October 9, 2009
This comic is pretty funny all on its own, but I unearthed this gem from the archives recently and thought y’all’d appreciate it. It’s the best example of contrary human fiscal behavior yet.
May 25, 2009
Drat.
This summer’s wardrobe allowance: one summer appropriate, semi-formal dress, one pair comfortable-for-walking flats, and one pair walking/running shoes.
I missed the New Balance sale on 6pm.com, but something else will come around soon enough. Endless.com’s shipping two pairs of flats, ETA: Monday. I love free shipping and returns; if I never have to go shoe shopping in a brick and mortar store again, I shall pen an ode to Endless.
The dress allotment, however, is totally covered. Was totally covered. After days of scouring the ‘nets, I found five promising designs on Etsy. Only two of the designers I convo’ed responded promptly, and of those two, one offered a more flexible design. The price was higher than I wanted, but not ridiculous considering the off-the-rack sales prices out there. Together, we drafted adjustments so that it will flatter my body, not just my type, and should fit 100%. Special trips to the fabric store were made, colors were considered, delectable details like “A-line,” “boatneck,” “silk georgette,” “timeless, classic shape” were bandied about.
The cost of buying custom, saving the price of a seamstress post-delivery, might actually beat the cost of finding a great designer dress on sale and having it tailored. It’s certainly saving time and effort trying to find that great designer dress now that the order’s been made, and sewing has commenced.
Sadly, oh-so-sadly, the anticipation for this lovely semi-formal frock has been derailed by the horrifying discovery that the event for which this garment was commissioned is Black Tie. Ugh!
I like being gussied up once in a while as much as the next girl, but with less than a month to go, oughtn’t the intrepid organizer have sent the invitations stating that sartorial splendor was expected? True, it was as much my fault as hers that I simply assumed semi-formal was the order of the day, but still. I’d venture that no one is going to be surprised and thrilled by the late revelation that tuxes and tails will be required.
Now that my new dress has been rendered redundant, but the money’s already spent, it’s back to the drawing board. Rather to the internet! What does black tie mean?
For men, indeed, tuxes or dinner jackets are expected. For women, “remember that black-tie means very formal.“
Some style recommendations:
Look for full-length skirts and dresses; lengths that hover around the knee are usually considered semiformal.
Consider the material and texture. Silk, satin, embroidery, beads, rhinestones, velvet and metallics are all well-suited for formal attire.
Remember that your dress options are unlimited. Consider spaghetti straps or a jewel-neck collar; a plunging back or a revealing front neckline; and side or back slits. Some events may call for more conservative attire, so consider this when making your selection.
Thus armed with information, I’ve dug back into the closet to pull out old bridesmaid dresses because I’m not spending any more money. I’ve narrowed it down to two: the already tailored, navy blue bridesmaid dress and the still-uncut, never been worn, silky peach dress. Seems like the latter would be more appropriate for a summer evening, but it would require yet another trip to the seamstress. Eh. What thinks ye?
October 20, 2008
A chunk at a time, (sometimes literally), the material possessions in my life are being reduced, digitized and eliminated, or picked over. I found myself choosing NOT to sign up for free samples just because they were free, a holdover habit from my uber-Fatwalleting days, knowing that I have a packet of said samples that have yet to be used. I’m passing up Walgreens FAR items that I won’t immediately use, or won’t be able to find a home for. CVS ExtraBucks items are carefully considered and not purchased solely for the sake of generating EBucks. Not that I ever really got into that last, but was gearing up to. There’s very judicious stockpiling of essentials only.
I like this trend, and that the only remaining accumulation is in my savings accounts. My fellow LA-area bloggers, Well-Heeled and Stacking Pennies, are doing remarkably well with their emergency/Freedom Funds and asked how much would make you feel safe or comfortable?
I feel a bit like Chicken Little when I think “just add a few more months’ worth to the e-fund,” but then I read comments like this one on Boston Gal’s post, Keep debt low and cash high:
Puddle Jump Photo said:
My husband has been laid off twice in the past 18 months and all of emergency money is gone…so right now…it’s just trying to stay afloat!
and I remember that my own family’s troubles over the last seven or eight years, for numerous reasons, and it suddenly doesn’t seem unreasonable to want just a few thousand more banked away.
That’s not to say that I’m entirely fatalistic, I certainly can’t be with the progress made over the last few years. I’m just feeling more and more cautious and less willing to take risks with my money or my career. That’s probably not the worst thing right now.
October 16, 2008
Last month, I took it into my head that I should compare my year to date income versus expenditures. It’s all part of this finances and housecleaning kick I’m on, and because I wanted to rethink my monthly snapshots (again). The results are weird. In two simple lists, I’ve got my income (all forms of it), and pulled my year to date spending numbers from Yodlee for the expenses. Added the deduction/reductions/taxes into the mix as that money comes out of my gross income, and retirement contributions.
Maybe it’s because I keep working on this when I’m sleepy, but I keep coming up $7,000 short! I don’t get it. I’m not in debt. I mean, other than the truck payment, but that’s been steadily decreasing.
