Crystal G

For years, I’ve been using Microsoft Money 2001 for keeping track of my expenses. It’s simple, clean, and efficient, albeit probably somewhat outdated in the feature department.

My friend Caryn loaned me Microsoft Money 2007, which I thought would be all the better. I installed it on my laptop this morning and imported my 2001 file. The user interface is fairly different, but I was able to find everything I needed. It offers more report options, which I was really excited about because I use the different reports often to determine where problem areas are in my finances, keep my budget in certain categories in check, and just really be aware of how much money is going to certain places.

However, I’ve been sitting here for the last 5 minutes trying to get a single report to load, and they just keep saying “Loading”. I’ve yet to see what their new report interface or what their new reports look like. Not happy there. 2001 will load them instantly, I’m not sure why 2007 can’t seem to handle them.

I do like that they’ve changed the entering of account information into one screen rather than filtering back and forth through different screens, that’s certainly a bonus. They also offer a bills calendar which just displays your bills and when they are due in a calendar format. Not necessarily that useful, but for people who need a visual guide I can see it as being a plus.

A lot of the program seems to switch back and forth through the Microsoft Money website, which I don’t like either. I don’t know what sort of security is in the built in browser for this program, so I have no interest in browsing with it.

Finally got a report to load, which is just the regular January report. It looks pretty much the same as 2001’s report, offering a comparison to last months expenses, where you decreased or increased your spending. It displays total income vs expenses, but as far as new features I see it shows your top five expense categories, your net worth, and a large section dedicated facts about your bills over the last several months. Pieces like, comparing your debt to the national average, warning you not to charge on your credit card if you already have a balance, telling you if a bill has been increasing over the last 6 months or not and suggesting that you re-evaluate it. It even tells you if you have a gap in your check sequence, and what your estimated income tax will be for next year

I’m still torn on whether I’d be willing to switch to it. I think I might actually use both for a while, 2001 on my desktop and 2007 on my laptop and decide which I like better after a month or two of usage. Nothing is really pulling at me to switch to 2007 yet, and the fact that I can’t get reports to load quickly enough (or at all) is a huge turn-off.

I’ve conducted a small mini-experiment for the last week or so, while working on my resolution for 2009 to slowly migrate to a macrobiotic diet. It wasn’t really a planned experiment, but once I took notice I decided to try it out.

When I got my juicer, I really went full-force into trying different combinations of fruits and vegetables (ESPECIALLY vegetables since I have a hard time eating them), and to really find ways to put more vegetables into my diet. I hate those V8 Fusion drinks because they carry so much sugar and other crap, I decided I could do better on my own.

So I started making mixes of cucumbers and celery and apples and ginger, another mix with carrots and apples and ginger, even some of just fruit like apples and blueberries and ginger (soooo good). I started to notice that one of these big juices was actually enough to make me not hungry. I didn’t feel full, which was a bit of a struggle because usually people eat to feel full, and it takes a lot of work to re-program your brain to understand that you should eat to not feel stuffed. I am still working on that.

Anyway, so I started getting all of these vegetables and fruits into my system, and I was really feeling great. My body was reacting very positively, and I was energized and inspired to keep going. I still ate something bad now and then, but nowhere near the capacity before.

Then when I had my parties with the taco dips and cheeses and sodas. I noticed after allowing my body to detox so much with the veggie and fruit juices, that when I started eating these other things, I could actually feel my body getting weaker, more tired, and actually feeling pain in the stomach area. Sometimes it was very noticeable, distracting pain. My body was reacting in bad ways. Not surprising, I expected it.

So I alternated my food intake for a few days, just to really understand the transitions my body was going through when eating good food versus bad food, and it started to become really clear.

What I find the most confusing, however, is even knowing that my body reacts in such bad and painful ways while eating this bad stuff, I found it difficult to mentally detach myself from those foods. I was still craving them, sometimes absently, to the point that I wouldn’t notice until after I had already eaten them.

It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying the fruit and veggies, in fact I was enjoying them very much. But for some reason my mind was telling me that I wanted these other things instead.

