Leap Year Day and making the most of an extra day this year to declutter

Tomorrow is leap year day. February 29th.

What are you going to do with your extra day? Did you even realize you get an extra day in 2012?

I plan on spending an extra hour after work getting some serious declutter action going on in our garage. There's so much to do that an extra hour may not make a huge dent. But, symbolically, it's a great effort to show forth on this extra day.

I even considered calling in sick and making Feb 29th an unofficial Me Holiday. I guess I can decide tomorrow morning! This could be my every 4 year tradition.

Preparing for $4 a gallon gas (and hopefully not $5)

$4 gas is most likely right around the corner; weeks or even days rather than months. The media is already reporting that gas this month is the highest ever for February. With summer driving season months away I suppose there is a set of scenarios where we might even see $5 gas this year. Yikes!

With this in mind I am trying to develop a plan to deal with this so I don't let it become any more burdensome than it has to be. Basically I plan on minimizing the number of days I drive to work.


My car is a Subaru and gets about 22 mpg. The math on my commuting is simple: it takes about one gallon of gas for me to drive to and from work in the Subaru. So everyday I don't drive I save a gallon of gas. I also love the idea of keeping miles, and wear and tear off the car.

To minimize days driving I have four options:

• Bike. I plan on bike commuting as much as possible this summer. This is a great way to take care of exercise and saving on gas money at the same time.
• Motorcycle. My motorcycle gets about 45 mpg. This option uses half the gas of the car and keeps miles off the car as well. And it is fun.
• Carpool. There are two people I could potentially carpool with but work schedules would need to be adjusted. While not impossible, changing schedules would be less than ideal.
• Bus. There is a bus that more or less meanders from our house to my office. But with a 1/2 mile of walking involved that option would take over an hour each way and cost $4 a day so there would be zero incentive to do this.

The other household commute isn't as much of a concern since we have a Honda Hybrid. Even with high price of gas this car's 46 mpg makes it easy to deal with the price increase. My wife uses this car to commute 20 miles a day and uses less than half a gallon to do so.

My goal is to have 16 car-free commuter weeks for the remainder of the year. That would be over 1,600 fewer miles driven on our Subaru this year.

Has the prospect of $4 gas got you concerned? How are you preparing? At what price would gas really change your habits?

Starbucks wristbands raise $7 million and create over 3,000 jobs

I've mentioned previously that I like and support Starbuck's attempt at creating US jobs with their $5 bracelets. We bought two of these, adding our $10 to the mix. So did many, many other people. And now the results are coming in. These simple bracelets have been funneled into grants, which in turn have been sent out into communities around the country via community loans.

CNN highlighted some of the expected 2,300 jobs that have been created so far from these loans. Here are a few examples of the jobs:

• 10 jobs created at ice cream company in New England; received loan money after getting turned down from local bank.
• Small electrical company in Oregon gets a start with loan.
• 47 full time jobs created at a food co-op in Pennsylvania.

And as a bonus, Starbuck's blog reports that they have created 14 US based jobs by offering Made in USA coffee tumblers. It's about time.

Brokerage, retirement, checking, savings, ... How many accounts is too many?

How many accounts is too many? We have brokerage accounts with Schwab, Scottrade, Fidelity, and Etrade. And retirement accounts with Schwab, Scottrade, Fidelity, and American Funds. And savings/checking accounts with 2 banks and a credit union.

Overall it is a lot to keep track of. I often wish I could consolidate accounts. In fact, last year I did close one stock brokerage account with Interactive Brokers. I found their UI confusing and clunky. Their platform is intended for professional traders so I will admit I wasn't a good candidate for their product and services. It felt good to close it down. One less thing to worry about for taxes.

It is difficult to consolidate our brokerage accounts because I don't want to sell stocks just to transfer the money and buy them back again in a different company's account. This will cause unnecessary commission fees and tax issues. When I do sell to buy something else I generally just keep it in the same account. But perhaps I should start transferring the money into a chosen primary account. But as a buy and hold inverter this could take years, decades even, before we are able to close any of our older brokerage accounts.

We use an online bank as our primary checking/bill pay bank. And a local credit union where we can deposit cash and keep our emergency fund available locally. And a third bank for our "future dream house" fund. We could consolidate these to two accounts but I think it is good to have the 3rd bank for the house fund. This keeps it completely separate and off the radar.

For now I continue juggling accounts. Luckily 3 companies hold a few of the accounts in the different categories so it makes it easier with single sign-on for these. But I wish there was a feasible way to slim the load.


Do you have too many accounts? Have you closed any to make things simpler?

