So far, so good

This was my first week at my new job and so far I'm loving it! Within my first week at my last job I was miserable, so I'm taking this as a good sign. I had new employee orientation yesterday and they explained all of our benefits. We get a pension plan and a 403(b) with 50% employer matching on the first 6% we contribute. Both are fully vested after 3 years. The fund choices for the 403(b) seem pretty good. I'm going to start out by contributing 6% in order to get the full match, but beyond that I'll put money in my Roth IRA until I reach the limit because the expenses on it are next to nothing.

I'm struggling with what health plan to choose. There are four options ranging in premiums from $20.32-$91.07 biweekly. To complicate things further, it doesn't appear that my doctor is in their network. I absolutely love my doctor and have been going to her for almost 10 years. I really don't want to switch doctors, but the cost of going out-of-network is horrible. ugh....

Earned Income Credit

I found out last month that I qualified for an earned income credit for 2007. I got my check last week and it was for $182. Not too bad. It's $182 I didn't expect to have! I deposited it and immediately moved it into my fund for a home down payment. I didn't even consider spending it. If I had gotten that check a few months ago I would have immediately thought, "How am I going to spend this?!" Actually, I think I'm more excited about having more money in my savings than I would have been if I bought something.

July Goals Recap

I didn't do very well with meeting my goals for July. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself, but I know July was a crazy month. Then again, most of my life is crazy. Some of these goals I will carry over into August.

• Transportation challenge - Met. My goal was to spend less than $80 and I spent only $57.77!
• Get my free credit report - No. This was due to my own laziness and procrastination.
• Begin 403(b) contributions - No. This is because I accepted a new job! I'll be sure to get started with my contributions after I start.
• Enroll in online bill pay for car loan - No. Again, procrastination. I could do this online but they ask for your social security number and I'm leery of submitting mine online. The alternative is to go to a branch location to enroll and I just haven't gotten around to it.
• Know my networth - No. I would have to know the remaining balance on my car loan, which I don't. Yet another reason I need to enroll online.
• Get my Avon orders in on time - Close. I got two out of three in on time. Not bad considering that when I was in school I submitted nearly every order late.

But... I don't wanna grow up

Today is my 27th birthday. My new focus on my finances has been making me think about my long-term goals. I'm not where I thought I would be at 27. I was expecting to be at the point where I was financially secure. I never imagined I'd go to grad school and end up with so much educational debt. I also thought I'd be close to the point where I could afford kids. I'm so nowhere near that point. It's kind of scary. I'm really going to need to figure out how to get some extra income coming in. If I could do that, I would put it all into savings and investments. It's just a question of how. I'll be making $3,000 more a year at my new job, but I'll also have expenses I don't have at this job. I'll have to pay my own health insurance premiums, for one (my current agency pays employee premiums). A second job may be a possibility, but I at least have to get settled with the new job first - I don't want to overload myself.

Eh, quarter-life crises suck.

One more week

I have one week left at my current job! Unfortunately, I don't get a break before starting my new job. P and I are supposed to be going to visit her family next weekend. I'm debating whether to go with her or not, as it's kind of exhausting - a 5 hour drive each way and I usually end up baby sitting for her sister while we're there. I don't want to be feeling tired and lazy on my first day!

This week has already been exhausting. Between my current job which constantly keeps me running, having my pre-employment physical and HR meeting for the new job, and practicing for my first student performance, I've been insanely busy. I would really like to do nothing this weekend, but I know that won't happen!

Investing

I have to admit, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to investing. It was something that my mother never taught me about as a kid. Hell, we rarely talked about money at all. Several years ago I read a very basic personal finance book which introduced me to investing – something I had never imagined myself doing. Here’s what I remember from that book: money market funds are a safe place to keep an emergency fund because they are extremely low risk, but also low reward; bonds are slightly higher risk and slightly higher reward; stocks offer greater rewards but at the expense of being extremely risky and difficult to understand. Admittedly, after three years I’m sure my memory of this book has become foggy, but this is what I took away from it. Consequently, what money I did sock away was all stuck into a money market fund for safe keeping. I always planned to learn more about investing and diversify at some later point when I had a better understanding of what I was doing – that point just never came.

My trusty money market fund has done its job. My savings were kept safe and earned at least a small amount of interest, and it did help me out in an emergency. Last year when the hand-me-down car I’d been driving since I first got my license finally decided to die, my money market fund provided me with enough money to make a sizeable down payment on a used car – without totally wiping me out.

