Thank you Target!

So, in writing my last post I realized two things: (1) I really shouldn't have bought two sets of Legos and (2) my one collectible vice I'm allowing myself (U.B. Funkeys) rang up at $10.99 instead of the sticker price of $3.45!

So, after posting my post, I hopped back in the car with Legos and Funkeys and receipt in my red, reusable Target bag and headed back to Target. I returned the two Legos and got the price adjusted on the Funkeys. Total refund: $30.75!

So, now I'm only over my $100/week by $40, which is so not bad for my inaugural two week period. Of course, I'm going to try better for the second half of July. Quitting smoking now would definitely save me at least $40 over two weeks. So, that's what I'm going to do. I was going to say try. But really need to DO THIS.

Granted since I picked up the disgusting, lethal habit again in November, I've been much less of a smoker than when I was going whole-hog before (3 or 4 packs/week vs. 8 or 9), but cigarettes cost WAY more now (~$7/pack), so I'm guessing that I'm spending about the same amount of money despite smoking a lot less.

**sigh** or rather **cough cough**

Okay, with this detail out of the way, I have something else that I've been thinking all evening about blogging.

Stay Tuned...

It's Tuesday... Where'd my money go?

I've been off my schedule this month due to unforseen circumstances. So, here's my "Sunday" post on Tuesday. It's also the end of the month, and I've been thinking about some new things lately, so I'll probably make a few posts tonight.

It's Tuesday... Where'd my money go??

June 23 - 30, 2009

$8.99 - Amazon.com - I was week. I saw Black Sheep via Netflix over the weekend. And it was just so fabulous that I had to own it. Luckily, it was under $10, or I probably wouldn't have bought it.

$35.21 - Target - All necessities: shower stuff, mouthwash, laundry detergent, drinks ($0.79 vs. $2.25 at work), and cat litter. Plus, I had to get some new headphones, because I keep breaking the ones I have, but those were only $10.

$11.12 - 7-11 - UGH. Yes. Cigarettes. It was a 2-pack sale deal, but still. I need to quit. It's just so difficult right now.

$27.75 - 7-11 - Gas for the car. An unfortunate necessity.

$19.86 - Groceries

$12.05 - The Little Store - Drinks at work and a pack of cigs. (I should be slapped.)

$7.14 - 7-11 - Cigs again. Seriously? That's for one pack and nothing else. I remember when I was pissed that the price went up to $2.50/pack. I really need to quit.

TOTAL MONEY SPENT (Debit Card): $122.12 (ouch)

Now for the cash...

Starting cash $14

$85 - Cash Withdrawl (one $50 and one $35)
$5 - Tuesday Lunch
$8 - Wednesday Lunch
$13 - Thursday Lunch (big group lunch out for Chinese buffet)
$5 - Strawberries (big group out berry picking on Thursday)
$1 - Drink on the way home
$6 - Friday Lunch
$4 - Walgreens (needed Tums at work)
$12 - Saturday Lunch (for me and J, whom I owed for dinner the night before)
$3 - Weekend drinks
$6 - Monday Lunch
$5 - Tuesday Lunch
$3 - Extra drink at work today

TOTAL CASH IN: $99
TOTAL CASH OUT: $71

Difference: $28

Actual Cash Left: $28 YAY! Balanced.

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.

It's Tuesday... Where'd my money go?

I realize that I intend to do this post on Sundays, but my parents were here for the weekend. So, I'm doing it on Tuesday instead. That makes this "week" long and next "week" short. Oh well, it's blog, I'll do whatever I want. Deal with it. =)

June 8 - 16, 2009

$7.01 - Walgreens - Drinks for at work. Grr. It's a dirty habit, but I need an afternoon drink at work. But, I got $2 cash for buying a drink for a friend that didn't go to the store, so really, it's only $5. We'll balance out the cash at the end.

$9.28 - Walgreens - UGH. Snacks and drinks for work. Seriously? I'm a snack-whore, I guess.

$23.44 - Groceries - Reasonable.

$15.60 - 7-11 - Gas for the car.

