How To Find More Gas Money

I’m heading out on vacation soon and will be driving to Southern Oregon to visit family. I’m expecting to drive about 1200 miles round trip and get 20 miles a gallon or so in my SUV so that’s about $240 in gas at $4.00 a gallon. When my twins were born 4 years ago we did this same trip and gas was $2.25 a gallon, so it cost us $135.00 in the same car! That’s a big difference! Here’s how we’ve budgeted for this trip:

1. Plan meals. We go to the grocery store 1x a week with a planned menu so we buy only what we need and utilize leftover ingredients (homemade pizza with the leftover sauce from lasagna, enchiladas with the leftover tortillas from taco night). This helps us to stay on our grocery budget.
2. Avoid useless errands. If you can combine your errands into one afternoon you’ll save time and gas! Or try and utilize one stop shopping, that’s why I love Fred Meyer. I can get my prescriptions, groceries, and birthday presents at one store instead of three.
3. Stop eating out! Especially at lunchtime. Take some leftovers or a sandwich.
4. Cut back on the coffee! This one is hard, especially for me! Coffee is a luxury not a necessity! Try getting a smaller size or going every other day, or going to a small local stand. At Starbucks a tall vanilla latte is $3.10 with tax but my local coffee stand is only $2.50 plus they have double stamp day there. This is small but it all adds up! Or better yet, brew your coffee at home!
5. Use coupons! I don’t go out of my way to find a coupon but when I go grocery shopping I always look at the Fred Meyer flyer, I look in the Sunday paper for coupons, I use our Entertainment book, and I use my rewards card. It all adds up over time!

If I gave up coffee for 77 days I could pay for the gas for my vacation! Now that’s not going to happen but it has made me cut back.

Drive Thru or Walk In?

I hate drive thru’s, always have. I don’t know what it is about them but now that I have kids I do use drive thru’s because it takes a lot of work to get young kids in and out of the car just to get a coffee. In my husband’s hometown they have a drive thru convience store, now that’s smart!

This morning I pulled in to Starbucks and there was a long line at the drive thru but the parking lot was empty so I parked and walked in and was the second person in line. When I walked in I made a mental note of the car I would be behind if I had used the drive thru. I made my order, got my coffee, and went back to my car. I checked the drive thru line and sure enough, walking in was faster! I still would have been 2 cars back in the drive thru line. I love it when I’m right!

So if you’re in a hurry, park your car and walk in!

Amazing Deli!

I just found a local deli that is amazing! It’s called The Firestation Deli and is located in the Mill Creek Town Center. The deli is family owned and they have 3 generations working in the deli. The theme was the owners daughters idea because the family’s house is right behind a local firestation.

The sandwiches are really good! I had the California Turkey with Mustard sauce and it was really good! They have unique specials that change everyday and their regular menu is wonderful. They have a great selection with wonderful sauces to compliment the sandwiches. Plus it’s a family friendly restaurant with fire station pictures for the kids to color and the kids meal is served in a fireman’s hat. How cool is that?

Check them out when you want a deli sandwich but you’re tired of the restaurant chains. Plus they do to-go boxes, catering and they deliver.

Lake Front Property

Some day my husband and I want to have a piece of property on some type of water front. We both love the ocean but in the Northwest the ocean brings wind and cooler temperatures. Most likely we’ll end up on a lake somewhere. We have family that have a house on a lake near Olympia and we love spending time down there. Lake life is so calm and relaxing. We go for evening boat rides and the kids usually fall asleep, even in their life jackets. It’s a nice little retreat!

We just brought on this new listing that is on Spanaway Lake in Spanaway, WA. The pride of ownership definitely shows in this home. They are obviously gardeners and there are plants and wonderful landscaping everywhere you turn. There’s a concrete bulk head and grass down at the waters edge so there’s no mud to deal with!

Inside the main kitchen has been remodeled with tile floors, skylights, and corian counters. There’s a second kitchen downstairs and the floors are heated! What a luxury to have heated floors! There are wonderful views of the lake from inside, a slate fireplace for those cool nights, and a jetted tub to end the day. To see more photos click here.

