From December 2008 to December 2009, after the layoff and continuing unemployment, I've recorded a 47% total increase. The progress was distributed pretty well across the board: retirement accounts (aka untouchable money), emergency cash to alleviate recessionary anxiety.  The relatively low increase in the short term cash isn't a surprise; that money is saved in advance for spending throughout the year - I still haven't decided if I'm going to change how that money is represented in the net worthing.  Ultimately, I like seeing that I've kept a fairly even keel in terms of pursuing all my goals. 

I'd forgotten that I established my cash expense account earlier in 2008.  That reminds me that this process of building a solid financial foundation has been slow and steady, and not the work of a few weeks or months.  It's hard to say when the most progress was made, I guess that depends on how you measure progress?  Straight numbers?  Debt reduction?  Asset building?  These are all parts of the same puzzle.

These snapshots tend to reflect only what I saved, and not the income and spending.  The first half of 2009 I was on a mission to reduce monthly costs down to the $2200 range. We had obstacles along the way like the truck payment until we sold it, getting the family car out of hock and then losing it in an accident.  We also had happy expenses like marrying off a friend, planning baby showers, taking care of people, and bought some stock.

Oh yes, then I separated from my job!  (Didn't lose it, I know exactly where it went.) Went on a mess of trips: NYC, San Diego, Miami, Hawaii.  Good grief, I'd lost track of everywhere I went in the latter half of 2009.

What I'm saying here is that I spent a whole lot. And you can't expect me to keep track of all that! I kid, I kid. I'm just too tired to pull together a real spending report, but I'm going to say that it was in the range of $30-40,000.  I think what I'm going to do for 2010 is tailor Excel spreadsheets to track spending my way.  I just haven't been terribly happy with all the templates out there.

In blogging, and no small thanks to Twitter, I've become much more at home here in my corner of the PF blogosphere this year, and appreciate the community and friendships - deeper than I would have ever have imagined to blossom from a purely online relationship.  The Internet's been an integral part of my life since childhood(ish) but I couldn't have predicted the candor and wisdom to be found here.

I'm grateful to you, my readers and friends, and wish you all a very Happy and safe New Year's Eve (New Year to my international friends)!  

How do you like the new Snapshot format? I'm rather awfully proud of it, it's growing up to be a real adult being formatted in Excel.

As you can see, the damage is rather substantial this month.  I spent another $1100 on classes for next quarter and $210 for Christmas gifts.  The rest of the discrepancy was a glitch in the unemployment but it should be resolved in the next two weeks. Oh and I didn't really add another $231 to the emergency fund, I just "stole" that from the tax fund temporarily.  It'll probably go back. Or not, I like seeing 15k in the ING account. 

I'm still prepared for costs to go up in 2010, and I didn't pick up that 2% CD.

Some days, I feel impossibly old.  But then my 15 year old fluffy mutt mix pops in and demands my attention. She's always great for my blood pressure, until she does something weird or demanding like try to break through a metal screen door.

Her thing last month was that she no longer loves the Furminator.  Sacrilege!! Fourteen and a half years, she couldn't get enough grooming love, and suddenly she's leaping and contorting like never before to get away from the brush. Or dramatically yelp-shrieking when the brush touches her.  Note: There's no pain at all, she's definitely being a brat because I've gone over every square inch of her to make sure she's not tender, cut, bruised, lumpy or any other darn thing that could cause pain.  So, fine.  Now I'm reduced to finger-grooming her which is seriously a bundle of fun with arthritic hands.  But ... she's so CUTE I can't really say no. Also? Soooo fluffy and furry, she looks like a furball about to burst into tons of little furballs. 

Today, we played with tennis balls.  Two large dogs, two tennis balls at the same time.  (Such a bad idea every time I try it.)  The other dog played fetch -- he looooves chasing the ball around the house.  She's got the bad joint thing going on, like mama like puppy, so I gently roll the ball in another area for her, or just toss it to her for catching.  She's got a rule about fetch: If you throw a ball, she'll chase it.  But if you want it back, get it y'r darn self.  She's not your fetcher.  *shaking head* It's not something we're going to discuss at this late date, though.

After a few tosses, she had gotten tired, but evidently still wanted to play: rolling around on her back, mouth hanging open, tossing her head from side to side, casting about for the ball.  This time, she changed the rules.  Now that she was tired, she laid in one place, grabbed the ball IF it came close enough, looked me dead in the eye, and tossed it over her back.  The first time she did it, I thought she just got too excited about grabbing the ball and lost it.  After the third time, it struck me: she's throwing the ball back to me!  And if I moved around from the side to the front of her, she'd throw the ball toward me.

Check that out.  My dog recognized her limits, went right up to them, and innovated so that she could still have what she wanted without hurting herself.

It's the end of December, which means tax preparation time! Well, prepping for tax prep, anyway.  I like to start pulling together my records early in December to make sure things are all set for this tax year.

