Category Archive

I’m doing my june wrap-up slightly differnt this month. I’m just going to paste a picture of my end of the month budget spreadsheet.

I should note that I adjust the “Budget” column through the month to attempt to get everything to add up (which depletes the “misc” cushion). This allows me to adjust for surprise purchases. For July, I added a column that will stay fixed so I can see what I thought I wanted to spend at the begining of the month.

Also, a lot of the categories are really “funds” and the excess goes into (or comes out of) my short term savings account.

While I did go over on gas, this isn’t quite accurate as T’s mom gave me $50 gas money in return for using my car when they visited last month. I went slightly over on entertainment, but I had money left in the fund, so I’m just a couple bucks short. I also paid for my half our our hotel for our August vacation, so besides the $100 I had budgeted for travel, I took $47 out of the travel fund.

All in all, not too bad. I think if I didn’t budget carefully, I could easily spend the extra $300 savings line item.

I updated my final June networthiq, and things went a little downhill. No worries, mostly just due to the drooping market. I stuck close to $1000 in this month, yet the balance is down by just over $1000. Seems backwards! I’ve been focusing mostly on retirement savings, so my cash reserves didn’t increase much to cover that. The good thing is, everything in my short term savings isn’t counted (with the exception of my car fund), so all my cash gains should stick. I used to hate how it might jump around with vacations or insurance payments.

I had a nice little plan on how I’d ride out the last few days of my budget. Oh plans!

Unfortunately, my plan didn’t include boogie boards. Now, I’m not really an avid boogie boarder or anything. To be clear, I’ve really only been swimming in the ocean a handful of times in my previously land locked life. However, since I moved to California, I have been going more, and I hope the trend continues. Now that the summer heat has settled in, I can go into the waves without my toes freezing off. It’s a treat.

Last weekend, we played in the waves for awhile, and later found ourselves at some overpriced sports shop eyeing boogie boards. We didn’t purchase, because the only ones I deemed to be a “reasonable” price were obviously crap. T thought we should just get one higher quality one and share between the two of us. Frugal, but not as fun. I said we should just wait and see if we could find a better deal elsewhere.

We did. I found two boogie boards on Craigslist, one white and one pink, for $25 each. Looking up the models, they weren’t high end (maybe $50 new), but totally satisfactory for us to start playing with. I phoned the seller and arranged pick-up for later that evening.

The location was a little further than expected, since I had filtered my search to be relatively close locations. Since we were using my car (and my gas) I paid just $20 (and bought us In-N-Out for dinner), and T paid $30. It wasn’t as sketchy as I had imagined craigslist to be. The couple was young, friendly, in the middle of moving, and had a cute tiny baby. We made some chit chat, handed them the cash., and walked away with two boogie boards and smiles on our faces. It was really easy and we couldn’t have gotten the same quality buying new.

So, that means that of my $39 left, I spent $27. Except that on Thursday, in leiu of going out with friends (they didn’t get out to the bar until too late for this working gal), we went out to Mexican for $21. Really, that is only a few more than I’d planned to spend going out, but still, it wasn’t necessary. I think I had a few dollars left from another month in my entertainment fund, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. I haven’t balanced the books yet.

On top of that, we spent another $5.50 yesterday (saturday), but it was $5 well spent. In fact, I think that adventure deserves a post of it’s own. I’m ending the month $16 over budget, yet again. Not horrible, not great.

It is nearing the end of the month, the most difficult time of my budget. While I’ve already exceeded my food budget, all that I have to do to meet my overall budget is get through the weekend. The overall budget is what really counts to me.

What do I have left? Basically, I have $14 left budgeted towards “personal” items (beauty/hair), but I don’t want to spend that because I’ll need a haircut next month. (Side note: Frugal or Cheap–cutting your own bangs with non-hair scissors?) Other than that, I have $39 left for “misc”, and nothing left for anything else.

With that $39, I need want to do:

• Go out tonight: T has arranged for some of his friends to meet up at a bar near where I live, then he’ll come stay with me. On a weeknight, yay! I’m also happy because his married friend and wife is coming, so it won’t be just 4 guys and me or something lame like that. Anyway, $15, or less. I’ll eat first and have just one or two drinks since it is a work night.

• Feed us at least one yummy meal this weekend: I’m thinking I think I’ll buy stuff for these calzones (thanks Spilling Buckets!), which will require
  • tomato sauce
  • mozzarella cheese
  • sausage or pepperoni (check prices!)
  • spinach (for salads and calzones)

  Maybe $12? $15? We’ll see. If I have money left, I’ll could get some more exciting salad toppings.

That is it! I think it will be cooler this weekend so we are going to do some easy hikes for fun. Maybe we’ll drive downtown and explore that one day too. Or if it is hot again, beach time! I have enough other food to survive on, and if we do decide to indulge in alcohol, we already have stuff to make little summery drinks ourselves.

I also was given an extra $50 for gas money, since T’s mom and sister used my car to cart us around to universal studios, the Tonight Show, and other destinations. This isn’t in my budget, but I’ll probably fill up on gas this weekend and use that. Well, not directly since I like to get the cashback, but in my mental accounting, I’ll use that.

I’m excited because I really have the potential to meet my budget. I’ve only been using official budgets for a couple months and while I’ve been close for a few months (withing $20) this may be my first month meeting the budget!

My friend suggested a Vegas trip later this summer. Actually, she booked her trip about a week or two ago, and asked if I was interested in coming on the same days, since I live so close. I wanted to do Vegas this summer anyway, so I was very interested. She is (unnecessarily!) staying at a really fancy hotel, but she located me a 5-night hotel+air package (at a less nice nearby hotel) for $680 (for two people) on Vegas.com. I checked the price just the hotel would be, and it was significantly more. It’s settled then, right? We’d fly to Vegas! Book it!!

Ah, but I wasn’t fooled so easily! When I checked hotels at other sites, they weren’t nearly as inflated. Here is my research:

Package on Vegas.com: $680 for five nights, flight + hotel. Shorter package deals not available
Gas, round trip: estimated $150 (288 each way, 20 mpg, $5/gal: (288 / 20) * 5 * 2 = 144)

Hotel on expedia/hotels.com
Wed-Thursday—- $60.00/nt
Fri-Sat —- $100.00/nt
Sun —- $60.00/nt

Total Estimated cost for transportation/lodging:
Four Nights, driving: $235 each
Five Nights, driving: $275 each
Five Nights, flying: $340 each

I have to take into consideration traffic between LA and Vegas. Feel free to chime in if you know anything about it. Driving isn’t exactly convenient, but neither is flying these days. If we drove, we’d have transportation (is that even necessary if we stay on the strip?) but we may have to think about parking.

Or…. we could make this into something even bigger and drive further to the grand canyon (probably on the fri and sat) and camp! It is another 6 hour drive (yikes) but I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon. A camp site might cost only around $20 a night. Plus firewood…. And… it is the grand canyon!

Vegas+Grand Canyon Adventure
Tues-Thursday night Vegas with friend. Drive. Hotel total: $180, gas $75
Friday morning-ish: Drive to GC. Camp $20, gas $75
Saturady: Explore GC, camp $20
Sunday: Back home, gas $120
Total transportation and lodging: $490
Per person: $245

Ahhh, I miss planning vacations!!! A Vegas+Grand Canyon adventure for under $250?? I swear this is my passion in life! I called T and he was on board, and even more on board for the second Vegas+GC idea. We might try to get a couple friends to come along (besides the friend we are meeting in Vegas), which would drop the gas cost (but I don’t want to share a room!) and they could put a tent on the same site.

Even better, I should be able to do this within my already established travel budget. I’m so happy I’ve been diligently putting $100 in there, despite the fact I don’t have any trips planned. I estimate by August I’ll have right around $300 in there, even after I buy a ticket home some time in June. Exciting!!!

I refuse to tell you how many groceries stores I’ve been in between Saturday and Monday.

Ok, no, I don’t. Four different Ralph’s (they are everywhere!), Whole Foods once, and (the same) Trader Joe’s twice. That is SEVEN. Am I insane? Obsessed? I actually had a whole little meal plan for the week, complete with expected price and a column to fill in the actual price. I think I over planned! Or at least, failed to follow the plan!

On Saturday I did my typical shop at TJ’s, then went to Ralph’s (very close by) to finish off and get the things TJ’s isn’t good at. I forgot a key ingredient for my dinner, so I went back to an even closer Ralph’s to fix my mistake. Three for Saturday.

