The Hustle of Sistah Ant

I spent too much.  My savings goal for the month is shot.  I wanted to just get presents for my mom, dad, mister, and grandma.  But I wanted to give things they’d really appreciate and get something out of, and busy listening to Mister Ant and Mama Ant, instead of my inner miser, I didn’t cheap out on them, although I could have.  I got people what they asked for instead of just thinking of something on my own.  I just sat down and did the math last night.  I’ve spent over $100 on each of my recipients.  Shame on me.  I didn’t set a budget or anything.  And too much of the money I should be saving will be spent on ensuring that I enter 2009 with no credit card debt.  Darn it.  Mister Ant told me to get over the guilt, think about how happy I’ll be when I give my gifts, and take solace in the fact that all my bills are paid.  But I still feel like I should have done a better job of controlling my spending.

I did okay over the weekend, but not as good as I could have. 

I spent $20 on pizza.  This is coming out of my groceries budget, so that’s $20 less that I have to spend on real food.

I went $6 over my $50 holiday spending budget.  However, there were some good things too.  I went holiday shopping at Forman Mills, where you truly do get more for your money, so I bought twice as much stuff as I thought I would be able to.  I don’t know if Forman Mills exists outside of my area, but anyone within earshot of a Philly radio station knows all about it.  Think Marshall’s or ValueCity, but in a warehouse.  My mom used to take me there when I was a kid, and I remember that was the place to go back in the early nineties for gear when you didn’t have a lot of money… I’d been meaning to go there for a while, but you guys know I don’t shop.  It took present-hunting to get me out there.  Man, I love that place.  Another good thing is that I sent out my Christmas cards, and I already had a book of stamps and leftover cards from last year.  I cut my list down to the number of cards I already had, so what could have cost me maybe $20-$30 dollars ran me about a dollar and some change this Saturday.  I’m almost done shopping - my other recipients will get cold hard cash, and I want to get one more present for Mister Ant.  This time last year, I was done.  Sheesh.

I spent $20 more dollars on a credit card over the weekend on a business expense.  One of my goals for 2008 was to look into generating a side income, and I know there’s only a few weeks left in the year, but better now than never.  I started laying the foundation for a possible side income yesterday.

There’s a lot on my mind right now.  Missing time from work for important meetings and a doctor appointment this week will make my next check smaller.  I’m not finished Christmas shopping.  I still haven’t taken my car to the shop for its inspection.  I still have Christmas to travel for.  And I’ve got to pay this month’s bills and clear the balance off of my credit card.  I’ve been really distracted lately and I haven’t dealt with any of this by budgeting.  To my credit, I know better than to go spending money all willy nilly without a plan, either, so I think I may have spent about six dollars since I got paid last Thursday.  But it’s cool.  Today, I’m going to get down with a calendar, my online bill pay, and a calculator, so I can plan this stuff out.

November was good to me.  I hit my My Own Home savings goal (it seems like that took forever).  My IRA recovered a little bit.  I also escaped November credit card debt free (only to put Cyber Monday Christmas presents on my credit card on December 1st, but I digress).  It’s nice to see the line in my NetWorthIQ bar graph definitively pointing upward!  Last month was so discouraging in comparison.  One cool thing I noticed this month - I am at the point where the total of my assets is greater than my net worth deficit.  This doesn’t mean much, but psychologically it tells me that I’m closer to the light at the end of the tunnel than to the darkness at its beginning.  I have amassed assets worth more than my net worth hole.  I’m thankful for that.

I took a nice little vacation for Thanksgiving, hanging out with Mister Ant and his family.  It was pretty low cost, considering the lower gas prices and that staying with family means that you spend less on lodging and food than you otherwise would when traveling.  I did not go Black Friday shopping - I haven’t given up on Christmas presents completely, but it just isn’t my first priority right now.  I think I’m going to be a last minute shopper this year.

When we got home, there was a pile of mail waiting for me.  I got my annual Social Security statement.  Good news - I finally have enough credits to receive less than 80% of the retirement benefits that I’m entitled to one day if the program isn’t already legislated out of existence completely.  That was good for a hearty laugh.  That reminds me, I’ve already started on my goals list for what I need to accomplish next year financially, and muscling up my IRA and starting a Roth are my greatest priorities along with tackling debt… I’ll get more into this at the end of the month.

But speaking of debt, I got two of those "Direct Loan" envelopes in the mail.  Each letter just extended the courtesy of telling me that in accordance with the repayment plan I chose, Uncle Sam will be deducting $13 more dollars a month for my student loan payments, starting this month, so I’d better adjust my idea of what to deduct in my check register.  Sigh.  I know it’s only $13, but no one wants that kind of news.  Y’all just don’t know how happy I’ll be when I get to tell Uncle Sam to get out of my money.  I hope that the next time I get one of these letters, two years from now, that I’m already paying more than twice the minimums every month just to get rid of the loan altogether.

Oh yeah!  And - I hit my revised goal for the My Own Home fund!  Yay!  I’ll calculate my Net Worth for you guys tomorrow.

I am bent on getting to my $15,000 My Own Home Fund goal by the end of the month.  That means that between yesterday’s paycheck and next week’s paycheck, I’ve got to get it together.  It’s taking longer to get this money together than I thought it would, because of IRA contributions I’ve been making and because of stuff I don’t usually have to pay for each month, like car maintenance, car registration, annual parking permit fee…  This car keeps coming up.  I could count up the full tally, including next month’s state inspection, but I don’t want to piss myself off too much.  I’m just going to do what I have to do to meet my goal and keep it moving.  Although I’ll admit, my car is not my favorite possession right now.  It’s five years old now.  It doesn’t give me any problems, but it’s not fully paid for (I bought it used).  You know when I get into the house, my first priority after strengthening my emergency fund will be getting rid of debt, right?  You know that includes my car loan, right?  Can’t wait to kill that debt.  That way, all I’m paying for will be maintenance, insurance, and miscellaneous fees, not all that PLUS the stupid car payment.

I initially planned to take my car in to the shop after my next paycheck.  Instead, I set up an appointment for this morning.  Of course, because I saved and invested the remainder of my last check, I don’t have the cash to pay.  So, I’m going to put the expense on one of my credit cards and then pay the card back from this week’s paycheck.  I hate having credit card balances, so I’m tempted to send the payment in as soon as I have the money.  However, because I’ll be in the market for a mortgage, I still want to keep a good record of payment with my credit cards.  Instead of sending the payment directly in, I will use my online bill pay to schedule the payment so that my credit card lender receives it AFTER I’m billed for the balance.  That way, my record shows that I actually was billed that amount and that the amount was paid in full.  I’ve done this once before with good results.  It’s my new credit card payment policy.  The key here is to treat the scheduled payment just like a check - count the money gone as soon as you schedule the payment, so that you don’t accidentally spend the money you’ve promised to your credit card company before the scheduled payment goes through.  If not, chances are you’ll overcharge your checking account.

I was trying to be proactive and take advantage of as many things as I can over the weekend.  I finally got my purse and wallet straightened out.  Then I checked on my bills, which was good, because although I took care of all existing charges last week, there was an automatic charge for my EZPass on my AMEX that I had to pay, which I did.  I reconciled my check register balance with my receipts.  Then the easy part was over.

My priorities started fighting with each other.  I have to get the engine light fixed on my car before I get it inspected next month, and I want to make sure that I have the money to pay for it without using a credit card.  My car insurance premium is also due next month, and I am considering paying the entire balance instead of splitting it up over the next six months.  Since I know there’s a chance I won’t be working, this is a way to get my future monthly expenses lowered.  In addition, I have to chip in on the household expenses for the month and next month’s rent.  But the goals that meant the most to me emotionally were contributing to my IRA and to my My Own Home fund.  Oh yeah, and getting holiday gifts and affording holiday road trips.

