The Weight of Money

I will be on vacation until August 8th - a vacation worth -$400. The daughter’s sleep away camp is $800 for two weeks; if I go and work there for a week - I get a week’s worth of camp paid for. Considering the steep price of camp, this is a requirement for our family because I just couldn’t afford it otherwise. Also, our camping program gives out scholarship money for lower income families, like us, and even with a scholarship this year, I still have to go and work a week to make it possible.

I absolutely think the camp is worth the cost and that my efforts are worth the reimbursement our family receives. I’ve already started budgeting for next years camp — registration starts in Jan or Feb and payment is due by May — and know that with my new job (or at least a new job I hope to have by then) I won’t be able to take a week off to work at camp. Last week, however, the daughter said that she wants to go to camp for four weeks — $ouch!. I told her that she better start thinking of ways to earn the money between now and then if she really wants to make it happen.

I look forward to catching up on some interesting posts when I get back.

I love crafts of all sorts and I collect materials for different types of crafts at alarming rates. Now that I’m in the middle of packing to move, I’m starting to reconsider the organization patterns and purchasing patterns my craft hobbies have established. I’ve discovered that I truly enjoy acquiring crafting supplies more than I like actually making things. I love having neat little collections of everything you need to make x, y, or z. However, I’ve noticed lots of overlap and overpricing that could be avoided with organization.

I was looking for a way to organize my paper supplies and found this article:
Get Organized with Becky. This article shows a great way to organize all of your scrapbooking supplies but can easily be transferred to other craft or sewing supplies as well.

I noticed that some of my paper art supplies look very similar to my sewing supplies. While they look that same, I’m certain that I paid more for the paper art materials that resemble sewing supplies than if I’d just purchased sewing supplies. Take ribbon or thread “embellishments” for example. These are sold in scrapbooking stores and sections and frequently contain short lengths of colorful or whimsical threads. Now, in my knitting supplies, I have tons of neat threads that are certainly far more economically priced — because while scrapbookers only buy enough to “embellish” a page, knitters must buy enough to make an entire project. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that yarn is cheap — I’ve been to too many sheep and wool festivals and yarn shops to think that — but it is certainly cheaper per inch/foot/yard than yarn/thread sets marketed to paper hobbyists.

So, Becky’s article comes in very handy in helping reduce spending just by getting your craft space organized. While her tips are truly focused for scrapbookers, I can easily see how I can use those same methods to organize my sewing, painting, calligraphy, beading, polymer clay, metal, and other craft hobbies in a way that will allow me to use any and all supplies for any type of hobby. This way, I can use the better priced items that I already have on hand instead of being tempted by neatly packaged “embellishments” the scrapbooking companies are selling at a much higher priced.

Of course, I’m not sure how one would factor in the costs for all the organization supplies needed to have a craft room like the one in the article. Luckily, I’ve had a passion for clear storage containers for years and have a large selection of bins ready for sorting and storing. And, the partner had lots and lots of cabinets with small drawers perfect for little crafting nick-nacks. Too bad those cabinets weigh so much — I don’t think the man owns anything ‘lightweight’.

When setting up recurring bill pay, be sure to enter the correct stop day or you may be facing fees to fix it after the fact.

I miscalculated the daughter’s orthodontist bill and ended up sending in an extra payment. I thought this would be simple to correct — I was wrong.

The orthodontist office kindly called and left a message telling me they had a check for $100 and a previous balance of $0. They wanted to know what they should do — void the check? Since their office is closed, I called my bank to see what steps to follow to remedy the situation. The real problem is that while they are holding a $100 check sent to them from my online bill pay, my account has already be debited $100. Bill pay checks are not the same as regular checks, no waiting until deposited for your account to be debited.

To answer my question, my bank referred me to the bill pay service and they kindly informed me that I had only two options: 1) apply a “stop payment” on the check or 2) wait 90 days and a stop payment will automatically be applied.

Now — my bank charges for stop payment orders to the tune of $18. This doesn’t seem reasonable, nor does waiting 90 days for the auto-stop payment — which I’m unclear wether or not I would be charged the same fee.

