The Budget: Jan- June 2021

Oh my! Our house, that was supposed to be going up in late spring of 2021, is up. It is framed and ready for the next steps. The snow has started to fly. It is REALLY cold up there.

 

What is not ready is the budget. 

 I am the budgeter in my family and have been for thirty years. 

He made the majority of the money. 

My job was to work/run the money :) and the house and the kids. 

 We are not credit people. 

We haven't carried a balance on anything in many, many moons. 

 We have a card or two- for planes- but not much else

 We have used 2/3 of the planned money. 

 Cash (for the project) is gone. 

The rest is supposed to be available when we sell our current house 

 Which is not going on line until mid March.

 Hummmm 

We have offers from sibs to lend money---no thank you. 

That can open a can of worms that is impossible to fix.

 That, in turn, means that the new house will have to be cold and wait. 

And so will the worker bees. 

We have paid for windows and doors and 

possibly the heater but not much more for a few months. 

Our current budget will be cut closely to help the future budget. 

Here are the things in the current budget.

 In savings "envelopes for future need" 

Moving and closing fees                     11% 

Taxes (house/car/income)-family gift18%

 travel                                                   6% 

Dogs                                                     4% 

Car                                                       6% 

His and Her Allowances.                  12%

 Insurance                                           4% 

Those compromise a bit over 60% of the monthly money.

 I like to be ahead of bills instead of worrying where the money comes from. 

This is the rest of the money. 

Health care  (yes, very low)      4%

 Groceries (food and all)         14% 

eating out                                   6% 

utilities                                       4%

 Cable (phone/tv/internet)         4% 

gasoline/oil changes                  3% 

tolls (yes, I live in the East)      2%

 Kindle/movies                          2% 

Costco                                       2% 

Family business                        4% 

That still leaves 1/4 of our income ( not counted in this amount)

for the new house. 

There is always something. 

And then there is the wait for the sale of our current house.

Boy, I hope the hot market continues 

with the low interest rates.

It is a GREAT house!

Just in the wrong region of the country.

I cannot wait for this to be over! 

We have not been on a real budget for such a long time. 

And I know, this is not tight for most people.

This is a good exercise for me. 

If my husband passes before me,

 I know exactly where I can cut to get me

 to half the amount we are currently living on. 

Which is what I will be living on without using savings. 

Getting old is not for the faint of heart. 

Building a house while getting old-- Bah Hum Bug!

Organization

 Is taking over my life.

Like most people my age COVID has not hit my pocketbook, but has given me lots of time to get my act together. 

We are down to six book shelves of books...down from nine. Library never did reopen for books so I put them on Craig's list and they were swooped up in short order. We decided to keep a few great books for the lending library we will begin in the park across from our new house. 

Our clothes are sorted by color and time of year. Closets have been emptied of old prom dresses, cadet uniforms, infant clothes and baby toys (all the grands are over two). There were some very fun contactless pick ups for those.

Boxes and bins separate shoes, socks, towels and "fun" soaps. Cleaning out under the sinks---done! Extras are long gone to the homeless shelter. 

We sorted Christmas wrap and ornaments a few weeks ago. Again, front porch give aways were fun!

Down to two sets of dishes and three sets of glasses (two goblet and one every day). They all fit in one cabinet. Rehab (Habitat's store) was delighted to get some great extras. 

Extra furniture is mostly gone. We hired an out of work furniture team to recover some pieces. Some pieces were painted for the new house colors. Family heirlooms have been passed on.

Games have been sorted, gone through, given away. Settlers of Catan (youth and adult versions) has become a steady. Have you tried Sushi GO? We have learned Canasta (and I am terrible). Battleship, Monopoly and others have found their way to the Y. They have "day care/school" for essential worker children. Funny how 200 of those kids can gather and not get sick, isn't it?

Although I have avoided supporting Amazon, my Black Friday buying at Walmart (shop and pick up/ support the local economy) landed me with new containers for my pantry. My stocking up, not prepping, is pretty well done. It is all packed away for the movers. 

This is my vision of my stocking up area

The Murphy bed is framed in the second bedroom. A bed in the closet- leaves a room for movies. 

I have learned the power in tiny samples of paint. The current bathroom is completely touched up. The tub has received a coat of repair. A less organized me would have brought in a contractor for the work.

My fall chores are completed already (usually done by spring). Heater and Air con checked, roof completed, railings on porches done, garden mulched ( still picking broccoli), bulbs pulled, raspberries cut back, dogs nails trimmed, propane filled, light bulbs traded, smoke alarms checked, flash lights checked and placed,  carpet for master ordered (laid in Jan after the rush), ceilings painted. Whew! 

My grands are still not in school, so I do some writing workshops and math tutoring on call. My organization and downsizing of my old teaching materials has been right on schedule. 

So sad that they are missing out some important developmental steps in trust and relationships, but anything to keep the old people unafraid of death! 

We were planning on having to hire a moving company to take our last load to Idaho. I think we may be driving it out ourselves. A big win for organization and staying in. 

Now, If I can survive the long dark winter, all will be better on the other end. Eight more weeks of shut in- what can I organize now?

Getting ready

 Elections are over--sort of.

Parades on both sides are almost through. Everyone remembers, again,  how to wear a mask. Don't blame one side or the other, this is Biden's state! He moves freely from deep blue to deep red....                        The first COVID infection rise is hitting . Hospitalizations for COVID are up to 17 people in intensive care and 40 all around. I think our low as in the single digits. No problem, we are used to being closed. Everyone has figured out how to get to the hairdresser without REALLY seeing the hair dresser. 

Our family sees each other often enough to be a bubble. Virtual school, home working, secured work, retired...We want to do Thanksgiving- how about the screened in porch?  We are just at a dozen- perfect according to our governor. (Kids under five shouldn't count anyway--that would make 10). Turkey is ordered from the farm. Potatoes, green beans, salad, gravy -even the flour is local. I'm the only one in the kitchen. Daughter in law is using my canned cherries for her pie. Son in law will broil his Brussel sprouts at home and put them in a warmer. They will do their thing at their houses and bring it--pot luck style. 

Bikes are ready in the garage for tours of the neighborhood. A nice walk in the woods and then a wonderful bon fire with sommores before everyone heads home or settles in.

Once kiddos leave I'll do a final inventory of foods, crafts, puzzles and dog food. 

It is going to be a LONG dark winter for sure. 

This time, I can see a Western light at the end of my tunnel.

Traveling?

 Listened to BBC yesterday about France's pending lock down. (starting today?)

Two days ago I listened to Jeannie Shaheen (NH) debating for that Senate Seat.

What do they have to do with each other?

First a French blogger  I follow is lamenting that her son might not be able to get back over the French boarder in time to file divorce papers. He doesn't really have a residence in France, so she listed her place as the residence. She is hoping he can get to her before the borders are locked down.
Do they actually lock borders? I have no idea. 

And the debate?

Shabeen explained that the largest mistake Trump made was to let the Americans who were overseas (for whatever reason) back into the country in March.  Her largest objection was permitting European people in, since the East Coast version of the virus seemed to come back with people in Europe. The West coast had infection from Asia. The entire 60,000 should have been kept out. Period.

In the past I have traveled a lot. Often. Many places. The constant that I felt was if there was an overseas emergency, I could head for the embassy and beg. Will that be true in the future?

Gave me pause. 

France's rule? If you are not an essential worker or school child you are allowed out of your house for one hour and are not allowed to travel more then 1 km in that hour- daily- for the next three weeks. 

FYI- France is 249k mi sq /60 million people. The lower 48 US is 3,120K mi sq and between 307 and 320 mil people. 

I am not for or against, just observing. We continue to be very good at masks and distance at my house :)
Life continues to be interesting. 

Building a house Part 1

 
We decided last year to build a house for our older years in Idaho. My husband grew up in Idaho Falls, and he is ready to "go home". 

The thought was a four year window. Get the grands all in school and then move when they are not looking. 

The pandemic lock down has changed all that. No need to stay in the East when we could not see our grandchildren on a regular basis. There are fines for going over bridges and we were told to stay inside. We could not attend Church, concerts, parades. Way to much control over our lives. We can do just as much with grands on Facetime while fishing on the Snake River. 

Of course, we could fish/crab the Delaware Bay or Jonas River, but the warnings to only eat one product from these places a year because of the heavy metals in the water....no thank you. Once the federal clean waters act was lifted in this area the states paid no attention and the fertilizer and metals began dumping again. @@ the mid Atlantic states are a mess! Western waters tend to be state controlled and clean. Don't let a cattle rancher catch you messing with the water!!! 

That is another topic for another day.

One of the challenges of building right now is that we are building with US products. The administration has high tariffs on wood from Canada and China. Both have been clear cutting and shipping at a loss to undercut the US market. We get it. So, we are backing US jobs and paying a higher price.

What does that mean to us? Currently our pice for framing materials is up 30%. Our costs for OSB board is up 50%. That also means that these products are fairly cut, harvested, and paid for. They do not include a bunch of formaldehyde or other chemicals used in China - not acceptable to us. 

