TV Girl and Money

May Grocery Challenge - Week 1

2008-05-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in Krystal's May Grocery Challenge, so I thought I would list out my grocery expenses each week as I go through the challenge.

My goal is to spend less than $120 for the month, which includes eating out. This week I spent $31.54, including a lunch at Jack in the Box. I rarely eat out for both money and health reasons, but I was out looking for apartments and didn't pack anything to take with me. Here's the breakdown:

Jack in the Box:
$5.59 Sourdough Jack Meal

Stater Bros:
$8.39 Chicken
$2.50 Bread
------------------
$10.89 Total

Fresh and Easy:
$1.58 Eggs
$1.98 Half gallon of milk
$4.43 Splenda
$2.59 Grape Nuts
$2.49 Fresh Strawberries
$2.98 Peanut Butter
$1.49 Frozen Strawberries
$2.34 Honey
$0.18 a banana
------------------
$20.06 Subtotal
-$5.00 off coupon
------------------
$15.06 Total

I tend to buy and cook in bulk and then freeze individual portions for later, so my week to week purchases don't usually contain well rounded nutritional value, but don't worry, I'm getting a good variety overall. :)

Deciding on a New Apartment

2008-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

About 20 minutes after I wrote about finding my new apartment, one of the girls emailed me to say that she'll be moving out in September or October because she just found out that she's pregnant. She wanted me to know upfront in case it affected my decision.

I emailed her back to say that I needed time to think about it, and I've been doing just that ever since. The thing I'm most concerned about is that a lot can happen between now and October, and I don't want to be living in tiny quarters with a newborn if she ended up not moving out for some reason.

I talked to my mom and a couple of friends about it, and I think I've decided that I'm still going to take the apartment. Even if worse came to worse, my lease would be up in January so I could move out then, but I really don't think that will be neccessary. The girl is being very upfront and honest about the situation, and when I mentioned my concern, she assured me that she would 100% be moving out because there's no space for a baby in her current room. She also mentioned that of the people they've seen, I'm their first choice to move in, which makes me feel good that we all felt the same good vibes with each other.

So by the end of the month, I'll be living in a new place. I'm slightly more apprehensive about it now then I was before I knew about the pregnancy, but overall I'm really excited. Change is hard for some people, but I think I actually thrive on it a little. It's a new adventure full of new opportunities.

Now I just have to figure out the most economical way to move my stuff there.

Finding the New Apartment

2008-05-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

I think I found the apartment I'm going to move to. I went to see it and meet the roommates last night, and I loved it. The only downsides are that the room is a little smaller than what I have now and the expenses are a little more, but I think overall the pros outweigh the cons.

It's a three bedroom, two bath apartment. I'll be living with two girls and sharing a bathroom with one of them. The apartment complex is nice; it has walking trails that I'll probably use a lot and a pool that I'll probably use a little. The apartment has a dishwasher, which is a HUGE plus for me - my current apartment doesn't have one and I HATE doing dishes. They also have cable TV there already, which is a plus because my current roommates don't watch TV at all so I ended up paying most of the expense and always feeling like it still wasn't fair to them. I think the best part is that it's a lot closer to work, so I not only save money on gas, but I gain an hour a day of time.

The girls were really nice, responsible, clean, and mature. We talked very comfortably for quite a while, which is always a good sign. I don't need to be BFFs with my roommates (in fact, I tend to keep to myself a lot), but I do want to live with people that I feel comfortable talking to and hanging out with on occasion. These girls definitely fit the bill.

Here's an expense comparison:

Current apartment:
$555 Rent
$35 Utilities
$10 Laundry
$80 Gas
--------------
$680 Total

New apartment:
$675 Rent
$60 Utilities
$10 Laundry
$40 Gas
--------------
$785 Total

So it's about $100 more per month, but for that I get a dishwasher, an hour a day less commuting time, nicer roommates, more TV channels, a pool, and a nicer neighborhood.

It's not a done deal yet - they're going to let me know tonight - but I'm pretty sure things will work out.

