My New Toy

In my last post, I talked about using meal planning as a way to adhere to my food budget of $50 per week. I did okay on a trip to the grocery store (I spent $50.60, but $10 of it was for non-grocery items<<paper towel and toilet paper). However, I did not purchase breakfast items. I knew that breakfast is was best at Panera Bread. But when I did the math (at least $3.02/day for at least twenty days each month), I knew that I might be better off (at least a little bit), by putting $60.40/month elsewhere (savings account maybe?). 

So what did I do? I bought one of these...

The machine, additional pods of hazelnut coffee and skim milk set me back $120.22. The cost per cup (excluding the depreciation of the machine) is $0.67 compared to the $1.75 I pay paid at my lovely bakery chain restaurant.

I tried it last night with tea (nothing special there), and this morning with coffee (it doesn't taste like Panera :/). I even made a second cup because I thought the first was a mistake.

The next time I use this machine, I'll use purified water (as recommended). I'll let you know how it turns out.

By the way, why did I purchase an "expensive" single brewer coffee maker? I've had coffee from Keurig (machine and pods) before and it's always delicious. Like, addictive delicious. I figured, why not have the same deliciousness in my home?

I'll do my best to make breakfast at home as pleasurable as breakfast on the go (I'll miss you cinnamon swirl and raisin bagel!). I should remind myself that there was life before carrying out breakfast every morning. But the smell of freshly brewed coffee for a few months has easily overshadowed such memories. At any rate, I'll do my best to "get back to the basics."

P.S. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. You would be too, if your coffee wasn't on point!

Hello From Out of Town

My apologies for not posting yesterday. I've been so wrapped up in work. I've been out of town since Monday night for a conference. I'll work on a post for tomorrow (Thursday, June 9th). In the mean time, here are a couple of things that I learned about, like and want to share.

• Putnam Investments makes an "impulse savings" app for its customers, Business Wire 

• Taxing the Poor: Doing Damage to the Truly Disadvantaged A look at how, historically, state and local tax policies have affected poor people, University of California Press

Take care!

My Response to J. Money's 5 Favorite Things

J. Money of "Budgets Are Sexy" posted a fun "5 for Friday" on May 13th. I'm a little late, but what the heck, here goes:

1) What’s your favorite credit card? My Capital One. They recently raised my limit (hooray for my credit score). However, I'm still in the market for a rewards card.

2) What’s your favorite financial book? I Will Teach You to be Rich, by Ramit Sethi, because he "keeps it real" and it's targeted to my age group. I'm so annoyed that many personal finance books are directed to middle age folks<<<same reason why I had to cancel my subscription to Money magazine (good thing my sister subscribes to it...she's older anyways :>). I also like Suze Orman's The Road to Wealth because it covers so many topics!

3) What’s your all-time favorite financial company? ING Direct and their new acquisition, Sharebuilder (which I used before the A&M). They make saving and investing, respectively, easy to do. And their websites aren't fussy :)

4) What’s your favorite financial tool? (could be software, investment vehicles, or anything you consider a “tool” really) Google Docs (specifically, the spreadsheets). I use it to track my expenses every day, keep a bird's eye view of my savings and investment account balances, and to track my debt elimination progress. What's best is, even when I'm out of town (and I have internet access) I can keep these things updated.

5) And lastly, what’s your favorite coin? ;) Quarters. I park in a city that only accepts quarters in meters.

A Wonderful Vacation!

Somebody (i.e. me) didn't post for three days. If the picture to the left doesn't make it clear, then hopefully, these words do....I was gearing up for, and later enjoying, a vacation!!!

My dear friend married his college sweetheart on Thursday, April 28th and many guests enjoyed a cruise afterward. The days prior to his wedding were fraught with shopping (What to wear to the wedding!? What to wear on the cruise and for the excursions!?), planning (They want me to pay WHAT for an excursion!? Let me deal directly with the vendor!), and packing (What can I pack in my carry-on (clothes, shoes, toiletries)... What do I have to purchase once I get to Florida (liquor, large sunscreen, liquor)...)

The wedding was beautiful and the ensuing cruise was a blast! I got to spend time with friends, a little more time with my boyfriend, toured Ernest Hemingway's Key West home, parasailed, ate, snorkeled, danced, laughed, ate some more, played cards, snapped a ton of pictures, learned a "fancy" way to play Black Jack, ate again, and napped. My boyfriend ran into an old friend (and his girlfriend) and we shared a few experiences (we're looking forward to hanging out with them).

I hadn't cruised in several years and was anxious to find ways to spend less money where possible. This is how I did it:

• I read the FAQs like my life depended on it an learned that each person could bring 750mL of wine for embarkation day. Considering that cocktails on board started at $7 (plus 15% tip),  I made sure to take advantage of this opportunity: 1 bottle of pinot grigio and 1 bottle of Arbor Mist (my boyfriend likes fruity drinks) cost less than ten bucks at CVS.
• Long before the cruise set sail, my boyfriend and I explored the shore excursions we wanted to participate in. We settled on the Ernest Hemingway museum and parasailing in Key West and snorkeling in Cozumel. Had we booked through the cruise, the per person cost would have been $40, $90, and $60, respectively. I decided those amounts were too high and shopped around. I made online reservations for the Key West activities with local vendors ($11/pp for Hemingway's house and $35/pp + tax for parasailing). Once we arrived to Cozumel, we asked three vendors about their prices and settled on one for $45/pp (in hindsight, we probably could have negotiated with them). Nevertheless, instead of paying $380 (for the both of us), we paid $187.24....for the same exact thing!!!
• I printed coupons. In asking about places to go for our trip, Pancho's Backyard came up. We went to the website and printed out coupons for free lime margaritas. They were DELICIOUS!!!
• We booked early. As soon as my friend set the date, I booked the cruise (March 2010). Since then, I'd been setting aside $100 each month to pay for the cruise (which was paid for by October 2010) and spending money. A few months, I spent the "cruise spending money" on other (i.e. more immediate) fun things, but at the end of it, I still had $400 left.
• It wasn't a "way to spend less" but a financially savvy decision nonetheless...My boyfriend has a rewards credit card that earns points for every dollar spent. We each received a card that granted us entry into our stateroom and allowed us to make purchases on board (a few rum punches and mojitos, room service, coffee, and daily gratuities, for instance). Both of our cards were assigned to his card. So the $202 we collectively spent will translate into points that he can use at a later time.

Despite spending a ginormous amount of money on clothes ($700+), the amount of money we spent during the actual vacation was very reasonable. We had an amazing experience and are looking forward to our next trip! Perhaps next time, I can wear what I bought this time around and really keep the numbers in check!

Would Anything Change?

While searching for insights into small groups working on financial goals, I came across a website called WealthGathering.com. The article that popped up is titled "Social Wealth: Can Facebook Friends Affect Your Wallet?"

In short, the article discussed influence, social contagion, and a few tips on how to maintain one's financial sanity in the midst of a social snowstorm. A specific tip on how to maintain one's wealth habits is to "Share your savings goals with a select group of friends using a tool like SmartyPig.com." I started to think, what if people shared a few other things on more public forums (ex. Facebook, Twitter), say for example, your current credit card balance (and limit), balance in checking account, balance in savings account (compared to one's goal for that account), or the last time you made a contribution (and amount) into a retirement account.

I recognize that money is still on the list of "taboo" topics, yet I wonder what would happen if people openly shared a few indicators of their financial health (and, most importantly, their goals). Would anything change? Would people start paying off their credit card balances in full? Would people start saving on a more regular basis? Would they increase the amount they save?

Although I have no data to support it, I suspect that a "I'll-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours" display of financial health might encourage us to change for the better. At worst, people would be so annoyed/ashamed and "unfriend"/unsubscribe/etc.

What are your thoughts? 

Would you change your financial behaviors if your friends shared theirs? 

Do you think your friends would change their financial behaviors if you shares your own?

I Want Some PiggyMojo!!!

If I was paid to promote PiggyMojo, I'd be a ga-gillionaire. Unfortunately, I am not. I'm a fan, nonetheless.

PiggyMojo makes the concept of spending less money equal saving money. In, Dumb Marketers or Dumber Consumers? I explain how spending less money is not the same as saving money UNLESS you actively set aside the difference 'saved' (i.e. not spent). Well, thanks to a bunch of really smart people and technology, spending less literally translates into saving money.

See how it works...

www.piggymojo.com