You've probably guessed that this is coming, but here it is: this blog is no more.
For those who are curious, I did get into graduate school—I got into the school that's kind of been my dream school, actually—and that's part of the reason to wrap things up here: I don't consider it likely that I'll be coming into any unanticipated reservoirs of time while trying to earn a PhD from a top program. I have a full tuition waiver and a living-wage stipend, and I'll be doing some freelance editing to round things out, I think, so I do anticipate being quite busy.
I learned an awful lot about personal finance while writing this blog—it really helped me get a grip on my adult life in a lot of ways, actually. But I think I've reached the end of this particular road. To me, personal finance is a foundation, such that once you've grasped it, you can go on to concentrate on other things. Not that you can ever really stop thinking about money entirely, especially with the state of the current economy, etc., etc., but at some point I do think one is in a holding pattern. I'm in a holding pattern with money—a pretty comfortable one. And I know that things will be pretty rocky when I take a 35% pay cut—I'll have to rework a lot of my financial routine—but my savings and good habits put me in a pretty good position, and I hope to achieve enough in graduate school, and enjoy it enough, that it's worth the opportunity cost. It's a hell of an opportunity, that's for sure.
Because my identity is now so closely tied to this blog (I've just never been good at anonymity), I'll either be password-protecting it or taking it down shortly. I hope that you do follow me over at my other blog, which will be rebooting shortly, now that the graduate school plans have been set.
Thank you for reading, commenting, and being interesting.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
You Knew This Was Coming
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Decision 2008
At least one decision's already been made: this blog is on hiatus until January 3, 2009. I'm sorry, but having the anxiety of not-posting isn't fun for me, and it can't be fun for you guys to check back and find nothing. I'm super-psyched about the notes I got from people interested in writing in this space, and hope that you will still be interested in two months; I'll think about it then. At that time I will have all my graduate applications done and will be the possessor of a lot more time. I apologize for this interruption in service. I'll see you on the other side!
And for the love of all that's holy, VOTE.
(Quick update: it is looking more and more likely that my roommates and I indeed did not pay our last month's rent on signing the lease, which would that the management company, while incompetent in a number of ways, is not actually screwing us. It also means that we really don't know what happened to the money I put down, because I was out of state and the beloved-but-extremely-disorganized K and our former roommate were handling things directly. This makes things harder. This money may have to be chalked up to "stupid tax" and a lesson learned.)
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I really don't know what to do.
I've called my former management company probably fifteen times now about getting my security deposit returned. It's about $1800, and though I lived with my boyfriend and another roommate, it's almost all my money. For awhile it was "we'll send it to you in two months." Then it was three months. Then it was, "Oh, they send it in the third month." So it's four months later, and I called back, and I'm told that they have no record that I paid my last month's rent, so the deposit was applied to that, and oh, I owe them $71 (for what, they do not say). I didn't pay my last month's rent because I paid first and last when I moved in. This management company bought the building while I lived there, and they claim to have no records of my initial transaction. But I bet you money ($1800, in fact) that they'd have harassed me long before this if they really thought I hadn't paid a month of rent that was due.
I'm in tears. I don't know what to do. It's a lot of money. And the brusque rep says she understands that, but without proof I paid first and last two and a half years ago, there's no way for me to get my money back. And then she hangs up on me.
What are my options here? Small claims court? Would it help to sic my dad, who is both a lawyer and extremely tenacious, on them? Do I just slink away and let them keep all this money? How can I do that?
Monday, September 22, 2008
Penthouse Living
I spent Sunday afternoon visiting open houses with my mom. My parents are coming up on a big change in their lives: my dad's retiring, my sister graduates from college and embarks on her life as an individual in May--especially with the recent Wall Street tremors, my parents are doing a lot of thinking about how they want to spend the next phase of their lives. They're thinking seriously about selling their loft and downsizing, or selling their loft and moving upstate, or renovating their loft, or selling their loft and moving to Santa Fe or Maine or--you get the idea. Their lives are up in the air. They're in quite a good financial position, with substantial savings, a valuable apartment, and my dad's pension, but they don't have unlimited funds--still, they're putting their legal documents in order (including updating their wills) and working with a financial adviser to plan their future.
