Replacing lost/expired items

Hey folks…my car got broken into yesterday.  Stupid me, I left a tempting bag on the passenger seat.

My window got shattered and bag disappeared.

Now, why did I leave the bag there?

I was absent-minded all morning and pre-occupied with how I would tell my company that I was going to leave for a new job. I slept at my parents’ place to try to relax and get to work early, and I had a lot of small bags with me when I got in the car. I thought I would consolidate my goods and left one bag still in the car. I thought, “I have my wallet and all the important things…” Hm…

So, in my bag, I had my  ipod, my checkbooks to two bank accounts, and my makeup bag.  I put a hold on my checking accounts. Ipod and my cool songs gone for good…and same with the makeup.

Got the window fixed for $150. Not bad, I think…

And, today when I left work, traffic was a bitch, so I went to the mall to restock on my cosmetics at Sephora. Women and some men spend a lot on cosmetics and skincare.

I thought I’d share my shopping bag:

Today at Sephora, I bought…

• Benefit Playsticks foundation in “hide and seek” color – $32
• Sephora Make Up Base – $22
• Sephora Lip Gloss Quad Globe thingy – $9
• Nars creme blush in “penny lane” – $22.50
• Pout blush apricot – $20.00 (this was a mistake. I picked up the wrong item and need to return it ASAP)

After tax, totalled $114.20

Aside from my Sephora purchase, the rest of my make-up bag includes the drugstore stuffs:

• Physicians Formula shimmer powder in “translucent pearl” – roughly $10
• Loreal Ink Eye Liner – about $8
• Almay brow liner with comb – about $6
• Chapstick – $2

What’s the point of tallying my cosmetics expenditures?  Because I don’t really spend so much on maintaining/enhancing the way I look.

I’ll probably use these items until they expire…about a quarter of a year.

Aside from make-up, I spend very little on skin care products. I only have a few things: eye make-up remover which I usually get free from my mom’s purchases of Estee Lauder little bonus gift bags, DHC mild soap (love this thing…lasts forever), Neutrogena Sunscreen, and either Lubriderm, Cetaphyl, or Eucerin Lotion.

Hair-wise, I cut my own hair…I’m trying to grow it so there’s no need to get it professionally styled.

I don’t shave my legs because I’ve never had to. Never shaved…and never will.

And, that’s it!

Good news.

I got the job!

Though I wasn’t offered the salary I requested, they’re still offering a good package.  I’m still negotiating the salary and will find out what there counteroffer is today.

This is what I asked for:

Interview:  60-65K (I thought, what the hell…I’ve got a job, let’s see where this takes me…)

Upon acceptance, their offer: 51K, 401K – 4% full match, 5K bonus, 6 Mo. performance review

My suggestion: Option 1: 57K, 401K, 5K bonus, 6 Mo. review; Option 2: 55K, 401K, 5K bonus, 3 Mo automatic salary raise to 58K.

This is what I think they’ll come back to me with:

54K, 401K, 5K bonus, 3 Mo performance review

The salary is higher than what I make at my current job…but, I think I’ll incur more expenses. Inevitably, I’ll have to lunch out more to get acquainted with my new co-workers. I imagine this happening for the next 2-3 months.

To work around this, I will…

1. Eat a hearty breakfast every morning

2. Drink water when I lunch out and order something small and inexpensive

3. Bring healthy snacks to work

4. Limit eating out to the weekends when celebrating a special event with boyfriend or meeting up with a group of friends.

How does that sound?

I’m excited…

Stocks recovering…a bit & more of life’s expenses.

I'm no longer $150 under. I'm now at $100 under.

I went to the dentist today.  I need to get the last of my wisdom teeth pulled out.

Well, I didn't take them out today because I wasn't sure if my health insurance would cover it. I called, and I have passed the 3-month waiting period, and they will cover most of the cost. I scheduled another appt in 2 weeks.

I'm happy about the health insurance news but am worried that I'm becoming too absent at work.  But, these are things that I need to do! Ugh…I dunno what to do and what to feel.

Anyway, no savings for this month & next because I'm still trying to pay off last months bills of new furniture, mom's day, friend's wedding gift, and now my dentist stuffs…

=( 

How we changed from savers to spender (Yahoo! article)

Insightful article from Yahoo! http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/060518/17503.html 

Opinions on the 17″ Macbook Pro Laptop?

Has anyone purchased this laptop?

I'm considering purchasing it. My company will pay for half of it…it's kinda like a mid-year bonus. This computer would be my personal laptop but also used for work.

