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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May 7, 2008
Holy cheezits. I’ve got Bag Lady Syndrome today, and I’ve got it bad. I’m thinking to myself: 15k is good for an emergency (aka: I quit!) fund. But what about all those other things that could happen, like car problems ? That’s almost as certain as death and taxes, especially in the Ducky household. Or something goes terribly wrong with the house? Or if our rent suddenly increases astronomically? How would I cope with money-draining chaos if I’m reducing every expense I can think of and maximizing my income now, and still having a rough go of it?
PaDucky’s out of a job again because the company he was working for went out of business. He’s having a really hard time finding another one because of age discrimination. Prospective employers are telling him that they’re looking for younger people, which is foolish and rude. I wasn’t expecting to rely on his income any time soon, but he’ll certainly have to have one if I’m to implement my plan to move out.
Instead of panicking or becoming anxious, or resigning myself to living here forevermore, I kicked into super-analytical mode:
I should keep the 15k as a cash cushion for job loss.
Then start another emergency fund for catastrophes such as the above.
And bulk up the car maintenance fund by, say, another couple thousand.
And have a supplemental fund for rent, just in case the rent goes up insanely. [This is a possibility, our rent hasn’t been increased in years.]
And … and … and … whooooaaa!!!
That right there? I just tried to mentally justify building up 100k worth of what-if money because I’m paranoid. Where I’d get that extra 85k, Lord only knows, but the point is, I’m falling into that mentality where no amount is ever enough because I’m fueled entirely by emotion. Namely, fear.
It’s subsiding now that I’ve written it down and can see how ridiculous it looks on “paper”, but now I understand how easy it is to become Chicken Little and run from imagined terrors. I always wondered how people I consider comparatively or absolutely wealthy could look at what they have and still be afraid that they’ll be broke, but I realize that the problem is the mentality of what they don’t have, not what they do have.
It’s not that any of the above couldn’t happen, but a million other things that I couldn’t ever foresee could happen, too. I can’t live my life under a rock making lists of the things that could go wrong and how much money I’d need for it to be ok again. Silly ducky.
May 6, 2008
Did you know ….
1. That Treasury Direct’s help line is open until midnight EST?
2. That if you use AutoPay with T-Mobile, they wait 17 or more days to charge your credit card? They actually wait until two days before my NEXT bill is due before the charge hits my credit card. This contrasts sharply with AT&T who charges for the month in advance. I hate that. I probably hate it more because I was deprived of my sweet T-mobile. O T-mobile!
On the more personal side ….
BroDucky Debacles, Part One Million: he’s sent another message via PaDucky asking to talk to me about another variation of “if I make a car payment, can I use the car?” It’s almost funny now. Faster than the speed of completing the sentence, I said no, no, and no, don’t even talk to me about it, no. Seriously, some day he might actually learn what that word means.
My courtesy credit, including tax, has already been applied to my cell phone account. Considering my anticipation of an angry and unsatisfactory call with AT&T, it was really a better outcome than I’d hoped.
Since LnT has officially declared bankruptcy, and I’ve been dragging my feet about spending my $50 gift card from American Express, I’m making a list of things I could get tonight. I definitely want a vegetable peeler. Call me insufferably Asian, but in our household, not only do we not use the dishwasher to wash dishes, we use knives to peel our vegetables. Well, guess what. My arthritic hands have had enough of that. I’m splurging on a veggie peeler.
But what else? I know I’m going to need household items when I move out, but I don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff now when I don’t know when and where I’m moving. After all, I’m also smack dab in the middle of decluttering.
I could get a duck down comforter for $50, with a 20% off coupon.
I could get a Brita water jug and additional filters for $32 (or $22 for the Atlantis version) plus the cost of filters.
I could get a 17 piece cooking set for $50, including:
- 2 Quart Covered Saucepan
- 3 Quart Covered Casserole
- 6 Quart Covered Dutch Oven
- 8″ Saute Pan
- 10″ Deep Fryer with Assist Handle
- Ceramic crock with 7 nylon tools
- Dishwasher safe
I could get a whole lot of towels or a sheet set. The towels make more sense because they’re not size dependent, and there’s a part of me that thinks I might finally upgrade from my twin size bed someday.
Oh, and the reason I’m not using this for a vacuum like I’d planned? Visiting BF meant that they had the opportunity to give me their extra vacuum! Yay! Free vacuum!
So far, towels, and the Brita water filtration system seem the most sensible. Or … the comforter….I’ve never had a nice down comforter before. But what’s up with the duck thing? Is that normal?
What would you suggest?
Income:
1. Ebates: $17, due end of the quarter
2. Office Reimbursements: $376, grrr…..due a month ago
3. Pay Per Post: $38, due 30 days from post
Reductions:
1. In the next chapter of Mom’s declining health, she’s consented to be removed from the car insurance because she can’t drive anymore.
Accomplished:
1. Got our local waste company to confirm that they stopped billing me for an extra barrel on 3/31.
2. I’ve got the truck posted on Craigslist *finally.* Way to wait for the recession to really kick in before putting it up for sale. *eyeroll*
Left to do:
1. My car charger‘s still not arrived yet, so I need to follow up with the company.
2. Follow up with City billing to make sure they haven’t been billing me for an extra waste barrel since 3/31.
Each month, I round up all my expenses and work out the total of what I grandly call my net worth. A lot of bloggers do it, in one form or another. Actually, I call mine “snapshots” because they’re just a quick glimpse at my ever-fluctuating expense and income sheets. In a way, I like that the numbers continually change, especially since I get bored so easily. Activity isn’t always a good thing, though, as noted by the massive reductions in net worth during the BroDucky debacle. Let me emphasize how I never want to spend so much for so little again. 😛
Every month, I put together these snapshots, but I don’t actually have a net worth goal. And keeping track of numbers without an actual goal seems rather halfhearted. I do have annual savings goals, as you can see by my sidebars, but I don’t have an overall net worth goal. Part of this is because the savings goals are both saving and spending goals. A good half of my goals pertain to a future purchase or expenditure: car maintenance, home ownership, auto payoff. The other half are for retirement (completely untouchable), emergencies (almost always untouchable), and mistakes (only if it’s serious).
