Find me Frugal(er)

I Hate Moving

2013-05-14T09:58:00.000-04:00

I moved around a lot when I was a kid. If I'm remembering correctly, We moved when I was 1, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13--and then when I moved out to go to college, I hopped around a couple more times eventually moving to Rhode Island and moving twice within Providence. Now I'm fixing to move into Providence apartment number three, and all I can do is think that I hate everything I own and can't bear the thought of packing and carrying it--even though I've had tons of offers of help from friends!

As much as I like to say I'm a minimalist (or have minimalist leanings), I have to accept the fact that I just have a lot of stuff and I don't even know where to begin. I've done the thing where I boxed up all of my books and felt a tremendous feeling of satisfaction--for about a day, and now I don't know what else to do.

I've been going through my things, giving away DVDs, selling things, piling stuff in my trunk for dropoff at the thrift store, but my apartment is still mostly unpacked. I reserved a truck for the large furniture items (http://www.anyvan.com/), I changed over my gas and electric, I'm eating up the food in the house, and freecycling things that are useful but that I don't use. But how do I actually pack the things that I use frequently?

I'm still living in my current place until the end of the month, and the moving day for the big items is the 2nd--though hopefully I can start bringing over carloads on the 1st.

Is anyone out there a super packer/mover who can give me some tips? I have a tendency to just shut down mentally when faced with such an overwhelming and arduous task. I just stare at the mess and tell myself that I'll deal with it later, then I complain to a co-worker who moved recently and she says "I started packing six months before I moved." Cue the panic.

A More Zen Approach

2013-05-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a pretty mellow person, at least, that's how I present myself to other people. While I don't get caught up in a lot of time and energy consuming nonsense or personal drama, I do tend to get fixated on certain things--especially money things. I've worked since I was 15, and I've worried about money since I was, I don't know, 8? I think the first time I touched money I became acutely aware of the fact that all I could really do with it was spend it and then have none.

Since starting the job that I've now been at for about a year and a half, I've been lucky enough (after figuring out my budget) to sock away a decent amount of money--at least I've rebuilt my emergency fund from when I was unemployed. I've also been able to pay a decent amount on my student loans and make a little bit of progress. Certainly it's not as much progress as I'd like, but that's where my new zen approach comes in.

I've been obsessing--about money, work, everything to the point where it was really starting to make everything shitty. I've had a lot of work drama in the last few months, none of it my fault, but despite my best efforts, I really let it get to me. Add to that the regular stress of money, and the fact that money seemed like something more under my control, and I became quite unpleasant.

The problem is, even though you have a plan on paper, real life doesn't always work out exactly as you plan, and then that adds yet another layer of stress because failing to meet a goal is stressful.

So I've decided I'm all done with that.

I will no longer:

Mentally take my work home with me, because they don't pay me enough to do that, and I'm not important enough to have that level of stress.
Take responsibility for things that are not my responsibility.
Try to pay as much as possible on my student loans and obsessively check my balance five times a day. I'm paying a set amount each month, and no more.
Say no to fun things because I need to max out my Roth IRA.
Obsessively schedule workouts so I'm too tired to do anything but run and recover.

I will continue to:

Pick up extra work shifts
Use coupons occasionally
Seek out free things
Put money into savings and IRA and watch my balances grow, but not freak out when it happens gradually
Ride my bike to work, the store and the farmer's market

I will finally:

Spend more time writing
Hem that stupid dress that's been sitting on my desk for months
Keep a neat and organized house
Stop accumulating STUFF

It's actually pretty relaxing to just stop trying to control everything. I wasn't being successful at it anyway, so really, just saying hands off is kind of nice. I'm much happier when I'm not making myself miserable, which I really should have figured out a while ago. It seems so simple.

Buy Local!

2013-05-09T09:16:00.001-04:00

Remember a while back when I posted about how buying local is better? Well, because of that, I was sent this really cool infographic (LOVE infographics) that further drives the point home. Check it out!

Click to Enlarge Image

Why Buying Local is Worth Every Cent Infographic by CustomMade

The Television Question

2013-05-08T08:50:00.000-04:00

Free tv!

It's a strange source of pride for me that I've never actually bought a tv. I've also found, that when you tell people you don't have a tv and aren't willing to buy one, everyone offers you one to the point of being a bit aggressive.

The first time I needed a tv was the first time I lived alone--sophomore year of college. My grandmother died that year, and I inherited her very nice television, which I then used for the next five years until I moved to Rhode Island.

When I told people I was moving to Rhode Island with only what fit in my car, and I was selling Grandma's tv, people were appalled. I got at least two offers of tvs "so small it won't even take up that much room", and finally my new landlady in Rhode Island, whom I hadn't even met at the time, gave me a rather nice tv to use for the duration of my tenancy. After that, I moved in with BF, who had a tv, and a couple years ago, he upgraded to a nice flatscreen.

Now, I'm in the situation where I'm going to be living by myself for a year, and I'd like a tv, but the nature of my tv watching has changed. Presently, I can watch tv on my laptop. That works fine when I'm just half watching something, or for the treadmill, but then I can't really also use my computer. I could certainly get a nice tube tv off of freecycle for no money at all, but more than half of the tv/movies I watch are streaming from netflix or Virgin Media TV, so I would need a tv that plugs into my laptop, or some kind of streaming device like a Roku. Plus, there's watching movies with friends, which I wouldn't want to do on my puny laptop. What's the point of living alone if you can't have slumber parties!?!

So I really don't know what the best solution is. I don't want to spend a lot of money since this is temporary, but I also don't want to have a lot of hassle associated with a leisure activity. Anyone have any suggestions for me? Is there something I missed?

April: Stay the Course

2013-04-02T08:13:00.000-04:00

Somehow March ended up being an expensive month. It doesn't seem like I did anything extravagant, but I also got a haircut, bought some house shoes:

Thanks for the tip!

I got my new-to-me bike fixed up, and I rediscovered my love of the Sweet Valley High books, which resulted in buying (me, buying books!?!?) a bunch of ebooks. They just make it so easy! I can buy them right from my chair! I got sucked down a bit of a rabbithole, but I'm still just addicted to those Wakefield twins.

Just as awesome as when I was 12.

I've also been as aggressive as possible with socking away money in my Roth IRA and putting money toward my stupid student loan debt. I'm pleased to report that not only will I be maxing out my Roth IRA contributions for the first time ever ($5000), but I am also actually (kind of) making progress with the stupid student loans! With the payments I make this week, my balance will go below $100,000 for the first time ever!

