Credit card don't suck.

Everyone says cash is king. Bleh. Cash doesn't get you rewards. I recently signed up for a new credit card through my bank that gives me rewards. I'd previously just ignored rewards until I realized spending money can earn me back more money (or airfare, hotel accommodations, etc.). I'm still trying to figure out how to best maximize my credit card use (without spending any more than I currently do, of course!) to get rewards. However, my usual spending has already helped me accrue a ton of points which I plan to use to get gift cards to offset some of my regular spending.

Which brings me to, I signed up for upromise even though I'm not going back to school anytime soon. I'm pretty sure that the money I save using that website will be used for my future (distant, distant future) child. I figure if I'm spending money anyway, I might as well get all of the cash back I can. So far, upromise is at $0.22. Pretty impressive, right? ;)

I think credit can be a really good thing if you use it smartly. My rules are:
(1) Carry no balance
(2) Pay the bill in full each month ON TIME!
(3) Don't spend more than you can pay off in full each month
(4) Track credit card spending so it's not a surprise when the bill comes


I know that some people are tempted to spend more with credit cards to get more rewards or because it doesn't feel like "real money." I don't understand that concept. If you buy what you need and plan ahead to be able to pay the bill, that should never be a problem. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I track every dollar I spend on a spreadsheet. It's fascinating to see the break down by categories of where all my money goes.

The best thing about not carrying a balance and paying my bill on time is that I don't have to worry about interest rate hikes that seem to be plaguing other people. Even if they jack up my interest rate, it doesn't matter because I never pay any interest.

There's no reward for paying with cash. So why do it?

Are there any other ways that you earn money without doing anything out of the ordinary?

Today I'm grateful for: nachos. I freaking love nachos.

May Spending.

So far May has been a more expensive month than usual.

Big Expenses:
The extra expenses are mostly due to the fact that my Renter's Insurance (paid yearly) and Car Insurance (paid every 6 months) are both due in May. That's about $600 right there. I also had a wedding to go to (local, thank goodness) which meant a $50 gift that I don't usually spend and a Mother's Day gift which was about $30. At least the positive of the wedding was that I was able to use the million Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons that I've been stockpiling (hint: they never expire AND you can use as many "20% off a single item" coupons as you have items in one transaction).

Extra Income:
At least the $150 gift that I got from work, helps to offset some of the expenses slightly. Also a positive is the $10 Target Giftcard I'll get when I fill my Rx there tomorrow. There was a great coupon in last week's circular.

I'll post my monthly spending for May in mid-June. I cross check my spending list with my credit card bill when it comes, so that accounts for the delay.

Today I'm grateful for: a positive outlook (I'm really trying to see the good in everything... it's hard, but it's getting easier with practice)

No Spend

I've been exploring more and more blogs lately and saving4later inspired me to think about no spend and no drive days. From what I've read (and I've only started reading her blog recently, so forgive me if I'm mistaken), she tracks how many days a year and a month she doesn't spend any money or drive in each of her blog posts.

This might be an interesting thing for me to do. I don't know if no drive will work for me, but I don't do a massive amount of driving. My work is within 3 or 4 miles of where I live (and I know if I was hardcore I would/should bike there, but I have a thing against arriving to work sweaty and smelly) and I do my best to combine trips. Most of the places I go are not too far from where I live and I hardly ever do really long (like an hour or more) car trips.

But the no spend days could really be interesting. I often go several days without spending any money, especially when things get hectic with work and I'm there until late. I ALWAYS pack my lunch for work and if I'm going to be there over dinnertime, I pack that too. I don't want the no spend days to prevent me from hanging out with friends and having a good time. We'll see how this works for me. It will be a good experiment I think.


Today I'm grateful for: my sister always being on my side

How to be Happy

Being happy and not stressed out is a process. I was feeling really tense and anxious on Friday (hence the previous posts) and I just needed to remember the things that make me happy. I like thinking about the things in each post that make me grateful, but I think being grateful and being happy are slightly different things. I'm feeling much less anxious now... thank goodness!

