Blog Village Carnival: Much Ado About Money

Welcome to the January 28, 2008 edition of a blog village carnival. Without any further Ado, here are the submissions.


Marshamlow presents Much Ado About Money posted at Family Adventures. In this post I write about our family's decision to use the money we will be getting back from our taxes toward our home mortgage loan in order to reduce the amount of interest we will be paying over the life of our loan. We had a lively discussion within the comments about whether or not it is important to live for today or save for tomorrow.

alicia presents "Peace, be still." posted at Get to Know Alicia: Christian Artist, Poet and Full-Time Mom Alicia writes a post about how she finds peace during the troubling financial times we are facing in our country. I found this to be a very moving post. It is sometimes necessary to look past the here and now and see the big picture.

Hueina Su presents My Young Living Story and Exciting News posted at Intensive Care for the Nurturer's SoulEver since a health scare last summer, I've found the tools to help me regain my physical & emotional health. My husband and I are amazed at the turnaround I've made since last winter. Here's my healing journey and an amazing business I'm building as a result.

Chris Thomas presents .:EQUUS:. » Blog Archive » Acquiring Funds/Passive Income posted at .:EQUUS:. Chris writes an informative post about the importance of a passive income. Wish I had one.

NAOMI presents Diary From England: BANK OF ENGLAND LAUNCHES NEW-STYLE £20 NOTE posted at Diary From England. Naomi writes a post about a change in the 20 pound note and what happened when some 10 pound notes accidentally entered circulation with only one side printed.

GP presents New Year, New Business? posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the RangeWhen you start a business, you have to watch your costs like a madman or madwoman.. Pretty obvious wouldn’t you say? Well, it’s easier said than done. Sure you could go out and purchase a bag-o-books from the bookstore by so-called experts that are telling as opposed to teaching. Borrowing from our Steve Covey…seven habits for business success.. or at least a roadmap.

CyberCelt presents Things Always Happen on the Weekend posted at CoolAdzine for Marketers. CyberCelt writes about how to get a payday loan without leaving the comfort of your home, if the need should arise.

CyberCelt presents Stay in Touch . . . posted at Advertising For Success. CyberCelt gives advice on how to save money on overseas calls.

CyberCelt presents Acts of Kindness posted at Endangered Spaces. CyberCelt gives tips on some great charities one can donate to over the Internet.

CyberCelt presents Stop Discrimination Against Moms posted at Losing Proposition. A post about maternal profiling.

GP presents Unlocking the Keys to Innkeeping posted at Innside Montana-Your Home at the RangeAs 2007 ends, reflecting on our innkeeping business; things that went well, things that could have been let’s say handled differently to make a better new year for our guests upcoming.

Anthony McCune presents The Cost of Poverty posted at The Lives and Times... of Anthony McCune. A quick and insightful quote about the cost of poverty.

Kilroy_60 presents Making The United States of America's National Debt A Long Forgotten Memory posted at Fear And Loathing - The Gonzo Papers. A creative solution to the US national debt problem.

Janey Loree presents Handmade Thanksgiving Cards... posted at PJ's Gift Shoppe Diary

Janey Loree presents Vote for Your Favorite Fall Paper Doll Outfits... posted at PJ's Paper Doll Cut Outs

Jackie Ford presents What to do with the Pumpkin Seeds? posted at The Vegan Diet


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of a blog village carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Much Ado About Money

Jeff and I have already spent our tax money. We haven't filed or received our refund but the money is spent. We have decided to make extra house payments. I took the amount of money we pay each month to the bank, multiplied it by 12 (months) multiplied it by 30 (years) and found that we are going to pay the bank more than two times the amount we borrowed over the course of our 30 year loan.
That interest is payed up front, meaning in the first few years of your home loan the majority of your monthly payment goes toward the interest and very little goes toward the principle. This is only true if you only pay your mortgage payment and no more. Any extra you pay goes toward the principle.
The less you owe in principle the less you pay in interest. Every dollar I pay extra in principle the first few years of my mortgage is going to save me $1.40 in interest. If I pay $5000 from my tax refund toward my principle it will save me $7000 in Interest. That is $7000 I will not have to pay to my bank, that I will get to keep in my pocket, free money.

