The Wedding Budget Competition (guest post by Well Heeled Blog)

While I'm out of town for a few days gettin' hitched, I've lined up some blog posts from some truly lovely bloggers and friends of mine.  The theme: love, marriage, relationships...or whatever they feel like writing about.  I hope you enjoy, and check out their blogs as well, because they're all awesome.  I'll be back next week as a married lady!


Today's lovely guest post comes from Well Heeled Blog.  We've been blog buddies for a long time, and I'm so pleased that she took time out of her busy blogging (and wedding-planning! she's getting married in June!) schedule to write a guest post for me!  Check out her blog at http://wellheeledblog.com

The Wedding Budget Competition

As a personal finance blogger who is planning her wedding, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. In the Real World (or certainly the Beautiful Wedding Blog World), there seems to be a competition on how pretty and meaningful and personalized your day is (all judged on the beauty of the photographs, of course). From the joyfulness of your photos, to the uniqueness of your reception, to the loving touches that perfectly captures "who you are as a couple," it's enough to make even the most confident and laid back of brides feel inadequate. Most of these efforts take a fair amount of time or money, or both!

I think most of us, especially personal finance bloggers, can agree that such a competition to Have The Most Perfect And Expensive Wedding Ever is pointless and maybe counter-productive. A wedding is about love and celebration, and a smaller budget doesn't mean there is any less of those two qualities. Your chances of staying married and in love isn't higher in a $2,000 dress than a $200 dress.

In the Personal Finance World, however, there seems to be another competition going on.

It's no surprise, personal finance bloggers can be a goal-driven, competitive bunch. This competition is about who can spend the LEAST on weddings, who can more loudly proclaim that The Wedding Is Just One Day, and that it's ridiculous to spend over $X or $Y. But a wedding is about love and celebration, and a bigger budget doesn't mean there is any less of those two qualities. It certainly doesn't mean, as I've read in some comments on other blogs, that an more expensive/elaborate wedding means the marriage will fail. And if a bride and groom (or bride/bride & groom/groom) want to rock a $2,000 dress or band or venue and it's important to them and fits their budget, they SHOULD!

It's funny, because there is such an emphasis on spending on experiences in among personal finance bloggers, and one could argue that a wedding is the biggest experience of them all. It's the day that two people pledge to love and honor each other, in view of friends and family. It's probably one of the biggest and most important events a couple will host. So why the disdain for an expensive wedding, when we cheer on folks who spend the same amount, or more, on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, or on a down payment for a bigger house? There is so much judgment surrounding weddings, when in fact it really shouldn't matter what people spend as long as its reasonable for their situation. Some people get more joy out of a beautiful wedding than travel or a bigger piece of real estate. I say, more power to them.

If a couple manage their wedding budget according to their priorities and resources, there is no wrong way to have a wedding, regardless of how much or how little they spend. The only three things I'd never do to pay for a wedding would be to (1) take money out of retirement accounts, (2) take on debt, or (3) ask guests to pay. After that? It's all personal. Just have the wedding you want with a budget you can afford. 

--
Well Heeled Blog | Personal finance blog at the intersection of life, money, and happiness

Read: http://wellheeledblog.com
Follow: http://twitter.com/wellheeledblog

Payoff

Seven years ago, I leased a brand new car. Approximately 4.5 years ago, I decided to purchase that little 2004 Honda Civic (had I had enough money for a down payment back in 2004, I would have just started buying it outright, rather than leasing it for a couple of years, but such is life).

Last fall, I realized that my anticipated payoff date was some time in October 2011.  The thousands of dollars owed on this car were reaching a point where it actually seemed like paying it off was in my near future.  I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The beginning of a time in which I would not be paying $258.28 a month and racking up interest (albeit at a fairly low rate).  In January, as part of a New Year's Not-Really-A-Resolution, I decided to double my monthly payments in order to save money on interest and pay off the rest of my balance sooner.

After my most recent payment, I noticed that my account balance was under $100.  Under $100! Wow!  I had planned on making a final payment on my birthday, as a sort of symbolic gift to myself (I like to give myself finance-type gifts for my birthday, apparently), but it didn't make sense to wait another month and rack up interest, even if it was only a few dollars.  Why not just pay it off now?  So happy early birthday to me!*

"After making that last payment, your title will be released and
sent to you in the mail, and the vehicle you've been financing
will officially be all yours." -Honda Financial Services Website

*I haven't written about our weekend getaway yet, but I got an early birthday present while we were there...tickets to see Sarah Silverman (this past Monday), complete with a room service surprise of the most delicious red velvet cake I've ever had and mimosas at 8am :)  And I got Will an early birthday present of the framed team picture from when the Pens won the Stanley Cup in 2009.  It's a year of early birthday celebrations, no?

A little PF talk

It's been a while since I blogged about personal finance/budgeting and such, and I've been thinking a bit about it lately, so here ya go.

Topic #1: Credit!  Hi.  My name is Kim, and I just got my first credit card.  Yes, my first.  Yes, I am almost 27 years old.  Yes, I have been living with just a debit card all this time.  I've been thinking about getting one for years, but the combination of not wanting to pay annual fees and wanting some sort of rewards system and not being able to make a decision meant I never had one.  And then along came Banana Republic.  I was already receiving some massive discounts on a recent trip to the flagship store, thanks to a big sale (oh so much pretty there), and the super-helpful salesgirl (no joke, she was great) convinced me to get one (further discounts! I shop here anyway!).  I am usually impervious to the siren song of the store credit card...so why did I give in?

For one, there is actually a decent rewards program when using my card at Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy (including the outlet).  Those are the only places I actually shop for clothes anyway, so I might as well be earning rewards for doing it!  I can use the card for other purchases, too (it's a Visa), which I may do eventually, but for now, I'm using it as a clothing shopping card.  I figure this will keep me from spending too much each month, since I don't do much clothing shopping anyway.  I will pay the balance every month (the one downside is a high interest rate - but I don't plan on carrying a balance on any credit card I might ever have).  So yeah.  Now I have a credit card.  So far so good.

I am considering getting a bank credit card through Wells Fargo when I open a new checking account (something I'm planning on doing relatively soon), just to have one for emergencies that has a low interest rate.  Is this something that would be useful?  I hate the idea of spending money I don't have (hence my being ok with a high interest rate on the BR card - I pay it off right after I spend it), but would it be a good idea to have a card I can use in a real emergency?  Something with a low interest rate, in case I have to pay for something I don't have money for (I don't know what kind of emergency that would be...medical expenses? Isn't that what my emergency fund is for?)?  Thoughts?

Topic #2: Debts and Savings!  Exciting news (for me)! I am thisclose to paying off my car loan! I've been working hard to get this paid off, doubling my payments for the last few months.  I gave myself the arbitrary deadline of my birthday (May 10) to have paid off my car, and I am on track to come in ahead of schedule.  I owe just over $1,000 and plan to pay $500 in March and the remainder in April.  And I am stoked.  Woo hoo!  The plan was to then take the $500 I'm not spending on the car payment and put it into my "high interest" savings account, but since the interest on that account is pretty low right now, I have other plans.