However, the time has come for me to finally do what I promised myself I would do years ago and start learning more about investing. To that end, I’ve begun reading Charles Schwab’s New Guide to Financial Independence. I picked it up at the used book store a couple years back but never got around to reading it. I’m now on page 62 and so far, so good. It starts off very simple and explains investing in a non-intimidating way that even the novice (aka – me) can understand. I was worried it would be somewhat dry, but it’s held my interest so far and I’m zipping right through it. By the time I finish reading this book, I plan to (dun-dun-DUN) diversify my investments.

July Transportation Challenge Update

My goal was to spend $80 on transportation for the month of July. It's the 15th and so far I've only spent $20.34 on gas - when I filled up at GetGo using my Fuelperks. My tank is still 3/4 full! Looks like I'll be well within my limit. I haven't made much progress on my other July goals, though. I should probably get on that.

Paying Yourself First

I first became interested in personal finance about four years ago. I was fresh out of college and had my first full time job and very few expenses. I read a few books on the subject and began saving my money. This is when I first came across the idea of paying yourself first. Unfortunately, I never put this idea into practice. I did, however, start a modest savings and opened an investment account. Two years later, when I started grad school, it became next to impossible for me to put any money into savings, as I was living on very little income and accumulating quite a bit of educational debt.

Now that I'm done with grad school and beginning my career, I'm making it a goal to start paying myself first. My first step in this is to get my budget in order so that I can accurately gauge how much money I need to get myself through the month, and how much can be saved. Once I have a realistic idea of how much money I can save, I want to get to the point where the first thing I do after I deposit my paycheck is transfer money into my savings. That way it's not sitting in my checking account just begging to be spent. When I start my new job I want to start making automatic 403(b) contributions, as well.

I don't make a lot of money, but I also don't spend a lot of money. Putting money away before I even really "see" it shouldn't be too difficult. It's just going to be a matter of making it a habit!

Leaving the door open

Yesterday I was talking to my supervisor about my new job and she asked if I would want her to contact me if a similar job opened up at the agency. Of course I said yes! I really would like to come back to this agency again. I've worked there in the past and know quite a few people. It's a really laid-back and friendly atmosphere. Plus, the benefits are the best that I've ever even heard of. I mean, they PAY their employees health care premiums! I'm so glad to know that they would want me to come back. I was scared that I would be burning my bridges by leaving!

Chargeback? wtf?

I've been getting in the habit of consistently checking my bank account online in order to help keep track of my spending. I logged in today and see a mysterious charge for $50 which is described simply as "Chargeback, store #1234". Huh? I've never seen such a thing before. So I call my bank and talk to customer service. Turns out it's a bounced check. A check I got as a graduation gift. And now I'm going to be charged a $10 fee for it. ....Thanks???

What's a lunch break?

Since I've started this job, I've taken exactly one lunch break. One. I'm always way too busy to stop and eat lunch. Lately I've been bringing protien bars with me and eating those at my desk while I'm working. I miss lunch. I miss eating real food for lunch! I always used to take a lunch break at my former jobs, because I think it's important to have a decent meal and take some space from your work.

Maybe at my new job I'll get to eat.

I have officially given my notice!

It didn't go as bad as I had feared. In fact, it actually went pretty well. My supervisor was a little surly at first, but then she realized I was giving four weeks notice and she softened up - apparently she had thought I was going to leave immediately. She was actually pretty understanding in light of the fact that this new job will be a step up for me and will be paying me more, which she admitted she wouldn't be able to do. I told her I was worried about burning my bridges at this agency and she told me I wouldn't be, which made me feel much better.

So in four weeks I'll have an AWESOME job! yay!

Super Cheap Gas

I took my car to GetGo today to fill up and use my Giant Eagle fuelperks. After my fuelperks discount was applied I paid only $1.99 per gallon! It cost me a total of $20.34 to fill up, and I saved $20.35! I love fuelperks, because I earn them just for buying groceries and getting my prescriptions filled at Giant Eagle, which I would be doing anyway. Looks like meeting the July Transportation Challenge will be easier than I thought.

Money 101

CNN Money has a site called Money 101: A Step-by-Step Guide to Gaining Control of Your Financial Life. I've read the first two lessons so far, on setting priorities and creating a budget. I found the setting priorities lesson to be particularly helpful: it helped me identify some financial goals that I hadn't even thought of, and then helped me prioritize my top three goals. There are 23 lessons in all. I'm planning to read them all because my basic financial knowledge is pretty lacking.

Taking a new job

I graduated from grad school this May and started my first "real" job in June. Well, the job was not what I had understood it to be during the interview process. Since my first day there, I've been stressed more than I ever was in school (and my school was no walk in the park - it's one of the top 10 in the country). I never even have time to eat lunch when I'm there, and I've come to realize that everyone in my position takes work home with them in order to get everything done. Even if I end up working more than 40 hours a week, I can't get paid over time - despite the fact that the position is hourly. Add that to the fact that the actual work I'm doing is quiet different than what was described to me, and I am not a happy camper.

