this vacation brought to you by . . . taxpayers

Well, we made it.  We are road-weary travelers, dragging into the drive after seventeen days and 2700 miles.  We safely and successfully completed our trek through Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and back again.

If you know me, you know I love spreadsheets and budgets and the like.  I kept tight financials throughout the trip, both because I wanted to spend as little as I could while still having an amazing time, and also because I'm not working this year and I really need to be frugal.  And I just like looking at stacks of figures sometimes (blame my accountant mother).

The numbers are in, and I'm pretty satisfied with how well we did.  

Lodging:  156.00

Fuel:  226.43

Entertainment: 214.12

Food:  469.40

Grand total:  1065.95

Per person, per day:  20.90

Before I get too smug, though, I have to admit that we are hugely indebted to the generosity of friends and family.  We only had to pay for two nights' lodging (super-fun airBnBs:  a camper in someone's backyard in St. Louis, and a tiny house on a lot with a yurt, rabbits, and a garden for the picking).  Otherwise, we stayed with loved ones.  People cooked us many meals, and took us for dinner often.  People supplied my needy children with endless snacks and drinks.  And they supplied me with endless beers.  :)

All snuggled up in the camper.

But also, I have to take a moment to thank the American taxpayer (self included, I suppose) for supplying us with amazing opportunities for fun.  I think that every single thing we did for entertainment included some element of governmental funding, whether as a public service or through grants.  Here is everything I could think of, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something:

*the Interstate system / rest areas:  our infrastructure allowed me to get safely to every destination, and we frequently packed food and ate at a rest stop for lunch - a double-win, because it saved money, and the kids could get out and run around and burn some energy.

*pools:  what more can I say?  We love a good solid aquatic center.  We visited eight different pools during the course of our trip, all of them municipal.  Some were seriously theme-park quality.  Some were just old-fashioned rectangular swimming holes.  All of them offered hours of fun and aerobic exercise for car-weary children.  Plus we worked up some serious base tans.

*museums:  City Museum in St. Louis is my all-time favorite, but we also enjoyed the exhibits at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Ulysses Historic Adobe Museum, and the University of Nebraska State Museum.  

An excellent collection of mastodons in Lincoln!

*libraries:  the Lawrence Public Library gave us an afternoon of delightful, air-conditioned quiet fun, and the Keene Memorial Library in Fremont was a favorite destination during long, hot walks.

*zoos:  we visited the famous Omaha Zoo and it was over-the-top amazing.  Could have gone back ten different times just to cover all the different exhibits.

*farmers' markets:  we always enjoy traipsing through the Soulard Market in St. Louis.  We also spent a fun morning with family at the Mission Farm and Flower Market in Kansas City.

With all the Reeves siblings and children on the way to the Market.

*gardens:  the Denver Botanical Gardens was probably one of our top spots on this trip, after the pools.  They have an excellent kids' garden that we could have explored for many more hours.  Thanks to Sara for letting us use her membership!

*hiking:  one of the primary attractions in Colorado, outside skiing, is the amazing hikes.  Fort Collins is especially close to the Front Range, and we loved exploring a little bit of Horsetooth Reservoir with my old best friend Ryan.

*parks/playgrounds:  when all else failed, we could always find a good city park for an afternoon of playing after visiting a coffee shop.  It may not sound like much of a vacation, since we do the exact same thing in Nashville, but I love comparing how each city and town does their urban planning and layout.

Todd forgoing his shirt at Congress Park in Denver.

So . . . here's to you.  The American taxpayer.  For giving my family the opportunities of a lifetime, and so many enjoyable, affordable chances to have fun.  Oddly enough, I kinda feel like I'm being undertaxed as I consider all of this.  I know many of us are hand-wringing right now, as the current political situation has us stressed.  But I'm here to tell you that, although there is always room for improvement, we aren't doing that badly!

$147.59

Here we continue with our monthly series on personal finance and budgeting, where I lay out real figures and percentages of income in an attempt to clear the collective air around these "highly sensitive" matters.  After all, until we get real about money, how can we ever resolve some of the class conflicts that are so prevalent in American society?

We've talked about insurance and health care.

We've discussed home ownership and the American dream.

Today, the digital revolution:  phones.

Let me preface all of this by saying that we are kind of phone snobs.  This is a luxury that we allow ourselves.  We have no land line, no home internet, and no cable.  But we have top of the line phones.  I have a sleek black iPhone 4, and Jeff has a nice Android.  I don't talk on the phone that much, but I use it for data constantly.  (It especially saved my sanity when I was spending hours and hours a day trapped in bed with a newborn.)  Jeff talks on the phone more than anyone I've ever met in my life.  In the past, when we have had plans with a defined number of minutes, he always uses them all or exceeds the limit.

