On Friday, my parents took me (and K) out for a great dinner at Sfoglia. I hadn't had a nice dinner out in awhile, and this was an exemplary one, replete with a pre-meal bottle of Prosecco and five desserts for four people. Mmm.
There was another birthday dinner there the same night, a table of well-dressed people not much older than I. My father said he heard one of them congratulate the birthday girl on being 29. I thought for a moment about having enough money, and having friends with enough money, to go out to that kind of a restaurant for my birthday at the age of 29. I let the thought pass. And then yesterday it crossed my mind that more than one of those chic young Turks may have put her dinner (and her dress, too) on her credit card.
Tucked inside the cover of the cookbook they gave me (a great-looking one with a focus on technique, which I'm excited to peruse) was a check for $240 (that's 24, my age as of Saturday, times ten). The obvious thing to do with it is to save it in the Freedom Fund, but I don't want to. I'm really attached to the idea of the "no strings attached" Freedom Fund, the fact that it's all money I earned. Yes, I know that it doesn't matter at all, because spending this $240 just means that I free up other money to save in the Freedom Fund, but still, I find the idea of saving this money in that way kind of distasteful, somehow. So that check isn't going in the Freedom Fund. I think it will be spending money if I end up going to France in November (more on this later), or, if I don't, it will flesh out the Gift Fund for Christmas.
And, okay, the other birthday present is the coolest thing ever. It is a machine that makes seltzer. Now, you have to consider that I drink a ton of seltzer. I grew up drinking it, and I'm just sort of stuck on it. I didn't think I'd want to spend the money on it once I moved out on my own, but...I do. Can't go without it, somehow. So I end up buying 5-10 one-liter bottles (bigger bottles go flat) at my local supermarket for $.75 apiece, or, when I need seltzer but the market is closed, little bottles at the bodega for $1.25 a pop. But no longer! Now I can fill one of their proprietary bottles with cold water and carbonate it myself, and it costs me nothing. It came with two CO2 cartridges, which make 110 liters of seltzer and which you send away to be refilled once they're empty for $20 a pop, plus shipping. That means that exclusive of the machine (because I didn't pay for it), I'll be paying about $.27 per liter once I exhaust my current supply. And there's no schlepping, and it's environmentally friendly! I am in love with my seltzer machine. And if I'd bought it myself, that $130 (which includes four of their bottles and two CO2 cartridges) would have paid for itself slowly but surely in the savings on my seltzer habit.
K is pretty enamored of the machine, too. The joke goes like so: when we break up, he'll have to buy a seltzer machine, and I'll have to buy all the Six Feet Under DVDs.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Birthday Weekend Update The First
Friday, October 19, 2007
The Pretty Girl Discount
I bought my lunch today, and somehow, an $8 pack of sushi, a $4 half-sandwich, and a can of Diet Coke added up to less than $10. Huh? I looked at the guy behind the register, who'd greeted me in what suddenly seemed like it might have been a somewhat more than friendly fashion, and tried to figure out if he'd made a mistake. But all three items were sitting out on the counter, in plain view. He carefully put all three items in a bag. He smiled at me. He pointed out that chopsticks were behind me. He wished me a good afternoon. I paid my less-than-$10, thanked him, and left. I probably did give him an extra smile.
So I'm going to guess it was the Pretty Girl Discount. And it may be ethically dubious, but I take that when it's offered. At my neighborhood bodega, one particular guy always rounds down to the dollar--"For you, four dollars!"--and throws in one of the sour apple blow pops I like. I do not object.
My Budget Birthday
For my birthday (I turn 24 tomorrow!), I'm having friends over to my apartment for a potluck. My own contributions are going to be a big pot of cowboy beans and a platter of deviled eggs (not showy, but solid and easy to make in bulk; maybe I'll decide to get fancy if I have time tomorrow--I do have this butternut squash puree in the fridge that would be great for filling homemade ravioli); K is making his (by which I mean Orangette's) brownies, which are justifiably renowned amongst all who've tasted them.
Now, this is actually more expensive for me than it would be to go to a bar, where I might expect to have all my drinks bought for me, but my suspicion is that on balance, it will be cheaper for the collective. We'll all get dinner and drinks (non-cooks will be bringing wine and beer, and I'm going to borrow my parents' mega-blender and make frozen margaritas) for what we might each (except me) have expected to pay for drinks alone. And I think it's a nice opportunity for people to show off their cooking.
I'm going to need to do a thorough cleaning tomorrow (I did one already, but...well, long story), but I'm keeping that very cheap, too. My supplies are basically a couple of rags, a couple of sponges, and a spray bottle apiece of white vinegar-and-water solution and dishwashing-soap-and-water solution. Less toxic than most commercial cleaning supplies, and way cheaper.
Then I'm just going to have to pick up disposable plates and cups (and decide whether to get plastic cutlery--I think our household supply will probably cover it, but you never know). I'll go to the dollar store for that, and hopefully keep the whole purchase under $15. Then to the supermarket: I need probably another $15-$20 for the food supplies for my dishes. Finally, the liquor store and the bodega: I need a cheapie bottle of Triple Sec and a whole bunch of ice. I have $50 set aside for the party, and it shouldn't be a big deal if I go a little bit over. (I also have a sneaky little hope in re leftovers, but let's not go there.)
And then I just have to cross my fingers and pray the whole thing comes off! I'm kind of nervous, actually.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Towards Success: A Few Notes
Over at the always-excellent Get Rich Slowly, J.D. is running a contest for a Nintendo Wii: tell him about your financial success story. This has me thinking about sucess, financial and otherwise, and about the way I've changed as I've focused on getting my financial life in order.
In one sense, any "success" I've had is not particularly compelling. I haven't had all that many obstacles to overcome. I'm a privileged kid who graduated from a great school with no debt because my parents paid my way. And now I live in New York on $32,000. Boo hoo. I can hear the world's tiniest violin playing just for me.
In another sense, though, I'm very cognizant of the ways in which I've changed as I've begun to focus on money and hone my financial skills, and I think the vast majority of changes are for the better. (I do think there's a tendency of my money management style to validate and even, perhaps, feed my soupçon of control-freakery.) Like most decisions, my decision to focus on money management and getting my financial life in line was a series of slow behavioral changes, a process in which I developed new habits and jettisoned old ones.
For example: taxi-taking. When I started my job, about two months before I started this blog, I took a ton of taxis. I often took taxis to work. Now? The last time I took a cab was Labor Day. It was pouring rain, and K and I were loaded down with a week and a half's worth of groceries and our bags from the bar mitzvah trip. Before that? I don't think I can remember. More and more, I'm allocating my biweekly $30 for taxis elsewhere at the beginning of the pay period, working on the knowledge that I just don't take taxis that frequently anymore. But I barely even noticed the change. (BTW, for the curious: a big part of it, I think, was chilling out with how often I wore high heels. Another big part was reframing the choice: I choose to save $10 and spend 10 minutes.)
More than any one habit, though, I feel like my focus on finance has reminded me that I'm responsible for my own life, for my own behavior and choices. I think a lot of people think of this in the framework of "being responsible for things is a burden," but for me, it's been incredibly freeing. It's great to feel like good choices and hard work will pay off, that I can make my life into what I want it to be. And that's how all this makes me feel.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
I Sold It: Worth It?
I am stressed out. I am way stressed out: swamped at work, full social calendar, and having a potluck dinner at my apartment for my birthday on Saturday (which necessitates a lot of chores). However, I'm also inspired by Krystal's recent efforts on eBay, and I have these four pairs of shoes I bought from Zappos.com more than a year ago and never returned (returning things is one of my great financial weaknesses; I'm working on it. I really have improved, I swear!). I'd love to a) get rid of them, and b) get money for them.
However, I'm not overly keen on putting in the eBay time, and, more problematically, I don't have a working digital camera (I lost the dock to my Nikon Coolpix in my not-really-at-all-recent move, and haven't yet replaced it). I'm sort of considering just dropping the things off at I Sold It, which sells your stuff on eBay, takes a nearly-50% commission, and send you a check. I find the "does it for you, sends you a check" part appealing; the nearly-50% commission, not so much. But I worry that if I wait until I have the time and equipment to do it myself, I'll never do it.
There's an I Sold It location tantalizingly close to my office. It would be so convenient to just drop these damn shoes off, never see them again, and get a check for $40 or whatever.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
New York on the Cheap: The Crocodile Lounge
I spent two evenings this past week at the Crocodile Lounge. I never return to a bar that fast. And, okay, the fact that I left a bag of tupperwares there did have something to do with it, but not everything, because I didn't have to stay for two beers. But I did. Because seven bucks (including tip) buys you a beer and a personal pizza.
Oh, yes. That's right. With every beer, you get a ticket entitling you to one free personal pizza. Which isn't as bad as you would expect from a free pizza. In fact, it's quite tasty, especially if you eat it right out of the oven, when the pan burns your fingertips and the molten, gushy cheese scalds the roof of your mouth. Delicious. For seven dollars, you get dinner and beer!
Even better, go for Happy Hour (weekdays, 4-6), and get beer for $3, well cocktails for $4. Still with free pizza.
I wouldn't plug the great deal if it weren't such a great bar. It's laid-back and unpretentious and has Skee-Ball in the back room. And the music is great. And, at 14th between 1st & 2nd Avenues, it's close to the excellent and extremely free people-watching in Union Square. Which is how I wound up my Friday evening (well, that, a cigarette, a cute boy, and a $2.99 bag of Trader Joe's chocolate-covered pretzels). I recommend it.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
On Excess
This weekend, my parents, K and I flew down to Boca Raton to attend my second cousin's bar mitzvah. (A bar mitzvah, or bat mitzvah for girls, is a ceremony held the first time a Jewish boy is called to the Torah, typically at age 13. Like a Catholic confirmation ceremony, it symbolizes an entry into an adult faith. The bar mitzvah is now responsible for his own actions and his own life, spiritual and otherwise.)
