Wow. Back-to-back posts. Dont have a stroke.
After posting that last entry, I was reading through it, and the list of my goals caught my eye. Being 2010 now, I think that it would be appropriate to comment on how things went, and of course, judge myself for failing to get things done...
Short Term Goals: Jan 1, 2010
- Increase savings account to $1,500. FAIL (6.5%). OUCH! There is only $97.29 in my savings account! Well, that sucks. I really need to get back to work on that savings account.
- Start & Get Vet/Emergency Savings to $400. FAIL (63%). I have $251.30 in the Vet savings account. It is not $400, but there is money there. But still, I feel sad that the cats have more money in their account than I have in mine.
- Pay down credit card debt to $6,000 (pay $4,400). FAIL (93%) I did not quite get the credit card debt down to $6000, but now the total is only $6478.79. And I did pay a total of $4081.23, which is better than I thought it would be going into this post.
- Pay down CitiLoan by $2,700. WIN (115%). WOO! This one I did good, but I also think I was setting the goal too low, as $2700 is paying the minimum each month.
- Pay off Capital One ($409.96). WIN (100%). Although, technically I did not pay it off by Jan 1. It was paid off by Feb 1, which is good enough for me.
Mid Term Goals: Apr 15, 2010
- Pay All Federal 2008 Taxes ($3,905). FAIL (51%). Federal taxes are not paid off yet. But I have taken a nice sized chunk of out them. But it is not quite April 15 yet. Here is hoping that I can really get this done. Although, I did manage to pay $2000 to the IRS between August 2009 and February 2010. Maybe at this rate, I will get this done by the summer.
- Pay All State 2008 Taxes ($1,319). WIN (100%) I mailed my last state tax payment in October 2009. WOO!
Okay, so actually looking at things in better detail (which forced me out of bed to the other computer where the Quicken info is), I am not as bad off as I thought I was. I am nowhere near where I want/need to be, but I have accomplished some of my goals and made some nice progress on others. Really, my biggest FAIL is the savings account. And I need to remember not to use the credit card that I can use. Simply keep paying on it. That is hard, but I should be able to do it.
But now, I am off to bed.
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Friday, September 25, 2009
Great Financial Decisions in DelMoniq History #4 - Buying Hair Clippers
I just got done cutting my hair, and while I was in the shower afterward, I thought of Great Decision #4 -- Buying my own hair clippers.
Back during my time at my first job after graduate school, I was poor -- way poor. My rent was more than I could afford and paying back my debt was taking nearly ALL of my salary, post-bills. Part of this was that I was being paid crap and part was because I still had not managed to get my spending under control.
Anyway, one day back in December 2004, I decided that a great way to save money was to start cutting my own hair. All through grad school, I was being cheap, by going to SuperCuts. There was one close to my apartment and one across the street from school. Initially, a haircut would cost me about $12-15. I could walk over when I had downtime between experiments or during lunch or whatever, and that was just fine. But over the years, the cuts got more and more expensive. I think my last one was $25. I only cut my hair every 4-6 months, so we're only talking about $50-120/year. It's not THAT big of a deal.
However, my situation had become so pathetic, that come the end of 2004, I was looking for ANYTHING that could possibly save me money. On my way home from work one day, I had this thought. I need a haircut. But why pay $25 for one haircut, when I could potentially do it myself for cheaper. I got a couple of friends to come over, one of whom cut his own hair for quite some time, and I went to Target and bought my very own hair clippers for about $25. My buddy EO cut my hair for me in my bathroom, and not only did she do a great job, we had a blast. I think that her boyfriend even cut his own hair, but I may be remembering that wrong.
Anyway, ever since, I've been cutting my own hair. I have been able to do it myself and get cuts about as good as SuperCuts, for FREE! Sure, sometimes, I frak it up and look like ass for a few weeks while it grows out, but it's just hair; it does grow back. It's now nearly five years later, and I still have not paid for a hair cut since.
