2 quickies today.

#1) The IRS is freaking FAST fast FAST! My state and federal taxes were literally JUST sent in online (Last Thursday), and I already got both direct deposited into my account! Seriously, how tight is that? This is the first tax return i've done since buying our house, and i am totally LOVING home ownership right now :)

Federal: $3,036: The timing is impeccable. My Emergency Fund was down to $105 this week (from $3500+ last month due to our crazy Heloc freezing), so i welcome this sum with wide open arms :) I'll be updating my net worth and Sexy Goals in the next few days, and now i'm sexcited!

State: $849: Yeee-haw! Another pile which should hopefully make it into my Emergency Fund this week.

#2) I am revising this site a bit, as you can probably tell, so i huge sorry in advance if i delete comments, feeds, or anything else that can possibly happen. My goal of writing one post a week day is still alive though, so don't you worry about that my good friends. I hope you like the changes!

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Are my challenges challenging enough?

I thought today would be a good day to check in w/ all the challenges i'm working on, and note my progress (or lack of). Here's everything i currently have going on:

A dollar a day A- : As i empty my trusty cup, i count $10.10! This may be surprising in two ways. The first, and most obvious, is that little 10 cents at the end. How can there be 10 cents in it if the name of the game is "dollar a day". Well, i found a dime at Starbucks this morning :) Normally I just ignore coins on the floor (unless it's a quarter), but then i figured why not drop it in my dollar cup? So it is now officially the cup of savings at work. The second going here, is that I initially wanted, and tried, to save exactly 1 dollar a day. This ended up becoming an issue of logistics due to days off and the weekends. It's very hard to put in $3 in one day as it starts getting rather annoying, and that's IF you even remember to do so as it usually falls on a Monday. That, and it's not that smart, per se, to lave a cup full of cash on your desk so that others may peek into it. Hiding this cup now also helped hide it from my memory. At any rate, my plan is now to put in a Mr. Washington only on work days. No need to be hardcore about it, right? So, calculating from the day i started (minus the weekends, the holiday, and the day off) I SHOULD have a total of $11.00 in there. I'm not that much off :)

No buying random crap (for Lent) B+ : This is hard to rate, as i never stipulated anything about using my "fun money" stash at thrift stores! I'll post about it soon, but it's basically a stash I have at home of cash earned from selling things on eBay/Craigslist, etc. I allow my myself to buy anything I want from it as it is extra $ created just for that. So, I did indeed by a cple items for our guest room from a thrift store using that $, but it never really added any expenditure to my budget. On the other hand it does fall under purchases "not needed", ya follow me? I guess if i'm going by the title of the challenge, however, "No buying random crap", then I have to count it as a failed instance. One time ain't bad considering it's already been 22 days!

No buying lunch/drinks/snacks @ work F+ : Ha ha... just kidding. This hasn't even started yet (I'm a sneaky one)! I actually start March 1st, and go for an entire month. I started getting in shape, however, by bringing in peanut butter & jelly sandwiches 2-3 times a week, and so far so easy. It's like elementary, middle, and high school all over again!

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Why USAA is my very best friend, and I heart them like Woah!

Ever since I was a teen I can remember having a USAA account for car insurance. I never really cared all too much back then, (i wasn't even paying the bills!) but NOW's a whole different story. I am completely proud to use USAA today, and thankful beyond words to my parents for hooking me up.

Why do I heart them so much? Well, they have mad offerings from almost every account imaginable! AND they're a credit union, so their rates are always up in the top.

Do you wanna guess how many accounts I have w/ them now? 12!

Here's all that I have through them:
- Auto Insurance
- Personal Property Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Personal Checking account
- Personal Savings account
- House Checking account *new!
- House Savings account *new!
- Credit card #1 (for personal stuff)
- Credit card #2 (for house stuff)
- Roth IRA
- Home Equity Line of Credit (heloc)
- Money Market account! Newest one as of Monday, to be used as my Emergency Fund.

At this rate, i might as well WORK for them :) The best thing about it all, is that I can log into my online account and see all accounts on one page! This may not sound like a big thing, but i gotta tell you it has helped me tackle my budget a lot easier.

