Again, in short, I love Craigslist. Love.

Here are the furniture items I’ve purchased from Craigslist sellers in the past year. NOTE: The quality of the photos is not the best…there’s pretty much no good time of day to take a picture in my apartment. You either get sun glare during the day or shadows in the evening. So bear with me

First up – my coffee table! I got this about a year ago from a guy in Capitol Hill. This coffee table is from West Elm and retails for $300. The guy was asking $150, I got it for $125:

Next, my wine rack. Also from a guy in Capitol Hill, who originally purchased it from Crate and Barrel. He was asking $50, I paid $30. Obviously, the wine was not included:

This next piece is what one of my friends calls my Sherlock Holmes chair. This was probably my shadiest transaction, as I had to meet the seller at her storage unit. But it was a good deal; it’s super comfortable for writing my blog posts in! She was asking $100, I paid $75.

Ok, this next piece is probably the most polarizing piece of furniture ever. If you think it’s hideous, you’re in good company. About 50% of people who see it IRL think it is the tackiest thing they’ve ever seen, about 50% think it’s really beautiful. I can’t really explain why I love it, I just do. I bought this from a girl about my age who lives in Arlington for $200; this is the only item I paid full asking price for. My boyfriend and I had a hell of a time getting it out of her house and onto his truck, but it was worth it. Again, I inexplicably love it:

Both of those curved pieces on the right and left flip up for extra storage!

Finally, I purchased this piece just this past weekend. My boyfriend disapproves of this purchase, because I had a perfectly functional nightstand, but it was taking up space and had no storage. This one has a drawer and two shelves, so I think it was a good buy. Again, I got this from a guy in Capitol Hill; he was asking $40, I paid $30.  If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I replaced the knobs, which added about $7 to the total cost of this item:

 If you do the math, you’ll notice that I’ve paid $460 over the past year for total apartment overhaul. Again, this is steal compared to what I would have paid for similar items in-store.

Thinking of looking around on Craigslist for some new furniture? Here are some of my top tips:

1. Haggle, haggle, haggle! Unlike in a lot of other buyer/seller situations in the U.S., haggling is expected on Craigslist and it’s a great way to get a SUPER sweet deal. I paid almost 50% less than the seller’s asking price for my wine rack – the worst they can say is no!

2. Narrow your search to the nicest neighborhoods in your area. People that live in nice neighborhoods (like Capitol Hill) tend to have nice stuff. You’ll find some of your highest-quality Craigslist items in these neighborhoods, so keep your eyes peeled.

3. Don’t expect perfection. Remember that in most cases the stuff that you’re buying on Craigslist isn’t brand new, so there will be some dings and dents in most items. My wine rack, for example, has a pretty nasty scratch on the wood top…but I knew I would be putting my espresso maker over it, so I didn’t really mind.

4. Be patient. Craigslist is the proverbial craps shoot, so it’s unlikely that you’ll find the perfect item right away. Keep looking! It took me about six weeks to find my desk, but that’s part of the fun. Logging on every night and seeing what’s been added is part of the Craigslist experience. Embrace it!

5. Keep yourself safe. Always suggest meeting in a public place to conduct the sale, and NEVER wire anyone money before you have the item you’re buying. I must admit, before I read some scary stories, I met a few people at their houses. I went with my boyfriend a few times, a few times I went alone. The people were always totally harmless, but this is not advisable! If you must go to someone’s home, bring someone with you and tell your friends where you’re going.

So what about you? Do you buy stuff from Craigslist? Tell me your Craigslist stories!

Well, except for my cat. But basically, I live alone. I have lived alone for the past 5 years, and in that time I’ve come to believe that living alone is a very, very important life experience. There’s something indescribably gratifying about knowing that I can keep a household running all by myself. Every piece of furniture in my apartment is where it is because I put it there – and I also picked each of those pieces out and paid for them myself. There’s food in the fridge because I bought it. I alone pay the rent every month, plus all the other monthly bills. I’ve learned how to hang pictures, how to paint walls, how to unclog drains.

In short, living alone has taught me – in very concrete terms – that I can successfully lead an independent home life, and I really believe that this experience has been priceless.

