Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Review of Nov Goals

The dust has finally settled, and I did well. I have no idea how it went so well, and that definitely worries me. I was estimating I'd have about $40 left, but somehow I ended up with $92 leftover.

Though I'd like to think that I'm pretty good at handling money, things like these where I end up losing my cool and control of my budget really do worry me. Every purchase is accounted for, and all expenses have been paid. I'm glad I'm over and not under, but when money moves more times than I was expecting it to, it makes me very nervous and a bit stressed out. My budget's quite inflexible on that respect.

Regardless, I'm glad to be done with that bit of a mess!

Since November is pretty much done for me, here's an update on the goals I set at the beginning of the month and how I fared:
- Goals 1-2: Scheduled both of my appointments (PCP and eye doctor.)
- Goal 3: Got my EF to $650, goal was $600, original was $570
- Goal 4: Finished all Christmas planning and shopping (except for myself, if I'm getting anything)
- Goal 5: Ok. I'm halfway through the Christmas card drafting. Short and sweet works for me. I'll finish those today, address, label and get postage in two weeks to send them out.
- Goal 6 (Optional): Originally I wanted $200-$300 extra for Black Friday, and then switched it to $300 for an iPad for my dad. I got $245 if we count the $92 I've been left with from this paycheck. Not sure if this is a success or a failed goal, but since I didnt find any iPads on decent sales (actually, completely missed a good sale), I don't feel bad about it at all. I'll keep that money until after December sitting on standby, and if it's not used by then, off to my EF or Murphy fund it goes.

NOW we're officially into the Christmas season. Time to roll out next year's budget plan and goals too. Here's to wishing everybody's December is a calm and good one!

Friday, November 23, 2012

Shopping can get expensive

First of all, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! (Mine was lousy, so let's leave it at that.)

I'll be honest; I'm not very proud with my shopping skills. Since most of my family is getting cash, I thought I was done. Then came my Adopt-a-bear girls (one 6yo, one 12yo), and that put some extra pressure on my budget. The total for them two was not to exceed $100 for both.

However, here's my current count so far:

6yo girl:
$24 for 2 outfits + 2 packs of socks
$15 for 3 DVDs
$3 for coloring/sticker book
Still missing doll and crayons (approx $20)

12yo girl:
$25 for boots with fur (gotta love that)
$6 for 3 belts
$10 for 3 necklaces
Still missing an outfit (approx $15)

That totals $83, and I'm still missing 3-4 items (doll, crayons, outfit). Not entirely happy about it, but I'll manage. While in the mall, I ended up making some impulse buys. One for my sister-in-law and my mother (total of $40). Online, I got some gifts for my brother's kids ($21). The interesting thing about the kids' toys is that it came from $61 to $21 thanks to an online certificate and a coupon, so I don't feel terrible. NOW I am officially done shopping for my family. Other than that, a $6 meal at the mall completes my budget wreckage.

I may be able to get out of this mess unscattered (by using all of my food/personal money for the next two weeks--ouch!), but I won't know until the 28th, after all the smoke clears. Good news is, I'm still quite on track with my EF, which sits nice and pretty at $650. I have to find a place to cash my coins if my bank won't do it, and then I can scratch off that from my to-do list.

Overall, a bit stressed with all the movement of money, but it will be ok. I can't panic at the unknown. Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm not working on Saturday, so I'll take the time to relax and for goodness sake's, clean my room. It is such a disaster!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for...


1. My friends. Couldn't/wouldn't do it without them.
2. My two jobs and the people I work with.
3. My health and well-being; mental and physical strength
4. My car that is still going the miles, even if only 1 window works
5. The place I rent, and the people I rent for (even if they still think full-time vegetarians eat bacon)
6. This past year and the wonderful experiences I've had (vacations and traveling)
7. This past year's bad experiences (they test my limits and make me stronger; give me more resolution to reach my goals)
8. My family. Enough said.
9. My budget (I do love how things work, even when they don't work)
10. My new work shoes (even if they're apparently smaller on my right foot and feel tight at the end of the night, they are SUCH a positive difference!)
Flats I was using as all purpose and new work shoes. 
11. Free Christmas cards!
12. This blog and the people that stop by. It makes the journey all the more enjoyable, and sometimes easier, even when things just suck.


