Someday A Goat

The end of a price book era

Back in June, I talked about giving up long-held habits that saved money for years, but have become simply too time consuming. Initially I planned to focus more on my price book to make sure that my everyday shopping was in line with good pricing.

Once confronted with a year's worth of receipts to enter, my plans changed. It doesn't make sense to spend the hours of work necessary to get, and stay, updated. Over the years I've gained a solid idea of good prices for items I buy, and I'm better served spending those hours earning more income. Even if it means I no longer know the absolute best price for paper towels. I should use less paper towels anyhow.

I have a tendency to become stubborn and single-minded with some goals, and saying no to that instinct lately has been liberating and such a relief. I smile each time I file a receipt away, where there used to be guilt. Letting go of that guilt frees my mind to find other ways to save. Just today I took about 5 minutes to downgrade our home phone service to a more basic package. I didn't even have to call, it was easy to do on the web site. $22 saved every single month, and THAT's the kind of return on time invested that I need to focus on.

Rebooting

Upheaval has been the name of the game where I work. We lost 2 big accounts about 10 months ago -- not unexpected in advertising, but all the same, the outlook changed. All the uncertainty since then has demanded a reevaluation of career and life goals, and I want something different.

The only problem is which changes to make. Since I'm in my early 30s, time to dither is running short. I've taken the GMAT for grad school, but the unconventional ideas I find on Zen Habits and The Art of Non-Conformity make sense to me. I've been paid to edit and paid to write, but haven't taken a step toward freelancing. I'm seriously considering living overseas -- through grad school or foreign service.

Almost 5 years in my current position, and I wonder where the time went. Giving up a safe paycheck to freelance? My salary isn't that high, it's hardly secure, but unemployment is 10.1% here. Spend a ton of money on grad school, and face the prospect of number-crunching in a cube? I know I enjoy learning, but being a full-time student for 2 years is scary. What if I make it into the foreign service, and get sent somewhere awful? Another ad agency is just trading problems, although I have been applying and interviewing for other jobs.

Despite the nagging doubts, I'm making changes. Rebooting. Posting more here, and on my craft blog. Keeping design software skills current. Learning to code web sites. Writing, reaching out, and changing how I pass the hours in the evening. Taking the foreign service exam. Actually sending in grad school applications, even if I think it's a long shot. Maybe something awesome will happen.

There's a Chinese proverb that says that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. Lately, every time I've felt that I'm behind, why not give up and just settle, I think about that quote.

It's hot in the sun, and I'm going to have to water my tiny tree seedling all the dang time, but if I don't take action today, there is no way I will be sitting in the shade in 20 years.

Amex and Wells Fargo changing terms

I read my statements and inserts each month, and this month I have two good reasons to continue to watch carefully.

Wells Fargo lowers daily ATM limit

First, Wells Fargo lowered our daily ATM limit to the very strange amount of $310 -- I'm not sure what it was before because we've had the account for so long. I do know it was at least $500. Why $310? Why not $300? Why lower it at all? We don't overdraft the account, and we have direct deposit. Our credit scores have skyrocketed in the past 4 years. However, I did switch my paycheck to ING Direct in the past 6 months, but husband's paycheck is still direct deposited to Wells Fargo. We closed both of our ancient individual checking accounts -- for the past 5 years, we've had a total of $32 between the two. There was no reason to close them until they added a monthly fee to one recently. I closed the other (mine) to simplify things. Perhaps one of these things triggered the lower daily ATM limit.

Honestly? I think it's because we only keep $310 in our linked Wells Fargo savings, which is the minimum balance plus $10. The interest rate on the savings account is so low, it's basically just an extra cushion for checking. All our "real" savings is at ING Direct and elsewhere. I would have preferred a higher minimum balance requirement on the checking or savings, and I'm strongly considering switching banks because of this change. I've calmed down some about the sale of ING Direct, so I'll see how things shake out there since Capital One has brick and mortar locations. A daily ATM limit of $310 is ridiculously low, and I can think of at least three situations in which we would need more cash in one ATM visit. Most particularly if we were traveling abroad, which we do frequently. Wachovia wasn't that great, and Wells Fargo has been worse.

