Weekly Updates (Spending/Groceries, Job updates, & Money Goals)

The hubby before he remembered
that he had fun money. 

Weekly Spending-ish
As I mentioned, I've been trying to sort through our finances since we got back from the cruise last Friday and it's a mess... Thankfully all the money has been earned and deposited so in a matter of days all the bills will be paid and we can get a good idea of how much is left to either A) Toss at the Roth IRA, or B) put towards the Dentist Visit SCB has coming up. But onto weekly updates.

We signed up to volunteer at Child Share's annual Gala awhile ago, so the day after we got back we had to dress to the nines in our formal finest. (Hubby got to wear what he wore to our wedding again and I repeated a dress from my high school winter formal--ya, it fit still but only because it was a dress I had bought during a more chubbier period and now I know about spanks). I've also apparently lost my curling iorn since I moved into my condo 2 years ago. This is where it's awesome to have a husband. While I was trying to pin up an amazing up do, SCB went to the store and picked me up a curling iorn so I could finish my hair. (Sadly though, I'm a bit bitter I forgot to take a pictures before I took the thing out cause it rocked!). We had a great time working the event. SCB was working in the silent auction room so he was allowed to bid throughout the evening and we ended up winning  my entry fee into the LA Marathon, 2 sweatshirts, a pair of running pants, and a water bottle for $100! Considering the entry fee $145 alone I was a happy camper.

After my night of marathon phone calls on Wednesday, I finally started getting on track and tackling some of the long items on my to-do list. I still have a few more phone calls to make... but for now it's nice to breathe and have most of my billing people calling me by my new last name.

Since the money's been a bit off, I won't be posting a spending recap of a break down of the past 2 weeks.

Job and Work Updates:
I'm going to be having a busy week coming up (and some overtime!), but my first week back from Vacation wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. I'm still a bit behind on a few things, but as September ended, so did a lot of the summer chaos and now we switch things up as fall approaches and hopefully things will get back on track. We were supposed to be getting another co-worker back from medical leave for next week, but its been delayed for another 2 weeks or so.

While my husband's paycheck still isn't all set up the way we would like it to be, we are just glad he's getting one. 2 of his co-workers are planning on quitting and one is still on medical leave. We also figured out how his employer calculated overtime. Anything over 8 hours in a day is overtime... if he works 6 days a week and only 8 hours a day, he doesn't get time and a half for the other 8 hours he works, just base pay. But its good to know to see if its worth him going up there for 3 hours or so on his day off.

Money Goals:
Despite our inability to keep track of what we did and didn't spend this month, we came out all right in the end.

• Operation Roth Ira: $900.00/$5,000.00 $16% there. 
• Travel Fund: $0.00 
• Child Share Giving: $84.00 (after the silent auction money)
• General Giving: $185.70

How I spent my Wednesday Night... (With Sprint & Bofa)

Apparently my "open thank you letter" to Sprint awhile ago was a little hasty on my part. We were supposed to get $175.00 credit on our account after 61 days of use for transferring my number from one cell provider to another one.The standard promotion was for $125.00 but the Rep at the store was going to give us an additional $50.00 to seal the deal...

Only that hasn't happened. I called up the guy who sold us our phones before the honeymoon and he remembered us and apologized for the full credit not processing through and told us it would be all fixed up by the end of business on the Monday we were leaving. We came back Friday and the credit wasn't fixed. I called again and he told me it would be fixed the next day... It wasn't. I called again and he told me he'd call me tomorrow.... and didn't return my call.

So I then called the store I bought my phone from and somehow got transferred to Corporate Sprint where I explained the whole story to an employee and asked nicely for my credit since I'd already made 3 or 4 phone calls about it trying to get the issue resolved already. I even offered to email him the handwritten card and everything so he could verify with the sales guy that they made the promise and so my credit could be posted.

But he couldn't and before I could say otherwise he transferred me to a supervisor... an "escalation supervisor" in fact... who was located in Kansas... I tried calling a building 3 cities over and somehow i'm now speaking with someone in Kansas? (and I wasn't yelling or getting angry so why did I need the escalation supervisor?)

Any who, the "escalation supervisor" very nicely told me that he couldn't do squat until the store made some notation to my account that an additional credit was promised because the Corporate Sprint could not uphold a store promise... even if I emailed him the business card that the clerk wrote everything on... :(

30 minuets of my life wasted... and no credit to speak of...

So I called and left a message for the sales rep AGAIN... and tried the store again (with the proper directions from the supervisor on how to not accidentally get sent to the corporate account problem solvers.)

So then I spent 6 mins explaining my story to another gal who told me by 5:30 she'd have the notation in the account memo box so i could then call Corporate Sprint back and ask for my Supervisor from Kansas so then he could credit my account...

So I killed the hour or so by doing other chores. First I called Bofa's mortgage line. Right before we went on the cruise we got a check from Bofa saying I was getting $70 back from overpaying my closing costs... yup, from the condo I bought 2 years ago. (They are just getting around to this now????)


