Monthly Archives: December 2008

Refi & now what?

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So, we are in the midst of refinancing our mortgage, to take advantage of HISTORICAL LOW RATES on account of…. dun dun DUUUUN, THE ECONOMY. It’s weird to be in the position that we can refi and get the low rate and have a mortgage guy be like “you guys are doing AWESOME” when it was so not that long ago that I was CCCSing my way out of a big hole. We were initially going for a 15 or 20 year, but the rate for a 30 was the same for a brief window of time yesterday (4.75!) so we did that, and are now planning our next move, financially.

Our payment goes down by $150. Our long term plan is to pay off the house much faster than 30 years, it always has been, but by lowering our payment/interest/dropping PMI, we are now considering what to do with this ‘found’ $150. There are three options/considerations:

#1: In case you hadn’t HEARD, we want a second child, and the biggest obstacle to that is the cost of daycare. Socking away that $150 in some far off savings account would soften the blow of our best-case scenario timing wise, of double daycare for a year.

#2: tacking that 150 onto my student loan payment, which is at 6%, and about a 19k balance.

#3: Just adding it to the mortgage payment as extra principal.

Also, we’ll have some escrow returned, plus our tax return, etc, and thinking about what to do with that money is also burning up brain cells:

#1: Finish off the window project. That would be about $1300. #2: Replace the fridge (18 years old, and an energy hog, I’m sure, but still technically running) anywhere from 600-1200 (I really like the LG french door fridge — we are restricted to a 30″ wide one) but definitely want a bottom freezer, which are more than top freezers. #3: drop it into a CD as a daycare stash for hypothetical kid #2. #4: Throw it at the student loan

SIGH. Any opinions?

Refinancing?

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My coworker, who bought in August, is refinancing from a 30yr fixed to a 20yr fixed, and keeping the same payment. Needless to say, my curiosity is piqued. Anyone want to share their experience with that? How do they appraise a house after 4 years — I know the market has tanked, but in my neighborhood, a comparable house is selling at about 150k, and we paid 120 4 years ago. Do they just go by tax records? Or something else?

I'm going to talk to the guy tomorrow, one guy, anyway, and I have a call in to another guy, just to see what's up. We don't really want to lower our payment, but it would be sweet to lower our terms to a 15yr mortgage.

Cell Phones

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Our current carrier is Unicel, who has been purchased by Verizon, and we can switch anytime now with no ETF, and be considered new customers at Verizon, AND I get a discount because my school uses them, so I'm pretty sure that's where I'm headed.

I'm looking at the Env2, and Dave is looking at the Chocolate 3. (Granted, he only wants "a skinny phone with a camera," and that was the skinniest one he held at the kiosk in the mall.)

Before we pull the trigger on this, any thoughts? If we switch now, we can get the phones for $80 each (after rebates, which I do right away) and a $50 new customer discount/debit card/ blah blah thingie. WIll there be better deals after Christmas? Should we go for it now?

If money were no object, I'd totally wait and jump ship to AT&T for an iPhone, but I just can't stomach paying for data, no matter how cool the phone, at this point in my life. And while Unicel has been okay for GSM, generally, the CDMA of Verizon/US Cell seems to be stronger up here. (Um, I actually created an online test for my FYS students to take, just so they could take a sample test, and for questions, I asked about cell carriers and phones. I am nothing if not a Researcher.)

Friday Update

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Ingrid is WAY INTO KISSAMUS. Y'all, it is the best thing ever. She loves the tree, the presents, the lights, but is a little leery of Santa coming to our house, as "Santa is Scary." I get that. The other 364 days of the year, I'd be freaked if a bearded old man broke into my house, too.

Tonight she was standing in the living room, then went to downward dog, and did a somersault. She popped up and said "I did it! I did it I-Spy down all byself!" Totally a Kindermusik/MyGym trick, which makes me feel guilty for thinking of cutting it in the new year. We'd added it (it's an extra fee at daycare, but it added up to what our pre-jr preschool fee was, so it was already 'budgeted,' but now jr preschool is going up the same amount, so i was going to stop doing it…) so that she could have a smaller group experience, doing some different things. It's 15 minutes of Kindermusik, 20 of MyGym, and 15 more of Kindermusik, and she genuinely LIKES it. She talks about it more than she talks about swim lessons, which have been going on for a year. So, maybe we'll find the 30 bucks a month to keep her in it.

Dave and I are supposed to go to his work party tomorrow night, but my SIL called tonight (our sitter) to say she has pinkeye. And all my friends/next in line for babysitting are going to another friend's birthday party, so I don't know what's going to happen. And I, myself, am probably dealing with a moderate case of pinkeye (bloodshot eyes for three days, and not stoned or otherwise, with some gumminess overnight) so I don't know if it will get worse and I wouldn't have gone anyway, but still, lame, because Dave's party is fun and there are door prizes.

My work party was funnish, more formal and reserved than Dave's company party, but still nice to get out. Work has been good — I did a lot of collaborating and teaching with the edu. dept, and have gotten some great visibility and appreciation on that project, and I got a great compliment through the grapevine from our (sadly) departing administrator that hired me. And, I applied for a blogging job, for MONEY, for my fave instructional tech job, and GOT IT. While I'm a little (lot) nervous, I am kind of stupidly excited to have a PAID WRITING GIG.

I finished up my first year seminar classes by sharing my UMF transcripts, ie: the time I was academically dismissed, in order to show that it's not the end of the world. I know that it shocked my students, because I *am* successful (HOW WEIRD!) and that shows, you know, but I've been there. And again, I failed out in great part because I was mastering the INTERNET in 1994, setting the groundwork for what would become my career, while failing out as a writing major. (Although, my writing classes were the ones I not only didn't FAIL, but also got GOOD grades in!) So, it's especially cool to be Writing about TECHNOLOGY. WAY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. Links will be available via twitter, when it comes time. 😀

I love my family, I love my tree, and I love this glass of wine. I hope my eyes clear up and I can figure out a sitter for tomorrow.

I am so old.

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Seriously, why do I keep fawning over….

wait for it……

MATCHING APRONS.

I mean, $48 seems a little steep, but I wish I'd thought of this earlier and made it to a craft fair or something. Or unearthed my sewing machine and attempted myself. Those are just SO CUTE. gah. O-L-D.

Dave is working today, we have my holiday party tonight where I actually feel pretty good about the dress and shrug I bought, and we're doing our christmas tree tomorrow. I'd planned on going to a farm this year, but am starting to get bogged down by logistics and possible weather, and am rethinking that idea. We've bought our tree just up the street for years (from a local farm, just pre-cut and displayed in town) and with this kind of super busy weekend, that almost sounds like a better idea. Still not sure, though.