$13.31 - 7-11 - A drink for the road and two packs of cigarettes. UNACCEPTABLE! I'm shaming myself right now. Really? I didn't need to spend $10.49 on DEATH! Plus, now I know that I can get my drink from the grocery store at 5/$5 instead of paying $2.19 at 7-11. That's way better! Live and learn.

$31.13 - PetCo - My cat's not been feeling well, so this is extra cat expenses, but worth it if he'll just poop already.

$10.45 - Ikea - Probably unnecessary. $2 on lions (I would have bought more, but I only found 4 in the bin). Lions are a really bad habit I should break. They're only $0.49 each, but seeing as how I have about 400 of them... I've spent roughly $200 on little stuffed lions, and that's retarded! I also got some more hangers (8 hangers for $4, not a bad deal), but I've been living without these extra hangers until now, so I probably could have gotten by without them. But I'll use them. This is what happens when the driver of the carpool wants to stop places on the way home. I have no impulse control. I'd have spent $20 on lions, if I could have found 40 of them. Retarded!!

But that's it for Debit card transactions. Not bad for 9 days. ($110.22) Okay adding it up, it sounds like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on things, when really only $70.17 were necessary. I could have not spent $40.05. Again, something to work on.

Now for the cash. Per last week, I had $7 cash.

Cash In:
$45 - ATM withdrawl
$2 - from JP for a drink
$5 - from mother for airport parking

Cash Out:
$6.50 - Monday Lunch
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$3 - Tuesday Drink ($2.33 $0.67 into change bucket at home)
$6 - Wednesday Lunch
$7.50 - Thursday Lunch
$4.50 - Thursday Airport Parking
$4 - Monday parking at work
$2.50 - Monday Airport Parking
$7 - Tuesday Lunch
$2 - Tuesday Ikea hot dog and drink

Cash in hand now: $3

TOTAL CASH IN: $52
TOTAL CASH OUT: $50

I should have only $2 in cash, and I know that I paid to park at work on Sunday (I don't remember how much). So, I'm off somewhere. I'm still not used to keeping track of cash).

TOTAL MONEY IN: $107.36
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $244.64

The totals reflect additions and subtractions from today's mail, and those transactions aren't listed above (mainly because I wasn't sure where to list them. (+$55.36 and -$84.42)

Seriously, no more frivolous spending. **kicks self in face** But really, June is more about keeping track of things so I know how and where to change things for July and the future.

It's Sunday... Where'd my money go?

When I first started thinking about this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to sit down every night and post about what money I spent that day. In practice, this is not a good idea, because it invites failure on my part. It would just be too easy to fall behind.

So, a happy compromise was found, and here's the inaugural post of this type. For me, Sunday is the end of the week. Monday is just around the corner, and another week of work is about to begin. It seemed only logical that I should post about my spending tonight. Also, posting about what I spent where and on what is an excellent way to keep tabs on myself. If I know that I'm going to have to justify a purchase to the blog, I may think a bit harder before I actually buy it. Plus, this will make Bill Day a lot easier, because I won't have a month's worth of receipts to enter into the Quicken, as long as I enter them on Sundays along with this post. So, without further ado...

It's Sunday. Where'd my money go? (June 1 - 7, 2009)

$32.97 - Amazon.com - Timecop, Blade - Trinity, and Repo! The Genetic Opera DVDs. Yes, it's a splurge, but they were all on sale and all cheaper than the equivalent at Best Buy or Target. Plus, I get free shipping, so it's there's no extra cost. However, I need to note that this is a splurge and should not become a habit. Typically, I'll limit myself to one "frivolous" Amazon.com purchase per month; it's just sad that it happened in the first week.

$14.50 - Snacks at the movies - A friend took me to see Star Trek this afternoon for my birthday. He paid for the movie, but I felt bad (he and his wife are just as poor as I am), so I offered to pay for snacks. He gave me $5 cash for sharing.

$5.56 - Groceries - No biggie.

$26.90 - Walgreens - I went to get a new inhaler and picked up some drinks and candy for my desk at work. So, it's $21 necessary and $7 junk.

$42.99 - Best Buy - Guitar Hero Metallica. Okay okay. Yes, bad idea. But it was a present for myself for my birthday. That's okay, right??