It feels good, I have to say.

My plan for April is more of the same minus buying slippers and other incidentals. I do need to take a pair of shoes to the cobbler, so that will be an added expense, but since I'm improving something I already own, I don't mind as much.

April is a good month because it seems that spring is almost (finally!) here, which means digging out a wardrobe I haven't worn in quite a while. And it means it's finally biking weather! Since my work is not that far away, I don't spend a ton of money on gas, but it's always nice to spend even less. Plus, my new bike is pretty snazzy:

Tricked out with lights, a bell and a sweet basket

So the plan is:

--Pay at least $400 toward student loans every month. I'll pay more if I can, but I do also need to prioritize putting money into regular savings, which I haven't been doing as much

--Pay at least $400 toward Roth IRA. This means that I stay on track, and won't need to panic at the end of the year and sink my entire tax return into my Roth.

--Get back on track with regular saving. Saving for retirement is all well and good, but my car won't last forever, and what if I want to buy a house someday!?! Ack!

What are your plans for this month?

Why is My Soda So Big?

2013-03-27T11:15:00.003-04:00

I don't drink much soda. I don't have a taste for it, fake sugar gives me headaches and it seems like (is) a huge waste of money and calories. That said, when I was running my most recent 1/2 marathon, at mile 11, someone handed me a small cup of coke and it was the most delicious thing I think I've ever tasted.

Since I had just run 13 miles, I decided to treat myself to a coke on my drive home from the race. I stopped at Burger King and ordered a small coke. I was shocked when they handed me a 16 ounce cup that just looked huge. Even though coke was the thing I wanted most in the world right then, I certainly didn't want that much. I drank about half of it and started to feel ill, but then I felt wasteful for wanting to throw it out and had a little more.

This is why the whole ban on large sugary drinks in New York seems like a good idea to me. When you get more than you want, you drink more than you want.

BF and I visited Niagara Falls a few years back and stopped at Tim Horton's on our way across the border (this is a funny story, bear with me). I ordered a small cappucino because I love those terrible powder + water cappucinos that you get at a gas station or a Tim Horton's and I only buy then on long roadtrips. In Niagara Falls, Ontario, I ordered a small and received a 12 ounce cup. Then we crossed the border into New York state and a few hours later stopped for a bathroom break. I decided to treat myself to another Tim Horton's cappucino, and found that when you order a small in America, it's 16 ounces. Same brand, same logo, same delicious flavor--difference sizes.

The other side to the argument, in my mind, is that by ordering the larger size, you reduce the amount of packaging used. If I had gotten a 16 ounce cappucino in Ontario, would I have wanted another once we got back to the states? Would I have wasted two cups? If someone actually wants 44 ounces of soda, shouldn't they just get it all in one cup instead of buying two?

I go back and forth on this idea all the time, which is odd for someone who doesn't really order beverages other than beer (which comes in a reuseable cup or recyclable bottle/can). When I order a 16 ounce coffee at a coffee shop, no matter how tired I think I am when I get it, by the time I've had about 12 ounces, the stuff that's left is cold and gross and I don't want it. Similarly, the last few drinks of my precious Burger King coke were watered down and kind of ruined the experience. But I love value!

It's a strange debate and I hate to seem like we need to be saved from ourselves, but we probably need to be saved from ourselves. I've got a pretty well-honed sense of discipline, but I still snack if food is around and I still drink more soda than I actually want.

I'm curious how other people feel about this. If the government interfering by limiting the size of sugary drinks, or are the just stopping us from killing ourselves?

I Don't Get It: Weddings

2013-03-24T10:35:00.001-04:00

This is a new series idea I'm trying out where I discuss something that people spend a lot of money on that confuses me terribly. After reading statistics that say the average cost of a wedding in the United States is $27,000, the average cost of a wedding in New York is almost $66,000(!), and "The state of West Virginia, where nuptials cost an average of $14,203, was the least expensive wedding location." I feel like I just don't understand people's priorities.

Then, I look into things like wedding venues, catering, etc., and it seems like maybe the problem isn't so much that people want to overspend on a fairy tale wedding, but that the wedding industry is set up to extract as much money as possible from people and even if you go into the planning with a budget, you might find that that amount means you get married at city hall and have the reception in mom's living room (which is fine too).

I am not a wedding gal. I have never gone to a wedding and analyzed what I want and what I would do differently. I never wore a pillow case on my head and pretended to be a bride. Honestly, I don't really ever want a wedding, but I understand that some people do. I always knew weddings were expensive, but I never understood exactly why they were so expensive. A good friend of mine got married a few years ago, and she vented to me how much money they had to spend on all these little things. That was the first time I had ever really heard a dollar amount attached to wedding stuff, but after attending the wedding (and I'm not trying to sound like a bitch), I was shocked at how much she had spent on what looked pretty low-key and a little bit tacky.

The a couple years later another friend got married, and I did some online sleuthing to see about how much she probably paid for things. This was where I learned that the venue frequently has all of these built-in conditions that cost you extra money. You may try to be frugal, but it's almost like they won't let you.

For instance: A friend of mine got married at a very nice location--a working farm with a lovely bungalow. The ceremony was outside and everything seemed simple, low-key and easy. Then I took a look at what she actually paid for.

$2500 to rent the facility for eight hours
$250/hour additional time, if needed
Cost of $1,000,000 insurance policy
Cost of a professional bartender for a minimum of 4.5 hours + cost of booze
Table and chair rental--$3 per chair, $6 per table
Cost of catering
DJ/Band
Photographer
Wedding Dress

Obviously, a lot of those expenses are negotiable like photographer and caterer, but we're still looking at a one-day event that costs at least what I make in six months. I'd rather have a down payment on a house.

So this is why I'm scared of/not interested in weddings. Even if you go into it thinking you don't want to go overboard and spend too much, if you actually want a nice, non cheap-looking wedding, the price tag is exorbitant.

If any readers managed to have a nice wedding that was not insanely expensive, I would love to hear about it. Leave a comment or send me an email at findmefrugal@gmail.com

Average wedding costs: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-wedding-costs-idUSBRE82M11O20120323

How Being Lazy Can Save You Money

2013-03-18T08:33:00.001-04:00

I'm not a lazy person overall, but I do occasionally succumb to the 'I don't want to leave my chair' mentality. Usually when there's a good book and a cat involved and I'm all wrapped up in blankets, the last thing I want to do is leave the house for something as tedious as grocery shopping. One good thing that comes from being lazy though is the fact that it has probably saved me a lot of money over the years. When you are loathe to leave the house, it's much easier to hang onto your cash, and even online shopping doesn't have the immediate gratification as going to a store and acquiring something.

