Memory Lane

Southern Idaho

Outside with Uncle Duane

Behold the Sun*

Family

instructions

Experienced Flashlight Holder Helping Grandpa

Beyond Green River  ~ Morning After (a new alternator)

While I am on the subject of money, there's an aspect regarding budgeting, spending, and savings that is important in our family.  It's about appreciation. It's kind of a long story,  and I am not having much luck being concise.  So fix yourself a cup of coffee or tea.  Hopefully this story won't be too boring.  This is how we roll.

We had been married about  a year when we started a business, bought our first country home, and realized we couldn't afford the $450.00 per month house payment.  Not yet, anyway.  After about 19 months of going through our savings and pinching every penny we could, which meant not buying new socks for Jerry one month so we could buy a gallon of varnish to fix up the woodwork, we decided that selling the house situated more or less in a wind tunnel would be a good idea.  Stepping outside literally took my breath away.  After a gust almost blew me off my feet with my infant son in my arms, I knew we wouldn't be spending much time outside using the hand-me-down stroller, anyway.  We made $10,000 and got surprised with a tax bill of $2,000.00.

The wind tunnel effect finally convinced me that I didn't need to live in the country.  We fixed our eyes on an older house in town with a rental next door.  We knew that some of Jerry's relatives would carry the contract on it for a few years.  Interest rates were in the 12% range, but they had expressed a willingness to carry the contract at 10% for a limited time.  The plan was to ease the budget by having some assistance with our house payment from the little one bedroom unit that shared our yard, and fix up the house as we went along.  We had a tiny fenced yard, and a tiny but extended garage for storage.  The extra room on the back was chock full of pipe and fittings in no time, and stayed that way for the next thirty years.

 Jerry had started out doing new construction plumbing and his boiler rooms are a sight to behold with all the angles perfect and evenly spaced, all the joints shiny and free of drips.  There was a building boom going on in our area, and about fifteen plumbers in the area were all doing the same thing so it didn't take long for Jerry to realize that he was going to make almost no income on his bids to get some work and start building a business.  Since we actually had bills to pay, that didn't make sense to either of us, but in the process of pacing the floor with the temporary living quarters of our first child, my obviously growing belly, to motivate him, he decided to invest in a sewer cleaning machine.  That brought our local competition down to about three.  The best part of it was our work wasn't seasonal anymore.  Unlike the building trade, we had work during the winter.  We still had some building projects but they were not especially profitable, because the bidding continued to be competitive, so we eased out of new construction.  With a profit of $5,000.00 for our first nine months of business, our accountant had told us straight out that we needed to do something else.  This went right over my head.  Later Jerry had to remind me of the accountant's assessment.  Shows what he knew and explains why I couldn't buy socks in the same month I bought a bucket of paint.

Meanwhile we were doing everything we could to find solutions to our limited funding situation.  Buying a house in town which was more affordable was a big part of the plan.  We had placed an advertisement in the yellow pages for sewer and drain cleaning, but it took a few years to build up a clientele.  Jerry had some time on his hands.  Pacing the floor, his most frequent evening activity, he contemplated driving truck, pumping gas - anything.

My brother-in-law called us up one night with an idea.  He had just taken a class about real estate investing.  He was very excited about it and thought we might be interested.  We found out there was a seminar coming up one hundred miles away.  I wanted to take the class with him, but it was quite a big expense for us.  With a lot of trepidation we decided to take the leap and signed Jerry up for the class.   My sister was with us for a visit so she and I nervously waited through the evening for his call, wondering if it would be the breakthrough we had been needing.

I had purchased some brown and forest green embroidery floss to do some repairs on our couch. My husband had purchased it before we were married.  The previous owner hadn't used it very much and it was in great shape, but now the piping around the cushions was really getting worn.  Knowing a new one wasn't in our near future, I decided to put my nervous energy to good use that night.  I sat on the floor in front of the couch and wrapped the bare piping with embroidery thread while chatting with my sister.  My husband paces, so do the boys.  Hand work does the trick for me.  Washing windows, too.

