Contrary to last month's assertion that I was going to just move forward and not look back, I took some time to fill in all the blanks of the past weeks' spending and income. It didn't take more than an hour or so and helped PiC and I have a good conversation about getting to grips with our spending as a household.

That was long overdue and makes me feel one heck of a lot better about now having a plan.  We've got a spending spreadsheet so we're both updating to see the same picture together and will be targeting a $400 monthly food budget.  [Yes, we eat too much. We're cooking at home a lot more but we are piggies and one of us treats other people far too much. Ahem.]

One of my private loans came up this month, hence the leap from $12,630 to $15,900.  I'm looking to reinvest again so that means I'll keep the bit over $3000 and throw the $12,630 back into the investing pool.  It takes nearly five years to come due so it's what I'd consider a mid-term investment.

I also banked that surprise bonus and snowflaked all my bits of freelancey income towards the travel fund. It's a little selfish since the other practical funds need attention but they will always be supplemented by the expense fund if necessary. The travel fund doesn't get that luxury - it's either funded or I don't travel.

November's rent is already covered because of a really stupid mistake.  The October rent was already paid at the end of September but because it came out in the month of September, my brain didn't click and I jumped mid-October to the conclusion that I hadn't paid so I cut another check.  Everyone roll your eyes with me. Who pays rent twice in a month??  Still, let's take it as a good sign that it didn't break the bank. 

Speaking of banks, I moved a big chunk of money to Smarty Pig just in time for them to drop the interest rate to 1.75%, which is still higher than the 1.1% at ING.  Excellent timing, self.

Overall, since I'm still occasionally sneezing about my parents' financial situation via my financial situation, I'm still on the prowl for better places to store my money for higher interest rates (hah) and more income-producing opportunities.

Last Saturday, a strange young man knocked on my front door and earnestly asked if I'd take a free trial for a local newspaper for eight weeks to help him go to college.  He was just trying to earn a scholarship for college, he said, and he just needed me to sign up, no money needed. 

He said he couldn't leave the sign up form with me overnight because his counselor collected them every day, but all he needed was for me to sign up.  He'd take care of the fees himself, and that would earn him a $500 scholarship for college.

When asked which apartment he lived in, he gave an apartment number two floors up. 

He did even try the "well, even the guy downstairs who doesn't speak much English helped me out, he signed up," waving a filled out form vaguely in my direction.  [Translation: he was much easier to convince because he couldn't understand the implications of what I might be trying to pull.]

Though he seemed nice enough, I was put off by a number of things.  The fact I couldn't place his face, the fact he gave no identification or the school he was with, he refused to leave the paperwork overnight, and the whole deal didn't really make much sense.  None of these were really conclusive signs of anything: I have a terrible memory for faces, don't recognize half of PiC's friends and coworkers with whom I've been out socially, and if he was an earnest teenager he wouldn't necessarily know to win suspicious people over by presenting identification.  Nevertheless, while I'm a bad people person, I'm also not the easiest person to scam specifically because I naturally don't have a trusting nature.  Even if I had allowed for all of the above and overlooked it (which I won't), I didn't like the idea of handing over my name and address to a complete stranger upon solicitation.

I won't give it someone who seems official conducting a survey, why would I give that information to a kid literally come in off the street? 

While there's not a lot one could do with a simple name and address on the surface of it, that's always a start if they wanted a name, address and a signature to start an identity theft ring. 

The next day, a notice went out that the kid was part of a twosome who was confronted by a building manager and it was revealed that neither of them did in fact live in the building. Their business, then, was even if it wasn't a scam, at the very least, not legitimate in the sense they were lying to the residents to gain their trust.

Do you think you would have been as bothered by all the little rather intangible things as I was? They were all gut instincts but even I thought they were a bit tenuous at the time.

You might have already heard about this from the granddaddy of all PF blogs, My Money Blog. 