So how do you mentally detach from these food cravings that hurt you, and then reattach yourself mentally to these new foods that help you? I have already been doing a fairly decent job at this for the last several years. I stopped drinking sodas for the most part (maybe 1 a month), I don’t go out for fast food at all anymore, my craving for red meat dwindled to almost nothing, etc.

I think part of the process will be educating myself more on what some of these good foods are, and experimenting with various recipes. A lot of them are so new to me, that I’ve never heard of them. Others seem like they would be difficult to find because they are not considered an everyday staple.

Another process is cost. It takes a lot of money to restock your kitchen with new, healthy ingredients as opposed to the old staples we’re used to. Because this is a cost issue, it has to be done gradually….a few new items each grocery trip. And I don’t like wasting stuff we already have, so I have to gradually phase them out as well.

The biggest hurdle for me personally though, is trying to get my father on board with new eating habits. No matter how many times I tell him not to buy me chips or icecream, occasionally he does anyway thinking it’s a good “treat” for me. It’s really not. He knows I get mad at him everytime he does this, but I think it’s finally starting to sink in. However he’ll still buy things for himself, so that will affect our cost expenditure as well.

I guess this will just be a slow, but very well worth it effort. It will also be a mental struggle, but I think the rewards for this change will cleanse all of the old cravings in the end.

My friend Melissa mentioned in my post about ways I saved money in the last 2 years, that it’d be nice to have some totals. I had been keeping track of how much extra money I saved or found around the house in 2008 for the last several months, so that I could make this post. Essentially any extra money I earned, found, or was given, as well as anything I haggled a discounted price for only in 2008 is listed below.

Dads Prescription Eyeglasses: Normally $250, My cost $84, savings of $166

Hosting for my journal: was $48/quarter, my new Cost is $118 every 2 years, saving $33 a quarter giving me a savings of $132 a year for two years (so technically $264?)

Hosting for my MUD: was $48/quarter, my new Cost is $118 every 2 years, saving $33 a quarter giving me a savings of $132 a year for two years (so technically $264?)

Hosting for the Grove Website: was $48/quarter, my new Cost is $118 every 2 years, saving $33 a quarter giving me a savings of $132 a year for two years (so technically $264?)

Car Loan: was $323.96/month, my cost after refinancing is $246/month, savings of $77/month (or $924/year)
Also 11.95% to 10.79% interest rate

Bronco Tag Renewal: $180/bi-yearly, switched to Historic tags so it’s now $79/bi-yearly, Savings of $101
I also did this for my dads F-150, so his total is $101 as well.
No more emissions fee ($14 per test) adds another savings of $28 to the pile.

$176 in change around the house

$600 stimulus check, which I guess doesn’t really count, but it was extra money in 2008.

$1900 back in taxes, which I put most towards the principle of the mustang

Switched from chemical hair dye ($100 every quarter) to all natural hair dye ($40 every quarter) for a total of $240/year saved.

Donated $86 to CLG of my unused unwanted items to auction off to support my church

Donated $260 worth of books to CLG to auction off and support my church

Phone Bill (Verizon): was $65/month, My Cost (Comcast Triple Play VOIP) is $36/month,
$350-400/year savings.

I called up Comcast and asked for a reduction in prize on a whim, I went from $114/month to $79/month for a total savings of $420/year.

Since February I’ve saved up a little money each month into a new Savings account I had created just for my Car Insurance. By paying the 6 month premium in advance twice a year, I’ll be saving $391/year.

Cut the holiday budget in half by $300.

Went to an old farm for a Christmas Tree, saving at least $30.

Made $14.02 in Zazzle sales for the MUD.

My players donated $270 in 2008 towards MUD hosting costs which obviously saved me $270 worth of mud hosting costs. They must really love to play the game, because I never ask for donations

Got $40 worth of ING referrals.

We were gifted all of the materials for our new chimney, saving us at least $200.

Got a discount from my grandfather for a storage trailer for a savings of $80

My bank accounts have earned $186.87 in interest.