Between the two, it seems like I’m just saving to spend. Oh, that’s not really the case, I’ll still have the savings at the end of a long hard day, but the half and half structure of my goals implies that this isn’t all about holding on to my putative wealth. In that light, “net worth” doesn’t seem applicable unless I have something more concrete than the employer retirement funds and cash in a savings account. Some things more like CDs, and savings bonds, and property. An actual stock portfolio, at some point. You know, grown-up things. So again, what’s the point of tracking my net worth?
After all, it can be very subjective. You can choose to include or exclude any number of possessions or holdings that you deem worthy or not of being considered. I leave out my automobiles entirely because it’s a bit too complicated to include them. I don’t plan to sell my personal vehicle ever, and the family sedan, which is not my financial responsibility, is still being paid off. Still, if something happened to it, you betcha I’ll be the one who has to figure out a replacement. Same goes for personal loans. I only started including those because I’m getting forgetful, and didn’t want to lose track of them entirely. One of the reasons I’m leery of including any possessions is the idea that possessions only have value to me. If I lose or break something, I have to replace it at a cost to myself. It’s highly unlikely, in the general scheme of things, that my possessions will be worth anything to anyone else. Barring selling large ticket items, of course. But my point is, things are primarily a liability. More often, I’ll have to replace things, not make money from them.
So, why track a seemingly artificial net worth? In part, accountability. As long as I see steady progress, or lack thereof, in the form of numbers from one time period to the next, I have to stay on track. Some kind of track. And if I keep the variables constant, then the change in amounts is a valid indicator of circumstances. Just because I don’t include my possessions doesn’t mean my financial holdings aren’t real.
The other part, motivation. Seeing the numbers makes the whole game of finances, bargain shopping, and frugality more real. It’s not just theory, it’s life in action. If I were to be completely objective, I’d be proud of myself for going from working to pay off my family’s debt (credit cards, car payments, personal loans), to actually building a cash cushion, putting a decent amount away for later, and generally making some progress. It’s harder to see that, though, on those bleak days when all I can think of is the $18,000 I foolishly lent and lost, the entire salary of my 4 college years going towards bills bill and more bills, and most of my post-college salary going towards not me. I can only see the other side of the coin if I actually keep track of it.
It’s all too easy to forget that the grind can actually produce results, and to keep going because we’re going to make it. I look at the accomplishments of fellow bloggers, and I’m A-M-A-Z-E-D. And you know what? Seeing my numbers keeps me honest. I can finally be happy for what I’ve done here these past two years, too. Combine that with the realizations that it’s ok to be free, that it’s ok to live, and I’m going to say, not too shabby, really!
So, let’s keep on with the net worth! It doesn’t define me, and it may not truly define my “wealth” but it’s a good way to keep me truckin’ from milestone to milestone.
May 5, 2008
Half a month’s charges victorious, anyway. AT&T and Apple Support and I powwowed for nearly two hours about the various problems that I’ve been having with the iPhone:
1. Calls aren’t coming through, when I’m using other features such as the iPod, internet browsing or checking email, even though they’re supposed to. There are times I get kicked out, as though a call’s coming in, but it doesn’t actually go so far as to give me my call. Calls that are missed and allow voicemails don’t show up as missed calls, either.
2. Voicemail’s not always an option: callers may just get the perpetual ring, or hung up on. So the invisible callers don’t even get an opportunity to leave me a message, and then they think I’m ignoring their calls. I’m not!
3. Text messages don’t always go through. Some of my outgoing messages aren’t reaching the recipients, and then their replies to the messages that do go through aren’t reaching me. *sigh*
4. Emails work when they want to. I’ve got a work email and personal email addressed synced, and at any given time, one or the other might not work. *exasperated*
This weekend’s loss of calls, voicemails, and text messages pushed me over the edge, so I finally got on the phone with AT&T and spoke with their CSR, got shunted to an Apple CSR, got sent back to an AT&T CSR and then AT&T tech support. All of them were variably helpful trying to troubleshoot the phone and service, and I came away with a promise of a follow-up call on Thursday to see if it seems to be working better and a $20 courtesy credit to appear on my next billing statement.
I’m glad I stuck it out and hope that this solves the problems, and the courtesy credit helps, but I can’t stop wishing for simpler times. Life was so much easier when my phone could do as a phone should do: make and receive calls and messages, and never mind all the other gadgetry.
iPhone’s not really worth the hassle, glitz and shininess if it can’t handle a phone’s functions. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!
May 2, 2008
Feedburner revealed that I do not, in fact, only have five or six readers, I have a few more than that! Your secret is out, friends, you are there! And that makes me (even more) curious than I usually am about who might be reading this blog, and why I haven’t heard from many (?) of you. Even though I’ve been working at this blog for nearly two years now, I’m still excited about comments, and would like to know more about you.
If you’re lurking, please de-lurk and join the conversation!
Tell me, who are you, where are you from, why do you read this blog? What do you like about it? What would you like to see more of? What topics would engage you in conversation?
And a question that’s been on my mind: If you could give someone a windfall, funded entirely by yet another generous soul, who would you give it to? How much, and why? Would there be restrictions on the money or would it be a no-strings attached gift? Again, why?