Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Booked another hotel

Its offical, Ill be camping on my trip in utah! Where? Southern Utah... and it will be at the tail end of my trip...

But I can't imagine sitting in my car for 10 plus hours driving home without a good night sleep the night before and a shower... So, instead of driving all the way back to Orem, I booked a hotel in Cedar City so i can get a goodnight sleep, a hot clean shower, and shave off a couple hours on my return drive home.

=)

I actually booked 2 hotel rooms, but when I get to utah i'll get paid back for the second one so my spending looks a bit high so far for my cheap vacation. I'll adjust the numbers once I actually get paid back for everything =) We picked the cheapest thing that was near by... I'm so glad i'm staying with my friend... i couldn't imagaine staying in a hotel and having to pay for that the whole time... talk about expensive.

Less than 2 weeks and i'm in UTAH!!!!! I'm excited. I started packing last night (just the stuff I won't use between now and then that i'll need to take... like camping clothes!)

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Retirement Perspectives

End of 2009 Balance: $26,529.33 | Current 2010 Balance: $28,970.84
Additional Contributions since 2009: $1,679.74
Growth: $761.77 (4.799%)

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,336 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 3.24 % of my portfolio
• Contributions: $813.18 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary)
• Worth $938.17
o Up 15.37% from inception, +$124.99
o Milestone 2040 makes up 100%


457 Account: Approximately 3.57% of my portfolio
• Discontinued Employer funded plan (interest = pennies)… I get it when I quit… can’t invest it… can’t do anything with it.
o Positive $1,033.35

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 8.95% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested| Worth $2,591.88
o Up 3.667% from inception. Positive $91.88
o CD’s ranging from 1.25% to 4.5%


ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 45.57% of my portfolio
• $12,250 Invested | Worth $13,200.57
o up 5.60% since inception… Positive $700.57
o ING Strategic Allocation Moderate $12,583.42 | I have 1,431.561 Shares
o ARDVX 2040 $ 367.15 | 39.564 Shares
o Money Market Cash: $0.00
o Not deposited Contributions: $250.00



Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $17,763.97. Of that I’ve only invested $15,000.00 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 18.42% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 16,846.53), my portfolio is UP 5.44% since inception.

Pension: Approximately 38.68% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Total: $11,206.87

• I’m currently buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less than a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 30 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $28,970.84

Puppy Sitting and shopping (cause I ripped my other pair of pants)

I'm puppy sitting for a few days in the McMansion... too bad i'm working most of the weekend (LG training at work Friday, Sat, and Sun--- which means a little overtime for next month which will be nice since i'll be in utah!)... But all the working leaves very few days open to enjoy the jacuzzi and the pool... but i'm definently taking a nice soak on sunday after everythings done.

And I totally went shopping with the puppy sitting money. (even tho i got some shorts last time i went shopping--- I had to take back one of the pairs because they fit funny... and then i wore through my only real pair of shorts)

and they (Kohls) had a major sale and I had coupons! I might take back a pair I bought on my previous trip there because they had one in a smaller size that I think fits better then the other pair.

But for $80 I got 2 shirts, 4 pairs of capris/shorts, and a pair of yoga/gym pants... It was fantastic.

=)

Monday, April 19, 2010

to do list updated

Spent 3 hours at the DMV, but I have my car registered and the sticker is now valid...

Called and left a message with The Tile Company in the morning... called and got a voicemail in the afternoon...

still need stamps... found the old Homedepot statement, but Can't find the CC so I can't pay online cause I don't remember my password and user name... I'll have to move the money from ING to BOFA and write a check at the store and pay off the sucker this week.


Computer fixed...

Saturday, April 17, 2010

To Do List... I hate phone calls...

I need to hunt around at home for the home depot statement they last sent me and pay that off on Monday hopefully.

I need to call the DMV because they never sent me my stickers for my car (but totally cashed the check I sent) and I need to get the stickers so I don't get pulled over on my trip to Utah.

