For lots it seems that the day to day little victories are what keeps them motivated. That just isn't enough for me. While I am very frugal, and do like to know what I save based on my habits, I enjoy more looking to milestones I cross to know that what I am doing is working for me.

With that, this milestone isn't something I can easily title, so I'll just write it out...
I now have more in liquid and near liquid savings (savings bonds, CDs, cash, checking) than I owe on my current mortgage.
A sorta esoteric milestone, but I look at it this way: If I lost my job now I could easily live off unemployment while I use the liquid funds to pay off the house. I would still have my retirement funds (401k, 457, Roth IRA), some stocks, and a pension coming down the road (ok, the pension will arrive in 18 years, but still, its something).

Some future goals... (and if anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong in making a list here, I would like to know!!!)
[list]
[*]At my 50th b-day (in 2.5 years) I want to have $250K in retirement funds (could happen if the markets don't tank again as I'm at $150K now).
[*]Have the mortgage gone at that 50th b-day (currently I am paying at a rate that it should succumb 2 months before said b-day).
[*]Have my current vehicle survive until that same b-day, then look to buy a new car in the following year.
[*]Hard to quantify, but I want to be in better shape at 50 than I am now. To that end I have shaken up my daily workout regimen adding more abdominal work, and cut down some on the upper body exercises. Additionally I have started to take some workout supplements. It doesn't cost that much, and if I'm not saving money so I can spend it here, where am I going to use the money?
[*]I also want this house to be decluttered by the middle of summer.
[*]Oh, and I am still looking to have someone in my life, sometime not too too far away I hope. To that end I went out to a singles dinner last week, and paid for a nice lunch with a woman I met online over the weekend. I thought it went very well, but the pessimist in me is expecting the worst at this point. Hey, you can't give up, right?
[/list]

Ok, was that too much info? In any case, I like having the goals to work toward. It lets me know why I'm doing what I'm doing.



Oh and here's a photo of a toy train car I made a year ago. Why? Why not, plus I hope to start making more of them again in the future. (hey, should that be another goal???)

And I really do mean that.

As part of my DRIPs I own some Disney stock, not too much, in the range of $1500 worth. Anyway, about two years ago Disney was buying part of some radio network called Citadel Broadcasting. Instead of just buying what they wanted, there was some type of stock swap involved (supposedly to cut down on stockholder taxes - though I didn't buy that even then). So because of this I became the new owner of 4 shares of Citadel's stock (which I think was $6/share back then). So I looked at this and said do I want to pay a stockbroker to get $24 less whatever commision I would have to pay (probably most of the $24), or just keep the junk. So I kept the 4 shares.

Now it looks like I should of just sold them and got whatever money I could (basically the stockbroker would have made money, not me!) I got a letter today that the company is now going into Chapter 11. At least I didn't lose much money with that fiasco, but couldn't they have figured if the number of shares was below a certain number (say 50?) they would just give the shareholders money instead as it wouldn't be practical?

So as I said, thanks so much for thinking about us small shareholders. Its great to know you really care. :P

... or subtitled "The most perfect TV commercial deconstruction ever". OK, I know you're saying "what is he going on about?" Trust me, this is finance related (sorta anyway).

As I was going through some www.fatwallet.com forum postings yesterday(and man they can be hilarious at times), one was talking about marriages and dis-similarities between spouses and their financial "styles". One posting had a link that led to a National TV commercial from a few years back on You Tube. I saw it a few times, and thought it was a horrible commercial then. After reading the comments on the site, I see it as what it really is: the most "pro-greed, irresponsible, oblivious to reality, male bashing" commerical ever.

Click here to enjoy It makes you want to never do business with their company ever (and thats impressive to make a commercial that bad). To really appreciate it, you need to read all the comments (which deconstruct the commercial), and the first two video replys (the 3rd one is just an example of how idiots and video cameras don't mix).

As I read the comments it reminded me of a time many moons ago when a similar situation came in my life, and it would have been too easy to cave in like the guy in the video. My now-Ex wanted to go to college - she was too immature but I felt if that made her happy then let her go. The school asked that I be there when they did the loan paperwork for her so I went. Then they expected me to co-sign all the papers which caught me off guard. To this day I don't know what alarms went off in my head, but something did. I looked at the loan officer and said "This is between her and your school. If you don't want to loan her the money, thats your choice but I'm signing nothing." I then got up and walked out.

If I didn't walk out then my life would probably still be screwed up financially to this day. I probably wouldn't have a house to live in, just an apt. somewhere, and I while I would have done ok, it would be nothing like it is today. There are times I am still amazed how close I got to the edge of the abyss and pulled back. Its scary - really. If there is a moral to the story, its if you know something is a bad idea (and I mean really bad), do not give in to the pressure no matter what.

I haven't posted for a while, and everyone (ok, some) is making 2010 resolutions, so hey, lets see if I can come up with some good ones.

Financial:

•Fund Roth IRA fully by June 30
•Continue max contributions to 457 plan (a 401k plan for gov't types) so that I max out contributions by end of September. This year I maxed out in November.
•Be happy with spending once in a while (yeah, not frugal, but I need to have a life - so to speak)
•Sell more books and other junk to help free up space at home (and make money!). This year I spent more on hobbies than I sold, but it wasn't horrendous, and was actually an improvement. If I can get this year to at least be a wash it would be tremendous.