Periodically I think I'll list things that make me happy, not just things that I'm grateful for. And to further define what I mean by happy, it's that feeling that I get when I just sort of smile to myself on the inside for no reason. Sometimes it's the memories attached with something that give me that inside smile. Sometimes it's feelings of independence or inner peace. And sometimes it's something that's so totally absurd, I can't help but smile.

Here is a short list of things that have made me happy in the past few days:
(1) http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/
(2) seeing a 1950's car unexpectedly while driving around town
(3) lying on a picnic table reading chic lit on a sunny day
(4) rita's water ice expanding to dc
(5) sleeping until 11am

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Happy

Just Breathe

Blogging and reading all of the PF blogs are making me more anxious about money. I have money, maybe not as much I would like, but I can do what I want for the most part. My paychecks aren't huge, but I have enough.

I'm happy enough. I have enough stuff. I have enough friends. I have enough to do. Works keep me busy enough. I like my job enough. I have a good enough place to live. I drive a nice enough car.

I'm stressing about money too much right now. And I need to remind myself that I don't need to. I'm okay and I will be okay (even if I spend a lot of money this weekend). I don't need to stress.


I'm grateful for: having enough.

Updates

Two major updates:

(1) The boy and I had a finances talk. Sort of. I think. I basically told him that I think he could save more money. And he said that he didn't think he could cut back that much and even if he did do things like stop paying for rounds of drinks and buying more stuff it would probably only save him $50 or so a month. He thinks he is good with his money. And he is. Mostly. He has more to spend than I do which is why he has the freedom to not count his pennies as much as I do (and I told him that too). His monthly mortgage costs slightly less than what I make each month. And he said he still manages to save about $1,000 month. Not too bad.

He does do a lot of the right things (which he said during our conversation). I told him that he should keep track of his expenses because it would be enlightening. My spending spreadsheet has made it verrry clear how much I spend in each category. He said he keeps track, but I think he means he just checks on his balances on a pretty regular basis. I used to do that before the spreadsheet tracking started, and it didn't quite hit me how much a shopping trip here and there really was costing me. I wish I could convince him to do the spending spreadsheet.

I hope he wasn't offended by anything I said... I kind of like this guy. I just wish that he could be a tad more frugal. Gosh these PF blogs have gotten to me!!!

And wow. I just realized that I'm kind of a lot like my mom and he's a lot more like my dad in terms of spending habits. Creepy or not creepy? I can't decide.


(2) I'm going to go with the slightly less expensive health care plan. I talked it over with my dad (who helps me with a lot of my financial decisions) and he didn't agree 100% with the cheaper plan, but I really think it is the best move. The coverage is very similar and the main difference that I see is that the more expensive plan allow you to go out of network with partial reimbursement. I don't think I would have a need to go out of network, but my dad wanted me to keep that option open, just in case. I think I won him over though when I used a car comparison. The Choice Plus plan is like a Mercedes Benz, the Choice High plan is like a Honda Civic, and the lowest plan (the one I'm not even considering) is like an old, banged up used car. I don't need the car with all of the bells and whistles and I don't want a car that might not have everything I need to keep me safe; my Honda Civic (which is the car I actually drive) is practical and safe and I think the Choice High plan will do everything that I need it to do.

Plus it will keep my monthly salary about the same. Stupid salary freezes and an increase in insurance cost would have decreased my take home pay. I think switching to the slightly less expensive plan will keep me right around the same salary.



Today I'm looking forward to: going to a party with the boy tonight and meeting more of his friends and a lazy Monday that we plan to spend doing absolutely nothing together. I have a wedding in town this weekend, but other than that... relaxing all weekend sounds quite nice. And the weather is going to be gorgeous.

Spending Anxiety

My mother was the saver. My dad was the spender. Never an out of control spender, but the one with the looser wallet for sure.