See, I also have this student loan.  The loan was originally for about $18,000.  I decided to check up on my account this morning, just for fun (ha).  And according to the loan website, I have paid about $5,000 since I graduated in 2006 (minus about a year when I was on financial hardship deferment during an unpaid internship).  And somehow, I still owe about $16,000.  That's what we call stupidcrazyinterest. omg.  So.  Since the interest on my student loan is significantly higher than what I'd be earning in the savings account, I'm going to take that extra $500 a month and aggressively work on the student loan repayment instead.  It's still going to take me forever to pay off, but if I'm paying $700 a month instead of $200 a month on it, at least it'll take a little less time.   I'm still budgeting about $200 a month for savings (I like a steady contribution to my emergency fund), but I figure it's better to throw my "extra" money at the loan right now.


It feels good to make grown-up decisions about my finances.

BlogHer 2011?

So.  In the last couple of years, I have become aware of this little thing called BlogHer.  This year, the annual conference is allupinmyface, because I read AimingLow, and those chicks are all over BlogHer2010, and I follow them on Twitter, and they won't shut up about how awesome it is.  I love it, I do.  But I am kind of crazyjealous that I'm not there.

I just found out (thanks, Berzerkeley) that they've announced that tickets are on sale for next year's conference.  Which will be in San Diego.  Which is much closer to me (and in theory, much more affordable) than is New York (where the conference is this year).  I am seriously considering going.

I know I'm not a famous blogger, and I don't make money off my blog, and I don't have any awesome sponsors paying me to promote them (yet!), but I did do two of those CSN Giveaways, so I feel a little bit special.  Not that you need to be special to attend - there are no rules about number of readers or endorsement deals or whatever.  Anyone can go as long as they pony up the money (from $75-$600 depending on who you are and when you sign up).  Which brings me to the next point.

Even though this isn't for another year, and Early Bird (read: discount) pricing doesn't end until late February, I am still not sure I can afford it.  I mean, for me (I'd want to do the full two days, and I'd register early) it would be $200.  That's two hundred dollars, to attend a blogging conference for women.  Which, don't get me wrong, seems totally worth it.  But I am still cheap, and not making a lot of money, and have to pay for things like rent and bills and food.  And that 200 buckaroos doesn't include the hotel or airfare or dinner (though um, cocktails count as dinner, right?).  Even though I will definitely start saving and budgeting (and hopefully freelance-writing) to allow for this, it would certainly help to have a little extra money coming in from somewhere.

So.  Here's my question.  Is it totally tacky to post a "Send Me to BlogHer 2011" donation button on my site and take donations through PayPal?  I'm not sure how that would all work for tax purposes or anything (does it count as business income if it's a donation?), and I don't even know if anyone would even contribute a dollar, but honestly, every little bit would help. Realistically, this could end up costing me over $600 ($200 conference, $200 hotel, $200 flight, plus extra food and stuff), and it's not like I'm made of money.

If you would be so kind as to fill out this quick survey, I would be very, very grateful.  You might have to click through to the site if you are using a feed reader.  Sorry.

A few more resolutions...

There are a few things that I left off my Big 3 Resolutions list. I think that's because I felt I needed to put something out there quickly.

Here are a few more things to add to the list:

• Learn to ride a bike. I am not embarrassed about my inability to ride a bike, just inconvenienced. I don't want to be limited or held back or excluded from activities because of my lack of this one silly skill. Yes, I learned when I was younger. But I didn't ride frequently as a kid (nobody, like, rides bikes in, like, The San Fernando Valley) and when I tried a few years ago, it was a complete failure. See Amsterdam 2005. Bad times. Just ask my sister or my cousin Casey. Anyway, I would like to re-learn so that I can feel confident and comfortable on a 2-wheeler. I want to ride a bike around the Yosemite Valley floor this summer. I am planning to take a class at REI (appropriately titled "How to Ride a Bike) on February 7th. I will let you know how it goes.
• Save more money. It's been a while since I talked about personal finance on this blog! My personal finances took a year off in 2009, what with the pay cut and the unemployment and all. I didn't go into further debt (unless you count interest that accrued while I was on student loan forbearance), and I didn't diminish my savings (ok, but only by about $400 total), but I did not save. At all. I did not put one dollar into my savings account. This is ok, because I needed that money to live. Now that I am getting back on my feet, here is my plan:

1. Get my checking account to the point where I have $600 minimum in there at all times as a cushion. Why $600? $500 didn't seem like enough, and $1,000 seemed like too much (though it would be great, and sure, I'll aim for it, but $600 minimum)
2. Start putting at least $100 into savings each month/build my emergency fund. They say you should have 6 months of living expenses saved, and right now I've got 2 or 3. $100/month is not very much, and I should really put about $250 (slightly more than 10% of my take-home pay), but I'm going to start with $100 a month, and here's why:
3. Start paying more than the minimum on my outstanding loans. I currently pay roughly $140/month for my student loan and $260/month for my car payment. I'd like to round both of these numbers up to $200 and $300 (or even $350) respectively to pay off the principal on my loans quicker. I only have about 2 years left on my car payment, but if I can bring that down to a year and a half? Less? I currently owe $4,935.60 on my car and over $18,000 in student loans. That's if I paid them off today. I've got a ways to go. But if I can up my monthly contributions, I'll pay them off faster, right?

So those are my little resolution-addenda. It's good to have goals!

Credit Card Query

Well Heeled wrote a post today about a decision she's facing: whether or not to get another credit card. This reminded me that I'm supposed to be thinking about getting a credit card - something I've been toying with for a few years but have never gotten around to doing.

This is the comment I left after her post (where she asked readers how many cards they have). I'm re-posting it here in hopes that some of you can weigh in on the subject. Thanks in advance!

I have zero credit cards. I use my debit card for everything...and so far, I've liked that. I have GOOD credit (from car payments, rent, cell phone, student loans, etc) - as far as I know anyway - but not very MUCH credit.

I have recently been thinking that I should get a credit card to use for things like bills - where I know I will pay it off each month. I don't worry about making extravagant purchases I can't afford; I worry that I'll use my credit card for basic purchases and "forget" that that money is no longer really available to use in my bank account, and then think I have more money than I really do...does that make sense? I guess I'd just have to be more careful about keeping track and knowing that the balance in my checking account isn't truly accurate.

Does anyone recommend a particular credit card for a beginner? :-) I have Wells Fargo, and I want a card with some sort of rewards but no annual fee. Interest isn't a huge issue because I plan on paying it off each month.

So yes. Do you have a card that you love? Do you have any recommendations? I don't need advice about budgeting or living within my means or any of that - I know how to do that. I just want to establish some credit for myself in a responsible way, and earn some rewards on the side!

On Advertising

I've been thinking a lot lately about advertising on my blog, and felt the urge to write about it. This post is a little long, but I haven't been blogging super-regularly lately, so why don't we just average it all out and call it a day, eh?

I received an email a few weeks ago from a "fellow money blogger and saver" who wanted to make me "a little offer." Basically, the company this fellow works for would pay me $18 per month in exchange for placing a text link to their website on my website. Fine. Except when I responded to further investigate this offer, he revealed that the link did not need to be in a prominent place, it just had to be on the site somewhere. I didn't have to write anything about it, or even claim to know anything about the company. This raised a red flag for me - obviously, they are using link-placement to boost their pagerank on Google search results. After asking a few people about this, I learned that this is fairly common, and why wouldn't it be? Bloggers often need money, and this is an easy way for companies to boost their placement in results. However, as a former Googler, I just can't do it. To me, this is fraudulent inflation, taking advantage of the algorithm if you will.