So that's 12! Now, if only I could say it was Friday and I was glad that Thursday was over with! That'd be worth a spot on my top 12 things. 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Weekend Recap

Going to my parents' house for the weekend is usually either a bad idea or a bad idea. I don't have a choice, and it isn't often as bad as I think it is, but it's still something that if I could avoid, I definitely should. However, driving after 10hrs of work for an hour at 1am just isn't my idea of a safe commute.

Something I *can* control is how long I stay at their house. Now that my mother's back from her out-of-the-country trip, I'm more than happy to ditch Sunday morning. When she was away, I'd just stay in and spend some time with my dad and leave Monday morning for work. This Sunday, she decided to go on an all-day shopping trip (groceries and more hoarding items), so it was pretty much like she wasn't there. She left at about 10am and didn't return until 9pm.

But anyway, where this becomes relevant is that I stayed in instead of leaving. I was supposed to go to the mall and get the toys, boots, necklaces and clothes for my Adopt-A-Bear girls. I hate shopping at malls (or in general, really), but I stayed in and helped dad with some computer issues and some designing troubleshooting. We were just hanging out for most of the day, while I kept saying I had to get going. Yeah, we saw how well *that* went!

Now onto the expenses... it came to 3pm and we were both hungry. There was no food (my mother apparently put grocery shopping off for too long... hmm, I guess that's where I inherited that!), so we went to the store with intentions of buying something to eat. It was just for me and my dad. And my younger sister. And her friend. And other brother. But in our minds, it was just for us two. We bought some sodas and juices, total of $10. Then some takeout (KFC) for $28. I paid for all of it, since I'm... well, me. That, and that my dad didn't have any money either (though he was happy to pay for it with their debit card without any knowledge of what was left on it!).

I was already $12 into the hole, so now I'm a full $40 behind. Normally, this wouldn't be much of a big deal; but I had to go ahead and push it. I bought $90 worth of paper products (TP, napkins, tissues) for their house, since guess what... they were all out. For weeks. And had little intention of replenishing it. I have to wonder how that household works out, but it's not worth the headache. Good news is, I only spent $54 for all of it, thanks to some sales they had at Staples and a coupon. I did well, but it is still money I shouldn't have spent.

I know it's not an emergency, but I'm borrowing $50 from myself to cover at least the latter purchase. It'll just make this week be a bit easier mentally. I'll pay it back, promise!

Other than that, I've spent $45 on my brother's family blanket (which came today and it looks fantastic), as well as $27 on gifts for the Adopt-A-Bear kids (DVDs and coloring books). That leaves me with about $73 to cover for everything else. A co-worker semi jokingly offered to go with me to the mall on Friday after Thanksgiving, if we get off work early. I may just take her up on that offer... But this weekend's quality time is something I'm definitely thankful for. The expenses... not so much!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thanksgiving

I have always found Thanksgiving a bit humorous. We did not have it back in the Caribbean, so it was all new to me. And all the more strange. It is right up there with celebrating Columbus Day as a national holiday in the islands:




Yeah. I do find that funny. BUT, the holiday has evolved... both in a few hundred year's span as in a 50-year span. Instead of going into a new place and taking peoples' land and throwing them out of their homes, people sit together with family and celebrate being together, and the abundance in their lives. In a span of 50 years, it has gone from that ‘togetherness holiday’ to a commercial turkey day. Just get together (which is a logistics nightmare) with your 'loved' (or at least partially bearable) family and share a huge meal, followed by food-coma for a few hours while you prep yourself for Black Friday (or Cyber Monday).