But that doesn’t mean that it has come free – or even cheap. I’m currently paying $1,007 per month for the privilege of living by myself, and at 38% of my take-home pay, I know that this is way too expensive. Living alone is an ostensibly bad financial decision, especially when you’re in your 20′s and living with roommates is still socially acceptable. But even when I had my financial “awakening” a few years ago, I refused to give up living by myself. In fact, I never even seriously considered it as an option.

In short, I chose a good life decision over a good financial decision. I think even the most ardently frugal among us have done the same at some point in their lives, whether it was the decision to get divorced, have a child, move cross-country, or quit a toxic job. These decisions are sometimes deeply painful and, again, costly, but most of us end up better off as a result of forging ahead with them.

What about you? When have you made a good life decision over a good financial decision? Tell me your story!

Click image for source

Let me just be clear about one thing: I. Love. Meat. 

Steak, chicken wings, grilled hot dogs, barbecued ribs….meat is delicious. Period.

However. Meat is also very expensive, particularly lean cuts that haven’t been treated with hormones or antibiotics. So as much as I love a piece of grilled chicken, my wallet doesn’t. Which is why I’ve been thinking about transitioning to a more vegetable-based diet in order to save some money on groceries. 

The way I see it, this is basically a win-win. I save money and end up eating a healthier diet. I’m not willing to cut out meat all together, but I am willing to cut back significantly in order to save a few bucks and clean up my poor, abused arteries. Now, if I gave up meat only to start chowing down on a bunch of fake meat products (think processed veggie burgers, chicken-less patties, etc.) I probably wouldn’t save very much money. But luckily, I really like lentils, beans, and nuts. If I favor these types of meat substitutes, I think the potential for saving some serious cash is huge.

What do you think? Would you cut back on meat to save money? Are you currently a vegetarian? Why or why not? 

Yikes, right?!! Actually, wrong.

Yes, you read that right. Spending almost $200 in one morning didn’t cause me a single moment of stress, panic, or frustration (except for the couple screaming at each other in the line in front of me at Target – that was a little stressful). Why, you ask, did I not experience a spike in blood pressure at any point in my travels yesterday?

Budgeting, that’s why. Every single item I purchased yesterday was budgeted for – and it was glorious.

Shopping, even for necessities, used to seriously stress me out. I used to come home from a shopping trip, such as the one I took yesterday, agonize over my receipts, and wonder how the hell I was going to pay for it all. More often than not, I just wouldn’t actually pay for those items. I’d let the charges sit on my credit card, collecting interest from month to month. Every month, my indebtedness deepened.

But now? Now I have a flexible budget that allows me to buy all the things I need and most of the things I want, without going into debt. I can go shopping all morning without blinking an eye – or worse, worrying how much each of the things I bought will actually cost me, when all the credit card interest charges are factored in. That’s why I think budgeting is very freeing, as opposed to being restrictive. We all need things….and we all want things, too. Life is so much easier when we plan for those needs and wants and make sure we have a way to pay for them, instead of just spending willy nilly. I’m so happy I’ve found a method of budgeting that works for me and that I’m pretty good at sticking to every month. Now, having to buy tampons is just an inconvenience, not an agonizing, stressful, and ultimately absurdly expensive (the interest!) event.

What about you? Do you think budgets are a source of freedom or restriction? Explain!

I’ll start with one from a great Pennsylvanian:

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”

                                                                                                     - Benjamin Franklin

Share yours below!

On the one hand, this sucks. When I have tough financial decisions to make, I have no basic, deeply-held beliefs to fall back on. This is inconvenient, but, upon deeper reflection, maybe not all bad. Because on the other hand, I think my lack of a financial ideology might be a sign that I’m able to think analytically about my financial picture and make careful decisions on a case-by-case basis. So, I’ve decided that having no financial ideology might actually not be such a terrible thing.

At any rate, while I don’t have a financial ideology, what I do have are a few money “rules” that I stick to ruthlessly. As in, I’m very inflexible about these few practices. I consider them to be non-negotiable.

Again, they don’t form any type of cohesive belief basis, but they do play a huge role in guiding my financial decision making processes, so I thought I’d share them with my readers. Please, feel free to share your money rules in the comments below!

In no particular order, my money rules are:

1. Be well-insured

Having an emergency fund is important, but for most of us it’s almost impossible to save up enough money to cover a catastrophic medical emergency or your house burning down. Being well-insured is a key component of financial security, and one that’s not discussed very extensively in the personal finance world. Currently, I carry medical, dental, renter’s, car, long-term disability, and pet insurance. If I had children or a huge student loan bill I’d also have life insurance. Obviously, everyone’s situation is different, but if you’re under-insured you’re asking for trouble – take a long look at your life and ask yourself if everything you value is adequately covered. If not, get it covered, ASAP!

2. Keep track of your money

One of the reasons my debt and spending got so out of control a few years ago is because I was totally out-of-touch with my money. I stopped checking balances and keeping track of my spending – I just didn’t want to know. But not knowing where your money is going is seriously detrimental to your financial health – the less you know, the less you care, and the less you care the more trouble you’re likely to get yourself into. No matter high your balances are or how much you’ve wasted at Starbucks this past month, know your debt totals and where your money is being spent day-to-day. Knowing is the key to a healthier, happier financial future. So take a minute every day to log into all of your accounts – you’ll be happy you did.

3. Think very carefully before you borrow

I don’t think that it’s realistic for everyone to avoid all debt all the time. But I do think that before borrowing, the potential debtor should think very carefully about what she’s planning on going into debt for. Is the debt really necessary? How will I pay it back? What is the interest rate? Is there any way to avoid debt? Am I willing to take that option? These are just a few of the questions I ask myself before taking on new debt. Sometimes, even after the internal interrogation, I decide to proceed with taking on debt. But most of the time I don’t – I either forget about the thing I was going to buy entirely or I come up with an alternative that does not involve borrowing. I’m glad that this is a habit that I’m in now – because used to take on debt a lot more freely. And boy, oh, boy did I pay for it. Pun intended.

So what are your money rules? Do you agree or disagree with any of mine? Please, share!

“Should I pay off the credit card debt right away? Yes, definitely.”

“Wait, no, it’s interest free until next summer. I should definitely save it all.”

“….but I hate debt. I just want the balance paid.”

“I’m being too hasty. I should just save it and see what happens.”

“…but I hate debt. I just want the balance paid.”

This brings me to a disturbing conclusion about my financial ideology: I don’t have one. If I was a Dave Ramsey-ite, there’s no question what I’d do – I’d pay the debt off. If I was a Suze Orman-ite, I’d definitely be focusing on saving. But my financial ideology still isn’t well developed enough yet to, without a second thought, move in one direction. Honestly, this kind of bugs me. Probably because in other areas of my life, my ideas are firmly entrenched and I find them easy to support; I don’t waver and I feel confident explaining my positions.  My political ideology, for example, is very finely-tuned. So is my educational philosophy.

But financially? There are so many “what-ifs?” in personal finance that I’m still having a hard time nailing down where I stand on even major issues of personal financial strategy – even in the short term!

What about you? Do you have a distinct financial ideology? If so what, is it? If not, why are you struggling to establish one? Please tell me I’m not the only one struggling with this!

But here’s the best part: the classes are all free. 

That’s right, you and I can now sign up for Ivy League courses for free. There are lectures, assignments, tests, and quizzes – and grades are issued at the end of the semester. Apparently, the level of rigor is on par with that of each of the affiliated universities. The catch is that you don’t get actual credit for taking the course. So, if I take a Stanford computer science course and get an A (yeah right) then try to go enroll at Stanford, they won’t count that course towards my diploma.

I haven’t dug very deeply into the purpose behind Coursera. What motivation do the investors have for creating it? What motivation do the universities have for offering free courses? I’m not sure what the answer to those questions is. It’s obviously not that the founders of Coursera are trying to ease the burden of the expense of higher education for undergraduates – if you can’t get credit for the course, no one is getting closer to a degree. It’s also not just about continuing education for people currently in the workforce, otherwise they wouldn’t be offering poetry and sociology.

Regardless of the motives behind the creation of Coursera, I was curious enough to sign up for a course. That’s right, this fall I’ll be taking Greek and Roman Mythology from a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. I’m really excited about it – I love taking classes, so I think this will be really fun. I’m skeptical that it will be at the same level of challenge as a “real” Penn course, but just being in a class – any type of class – will be so refreshing. Anyone want to join me?

What do you think about the concept of Coursera? Would you sign up for a course? What about online learning in general – what are your thoughts? Let’s talk about it!

Bottom line: I need to establish an emergency fund ASAP.

For the record, it’s not as if I never planned on establishing an emergency fund. But I made maxing out my Roth IRA my priority for 2012 because if I really, really needed emergency cash and had no other option, I could tap it without taxes or penalties. At least, that’s what I always told myself. I’m realizing, though, that emergencies happen often and they can happen at the same time – digging into my Roth every time I get hit with a car problem or an unexpected medical bill could be disastrous in the long-term because the money needs to stay in the Roth to grow. I’m much better off having a stash of cash to tap in the event of an emergency, then focusing on maxing out my Roth. Which means, yes, I’m starting to agree with Dave Ramsey’s baby steps more and more. And yes, I’m counting this as a life lesson learned: having an emergency fund is not optional – it’s a necessity!

Anyway, I have two potential options for digging myself out of a minor amount of (interest free) credit card debt and establishing a $5,000 emergency fund by the end of 2012. I would really appreciate your opinion about which option to go with, especially because the second option is a little unconventional. Please, weigh in in the comments!

Option #1 – Traditional Dave Ramsey Methodology 

If I take this route, I’ll stop my Roth contributions immediately, build up my $1,000 “baby” emergency fund, pay off the credit card, then build my $5,000 emergency fund. I could do the steps in this order by the end of 2012 because I have some extra cash coming in over the summer and I’ll be funneling the $417 per month that I had been putting towards my Roth towards debt repayment/cash savings. The benefit to this plan is that it isn’t very risky; this will make sense when you read option #2…..

Option #2 – An Unconventional Idea 

Ok, hear me out on this one before you make a final decision: if I take this route, I’ll continue contributing the $417 to my Roth every month to max it out by December. I’ll use the extra money I have coming in to pay off the credit card. Then, at the end of December, I’ll transfer the $5,000 of contributions out of the Roth and into my savings account; I’ll never actually stop contributing to the Roth because at the point that I make that withdrawal, the emergency fund will be 100% funded and my credit card debt will be paid. So, in January 2013 I’ll just make my monthly contribution as usual, and will max it out just as I did in 2012. The benefit to this plan is that I have a whole year to earn interest on the contributions, so if I pull out those contributions in December, I’ll potentially have a few hundred dollars to start 2012 with, as opposed to the almost nothing I’ll be starting with if I stopped contributing immediately. Of course there’s always the risk that the market could take a serious dive and I could lose money, but in that case I’d just wait for it to rebound to make the withdrawal.

So what do you think? Which option would you choose? I want as many opinions as possible, so don’t be shy!

Anyway, here’s a list of the stuff I need and some thoughts/ideas I have about each of them – but I want your thoughts/ideas, too! Please weigh in if you have any suggestions or comments about the items discussed below – the more input the better!

In the near-ish future, I need…..

1. Luggage

This one is very tricky. A few times a year I usually go away for a week to ten days, but much more frequently I go on long-weekend type trips. I need luggage that can be used for both long and short trips – which doesn’t sound too tough, right? There are a lot of luggage sets out there that come with both a large and small bag. But space is also a huge issue for me. When the luggage isn’t in use, I need somewhere to stash it and I do not have much stashing space here. So, I was thinking that a big rolling duffle bag that can easily be smooshed down and stored under my bed might be a good option. I was looking at this one on Zappos, but it’s pretty pricey ($219):

Lipault 27" Rolling Dufflel

2. A vacuum

I bought a super-cheap vacuum a few years ago and it’s on its last legs. After much research and consideration, I’ve decided that I want a vacuum with a HEPA filter, but these tend to be expensive so I want to be sure to get a decent one that will last. I was thinking of this one:

Eureka HEPA Vacuum

Does anyone else use a HEPA vacuum? Could you make a recommendation?

3. A couch

The couch that I have now has lived a really long, full life. When I was a little kid it was my family’s living room sofa where it saw lots of use. It’s lived out its second life with me for the past five years, but now it’s starting to get ratty and discolored. Again, it’s not an emergency, but in the next year or so I’d really like to replace it. I’m usually a huge proponent of using Craig’s List for furniture, but it creeps me out to buy a used couch from someone I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about a new couch for a while and have been doing some browsing. This one from West Elm is my favorite and the price is reasonable, but I just can’t pull the trigger; I keep thinking I might find something similar at a better price:

West Elm Blake Sofa

What do you think of my choices? Again, any advice/suggestions/ideas would be great! Any large-ish purchases you’re planning on in the near-ish future? And happy Friday!