Then we have my favorite aspect, their Customer Service. I've been, and worked, around the block a few times to know when the service is a plus, or a big fat disgrace. USAA's service is A+, and they have plenty of awards to prove it. You rarely have to wait long to get a real live person on the phone (what a concept!), and once you do they are super friendly and actually ON YOUR SIDE. I can't tell you the number of times i've called w/ questions or for general advice, and they've been nothing but professional and competent.

I recently rang them up to check on a pending transaction, and not only did they give me clear and concise answers, but they looked at my accounts and hooked me up w/ a little financial advice that i cold actually use! Remember how i'm trying to get my Emergency Fund back up and running? Well...I have been putting the $ into my savings account and was planning on hosting it there, but USAA recommended using a Money Market account for my Emergency Fund. They have a "Financial Advice" dept. which advised me of the easy online deposits, unlimited withdrawals (unlike savings), and currently the 3.35% yield (also unlike savings). How awesome is that?

They very well could have answered my original question and quickly got me off the phone like any other place...cough cough COMCAST..cough cough...DMV...haha... but they didn't. Their service reps are knowledgeable and intuitive when "selling" their other services. But more importantly, they make my life easier.

USAA, will you marry me?

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Coinstar is my guiding light.

Every now and then I get to fulfill a deepest desire, and last Sunday was one of them! The moment only lasted 4-5 minutes, but the joy I received was immense :)

This brings us to Saving Tip # 3001: Make nice with Coinstar. You know, that big green shiny hunk of a machine found in the front of hundreds of grocery stores (usually next to the sexy lottery machines!)? It's a little place where saving goes a looooong way. This blingin' piece of technology eats up all your coinage, then spits out a voucher for cold hard cash! Awesome, right?!

Of course, none of this really matters unless you have plenty of coins to share with it. This shouldn't be a problem at all though. If you take a few minutes to search around your house, cars, jackets, purses, and even your couch cushions, you'd easily conjure up a nice collection. Or, even better, you can start throwing all your lose change in a central place. I use large funky vases (great for decorating too), or those antique candy bowls to gather them all. Either way, if you save up for a few months, you can come out with a good $30+ easily!

And sometimes, just sometimes, you get mad lucky and come out a huge winner! This is what I ended up with after 6 or so months of collecting. Check it:

Quarters 259 $64.75

Dimes 258 $25.80

Nickels 154 $7.70

Pennies 337 $3.37
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Total: $101.62
- 8.9% commission
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Grand Total: $92.58!

Now that is what I call some exciting news. Of course if you were truly frugal you could wrap all 1,000+ coins in those bank rolls and come out w/ 100% profit (by taking them to your bank), but you gotta be pretty hardcore for that. It would just kill my motivation in my case.

But there you have it - Take some time out and be pals with Coinstar. I mean, it's already your money to begin with, but it FEELS like it's free! And that's all that really matters these days :)

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Budgets are a man's best friend.

It's actually true for everyone, but i couldn't resist the catchy-ness ;) As I was heading off to bed last night, it occurred to me that i have yet to write a posting on budgets! I mean, who has a blog titled "Budgets are sexy" w/out talking about budgets? Jeesh, what a loon. So, without further adieu, this is why budgets are a man's (and everyone else's) best friend.

budg·et (n): A systematic plan for the expenditure of a usually fixed resource, such as money or time, during a given period. American Heritage Dictionary

The keyword here being plan. Without one, we're just guessing that all is a-okay. 3 months ago i thought i was The Man w/ money! I had purchased a house, a newish car, paid all bills on time, invested, and still had $ for splurging. Unfortunately I was living in la la land. When i actually sat down and calculated exactly what came in and out, I was overspending at LEAST $400.00 each month! Can you believe those apples? ME, The Man, was actually losing money each month? I was a bit surprised my friends, a bit surprised.

After i wiped the tears away, i got my ish in order and promised to stick with it. I've been using a budget for a little over 3 months now, and i gotta say i am feeling pretty damn good about it! I have a plan, i'm feeling good, and i'm saving money.