I need to begin calling The Tile Company again about my tile now that I have the funds to pay it off... They are ridiculous.

I need to buy stamps at the post office.

My laptop is all jacked up from a stupid virus. Hopefully my computer will get cleaned up tonight. Thank GOD my sister's boyfriend is an Information Systems genius!!! (hense the lack of posts lately throughout the week.)

Retirement Perspectives

My accounts are basically the same this week as last week so i'm not going to post the numbers (I gained around $1.00 or so).

Got my property tax check!

$274.11

I put $200 of it in my checking and took $74.00 out for some pocket money.

=)

I'm just awash in $$$$$ this week and it feels fabulous.

I didn't even have to call BOFA and yell at them to send it to me. The County just cut me a check and it was waiting for me in my mail box. I love my condo!!!

HAPPY DANCE!!!!!! GOT MY TAX RETURN!!!!!!

Bou ya

Bou ya

I got $8,738.00 Woot woot

Time to pay off loans...

Woot Woot

***boom chica boom Chica bow wow~!***

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Playing for my hotel...

My friend had to cancelled my piano lesson the last 2 weeks in a row (so the $20 a lesson so $40.00 total I normally would have spent I'm using to go towards my hotel while I wait on Mr. Tax Return to come.)

I also had to take back this really nice blue sweater I bought last month (it was dammaged and I didn't know it at the time cause it had some ruffles on it.) they put the money back on my card and when i went to find another one (cause I liked the sweater) they didn't have it in my size and color... so i'm taking that $27.00 and applying it to the hotel costs as well...

I just want my tax return to come so I don't have to worry about paying for my mini road trip. I mean I can always dip into the "extra $$$" i've managed to put away, but i'd rather not...

I'm house sitting next week so if worse comes to worst, I'll have some $$$ from that to use for all the prep stuff for my trip.

I think I'm going to ask my friend to check out my car because it won't be due for regular maint until after my trip is over.

Utah here i come in 26 days!!! I should start packing soon!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Credit Score and Credit Report

I pulled my Equifax, & Experian & transunion credit reports from annualcreditreport.com The only FREE one on the web that doesn't enroll you in some monitoring service.

I wanted to see how badly my credit score nose dived since last year now that I have a mortgage and 2 loans for all the work. Normally I pull all three at once and pay for the credit score number, but I want to see how my score changes after I pay off those loans once i get my tax return. I pulled all three reports... but only paid for 2 scores:

4.10.2010- Equifax credit score: 713
4.10.2010- Experian Credit Score: 755

Total Condo Costs Updated:

Its the end of the third quarter... so here's my update on the Condo Costs thus far:

Money paid to aquire the property and get keys:
$7,057.08

Money Spent to Remodel and Repair Property:
$17,672.29

total: $24,729.37

First Time Home buyers Credit: $8,000.00
Current equity: $3,374.80 (not including any change in value the upgrades gave me)

Current amount in the hole: $13,354.57

I got to write off $500.00 last year for paying property taxes because I didn't have enough to itemize, but I can't figure out how much it saved me in taxes because my "tax rate" is off with the large refund i'm getting.


Total ownership costs are $1,138.38 a month (including HOA, taxes, and all utilities minus electric... and an extra $60.00 to my principle balance)... ruffly the amount of a one bedroom apartment like mine so my comparrison plan should work nicely to find a happy break even point on my condo.

So i'm $13,354.57 in the hole for my place.

Shopping:

I've been doing a lot of shopping lately... and i'll be doing more on Sunday!!

I got a $25.00 gift card from Kohls for free from MY POINTS (post a comment with your email address if you'd like a referal to join) and they emailed me a shopping pass for an additional 15% off for Sunday.

I really need to get some cute shorts... and maybe some gym clothes so i'll be hunting around =)

I also got a free $10 shopping card to V.S. the other day in the mail... and I love shopping there... so I dropped a little bit there.