We were with Verizon for years.  After we married and my contract with AT&T ended, I switched over to his plan.  We were satisfied with the service.  And then we bought our house.

Our modest little home, in the middle of a city block in the middle of a city neighborhood, gets absolutely no service from:  Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or Net10.  I mean, you can't make a call.  I couldn't have called the police if I needed to.  I couldn't send a single text message.  We spent several months after we moved trying to resolve this with Verizon.  It made no sense.  Our friends who live across the street have flawless Verizon service.  The best I can figure out is that we live on some kind of Indian burial ground or radioactive forcefield.  (Could this be related to the field of glass bottles that we live on?) (Sidenote:  we also have a ridiculously hard time receiving signal for basic television access with the bunny ears.)

After telling us that we lived in a "KTA" (known trouble area), and that the only option for reasonable service was to buy their expensive home internet service and a signal-boosting tower, all on our own dime, Verizon released us from our contract.

We cycled through the gamut of cell carriers, and nobody worked.  Nobody.  It was bizarre.

The one provider that we eventually discovered provided some semblance of coverage at our address was Cricket.  That's right - the ultra-budget pay-as-you-go no-contract service.  And we've never looked back.  The customer service has been great, we get reasonably good speed, and mostly - it works at our house.  The coverage area is drastically limited compared to Verizon, though.  When we go on road trips, we are without service for any length of time that we are in rural areas.  There are also a lot more dropped calls and missed texts.  I guess you get what you pay for.

We pay for Jeff's grandmother to be on our plan.  She has a very simple little phone with the most basic, utilitarian features.  She does so much for us - it's our little way of saying, "Just don't worry about this one thing."

I have an unlimited data and minutes plan.  Jeff also has an unlimited data and minutes plan.  No contract.

For the three of us, each month, we are paying $147.59.  This is a savings of almost $100 over what we paid for the same phones and less usage per month for just the two of us on Verizon.  And like I said, this is still with very nice phones.  We did have to buy the devices out of pocket, since Cricket isn't able to offer the same kinds of deep discounts on phones along with contract purchases.  But, I sold my Verizon iPhone on Craigslist quickly and only had to pay a bit to buy the Cricket version.

This $147.59 represents just 4.7% of our monthly income.  Grouped together with other utilities (water, electric, gas), we fluctuate from 10-12% of income, depending on floating factors like weather and season.

The move from a "name-brand" cell phone service to a budget carrier was a good move for us, and one that we never would have considered if we hadn't been forced into it by our strange signal-receiving situation.

What do you pay for cell phone service?  Do you like to have a flashy phone, or keep it simple?

it's 35 cents off of ground round . . .

baby cut that coupon out!!

Anybody else remember that terrifically horrible country song from the mid-oughts entitled "What I Love about Sunday"?  Nashville, the land of "new" country, tends to spin the same five or six songs on the big country radio stations, ensuring that everyone is good and sick of the earworms before the season is out.  "Sunday," a paean to relaxing on the front porch with your family after church on Sundays, was just such a song.  Jeff still discusses the thrill of the singer in instructing his wife to clip a coupon for 35 cents off ground round on one of these leisurely afternoons.  Gotta love it!

Anyway, you can't deny that ground beef is cheap.  In our meat CSA, we get a good mix of cuts, like pork chops, steaks, roasts, whole chickens, and chicken parts.  But we also get a good amount of sausage and ground beef.  When you think about eating the whole animal, it just makes sense.  We haven't been brave enough yet to delve into the deep dark land of eating organs, although I know they're really good for you.  But ground beef, made from the trimmings and other leftovers after the cuts are packaged, is a staple.  We pretty much always have it in the freezer.  We tend to eat the cuts first because they are . . . well . . . more exciting.  But not every night can be steak night.  Not every night can we slow-roast a chicken.

My three favorite things to do with ground beef are:

1)  Taco salad, or tacos, or whatever Mexican-ish thing I can make with ground beef and my taco seasoning.  I featured this on my Brewer Diet update post earlier this week.

2)  Pasta with meat sauce.  Surely you don't need a recipe.  I don't usually make my own tomato sauce.  It's actually one of the few ready-made foods that you can find with a short ingredient list, although it probably has too much salt and sugar.  If I got my behind in gear and canned my own tomatoes, I would totally make my own.