My mom wears hand-me-downs from me and my sister, clips coupons, shops at TJ Maxx. I have vivid memories of being at shopping malls with her and her not letting us get a snack because we had food at home. My dad would always buy us the snack. It made me angry that she wouldn't get us the ice cream cone or soft pretzel or candy bar.


I remember my mom taking my sister and I to second-hand clothing stores when I was little. We were NEVER allowed to tell my dad that. My mom told me a story recently about how we were dropping some clothes off at Goodwill when I was really little and I saw a nightgown that I wanted. It was only a few dollars, so my mom bought it. Then she told me I proudly told my dad that I got this nightgown at Goodwill and my dad said bad stuff and I never wore it. How sad, right?


My mother taught me some good, frugal habits that I didn't realize until recently. But she also taught me that spending money was something bad. Not overtly, of course. That was the underlying message. My sister has major anxiety about spending money and I don't have it quite as much. I think reading all of the PF blogs have given me much more anxiety than my family ever did...



I have enough money right now to not really worry so much about a meal out with a friend or going on vacation. But the managing my money more is making me kind of stressed. It's good to know where everything is going, but I don't need to worry. I need to remember that.


On an unrelated note, I was doing well on my goals this month... I started the investment statement on a draft blog post which was a really big one. And then I tried to clear the formatting and cleared the whole thing. Then blogger auto saved the cleared one. It's beyond my computer skills to try to get back the investment statement draft. So I need to start over. Roar!




Today I'm grateful for: a great catchup session last night with my 2 favorite girlfriends... who are both engaged.

Healthcare Confusion

I was just wondering the other day about open season for our health care plan at work and then we got information about the plans yesterday. I was thinking that maybe I could have a little bit more money to work with if I went with a cheaper plan. I mean, I'm young and relatively healthy, so why do I need one of the more expensive plans? Plus, my salary is not increasing this year (thanks bad economy!) and the cost of the health care plans all went up, so it's almost like a pay decrease if I go with the more expensive plan. But my issue is that I don't really know exactly healthcare works.

To be honest, I'm really confused. I want to make sure I have adequate coverage and don't have to pay too much out of pocket, but I have no idea how to really know that.

My choices are Kaiser Permanente (with three price level choices of plans) and UnitedHealthcare (again with three price level choices of plans). Right now I have UnitedHealthcare and I think I'm going to stay with that company.

My dad is recommending that I go with the more expensive plan (which I have now) rather than the other plan below. In the end, it doesn't make thaaaaaaaat much difference because I only pay 10% of the healthcare plan out of my paycheck. But it's a couple hundred dollars per year that I would get back in my pocket. However, if I got coverage that wasn't as good, I might not get that money back at all because I'll have to pay more out of pocket.

Okay, to me the two plans that I'd be choosing from look very much the same... minus the price. I mostly use my healthcare for doctor's visits (primary and lady parts) and for prescriptions (and I have a few). Are there other coverage areas that I should look at more closely? Here's how they stack up on those options:

UnitedHealthcare Choice High ~ $532/month
* I pay $53.20/month
* $20 Primary Care co-pay
* $30 Specialist co-pay
* Rx: $10 generic/$30 formulary brand/$50 non-formulary brand
* Can see anyone in their network without a referral (both my primary and lady parts doctor are in network)

United Healthcare Choice Plus ~ $659/month
* I pay 65.90/month
* $20 Primary Care co-pay
* $30 Specialist co-pay
* Rx: $10 generic/$30 formulary brand/$50 non-formulary brand
* Can see anyone in their network without a referral
* Can see out of network doctors with a higher deductible and co-payment

I think the cheaper one makes more sense. Help?


Today I'm grateful for: being appreciated at work. I was given a $150 American Expess Giftcard for my hard work on a few major projects this year. The money was nice, but the nice things that people said felt even better.

My Boy and spending

My boy told me yesterday that he spent $60 on stuff at CVS. Razors and body wash and that sort of thing. It's never on sale when I need it he said. I freaked out in my head a little bit, but not out loud. My inner monologue went "You didn't buy it on sale??? You didn't use a coupon??? What?!?!?"