But I need to bring in the spending soon... I think after my trip i'll get all frugal again and limit myself to a little here and there instead of spending all the "extra" money that's floating around in my budget.

Road Trip: Utah

T-minus 29 days

I booked my hotel (I need to stay in a hotel one night while i'm there even though i'm driving straight from CA to Utah in a day.Its a long story, lol). I may need to book another hotel at some point durring the trip, depends if we go camping or not.

So i booked my hotel $76.74 I picked a nicer hotel instead of the cheapest one that popped up (they had one closer to my friends place but in the comments section they noted that they are remodling-- so i chose one closer to a larger area so i'll be able to find things to do too), because after all i'm on vacation... and a vacation for me.... I don't need jack hammers going off, lol.

It has a gym, indoor pool and real breakfast in the mornings. I'll check in around 3pm there, and i'll check out at noon the next day and then i'll stay with my friend for the rest of the trip.

=)

I'm sooooo excited!!!! my first real road trip!!!!

I also bought my friend his birthday present that i'll get to deliver in person! I think this trip is what I need to clear my head and get some clarity! Nothing a 12 hour drive by yourself can't fix.

Easter... a little belated but... eh

I actually went to Easter brunch with my sister, her boyfriend...... and yes.... My mother...

First time i'd seen her in a few years. It didn't go bad... we chatted, ate brunch, and got caught up on some surface things. She didn't pry so it went okay...

I guess I'm no longer avoiding her... but why did i go?????

because cutting her out of my life completely is making me angry and bitter... and I shouldn't flinch and do a double take when my friends call their mom's "mom" and dad's "dad" in conversations... it makes me uncomfortable.

so i'm trying a new approach. She's actually kind of getting her life together... still drinks... but i can't stand being so angry and bitter...

Stabbing at my condo... + Ren Faire

The other night some renters who live on the other side of my building decided to drink all day long... and stab someone 7 times...

yup.... someone was stabbed in my parking lot 7 times...

I got home before the crime scene lab showed up to clean the parking lot and take evidence. Nothing like this has ever happened here before, and I found out just how awesome my neighbors really are. =)

I'm glad I happen to be at a friends house that night though.... I bought a renessance faire costume a few days ago with my friend (we got free tickets for the faire from the LA Marathon goodie bag and i've always wanted to go so were going!) and i decided to go buy a costume cause i've always wanted one and dressing up will be more fun then not dressing up... ( plus i'll wear it for halloween this year too so I won't need to buy it then and i'll legitimately get to wear it twice.)

Well i'm short... so we were hemming the dress 4 inches while someone was apparently being stabbed back at my complex... that was sure fun to come home to.

Work Update...

Nothings official and I won't go into too much detail, but it looks like my employer may Cut the 401a plan we have, and require employees to pay more $$$$ for our current pensions.

As I mentioned before, paying more for my pension is something i'm okay with doing as that is money that will be mine if I leave the city and don't take a pension one day. It earns an automatic 6% interest with no risk. (If I leave the City somewhere down the line, i'll probably cash out my pension account at retirement because i'll likely have a job that participates in Social Security... and the pension allotment drops dramatically if you also are eligible to collect social security.

The 401 a account makes me really sad tho. I like that account and I'm not sure if i'd be able to elect for 1% of my money to continue to go into that account since its employeer paid... Maybe i'll call the company to find out.

There may be furlows and layoffs still... but if we clear a few more job F.T.E. due to retirement and shift the work load around so the positions are eliminated, we might be good...

