Frugal mortgage. . . .

So, according to CNN, 55,000 people have already taken advantage of Obama's home loan modification plan.

Judging by how long it's taking to get my own "no cost" refinance paperwork completed, I'm not surprised. I wrote a few weeks ago about this, and so far I've received one bit of mail from the servicer, which included several errors. Turns out, the paperwork that they wanted from me didn't even apply to my situation.

Originally, my mortgage broker told me that I'd get the paperwork in "seven to ten days". Well three weeks later, I'm being told to wait a couple more weeks at least. Although I don't think my refinance is connected with the government loan modification program, I'm sure the loan servicer is inundated with all sorts of refinance requests at this point. That would explain the delays and the errors in my own case.

I'm getting impatient, since every day that goes by is a day that I'm still paying 6.9% on my mortgage. Luckily, I'm not in any danger of defaulting on my loan or losing my house, so I can afford to wait a bit longer, but that roughly $170 monthly savings is dancing over my head as I go to sleep at night. Feels like Christmas Eve!

How to survive a recession: I was going to do those things anyway. . . .

I spend a great deal of time studying at the public library. Since I’m keeping my thermostat at 58 degrees this winter to reduce my exorbitant heating costs, I find the tables at the library to be a much warmer substitute for my living room couch, where I would be buried under three layers of blankets and two cats, wearing wool gloves and a hat. It’s kind of difficult to really learn and internalize the difference between test reliability and validity when one’s teeth are chattering.

Another benefit of the public library is that I have access to all sorts of magazines and newspapers that I’m too frugal to actually subscribe to. Today, I took a look at Newsweek, the front cover of which shows a lonely highway stretching into the distance, along with the title: ‘The Road to Recession”.

One of the shorter articles describes how consumers can ‘survive’ a recession (assuming we are truly heading for one; there seems to be a fair amount of disagreement among the ‘experts’ on this question).

• Protect your job: in other words, this is not the time to tell your boss just how lame, ignorant, or ineffective he or she is. Instead, it’s time to act really busy---or, if you can stand it, actually get busy and do some work! The article suggests getting to work early and leaving late, possibly skipping lunch, to prove to the boss that you are indispensable. In my case, my boss rolls in around 9:30, so getting to work early would be a waste of my time. . . .
• Protect your portfolio: if you own any stocks, hold onto them (there are, of course, always exceptions to this advice), because at this point you will probably be selling low and later buying high, which is pretty much exactly the opposite of what successful investors do. My stock portfolio is tiny (the remnants of an investing group I joined many years ago) and I wouldn’t know how to sell even if I wanted to.
• Protect your pocketbook: ahhhh, this is the one I can relate to! Pay off debt (I’m trying, I’m trying!) and think about refinancing the house if you can get a better rate to reduce your monthly payments. This latter suggestion is something I’m toying with. My monthly mortgage payments make up between 50-60% of my net income (when my second job is included). That’s way too high. I either need to sell the house, or decrease the payments in some way.
• Protect your psyche: realize that recessions come, and recessions go. They are a normal part of the economic cycle, apparently. By paying down debt, considering ways to increase your income, and increasing savings, you can increase your emotional or psychological sense of security.

Regardless of the general state of the economy, these are all ideas that I’m either implementing already, or am considering as I try to change my habits and improve my chances of attaining financial independence.

By the way, Newsweek didn't see fit to include this article in its online version (although I did link to the article about our being 'on the road' to a recession). However, UK's The Guardian does have a similar article.