Mail Call

The mail is here.

On the Pro side, Lil Miss A's report card and ITBS scores came, and they were pretty phenomenal. The kid may well be the sharpest knife in the Stahl drawer. Good thing we didn't stop having kids before we had her.

On the Con side,

1. Alliant Energy denied my rebate for energy saving lightbulbs because, since they asked for EITHER the UPC symbol from the package OR the Energy Star logo, I sent just the UPCs, but it turns out they really wanted both, and I was supposed to go by what they were thinking rather than what they actually said.
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa is hiking the premium on our health insurance by about $75 a month after we have been with them only since the first of the year. Why? "Because we always do this and it's usually in April." I headed straight over to Facebook to complain about this, only to see that one of my Facebook friends got the same letter, only her premiums are up to nearly $1000 a month now. Ugh.

Health insurance

First off, let me say I'm really thankful to have health insurance. I am.

But wow. We just found out a couple of days ago that our group coverage through my employer is taking a premium jump, to $675 a month for our family. And this is with me the only one really employed here.

I'm scrambling to see if there are other options for us before the deadline of December 24th when I have to make any changes to our current coverage. Barry has hypertension, two of three kids have ongoing conditions for which they are on meds (nothing serious, don't panic, just kid stuff)... Ten years ago, this probably would not have been a big deal, as we have had coverage for many years now. But now? In Iowa insurers can exclude any condition they don't want to deal with. I'm waiting to hear what Blue Cross of Iowa wants to do about us and if it wants us. We have applied for a very high deductible family plan that would cut our premiums by about half, but heaven forbid anybody should actually need surgery or hospitalization. It would break us.

No tea parties here, thank you very much

The name of the game in US political histronics is "tea party." Virtual and real, people have scheduled tea parties for today, April 15th, the day when US income taxes are due for the previous year. I won't be participating. I don't love paying taxes, but I recognize the need to pay for all the stuff I expect out of my federal and state governments, and I also recognize that our president is doing his best to help with at least short-term fixes for the Big Greedy Mess in which we find ourselves.

Besides, the reason I was counting upon to provide my annual supply of cause for griping failed me this year. We always owe money to the feds and to the state of Iowa, and we are always owed a refund from the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin likes to hold onto the money till the eagle screams. Like, till June. That's when we usually get our Wisconsin refund. 

Not this year. Today I mailed off our checks to the US Treasury and to the State of Iowa - and when I picked up our mail, our Wisconsin refund check was in it. Now I think that is totally reasonable. A refund that arrives on the same day that our payments are due. This is so fair it really disappoints me because I will have to find something else to whine about now.

Cuttin' the Cables

Well, not literally. We have cable TV (the very basic broadcast channels, not even CNN), cable Internet and cable telephone service. Here in the boonies, there is no TV signal to speak of, so if you don't have cable TV, you don't have TV. All told it's about $120 a month. I just called up and canceled our basic broadcast TV service which will save about $25 a month. We watch everything online anyway, or we stream it through Netflix. (Master K is currently working his way through all the seasons of Red Dwarf.) When we all counted up how much time we actually watch television, it was not $25 a month's worth of TV time. And when President Obama preempted Chuck last night, it was the last straw.

Just chipping away here and there at the budget, trying to identify what really enriches our lives and what doesn't. We need the cable Internet for my work, and even now that we are past the introductory special on cable telephone, it is still saving us money.

Forbes: Ten Things We're Still Buying

Interesting article on Forbes.com about things that consumers are still buying in the US. Briefly, they are:

1. Smart phones.
2. Video games and consoles.
3. Gym memberships.
4. Personal care items.
5. Toy building sets (like Legos!)
6. Car maintenance (keeping our old cars up rather than replacing them)
7. Dress casual shoes (like you can wear to work)
8. Restaurant food. (Really? I'm surprised.)
9. Movie tickets.
10. Netbooks. (Again, I am surprised.)

On the FAFSA and paying for one's child's college

College financing has been on my mind pretty much 80% of the time these days. We're fast coming up on the time when we will fill out the FAFSA for the first time to determine what our family ostensibly can afford to pay toward Miss B's college bills. We have forced her to set aside half of her earnings, split between a College Savings Iowa account and a passbook savings account, so she has a little set aside (some of it went toward her 3 mission trips). We don't have a lot in savings; most of our money goes toward our retirement funds* and the house. And right at this very moment, our income is excellent, but we anticipate it being decimated in a few weeks here.

