner for The Son consisted of two burgers and a medium root beer. 

Kohl’s — $32.27
While I was busy with A Boy and His Cello duty, The Husband had to pick up The Daughter.  She has a dance coming up this weekend and no practice this afternoon so she asked that a parent take her shopping for a new blouse.  Her dad drew the short straw.  Apparently she dragged him to no less than 6 different stores!  Turns out she was shopping not just for herself but for a classmate as well.  The classmate’s blouse totaled $19.37 of the above total so The Daughter is still within her clothing budget. 

Addendum:

iTunes — $3.18 (used iTunes credit; no cash actually spent)

• 1234 by Fiest
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
• Business Time by Flight of the Conchords (this “polished” version was a little disappointing because I’m used to the live, more “raw” version; still hilarious)

To my regular readers or those reading through my posts in a chronological manner, I apologize for not following a more linear path when discussing how I’ve handled my approach to children and finances.  Events happened recently to bring our current financial policies for The Daughter to the forefront of my thinking.  I thought, too, that this current “snapshot” might provide some balance to last week’s Kids & Money post:  Putting Baby on a Budget?.

As I wrote last week, due to my educational philosophies I chose to delay my children’s exposure to financial matters.  To recap, we waited until our children were 7 before starting an allowance and we waited until they were 8 before allowing them opportunities to spend money.

Let’s fast-forward to what my now 15-yo daughter’s financial education and exposure looks like.  Is it still delayed?  Are the strong lines of “adult” and “child” still in place and still so defined?

Her financial assets: 

The Daughter currently has a checking account with a checkbook and a debit card, a savings account earning 4.75% APY, and a traditional CD earning 4.95% APY.  Between these three accounts, The Daughter’s cash assets are approximately $2,500.00.

All three are co-owner accounts since The Daughter is still a minor and I couldn’t find a bank that would let her open her own individual accounts.  In fact, it took a bit of looking to find a bank that would even allow co-owner accounts instead of custodial accounts.

Apart from a savings bond we cashed out 1-1/2 years ago for ~$850.00, The Daughter’s cash assets are solely the result of her own income (see below) and savings habits. 

Her revenue streams:

The Daughter has three main income sources –

1. Her Allowance:  The Daughter receives $6.00 per week, paid monthly.
2. Her Job:  The Daughter is paid $10.00 per week by the church to provide child care during the adult services.  The arrangement is that she gets paid every week whether there are children to watch or not.  However, on the weeks when she doesn’t go to church (happens occasionally, I substitute), she doesn’t get paid.  The Daughter landed this cushy child care position last summer.
3. Gift cards and cash on birthdays and holidays.  Cash gifts are a rare occurrence (in fact, I can’t remember her receiving a single cash gift over the years) but gift cards are frequently at the top of her wish list and family often obliges.
4. Sometimes, though rarely, The Daughter earns extra cash by babysitting.  Her extracurricular (sports) schedule and homework workload preclude her from being able to accept most of the job offers that she receives.  She does babysit more frequently in the summer than during the school year but summer vacation’s only 2 months long and last summer she was gone for half of that time.

A fifth source of “income” that at this point involves no cash is The Daughter’s monthly clothing allowance.  The current arrangement is that she gets $100.00 per month to spend completely at her discretion.  Whatever she doesn’t spend in one month carries over to the next month.

Her financial responsibilities:

I do not place any savings requirements on The Daughter.  She is free to spend as much or as little as she chooses on, for the most part, anything she chooses.  And she is not required to tithe or make charitable donations.  Almost without exception, she is free to spend her cash, her gift cards, and her clothing allowance in whatever manner she chooses.

The Daughter is responsible for paying for all gifts she purchases for friends and family.

At the beginning of this school year, The Husband and I signed a permission form that allowed her to go off campus during lunch.  If she chooses to walk with her friends to the coffee shop or local Mom & Pop grocery store, she’s responsible for funding those forays.

She pays for her own music downloads and for any books purchased for leisure-time reading.

She pays her own library fines and most of her independent recreational pursuits (ie, if she sees a movie with her friends, she pays; if we see a movie or go to a concert as a family, I pay).

Although her clothing allowance is still hypothetical (it exists as a budget category), she alone is responsible for making all clothing and clothing-related purchasing decisions.  Anything that she puts on her body has to come out of that allowance including all athletic gear (shoes, ankle braces, warm-ups, etc), intimates, and the daily-grind practical stuff (winter coat, socks, etc.).

Her financial awareness:

In addition to being comfortable with bank statements, checks, and debit card usage, The Daughter is generally fiscally savvy.

She understands the difference between a debit card and a credit card.

She knows what an NSF charge is and how to avoid ever having to pay one.  She is aware of the difference between the interest her money is earning and the rate of interest she’d have to pay if she borrowed money or used a credit card and didn’t pay the balance in full.  She does not view credit cards as evil but, then too, she does not view credit as free money.

The Daughter knows what a mortgage is.  She knows how prepayment works and she knows that some loans come with a prepayment penalty.  She’s familiar with home inspections, closing costs, broker fees, ARM’s, interest-only loans, VA loans, market value, appraisal value, and sweat-equity.

She understands compounding interest.

She knows about income tax, sales tax, and Social Security.

She knows what a payday loan is and why she should never get one.  She knows what usury is.

Tallying her financial score:

In all honesty, I couldn’t be happier with The Daughter’s financial attitude and awareness.  She has, thus far at least, succeeded in finding a balance between frugality and the strong attraction she feels to clothes, fashion, and all things bling.

She has an excellent grasp on the difference between her wants and her needs and seems able to derive long-lasting pleasure from small indulgences.

She appears to be developing a strong sense of when to buy for quality and longevity and when she’s better served by going cheap.

She’s extremely generous and is a first-class gift giver.  She isn’t extravagant but never pulls her punches when it comes to giving quality and meaningful presents to friends and family.

She has, quite independently (though I take credit for giving her that first strong taste for watching her interest earnings grow) set up an aggressive savings plan with her target being to save 50% of all earned income.

Although her good financial habits are no guarantee of future fiscal responsibility, I have every reason to expect that she will continue on her current path.  There will, in all likelihood, be mistakes made along the way.  All of us eventually have a financial mis-step or two.  Still, I find her natural financial acumen to be comforting and encouraging.  I believe that her current financial habits result from a combination of nature (her own personality) and nurture (the examples set by The Husband and myself) and I feel fairly confident that when she heads off to college in just over two years, irresponsible financial behavior will not be one of my main worries.  

Although I might well be deluding myself, I believe that despite our delayed introduction to money and spending (or, in my personal estimation, quite possibly because of it), at 15 The Daughter is way ahead of her peers regarding personal finances.  None of my peers’ children are as responsible for their own personal finances as my daughter is.  And from what I’ve learned about her current classmates, she’s light-years ahead of them in this regard as well.