It's been great on days (like today), when I come home and am very annoyed with my hair, and I just say, "Today, Hair, you're going DOWN!" And I just cut it all off (I pretty much shaved it all off today, but I have cut with more style in the past). Plus, I get to just hop right in the shower afterward and wash all those irritating, itchy loose hairs right off, instead of having to go around for the rest of the day being irritated.
Plus, over the past year, I've cut a friend of mine's hair several times. So, not only am I getting free hair cuts, my friends can too. Granted, this works mainly because I'm a boy, and I'm not terribly picky about my hair. There are those out there that would rather just suck it up and pay to have a pro coif his or her mop. But for me, this has be absolutely great.
So, to recap... $25 for hair clippers at Target = 5 years of free haircuts (and probably many more to come; that sucker is still going strong). OOH! And I totally forgot! I also use it to trim down my beard. That's another thing I started doing at that time. Instead of forking over $15-20 per pack of razors and shaving gel, I'd just trim the bushy face down to a uniform layer of stubble -- FOR FREE! Personally, I think I look better with stubble, but what do I know? And yes, sometimes, I just have to shave it all off and be smooth. But I have drastically reduced the amount of money that I spend on shaving supplies. I really only buy razors about once a year (for a 4 pack), and that works great.
So yeah, buying my own hair clippers. EXCELLENT FINANCIAL DECISION!
Back during my time at my first job after graduate school, I was poor -- way poor. My rent was more than I could afford and paying back my debt was taking nearly ALL of my salary, post-bills. Part of this was that I was being paid crap and part was because I still had not managed to get my spending under control.
Anyway, one day back in December 2004, I decided that a great way to save money was to start cutting my own hair. All through grad school, I was being cheap, by going to SuperCuts. There was one close to my apartment and one across the street from school. Initially, a haircut would cost me about $12-15. I could walk over when I had downtime between experiments or during lunch or whatever, and that was just fine. But over the years, the cuts got more and more expensive. I think my last one was $25. I only cut my hair every 4-6 months, so we're only talking about $50-120/year. It's not THAT big of a deal.
However, my situation had become so pathetic, that come the end of 2004, I was looking for ANYTHING that could possibly save me money. On my way home from work one day, I had this thought. I need a haircut. But why pay $25 for one haircut, when I could potentially do it myself for cheaper. I got a couple of friends to come over, one of whom cut his own hair for quite some time, and I went to Target and bought my very own hair clippers for about $25. My buddy EO cut my hair for me in my bathroom, and not only did she do a great job, we had a blast. I think that her boyfriend even cut his own hair, but I may be remembering that wrong.
Anyway, ever since, I've been cutting my own hair. I have been able to do it myself and get cuts about as good as SuperCuts, for FREE! Sure, sometimes, I frak it up and look like ass for a few weeks while it grows out, but it's just hair; it does grow back. It's now nearly five years later, and I still have not paid for a hair cut since.
It's been great on days (like today), when I come home and am very annoyed with my hair, and I just say, "Today, Hair, you're going DOWN!" And I just cut it all off (I pretty much shaved it all off today, but I have cut with more style in the past). Plus, I get to just hop right in the shower afterward and wash all those irritating, itchy loose hairs right off, instead of having to go around for the rest of the day being irritated.
Plus, over the past year, I've cut a friend of mine's hair several times. So, not only am I getting free hair cuts, my friends can too. Granted, this works mainly because I'm a boy, and I'm not terribly picky about my hair. There are those out there that would rather just suck it up and pay to have a pro coif his or her mop. But for me, this has be absolutely great.
So, to recap... $25 for hair clippers at Target = 5 years of free haircuts (and probably many more to come; that sucker is still going strong). OOH! And I totally forgot! I also use it to trim down my beard. That's another thing I started doing at that time. Instead of forking over $15-20 per pack of razors and shaving gel, I'd just trim the bushy face down to a uniform layer of stubble -- FOR FREE! Personally, I think I look better with stubble, but what do I know? And yes, sometimes, I just have to shave it all off and be smooth. But I have drastically reduced the amount of money that I spend on shaving supplies. I really only buy razors about once a year (for a 4 pack), and that works great.