All joking aside, though, I’ll gladly take any opportunity I can to be thankful for what I have. Last year's reasons to be thankful still stand. I need to give some thought and count my blessings before Thanksgiving night, when I'll be hating the world big time since I get to spend time with my family. [[shivers]] So I'll report back once I have a pretty good list! This year has so far been very good, and very challenging. So I will certainly have plenty of blessings to count. I encourage you to do the same, before the holiday busy time eats up all your time!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Adopt a Bear

At work, we normally get together with Social Services and provide for 1-2 families' Christmas by buying, wrapping and donating toys for the children, blankets, clothes, coats and usually a food gift card for the parents. This year we decided to try something different: we contacted Adopt-A-Bear.

The preliminary info they gave us was vague at least. We contacted them back in August, hoping to hear from them by October. But not hearing anything, we contacted them on Friday morning, and they were very nonchalant; they said they'd drop by that afternoon. We got a tree and the tags; we had requested 20 tags for an office of 9 people. We were given the impression we had to provide 1-2 gifts per child, plus clothing.

Not such luck! We have to get at least 5 gifts per kid. Each of us got 2 children, and we'll try to split the last 2. We were all a bit shocked at the amount of gifts and some of the requests. I had planned to just buy for 'my kids' from my misc./personal money as I've done in the past, but with 10+ gifts, this will need a separate budget. And it needs to be done by Nov 30 instead of December 15...

It is kind of cute what some of the kids were requesting. Lots of dolls, Power Rangers (that stuff is still on tv?!), Cookie Monster pjs, barbies... And though I'm not one to judge, some of the gifts were rather unusual to what we had gotten in the past. I'm talking about Xbox games, Xbox controllers, Nintendo 3DS games, typewriters, etc.

I got lucky with my two girls; the 6 year old is asking for baby dolls and kids DVDs (princess themed), and the 12 year old has me puzzled... I don't want to sound inept to race, but she's African American and wants a 'hair appointment'. My extent of a hair appointment is a trim every other year, so I'll be going to local African American salons and asking them what does a 12 year old want. She also wants boots with fur (we were all humming to that song), belts and necklaces. I've already started looking online for the boots, and found some decent deals. I need to get more familiarized with kid's fashion first and make sure I'm getting her something nice. I don't even get boots myself! So wish me luck. I'm capping my spending at $80, that I may have to recoup in December. But I'm afraid I may go up to $100 if I go for coats too.

Does your workplace/family do anything like this? How do you shop for it?

Friday, November 9, 2012

Heading into the weekend and some unsent letters


You guys and gals know Andrea from SoOverThis, right? I love her and her posts are super enjoyable and witty. I especially love her unsent letters, even though they come from deep frustration. As I had mentioned my struggle to write honest messages in my Christmas cards for my family, and now having ordered said cards, I can no longer ignore I need to start drafting letters. I'll take y'all's advice to go easy on me and do something short, sweet and generic. For my own good (and theirs). However, that wont stop me from writing what I'd really wish I could say... like this:

To my younger brother,

Has it already been a year since we last actually held a conversation? Actually, it’s been more like 16 months. How time flies! Remember that last engaging conversation we had about how you had not paid our father’s car loan for 3 months and decided not tell anyone? The $200 in late fees I had to absorb (on top of the unplanned taking over the car loan) really did create a challenge in my budgeting. How kind of you to remember I love challenges, especially right after I moved out of our parents’ home! Thank you for not letting me slack off! But the fees were the lesser part of our conversation. What of you letting the family car insurance lapse for 2 full months before I discovered we no longer had coverage (and I had to pay the fees and overdue balance while hunt for new insurance), or how our older brother and sister in law were unable to qualify for the loan on the house they loved thanks to those late fees in the car that trashed his credit just as they were house hunting? That was great. There is never a dull moment with you.

But let’s not dwell in the past! It was really pleasant to see you last month. I had come off from working my full time job to my part time job two days straight and crashed at our parents’ house on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I had parked my car on the street by our mailbox, where guests and strangers park, instead of in the driveway. You coming at 6am the following morning and waking me up to move my car from “your” spot was just what I needed to get my day started. I do hate oversleeping, and it's just a very bad habit. Friends don't let friends oversleep on Sundays! I was really inconsiderate to think that 2 spots open in our driveway were enough. And I do say this honestly, but how rude of me not to expect you, when you haven’t been to our parents’ house for over 6 months and you were showing there unannounced. 

I know we did not talk a lot, but perhaps next time you may share some words of wisdom regarding that brand new car you were driving. Glad to see that shorting your family has paid off so handsomely! And I do hope you’re enjoying your new position. I heard that our sister in law was about to get that promotion, but we both know you deserved it more, even as a new hire with 'a friend' inside the company. Stay well this holiday season.

****

To my mother,

Sorry. I don’t think I’m ready to put that one together!
But have a great weekend! Weather is supposed to be beautiful around here, and though I’m working, I’ll be sure to enjoy it as well.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Christmas Cards: get 10 free from Cardstore!

Just thought I'd share this with you guys. Today you can get 10 free personalized Holiday/Season's Greetings cards (with photos or without photos). The offer is through Cardstore, and can be found at the link below. Use coupon code: CCN2433
http://www.cardstore.com/shop/holiday

Needless to say, I'm taking 10 cards off my list. Also, I saw this one...
Inside verse: Thanks for the love you give so generously, the love that fills so many favorite memories - the love that will always mean so much.
HAHAHA. No.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Sometimes I make myself wonder...

Once upon a time, I created a blog tab, sort of like a memo or a notebook to jot stuff down. It's nice to have access to things from anywhere at any time. I stopped updating it sometime last year, but as I was updating my goals, I came across it. Reading it, I was between laughing and wondering what was wrong with me. Thought I'd share so you can wonder too! Keep in mind these were thoughts going through my head as I was a first-time on-my-own person, after moving out of my parents'. A lot had to do with food, since my first goal was to start eating healthy right after moving.

-Baby carrots come in an enclosed package for a reason.
(I guess I tried putting them in a container for tomatoes with lots of ventillation and they went bad rather quickly)
-There is a reason why mashed potatoes are done with peeled potatoes + Russell Potatoes are not for mashed potatoes
(Yeah. Yuck.)
-Cheddar cheese is not for pizzas
(Didn't brown well?)
-Pizza dough can last forever
(I didn't die of food poisoning from using a home made 3.5mo old frozen pizza dough)
-There is such a thing as too many spices
(I do tend to over-spice my meals...)
-Squashes look a lot like cucumbers
(Guess who had raw squash in their salad and didn't like it?!)
-Automated state tolls give out $1 coins as change
(Pleasant surprise during my 15hr trip to IL. I do love those $1 coins!)
-There will be construction in every state you travel
(So plan for delays and knicks in your car)
-Mayo doesn't travel very well
(Attempted food-poisoning at forementioned trip)
-Coupons for car repair stores are good forever, even after expiry date
(Not sure? My mechanic told me so and it worked at a few different places!)

I will try to continue adding to that list, if only for the entertainment value... Do you have any such silly truths you encountered during your first firsts? (Like moving out, cooking with a new method/ingredient, doing new/unusual tasks?)

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Almost Year-End checkup

I finally got around to doublechecking my goals, and for 2012, I didn't do that bad at all! I actually did great. Am I not setting my goals high enough or something? A lot of them were accomplished by sheer luck (paying $2000 on the car), or in retrospective, maybe I set them too low (coupon/donations). I'll be a bit more methodical for 2013, and include stretch goals to go along with normal goals to challenge myself.

Goals set for 2012:
1. Snowballs equal to $1,500, stretch goal of $2,000 [[As of 11/1/12 - $3,185! PASS!]]
2. Reduce debt by 45% of total (down to $13,500 from start point of $22,000 on 1/1/12).[[As of 11/1/12 - $12,946! PASS!]]
3. Use coupons totaling $150 (as of 7/1/12: $371.09)-- stopped counting. [[PASS!]]
4. Save $600 for Christmas 2012, (as of 11/1/12 - $525. Will complete by end of Nov. In progress!)
5. Save $800 for vacation in April and/or June [[Done Apr'12-- PASS!]]
6. Get a camera and take 120 photos [[As of 11/1/12: 130. Not very good ones! But PASS!]]
7. Replace car [[Taking ownership of loaner car, May'12]] PASS(?)/Goal Changed.
8. Make 12 cookbook recipes [[11/1/12: 7 made... FAIL]]
9. Read 12 books [[11/1/12: 4... FAIL!]]
10. Lose about 12lbs [[11/1/12: Lost up to 15, gained 3 back. But PASS!]]
11. Donate either 100 items or $100 worth of items/food [[as of 11/1/12: $230, 68 items-- PASS!]]
12. TBA [[Ha! I fail at goal making!]]

So by December, unless I get to cooking and reading, it seems I would've succeeded in 9 out of 11 goals. Yup. I need to be a lot tougher with myself! I don't want to rush and get goals for next year just yet (because that's what December is for), so I'll delay that. I don't want to set myself up for failure, but I can't help to think that I am just not pushing myself enough with these goals. How did you do during this year?

Monday, November 5, 2012

Small grocery stop

In my attempt to stretch my money and meet my November goal of getting an additional $200-300, I saw that I hadn't gone grocery shopping for myself in the last 10 days... I had the full $60 left in my bank account and $10 in cash. I had to put gas in my car, so I only put a partial tank for $18. Anyone else super glad that the gas prices are  actually coming down?!

I ended up getting some personal items, some lettuce, tomatoes and ziplock bags, all for $10. This was after about a half hour self-argument with myself about it, because I wanted just to get some takeout food instead! For $10, takeout would last me for two meals or more, and I could just cook the rest of the week away. I just wasn't in the mood for cooking yesterday by the time I got to the house, but I was quite hungry.

Sucks to be responsible sometimes. Instead, I was good and bought the produce to make lunch for the remaining of the week and made a quick dinner. Good news is that I can relocate the $40 to my Nov goals. My extra EF goal is done, and I'm down to $60 more for my Christmas fund. These 'money moves' of not getting a want only sting for so long. Though I'm fully over it now (I sure sound spoiled, don't I?), I was really not happy with myself about it while standing at the grocery store.

Temperatures are expected to be in the 40's all week (it was 78 degrees 2 weeks ago!), and I'm looking forward to some warm soup dishes. I cannot cook soup, but I should eventually try. I have also updated all of my goals for the year's end, and will be posting them after I do some more tallying. Stay warm!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Answers about "home"

Have you answered Mysti's 3 Friday questions yet? If not, go ahead! It's a nice, fun distraction from politics, disasters and budgets, and it really made me think, especially her third question! (What's the farthest you've been away from "home?")

These days, I'm starting to feel a bit apprehensive about the holidays. As I've done for the past 6-8 years. Holidays to us means forced "together time" with the family. Which means my mother will start cursing at us for how we turned out while we're trying to eat a holiday meal as fast as we can, just so we can go into our rooms, lock the doors and put some headphones on, since she will have some music on (which we all hate) turned on REALLY high while she preaches against us. It's lovely. Nice china, good food, lousy company and lousier ambiance music. It makes me glad that I have to work the next day after Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But anyway, it's too early to worry about that. What has been bugging me a bit is that once again I am starting to feel "homesick". I miss my IL friends and my IL home with them. But it will be another 4-6 months before I can go there again. Actually, I have no idea what my time frame is this time around! It's usually either April (when they have time off and conventions are going on), or the summer time.

A look at my Bluebook tells me that I start planning for next year's trips in December, if just for budgeting reasons. Darn. Too early for that as well. Maybe I need to go back to drafting Christmas cards...

I saw some people start planning 2013. I need to get that ball going too! Maybe I'll take another look at how I am doing and update my Goals tab. It's been needing some keeping up for a while. Have a great Saturday! Stay warm!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Shopping Plans


I promise this will be my last Christmas-related post for a while. I just want some closure with all of this planning.

As I had said, I wasn't going to open my jar until I had figured most of my gifts. And I did! My family is getting all cash. Go on, boo at me. I just don't feel that close to any of them to do anything personalized (other than my older brother).

The cash breakdown will be: $100 for each parent (yes, because they are getting separate amounts, mostly so my dad can claim his!). For my 3 younger siblings, each gets $50 and a card. Same for my landlords. I feel bad because I end up rushed at the end of the year and have failed to get them something. Not this year! Another expense will be $60 for the family blanket for my brother. This all comes up to about $480, including the cost of cards. I have $120 left in my budget. I have to get something for my half brother, but he usually sets a price cap of $20, so neither of us spends money we don't have. I can get a heck of a lot for $20. My other best friends... one is in China and refuses to let me get him something because of shipping costs into the country. My other best friend, his family has decided to forgo Christmas trading as well. Guess the economy is bothering everyone. I wont do gifts for them, but probably a card. Then an additional 3-4 cards to more distant friends. My plan is to have them all done by the end of Nov.

About the cards for my family... It is one of the hardest things to do. Since I can't just put cash in an envelope, I'll also be attaching Christmas cards. Aaaaand that's when things get difficult. I started trying to draft the letters... and kept going from one family member to the next. Not many nice things to say. Can't even bluff it, and I can bluff pretty good. I couldn't bring myself to say something nice, and I refuse to do something generic. It started to churn on my stomach after a while, growing tired of trying to think of good things in them and failing miserably, being reminded of the less nicer things they've done. The hardest two are my immediate younger brother (who is a jerk) and my mother, of course. I'll keep trying, and hopefully I can come up with something semi-genuine...

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Contents of my Christmas Jar

Alright, time for the reveal. With lots of photos, because I was quite bored!

This was my 'jar'. It was a candy container last year I 'sealed' with red wax. A candle was all I had handy and I had to improvise! 

This is what it looks open. The red thing at the bottom is actually the second cover, which was supposed to not let me see the amount of money that was in it, but it got pushed down by the bills. There was more below! 

These were my latest additions. In order not to use the $200 'by mistake', I deposited it in my unused Bank of America account. So I gave myself an I.O.U. Then there's the $80 from Oct.'s overage. I forgot to picture the $120 I.O.U. from my credit card rewards.

And here's all the goodies! Plus...

A Chinese cookie fortune. I must've put it there to remind me of something. Just can't think of what... 

Here it is all counted up. The totals below.

I ended up with: $1.12 in pennies, $0.95 in nickles, $3.30 in dimes, $3.50 in quarters, $7 in $1 coins, $11 in $1 bills, $20 in $5 bills, $10 in $10 bills, and $40 in $20 bills. That's a total of $96.87! A lot more than I was expecting, and so close to $100, but barely under it.

My Christmas fund as of right now consists of $200 in bank credits, $176.87 in cash, $120 in credit card rewards (blue sticky note), and $30 in Target gift cards. That's $526.87, leaving me $73.13 short from my goal. No biggie! I'm actually quite pleased with the results, and will definitely do this jar next year. May not be a big money-pot, but it's fun to see how little amounts can come together. Now to figure out how to cash in these coins. I've heard about banks that have free counting machines, but I don't have an account with them and need to check if they'd take my coins anyway. No way I'm doing CoinStar! 

Tomorrow, I will detail what my Christmas shopping will look like... or is looking like. Happy Friday eve!