$27.84 - Target - Okay, Target is one of my weaknesses. I can easily spend hundreds of dollars at Target without blinking. I've gotten better over the years, and this trip wasn't too bad. Household items, shower supplies, and (of course) Toaster Strudel.

$5.48 - Dunkin Donuts - Breakfast before work on Friday. **sigh** It's hard to resist the ham, egg, and cheese croissant.

$12.57 - The Little Store - That's the nickname we have for the store under the parking garage at work. This was a totally avoidable expense. I spent $6+ on a pack of cigarettes, which will hopefully be my last. I just needed to get through the weekend and get a drink for me and my friend while we were working on Saturday. The cigarette spending will disappear this week, I promise.

CASH - My major cash expense for the week is lunch at work. It's difficult to keep track of, but we'll see how we do. I started the week with whatever cash was left from last week, plus $20 cash in a birthday card. Plus a $25 birthday check from my mother. And during the week, I withdrew $50 from the bank. That's roughly $100 cash to start (following Sundays will have a more accurate cash start count), and I ended today with $7. So, where the frak did that $93 go?? Approx $7/day for lunch at work ($42). Chipping in for dinner with friends on Friday ($14) and ice cream out afterwards ($3). That's only $69. My guess is that I ate the rest ($24) in snacks and drinks at work. Holy crap!

TOTAL MONEY IN: $45
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $150.17 OUCH!

Cash remaining to start next week: $7

Here's my promise to be more frugal this coming week. Shouldn't be too hard, my parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and they'll likely at least chip in for some expenses.

History of My World - Part II

I was just sitting on the deck with the laptop, headphones, and a cigarette (yes, quitting is still a goal) trying to get comfortable to start Part II of my financial history. The rain is nice and relaxing; however, it's just too chilly to get comfy outside to focus. Now, I'm snuggled in my bed with blankets and Shamus the Bedtime Whale. That's spelled like Shamu but pronounced like Seamus (an Irish dude's name). The Captain just joined me on the bed, and that can only mean one thing: it's time to get serious about blogging. So without further ado...

Part II: The College Years (mid-1990s; Age 18-22)

Unlike the majority of people I went to high school with, I decided not only to go to college but to go to college and NOT live at home. This without a doubt can be counted as one of the best decisions I have made in my life. It's just one of those things. Being raised to be independent, I needed to get out on my own. I moved out of my parents place, and really, never went back.

College was a fantastic time in my life with many, many personal discoveries and life decisions. Most of the talk of college isn't really appropriate here, and I think that most people that go away to college have similar experiences on some level. It really is about getting out on your own, meeting people, gaining knowledge (both book learning and life learning). Of course, what I'm going to focus on is my financial learning, which save for a hard-earned C in Economics class my senior year is real life learning. Unfortunately, the real learning for me happened in retrospect years later.

Right off the bat, I have to say that NONE of this would have been possible without my parents. My story would have been very, very different had they not made the choices for me that they did. During the early years (discussed yesterday), my parents were socking away money for college for both me and my brother. Having grown up and done the college thing themselves, they knew that my brother and I needed the college fund as well as a college education. I got a small scholarship that paid a portion of my tuition (as long as I maintained a 3.2 average). The rest of everything was paid for by my parents. They told me several times that the didn't want me distracted having to worry about money for school or having a job and wearing myself out. The ultimate goal was for their son to get an education and join the world with no debt from school. I will be forever grateful for this, and I don't think that I really thought about this much during my time at school. Unfortunately, I don't think I fully expressed my appreciation to my parents for their hard work behind the scenes of my education. I'm going to have to rectify this.

Even today, I'm not entirely sure how my parents managed to pay for four years of a private university for me (and my brother). But this is what I do remember. I had offered to take out student loans to help out, but they insisted that I not do that. Instead, they paid my tuition, room, board, books, etc. on their Visa card. It seems kind of insane to do such a thing, but they had a scheme. Their Visa card gave them points for air miles and miscellaneous things, which they needed and used. Then, they paid off the balance in full each month from the college fund, which netted them very few finance charges. Pretty, smart I think.