This involves a lot of house-hunting. My parents love house-hunting. My mother is one of a relatively small number of people who genuinely like renovating fixer-uppers, and she's got a great eye for interior design, and my father has the kind of vivid imagination that begins sketching a life around each new property, so they really get into it. This weekend, they've begun thinking about Brooklyn--my dad grew up in Brooklyn (Brighton Beach), and is reluctant to move back to that side of the river, but a walk around Park Slope proved persuasive. I can envision them living so happily in Park Slope or Prospect Heights--my dad sniffing around the Park Slope Food Co-Op for the ripest peaches, my mom visiting the big flea market on 7th, going to yoga classes & knitting group on Union, gardening on her roof. I want them to enjoy their time and their money; I want them to enjoy themselves and each other.
They really are looking to downsize, so I'm not sure why they decided to check out a penthouse on Eastern Parkway. Oh, wait, yes I am--it was the incredible view on the StreetEasy listing. My mom and dad made a list of places they were interested in, and my mom, K, and I went to see them yesterday. In person, the view was even better--mind-blowingly beautiful--the Manhattan skyline unfurled like your own personal backyard, a full vista of bridges and shining buildings--one missed the Trade Towers viscerally again, looking out there--and on the other side, Prospect Park rolled away like the world's biggest lawn. It was like being being on top of the Empire State Building, except...better, because you can see the whole Manhattan skyline.
The indoor space needs to be gutted, and the price tag is $995K just for the bones. As one might imagine, this is more than my parents were hoping to spend on their next home. Still, my mother insisted that my father would have to see it for himself. I doubt it's in the cards, but it was enormous fun for me to get to tour the place, and see that view, and all the while enjoy the vicarious thrill of hypothetically spending other people's money for them.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A GChat Transcript In Which Financial Knowledge is Power!
My Friend: help i need a financial consultation.
me: shoot.
My Friend: tiaa cref.
what the arse is it?
and how do i know what percentage of what makes good sense>
?
me: It's a retirement thing for non-profit folks.
What kind of account are you looking at?
Is it a 403(b)?
My Friend: yes.
me: Okay, that's the nonprofit equivalent of a 401(k). It's an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
Are you being offered a match of any kind?
My Friend: i have no clue.
they sent me this form.
they said 'return it!'
and then they said 'today!'
me: That probably means no, but I'd ask someone if you have time. Do you have a Roth?
My Friend: no.
me: Does the convenience make a big difference to you? If you start contributing to the 403(b), the contributions will be deducted directly from your paycheck, pre-tax, which is very convenient and doesn't reduce your paycheck the amount of the full contribution, which is also cool.
My Friend: no contribution match from employer.
i checked.
me: Okay.
My Friend: convenience?
no, not a big deal.
me: Ideally, then, I think you'd open a Roth instead.
But that requires a lot more individual initiative.
My Friend: i don't know if i have that option.
me: You do. It's an IRA, not an employer-sponsored plan.
My Friend: ah.
so what about the form that i need to return today?
me: Well, I think if you're up for opening and administrating the Roth yourself, you skip this form.
The advantage of the Roth is a tax advantage: you pay taxes when you put the money in, not when you take it out (that's what happens with the 403(b)), so it grows totally tax-free, and when you retire making more money than you do now, you save lots on taxes.
My Friend: right! which makes so much more sense.
me: Way more sense.
The obstacle is this: a lot of plans require an initial investment of $2,000-$3,000, which you may not have on hand.
My Friend: no, i do.
so that will be okay.
me: Cool. You can open one online at Vanguard in about twenty minutes.
It's way easy.
