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Home > Archive: July, 2007

Archive for July, 2007

few things

July 24th, 2007 at 06:20 pm

I am on vacation this week. I'm pretty much just hanging out at home and visiting people that I don't see regularly that are also at home during the week and finding places for the items I'm pulling out of my storage unit that will close on the 31st. I'm trying hard to make that not mean more spending since I have the opportunity to go out more. We'll see.

I called my dr's office and asked if I could pay half of my bill this month and the other half next month. They looked at my account and didn't have a problem with it. While I technically have the money to pay it all right now I'm trying to stick with only using money set aside for medical to pay medical. And I know I can pay the rest of it next month.

I will be co-leading a 2 hour class on Basic Finance Skills in Oct/Nov. I met last night with the gal I'll be leading with and need to come up with a good outline soon. I'm really excited and super nervous. I talk about this stuff all the time but not in this sort of setting. So I'll be rummaging around the 'net so I can have stuff down on paper that way I don't forget my speaking points. Smile

I'm babysitting tonight, probably for about 3 hours so that should mean about $30. I haven't bought a gift for the wedding I'm going to this weekend so I think I'll set whatever I get from babysitting as my limit since I wasn't sure where I was going to pull the money from and the credit card had been calling my name but I've been working hard to silence it. Smile

Where did it all go?

July 18th, 2007 at 09:49 pm

I really wish I knew where my money went this last pay period. I have no good answers for it. I took some from my gas money to pay for groceries and a small meal out. But then I got $15 from winning a pool as to when my friend's baby would be born. Sorta evens out.

Ok so here's where the confusing stuff comes in.

- I do have a roommate moving in sometime after the 21st. She will be giving me money for August rent so I don't have to hold onto money to cover it but I'm doing so anyway because I just want to have all my bases covered. Right now I have $50 in an 'Unknown' category. I'll be adding $60 from my check on the 20th plus $45 from childcare (maybe more if i do any other babysitting, a friend just called to see if i could sit but we haven't finalized that I actually will be doing it). So that's at least $155 not counting any extra in my check on the 5th or the $100 that's auto deposited on the 1st from my step-brother. I need $287.50 for her half of rent.

- I have two medical bills due on the 31st. One from my clinic for $160 and one from my dentist for $28. There's $93 in my medical savings account and there'll be $15 left from my medical savings budget on the 20th. Still a tad short of the total due but I may just pay the dentist and call the clinic to see if I can pay half now and half next month.

- I owe my team captain $114 for my part of the van rental, my part of gas, and my part of water for the relay. It's not due really until August 24th but it's something I need to remember I have to pay. He figured high on the gas money so I might even get some back but it won't really be much.

- My brother has not been fully processed yet so his signing bonus won't arrive until at least 10 days after he is fully processed. I have a feeling that may not actually show up in his bank account until after rent is due. Which means he may need my help to pay for rent ($250+). Though he did just call and said that his recruiter told him today that his packet had left his hands and is at the state office. Once he's in the computer his signing bonus should come pretty quick.

- I need to get my oil changed. I actually have enough in the budget to cover it but it's an added thing that I need to keep reminding myself to do before my trip to Seattle.

- I have almost $70 for my trip to Seattle. That should be enough to cover gas and ferry fare but probably not eating out depending on how much I do and where. Friend that I'm visiting knows how budget conscious I am but she's planning something special for Friday night.

- I have another trip to Seattle planned for in August and I'm hoping I can just tell my friend that's going with me that she doesn't have to pay for the concert ticket in exchange for her paying for gas and taking care of our lodging on Saturday night. We'll see how that goes.

- I bought concert tickets for my brother for his birthday only to find out his friend bought him a ticket and got slightly better seats. I'm debating about using the tickets (I wouldn't mind going but I wouldn't have bought them for me) or selling them since the concert is sure to sell out (Smashing Pumpkins, my brother's favorite band that he never saw live). I could make a tidy profit off them.