A bit of background information: my cousin, mother of the new bar mitzvah, was a department head at a major New York financial concern, accumulated all the money she could handle, and left the company and the city to adopt children and get married (in that order). She bought herself a house in Florida, near her parents, and then bought one for her sister and brother-in-law for good measure. She's a lovely, talented, generous woman. With a ton of money.
Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised that the bar mitzvah party she threw her oldest son was as elaborate as it was--my other cousin's husband, at brunch the day after, assured us archly that "for Florida, that was tasteful," that he had dropped his son off at a bar mitzvah that had gladiators in real chariots pulled by real horses standing outside the gates--but I have to say, I was surprised. And a little shocked.
There were cocktails and hors d'oeuvres to start, along with a magician and a video karaoke booth for the kids, and then we moved into the "grand ballroom" (note, please, that these amenities are built into the synagogue), where we find a cover band, hired crowd-riling dancers, an emcee, three videographers, two photographers, video screens playing slideshows of family photos, the bar mitzvah boy's name emblazoned hugely in lights, and four-foot rotating centerpieces on every table. Not to speak of the long, dormant buffet and the seared beef and cucumber salad appetizers already laid out at the adults' place settings.
Now, I've been to some big bar and bat mitzvahs. I have. Between the ages of 12 and 14, I probably went to 25, and some of them were big things, and some of them had hired dancers, and some of them had bands and some had centerpieces (though I don't think any of them had centerpieces like these centerpieces), but as I can recall, none of them had all of those things.
Then there was a brunch the next day, smaller, more intimate, but still probably fifty people at my cousin's house. Under her twenty-foot ceilings sprawled a catered buffet spread, hired omelet-makers making omelets to order at her beautiful stainless stove, and a guy in uniform working an espresso machine and a wet bar, giving out his business card for pet parties.
Now, my own bat mitzvah party was at my parents' apartment. We cleared out the furniture, hired a DJ and a fortune teller, and had a catered buffet. Guests took photos with disposable cameras, and my mom and I made an album of the photos afterwards. I had all my relatives, a few friends from my old school, a few friends from my new school, and a few friends from my Hebrew school class. I had a really wonderful time. It wasn't an inexpensive party, but I can't imagine my parents spent as much as many parents at the time did (let alone anything like what was spent on last weekend's extravaganza), and it wasn't as lavish, somehow.
What I like about the way we did my bat mitzvah is that it was somehow suited to the tone of the day. My memories of my bat mitzvah are dominated by the events of the ceremony: being up on the bima, chanting my Torah and Haftorah portions, my rabbi and my parents making speeches about me. Most of all I remember my sister, who was nine, saying the nicest thing about me that anyone has ever said, before or since. The party is a total blur. I don't remember a damn thing. But I like the idea that my family and my friends walked from the synagogue to my parents' house and celebrated with us in our home. It feels intimate, which seems appropriate.
The bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is about coming into responsibility for one's life. It's the beginning of agency. For this reason, young people preparing for their ceremonies traditionally do a tzedakah, or social service, project (my cousin was no exception), to demonstrate their commitment to their spiritual and social obligations. To couple such a ceremony with such a lavish party, a thing so unmoored from day-to-day life, seems strange to me, seems like insufficient attention is being paid to the meaning of the ceremony itself--its message about responsibility for oneself and for others.
But, like my cousin's husband reminded me, it's Florida. And the parties are given by the parents, really, and the parents are subject, perhaps more than their children, to an awareness of social norms. That awareness is hard to buck--my own aversion to a party of this magnitude is as much about finding it sort of overwhelming and a bit tacky (both related to my own, different sense of social norms) as it is about the cognitive dissonance between the occasion and its celebration. I don't know if that cognitive dissonance would be as strong for someone who didn't find the party itself outside the realm of their experience.
On the other hand, is it even reasonable for such a party to be within the realm of people's normal experience? Especially thirteen-year-olds' experience? What call is there for this kind of thing? It's not that I'm against luxury. I'm definitely not. But this party does not represent the kind of luxury I like. Maybe if it's your kind of luxury, this feels the way that a nice trip or a great dinner feels to me--something that you give yourself because you can, but wouldn't do every day.
I keep chewing on this thing without coming to a conclusion. I don't know what to make of it. I don't know that I can figure out what to make of it, really, other than concluding that it's not my kind of thing, and that says something about the kind of person I am, but more different than better. The whole thing just kind of blew my mind a bit.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
My Mom's Money: Gender, the Generation Gap, and Personal Finance
On Sunday night, after returning from the bar mitzvah, I put in some time helping my mom with her identity theft mess. I was pretty shocked to learn that she hadn't yet pulled her credit reports or placed fraud victim alerts on them. She had canceled the compromised card, signed up with a credit monitoring service, and begun wrangling with the companies that had charged the canceled card, so it wasn't an issue of being unwilling to put in the effort--she just didn't know what to do. I directed her to AnnualCreditReport.com, and in helping her verify herself to receive her reports, discovered that she didn't know what bank held her and my dad's second mortgage, or what the monthly payment was. She guessed the highest range the question offered as an option; when I asked my dad, it was within the lowest.
I also told her that she has to be really vigilant about her bills and statements for the next few months (at least), and my dad started in on how she never checks them over. Now, my dad's not exactly a financial paragon himself in many ways, but I never thought my mother was this clueless about her financial life. She's a gifted thrift-store shopper with a M.A. in arts administration, which means she's done half the coursework for a management degree (she did tell me that she almost failed her accounting class, though). But mostly, I just didn't think she was that kind of woman--the kind who can can just say, "Oh, my husband is taking care of it," and that's the end of that. That's certainly not the kind of woman she raised me to be.
I wonder if this is the way she always lived, or if her money-management muscles began to atrophy after marrying my dad. I know she worked a bunch of crappy jobs and lived very cheap when she was a young college dropout living in New York, and I know that she ran all the finances for her art gallery herself. Then again, I also know that the gallery went under. My mom comes from a family with a lot of money and a lot of (serious) problems, and I don't know if she got parental support or not--I could see it making sense either way. So I can't really say if these are skills she let lapse or skills she never developed to begin with.
But either way, it's weird for me because it's just not the kind of person I thought my mom was. I think of my mother as brave and independent and sort of unusual for her time--I think of her dropping out of her Seven Sisters college and moving to New York to go to Factory parties, or of her work bringing new technology into the curricula of the poorest New York City schools, or the way she talked her way into an MA program at an Ivy League school without a BA (she still doesn't have one, but she has two Masters degrees). And it's strange, because this is such a normal (if kind of unfortunate) thing for married women of my mother's generation, this learned helplessness thing, but it's not something I ever associated with my mom. I guess I always assumed she was an equal partner in my parents' finances. And it's not that she doesn't bring skills and attributes to my parents' financial table--because she certainly does (I can vouch for that myself; I've transfered the communications about my medical billing from my dad to my mom, and it's gone much more smoothly)--it's just that I always assumed she was as familiar with the big picture of their finances as my dad. And she's not. And that's weird to me.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Consumerist Cookies?
So, I was in Florida with my parents this weekend for my second cousin's bar mitzvah (more on this to come). We got home, went back to my parents' apartment, and we ordered some Chinese food. And this was my fortune:
Perhaps you have been focusing too much attention on saving.
I am not kidding even a little bit. That's what it said.
Friday, October 05, 2007
PF Bloggers Give Back
I'm proud to announce the opening of the PF Bloggers Donors Choose Challenge! (Catchy name, huh?) As you may or may not know, Donors Choose is a great charitable organization that connects the needs of teachers and their classrooms directly with donors. HC, at One Big Mortarboard, has selected a number of those needs that relate directly to personal finance, and it's up to us to make sure that these students get the financial education we like to talk about.
I donated $120 today. Anything you can spare will help: $20, $10, even $1. Please check out our challenge!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
"Mad Money"
J.D. posted yesterday about his experiments in individual stock-picking. His conclusion? He's getting out.
But his description of his experience made me want to try it. Just in that same kind of small-time way, with a small amount of money I could afford to lose--what I've heard Jim Kramer calls "mad money." I just think it would be an interestingly direct way to dip my toes into the stock market. And I think it would be fun.
Right now, though, I don't have $1,000 to lose. Maybe once I get my Freedom Fund all nicely stocked up. Or maybe I could play around with a smaller amount of money. Say, $500. Yeah, I think $500 might be a good place to start.
I still don't have $500 I'm willing to lose, though. This may be something I'll consider adding to next year's financial goals, but the difficulty would be saving for this chunk of money. It might feel kind of futile, given that I'm going to be speculating with it. So it might be better to devote some windfall money to this.
But not until my savings goals are met.
Pulled My Credit Report...
...from Experian and Equifax (I'll pull TransUnion in six months), via AnnualCreditReport.com, which is the only place to get a truly free credit report.
I have a bunch of "authorized user" accounts on there, which I would rather not have to hash out with my parents--aren't those accounts supposed to be dropping off my bureau report, like, now? I'd like it if they could go ahead and hurry up with that--as it stands, it looks like I have credit limits approaching my annual income, which I certainly do not.
I also have a thirty-days-late from October 2001, on a store card I signed up for when I was in high school and didn't know how to use. I'd love it if that would drop off my report--it's just the one charge, a thirty days late note, and then zero balances all the way up through '06, when I last looked at my credit report, realized I still had that account open, and closed it--but it looks like I'm stuck with it until 2013--seven years from the last time the card reported, not seven years from the last charge. Annoying.
