get credit monitoring free from Transunion

I’m getting ready to leave work, but just ran into this article on cnnmoney about the class-action lawsuit that Transunion just settled.  I’m going to need to look into this more thoroughly, but if all is at it seems, this is definitely something that I will be taking advantage of. And it’s on CNNmoney, so I’m hoping that, in fact, all is as it seems.

Free credit monitoring for 6 months – it’s every PF blogger’s dream!

a little discouraged

Even though things are looking up for me, lifewise (BF and i are getting our own apartment, FINALLY, and I’ve been accepted into an educational program to start in the fall), I’m feeling a little discouraged about what’s going on with my money.

In my head I know it’s literally impossible for me to spend more than I make (even though I have a load of cc debt, I haven’t used a cc in almost a year), but it still feels like I’m not doing very well with this budgeting thing.  I’m already almost up to my limits in groceries AND dining out, and about a third of the month is left. Not only that, but I’m scared I might be taking frugality a little too far, and I might be alienating myself from my friends. For exampe, last night I went to dinner with my three closest girlfriends, and the whole time I was worrying about how much dinner was going to cost me, especially since it was an unplanned expense.  And, in terms of my budget, I was right to worry, because it was an expensive place. I only drank water and ordered an “inexpensive” meal, but it still ended up costing me over $30 (my friends each probably spent around $60! but they had wine and salads).  A couple of months ago, I wouldn’t even have thought about the cost, and I would have been right there with them, ordering appetizers and sharing bottles of wine, and I would have been fine at the end of the night with how much everything was. And I used to eat out a lot more.  But it seems like now that I’m actively paying attention to my money, and eating out less and cutting back more in other places, I STILL don’t have a lot of extra laying around. I know it’s because I’m actively saving around $200 more a month, and paying off a set amount of debt a month (whereas before I would have a target goal, but would adjust up or down according to my spending needs), but it’s still hard to adjust.  I mean, I don’t want to alienate myself from my friends.  But on the other hand, becoming more healthy financially is really important to me as well.

And while I’m thinking about friends and finances – I’ve always felt like my friends were pretty frugal, and that we all kind of had the same values as far as money goes.  Now I’m kind of starting to feel like that’s not the case – I know roughly around how much they make, and I’m always wondering how they can afford to always be going out to bars, and buying new clothes, and traveling. I don’t think they’re in debt, but I don’t really know.  What’s more likely is that their parents are helping them out.  Which kind of bothers me.  And it’s hard to explain. It’s not that I’m bothered by the fact that they get help, or that I feel like I deserve help from my parents, it’s just that I’m tired of listening to them disparage other people who might more obviously receive familial help, and I’m also tired of them acting like they’re so financially friendly when in reality they’re blowing tons of money on random crap.  What bothers me the most about the situation is that they seem to exepct me to be able to blow money right along with them, and I can’t. Nor do I want to. I already had my times of excess, and they were not worth it. I guess I just wish that my friends would recognize that I’m trying to get myself into (financial) shape (and we HAVE talked about it, so it’s not like they don’t know) and stop expecting me to be able to spend money on everything that they want to do, AND I wish they would make more of an effort to do things with me that didn’t cost SO much. 

Wow, I wrote a lot more than I intended to… I guess I’m just finding that it’s hard to balance friends/fun and finances, and I’m not quite sure what the right balance is.

 

deciding on student loans

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m planning on going back to school in the fall. Recently, I found out that I actually have been accepted into the program that I applied for, which is good news because now I qualify for federal loans.  Before I was just planning on taking classes on a per-unit basis, which means less classes, and I would have to pay for them myself.  And, unfortunately, I just don’t have that much money.  I’m not opposed at all to taking out student loans, but I’m just not sure how much I should take out.  Tuition for the year is $7200. My living costs every month will be about $1300, not including any sort of food, entertainment, savings, or debt pay-off. Including all of those things, I’m looking at around $2000 – 2200 every month.  I’ll still be working at the restaurant part-time (probably around 4 shifts a week) so I should be able to pay all of my living expenses from that, but I will probably have to take out the full cost of tuition in student loans. It seems like a LOT of money.  However, I don’t want to make the mistake of not taking out enough, and as a consequence having to work so much that my schoolwork will suffer.  The whole point of this program is to prepare me for graduate school, and to make such a strong candidate that I will receive funding for my PhD.  Because if I don’t receive funding, I’m not going. So I need to do really well now, which will mean cutting back on my work hours and leaving PLENTY of time for studying.