This is the first year since 2004 that I can claim Education Credits because I took a couple classes this last quarter.  I should also be able to claim the money paid towards next quarter's tuition since that'll be paid before December 31st. 

The usual two choices are the Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits.  This and next year, however, a new player is in town: The American opportunity tax credit (AOC), a modification of the Hope Credit.

Here's a quick comparison of the credits:

AOC, a modification of the Hope credit:

  -- The maximum amount of the AOC is $2,500 per student. The credit is phased out (gradually reduced) if your modified adjusted gross income (AGI) is between $80,000 and $90,000 ($160,000 and $180,000 if you file a joint return).    Exception. For 2009, if you claim a Hope credit for a student who attended a school in a Midwestern disaster area, you can choose to figure the amount of the credit using the previous rules. However, you must use the previous rules in figuring the credit for all students for which you claim the credit.

  -- The credit can be claimed for the first four years of post-secondary education. Previously the credit could be claimed for only the first two years of post-secondary education.

  -- Generally, 40% of the AOC is now a refundable credit for most taxpayers, which means that you can receive up to $1,000 even if you owe no taxes.

  -- The term "qualified tuition and related expenses" has been expanded to include expenditures for "course materials." For this purpose, the term "course materials" means books, supplies, and equipment needed for a course of study whether or not the materials must be purchased from the educational institution as a condition of enrollment or attendance.

After all is said and done, the Lifetime Learning Credit remains my best friend.  This gives a 20% of the first $10,000 of qualified education expenses you paid.  Quick calculations say that I'm looking at a credit between $400 and $500.  Of course, these are just rough numbers right now -- there's still a lot of income crunching to be done before I'm ready to file my tax returns for 2009.
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The last Carnival of Personal Finance for 2009 is up at Gather Little By Little.  Mike included my update on investing.  

I hate to admit that, honestly, because I prefer to do things when I want to.  Who doesn't? And operating on that philosophy, housework, schoolwork and work work does get done around here.  But, like medicine, while compulsion doesn't sound pleasant, looming deadline(s) tends to have a terrific effect on your concentration.

It turns out that while I like doing things "when I wanna" holds a certain hedonistic pleasure, it's not the most productive, and thus - for me -ultimately satisfactory.  It's the workaholic in me: getting lots done makes me happy.

I've had the pleasure of running my own routine, such as it is squeezed between travel, etc., for some months now.  There are certain tasks that must be done on specific dates. Where possible, I schedule those tasks for completion a week in advance of the due date, while treating items on the Should Do list as rolling objects from day to day. 

One area this worked quite well is for my online classes.  The syllabi, reading lists, assignments, quizzes and discussion boards were all posted during the first week of school.  Armed with this information, I could creatively schedule several weeks' worth of schoolwork to accommodate other things, a la Hawaii. [By "creatively" I really just mean: did all the work early.]

Basically, A) I spare myself the stress of working against the clock when it matters (ie: timed quizzes and exams), and B) I create more free time at the back end in case of problems, questions, or complications.

It also works well in handling my finances. My account aggregator is good for daily and weekly check-ups, and sitting down to pay the bills once a week.  

An area where I hadn't applied that scheduling ethic is right here on the blog.  This has always sort of been a time-sensitive blog, written on the spot and during the heat of the moment but that doesn't necessarily equal writing worth reading. During my leisure time, I'm slowly changing that habit in the pursuit of higher quality writing; a cushion of posts would be a lovely bonus.

There's definitely an element of "makes me feel like I'm winning" at play here as well.  If there's a deadline and I handily beat it?  WIN.  It's the same as that intrinsic love of rules or benchmarks. 

So I can make this work for me during the most unstructured time of my life.  Step by step, I'm imposing structure on my daily routines: blogging, recreational reading, "research" reading, schoolwork, even cooking, and most importantly, career development.

to all my readers who celebrate Christmas!  And to everyone: warm bunny snuggles!

What would you call this garment?

It's not anywhere dignified enough to be a sweater dress. It's made of a jersey/sweatshirt material.  It's got a zipper halfway down the front, a hood, and I do believe that's the most obnoxious color scheme ever. Teal? Aqua teal?  Stripes?  It's like a train wreck of a clothing article.  Wearing it with leggings confused the heck out of my male friends: "What ... what IS that you're wearing?  Seriously, what is that thing called?"

Guys, I have no idea.

A girlfriend gave it to me because "I always think I can wear a child's Large and, well, no, no, you should take it."  And I LOVE it.  It's so soft and comfortable, snug across the middle and arms, long enough to keep me warm to the knees and a hood!  A hood to keep my head warm while snuggling into another volume of 100 Bullets or Terry Pratchett that I wanted to wear it all the time.  I'd just pull on over anything I was wearing for another layer of cozy. 

This has to be my most ridiculous, yet best loved, freebie of the year.  What's yours?

It's a little lame that I'm still sitting on ten whole shares of KO (wishing I'd bought many more) and $1050 in cash since my first foray into building my own portfolio five months ago.

