Federal Reserve cuts another quarter point.

Wow... so now my HELOC will be down from 4.80% to 4.55% ... Can it get any crazier?
From MSNBC (can you tell i read this a lot?):

"The central bank is walking a tightrope, trying to jump-start economic growth while also confronting the risk that if it overdoes the credit easing it could make inflation worse down the road."

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Money Mag - best credit card offers

This month's issue focused around the 100 BEST financial "products/ideas" out there. While i wish i could list all 100 here (some were pretty damn awesome) it wouldn't make a lotta sense - but you could always pick it up in stores while it's hot!

I did wanna share the credit card section with ya though, as it's always interesting to see the differences out there in today's market. Here's a summary of their picks + 1 of my very own ;)

1) If you carry a balance: Discover More - 0% interest for 12 months on balance xfers. While there is a xfer fee, it's only capped at $75, instead of the $99 avg out there. Rate startes at 10.99% afte intro. is over, which is also better than the 12.13% avg out there.

2) If you carry a balance AND you have a killer credit score (MY pick): Chase Visa Platinum Card - Mrs. Budgetsaresexy has received a whopper of an offer this week! 0% interest on all purchases AND balance xfers for 1 1/2 years!, NO xfer fee, NO annual fee, and then only 6.99% fixed APR after. The "killer credit score" being the key here.

3) If you want cash back (and you spend big): Blue Cash from American Express - Once you reach $6,500/year, you get back 5% on grocery, drugstore, and gas purchases, and 1.5% on anything else - beating the 1% current avg. for a cash-back card. Interest rate starts at 10.99%.

4) If you want cash back (and you spend small): Chase Freedom Visa or Master Card - 3% cash back in 3 of 15 categories (inc. groceries and pet supplies) based on which category you spend the most in. The sucky part, though, is that the rate start at 15.24%! So be sure to pay in full each month if you go w/ this bad boy.

5) If you're often aloft: Citi PremierPass MastarCard - For every dollar charged, you get one point, plus a point for every 3 miles you fly. The best part is that there are no black out dates or crazy carrier restrictions. Rates start at 10.24%.

6) If you need help saving for retirement: Fidelity Investment Rewards Visa - For every dollar charged, you earn 1 pt. After getting 5,000 points, you get a $75 deposit in a Fidelity account of your choice! now THAT, my friends, is hotness. They'll make you open up a brokerage acct. with them , but you dont' have to worry about any extra fees. Card comes w/ a fixed rate of 14.99%.

7) If you want low fees and no hassle - A local bank or credit union. I, personally, would see if you can first get in with USAA Fed. Credit Union, or even Navy Federal for all you military folks. But if it's a no go, then def. check out your local credit union. I went w/ ours in MD, and saved a whole 1% on my auto loan last year, beating ALL other places i checked...even USAA!

This is just a handful of cards out there, but i'd be interested to see what everyone else uses. If you have a Fav., let us know :)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Time to stock up on those Forever stamps.

The first-class price goes up 1 penny on May 12th!

It's not a whole lot, but if you're anything like me it's worth picking up a few stacks. It really chaps my hide (who says that anymore?!) when I have to venture out to the post office just to pick up a 1/2/3 cent stamp...i'm not the smartest man around, but i'm pretty sure my time is worth more than that!

Plus, the worst part about all these hikes is actually remembering what the normal rate IS these days. It would be pretty embarrasing to get all of your mail sent back to you, and then have to re-pay for more stamps, only to get them back in the mail again! So the fact that they have these "forever" stamps now makes a world of difference. I love you, inventor of these stamps - thank you!

At any rate (no pun intended), the hike is still a couple weeks away, but thought you might enjoy the friendly reminder now while you can still do something about it. Just don't go overboard like all of these people: (from msnbc)

"With a postal rate increase just two weeks away, Americans are buying 30
million Forever stamps a day."

I mean, do they really NEED all those stamps? Shoot, give me a couple hundred at the most, what in the world would I do with 30 million? haha ... okay okay, no more jokes. just get out there and buy some before you forget. you can thank me later.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Operation Tax Rebate - SUCCESS!

