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 can’t say enough about having an extended warranty.  I’m so glad I have it.  When I took my car for inspection the other day, they told me that my car failed because one of the dashboard switches is on the fritz and needs to be replaced.  Cost for parts and labor?  Over two hundred dollars.  This means I’d have to come up with the money to get it done by the end of the month when my 2008 inspection sticker expires.  I told the inspector I’d pick my car up that evening and get it fixed at the dealer’s.  I suspected that my warranty would cover it, so I called Honda Care and they said that the repair is covered under my extended warranty.  Sure, I have to go to the dealership, again.  But it’s definitely worth over two hundred dollars for me to go there before bringing my car back to the inspector to pass inspection.  Yay!  Go warranty!  I’ll be done with this foolishness by the weekend, just in time to miss the last-days-of-the-month rush at the inspector’s shop.

As usual, I’m trying to be tight with my money.  This week, I got $20 cash back from a register.  I told myself it was all I could spend until payday.  Well, payday is here.  And I still have a few bucks.  Amazing.  I know I’ve been saying that a cash allowance wouldn’t work for me, because I lose track of cash easily.  But hey, it worked this time.  Maybe I’ll try it again for the next week.

I was watching Parking Wars on A&E.  That show is hilarious!  I love this show.  The funny thing to me is that people make dumb parking decisions, don’t pay their tickets, let their insurance or registration lapse, ignore warnings given to them by the Parking Authority, and then… when they get the boot, or they get towed, they’re mad at the fees.  They complain about having bills, having kids, trying to make a living… I don’t understand it.  The show is shot in Philadelphia, and I live here.  I’ve had a few tickets.  You get two weeks to pay them.  The ticket comes with a convenient little payment envelope, and you’ve got two weeks to pay it.  Not only that, I’d say at LEAST 95% of the time, parking restrictions are clearly stated.  I’ve never gotten a ticket that I didn’t at least know it was possible for me to get because I was doing something wrong, like parking illegally really quickly to run in and out of a store, or forgetting to feed the meter.  Whenever I’ve gotten a ticket, I wasn’t surprised.  If I didn’t keep my insurance up, or I didn’t get my inspection sticker or my registration, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got towed.  ‘Cause that’s what happens when you don’t follow directions.  And if you can’t afford to pay $26, or $41 or whatever other ridiculous fee for parking, why would you park in a way that could get you a ticket that would cost you that much in fines?  It’s just stupid, and I feel like if you’re poor, you can’t take expensive chances like that.

I learned the hard way ONE time.  I overslept, my car was towed from a "No Parking 7-10am weekdays" zone during rush hour while I was asleep, and I had to come up with over $200 to get my car out.  That was over 10 years ago.  I’ve never made such an expensive mistake with my car since then.  I’ve had maybe four parking tickets in that time, and I got them by taking a chance because I knew I could afford each one I got.  But back during my poorest days, in fact even now, I read the parking signs, I feed the meters, I stay away from fire hydrants, and I pay my registration, insurance, and inspection.  When my income was at its lowest, all I could afford to do was stay out of trouble, because I knew I couldn’t pay for tickets, towing, storage, fees, and court costs under any circumstances.

Following directions is often cheaper than not following them.

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 took my car to the shop yesterday and then I went to work.  They called me in the afternoon to let me know the status of my car.  Now I’d already had a free diagnostic test at an auto parts store, and their computer said that I had some kind of short in my electrical system.  My dealership advised me that they couldn’t rely on someone else’s diagnostic, and that they would have to do their own test before working on the car for $99.00.  But I have a state car inspection and an emissions test due by the end of next month, and I don’t have the time or money for foolishness, so I just took it to the dealer anyway.

They advised me that the engine light is on because of my car’s oxygen sensor.  A replacement would cost $548.00!  In addition, they said my car was due for scheduled maintenance, in which my rear differential fluid should be replaced.  The total cost for that would be $59.99 for the rear differential fluid and $178.49 for labor.  Oh - and one more thing, they tested my battery and it’s weak.  So, in addition to the oxygen sensor and the diagnostic, I’d be looking at $359.00.  Grand total: $1,006.00.  That’s funny - Single Ma just asked her readers if they could get hit with $1,000 of sudden expenses and deal with it!

I can deal with it, alright!  First, I have a Honda Care Warranty, which I opted for when I bought my car.  That covers the oxygen sensor, both parts and labor, in full.  It also negated the fee for the diagnostic.  I opted not to get the battery at the dealer - I could take care of that on my own (or buy it at the auto parts store and get my dad or even an auto service chain to put it in for me LOL).  I asked what the scheduled maintenance included, and besides replacing my rear differential fluid, I just had all of that stuff done, like, last month at the auto service place, which was way cheaper.  I can’t believe they’d want $359.00 to balance my tires and check my fluids!  So I chose not to get that either, with the exception of replacing the rear differential fluid, which I know I didn’t have done last month.  The total came to $65.47.  When I saw how low the total was, I called the auto service place for a quote on the battery.  It was $35 less than the dealer’s, but I figured the premium was worth paying in exchange for my time and gas, so I had the dealer install a new battery, too. Total payment: $182.46.  This is a $823.54 difference from what it could have been.

In retrospect, knowing that the first, free diagnostic didn’t exactly pinpoint the problem makes me feel less like a sucker for agreeing to pay for the dealer’s diagnostic - which I didn’t even wind up having to pay for, anyway because of my warranty.  And even though they tried to stick me for my papers, I’m happy with my dealer - I got a snazzy loaner car for the day and I dropped my car off and got it back on the same day.  I’m a happy camper.

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.