Old Purchases from Northern Tool

 I was looking back at my Northern Tool account to see when I bought the sprayer, and it must have dropped off my account history, so I thought I would add what is on there, so I have some record of it.

• 20211130, Garage Heater 50k BTU Model F260550 - 419.99 - 50 gift card.
• 20220513, Cement Mixer 6 Cubic Ft Drum Model 600DD - 599

I thought I would be renting out the cement mixer, but I haven't been able to do that.  We don't use the garage heater too often...

The sprayer pump stopped working this year, which is what caused this trip down memory lane.  I was able to find a replacement on amazon that didn't quite fit in, but was able to work.

It hooked up fine, but the screw holes didn't line up correctly.  I was going to use some self taping screws, but the drain on the pressure seemed to secure it well enough so I used it like that and didn't see any issue.

Shed pt 5 cost roundup...

The kit from Costco came with a flour, but I wanted to put it on piers and I wanted 10/12 foot pieces of lumber, so I bought that separate.  I put 9 piers under it, with 3 double 2x6 beams.  That seems to be working well so far.  We are trying an ice rink in front of it.  It hasn't been cold enough to freeze yet though.

We still need to paint it next spring.

• Costco Kit: 2400
• Deck flashing - 23.50
• Screws, hook blades - 25
• Concrete - 100 (tubes) + 135(concrete)+135(brackets)
• Floor - 35+290+15+
• Deck - 200+
• Ramp - 30+21 
• Roof Edging - 41.88
• Shingles - 210

• ~256.20 (tax)

$3916.58

Pumpkin sales and Amazon Prime

Pumpkin carving contest winner

Just wanted to note two things quickly.  My sister grew a bunch of pumpkins for her wedding at the end of September.  After the wedding we thought we would bring them back and try to sell them.  It seems like our neighbors liked the idea too, because we sold almost $50 worth of them.  We were selling regular sized pumpkins for $3 and tiny ones for $0.50 a piece.  We just put them at the top of the hill on an honor system and it worked out pretty well.

The other thing I wanted to comment on is that, I forgot to cancel my Amazon Prime membership and it auto-renewed.  We didn't use it much last year, so I was trying to find a way to cancel it and get my money back.  It turns out that if you cancel the membership you get a prorated amount back, and since it just renewed we are getting the whole $79 back.  I think it is really nice of them to do that, they could have said the membership is for a year and you can cancel it then.

Notice of Valuation

Received our property tax statement for this year and the estimated valuation for next year...
The value of our house:

2011 - 390k
2012 - 380k
2013 - 330k (est.)

Our taxes went up a bit in 2012, even though the value when down a bit.  I am sure hoping that we see a big reduction in 2013 though.  Pretty insane what the value of our home has done.  When it was appraised for the initial loan it was worth 540k (the appraisal).  When we refinanced in October it appraised for 430k; that hurt because we had to pay 60k to stay under 80%.

Oh well, it is in our best interest for the value to go down, because we have no plans to sell it for many, many years and our taxes should go down with the value.  Only negative is that we would like to get a HELOC so that we can do some improvements.

Life Insurance

Just paid for our new life insurance policy.

$500,000 for me, 20 year term for $322 a year.
$250,000 for Jen, 20 year term for $122 a year.

How does that compare with your policy?  I also have some insurance though work, so Jen would get a bit more in the case of my demise.  Just checked as well it looks like death benefits are not taxed, so that is good 5 years of income should be enough, right?  I am not sure a 20 year term is right for us, but our agent really recommended it...

Supposedly we will also realize a ~2% discount on our home and auto policies.

Why companies announce layoff early

I enjoyed this summary of the reasons that companies announce layoff early.  The first is my particular favorite, in order to reduce severance costs, as people bail early.

Great Depression 2

I believe this is what the occupy wall street protests are about.  If you click on the link there are number of other charts that illustrate different perspectives on this.  I think we are headed for a very large correction again.  Why the current crop of plutocracy can't see this and work to prevent it, implies they are expecting to profit from it; Or in denial.

Chimney Sweep

Well it has been two years (didn't burn as much the first year) since we built the house, so it is time to have the chimney cleaned and looked at.  Fireside recommended Smart Sweep as a good guy to call.  Jim Smart came out to the house at 11am (on time), was great with Nick, explaining things to him (and me) and very clean.  He explained that it was something I could do in the future with an investment in a few tools.