Sunday we found ourselves near a Whole Foods, so I took the opportunity to purchase some bulk granola. Later that day, we went to Quizno’s for lunch, and while T was getting our subs, I walked across the street to yet another Ralph’s to pick up some garlic. I swear it was in my basket on my first grocery run, but it didn’t make it on the receipt or in the bag. I think I left it in the basket at checkout by accident. Two for Sunday.

After spending so much time in grocery stores, I found myself looking online at a local food co-op I’m considering visiting later on. An ad for organic quinoa for $1.49/lb caught my eye. I’ve only just heard of quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) within the last few months, but suddenly I needed to try it. I was still obsessed with it by the time work ended yesterday, so I swung into TJ’s on my way home and picked some up.

To finish things off, I spent Monday evening with my dad, since he and my mom will be heading back to the Midwest within a week or so. We walked along the beach with his dog and had a dinner near their apartment. He drove me home, but wanted to stop at Ralph’s on the way home. I agreed, and picked up a few apples and a pastry sheet, planning on attempting my first tart sometime in the near future. So, two stores for Monday.

Whew! Now I have more food than I could possibly eat in a week (good thing too!) and have been to more grocery stores than anyone ever needs to go to in a 3 day span. Thus, I am hear-by banning myself from grocery shopping until Monday, June 16th or later! (Except if I run out of yogurt, I’m allowed to buy one of those. Or if T and I decided to share some beer/wine one evening. That’s it though, no other exceptions!) Writing this up only makes me see the utter craziness, and the craziness needs to stop!

However, at least I have some fantastic food coming up! Not only do I have a lot of new ingredients, I have plenty of rice, pasta and other staples, so I should be just fine until at least the middle of this month.

Gas is making me anxious. I won’t say I can’t afford it. My gas budget probably will have to increase $10 or $15 this month, which won’t break the bank. Still, it makes me very nervous to watch the price jump so much every day. Each day I consider how I’d get along without a car. Each day I conclude it would be too difficult for T and I to see each other regularly. One of us needs a car, and I guess it is me. I’m constantly rethinking taking the bus to work. It costs me less than $2 in gas to get to and from work, but 2*5*4 is 40 dollars. Busing would take $15, so I’d save $25. Is it worth the extra time?

In a way, I think higher gas prices make some sense, considering the impact driving has on the environment. It makes people seriously consider whether they need to be driving, if public transportation makes sense, if carpooling makes sense. This is a good thing. We have been driving without thinking for so many years. However, it is really painful.

When people compare US gas prices to how expensive gas is elsewhere in the world, I think it is an unfair comparison. Most (all?) of these other countries tax their gas heavily, and that’s what makes it expensive. Those taxes are put back into the country, the roads, the public transportation, and services for the people. Our gas may be cheaper, but we pay the price for cheap gas in other ways.

It makes me mad how little the fuel economy of cars has improved over the years. If standards had been raised, little by little, over time, we would have a lot more cars on the road that got much better mileage. Instead, our cars just became more powerful. I don’t need a powerful car, I need a car more like me: small, efficient and practical.

It also annoys me to hear big-wigs in my company talk about their hybrids, as if they are so environmentally friendly because they drive a Prius. (There was some sort of all-hands meeting, and three higher ups in the company were bragging about their hybrids to each other. How classy.) I don’t hate hybrids, but I still see them as somewhat of a luxury item. Green shouldn’t be luxury. If they told me they took the bus to work each day, then I’d be impressed. Telling me you bought a Prius doesn’t impress me (though it may make me a little jealous).

Will gas prices go down? Will they continue to climb, no end in sight? I don’t know. All I know is this is painful. I hope it pushes the country and the auto industry in the right direction.

I bought fig jam at Whole Foods yesterday ($4), so I’m down to $30 in groceries for the rest of the month. Why fig jam? I was in Phoenix last weekend and ate at this cute restaurant that served various bruschetta, and I thought I’d recreate their apple, brie, and fig jam version. I still should be able to meet my $145 goal if I can control myself. I’ve been really into trying new recipes lately, but with just $30 left, I think any new creations will have to wait until next month. I’m certainly not acting like someone who is participating in a grocery challenge! (I also want to make this, but I’m unwilling to purchase a tart pan at this point.)

Oh, I also made this cold Tomato and Avocado soup earlier this week (alas, in my blender–a food processor just isn’t in the cards right now). The grocery cost was probably about $15 (avocados were expensive) and it made a huge batch. I’ve ate it for lunch every day, along with some other things (namely Trader Joe’s meatballs). It’s healthy and light, but not quite filling enough for a complete meal.

I have not yet signed up for the June dining out challenge (just procrastinating I guess), but I suspect that it will be pretty easy for me. Lately I’d rather cook than go out to eat. I think I’ll set the bar at $60 (down from original $75), which will allow me to treat T and I to at least one average meal out, then maybe some random Subway or In-N-Out if we get lazy.

Regarding yesterday’s post about layoffs, my manager stopped by yesterday and specifically told me that I would not be subject to layoff at this time (or any time in the near future). From what I gather, this issue might come up again in January, but that is far enough away that I can’t spend time being anxious about it now. The notices are also 60 days, which isn’t that long, but long enough that looking for a new job before you receive one might not be necessary (do you agree with that thought?)

I sit near to two managers and the walls are thin (earplugs are necessary at times). I overheard two people from other groups get layed off late yesterday afternoon. It was quite an unsettling way to end the day (and very distracting).

Well, it is time for me to leave for work. I hope I don’t have to hear that again today.

Joke: Last December what did a girl living in a smallish Midwestern city (120,000) estimate her monthly gas expenses would be when she moved to California in January?
Punchline: Sixty dollars a month! (My true average is $140 and rising!)

HA!!!!! How silly!!! I lived just a mile from work and very close to stores/friends. There was no traffic. I also didn’t keep detailed records, but I truly was probably only spending that much if I didn’t make out of town trips (which I did about every other month). Last night I filled up my car and spent $52.

This was my initial 2008 plan, and besides gas, I wasn’t too far off. I forgot some categories (personal, home, gifts) and underestimated a few places, changed my savings priorities and all that. I also modified my budget to be based on 2 paychecks rather than my income/12, since it made more sense. That was the biggest difference.

Anyway, I found it ridiculous/funny that I thought $60/month in gas was reasonable.

I was playing with Excel a few days ago and made up some charts on where I estimate my salary goes. Here is a rough breakdown: (Dept is Debt, which is my student loan. I am too lazy to fix my typo. :))

Essentials = Rent, Food, Gas, Insurance and Car
Fun = Entertainment, gifts, computer, internet/cable, and travel

The tax portion is a bit inflated, I think. Last year my effective tax rate was only 17% but that was in a state with lower taxes. Then there is sales tax… Well, who knows?

Here are the details as estimated by me, though it gets a little meaningless with all the 1% categories:

I wonder what my chart would have looked like when I lived in the much cheaper area in the Midwest. My salary was lower, but my rent was only 12% or 13% of my salary. Did I save more, or just spend more on non-essentials? Probably a little bit of each. When T and I get a place together (maybe in a year) the rent percentage will drop to a level I’m more comfortable with (maybe 17%), and maybe the savings level will increase.

I’ve been super disorganized with my grocery shopping this month, and I’ve managed to spend $95 of my allocated $145.  Ouch!  I get excited about new recipes I find and want to try them immediately, so I have made several trips to the grocery store for less than $10 worth of food.   However, I do have quite a bit of food on hand, and if I just simply eat what I have, I should be fine to meet my budget.  I swear!

I went to Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck) yesterday, which really isn’t the place for a girl on a budget to hang out.  However, I went specifically in search of their bulk food section and wasn’t disappointed.

Granola in yogurt is my favorite breakfast, and I decided to try making my own granola.  I estimated the cost to be about $3 for 2 cups of this (which would be about $9/lb), but maybe I could use less cashews and a lower priced maple syrup to bring the cost down.  The oatmeal was dirt cheap, it was the mix-in’s that brought things up.  The best granola deal seems to be the various organic bulk flavors for about $3.50-$4/lb (not an amazing deal, but tastier than boxed granola).  I could look around for a health food store that offers bulk ingredients at a more competitive price.  So far, I haven’t found making my own granola less expensive than purchasing, and not even more delicious because I burned it!  My next thought was to try making my own yogurt, but perhaps I’m getting too extreme…  Have you ever done this?  Is it cost effective?