Great Dog Boarding Place

My family went on vacation last week and we had to leave our dog Emma behind. We usually take her on vacation with us but we went to Sun River, OR and dogs were not allowed in the house we rented so off to Doggy Haven Resort she went.

Doggy Haven is off 180th near Hwy 9 in north Bothell. Each dog gets their own room with tall walls and a heated floor. The part we loved is all the play time with other dogs she gets at no extra charge.

According to their website "At Doggy Haven Resort, we believe that dogs should be allowed to socialize and play with one another during their stay. Our boarding and daycare guests are never confined to small chainlink kennels or dog runs. Instead, our guests are allowed to romp around the playroom and outdoor play areas under the watchful eyes of our trained canine companions – all at no additional charge!"

The last time we used Doggy Haven Emma she was so tired from playing with all the other dogs she fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept the rest of the day. If you need a boarding place for your dog try Doggy Haven. Be sure to call early because you do need some documentation from a vet before your dog can be admitted.

Postage increases yet again!

Monday is the day! The cost to send a first class letter raises to .42 cents (currently it’s .41). Seems like the rates are constantly going up and I can’t keep up with the current price.

I found this historical trend of first class postage rates on the internet. Seems to be accurate but I’m not entirly sure. Seems like the only difference is we are increaseing the rate more often, almost every year for this decade. That’s the annoying part of this whole thing.

Year	Postage Rate	Amount of Increase	Decade increase
1971	.08	.02
1974	.10	.02
1975	.13	.03
1978	.15	.02	.09
1981	.18	.03
1981	.20	.02
1985	.22	.02
1988	.25	.03	.10
1991	.29	.04
1995	.32	.03
1999	.33	.01	.08
2000	.34	.01
2002	.37	.01
2006	.39	.02
2007	.41	.02
2008	.42	.01	.09 (so far)

Even with the increases I will gladly pay .42 cents for somone to pick up a letter at my doorstop and deliver it to my friend’s doorstop in NYC!

It’s Just Not Me!

Have you ever wondered why it is one person will come into a home for sale and just love it, and person will look at the same home and just hate it?

Clients often ask me about this.  They just don’t understand how two people could have such differing opinions about their house for sale.  One reason this occurs is because buyers are unique with individual personalities.  People try in the first 10-15 seconds of entering a house, to fit their personalities into the home.

This is a tall order.  To complicate the task of this matching, consider that each home also has a “personality,” and for the buyer to move forward, they must feel a match of their personality to that of the house.

What often happens is that a home seller will emphasize the “open-space” and really highlight the soaring ceilings and the huge window at the prow of the ceiling.  The more the homes’ openness is emphasized, the more it serves to turn away the approximately 38.3 percent of buyers who say they prefer completely separate areas for kitchen or family room, or prefer them side by side but with a wall between.

Here is how I look at it.  A feature is a feature is a feature, but the benefit is different for each buyer’s personality. Different people see things in different ways, and to be successful, it’s imperative to speak the language of all the potential buyers.

What’s Your Gut Say?

Let’s face it:  buying a house is a big deal for most people.  Buying the “right” house is even a bigger deal.

The right house must not only meet most of the buyer’s need and criteria, it must also “feel good” when they are touring it before they’ll write an offer.  I advise people to look at all the data for a prudent “buy” decision.  However, I also advise them to listen to their gut!  How does the house make you feel?

So what happens when your house is speaking to too many buyer’s guts in a negative way and they are walking right back out and buying other houses?  Your house looks great, the yard is mowed and all your treasures (clutter) is gone.  However, no offers.

What to do?

Call a house healer.  Yup – I said house healer.  No joke – there are people who make a living removing bad karma from your house.

David Franklin Farkas is one of these people. A Massachusetts-based consultant who works primarily with home owners and real estate professionals, Farkas has done his work on hundreds of houses, land parcels, and even commercial buildings, clearing the energy to make way for a sale or to make a place more welcoming, in general.

