April showers...

Spring showers came late, but they came nonetheless. Thankfully, they're washing away most of the pollen and my eyes aren't as bad as they've been. The flowering is everywhere and things just look lovely, even though it is still 50 degrees. I'll be missing this weather when it's 100 degrees, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

April was a tricky overall month. It was too out of control for my liking. Even though it was a cash month, some of my expenses were still higher (*cough*parents*cough*) and left me in the -$10 range. Yeah, yeah, I know. Here I am whining over -$10. All I am saying is that this whole monthly-billing may not be for me. I'll try again, but leaving a balance in my cards until the end of the month rather sucks and makes me feel anxious. Though I have the money to pay for it (most of the time... ahem), I feel a bit out of touch with what's going on.

Yet another case of the "I am my worst critic" is the fact that I sent out a total of $665 to loan repayment and $340 to some sort of savings ($100 to IRA, $240 to phone savings). The $340 came as result of two checks from my part time job, $435 total. I only used $95 out of that, so not too bad.

Sorry, I know that's a) boring and b) hard to follow through. In summary, I spent more than I intended, but saved from my unmarked money. I'll call that a win for right now.

The end of the first half of the year is scarily close, and I have big decisions to take... I am supposed to decide whether I want to pursue the SPHR certification (Senior Professional of Human Resources), which would mean I need to start studying by July and sign up for the exam by October. Or I could decide to forget about it, or look into a master's in Management. I would love to stay in HR, but right now, even I have questions. Management is more generic and easier to apply. HR is specialized, and rather capped compared to management, in terms of pay, advancement and opportunities.

Vacation #1 planned!

In previous years, I've submitted my full vacation requests in at work and have most of the things figured out no later than March. I'm not sure what it is about planning, but when it comes to vacations, but I don't like leaving anything to chance and the sooner it is settled, the better. Here we are, almost May, and I didn't have anything planned, so I decided to do some looking around.

(Lena, I have you to blame thanks for this idea!)

Dave Matthews Band is having a concert on 7/26 at VA Beach (3hr drive south), so I thought, heck, why not try that? I've never really been on a concert like this (i.e., not suit'n'tie, and last one was over 15-20yrs ago!), and I have never booked anything. So off the search went. It started up like this:

- Ticket in front section, back seats: $287 after fees not including $25 shipping. (Do they come in gold envelopes?)
- Hotel room: $251/ni for 2 nights from Econolodge. Econolodge is banned by our traveling employees due to their consistent bad quality. Next cheapest: $299 for a 2-star motel. But hey, I wasn't going to be picky in my first concert! Prices were so high due to season and other events.
Total cost for all: $800+
HAHA. Yeah, no. Let's remember my traveling budget for the entire year is $1k. 

I wasn't ready to ditch the idea just yet. I did more searching, and this came up:

- Ticket in second-level section, 3 rows back: $89 with free standard shipping. Tried from a different direct vendor and got these tickets. Ok, I can do this. 
- Hotel room: $78/ni, total $189 after fees at Hilton's through Priceline. This is definitely better! The hotel is half hour away, but I'm used to driving a lot longer from A to B! Even through the actual hotel's link, the price per room was $149, so I'm getting them almost half price. Thanks, Negotiator!
Total cost for all: $278.84! That I can totally do. So it's all booked. It only utilizes 1 of 10 vacation day, but I'm happy to have something to look forward to.

It's also close to the beach, and although I'm/ I used to be/ I'm not sure if I still am hydrophobic, I'd like to try this beach deal. I haven't owned a bathing suit in the past 12 years...

All in all, I'm glad I persisted and found such significant reductions. And all within reasonable budget.

Like a caged bird

I'm not feeling very well these days. My dark green car has turned yellow due to all the pollen in the area, and my eyes are not appreciating it one bit. I developed spring allergies about 2 years, and though I am taking a generic Zyrtec that works as it should, this early heavy season is more of a grin-it-and-bear-it. It will be gone in another week or two, but it doesn't make it any more bearable. I went back to glasses instead of contact lenses a week ago, because scratching my eyes so much was almost guaranteeing that I'd scratch my cornea after ripping a contact. Not good.

Speaking of eyewear... my glasses developed a rather large scratch right across the middle of my right lens. No idea how that happened, but I'll stop by my optometrist's office this weekend and have them take a look at it. It also reminds me that I need to buy new contacts with the new prescription. Not looking forward to either, really.

I promise I'll post the rather boring financial bit later today. I meant to do it this morning, but I was too busy tearing the room apart looking for the rent check I had written yesterday. Found it this afternoon hiding in my blue book, thankfully. I know I'm not that crazy... yet.

Last thing zapping all of the energy is this feeling of being caged, and it's driving me nuts. A lot of things I want to do are somehow being restricted. I can't cook as well as I'd like because as soon as it gets above 65 degrees, oven usage is restricted in the house I rent from, and I'd rather not deal with it. I can't be in the kitchen for long, so long recipes are out, same for anything that requires freezer/fridge storage. I can't sew because "it's too noisy". I keep having these feelings and situations that make me feel like I am trapped, and if my savings plans are to work, I need to stay still for another 2 years. I know I have to stick for another 2 years, and most likely, I will do it. I'm very disciplined, and not afraid to make sacrifices. But it doesn't mean it won't drive me crazy in the process!

Updated financials:
Not good, not bad, not great and not ugly. Pretty standard. Ended up $20 over. Oops. But one loan down,  4 to go. (Loan2 was originally 4 individual pieces with different rates/amounts, now it's 3).

Randomly generated update

There are some days -and some people- who just zap the energy out of you. This weekend, I worked both Friday night and Saturday night with the same group at my part time job, and they were the kind of high-and-mighty condescending people you hope you've only read of in stories. Nothing we did could please them, and even when things went wrong because of their own fault/tardiness, it was our fault and they were not shy about letting us know and demanding it was fixed.

I guess this doesn't apply to a lot of people, but when you are in the service industry where you don't have to exclusively deal with locals, the best tip is to remind yourself is that you probably will never see those people again. Smile and do your best, and know that by the end of the night, they will be gone from your life. I found great comfort in that knowledge as I was rescheduling things for the 4th time with this couple.

This used to be a HUGE stress trigger for me. When I was young and foolish (I may not be that young anymore, and the foolish part is still up for questioning), I used to be cut down, embarrassed, looked down upon by many a condescending guest. A bad experience would sour my weekend and seep into my week as I started to wonder what I did wrong. It took me a few more years to such exposure before I realized that the problem wasn't me; it was them.

Anyway, this weekend I had more errands to run and would not have completed it if I was feeling crummy. They were a bit low importance, but I had been looking forward to them for a week. There will definitely be things day in and day out that will wear you down and try their best to make your days long and miserable, but a lot of the time, it's a choice to allow it. So don't! Debt is hard enough, you don't need to give it any more weapons to use against you.

I am trying to get my income/expense numbers put together for Thursday, as this month was an unexpected cash month with literally no real tracking. That it became a cash month definitely helped out a LOT! I don't know if I would've gone over too too much, but I know I wouldn't have done anywhere as well.

You have credit card debt. Now what?

1) Be responsible - It doesn't matter who you blame. It really doesn't matter how, when or why you got in debt. If you really want to get out of it, don't make excuses, even if they are really good excuses. Just because you blame a person/circumstance/event, it doesn't mean the bank will stop charging you interest and penalties and eating up your income.
2) Get serious! - The longer you wait, the worse it will become. This is not like a diet you will always start that eternal and mythical "next Monday". Start today and get it over it. Don't just say you will, make a plan and stick with it. If you can make it automated, more power to you. For example, have the amount automatically deducted from your bank account at regular intervals, plus freeze the card in a bowl of Jell-O so you don't feel tempted to continue to use it as you pay it down.
3) Know how bad it is - Don't sugarcoat it. Don't turn a blind eye. This is one of the most scary parts because my parents refuse to acknowledge how bad things really are. They're paying over $200 in just interest every month. If you don't think this is enough to care, can you tell me what you would do if I gave you $200/mo? Is that not a worthwhile cause? If not, then break down your hourly wage... is debt worth 20hrs/mo of your time?
4) Know what sort of help is available -  Though the task can be daunting, where there's a will, there's a way. You don't need a professional, but don't think you're alone and can't handle it. Many are or have walked on your shoes. If you're reading this, then you're familiar with blogs. Don't be afraid to ask for help! Many people know tons about finances, and wouldn't hesitate to help out. Also, be inspired; many people in much, much worse situations have done things we can only dream of. Be one of them.
5) Keep up the good fight - You're fighting for you on this one. So don't give up on yourself! You don't have to pay $600 to debt forever. Trust me, you do not. And you will feel so much better when you're funneling these funds to your own dream vacation/car/home/project.

Ok, down from this cheerleader stand. Have a great weekend!

Why credit cards aren’t bad (Part II)

I won’t bore you with the usual “live within your means”, “don’t spend more than what you have” chants. Yes, they are true and yes, they are the key. But hopefully you know that. If you don’t, now you do.

A lot refer to a credit card charges as a 30-day, interest free loan. I don’t like to look at it that way, because it implies you don’t have the money to pay for what you’re charging right now. Refer to the chants mentioned earlier. One of the healthiest ways to use a credit card is as if you were using a debit card: have all of the money somewhere safe, like your checking account, before you even think about charging anything to the card. If you don’t have it, don’t spend it.

Now, here are a few pointers...
1) Know the terms & terminology – Know what your interest rate is, what your payment due date is and when the new statement comes. Know how to read the charges and take a quick glance to make sure you actually charged those things. There’s no shortage of tales of restaurants overcharging on the tip portion, stores swiping the card twice, or online services making a mistake.
2) Know the rules and how to work them in your favor – This one is critical. What’s the use of knowledge if not put to use? Now that you know all the dates, make sure you know how they work. I myself did not know what was due when. Not 100% of your charges are due at the same time, especially if you’ve made them in different months! Use this to your advantage. See this chart below.

3) Make calls – Think you could do better with your card? Call them and make them accommodate you within reason, or walk away. This means asking for a decrease in your APR, an increase in your credit limit, change your due dates or explain things. If this is not your oldest card and you can’t get them to cooperate, consider ditching it after it is paid off. A lot of companies will gladly take your business. If they are your oldest card, consider keeping it and doing the minimum to keep it open, for credit score's sake. A lot of cards will just close your account after so much inactivity. You could also look into upgrading it to a better card that offers you more benefits, or at least one that is less expensive to upkeep. Your interest wont change, but you can skip the yearly fees.
4) Be responsible and accountable – You know the dates, you know what was charged. Do not, I repeat, do NOT turn the blind eye on the card. As I mentioned before, they are rather merciless and will not give you the benefit of the doubt if you go over limit, skip a payment, or let wrong charges go through for months because you didn't check. As with law enforcement, ignorance is not an excuse.

Why credit cards aren’t bad (Part I)

On a regular basis, we’re bombarded with this notion that credit cards are all things evil. Case in point: Paying with plastic can make you fat (seriously?!!). I am very tired of hearing this notion and I don’t think credit cards are bad. I’m tired of being chastised because I own and opt to use my credit cards instead of paying with cash while still being frugal.

I’ll concede to the notion that credit cards were created to take advantage of people, but as they say, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. A credit card is nothing more than a tool, and if I decide to repeatedly use it wrongfully, it still doesn’t make it a bad tool; it makes me a bad user.

Here’s a rundown of the cards I own and why. This is not an advertisement, but I want to show you the method to my madness with real examples.

1. Chase Freedom – First card I opened (because the previous 2, CC1 and CC2 were opened/maxed by my mother). I got this card while still paying off the BOA card, but needed the flexibility to pay for things without adding to BOA. Though their bonus changes every quarter, the most notable ones are 5% cash-back for gas, grocery stores, restaurants and pharmacies. 1% on everything else. I’ve gotten $700 back since last year from promotions and charging what I was already going to buy, and have not paid 1c of interest.
2. BOA Better Rewards – Since my old BOA card is indeed my oldest, closing it would’ve done much damage to my credit score (8 years of history zapped!). Instead, I upgraded it and get to keep my credit history. I do hate BOA a lot, but this isn’t about favorites. It’s payback time, to the tune of $120/yr for doing what I am already doing: charging things to my card, getting a base 1% cash-back on it, and paying them in full before they accrue interest. Cost to me: $0.
3. Amex Blue Cash – My newest card, which mostly came to be because I did not have an Amex card and they run a lot of good promotions throughout the year and offer pretty decent cash back. I do get a one-time $150 sign up bonus, but within a month of getting it, I’ve already taken advantage of one of their offers and turned up an extra $70 in my pocket.

Those are my 3 active cards, and all of the proceeds have gone towards my savings goals or my debt. I look at it as small, unexpected extra income. I am by no means encouraging anyone to go out and get credit cards, but I’m jumping on their defense that when used properly, they can be a good tool… an unforgiving, inflexible and uncaring good tool. They won’t yield when you lose your job and miss a payment, or lend you a listening, understanding ear when you charged up $2k and can’t pay it off due to emergency situations. They will still force you to pay interest and penalties for years if all you can do is pay minimums.

I support the no-temptation method where people do not get credit cards because they’d rather do without the temptation. But I also support smart spending. And getting $30/quarter for charging my phone bill to a credit card without paying any interest (because I paid it right off from my bank account) seems like smart spending to me.

What's your general take on credit cards? Love them? Hate them? Or are you indifferent? Am I the only one who seems to be chastised because I use my card instead of cash?

You've saved enough for your goal!... now what?

You had a plan in mind and you made it through. You chose to save those $5's instead of going for a borderline lesser want. Now you have all the money you needed for that so coveted want. You deserve it!... but so much time has passed that you're not even sure you want that want. What happens next?

That's my situation now. Since they announced the lineup of Blackberry phones a year and a half ago, I've had it on my mind. I chose to forgo upgrades to favor this new phone that was delayed 3 times and is finally scheduled to come no later than June (unless they reschedule it--again). Now that I have saved the $650 for it to pay full price since I can't opt for the subsidy, I am having some doubts.

I'll confess I don't want to spend that much money on it. The phone is pretty much all that it promises to be. It's 10+ times better than my current phone, which is 4 generations below. However, this long wait time has resulted in several "sleep on it before making a big decision" nights. The phone itself is as fantastic as it promises to be... and it's not even out yet. It has its pluses, it has its minuses.

To appease my mind that needs to have options, even if it's not real options, I've been looking at the previous generation, the Blackberry 9930. Without getting technical, this phone is a whole lot better than mine, but the Q10 (newest coming out with a physical keyboard) definitely beats it hands down. To put it in perspective, it's like going from Windows 98 to Windows 7. And I do like Win7.

I'm not going to stick with the purchase just out of spite, but I think I'll wait it out to see how the phone works for a month or two after it is launched. If I don't think the extras are worth it, I may just get the previous generation for $150~$200 out the door.

What do you do when you've been working so hard for a want, only to find out you may not want it as much as you originally thought? Or specifically, that you really do not want to spend the money you saved so hard for it?

March in Review

I'm still tracking all of my expenses (thank you Quicken). Instead of boring y'all with numbers, I'll throw a pretty graphic and call it a day. This is for all that happened during the month of March, minus transfers to savings, since Quicken doesn't register those.

Things worth mentioning... my top 3 categories.

1) Green: Loan payments- I paid over $700 to my SL2! That's dropping fast!.. but that'll be the last month for it until August. Loan2 is broken into 4 loans bundled. Two with low balance, 2.50% interest, one with a low balance (which was PAID OFF TODAY!) and 6.55% interest, and the mammoth one at 6.55% interest which is my next target after my car fund is repaid.
2) Blue: Rent - 'Nuff said.
3) Yellow: Parents - ... ditto.

Funny to note: Red and orange#2, my shopping and food - I spent only $150 on myself in March. Ouch!

I used my car fund (a total of $2k) last October to pay off my parents' car. I never rebuilt it. So from this pay on, I'll work on it at full force. This means that until August, all of my extra snowball money will go to that fund. But don't worry, that means little in the negative side. I knew this loan against myself had to be paid at some point, so it's already been factored in with all of my plans.

I'm not sure why, but even if it's only $2k, I 'd like to have that fund back. It never stays for long, but maybe this time it will. I also like the safety of knowing that I can pay for car repairs or if my car goes kaput, I could use it as a very, very very very tiny down payment.

Happy Friday!

There is a WASP in my car!

Ok. One of the things I hate about warming temperatures, exclusive to spring and early summer, is bees and wasps. It got up to 88 today, so while trying to take a nap in my car, I of course had my windows down, but only 1/4 to 1/3 down. Then BAM! I hear the buzzing. I freak out and jump out with no shoes on, to find a wasp in my rear windshield. Great!

I spend 15 min trying to... well, trying to THINK what to do. So I grab my shoes and my bag and go back to work. Now I definitely do not have an incentive to head back to the house!... on the other hand, I have to find a way to deal with this in the next hour. Sigh.

Doesn't help that the entrance to my work is under an arcade entrance surrounded by greenery, that attracts mass amounts of carpenter bees (or honey bees, I can't tell). We have to run/dash towards the entrance every day... not fun.

I've also had something flying in my car as I am driving, but it's usually a smaller bee or a fly. I'll take the fly, thank you. But the initial panic just has me wanting to pull over and run flailing my arms. How do you deal with a wasp in your car? Any advice?

A Goonies-style dream

I just had to share this particular dream that had me laughing upon waking. The setting is more or less like The Goonies, minus the adventure and the Cyndi Lauper song. (For those that haven't seen the movie, it's a must! But the synopsis is a bunch of kids go pirate ship's treasure hunting, villains at their tail who force them out of the ship and treasure, all while losing all of the treasure, the ship and getting arrested. Back home, the kids are losing their home because the parents couldn't afford the house. They discover that they had pocketed away some treasure from the ship and save the day).

But anyway, it was me and my brother with that little bag of jewels at the end, worth 1 million in dreamworld currency. Our parents were losing the house, and now we're deciding what to do exactly. Well, my brother was, anyway. He was thinking about buying himself a house in the 500k's. Talking about all the stuff it must have, most of it optional stuff. I am trying to talk some sense into him that those "musts" were actually "would be nice to have"s. Then my mother calls him and tells him not to get that house he's been wanting... but to go for something MORE expensive and better. All I can think of is the upkeep costs from a property that large.

I woke up a bit after, frustrated, but laughing at the nonsense. That seems to be the stage of my life with a lot of friends. They're making some questionable or just plain bad financial decisions because they want more, more and more, but won't worry about what comes "later", such as all the money wasted and interest accrued.

It is indeed something very bad to give financial advice to others that differs from their views, and they will take some offense faster than if you argued religion or politics with them. How do you approach that? Any way to give people some sensible advice about how to handle their finances, or do you just go hands off and watch them tumble down the wrong path?

Do you buy for now or for the future?

I know that me purchasing a car is still 12-18mo off, but I still have to wonder. For the longest time, I wanted something that was only for me. Something that would reasonably accommodate me and my current needs. A 2-door made a lot of sense; small, cheaper in most cases, economic on fuel and good for the long haul. And sort of cute. That is, in my guesstimated opinion.

I have no idea what the future holds for me, but if I intend to keep the same vehicle for 7+ years, I may need something a bit bigger. Not SUV, 10 seat big, but a 4dr for starters. I don't like big, long cars anyway. I always find myself giving people rides home after my PT job, or offering to friends, so a more accommodating vehicle would be realistic.

How did you determine what you needed out of your first car? How about your first home? I have convinced myself I want a 2br home for starters (I'm TIRED of being canned in a single room!), but eventually would like a 3br in case I have the opportunity to pursue adoption.

Fighting responsibility

I know that I use the cop-out that I wasn't the one to get myself in debt more often than I deserve to. Mostly in battles with myself when I'm getting frustrated at my progress, or how I see it, the lack of. "I didn't go buying expensive things, or even many cheap things". Fine. I didn't. But if I wasn't a part of the solution, I was certainly part of the problem. I have fully taken responsibility on this, but why is it that it still gets me so bitter and worked up?

At the very beginning of this blog, I very... naively mentioned that I didn't want to be different from other people in debt. I wanted to blame myself and learn the hard way, to be the one that bought things I couldn't afford. Instead, I was the one that sat and turned a blind eye while others made (bad) decisions for me. I guess we all have our demons to fight, but I realized they are all very different from other people's.

In the midst of yet another losing battle against myself, I got around to updating my debt counter, and something caught my eye... not only is my net-worth just $500 away from $5,000 in the green (it was very negative just this past October), but my debt has fallen under $10K to $9,939! I'd say that's reason enough to celebrate. I'll fight the good fight another day.

As far as my finances... well, still on cruise control. BO-ring. Finding a few bumps along the road, especially on my tracking, but I haven't gone grocery shopping all this week!... wait, that's not something to be proud. I guess I just don't have much of an appetite these days. Kind on the wallet, especially since I've been spending all of my extra money at my parents'.

A quick post...

I mentioned I gave up and bought a new camera battery. I also mentioned I was switching my wardrobe. Sadly, the two didn't come together to return my old camera battery. Darn you, ghost! Very disappointed I didn't find the battery, but oh well. Back to folding donations.

However, since I have a working camera... I thought I'd share a few things with you...

Yup, that's the face behind all this aimless ranting. And her pretty new necklace. Pardon the lack of photography skills and the no-makeup face. I still don't know how to work either. One of these days...

But that's not what you came for! Here's the coat I promised. Total cost from Sears: $15. I love after-season shopping. It's going back on a hanger on its original bag with some cut-off Downy sheets so it stays nice until next Spring.

That's all for now! No financial wisdom/nonsense from me today. Enjoy spring where it's showing (like in here, with gorgeous, sunny and breezy 55 degrees!).