Recap on Weekend To Do List

Overall I did a solid job on the list. Here's a recap:

1. Replace side entry door on garage. Not quite. The free door we had wouldn't fit without major shimming and such. Will be better and more secure to get a new door.
2. Remove remaining dirt on yard trailer. Done.
3. Tax return. Added a few more items to this years return. Not quite finished but getting there.
4. Clean out gas tank on motorcycle. Done. Lot of gunk in there. Happy I did it.
5. Take a load of stuff to local charity. Done. One less box of stuff cluttering the garage.
6. Put in vent hose for bathroom fan.  Done. Feels good to get this one done.

How did your weekend's list go?

Weekend To Do list

There are a few tasks (some years overdo!) to cross off the perpetual to do list. I'm hoping to tackle a few of these this weekend.

1. Replace side entry door on garage. 6 years overdo. The side access door on our garage is cheap and flimsy with a plastic window. I should have replaced this with a metal door years ago that offer much better security. A friend did a remodel and gave me a replacement 30" door so this should work nicely as a replacement and cost nothing.
2. Remove remaining dirt on yard trailer. I borrowed a little trailer to get some fill dirt to level out our side yard. It's 80% empty. Need to get the rest of the dirt out so the trailer owner can get the trailer back.
3. Tax return. Got a few more things in the past 2 weeks to add into the return. Hoping to file by the first week of March.
4. Clean out gas tank on motorcycle. With hope of better weather I need to prep my motorcycle for daily commuting. I need to get old gas out of the tank and check the fuel filter.
5. Take a load of stuff to local charity. Donate a few boxes of old toys and clothes to get them out of the garage.
6. Put in vent hose for bathroom fan. Like #1 his is long overdue. Need to make sure the moisture is being adequately vented outside of our attic so we don't have any issue come up.

I could add more but to not get overwhelmed I'll leave it at 6. Do you have a good weekend to do list or is it just a play weekend?

Small changes can change us all: Buying American to create more jobs

I have long been an advocate to trying to Buy Made in USA, which can be a difficult task at times no doubt. But there is no simpler solution to a stronger US economy than to buy more Made in USA stuff. It's the familiar story... buy more local stuff and more local jobs are reated.

The US Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released one of their monthly reports last week on Personal Income and Outlays for December 2011. For the month of December 2011, Disposable Personal Income (personal income minus personal taxes) increased .04 percent to 11.6 trillion dollars. That's a lot of money! Of that, we spent just over 2.5 trillion on non-durable goods. This is where you can increase your purchases of Made in USA non-durable goods. Think clothing, luggage, shoes, toys, office supplies, etc...

Just 10 percent of what we spent in December is 250 billion dollars. Try adding that to the US manufacturing sector each month and see what follows: Stronger Americans equals stronger America. Strong America equals stronger Americans.

So think before you buy. Sometimes paying a little more is well worth it in the long run.

DIY Long Term Health Insurance: Green Tea

It's been known for a long time how great green tea is for one's health. New studies show just how fantastic a tonic green tea is. The latest study from Japan shows that green tea drinkers have less chance of disability as they age.

As a PF blogger I am just as much interested in long term health as I am in a secure financial retirement. In fact health is even more important than money. Not much point to plan for an enjoyable retirement if our health won't allow us to partake.

For those that eat smart and exercise regularly I credit them with having a simple, yet effective, DIY plan for long term health results. This is better than having a long term health insurance plan. And as health costs soar, focus on prevention is as important as ever.

I have been a off and on again tea drinker since college years ago. But in the past few years I have enjoyed a mug or two of green tea at work on a daily basis. For some reason I seldom have it at home on the weekend.

But I have a lot to feel good about by having 5-10 servings a week. Evidence shows that the antioxidants within green tea help your body against cancer, obesity, memory loss, heart disease, and cognitive decline. That's a lot of benefit from just one little cup of tea!

Do you drink green tea? How does healthy living fit into your PF goals and plans?

The Nitty Gritty of Vacation Budgeting

I am currently on the end of a 5 day vacation. Now that it time to head back home I am already thinking about things that need to be attended to. One of these things is figuring out the total cost of our trip. In doing so I know I still need to develop a better system to budget for incidentals during the vacations.

Generally when budgeting for vacations we surmise a figure that includes fixed costs like airfare, hotel, and rental car, if needed. But I don't have a good way to include gifts, food and dining, since I just deduct these items from the regular monthly budget envelopes.

This doesn't work well since we usually eat out more while on vacation than normal life back home. So this throws off the dining category. The best way to address these discrepancies is to budget for a vacation as a total cost.

Another issue is that we don't currently have a budgeting category each month to set aside for vacations. One of my goals for the spring is  to do some spring-tweeking to our budget. One budget envelope that needs to be added is vacations. Creating this as a formal part of our budget should help in making a better plan for while on vacation.

How do you budget for vacations and trip? Do you usually stay on budget or go higher/lower?