“People get a feeling whether a house is right for them almost immediately when they walk around the house,” Farkas says. “Real estate agents assume that that ‘feeling’ is subjective and that what’s causing bad energy can’t be changed.”

But that’s not true, he says. Potential buyers “respond to is the emotional history attached to the house. These issues can be dealt with, creating a house that now feels neutral or positive to almost everybody.”

Farkas has spent more than three decades developing a specific protocol for clearing emotional and spiritual baggage from buildings and land. He blends the traditions of shamanism, spiritual healing, remote viewing, and other methods. In short, when Farkas does a clearing, he takes stock of what is present on the premises and clears out anything that is negatively impacting the property, and then invites in positive energies to fill the void.

Do-It-Yourself: Smudging

There are other alternative — some may say off-the-wall — ways of bringing good vibes to your listings. If you’d like to try something quick yourself, you can always go for the Native American tradition of “smudging” a home to banish the negative energies.

This is traditionally done with sweet grass and sage or with white sage alone. Simply walk around the house with the smudge stick smoldering and waft the smoke into all corners, doorways, and windows while thinking hard about how you want the space to be cleared of all negative energies.

However, be careful with the smoldering stick. It can drop embers that could start a fire. And don’t do this just before an open house or showing; it needs time to air out afterwards so it doesn’t smell like sage. Some people might find the smell offensive.

Or you can try this trick using strong, clear sounding bells. It’s the same idea, just ring the bells in each corner, doorway, and window and announce that all negative energies must leave.

Falling ill while traveling overseas

I recently read about a fellow who went for a midnight walk on the beach of a small Thai village he thought made the perfect ending to his first day on the Phi Phi Islands, a tropical archipelago in the Andaman Sea. But he probably should have opted out of the “fresh” pineapple smoothie offered by a beachside vendor before turning in for the night. By 2:00 a.m., he was at the clinic where he’d spent two days with severe food poisoning… and a few thousand dollars. As this person found out, getting injured or falling ill while traveling overseas can be more than just an inconvenience. Improper medical care, especially in undeveloped countries, can slow your recovery… and even lead to long-term health problems. Here are few tips to help you avoid this:

• Check with your doctor for advice and vaccinations appropriate to the area you will be visiting.

• Be up to date with your regular vaccinations before your trip.

• Register with the local U.S. Embassy at your destination. You can do this at travel.state.gov.

• Bring all the medication you take regularly, as well as a back-up supply.

• Purchase travel health insurance. The policy you have at home probably won’t cover your medical care overseas (or an expensive evacuation if that becomes necessary).

• Practice basic health and safety: Wear your seatbelt, wash hands thoroughly and often, and wear a helmet while riding a scooter or motorcycle.

Thai Restaurant Review

My family doesn’t go out to eat very often, and we usually end up going to the same places which sometimes is good but other times is too monotonous.

For Thai food we go to D Thai in Bothell at Canyon Park. It’s in the Albertson’s parking lot and it’s close to home. The restaurant is small (there’s only 1 table that would accommodate 5 or more grownups), the food comes out quick, and the price is right. Plus they have take out ready pretty much as soon as we drive there which is nice.

When we first started going there 5 years ago their menu had a personal history about how the restaurant came to be and different names they tried. It was really nice to hear about a family restaurant that has "made it" with all the chain restaurants these days. 

We usually order the phad thai because the kids love it and then try another dish. The food is good although a little bland but that’s mostly because we have to get zero stars because of the kids. And we always get a thai iced tea that disappears immediately. I wish those were available at coffee stands!

I went on line and read some of the reviews of D Thai and people liked the food but some suggested trying another thai restaurant a few miles away called Pen Thai so maybe we’ll go there next time.

So try D Thai and see if you like it. It’s worth a shot. And back in the day before kids my husband and I could split one order of phad thai. Now with kids we have to order more food and take home left overs, which isn’t a bad thing really, sure does make the car smell good on the way home!