- I have two extra tickets for the concert in Seattle, I may be selling them to other friends in the area or just selling them period. I'm waiting til it gets closer and the show sells out.

- I need to have an extra $60 to pay the gas for someone to pick me up from the relay so I don't have to pay $196 to stay one night in a hotel at the finish line. Again, don't need it until August 24th but still need to keep it in mind.

I think that September will be a better month for me. Just because once September hits all the big stuff I have going on should be over and I can be back on a more even keel. Except for the whole going to my current roommate's wedding which is 4 hours away but I'm already planning on car-pooling with at least one other person and sharing a hotel room.

Planning to spend day

July 13th, 2007 at 03:59 pm

My new roommate and I are going shopping for the few things we actually will need when my current roommate moves out. Dishes for one, Target has a set on sale it's a white service for four for $10, and a big skillet for another. There's a couple other odds and ends but considering how much we don't have to buy it's not really that bad.

I don't really have money to go shopping right now. I get paid Sunday/Monday for child care that will be about $70 total. In my dollar jar where I've been saving what's left over in cash from my grocery and gas at the end of the pay period I have $68. So I'm taking that with me to spend and I will pay it back from my childcare money. I don't plan on spending a lot, hopefully no more than $40.

I am excited though to spend time with the new roommate too.

New Roommate and more available funds!

July 10th, 2007 at 06:35 pm

So the gal that came over last night, seems like it's a really good possibility. I love the fact that neither of us really had to work very hard to find each other. She doesn't have much by way of furniture and is looking for her own space (currently she shares a room). I live in the part of town she really likes and it's a straight shot to work. We seemed to get along pretty well too and have some likes in common.

Then I talked to my current roommate and since the new gal doesn't have much by way of stuff, and she doesn't want to move too much anyway, she's going to leave me with the table, chairs, couch, tv, vcr, a couple of bookcases, silverware and possibly some kitchen appliances that she rarely uses.

The best part about all of this is, I closed out my storage unit (well I made the last payment end of June, I have til end of July to clear it out completely) and I've found places for everything so far that I've pulled out. Which means that I now have $60 more available each month for whatever I'm currently paying off!

I told potential new roommate that she wouldn't have to pay rent til August, that way she can start moving in early but not have to pay rent both places. My current roommate is moving the 21st/22nd and basically the rent's already taken care of til the end of the month.

I need to make up some sort of rental agreement, any of you landlord types have a template that you use and like? She doesn't have to fill out anything for the management the apartment will just be under my name so I want something just to cover myself just in case.

Net Worth for June and 2007 Goals update

July 10th, 2007 at 12:21 am

Took me a little longer to post this. I did fill in the info at NetWorthIQ just didn't actually create a post here.

Assets $ Diff % Diff
Cash $1,153 ($257) -18.23 %
Retirement $27,357 ($600) -2.15 %
Cars $2,095 ($30) -1.41 %
Total Assets $30,605 ($887) -2.82 %

Debts $ Diff % Diff
Student Loans $35,444 ($114) -0.32 %
Credit Card $10,426 ($147) -1.39 %
Other $15,761 ($465) -2.87 %
Total Debts $61,631 ($726) -1.16 %

Net Worth ($31,026) ($161) -0.52 %

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2007 Goals Update:

1] Consumer debt down to $14,000. Currently at $26,187. Monthly amount of decrease needs to be $2,031 in order to meet this. Not happening this year but I can keep trying.

2] EF holding steady at $1,000. Currently at $763.29. Need to increase it by $40 each month to meet this.

3] Medical savings at least $500. Currently at $58.04. I pulled a good chunk of it out last month for dental and I have another bill to take care of next month so it's going to stay pretty steady at $0 essentially til perhaps September.

4] (Non monetary goal) Holding steady at my current goal weight. Still have 21 lbs to go. Need to loose 4 lbs a month to meet this.

In other news, I have a potential roommate coming by tonight. My first to actually respond. We'll see how that goes.

iced coffee? cold brewing?