I salute you, Government, and take back all those dirty little words I've said about you. And as soon as this bad boy clears, it's off to the race tracks i go! haha...j/k. you know very well i am MUCH too frugal/nerdy to do something as exhilarating as that.

It'll be partying with the other greenbacks in my Emergency Fund.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

No sign of my rebate check yet...

Maybe i'll use this imaginary $600 to buy some imaginary cookies and unicorns? haha

-------------
UPDATE: According to msnbc.com, the "00 to 20" ones will be deposited in the bank BY Friday, May 2nd ... likely story ;) For other ss's, check out the latest round of dates.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

The hunt is over, i found my George Washington!

Have you ever gotten one of these before? I've had a few over the years, but was always too lazy to look them. That changed today though.

And i have to tell you, it's a pretty damn good way to blow through some time :)

While the site itself was kinda all over the place, the actual content was killer! I say this for two reasons:

1) You get to see where YOUR bill came from! It takes a few seconds to enter in all the info on it (denomination, serial #, and series), but once you're done you get to see where it's been! and if you're REALLY lucky, there will be a whole bunch of comments on it.
2) You get to see where others have been. Not as exciting as #1 since that one is your own baby, but still - a great way to kill some time.

Here's what pulled up for my dollar at www.wheresgeorge.com:

• This bill has travelled 369 Miles in 1 Yr, 30 Days, 23 Hrs, 38 Mins at an average of 0.93 Miles per day! (click here to see the map)
• It is now 369 Miles from its starting location.
• Note from the one other person who had it (or at least went online to track it): "I got it from Michael at St Anne's Credit Union, N Dartmouth Fair condition."
• Note i put on it :) "got it from Fuddruckers when i broke a $20. it's in so-so condition. George looks hot as always though."

Cool, right? Next time you find one of these bad boys in your pockets, log on and see where yours have been. And who knows, maybe you'll find mine! (actually, i take that back...that won't be possible unless you get your hands on my current art project. awww yeahhh)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Wesley Snipes gets 3 year jail sentence

This has been all over the news lately, but it wasn't until i saw DINK's post that i put two and two together, and realized how this fits in to personal finance (yes, i'm a little slow). You can check out his post for the gritty details - i just wanted to offer one piece of advice:

Mr. Snipes - Please do not forget to pay your taxes next year. Thanks, U.S. Gov't.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Eye wrinkle cream for $45.00???

You heard that right ladies and gents, my boy just bought some EYE CREAM for $45 greenbacks! And NO this is not some sort of sponsor post in any way. haha....I just find it really silly for a number of reasons :)

I won't go off on him for a) being a DUDE, and b) spending that much money, but instead throw out the facts and let you decide for yourself if this stuff is worth it. I applaud him for telling me, though, that takes some huge cajones!

The cream is called Teamine Eye Complex, and according to their website, it's the "ONLY ingredient proven to reduce dark circles!". It then goes on to say:

"Years of research have indicated that using Teamine Eye Complex will result in
four major benefits, correcting and generating younger-looking, healthier skin.
Most patients will see and feel immediate improvement in their skin's
smoothness, with noticeable reduction in dark circles..."

Now, according to my friend, it DOES work...and fast! I wanna say he's been using it for a good 3-4 weeks so far (i can't remember), but if that's true then I guess the price is worth it eh? I guess it would be good to know how long it would actually last though. I mean, if you have to apply it constantly to keep it working, then it'll drain your pockets fast. If, on the other hand, it's lasts for months or even years, holy moly!

I'm not sure if you can only buy it online or not, but i SWEAR i'm seeing "eye wrinkle" cream everywhere now! You know when you have something on your mind, and then you start seeing it everywhere? it's like that. except, i wish it wasn't.

Why couldn't he have told me about some sexy $45 bra he bought for his gf? Now THAT is totally worth it. No matter what it looks like ;)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Rebate checks to hit the stands on Monday!

800,000 Rebate checks are going out on Monday (April 28th), hooray!

According to money.cnn.com:

"The federal government, eager to boost the flagging economy, will start distributing special tax rebates on Monday - five days earlier than expected, the Treasury Department said Thursday."

All in all, 130 MILLION tax filers will receive a rebate check this year! According to this new change, i should be getting mine MONDAY. How about you?