If not, those of you who invest with Vanguard index funds and hold more than $10,000 in those funds, you ay qualify to convert those funds to Admiral Shares.

A quick synopsis on Admiral Shares from their site:

Admiral Shares are a separate share class of more than 50 Vanguard funds that follow the same investment strategy as traditional shares, but with significantly lower expense ratios. They were created to recognize and encourage the cost savings that Vanguard derives from large accounts, and to pass those savings on to investors.

Thanks to their low costs, Admiral Shares can reduce your expenses 18%–50% below the already low expense ratios of our standard Investor Shares. (Find out why investment costs matter.)

For example, if you invest $50,000 in a fund's Admiral Shares with a 0.07% expense ratio instead of its Investor Shares with a 0.18% expense ratio, you could keep approximately $1,200 more in net returns for your account over a 10-year period, assuming an average annual return of 8%. (This is a hypothetical illustration and does not represent any particular investment. Actual savings for your specific funds may be higher or lower.)

Only one of my funds qualified for conversion so I swapped that right over. I'm no longer actively contributing to my Vanguard funds at the moment but the Roth IRA could use a fresh infusion of funds when I'm ready to let go of some cash. My current accounts stand at $42,768.87 and I'd like to break $50,000 by this time next year [for the record: October 26th, 2011] so I need all the help I can get. 

Be sure to take advantage of the lower expense ratios in the Admiral Shares if you can!

Winter is fast approaching, and while PiC regularly twits me about what I think is cold, we both know my winter wardrobe is woefully lacking. I have one really good knee-length BCBG coat, lined with a gorgeous silk, bought years ago, one hip length pea coat, a lightweight knee-length trench coat, and four sweaters of varying weight.  In combination with a couple of basic scarves from H&M, I always figured that was good enough but that won't do here.

Even if it doesn't get much colder, SF will get much wetter! The rain has already begun so actual raingear is in order. For my upcoming travel to colder climes, a raincoat, a set of hat, scarves, gloves and boots are an absolute necessity.  Time's running out so I cracked my online shopping knuckles and got to work. 

I've picked up three more long sleeved shirts from Ann Taylor marked down to the standard $20/shirt that I have had to pay for that kind of layer because I wear the heck out of the three long sleeved shirts that I currently own already. They're already starting to show a bit of wear because they're so frequently used. If I find a better bargain for equal quality, though, I'm happy to go with that! It's a shame I don't have time to trek out to the outlets.

One major coup was scored last week: I have acquired my very first pair of rainboots!

Thanks to the lovely PetiteAsianGirl's recommendation, I tried the dav City Rain Boots. I wanted them in classic black, but they were full price ($49.99) in black and on sale for $35.66 at Amazon where I could get free 2-day shipping in a different color.

Houndstooth is just as classic and a wee bit more interesting so I'm now the proud owner of these darlings:


I still don't actually know what you DO with them, precisely ... I wear slacks and trousers and hate carrying anything more than is absolutely necessary but would I have to wear socks with these and pack flats to change into?  I only wear trouser jeans when I wear jeans to work - must I switch to skinnies so they can be tucked in? And then tromp around all day in them?

They don't half baffle me when it's for casual wear but take it to a professional level and I'm at a loss.

Anyway, I'm hoping the rest of the shopping will be as fruitful, bargainalicious and right-sized!  Your recommendations for professional shopping destinations carrying petite sizes would be greatly appreciated.

Left on the list 
Warm, lined gloves for small hands - preferably something waterproof as I hate having soaked, cold fingers
A nice hat, also preferably waterproof, good for 20-40 degree (F) weather
Thick, warm scarf that doesn't shed.
1 more turtleneck
Down, quilted vest, I think these almost always run more sporty than professional but I'm going to need it.

After a wonderful meal at a Korean tofu house with a friend we hadn't seen for a few months, she wanted to make plans to meet for dinner again during the week before she left town.