***crosses fingers***

Retirement Perspectives

End of 2009 Balance: $26,529.33 | Current 2010 Balance: $28,505.12
Additional Contributions since 2009: $1,353.96
Growth: $621.83 (3.917%)

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,350 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 3.18 % of my portfolio
• Contributions: $798.94 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary)
• Worth $905.98
o Up 13.39% from inception, +$107.04
o Milestone 2040 makes up 100%


457 Account: Approximately 3.62% of my portfolio
• Discontinued Employer funded plan (interest = pennies)… I get it when I quit… can’t invest it… can’t do anything with it.
o Positive $1,033.26

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 9.09% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested| Worth $2,590.83
o Up 3.63% from inception. Positive $90.83
o CD’s ranging from 1.25% to 4.5%


ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 45.01% of my portfolio
• $12,250 Invested | Worth $12,829.72
o up 4.732% since inception… Positive $579.72
o ING Strategic Allocation Moderate $12,468.90 | I have 1,431.561 Shares
o ARDVX 2040 $ 360.82 | 39.564 Shares
o Money Market Cash: $0.00
o Not deposited Contributions: $0.00



Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $17,359.79. Of that I’ve only invested $14,750 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 17.69% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 16,582.20), my portfolio is UP 4.68% since inception.

Pension: Approximately 39.10% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Total: $11,145.33

• I’m currently buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less than a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 31 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $28,505.12

Saturday, April 3, 2010

April Kiva Loan! Tanzania

Location: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Repayment Term: 7 months
Activity: Grocery Store
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: to start selling water, juice and sodas at wholesale prices

Saraya Salum, 43, is married with three children, ages 22, 22 and 14. She has had a grocery store and hotel since 1984. She works from 8 a.m. to midnight and is able to earn a monthly profit of about $652.

This will be Saraya’s second loan from Tujijenge Tanzania. She used the first loan to improve the hotel and has repaid the loan successfully. She hopes for a loan to start selling water, juice and sodas at wholesale prices.

Saraya will share this loan with her loan group, Obama, which totals 15 members. The members of the group hold each other accountable in paying back the loan.




CURRENT LOANS IN ACTION
Location: Kadiolo Sikasso, Mali
Repayment Term: 8 months
Activity: Retail
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: Purchase of selling items

Location: Makeni, Sierra Leone
Repayment Term: 12 months
Activity: Food Market
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: Buy palm-oil, rice, and oranges in wholesale quantities

Location: Tsetserleg, Arhangai, Mongolia
Repayment Term: 20 months
Activity: Butcher Shop
Repayment Schedule: Monthly
Loan Use: to purchase meat
Repaid: $1.39




LOANS PAID IN FULL:

Zenaida Daing
Farming, Sta. Josefa, Agusan Del Sur, Philippines

Elizabeth Aidoo
Food Market, Wiawso, Ghana

Mobateli Plus Group
Manufacturing, The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Paz y Amor Group
Fruits & Vegetables, Dominican Republic

Dustmatov Eralboy
Livestock, Tajikistan

Seccelambras Group
Food Production/Sales, Peru

Rashidat Mumuni
Fish Selling, Nigeria

Karla Vanessa Montiel Barahona
Housing, Nicaragua

Eal Nub
Fish Selling, Cambodia

Atim Irene's Group
Medical Clinic, Uganda

Retierment Perspectives

End of 2009 Balance: $26,529.33 | Current 2010 Balance: $28,293.68
Additional Contributions since 2009: $1,277.30.
Growth: $487.05 (3.068%)

My Goal is the leave the workforce on my 55th birthday, 11,357 Days from now...

401 Account: Approximately 3.11 % of my portfolio
• Contributions: $784.40 (Employer Paid 1% of Salary)
• Worth $879.45
o Up 12.07% from inception, +$94.75
o Milestone 2040 makes up 100%


457 Account: Approximately 3.65% of my portfolio
• Discontinued Employer funded plan (interest = pennies)… I get it when I quit… can’t invest it… can’t do anything with it.
o Positive $1,033.21

ING DIRECT Roth IRA: Approximately 9.14% of my portfolio
• $2,500.00 Invested| Worth $2,586.37
o Up 3.45% from inception. Positive $86.37
o CD’s ranging from 1.25% to 4.5%


