Works for Me: Office chair mat as a high chair mat

A few years ago, I came across a reader's tip in Parents magazine to use a plastic office chair mat as a high chair floor mat. It made a lot of sense to me, because we were already on our third high chair mat and they had all been hard to clean and keep in place. Marc immediately realized the benefits of an office chair mat too, so I promptly went out to Staples and bought the largest one they had – 46 x 60 inches and about $70. Not cheap, but not much more expensive than the three high chair mats we'd already gone through.

It turns out the money was well spent. Several years later, we're still using the same mat under our dining table where the boys now sit. It's easy to clean and in fact, I can vacuum right over it. Plus, because it's clear, it's not an eyesore. We'll probably leave it in place for the next three years or so, or until the boys are much better about not dropping food on the floor!

Find more Works for Me Wednesday tips at We are THAT Family.

Guest post at Bargaineering

Bargaineering is one of the oldest personal finance blogs around (it used to be known as Blueprint for Financial Prosperity). I've been reading Jim's blog for probably close to four years now, so I'm delighted to have a guest post over there today, on the right time to have kids. Check it out when you have a chance, and read the other great articles while you're there!

And if you're new to CFO from Bargaineering, WELCOME! I hope you'll stick around, get to know me a little bit, and pick up some useful parenting, cooking and financial tips. You may want to read the introduction to Chief Family Officer or plunge right into the Best of CFO. And while you're here, you might as well enter the latest giveaway for one of three Romano's Macaroni Grill Restaurant Favorites gift packs.

We are debt-free! (Except for the mortgage - here's how we did it)

I sort of slipped the big announcement into a previous post, but we are now debt-free!

Except for the mortgage.

The funny thing is, I've been looking forward to writing about being debt-free for a long time. When I made the final payment on our last non-mortgage debt (a student loan), I had big plans to write about how we accomplished it, and how good it feels to not have any debt. (I was just waiting for the official "congratulations, you've paid off your loan!" letter.)

But after paying off that last loan, I turned my attention to our mortgage. And that's sort of taken away from the accomplishment of paying off all of our other debt – because the simple fact is, we're still in debt.

A big part of why my sense of elation at paying off the last of our non-mortgage debt has been diminished is that I can see how much more freedom we will have when we no longer have the mortgage. So while I'm still excited that we've paid off our other debts, paying off the last non-mortgage debt doesn't feel that different from paying off the debts that we finished off before that.

I'll be really excited when we have paid off the mortgage. Because if all goes according to plan, we'll never need to borrow money again. (Unless we decide to move, in which case we may need another mortgage, or make a big investment, like buying rental property – neither of which is likely to happen, however.)

Here are the steps we've taken to ensure we can pay off our mortgage quickly and hopefully never need another loan again:

We don't just live within our means - we live well beneath them. We are lucky that we can do this, of course, while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle. But we worked hard in school and after graduation, and made wise choices, to get to this point in our lives.

We pay off our credit cards each month. This goes along with the first point, of course, in that we don't spend more than we can pay off. Some of my favorite bloggers, like No Credit Needed, don't believe in using credit cards at all. Personally, I'm okay with credit cards as long as I'm not spending frivolously and can pay off the balance each month. The convenience and rewards are worth it. (And remember that failed all-cash experiment last year?)

We save money each month. One of the first things we did as a married couple was build a nice emergency fund. It's grown over the years, as our family and obligations have expanded. We continue to add to the fund each month, and this helps to ensure that we won't need to borrow money in the event of a major financial need.

We set aside some money each month for the next car payment. After we paid off our last car loan, I started making monthly deposits for the sole purpose of buying a new car with cash in four to five years. We may need to draw some money out of our savings account to complete the purchase, but we definitely won't need to take out a loan to buy the car.

We use the debt snowball method. I love the debt snowball. Ours has grown a lot over the years, and will now be used to pay off the mortgage. A portion of every regular increase in income (i.e., salary raises) and decrease in expenses (e.g., lower insurance premiums) has gone toward the debt snowball. Our nearly decade-old snowball is now big enough that we will be able to pay off our mortgage in about six years. I can’t wait for that day!

Previously: How I'm paying off my student loans

My week in review: More self-care

About ten years ago, I saw personal coach Cheryl Richardson on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and I liked what she had to say, so I bought her book, Take Time for Your Life.The book really introduced me to the concept of what Richardson calls "extreme self-care" - in essence, taking care of and nurturing yourself before you do anything else. It has to be a priority, and if you're in a good place and happy with life, it's easier to get all the other stuff done - to be a good spouse, a good parent, a good person, etc.

