Keeping Records

There are some very good documents written about how long you should keep your financial records. Bank Rate has a very good list, and Kim Lankford at Kiplinger's Ask Kim column wrote a pretty detailed article as well.

I've read all the articles. I've nodded along at the good advice. Then I've boxed up every bank statement, cancelled check, utility bill, and retail receipt from every year and put them in plastic totes under the house. Each year, during the first quarter, I gather all of my tax items, pull last year's records out, start new files for this year, and move everything under the house.

With a total of 2 ex-wives, 1 ex-husband, and a whole group of "yours, mine, and ours" children, I am petrified to get rid of any records. I have pre-k report cards, tissues in baggies with unidentified baby teeth, string and ribbon art works, and every single birthday/valentine's/holiday card and personal letter ever received.

I have one box that is full to the top with cancelled checks and bank statements from Wes and his ex-wife 11 years ago. I admit that I keep these because those bank statements have child support records and until the children are all 18, we never know when something is going to pop up.

I live by the premise that records are only useless until about 5 days after you throw them out. Then they're desperately needed. I'm never so relaxed as when all my filing is done. And... MY FILING IS DONE! I finished it about 30 minutes ago.

Update - Reimbursed Expenses

Actually sitting down this morning to blog about the reimbursable expense forced me to go dig out those two receipts. I've got them in an envelope now. Monday, I'll get a Check Request Form from the PTA and submit for reimbursement.

:) Yay for accountability.

Reimbursable Expenses

I've had this entry on the back burner for the last several days. For some reason, the words are not finding their way onto the page. I know what I want to say, but... hmm.. there's a block. So this will just be a ramble, I think.

Wes and I will, at times, spend money that isn't budgeted for things that are to be reimbursed. I recently purchased sodas, film, and craft items for the PTA Sweetheart Ball. I need to submit the receipts for these purchases so that I can be reimbursed. Yet, I've been so lax about this that I have not only forgotten to fill out the check request form and turn in the receipts, but I've misplaced the receipts. It's not as though I don't care about the $250 that I spent on these items. I'm just lazier than I should be when it comes to pulling the money back into the account.

Wes has always had this barrier when it comes to reimbursable work expenses too. When he traveled for work, he used to put off the expense reports for months, then scramble to gather the $10,000 or so in expense receipts, send in all the reports, and get a huge check. Now, this isn't so bad until you realize that when he lost receipts, he couldn't submit them for reimbursement. Often times, he lost income for several weeks worth completely because they were outside the 90 day requirement.

We've purchased major appliances and equipment with significant rebates that we've never mailed in. Even though I've filled them in and had them ready to go.

I have a lot of reflection to do about this. Why do I so carefully guard the money that we have by budgeting and planning, but not work aggressively to put the money back in that should be coming?

Food for thought this morning.

Cell Phone Plans - Frugality is not always easy to impliment.

One of the most popular frugality tips is to lower your cell phone plans. I'd hazard a guess that it's among the top ten ways to free up a few dollars a month.

Last month, I decided to go ahead and lower our plans. Wes has his Blackjack that has an unlimited data line and the 1350 minute plan, and 8000 rollover minutes. Obviously, he doesn't use them all so I lowered his plan to 900 minutes a month for a savings of $20 a month.

The kids and I have a family plan. We started with a plan of 2100 minutes and unlimited text messages for 4 phones, but since the children don't really use theirs except to call us and calling us doesn't count toward the minutes, we lowered the plan to 700. This lowered our bill by $40, or so we thought. The bill came in the mail the other day, and instead of going down by $60, it went up by over $140.

Unfortunately, this is par for the course with AT&T. Over the years, we've made occasional changes to our cell phone plans with Cingular, and the service is no different now that they have merged into AT&T. When we added new telephone lines for the children, we received hundreds of dollars in unrequested "premium" text messages.. from the people who had the lines before we got them. Then those same messages started appearing on Wes' plan. Once again, things we haven't subscribed to. They've even removed services we used, and charged "per use" charges instead of the plan amounts.

So, this month when the bill came, I expected it to be in the low $200s. Instead, it was $400! They changed my family plan to the 700 minute plan, as requested. But they removed my unlimited texting! Upon further review, they kept the 2100 minute plan AND the $40 a month unlimited texting on the phone for our 10 year old, who only uses the phone to keep in touch with Wes between visits. He doesn't text.

