September 9, 2008
I’m mustering some optimism about the next couple of months. It’s not just because my August net worth managed to hold steady with a miniscule increase despite the market and my doing very little to save.
That most definitely helped, but last night I charted my expected income/expenses for September and found that if I stick with the plan through the month of October, I should be able to finally build that paycheck cushion I’ve been wanting. There are only a thousand articles about not living paycheck to paycheck, and while I’d made progress over the past two years, a few setbacks had punted me back into a check-to-check reality.
I can’t for the life of me find the blog article that I had printed out and still keep in my folder, so I can’t give credit where it’s due but there was a great post simplifying the transition from using this month’s money for this month’s bills to using last month’s money to pay this month’s bills. If anyone knows the blog post I’m talking about, I’d love to credit and link them!
That was what I originally had in mind when I instituted my current billpay system: I give myself a biweekly allowance for expenses, and that money sits in an interest bearing account while I pay bills from it. In fact, I wanted to do one better and have a two-month cushion so that I could concentrate on other savings goals, both long and short term, and be ready in case I ever needed to say “I’m outta here!” My emergency fund is more of a disaster and medical emergency fund. (With my family? Can’t be too safe.)
Back to the point.
At the end of September, assuming there aren’t any more surprise bills, and my supplemental income is paid on time, I should have approximately $900 left for expenses. Thanks to getting my insurance money back, the expense account is finally out of the red.
Second, I expect to log at least 40 hours of overtime this month, and I’m splitting all overtime income between expenses and savings, 50/50. I don’t have a dollar amount for that income, but I’ve set the total cushion goal at $3300. I won’t depend on “windfall” money to pay the actual bills in the future, it was just the weird way I get paid and the other expenses depleted the original cushion. [The flip side of that negatroid coin is that I had the funds there to use in the first place. No debt, whoo!]
Third, October is my three-paycheck month. By September’s end, I should have enough in the cushion to cover half a month’s expenses. I’ll take that entire third paycheck and split it between expenses and savings as well. But, if I hit my $20,000 emergency savings goal before October’s third check, then the entire third check can go towards the expenses fund!
If all of the above happens on schedule, without any hiccups, I can get off this paycheck to paycheck cycle by the end of October. How cool is that?
September 7, 2008
I’ve sent emails galore, one for every category:
* Queried friend of a friend about her work environment
* Finally found a lost email, sent to deprived friend
* Sent two networking base-touching emails from the networking event I attended last week. (Two weeks ago? Aren’t you supposed to send those out a day or two after meeting people? I know, I’m a slacker.)
* Sent love to sick friend
Still to go:
* Find a scanner. Perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to buy one, though I’m enamored of those multipage scanners for about $200 on newegg.com. Will check if my friend has one that I can use.
* Use aforementioned scanner to clear out tons of paperwork.
* Online research. Of the life changing kind.
* Applying results of online research.
* Engage Dad in conversation about Mom’s health care, health care providers, health care visit, dietary needs, budgeting, saving, and future plans. Make that conversations. We’ve lightly touched on the subjects, but desperately need to sit down and make actual, concrete plans.
* Get some sleep between now and next week — I need to rest up before this lack of sleep makes me look like a 13-year-old. Between hormones and tiredness, I’m starting to break out. Yikes!
September 5, 2008
It’s not anything so nuts as actually running the numbers, precisely. Sort of. I just decided that in the spirit of getting ready to pick up and fly where the winds may take me (am I mixing my metaphors?), it’s more than time for me to get more of my financial paperwork online.
Also, my receipts were all hanging out in a single envelope, and that’s unsightly. While I’m not ready to go all out like FB’s scan-a-thon, oh but I would LOVE to, I did want to get started.
So, I grabbed all my receipts, and sat up organizing them into several categories for the Schedule C portion of my income: Gasoline, Business Clothing, Business Gifts, Cell Phone, Dry Cleaning, Travel and Office Supplies. Then, I opened up a new spreadsheet and a kajillion new sheets on Google Docs. The dates, amounts and any applicable notes for each receipt were recorded in chronological order. It only took about two hours to sort, create, and enter the data.
Now that all of the amounts are in a single place, I can easily PDF the whole thing, and take them to my friend’s house to hang out with his dad and learn how to really do taxes next year.