I'm not saying this is anything new. I know it's not groundbreaking or scandalously revealing. But this is the first time I've been directly confronted with the choice to make easy money ($18 a month, wow) to do something I don't really feel comfortable with. Maybe it's the "do good things and help people" mentality I was raised with, or maybe it's just the fact that I still feel a sense of commitment to supporting Google's mission and ideals. Either way, I just don't feel right receiving money to help a company take advantage of the system.

So, that's out. I wrote to the salesman (because, let's be honest, that's what he is), thanked him for his interest in advertising on my blog, and told him that I just did not feel comfortable with this type of advertising. He hasn't responded, and I don't expect that he will. I'm sure he's moved on to someone else, and I know there are a lot of people out there who do put text-link ads on their blogs, and that's their deal. No judgement here, it's just not for me. But what now? Is there still a chance for me to monetize this blog? Do I care?

As you may or may not have noticed, I use AdSense Advertisements on this blog. I've made about $4 in ads over the last two years or so, which leads me to believe that this is not the best form of moneymaking. Go figure. BUT the purpose of this blog is not to make money. I write this blog because I like to write, and I have things to say, and regardless of whether or not people find it interesting, I enjoy putting it out there. In writing. And sometimes pictures.

But I digress.

I tried AdSense because it seemed like a good idea. I mean, I don't have to do anything and money will appear in my account? Sweet! I suppose it works better if people actually, oh I don't know, click on the ads, but I didn't think about that. I just slapped them in areas I thought wouldn't be too intrusive, and hoped for the best. And to tell you the truth, I mostly ignore them myself. I log into my AdSense account fairly infrequently, and have thought of it mostly as a mostly-passive experiment in using the AdSense program. I did work for the AdWords team at Google, after all. I might as well use a related product. A few weeks ago, I decided to try placing ads in more visible places on my blog, to see if more people would click on them. Not so much a success. Maybe this is because many of you subscribe via RSS feeds rather than visiting directly (I know I view 99% of the blogs I read on my Google Reader). Maybe, like me, you don't tend to click on the ads anyway, whether you see them or not. Either way, they don't seem to be making much of a difference.

So...do I leave them up or take them down? I think I'll leave them up for now, and I'll review the literature online about improving your AdSense revenue to see if there are easy ways to up my CTR. Google just out an email about updating Privacy Policies - I didn't even have any posted on my blog in the first place. If you click on an ad, the advertiser may "drop a cookie" - that's the gist of the privacy policy. My understanding is that just about everything online these days "drops cookies" though, so it's not really as intrusive as it sounds. Do what you want. Click or don't click. It's your choice. How's that?

The moral of the story is that this blog was not started in the interest of making money, but if it ends up doing so, that's fine by me. I will continue to write what I want to write, and you can continue to read if you want to read, and whatever happens with that will happen. Honestly, simply, and on my own terms.

Unemployed.

Well, fair readers, I am officially one of the approximately 11.6 million unemployed people in this country. Long story short, department needs changed, my job changed, I was no longer qualified, and now I'm out of a job.

I am receiving a few weeks' pay as a sort of severance, and I'll be applying for unemployment as soon as I receive my last check next week (learned this morning that I can't file for unemployment without that last check, darn!). Luckily, I have a decent emergency fund that will help supplement the unemployment checks until I find a job. It should also help pay for new tires on my car that I'll be needing soon (it's almost time for my next check-up, and the last time I was told "well, next time it'll be time for new tires" - eek!). An emergency fund is one of those things you never think you'll need, but you build it up anyway...and well, now I know why!

I am trying to just stay positive, apply for jobs and use this "time off" to reflect, think, and do some of the things I've been wanting to do but haven't had the time for. In fact, I've made a list. I call it the "No Excuses - You're Unemployed" list. Ta-Da.

• deep-clean the bathroom - it needs to happen.
  
• (finally) sort through the box under my keyboard - it's been there as a junk box since I moved in. a year and a half ago.
• give myself a pedicure - my $15/month splurges may have to be on hold for a while.
  
• READ - I just renewed my library card, and I plan to use it!
  
• bake bread - I want to experiment with new kinds like rosemary or olive
  
• watch more Food Network and try new recipes - I want to go to farmer's markets and Berkeley Bowl, buy cheapish produce and try something new!
  
• fix my broken shoe rack - instead of purchasing a new one, I'm going to hammer it back together and duct tape it. Duct tape fixes everything, right?
• deal with my "office" area - I've gotten some good responses from my post to Apartment Therapy, and I think it's about time I figure out how to make use of this corner of my bedroom.
• go through and get rid of some books - my bookshelves are overflowing, and a lot of the books are ones that I don't read, or don't like, or otherwise just don't really need to have around.
• empty the bag-o-snacks - I have a big bag in my apartment filled with trail mix, crackers, and other kinds of snacks...time to unpack it and find places for all these miscellaneous food items.
• put away bags in living room - there are a few random bags hanging out in the living room that I should really just go through and put away already.
• earthquake straps - I've had these for longer than I care to admit, and I need to attach them to my tall bookshelf and dvd/vhs shelves.
• wash sheets, towels/bathmat, duvet cover - this kind of laundry is the stuff I procrastinate doing because it involves unmaking and making the bed...not really sure why I procrastinate the towels/bathmat. But I should stop.
• re-pot plants - I have two plants right now that are currently in need of re-potting. Once the rain lets up (well, it's sunny right now, but this is my obligatory "sit on the couch and maybe do dishes" day), I'm all over it.
• take my laptop to the Apple store - it's been slowing down a lot lately, and I want to know if it's something easily fixable (aka not "oh yeah, you need a new hard drive).
  

the burritos i've been eating all day, made from leftovers a friend left here on Saturday

So that's my list...so far. I'm afraid to say it, but I am actually kind of looking forward to this. I've been extremely lucky in employment ever since I started as a babysitter at age 12, and I've never actually been in a situation where my time is 100% my own. Not in my teen/adult life anyway. No classes, no work, no real obligations except finding a job...which I understand is a job in and of itself, but still. There is something freeing about not having your days mandated.

So yeah. I'm trying to stay positive and look at this as a chance for me to learn something and to focus on myself and read a lot, and maybe try some new knitting, and take walks, and make smoothies, and watch some Ellen* and sell merch at Sara's upcoming shows at Cafe du Nord, and spend time with my other unemployed friends, and hang out with my cousin in the city, and be taken out for a meal or two, and well, we'll see. Hopefully this unemployed thing doesn't last too long, but I'm going to try to enjoy it at least. No sense in moping around feeling sorry for myself!

*Portia de Rossi is going to be on Ellen in a few weeks. That should be fun. The Bird and The Bee is on today - very exciting (Inara was my movement teacher at Shakespeare camp, like, 10 years ago). I recognize some of the girls in her backup band as Theatricum girls - that's always fun. Oh, and Neil Patrick Harris will be on on Monday. Yay!

Just discovered some ants in my laundry room, sneaking in through a tiny hole near the floor. Time to go get a cheap ant trap, I suppose...my skin is crawling with the thought of ants. Gross.

Savings, Yeah!

