Finance Gets Personal

Although I listen to the Dave Ramsey podcast through my headphones nearly every day at work, it’s not something I tend to talk about with my co-workers.

Want to know if your co-workers or friends are also closet Dave listeners? It’s easy! Just listen for the following clues:

• When you ask how they’re doing, they reply, “Better than I deserve!”
• They talk frequently about having beans and rice for dinner, or mention something about “beans and rice, rice and beans” while declining your invitation to go out for lunch.
• During tax season, they make joking references to the IRS: “Well, the KGB…I mean, the IRS…”
• When they mention their upcoming garage sale or their eBay listings, they say they’re going to sell so much stuff “the kids will think they’re next.”
• Possible listener: They refer to their car as a “beater.” Definite listener: They refer to their car as a “little paid-for beater.”
• They carry around envelopes with cash in them and cite statistics about how studies show people spend 30% more when they use plastic. Oh yeah, they also call credit and debit cards “plastic.”
• You once mistakenly thought there was an actual person named Murphy living in their spare bedroom. Alternatively, you thought they had an aunt “Sallie” or “Mae” staying with them, and that they finally had to “kick her to the curb.”
• When trying to make a derogatory remark about lawyers/elected officials/Joe from accounting, an insult of choice is, “You can tell ______ is lying when his lips are moving.”
• When something great happens, they don’t do a “happy dance.” They do a “Snoopy dance.”
• When you mess up on a project, they reassure you with, “Please. I’ve done stupid with zeros on the end of it!”
• They believe that when other people make fun of their ideas, they must be doing something right!

Another month has come and gone…already?

Net Worth as of September 5: $69,091
Net Worth as of October 3: $67,364

Here are this month’s highlights:

• We paid off my husband’s student loan on Friday. I can’t wait to go to Buffalo Wild Wings this week! Now, we’re putting all our efforts toward my student loan, which has about $6,800 left on it. We should be able to get that knocked out by the end of the year without using our Christmas bonuses, which will go toward the $35,000 second mortgage (or, “the idiot’s down payment plan”).
• My work got new computers for everyone and offered to let us buy the old ones. I paid $100 for a Dell that’s much faster than my current 6-year-old Mac (well, actually the $100 is coming out of my next bonus), but I still need to buy a monitor for it. I’m trying to see if I can hold out for Black Friday because LCD monitors are supposedly going to be on sale for $99. I’m a little sad about not getting a new Mac, but it’s really not worth $1,500 to be brand loyal in this case!
• While we don’t do a lot of “back to school” shopping (I try to buy items at the end of each season for the next year), we’ve been bombarded by the fall onslaught of school fundraisers, school pictures, book fairs, charity requests and football costs. What is it about fall that makes everyone think it is the perfect time for raising money?
• I relaunched this blog with my first-ever giveaway, and have a goal of posting at least four times a week this month. Hooray!

Now, can I please recover some of the money my 401k has been losing?

Photo Credit: Suitcase II, Carl Street by heather, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Try an Anti-Charity.

I read about this in The Oprah Magazine, and it’s a great idea!

Whether you’re trying to get out of debt, lose weight or be on time to work, it helps to have some sort of punishment and reward system. For example, I have a rewards system for getting out of debt: Every time we pay off a debt, our family goes to eat dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings (yes, that’s really all it takes for me).

However, I’ve had very little success with weight loss and punctuality, so perhaps it’s time to raise the stakes. I’ve previously considered charging myself money when I fail to reach my goals, but I’d probably just end up snowflaking that into debt repayment (Which I love, remember? Mmm…chicken tender wrap with teriyaki sauce!).

I could donate it to charity, but it’s hard to feel too bad about that.

Unless…It’s an Anti-Charity!

Goal-setting website stickk.com defines an anti-charity as any organization you strongly oppose or which promotes values which are most contrary to your own. For example, if you have a “She’s a baby, not a choice” bumper sticker on your car, you’d probably work pretty damn hard to not donate to Planned Parenthood.