ShareBuilder Roth IRA Approximately 44.93% of my portfolio
• $12,250 Invested | Worth $12,711.74
o up 3.76% since inception… Positive $461.74
o ING Strategic Allocation Moderate $12,204.89 | I have 1,414.24 Shares
o ARDVX 2040 $ 256.85 | 28.539 Shares
o Money Market Cash: $2.50
o Not deposited Contributions: $0.00



Excluding my Pension, my variable retirement accounts are worth $17,210.77. Of that I’ve only invested $14,750 of my money (the rest has been my employer). So technically I’ve made 16.68% If I compare all the “free money” and my contributions (Totals 16,567.91), my portfolio is UP 3.88% since inception.

Pension: Approximately 39.17% of my portfolio
If I quit tomorrow, I’d just have the cash in the account.

Total: $11,082.91

• I’m currently buying additional time in my retirement accounts from when I was 16-18 years of age (service prior to membership). It’s less than a year’s worth of service credit, but I’ll be paying $33.06 for 32 more installments.

My entire portfolio (if I cashed my pension out today) is worth $28,293.68

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Waiting on the feds...

We have received your tax return and it is being processed. Unless we find mistakes or you owe other taxes, you should receive your refund by April 27, 2010.


***waits eagerly...***

Part of that $$$ is my vacation spending money (the vacation i take May 9th! hurry check hurry!!!!)

monthly Spending

March: $2,256.44

Condo Expenses:
• Mortgage interest: $511.82
• Principle: $138.82
• Additional Principle: $60.00
• Taxes: $125.00
• PMI: $52.74
• HOA: $250.00

Giving/Donations:
• LTG: $260.00
• Child S.H.A.R.E: $60.00
• KIVA: $25.00

Automobile Expenses:
• Gasoline: $92.80

Utility Bills:
• Electricity: $22.25
• Cell phone: $57.62
• Internet: $50.63

Groceries:
• Ralphs: $76.18
• Henry’s: $36.26
• Trader Joe’s: $30.58

Piano Lesson:
• David- One lesson: $20.00

Household Supplies:
• Walmart: $30.91

Eating out:
• Golden Spoon: $4.50
• Subway: $7.20
• Buffalo wild wings: $11.00

Fun $$$:
• Barnes and Noble: $14.67
• Walmart (2 dumbells, three baking sheets, 2 qt baking dish, swimsuit, 4 pc baking set, panties): $67.43
• TJ MAX: (Black sweater, Blue sweater, Boat neck three quarter length shirt) $64.13
• Fredericks: $142.45

Other:
• Post office: $4.02
• CVS (stuff when I was sick) approx: $20.00
• Prescriptions: $20.43


January: $1,981.94
February: $2,718.57
March: $2,256.44

2010 Annual Goals: March Wrap Up

Financial $$$ & Personal Goals End of March Re-cap

Pay off non-mortgage Debt
• Pay off Tile Loan -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return
• Pay off Home Depot -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return
Mailed & waiting

Lower Mortgage to under $115,000.00 • @ $117,023.74 (2,023.74 to go)
Principle Payments:
January $137.07 +$60.00 | February $137.96 + $60.00 |March $138.82 +$60.00

Get emergency fund to $8,200.00 (left to add $900.00)
Emergency fund now sits at $7,300.00
January $100 |February $100| March $100

Contribute $5,000.00 to Roth IRA ($4,250.00 left to add)
January $250.00 | February $250.00 |March $250.00

Car Fund (Save $250.00) (left to add $97.24)
This month I added $47.20 since I only filled up the car twice. The savings account now has a balance of: $492.76

Increase Networth to $60,000.00
@$52,084.00 (change of $1,172.00 or 2.30% from last month)This Month:
• I put $250 to the Roth IRA
• My employer 401a contributions: $28.48
• My Pension got a push: $123.08
• Paid down the mortgage this month by $198.82
• Saved some money into the car fund this month: $47.20
• One paycheck had some overtime hours (3.75 hours) on it from teaching CPR and attending a committee meeting. $64.82 Put into savings immediately
• After all my endless shopping… I had $13.00 left over that I added to my “Extra Money Savings account”… but boy did I spend this month.