Apartment Shopping and Laptop Stress

2008-05-05T15:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm a terrible blogger. You guys must wonder where I go for days at a time. Mostly I just get distracted with other things - usually tv, of course. Most shows are back on after the looooong writers' strike induced hiatus

I've also been looking for a new place to live. One of my current roommates is moving out, and I don't really want to live with the one who's staying, so I'm apartment shopping. I've been looking on Craigslist for another roommate situation, and I've found a couple possibilities, but nothing that sounds like the perfect situation. I want to find something close to work, with nice, quiet roommates. I'd also like to have a good sized room and my own bathroom, but those things are more negotiable. The biggest obstacle is that the closer I get to where I work, the more expensive things tend to be. I don't have a set date that I have to move though, so I'll just keep looking till I find the right situation.

I'm also dealing with a malfunctioning laptop right now, which is not fun at all. The only copy of my budget is on that laptop, so I'm kind of freaking out because I can't get it to start up. I'm going to try again tonight. Hopefully I can at least get it to start in safe mode so I can get some of the files off it. As soon as I figure all of that out, I'll do a networth update.

Netflix vs. Redbox: A TV Girl Smackdown

2008-04-22T08:52:00.000-07:00

After discovering Redbox a couple weeks ago, I've been toying with the idea of cancelling my Netflix subscription, but I haven't quite been able to bring myself to do it. In order to make the decision, I've employed a winner take all boxing match between the two.

In the first corner we have Redbox, which lays the first punch with it's price. The cost of Redbox is basically nothing. I can get free rental codes through Inside Redbox, and I'm very diligent about watching the movie that night and returning it the next day, so I don't get hit with fees. Compared to Netflix at $10 a month, which gets me about 8 movies, Redbox is far superior.

In the second corner is Netflix, which lays the second punch with The Queue. I love The Queue so much that I recently discovered that the limit is 500 movies. Nevermind that it would take me about five years, two months, and two weeks (yes, I calculated) to watch that many movies and tv shows, I just love The Queue. I love that I can save shows and movies for later so that I don't forget about them. I also love browsing through the list until I find something I've forgotten about, getting excited about it all over again, and moving it to the top of the list. I love adding, subtracting, and rearranging movies in that thing. It's like a giant To Do List, and combining Television with To Do Lists is basically heaven in my book.

After one good punch on each side, Netflix lands another jab with it's selection. Netflix has just about every movie, tv show, and documentary that you could dream up. Their selection trumps any local video store, and it certainly rises far above Redbox, which consists almost entirely of mainstream movie new releases. For me, the best thing about the Netflix selection is the tv shows. I've discovered and come to love many tv shows through Netflix, and I wouldn't have otherwise watched them because it's too prohibitive to buy them at $50 a pop.

At this point you'd think Netflix was ahead, two punches to one, but Redbox's cost punch was the strongest hit, so they're laying pretty even right now. Netflix allows you to put your account on hold, reserving your queue, but not charging you or sending you any movies. I've decided to do that for now and see how I get along on Redbox only. I may decide to resurrect my Netflix account in the summer when the TV drought hits. We'll see.

My Biggest Budget Busters

2008-04-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ana at Debt-Free Revolution posted a meme on her biggest budget busters. Instead of tagging people, she said anyone who wanted to could tag them self, so Tag! I'm it. :)

I do very little impulse buying anymore, so I don't really have the "little things add up" type busters anymore, but here are my three biggest budget busters:

1. Student Loans: Seriously, I must love education. A lot. To the tune of $100,000. Although this isn't exactly a "budget buster" in the sense that I impulse spend randomly, it is the single biggest expense in my budget, so I'm putting it here. At $660 a month, my education costs more than my rent each month. It's truly disturbing how little I thought about paying it back while I was accumulating it.

2. TV on DVD sets: This is one that I impulse often, but I've gotten much better about it since my financial revolution. I had a weak moment with Veronica Mars Season Three in January, but other than that I've abstained completely. It helped that I got a few at Christmas, and my birthday is coming up, but I think I may have to use some of my blow money to acquire Prison Break Season Two. The upside is that I've waited so long to buy it that I can get it on Amazon for about $25 rather than $45 when it first came out. A lesson in delayed gratification.