Hm. The only thing I can think of that’s missing from the equation are reimbursements because office supply purchases did go on my cards for a while, but the reimbursements aren’t tracked in any real way. Except, after accounting for the insurance, it can’t possibly have been that much, could it?
Well, when I search Yodlee for “Other Income,” I have about $2865 in that category comprising of FSA reimbursements, tax refunds, and miscellaneous income. Add $1000 of insurance reimbursement, and that would account for more than half of the missing income. That’s imprecise, though, and it’s even messier when I look up the “Deposit” category. I don’t have the time or inclination to go back through ten months of transactions to try and parse out, down to the penny, what income I’ve lost track of, but it’s safe to say that I didn’t actually *lose* that money, I simply spent it and that’s a sobering thought. I somehow spent $7,000 of “extra” income? Oh, some of it was absorbed into the savings accounts, I’m sure, but that’s still quite a lot of money that should be on the ledger somewhere.
The takeaway here is that my family’s needs plus a dash of inattention complicate my finances. To cope, I need to devise a tracking system that encompasses all categories, including miscellaneous income, reimbursements, contractor income, savings of all kinds, etc.
I just don’t like the idea that at some point, I got sloppy and overspent. It’s entirely probable that all that extra income really went to refilling the savings funds, and filling in shortfalls during expensive months, but I’d like to be sure. This has to turn out better than my fruitless search for a perfect bag!
October 9, 2008
Savvy at $ out of 15 cents posed an interesting question: Could you survive on half your pay?
I’m almost always up for a challenge, but that one gave me pause, and made me sit back a little.
Do you think you could do it? What would you have to do to make that happen? Have you already done it (like FB)?
Single Ma’s discussion of unemployment and this question are right up my alley. Just this morning, I was wondering how much unemployment I might draw if politics go badly and our entire office is laid off/closed. This is a possibility and a colleague and I have been preparing for the worst for a few months now. (Hence my major push to beef up the defenses.)
If I were laid off? Apply for unemployment, devote myself to applying for jobs full-time, try taking on freelance work to supplement the emergency fund. I’ve already cut out just about all splurges so that option is constantly exercised.
If nothing else, being aware of the possibility/employment environment is highly critical. I know someone who didn’t read the signs in her place of employ and bought herself a new car when her old one died recently. She’s been struggling with her mortgage, and was suddenly let go last week. Really rough.
October 3, 2008
The long-awaited quarterly check has arrived and I am positively stoked.
I am so close to having six months of living expenses in the Emergency Fund!! As soon as I have at least $1000 in the mini E-fund, my plan is to [finally] close the real E-fund to all non-critical withdrawals.
All the bills for September have been paid and I still have $1300 in the Expenses fund. With the deposit from the quarterly, I have enough for October’s expenses on October 2nd. All paychecks earned in October will continue to add an allotted amount to the Exp. Fund, but I won’t be waiting on them to pay the bills. Holy cow, I could pay the entire month’s bills on October 1st. I won’t, of course, that’s not the point of the cushion. The point is that I could if I needed to. Whew!
So I discovered a few things wrong with my math. The quarterly is for the past three months of work [July 1st-Sept 30th], so plotting the total expenses against income through the end of December means I come up short, ie: depleting most of the expense fund by year’s end.
What I need to do is fund the supplemental portion ahead of the next three months. In other words, instead of taking July-Sept money, and only setting aside three months’ worth of income to make up shortfalls from July-Sept, I should set aside enough for July through December. Then, I’ll be covered and still have the cushion in place through the end of December. Then the last quarterly check of the year [Sept through Dec] funds the various accounts that I’d previously planned for this check: Savings, Insurance, Car Maintenance, Travel, Moving, etc. That means I’ll be funding it for 2009, at the end of 2008! This makes much more sense.
All OT can now go towards other sub-expense funds instead of just savings and expenses. I expect an insurance bill in November and I don’t quite have enough for that yet, so OT will fund savings and insurance for the next month and a half.
Also, I’d goofed on the October paychecks, so I have to rewrite the plans for 4 paychecks in the next two months, not three. And actually, now that I’ve fixed the above problem, that third paycheck can come at any time, it’s no big deal.
It’s very strange budgeting on a hybrid [half regular-half supplementary] income. The supplemental is scheduled and the amount is set, so it shouldn’t be difficult, but I haven’t done it so very well since this started. Might I now be starting to get the hang of it?
Perhaps I’ll even get my September snapshot in order now that I’ve reconfigured the economic landscape …
July 15, 2008
Thanks to Karen for this tip:
The Hotels.com “welcomerewards program” is simple. After you use the site to book 10 reservations over the course of a year, you’ll get a free night’s stay at your choice of one of 45,000 hotels. What’s simple is that there are no blackout dates and no restrictions on the type of properties, either for earning a chance at a free night’s stay or for redeeming a reward for a free night’s stay.
Sounds pretty cool! I’ve never used Hotels.com myself, but I may look into this when I need more travel booking options.
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