I can recommend Jim highly enough, he was professional and friendly.  The fireplace looks great, and we are excited to try it out (once it cools back down).

Total cost was just under $250, so I think I might invest in the tools and give it a go once in awhile.  But when I need a professional, I won't hesitate to call Jim.

MNPR Yeah

Received our MN Property Tax rebate.  $940 on a tax bill of just under $5000.  That is pretty nice, does that mean that we didn't make a lot of money for the tax that we pay on our house (I think so...).

Anyways it is very nice, too bad they did away with it in the new state budget (I think I heard that).

Extended Auto Warranty rebate

We purchased a new mini-van in the beginning of August, and traded my 2005 TDI Golf in.  I had purchased an extended warranty on it when I bought it that was good for 10 years or 100,000 miles.  The car had just over 80,000 miles when I traded it in.

The dealer told me I could get a rebate for the unused portion of the extended warranty, and I just received a check yesterday for $341.  :)  During the course of owning the car I had to replaced the transmission at a cost of ~5000.  I paid 1800 for the extended warranty, so I am pretty happy with the value I have gotten out of it.

We did not get an extended warranty for the mini-van, which I hope we don't live to regret.  It was the end of the day when we went in to purchase the van, and the extended warranty that was offered, was pretty bad compared to what I had gotten on the golf.  We financed at 0%, so I would be loath to purchase one now after the fact.

We will see how well it holds up, the good news is that any service will probably be more reasonable than service on the golf was.

ING Direct living up to high standards

I received an email today, that I didn't have enough money to process a withdraw from my savings account for my auto payment.  This is the first month for the auto payment, so I made a payment early to make sure everything was set up correctly for automatic withdraw.  After that went through successfully, I changed the date to the due date and went on my way happily.

I didn't expect ally to attempt another payment this month, and so when they did the balance was too low (I had put the money into the market, in an attempt to make some quick profit).  I received the email from ING saying what had happened and that they wouldn't charge me a fee.  Now this is an instance when a bank could have very easily charged a fee, so I am very happy that they didn't (of course I would have been pissed if they had :)

PromoCode for Sharbuilder

Sharebuilder (ING Direct) is offer a promo code for current subscribers!
Get $50 for depositing $100 each month till 2012.

A $50 return on $400, good luck finding that anywhere else.

OLRCDP50

The final fill up

When we bought the minivan we traded in my 2005 VW Golf TDI.  So here are the final gas charts:

20 Fill-up rolling average

Days between fill-ups

Gas price 03/2005 to 08/2011

MPG at each fill-up

Overall average MPG was: 38.55 MPG.

Total gas put in was: 1978.63 gallons.

Total gas cost was: $6140.50.

Total miles traveled: 80051.

Our other new baby

So we had been planning on purchasing a van for awhile, and with Madelyn's due date getting so close, we thought we would check out minivan's.  I ended up stopping by Roseville Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep on Friday (before Madelyn was born) and had Joe quote me a price for a basic Grand Caravan Crew, and appraising my Golf TDI '05.

The quote for the Crew was good, a couple hundred over Edmund's invoice, the quote for my Golf was a bit less than I thought it should be ($7500).  Long story short, we ended up going back on Saturday and buying the van for the price he offered, and $9000 for my trade it.  We received $8000 in cash for the trade and financed the van at 0%.  I like having the money to invest, and not feeling like I should pay off the car sooner rather than later :)

A happy note as well is that, I had signed up to do a test drive when I went to look at the van, and I received an email for a $50 gift card if I went through with it.  We received the gift card today :)  So don't just delete those emails.

Financial Independence Sale!

ING Direct is having a sale, with some pretty good deals today and tomorrow.

• $126 for opening a checking account and direct depositing into it.
• $76 for opening a Sharebuilder account.
• $76 for opening an IRA.
• $76 for referring 2 friends ;)  (Call / email me if you want a referral and I will split the bonus with you)
• $1776 off closing costs.

I decided to apply for a 5 year ARM @ 3.125%.  Unfortunately, our house probably won't appraise for enough to finance the whole amount anymore, plus ING required 75% loan to value, but we do have some extra cash in the bank at the moment so it might make sense.  Our payments would go from $2200 a month to $1700 a month, which would be really nice with Jen probably not working this year.