Besides granola ingredients (including maple syrup for about $6 and canola oil for $3), I bought to tangelo oranges and a bottle of store brand organic conditioner for $2.  The conditioner was disappointing, but the oranges were very delicious.  I spent a minute suspiciously eying the Naked brand juices.  Can juice really be worth $9 for a small jug? I wanted to try it, but no good can come from it.  Either I like it and start to want it, or i hate it and I’ve wasted my money.

In other food news, I had an out of town friend crash at my place last night, and he inspected the contents of my fridge.  New Castle.  Yogurt.  Cheese.  One egg. Britta pitcher.  Red onion, chopped.  Coffee…. Not much else.  “Do you eat out a lot?”   If he only knew what I could do with the contents of my kitchen! (Mainly the cupboard and freezer, admittedly). What is in your fridge?

The May grocery challenge is going… not well. I have already spent $65/$145, when I’m  only allocated to spend $35/week. That looks bad! However, I have made two trips already, and I usually strive to make one each weekend. I’ve already used this weekends trip, and I should have plenty of food to last through next week.

Still, I was a little silly with my purchases. I usually don’t buy much meat, but I spent almost $7 on meat this week. Want to know how much I spent on cheese? $11.50! While I enjoy good cheese, that does seem a bit excessive. I bought two kinds of parmesan, grated and shredded. I’m not above shredding/grating block cheese myself, but it this case, it didn’t amount to a better deal. The shredded cheese was only $2.50! Also, is Trader Joe’s a good or bad place to buy decent priced cheese? Where else should I look? I also bought, on impulse (!), a box of Belgium butter waffle cookies. Delicious, but not necessary. I’m going to have to be much more careful next week!

Here is yesterday’s shopping trip. I forgot to buy arborio rice (I stink at making lists) which will be another few dollars.

My previous trips included items like eggs, yogurt, granola (breakfast), frozen vegetables, more meatballs, bread, basil and who knows what else that added up to about $31.

What are some things I will be making with all my cheese (and other ingrediants)?

• Croque Mademoiselle
• Risotto in edible parmesan bowls
• Parmesan Wheat Bread
• Edamame and Feta Salad
• Chickpea salad (without the cucumber, with red onion, with red wine vinegar

The menu is a little cheesier and “heavier” than my typical meals, but still may be delicious. I was thinking of trying to make a gazpacho (cold soup) this month, but I can’t find the recipe I used before. It was delicious and included an avocado, didn’t have cucumbers, and had a bit of spice to it. I can’t find it online, so maybe I stole it from a magazine. Let me know if you have a good gazpacho recipe!

Looking over my list and recipes, there really isn’t a huge focus on frugality here. I am certainly paying attention to what I buy, but the biggest reason I don’t spend a ton on groceries is that I don’t buy much meat, I don’t drink milk (purchased for recipes) or juice, and I don’t buy a lot of pre-prepared food.  I am trying to buy more fruit/veggies, but I have to be careful not to let them spoil.

My sister was in town for a long weekend, and I set aside $100 to spend while she was here, just in case.  My parents were also here, so they treated for most of the meals and we didn’t do things that cost money.  I spent $60 on a meal, about $10 on some side dishes for a barbecue, and another $13 for a small present for my most adorable little nephew.  I have $17 left that will go back into the budget for May.

I’m really glad that I set the money aside, because it allowed me to feel free to spend whatever was necessary to ensure that I didn’t spoil their trip by being less than generous.

I also received some of the rebates I was due for my cable service.  I was supposed to get $50 for interenet, $50 for cable, a $39.95 rebate for a modem (which I sold because it wasn’t needed), and another $40 for the modem.  So far, I received a $50 and the $39.95 one.  The website has the second $40 shown as processed, so that should show up someday soon.   The last one is a mystery.

Do you always receive the rebates you are due?  I’m always dubious that they will “lose” my submission and not give me the money.  I almost sent them by certified mail, so I would have proof!

Last week, I got really excited that I still had almost $40 left to spend on groceries, and i got a bit overzealous with my recipes. Then sunday rolled around, and i had very little “staple” food to eat for my weekday lunches and dinners. Ooops. Also, another ooops, I forgot the baking powder in my banana bread, so it obviously turned out like mush. Can you beleive strawberries were just $1 a pint this weekend??

I could have made it until Thursday (May) without buying more groceries, but I opted for the healthier diet and purchased $16 worth of staples. I’m charging $8 to April and $8 to May. Is that accounting too Enron-like?

I am going to buy gas tonight, but other than that, I’m done shopping, so I’m going to do a budget report today. I want to note that I start the month with a budget, but as things come up, I adjust it as best as possible. If I spend too much on groceries, I cut the clothing budget, or whatever. It isn’t strict budgeting as some people probably like, but I’ve found that it works nicely for me. I have a “Master” target budget, but each month gets adjusted as needed. With that said, here is what my spreadsheet looks like today:

That looks really awful, huh?!? It isn’t good, but it isn’t as bad as it looks. The large “Misc” fund encapsulates most of my computer upgrade (I billed $100 to next month to ease the burden), taxes for the sailing class I’m taking, and other truly miscellaneous stuff. The insurance has almost no effect on my cash flow, as I budeget $105 monthly and had the rest in savings. Utilities is high for a freak start-up reason, and should drop next month. Regardless, I’m excited for a clean slate in May.

I’ m going to wait until Wednesday to punch in my final April net worth. Last time I checked, I still had about a 2k gain, mostly in retirement accounts. Truth be told, I’ll probably update it again Thursday (payday), but that will be May’s initial net worth. Yes, I update it more than once a month!

Even though April had some large expenses, I’m doing pretty well sticking to my budget in those easy to miss categories of groceries and gas.

As far as groceries go, I made these delicious spinach and mushroom lasagna roll ups.  I’m not sure of the exact cost of that particular dish, but I should be able to get through the rest of the week on those for dinners.  It isn’t a frugal dish really (three kinds of cheese!) but I allow for meals like this in my budget.  I also have some veggies and shrimp to make some stir fry once that runs out.  I eat vanilla yogurt with granola every day for breakfast, and got a pretty good deal on both this week.  Lunches have been slightly lacking–tuna sandwich and a banana today.  This is an area where I’m constantly struggling for new ideas.  I also splurged on guava juice ($3) and we have had a few strawberry-guava smoothies.  Delicious!  These are the kinds of things I just can’t do on a $120 budget, but are possible with a small adjustment to $135.  It also helps that my parents fed us dinner Sunday night.

I feel like my gas budget is sort of out of my control.  Prices keep rising and the only way to cut back is to visit T less often.  It is already hard to hang out on the weekdays.  I can go to his place right after work (which can take an hour in traffic, though usually it is more like 15 or 20 minutes), or I wait until traffic dies down (at least 7:30 p.m.).  If I wait for traffic to die down, then by the time I get there it is 8:00 and I’m a wimp who likes to go to bed early, so it is a short visit.  If I do drive over right after work, I get crabby from the traffic and I might average 8 mph for the trip.  Perhaps I’ll try a little flex time to get off early enough that traffic is less of an issue.  Except I wonder how early I’d have to be? I’ve only been getting 18 mpg or so due to this crappy city driving.  I would love to use that as a reason to get a newer super fuel efficient car, but I sincerely doubt that would save me money in the long run.

Anyway, I’m looking towards May, because May is going to be a bright spot in the year.  Here is my plans for my extra income that month:

That makes me much happier than April.

I came to this state in January and have been driving around on my parents insurance with the car registered in my home state.  I’m not certain that my coverage was legit–my dad’s name is on the title and registration with mine, but it is pretty much only my car and I haven’t been a dependent of theirs for almost two years.  I didn’t crash into anyone, so we didn’t find out whether or not the arrangement was legitimate.  Whew.

I got online in January and ran the numbers and proceeded to wait until this past Monday to pull the trigger and pay $505 for six months of coverage (including collision).   My car is probably only worth $3000, so the collision was debatable, but I decided worth it.  I have been stashing some money in short term savings to cover insurance, so this really isn’t a blow, but it still isn’t a fun way to spend half a grand.

My dad ever so kindly took it into the DMV for me, which was a huge help.  The DMVs are open one puny Saturday a month and there aren’t any conveniently located near my workplace.  He got a smog check ($4 and got the new plates and registration ($90) and possibly fixed my taillight (but I think he forgot).  I will, of course, have to pay for this.