I would do that instead of the 403(b) if there's no match.
I contribute to my 401(k) at [My Company] because there's a super-generous match.
My Friend: woot!
unfortunately not the case here.
me: Alas!
My Friend: in the short term, my dental insurance is free . . .
me: nice.
me: One more thing: once you set up the Roth (Roth Individual Retirement Account, is its full name, often Roth IRA) with the minimum $$, you can automate contributions by linking your Vanguard account to your bank.
My Friend: wow!
you are the best financial advisor i've ever had!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Lehman
Two friends of mine work at Lehman Brothers. They graduated from top schools with degrees in economics, and off into the world of finance they went. They're both good guys--one was very clear to me that he just wanted to stay a few years, put away as much money as he could, then go out on his own to start a graphic design firm before he turns 30. I hope he ended up putting that money away after all. The other was always great at math--he's affable, kind, and not that ambitious, and I think to him, a stable job he'd be good at that would pay him enough to live with his sweet girlfriend in Manhattan and take her to all the nice restaurants in town sounded like an awesome deal. I know so many people who went into finance right after college--they're consultants, and analysts, and personal wealth managers--they handled other people's money by the bucketful. They started when the profits of the subprime mortgage bonds were already flowing into the top financial firms, and the hedge funds, like an unstoppable river, like a force that always has been and always will be. Finance feels like a stable, sensible choice--until something like this happens. I imagine right now my two friends at Lehman are very anxious for their jobs and their futures. I'm sympathetic to their anxiety, even though they've had it really good the past couple of years and probably have solid and lucrative careers ahead of them regardless of this downturn. Still, I hope they come out of this okay.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
A Post-Apology Update
So, I've actually had a really financially chaotic several weeks--my record-keeping system had kind of broken down, because my computer had been down so long with all my records on it, and I'm just now starting to clean up the mess I allowed to accumulate. There'd been a ton of life stuff going on: settling into the new place still, and then a dear friend staying with me for a week (lovely, but having friends is always expensive--the eating out, and going to do things you wouldn't otherwise, and all that. But totally worth it), and then a crazy week or so at work, and then a little vacation, and then a week spent reviewing six plays in seven days, and then a week recovering from that...and that pretty much brings us up to now, where I'm sitting in the midst of a pile of undone to-dos and clutter, financial, personal, and otherwise, and facing down the "time to get serious" deadline about grad school. In shorthand, a sketch of my situation goes like this:
Financial tasks accomplished:
--Continued regular savings (bless you, ING autodrafts; I couldn't have done it without you).
--No utter disasters.
--Insurance claim filed.
--Flung more money into ETS's gaping maw, to the tune of the $130 GRE registration fee. Again.
Financial tasks unaccomplished:
--Successful hounding of former management company. So, it was supposed to be two months. Then it was supposed to be three. I called up, said it had been three months and where's my check please and the cranky receptionist (dear Alexis, if you read this, maybe think about getting a massage or doing some yoga or something else relaxing) explained that the check is actually sent out in the fourth month. Clearly the hope is to maximize "breakage" and keep many security deposits. Not mine, you assholes.
--Following up insurance claim. Insurance company kind of bonkers, dispatched large packets of letters to various health providers requesting information they already had. Must call. Laid out $700 from savings that will be replenished from reimbursement, if reimbursement ever successfully extracted from clutches of Empire BCBS.
--Full righting of financial system, i.e. getting back to routine of checking on things daily.
Current financial concerns, other than former management company and insurance company:
--the prospect of depleting my savings to cover my half the broker's fee that K already paid our broker. How I'll make up that money by the end of the year, or, if I can't, how I will find budget room to save at an advanced rate for the trip I hope to take next summer AND replenish savings.
--Dwindling financial obsession nice in some ways, problematic in others (i.e. results in dwindling motivation, which results in "oh, whatever, I'll just put this $12 lunch on my credit card").