Bor-ing. 

No, I didn't expect a whole lot of excitement in this quarter knowing that I wasn't willing to risk much cash right now but all the reading and researching of how to invest over the years had me wound up like a top: ready to go for ..... well, not broke, anyway!  

It's just a bit of a letdown that I bought right before the market rallied (then fell, rallied again, then dipped, and rallied yet again).  That's what you're supposed to do - buy low, so all's right on that end, but I haven't done anything since.  Nothing has dropped enough for me to buy a substantial number of shares.  It's so bad that I've been glaring at the ticker, willing the market to tank just a little bit. 

The real problem here is less that I don't have a lot of ready cash to invest, and more that I get bored/distracted easily where there's not a lot of action.  The TradeKing account is the least action-y account I own.  Even my Vanguard accounts are more interesting to watch.  The flip side of the boredom is the distraction: if the market is running low, I might not even notice because I zoned out 12 days before. 

The solution is finding the sweet spot in between the two: acting out of boredom is an entirely emotional decision - that's usually a bad thing around here. Not paying attention because I'm bored is also bad.

So! I'll set up a watch list, actively monitoring and recruiting possible investments and setting reasonable target Buy prices.  That should give me enough to do to stay on point, and then I'll be set up to buy on a moment's notice.

We're scant days away from CookFest 2009 ... er, Christmas, and I've been compiling a whole mess of recipes to last through the weekend.

Wish I had pictures, but I'll share those afterward if this all turns out well.

For breakfasts: I'm going to make a double batch of these fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes ahead and fridge them.  Not freeze, fridge.

I've already got an idea about Shrimp Scampi, we'll serve my now-perfected baked fish with roasted tomatoes and pesto, we'll have to work a miracle with a pork loin of some sort, and then on to a frugal Almond Pecan Pie for dessert. 

I know we'll serve wine, but I'm hoping to make VH's pineapple punch.  Sounds delicious!
Clearly, there's some fleshing out to do here, but we've got a good start.

This weekend was a social whirlwind.  I had the pleasure/pain of organizing lunches with former colleagues and college classmates.

On Saturday, we had BBQ with the former colleague, and the nutty one is as hilariously offbeat as usual.  As is her new husband.  We got greedy ordering, between the four of us we had 4 full slabs of babyback ribs, an order of tri-tip, 2 orders of mac'n'cheese, french fries, mashed potatoes, and baked beans.  I didn't finish my entire slab as intended, but that just makes for delicious leftovers!

The best part of lunch conversation: inventing zany, improbable uses for a monocle.

Cost: $32, with tip

On Sunday, our group of 7 was incomplete as the Dynamic Darling of the group had family matters to attend, but we still managed to have fun.  Three of our group are teachers (middle school and high school), so teacher talk dominated the conversation.

The best parts of lunch conversation:

Lulu turning to me saying, oh! Are you a teacher, too?
Me: No, I'm just mean.

When Sarah recited the whole of Invictus, without batting an eye.  And then was awarded a gold star by Sander, the other teacher, at the table.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
---William Ernest Henley

When Sander, a notorious jokester, seated himself next to Kayla, the quietest, shyest of the bunch, to convince her that he'd reformed.  After an hour of not picking on her, she laughed out loud at his mockery of someone else and he turned to her with a sly wink, "See?  It's always funny when it happens to someone else, isn't it?"

At the end of the meal, the bill immediately got stuffed with bills and credit cards and handed to me for the final math. "I'm an English major!" they chorused.
"Guys," I retorted, "we're ALL English majors!"

Cost: $14, with tip
Carnavale!
Mighty Bargain Hunter hosts this week's Carnival of Personal Finance: the Parts of Speech Abuse Edition.

My post on Holiday Traditions was included.

Nominations! 
The Plutus award nominations are now open!  The nominations will remain open for three weeks.

Once upon a time, we celebrated holidays and birthdays with loads of family, food, and fun.  Some years gifts were bountiful, other years scarce, but we kids rarely had any gift expectations. Except one: every other year, I hoped for a new digital watch or a strap replacement because that's about how long it took for the wristband of my good old $5 Casio to break.  Pretty simple, as those things go. 

The wish list was unheard of.  We wrote little letters to Santa, but understood that while other kids had jolly Old Saint Nick for a Santa, our family Santa was just our parents signing a different name on the gift tag.  Dual personalities didn't bother me, at any rate.  

After age ten, though, Christmases changed substantially - my parents stopped celebrating entirely.  I didn't fully appreciate how busy and exhausted they were, working 7 days a week, at their small business, so for seven years, I advocated for a Christmas tree this year, in vain.  (I must have been so annoying!)  

It took another five years of trying to resurrect my fondly remembered holiday traditions before I developed a much healthier approach than a forced diet of gifts to disinterested people.

