MFC

WordPress Migration Done!

2006-11-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

Please update your links to show:
http://www.mapgirl.net/mfc/

I kind of botched my installation so you will need the extra 'mfc/' on the end when you make the link.

No more posty posty here. It will all be OVER THERE.

Articles I liked last week

2006-11-08T11:30:00.000-05:00

Madame X asks what are you worth? This is one of the best memes I've ever seen.

Amanda at Young and Broke, on traveling cheaply. She's totally on the money here. I'll also use this as another opportunity to plug the Frugal Traveler. Thank you readers for visiting him. He told me that it was one of the most popular sites at the NYT this summer.

FreeMoneyFinance on why Reverse Mortgages are not a good idea, or proceed with caution.

Debt Hater thinks about running off to be a yogi. She links to Flexo who writes about being pennywise, and pound foolish. To sum up his list, "Haste makes waste." Hunt for a quarter, etc. Friday I ran back into my apartment to grab some quarters. It made me a little late for work, but I had to feed the meter that afternoon when I went to an appointment downtown. Those quarters saved the day.

Tired of Being Broke (has never been featured here before) writes about her new Sallie Mae payment plan. It's inspired by 3 Things About Money. Will this work for you? If you get paid by the week, it might!

Hat tip to Amanda for a very funny parody

Making a Living as an Artist

2006-11-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

Millionaire Artist has a fantastic link about making a living as an artist. I think from watching my friends, I have a few observations to add.

#1 - Price your art higher. For some reason, that makes it sell because it's value is perceived to be more. I've seen this phenomenon particularly at craft fairs. The standard rule for handknits is 50 per yard knitted or your cost in terms of hours of labor. It makes the item way more expensive, but it's perceived value.

#2 - Show your work. I have lots of artist friends. They display their work at their home, in the homes of friends and that makes a difference when it comes to the next point.

#3 - Sell to your friends for real money or services. I buy artwork from my friends, or receive it as gifts. One friend tried to let me get away with two studies for free. I insisted that I give her some money to at least cover the cost of making them. Another friend drew two pastel paintings for me in 30 minutes after she helped me redecorate. I get a lot of compliments on them and people get interested in her work that way.

That's about all I have to say. I've tried selling little crafty things, but I find that I am a process-oriented knitter and really don't worry if I have projects in half-completed states. I get around to finishing them eventually. That's why I don't make many gifts. You get your knitted item when it's ready, which is why sizeless stuff is great. (scarves, baby blankies, teddy bears, etc.)

Update on my car

2006-11-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

I wasn't going to post here. I was going to take a little break and get stuff moving at the migrated site. But today happened to me and I'm kind of in the dumps. Posting makes things better.

I took my car into the dealership today to replace the clutch and a few other things. My check engine light went on about two weeks ago. It turns out it needs a new catalytic converter. So this means I'll have sank in about $4000-5000 of work into the car this year. That's approximately 20-25% of the original purchase price (new).

My car turns 6 on Friday. Six years isn't too bad for a car with 104K miles on it. It really isn't.

Over the weekend I thought about it. I think I'll have to start a special car fund separate from my Emergency Basket of Cash. In 3 years, I hope there's enough in there for a decent downpayment on a new/newish car. I prefer new/newish since I'm not the best with maintenance. I try to drive kind of lightly.

So for next year, I will only need to budget for a new brake assembly (Front & rear rotors, my dealer doesn't like the aftermarket ones I got a few years ago. And neither do I. They squeak.) and two new tires.

At what threshold do you get rid of a car? I've raised the deductible on the insurance. I've put in maintenance equivalent to less than half the purchase price, but really, when do you stop and just get rid of it? The car is worth ~$6K. This year and next, I'll have sank that much into it, but I will be able to drive it pretty worry free for another 3-4 years.

test posting

2006-11-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

I almost lost my blog today in this migration. Le sigh.

Side Income

2006-11-03T11:20:00.000-05:00

I wrote this post before getting outed by my fellow PFBloggers with regards to advertising for Interest.com.

One of the things pulling me in different directions is the opportunity to get paid for blogging. I've got a few friends who make serious money from their blogs and I wouldn't mind a little side income. However, being paid to post is kind of hard for me. I'm free form. I take my inspiration and schedule whenever the mood strikes me. That's probably why some of my posts don't make sense a few days after I've written them when they get published.

However, the opportunity to blog about products or as part of a marketing effort seems like fun. (Not here, but for a blog representing an actual commercial venture.) I figure the publicity couldn't hurt me and it's another potential job skill.

One of my commenters asked me recently if I was a journalist. I'm not. The extent of my experience has been the high school paper. Hm... On second thought, I guess I actually have done it, but it was a bad job experience, I kind of blotted it out. For about a year, I took press releases and repackaged them as small blurbs. I've always fantasized about turning into an actual writer, but only to make this blog better. I'm not one of those literary types who writes to get published in the New Yorker. I just want to get my point across.

I guess this is what they mean when they tell you that you can turn a hobby into a real job.

That was the original end of the article. But I feel I should say something more.

Interest.com will be compensating me for the advertising space on my blog. Whether or not they make editorial suggestions, I will take full responsibility for writing what is posted here. Meaning, if I choose to accept their suggestion for content, it is because I have judged it to fit and be appropriate. I fully expect to decline some of their suggestions. If there's an ethical dilemma, I'm sure I'll write about it.

I don't care if people think I'm selling out. I already sell out by wearing a corporate uniform and going to work every day. If you haven't seen Trainspotting and heard the diatribe that Renton spouts and the beginning and end of the film, see it. Just remember. CHOOSE LIFE.

I expect that being compensated for ad space will help me live my life more fully.

Pulled in all directions? Or just pulling out my hair?

2006-11-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

My month has been really wacky. And that's coming on the heels of September, which saw me spend a lot of money. And now it's November and it's just going to get worse over Christmas season if I'm not careful.

Whoa Nelly! Is it time to regroup or what?

1) This blog will be moving to WordPress sometime soon. Not 100% sure when, but I got a new domain for it and it will have to happen before the end of the year. That is a hard target I need to meet for some new bloggy-fun I'm planning.

2) I need to start banking cash again. I depleted my Emergency Basket of Cash this year for a fun splurge and to pay some stuff with cash instead of running up my credit cards. I had a goal to save another $4K. I think that's going to take me most of next year to save.

3) I need to cut back on my spending. Since it's cold again, I hope to get into a rhythym where I make stuff in my crockpot once again.

4) Bring down that credit card debt. I commit myself to keeping my current balances level till the new year, while focusing on replenshing my basket of cash till then. I actually think I can save enough to refill it in 2 months. After that, I'll refocus and pay down my stupid consumer debt.

5) I still need to apply for my property tax relief. If I say it here, I'll do it. Accountability. It's why I'm trying to 'fess it all up now.

Disgusted

2006-11-01T16:47:00.000-05:00

Not funny.

People think I am positively paranoid. But I work/have worked at a data services company and I live near the Pentagon. My family works for PayPal and other friends work directly inside of network operations centers, just steps away from server rooms. Who's to say they don't step outside for a smoke and get killed by some angry lunatic?

Not funny at all. It's sick. Hey bub, violence is not the answer to your problems. Try a frickin' lawsuit like the rest of us.

Strange ways of the internet

2006-11-01T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hello readers of Neville's blog! Welcome! Right now I am not affiliated with Interest.com, but soon will be.

Special thanks to Flexo for getting people to visit me today! I'm laughing because his comment has probably inadvertently generated a lot of clicks for me. Silly blogger!

Anyhow, thank you for visiting me today. Say hello with either commenting system. (BTW, when this blog moves off Blogger, the Blogger comments won't follow the posts, but I think I can keep the Haloscan ones. So my blog dorkiness might actually work in my favor.)

Cutting off the rumor mill

2006-11-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

I actually didn't decline. There is a time and a place for everything.

I could hype stuff up, but per an NPR story this morning about buzz, I'll keep things chill for now. Just keep on watching this space, or my new space...

*winky*

Trick or Treating the Waiter

2006-11-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

I went to dinner last night with a friend. We go into the place and the waitstaff is all dressed in costumes, as well as some of the guests. I was miserably at work very late last night so I was not in costume and neither was my friend. (On the drive home, I later figured out it was about 11 hours at my desk. Fortunately the last hour was killing time till my friend got through rush hour. Better spent at my desk than at the bar.)

We get seated at our lovely restaurant and we are surprised our waiter isn't wearing a costume. I comment on this by saying,"Where's your costume?" He stumbles over a story saying basically,"I didn't know about this till I arrived tonight." I jokingly say,"Well, then! There's no tip for you with no costume!" At least my friend and I thought this was damned funny to tell him. However, the waiter's pretty young, barely old enough to serve liquor and I think this flusters him a lot because he doesn't have a snappy comeback. He's green enough that he doesn't have any patter or repartee. He's almost stammering to get out the specials for the night. We maliciously laugh because that makes it even funnier to us that we've thrown him off.

He was a pretty good waiter actually. Slightly too attentive, according to my friend who could see the guy waiting around/hovering to serve his tables. My friend was buying dinner and tipped him a choking 30%! It was a ten-dollar tip for a $31 check. I was shocked. I made a mild comment with a lifted eyebrow, but I know my friend was sympathetic to the poor kid I had threatened with no tip, having been a waiter himself. It's a tough job, but he couldn't quite take the joke. I would have left him with 20%. But for a quick-witted waiter, I probably would have left 30% too. I needed a good laugh and I would rather have laughed with the waiter instead of at him.

Bitterness

2006-10-31T18:31:00.000-05:00

I didn't post today because I was too tired last night to write anything. And then too busy during the day at work to write anything. (which I try not to do anyhow)

But then you see, I counted up how many weekends I've given up for my job this year. I'm almost reaching double digits.

'Give up' is a small exaggeration. It means setting off a process, then baby sitting it. It still means I can go have a beer and go out and have a life, but it means no out of town weekends without a high speed connection.

I took the opportunity today to remind my boss that I got lowballed with my salary and I think an adjustment is in order.

Welcome Readers of the New York Times!

2006-10-30T16:30:00.000-05:00

Madame X and Jane Dough have been highlighted at the Grey Lady in an article that was published on Sunday.

Thanks Madame X for the link!

To new readers, welcome! I don't have too much to say about myself other than I'm glad you're here. Please feel free to use the HALOSCAN comment system on the left side of the bottom of each post. Those publish immediately and anonymous posting is allowed. (But I discourage that in the interest of being civil adults. *winky*)

Hit & Run Post Day!

2006-10-30T11:30:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling chatty, but expect small posts today. Very busy at work. Coding is wonderful stuff.

Found a new blog for Oracle g33ks. Jonathan Lewis has a new blog. God bless the man. His CBO Fundementals book has been a godsend for performance.

Enough of the nerding. Today I am a Crawly Amphibian. Thanks to LAMoney Guy, The Frugal Duchess, Justin Henry, et al for links.

Nose Dive: September Net Worth Update

2006-10-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

I ran up those credit cards like you wouldn't believe. It's time to break out the ramen. That is all.

CNN Money Today

2006-10-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Current stats on why getting a college degree is so valuable.

High stress at work. Been there. Done that. Won't do it again. (Read my comment at Freedumb's blog on the next link provided.)

In regards to Freedumb's recent experience, signs you've stayed too long. This is a really good list. I should know. I cried a lot at my last job. I was bored. I was stuck doing one job function and I was irate all the time.

Dealing with the insecure boss, luckily this hasn't happened to me... Yet. I am sure one day I will be dealing with a lunatic. For now, it's all good.

NPR Stories

2006-10-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

NPR has got a great story about ARMs. The figure that intrigued me most is the 1.5% foreclosure rate in 2002, during the recession. The expert on the program basically said that a 1.5% rate was unlikely.

They also had an article about falling home prices. I didn't have a chance to listen to this one today, but that's ok. I'm not in a position to start buying investment properties.

Madame X: Work vs Life

2006-10-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

In a strange coincidence, Madame X posted this about work versus life in terms of financial management.

Last night I was talking with a friend about the very same thing. She's a retail store manager. Recently, she took over an ailing business and has turned it around. Her one comment is that if she hadn't been so poor while a student, she never would have been able to manage the finances of a business. She told me that her cash management and budgeting practices come directly from being an impoverished student.

In a subtle way, I suppose that's true for myself. I learned some basics about treasury management while working an executive seminar for a business school. Later I had to reserve enough cash from a program that I was running to keep an office going through an entire fiscal year. From that, I guess I learned that you can always keep operating if you have enough cash to see you through, hence realizing the importance of an emergency fund.

Work and real life don't have to be a disconnect. And the things you do at work can be positive on your personal life if you let it.

Anyhow, other updates, I'm feeling MUCH better and I'm using Purell like a fiend at work since I'm still coughing all over the place. (Time waits for no man and this stuff has to get done.)

I also will be transitioning over to WordPress and a new domain later on in November. Please keep your eye out for that. I will be extremely grateful for the updates!

Feeling ill

2006-10-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

I have horrible headaches and a sore throat. I've been this way for a few days. I can only offer you this recipe for leftovers:

1 roasted chicken carcass from the supermarket (This is the leftovers)
Garlic cloves
Large pot of water

Boil the leftover chicken and garlic. Throw in enough salt, pepper and Tabasco for taste. Eat with toast and butter. Lay on couch and try not to vomit. (Yes, I'm feeling pretty terrible.)

I really feel like crap, but even in sickness I am frugal. Plus I'm too damned lazy to leave the house. Thank god the last time I got a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, I had enough sense to throw the rest of it into the freezer because I couldn't finish eating it before spoiling.

What do you like to eat when you're too sick to cook? Raid the pantry? Eat frozen food?

Networking Tip: LinkedIn.com!

2006-10-23T10:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm still on this career and networking kick. I get this way about once a year when I reassess what I'm doing at work and if I really like this place and where it's going.

Latest tip is professional networking websites. There is one that I've been using that has actually resulted in some high-quality inquiries. I pooh-poohed it before in the comments, but in the last week, all that has changed. LinkedIn.com is like those annoying social networking sites, Friendster or MySpace, but without the stupid photos. It's all about finding business opportunities. Recently I was solicited from a connection at LinkedIn, and I was curious enough to reply.

There's only one other site I can recommend because I've personally used it. But it's primarily a social networking site. The reason why I like it is because it's locally-based. It's called MeetIn.org. Now I admit, I know the founder personally. I signed up for it ages ago when he started it and I rarely attend their events. (I have quite a full life without it.) But every time I go, I meet folks who are in the same metropolitan region as me. I make new contacts and friends who are willing to help me find a new job if I ask. The key with MeetIn is that it's local. I can't stress that enough. Few people are going to spend the effort to completely relocate for work. Geographic moves are catastrophic upon your life. Take it from me, I've moved cross country twice.

