About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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June 8, 2010
…if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything…
The Princess Bride
It’s a sad fact of life that sometimes you make choices and compromises heretofore unthought of in pursuit of better health. Some of them aren’t a big deal: it’s just that you have to exercise in the mornings, instead of evenings lest you lie restless all night, or you have to mind this one stretch or that other warm-up because it makes your elbow go wonky.
Sometimes it’s a very big deal.
Sometimes, you choose between eating dinner or taking a hot bath because you’re in too much pain to eat and properly rest. You forgo a dream career path because it’s too highly physical for 4-6 years of professional schooling before you can choose to specialize in an area that’s less physically demanding. (You wouldn’t last a week.)
You’ll become limited to adopting small dogs because in an emergency, you wouldn’t be able to carry the bigger dog to the vet or away from harm’s way. You probably wouldn’t believe the number of people who call, frantic, about their sick dog they can’t carry to the vet’s and there’s nothing a vet can do over the phone for you. It’s a very real concern.
There are all kinds of compromises that are made when your good health can no longer be taken for granted, when the good days are so rare as to be cherished, defined as “only a few parts of me really hurt right now.”
Danielle knows what I’m talking about. Abby knows what I’m talking about. Nicole talked about the costs of health maintenance. Many others deal with health issues, minor to life-threatening. Many of them have noted that a significant part of the choices you make when a firm, fit and ready-to-go body isn’t what you see in the mirror, involves money.
What you spend your money on is highly influenced by your state of mind which is heavily informed by the state of your body.
These days, I haven’t eked out the time to find a new doctor, so I’m spending time and money (and feeling guilty to boot) in a nearly perpetual-drought state on hot baths in order to keep functioning. Next week, it’ll be therapeutic massages to keep me mobile, and maybe alternative medicine. Who knows what ten years down the road might bring?
All the more reason to become as financially stable as possible while I can make hay. You know, while the sun shines and all that.
I look forward to living pain-free someday but hope for the best and plan for the worst, guys. I’ll keep on saving and investing until I can do no more.
If nothing else, there are days where I can walk a straight line and I stop, breathe and think, I’m so grateful that I am walking without searing pain right this moment. I know it can and will change, but right here, right now, I’m grateful.
Take care of your health, friends, as best you can with what you’ve got.
June 6, 2010
The $5K/5K Challenge was a long sprint that we sprung on you. It was meant as a friendly competition to encourage accountability and share an experience that is inevitably going to have its downturns. Believe you me, I would not have been nearly as enthusiastic about cramming on those projects working late into the nights and sacrificing lovely sunny weekends without my cyber support and fellow “racers.”
Of course, I never did decide exactly where that money was going to go, so let’s do a quick allocation before getting the good stuff.
The total: $4700 (we’re ignoring the change)
Referring back to my Dual Household, Single Income post, and the follow-up with bloated savings goals of April, this should be pretty easy.
Almost too quick and easy, no? I’m finally past the stage where I feel like every budget calculation has to be done a jillion times to be satisfying.
This fast-tracked savings challenge has allowed me to reach my savings goals almost 2 months in advance. If you revisit the original chart, the timeline had these pots filled by the end of July. This is an excellent leg up and head start into the next round of savings.
There’s no guarantee that the next several months will be nearly as fruitful because freelancing puts you (mostly) at the mercy of the clients but that’s part of life.
And, now for the good stuff!
Surprise!
I’m rewarding one of my intrepid challengers with a $50 Smarty Pig gift card! Those who have been posting/updating their goals should leave a comment about their progress and email address to enter the randomized drawing.
The Rules:
I’ll pick a winner on Tuesday 9 pm PDT, all decisions final, winner must respond within 24 hours of contact or I’ll pick a new winner. The reward is the responsibility of the Smarty Pig folks, I don’t have the card myself. Be forthright, be good, and prepare yourselves for the next challenge! In fact, tell me what you’d like the next one to be.
June 5, 2010
*squeal* I staked out the mailbox, trekking out no less than 4 times to see if it’d been delivered, because I was at 60% and that was, y’know, good and all but it’s not nearly an A in the game of Winning. Besides, I’d busted my butt the first two weeks of May to complete an assignment two and a half weeks early to ensure just for this challenge and by golly if the last check didn’t squeak in under the wire!
As of June 5th, I have banked $4742 for the $5K/5K Challenge.
It was no walk in the park. I gave up many weekend hours to work on projects big and small, every penny and minute counting toward this challenge. No small part of that was good timing and luck – though SingleMa took me by surprise with her decision to run a 5K in 5 weeks instead of in October, I’d been “training” in my own way by diligently scouring for opportunities to earn extra income and committing to projects. That’s what made this kinda fun, and not just a horrible horrible idea.
Since I can’t really share what I did for my work, my toil was in silence except for the weekly updates, but I appreciate those of you who stuck through it and achieved your personal goals.
I haven’t yet decided where this money goes, so stay tuned for one last update on this tomorrow!
Meanwhile …..
My Partner in Challenge, Single Ma rocked it out this morning:
Candace fulfilled her challenge:
The Fit Lounge went over and beyond her quota as well:
Congratulations to Single Ma, Candace and The Fit Lounge. My quiet friends of the Challenge, how have you done?
Updates:
@tiredofbeingbro
June 4, 2010
Will the cornerstone of Future Me’s Castle crumble to bits?
As excited as I was to start contributions to my new 401(k) as soon as I was eligible, the sad truth is that the plan carried by my company is less than ideal. By that I mean, the expense ratios start at .65% and go up, way up, from there. For any asset allocation, an investor would have to accept a hit of 10-20% of contributions along with the usual investing risks.
