I know I said I was going to put together a post on some short term future plans, but this isn't it. I'll try to get that together tomorrow and post it. For now, I've just been looking over my spending habits on mint.com. Even though I've generally gotten better at paying myself first via my two savings accounts, I have a lot of work to do.
The first thing I'm going to do is reevaluate my monthly budget numbers. I've had a couple adjustments in my expenses and I'd like to start from scratch on my weekly projections. I'm thinking of this like course correction. I'm on a boat! Of financial security!!!
Now onto the number crunching! Catch you on the flip side with a report....
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Can I afford dental insurance?
Or can I afford not to have it? I just can't figure that question out. When I went to the dentist to get my two fillings a few months ago, he indicated I would probably need a root canal sooner rather than later.
The plan I'm looking at is through a giant reputable dental insurance company, and the premiums are about $40 a month. All preventative work is covered in full (two cleanings a year! I haven't done that since before college), and restorative (like my root canal) will be covered at 50%. I'm starting to think this is a pretty good idea. There are also various other plans available, but most of them look like "discount" plans that are a bit shady. With those sorts of things you pay them a premium every month, and you get a discount at participating providers. I'm wary of anything like that, because it's easy to imagine some basic restorative work costing more in the end.
I've been trying to control my expenses, but putting another $41 in my bills every month is going to hurt a little bit. Mostly it will hurt my savings. I was going to try to get $50 a month going to a retirement fund (I know you know, I just blogged about it). But not having to kill my entire emergency fund on a root canal I know is looming would be a good benefit. A great one, in fact. I'll need to make it 6 months without needing it for this to work to my advantage, though.
So, I guess I'd like some advice.
$492 per year to get free preventative dental care, and a 50% discount on my root canal (which alone could save me like $400 or something), or start my retirement fund. I know it seems like a clear choice, but is it really? It doesn't feel like a clear choice.
The plan I'm looking at is through a giant reputable dental insurance company, and the premiums are about $40 a month. All preventative work is covered in full (two cleanings a year! I haven't done that since before college), and restorative (like my root canal) will be covered at 50%. I'm starting to think this is a pretty good idea. There are also various other plans available, but most of them look like "discount" plans that are a bit shady. With those sorts of things you pay them a premium every month, and you get a discount at participating providers. I'm wary of anything like that, because it's easy to imagine some basic restorative work costing more in the end.
I've been trying to control my expenses, but putting another $41 in my bills every month is going to hurt a little bit. Mostly it will hurt my savings. I was going to try to get $50 a month going to a retirement fund (I know you know, I just blogged about it). But not having to kill my entire emergency fund on a root canal I know is looming would be a good benefit. A great one, in fact. I'll need to make it 6 months without needing it for this to work to my advantage, though.
So, I guess I'd like some advice.
$492 per year to get free preventative dental care, and a 50% discount on my root canal (which alone could save me like $400 or something), or start my retirement fund. I know it seems like a clear choice, but is it really? It doesn't feel like a clear choice.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Summary
I thought that since I'm just about ready to make a big investment in my future, I'd like to devote a post to just summarizing how I got here from there. And then in the next post I'd like to layout plan for the short term future.
So, December 2008 I randomly (and I mean RANDOMLY, I have no idea what caused me to do this) bought a copy of Suze Orman's Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke. I guess I saw it there on the shelf and something told me it was the right time to think about money. After a quick read through, I realized that there wasn't any time to lose, and got gettin' on this blog. This is probably the biggest change I've made. I discovered my sense of urgency about the business of my life.
So where have I made the most progress since I've begun?
1) I don't overspend on food the way I did before.
I've made a habit out of going to the grocery and stocking up on breakfast and lunch supplies. I eat lunch out about once every few weeks now, compared to almost every day before. I eat breakfast out once every few months now, compared to every single day before. I also have my own coffee at home now. And I enjoy it a lot more. I sit on my porch with my cereal and coffee in the mornings after I water my plants. I like this ritual. It helps me start the day. I've also begun cooking dinner at home more (chipotle lima bean soup is simmering away as I type). I still eat out, but far more because I'm going out with friends, not because I just don't have anything at home. These changes have made a tremendous difference in my available cash. Before I was probably spending close to $75 a week on breakfast and lunch alone! I think it's more like $15 now.
