08 DEC 2007 - 7 Day Eastern Magic Part 4

[AmberDaClown]

We have gone through the classes and read all the books - he has good things and we do a lot of them - it will be a fun read if they are cruising on cash only and not putting anything on a credit card and have no debt (or at least one they will pay off right after they get back) but otherwise it will be a real downer

That is us to a T. We have been debt free since 2003. We have a month and half worth of savings. We used to have three to six months but each move has decimated the savings even after reimbursement. We are currently investing 5% of income in a Roth and will bump it up to 15% once we get our savings back up.

(We tend to take these vacations that we pay cash for instead of putting the money into savings).

We disagree with Dave about saving for our DD's college. She has her own account but it is not a 529. It will be taxed at her rate, but does not have to be used for college. I feel there are far more varied ways of learning that do not qualify under 529.

We are also working on paying off our house early. Don't have a target for that yet since we did 100% financing.

We also disagree with him on paying cash for everything. We use a credit card as a charge card that earns us miles and we pay it off every month. We have been able to use those miles towards airfare several times. I also do not like the envelope system as I do not want to have that much cash lying around the house. We also feel too naked to ever have a debit card going right into our bank account. I would say we base our financial life on a balance between Dave Ramsey's advice and Clark Howard's advice.

If we don't have the money we just do not buy it and yet we still manage to have fun.

 

[SeaSickPsycho]

That is us to a T. We have been debt free since 2003. We have a month and half worth of savings. We used to have three to six months but each move has decimated the savings even after reimbursement. We are currently investing 5% of income in a Roth and will bump it up to 15% once we get our savings back up.

(We tend to take these vacations that we pay cash for instead of putting the money into savings).

We disagree with Dave about saving for our DD's college. She has her own account but it is not a 529. It will be taxed at her rate, but does not have to be used for college. I feel there are far more varied ways of learning that do not qualify under 529.

We are also working on paying off our house early. Don't have a target for that yet since we did 100% financing.

We also disagree with him on paying cash for everything. We use a credit card as a charge card that earns us miles and we pay it off every month. We have been able to use those miles towards airfare several times. I also do not like the envelope system as I do not want to have that much cash lying around the house. We also feel too naked to ever have a debit card going right into our bank account. I would say we base our financial life on a balance between Dave Ramsey's advice and Clark Howard's advice.

If we don't have the money we just do not buy it and yet we still manage to have fun.

I am not familiar with Dave Ramsy but I did see an add for him last night on tv. Some kind of classes in Atlanta or something. I love Clark Howard. DH can't stand him. He says he only gives advice for wage earners and nothing he says ever applies to us. I think we do everything wrong and DH doesn't like the fact Clark points these things out. We don't have any Roths or 401K. If we get extra money DH buys realestate or trucks. I have $40K tied up in three trucks right now and can't sell them. I hope it will get better after the new year. I don't think either guy would recommend putting your emergency cash in trucks.

When I was at UGA I had the opportunity to convince Clark to give one of the two free speaches he gives each year to my college. We were hosting a national conference that year and he gave a great speach. I spent most of that morning with his wife telling her about all the good shops in town. They really are on different pages with the shopping.

I have volunteered to work at Clark's consumer action center but with the kids I can't make it into Atlanta. I have had the opportunity to do some financial counseling in Athens and it has been rewarding. I wish DH would take some of my advice.

We were debt free for the past four years. In the past year we have taken on three car loans, a second home and are buying a new business after the first. I really liked the debt free life better. My goal is to get back to that as soon as possible. I should read the books.

Clark is my hero! I hope he runs for mayor!

 

[SeaSickPsycho]

I just got DH passport. Can you believe he cut it this close. Things always work out for him. I have the other kind of luck.

 

[plutojudy]

Good morning!

I hope this is everyone's last Friday at work.

I think I got enought sleep to recover from my mom's packing and I am in the mood to pack for the cruise.

Next Thursday is our last day at work.

 

[WIFamily]

Next Thursday is our last day at work.