As I've said before, I work in a field where I don't earn a lot of money, but I choose to do so because the work is rewarding. I wanted to have a job that I enjoyed so that I wouldn't have to dread going to work everyday. I didn't want my life to be like Office Space. Yet my job is currently making me miserable. I've had jobs in my field before - I know it doesn't have to be like this.

Well, yesterday I received a job offer from another agency for a position that is very close to being my dream job. They also offered me $3,000 more a year. Needless to say, I accepted on the spot. Now comes the little problem of informing my current employer. I'm feeling a huge amount of guilt - I'm not a job-jumper and I hate to leave after only one month. I'm afraid of burning my bridges and making the people I work with angry with me. I'll be giving them four weeks notice, so it's not like I'm going to leave them completely high and dry, but I still feel horrible.

My partner keeps telling me that I'm making the right choice - I deserve a job where I'm happy, or at least one that doesn't make me hate my life. I still can't help agonizing over it. I know I'm going to have to tell them when I go in on Monday, and I keep imagining how everyone is going to react. I'm absolutely dreading it. I feel like I'll be letting people down.

I think I'm going to give myself an ulcer...

Budgeting

For some reason, I always have difficulty with budgeting. In June I started mid-month trying to track my spending and it became a bit of a mess. This month I'm hoping to start fresh and keep track of where all of my money goes. I created a spreadsheet to try to help with this. It's based on this ING Spending Record, but I personalized it a bit.

My spending for the month isn't starting off very well. I had a horrible day and came home and ordered us some Chinese food, which ended up costing $18. It did make me feel better, though! Sesame tofu is my favorite.

Oh, my bleeding heart...

So I mentioned in my last post that I try to "live by my principles." What does that mean for me? Well, it means a few things:

• Working for nonprofits - In my profession, I work only for non-profit organizations. The majority of my work history has been with non-profits, and I will probably spend the rest of my life working for them.
• Being a vegetarian - I haven't eaten meat since I was thirteen. This is a personal choice for me. Disclaimer: I'm not judging other people or their choices, but this is what's right for me. There are many reasons why I choose to be a vegetarian. If it's something you've ever considered, you may be interested in a FREE Vegetarian Starter Kit.
• Being a Caring Consumer - I try to never buy from companies that test on animals. Instead, I give my hard-earned money to companies that DO NOT test on animals.
• Buying green - This goes hand-in-hand with being a caring consumer. I try to buy mostly environmentally-friendly products.
• Giving back - Yes, I want to live comfortably and be smart about my money, but it's also important to give money back to ethical charities. Two of my favorite charities are the ASPCA and Farm Sanctuary. Giving back can be as simple as a click of your mouse.

And yes, I am proud to call myself both a bleeding heart and a tree hugger.

Green Banking

Green banking is something I don't know much about, but would like to learn. I happened to find this article on the importance of ethical banking. It hits close to home because I try to be an ethical consumer and live by my principles, but I know I'm not doing as much as I theoretically could be doing.

Indulgences

My biggest indulgence is my passion: belly dance. I love to belly dance. I’ve danced since I was a child, but only started belly dancing about a year and a half ago. It’s one thing I consistently let myself indulge in. I take classes 1-2 times a week, which adds up to around $80 a month. I also have a small collection of instructional DVDs, which I love. I’ll be in my first performance this August, so I’ve started buying some costume pieces. The best (and most expense) dance-related purchase I’ve made is my Melodia pants. I’ve never spent so much money on a pair of pants before, but they are so worth it. I have several pairs, but my favorite are my burgundy mehndis. I’m not usually one to get excited about clothing, but I love my Melodias to pieces.

Goals for July

• Transportation challenge - I've set my goal for my July transportation budget at $80
• Get my free credit report - I've been planning to do this for months but never actually gotten around to it.
• Begin 403(b) contributions - whether I stay at my current job or accept the other job offer
• Enroll in online bill pay for car loan - Once I do this it'll make it easier for me to make payments on time and to keep track of how much I have left to pay off.
• Know my networth - I don't know the exact balances left on all of my loans in order to calculate this. It'll take me some time to get all the information together, but I like the idea of being able to keep track of my worth and (hopefully) watch as it increases!
• Get my Avon orders in on time - I have trouble with this as I'm a huge procrastinator and, as I've said, a bit apathetic when it comes to the whole Avon thing. But I have to pay a fee each time I turn my orders in late, so I need to get on top of it.