July 6th, 2007 at 07:03 pm

Ok so I made a mental note of someone's post talking about cold brewing coffee and making iced coffee and....and....I have no idea who it was or where to find it. But I figured I remembered enough of it to try my hand at it last night.

So the story is I shouldn't have caffeine but lately I've been craving coffee which is weird because I really don't like coffee all that much to begin with. With the warmer weather and everything the post about cold brewing and making iced coffee sounded appealing. My roommate actually has a coffee pot but I've never used it and she has her own methods for it so brewing coffee then freezing some of it into ice cubes seemed not as easy. Besides, roommate is out of town so I can't ask her about the coffee pot.

I do have a french press so I picked up a little bit of bulk grounds from the store and used their machine to course grind it (cleaning it off as much as possible to hopefully not get too many caffeinated beans in the mix). Now I don't normally make coffee. I do at work because I'm nice, when I leave the office I set up the coffee pot to time brew about 4:50 am since the first person in the office comes in at 5 am. At work we do 3 1/8th cup scoops for 12 cups. But I couldn't remember what I used to do for my press. So I sorta guessed. I looked on the side of the package I'd purchased and it said 1 tablespoon per 6 oz of water. 5 tablespoons for 30 oz of regular so I did 10 tablespoons (well actually 2/3rds of a cup since that converts to a little over 10 tablespoons) to 30 oz of water.

This morning I woke up and pressed the coffee. It looked really weak and I'm not sure if I should have done something different with the grounds though I'm not sure what. I pressed the mixture and poured it into an empty water bottle to store in the fridge for later.

Last night I also made a simple syrup so I added it to the container when I was assembling it this morning. It doesn't taste bad, I mean it tastes like coffee. But it didn't taste especially strong either.

So any suggestions? Did I do anything right/wrong? I've been drinking it slowly (that's a tough one for me, if a drink is there I tend to down it unless it's water) and trying to see if it's actually tasting watered down or just right.

Granted for me it would be an additional expense since I normally only drink water but it's something that I could splurge on once in a while.

Change in checking again?

July 6th, 2007 at 12:16 am

The past two days I've gone into Wells Fargo to deposit things (well ok the past two business days) and both times the teller has suggested I talk to a personal banker about changing my checking account to a different package. Right now I've got Custom Management but they want me to switch to Custom Advantage. The only 'advantage' I see is free checks and money orders. Except I hardly write checks, maybe three a month, and I rarely need money orders. It is an interest earning checking account but only when the balance is over $500. I don't know if that's an average daily balance or what.

I would also need to initiate a new auto transfer of $75 from checking to savings. However, that doesn't mean I can't transfer the money back after it processes it.

I think it'd be worth looking into I just don't know when I'm going to have time to do that. Possibly on Saturday but doubtful. Maybe next week when I take my weekly deposit in I can try going early enough to talk to a personal banker. If they can show me that based on my current usage of my account, it would actually earn interest then I might consider switching. If I needed to change how I do things, I'm not so sure it'd be worth it. Right now I pay what needs to be paid as soon as I get paid as opposed to when it's due. So a lot of things get paid early. I'm not sure I'm up for the 'challenge' of paying things almost exactly when they are due just to maintain the $500 balance. Not that I can't do it just I like paying bills only twice a month and forgetting about it the rest of the time y'know?

Everything will be alright.

July 4th, 2007 at 04:02 pm

I'm pretty excited right now because I think everything will balance out alright now. I have decided to stay in my apartment so the hunt for a new roommate starting in August has begun.

I have been holding onto every extra bit of money that's come in so I can cover the deposit that my roommate paid when we moved in. Since I get paid tomorrow the amount shows up in my account today as a pending payment. So I was able to sort out the damage. When all is said and done I'll have $200 left over to pay on my credit card! Since it's not accruing interest just yet that makes me really happy. Of course it only cuts it down by half but still.

