This morning, the local radio station I've listened to for the last 15 years, had a "contest" about tomorrow's date. If listeners could guess what was special about it, they would win a prize. I called in and said that tomorrow was special because it was: 06-07-08. That was it! I won a 30 day pass to a local spa, just in time to enjoy it in my retirement. I was asked how I figured it out and I said, "I've always been good with numbers." So, this was a small payoff for all those years of figuring out my budgets and studying my spreadsheets... it does exercise the mind.

Today my HR department confirmed that when I retire in August, my employer will continue to pay for my health insurance (and that of my spouse) until I am 65. Then when Medicare kicks in, my employer will pay for a supplemental health insurance policy for the rest of my life. One of the reasons I am able to retire early is that I will not have to pay for health insurance premiums. At over $900 a month for our HMO, it would be a big drag on our budget. Only employees who are at least 55 and have worked a minimum of 15 years are eligible. I feel very blessed to have this benefit and wish it were available to all our employees. Currently, only certificated employees are eligible (teachers, administrators).

Yesterday the weather was delightful and I spent some time on my patio enjoying the sun, the birds at the feeder, and marveling at how quickly things grow when the weather cooperates.

Since my patio is small, my garden is a collection of containers. In addition to the plants that are solely for the enjoyment of their beauty, I also like to grow edible plants. So far, I have planted pots with:
~ four types of mint (for tea, garnishes, salads, and mojitos)
~ basil (for salads, marinades, and pesto)
~ oregano and thyme (for marinades, sauces, rubs)
~ Fresno peppers (grilling, stuffing, salsa)

These are fun and easy to grow and do not require lots of water. The herbs are much more economical than buying fresh bunches at the store. I just snip what I need for my recipe.

The basil is ready to begin harvesting. It will grow all summer long.



The mint and thyme are ready to use but we will have to wait until July for the peppers.


Just for the beauty...these are a couple of my favorites. Million bells are easy to grow and they resist bud worms. These are planted in a pot I brought back from a trip to Mexico.



This stag horn fern is happy to just hang on a piece of bark nailed to my fence.

This morning I heard on the radio that gas is expected to go to $5 a gallon in our area within a few weeks. Wow…for some reason, $5 just hit me. I wonder where it will stop? No doubt, it is just a matter of time before rising gas costs will have an impact food prices and other goods that have to be transported, as well as on the cost of travel. And yes, I really want to whine about it, but I won’t. It won’t change a thing. So, I will focus on what I can change and control.


We don’t have adequate public transportation where we live, so driving is a necessity. I will try to drive more efficiently and less frequently when possible. I figure I’ll be spending between $35-$40 more a month if gas goes to $5, so my challenge will be to see how I can creatively save elsewhere, something I want to do anyway. DH and I are still planning to take our road trip to Sedona this summer (with my DS and BIL), but we are taking one car instead of two. We will just pack lighter and make it work.

A friend sent me these links that have tips for saving gas:

DH is in Central America with a group of graduate students and has been keeping me updated via email. This morning, I was able to have a nice long chat with him via Skype. Even though DH is thousands of miles away, it was great to see him “in person.” (It sure is fun to have web cams on our computers!) So far, the trip has been uneventful, except for one student who exceeded the baggage weight limit, so she had to pay an extra $50 (ouch!) for her suitcase. DH says his 15 students are now fully immersed in teaching elementary students in the hosting bilingual school.

The posada (inn) where they are staying is Spartan, but clean and affordable. Most of the rooms cost about $25 per night, have a small private bathroom, but no phone or TV. It does, however, have wireless internet available free to all guests. DH’s group has access to a communal kitchen where they will prepare and share some meals together.

About Skype: With Skype, you can make free calls over the internet to other people on Skype for as long as you like, to wherever you like. It is free to download.

I’ve been using Skype to call relatives in England, Switzerland, and Central America for more than two years. My laptop always goes with me, so I use Skype to call the US when I travel out of the country. This is a great way to make free international calls. If the computers of both Skye users have web cams, you can see each other while you are speaking. Otherwise, you will just hear each other… and it sounds as if you are on “speaker phone.”

If you want to learn more, here is the link:

two years ago brought a lot of stress, the good, the bad, and the ugly. In anticipation of retirement, we sold our family home and moved into a smaller two-bedroom townhouse in the same city.

The good: it was a financially sound move because we cut our housing expenses in half. DH and I are a blended family… I have two daughters and he has a son and a daughter from previous marriages, all of them now grown and gone. We had bought the family home when we married (his children were still in school and mine were in college by then). Once the nest was empty, we wanted out of the expensive upkeep of a five-bedroom house with its large “high maintenance” back yard. Our timing was good because the house sold quickly, and currently homes are not selling at all in our area.

