Counting Pennies

Just when I almost gave up on my 2009 goals, I looked them over and realize that I may have a fighting chance to complete at least half of them.

1. Land a permanent full-time job - COMPLETED

2. To have my own place by the end of the year - not so much... this is moved to next year.

3. To build my savings back up: $3000 for Savings #2 (COMPLETED... I'm at $3198) $1500 for Savings #3 (half way there... I still have 2 months left if I redirect what I was throwing at savings #1)

4. To have $12000 in Savings #1. (Most likely will not meet this, have about $9200) - the plan is to get this as high as I can for this year and then next year have a slightly higher goal that I should be able to reach if Goal #1 stays the same.

5. To have student loan down to $11,500. (Only $900 more to go) - Most likey won't complete, but so close... new adjusted goal... $12000 by the end of the year.

6. To have no credit card debt (COMPLETED - will be using cash for Christmas this year)

7. To finish my accounting class (completed)


After my trip back home to Virginia back in April-June I pretty much gave up on any attempts to accomplish my goals set for this year. I think to be honest I didn't care at the time, especially after my dad passing. Sometimes I think he gives me a little push to keep going and not just give up.

Here I come November and December.
So ready for 2010.

I've noticed that in the past few weeks I've switched to completely cash only. Even no debit card. And by doing this my savings/checking accounts have been fed and are somewhat full.

Now that I have completely paid off my credit cards and keeping them unused for some time now, I cringe at the thought of swiping them and charging them back up. And even if I did just pay they off right away that's still money down the drain on something that I probably didn't need in the first place. As I was looking through some old statements I came across the fact that about a year ago I was spending close to $800 a month on my credit card. It never dawned on me that I was doing that because I make payments every week. Yup, every week just to keep the balance down. That was a year ago. Fortunately, now that I have a steady job and steady source of income... keeping fingers crossed that it stays that way... I'm finding that my time and money is more valuable to me. That $800 plus whatever other bills I had, student loans, insurance... etc... was eating up all my income. Well not all because i was still saving too. More like saving to spend. I don't know why it just hit me like a wall laying in bed last night looking at my last pay stub that hey... I made... $xx,xxx. amount of money so far this year as a gross salary... and $xx,xxx amount net pay... where is all that money now? Not that I completely spend it all, but still... I should be at least $x,xxx... richer that I was last year.

Then I tried to give myself all these excuses like, well I did pay extra to my student loan. Well.. that was only like $5000 in a year... started with $17,000... when to $12500. I didn't even contribute that much to my Roth last year... that was only $2,000. So where is the rest of it? I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't gone into some of my savings and my savings would have stayed stagnant.

So, I guess I've had my ah-ha moment. I always thought that I was good saver. Handling money was my thing, excel spreadsheet and all. And I could just make a budget. But I can barely stick to my day planner let alone a budget. But I think now that I'm fully aware of the situation, I'm more apt to being good in the store.

My question to myself is... "am I going to use this today?" If I can't say yes then I guess the purchase can be put to another day. And who knows I may just forget about it and save myself some more money. Of if it comes to clothes, my biggest weakness, "will I wear this to work tomorrow?". Because chances are I will not wear it the next day... and maybe if I'm lucky I'll wear it within the week. Like those two new pairs of shoes sitting on my bedroom floor... I bought a month ago... still sitting in the box. I needed to replace my work shoes because the sole is starting to come off and I happened to find the same shoe online... on sale and bought them. But I don't know why I have to keep wearing my beat up ones.

I'm going to start now and maybe I will start seeing some real progress with savings and net worth!

Last night I was sitting in my room and just typing away on my laptop when I heard this high pitched beep. At first I thought it was just my imagination. And then the beep happened again. The smoke detector in my room was beeping because the battery was low. So I was looking for a 9-volt battery to replace it with. As I was rummaging through the drawer where my grandma usually keeps the batteries. I came across a little plastic case of dimes. And I looked at them closer and I was like, "Hey these are silver dimes". I wouldn't never know this if I hadn't worked as a teller and developed a fascination with currency. And then wrapped in paper were 10 mercury dimes (even older than the silver dimes). I showed my grandma the case of dimes. And she said that my grandpa use to save them. And then she said that I could have them as long as I promised not to be careless with them. I promised, not that I would ever do something careless with them because again I'm so fascinated with currency. It will go with other collection of coins and bills. But that made my day. I looked them up on online, they are worth about $1 a piece since they aren't in mint/uncirculated condition. That's pretty good for a 10 cent piece.

Geez, what does it take to cancel a credit protection on a credit card that I didn't even want in the first place but ended up giving in because the person on the phone wouldn't stop and all I wanted to do was activate the new card they sent me. So the first month was free, and then after 30 days they start charging $8.95 for the credit card protection service. I forgot to cancel before the end of the 30 days and luckily I looked at my online statement and saw that they had charged that since I don't even use that credit card and just keep it for credit history. Ugh. So I called up and canceled the service and the guy kept going on and on and on about how I should keep it and that he would give me $60 cash back... which isn't really cash back it's 4 $15 gift cards for gas. I said... I don't use this card and so I don't want to keep paying the $8.95 each month when I don't even use the card. But in case it get lost or stolen... it's not going to get lost because I don't carry it in my wallet it's locked in my safe I doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon!

So finally after 20 mins going back and forth he finally let me cancel the service. Usually by this time I would just get fed up and hang up but I needed to make sure that the service gets canceled so that I don't get billed next month for it.

I saved about $108 a year by canceling!

Well, my 1 year and 1 week anniversary since I've moved to California!

Wow time does fly.

What have I accomplished in that one year span? Plenty.