It's all dependent on your last 2 digits of your social, and how you filed. You can visit the IRS page for more details, but keep in mind you'll be getting it sooner w/ these new changes. OPAH!

-----
ps: check out the Q&A i had w/ my accountant for more info on these rebates.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

I just dropped $80 on art supplies

I MEANT to only spend $30-ish dollars, but i get so caught up when i'm looking around and starting an art project. Every now and then an "image" of something i want to do pops into my head, and i have to do it right away before i forget. Or get lazy, which i often do ;)

In this case, it's a blue/reddish painting on canvas that i'm envisioning. It just really sucks that there's no way to put down EXACTLY how you see something in your mind down on paper. Sorta like when you have those awesome dreams, but you can't ever physically "save" them anywhere (except in your brain).

If someone could please invent a Memory Camera, that would be great. thanks. Anyways, so now that I have this vision or whatever, i took a trip to Michaels to pick up some supplies.

Here is what i was SUPPOSED to get:

1. large canvas
2. paint brush
3. 2 colors of paint

And this is what i ACTUALLY got:

1. large canvas
2. 11 brushes, all diff. shapes and sizes
3. 3 colors of acrylic paint
4. a "sample" box of 10+ colors of oil paint
5. palate
6. and a bottle of turpentine (will explain)

Dang, what am i thinking!!! Here's what: Do i need acrylic or oil paints? Which will work better for what i need? What if i need to paint small strokes vs. large strokes? Do i even HAVE enough paint? Will i even get close to my vision? haha....needless to say, i just grabbed a bunch of stuff and will use as needed.

I asked a guy who "looked like he could paint" about the diff. between acrylic and oil, but it's a bit more than i can handle at this point. So i'll prob. end up returning the oil paints and the turpentine needed for cleaning up, and pocket back the $30 (so expensive!). I'm gonna try and paint using just acrylic if it works out right, so we'll see what happens.

It just goes to show that if you're not careful (or good at averting your eyes), you can spend a LOT more money than you mean to. On a side note, this money comes from my Fun Fund ... so i'm allowed to use it anyway i want, no questions asked :)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

6 Word Memoir/Random Saying.

One of my new favorite bloggers My Crazy Debt, tagged me on this the other day. Which is actually pretty funny because I kept seeing it pop up on my daily reads. So thanks Messy!

My 6 word memoir comes from one of the free ringtones that you can download from Obama's website! Talk about using the media to reach us youngin's. Here's my 6 word memoir:

"I'm fired up! Ready to go!"

haha...seriously, even if you don't vote for him (or can't), you should def. check out the samples. This one is off of ringtone 11, but they're all SEXY!

I'm think i'm supposed to tag some others here, but it looks like everyone and their mom has already done this :) But hey, go ahead and tag yourself if you really want to!

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

What the ... My c/c rate is lower than my mortgage!

MapGirl put out an interesting post yesterday about crazy interest rates these days, and it got me thinking. I, myself, have been coming across some pretty interesting things lately! Just take a look at our current interest rates:

• 1st Mortgage - fixed: 6.875%
• 2nd Mortgage (HELOC) - variable: 4.80%
• Credit Cards - variable: 5.25%

Can you believe that?! My credit card rates are LOWER than our 1st mortgage! haha...and it's not even by a little right now, it's by a whole point and a half. I get that our HELOC and c/c's are based on the prime rate, but my goodness it's pretty funny to look at.

Now, if i had the balls like some of you have, i'd take out a chunk of the credit card and throw it against our 1st mortgage! we'd save some pretty pennies for sure, but the whole thing scares me :) As soon as those rates start hiking back up, we'll have to knock away that credit card debt...and fast! We can't "lock in a rate" there like we can for our HELOC.

Speaking of which, although our $62k in our HELOC is variable right now, we always have the option of "locking in" a rate for a portion, or all, of the balance. While i don't think it's a good time right now, it's def. something for us to consider as the economy starts picking up. I'll be sure to keep you posted (pun intended).