So my friend L and I were talking about this yesterday and she said she and her husband didn't even bother to fill it out. I think we will have to, no matter what, because of the job change situations we are facing, and I would probably do it even if we didn't think there was any chance of it helping us, but I was rather curious how many families just don't bother with it. We had an informational meeting at the high school a few weeks ago, at which most of us parents of seniors came and learned about filling it out, and the mom of one of her friends commented to me that the only people she knew who were eligible for need-based financial aid were out of work entirely - and in fact, she knew of one family where the parents refused to look for work because it would mess up their family's eligibility for financial aid.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I did a google search on "filling out the FAFSA - why bother?" And after reading a couple of things that I found, I am really disgusted. Perhaps by chance, the first 3 sites I clicked on were message boards where college-aged people were complaining about their parents refusing to pay what they were supposed to for college. Evidently these kids thought that if the EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) came back as, say, $50,000, their parents were "supposed to" write a check for $50,000. On one board, they were commiserating with one girl whose mother "refused" to help her with college, saying how sad it was that her mother was so uncaring and heartless. And this was after the mother had already paid $30,000 for the first semester at a private college! Another kid was complaining that his parents had earmarked "only" $60,000 for his college and refused to borrow any more. Borrow. For his college.

I almost registered for one site in order to blast these young'uns for this, and then thought better of it. Not helpful. But it does give me pause. I wonder if my own children have such a nebulous idea of our family finances that they honestly expect us to pay whatever the EFC turns out to be when they go to college? When did things change so much that it is optional for a child to have a part-time job during college? Huh?? Isn't that part of the college experience?

The EFC, by the way, is estimated FAMILY contribution. Not Parent contribution. So the kids are allowed to contribute to that. In fact, whether she understands it or not, Miss B's savings goes toward that.

That's another thing to add to the agenda of the Big Family Meeting Barry and I are planning to have with the children.

Barry heard a program on Wisconsin Public Radio a couple of weeks ago contrasting college-going today with college-going a generation or two ago. Now colleges sell themselves to prospective students based on the food, the housing, the activities. The fun. The color. Used to be, you went to college to learn, and all the rest was immaterial.

I feel more and more like an old fogey here.

The FAFSA informational booklet we were given had a little note to students contemplating college to remind them that going to school means financial sacrifice, that it is a choice and means giving up other things that one might like to have. Kind of a "duh" thing, but really, I bet it sounds ridiculous to lots of people. Yes, the college years are supposed to be fun. Yes, they are probably a young person's first taste of independence**. Yes, they will bring lots of new opportunities and experiences. But no, they are not meant to be a newer, more opulent lifestyle, and no, parents are not supposed to go horribly into debt to afford them. The student is the one who benefits from college, not the parents, and therefore, I think the student should be the one to pay for it. As he or she goes. Not with an enormous debt that dogs his or her steps for years after graduation, keeping him or her from marrying or starting a family or buying a home. It's not worth it.

* Most of those were in the stock market. Note I use the past tense here.

** If parents are paying for it, how independent is this independence, really? Come ON now.

(passing notes during the debate)

pssst... guess what I just paid for gas in Lansing, Iowa?

Nope! It was $2.999. 

Okay, back to the debate.

What did you do with your Economic Stimulus check?

Being as we are a married couple with 3 kids, we got $2100.

Original plan:

• Half into savings
• Half for our vacation

What actually happened:

• 1/3 to fix our American-made car
• 1/3 to fix our American-made children's American-made teeth
• 1/3 for our vacation

So nothing to savings, but I'm glad we had the cash when those other interesting expenses came along.

I bumped into a New Albinite at the orthodontist's office a month or so ago. She was just getting her son started on orthodontia. Thanks to the stimulus check, she was able to pay for it all up front and save some finance charges.

Short-Term Energy Outlook

Residential heating oil prices during the upcoming heating season (October though March) are projected to average $4.34 per gallon compared with $3.31 during the last heating season, an increase of about 31 percent. Residential natural gas prices over the same period are projected to average $15.58 per Mcf compared with $12.72 per Mcf, during the last heating season, an increase of about 22 percent.

