Fabulous Financials

I just spent several hours recreating my corrupted spreadsheet. I still have no idea how it happened, but you best believe, that mug is now backed up, password protected, and secured like Fort Knox. As I was gathering the data, I noticed a recurring theme. Gas is getting friggin expensive! Ok, ok, that’s no surprise, but seeing the numbers in black and white gave me a serious reality check. Here are my monthly gas expenses for the year:

Jan: $74.86 <–not bad

Feb: $80.17 <–slight increase

Mar: $144.57 <–dang, what happened here!?!

Apr: $163.26 <–creep, creep…

May: $99.01 <–wishful thinking!

Jun: $184.09 <–told ya!

In addition to this month’s (June) gas expenses, I also paid $26.84 for an oil change plus $90.00 for parking, resulting in total transportation costs of $300.93. Umm, wow! This doesn’t include the ~$30 I’ve contributed to friends when I’m a passenger or the $409.10 I paid for six months car insurance premium. Then immediately, I thought to myself…

I wonder who buys premium gas these days and why?

I wonder how people manage with gas guzzling SUVs?

I wonder how people manage with car payments?

Hmm…I wonder - what is my auto expense threshold before I consider riding the metro?

[pause]

The metro???? Naaaaaaaaah! LOL!

As you can see, even with a fuel efficient Honda Accord and no car payment, the progressively increasing auto expenses are going to make me lose my mind!

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!

Have you ever had so much going on in your life all at once that you decide to do nothing and just be still? That’s where I am right now. I’ve decided to place myself in a holding pattern.

CAREER

For nearly 7 years, my professional career has been on overdrive, full speed ahead. I began my current career as an Intern with an annual salary of $33,000. Since then, I’ve been promoted, entrusted with progressively complex projects, empowered with limited authority to carry out my responsibilities, and earned a salary increase of more than $10,000 every single year for the past 7 years. Currently, my salary exceeds six figures, my authority is unlimited, and I oversee a staff that manages multi-million dollar projects. Some may think this is amazing progress, but it hasn’t been an easy feat. I’ve worked hard - I mean HARD. I’ve hustled. I’ve networked. I’ve established my professional reputation. On the grind everyday, day after day, non-stop.

But now…I’m tired.

I’ve pushed myself so hard and my career has moved so fast, I can’t continue to live up to the performance that others have come to expect. No, scratch that. I can live up to it, I don’t know if I’m “willing” to live up to it. If I were, I’ve positioned myself perfectly to earn another promotion within a year. It’s so close, I can almost taste it. But I’ve decided that I’m not willing to put in the leg work to make it happen. It’s time to slow down. The salary and responsibilities at the next level are gift wrapped with an inordinate amount of demands that will place a burden on my personal life. As a single mom of a teenager who’s breaking out of her baby shell, I’m not ready to make the necessary sacrifice. However, I will continue to deliver the same quality results where ever my name is associated and I will continue to help my subordinates develop the necessary skills to advance their careers. But for me - just for now - I am going to be still and place my own career in a holding pattern.

PERSONAL FINANCES

I’ve had an interest in personal finance all of my adult life, but I’ve only been blogging about it for 2.5 years. In that short amount of time, I’ve made significant changes/improvements in my own personal finances. I am now non-mortgage debt free. I max out my annual 401k contributions. I max out my annual IRA contributions. I have a fully funded emergency fund. And I’ve recently begun to focus on non-retirement investments. All of my basic financial goals have been met and my saving/investing contributions are on auto pilot.

There’s so much more I can push myself to accomplish, but I am content. I’m quickly learning that owning rental property introduces many financial risks if one is not postured to handle the worst case scenario. So I’ve decided, it’s time to focus on the one thing that could potentially threaten my comfortable financial life. I will continue to make automatic saving and investing contributions, but all excess cash flow will go into the rental property. Which means - just for now - I’m going to be still and place my personal finances in a holding pattern.