But it is supposed to be seven years, right? Then why does a card (another "uh, sure, I guess I'll sign up for the 20% discount" high school store card) that was closed in '02 seem to be scheduled to be on my report until 2012? And is "inactive" the same as "closed"? Because if it's not, I should close that account, right?
Conclusion: no identity theft (phew!), but the usual low-level financial-jargon confusion.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Identity Theft Hits Close to Home
I got a call from my mother last night: she's had her identity stolen. Over the past ten days or so, thousands of dollars' worth of purchases on the internet and over the phone have been charged to her principal credit card, and someone applied for a second card in her name (the card company in question, Discover, declined the application and notified my mom, so points to them).
It makes me realize that this can happen to anyone. It can happen to me. And most importantly, there is no way to prevent this, really, short of not having bank accounts. You can decline to put yourself in harm's way (by not falling for phishing scams, for example), but you can't close up all the chinks in your identity's armor. The key, it seems to me, is to keep a tight rein on your finances--my mom only found out about this because she was notified of unusual charges, but given that I check all of my accounts through Bank of America's My Portfolio service at least every other day, I'd probably catch it sooner, and so have less damage to undo. And it seems to me that that's the best one can hope to do.
It's a reminder to me, though, and perhaps to you, too, that by opening extra accounts, an identity thief can do damage to your life and credit report by moving your finances outside your sight. I'm going to pull my credit report this week (via Annual Credit Report); I suggest you do the same.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Around the Blogosphere
There have been a few particularly good posts lately, and I thought I'd highlight them:
Define "affordable," from Escape Brooklyn, discusses the state of the New York City housing market in an extremely thorough and insightful way.
Your Major and Your Job, at Young and Broke, traces the author's trajectory from English major to business professional and MBA student.
At My Open Wallet, Madame X writes about an opportunity she missed because of financial cautiousness in I Thought I Couldn't...
Freedom Fund: $4,050
I got the big insurance reimbursement check in the mail last night, and immediately (this morning) deposited it and set up the transfer over to the Freedom Fund at ING. This brings the balance up to $4,050.
Exclusive of the CD I rolled into the Freedom Fund, this balance represents 13.1% of my gross pay for the year so far, and at least two months' expenses. It represents the freedom to make decisions for myself, unbeholden to anyone. And the best part is that it's all, every penny of it, money that I earned. Even the aforementioned CD was initially funded with savings from my part-time job at college. The Freedom Fund is truly free, in the sense of independent. There are no strings attached.
Monday, October 01, 2007
October Goals
Here's the plan for October:
1. Add $225 to the Freedom Fund
This is $125 over my autodrafts, and will be a stretch, but I think a stretch would be good.
2. Buy one more pair of flats
I'm looking for a pair of flats that are a) not black and b) a little more solid than the slightly flimsy $24 ones I'm currently rocking. I'm thinking somewhere in the $40-$50 range.
3. Submit two new medical bills
Once these two are submitted and reimbursed, I should have recovered all the money I initially laid out for medical expenses, and will begin endorsing the reimbursement checks over to my parents.
September Net Worth
My net worth for September is up at NetWorthIQ.
My retirement accounts did pretty well this month, even though I've exhausted the $1,500 employer match, and are now hovering just above $12,000. If I were just to hold on to this $12,000 until age 70, contribute nothing more, and earn a yearly 8% return, I'd have more than $340,000. Not bad.
There's also a large increase in my cash holdings, and frankly, I'm not sure where that comes from. I did get some of my medical reimbursements in, though, so perhaps that makes the difference between a normal and a slightly odd cash increase.
My net worth for this month is $18,813. The overall increase is $884, or 4.93%.
Friday, September 28, 2007
September Goals Update
So, here's how I did on my September goals:
1. Keep a careful eye on medical reimbursements.
Yep. One check was received and deposited this month. I'm expecting the big one any day now, and once I've got that one, I'm almost all the way reimbursed for the money I laid out.
2. $200 to the Freedom Fund
Check. $225, actually.
3. Discuss a raise.
Done.
4. Set some money aside for fall clothes.
I bought a few new things; still eyeballing a few more. But, check.
Business Error in Your Favor
I checked my credit card statement today (online), and found a weird discrepancy in which it said I owed less than I thought I did. Turned out there was a peculiar coincidence: an exchange at one clothing site was misprocessed as a return--for exactly the same amount of money as a purchase at another clothing site. Curious, no? The extreme tidiness of the coincidence made it easy to ignore--it was kind of just like getting a sweater and a pair of flats for free, like I'd never paid at all. It was tempting.
But I'd gotten really good customer service around this exchange process--the first dress they'd sent had a defective seam, and they'd sent a new one right away with expedited shipping--that it would absolutely have outraged the conscience to cheat them. It's always easier to make the right call when there's a human face on it, you know? It might have been a little more tempting if it had been the Gap.
I wrote the woman I'd corresponded with about the exchange, telling her to charge my card again.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Where Do our Money Personalities Come From?
At times, it just seems like some people are savers and some are spenders. If this is true, I fall pretty squarely in the "saver" camp--at this point in my life. I used to be more freewheeling--like when I was in high school, wielding my dad's credit card with aplomb at bookstores and coffee shops from the Upper East Side to TriBeCa.
But as soon as I was really responsible for myself financially, my attitude changed dramatically. My junior and senior years of college, I lived in an off-campus apartment, and while my parents paid my living expenses, they did so by writing me one check at the beginning of the school year based on a reasonable budget that I'd proposed and we'd discussed. I managed that money for the rest of the school year. I guess if it had ever run out, I could have asked them for money, but I made sure it didn't. I had a job on campus, and I saved every penny I made (it wasn't that much).
My money management skillz were honed even sharper when I got my first job, last September, and began making my own way in the world for real. But there are plenty of people who get their first paycheck and go, "Whee!" and blow it at the nearest boutique. What makes the difference between my reaction and that reaction? I wonder if it's not some personality thing, rather than the oft-repeated platitudes about financial education, because I certainly didn't have much of a financial education. All that meant was that I had to go out and get one.
For me, my desire to manage money wisely is intimately connected to a sense of insecurity, a feeling that I'm on a highwire and I need a safety net, a nervousness about my own ability to succeed. It's also connected to a need to achieve: I get a kick out of setting goals and meeting them, and a thrill from being precociously good at things. There's also a certain cautiousness, a hedging-of-bets, that is not unrelated to the other two: it's a fear of failure.
I'm not saying that there are not very good reasons to save money. Obviously, there are. But are those good reasons my real reasons? I'm not sure they are. I'm not sure it's not all a little less rational than that.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Drink at Home. Duh.
I wanted to have a drink with a friend a couple of nights ago. But I didn't much care where we went, and I didn't want to spend a bunch of money.
So what did we do? We went to the bodega near my house, bought 24-oz. Coronas, cut up some limes, chilled on my couch with our classy, classy beer, and had a chat about King Lear (no, really, we did--and if you have any thoughts about what King Lear is really about, leave 'em in the comments).
And it was awesome. And it so often eludes me, really: wanting to have a drink with a friend does not necessitate a bar, purveyor of markups and facilitator of late-night snacks and taxi rides. A big fat $3 bottle of beer in your own house can be just as much fun. And even if you drink two 24-oz. bottles of beer, that's only $6--about what it would cost for one 12-oz. bottle & tip in a bar. Hard to argue with a 75% savings.
I intend to put this lesson into use more often in future.
Monday, September 24, 2007
The Dangling Carrot
Had my conversation with my bosses. They say that reviews involving money are done at the end of the calendar year, but took a few minutes to give me a rave. And then the carrot was dangled: they think I'm an "excellent candidate" for an assistant editor position, but they like people to be here 15 months before they take that step. Which would, coincidentally or not so, dovetail nicely with the "reviews involving money are done at the end of the calendar year" thing. So pretty much, the deal is, "We're not giving you a raise right now, but we might give you a bigger raise and a more interesting job in three months if you somehow manage to do what is clearly more than one job for the next three months."
So, gratifying comments, disappointing outcome. I didn't do a good job of making my case--I just sort of let them tell me what's what, thanked them for the compliments, and left. Dammit.
News
My big medical claim was just processed by my insurance company--it popped up on my online claim center--which means that I can start looking for that big fat check in the mail, and start looking forward to re-beefing up the ol' Freedom Fund.
So that's good news.
Other good news: I decided to buy three pairs of tights, a pair of season must-have buckled ankle boots, and a sweater just as a 30% off coupon for the online retailer in question rolled into my inbox.
...and I have a meeting with both of my bosses in a couple of hours to discuss, I guess, my raise and/or potential promotion. And I am terrified. I'm debating forwarding on to them an email I received today from an author about how great I am, but I think that's too blatantly self-aggrandizing, and I'll let it go.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Being Your Own Advocate at Work: A Beginner's Guide
Yesterday, I had a conversation with a co-worker about the fact that her boss hadn't come through with a raise at her semiannual review. They'd given her a glowing review, and then...nothing. No mention of money at all. She was pissed, and I thought she deserved to be. She scrunched up her face, and looked at me, and said, "So, does this mean I have to ask?"
I said I thought it did, and looked at her with empathetic dismay. It's hard to advocate for yourself in any context, but especially at work, and especially if your job is (as ours are) to do what other people tell you to do. I'd venture to say that it's especially hard for women, who tend to be taught that aggressiveness, demands, and bragging are cardinal sins of personality. But those are just the things that you need to harness to be an effective advocate for yourself in the workplace, it seems.
Much of my empathy for my coworker was due to the fact that I have to ask, as well.