Does this computer still have the buzzing/humming problems? Any other weird things going on?

Does this computer work well with Graphics applications? I know that the Macbook Pro 15" performed terribly with Photoshop…Has Apple fixed this issue with the 17"

What do you think about adding on all the extras now rather than later? These include and upgrade in memory and an extended warranty plan.

Any insights are much appreciated…

Irregular expenses.

I'm taking close watch of my expenses this month.  There are a lot of things pinching my wallet:

Mom's day – I'll be taking out my mom, sis-n-law, and her children to a brunch at a restaurant with a fixed menu that day. My brother's on a business trip…how could I leave my sis-n-law behind? This will roughly cost me $150-180. I made the reservation through opentable.com. The service is cool because you can easily make a reservation, and they give you point every time you complete that reservation. After a few times (maybe about 10 reservations through opentable), you get a voucher for $10 on a meal.

Furniture for my room – I went cheap. I bought a desk, some sheets & duvet cover, a lamp, a couple of hanging closet shelves. Came up to be $370.

Mexico gone wrong – Last weekend, my bf and I drove down to the border with my roommate and her friends. We were going to party in Rosarito. Until we go to the Mexican insurance station where I realized I didn't have my registration and insurance in my car. (I forgot to return it when I got into that car accident) We drove two hours for nothing…so we stopped by San Diego, spent the money we were going to in Mexico at The Fish Market…drove another two hours home.

Random work expenses – I participated in a celebrity golf fundraiser on Monday. In order to sharpen up on our golf skills, my company went to the driving range and a 9-hole course. I paid for half of it…I think I spent about $50.

I signed up the HSBC billpay service to pay portions of my Amex cards and my mobile phone bill. I had to transfer some money from my savings to my checking in order to do this. Feeling bad about my savings going down, I deposited the bills amount and an extra $10 from my main checking to my HSBC savings so that everything would normalize.

So, I'm left with about $150 in my checking. =(

Lastly, my stocks have been performing pretty bad these past two days. I'm under about $40. =(

I believe in these stocks…I just hope they go up soon… 

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!

ING’s temporary rate for new deposits – 4.75%

ING Direct - I probably won’t make much interest off of this deal since most of my savings is already in ING, but I guess it’s better than HSBC’s 4.25% rate?

I forgot to mention Young & Broke’s post about values, saving & spending. I get into these discussions a lot with my bf…A LOT. Especially when we discuss my need to eat out during the week, or my tendency to binge spend and how I try to curb it by splurging bit by bit each month to get it out of my system. I’m not super-human and cannot live every single day for several months straight without some indulgence.

I have a lot of spending to do this month:

• I am planning out Anniversary arrangements this time around. Nice dinner & +++
• Niece’s birthday gift. She wants something called Polly? That has stretchable apparel?
• Dreamhost web bill for the year…$90 !!

Oi.

On the flipside, my Marketwatch fantasy stock portfolio is up again. This makes me happy because I will do some real investing in a couple of months. A few friends and I are starting an investment club.. $500 initial & $50/month thereafter.

Also, have you noticed that every other story on NPR is about China?

Unexpected savings.

Reimbursement

My bathroom and bedroom are undergoing repairs. A pipe burst at the beginning of the month and flooded our neighbors downstairs. Looks like I will be reimbursed for each day I’m out of the apartment. Thanks to my lovely roommate! She did all the negotiating with our landlady.

I feel like a lucky girl~

With my reimbursement and my frugal habits these days, I can save another $1100 off of my current paycheck and another $600 off the next one. Woo hoo! My boss also paid for my gas when I dropped him off somewhere. Sweet! And, we ate out on three occassions at the company’s expense. This is too good!

X-mas gifts nearly complete

I bought and sent out most of my X-mas gifts to friends, family & coworkers. I used the $5 Amazon.com gift certificate that Boston Gal posted for answering a survey. Definitely saved on some shipping.

Each gift was pretty personalized:

• Nieces – two matching My Little Ponies on Scooters, The English Roses Umbrella (they live in Seattle) and Wallace & Gromits three shorts DVD
• BF- Coldplay piano sheets, Best of Michael Nyman CD set and The Gift of the Magi by O Henry
• Boss – This American Life CD ($14)
• Coworker 1 – The Sea and Cake CD ($13)
• Coworker 2 – Wet Hot American Summer DVD ($10)
• + Each get edible goodies from Trader Joes ($4X3)
• Friend – Supersized black-rimmed sunglasses from Nordstroms ($10)

Still on my gifts list:

• Mom
• Roommate

Free credit report

I obtained my free credit report today. It looks like I am in excellent standing. I don’t know what my fico score is yet, but I’ll check it next week. I thought I would have some bad marks on my report because of credit misbehaving during college. I had a debt problem and sometimes made late payments. My parents took all my credit cards saying they would close the accounts. But, apparently a lot of them still exist with zero debt. Yay!