CostCo Amex lowers restaurant reward

I adore my CostCo Amex rebate. I carry one less card, and you don't accrue points, or miles, or anything vague. It's cash, and each year when I get my rebate coupon, we take it to CostCo and they give us cash. Unfortunately, they notified me this week that the restaurant rebate was going to 2% (previously 3%). Still way better most rewards cards, but I'll be on the lookout for a slow leak in benefits. While it's a bummer, it's still one of the best reward cards out there.

Other sundry items

Five Cent Nickel has been talking a lot about Quicken and the Mac OS upgrade to Lion. Many old programs will become obsolete with the loss of Rosetta, but I have 12 years of data in Quicken and I'm so glad he's been talking about it. I have some older machines I could still use it on, but I really need to start thinking about what program to use moving forward. Mint's great and all, but I'm not keen on handing out bank passwords to ANY third party. I don't even have Quicken fetch my data, I enter it manually. I tried downloading transactions back in the early 2000s, but at that point everything was in all caps, the fixing of which took as much time as manual entry. Now, it helps me keep track of our finances and catch errors.

What do you mean you can't stand up?

The same day my last post went live, my husband's knee went out. As in he sent an email saying he couldn't stand, went out. Suffice to say, the last month has been a little insane. Thankfully, one of his coworkers was able to get him upright and into a wheelchair, and he somehow managed to drive home.

Unfortunately, also scheduled for last month was: a business trip, a trip to see my best friend on her birthday and meet her second child, and our 5-year wedding anniversary. Surgery was scheduled for our anniversary, the same time I would be several states away on a business trip. As that first week passed, I was panicked and came very close to cancelling the trip -- it was mostly for fun with a little work mixed in, and I felt like a terrible wife.

We're close with one of my coworkers and her fiance, though, and he stepped up big time to pick up husband from surgery and take care of him while us girls were out of town. Almost a month later, my husband is back to walking without crutches or his brace, and making slow improvement. He is headed back to work next week, which will be the real test. I was even more thankful than my last post that we are in a better financial situation -- this is exactly the circumstances that can throw a family off.What was most important in the last month?

Strong relationships: Abovementioned friend offered to help, it hadn't even occurred to me to ask him, or anyone else for help. My mother-in-law chauffered to several appointments (she was also out of town during the scheduled surgery), picked up food, graciously didn't mention that we were missing mother's day, and set up service for the lawn to be mowed.

Great insurance: As much as my husband dislikes his job, and needs a career change, the fact of the matter is we didn't have to worry about missed pay, even after a month out of the office, and while the bills aren't completely settled, I think almost the entire amount will be covered. We're pretty close to our out-of-pocket maximum.

Forgetting perfection: The house wasn't going to be perfectly clean, and nothing was going to run smoothly, I accepted these facts at the very beginning. The house is never perfectly clean anyhow. I did make sure to get everything reasonable at the very beginning, and kept things up by making sure mess and clutter never got too out of hand. Knick-knack dusting can wait if the toilets are clean.I spent an outrageous amount buying snacky, easy to carry foods for while I was out of town, but him being able to eat was way more important than sticking perfectly to our budget, or using coupons.

Kindness and grace: This was a stressful event -- for both my hobbled husband and overwhelmed me. He was in a lot of pain, but yet rarely complained and was so sweet to me. I was often on my feet from the moment I got home from work until I went to bed, but it was easier because he was so kind. Being nice to each other despite all that was going on made things much easier to bear. In sickness and in health indeed.

Gas prices have me thinking about 2008

A gallon of regular gas in Georgia is near $4, and it feels like the crazy gas prices in summer 2008, but my reaction this time around is entirely different. In June of that year, our debts weighed heavily, and high gas prices threw our budget seriously out of whack. Faced with a huge budget hole, we finally started making necessary changes in spending and saving.

Nearly three years later, the price of gas doesn't fill me with terror. More money for gas means less money for financial goals we have been working toward, month after month, but our budget isn't destroyed. The last six months have been full of financial challenges bigger than most we have had in three years, but we are much better equipped to meet them. We have a small but growing cushion for emergencies, bill money is set aside long before due and we pay credit cards in full each month. Most of all, we have gained confidence that we can make ends meet, no matter the situation. That is powerful, both financially and emotionally. I can't even imagine how I'll feel when the car loan is paid off. 