BabyGirl & Mr Eye Candy

Since many of you have inquired, I’ve decided to throw in a tidbit about two of the most important people in my life. Sometimes the relationships I have with them seem too good to be true. If I wrote a book, it may be classified as a fairytale. Then, there are other times when we face challenges that make our bed of roses feel like thorns. I’m thankful those times are few and far between, but based on experience, overcoming those challenges have strengthened our bond.

Currently, I’m in a weird place with both of them. Although I’m usually a “fix it” person, I’ve come to realize that everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. All relationships have dips in the valley and it’s ok to let the natural process run its course. I will continue to nurture the relationships with the same tender loving care. But I’ve decided - just for now - I’m going to be still and place my two most important personal relationships in a holding pattern.

Lesson Learned

There’s a time for everything. Sometimes it’s YOUR time, sometimes it isn’t. If things seem too difficult, too much to bear, or you can sense a storm on the horizon - hold tight. Try your best to prepare for what’s coming, but don’t take on more than you can handle and get ready to face the inevitable. If you’re lucky, you may avoid it temporarily. But if the challenge was meant to occur, it WILL come full circle again. Sometimes, the best way to manage is to slow down, be still, and place yourself in a holding pattern. This is when the most valuable lessons are learned.

I know this is an unusual post with cryptic details sprinkled throughout, but the intent of the message is from the heart. Take full advantage of your growth period but also recognize and accept when you need to be in a holding pattern.

Image Credit: The Chronicle

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!

Lots of random thoughts, so I’ll do a random update post:

Unexpected Money

When I filed my taxes this year, I had to claim the relocation benefits I received from my last employer as income, but I couldn’t write off the relocation expenses as deductions. Weird, I know, employer requirement, hard to explain. Anyhoo, because of this, I had to file a separate form with my employer and they have a process to evaluate what my tax liability would have been without the extra income. Any excess between what I paid and what I should have paid is sent to me via a refund from the employer, not Uncle Sam. Long story, short. I received the unexpected refund this week. Over $1,200.

Emergency Fund

As of today, I made the final transfer to meet my $20k e-fund goal! Because of the unexpected refund above, the balance now sits at $20.7k. I also set up a $100 bi-weekly payroll allotment for the e-fund. All extra above $20k will be earmarked for “non-retirement investing.” When it reaches $3k, I will open that long awaited Vanguard account, then redirect all extra money to to the new account.

Payday

My payroll problems were finally corrected. Benefits, tax exemptions, allotments, 401k match, retro payments/refunds, etc. - everything is kosher now. Thank da lawd! July has 3 pay periods and I plan to spend the extra cash on my rental property.

Medical Expenses

As of yesterday, the braces are completely off. BabyGirl was given two sets of retainers plus a night guard. I also made the final $250 payment, a total of ~$4,000 for 2 years of orthodontia care. Her teeth are beautiful, but with all the back and forth visits, I’m glad it’s over!

Precious’ vet bill this year was $248.69, which is $65+ more than previous years ($185 in 2007 and $177 in 2006). I’ve never had an annual vet bill more than $200, so I asked for a line by line itemized report of this year and last year. Although the secretary tried to explain the difference, I had to see for myself. About 10% was due to regular inflation that occurs every year, but one procedure was an additional $40 by itself. WTF! The reason? They send the culture to an outside lab for testing/examination and they have to pay extra for shipping/transportation expenses. In other words = FUEL!! I tell ya, this fuel crisis is hurting everything!

Car Insurance

Due to pure laziness, I didn’t research for better rates. My new 6 month (Jul-Dec) premium is $409.10 and it’s due next week. I thought this was a savings from the $468 that I used to pay, but I forgot it was reduced to $406.30 last December when I increased my deductible from $500 to $1,000. So in essence, this 6 month premium increased by $2.80. Not a lot of money, but it definitely shouldn’t be going in the wrong direction. That’s what I get for being lazy. I’m going to pay the premium in full this time, instead of the monthly payment plan. Other than saving the $1 processing fee, I just want one less bill to worry about every month.

