Mid-July report and environmental/frugality tips.

Yesterday was payday. I paid off $500 for my credit card charges (groceries, clothing, my boyfriend’s engagement ring, and other discretionary purchases), paid the $25 electric bill, and put almost $400 into my emergency fund.

(Yes, I am now engaged. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this and stop referring to him as my boyfriend and instead as my “fiance.”)

Next payday we’ll set aside $450 for rent and also take care of the gas and phone bills. Which reminds me, I need to call my DSL provider some weekday and ask them why I haven’t received any bills yet since setting up the service at the end of May.

Money left over after all of these will just sit in my checking account to build up for next month’s expenses. I want to get out of the situation where I charge July’s groceries and then wait for my paycheck to pay it off. I’d like to know the money’s already there. But first I’ll probably have to pay for car repairs.

It’s pretty ridiculous, but it’s not really the middle of the month yet, and I’ve already overspent my “Cash” budget - that is, I spent $131 on entertainment and dining already, even though I only allot myself $100 for the entire month.

Discretionary Purchases: $130.98/$98.58
Clothing: $54.10/$59.15
Groceries: $282.38/$197.16

You bet I’m proud of myself for staying under my clothing budget thus far!

I now have $1,415.62 in my emergency fund, aiming for a goal of close to $6,000 as soon as possible. That’s almost 25% of the way there!

As far as groceries go, I had to toss out a lot of food in the past few weeks. I’m not happy about that. A bunch of vegetables and onions had gone bad, just with time, and then my apartment gets so hot during the day that a loaf of bread molds in two-three days. I really need to learn to cook and use up all the ingredients we have, especially as I’ve already overspent in the grocery department by $85.

Other things I’m doing to conserve money/be environmentally friendly:

1. Bought a July bus pass. It’s only $62, compared to the cost of driving to work, which has been $100 for the monthly parking pass and $50 for gas. This morning, I drove my “fiance” to work and used his car to go to the library.
2. Borrowing books from the library instead of buying. Okay, so I’ve always done this. Reading keeps me occupied on the hour-long bus commute, and it probably helps my vocabulary too. I’m convinced that my love of reading was responsible for my high Verbal and Writing scores on the SAT so many (5) years ago.
3. Running the air conditioner only when it’s so hot outside that leaving the door open and the fan running is unbearable. I like warm temperatures, so usually that’s enough for me, and it’s only been a couple of days when the temperature reaches the mid-nineties that I’ll actually turn on the AC. Even then I set it to cool the room only to 78 degrees. This is also environmentally friendly and recommended by the Southern California Edison electric company. Plus, we’ve apparently been having power outages as everyone relies too much on their AC when they get home. I also set the timer on the AC at night so that it shuts off after I’ve fallen asleep, when it’s cooler and when I won’t notice anyway.
4. Wash colors in cold water and whites only in warm as opposed to hot.
5. I keep most of my money at ING Direct to earn 3% APY in interest, and I transfer money to my practically 0% interest account at WAMU so I can have ready access to spending money through the ATM. (Let me know if you’d like to open an account at ING. If you open a free account with at least $250 through the referral of an existing member, both you and the referring member get $25!)

I read somewhere a couple days ago that one small trick for saving water is to reuse your glasses, rather than using a new one every time. I never realized that my parents were (deliberately or not) being environmentally friendly! Since all the cup holds is water, if you’re just going to get another glass of water, why not use the same one? So I’ve been trying to do this, but my boyfriend fiance keeps putting my glasses into the sink. Ehhh.

Finally, I updated my NetworthIQ, according to which my net worth has increased by 3.52% in the last two weeks! Sweeeet.

Budget and career progress report?

This morning, about three blocks and thus three traffic lights away from the parking garage at work, it suddenly got reeeal quiet in my car and all the service lights turned red on the dashboard: CHARGE BATTERY STOP LIGHT BRAKE FLUID and one other one I can’t remember.

I couldn’t really make sense of all these different messages, so I was sitting there with what was now a green light and a couple cars behind me, furrowing my brows at these intrusive little messages, when I noticed white wisps of smoke curling out from beneath the hood of my car.

NOT GOOD.