Items sold online:
Malachite Earrings on Etsy: $5
Peridot and Silver Ring on Etsy: $20
Rose Quartz Pendant on Etsy: $20
Complete Xena Seasons on Ebay: $110
Frontline for 11-22lb Dogs on Ebay: $20
Rainbow Opal Ring on Etsy: $20
Suede Journal: $23
Scarab Earrings and Pendant: $21
Native American Choker: $20
Total: $259

Grand Total of Items I had laying around the house (of which I have plenty more to sell!):
79 Ford F-150: $500
Jewelry: $259
Grove Donations: $346
Loose Change: $176
Total: $1281

Grand total of money saved and items sold: $8590.89 saved in 2008

I’ve been working on a 2008 Financial Year in Review to find out where the flaws all in my finances so I can fix them in 2009. In doing so I noticed an issue with how I categorize some expenses, mainly the ones with my father. I had put all of these expenses under his name, but then the “type” of expense I left as a normal category. For example, lets say his cellphone bill went under the generic “Bill: Cellular” category.

If I wanted to see how much I spent on cellular service for 2008, it would add his total in as well. I wasn’t able to separate the two out.

So I went back and created a new category called “Dads Expenses:” and then added new subcategories to cover his bills so it’s now listed as: “Payment to Edward XXXXXX, Dads Expenses: Cellular”. That keeps it completely out of my financial totals, and will also now let me see how much I’ve spent on his expenses. The total in the last 3 years was over $16.5k that I’ve given him, and now I have a better idea of how much I give him for certain things.

Now to finish going over my own categories for my financial year in review.

It’s important to set goals for different time periods. Goals for the next few months, goals for the year, goals for the next 5 years, long term goals, etc. So here are my plans for Jan/Feb/March:

- Pay 6 month premium for my car insurance, which leaves me $270+ to put towards my fathers loan. (Done)
- Receive around $8-10k back in taxes, which includes the Federal Housing no-interest loan of $7500 for first time home-buyers.
- Pay the $6k left on my car off.
- Pay off 3 of the 4 remaining people who lent money for our down payment.
- Start putting my car payment towards my father’s loan. Any excess will go towards the last person I have left to pay back for our down payment.
- Up my 401k contribution by 2% (Done)

Me!

My boyfriend told me today that I’m the only person he knows that actually loves to balance their checkbook. Which of course made me wonder….”…why?” Why do -I- love balancing my checkbook, as opposed to most people who don’t? What was the last straw that made this change in my personality?

So I got to thinking.

Back in 2005 when I was 25 years old and gas prices were starting to rise (especially after Katrina hit), I realized I had to buy a car. I was driving my 1978 Ford Bronco and spending $80/week+ on gas. I couldn’t afford to do that, and I wasn’t making much money at Terminix.

Everywhere I went turned me down. I went to dealerships, I tried other crappy financing institutions, and I couldn’t get a car loan from anyone. My father couldn’t even co-sign for me because he didn’t have good credit. My credit was lingering around 525 at this point, I had no savings, and let me tell you if some disaster struck, like the engine blew on the bronco or something, I would have been screwed.

And it’s not like I was some victim or anything, I knew I did all of that to myself. I didn’t pay attention to my checking account, I had no idea how much was really coming and going, I had checks bouncing, I was buying things I couldn’t afford (and didn’t need), etc. I was stupid and irresponsible. That’s all. No one to blame but myself.

One thing I did do right back then, was keep a small Capital One Credit card that I got in I think…January 2005? I had a limit of like $250, and I didn’t hardly use it or keep a balance on it.

So January 2006 rolls around, and I get an offer from Capital One for a $14k car loan (I’m assuming because I was doing well with their credit card). I had to pick from certain dealerships to do this, but I didn’t have a problem with that, I just knew I needed to get a car (a used one at that). I eventually found one down in Baltimore that had a used car I wanted (a black mustang with a manual transmission), and I went down and bought it.