The unlucky representative who took my call was very patient, but not apologetic. He promised it was an "easy" fix. They fixed the rate plan. They removed the 2100 plan and one month of unlimited texting. *NOTE* The cell phone companies charge you for the current month and then a month in advance for texting.

The rep then said "I'm only removing one month of the unlimited texting, since it was available on YM's phone." I'm afraid that Momma lost it at that point. I informed him that he had lost his mind if he thought I was paying $40 for texting for a TEN YEAR OLD that did not send nor receive one single text message, and the people who actually use the messaging had no access to it at all.

The end result is that for this month, they removed $155 in ridiculous mistaken charges, reinstated our text messaging for all phones, and corrected the plans. We'll take a look again next month and see if the corrections stick.

Discussions on Poverty

I just read an interview with Adam Shepard that JD over at Get Rich Slowly posted, this morning. The interview was interesting and gave me food for thought... but not as much as the comments. It seems to me that there are so many people who adamently refuse to believe that each person is responsible for their own rise above poverty.

I've seen all of the excuses. Not enough education. Not the right sex. Not the right background. And the ever popular "I'm a single mom!"

I was raised by a Single Mother. Raised in poverty. We did not own our own home, or even have a place to live many times growing up. My mother was a Welfare Mother. All of her income came in the form of welfare checks, food stamps, and we were all provided the best healthcare the state offered. During the course of my childhood, we lived in dozens of places across 3 states, in low income housing, on friends' sofas, with families in overcrowded houses, and a few times in shelters.

Our Christmas gifts, school clothes, and anything else of significant value was provided by Christian Social Services, Community Action, Goodwill, or any other of a hundred charity organizations. My mother did not work, except when it was mandated by state law that she work for the state for the number of hours equivalent to her welfare check paid at minimum wage. And, although she most certainly had enough money to spend every night at the local VFW, or bar, there was little leftover to raise her 4 children.

Now, this is not a pity party. I value the lessons I learned during my childhood. However, this is to demonstrate that I do know what I'm talking about when addressing the issues of poverty and the struggles faced by families ensconsed in it.

As many of the girls who grew up in this environment, I got pregnant at 16. I was a Momma at barely 17. However, I refused to hang the label "Single Mother" on myself. Yes, I was a mother. Yes, I was single. But, my child deserved better than the life I'd had. I went to school during the day, worked at Papa John's Pizza at night. I lived with my mom until 3 months before graduation when she decided to move to another state again. With no way to graduate high school if I moved with her, I packed my 10 month old daughter up and moved into the local homeless shelter.

From there, I began the cycle I did not want to begin. I signed up for welfare, food stamps, and medical care for my daughter. I still went to school and still worked my part time job. I did manage to graduate on time (although, with a D in a couple of classes). I found a tiny 8'X35' trailer for rent, with all utilities included for the exact amount of the welfare allotment. The school guidance counselor brought me a gift box with standard household items to help me get started.

I got financial aid and went to the local college. I met a guy. I got pregnant again at 19 and married 2 months later. I dropped out of school and we moved. Then we moved again. Then we moved again. To make a long story short, after moving more than half a dozen times in just 5 years, I wound up living on my mother's sofa in Georgia, with 3 children, 13 college credit hours and a 0.7 grade point average, two broken legs in braces, an INCREDIBLY spotty work history, and no husband.

I bought a big bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol, and got a job as a 3rd shift waitress. For the entire time I worked there, I was in such pain that I could barely walk. But, I worked anyway. I did not want to be a Welfare Mom and I did not want to ever utter the words "But I'm a single mom".

My world completely fell apart the day that my (then) 7 year old daughter fell on a piece of playground equipment and broke her arm. As a waitress, I had no medical insurance. I had to quit my job to qualify for public assistance. This was the only way that I could afford medical treatment for her arm.

The Public Assistance program in my community is very strict. You're required to attend workshops on resume building, interviewing skills, and get the documentation signed before you qualify for assistance. They also have programs in place with some local department stores to provide interview and work clothes.

I grabbed onto every opportunity they provided me with both hands. Within 10 days of my application, before I ever received one welfare check, I had a job. A job working DAYS.. at a desk job... 40 hours a week.. and for the most money I'd ever made, $10 an hour!

From that point, I never looked back. I have utilized every free educational opportunity that the jobs I've held have offered. Every training session, industry online training course, or even co-workers trying to teach me other job functions, I grabbed onto and used to my advantage. Within a year, I was working for a different company, making more money, learning as much as I could, and making sure that I was in the front of the minds of management when they thought of intelligent, hard workers.

