Forgot to add that he saved us money by incorporating all of our needs and many wants without going over in sq footage. He also came up with architectural details that would give the house character very inexpensively. He loaded us up on storage and made the most use out of stadard windows. Also incorporated brick and stone with hardi in a way that kept the expense down but provided a huge visual impact. It is also unique from the other houses in the neighborhood and area, but still blends nicely so that if we ever resale we will standout among the homogenous designs most builders put up in our area. So that will payoff later. I have had someone on my hoa with a house significantly bigger than mine rave over the design and wish she could move in. Also he could have...but we chose not to do this... make it so the first floor was the only floor finished so that we could finish the second and basement later without anyone being the wiser. However we lost our minds and now are finishing the whole basement.

Earning money around the neighborhood is way less difficult than you'd think...my neighbor boys put out a little flyer advertising sweeping driveways (they're 8 and 6) and lo and behold, they've got regular gigs! Their mom even asked my DD to join in, because they didn't want to do it, they just wanted to send the flyer around LOL -- but they've got to live with the results of their actions, and their mom figured my DD would keep them on task :) So seriously, older folks *love* to have younger folks help around. I know I'd love to give the money to an "enterprising young man" over a service. And who knows where it will lead, whom he'll meet, etc. Cutting back on activities is difficult *if* you focus only on what you can't do. If you can go about finding things you *can* do instead, you'll find your time is completely full and maybe he can tell friends about it and take them to the things *he's* going to! We went to the coast on Saturday and attended a great free talk on fossils that entranced my daughter and all the kids in attendance, for two long hours--a *great* educator, IMO. I found out about it from the paper. The same presenter also gives expensive admission talks sometimes, but this one was sponsored by the state and was free. I consider it money saved :), and great education/exposure, and our friends are really interested to find out when he'll be speaking again. I found out from a friend that Apple computers has been doing free one-day media classes this summer. FREE. They do it every summer. Classes on podcasting, moviemaking, music, etc. I would bet where you are there are loads of great free opportunities; look in the paper with an eagle eye. They aren't promoted as obviously as the profit-making events, which makes it extra rewarding when you discover them :) Maybe your son will become the new source of cool unknown things to do. We just decided not to buy mochas out of the house and we figure it will save enough to pay for a medically necessary gym membership for me. That's how much we were subsidizing the Starbucks shareholders. I also drink a lot of protein drinks instead of breakfast, honestly, and sometimes (like today, when it's hot), instead of a dinner. I use protein and milk and ovaltine, or sometimes just make a smoothie with yogurt, fresh fruit, and protein powder (if you are interested, I'll tell you the names of the protein powders my daughter doesn't snub :)). Serving for serving, it's not expensive and it's *wonderful* nutrition. There are also products now that can do a passable job of drycleaning at home...you can have things *really* drycleaned much less often. I feel odd mentioning all these ideas like the above because I don't know what you're doing already in this regard. And re stocking up when foods are on sale: OH yeah. I buy organic ground beef *only* when it's on sale, then put it in the freezer. Same with frozen organic fruit/vegs. Bread freezes/defrosts very well too, so when the good bagged bread (not the fresh baked paper bags, the plastic bags, but there are some that are organic) is on sale, stock up and freeze it. Saves a significant amount of money. If you don't have a real freezer (non defrosting), you can probably get one for pretty inexpensive or possibly free off craigslist or freecycle. You could even post a wanted post and see what happens... and btw, this is probably a great thread for lots of people; I know I've learned from it already :)

" Is it nuts to hold onto an old car?" Not no but He@@ NO! Whats nuts is buying a new car. First off, the only time you ever get a chance to drive a "New Car" is that brief period at the dealership when they allow you a test drive. During the test drive the car is still registered under the dealers "In Transit Title" and it is legally a new car. The moment the title is put in your name and you sign the document it becomes a "Used Car" and the value instantly drops from the MSRP window sticker to the "Blue Book Price" even before you attach your license plates or start the motor the first time. What is really nuts is taking a cash rebate instead of demanding they take that number off the selling price. Consider the facts. They artificially inflate the price by $2,000 and offer you a $2k rebate which you are to receive after the sale. You negotiate your best price (which still contains that artificially inflated $2,000) and you sign the contract. You now have two choices, you can write them a check for the full amount or you have to finance the transaction. If you have to finance it, you are now paying interest for the full term of the note on that rebate, even though you will get the money back at closing. Not a bad deal for them, they hold your money for perhaps one day and you pay interest on it for 5 years. Now, when you get insurance you are also paying insurance on that $2,000 rebate that you took back immediately and went shopping for other stuff you probably didn't need. Oh yes, Did I mention that you also payed sales tax on the rebate money tooo. But then it is not all bad, hopefully you don't live in my state where you have to pay an excise tax on the value of your vehicle every year, including that $2,000 artificial markup. Personally, I wouldn't buy a new car if I won the lottery.

HI socks: thanks for the tip on retailmenot.com and ebates.com. We printed out coupon for $36 off from Vision Works, but didn't bring it along, since thought our kid's glasses would be covered by insurance (can't use coupon). When we were ready to pay, our insurance didn't go through, and we had to DRIVE ALL THE WAY home, just to fetch the coupon. I don't like shopping at Bed & Bath Beyond since it's a hassle to take the 20% coupon along. I forgot one time, and the store clerk won't give me one. What I love about the Internet is it ENABLES the average person to take care of themselves better, without paying $$$ to "experts" who don't give a damn. My husband is "one" with his car, so when it broke down, he knew immediately that's the generator. He took his old generator to the auto-shop to be tested. They tested it WRONG, and told him it's OK. So he took his car to the dealer. The dealer charged $$$ for diagnostic tests, but could not find anything wrong with his car. HIs car broke down again !! He got mad and took it to his friend, a mechanic. His friend agreed that it's the generator, put a new one in, and it WORKED !! Same with my sister, a retired Internal Medicine doctor with decades of experience. My period stopped at menopause (51) for months, then it came back ungodly heavy. My M.D. sister told me it's cancer. I disagree, and told her it's from the pumpkin seeds I eat for months. She didn't believe me until I dug up researches from government website that prove the potent estrogenic effect of pumpkin seeds. My 12 year old daughter was also eating tons of pumpkin seeds, and had 1-month-long period. Both of our bleeding stopped when we stopped the pumpkin seeds, with the Internet confirmed our suspicion.