We didn't do anything that special, the exact same advice is repeated all over the internet. All the same, here it is:

Cook at home

My husband gets a weekly lunch budget large enough to eat out every weekday, but he also shoulders cooking dinner almost every single night. We eat well, with lots of fresh in-season ingredients, and have one night out per week generally. Our oven (but not the range) is currently broken, so we've ruined a good streak of eating in consistently. Cooking from scratch can be incredibly cheap, but does require time and the willpower to clean. I am much more careful with our shopping budget, and we plan our meals every couple of days according to what we have on hand and what is on sale. 

Plan for irregular expenses

June 2008, I opened up an online savings account that offered easily created subaccounts. At first it was just efund, car insurance, termite bond -- I would put a tiny amount in each month and once the bill was due, I didn't have most of it, but I had some of it. The margin has improved over the years. We have added additional subaccounts like travel, but my favorite by far is credit card holding -- we transfer credit card spending every couple of days into a dedicated account, kind of like escrow.

Split budget tracking

Once in the mindset of splitting our budget into two, one for regular bills and one for spending, reducing expenses overall became much easier. Bills are relatively predictable, even with seasonal fluctuations for power and gas. We keep a good eye on energy usage, but these costs don't vary much after cutting out the fat. Tracking and reducing spending for the other category -- fuel, eating out, groceries, household goods, lunches and entertainment -- isn't so hard if the rest is on autopilot. 

Budget: Why it works for us

Much of our recent success is income catching up with spending, and fewer out-of-town weddings. That said, recognizing spending and controlling it week by week was the hard work of learning to live within our means. I hate not spending willy-nilly, but the self-discipline of the past 6 years will have exponential effects. Choosing to drop cable for a year and half made us not only appreciate our fancy package today, it also made us much stronger as a couple. Making hard choices with only a few dollars left in the bank account can tear a couple apart, or it can solidify the relationship.

When first engaged, I wasn't making much, and my now-husband was underemployed. My mom was concerned, and told me that surviving on love alone is hard, and being broke is not fun. I grew up wanting very little in life, but I had also seen that my parents started out with almost nothing and worked hard to make a wonderful life with plenty of financial security. If they could do it, so could I.

I didn't realize at the time how very right she was. Trying to scrounge up dinner for $5, night after night, can really wear a couple out. The stress of ever-mounting credit card debt can lead to fights. The garage door breaking can induce a lot of despair. Married life isn't compartmentalized -- we don't just stick a strict budget and all the money worries in a little box leave it there. It bleeds into every facet of life, and every day has required discipline, hard work and a willingness to compromise on both our parts.

But there's also a lot of beauty. The perfect anniversary dinner, made for under $20, complete with a rose from our yard. Our pride at having paid off thousands in credit card debt that hung over our heads for years. Being able to save for a vacation instead of spending every last dollar. Ripe tomatoes from our garden. When I look at my husband, I feel confident we can handle life's curveballs. Even if it's a worst-case scenario, I know that we are a team and can accomplish more than we thought possible.

Having a budget made this possible. We've blown the budget more weeks than we haven't, but at least we tried, day after day. Following a budget won't make you happy, but the results sure will.

Our insanely complicated budget series

• Budget begins on payday
• Common sense on a ramen budget
• Earning interest by using credit cards
• Conclusion: Why it works for us

 

Egg salad got us out of debt

We paid off the last $190.88 in credit card debt. We could have paid that and more from the emergency fund months ago, but that felt like asking for a disaster that required cash. So we paid it off slowly, month by month, until we reached the last $190.88.

I though I would feel jubilant, and possibly go out for a really nice dinner. But we had egg salad sandwiches and spinach salad for dinner. This low-cost, high-protein dinner got us through many a lean weekly budget, and apparently, will help get us to our other financial goals. We have a big new car loan, an emergency fund and Roth IRAs that all need attention now that the debt is gone. Content, and a hell of lot less worried, best describe the way I feel. 

I never thought I'd be able to write this post. After years and years of working toward eliminating credit card debt, we've finally done it. 

Brown bananas and ripe tomatoes

I have a perfectly ripe tomato sitting on my desk. Yet I have absolutely no desire to eat it, despite the tasty lemon vinaigrette my husband made. In fact, both are sitting next to a banana neglected last week -- totally brown and mushy and not unlike my motivation lately.