My car cost me $643 this month.  Plus gas.  OOOOOUCH.  I really miss living in a city with world class public transportation.  Hong Kong was six months of car free bliss.  And bliss in so many other ways.  It is amazing how much fun I had for so little money, even in a supposedly very expensive city.  Maybe I need to move back, expat life has always appealed to me….

Also, I really really need a hair cut.  I found a place that charges $25 for first time customers (plus $20 if I want them to blow dry it!).  I’m brave and not picky about hair, so I’ll give them a try.  I also have pretty simple straight hair.  I want to dye it back to its natural color as well.  I hope to get out of there for less than $60, but that is unlikely if I get it professionally colored.

Again, I hate this April.  Except for mini-eggs.  And the new episode of the Office on tonight!  And Grey’s later this month!  It isn’t all bad, but this month has been painful on my pocketbook.  (And my knee.  I think I’m self-banned from running and restricted to ellipticals for awhile.)

Despite my financial woes in April, I found something to be happy about:  Easter candy.

I adore Cadbury Mini-eggs, partially because they are only available around Easter.  I found them last week for just $0.87 instead of the usual $3.75 or so.  Today, I was buying some ibuprofin for my knee, and thought I’d pick up another bag.  There was some scuffle at the register as the lady asked her coworker about a special on them, and said something about “an hour”.  They must have had some sort of crazy sale on them that I didn’t know about.  As they were chatting, I was concered that they were full price after all!  They again rang up for .87, but she cancelled it out and re-rang them for just a quarter for each of the two bags!

Wow.  So, apparently now is a great time to buy easter candy.

By the way, I promise to freeze both of these and savor them over time.  I’m stocked up on chocolate for awhile now!  For fifty cents!!!!!!!

Oh boy.  It is only April 4th and I’m already anxious for May because I feel like this month is shot (financially).

Why?

1.  Sailing class:  Work pays for it (!) but I have to pay the taxes (what, sailing isn’t work related??) which are about $150.  In addition, I needed/wanted a windbreaker ($50), sunscreen ($6), and sunglasses ($6).  Please don’t make fun of my cheapo sunglasses!  I feel like I should wear some pants that aren’t made of denim or cotton, but I’m going to go to my first ‘on the water’ class to see if that is truly necessary.  He claimed we don’t typically get wet.

(By the way, I’m really pumped about this.  In addition to 12 hours of lecture, for the next six weeks I get to spend 3 hours on the ocean learning to sail.  This is really the kind of thing I want to spend my money on.  If I love it enough, I can take part two for another $150 out of my pocket.)

2.  Energy bill for 2.5 months instead of one, so $75 instead of the budgeted $30.  That doesn’t include my other bill for trash and some other services, which is about $10.

3.  Pay IBM/Lenovo for battery replaced under warranty because I threw away the broken one  when I moved.  I seriously want to smack my head against the wall for this.  They are overcharging me at $120, but I decided not to get crazy and order on online to send them.  With my luck this month, they will check serial numbers and bill me $200!

4.  Computer.  Um, this was not a prudent purchase.  I estimated that it would cost roughly $200 to upgrade, but did I really want Vista Home Basic, not Premium?  Is 1G of RAM really enough?  (Not for Vista.)   For an extra $15 I could get a 6-cell battery instead of a 4-cell, and 120G instead of 80G.  So I justified spending almost $300 to upgrade.  Then add in taxes and California’s $12 recycling fee (what?), grand total $341 for the upgrade.  That is 75% more than originally planned!  One the brighter side… I used my Visa Signature card, which doubles the one year warranty (great perk if you buy anything electronic).  I will have this computer a long time.  Oh and for those hipster Mac lovers out there, sorry, I just couldn’t do it.  My main concern was running programs I’ll use for school, MATLAB, on a Mac (which I know you can do, but I never have).   The price was a factor too.

So, as you see, April is totally shot…

How am I making up for it?  Instead of putting $400 in the e-fund, I’ll put $150.  Instead of the usual $75 I spend on dinner dates with T, I’m only going to spend $40 (or less).  I won’t spend any of my “home” budget, except whatever I need to do laundry.  I’ll use my $100 cashback bonus check towards the battery payment to ease that blow.  I had hoped to replenish my clothes fund, but that’ll just have to wait (no new clothes for even longer).  Entertainment is obviously shot for this month, perhaps next.  I found a way to take care of everything except the taxes so far, and those haven’t yet been deducted from my check.  Really, I don’t have to pay for the computer purchase until next month, so I might split it between two months.  I pay each credit cards at least twice a month.  I know, I’m weird.

In May, I’ll make up for my pathetic savings in April by saving my entire economic stimulus check.  It is also an “extra paycheck” month for me, so I should be able to save at least another $500 in the e-fund, no problem, and perhaps add some money to short term savings.  I’m counting my chickens before they hatch, but I should be able to save $1500 in cash in May.  My sister is coming to visit in May, so imagine I’ll spend some money doing things with her, but still.

Hmmm… So when does May come??

I got an email from Banana Republic telling me spring clothes have an additional 20% off.  While in the store about a week and a half ago, the register girl said that we have up to 14 days to collect any additional discounts due to price adjustments.  I think it would amount to roughly $25 if I can locate my receipt and go in.

But will the sales people give me dirty looks?  Have you ever done a price adjustment?  My bigger worry is that I’m not quite certain what I did with that receipt.  The cost of carelessness in my life is ever increasing…

In other financial news, I finally got my first power/water bill since moving on 1/15.  IT is about $75 for a little over 2 months, which seems a little high for my apartment.      I already have primarily CFL’s, but the bright lights in my kitchen are something else.  I think I’ll be extra diligent about unplugging things and lights and see if I can get it down.

The bill is a little confusing.  It says that  $13.64 is past due as of 3/26 (this is my first bill), but there is no late fees (that I can see).  It almost seems as if that $13.64 is from prior to 1/15 and should have been paid by someone other than me.  There is some mysterious “multi-fam bulky item fee”.  I think I’ll give them a quick call before paying.  Or I’ll just pay it and see what next month looks like.

My parents ran my old laptop into the ground, which I sold to in complete working condition for $200 a year ago.  I would have sold it to them for even less (as it was several years old) but I spent $100 to get the power jack repaired to make it functional.  Actually, my mom handed me $300 cash, and I handed her $100 back.

So, I purchased a new laptop (retail value of about $1000) for about $650 after rebates and a 20% work discount.  My parents are now in the market for a new laptop, and said that if I wanted to sell them mine for $300 or $400, they would take it.  No pressure though, I also could just help them find something new for a similar price.  Oy.

I’ll tell you a secret, I don’t exactly love my new laptop and wouldn’t mind upgrading to this one *or something similar) for an extra $200.  I’ll have to do some research on what my computer would sell for used on ebay and make sure that $400 isn’t ripping off my parents (or me).  I’ll also have to do more research and see what else I can get for around $600.

Do you think I should do it?  This money probably will just detract from my efund savings goal or be subtracted from the economic stimulus check.   Or should I tell them no and help them find a good deal elsewhere?

I’m so tempted!

The month is coming to a close and I’m running out of money in pretty much all areas of my budget. I have $20 left for grocery, and in theory, I’m supposed to buy groceries for the first week in April out of March’s budget. I have no food for the rest of this week, I’m going to the store tonight.

Entertainment and miscellaneous categories, which I planned to use for any overruns, will be eaten up by my vacation this past weekend. I really want to buy some new work clothes this weekend, as T has some free time to help me pick out nice things, but $30 isn’t going to get me far. Would it be ridiculous to take next months clothes budget before next month started? I’m a budgeting failure, though I started out the month so well!

I got my first utility bill since moving into my apartment on January 15th. I’m not sure what the hold up was, but I didn’t question it. It was about $28, including a $10 “new account few” (annoying) for sewer, water, trash and some random “service fee”. I’ve yet to get an electricity bill, but again, I’m not going to question it unless they turn off my lights. I budgeted $30 for utilities, so this seems to be right, unless they surprise me with my first electric bill.

Worse, I got a bill from IBM for $118 for not returning the broken laptop battery when they replaced the old one under warranty. I’m a little annoyed at this, because I sent the whole laptop in, and they sent it back saying “battery is not functioning”, but did not replace the battery for me, even though it was still covered. After a phone call, they sent me a battery, and I remember with regret what I did with the old one…

The movers had come to my apartment in Iowa, and they left the small box that I’d yet to get DHL to pick up. I was throwing out other junk, so I thought to myself “They haven’t asked for this back. They probably don’t care what I do with it. It’s cold out and I have no room for this in my suitcase” Then I threw it in the garbage, along with other junk not worth moving cross country. Imagine my dismay to get a letter a month later requesting the battery. Sure, it was stupid of me to just toss it, but I am only claiming 75% responsibility. They should have just replaced it when they had my laptop! And I moved across the country!