I've just passed the one-year mark here, and finally, yesterday, had to ask if we were going to do a review. My boss looked at me blankly and said, "Of what?" (To be fair, we do peer reviews of books all the time, so she may have been confused.)
"Of...me?" I ventured.
We met today for a pre-review discussion (the real thing will have to include my other boss, who's head of the department, but he's out of town at the moment), and she told me that she's really pleased with my work. I told her one concern was balancing the new editorial work they're giving me with the running of day-to-day operations. She said something about setting accurate timetables and telling people when I won't be able to take things on. I was being a little disingenuous, though, phrasing this as a time-management issue--what I really want is a promotion. I want my little mini-department to create a more genuinely editorial position for me. And eventually I came around to mentioning that--I mentioned all of the other mini-departments that have promoted former assistants (three, at last count), and said that I didn't know if that sort of arrangement was in the works for our department-ette, but if it was, I'd be very interested in occupying such a position. (A little weak on the persuasion and clarity--my technique needs work.)
She said that it wasn't her call to make, but she'd talk to my other boss (who's her boss, too) about it. She didn't seem opposed to the idea, but she reiterated a couple of times that it's not her call. She also advised me a little on what she thought would make an effective argument for this promotion, which I appreciated.
We had a lot of diversions during this meeting, which I think we were using as absorbers of the awkwardness of the rest of the discussion. And we both sort of soft-pedaled the tough stuff. Nevertheless, I think this was a good introductory effort on my part. The first lesson I've learned about advocating for myself in the workplace is this:
Asking is not optional. If I hadn't asked for my review, it might never have happened. If I hadn't mentioned the promotion, it might never have come up. If I don't ask for what I deserve, no one is going to give it to me--they're going to keep giving me increasingly complex projects without ever translating their obvious faith in my judgment into a new title or a salary bump. (Understandable, from a business perspective.) Therefore, I have to ask. I have to. It's not optional.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Ours is a Star-Crossed Love, DiorShow Ultimate
I have fallen in love with a mascara. It is DiorShow Ultimate. It is the perfect mascara. I go to Sephora to visit it, to try it on and bat my lashes at myself in the mirrors. It costs $23.
The thing is, I have two perfectly good mascaras--a Rimmel my mother got in a gift bag somewhere, and a better one, from MAC (source of the vast majority of my good makeup). But the DiorShow has them both beat by a mile. It's the holy grail of makeup: you look better without looking like you're wearing makeup at all.
It's just--this is so blatantly something I do not need. At all. Beautiful eyelashes are not a need. No matter what Cosmo tells you. On the other hand, they are a want, and want is a force not to be discounted.
Just when I think I've got myself talked out of this purchase--on grounds of obvious wastefulness, of $23-plus-tax-is-$25-more-for-the-savings-account--want flares up again.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Impatience
Over at The Simple Dollar, Trent has managed to articulate exactly what I feel about my financial goals.
I'm impatient. I'm so impatient. I'm lucky enough not to have any debt, but I positively champ at the bit about meeting my savings goals. There are so many things I want to save for: right now it's the emergency/freedom fund, and then I'll want to focus on the travel fund, and after that there'll be a down payment fund of (it seems to me) colossal proportions to tackle. Sometimes I feel so jealous of people like Wanda who can put away thousands of dollars a month, rather than hundreds (and not very many hundreds, at that), because I feel like those people must not have to endure the waiting that I do, the plodding and continuing to plod, the putting one leaden $25 foot in front of the other.
What do I do to stave off impatience?
I break down my goals into mini-goals. Stuff like my monthly savings goals keeps me focused on where my priorities are and gives me the satisfaction of setting and achieving a goal more immediately, rather than always having to be looking at the big, "final" number at the end of December.
I engage my financial goals on a daily basis. This helps me remember that every choice I make with money contributes to meeting my savings goals. When I feel actively connected to my goals, rather than like I'm just sort of passively waiting for them to occur, I'm less bothered by the background noise of impatience.
Mostly, though, I push harder. The last few days of a pay period are always a contest between me and myself to see if I can squeeze another $25 into my savings account. Frequently, I can. And the more often I win that battle, the closer my goal gets. This drive has already led me to bump up the goal for my Freedom Fund twice this year.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Disposable Income
For the first time since last November or December, K has to watch what he's spending. The long-term contract he's been working on has come to an end, and other than a paycheck that he thinks (!) he's owed, he's got no money coming in for the next few weeks. He has another job scheduled to start in two weeks, though, at a pretty fat weekly salary, and is confident in his options for work after that, so he's not panicking, but he is going to have to watch himself more than he usually does for a little bit. He returned the iPhone he bought; there's an extra $400, right there (though he spent about the same amount yesterday on the new pair of glasses he's been needing for months and months and finally had a chance to buy). He means to save money for these sorts of inevitabilities--the couple of weeks one spends between jobs as a freelancer--but for whatever reason (believe me, I wish I knew what it is), he doesn't. He's not going to be delinquent on rent or be unable to feed himself or anything, but he's going to have to make conscious decisions about money for awhile.
This morning, leaving the house, I said, "I'm jealous that you get to sleep late." He responded, "I'm jealous that you get to make money."
I wonder if this will change his future outlook. I'm optimistic that it might, I suppose, but then again, he's had these periods before and not altered his behavior afterwards. He knows my help (budgeting & setting up savings accounts & whatnot) is available if he wants it, though, and I'd be super-thrilled if he'd take me up on it. Otherwise, I'm staying out of it and not getting too pushy.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Victory at the Greenmarket
Brothers and sisters, I have come to tell you that it's true: farmer's markets are a great way to save money. The best part is, they're also a great way to feel tremendously luxurious, to take pleasure in your purchases and in your food and cooking.
On Saturday, after brunch with a friend at a local tea room (!), we walked back to my apartment, picked up K, and set out for the Union Square Greenmarket. O bliss! O joy! It was a beautiful day, and the produce was cheap. We got a big bunch of basil for $1, two Kirby cucumbers for another $1, four ears of sweet corn for another $1, four perfectly ripe organic tomatoes for about $2, three beautiful apples (two Macoun, one Fuji) for $1.50, four white peaches for $3, and the best red onion I've ever tasted for $.75. We also splurged, spending $4 on a pound of heirloom tomatoes (nearly the last of the season) and $8 on a little round of a cheese that can best be described as a sheep's-milk Camembert. The cheesemaker sampled me a bite of the Feta, and I was going to go with that (to put on top of the tomatoes for dinner), but once he sampled me the softer cheese, I was hooked, and went with that one instead.
And then, on our way out, there was a special on raspberries and blackberries: 3 boxes for $5! We split the deal with our friend, and took home two boxes of tiny, iridescently sweet raspberries for $3. Glorious.
Dinner was the heirloom tomatoes with thin slivers of red onion (plus sea salt & balsamic vinegar) and the sheep cheese with half of a baguette we picked up at the adjacent Whole Foods for $1.79. Lunch today is a salad of Kirby cucumbers, tomato, red onion (and we've still only used half of it!), and sweet corn kernels. Dinner tonight will be tomatoes with feta (just the grocery-store kind, which I have a chunk of in my fridge), onions, and basil & the rest of the baguette, and dessert will be white peaches. Lunch tomorrow will be a salad of sweet corn & baby spinach. And then, perhaps, we'll be done with our greenmarket bounty.
All this for about $15 apiece! I'm going to look really seriously at making the greenmarket a Saturday tradition, and trying to eat for at least the first half of the week on the produce I buy. Problem is that I'm not very good with your cold-weather vegetables, your squashes and root veggies. But I think the frugality (not to mention the tastiness and eco-friendliness) they dangle like a carrot in front of me (mmm, carrots!) might just be enough to get me trying.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Perk!
My floor just got a fancy new coffee machine, the kind with the pods and the frothy deliciousness. Previously, there was a coffee machine down on the floor below ours--I've never gotten coffee there, but I'm excited to test-drive this new perk, and see if it will substitute for an afternoon snack sometimes.
Now the things I get free at work are a) books, and b) coffee--if one judged jobs by perks, I'd have one of the best.
Consolation Prize
So, K bought an iPhone. He's wanted one since...well, since before they were invented. It's his Dream Gadget. And with the price drop, he couldn't resist. He didn't take it out of the box, though, because before he could get his sticky fingers on his new toy, he had to make sure he could get out of his half-up Sprint contract.
Which he couldn't. He argued that an increase in text message prices was a materially adverse change that voided the contract, but the retention specialist with whom he was on the phone for forty minutes held firm, arguing that because his text message package was a separate element and not an integral part of his contracted services, the change didn't void the contract. Now he's trying to decide whether to pay the contract cancellation fee ($200) and gleefully rip open the shrinkwrap, or return the beloved object and settle for the 10% discount on his bill plus bumped-up text messaging package the retention specialist offered.
I know what I'd do—stick with my contract, then buy the phone next summer—but that's because electronics aren't a big priority with me. I use a two-year-old phone the size of a double compact (the fat mirrored kind, with a brush inside) with no bells and whistles but a useless camera function, and it doesn't bother me. And I know how it can be, wanting something only to have it moved slightly out of your reach. And I sort of want him to have it—he'd enjoy it so much, and I'd get to poke around with it...
Still, though, for me personally, frugality would win out—I just couldn't stomach paying that fee, and the discount would serve as a consolation prize.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Open Letter to the Bank of America
Dear Bank of America,
You disappoint me.
I've been a customer since my junior year of college, when US Bank decided that holding a check I needed to pay my rent for ransom for three weeks was a good idea. You've treated me pretty well, Bank of America. You give me free student checking even though I am no longer a student. You have many convenient locations. Most of all, Bank of America, you provide the wonders of an online financial aggregator, where I can see all of my accounts (even the accounts not with you!) in one place. I appreciate that, Bank of America. I really do.
