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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October 4, 2009
The funeral was this weekend.
I managed to keep it together for the most part but it was difficult. Everywhere I went, I was introduced as an adopted daughter. That made me smile because, let’s be honest, it’s been a long time since I felt like a part of my own family. Or even since I wanted to be part of my family, the way things have been.
I can’t have been the only one who heard echoes of their father’s voice as we organized the family, completed chores, cooked, ate, and rested together. At first, it was oddly comforting to “hear” him as the days went by. But it was upsetting too. He should BE here, this shouldn’t be happening, it’s not right that he’s not here for this! *”This” is the moving. The family was scheduled to move into another house and nothing is going the way it would have if he were still here. Everything would have been like clockwork.
The resounding sense of wrongness grew louder as I watched the family dynamics shifting. The teenage daughter, already struggling with her relationship with her father, now struggling with the lost authority figure. The brothers quietly trying to find the right place and pace for their new responsibilities. We’re all busy with necessary chores, but we’re also driven by a need to fill the hours with work, to keep moving.
We worked on the house yesterday, after recovering from the funeral. Locks were changed, outlets taped off, walls washed. Painters and carpet cleaners were scheduled, and I’ve been asked to help out again when they arrive next weekend.
That’s where I’ve been, mostly. And that’s where I’ll be, mostly, until we get adoptive mom moved in and settled safely and securely. And after that? I’ll be a consultant as my friend learns the financial ropes his father always kept safely tucked away. Yet another reason to hit the books even harder and make sure I’m up on my money knowledge.
October 3, 2009
First up, Quizno’s Coupons, exp 10/16/09:
1) Buy one sub and a regular fountain drink, get one sub free.
2) $1 off one sub, $2 off two subs, $3 off three subs.
I don’t like Quizno’s anymore, but I hope that any fans out there can use one of these deals.
Second, the silver lining to recent overspending mean that credit card rewards redemption time rolled around much more quickly than usual. My Chase Cash Plus check arrived in the mail: +$50
Third, slow and steady email clickthroughs have finally yielded a $25 gas gift card from MyPoints. That’ll defray a bit of the recent and upcoming driving.
Fourth, FINALLY redeemed Swagbucks for a reward. Would have gone for Amazon GCs except my savings accounts begged for a cash infusion. $5 is better than nothing. HOW is everyone accumulating ‘bucks so quickly? I feel like I’m the slowest earner ever.
Now that I’ve settled up the bill for Dad’s tickets, I’m on a mission to get lower auto insurance rates. Wish me luck!
October 1, 2009
| Retirement Savings |
Roth IRA: $4,137
401(a):$30,814
Total: $34,951 (33,611)
|
| Emergency Savings |
Catastrophe: $ 35,887
Problem Cushion: $ 1,000
Total: $36,887 (36,963)**
|
| Short Term Goals |
Car Maintenance: $2,244
Insurance: $2,467
Travel/Con: $568
Taxes: $3,590
Moving: $3,994
Total: $12,863 (12,144)
|
| Long Term Goals |
House Down Payment: $102
|
| Investments |
TradeKing: $1,094**
Prosper-ish Loan: $12,630
Personal Loan: $1,500
Savings Bond: $362 (current accrued value)
Total: $15,586 (15,542)
|
| Total Assets |
Illiquid: $34,951
Semi-Liquid: $15,586
Liquid: $36,887
Expense Acct: $7,506
Goals Savings: $12,963
Total: $ 107,893 (105,862)
|
| Debt and Liabilities |
AmEx: $144
Chase: $2,510
Rent: $1,360
Total: $4014 (1,770)
|
| Net Worth |
$103,879 (104,092)
|
A few thoughts …..
Yodlee is all over the place. A few weeks ago, I got an invitation to try their Beta and it kept locking me out of my account. When I gave up on the Beta, the original version kicked me out too! Now it’s showing me bills due two weeks ago that it didn’t think were important until now. Thanks!
Bills-owing are at an all-time high thanks to the school bills (>$1000), and the unexpected traffic fee. That’s eaten into the gains made in the retirement accounts. I’d better hit the books even harder, that quiz I took last night made me sweat!
**Dividend!! My stocks paid out a fat $4 dividend. Marked this one ‘specially because I’m excited. Whoo!
Wonky math. Somewhere in the emergency funds, we’ve got math gone wrong and I can’t figure it out. I never take money out of that account, or at least haven’t yet, but it’s down by a handful of dollars. No time to work on it today, unfortunately.
Changes. This snapshot is useful tracking, but everyone doesn’t need all these details. It’s time to consolidate more accounts and simplify both the system and reporting while preserving the subaccounts I love so much. Currently, my money is spread across ING/ED/Citi/Wamu.
I get free checks from Wamu, Electric Orange can’t serve all my checkwriting needs. Citi is the easier B&M from which to bank with linked checking and “high” interest savings accounts, while the ING/ED accounts have marginally better interest rates. It’s nice to have the flexibility of looking for either Chase OR Citibank branches when I’m travelling rather than hoping for one or the other.