Finally about 9 p.m., Jerry called.  Yes, he was very excited, really thought this could work to fill in the spare time while he still worked our other business, plumbing.  One of the benefits to us was that he would be able to save money doing our repairs.  Good with his hands, he wasn't afraid to try anything.  He will even give electrical repair and installation a whirl. Roofing, carpentry, tile installation and sheet rocking were all new skills he would be learning, and later flooring installation.  Meanwhile, replacing a water heater was right up his alley.  Leaky faucets and plugged toilets would not be a problem.  I would get my fill of cleaning and painting, even learning to do it without covering myself in paint somehow along the way.  Lots of practice, I guess.  But right then I was excited.  Taking care of houses was something we had done at home.  I had plenty of experience in that department.

That next year, with almost no money down, we purchased two houses.  We moved out of our house and it became one of the rentals.  We moved into a little bungalow with a cobwebby basement and plans.  We now had four rental units and a little cash flow.  The house we turned into two units had belonged to a veteran, a smoker.  At that time, anyone could assume those loans, so we did, washing away a heavy coat of yellow clinging to the walls and ceiling, and built a wall to separate the units.  We paid our Realtor over time, and she found us a local man who was managing investments for his aunt.  We borrowed from her the small down payment for our house taking advantage of some Wyoming state funds for the mortgage.  We didn't have much of a cash flow for a couple of years, so money was tight.

One day both renters gave notice on the same day that they would be moving and we thought our number was up, but new renters were found quickly.  Our down time was minimized, but our spare time was over.  Jerry's solution to our problems was always to work more, so he drummed up business and got very busy.  I was Mrs. Bookkeeper, and got busy, too.  We listened to various methods of ROI.  For a few years, while the kids were at home we felt we couldn't handle much more work than we were doing, so we didn't buy any more rentals.  Instead we focused on paying down our mortgages, and paid off two thirty year mortgages in 10 years.

One thing is for sure and that is that we all respect the hard work Jerry has done to keep us afloat financially.   He isn't afraid of spending a day with a shovel, and to use it deep in rocky Wyoming ground.  Undaunted by cold weather, he thaws pipes long into the night  even when the phone rings off the hook because it's been 24 degrees below zero for two weeks straight.  Business grew and soon we had no time off from fixing heat, thawing pipes and cleaning sewers except for the few days each year he can't find anyone sitting by their phone waiting for him.  Vacations?  We have had a couple, and several trips to see my family.   He doesn't want to abandon his customers.  I assured him that they would be waiting when he gets back, but he sure was nervous about his business when he took two weeks off to meet us in Spain.

Sure enough, he stepped right back into a full schedule when we returned.  Running our little business has been an interesting journey.  We probably haven't done things the way others would have, but that's okay.   Jerry enjoyed talking about business, meeting for coffee with a good friend, so it was a big loss when his fellow plumber/coffee buddy passed away from cancer.   He isn't the delegator type, so my promptings to interview or hire help are met with a look that tells me I am wasting my time.  His kids have grown up and now he's the go-to person for all their repair consulting needs  He has the knowledge,  experience and will to help them complete their projects and share ideas for growing business.  Meanwhile, I am so thankful for my resident repairman.

Distant Amazing Tetons

Simplify

Loaded for Home

Good Bye, Idaho

Christmas Eve

*Setting Over the Mountain

Hire Power

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening 

when you'd have preferred to talk. 

Doug Larson

Since the kids left home there have been a few holidays when we weren't with them.  Mindy spent one three day weekend alone in Laramie working on her house.  That was great for a couple of days, but after that it was miserable.  Phone calls back and forth didn't replace physically being together.  The boys have spent some holidays alone and/or working, as well.  It did not take above average intelligence to realize that was a mistake and made us more careful about how we spend our holidays.  And more aware of people who are alone for the holidays.  

Each of us are responsible for our situation.  If we don't like it, I think we should think about solutions.  The serenity prayer always comes in to play.  Remember?  God give me grace to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.  I would hesitate to suggest that what works for me is the same thing some one else needs, but if all else fails, we can always work on our attitude.