I landed myself a full-time permanent position. I am no longer a temp, yay! My savings really took a hit over the year for not having work from Oct 08-Nov-08 and then have to take a leave of absent in April-June after my dad past away to go back to Virginia to help my family out. I've been back in the full swing of thing work wise since the beginning of July and has able to slowly but surely build my savings back up again.

I consolidated my student loan of $12800 from a variable rate to a fixed rate of around 3% and having a monthly payment of $97 from my previous $160. I could afford the $160 from before, and so with that I am still throwing $160 at my loan to pay it down faster. And as far as the rest of my debt, I have none. Yup, that is right I have none. The little credit card debt that I did accumulate from not working in April-June I was able to pay off when I started working again.

Also since last year I have created 4 new savings categories. Well more like the envelope system. It's really working out for me and I'm able to see exactly where all my money is going.

Categories
Dad Fund - I am setting aside $20-25 each paycheck (I get paid once a week) to donate a charity/organization in memory of my dad. I will be actually cutting the check on the anniversary of his death in April. So far, I have set aside $160.

B-day/Gift Fund - where I can set aside maybe $10-15 each week so that I'm not using my Credit card to pay for Christmas or Birthday gifts. $50 so far

Travel Fund - where I can set aside money for my airfares and just basically saving up future vacations about $100 so far.

Cell Phone Fund - this is not really a savings more like the balance should equal zero each month. I calculate how my paychecks I have before my cell phone bill is due (it's the same each month for the most part) and just divide it by the amount. This way I don't have to worry about having to come up with the money on my last paycheck before the bill is due.

But a quick overview of the financials. (rough estimates because I don't have my spreadsheet on this desktop)

Savings #1 - $9000 (definitely took a hit)
Savings #2 - $2900 (this one doubled since last year since it's the savings account attached to my checking account)
Savings #3 - $500 (ouch too)

Roth IRA - this year I've only contributed $500 so far for 2009. Trying to get this up as much as I can before its time to start contributing for 2010.

Student loan $12,700.
Credit Card - $0.00


So yeah that's pretty much sums up my 1 year in California. I'm excited to finally be back into the full swing of savings, budgeting and of course dreaming.

I'm going to try to update and blog more often. So until next time!

So me and my cousin are just 1 year apart. He's 25 and I'm 24, not that makes much of a point in the scenario or maybe it does just to make a point, but needless to say we are pretty much the same age.

I never really grew up around him living on the east coast and all and he being here in the west so really we grew up in entirely different situations. Well just a few months ago we were both struggling to find steady work. He's excuse... no one is hiring college grads. My excuse... I don't have enough experience. So we both eventually got a steady job and earning a steady paycheck. He invited me out for drinks with some friends of his just so I could hang out with people my own age. He decided that since he was earning a paycheck that he would pick up the tab. I had like one drink. So I just said thank you and that I would get him back the next time. I come home and was just chit-chatting with my aunt and uncle were making a case that they would be shocked to see my cousin offer to pay for anything. And then I just casually mentioned "oh he paid for drinks". And then they proceeded to lecture me about his spending and that he should be saving up his money so that he can move out of his mom's house (my cousin lives with his mom, my aunt is his step-mom, in case it gets a little confusing there). And I was like don't look at me. So then I felt bad, maybe I should have just paid for my drink. And this is were the differences between me and cousin are like night and day. My cousin was never taught the value of money and so he spends it freely because $100 to him is just that $100 of pure spending money. I look at $100 and I'm like okay... $10 - to savings, $20 to credit card, $30 for gas, $30 to student loan and then $10 for spending.

I just think it's rather strange that my aunt and uncle are lecturing me about my cousin's spending, I mean they are clearly talking to the wrong person. I can pull out an excel spreadsheet of my finances.

They are the same people that told me if I were to ever win the lottery that I was too young to retire and that I better still work.

But the point of the story is that I should have paid for my half just so that they could get off his back. But then would they be lecturing the both us if we had split that we should be saving money and moving out?


But on a side note... my credit card increased my credit limit. They didn't send me any notice, I just sort stumbled upon it when I logged in to my online account and saw that the limit increased. I'm never even close to reaching the the first limit they had for me but whatever... if anything is makes my debt ratio even lower because of higher total available credit. I just thought it was strange because I didn't think the credit card companies were uping limits, I thought most of them were decreasing limits without notice. lol. Oh well.

Okay so I'm back to blogging again.

I get so caught up with other things I just forget to log-on once in awhile and update. Man, the summer has gone by super fast.

So since the last time I blogged, I turned 24. Hmm, I got a new assignment/contract. Not any better than the previous one. My previous assignment may want to take me back and hire me on permanent. I'm working on that as we speak.

Hmm... back to saving again still not quite back to where I want to be but at least I'm saving even if it's only $50 a week.

Also, I consolidated my student loans. I now have a fixed rate of 3.... something. It's in grace period until 9/21. So I'm trying to throw some money at it right now because everything I pay towards it goes straight to principal. And then once it's off grace again it will start accruing interest. So the entire loan is like $12890.

And I know previously I said that I was going to do a charity of some sort and I had originally picked the animal shelter, but I had a change of heart. Not that I don't care about the animals, because I do but I've decided to go with one in honor of my dad. The National Aphasia Association. My dad had a stroke back in 2001 and as a result of his stroke he had aphasia. So I've decided to set aside $20 each paycheck (I'm currently getting paid every week, so roughly $80/month) and on the 1 year anniversary of my dad's death (April 2010) I'm going to make a donation of what I had set aside. So far I have $105 set aside. I thought about doing it around Christmas time but I figure if I do it on his anniversary I can save up more money to donate.

But that's pretty much it, work and the small little projects that I'm working on on the side to keep myself busy.

I should update my stats soon. Maybe if I get a chance this weekend. But until then.