Articles I liked this week

2006-10-20T08:36:00.000-05:00

Make Love Not Debt has by far the best post of the week. Knowing the warning signs of financial trouble is the first step to getting out. Good on them for getting motivated.

Financial Freedumb on leaving work. I've SO been there. Who hasn't? Learn from his example and take the classy way out. Don't burn your bridges. This little mapgirl has done that before, and it's not pretty.

Millionaire Artist points us to the Rent-O-Meter. You can guess why I like the name of that site.

You'll find no quarter at Single Ma's. Get your butt saving money. Today. NOW. She means it!

Queercents on splurging or self-sabotaging. This article is as much for me as it is for anyone else. I'm not sure if I'm ready to confess which it is for this month's spending. (I am going to a yarn show after all.)

A Shout out to Inchoate Random Abstractions

2006-10-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

Inchoate Random Abstractions left me this comment a few weeks ago:

A beauty supply store? In the Chicagoland area, they sell the huge bottles of Tresemme at all of the large drug stores and even some of the grocery stores (e.g., Walgreens, Dominicks and Jewel-Osco). It's on sale this week at Dominicks for $3 for a 32 oz. bottle.

Sure enough, I went to the grocery store for lunch. In a belt tightening maneuver, I bought groceries instead of bringing my lunch this week. I found a bottle of Tresemme for $3 as you stated. I think that might actually be the regular price there all the time!

Unlike Judith Levine, I also bought Q-Tips, but not before checking the unit pricing. Make sure you are checking the unit pricing. Sounds a bit crazy, but whip out that cellphone. I bet it has a calculator, and do the math. It will save you money!

I ended getting a loaf of bread, some cheese and a Soup at Hand cups, which were on sale. I think lunch this week was pretty cheap. I didn't even eat the cheese yet because it's not spreadable. I'll have to take it home over the weekend to eat it.

I'm off for the weekend to a yarn/fiber show. If I'm feeling frisky, I'll post a photo of it since I finally remembered to take my digital camera.

Saving and Wrinkles

2006-10-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

She'll say it once. She'll say it again. Today is a great day to start saving! Email me at mapgirlsfiscalchallenge at Google's mail service if you want an ING Direct referral. I'm not savvy enough right now to make links embedded into my blog.

Coupled with that is "Today is a great day to start moisturizing." Being wrinkle-free is like saving money. Start early and your daily investment of time and lotion will pay off in saving your skin from wrinkles in the future. My mom is wrinkle free at 64, but I wish she had salted away a little more cash. I watched her apply lotion everyday. Too bad I didn't watch her save money every day.

Yes, your Frumperella isn't uber-fashionable at work, but I'm still looking youthful. God bless that cute boy over the weekend who thought I was only 27. I found my first age spot last week, but given that I lived in CA for 5 years, I'm lucky I don't have more. It's the daily application of face lotion with sunscreen that's saved me from aging too quickly.

So start saving and use some lotion/sunscreen/eye cream TODAY! The rewards in the future will be great!

Welcome Readers of My Money Blog!

2006-10-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to readers of Jonathan's My Money Blog. Thank you for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment and say hello, especially if you are a new PFBlogger.

I have a few rules about commenting, mostly sign a moniker, any moniker, and please be nice and civil. You should know that I don't publish out many comments in the middle of the day because I work. But the Haloscan comments appear immediately. (Yes, I have two commenting systems, because I am a dork.)

I hope you liked visiting PayCheckCity and the other resources I have listed on my blogroll. Thanks!

What's your Coach Count?

2006-10-18T09:45:00.000-05:00

Rich of Queercents writes about The Purse. So for all you budget fashionistas out there, what's your Coach (or whatever brand) count? Do you revel in your good deals? Did you earn your purse as a reward to yourself? Crow about them here in the comments!

I left a comment at Queercents. I have 4 Coach bags. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'll give you a story about each one:

1) Baxter Bag: Black, approximately 14 years old. I bought it with my first tax refund after working as an intern at Wharton all summer. I still have it and it fits a lot of stuff, even if it's out of style and everyone thinks it's a bowling ball bag. It's a great mini-satchel.

2) Grey purse: Bought it at the Outlet shops in Petaluma, CA. It's a small thing that carries my wallet, keys, cellphone and lipstick when I'm out clubbing. It's too small for anything else, but perfect when I'm wearing an outfit without pockets.

3) Black neoprene purse: Also from the Outlets at Petaluma. It's boxy with an adjustable strap. Everyone loves it. I get the most compliments on this bag, even though I bought it at least 6 years ago when I still lived in CA. There is something really cute about a little lunchboxy bag that's not actually a hard case.

4) Signature Demi Pouch: Gold, received Summer 2006 at my cousin's wedding. It was a gift from a family member. The gold is very cute and trendy. I kind of like it. I've been thinking of getting this bag for a while, because of the size, but never got around to it. Couldn't really justify adding another purse to my collection.

5) Bucket Hat: It matches #4. A few years ago, my mom asked me for a bucket hat to wear while playing golf. I get her exactly what she requested, knowing that she still likes Coach brand stuff, and then she doesn't wear it. She wonders why I don't buy her anything anymore. She doesn't use the gifts she's requested! I hate that. Since I found it languishing in the front closet, I took it, and I wear it when it rains. It's perfect with my purse since I match. The guys at work make fun of me for it, but I don't care. SOMEONE ought to wear the darned thing before it goes out of style completely. It's part of my aspiring 'ladies-who-lunch' image.

ALERT! Open Enrollment Time!

2006-10-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here's an image for you: Mapgirl is windmilling her arms wildly in your face, shouting,'It's almost time for open enrollment!'

For those new to this phrase 'open enrollment', it's that time at the end of the year when companies allow you to switch around your benefits packages. Usually it means open enrollment for your health plan, 401K, Flexible Spending Accounts, etc. At this time, you'll study different healthcare and prescription plans and rack your brain on what's the best deal for you and your family. If you don't already have a budget, now is a good time to set one so you can take advantage of open enrollment.

I typically plan out my healthcare expenses for the year with Flexible Spending. I know that I will spend at least another $4000 on dental expenses in 2007, and that $5000 is the maximum I can set aside. However, I only put aside $3000 this year. I need to ask myself if I'm willing to take another cut each paycheck to cover the maximum amount. 26 paychecks a year divided into $2000 is about $77. Could I set that aside for my health? Yeah, I probably could. And that will reduce my tax burden, which is pretty cool.

PaycheckCity.com is my favorite place for open enrollment calculations. I will run some numbers there, then punch them into a spreadsheet in different scenarios so I can see what effects changing my 401K contribution will have, or changing from an HMO plan to a PPO plan and the accompanying change in payroll deductions.

I know it's not yet November, but time is really going to fly by if you don't sit down and plan a little now. Later on, you're going to get overwhelmed with information about plans, and the last thing you will want to do is figure out a brand new budget and what you can afford. (Heck, in the 5-10 minutes it took for me to write this post, I just figured out that I can probably afford $77 per check because I already have an idea of what I'm spending.)

Other news: I got the first of my replacement crowns yesterday. It's a little weird, but I celebrated by having pork medallions for dinner. Tasty!

Don't Ask. I don't want to talk about just yet

2006-10-16T08:20:00.000-05:00

Let's just say, I have insurance on the brain right now.

For some insurance-related goodness, check out InsureBlog today.
On why you should go with a professional insurance agent for health insurance.

On Long Term Care policies.

Both are better than I could have said it. When I'm ready, I'll explain all my insurance woes. It's running the gamut. Give me a few days to get my head unstuck from the sand and deal with it and then Gentle Readers, I will write, and write, and write till I've exorcised the insurance demons and wrangled those expenses back into their Pandora's Box. (I'm experimenting with the writing. How do you like my mixed metaphors?)

How NOT to wear a pair of jeans

2006-10-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Every year for Columbus Day weekend, I like to go camping. For the past 3 years, it's been a mud pit at the fields where my friends and I like to go. This year was no different, except that it got really nice on the last day which made the rain the previous day worth suffering through.

My jeans got muddy while we were hiking around. I wore ankle boots, but kept my jeans low over the tops so I wouldn't get mud on my socks and have wet feet inside my boots. That defeats the purpose of Gore-tex boots if you still get your feet wet over the top of them.

Unfortunately, I should have worn a pair of gaiters. I don't usually think about gaiters unless I'm in the snow, but I've seen friends use them to keep out dust from trails and now, the mud. Gaiters would have kept the mud off the cuffs of my pants, which would have helped.

I got kind of paranoid about washing my jeans, fearing the mud wouldn't come out. Finally I dumped them into a separate wash by themselves, which is NOT a frugal manuevuer, but I figured I wouldn't contaminate a whole other load of laundry with dirt if I did this, so it probably evened out. Miraculously, the dirt came out. It's only on the very bottom of the cuffs that you notice any staining from the mud at all. Luckily the soil does not have a lot of clay in it, so you have to stare closely. I hate that dirty denim look that is so popular lately. It's gross. I'm so glad I'm not sporting that look naturally.

So if you know you're going out where it's muddy, get a pair of gaiters over your boots and cuffs to keep the dirt off. It will save your jeans from a separate wash, and from staining and getting ruined.

Happy but Angry at the same time

2006-10-13T10:10:00.000-05:00

The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize has gone to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank.

I've written about them here before because I really believe in his banking model. Microfinance and lending is a powerful force for change in developing nations. I think we should try it more in the US.

However, the thing that sticks in my craw is the headline that CNN put on it from their front page, "Bank for dirt poor wins peace prize." The article itself has this title, " Bankers for poor win peace Nobel," which is just awful headline grammar if you ask me, but at least it doesn't say 'dirt poor.'

Why is economic standing still a value judgement? I don't think that's very fair or rational. 'Dirt poor' implies that people living in poverty are unclean and creates an image of the poor that infects the mind in a insidious way that continues the value judgement upon an economic status, which maybe correlated, but not necessarily causative.

What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say that it's great that Grameen has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I have written about them before because I honestly believe they do amazing work. But I am disappointed that CNN has called Grameen's clientele dirt poor, because these are people who have made a serious commitment to improving their lives, contribute to capitalism in a tangible way and deserve our respect for taking the steps to getting out of poverty. I respect a client of Grameen Bank much more than a CNN Millionaire in the Making. It's easy to make yourself a millionaire when you already have some money. It's quite another to break a cycle of poverty lasting for generations.

Ok end of my ranting. Back to work you serfs!

Articles I liked this week

2006-10-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post has a new permanent section about Identity Theft. You may need to register, but it is worth it. (or use Bugmenot.com) By the way, The Checkout has changed columnists, but it is still a good resource.

CNN/Money has another Millionaire in the Making article. I love these because I love stories about real people. I like them because they are local to my area (Yay Charm City!) and they have a real story with a challenge in changing spending habits. I think that's really important because it shows that you can change your stripes and become a saver even if you aren't great it at it right now.

Her at Make Love Not Debt with some winter heating advice. She's got some great ideas that will really help cut your heating bill down. Or you could just knit yourself a hat for wearing indoors. I personally love throwing on a cozy shawl myself.

Frugal Duchess points us to an article about compulsive shopping. Sometimes, especially after my recent spending binge, I wonder if I am a compulsive shopper that controls myself only by avoiding shopping altogether.

Another one from the Duchess. It's from last week, but I'm still catching up. This one is about paying for afterschool programs and finding/raising extra money for them. It doesn't apply to me since I don't have kids, but I like some of the ideas in there.

Debt Hater on what you are worth. She's not talking about net worth. She's talking about healthcare and taking care of your body. Pretty interesting topic since access to healthcare is probably one of the worst things about the US. It's so expensive that people have to make choices between their health and their bills.

Bid sniping at Prosper?

2006-10-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

My attempts at Prosper are the classic description of 'failure to launch.'

I've bid on two loans and was out bid at the last minute on both. I'm not someone who sits around and waits for the bidding to finish. I have better things to do than stare at a monitor when I get home from work. I let myself be outbid on the first one. On the second one, I actually rebid for a lower interest rate to give it a try. Dinged again.

I'll keep plugging away at Prosper, but I sure feel funny about obsessing about bidding. I wish I could be a little more worry free about it.

Both of my bids were for very low risk borrowers. I'm being conservative about it all since I'm not sure Prosper is going to work for me. From reading other Propser experiences, it sounds like I should diversify my bids between high and low risk borrowers and I'll have more success. I'm not sure. I'm still deciding how I feel about this, but I think I haven't given this enough of a chance to work.

Work WITH your management, not against them

2006-10-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

A classic story. You're entertaining another offer or you're unhappy with your job role because it isn't what it used to be. What do you do?

1) You should say something to your manager and give them 6 months to fix things so you like your job. 2) Say something to your manager before your next performance review about getting a raise, rather than quit bitterly in 2 months after you find out you're getting nothing more for the next year. 3) Tell your manager and give him the chance to make a counteroffer.

I'm very good at signalling to my managers when work stinks. My joke is calling out, 'Manager! I need management!' I'm pretty frank about what I do and do not enjoy about work, and knowing where my fed up point is. A lot of that comes from years of work experience, so if you don't where that is, please try to think about that before something makes you freak out at someone at the office.

Just two weeks ago I overheard my cubemate tell his employee that he's sorry the guy is quitting. He asked him why he didn't let him counteroffer because he's sure they could have come up with something. Wow. Isn't that a great endorsement? I would love to hear from my boss that he's willing to go to bat for me and get me more money. If it's about money, then a counteroffer can make all the difference..

For me, I had a really tough time with post-stroke rehab this year. I was really honest with my managers about how much my family means to me and where I thought my responsibilities were. I didn't have FMLA because I'd been at the firm less than 6 months when the stroke happened. But my bosses were way cool and flexible, allowing me to work my 40 hours per week in 4-10 hour shifts. Unfortunately for them, they didn't really have a choice. It was either play ball or I would quit to take care of my family. They had recruited me for my expertise and finding someone to replace me would have taken much longer than the 4-6 months of flexibility I was requesting.