One of my favorite traditions is a very special one I share with a good friend.  N and I exchange birthday and Christmas gifts each year, following the same rules: we buy a few volumes of a comic book series that we both want to read, read it first, and then trade gifts. 

It doesn't make sense to anyone else, but we love it. 

This harkens back to our college days when I couldn't really afford to splurge on a lot of books for myself, and A had more disposable income.  I'm pretty sure the arrangement came about because one (or both) of us couldn't wait 'til after the gifting occasion to borrow the books and read them - we both buy gifts weeks if not months in advance.

This also gave rise to the Buy Quests we go on each year at Comic Con:  we provide each other with the titles of books we'd like to be collecting, and we then painstakingly search through each of the bargain bin booths to collect as many of those books for 50% off or $5/each as possible.  

Do you have any holiday, birthday or gifting traditions?  Care to share?

Is it cheating if I should get two more gifts, and can't think of good ones?  I think the answer to that is "yes."   But I'm pretending that it's not right now to conform to my rules below. 


Edit:  We're in the clear -- I happened across a great Groupon deal, and though it meant that I had to ASK them if they'd be interested in the event, bought them rock climbing packages.

My official list was shorter than ever this year.  I'm not going to reveal the gift recipients, but thus far I've stayed within my guesstimated budget from the November Snapshot of $150-200.

• 1 tauntaun sleeping bag from ThinkGeek.com -- $116.98  

Holy mackeral shipping was expensive! Ground shipping cost $26.99!  But at least I know that'll be delivered in time. And it'll be totally worth it -- half the fun of this gift is the surprise, the other half is that it's been a running joke, one way or another, for years. 

• 2 t-shirts from Threadless.com -- $28.99 22.99 

When the prices dropped again, I canceled the first order and submitted another one. They still arrived in time to be wrapped and sent back out.


This is the most I've ever spent on shipping for a gifting season, but I'm also ordering from non-standard stores.  I missed out on the Threadless tees I really wanted (Polar Farming or Cheesy Friends), but the two that I did find were funny enough and fit the personalities of the recipients.

Lastly ....

• 2 of the following: 1 hr lesson, full day of climbing and all equipment rental: $30 

Over the years, I've developed the following gifting rules:

A) Gift must be something the recipient would love and not think to get for him or herself
B) Gift must be a reasonable price
C) Gift must be something the recipient could actually use: no knickknacks or future clutter
D) Always use coupons, sales or any possible combination thereof
E) Creativity trumps all
F) No obligation buying!  No throwaway gifts for people I felt I should have bought for if they don't also conform to the rules above.  Scratch E, thoughtfulness trumps all. If I don't know them well enough to find something they will love and use, then I shouldn't get them a gift.

My personal CD ladder is a work in progress. The ladder's steps aren't regular like most folks's every three months, or every two months, or every month.  To be honest, it's rather haphazard: cash gets rolled into a CD when I spot a good "high" interest, short term (12 months or fewer) rate.  It's not conventional but the reasoning behind this strategy is sound for me, and I've always made financial choices that worked best for me and mine.

 - only the money in my emergency fund can be invested (~$36k)
 - I always need to keep enough on hand to cover $2k/month until the next CD expires.
 - I only want to invest the most money at the highest rate possible.

 - $10,000 at 3.0% APY expiring 06-2010
 - $3,000 at 2.75% APY expiring 08-2010

- $8,000 at B&M bank (investable)
- $14,000 at ING (investable) 
- $5,500 for expenses (not investable)

Given those priorities, there's no point in my setting up a traditional ladder, convenient though ING makes it:

The immediate drawback of using the convenient ladder above is that my savings accounts are earning 1.3% APY.  The 6 and 9 month CD terms are earning less than that, so there's no point in using those.  Then all the terms after 12 months earn less than 2% APY, only marginally more than the 1.3% APY.

I'd rather throw something like $15k into a 12 month CD now, leaving $12.5K to get me through the next 6 months.

I don't expect to spend $2k per month from savings, it's just a comfortable average amount I use for estimating monthly expenses. I might only spend $500 per month for a few months, but then an emergency could pop up costing a few thousand.  If so, I still don't have to worry because my total available cash covers it.  Meanwhile the seed money earmarked to go out and earn "big" can continue to do so.
 
The risk here is committing the rest of my investable cash ($15k) to a 2.0% CD means that I won't be able to open up another CD at a higher rate later on if one becomes available between now and June 2010.

Then again, had I just sent all that cash to the 3% APY CD six months ago, we wouldn't be talking about committing to a lower interest rate now!  :)  So it's guesswork from here.

Option A: Invest all $15,000 now
Option B: Invest part now (how much?), invest the rest later


___________________________________________

My mac 'n' cheese post was featured in this week's Make It From Scratch Carnival hosted by 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven.

I have a friend serving in military right now, and he's stationed in the cold of Afghanistan for at least several more months this tour. Last week, my biggest worry was that I'd never get to sleep.  A couple weeks ago, his base was rocket attacked and an entire side of the base was damaged.