Source: Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy

New Glasses! And they were cheap!

You may have noticed something new in the First Day of School pictures below: Lil Miss A now has glasses! We were alerted on a school screening in the spring that she needed them. We figured it was inevitable, as she comes from very near-sighted stock.

I decided to try something new this time: I have been following Glassy Eyes for some time now and have wanted to try getting glasses by mail order. So we did it with Lil Miss A's glasses.

We got the eye exam, had our prescription written out for us, then went to the optometrist that is connected with our eye doctor and had her try on frames. She found a pair that she liked. I had brought a pad of paper and a pen along, and what I did was draw around the frames on the paper, then copy down all the writing on the inside of the ear piece. The frames she liked were $115 at the optometrist (plus lenses, of course).

Then I went to $39 Glasses and looked through the children's frames until I found a pair that seemed to be shaped the same as those she liked. I printed out the sample page that they offer and held it up to my tracing - and it was as close to exact as you can get without being the exact same pair of frames. The numbers that I had written down matched up, too, though I don't know what they all mean.

$39 Glasses was running a special at the time, $10 off any pair of glasses, so all told, with those frames, lightweight lenses in her prescription, and postage, the bill actually came to less than $39. And they are very nice glasses! We are so pleased. The whole process was pretty quick. I ordered right before we left on vacation and the glasses were in our vacation mail when we got home. The prescription seems good, she is so excited to be able to see distant details again, and she looks cute as well. I will do this again!

A big shout of thanks to Ira of GlassyEyes.

The End of Food, by Paul Roberts

While driving home from the orthodontist's today, I had NPR on (Talk of the Nation, I think it was), in which Paul Roberts, the author of The End of Food, was the guest. Now I have to read this book. He talks about how our present food supply system came about and what's wrong with it and what will have to change.

I'm going by memory here, so if I misquote the poor man, blame me, not him, but here are some of the points that struck me:

• Americans spend more every year in weight loss efforts than we spend in food aid abroad. (Wow!)


• One sixth of our nation's population has too much to eat, one sixth has not enough, and the rest has just about right. This sounds bad to us, but Roberts pointed out that were we to transport someone from Victorian England to present times and tell him this, he would be wondering what the big deal is, as things were so much worse in his day, with the proportion of those going hungry being much much higher.


• E coli was present in beef basically forever, but humans didn't get so dangerously sick from it until the 1980s, when most beef began being raised for market in a feed lot, with a corn-heavy diet. E coli apparently loved the corn diet and mutated to a form that could survive in the human gut and make humans sick. This
  is an example of fixing one problem, only to create another, which he says is
  rampant in the food distribution system.


• The lack of flavor of modern market beef comes from that same diet. Grass-fed beef is much leaner and more flavorful, though not as tender, and most people don't even know what it tastes like anymore. (I knew that.)


• Our current food distribution system was built on a premise of $10 to $15 a barrel oil prices. Now with oil running at least 10 times that price, the system isn't working anymore.

Very interesting.

Okay, now, this is weird. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

I just got an e-mail from Capital One, telling me that they would like to upgrade my credit card somehow. Did I want more rewards points? Did I want to improve my card features (whatever they are)? Or - hey, how about this? - did I want a lower interest rate?

Well, yes, that last one appeals. We have two balances on that card, one called a "purchase" and one called a "balance transfer." The larger balance is on the smaller interest rate. Neither interest rate is bad at all, it's just that it's debt, you know? Debt = bad. Anyway, I called them and the nice man who helped me said he couldn't do anything about the balance transfer part of it, but he'd drop the interest rate on the purchase part of the balance to zero for 6 months - and after that, it would go back up just where it was, no worse. I asked how much they would charge for this, figuring there was a catch, and he said no cost.

We just transferred a balance from an expensive card to a couple of cheaper ones, and I'm sure that set off alarm bells on our credit report - they don't like it when you do that - so that's what I figure triggered the offer. At any rate (get it? at any rate? I slay me), we're taking advantage of it.

Woo-hoo! Groceries!

