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.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Charitable Conclusion
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.