My management knows that I am willing to stay up all night doing what it takes to get the job done since I've done it before for them. I've worked many weekends and holidays doing upgrades and whatnot. I've showed them I care and they've shown me they care. It's a two-way street and if you are asking your management to work with you, you have to reciprocate and do the same. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

In light of the recruitment I experienced in Seattle, I spoke up and mentioned something to my boss about the lack of career growth I foresee due to our project list for 2007. I also mentioned that throwing money at me might help retain my interest as well. We've got a long ways to go, so everything can change in 6 months. The offer may never materialize. Another stroke might occur. I could be hit by a bus while trying to go to the post office. Anything could happen, but at least I'm giving my boss a chance.

Open lines of communications work for any relationship, be they personal or professional. Assert yourself a little, diplomatically of course, and let your management know what your needs and concerns are. Give them a chance to be good managers before you decide that it's not worth staying. I think too often people walk away from a job before trying to improve a situation or get what they need. You never know what can happen till you ask.

A Perfidious Question

2006-10-11T14:30:00.000-05:00

I'm a Crony at the Ministry of Minor Perfidy! The Perfidious Ministers are actually all darling sweethearts who dress in pink and wear flowers in their hair. They like playing with babies, getting nice thoughtful presents for friends, shooting at things, and destroying stuff with giant robots. It's entertaining. (I've seen two of these four things with my own eyes in the past week!) If you want to see me get political, go visit over there. I try to keep it off this blog because the Ministers let me poop all over their playground, allowing me to stay on topic. And yet still, I digress.

Minister GeekLethal asks:

On the NetworthIQ profile, where would I put my life insurance policy? Ought that not count as an asset?

If you don't know, please click through on my NetWorth IQ graph to see what he means. It's not an easy question because you're trying to fit into the categories listed by NetWorthIQ, but there is a woeful lack of onsite help in trying to classify things. (That would be my first criticism of site. I don't have too many complaints about it at all.)

Actually, I am not sure that life insurance counts as an asset for you since you aren't going to be the beneficiary of it. You're going to be dead after the zombies get you! Since I know there is a Mrs. GeekLethal, I assume she's the beneficiary of the policy and it would probably be an asset of hers or any other heirs you might have.

Looking at the categories listed at NetWorthIQ, I can understand your confusion. It's very hard to say. I've been told that a lot of life insurance is held in cash instruments, but it's not cash and I am uncomfortable describing it as a cash equivalent. Because I know that life insurance annuities are classed as investment assets, I think regular life insurance probably does as well. But I would not call lump-sum payout life insurance an annuity. I think right now, I'd dump it in 'Other'.

I can't find a true definition of life insurance as an asset for calculating net worth, but I suspect it's an investment since it's not readily liquidable and it will lose some of its full value to inheritance taxes. But that still doesn't help you, unless you class it as 'Other'.

If there is anyone out there who knows the actual answer, we'd love to hear it!

Thank you for visiting me and the Ministers! Please feel free to use the Haloscan commenting system instead of the Blogger one. (Because I am a dork!)

Networking Tip: Mentoring & Making new contacts

2006-10-11T08:44:00.000-05:00

Jersey Jen left me this slightly cryptic comment, "It's strange that networking is something we don't do while helpful." I think she means that mentoring is important. If you are in a position to help someone else as a mentor, you should also get out there and network!

Alumni events are awesome for meeting fresh faces. I used to go to events that were directed specifically towards young alumni, but I kind of didn't like them for professional networking because they were filled with other young kids looking for work like me. (We sure had fun reliving our college days and catching up on gossip, but I digress.) I found that getting involved with planning events on behalf of the alumni club was much better for networking. I got to know other alumni more closely as we planned events for the entire university community, putting me in touch with folks who had 'made it' already and were in a fantastic position to do favors for younger alumni. They were always willing to offer up some advice about work situations from more mature perspectives. I loved it! Two gentlemen in my mind really stick out for being role models of success and generosity with their time and experience.

Other great mentoring opportunities come in the form of trade associations and clubs. I'm not a sysadmin, but User Groups are a great resource for learning new things and place to find job leads. How about a professiona association like the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) or the Association for Computing Machinery? How about a ham radio club? Knitting group? Karate class? Church? My knitting friends are really fantastic. One of them needed a job and another had an opening. It's really worked out. Another lady was about to move out of DC because she couldn't find work, but we helped direct her to some useful websites and how to maximize her efforts with those sites. She just received an offer and now she can stay.

If you're female, try an organization like Association for Women in Science (AWIS)or the American Association of University Women (AAUW). I know some of my friends specificially are/were associated with these two organizations and have benefited from their formal mentoring and scholarship programs.

Membership is often charged for organizations, but a lot of groups just require your time and participation. Considering how broadly you can cast your net of interests and build up your professional networking contacts, it's often worth it if it results in a better job opportunity. (Plus it can be quite the social life going from meeting to meeting!)

Networking Tip: Follow through!

2006-10-10T13:00:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know. This is a Personal Finance Blog, not really a career development website. But just go read Tricia's post at Blogging Away Debt! Eventually, in everyone's life, we realize that we just need to move on from where we are. It could be because of salary growth, career opportunity, etc. But it's important to know what to do.

Tips:
1) You have to follow through.
2) Make another contact after you get a business card.
3) Do it in 10 days or less. It will make a difference in people's memory whether or not they will recall handing you their card.
4) Be polite and try to mention something memorable about your meeting so that it jogs their memory.
5) Give them your contact information again, but a personal one so that if you leave the position on your business card, they will still know how to reach you.
6) Be nice!

Remember I met someone on the airplane who gave me his business card? For kicks, I ended up browsing his company's website for what kind of opportunities they have. They are a large DC-based government contractor. (Big surprise!) They have thousands of employees all over the world. (Another, big surprise!) I have never really been interested in a security clearance because I have foreign-born parents, but it turns out I've ruled myself out of an employment opportunity without knowing it. I thought, what the heck, why not go through the process. What's the worse they can do? Say no?

I punched "Oracle" into the search box, since that's the core of my expertise. There were a few things that looked interesting, but for which I was underqualified. I'll probably keep on looking from time to time, but I know someone who is interested in re-locating to DC for better job prospects. Something in the listings made me think of him. Since I have a current resume for him and I kind of know what he's looking for, I did a few searches for similar work and see that there is work he might like doing at this company.

Heck, since I don't like what's there, but my friend might, I thought this would be a great opportunity to follow up on making the contact. I ended up sending a email to my friend, asking for permission first in sending off his resume, making the suggestion that he should search the listings himself and if there is an actual job requisition number he wants to send it to me. Then I drafted a nice email letting the man from the airplane know that it was nice to meet him, starting out with an apology because I think I gave him some slightly incorrect driving instructions. After that I wrote while nothing interested me, I think a know a good candidate for some jobs available and presented my friend's resume.

Hopefully in a week this person will respond. If not, I'll just email him one more time asking if he got the first email.

So I've killed two networking birds with one stone. I followed through on the intial contact and I've recontacted another professional associate and brought them together for potential employment.

My Money Blogger Podcast Interview!

2006-10-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

I was interviewed by Scott at Money Blogger Podcast.

I haven't actually heard it yet. Scott had some really interesting questions for me and I asked him to edit out my 'ums' and 'ahs'. Even though I was co-captain of the debate team in high school, I can't seem to break away from those two little words.

I find it a real honor that Scott asked me to be interviewed. He's interviewed so many PF bloggers I read regularly like Frank, JLP, Jane Dough, Financial Freedumb, Seattle Simplicity, Dawn, Kira, Jonathan, Flexo, NCN, Jim, Cap, Bluebird, TiredButHappy, Amanda, Caitlin, Tricia, Nick, & LAMoneyGuy.

I hope you all enjoy it!

ps - I gotta get cracking, and can't make links to everyone's names just yet, but you can find most of them on the Blogroll on the right. I'll update them later.

More on networking

2006-10-09T07:43:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite professional networking resources is an email list at CapWire. It's the Potomac Tech Wire. It's a daily email with regional tech news blurbs with classified ads. They have Tech Wire emails for a few different regional areas like New England and the South east.

The best part is the ads themselves. There are job listings targeted to the high-tech field, though not always for technical work. It might be an accounting job for a high-tech company, though they do skew towards the obvious.

The other ads they run contain event information where you can hobnob and pass around your business card in the flesh. I'm not actually too keen on upsetting my knitting group schedule to attend any of them, but I have considered it on those days where I've wanted to stab my eyes out from staring at my monitors for too long, er, I meant where drinking tea and spinning wool didn't sound very exciting.

Hair update

2006-10-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

From one of my favorite bloggers:

[The ponytail] waves around and hypnotizes law enforcement officials into seeing nothing but delicate pink flowers stirring in the breeze. So harmless! So feminine! So uncriminalish! The day I cut my hair off is the day I will get a ticket. Mark. My. Words.

- Ducatigirl

It's so true. I weep, but I got my hair cut two weeks ago in anticipation of the last wedding of the year. For some reason I finally felt compelled to neaten it up and pay someone to do it nicely. For $48 I got a wash, cut and blow dry.

I can't say I'll do this again in the next year. I'm quite upset. I asked for about a 2" trim to neaten it up and she cut off 6" in some spots. My unusually long hair is now nothing more than generically long hair, like everyone else's long hair. It's ho-hum long hair. It's annoying. To quote Single Ma, my hair is my crown. And now my crown is naught but a cheap rhinestone tiara for the Muffin Maiden. I cry at the time it will take to grow it back.

I'm expressing the sin of vanity here, but for my very plain blunt cut of a hairdo, I'm irritated that she cut off so much. The only good things about the cut are these:

1) She was sensible enough to take me as a dry cut before washing it. If your hair is past your shoulder blades and you want haircut/trim, DO NOT let them wash your hair. If they do it, it saturates the hair and makes it lengthen. After that, they cut your hair and when it dries, it will shrink and the lines will be messed up. If you want your money's worth from a trim and you have long hair, ask for a dry cut if they don't suggest it first.

2) She actually did a great job drying the hair, but I think she took too long to do it. It really shouldn't have been a 2 hour cut process. For that, I'll go to Vidal Sassoon as a hair model, pay my cheap price and get a 4-hour precision cut by a trainee.

3) The last update is that I am out of the $4 cheap conditioner. It was a huge bottle, I think about 48 oz. I glopped it on to make sure my hair was coated properly from scalp to end. I hate split ends. The Tresemme was good enough that I'm going to the beauty supply store to buy more of it. I'll get two at that price and save myself the extra, out-of-the-way trip. Strangely, though there is a Sally Beauty Supply Shop down the street from me, I never go there. I go out to one in the hellish suburbs in the strip mall where I eat lunch. For the savings off of regular drugstore stuff that ruins the hair, I'm happy that the cheap stuff is working so well for me.

NPR Stories

2006-10-06T11:45:00.000-05:00

On CircleLending, a firm which will help you formalize intra-family loans. Interesting stuff. Back in the day, people used to sell their homes to their children for a dollar. There's no way my folks would do that. I probably wouldn't let them either.

Second story is not one that I've heard yet, but interesting enough to point out for all of you investment types. Yale University's top money manager, David Swensen shares his secrets with you. My favorite quote?

"So how does Swensen keep track of it all?

"I have a calculator," Swensen says with a chuckle."

His book sounds really appealing. I might actually go ahead and buy a copy of it before it gets to the library. However, in reading the NPR excerpt, I can tell you that I'm not going to be rebalancing my portfolio on a daily basis! I can be pretty sure I'll do it periodically though since that is what you're supposed to do.

Finally, a little plug for bluegrass music. The NPR story makes me wish I still lived in San Francisco. These concerts started after I moved away, but just hearing a description of people sitting in Golden Gate Park takes me back to free outdoor music concerts of all kinds in California.

Frugal tip: Seek out free or inexpensive music concerts. They're a great first date or picnic! Support your local arts & music scene! There are **many** free concerts and exhibitions available if you look for them.

My local NPR station is WAMU out of American University. They run BluegrassCountry.org. I never thought I'd be a fan, but on Sunday mornings my alarm goes off at its regular time I wake up to Red Shipley. My friends in Dead Men's Hollow have a new album, Two-Timin' out right now. Take a listen! I think it's good enough possibly to win another Wammie! The best song? Grandma was a Cropduster, penned by their bassist. It's hilarious! (It's available on their downloads page, but best heard live at one of their shows.)

Articles I liked this week

2006-10-06T09:04:00.000-05:00

Jim at Blueprint with an article about Delaware's compact fluorescent bulb program. I *heart* mine! Get yours here.

JD has it spot on. I find that being frugal is sometimes tacky because of my personal ethical boundaries. I'm not willing to fudge a whole lot just to get a good deal. I won't pick up something just because it's there for the taking. If I need it, that's one thing. If I'm taking it for surplus is quite another. I am a horrible person because I take fistfuls napkins from the cafe downstairs. But that's because our company doesn't provide Kleenexes for our desks. I had to bring some from home that everyone will take from me when flu season hits because they know I have them. (Curse of being the only girl for about 3 rows in the cube farm. Those boys can wipe their noses with their sleeves for all I care.)

Kay at Don't Mess with Taxes has a great article about income verification fraud. It goes along with my piece recently about ARM's. Generally speaking, the rates on no-verification loans are usurious, so do all the hassle of the income verification paperwork. In the long run the week you spend pulling that stuff together is worth the interest you'll save on the mortgage. But really, you're already organized and it'll take you about half a day, right?!?!

Donna Jean on combining finances with her new spouse. I love anecdotes and hers is a pretty good one that illustrates the importance of communication in a relationship, whether it's about finances or something else.

Shout out to Amanda & Other Winos!

2006-10-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

The Washington Post has a
Tip Sheet for some wine advice. (Please note the link is a PDF file for which you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.) They ask 6 stores what is the next big varietal and what's your favorite 'screwcap' wine. (FYI - for those who don't drink much wine, real cork is getting expensive so many wineries are switching over to screw caps. They're not just for the cheap and nasty stuff anymore. Plus you'll never end up with a 'corked' wine with a screw cap.)

There's a lot of stuff on there priced for less than $20. With the fall/winter entertaining season upon us, having a ready bottle of wine to take to your host/hostess is part of the bon vivant lifestyle. But finding a great wine for $10 or $15 means you can bon viveur quite frugally!

[EDIT] My French is not very good. It occurs to me that I use the noun and verb forms of vivant/viveur probably incorrectly. I have edited to fix this, but perhaps someone can definitely correct me?

September Net Worth Delayed

2006-10-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

I am so scared to look at my net worth. Those wedding trips took their toll on me. I'm also running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I need to take a breather, but there is TOO MUCH LIVING TO DO.

For instance, I am going to go camping this weekend. Since I have pretty much everything I need, it's going to cost me only about $100 for my campground fees, gas, and food. Really, the biggest budget buster will be whether or not I want beer and how cold, i.e. ice for the cooler.