So, my third option is to speak with the orthodontist and ask them to process the payment and then provide me with a refund. This doesn’t sit well with me either, but it looks like it is the only way I’ll get all of my money back in a (hopefully) reasonable time frame. Thankfully this error was with a friendly office; I can’t imagine trying to solve this with a large, faceless organization.

While I could have avoided this, I am still nervous about using my online bill pay. Of course, when the alternative is going back to paper checks — I’ll just make it a point to pay closer attention to what I’m paying online.

Thanks to savvy saver for hosting this week’s carnival of personal finance.

To the new readers: I write about my adventures in making money work for me instead of me always working for it. I have worked for several years to get beyond some bad money habits and financial disasters. A few weeks ago, I married the partner, and my networth dropped 100% further than it was before. So now, we are working on getting out from under our debt and finding a way to live within our means.

The name of the blog comes from the fact that the partner has a love for metal and I noticed that selling property was calculated not by dollars but by weight instead. He’d come home and tell me how he sold 2,000 pounds or how he helped 5,000 pounds find a new home. His inventory of large machines has been fading as our savings have been increasing.

Since we started dating, he has managed to drop his credit card debt by $10,000 and has made lots of little changes to help stay in line. On this site I simply catalog our attempts and failures at making more positive progress in getting our spending under control and our debt wiped out.

I will be starting a new series next month about tackling your credit report and what you can and should do to try to clear up any inconsistencies or challenge negative information that just might go away if you do. My credit score is very sad, I’ve not rebuilt any credit in the past few years and I’m really behind in getting this taken care of. But, if we’re going to attempt another home buying adventure next year, together, then I need to get my act together so I don’t pull down his great credit score too far.

Thanks for reading and enjoy some of the other fine blogs listed this week.

As a frequent diner, properly tipping servers is very important. I use the standard tip of 20% for the meal. However, I’ve realized that I may be inaccurately calculating the tip on the total bill instead of excluding tax. Depending on where you live, this could mean a big difference.

Lets take a simple lunch for two as an example:

$26.00 - total food/drinks
$1.30 - 5% MD tax
—–
$27.30 total bill

If you pay 20% on the total, you’ll tip $5.46.
If you pay 20% on the order, you’ll tip $5.20.

With a difference of $0.26, you may wonder what the differences is. However, you are actually tipping 21% when include the 5% sales tax. If you spend $4,500 annually dining out, you will spend $45 more a year. If your local tax rate is higher, or you travel to areas with higher rates, this could add up even faster.

Now, there is the argument that servers are often under payed and a generous tip is not a bad thing. However, because I tip a standard 20% unless the service is horrendous — it has to be really bad — I feel that it balances out for me to keep a 20% tip. That also doesn’t include lunches where I dine alone and the bill is less than $10.00. Often times, in these situations, I’ll tip a standard $3.00 -$4.00 depending on the service. Here, I’ve obviously passed the 20% mark but I feel that leave a tip less than $3 is a bit sad — maybe I just need to get over that.

Also, Mapgirl wrote a good post on why you should leave cash tips or tip higher with credit cards - but I can’t find it at the moment, maybe she’ll chime in with it.

Is YNAB - You Need A Budget the budgeting answer I’ve been looking for?

I’ve been looking for a new spreadsheet to manage my monthly spending. I’ve been at a loss for how to move from independent, single person budgeting, to family budgeting for three. This software looks like it might just work for me.

It’s Your Money provided a review of YNAB that sounds very favorable.

The benefits and things that draw me to this program: The recognition that balancing your checkbook is unecessary when working from a budget. I cannot balance a checkbook, I’ve tried so many times and always fail miserably. Since using my own budget sheets, viewable here, I’ve never needed to. I keep a buffer of several hundered dollars in my account and don’t let my expenses bypass my income.

I do like the logic of needing to have one month of income in the bank to begin with. The partner often looks at his account to see how much money he has, to me this should never be done. The money in my account has a purpose and I should never assume that what is there is available to spend. What my budget tells me is there is far more accurate. [However, one should frequently check their accounts to verify that there is no unauthorized use taking place.]

Also, the taking from the next month what you overspent this month also works for me. I do this now, or at least I did last year. It keeps the money in the account balanced properly.

I also like that there is a register entry for each dollar spent. Right now, I go through all of my charges, check them to the entries in my little green notebook (where I list amount, where, and category), and add things up to put in the proper budget line. It takes a lot of time and there is a high risk of error in adding up 15 dining expenditures.

The biggest draw back is that it looks like you need to re-enter your budgeted amounts each month… that would bother me because I plan ahead and the budgeted amounts should not be so variable. I’m sure copy and paste would work, but the authors do feel that entering the amounts each time is a good habit.

Finally, backups would be required. It panics me now knowing that everything I know about my finances is locked into an excel spreadsheet. If I were to lose it (and it’s backups) then I’d have no clue about the status of my accounts.

However, I think that I am going to give it a try. The partner is going to read over it at work today and give his opinion. Last night was the first time he didn’t allude to a budget being the end of the world — we’re making progress!

Having graduated, I no longer have access to the campus recreation center supported and funded by student fees. I’ve been without a gym for several weeks now and my health, stress, and sleep levels are showing it. So, it is time to evaluate the local gyms since we now have a place to live (more on that later).

On first impression, I am greatly underwhelmed with the two county facilities I visited this evening. I guess comparison to an expensive, well funded gym to one that survives on county funding and local memberships to supplement their budget is a setup for disappointment. Now, the dilemma is: which poor candidate is the best candidate?

West Facility:
12 month Individual Membership - $135
nothing available for the daughter

East Facility:
12 month Individual Membership - Fitness Only - $205
12 month Individual Membership - Aquatics Only - $220
12 month Individual Membership - Fitness & Aquatics - $315
12 month Junior Membership* - Aquatic Only - $135
12 month Family Membership - Aquatic Only - $355
10 swims Junior Pass* - $36
* The Junior annual membership compared to the 10-swim pass: The daughter would need to go more than 3.125 times a month to make the annual membership the better option. Considering how busy life gets, I think the pass would be a better option for the daughter because the months she go more would be balanced by the months she goes less. Plus, considering holidays and summer, an annual membership would be too much of a commitment for someone so young.

East Facility Pros/Cons:
+ swimming
+ bike trail access
+ the daughter’s friends go often
+ lap swim available all day
+ 6am opening
+ indoor tennis
+ personal training
- pay per use lockers
- no rental lockers available
- small fitness area (maybe 15 cardio machines)

West Facility Pros/Cons
+ somewhat improved fitness center
- no swimming
- 9am start time
- bike access more difficult

Nothing really sells me on the West facility and I’d go with the East just because that is all that is left. However, with these options, I’m going to check out a commercial gym that is a few miles down the road. It lacks bike access, is a bit further than I want to go, but may be my only option if I want a place that is anything like the campus center.

I have a wonderful car! She is 8 years old, has 135K miles, and has never really given me any problems. I would love to keep her until she dies; however, I’m seriously considering selling her sometime soon.

When I returned to college full-time, I couldn’t afford Maryland car insurance. I “sold” my car to my mom, she titled it in Oklahoma, and has kept insurance on it for the past two years with me driving it in Maryland. Thanks to being a full-time student, that is possible. However, now that I’m married and back in the professional world (hopefully I’ll be working soon), I need to get personal insurance and get on the partner’s policy. That means bringing this car back into Maryland.

In 2002, I moved to Maryland with this car. In 2003, I paid all of the fees to get it tagged, titled, and taxed correctly. This included an inspection ($55) that failed due to poor tires ($120). Due to procrastination and a two week vacation, I didn’t re-inspect it within the allotted time and had to get it redone. Inspection number two ($60) resulted in another failure for something as dumb as windshield wipe blades ($15). Finally, my car was properly inspected and then the title fees ($43), excise tax ($100), registration ($128), and other fees ($13.50) were paid. So, three years ago I paid $534.50 to bring my car into Maryland.