Personal:
•Finish cleaning the house - yeah doesn't sound like much, but I'm having to do major decluttering going through papers, boxes of old stuff, and on and on. It takes time.
•Try the online dating again, of course trying to keep more of a zen philosophy while doing it. At least now I have a better idea of what to expect.
•Continue to volunteer and donate blood. I did two full days of volunteer work last year (DTV conversions) and dontaed blood 4 times. I'll see if I can donate blood 5 times this year. Hopefully there won't be another fainting spell afterwards (ugh).
•Start / finish repairs & tasks about the house.
•Re-start my exercise routine at home. I did it for 2 months and was seeing good results, then I hurt my leg (not exercise related) and was on crutches. As I work-out during workday lunches, I haven't lost most of my improvements, but I really need to get back into the groove again.
•Look into applying for the team lead position opening at work at the end of the year. Sorta like a management position, our team lead person is retiring at the end of the year, and co-workers have asked if I am going to apply. It seems they think I would be a good leader. In my prior job I was asked to do the same thing and declined, perhaps I should do it this time. If nothing else, it probably is the only way I'll be getting any raise.

Long Term (Post 2010):
•Get my retirement savings to $250K by my 50th birthday. It was around ~$150,000 when I checked my accounts on Thursday(401k, 457, and a Roth IRA). While this increase sounds hard, I can put in $16,500 in the 457 and $5,000 in the Roth each year, so that makes $64,000 for three years. The big question is will the markets go up enough to make a $35,000 increase in my accounts over three years. Maybe??? An 8% return should just about do it.
•Determine within 3 years if I want to finish my working career at my current job, and if so find a house to live in closer to work. Current commute is 45 minutes, I'd like to be able to cut it to under 20 minutes (I know, wishful dreaming).
•Finish paying off of current mortgage by 50th birthday. With my throwing in an extra ~$250/mo. I should have the house paid for a few months ahead of that date. I bought it in '98, so that is just over 13 years total.
•Wow, sounds like I have a three year plan. With that, after the mortgage is done, buy a new (new to me) car. My current one is getting long in the tooth, hopefully it can last another 2-3 years.

Whew. Sorry, that was a lot of stuff to read. I know its a lot, but if I can do that, I'll be pretty well set. But isn't that was being frugal is all about? Having a life you can enjoy without worries?

Nothing overly thrilling here, just lots of news on how if you keep with the plan, it will work. (You know the plan, saving money and making good investments!)

My reirement accounts are now $15k more than they were at the start of last year's meltdown. Of course since then I have put in $3K at the end of last year, $15K so far this year, and $5K into my Roth IRA, so its not like I am brilliant or anything. But at least I didn't panic and pull money out when the accounts were cratering, as they have all made vary nice rebounds.

My "Trash DRIP" (

Read the details here) is at about $900. I'm not getting rich, but it helps.

I've been finding more and more ways to save and now make money at yard sales. Last week I got a new pair of wonderful work shoes for $5 & I'm wearing them now. But better is buying things I can resell. Some highlights are 3 books I bought for $1/each. Only one has sold online so far, but I got $13 for it. Two weeks ago I bought a DVD TV season set for $2. I put it on half.com and it sold in three days for $15. (DVDs are going extremely cheap at yard sales this year!)

And I rarely go to Walmart, but when I did a month ago I found in a clearance isle some remote control car/airplane batteries & chargers for $1 each (or less!). I bought 4 and tried to sell only two so far. I got $15 combined for those two. I may list another one tonight. And now I have gotten someone to buy (on Craigslist) a large toy train that I was ignoring for the past 5 years (my bad!) that took up too much space even in its box. Of course they're paying me $10 more than I paid for it!

Now actually this money (and other sales profits) has gone towards my hobby purchases I have made this summer, but the net hobby cost (hobby costs less profits from above) this year has been very minimal (Maybe $250 for the whole year?). So this is great - less clutter, more (or better) of what I really want, and more money I can put to retirement or paying off my house (which with accelerated payments is less than 3 years to go). And that's the goal, no mortgage or other debt, then I don't have to worry about the economy or anything else (not that I worry now, but as I was unemployed for a year at one time, I know how things can go bad quickly).

Yes, that is the title of today's front page story in the Washington Post. Of course they understand how it will sound absurd, so in the story they go over the numbers for this family living in their own named house on Long Island Sound. The Post has been doing a number of stories on how the recession has been hitting people around the country, with people ending up in some really bad positions. But wow, this one sure comes at it from the other direction.

A few highlights:
A live-in nanny.
$75,000 in child support.
Her bonus will only be 90% of what it was last year.
She'll only make $50,000 on investments this year.

I don't want to be judgemental, but you can

read about it here!

Ahem, any sympathy?

Here is an interesting article dealing with some people saving too much for retirement.

How much is too much?
While I can feel there can never be too much saved for retirement, it does make the point that you need to enjoy your money a bit, if you have it to enjoy of course. Before I used to think that if I kept saving as I did, once I hit 50 I at least wouldn't feel like I had to be saving more. I would have enough that as long as I wasn't wasteful I would be fine. Now I'm not so sure about that time frame (for the obvious reasons). My home should still be paid off for before I hit 50, so thats good.

Anyway, after saving so hard for a few years, and knowing that I have a solid job now and semi solid savings, I would be happy to splurge a little, but there is so little I want now, and no one to enjoy it with, eh - what am I to do? No crying here, but sheesh, boy do I feel out of sync with society as a whole.

Well, I guess thinking outside of the box can apply to anything, but in this case it applies to my yard sale-ing. I was out yesterday, and stopped at one last spot. I saw a wall display for golf balls. Very nice, cherry, felt backed, but I'm no golfer. Probably a $15 - $20 item. However I have been wondering all summer how I could display those little gumball football helmets I have.

Hey wait a second, the helmets could go in this! I had to convince the woman I wasn't interested in other golfing gear ("you don't want this stuff to clean golf clubs?"), so I told her why I was getting it, which she thought sounded good. I got it home and set up. Turns out it would hold 30 of them, so I put the final two on top. Great display for $1. (BTW, I got most of them at yard sales as well)

And finally I'm vested in the pension plan. I certainly can't retire yet, but its good for 10% of salary at this point, so thats a start!

... and I don't have them very often. (oh, btw, it has nothing to do with the stock market insanity either).

Background: In the past two plus years I have been getting myself knowledgeable about everything financial. I read items on the internet, finance mags, newspapers, and while I am not into day trading or other esoteric things, I am trying to build a solid net for retirement in around 20 years. I really thought I knew everything (or had a decent grasp anyway) of all things dealing with personal finance. I have co-workers that ask me questions now, I know so much on the subjects.

That said, I was... well stunned... by what I read last night. I'm a numbers guy, so it takes something major to get my attention. It was in the latest edition of Money magazine (sorry, no links are avaialable yet, Page 122 - Oct. 2008 issue). It basically describes how if you are retired, have a pension or other source of income that will give you say 25K per year, for every extra dollar you "earn" (and money you withdraw from a retirement plan will be taxed as "earn"ings), your effective tax rate can very easily be 46%. And that is based on current rates, it could go higher! I spend years saving money, and then the gov't takes half! OMG! Not if I have anything to say about it.

OK, I'm calm now. Its a money mag, so what do they recommend? One word - "ROTH"! I fortunately have two old 401k's I can move into a Roth account. There is the tax hit involved, but the more I ruminate this, the more I am convinced that the next year or two I will be setting up some major Roth roll-overs.

Seriously, if you are planning on having any moderately decent retirement, you need to read this.

Well, this past month (or so) I have finally gotten around to selling items on ebay (ok, just 2 things - but still...), had a yard sale, and have sold things through craigslist. Not that I needed to make money, but I couldn't just throw out perfectly good items.

So how did it work out? Well the ebay items had cost me $2.50 and sold for $30, the yard sale brought in over $240 (and maybe 2/3 of that was pure profit from items I got free at CVS/Rite Aid/Walgreens!), and I sold four items (two child toys, desk, and coffee maker) using craigslist for a total of $45 (my cost was $25 for the same items in the past 5 years at yard sales). Total revenue of over $300, and mostly profit. And I am now organized to have another yard sale before winter comes. And some extra space is now free in my house! Now if I could figure out how to sell all these books my wife left with me to make some reasonable money on them.

I guess I am bad though, in that I have probably spent about the same $300 this year on my hobby. Oh well, I guess I have to take the glass is half full view - at least my hobbies cost nothing this year!

I have a pension now. Well technically, I am not vested in my employer's pension plan yet. However I have so much built up vacation time and sick time that can be used towards pension calculations, that if I had to leave for some strange reason today (not bloody likely), I could just get in over the five year requirement for the plan.

I wouldn't get all that much in 20 years (10% of today's salary, which would be worth perhaps half or less of today's money then), but still, it's a start. Add that to SS (whatever that is worth then), and my retirement savings & investments (currently around $150K), and I think it just might work out.

My plan (as of a year and a half ago) is looking like it might happen. I want to hit 50 (4.5 years now) with $250K in retirement accounts & investments (I think I can make this number), my house paid off (should happen when I'm 49), and my pension will be worth 18% of my salary. At that point I won't be financially independent, but with no debt I won't even worry about major bills any more.

OK, maybe I'm bragging, but I worked for this. It wasn't easy.

OK, this is a bit of a re-hash of something I wrote about a few months ago, but hey, why not.

To buy Kelloggs stock online (after your initial purchase into the DRIP), you can only do it by setting up monthly purchases of their stock. To justify the automatic purchase of stock each month I have cut off my monthly garbage pickup (which locally costs $30/Mo.). To do this I have been cutting back on buying junk, composting as much as possible, recycling paper, plastics, and metals, and a week ago I had a yard sale (that's one way to get rid of junk!).

Anyway, since the summer I have been getting Kelloggs' stock each month, and just using money that went into garbage. And the net cost to me has been $0.

... at least for my savings accounts. Of course it really is my fault, so I'm not going around blaming November.

It started last year as I read about one way to maximize the power of your reitrement savings by putting in as much as possible early as possible during the year into your retirement accounts. It also mentioned that in case you felt you couldn't afford it normally that you could change your federal tax withholding so that you paid much less then you normally would earlier in the year, then later in the year when your deductions for retirement are done, you could pay extra taxes to make up for the early part of the year. This way your money worked longer for you and less for uncle sugar.

So I tried it this year, and I am on pace to max out the retirement deductions for the year in mid November. Problem is I now needed to up my withholding for the remainder of the year so I wouldn't get penalized for underwitholding in 2007. So the extra withholding will start in November and those two November paychecks will have both extra taxes taken out (over $800), and the last of my retirement money taken out. I'm happy I did it as my return so far this year is almost 20%.

So in the end it worked out excellently, and will just need to buck it up for November.

Just when you thought it was safe, you find out it isn't.

In this case, it was my assumption of when I signed up for a CD, and they gave me a paper with the rate of interest, that I would get that rate of interest. Silly me. Well I had one of many CDs mature this past week, and didn't think much of it until I put the amount into a spreadsheet and compared the results with other CDs. Then I noticed the numbers looked off, so I did a little checking. This CD got only about 2/3 of the interest it was supposed to. Boy was I surprised. I went to the credit union office (same building where I work), and gave them the original paperwork. 2 days later the correct amount showed up.

Nothing extrordinary there, except the fact that you should always check the numbers. Checkout receipts, and now even the interest you get from the bank.

BTW, the interest I "recovered" was about $40. Certainly worth it.

This may come under the category of "Well duh!", but I try to take something I do (or want to do), and use that tendency to build on other good habits. That is, using psychology in your favor.

Anyway, I have been avoiding a $30/mo. charge for trash pickups by cutting down on trash by recycling and composting, and then taking what little I have (usually a single plastic grocery bag a week) along to the county trash offload station, right near where I work. Its not much work, but sometimes you want to just stop and put it ouside and let someone else deal with it.

So how does psychology help here? Well, I have started a new DRiP (thats a direct re-investment program) and the only way to make investments online is with equal monthly payments from my checking. No optional payments So I have decided to make my trash savings go for this DRiP. I now have a $30 monthly stock purchase, which gives me a reason to keep my trash level down so I don't spend that $30. I have dubbed this my "Trash DRiP". (OK, I like the name anyway!)

I just wanted to enter this little thought for the day (or month in my case). If you're anywhere responsible with credit cards, get the ones that pay you back for your gas purchases. I mean really, why pay more for gas when you don't have to? I started my quest for cheaper gas last July by getting a Chase card that gives me 5% back for gas purchases. Its still my backup card when I don't have better options. I followed that up in September by signing up for a Shell CC. It gave me $40 back on three gas purchases. I ended up getting $70 of gas for $30. After that ran out, I got a Citgo card that gave me 20% back on the purchases. That ran out the end of the year (yeah, the good rates don't last long). Now I am on my new Citgo card (Citgo Plus). It gives me $5 back on every purchase over $15 - basically a 33% back card. This one lasts through the end of March. Next in my sights is a Hess card (10% back) or Chevron (I forget, but I think it was 20% back). Hopefully after that there will be one for Exxon/Mobil or Texaco. And maybe by next year I can start the cycle over again?

I will say having a fuel efficient compact probably helps my expenses more, but I like saving money easily whenever possible.

In my case it seems to be half full, but you can make your own determination. Last week on Tuesday my car broke down on the way to work. In goes the clutch to shift, the clutch stays on floor board. Ohhh boy, what do I do now?

Fortunately I was less than two miles from work, and only had two traffic lights between me and a parking spot. All I needed to do was keep the car moving. As I had been moving when I tried to shift, I was able to force the car into first gear and limp it to work. (I'm sure two miles in first gear really helped my car's MPG!)

I won't get into the towing bill fiasco (an EXTREME aggravation), but after getting the car to the garage I waited at work for the bad news. It turned out not so bad, a $330 bill for it. (ok, still bad, but that dealership is expensive!) But they had been after me to have the timing belt replaced, and after two years I gave in and had it done as well. My total bill was about $1,100. Yeah, a nice Christmas present.

But through it all I wasn't that upset (except for the part of catching a bus, and then riding with a co-worker to work for two days). In the past this would have stressed me something bad, but not this time. Was it due to my Ex not being around? Well that certainly helped. But here is what I think was the big difference.

For the past 6 months I have started making money with the 0% bank transfers using credit cards. And I estimate my earnings through the end of the year to be about $1,000.

So I guess I looked at the situation thusly: Have I lost all my earnings from the 0% efforts this year (glass is half empty), or through some extra easy work was I able to have the money ready to pay a bill that would have happened sooner or later, and not hurt my savings efforts (glass is half full)? I have to think I am seeing it as half full. And while I hate paying that money, it sure is nice to have something that bad happen and not stress about it. In my mind I was prepared for it and the pain was minimal.

Yep, that works for me.

Actually there may come a time I regret passing on it, but I seroiusly doubt it. What is it? Amongst the numerous insurance I could sign up for (well until last Nov. 15 that is) was a group rate on Long Term Care insurance. As I was cleaning my desk today I came across the paperwork, and saw the numbers, and thought "would it have been worth it?"

*** Long winded math analysis ahead ***

Math nerd that I am, I decided to see if I could determine if it was a good buy. There were a number of plans, but to make it simple I went with the numbers from the $100/day benefit plan. I assumed a 10% return if I invested the money versus giving it to the insurance company. My idea was to input all the monthly payments into a spreadsheet, work the average interest and see when I would get to a point where the amount could give me a return of $100 / day.

As I did the numbers for my age, I came up with I would need to get to almost 100 before the premiums could earn that type of money, so I realized something was wrong. Insurance companies are in the business of making money, not giving it away.

Away I went back to the paperwork. Ah ha. Some very important points I missed.

#1) You need to be fully employed, or you are dropped from this plan (this means it won't help you in retirement - the most likely scenario for needing this).

#2) The max benefit was for three years, not unlimited. (That means $109,500 is the max) OK, back to the spreadsheet. Hmmmm, I didn't hit that total until I was 84. Again, while this seemed more realistic, I must be missing something.

#3) After a return to the paperwork, I noticed a very, very important piece of info. While the max benefit is for 3 years, that only holds true if you need it when you are under 62. Each year you get older, the period shrinks until you are 69, and you get only 12 months of payments. So that is I would get max of $36,500. When would I hit those payments & interest to the insurance company? About when I hit 69.

#4) There is more (no surprise). Payments are at most 60% of earnings (that wouldn't effect me much), payments will be reduced if you get workman's compensation, early employer retirement plans, ... (and the list goes on and on).

So would it be worth it? Certainly not if I was disabled after I was 69. Well, I could get hurt before then. What about that situation? I can see four most likely scenarios. Car accident (car insurance would give me more than $36K easily for a major injury), accident at home (health insurance will pay some, but I would be behind for a while), accident other locations (most places will have insurance or be liable), or illness (extremely unlikely if you keep yourself in shape).

Sorry to bore you with this, but unless you don't take care of yourself, have a known family problem, are reckless, or have a ton of people dependent on you, I don't see how this makes any sense. Yeah, you could need it, but the odds of it are so small, and insurance companies are so good at finding reasons not to pay in any case. My employer was making this out to be a great thing. I think not. I'll put the money into investments and self insure myself.

If anyone has read here before, you might have caught how I was getting money from credit cards at their 0% promo rates, and investing the money. Well that is still going on for me, and doing well (almost $200 a month). About a month ago I got another card, and I called to transfer credit lines from other cards that had been sitting around and quietly had their credit lines increased.

With this card could you not only do a credit card balance transfer at 0%, but you could get a check sent to you as well. There was a 3% fee tacked on, but still, if you get the numbers large enough, the difference between CD rates and 3% is worth the trouble. (That plus I think I was bored and missing the thrill of getting money for free that week.) So I got the check sent to me, and as I was finishing the representative on the phone asked if I would like to tranfer balances from other credit cards. I said no, not with the transfer fee (remember, 3%, no max). I was told I could transfer the same amount I had already done, and do it with no transfer fee at all. After thinking for a minute, I realized I had a card coming due next April, and with this new card the money would not be due until Dec. 2007. OK, 8 extra months of the money for no cost. Yep, that sounded good to me!

After this latest transfer all the money I have from the credit cards (except for a few thousand) is now due next December 2007 at the earliest, and some not until mid 2008. The best short term rate I can get is 5.5%, which is doing good for me.

As a follow up, I just got another one (card that is), not for tranferring money, but for another $100 sign up bonus. Ok, maybe I am crazy with this stuff, but free money with little to no work involved is just too sexy to pass up.

Dang, its been a while since I posted anything. Of course I have excuses By the way, instead of splitting all these stories up, I left them all in here. So this is a loooong post.

My computer died on me about a month ago and I have been trying to restore my system. I have everything working but my wireless router connection Hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Rant #1) I will never, and I do mean never, buy anything from Tiger Direct again. My old computer was from them and it had more problems than I could believe. I would fix one thing from them, and others would start. And previously I bought a computer from them, only to find out they sent me the wrong parts (the CPU wouldn't work with the sent motherboard - even though it was a package deal!). When I called, the rep even said that yes, they knew they sent the wrong CPU. I didn't ask why they didn't contact me, that instead I had to spend a month researching the problem before I realized it was their fault. I'm a patient customer, but thats it with them. No more.

Rant #2) I got to read an article in the paper today that I was stunned to read. In the business section, this person said it was ok to tithe at your church before paying your debts, even if you are in bankruptcy. Click here to read. Now I am no fan of credit companies, but if I was owed money and instead the money was being sent to a church and they couldn't pay me, you might actually see the steam coming off my head. Some people may disagree, but I see that article as worse then irresponsible. Unreal.

Rant #3) I bought my new computer at Circuit City. While there a nice guy helped me with some questions I had about this computer, and after he headed off to do some stocking, I decided to get the computer. As I couldn't find him again, I caught some other guy, and yes, he could do my order. Seems this one was the manager of the store. As we're going through this he asks if I decided on the extended warranty. "Oh I don't know, what is it?" Now I knew I wasn't going to get it, but I thought I should hear it out anyway, just in case. Well this guy was surprised I didn't know about it, and went through the details, giving me lots of reasons, and even antecdotes of why it was the best thing ever to do. I declined (multiple times!), and at different times the guy was muttering how he was upset the other salesman didn't bring up the warranty and that he would have to talk with him. If I wasn't in a bad need to get the computer I would have walked out then and there. Its bad enough how pushy they ask salesmen to be about those things, but to go on how he would have to deal with the salesman in front of a customer, that was just plain stupid. Triple Ugh.

Found Money #1) I was checking my online credit card bill, and saw I had over $40 in cash back, which surprised me, as it should have been less than $10. After checking the numbers, I realized it was from my computer purchase. Discover has quarterly specials where buying from certain retailers would give you 5% back. Well I signed up and forgot, figuring I would never go to those stores. Well one was Circuit City, and thats where I got the computer from. So good for me!

Found Money #2) I found out last week that for the branch christmas party there will be a gift exchange where the presents should be $20-$25. I'm not a big fan of doing this, but it makes other people happy, so ok I suppose. Well I was out seeing if there were yard sales yesterday, and I found only two. But one had a nice item, still in the original plastic wrap, and I got it for a dollar. I thought I could use it for the swap, and last night I checked the only store it sells at, and it goes for $20. Score! (ok, not found money, but it avoids spending money, so it works for me)

Found Money #3) I stopped at the book store last night. When I drove up I could have sworn I saw a shiny dot as I went in to park. I got out and didn't see anything at first, but then I saw it. A quarter right next to my tire. That plus some pennies found in the store and shoot, there's money everywhere!