I am hoping to have less living in October. I even bought a roasted chicken the other night to stop going out to eat this week. (Fat chance. I had lunch out with my boss yesterday. We fiddled with the check and the dollars in our pockets. Basically the next time is his turn to buy.)

Articles I liked last week

2006-10-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post this last week in my frenzy of trying to get ready for Seattle. Here you go! Enjoy!

Her saves her promotional flyer and gets a credit to her credit card!

JLP asks, 'What's wrong with simply telling your kids No?' Absolutely nothing if you ask me.

Jane Dough has an article by Steve Lopez in LA about the LA housing market. I love Steve Lopez. He used to write in Philly when I was growing up. I'm actually sorry to hear that he's not fairing well in the LA market. One always hopes that people move on to bigger and better things, not so much sunny California and a tanking housing market.

LAMoneyGuy doles out the sage financial wisdom of his mom. Way to go Mom! Her advice still holds up, and I imagine it will for a long time.

Nina at Sitting Pretty.

Single Ma on APR vs APY. They're very different, but either way, you want to make your APR and your APY as high as possible on your savings account! Keep on saving!

Dumb Little Man asks if 'your salary is at least fair'. Regular readers know how I feel about this topic. Go visit Salary.com kids. Illuminate and enrich yourself with knowledge.

Weddings, they're not just for marriage

2006-10-03T12:33:00.000-05:00

Seattle was gorgeous this weekend. The weather was lovely and it's always nice to see old friends. One of them was kind enough to start recruiting me for a possible opening out there in 6 months which would involve an insane pay increase. (as in 30-40%)

In the 'you never know who'll you meet' category, no, I didn't meet another wedding guest and fall in love. Instead I met a man on the plane who works for a large government contractor. Typically I talk to as few people as possible when flying. You never know what kind of annoying freak will start talking to you and blab about inanities for 4 hours.

This man holds a VP-level position in the regional office of this contractor and he asked if I was looking for work and if I had a security clearance. Well, I wasn't really looking for work, but I replied that I'm always looking and we exchanged business cards. He asked me about my education and background. We discussed communications and database technology. It was a really nice conversation.

Long and short of it? Network! Professional networking is always worthwhile and weddings and the surrounding travel experiences are frequently great opportunities to get to know other people and expand your network. Avoid Mapgirl's patented technique of conversation avoidance of wearing earplugs. (The white noise in planes and airports is too much for my pea brain so I have to block it out.)

NEVER FORGET YOUR BUSINESS CARDS. I didn't take enough to Cape Cod and to make up for it, I took too many to Seattle. But it is extremely worthwhile to do it. From the Cape Cod wedding, I ended up floating an RFP out to a small consulting firm where the groom's father's friend's son is a principal. I also stayed in touch with a woman I hadn't seen since graduation. After the weekend, she promptly emailed me because I had given her my card.

Some of my friends in Seattle took me out for sushi on Sunday night and we exchanged cards. I'd received cards from a few of them before the last time I was in town. But now I received updated ones with new titles and responsibilities. It was fantastic! Change for your friends is change for you too. Different doors open up at different times, so check back with your friends to see what's out there and if they can make stuff happen for you.

Develop those relationships and ties with friends. It can help your future immeasurably.

4 down, 0 to go!

2006-10-02T18:13:00.000-05:00

I wish I was talking about my credit cards, but sadly, that is the tally of my weddings for 2006. They're done! And hopefully that will be the end of things for a while! I'm exhausted!

What to say? This trip probably the cheapest of all four by staying with friends and splitting the car rental. My old friend and I even got a third friend to stay with us at the last minute at the groom's apartment when we found out he didn't already book a hotel. (Absent minded professor type, it's why we love him.) Poor grad students have to exercise more frugality than I do, so my advanced rooming arrangements saved hotel costs for 3 people, not just one. We were supposed to stay at the bride's place initially, but staying at the groom's much larger apartment allowed for a co-ed group and lots of late night conversation of the priceless variety you find in MasterCard ads.

I blew the trip budget on the last minute bachelorette party when we found out there was no such thing for her. She's pretty religious, but no wet blanket. She loved going clubbing in college and for her last night as a single woman, we dragged her out for a bit. Let's just say gay men love a bachelorette party and nothing further needs to be said.

Small Hiatus

2006-09-29T00:40:00.000-05:00

I'm running off to the last of my weddings for 2006. (Unless someone viciously decides to elope and make me join them on the adventure. If so, I am making them pay for it it, literally.)

I will be back to regular posting approximately on Wednesday unless someone in Seattle's got a computer I can use while not running around all over town for sushi and drinks.

Financial Role Model: Craig Newmark

2006-09-29T00:30:00.000-05:00

"If you're living comfortably, what's the point of having more [money]?" Newmark said.

Ok. I have to tell you upfront. I love Craig. I've always loved Craig. I've exchanged emails with him to pretty much tell him this because Craigslist found me a job in 10 days, a place to live in DC, furniture for my apartment with no bed bugs, etc. It's a really wonderful site. I was pointed to it by my cousin who was on the original mailing list.

Read the full article. Notice what he says about having lots of money. For him, it would just incur more and more expense. I like that kind of thinking! Why cause yourself the headache of more expenses just to enrich your own pockets? After a while, I think there is a limit to what I want to have in terms of money. Then you start flipping over into having so much you waste it on things you don't really need, like diamond encrusted flat panel monitors just because you can.

Daydreaming

2006-09-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

I'm still thinking about Seattle Simplicity's post about Julia Child and breaking geographic ties.

A long time ago, I was backpacking (Where else? in Europe!) where I met a young couple in their mid-20's. They were from CA, Silicon Valley area, like I was. They were lots of fun. We stayed in touch in that shallow way that all youth hostelers will say as they pack up and move on to their next destination. You trade an email address in your journals, maybe send a digital photo or two and then it fades. But surprisingly, we really did keep in touch for a bit.

This couple had sold everything they owned just before leaving for Europe and were taking time off to travel the world. The main reason why we kept in touch was that I got on their regular update list and I was amazed at what they decided to do. They eventually met a guy who needed a crew for a sailboat trip around the world. So for about another 12 months after I met them, this couple worked as crew on this boat and traveled the seven seas. How cool is that?

Another friend of mine, a much older woman (a grandmother if you will), told me about being a hippie and taking her three kids on a boat around the world and homeschooling them from the ship. It's just another story to capture the imagination about a different way of living that strives for less stuff and more life.

I'm not sure if I could live off a boat for months on end, but I do have the fantasy of leaving my cubicle behind for some adventures.

How do you know if an ARM is right for you?

2006-09-28T09:15:00.000-05:00

Debt Hater commented, "My guy and I are starting to homebuying education journey now. I am afraid of ARMs, but pushy salespeople make it sound like they're brilliant. How do you know if an ARM is right for you?"

This is a really long response and doesn't get to the point till the end. I'm still working on structure to my writing so bear with me. I promise there is good stuff in here.

First thing, read up about mortgage products. I highly recommend the Peter Miller book, The Common Sense Mortgage. I learned a lot from his advice and explanations about homebuying and different financing options. He is methodical in reviewing a wide variety of products, including long-term (40+ years) mortgages. A lot of the reasons why I don't like the 50-year mortgage product comes directly from his explanations about 40-year mortgages. (The same reason applies, you are paying exorbitant amounts in interest on a longer term mortgage. The longer the term, the more interest.)

I didn't know that hybrid 7/1 and 10/1 ARMs existed until I read this book. I wasn't savvy enough to ask my mortgage lender about them. Initially, I asked the banker about a "3-year Interest-Only" loan. I got a pre-approval and started looking at condos. Somewhere in there, I re-read the Miller book in great detail and made a note of what kind of mortgages sounded good to me. My banker was a little shocked when I asked about these longer term ARMs. She advised that they would be Principal and Interest since they don't carry them as Interest-Only.

There are 3 main things I looked for in a mortgage:
1. Am I buying more than I can afford/want to own?
2. Is the mortgage payment affordable in the monthly budget?
3. Fix the interest rate for as long as you can.

My number one piece of advice: Don't buy more home than you can afford.

I cannot stress that enough. I know folks who were eating ramen noodles daily their first year of homeownership. It's not good to be house poor after settlement. Retain some of your downpayment money for random little house repairs. Little stuff will crop up that you didn't quite expect to have to fix and those will take a bite.

Think about your space needs. Do you really need 1400 sq. ft. apartment if you're a single person? I am making do with 500 sq. ft. just fine. I could have gone for a 1 or 2 bedroom place, but I would probably be living with a loathsome roommate collecting rent so I can afford the mortgage, not a fun situation to be in.

Second piece of advice: Know your limits on what you're willing to do for maintenance.

I live in a condo so I don't have to take care of a lawn. Mowing and weeding is not how I want to spend my weekends. Gardening I don't mind. I love flowers and vegetables, but I hate chores so having a lawn isn't for me. I know I'll probably pay someone to maintain my lawn. That is, if I'm not too cheap to relent and do it myself.

Next, my mortgage payment was not very affordable when I first purchased my home. That wasn't entirely the fault of my lender, but more like my confusion about what I was paying and having a job that didn't pay very well. Either way, I also didn't understand that the state of VA reassessed property taxes EVERY SINGLE YEAR. I grew up where it was done every 3, so I was pretty darned surprised that my payments were going up by $50/month after the first year. Check out what your jurisdiction does for assessments and factor that into your escrow amount.

In my first year of homeownership, there were times that my second paycheck wasn't just gravy for me, but essential for escrow. In the end, I resolved the issue by getting a better paying job, but try to keep your payment to the lower end of the 28%-36% of monthly income ratio range when calculating mortgage affordability. Just to be safe, add on an extra $100 to the monthly payment amount to allow for future fluctuations in payments, especially if you are going with an ARM. In fact, realize that with an ARM, your payments can change by hundreds of dollars. Try to see what your payments will be like with different rates and see if you can absorb those changes into your monthly budget. Read your loan papers extremely closely. Mine had limitation clauses on how much the rate could change in a year which would be a blessing if rates had risen extremely fast. (i.e. if rates go up 4% in a year, your loan might have a limitation clause saying it will only go up by 2% until the next adjustment.)

Finally, back to the original question, 'How do you know if an ARM is right for you?' It's the same question as, 'Why did I choose a 10/1 ARM over 30-year fixed or the originally quoted 3/1 I/O ARM?'

I looked at the current interest rates and the trends for the future. I figured that I was looking at some of the lowest rates I would ever see in my lifetime. I know the rates back in 2003-2004 were definitely some of the lowest that my parents had ever seen, so chances are what goes down must come up. These rates were quite possibly the lowest I would ever see as well.

More than any other criterion, I went for as long a term fixed period as I could stand. I didn't go with the 30-year fixed mortgage because the rates at the time were higher than for the 7/1 and 10/1 ARMs. I didn't go with the original 3/1 I/O ARM because frankly I was really scared at how fast interest rates could rise in a year. (The FOMC meets every 6 weeks. That's potentially a lot of quarter percent rate hikes in a year.) Plus I wanted to build equity in my place and I felt that I was not disciplined enough to make additional payments on top of the interest only mortgage. The bank I chose only offers 7/1 & 10/1 ARMs as principal and interest mortgages. They don't offer them as interest-only at all.

A lot of of financial advisors will determine if you should get an ARM by asking how long do you think you'll stay in the house. In my case, I tried not to think about that at all. I know that I could stay in this apartment for 3 years, move out and rent it. I know I could stay in it for 10. I know I could sell it in 5 as well. There really wasn't a clear answer to this question since I'm young, single and still geographically mobile. (The latter I think directly applies to Debt Hater's situation since she's not originally from Tennessee.) (Final point, I don't know anyone who lives in a studio for 30 years, so the 30-fixed option was out at the beginning.)

Keep in mind, I love fixed payments. I hate the annual reassessment. I'll do anything to avoid it, including paying extra into escrow so my payments stay the same. I know a lot of PFBloggers probably thing that socking away extra money into escrow is a bad idea due to foregone interest, but it isn't if you are relying on a fixed amount monthly for your budget.

In the end, it's a risk tolerance thing, while you gamble on interest rates. And it's an affordability thing and what you are willing to pay each month.

I know I digressed several times in this post, but I genuinely care about educating folks about the many types of mortgages out there. Whatever is widely quoted by fast-talking, slick brokers isn't the only mortgage out there. Do your research. Your analysis might find more appealing mortgages than what your broker shows you.

Good luck!

Moving back to a cash based economy?

2006-09-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

Working in the IT and finance fields for work, I find security issues very interesting for their unintended impacts on business. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is more of a bureaucratic headache than fraud prevention mechanism. For what I do, it simply wastes my time, thereby costs my company money.

I rarely venture to the hard investing blogsites, but this article caught my eye at PFBlogs. If MasterCard and Visa are fining their small merchants for poor security of information storage, I could easily see a small merchant drop taking credit cards.

My mom used to keep her credit card swiper right on the countertop. In a small dry cleaning storefront, you don't have lots of extra space for a secure area for computer storage. Basically it's a box for the dressing area for alterations, a bathroom, a counter and then all your equipment. There's usually no secure area for counting cash. I remember at our first store, hiding behind the counter area because of the layout of the store allowed for this.

So what's going to constitute storing data improperly? Having a computer system/server under the counter? Waiting till there is an actual violation of the system before punitively imposing a fine on the merchant? Who knows?

All I know is that for a slim margin business like dry cleaning, paying extra for secured storage will probably reduce margins further and place pressure on the business to drop taking cards entirely and move back to cash. Spinning that line of argument out, if customers want the convenience of electronic transactions, then it's going to keep driving mom and pop out of business. Not a good thing.

What are MasterCard and Visa going to do to support their merchant network in these security initiatives?

"F.U. Funds", Emergency Funds, Losing Your Job, etc.

2006-09-27T08:50:00.000-05:00

Tiredbuthappy at Tired but Happy asks if you have an FU fund. Single Ma asks the same question. Both of them come out with the same answer, YES. It's good to have one. (Miguel's comment on Single Ma's post is particularly good. It's a MasterCard commercial-style list and you can guess what comes out priceless.)

My story is a little different. Remember when Single Ma asked what you would do if you lost your job? Well, I initially posted this about what I would do. But there is more to the story.