--Can I really afford/is it really necessary to get out to Portland for a week in the fall? Plane fares are more expensive than they used to be. On the other hand, I have somewhere to stay, and I do feel like it really would be a good idea to take my recommendation-writing professors out to dinner to remind them who I am and how much they want to help me get into grad school.
Current nonfinancial concerns:
--American Studies or English departments?
--Time to study for GRE in Lit in English comes from where?
--Holy shit, personal statement needs drafting like now.
And so, I am a busy little bee, but did not mean to neglect so egregiously this blog. It is just that my entire life is up in the air, you see. But a return here will be helpful as I do a quick sweep through my finances to get them back in order, and I'm glad to have made one, and sorry, very sorry, that it took so long.
Gah: An Apology
I'm so sorry about the long unexplained absence. I've got the other blog going, and I've got a little part-time thing reviewing off-off-Broadway plays, and I'm thinking now that I have to seriously take stock of the way I'm managing my time, especially because I have to get serious now about applying to graduate schools.
That said, I don't want to shut this blog down altogether. It's been an invaluable way for me to figure out my finances over the past two years, and I've gotten enough lovely emails from readers that I think it's been helpful for some other people, too. Therefore, what I'd like to do about this blog, at least for the next few months, is give a platform, with the traffic I have, to two to three young people working on their financial lives. I'll pop in with periodic updates, too, but I want y'all to have something regular to read.
Send me an email and let me know what you'd like to put in this space. I'd like a variety of people but a uniformly strong, personable writing style. I don't make a lot of ad revenue here, but maybe we can figure out some mutually agreeable solution.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Overstocked Kitchen
Dear Bon Appetit,
Surely you are totally insane. Ice cream maker? Potato masher? Juicer? Cardboard cake rounds?
Here is a tip, Bon Appetit: if there is a cheap and easy substitute for something (i.e. dried beans=pie weights, should one ever need pie weights, or saucepan+metal bowl=double boiler), it is not a kitchen essential. Additionally, why would you recommend two tools for the same job (microplane grater & zester)? Also, no one uses basters, ever, and interestingly enough, anything heavy will serve as a meat mallet. I use my fists. And unless you're serving ten or more people on a regular basis, a square cake pan lined with foil makes a handy roasting pan. It fits a five-pound chicken or roast. I can tell you from experience.
All told, the number of kitchen "essentials" I do not own? Thirty-one. Thirty-one. And I do more cooking than most people I know. I know that we're talking about a "well-stocked" kitchen here, for someone who has a particular interest in cooking, but seriously, Bon Appetit. Get real.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Frugal Spice Rack
After some interest in my DIY spice rack, I thought I'd explain what I've done to solve the spice-storage problem in a small kitchen. I've created a frugal, infinitely customizable, and extremely effective little DIY spice rack with very little effort and not much money.
Hanging things on walls is a classic space-saving technique, and it's also really nice, if you're a cook, to have your herbs and spices ready to hand. I keep all my regular-use ingredients (oils, vinegars, salts, etc.) in a convenient stoveside cabinet, but it doesn't have space for a ton of spice bottles, and who wants to rummage around amongst all those bottles anyway? (Also, spice bottles are pretty irritating in and of themselves: if you want to measure, you have to pull off the little plastic shaker top, which often puts up a fight.) So I started looking for spice racks to mount on the wall, and just didn't like the offerings: most of them are either faux-rustic or scary stainless steel monstrosities, and neither would look right in my kitchen. And while I was looking, I encountered the idea of a magnetic spice rack.
The problems with most commercial magnetic spice racks are two:
1) The tins have clear lids. Herbs and spices lose their flavor more quickly when they are exposed to light, so this kind of storage is a bad idea. It's not so bad when you're keeping your clear bottles in a cabinet, but when you keep them out, you shorten their lifespan and increase the probability of having to throw out and replace old spices.