This isn’t in the budget. I’ll just take it out of savings (not efund, just general savings), no big deal, but still annoying. So far this year, I have spent $157 on stupidity/disorganization ($118 + $39). Let’s hope this is the end of that!

(New idea: Maybe I can buy a battery off the internet for less than $118 and ship them that… Hmmmm… I see them for about $50 with shipping on ebay. I’m going to contact them ASAP!)

I had a nice four day vacation in northern California this weekend. We toured some wineries, attempted to visit Alcatraz (it was sold out for days!), toured the city, and went for a very short hike in the redwoods. (I would have liked to hike further, but the rest of the group wasn’t very ambitious.)

Here were my traveling costs:

$15: Parking for the day we drove into the city
$20: Wine from Nappa (at a discounted price because of the tasting fee we (my parents) paid
($25): Money from T to reimburse me for random gas money and the fact my plane ticket was mysteriously more expensive
$40: Cash spent on one dinner and other random travel expenses
$13: Airport spending. It is like another country in there with a horrible exchange rate!

$11: Taxi to airport, including tip (a good price, however I had a friend pick me up last night, as the minimum fare from the airport would be $17.50 pre-tip!)

I spent about $75 (plus $175 for the ticket), well under my estimate of $150.  My parents paid for a lot of the more expensive things. I’m torn about that. While I know they make enough money, they aren’t wealthy and I am not sure how much they have saved for retirement. I suppose I just have to trust their judgment.

Vacationing with parents (or any other people) invovles a little more compromise than I would like. I’m very much a “do it yourself” type traveler, and get annoyed at overly “tour” like excursions. I think my parents are more typical American travelers who don’t mind paying a premium to have someone else do all the organizing. That being said, I’m sure they would have allowed me to plan our whole itinerary if I wanted to step up to the plate and do it, but I chose to take a backseat on this trip.

I have no trips planned for the future yet. I’m thinking we’ll do some more small trips, maybe some hiking/camping within driving distance. Eventually I want to go see the Grand Canyon. I don’t know where or when my next international vacation will be, but unfortunately probably not this year.

The month is coming to a close, and I’ll have to figure out exactly where in my budget that $75 can come from. I can use a little from travel, a little from entertainment and a little from “misc” and I think that I’ll be able to come out close to even, but my travel fund will be empty until next month.

I got a mysterious $760 deposit into my checking account today!  Ok, so not so mysterious–the number looked like the amount of relocation reimbursement I was waiting for.  I assumed that it would go through payroll, which it did not, though I did get some tax information on it last week.  I did some checking and it is indeed my relocation money–about half is reimbursement for a hotel and car rental that I put on my personal card, and the rest is per diem expenses during the move process.  Since money during the move was borrowed from the efund, this money will be going straight back into savings.  Sidebar updated!  If I had only not increased my efund goal yesterday, I’d be 94% of the way there!

This makes me feel like my reimbursement for the interview is lost in the corporate vortex, as it was filed about a month before I filed this paperwork.  I filed it before I was an employee and I have no idea where it went.  Ooops.  Poor organization on my part.  It was probably about $100 for various meals and some gas.  Perhaps I can try to do some checking on that….

I also have roughly $200 in rebates from my cable company that I’m not convinced will ever show up, and a $100 rent.com gift card that I’m fairly sure will eventually (I got one for my last apartment).  If they do show up, they will also go into savings.

Payday tomorrow!  Payday is the highlight of my financial life!

Meg at World of Wealth wrote a post sure to put a little black cloud over your day. She is advising us all to stockpile cash now. While I don’t necessarily agree with all her points, I can’t make a convincing argument against them either….. Everything mentioned is a possibility.

In short, Meg’s post scared me! These thoughts have been festering deep in my mind for some time now and her post brought them back to the surface. I’m not one to panic and am generally optimistic, but it did prompt me to reevaluate my goals for the year in a slightly different light. I don’t think this is an irrational panicky reaction to all the doom and gloom as of late, but let me know if you think I’m going overboard.

Let’s talk about my emergency fund goal of $10,000. I think this is quite a respectable little emergency fund for someone my age. Especially if I were still living in Iowa and paying $575 in rent each month, and using about one tank of gas each month. However…. My rent went up by, oh, $900 each month, and my efund goal stayed the same. Is that realistic? Hardly. If worst came to worst, I’d have to get out of my apartment and rent a room somewhere, but I’d like to be able to finish out my lease if at all possible. I assume breaking a lease is expensive. I could always go to my family for money, but I don’t really think my parents stockpile cash. I wouldn’t be shocked if I have a bigger emergency fund than they do. They aren’t exactly pf role models, though they are hard workers. Anyway, who wants to borrow money from family? Total last resort. Like, after scrubbing toilets for a living and moving under the bridge. (Well, maybe before that… But only slightly.)

So, what is a more reasonable emergency fund? I’m much more comfortable with at least $15k, probably closer to $20k. I don’t think I’ll regret building up my cash. Eventually, I will want to purchase property, and it takes years to save up for a down payment. Even if it isn’t anywhere in my goals, I know it is something that T wants to do sooner than I care to think about. We have talked about buying as early as next year, but that was mostly just talk–it really isn’t feasible and would tie up all my assets. Besides, 20% of the cheapest condo in the area is still $60k! Ouch.

I’m going to alter my 2008 goals. I can leave the $15k retirement contributions as a goal, but count my employer match in that. It is vested immediately, so I’m not counting chickens before they hatch. I wasn’t planning on counting it because it is transparent to me, but it is part of my overall compensation package. I’ll contribute 8% and get a match on 6%, and also fund 5k in a Roth IRA. That’ll bring me in just under $15k. Next, I’ll knock down my 401k (currently at 14%) by that same 6% and put the difference into my emergency fund. My 2008 year end goal is going to be $15k in my efund (increasing it by about 7k). After that, I’ll reevaluate if I want to increase my cash reserves further. Sidebar has been updated

I seem to have problems with yearly goals. I must have goal ADD, because I always change them mid-year. I’m changing them in March, and I didn’t even set them until late January at the earliest. Still, it is silly to stubbornly stick to those goals when these goals make more sense.

Side Note: Mrs. Micah has created a personal finance wiki! Check it out and add your blog if she missed it.

I updated my NetworthIQ page in mid-February, but I updated it again today (slightly downward) to reflect my “end of month” state for consistency. I also quit including “short term savings” in my calculations. That money is earmarked to be spent, and now paying for things like car insurance won’t have much effect. I can see reasons to include it, but the whole point of net worth calculations is to track progress, so it really doesn’t matter a whole lot.

So, let me just say this. I wrapped up 2007 with 13k net worth. After dipping lower in January, I’ve rebounded to almost 15k! The reasons have to do with my new job–I received $2000 in relocation money and $3000 in a signing bonus. Taking that into consideration, the increase isn’t all that impressive. I also probably spent about $600 on random moving in stuff (dresser, file cabinet, cleaning supplies, food, power drill, new art…) Anyway, progress from here on out should be more linear.

March goals

• Follow my budget. If I do that, I’m simultaneously meeting every spending/savings goal I have for myself. I do reserve the right to adjust my 401k withholding by 1% this month and adjust the budget accordingly.
• Get my work development plan in really good shape before my meeting with my manager and find out (specifically) what I need to do to be promoted next year.
• Continue to run 3 times a week (or more)

I’m excited for March, because this is the first month of really using a formal budget! I hope that I can be successful at it!

I’m not certain that my budget is sustainable long term. Ultimately, I would like to spend more on travel and have more room in the “Misc” category. However, my favorite travel partner is a grad student and probably can’t afford big vacations anyway. There has been some rumblings of some friends meeting in Vegas, but I think I can fit that into my current budget. I’d also like to visit a friend in Portland at some point, but the main cost there would be the plane tickets (not too much). I also would like to seriously start saving for a newer car next year, and $100-$150/mo isn’t going to cut it there. I guess my idea is, if I end up having to increase my budget, I will, but if I can stick to this one for awhile, I’ll really get a boost to my savings.

Technically I’m not starting my budgeting until March, because I came up with it halfway through February, and am just getting used to new job and new expenses… In the meantime, I have been being frugal anyway and trying to stick to the weekly amounts for gas/groceries/fun.