That same day, I received a message from another friend who recently relocated to this coast. She planned to be in town to see family, could we have brunch when she landed Saturday?  When I wasn't available, she asked if we could come out to see her across the way Sunday. Though she didn't specify it was a full day thing, history shows that's going to be expected.  All previous "come hang out with me" invitations have always turned into a day-long finagle-fest because she always wants to do just one more thing.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy her company but it's really hard to commit full days to hanging out at the last minute like that because I'm usually running like a madwoman during the week to survive and use the weekends to become human again.  Which, as you might imagine, is a little complicated after September's hosting visitors every weekend (and seeral weekdays) but one.

That's the crux of it, isn't it?  I quite enjoy seeing friends, of course, but the last minute requests and those that sometimes grow well beyond moderation are rather difficult to accommodate. Or even to want to accommodate; it requires a sanity check to make sure we're not just constantly running to everyone's beck and call because they've dropped in and didn't we want to see them?   

Sure, but I think it becomes taken for granted that we'll always be available on their schedule and doesn't call for much advance notice.  That drives me, an inveterate planner, at least a little up the wall. I understand that not all trips are planned as far ahead as I would like but these texts and emails are increasingly and frequently coming with very little notice.

Aside from the limited time factor, I worry about the money we're spending hand over fist with this stream of visitors.  When we host, I can cook and feed them relatively (not very) frugal basis. But many times, we end up eating out because they're in the city, we're not, and it's inconvenient for them to come to us and then trek back to the city. 

While PiC and I have agreed on a rule of thumb on eating out, my personal budgeting rules have always stated that "entertaining" comes out of the same eating out allowance lest we end up using the personal 2x/week allowance, and entertain two or three times on top of that.  Before you know it, we've spent most of the week eating out. My personal budgeting rules have been repeatedly smashed under the weight of the last minute traveler.

We can't control the travel habits of our friends, and we certainly never want them to feel unwelcome or unloved, but it's time to gently nudge them toward better notification habits.  And we need to learn to set boundaries we're comfortable with rather than self-guilting ourselves into doing far more for them than is necessary.

Do you have any trouble managing drop-ins or do you have a good standing policy that works well for you and yours? 

My letter of doom arrived on October 15th.  It was a Friday. It was a payday. It was, in all other ways, good.  Then the letter arrived.

A thin envelope from Chase which had no business being here, no rewards check having been ordered recently, no changes to terms or conditions anticipated.  No reason at all for this surprise delivery from the postperson. 

That envelope contained a missive from my former favorite bank/credit card stating that my go-to credit card, my Chase Cash Plus, 5% cash back on all gas, groceries and drugstores card was being converted into a Chase Freedom card. 

FREEDOM. Freedom they call it. Freedom to go .... never mind. Freedom it is, then.

Freedom to earn a paltry 1% cashback on all purchases and a bonus 5% for three short months on their select categories of the season. This winter (Oct 1-Dec 31st) will be groceries, department stores and movie theatres. Never ye mind I don't shop at department stores or go to movies more than few times a year, forget during these three months of the year. The pink French washed sea salt in an already searing wound?  A customer is now required to sign up every three months for the categories for which they desire the bonus % cash back.  

O bitterness!  There was much rending of garments and remonstration.

**For the record, PiC was puzzled and unmoved. He clearly has some conversion to the world of personal finance left to do.  Now I have to find a better go-to card. Bischla. 

This was fun until I realized 1) I can't really remember where I've been anymore, and 2) I really haven't explored the States very much. 


visited 13 states (26%)
Create your own visited map of The United States


visited 5 areas (2.22%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Fabulously Broke, Asian Pear, Financial Catastrophizer and Shelley all had far more interesting maps on their blogs.

My Travel Wish List

Greece
Italy (again)
Scotland
Ireland
England
Austria
Spain
Australia
New Zealand
Maldives
Galapagos (like Well Heeled)
Maine
Vermont
Tahiti
Jamaica
Morocco? (as I get older, my sense of adventure changes)
Argentina
 
I'm taking at least several months' break from taking days off to hoard vacation days and will only hit the road again for business, but it's fun to dream in the meantime.

