How cool are these photos? I would love to rent an arch.

Yikes! QuarterLife Finance's thumb drive just died...and she didn't back it up. Makes me nervous and I think I'm going to back mine up tonight.

Ouch, Frugal Zeitgeist details the upcoming expenses she's expecting. I don't know how much of a gift we're going to give to our super, but it won't be $400 (of course, we've only got the one guy). I was thinking of getting a gift card from one of our rewards banks, so it would be free. But Peanut says that makes me cheap. And he might be right.

late bills

I really hate the way our utility company handles their billing and payment.

 

For one thing, they've spelled my name wrong for years. There are two ways to spell my name, and they've got it the wrong way--but it's also got letters reversed. It's not even a real name. I've tried to get it corrected, but to no avail.

 

Second, their bills say DUE IMMEDIATELY but when you go to pay online, it automatically gives you a "transaction date" three weeks in the future. Um....?

 

And third, and most importantly, Peanut and I definitely paid this bill last month. Definitely, definitely--it was in our spreadsheet, and I only enter stuff like that after I've done my part. But they didn't debit the account, and so this month's bill includes last month's total as well. You can't set up automatic billing but you can have your routing and account number saved on their site. So it's not like we typed in the routing number wrong or something.

 

Anyway, we don't seem to be charged any late fees, but I took a screenshot after making the payment last night and will be paying close attention this month.

 

Also, over the weekend the boiler in our apartment building went crazy and the heat didn't shut off for several hours. Radiators all over the building popped, including ours, and we have water damage in our bedroom ceiling. Luckily Peanut and I took some time off work this week already since a friend of his will be in town, but now we are trying to make sure that the plumber actually shows up and fixes everything.

 

What was kind of scary is that the radiator that popped and was spraying water is the one right next to the computers. Luckily nothing was damaged, but yikes, that could have been bad.

 

I'm tired of being a grown up this week.

Stupidity

Why is it cheaper to fly from New York to COSTA RICA than it is to fly to Atlanta, Georgia?

 

Wow.

Health Care

It's open enrollment at my job, so here's a look at how things are changing. Below is a grid showing the premiums or contributions I paid per paycheck for the last three years (2006 excluded because I was here less than two months and from what I can tell, it was identical to 2007's numbers) and what it will cost me in 2010:

	2007	2008	2009	2010
Health Insurance	$    21.13	$    28.05	$    28.85	$    31.73
Dental	$       2.86	$       3.06	$       3.20	$       3.39
HFSA	$    10.00	$    10.00	$  208.34	$    25.00
Commuter Benefit	$    76.00	$    81.00	$    81.00	$    89.00

 

I left out my 401(k) contributions because they've been all over the map from 5-15% over the years as my economic situation changed. I have always contributed at least 5% to get the match, however, and I will continue to do so.

 

So what's ahead for 2010? Well, for starters, my health and dental insurance premiums both went up by a little. It's not too bad and those plans are still the ones that match my needs the best, so I'll stick with them. I didn't realize that the monthly subway pass had increased by $13 in just three years, but there you go.

 

My flex spending contributions are going way down--I'll get about $300 more per month (pre tax) than I did last year. I'm putting away $600, which should cover my standard copays for one doctor visit, two dental visits, a year's worth of birth control pills, and a little cushion for OTC medications and additional copays if I get sick or see a dermatologist. In 2009, excluding Lasik and therapy, I spent about $900 on medical and dental care, but I don't expect to get another root canal and crown in 2010, so I feel pretty good about the $600.

 

In addition to the premiums going up, a lot of other stuff changed with my health insurance though. Doctor visit copays went from $20 to $25. Therapy copays went from $15 to $20 (not that I'm paying that anymore, but I noted it). But prescriptions are where it really went out the window--my name brand birth control (for which there is no generic) cost $50 for three months in 2009. In 2010, the same prescription will cost $75 + 20% of the difference. Other forms of copays went up by $1 each (generic at retail pharmacy for one month went from $7 to $8, generic mail order for three months went from $15 to $16) but of course it's the one type that I'm on that took the biggest jump.

 

Clearly, it's time to switch pills. I was planning to do so anyway, actually, as I've developed some side effects I'm not crazy about, but for the economist in me, it's the price that really made the difference. I have one more refill this month, which I will get at the old price and then at my February annual exam I'll explore other options.