I walked out of a job last year. I did have a job offer in the works with a very slow moving government contractor, but I did not have it in hand, and in the end, it fell through for various reasons. I am sure y'all are thinking that I shouldn't have quit without something lined up, but once you've had it doing tech support, you've had it. You're done. You're toast. 5 years of technical support is a long time. I had burned out once before after doing lots of 24-hour support work and I finally was in a position to find a new line of work as a programmer. After 2 years at this particular firm, it was time to go. I wasn't going to sit around waiting for another client having a bad hair day to scream at me.*

So I quit. I went home and figured out my finances. I picked up shifts at my second job. Got a gig through a friend waiting tables/running food. Calculated my stock option buyback check and my monthly expenditures. I decided at that time to pay off my car note immediately with my HELOC and reduce my monthly bills by $300.00. It ended up increasing the interest rate on what I had remaining on the car, but because I lacked substantial cash reserves, I needed a short-term solution to extend what little resources available. Plus if I really had to do it, I could sell the car because I owned the title, free and clear. The other thing I did was write myself a check for cash off that HELOC. After writing those two HELOC checks, I had enough cash to last me about 2-4 months as long as I worked those two part-time jobs.

I'm writing this post now because I have just noticed that it's taken me 10 months to get my HELOC balance to the point where it was the day I quit last year. Those two balance transfers are paid off, but I wish I had had a real emergency fund back then instead of using my good credit to see me through.

Please learn from my hard lesson that an emergency fund is the way to go. (And though I don't recommend pillaging the fund for a splurge like a motorcycle, I still have money left in my fund for 2+ months' worth of expenses. I think at this point, I can't bear to drain it down completely.)

* Yes, it really did happen to me. And apparently the client had a poor reputation with the other analysts. My management, to their credit, did the right thing and called the client on his horrible behavior. To all support analysts out there, never take a phone call alone with a non-technical management rep from your client's firm. Let the business people talk to the business people and the techies talk to the techies.When someone has an axe to grind with your management team, give them the number of the right person to call and just hang up the phone. Luckily I have a happy ending to my story and I would certainly work with a great majority of my co-workers from my old firm. For they are good people who told me that it's ok to hang up on a client when his/her behavior/demeanor is unacceptable. (Yup. They don't call it 'demeaning' for nothing!)

Fantastic articles from last week

2006-09-26T12:40:00.000-05:00

MSN MoneyCentral has an update on their Women In Red. Hat tip to Jane Dough for this article. I agree, accountability makes all the difference, which is why I guess my net worth tracking ended up on Wikipedia. (Still in shock over that one. Whoever posted that, many thanks!)

Hazzard, whom I don't read enough because his blog is blocked at work, points out an amazing essay by Susan Nielsen on the devil that's been following her for 25 years. That devil has been following me around since prep school too, but in a strange way. Quakerism teaches simplicity in life, and yet it cost an exorbitant sum to attend most Quaker schools. I was lucky to be on scholarship, but while other kids spent their summers at to sailing camp, I worked the counter for my mom or read books with reading camp at the local public library. I'm not sure how I broke out away from the lifestyle devil except to say my strongest role model was my favorite teacher who is a Quaker. I realize now that beyond being a great counselor for academics, she lived a simple life with fantastic joie de vivre. Simple doesn't mean humorless. Maybe that's what we all need, a strong role model for the simple life.

Seattle Simplicity takes inspiration from another one of my role models, Julia Child! (I can't write that without the exclamation point. JC was so exuberant that I am inspired to live a life as courageously as her. Did you know bubbly Ms. Child worked for the OSS in Ceylon?) Now would you give up the cushy life of 9-5 to freelance and wander the world? Trust me. It can be done. The Frugal Traveler does it all the time! As I ponder this life trapped in a cubicle, I fantasize about the life just outside the windows where the sun shines, the trees are green and the trails begged to be hiked.

Jane Dough writes about 'ARM Harm', linking to the NY Times about ARM refinancing trends. neener neener! I am happy that I got a 10/1 ARM. I figure a decade is a good long time to ride out any short-term trends and build up some equity before deciding my next residential move.

Referral links for Verizon FIOS service?

2006-09-26T09:20:00.000-05:00

Sign up at Commission Junction for Verizon FIOS referrals.

And if someone uses your referrals, I'd better get a finder's fee! *winky*

I personally don't have a TV which is why I'm not planning on putting this up myself.

Here Piggy Piggy!

2006-09-25T14:05:00.000-05:00

You didn't like my ghetto Lenten Piggy Bank? You don't like red gingham Chinese containers? But I repurposed it from it's original job as a gift box! I think that's pretty darn frugal!

If you want a hip, stylish one, try these piggy banks out. (WaPo. Probably requires login. Get it from BugMeNot, but WaPo doesn't spam. I've had an ID there for years.)

I really miss having a real ceramic piggy bank. The kind you smash open with a hammer. Lately, I want one with a rubber stopper in the tummy so I don't have to break it open, but the paper box container did work pretty well. I do open it up every once in a while to raid it for pocket money, but I find that I like having it to stash big wads of cash. I really hate carrying lots of cash, so I'll put it into the box and pull out one twenty dollar bill at a time.

Carnival of Personal Finance #67 is Up!

2006-09-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Canadian Captialist has it available now. I haven't been participating lately since I think I've wandered off the generally applicable path for submissions. But eventually I'll join again.

Articles that caught my eye:

Donna Jean on comparing two job offers. She's got an amazing analysis that really breaks it down for you. It's an excellent point-by-point comparison and I suggest if you are only going to read one article, read this one.

CJ at The Coin Jar gives you three tips to help you achieve your goals.

Money Under 30 has great advice on negotiating with car salesmen. Read that with Single Ma's negotiation post. (No, I am *not* getting a new car, though I covet one madly. For some reason, the BMW Alpina I saw last week has captured my imagination.)

I didn't know this, but Flexo has got a new website up for the Carnival. It's looking sharp and I recommend you make it your one stop shop to all the Carnivals.

Prosper Experiment

2006-09-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to putting $50.00 into Prosper and bidding on a loan. I searched only for borrowers with B or better ratings, with <20% debt-to-income ratios and a verified bank account. I figured those narrow parameters would help me find a loan I felt confident about bidding.

The loan is still pending, but it's for a AA rated borrower with a low debt-to-income ratio with a verified bank account. It's a tiny amount of money, but I see that the borrower isn't borrowing very much either and expects to turn around and use the money to fund higher risk loans. That's fine with me. Right now I'm feeling risk averse.

If you're a PFBlogger with a Prosper loan you want fund in the future, let me know via comments or private email, whichever you prefer. If all goes well with this first experiment, I think I might use this as a savings plan instead of ING.

Scratching my head over this one

2006-09-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Hat tip to SingleMa for pointing this out.

Apparently, I'm reference on Wikipedia for the definition of Net Worth, along with some of my favorite bloggers!

Boston Gal's Open Wallet
My Money Blog
My Open Wallet
Single Ma's Fabulous Financials

Today my Feedburner stats broke 100. I know it fluctuates, but man, that's way cool.

Scary article about retirement

2006-09-22T09:38:00.000-05:00

CNN/Money again, but this time the story isn't so positive.

I've always wondered about the 70% rule of estimating your income during retirement. It always seemed very little to me. I understand cutting back because you no longer have a daily commute, but what if you have daily activities like volunteering and shopping? That's still driving the car and 'commuting'.

Think about what you plan on doing as activities during retirement. If you're hoping to visit places where your grandkids live, etc, you'll probably want more than 70% of your income in a year.

Food with Integrity?

2006-09-22T09:00:00.000-05:00

CNN/Money reports on Chipotle.

Well, maybe not integrity, but it sure tastes good!

I always get the pork at Chipotle since I love me the pig. But I also make the effort to support the kind of farming that Niman Ranch does. I believe that the meat tastes better. I like gamier, more flavorful meat. I love bison for the same reason.

I am a strong believer that my money talks. I think boycotting some things are stupid (like gas), but I like to spend my money and get real value out of the purchase. Full belly and yummy pork is right up there with the values I support with my money.

I won!

2006-09-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Sometime in August, I added a link to IndexCreditCards.com on my sidebar. I did it because they asked me for a link, they linked me early on, and also because they were running a contest.

I'd never buy myself an iPod. If I was the kind to buy one, I'd probably already have it. My other option was Amazon gift certificates, but I am really bad at spending gift cards even though I love books. I hope to get a pink iPod Nano soon. (It's being delivered to my parents since I don't trust my neighbors with electronic goodies on the doorstep.) I've been interested in one because solid state storage is hot (latent chip g33k just expressed herself), but never could quite spend the money. This is the only way I'd get one, so that's another reason I picked the device over gift card.

I've been really lax about the blog because of work and life which is why I've only been posting once a day. If you've requested a link, trust me, it's better that I wait till your blog is 3 months old to reply because that's my first rule about linking.

If you have linked me, thank you. I appreciate your interest in my gobbledygook of personal finance.

I've got chat!

2006-09-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

I love Meebo! I use several types of chat and Meebo is a nice integrator. The one kind it doesn't do is IRC, which is a bummer, since my technical friends are usually online there for immediate help.

But I wanted to try MeeboMe, which is a chat widget you can drop onto your blog. I've now added a chat box to the lower right sidebar. I can't promise to be on all the time, but let's give it a whirl!

A Litte Moral Outrage Please

2006-09-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

ExxonMobil doesn't offer benefits to gay and lesbian partners of its employees.

The comments on the article are really pathetic. I'm gay-friendly and I am very pro-Mobil. My parents were Mobil gas retailers for a very long time and I am extremely brand loyal when it comes to gas.

However, as gas has inched higher and higher, and my folks have re-branded their station over to other brands, I am no longer so loyal. I now place frugality over loyalty when I'm shopping.

I try to spend my money in a way that is conscious of what I am supporting, be it politics, environmental sustainability, quality customer service, superior product, etc. But the comments on this article! Disgusting!

Reminder: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Flipside: "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me." - Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Net Bank?

2006-09-20T08:40:00.000-05:00

Why don't PFBloggers use NetBank? Seems like everyone uses ING or HSBC or Emigrant Direct. NetBank has better CD rates than ING does right now.

A friend of mine has been using NetBank since 2000. He swears by it. I never felt that comfortable with moving all my checking to an online bank, but I see what the appeal was for him since he moved around a lot for the same employer and changing banks constantly is a time sink. For me, I have a brick and mortar bank where I live and another where my parents live. (Opened it when I moved back there for awhile and never bothered to close it)

Anyhow, anyone care to share why they don't use NetBank?

100,000 Miles!

2006-09-19T08:39:00.000-05:00

My car turned 100,000 on Saturday morning as I drove to PA. I was at mile marker 68.5 in Maryland on I-95 northbound, just past White Marsh.

My car is a mess. I really have to get a lot work done to it. As I think about it there is quite a litany of fixes. I must call dealership and get this scheduled so I can pass inspection and all that good stuff for DMV registration renewal. (Now where did the damned renewal card go?!?!)

Don't get me wrong, my Altima has served me well since I got it in 2000. But it's 1.5 months shy of its 6th birthday. There's major work to be done and I'll do it all and keep it for another 2-3 years at least. I keep talking myself into getting another car. And then I convince myself not to do it because there's still a lot of life in the one I have and I hate having a car payment.

Property tax scare

2006-09-19T00:10:00.000-05:00

My property taxes on the condo are due in April and in October. Normally they are paid out of escrow. When I returned from Cape Cod on Sunday (last week), I got quite a fright in the mailbox.

I got a 'NOTICE' from 'ARLINGTON COUNTY'. Nice big letters on the outside of that envelope. It said something about 'PROPERTY TAXES' and I started to wig out. When I first went to settlement, my taxes were paid, but somehow my bank forgot to remit the taxes for the October collection and I got a scary notice in the mail. Was I looking at another one? In that situation, I called the settlement attorney to make sure the money had been collected. He confirmed it, and then I called the bank to yell at them and tell them to pay the penalty as well.

Surprisingly, the bank was very efficient and paid the tax bill immediately from escrow account and paid the penalty themselves, as was correct of them to do since it wasn't my fault they messed up.

This mystery envelope had me worried. I really thought that it was my property taxes. And it was. But on the car. That's why I made my throwaway comment a few days ago about how they overvalued the vehicle and can buy it from me for that price in cash. My bill luckily is less than $150.00. I can pay that straight out of my checking next month and slap that new sticker on my car. I will then take that deduction on my Federal taxes. Yippee!

So the long and short of it is that I see these notification envelopes and I need to learn not to panic. Not everything that comes in the mail is a crisis. Sometimes it's good news. (like yet *another* wedding!)

Got my survey check! & Welcome New Readers!

2006-09-15T23:04:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo! I got my check for filling out a survey. I can see why this is addictive, but I feel very funny about filling out surveys left and right. A lot of PFBloggers do it as extra income, but I don't think I'll be doing this often. I'm not knocking the activity, but I sort of wished I had a P.O. box for mail delivery instead of my home address.

I'd like to say, 'Welcome readers of Dumb Little Man!' I got a
wonderful endorsement there which makes me blush. It's a pretty interesting site with a wide range of tips, kind of like LifeHacker. There's good frugal stuff, like uses for baking soda. I hope readers of Dumb Little Man enjoy my site. Please feel free to leave a comment, say hi or ask any questions.

EDIT: I fixed the links. Thanks!

What Would YOU Do?

2006-09-15T08:27:00.000-05:00

Single Ma has a great post about what would you do if you were fired today? By far, the best post I've read all week. Her readers have really insightful comments about their personal experiences and I think you'll find them helpful.

If I was fired today:
1) I'd be able to bankroll myself for a month or two with my savings.
2) I'd apply for unemployment if I could get it.
3) I'd call my old second jobs waitressing and the yarn shop to see if there were shifts I could pick up.
4) I'd put my resume out with temp agencies and recruiters immediately.
5) I'd call my contacts and find out if anyone had any positions opening up for me.
6) I'd blog full-time and drop more ads on my website to increase what little revenue MFC makes me. (Hey, it's a nickel more than I had yesterday!)
7) I'd let people know that I'm available for odd jobs like housesitting, babysitting, concierge work for cash under the table.
8) I'd tally my assets to see how long I could go without work if necessary.

My last unemployment go around, I quit on the spur of the moment. I was unemployed for about 6 weeks and worked at the yarn shop and waitressing to stay busy and get out of the house. I was ready to go back to an office job when I was finally got the job I have right now. Notice that a lot of my list is about staying busy and making money. Idle hands make the devil's work. I did a lot of crafts while I was unemployed last year. It was awesome and yet it wasn't because I really was bored. All my friends were at work during the day and I had no playmates!