Finally! My own car! All my own. Someone had given me a chance, and I took it. But let me tell you, I cried that night. Not because I was happy that I finally had a car, but because I was scared. I was scared that I couldn’t afford the car, and I had thoughts about trying to trade down or sell it already. How can I afford a car payment? I couldn’t even afford to live without a car payment.

I think that night is when I finally woke up about my finances. I started buckling down and making small changes through 2006 and 2007. I quit my job at Terminix and got one that paid $10k more a year. I started using Microsoft Money religiously, I stopped spending money, I stopped going out.

But probably the most important thing I did, was actually looked at the reports that Microsoft Money created that let me see how much I actually did spend on things. Once you see how much money you waste, compared to having absolutely no savings, and knowing that the money you wasted could be -in- that empty savings account, you finally wake-up.

Now my credit is lingering around 700 (as of Sept 08). Now I own a house, and have almost paid off the car 2 years early. Now I know every cent I have, every cent I spend, and I can slowly watch my debts grow smaller and my savings grow larger. Eventually when the debts are gone, the savings will grow larger faster. But really watching the debts widdle down is my favorite part of balancing my checkbook every month. And I think that’s why I love it and think it’s so much fun. Just watching that slow transition from hopeless to fulfilling.

I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s podcast the other day, and he said something somewhat struck a chord with me in the realm of making sense.

He basically said that the more a “congregation” comes to terms with financial responsibility, the more they will tithe or donate to the Church. Naturally while the donations and tithing will go down at first while people straighten themselves out, once they are out of debt and the savings begin to grow, they will then be able and more inclined to donate more.

Honestly it does make some sense. We do not have very many fiscally sound people at the Grove (we do have some, thankfully). I’ve been pondering (and been prodded to do) a “Basic Personal Finance” workshop at the Grove for a while now. Honestly I don’t think I’m qualified to do such, but at the same time, I do like sharing my experiences and what I’ve learned about my financial turn-around.

So maybe I will consider doing this again sometime in March while people are getting their tax money back. Being the leader of my “church” I should not only lead by example, but also do my best to help the “congregation” stay on its feet, as a tribe.

Schwans Food – In our area we have what is called Schwans Food Delivery service. It’s actually rather expensive food delivery of specialty foods. They’d come about every 2 weeks, and we’d spend about $40 each time, for a total of $80/month on only a few packages. I decided to give this up and just stick to regular groceries only, and haven’t missed it since. In total, I spent over $3,000 in my lifetime as a Schwans Customer. Savings: $960/year.

Phone – In June of 2008 I got rid of our phone service with Verizon and switched to Comcast’s VoIP service. When I was with Verizon, our bill was like $60-$80/month. Comcast charged $33/month. Savings: over $400/year..

I’m still considering getting rid of the land line entirely, but dad wants to keep it, so we still have it for now.

Car Insurance Premium – I used to pay my car insurance premium monthly at about $120/month give or take. Eventually I decided I would start saving up a little at a time in my savings account until I had 6 months worth saved up so I could start paying 6 months at a time and get a discount. I was able to complete that in August 2008, so now I only put $96/month away. Savings: $300/year.

Holidays – I did a couple things to make the holidays easier on my wallet. For one I don’t buy wrapping paper anymore, but instead use either plain gray paper that comes in packages I might receive, or newspaper. I’ve even used paper grocery bags or excess fabric I’ve had laying around the house in the past. But in addition to these, I’ve started a Christmas fund, which has been a lifesaver since I started it in 2006. Each month I’ll sock away enough money each pay period to equal the amount of money I want to save for that holiday. In 2006 I put away $25/paycheck, or $50/month away and had $600 to spend come Christmas. In 2007 I increased my payments to $40/paycheck, which will equal $960 towards the end of 2009. I wasn’t able to save up as much in 2008 due to the housing situation, but I kept the $40/paycheck anyway.

Now I don’t have to fret about holiday money anymore. One thing to keep in mind that I forgot initially was to calculate christmas dinner costs as well as decoration (tree) costs in my total as well, so I made sure they were covered.