I guess what I’m trying to figure out is, how much is too much in student loans?  I’ve been reading PF blog archives now about this subject, and there are a lot of different opinions on student loans.  I myself am on the fence – I don’t see it as good debt, but for some people (including myself) it’s necessary to get where they want to go.  My parents didn’t save any money for me to attend college, and I was too young to really understand that there might have been other paths besides just taking out student loans. And I’m truly grateful for the education and the experience that I received (even though I made a LOT of mistakes), so I’m ok with the loans I had to take out to have it. I think for me they were the right choice, then.  And I think they’re still the right choice for me now, but I am still so hesitant to put myself even further into debt.  However, even with going back to school, I am still right on track to pay off my credit cards in twelve months – I’ve cut a lot of things from my budget to make sure that I can go back, but I haven’t cut any of the amount allotted for debt pay-off. Anyways, I don’t want to get sidetracked (even though I already am) – I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that I will have to take out student loans this year, but I’m still interested in finding out other people’s opinions on the matter.

Here are some interesting posts I’ve found so far:

• This one at Stacking Pennies on why she thinks Federal Student Aid is a good thing
• Her at Make Love, Not Debt, on student debt loads in general, and hers personally (should there be an apostrophe in hers? for some reason I’m just not sure)
• PiggyBankBlues on juggling student loans

 

Saved!

Well, after lunch I decided that I WAS going to buy one of those delicious looking pastries as an afternoon treat.  but when I went to the coffee cart, they were all out! I guess the world is trying to help me save

Although I know longer think this is going to be a no-spend day, as I just found out that I apparently have plans to go out this evening with my friends for a birthday celebration. Oh well, I guess I really am starting small.

I did it! – a no spend day

So yesterday I wrote that I might have a no spend day… and I did! It may not seem like such a big deal, but I’ve come to realize that I don’t drop large amounts of money on any one thing, but rather I’m constantly spending small amounts (you know, 2 or 3 dollars at a time), and those add up! So yesterday I had my first no-spend day in a very long time, and I’m quite happy about that.  Today I might even have another… I managed to bring my lunch again (a simple turkey wrap, with a nectarine, strawberries, and goldfish for snacks) and BF and I have dinner planned. Although, I have to confess, I was down at the coffee cart this morning (using a “free” coupon, no worries) and they had some very delicious looking pastries. My big weakness. So I might give in to one this afternoon, if there are any left.  I don’t want to feel like I’m depriving myself all the time, but I also don’t want to just spend money all willy-nilly, as I tend to do. And I definitely don’t want to begrudge my no-spend days, so we’ll see how I feel about it later.

“change”-ing my money, little by little

Well, after a brief hiatus, I’m back and ready to go. My mouth is no longer hurting so much, and I’m back at work (which, of course, means plenty of time for blogging).

Nothing really exciting has been going on with my money in the past week.  Despite my best efforts, I’ve spent more than I intended on groceries, mostly because I couldn’t eat very many things, so kept having to go back to the grocery store for more food that I COULD eat. I know, excuses. So I’m probably going to be over my grocery budget for the month – the good news is though that I’ll hopefully be under my eating out budget. So they should balance out.

I took a big step this week and actually planned out ALL my meals until Sunday (lunches and dinners) before going to the grocery store last night, which was really useful.  This will be the first week where I bring all my lunches to work, and I have to say, I’m pretty excited.  Just to have some things that I want to eat, instead of being stuck with our gross work lunch food (options are REALLY limited), and also to save some money.  Last night I even made muffins to bring for breakfast for most of the week.  Since I stopped buying coffee at work, after realizing that it really does taste like dirt, I’m hoping to have a few no-spend days lined up here.  I seriously can’t even remember the last time I had a no-spend day, but I really think I shouldn’t have to spend anything until Saturday, when it’s my friend’s birthday, unless I run out of gas or something.