Barry did the grocerying after work yesterday and came home with loads and loads of stuff we needed. Miss B had just defrosted the nearly empty deep freeze just yesterday morning, so all this lovely food is ARRANGED NEATLY in the freezer and fridges. And it's like a treasure hunt. I was at Lil Miss A's softball game when he got home and unloaded things, so I don't know exactly what he bought, and keep finding things that I know weren't on my list. Stuff that looked delicious to him after a long day at work, before supper. Ummm...

Anyway.

I'm really trying to rethink the grocery thing. With us living 35 miles from town, and with gas so pricey, I'm trying a three-pronged approach to cutting back on the shopping trips:

1. Buy local when possible.
2. Get it delivered when possible.
3. Make one giant, efficient shopping trip only when we absolutely must.

We have the City Meat Market here in town, where we are going to try to buy our beef from now on. We drive to Lansing (12 miles south) about 40 times a week for Miss B's work and for school activities, so we try to get our gasoline, milk, eggs and bananas at the Kwik Star there. I'm trying to use Amazon more to have stuff delivered, like toilet paper and kitty litter. And we have the garden. I wish we could still be in our CSA, but it became unaffordable for us when they had to cut back on delivery points because of gas prices and we would have had to drive to pick up the stuff.

As for the One Giant Efficient Shopping Trip (GEST), I am doing about one of those every 4-6 weeks, with Barry doing the others after work. He's very good at grocery shopping, actually, and when he throws something extra in the cart, like he did last night (a gorgeous filet of wild-caught Alaskan salmon), I don't have to feel guilty for overspending, because I wasn't the one who made the decision - I can just enjoy it. Our favorite place to do the GEST is Woodman's in Onalaska, because they are employee-owned and surviving despite being kitty-corner to the Giant Super Dee Duper Wal-Mart, and they have about 6 brands of any given item - the three major label brands, the designer label brand, and two generics. Also they have large ethnic food sections. And they mark down their produce like crazy when it's been on display for awhile. Plus they hardly ever even ask for my ID when I write them a check. Good people.

We have to go into town for orthodontist, eye doctor and pediatrician appointments, and when I can stack a couple of those on one day, that makes a good day for a GEST. Plus the pediatrician and eye doctor are both in the same building, which is in the same neighborhood as Woodman's AND just down the road from the Coulee Region Humane Society, to which it's always fun to squeeze in a visit.

Depressing.

Yesterday I filled the Concorde (nearly empty) and topped off the Jeep (about half full) at the cheapest gas place within reach, the Lansing Kwik Star, and it still cost more than I earn in a day.

Photo courtesy Texas Tech Marketing Department

Toilet Paper by Mail

Living out here in the boonies, and gas prices being what they are, I'm trying my best to think of ways to have stuff we need brought to ME, rather than my going to get the stuff we need. Hence, toilet paper by mail! Amazon offers Cottonelle double-roll packs, a case of 48 rolls, for $41.60. I'm trying out a 30-day trial membership with Amazon Prime, which means free shipping, even on this big bulky item. And then on top of that, I tried Amazon Subscriptions, for an additional 15% off. That's right: Once a month, Amazon will Priority mail me a case of toilet paper for $35.36! No sales tax. No postage. No gasoline.

I think I'm on the right track.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue: "Keepin' It Till the Eagle Screams for Over 150 Years"

That's my suggested motto for the Wisconsin DOR. We always get money back from them, as Barry has to file a nonresident return, and we cannot have less withheld from his checks than we already do, for some unknown reason. So they get our money interest free for the whole year. Then they take forEVer to send our refund check. It didn't arrive till mid June last year, as I recall.

We eFile through our CPA every year, and they claim here that eFilers have their refunds processed within about a week. Yeah, right. I just checked and so far there is not even a record that we filed a return.

On the other hand, we nearly always owe federal income tax, and I mailed our check on 04/15/2008. It just cleared my bank today. So I got the interest on that money for another couple of weeks after it was due.

And finally, good old Iowa has a staggered due date for income tax, for which I could just kiss them. If you owe Iowa state income tax, it isn't due until the end of April. That gives you a few days to recover from paying your federal tax. There is probably a reason other than *being nice to taxpayers* for this, but whatever, it IS nice, and makes me feel a lot better about mailing off that second check.

What are you paying for gasoline?

I just topped off the Concorde at the Kwik Star in Lansing, Iowa, at $3.279 a gallon for unleaded.