So I did what I do best: offered him a care package with any food, candy or snacks he wanted.  (He wants.)

Hint: I'm told that hot chocolate packages are care mail GOLD.

If you're looking to send a care package to a member of the military, pick up a flat rate APO box and customs forms from your local post office, I was quoted a rate of under $15.  The packages are taking about ten days to arrive when posted from the West Coast, though the holidays may slow that delivery time down a bit.

If you don't have a special family member or friend and would like to send something anyway, check out Any Soldier for information on how to send care packages to the military. [Thanks to The Lost Goat for the link.]

Starting on Monday, December 21, 2009, nominations will begin for the first annual Plutus Awards.

These awards come in two flavors: Plutus and Plutus 2.0 awards.

The Plutus Awards feature the following categories:

* Best Savings/Money Market Account
* Best Checking/Transaction Account
* Best Banking Website
* Best Overall Bank
* Best Discount Brokerage
* Best Credit Card
* Best Personal Finance Management Software
* Best Budgeting Software
* Best Tax Filing Software
* Best Peer-to-Peer/Social/Micro Lending Service
* Best Mobile Personal Finance Application
* Best Personal Finance Book of 2009
* Have a suggestion? Contact Flexo.

The Plutus 2.0 Awards feature the following categories:

* Best New Personal Finance Blog
* Best New Personal Finance e-Book
* Best Economics Blog
* Best Investing Blog
* Best Real Estate Blog
* Best Debt Blog
* Best Tax Blog
* Best Frugality Blog
* Best Religious Finance Blog
* Best Non-Collaborative General Personal Finance Blog
* Best Collaborative Personal Finance Blog
* Best Canadian Personal Finance Blog
* Best International Personal Finance Blog
* Best Personal Finance Podcast
* Best Multi-Part Series
* Best Microblog
* BLOG OF THE YEAR 2009
* Have a suggestion? Contact Flexo.

The winner of each Plutus 2.0 Awards category will receive $20.09 to celebrate the year 2009 - but additional sponsors are welcome to come forward and provide an additional award in any category.

Start thinking about who you'd nominate for each category and why!  [Ok, I don't think you need to provide a reason.]  I'm sure the competition is going to get fierce! 

Find out what Cinderella and her prince have to do to deal with their Royal Recession as Well-Heeled hosts the Carnival of Personal Finance this week!

My contribution of “I can afford it” was included, thanks!

I recently discussed the upcoming changes for my health care coverage in 2010.

My ex-benefits office sent an update for the coming year and I was wrong about my ARRA expiration: it's actually good until the end of April, not the end of March.  My rates, however, still increase to $142/month starting in January, and jump to $410/month post-ARRA expiration.  A relief and a bummer rolled up into one.

Unless a job is secured by that time, the COBRA will take a serious bite out of my savings each month, but I'll still have the money to pay it.  I just have to reproject the budget to see what the drawdown looks like against my savings accounts.

This New York Times article, Steps to Take Before Cobra Subsidy Ends, notes that some people are expecting their unsubsidized COBRA to reach unsustainable amounts, costing more than half their monthly unemployment.  According to the article, bills are pending in both the House and Senate to extend the subsidy for six months, but I'm skeptical that it would pass in time to affect my budget. 

The Times suggests the following coping techniques:

BUY TIME Yes, the full-price Cobra payments are onerous. But if you pay the first month or two, you will be buying time to see if the subsidy is extended and time to shop around for health insurance alternatives that may be more affordable.
Check ehealthinsurance.com and healthplanone.com for general pricing information from carriers that provide individual policies in your area.

STAY ON TOP OF IT If you’re making the switch to full payments be sure to keep in touch with your Cobra administrator so you will know whether Congress grants an extension, and what you need to do, if anything, to get it.
Depending on your plan and situation, this person may be a staff member of your former employer’s benefits department. Or it may be someone at the insurance company providing your Cobra coverage, or a third-party administrator. Be sure to read through your paperwork and find the person you need to stay in contact with.

LOOK FOR REDUCTIONS With or without the subsidy, family Cobra coverage costs much more than individual coverage or coverage for just you and your spouse.
Without your regular income, your children may well be eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. It covers children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford private health insurance. If you can insure your kids through CHIP, Mr. Pollack said, you can significantly reduce your Cobra payment. For more information go to insurekidsnow.gov.

NEWLY LAID OFF? If you have been laid off this month and your employer has promised to cover your health care until the end of December, beware: that magnanimity could work against you.
The way the law is written, workers are eligible for the subsidy only if they are “eligible for Cobra” before Dec. 31, said Kathryn Bakich, national health care compliance director for the Segal Company, a benefits consultant. And simply being laid off in December does not necessarily make you eligible, particularly if your employer-provided coverage is extended through the end of the year.

As with most things to do with the economy and the government's actions, I view it as a wait and see situation.  With luck, none of you out there really need any of this information!