What's on your list?



My belated thanks .....

to Tom Drake for hosting this week's Carnival of Personal Finance and including my post How will you earn that raise?

I was just contemplating my windfall philosophy and the fact that I don't think I can do the "do 1 nice thing for yourself and save the rest" that so many people recommend as a compromise.  While I have incredible self control in most anything else, if I start spending a little chunk of money from a larger chunk, that always primes the mental spending pump and gets me thinking about e-ve-r-y-thing else that I want.

Then I was surprised with a small bonus from my organization to thank me for my hard work and key participation in a major project these past months.  Now, I had absolutely no expectation of any such thing because I work for an organization that's not known for paying market rates or year-end bonuses, much less merit bonuses. 

But it's too late. I've started to think about the things I want like the delightful OMG Books t-shirt:






Comic books 
Secret Six, Volume 3: Danse Macabre
Usagi Yojimbo,Volumes everything after 2
Lone Wolf and Cub, Volumes everything after 13

Furniture
New bed
Bookshelves
Desk

Travel
A big 2-week trip to some combination of Greece/Italy/Cambodia/India/Vietnam/Laos/Singapore/somewhere else next year
An unlimited SDCC with RUTH this year!!

*ahem*  Didn't I tell you, "if you give a mouse a cookie"?  Anyway, clearly I ran out of bonus money way up the list.  And so this is why I'm stashing the whole of the check away and not getting myself one single solitary thing.  I'm a lot happier when I just hoard the money and have it when I decide there's something I really truly want. Life's a lot more organized that way. 

Transportation 
PiC paid a little over $400 for each of our tickets.  *urk*
Other costs: $66 for shuttles, $107 for taxis.  *urrkkk*
      * The cabs were because we chose not to destroy me trying to walk 3+ miles round trip to and from our various destinations. He could have done it easily, but I would have been wrecked. The subway and buses didn't really service the areas and times we needed, unfortunately.

Lodgings
Our hotel for a two-night stay and with an extra hour late checkout (requested at the last minute when I realized PiC wasn't going to make it back from the marathon in time: Free (thanks to points redemption)

Food
Friday was our travel day and we subsisted on travel snacks we packed, plane snacks and then had a dinner covered by his gift card, tip not included: $68/$11 out of pocket.

Saturday - we had a free breakfast provided by the hotel (PiC had two), and a really late lunch that basically became dinner from 3:00 to 4:30 pm. Again, covered by the gift card: $92/$10 out of pocket.  Yes, tip was far less because service was absolutely awful that day. Food was still good, but the server was terrible.

Sunday - it was free breakfast again separately and a nice lunch outdoors together after the race: $33/$6 tip. 


Entertainment
We walked the park everyday, watched tv in the evenings while stretching and recovering from the very long walks, and to rest up for the race, there was a big ole country music festival going on in Millenium Park all weekend: all free (minus the cabs to get us the rest of the way to the convention center).   All free.

We're in love with this heirloom tomato salad accompanied by burrata cheese, smoked sea salt & aged balsamic vinegar.

Mediterranean octopus ... something. It was good.

Best sea scallop appetizer I've had in years. Perfectly cooked!

Marathon food: Walleye pike on kale.

Not Marathon Food: Turkey burger and a thousand french fries.

Also Not Marathon Food: asparagus and caramelized onion pizza.

Tagliatelle!

What you can't read at the top: Hot Asian Buns. *snicker*

For the longest time, I've been converted to a wholly electronic tracking system for all my transactions and cashflow monitoring.  It seemed to be the best option for my highly mobile life, but of late, I've neglected the Excel sheets so shamefully that I have whole two-week chunks missing from my financial life.

In terms of my spending, that's bad enough, but as payments due to me slow to a crawl, they're likely to be forgotten and fall off the radar.  We can't have that happening now!