Example A: I've been reading The Hungry Runner Girl blog for quite sometime, and as the title would suggest, she talks about food a lot. Thankfully, I'm too lazy to make a lot of the recipes she suggests (learning to bake sounds exhausting to me and who needs the calories), and many of the restaurants she goes to are regional and since she lives in California, I'm not tempted. However, she recently went on a Subway binge and between reading her blog and watching The Biggest Loser, I had some serious cravings for a Subway sandwich. For days, those sandwiches were all I could think about, and even though there is a subway 1/2 a mile from where I live, on my way home from work, I've been too lazy to go there, and have saved myself at least $5.

You see, it's cold out; street parking is hard to find sometimes; Subway sandwiches often sound good but are disappointing; I can make a sandwich at home that I know I'll like, etc. I can talk myself out of anything! Now that some time has passed, the craving has abated, and I'll probably go another five years without eating Subway.

Example B: Back when I was in college, I smoked. I never really enjoyed smoking, but I was majoring in writing so it was pretty much a given, and I was spending a lot of time in bars and needed something to do with my hands.

All the great writers smoked

However, I can remember numerous times when I wanted a cigarette, didn't have any, and was just too lazy to go buy some. I never smoked enough that I was physically addicted, so it was super easy to talk myself out of getting into the car and making a special trip just for something that would potentially kill me. Even when I lived literally across the street from a gas station, I was often too lazy to make the walk. Savings for my lungs and my wallet.

Example C:
In college and grad school, friends would often try to get me to go to cafes with them to 'study.' Study is in quotes because what frequently happens is you go to a cafe with some homework, and spend your whole time there talking to people, accomplishing nothing except spending money on food and annoying a waitress. I figured this out quickly, and also figured out that cafe booths are terribly uncomfortable and cafes are loud. By saying no to these invitations, I saved both calories and money AND actually got homework done at home instead of wasting a lot of time.

Example D:
I work on the same street as many restaurants--fancy and non-fancy. I could potentially go broke taking advantage of all their offerings, but I still pack a lunch every day out of laziness. If I go out to eat (and I only get an hour), I have to walk to the restaurant, pick something out, wait for it, find a table--you see where I'm going with this. If I pack a lunch, all I have to do is go downstairs, pop it in the microwave (if it's not a sandwich) then curl up on the couch in the staff lounge with book. I can get in a whole hour of reading that way!

I often achieve my particular type of laziness by exercising a lot and then being too lethargic to want to do anything else, so for those of you who feel like you need to constantly be doing something, just do a lot of something right away in the morning and then you'll want to loll around. If you convince yourself that going out and spending money is an arduous task instead of a fun thing to do, you will save lots. Find a balance between laziness and accomplishing things that works for you, but I have to say, the lazy mindset comes in handy pretty frequently.

To Pay or Not To Pay

2013-03-09T09:09:00.002-05:00

I had a conversation with a friend recently where I outlined my New Student Loan Scheme for her. I put a large chunk of my tax return toward this new endeavor, and I was starting to see a little bit of progress, so I was feeling good. Then we had a conversation which I found...odd.

Her: "But why bother worrying about paying them down when they'll be forgiven in ten years anyway?"

Me: "Right, maybe, I don't exactly know what the next ten years will bring, but even if they do get forgiven, I have to pay income tax on that amount, and I'd rather not pay income tax on $100,000 if I can avoid it."

So here, I think, was the fundamental difference between the way the two of us approach this situation. In my mind, she has half the amount of debt that I do, and with a little sacrificing, she could pay it off. In her mind, the amount is insurmountable, so she will continue to pay the minimum until the loans are forgiven. As much as I know it's stupid to get worked up about such a big number, I also knew (kind of) what I was getting into when I took out the loans, and I feel like I have to make a real effort to pay them back. I've always been the person who pays my debts--usually early--and this is the same thing to me.

Despite the fact that the number is huge and scary, I'm not redirecting all of my disposable income toward reducing it. I'm also making a big push to max out my Roth IRA contributions for 2012 (which I can do until April), and start contributing to 2013. I'm also socking away a little money each month in my emergency fund. As good as it is to lock away money in retirement, you never know what's going to happen and it's important to have money you actually have access to.

I'm pleased to report that since I focused my student loan repayment efforts on the biggest, highest interest loan, I have made actual progress. My last payment of $300 reduced the principal amount on that loan by $240 and it's now less than $15,000. If I can really focus on getting that one loan down, I'll save myself a chunk of money in interest, and make the whole repayment process that much more worthwhile meaning actually reducing the amount owed rather than just paying off interest.

Yes, it's a small victory, but it's important to me to really feel like I'm making progress. I'm calling this the year of sacrifice and if I can stay on track with saving and make a dent in my loan debt, I'm setting myself up for a less-stressful 2014.

Weekend Reading: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

2013-03-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Sometimes I feel like I don't understand blogging. I've been blogging in one way or another since people actually used Myspace. I started out writing complaints about the stupid job that I had, and then I posted them online. People found them tragically amusing, and I developed a small (miniscule following). Then I started new, different blogs, and here I am today yammering on about money stuff.

As the years passed, I became aware that people were getting legitimately famous for writing about their daily shenanigans, and actually producing whole books, which despite majoring in writing, I have yet to do. So I read one. I read It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown And a Much-Needed Margarita by Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce.com fame.

I hated it.

There were moments it amused me, but overall, it was so over the top in the way she behaved herself and the way people reacted that even though it was supposed to be real life, I found it hard to believe that anyone would want to spend time with her. She was fun sometimes, but overall, just exhausting.

Which brings us to today's book review of Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson aka The Blogess. Similar to the Dooce lady's book, The Bloggess is a famous blogger that I had never heard of before this year when a friend mentioned her on facebook and how excited she was for this book to come out. My curiosity was piqued, again, based equally on my friend's recommendation and also the fact that this is another famous blogger and I want to understand what makes a person a famous blogger.

