Friday, April 18, 2008

End of the week junk

So many little things to share today---little rants, thoughts to ponder, etc. ;)

First of all, we got a statement in the mail yesterday from our 401K plan, one of those quarterly report things. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! That stupid $#@&* thing lost 10% of its value in the last 3 months. OMG! This infuriates me...........DH and I have really tried hard to be smart financially, do the responsible things, etc. We're saving for retirement (i.e. 401K), saving for the kids' college (529 college plans), but yet ALL of those funds are losing money like crazy. It's like they open the window and just toss it out into the wind! And it's not like we can just say "oh, well let's add a bit more into the accounts to get them back up to the level we want"........NOT! We've been proud of our modest little contributions, and been making them faithfully, but what has it gotten us? Every bit that we put in over the last few months is gone, plus some of the balance and interest that we already had! Financial people say you've gotta stay in it for the long run, don't bail out, etc, but it sure is tempting. I'd almost prefer the good old Southern ways of saving...........sticking it under the mattress or burying it in a Mason jar in the back yard. :( At least we wouldn't be losing money if we did that.

DH is on the road this weekend, taking his school band to Florida. At least, I think he's gone by now. Supposed to have left at 5 am and been there by now, but the *$%&@ bus didn't show up until almost 11 am. I swear, I'd be getting every bit of the money back if I were them........isn't this why you make reservations months in advance, and sign contracts? GRRRRRRRRRR! I hope they're on the way by now, and will still have fun somehow. I know the kids have to be disappointed at the theme park time they're missing today. It's sooooooooooo tempting to post the name of the charter bus company here, and just bash them with everything I've got because of what they did today and their irresponsibility and slackness, but I'm going to restrain myself.

Supposed to be going to two events tomorrow, which will be nice so the kids and I can stay busy and occupy our time hopefully without much drama, fighting or screaming. A preschool buddy of Ethan's invited us over for the morning, so he can have a friend to play with during his little sister's birthday party......and this buddy is every bit the wild man that Ethan is, so it ought to be verrrrrry interesting. After supper, we're going to the house of a couple we've known for a long time, to meet their brand-new baby boy! They're having a "come over, hang out and meet the baby" gathering, so we're gonna attempt to go and see what happens. They have such a nice, new, beautiful house; it scares me a bit to take the Tasmanian Devil in there, but I'm hoping everything will be ok.

Gonna be a lonnnnnnnnnng weekend, DH won't be home until late on Sunday night. Wish us luck and that we'll all reach Monday with some remaining tidbits of sanity!

2 comments:

Lori said...

Girl I feel your pain on the 401K. When we got Joey's statement from 1/1 - 3/31 he had lost over $8,000!! So we drastically reduced what he was contributing to his plan until things get a little better.

Amy said...

I just got my 401k statement as well and had the same thing happen to me. It's quite frustrating. (((hugs)))