The calculations don't lie: Budgets = Confidence = Sexy.

The biggest hurdle on budgeting is actually GETTING STARTED. Once you do that, even if you don't follow it 50% of the time, you're a billion times better than you were before. I'm not gonna say it's easy, but it's definitely do-able. Here's 4 simple ways to get started:

1) KNOW where you're money's going: As G.I. Joe once said, "Knowing is half the battle!" Sometimes it's scary to know exactly where it all goes, but unfortunately it's the way of life. To do this, write down everything you spent money on during the previous entire month (ex. Jan 1-Jan31). Or better yet, copy and paste it all from your checking account statement into a blank Excel spreadsheet.

2) Categorize them into 5 or so clumps for easy budgeting: The easiest way to budget is to see how much you're spending in each category, compared to previous and future months. Clump them up into groups like "Mortgage/Rent", "Food", "Utilities", "Credit Cards", and my favorite: "Random".

3) Create a "budget" around these categories: Now that you know how much you're spending in each category, figure out if you're happy with that amount. If not, set a goal to spend a little less the next month. I use a simple Excel spreadsheet (click here for the google doc) that compares both "budget" and "actual" amounts so I can track progress each month. Before this, I made "mental" budgets and I was astonished that i was shelling out $1100+ on my credit card each month! I had set a a budget in my head of $500 each month but it never got close. Once i realized how much i spent on it, and why, i came up w/ a personal budget of $800 for the "Credit Card" section.

4) Reward yourself: With anything in life, we need some positive reinforcement sometimes to let us know we're on the right track and to keep us going forward. Some people do this by going out to a nice dinner or picking up some new jeans, but either way it's important to reward yourself for sticking to the budget (just don't blow the money you just saved from your hard work!) Since I have gone UNDER my "Credit Card" category the past 2 months, I have taken the money and deposited it into my savings. It's not your normal way to pay yourself on the back, but for ME it keeps me going :)

If you've read allll that and still don't think it's worth your time, try out one of the following free online budgeting sites. You'll still have to spend a little bet setting up, but once you have it's pretty much automated: Yodlee Money Center, PearBudget.com, and Mint.com.

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Do you tackle your own taxes?

I'm now clear for the year! Is it weird that i actually enjoy getting everything organized and then waiting to see how much i won?! haha...There's just something about recapping the entire last year and having an overall look at how well/worse you did compared to previous years. The fact that we're "forced" to do it also plays a part i suppose as it's not like we can just skip a year ;)

The only part i really can't stand is when you're patiently waiting for all the w2's, 1099's, and all other sorts of forms to roll into the mailbox. It's frustrating when you're waiting for that very last piece to the puzzle, and it somehow takes that company an entire month after all the others to send it in! arghhhh...

At any rate, i finally had mine done and i'm getting back almost $4,000!!! I gotta tell you, i'm pretty damn ecstatic too. This is the largest return i've EVER received.

I also forgot to mention that i use a CPA to do my dirty work. is that bad? does everyone else around the finance bloggeroo do it themselves? I feel like mine "finds" ways to get me more back each year, so the money i pay her is recouped. Over the past 4 years using her, it's cost me a total of $700.00 ($195, $195, $155, and $155 respectfully). Wow, that actually looks like a lot seeing it that way!

I can definitely see the benefits of filing your own:
- saving $150+ each year
- learning HOW to do it
- filing at your own leisure.

But, for me, the negatives win over:
- messing up
- not catching ways to save more & giving the gov't MY money.
- and going to jail

That last one is pretty ridiculous, but it IS indeed a fear i have. Going to jail when you didn't knowingly do anything bad! *shiver*. Granted there are some shady CPA's out there, but i trust mine pretty well and so far so good all around.

Who knows though, perhaps i shall read all about this stuff so next year i can do it my self. I'm interested in seeing how many PF'ers out there actually file their own? I guess there's no harm in at least trying it first, and then shooting it over to my CPA for review right? I'll put it on my list of "things i should probably do, but don't feel like doing" this year.

