Financial Notes

Feeling a little overwhelmed by money and life, lately? Me too. I’ve been trying to do too many things at once. I need to take a step back and ask myself “what can I get done?"

Let me ramble about some specifics for a minute.

I have approximately $800 in the bank to “spend” (meaning, I have other monies sitting around, but that’s set aside for food and gas, etc.)

I have some financial hurdles in the next month:

1.) Moving

I’ve decided to use all my monies in June to pay for moving. That sets aside about $1,700. What does that buy? I include rent and a down payment in this figure, which will be around $1,200-$1,300. That leave about $400 for the move itself, which is probably correct. I’ll be doubling-up with my GF this time, so we’ll split the truck, etc.

In July, I’ll get my $550 deposit back from my old place, which I can then turn around and put towards my last credit cards.

2.) Bike

If I had an infinite amount of time in life, I would put off the bike for a few months when I have all my credit cards paid off, but I don’t have an infinite amount of time. Summer is here, I only have a few months of good riding weather, and getting in shape isn’t one of those things one should put off. I’ve done my homework, checked out everything online, went to five local bike stores, and test-driven about eight bikes. I found a new bike that I like, on sale for $750, at a store that seems to be pricing things under the competition. They have a friendly, knowledgeable staff who went the extra mile to make sure I found something that fit, in my budget range. I’m not thrilled about the components, but I can upgrade them next year when I’m more financially solvent.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I'll be able to sell my current bike for ~$400, so the cost is significantly defrayed.

3.) Credit Cards

If you look at the ticker on the right sidebar, you see that I have $1458 left on my credit card. I’m so anxious to just pay this off right now, but if I do, I’ll just end up putting more money on my damn cards, at a higher interest rate than is on there now. I just need to take a breath. I can get this paid off by the end of July. Waiting is the smart financial decision.

4.) Future School Loans Complicated By A Credit Card Mistake

I have to pony up the cash to pay for a class this summer. I’ll (very soon) have to do the same thing for next semester. I was planning on putting these loans on my Discover card (I have a 0% purchase rate for the rest of the year), but I made a credit card mistake. Not a huge mistake, but one that just ticks me off. When I was looking into buying a home, I needed $3000 on hand to pay for some fees that I would incur. Knowing I would get this money back, I decided to put it on the same Discover card using a transfer check. I ate a $90 balance transfer fee to get a 2% rate. I didn’t get a house, so I paid the money back, called the $90 a wash, and was set to walk away happy.

Here’s the problem: I’m floating school loans on that same card. They’re at 0%. I have to wait for my grades to come in before my company will reimburse me for the loans, and by that time, I’ve already put the next semester’s tuition on the card. Some of you know the answer to this riddle, and I have to say, in the back of my head, I did too. The issue is, that $3000 at 2% is the last thing that my card will pay off, because it’s the highest interest rate, and because I always have over $3000 floating on that card, I’ll perpetually pay $60/year in interest, or $5 a month. Boo hoo, right? Yeah, well, it gets on my nerves. I haven’t figured out the answer to this dilemma, yet, but writing about it at least helps me to lay out the problem. I’m going to sit on this one for three more months (giving myself some breathing room to move), and call it a $15 learning experience. Grrrrr…..

5.) Miscellaneous Expenditures I’m Not Tracking

I’m not awesome about recording “extra” expenditures. Here’s some that I’ve recently added that take a large-ish nibble out of my pocket book.

$5/month to the Grameen Foundation. This money subsidizes micro-loans in developing countries.


$10/month College Donation. This money subsidized my alma mater, underage drinking, etc.

$27/month SmartyPig savings. Did I mention I have a savings account? Wohoo! Now I just have to keep from spending the money. I’ll write more about SmartyPig later.

Little payments add up to $43/month, which ISN’T insignificant.

That, and lately whenever I have too much to drink, I donate $25 to my favorite politician. Some people drunk dial, I drunk donate. Sue me.

Okay, that’s enough thoughts for today. This has been good, and I can look back on this post, laugh at myself a bit, and feel a little relieved that I’m not in a financial catastrophe. Thanks for listening.