October 4, 2006
There’s been too much talk of spending and saving money here lately, and not enough of cutting fixed costs and generating income other than that earned from my employer.
So, things I have to do before I leave for Chicago:
~~ Switch our internet plan to Verizon’s broadband. I’m debating which I should sign up for: the up to 1.5 Mbps at 29.99/month for 12 months with a free wireless networking start up kit, or the up to 768 kbps at 14.99/month for 12 months with a free modem. They both come with a free 30-day trial period, and $20 FatCash bonus. I know that this is a far cry from the AT&T Yahoo deal I was investigating earlier but that would have entailed changing our phone service as well and I just didn’t have the time to research the best phone plan through AT&T. Maybe towards the middle of this 12 month term I’ll work on that, in case I can’t get a better deal once the promotional period for Verizon is over.
After Chicago:
~~ Sharebuilder has an automatic investment plan promoted on their website. Since I’ve never invested in individual stocks before, I have no idea what a good deal would be, but I can take a look at this to diversify my investments. If I go with Sharebuilder, I believe Kira has a nice little signup bonus over at CashDuck, or MyPoints has a sign-up bonus as well.
~~ Otherwise I can do some more mutual funds research and pick a couple funds as income funds, not retirement fund. I can continue with Vanguard or consider Fidelity or Dodge&Cox, depending on which ones are more fee-friendly. The reason I hadn’t done this before is because I didn’t want to pay more in fees than I was investing and I need at least $3000 to open an IRA. That hasn’t changed but I should have the decisions made now so that I can move on that with my Christmas bonus money, instead of letting it sit around passively in the E-funds.
My greatest weakness when preparing for a business trip is watching my “special circumstances” spending. It becomes a tug-of-war between my usual budgeting mentality of: “Do you NEED this? Noo .. no you don’t” versus “Do you NEED this? Uh, yes, I do have to be dressed well/look good/professional/better than the new kids on the block! DUH!”
It’s critical to closely evaluate the existing items in the closet and decide what pieces can double as businessy clothes, what absolutely must be purchased, and as far in advance as possible. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m cursed with the twin disabilities of lacking fashion sense and being too d@rned small to fit into most off-the-rack clothing. [Hey, at least I admit to needing a second, third or fourth opinion!] Oh, and does being a total budgetary miser count as a disability? It does when it comes to actually getting stuff, doesn’t it?
Either of these would be sad enough, but together I’m a double whammy of potential-disaster-walking. Soooo … I combat this by recruiting more savvy friends, or getting ideas for what to look out for and shopping as far in advance as possible.
Now that the clothes shopping for Chicago has been completed, I just have to chart out the itinerary so that I can pack exactly what I need.
**If you’re travelling on your own, this could be a huge time and money saver. You save time not having to dig through your suitcase during the trip, packing time before you leave and return, you’re not lugging six pieces of luggage from car to airport to hotel to airport to car. You save money not buying a load of crap you might not need, you’re not paying for extra weight if you go over AND you save your back!**
At the same time, I don’t want to run short, even though I think All-Expenses-Paid includes emergency clothing … HMM!! Just kidding, I’m not sure that would be a valid reason: “Oh, I underpacked cause y’know, I figured I could shop Michigan Ave. Cool? Cool!”
Soooo … the next battle? Is the digital camera battle. I’ve been fighting with myself for the past two years because I bought a perfectly good point-and-shoot 35 mm camera four years ago. Unfortunately, it developed this awkward tendency to “pull” the lower left or right hand corner of the photo giving everyone a maimed, fat-cheek sort of look. The repair shop wants over a hundred dollars to try to fix it, and I’m torn between just paying almost half the price of the camera again or just buying a new digital camera. Over a hundred dollars could buy about a half a low-end or decent dig cam, right?
80% of the year, I don’t have a camera and I don’t miss it. 20% of the year, I still don’t have a camera but I really want one. See? Want. Do I need it? Well, probably not, but when these trips roll around we’re told to take pictures like the paparazzi and I find myself twiddling my thumbs and wishing that I’d just picked something up. Cause you know, I have a few hundred bucks lying around with which to “pick up” that camera. In the meantime, I drool over things like the Canon Powershot SD800 IS. Or the SD630 would be fine.
I still can’t justify the cost when it’s still considered a *luxury* given my other bills to pay, even if I did get a raise. Man, I’m no fun at ALL. I rationalize that I’m saving myself the set-up costs of the camera, the accessories of cabling and casing etc., the photo printing and all that, but am I really gypping myself of photographic evidence of all I’ve gone and done? Am I going to regret this when I’m older and have, at best, a hazy recollection that I was once in Chicago for some thing with those folks whose faces I can’t quit visualize anymore? Or more importantly, what about when I travel for FUN?
Two days before I fly out, I’m not going to go camera shopping. But I’m going to have this same conversation with myself come April if I have to go to D.C.! Or maybe sometime in December. Like that iPod conversation I had for months when I promised myself an iPod for the train ride when I started that new job: “when things get better, you can have *****” I’m such a liar.
October 2, 2006
Someone is learning a very painfully expensive, and painful lesson: TURN IN YOUR BENEFITS PAPERWORK ON TIME!!
It’s not impossible. It’s not that hard. SO DO IT. The alternatives are exceedingly painful.
He has wisdom teeth that are impacted, need to come out, and have needed to come out for some time now. He is now in a lot of pain and a bad financial situation. Wisdoms run close to $500 EACH to remove, and he’s in a bad income month [notice a trend here? Why is it that I …. ach, never mind] so of course he hasn’t the cash flow to cover it.
I don’t know what to do for him that I haven’t already. I have dramatically increased bills at home and I’m not trying to borrow trouble. I can point him in the direction of CashDuck and suggest he get his fingers a-typing. I can suggest that he ask for a cash discount or a payment plan from the dentist, and I can suggest up a storm but only the Good Lord knows if he’s going to actually listen to anything MsMiniducky has to say.
I’m not unsympathetic. I remember horrid dental pain and my heartstrings have been tugged aplenty. But I honestly couldn’t extend myself any further to help even if I had been asked to. And brutally honestly? People have to learn painful lessons when they refuse to learn painless lessons.
I still feel heartless. But my personal journey bodes to be rough enough, I can’t keep bailing people out, and as Claire pointed out, you should only lend money you can afford to give away.
So remember that prevention is worth 80% of cure! Even after paying monthly premiums [10-12 dollars?] and your share of 20%, that other 80% of the cost of treatment in a situation like this can really make a huge difference. Four hundred dollars versus $2000? It’s like buying one, getting THREE free!