The greatest thing is that my daughters all saw this. They all know where we started. They all know how much our lives have changed and improved. They all know that it was just the 4 of us together for a long time. Not only have I given them better lives than I had, through my own perserverence and hard work, but I've given them a foundation for success... proof that even "single moms" with "no education" and "the wrong background" can improve their situations dramatically and break the cycle of poverty.

Valentine's Day - different this year

In the past, Valentine's Day has been a very big deal. I am one of those lucky women who has a really romantic husband. He may not remember all of the dates without prompting, but he gets the important stuff right. We usually do a fancy dinner out at a really upscale place, and get a hotel room someplace for alone time. This time, I told him that I had something romantic planned. I didn't mention money, although I did say I didn't want to go out. After wandering around the other blogs and digging up Frugal Valentines ideas(Get Rich Slowly, The Simple Dollar, My Two Dollars) this is how our night went.

Wes and I used to have a lot of alone time. We used to spend nights and nights alone sitting in his living room floor with chinese takeout listening to music and talking. I decided that, last night, we were going to have some alone time.

I stopped at the store to pick up ingredients for dinner, some wine, and the missing ingredient for homemade low carb cheesecake. Once I got home, I got the cheesecake in the oven, started Wes making dinner (grilled chicken and veggies... MMMM), and was gifted with a lovely glass of red wine.

I lit all of the bedroom candles on the wall sconces, and the dressers, and the bedside tables. I pulled cushions out into the floor and spread the sheepskin rug next to them. I came back out of the bedroom to kiss my children and hug them and tell them goodnight, and informed them that for the rest of the evening I would be on a date and the penalty for knocking on our door was death.

I asked Wes to bring our dinner into the bedroom. Then, I went back to the bedroom and slipped into something more comfortable. He was duly impressed!

Once he was settled, I sprung my last surprise.... I pushed Play on the MIX TAPE that I made for him (Idea shamelessly stolen from David over at My Two Dollars. That's right, it's 2008 and I made him a mix tape... well, CD really.. but same principle. About 1/2 way through the CD, he heard a Journey song that he declared "perfect stripper music" and proceeded to pull off his t-shirt. I made all the right encouraging noises and was appropriately impressed. When he took his pants off, I reminded him that we still needed to have the cheesecake.

So, he stopped stripping and went to the kitchen in his boxers to get the cheesecake. As he walked through the house, our 14 year old spotted him and remarked "Well, looks like the date is going well." We giggled about that for about 20 minutes after he came back into the room.

We fed one another cheesecake... he only brought one spoon so the trading of the spoon turned out to be fairly comical. The last song on the CD was one that is near and dear to Wes' heart, as he helped sing it in our wedding... "Burning Love" by Elvis Presley. I was indeed treated to his rendition of the song again, and bed-dancing. This was the perfect relaxing evening that we've needed for far too long. We were so relaxed that we ended up giggling and cuddling and fast asleep by 9:30 PM. What a great night... and all for the cost of some chicken breast and a bottle of Chanti.

Investing In....

There are some fantastic resources on the internet and at the public library who can point you in the right direction for just about any type of investing. You can research and buy stocks, bonds, CDs, property, and the list gos on... I will willingly admit that I don't pay much attention to the investing resources yet, as I am still very deep in debt and this has to be my first priority.

This morning, I had an epiphany. I am already investing. I'm investing in me. I'm investing in my marriage. I'm investing in my family.

Right now though, my main focus is on investing in my career. Receiving calls about a job making more than double my salary has made me re-evaluate some things. If I am qualified for this job, and it's a market that has a lot of openings, I'd be kind of silly not to exploit that.

I've started taking online tutorials and education modules to increase my knowledge and marketability. It's not costing me anything but time. The tutorials are all free and there for the taking. The more I expand my skills in this area by doing the practice drills, taking the skills assessments, and developing generic items to add to my portfolio, the more I am investing in me... and therefore my family and my marriage.

How does this correspond to my family and marriage? Simple! For every dollar I increase my income, the amount of time to pay off our debt decreases. For every decrease in our debt, the less stress and strain on Wes and I, and the less we have to put off things we want for the children. In short, this investment has the potential to free my family from the monetary constraints that have limited Wes and my ability to provide in the ways we WANT to for everyone.

I feel good about my current investment portfolio :) It's not large... but it WILL BE!

