Monay

So, it's a long weekend and I am... out of pocket, so to speak.  So, this post is on auto pilot and I have gone to well a few too many times.   Lessee... gun content...  Let's see if I can spin this straw into something precious.

I am refinancing my house.  Now I'll be in my 70s before the house is paid off.  That's ok by me.  Unless they take away the mortgage deduction I will probably refi when I am 90, too, to be paid off when I hit age 120.  But the deduction isn't why I am refinancing.  I will cut the rate down 1.25% to LESS than 4%.  Phew.  That'll save me $200 a month on payments.  My $1000 house payment will be down to $800.  I will be putting more money into 401k type savings per month than I will be spending on my rent.

I remember when I first bought a house in 93.  Payments THEN were $1000 a month.  I asked my then father in law what the payments were on HIS house that he got in the 70's.  It was twice as big as ours.  His outlay was $350.  Gah!

So, 20 years of paying mortgages on houses that hover at $1000, it'll be nice to break that barrier.  And it couldn't have happened if the economy wasn't in the crapper.  So, THANKS OBAMA!

Another reason... I am refinancing through my credit union this time (kept the account from my Navy days.)  The credit union won't sell my mortgage to some other institution.  So I won't get bills from First of Third banks one month, Chase another, until finally settling on Capitol One.  I use my credit union account to pay fixed amount monthly bills.  Credit cards and electric bills on the Bank that I control, auto pay on the Credit Union.  Simplifying my inventory this way, so to speak.

So, what am I going to do with the extra 'income' produced by lowering my costs?  Well [gun content] I can spend some of that on my hobby!  But... My SUV will have to be replaced some year sooner rather than later.  I also use the credit union to pile up money, monthly, for emergencies and whatnot.  I was thinking of tapping that pile for the car down payment and do the financing through them.  But that pile has grown bigger than I  expected.  I might be able to just BUY a car with it. 

What I'd love to do is raise my credit limit on my credit card a few thou, then buy a CAR by swiping the plastic.  That'd feel kinda fun...  I'd pay that card off that month, naturally.  

What else?  I might get one of them fancy HD TVs everyone has.  Or a cellphone!  I've never had one of them!  I could really use a driveway on my house, too.  I've always wanted a shed... 

Yeah, I didn't get this pile of money saved up by buying lots of crap.  (A 30 inch tube TV has served me well for years.)  Other than boomsticks, chronicled here.  And even THEN. I never went nuts.  Never bought a gyrojet pistol, say, or a Dardick.  Expensive to feed.

Or I could buy a boat...  This boat.  Almost as old as my house.