Anyway, how this relates to me, I really had nothing to worry about financially in my first two years of school. I lived in the dorm and had a meal plan through the university. My parents paid for bills and supplies. And then there was The Credit Card. Given to me again to cover emergency expenses, groceries, trips to Target, and what not. Also, my minuscule savings account from high school had money place in it for when cash was needed. Looking back on it now, this was the perfect set up for me -- had I not been an ungrateful brat at the time.

Quickly I developed abusing schemes involving The Credit Card. The mini Post Office at the local grocery store sold money orders that could be paid for by credit card. I joined a mail order CD club, and paid for my CDs with money orders bought with The Credit Card. Receipts from which were marked as from the grocery store. So, all the parents knew was that I was buying groceries, which was an approved use of The Credit Card. I do believe that sometimes, I'd use The Credit Card to buy groceries for friends in exchange for cash, as well. Eventually, the mini-PO stopped selling money orders on credit cards and that scheme ended.

At the end of my freshman year, I was approached by one of my professors about doing some summer research. Faced with the facts that (1) I didn't want to go back to my parents' house for the summer, (2) I really loved science, and (3) I wanted/needed extra money, this was a win-win-win situation. My parents loved the idea as well, and thus I started spending summers at school working in the lab. During the school year, I got class credit and I was paid in the summers, and I never had to live with my parents again. That first summer, I had to move out of the dorm and into a house with five strangers (I sublet a room from a guy I found on a message board for the summer). I reiterate that this was another great decision. Not only did I gain work experience and stay away from "home", I met one of my best friends of my whole life that first summer. We're still friends to this day. And seeing as how I was living at school for the summer, learning and working, my parents were happy to pay the rent for the summer. My pay check paid for me to do fun things or buy groceries and stuff.

The next year was back into the dorm, and really nothing of too much consequence financially. Other than to say that sophomore year is when the smoking really kicked into high gear. I dabbled at parties and social things my freshman year. But that second year, it was apparent that I was addicted. I'd go out and talk with friends in the 10 minutes between class and smoke. I'd smoke on the way to class, on the way home, on a break from research, and pretty much whenever I got the chance. It never really occurred to me at the time that this could end up being a huge mistake. It was cool, I felt cool, and it was something that my parents definitely would not approve of. The Credit Card was often use to buy cigarettes at the grocery store. I distinctly remember when the price of cigarettes was jacked up in one swoop during college. All of sudden they were $2.50/pack! I thought of quitting, but didn't. Now, $2.50 sounds like nothing as I pay about $6.75/pack now. What a waste.

Moving on, junior year, I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment with friends. My parents thought that since they were paying for the dorm and meal plan and rent and groceries were cheaper that they'd pay for it as well. Looking back, I really was a spoiled brat and didn't appreciate how easy I had it. This makes me sad now, and I wish I could go back in time and kick my own ass. Junior year was also the time when I was introduced to my own credit cards for the first time. Again, the thought was, I'll have a "real job" later and can pay it all off in the future with no problem. I understand that this is a common thought for people, but it's oh so horribly wrong. Nevertheless, I dove head on into consumer debt. By junior year, I was getting regular lectures about the proper use of The Credit Card, and there were many fights between my mother and I on the subject. I was working on not using this card, and since I had several (yes, several) of my own, there wasn't too much of a problem. Quickly, my tiny credit limits were maxed out (~$500-1000 each over 3 or 4 cards), and I was stuck. So, I'd have to use The Credit Card again, which would lead to another lecture/fight. It really was a downward spiral.

And what, you might ask, did a 19/20 year old man-boy buy on credit? I don't even remember. Computer games, porn, clothes, alcohol, cigarettes. NOTHING that I still have now (with the exception of one porn magazine kept for sentimental reasons). That's the awful truth. I got in huge debt for really no good reason, except for the fact that I wanted things.

My senior year was a bit more of the same. I moved to a different apartment with different friends (my friends from the junior year place were no longer my friends after living with them for about 3 months). I kept spending and paying minimums. I started my VHS collection (DVDs were still years away). I had my part-time employment through my major department, which paid for some minimal spending money. My junior year, I got a second part-time job at a local government research lab, and this helped the money in-flow some. But at this point in things, I was already at the point where I was paying everything into the cards and then having to use the cards to buy things.