However, I really want to buy a couple things for my apartment, and it seems best to buy them now before the budget stats…. I sound like one of those dieters: “I’m going on a diet…. Tomorrow!”

• Toilet Brush ~$3
• Old English Wood Cleaner/Scratch hider ~$5 (A picture frame needs a small repair)
• Noise reducing headphones ~$75
• Ear plugs ~$2
• Patio table ~$20
• Hummingbird feeder $10-$15
• Scrabble $10-$15

Alright, the headphones aren’t really going to happen. They aren’t one bit necessary and can be replaced with the $2 earplugs. The cleaning stuff I need for obvious reasons, but that could be taken out of the march “home” budget. You don’t want to know how much I spent in February on “home” items (dresser + art + power drill + lamp + file cabinet.) Scrabble can easily be taken from the entertainment budget.

I need really want the patio table because my favorite part of the whole week is enjoying coffee in the weekend mornings on the balcony. I love my balcony. Target has some for $15, but the ones for $20 would be worth the extra money. The hummingbird feeder is in honor of the little hummingbird I saw yesterday–I’m hoping to see some of his friends. However, I am not sure how large the hummingbird population around here, so it could be a complete waste. The only food it would need is sugar water.

I have in my possession a $35 refund check from my cable company in my old town that I could cash and buy a lot of this with… I also got a $1000 tax refund this month, and my Net Worth has rebounded thanks to the relocation money coming in. Actually, I updated it weeks before I usually do, just because it improved so much. I’m a dork. I’ve totally talked myself into these purchases, but that is what I do with budgets–I make exceptions. They just don’t work if every month I make exceptions.

So, in Suze Orman style, I ask you, readers… Can I afford it?

I received a notice on my door today saying that I had a $30 credit on my account with my apartment, and instead of $1425, I get to pay only $1395 this month! I assume this is from the application fee being credited towards my rent.

After receiving some comments on my budget that my rent was high for my income, I got curious about how “out of line” I was with my rent. Still, there isn’t a lot I can do about it, but I really didn’t think it was such a stretch to think a young professional could afford to live in a tiny apartment in a safe neighborhood.

First, don’t get me wrong here–I’m not trying to pretend my rent isn’t absurd. I still have sticker shock each month I write the check. I sit on my balcony in the weekend mornings enjoying coffee with T, and think to myself “Wow. I pay almost $50 each day for this!” Today a cute little humming bird flew up next to us like a tiny little helicopter, and it almost felt worth it. (We don’t have hummingbirds in my home state.) Almost.

My original idea when I was looking to move here was to pay $1000/mo, but the only places I could find in that range were in neighborhoods I would not feel comfortable in, as a scrawny 25 year old girl who still occasionally gets carded at R rated movies. I’m just not very tough, even with my pepper spray.   Where I live, my commute is super short, and in a city known for congestion, I’m thankful of that every day. Roommates would have been the only viable option, but I decided to pay for the luxury of living alone over finding a random on the internet, at least at first. I toured a couple places, and I could have saved maybe $100 or even $200 by living further from work in an even tinier apartment. It just didn’t seem worth it.

Anyway, so I made up a little poll over in the forums at Get Rich Slowly to hear what people who are at least a little interested in personal finance paid. I asked specifically for what percentage of gross income went to rent/mortgage. Here are the current results, though 50 respondents is hardly a statistically significant sample. (Note the flawed poll options… the second to last one should have said 40-50!)

• 0%: 5 people, 10%
• 1-10%: 8 people, 16%
• 10-15%: 7 people, 14%
• 15-20%: 11 people, 22%
• 20-25%: 12 people, 24%
• 25-30%: 3 people
• 30-40%: 1 person
• 30-50%: 3 people
• over 50%: No one (whew!)

Mine is right around 24% without including any bonuses, slightly less if I do. Which is high and it stinks, but it doesn’t seem to be so abnormal.  I recently moved from Iowa, where I was paying just 12% of my rent to a nicer and larger apartment (I have my old kitchen table in pieces under my bed). It is an adjustment, that is for sure! Still, I don’t mind cutting back on things like clothes and expensive meals in order to live here. As my salary increases, I don’t think I’ll feel the need to move into bigger and nicer places. Even if T were to live with me, we both don’t mind a small cozy place. I actually really like it–less to keep clean and less stuff I need to buy to fill it up.

I’m not sure if this is the city we will live in forever. There are a lot of great cities that just aren’t so darn expensive, and we kind of want to go abroad for awhile. For now though, it is a great place for me to be. Late this afternoon I drove 1 mile to the beach and went for a run next to the ocean (yes i know I could just run the mile, but I feel safer and happier running on the path by the water). The waves came crashing in, the sun was starting to dip, and I felt really lucky to live where I do. I may hate paying so much in rent, but I can’t say that I regret it.

After recently being shocked by my estimated yearly gift budget (I’ve never added that stuff up!), I found myself at Target yesterday evening shopping for my sister’s birthday. Which, by the way, was last month. With the move, I’m way behind on…. everything. She still loves me though.

I usually spend $50 a head on both Christmas and birthdays for family, but I am now thinking that $40 sounds like a better number this year.  I had a $20 gift card parents sent for Valentines day, but I used most of it on necessary toiletries and the birthday cards (what a rip off). I collected some things I knew she’d like that added up to roughly $40 and headed home. I searched my email archives to find her address (who needs an address book?) and the first thing that popped up an order for a birthday present I’d already sent her! It was a partial present for about $20 that I’d sent earlier, and forgotten about because I’m never early!

Now what? I spent $20 too much on her! For a second I though “cool, I can use some of this stuff for myself!” Which is totally silly–it isn’t anything I need, just little treats that aren’t in my budget anyway. Then I thought I might return a couple things and get a toilet bowl brush (I really need one) and perhaps a new towel (it is a little sad that I’m buying a single towel at a time!). Then I thought maybe I should just stop being so money focused (or as some might say, “cheap”) and send it all anyway. It was money I thought I was going to be spending in the first place. This last approach is slightly unfair to my other sister, who recently received a birthday gift that was about $45, though she’ll never know.

So, what would you do?

(PS- it took my like five tries to spell dilemma… I will never be a spelling bee champion)

I’m still open to suggestions on my budget, but taking into consideration comments, I’ve already made some tweaks. For those items that are more “occasional” I still want to set aside an average monthly cost.

Here it is, as it stands now:

Suggestion: Reducing dining out budget by bringing lunch to work.
I already bring lunch, but I realized that dining out and entertainment were used quite similarly–for dates with T, occasional outings, and perhaps beer/wine now and then. I left dining out at $75 giving us about $25 for the two of us each week, he pays once a month. Or bi-weekly if we want a more expensive meal. In light of that, I reduced entertainment to $50. Unless I do decide to join some classes on my dime, that’ll be enough for now.

Suggestion: Reduce/Eliminate Home budget
The “home” category has been sliced from $50 to $20. I have gotten settled into my apartment and should be able to spend just $20 month on things like cleaning supplies, new towels, and random stuff I want to finish decorating. Also, I still need to do laundry! I do need this money, and $20 might not even be enough. But I’ll try it out for now.

Adjustment: Added $20 Personal budget
However, I realized I have no budget for haircut/shampoo/make-up, which on average will also be $20/mo, assuming relatively cheap haircuts and no more highlights. So I added a “personal” category. I already think I need to increase this a bit to be realistic, but I won’t yet.

Suggestion: Reduce the cable by $30 by getting rid of it.
I’ve debated this heavily (with myself) since I ordered it. The cable is a really good deal right now–all channels+DVR for just $30/month. I’m leaving it for the moment, but I do think I’ll cancel it. Once it is for sure canceled, it’ll be removed from budget.

Adjustment: Gifts increased to $75/mo.
I did a quick rundown of what I expect to buy in gifts this year, and $50/mo won’t cut it, unless I ignore Christmas. Actually the total was more like $90/mo. but that seems so ridiculous that I won’t budget that much for now.

Adjustment: Car Fund decreased to $150.
I probably won’t be buying a new car anytime soon, but I do want to get a fund started. Some of the “extra” paychecks might get a portion diverted this way. This will also cover maintenance so I really won’t build up much over the year.