I've dusted off the trusty old notebook and started scrawling notes of every transaction for which I expect payment so that I can follow up again. And again. And again.

[Yes, this was in part motivated by the horrified fascination of watching money flow out on recent travels.]

I often find that I revert to pen and paper is like the mac and cheese of my finances, the favorite blanky a kid snuggles in. It's comforting stuff, pen and paper financials.  

Did you guys see that incredible sprint to the finish?  That's absolutely crazy. This year's winner crossed the finish this year in two hours and six minutes and some odd seconds.

PiC and I have spent the last two days wandering Millenium Park and generally trying to take in as much of the city as possible while not overtaxing his pre-marathon legs, or breaking my non-marathonable legs.

It's been positively gorgeous here, probably closer to 75 degrees with a light breeze.  At least seven brides lucked out as well, sashaying through the park with their bridal parties of 12 or more, taking photos near the Bean, on the steps, amid the crowd of spectators in town for the marathon, for the country music festival or just out and about because the sun had re-emerged. 

I thought we managed a nice balance between our two wildly different levels of fitness, considering he had to keep it very mellow and I pushed myself to walk between 3 to 5 miles per day in my quest to enjoy downtown and spend less on cabs. 

We should have used more public transport to keep costs down, but we didn't plan carefully enough to take that into account and were focused on staying in the lovely weather while it lasted. We're definitely paying through the nose to enjoy that luxury.   (In retrospect, all that walking was also foolish, I ache.) 

Anyhow, we've got a few more hours in the Windy City before our shuttle picks us up.  Pictures and a cost round up when we're back home!

I was reading this article, Five People Who Will Get A Bigger Raise Than You Do, that makes the point that your raises depend on making specific kinds of contributions to an organization.

Sara suggests that there are five categories of people who make themselves seem indispensable to a company, and therefore more valuable: The Learners, The Pushers, The Changers, The Builders, and The Teamers.

The Learners gather and store institutional knowledge; the Pushers are results-driven; the Changers are problem identifiers and troubleshooters, tinkerers; the Builders are visionaries who can do everything to launch a new project; and the Teamers are consensus builders. 

Offhand, I can clearly identify at least one key management individual who happens to be highly capable in each of the above areas, except for Learning. I think that the value of institutional knowledge in some organizations will vary.  For myself, I think I'm still naive, green or young enough to think that I can be strong in all those areas.  It may just be phasic, though.

Several years ago, I was definitely a Learner. Now I'm cycling through the other four sorts of skills, nearly on a daily basis, depending on the project and I wonder if it wouldn't be more valuable to focus on one or two skills. Is this similar to multi-tasking, am I just diluting my ability to be effective because the brain can really only manage one task at a time?  Or is it a case where the more skills the better? 


Do you see any of these traits in yourself?  Do you think that growing any of these abilities or tendencies would benefit you in your current organization or your future plans?

This entire month has been so busy as to be unreal, so it stands to reason that I'm having trouble believing the net worth is real. 

Every single weekend was booked: hosting friends, driving back to LA, traveling to Oregon, hosting half a dozen houseguests for days. Every weekday was booked: I started an intensive pain care program, had a birthday, and worked every weekday.

The numbers aren't fudged, but I have felt a poor steward of my money for not quite knowing where every penny is or has gone. The last notation on my cashflow Excel sheet is September 15th, for heaven's sake; it doesn't make sense that it's gone up without close shepherding.  In any case, a fraction was thanks to automated savings and contributions, the rest is due to the vagaries of the market and interest payments.  Next month, the phrase "keeping bills as low as possible" will be an honest factor in that. We've been feeding about ten extra mouths this month, I'd just be lying.  

To kill that feeling of unsteadiness, I paid all my bills a few days ago, took a deep breath and I'm doing some therapeutic cleaning today to clear my head and make a fresh start. Let's take on October!