He's pretty good with his money (and he's told me he has no debt besides his mortgage), but a lot more extravagant than me with his tastes. His family puts more of an emphasis on "stuff" than mine does. He has some frugal tendencies... packing his lunch every day, drinking his morning coffee(s) at home, buying his expensive work suits on sale, but he is the one who likes to show off a little by paying for everyone for the first round of drinks or buying dinner for me and one of my friends. His salary is higher than mine, so he probably has a little more wiggle room for that sort spending. But it still makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm not impressed by people who throw around their money and I think he wants people to be impressed by his doing that.

We were walking around the other night and just window shopping, waiting for our dinner reservation time. He made a comment about how he didn't need to buy anything, but he would if he saw something he wanted. Hello freak out #2 inside my head! I've stopped window shopping because it is too tempting for me. I'm doing much better at planning ahead what I need to buy, looking for sales and combining them with coupons.

Is there a way to make him more conscious of that sort of thing? I've become way more conscious of my spending in the last year. Tracking my money for a few months really made me see how much money I spent on unnecessary stuff. I would never just buy something to buy something now.

My feeling is that now (my 20's) is the time to really save a lot of money because I don't have the responsibilities that I will in the future (a husband, kids, a mortgage, etc.). Also, most of my friends don't have a ton of money either, so there isn't a huge expectation to spend. The boy's friends are a little older (he's a year older than me) and a little more established, so there is more of that expectation.

He doesn't know about my coupon-ing/deal finding ways. How do I out myself? And keep in mind we've only been dating for a little more than 3 months.


Today I'm grateful for: people who surprise you... in a good way.

My spending philosophy

I'd like to have $100,000 in savings by 2011. I think that's a fairly realistic, but slightly challenging goal for me to accomplish in the next year and a half. I need just over $20,000 to make that happen. Once the market begins to rebound, my assets will definitely increase, especially since I've been consistently adding $1,000 a month from my cash reserves (which is mostly inheritance money) to my index funds and gnma. Who knows when that is going to happen though...

What I need to do is save more from my paychecks. I really wonder how I'm going to get to this point with my current gig. As you saw from a previous post, I don't make the big bucks and I live in an expensive area. I think I manage to save a decent amount, but things come up and I often wind up spending more than I really want to. However, my feeling is that I want to have fun, spend time with friends and make good memories. And if spontaneously taking a day trip or catching up over dinner with a friend is the way to do that, I'm in. I don't want my relationships to take a hit because I don't want to spend the money. It's just not worth it to me.

My boy and I were talking about taking our first trip together. And as much as I really want to do that, a secret part of me is saying "how much is that going to cost?" I'm absolutely going to go, but my savings are going to take a hit. I have to learn to be okay with that I think. More on the boy in an upcoming post. And more on my spending anxiety in an upcoming post.

Most of my friends don't really know the extent of how tight I am with my money and I like it better that way. I don't want to be perceived as cheap or even frugal, even though I think I might be those things. I'm just careful with my money. Careful, but not cheap. At least I hope that's how I'm perceived.



Today I'm grateful for: sunny, perfect, flip-flop wearing weather

Shoppers Deals

Thank goodness I got the grocery circulars in the mail this week AND I looked at them right away. Shoppers is offering unlimited triple coupons (up to .99) until Sunday. I went today and look at all of the stuff I got for $5.42 (to be fair, it would've been $2.09 if I hadn't slipped in the Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream in at the last minute... I wasn't sure if the coupons would triple to more than the actual amount of the items and wanted to have a little bit of a buffer. And I love me some Ben & Jerry's). I saved $12.90 which was a savings of 72% according to my receipt.

To make things even better, Shoppers is now offering .05 for each of your own reusable shopping bags you bring. I seriously love places that do that! Now both Shoppers and Giant offer those deals in Northern Virginia. I'm not the biggest fan of Shoppers and I would NEVER buy produce there, but they do have some pretty good sales.