Experiment #1- Yesterday's Spending
I Spent: $18.22 for hair color and PTA supplies

Hiccups and Money Stress

This weekend was a difficult one for me. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the emotional relationship I have with money. I am relieved to have enough money saved that I can replace the tires on my car without worry. If the electric bill is more than expected, there is no financial crisis for us. If we forget to lay out something for dinner and we just decide to jump in the car and go to a restaurant, there is no big dilemma.

However, there really is. Or, there will be. Maybe.

Starting our own business was a great idea! We had enough money in the bank to cover 3 full months worth of expenses while Wes concentrated on contracting work, as well as looking for a "regular job" so that he kept all of his options open. Wes has already completed one contract and we've invoiced for (OMG) $10,000. He started another contract today, for a considerably larger amount. Why am I worried? Am I completely crazy?

Once again... Maybe.

The invoices have been sent out for the completed contract, but nothing has been paid. In 3 days, we will be at the "Net 30 Days" for the 1st invoice and I am nervous that it won't be paid on time, or at all if the company decides to be difficult. Ok, so even if that invoice doesn't get paid... Wes is still working on the 2nd contract! No problem! Except... that contract is "Net 45 Days" ... so, no paid invoice for 2 months. Ut oh... now we may have a problem. No money from our consulting company for 2 more months is a definite possibility.

Jumping in the car for that "no problems" dinner is suddenly seeming like the beginning of a possible problem. Wes doesn't seem worried. I have complete faith in him to provide for our family. I also have a job, but it barely covers the house payment and half of the utilities. So, if nothing else, I know we won't be homeless or starve. I am just SO emotionally attached to that number in the ING account. It causes me great amounts of distress to see that number going down.

Granted, we planned for this. It's been budgeted. We've looked at everything from every possible angle. We've discussed it. We both agreed to this course of action. So, why can't I get my head wrapped around the depletion of our savings to bring our dreams to fruition? Whew... I hope I work through it soon.

BAD BAD Money Days

I'll journal about it later, but need to get my spending log down.

Experiment #1 -

Friday's spending:
Me - $0
Wes - $57.46 - Gas picking up YM


Saturday
We both spent - $168.06 - Household Items and Groceries (Entertaining)
Wes spent - $34.96 - items to restock the liquor cabinet
I spent - $60.57 - gas for my minivan


Sunday
I spent - $84.81 - Dinner out with the kids
$55.32 - Prescription refills for Wes and I
West Spent - $68.15 - Gas taking YM home.


Monday:
We both spent - $76.08 - Dinner out with the kids (Forgot to lay something out for dinner.)

Changing Income Without Changing Lifestyle

I was contacted by a recruiter friend yesterday. He knows of an opening for my dream job, which I am qualified for, at more than double my current salary. He's offered to pass on my resume for the position.

Upside:
More money
Extensive experience in a growing field with too few qualified candidates
Challenging job where I get to learn more and love what I do
Likelihood of a long term career with a HUGE nationwide company

Downside:
It's contract work, and the contract ends at the end of the year (but will likely renew).
Our health insurance is through my current employer
The hours will be less flexible than they are now
I lose my accrued vacation time (2 weeks starting at the end of April).

Of course, these are not the only considerations. Currently, I work for a nationwide moving company. We are entering/have entered a recession. The first thing that happens in a recession is that people and companies stop relocating (using professional movers anyway) which makes my current employment extremely precarious. If the economy does not improve, I will not have a job in two months, much less the end of the year.

So, I'm rolling the dice and I'm at least hoping to interview for the new slot. I've pulled up my handy dandy budgeting spreadsheet. I have input all of the numbers, and even with the expense of COBRA coverage, changing jobs is hands down the best financial decision.

The real challenge will be in maintaining our current spending habits and lifestyle in the face of a substantial increase in salary. Wes has already had the High Life. He's had the 3 story house blocks from the beach in LA. He's had the multi million dollar net worth. For a redneck, he's had a pretty charmed life financially (until he hit the bump in the road that everyone else did when the .com bust happened).

Right now, when there is extra money in the budget, he doesn't talk about saving or getting out of debt. He talks about replacing the carpet, fixing the front steps, rebuilding the back deck, adding a room onto the house, etc. If I do manage to pull a rabbit out of my hat and double my salary, I'm going to have to keep a tight reign on the finances until we're on steadier footing.

Looks like I'm going to be reading up on how to deal with this situation. I'll be sure and post any links that are helpful. Does anyone else have suggestions?