 

And lastly, in health related news, something weird is going on with my dentist. I had an appointment over a month ago, at which they said they'd bill me the final amount. I never got a bill, so I called them yesterday and they said I owe $58. Ok, fine, that seemed fair. So I logged into my dental insurance company to find the address to send the check to, and my explanation of benefits clearly says "Your dentist may bill you up to $29 for this work."

 

Hmm.

 

So I asked the insurer who has the final word on how much I owe, and now they're investigating with the dentist's office's billing practices. I hope it was just a mistake; I don't want to get anyone in trouble but I know the insurers set prices contractually and I don't want to pay twice as much as I should have been billed.

 

Question for Google Reader Users

Y'all have been so helpful with other stuff--I should have turned here a long time ago.

I've checked Google Reader help and all that, but I can't figure out how to quickly look in my reader and see which blogs are no longer updating regularly. I want to pare down my reader to get rid of blogs that post once a month with "OMG I am so bad at keeping up with this!" or blogs that have been dormant for months but I can't figure out an easy way to do that, aside from clicking on each blog and I have hundreds, so I don't really want to do that.

Help?

Yay!

Big thanks to Revanche who sent me code so that I can finally get some trackers up in my sidebar! Right now I have one for my emergency fund (which is done), the sunny beach vacation fund (with a goal of $1,000, although that's a continuous thing), electrolysis (I picked $2,000 out of my head; I think it will be cheaper than that but not by a lot) and paying off my student loans, which will start next year. When I have a better sense of where it will wind up, I'll add one for maxing out my Roth IRA each year.

I also updated my blogroll, mostly removing blogs that aren't updating anymore or that I've quit reading. If you'd like to be included, let me know!

October Recap/November Goals

October Goals
1. Set aside some financial research time. I did this! I rebalanced my 401(k) and set up automatic rebalancing for the future. I also did some research and it IS worth it for me to convert my rollover traditional IRA into Roth IRA, and I will consolidate that with my current Roth IRA. That will give me about $3,000 in 2009 contributions and cost me $600 out of pocket in taxes. I just need to call Fidelity and Vanguard on Monday and figure out how to actually accomplish this. I still need to fill out the Will & Trust Kit and the Big Book of Everything but I intend to get to that today.

2. Build a new budget. Done! I upped one savings fund by $30 a month, set aside $416 a month for contribution to a Roth, and increased my clothing budget to $100 a month. I didn’t do anything about a gym membership yet.

3. Start looking for holiday travel deals. I’ve made my plans and am now just watching for deals. Flight prices jumped $100 in the last week! I’m going to keep watching but buy within the next week.

4. Keep being super-productive at work, but cut back my hours. Sort of…I’ve been staying till seven most nights, but my boss told me to take it easier and stop trying to get it all done right at the start.

5. Set and stay within budget for the wedding weekend. Done. My friend was so beautiful and her son is adorable and her husband is great. I didn’t spend all that much money—rental car was less than $100 and I spent around $30 on gas. The bachelorette party was my next biggest expense--$40 at The Melting Pot.

6. Make some budget Halloween costumes! We gave up. I’ve just been too busy to make costumes. We might pull something together out of our closets and hand out candy, or just boycott the holiday entirely today. I’m pooped!

November Goals
1. Complete IRA conversion and set up automatic payments to max it out for 2009. I’m pretty sure I can do this all online, but I’m unclear about one step, so I’ll call next week and get it taken care of.

2. Stick to my budget! No more clothing binges.

3. Buy Christmas gifts! I’ve scheduled some days off during the week so that I can get my Christmas shopping done when it’s not totally crazy out with everyone else. I’d like to get it all done by December 1, but I think that’s a little unrealistic.

4. Handle 2010 health care contributions and flex spending. The deadline is 11/13, so I don’t really have a choice, but I’ll put it on here as a goal.

5. Spend some money on the apartment. Painting, art, whatever. I’d just like to get it done in November.

October spending

Regular day job income: $2,304.25

Misc Income: $156.65 (Mystery shop and survey income.)

Total income: $2,460.90

Savings
General savings $495 (electrolysis, the future fund, the sunny beach vacation fund, etc)

Retirement $147.70 pre tax (company matches that)

Spending

Cell phone $77.70
Clothes $159.01 (holy cow!)

Entertainment $65.71 (this includes movie tickets from Costco—we saw Where the Wild Things Are—as well as some books and taking an out-of-town friend out to eat)

Food—dining out $187.34
Food—groceries $151.74
Gifts $21.78
Household $32.17

Internet $16.48

Laundry $10.00
Mystery shop expenses $62.84 (the last shop…a dinner shop)
Personal $10.87

Rent $687.50
Utilities $34.06

Total spending: $1,517.20

Thoughts

I need to rein in the clothes spending! Although I do really love my new boots.

Net Worth IQ is also updated (see sidebar). My retirement accounts did not keep their $1,000/month gain I’ve been enjoying lately, but I guess yesterday’s Dow drop contributed to that. I want to set up some sidebars for my savings accounts, but I'm not entirely sure how to do that. Any suggestions?

My 25 Frugal Things and 4 Spendthrift things

As promised, inspired by WiseBread.

My Frugal Things

1. I quit smoking.
   
2. I use drugstore cosmetics and toiletries and even get most of those at a discount cosmetics store. No fancy stuff for me!
3. I shop for clothes on sale and using coupons.
   
4. I drink free coffee and tea at work.
   
5. I bring my lunch to work.
   
6. I dye my hair at home, and get my hair dye from a discount store (<$3 per box).
7. I get books from work, the library or Paperbackswap.
8. I do my own manicures and pedicures.
   
9. I walk or take the subway. My subway pass is a pre-tax perk option through my job.
   
10. Shop at Costco for bulk items, but only those we'll actually use.
    
11. Don't have cable or a home phone.
    
12. I stay with friends and family when traveling whenever possible.
13. I'm not an early adopter.
    
14. I don't have a pet. Right now.
    
15. Most of my furniture came used. From the street: kitchen table and chairs, bookshelves, over-the-toilet stand, desk. Bought cheap or got free from Craigslist or friends: kitchen cart, TV trays, bookshelves, entry way table, filing cabinet, couch, dresser, nightstand, bed, rug, plastic storage bins.
    
16. We cook almost every meal at home, and they're almost all really cheap meals.
    
17. We don't go out a lot in general--concerts, shows, movies, nights at the pub or whatever are all special occasions.
    
18. I don't go crazy on gift-giving.
    
19. Peanut doesn't drink at all, and I drink sparingly.
    
20. I turned my hobby into a self-supporting business.
    
21. We watch TV online.
    
22. I got most of my jewelry from SilverJewelryClub.com.
23. I track my spending--every single dollar. I've been doing this for five years now.
    
24. We're inviting people over more instead of agreeing to go out somewhere.
    
25. I pick up change off the street.
    

Spendthrift things

1. I buy clothes new. Even using sales and coupons, I know this is a no-no to the ultra frugalites. Oh, well.
   
2. I travel home to visit my family kind of often. Like, four times already this year. Granted, that's a bit more than usual, but I still usually go at least twice. And I rent cars. What can I say, I love my family but I need my independence for our sanity.
   
3. I have an iPhone, and am essentially paying for double internet connectivity at all times (I have constant access at work and home, and I'm almost always one place or the other--do I really need it on my phone, too? Yes. Yes, I do.)
4. We live in New York City.

What are yours?

Humpday LinkFest

The Financial Blogger gives three reasons to do asset reallocation at this time of year--good ones all around. My address problem has finally been fixed, so I'm going to take care of mine this weekend.

Publishing blogger moment: I LOVE this guy's idea of an e-book reader with a slot for an iPhone. Brilliant! I would totally buy one.

Scary--Dell asks a customer for all sorts of really personal information that they don't need trying to "verify an order". I don't know if it would have occured to me to hesitate and not give such highly personal information. I agree--I don't see any earthly reason why they need the information, especially considering he never GAVE it to them in the first place--so what are they verifying against?

I've been on a bit of a rampage to get off mailing lists and reduce the amount of personal information that companies have about me but it's not working very well. I'm getting a LOT of political advertising addressed to me this election season, but Peanut isn't. I can't figure out how that happened.

Jeez. Well, this knife just sent Peanut and me on an Amazon spending spree, and $60 later we're getting it, a salad spinner, and razor blades shipped to us. Way to be frugal.

I liked this post at WiseBread: 25 Frugal Things I do, 4 Spendthrift Confessions. My own post coming soon!

I have really been wanting to do something in our apartment. The walls are still pretty much bare--I've moved so many times (25 or so in the last ten years) that I don't do much permanent decorating. But since this is a place we're likely to stay in for some time, I've been itching to make it feel homey. Peanut had a great idea for a piece of art we can create ourselves, and I'm also on the lookout for full length mirrors (unbroken so I can see myself before I go to work, broken for another piece of art). Those things should be fun, but Peanut also said today that we can buy art. He's in charge of finding affordable original artists like Kevin Dart and Randall Munroe of XKCD and I'll order frames and we're going to have an apartment full of interesting great art.

I'm also going to paint an accent wall and I have to fix my closet, because our downstairs neighbor smokes and I can smell it through there. It's strong enough to wake me up, but I got some suggestions for blocking any cracks up, so I hope to do that this weekend.

Stacking Pennies talks about the relationship costs of living together. Across the board, my living expenses and Peanut's went down. Of course, I'm now in full on nesting mode and wanting to spend money to decorate and paint and get art and what not, but net-net, I'm still spending less and saving more than I was when I lived alone. Our food spending went down because we're not keeping two places stocked (and we're not throwing stuff out because we don't go to one place for a while). We buy more things at Costco and manage to use them up. The utility bills here are just a little more than they were at my old apartment and WAY less than they were at Peanut's old place. The joint account works perfectly smoothly and we're managing to build up a balance in there as well just by being cheap.

I'm really lucky though--unlike some of SP's commentors, my boyfriend is cheap like me!


Speaking of which, in regards to my How Much Would I Spend post, Peanut says I am crazy for being willing to spend $2,500 on a computer. Like, CRAZY crazy. He wouldn't spend that much on a computer, and he needs a fancy-pants one for freelancing gigs. So, I take it back. The most I would spend on a computer is whatever Peanut tells me to spend. And he is in charge of buying all the parts and putting it together and maintaining it all.

No kidding, when I have problems connecting to the wireless on my five-year-old, $2,500 laptop, I tell him to fix it. And he looks at me cross-eyed, but I say, "Hey, the error message says "Please contact your network administrator." Please administrate!"

Just one word

Wow.

How much would I spend?

Inspired by similar posts by Krystal and FB, here's what I'm comfortable spending:

• Purse: $50
• Wallet: $15
  
• Winter jacket: $150
  
• A pair of knee-high boots: $200 (but see my caveat below)
  
• A casual but not formal dress: $80
• Formal dress: $150
  
• Pants (inc. jeans): $75
• Computer: $2,500
• Phone: $250

Weird. This was very eye-opening.

I just went boot shopping and I had given myself a budget of $200 to spend on some quality knee high boots that will last me for a long time. But I only spent $60--granted, that was at DSW, so I'll give you that maybe the boots are technically valued at $80 or even $100. But still--did I cheap out? Am I going to have to replace these boots in a year or two, and should I have spent twice as much for something that will last much longer?

I can't tell. I don't think I've ever had anything as expensive as what I list above. I have a pair of $60 boots that I've had for six or seven years, and I'm hoping that this pair of boots will have a similar life.

My winter coat cost me $100. I've had it for almost two years and I don't like it anymore (I'm not sure I ever did like it, but I was reeling from a breakup and had no coat when I bought it so who knows what the hell I was thinking then). But it's still in practically mint condition, so I won't replace it.

My wallet cost me like $10 from TJ Maxx and I've had it for years--at least three or four. I've had to glue the strap back on a few times. Would a more expensive wallet last longer? Maybe. But I'm really picky about wallets and I happen to like this one. I'll keep gluing it back together until there's no hope for it.

What about formal dresses? First of all, the only formal dress I'm likely to own will be a wedding dress, if I even end up having one (and I'd rather not. The dress, that is). Hundreds of dollars on a dress I'll wear once? I just can't do it. This upsets my mother, but it's the way I feel. The highest I could see is $150 and even that would be difficult.

As for the other things--I get all the arguments about quality over quantity--I do. But I'd rather have six or eight $10 bags in my closet than one $100 bag. I want to switch things up. I want eight pairs of Payless heels under my desk, so I'm not stuck wearing the same old shoes day in and day out. And frankly, even if I don't like my $100 winter coat, it keeps me warm, and that's really the point, isn't it?

I'm looooooosing!

Or at least I'm not winning!

Please vote for my bag over at WellHeeled!

steps to freedom

Today I closed the second checking account I opened to deal with mystery shopping and dance job payments. I haven't had any transactions on it for several months, and the few outstanding shop payments I am owed will be paid through Paypal. So on my lunch break I went and collected the $20 that was in there and closed out the account. One less column in my spreadsheet, one less statement in the mail each month, and one less thing to keep track of!

It renewed my desire to consolidate my retirement accounts, along with the fact that the company where my rollover IRA lives sent me another credit card offer over the weekend. I've been trying to get them to quit sending me these things, but that was sort of the last straw. I called the number to apply and opted out, but this coming weekend I'm going to find out how to transfer that rollover IRA into my Roth IRA and what the tax repercussions of that will be. That would be another account gone, one more statement I'm not getting in the mail.

I'm very much in a reduce-reuse-recycle mode right now.

eReaders

So, the Nook has been revealed.

 

It beats the Sony PRS and the Kindle in looks and share-ability. It beats both with the four color touch screen. It's reasonably priced. It's unfortunately named.

 

And it reminded me that I've not given a review of the Kindle that I've been beta-testing. I've even been interviewed for TV ("the PBS of Japan"), and I forgot to report back here.

 

Simply put, the Kindle is great but not perfect. (Sort of how I feel about my iPhone, honestly.) For speed reading, reading on the train, reading multiple books at once, lightening my bag, reading for work/school/pleasure--it's AWESOME. I'm reading almost a book a day for work on this thing, as well as plowing through Gone with the Wind. And of course, my assigned reading for school.

 

For notetaking and highlighting, it sucks. For web browsing (despite having Whispernet), it sucks. For durability, it sucks. I'm constantly afraid it's going to break--the case is as heavy as a hardcover book, but I have to carry that around because I don't trust it to be ok without it. (Consumerist recently posted a story about a guy who successfully won $400 from Amazon after their durability tests didn't live up to reality, so I'm definitely not the only one who believes the device itself is flimsy.)

 

Also, since I'm beta-testing, I'm having a hard time getting a real feel for how I might really use something like this. I refuse to purchase any Kindle versions of books--I'm supposed to give this back in two months, and I'm not going to pay to rent content for that short period of time. So the books that I'm reading on it are PDFs, which show up as an image and aren't searchable. (And yes, I pirated that content, but only for books which I have already purchased in hard copy--which probaby isn't a totally kosher line to draw, but it's where I'm drawing it.) I can't use the Kindle to "rent" books from my library, which would probably be a big way in which I'd actually use it.

 

While an ereader is unbelievably helpful for a voracious reader like me (and for anyone working in the publishing industry), I don't know that the Kindle is the best choice for me. But I can sum it up like this--the Sony PRS I'm supposed to get for work has been indefinitely delayed due to a stock situation. If I don't get it before I have to turn this Kindle in, I'm going to buy a device of my own. It's been far too helpful for work to go back to lugging around p-books.

 

I think I have the option to purchase this Kindle at the end of the beta test, but given some of the issues I have with it (useless keyboard, closed system, the hypothetical ability of Amazon to see anything I put on it, some of which are proprietary not-yet-published manuscripts) I'm not sure what I'd be willing to pay for it. Certainly not $489 (the current price of the Kindle DX). Not $300, the price of the Sony Touch Reader. But what about $250, the price of the Kindle 2, Nook and COOL-ER? What about $200, the price of the Sony Pocket Reader? The Kindle DX has a screen that's three inches larger than any of the other options. It's also the only one with a keyboard, as difficult as it is to use. I've yet to find an ereader device that meets all my requirements, so I have a hard time paying any of the going prices. On the other hand, I paid $200 for a novelty item that I basically use only as a telephone, so wouldn't it be worth paying at least that much for a device that I would use for multiple hours every day and which I could write off on my taxes?

 

I have to keep thinking about this.