Unfortunately, I learned nothing about my personal finances during college. It's really only been in the last 6-7 years that I've learned my lesson, and even today, I'm still trying to dig myself out of the mess I created 15 years ago.

After graduation, I decided to move across the country and go to graduate school. My birthday just happened to be around graduation time, so as a combination birthday/graduation present, my parents bought me a car, paid for my move to California, and helped me get settled in my new place. This was all given to me with the explicit words that I was now "on my own". My brother was going to be starting college soon, and he was going to get the same treatment I did. This meant that there was no way they could pay for me. Being 22 years old, I was fine with that.

Now officially on my own, started the third part of my story: graduate school -- a story for another day.

Lessons Learned Part II: The caveat here is that I didn't learn these lessons during this time. It was only on dealing with the future that was created did I learn.

(1) Credit Cards are good, if you can manage them correctly. I thought this was the case and that I just wasn't doing it right.
(2) My parents were awesome, and I was very lucky. I don't think that I really learned this completely until tonight.
(3) Smoking is expensive, but manageable, because it's cool.

Next Up: Part III - Graduate School

Some Goals for 2009

If you noticed over the past hour or so, I've been updating the Strudel Trackers with some actual numbers and goals. For 2009 the goals are all about debt of some form or another.

I have four sources of debt right now. Credit Card, Student Loan, CitiLoan, and my 2008 Taxes.

Basically, the student loan is inconsequential in the long run. It's a huge loan (more on this in the coming days), and my monthly payment is only $105.66. As long as I pay it each month... no problem.

Credit Cards: A topic to be discussed in more detail in future "History of My World" posts, since it is a prevailing theme in the horrors of my financial past. Currently, I'm down to only two credit cards only one of which I can actually use. The Mastercard is closed and being automatically paid every month. The CitiCard used to be that way until a while ago when my "good payment history" allowed them to open it again. As of January 2008 statements I owed a total of $10,394.74. WAY down from past highs (again, more later), but still high. Upon looking at what I typically pay each month, I've set the goal to pay a total of just under $4,400 in 2009 to get the total debt down to $6,000. After paying the June bills, my total balance is now $9,694.69. So, I've paid $700.05 so far in 2009, and for the first time in a long time, my total balance is down to four digits! Go me!

The CitiLoan: The reason behind this loan is ridiculous and worth of more discussion in future posts, but the short version is at the end of 2007, I took out a $7,500 personal loan from Citibank. At the end of 2008, I restructured the loan to get roughly another $1000 from Citibank. I can't find a current statement, so I don't know what the total balance is right now. But this loan seriously damaged my finances. So, a goal for 2009 is to pay this down. I hate that I had to take out this loan, but there were no other options at the time. My minimum monthly payment is $217.19, so the goal for 2009 is to keep that up and pay off roughly $2,700 of this loan. Since I've paid for six months, I'm half way there.

My 2008 Taxes: This is another horrible situation that I've found myself in. Okay that's putting myself in a passive position, which isn't the case. We'll talk a lot about the taxes and the horrors of being blessed with an NIH fellowship. But for now, just accept that I owe roughly $5,000 in taxes to both Federal and the state of Connecticut. The goal for 2009 is to pay my taxes, which for the most part is going to involve frugality and throwing every spare dollar and penny I get into my savings account in hopes of getting it all taken care of by the December 31 deadline. In the grand scheme of tax evasion, I'm small potatoes, but the idea of prison does not sound good to me at all. Basically, my savings account is what I paid into it on Sunday, so there's a long way to go on this one. The goal for 2009 is to get $6,000 to pay the taxes and start rebuilding the savings account for what it's actually for--saving money.

There's one more goal. It's not entirely financial, but it does involve money. I need to quit smoking (again). Another thread throughout my history, and there definitely will be more on this later. But smoking is gross, addictive, expensive, and can kill me, so it's got to go. I'm going to start this month, so I'm hoping to get this kicked over the summer. Part of this blog will be about that as well.

So, there you have it. My 2009 goals: pay down debt, quit smoking, and don't go to prison.