Experiment #1

I'm composing a real post for later in the day, I just wanted to get this out there now.

Experiment #1 - Yesterday's spending:
Me - $0
Wes - $0

YAY US! (Of course, today's spending will suck because it's time for Wes to drive the 8 hour round trip and pick up YM. )

The Ordinary Family ... or Not

As I've said before, our family is very complicated. Wes has 3 children from 2 previous marriages. I have 3 children from a previous marriage. We're what is becoming the new normal family. The Brady Bunch of the new millenium, if you will. Our family stretches out like this:
YL (Young Lady) 18: In college near Nashville, TN
YL 17: Lives with her mom ner Memphis, TN and goes to high school
YL 14: Lives with us, goes to high school
YL 12: Lives with us, goes to middle school
YL 10: Lives with us, goes to elementary school
YM (Young Man) 10: Lives in South GA with his mom and goes to elementary school

We live in the Atlanta, GA area. We are "Wealthy" according to the government's determination. I make roughly $40,000 a year and Wes makes triple that on an average year. HOLY COW, that's $160,000 gross salary. How in the heck are we in so much debt?

I've read many of the other personal finance blogs and I'm absolutely in awe. How people manage to make it on what they do, is astounding to me.... and then, I look at our numbers again ... and our children... and I remember. Our financial reality is far far different than some people.

Our financial reality includes $27,624 per year in child support and a 28% tax burden (yep, that's $44,800). This brings our real income down to about $87,576. Still not too bad, right?
So, how the heck does a family that clears $87,000 a year end up where we are now? Well... it takes effort!!

Annual expenditures
$13,044 - Mortgage
$9,400 - All utilities & telephone expenses
$9,100 - Groceries and household
$9,000 - Back Taxes
$6,500 - Health Insurance
$6,000 - My 401K (Maxed at 15% of my income)
$5,000 - Travel expenses to visit YM 10 (he lives 4 hours away and we see him every other weekend)
$5,000 - Gas (auto)
$3,900 - Wes' discretionary budget
$2,600 - My discretionary budget
$2,050 - Auto Insurance
$2,500 - Auto Repair and Home Repair
$2,000 - Clothing
$1,500- Dry Cleaning (work clothing and ROTC uniform)
$1,416 - Student Loan
$1,000 - Medical copays and prescriptions
$876 - Gym Membership

This leaves roughly $6,690 per year to pay extra toward the $70,000 in tax debt that continues to accrue interest daily. None of these numbers reflect entertainment, Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, last minute emergency trips, major home repairs, or any other number of things that come up in a year's time.

Yes, we could cut out the Gym membership, but this is something that Wes uses, on average, 4 times a week and I use twice a week. We're both overweight and working to improve our health. This is an expense we are not willing to cut.

I sat down with Wes last week to see where we can cut corners and limit our spending. He just smiles and hugs me and goes along with the discussion for my sake, but the truth is, cutting spending is not the real problem. Our only expenses that aren't really required have been cut down to almost nothing. I've been tracking and tweaking and adjusting for over a year now. When I get frustrated because I can't understand how we make SO much money, and still have so little at the end of the day, I go back and look at these numbers again. For a little while, it definitely does help me to understand that we're working at it, even if we're not gaining a lot of ground.

*Experiment #1 - Yesterday's spending
$25.01 on gas

Experiment #1 Catch Up

I've been sick recently and haven't felt up to blogging much. I haven't even read the blogs that I'm addicted to! I have gotten much reading done and have soothed myself quite well with herbal tea. So, now that I'm back out of my fuzzy slippers and back into my desk at work, it's time for me to catch up with a few things.

First things first - the Spending Log.
Saturday
Wes spent:
$20.21 on time out with The Boys
$22.77 on pizza for the kids since I was in bed sick

Sunday
We both spent:
$290.44 on groceries and household items for the next couple of weeks
$5.71 for beer (SUPERBOWL!!!)

Monday:
$1,087.00 House Payment
$1,151 Child Support

Tuesday
I spent:
$25.00 for medical copay (annual physical)
$33.62 for lunch*
* Yep, total extravagance. I had to fast for 12 hours prior to my physical... which means that I hadn't eaten in 14 hours. Wes even fasted with me. The end result is that our favorite BBQ joint is down the street from the doctor and since we were starving, we totally splurged. YAY

I've been looking around the web to see if I can find a way to make this spending log easier. So far, I've stumbled across a free service at Joe's Logbook. Google search turned up MVelopes, which isn't a free service but, definitely has tons of features that make it something worth looking into. Go Debt Free has a printable spending tracker for hand written records.