The only answer I can come up with is that you have to have/ had:

I totally crazy childhood
A completely understanding and willing to go along with almost anything husband
A mental illness that results in manic highs that you then write about

In short, I found this book so irritating that I had a really, really hard time forcing myself to finish it. It goes (mostly) in a chronological progression starting with the author's childhood and culminating in marriage and parenthood, but it's just a series of episodes that seem based on the funniest/wackiest events that occurred, and it's not particularly funny. Unlike, say, a David Sedaris book, I didn't really care about anyone involved, and that made it hard to care about what happened to anyone. The writing was choppy, the book felt disjointed and I'm left even more confused about why she is such a popular blogger. Either way, now I know, so I can scratch that off the list and pretend this never happened.

I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

Weekend Reading: A Good American

2013-02-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

A Good American by Alex George. Penguin 2012.

I was just complaining to someone a while back about how no one writes multigenerational epics anymore. I was pretty young when this was a major literary trend, but I remember scavenging my mother's book collection and finding Sidney Sheldon books like Master of the Game and Windmills of the Gods which covered a family over many years, and were just fascinating. I've had people come into the library as well and ask if we had multigenerational sagas, but all the ones I could find were quite old and the person had already read them.

Now I have a new one to recommend: A Good American.

I honestly had no idea what to expect with this book, but I really, really liked it. It's a pretty slim volume, but it's written in a kind of languid pace and since it covers three generations, it seems much longer--but in a good way. I savored this book, which is unusual for me because I usually just blast right through and finish a book in about two days (I'm not bragging, I'm just an impatient person).

Best takeaways:

Hard Work: Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer are German immigrants who somewhat unexpectedly land in Beatrice Mississippi when Jette gives birth to their son Joseph a couple days early, before they can make it to St. Louis. They befriend the local doctor, who also owns the local bar, start working for him, and eventually buy the bar. Once prohibition takes hold, they convert the bar into a lunch restaurant, then an all day place. I don't know what it is, maybe I just yearn for a simpler time, but I love stories about people who just work hard and profit because of it. There's no strategy (aide from giving people what they want i.e. booze or food), there's no investment scheme, just good, honest (for the most part) work.

Barbershop Quartet: The Meisenheimer's are also quite musical, and Frederick and Jette wind up with four grandsons--the perfect number for a babershop quartet. I don't know why I found this who storyline so interesting, but it was just neat. This was something I've never thought about before, and the music lifestyle is one I know nothing about.

Charming Anecdotes: Since this is a story about so many people, it's just jampacked with funny little incidents of every day life, which is something I really enjoy in books. Overall, it's a serious work, but there are just so many funny insertions and hilarious asides that I was cracking up way more than I thought I would. I don't want to give anything away, but trust me when I say that this book is much funnier than its cover would let you believe.

Overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously, and I'm so glad I got to read it. I never would have picked this up on my own, and I'm really looking forward to the discussion in the BlogHer Book Club, which I encourage everyone to check out as well.

I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

Craigslist Bragging Spot

2013-02-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

I don't use Craigslist for a ton of things, generally because it's super annoying, and people are crazy, but I have had good luck with exercise equipment. About four years ago, I bought a treadmill for about $100 and then proceeded to just wear the damn thing out. I realized recently that the belt is just slowly crumbling away and likely to completely snap very soon. So I started shopping.

I emailed about five people on Craigslist who were selling treadmills for as much as I wanted to pay, and none of them wrote back to me. Then I started looking into buying a new one. The biggest problem with Craigslist for large items like a treadmill is that I don't have a vehicle large enough to transport it. I'd have to try to borrow one from someone and/or rent a truck, which takes more planning and time. If I buy a new one, I figured, I might pay a little more, but I can get free shipping.

I started to get bummed out looking at prices for new, kind of crappy treadmills online. Turns out that the amount of money I want to pay doesn't really get you much in treadmill-land, and I struggled to come up with a new plan.

Thankfully, I was on Craigslist one day as a new ad for a treadmill was posted, and I emailed the guy right away. After some back and forth, he even agreed to deliver the machine for an extra $25. So my new treadmill arrived last week and I forked over some hard-earned cash after hauling it into the basement and doing a quick walk on it to make sure that it worked.

Then I tried to run on it.

Turns out that the reason I probably got such a deal on it is because the belt was slipping. I could barely walk at a brisk pace on this thing, let alone run, and I started to feel even sadder than before. I hoped that it was just dusty from sitting in storage, but after cleaning it off, no luck.

So I did what any modern gal would do--I took to the internet to try to find a solution and it came in the form of this video:

After ransacking the basement and our apartment trying to find the appropriately sized allen wrench (seriously, how can we have a house full of IKEA furniture and only two sizes of allen wrench?), I FIXED MY TREADMILL!

I now have a functional, gym-quality treadmill of my very own! I was so excited, I ran on it far longer than I should and now my legs are sore--but I don't care.

I was so, so bummed when I thought I spent $125 on a crap treadmill, but now I think I got such a good deal because the guy just wanted to unload it! I'm damn near euphoric, and it took about 20 minutes total to fix (once I found the appropriate tools). Double bonus, the city will haul away my old, broken down treadmill for free.

Frugal Perks of the Storm of the Century

2013-02-09T11:17:00.002-05:00

I just woke up to a world of white:

Across the street

Tree in front of my house

I'm pretty excited to get out there and go sledding later, but let's take this massive winter storm and make some lemonade! You could get cranky because all travel is banned and you're stuck at home indefinitely, or you can take this historic weather event and find the frugal perks, which is what I will be doing.

Everyone knows it's cheaper to eat at home--no you have no excuse not to!
Everything snow related is excellent exercise--shoveling, sledding, just walking in it. So what if you can't make it to the gym, you can still get a good workout.
A chance to finally use those snow shoes/ skis that you own without searching out some luxury ski deals and all the planning involved with that.
If you lose power, you save money on power? This one doesn't really count, but at least in the winter, you can put your freezer food outside and lose less.
It's an excellent excuse to hunker down with a book, which you should have gotten free from the library.

You can find more awesome snow photos here and here, and I'm going to get outside soon and take more crappy cell phone pics. Stay warm, everyone!

Branching Out

2013-02-06T12:23:00.001-05:00

My motto has always been, "Why have one job when you can have three!" Just kidding--kind of. Same goes for blogs. I've noticed that this blog, though it's supposed to be about personal finance, keeps dipping a toe into sports and fitness. I'm taking this as a sign that I finally need to start a running blog. I've been thinking about it for years, but never felt like I was actually good enough to do it (same mental wrestle I had about starting this blog too).

