Scrambling to keep up.

[catsittingstill]

Money Thoughts

Back in March I started being much more organized about saving.  Not that it's much, but I'm trying.  The method is simple; on payday a certain amount goes into a main savings account for things like roof repairs, and a little bit goes into an account for me, and a separate account for Kip, that is intended to be spent on fun stuff, and pay for Christmas, and stuff like that, and also be a backup savings pad for emergencies--though I hope there won't be anything the main savings can't cover...

Now the "busy account" (the checking account) which handles household expenses like food and bills feels chronically short of money.  I keep telling myself I'm actually succeeding at saving, if only a little, on a regular basis.  I just need to get better at keeping the household expenses under control.  But I had an unexpected dental bill (I thought the damn dental insurance was going to pay a bit more than a quarter of that!) *and* my car insurance come due about the same time and actually had to move money out of savings to deal with it.  I wasn't planning on that.

(And I *should* have been planning on the car insurance; that's a known expense.  I should be tracking these things better.)

But I shouldn't complain; at least I had the money to move, and at least it doesn't cut our savings this month to nothing.

League of Women Voters

I stopped working on the canoe early yesterday so I could go into Morristown and buy 2 easels for the League of Women Voters.  One will hold a placard with our name and contact info, and one will hold a whiteboard with the time, place and subject of our next meeting for people who want to attend.  This is part of the whole publicity / attract new members project.  The League is going to pay me back; we had actually budgeted money for this type of thing last year, which I think was very sensible.  Go us! 

I still need to compose the info for the placard and inquire into costs of posterboard and printing on same.  And I need to make the program for the Candidates Forum and get it copied.  And I need to find out where some of our League stuff is.  Which means quitting work early today too, darn it.

Music

We had another Folksingers Anonymous meeting last week and I have actually practiced a couple of times since then.  Since _Rise Up Singing_ is full of chord maps instead of melodies, I've spent some time working on arpeggios in different keys, thinking this might make it easier to play along with songs I barely know.

House

Puttied another couple of cracks in the drive but haven't made any progress on cleaning out under the house.  Sigh.

Canoe!  You Know This Was What You Wanted To Hear About!

I have made real progress on the seat.  I have cut the tenons and bored and cut the mortises and fitted everything and glued it up.  The extra long bar clamps I bought to hold the strips down at the ends back in March were the perfect thing for this.  I hope unthickened epoxy was the right glue to use, because it's too late to change it now.  Today I mean to bore the holes for the caning.  I still have plastic cane left over from Patience's seat, so I should be okay on that.  I looked at buying a countersink to round off the edges of the holes but they're $19 and I just feel too poor right now.  So I will use a chisel to carve the edges down, which will take longer and be less regular, but it should do the job and once the seat is caned up I don't think the difference will be visible.

Though I do wonder if I have a router bit that would answer.

On the other hand, the seat is walnut, and I remember having a lot of trouble with walnut chipping, so maybe it would be better to do it by hand anyway.

I have cut one of the thwarts and will be cutting the other today.  If I can get them shaped today maybe I can put on the seal coat of epoxy this evening?  I'm not sure how long shaping will take, though.

Comments

[mdlbear]

I'd be inclined to use a knife rather than a chisel for the holes, but it's probably more a matter of what gives you the most comfortable working position. I had no idea that countersinks had gotten that expensive, but I think the last time I bought one must have been a couple of decades ago.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

I only priced the countersinks in one hardware store; it's possible they're cheaper somewhere else.

The chisel ...worked, but tended to tear up the wood--it's just not that good on a tight inside curve. Maybe next time I'll try a knife.

Saving

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

You are on the right track when it comes to saving. I have done a similar thing for my household costs. It does take at least a year to work out in detail what the periodic expenses are. Things like unexpected medical/dental expenses are the toughest to plan for. The best hint for what they might be is to find the difference in price for insurance with and without co-pays/deductibles and set aside the difference for the unexpected costs. (On average you will come out ahead.)

Re: Saving

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm giving serious thought to cancelling my dental insurance. It's costing us $600 a year and it paid like a quarter of our last dental bill (2 checkups and 1 filling.) I need to go over what it pays for again.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

The canoe is getting thwarted! It cannot have its way! And then, it will be paddled!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

(eyeroll) Arg. Arg, arg, arg.