So just a quick blurb about my student loan.

The interest rate dropped again on it. It's around 2% now. The balance is $13,129. Will most like be under $13000 after tomorrow when the July payment gets taken from my account tomorrow. I have yet to consolidate my loans. I should look into that to see if I can lock in the low low rate at a fixed. Because right now it's variable and it's been fine not consolidating because the rate has been on a steady decline since I've started paying my loan off. I think my payment amount has also dropped. I'm not so sure about it yet but I think so according to the front page of my account when I log in. But, I'll have to wait to see how much they take out tomorrow to be sure. My required payment per month has also dropped steadily since I've started paying back November 2007. It started out at $198/mo, now if the new rate is right it's about $158/mo.

But I'm thinking, since the rate is so low that I should just throw more money at my loan to bring down the balance faster so that if the rate does go back up my balance will be a lot lower and save money on interest.

So, I have my first assignment. I started working on Tuesday. It's an interesting position. I'm an "accounting assistant" but really... I'm working along side the controller and doing some clerical stuff in the down time. I'm getting some really good experience I think.

But let me just say. So, I have to take care of the petty cash. And of course I get the cash from the bank today and I open up the straps of $20s. The bills were every which way. Ugh! You've got to be kidding me. Shame on that bank. As a former teller, I was taught to have all the bills facing the same direction. It took me twice as long to count the money because I had to sit there and fix the bills, because I'm so use to handling large sums of cash, but facing the same way. I fixed it all, because it was just buggy (even my wallet has all the bills facing the same directions with $1 in the front and larger bills in the back). So now this company has a petty cash drawer that is in organized.

But enough with work.

I'm starting a new project. Last night laying in bed trying to go to sleep, but secretly wishing it was the weekend so I didn't have to go to work in the morning, I started thinking about starting a project. A project purely not based on profit or obligation. I was just thinking that some thing really positive just needs to come out of this year. After having a horrible April with losing my dad and nothing being the same since I just need something good. Because even after everything I still feel incredible lucky. So I've thought about it and I want to take a part of my paycheck each week maybe like $20-30 and buy pet supplies and donate them to the local animal shelter (a no kill one, of course). And hopefully with my new ventures in coupon clipping I can double my donation. And hopefully by the end of the year I can drive up with a car full of goodies. Well I haven't decided how often I plan on making the drop-off yet. Some of the things I don't even have to buy, like newspaper, old towels/blankets so that's something. Actually what I really wanted to do is donate to an animal food bank. I know sounds crazy, food bank are for people not animals. Well, I found one back in my hometown. They just opened a Pet Food Bank to help people feed their animals. Because during hard times like people are more incline to do without to feed their pet instead. And the Pet Food Bank sorta helps both by providing pet food to those who need it so they can use their money to buy food for themselves. I haven't found one around where I live now yet. I haven't really had a chance to look into it. I actually wanted to donate to the American Heart Association, just because of my dad but... I wanted to make sure my donation was actually going to be used for the cause and not to pay some CEO's salary. So since I can't control that I figure I rather do something where I know that my donation is getting to the cause. And I love animals so I'm helping the animals, lol.

Okay, that's pretty much it for now. I can't wait for the weekend. Too bad tomorrow's Friday and not Saturday. lol.

So I have an interview for an assignment. Since the company I work for assigns people to certain projects, it's up to the client company to interview possible candidates to carry out their projects. So, I have to go interview with them today before I can be put on their project. Apparently I'm the 6th person that my company has put into interview. None of them made it so now they are putting me it. Ugh... now that makes me really nervous. I've been on a couple of interviews for assignments so I can actually start working... but nothing. So I'm getting a little discouraged even though my manager said it had nothing to do with me per say more that I didn't have the right kind of experience they were looking for for their project.

So today I have to go through 3 rounds of interviews. One with the supervisor, then I have to interview with the possible co-worker that I could be working with on the project, and last... ah... the assistant controller.

The interview is in 3 hours. I'm trying to relax a bit before I go because when I get nervous I get all antsy and tend to talk fast. So... drinking some tea and just chilling out until then.

I just need to start working again. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get this assignment so that I can go back to work.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

my money news today is that I haven't spent anything today... yet that is. Well I don't plan on spending any money today, the only thing maybe gas for my car. But I have some to last me until the weekend, so I may just come straight home after the interview and wind down by hanging out and tend to my garden.

So today I was sent to the grocery store to pick up 3 things.

-5 Bananas
-5 Nectarines
- 1 Jar of Mayo because it was on sale for $1.99 at Safeway w/coupon.

So anyways, I actually decided to look at the Safeway ad because of the 4th of July specials. So I made my list, checked it twice... everything on the list was on sale and I had coupons for. Everything... except for the Bananas and Nectarines.

I ended up spending $80. But... total savings... $69.10. This is with coupons and in-store sales. I've never saved that much grocery shopping ever. Well this was the first time I actually made an effort to make a list and stick to it. I had my coupons already sorted out, pulled already.

On my list also included stuff I didn't really need right now but the sale combined with the coupon couldn't resist. Like aluminum foil. I bought two... I didn't really need it but it was on sale and I had two $1.00 off coupons that were about to expire.

So... yeah. I ended up spending a little more than i was originally planning on spending considering I only was suppose to get those 3 things. But I'm just excited to see how much I saved, usually it's no more than $30. But $69.10. I'm going to try to out do myself next time and get the bill down lower. I think it would be so cool to be one of those people you hear about buying all these groceries and spending like $5.00.