So until I know for certain that I'll have a roommate August 1 here is what I plan on doing. Every extra bit of cash, from my Tuesday Deposits and extra in my check, will get posted in Quicken as a future payment called 'Roommate'. When the 5th rolls around again, 'Roommate' will go away and I'll see where I stand with paying everything. I figured my budget with no roommate before (not factoring in extra money from childcare or from changing my withholdings or from any after hours support I may do) and found that if I paid the absolute minimum on everything then I should be good to go to pay full rent. I think with the extra that I will have come in, I'll still be able to pay extra on something come the 5th.

I do want to have a roommate because I want that extra $350 to go to debt reduction. But if I don't have it just yet I'm covered. That is a huge relief.

The money that I'll need for the relay in August will hopefully come from the money my brother pays me back. If not from there then from savings which will get replenished when my brother pays me back.

Happy 4th! Have a wonderful day!

Spent money this weekend.

July 2nd, 2007 at 09:15 pm

This weekend was not a good one for me spending wise. I pulled $100 cash out of my checking account and have pretty much spent it all. I have $10 left. What did I spend it on you ask?

I went to get a massage from my friend. She informed me that we were trading services. I help her out with computer/financial stuff so the massage on Saturday was free as will be the one I get this coming Saturday. I was anticipating it costing $60. We went out to lunch and I treated her, that came to $14. She paid the tip.

$100 - 14 = $86

I went to Costco to restock a few items that I had run out of. I don't have a Costco card so I only go when my friend goes and I only restock things I actually need/use. Otherwise I stick with using smaller quantities even though it generally costs me more in the long run. Case in point, I eat feta on my daily work lunch salads. I can buy a large container at Costco that will last me a little over 2 months for $4.99. A much smaller container that maybe lasts me two weeks can be found for $2.50 at the grocery store. I spent $27 and I will take it out of my grocery budget from my paycheck on the 5th.

$86 - 27 = $59

I went to the movies and got coffee before hand. Friend had a buy one get one free coupon for coffee drinks so we used that. I spent $2 on coffee, $1 on the movie (movie actually cost $3 but I had $2 in my 'movie money' section of my wallet), $2 on pizza.

$59 - 5 = $54

Sunday I took my brother out to lunch. Spent $11 for the both of us.

$54 - 11 = $43

I had planned on purchasing a shirt for $25 on Sunday as well. Friend of a friend that I had met once before had his leg amputated. His insurance will only cover $5k towards a prosthetic limb but they cost $30-40k so he's selling tshirts (that say This Shirt Bought Tarver a Leg) for $25 each to try and make up the difference. He hasn't posted new totals yet but when I stopped by to get one last night he'd been set up for an hour and already sold 40. Hopefully he'll reach his goal of 50% by July 16th so they can start getting him fitted. The longer they wait after the surgery the harder it is to get it to fit just right. http://www.shirtsforlimbs.com has more information on his journey.

$43 - 25 = $18

I also bought a burger at the pub Tarver was selling his shirts at. $8

$18 - 8 = $10

So...that's how I spent my money this weekend. I don't regret any of it. I still have the money I'll need to make up the difference in rent this month. With my roommate moving out, I need to pay her back for the deposit since she payed all of it. My landlord said that whoever I have move in doesn't need to fill out any paperwork since I have been the primary responsible party all along, she just needs the person's name for security purposes. I think I'll see about getting a rental agreement drafted to have the new roommate sign (and maybe get notarized?) so my butt's covered.

And my massage friend also offered to come pick me up after the relay in August so I don't have to pay for the motel room. Let's see, $196 now for two nights in a motel that I'll only spend one night in or $50 in gas for someone to come and pick me up. I think I'll go with the gas option. I just need to let the guy who is holding the reservations know that I won't be needing it.

I did up my net worth this morning but probably won't post it til tomorrow. I was disappointed in that while I did make a small dent in my debt, my retirement account took a hit which made my net worth go down.