Frugal doesn't always work) While at the book store I went to use a free coffee coupon I had been sent. I'm not a coffee drinker, but after talking at the register I found I could only use it on coffee or tea (not hot chocolate - damn). Well I thought lets try the coffee. How bad could it be? Ugh. It was a cappachino, and I could only take a few sips before I gave up. When I got home I drank some fruit drink then used mouthwash to get the taste out of my mouth. I think that will be my last coffee for the next decade.

Why do they send me this stuff?) If anyone remembers, I like to get credit cards so I can get start up rewards, or 0% money for investing. Well I keep getting these preapproved stuff from different companies, especially now from Capital One. I guess pre-approved means I am breathing, because I sure am not approved. I applied to Capital One, and got a letter back saying I wasn't approved, and gave a list of reasons why. I'm not complaining, its their money. The reasons probably make sense to them, but come'on, why are you sending this junk out if you're just going to reject me anyway? Stuff like this is why I don't have much sympathy for credit card companies. Dumb, dumb, and dumber.

More found Furniture) During yesterday's yard sale travel I came across one of those fibre-board with fake wook laminate shelving system left outside. You know, the type with four shelves that sell at Wal-Mart for maybe $50. It was too large for fit in my hatchback, but then I realized I could take it apart and I could fit the pieces in. (Get out the tools time) It was in great shape (almost new) and the people even had left the extra hardware inside in a bag. While taking it apart the person came out and we started talking some. Then she offered me a matching unit if I would come back in a few weeks. She was very happy someone would take them, and gave me her name and number. Hey, that works for me.

Ok, let me start with the item that most people like to read about, then we will get to the more ... ummmm... interesting stuff. interesting ... yeah, thats a good word for it

I stopped at a gocery store on the way home. It was due to an offer to get $12 off of 8 boxes of cereal + an $8 coupon off a future purchase. I made sure I had coupons for 8 boxes of the stuff (general mills), and stopped there tonight. My total for the 8 boxes I got (including the $8 coupon I received, plus another $0.75 as cash back on my 5% cash back credit card) came in at just under $5. I think the original prices would have totalled around $30 for the group. Not shabby, though as a single guy I have enough cereal to last me two months now.

In other news, I went to the local branch of the credit union where I cashed my inheritance checks to get some cash. I previously had tried to do an online transfer of that money to a bank to get a high interest rate, but something got mucked up. So the money had just been sitting there. They were supposed to be looking into the problem, but nothing yet. In any case, when I arrived today I spotted a new CD offer for 9 months at a rate better than what I was going to get online. Finally, luck turned to my favor. I quickly set up the money that had been stranded into CDs with the CU. Big plus for me.

And finally: Money I got from a 0% cash advance from a new credit card arrived in my checking account today, so I called that credit union (its a different one than the one listed above), and set that money up into CDs for 12 months. The 0% offer lasts til the end of 2007, so that money is now off working for me for a year. Yeah, I know some people don't like doing this, they feel its risky. Perhaps, if you aren't organized or undisciplined, but thats not me. I have spreadsheets set up with my CCs status, along with where my money is, and what its earning. At the beginning of the year I had maybe $6k in CDs, and another $9k in various savings accounts. Now I have enough money working for me in CDs and savings that my calculations show I am getting over $10/day. Ok, it won't make me rich overnight, but the earnings are going into buying more DRIPs and ya gotta luv that.

I haven't been blogging since nothing much thrilling has been going on. Some little news and notes:
Yard sales are still going strong, even with much cooler temps. In fact there have been more lately, though I can't figure out why. Got lots of kids clothes for friends for almost nothing. Got lots of soap, again for nothing or close to it. Not much for me, but maybe that means I don't need anything any more.My credit union is giving me problems now. I'm trying to transfer money to my new online banking account, but nothing is transfering, not even the trial deposits. Everything has been verified, but nothing. Now they are down for the weekend upgrading their computer system. Hoepfully this will get resolved soon And now for my rant on stupid financial articles. I just finished an article saying how it is hard to determine your retirement expenses. Ok, nothing new, but the examples are dumb. First one retired at 51 and has been going cross country visiting friends for 9 years (as well as entertaining them when they visit), and now her expenses (taxes, insurance, health care) are too much. "Hey, lets retire young, and then spend my time traveling. Yeah, that should work, and cost nothing." Ugh. Another one retired at 44 years old nineteen years ago, and now taxes are too high for him. Oh gee, you think he might have retired a tad bit too early? And taxes never increase, right? Duh. And the last one retired at 65, but decied to buy a condo after renting for 10 years. She says now she forgot about the expenses of owning a home. Sigh. Actually its not the worst article in the world, here it is if you want to read it: Click hereOh, and the last payment to my ex wife for the divorce settlement went out today. Now I can put serious money into my investments - well I guess thats good news at least.

And no, I don't mean comics (sorry to disappoint anyone). I was reading the mail after coming home, and in it was an advertisment for how to use the bonus points on one of my credit cards. I actually do use this one for purchases (rather than 0% Bank transfers). I do so because I get 5% (or actually 5 points per dollar) at gas, grocery, and drug stores. With my purchases that qualify for the 5% cash back, I figure I can get $100 back in about a year and a half.

