Argh!

I went to use my camera this evening to shoot some fireworks and there are lines across my viewer screen.
It's so bad I can't even see the thing I am trying to film for the lines.
Tried Googling the problem and all that comes back are problems with the camera feature on a Samsung Phone.
bleh.

Of course this is the camera that just went off of warranty in May.
double bleh.

I guess I'll be buying a new camera soon.
triple bleh.

Anybody have any ideas on what is wrong and if it can be fixed by a techno-phobe?

It's a cheapy Samsung WB30F with 10x zoom.

Sluggy

It's Hers!

My Daughter sent me this photo from Facebook last week.
She finally closed on the house only 7 weeks later than planned.

Daughter is now a homeowner!

So I can now share photos of the house she bought.
The house is almost 2100 sq. ft.
4 bedrooms, 2.75 bathrooms.
It's as big as MY house! lolz


Here's the front.....

 

The living room with built in tv/book cabinet and fireplace.....

The kitchen.  There is a pass through from the dining/living area to the kitchen, through which I shot this picture.  The stove is off the photo to the left and the fridge and cabinets are off to the right.

 

This shows the dining area and the pass-through/breakfast bar into the kitchen....

 

The dining area.  The area through the doorway is to the addition-a bathroom & a bedroom.....

One of two bedrooms, identical in size.....

The guest bathroom by the 2 bedrooms.....

The bedroom in the addition.  This is my room when I visit.

and the addition's 3/4 bathroom.....

The master bedroom.  They are putting new carpet down and repainting before they move in....

the walk-in closet in the master bedroom....

The master bathroom......

The other side of the master bathroom with huge storage closet.....
To the left of the toilet there is also a shower.

The mudroom with washer/dryer hook-ups.....

The other side of the mudroom with the back door and electric panel....

The backyard.  It goes back to the shrubbery and the fence there.  Lots of large shade trees.

Backyard looking to the right side of the property.  Property line is where the tree is in the middle of the shot.

The back porch.  The door to the right in the back of the porch is the addition's door so it has a separate entrance.

In the back of the yard to the right side of the property is a large shed with electricity.  Daughter's BF can run his side business from that building.

Another shot of the front with a nice shade tree.  You can see how far away the neighbor's house is.  The lot is nice and square-ish in dimension, instead of rectangular so there is lots of space between them and their neighbors.

Property taxes in LA are quite low compared to many parts of the country.  Even so, Daughter won't even have to pay hardly any property taxes since there is a Homestead Exemption in LA for the first $75K in property value you own.   The house is valued at around $100K.   Under $200 a year for property taxes?
Yes please!

We gifted her a large chunk of her college money to buy this...up to the IRS limit we can gift per year, since she isn't using it for college.

Then we floated her a personal loan with interest for the remainder of the cost of the house.
She will be paying up back over the next 10 years with interest.

That makes her "mortgage" about $200 a month which she'll split with her BF.  After 10 years, she'll own this property outright.

Daughter has decided we aren't such bad parents after all. lolz

Once you pay off your own mortgage and start accumulating wealth, you can spend your money on paying for college and helping your kids buy homes, instead of making bankers and loan companies wealthy paying them interest.  ;-)


Sluggy






 

We Must All Hang Together.....

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."--from the Declaration of Independence, July 1776.


It's July 4th.
Please enjoy this clip from the HBO miniseries "John Adams".
And remember the sacrifices our fore bearers endured to secure our liberties.

I feel this stuff deeply since I am directly or by-marriage related to 5 of the 7 Signers to this document from the Virginia Delegation to the 2nd Continental Congress.
Yep, I come from a long line of Virginia rebels.......



Then, to paraphrase my esteemed cousin, Sonya Ann "Go celebrate by drinking and blowing shit up".

Yours in Liberty,

Sluggy


 

Sprechen Sie englisch?

Now why did I think some of my friends would enjoy this? 





Sluggy

$24K Challenge.......JUNE Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2014 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $24,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the June report.....

I have posted my June End of Month $24K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $2,000.

I have to report that we finished up June with a greater than needed amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of  June with?.......$2,302.33

Income
We had $2143.78 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in June totaled $158.55.  This included interest made on accounts, a allergy med rebate and 2 dividend checks.

This brought us to our gain of $2302.33.
Since we have no debt anymore, this goes into savings.

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill went down $47.21 from May's bill.
*  The credit card bill was $2196.18 less than in May.  Some of the spending(for the car and sofa)on it came out of the Bonus money received earlier this year so didn't affect this Challenge(good) but did affect our Net Worth(bad).

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The cash withdrawals were $50 more than May.
*  Quarterly Garbage bill was due.
*  Private music lessons were $40 more than May.
*  We had a vet bill for the dog....her annual check-up and shots.
*  We had 2 dental bills to pay.

 

The Food Budget costs for June are in another post, which is located HERE.

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 6 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $11,672.54
That's only $327.46 short at this point of the $12,000.00 I should have put aside after 6 months.
I was $629.79 behind in May, I am less behind in June.

Yay!
  

 

Looking ahead for July......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.

*  The lime green chair purchase will be due on July's credit/card bill but so far we don't have massive amounts charged to the card....yet. lolz
 

 

So how was your June financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in June?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy