No savings for the rest of the month :(

Vision care costs a lot (this time around).

I thought that w/ my brand new health insurance package, I would get my eyes checked. I need new contacts anyway since I washed them down the drain accidentally.

Prior to my exam today, I had gotten my eyes checked at my mom’s optometrist, one in K-town. I don’t like that place so much because I feel awkward since they don’t speak English well. Communication obstacles are a serious problem for me in any situation.

Those exams typically cost $50. I would get contacts for about $180. This was all out of my pocket (not through insurance).

My last exam was in Korea a little over a year ago. I wanted to get my eyes, checked, a new pair of glasses and some contacts before heading back to the states. A lot of things are more affordable in Korea, and this includes vision and dental exams. So, my eyes were checked, I got a new pair of glasses with some cheap frames, and two pairs of contacts–one name brand and one generic (just in case I lose the other pair). I paid $300 for everything.

Today’s exam and fitting totalled $199. Maybe it’s just me, but I think this is too expensive. With my health insurance discount (a general 20% applied), I still had to pay $160, and we didn’t even get to the contacts part! The optometrist had to special order my trial lenses. Trial lenses? Is this really necessary? I mean, I’m going to wear glasses most of the time and the contacts will be used for special occasions. Is she trying to make more money off of me? Or does fitting really make a huge difference? The actual disposable lenses will cost between $3-400. And get this, my discount does not apply! WHAT THE FREAK?!!!

Taxes.

I also went to my bro’s CPA to get my taxes done. Their fee is $200 which I consider to be well worth it if it’ll save me thousands. And, it is–a couple thousand.

These two things are straining my budget this month. And understandably, I will not be able to save for the rest of this month.

But, I guess these two things sorta cancel each other out. I save more with my taxes and I spend more for my eyes.

Whoa.

Hey, I just checked my blog stats and noticed that Neo’s nest egg linked me. Thanks, I didn’t expect that.

In fact, I only keep this journal to log my PF progress and possibly to get advice from others.

=)

Feelin’ lucky…again.

Free money.

My boss gave out $60 in cash to each of us since his client paid in cash. Sweet~ I used the cash to finally replace my obsolete foundation–Prescriptives foundation stick for $38 (PRICEY!). I got a t-shirt from Pac Sun at 70% off the original price (came up to be $7.79 after tax) and got an elegant beaded bracelet for $10.

I felt a bit of guilt from my sudden indulgence since I told myself that whenever I get unexpected money, I would automatically save it. But, I had to buy everything. I’ve been going through an extravagance drought. To counteract my frivolous spending, I had dinner and breakfast at home. That’s got to count for something!

Unexpected income.

So a couple of days ago, I got a call for my ex-coworker on my business mobile. After she left the company, my boss gave me her line to use for work-related calls. I usually give them the low-down, how she’s moved out of the country and that I’m using the phone now.

This time around, it was a fine artist looking for her to get some Photoshop lessons. He asked me to give him lessons instead. So I met him today. He lived right by one of my friends near the beach…a real funky house. Beautifully spacious and airy inside. Eclectic with a modernist twist.

Anyway, end of story, I earned an extra $53 for an 1 1/2 hr tutorial session. THIS will go into my savings.

Yay. I feel good!

Set an appt with CPA.

I just set an appointment with my brother’s CPA for next week.

You ask, “Why are you doing this?”

Because…

• I was working project-to-project before my full-time job started in October
• I don’t want to pay a lot of taxes
• He’s affordable–only $200, and my brother’s been going to this guy for five years now
• He’s close to work

My Fidelity Roth IRA funds went through.

Now, what do I do? I am so confused… Should I just purchase the auto-pilot Freedom funds? This is all so confusing…

And, something cool…

I got some freelance work on the side! Ahh yea~! I’ll be tutoring this guy some Photoshop basics. And, he said that he might have some design work for me in the future.

This will help a lot in meeting my savings goal for this year!

Hair tips.

This is a not a pf-related post, but something I’d like to share.

My hair:

• damaged
• dull
• wavy
• nappy
• split ends
• baby hair standing upwards

I get a lot of crap from my mom about my hair and urges me to take better care of myself. As if improving hair can be done with a pill or a treatment…? As if I want my hair to remain in bad condition.

Why is my hair so bad?

• years of swimming
• years of dyeing my hair
• 2-3 times of perming (straight & wavy)
• not eating healthy (possibly?)
• harsh weather conditions

So, I’ve tried a lot of things to get my hair looking decent. The best was probably a ‘magic’ straight perm I had done over a year ago. It made my hair super straight & shiny. Only thing is, it’s a perm w/ chemicals and my hair fell out more and it turned more nappy after a few months.

I returned to the states and I tried out John Frieda products. My friend had worked for John Frieda and recommended them to me. I think I forced myself to think they worked, but the products were drying out my hair more.

I decided I would use simple products…actually, accidentally came upon this at my mom’s place:

• Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo
• Infusium conditioner

Johnson & Johnson is light enough but washes my hair sufficiently. I don’t get dandruff when I use it. Infusium is a nice conditioner, too.

One last thing:

• The other thing I do now is put a towel over my hair for about 30 minutes to soak up water. This weighs down my hair and makes it softer and more manageaable. Then I air dry. No combing, no extra treatment, no blowdryer.

Once upon a time, I used to comb my hair down when it was wet and tie it into a pony tail. This used to work but, now my baby hairs stick out and it’s not like how it used to be.

So anyone w/ nappy hair problems, this might work!

Hello world!

Hi, I think I’m finally settled into WordPress. I just transferred my older entries here…

I’m so tired. It’s 5:29 a.m. I started doing this because my roommate and her friends were obnoxiously loud when they got home. I had only one hour of sleep

Net worth.

Net worth
I just updated my net worth. It’s roughly at 14K. I am coming close to those under my income bracket. From 145 users, the median net worth is 18K.

I feel really good about this. Like I’m nearing a milestone-Feel REALLY good that HSBC raised their rates to 4.8%. This is one banks that values their customers.

Been rethinking and doing some things
1. I finally set up my health insurance. It took me long enough to get off of my lazy and indecisive ass to choose Blue Shield PPO 4000 & Dental PPO. These plans cost a total of 80 dollars? The Blue Shield PPO has an HSA option, too.

I don’t have any medical conditions and am only concerned about the following: vision, dental, annual exams, random major injuries.

2. I think I want index funds. After seeing my Marketplace fantasy portfolio go up and down, it made me realize that I have no skill predicting good stocks. Besides, it’s too stressful keeping track of the numbers everyday.

3. I set up new budgets that include the following: short-term emergency, long-term emergency, property, portfolio, apple computer, travel, gifts, retirement, tax.

It seems time-consuming and complicated to set up different savings accts for each, but I hope that by creating more specific pockets of savings, I’ll be better at tracking my expenses, progress, and won’t feel guilty over dropping a couple thousand for a computer if I know that I had saved up for it.

Get me off my slacker butt
I’m not going to the gym. Why did I join if I’m not using it? I always have lame excuses like…

• My bf’s not going to the gym, and I want to spend time with him. So, I won’t go to the gym either and we’ll both veg out.
• It’s too late…I have a lot of things I need to do before I sleep.
• If I go to the gym in the morning, it will take too long to get ready for work. Showering and grooming takes longer for women!
• I’m tired. I’m hungry.
• I’ll just go swimming over the weekend.