Oh, and about my oh-so-witty title – I’ve discovered a new way to save up some small change (which, as we all know, eventually adds up to big dollars).   I keep my own excel “sub-accounts” for my two checking accounts, and every time I spend something, I subtract it from its proper category/account.  Well, I’ve started rounding up what I’m subtracting, and “moving” the change over to my “Overflow/Savings” sub-account.  So if my coffee is 3.50, then I subtract 4 from my eating out account, and move the extra .50 to my savings. Kind of like that Bank of America keep the change thing, I guess? I don’t know, I don’t have B of A, but BF does (to my chagrin).  So it helps me come out a little under budget in each category (since the sub-accounts are like my little envelopes, and I try to make the amount in them correspond as closely as possible to what I have in my budget), and also save a little bit more. I like it.

Something I don’t like though : The way I can only see about 7 lines of text in my posting box when I’m writing.  I’m one of those people who likes to scan back and forth to make sure that everything is making sense, and it really frustrates me that I have such a limited view of my writing.  Can I change that?

Not any wiser

This post is not as ominous as it sounds.  Really, I just had my wisdom teeth removed.  So I’ll probably take a break off from blogging for a couple days while I recover.  But I’ll be back soon. 

Credit Card Number 1 – Paid Off!

I’ve just paid off the balance on my first credit card! This feels like a huge step for me. One down, two more to go!

me and my brand new library card

I love books. I love to read. The first thing I do when I move is unpack my (many) boxes of books, because it immediately makes the new place feel like home. 

Usually, though, I like to buy books, even though I know in the PF world it is much more acceptable to borrow them from the library. I will never consider a book a waste of money, just as I will never throw away a book (give away, yes, but throw away? NEVER. Well, once I did throw away a book, but it had gotten wet in a storm and was all mildewy, not to mention that it was only half the book anyways due to my excessive use).

But today, in a concession to my new budget and my more frugal life, I got meself a library card! When I was younger I loved the library – books everywhere! You can take them home! In (seeming) unlimited amounts! But I am a very forgetful person (one of my least positive traits, right after my indecisiveness, which is second only to my impatience), and I tend to rack up rather large amounts of money owed in the form of overdue fees. This time, though, I am determined to work the library card to my advantage, which means – no overdue books.  I’ve decided to set up a special place specifically for library books to be kept, so I will always be aware of them (and hopefully they’re due dates).  Plus, in this electronic age, it’s possible to re-check out a book online and extend your due date, which takes pretty much no effort. So, no excuses.  While I’m still going to buy books if the mood strikes me, I’m willing to start borrowing them in an effort to save a few bucks. (Hmmm, and perhaps I’ll use those saved dollars to start a savings account for the full OED…. just a thought )

By the way, some of my favorite books, in no particular order:

1. Abarat, Clive Barker

2. Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, Clive Barker

3. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

4. Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy

5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling

6. Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos

7, 8, 9. His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman

10. Beach Music, Pat Conroy

What are some of your favorite books? I’m always looking for something new…

*Edit: I somehow forgot to put my number 1 favorite book on the above list! It is…. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. Love it.

I love WalkScore!

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this awesome site, walkscore.com. What you do is enter in your street address (or any that you want to see) and it scores its walkability, with the score range going from 0 to 100. It also provides you with a nifty little nap pointing out all the useful places nearby that you might walk to, such as the grocery store, or the bank, or a school, or whatever! My current walk score is 85, and when i move in a month it will be 88.

I think that this is such a relevant calculation right now as gas prices continue to rise and streets continue to be clogged with traffic.   I know that personally I’m trying to be more aware of when I really NEED to drive somewhere, and when there is a logical alternative.  I’ve started carpooling with friends to work, and my BF and I have been making somewhat of an effort to walk to places when possible instead of taking the easy way and driving (though we still need to get better at this).

(No, this is not a sponsored post. Ha, like I’ve been blogging long enough for anyone to want to pay me for anything! I just think Walkscore is really cool)