Banking – I used to get overdraft fees, just like everyone else. Not anymore due to keeping track of my transactions very closely, but I used to get them. Eventually I switched to an ING account, which gives you an automatic credit line on your account to prevent any Overdraft Fees at all. Instead they charge you a small interest on the money they lend you. Generally if I’ve gone over, I’d have like $.13 cents interest owed to ING, but then I’d earn a couple bucks back in interest for my balance. So the savings for this are amazing.

I can’t really put a number on it, but lets say the average person makes an overdraft charge of $35 on their account, 6 months out of the year, that’s $210 savings.

My father would benefit greatly from this, but switching to an online bank would be very inconvenient for him and I don’t -think- there are any brick and mortar banks that offer this. I know some offer an overdraft protection account if you have a savings, because they pull the money directly from your savings to cover it. However those transactions cost $10 a piece, so while cheaper, they still add up.

Postage – I don’t do much letter writing, except to an old friend of mine in prison. Everything else is usually bills. Since ING sends my checks out to me for free, I don’t have to pay for postage or envelops, they take care of it all. I can’t recollect the savings here either because dad is usually the one that goes out to buy stamps, but I imagine it’s fairly significant

Food – In 2007, I worked our grocery budget so that my father and I only had to spend $200/month on groceries for the two of us. Sometimes we go over a little bit, but in general we stick to $100 every two weeks. I don’t know what we used to spend before that, but I’m fairly certain in was possibly 50% more. I suspect when our garden comes in this summer, the grocery bill may go down even more. I will have to keep track just to see the difference. And that’s the thing, keeping track of your finances really lets you know what the difference is, that’s why it’s so important.

In addition to this, I stopped eating out as much if at all. In fact, my co-workers can vouch that I don’t hardly ever go to lunch with any of them, so they stopped inviting me I always pack a lunch because it’s easy to get into the habit of spending $10/day or $50/week or $200/month on eating out. Usually what I do is cook a big meal on Sunday evening and then put it into ziploc bags or containers in the freezer. The night before I need it, I take out a bag and put it in the fridge to start thawing out, and then bring it with me to work the next day. Crock-pots are also wonderful for this because I can cook while I’m at work and come home and my lunch is all ready for me. Talk about cheap eats and time savers.

Clutter – This isn’t an expense I’ve gotten rid of in the traditional sense, but clutter is still an expense non-the-less. All of the unused items you keep around your home are all money that’s just wasting away. It’s just sitting there collecting dust, not being useful, not even really being appreciated. I went through all of my old jewelry, belongings, etc., and though I still have much to sell, I’ve been selling off this “extra money” that’s been laying around the house. I’ve sold shoes, I’ve sold frontline for pets I don’t have anymore, I’ve sold old VHS tapes, I’ve even sold two trucks that were broken down and not doing me a lick of good. That money can then go back into my life, my bills, or any debt to raise my quality of life, rather than dragging me down with cluttered energy. You just feel better when you have more space.

The same goes for loose change. I collected over $175 in loose change around our house last year, and gave it to my father as a gift.

Haircare – I used to spend between $90 and $120 on dying my hair every 3 months when I was blonde. In August 2005 I decided to stop and let my hair grow out to its natural color, which apparently is a dark dark brown, near black. This would save my wallet as well as stop putting chemicals on my head where my BRAIN is. As far as my natural color, I loved the color, but I also wanted some highlights as well as hide any of my…..(obviously) premature grays. So I started using henna as a natural, completely safe, and actually good for your hair, hair-dye. This costs me about $35 every 3 -5 months. Savings: around $300/year

Automotive – Not only did I buy used when I bought my mustang, but I do most of the maintenance myself. It doesn’t take a mechanic to change the oil, check the fluids, rotate tires, change air filters or any of that other junk. I would have saved even more money if I had bought in cash, but I’m saving that experiment for next time. Now I priced brand new mustangs upwards of $29k. I paid $14k for my mustang, with the original warranty still left. Savings: Not counting the interest, this is a savings over $15,000.

Credit Cards – I hardly ever use my credit card, if I don’t have the money then I don’t want to buy it. But I keep them around to help build up my credit. When I initially got them, I had and 18.15% interest rate, and a 28.8% interest rate on my two cards. I called both up and immediately got the 18.15% reduced to 14.5%, and the 28.8% reduced to 16.9%. Just by calling up and asking that they reduce my percentage rates. I will probably do this again later this year when things calm down in the credit world.

• Dad still has a bad cough. A doctor finally gave him some anti-biotics because we think it’s like a bronchial infection. I am attempting to supplement that naturally, if I could find my eucalyptus oil.
• I had a Grove housewarming party on Saturday to show off the new digs and had a wonderful time. I enjoyed showing everyone around and just having the space to have all of these people in my house. If it were the old house, it’d be impossible. One of them spent the night because he was drinking, and I made him breakfast the next day.
• This week has been rather intense at work because we are launching the redesign of one of our biggest sites on Monday. I clocked in 12 hours on Monday alone. Another co-worker has also been working hard on the same site, so she and I were treated to dinner at an indian restaurant last night on the boss. We needed that.
• My sister’s birthday was on the 6th. She is officially 15, oh boy. She may be coming over today to exchange holiday gifts, pending how the weather is. Course my gift for her is sorta ruined because she quit her job, but I’m hoping she gets another one, maybe not even till this summer.
• I got my juicer which was paid for by the sweetheart, and have already made my father and I some fresh apple juice to test it. No fruit or veggie is safe now.
• I love the smell of our garage. In a way it sorta brings me back to childhood memories of playing in my grandfathers garage on the farm I grew up on. It has that same mechanic’s smell, mainly the oil I think.
• I have upped my 401k contribution from 5% to 7%. The difference in my Net pay will be very minimal, but the amount taken out for the pre-tax contribution will be significant enough. That just means the compound interest will be greater in time. In 2011 I’d like to be able to max my contributions to my 401k as well as my Roth IRA. But I won’t be able to until I’ve taken care of the remaining debt.
• I’m attending a conference in Laurel in February, which I’m sorta looking forward to, and at the same time I’m wondering if it’s going to wind up like a lot of other conferences. At least I’ll get to meet Diana Paxson.
• I love watching our stream when the water rises. The other day with all of the freezing rain, the water was pretty high and creating little waterfalls as it goes. I can’t wait until warmer weather when I can enjoy it more. I’ve thought about having folks over for a campout around the stream.
• Speaking of the stream, it’s not entirely on our property, it’s on the property of the woods behind us, which are mostly owned by a development company. I believe it’s the same development company that has the easement on our property, but there’s also a woman that lives back there. I’m not sure if she owns the property she lives on, and if so if maybe it’s -her- easement. It’s hard to tell without some serious digging.

  However I know that development company is really wanting a right-away so they can develop the woods back there at some point. I thought to myself, if they ever offer to buy the easement from me right out, that I might consider trading it instead for 150 feet past the stream (so it is then mine), as well as the abandoned house property to our right. If they wanted the property bad enough, I bet they’d do it. They can’t develop close to the stream anyway, and they offered to buy our neighbors property (who refused), -and- they were refused to build a road on the abandoned house property by the county. This way I’d expand our lots, and I’d have another lot with a house I could fix up and rent/sell. Just random thinking.

• I love this look with the dark woods and copper. I can’t pull anything like that off downstairs because of all of my fathers stuff, but maybe upstairs…

I’ve mentioned before that my Aunt works for Jackson Hewitt. She does my taxes every year, and manages three separate Jackson Hewitt offices.

This year she’s pretty short-handed, and I’m thinking of asking if I can help out on Saturdays (and some Sundays, but not every Sunday). This would be a small extra income, and also get me some experience in the tax/financial bracket.

We’ll see what she says anyway. The extra income would be put towards my fathers loan so perhaps we can get the $5k paid off even sooner than September like I originally anticipated

Obviously I couldn’t work during the week, due to my current full-time job during the day, and my personal activities in the evening.