2) I committed to my emergency savings.
Before I read Suze's book, I didn't even know this was a thing. Isn't that crazy? I had never even come across the concept of cash on hand. I think about that and it's such a palm-to-forehead moment (what a sad state of affairs when I was taught the supply/demand curve to perfection, but had no idea how to keep myself solvent). I have an advantage when it comes to my savings: I have two casual part time jobs that pay me large sums every few months in addition to my full time job. This means it truly is extra money that I haven't budgeted. It goes straight into my savings now.
3) I've started planning how to have enough money when bills come due without making myself broke.
Before (I think I need a name for this time..like BGU...before growing up), I would slap my whole last paycheck of the month down for rent. I came up short once or twice. Then I'd eat popcorn and rice for a week. If there was $250 in my account and I didn't have a bill that week, I'd buy new shoes. Or jeans. Silliness. Now I set aside a weekly amount for bills and let myself spend the rest. If the new shoes I want are $125 (and they are), I have to save up out of my spending cash. I don't get to just throw away half a paycheck on them without any effort.
4) I started paying myself.
In addition to my extra income, I decided to put away a standard amount every week from my regular paycheck. This helped me get my emergency fund back on track after my dental work. And now it's helping me get a new savings account going, which in turn will set my retirement savings in motion. I have this automatically debited on pay-day, so it's out of sight, out of mind.
5) Mostly, I got educated.
I know the steps to take to gain my financial freedom. I never thought I would be so interested in personal finance, but even if it hadn't become a bit of a passion, I needed to know this stuff. Everybody needs to know this stuff.
And I want to give you all some quick thanks for supporting me the whole way, giving me helpful links/tips, and making me feel like a success, even when I crap out and have some failures.
So, December 2008 I randomly (and I mean RANDOMLY, I have no idea what caused me to do this) bought a copy of Suze Orman's Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke. I guess I saw it there on the shelf and something told me it was the right time to think about money. After a quick read through, I realized that there wasn't any time to lose, and got gettin' on this blog. This is probably the biggest change I've made. I discovered my sense of urgency about the business of my life.
So where have I made the most progress since I've begun?
1) I don't overspend on food the way I did before.
I've made a habit out of going to the grocery and stocking up on breakfast and lunch supplies. I eat lunch out about once every few weeks now, compared to almost every day before. I eat breakfast out once every few months now, compared to every single day before. I also have my own coffee at home now. And I enjoy it a lot more. I sit on my porch with my cereal and coffee in the mornings after I water my plants. I like this ritual. It helps me start the day. I've also begun cooking dinner at home more (chipotle lima bean soup is simmering away as I type). I still eat out, but far more because I'm going out with friends, not because I just don't have anything at home. These changes have made a tremendous difference in my available cash. Before I was probably spending close to $75 a week on breakfast and lunch alone! I think it's more like $15 now.
2) I committed to my emergency savings.
Before I read Suze's book, I didn't even know this was a thing. Isn't that crazy? I had never even come across the concept of cash on hand. I think about that and it's such a palm-to-forehead moment (what a sad state of affairs when I was taught the supply/demand curve to perfection, but had no idea how to keep myself solvent). I have an advantage when it comes to my savings: I have two casual part time jobs that pay me large sums every few months in addition to my full time job. This means it truly is extra money that I haven't budgeted. It goes straight into my savings now.
3) I've started planning how to have enough money when bills come due without making myself broke.