In a perfect world though, we'd like to correct these #'s by refinancing our 1st mortgage. Bankrate is currently showing a national average of 5.79% for a 30 year fixed, which would save us a hefty $245 per month! BUT, there are a few hurdles we'd have to jump through:

1. We'd have to get it at "interest-only" - Currently this allows us to have a lower payment each month, while still giving us the ability to pay extra towards the principal. (It's not good for everyone, but for us it works.)
2. Our house would have to appraise within 10k of our purchase price - And since our HELOC was recently frozen :(, i'm gonna guess this is a long shot.
3. We'd have to pay closing costs and probably a point or so if i had to guess. - In the long run this would work to our benefit, but w/ Mrs. Budgetsaresexy soon to be in graduate school, we don't want to be shelling out much...esp if we might sell/rent out in the near future.

So, this leaves us back to square one :) But i'm not complaining! In fact, i hope the Prime keeps going lower to be honest. Selfishly, it effects us much more positively than does saving/bond/etc rates. On the other hand that would mean the economy isn't doing all that great....and that's plain scary!

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Ann Taylor European Giveaway link

Mrs. Budgetsaresexy just forwarded this over to me. perhaps so i can share w/ all the ladies out there? Check it out, you can "play" once a day: Ann Taylor European Giveaway

Oh, and if you win, you have to mail us 1 penny.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Our house likes to eat up our Dryers.

So we are having some pretty bad luck w/ dryers lately. I don't know what it is, but we're now onto our THIRD one since we moved in last year! I know they don't last forever, but man hook a brother up for at least an entire year, ya know?

Here's a quick synopsis of our pain so far:

1st dryer - inherited when purchased house. seemed normal, until it started taking longer...and longer...and longer to dry. we replaced w/ sister's dryer after she picked up brand new ones. (yay for free!)

Sister's dryer - worked perfectly for a good 6 months or so. then all of a sudden started making this horribly awful screeching noise as it dried. it was so bad you could hear it on the 3rd floor! This is even w/ our doors closes and it being in our basement. i'm sure our neighbors love us.

And now we're onto our 3rd dryer. This part could get me REAL fired up, so i'll try and get through it quickly before i start slamming these keyboard keys....after many weeks of failed Craigslist searching, we decided to use our home warranty again and pay the $100 to have someone come out and fix it. I mean, it REALLY dries well, it's just the awful noise that comes out of it.

We got the standard, "we'll have someone out there between 4-7" and roll with it. And although the company they source out to looks pretty damn sketchy (took me 6 calls to get a live person, their voicemail isn't set up, and their website is shoddy), they were willing to come out on a saturday!

Sooo...off we go:

• we rush home after Mrs. Budgetsaresexy's wedding shower, to hurry up and get it done, so we can go back and hang out with her nephews up from NC.
• 4 rolls by - nothing.
• 5 rolls by - nothing.
• 5:30 we get a call! "we're on our way, be there in 35-40 mins". Not the best news, but at least they'll be here shortly,and we can run back to have dinner w/ everyone.
• 6 rolls by - nothing
• 7 rolls by - nothing

This goes on, and on, and on...NOTHING! why the F do you call saying your'e on the way, and then NOT show up, NOT call back, and NOT answer your damn phone? I was fired up. I left them a calm, yet very stern message every hour on the dot until 10. And to this day? nothing.

I called back our home warranty people and asked for a new company, but they don't do weekends or evening hours. we were stuck. And then, as if a flash of light appeared through the clouds and the Almighty one himself looked down upon us, we catch a HUGE break on Craigslist!

A perfectly working dryer for only $45! I call this one the "Richie Rich" dryer, as the place we picked it up last night was fairly richie rich, and the thing looks brand freakin' new. Mrs. Richie Rich had just replaced her set with some new super duper futuristic ones, and couldn't get herself to haul it way. Fine by me!

So now we have our third dryer in less than a year. And i swear, if this one doesn't last at LEAST 6 months, i will consider washing everything by hand. i mean it, don't tempt me! ....haha...nah, that's a bit extreme. plus i'm too lazy :) but i WILL blog about it! so take that.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Starbucks created a button, just for us!

I just had a most joyous experience at Starbucks this morning. As we were checking out, our cashier goes:

"Hey, we were just given this button to push which clears off all syrups and extras for registered card holders!".