Well, what was I supposed to do but get to work? So I tried turning off the car, turning it back on, and it ran okay (though the thermometer hand jumped right back up into the red), at least until I stopped at the next stop light.

And so on, about three or four times until I finally pulled into a space at the parking garage.

SCARED THE CRAP OUTTA ME! On the one hand, just a few minutes before my car first died this morning, I had been thinking, “This car doesn’t have any airbags. That’s not safe. I should get a car with airbags. A nice, SHINY car with airbags. (I can’t afford a nice, shiny car!)” On the other hand, I didn’t want to buy another car - I can’t afford to buy a car that probably won’t bite the dust anytime soon!

Luckily, one of the accountants was super-nice and called AAA for me. A brown, mustachioed man with a huge tow truck came and told me that I didn’t have any antifreeze in my car. Did you know you have to check your car fluids at least twice a week when the weather is in the eighties or above? I didn’t! My boyfriend saved the day with a jug of 50/50 antifreeze, and even though my car thermometer still jumped 75% of the way to the red, I was at least able to get home from work today.

Don’t you love happy endings?

After work I stopped by Target to pick up some Drano, my prescription, and even curbed my spending to one $3.99 tube of clear mascara. Of course, I tried on five different pairs of shoes, two dresses, one blazer and a swimming suit while I waited for the pharmacy to fill my prescription - BUT I DIDN’T SPEND ANYTHING. Woohoo for self-control, meaning I am still on track for my budget!

Plus today I bought the July 2008 bus pass for $62, meaning I get to pocket the other $23 I received from my workplace as a parking structure stipend. I’ll also save on $40 of gas as a result, and I’m reducing my carbon footprint.

At work today we posted two desks, a computer workstation and a credenza on Craigslist. The photos just so happened to include the computers because we hadn’t gotten around to disconnecting them yet, but I did write in the bottom of the post: “Needless to say, accessories (such as computers or chairs) are NOT INCLUDED,” and I even bolded the “NOT INCLUDED” part which was even in all-caps! And we STILL got phone calls about the computers. ONE person even had the nerve/stupidity to call ONLY about the computers, even though the title of the post was actually “Office furniture” AND in spite of the note at the bottom of the listing ABOVE THE PHOTOS.

Wow.

Finally, this evening I called and e-mailed five different Volunteer Services departments at local hospitals. I also finished one application! I really hope I can find some time to attend a volunteer orientation at some point.

End of June report.

At the end of June, my net worth is still -$19,000 or so, but it did actually increase by almost 5 percent! That’s $1,000 of positive change!

INCOME: $2,439.29
EXPENSES: $1,389.56
Rent: $450
Entertainment & Dining: $194.15/$98.58
Clothing: $161.16/$59.15
Groceries: $96.22/$197.16
Cell phone & gas: $54.54/$157.73
Ring for boyfriend: $216.49
YMCA enrollment & membership: $192
Household: $25

After all my expenses, I was able to save about $1,000. Granted, I didn’t have much will power: I spent almost three times my monthly allowance on clothing and twice my allowance on entertainment and dining. It also probably helps that my boyfriend is so willing to jump in and pay for things.

That’s not how I want it to be, though. I budget, so I know the money is there for groceries - more than enough money for groceries, so of course I’d rather he save what money he can towards his portion of the emergency fund or towards school or retirement or something. Eventually my dream is to make enough money that I can afford everything on my own salary.

Anyway, for the month of June, I was able to put roughly $1,000 into my emergency fund. As soon as possible, I’d like an emergency fund of at least $6,000, and then I’ll start contributing toward my Roth IRA. Unfortunately, I’m not eligible for my employer’s retirement plan until probably about December, after I’ve worked 1,000 hours.

I’m thinking of getting a part-time job or volunteering at the local hospital. When I’m not working overtime, I get off work hours earlier than my boyfriend, and it gets kind of dull waiting around for him to come over - and of course, it’d be nice to make a little more money!

You can see my net worth chart here.

Budgeting is pretty confusing, btw. I might try out the envelope system just so I know how much money I have for the entire month. Right now I’m living kind of paycheck to paycheck, putting things on credit with the expectation that I’ll make enough next paycheck to cover the costs.