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Pray tell, is this possible?

I've been scouring all sorts of personal finance blogs lately as i'm fairly new to the game here, and i just came across a lunch challenge posted by the mastermind behind krystalatwork.blogspot.com (i take it her name is krystal?) aka "Give Me Back My Five Bucks. I love that name, clever right? At any rate, if you peruse this sexy little article you will notice that a good 28, TWENTY-FREAKIN'-EIGHT PF'ers are currently giving this a shot!

Man that seems like bonkers. Wait what? what's that you say...I'm listed on there too? Why yes, look at that i sure am. Well what's a newbie to do but to follow the crowd and gain some pointers right? Right.

So, i pose the question: Is it possible not to spend a dime on lunch, snacks, tea, or coffee during a normal 9-5 workday for an entire month? I can gather that it's at least fathomable due to the amount of responders alone on her posting, but can i myself, J. Money, do this? The simple answer is i haven't a clue. I've never tried, and i never thought i would to be perfectly frank.

Like others, however, i thrive on personal challenges and am willing to give it a shot....just not starting now :) I will be starting March 1st and going throughMarch 31st. (out of all the months to pick right? the one with 31 days in it!). I already have a hardcore challenge i'm working on for Lent, and i honestly don't think i can do both challenges at the same time w/out preparing a little first. What's the point on starting something you know you won't be able to finish right?

So, i will stare down this "no spending during work" nonsense, and report back w/ status checks in the near future. I can't promise they will be all that exciting, but there's the off chance i'll get cranky and rant a little....in which case you'll probably enjoy it a bit more ;) I'm sexcited!

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I challenge you to give it a shot as well! If you're all in, go ahead and add your name to her list or simply holler (comment) on this good blog and make your intentions known.

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2008 Net Worth Goal: $100,000

I have to say it feels really good getting all this stuff out there. I've always known I had money saved in different places here and there, but up to 3 months ago I had never put it all together and focused on any type of real "net worth".

I suggest conjuring one up yourself if you haven't already, it's quite empowering!

So, now that i'm done patting myself on the back (you have to right?), here it is - my official net worth as of the end of January. I'm sure my format and calculations will change over time, but as it stands today this a great measurement of my overall financial picture. Daddy's proud, daddy's proud.

Now that I have it organized, I am ready to begin this year's net worth goal - to reach $100,000 by the end of December! I can't believe i'm actually setting something so high (cuz my GOODNESS that's a lot of money), but you know what? Sometimes you gotta just do it like Nike. I mean I'm young, nubile, and by golly it's time to make something of myself! haha... W-O-W, talk about some motivation.

Moving along, here's what we got:

Cash Savings: I'm hoping to add an additional $1,530.97 to reach my goal $5,250. Once this is accomplished, I will leave it alone 100% as it will act as my Emergency Fund.

Roth IRA: As of today, I am not planning on adding any more funds to this *unless* I end up with extra money after my cash savings goal. In this case, I would def. add it into my Roth.

401k: My favorite category of all time :) What's not to love about company matches, direct deposits, and tax benefits? If all goes as planned, this will be my 3rd year of maxing out my 401k! I have been more than blessed w/ generous company matches, so it would be absolutely asinine not to participate. I expect this category to go up at least $2,375 each month, markets willing.

If there was just one piece of financial advise I would give anyone, it would be to put in AT LEAST (very important) the same % as your company matches. This means from the start you are D-O-U-B-L-I-N-G your return from day 1. Now, i'm not a financial pro or CPA by any means, but with the good graces of the stock market, this $ should increase fruitfully until the day comes for retirement. Of course if you could add in more each paycheck, more power to you.

Condo Investment: I am helping my brother out with a personal loan, which will help him with his new condo purchase. I give him $123 a month, and the interest is locked at 5%. Either of us can bail out at any time if needed, and it's written in a simple contract just in case (this was forced by my dad, and I'm thinking rightfully so). Initially I thought of loaning the money interest-free (since it IS a family member), but I wanted him to think of it as a real loan and that it will need to be payed back at a later date. Unfort. i'm not in the position to say, "ahh, just forget about it bro". Well, not yet anyways :) I expect this category to go up $1,353 by year's end, and put this into the Assets category as I count it as an investment.