Rental Property

My tenants are moving out this month and I’m meeting two potential tenants tomorrow morning for a scheduled tour. One is coming at 10 and the other at 11. It’s a 2 hour drive and I’m not looking forward to it. After the last tour, I’m meeting a girlfriend for lunch. She’s offered to show the property for me in the future, so I won’t have to drive down there again. But if the property isn’t rented by the end of this month, I’m turning it over to a property management company.

Edit to Add: Thank you all for bringing the blog problem to my attention. I appreciate all of the emails. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the post or why it was cut off HOURS after I published. In the original post, I provided a few updates about my summer vacation plans and my feelings about BabyGirl’s summer away, but it’s gone now and I don’t know how to fix it.

While I’m on the subject, I haven’t been blogging regularly because I’ve had quite a few computer issues lately. I don’t know if I have a computer virus or if my blog has been hacked - maybe both. So much for the Norton All-in-One Computer Protection, huh? My spreadsheets are damaged, which means all of my expense tracking and net worth details for the entire year are GONE. I’ve tried to do a system restore and file recovery, to no avail. I also keep getting “404 errors” when I publish or update posts on my blog. And some evenings, I can’t get online at all or the “high speed” connection is extremely slow. The latter may be attributed to the terrible weather we’ve had in the past few days, but trying to get online or attempting to write a blog post is challenging.

It’ll take weeks to get my spreadsheets back in order and I’ll need help with the blog issue, but everything will be fixed - eventually. If it aint one thing, it’s another. But eh, so is life. *shrug*

Blog wit’cha soon.

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!

This is a guest post from a fabulous reader whom I admire and respect for many reasons. Read what she and her hubby have agreed to share with us and you’ll understand why:

photo credit: Thirty6Red

When Single Ma contacted me about my statement that there is no “head of household” in our home [in response to this post - SM], I did not think it was a very different approach to married life. But, when I started to think about why this was the case for us, I realized how it relates to our household finances, family management and career aspirations.

My husband and I have been married for over 10 years. From the beginning, we both wanted careers and a family and realized that for both of us to have successful careers where we reached our potential would require some give-and-take, especially with children in the plan. When we married, we were both people used to making decisions in our lives.

Finding the Comfortable Groove

In the beginning, we tried to have one person manage all of the household finances. We quickly found that this resulted in too much pressure and discord. In order to make OUR marriage work, we decided to divide the responsibilities and play to our strengths. Now, each takes the lead on what we do best. I am a frugal person by nature, but my husband has a degree in thrift. I am more interested in different investments and allocation methods than he. So, my husband “does the math” on the day-to-day household finances and I take the lead on managing our investments. We always make sure to keep each other in the loop.

Give-and-Take

• Most things are done with compromise and by consensus. For example: I don’t mind cleaning my house, but I refuse to work 40+ hours and do it all myself. My husband HATES house cleaning, but also acknowledges that it is not fair that I do all the cleaning in addition to working as much as he does. The solution is a weekly cleaning service that is an agreed to family expense.

• Another example was when I was offered a really excellent project that required long hours for about 6 months. Before accepting the assignment, I talked to my husband about what was on his horizon at work. We also discussed what was going on with our son over the same time period. Our conclusion was that I should go for it. My husband agreed to handle most of the childcare and household responsibilities so that I could purse this opportunity.

There have been many examples of this give-and-take over the years, sometimes with me making the “sacrifices.” The result is that both of us have been able to advance our careers (maximizing our earnings) and manage our family as the circumstances required. When “nothing special” is going on at work, we split childcare responsibilities - my husband takes the mornings and I take the evenings.