We are buying our cupboards from a local craftsman. Most had stopped building because they were undercut by big box. With the tariffs, they are on par.  We are using local crews- who are legal and settled in the area. They are bussssyyyy, but will step in for a self build neighbor. We are using small businesspeople for our flooring products- also US made. Appliances are a challenge, but we are getting there. European or US made as long as they are fair wage items. 

We are putting our money where our mouths are. 
Fair wage, good products, growing economy. 
To us you cannot say, "I want the US to be a good place for the next generation" and then buy market flooded stuff from a different place. That is how we have always been. Buy local. 

So, on we go. No matter who is President- we want to be in the West. 

The building continues! 
 Hold on---it is going to be a ride for sure!

Saudi Arabia Revisited

 After writing about my encounter with the Holy Men, I was reminded of another story.

My husband's building was blown up during our time in Saudi. We lived on the compound (about 50 houses behind a 10 foot wall with a rec center and offices) directly behind the office building. BUT, we had just moved from a compound across town (much more in the desert). 

After the bombing, the compounds pretty much shut down. We were barricaded in and protected by Marines brought on shore for car search duty. Our children did not go to school.

 There was SO much gossip. "It had happened because the Christians gathered." "Another wave is going to hit." "No one understands how under threat we are." "Our children are safer in our houses then in the pods set up for school." "The other compound has abandoned us." "Our cars are targeted, they must be protected, don't go out without a full abaya or a full AK (we actually were not allowed guns at all)". 
There were SO many experts starting their idea of what was and was not safe. Water, food, play time, church, the list was endless. So were the rules. 

About two months into the mess we sprung free and went into the desert. With friends we camped, sang, hiked, played, drank...it was amazing. No one got hurt, or shot at, or killed (well, we did get stuck in a sand dune---but that was a challenge). 

We returned to the compound. We had changed but the anti "those who did not believe are evil" became even worse. We were shunned- especially by those who lived in our old compound. 
In Saudi you are not "allowed to leave the country" without permission of our government and theirs. No one had that permission.  So we returned to live the bunker mentality.

My husband's early retirement time came up. We had, fully, intended, to "stay in" for a few more years. Retire kindly. Move to our house and just love it. Instead I pushed. He put in the papers.
We left Saudi, much to many nashing teeth. We abandoned our dear friends who were not in the "permission window" to leave. They were there four more months and did some pretty harsh moves when the time came. I was never forgiven....

Go to today. We have lived the hard and harsh lock down. We went to Idaho. The air is clean- we laughed, we played, we hiked, we watched children go to school and others play soccer, we got up in the morning and ate breakfast- served by an overworked waitress because everyone else had gone back to work at higher paying jobs. 

We returned to reality that we were going back to lock down hell by boarding a plane- that was delayed for an hour so another plane could be returned because a screaming two year old refused to put on a mask. My husband's mask slipped below his nose when he nodded to sleep. The flight attendant woke him to harshly tell him to put his mask over his "NOSE and MOUTH!"
 One set of my grandchildren go to virtual school and then play for hours outside with neighborhood kids. The other set go virtual and then sit inside playing video games- no place to go or anything to do.
I got growled after entering the market with my mask in hand- the rain was so thick I could hardly see the building. My mask was SOAKED, but, like my veil, I put it on. 

The hospitalization of people is tiny. People socially distanced in Idaho, but did not get overly worried. There were many smiles (which we could see) everywhere.  There were 100 people in all of Idaho in the hospital for COVID related things while we were there. Currently there are 79 people in Delaware in the hospital with COVID related issues. 17 are critical. Less then 100 hospitalized  every day in September. Still- don't try to go the the shore without that mask on or someone WILL yell at you. 

It all moves my plans to move West closer and closer to NOW! I want those retirement papers in. I want out of here. Denying me the chance to do the only thing I moved here for- seeing my grandchildren makes me know that it is time to GO!  I live in the United States. I need to be able to move freely. Let the arrows begin. 

Really, I think all of the mask police need to move to one place- but who would be their servants???? Don't forget, to truly be a member of the mask police you cannot have any association with people who work outside of the house. You are exposed every single day. Or maybe that is another "do as I say , not as I do" occasion- like sending your kid to private school--or any school.

Building a house

 There are a thousand choices with a house. 

Should the corners be rounded? The doors be squared? Plugs be USB enhanced?

What color for the granite? One sheet or two?

Triple pane windows? white casing or black? screened in porch or open?

Just happy to be moving and get away from the despair that surrounds me here.