Now we're going places! Do you know what this means?
- no more manual corrections.
- no more charge backs and credits.
- and no more manager confusion!

It looks like they've finally gotten a tool to coincide with their marketing efforts. What a concept ;)
(you can check out their new sexy benefits here, if you don't know what i'm talking about)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Gas at 33 cents - Can your conscience handle it?

This happened a few months ago, but it popped in my head this morning and I thought you might find it pretty interesting. With gas prices these days, it's no wonder people go rabid with this stuff!

From "Error sparks mad dash over 33-cent gas" on MSNBC.com:

"Dozens of drivers made a mad rush for cheap gas after a station employee accidentally changed the price to 33 cents a gallon. An employee closing Trig's Minocqua Shell for the night meant to drop the price of gas by 1 cent."

Forty-two people bought 586 gallons of gas in an hour and 45 minutes. Talk about some good news traveling fast! As sexy as it sounds, however, would you consider it dishonest? I could see how the first person could have filled up w/out much attention, but when your tank tops out at $5 bucks, you HAVE to know something's up. But do you say something?

The article goes on and talks about how the station owner was pretty upset (rightfully so), and that the customers were dishonest. "They knew there was a problem, and they took advantage of an employee's mistake and I think that's terrible."

I'm no goody-goody, but i have to side w/ him. It's an obvious mistake that not only hurts the station, but could possibly have the employee fired. Some might even consider it a form of theft. In all honesty, I'd tell the station manager. That's not to say that i wouldn't fill up FIRST and THEN tell him, cuz i probably would, but without a doubt i'd bring it up.

I know this because that's exactly what i did a few months ago while down in Richmond. The gas was SUPPOSED to be $2.96, but as i was filling up i noticed that it was actually set at only $2.69! Not as extreme as 33 cents/gallon, but that's still a good $6 saved in the end.

So I filled up the rest of my tank (i knew i would!), and then i walked over and alerted the station manager. Who knows how long it was going on before i got there, but i can tell you one thing - that guy was THANKFUL!

$hit, even the look on his face was worth the honesty :) And you know what? It felt great afterwards. Sure i didn't tell him before i filled up, not that i had known yet, but that's one good deed that prevented a lot of heart ache in the end.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

My millionaire to-do list!

Welcome to the newly-founded "Million Dollar Club"! Total members so far - 1. haha...but hey, i can use some more. Can you imagine how bad a$$ it would be to log into your accounts one day and see a cool million in there? I'm all over that, starting today.

And you're welcome to join! Come up with your own "millionaire to-do list" like i did below, and you're half way there. It doesn't have to be much, just make sure it's pretty realistic so you'll actually go through with it.

After that, just keep Motivated! "The Automatic Millionaire", and "The Millionaire Next Door" books are great for this. And if that doesn't do the trick, just eat a butt-load of chocolate...the morphines should get you ready! All this plan really entails is time, and habits. Once you master those, the rest is easy breezy. Besides finding the money to invest of course ;) Either way, i'm starting now.

In order for me, J. Money, to become a millionaire, I pledge to do the following: *list will be updated as necessary

• Max out my 401(k) every year.
• Save/invest 1/2 of all future bonus's.
• Continue investing in my brother's condo.
• Keep up "a dollar a day" (work days)
  
• To be frugal, but not hardcore-insanely frugal ;)

If i follow the above, as it stands today, my net worth will increase the following each year:

• $15,500 invested, $15,500 matched!
• $2,500 (after taxed)
  
• $1,700
• $240
• TOTAL: $35,440/yr
  

Using CNN-Money's millionaire calculator with a conservative 6% interest, and stripping away taxed vs. non-taxed money along with inflation, I will see a cool $1 Million in approx. 15 years and 2 months!

This means I will become a millionaire by the time i'm 43! (hotness)

Of course $1M won't actually be $1M thirty years from now, and I can't predict future returns, but to be honest that's not what it's about for me. All I want is the ABILITY to retire happily with no concerns about money at all. And i'm pretty damn sure this strategy will cover that :)

-------------
For you bloggers that wanna join, you can download the logos here: small, medium, large

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Two rants and two helpful hints.