So yeah, buying my own hair clippers. EXCELLENT FINANCIAL DECISION!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Trying a new way to save money away.
The other night, I was reading The Simple Dollar, and he posted about a two-account system for savings. And I've been thinking about this ever since in the back of my head. I think that I an adapt this for my own routine. So, here's my plan...
What I would ordinarily do is on Bill Day I'd transfer the difference of my checking account balance and my paycheck to my ING savings account. This works, but it leaves me to my own devices for the whole month with my whole paycheck. This is not always the best thing, especially when I get in one of my "shopping therapy" moods.
So, my plan is this. Once all the bills are paid, I'll transfer nearly all of my money out of my checking account into my savings leaving only $100 behind. On one day, each week, I'll set up an automatic transfer of $100 from my savings to my checking.
Hopefully, this will (a) force me to subsist on $100/week, (b) have more money in savings at the end of the month, and (c) gain a small amount of interest for having more money hang out in savings longer. Of course, the ultimate goal of this money is to pay off my 2008 taxes by the end of the year (an not go to prison). I'm planning on writing a post about the whole taxes thing later tonight, so hold on for more details.
Anyway, I'm going to enact this plan for July and cross my fingers that it works (and that I don't overdraft my checking account.
What I would ordinarily do is on Bill Day I'd transfer the difference of my checking account balance and my paycheck to my ING savings account. This works, but it leaves me to my own devices for the whole month with my whole paycheck. This is not always the best thing, especially when I get in one of my "shopping therapy" moods.
So, my plan is this. Once all the bills are paid, I'll transfer nearly all of my money out of my checking account into my savings leaving only $100 behind. On one day, each week, I'll set up an automatic transfer of $100 from my savings to my checking.
Hopefully, this will (a) force me to subsist on $100/week, (b) have more money in savings at the end of the month, and (c) gain a small amount of interest for having more money hang out in savings longer. Of course, the ultimate goal of this money is to pay off my 2008 taxes by the end of the year (an not go to prison). I'm planning on writing a post about the whole taxes thing later tonight, so hold on for more details.
Anyway, I'm going to enact this plan for July and cross my fingers that it works (and that I don't overdraft my checking account.
Monday, June 22, 2009
What to do with $1,000?
So, I got $1,000 from my parents to help cover the vet costs. So, where's the question? Use the $1000 to pay the vet bill. But here's my conundrum...
(1) The vet bill is $1176.26 that is on a credit card that is only usable at the vet and is interest free for 3 months.
(2) I owe a total of about $5000 in state and federal taxes for 2008.
(3) There's only about $330 in my savings account.
So, what should I do?
(a) Pay the vet bill in full and have a net loss of $176.26 in my accounts.
(b) Use the money to pay part of my taxes right now, which would reduce fees and penalties that would be accrued over the rest of the year.
(c) Put the money in savings to gain a bit of interest until I eventually use it to pay the taxes at the end of the year.
I can kind of see the up-sides and down-sides to each option. Of course, no matter what option I pick, I need to tell my mother (when she asks) that the money did go to the vet bill. But she has no clue of my overall financial status. I think that right now, I'm leaning toward paying the state taxes with this money. The state tax has the lower amount owed, and with this money and what's in savings now, I could probably pay the whole thing in July. This would mean ZERO penalties and fees from the state of CT, but no payment to federal.
Hmm. I, of course, welcome opinions and additional options. I just deposited the check today, so I'm going to have to wait a few days anyway to make a final decision on this money. I just wish that things weren't so complicated right now.
(1) The vet bill is $1176.26 that is on a credit card that is only usable at the vet and is interest free for 3 months.
(2) I owe a total of about $5000 in state and federal taxes for 2008.
(3) There's only about $330 in my savings account.