Next week at this time...

I've taken Thursday off, to better prepare for my vacation

 

[AmberDaClown]

We don't know if anyone on here is watching "Kid Nation", but we have been using it as a teaching tool with DD. We mention several times the behaviour of Taylor and how DD had better NEVER act that way.

OR ELSE!!!

 

[MrsMork]

Late, naked, confused...

The Tag Fairy REALLY needs to check out this thread!

Ok I finally went to the dr. today and got meds! he has put me on some stuff that will knock me out (which could be good - as it will force me to sleep!)

Today besides going to the dr. I have worked more on the outside lights - got the 2 trees wrapped and the ones around the top of the house finished

I took the kids skating
picked up my greenery we ordered
went to sonic for dinner
went to the drug store
Recieved 3 packages today from UPS
1. daughter's dress for formal night
2. razor for hubby for Christmas
3. A package from disney Shopping - which had a set of Micky Mouse red suitcases in it - the biggest one is mine - the smaller 2 are for my ds for christmas (he will get it on Monday night before cruise - daughter already has Tinkerbells one wrapped under the tree) he is just getting the one that is the size to carry on and a tote bag.

so after that came I started packing the big micky one - it has all our formal wear in it and some dinner items and it is getting full!

I am still waiting on another box from disney and my snorkle items that I ordered.

tonight I have to:
finish printing programs
wrap 10 gifts
arrange greenery
pack the swimming bag
wash 2 loads of clothes
clean up the kitchen
find our passports
get 2 boxes ready to mail

and watch the neighbors 3 kids from 5-10

oh and keep checking this board!

Hope everyone else is getting caught up on things too!

I need a nap just reading this!!

When i lived with my parents, my cat jazz would sit on their screened in patio and catch lizards. Unfortunatly those were her idea of presents for me!

Our guy used to bring me presents too. Dead gophers and once a live baby mouse that he dropped ON my foot. EEEEWWW! He's old now though and just sits on the seat of the lawn tractor, gets down only to eat.

Am I the only one who doesn't take a Book on the ship? I never find the time to read.. Other then the Navigator..

Nope, no books for me on the cruise. I have no time for reading.

Let's See, I have a few odds and ends to do..

I need to Add the cabin numbers to the Secret Mickey list and print out copies for everyone participating

Print a Door Sign

Pack our Carry On bag

Grocery Shop for DS

and I think that is it

I have to grocery shop for DGS also. I asked him last night what he would like and he said "anything I can microwave will be fine.

Hey folks!

Just popping in here to wish everyone a great time! My DB, DSIL and their three children (Cinderelly in TX) are members of this sailing, and our family just returned from the 'Thanksgiving 2007' Magic. (Our thread is still out there.)

We had a great time! (I'm still suffering withdrawal.) Do not miss Pirate night on Deck 9, don't miss the sailaway party and try to secure Palo brunch reservations if you don't already have them. (We even liked it better than the Palo dinner.) Also, don't miss the Golden Mickeys and 'Dreams.'

Of course, many of you've already sailed DCL before and know what your favorite 'do not miss' activities are. (The upside to missing something? It means you'll just have to book another cruise! )

Have a good time, and eat some Mickey waffles for me. (And the stollen now available at Goofey's galley. I'm missing it already. )


Priscilla

Glad you had a good time! Thanks for dropping by!

Thank you for the update. I will be sure to bring layers for everyone. One year at MGM we had to buy sweatshirts for the family. Very costly mistake.

Dec 2003 - 8 sweatshirs at Animal Kingdom.

Anyone here participate in the Disney Screening Room? I am not sure how often I need to check in so I don't get kicked off the board. I'm just doing it for the free stuff.

What is the Disney Screening Room and how do I sign up for this free stuff?

Congrats on the pirate.

Do we need to bring bug spray? The kind to put on people not fog our cabin.

We have never needed bug spray at WDW, St Marteen or St Thomas.