I really would like to have $100 in the “Misc” category just to give some breathing room. I’m going to reduce the 401k contributions to 14% for now, which still gives only (estimated) $22 in leftover. If cable goes away, that is $52, which makes me pretty happy. If that is still too tight of a budget, I will decrease it another percentage. My original 2008 plan only had 10% withholding, so 15% is quite an increase. I like to figure out how much I can afford to withhold in this way–shoot high, and adjust lower if necessary.

I’m saving more than I did last year, both as a percentage of income and dollar amount. I don’t think 14% in 401k contributions in addition to 5k in a Roth is at all cheating myself out of retirement, especially since I’m starting nice and young. If I do start grad school in the fall, the $133 student loan payment will disappear, and perhaps I can up the contribution by several percentages for the last few months of the year.

To avoid constant budget updates in the main content of my blog, I am going to track my budget in my fancy new budget tab each month. It is up for February, but not quite accurate yet. I think this will really help me to understand if I’m coming within my budget. I’ve set budgets before, but I have a really hard time actually making use of them…

Tomorrow is payday, meaning today is the day we look at our paychecks online! This is my first paycheck with 80 hours and all the appropriate deductions. With taxes and all other things taken into consideration, my paycheck was a little less than I expected/hoped. Dang. The main thing miscalculated was that I took what I expected to be my net pay and divided by 12 and made a monthly budget off that. Really though, I’m paid bi-weekly, and should have divided by 13. This would give me two “extra” checks, but giving me a more realistic view of my monthly cashflow. Then the “extra” I’m sure will easily find itself diverted to various savings–efund, gifts, travel, or car funds. There never is actually any extra.

This means my idea of putting 20% of my paycheck into my 401k just wasn’t realistic. My original goal of 15% may not even be realistic, but I’m going to try to work with that and see where we get. Secretly, I thought 2008 might be the year I maxed out my 401k. It was quite a ridiculous thought. Even if I could afford it, my new employer only lets us do up to 20% pre-tax, and 20% of my pretax salary is less than $15,500. Clearly 2008 will not be my year. Not only can I not afford it, it is mathmatically impossible! Perhaps 2009, but at the very latest, once I get my M.S. degree (2010) I should be in a better position. By then, who knows what new savings goals I’ll have come up with!

My budget isn’t quite working out–I can’t get the numbers to come out the way I want! Usually I don’t have trouble creating a budget, just sticking to it! I just am not seeing anywhere I can cut back that I’ll honestly be able to stick to. Travel seems high, but even if I don’t budget for it, I’ll spend it, so I have to save for it. Rent can’t be helped, at least until next year, and even then, only if I wanted a roommate. Which I would be fine with, if the roommate was the boyfriend, but tentative plans on that are over a year away. The car fund is both for maintenance, and also to (very very slowly) start building up for a new car in the distant future.

2 Paycheck income: $2932
Monthly Expenses:
Rent: $1,425
Efund $150
Cable/Internet $60
Roth IRA $325
Insurance $110
Student Loan $133
Utilities $30
Grocery $130
Restaurant $75
Gas $110
Clothes $50
Entertainment $70
Home $50
Gifts $50
Car Fund $200
Travel Fund $100
Leftover/Misc -$79 (Calculated by income - expenses)

As you can see, the leftover section is negative, which is non-ideal. Or to put it less gently, it is bad. I’d like to have about $100 of unbudgeted money, but at minimum, it has to be positive!

Any ideas? If not, perhaps I’ll slowly decrease the 401k savings until the budget works out.

(By the way, I updated the retirement savings sidebar with my expected contributions for tomorrow.)

I spent about 45 minutes the other evening contemplating life without my car. My car is not new. I own it outright, and is probably worth around $3000. I’m not a car person, I don’t love my car, nor do I hate it. It works. But what if I could do with out it? I decided to find out, what does owning my car cost me?

• Gas: $120/mo (estimated)
• Insurance: $90/mo
• Oil Changes: $15/mo (assuming every 3 months at about $45)
• Registration: $10/mo (assuming biannual smog check and licensing costs of about $130)
• Repairs: $40/mo (based on last years total of about $450 in misc repairs…)
• Total: $275/mo (I’m not including misc costs of “wear and tear” or depreciation of the car. I already paid for the car, it won’t really affect my cash flow.) Wow, that seems like a lot!

The next logical thing to calculate is, of course, what would the costs be if I didn’t own my car?

• For work, I could easily walk several blocks on each end to the bus stop and ride for half price through a work discount. Total cost? $15 each month.
• I looked into the option of a flexcar, which I probably would have to use occasionally for day trips or anything not accessible easily by public transportation. I assume I’d use at least $50 worth of it, which is one full day or 10 hours each month.
• My boyfriend lives about 7 miles away, which on the highway typically takes 15-20 minutes. In rush hour traffic, it takes about 45-50 minutes. To visit him, I could take the bus. He has taken the bus to my place before, and I think it is $1.50 each way. The major downside is that it takes an hour and a half in traffic, and probably 45 minutes at other times. Lets assume (conservatively) I’d take the bus two times a week. That is $6/week or $24/mo.

I think that would be the major dollar expenses. That only adds up to $89 each month, a savings of almost $200!!

However, what is holding me back is the time and convenience factor. Could I really live without my car? If I lived with (or really close to) my boyfriend, it would be more doable. Even then, I think it would take me an hour to get to/from work opposed to 15 minutes. Is an hour and a half each work day worth $13.75 each work day? It probably is. That doesn’t even include time saved visiting the boyfriend, getting groceries, or going pretty much anywhere.

I’ve been to Manhattan and I loved taking the Metro there. I lived in Hong Kong for awhile, which had the most amazing public transit system I’ve ever seen. I can do public transit. But in LA, the buses are slow, the trains just don’t go where I need them to, and everyone loves their cars. So for now, I’ll keep the car. However, I think I’ll try to cut back on unnecessary driving in hopes of reducing my gas budget.

I get paid tomorrow (yes, on Thursdays) and finally was able to view my paycheck online. Though I only am being paid for 40 hrs instead of 80 this period, they did process my signing bonus in the first check (yes!) so I finally have some money to work with. They got all my direct deposit stuff set up in time (nice work!). I have it split between three different accounts, checking, short term savings (insurance, travel, car) and a long term savings (e-fund, maybe house/condo fund one day). I still may have to transfer between these, but this should minimize that. Make savings automatic!

I’m still not ready to finalize a budget, as I’m not certain what my take home pay will be. I tried to figure out exactly how much I’ll be paying in taxes each month by taking total taxes paid divided by total gross pay in this check. I came up with about a 39% tax rate! Yikes, that can’t be right! Google tells me that taxes on bonuses, while calculated as normal income, are withheld at a different rate, up to 40%. Well, that makes more sense! Good to know.

Is it logical to just use 25%, my marginal tax rate? Then again, what about FICA, Social Security, etc? If I do that, I come up with about $1700 after 401k and medical or $1500 if I go all the way up to 20% in my 401k. It isn’t likely I can live off the $3000/month, at least not if I want to grow my cash savings. Though the way some people dream about buying a house, I dream about maxing out my 401k….

My 401k still isn’t ready for me to enroll. I hate when systems are not automated enough. My last job I could enroll in my 401k on the first day (through Fidelity). It has been a full week and CitiStreet still isn’t recognizing my user ID. When I called the number to ask if this was normal, I was told “Please listen carefully as options have recently changed.” Then, there was a single ring, then silence. More silence. I was never given any options! I hung up and tried again, only to have it happen again. I pressed all the numbers and was directed to an operator who could not help me unless I “went through the system and entered my PIN” (which I did!). He suggested waiting another week, or trying the number again. Lame.

I was going to go hang out with the boyfriend tonight, but I think I’ll cancel. He has a lot of school work, and I have needed to do laundry for at least a week. This will give me time to start working on yesterdays to-do list. First up, taxes!

I have some major financial housekeeping to do within the next month (or maybe two months). With switching jobs and moving 2000 miles, I feel like everything is a mess! It is time for some clean-up.

Taxes: Self explanatory! I did start them on TaxAct, but got distracted.

Retirement Accounts:
Well, first, I assign myself some homework. I’ve had “Random Walk Guide to Investing” hanging out on my bookshelf for months. I need to read it. I also want to re-read Jonathan’s series at MyMoneyBlog.com about asset allocation, and look for other good internet information. I need to consider rolling over my old 401k to an IRA or even to a Roth IRA. I want to at least consider moving my Roth from Fidelity to Vanguard. I need to get enrolled in my new 401k ASAP, and contribute at least 8% to get the match.

