Single Guy High Impact Saving

... with a couple of "your milage may vary" warnings thrown in. If you're the type that is diligent in paying off your credit cards so you don't pay fees, here is one that could be for you.

http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/exmbl/promo8.htm

It gives you 30 cents back in rebates per gallon (only for 2 months!). This was obviously set up while gas prices were high, but they are still honoring this offer now that prices have dropped. I signed up and now my net cost for gas this holiday will come in around $1.50 or so a gallon. Not too shabby!

Of course if you don't pay your bills right away, or just hate credit cards, then pass on this. Otherwise, hey, save some money! With my planned driving this December/January, I figure to save over $100. This I can like!

I know its always easy to criticize people and their spending, but really, how can some people not have a lot of money saved up? The local newspaper have this series where they are trying to get people out of debt. The current group are military folks, but this one couple, sheesh. They are making, according to the article, around $16,000 per month, but have terrible credit card bills, tax bills, etc... I have to give them credit for what they do for a living, and putting themselves up for scrutiny, but really!!!

No, not MTV (for those that remember the song), but DTV, Digital Television. If you're crazy like me, and I don't have any cable or satellite service, you need to pick up a digital signal TV converter box. And of course you need to get the $40 vouchers for buying the darn little things.

I picked up one last night, and installed it on my TV. Well I found out you need a fairly good signal (though not great) to get digital TV. Turns out only 1 of 4 local network signals were strong enough, as well a 1 of the other 7 local channels (actually I think only 4 of them even have a DTV signal yet). It was certainly interesting. The two channels I did get were either crystal clear, or on occassion were pixelated (like when you lose a satellite signal). Even with that problem, the picture upgrade was amazing. Now if I can only figure out the right setting on the antenna to get the other channels...

Anywho, if you haven't gotten them yet, you need to go online and order the DTV vouchers. My converter box cost just $10 when I used one.

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.

... I read article like this...

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/the-65-mpg-car-ford-won't-sell-in-us.aspx

I'm not in the market for a new car, mine does just fine at 36MPG. But jeeze, if I was looking for a new car, I would have to wonder what the people in charge at these companies use for brains.

Its not like this is some car they hope to make, they're making it ... NOW ... and yet they refuse to sell it.

I'm sorry, I know they're dumb, but some days I still get surprised by it all.

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!

and they were more impressive than I could have imagined.

Due to various life issues I have been concentrating on work, dealing with life problems, and saving money. Not fun, but there are times you gotta do what you gotta do. Anywho, this summer I have tried to see how far I could go without a/c, without a major heat stroke, or something similar. Not something I would want to do every year, but since there have been lots of days I have come home late, been gone weekends, and so on, well... it seemed like the time to do it. I have CFLs through the house, I use no a/c while I am at work or away, and use window a/c units upstairs only as I feel the need. In the swampy DC area that can be alot of the time! And just for reference, I have a four bedroom house.

Starting this summer, the May bill was $19, a very surprising (low) bill. My June bill almost doubled to $29. The July bill came in at a staggering $35. (ok, extreme sarcasm there in case you missed it) I was really surprised how low I could get the bills, as is my co-worker when I show him the bills. The last few days have been cool at night, so I have been able to go with a window fan which should help as well. I guess this shows you can really save money on electricity if you try - not that I want to do this every year, but its nice to know it can be done.

So what have I done with the money I am saving? Buying more stock in my local electric company (of course!). I don't have a ton of their stock, but based on this usage, and the current dividend rate, my yearly dividend covers about 40% of my yearly usage. I'm working my way toward financial freedom.

Added the next day: Wouldn't you know the next electric bill was waiting for me at home. The mid-July to mid August bill was $46. I think I made it through the summer! I figure the temps should start dropping in a week or two.

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.

Not that I am wishing for or happy about a slow economy, but sometimes good things can come from the strangest places. And for me, it was almost like a Christmas present last Friday.