Why is the weather forecast full of possiblity for rain in St. Maarten and St. Thomas in the 10 day outlook? I do not want to see rain! It is dreary enough here in MN. Will the weather on the ship be very similiar to the weather on the islands?

Should we anticipate cold weather at all in the evenings?

Depends on what you call cold. I checked accuweather and it looked like in the 80s in the day time and in the 70s at night in the Caribbean. That is not cold to us. We wear just tshirts in 60 degree weather here. Put on a sweatshirt when it gets into the 50s. Speaking of.....it's snowing again today! I hope this is not an indicator of how our winter will go. We usually on have snow once or twice and usually much, much later than this!

We will be at Animal Kingdom Lodge on Thursday and Friday evening. It would be really fun if we ran into each other before the cruise.

See you on the ship! Have fun!

Dennis and I will be having dinner at BOMA Friday at 4:30 with a bunch of DIS Geeks.

I almost forgot to pack our pirate costumes.

I could not find my wench outfit and was I knew I had it Thanksgiving because I showed it to my sis and neice. After searching and searching, I remembered I tossed it into the box that we mailed to the resort! Getting old!

Next week at this time...

I've taken Thursday off, to better prepare for my vacation

Yesterday was my last day at work! I need to pack today and tomorrow, first I have to We will head out to the airport tomorrow evening and stay at a hotel there. We can leave our car at the hotel. It costs not much more for the hotel park and fly than for just airport parking and since our plane leaves at 6 am Sunday and we live over an hour from the airport AND the weather here is iffy as far as snow or ice on the roads, it just seems to make really good sense to be minutes from the airport and let a shuttle van take us there.

 

[coastgirl]

Ok, deleting my complicated previous post about electronics because I have solved my problem locally.

I LOVE the internet. I am saved from chasing around looking for a product that doesn't seem to exist, or evaporates just as you reach for it...

 

[WIFamily]

I just did a rough count of our change jar... it's at about $125. I'll have the kids guess the amount tonight and take it to the bank tomorrow. That plus our Rewards Points should cover the recommended tipping

 

[coastgirl]

I'm wanting to keep an ear on the launch info from the rental car...anyone have the frequency of a radio station we could tune in from the car radio? Cape Canaveral/Titusville probably most useful in the long run but will want to confirm the launch hasn't been scrubbed as soon as we land. (Around ten o'clock Thurs am.)

I'm also going to go put the KSC website on my phone's browser, that's an easy way to check, as long as my roaming plan is in effect by then...(I can only add it on the monthly bill date...that may not be until the 8th...hmmm.)

 

[WIFamily]

I'm wanting to keep an ear on the launch info from the rental car...anyone have the frequency of a radio station we could tune in from the car radio? Cape Canaveral/Titusville probably most useful in the long run but will want to confirm the launch hasn't been scrubbed as soon as we land. (Around ten o'clock Thurs am.)

I'm also going to go put the KSC website on my phone's browser, that's an easy way to check, as long as my roaming plan is in effect by then...(I can only add it on the monthly bill date...that may not be until the 8th...hmmm.)

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/view_shuttle.html

About half way down... "Local radio station WMMB provides launch coverage on AM 1240 and AM 1350."

 

[coastgirl]

Perfect, Jason, thanks!!

 

[Cruise]

One Week!!

I can't believe it. Right now, we'll be in a plane somewhere over the Western part of the US.

I took my box to one of the local shipping places last night to send FedEx Ground to the ship ahead of us. I had calculated it online to be about $20. The guy said it would be $47. I was like "Uhm.. no." So I'll just be packing an extra suitcase with that stuff in it. I'll just have to piggyback my carryon for the walk through the airport.

Those of you leaving in the next few days - good luck! I still feel completely disorganized since I've really only been throwing things into the suitcase as I think about them. Hopefully I'll be able to work on that some this weekend.