Maybe some don't really enjoy being with their family or for whatever reason, they are lacking the resources to make it possible.   But this is my story, and it means a lot to me to spend the day with  my kids, and to include any "strays" that are interested in gathering around our table!  My kids seem to agree.  It is time to get together.  Today we are traveling about 13 hours.  We hope to pick up two of our kids after about 10 hours and travel together the rest of the way, to the home of the oldest, and see our grandson by tomorrow.  

Several years ago we drove to Arizona, a 26 hour trip with three drivers.  We are only planning half that distance this year.  It should be a breeze, except for me, the princess, having to ride in less than a smooth ride, like instead of a coach made from a pumpkin, this great big bouncy, crew cab truck.   But that's just my sensitive spot and I will deal with it. For my kids.

Saving money for the holidays is one thing.  Getting my husband to be willing to spend it is another.  This little challenge has occupied most of our marriage, a struggle that shows no sign of ending.  Any little leeway I manage to get is a loophole he immediately finds a way to sabotage.  I think it must be like a government conspiracy, which of course, he immediately denies.  I may be a skeptic, but I have noticed that he's more likely to remark that he wanted to take me out to dinner after the delicious odors are permeating the atmosphere of my kitchen.  I have tried all the tricks, including begging and pleading, to get my own way.  The only thing that works even part of the time is having the money set aside, with it's little special label:  THIS IS CHRISTMAS SPENDING MONEY.  If I'm lucky it works part of the time, and only if he doesn't know ahead of time what I have planned.

I know that shopping is good for women.  It actually contributes to mental health and apparently there is research to prove it.  I'm not kidding.  Do you think this argument is effective with Jerry?  Not even a little.   I have managed to save my sanity with creative projects and a ton of yard-sales.  That little saying about necessity being the mother of invention?  I can avouch to the truth of that!  Like I said last week, I don't enjoy being miserable and as they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat. I have always wondered, however, why anyone would want to skin a cat, but never mind that.  Where do you think Pinterest came from?

So we always come back to not spending money, and to saving more money.  This is kind of like the jokes you see around the holidays: sharing a Thanksgiving table with the loquacious person who doesn't share your political views, the crazy out-law who drives everyone up the wall laughing at his own crude jokes, the incessant complainer, and/or the couple who criticize everything, including their kids, until you want to throttle them.  So if you don't want to be alone, you find ways to make things work, idiosyncrasies and all.  At holiday time, it comes down to loving one another and counting our blessings, the same as every other day of the year.  I am thankful.  

Not spending money you don't have turns out to be a real blessing.  Actually it is even better to not spend money you actually do have.  It totally blows the minds of loan officers when you don't buy as much house as you could afford.  Seriously, who does that? Talk about walking away feeling smug in the money management department.  I rarely have to worry about credit card debt.  It's the same with our cars.  We buy older vehicles, put down as much cash as possible to keep our payments low, don't lose much depreciation driving off the lot and save on insurance.  Sometimes the cars don't get much further than the lot, but that's another story.  We plan on owning them at least 10 years, if we can keep them running, until the repairs are more than a car payment would be.  Maybe longer.  One car we kept until the plastic piping around the seats had split in the cold weather and would pinch the kids legs when they changed into their suits on the way to swimming lessons.  That turned out to be the main reason to trade it in, other than the fact it was a two door.  We got a Ford Taurus wagon and drove it, guess what, 10 years.  One such car inconveniently failed in a thunderstorm that opened the heavens and poured wrath upon us while we, five hours from home in Middle Montana, replaced a Very Important Part, but that was the fault of the previous owner's less than full disclosure. Win a few, lose some.  

We see people running around with new four-wheel drive vehicles every year or so, who also seem to be able to afford the latest fashions, who can go out to dinner often.  We wonder how can they afford it.  For one thing maybe they don't just give away their old stuff for almost nothing.  I don't know, maybe their paycheck goes to different places than mine does, or maybe it's just plain bigger, maybe it is a gift from parents or grandparents.  Maybe they are over their heads in debt.  We aren't. We could be, but I, the spender, have chosen to live with him, the saver, in peace.  Most of the time.

Worry - a God, invisible but omnipotent. It steals the bloom from the cheek and lightness from the pulse; it takes away the appetite, and turns the hair gray. 