Emergency fund: I want to get it back up to 10k, then evaluate if I need to increase it further due to increased costs. It briefly hit 10k before Christmas, but has dwindled to just over 7k (!) in the move process. Well, 1k went to the Roth to kick off 2008 so it isn’t so bad. This should easily be taken care of if I simply apply the relocation allowance and signing bonus. Also, I want to investigate moving it from HSBC to something better.

Actually implement plan to buy car insurance. I have to do this soon, because I have get my car registered in my new state. It’s just… I recently designated an ING accout to save up for bi-yearly insurance purchases… but so far I’ve only stuck $25 in it! Ug.

Figure out a reasonable budget. Having scaled back income and paying two rents for a month has totally messed with my head. I have no idea what I can afford, what is a splurge, and what I absolutely shouldn’t be buying. So I’m just guessing. . .

Rebates, rebates, rebates: I need to send in rebates for my cable service, my internet service ($50 each), and for my modem (about $80). Then I need to sell my modem online, since it turns out I didn’t even need it! After that, I might cancel cable since I haven’t been watching it at all.

Set some 2008 goals: It’s been hard to do with so much up in the air.

Well, I feel a little better just writing it all down…..

I feel like I’m being scammed out of my money left and right!

I signed up for cable service online (because I do everything possible online) and followed the clear instructions on the web page to obtain a cable modem before the cable guy came. There was a promotion for a “free” modem, after rebate, which turned out to be about $20 with shipping and tax (after rebates… which are always a bit sketchy to redeem).

Yesterday the cable guy set up my internet and TV, and started installing a cable modem from the company. I said I had one already, and would not be needing to rent one from the cable company (as that is how it often works.) He told me that there was no rental, the modem was part of the service.

I am still fuming about this, a little. (Ok, a lot, if you ask my boyfriend.) Why would they tell me I needed to buy a modem when I didn’t? Now I have a modem that put almost $100 on my credit card bill for the month (which I pay off, of course) and two rebate forms to fill out and hope get credited to me. What a hassle!

I looked up the modems on Amazon (I’m not very ebay literate, but i should probably check out ebay too) and I can probably sell my new modem for at least $35, even if I cut off the upc to get the rebate. In theory that is a small profit, but it is a bit of a hassle to do all this.

I’m super annoyed that they convinced me to buy a modem I didn’t need!

Also, as mentioned in my last post, I ordered some transcripts from my undergraduate institution. I ordered that two official transcripts be sent to the graduate university I am applying to. Yesterday I received two transcripts at my home address, clearly stamped with “issued to student”. I didn’t need or want these. I can only assume they didn’t send any to the university. Now I have to call them and find out what happened. I hope I don’t have to pay $12 to have them do this again!

Last, I sent my laptop in for repair in early December, and they sent it back with a note that the battery had failed. It was still under warranty, so I called them and asked why they didn’t replace the battery. They said, “Hmm, I’m not sure! I’ll send you a new one!” Which they did, along with a box for me to send the broken battery back in. In the meantime, I moved cross country and the old battery and box are long gone. Vanished! They just sent me a letter requesting that I return the part, or they will bill me for it. I assume a battery is around $100. Ouch.

This battery incident is primarily my fault (though they could have just replaced it when they had my laptop), but still annoying. I can see why they make people send in defective parts, but I’m going to call them and see if there is any flexibility in this policy. I don’t have high hopes, but it can’t hurt to call, explain the situation, and ask if they really have to bill me for a new battery. I’ve had mixed results with companies forgiving things like this, but it never hurts to ask.

I am frustrated that my money is disappearing for these things. Granted, they aren’t really scams (except maybe the modem promotion), but I’m not getting anything of value out of them.

I went on my first full shopping trip since relocating and moving into my apartment. I looked at the current balance of my grocery bill in horror. How on earth was it at $79 already? And they still were ringing up my order!! The grand total was $95, then they swiped my Ralph’s card and it dropped to $70. It is ridiculous that they do that. It is just forcing you to use a grocery card if you want any discounts at all.

Anyway, $70 is still much more than I spend on weekly groceries. About double! Although part of it was because I’m restocking almost everything, it still was a bit excessive. I think my solution will be to make this last two weeks…. so no new groceries until Februrary 12th! I am pretty sure I can do it. When I complain there is no food to eat, I usually mean, there is nothing I feel like cooking and eating.

What on earth did I buy? Well, I won’t copy my whole long receipt, but here are some of the more expensive items on the list.
Chicken breast fillets $8.90. I don’t usually buy meat, actually. I’m not vegetarian, but I’m not a big fan of meat and I don’t really know how to prepare it well.
Frozen Strawberries, huge bag, $8.50 (should last a very long time. For smoothies)
Lunch meat, 2 packages, $5 (much cheaper than buying a sandwhich!)
Peperoni to make English muffin pizza’s: $3.50
Lunch cheese: $4.19, I forgot to price shop this I think
I also bought butter, milk, bananas, coffee creamer, 2 boxes of cereal, frozen broccoli and lots of other miscellaneous items.

There were some things on the list I didn’t get. I had a frugal recipe that called for ziti, so I set out to the pasta isle. When I didn’t find it, I realized I wasn’t entirely sure if ziti was pasta at all. Maybe it was a cheese? So I’m back at home, ziti-less and just looked it up. It was pasta after all. I also could not find any muffin mix to make bran muffins. Maybe no one else likes them?

I liked to have a grocery budget of about $120/month, but I may have to up it. We’ll see.

My internet and cable aren’t being installed until Saturday. Yet here I am, on the internet from the comfort of my own apartment. That’s right, I’m mooching off someone else’s unsecured connection.

How unethical do you consider this? I know some people who do it regularly as their primary source of internet. I usually do it in situations like this–I don’t have legitimate access to the internet, but I have a legitimate desire to be on it!

To be honest, I’m not certain of the security concerns of this. If I’m connected to their network, could they potentially access my computer? I don’t think so.

I spent the day settling in to my new apartment. While I filled up my new Ikea dresser, it tipped over and nearly killed me. No worries, the only casualty was a barely noticeable cosmetic piece we are going to try to repair later this week. I listened to NPR all day, and I am pretty sure that once my six month deal runs out for cable, I will be able to do without it. I’m not going to lie, I’ll miss some of the absolute crap TV shows that I watch but my life is probably better off without them (example: Real Housewives of Orange County). The shows that I really love (when there isn’t a writers strike) are all available online (Office and Grey’s).

Internet I couldn’t live without…. but could I just mooch off a neighbors connection? I probably wouldn’t. Not only because of the moral concerns, but because it may not be reliable and completely secure. What do you think?

I’m in the process of moving into my new apartment. Technically, I’ve been paying for rent since January 15th (they wouldn’t allow me to change my move in date), but I’m still getting set up.

In apartment buildings, you often don’t have a choice for your cable television and internet provider. My apartment is serviced by Time Warner, and that is my only choice for TV. I was offered free installation and $30/mo for digital cable and $30/mo for internet for a limited six month period. A cable modem is required, but they had a deal where you could get a “free” modem through rebates. There also is $100 cash back in rebates for new services.

So….. Wow. A lot of rebates involved! The rebates are offered through broadbandoffers.com, which a quick Google search turned up lots of negative reviews. Still, I’m going to file the rebates anyway, get delivery confirmation for a couple bucks, then cross my fingers that they will eventually send my $180 worth of checks. Oh, and “free” didn’t include shipping or CA state tax, so it wasn’t exactly free, but $20 for a cable modem is reasonable, I suppose.

I think that negative reviews are par for the course when it comes to rebates. If everything goes smoothly with your rebate, you aren’t likely to go online and write a happy review. But if something is screwed up, you may go write a bad one. I read a lot of negative reviews about the company I bought my laptop from, but I received the over $200 in rebates. It just took a long time. That isn’t to say that mail in rebates aren’t a pain in the butt. They are. But I’m optimistic. I was going to sign up for the service anyway, so if they want to give me $100 to do something I already planned on, then great.

To me, $60 seems reasonable and fair for internet and television. I’ve never had a problem getting fair and reasonable service… for the first six months or year. However, once the promos end, the same service jumps to about $100 a month, which seems high. Besides pulling the personal finance trick of asking for a lower rate, I probably will switch to cheaper internet and drop the cable to get the price down to about $45 a month. With cable, it would still be $80/month, which is pretty expensive to me. Maybe once my promo ends, I can look into options like DirectTV and DSL services, to see if they are viable options.