Why It Works

The reason this works for US is because we value the same things: honesty, hard work, loyalty and freedom of choice. Above all, our family (immediate and extended) comes first. Also, neither one of us are people who have to be in charge all the time. We don’t want what we consider the unnecessary pressure of making all the decisions. But we also know each other so well that when a family decision needs to be made and one us of isn’t around, we do what we think is best. In addition, we respect each other tremendously. My husband always tells me how impressed he is with my solutions to problems and analytical skills. I am impressed with his capacity for acceptance and understanding. I have thrown him some real curve balls over the years and he has handled each one.

Finally, we both know that we are a lifetime partnership of two independent people who love and support each other. It is not easy and takes a lot of work and communication. We both know that we could do fine alone, but we don’t want to do so. We are better and stronger together.

This reader not only has a successful marriage, but she also has a successful/demanding career, earn well over six figures, and has a household net worth bordering $1M. Now do you see why I admire her so much? LOL She gives me hope that I, too, will one day find a “life partner” who will view me as his equal. One that I can learn from, support, and grow with - together.

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!

photo credit: CJ Sorg

A fabulous reader sent me this MSNBC article, titled “For Frugalists, Bargain Hunting is a Lifestyle.” Subtitled, For these extreme anti-consumers, your trash is their food, furniture…

Is the title enough to make you say WTF? Oh well, check it out!

It’s no secret that American culture is a consumer culture…On the opposite end of the spectrum are the few people who call themselves anti-consumerists, freegans, frugalists or just plain Dumpster divers…these people delight in drastically reducing their consumer spending, finding life’s essentials at bargain prices or paying nothing at all.

The article goes on to give us a few examples. Here’s Rebecca:

Rebecca, 51, owns a small duplex and has a job running an art program for a health care organization…And she gets 99 percent of her food from the Dumpster.

“It’s so easy to eat for free,” she says. “The only things I buy are butter and milk.”

And here’s Prieur:

[Prieur] says his trash bin excursions have netted him smoked salmon, high-end bacon, olive oil, plenty of produce and other goodies. Prieur, who owns a piece of land but has no permanent home, estimates that when he’s staying with his sister in Seattle, he gets 20 to 30 percent of his groceries from garbage bins.

Then we get a glimpse into an actual dumpster diving excursion:

When Rebecca reaches the grocery store, she moves with purpose across the parking lot to a fenced-in Dumpster. With practiced nonchalance, she opens the gate and walks in, closing it behind her. On the ground, she immediately finds a bag of baby squashes. They go in the backpack to be steamed up for dinner.

Next, she hikes herself up and peers in the Dumpster itself. Out comes a bag of popcorn, a bag of granola and a package of rice. All are torn, but the contents appear clean.

Rebecca passes up pasta and a few other items, explaining that she prefers ready-made food because she doesn’t like to cook.

The granola isn’t her taste, either — she’s a self-described picky eater — but she can give it to her boyfriend.

She also passes up a bag of flavored potato chips, explaining, “I don’t like salt and vinegar.”

Climbing out of the Dumpster, Rebecca opens the gate again and heads out.

In 10 years of serious Dumpster diving, Rebecca says she’s never gotten sick eating food from the trash.

Wait. Let me get this straight. A dumpster diving picky eater.

Yea, I read that right…

A.

Dumpster.

Diving.

Picky.

Eater.

Umm, wow!

Now if the thought of dumpster diving isn’t nasty enough, at least the chic is selective about the crap she eats from the trash! But get this. When something she picks from the trash isn’t her preference, she’ll give it to her “boyfriend” or feed it to the dog. Oh lawd, I have no words! LOL!

Clearly, the choice for these two dumpster divers isn’t about money. As with most frugal people, it’s a personal preference and a lifestyle. These two just so happen to be uh…extreme whack.

If you’ve read the article, do you think they’re creative or just plain nasty?

[Thanks Rufina]

~*~*~*~*~*~
Work to achieve, not to acquire.
And as always, BE FABULOUS!