But this $3 ATM fee is bullshit. Excuse my language. That plus the out-of-network ATM's fee means that I would pay close to $5 to access my very own money. Money that I've earned, Bank of America, and placed with you for safekeeping. It hardly seems fair.
So I'm thinking of switching to Washington Mutual. They have a location a block from my apartment, no ATM fees, and a high-yield savings account with instant transfers. Bank of America, this might be it for you and me. Consider changing your behavior. If you don't, I don't think this relationship will last much longer than it takes you to deposit my Keep the Change match.
Love,
English Major
Update: I do know that this is the ATM fee for non-customers to use B of A ATMs (though I did miss it on first reading). I'm still irked, though, because basically this means that B of A has no institutional objection to a $3 fee, and I think it's a harbinger of fees to come for customers. Currently, B of A charges a $2 "foreign ATM" fee, which is what they used to charge non-customers to use their ATMs. Because of the previous parity in the fee structure, I think there's reason for customers to expect an increase as well--I can't actually tell you that there hasn't been one already, since I haven't used an out-of-network ATM lately.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Charitable Conclusion
So after quite a lot of thought, here's what I did with the $180 I couldn't work up the resolve to donate:
I spent it on clothes.
Well, okay, not all of it. But it is, indeed, all earmarked to spend on clothes for the fall. This will also benefit my savings accounts, because once my new fall stuff is bought, my clothing allotment can start going into savings again, as it was this summer.
I thought a lot about what my commenters said, especially Single Ma's note about the spirit of giving, and I decided to give myself a break for the replenishment of that spirit. With my next paycheck, however, I will get back on the horse immediately, and I will do some research on new recipients for my gifts. Part of what spurred this exhaustion and resentment is being in a rut with my charitable giving.
I will also take this new information into account as I try to work out a giving plan for next year, when I want to have a more concrete plan.
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?
One of the reasons I'm going to get through this week only spending $20 on groceries (other than the fact that I'm working with what I already had in the house) is that I'm being treated to a number of meals. Today I'm eating lunch out on my company, tomorrow it's lunch with my dad and snacks with my uncle at his gallery opening, and the day after, I think my mother and I are going to dinner and a movie.
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Certainly, there are tradeoffs here--sacrifices I might not be willing to make or annoyances I might not be willing to endure otherwise, like being held accountable for a higher level of involvement in a project, or not telling my father to knock it off with the nonsequitur-heavy interrogation. But chiefly, I benefit enormously from these things--I learn more about my job and can do it better, or I get to chat with my dad, or see my uncle and his new art--all while getting free food!
Call me a cockeyed optimist, but that sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Freedom Fund: The Final Frontier (of 2007)
Two more of my medical bills have been processed by my insurance company, but they're not the big ones. I'm waiting for the big ones to roll through, so that I can replenish my emergency savings account.
I keep watching the balance on my Freedom Fund account--I was surprised by how nervous it made me to see that number drop to $450. It really does provide a sense of safety, that little cushion, and I had a sort of free-floating anxiety without it, a sense that I might be caught unprepared for something, though I didn't know what. Now, with the CD rolled in, some of my reimbursements redeposited, and new contributions, it's up to $2,250, and I don't have to hyperventilate, but I'll still feel way better when I can deposit the rest of the reimbursement checks and bump it up above $4,000 for the first time. Exciting!
We're rolling into the final quarter of the year, now, so I have to start thinking seriously about making sure I meet my goals for this year. I was definitely stretching when I bumped my emergency fund goal for the year to $5,000. I should definitely hit it if I get a raise (even just the same amount as I got at my last review), but without that, it'll be a tough milestone to reach (though not impossible). I need to begin giving some thought to where I want my emergency fund to end up, ultimately, but I can get more serious about figuring that out as I get more serious about figuring out what I want to do with the next year or so of my life. (I have a tendency to over-plan--I start to make plans before I really have all the necessary information.)
Regardless of the goals I set for '08, I'm excited about the final push to my '07 goal. I like the challenge of a goal that's high but not impossibly out of reach, and I'm looking forward to the confidence, both in safety and in freedom of choice, that a bigger emergency fund will make possible.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Wedding Weekend Spending
Spending this weekend went quite well--the bulk of my spending was on the taxi out to the airport and on two luxurious room service meals (delivered to the startlingly lovely room K's parents got for us, bless their generous hearts).
Perhaps because we were staying in the city's official Fancy Hotel, I was disappointed in my cocktail-comparison project. Prices at the "upscale" lounge in the hotel's basement (I put this in scare quotes because to my jaded New Yorker's eye it seemed they were trying far, far too hard, and still overlooking somewhat obvious issues--for example, the fact that "lounge atmosphere" and "sports games on television behind the bar" patently do not mix) were comparable to average NYC bar prices, though certainly not comparable to "fancy hotel lounge" cocktail prices. Still, I guess I was expecting a bigger differential, and perhaps I would have seen one if K and I had made it out to the more casual bar with his sister, her husband, and their aunt & uncle after the reception.
I stuck to the free drinks (mmm, chocolate martinis!) at the reception, myself--K and I ended up skipping afterparties on both Friday and Saturday nights, pleading exhaustion (and/or disdain for that hotel bar, and/or need of foot massage in wake of wearing of very painful but very beautiful Lulu Guinness shoes). And because the meals we were eating tended to be so large, there wasn't call for more than two of them a day, only one of which cost us money.
So, I ended up spending $80 for the weekend, though I think I owe K a lunch. I'll be saving $20 extra--but I'm going to use the other extra $20 to buy myself lunch today (and pick up some groceries on the way home). Our flight got in awfully late last night.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Off to Oklahoma
K and I are leaving shockingly early in the morning tomorrow for the wedding, so probably no posts until Monday (though...you never know when a hotel's going to have free wireless!). I'm withdrawing $100 cash to take with me for the trip...there's another $20 earmarked for wedding stuff should I need it, but I'd love not to, so I'm leaving it in my checking account as a little safety net.
One thing I'm really looking forward to is the opportunity to compare prices. When I get back, I'll tell you how much a cocktail costs in Oklahoma City!
Charitable Ambivalence
I'm embarrassed to admit how ambivalent I am right now about my charitable contributions. I have $180 earmarked for charitable giving right now, and nowhere I feel compelled to put it to work. No Donor's Choose project strikes the right chord; I'm not ready to commit to a political candidate yet; I've given money to my alma mater and to the organizations with which I volunteer already. And then I start thinking, too, about how little $180 is to a big charity, or even a little charity, and how much it is to me. And I start wanting to hang onto that $180, save it, or use it to buy some fall clothing so I don't feel so shabby. I've given $898.45 in charitable contributions this year. That's more than many people give in a year, let alone people my age or who make the kind of money I make.
Feeling this way makes me feel terribly stingy. At the beginning of this year, I felt such an overwhelming sense of obligation, and now I'm reneging? Religious people who tithe don't stop giving when they get tired of it, and that was the model I was originally emulating. There are obligations here--I believe that intellectually and viscerally. And then I start feeling like, look: I give my time (I even take vacation days to volunteer!), I've given $900 this year already, and I need a break. But I also believe that obligations don't come with breaks built in--that you fulfill them because you have to, not because it's fun.
So I'm quite torn. I'd appreciate my readers' thoughts on the subject.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
September Goals
And some goals for September:
1. Continue to carefully monitor medical reimbursements.
I called today to inquire as to the status of a claim that I had to resubmit and was told that I need to wait at least another week before they're outside the 30-day timeline. I found this surprising because my previous claim was processed quite quickly. I also submitted a new round of bills (the ones I paid out of the Freedom Fund) for reimbursement, and will need to make sure that those come through.
2. Add $200 to the Freedom Fund.
That's $100 above my autodrafts.
3. Discuss a raise with my bosses
My annual review is coming up in a week or so. At that time, I plan to inquire as to the direction of the sub-department I work with and mention the fact that I'm doing work well above and beyond my job description.
4. Begin setting some money aside for fall clothing
I'm definitely going to need a few new things, so my clothing allotment isn't going to be able to go to the Freedom Fund for awhile.
August Net Worth
My net worth rebounded this month, to $17,929--an increase of 5.11%. I'm $40 away from maxing out my 401(k) match, so after this, it will be slower going, but I still think that I can achieve a goal of $20,000 in net worth by the end of the year.
Pursuant to advice received, I'm counting the insurance reimbursements I'm owed as receivables. Otherwise, the numbers would be artificially deflated. Hopefully, by the next time I do this calculation, that money will all be back in the "cash" category and in my ING account.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Whoops...forgot to blog (And: August goals update)
Sorry for the unexpected mini-hiatus there, you guys. I've been frantically busy lately--there were four birthday parties in a row, and my parents got home from their vacation, and I'm overwhelmed at work...anyway, I've got lots of stuff stored up to say.
But first? An update on my August goals.
1. Keep a very careful eye on medical reimbursements
I've been okay about this. The first one came through really easily, but the second one got caught somewhere in the works, and I've called twice to follow up. The most recent time, they assured me that it just needed to be keyed in by their claims department. I'm not totally convinced, so this may need another follow-up call. I also have a new set of bills to submit--when all this is paid out, the Freedom Fund ought to be up to its pre-disbursement mark.
2. Make sure my Bank of America CD is not rolled over
Check. All of my non-investment savings are now liquid and in one place: my ING account.
3. Add $150 to the Freedom Fund
Check. I also paid $50 out of the FF for my new laptop charger, so I guess I added $200 gross, but there's a $150 net difference.