I just transfered a hefty $500 into my HSBC Direct savings account. Yeah. I knew I would be using part of my bonus check to put a large chunk into savings, and I hadn't planned on a number, and just now, on a whim, I decided I should do it. So I did. I picked $500 because it sounds like a lot, but it's a number I feel totally comfortable taking out of checking (which, by the way, is ridiculous to me -- I've never even HAD $500 in my checking account that wasn't already designated for specific bills/rent!), and it feels somewhat substantial.

I'm planning on adding more soon -- I'm trying to figure out my plan for savings. Now that I've paid my parents back, I get to really kick the savings plan into gear. But I'm not sure yet if I want to do one account or two. I definitely want to make my existing account into my Official Emergency Fund, but I might want to have a separate fund that's a "for fun" account. Savings for vacations, shopping, etc. I'm pretty sure that's what I'll do (provided I can do it at HSBC, which I'm not sure of...may need to call customer service), but I haven't 100% decided yet, nor have I decided how much $$ per paycheck I'll allocate to each account if I do split them.

Thoughts? Do any of you out there have multiple savings accounts? If so, how do you allocate money across the accounts?

Emptying the Tabs (again)

1. Really cool video from some Russians - they made a gigantic gmail model of sorts.
2. I want to go see this Annie Leibovitz exhibit in San Francisco. Really.
3. Sometimes I feel like I should be too young to identify with articles in Real Simple magazine. Eesh.
4. This is really exciting to me. I had no idea you could do this with your gmail account, and I totally plan on using it!!!
5. The Google Zurich office is RAD...according to these pictures, anyway. Damn, Zurich.
6. Grad Girl (of This Writer's Wallet, a blog I subscribe to) listed me in her recent "favorite blogs" article series. I think that is really, really, really cool. I'm always shocked when I get a comment from someone I don't know, and most of the non-friend-readers have found me through blogs like hers, or An English Major's Money. I've even noticed myself in the "favorite blogs" sections of some of these *random* comments! So cool! Totally blogalicious! (go ahead, Jessie, love that word. I know you will. And, um, if you could incorporate it into an episode of The Soup, and give me a shout out, I would feel even cooler. Just kidding. About the request, not about feeling cooler. Cause I totally would.)

On side note, the two PF (that's Personal Finance) blogs I just mentioned both have really nifty little sidebar-progress-things that track the progress of various savings accounts. I really like them, and have been wanting to make one of my own for a long time and haven't gotten around to it. How do you do yours, and how can I do one? And how do you update it? And is it ridiculously easy? Should I make one of my engineers do it for me? Can I be a big girl and do it on my own? Speaking of doing things on my own...I really need to do my taxes already!

Post Number 91, Ta Da!

I am sneezing. I am sneezing because of the sun. The sun is shining in my eyes, through the big glass windows of the shuttle. The shuttle that I ride for free. Ok, I'll stop complaining about sneezing. Sometimes I forget to put things in perspective.

But still, sneezing is kind of annoying.

Oh well. I haven't written a real post on here in a while--it's been a lot of lists and re-posts and such, and I feel like I haven't really been contributing any interesting life tidbits lately. Which I guess doesn't matter because there's really no format to this blog. Well, the format is "whatever I feel like posting whenever I feel like posting it." Ah, freedom.

Anyway, I just thought I'd include a few life updates today. I'm in the mood.

First on the Agenda: Finances. I haven't been doing as well as I'd like in the money department. My income has significantly increased since my internship (duh), but so have my expenses. I can afford all my bills, and even to pay my parents a bit of what I owe them every month (and I should be done paying them by late January), but I just hate the feeling of wanting more. I want to be putting money into savings, which right now I'm just not doing at all. I say it's because the money I'm paying my parents will eventually turn into money I put into savings, but right now I'm just frustrated that I can't do both. But paying my parents back is more important, so I just have to be patient. Nobody wants to be in debt--even if it is to an interest-free, late-payment-forgiving, nice and understanding source like your parents.

Anyway, I've been thinking about sticking to a budget for a while. I have definitely succumbed a little to the "ooh I have new money!" thing, buying a new shirt here...spending $100 on food for a housewarming party there...etc. Not that I'm going nuts, and I can still pay my bills, but I have certainly not been as frugal in the last few months as I'd like to be. Maybe it just took 2-3 months of being excited about my newfound steady income and now the excitement has worn off? Maybe it's finally hit me that pay increase + bill increase does not = tons of disposable income? Do you have any experience with this, readers?

Item Two: Knitting. I have joined a weekly knitting group at work. We meet for an hour at lunch on Fridays. I'm excited to have a regular (whenever I can make it, anyway) knitting time...and some of the ladies in the group are very experienced! Hopefully I'll finally finish the scarf that I'm making with the yarn Reed gave me for graduation...in 2006. It's going to be a lovely scarf, soft and warm and wide, even if I did mess up the seed stitch every once in a while. Gives it character, no?

Also, a few of the girls at work and I have been talking about starting a biweekly craft night, where everyone brings a craft she (or he, I suppose) is working on, be it knitting or crocheting or scrapbooking or beading or basket weaving or celebrity gossiping...and we will sit and eat and craft and watch cheesy-but-classic movies (Dirty Dancing, Return to Oz, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, etc). Sounds like fun to me!

Perhaps I'll post a picture from my housewarming party later--I, of course, did the cheesy thing where I take a picture of my tablescape. It was not so much a tablescape as it was a lovely display of food with one vase of flowers, but it was (I thought) deliciously impressive. So I took a picture. If I get it uploaded, I'll post it later.

Item Three: Fun. This weekend was really great. Friday night housewarming = really nice. Saturday Cal beating Oregon and moving up to be the #3 school in the country = awesome. Splurging on dinner items (fresh salmon, yukon gold potatoes, lemon, strawberries, gourmet cheese) and having a mini-wine sampling (had small amounts of a few bottles left over from Friday) and cooking a delicious meal at home with The Boy = truly wonderful. It was so nice to hang out and spend the day shopping at Market Hall (pricey, but fun to splurge), wandering around the "Out and About in Rockridge" festival, tasting fruits and cheeses. Then to come home and prepare a delicious meal together...just one of the best ideas we've ever had.

Happy Tuesday! May Tuesday be better than Monday!

Little List...

A few snippets from Daily Candy that I thought were worthy of sharing:

• Sephora has lipstick that grows flowers. There are even some celebrity-designed colors. Normally that wouldn't excite me, but one of the (classy, if I do say so myself) colors was designed by Mariska Hartigay, only one of my favorite females in the acting world. So...yeah. Neato. I'm not going to spend $20 on lipstick any time soon (even if $2 goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Am I a bad person?), but it's kinda cool that you can plant the lipstick tube after you use it (who uses a whole tube of lipstick?!? I don't think I've ever done that EVER in my LIFE!).
• I totally want to make heart-shaped eggs. Just for the novelty of it. Ha. Ha. Ha.
• Ha.
• One day, I would like to have enough "fun money" saved up so that I can look at Travelzoo's top 20 list and just pick one and go. Or go on a cross-country road trip. That would be nice too.

And this article from The Simple Dollar is particularly useful for those just graduating from college...or those just trying to get a handle on their personal finances.

I just tasted the BEST olive oil I have ever tasted. In my LIFE. You should go to www.sciabica.com and order yourself a bottle of the basil, lemon, and regular (the ones I tasted)...if you like spicy, try the jalapeno. They don't just infuse the olive oil, they actually press the lemon/basil/etc with the olives. At one point, I believe after tasting the basil, I actually uttered the words "holy crap that is amazing." After tasting the "regular" olive oil, I swore I would never buy from a supermarket again. It's a little pricey, definitely more pricey than at the gro' sto', but really? I might be totally un-frugal and stock up on a few varieties. Seriously, check it out. They sell it at the Google Farmer's Market (yes, we have a small farmer's market on campus once a week), and I'm sure the website will tell you where else to sample and buy.

So good.

Also, last note for today: I was just informed that we are having a Google Dance. Yes, that's right. A freaking DANCE. Food, drinks, video games, some sort of tech talk "meet the Google engineers" thing...I don't know if I can contain my excitement. Emily The Awesome has just told me about my new favorite dance-related game. This is going to be amazing. April 21, here we come!

Change of Plans, and Look! A Decoy!

So, after a mild breakdown this weekend, at which point I decided to forgo all apartment-hunting plans, which included at least 7 open houses, and to not even call the landlords of the apartments where said open houses were to be held to inform them of my pending absence. This is extraordinarily out of character for me. Normally I would have called and apologetically said I wouldn't be able to make it, while the landlord pretended to know who I was. What happened was this: from a variety of sources (friends of co-workers, random people I found/stalked on Facebook), I learned that the commute to Google from Berkeley, including travel time from an apartment to a shuttle stop, would take me a minimum of 1 hour, 20 minutes--if I live literally across the street from a BART station where the shuttle stops. More likely, it would take me somewhere in the field of 1 hour, 45 minutes. That started to sound less and less fun as my Friday night went on. I realized that I would need to actually test this commute before signing a lease somewhere, and what the heck was I doing looking at apartments in Berkeley before I even knew what the commute was like??? I was a CRAZY, OBSESSIVE, APARTMENT-HUNTING NUT!!! Now, that doesn't really surprise me. Often, when I venture forth on some mission, I plunge into it full-speed ahead, and later regret having put most of my eggs in one basket, as it were. This has happened to me so many times that it's ludicrous that I haven't learned from it by now. I'm hoping this will be The Time I Learn My Lesson. I'm considering it a small gaffe, as I supposedly Learned My Lesson recently, just before embarking on the Live Life One Day At A Time philosophy. Yeah. I'm not so good at that. But I'm trying. Honest.

Anyway, in the spirit of Living Life One Day At A Time, I have decided to FORGO ALL HOUSE-HUNTING. For now. I start work at Google on Monday, and I will be living in my intern housing for a few more weeks (God Bless You, Christopher Jenkins!), and thus will be able to test the commute. See if it really is that horrible. Besides, maybe I'll get magically lucky (as some Googlers are) and I'll be able to do things like work from 8:30-9:30 on the shuttle and then from 4:30-5:30 on my way home. Or something. I literally have NO IDEA what my hours will be like, what my boss will need of me regarding time actually spent in the office, how much work can be done from home, etc. NO CLUE. Yet another reason to test things out for a while. My other option (as I will be moving out of intern housing at the end of the month) is to live with the fabulous Rebecca and Josh (and Keira) in San Carlos. Test out my little commute from that part of town, see what it's like to live over there, etc. I plan to do this for the month of July (when I'm not in Israel), and also for part of August. I also will spend a night or two (or several) with the lovely Emika and her mother in Palo Alto, which is very close to the Googleplex, and thus very convenient for work. I may try the commute from San Francisco as well, if I meet people who live there and love it...as of right now, the city kind of terrifies me as a place to live, but that all might change. I DO NOT KNOW. Ah, the Living Life One Day At A Time. So much uncertainty. And I'm trying really hard to embrace it. Yup.

So, anyway, moral of the story is, I'm going to be floating around for a few months, getting settled at work, getting acquainted with the Peninsula and with that side of the bay in general, testing out the commute from Berkeley, figuring out how to stay close to the people I love over here in the East Bay, and adjusting to an arguably different life altogether. Hopefully then (my goal is by mid to late August), I will have figured out where the heck I want to live and will move there.

Advice? Stories? Laughs?

And Look! A Decoy! Stationary made from elephant poop!!! I've been wanting to share this with you for days and just have not had the time. Check it out. It's awesome. I really wanted to share a picture from their website, but it's all locked to copying and I don't feel like taking the time for a screenshot. I'm not using my screenshots-are-easy Mac. Damn you, work PC. Only 2 more days with you and your slower-than-molasses silliness!

And because no blog post should be without personal finance stuff, here and here are articles about how Frugality = Happiness. Personally, I'm excited for that first real paycheck. Mmmboy!

Oh, A New Blog To Read!

I have a habit of spending lots (too much) time online. It comes from years of working desk jobs wherein I was not expected to do copious amounts of work, or wherein the work that was supposed to take me all day only took a few hours. I have been working these jobs for many, many years. I am working (interning) one of those jobs right now. Upsides: lots of free time to surf the internet, catch up on the NY Times, read blogs, collect recipes and knitting patterns, send e-cards, look for apartments on the ever-addicting Craigslist (whether or not I actually am thinking about moving is irrelevant), chat with other people who are also sitting at their desks with not much to do, etc. Now, you might be thinking, "That sounds like a pretty sweet deal! What the heck are you complaining about?" Ah, my friend, you have not considered the Downsides: boredom. So much boredom. I'm all about spending time online (duh), but after so many hours, there's only so much you can take. So much. So many. Especially if you're in an internship and you're not even really being paid for it. I've actually hit a point where (gasp!) I want more out of my day than internet vegetation! My body and mind crave more than zoning out in front of the computer screen, waiting for a new email to pop into my inbox and scouring the internet for things to keep my brain even vaguely awake. I don't want to become an internet zombie. I try really hard not to regress into the world of videos and celebrity gossip, and I try to read things that will (as much as possible) enrich my mind or contribute to my well-being. See? Progress. I'm making the most of my could-be-wasted time.

The point? The entire reason for this post? I have a new blog to add to my list of things-to-read-at-work-when-I-can't-possibly-read-and-review-another-play: An English Major's Money. I was linked to it from today's Simple Dollar email, and it's (sigh) just-what-I've-been-looking-for-but-haven't-been-actually-looking-for. (sorry--for some reason I'm loving the hyphens today) The English Major is (like me), a recent college grad trying to live frugally and happily while building the foundation for a Good Real Grown-Up Life. While I love The Simple Dollar, its author is just not in the same place (literally and financially) as I am. While only about 5 years older, he lives in (rural, I think) Iowa (where prices are lower and all that), is married with a baby (and one more on the way), and just bought a house. Yeah, not so much with me. His advice is good for "I should know this and remember it in the future" situations, but doesn't always help me in the now--with the exceptions of a few articles on food and free activities. ANYWAY, The English Major has a whole lot of day-to-day type information on how she's attempting to do basically what I'm attempting to do, and her blog is (mostly) personal finance stuff...whereas mine is a mysterious hodgepodge of whatever I think of (hence the Kitchen Sink idea. ah, I am brilliant!). My favorite grouping of posts from TEM has been the posts labeled QuarterLife Crisis. Ah, the QLC, how I love it. I remember when I thought it was a myth; something made up by 20-somethings who just didn't want to grow up, as a sort of joke in response to the midlife crises our parents were going through. As a recent college graduate and 23-year old person, I realize this is just not so. Ladies and Gents, the Quarter-Life Crisis is alive and kicking. In a big way.

So, what now? First off, I'm thinking of revamping my blog. Just a little. Add a few features, maybe reorganize it a little, we'll see. I don't think much will change, actually, but it's something to think about. I want to make some Firm Financial Goals (long-term, medium-term, emergency fund, all that good stuff) once I get the Big Job (offer still pending...keep your fingers crossed for me!), and I want to document my experience so other people (like me, like The English Major) can get and share ideas...if not just to make myself feel better.

For now, I'm going to try to step away from my desk for a bit. There are boxes of old dramaturgical material just begging me to dig through them. What fun. AND I promise, tomorrow I will (finally) upload those pictures of the not-so-new-now knit bag. I've been using it for weeks. I should really show it off.

TGIFriday!

Budget and the Geek

A few lovely things today...including this caffeinated soap!!! What? That's what I thought. Apparently the caffeine is absorbed through your skin. I could sure use this in the morning! That is, if I showered in the morning. And if it wasn't a little creepy. Oh, who am I kidding? I would totally use it. Maybe I should start becoming a morning showerer. er. It also comes in a liquid body wash. Awesome.

If showering's not your thing, there's SpazzStick (I'm still chuckling to myself over the name). Yep, caffeinated chapstick. The only one in the world. Mmmm...I'm becoming a fan of this ThinkGeek website. They even have these cool LED lights that look like candles...sigh...my inner geek shines through.

I read a really interesting article about kids and food in the NY Times the other day...talking about kids menus at restaurants, and how there are the same options (chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza, mac and cheese, etc) at virtually any restaurant, regardless of the restaurant's "theme" or supposed style of food. I thought it was pretty interesting--the writer suggests that when kids are only exposed to these kinds of "non-adult" foods, their palates are not exposed to a well-rounded variety of foods, and they grow up preferring more bland, processed-type foods. Why not just give them the same thing you're eating? I think I agree; I think that this "kids don't like certain foods, kids like fries and chicken nuggets" thing is a load of crap. I know plenty of kids that eat hummus, chicken alfredo, sun dried tomato spreads and exotic stir fries, just because their parents eat it too. And they like it. So there.

In this semi-interesting article about restaurants switching to tap water, several Berkeley/San Francisco area restaurants are mentioned. Exciting.

There have been a few really nice things in The Simple Dollar recently that I thought I'd share with all (ha) you budget-conscious people out there. One, The Choices You Make, The Dollars You Make, talks about the decisions we all have to make where we must choose between taking a job and doing something else...I deal with this all the time. For example: Should I take a babysitting job or go to my friend's show? In cases like this, as The Simple Dollar advises, you really have to think about the life experience you would be passing up in order to take the job. Is the $40 (or $20 or $60) I would make taking this job more important than whatever the other activity is? Sometimes, the answer is yes. Sometimes, in the grand scheme of things, it's better to be a supportive friend than make a quick buck, no matter how much I need the money. The other article I thought I'd pass on is How to Feel Happier About Not Spending Money. Just because, well, we all (and by that I mean I) need to feel good about ourselves and our lives sometimes, and it's sometimes hard to do that when you feel like you're depriving yourself. Perspective, folks, perspective. Gotta keep your eye on the prize and all that. Whatever...I know I sometimes need reminding of the light at the end of the budgeting tunnel!

And last, but certainly not least, How To Be Charming. Thank you, WikiHow, you are always a provider of great enjoyment and much laughter.

Ha.

5 days, 14 findings

Well. It's been a solid 5 days since I last posted, which, I know, was incredibly disappointing to all 8 of you readers (I'm guessing. Maybe there are 5 of you.). It's been a rather whirlwindy couple of days, and I've been compiling a list of Totally Awesome Links, which hopefully are not outdated by now. Also, I promise I will post pictures of the felted bag soon...they're (finally) uploaded and will get a lovely post all about them, and they (wait, it?) will be happy (wait, happy pictures?). Or at least Reed (and maybe you?) will be happy to see that I completed a project involving knitting in the round (oooh) and felting (double oooh)! So Accomplished!

The news in brief: (1) I had my (5, count them 5) interviews at Google on Tuesday. It was exhausting and exciting, and now I just wait...wish me luck! (2) Oliver Twist opened last night, and was quite good. I really enjoyed it, and even (mostly) enjoyed the members of the Dickensian Society [note: I totally want to go to the fair at the Cow Palace] who came dressed in full Dickensian regalia--though rumor has it, some of them were 100 years off in their historical accuracy...or inaccuracy. (3) I am getting a new cell phone today. It has (gasp) a camera! And (gasp gasp) is a flip phone! What? Technology?! I know...it's time to upgrade from my little Nokia bar phone, which I would not do so willingly (creature of habit) except for the "3" key is getting kind of sticky (from dropping it?), which makes text messaging kind of difficult sometimes...I get a lot of "ddd" when what I want is "def" - not a huge problem, but still. A sign that it's time to move on. AND the worst of it is, the snooze function on the alarm sometimes stops working. For no apparent reason. Pure will of the phone, or a sign from the gods that I should sleep more (more than 9 hours? are you crazy? who needs that much sleep?). Either way, I don't like hitting snooze and waking up 40 minutes later only to find the phone peacefully snoozing away...it's like the phone fell asleep and forgot that it was supposed to wake up in 10 minutes with it's nice little beep, exponentially increasing in frequency and volume. Tragedy. Anyway, new phone. And the nice man at the Cingular store is supposedly hooking me up with a student discount and extra messaging features, which (because of the discount) I won't actually be paying for. Cool? Let's see if it works...

And now...on with the links.

1. This is kind of outdated, but Facebook now has a Craigslist-style classifieds section, called Marketplace. I was skeptical at first, but as more people are catching on, I can see how this would be useful. It's good for the "security" factor--you can see how you know all the people posting things. So, like, if you see an ad for someone needing a subletter, you can see that they're a friend of a friend of a friend and can get some sort of knowledge that they're not crazy. Bonus: the article has a picture of Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. Awww so technologically adorable.
   