I have two gems to share with you this morning. I will bitch about both, but will then give some handy pointers after as a reward for listening :) Please to enjoy:

Rant #1: Starbucks is gonna get it! Remember all those sexy rewards they started marketing last week??? Well, apparently they forgot about the training of their staff, including the managers. Today marks the 3rd day IN A ROW that they have not credited off our syrups! Not a huge deal, but since we make a run for our co-workers, it's a good $2 each trip.

The best, though, are the looks on their faces when we ask for the credits. It's like fear strikes them and their eyes slowly glaze over in confusion. haha....so, for the 3rd time now, we had to get a manager or senior-level person to credit back the amounts - this, after explaining to them why we deserve the discounts.

Helpful hint: If you want the syrups, soy milks, and other benefits of the new Starbucks plan, make sure to tell the cashier BEFORE paying so they can adjust it for you. Unfortunately (and prob. well thought out by Starbucks) it's not automatic.

----------------------------------

Rant #2: Remember how our flowers budget for the wedding was around $600? Wellll, not anymore! Our flowers person dropped out at the last minute, forcing us to do some spectacularly fast research. I could probably go on and on about how sucky this was, but the circumstances are fair and our new results are even better. Our new price tag is set higher at $950, BUT we found a much better rose package and all is now good in the world! And thank goodness for Mrs. Budgetsaresexy or else we'd have hand picked daisies everywhere :)

Helpful hint: If you ever find yourself needing flower arrangements, be sure to check out proflowersweddings.com. They have some pretty killer packages lined up, and cater to both smaller and larger events.

That is all. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Talk about niche marketing.

OMG this is hilarious!!! I've seen pics like this around, but NEVER in a million years did i expect to find it in any form of marketing, especially promoting LIFE INSURANCE?!

W-O-W. Seriously, they are insane.

On the flip side, at least i found it on Readexpress.com (a mini-paper from The Washington Post crew for a quick read). It's pretty obvious they're aiming for the younger generation, and i bet they'll even catch a few of those older ones trying to be "hip".

I mean, i don't blame them for trying. Anything "ninja" is super trendy, and these days even extremely viral. $hit, i'm talking about it right now and spreading it even further!

I guess i just can't take the ad seriously. Or should i say the actual company being promoted by it...i know NOTHING at all about the company itself, it can very well be legit, but it just reeks of a fly-by-night organization to me. Oh well, it sure did make for a good laugh :)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Beer + Chicken + PF Meeting = TASTY!

I got to meet some of the high rollers in Blogville last night! Mapgirl over at Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge was kind enough to invite me out to their latest Happy Hour :) MUCHO thankness MG! I have to say that i was pretty nervous meeting everyone face to face, since many of us are anonymous, but as soon as i walked in everyone was SUPER friendly. Plus, it was a breath of fresh air to talk about things in "real life" with people!

There were 9 of us total, ranging from newer bloggers (like myself), on up to veteran PF'ers like Mapgirl and Clever Dude. Seriously, it was so fun! We drank some beer, had some food, and just talked about whatever...even personal finance if you can believe that. haha...

I hadn't been to all of their blogs before, but you know i'll be perusing them going forward - gotta give love to my DC bloggers! Here are the blogs that represented last night, check 'em out:

• MapGirl's Fiscal Challenge - mad thanks for hooking me up with everyone, and sharing some good pf stories!
  
• Clever Dude - it was a true pleasure meeting you good sir. big thanks for all the tips and words of wisdom, you are both a gentleman and a scholar.
  
• Mrs. Micah - the infamous Mrs. Micah! haha...it was nice to put a face with the super-duper commenter :) looking forward to reading your blog more.
  
• You Are Not Your Wallet - a la Fight Club! i shall now re-watch to catch that part of it :) i'm glad you're living up life! you're awesome.
  
• The Weight of Money - it was great meeting you! another blog to start checking out :)
  
• Debt Hater - i want to start calling you FABULOUS, is that okay? haha...congrats on almost wiping out your credit card debt!
  
• DINK's Finance - thanks for bringing up advertising stuff and being so friendly! and i love the word "dink", now i gotta start reading your posts.
  