3. Plane Tickets: Although this is a budget buster, it's one that I feel is fully justified. I live in Southern California, but my whole family lives in Western Washington, so I budget for three trips per year to visit my family on holidays and other special occasions. This year I'm going for my sister's wedding in August, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas. It costs about $300 to $400 per trip, so it's expensive, but you just can't put a price on going home for the holidays. It's a song for a reason.

I'll tag Carol of Debt Free in the Ozarks. What are your biggest budget busters?

A Frugal Weekend and a Carnival

2008-04-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made two big batches of food and froze the leftovers to have later. On Saturday I made The Simple Dollar's Quick Chicken Casserole, and on Sunday I made Turkey Zucchini Chili. I did a rough estimate of the price per serving on each of these. The casserole worked out to about $1.10, and the chili was about $0.60. Pretty good if I do say so myself. :)

Also, the 149th Carnival of Personal Finance was today, and my post, Choosing Fight over Flight, was included. Here are links to a few of my favorite posts:

Cutting the Cost of Food at Savings Freak
An Expensive Mistake: How I Overslept and Missed My Flight at Money Under 30
Spending Money Is Good at Cash Money Life

The Moment I Realized I'm Smarter Than My Parents

2008-04-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

Just when I think my parents are starting to get it, they go and do something monumentally stupid. Yesterday my dad told me that they'd just put in an air conditioner for $16,000, courtesy of a loan from the electric company. He was so excited to tell me all about their "great" interest rate.

You know what a "great" interest rate is, Dad? ZERO.

That's what I should have said. Unfortunately I'm only quippy after twelve hours of thinking about it. I did tell him that the definition of "not being able to afford it" was that you couldn't pay cash for it. He said, "Oh, I see," in a condescending tone that told me if he'd been standing next to me he would have patted me on the head.

The stupidest part of the whole thing is that they probably won't hardly use the thing. They live in the Seattle area. No one there needs an air conditioner. They've lived in the same house for over 20 years, and they never needed an air conditioner before. What kind of logic suggests that they would need one now, and need it so badly that they had to get a $16,000 loan to get it? It defies the imagination.

That puts their debt up in the neighborhood of $50,000, not counting the stuff they've co-signed for me and my sisters or the mortgages on their house and rental property. They're just completely in love with debt. I so SO do not understand it, and I'm to the point now where I think they may never learn.

The thing that really grates on me about this is that I've been sending them money by the truckload lately, and they're just taking it and throwing it down the drain at payments for crap they don't need. I know I owe them the money - it was never really mine to begin with, and they can do what they want with it - but it frustrates me to no end to know that I'm sending thousands of dollars to people who are going to piss it away. The next thing I know they'll decide that they "need" new car smell in their life.

Good thing Battlestar Galactica is on tonight. I need something to distract me.

Choosing Fight Over Flight

2008-04-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

GLBL wrote a great post on reasons why people don't budget. Before my Financial Revolution last August, I was firmly in the "It's Too Complicated" camp.

For some unknown reason, I had created a mental block when it came to money. Just thinking about anything to do with money, whether it was budgeting or consolidating my student loans or doing my taxes, would bring over an intense fear. My fight or flight reflex kicked in and I automatically picked flight every time. I either ignored the situation or I called my mom and whined to her until she helped me or did it for me.

I'm still not sure what it was that turned me around. I can remember the how and when; I was reading about America's debt problem on MSN Money, and I went home that night, added up all of my debt, and decided to figure out how to turn it around. But I still can't figure out the why. What was it about that day that made me pick fight instead of flight?

Whatever the reason was, I'm infinitely glad I chose to fight. I'm over $111,000 in debt, but I feel like I have more money now than I've ever had before. Creating a budget was the best thing I ever did.

Revolution Money Exchange Referral

2008-04-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

I signed up for Revolution Money Exchange, so I'm posting a referral link here if anyone is interested in signing up.

If you haven't heard of it, it's basically Paypal without the fees. They're running a promotion right now where if you sign up through a referral you get $25 and the referrer gets $10. The offer was supposed to end today, but the site now says that it ends May 15th, so apparently they extended it. The money isn't tied to the account for any period of time, so you could even sign up just to get the $25, transfer it to your bank, and then close the account.

Here's the link if you're interested:
Revolution Money Exchange Referral Link

Allocating My Economic Stimulus Check

2008-04-15T08:39:00.001-07:00

Paid Twice's post about the economic stimulus check reminded me that I should post about what I plan to do with mine.

I've seen lots of articles about how you should spend it to stimulate the economy or how putting it on debt and/or saving it actually does stimulate the economy. Truthfully, I have no idea what to make of all of it, and I really couldn't care. I think the whole idea of the stimulus package is pretty stupid. It's just a political move in the big game that is the election.

That said, I'll gladly take any money that comes my way, and I'll definitely be putting every penny of this check toward debt. I have goals and a plan, and it doesn't matter where the money comes from or what it's "supposed" to be for. Any money that comes into my budget goes straight out to achieve those goals.

April Budget Challenge Update

2008-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that I'm participating in Give Me Back My Five Bucks' April Budget Challenge, and so far, I'm doing really well. My goal was to stick to $20 for blow money.

So far I've only spent $1.08 for a Redbox rental a couple weeks ago. I went to get a movie and none of the codes I had worked, so I paid for the rental. I should have walked out without the movie cause it really wasn't that important to rent a movie right then and there, but it was only a dollar, so it was an inexpensive lesson learned.

We're halfway through the month, so if I can keep this up, I'll have some money left over to add to next month's blow money. With almost $40 I could buy a TV on DVD set or some comic books I've been missing out on. I'd probably buy Prison Break Season Two or a few issues of Buffy Season Eight. Hmm... choices, choices.

Why 33 Cents?

2008-04-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my mom called and asked me why I'd sent her $419.33. I wondered how she could possibly forget that I owed her almost $10,000 and was paying it back, but I answered that it was her payment for the month. She said, yes, but why 33 cents?

Apparently she still hasn't grasped the concept of "every penny counts". I've told her how I'm snowflaking everything I save/earn and giving it to her at the end of the month, but apparently she didn't think I really meant everything. Like, to the penny.

Overall though, she's been doing better at paying attention to finances and paying off debt. She started listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio, and I think hearing it from him rather than me has helped a lot. She's called me a couple of times to ask a "what would Dave do" question and tell me she's going to revisit her bills and she if they're paying for things they don't use, so I know she's thinking more about finances and taking steps in the right direction. She didn't jump in wholeheartedly from the beginning like I did, but everyone's different, and she's picking things up slowly but surely. Hopefully one day she'll call me with a question or comment about paying cash for a car.

*Sigh* Mothers are so hard to train.

I'm excited about Redbox, Yogurt, and Half and Half

2008-04-07T15:19:00.001-07:00

I'm officially in love with Redbox. Or Redbox codes, to be more specific.

After discovering Inside Redbox last Monday, I've been renting movies for free for a week. I'm in heaven. I've even thought about canceling my Netflix subscription, although I probably won't because of the depth and variety of choices Netflix has over Redbox.

The most convenient location is in an Albertsons on my way home from work, so I've been stopping there on my way to or from work almost every day. It only costs me a negligible amount of extra gas to do so, and I've also discovered that the yogurt and half and half I'd been buying at Stater Bros is a little cheaper at Albertsons, so some of the trips are killing two birds. It's just all around great for me! :)

March Net Worth: -$97, 122

2008-04-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's April! I always like the beginning of the month because I get to see the effects of all my budgeting, frugality, and delayed gratification.

I got a nice surprise this month when I got a bonus check from work. It was $625, so it was a nice chunk of change to add to my income. I put $400 into my emergency savings to help prepare for the upcoming move, and the rest got added to my snowball and sent to my parents.

The final net worth number for this month is -$97,122. Details can be found here.

Is It April Yet?

2008-03-28T09:46:00.001-07:00

I always feel antsy about my finances in the last few days of the month.

After I've done my last grocery store trip for the month and I know I don't have any other expenditures to make, I just want the month to be over so that I can make my debt payments and update my net worth. I always wait to do these things until the month is really over because you never know what sorts of emergencies could crop up on the 30th or 31st that could force me to tweak the budget, so I always sort of feel like, "Ugh, is it the 1st yet?" Kinda like a kid saying, "Are we there yet?" on a road trip.

I'm impatient about making progress, and since I've pretty much made all the progress I'm going to make this month, I want to update the numbers, put it behind me with an air of satisfaction, and start fresh with a new month of possibilities.

Is it April yet?

April Budget Challenge

2008-03-27T10:20:00.001-07:00

I've decided to join Krystal and her readers at Give Me Back My Five Bucks for the April Budget Challenge. My goal is to not go over my $20 blow money budget. I added that category in January to give myself a little room to wiggle, mostly for entertainment expenses, but I've gone over budget every month since.

$40 TV on DVD sets are my enemy disguised as my friend. Oh, how I love them. Especially after depriving myself of them from August through December. I still don't own Prison Break Season Two or Heroes Season One. Tragic, I know.

From now on, though, I'm going to have to save up for two months to get them! I'll keep you in the loop as the month goes on, and let you know how I'm doing on this.

Preparing for a Move

2008-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

I've been considering a job move for the past few months, and I've been trying to plan for it financially so that I don't create any new debt associated with the move. The absolute last thing I need is new debt.

With the job move will most likely come an apartment move. I currently live and work in Orange County, but I'd like to be in LA, so I've been searching for jobs there.

There are tons of ways this could/will affect me financially. First, there's the normal costs of moving, like renting a moving truck and buying things my current roommates have that I don't (like a vacuum cleaner). Plus I'll need a deposit for an apartment; I should get most/all my deposit on my current apartment back, but I may not get it until after I have to pay for the new apartment. Also, I plan on renting a 2BR apartment and finding a roommate, which means I may have to front the whole rent for the first month or two. Finally, I could potentially be with out a paycheck for a few weeks, depending on how the pay schedule works at the new job compared to my current job.

In order to offset some of these costs, I've been beefing up my emergency fund. Instead of the normal $1000, I've got it up to $2400. When I combine that with the $555 I currently pay in rent, and the ~$400 snowball I have from my income each month, I have almost $3400 to cover me until I find a roommate and get my current deposit back. That feels a little too close for comfort, and it really makes me wish I had a fully funded emergency fund, but barring any major disasters, I should be okay.

Thinking about all of this makes me wonder what the heck I was thinking the last time I moved. I packed my car and drove all of my belongings from Seattle to Orange County, without much thought about what I was getting myself into financially. It seems crazy to me now, and I probably racked up some debt in the process, but looking back I'm glad I did it. Like a lot of very expensive things in my life, I'm glad I did it, I just wish I'd done it a little differently.

Anyway, I'll keep updating as I make progress on the job front and the apartment front. :)

Tire Crisis Averted

2008-03-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday morning I went out to my car to drive to work and saw that my driver's side rear tire was flat. All I could think was: Crap. That sucks.

I was a little freaked out about the financial implications - I thought I would have to buy a new tire, and I thought I remembered that you can't buy just one new tire because it will make the car unbalanced or something, so I thought I'd have to buy two or four tires. I was trying to figure out where to go to research tires while mentally draining my emergency fund by hundreds of dollars, but I was also trying not to worry about all of that too much yet, so I just got to work putting on the spare.

When I tried to loosen the lug nuts, however, I couldn't. Like, really really could not. At all. I put all my weight on the lug wrench, pushed and pulled in every way I could think of, and none of the lug nuts would budge.

Apparently I am a weakling.

I called my roommate to see if her boyfriend could come over and help me out. She couldn't get a hold of him, so that was not an option at the moment.

The next thing I thought of was to call a tire place and see if I could sweet talk them into sending someone over to help me. Since I thought I'd probably have to get new tires (the thought of repairing the flat one didn't occur to me), I hoped they might help a damsel in distress if they were getting some business out of it.

The first place I called was half helpful. The guy suggested calling a tow truck (which was not helpful because I didn't want to spend the money if I didn't have to), but he also suggested that the tire might be able to be fixed without buying a new one (which was very helpful because I didn't want to spend the money if I didn't have to).

The second place I called was actually where I'd just gotten my oil changed the day before. I'm not sure why I didn't think to call them first, but they were EXTREMELY helpful. They're a small independent shop about six blocks from where I live. They sent a guy over to my house, he put the spare on, I drove to their shop, and they fixed it for me and only charged me $20 for the whole shebang. Wahoo!

Crisis averted.

Catching Up

2008-03-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Since I've been off the radar for a while, I'll give you a little recap of what's been going on.

As you can see from the sidebar, I blew my December Alternative Income goal out of the water. After being determined to make $600, I ended the month at $1,111.17. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I put a chunk of it in my plane ticket fund, beefed up my emergency fund, paid off the last remnant of my unconsolidated student loan, and even had a little left to pay extra on my credit card.

After being pretty intense in December, I took a little break in January. I did fine, just not fabulous, so the credit card went down slightly.

Then came February. I thought December was good, until February showed up and kicked December's butt. February was an extra check month at my job, so I had an extra $1280 to put on the snowball. I also got my tax refund in February, which was over $3400! With those two things, I knocked out the credit card and the money I owed to my friends and still had $788 to send to my parents. My mom liked February a lot.

I feel really good about things now that my parents are in first position in the snowball. It feels good to be making great strides of progress.

Another thing that happened in February is that I opened my own business. I've never wanted to be a freelancer because I was so terrible with money, but now that I have a handle on that part, freelancing doesn't seem nearly as scary. So far I've gotten two jobs: one for $400 and one for $1500. And that's without doing any marketing. I plan on ramping up my efforts after I take care of my job search.

That's right: I'm on the hunt for a new job. I'm not happy where I am for lots of reasons, so even though I've only been here for seven months, I feel like I need to move on. I recently read 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller (thanks to winning a copy from ChristianPF.com), and the book had tons of great job hunting advice. Using the book's method, I mailed 15 introduction letters to my target companies yesterday, and I have CVs, resumes, and introduction letters ready to go for 15 more companies. I'm really looking forward to seeing the results pay off, especially in terms of the quality of my job.

A Renewed Committment

2008-03-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to those of you who have stuck around with me on your feed reader after a three month lack of posts. I got out of the habit of posting and just never picked it back up again. I think part of the problem was that I was putting too much pressure on myself to have great content here. While I would love to wax poetic and give you all great advice about sophisticated financial topics, I simply don't have the expertise or drive it takes to dole all of that out, so I'm not sure why I'd convinced myself that I had to.

I've had a lot of financial successes over the past three months, and there have been many times that I've wanted a place to share them. This blog is the perfect place, and in fact, that's exactly what I created it for.

So today is a new day. A new day for me, a new day for this blog, and a new day on my road to financial freedom. With every new day comes a new opportunity to better than the day before, so today I will start posting again. This time, however, I'll post with a lot less pressure on myself.

I plan on treating this blog much more like a personal financial journal from now on. It will be a place to share the little set backs and successes as well as the big ones, and a place to share daily (or nearly daily) financial happenings in my life. I may occasionally wax poetic about something, but mostly I'll post about what I bought that day, what bills I paid, and how negative or positive I happen to be feeling about my finances that day.

Here we go.

Apologies and Updates

2007-12-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of days. I've felt like I don't really have anything to say, although that's not completely true. I guess I just don't have anything topical to say, i.e. I've been lacking specific topics or overarching ideas for posts. This blog, however, was never meant to contain great philosophical or financial material, so that's really not an excuse. This blog was meant to chronicle my journey toward debt freedom and beyond, and certainly I can find something to say about that.

On that note, I'd like to share some exciting news. As of Friday, I completed one of my goal progress bars! After receiving a lot of the money I've made from my December Alternative Income goal (which is also nearly complete - see next paragraph), I sent a final payment of $488.67 to AES and they are now out of my life forever! That company has been particularly irritating to work with; they have terrible customer service, and they were very unaccommodating when I tried to get a forbearance or deferment during a financial hardship a couple years ago, so it's nice to be rid of them. Best of all, I have $190 to add to my debt snowball!

On the December Alternative Income side of things, the progress bar only reflects what has actually been deposited into my bank account thus far, but the real total is closer to $1200! My parents sold some of my furniture that was still at their place from when I moved, which was $150. I sold a couple things on eBay for over $300, and that money should be arriving in my account from PayPal today or tomorrow. Last but not least, I have over $600 in payments from Amazon that will be deposited next Monday! I'll keep updating the progress bar as things come in, but it should reach 100% in the next 24 hours.

That's all the updates I have for now. Keep the encouragement coming! I love reading your comments!

Money Won’t Solve Everything – Sometimes You Need Someone to Care About You

2007-12-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

My grandma has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s, so she often says funny things that don’t make sense or tells the same story several times in one day. It’s a sad disease, no doubt, but Grandma is just so darned happy-go-lucky that we can’t help but find amusement in it. My family often jokes about the things, but in all seriousness, her situation has gotten me thinking about things I haven’t thought much about before.

In my mid-twenties, I haven’t thought a lot about my old age. It’s just too far away to comprehend right now. Between my grandma and the financial thinking I’ve been doing lately, however, I’ve realized that I will eventually get old, so I’ve started to plan for retirement.

I’m not married, but even if I do get married someday, I will probably not choose to have children, so there’s one question on my mind that all of the financial planning in the world can’t answer. Who will take care of me when I’m old?

We’ll all need someone to take care of us. I’m not talking about the care that a nurse or other professional would provide. I’m talking about someone to listen to us tell crazy stories or remind us which relatives have passed away. My mom, my dad, my sisters and I provide this type of care for my grandma. We call and visit, and we’re there for her for the little things, like hugs and picnics and jokes we’ve heard a million times.

With all that’s been going on with my grandma, not long ago I asked my ten-year-old niece if she would take care of me when I’m old. I was half joking, but she happily agreed, and told me that she would pick out my home and listen to me tell the same stories over and over. Lord only knows what life will bring on over the next 40 or 50 years, but it’s nice to know that someone will be looking out for me when I need it the most.

What about you? What questions have you been wondering about lately? What issues do you have that money won’t solve?

Recipe: TV Girl's Morning Oatmeal

2007-12-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

Today's recipe is what I enjoy for breakfast nearly every morning. It's healthy, simple, cheap, and highly customizable.

1/4 cup Oatmeal
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Vanilla Yogurt
Some frozen fruit or berries

Make the oatmeal according to the microwave directions on the package (oatmeal + water in a bowl, then microwave for a minute and a half). Stir in the fruit or berries (blueberries are my favorite) and let them sit for a couple minutes to defrost. Stir in the yogurt and enjoy!

Note: fresh fruit works as well, but for me that leaves the oatmeal too warm and it tastes weird after I put the yogurt in, so if I'm using fresh fruit I put the cooked oatmeal in the freezer for a minute or so to cool it off a little.

I'd love to hear if anyone tries this! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for customizing it.

December Alternative Income Update

2007-12-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

My $600 December alternative income goal is going EXTREMELY well. As you can see from the side bar, I've made about $240 so far, but that doesn't include a couple things I'm expecting soon. Here's the breakdown:

Half Price Books - $58
DVDs sold on Amazon.com - $182 (after fees and shipping)
Christmas bonus from work - $200
eBay auction - currently at $264 with four days left (before fees and shipping)

Total: $690 (after eBay fees and shipping)

And it could still climb higher. I've got another eBay auction with no bids yet, but similar auctions have sold for around $100 and there's still four days left. I've also got a few more things waiting for the right buyer on Amazon.com, as well as my skis that are up for sale on Craig's List. The total could potentially get above $1000!

Where's all that money going? The first chunk is going to AES. That company has been particularly irritating to work with, so when I send the final payment in the next few days I'll feel a huge sense of satisfaction. The rest of the money will be used to beef up my emergency fund. It's not at full capacity yet, and after fixing my computer I'll really want to get it back up to a comfortable level.

Onward with the money-making!