The bad: we had way too much stuff! Some people by nature can be packrats, but I could not believe what we had accumulated over the last 20+ years. I still had income tax returns from 1983 and cancelled checks from 1969! DD1 tipped us about using a professional shredding service (hospitals routinely use them), so for $5 per banker’s box, we safely got rid of obsolete financial and personal papers. Condensing 11 rooms into 5 smaller ones was a challenge. We gave away our extra furniture to friend who had just bought her first house in exchange for help with sorting and packing. We donated 25 boxes clothing and household items to Goodwill and our collection of children’s literature to the library. Although friends suggested a garage or yard sale, we simply did not have time because of the escrow deadline. A yard/garage sale would have been a moneymaker, though, and I would not hesitate to do it in the future.

The ugly: DH wanted to rent a moving van and move with the help of friends and family, but fearing for his back, I insisted on hiring professionals. The movers I found online, and who seemed very reputable, ended up charging us 50% more than the quote… they justified it by re-shrink wrapping all the furniture we had already prepared for moving. They charged an exorbitant amount for the materials and held our furniture hostage until we paid them. So, a move of less than 10-miles cost much more than it should have because I didn’t do my homework and didn’t ask the right questions. If we hadn’t already moved all the items we could transport by car, it would have cost even more.

Although I occasionally miss my roses (I had 50+ bushes that bloomed until November), my tiny patio is just the right size for me to easily maintain. MC, my 18-year- old kitty, formerly an indoor/outdoor cat, at first had some adjustment problems to an indoor-only life but he eventually settled in. We love living in our smaller, cozy townhouse that will give us the freedom to travel more in our retirement.


MC always finds the best seat in the house, er...patio.

Each of us seeks to manage our finances in the best, most effective way that works for us. For some, like Ima Saver and Pennywise Meanderings, using cash and envelopes is a successful system for paying bills. For me, it is using a credit card. However, the key is that I use my CC to save money as I will discuss later, and I always pay it in full each month to avoid finance charges. My method requires discipline, both to carefully monitor expenses (I use Quicken) and to charge only what I will pay in full each month.

There was a time I had credit card debt… I was a single mom and emergencies happened that depleted my emergency fund (auto, medical, etc.). I paid as much as possible each month until I was debt free. About fifteen years ago, when DD1 moved out of state for college (and never moved back), I started using a credit card primarily to buy airline tickets to visit her. It was convenient to purchase the tickets with a CC (back then, it was over the phone and now, it’s online). Another “benefit” is that the CC company I use provides life-insurance in case of a plane crash (hey, you never know…).

Now, still debt-free (except for a small mortgage), I pay for EVERYTING I can with a credit card. Why? Because I like to use my reward miles (that never expire, BTW) to save money. For example:
~ DH and took a great vacation to France in 2004 with free tickets ($2,100 saved)
~ We are going to NYC this summer with free tickets ($1052 saved)
~ We visit DD1 and DD2 several times a year, and our airfare is usually purchased or reduced using reward miles. (Savings > $1,000 annually)

I use the CC to pay for routine expenses that I’d normally pay by check or ATM card:
~ Utility bills
~ Phone and Internet
~ Prescriptions and medical co-pays
~ Vet bills
~ Groceries
~ Gas/auto expenses
~ Entertainment/ meals out
~ Insurance
~ HOA Dues
~ Donations
~ Personal care (e.g., haircuts)

I also use the CC to pay for periodic expenses such as auto maintenance, gifts, clothing, carpet cleaning, vacations, etc. and large planned purchases (new refrigerator, new carpets, shutters, etc.). However, I always write a check if there is a fee involved for paying with a CC (e.g., property taxes). The miles add up quickly.

Another advantage: I save time and $$ on stamps, because I pay only one bill online. The money used to pay the CC stays in my interest-earning savings account until I make a transfer to my checking account to cover the payment. So, this is the system that works for me, but I recommend it only for those disciplined enough to pay the account in full each month to avoid finance charges and remain debt-free.

Due to living where public transportation is limited, and having jobs that require driving to meetings within the workday, we are a two-car family. DH does the most driving, so he is the primary driver of the Prius. We've had it since 2003 and it has been a good investment. When we first bought this car, people made fun of us; now they envy us. DH is away for the next three weeks, so I will be driving the Prius. I should save about $100 in gas in the next three weeks.

Here is a link to a site that helps consumers identify the best gas prices by Zip Code: