Thursday Budget Recap 2/28

Good bye February, and good riddance! Thankfully, there was nothing unexpected in the budget. I did spend close to $50 at my parents' house, but I had enough leftover in other categories to make up for it.

Surprising that someone could spend $20 in food to cover for two weeks. But that does come at a high cost: I'm out of a lot high-cost items like olive oil, regular oil and meats, so my budget will not be this lucky for this upcoming paycheck. I'm getting really good at buying only what I need and rationing it correctly. That makes purchasing of food, especially produce, a breeze. It also has completely eliminated food waste!... that is, if things go as planned.

Something that helped this month: instead of considering my part time job's money as extra, I counted it as a snowball and moved it that same Friday. Out of sight, out of mind, and completely protected against getting spent in one way or another. That made me a very happy camper! I will most likely continue to do that, maybe sending it to my Ally savings account with hopes that I can collect $1,000 to open up an IRA.

Last, March is a 3-paycheck month! I'm so excited, as this extra check gives me about $700 for my vacation fund. Vacation which I still don't have a destination for. But hey, why rush? It'll come when it comes. I have another 7 months to use my vacation time before I lose it.

Ready for the spring!

There are so many good things about spring. It's just a lovely season and I'm so, so ready for it. 3 more weeks of this winter nonsense, and we can hopefully stop freezing. Here are some other things I thought may be affected by this season change:

End of Winter sales: Yeah, yeah. Who wants to spend more money? Me neither. But now is the time to stock up on all of those winter goodies, such as gloves, hats, super warm sweaters and coats. It's also a good time to get space heaters (if you use any), car snow-brushes and shovels.

Beat the tax season: Taxes suck, and I can vouch for that. If you do your taxes yourself, now is the time to look for promotions on software like TurboTax and TaxAct. Some places will let you file your taxes for free -- Federal and state (like H&R Block online) if you're under a certain income level. I'm lucky enough to qualify. Or unlucky, depending how you look at it.

Personal care changes: Do you use allergy medications for different seasons? Do you switch your eyeware? I do. I need to order my new contacts, and probably buy some zyrtec now before they hike up the prices. How about seasonal work? Thankfully for me, the start of spring means my PT job will be getting busier and a bit more constant. For some, it may mean the opposite, or may not affect you at all.

Exercise and diet: Obvious ones, but the season brings a larger variety of produce and fruits. You can store the soups away and go for cooler dishes, and why not, bring out the grill. Dump the inside gym and go for a walk.

Activities: After hibernating for a few months, some of us are just itching to go out without looking like we need help getting out of our coats. How about planning some low-cost spring activities? Lots of seasonal restaurants offer really cheap fares to lure their customers early, and parks host events to get people going. Instead of making it a point not to go anywhere until something happens (more money appears, more savings appear, a wedding, a birthday party), plan ahead.

Is it March 20th yet?

What about warranties?

I'm a textbook introvert. Being outspoken does NOT come naturally for me, which is why I made it into a personal goal.

Maybe that is why I make such a big deal of my quest to get $1~$5 back from the grocery store when they mischarge me for something... which happens more often than I think should be statistically possible. But to quote from Evan Almighty (in the voice of Morgan Freeman): "If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous?". If that's the case, then He's surely giving me a run for my money.

This tale starts with my disappointment this weekend where I failed. I was trying to take advantage of some sales at Walgreens, and could not bring myself to ask someone for the location of the items that were on sale. I spent a total of 3 trips and still would not ask. I looked everywhere, and walked away empty handed. I was disappointed, but the higher powers waste no time providing me with a new opportunity.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I am a girl.)

This morning out of nowhere, I was thinking about the Instyler I use to do my hair. Thus far, it has been the only tool that can do my hair in under 3hrs. I've been using the Instyler for over 4 years now and wouldn't look elsewhere. The catch? It costs about $60 from eBay at the cheapest, and seems to last about 2yrs (to be fair, I use it for 1.5~2hrs at a time, once a week). Mine has been passing the 2 year mark, and the cracking has started.

I know I have to replace mine once it breaks, which could be anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months from now. Then this morning I did a quick search and found the same authorized seller on ebay. She always offered a 3yr warranty on these items. So I thought, why not? Sure, it's been 2 years, but it's worth a shot. I sent her an email with all the info and got a reply. She'll replace it free of charge. I get to keep the old one. I did include photos of the cracking and damage on the item, so I guess it isn't a rarity and the seller was aware. But for just 5min of trying, I just saved myself another $60. I also got my mouse replaced for free, as it had about a week of warranty left. From now on, I'm keeping all of my receipt and warranty info stored somewhere safe. You never know when you may use them again.

Cornbread kind of weekend

I'll be honest, short and sweet with this post. Partly because I really don't feel like anything I could say would be as exciting, and partly because I'm really, really bummed and sad Judy has shut down her blog, but this may be the last time.

The weekend went alright otherwise. I did spend a little over $50 after all was said and done, but my dad and I had a good dinner and hung out. He's always liked cornbread, but only last year he tried to actually make it. He made it once and it was excellent, but hadn't done it again since, so what a better time for that?

If only ours looked this nice...

We made some on Friday with an instant mix, which was a little dry and overmixed, but good. We ate it all. Then I bought a different mix on Sunday, and that one was quite salty (one of those 'add eggs and milk' mixes). Definitely won't be buying that brand again, but I have a feeling we'll try another few batches of cornbread this coming weekend. Any brands that you guys use? We used Jiffy on the first try (boxes), and I have no idea what was it we used on Sunday (came in a bag).

This week will probably be much of a wash in terms of funds (no expenses foreseen until the weekend), and Friday is payday. This payday will be interesting because I changed my 401k contributions and tax withholdings. I am crossing my fingers that fixes my tax shortcomings and allows me to break even next year. I'll send taxman a check and be done with taxes. I'll redo my budget to accomodate new income levels. Then I'll do some sleeping.

Bracing for the weekend

I'll be going over to my dad's over the weekend. I know there won't be any food there. Or toothpaste. Or for that matter, TP. Yes, there won't be TP. I'll spare you the details! Which means that I'll be stopping by... somewhere (probably Giant) and get some of these everyday essentials. I am well stocked to survive probably through next Friday, needing only $15 or so for more produce and frozen veggies.

I am OK with buying food/goods for their house, especially since I know my mother traveling means the household is bone dry in terms of funds. And more importantly, she's not there. Just me, dad, a couple of siblings who won't acknowledge you're there (hey, works for me), and lots of laundry. For $70 of my $100 budget, I'm ok with that.

About my goals, let's see what I've been up to...

I ended up returning one of the books I borrowed, as I just couldn't get into it... and didn't want to discourage my reading (I know, it feels like I'm catering to a little kid), and borrowed these 3. I already finished "Gift of Magic". I'm a sucker for fantasy books, and I'm 1/4 through the middle book, "The Travelers Gift". I would recommend this one 10/10, but I need to finish reading it first.

Spinach Lasagna was awesome and very easy to make. Definitely will make again.  That's two recipes, 11 more to go!

 

On the financial front: leaving my Chase card with a balance until after it closes (so it shows more than 0% usage... credit score stuff) is driving me nuts. I feel so out of control, even though I have the exact amount of dollars sitting in my checking account, just waiting for the 29th to pay the balance in full. It's making me anxious, but I'll try it out for a few months and see how it goes... if it works, it could be a key component to automatizing my finances.

Have a great weekend, everybody! It's bound to a VERY cold, windy, and icy one for us...

Catching up, reading, and travels

I am now starting to remember why I liked to read in the first place. Instead of sulking and re-re-reviewing plans I've already made, or tweaking things that are working just fine, I get to spend some time getting involved in the lives of the characters. I think  it's a lovely distraction. As with a lot of things, the hardest part is to get started, and I am glad I did early.

The meal on Sunday was great, and still free. We walked around malls looking for belts, ties and dress shirts, as my half brother is Florida-bound to pursue higher education. He'll be leaving sometime in June, and I'll sure miss hanging out with him. With him working at an ER dept and me working Mon-Sat, it's hard to plan any big get weekend vacations, but I haven't fully taken off that option from my list.

He's from a much, much more... affluent family than I am, so that created a funny situation the moment he got accepted into a med school in Florida. He asked me if I wanted to drive with him to FL so we could go to Disney World. I told him I probably couldn't, but I'd check. He pressed the issue a bit, then I told him I just didn't have that sort of funds. He went "oh...", as if he had suddenly remembered who he was talking with, and dropped the issue. He knows I am a lot more disadvantaged than he's ever been, even at my highest points. Just a slightly different perspective.

I could bore you with tales of his richness, but I'm sure we all have somebody in our lives who have too much. I don't really envy him. I'm very happy for him and that he can pursue what he wants without having to worry about the economic side.

Other than that, I am glad it's Thursday! No wait. It's Wednesday. I am glad for that too. It seems that my mother is going out of the country today. My dad used that as a bit of leverage to ask me to go to their house spend time with him, since I'm off Saturday, and wouldn't have needed to go over to their place at all otherwise. I think I'll consider it.

I won a free meal!

My half brother and I had made a bet as to who'd win the Superbowl. Him being a California native and me in Maryland, our picks were obvious. Of course, at the time the bet was made, he was 99% sure he'd be getting the free meal as the Ravens had no choice. Well, we all know what happened (GO RAVENS!), and I'll be redeeming my free lunch this Sunday. It was more of his request than mine, since he wanted to go out for lunch, but I'm happy to oblige.

I could've asked for an expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant, but that's not my style. Instead, we're just going to a Grill/Sports themed restaurant for some apetizers and burgers. That's all I really wanted anyway. And dessert (Oreo sliders anyone?!). So other than gas to drive to and from the restaurants, it's all on him. Hurray for free food!

I've started doing something new with my paycheck... especially since this paycheck fell right on the 15th, which is too early in the month. This paycheck covers rent due on the 1st, loan 2's standard payment on the 28th, insurance and cellphone bills due on the 22nd. Instead of paying everything right off, I've placed it all on my savings account (woo hoo... I may get 10c in interest out of that if any), but the best part is that it will allow me to zero my account. I hate having money just sitting there patiently waiting for these different deadlines, and the sooner I can zero the account off, the better I feel.

So as of today, I have $150 left on my account. Yes, that's after rounding and paying off my overages from last week. Plus I got $160 from my part time job, money which went straight into my tax-paying account. Now I'm less than $200 short! I'm excited and so ready to be done with these taxes and move onto my next challenge!... Whatever that may be.

Have a great weekend, everybody! We'll be enjoying some VERY mild weather around here. It's 50 degrees even, but you'd think it's the most beautiful day in June.

Thursday Budget Recap

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, and I swore it was Friday instead of Thursday. I am working on Friday night and Sat night, so I'll try to whip up something interesting to say between now and then. Work has been crazy (hurray, yearly audits), but I've tried to keep busy anyway. I made a fantastic serving of Spinach lasagna. Though I am not 100% sure on the spinach portions of it (I am paranoid about undercooking eggs!), the whole thing was very simple and fairly quick to put together. Maybe it will taste better reheated?

I also borrowed 3 more books and returned one of the old ones... couldn't get myself to read it. What do you do with those books people highly recommend, but you just feel they fall flat? Do you read them through anyway?

Anyway, here's the little blurb about my budget. I did go over, as I expected. The most shocking portion for me was a $45.50 single grocery trip to Giant! I love that store, but it is known for being more expensive, so I actually hadn't been in it in over 5-7 months. I mainly bought meats from there as they  have great bulk prices, but still, $45 in a single trip for me is a bit of a shocker.

I had the grace of some extra income from my part time job, gas leftover and some returned orders (though I would've much preferred to get the items ordered! One was for loose tea and one for almonds in bulk). Thanks to that extra income, my budget didnt really kill over, but it is still over, and I saved nothing extra. I had to use my credit card several times for more than gas, so Feb is busted as a gas-only month. Two steps forward, one step back. I'm alright with that.

Last but not least, Happy Valentine's day. Back home, in a single-gender Catholic school, Valentine's Day was more revered as a Friendship day instead of a commercial lovey-dovey day. So I like to take this day to celebrate all of the wonderful people I’ve been lucky enough to call friends. No card, chocolate box or flowers required.

Have a wonderful day, everybody. Enjoy some 75% off after-Valentine’s candy tomorrow.

Close to mid Feb and falling off several wagons

As much as I'd like to think I'm pretty strong in a financial sense, and that I can be very disciplined, there are times I fall off the wagon pretty hard. Since Friday, I have spent over $100 in extra stuff; some of which I should've been prepared for. 

I'll pull the numbers tomorrow, but I definitely did a big fat fail session. I knew the visit to the dermatologist was to be expensive, plus any prescriptions ($70 total), but I had not expected to need motor oil and windshield wiper fluid. To top it all off, I had resolved I was in a sour enough mood to take out my card and buy some take-out food. The damage isn't quite as bad as it may look (I hope!), but I was really disappointed. It leaves me $20 over-budget, which will have to come from this week's paycheck.

Thanks to all that, February will not be an all-cash month. Boo hoo! Guess there's always next month.

 Another topic, and without wanting to push anyone's religious buttons, is anyone giving something up a habit for Lent? I am thinking, but I can't find anything that would truly be worthwhile... Most things I do are either infrequent enough or unimportant enough that they wouldn't really count. I'll give it some more thought and see what comes by... maybe I'll permanently give up the thought of getting flashy toys, despite how cheap they get.

Thoughts + Actions about eBook "I'll Teach You To Be Rich"

These new financial topics (retirement, IRAs, saving methods, credit scores) are like testing the waters at first, but before you know it, you're pushed into the pool of information. It's a bit too much! So much in fact, that I've totally forgotten that I wanted to share what I learned from reading "I'll Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi.

The book is very easy to read. It gets a bit technical at times, but it has plenty of comical examples to pull you through. So here's some categories:


The good:
-I don't have a spending problem. Hurray~
-I don't have any more credit card debt
-I am paying debt pretty aggressively

The bad:
-I do have student loans with high balances
-Ding in my credit from over 5 years ago. Suck-y.
-I fear automatizing my finances as I don't trust things to go as planned. I guess I micromanage my own money too much.

What I learned that is useful to me:
-You can switch credit cards within the same company without it affecting your credit score instead of closing/opening credit cards, which does. (I may switch my regular BoA card for their Cash Rewards card)
-If a company sponsored 401k plan doesn't do matching contributions, don't contribute and pay debt instead.
-Open a Roth IRA. Contribute to the Roth IRA instead of non-matching 401k.
-Value vs cost (frugal vs cheap). As always, continue to look at purchases not in terms of cost but in terms of what's it worth to you.

Unsure about:
-Ask for much higher credit card limits. I am scared of more credit, as I'm not sure if I may be tempted to mess up. And if I were to mess up, I'd be completely mortified and would vanquish myself from society in shame. Risks > Rewards.

Things to do:
-Switch BoA card to a rewards oriented card
-Call both credit cards and lower APRs, increase limit on BoA (would they need to check my credit score again for that?)
-Increase tax withholding on both jobs
-Decrease 401k contribution at FT job to ___? (currently at 7%)
-Decrease 401k contribution at PT job to just matching limit (5%, from 13%)
-Open Roth IRA and set up automatic transfers
-Automatize my budget... sometime before December. It's a huge, huge project, but I think I can pull it off.

And that's all for now! Once again, thanks for the recommendations. I'll be looking at some of the other books as my budget allows. Have a wonderful Saturday!

Credit Report Card: A's

Besides the sections I spoke about yesterday (age of open credit lines, credit utilization and total number of accounts), there are 3 more sections on the credit report scorecard. I got an A on all of them, although upon further inspection, I think they should have been rated B or C instead of A.

- Percent of On-Time Payments (high weight)
I was given an A on this one, but I know I have a 90-day late payment in 2008 from a closed credit card (aka CC2), and that's the only existing ding to my credit I am aware of. For whatever reason, it's giving me an A, and I'll take it, thank you very much (yeah, I know this isnt the actual credit score). It further says I have made a total of 154 payments, and all 154 payments have been on time. No idea what sort of payments they're talking about specifically (loans? closed credit cards?).

- Hard Credit Inquiries (low weight)
Again, not sure why I get an A. Says this accounts for all hard inquiries within the past 2 years. However, I did make a hard inquiry to get my Chase credit card in Feb 2012. I guess that puts me on the B range instead of A range.

- Derogatory Marks (high weight)
Here's something interesting: as I mentioned, I do have a derogatory mark from 2008. But this only counts public records and open accounts in collections. Since that credit card (CC2) is closed and being repaid on schedule, it doesn't show up. Or so I can hope, right? Perhaps this is another mistake and I should be on the B (or C or D, since it was a 90-day (three 30-day periods)).

 

Ah, well. It's nice to know what you're getting graded on for the most part, and it tempts me oh so much to see what my TransUnion credit score actually is. I'd be thrilled if it is as high as they estimate, at 761!

Credit Report Card: C's

Here are some interesting things I've learned that I sort of knew, but wasn't 100% sure about. They come from my CreditKarma report card results, graded from A to F. I have 3 C's and the rest are A's. The C's are listed below.

1) Average Age of Open Credit Lines: It isn't just your oldest Line Of Credit that matters. They seem to be average, and that is what counts on your credit score. For me, my oldest card is CC1 that I just paid, with BoA, and it is 8.5yrs old. I suspect my newest card opened last year brought my average down to 5.9yrs, so I get a rating of C instead of A. I guess that's another danger of opening new accounts?

2) Open Credit Card Utilization: This one did upset me a bit: With my credit card utilization at 0% since I paid of CC1, it actually *hurts* my score to have it at zero. Yeah, really. What's wrong with that?! But anyway, my credit limit will be $9,000 as soon as the closing of my Dell LOA posts. That means that to get a 1-20% utilization rate, I should leave a balance of $90 to $1800. Right now since my Dell LOA is still posted, I get a range of $120 - $2,400. As an experiment, I'll make sure from now until June or so, I leave a balance of $120 or more. But don't worry, that is getting paid before the payment is due (probably the day following the statement-close date), so I will not be charged any interest. I hate paying interest.

 

3) Total Accounts: Seems that the more accounts you have (both open and closed - I didn't know closed ones counted!), the better your rating is. I have a total of 14 accounts apparently (8 open and 6 closed), which puts me in the C range. No way in heck I want to get up to 21 accounts just so I can get a better score, but this was interesting anyway.

These are just the "negatives" they are holding against me according to their report card. I'll go over the rest of the items tomorrow.

More about credit scores

In my panic when my credit card's limit was mysteriously increased, I had to research a bit more on this credit score deal.

I understand that I shouldn't be relying on credit scores that much, but considering I will need a more reliable car before I move in 2 years which I can't pay off in full with cash, I'm rather interested in nursing my credit score to get the best deal I possibly can.

You can check an estimated range of your credit score by going here: MyFico Credit Score Estimator. I went through here and it gave me a range of 665-715. Which according to my last two sources of credit scores (checking it August 2011 through Experian (686) and most recently when opening my Chase credit card in Feb 2012 (709), the range is spot on.

You can further check the whereabouts of your score by using CreditKarma. I for one am really glad I found their website, and wish I could've started using it a few years ago. It does not affect your score to check your own scores, and the data gets pulled from your TransUnion reports to give you a fair estimate. A lot of people report that their real score tends to be pretty darn close to their estimates, about 20pts. Mine says I should have 761. That's a jump from the 715 max given by MyFico.

Anyway, I would really recommend for anyone that is trying to get out of debt, or paying down debt, to check this out. I wish I had, and I don't mean just for the credit score, but because it tracks all the info and can create a history, like your credit utilization rates, how your balances and limits change overtime, and so on and so forth. I've found a lot of interesting things about credit ratings, but I'll cover those in a separate post, lest this one gets too long.

Any particular questions you guys may have in regards to credit scores and their calculations? I may as well get some use out of this research!

Aggressively pay debt or invest?

After a lot of research, I've decided to open the Roth IRA (which is the US version of the RRSP). Still deciding where, but you all gave me quite a few good ones I am looking through. Thanks! With an IRA, I can contribute up to $5,500 a year... which is $458/mo. HAHA, no. That is most crippling, at 1/4 of my disposable monthly income. Would be awesome to be able to make such contributions, but it's not going to happen.

My original plan included snowballs of $665/mo. I will borrow $100/mo instead and transfer it to an IRA. I know that's only $1200 out of the possible $5500 contribution, but it's all I can do for now. I haven't started figuring out where the $1000 opening balance will come from, but that's in my to-do list.

Sad note: I am already very behind my moving goal as it stands. I am $400 (plus a car) short from moving in March 2015. I'll need to address this at mid year.

I really really appreciate your feedback on my previous post about IRAs, it really helped guide my thoughts  My next move is to pay taxes ($1200), repay car fund that was used to pay my parents' car ($2000), then work on the remaining debts using the Avalanche method. I want to pay as little interest as possible, and 3 of my 5 student loans have a 5-6 interest rate.

I really, really need to find a more consistent way to increase my income. On that front, my part time job is picking up now, so I've worked these past 2 Saturdays and I am scheduled for next Saturday as well. Woo hoo! Only $60~$80 a night after taxes (wow, that sounds extremely small once you actually write it down...), but it's something.

Now off to check Charles Schwab (thanks, Hawaii Planner and Money Matters for the suggestion!). I'll post my findings once I'm done researching firms, in case anyone else is curious.

About opening an IRA

Yes, I know I'm probably the last one to this party. I've always wondered people mean when talking about their IRAs or their RRSP, the Canadian version of the IRA. I know it's something I should be paying attention to, but I just don't have the funds, or honestly, lacked the drive to research it. Until now.

After reading through half of "I'll teach you to be rich" (I told you I was a speed reader), I've got a much better understanding. And for those that may not have an IRA account, here’s the quick info:

It is a retirement funding source, just like your 401k. But the similarities end there. While a 401k or similar retirement accounts are funded with pre-tax contributions (meaning that there is no tax taken at the time of the contributions), IRAs are funded with post-tax contributions. For example, if you have $100 for a contribution in any given period, and you have a tax rate of 25%, you could fund your 401k for the full $100 or your IRA for $75.

Taxation is the main difference between all of these methods. With my 401k, I won’t get taxed on the contributions or gains until I start withdrawing. Fees and such apply if I withdraw before age 59.5, but that seems to be the same with all retirement funds.

There are two types of IRA with two different taxation systems: the Traditional IRA and the Roth IRA. The Traditional IRA allows you to make tax-deductible contributions, so you are deferring the taxation until you start withdrawing. With the Roth IRA, you can’t deduct your contributions, so you are paying the full amount of taxes upfront in order to not get taxed when you start withdrawing. Sorry, I am terrible at explaining things like this, and I don’t want to lecture you, as I am sure too many are already very knowledgeable on this sort of account.

All said and done, I really, REALLY want to open a Roth IRA. I’ve been researching fees, companies, funds and so on. So far, I know there’s a minimum to open most accounts, between $1,000 and $3,000. I know I don’t have that amount handy, and probably won’t be able to come up with it until late spring after taxes are paid for. But it has brought a slew of questions I need to explore, such as: should I pay debt or should I save? How much can I tweak my current debt paying strategy? Should I start saving for other things now, like car down payments and house down payments? The book has brought a lot of things into focus that I had considered minor before, so February should keep me properly amused in the long run as I explore new financial topics!