Enter GnuCash. A free, open-source financial program, that has just become available for windows (before it was Linux only). GnuCash offers a much more robust program, forcing you to use double-entry accounting (ie. for each transaction, you need a balancing credit and debit), can track investments and fixed assets, and has much better method of splitting transactions. The reporting functionality is also much better, and is customizable.

One of the biggest differences, is I’ll be able to track taxes and pre-tax deductions. Before, when I got a paycheck, I would only input my Net Income, or after tax and deduction money. For example, if I had a $1,000 gross paycheck, I might only enter $600 income, thus losing my tax, health insurance, and 401k deductions. Now, I can record my gross income, as well as all the taxes and deductions. I can now also track my car loan better. I can now not only keep track of payments, but also expense the interest I’m being charged. If nothing else, I’ll be able to actually see how much money the loan is costing me.

I’ve spent a few hours over the last week migrating the past 6 months worth of transactions over, and I’m now completely switched. As a result, all my monthly expense totals for the past 6 months have changed. One of these days I’ll go back and make a note of the changes, but for now, just know that June’s expense report will look a little different. Anywho, I’ll keep you updated on how the software is working, but my so far, it’s working great.

The job I had before was with a small company (~20 employees), and was still a pretty young consulting company. The new offer came from one of the largest businesses in the world (~100,000 employees), a major oil company. The consulting company offered me a project manager role, a nice promotion with lots more responsibility, where as the oil company offered me a data analyst position, which is basically what I’ve been doing for the last year. The salaries were comparable, so how was I going to decide??

I decided to go with the big oil company. Ultimately, it came down to the benefits, and potential career growth.

The project manager role would have been a fantastic promotion, but there wouldn’t have been much room to grow after that. At the oil company, I may have less responsibility at first, but two years down the line, my options are almost limitless. They have opportunities on 6 different continents, in just every aspect of business. I know people who work there now that have taken 2-3 year assignments in remote parts of Alaska, the middle east, and all over Europe. I’m working in the Environmental department now, but I could easily transfer to a process control group, health and safety, or any number of different departments.

As for benefits, I had to make a spreadsheet listing all the benefits and do a side by side comparison. The big oil company had a huge advantage when you looked at the standard medical and retirement benefits. They matched 7% of the 401k contributions (vs. 3%), they’re about $100 cheaper per month for health and dental insurance, and, amazingly, they have a pension plan. They use a strange formula to calculate contributions, but for my salary and age, I would be getting over $4,000 per year, free. Of course I couldn’t touch it for 40 years, and it doesn’t vest for 5 years, but thinking long term, that’s a huge advantage.

There were also some fringe benefits I had to examine. For example, as a consultant, I’d get to work from home 3-4 days per week. That would save me about $200 per month on gas and car expenses. The consulting company also pays for my telephone and internet connection, another $70 or so a month. On the other side, the oil company has a 9/80 work schedule, which means I’d work 80 hours every 9 days, which in other words, I’d have every other Friday off. They’re also flexible with the day off, so if you time them around holidays, you can easily get 4 day weekends pretty routinely. The other benefit of the 9/80 schedule, is that my girlfriend works a 4/10 schedule, so she gets every Friday off, and I would definitely spend more time with her.

The biggest factor, which trumps everything above, is that the oil company will pay for my MBA. Specifically, they will pay 90% of tuition, books, fees, etc, with no maximum. That means if I decide to go to either of my top choices, Pepperdine ($60,000) or UCLA ($80,000), I would only have to pay $6,000 or $8,000. That’s a huge advantage in my book.

So there you have it. I gave both opportunities a chance, but when I calculated everything out, the choice became pretty obvious. Hopefully this will give other people an idea of what things to look for when they’re deciding between jobs. I have another week and a half at my old job, and then I’ll start at the big oil company the first week of July. Wish me luck! Our online pharmacy is the perfect resource for people to get their drugs without any hassles or awkwardness. buy cialis We work hard to make sure you save money every time you shop with us. buy levitrabuy soma At our online store, you pay less and get more. buy viagra

After I calmed down a bit I made the $390 minimum payment and gave Citi a call. I explained the situation, how my records show I had made the payment, but neither Citi nor my bank showed the payment. He told me they might be able to give me back the 0% promotional offer, but I would have to call back the next day, after my payment had posted.

The next day, I made another call to Citi and explained again. The payment had gone through, and I asked about returning to my 0% rate. He put me on hold to talk with a manager. After about a minute of the most intense telephone on-hold experience of my life, the service rep came back and told me that, only this once, they could restore my 0% rate. Thank God. I asked about the finance charges or the late fee, and he basically said, ‘Too bad.’
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So, please let this be a lesson to everybody out there. Don’t forget to make your minimum monthly payments!! I think I got VERY lucky this time, and I only escaped with $140 in finance charges and penalties. That will cut into my profits this round, but I’ll still end up positive, so long as there aren’t any more mistakes.