Personal Goals:

GET IN SHAPEI succeeded again in not eating any red meat this month… It’s almost normal that it feels weird to write it out here each month. But I’ve been toying with the idea of giving up ground turkey… I notice on days where I eat it I don’t feel so hot afterwards because I don’t eat it in small quantities… When I cook with it, it becomes the main thing, so maybe I just need to reduce the quantity of it… Either way, I don’t think I’ll “buy” it in the store. If I’m some place, and turkey is an option, I’ll go with it… but I don’t think I’ll purchase it… that way it will limit the frequency that I have it... I still have some in my freezer (frozen meatballs, one package of ground turkey, and 2 packages of turkey kielbasa…) But for next month I think I might try more vegetarian options… I’m really really digging soups/stews lately (cold weather food).

I’ve lost a total of 6-7 lbs since January... Now my blue plaid shorts fit again but I think my Tan shorts are too big now and fit funny… I think they will get the ax… but I think I need tobuy more shorts… but I hate buying shorts/capris/bottoms… they never fit right… ever.

I completed a marathon in: 7 hours 40 mins!!!

Give More
• Kiva- I made one Kiva loan in January (Mongolia), one in February (Sierra Leon) and one in March (Mali)… set aside money for a loan for April.
• Childshare – By participating in the Marathon I raised over $1,000.00 personally, ($2,540 as a team) to find kids good loving homes! Next year my co-worker is going to do it again with me… so that’s one more person fighting for the cause. I’m pretty sure 2 out of the 4 of us who did the marathon will be doing the 5k next year… and I think a few others might do the 5 k from our church too, so we may be creating 2 solid teams. 5k & Marathon.

Track my spending
Kept track but did not stuck to the budget for the most part. I ran out of a few things this month and spent a little more than normal on Household supplies… but when you need TP… what can you do =) spent more on groceries… and when I found extra money I fully spent it instead of saving it (Bad me bad!—like cancelled piano lessons… )

I desperately needed more cooking/ kitchen supplies like baking sheets and some cookware since I wanted to do some baking this month for a saint patties day pot luck… and while I was at Walmart picking that stuff up I found a bathing suit ($15 bucks and it looks fabulous on my marathon training self… and my old one really needed to be retired) and some needed undergarments so I picked those up as well ($I had 10 bucks in cash leftover from last month in my wallet so I used that, plus the $20 from the missed piano lesson, so it was only $30 out of this month’s “random” expense budget… since I don’t budget for clothes and birthdays and what not, I have that $80.00 sitting around as a buffer.

I also went on a mini shopping excursion… with some of that money I found in BOFA… and I donated $60.00 of the found money to Child S.h.a.r.e. since I can legitimately say I’ve lost and kept off 6 lbs (that was the day before the marathon)!!!

Later, I decided to shop some more…. (Let’s just say all that extra money I found has been diminished!)

Read One book a Month
I’m still reading book 3: Captivating by John and Staci Eldredge

SO FAR I GIVE IT: 10 Stars/5 Stars
My best friend told me I needed to own it. She hates chick “how to be a better______” books … or those women’s bible study books… but she said this was the one women’s book every woman should own… and it kind of fit with the personal stuff going on in my life so we went to Barnes and Noble and picked it up with her. SPOT FREAKING ON…
Amazon link:
Chick Here

With getting sick, the marathon and a bunch of other stuff I just didn’t get time to finish it and its not one of those novels you just fall into… it makes you think and thinking isn’t a bad thing at all. =) So I’ll try and finish captivating plus another book next month too. I still have a couple left from my last bookstore jaunt before I moved so I think come May I’ll have to go hunting for some new reads.