After all, other people that write about running are REAL RUNNERS, I'm just a faker. So I decided to embrace my faker status and start a running blog for the completely average runner. If you want to follow my adventures as I enter the 2013 racing season and try to convince myself that I need to stretch and do cross-training, join me at: providencerunaway.blogspot.com.

I Don't Want That

2013-02-03T09:28:00.002-05:00

I've mentioned my co-worker before and how her poor health serves as a cautionary tale about getting older and (possibly) making poor choices. I really don't know too much about why she's so sick, but she takes 25 pills a day, and that's just not something I want in my future. I don't want to seem like I'm picking on the woman, but we had a brief conversation a few days ago that terrified me to my very core.

The organization I work for recently switched dental insurance providers, so we were all waiting for new cards to arrive in the mail. Mine came--with a horrible, laughable misspelling of my name and a misprint of my address. I'm not even sure how it actually arrived at my house, or how long it took for the mail carrier to figure out it was supposed to come to me (they put a Z in my last name--there's no Z). My co-worker was wondering aloud when we would get our cards, and I told her that mine had arrived about two weeks ago.

"I've been avoiding looking at the mail lately, I guess I'll have to take a look." She said.

Her husband has been in Intensive Care with a laundry list of problems since before Thanksgiving. They had to bring him in am ambulance more than 60 miles at one point and I can't imagine what other expenses are piling up--even with the decent health insurance we have. She's over 60, in poor health herself, in a constant state of worry about him and also money and I'm pretty sure that she has no savings and probably a paltry retirement fund.

That is my worst nightmare.

Whenever I try to talk myself out of putting money in my IRA, I think of her.
Whenever I think it might be more fun to buy something silly, I think of her.
I think of the fact that she probably wants to retire--in fact she had retired two years ago and then had to come back to work full time, and I just don't want that.

Saving for the future may not be the sexiest thing in the world, and plenty of people think 'oh, I'm too young to start worrying about that', but she's only 30 years older than me, and both she and her husband are falling apart--financially and healthwise. I don't want that.

I want a real retirement and to be healthy enough to actually enjoy it. Sure, things could change and my health could go south through no fault of my own, but to have the added stress of being broke on top of that? Not interested.

Weekend Reading: Here I Go Again

2013-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here I Go Again by Jen Lancaster

At first glance, you might not think this book has much to do with personal finance, but you would be completely wrong! In a nutshell, this book is about Lissy Ryder, who was basically the Queen Mean Girl when she was in high school. Twenty years after graduation, on the night of her High School reunion (they're always so dramatic in books and movies, aren't they?), her life basically falls apart and she's forced to reconsider all of her horrible choices.

I don't want to give too much away, plotwise, but trust me when I say that this book is hilarious escapism at its best. Lissy starts off the book as a completely despicable, self-absorbed person who loses everything--and it's so satisfying. Then, gradually, she learns to become a better person. It sounds completely sappy and disgusting when I describe it, but it's quite witty and hilarious. Eventually the main character realizes that she's so mean because all of the women in her family are incredibly mean, and the trait has been passed down through generations: "Grandmama's big claim to fame is once having made Jackie Kennedy cry. She's still proud of that too, like it's her crowning achievement."

Personal financewise, Lissy is a complete gong show. She works as a publicist, but barely shows up for work choosing instead to spend time at her gym stalking Oprah and working on her tan. So naturally, she's cut loose right away. Since she has no savings--her life is in shambles! She has to move back into her bedroom at her parents house, and ends up depressed and eating her feelings. Lesson one: have an emergency fund!

Anyway, highly enjoyable read, and I'm obviously very bad at writing book reviews for books I actually liked. Check out the book discussion page at Blogher.com for people who are better able to put their feelings into words than I am.

I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own

It Never Hurts to Ask

2013-01-28T15:09:00.001-05:00

I recently overdrew my checking account. Naturally, I was mortified, and I wasn't planning to tell anyone about it, but since I just published this information on the internets, you can see I've gotten over my embarrassment. Yes, it's shameful that I forgot about a check that I wrote, and I admit that I did math incorrectly, but I ended up with a series of events beyond my control that resulted in me overdrawing my account, but also making some changes for the positive.

I didn't get my gas bill in December. Usually my gas and electric bills arrive around the same time at the beginning of the month. Last month, the gas bill never came, and I just didn't notice. Then, a couple weeks ago, I got one, paid it, and then looked at it to see that it had been due December 28th. Then I got another one two days later. Double paying my gas bill meant eating up more of the monetary cushion I leave in my checking account.
Car tax was due. Car tax is due quarterly, and has to be paid for by writing a check since I'd have to pay a fee for electronic payment (no thank you). I'm really bad at remembering I've written checks, which is why I try to avoid doing it! So that was another odd amount of money coming out of my checking account, even though I had it on my calendar and knew it was coming.
I'm bad at math. I thought I had everything figured out, and that there was just enough money in there to cover it, but I overdrew my account by $4.

So I was assessed a $29 overdraft fee by my bank (I don't have overdraft protection because I never overdraw!). Thankfully, they didn't bounce the check for my car tax, and I moved money over from my savings account about an hour after I noticed I was overdrawn (yes, I check my bank balance several times a day. Call me crazy, but it comes in handy).

I was ready to accept the fee as just a tax on my stupidity, but then I remembered that I actually have a nice bank with good customer service. I also have never overdrawn my account before, and that has to count for something! So I sent them an email saying just that, I've never overdrawn my account before, is there any way I can get a pass this one time. Within an hour, I got an email back saying, that's no problem, the money will be refunded by the end of tomorrow.

Because this is money I had already mentally spent, I decided it counts as bonus money and I quickly transferred it to my travel fund. So, lesson learned: even though it sometimes feels awkward, it really doesn't hurt to ask, and it might save you $29.

Double bonus, because I didn't get my gas bill until way late, that prompted me to look at their website again and see that I can now sign up for e-billing, which was not previously available. Less paper, less chance of a bill getting lost!

A Different Student Loan Scheme

2013-01-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been trying very hard recently to make a dent in my student loan total. I've been paying more than the amount owed each month, and am actually a month ahead with no more payments due until March 21. The only problem is, even with being this far ahead, the amount owed keeps increasing.

Yes, you read that right: I'm overpaying on my loans and the amount owed keeps increasing. I am literally in a no-win situation.

I've decided to take a slightly different approach and see if that pays off. Last month, $2.53 of my $300 payment went toward the principal balance of the loan. Looking at that paltry amount made me realize that there actually is no way that I can ever pay these loans off. I already knew that, of course, but I keep re-realizing it.

My loans are currently unconsolidated. Each semester I took out loans is represented as a different group, A-H, and they have about three different interest rates. My largest loan also has the highest interest rate at 6.5%, whereas the smaller ones are 2.1%. My new plan is to focus on that big guy and hopefully actually make some more progress in getting the principal down. After all, I can only write off $1500 worth of student loans interest payments on my taxes for the year, so I might as well see if this new strategy actually makes a difference.

It's pretty much like that credit card debt reduction strategy where you tackle the biggest debt first and then work your way down to the smaller ones. It is mighty tempting to try to wipe out one of the smaller loans, just because it would go faster, but that really wouldn't save me as much money since the interest is so high on the large loan.

It's all kind of like treading water and even if it does make a difference, it won't be a significant one, but I have to try. I just look at that number get bigger every day, and it makes me sick. If I can feel like I'm making some kind of progress, maybe it won't feel like I'm just throwing away my hard-earned cash every month.

I'll keep you posted...

I Want to Quit The Gym

2013-01-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

I joined Bally Total Fitness last February with my head full of marathon training plans and Spin class dreams. Right after they ran my credit card for a 13-month membership, I tore my adductor (inner thigh muscle), and was more or less out of commission for nearly three months.

I also discovered in that time, that it wasn't just a fluke that it took me twenty minutes to get to and from the gym, and that 40 minutes round trip travel time means that I just don't want to go to the gym. I'd rather spend almost an hour doing other things, and my membership was languishing.

So I tried to cancel it, and here's where things get weird.

In spin class one morning, people were talking to the instructor about the gym being sold to another company. I asked my co-worker who goes to the same gym about this, and she confirmed it. Since I signed a contract with Bally, I assumed that I still need to cancel my membership with them, so I followed the instructions on the back of the contract, sent them a letter in the mail and requested that they cancel my membership. The contract stated that I could get out early if the club was sold to other entity, so I said that was why I was canceling.

No response.

Finally, I emailed them and asked what was going on, and they said I would have to cancel with the current owner. Then I got lazy and didn't do anything about it until last month since they told me I would have to physically go to the club and fill out a form then make a phone call (of course). I finally filled out the form, and then called the number on the form from my car just in case I needed to go back inside and yell at someone.

According to the woman I spoke to on the phone, my membership was actually cancelled back in June when I sent that letter to Bally--you know, when they said that they could not cancel my membership? The new club says that they don't have my refund money, Bally does, but when I emailed Bally, they said they needed proof of the June cancellation in order to issue me a refund.

Simple enough, right?

Of course not.

I emailed Blast! Fitness (the new club owner) and asked them to send me proof of cancellation so that I could send that on to Bally. I didn't think this was an overly complicated request, but so far I've dealt with six people who have been unable to help me. Another fun thing, when there are a lot of responses to an email, their system deletes the previous ones, and the new person I'm dealing with doesn't have any of the clarifications that the previous person had gotten. And you can't email a person directly, just the generic info@ email.

They're friendly, but completely unhelpful

So we've been going back and forth for quite a while. They've send me numerous confused responses and a copy of my contract in the mail (which I already have a copy of and can print off at any time since it's in my email). Finally, one person wrote back and basically said, "I'm showing your membership was cancelled in June, what is it that you want?" This was even though in the email I sent her I said "I need PROOF OF CANCELLATION" In bold letters, in caps and in a slightly larger font.

Finally, Bally said that Blast! Fitness should just contact them directly, and that's where I'm at right now. If it wasn't a sizeable amount of money, I would have given up already, and I'm sure that's what they're hoping for, but $120 is walking around money, so I will continue to fight.

If you are considering joining a gym, I beg you to consider three things:

How far is it from your house? If it takes a long time to get there, you will probably not go. The gym I used to belong to was far away from my house, but close to work, and that made all the difference. This gym is close to nothing, and even though it's technically only 3.5 miles from my house (according to google maps), it takes forever to get there.
Do you really need a gym membership? Can you work out at home/outside? Can you find a place that doesn't make you sign a contract? Can you buy a treadmill/elliptal/stationary bike?
Quitting the gym is an arduous task--do you have the mental fortitude to do it? It doesn't actually burn calories to be so exasperated, which is a real shame.

Snow Day!

2013-01-16T09:45:00.001-05:00

...but not a real snow day because I still had to go to work--drat! I am pleased to report that since it was snowing out, I was unable to do my morning four miles.

BUT

I convinced myself to use that home gym I brag about all the time, and did a kettlebell workout with the handsome Bob Harper:

Bob wants you to work!

My legs and arms are still a bit shaky and I didn't even do the whole thing (ran out of time). Success!

Weekend Reading: The Willpower Instinct

2013-01-10T08:42:00.001-05:00

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal

This is a very appropriate book to kick of 2013. Since so many people start off the year with lofty resolutions that seem to peter off, it behoooves us to take a look at the notion of willpower and see if we can harness a little bit more and actually meet those resolutions.

Personally, I went into this book a bit skeptical but also intrigued. Since I'm the type of person who hates feeling out of control but still frequently gives into temptation, I was not really convinced that this book would do anything for me. I pleased to report that I was pleasantly surprised. I'm certainly no saint for having read this book, but putting into practice some of the ideas may actually work. Unfortunately, it's too soon to tell, but I'll keep you posted.

Best takeaways:

Willpower is controlled by the prefrontal cortex region of the brain, so everyone has willpower, but some are better at tapping into it than others.
When people encounter sugary snacks, the reason the treats are so hard to resist is because our blood sugar actually drops in anticipation of eating the snack. This is so that if we do actually eat it, we don't go into a sugar coma, but it actually makes resisting that much harder. It's true! It's not (as much) your fault!
Willpower and self-control are finite, and you can run out, but you can also exercise your self-control muscle and gain better willpower endurance. Meditation apparently helps in this regard, and the more skeptical you are about meditation, the better the result (though I still don't really want to try it out, but I might).
When we are 'good' and recognize that we're good, we give ourselves much more permission to be bad. Studies have even shown that thinking about giving money to charity--not even actually doing it increased desire to buy something extravagant. Thankfully, by knowing this and thinking about it, we can quell those urges and get back on track.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book. I don't typically read books that seem like self help, but this is much more rooted in science, which makes it feel less like self help and more just like logic. This is not a book to just sit down and plow though. Even the author says that you should read one chapter at a time and try the techniques mentioned before going onto the next one. So I'm going to sit down with it again and try that out--I'll keep you posted.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

It Pays For Itself

2013-01-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

This is a phrase that I've heard many people use and that I've used myself, but for some reason, the other day, I started thinking about what it actually means.

Example: When I thought this, I was just leaving yoga class. I do Bikram yoga, which is hot yoga, so when I leave the studio, I am a sweaty mess. I need shoes to wear to and from class that can get bathed in my particular sweaty musk. In the summer, it's flip-flops, but once it started getting cold, I was a bit concerned about what to do.

Thankfully, a couple years ago, I bought the faux Uggs that Old Navy sells i.e. Adoraboots:

Mine are sparkly silver

They are certainly ugly, and I would never normally wear them out of the house, but it turns out, they are super handy for the yoga.

Digression

I have been on the quest for a decent pair of house slippers for years. Perhaps it's because I'm picky that I haven't been able to find any, but my criterea are:

Non-skid sole--we have hardwood floors and I would prefer not to slip and slide around on them.
Some kind of back-- I do not care for any backless footwear, even my flip flops are slingback.
Both of these goals are just a way of saying that I want slippers I feel comfortable in rather than shoes that make me feel like I'm going to fall either out of them or because of them.

Apparently ALL slippers are fuzzy on the bottom and have no back. I've been looking for literally years. So I was quite excited when I found these adoraboots, but quite dismayed when I realized that instead of just keeping my feet warm, they made my feet HOT. Like sweaty hot--gross hot.

So they went into the back of my closet until I realized that they worked for going to yoga.

Why is this story so long, you may wonder. Well, I was leaving yoga the other night, looked down at my ugly footwear and thought, these slippers have really paid for themselves. Then I wondered what I meant by that, and what that expression actually means at all.

It's good that I found a use for something I bought that would have otherwise cluttered up my closet until landing at the thrift store, but does that really mean they've paid for themselves? Is this just a little phrase that we tell ourselves to justify purchases that otherwise seem out of bounds or extravagant?

For instance, how many times do you have to wear a sweater before it pays for itself? If the sweater is $30, would you have to wear it 15 times before you would say it was worth it? Are we saying that renting the sweater for $2 a wear would be a reasonable investment?

I can see this phrase working in certain situations, for instance if you're currently driving a regular car and switch to a hybrid, you could look at the gas savings as the car paying for itself because it is literally saving you money that you can put toward buying the car.

Are there other situations where this works, or is it usually just an excuse to buy something? Was it moronic for me to think this about my faux Uggs, or was I actually onto something?

Weekend Reading: Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail

2013-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail by Caitlin Kelly.

I picked this book mostly because I loved the title (wordplay!) and because after working in retail for most of my life and just sort of going numb to the way things are, I thought it would be interesting to get an outsider perspective on it (and revel slightly in the fact that I no longer have to do it).

My review, in a sentence, is that this is an important book, but one with far too many flaws to really have the impact that it should. Kelly is a professional journalist who, feeling the pinch of the recession and the cutback that most journalists are feeling these days, wants a source of steady income and takes a job at a North Face store. The problem with this book, and one that I didn't think would occur considering that this writer is a professional writer who has thus far managed to keep herself fed and clothed using the power of her prose, was that this book is just quite poorly written. I don't know if the original draft was too short and she just added a lot of padding, but this is honestly the most repetitive book I've ever read.

I read this in an afternoon, and perhaps it was intended to be read over the course of months, or the author wanted to just excerpt each chapter out as a stand-alone essay because she kept repeating herself over and over again. I feel like I'm repeating myself just mentioning it more than once, but at least I'm aware of it. One of the other major flaws--she only worked one shift a week, usually just five hours. On one hand, it's a bit shocking that working that few hours could make a person crack after just two years, but on the other, it's a bit disingenuous to call this a "career" in retail.

Best takeaways:
--We expect stores to provide a high level of customer service, yet retail employees are barely paid more than minimum wage, the industry has 100% turnover and staff are rarely trained. This leads to frustration for the customer and abuse for the staff. Kelly mentions that on several occasions, particularly when she asked too many questions, she was rewarded with inaction.

--Expectations from on high. At this store, employees were given a daily sales goal. It was a pretty arbitrary number and they were expected to meet it, but whenever Kelly asked what would happen if they didn't meet the sales goal, no one had an answer.

--Lack of employee support. At one point in the book, Kelly broke the de-tagger, which is that tiny gadget that takes tags off of clothes. Because it was broken, staff had to constantly use one of the other two, which are bolted to the counter. This necessitated a lot of hopping around, and took up more time. She later found out that the replacement de-tagger cost something like $10, but their store went without one for months.

--Ludicrous demands and policies. I alluded to this when I talked about my experiences at Barnes & Noble and how obnoxious upselling is, but it bears repeating. I've never worked at a clothing store, but I thought it was interesting that they had a person on staff whose job it was to 'stage' the store. This meant that every so often, someone would completely re-organize the store so that the staff never knew where anything was. This was to create new displays and highlight certain collections, obviously, but it also seems like a tremendous waste of time and effort. Of course, this was something I wanted to know more about, but it was only mentioned briefly once. This is something that the frontline staff has no control over, but they have to deal with the fallout of not being able to find anything for customers and we, as customers, have to wait longer.

Overall:
Disappointing. This book says something needs to be said, but it's just poorly written. I was hoping for more of a retail version of Nickle and Dimed, but this is half fluffy memoir, one quarter analysis of the retail industry and just one quarter whining/boasting. In writing something so sloppily, I feel like Kelly looks down on her readers the same way corporate overlords look down on retail employees, but that might be a bit of a stretch.

Best of 2012

2012-12-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe my year wasn't quite as great as Adele's,
but close.

We have to end the year on a high note, so after completely Debbie Downering this blog yesterday, let's take a look at the stuff that happened this year that is awesome (it's a much longer list).

1. Paid Vacation!
This year, I went on vacation to Sweden, Denmark and Minneapolis and still got paid even though I wasn't working! One positive about working in the non-profits is that you may not get paid much per hour, but they give you a lot of vacation. I started out with 21 days vacation + personal time that accrues. It's just silly, but I am not complaining--at all.

2. Free Yoga!
This year I started getting into yoga for the first time in my life, which has made me stronger overall, and possibly slightly more flexible (though I really don't think so). If I was paying for this yoga, I would not be able to afford it, but the studio allows me (and a few other people) to exchange light cleaning duties for unlimited free yoga! Being in the hot room makes winter much easier to bear, and I think I'm getting some ab definition... maybe.