My next step? Getting a good deal on a scanner and scanning all of the tons of files that I’ve got in my room. Offhand, I have files for:
~ auto insurance, maintenance and registration records for three cars
~ Rollover IRA statements
~ FSA records
~ old BT credit card records
~ airline and hotel rewards membership numbers and information
~ tons of credit card statements from the past few years
~ household bills/statements
~ cell phone records
~ payroll records
~ past three or four years’ worth of tax returns
I could recycle some serious paper!
*Now I’m oogling multipage scanners. I don’t need that…. I need to save money more than I do time. Then again, hmmm……*
July 18, 2008
On Wednesday I’m getting out of Dodge and spending 3.5 glorious days at Comic-Con. Then we follow up with a less glorious four days on a business trip to the East Coast. Two of the four are travel days, so we won’t have any leisure time. They don’t believe in LT anyway, so we’re not really missing out.
So why am I not packed yet?? ’cause. Just ’cause I’ve been lazy and thinking about it everyday so that sort of counted. I did get my suit dry-cleaned, so that’s ready to go, and I wrote up my packing list last night so FB’s post on Packing for Business Trips is right on time! Now I can compare my list to her guide. I’m usually quite good at packing lightly, but it’s always a challenge to pack better each time.
Current List:
1 business suit, black
1 3/4 sleeve light blazer, black
1 knee-length skirt, black
2 shirts, red/brn and white
3 dinner dresses: black, black and white, and 1 undecided
1 pair dark red strappy heels
Pajamas
Enough underwear
1 pair jeans and 2 tops for travel days
Toothbrush, toothpaste, facial lotion, lip balm
1 pair hoop earrings
1 paperback or three comic books
1 iPhone, wallet, planner
Laptop and charger
I would normally consider just wearing the suit to both days of meetings but it’s going to be hot and muggy there, and I’m only willing to make concessions to business formality the first day. Also, I’m bringing an actual suitcase, albeit small, because I don’t want to stuff my newly dry-cleaned suit in a duffel bag. Bad form, that. Lastly, I’m actually hoping to bring only one pair of shoes for the entire trip, that and a pair of flipflops for getting around my hotel.
I think I’m set for that trip!
Now for the Comic-Con packing ……
May 13, 2008
There’s got to be a flaw in my planning somewhere here. There’s money in the bank, so why do I feel broke? Because it’s all spoken for? Because I’m shifting money from one account to another to cover the rent check? Probably. I worry that I’ve been reckless and irresponsible somehow, and that’s why I still have to pull together funds, and why I feel so danged broke. Is this my rainy-day version of Bag Lady Syndrome?
I have a certain amount of money that I’m allowed in my expense account per paycheck, and then everything left over goes to rent. I must be sorely underbudgeted in the rent department, because I’m coming up short part way through the month, and the expense account has to make up the difference.
This is me freaking out a little. Again, money is in the bank, but it’s all for real emergencies or upcoming expenses. I’ve got nothing freed up for the here and now. But my planning couldn’t have been that far off. It’s supposed to be really quite close to my actual expenditures, so why the difficulty in pulling it all together?
Hmmm ….. ok, here’re the problems: The bills for the multiple deductibles are all coming due at the same time. The truck still hasn’t been sold. This is the first time I’ve got a surplus set aside for auto insurance, so I’m still feeling the effects of juryrigging that into the system, as the last payment is on the same credit card. And PaDucky was in a tight spot last month and I had to lend him a substantial amount, only 60% of which he’s paid back in time for me to make up the rent.
So, $2120 of the $2227 credit card bill I’m about to pay is on actual bills. Honest-to-goodness, had to pay ’em, BILLS. Another $50 is for medical stuff; I’ll be reimbursed from my FSA. That means I spent $50 on myself. Ten to eat out, seven to treat a friend to Pinkberry, and $33 on an outfit I’m still feeling guilty about and haven’t admitted to buying until now. *oooops!*
*deep breath* So I was only $33 irresponsible. There’s still a juggle, and I’m still going to be struggling to make the ends meet because I’m NOT allowed to delve into other funds for expenses, but at least it wasn’t because I was careless. Silver lining?