One of the reasons why I spent a lot of effort this year building up emergency funds was because of that experience. I knew that I'd be getting a stock option buyback check which would last me for about 2 months. That was essentially my emergency fund. This time around, there's no such option so I have got cash in the bank to tide me over. Right now though, I don't feel like it's enough so I am going work on that for the next 6 months. I am most likely getting a bonus in March. If my bonus after taxes is about 4.5% of my income, that will wipe out a good chunk of my credit card debt. Or I will bank all of it and then spend my money wiping out my debt.

My mind on my money and my money on my mind

2006-09-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

I'm wrote this one last night in total exhaustion. It's a brainstorm about money.

My latest thoughts on money:
1) I have my Millennium Bank CD expiring soon. I was going to cash it out so that I could pay down my credit cards. Now I have caught wind of something at work that tells me I should cash it out but reserve it as cash. Perhaps I should use it to buy my first 28-day T-bill?

2) I feel stupid for not sending in my FSA forms for my surgery sooner. It's for $1500. But I am glad I got my butt in gear and sent the paperwork off by fax. Too bad I didn't claim the remaining $1900.00. I suppose I still could claim my $800 FSA account balance against that amount, but I have some more appointments this year for which I will spend that money.

3) August net worth. I updated the graph. It's not pretty, but I just looked at my credit card statement and realized I've really run them up after the 1st of the month. The September net worth graph is where most of the impact will be, I think. I really wanted to fix my clutch before driving to Philadelphia this weekend, but it's going to have to wait.

4) I don't regularly check my ad stats anymore with Amazon or Google. I don't make that much from it. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that these two things are positive and making money for me. Unfortunately, I have lost my Google PIN card on my desk somewhere and must find it to release my funds.

5) Back to item #1. I really want to start banking cash away again. I know that means I will stupidly be paying high interest on my credit card debt. But I have this really funny feeling inside that I'd better be throwing some cash into savings again.

6) Refinancing my mortgage. I kind of want to refinance to lower my monthly payments. I really can't justify what I'm paying considering that I could ditch my condo and live with a roommate in a house for about half to 75% of what I pay out right now. Then I'd have more cash per month to save.

7) Must rededicate myself to selling my stuff off that I don't want anymore.

8) Asked my beekeeping friend about buying honey for holiday gifts today. I hope he gives me a good deal on his local honey. I figure that I can buy some nice tea in bulk and take care of most of my secret Santa type presents that way. I already know which flavors of tea, so I'm very excited to make up these presents for friends and family. I know it's insanely early, but the knitters last night placed the thought into my head because there was a call for stuff for a friend to sell at a booth she rents. I think I will be knitting an item for her to sell as well.

9) Must buy holiday fat quarters for bagging the presents. Can't forget to calculate that. I'm hoping that each present will end up being $5 or less. We shall see.

Autumn is here!

2006-09-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it was really cold outside. Today I've got on the wooly pants and jacket set from last winter. I realize it's time to break out the crockpot and back to making cheap meat stews with potatoes, beans, tomatoes, onions and all manner of good things frugal from the pantry and market.

Hooray!

Regarding the 5 year anniversary of 9/11

2006-09-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

I read some posts by other PF Bloggers about where they were 5 years ago. I would like to acknowledge the event, but I don't feel comfortable sharing most what I felt that day. It was extremely personal for me. Fretting for the lives of friends and acquaintances. Hearing the personal stories of people I know watching people leap to their deaths from 20+ story windows. It's really too much to relive.

One of the less personal items is that I worked for a financial software company and handled a lot of accounts out of New York. One of the kids out of our NYC office went to work for JP Morgan in the WTC. But I couldn't remember which one. Thankfully her name never appeared on any of the lists of the deceased, but any one of our consultants could have been visiting a client there that day.

Cantor Fitzgerald lost their entire bond trading desk. Only the CEO survived because he took the morning off to take his child to the first day of school. Imagine that. CF was one of my clients. It's not like they were friends, but day after day, typing in 1 World Trade Center, NY, NY on letters to my clients ingrained in me that NYC is the financial center of the universe.

I spent last night writing something profoundly personal about 9/11 and cried. This is THE definining moment of my generation. Like when Kennedy was shot. Except there are people who remember that too and I wonder how much more we can lose our innocence and naivete. Haven't we lost enough? Will there be something more shocking in our futures that will shake us even further? I shake my fist at terrorists and flip them off. Defiance and free-flowing hair. It's my only rebellion in the face of greater dangers in this world.

I woke this morning to an embassy bombing attempt in Syria or Jordan. I live inside the Beltway. I live too close to the Pentagon and military bases for my own peace of mind. But this is how we continue. This is perserverance. It's really nothing by itself, but in great numbers it means everything.

Tightening the belt

2006-09-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

I admit, I haven't done my August Net Worth statement. I'm a bit afraid to find out what it's going to say. I've run up the credit cards with two trips and I have a third at the end of the month. (two weddings and a pleasure trip) I did one of my surgeries and now this month I look forward to fixing the clutch on my car, paying VA property taxes on said vehicle (I think they've overvalued the car, and if that's what they think it's worth, I'd like them to buy it from me today.), booking for my Christmas holiday and trying to save more money in my EBoC.

So today I bought a loaf of nice bread, some ham and a half gallon of orange juice (on sale). I stuck it in the fridge at work and I pray it helps me keep my dining bill down this week. The catch is that I have to finish all of it off by Friday or the Fridge Faerie/Nazi at work will ruthlessly throw it all away. Yes, even the mustards and salad dressings. No condiment is spared by the FF/N. They're really mean at my company about this.

Dining out has long been a luxury of mine. And for September and most of October, it has got to go. Who knows? Maybe this will be the start of a new frugal habit for me.

The other thing is that I may start 'going home' for lunch. One of my friends lives 3 minutes away from my office. I found out she often goes home for lunch and now we're making plans for me to meet her at home instead of going out.

The last belt tightening measure is that I've signed up for Skype. My mom yelled at me for running up my cellphone bill. (Like a good financial manager, my mom took a look at the company cellphone bill our family corporation provides and realized I use my phone A LOT.) So even though this doesn't directly save me money, I feel it's a good frugal habit to build.

I overspent on the immediate gratification of a headset inside the airport ($35), but it's a rather nice one and the sound quality was pretty good when I tried it out the last few nights. My peeps in LA are getting all my love via Skype. I am pretty certain that in a month or two, it will have paid for itself. No, it's not going to replace my landline because that's how I dial 911 for the firemen across the street that will never come here. (Long story, I think I had another post about it regarding emergency preparations.)

Car Rental Savings

2006-09-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

I just rented a car for this weekend. I probably could have gotten a better rate if I did it a week or two before I left, but c'est la vie. I was too busy to think about it and plum forgot till the day before when it absolutely had to be done.

But I did save myself some money by doing two key things.

1) I did not renting at the airport. It would cost me $5-10 more per day on the rental, let alone the precentage of taxes on top of that. I am getting my car in Cambridge. MA. Way better than getting it at Logan Airport.

2) I timed my rental for 3 days instead of four. I got the car late at 12 noon on Thursday and returned it before noon on Sunday. I could have picked it up earlier and returned it later, but there is no point in that. I wasn't going to be doing anything that absolutely required the car during those extra hours. Mostly I hung out at Au Bon Pain where the chess players sit in Harvard Sq and laughed at all the freshmen still roving in the safety of packs of kids from the same dorm.

The money saved paid for me to take the train to the airport and back. Gotta love the T in Boston. It's very economical. It's amazing how your mental maps all return to you as soon as you see the Hong Kong Restaurant coming out of the T. The Coop is to the right across from Out of Town News and if you wander down to the Garage, you can go to Newbury Comix.

Best article of my short blogging week

2006-09-06T08:28:00.000-05:00

Laws of Finance tell is like it is. Holy cow! I totally agree though. It takes two to tango and make a commitment that works.

And some others I liked:
Donna Jean on her interesting job opportunity. I think it sounds pretty cool.

Jane Dough reminds us why a good credit score is important. You might lose out on a job opportunity if you don't have an acceptable one.

Kira with some excellent computer tips. I built my own pc a few years ago with the help of a geek friend. It works perfectly fine for web browsing (which is most of what I do anyway). How much did my handbuilt pc cost in 2001? $600. It was a 900MHz Athlon, 256MB RAM with a 32x CDR drive, 20GB hard drive, removable trays so I could dual boot with Linux and Windows Server 2000. It was pretty nice for the price. My last pc? $400 bucks off the shelf at Best Buy in 2004. It's an Insignia, 2.8GHz, 40GB hard drive, 256 MB RAM, DVD player and I rarely wish for something faster. I don't play computer games and simple spreadsheets are all I run. Works for me and I didn't spend an arm and a leg. Good advice she offers. I beg you all to reconsider whether or not you really need a laptop. I realize that students need them just to get out of the house or computer lab, but as an adult, do you really require one? I find I don't.

I'm off again for the third wedding of the year. Almost done. In 3 more weeks I'll be gone for the last one. They can't arrive too soon. I have wedding fatigue.

Retail therapy?

2006-09-05T18:50:00.000-05:00

I didn't buy anything material. At the last minute, I ran away to the Carribbean instead for the holiday weekend. My friends were taking a boat out to go island hopping. For various and sundry reasons, I could not resist. I had such a good time in Puerto Rico in July that I wanted to go again. But this time I worked on the boat and wasn't stuck at a resort doing generic resorty activities surrounding a wedding.

Bruised egos sometimes require a little healing with fun distractions. I only wish it hadn't cost me an arm and a leg to get there. Worth it? Yes. My Psychological Income was quite high.

I won't divulge the embarrassing airline ticket price, but I only paid for dinner for three, a parking fee of $5 and a taxi back to pick up my car from work. Laboring on the boat was not a problem since the host wanted to take us out. (I learned the basics of sailing!) It was well worth it. Everyone should come back this happy after a relaxing vacation of doing nothing but drinking, swimming, laughing and shooting the breeze with old friends.

Happy Birthday Mr. Bug!

2006-09-01T06:24:00.001-05:00

I am an auntie and my nephew, Mr. Bug turns one today! (I love you, Mr. Bug! I wish I could be there for your birthday.) His new nickname was given to him last week by two lovely little girls I know. Their in utero nicknames were Limabean and Giblet.

I am an auntie twice over. My cousin had a baby last week. Oddly he's named his girl after two of my other cousins, to one of whom he is not related. (other side of the family) Very strange coincidence.

100 Things About Me Meme

2006-08-31T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ok. I hate this meme. I've put off doing it for the last x years that I've had a blog. I just didn't see the point of jumping on that knitter's bandwagon.

But I keep thinking of witty things to write so I'm going to put down a few things.

1. Mapgirl is my nickname.
2. I introduce myself at parties by this nickname, since the party hosts usually call me by this name when sending invitations.
3. My real name is only used by business associates and people who knew me in college.
4. When you meet me in person, I will expect you to call me mapgirl.
5. It started out as a nickname on IRC.
6. And then my friends from IRC would call me this in person when we met for drinks.
7. And it's snowballed from there.
8. It is derived from studying, what else? Geography.
9. I am Korean.
10. I am short.
11. I like kimchee with rice and cold pork. I could eat that every day for lunch.
12. I prefer pig to chicken.
13. Drives me nuts to eat lunch with my Muslim friend at work because he doesn't eat pork. We have to select restaurants that serve both, which is hard to find. So we almost always just have chicken.
14. I am vain.
15. I am vain about being thin.
16. I am blessed with good genes for metabolism.
17. I am blessed with poor genes for teeth.
18. I have beautiful hair.
19. I like to hack it off and give it away to charity.
20. I feel like that makes up for being so damned vain about it.
21. Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry is one of my favorite stories.
22. If you don't understand what 21 has to do with 19, I demand that you read the story.
23. By far the best version I've heard is by Barbara Budd from As It Happens. Unfortunately, because it is a copyrighted work, you cannot listen to the CBC archives for it. You'll have to listen at Xmastime for it to play on the radio.
24. When I hear it, it makes me cry.
25. I cry a lot. I am a cry-baby.
26. Don't get me started on Hallmark specials.
27. I don't own a TV.
28. Someone asked me once and I realized, I've never owned my own TV. It always belonged to someone else.
29. My favorite TV shows are The Simpsons, Sopranos, and old sitcoms.
30. I've thought about being a librarian.
31. I've worked in a library in college.
32. Best part of that job was reading all the daily newspapers.
33. I love books.
34. My favorite incentive at work was gift cards to the bookstore.
35. I won a prize in physics in high school for building a speaker from a styrofoam cup.
36. I was more highly motivated to win than the other students. The prize was a gift certificate to the school bookstore.
37. Some of the boys were mad that I won because I am a crappy physicist.
38. I have good craftsmanship, and that's why I won. My sh*t is well-built. 'Engineered' some like to say.
39. But my knitting and spinning is full of flaws.
40. I can do a good job, but often it's not worth the effort if it's only for me.
41. But if it's for someone else, I'll go nuts and make it perfect.
42. But I rarely make things for others since it involves going bonkers.
43. Once I was told that I would get nothing and like it.
44. That's my philosophy for buying gifts.
45. I rarely give material gifts anymore.
46. I find gifts cause me to accumulate crap I did not want or need.
47. I prefer not to burden people with the same.
48. So I call them or send an email to acknowledge them.
49. But I won't buy a present, unless it's the just right thing to send.
50. I am someone who buys practical gifts.
51. I'll get you a blender if I think you needed one.
52. That's one reason why I stopped giving gifts. People didn't like what I was sending.
53. I've never been mugged.
54. I should have been mugged for all the walking I do at night in scary places.
55. I carry pepper spray.
56. I consider myself 'street smart' sometimes.
57. I think I'm rather foolish though.
58. I love adrenaline.
59. But I am not an adrenaline-junkie.
60. I take calculated risks.
61. I am a fire performer and safety.
62. I cringe when I see people misuse fire arts at Maryland RenFaire.
63. I enjoy talking like a Pirate.
64. Yarr... It's true matey.
65. I have pictures of myself on a Spanish galleon in RenFaire garb.
66. I look smashing.
67. I need a cutlass to complete the outfit.
68. I am dorky enough to get one.
69. I enjoy science fiction.
70. I enjoy classical literature.
71. I enjoy chick-lit fluff sometimes, but find most of it is poorly written and frankly insufferable idiocy.
72. But I loved Bridget Jones' Diary. It seems to rise above most of the genre. Partly because of her neurotic behavior, and the insanely funny plot twists.
73. I love good movies.
74. I'm not a huge fan of video games.
75. I like tennis.
76. I was a fan of cycling during Greg Lemond's heyday, but I am disillusioned by the doping.
77. It breaks my heart to admit that because I really had my belief in cycling shaken up by someone who is a good friend and rode competitively. His stories make me very sad for the sport.
78. I met this friend at work because I was wearing a T-Mobile jersey pin on my cap.
79. I've always hated Lance Armstrong. He was an arrogant bastard as a junior out of Texas when I was following the sport. I don't care if he got cancer. I think he's that much of a jerk.
80. I begrudingly give him respect after hearing from a competitive cycling friend tell me that he personally saw Armstrong lap the entire field of racers at a race they both attended.
81. I've met a Nobel Prize winner. But I was so little, I don't remember it.
82. I met a second Nobel Prize winner. That was pretty cool to stand next to history.
83. In six degrees of separation, I can make the link to Kevin Bacon.
84. One of the best live speeches I ever heard was Hillary Clinton at Wellesley College in 1992. She was amazing and inspiring.
85. I've only been to one inauguration. (They're effing cold in January!)
86. I only remember hearing Maya Angelou while I was there. She was brilliant.
87. I used to be in marching band.
88. I think group and team activities like band and sports are good for kids.
89. I miss team sports a lot.
90. I am competitive.
91. I use harrassing voices when playing darts, Scrabble, and backgammon. But only to family and close friends. Part of the fun is the side game of harrassment.
92. I don't like gambling in casinos.
93. I am usually game for dollar bets and stuff like that.
94. I sometimes have insomnia.
95. I have it right now.
96. I love Hello Kitty, but My Melody is my favorite of all.
97. I bite my nails, but not to the quick.
98. I grow my nails out long.
99. I love a good pedicure.
100. I am not a vegetarian. My people eat dog. (I don't know why, but people think I'm so crunchy-granola that they assume I don't eat meat. It's very weird, but I'm not really that crunchy.)