But this is how I set up my grocery list

-(5) Bananas
-(5) Nectarines
- Mayo (Coupon)
- (2- 75cu) Reynolds Aluminum Foil (Sale 2For, Coupon)
- Viva Papertowel (6pk) (Sale, Coupon)
- Oceanspray Cranberry Juice (Sale, Coupon)
- (6) Cat Treats (1 BOGO Free, 1 B2GO Free, $1.00 off one, $0.50 off one coupon, Sale)
- (5) 12pk Soda (Sale B2G3 Free)

and then other things. But yeah I know there is still room for more savings in my list. But this is the first time I actually made a list like this. So, it helped me save a lot of time by have it all written out and know exactly what size I need to make the coupon or sale valid.

Does anyone else have helpful ideas that they use to help them save money grocery shopping? Just curious. I'm always open to new ideas.

So I was looking on ebay just typing away searching for treasures. Not that I was going to buy anything because I've never used ebay before except to buy my college textbook once. But I decided to be fun to search toys that I use to play with when I was little. Ok, so I grew up in the 90s. That was 10 years ago. I typed in one of the toys... and up came the word "Vintage". I had to laugh. But then again. Really? Well, needless to say my so called "vintage" collection of Polly Pockets (the original) have like starting bids of $15. About 6 or 7 years ago, I sold quite of bit of my old toys off at a yard sale because I thought I was too old for them. I sold those sets for $1.00 at the most. Huh. If I had waited maybe I could have at least gotten my money back from them because I'm sure I never paid more than $10 for them because I was buying them with my allowance back then. I still have a plastic container filled with some of them, my most favorite of the bunch. I didn't have the heart to part with them, and I still don't. But at least it makes me fill a little bit better that I'm not really hanging on to Junk because apparently there are people out there on ebay world that are willing to bid on them. lol.

Random I know, lol.

Man, I'm still waiting on my first assignment. Hopefully by the end of the week. I'm getting really bored waiting around the house as you can clearly see, in the opening paragraph of this blog, that I have time to ebay so called "vintage" toys that I use to play with. lol.

The savings thing has kinda slowed down... because I currently don't get paid until I get my first assignment, which like I said is hopefully by the end of the week. And so with no income... no savings. But, I haven't really spent any money either. I went to costco yesterday and picked up a $4.99 rotisserie chicken for dinner... lunch and probably dinner again. People go really crazy in costco and the lines are always so long. I'm starting to think it's not worth saving the extra couple of dollars to wait in long lines for a $4.99 chicken and the very few items I get when I go there. But it's not like I pay for the membership there, my mom gave me the "spouse" card to use. So I guess I have to decide the cost effectiveness of continuing to shop there. Next time I'm bringing a calculator. I use to have my small financial calculator on me all the time. Not that it's necessary for it to be a financial calculator, it's just the one that I had because of my finance classes so I was just use to all the functions. I guess I better go dig it back out and throw it in my bag.

But that's basically it. Until next time.

So I was doing the Blockbuster deal. Ended up watching 14 movies for 1 week for $20.

These are the movies that I rented.

-He's Just Not That Into You
-New In Town
-Revolutionary Road
-The Ramen Girl
-Vicky Christina Barcelona (btw... I was very disappointed in this movie, but then again I'm not a huge Woody Allen fan)
-Smoke Jumper
-Faith In Potatoes (or vice versa, I call it the Potato movie, lol... it was alright for a true store)
-Living Proof
-Hotel For Dogs
-Pathology (eh... not a very good movie)
-Role Models (eh ok)
-Where God Left His Shoes (I enjoyed this movie)
-Madea Goes To Jail (hehe)
-The Family That Preys (actually this ended up bring a pretty good movie, nothing like I expected)

But I think after all those movies I enjoyed Revolutionary Road the best along with The Ramen Girl (Brittany Murphy).

I was going to rent Frost/Nixon, but I figure eh it might be a little boring for my taste. And then everything else I think I pretty much already saw or have no interest in seeing.

But now, that the deal is over I can get off my behind and enjoy the gorgeous weather! I'm still waiting on my first assignment probably by the end of next week I should have it. Hopefully.

Today I might be babysitting in the afternoon. My aunt's co-worker/friend has a little girl that's 3. She is so cute. Unfortunately, she's been misbehaving all week and been pretty upset for no apparent reason. But we think we've figured out the reason. Father's Day is coming up on Sunday. And my aunt's friend is a single mom. And lately her little girl has been asking why she doesn't have a daddy. So I think at her daycare they been making Father's Day gifts and that's probably why she's been in a bad mood. I guess they made one last year, but she was too young to understand and now that she's a year older she's starting to understand. So if her daycare decides to throw a little party this afternoon for father's day... (I honestly don't know why they would in daycare) I told my aunt's friend that I would watch her little girl for her for the rest of the day. So I went out and bought a small bottle of bubbles. So if she indeed does come over we can go play outside with the bubbles instead of sitting inside watching movies. (hehe, like I've been doing all week).

But as far as father's day goes. I bought my dad a father's day card so that I can put up at the cemetery. And that's as far as that goes. We'll probably do something for my uncle, well we'll see if my cousin does anything for him. My cousin is a little selfish at times, so we'll see. My uncle told my aunt that she doesn't need to get him anything for father's day. lol. My aunt said she wasn't planning on it because he isn't her father, hehe. I thought that was kinda funny. And then he asked about his "daughter", their cat that is their baby. I guess we shall see if Annie the cat gets him anything on Sunday, hehe.

But that's pretty much it! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!! And I hope that everyone has gorgeous weather too!

So I got a full time permanent job!!! Yay! It's still doing contracting jobs/projects for other companies, but basically I'm representing this one consulting firm and they assignment to work at different clients for various projects and so on. So yay!!!

