September 27, 2007
We’re finally having my birthday lunch in the office today. I selected the cuisine and menu because we have a horrid habit of over-ordering and stuffing our mini-fridge to a fare-thee-well. We can’t do that now because mini-fridge has been smelling weird for the last three days and no one can figure out why. Most of the time I’m really embarrassed by non-friend celebrations of my birthday (meaning anything staged by my family or work cohorts) because I hate being the center of attention. But now that it’s nearly a week late, it doesn’t feel like it’s really my birthday anything, so I don’t mind as much. Yes, weird.
Whether it’s because of this last big conference that required a big clothing buy or just the all-expenses-paid sort of mentality that’s seeping into regular life, I’m fresh out of motivation. It may finally be wearing off now, but I’d better not get too complacent.
Cake does a really strange rendition of “I will survive.” Or is it just weird because I’ve never heard it before? Gloria Gaynor DID do it first, right?
Fabulously Broke tagged me for a “How we met” story, so I’ll have to get that post together. Soon.
Oh! And I finally faxed off the correction to my 403(b) to increase my contributions to $1000/month for the next three months. Since I have a thing about keeping as much of my income as retirement or planned goals savings instead of paying some ridiculously high amount of tax on untaxed income, this should help offset my total taxable income tax bill that’s to come by reducing my taxable income. It’s possible that I won’t be filing as Head of Household this year, so I’m preparing for a heavier tax burden. I hate that my tax status is so changeable without any appreciable alterations to my actual lifestyle.
What else? The check will be, supposedly, in the mail next week. This whole raise business has been abnormal and decidedly odd. Whatever, come here li’ raise!
September 24, 2007
I apologize, it’s been an age since I last blogged. Much has happened since you last tuned in: we survived the conference in San Diego, a marriage proposal was made during my absence and the birthday weekend was cold, rainy and full of comic books and sleeping in. Ok, not much has happened at all, really. We do, however, have the two final candidates for the bridesmaid dress! (courtesy of David’s Bridal).
Our first contestant is a lovely satin number. She takes after her mother, a ball gown, and has her father’s sense of flair with that beaded band across her middle. Please meet contestant number one!
Our second contestant is a daring charmeuse/chiffon. She’s got flair in the form of a cute tail, or as we in the business like to call it, a “back cascade.” The empire waist and chiffon halter are unified in our formfitting contestant number two!
Both dresses will require quite a bit of alteration, though I think the second one would be less complicated. I need to rustle up a personal seamstress whose services I can afford on a regular basis because I simply don’t have the expertise to tell what is and isn’t feasible. Opinions, anyone?
September 12, 2007
but the word on the raise is … weird.
The guy in charge, let’s call him Treasurer because that’s how I think of him, has decided that it would be best to just send me one half of the total raise before January 1st. The other half would be sent after January 1st. Leaving aside the obvious vagueness of the whole thing, that’s one quarter of my salary in a lump sum UNTAXED.
Holy tax implications! I’d better hie me to the Benefits Office and hike up my pre-tax contributions for the rest of this year. I have no idea how much that’ll really help, but any little bit at this point is probably good.
My foodie friends, I have two questions:
1. Chez Panisse of Berkeley, excellent or just good?
2. Is it good value for the money? This basically means that the experience and the dining are on par with the money they’re charging. I’m not impressed by being fed inch size servings laced with pretty colors if the taste and eventual satiety isn’t there, in other words.
The sister-in-law proposed it as a dinner option, prefacing it with “I don’t know if it fits your budget” so I automatically selected it as a lunch option instead.
Does anyone have input/insight on this restaurant?
September 5, 2007
My future father in law is having surgery right now at a university hospital. Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well without complications!
August 30, 2007
Sistah Ant’s favorite financial advice unexpectedly struck a nerve. She reminds us that it’s important to place pride where it belongs: firmly behind our goals. It should not get in the way of, or undermine, our efforts to carve out a stronger financial position. We shouldn’t let appearances or materialism take precedence over that which we truly value. That could be anything. For Sistah Ant, it’s a Home of Her Own. For me, it’s financial security. For you? Anything. Your castle in the sky, your early retirement, saying “I don’t have to take this, I’m going home!” to your boss when the job gets too uppity. Anything.
That car, those accessories, the pieces of plastic that enable you to spend more quickly, efficiently, and wastefully so that you don’t “look poor” in front of your family, friends, or complete strangers shouldn’t get in the way of what really matters.
This piece of advice resonates strongly with me. Growing up, my best friend never hesitated to state clearly “I/we can’t afford that.” This statement and attitude came from her parents who worked hard to provide for their children and set firm limits on how much they would spend on wants. This is how they live comfortably and own their home on one income. They would say “no, that doesn’t fit in our budget” and that was the end of the story.
Their attitude was as fundamental to my financial growth as my parents’: “We’ll make sure you get it, no matter what we have to sacrifice.” While my parents’ work ethic serves me well when I need to put my head down and bull ahead through obstacles, it ultimately wouldn’t make any difference without the ability to both identify priorities and be humble enough to admit that I can’t afford everything.
I’m sure it started out as honesty when we were twelve, but now that we’re adults, it’s a matter of pride. These things actually matter more to adults than they do to kids or teenagers; I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone. Every week, every day, opportunities to spend money comes up. Every week, I remind myself that I’ve a small allowance. After that, it’s money that I don’t have.
It’s not easy, even if I did expect to be my parents’ sole provider. It’s not always easy to say, “Sorry, I can go to a dinner OR a movie, not both.” Or not being able to give cousins “enough” for their birthdays and graduations. Not being able to gift that much for family weddings. Not buying lunch at work because it just adds up too fast. Or wearing the same suit to multi-day work functions, so that even your boss notices, because new suits and tailoring are too expensive.
It just sounds so petty, and who wants to look like a piker?
If, as a junior high student, as a high-school student, and as a college student, she hadn’t been consistent about knowing her limits and living within her means, if my best friend hadn’t been humble, I might not have seen that there’s nothing wrong with openly living on a budget.
To know how to spend less than we make, and save more than we spend is wisdom. Actually applying that wisdom to your life despite temptation is humility.
August 28, 2007
No, that’s not a band name. It’s just that the coworkers send me pictures like this:
