I was inspired by this post on Get Rich Slowly to think about ways I could easily get a little extra income flowing my way. I already have two casual part-time jobs to help out, but they aren't very demanding on my time. I figured if I could do something that's useful to somebody on my own time in a flexible way, why don't I try?
I'm not a fast enough knitter to really be able to sell things, but I am a very good editor and I have experience proofreading and citing a couple friends' theses. So that seems like a good idea.
Before I try to advertise to strangers, I figured I'd see if anybody stopping by here knows people who could use proofreading services for a thesis or dissertation. It'll come cheap, and this way I could build up some experience and good references.
So let me know, okay?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
quickie
short note about cost of living. I don't often think about the "cost of living" in the Boston Metro Area past rent. It's obvious to me that my rent is around 3 times as much as when I was living in Gainesville, but I had a recent object lesson in the smaller effects.
I bought deodorant. In Florida. The same kind I buy here. It was two dollars cheaper. Seriously. I never think about how all the little things I buy could be so much more expensive because of where I live. It's reason enough to seriously consider moving back South...
Compare the cost of living between two cities here. It's awesome.
I bought deodorant. In Florida. The same kind I buy here. It was two dollars cheaper. Seriously. I never think about how all the little things I buy could be so much more expensive because of where I live. It's reason enough to seriously consider moving back South...
Compare the cost of living between two cities here. It's awesome.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
more computer
ok, I've weighed some options about computer buying (based on all of your very thoughtful feedback, thank you) and I think I've figured out a good plan that's both cost effective and reward-based.
I've decided to try to install a new hard drive (even though it's been almost impossible to figure out which one to buy) on my old computer, and if I get my ass in gear and get into grad school I will sell it for enough to buy a netbook (or nearly enough). I am totally at peace with downsizing in the personal computer area. I've been subsisting entirely on my smart phone when I need a computer at home since December and it's made me realize I really don't need much. I have an external hard drive that has all my music on it. The only things I would need or want to run on my pc will be firefox, itunes, and open office. If I start school again it will actually be portable enough (like 1 pound portable) to use at school and at home. It really would serve all of my needs and I'm really hoping it'll work better and longer than my current laptop.
So now I'm saving for vacation in August. A real vacation, with no visiting of family involved (no offense).
I've decided to try to install a new hard drive (even though it's been almost impossible to figure out which one to buy) on my old computer, and if I get my ass in gear and get into grad school I will sell it for enough to buy a netbook (or nearly enough). I am totally at peace with downsizing in the personal computer area. I've been subsisting entirely on my smart phone when I need a computer at home since December and it's made me realize I really don't need much. I have an external hard drive that has all my music on it. The only things I would need or want to run on my pc will be firefox, itunes, and open office. If I start school again it will actually be portable enough (like 1 pound portable) to use at school and at home. It really would serve all of my needs and I'm really hoping it'll work better and longer than my current laptop.
So now I'm saving for vacation in August. A real vacation, with no visiting of family involved (no offense).
Thursday, April 16, 2009
computer lust
I think I found the first thing I really want to save for. After getting back from Florida, I thought the first thing I wanted to save for was a Wii (thanks, John). But after calming down and thinking more logically, I know what I really should and want to get instead is this!
I think when it's all said and done It'll be about $350. I think this is manageable, but I know I'll have to balance it against some of the travel goals I have. It's always in the back of my head to visit Seattle, and I also really want to make it to Montreal for a weekend before the end of the summer. If I choose to save for a new computer (and at this point my computer is non-functional and has been for about 3 months, so it's become a bit of a necessity), I will have to put off one or both of those trips another year.
Another alternative would be to buy a new hard drive for my current computer at about $75, and install and load it up with the programs I need. The problem with this is that I have no idea how to do it and it's intimidated me out of putting any financial investment into it. I don't want to just use my slight ignorance as an excuse to buy something I don't need, but I also don't want to put money into a fix that may not work. The computer was a refurb purchased two years ago, but I've had several problems with it since I got it, and I've had to factory restore it at least 4 times to keep it functioning. Honestly, I'm tired of it. And a mini netbook would meet all of my needs and be extremely portable.
I don't know....opinions?
I think when it's all said and done It'll be about $350. I think this is manageable, but I know I'll have to balance it against some of the travel goals I have. It's always in the back of my head to visit Seattle, and I also really want to make it to Montreal for a weekend before the end of the summer. If I choose to save for a new computer (and at this point my computer is non-functional and has been for about 3 months, so it's become a bit of a necessity), I will have to put off one or both of those trips another year.
Another alternative would be to buy a new hard drive for my current computer at about $75, and install and load it up with the programs I need. The problem with this is that I have no idea how to do it and it's intimidated me out of putting any financial investment into it. I don't want to just use my slight ignorance as an excuse to buy something I don't need, but I also don't want to put money into a fix that may not work. The computer was a refurb purchased two years ago, but I've had several problems with it since I got it, and I've had to factory restore it at least 4 times to keep it functioning. Honestly, I'm tired of it. And a mini netbook would meet all of my needs and be extremely portable.
I don't know....opinions?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
automatic debits
I just set up automatic weekly deposits into my savings account! Yeah!
It's small, just $20 a week. But that's about $80 a month I wasn't saving before. And since it goes out right after I get paid, I'll never even miss it.
After a few months I'm thinking of taking whatever extra is in my emergency account and opening a roth IRA with it. At that point I'll have the automatic debits drop into that account instead. But retirement savings still feels a long way off....
I'm wondering how to handle short term savings goals. I'm interested in hearing how other people do it, so let me know if you have any plan in place. I'm thinking of getting a second savings account (maybe opening the lower commitment one back at my bank) and automatically dumping in there every week at some amount. I think for discipline's sake I should separate that money from my emergency money and my long-term savings. To be clear, this is money that would pay for any traveling I might do, expensive shoes, or any other purchase that is more money than I usually have on hand but want to get enough to save for it. Possibly there will be guidelines I set for myself with this spending, but I think as long as I'm contributing to my long-term savings at the same time, I shouldn't feel overly limited on what to do with that money. The ascetic life can be a sad one, that's for sure.
It's small, just $20 a week. But that's about $80 a month I wasn't saving before. And since it goes out right after I get paid, I'll never even miss it.
After a few months I'm thinking of taking whatever extra is in my emergency account and opening a roth IRA with it. At that point I'll have the automatic debits drop into that account instead. But retirement savings still feels a long way off....
I'm wondering how to handle short term savings goals. I'm interested in hearing how other people do it, so let me know if you have any plan in place. I'm thinking of getting a second savings account (maybe opening the lower commitment one back at my bank) and automatically dumping in there every week at some amount. I think for discipline's sake I should separate that money from my emergency money and my long-term savings. To be clear, this is money that would pay for any traveling I might do, expensive shoes, or any other purchase that is more money than I usually have on hand but want to get enough to save for it. Possibly there will be guidelines I set for myself with this spending, but I think as long as I'm contributing to my long-term savings at the same time, I shouldn't feel overly limited on what to do with that money. The ascetic life can be a sad one, that's for sure.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
credit and debt
So, maybe this is suprising, but I don't have any credit card debt. Now, that's not technically a true statement, but functionally it's true. Let's just say, I don't have any credit card debt I intend on paying. I suppose that sounds scandalous. Probably a lot of people would call me a dead-beat. And I guess I was at one point, but at this point in time I'm making a practical decision regarding my credit report.
I'll give you a little run down of my credit history. And honestly, looking at it now it's not as bad as I thought it was then. At least when measured against the experience of other credit card users at the age of 20.
I started out with credit cards like a lot of people do: I got a pre-approved offer my freshman year of college. I think I took one of the first ones I got and opened an account to pay the last bit of my tuition and get some books. Now I probably didn't need to do that in hindsight (I did have a job and was getting scholarships and loans), but at the time I didn't have the spending skills I have now and I thought I needed the extra help. At around a 21% interest rate. Awesome.
It's hard to remember how the next two years went down. I know that I continued to work, my credit limit was only $300, and I don't think I bought anything major. I did go out to eat a lot, it was college. At some point I got two other credit cards. A Discover card with $1000 limit, and a capital one with a $300 limit. When I think about it now, I don't think my problem was overspending, it was paying on time. If you know me, you know I can be forgetful about this stuff. Dates pass me by. This is the first time in my life I'm using a planner, and really I only use it for a few things. So I got trapped in a bad little spiral of late payments, increasing interest rates, guilt, finance charges, and late fee compounded on late fees. Oh, and more serious guilt. In the end it probably only ever got to $3000 total. And that's a liberal estimate. Considering that most people end up with between 8 and 10 grand, I actually made it off a little easy.
By the time I was 21 I wasn't using credit cards for anything (I was maxed out and my credit rating was probably so shot I wouldn't be able to get another card even if I wanted one). But I was also getting calls from my creditors. With help from a generous Christmas gift from my parents I paid down my two smaller cards and just had the Discover bill left. I worked out a payment plan with them (their customer service at the time was actually very easy to deal with and they were more accomodating than I thought they would be) and paid off my balance.
Then there was one last thing, I had a big veternary bill that I couldn't pay cash. I used the Capital One and slipped right back into my little spiral. Now, remember the limit on that card was $300. I probably charged around $250 for the vet. At the last time they tried to collect on me that total had grown to about $1500. I know that's how it works, but some part of me still feels like it's ridiculous. It's functionally a 400% interest rate.
So here we are. That $1500 was charged off as bad debt in 2003 (If you're unfamiliar with the term, when a lender charges off your debt they've taken it off their balance sheets and will no longer collect on it. At least this is what it meant in my case, I think sometimes they will take you to court to try to get it, but perhaps that's before they charge it off). In the law of credit reports, that means it will cease to be reported against me at the end of 2010. In one of the stupid laws of credit collection, if I were to call them today and pay it off, it would be reported on my credit as a delinquent account for 7 more years.
So, we have arrived at my current decision. This is the only bad debt that I still have, and it is better for me to ignore it than to pay it. I've lived with bad credit for enough time as it is.
In slightly related news, this article really makes a good case for how despicable credit companies really are.
You all know that nobody is responsible for the credit card debt of a dead person, right? Pass it on to your grandparents.
I'll give you a little run down of my credit history. And honestly, looking at it now it's not as bad as I thought it was then. At least when measured against the experience of other credit card users at the age of 20.
I started out with credit cards like a lot of people do: I got a pre-approved offer my freshman year of college. I think I took one of the first ones I got and opened an account to pay the last bit of my tuition and get some books. Now I probably didn't need to do that in hindsight (I did have a job and was getting scholarships and loans), but at the time I didn't have the spending skills I have now and I thought I needed the extra help. At around a 21% interest rate. Awesome.
It's hard to remember how the next two years went down. I know that I continued to work, my credit limit was only $300, and I don't think I bought anything major. I did go out to eat a lot, it was college. At some point I got two other credit cards. A Discover card with $1000 limit, and a capital one with a $300 limit. When I think about it now, I don't think my problem was overspending, it was paying on time. If you know me, you know I can be forgetful about this stuff. Dates pass me by. This is the first time in my life I'm using a planner, and really I only use it for a few things. So I got trapped in a bad little spiral of late payments, increasing interest rates, guilt, finance charges, and late fee compounded on late fees. Oh, and more serious guilt. In the end it probably only ever got to $3000 total. And that's a liberal estimate. Considering that most people end up with between 8 and 10 grand, I actually made it off a little easy.
By the time I was 21 I wasn't using credit cards for anything (I was maxed out and my credit rating was probably so shot I wouldn't be able to get another card even if I wanted one). But I was also getting calls from my creditors. With help from a generous Christmas gift from my parents I paid down my two smaller cards and just had the Discover bill left. I worked out a payment plan with them (their customer service at the time was actually very easy to deal with and they were more accomodating than I thought they would be) and paid off my balance.
Then there was one last thing, I had a big veternary bill that I couldn't pay cash. I used the Capital One and slipped right back into my little spiral. Now, remember the limit on that card was $300. I probably charged around $250 for the vet. At the last time they tried to collect on me that total had grown to about $1500. I know that's how it works, but some part of me still feels like it's ridiculous. It's functionally a 400% interest rate.
So here we are. That $1500 was charged off as bad debt in 2003 (If you're unfamiliar with the term, when a lender charges off your debt they've taken it off their balance sheets and will no longer collect on it. At least this is what it meant in my case, I think sometimes they will take you to court to try to get it, but perhaps that's before they charge it off). In the law of credit reports, that means it will cease to be reported against me at the end of 2010. In one of the stupid laws of credit collection, if I were to call them today and pay it off, it would be reported on my credit as a delinquent account for 7 more years.
So, we have arrived at my current decision. This is the only bad debt that I still have, and it is better for me to ignore it than to pay it. I've lived with bad credit for enough time as it is.
In slightly related news, this article really makes a good case for how despicable credit companies really are.
You all know that nobody is responsible for the credit card debt of a dead person, right? Pass it on to your grandparents.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
quick updates
So I went to Florida for my newphew's first birthday last weekend, and I'm getting a little back into the swing of things.
Just a couple quick things for now, but just so you know I have 5 good posts planned for the upcoming weeks.
Number one: I got a rate email from my FNBO account today; it's down to 1.9% APY. boo. But I guess my loans are also being affected by the dropping rate environment, so I can't complain too much.
Number two: My emergency fund turned a little bit into my travel fund. That was pretty unintentional, but I knew it would happen. I didn't have enough time to save for both so now that fund has shrunk to about $600 (I'm not quite done figuring out what I need for this month, so that number may increase). I'm trying not to feel too bad about it, I'll just have to pump some more money into it over the next couple months to get it back up to $1000.
I will say this: Had I realized that the total trip costs would be around $730, the opportunity cost of it would have made me choose differently. But that will help inform my future travel plans, nonetheless. The next time I'll sit down with actual cost projections before I just commit to something I might end up not being able to afford.
Just a couple quick things for now, but just so you know I have 5 good posts planned for the upcoming weeks.
Number one: I got a rate email from my FNBO account today; it's down to 1.9% APY. boo. But I guess my loans are also being affected by the dropping rate environment, so I can't complain too much.
Number two: My emergency fund turned a little bit into my travel fund. That was pretty unintentional, but I knew it would happen. I didn't have enough time to save for both so now that fund has shrunk to about $600 (I'm not quite done figuring out what I need for this month, so that number may increase). I'm trying not to feel too bad about it, I'll just have to pump some more money into it over the next couple months to get it back up to $1000.
I will say this: Had I realized that the total trip costs would be around $730, the opportunity cost of it would have made me choose differently. But that will help inform my future travel plans, nonetheless. The next time I'll sit down with actual cost projections before I just commit to something I might end up not being able to afford.
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