July Transportation Challenge

For the month of July, one of my goals is to participate in the transportation challenge from Give Me Back My Five Bucks. My transportation budget for the month will be $80. This should be enough money for me to fill up my tank twice. I'm fairly sure that'll be enough to get me through the month, but we shall see.

This month I've started to track my spending in order to develop a budget for myself, so I'm not sure yet how much I usually spend on things. I've never been one for budgets - I've always just tried to guess-timate when it came to spending. It's worked for me to some etent in that I almost never spend more money than I have and usually have a comfortable cash cushion in my accounts. This past month I've decided to buckle down and really pay attention to where my money is going so that (hopefully) I can get to the point where I'm able to save more. Budgeting can get rather tedious, though. I hope I'll be able to stick with it.

Some of the ways I save money

These aren't earth-shattering ideas, and I'm sure you've heard them before, but these are some of the strategies I use to help save money:

Conserving Electricity – I use natural light as much as possible and only turn on lights when absolutely necessary, and turn them off when I leave the room. We have all compact fluorescent bulbs in our apartment. I only run the dish washer when I have a full load and skip the dry cycle. I try to only do full loads of laundry and wash nearly everything on cold.

Clothing – I have a good-sized wardrobe, but I don’t spend a lot of money on clothes. Many of my clothes come from Target and, regardless of where I buy, most items are purchased on sale. I take good care of my clothing so it lasts me a loooong time. I don’t usually purchase ‘trendy’ clothes, so I can wear things for years after purchasing. (Confession time – I still have a few shirts I wore in high school. I don’t wear them out, but they make great pjs.)

Hair – I don’t do ‘product’. I don’t have any hair appliances other than a blow drier, which I rarely use as my hair dries pretty quickly on its own. I don’t wear hair accessories – I like a simple look. I buy a good shampoo and conditioner and that’s about it. I get a trim every few months, but don’t pay to have my hair styled. I have long straight hair, so it just doesn’t require a lot of work.

Personal care – As I admitted in a previous post, I’m an Avon representative. I get discounts on items I buy for myself and make a small profit from the things I sell to others (which in turn helps me pay for my purchases). I rarely have to dip into my personal money to pay for my own purchases.

Gas – I drive a Honda Civic, which gets great gas mileage. These days I live only 15 minutes away from work and rarely make long drives. I can usually go about two weeks on one tank of gas. I also have a Giant Eagle Advantage card which allows me to earn Fuel Perks (discounts on gas). I tend to let the perks add up and then drive in one day when I’m on E and fill up. I once paid under a dollar for a full tank of gas this way!

Avoiding the mall – Lucky for me, I’m not one of those people who uses shopping as a source of entertainment. I rarely go to the mall unless there is something specific I must go there to buy. Going to the mall to ‘browse’ only leads to impulse purchases. If I must go to the mall, I try to only visit the store(s) I need to go to and then GET OUT as fast as possible.

Extra Income

I need a way to earn extra money, but I'm not sure how. I have a full-time job and was thinking about looking for something part-time as well, but my regular job is extremely demanding and stressful. By the end of the day I'm exhausted, and I just can't imagine myself being able to hold down a second job and still remain sane. Overtime isn't a possibility where I'm at, but I do have the potential to earn an extra $4000/year with my quarterly bonuses. Even so, I would still like to earn some additional money to help pay down my debt and save as much as possible!

Some Possibilities:

• Sell Avon - I'm already a representative, but I only sell it to a few select people and don't make much money off of it. I'm sure there is the potential to earn more, but I'm not very into makeup and such, which makes me pretty apathetic towards the whole thing.
• Mystery shopping - It's something I've considered before, but never done.
• Sell some of my books & CDs - I have a ton of old CDs; even if I only get a few bucks for each of them it could add up to something. I usually have a hard time parting with my books, but there are a few I have that I really don't care to keep.
• Tutoring
• Baby sitting - I haven't done baby sitting in forever, but I suppose it's always a possibility.