This actually starts a decade ago when I bought my home. I got a good price for a 1960 home that needed some repairs and upgrades. I figured I could do it as time permitted. Anyway, the house came with what turned out to something I never got rid of. A dead natural gas fueled air conditioner. I didn't know if it worked when I bought the house, and it turned out it didn't. I disconnected the gas and electricity to it, but it was sooooo heavy, there was no way I could remove it. So it stayed there and rusted. I tried to dismantle it, and was partly successful, but the main unit was still too heavy. I figured I would need to pay someone $100 or more to get it out of there, but I just didn't get to it.

Fast forward to Friday, and I get a knock at the door after work. The man tells me he saw the rusting unit out back and asked if he could remove it. I asked what he charging for it, and he told me no charge - he was taking it for scrap metal. He and his crew of two helpers did house repairs (roofs, siding, etc...) and now that work was hard to come by, they were on the lookout for anyone with scrap metal that they could remove and salvage for scrap metal recycling.

I'm standing there thinking "ok keep a straight face, don't look too happy". "Umm, sure, that would be fine." Boy were they shocked when they tried to move it. I had to wonder if they were ever going to get it out, but I was determined they would get that outta there! So I pulled out from the garage a heavy duty dolly, and they used that to get it to their flat bed they were towing about. They were nice, and tried to be ok moving it, but they made a bit of a mess out back. I'm not complaining, it was well worth the trade, and it certainly can be cleaned up.

And here I thought those strangers knocking on my door were always a nuisance. Not so! (I still can't believe its gone.)

Actually this is hardly anything new to most people reading these finance blogs, but I thought this was funny/amusing/sad (take your pick). I had this thought before, but dealing with the sharp cold snap here on the east coast, it brought it back to mind.

This past summer I was visiting relatives up north, and since I had a free Saturday morning with my son, I decided to travel about with him and check out the yard sales. Nothing extrordinary there, we picked up some items at good prices, at some places they wanted way too much and left. My total expense was probably $15. Odd part was there were two places, many miles apart, that each had a sign up saying they were selling items so they could pay their heating bills this fall.

You know, there are people who would feel so sad for people in such a situation, and its certainly isn't funny. That said, as I stood at each place, looking at table after table after table of - I'll be kind and call it junk - I wasn't sad for them. The only thing in my mind was to ask them if they could be that stupid. "You don't have money? Well, duh, take a look about, here's your money. Don't buy half of this and you would have enough to pay multiple winter heating bills."

I knew better and kept my mouth shut, but jeeze, no wonder some folks don't have money. They do it to themselves.

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.

Well this has to do with finances only in a round about way... but in any case, I will post it here.

If you live where you have a clothes washer without any water overflow drainage next to it (or even if you do), you may want to consider turning off the water before any long (or even short) trips.

I came home late Friday from work and found the water hose burst sometime during the day and half the first floor was flooded. The burst was on the top of the hose, so water was spraying upwards into shelving full of things, including some cardboard storage boxes, so the mess was imense. Obviously this wasn't a trip, but I can only imagine if this had happened while I was away for a week (as I have done twice this summer). Using a carpet water vac, moving furniture, ripping up carpet - oh yeah, this weekend was fun.

(Finance note: I needed to clean up as fast as possible, otherwise there could be damage to the house and then the cost would sky rocket)

One thing of note. Some time back I was thinking about something like this happening, so I had the water turned on just enough that the tub could fill properly. So I only needed to make a quarter turn to turn off the water. What would have happened if the water was on full blast??? Lets just say I don't want to go there.

... 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.

Since I wrote my prior message, I figured I should go over some things I do to save on electric usage. Soooo, here goes...
Use power strips with instant on items like TVs and computers.
I use window AC units and only cool the rooms I will be using. I mostly use them upstairs and let the cooler air drift downward
Use CFL bulbs through most of the house. I still have some incandescent, but I using them until they run out.
I run my clocks on batteries - OK, not a big saver, but it just happens that is what I have
When I am away I make sure everything is off except the fridge, even work days.
As I use my stove maybe once a week, I turn off the gas pilot light. Saves on gas, and electricity to cool as well.
I have no dryer, but use a rack to dry my clothes.
I have grown shade trees in useful locations around the house. Shade trees can really help with cooling costs
I rarely if ever watch TV - ok that may not work for a lot of people, but I use the internet almost exclusively now.
In the summer I let my gas water heater set on "Vacation". Since I use little water, it heats it more than hot enough. And as it heats less, I pay less to cool the house as well.
When I bought the house I insulated the walls and attic, and replaced the decades old windows with double paned argon filled window inserts. Doing it myself save me tons of money.
When I re-roofed the house, I got light colored shingles. I'm not sure how much that saves, but its got to be some.
That's all I can think of. I really do believe the window AC units are where I save the most money. Try some of these, and the savings will appear.

... but until the price to add solar to a house is more economical, I think I will work on keeping my electric usage reasonable.

After looking at this summer's electric bills, the thought above came to mind. Not that I am complaining about my bills, its just that if people use some sensible techniques, your electric bill can really be small. I have a 4 bedroom house in the DC area, so summer can be hot and damp. The summer wasn't awful, but it wasn't cool either. With that said, here are my bills for June-July, July-Aug, and Aug-Sep (mid month to mid month) - $42, $42, $37. I used AC as I needed it, quite often over night. Still, the usage was minimal.

Anyhow, I thought I would brag about that for a minute. If you want to see what I have done to allow this type of usage, check some of my older entries. If you have questions, just ask.

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!)

Lately I have been amazed at how its now possible to not only get an item for free (free coupon or free after rebate), but now if you do things right you can get paid for buying something.

With that said, I have my entry for best payment for buying something.

There were coupons and mail in rebates for the new Aleve gel-caps in the paper a few weeks ago, and now Rite-Aid has a free after rebate offer as well. As Rite-Aid doesn't require you to use the receipts, I can apply for both rebates. Plus there was a $2 coupon!

Here is the final calculation on my Aleve buy:
Purchase Cost: $3.99
Rite Aid Rebate: -$3.99
Mail-In Rebate: -$3.99
Coupon use: -$2.00
Submit for flexible spending account. Save taxes at 25% marginal rate: -$1.00
Postage to mail in rebate: $0.39
5% cash back with credit card usage: -$0.20

Cost to buy: -$6.80

The mail in rebate may only give $1.99, though the text on the form didn't indicate it. Even so, this is a great deal. Of course I don't need this stuff, so its going to be a gift to my mother when I visit in a few weeks. Another plus.

If you're reading this it may be too late, but I was just at my local Wal-Mart (ok, I rarely go there, but I had a reason) hoping that they would mark the Easter items down from 50% off to 75% off. Well they had just done that maybe an hour before I got there. I was able to pick up a decent amount of candy and toys. Yep, they have those big baskets with toys in them for kids. I picked up three of them, one for this year, and two for next year.

My kid & I are gonna have a blast with the small slot-car race track I was able to get for $5. Anywho, if you're near a Wal-Mart you might want to go there today and see if they've lowered the prices and if anything is left.

Just a few random ideas & observations on how to extra frugal. This is another of my sorta long posts. As always YMMV.

Idea #1) Always look for multiple ways to get a benefit from something. My latest example: I wanted to use coupons (from a mail promotion + doing a survey for what I thought of their store) to buy some cat food. It was on sale, and I had two children staying with me last weekend. I went while the kids were here and spent a long time (close to an hour)going around to all the animals they had - it was like going to a mini-zoo for them. I then bought the food, which was on sale. After sale and coupons, the 10 lb. bag dropped from $19 down to $7. (yeah, it was the expensive type).

Idea #2) Don't be afraid to try and be super frugal, especially if you live by yourself. There was lots of ice & snow built up the past week. I used my buckets and a hammer and filled them up with ice, and after they melted I have been using them to fill the toilets. OK, that may sound nuts, but my last 3 month water and sewage bill was $10. How many people can claim a $3/mo. water bill?