By way of helping with the astronomical work load, I've got a guest post over at Funny About Money.  Just a little rumination about unemployment. 

Hope everyone is safe, warm and dry today!  It's gloomy out there!

I posted the following article over at Carnival of Personal Finance: Frugal or just cheap?

A short excerpt for you:

How do you know when you’ve crossed the line from being frugal and pennywise to just plain cheap? When you’re shopping, that is.

Having just ordered a box of business cards for myself, the logical thing to do would be to carry the cards with me. Most business cards in my wallet tend to shift around and rub against one another enough to leave that awful pencil or charcoal rubbed look on the face of the card, though, and that’s not something I want to hand out to a prospective client or employer.

Warning: the ultimate comfort food meal up ahead!


My friend had an emergency root canal just when I was planning a nice housewarming dinner, so Hangar Steak with Shallots or Funny About Money's son's Steak Mirepoix had to be canceled in favor of something more dental victim friendly.

Many thanks to L.A.Daze for both heading off disaster and inspiring the direction of dinner!



I borrowed this recipe from Culinary Adventures of a New Wife: Lobster Mac 'n' Cheese.  I meant to make the cheap version, leaving out half the ingredients, but somehow that plan got turned around and I only cut back on a few items. 



2 8 oz. boxes quinoa  pasta  -- Just used mini fusilli pasta [$1.66]
2 tbsp butter  [$1.99]
1/3 cup flour -- nearly 2/3 cup to thicken up the sauce [had on hand, ~$0.10]
1 1/2 cup milk -- [had on hand, ~$0.50]
1/4 cup chicken broth -- 3/4 cup to stretch the sauce [had on hand, ~$1]
1 cup low fat sour cream -- [$0.75]
1/2 lb Velveeta, cut into cubes
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp ground mustard -- [had on hand, $0.10]
1/2 tsp ground black pepper -- [had on hand, $0.10]
1/4 tsp coarse garlic salt -- [had on hand, $0.10]
2 cups reduced fat shredded cheddar -- [$2.50]
1/2 -1 cup frozen peas -- 12 oz of peas and pearl onions [$2.00]
12 oz of frozen langostino tails -- [$9.00]
Total: $18.00 

Surprisingly, it only worked out to about $1.80 per serving even with the premium langostino tails and really heaping servings.  And I really liked it more chicken broth and no Velveeta. I went really heavy on the peas, luckily they were perfectly sweet.    

What's your favorite comfort food or perfect pick-me-up meal? 

If anyone is flying between now and January 7th, and would like to use the internet for FREE, email me or leave a comment with your email address and I'll send you a special code.   Don't be shy!  Inflight internet is FUN!  Free inflight internet?  Even better!

Edit: Little Miss Moneybags had a good question: Which airline is this for?  It's good on AirCanada, AirTran, American Airlines, Delta, United, Virgin, and coming soon to US Airways.

My friend is an employee of the UC system and, like other California government agency employees, subject to the state-mandated furloughs. She estimates that she's taking a 15-20% paycut with the 17 furlough days, or nearly a month's worth of workdays. 

Another friend, listening in to the conversation, mentioned that Californians are able to claim partial unemployment, much like Funny About Money's experience:

....we can claim unemployment for each furloughed day. That will be a HUGE hassle: you apparently have to fill out all the forms and jump through the hoops for every single claim. So it may not be worth the trouble. But it’s there.

My furloughed friend, however, smiled and said that while it bit into her budget enough that she had to decline the trip to Hawaii invitation, she wasn't in trouble and preferred not to tax the state's coffers any more than she had to.

Initially, my reaction was: that's taking the long view.  Admirable.  If everyone was as careful about accepting "free" money (since she wouldn't be working for that partial payment, rendering it similar to vacation pay) as she was, perhaps it'd make a difference.

But that's a slender reed to lean on.  So do you think this is actually a shortsighted decision? Should she be taking that money and banking it even if she's comfortable now in case it just gets rougher or she's laid off?  There's really no such thing as long-term job security for her, she's employed by the state of California.

That's right, the place that's hiking in-state tuition and setting off protests [where riot cops beat peaceful protestors, and broke a friend's camera], and closing medical facilities.

There aren't many indications that California's on the way out of the frying pan anytime soon. To temporarily stave off disaster, they're implementing short term fixes like taking an extra ten percent from taxpayers through April 2010, and taxing medical marijuana.  [Thanks to Kay Bell]

Times are tough. We get that. And when times are tough, we have to do things we don't necessarily like to get out of it, we get that too.  But without much more serious efforts to mend the budgets, dire predictions prevail:

The deficit is expected to be worse in the years beyond 2011, as temporary taxes expire and raids on local government funds must be repaid by Sacramento. Taylor projected a $21.3-billion deficit in fiscal 2011-12 and a $23-billion shortfall in fiscal 2012-13. [LA Times, November 19, 2009]

What would you do in her shoes?

Editor's Note: Issue resolved & closed now.