4. Stash $175 away for the wedding
Check. Considering that I bought a dress for $62 plus shipping and put away $120 for spending money over that weekend, I allocated about $190 to wedding-related stuff this month. K and I also bought wedding presents last night, for about $60 (we got them a cast iron pan and a set of pretty mixing bowls from their registry at Crate and Barrel). My half of that will come out of my gift fund.
Monday, August 20, 2007
How to Close a CD
I dropped into the bank (I bank at Bank of America) on Friday to ask about making sure my CD doesn't roll over into a new CD (the interest rate is a measly 3.21%). I'd received a notification from my bank that my CD was about to mature, but its instructions on how to proceed had been pretty vague. So I stopped into a branch to check it out.
Apparently, the deal is like so: you have to wait until the CD matures, and then you have a window of seven days to close the CD, or it will roll over automatically. Frankly, one would think that in this Age of Computing Machines and Interwebs you could specify your preference in advance or address the issue online, but apparently not. Or at least not at Bank of America. So I'll have to stop in again between tomorrow and a week from tomorrow to tell them, "I want to close my CD." They'll close it just like a normal bank account and transfer the money into my checking account.
From there, I'll move it to my ING account, where the interest rate is more than a full point higher.
When Luxuries are Worth It
K and I were on our way home from the movies the other night—The Bourne Ultimatum, which hit the international-espionage spot—and he asked if I wanted to stop for a drink. I didn't—I was hungry and wanted to get home to get some late dinner, and not have to eat out. He said he wanted a Scotch. I mentioned that we still had some Scotch at home, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black someone had brought to his birthday party. It's not his favorite kind, though—he likes a single-malt called Dalwhinney. In deference to my desire to go home, he wondered aloud if perhaps we could duck into a good liquor store to see if they had the right stuff.
Lo and behold: two blocks later, we stumbled over a really nice-looking liquor store. K stood in the Scotch section, noting that the price for a 750-mL bottle of the good stuff would cost him $42 plus tax. He looked over at me. I think he thought my frugal self would be a little judgy about the purchase: he sighed and made some mention of being irresponsible with money.
I absolutely didn't think this prospective purchase was an irresponsible one, though, and I told him so: I explained that I feel really strongly that purchases that bring you real pleasure are good ones, and purchases that don't are bad ones. I said I think that buying mediocre food instead of packing your lunch is a bad purchase, but that bottle of Scotch was a good purchase, because of how much enjoyment he'll get out of being able to come home and fix himself a glass of his favorite Scotch. (On another note, of course, I think this purchase may ultimately save him money, since if he wants a glass of Scotch, he doesn't necessarily have to pay a bar's markup to get it, and it's not as if he's going to suddenly stop drinking the stuff because it's pricey in bars.)
The whole point of spending money on non-necessities is pleasure. I'd rather pack lunch for a few days and have the money for something I really want than nickel and dime myself out of the more pleasurable purchase to save myself the tiny bit of time and planning it takes to put together a lunch in advance. More bang for your buck. Isn't that the whole idea?
While we were at the store, I picked up a bottle of the Columbia Winery's Cellarmaster's Riesling for $12. I wanted something different than the Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling I used to drink all the time in Portland (my roommate and I used to pick up a bottle at the Plaid Pantry and split it while sitting out on our little balcony--by the way, it's a good budget bottle, one of Wine Spectator's Best Values), but couldn't bring myself to lay out the $25 for their Eroica, even though I've heard great things about it. I stashed my bottle in the fridge, so one of these late summer/early fall days, I'll be able to come home and spend a pleasurable afternoon with a good bottle of wine.
I'm looking forward to it. I think that's worth the $12.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wedding Belles
I picked up a dress startlingly cheap, and can wear it with a cute pair of navy peep-toe wedges I already own. The dress is black, but the bride in question wore black to K's sister's wedding back in April, so I figure that's okay with her, and anyway, it has green trim, and I'll be wearing it with blue shoes and a teal-y costume jewelry set (also already in my possession, and please, do not even get me started on how much I love costume jewelry), so it passes my "Appropriate? Check Yes or No" test.
Upon hearing this planned ensemble described, K said, "Very Oklahoma City," and I said, "Are you calling me tacky?" Apparently it was very subtle sarcasm.
Anyway, point is, I spent $95 on a dress, shipping, and, um, also a supremely adorable flouncy print skirt that was on sale from the same website. I honestly do need clothes, though, and will have to confront that issue after the wedding stuff is dealt with. So I think $250 as a total going-to-this-wedding budget will be unnecessary--an extra $100 should do the job just fine. Probably $35 of that will be going for cabs to and from LaGuardia. (Yes, you can theoretically take public transportation between LaGuardia and our apartment, but Lord, is it a lengthy pain in the ass, and our flights are, respectively, leaving very early in the morning and getting in quite late on Sunday night. Plus, we live quite close to the Triborough Bridge, and thus the cab ride to LaGuardia is actually not unreasonably expensive.) The other $65 should cover three days of incidental expenses in Oklahoma City, where there will be wedding events each of the three days and transportation is taken care of.
So I should be able to knock off the entire wedding stash in August, and get back to the E-fund for my first paycheck in September. Given its current depletion for medical stuff, I'm very eager to get back to beefing it up.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Stay Down, Lads! Go For the Burn!
Is it callous of me to not particularly mind if there is a correction in stock prices? I've certainly got a long horizon on my investments, and a chance to buy at low prices for awhile and then hold on for forty-odd years seems like a good opportunity, not a doomsday scenario. Presumably, most people close to retirement have conservative enough portfolios that this isn't hitting them particularly hard, so what, exactly, are we worried about? The fortunes of forty-five-year-old hedge fund investors? The idea of a Great Depression redux? Some sort of end-of-American-economic-dominance thing? Is it that we have somehow attached the trajectory of the graph line on the Dow to our sense of our own futures?
Perhaps this is just simple lack of understanding, but I can't quite wrap my head around the downside here for young investors.
(Points if you know where the title comes from.)
The Value of Customer Service
Netflix, in the ongoing war against Blockbuster Total Access, is investing heavily in customer service. They've opened a 24-hour call center outside Portland, OR, where representatives greet customers immediately (no for-this-press-one-for-that-press-two!), have wide latitude in what they can provide to appease or retain a customer, and are evaluated not based on low average call time but on how well they succeed in solving the caller's problem at hand.
I'm a happy Netflix member, so they clearly didn't need to do this to retain my business, but I think this might be something that would compel me to switch if I were a Blockbuster member--Blockbuster has a business-hours-only customer-service line with a phone tree, but conducts most of its customer service via email. Not that I don't feel comfortable with email--I'm a blogger, after all--but I like the immediacy of getting a problem sorted out on the phone. And I have to say, I've had very few problems with Netflix, which I consider an entirely worthwhile monthly entertainment expense (especially since I don't have a TV).
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Reimbursement Aftermath
So, part of my recent insurance reimbursement claim was processed, but, mysteriously, not the other part. They were sent together, in the same envelope. Curious. I called up about it today, and was told by a very helpful rep to fax him a copy of my previous claim directly, which I did. I'm also submitting another set of bills today. I'm frankly not sure if the reimbursements will cover my outlay--and there'll be a whole complicated parental thing if they don't, and I don't want to deal with that at all, so I'm just hoping very hard that they do.
I had a recent debacle with my dad and a bill--a very tiny, dinky, stupid bill--where he'd said he'd pay it and then I'd sign over the reimbursement check to him, only he didn't pay it, and they were sending the mail to my parents' apartment, and my parents are on vacation, and--well, you get the idea. I paid them a couple of days after they said they were going to send it (all $100 of it) to collections, but I sent a letter explaining the circumstances, so hopefully my credit won't get dinged. The point is, though, I'd like to separate my finances, even the medical stuff like this, from my parents' as much as possible. I wonder if there's a new system we could set up to minimize their involvement--ideally, of course, I'd find someone who could bill my insurance directly, but the chances of finding such a person in the field I need are slim to none, and so it seems that for the moment there will have to be some parental assistance.
All this just as I start having trouble with the ball of my left foot and being told I should see a podiatrist. On that score, though, I've done a good job--found someone who takes my insurance, so I can just pay the co-pay myself, and not deal with anyone else (except, you know, the medical billing office & insurance company), and called right up and made an appointment. I know y'all think that's remedial life skills, but I'm pretty proud of myself. And looking forward to future medical billing running smoothly.
Monday, August 13, 2007
New Yorkers Talk About Money
From Overheard in New York, a few choice snippets about money in its various facets, including:
--student loans
--inheritance
--pets
--budget gift ideas
Friday, August 10, 2007
No News Is Good News
So, all I heard on NPR this morning was about how the stock market has tanked lately, is currently tanking, and will continue to tank in the predictable future. I think it's interesting that I care about this, and that it means something to me--K, toweling off, told me that when people used to talk about "stock market crashes" when he was a kid, he pictured a literal crash, like, someone crashing their car into a machine vital to the success of the national economy and breaking it, and I was thinking about how people talk about things without really having a sense of what they mean sometimes, especially as kids. You know "stock market loses a whole bunch of money" is a thing that people talk about, but you don't really know what that is, or why it matters, or have any stake in it at all. But you talk about it anyway, because it's a thing that people talk about.
