Posted by Forest on August 27, 2008
Hi Friends,
I still have lots to say. I’m still spending money. I’m still trying to save more. Every once in a while something awesome happens and I feel like blogging about it. However, I don’t think I’ve really been on a computer at home in over a week or two. I’m just busy and now I’m making excuses. August is coming to an end and I’m looking forward to being able to run the numbers, even though I know I spent a lot of money.
Tonight I’m leaving for the cabin for a nice 5-day weekend vacation fishing trip! No work tomorrow or Friday - woohoo! So I definitely won’t be posting anything over the next few days. Not that you were expecting I would be!
Everyone have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!
Posted by Forest on August 20, 2008
For the first time in my life, I missed a payment. And I got hit with a fee because of it.
Here’s the story: I have two credit cards. One, I use all the time for everything I can because I get cash back. The other, I have as a backup because the first isn’t accepted everywhere. The other day I logged into my account because I realized I had used it a couple of times lately, and wanted to make sure I got it paid off in time. The problem is, I was already a day late. My payment was due on the 10th and I had logged in on the 11th. I paid the balance immediately, hoping that would be the end of it.
Of course, it never is. The next day I logged in and saw that I had been hit with a $15 late payment fee. My first late payment ever and I was just so mad at myself. I decided to call and try to get it waived. I’ve been a cardholder for just about 10 years and I’ve never missed a payment.
So after about 5 minutes of going through the phone menus and being on hold with customer service, I finally got a live person and asked her to waive the fee. She said she couldn’t waive it, but that she would cut it in half. I was happy with that. I’ll consider that a $7.50 “stupid” payment for not checking my account in a more timely manner. I won’t be making that mistake again!
Posted by Forest on August 18, 2008
Thanks to Spilling Buckets latest posts, I’ve signed up to be a mystery shopper in an effort to increase my alternative income. I registered with both of the companies they have reviewed so far and have already received my first assignment. Unfortunately, I had to decline it because it was too far from home. I’m excited to receive more assignments and hopefully make a little bit of money in the process.
Posted by Forest on August 16, 2008
Issues with my roommate persist. This morning I found a pile of toenails on the coffee table. I kid you not, a neat little pile of six toenails. Totally gross.
With no interest from buyers and very little interest from renters, I’ve been considering a third option when it comes to my housing situation and that is buying out my roommate. We own the house 50-50 and he told me yesterday that he’d be willing to sell his share for $5,000 which is the amount he put down when we bought. It’s an offer that I’m seriously considering. There is a lot to think about because there is a lot of money involved. Not only the $5,000, but also the mortgage that would be fully in my name making me fully responsible for it. It’s a scary thought, but also exciting because I would own the home full out and I think in the long term, it might turn out to be a good investment.
As always, I’ll try to keep you guys posted as to what happens.
Posted by Forest on August 13, 2008
As July ended, I knew I had spent much more money than usual. But once I ran the numbers, I was pleasantly surprised.
I managed to save 23 percent of my income and my net worth actually increased by 8 percent!
With the exception of my housing expenses, my largest expense categories were once again gas and eating out. I spent $128 on gas in July and $110 on eating out. Since almost all of my eating out has a social aspect to it, I’m happy with that number.
Other July tidbits:
- Donated 10 percent of my income to charitable causes
- Paid $50 extra to student loan
- Added $150 to emergency fund
- Added $150 to Vanguard Investment fund
- Added $25 to Prosper account
- Added $350 to Roth IRA
Posted by Forest on August 12, 2008
After I ran my July numbers, I found some extra money lying around and used it to add $500 to my Roth IRA which brings my total contributions for the year to $4,300! I’ve updated the graph in my sidebar to reflect the changes. Now, I only have $700 to go before I hit the $5,000 limit. Once it is fully funded, I will either increase contributions to my emergency fund, to the Vanguard Investing fund or perhaps pay a little extra to my student loan.
Posted by Forest on
When I haven’t blogged for a while and there is so much to catch up on. I hate that.
An awful lot has happened in the last week or so and I will try to summarize over the next few posts. I need to write about my job situation, my housing situation, a little bit about my personal life, and I still need to write about my July numbers before August comes to a close.
On a positive note, I’m home from work today and it looks like today is going to be a no spend day! I’ve actually had a bunch of them in August. The problem is the days I have spent money in August - I’ve spent A LOT of money!
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