2) They almost invariably have the wrong number of tins. For the kind that's just a magnetic bar, that's not a big deal, but an empty tin or no tin in the kind of magnetic spice rack that has a specific seat for each tin is liable to drive a certain type of person (uh, me) totally crazy.
3) They're expensive. They can run $40 for a rack to hold 12 tins, and I have more than 12 spices and may acquire more.
4) The tins often come pre-labeled with ridiculous things like "burger seasoning" or "tabasco garlic salt" or something else I'll never actually own. Sometimes they include the corresponding spices, which just creates waste.
But the concept, I realized, is easily duplicated and improved upon if you do it yourself. You buy tins (without clear lids), you stick magnets to the tins, you fill the magnet-tins up with spices, label them, and stick them on the refrigerator (I'm using the side of my refrigerator facing my countertops). This gives you the power to customize your spice rack and saves you money. A 12-tin magnetic rack can run you $35-50; my DIY solution costs about $30-$35 for 20 tins.
A tin is cheap: a 4-ouncer, big enough to hold most to all of the contents a regulation-size spice bottle (depending on what exactly the contents are), is $.71 at Specialty Bottle. I actually bought mine in a batch of 20 from Etsy's "supplies" category, because the shipping was cheaper. Twenty tins plus shipping cost me $26. I already had craft magnets and glue, but they're quite reasonable, too (like $1.29 for a pack of 8 when I bought them, and I bet you can get them cheaper), and can be found in almost any craft store (might be cheaper at a hardware store). You need a pretty powerful magnet: mine are 3/4" in diameter and pretty thick. I started with one magnet per tin, but find that two, spaced across the tin, work better.
Now, I'm a wee bit concerned, as I would be with any magnetic spice storage, that I'm accidentally going to pull the lid and not the rest of the tin off at some point, leading to an enormous, spicy mess, but using thick magnets here seems to be a plus: it gives your fingers a logical place to grip (between the tin and the fridge) that prevents spills. We'll see how this goes. If I run into trouble, I may recreate the idea with twistlug tins, which aren't available in a flat 4oz. size, but are available in a flat 3oz. size, which is just about as good (especially if you buy your spices from bulk suppliers and can buy exactly the amount you need).
Anyway, I'm pretty psyched about this solution. It's low-maintenance, adaptable, and frugal. With a little added attention (K is thinking he'll make cool images for the lids), it can be really great-looking, too.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Government Cheese: Yummy!
My stimulus check arrived last night! (And, by the way, seemed to have been mail-forwarded, so...who knows.) I'm way psyched. After much financial turmoil the last couple of months, this check will let me finish my little spurt of moving-in spending and stash some extra cash. I'm splitting it right down the middle: half for saving, half for spending.
Saving: The $300 infusion will bring my Freedom Fund to $8,600--huzzah! I projected out my savings for the rest of this calendar year, and found that if all goes as expected, I'll end up with $10,875, so I'm going to work on trying to find the extra $125 somewhere to make it a round $11,000. Shouldn't be too hard.
Spending: An extra cabinet for the bathroom, tins for spices (I have this awesome DIY spice rack idea revolving around 4-oz. tins, magnets, and the side of my refrigerator), cork pours, a mirror, supplies for my DIY charger station plan, perhaps some sort of non-shoebox filing system idea. And good gin for my housewarming party. Maybe, maybe, if there is money left over, the $30-including-shipping jar of Blenheim apricot jam that I covet from welovejam.com (I'm an apricot-preserve fiend. Like a zombie, but "aaaaapricots!" instead of "braaaaaains!").
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Couples, Money, and Moving: Just a Thought
I just had a great idea, and I wish K and I had done this for our moving-in process (I guess there's still time, actually...maybe I'll discuss it with him). We've bought a ton of little, under-$20 kinds of things: drawer organizer, doorstop, shelf extender, skillet, curtains, etc., not to mention the big Ikea run we did, and it's really been difficult to keep track of the money side of it--who owes whom what. Next time around, what I'd do is this: at the outset, go halfsies on a gift card to the store where you do the bulk of your shopping (Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Home Depot, wherever). That way, when someone needs to pick something up, they just take the gift card and go, and no accounting is necessary.