Lately, I've felt like I haven't been taking very good care of myself, so this week was about changing that. It's not that easy, given all of my obligations. But I've cut back on my blogging time, and have been spending that time on the treadmill and doing other things that are regenerating. I'm not quite to my happy place yet but I'm closer to it than I was a week ago.

I'll have a roundup post on Sunday, but I wanted to point out Shannon's post about blogging over at Rocks In My Dryer because I really related to it. I do struggle with figuring out what's worth sharing and what's not. I'm definitely not going anywhere, but bear with me as I try to find more balance in my life!

Kmart Super Doubles: I'm less than impressed but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go

I went to Kmart for their double coupon event for the first time ever and I doubt I'll ever go back. This is probably largely due to the fact that the Kmart I went to was, well, not particularly nice. Which is strange, because it's in a good area. But it's dark and not well-stocked. I couldn't find a lot of the items I went to buy.

That said, it's always a rush to get things for free - especially when it's things you really use, like wipes. I just wish they'd had the other things I'd planned to get for free too.

To figure out if your local store is doubling, you can check the weekly ad for your area at the Kmart web site. If one of the circulars has a red square that says "Super Double $2" in the bottom left corner, then your store is probably doubling. To be certain, you could call the store or Kmart's corporate offices. I just went in and, before I started shopping, asked the woman at the customer service desk if they were doubling.

You can find a list of the rules and coupon match-ups for free or cheap items at Common Sense with Money.

Scrambled Eggs Benedict Florentine

I've been trying many new recipes, and finally started going through my stash of recipes torn from magazines instead of just those saved in my Google Reader. One of the recipes I found was Eggs Benedict Florentine with Creamy Butter Sauce from the January 2007 issue of Cooking Light. The original sauce sounded more complicated than what I could handle with kids running underfoot, so I swapped it for the simple blender hollandaise from Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. I also tinkered with the amounts since I was only serving four people. It turns out that Marc hates hollandaise, but he enjoyed every other part of this dish. I liked it too, but I missed the oozing the egg yolk of traditional Eggs Benedict.

Scrambled Eggs Benedict Florentine (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves 4

2 large egg whites (save the yolks for the hollandaise sauce)
3 large eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
6 cups fresh spinach, trimmed (I used a bag of prewashed spinach from Trader Joe's)
4 English muffins, split and toasted
8 slices CrockPot Maple Ham or 4 slices Canadian bacon, halved
2 egg yolks
1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch of dry mustard, salt & pepper
3 tablespoons butter
hot water, if necessary

1. Place the English muffin halves cut side up on four plates. Top each half muffin with a slice of ham. (I used leftover maple ham, which was delicious!).
2. Beat the egg whites, eggs, salt and pepper together. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. When the garlic is sizzling, add the eggs and cook until set, stirring to scramble. Divide the eggs over each muffin half.
3. While the eggs are cooking, heat the remaining one teaspoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the spinach and sauté for five minutes, or until just wilted. (I actually like to over-cook my spinach and let the liquid that seeps out evaporate.) Divide the spinach over each muffin half.
4. While the spinach is cooking, combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper in a blender. Melt the butter in the microwave (it should be hot). Blend the egg yolk mixture and pour in the hot butter. Thin with hot water until desired consistency is reached. Divide the sauce over each topped English muffin and serve immediately.

The lesson everyone should learn from Bernie Madoff: Diversify

The one thing I haven't been able to understand about all the losses caused by Bernie Madoff is why so many people had everything invested with him. A few months ago, I read an LA Times article about Nancy Silverton, a well-known pastry chef, in which Silverton admitted that she knew she ought to diversify, but the returns with Madoff were so good that she kept putting it off. Maybe that's all it was – greed.

The need for diversification came back when I read that a mortgage broker in Hawaii ran a Ponzi scheme that lost $30 million, and his victims appeared in court to say they'd lost everything. Again, it sounds like the investors were simply lured by the prospect of easy money.

For me, between the Ponzi schemes and the current recession, I've learned that I don't want to trust one entity with all of my money. I already felt that way anyway, but the feeling has been reinforced. Our cash holdings are spread between three banks, and our retirement funds are with three separate institutions. It's not that I think anything will happen to any of these financial entities, but I've always been cautious and now I'm extra cautious when it comes to trusting anyone with my money.

Certainly, for all of the Ponzi scheme investors, losing even half of their life savings would have been devastating. But at least there'd be something left if they'd diversified.