April: Stay the Course

Somehow March ended up being an expensive month.  It doesn't seem like I did anything extravagant, but I also got a haircut, bought some house shoes:

Thanks for the tip!

I got my new-to-me bike fixed up, and I rediscovered my love of the Sweet Valley High books, which resulted in buying (me, buying books!?!?) a bunch of ebooks.  They just make it so easy!  I can buy them right from my chair!  I got sucked down a bit of a rabbithole, but I'm still just addicted to those Wakefield twins.

Just as awesome as when I was 12.

I've also been as aggressive as possible with socking away money in my Roth IRA and putting money toward my stupid student loan debt.  I'm pleased to report that not only will I be maxing out my Roth IRA contributions for the first time ever ($5000), but I am also actually (kind of) making progress with the stupid student loans!  With the payments I make this week, my balance will go below $100,000 for the first time ever!

It feels good, I have to say.

My plan for April is more of the same minus buying slippers and other incidentals.  I do need to take a pair of shoes to the cobbler, so that will be an added expense, but since I'm improving something I already own, I don't mind as much.

April is a good month because it seems that spring is almost (finally!) here, which means digging out a wardrobe I haven't worn in quite a while.  And it means it's finally biking weather!  Since my work is not that far away, I don't spend a ton of money on gas, but it's always nice to spend even less.  Plus, my new bike is pretty snazzy:

Tricked out with lights, a bell and a sweet basket

So the plan is:

--Pay at least $400 toward student loans every month.  I'll pay more if I can, but I do also need to prioritize putting money into regular savings, which I haven't been doing as much

--Pay at least $400 toward Roth IRA.  This means that I stay on track, and won't need to panic at the end of the year and sink my entire tax return into my Roth.

--Get back on track with regular saving.  Saving for retirement is all well and good, but my car won't last forever, and what if I want to buy a house someday!?! Ack!

What are your plans for this month?

Why is My Soda So Big?

I don't drink much soda. I don't have a taste for it, fake sugar gives me headaches and it seems like (is) a huge waste of money and calories.  That said, when I was running my most recent 1/2 marathon, at mile 11, someone handed me a small cup of coke and it was the most delicious thing I think I've ever tasted.

Since I had just run 13 miles, I decided to treat myself to a coke on my drive home from the race.  I stopped at Burger King and ordered a small coke.  I was shocked when they handed me a 16 ounce cup that just looked huge.  Even though coke was the thing I wanted most in the world right then, I certainly didn't want that much.  I drank about half of it and started to feel ill, but then I felt wasteful for wanting to throw it out and had a little more.

This is why the whole ban on large sugary drinks in New York seems like a good idea to me.  When you get more than you want, you drink more than you want.

BF and I visited Niagara Falls a few years back and stopped at Tim Horton's on our way across the border (this is a funny story, bear with me).  I ordered a small cappucino because I love those terrible powder + water cappucinos that you get at a gas station or a Tim Horton's and I only buy then on long roadtrips.  In Niagara Falls, Ontario, I ordered a small and received a 12 ounce cup.  Then we crossed the border into New York state and a few hours later stopped for a bathroom break. I decided to treat myself to another Tim Horton's cappucino, and found that when you order a small in America, it's 16 ounces.  Same brand, same logo, same delicious flavor--difference sizes.

 The other side to the argument, in my mind, is that by ordering the larger size, you reduce the amount of packaging used.  If I had gotten a 16 ounce cappucino in Ontario, would I have wanted another once we got back to the states?  Would I have wasted two cups? If someone actually wants 44 ounces of soda, shouldn't they just get it all in one cup instead of buying two?

I go back and forth on this idea all the time, which is odd for someone who doesn't really order beverages other than beer (which comes in a reuseable cup or recyclable bottle/can).  When I order a 16 ounce coffee at a coffee shop, no matter how tired I think I am when I get it, by the time I've had about 12 ounces, the stuff that's left is cold and gross and I don't want it.  Similarly, the last few drinks of my precious Burger King coke were watered down and kind of ruined the experience.  But I love value!