2. Google = order out of chaos. Groovy. That's all I have to say there.
3. This is a great article about the dilemma of money vs. job satisfaction. Always an important thing to think about, always a dilemma.
4. Ever get totally freaked out/mystified/dumbfounded by technology? I know I do. So does Mark Morford. I think he pretty much sums up my feelings on this--we love our technology, yes we do, but sometimes, it's pretty darn amazing that I can talk into a piece of plastic and someone a million miles away talks back at me from their piece of plastic, and we can hear each other brilliantly and it's totally insane.
5. mmmm Spinach Brownies. These sound so good I'm just going to have to make them. And they're totally not bad for you! Really...mostly. Cheese+Spinach+Oven=melty delicious.
6. This movie, ONCE, looks and sounds interesting. Might be totally artsyfartsyindieromance, but I totally dig the music (heard it on NPR), it it sounds like it could be a winner.
7. I absolutely loved this totally awesome article about the internet and the music industry. Really, really interesting. That's all I can say right now...just read it. Improve your mind. Or just be entertained.
8. Controversy Alert! Is a "disabled" athlete actually "more abled" than runners with two legs? The NY times reports of a sprinter with no legs (he has synthetic, J-shaped attachments, and has since he was an infant--pictures in the article) who is out-running two-legged sprinters. Fair or Not Fair? Either way, he's a cutie pie.
9. The Discovery Channel reports archaeological findings of ancient, golden, Roman braces (or something). Old School Bling. Weird, but totally interesting.
10. Did you know that there was once a 5-year old girl that gave birth? WHAT?
11. Too weird not to report: growable insulation...made of mushrooms. "Plant" them in your walls (I think) and watch them grow! Make a whole house out of the stuff! Crazy!
12. Boosting your credit rating...if you wanna. I haven't thought too much about it, as my credit is good, if not nonexistent...but check it out if you're interested.
13. 6 ways to get stains out...with regular old household items like salt and baking soda! Maybe there's something here you haven't heard before...
14. And finally, Jessie is hilarious, and you should read her blog. It makes me laugh all the time. Gotta love her. I do, anyway.

There are your 14 Fun Findings for this Thursday evening. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Me!

As a birthday present to myself, I opened a high-interest savings account with HSBC Direct this morning. Woo hoo financial future!!! I put $10 in it today and plan on adding more and more and more and muah ha ha...savings account! We'll see. Gotta earn money to save money.

In the interest of saving money, this blog has ideas on dating frugally. I like many of these ideas just for fun, and I don't think you need to be on a date to enjoy said activities. TSD has some fun ideas for low-or-no-money activities too...and I'm all about finding fun things to do for free!!!

That's all for today...it's my birthday (the big 23), and I'm going to see Sara Bareilles with a good group of friends. It's 4:37, and I've got less than an hour left of work, but it's crawling by...guess I'm just ready to celebrate!

Deliciously Friday

There are so many goodies from the internet today that I can hardly believe I'm going to squeeze them all into one post. But I will. You know me.

First off, in the financial world (ooh la la), today's digest from The Simple Dollar provided a supplement to yesterday's Setting and Reaching Short Term Personal Finance Goals (see yesterday's post), not so surprisingly titled Setting and Reaching Long Term Personal Finance Goals. Check it out. It's good times. Part of the financial-goal-series. TSD also linked to an article about why the author doesn't like borrowing money (from friends, family, credit cards...). I didn't learn anything new here really, but it was interesting. Also, I found (also from TSD) an article about Financial Freedom, in which the author details his money's post-paycheck journey, step-by-step, from receiving the paycheck to investing the extra cash.

In the news...Bush is asserting his views on abortion, yet again. It's so silly to me, this whole "pro-life vs. pro-choice" thing. It's not like if the country turns pro-choice, the pro-lifers suddenly have to abort their babies. It simply gives women control over their bodies, and really, I think if a woman believes she cannot provide for a child, or does not want to carry the child of the man who raped her, or if pregnancy poses health risks, she should not be required to have a baby. America is supposed to be about personal freedom and options, right? So why would we have a law that eliminates those things? That just seems hypocritical (um, duh). Honestly, why do a bunch of middle-aged white men get to decide whether or not women have babies? Unless these women are carrying the legitimate sons of these men, I don't think they should have any say in the matter whatsoever. So there. // Miss America, whose platform apparently is internet safety for children, has helped the cops in an undercover sting against internet predators. It's kind of cool. // A passenger was found dead in the bathroom on an American Airlines plane, after the plane de-boarded and was being cleaned. He had a heart attack at age 66. His wife is wondering the same thing I am...how did they not find him sooner? I know Southwest does several passenger checks before take-off and landing, to make sure everyone is in his or her seat. Had American Airlines done this, they would have found the guy sooner, at least. Maybe in time to save his life, maybe not, but still...it's a little disconcerting that his presence (or lack thereof) went unnoticed. What about the people sitting next to him? I know I'd notice if the guy next to me never came back from the bathroom. // I have discovered a new SF Chronicle columnist that I am going to start reading. He's sarcastic and silly, and amusing to read. Good times. I read his article, The Hippies Were Right, at Google the other day, and today's Al Qaeda Hates Your Commute was even better. Thank goodness for people like you, Mark Morford. You make the morning fly by. // NukAlert. A keychain that detects high levels of radiation. I think it's pretty silly, and even the website doesn't make it look too serious. Ha.

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy your Friday afternoon read.

Feeling Settled...and Excited

Today is Thursday. It feels like Monday. This makes me happy, knowing that tomorrow is, in fact, not Tuesday. Tuesday always feels like a long day, there's still so much work week ahead of you, and you don't have the fresh-from-the-weekend feeling that Mondays carry (for me anyway). Point being, I'm glad that tomorrow is Friday. The reason it feels Monday-ish, is that I was not at work yesterday, due to my Google Admin Assessment Test, which I just found out that I passed. Hooray! This means I move on to the interview rounds...dun dun dunnnn [NOTE: In case you're thinking of applying to an Admin job at Google, expect the following: online application, online survey, follow up email questions, phone interview, admin assessment test, in-person interviews...and maybe more? i'll let ya know] Wish me luck!

Do you love Myles Nye? I know I do! Myles is currently competing to be the next voice of NPR, and let me tell you, he deserves it. He is intelligent and witty, and very well-spoken--a prime candidate if you ask me! Help him move on to the next round here, and listen to his 2 minute "application." He rules.

A few more things before I move on to today's financial treasures...1: The Governor of Oregon recently decided to call attention to the state's hunger problem by living on $21 a week (the equivalent of food stamps). It's pretty interesting. 2: There's a movie I want to see, partially because it looks nice and pleasing and not scary, partially because it's the last movie Adrienne Shelly (actress/filmmaker) made before she was murdered last year, and partially because I think Kerri Russel is adorable. 3: It's rainy. I am going to Stitch N Bitch at Espresso Roma and will make deviled eggs tonight. So there, rain! 4: I started reading Unhooked. It's really good.

On to finance...
Our intern meeting today was hosted by a board member, and was basically a small group Q&A about personal finance. Sound like something I'd be interested in? Heck yes. It was incredibly useful, and very informative. I present to you a bullet-pointed list of the highlights:

• You only get to keep approximately 60% of your paycheck (the rest goes to Social Security, Medicare, State Disability, and Federal/State Withholding Taxes). I knew that some of your paycheck gets taken away (whether you eventually get it back or not), but I didn't fully realize how much is taken out until today--and I was never really able to make sense of what all the deductions were anyway. Yes, I could have asked all those years working at Western Bagel, UCLA, The Olive Garden, etc...but I wasn't in Think About My Financial Future mode back then.
• Always pay yourself first. This is a rule my parents have always told me to live by. Always save at least 10% of your pay check, and do it as soon as you get paid so the money doesn't get spent. This is a little more difficult when you make, say, $400 a month, in which case bills have to be paid first, and you have to think of other ways to save. My current goal has been $100 a month (I try to make at least $300 in babysitting, bartending, house sitting, etc.), and I generally just save gradually throughout the month when I have some extra cash and am not on gas or groceries--after bills have been paid, of course.
• "If you can't pay cash, you can't afford it." This is a fantastic rule, courtesy of Phillip Trapp (our speaker at today's meeting). He makes the exception of buying a house, which most people (unless you're superrich or something) don't do with cash anyway. Don't buy things on your credit card unless you are absolutely going to pay it off within the month. (this is actually a good idea, because it helps you build good credit--just be careful and don't rack up a bunch of credit cards and a bunch of debt)
• If your interest rate on your student loans is lower than your interest rate on your credit card, pay off the credit card first. In general, always be paying things off, but if you're going to pay more than the minimum somewhere, do it wherever the interest rate is the highest. Makes sense.
• Dividing savings into Long-Term and Short-Term.
  