3)  Shepherd's pie.  Sort of like meatloaf but with all the sides included!  It's a winner.  Here's my recipe:

1/4 C butter, divided
1 lb ground beef
2 onions, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 sprig rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped (which I totally steal off my neighbor's bush as I'm walking home from the bus stop.  I hate buying fresh herbs.  Biggest rip-off)
1/2 C fresh or frozen peas
1 C chicken stock
1 T tomato paste
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2-inch cubes
1/2 C whole milk
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cool water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt half the butter (2 T) in a big cast-iron skillet over medium heat.  Stir in onion, carrot, and rosemary.  Let it cook 10 minutes or so, until very tender.  Add the peas and the ground beef to the skillet.  Break up the beef and stir it frequently, until it is cooked through (about another 10 minutes).  Stir in chicken stock and tomato paste and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Turn the heat off.

Drain the potatoes and mash them with the milk, salt, pepper and remaining 2 T butter.  Spread the mashed potatoes over the ground beef mixture.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until nicely browned on top.

I love, love, love this meal because it is dead cheap, and I usually have everything on hand in the freezer, fridge, and pantry.  You can also make it ahead up to the baking point, and then just pull it out and bake it the next night for dinner.

4)  This doesn't include ground beef, but my absolute favorite pennies-per-serving meal is red beans and sausage.  Served with rice or cornbread.

Now go save some money!

$794.87

I have decided to continue a rollout of our family's budget categories and numbers, in an effort to demystify the American relationship with money and provide a forum for discussion.  Since so many people wanted to jump in on the conversation about health care costs last month, I thought I could do a monthly walk through the areas of our budget that stay static:  mortgage, auto and health insurance, student loan payment, phone, utilities (give or take), food (way give or take). 

This month is all about the mortgage.  We pay $794.87 each month for the privilege of the American dream - "home ownership" (a.k.a. living in a house while we buy it back from the bank).  I should actually clarify:  we pay $794.87 each month for homeowners' insurance, mortgage principal and interest, and property tax.  It's bundled and sent to the same financer, who places the extra in escrow and pays our other bills for us. 

When we knew that we would move back to Nashville in March of last year, we wanted to buy a house.  We haven't been living under a rock, so we knew that if ever there was a favorable time to make our first home purchase, it was now.  Historically low rates, sellers dying to get out of their homes, etc.

After months of haggling, being sure that we wouldn't get the house, arguing with the seller about upgrades to bring the house to basic code, and more . . . we signed (sight unseen, in my case - isn't that insane?)!  In June, we signed up for the biggest purchase we've ever made.  Our house, built in 1930, at a little over 900 square feet, cost $159,250.  We mostly paid for the neighborhood, which is hot.  (We constantly get offers in the mailbox from developers who want to buy our property and tear down the house!  Sorry suckers!  Not a chance!)  We paid for a good elementary school nearby.  We paid for amenities like shops, grocery stores, library, and parks in walking distance.  It was a bit of a shock.  In Topeka, where we had been living, the cost of buying a house was incredibly low.  We could have gotten the same house for half the cost.  I was really glad that we hadn't bought in Topeka, but had rather rented, because we wouldn't have gotten much in the sale between these two markets. 

Because of savings and a generous inheritance, we were able to put down 25% and avoid having to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance).  However, because we were able to put so much down, we also didn't qualify for a FHA loan, which would have had the very best rate of all. 

Jeff has okay credit, mine is good but not excellent.  We qualified for a 4.125% interest mortgage.  My stepdad's jaw dropped to the floor when I told him this number.  (He immediately called to refinance on all his rental properties!)  I didn't really realize it was that good a rate until I started talking shop with people who bought in previous years.  I felt really lucky that we could lock that on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.  Our broker had suggested even lower rates at the beginning - sub-4%! - but our credit and income just didn't get us there.

I am a person with good financial literacy, but the home-buying process boggled my mind a bit.  It became very easy for me to see how home ownership is a class distinction in our nation.  (Once upon a time, it was what defined the "middle class.")  Even if you have the money for it - if you don't have the paper trail, the people to vouch for you, and the understanding of what the h*** everyone is talking about . . . you can very easily get taken advantage of, or just cut out of the picture altogether.  I do have to confess, it made me feel like quite a grown-up to know what terms like "PMI," "sub-4%," and "escrow" mean.

When I wanted to know what a good price range would be for us, I found an incredibly helpful finance website that explained three rules for homebuying:  the rule of 28, the rule of 32, and the rule of 40. 

The rule of 28 is that your mortgage payment shouldn't exceed more that 28% of your monthly income.  We actually fall a little low on that.  Our mortgage payment is 26% of monthly income for us. 