Home Equity: This is the difference between the price we PAID for our house, and the MORTGAGES left on them. Actually, it's 1/2 of the total equity as I'm only including my portion, not my fiancée's yet until we're married. I'm also heavily thinking of taking this out as housing prices are fluctuating like crazy these days. Plus since houses actually sell for what someone's willing to pay for it, who knows what the sales price will be by that point.

Auto Worth (kbb): This is the value the Kelly Blue Book puts on my car at the time I pull it. Normally I wouldn't put this here, but i need to help balance my car loan w/ something right? This category will def. go down each month...

Credit Cards: For net worth accounting, this includes my personal credit card + 1/2 of all outstanding store credit cards. All cards are either paid off in full each month, or at 0% financing. I am hoping we don't add a lot more because of our upcoming wedding! The current plan is to have all cards wiped out to $0.00 by year's end.

Auto Loan: My auto loan :) My plan is to sell my current car, however, and pick up an oldie but goody. This should def. help out the numbers.

So there we have it - my 2008 Net Worth goal. It suuuure looks sweet, now let's see if I can make it a reality!

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Not shopping is HARRRRD.

MAN, this is a lot harder than i originally expected! It's been easy at work so far, but i realize i am so used to going shopping over the weekends as a form of entertainment :) But hey, one more week into the challenge and i'm still getting A's. You should be proud of me as all day Saturday, Sunday, and esp. yesterday w/ the holiday, i came super close to just hopping in the car and checking out my fav. stores.

It's like when you were a teenager and you LOVED going to the mall to meet friends and all. I am still that way today, except that the mall, although v. fun, has been substituted w/ scattered stores across town.

Usually this would include a nice little route covering 3 thrift stores, and 2 discount stores (like TJ Maxx). I never go overboard by any means, but dropping $50-$100 a weekend on stuff (some would call it "junk") would be no problemo. Not to mention i'd enjoy the 3-4 hours of entertainment value.

It's that feeling of being out and about I suppose, except I pay for it while shopping. You know what i ended up doing instead this weekend? I took a nice walk around our lake, watched a cple movies from Comcast On Demand, my newest addiction!, worked on this bloggy blog, and then escorted my lovely fiancée around town to run some errands. Bare in mind, one errand was at DSW and i saw a freakin' awesome to the max pair of shoes that normally cost $100+, was on sale for $79.99, and THEN on another sale at 40% off! That was a pretty hard one to let go, but i did it. Proud of me?

Here's to challenges & frugalness!

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To sell, or not to sell... my SUV.

I'm one of those people who have buyer's remorse pretty frequently, esp. when it comes to something w/ a lot of options.

Usually i can't tell if i want a red widget, or a blue widget and usually come to the conclusion that i wanted the opposite of the one i brought home.

Normally this doesn't present a problem as i can just return said widget to the store and get the one i think i really want. When it happens with big ticket items, however, i can get myself into trouble.

This brings us to today's dilemma.
To keep my 2005 SUV, or to sell my 2005 SUV? I purchased it last summer as my favorite car in the entire world conked out on me; a '93 DeVille in pristine condition...well, except for the conkin out part ;). When it comes to cars, it seems my A.D.H.D. kicks into overdrive (no pun intended) and I will usually go 1 of 2 extremes. An older "classicy" kinda car w/ no car payments, or a newer more reliable kinda car with heavy payments. In this case, i chose the latter.

The PRO's on this are abundant: newer, cleaner, reliable, shiny, more fuel efficient, etc.
The CON's are too: WAY more $, and paranoia of someone scratching, dinging, or just plain ol' wrecking it. Not to mention losing value each month I own it - and more so than the actual amount being paid off each month :(

These PRO'S originally sold me on it, however, buyer's remorse (if you can still call it that one year later) has since played its part. I'm pretty ready to give up my high payments for a decent old beater. I'm guessing this is due to my new found frugality, because i really find my car physically attractive (in a very non-sexual way of course). Limited Edition, v6 all wheel drive, leather interior, 6 cd changer, chrome rims, sunroof, and heated seats! I got a great deal on it too, but still it's $23+k that is still tugging at me asking if i really *need* it, ya know?