It's a strange debate and I hate to seem like we need to be saved from ourselves, but we probably need to be saved from ourselves.  I've got a pretty well-honed sense of discipline, but I still snack if food is around and I still drink more soda than I actually want.

I'm curious how other people feel about this.  If the government interfering by limiting the size of sugary drinks, or are the just stopping us from killing ourselves?

I Don't Get It: Weddings

This is a new series idea I'm trying out where I discuss something that people spend a lot of money on that confuses me terribly.  After reading statistics that say the average cost of a wedding in the United States is $27,000, the average cost of a wedding in New York is almost $66,000(!), and "The state of West Virginia, where nuptials cost an average of $14,203, was the least expensive wedding location." I feel like I just don't understand people's priorities.

Then, I look into things like wedding venues, catering, etc., and it seems like maybe the problem isn't so much that people want to overspend on a fairy tale wedding, but that the wedding industry is set up to extract as much money as possible from people and even if you go into the planning with a budget, you might find that that amount means you get married at city hall and have the reception in mom's living room (which is fine too).

I am not a wedding gal.  I have never gone to a wedding and analyzed what I want and what I would do differently.  I never wore a pillow case on my head and pretended to be a bride.  Honestly, I don't really ever want a wedding, but I understand that some people do.  I always knew weddings were expensive, but I never understood exactly why they were so expensive.  A good friend of mine got married a few years ago, and she vented to me how much money they had to spend on all these little things.  That was the first time I had ever really heard a dollar amount attached to wedding stuff, but after attending the wedding (and I'm not trying to sound like a bitch), I was shocked at how much she had spent on what looked pretty low-key and a little bit tacky.

The a couple years later another friend got married, and I did some online sleuthing to see about how much she probably paid for things.  This was where I learned that the venue frequently has all of these built-in conditions that cost you extra money.  You may try to be frugal, but it's almost like they won't let you.

For instance: A friend of mine got married at a very nice location--a working farm with a lovely bungalow.  The ceremony was outside and everything seemed simple, low-key and easy.  Then I took a look at what she actually paid for.

$2500 to rent the facility for eight hours
$250/hour additional time, if needed
Cost of $1,000,000 insurance policy
Cost of a professional bartender for a minimum of 4.5 hours + cost of booze
Table and chair rental--$3 per chair, $6 per table
Cost of catering
DJ/Band
Photographer
Wedding Dress

Obviously, a lot of those expenses are negotiable like photographer and caterer, but we're still looking at a one-day event that costs at least what I make in six months.  I'd rather have a down payment on a house.

So this is why I'm scared of/not interested in weddings.  Even if you go into it thinking you don't want to go overboard and spend too much, if you actually want a nice, non cheap-looking wedding, the price tag is exorbitant.

If any readers managed to have a nice wedding that was not insanely expensive, I would love to hear about it.  Leave a comment or send me an email at findmefrugal@gmail.com
 
Average wedding costs: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/us-wedding-costs-idUSBRE82M11O20120323

How Being Lazy Can Save You Money

I'm not a lazy person overall, but I do occasionally succumb to the 'I don't want to leave my chair' mentality. Usually when there's a good book and a cat involved and I'm all wrapped up in blankets, the last thing I want to do is leave the house for something as tedious as grocery shopping.  One good thing that comes from being lazy though is the fact that it has probably saved me a lot of money over the years.  When you are loathe to leave the house, it's much easier to hang onto your cash, and even online shopping doesn't have the immediate gratification as going to a store and acquiring something.

Example A:  I've been reading The Hungry Runner Girl blog for quite sometime, and as the title would suggest, she talks about food a lot.  Thankfully, I'm too lazy to make a lot of the recipes she suggests (learning to bake sounds exhausting to me and who needs the calories), and many of the restaurants she goes to are regional and since she lives in California, I'm not tempted.  However, she recently went on a Subway binge and between reading her blog and watching The Biggest Loser, I had some serious cravings for a Subway sandwich.  For days, those sandwiches were all I could think about, and even though there is a subway 1/2 a mile from where I live, on my way home from work, I've been too lazy to go there, and have saved myself at least $5.

You see, it's cold out; street parking is hard to find sometimes; Subway sandwiches often sound good but are disappointing; I can make a sandwich at home that I know I'll like, etc.  I can talk myself out of anything! Now that some time has passed, the craving has abated, and I'll probably go another five years without eating Subway.

Example B:  Back when I was in college, I smoked.  I never really enjoyed smoking, but I was majoring in writing so it was pretty much a given, and I was spending a lot of time in bars and needed something to do with my hands.

All the great writers smoked

However, I can remember numerous times when I wanted a cigarette, didn't have any, and was just too lazy to go buy some.  I never smoked enough that I was physically addicted, so it was super easy to talk myself out of getting into the car and making a special trip just for something that would potentially kill me.  Even when I lived literally across the street from a gas station, I was often too lazy to make the walk.  Savings for my lungs and my wallet.

Example C: 
In college and grad school, friends would often try to get me to go to cafes with them to 'study.' Study is in quotes because what frequently happens is you go to a cafe with some homework, and spend your whole time there talking to people, accomplishing nothing except spending money on food and annoying a waitress. I figured this out quickly, and also figured out that cafe booths are terribly uncomfortable and cafes are loud. By saying no to these invitations, I saved both calories and money AND actually got homework done at home instead of wasting a lot of time.

Example D:
I work on the same street as many restaurants--fancy and non-fancy.  I could potentially go broke taking advantage of all their offerings, but I still pack a lunch every day out of laziness.  If I go out to eat (and I only get an hour), I have to walk to the restaurant, pick something out, wait for it, find a table--you see where I'm going with this.  If I pack a lunch, all I have to do is go downstairs, pop it in the microwave (if it's not a sandwich) then curl up on the couch in the staff lounge with book.  I can get in a whole hour of reading that way!


I often achieve my particular type of laziness by exercising a lot and then being too lethargic to want to do anything else, so for those of you who feel like you need to constantly be doing something, just do a lot of something right away in the morning and then you'll want to loll around.  If you convince yourself that going out and spending money is an arduous task instead of a fun thing to do, you will save lots.  Find a balance between laziness and accomplishing things that works for you, but I have to say, the lazy mindset comes in handy pretty frequently.

To Pay or Not To Pay

I had a conversation with a friend recently where I outlined my New Student Loan Scheme for her.  I put a large chunk of my tax return toward this new endeavor, and I was starting to see a little bit of progress, so I was feeling good.  Then we had a conversation which I found...odd.

Her: "But why bother worrying about paying them down when they'll be forgiven in ten years anyway?"

Me: "Right, maybe, I don't exactly know what the next ten years will bring, but even if they do get forgiven, I have to pay income tax on that amount, and I'd rather not pay income tax on $100,000 if I can avoid it."

So here, I think, was the fundamental difference between the way the two of us approach this situation.  In my mind, she has half the amount of debt that I do, and with a little sacrificing, she could pay it off.  In her mind, the amount is insurmountable, so she will continue to pay the minimum until the loans are forgiven.  As much as I know it's stupid to get worked up about such a big number, I also knew (kind of) what I was getting into when I took out the loans, and I feel like I have to make a real effort to pay them back.  I've always been the person who pays my debts--usually early--and this is the same thing to me.

Despite the fact that the number is huge and scary, I'm not redirecting all of my disposable income toward reducing it.  I'm also making a big push to max out my Roth IRA contributions for 2012 (which I can do until April), and start contributing to 2013.  I'm also socking away a little money each month in my emergency fund.  As good as it is to lock away money in retirement, you never know what's going to happen and it's important to have money you actually have access to.

I'm pleased to report that since I focused my student loan repayment efforts on the biggest, highest interest loan, I have made actual progress.  My last payment of $300 reduced the principal amount on that loan by $240 and it's now less than $15,000.  If I can really focus on getting that one loan down, I'll save myself a chunk of money in interest, and make the whole repayment process that much more worthwhile meaning actually reducing the amount owed rather than just paying off interest.

Yes, it's a small victory, but it's important to me to really feel like I'm making progress.  I'm calling this the year of sacrifice and if I can stay on track with saving and make a dent in my loan debt, I'm setting myself up for a less-stressful 2014.