Before (I think I need a name for this time..like BGU...before growing up), I would slap my whole last paycheck of the month down for rent. I came up short once or twice. Then I'd eat popcorn and rice for a week. If there was $250 in my account and I didn't have a bill that week, I'd buy new shoes. Or jeans. Silliness. Now I set aside a weekly amount for bills and let myself spend the rest. If the new shoes I want are $125 (and they are), I have to save up out of my spending cash. I don't get to just throw away half a paycheck on them without any effort.
4) I started paying myself.
In addition to my extra income, I decided to put away a standard amount every week from my regular paycheck. This helped me get my emergency fund back on track after my dental work. And now it's helping me get a new savings account going, which in turn will set my retirement savings in motion. I have this automatically debited on pay-day, so it's out of sight, out of mind.
5) Mostly, I got educated.
I know the steps to take to gain my financial freedom. I never thought I would be so interested in personal finance, but even if it hadn't become a bit of a passion, I needed to know this stuff. Everybody needs to know this stuff.
And I want to give you all some quick thanks for supporting me the whole way, giving me helpful links/tips, and making me feel like a success, even when I crap out and have some failures.
well, I did it.
whether you like it or not, I dumped some google ads down on the side-bar there. I'm doubtful I'll really make any money from it, but I figured I might as well try. I might tinker with the layout a little, though...it looks funny now...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
um, Google Ads?
So my blog is now showing me a tab called "monetize." I don't think that was there before. Should I take them up on it? It really seems only fitting that I should make some money off of my finance blog, but would it be annoying to you guys?
yogurt and retirement
So, my first batch of yogurt is yogurting as we speak. As I type. I've been talking about doing this for about....3 months now? Well, here we are...it's 9 pm...and I have to wait 4 hours for it to finish. I'm an idiot. I suppose I could go to sleep and set an alarm...but that's probably not going to happen. I'm a little too excited about it, honestly. I have two dead bananas to blend up with some honey to finish it off, it's gonna be awesome. I haven't crunched the numbers to see if this is actually cheaper than buying, but I suspect it is. Especially since I can just use half of the half-gallon milk I usually get for my cereal. I need to check the price of the yogurt I buy just to make sure, though.
I also went to the grocery tonight and stocked up. Not sure how it's going to go, but I'm going to try to do a meal plan for my dinners from thursday to next tuesday. I think you're supposed to do that before you go shopping, but I'll just do it the other way around this time. I picked up a bunch of dry legumes (lentils, yellow peas, green beas, and lima beans), some rice, some veggies, and breakfast/lunch supplies. There should be enough to get through a week (and more).
As far as more hard money matters go, I started looking into retirement accounts on a whim today, and discovered there might be one that I can open up and start funding really soon. I'm really surprised and excited by the prospect. From what I've heard from both Suze and some blogs, it's a good idea to start with one of the bigger investment houses, because they do a lot of the work for you. I've looked at Ameritrade before (I'm a sucker for sam waterston), and today I checked out T. Rowe Price. I'm glad I did, it seems I was harboring some false assumptions about how much money you have to have to start your retirement savings.
As it turns out, that number is $0.00! I think I'm going to be able to open up my Roth IRA at T. Rowe Price next month! With their Automatic Asset Builder Service there's no minimum balance to open if you sign up for automatic debits of at least $50 a month. And there aren't any management fees. I really can't believe I can start investing with so little. Now that my emergency fund is a little settled, I feel really comfortable getting started with this. I'll start putting $50 a month into that fund, and about $70 a month to my short term savings.
Really, I couldn't imagine when I started this thing I'd be contributing to my retirement within a year. I guess I'm not such a screw up, after all.
I also went to the grocery tonight and stocked up. Not sure how it's going to go, but I'm going to try to do a meal plan for my dinners from thursday to next tuesday. I think you're supposed to do that before you go shopping, but I'll just do it the other way around this time. I picked up a bunch of dry legumes (lentils, yellow peas, green beas, and lima beans), some rice, some veggies, and breakfast/lunch supplies. There should be enough to get through a week (and more).