It can still be that way as an adult, and I'm not discounting the influence of What People Talk About, but it was interesting this morning to feel like I sort of understood what was going on and why it matters, that it means something to me, it affects my life and my behavior and my plans. I kind of don't want to check the balances on my retirement accounts, but I know that I'll just keep plugging along, investing dutifully through my 401(k) and letting my Roth ride out the storm, which will pass, certainly, by the time I am seventy years old and ready to retire from whatever it is that I've ended up doing with my life.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Public Transportation, I Hate You
So, apparently, the New York City public transit system is not equipped for...rain. Whatever, there was a lot of rain--in fact, there was a big old storm--but something weird happened--because you'd think they'd have these underground electrified tunnels waterproofed, as a colleague mentioned--and the whole MTA was broken this morning. I waited for the 6 train for (what felt like) a hundred million sweaty gross humid years. Then I gave up. Then I waited for the Lexington bus for awhile, and every one that came down the pike was packed to the gills. Hungry and pissed off and exhausted and late for work and still on my very own corner, I went to Dunkin' Donuts and bought a big iced latte and a muffin. Four bucks. Not too bad.
BUT. Two and a half hours (!!!!) of miserable bus-taking later, I get to work and realize that the egg salad sandwich on baguette I packed has spoiled in the heat and non-refrigeration, and now I am hungry and pissed and really not into spending $10 on a midtown lunch place sandwich, especially because I made such nice egg salad, with TJs organic mayonnaise and pieces of delicious new pickle.
MTA, you owe me a sandwich. Also, bite me.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Another Hit to the Emergency Fund
My computer charger crapped out, recently--just sputtered, blinked a few times, and died. I had borrowed my sister's, but now she's back from her summer job, so I had to buy a new one. I brought the off-brand (the same kind I had before, the one that just died--but I've had Apple chargers too and not noticed any quality difference) for $50 (the Apple charger is $80). Instead of taking more money out of the E-fund, I'm going to cashflow it from my next paycheck and call the extra $50 (over my autodrafts) that I was planning to put in the E-fund this month a wash.
This is annoying, but not a big deal--mostly because I've got some money put away.
Friday, August 03, 2007
July Net Worth
Since I had two months' worth of rent sitting in my checking account at the end of June, I predicted that I'd come out flat for July. And I would have, too, if the Dow hadn't taken its little tumble right at the end of the month. Consolation? My 401(k) buy was at a nice low price.
My new net worth is $17,057, with a net change of -1.03%.
Next month may be a very bizarre month for my net worth, depending on whether or not I get my medical reimbursements in by then. Fingers crossed.
I'm still looking at $20,000 as a net worth goal for the year. I think it's doable. It means my net worth needs to increase by about $600/month, which may be a stretch (especially since my 401(k) match maxes out soon--it's dollar-for-dollar up to $1,500), but I think I can get there.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
August Goals
And here's the plan for August:
1. Keep a very careful eye on medical reimbursements
I laid out $2,275. I need to make sure that money comes back to the Freedom Fund.
2. Make sure my Bank of America CD is not rolled over
I want to transfer that money over into my ING account, not have it roll over into another CD with a pathetic interest rate.
3. Add $150 to the Freedom Fund
That's only $50 over my autodrafts, but I need to start setting some money aside for K's brother's wedding in September.
4. Stash $175 away for the wedding.
I'm going to need a dress, probably shoes, and some walking-around money. $250 should cover it. I've got three paychecks coming in between now and then.
Update on July Goals
Remember how there were goals for July?
Here's how they went:
1. Add $250 to the Freedom Fund.
Check. I actually added $325 (including interest).
2. Add an extra $20 to the Travel Fund.
Nope. I just didn't find it compelling—I rediscovered something that's true about me here, which is that I'm not a multitasker. I like to give all of my focus to one project (in this case, building the Freedom Fund), and so while the money was there, I wanted to allocate it elsewhere.
3. Submit the things I need to submit.
Funny I should mention, eh? I submitted my invoices and was paid, and I submitted my flex spending reimbursement form (and got a check yesterday). And as for submitting the controversial medical bills? Well, it didn't happen in July, but it did happen today, so, mission accomplished, albeit two days late.
4. "Eat down" food stores.
Check.
5. Buy Feist album.
Check. And it's a great one.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Barriers, Again or: The Emergency Fund, Vindicated
Well, here's a mighty embarrassing situation.
I've let a bunch of medical bills pile up without applying for reimbursement. I've had this luxury because either a) my father has paid them, on the agreement that I'd pass the reimbursement checks over to him, or b) they are addressed to my father with the idea that he will pay them. My father is on vacation, not on the continent, and hard to reach by mail, so he asked me to pay a current bill out of the reimbursement checks for previous bills.
Only there aren't any reimbursement checks for previous bills, because I haven't filed for reimbursement, because I do not know how, and things I don't know how to do wig me out. This is my great weakness in almost all aspects of my life.
So.
I went to a doctor's appointment yesterday (I'm keeping the nature of my ongoing medical issue to myself, but it's nothing urgent), and she was like, "Here's something awkward we need to discuss..." and I was like, "Word," and explained how what was supposed to happen was stalled by my incompetence.
She was awfully nice about it--explained how to file a claim to the best of her ability--but nevertheless, it would be pretty hugely unfair to be like, "hey, I'm just going to leave you waiting around for money that you earned, because I'm weird about stuff I don't know how to do." So, I got to say, "I'll write you a check."
And because I've saved diligently, I can write her a check. I'll need to transfer the money out of my E-fund, but the money's there. Not that it doesn't make me nervous to let it out of my bank account and roam free, because it does, but I guess there's no way around it. And the reimbursement should quickly replenish the stores.
Nevertheless, I'm nervous.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Stopgap
Well, the GRE is over and done with, and I have to say, the studying and the prep course paid off. Sorry for the absence—it's been a very full few days. I'm a little loopy with freedom, and busily planning social outings and recreational spending. I've got a bunch of stuff to catch up on, and may be draining my emergency fund (temporarily!)—updates are to come!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Freelance Income Follow-Up
So much like in my last post, all the good advice I received here ended up being moot—my employer added my freelance income to my regular paycheck and withheld 401(k) contribution and taxes from it. I guess I'm glad to have the extra 401(k) contribution, but to see my $335-ish check dwindle to $205 (for a month and a half's work) is a little...well, pathetic. It's enough to make a girl want to pad her invoice!
And doesn't that withholding seem a little excessive? If you subtract the 401(k) (less than $25), it ends up looking like I'm in a 33+% tax bracket, which, I assure you, I am not. Maybe they're doing this to cover the self-employment tax? Or maybe I'm just going to get a big fat tax refund...which is fine, I mean, I'm not opposed to that (interest-free loan blah blah notwithstanding) but I do actually need the money to cover my grad school applications, so I'm sort of thinking of taking an extra exemption.
Anyway, I'm opening an Electric Orange checking account for this money, which seems the best of both worlds—interest and easy access. I don't want to have to scoot this money around too much (it's too slow and annoying), and since I know I'm going to be spending it, it seems expedient to slap it into an account with a debit card, so I can charge related expenses directly to it. I've already spent $140 of the $200 on the GRE registration fee, anyway.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
No Burning Necessary
Thanks for all of the advice you gave on the last post, guys--I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, the issue is moot, as I didn't get a second interview. It sucks not to be good enough at something to do something wonderful that you want to do (and to not know what the something is). Anyway, the point on lining up references for the future, in particular, is well taken.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
On (Not) Burning Bridges
So, I went on an interview yesterday afternoon--a big group interview at one of the places I volunteer. I love this organization, and I want the job on offer badly. I'd gladly put off grad school for a few years to do this job. I want this job. Are we clear on that? Good.
Now, I haven't actually heard yet whether I'll be getting a second interview or not, but if I am, I'll need to bring with me three references, at least two of which should be professional. The problem, of course, is that no one at my current company knows I went on this interview, for obvious reasons.
Theoretically, I could approach the editor with whom I work most closely and say, "Look, I'm not interviewing around--I'm just interested in this one organization, and if I don't get this job I'm not going to go on any other interviews. Can you recommend me?" The problem, of course, is that if I don't get this job I'm proceeding with grad school applications, and I feel like it's disingenuous.
But my other options are limited:
My boss from my art magazine internship, the one who loved me? Gone. I could try to track her down, but it might or might not work.
My boss from the public relations office at school? Gone. She's definitely not trackable. I could ask, instead, the director of alumni relations, who asked me to write a couple of pieces for the alumni magazine, but I didn't generally work closely with him.
My work on a major student event? Didn't have a "boss"--it was run by a student committee. I could give them the name of a friend who worked on the committee, who would happily tell them about how hard I worked despite having emergency surgery during the run-up to the event, but she's my age and I wonder about how much credence they'd give her recommendation.
And it seems bizarre to omit my current job, which has gotten so much more of my energy and effort than any previous employment. I could theoretically ask someone with whom I don't work as closely and in whom I feel comfortable confiding, but I'm not convinced that will carry the same weight.
I don't really know what to do here. My only hope is that I'm reasonably well-known to the organization from my volunteer work (like, I'd met all of the staff members in the room yesterday), and if I explain the situation, they may waive the requirement.
Fingers crossed.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Blew It!
I blew it on my Friday evening out, where "it" equals $55 (well, okay, $15 of that was covering a friend's drinks, and she'll pay me back, though probably in drinks).
I did fine on the food. It was the booze. Need I say more? (If so, I will invoke a magical pair of words: frozen margaritas.)
But it was a really lovely evening. I got some grad school advice from a friend who just finished a one-year Masters and is starting his (philosophy) PhD in the fall: we talked housing, stipends, and the GRE. And in a particularly lovely surprise, a friend dropped in whom I wasn't expecting to see for another full calendar year--she's in the Peace Corps in Swaziland, but home to attend to her mother's illness. That's a sad reason to get a chance to see her, but I was glad nonetheless that I could.