 

[plutojudy]

Yesterday was my last day at work! I need to pack today and tomorrow, first I have to We will head out to the airport tomorrow evening and stay at a hotel there. We can leave our car at the hotel. It costs not much more for the hotel park and fly than for just airport parking and since our plane leaves at 6 am Sunday and we live over an hour from the airport AND the weather here is iffy as far as snow or ice on the roads, it just seems to make really good sense to be minutes from the airport and let a shuttle van take us there.

Sounds like a good plan. /Safe travels to you and your group.

 

[plutojudy]

I just did a rough count of our change jar... it's at about $125. I'll have the kids guess the amount tonight and take it to the bank tomorrow. That plus our Rewards Points should cover the recommended tipping

We do this every year for our Nov Vegas trips. We had $140 this year. The best so far.

 

[plutojudy]

Where's Brack? Time for some pictures to help us get through the next week.

 

[WIFamily]

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/view_shuttle.html

About half way down... "Local radio station WMMB provides launch coverage on AM 1240 and AM 1350."

Here, I use this in Windows Media Player to watch Nasa TV. http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx

 

[JoyBender]

I'm a certified mortgage planner. You are right on but my 2 cents worth on 1 piece. By the way a CMPS there are very few of us nationwide therefore pretty prestigous!

1 piece of advice instead of paying extra principal mortgage payments throw that $100-$200 into an asset bearing blended account. When you pay down your mortgage your payment doesn't change unless you were to refinance. Your equity in your home no matter how large or small earns a 0% rate of return. It's like burying $10k in your backyard. AND it is not safe. What safe means is that you aren't going to take your life savings and pour it into a universal life ins. policy which is highly volatile and does have good rates of return, but you'd better have assets in all other allocations to balance the risk. So back to safety i'm not sure where you live but here in MN twin cities house prices are dropping. Now if you paid down your loan by $10,000 over the last 10 years, and your equity were to drop $20,000 below what you owe. Now let's say an unfortunate circumstance were to occur. You lose your job, child gets sick, divorce, ect. Of course we don't like to think in those terms but that is the point of life insurance, disability ins. car ins. ect!
If an unfortunate circumstance were to occur and you had to sell immediately you would lose every penny of that $10,000 you worked so hard to pay down on your mortgage.

Now if you'd been saving that money over in X investment you have $10,000 cash. If you ended up doing a short sale or foreclosure you forgo your credit/pride/home but not your cash. The only way this does NOT work is if you're going to the casino every month with that $200 you've been disciplined with paying off your home.

An extreme of this equity management, I've done $500,000 rollouts of equity on high net worth individuals. They are disciplined with their money, use it to buy investment properties, start businesses, buy foreign condos in mexico costa rica, and invest in safe investments such as muni bonds. Now again if this individual blew it on mercedes, disney cruises, and a riduclous life style this would be an absolute no no!

And I dont' sell any investment products. I just felt like throwing my 2 cents worth in. Afterall Ivanka Trump took out a $1mil mortgage for a condo in NY. Of course she has cash. WHy did she do it. well maximum you can write off in mortgage interest at this time is up to $1mil in a mortgage. $1mil of money invested at even 4% rate of return after taxes in 10 years she has enough cash to pay off the condo in full if she'd like.

Add Ric Edelman's Ordinary People Extrodinary Wealth. He's been on Oprah, and has credentials a mile long.

7 more days! I will be spending the weekend packing!

 

[MrsMork]

I'm wanting to keep an ear on the launch info from the rental car...anyone have the frequency of a radio station we could tune in from the car radio? Cape Canaveral/Titusville probably most useful in the long run but will want to confirm the launch hasn't been scrubbed as soon as we land. (Around ten o'clock Thurs am.)

I'm also going to go put the KSC website on my phone's browser, that's an easy way to check, as long as my roaming plan is in effect by then...(I can only add it on the monthly bill date...that may not be until the 8th...hmmm.)

Last Dec is was scrubbed about 10 min before launch time. But we were happy because it DID go up when we were on the ship.

 

[JoyBender]

sorry i meant to comment on seasickpsycho and amberdaclown. I'm sure some of you looked at my post like what in the world is she talkign about! sorry!