But our new place is starting to look really beautiful! I'm almost ready to invite people over for a housewarming party (not that more than 15 people will be able to fit at the same time...), and I do think that spending some money to get moved in comfortably and in an aesthetically pleasing way has been worth it. (Remind me I said that when I have to dip into savings to pay my credit card bill.)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Oh, Summer
Okay, I've figured out the summer spending thing: half the problem is that when I leave work, it doesn't feel like the day is over. It's light and beautiful outside, and I find myself wanting to take walks, go to movies, get drinks with friends, drink iced coffee...you know, money-costing things. I am heartily disinclined to just head home to make dinner and curl up with a book.
With that in might, I think I might be able to begin planning for that--there's a big difference between going for a walk, having a packed picnic with a friend, and getting a drink and eating an impromptu dinner out and then paying $11.50 (!) for a movie ticket. Not that I'm going to stop seeing movies entirely, of course, but if I acknowledge this not-going-home-after-work-in-the-summer preference and try to work with it, I may be able to save some money without negatively influencing my enjoyment & social life.
One thing I think is going to be important is packing a couple of afternoon snacks--that way, I won't have to buy food out if I just want to take a walk or sit around Union Square for a bit. I had a Clif Nectar bar yesterday that I tried out on a whim from my new local supermarket, and really liked it--carrying around a couple, plus maybe an apple and a hardboiled egg (obviously can't just leave that in my bag like a bar, but still) should get me pretty far.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Mental Math (Just a note to myself...)
So, my current credit card bill: $707. I just transfered $350 over there from checking ($200 from my last slush pile freelance check, $150 that should be budgeted, for a nutritionist session). K owes me $210 from our Ikea run. I'm returning two pairs of shoes and a dress. Covered.
Now the trick is hoping I haven't done too much damage to the checking account itself...I've been eating out a lot.
Uh-Oh
I'm getting to the point where I dread rebooting my financial system after the move and a lengthy period of computer outage. It really is different when you're not checking in every day--scarier, more confusing, and thus, somehow, far easier to go, "Oh, maybe I haven't really spent too much--buying this CD is fine."
That means to me that it's time to reboot promptly, which means spending the money to get myself a new laptop battery and charger. Ugh. But I'm sure it'll be a win in the long term, because a girl could run herself into the ground like this. I hate to put yet another hundred bucks on my credit card bill--this month has surely been my highest ever--but I'm pretty sure it'll be worth it in the long run.
This urge to bury my head in the sand is strong, and it makes me queasy. For me, every day I go without getting back on track makes it a little harder, a little more overwhelming to finally do so. So the sooner the better. I'm taking my laptop in tomorrow.
Wish me luck.
Monday, June 16, 2008
An Open Letter
Dear Management Company of My Old Apartment,
Yes, I am going to call every day until I get an inspection scheduled, because I am working under the theory that you are not going to release my security deposit until said inspection takes place. Yes, I have called seven or eight times already. Yes, I do plan on making an unflaggingly polite nuisance of myself. Yes, I am willing to be on a first-name basis with everyone in your office. Yes, I am also willing to show up in person if need be. You owe me upwards of $1,800, and I am going to get it back, so don't count on me forgetting and going away anytime soon.