So, what should I do?
(a) Pay the vet bill in full and have a net loss of $176.26 in my accounts.
(b) Use the money to pay part of my taxes right now, which would reduce fees and penalties that would be accrued over the rest of the year.
(c) Put the money in savings to gain a bit of interest until I eventually use it to pay the taxes at the end of the year.
I can kind of see the up-sides and down-sides to each option. Of course, no matter what option I pick, I need to tell my mother (when she asks) that the money did go to the vet bill. But she has no clue of my overall financial status. I think that right now, I'm leaning toward paying the state taxes with this money. The state tax has the lower amount owed, and with this money and what's in savings now, I could probably pay the whole thing in July. This would mean ZERO penalties and fees from the state of CT, but no payment to federal.
Hmm. I, of course, welcome opinions and additional options. I just deposited the check today, so I'm going to have to wait a few days anyway to make a final decision on this money. I just wish that things weren't so complicated right now.
It's Monday... Where'd my money go?
I was too tired last night to write this post. But now I'm home, watching The Young & the Restless (my newest addiction), and ready to pour over my spending from the last six days. Due to my busy weekend, last week's Sunday post was postponed to Tuesday. So, this is only covering from last Tuesday through today.
June 16 - 22, 2009
$9.13 - 7-11 - Yeah, it was a shitty week, so yesterday, I went out and got some cigarettes. UGH. I wish that Toaster Strudel was my only vice.
$7 - Cappuccinos - Friday's comfort lunch of pancakes. YUM!
$32.11 - Target - Target is a wonderful store that has the power to SUCK money out of me. They were having a great DVD sale. (Major League for $3.98 and House Season 4 for $18.99! I couldn't say no.) The rest was groceries, which did include the best Toaster Strudel of them all Strawberry & Cream Cheese.
$6.65 - Dunkin Donuts - Bagels for lab meeting. It's the tradition that the person presenting at the meeting in the morning buys breakfast for everyone. Seeing as how I only present about four times each year, it's not too bad.
$7.47 - The Little Store - Snacks and drinks at work. Sigh. I need to stop doing this.
$13.96 - Krispy Kreme - Donuts for lab meeting. I drive way out of my way to get Krispy Kremes for the meeting instead of walking the 1/2 block to Dunkin Donuts, because Dunkin Donuts is the spawn of Satan. Plus, everyone gets Dunkin Donuts; it's nice to mix it up. (Krispy Kremes are WAY better.)
$8 - Groceries
$14.29 - 7-11 - Yes, the shitty week required more cigarettes that I would like (ideally, none).
$84.42 - City Tax - UGH. It's once a year, and it always surprises me. But it's based off the value of my car, since my car is a POS, it could have been a lot worse.
$1176.26 - Vet Bill
+ $55.36 - Surprise settlement money
+ $1000 - A gift from my mother to help defray the vet costs.
Now for the cash...
Starting Cash: $3
$35 - Cash withdrawl
$10 - Thursday Lunch (me and a friend to whom I owed a lunch)
$6 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Coffee at Target ($6.31, but the change went in the change bucket)
TOTAL CASH IN: $38
TOTAL CASH OUT: $23
Cash left over = $15
Actual cash left over = $14
Just remembered I gave Lyndsey $1 for a lottery ticket. So, WOO! Balanced.
TOTAL MONEY SPENT THIS WEEK: $1,394.29 Of course, this is far from a usual week. But there are places were I could have definitely spent less money. And thank my parents so much for that extra $1000 to cover most of the vet costs.
Additionally this week, I blogged about this when it happened, but it's worth mentioning again here. I opened a new ING savings account with $20 for future vet costs for my surviving cat.
Also, my Amazon Prime membership was up for renewal. Since I'm curbing my spending all over the place, I decided that I'd be spending less at Amazon in general, so I wouldn't use the Prime as much. I canceled the membership and put the $79 that I would have spent to renew the membership into my savings account. It's a win-win that will hopefully pay off in the long run.