Retirement option

As I was talking with one of my coworkers about retirement options, he said that he has been talking with our boss about participating in a company-sponsored 401K plan. Awesome! I guess the 401K plan helps out my boss with his taxes, too. This is definitely worth discussing at the beginning of the new year.

Insurance on my ass!

Like a fool, I ignored the woman I bumped into hoping that she would give up dollar bumper claim. Rather, she called her insurance agent, and now I’m screwed. My mom’s premium will be higher..and she’s bitching about it to me. I know! It’s all my fault..and my irresponsibility. Why am I kicking back into the “save me because I’m the youngest child” syndrome? I need to face reality and deal with things right then and there. That’s what Bob Parsons would do.

Real Estate

So, I talked with my brother about my finance progress and my plan to purchase a 1-bedroom condo with friend in a year and a half. He suggests that I should put my cast in CDs with high rates until the market goes down.

After thinking about it, that’s becoming the more logical thing to do in my situation. LA is ridiculous. Maybe if I were making 10K more…

With this in mind, property investments will be either…

Out of state. (not likely though)

in 2-3 years

What do I do with the cash then?
Goals for 2006 and beyond…

Wells Fargo Savings (immediate emergency fund) – $500-1000
ING Direct (Long-term emergency; ex. layoff) – $5000
HSBC (1. Income tax owed; 2. Investments) – $3000 + $7500-18000
GMAC (Property Downpayment) – $35,000+
Future 401K – 10% of my income

Here’s my current net worth

Cash – $9965
Credit Card – $125
Everything between – $0

Get off my case!

Pet Peeve

I was sharing my finance concerns with bf this morning on the way to work. I told him how I felt it was really difficult to buy and maintain mortgage payments in Los Angeles, and that I didn’t know how I could do it unless I save more & earn more.Either

• Move in with my parents
• Increase my salary by 20-30K

At first he says not to stress out so much and people find away.
And, I tell him that I want to be able to buy condo, rent it out, pay for the leftover monthly mortgage, and save money. This is impossible with my current situation since I’ve squeezed out unnecessary expenditures out of my monthly budget.

Ok, so this is what gets me annoyed:
“To tell you the truth, I think you can reduce your costs more.”
As if he knows my finances better than me…

Rather than justifying my result and getting into a lame argument, I thought I’d vent out here. And, here’s my proof.

These are my expenses

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• T-mobile – 60
• Netflix – 17
• Gas – 180
• Lunch – 80
• Groceries/Dining Out – 220
• American Express – 50

= 1322

I save the rest. Varies between 15-1800/mo

So, this is how I can adjust it:

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• T-mobile – 50 (shorter plan and use work cell phone to make calls)
• Netflix – 0 (cancel it)
• Gas – 180
• Lunch – 60 (bring lunch from home more)
• Groceries/Dining Out – 180 (Eat at cheaper restaurants still once a week)
• American Express – 50 (This is bound to remain the same)

= 1235

What do you think? I think this is as lean as a girl who lives in LA and has an everyday 2-2 1/2 hour commute at a small business that offers teeny bonuses, limited medical coverage, and no retirement options.

My curiosity and resentment overtook me, and I tried calculating how my roommate spends her income:

A couple months ago, she said that she would have $25,000 to spend on shared down for a 1-bedroom condo with me by the end of next year. She has a monthly salary of 4300 after tax.

• Rent – 675
• Utilities – 40
• Verizon – 65
• Car Insurance – 200
• Gas – 180
• Student Loans – 200
• Credit cards – 500
• Savings – 1800
• Food/Entertainment/Other – 640 (!!)

I believe that she really does spend about $500/mo on food alone. And the rest, shopping, videos, miscellaneous things.

Now, bf’s expenses totals to $1200/mo and he lives at home. He grossses 4000/mo.
He saves 2500-2800/mo.

What do you think.. really?
Maybe I should become an exec asst or a stripper. My friends seems to gross $5-10K/mo in their occupations.

Ahh, the headaches begin again!