The best part of my 72% off grocery trip was that I bought all stuff that I use. I'm not one for buying stuff when it's super cheap and then hoarding it forever. I think that's wasteful and when I have too much stuff, I forget what I have and then food goes bad. And I live in a fairly small apartment so I don't have a ton of room to store stuff. I do like using coupons and try to couponmom it up to match coupons with sale items to get pretty good prices. However, it's rare for more to save 72% or get items that are free or practically free after coupons. I'm pretty proud of myself right now. :)


Today I'm thankful for: phone calls from old friends.

How I have $79,278.88 in assets

Let me start out by saying I'm very lucky. My parents were able to pay for my college education in full, so I graduated with no student loans. I know I came out ahead of the pack on that one and I feel very grateful for that. My parents are very smart about their money. They've saved well and invested well. They taught my sister and I the basics of money since we were very young. I've heard "spend less than you make" and "pay off your credits cards in full every month" over and over again. And I do those things. Religiously. I've never had any debt and I don't plan to (besides a mortgage, of course).

My dad especially taught us about the miracle of compound interest and my Bat Mitzvah money was the first lesson. I was pissed when I was 13 that my parents made me save that money. I really wanted to go to Limited Too and buy some clothes and maybe a new Discman and some CDs (the music kind... not the money kind). Then my dad explained to me about how that money was going to grow. And grow. And when I was out of college, looking for a job, that money would be very helpful. And that money was helpful when I was looking for a job for two months post-graduation. Some of the $79,278.88 is probably from that Bat Mitzvah money and the interest its earned over the years.

I'm also not lucky. In the past seven years, all four of my grandparents and my uncle passed away. It's been a tough couple of years for my family to say the least. But I was also blessed to inherit $30,000 which all went into savings (minus about $400 which I spent on Lily Pulitzer dresses... not the overthetop pink ones though!). I would definitely not be where I am financially today if it wasn't for that inheritance and I feel grateful that my grandparents had the resources to leave that money to me.


And the rest of the money, the non-Bat Mitzvah, non-inheritance money, is from spending less than I make. From putting aside $100 a month at my first job then a little more each month when I started earning more at the next job. I do what the financial people say you should; I pay myself first. And it works.



Today I'm grateful for: a supportive and loving family

What do I want to do with my life and other "simple" questions.

I recently went to a professional development session through my job. It was basically about what you want to do with your life and setting goals to get there. Everyone was setting their goals about how they can get ahead or grow more in our current profession. And I realized that what I do now is not what I want to do with my life. I'm having fun with the current job and it's good for now, but it's not for forever. I'm not 100% there yet in finding out what it is that I actually want to do, but I'm getting a little closer with the vision. So, in list form is a start in the process of figuring out what I want to do when I'm a "grown up." It's just a brainstorm, so I have a long ways to go in figuring out how to actually get there.



(1) I want to earn enough money to do what I want, when I want, how I want
(2) I don't want to have to work too hard to make said money. Or I want to have periods of working hard and periods of not doing very much
(3) I'd like to work maybe 2 days per week and spend the rest of my time taking yoga classes, reading, seeing movies, traveling, learning new things (baking/cooking and gardening are on the short list... I'd secretly like to be Martha Stewart-y)
(4) The 2 day per week job could possibly be something along the lines of event planning
(5) I'd like to own a small apartment building, duplex or similar and earn a passive stream of income through that or possibly flip the occasional home to earn income
(6) I want to be happy and fulfilled
(7) I'd like to eventually be able to live off of the interest/dividends of my investments
(8) I want to work for myself, be my own boss and not have to answer to anyone but me.




I don't mind the idea of patching together a salary from a few different gigs. The only real issue would be having to pay for my own health insurance. Actually, the other issue is actually getting started. I'm pretty risk-averse and those are some drastic steps to take. If this is really what I want, I need to do something about it. And I think I will. I just need that push.