June 16 - 22, 2009
$9.13 - 7-11 - Yeah, it was a shitty week, so yesterday, I went out and got some cigarettes. UGH. I wish that Toaster Strudel was my only vice.
$7 - Cappuccinos - Friday's comfort lunch of pancakes. YUM!
$32.11 - Target - Target is a wonderful store that has the power to SUCK money out of me. They were having a great DVD sale. (Major League for $3.98 and House Season 4 for $18.99! I couldn't say no.) The rest was groceries, which did include the best Toaster Strudel of them all Strawberry & Cream Cheese.
$6.65 - Dunkin Donuts - Bagels for lab meeting. It's the tradition that the person presenting at the meeting in the morning buys breakfast for everyone. Seeing as how I only present about four times each year, it's not too bad.
$7.47 - The Little Store - Snacks and drinks at work. Sigh. I need to stop doing this.
$13.96 - Krispy Kreme - Donuts for lab meeting. I drive way out of my way to get Krispy Kremes for the meeting instead of walking the 1/2 block to Dunkin Donuts, because Dunkin Donuts is the spawn of Satan. Plus, everyone gets Dunkin Donuts; it's nice to mix it up. (Krispy Kremes are WAY better.)
$8 - Groceries
$14.29 - 7-11 - Yes, the shitty week required more cigarettes that I would like (ideally, none).
$84.42 - City Tax - UGH. It's once a year, and it always surprises me. But it's based off the value of my car, since my car is a POS, it could have been a lot worse.
$1176.26 - Vet Bill
+ $55.36 - Surprise settlement money
+ $1000 - A gift from my mother to help defray the vet costs.
Now for the cash...
Starting Cash: $3
$35 - Cash withdrawl
$10 - Thursday Lunch (me and a friend to whom I owed a lunch)
$6 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Coffee at Target ($6.31, but the change went in the change bucket)
TOTAL CASH IN: $38
TOTAL CASH OUT: $23
Cash left over = $15
Actual cash left over = $14
Just remembered I gave Lyndsey $1 for a lottery ticket. So, WOO! Balanced.
TOTAL MONEY SPENT THIS WEEK: $1,394.29 Of course, this is far from a usual week. But there are places were I could have definitely spent less money. And thank my parents so much for that extra $1000 to cover most of the vet costs.
Additionally this week, I blogged about this when it happened, but it's worth mentioning again here. I opened a new ING savings account with $20 for future vet costs for my surviving cat.
Also, my Amazon Prime membership was up for renewal. Since I'm curbing my spending all over the place, I decided that I'd be spending less at Amazon in general, so I wouldn't use the Prime as much. I canceled the membership and put the $79 that I would have spent to renew the membership into my savings account. It's a win-win that will hopefully pay off in the long run.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
13 Hour Vet Crisis and a Plan for the Future
Last night, I had to take my cat to the vet. It's been a very difficult time, and I've blogged about the details in my personal journal. But there are some financial things that I wanted to discuss that seemed inappropriate to post there.
Last night, I learned that my cat was way more sick that anyone originally thought, and he required an overnight hospital stay. I was prepared to spend a few hundred dollars getting things taken care of, but I got a that what I thought was constipation from a hairball actually being advanced cancer and at "deposit" for the hospital stay of $1,306.
I was not prepared at all for that. Even if I sold my car on the spot, I couldn't scrape up $1,300. But the vet has a credit plan, and she signed me up for it. I was approved for a $1,500 limit. The good things about this is that most importantly, the vet got paid and my cat got some help and the account is interest free for the first 3 months. The downside is that this is $1,500 in the wrong financial direction with more credit cards. But, you have to do what you have to do.
This morning, things got much worse when my cat's health deteriorated rapidly. Sadly, he needed to be put to sleep. And as awful as that was, I know that he's not hurting any more, and he's with his old pal (another cat that passed in 2005) in Kitty Heaven. Dealing with all of this is extraordinarily difficult, but still, you're at the vet and there are money issues to handle. Luckily, because he passed before the more detailed tests that were scheduled for this afternoon, my deposit was an overpayment. So the credited my account $129.74.