I'm most excited because I get medical. Which by the way I haven't had medical coverage in over a year, since I left my full-time job at the bank a little over a year ago. Yikes, I know not a very smart thing. But I figured, keeping my fingers crossed that I hardly ever get sick so I never bought an individual plan because of the cost and luckily enough I never got sick, I mean the common cold here and there but not sick enough to warrant a doctors visit. Thank goodness. Now I will have coverage and I get all caught up and get back into the routine visits and so on. So I won't have my first assignment for at least a week, so I have the rest of this week to just hang out I guess.

So anyways my aunt got this blockbuster summer deal, where you pay an extra $10 (one time) and you get two movies out at a time. And if you watch them and bring them back the next day you can get another 2 movies out for free and you can keep doing this for an entire week. So yeah, we paid $20 total for a week worth of rented movies. So far it's the 3rd day and we already rented 6 movies. Yesterday we made this list of movies that we want to see while we are on this promotion. It's been great because we don't feel so bad renting something that is not a good movie at all because we can rent another movie for free essentially. So I have to return the 2 that we currently have today and get 2 more out. Man, talk about a bargain. I calculated that if we watched 2 new movies everyday on this promotion we would only pay $0.70 per movie. So hopefully they will have this same promotion at the end of the summer because once this ends we won't continue it because we probably won't have anymore movies to rent and we'll have to let the movies we want to see stack up again. I mean we could just do netflix or the blockbuster version of netflix, but we usually don't rent movies that often so this other promotions works out really great since we can see all the movies we want to see and pay only 1 time instead of every month, especially if there is no good movies out that month.

And oh yeah, so this weekend I went to B,B & B. And I bought this 3-pack of sponge cleaning things for the grill for my aunt and when I got home I realized that there were only 2 sponges in the package, someone stole a sponge. This makes me so mad, because now I have to go back to the store to get a full 3 pack. Ugh, the nerve of some people. This is not the first time this has happened either because I was at costco and bought a brita water filter 10-pack and it was missing 1 filter, and those things aren't cheap enough to just let it go so I had to go back and I just returned it because I was just annoyed. It's a shame that I now have to 100% check everything I buy.

Okay that's pretty much it.

I just wanted to say thank you everyone for your kind words. Sometimes, I think it's better to talk about it with people that don't know me personally, only because the people that do just want to hover. And I know they have my interest at heart, but sometimes the best way to get through something tough is to be treated like normal. Well at least I think so. (*btw, if you have no idea what I'm referring to, see my previous 6.8.09 post)

And hopefully I will be blogging more often than even before everything.

But in the mean time, since I'm not currently working (I had an interview this morning, I moved on to the next set of interviews, so I will see how that goes). But yeah since I'm not currently working I have a huge and I mean huge stack of magazines like 2 years worth of "Family Circle", "First", "Good Housekeeping", etc that I am going to go through for saving advice/tips. They are my grandma's (she is a pack rat), but since I have nothing else better to do, I figure I'll just sit around and go through magazines looking for different ideas on savings, instead of going out and spending money on entertainment. Plus, I get to do all the crossword puzzles that some of them have. lol.

But yeah that's pretty much it. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.

Happy Blogging!

So, I haven't written in awhile, since before my family was suppose to come visit me the first week in April. They did and I'm glad they did. And here is something very personal but my dad died of a massive heart attack the day before they were suppose to fly back home. They originally weren't going to fly out here to California to visit because of airfare prices, but they eventually dropped low enough that they could come visit and I was unknowingly able to see my dad for the very last time. We had a nice ceremony over here for him, since he is a California native and most of his family is from here. I ended up going back with my Mom, brother and sister to Virginia up until last week to help them out a little and to make sure they were going to be okay. So with that, I had to leave the job that I was currently at so that I could make the trip home. It was worth it, because I truly believe family is the most important thing (to me anyways), and nothing should come before them. So now, I'm back in CA and hopefully can find a job again so that I can get back on my feet. Thank goodness for my emergency fund I was able to stay in Virginia for a over a month and still be okay as far as bill wise and I still have enough to cover me hopefully until I find another job. And lucky for me... I paid off my credit cards before I went my family came... so... I have no credit card debt which definitely helped the financial situations so I could focus on other more important things.

When I was back in Virginia, my old retail job was willing to take me back for a short while and was going to pay me what I was making before I left (which is a lot more than they are paying the majority of the staff.) I'd thought about going back since I was going to be in town for a little bit, but I decided against going back for the simple reason that I came back to help my family and if I'm at work all the time, I'm not really spending time with them. And secondly which was part of the main reason was that I would have to buy new clothes and new shoes to come back to work. I didn't bring any work clothes with me and I didn't have proper shoes to go to work in. That retail job doesn't let you wear tennis shoes or sneakers and you have to dress sorta business casual. And all I had with me was tennis shoes, flip flops and denim jeans. So I figured by the time I bought new shoes and new clothes... I basically spent my entire paycheck already. Not worth it.

But yeah that's pretty much it.I think I'm going to change up my blog a little bit and focus more on saving and ways to save rather than the totals in my accounts because it's so depressing seeing it go up just to go back down again. So we shall see how that goes.

So I was looking at my sidebar and I just realized that I have almost hit 1 year on this site. At the end of April will be 1 year. Geez, I should have blogged more, now that I think about it. Oh well.
So now I'm going to reflect a little over the past year. One year ago I left my full-time job at the bank to pursue other options and stuck with a part-time job in retail until I could find something else. Well, I never really did find anything else. This was before September when everything just started collapsing like dominoes. Over the summer I basically decided that I was going to move out to the west coast to take on new adventures and opportunities. I must say, it's been the best decision I've made thus far, post-college life. Moving out of Virginia, my home for 18 years was hard at first but probably like I said it was for the best. California, besides the nice weather has indeed opened up a lot of doors for me. Virginia, home, just has so many more distractions. Here in California, since I don't really know any one yet has offered me the real change to FOCUS. I have a hard time focusing. I don't have ADD or anythin just at home I'm too busy being a social butterfly and hanging out with friends that I never could get myself to sit down and focus on my career and where I want to be. Here in CA, I have been able to do that. Of course there has been a couple of rough patches here and there, but over all good. My best friend even found me a job in Washington D.C. so that I would go back to the east. I had to turn it down because I know exactly what would happen. I'm determined to make things work here, where I didn't care in VA. Maybe that's growing up... or maybe some people need the change in environment to properly function. I wasn't properly functioning in VA, where as here I'm on my way.