I’m a Vanguarder: no fees and low fees are my mantra! While we have an up-to-4% match with a 6% contribution, mediocre funds, outrageous fees and other additional fees I’ve not yet ferreted out are already eating up any possible gains. Is that now 2% or less worth it?
Certainly it’s 2% that I didn’t have to contribute but consider that my money won’t have the opportunity to perform in a stable fund like the ones I can find with Vanguard. There are 5 index funds and their online access is limited – witness the fine print disclaimer that access may be restricted and will be limited during peak times.
I’m not sure the pros [the match and the tax benefits] outweigh the cons [poor funds, many fees].
Alternatively, I could always take cash and dump it into a ROTH, which doesn’t actually give me any tax benefits right now, and also open up either a SIMPLE IRA or a SEP-IRA for the freelance income. It’s giving up the 4% match, but I can stick with Vanguard and not give up any of that match sacrificed to high fees.
It’s hard for me to say: I won’t invest in the 401(k) and will give up free money. But it’s harder to say I’m going to blindly follow conventional wisdom when I know it’s not the usual free money is great scheme.
June 2, 2010
I got my money back!
D’you remember that sweater I splurged on back when I got the job? Mid March, I think it was. The promise was made out loud that if I got the job, I could have one sweater for the office.
Actually, I might never have confessed to the shopping trip because I lost my goldanged mind and bought five items for a total of $220. Oh yes, I completely neglected to share that. The shame…..
….
anyway, that’s not the point.
It turns out that after the “victory” of finding clothes that fit, I realized my real mistake was buying clothes from Martin + Osa; it’s like having a puff pastry for dinner. The experience is nice, but it’s not filling nor ultimately satisfying. The sweater popped a seam within weeks after purchase, and the fabric pilled horribly. Instead of taking it right back because A) I was lazy, B) the closest store (I thought) was 30 miles away, and C) I’d never picked up my mind where I left it because hello, your money?
I waited too long and the store that normally easily gave returns instead gave me guff because I made the mistake of trying to return the item on the same day the announcement was made that M+O were going out of business.
Oh.
But I spent way too much money on that sweater to have it fall apart like that so I got on the phones with Customer Service AND corporate to get a resolution. Store closing or no, they have sister stores, a return policy that still allows returns for quality issues, and a reputation to maintain. After a dozen emails with that many different answers, I was finally given the number to the American Eagle corporate office who again confirmed that this return was valid. That lovely CSR went ahead and called the store manager, explained the situation and secured the promise that if the seam really had popped, my money was again mine.
Yes, I did spend $3.50 of that return money on parking, and $8.50 on tacos, but I’m still getting $70 back for a sweater that wasn’t worth $20. The rest of that money’s going to the bank.
Small victories after a hard day at work, folks.
June 1, 2010
“Fine then, I won’t be in your way much longer, I’m moving out!”
As threats go, this classic gem from child to parent resonates with unbridled resentment, rings of freedom untasted, hardships unendured. Heartache follows, “how did we get to this place in our relationship?” Remorse to some degree on either side, and sometimes the threat is carried out to the ultimate grief or relief of the parties involved.
As a stratagem, my brother fails to recognize that the construct relies on the premise that you’re holding the power to do that which your antagonist least desires.
This? Is not that.
I can only hope that it’s not an empty threat that, like the overgrown child he is, he will find a new abode and throw his knapsack over his shoulder and huff off.
My only regret, after these twelve years of his nonsense, abuse, manipulation, the recent 3-year-block of which seemed like to end in some tragic circumstance, is that I’ll not see his dog again. I can’t part dog from owner nor could I keep one of his breed at my new home. He’s one of the smartest, most well behaved dogs I’ve ever met. Ironically, I can’t worry about my brother’s welfare anymore, but I do worry about the dog ending up homeless. Our last fight shows he’s still got no clue about taking care of anyone, including his own dog.
Cold, yes, but his latest extended chance in a string of hundreds has led only to abuse: heated accusations that Mom is faking her illness, her falls, the depths of her mental decline, abusive language towards Dad, lying to me, his unrestrained use of resources he’s not contributed to in years. I simply cannot afford financially or emotionally to keep caring or enabling.
As reported by my dad, the latest hissy fit was catalyzed by my dad’s objection to Brat’s definition of cleaning: “moving everyone else’s furniture around” and “throwing away other people’s belongings.” Not throwing away your own trash, folding your own laundry, washing your own dishes, picking up after your own, oh no. None of those.
*smh* Good, then. For the first time, my parents have finally agreed that my life has been on hold because of their refusal to support my decision to cut him out and agree that it’s time for him to go. Perhaps, though it hurts to say it, I’ll soon have the good fortune to see my brother voluntarily exit from my life and, away from the constant shelter I had to provide, he’ll finally grow up.
May 30, 2010
This month shows an interesting slide in both assets (primarily investments) and a nearly equal drop in expenses. Those expenses were mostly relocation-related, this month’s cash usage was pretty much the renters insurance policies I bought.
It is a little disappointing that the $5K/5K challenge doesn’t show up significantly on this snapshot, but that’s because it’s lost in the overall picture. As a detail, it plumped up the emergency fund a good amount. I have plans for that emergency fund – a lot of that cash will be going into a long-term CD to earn as much interest as possible until rates go up elsewhere. Perhaps I could even “part” with $20K? *shudder*
I’m a cash hoarder and it’s distinctly weird to lock up more than half my cash, but it’s time to crush that kind of emotional saving!
I continue on the last leg of the Challenge this week and then have to decide the next step of my overall financial plan to supplement my income this year.