Anyway, I would normally get cash for the points, rather than their over-priced items. For cash, it comes in at $100 cash back for 10,000 points or $50 for 6,000 points (booooo!). Actually this didn't surprise me. But right below it was the funny part. There is a section for using your points towards paying off your mortgage with the company (it is Chase Manhattan). To get a $100 reduction on a mortgage payment with them, it will put you back 11,000 points. I think I read that 5 times. I just *had* to be misreading that. But no, that is what it says. In effect it will cost you more to use your points to pay down your mortgage with them, than it would to get the cash, and then use it to pay your mortgage. Who in their right mind would do that????

I suspect though that there are people out there that would do it. Actually I can think of a few acquaintences that might do it. Oh well, I just have to put it down to one of my philosophies, that there should be a stupid tax, and this qualifies as just that.

Just a few thoughts before I talk about the water bill.

I've been reading some personal finance bloggers and some talk about they feel bad sometimes in that they can't get everything they want, and how savings is a drag. They talk about seeing things on TV, and wanting them badly, but stopping themselves. Well here's a thought: save money, don't pay for cable, and watch less! You'll see less commercials, want less, and live a better life. Duh. I guess you gotta give them credit for working on their finances while torturing themselves by seeing all those commercials. I think the behavior is dumb, but then again I've never been considered one to run with the majority.

I set up my latest online banking with E-Loan today. 5.5% interest, not toooooo shabby. One of these days I may hit the point where I have too many accounts to track, but I haven't seen it yet!

The dresser I rescued a few weeks ago is now finished and in service. Not perfect, though you would have to look close to notice the problems. That's the problem when you have made furniture - you notice flaws others wouldn't care about.

Finally, I got my water bill for the third quarter yesterday. I'm certainly not complaining, it was only $20.50. Now I do try to not be wasteful, but its not like I don't use water. Anyhow, with the bill was the company propaganda, including a rate hike for next year. It comes out to about a 3% increase, and I certainly can't complain about that. The interesting part was they described how this would effect an "average" consumer's bill. I am guessing a consumer means a single household. Based on the numbers I back-tracked and worked out the average usage. It is 8 times what mine was! Now my bill was for two people, but you gotta figure the average household is around 4 people. What does this average family do to use 4 times what I do per person? BTW, that average bill would be $125! You mean a lot of homes pay more than this??? Maybe this isn't earth-shattering, but it sure was surprising to me when I ran the numbers.

Not the best title here, but who cares. OK, my last post brought up the question of what my DRIPs are. Instead of answering in the responses, I thought this deserved a lil post.

For some background ... there are different ways to look at investing, and getting the most bang for the buck. For the micro investor, its really hard to have a good plan. It turns out I have had a little plan in my mind, even if not really thought out. Maybe a week ago I read someone who was proposing that investing for yourself (preferably through DRIPs) would be the most cost effective for large cap companies, whereas mutual funds would be better for everything else (small cap, foreign, REITs, etc...) This is due to the cost of research and knowing what you are buying. For the little investor, it probably makes sense to stick with larger companies you know.

While I hadn't looked at it that way, that has been pretty much my strategy. I figure I can invest myself in the large companies, do it on the cheap, so even if my return isn't quite up to snuff, when you figure I don't pay any maintenance fees, I should come out ahead of most any large cap fund returns. I let my 457 plan get full of small cap growth funds, and international funds, and hope the managers know better than me what they are doing.

So, with that said, here is a high level view of what I have (Drip - Market Category):

Dominion Resources - An energy utility
Aqua America - A water utility
Disney - Entertainment
Home Depot - Durable Goods (I think)
Heinz - Food

Well thats the list, and they don't total $10k yet, so I'm no tycoon. I have been trying to diversify, looking for stocks with a good record of dividends in different market sectors. Its hard to do without tons of money.

Anyhow, banking is another area I wanted to start in, and Bank of America has good dividend rates, and most analysts are high on it right now. Some other companies (areas) I have wanted to get started in (at the right price) include Pfizer(pharmaceuticals), Johnson & Johnson (consumables?), Anheuser Busch (Food & Entertainment), Norfolk Southern or BNSF (Transportation).

One area you might notice isn't included is defense industry. That looks like a good area for now, but may falter down the road. But in any case, thats not why its missing. I have an old 401k from when I worked for a company bought out by a defense contractor, and their stock fund became a defense contractor stock fund. So it holds about $6k in their stock, and I am using it as a pseudo DRIP right now for defense stocks. Therefore I consider that area covered.

Some other notes here. J&J won't let you start a DRIP without already owning their stock (as well as Coke), so for now I have passed on trying to start DRIPs with them. Down the road... perhaps.

OK, any ideas here?

A while back I mentioned that I might be getting a small inheritance in the near future. Well my relation decided to give some of the money out while she was alive and I picked it up this weekend. It was a little more than I expected, but nothing huge. Still, its nothing to sneeze at.

So it leaves me with the question of what to do with it. Some plans competing in my mind have been:Fully fund a Roth IRA for this year - This is one I know I should do - but who should I set one up with?Buy some new DRIPs - Bank of America has been in my sights as a new one to startSet up new CDs - There is a new online bank (ELoan) that has 5.75% CDs available for one year. While its a good rate, the min requirement would swallow my whole windfall, and there would go my Roth IRA for 2006. They do have a savings rate of 5.50%, so maybe I can split the difference?Up my 457 retirement savings to the max for the year - I could do it, but that would mean my take home pay for the rest of the year would be some ridiculously small amountBuy a lightly used car - ok anyone believing that one should go to the back of the class

Right now I'm leaning towards the Roth / Online Savings split, with leftovers going toward setting up a new DRIP. At the moment there is a hold on the check until next week, so I have the weekend to decide. And sorry if it sounds like bragging, but this is the first windfall I have gotten since .... well ... forever.