The rule of 32 is that your total housing expenses (insurance, taxes, mortgage, and I count utilities in here, too) should not exceed more than 32% of your monthly income.  In a month with high utilities, we ride the line on this one, going between 30-35% of monthly income. 

The rule of 40 is that all your debt payments (consumer debt, student loans, mortgage, auto loans, etc) should not exceed 40% of your monthly income.  We do well on this one because we carry no debt except my student loan payment.  Our debt load is about 34% of monthly income.

All in all, I feel happy about our mortgage.  We are in an area we love, we are building equity in a long-term investment that we can borrow against in case of catastrophe, and even if my career causes us to move away, we can rent the house easily - there is a strong rental market in our neighborhood as well.  I'm happy that we didn't buy more house than we need.  It may not be the most impressive house on the block, but it's ours, and it's filled with love and family and good food and laughter. 

So tell me about your housing costs.  Did you buy high or low?  Still thinking about a first home purchase?  What do you pay per month for the American Dream?

featured!

My post from last week on our health care costs was featured at a Personal Finance roundup!  Squee!  Check out the other entries here. 

$552.43

Americans obviously have a lot of problems with personal finance.  We have, on average, astronomical credit card debt.  We frequently buy houses and cars we can't afford.  Even going to college or grad school is put on the tab - and I'm as guilty as the next person on this one.

One of the biggest root causes of all of this is that, in spite of being so materially focused, we are still reticent to discuss dollar amounts that we pay for things.  Somehow that is still considered impolite conversation!  Salaries are closely guarded secrets that we guess at.

I want to help break this taboo with some real talk on our family's budget.  When we moved to Nashville, I took a serious pay cut.  At the same time, we bought a house.  The mortgage and homeowners' insurance is about the same as what we were paying for rent and renters' insurance, but there are of course all the auxiliary costs that go with home ownership, plus we had decided to put on a house addition because the house we bought was quite small (~900 square feet).  Shortly after we signed on the house, my husband lost his full-time job.  The addition was already in motion - the foundation poured.

Jeff picked up some work, and we have been okay.  But things are definitely tight.  We are regularly spending every bit of what we make in a month, and not saving anything.  As a United Methodist clergyperson, I do have a pension which is automatically funded.  This is quite unusual anymore.  I have the option of adding to it out of my earnings, but haven't been doing that while we are in this position.

The figure I want to discuss today is what we pay monthly for health insurance for the three of us:  $552.43.  This is high, and let me explain why.  My husband has Crohn's disease, an autoimmune digestive disorder that needs special care, a regular gastroenterologist, frequent colonoscopies, sometimes hospitalization, medication during flareups, and very rarely, surgery.  It is expensive.  Insurance companies recognize this, and he is virtually uninsurable as an individual.  Thanks to some health care law changes, he is no longer allowed to be outright blocked by insurance carriers on account of his condition, but the price gouging is intense.  We definitely can't find anything close to the quality of insurance we need for him for less than $550 per month.

Thanks to the United Methodist organizational system, we have the opportunity to belong to a pool through the Tennessee Conference.  As a full-time elder under appointment, my insurance premiums are covered 100% by the conference.  Adding any adult + children dependents at all (whether it is your spouse, your spouse and your child, or your spouse and your ten children) is an additional $552.43.  And that is a cut rate.  Because my base salary is the minimum allowable for a full-time elder, I am eligible for a reduced rate on the monthly premium.  We could search for other, cheaper insurance for Vicki, but it wouldn't make any difference - we would still be paying the $552.43 just for Jeff.

But wait!  There's more.  The premiums are only what we pay for the privilege of paying more.  There is a $1000 deductible (total, for the whole family) for all services except well-child, and then we pay 20% for pretty much everything after that, up to $2000 per year (including deductible).  One colonoscopy pretty much wipes that out.  So we're looking at $552.43 per month plus $2000 per year.

One upside that I mentioned above is that the rate remains stable for a given year no matter how many dependents you have on your plan.  So, adding the new baby will not be very stressful, since it won't increase our premium at all.

Just the premiums represent about 18% of our pre-tax, total earnings.  In a year where we pay the maximum $2000 out of pocket, the total cost for health care would be 23% of earnings.  

Don't get me wrong.  I am so thankful we have this opportunity, because it is way better than the alternative:  paying out of pocket for all of this at full price.  That would literally break us.  Jeff would not receive the care he needs and deserves.  But when people try to pretend that health care in our nation is not messed up, it bothers me.  More than a little.  I don't know the right answer, but what we have isn't working.  At least not for people who are actually sick and need help.

So, are you brave enough to tell me what you pay for health care per month, or per year?  Is it working for you?