As far as finance wise. I am above where I was a year ago, saving wise. Not by much because be unemployed can do that to a budget. I'm getting there. I'm slowing starting to realize what I can and cannot live without, which does wonders for savings.

But anyways, to conclude. I'm really glad I found this site. Even if I don't post I do read other post. I think the best part about this site is realizing all the different backgrounds and stories people have. And how people all over can have a similar situation but yet be completely unique. And I really enjoy the freedom that this site allows me to talk about finance/budgeting or not/savings or not/work stuff, because without it I don't know where else I could go.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!! I have some cleaning to do before my family gets here on Saturday!

I know two blog entries in one day. But I couldn't resist.

I landed another contract job this afternoon. So my two interviews tomorrow went down to just 1. And the one is more like a info session on a permanent position with my temp company. The contract job is a temp-to-hire, which is very very good. My staffing manager... she did good. I guess she bragged enough that I got the position and I didn't even need to interview like she originally told me that I would have to. So YAY because I dont like interviews I always freeze up because I'm so nervous. I start on April 9th. So I still get a chance to spend time with my family. Hopefully soon I'll be permanently employed with benefits!

I'm even more excited this go around because I have my credit cards paid off! So... now I have even more money to save, since that is one less payment i have to make. Man, it's so freeing. I'm thinking I'm going to put that extra money to my IRA and student loan... after I cover the $500 for my glasses! Yay! So now savings #3 doesn't have to really take a hit.

Woo hoo my day has gotten so much better.

So tomorrow I have 2 job interviews. Keeping my fingers crossed that I land one of them. One is temp to hire and the other is a direct hire. I mainly need something because I need the benefits. The medical I have right now is really buggy. I don't know if it's even kicked in yet because I didn't see the deductions on my last couple of paychecks. Ugh.

My staffing managers was like if I get both offers then I'll have to choose because I can't do both. Hello? No duh. (I just rolling my eyes when she tells me that over the phone). And if I have to hear one more time that the economy is not doing so well and the job market is tough I'm going to go... it's annoying. I know I keep up with the news.

This week should be a good week because my family is coming to visit from Virginia. The first time I've seen them since I moved in September of last year. Mom, dad and sister. My brother can't come out right now, but he'll be out for two weeks in July. I can't wait. It should be fun. Now since I know my way around the Bay Area a little bit I can take them to all sorts of places. One day we'll probably go up to Sonoma to visit other relatives. And then I know they want to go to Monterrey Bay. So we'll see. Somedays I miss Virginia. So it's sorta like Virginia is coming to me, by my family coming out here. So Yay!

So I've decided that the $500 from my glasses is going to come from Savings #3. Only because it has the lower interest rate. And it's the money that I don't really have a plan for.

But yeah that's pretty much it.

So, I bought new glasses today. $500 total for exam (contacts and glasses), new frames and lenses. But the lenses were 50% off since I bought frames. It would have been cheaper but I had no insurance because lack of constant job. Oh well I need to see better. So my headaches will stop. I can't tell if it's from eye strain or from caffeine withdraw, which it could possibly be from.

Yup. That was my big purchase for the next few months. Luckily my contact prescription didn't need to be changed, and I still have some supply left so I didn't need to reorder yet. I haven't decided where the $500 is coming from yet. Most likely savings #1. Not too concerned yet. Big purchases I like to pay off right away. I usually put it on my credit card and then do a bill pay the next day. That way I get points on my credit card, but save on the interest by paying it right away. I should have my cc paid off though by next week so that will free up one bill for me since I'm not working this week.

I'm still struggling with my staffing manager at the temp agency. She's kinda buggy. Hopefully... something will come up.

today was apparently my last day with this temp position. I was told at 3PM today. My day ends at 5. I guess no big deal. Accept for the fact that I really feel like I'm being played for a fool with the temp agency I'm working for. First they told me that my last day for the contract was March 31st. Ok that's fine. And then when I asked about a month ago the end of February, about my last day since my family is coming to visit from Virginia and I wanted to take like 3 days off... all of a sudden my contract extended to April 9th. Ok fine... I'll deal and just balance the family and work at the same time. And then today. Oh, sorry so-and so is coming back from leave on Monday so today will be your last day. Geez, a little annoyed. And it's not like I actually liked working there but hey... a little earlier notice than 2 hours before I'm checking out for the day would have been nice. And all my temp agency staffing person could say was that this never happens before and that HR probably got it messed up and didn't want to admit they were wrong. Whatever. I'm tired of them playing the blaming game. As far as I'm concerned they are both in the wrong. The company said that I did an awesome job though and that if anything came up if I would be willing to come back. I said yes. I don't know why I said yes. Most likely because of the fear of saying no. I've been there, done that... and unless I'm staying there 20 years there's no sense in going back because I wouldn't really be able to move up and do other things.