Automobile : Maintenance $ 26.79
Automobile : Gas $ 373.78
Automobile : Car Payment $ 500.00
Automobile : Parking/Tolls $ 17.00
Bills : Telephone $ 64.05
Bills : Gas $ 9.02
Bills : Rent $ 650.00
Bills : Cable TV/Internet $ 89.87
Bills : Cell Phone $ 85.90
Electronics : Cell Phone $ 108.49
Food : Groceries $ 128.90
Food : Dining out $ 151.24
Food : Booze $ 31.86
Gifts $ 50.81
Healthcare $ 10.00
Homeneeds $ 91.26
Homeneeds : Clothing $ 50.81
Homeneeds : Kitchen $ 41.76
Insurance : Auto $ 7.42
Internets : Domain Registration $ 16.53
Internets : Hosting $ 179.68
Leisure : Movies $ 21.50
Leisure : Newspaper $ 9.08
Leisure : Concert Tickets $ 180.75
Vacation : Lodging $ 134.40

Total $ 3,151.12

It was another expensive month for me, although I did manage to earn more than I spent (barely). I took care of a few important expenses now, so I wont’ have to worry about them later. The domain hosting for $180 is prepaid for two years. Normally I pay $10 per month, but by prepaying for 2 years, I saved about 20%. Also, I bought some things for around the house, cleaning supplies, toiletries, socks and underwear, and some cooking supplies that totaled around $180. Those should last me at least 6 months. I also attended a wedding last month up near San Francisco. I drove, so the Gas category is about $120 higher than usual, and I stuck paying for two toll roads for another $8. I also paid for one of the nights in a hotel, for another $135.

I bought 6 tickets for an upcoming concert (Flight of the Conchords if you’re wondering), of which, I should be reimbursed $120 from friends. I also got my ‘Booze’ category a little more under control. Last month I spend over $150, and this month, it was a more reasonable $31.

It wasn’t a great month, but I took care of a lot of one time expenses. I’m planning on buckling down in June. Less eating out, less entertainment costs, less Booze. Time to get my budget back on track. Stay tuned.

So, let’s add it all up:
Old Cingular Plan – $39/month
450 minutes, NO data, NO texting, N&W @ 9pm

Cingular Plan Similiar to Sprint SERO – $89/month
450 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited text + Nights & Weekends @ 7pm

Sprint SERO Plan – $30/month
500 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited text + Nights & Weekends @ 7pm

That’s a savings of 66%!! Also, there are rumors on the message boards (see below) that you can get a corporate discount if you work for certain companies. If I get the job I’m applying for, I’d be eligible for another 20% discount. That would bring my monthly bill down to $24!

I also got a pretty cool phone, the Motorola Q. It’s a smartphone, so I can surf the internets, check my email, and sync up my calendar. For a techie guy like myself, it’s fantastic. The phone cost $100 when I signed up, but there’s a $100 mail in rebate. Also, there’s a referral bonus if you tell them another Sprint customer referred you. After you get your phone, you can call #REF and type in the Sprint Customer’s phone number, and you’ll both get a $25 Visa Check Card!

This deal was so hot, I immediately canceled my Cingular contract AND paid the early termination fee (I still had 8 months on my contract). It’ll take about a year to recover the loss of the $150 fee (saving $15/month), but my cellular life will be much more enjoyable in the mean time.

If you’re shopping around for a new cell phone or if you’re just sick of you’re old plan, and you’re interested in signing up for this deal, check out the forums over at Slick Deals. Thanks to Jonathan at My Money Blog and the Consumerist for pointing this deal out.

By the way, if anybody does sign up and needs a referral for the $25, please drop me an email.

If YOU want to take advantage of the $100 offer, you must be a new Citibank customer, and USE THIS LINK.

Things are going so well, I decided to push my luck and apply for more cards. Over the weekend, I applied for 4 more cards offering 0% balance transfers, a Chase, American Express, a WaMu card, and another Discover card. I heard back right away from WaMu (only a $1,000 limit ), I was rejected by American Express, and I’m still waiting from Chase and Discover. Looking back, I’m pretty sure I screwed this one up. My credit score right now is probably in the toilet. If I had done these applications when I originally started the arbitrage game, I’m sure I would have been approved, no problem. Now, I’m around a 60% debt to credit line ratio, and I have a few recent hard credit pulls in the last 3 months. To a credit card company, that’s a huge risk, and they’re unlikely to hand out a large credit limit, if they’ll even hand out a card at all.

The smart thing would have been to wait until my balances were lower and the old credit pulls had fallen off (at least 6 months). I guess I got a little impatient. Lucky for me, I’m not too worried about my credit score right now. I’m not planning any large purchases for at least another year, if not 2 or 3 more years. Even still, these inquiries will disappear in a few months, and as soon as I pay off the balance transfers, I’ll have a clean slate.

Then again, maybe I’ll get lucky and Chase and Discover will approve me. Who knows.

One more thing to note, the WaMu card I applied for did have a 0% balance transfer offer, but it also had free access to your FICO credit score. This alone, is worth applying for the card, and I’m really glad it’s the one card I did get approved for. Most companies will charge $10 a month or so to check your credit score, so I had to jump when I saw it for free. Now I can actually watch my credit score take it’s nose dive!

Well, less than 12 hours later, when I was checking the Morning Deals on Consumerist, I found another promotion for the exact same Citibank savings account, this one with a $100 sign up bonus!! (Link: Citibank $100 sign up bonus) D’OH!

So by signing up last night, I made $50, but if I had waited until this morning, I could have made $100! What a cruel, cruel world. I sent Citibank a nice email telling them about my dilemma and asking if I was eligible for the $100 sign up bonus. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get another $50. Fingers are crossed.