Then Things

No more

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:54:00 +0000

Obviously I am no longer posting to this blog. I found that I wasn't enjoying the time I spent on it, therefore not a great use of my time. For the time being I am leaving it up in case people come across the old posts and still find them helpful. Please check out the other blogs I have linked instead.

Hiatus Over!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:47:00 +0000

I'm alive! Sorry for the hiatus, I have not had much financial news to write about lately. I find that keeping this blog more regularly had both positive and negative effects on me. On one hand it definitely made me more motivated to do behaviors like bring my lunch to work, but I feel like it made me too obsessive as well. For someone with a salaried job it can be frustrating being too focused on money when you're money is basically spent the some way every month. Even though I have been doing a lot of freelance work lately I haven't collected payment on most of it yet and even when I do get paid it will just all go into savings.

Really ever since I purchased the lot I've been in a bit of a financial limbo - the lot had been my main financial goal since I started working and now that I've made the down payment my savings no longer have a clear goal. After the down payment I'm left with only 2k in my emergency savings so I definitely need to continue to put money into that in order to have the 6 month cushion that Suze Orman suggests. But having a large emergency savings just isn't a goal that I am able to get too fired up about. I know that I am lucky to have a "boring" financial life right now but I admit I wouldn't mind a little excitement!

Free Fun Weekend Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:31:00 +0000

I often feel frustrated on the weekend when I realize there is so little to do for free, especially activities to do with friends. Spending money kind of gives you an activity to do together. That's why bars make so much money, even though you know you are paying as much for a glass of wine as you usually do for the entire bottle having somewhere to go makes it a fun activity rather than just - well, sitting around at home drinking wine.
Here's a list of my favorite ways to entertain myself on the weekend for free:

Go on a bike ride: This is my number one free activity (of course I did have to pay for the bike). I'm not going to lie though, often we go on bike rides to try out a new restaurant and therefore spend money. But at least we're getting some entertainment out of the free ride there and back.

Go to the lake front trail: OK, this is another bike-riding activity but a different one and it could also be a walking or rollerblading activity. Many cities have a place like this for people to walk or bike.

Go to the library: I love to go to the library to check out books or sit around and read magazines. This is a great way to spend free time but usually a solo activity, not a social one.

Go to the zoo and botanical gardens: Here in Chicago we hare very lucky to have both of these places for free! I know most zoos aren't free, but I think it is more common to have gardens with free entrance.

Go to the dog park: I am aware that some people might find it strange to go to the dog park without a dog. However I will not be held back from watching cute animals just because I happen to have a cat! The dog park can offer hours of free adorable entertainment.

I would love to hear what everyone else does!

Embrace The Cheapness!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:58:00 +0000

I have a reputation at work for being cheap. Not wanting to eat out, not spending a lot on clothes, and always taking advantage of leftover breakfasts and lunches from meetings. If you are more frugal than the people around you they will probably start to notice and likely tease you about it. It might make you feel embarrassed and just want to do what everyone else is doing to fit in. But I say embrace the cheapness! If they want to tease you who cares? And I've found a benefit to having this reputation- I have had coworkers offer to buy me starbucks if I go pick up their drink. They would never think to strike this deal unless they knew I would go for it (I'm not one to pass up a free iced latte). If someone receives a coupon they don't want guess who is the first one they offer it to?
Taking control of your spending is not always the easy road to take. I sometimes feel jealous of my coworkers with better and newer wardrobes. It almost makes it more frustrating that I can afford to eat out every day or shop a lot more if I wanted to but I know that's not the best use of my money and what is really going to make me feel happy. So instead of dwelling on what I'm not doing I try to focus on what I am - and know that it's best for me despite the judgments others may make.

Why I Purchased an Empty Lot Instead of a Home

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:23:00 +0000

OK I know what you're thinking - empty land is not a usual purchase for the early 20s blogger set. Buying a lot often means farmland or the very wealthy building the mansion of their dreams.

To start off my story: I have always loved all forms of design. I inherited this from my father who is an architect that primarily works on custom homes. His tastes are very similar to mine and I grew up a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home filled with mid-century modern furniture. I have always dreamed in living in a home that my father designed. One just because I know he could create the most amazing, Dwell-worthy house I could imagine but two just because I love the idea of being at home in something that he created.

Of course building a custom home is expensive, and I'm nowhere near ready to even buy a condo at this point. But what is (sometimes) cheaper than a house? The land that it sits on. I realized that buying a piece of property for my future home would be a step that I could pursue now, and begin to pay for as I save for the house that will go on it. My property is in an area I would describe as "soon to be up and coming" and I feel that prices there will rise at a much faster rate than my savings. So may as well start with the property now and if it no longer works for me in the future I can always sell it. For this reason I feel confidant that it was a good financial decision for me, and I like knowing that when it's time to build the house I will not have to bear the entire weight of a loan for a lot as well as the construction.