So now, I’d be looking at another inspection ($55) and hope that it will pass — they always seem to find something stupid to fail it on. There will be the title fees ($43), excise tax ($32 now because my car 7+ years old), registration ($128), and other fees ($13.50). To continue to own my car, I will pay at least $271.50. And then, I will have the increased insurance rate — I now pay less than $500 a year; before I was paying about $350 a month.

It is looking like my gem of a car is no longer worth keeping. I did have a $200 repair recently, but I felt that was a reasonable repair considering the age and milage of my car and how it never has any problems. Parts do eventually wear out and need changing.

The partner desperately needs a newer car and we’ve been holding off due to housing. Selling my car and hoping someone will pay $20 for his will give us additional funds to get a newer car, one that we can have faith in. Also, the job I’m currently crossing my fingers for is easily accessible through public transportation and we could have just one newer car for the two of us. We also currently have a third vehicle, a contractor van that isn’t in top shape but is far too useful to let go and would allow us the use of a second car as needed.

I was toying with the idea of selling my car earlier this year and had decided that it just wasn’t time to make that decision. But now as I look at the numbers for bringing my car back into Maryland, I just don’t feel like throwing that money away — for that is exactly what it is, money thrown away as it has no positive benefit, no mechanical improvement, for the car. We’ll have to pay part of those fees for a newer car and we will be getting a newer car wether or not I keep my car.

Why not save on fees/taxes and simplify to living with one car (the van really isn’t a day-to-day driving vehicle) and public transportation to work. I imagine it’ll save us money in insurance and maintenance in the end.

[The other big issue with my car is the lack of a/c. On days like today, with a heat index of 104 degrees, it makes selling the car sound like the only reasonable thing to do. For the record, I bought it in Wisconsin where I didn't need a/c.]

A post by Single Ma caught my attention.
First, Single Ma posts about why she likes credit cards and high limits. She recognizes that many people act as though credit cards are bad and describes how that isn’t the case in her situation. And, honestly, it isn’t the case for anyone’s situation because it is the use of credit cards that either helps or hinders someone. I also find the convenience of credit cards incredibly useful and would use one for every purchase if I had one. Instead, I just use my bank card in the same manner. I hate to carry cash and the card helps me track my purchases and makes it easier to put them in the right category in my budget.

Now, when the partner and I first started getting serious, I made a very strong negative case against credit cards. I noticed that he’d often charge things when we went out, like dinner or entertainment. Now, the partner has extremely high credit card balances and I really jumped on him (in the nicest way possible while being (overly) critical) for it. I explained that he shouldn’t be using credit at all while working so hard to pay down debt. I argued that if he didn’t have the cash to buy it, he shouldn’t buy it at all. I then continued to say that if credit were ever used, that is must never be for consumable things — no meals, no entertainment — because if there is not the cash for those things then we should just stay home and not spend anything. First of all, it was months later that I realized he’d taken my statements completely to heart and stopped using his credit cards — I didn’t expect that. Also, it has made a serious improvement of paying down debt and once debt is paid down, I’ll have no issue with using credit cards again — just not to the point to being 30,000 in debt.

So, credit cards offer (some of) us an incredibly useful convenience. Also, there is the benefit of credit offering the chance to buy a larger ticket item and pay it back in pre-planned steps. Of course, I find planning and saving for a larger purchase in advance is better their planning how to pay off a purchase — but it is nice to have that option available. Also, there are times when something comes up that is easily solved with the use of credit. None of this means that racking up large amount of debt is appropriate, but that credit cards have their uses and are not bad in and of themselves.

I don’t like my network spreadsheet… it feels like it fails to actually capture the actual net worth condition. And no, I’m not upset just because it went down this month — it just doesn’t work for me. But, there is no time to change it now.

Credit card debt did not get a big decrease because we needed extra cash for the closing that we thought was imminent. It is back on track this month for being paid down appropriately.