As it stands today, i am 65% thinking of listing it and seeing what happens. I figure if i DO get takers, then maybe it's meant to be and i should let her go. I could then share my fiancée's car, split the payments, gas, etc with her and save a good $500/month easy. Maybe do that for a month or two while looking for an older car?

I dunno really. The weather can also get pretty horrible w/ icings and snow all over, and in those times i turn into the SUV promoter! haha... I guess what i really need to just do is weigh the goods and bads thoroughly one more time, and then make a decision once and for all. All this wishy washy drive me absolutely C-R-A-Z-Y.

We shall see what happens ... you know i'll keep ya posted :)

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Our store credit cards are back

UPDATE: As of 6/23/08 - NO MORE DEBT!
*For details on how i pulled it off, check out my Zero Credit Card Debt post :)
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I've had zero store credit cards for years, but lately we've been picking up a few. I guess it can't be that bad as they're all at 0% APR right? Another thing to keep in mind is that Mrs. Budgetsaresexy will pay for her half of all this ;)

Here's what we got:

1) Helzberg Diamonds - $1049.96: Picked up 2 Wedding rings. The sucky part is that i literally JUST paid of my fiancee's engagement ring (whew). Ah well, that's life eh? The prices were great though, and the credit deal even better - 0% APR for 1 year. The goal here is to pay off just enough each month so that at the end of the road we get the balance knocked off.

2) Juniper - $1530.16: Our brand new iMac! It's so H-O-T. Got the upgraded memory, and nice sized screen, + a free printer. We didn't *need* this per se, but it def. helps having a home computer now that's brand new and fresh. I'm a graphic designer and my girl's a song writer/singer, so this should def. help motivate both of us. This will also be our last major purchase now that we have our finances in order, as well as a house for that matter. yikes.

3) Express - $93.33: This one is temporary as they were having a helluva deal man. First off, everything i bought was 60% off original prices. THEN, on top of that, there was an extra 10% off for some reason, and then ANOTHER (can you believe it?) 20% if you signed up for a card. Soooo, here we are ... 3 T-shirts, 2 hoodie sweatshirts, a pair of jeans, and a pair of socks later :) *This will be paid off by the end of the month, and then closed out 100%. no tempty tempty for me.

4) NEW! "House Credit Card" - $4180.10: This is at 5%, not the worst, but still not at 0%. There was no way around this bad boy though, our wedding budget got a bit crazy and the cash flow couldn't be timed right - thus, forcing us to throw some huge chunks of it on here. This will be the 1st to be paid off after our wedding

TOTAL: $2,673.45 $6853.65 $0.00

My goal is to have this paid off by end of 2008. I'd normally pay off first, but since it's at 0% and Operation Heloc has since been stomped out, I gotta breathe life back into my Emergency Savings stat.

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Happy day after Valentine's day

With our wedding coming up in May, my fiancée and I decided to go a different route this year when it came to purchasing gifts. We challenged ourselves by setting a limit of only $20.00!

I mean, we know how much we love each other, and we just had both of our birthdays & Christmas not too long ago so it's not like we need more gifts ya know? Plus this forced us to be wayyyy more creative and really think about what the other would appreciate, not to mention help save a little more in the Wedding fund.

We also plan to cook a nice dinner together on Saturday (while we're both relaxed and caught up on deprived sleep), so that we can enjoy "togetherness" in the spirit of Saint Valentine. So, what did we get each other might ask? Well okay, it's exciting! I hope you can take it!

Yours truly got one kick a$$ LP! Timbaland to be exact, and it's a double album set too. I collect old records and have a player, but i really didn't realize that artists these days still go that route. I'm guessing they're for DJ's to scratch up and stuff in clubs and what not. Either way, I was elated and it was probably one of the most thoughtful gifts I have gotten from a young lady before :) Oh, I also got a little box of candies which is always cool.