I talked with my parents (they were here visiting this weekend and saw him and helped when we thought he was just constipated), and they offered to send me a check for $1,000 to go to my cat's final expenses. This is an incredible gift that will definitely help off-set my costs of last night. She also demanded that I get vet insurance for my other cat.
I looked into vet insurance yesterday (ironically) before taking my cat to the vet. It sounds like a good idea on the surface. However, reading into it and how it works, it doesn't sound like it's going to work for me. Based on what I've read and talking to Dr. Faith, it looks like if your cat is in good health and needs only minor and routine visits to the vet, getting the insurance is actually costing more money than paying the vet directly. Odd. Plus, the insurance doesn't actually pay the bill. They are reimbursement plans. So, not only would I need to pay $30-50 each month in premiums, there'd be a $50 deductible per visit, and I'd have to pay the whole bill myself and then get reimbursed. For me, at this time in my life and situation, it makes more sense to open a new savings account and deposit $30-50 each month. In addition to saving the cost of the preimiums, I'd be earning interest as well. I thought about it more this morning, and that's what I've decided to do. Thirty minutes ago, I opened a second ING Savings account that will be strictly for vet funds.
Here are a couple of links that I was reading, if you're interested: Veterinary Pet Insurance and ConsumerReports: Pets & Vets, is pet insurance worth it?
Last night, I learned that my cat was way more sick that anyone originally thought, and he required an overnight hospital stay. I was prepared to spend a few hundred dollars getting things taken care of, but I got a that what I thought was constipation from a hairball actually being advanced cancer and at "deposit" for the hospital stay of $1,306.
I was not prepared at all for that. Even if I sold my car on the spot, I couldn't scrape up $1,300. But the vet has a credit plan, and she signed me up for it. I was approved for a $1,500 limit. The good things about this is that most importantly, the vet got paid and my cat got some help and the account is interest free for the first 3 months. The downside is that this is $1,500 in the wrong financial direction with more credit cards. But, you have to do what you have to do.
This morning, things got much worse when my cat's health deteriorated rapidly. Sadly, he needed to be put to sleep. And as awful as that was, I know that he's not hurting any more, and he's with his old pal (another cat that passed in 2005) in Kitty Heaven. Dealing with all of this is extraordinarily difficult, but still, you're at the vet and there are money issues to handle. Luckily, because he passed before the more detailed tests that were scheduled for this afternoon, my deposit was an overpayment. So the credited my account $129.74.
I talked with my parents (they were here visiting this weekend and saw him and helped when we thought he was just constipated), and they offered to send me a check for $1,000 to go to my cat's final expenses. This is an incredible gift that will definitely help off-set my costs of last night. She also demanded that I get vet insurance for my other cat.
I looked into vet insurance yesterday (ironically) before taking my cat to the vet. It sounds like a good idea on the surface. However, reading into it and how it works, it doesn't sound like it's going to work for me. Based on what I've read and talking to Dr. Faith, it looks like if your cat is in good health and needs only minor and routine visits to the vet, getting the insurance is actually costing more money than paying the vet directly. Odd. Plus, the insurance doesn't actually pay the bill. They are reimbursement plans. So, not only would I need to pay $30-50 each month in premiums, there'd be a $50 deductible per visit, and I'd have to pay the whole bill myself and then get reimbursed. For me, at this time in my life and situation, it makes more sense to open a new savings account and deposit $30-50 each month. In addition to saving the cost of the preimiums, I'd be earning interest as well. I thought about it more this morning, and that's what I've decided to do. Thirty minutes ago, I opened a second ING Savings account that will be strictly for vet funds.
Here are a couple of links that I was reading, if you're interested: Veterinary Pet Insurance and ConsumerReports: Pets & Vets, is pet insurance worth it?
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