I've always been an advocate of just asking for a discount, negotiating, or requesting fee waivers.  Negotiating and haggling take a lot of practice, but you can always start small with requests for refunds, discounts and waivers.  It's a simple question, and worded politely, can save you a bundle! 

November's forays:


Success!  Requesting a little stand to go with the piece I'd picked out as a gift from Little Dipper Castings.  I knew my giftee would never wear the piece as jewelry, but would love to display it. The seller was nice enough to throw in the requested display block, free. [saved $9 on the chain]

Success! Chase charged me an incoming wire transfer fee of $15.  As I'd called 4 times in the past verifying that I would not be charged, and been assured that I wouldn't be, I called them back and the CSR immediately reversed the charge. [recouped $15]

Success! My wireless optical mouse rolled over and died.  I love this thing and desperately needed it to keep my hands from seizing up with cramps from using the [I think] mildly insane touchpad.  It's got a few bats in the belfry.  A call to Logitech, and five minutes on hold, and voila!  A new mouse will be shipped out [via slowest ground shipping possible] without my having to return Defecto Mouse. [saved ~$45]
Work in progress!  That pesky rebate:  Those guys aren't keeping my money! I called and pestered them, and tried to point out that they're idiots for recording the shipping date as the order date nicely, and the guy acknowledged it, but couldn't get them to process the rebate without sending in a second resubmission.  It's been sent in, and I'll follow up again until they send my check. 

Success!  AT&T hasn't been applying the FAN (15%) discount to my account since my contract started 19 months ago despite my verified eligibility. Three phone calls later, the last of which was more than a little frustrating, yielded both the $6 discount from now on, and a credit on my account for the entire contract period.  [recouped $114] 

This set was about small wins for me, but Oil and Garlic recently had a great fat honkin' win!

It's kind of fun keeping track of these wins, big and small.  If anyone wants to join in the fun, or submit their own for inclusion, please email me!

The Carnival is up at Suburban Dollar, please be sure to check it out!

He included my post: Usurious interest rates and bad car buys

And I'm back online again!  

I've been helping a friend with move-in chores: ran a TON of errands yesterday to RadioShack, Goodwill, Costco, the furniture place, H&M, and Bed Bath and Beyond.  (Yes, H&M was just for me, I found my super lightweight, cheap, shoulder/crossbody bag for $20!)  Sorry, I braved the shop online Austria, Denmark AND Finland sites to find a picture for you, but no dice.  

Today I had to set up the wireless router first thing which took a solid three hours, and then wrassled a slipcover onto the new sofa before I could a) get online and b) sit down to do any work of my own.  As you can see: victorious!!

What's in my wallet is about to be changed: I'm subbing in a new credit card to earn car repair purchase points.


**Please note that I don't use the card any more just to earn points and I definitely don't carry a balance.  That would defeat the purpose of creating this passive income stream.

Chase Cash Plus is my daily go-to card earning 5 points per dollar back on gas, groceries, and drugstore purchases, 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.  My favorite redemption is the 5000 points = $50 check.  It's a tiny drop in the bucket, but it's cash and who doesn't love cash?  [SingleMa. But she has a point.  My cashback goes straight in the bank so I don't spend it.]

Right now, though, I foresee minor problems with my car cropping up again, in addition to things I never bothered to fix: the fog light housing, the dings and dents, the self-inflicted injuries.  As usual, the cosmetic surgery will wait, but the lock repair is necessary, the light goes wonky and only works if you set it just so, and the smashed housing should be fixed sooner rather than later.

Thanks to the Drive Miles Options, I have $75 worth of points rolled up, but don't forget the fine print! Miles redemptions requires an equal number of purchase points.  This means switching over from my Chase card to the Driver's Edge card for all regular purchases.  I'm not sacrificing the 5-1 points ratio on the bonus purchases, just the 1-1 dollar-point ratio.

I'll have to spend a hefty sum on the Driver's Edge card to rack up the required points, but when you combine the purchase points with the matching Drive Miles, it's a 2-1 ratio and free money for car repairs to boot.   Not a bad match, considering I'm saving myself from spending cash ($150) out of pocket.  Compared to the delayed $50 cash redemption ($40 of which is already earned), it's no contest.

I've got a post up over at Brian's My Next Buck contributing to the Financial Foul-Up series.  Check it out!

I was recently roundly scolded by my mentor for not having business cards when we met a potential professional contact.

Me:  But .. but .. we're on vacation!  

But she's right: you should always have some sort of contact card to give to people you meet in case you'd like to keep in touch.  Even if they don't keep the card itself because they input the information into their preferred electronic device like FB does, they will have gotten your information.  That's the idea, anyway.

I'm so of the electronic age that I've just gotten by exchanging phone numbers via email or inputting a phone number on the spot and calling the other person so they can save my phone number.  Who hasn't done that?  That's just not good enough for professional purposes, though, it's just too informal for certain contacts. 