And who knows what it is going to be like in 5 years, worst case scenario interest rate raises to 9.125% after 8 years for a payment of around $3000.  So actually that should be doable as well (in 8 years). 

How about 6 tons of River Rock?

We are working on placing river rock about the house.  Looking at the cost of buying it bags from Menards (1/2 ft³ for around $2 on sale), Gertens, and Hot Rocks.   Hot Rocks seemed to have the best price, even though I have to go back and forth with the sales person (18 emails... she confused me once with another customer).  I asked for a 10% discount they listed on the website that had expired, but they gave it to me anyways.

I ended up paying $214.30 for 6 tons of river rock with delivery and taxes.  Now we just have to find the time to move it around :(

Huh, Tax refund?

We received a check from the state for $179, so apparently I didn't do our taxes correctly and they were able to figure out where I went wrong and send us a check.  I guess I would expect that, but it is still surprising.

Once I figure out my mistake I will update.

Employment picture

Recently Lockheed decided to close the doors of the it's facility in Eagan, unfortunately that meant I was out of a job.  The announcement was made in November, and the first wave of layoffs was scheduled for March 15th.  I was included in the April 29th layoffs.

So I started job hunting at the beckoning of my wife :).  I secured a couple of interviews, and was eventually offered a job with Ingersoll Rand in White Bear Lake.  I really liked the sound of the job and so was quick to accept, they offered a bit more then I had been making at LM and signing bonus.  I didn't negotiate the offer and only asked for an extra week of vacation (which they couldn't grant...).  The one sticking point was the starting date, they wanted me ASAP, but I wanted to wait to collect my severance package.

Luckily LM needed me as well to support the sell off of the second P3 to Portugal.  I was able to work out a plan with them to work full time till March 21 (my start date with IR), then part-time will April 29th.  I ended up on travel for most of my last couple weeks with LM, then working a bit in the evenings and the weekend to finish up my time with them, while working full time at IR.

I just received my severance pay, just under 10k (it will be interesting to see the deductions statement for it, (as it should be close to twice that, but...).  Taxes will be interesting this year, so with the bonus, severance, ect, I will make more then 106k, so I should get some of my SS/Medicare dollars back as well :)

I am happy at IR, and the Portugal program was running into some challenges, so in the end it all worked out for the best for me.

Cell Phone plan

Recently Jen and I both switched from ATT to T-mobile prepaid.  It makes sense for us, because we don't use our minutes each month and most of the day we are by landlines (work and Magicjack at home).

We were paying ~$65 a month for our two phones with 700 minutes.  We switched our "known" numbers over to google voice and then were able to forward to random prepaid numbers we received.  We also forward to our home and work numbers.  I forward to my work number during the day and home at night, Jen to our home number all day.  It is pretty cool, because in the evening we know who is getting the call by which cell phone rings :)

T-mobile seems like the best prepaid deal currently, 1000 minutes for $100 for up to a year.  Jen has been on prepaid for over a month and used about 7 minutes so I think we will save money.  I started a couple weeks after her, because I was using my work cell phone, and used that till I was laid off.

Old House is Sold

Well our old house is officially out of our hands now. We closed last Friday, went pretty smoothly except that our realtor didn't show up, didn't call us to let us know he wouldn't be there and didn't get us the settlement statement before hand.

Jen called him today, here is what he said:

• Guys I was at a family reunion, I sent Shelly in my place. She said no one asked about me. Fact is that we definitely asked about him, we made fun of him for probably about 10 minutes, with the other realtor... She might have been there, we weren't sure. There was a woman there that we thought was from the bank, because she didn't introduce herself and defend Rob at all.
  
• Sorry guys I forgot to call...
• Guys the settlement statement should be given to you by the title company... Maybe, I don't know. But the woman who was there said that our realtor should have given it to us...
• Bonus point, he said he would charge us 4.75% commission. But had to write it up as 5% for Keller Williams. Of course talking with him today, no guys that was only if I sold the house by myself... However, he also told us that he would not do that because of the conflict of interest.

So anyways, we won't be using him again. It is too bad, because he is a really nice guy and good at drawing houses. But clearly, we can't tolerate him lying to us.

We ended up paying the 5% ($10,000) for realtor commissions, then about 1700 in other bullshit fees that get piled on.

Also, we had to go recover the old fridge, the buyers didn't want that... Anyone interested in an old fridge?