How fantastic!

It’s September, and my net worth is increasing slowly but surely despite the stock market’s performance.

Net Worth as of August 1: $66,904
Net Worth as of September 1: $69,091

Here are this month’s highlights:

• My husband received a bonus of $1,750 after taxes, which we put toward his student loan (in addition to our regular debt snowball payments). The balance on that is now $1,873, and we’re hoping to have it paid off by the end of September. Then, it’s on to my student loan, which is currently at $7,716. Our goal is to have that paid off by the end of the year and then begin attacking the second mortgage of about $35K.
• I started playing the “Drugstore Game” at Walgreens in addition to CVS. With all the free after rebate items, it’s been a little bit of an upfront cost, but hopefully I’ll receive my gift card from last month soon so I’ll no longer be paying out of pocket.
• It was my month to host a dinner party with a few friends, and I managed to keep costs down to $35 this time. That’s still way more than I usually spend on dinner, so I’m always looking for ways to bring it down further. I’ll be hosting again in December.
• My husband began working 68-hour weeks at the start of my stepson’s football season, and I slowly began to go crazy between that and my full-time job. His schedule has since been reduced slightly (54 hours - woo hoo!), so I no longer have to attend football practice for four hours a week (tears).
• I scalped a few concert tickets (legal in my state) and felt guilty about it…for a second.
• It was really slow at my work, so I began bargain shopping online. Luckily, I’ve since found a better way to spend my down time: making money as a ChaCha guide.

So, it’s been a bit of a slow month, but it’s great to see our net worth going back up again and our student loans shrinking! Good luck to you with your goals!

I think my whole life needs an organizational overhaul.

Besides the fact that my house is a disaster (other than the rooms visible to last night’s dinner guests), I am running around with a constant to-do list, with hardly enough time to eat dinner.

Here’s what I have to look forward to tonight:

• Call my stepson right before I leave work (since I left my cell phone at home) and tell him to find something to eat for dinner, brush his teeth, get dressed for football practice and get his school supplies and football equipment by the door and ready to go when I get home
• Get home around 6:15 or 6:30, change out of my work clothes and finish filling out all the school enrollment forms we need to bring to Meet the Teacher Night
• Go to Meet the Teacher Night, which ends at 7:00, and turn in forms/drop off school supplies
• Drive across town and drop stepson off at football practice, which starts at 7:00
• Go find something to eat for myself at a nearby fast food place and get gas, even though I’m supposed to be sitting there watching practice the whole time
• Go back to football practice and sit there until 9:00 or whenever the coach decides they’re done (often after 9:00)
• Drive back home and put stepson to bed, get eBay order ready to ship, get Amazon.com order ready to ship, get the coupons for tomorrow’s grocery runs, get the check to take to the bank tomorrow, get the Walgreens receipt to figure out if I messed up my rebate so I can buy/return something tomorrow night as necessary
• Watch the gymnastics portion of the Olympics and go to bed

EVERY DAY is like this, and I’m starting to go crazy!

My husband is working 12-hour days and weekends for some important project, and I’ve been left to pick up the pieces. My sister asked us a month ago to go to the state fair with her for her birthday on Saturday, and now my husband has to work and says my stepson can’t miss football practice on Saturday. I am FUMING!

I’m about to institute a family calendar for the refrigerator since none of us ever have any idea what’s going on.

What do you do when you’re this busy/stressed? Is it just a function of having two people who both work full-time? Working so late and far away from home? Argh!

Illustration Credit: Ripping Hair Out by Dan4th, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Well, July has come and gone (over a week ago - whoops!), and my net worth has taken another hit. This was mostly due to spending the money we’d been saving to have our house painted. But it was something that needed to be done, I guess.