Ordering cards had been on my list of things to do anyway, so what was I waiting for?  I hopped on the computer that same night and took a quick Twitter poll about whether or not Vistaprint was any good.  My main concern was that the cardstock would be some cheap shoddy material, but .... (thanks @gingercorsair and @punchdebt!) 


It seemed worth the gamble so I clicked through the Vistaprint options and ordered a set of 250 business cards with blank backs ($1.99) instead of their printed logo, 21-day slow shipping ($5.67) and matte finish (free) for less than $8. 

My other options were Uprinting.com and @TheyCallMeCheap recommended that I try Moo which I'd never heard of before. If I didn't like the cards Vistaprint produced, I would try Moo next. 


The cards were ordered on the 18th and delivered on the 27th - less than 2 weeks!  That's pretty good for someone who neurotically tracks shipping as soon as an order is placed. 

The cardstock is average and acceptable for my purposes - they're not flimsy but they're not the super thick 100-lb weight premium paper that could inflict a life-threatening paper cut either.  Best we keep it that way.

The Rules:
1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they've been tagged.

What you shouldn't know about me:

1. I want food I don't already have. There's a sweet spot between wanting and having a snack in which it's delicious, but it's a very small window. This is how Oreos last as long as they do in my house. It's also why I don't buy potato chips. I'd never finish the bag before it went stale.
2. I'm a one-trip shopper: Everything has to be unloaded from the car in one go.  Once I'm in the house, I'm not coming back out.  [Except when it's nearly impossible but it's always too late to change my mind.  Like the one time I bought 20 pounds of pork ribs and 20 pounds of chicken. In hindsight, that was just flat out dumb.]
3. I just yelled "LIFESTYLE INFLATION!!" at a 19-year-old contemplating an iPhone vs. Palm. 
4. I'm related to crazy people who think that ionized water is a cure-all.  This makes me sad. Then kind of mad.
5. In my head, dresses should always be step-in-able.  That over-the-head business just doesn't jive with me. Also, when tailored to fit and both zippers and buttons are involved, I often have trouble getting dressed.
6. It seems like the above incompetency should be mentioned to all mothers who ask me to babysit their darlings. It frequently isn't.
7. But I still do remarkably well babysitting the under-3 age group.  Performance drops slightly around bedtime prep, but the number of diapers I've changed should more than offset that loss.

Alright darlins, please tag yourselves because you're going to hurt my feelings if you don't follow through and I'm going to hurt yours if I didn't pick you.   And let me know so I can link back to you!  :)

Here's a What would you have done? scenario.

I got a call from my girlfriend recently.  She and her husband were looking at cars to replace both their beater car and the truck he'd crashed into a telephone pole one icy night, several months ago.  He was fine, thank goodness, but their car was most decidedly not. 

I worry about their finances as she's described them to me.  He's been unemployed on and off for months, though always diligently hunting and trying to bring home income one way or another.  He wasn't too proud to go back to delivering pizzas while training for his paramedic license, trying out for the sheriff's department, and basically beating every bush possible.  She's gone back to a desk job even though she hates it and she's not physically a desk job kind of gal - it knocks her back a-kilter something fierce.  But she deals, as well. 

It took several weeks but they found their "deal": a 2000 4-door sedan for $8,000.  It seemed like a great price if they could get decent financing in her name.  [He'd declared bankruptcy a year ago, and so they won't be putting anything in his name for a while.]  With a mid 700s credit score, I wasn't terribly concerned about their chances.

Except the shady dealership offered them 15% APR!  And then "gave" them a "discount" to make up for the fact that as they were signing the papers, the shady salesman revealed that the car had been in an accident that caused structural damage.

/headdesk/

At that point I really wanted to
a) beg them to walk away;
b) beg them to consider alternate financing options, and find another car that didn't have structural damage;
c) beg them to walk away, consider better financing options, and find another car that didn't have structural damage.

She told me, in the crickets-chirping silence as I debated the above options, that her brother in law the mechanic had checked the car and deemed it driveable, but I still felt uncomfortable with their decision to proceed with the sale.

Am I paranoid?  What would you have done?

A few thoughts .....

Excel and I will have to become buddies to locate exactly when the e-fund tracking went off the rails, but in the meantime, I've reset the past numbers in parentheses for both the e-fund and grand total back to the correct September numbers for now. 

The total NW is up again due to the uptick in the stock market and sort of controlling my expenses.    

A note about the Tradeking account: as I'm a buy and hold investor, that total will only reflect the cash deposited, and not any gains or losses for now.  I'm tracking that differently than my retirement accounts because I don't have those assets in hand until I sell.  Does that make sense?

1.  Christmas gifts -- $150-200 total?
2.  Another pair of online courses -- $1100

While I'm happy to see the NW slightly rebound, I'm not thrilled that it's on the back of so capricious a creature as the stock market.  Cash is my preferred net worth driver, unless it's being invested purposefully. I look forward to the time when I'm generating substantive income again.