November 5, 2007
| Retirement Savings |
Rollover 401(k): $1,456 *Have not received an update for this past month yet.
Roth IRA: $3,557
401(a): $1,711
403(b): $10,239
Total: $16,963
|
| Emergency Savings |
$11,989 |
| Goal Oriented Savings |
Car Maintenance: $638
Savings for BT repayment: $17,015
Savings for taxes: $3,792
Total: $21,445
|
| Investment Loans |
Prosper-ish: $12,630
Personal Loan: $5,000
Total: $17,630
|
| Total Assets |
Non-Liquid: $16,963
Semi-Liquid: $17,630
Liquid: $33,434
Total: $68,o27 |
| Debt and Liabilities |
Truck: $7,755
BT (Brother): $17,015, due 02/08
Total: $24,770 |
The flipside to having a boring set of paychecks through the end of the year is seeing a huge jump in my retirement savings: I’ve finally passed $10k in one of the accounts! I’m finally playing a little catch-up and it feels great. Retirement savings increased 6% overall.
Debts were reduced by 5%, and liquid savings jumped up by 45% but that’s offset by the ongoing drain on my finances due to the truck and taxes due. You’ll see a new category up there: savings for taxes. It’s exactly that. The tax man’s going to come calling for his share of my bonus and I aim to be prepared.
Emergency savings have increased substantially (88%), and I’m very close to achieving the goal again. That wasn’t any amazing feat (other than self control) on my part, though. Soon, the house fund shall rise again!
I wonder if it’d be a good idea to add another section that tracks the debts I’m owed. They’re at the back of my mind, but should it play a role in the Snapshots?
I love that some progress has been made, and might actually even make a net worth goal in the near future. Once I kill this debt and settle accounts with the brother, we’ll talk. We’ve still got the house-buying venture to flesh out, so I’m going to need down payment money in SCADS by next July. Can we do it? Tune in next time! Same Ducky time, same Ducky channel!
September 13, 2007
The good news: Sis-in-law had just about given up on her daily vigil over the football tickets by yesterday evening. Two weeks of babysitting the ticket sale website hadn’t borne any fruit and she was deflated. But apparently my short note of encouragement that I sent galvanized her to give it one more go, and she’s now the proud purchaser of 4 reserved seats at the USC-Cal game at Cal! She was over the moon about it, and I know the boys will be too, when we spring it on them.
Except. Enter the bad news.
Except Boyducky’s papa is not doing well at all. He was moved to Intensive Care yesterday for observation and an emergency procedure that did not go at all as the doctors had anticipated. The procedure was much more invasive and much more complicated. We’re awaiting news on when his third procedure will be scheduled today, and if I’m exhausted from being there the last two nights after work, I can only imagine BoyDucky’s emotional and physical drainage.
Since BoyDucky’s flight was this morning, we had to cancel it. VirginAmerica charges $40 for canceling or changing flights, making his $49 one-way fare almost a wash, and we’ve yet to reschedule the return flight.
In the meantime, his poor mother is working everyday, fitting in hospital visits between taking care of the business and home, dealing with their insurance and hoping that the emergency procedures were performed by doctors on their network. All accompanied by the worry for her husband, of course.
The rather vague expectation now is that his recovery will now take between weeks to months, but we’ve no idea what kind of recovery it’ll be. We’re just praying that today’s surgery will go well and be the last one needed, so he can start recuperating. Then BoyDucky’s siblings have to get together and hash out a schedule for each of them to be home with their mom and take care of their dad for the next few weeks to months.
I don’t know what this means for the New York trip or the surprise birthday weekend yet, but I know we’ll have to address those logistics eventually. That’ll likely be my job, I serve as support crew so that they can attend to things directly related to his medical care.
In the meantime, I can only hope that his dad’s recovery goes well from this point on. From a practical standpoint, there are many factors to be grateful for during this time: the older kids make enough money to fly or drive home as necessary, and will probably be able to make some arrangements with their respective jobs to be there for their parents. They have steady jobs, and don’t have to worry about losing their jobs over taking care of a parent. Thank goodness their parents have decent insurance. It’ll still be expensive, but if they had to worry about how to afford any of the health care he needs, this whole ordeal would be much harder than it already is.