Debt-Free No More!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 03:19:00 +0000

Previously I prided myself on being debt-free - but now I am actually happy to announce I have entered a new (though debt-ridden) stage of life. This week I purchased a lot (as in a plot of land)! Clearly this is a big financial move that requires a lot of thought and planning but I didn't want to write about it here before it actually happened. Now that it's mine I'm planning to write a series of posts about how I came to my decision and the process of looking for a lot. I see a lot of blogging about purchasing real estate but never empty land. So if you're interested stay tuned for many posts on this topic in the future!

Why you don't have to stick to your budget all the time

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:12:00 +0000

Budgeting is a daunting task to so many people because they feel that every penny must be accounted for and that they're a failure if they don't meet all of their goals. First of all never forget that figuring out where your money goes is a fluid process, you will need to adjust your budget as you figure it out more realistically.

But the fluidity that must exist with budgeting is not what I wanted to write about today, I sat down to write about how I stick to my budget - most of the time - and that most of the time is good enough. I have started using cash to limit my food spending. Because I love reading real numbers on other blogs I'll tell you that my food budget is $60 per week. This includes going out on weekends and everything that accompanies that like cab fare. I spent the vast majority of that number on weekends.

Last week thursday rolled around and all my coworkers decided to go out for sushi. I felt like having a social lunch, and more than that was absolutely desperate to get out of the office that day. I only had $7 cash left- not enough for this lunch out. But I did it anyway. I am lucky that I'm in a position where that extra money on lunch is not going to make or break me. So I went over my lunch budget for the week. It's not a huge deal and it doesn't blow my whole month. I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch and didn't feel bad about it. The point of a budget is be aware of these little extravagances and make them the exception rather than the norm. You are not a failure if your budget doesn't work out all of the time. Work towards all of the time, but most of the time is definitely good enough.

I got a raise!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:58:00 +0000

Here to share some financial good news- I just had my one year review and I got a pretty nice raise - a little more than %15 above above my previous salary! And even better they told me it starts last week so that it my pay will increase from my one-year anniversary exactly.

How did I get such a fat raise? Well first of all I do an awesome job! Actually I should write a post about my advice for all of you at your first jobs out of school — since I've been here a year I'm at least sort of qualified to give advice, right?
But I have something more specific that I did that all of you can do: I asked for my review. When I realized a year was coming up I figured out the exact date I had started then emailed the higher-ups about a week before reminding them that my one year was coming up and asking for a review. I think a lot of people just sit back and wait for the boss to approach them but this is not a good move. After all, why would your company be eager to pony up more money? I casually asked a co-worker who started on the same date I did if her review was the same day as mine- she said no one had mentioned a review to her. And now a week later I know she is still sitting back waiting for them to say something while I'm enjoying my higher paycheck.

My Three Favorite Low-Cost Lunches

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 23:54:00 +0000

I have already written about how I use my Laptop Lunchboxto help me save money on lunch, but even more important is what I put in that lunchbox. Here are three really cheap, easy lunches that I like to bring (note that all these lunches are vegan as well):

Burritos: This one is my favorite, I bring it all the time. It's super easy to make and REALLY cheap! I figured out I can make myself a huge filling burrito for well under a dollar. I just put rice, beans and salsa in a whole wheat wrap/tortilla when I'm feeling lazy. If you were not as feeling as lazy as me you could throw in some veggies as well, maybe get a variety bag of frozen vegetables at the grocery store or add corn. Because this is my lazy meal I usually just bring a big burrito and nothing else. Afer all, most anything that can go with a burrito can go in a burrito!

PBJ: An oldie but a goodie. Buy yourself big ol' jars of peanut butter and jelly and you can feast like a queen on cheap PBJs. I usually eat an apple (purchased as a bag of apples for cost-effectiveness) and baby carrots with my PBJ. I actually have never compared if baby or regular carrots are cheaper but you can get a big trader joe's brand of baby carrots very inexpensively. PBB (peanut butter & banana) is another one of my low-cost lunch favorites.

Pasta: If I am going to be really good I'll make a big batch of pasta on Sunday then bring it all week. I only get whole wheat (no comparison to white pasta health-wise) and fettuccine is my favorite variety. I actually love pasta with just seasoning and olive oil, but if you find that bland you could buy a generic brand pasta sauce or make your own using tomato paste. I make this recipe for whole-wheat spaghetti with asparagus a lot, minus the parmesan. I usually like to bring a salad as well when I eat pasta for lunch.

Advice for college grads: Your first career choice doesn't have to be perfect

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 15:14:00 +0000

I have a short piece of advice for all of you who are about to graduate or just graduated college: just pick something!

I see so many recent college grads who are simply paralyzed by all of the choices ahead of them. They don't know what they want to do for a living, they don't know how to get into certain fields, they're afraid of starting the long journey to corporate drone at age 21. The thing is most people don't know exactly what they want to do for their careers, and the great news is most people also end up having several careers over their lives. The first job that you take is not a prison sentence that you will never be able to escape. But too many people don't know what to do so they end up not doing anything at all. I totally understand this, the process of interviewing is difficult and scary especially when you have that feeling of "why would anyone want to hire ME for this job over anyone else?".

This is why you just have to close your eyes and dive in. Pick any career that you're interested in and apply and interview until you find a an entry-level job in that field. Notice I said any career that you're interested in. Starbucks is not a career, but if you did want to make that yours should be applying at the corporate offices not the coffee shop. It's ok to pick something that you aren't sure you want to do for the rest of your life, or aren't sure that you want to do at all. The best way to find out is to try it out and see what you enjoy. Unlike college where it costs you more every time you switch majors in the real world you actually get paid for every job you take!

Another problem that I see is people feeling like their chosen career path isn't good enough for whatever reason. Maybe people in college or high school expected "more" of you than the lowly non-profit salary. Maybe you're afraid people will think it's silly that you want to pursue a career in theatre. Maybe you're afraid people will think you're "selling out". Who cares? You're the one that will have to show up every day. Pick something that you like, not something that others are expecting you to do.

5th edition of the Festival of Under 30 Finances

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:49:00 +0000

Today the 5th 5th edition of the Festival of Under 30 Finances went up. My highlights:

The Million Dollar Savings Club Kick Off!: I thought this post was interesting but I can't help but wonder if the money could maybe be better off in oh I don't know a savings accounts of some kind? Maybe I'm not understanding the million dollar savings club?

Personal Finance Blogs: This post definitely made me think about my own position as a "saver". But I think the reason I am was proven quite well when it got the end of the post and found that I had no idea what the investment acronyms he used stood for. With age (hopefully!) comes knowledge and many young people like myself are still figuring out the complexities of the investment game.

New Look!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:38:00 +0000

It certainly took me a few hours but I finally have a new look up at Then Things! It isn't perfect by a long shot but I'm glad to have something other than a generic template. I tried to create something that is clean, simple, and easy to read. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for how the style or format of this site could be improved! I have also given some thought to the direction of this blog. I want it to be more personal, reflect my own life more. There are already a million personal finance blogs with how-to guides or (yawn) links to the latest cnn money article. I would like to write about my own life and decisions through the lens of my finances.

Reminder: Check up on your cable bill

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 04:20:00 +0000

I would say that our cable/internet bill is by far our biggest "luxury" expense. We we are on a sneaky promotion from The Evil Corporate Communications Giant that involved our internet and cable getting slowly less and less discounted over the course of a year. Well that year is finally up and our bill this month ballooned to $125 so I called the cable company. First I asked if there was any promotions that she could offer me for my television service and she said that I couldn't receive a promo because I was already under one- one that is saving me a whopping $6 per month! Yeah, some promotion. So I decided to downgrade my cable - I had no idea what I would actually be getting, I just chose the cheapest digital cable package that was offered. (I have to admit I am totally addicted to the guide feature of digital cable. Watching the "preview" channel slooowly scroll by seems like medieval torture to me now.) We came home to find that two of our favorite channels were gone- Discovery Health for me and G4 for him but we can deal, we should watch less TV anyway.
I then talked to the internet division of the The Evil Corporate Communications Giant and had better luck- she said that she could give me the promotional rate of $20 for the next 4 months! This brings our internet to a very reasonable $20 per month. So this is a reminder to all my readers to call your friendly local Evil Corporate Communications Giant, listen to some lovely hold music and lower you bill.

How do you decide if a really big purchase is worth it?

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 00:47:00 +0000

One of my friends is earning a master's degree in Accra, Ghana for the next 9 months so I have a very rare opportunity to have a free guide and place to stay in an exotic locale I wouldn't normally travel to. So right now I'm in the initial stages of trying to figure out if this is an expense I want to make or not. Currently I know next to nothing about west Africa so I'm going to have to read up more to see if it's a place that I am truly interested in going. The plane ticket alone will be around $1500. Right now I'm finding out if my friend would be available to travel around at any point during her stay, I figure if I'm spending so much money to go I want to see some of the other surrounding countries as well. Ghana has never been on my list of places I am dying to go, but that's because I don't know much about it and I feel that this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. What would you do? What factors would help you decide?

August Wrap-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:15:00 +0000

Because I had a high spending month in July I decided to buckle down and focus on my savings in August. I'm happy to say I exceeded my goal a bit and at the end of the month I have put $850 into savings. I am cheating on the math a little bit because I bought a plane ticket that will be paid for in September but it just feels better to me to have such a high number this month and a little less the next. Anyway the plane ticket is for Christmas so it feels "fair" not to count it in August's budget.
In retirement news I transferred some of my Roth IRA money into Vanguard's Total International Stock Index Fund. I was feeling uncomfortable with the fact that all my money was in American assets. However because I made this move vanguard won't allow me to purchase more of the index fund I moved money from until October! So I just transferred what would be my roth money into my emigrant account to be moved later. This makes me wonder if I would be better off just putting all my money into emigrant to earn interest then funding my roth once or twice a year- will dollar cost averaging earn me more than 5.15%? I would like to hear other's thoughts on this one.

EmigrantDirect: PLEASE MAKE TRANSFERRING MONEY EASIER!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 03:48:00 +0000

My boyfriend and I pay our shared household expenses from a joint checking account that we both contribute a standard monthly sum to. The thing is we over-budgeted for it to start with and the monthly total was made with our outrageously expensive winter heating bills in mind. This means that lately this account has a few hundred left over in it at the end every month. In fact the very first month we started it there was enough remaining to pay the hotel bill for our trip to New York. So we decided that in the future we will use the extra funds to save for everyone's favorite joint expense- vacations!
Step one is logging into emigrant to create a new savings account- I funded it with $5 from my existing savings. Simple enough. Then I go to make a transfer from our bank of america shared account to the new vacations savings. I enter the account numbers and everything is going well until I get to a screen that tells me to send in a check so that my request can be processed. We don't have checks from this account! We pay all of our bills electronically and BOA won't give us free checks for it. Even if I did have a check I would have to go buy a stamp and send it in which I consider to be a huge pain in the ass.
So I thought OK I will just transfer our joint money into my checking then transfer the money into our emigrant shared savings- foiled again!! I got a message that these accounts are not linked even though it's how I fund my other emigrant savings account. If I wanted to use the SAME ACCOUNT that emigrant already transfers money from all the time I'd have to send in another check! Frustrating!
So what I have to is make 4 online transfers in order to save this money. Shared checking > my checking > my savings > shared savings. I still live it for the high interest but the process is seriously ridiculous.

Freelance biz up and running!

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 04:10:00 +0000

Just wanted to post that I finally got my freelance design website up and running. My goal was to have the site up by the end of August and obtain one client by the end of September, so I am on track so far. I don't really want to link these two sites together so I'm not going to put the link here but feel free to email me if you'd like to see it. I don't think I would be doing myself a great service advertising as a web designer on a site that I'm still using the blogger template for!

There's a hole in my budget, dear liza dear liza . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 04:23:00 +0000

Budgeting is a constant process that needs to be tweaked month to month or week to week to figure out what really works for you. I am very aware of my spending and always kind of operate with a general budget in my head, but for the month of august I decided to put one in writing to help me stick my savings goals for the month after I had a very high spending month in July (I took a vacation to new york which included shopping). It's so easy to leave out stuff when you think you've covered everything- for me it was entertainment. I gave myself a shopping category and a food category, thinking that drinks and meals out with friends would go under food and the other fun stuff was shopping. By day 8 I was already getting way to close for comfort to my $200 shopping limit (curious where my money went? dry cleaning bill, foundation from saks, toiletries/prescription from walgreens, and a bunch of office supplies from staples) so I starting being very aware of my spending in that category. Well I ended up going to two film festivals this month and I realized the tickets that I bought had no category. They aren't what I consider "shopping", and aren't food either. So far I've been well under my food budget ($60 per week) so I think I will roll entertainment into that category, which will force me to eat out less when I've spent too much on entertainment.
Of course once again my savings goal has been shot by those large but necessary expenses that seem to rise out of nowhere every month. This month it was my christmas plane ticket ($200), two years of web-hosting for my web design business site ($100) and the bike that I will mostly like buy tomorrow ($150). I guess I should just count myself lucky that even after all that I will have some left over to save, and disasters unforeseen will not be purchasing any more plane tickets for the rest of the year.

How To Get Stuff For Cheap: Plane Tickets

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:47:00 +0000

This isn't going to be a very long post because my strategy for airline tickets is very simple. I sign up for "Net SAAver Alerts" with american airlines and check every single day. This is a feature that american airlines offers "aadvantage" members that displays the fare sales of all your selected cities on the home page. "Aadvantage" is their frequent-flier program and there are no associated charges. I live in Chicago but my boyfriend and I are both from Austin, so we fly there at least twice a year for thanksgiving and christmas. Because I know that I have a constant need for tickets to Austin, I add it to my fare sale alerts list and then go to american's homepage every day. That way as soon as a sale that includes thanksgiving or christmas dates comes up (and believe me they do not like to put these heavy-travel times on sale so the tickets go fast) I can snatch them up right away. I bought our christmas tickets this weekend and our thanksgiving ones about a month and a half ago. I also use this feature for vacations- I have many destinations that I would like to travel to on my list and when a fare sale arises for one I will know about it and be able to plan my trip around the dates that are on sale. This is how we flew to new york for $98 each round trip.
Yes this method isn't very sexy or top-secret, but I like it because I hate going so many different sites looking for plane tickets (expedia, hotwire, travelociy, etc), not knowing which one is giving me the best deals. This way I only have to go to one website, and I know that I will be flying on an airline that is trustworthy. American also has a policy that the lowest ticket prices for their flights will always be displayed on their own site, which I have found to be true. By spending a few minutes a day and planning ahead I save myself money and the stress of spending hours searching for flights before each vacation.

Make Some Noise to Save Some Money

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:08:00 +0000

I really enjoyed Get Rich Slowly's recent post Make Some Noise to Save Some Money, it's about how to get extras or fees waived just by asking.

I saw a big example of this recently: my boyfriend has been shopping for a new bike and could not decide between two bikes at different price points. He was discussing this with the bike shop and guess what they did? Offered to give him the better model for the price of the lesser one. The savings was huge, several hundred dollars, and he walked away with a great bike at the price of a mid-range one. You never know unless you ask.

Give yourself a money-saving choice

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:50:00 +0000

This is one technique that I use to limit my spending: choose one thing or the other for the day. Two daily spending behaviors that I have are taking the train and not bringing my lunch. So I have decided that every workday I can eat lunch out OR take the train, but not both in the same day. If I ride my bike (my cheaper alternative to taking the train) AND bring my lunch, that's great but sometimes I'm feeling lazy and it doesn't always happen. Giving yourself an option like this is a good way to do a daily check on your spending, and is easier than trying to remember what your behavior for the week has been. (How easy it is to forget on thursday what you did for lunch on monday!) This is also a way to not feel guilty about spending you enjoy- for example if you want to reward yourself with a starbucks run during the day take the bus home that afternoon to make up for it.

Festival of Under 30 Finances

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 17:47:00 +0000

Check out the latest Festival of Under 30 Finances hosted by Beachgirl's Budget Blog. My sumbission is under the "paying off debt" category, which I was somewhat surprised by. It's not actually about paying off debt but you should read it anyway if you haven't already!

My picks from this festival:
Is it better to pay down debt or save for a down payment?
The Dead End Road of Conspicuous Consumption (Part 1)

Anyone can afford $20 per paycheck

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:10:00 +0000

If you know anything at all about personal finance you know about the power of compound interest. When you're young this is a huge advantage that means saving a little bit now will pay off big time later. But for various reasons many of us don't even save that little bit.

I contribute $20 a paycheck to my work 401k. Yes, just $20.

That may sound ridiculously small, and you may feel embarrassed emailing your HR person to tell them to put so little in your account. But get over yourself and just do it. Anyone can afford $20 out of each paycheck, and it's true that when its automatically taken out you don't miss it one bit. I contribute so little to my work 401k because I don't get a match and so I focus on a Roth IRA for my retirement savings. For someone older I might spreading themselves so thin would be a waste of money, but when you're in your 20s it is very wise to put something, anything in an account and give it time to grow. Hopefully I will someday be in a financial situation where I will be making too much to fund a roth, or where my employer offers a match to my 401k, and at that time I will be very glad that I had started a fund to grow from.

Question of the Day

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:31:00 +0000

AllFinancialMatters is hosting a Question of the Day Marathon for the month of august. Some of the questions have been more engaging than others but I thought this one garnered some interesting responses: Spending Less Versus Earning More: Which is More Important to Financial Success?

noreply@blogger.com (Then Things) — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 17:26:00 +0000

My entry Expanding the Definition of "Professional Development" is up at the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Get rich slowly

My picks from this carnival:
A Review of ING Direct CD Ladders
An interview with someone who has used prosper
Is Home an Investment or a Liability?