A friend of ours is much more experienced in owning homes. She has owned homes for more than 25 years. She currently owns three. She was very distraught at our plan, because don't we know that we can DEDUCT the interest we pay on our house from our income taxes. If we pay off our house no more deduction...

This bothered me a lot because my friend is in essence saying she would rather her hard earned money go to the bank in the form of interest than to the government in the form of taxes. I think this, I don't want the tax man to get my money is a common theme in America. Did you know that banks are incredibly profitable. Look at the Forbes list of the 2000 most profitable companies on the globe, number one and number two are US banks - Citigroup and Bank of America. The interest you pay on your home loan, your credit cards, your car that money goes into the pockets of the richest people on the planet. When you pay out in interest and deduct it from your taxes you are reducing the amount of money paid into the tax pool. Tax money goes to fix roads, fix the roof on the school, clean my drinking water, hire more cops and fireman. Interest you pay to your bank goes to what? Mansions? Lobbyists? Certainly not anything which helps improve the quality of your community.

Reducing the amount of interest you pay via extra house payments, credit card payments or car payments - pay off the principle to reduce your interest is the best bang for your buck. You will generate much more money in your retirement fund, or mad money account by paying less interest than you will by investing.

Is this about money?

I have decided to take at least one semester off from school perhaps more. This has been a difficult decision. Getting a degree has been a life long desire and goal. Putting that on the back burner yet again is done with a bit of frustration. But, you can't always get what you want, or so the song goes.

This last year we spent way too much money. This upcoming year we are trying to re-coop some of what went out last year. While I don't feel like we are the victims of the economy, it certainly isn't helping. Being a stay at home mom is very important to me for a variety of reasons. I have decided that being home for the family is more important to me than finishing my degree in a timely manner. I could just get a job. I could just get a student loan. But, that is not the course I have chosen. So here I am.

It is my dream to become a web developer. This is the person who writes the code to make the beautifully designed websites come together and work. I have been reading job boards advertising for these types of jobs for a couple of years now. I want to make sure that I am prepared when I do go back to work. Many of these jobs require a degree in computer science, but many do not. All of the jobs require experience in things like PHP, Java Script, Flash, Ajax, Word Press, etc. My school doesn't offer any courses in these things. So even if I got a degree I still wouldn't know how to do the job I want to do. So I am going to teach myself how to do that stuff. I have found a ton of free information and tutorials on the Internet. So in essence I feel like I am still working toward my goal, but I wont be spending any money for the time being.

Hopefully I will be able to share with you some fun things as I learn them.

That is the plan for the next 7 months, until Lily starts school. I am hoping to teach myself to be a web developer in 7 months. Of course I am already proficient in many programming languages so this wont be as hard as it sounds. I hope.

Much Ado about Money

I am hosting a blog village carnival on January 28th called:

Much Ado about Money

Join us for another Family Blog Carnival - MUCH ADO about MONEY. Whether you earn it, spend it, save it, invest it, or even lose it, we all deal with money issues in our daily lives. Here's your chance to give your views on the economy, discuss ways of earning money while blogging, tell how you've gotten out of debt, or worse, how you've gotten into debt. Tell us about your business, or your dreams of a business. If your post relates to money, it's a perfect fit for this carnival. We look forward to reading what you have to say. -blogcarnival.com

A blog carnival is an opportunity for a variety of bloggers to write about the same topic and then read each others posts. Whether you write a post or just read everyone else's post carnivals give us the opportunity to meet new bloggers. On January 28th I will write a post with a list of links to all the various posts on all the various blogs participating in the carnival. Submit your post here or send me an email: marshamlow@yahoo.com

Blog village is a community of family friendly bloggers that I have belonged to for quite some time now. You are invited to become a member of blog village, go here to become a member. I have met many a blogging buddy at the village, including: Shelia, Naomi, Marion, and the founder and facilitator of the village Rosemary AKA Dirty Butter. Feel free to visit the village any time and browse through the members blogs, no membership is required to visit only to be listed. Click here to visit the village, the icon is always on my sidebar too.

The rules: A Quarterly Carnival open to all members of BLOG VILLAGE and also to any blog that links directly TO a Villager's blog. (My blog is a village blog- so you are all good). We invite you to join us in exploring a variety of Family Friendly themes.