I'll have to give a few of them a try and see how it goes.

School Lunches

In an effort to save money, and eat healthier, I've completely stopped eating lunches out. I bring leftovers a lot, and today I brought a salad. I keep dry roasted nuts, meal replacement bars, and string cheese at the office. I keep a water bottle handy and refill it several times a day. The company provides coffee for the employees. For me, making the change to healthier and more budget conscious lunches has been fairly simple.

It's not so simple with the children. We weighed the pros and cons of eating a school lunch versus one from home. We've done the cost comparisons, and even trial basis on each. This is what our little family has found:

Lunch from Home (Pros):
1) We know what's going into the lunches
2) We can make sure the children get a balanced meal
3) Buying in bulk makes the food cheaper to buy than buying school lunches
4) The children love having different or special items in their lunches.

Lunch from Home (Cons):
1) It takes more time than you think to organize and pack 3 school lunches (The children made their own)
2) Buying the containers for the soups, puddings, sandwiches, etc can become expensive to replace due to loss, wear and tear.
3) When you run out of time and your schedule gets hectic, you end up paying for lunches twice. Once when you buy the food, and again when the children forget to pack the lunch or run out of time and they have to buy the school lunch anyway.

Lunch from School (Pros):
1) Convenience
2) It's hot and the serving sizes are appropriate
3) Schools have made great strides in making the meals healthier for the children
4) No extra dishes, baggies, or lunch sacks to keep track of

Lunch from School (Cons):
1) It can be more expensive than making lunches at home
2) You don't always know how nutritious the lunches are
3) Chocolate milk... every day!
4) Not enough time to eat slowly after waiting in line

So, we weighed the facts as we know them and decided to feed them breakfast at home and let them eat lunch at school. It costs about $30 a week, but in the long run, it's worth not having to deal with all of the hassles. If they want to make a lunch, we give them the opportunity. They do have to use the ingredients we have on hand, and they have to make it themselves.

Illness and Setbacks

Until you really start paying attention to every penny that flows in and out of your house, you never realize how much even minor illnesses can cost you. Wes, the youngest child, and I have all been sick this week. Wes works from home, so there wasn't any loss of income there. Our daughter didn't have to lose any school time, so nobody had to take time off to be with her. But, I didn't get so lucky. I had to get a prescription ($20.10) and leave work early ($60.00). I did get lucky in that it was Friday when I got sick, so I have the entire weekend to recover and will be able to return to work on Monday.

There was a time, not too long ago, that an $80 loss of income/cash was catastrophic for this family. With careful planning and attention to detail though, we've managed to put together an emergency fund. So, today, I am able to sit in my fuzzy slippers and fleece pajamas, drink my hot tea, and relax while I recover.

I went exploring for other articles of interest and found these:
Over at We're In Debt, Paid Twice posted a great article about 7 Roadblocks to Getting Out of Debt.
Lucky Robin has an entire filter devoted to Medical Issues and Spending.
S.M.A.R.T. Finance had an article that made me think in a broader scale about money and illness.

*Experiment #1 - Yesterday's spending
$20.50 on medicine

Surprise! Financial Windfalls

Today seems to be the day to discuss Financial Windfalls on the PF blogs. Over at We're In Debt, the King of Debt posted an interesting question about what you would do with a windfall of $500,000. And over at Get Rich Slowly, JD answers a question from a reader who wants to make sure he doesn't squander a windfall of $125,000.

I posted a response to the King of Debt's post, and as I thought about how I'd handle a $500,000 windfall, I was actually surprised by my decisions. I realize that my priorities are not really in line with conventional money wisdom. I don't necessarily want my money to work for me later. I want it to give me freedom NOW. I don't care to retire later. I want to travel while I'm young enough to enjoy it and even share those experiences with my children.

With that said, here is the way the breakdown worked out for me:
45% ($225,000) to pay off all back debt and the mortgage
24% ($120,000) directly into 529 accounts for college for the children at $20,000 per child.
23.2% ($116,000) to a high yield savings account for payment of child support for the next 8 years.
6.8% (34,000) to invest in a moderately aggressive portfolio
1% (5,000) Vacation



*Experiment #1 - Yesterday's spending
$91.55 for school lunches for the kids.