For July, my goals are:

• Don’t spend any more money on clothing. (I already spent July’s $60 at the sale rack at Gap this past weekend!)
• Withdraw as little over $30 by the end of July. (Again, my boyfriend and I already indulged ourselves with part of my July entertainment allowance!)
• Insist on paying for utilities and groceries. If I still have money left over in these allowances by the end of July, maybe I’ll let myself spend a little more on clothes, entertainment and dining since I was able to overspend these categories in two weeks.
• Put at least $400 into my emergency fund - if not more!
• Weigh 120lbs. I’m trying for weight training every other day and 20-30 minutes of heart-pumping cardio 6 days/wk.
• Get a part-time job or volunteer at the local hospital.

Shoes shoes shoes.

I’ve done pretty horribly with my budget this month. A pair of Express “The Editor” pants to match my skirt suit put me over my monthly clothing budget - in fact, the pair of pants itself was an entire month’s clothing budget. Then again, I could have done without the impulse purse or the impulse shoe purchases.

I love these shoes, though. They’re a bit tight, about 1/2 size smaller than my usual shoe size, but would otherwise be really comfortable since it’s a solid wedge heel. I bought it on clearance at Macy’s for about $30, down from $80. In real life, the yellow is more fluorescent or neon than construction yellow, so I wear the shoes to work and silently rebel. For such a color, it’s pretty versatile: I wear these shoes with knee-length skirts, miniskirts, dresses, jeans, dress slacks, shorts. It’s a little bit dressy while still being fun and casual.

Anyone interested, looks like you can buy “Reaction Kenneth Cole Super Duper” at Amazon.com, but not for sale price!

But yes, shoes are my weakness. Last Saturday I walked around Macy’s shoe department for at least two hours, trying on all colors of shoes. It was my first excursion into colored shoes; usually I go for the universal black. This time, I tried on “rainbow sherbet” slingback heels, canary yellow peeptoe platforms, red pumps that looked like (PROVOCATIVE) (SEXY) lipstick for my feet. I even tried on hot pink pumps that looked like life-size Barbie shoes. Unfortunately, I will never be a girl who wears flats unless they’re pointy and have some sass.

Heat and drama.

It’s 4:52am, and I’ve been up pretty much all night because: (1) it’s too hot, and (2) it’s especially too hot because I’m wearing full-length track pants and socks to safeguard my legs from additional flea bites. We unfortunately have fleas, either because my boyfriend brought them home one day from one of his work site visits, because of the small, stray feline visitors we apparently have, or because the previous tenants of this apartment decided to leave us a gift.

I just got back from a work conference lasting from Tuesday through Friday. While very educational, I did have to put a lot on my credit card: the hotel bill, food and travel, adding up to a bill of $645. Of that, I’ll probably get reimbursed between $600 and $617, so I’ll only have spent $28 to $42 out of my own pocket for dining and travel.

Unfortunately this does mean I went about $20 to $40 over budget for dining and entertainment for the entire MONTH in a matter of two weeks. Something’s not working quite right here. I’ll probably have to take it out of my Auto-related expenses budget allotment. At least I didn’t buy the Nintendo DS on a whim. That would have cost me another $130.

Thanks to a modest start to my emergency fund, I’ll be able to buy an A/C window unit tomorrow. Temperature’s been in the 90s to just over a hundred in LA these past couple of days, and of course even though it may cool down outside in the evening, my apartment’s still baking on the inside.

A couple of coworkers yesterday caught me up with the history of our workplace over the past couple of years. Apparently there have been some fifteen to sixteen people transitioning in and out of my position in the past two years, with the strong few lasting a couple of months and the shortest stay being, no joke, two days. My coworkers warned me what NOT to do, things which would basically incur my boss and his family’s wrath - which unfortunately included some really anal things.

What really scared me is that they said there had been another girl in my position who had been “really happy like you, but over time working here, she became really quiet and timid. Whenever they heard her laugh, they thought she wasn’t working, so they’d come out of their offices and make her feel like sh*t.”

Sorry about the expletive.