As far as more hard money matters go, I started looking into retirement accounts on a whim today, and discovered there might be one that I can open up and start funding really soon. I'm really surprised and excited by the prospect. From what I've heard from both Suze and some blogs, it's a good idea to start with one of the bigger investment houses, because they do a lot of the work for you. I've looked at Ameritrade before (I'm a sucker for sam waterston), and today I checked out T. Rowe Price. I'm glad I did, it seems I was harboring some false assumptions about how much money you have to have to start your retirement savings.
As it turns out, that number is $0.00! I think I'm going to be able to open up my Roth IRA at T. Rowe Price next month! With their Automatic Asset Builder Service there's no minimum balance to open if you sign up for automatic debits of at least $50 a month. And there aren't any management fees. I really can't believe I can start investing with so little. Now that my emergency fund is a little settled, I feel really comfortable getting started with this. I'll start putting $50 a month into that fund, and about $70 a month to my short term savings.
Really, I couldn't imagine when I started this thing I'd be contributing to my retirement within a year. I guess I'm not such a screw up, after all.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
toddling along and bitching about food
I've been on auto-pilot a little bit the last week. I don't think I'm overspending, but honestly I sort of stopped paying attention. I'm back on the "next week I'll figure it out" cycle, and I need to kick it. I have to get back on a good schedule of grocery shopping and cooking. If there's one thing that kills my budget every damn week it's eating out.
I read recently on get rich slowly about the lost art of meal planning. It makes so much sense to prepare ahead of time and have things on hand when you want to cook them, but it really seems like a joke even thinking about it. A generation ago I would have probably been married and bought a house by now, and even if I had a job I definitely would be home every night cooking and getting the laundry done. It's no wonder meal planning is a lost art; I don't even know where I'm going to be every night until I'm there. And cooking for 1 is such an enemy of frugality. Buying in bulk saves money, but I ate lentil soup for 5 straight meals last week (excluding breakfast) and wanted to throw the rest all over the windows. And if anybody out there wants me to make a few things and freeze them, listen up: I have 4 roommates. I can barely get an ice tray in there. I'm similarly limited in refrigerator space. Produce goes bad because I'm the only one eating it (this has been a problem for 9 years now), which makes keeping meat out of my cooking that much harder. This is all in addition to the fact that I'm not a very good cook and I don't even enjoy doing it by myself.
I don't think there's an easy answer to this, or I wouldn't still be struggling after all these months and years. But I'm going to try not to get discouraged. No matter how silly it seems, I think I'll at least research making meal plans. Maybe there's a good way to adapt it to my unpredictable lifestyle. I've never actually stocked a pantry with staples, so that might be in order, as well.
In other news, I'm posting from my computer at home! So that's an improvement.
I read recently on get rich slowly about the lost art of meal planning. It makes so much sense to prepare ahead of time and have things on hand when you want to cook them, but it really seems like a joke even thinking about it. A generation ago I would have probably been married and bought a house by now, and even if I had a job I definitely would be home every night cooking and getting the laundry done. It's no wonder meal planning is a lost art; I don't even know where I'm going to be every night until I'm there. And cooking for 1 is such an enemy of frugality. Buying in bulk saves money, but I ate lentil soup for 5 straight meals last week (excluding breakfast) and wanted to throw the rest all over the windows. And if anybody out there wants me to make a few things and freeze them, listen up: I have 4 roommates. I can barely get an ice tray in there. I'm similarly limited in refrigerator space. Produce goes bad because I'm the only one eating it (this has been a problem for 9 years now), which makes keeping meat out of my cooking that much harder. This is all in addition to the fact that I'm not a very good cook and I don't even enjoy doing it by myself.
I don't think there's an easy answer to this, or I wouldn't still be struggling after all these months and years. But I'm going to try not to get discouraged. No matter how silly it seems, I think I'll at least research making meal plans. Maybe there's a good way to adapt it to my unpredictable lifestyle. I've never actually stocked a pantry with staples, so that might be in order, as well.
In other news, I'm posting from my computer at home! So that's an improvement.
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