Net Worth as of July 1: $68,815
Net Worth as of August 1 (well, August 7 if you want to be picky): $66,904

Here are this month’s highlights:

• I started selling some items on eBay, like this dress that was rejected from the consignment store. The dress sold for about $15 plus shipping, but I also sold some perfume I won in a contest, a new baseball hat I got for free with a coupon, some diabetes testing kits I got for free with coupons, baseball stadium giveaways and other things I didn’t have to pay for. So far, I’ve made about $60.
• We purchased a new mattress, and I *mostly* resisted the temptation to redecorate my entire bedroom. I managed to stop after the new bed frame, mattress protector and pillow protectors, and haven’t even bought new pillows yet! (although I am very tempted by Linen’s ‘N Things’ going out of business sale!)
• We took a week-long staycation instead of our usual summer vacation, and found it to be fun and relaxing (well, some days were relaxing). We did things like go to the zoo, visit amusement parks, check out museum exhibits, go to plays, etc. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to go to a beach!
• I bought a lot of clothes on clearance for next summer, and am also stockpiling things like gifts, groceries and household items when they go on sale. It will be wonderful to be “ahead” on things and save money in the process!
• My FICO score reached a high of 842, which I find a little CRAZY! We’ll see how long it stays that way now that I don’t have any credit card debt and only use my credit card for things like concert tickets.
• We had our house painted for a cost of $2,992, and had some wood replaced on our deck and another coat of stain put on for about $300. We had been saving up for this for a few months, and it’s nice to have it taken care of.
• Things started getting a little tight toward the end of the month (maybe due to all this spending?), and I reluctantly skipped one of our extra debt payments in order to get us back on track.
• I ended the month with a bang, in the form of a $150 speeding ticket, which will cost about $300 after I have it reduced to a non-moving violation. How come every time I get pulled over, it’s in a town where I don’t know a handful of cops or dispatchers?

Here’s hoping for a prosperous August!

Photo Credit: Lazy Dogs by karolajnat, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Lately, I’ve shared a lot of good news about my finances. I’ve paid off my credit cards, gotten a raise, increased my credit score and learned to bargain shop like a drugstore diva. But like the latest Batman movie, perhaps I’m the Dark Knight.

Take a look in my Quicken account, and you’ll see lines of red. I’m not actually in the negative, but I’m constantly flirting with disaster (is it really bad that I can’t say “flirting with disaster” without hearing a Rock Band song in my head?).

It’s not that I don’t have the money to cover my deficiencies, but I am constantly “borrowing” money from our emergency savings and paying it back with the next paycheck. I’m not really sure what the problem is, but I’m guessing it’s a combination of things. Like our mortgage and other major bills all coming due at during the same pay period. Or the child support being paid out on the 27th and reimbursed right before it’s due again. Or me seeing lots of “extra” money that only exists if things go *perfectly* for the next two months.

Well, I guess it’s been getting a little out of hand, because this paycheck I was set to have a $1,000 deficiency! Needless to say, my husband was not too happy (I had been doing the bills by myself for the past few months because he’s been so busy). Where did this particular hiccup come from? I don’t know, maybe a combination of “forgotten” expenses (football sign-up fees, license plate renewals, forgotten birthdays, etc.) and recent major expenses that we stretched to make happen (staycation, new mattress, house painting).

Whatever the reason, the point is we had to skip our $800+ extra payment to the student loan this paycheck to get back in black (yes, another song is playing in my head), and I’m NOT happy about it.

Any ideas for how to prevent this in the future? Is this a common problem?
Photo Credit: Payday Loan Place Window Graphics by taberandrew, used under Creative Commons licensing.

Well, my net worth took a hit this month due to fabulous market performance, but oh well. I did manage to pay off my credit cards and finish saving for our house painting.