After some consideration, I decided to take care of household and car expenses on my next paycheck because of the limited amount of money I had to work with this week.  I’m still undecided about my car insurance premium.  I will have the opportunity to pay it in full for at least the next several weeks either way, so I didn’t put a high priority on making my decision right now.  That left two priorities, my IRA and my savings.  I made the minimum allowable contribution to the IRA and then after leaving myself $100.00 for random day-to-day expenses in my checking account, I deposited the remainder in the My Own Home fund.  But I know I left some plans undone, so I’ll have to make some difficult decisions with my next check, even though my bills are paid through the middle of next month.

Oh yeah.  This is a recession.  It’s getting ugly out there, folks. Governments are feeling crunches.  I read one article that said a few states only have enough in their unemployment funds to last for a finite amount of time.   This is what I’m telling myself in order to be proactive about any hard times to come:

Keep Investing
And the stock market averages are constantly in the red.  I already know what I want to do with my next paycheck - buy more mutual fund shares for my IRA!  The price per share is as low now as it’s ever been, so I can get more for my money.  

Keep Saving
I also want to shovel as much as I can into the My Own Home fund. You don’t know this yet, but I’ve been in touch with a realtor, and Mister Ant and I have gone to look at a house.  I know, I know - I’ve been grousing about how I shouldn’t buy with my unstable income.  But I couldn’t resist.  The picture pulled me in.  And don’t worry, we didn’t put in an offer.  I just wanted to experience viewing a home as a prospective buyer.  It was fun!  When the time comes, we are going to be so ready.  In any case, the more money there is in the My Own Home fund, the better, both as a backup emergency fund and as a nest egg should the need not arise to use it in place of lost income.

Keep Controlling the Spending
I’m being extra conscientious about energy use, since our gas bill goes up in the winter, and the nights are cold again now.  I’ve read suggestions to have the heat on during the day and turn it way down at night.  I find that stupid and I do it the other way around.  We turn the heat way down and let the sunlight in when we leave for work, and then turn the heat back up to about 68-70 when we get home.  We both like it hot, so that’s a real sacrifice.  We keep plenty of blankets around.  I’m also buying lunch, and ordering delivery and take-out much less often.  It’s a two-for-one deal to cook at home, because you save money on food, and you warm up the place while you’re cooking.  I’d gotten lax when I started making more money, but I’m using more discipline lately.  I want a new waist-length peacoat, but I’m not in a rush to get one - the 3/4 length wool coat I have is good enough for now.  By saving in these ways, I don’t feel so guilty about the things I do spend money for, like the new Toni Morrison book I ordered online the other day.

Keep out of Debt.  Period.

I don’t have credit card balances, and I aim to keep it that way.  I don’t put anything on my cards that I can’t pay off in one billing period.  If I don’t have the money, I can’t buy it - cash or credit.  Not having balances means less monthly bills.  I can definitely get with that.

That’s about it.  Keep investing.  Keep saving.  Keep controlling the spending.  And, keep out of debt.  Period.

When I was in college, I joined a sorority.  I really am proud of my choice, and I had some very fun, enriching, heartwarming, character building experiences in my sorority.  But I have not been active with my sorority for the past few years.  One of the main reasons is because when I made the decision to take control of my debt and my finances, I cut all unnecessary expenses out of my budget, and that included sorority dues, sorority functions, outfits for sorority events, expenses for sorority trips - everything.  The last time I paid annual sorority dues, I used a credit card because I didn’t have the money to write a check.  I decided that I would not do so again.  With my income up in the air, I haven’t yet found my way back into the fold.

The only other organizational membership fees I pay are for professional associations that are related directly to my career.  I find that dues paid to these organizations which help me with networking and staying current on trends in my field are an investment in my future income.  I pay these dues without hesitation and without using credit.

I am thinking about joining a gym again.  My dance lessons experiment hasn’t quite worked out, but I still need exercise.  Even though I’m cheap, it’s still not enough motivation for me to do free things, like jog around my block in the wee hours of the morning or at twilight, or take a bike and ride the local trails on Saturday mornings.  It’s cold out there.  I don’t do running, and I don’t do cold. 

Of course, with my income unstable, I hesitate to add any other commitment expenses to my budget. But one of these days, I hope to start contributing financially to my sorority involvement and to working out regularly.