1. Blog MUST belong EITHER to a BLOG VILLAGE member OR link directly TO a BLOG VILLAGE Blog. - I am in the village and you all link to me...
   


2. Only 1 entry per blog.


3. Only English language posts will be accepted.


4. No posts with titles, or with pictures, containing profanity, or of a sexual or suggestive nature, will be accepted.


5. Choose MEMBER or GUEST from the Categories, and put the required information in the REMARKS.


6. GUESTS of Villagers must submit the URL of the BLOG VILLAGE blog they are linked TO for your entry to be eligible for consideration.


7. VILLAGERS need to enter their MEMBER NUMBER in the REMARKS.


8. The post must consist of your own original work or you must have the written permission of the author of the words and images used in your post.

Submit your post here.

Or you can send me an email and I will go to all the troubles and formalities of submitting your blog. If you don't want to write a post I hope you will participate by reading the blogs listed and leaving tons of inflammatory comments.

Harry Potter in London

Mandy and I are huge Harry Potter fans. When the first movie was coming out we found ourselves living in Italy and not speaking any Italian. It was November 2001. We managed to convince Jeff that it would be a good idea to spend our Thanksgiving weekend traveling to London to see London, but really to see Harry Potter in English.

I was able to book our family a flight from a town less than an hour from our house, directly into London for less the $200 round trip for all three of us. Thank you Ryan. This airline is fabulous, it is like nothing I had ever seen before. You buy your tickets online, that is the only way. You are given a e-ticket. There are no seat assignments, you show up and sit where you want, like a bus. People pile onto the plane and sit down, the plane leaves. Takes about five mintues. They don't give you anything like food or water, instead they sell you stuff the whole flight. Water bottles are about $10 bucks. Just kidding, I don't remember how much it cost, just that we were shocked that it could be so much.

While we were going through the screening process to get onto the plane, this being only a couple short months after Sept. 11, we saw a sweet little old Italian lady being forced to throw her nail scissors in the trash. She was screaming at the Carbenari, his partner had a machine gun and a huge mean dog, this did not stop her from telling him exactly what she thought about having to throw her nail scissors in the trash. Later on the plane, one of the things the flight attendants tried to sell us along the way was nail scissors, just like the ones she had to throw away. I wanted to buy her a pair. I wondered if they took them out of the trash and then re-sell the stuff on the plane?

We were traveling on a budget, as we always do. We found a bread and breakfast, we had to take a train from the airport into London, get on another train and take it all the way out to the last stop on the line, walk six blocks and there we found our bread and breakfast, which was actually just a room in a sweet little old ladies house. Our breakfast actually consisted of a bowl a cereal and some tea. But, it was safe, clean and comfortable-and in our budget.

When I walked into that house I was immediately transported back in time to my grandmother's house. It smelled exactly like my grandma's house. I have never smelled another house that had that smell, I still to this day wonder what it was. My grandma's house was in Seattle, another damp climate and they houses were approximately the same age? I just don't know.

We ended up having a marvelous trip. We took the train back into London. We saw many of the landmarks of London. Spent the day walking and riding trains. We ate wonderful food, and of course we saw our beloved Harry Potter movie. The thing was that Mandy and I hated it, the Harry Potter movie. We loved the books so much that seeing the first movie, after having gone all the way to England for it, we were just so horrified with how extremely mediocre the movie was. The books are just so much and the movie was just ordinary. Since then we have watched it again, and gone to all the other movies, I guess we have gotten over the fact that movies are not books. But, that day, we looked at each other after the movie and I said, it was horrible, and Mandy laughed and said, she thought so too. Jeff on the other hand was horrified, he has not read any of the books and thought the movie was great, he was so upset that we had gone all the way to England to see a movie and then we did not like the movie. We liked London very much though.

Jeff had been stationed in England before Japan and he still had friends living there, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, so we even got to have our Thanksgiving dinner on our trip to England. Jeff's friend is Thai, her mamma actually grew up in Thailand, and she cooked us along with our turkey and all the trimmings, some wonderful Thai food too.

I wish that travel in America was like it is in Europe: planes, trains, cheap and easy.

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I wrote this post for Naomi's England goes Gonzo blog carnival. The carnival kicks off on October 1st.