3. Free Bike!
After my bike was stolen, I had the sads big time. I still wander back behind our house where it used to be hoping that the person who took it just needed it for an emergency and would return it when finished. Of course, that is not the case. BUT, I put an ad on Freecycle saying that my bike was stolen and asking if anyone had one they weren't using that I could have, and someone responded! I got a new-to-me bike that's in really good shape completely for free. I need to take it to a mechanic for a once-over, buy a basket and some lights, but then I'll be back on the road in time for spring puddle season!

4. Walking to Work!
Not really much else to say about this one, but the walk to work clears my head, wakes me up and lets me smile at the quirky world I live in.

Walking home from work in the snow, I stopped
to make this tiny snowman and put him on a Stumpchair.

5. Bonus Money!
Though I do make less money working at only one job, I still fill in at two other libraries. It's a bit of a grind to work those extra hours, but it's also fairly awesome because they don't expect as much of me. Yes, that sounds really lazy, but I'm basically just a warm body who can do that job, but who doesn't have real responsibilities. Double bonus, one of the libraries I fill in at still pays time-and-a-half on Sundays. Bonus money gets split between my Roth IRA and my travel fund, so I know I'm not squandering it.

6. Crock Pot!
At first I was a bit intimidated by the crock pot, but now I absolutely love it and would never want to be without it. Everything made in the crock pot tastes better--fact! I can use it to soak beans and barley, which are frequent work staples and doing them in the crock pot is nearly effortless. I can simmer away delicious healthy soups that not only taste amazing but also make my house smell good.

7. Home Gym!
I have broken up with my gym (though that's still a work in progress--more on that in a later post) but I have also created a highly functional home gym that has everything I need. For the days when I don't have time to run or go to yoga, I can still get in a good workout without leaving my house. 2013 shall be the year of abs!

8. Friends!
Two of my besties came out to visit me this year for my birthday, and I'm currently making plans to go on a mini-break with two other besties in the spring. I'm so lucky to not only have so many wonderful friends, but also to have friends who I don't see that often, but can catch up with instantly, years later, and it feels like no time has passed at all.

9. Learning How to Live Within My Means!
It's my one-year anniversary of my job, and I now know what to expect at work, but also exactly how much I'll make and how to budget accordingly. Setting up my budget last year was all guesswork, and I was still on a high from the excitement of even getting this job, so I wasn't making great choices. Now, I have an entire budget from 2012 to refer back to, and nothing should really be changing for 2013 except for the fact that I should buy fewer clothes.

10. Clean(er) Closet
I'm ushering in the new year with a cleaner and better organized closet. Yes, my closet will never be perfect, mostly because it's a narrow/ deep hidey hole under a staircase, but I think I finally have it sorted out in a way where everything has a place and I can actually find things. Plus, I only had to spend $16.99 on a six-shelf organizer and I used furniture we already had to organize the rest.

11. Free Holiday Party + Holiday Bonus!
At my library, we have an awesome Friends of the Library group. Many of them are there on a daily basis sorting donated books, cleaning DVDs and CD, and twice a year they have books sales that make some serious cash. Apparently, they also give the staff a holiday bonus! Also, the regular library patrons were coming in every day before xmas and giving us homemade cookies, truffles, donations and cards. As if that wasn't overwhelming enough, The Progressive Democrats of Rhode Island, which is a group that regularly uses our meeting spaces, collected money from their members and gave us $100 for a staff holiday party! This is the first time in my working life that my holiday party wasn't a potluck, and it was so nice not to have to stress about what to bring. This is the stuff that makes it easy to love my job. Like I always say, it doesn't pay in money, but it does pay in warm fuzzies.

What awesome things happened to you guys in 2012?

Worst of 2012

2012-12-30T09:25:00.002-05:00

These last two days of 2012 are all about reflection. Which celebrities had a great year (Channing Tatum)? Which celebrities had a bad year (Lindsey Lohan)? Etc. ad infinitum. But, people love lists, so you have to give them what they want. I present you with my worst financial moments of 2012.

1. Bartered Away 401k
After the library where I work received news that we were suffering a major budget cut, we did what any other library would do to avoid closing three weeks--we took it out of the employees' already meager pay. Yes, I'm still pissed about this and will remain so. Silver lining--I got an extra week off-paid, but I didn't really accomplish anything that week. As I've said before, I love my job, but I don't want to drop dead at the reference desk! Save for retirement, people!

2. Less Income
I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but by having only one, full-time job, I'm making significantly less money than I was before. A friend asked me recently how that could be, and it all comes down to: 1. working fewer hours than before a.k.a. a normal workweek instead of 40 hours one week and 45 the next 2. Making less per hour 3. Paying for health insurance. Being a grownup is kind of bullshit, but at least I can walk to work!

3. Wanting to go out
Now that I have a reasonable work schedule, I had/have to really remind myself that neither my waistline nor my wallet can afford to go out all the time. Going out is fun! Eating out is exotic! But it all costs money, and I don't have much to spare.

4. Stolen Bike
My beautiful, tricked-out (blinking lights and basket mean tricked-out) bike was stolen by nefarious jackanapes, which left me not only bikeless, but also feeling violated and paranoid.

5. Car Repair
My stupid car keeps breaking! The windshield wipers keep freaking out on me by not working in sync and getting stuck together. Presently, only the left one works, but as that's the one I need most, I've been lazy about bringing it in to get fixed (again). Also, according to the city of Providence, my 2007 Chevrolet Malibu has increased in value from 2011-2012 and will be taxed more because of it. You stay classy, Providence.

Not my car, but this is basically what happens

6. Parents
My parents and I don't have the greatest relationship in the world, but usually they send me birthday and xmas cards. Now that I have a full-time job, it seems that I am completely cut off. When I saw then in September, they didn't pay for anything (usually I get a meal, maybe a little something for airfare, etc.) and this year they didn't even send me an xmas card. Yes, I am 33 and shouldn't need money from my parents, but see point #1 and #2 above. I actually could use their help more than ever, but I'm also certainly not going to ask for it.

7. Student Loans
My student loans were outsourced to a new company this year, and getting back on Income Based Repayment was a godawful nightmare of a gong show. All of the progress I had made in reducing my amount owed--years of progress, was basically wiped out in a matter of months.

How about you? What totally sucked for you this year?