Some of my planned 2007 expenses

2006-08-30T08:14:00.000-05:00

Here's what I know I have on deck for next year:
1) One more surgery. Medical FSA is budgeted.

2) Laser eye surgery. Medical FSA will have to be budgeted, but I've decided definitely to push it off till 2008 since I've pushed it off so far. Hopefully my prescription will hold for another year.

3) Motorcyle repairs and expenses. I'm budgeting $1000 for some minor maintenance work to be done, as well as a snappy new helmet. (They need replacing every 3 years and mine will be 5 years old next spring.)

4) Automobile repairs and expenses. I am budgeting something around $2500 for the whole year. Damn the expensive X-mileage services at the dealership. I will skip the next one and go 10K miles later. (Went at 97K this year, will go at 120K next year, and skip the 110K service.) Yes, I am seriously thinking of putting much nicer tires on the car too since I realized this week that around 110K miles, I'll need a new set. A new clutch is going in next month when my baby turns 100K, so beyond that, the car shouldn't need much next year... Though this week I've noticed that I also have to get the pump replaced on the windshield cleaner jets. The driver's side squirts the fluid too low and I'm having some visibility problems. (This means I have to squeegee the driver's side windshield every time I fill the car, and I'm not going to do that when it's freezing outside. No way!)

5) Save another $2k in my Save-O-Meter. This includes making up for the $1K draw down I did on buying the motorcycle. (Yes, saving is a fixed expense. If I don't treat it that way, it won't happen. You know, that 'automatic' thing by that 'automatic guy', David Bach.)

6) Pay off the Debt-O-Meter by July 1, 2007. "I think I can. I think I can." "Little by little. Bit by bit." I worked out some figures and I can definitely do this if the bonuses are good next year.

Articles I liked this week

2006-08-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

I am keeping the nose to the grindstone for work the next few weeks. But here's your fresh and tasty content for the day, links and posts mostly from weekend browsing. Good stuff though.

Advice for new graduates from the Washington Post. (Go to Bugmenot for a login if you need it.)

Bellsouth is going to stop charging the replacement fee for Universal Service Fee that expired on August 14th. When will Verizon stop?

Frugal Duchess on saving for retirement or college fund. My vote is for retirement! But hey, I'm done with college anyway! LOL! Seriously, take a look at my comment and you'll understand why retirement is a much better answer if you want peace of mind for your kids.

Jim at Blueprint for Prosperity has some good strategies for sticking to a budget. I should probably listen to him, but I'm just not a very good budgeter. I don't really like the way Quicken has too many categories and then the auto-creating budget always seems really skewed.

Dumb Little Man on crappy things a manager can do to get his employees to quit. I have to say, working for small companies eliminates a lot of this sort of thing. The places where I've run into the most problems with office politics were places that were 500+ employees. But I think all of this is generally good advice for anyone who wants to know what NOT to do when they become a manager.

Fedexfurniture.com is pretty neat. Cheap furniture from boxes. However, I don't understand why he didn't paint over the logo and scrub the site of FedEx mentions. That probably would have stopped a lawsuit. (Of course, I am a big fan of Jennifer Grannick. I heard her speak at a conference. She's quite a smart cookie.) Love Jose's motto though: It's OK to be Ghetto!

T-Bill vs. Millennium Bank CD

2006-08-28T10:20:00.000-05:00

Jonathan is really into T-bills. I'm fascinated by the process and his calculations, but I'm still having a hard time understanding what he's doing. Namely, right now, I see that I have an expiring CD at Millennium Bank. I could roll it into another 180-day CD at a new APY of 5.6%, APR is 5.46%.

I just ran some numbers on the latest 28-Day T-bill auction at a discount rate of 5.075%. When I use Jonathan's nifty calcuations to figure out the APR and APY, I get 5.075% and ~5.20% respectively.

Without taking into consideration tax rates, I see clearly that I am better off rolling my money into another 180-Day CD. Yes, I'm losing liquidity for about 6 months, but my account is already set up and it's something easy I understand.

Virginia has a tax rate of 5.75% after the first 17K is taxed at 2%, 3%, and 5% rates. For the sake of simplicity, let's just leave it at 5.75% instead of the true rate. I'll need a check on the math here, but I believe that the 5.20% rate, when including the tax rate exemption produces a rate that is closer to 5.5%. (APY x 1.0575) Or is it that I discount the bank's CD rate of 5.6% by the 5.75% tax rate for a post-tax yield of 5.3%? In that case, the T-bill is the clear winner, but I need a check on the math.

I put up my own little spreadsheet for this so now I think I'll be able to make rapid calculations regularly, which hopefully will help my understanding of T-bills versus regular savings products I already use.

Jonathan doesn't use high yield online savings accounts because he prefers the return on T-bills better. I see his point when it comes to short-term liquidity. I am locking up cash into laddered CDs to discipline myself, but perhaps I should explore the T-bill thing further for my savings. That way I have money freeing up every week instead of every 30 days on the CD's.

Something to ponder while I build back up my Save-O-Meter from the bike purchase. (Would you guys like me to move the graph? I haven't decided if I should do that or not. I was going to move it to $6K since that's where I'd like to be by the end of 2007.)

Carnival of Personal Finance #63 is Up!

2006-08-28T07:30:00.000-05:00

My 1st Million at 33 has it available now.

Try the voting thing out on the right sidebar. I didn't vote since I really like the post I submitted this week. I feel like Chris Klein in Election. I can't vote for myself. That would be wrong, so I abstain.

Follow up on some old posts and a musing or two

2006-08-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

1) Tresemme is really awesome cheap hair conditioner. You get a quart of it for 4 bucks at Target or a beauty supply shop. It doesn't have expensive silicone additives that make your hair feel silky, but dry it out. Since using Tresemme and an ocaisional JOICO K-Pak® Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor, my hair has been restored. (Pooh on Pantene's Smooth and Sleek conditioner. The shampoo is ok though.) Yes, I do tend to use more and glop it on, but it's so freakin' cheap that I'm still saving money.

2) Paycheck challenge: I went to Target and spent too much money thinking I was going to get 10% off my purchase when I charged it to my Target card. Nope. I am going to have call and find out what I'm to do to get my discount the next time. What does this mean? If I budget right, I can still spend less than what I have left in the bank this week. I really must stop putting things on my credit card if I think I'm going to cut it close with the paycheck challenge.

3) Decluttering the house is fun. I like throwing things away. I have a tendency to hoard things and I've been recognizing that I still have clothing I bought (er, my mom bought for me) from high school, 15 years ago. It's still stuff in good condition, but the cuts are out of fashion. I really don't know why I've hung on to it except that it's perfectly servicable clothing. I can't stand throwing this stuff out/giving it away since I can still wear it.

4) I thought I was going to move away from DC and move back home to Philadelphia with my family. Luckily, things are well and I no longer feel the need to move. But when you think about moving, you realize that perhaps the things inside the home are not really necessary. I have this stupid paper weight from my old job. It's an ounce of silver encased in lucite. I'd like to crack open the lucite and sell the silver. I need to just put it into the trash since it's useless and ugly. It's an item I'm not excited about taking with me. What about my future plan to move to California one day? I certainly won't want to take most of the possessions I currently have, so why on earth do I have them? I don't know.

Since I am at my own home sweet home this weekend, I give you a full 7 days of posting this week. Thanks for reading!

Festival of Frugality #35 is Up!

2006-08-26T13:04:00.000-05:00

This summer has been really busy for me at work and at home. But today, I ran across
the 35th Festival of Frugality at Punny Money. OMG. Nick did a fantastic job gathering a host of celebrities to bring you the festival. Wonderful stuff.

Patient Advocacy: Are you getting your money's worth at the doctor's office?

2006-08-25T19:25:00.000-05:00

No, really, are you getting everything you can out of your doctor?

Sometimes I feel guilty for stopping my physician and making them spend a full 15 minutes with me. But goddamnit, I was *SICK* last week. That new primary care physician I saw was awesome. She was open to all my weird explanations of my health and symptoms and constant questions.

I'm an obsessive patient. I have a lot of minor chronic health issues and so I am very careful about what I ask the doctor because of medication interaction, etc. I hate going to the doctor, but after accompanying my parent to the doctor for post-stroke follow ups, I see that it is VERY IMPORTANT to get your month's worth out of your doctor.

-Do not go in and let them only poke and prod you.
-Be EXTREMELY specific about your concerns.
-Read up on symptoms, observations and ask the doctor what he thinks about them.
-Get yourself ready before your appointment with your concerns. Write them down so you don't forget.
-Take a notebook with you and take notes during your time with the doctor.
-Ask why they are giving you the prescriptions and if there is anything to watch out for in terms of side effects.
-Do the 'brown bag' test. That's where you take all your medications to the doctor so they can see what you were prescribed by all your specialists, etc.

[EDIT: new! After commenting at InsureBlog, I realized I forgot something.]

-If you are bi-lingual, get a translator. Many hospitals now have translation services for free if you request it. (I personally did not like our translator, but there were times where having one who was redundant was better than not having one.)

I gave the doctor a list of post-stroke concerns about appetite, rehab, etc. I talked to friends who have stroke experience about certain types of things to ask (pulse/ox numbers to ensure enough oxygen was getting to the brain, etc.). Neurological observations, caloric intake, mood, physical capabilities, prescription requests, aids for development, etc. I grilled the doctor because I wanted to get the most out of post-stroke rehab for my family. Frankly, the doctor was impressed and asked me if I had medical training. I said no. I read a lot and I have friends who are nurses, doctors and physical therapists.

Even for myself, during my first visit to the doctor recently, I was lousy miserable but asked her what to do with my infection, the meds, any possible secondary infections, etc. And since I had a follow up, I remembered that I had to ask her for an additional prescription for an asthma inhaler and tried to think of other things I might need.

Good luck! Get your money's worth. Be an educated patient and talk to your doctor. They're only human, trust me. If you talk to them, they'll talk to you. They're not gods and you have every right as a patient to address your health concerns.

When am I going to get the hang of this thing?

2006-08-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

My patient advocacy post was supposed to be at 8AM today, not PM. That explains why it why it was buried in the PFBlog feed.

That also explains why my afternoon post isn't floating to the top. I'm annoying myself today. Is it happy hour yet?

FWIW, I treated the guys on my team for lunch today. For some reason, I've had meals purchased for me by other people all week. (Not that I'm complaining) But I figured a little karmic payback for a team lunch was a good idea. And I'm not even the team leader!

I'm feeling flush. I started this morning with $200.00 cash. I think I can stretch all that till next Friday when I get paid next. I have to go on a large grocery shopping trip, get two rolls of quarters for laundry and one tank of gas. Everything else should fit in if I budget my dollars right this week.

Tempted by Prosper

2006-08-25T15:52:00.000-05:00

I have a Prosper.com account. I put a little money in it, but not enough to put a bid out. I am putting a little more money in it, primarily out of curiosity. I wonder if this thing really works. If it does, I think I'd like to put more longer term savings funds there.

Yes. I know. I should be focused on paying down debt. But I think I'm on a good track to do that. (At least on paper/Quicken I am.) I am thinking about different ways to save my money and get a good return on it. I've lost my taste for stock investing for now, but something about Prosper's concept is really appealing.

So I figure I'll put a little more into Prosper. Give it a whirl and see what comes out. Couldn't be much worse than watching a portfolio lose 75% of its value during the dot-com crash. (Yep, but it wasn't a lot in dollars.)

Articles I liked this week

2006-08-24T20:24:00.000-05:00

There weren't too many since I didn't have time much to read this week.

CNN/Money on clashing money styles for couples. Interesting article. Couples and money. Gee. I'd love to get to that state one day...

Madame X on valuing your real estate for your net worth calculation.

Because Simplicity in Kansas was the inspiration for Madame X's post, I clicked through and found this article. Very interesting comments by the SIA economist. While reading the article I had a thought. I don't have a lot saved for retirement, but I do sock away quite a bit more than I used to. However, I don't pay down my mortgage very fast either. I think I would like to get to an equilibrium point soon where my retirement account and my home equity are roughly equal. I'm not sure how close I am to that now, but that seems like a good short-term goal to have. I'm going to bet that today my retirement isn't as much as my equity. Something to ponder.

Free Money Finance on when to quit your job. There's some good advice here. I'd also include if your job makes you cry every day, ask yourself why and compare your answers to this list. I had a job that made me cry every day because I hated it so much. I quit and realized how stressed out I had become working there. Quitting was the best thing I ever did.

LA Money Guy on ways your personal life can hurt your professional life. A good reminder. And if are wondering about Dooce.com, the site I mention in the comments, the pertinent articles is here. Read some of the stuff she writes before and after. She definitely advises people not to blog about work. Don't get DOOCED!