Today I'm grateful for: Friday morning yoga class. A very relaxing way to start my weekend.

My Financial Snapshot

Right now I have a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of where my paycheck goes. I don't have a really good way to track how all of my investments and their (**crosses fingers that the stock market will rebound**) interest/dividends fit in with my spending/saving plan. I started tracking my spending at the beginning of the year to get a better idea of where all of my money goes. So far it's been quite enlightening and helped me see areas where I can and should make cuts.

Some numbers:
Total yearly salary (before taxes): $42,000.00
Monthly take home (after taxes, healthcare, work retirement contributions, etc.): a tad more than $2,500
Total assets right now (includes investments, retirement, cash in bank, CDs, etc.): $78,576.84 (I plan to talk about how I got to this number in a later post)
Medical Flex Spending Acount: $1,100/year

My fixed expenses are:
Rent: $850/month
Car Insurance: about $1000/year
Cell Phone: $82/month (and will hopefully decrease slightly since I just signed up for a deal with At&t)
Cable/Internet: $115/month (maybe I should try to renegiotiate soon?)
Renter's Insurance: $112/year
Netflix: $9.44/month

Stuff I spend way too much money on:
Clothes (note to self: stop going shopping. really!)
Exercise Classes
Eating Out
My car


Investments:
Total Bond Market Index
Total Stock Market Index
GNMA
Roth IRA (currently contains Money Market Fund, but I plan to switch to something more aggressive at some point)
403(b) from work (contains S&P Index Fund)
CD at my bank




Stuff I need to figure out (and I know it's bad that I don't know these things...):
How much my health insurance from work costs (when does open enrollment start and how can I choose a cheaper plan/will that work for me?)
How much am I contributing to my work retirement account?





How do you track all of these numbers? Spreadsheets? Computer programs? What works best for you?



Today I'm grateful for: my sister (also, in an unrelated note I'm thankful for: my shampoo. I just switched and I'm really digging it.)

Hello.

I've been lurking in the world of PF for the last... hmmm... 4 months? And now it's my turn to put myself out there in blog form.

Hi! I'm me, a 26 year old in Arlington, VA who works for a non-profit. I don't make the big bucks (see upcoming articles for more details about that), but I am pretty good with my money and am lucky to have parents who've helped me out a little along the way. I know I have a lot to learn about investing and ways to better save my money, but I'm very lucky not to have any debt. I'd very much like to be a homeowner (or more likely in my very pricey real estate area, a condo-0wner) in the next few years. I'll give you more of my background as it becomes relevant to what I write.

Here is what I want to do with this blog:

(1) Make monthly goals so I can be held accountable
(2) Keep track of my spending and saving
(3) Try my hand at budgeting
(4) Get advice and encouragement from others
(5) Start being more pro-active with my investing
(6) Gain a small stream of passive income from this blog and other endeavors
(7) Read and review PF books
(8) Experiment with new ways of saving money
(9) Allow myself some time each day to write
(10) Give myself a public gratitude journal
(11) Have a record of my mid- (/almost late) twenties
(12) Continue to learn about the world of blogging


So May Goals:
(1) create an investment statement (as recommended by ABCs of Investing)
(2) get a new yoga mat for a good price
(3) check into quicken vs. mint and if they will work for me
(4) use flipswap or gazelle to get rid of old phones/ipod and hopefully make a few bucks
(5) spend less money the second half of the month than the first (esp. no more clothes shopping!!!!!)
(6) comment on at least 1 blog per day

Longer term goal... To be 1/10 of the way there... to have 100,000.00 saved by 2011.

And the title... me in millions? It means that someday in the not too distant future I want to be a millionaire on my own worth. A million is an arbitrary number that people always seem to reach for... but it's a number that I want. It's also a tie-in to a blog that I want to start called me in moderation which would be about life balance.



Today I'm grateful for: a job that gives me a lot of flexibility.