• One Big Mortar Board - first off, i'm glad your wallet was found and all is right in the world now :) it was a pleasure meeting you and looking forward to future run ins!

Wow, i used wayyyyyyyy too many exclamation pts and smiley faces! Dang, just did it again :) F.

At any rate, I highly recommend reaching out to local bloggers where you live and hookin' up. You get mad pointers and takes on the latest trends and all Plus, what better way of making new friends w/ same interests?

So thank you again, Mapgirl, and all others who were so open and helpful. You guys rock.

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Wedding budget for $10k? Fingers crossed!

Okay, so we *thought* we were budgeting $10k for our wedding! haha....since i started writing this i realized our total costs are actually gonna be around $16k! i guess it's good some of you prompted me to post about it :) Still though, our new budget is about half the national average for weddings.

According to Costofwedding.com:

"U.S. couples spend (on average) $28,800 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon, engagement ring, bridal consultant or wedding planner."

AND, it's even higher in the county i live in, coming in @ $39,000!!! How INSANE is that? While our $16k will be pretty tight, we have to at least shoot for it (esp. now that it's 6k higher than the initially planned $10k!). There's no way in hell we're blowing $30k for one night. And to be honest, i don't see that big of a difference of those i attended where even $45k & $60k were spent. Sure the flowers and locations may be a bit fancier, but the food and drinks were plentiful at both, and everyone had a fabulous time!

In any case, you're probably wondering where on earth this money goes to. So, in an attempt to keep things clear and concise (there are entire websites pages dedicated to this stuff, w/ pages and pages of info.) here is a breakdown of the "average" American wedding costs, side by side w/ the money we've spent, or are about to spend, on each category:

* According to Bridal Association of America
I'll post more later on HOW exactly we went around a lot of these costs, but as you can see it CAN be done for lower.

So far we (aka Mrs Budgetsaresexy's mom and us) have spent a total of $4,963.77, with the MAJOR category still left - the reception.

We booked it at a restaurant, and at the end of the night we get a bill totaling up the number of plates served, and alcohol drank. BUT, at least we don't have to worry about any cleaning up afterwards :) Not to mention the set up, caterers, staff, etc, it's all included since it's a restaurant! woohoo.

That pretty much covers it, in a nutshell. There are a slew of potential things to think about, but Mrs. Budgetsaresexy and I are not one to complicate things. I mean, you could spend HOURS on just picking invitations, or merely choosing flower arrangements. The possibilities are endless. Unless you've been planning your wedding since you were a little girl, be prepared to spend some hefty prep time :)

Before i go, let me just recommend the following three things if you're starting the process yourself. I promise you they will help:

1) Book the location of the ceremony (for us, it's a church), AND the reception ASAP. These dates fill up faster than Warren Bufffet on a hot business venture! wow, okay so that was the dorkiest coment i've ever made...but you get the point. Some places book 1-2 years in advance.
2) Do one thing a month! If you get in the habit of doing this, esp. if your engagement period is 10+ months long, you will find yourself very productive. Not to mention as stress-free as possible.
3) Be patient and work as a team....even if you don't want to :)

The first, and second one, are super easy to follow. It's the third that gets tougher as the time goes on! You leave one person alone to do it, and you can kiss that honeymoon goodbye :( But if you're truly getting married for the right reasons, it should be all good :) Plus, things like picking the music to play at the reception, or choosing the food is pretty easy and fun!

I think that covers most of the stuff we've been getting into. I'll be posting more updates as we get closer to the big day as well. For those of you starting out, I hope this stuff helps! (and Congratulations!)

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

Hi, my name is California Tortilla.

I was just forwarded this email from California Tortilla:

I just want to remind you that tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15th, is Name Tag Day at all the California Tortillas in the land! That's right, when you purchase an entree and wear a name tag, preferably with your name on it, we'll give you a FREE chips and queso...

They'll also give you a "Buy One Get One Free" Burrito coupon that's good in May (the coupon, not the burrito; their burritos are good in all months according to them). I know where i'm going for lunch!

• Digg this! • Stumble it! • Send to PF Buzz • Save to Del.icio.us • Subscribe to feed

I was tagged...and it felt good!

Are yo