We pooled our knowledge about an absent friend's relationship status (conclusion: he and his lovely girlfriend are no longer together). The academics, Peace Corps member & workin' folks razzed our doctor- and lawyer-to-be about having to pay for our dinners in future. The law student promised that if she gets a firm job, she'll buy dinner for everyone. The med student told us about his first cadaver. K showed up late in the evening, and it warmed the cockles of my little heart to see how well he gets along with all my friends. They were psyched to see him, and there was a point at which he was explaining his volunteer work and pulling the big fat biography he's reading out of his bag to get to his computer and show us the graphic he made at work--I all but swooned.
I had a cigarette out on Amsterdam with the Peace Corps friend--she said she has to drive her mom to the hospital to see her doctor, because her mom can't drive herself. It's not the entree prices--this is how you know we're growing up.
Bottom line: I can cover the cost, and I had a great time, so it's no big deal to do this every now and again (though it would help if I were more realistic in my cost projections: I need to know that I'm not going to end the evening having spent under $20). Sure, I could have--and would have liked to have--saved another $25 this pay period, but how often do I get a chance to sit down with this great bunch of kids? Not that often. Once or twice a year--though this time, it looked like everyone was going to be in town for awhile, so we may do it again in just a couple of weeks.
Don't worry: we agreed on a cheaper restaurant for next time.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Rites of Passage
Tomorrow night, I'm getting together with a few high school friends--a bunch of great kids I've known since I was 12 or 13 and whom I really enjoy. We're all very far-flung at the moment: one is a Gates Fellow at Oxford, another a law student in Boston, another in med school (I forget where, but not New York)--then there are two of us who have entry-level jobs here in the city.
It was the law student who picked the restaurant, and she picked a $25-for-an-entree place on the Upper West side. Imagine if you wanted to get a drink! Or dessert! I'm straining my budget by going out at all, so this kind of place is pretty thoroughly outside my means. (I wrote her an email to say that it was a little expensive for me, but if it suited everyone else, I'd work around it--and I will, by eating home first and getting something small and inexpensive out.)
Is this how we can tell we're growing up, by the increasing prices of our entrees?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Frugality Cycles
ISPF writes something that rings very true to me--she's talking about the idea of "cycles" of frugality. She does a very nice little graphic of what one could call a "frugality wave"--it's like a sine curve, where the line is one's actual expenditure and the x-axis is one's average expenditure. I feel like I've been in a high, even extreme section of the frugality cycle recently, saving more than 25% of my take-home pay, and now I find myself chafing a little, wanting a little more room, a little more income of which to dispose towards pleasurable ends.
Here's the reason this doesn't worry me: like ISPF, I cycle within a fairly narrow range--for me, the amplitude is no more than $100 or so. I'm never not saving anything at all (we're talking cash here, not retirement--obviously, because that's a paycheck deduction), and I'm certainly never spending more than I make. I also don't think the high point of my spending is excessive, though I may have to keep an eye on that end if the pattern remains the same and my salary increases.
For the moment, though, I'm happy to look at this the way ISPF does: it's just a natural fluctuation, and as long as the extremes aren't too extreme, it's nothing to worry about.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sibling Wedding Take II
K's sister got married in April, and in September, K's brother is following suit (dear readers, do not begin holding your breath for a third K Family wedding announcement). K's parents have just very generously offered to pay for our tickets to Oklahoma City and our hotel room while we're there. I will still need a dress, and probably new shoes as well. This means that I have to stop pouring the money I usually allocate to that sort of thing into savings, which I've been happily doing for the past couple of months.
On the one hand, I'm disappointed; I enjoyed the momentum I was achieving, and I had begun inching my savings goal (originally $4,500 but recently revised up to $5,000) towards $5,500, and I may not be able to hit that if I start spending money on clothes again. On the other hand, I've been sort of pressing the proverbial pedal to the proverbial metal, and I'm starting to get itchy to have a little more (proverbial?) wiggle room, especially as I eagerly anticipate having a social life again within two weeks (GRE on the 30th!). And obviously, the damage is a lot less than it would have been had K's parents not been inclined to be so generous. So I think I'll try to carry through on my July goals for this next paycheck, but after that I'll scale back, chill out a bit, and start thinking about shoes (I've already got a dress mentally picked out).
Monday, July 16, 2007
Frugal Food: Roasts!
Seriously, you guys, I'm never buying roast beef from a deli counter again.
I made a roast last night! Roast beef from a deli counter or pre-packaged costs what, six bucks a pound? Roasting your own costs maybe half that. Last night, I bought a 4.1-lb. rump roast for less than $13, and after getting it home and doing a little internets research, discovered that although it sounds intimidating, cooking a roast is really, really easy. If you're not going to get fancy with rubs and marinades (which I wasn't about to), it goes like this: take roast out of packaging, whomp in baking pan fat side up (so it self-bastes), stud with garlic slivers, rub with olive oil and salt, stick in oven. Three hours or so of idleness later, you're done! The only downside is that you don't get thin, even slices off a roast unless you're a really brilliant carver, which I'm not. Still, I think the savings is worth it.
Dodged a Bullet
I was contacted a few weeks ago to be interviewed for this article. The author wanted to use my real name but not mention the blog, so she wouldn't be "outing" me. I wasn't up for having information about my finances--especially about an issue that inspires as much intergenerational and class-related strife as this "getting money from your parents" thing does--tied to my name, searchable by employers and the rest of the world on the internet. Given how busy I've been, I lost track of the whole thing and fell out of touch with the author, but reading the article, I'm glad I didn't agree to be interviewed. With one exception, I think there's a sense that these kids just don't know how to sacrifice, that they're draining their parents' retirement accounts because they can't get it together.
This is not the case with the money I accept from my parents--it is a drop in the bucket to them, and an extremely substantial amount to me. Moreover, it's not money that goes to cover necessities for me--I live on what I make (in fact, I live on substantially less than I make), and the money I accept from my parents is used as extra savings, a way of ensuring that I can get the most out of the financial opportunities of youth.
I'm not saying I might not have been another exception in the article, but still, I think I made the right call.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
New York on the Cheap: Shakespeare in the Park
If there is one thing I know, it is how to live cheap in New York--especially in the summer, which, as it happens, is when most tourists visit New York. So we can call this frugal New York tourism, but if you're a native, don't be shy about picking something up (or about correcting me!).
So here's the first tip: Shakespeare in the Park!
The Public Theater puts up two plays a year at the Delacorte Theater (enter at 79th on the East Side or 81st on the West--the latter is easier), and tickets are free, with one caveat: you have to wait in line to get them. Tickets are distributed at 1 PM, but you need to be there way before that, so you'll spend a chunk of time sitting in line.
This one's pretty well-known by New Yorkers, but plenty of people don't know how it really needs to be done.
There's a very, very easy way of determining when you need to arrive to get tickets: go by at noon on a comparable day (i.e. a weekend if you want to go on a weekend, the day before if you want to go on a weekday) and ask people when they arrived. Do not ask the first person in line; he/she will almost always say something ridiculous like, "Well, I got here at three a.m. and waited on Central Park West until five when the park police wouldn't shoo me away..." No. Don't go there. Ask someone at a reasonable place in line, 50-200 people back (depending on how intent you are on good seats), and take their answer as your arrival time. (Last Sunday, a friend and K and I had to show up at ten to six--yes, A.M.!)
Pack food. There's a deli that will deliver to the line, but they're slow, inefficient, and, you know, not the cheapest option around. I'd recommend bringing a sandwich (or alternate actual meal item), some easily packable snacks that don't need to be super-cold, a thermos of iced coffee (or whatever you prefer), and a bottle of water (freeze it overnight for a combination cold drink/ice pack). Even for those of you who don't have home refrigerators in New York, stocking up at a grocery store will prove cheaper and more convenient than ordering.
Also bring: sunscreen, sunglasses, a blanket (a cushion to sit on would be nice, too--you don't usually get the grassiest of spots), and entertainment (a book works, but a board game is even better).
At nine or ten, Delacorte employees will tell you to go home if you have no chance of getting tickets, but if you time your arrival properly, this shouldn't be an issue. Instead, they'll tell you that your chances are good, that you can't leave the line (hence the importance of the packing!), and that you can request two tickets for every one person on line.
You get your free tickets, you go home to nap, and you return at 7:30 for an 8:00 show.
The last performance of Romeo and Juliet was Sunday (and I'm so glad I caught it). A Midsummer Night's Dream runs August 7 to September 9, and I encourage you to go. It's a fun, frugal, and characteristically New York way to spend a day.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Quickie Frugal Food Tip
In my recent frugal food efforts, one thing I have found to be consistently true: chicken thighs are a better buy than chicken breasts. Breasts are drier and more expensive. People buy them because they're an easy shape to deal with and because they're slightly lower in fat--but really, the difference is a very slight one, and the thighs' flavor is the better for the little bit of extra fat (also, it can mean that the same amount of food is more filling). You can trim off the visible fat if it bothers you, but mostly it cooks off easily, leaving behind tender, juicy meat for less money.
Check out this easy recipe from Apartment Therapy's The Kitchen for a way to dip your toes into the wonderful world of chicken thighs.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Freelance Income and Taxes
So, I'm shortly to get my first check for freelance work. It's going to be in the neighborhood of $350. As I've mentioned, I'm earmarking the money from this job to pay for my grad school application process, but what do I do about taxes? I've done a little light research, but most of the stuff I've found seems to be targeted towards people like K, who are full-time independent contractors, not people who have W-2 jobs but earn side income on a a freelance basis. Do I need to do quarterly estimated payments? Will I need to pay the self-employment tax? Should I bother setting aside money for taxes, or should I just assume that because the amounts are small, my W-2 withholding will cover my entire tax bill?
I know lots of my readers have additional freelance income. Any resources you can point out or personal experience you can share would be greatly appreciated.