Today I took my recycling along with me on my way to work. Also took two small bags of garbage that were left by my renter (he moved out yesterday). I don't know what he was doing, but he filled up by himself two big bins just full of bottles, and they could barely hold them all. Doing this and not paying for garbage pickup saves me $30 a month.

Anyway, thats not what "paid" me today (although it is a help in the finances). The smaller of the two garbage bags I took seemed extra heavy, and I couldn't understand how it could weigh so much. It was a tied up grocery bag, and it looked like there were papers inside. So, I thought... "Why don't I open the bag and put the papers in with the recycling?". (See, I am a good person sometimes) At the next light I untied the bag and pulled out a number of apartment guides he had been using. Then I noticed a zip-loc bag at the bottom. I picked it out and it was full of coins! No wonder the bag was heavy.

Apparently he kept the coins in case he travelled toll roads or went through tunnels (He was going through Baltimore). This bag had coins, and not that many pennies either! At work I took the coins out and counted. It came up to $8.73 I'm not going to get rich with them, but hey, it was certainly worth the trouble.

So you never know. Recycling can come up with furniture for the house (see my last post), or even coins of the realm.

Hmmmm, spending the weekend out of town was tiring but worth it. Of course, what does this have to do with finance? Not much, except for tracking gas prices as I made a 200 mile round trip. I didn't quite know what to think. I found gas prices where I was staying about 25 cents less than at home (it was 2.79 when I left), so I filled up when I started back on Sunday. OK, that was only 4 gallons, but I thought it would be worth it. Ooops. As I travelled, the prices kept getting less and less. First 2.49, then 2 miles later 2.43. About 10 miles later I saw 2.39. Finally at the half way point (say 45 miles) I saw one station at 2.25. After that the numbers zoomed back up to hit 2.75 near my house. As I drive a 35 MPG hatchback, I'm not too concerned about getting the absolute lowest price, but wow, those numbers were all over the place. Next time I make that trip I will pay more attention to the prices on the way there.

Today I got my Shell gas card. Real low limit for purchases, not that I care. I just want to get that $40 back after 3 purchases. With prices dropping, the gas is going to be mucho cheaper.

(Warning: serious sarcasm ahead) And my last item (and only other item in the mail box) is an "offer" for a "smart banking package". FYI, this offer is from HSBC. Lets see, what all does it offer? Interest checking is highlighted. Of course to avoid monthly fees you need to have direct deposit, and have at least $3000 deposited. OK, not terrible, though not appealing. Sooo, reading the fine print, what is the current rate with the checking account? An APY of 0.15%. That's right, if I were to deposit, ummmm $10,000, I would be able to get $15 after one whole year!!!. I could get a whole half tank of gas! Who needs those silly 6% CDs when you can get rates like that? Then it mentions you can have free internet banking with Bill Pay. But in the fine print it states that this service is free to all HSBC customers. Well, that certainly makes this offer sound appealing. It comes with other things like home equity line, which according to their own numbers would cost from 8% to 10%. Be still my heart. Oh, and to top it off, it comes with a free debit card - truly stunning. LOL. Even the one thing that sorta sounds appealing - one free night for two at a Marriot hotel has a serious flaw. Reading the fine print shows that they will report the cost of the hotel room on an IRS form 1099. After you pay taxes based on the "no discount" rate, it will cost little less than getting the room at discount. Sheesh. Seriously, this might have been a decent offer 10 - 20 years ago, but come on guys, this is 2006. (On second thought, I wouldn't have been impressed 20 years ago either.)

Warning: A bit of bragging here.

As the title says, the check has been deposited. What check? Oh right. That is, a check with cash from my credit card at 0% through my March 2008 statement (a balance transfer to another CC). A $6k amount I should be able to set up with a CD at 5.35%. Yumm, another $25+/mo. free cash.

My latest credit card endeavour is from Shell gas, where I am supposed to get $40 back if I make 3 fill ups in 2 months. If I only do the three purchases, that is $13 off a tank of gas. I normally do 3 tanks every 5 weeks, so no problem there. If I get this card (I'm waiting to hear from them), with prices of gas dropping, a fill-up for my hatchback is currently about $30, so I could fill up 3 times for a net of $17 each time. Yep, that sounds like a winner to me.

What is the saying? "Nothing is constant but change?" Something like that anyway.

While I wait for the hurricane to blow through, I get to consider what I am going to do starting next month. Why? Because my finances are going to be getting an extreme makeover. OK, that's a lil extreme, but there will be changes, and I need to consider what I am going to do, if anything.

What's up? Here is the list:
My renter (a room) is moving out by the end of September. There goes $475/mo.My earnings from 0% bank transfers should hit $180/mo. (3 months ago it was $0)I should be getting a raise of around $100/mo.My payments to my ex wife end in October. That will free up $1,000/mo.With the renter gone, the utilities will probably drop $25-$40/mo.

Ok, that looks like it for now. Overall its a positive (~$800/mo.), but having my renter leave will cut back on the gains I was hoping to start in November. I could get a new renter, and may very well do that, but I am not in the tight situation I was in when he moved in about 18 months ago. But if I am going to start dating again, would having the house to myself be better than having that extra $500/mo.? I dunno. Its no rush, but dang I got lots to think about this weekend.