Weekend Reading: Let's Pretend This Never Happened

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Sometimes I feel like I don't understand blogging.  I've been blogging in one way or another since people actually used Myspace.  I started out writing complaints about the stupid job that I had, and then I posted them online.  People found them tragically amusing, and I developed a small (miniscule following).  Then I started new, different blogs, and here I am today yammering on about money stuff.

As the years passed, I became aware that people were getting legitimately famous for writing about their daily shenanigans, and actually producing whole books, which despite majoring in writing, I have yet to do.  So I read one. I read It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown And a Much-Needed Margarita by Heather B. Armstrong of Dooce.com fame.

I hated it.

There were moments it amused me, but overall, it was so over the top in the way she behaved herself and the way people reacted that even though it was supposed to be real life, I found it hard to believe that anyone would want to spend time with her.  She was fun sometimes, but overall, just exhausting.

Which brings us to today's book review of Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson aka The Blogess.  Similar to the Dooce lady's book, The Bloggess is a famous blogger that I had never heard of before this year when a friend mentioned her on facebook and how excited she was for this book to come out.  My curiosity was piqued, again, based equally on my friend's recommendation and also the fact that this is another famous blogger and I want to understand what makes a person a famous blogger.

The only answer I can come up with is that you have to have/ had:

1. I totally crazy childhood
2. A completely understanding and willing to go along with almost anything husband
3. A mental illness that results in manic highs that you then write about

In short, I found this book so irritating that I had a really, really hard time forcing myself to finish it.  It goes (mostly) in a chronological progression starting with the author's childhood and culminating in marriage and parenthood, but it's just a series of episodes that seem based on the funniest/wackiest events that occurred, and it's not particularly funny.  Unlike, say, a David Sedaris book, I didn't really care about anyone involved, and that made it hard to care about what happened to anyone.  The writing was choppy, the book felt disjointed and I'm left even more confused about why she is such a popular blogger.  Either way, now I know, so I can scratch that off the list and pretend this never happened.

I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

Weekend Reading: A Good American

A Good American by Alex George.  Penguin 2012.

I was just complaining to someone a while back about how no one writes multigenerational epics anymore.  I was pretty young when this was a major literary trend, but I remember scavenging my mother's book collection and finding Sidney Sheldon books like Master of the Game and Windmills of the Gods which covered a family over many years, and were just fascinating.  I've had people come into the library as well and ask if we had multigenerational sagas, but all the ones I could find were quite old and the person had already read them.

Now I have a new one to recommend: A Good American.

I honestly had no idea what to expect with this book, but I really, really liked it.  It's a pretty slim volume, but it's written in a kind of languid pace and since it covers three generations, it seems much longer--but in a good way.  I savored this book, which is unusual for me because I usually just blast right through and finish a book in about two days (I'm not bragging, I'm just an impatient person).

Best takeaways:

Hard Work:  Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer are German immigrants who somewhat unexpectedly land in Beatrice Mississippi when Jette gives birth to their son Joseph a couple days early, before they can make it to St. Louis.  They befriend the local doctor, who also owns the local bar, start working for him, and eventually buy the bar.  Once prohibition takes hold, they convert the bar into a lunch restaurant, then an all day place.  I don't know what it is, maybe I just yearn for a simpler time, but I love stories about people who just work hard and profit because of it.  There's no strategy (aide from giving people what they want i.e. booze or food), there's no investment scheme, just good, honest (for the most part) work.

Barbershop Quartet: The Meisenheimer's are also quite musical, and Frederick and Jette wind up with four grandsons--the perfect number for a babershop quartet.  I don't know why I found this who storyline so interesting, but it was just neat.  This was something I've never thought about before, and the music lifestyle is one I know nothing about.

Charming Anecdotes:  Since this is a story about so many people, it's just jampacked with funny little incidents of every day life, which is something I really enjoy in books.  Overall, it's a serious work, but there are just so many funny insertions and hilarious asides that I was cracking up way more than I thought I would.  I don't want to give anything away, but trust me when I say that this book is much funnier than its cover would let you believe.

Overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously, and I'm so glad I got to read it.  I never would have picked this up on my own, and I'm really looking forward to the discussion in the BlogHer Book Club, which I encourage everyone to check out as well.


I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

Craigslist Bragging Spot

I don't use Craigslist for a ton of things, generally because it's super annoying, and people are crazy, but I have had good luck with exercise equipment.  About four years ago, I bought a treadmill for about $100 and then proceeded to just wear the damn thing out.  I realized recently that the belt is just slowly crumbling away and likely to completely snap very soon.  So I started shopping.

I emailed about five people on Craigslist who were selling treadmills for as much as I wanted to pay, and none of them wrote back to me.  Then I started looking into buying a new one.  The biggest problem with Craigslist for large items like a treadmill is that I don't have a vehicle large enough to transport it.  I'd have to try to borrow one from someone and/or rent a truck, which takes more planning and time.  If I buy a new one, I figured, I might pay a little more, but I can get free shipping.

I started to get bummed out looking at prices for new, kind of crappy treadmills online.  Turns out that the amount of money I want to pay doesn't really get you much in treadmill-land, and I struggled to come up with a new plan.

Thankfully, I was on Craigslist one day as a new ad for a treadmill was posted, and I emailed the guy right away.  After some back and forth, he even agreed to deliver the machine for an extra $25.  So my new treadmill arrived last week and I forked over some hard-earned cash after hauling it into the basement and doing a quick walk on it to make sure that it worked.

Then I tried to run on it.

Turns out that the reason I probably got such a deal on it is because the belt was slipping.  I could barely walk at a brisk pace on this thing, let alone run, and I started to feel even sadder than before.  I hoped that it was just dusty from sitting in storage, but after cleaning it off, no luck.

So I did what any modern gal would do--I took to the internet to try to find a solution and it came in the form of this video:

After ransacking the basement and our apartment trying to find the appropriately sized allen wrench (seriously, how can we have a house full of IKEA furniture and only two sizes of allen wrench?), I FIXED MY TREADMILL!

I now have a functional, gym-quality treadmill of my very own!  I was so excited, I ran on it far longer than I should and now my legs are sore--but I don't care.

I was so, so bummed when I thought I spent $125 on a crap treadmill, but now I think I got such a good deal because the guy just wanted to unload it!  I'm damn near euphoric, and it took about 20 minutes total to fix (once I found the appropriate tools).  Double bonus, the city will haul away my old, broken down treadmill for free.

Frugal Perks of the Storm of the Century

I just woke up to a world of white:

Across the street

Tree in front of my house

I'm pretty excited to get out there and go sledding later, but let's take this massive winter storm and make some lemonade!  You could get cranky because all travel is banned and you're stuck at home indefinitely, or you can take this historic weather event and find the frugal perks, which is what I will be doing.

1. Everyone knows it's cheaper to eat at home--no you have no excuse not to!
2. Everything snow related is excellent exercise--shoveling, sledding, just walking in it.  So what if you can't make it to the gym, you can still get a good workout.
3. A chance to finally use those snow shoes/ skis that you own without searching out some luxury ski deals and all the planning involved with that.
4. If you lose power, you save money on power?  This one doesn't really count, but at least in the winter, you can put your freezer food outside and lose less.
5. It's an excellent excuse to hunker down with a book, which you should have gotten free from the library.

You can find more awesome snow photos here and here, and I'm going to get outside soon and take more crappy cell phone pics.  Stay warm, everyone!

Branching Out

My motto has always been, "Why have one job when you can have three!"  Just kidding--kind of.  Same goes for blogs.  I've noticed that this blog, though it's supposed to be about personal finance, keeps dipping a toe into sports and fitness.  I'm taking this as a sign that I finally need to start a running blog.  I've been thinking about it for years, but never felt like I was actually good enough to do it (same mental wrestle I had about starting this blog too).

After all, other people that write about running are REAL RUNNERS, I'm just a faker.  So I decided to embrace my faker status and start a running blog for the completely average runner.  If you want to follow my adventures as I enter the 2013 racing season and try to convince myself that I need to stretch and do cross-training, join me at: providencerunaway.blogspot.com.