Benjamin Disraeli 

                                                                                                           

People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income. 

Robert Half 

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water. 

Ernest Hemingway

The duty of government is to leave commerce to its own capital and credit as well as all other branches of business, protecting all in their legal pursuits, granting exclusive privileges to none. 

Andrew Jackson

Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without 

becoming very good at it. 

Brian Tracy 

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root. 

Henry David Thoreau

The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind ahead

even more than teamwork. 

                                                                            Igor Sikorsky 

The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good. 

                                                                                                                       George Washington 

Money Talks

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's 

initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." 

- Rev. William J. H. Boetcker (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln)

Christmas Memories, 2011

     Some people may be forgiven for thinking that Christmas time is a poor time to bring up a discussion about money, but there is no time like the "present"!  I happen to think it is a good time to face reality.  In fact, the present is the only time we have to do anything, so it is the best time to start.  (My reality is that I don't like being miserable, so I think hard to change something quickly when that happens.)  If we are planning to spend money on gifts or travel, we should have been saving for it all year long, even the type of person who waits until Christmas Eve to get excited, like my husband.  Because I learned that, come December 24, at 6 p.m., he was going to suddenly want to buy gifts, I decided to plan for the sudden but expected event.

My husband and I were raised differently.  My family was fairly comfortable financially.  My dad was a logger and seemed to enjoy the hectic life of planning and executing logging jobs, but not thinking he had to do it all, he hired men to do the work. I learned later it is called leveraging your time.  Since we all have limited time, it is a great strategy.  Jerry's family, on the other hand, didn't have a bread winner.  His dad was killed in an airplane accident when he was very young, and their main source of income was a social security check and about $1000 in life insurance.  Even in 1956 that didn't go far.

    When we married, I had been in the habit of spending every couple of dollars I made on fabric for clothes, both fun and classic styles, shoes, (everyone should know that sales make money go farther, so it just makes sense to take advantage of them), as few necessities as possible, and a new car.  The week I managed to set aside the first $100 in a savings account was the week before he invited me to fly to Montana to see him.  There went the savings, but $99 for a Northwest Airlines flight was a deal, even 33 years ago.

   I had a lot to learn about working together as a team.  My husband, the saver, had a brand new car, $10,000 in the bank, and no confidence in a smooth road ahead.  He started in right away "badgering" me about a budget.  I had been keeping track of my checkbook in my head, and was within seven dollars of spending everything I had on our wedding.  From very early in our marriage, I was the bookkeeper in charge of our main expenditures; rent, food, utilities and any shopping trip I could finagle. I was not very concerned about budgeting, but we soon had a child and it became clear very quickly that agreeing to his request for a budget was a negotiation factor I needed.  

    As the kids got older I kept the books for our business to save money and help with our plumbing business.  We bought a house with a rental next door, and soon I had three checking accounts to watch.  I took an evening class to get a solid grip on the basic accounting I already knew, and off I went.  

    We took other classes. Since we knew Social Security Insurance was a shaky business, real estate and rentals started to look like a very good way to plan for retirement.  We worked hard and had two more kids.  The kids played beside us, and later worked with us, learning some great lessons, while I continued to shop carefully, sew whatever I could and recover my own furniture.  We were saving 10 percent of what we made but I was holding Jerry back from his plan to save 15 to 20 percent because of basic family needs.  Funny how things change when there are swimming lessons, school pictures, outgrown tennis shoes, school supplies, and birthday parties, on top of tires, insurance, utilities, groceries, savings and a house payment.  A trip to Costco became an adventure; we could buy the kids a treat, an enormous box of their favorite sort-of-healthy cereal.

My budget became my friend and I pushed the limits.  Setting an amount for groceries for the month, we found that $400 for our family and entertaining wasn't quite enough in those days.  Just to see if I could, I stuck to the budget.  That's when I learned to make savory soup and stretch a chicken out for three meals.  Beans and rice were a staple of my pantry and on our table.  We had friends who went through college saving money by eating a lot of popcorn, so popcorn became a great standby for after school snacks.  If the only thing I had left in the house was milk, butter, flour, and a box of pudding mix I didn't deprive my family of enjoyment or special occasions because I could treat them to cream puffs.    