On the plus side, I found out from them something that no one had bothered to mention to me before - the fact that we apparently have a retirement plan, including 3% employer matching of contributions up to $40 or $50 per pay period, so $80 or $100 matched a month. That’s nice. What’s funny is that my coworkers recommended I not bring up the subject to my boss or his wife and that I just go ask the HR person directly. Amazing how much drama there is in this office. At least or I hope my supervisor’s watching out for me; I really grew to like her at the conference, so she at least has won my loyalty.

PF Goals for June 2008.

I got my pay stubs today, and it’s nice to say that I am pleasantly surprised. My original estimate was about $300 short somehow, but I did work twenty hours overtime. For my usual budget, I’m just going to assume I work - and thus make - the bare minimum, and then pitch everything I make over that amount into either an emergency fund or at my $20,000 of student loans.

If I work only forty hours a week and no overtime, I will make $1,971.61 in two pay periods or about a month, so after taking care of everything else:

Roth IRA: $394.32
Debt (Credit & Student Loans): $197.16
Emergency Fund: whatever’s left over

In this particular paycheck’s case, I can use $509.84 to start my emergency fund.

G O A L S
Credit Card: Will pay $197.16 out of $238.84
Roth IRA: Will invest $394.32 out of $5,000 2008 contribution limit
Emergency Fund: Will save at least $509.84 out of $6,000 eventual target
Student Loans: Will have to sit on the back burner until credit card debt is paid off

It would be nice if I could max out the $5,000 2008 contribution for my Roth IRA, but I’d have to put over $800 each month into it to get to $5,000. Over an entire twelve months, it would take $416.67 each month, which even then would still require some reprioritizing.

Stumbling, fumbling around, trying to get my life in order.

This past Sunday, I tried to make pho and failed. Called my parents up and asked for help with some of the ingredients, but in the end, after running around the store a couple of times, I couldn’t find some of the ingredients. Also, some of them, I had no idea what they were. My Vietnamese is just enough for me to get by in casual conversation. I approached an older Vietnamese couple, “I’m sorry, but do you know where I can find–” into the phone “–Dad? What’s that thing you just said?” and back to the couple, and they gestured vaguely off somewhere.

Life after college is much more isolated, especially in a tight financial situation when gas prices increase ten cents almost daily in Los Angeles, where it’s not uncommon to drive twenty miles roundtrip just to eat out. I miss college now just for the convenience of walking a maximum of fifteen minutes to see a friend. After I get home from work, I go through the mail, watch some TV, eat, shower and go to bed. If it weren’t for my boyfriend, I’d be depressed, lonely and kicking myself.

As an older friend told me, life can very easily turn into “Eat, sleep, work,” day in, day out. He has a dream to keep him afloat, though. He’s going to become a treasure hunter when he retires - in a couple of decades.

What’s my dream? It’s not to travel, and although high-priced, designer shoes and bags often show up in my fantasies, materialism isn’t really a part of the picture either. From experience, I know that a couple of pairs of new shoes brightens my mood for only a couple of days, and then it’s back to the same hollow feeling inside.

I want to be important, necessary, respected, liked and maybe well-paid at a magazine, being around those high-priced designer shoes and bags, even if I’ll never be able to own them myself. Or I would love to make a decent income through my love of languages.

Whatever I wind up doing, I want to work at something I enjoy. I could be a workaholic if I enjoyed my work.

Anyway, I fumbled around and made beef and broccoli last night. My boyfriend bought the wrong kind of rice. Basmati rice just doesn’t stick. The grains just tumble apart, off the ends of my chopsticks.

Anyway, I cut up a slice of milanesa beef into strips, threw the beef into a small mixing bowl with oyster sauce, added some black pepper, and then cooked it in a wok on medium-high heat. When the meat was cooked through, I put the beef in a bowl and covered it to keep it warm. I cut up some broccoli into small pieces so that they would cook more quickly, and then I tossed it into the beef juice in the wok with some minced garlic - on high, I think. As the broccoli was cooking, I squirted some soy sauce over it. To finish, I threw the beef back in to warm it back up… and that was it.

And it wasn’t too bad! Of course it didn’t taste like Mom’s, but not bad for mucking around the kitchen.