Net worth as of June 1: $70,247
Net worth as of July 1: $68,814

Here are this month’s highlights:

• We paid off our last $272 of credit card debt! Hooray!
• We hired someone to paint our house the week of July 21 for a total cost of $2,992 (a little higher than most of the other bids, but the company gets great reviews and I’ve got a good feeling about the guy). We might also hire them to put another coat of stain on our deck for $120.
• We had our first ever garage sale, which was quite a success, and sold a lot of books on Amazon.com. Our new mattress fund is now up to $595, and the mattress we’ve decided on is on sale for $899 until July 5 (originally $1900). We might wait until Labor Day sales, or “borrow” some money from our special 30th birthday vacation fund to go ahead and get it tonight.
• My high school reunion came and went without too much drama. The whole original $50 per person event was canceled due to low response, and a $30 per person event was planned for Saturday night at an Italian buffet restaurant that normally costs $15 per person. I didn’t go to that event due to all the drama surrounding it, but I went to a Friday night event at a bar hosted by a friend that about 50 classmates showed up for, and then went out with some other friends from high school on Saturday. Some of the people who went to the reunion met us up later. Of course, we probably ended up spending more than we would have if we would have RSVP’d for $100 in the first place. Sigh.
• I received an 8% raise despite our “raise freeze” and perhaps due to my “complaining” (see “where’s my money?”) about company spending.
• I didn’t spend too much time or effort on my snowflaking business or weight loss goals, mainly due to the garage sale, Amazon sales and my new CVS addiction, which has now spread to getting the best possible deals at grocery stores.
• Getting to work on time has been easier lately due to the fact that my stepson’s summer school starts 45 minutes earlier than regular school, and being late to work means he is late to school. However, now that summer school is over, I’ve got to put in a renewed effort. I’ve found what helps me the most is setting my bedside lamp on a timer to turn on about an hour before I need to get up.

I’m excited about July because of our staycation and because the house will be painted soon. I’m hoping to make a lot of progress on paying off my husband’s student loan, and also to post here more frequently!

Photo Credit: Smoke on the water by PetroleumJelliffe, used under Creative Commons licensing

Nearly 10 years after getting my first credit card as a freshman in college, I’ve paid off my last balance.

Although I had my Citibank card locked in at 2.99% for life, it is still a great feeling to be done with it!

Last night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate. Now, it’s on to the student loans!

In other news, I got a 8% raise today (yea!)

Photo Credit: Buffalo Wild Wings by Keegan Jones, used under Creative Commons licensing

Last month, I expected that my net worth would take a hit in May due to home repairs, but I’m happy to report that it went up anyway!

Net worth as of May 1: $67,943
Net worth as of June 1: $70,247

Here are this month’s highlights:

• We spent about $105 on Mother’s Day presents, including baseball tickets for me (yea!)
• My mom’s birthday ended up costing us a bundle, even though not all of the costs were incurred in May. She wanted to go to a play that cost us $100 for our two tickets, we went out to dinner ($30), bought her a present ($30) and paid for parking ($7).
• We got a bid for painting our house and it was only $2,600, so we decided that we’ll hire someone else to do it instead of painting it ourselves. Since then, I’ve gotten another bid for $2,100, and am trying to get some more bids, but painters apparently don’t like returning phone calls. We’ll probably have the house painted late summer/early fall, and will be taking a vacation in our own city (staycation!) instead of going out of town.
• We received our $1,500 economic stimulus payment and $213 state tax refund, which went toward replacing our heat pump ($3,467) and hot water heater ($674).
• I started snowflaking toward my credit card about halfway through the month, and paid an extra $171 through snowflaking techniques such as selling things on Craigslist, spending less on gifts, matching spending on indulgences, etc. I also created a website for graphic design to get some additional income from a snowflaking business.
• I began playing “The Drugstore Game” and it’s been pretty successful. Before too long, I’m going to have a year’s supply of razors, shampoo and toilet paper!
• My husband got a bonus of $885 and about $200 extra in his paycheck (due to having three paychecks in May - they don’t take insurance out of the third one or something), which went toward the credit card.
• I’ve been putting more effort into getting to work on time, and I’m getting closer to “on time,” though I’m still not quite there.
• I have been trying to lose weight, and lost five pounds last month, but I’ve been slacking off lately. I’ve only managed to maintain my weight loss from last month, but I think I’ll be able to get back on track if I start tracking my calories online again.

  Welcome to June, the fifth month of Finance Gets Personal!