• Long-Term Savings is the "don't touch this" savings, money you want to save for retirement, buying a house, or other large expenses far in the future. Things like a 401k or 403b (now I know the difference!) plan are generally reserved for retirement, but can also be used for a mortgage--though sometimes with a penalty, especially if you withdraw before you turn 59 1/2. There's a 529, which I've mentioned before, to save for your kids' education. There should be a separate plan for saving for a house, I think, because I'm guessing most people don't tap into their 401k plans for mortgages, but maybe that's as simple as setting up an automatic withdrawl from your paycheck into a high-interest savings account.
• Short-Term Savings is the "I'm saving for something I want to buy soonish" money. Things like a new car, or a vacation, or a security deposit on a new apartment (and maybe some stuff to go in it as well...) fit into this category. There seem to be a few ways to save: Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and High-Interest Savings Accounts. The savings accounts sound like the easiest option to me, and the interest appears to be higher than that of a CD, but CDs have their benefits as well. A CD has a set time-limit, so let's say you want to save for a vacation you are taking in just over 3 months. You put your money in a 90-day CD, and right when you're getting ready to leave for the vacation, voila! You have all the money you had set aside initially, plus interest (usually around 4%). I think this is good for specific savings for time-sensitive things like a vacation or a security deposit, where you want to make sure you have X amount of money by a certain date. On the other hand, the high-interest savings account is a great place to keep your savings that you just want to sit there, earning interest, hanging out until you have a need for it...this is also where you want to keep that 3-6 months worth of living expenses storing up in case you get laid-off, or quit your job on a whim.

We also talked about money market, stocks, and flexible vs. fixed rate mortgages, but I won't go into all that right now, since it doesn't apply to my immediate life. I'm feeling very good about my Personal Financial Future, thanks largely to my parents, today's meeting, The Simple Dollar, and Crazy Aunt Purl. It's amazing how much better you can feel knowing that you are on top of your financial situation, and are keeping yourself knowledgeable and informed along the way. Awesome.

Here are a few more links if you're interested...things from The Simple Dollar (man, I'm like a walking ad for this site) that are relevant to my recent posts.

• Setting and Reaching Immediate Term Personal Finance Goals.
  
• Setting and Reaching Short Term Personal Finance Goals. I especially liked this one.
• A Reader Runs In Place. Finally! He writes about someone my friends and I can really (instead of hypothetically or "in the future") relate to! I'm just glad my debt isn't as high...
• Nourishment on a Desperate Income. One of the reasons this guy is so great is his combination of perspective and experience. He was broke. Broke broke. He has hit rock bottom (pardon the cliche) and come back from it, slowly but surely (pardon the cliche again). This article tells how he ate in a reasonably healthy way when he literally had around $10 a month to spend on food. It's pretty incredible.

So there you go. Many things to read on this Thursday afternoon. I am feeling quite...settled. Which is possibly my favorite feeling, aside from "full of chocolate." Yum.

Self Indulgent Googling, SuperFun Budgeting...and more!

Sometimes I like to Google myself, just to see what comes up. Sometimes it's good to know what the other people who share your name are up to, so that when someone asks you about your Swedish Therapeutic Chair Massage services in NY, or compliments you on your dart throwing championship win, or wonders about your Amazon.com wish list and why it says your birthday is May 16th, you know what they're talking about. Maybe that's just me. I do like some of the things that The Other Kim has on her wish list. She has good taste in cookware. But don't buy me a book of things to do in NY (maybe she's the chair masseuse!) or funky chunky earrings. It's not my wish list! And y'all know I am not a member of any American Dart Association. Right.

Anyway, I found a few things by Googling myself (both as Kim and Kimberly) that I didn't know were online. And some of them are kinda cool. The coolest, I think, is a credit for processing a finding aid for the Romo Vincent Collection at UCLA. I didn't even know I was credited for it. Neato. There's also a link to a letter to the editor I had published in the LA Times Calendar section, but it's not available online anymore. Awww. There's the stuff from Awaken and the Young Artists Ensemble, and Captain Ahab too, and a few things from the Daily Bruin. And for some reason, my Friendster profile, which I never log on to, is 2nd on the list of results. Odd? I think so. There are several pages of links pertaining to myself and the other Kim Weisbergs out there (I'm guessing it's about 3 or 4 of them from the links), but you can pretty much guess that if it's relating to theatre, music, dance, UCLA or cooking, it's me.

How self-involved can I be? Honestly! oy.

In non-self-involved news, check out this laugh worthy article from OgMog.com. I laughed, and I didn't even go to the website they're talking about. Also, am I the only one in the world who is a little creeped out by Spanx??? This was sent to me by Daily Candy, and I'm a little confused. A husband and wife team that comes to your parties and hosts wine tastings? I think?

In financial findings, this is a really great article about financial freedom from The Simple Dollar. As you know (unless you're a new reader who hasn't spent hours reading backlogged entries), I have hopped on the Budgeting Bandwagon and am really, seriously, starting to think about planning financially for my future. Wow, that's some Real Grown Up Talk, isn't it? Seriously though, I'm going to open a high-interest savings account (I just decided when--on my 23rd birthday. That's the day I'm doing it. Happy Birthday to Me.), and keep up with my Spend No Money Budget, and really just start soaking up as much personal finance advice and information as I can. It feels like All Of A Sudden I'm a Grown Up and I know nothing about Finances or Mortgages or Taxes or Anything, and I want to start learning now, while I still have no money or property or RealScaryGrown Up Responsibilities. Just a little quick (not scary) math: Right now, my goal is to put $100 a month into savings. Not counting interest, if I do this for the next 20 years, I'll have a little pocket of $24,000 saved away. Not bad. When I get a job, I'm thinking about putting even more in savings--$100 in an "emergency fund" that does not get touched, as well as some yet-unspecified amount into a 529, 401k, or other long-term savings account to be used towards future things, like buying a house or sending kids to college (in the case of a 529). Yeah, these things are FAR off in the future, and no, I'm nowhere near even thinking about having kids, much less sending them to college, but the biggest advice I'm getting from parents, grandparents, mentors, teachers, the financial advisor who spoke to us at work, and anyone who is older-than-I-enough to give advice, is Start Saving Now. Even if you can't imagine what you're saving for, you'll be glad you did when expenses arise.

And that sounds pretty darn good to me.

If you're interested in other fun budgetary, smart-financial-planning-type things, check out these two things: How to Eat Cheap and Healthy and 10 Herbs and Spices to Make Cheap Taste Good. Like I've said, The Simple Dollar and I are becoming fast friends. I really enjoy getting my daily briefings. You can too!

And that's all for today's little ole humble blog. L'chaim!