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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August 9, 2006
What would you do?
I just can’t make up my mind — practical? Frivolous? And then there are degrees of practicality, clothes are practical but also frivolous … the comics and comic accessories I could get boggle my mind! (I would not just stock up on the long boxes, bags ‘n’ boards, but I could go for a spinner or two.)
But, spending without trying to squeeze the value out of every single penny with coupons, rebates and sales? I don’t know if I could do that. In all honesty I would probably take the money, throw it into a savings account and crow Victory! Or buy a large chunk of airline gift cards so that BoyDucky and I can visit/travel more frequently without worrying about the monthly expenses, or just plan a nice vacation and shopping trip for MaDucky.
Do you know, in all her life, she has yet to go on a vacation or shop without paying attention to how it’s going to affect the budget? It’s always been survival and raising the kids and giving them what they need, want or should have. Piano lessons, private school, books, clothes, cars. Maybe they weren’t needs but they were definitely sacrifices that she made for us. Scratch that, she didn’t buy me a car, but she did provide for most of her family (6 sibs, 2 parents) none of whom thanked her, much less paid her back.
Hm. Today’s question should have been fun, but I got sidetracked on Guilt Highway, carpool lane.
August 8, 2006
is up over at Single Ma’s!
In terms of your annual gross salary, what percentage do you save? Are you happy with that amount or do you think you could do better?
August 7, 2006
I just spoke with a Citibank Online rep who, upon ending our call, asked if he could make a small suggestion regarding my accounts. “You have,” he says, “quite a lot of e-savings accounts.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, you have a lot of e-savings accounts, were you aware that if you do not have e-savings accounts linked to your checking account, you will only be getting the 5% annual percentage – that is 4.75% monthly, on the one account and the other accounts will not be getting the high interest rate?”
*interest piqued, does this guy know anything?* “Really, that’s interesting, do you mean to tell me that if each of my e-savings accounts are not linked to their own separate checking accounts I will not be getting the high interest rate? What rate would I be getting?”
“Yes ma’am!! You would only be getting the day to day interest rate and I can check and tell you what that rate would be!”
“Really, because I specifically checked if there were limits on the number of e-savings accounts I could have at the advertised rate.”
“Oh, uh, er, yes let me check on that please could I put you on hold for just a short minute ma’am?”
“Sure..”
a minute later:
“Oh, uh, I checked that and you’re absolutely right ma’am, yes, you are getting the full high interest rate that you seem to be getting ma’am.”
“Yes,” as I peer at my statement with each account’s interest earned and rates looking kosher, “yes I do believe I am right. Thank you, good night!”
“Thankyougoodnightma’am” *CLICK*
Which leaves me wondering, what on earth kind of money-making opportunity did he think he saw? Or did he actually think he was really actually helping me out? What an odd fellow.
August 3, 2006
Hope you can read this!
August 2, 2006
Steal Your Travel Agent’s Tricks reveals a new website that may come in handy for travelers who need more convenience in their travel plans. Personally, I’m hoping that ExpertFlyer.com will help with unlocking some good fares for United as I’ve got plans to be flying up north a couple times the next few months and I could really use some good deals.
Other travel tips that I am currently trying:
**Bonus** I did nothing to find this but the some of usual round trip routes that run 167.10 before taxes/fees came up as 137.10! Score!!
Scheduling an open jaw flight: I usually go all the way home (1 hour, 15 mins) and then leave out of my favorite international airport that’s rarely ever crowded enough that you have to be there more than 30 minutes before departure (and this on a holiday weekend!)
This time, I’m going to try leaving from the airport near work (LAX – haven’t been there in years so I’m hoping it won’t be a nightmare!!) From Union Station I can use the Flyaway for 3 bucks and leave work only a little earlier than usual (1 hour) instead of 2 and 1/2 hours early.
I will fly back home to my usual airport, though. Cost? $149 after taxes and fees, plus 3 for the Flyaway.
I’ve been receiving notices for unspecified Citi credit cards. I have 5 cards with them, and only regularly use one, the others are for BTs [2], emergencies [1] and to maximize the Credit Protection retention program for ten bucks a month [1]. I could only be bothered to skim it for any details that would pertain to me and found that they’re increasing late fees to THIRTY NINE DOLLARS. Not that I ever worry about paying late but IF you did, they’d hit you with a basically 40 dollar fee!! Also, they would then increase your APR to prime rate plus a gazillion%. On all your cards. So, all it takes is one misstep, folks.
That being said, I’ve had mental technical errors before and kind of forgot to send my e-payment on that due date (I can’t help it, I like to keep the money in a high interest savings account until the last possible second. Also I forget what day it is a lot, too.) When that happens, invariably I’ll have trouble getting my browser to work. I’ve called Citi and explained that I had problems sending the payment through and they’ve processed the payment over the phone with no fee. I’ve only had to do that a couple of times, but they were very nice about it and I didn’t get hit with a late fee or any other fee. I don’t know if that’s because I have so many cards/accounts with them, but there it is.
August 1, 2006
In a very weird way, I like being on a budget because I like to know exactly where every single penny goes. However, my attempt to simplify financial matters so that I can branch out into doing other sorts of research instead of just staring at my online banking pages has spawned an entirely new system that I’ve talked about before. Chunks of my paychecks are allotted to different accounts and theoretically that was to cut down on the detail work. I’m still getting used to it, but since I’m not really at a point where I want to track my net worth, I’m going to try a different kind of tracking, just a very simple overview of what I’m actually saving and spending each month, per check. It’ll look something like this:
Savings (per check)
Budgeted: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)
Actual 1: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)
Actual 2: 200, pre-tax 403 (b)
Budgeted: 540, post-tax E-fund
Actual 1: 365
Actual 2:
Spending (per check)
Budgeted: 75, car insurance
Actual 1: 75
Actual 2:
Budgeted: 360, everything/personal,etc.
Actual 1: 360
Actual 2:
Budgeted: 100, household bill
Actual 1: 0 🙁
Actual 2:
I’m trying to reconcile the fact that my budget actually requires me to make a lot more than I make without overtime. Another factor in the reduced cash flow is my huge increase in 403 (b) contributions but I’ve decided that it’s a necessary evil because I have to reduce my taxable liability somehow and besides that I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! So, weird though it is for a hard-core saver to say: when I come up “short” each month, it’ll be the savings post-tax category that gets shorted because that figure is a high ideal number. I would reduce it to a more reasonable number but … well … I just don’t want to. Ok, I don’t want to because I know I usually work a good chunk of overtime, so there’s no reason not to maintain a high expectation – except for those times I just can’t do the OT. Maybe I’ll have to settle for a range: 450-540.