I guess I should be more concerned with finding another job. But I'm not. My staffing manager wants to me fill the other temp job with the same company that I was just at if I don't find anything in two weeks. I told her not really interested in going back there. And then everyone under the moon is telling me that I should because it's a job. I don't care if it's a job. That's all it is, is a job. I'm just starting out, I'm looking for something I would be happy making a career out of. My aunt is like "just take whatever you can get". I don't want to settle. Because then I end up just like them, 20 years down the road in a job that is, just that, a job. I didn't move all the way across the nation to settle for just anything. I'm not trying to be ultra picky either. I just know myself and if I'm not enjoying what I'm doing or the place I work at, I just can't relax and I don't work well. I believe that I'll be okay.

But on a lighter note. I met a goal. A financial goal. Savings #2.. I met the $2500 goal and Savings #3 is above $1000 which is 50% to the goal of $2000. And I know I'm jobless right now. But I should be okay without dipping into the savings for now.

I'll update all my numbers later. Sorry for ranting. It seems like these days that I can't actually voice my feelings to anyone because they aren't listening to what I'm saying because apparently I don't know what I'm doing because I'm young, silly, and naiive. Well... it's better than being a know-it-all that likes to put their life on everyone else. People aren't made one-size fits all. Some people just know how to made an already bad day worse.

It's a raining Sunday here in the Bay Area or at least where I am. I usually don't particularly care for raining days but day eh not so bad considering that we do need the rain. And plus, sometimes I feel as though rainy days are for relaxing.

February came and went really fast. I'm glad. February kinda blew work wise. I'm so over ALREADY working for the place I'm working at. I'm ready to move on. The people there are really Catty and if they spent half the time working and minding their own business than sitting in each other cubicles talking about other people in the office, MAYBE just maybe they wouldn't need my help as a temp. Just maybe. Oh well. There's the real world for you. My aunt tells me that they are just worried about their jobs and are threaten by me, ( I think she's just saying that to make me feel better)... I personally choose to think that they are just plain mean and I don't care if the economy is rough and people are getting desperate, it doesn't give them a free pass to be rude to other people. But enough with work.

February was a good month saving wise I guess. I mean I did save quite a bit for being such a short month. I think mainly because I got back my Federal return and my $1 Virginia State tax return, haha. $1. I'm not expecting California state tax anytime soon. It was only like $30 anyways.

So here is the rundown of my financials,

Savings #1: 10,572
Savings #2: 2,212
Savings #3: 851

Roth IRA: 1,675
401K: 1089

DEBT:
Credit Card: 671
Student Loan: 13,610

I applied an extra $200 along with my monthly payment to my student loan this past month since I got my Federal Tax return back. I figure I might as well put the money to good use instead of spending it.


Well, that's pretty much it. Tonight we are having pasta. MMM... instead of going out to Olive Garden my family opted to go to this place that makes fresh pasta and take it home to make. A lot cheaper than going out that's for sure. And everyone got to pick out which pasta they wanted! I can't wait to try it.

So I'm working this contract job. The job itself should not be that hard. Basically what I'm doing is reconciling accounts. Well... I know what I'm doing for the most part. I get the general idea of it. But... every time I think I can handle it on my own (been there about 3 weeks now) something unusual arises. The exception to the rule. How come I get all those. So now it looks like I don't know anything because I keep getting the exception to the rule. And since I'm one of those that likes to know the answer instead of just pretending it's not there I'm asking all these questions. They are probably getting tired of me. Man I can't wait until this contract is up. I first I really liked it. But now not so much. Everyday there is a new crisis... a problem which I identified that was never corrected before or something similiar. I don't understand how payroll deductions errors can continue for over a year with out being corrected? How did they balance at year-end. Oh well. I guess I'm glad to be done at the end of March.

Plus I got the rudest letter today from one of the chapter contact person regarding a letter that I had sent about updating the account. The man said that basically it was useless for me sending the letter and that the letter regarding payroll was not his department and he doesn't appreciate me sending him the letter and that he is retiring come June and I quote these were his exact words, "If I can find an idiot to take this job" he doesn't want me to send confusing letters to the new person that doesn't have anything to do with the job. HELLO! First off the account updates were apart of his job. And secondly the note regarding the payroll was a Copy of the letter that I send to another department. I figured since he is the contact person he should know what's going on with his chapter. Gee whiz. The second letter wasn't even addressed to him he was just CC on it. He has got to be one of the rudest people I have ever dealt with. I copied the letter and posted it on my bulletin board at work. This is to remind me never to be rude like that man. I don't care how frustrated I am. Reminder to always be professional and respectful.

What a way to ruin a person's day. I must say I know that I just have to let it go and not take it so personally. Still I want to do a good job at work. And some people just make it hard.

And I know this post has nothing to do with saving or money. I'd just thought I'd share an eye opener that made me realize that I am definitely in the "Real World" now.

So I went to the Home & Garden Show today. I've never been to one. I must say I really enjoyed just walking around to the different booths. I don't have my own place yet but it definitely getting me excited and pumped to eventually to get to the point that I can get my own place. I guess it gives me another motivation to keep saving and budgeting!

So I decided that I putting aside money outside of my savings. I guess more like spending envelopes. These are for upcoming purchases. Like for a new cell phone plan come April when I finally get my own plan. And for my plane ticket and hotel room for my friends wedding in April as well. And then a gift fund for B-days and holidays. This way I don't have to go into my savings for these. Plus, I won't put this stuff on my Credit Card. I don't know, we will see how well this works for me.

All I know is that going to the gym is actually helping my wallet. Haha. I've been going to the gym right after work for the past week. And when I get home after the gym I'm so tired that I just stay home and don't go out and spend money.

But that's pretty much it for my week/weekend ramblings.

this morning I forgot my lunch.

I had it all packed and everything, ready to go. In fact this morning was the first morning in a LONG time that I just popped out of bed and started getting ready. Usually I just hit snooze and drag myself to get dressed to go to work. In fact I had made myself a pretty decent breakfast too.