Idea #3) I'm finding more of these survey requests attached to receipts. I have done them now for Burger King (Free chicken sandwich with drink & fries purchase), Pet Smart ($3 off any purchase), and JCPenny (15% off any purchase). OK, I don't shop much, but sheesh, it is getting easy to get things for much less (see my last post on getting gasoline cheap).

Idea #4) Getting items free after rebate is just amazing, even after I have done it so often. The past weekend I bought enough shampoo to last me for a year, and I should get all the money I spent back, plus some extra (I had a coupon for the stuff too!).

Idea #5) Finally, I have been reading ideas for college students to save money, so here is one of my own. One idea I never see is for the kids to learn to dry their wash in their room, instead of paying to use the clothes dryers. When I went to college, the washers didn't cost much, but the dryers sure did, and they were usually busier than the washers! I took to school a small drying rack I stored under my bed (thanks, grandma), and I also strung up a line I could take down quickly from one corner of the room to another. This saved me about $2/week. OK, it doesn't make you rich, but you should be there to learn, not go out and party. And I had very little money, so that extra really helped.

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.

To avoid another entry talking about my 0% bank transfers (actually there is no news), here is some odd places I have found coupons in the past two months.

I took my dog for a walk before Christmas and saw an envelope that a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon normally came in. On a lark I reached down and opened it expecting nothing inside. It was wet, and stepped on, but the coupon was still inside. I took it home, dried it and took it to the store, and they accepted it no problem. Extra free Christmas clothes for me.

Last week I was entering a store where I was going to use some coupons for free items, and I saw one of those insta-print coupons you get at the registers. I picked it up, hoping it was for something I liked. I was surprised by a $2 off any purchase coupon. I definitely used that one right away.

And for high impact saving, I did better than getting items for free - I got paid to get items for free. Early in January there were a few get "item for free" coupons in the Sunday insert section. After using them, I checked the recycling center for more. In the three weeks since then I visited 5 times and came away with 11 unused inserts. On a lark I checked the Rite-Aid site where you can get rebates online. Well one item I could get for free had a $2 rebate in both January and February. It was a max of 2 rebates each month. So I am getting $8 in rebates. I had extra coupons, so I bought more there and then applied for rebates for my grandmother and a friend. Now thats what I like, coupons that I can make money with.

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.

... or an idea single frugal guys should consider.

Based on my comment at the beginning of the month, I started the month with an unobtainable goal - no food expenses for the month. Of course I knew the food cost something, even if bought before the month, but I was looking to spend nothing new for the month.

It didn't last long, nor did I expect it to. I finally went to the store Thursday (the 14th) and spent $20, a little under what I used to spend weekly. The effect seemed to be I was able to do without one week's worth of grocery shopping.

OK, so what did I learn? Actually a number of things. As someone that tries to buy when on sale, sometimes things are put away and forgotten. No surprise, but my effort to do without groceries forced me to dig into things I had forgotten, and now wouldn't go to waste. Like the frozen loaf of bread I forgot I had. And the iced tea mix. Certain canned veggies. I even used the noodles from Ramen noodle packages my ex-renter left as noodle filler to help my pasta mixes go farther (I use them for lunches). While it wasn't a ton of food used, I am happy to use them when they may have just gone to waste.

Well, as I still have a lot of food that should be eaten and is sitting in the back of cabinets, I am thinking of making this a monthly event. Instead of buying food once every week, one time each month I will now try to go two weeks between store visits and force myself to dig into the back of cabinets and use what is there.

Save money and be less wasteful. Now that sounds like a plan.

Also, this can be subtitled "or how I got tipjacked." Trust me, that does make sense, you just need to hear the whole story.

Last night, in the near hurricane winds of a cold front moving through (think 30 mph winds with below freezing temps), I went on a dinner cruise where I had won a cruise for two. The paperwork said "taxes and gratuities are not included", so its not like I wasn't prepared, but.... At the end of the meal I get the bill, and I give the man the certificate. He comes back a few minutes later with the bill, and very, very pointedly describes how I need to write down the gratuity for the bill, and the amounts have been calculated "for your convenience", and he would return. Well on the left are the what I thought were "recommended" tip rates, all calculated very nicely. When I am given recommended tips I am not a happy camper. If I want to be told what to do I can go back to living with my mommy, thank you very much.

The rates were 15%, 20%, and 24%. The calculated tip amounts are there as well, and they are based on the whole charge for the cruise and dinner ($80/person). Hmmmm, when you use percentages, isn't tipping supposed to be based on the charge for the dinner, not the trip? You mean the cruise was free??? (yeah, right) Anyhow, I am there with a bit of a quandary. I felt that basing the tip on the tax and overage ($15 total) wouldn't be right, but those amounts were exorbitant. While the service was nice, I get better service when I do my mystery shopping at restaurants. And that type of meal I could normally get for around $40 maximum, probably less. I talked with my date and she agreed what they are expecting is too much and so I put an in between amount for the tip, based on the realistic $40/meal amount.

Shortly after the guy takes the credit card, he returns very "concerned" that I didn't understand how to tip. He explained how the tip should be against the whole expense, not just a lower amount. He keeps this up and says something about not being able to put it into the computer that way. I ask him if he is saying that the computer won't accept a non-standard tip. Instead of answering he starts in again to explain how the tips are calculated on the standard charge for the cruise. Here I am, I have a Bachelor's in Mathematics, a Master's in Computer Science, and I'm having to listen to this drivel on how to calculate percentages. I was so tempted to explain to him I was willing to go and reprogram his computer so he would never have to enter tips into his system again if it would help him.

While I think my date would have liked for me to tell him that, I decided valor was the best part of getting the h*** off the boat, and just circled the 15%.

I hate to come across as someone that wants to find something to complain about. The trip was nice, the food was good, and they sure kept the boat warm. My date agreed that it was nice, but there was no way she would spend the amount they expect people to pay for that trip. And she was more than happy to leave as soon as possible after their poor performance. While its not likely, if I ever win this from them again, it goes onto craigslist for sale. Once was enough.

As a postscript, we had a fair amount in common, talked the whole time and really did enjoy it. She said she would be happy to go with me when I do my next mystery shop assignment. While I don't see us ever getting into any serious relationship, it is nice to have someone you can talk with and relate with in a casual setting.

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.

Just a quick follow up. There is a free breakfast sign up site now available, you might want to try.

http://www.freebreakfastnow.com

If you have problems (like I was), if you check the box that says: Click here if you would like to receive future communications from Chick-fil-A® it may work. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but having this checked was the only way it seemed to work for me. Oh well... I can live with this.

OK, now that's just impossible. That said, I am looking at my food bill for the coming week (or two) to be probably $10 (at most).

Here's the deal: First I got a turkey before thanksgiving very inexpensive ($5 for a large turkey). It came out great, and I have been eating lots of turkey the past week, and have enough to last another ?two? weeks (probably more). I also have plenty of drink (milk, juice) to last another two weeks. I am still working my way through all the soda I got for free with the Coke & Pepsi rebate offers a few months ago. They should last 'til the middle of January. I still have cereal from the buy 8 boxes, get $20 rebate offer from a month ago as well. And other things like ingredients for making my lunches are in plenty supply as well.

And now I have this: I just did a mystery shop of takeout food at a good restaurant tonight. That food will probably last me the whole weekend. (crab cakes, grilled chicken, ceasar salad, popcorn shrimp, more...)

And then next week is the topper. I have a free dining and river cruise certificate I will be using one evening next week. It is a five course meal where I will be getting rib-eye steak. I have set up a *mostly* blind date with a friend of a co-worker for the cruise, so I hope to have a good time with her (I say mostly blind, because I have a picture and talked with her on the phone).

If you add in a train show I will be working at the following weekend, where we will get basic food for free, and well, I think you can see my food bill for the near future is going to be scraping the bottom. And its not like I will be eating junk either. You gotta enjoy times like this.

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.