When things were getting easier financially and I was buying by the brand or label instead of the price, one of the kids called me on it.  "Look at the store brand tomato paste, Mom!"  Sure enough, there was another couple of cents savings!  

A few years ago I decided the most important thing I could do was spend five weeks in Europe with my 18 year old daughter.  I had not planned for the trip, but my concern for her traveling alone was a motivation I could not ignore, so off I went with only a free miles airline ticket to Madrid, Spain, purchased using our credit card rewards.  Over the five weeks, between four of us, because he and Duane joined us for two weeks, we managed to rack up a credit card bill of $10,000.  My husband was aghast.  I assured him I would pay it off in 10 months.  More than a year later he asked me about it, assuming we were still paying that bill.  No, I said, I paid it off several months ago, just like I said I would, ten months after our trip.  Hurrah and yay.  

How do you pay off $10,000 in ten months with out someone noticing?  I had some previous experience with budgeting. That budget I had hated, fought, and resisted became the vehicle to victory.  Okay, he was right about a budget.  That doesn't mean he's always right.  Sometimes I give in because I have not been able to figure out how to present my case effectively. Sometimes the differences between his vision and mine seem insurmountable and something has to give, but I have learned a lot by giving in, so what's the next lesson?

 "To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukemia with leeches" 

- Margaret Thatcher

      

   19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat observed, “The bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.”

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities 

and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties. 

Harry S. Truman 

Common sense is instinct, 

and enough of it is genius. 

Josh Billings 

Toyland

Forget about being world famous, it's hard enough just getting the automatic doors at the supermarket to acknowledge our existence. 

Doug Coupland 

Battle of the Blues

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us. 

  

Quentin Crisp 

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. 

Zora Neale Hurston 

The Apple Effect

A princess recalled

 With puzzled remembrance

That she believed

In happiness

But hope seemed to have ended

Somewhere out there,
Where the thread of memory
As a sealed fountain of
Past tears 

Could not fall again

Having once been

Bled.

Her feet

She had once upon time

Placed on a 
Gray marked stone

And she wondered, "Do

I belong to the cold, still, 

Darkness of memory, 

Past the time of Princes,
Of dreams; content 
And comforted by 

A kind of kinship

With the dead?"

Through life, and

Beyond the rivers 

Her soul had passed.

 Experienced in loss and sorrow,

Her resume' current,  

She applied to the 
Courts of heaven

For entrance, possessing

An understanding

Of those before.

And denied, 
She pled.

And perceived a 
Language called Wisdom, 

 By which she conversed 
With the aged now and then

On the other side

Of the River between 

Life and Death,

The Great River, 

A legacy of sound, 

The speech of souls,

An echo of the
Living dead.

Remembered faces
She knew

Some had been blessed and
Lined with age, kind eyes lit

With understanding,

Knowledge unspoken.  
Experience.

Each one drew her gaze
Or begged her hear
And she was sustained.  

Alive, waiting, 
No longer sorrowful,

With these angels, whose

Tongues and shining eyes 
Were filled.

 Watching eyes

Seemed to know 

She had been

Misplaced somehow

Between two realms,

Was buoyed -
Strengthened by

Sweet, deep 

Silent empathy.

For the time is now, 
They know

(For whom there is no time), 

To wait, having completed 

The course of life

A live body,

A soul dead.

While she, seeming 
Perfect in repose 
Through the time 
Of sorrows,

Wondered how to
Complete her journey,

A shadow in the forest, a
Horseman, soft of step 
Appeared and drew near.

 The footfall of a Prince

Upon the forest floor 

Was heard.

Softly stirring,

Scarcely heard among

Persistent breezes,

The breath of life

Brushed across her,

Crept through her veins,

Insistent upon life,

Bringing awareness.

Awakening came by degrees,

Unfurled sensations, 
A place beyond regrets 
Death was declared 
Conquerable. 

Thus, the

Command to live

Was obeyed.

We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it. 

Willie Nelson 

Shadows

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. 

Albert Einstein

Project - Ready, Set, Go!

BLUE

Shared on facebook today.  Have a listen!