Various parts of my life have felt much the same. I haven't blogged, I'm way behind on house cleaning, and our usually well-stocked pantry is pretty sparse. I've procrastinated several craft projects to the point of oblivion as the babies they were intended for have grown. Our solid plan to pay off the last credit card by August has turned to dust. It will likely be November before it is paid, although at the rate we're going, I'm certainly not betting on it.

It's the same pattern, day after day. Wake up, rush to work, think about all the things I'd rather be doing all day, get home, have no energy. Sit on couch. Go to bed later than intended. Repeat daily.

I've tried and tried to get rid of my brown banana motivation. I've made checklists, broken large projects into chunks, planned, planned, and planned again. And yet I have no motivation to DO anything. Maybe I have too many things to accomplish? I know exercise would increase energy, but I dread adding to the list of things that rule my life.

So what to do? A ripe tomato waits on no man, and turns mealy before you know it. I've waited for this stage of my life for years, just the same as I waited all winter for the tomatoes of summer. Now that the tomato is here, I'm too bored to eat it. Now is the time I can fashion a life of my choosing, but fear, boredom and ennui seem insurmountable. 

I read Postsecret every week, and this past Sunday, the postal worker on Frank's route recalled years of postcards she had delivered. She noted how many people hated their boss. My boss is actually pretty nice and generous, and my husband works for a large company with amazing benefits. That doesn't change the fact that both of us spend the majority of our waking hours traveling to or sitting in our cubes. I'm convinced that cubes, especially those that expose your back and screen to any passers-by, were invented to keep workers subdued enough so as to be willing to stay in a cube for 15, 20, 25 years.

I'm so blessed to have a good job, and that my husband has wonderful benefits, but we have to change and overcome fear in the next few years. I want to anticipate the tomato, think about eating it all morning. Relish the taste of my first bite -- not to stare at it with a feeling of obligation. I want my mornings to be the same.

Little farmer's market ducky

We went to a local farmer's market this weekend, and found a wonderfully shaped red potato. Beak added courtesy of a leftover lemon rind, a toothpick and a wonderful husband.

Lingering attachment to putting a check in the mail

One of my coworkers is continually amazed by the fact that I still use checks for a good portion of my bills. Over the past few months, I've been migrating more toward online payments, but I've come to realize that like many things related to money, emotions and habits sometimes trump logic.

I've been running up against some of those emotions and habits, and trying to balance my personality against being illogical.

Just can't shake that feeling

Although I'm pretty young, personal computers were not a common sight in homes and schools until I was in about 5th or 6th grade. When my grade went to the mock city field trip in elementary school, where we had a mayor and businesses and had to learn how to work together to run the mock city, I worked at the faux bank. Everything was still based on ledgers and paper records, and a checkbook balanced by hand. I now use a computer for many things, but some of those early habits are imprinted on my mind.

If I haven't put an envelope in the mail, I have the disconcerting feeling that a bill is unpaid. This habit has served me well for many years, in which I rarely missed a payment due date. Now that I pay bills with money already set aside from a previous paycheck, that feeling has been particularly hard to shake,

Early days of online banking

I've been using online banking for more than a decade, and my Quicken file goes back to 1999. When online bill pay first came about, all it entailed was the bank printing and mailing a check for you. It hadn't evolved quite enough to be completely reliable -- checks would take days to arrive and heaven help you if something got lost in the mail. I trusted myself more than the bank, so I mailed my own checks.

Once electronic transfers became more common, I started using bill pay more often. When my husband and I moved in together, the joint account we opened happened to be at a bank with a terrible online bill pay interface (we both already had individual accounts at that bank, so it seemed easiest). So I slid back into writing checks more often. If I used online bill pay, it was most often through the web site of the company we owed. 

Mailing payments has just gotten too expensive

With stamp prices rising almost every year, my check writing has come under scrutiny. While I will always write a check to the IRS and our garbage company isn't set up for online payments, I will be moving toward online payment as much as possible. Strangely, for one of my credit cards, I can only make payments from the associated bank account. So if I want to pay for that card from any other account, I have to first transfer money into the associated bank account and then to the card. Which is way too many transactions to enter in Quicken, so I will probably stick to checks for that.

Speaking of checks, I was cleaning out a bag and found a box of checks. I have another box of checks with almost all the same check numbers. That means I was an idiot and bought a box of checks I didn't need to because of disorganization. We all have our faults, and I now have added incentive to make the checks last as long as possible.