I’m looking for a single bank with B&M and online access, free checkwriting (paper and electronic), ability to manage sub-savings accounts with good interest rates, and no fees. Too much?
September 30, 2009
Breakfast for lunch. I like it.
September 27, 2009
Has anyone reached the $100 payout level and actually received a payment? Ever?
VH discussed her troubles with this over at Funny About Money, and Krystal at Give Me My Five Bucks is approaching the $100 marker (via Twitter). I know they’re not the only ones, either, but what I don’t know is whether or not anyone out there has actually made and been paid money from the Adsense program.
I never really expected to make money from this blog, but I installed the widgets anyway way back in the day. Contrary to my dire predictions of January 2008, it’s only taken me another 21 months to earn all of $90 in total, so perhaps 13 years was a pessimistic projection. Then again, maybe not! As I inch towards the goal line, though, I wonder if it matters. Even if I reach $100, will Google actually pay up?
September 26, 2009
Posting here has fallen off for a number of reasons and it’s frustrating because I feel like nothing’s getting done. Now that’s a weird way to look at it. You’d think blogging would get in the way of accomplishing stuff, not facilitate it. Anyhow, like MoneyMateKate, things on the financial front are relatively stagnant. Medical matters have kept me away from home, supporting one sick friend + family after another these two weeks. It must have been three weeks ago that I twittered about my friend’s husband hospitalization in a diabetic coma. She’s been leaning on me pretty heavily since then for company as well as emotional support.
There are tons of things that need doing, I just don’t wanna. Heck, I don’t even want to write this post because that means I’ll feel guilty and have to get going and take care of them. 🙂
Pack your bags, we’re going on a guilt trip!
School started three or four days ago. 1. I still don’t have my books. I should have ordered them three weeks ago to save on shipping. I even made up a spreadsheet comparing costs of Amazon.com vs. Chegg.com vs. library (availability) vs. paperbackswap.com (availability). Too bad the actual ordering didn’t happen, now Chegg will take 4-7 business days to deliver the books. What is this, college all over again??
2. I’m still perusing the syllabi and wondering if perhaps I was too ambitious taking two classes to start. That right there sounds like a pansy talkin’.
3. Quizzes. Ugh. There’s a practice test posted right now. Ugh.
On the bright side, I’m really glad that I paid the extra money and signed up for online courses this quarter. This whole situation would have been impossible if I’d moved to the LA area and taken classes on campus.
Work. I volunteered to intern with this fella who can teach me Photoshop and InDesign a couple days a week, but that’s been utterly derailed because of the family stuff. Not much I can do there because I have to actually be there in the office to learn and work. He knows what’s going on, though.
I was also offered a possible internship opportunity with a financial services firm if I like my finance classes. Again, demands on my time need to be prioritized.
Travel. Dragging my feet on scheduling any travel because even though I really want to be away from home, travel itself is getting old. You know the restless out-of-place sort of feeling when you’re ready to be back in your comfy spot? I’ve got that.
Plus, I’d like to use American Airlines miles but booking through their site’s just a pain.
Anyhow, the takeaway message today is that you can’t get anywhere until you get started. And I’m going to get started now. Have a great rest of Saturday!
September 25, 2009
For the first time in years, I got birthday money! Yay! My cousin claims it’s from my aunt, but I suspect they colluded because cousin is younger than I and there’s an unspoken rule that money only flows down the age stream. Also my unemployment status probably has something to do with it.
This happy circumstance was marred by the discovery that my dad has been hiding over $500 in traffic fines from me.
Injured pride is one thing. Making foolish short term decisions that have negative long term consequences to protect that pride is another entirely and I can’t tolerate it anymore. I’m not one to talk back to my parents, I believe in maintaining a respectful, adult relationship, but darned if I let him get away with this lightly. I resent the fact that I have to lecture him for lying to me. If he’d just been honest with me in the first place, we’d be a team, not this unnatural reversal of parent-child roles.
It’s less that I’m now out another unbudgeted $500, and more that I was raised never to lie and yet here I am, 27 years old and unable to trust my own father. I have to weigh the likelihood that he’s just covering up another wrong. Is this what having bad kids is like??? What would you do if you could no longer trust your parent(s)? Or your entire family? Never in my life have I wanted to run away more.
*aggravated*
But you know. Birthday money. It’d cover the careless forgetting to pack funeral clothes thing, if I’d remembered to bring the gift card with me. As it is, I’m going to have to make an emergency trip to H&M for some suitable pants or a skirt because I was in a hurry to return with the family to the hospital. Also, I had no idea we’d be having the service within two days of his passing. So if I spend about $20, it’ll be cheaper than driving 4 hours round trip to pick up what I have at home. To make up for it, I’ll use the GC to pay the electric bill.
Forgot my pants, forgot my gift card, next thing you know, I’ll be forgetting my own head!