After perusing a few stores, I ended up getting her this plushy/furry cream colored stuffed animal dog. I think it had some sort of heart around it's neck too that read "Sweet". I know it's not the most original gift, but you KNOW girls love stuffed things! haha.... it looked like she was pretty happy snuggling up to it last night, so hopefully i did good.

Hopefully your V-day went well too!

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32 more days to not ____.

It's Lent season which means .... it's time to give something up! It actually started last Wednesday, but I didn't have my blog up then so let's must pretend we're back in time a bit shall we? And for those who aren't familiar with Lent, it's basically the 40 day time period before Easter where it's customary to "fast" or what i used to call "give up something small that's not hard to do but you'll technically be in the right!" haha ... that was the old me though. These days I like to play by the rules, both for the church AND for the personal challenge :) And I gotta say, it's definitely rewarding.

LAST YEAR I gave up all Sodas! can you believe that?? AND not only did I last the entire 40 days, i went another 3 or so months after w/out fail. After a while it was really easy and I actually didn't mind at all as my body felt great. I was about to extend the goal to a year, but realized I needed to stop making these random challenges just for the hell of it*, and have since limited myself to drinking it on the weekends only.

THIS YEAR I wanted to do something more financially friendly and decided to put myself to the ultimate challenge: NO BUYING RANDOM CRAP. Also known as "discretionary income". This is *huge* for me as I am the king of all kings on thrift store shopping, Craigslist purchasing, and eBay bidding! Not to mention the weekly shopping trips to Express, Rugged Wearhouse, and Ta Ta Ta TJ MAX. I'm one of those people who shop when their sad/happy/energized/or just plain b-o-r-e-d. And no i'm not a girl (but i do love girls! errr ... my fiancée. I love you honey!) I'm also one of those people marketers love as i am attracted to all things blingy and packaged nice.

I guess I should also clarify those things i'm allowed to spend on, especially so I won't try and wiggle my way out of it in the future.

Things allowed: Mortgages, Utilities, Bills, Food, and anything that improves my wealth or brain (such as mutual funds, finance books, magazines, etc).

Things NOT allowed: Gadgets, Lottery Tickets, Artwork, Decorations (why am i capitalizing all these?), furniture, track jackets as i have wayyyyy too many, t-shirts, and anything on Woot.com, sellout.woot.com, or shirt.woot.com which will be extremely hard!

Okay, that about wraps it up. So far i haven't spent a penny on any of these and my spirits are still high. I think this is exactly what i needed to re-organize my finances and get my budget back on track and alive. Funny enough, i also have wayyyyyy more time on my hands.

---
*Once on a flight to Greece a few years back I watched "Supersize Me" and decided to see how long i can go w/out eating McDonalds, my FAV. place at the time...to this day i STILL haven't touched a thing from there! Sure I've been to Wendys a few hundred times, but i still feed like The Man :) As of today it's been 1193 days and my record continues to grow...but who's counting?

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A dollar a day baby!

I'm sure it's been done a bazillion times, but what a SUPER easy way to save. I actually found it on a fellow PF blog on Dollar a Day. It really doesn't take much and anyone can do it starting the minute this is read. In fact, if you'd like we can do it while you read along with me. Ready? Okay, here we go.

Step 1 - Reach into your pocket and take out a wrinkly ol' George Washington. If you don't have one, dig around for some change (it's at least something) or pull out a $5-er. In the last case, take a 3 min time-out and ask someone around your office to help you break it...or better yet, just ask for one. It's only a dollar right?
Step 2 - Now, look around your desk, or the streets if you're reading this on your Palm, and find some sort of container with enough room to place said dollar into it.
Step 3 - Lastly, place your friendly dollar into it and you're all set!

Bada bing, bada bang! You'll have $365 by this time next year (or roughly $269 if you do it just at work). If you're feeling even more gutsy, deposit it into a high-yielding savings account at the end of each month, or year, and watch it grow. The hardest part is really just remembering to do it each day, and not touching it. I advise keeping the container close by your desk to remind you of it each day, believe me it works.