Love,
English Major
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Everyone is leaving or moving. I feel like I am standing still, even though I am moving too. We put the beautiful old oak table my mother gave us up on casters. It's perfect. My sister is in Cameroon, trying to learn the local dialect, drinking beer in the square, working with the fifty wives of the local chief. My parents are in Madrid for a few days before they head on to Italy, where they'll be through the summer. I am in my office. One friend's email offers her room for sublet (she is moving to Israel), another friend's email announces she has moved from Washington Heights to the Upper East Side (we are out of touch; I wonder if she's making lots more money, suddenly). I am in my office. Yesterday I could not help buying fruit; a pound of cherries and a pound and a half of grapes cost $9; the cherries were gone before we reached home. There is a brightness to the sweet of fruit that is never cloying. It is summer. I bought sundresses and open-toed flats. Should we go to IKEA this weekend or wait until the Red Hook one opens next week? My intern asked me what my secret talent is; I said that I don't have one. (This was a lie, so I mumbled about writing things.) (I could never say, I am a writer. I am not working on a novel. I am not working on anything, except work, sort of. I think I am stagnating.) (Please, don't let me stagnate.) Two or three nights ago, I emerged from the train station just as the heat-breaking rain was ending, and a cool breeze came down Eastern Parkway, and all the people coming up from underground sighed together in pleasure.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Just Pick Up and Keep Going
My life is really full right now, and I apologize for the lax posting schedule. I'm skipping the end-of-May update and will just update at the end of this month. That's usually my strategy for these kinds of things, when possible: don't try to get caught up, lest you get overwhelmed and fall further behind. Just pick up and keep going.
I'm in a similar position with my actual finances, mostly because my computer is giving me no end of trouble. The battery is dead, and the charger is dubious--I think I just need to suck it up and have them replaced, in the same vein as the previous item: don't keep pretending that you're going to live with an obstacle that's clearly proving a deterrent to getting the things you need to do done. Just change what needs to be changed and move on. I'm getting the battery replaced tomorrow, and then I'm going home and updating my finances. I think I'm still within the right spending range, but it's tight, definitely.
(For me, the real cost of moving has been food. Because I've had so little kitchen access, and no pots and pans and dishes until two days ago, I've been buying every meal out, and we all know how expensive that can be. I'm going grocery shopping today. I'm happy to eat omelets and chickpea salad for dinner for the next week. I actually kind of think that would be delightful.)
In a similar vein, I'm setting myself a deadline: if I haven't listed the four pairs of shoes, one dress, one blazer, and one pair of jeans I've earmarked for eBay sales by the end of this weekend, I'm taking them to iSoldIt! on Monday. Period. End of story.
In a blog news update, you'll notice I dropped Google's text ads (the second I got to the payout amount) and picked up BlogHer (definitely prettier, and pays per impression rather than per click). We'll see how it goes.
Friday, May 30, 2008
The IRS, the USPS, and You
Just FYI, if you happen to be in the same situation I am with the stimulus payment (i.e. moving before you're supposed to receive it), you need this page of the IRS handbook, which I stumbled onto by sheer luck. Filling out a mail forwarding form (which you can do online for $1 here) does not forward your government documents, so you need to alert government agencies separately.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Come Back, Money!
Money is running through my fingers like water at the moment--it's the move. Gassing up my parents' Volvo, with which we're running stuff out to Brooklyn. We're going to need a U-Haul on Saturday. We bought a perfect little side table at a flea market last Sunday ($200, and the first piece of non-particleboard furniture I own). Plus, the apartment is in such a state that we're eating out and ordering basically all the time right now. I'm making an IKEA shopping list that's rapidly heading towards $300, and we're going to need a new dining room set (the one we've been using was so broken and haphazard that it served more as a surface for putting stuff than an actual dining table, and we're not planning on taking it with us), and gah.
But the new apartment is going to be great. Seriously. And I'm willing to spend a few hundred bucks to get into it and get it set up--I'm sort of thinking of it as spending my stimulus check, even though I haven't gotten my stimulus check yet (note to self: and never will, if you don't fill out a mail forwarding form). There's definitely a cost to living a little bit more like a grownup, and I think I'm willing to spring for that cost at the moment.
(I'm also going to need to shell out to fix my computer: both the battery and the power cord are well and truly dead.)
