Shopping, shopping and more shopping

The rush of holiday shopping is in full swing. Have you ever noticed that the younger generation's wish lists are becoming much more costly? I haven't figured out if it's because their tastes are more expensive or if things are just costing more. Either way, this time of the year makes a dent in everyone's wallet.

So how do you control the rising budget? Do you stick to your guns and set a limit and buy what you can within that limit? Or do you just buy what people want and let those purchases dictate the budget? Personally, I go with the former. I have to. I don't make enough money not to budget. When January credit card bills hit the mail, I don't want to hear a drumroll before I open the envelope. The holidays have gotten expensive but that doesn't have to break you. Set a limit and stay within it. Gift giving is not mandatory, it's voluntary.

Happy Holidays.

Jingle Cash at Walgreens

First, my apologies for not keeping up with this blog. That is changing soon as a whole new moneycents.net will be launched soon. It will be more user-friendly and much more money-saving deals will be available.

As for Jingle Cash at Walgreens, I am bit late on this one but it appears to be going on throughout the season. Basically, it's the same as their year-round Register Rewards, where they run promotions for certain items and you get "cash back" in the form of a coupon toward your next purchase. For example, this week you can buy 4 bags of Holiday M&Ms for $10 and get $5 in Jingle Cash. Or buy two Vicks products (Nyquil/Dayquil) for $10 and get $5 in Jingle Cash. Even better if you pair money off coupons with it.

The "cash" is printed out at the end of your purchase and is good for two weeks. There are a couple tricks you may want to know if you want to take advantage of deals more than once. For example, if you buy the M&Ms and then try to use the $5 Jingle Cash on buying the M&Ms again, it won't work. You cannot use the Jingle Cash for the same item. Plus, make sure you have enough items when using your Jingle Cash if you're looking at buying a more expensive item. You must have the same or more items than you do Jingle Cash and/or coupons. So you can't use $5, $2.50, and $3.00 Jingle Cash receipts if you're just buying one $10 item.

Happy Holidays!

Energy Audit

Wow, it's been months and months since I posted. I could pretend I lost my password but that just wouldn't be true. Been busy. Simple as that. I hope to be more diligent in the coming months but with all to do with the new house, well, it keeps us hopping.

Yesterday, we had an energy audit. Now I could give you a whole background on the house and such and how much we've already done (and some of the great service we have received) but suffice to say it's an old house with many a quirk. What sparked the energy audit, after having a high-efficiency HVAC system and tankless water heater put in, was a $265 gas bill. That was the kicker.

So these guys come in and set up a negative air flow at your front door and see where air is leaking in and out throughout your house. Wow.

My first thought was that they were going to say we needed to replace all of the windows. But no, they said that was a common misconception. While there was much air leaking from the windows, it was from around the windows. They told us how to fix the leaks, by removing the casings around the windows, caulking the space and replace the casings. Same with the outlets and light switches. We had the insulators already in place and they gave us the information to caulk around the electrical box to eliminate even more draft.

But what was the real eye opener was the actual calculation that they gave us. Now, we don't have the report yet but they said we had a point 6. My quick thought was "cool, a low number." But no. That number reflected that it took only about 2 hours to lose all the warm air from the house. Two hours! That's an awful lot of heat escaping in a short amount of time.

These guys were thorough. They took their time, they explained everything and they answered all of our questions. They were well worth every penny. You can find them at http://www.energysaver1.com if you're interested.

I'll let you know how the report goes.

Good news and bad news

So the second lender gives verbal approval the other day and we're thinking it's a good sign. After all, that lender is going to get barely anything. If they thought the entire amount of both loans could be had, they wouldn't have approved. At least that was my thinking.

So last night my agent told me that the primary lender wanted ten grand more before submitting to closing. Said that the appraisals (aka BPO) were high and the lender felt they could get more in foreclosing. Unbelievable. While I love the house and would have considered the extra ten grand, we simply don't have it. We split the difference, initialed the contract and now get to wait some more. 

I suppose the good news is that we are taking the right approach. If we get it, we'll be excited. If we don't, we'll be disappointed but not devastated. We'll move on and start looking again. Who knows, maybe it's meant to fall through and there's something that's better awaiting us. Or maybe we just had to make sure that this is what we wanted by bumping up the bid a little.

I guess time will tell. 

And the waiting continues

So the home inspection is done (well worth the money, believe me) and the lawyers finally duked it out. And now all the paperwork is at the banks. This is where the annoying wait begins. 

It seems to me that our success on this bid will depend on one person whose desk this lands on. On whether it's the beginning of the day or the end of the day. On whether they're in a good mood or a bad mood. On whether it's Monday or Friday. On... well, you get the idea. 

But I feel we made a fair bid for the condition of the property (thanks to the home inspection revealing some issues we weren't aware of). So I think we've got a great chance of this succeeding. Now the question is just when.

In the meantime, prepping my home for sale and not looking forward to the market that awaits me.

Short sales, foreclosures, REOs, oh my!

House hunting used to be fun. Find that perfect house in that perfect location. You'd think with the amount of houses out there, the perfect one would be easy to find.

Find yes. Purchase... not so easy.

We found the perfect house for us. Good size, good location and good price. Problem is that it's a short sale. What does that mean? Well, over the past couple of weeks, I learned everything I could about short sales. 

The quick answer is that the homeowner can't afford to keep the house and the bank doesn't want to foreclose and risk losing a lot of money. So what happens is that the bank (or banks) agree to take less than is left on the loan in order to get it off the books.

Sounds good, right? It can be. 

I looked up the success rate of short sale bids and was distressed to find out that only about 15-20% off all bids make it to closing.

However, I think it's because there's a lot of time involved. First a bid needs to be made with about a 1% earnest money down payment. Then there's a 5-10 home inspection period. Then there is the attorney review (another two weeks). Then there is the mortgage approval stage (usually about 30 days allotted there). And then there's the wait. The wait is for the approval from the bank(s). This can take a long time. I've heard stories that people can wait up to six months for a response. And even then, it may not be the response you are looking for. The bank could approve, deny or counter your offer. 

Over the next several days, or weeks, I'll be updating the process we're going through. While I know that the wait will stink, I think it's worth it if it's for a house you want.

House hunting

My thriftiness has shifted to the real estate market. While I don't have to move or anything like that, I feel like I would be remiss to not at least explore the unfortunate downfall of the housing market. 

I just have to get past the guilty feeling. You know the one where I can benefit from someone else's misfortune? I realize that that's the way the economy works in a way, one person's gain is someone's loss, but I have that nagging guilt still.

But I have to tell you this: looking at purchasing real estate is an education in itself. The amount of information that is out there is truly daunting. And being the frugal consumer, I am avoiding a real estate agent. Of course, that's really not just the frugal part of me talking, that's also the person that walks into a store and sees the salesperson walking straight toward me and I turn around and walk back out. I like to browse in my own time, my own way. I don't want someone (other than my better half of course) jabbering in my ear asking me what I am looking for or what do I think of this or that.

This is going to be an adventure.