And it wasn't like I was rushing either. I sat down and ate breakfast and just walked out the door without my lunch. So I had to buy lunch today. Booooo! Because by the time I realized that I forgot it I was already in the parking lot at work. Go figure.

Well at least I have lunch already made for tomorrow.

So there went $8 that I wasn't planning on spending. But, I did have Chipotle, which I haven't had in months. It was yummy. So I guess it wasn't that bad forgetting my lunch, hehe.

Gosh my mind is all over the place though. Besides forgetting my lunch, I can't even remember what day it is. I keep thinking it's Tuesday. And for some reason at 10AM today I was thinking it was a 11Am when I was looking at the clock and thought to myself only 2 hours until lunch break when it was really 3 hours. Work is taking over my mind so much that I can't focus on the little things, lol. I can't wait for the weekend to come!!!!

So with my job, technically I'm only suppose to work 35 hours. the hours are 9-5 with an hour lunch. I asked my boss if I could come in at 8 and stay til 5 so that I can get the full 8 hour pay. She agreed. So I'm working the complete 40 hour week. That 5 hours doesn't seem like much. But in one month that would be 20 hours of pay that I would be giving up. And if I were getting paid $15/hr that would be $300 a month that I'm missing out on. And that is a lot of money. At least it is to me. That's a student loan payment right there. I'm being good though. Whatever extra money I make is being put to good use, either to my Credit Card, Student Loan or savings. Hopefully it will help make a dent in my goals.


Here are my updated numbers

Savings #1 10,336
Savings #2 1,661
Savings #3 675

Roth IRA 1,675
401K 1089

Debt
Credit Card 1,003
Student Loan 14,039

Okay so I have a question. If anyone has any advice I am completely open to ideas and thoughts, because right now I don't have a clue. Well, that's not true. I have a partial clue.

So if you look at my financial stats, I have not maxed out my 2008 contribution for my Roth IRA. But I am still able to make 2008 contributions until sometime in April. I can't remember the date from when I was a teller. Oops, but anyways until the beginning of April. Should I still continuing adding to 2008 or should I just start with 2009 since I'm not really close to maxing out 2008????

I didn't really get a chance to making more contributions to my Roth because of my lack of steady income this past year. But now I'm able to make some contributions.

I'm pretty sure I should just keeping adding to 2008 for as much as I can that way if by some miracle I earn some crazy amount of money later in the year I can still max out my 2009 contribution. I think.
Help!

So, I definitely did not do a NSD. In fact I spent $300 on a 2-year gym membership with 24 hour fitness.

Costco.com is running a sale on their gym membership. $299 for a 2 year membership. That you can use at all locations except for Sports and one other of their clubs. I can't remember. But after everything is calculated it comes out to roughly $12 a month. That is really really good considering it's usually around $60 a month. There is no expiration date. So the 2 year starts whenever I bring it in for the first time to activate it. And costco says that if I have any issues that I can return it and get my full-refund. Which is great.

Also. I bought Turbo Tax on there too. They are running a rebate until 1/25 $10 off. This is only online though. And they are cheaper than other places.

So I spent a lot but then again in the long run of things, I guess I saved a little too. Good now I can get my behind to the gym. No more excuses that gym membership is too expensive, lol.

So I was able to land the contract job. I had a 5 minute over the phone interview. And then they decided to pick me after they did the same with the other candidate that they were interviewing. So Yay! So this one goes until the end of March. I'm covering a maternity leave. I started yesterday actually. It's a lot of work to learn. Like with any job. It's good though because I'm getting good experience. And now that I'm figuring out that I'm able to learn new software rather quickly is even better.

This contract pays a lot more than the other job. So I'll be able to save more which I'm really excited about. I'm planning to use the extra to of course pay on my student loan/cc/ and for my IRA

Also I checked my credit score, the free annual, but I pay for my score, which I shouldn't because it doesn't really matter I just wanna know. It went lower. It's not 795. It said my installation debt was too high. Which is funny because last year it was $2000 more than it was this year. I'm confused. Eh. It's not that much anyways.

Just like I said in my last post. I was going to sit down and figure out how much I have and where I have my moolah.

Savings #1 10,199 ($50 increase)
Savings #2 1,411 ($151 increase)
Savings #3 580 ($205 increase)

Roth IRA: 1,600 ($50 increase)
Rollover IRA (frm. 401k): 1,089

Total Savings Increase since 12/23/08
$456

Debt:
Credit Card: $1,034 (A decrease of $161)
Student Loan: $14,248 (A decrease of $72)

Note: I did get $150 for Christmas money that I deposited into Savings #1. But the rest I saved all on my own by automatically transfering $75 to Savings #2, $25 to Savings #3 and #1. Every paycheck. Automatic savings of $125 each week. For now.

Today was my last day at the contract job. I have an interview on Monday. At least the one on Monday the contract should last until March. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I do well at the interview. I'm going to studying up on the company and the position this weekend.


Oh and the nerve. So I'm doing the temp thing right now. And there were two other temps that I was working with. My recuriter told me to update my resume so she could send it off to new opportunities. So I did. She came back and said that my resume was really well written. She was impressed. And then she had the nerve to ask me if I would be willing to share my resume with the other two temps so they could fix their s. In normal situations I would be okay with sharing.But these are tough times. And frankily those two temps are also my competition. How dare she ask me to share something that makes me stand out of other applicants. I put a lot of effort into putting it together, in fact at one point I had to scrap the entire thing and start over. Maybe I'm being silly, it's just like asking me to show my term paper to someone else so they can get ideas after I had to come up with the original idea with no help and what if they get the better grade. Nope. no can do. They'll have to figure it out on their own. After I get a job I would be more than happy to share, lol.