My Financial Goals

Short-term Goals (1-2 years)

• Contribute $5,000 to my Roth IRA - in 2008
• Earn my bonus each quarter this year - This would add up to $4,000 for the year. Of course, that's assuming I stay at my current job.
• Find an additional source of income
• Have an emergency fund of at least $3,000 - by next year
• Have a $3,000 travel fund - by summer 2009

Mid-term Goals (2-5 years)

• Save a total of $25,000 across all investments - This includes amounts specified in other goals
• Save at least $10,000 for a down payment on a home

Long-term Goals (5+ years)

• Get out of debt - I don't know if I'll ever be fully out of debt due to my school loans and then one day having a home. I'd like to at least limit it to 'good' debt. I have very little credit card debt and would like to pay off my car.
• Save a total of $50,000 across all investments

Saving Money on Groceries

I had planned to go grocery shopping today but we had thunderstorms on and off all day and I decided I didn't really feel like leaving the house. It'll have to wait a few days. I clipped coupons for the first time in years and I'm proud of myself. I recently read a couple articles about women who save ridiculous amounts of money using coupons and store discount programs:

If I Didn't See It With My Own Eyes...
This Lady Has a Black Belt in Shopping

The second link is about Stephanie Nelson, aka Coupon Mom. I spent some time on her website and found some useful coupons, but not all of them would print for me. Maybe it's just my computer. I downloaded her ebook on saving money on groceries. Now I just have to actually read it...

Groceries are a huge expense for me. I'm a vegetarian and tend to eat a lot of specialty foods. I prefer to buy organic when possible, and try to stay away from overly-processed foods. Groceries have always been the one thing I let myself indulge in. I'm thrifty about most everything else, but I never like to feel like I'm denying myself when it comes to food. I like to eat! Setting a food budget for myself is going to be a difficult task.

Retirement: Ya Gotta Do It Someday…

Yesterday I did something I probably should have done awhile ago: I opened a Roth IRA. It’s something I had thought about doing before, but I was paralyzed by fear… I didn’t know the 'right' way to start a retirement investment, so I did nothing. Yesterday I finally decided that it would be smarter to start saving for retirement now without having a perfect strategy, than to sit around waiting for answers that I wasn’t finding. What spurred me to finally make the plunge was an article on the U.S. News and World Report website: Financial Tips for 20-Somethings. The article interviews Ramit Sethi, creator of the I Will Teach You to Be Rich blog. In it, Sethi is quoted as saying :

There's a funny idea in our culture that more information is always good. But as Barry Schwartz noted in The Paradox of Choice, the more choices we have, the less likely we are to do anything. In a study about 401(k) participation, he wrote, "For every 10 funds added to the array of [401(k)] options, the rate of participation drops 2 percent."

So if the average 20-something sees 20 fund choices at work for his 401(k), TV commercials about annuities, blog posts about Roth IRAs, and newspaper columns about not spending so much on lattes every day, what do you think he'll do? Chances are: nothing. Over half of 20-somethings don't contribute to retirement accounts. Forty percent don't even deposit money regularly in a savings account.

He goes on to say:

Getting started is more important than being the smartest person in the room. If I had a choice between being 100 IQ points smarter or starting to invest earlier, I'd choose starting earlier. I encourage young people to read enough to get started but not to worry about knowing every investing instrument under the sun.

This made perfect sense to me. To get started, I moved $3,000 out of a money market investment and into a retirement account. It was the minimum investment, but I wanted to have something left in the money market as it’s my emergency fund. So now there’s $2,500 in the money market and $1,600 in my basic savings account, making my total amount in savings a whopping $7,100. It could be worse. In fact, the majority of my friends have absolutely NO savings.

I actually started saving several years ago, but as I’ve been living hand-to-mouth for the last two years while I was in grad school, I wasn’t in a place to be able to regularly contribute to my savings accounts. Now I’m out of school and finally earning some money, but I also have the added expenses of student loan payments and am finally contributing a full 50% to our living expenses, which was impossible for me to do before.

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to my new blog!

I am a recent graduate and started a new job three weeks ago. Fresh out of school, I’m finding myself $60,000 in student loan debt, with a meager $7,000 in savings. To add to the pain, I work in a field where I will most likely never earn a large salary. (I am, however, very happy in my chosen career, which is the important part for me.) Since my earning potential is somewhat limited, I’m looking at ways to save money in order to stretch my salary as far as possible.

I’m starting this blog as a way to keep track of my progress towards my financial goals. As someone who knows only the very basics about personal finance, I have a lot to learn. I’ve also gotten into some bad habits while I was in school, because money was not my top priority. I stopped sticking to a budget, keeping track of where my money was going, and taking simple steps to save money on everyday expenses (such as clipping grocery coupons). Now that I’ve met my goal of earning my Master’s degree and getting a job in my field, I’m planning to be more cautious with my money.

Luckily, I’ve always been careful with my money, which means I have an excellent credit rating and almost no credit card debt. I have several goals for myself and my family, which I will be addressing here. Some of my interests include, saving, investing, smart shopping, and real estate. I’m hoping that keeping this blog will help me to keep my long-term goals in mind and give me the motivation to be more conscious of my finances.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser. This is meant to be a personal finance blog and not a source of financial advice for others. Please consult a financial professional for assistance.