Yesterday morning I asked Mr. Money to go and get the mail, as we were expecting a card from his dad.  He went out to get the mail, said there was nothing in there, and not an hour later did we get a knock on the door.  It was one of our neighbors down the street, bringing us mail that had our address on it that he found in the ditch. Nice.

He found a card that my aunt had mailed to us, ripped open, card and envelope in the ditch.  There was also an empty envelope from our bank.  Great.  I figured out that it was actually our credit card statement, completely missing.  I do feel better that it wasn’t a bank statement, as those have our full account number and other information on them.

I called our credit card services company to cancel our cards.  She said we shouldn’t be too worried because the full account number is not on the statement, and if anyone tried to purchase anything online they would need the security code on the back of the card, which they wouldn’t have.  Also, we’re not liable for any fraudulent charges that anyone may make.  I still canceled both my card and Mr. Money’s just to be safe.  What stinks is that I was planning on ordering our crib this weekend and now I’ll have to wait until we get the new cards.  Ugh.  What a pain!

I made sure to enroll our bank statements in paperless statements now so that there’s no chance that anyone can steal those.  I feel better about it, and will just have to make sure I print one each month, or at least back it up digitally.  What a pain!

I’m a little freaked out that they stole something else that I have no idea about, but I guess there’s not really a way for me to know that.  I’m pissed because I feel like I’ve been violated.  What idiot goes around at Christmas time stealing stuff out of people’s mailboxes?!  They’re lucky I don’t know who they are.

Mr. Money has suggested getting a post office box, but I don’t really want to have to deal with that headache.

Do you think we should take any other precautions?

Mr. Money and I both have Roth IRAs with a brokerage account at the bank I currently work at.  Since they are in mutual funds, there is an annual fee for having the accounts.  Every year it’s been $15 since I’m an employee, and he’s my spouse.  Imagine my surprise when this year I received the bills and they were each $40! I almost had a heart attack.  I didn’t mind paying $15 a year, but $40 a year is way too much because the balances we have in those accounts doesn’t make up for it.  My account has around $400 (I put $500 in about 7 years ago and left it at that).  Mr. Money’s has more, which is good because he’s older.

When I went to talk to the broker about it, he told me that the fee had gone up and they would try to get it waived for me.  However, if I wanted to close the accounts, there is a $75 fee.  Nice.  So not only would I be out the annual fee if they can’t get it waived, I’m also out $75 each account.  Really?  I am exploring these options:

-Finding a new brokerage company that doesn’t charge annual fees or other stupid fees.  I’m fine with paying trading fees, since I don’t think there’s really any way around those at any company.  I just can’t stand the idea of paying $40 a year just for them to hold my account.

-Opening up a Roth IRA for each of us with ING.  With ING, they have an IRA savings account that has no minimum balance and no fees.  I really like that idea.  I’ve thought about starting one of those for each of us, and then contributing what we can each month.  When the balance builds up to say $10,000 (which will probably take quite awhile!), then I could always look into transferring it into a brokerage account.

-I’m thinking about just closing out my account totally and just using the money to buy baby things.  Of course, I’d have to claim this as income, which would be a pain, but I wouldn’t have to pay that much in taxes since the balance is so small.

I am waiting to see what happens with the annual fee.  If they can get it waived, then I’ll probably just leave the accounts as they are.  However, I’m worried that once I terminate my employment that they will realize that and remove the waiver and I’ll be right back in the same situation.  I think it would be easiest to just close out the accounts and move them to ING because of the no minimums and no fees, but I’m worried about lost opportunity in the mutual funds.  Of course, if my account has been in mutual funds for 7 years, and I’m $100 less than what I put in, it’s really not doing that well any way!

Planning for retirement can be such a headache.  I’m glad we’re getting it done now, but I’m hoping there’s an easy solution so I don’t have to do too much work after we get it squared away!

Do you have an IRA?  What is your favorite place for a fee free IRA?

Having a baby can be an overwhelming experience, especially when you go into Babies R Us and are bombarded by all the millions of baby items they carry.  The first time I went in our local store, I almost had a panic attack.  There’s no way we can afford all of these things that we supposedly need for a baby!  Thankfully, after I left the store I sat down and thought about what a baby will actually need according to my standards.  I don’t want to have 50 baby things, or a million plastic made in China toys for my kid.  We sway to the side of minimalism, and while I know I won’t be able to limit everything that makes its way into my house, I can do my best to make sure I have things I need and use for the baby.  Here are some of the ways we’re going to save money on baby expenses:

-Breastfeed.  I’m going to do my best to breastfeed, and I plan on doing everything in my power to make it to at least a year.  Breastfeeding is so much better for the baby, natural, and will save us tons of money versus buying formula.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

-Cloth diapering.  We received a pack of newborn disposable diapers for our shower, and after those are gone, I plan on starting to cloth diaper.

-Not buying a bunch of crap.  My co workers keep telling me that I need to register for more stuff; that I’ll regret not having the swing and the bouncer and whatever other gadgets they think I need.  We’re trying to get items that do double duty; for instance we received a swing that is full size and travel size and I think that will work just fine instead of having a bouncer too.

-Buying second hand clothes.  My mother went nuts over the past 7 months, purchasing baby clothes and burp cloths and basically any other item she thought I would need.  This has saved us a ton of money already!  The baby has a gender neutral wardrobe with items ranging from newborn to 1 year already.  I’m sure we’ll have to buy more clothes, but I know we’ll be able to get them second hand.

-Remembering the store will still be there. It’s hard for me when I think I don’t have enough things ready for the baby, but I think we’ve got the essentials so far.  Plus, the store is going to be there after the baby is born!  If we need extra burp cloths or receiving blankets, we can always make a trip to the store.  I’d rather do that than have things on hand that we don’t use and then we’ve wasted money on.

I’m trying to relax and realize that babies don’t need much other than a warm place to sleep, food, and diapers.  Really, when you think about it- that’s it!  That makes me feel better and more confident that we’ll be able to raise our child with respect to our budget and the planet.