I started this yesterday (2-12-08), and so far i have....wanna guess? A whole $2.oo! Your turn, good luck!

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(This policy is valid from 23 April 2008)

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact J. Money.

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I am also not an English major, nor a grammar king. If you enjoy finding mistakes, feel free to shoot me an email with your catches, or simply make fun of me to all your friends (it's all good). I do want to apologize, though, in advance to all others.

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Why hello there - care to drop me a message? You're in the right place. I'm currently taking all fan mail, suggestions mail, questions mail, and even hate mail. I'll read all of it, and even respond! ... so don't you worry about that. You can shoot me an email directly, or use the contact form down below. Either way, it's all good in my books.

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Don't want to do any of that? How about shooting me an email instead! that's always fun.

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Operation HELOC: the bad :(

We really got F'd on this one the other day! Seriously, it was going sooooo well. I really thought we fenagled ourselves a great deal. I mean, it still IS a great deal in that we are saving roughly $200 a month currently, BUT here is where they got us (and i didn't even see it coming!):

THEY FROZE OUR HELOC ACCOUNT!!!!

You might be saying to yourself, so what? You're still saving $200 a month. This is true, and i'm thankful for that. BUT consider what this now means:

1) It was frozen because the market values of the houses in our neighborhood have now gone down! And the bad part is i don't know by how much (according to my bank of course) as I have to await some elusive letter in the mail stating the amount. ARRGHHHH.
2) We have now lost access to our entire Checking and Savings account! Remember, we put 9k into it to save the additional interest each month with the belief we could take it out anytime we wanted...and this was working fine until now. Imagine your accounts having a $0.00 balance starting right now. Scary, eh?

So, did "Operation HELOC Savings" work? YES. It saved us $$$. BUT it also F'd us in the fact we "lost" all our savings and checkings, and we NOW have refigure out how to move on securely going forward, as well as start building the aforementioned accounts back up ... all the while paying our bill and mortgages at the same time.

On a good note, we (or really I), learned a big lesson here: Spend more time reading what I'm signing as there ARE loopholes for both parties. Seriously, i didn't see this one coming!

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Operation HELOC: the good :)

Yayyy, this is the HAPPY part!

So, "Operation Heloc" was put into place by my fiancée and i to save more money on our interest payments. Being brand spankin' new about houses, mortgages, etc, we really didn't know what we were getting into. We trusted our financial guy though (w/ Weichert Financial), and this is what we got:

1st Mortgage: 30 year fixed @ 6.875% - interest only, fixed rate.
2nd Mortgage: HELOC (home equity line of credit) @ 9%*- interest only, variable rate.

At first this didn't mean anything to us. After a cple months, however, it occured to me that 9% is pretty high considering the both of us have Excellent credit scores. I know it's a 2nd mortgage, but still. I started reading all the blogs out there and MAN there was a lot of info (Thanks guys!). The one that really caught my attention was a post from The Simple Dollar on Money-Merge accounts. After hours and hours of further research, it occured to me that we could (and did) do the following:

a) Refinance for a lower rate - We did this 3 months later and got it down to Prime - .45%!!! (at the time i believe it was 8.25%) knocking it down a good 1.2%!, and it only cost us $42 :)
b) We then took out most of our savings and checking $, about 9k, and "paid off" part of the Heloc. This was done by basically using the HELOC as a "checking" account. We xferred all our savings in it, deposited all my paychecks, and then wrote checks out of it to pay the bills. Wierd/COOL/neat? Yeppers. This in effect saved us even more in finance $.

So, overall the plan worked PERFECTLY! We saved a total of $72.00 each month just by doing the above. Since then, the rates have also been going down, so we are now set at a little over $200 savings EACH MONTH!

All in all i'm am happy with our decisions, and we have saved a total of $1,492.40 over the course of 6 months. I will, however, lock in a portion (if not all) of it when I feel the rates are at the lowest points.

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