BIG HOUSE, Small House

I always enjoy talking with my neighbors, who are mostly retired, and listen to their stories growing up. Some of them grew up in our neighborhood and knew each other since they were little. One of them used to swim in our swimming pool (now covered with a redwood deck) in the summer when he was about seven or eight.

Back then people would buy a house and they would stay in it until it is paid off. Neighbors had time to know or befriend each other. Their children grew up or grew old together. Retirement was easier then because there were no mortgages to worry about.

It is very common these days that after building up a little equity, people would sell their house to acquire a bigger and fancier one. There is nothing wrong with doing that, IF you can afford it. If it will put your finances in jeopardy, DO NOT DO IT. 

There are so many things to consider before deciding whether buying a bigger house is the right thing to do. You have to ask yourself the following questions:  

1. Do you have enough time and money to pay your mortgage off before you retire? 
2. Can you afford to pay higher monthly mortgage?
3. Are you prepared to pay higher property tax and home insurance?
4. Can you afford the upkeep of a bigger house?

By staying in the same house they bought long time ago, my neighbors are still paying the property tax based on the original price of the house. The value of their house is also way up compare to the original price they paid. 

The same thing helped us kept upfloat after losing some of our investment income. Having no mortgage to worry about and having a very low property tax made it easier for us to adjust to our new budget. We would really be in trouble right now if we had a mortgage to pay.

If you ask my neighbors for tips on how to retire comfortably, they only have one thing to say; plan on paying off everything while you are still working. When you retire, the only bills you should have are the utility bills. 

Are You Prepared?

The past few weeks, some areas in California were shaken by small earthquakes. They were not strong enough to create significant damage, but enough to touch our nerves. 

If a devastating earthquake hit your area today, are you prepared?

When preparing, the usual things that comes to mind are food, water, blanket, flashlight, photo albums, and first aid kit.

There are other things that we need to keep handy should we need them. Important documents such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, passport, home insurance, earthquake insurance, mortgage information, Social Security Card or even tax returns needs to be in a safe and accessible place. We may need some of these if we have to file damage claims or ask for assistance. 

I am aware that almost every document now can be accessed online, but remember, if we get hit so bad, we may lose electricity. Internet access will be impossible. Not having hard copies in hand will delay everything. 

This Red Cross list provides helpful information on what we need to prepare in case of emegency.  

Avoid Surprises

During tax season, we always wish that we could claim our dog as our dependent. We could not so we have to pay our dues.

To make it easy for us, we set aside “tax money” in the beginning of the year. We put it in the savings account and pretend that the money does not exist. I always cringe everytime I see how much money we have to give to the government, but it is what it is. 

We do the same thing with other bigger expenses such as car, house and earthquake insurance. Every month, we set aside certain amount. When the bill comes, we have saved enough to pay it off.

My husband and I work well together on this area. He is the bookeeper and I am the moneykeeper. He schedules the payment and I do the paying. In that way, we both have full knowledge of our financial status. There is no surprises. 

How about you? What kind of system do you use? 

My Water Friendly Backyard

To save on water, we converted most of our backyard into a rock garden. It was a back-breaking project but we did it and survived.

Then on the farthest back, there was an old swimming pool that was too damaged and would cost too much money to repair. It was an eyesore for a long time, not to mention dangerous. To make it useful, we put a wood deck on top of it and converted it into our "mini resort".

On the side, we planted drought tolerant plants. It only needed to be watered occasionally.

The only part that needs regular watering is the narrow strip where I grow my vegetables.

After doing all these, our water bill dropped significantly.

Easy and Low Cost Gardening

I was talking to a friend about home gardening and she was very frustrated that she spent so much money on soil, fertilizer, pesticide and pots last year but she only was able to harvest 6 tomatoes. 

Gardening does not need to be expensive. I compost all year long and use it to amend soil in my vegetable garden. I do not even have a real compost bin. I use the big trash can that has been sitting inside our garage for years. I poked holes around it and I roll it on the ground once a week.

My improvised compost bin.

I also save used ground coffee and eggshells. I crush the eggshells into small pieces and mix it with ground coffee. I then put it around the base of the vegetables. It protects my vegetables from the slugs and provides the nutrients that they need.

Ground coffee and eggshells are good for your garden.

Lastly, I practice companion planting. I personally do not like using pesticide in my garden. I strategically place my vegetables where each kind can benefit from the other. An example, I plant tomatoes with garlic, marigold, and nusturtium. Garlic repels spider mites, marigold repels nematodes, and nasturtium deters aphids, whiteflies and squash bugs. I let my vegetables help and protect each other.

I never had to buy fertilizer or use pesticide. All I do is water my plants regularly and wait for the harvest. 

My husband said I give to much caffeine to my plants and that is why they are hyperactive that they could not stop producing. 

Too much caffeine? This is a photo from last year when my kabocha squash took over the backyard.

What's In Your Diet?

Our daily dose of vitamins

Having a ‘health nut” primary physician can really have an impact to people like us who have “eat, drink, and be merry” attitude. While my husband and I are not planning to be a pure vegetarian, the change in our diet is benefiting us significantly.

The last time my husband went for his routine checkup, his doctor made a comment that if all his patients will do what my husband does, he will be out of work. He was so happy that all the tests came normal, including my husband’s blood sugar level. He has a type 2 diabetes.

How did we do it? We never tried to starve ourselves nor take away the foods we love. For some reason, when we try restricting ourselves, we meet all kinds of resistance from within. It feels like punishment! 

Instead of taking away, we added more. We incorporated vegetables in everything we eat. We also started eating fish more.

For breakfast, we eat vegetable smoothie. I talked about it in my previous post. The doctor did not advise fruit juicing because of my husband’s diabetes. It would be like injecting sugar directly into his viens. 

For lunch, we usually eat light snacks. We go back to our heavy meat diet for dinner.

As we eat more vegetables and fish, we noticed that it changed our appetite. Our cravings for meat became less and less. We realized it when my husband grilled hamburgers for dinner one afternoon. When we started eating, we could not swallow it. We lost our appetite for it. We ate salad instead.

Our meat consumption now is very minimal. We do not buy expensive steaks and pork chops anymore which in turn, saves us money. 

From carnivores to...wait, what?

Kale became a vital part of our everyday diet.

During the flu season in 2012, my husband and I caught the virus. We got hit so bad I thought we were going to die. Even when we recovered from it, it took us a few months before we totally gained our strength back.

That experience made us reconsider our eating habits. We both love meat. We can eat steak everyday. When we were newlyweds, we ate steak almost everyday until we got so sick of it.

My husband hardly ate vegetables. I do like vegetables but I like meat better. We were a family of carnivores until my husband's primary doctor persuaded him to eat more vegetables and less meat if not at all.

It was hard in the beginning. My husband does not like cooked vegetables and munching on carrots and celery can get boring. 

One morning, my husband suggested, maybe if we would make a smoothie out of different vegetables, we will be able to eat it.

It took a few experiments before we finally perfected the right combination. It is a mixture of banana, blueberries, tomatoes, carrots, celery, kale, spinach, cucumber, chia seeds and flax seeds. I know, it does not sound appetizing but believe me, it is good and it works. We eat it everyday for breakfast.

Another flu season had passed and thougn we were always surrounded by sick people, we did not get sick at all. We even stopped buying and taking vitamins and other supplements. We get all the nutrients we need from fresh vegetables and fruits.

Eating healthy can save you money in the long run. You will not be spending it on doctors, medications and hospitals.