Jonathan gets a CLUE. Remember when I wrote about CLUE while buying car insurance? Well Jonathan writes about how to check your CLUE report and getting it for free!

As a follow up to the free gas card I mention in the car insurance post, I did receive it! I carried it in my wallet for a few months without using it. Then when I got really, really, really sick last week, I gave it to my friend as a thank you for chauffeuring me to the doctor, the pharmacist and being all around nice to me while I was feeling crappy. He was headed out on a long road trip and I figured he'd actually use the card, since clearly I wasn't going to use it.

Lesson here is self-explanatory. Um. At least I hope it is...

Great article on elder care/abuse and financial issues! I really worry about this sort of thing with my parents. I used to worry that I didn't speak enough Korean and they would stop understanding English in their senility. I worry less about that now since my language skills are better and my folks have lived here long enough they use English all the time. Found through Feed the Drones

From Business Week: Best of PF Blogs

2006-08-24T08:17:00.000-05:00

From Business Week

Bah! Just go read PFblogs.org! I'm not knocking the BW list, but y'all can go visit the aggregator and visit a wider variety of blogs, and not just for the young. But if you want to visit blogs for the Under 30 crowd, try the Festival of Under 30 Finances! I'm over 30, so you won't find me there. Therefore, you know this endorsement rings true. Good luck to all of you out there still in those first 7 years of student loan repayment. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I promise, it's not the headlight of the oncoming train.

I am a blogging dork

2006-08-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

Yes. I have two commenting systems. I put on Haloscan without understanding it well because I wanted to trackback. However, I don't really get tracking back and doing the pings. (I don't have time for all this. I just like to write!)

So yeah. Your friend Mapgirl. Heh. Dork.

Ask me about my WordPress conversion. HA!

Zoom Zoom!

2006-08-23T08:48:00.000-05:00

Ah, so I did it. I picked up the bike, insurance, and title this weekend. Next weekend, a trip to the DMV to complete the transfer. After that, getting the permit. Somewhere in there I have to pick up one more piece of gear (overpants), because I already own my own gear. I'll try to put together a tally after I get the pants figured out. But this definitely will go on my August net worth calculations as an asset! Oh boy, I cannot wait!

It's a really clean bike. The guy who owned it treated it really well. His wife no longer wants to ride it anymore so she's making him sell it. I think she was actually shorter than me. It's a 2002 MZ RT125. It's a very small cc bike, but it could really move when we opened up the throttle with about 285 lbs. on it.

The beauty of this bike is that it doesn't make a small person feel like they have to have a lot of strength to manhandle it. The problem with the Honda Rebel 250, which is recommended for most short stature riders as a starter bike, is that it weighs about 350 dry, and feels super heavy when you sit down on it. I always felt like I had to start going to the gym to ride it. This bike is so light, I don't have that issue at all. Dry weight per the manual is about 290! WOW! That's crazy light.

MZ, being finely designed and crafted by Germans (East), did a great job stripping this bike to well-placed essentials. My friend is jealous that I have a real dipstick on my oil tank and not just a little window like his SV650. HA! Even so, it's the small things like the placement of the switches and how far you have to move them to engage or disengage them. Doing small repairs on this bike myself will be pretty easy. Chain maintenance, oil tank/filter access, etc is all very reasonable. The valves could be replaced at home too, but I don't ever think I'll get that ambitious. I'm just happy to have matched spanners to adjust my own shocks.

This bike is a rarity, so I hope that it will retain some of its value. A lot of starter bikes hold their value since they can be sold to the next beginner, often for what was paid for it, less any maintenance or repairs done. (I love that it takes mostly stock Yamaha parts.)

Whee!

ps- If you want to leave an instantly appearing comment, use the comment link to the left. I moderate comments from link on the right, and today is a day I have to keep the nose to the grindstone.

Question of the Day Marathon - Day 17

2006-08-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

I was inspired to ask this question by Tricia, but I'm my own victim of this. And I don't have a husband to blame it on! (Exaggerating for comedic effect here, no offense meant to Tricia's husband.)

So the question is:

How much of a balance do you leave on your checking account/s?

I have two checking accounts. I allow one to draw down to $50 because I rarely purchase transactions more than that off this account. It's my discretionary spending account and it's for lunches and gas mostly. The other account has my fixed expenses and the checks I draw are much larger, so I leave about $150. Anything over gets swept to ING.

Are you a sweeper? Non-sweeper?

Question of the Day Marathon - Day 16

2006-08-22T09:52:00.000-05:00

NCN has today's question of the day. I really liked this one, partly because I can't remember the first thing because I'm so old! But the real reason I like this question is that the last thing I bought on credit was my recent surgery. I started to rack my brain for other things and realized that for the most part, I pay for stuff with my debit card now.

That's a huge change for me. A year ago, I wasn't paying for my life with my checking account. I was paying for it all on credit. Slowly, with little paycheck challenges and some automated savings, I've gradually shifted over to putting less on my credit cards.

Yes, you can make a change in your life! It may be slow and very subtle, but change does happen!

Who'da thunk it? I am slowly weaning myself off credit cards and paying more and more stuff with cash in the bank. I shock myself!

Citi Dividend Platinum Card

2006-08-22T08:40:00.000-05:00

Jonathan ,
Jim, and Claire are reporting the demise of the Citibank Divident Platinum Rewards card. Bummer. I have this card too. The cash back was rather nice. My official notice came in the mail last night.

Is it time to move to Discover or the Citi Driver's Edge card? Not sure yet. All I know is that I have a new Target card, and perhaps it's the Sign of the Times...

Update on Medical Expenses

2006-08-21T07:45:00.000-05:00

After my first follow up with the oral surgeon, we planned out the second surgery. I asked if we could push it off till after the new year starts. And he said yes. YAY! That means more time to save! I can sink some more money in medical FSA next year now that I have a good idea of the cost. (His office assistant gives you a worksheet of all the costs laid out. It's very clear and within about $200 of what you actually have to pay. How many doctors do that?)

Oh, and the follow up visit was FREE!

I'm looking at Jim's article on Lasik, and following the Yahoo Finance link, you'll see I was wrong about the medical deduction. You can only deduct the portion of medical expenses OVER the first 7.5% of your income, not the whole amount. So if you spent 9% of your income, you can only take 1.5% of it as a deductible amount. You have to eat the first 7.5%. This is why delaying the second surgery is worthwile for me.

Hooray! More time to save!

Question of the Day Marathon - Day 14

2006-08-18T10:03:00.000-05:00

Kira asks, 'What are you vices?'

Journey to Financial Freedom has yesterday's, 'Do you have any side income?'

Lands' End at Sears

2006-08-18T09:35:00.000-05:00

Friday night I promised a girlfriend to help her shop for new clothes for work. We both work in IT so we get cut a lot of slack about our wardrobes. However, I'm at corporate HQ now, and so I actually still have to break out a suit on occaision. She gets to wear jeans and t-shirts if her laundry isn't done. I am green with jealousy. That's one way to be frugal about clothing.

While we shop we end up at Sears because I really want her to try the Lands' End no-iron dress shirts there. She doesn't like making a fuss over ironing and neither do I. I am determined to get her into a collared shirt out of sheer malice and avarice over her workplace dress code which allows her to wear a T-SHIRT. But these shirts are truly fantastic. There's a coating on them which makes them a little stiff and wear very well, and require NO IRONING. I've left them in the dryer for an hour and still had no wrinkles in them. They say they last for 50 washes, and it's easily more than that. I've had one for about 3 years now and the only finishing it needs is a bending down of the collar tips since it doesn't have collar stays. (And why are brass ones unavailable these days? I had to go high and low and finally end up at a Nordstrom's to get some for my dad for Father's Day one year. Wretched!)

But I digress. We landed at Sears after about 2 hours in the rest of the mall. This trip was not to be for me. But while there, I see jeans on clearance and for some reason I get it into my head that I ought to try a pair or two to see if there are any cuts that I like. My last experience buying denim made me very, very angry, a la the Hulk. I do not think the slutty Britney-cut on jeans flatters me even I am apparently the right size for it.

I pick out two pairs and try them both on. They both fit nicely, but differently. One is relaxed fit and the other is a slimmer cut. I could buy either, but I'm not sure. I wasn't supposed to be buying anything! I was just here to help my friend! I swear! Well, I look at the prices and my friend convinces me that $15 for one pair and $25 for the other is pretty good since they're originally far more than that. $40 bucks for 2 pairs of nice fitting jeans is not bad. I see her point and agree that it's still a good deal.

Meanwhile, she's got 3 types of shirts and we select various colors since they're going to be $10-14 each for nice Pima cotton t-shirts. We trot over to the checkout and the nice man behind the register scans the first pair of jeans for me. I see on the read out that the $15 pair is now $9! WHOA. GET OUT. He scans the second pair. $11 bucks! NO WAY. I'm getting two pairs of jeans for $21.00 including taxes. NICE.

My friend and her armful of shirts? We think she's going to spend about $130 on all of it. Nope. Because she's buying multiples of the same shirt, some of them go as low as $7.50 after the third shirt is rung up. Her purchase of 10 shirts? $88.00.

I tell the guy at the checkout that I usually just shop the catalog and he says that it's actually better to come into the stores first since that's where the clearance stuff ends up, even from the catalog. I don't know how true that is, but I am definitely going to start going to Sears more often so I can get my good deals on Lands' End clothes without paying for shipping!

Impulse Purchase or Planned Purchase of 7 Years?

2006-08-17T15:45:00.000-05:00

In about 2 hours, I might own a motorcycle. It's neither here, nor there what you think of them. I am pretty sure it's going to be mine once it passes the test.

I always wanted a bike or scooter when I lived in San Francisco. It was about 7 years ago that I first thought of this. I have family members who ride and the advice was the same. Don't get a bike till you can get your starter bike for cash. Well... I have that emergency fund... And you see this model doesn't come on the market very often. It's a 125cc engine and it's in very good condition. At my weight, I can easily crank it up to 80mph and with an aftermarket kit, add an additional 8HP.

There's a lot about this bike that is absolutely perfect for a starter. So though I haven't saved specifically for it over the last 7 years, I have thought very much about what I wanted. It's the right opportunity.

Now if it passes just one test, it's mine. I will need liability insurance, new riding pants and possibly boots. I have about a month or two left in the riding season and I've already taken an MSF course once and failed. I just never logged enough hours riding on anything to become competent. Without getting my own bike, I'll never be able to pass the MSF course, or a state licensing exam.

I hope the bike passes the test. If not, I won't be shopping for another bike for a while because I know I shouldn't be pillaging the emergency basket of cash for this.

Awesome Article on Gas Pricing

2006-08-17T13:30:00.000-05:00

You absolutely must read this article. It's FASCINATING STUFF. It's the Washington Post, so please use Bugmenot for a login.

I rant often about the idiocy of gas boycotts having casually observed the business for most of my 30+ years on this earth. I consider myself more knowledgeable than the average gas consumer being the daughter of a gas purveyor. I've tracked tank measurements, received bills of lading, etc.

This article really breaks it down. I didn't even know that metro districts have extra taxes placed upon them, which would explain the plummet in prices when you hit rural areas, and not just rent on the gas station property.

Very good stuff. I do not exaggerate when I say that you must read this, especially if you own a car.

Question of the Day Marathon Catch Up!

2006-08-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

Young Finance Guy on what's an expensive night out?

Money Dummy on money shenanigans.

Steve Braun asks, "What percentage of financial success comes from "financial skills" and what percentage comes from "character?" - I find it hard to quantify. I understand what the question is trying to ask, but I know some bad characters who are cheap bastards, so I'm not sure they are really quite related. After all, even Tony Soprano knows how to drive a hard financial bargain.

Mighty Bargain Hunter on the best deal you ever got. This one is fun!

Welcome Readers of My Money Blog!

2006-08-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

Welcome readers of Jonathan's blog! I'm glad you are all stopping by!

I'm feeling much better today. Without the gory details, the fever broke yesterday. I'm taking an extra recuperating day to get off my weird sleep schedule and eat solid foods. The best way to have a no spend day is to be sick at home. However, this illness cost me one doctor's visit, one prescription, juices, Gatorade, soups, digital thermometer and lots of bodily misery.

Thank you for the well wishes. I really appreciated them this week. Let me catch up on the Question of the Day Marathon and I will write up some of the things I've been pondering during my illness.

MFC

WordPress Migration Done!

Articles I liked last week

Making a Living as an Artist

Update on my car

test posting

Side Income

Pulled in all directions? Or just pulling out my hair?

Disgusted

Strange ways of the internet

Cutting off the rumor mill

Trick or Treating the Waiter

Bitterness

Welcome Readers of the New York Times!

Hit & Run Post Day!

Nose Dive: September Net Worth Update

CNN Money Today

NPR Stories

Madame X: Work vs Life

Feeling ill

Networking Tip: LinkedIn.com!

Articles I liked this week

A Shout out to Inchoate Random Abstractions

Saving and Wrinkles

Welcome Readers of My Money Blog!

What's your Coach Count?

ALERT! Open Enrollment Time!

Don't Ask. I don't want to talk about just yet

How NOT to wear a pair of jeans

Happy but Angry at the same time

Articles I liked this week

Bid sniping at Prosper?

Work WITH your management, not against them

A Perfidious Question

Networking Tip: Mentoring & Making new contacts

Networking Tip: Follow through!

My Money Blogger Podcast Interview!

More on networking

Hair update

NPR Stories

Articles I liked this week

Shout out to Amanda & Other Winos!

September Net Worth Delayed

Articles I liked last week

Weddings, they're not just for marriage

4 down, 0 to go!

Small Hiatus

Financial Role Model: Craig Newmark

Daydreaming

How do you know if an ARM is right for you?

Moving back to a cash based economy?

"F.U. Funds", Emergency Funds, Losing Your Job, etc.

Fantastic articles from last week

Referral links for Verizon FIOS service?

Here Piggy Piggy!

Carnival of Personal Finance #67 is Up!

Prosper Experiment

Scratching my head over this one

Scary article about retirement

Food with Integrity?

I won!

I've got chat!

A Litte Moral Outrage Please

Net Bank?

100,000 Miles!

Property tax scare

Got my survey check! & Welcome New Readers!

What Would YOU Do?

My mind on my money and my money on my mind

Autumn is here!

Regarding the 5 year anniversary of 9/11

Tightening the belt

Car Rental Savings

Best article of my short blogging week

Retail therapy?

Happy Birthday Mr. Bug!

More Articles I liked this week + Hiatus

100 Things About Me Meme

Some of my planned 2007 expenses

Articles I liked this week