Finance Gets Personal

Every year at the beginning of May, websites and newspaper ads offer Mother’s Day gift ideas.

These oh-so-helpful lists always include a version of the following list:

• Flowers (or alternately, the hanging basket of flowers - my mom’s Mother’s Day present for 15 consecutive years)
• A spa gift certificate / massage
• An iPod (yes, this is the ideal gift for all occasions - just adjust the color accordingly: pink=Mother’s Day)
• Heart-shaped necklaces, jewelry with the word “MOM” in it and anything with the kids’ birthstones (peridot, turquoise and ruby are going to look great together)
• Perfume (free purse included!)
• Candles
• Chocolate
• Something the kids made (thanks for the…?)

While some of these are tacky lovely ideas, why not consider an “experience” gift?

Here are some ideas that won’t clutter up your mom’s house, and could lead to lasting memories:

• Concert tickets
• A museum membership
• Tickets to a baseball game
• A night at a hotel (whoa, not those kind of memories)
• A cooking or wine-tasting class
• A hot air balloon ride
• Horseback riding
• Theme park admission

Whatever the “experience,” just make sure it is one your mom would enjoy, not just something you’ve been wanting to do. 

Bonus points: An experience that you can do with you mom (mom loves spending time with you!).

(This post was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Money Under 30.)

Photo Credit: Thumbs Up by Ju!ieT, used under Creative Commons licensing

When you tell someone you are buying a car, a house or even a new pair of shoes, do they ever express worry?

Or do they say they’re “so happy for you,” “jealous” or offer, “congratulations!” (that must be one great pair of shoes, by the way…).

Now that I’ve become a personal finance geek, what I really want to say is, “Are you financing that car?,” “How much of a down payment do you have?” and “Do you have any credit card debt?”

But those are not things a polite person says.

So instead, we confirm each other’s stupidity, encourage it even.

“Oh, wow! Did you get a new car?!”
“Is that a new top? I love that! Where did you get it?”
“Life’s too short to clean your own house!”

Right…

I guess I’m weird. Just don’t expect me to feign interest in the vacation you’re taking with your economic stimulus check.

Photo Credit: Consumerism by Daniel Hoye, used under Creative Commons licensing

Back in 1999 - long before Bank of America’s Keep the Change program - my bank teller supervisor was filling us in on her sneaky snowflaking technique that worked much the same way.

For every check she wrote or debit card transaction she made, she would write the amount in her checkbook register as an even number.  The change was “forgotten” - although she did write the actual dollar amounts to the left of her whole numbers so she could add up her savings and write it in the sidebar every once in a while.  Then, after a few months, she would transfer the “extra” money to her savings account.

She saved hundreds of dollars per year doing this, and used her savings for gambling during her annual Vegas trip (remember, snowflaking can be used toward any goal, even one that Finance Girl does not explicitly approve of).

If you already have a Bank of America checking account, you should definitely sign up for the Keep the Change program, because you get a 100% match on your savings for the first three months, and a 5% match thereafter (for a maximum match of $250 per year).  But if you don’t - hey, there’s always Debbie’s method. 

(This post was an editor’s pick in the Carnival of Snowflaking, hosted by Antishay Ventenne.)

Photo Credit: Keep the Change by Tokenhippygirl, used under Creative Commons licensing

Speaking of emergencies, I’m concerned we’re going to have one if we attempt to paint our house ourselves. No, this isn’t our house, but it’s about the same height. Yikes!

We are definitely in over our heads, and we haven’t even started yet. Last night we watched “10 Things You Must Know About Exterior Painting,” and we’re sitting there like, “What? How long do you have to wait to paint after it rains? You’re not supposed to use flat paint? Those little clips do what?”

Yeah. So we are getting some bids this week. I figure it will cost us between $1,000-$1,500 to do it ourselves, so if it costs $3,000 for someone else to do it, it’s probably well worth it.
I have a feeling it’s going to be more than that though…

Photo Credit: Our Scaffolding by nuanc, used under Creative Commons licensing

I was really looking forward to the new episodes of my favorite shows tonight, but My Name is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and Grey’s Anatomy were all partially upended by tornado/storm coverage, so I’m going to have to watch them online (my computer is getting too old to work this hard!).

Not that I’m complaining or anything.

From 9:00-9:30 p.m., we were holed up in the basement while tornado sirens blared. Luckily, I bought a Red Cross emergency kit from Target last year for our basement. It includes a radio, two flashlights, extra batteries, whistles, face masks, ponchos, survival blankets, a first aid kit and crayons and a coloring book for kids (!), among other things. The radio came in handy tonight.

While I’m not always the best at emergency planning (I don’t even have a will or know how to do CPR), I’ve been on a mission for the past six months to improve. We now have carbon monoxide detectors on each floor, fire extinguishers in the kitchen and basement (we still need one in the garage), emergency fire escape ladders for our second-story bedrooms and AAA emergency kits with jumper cables in each of our cars. I’ve tested all the smoke detectors in our house, but probably need to replace the batteries just in case (Side note: Have you heard that you’re supposed to replace all your smoke detectors every 10 years? Is that crazy? Do people actually do that? We have at least eight of them - that’s expensive!)

What’s great about the emergency kit is that as long as it includes some kind of first aid kit, you can buy it tax free with your flexible health care spending account. In fact there are a lot of things you can buy with your flexcare dollars if you look at your plan closely. My plan with ADP has allowed me to buy Proactiv Solution (acne treatment for less than the price of my dermatologist visits), a heart rate monitor, a pedometer, band-aids, condoms, a blood pressure monitor and Nicorette. (Yep - we had a lot of money left over in our account at the end of the year, so I went on a health care shopping spree.)

While your area may not be prone to tornadoes, maybe you have your share of hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural disasters - or even just power outages. Having an emergency kit (especially for your car) is critical, and tax-free. If you don’t have a flexible health care spending account yet, this is another smart reason to sign up for one.

(This post was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Alpha Consumer.)

Photo Credit: Red Cross Disaster Relief by Vidiot, used under Creative Commons licensing

I love Thursday!

The anticipation of the weekend…

Payday is close enough that I can gas up my car without guilt (I’m on E!)…

I can start looking online at clothes I want to buy with my $60 personal spending money…

New episodes of The Office, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock and Grey’s Anatomy all on the same night…

The work week has usually died down…

It’s the last day of the week I have to dress up (hooray, casual Friday!)…

Maybe someday I’ll love Monday too