So I decided to call down to make sure it wasn't some scam or a mistake that would one day come to haunt me as BofA showed up to take my house from me because I took $70 from them and lost a paper saying I needed to repay the amount plus interest ASAP or they would take my home..... (yup, vivid imagination)

So I called and the gal told me it normally took that long to refund any over payments that occurred during closing so the money is actually ours!! (Woot!) It's going to pay for my new kitchen door we just picked up before we went on our honeymoon (AKA, my 2 year homeowner present to myself). But that's all for another post.

While I was on the phone with her, I asked how I changed my name on my mortgage statements and forms. Apparently I need to send them a lot of things:

1. A copy of my new homeowners insurance with my new name on it...
2. Photocopy of my new SS Card.
3. A copy of my marriage cert. 

But then she told me that i could just bring my SS Card and my Marriage Cert to the bank and they could change it there... which seemed easy since I didn't have a copy of my homeowners insurance in my new name. She then told me I qualified for a rewards mortgage credit card that gave cash back (1% everything, 2% cash back, and 3% gas)... and it automatically went to pay down the balance on my mortgage. Which is something I'd actually consider getting... or I could just take the CC rewards checks I get and apply them to the mortgage myself.... but its just so much easier to spend money when its cash. (so maybe?)

But I must say that, that 17 minuet phone call that was far more efficient then all my calls to Sprint combined.

At this point the hubby came home so I dragged him down to BofA and we decided to cash a few checks... and change my name. We took down:

1. My husband's paycheck from 2 weeks ago
2. The $70 refund check from my closing costs...
3. My first check with my new last name (a $23 gas rebate check from work)
4. My SS Card
5. and the marriage cert.

We got my name changed on my checking account and while we were there we also changed my credit card that's through Bofa (the one I never use), but we couldn't change my mortgage account... Apparently I now need to bring a copy of my homeowners insurance in my new name.... (guess I get to do that later when the insurance office is open.)

We got home, I watered my plants and then called back Sprint's corporate line... spent 9 mins of the phone and BINGO. $50 credit towards next month's cell phone bill.

Yeah for leftover dinner nights. I couldn't imagine cooking a full meal after that.

Getting back on track

The hubby's actual white board to-do list... Guess he can
mark off the one about telling me he loves me :) 

Its always so hard to get back into your normal routine post happy vacation bliss. Our finances are all messy right now since I can't remember what I accounted for in our budget before we left, and what we are still waiting on. It looks like its going to end up being a zero sum game for us the rest of the month (thank goodness there is only one more day left and one more paycheck come Friday.)

Besides my mom's birthday dinner and a card and flowers, we are going to try and rein in the spending next month so we can get back on track and embrace the truly frugal people we are... not the spend hacks we have been!

I have piles of projects to finish, a whole lot of half written blog posts, and a new workout ethic to keep up (which I failed at doing yesterday.)

Hopefully I stay sane and get everything together and make a huge dent in my to-so list... or at least my hubby's...

Glitch: ING Direct

Apparently my experience with ING the other day was a "glitch in the system... Here's the email exchange:

Good morning,
I noticed that transfers between my checking account and savings accounts aren't instant anymore and that I need to wait for the next day to have the money moved from my electric orange checking account to my orange savings account. This used to happen instantly and I'd initiate my transfer and the money would be moved... It was a nice feature because once I clicked the "ok" button, I got to see the reward of my savings account grow and I got a good understanding of what was left in my checking account for spending and bill pay purposes...
And now that's not the case. I understand that you are under new ownership and have been bought by Capital One, but I have to ask, Why the change?
One of my favorite features of your on-line banking program was that everything was instant. It made it easy for me to balance my budget every month since I never had to wait for amounts to finish pending to pay bills or to feel good about putting money into savings.
I've been banking here for over 5 years now I have a checking account, 9 savings accounts, and a Roth IRA and a share builder account. Needless to say I consider ING Direct my primary account for savings and bill pay and for investments and I'm not happy with this change. I would really hate to take my business elsewhere since it would be a hassle on my end since I have so many accounts with you, but if you continue to change the things I love about banking with you, then I will have to.

ING's Response:

Hi Saver,
Need to move money? No problem. Transferring money to and from your Orange Savings Account and Electric Orange is quick and free-of-charge (and who doesn't like that?). Just follow one of these steps:
-Sign in to ingdirect.com and click the 'Transfers & Deposits' tab. You can do this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
-Call our Interactive Phone Service at 1-888-464-7868, which is also available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There's no limit on the amount of transfers (or "deposits") to the Orange Savings Account; however, the Government makes us limit your transfers (or "withdrawals") from the Orange Savings Account to 6 or less per month. These rules don't apply to checking accounts, so transfers to and from Electric Orange are unlimited. Transfers to your linked external checking account are usually completed within 2 business days.
Thanks,Erik

My Response (after I filled out a survey indicating how unhelpful I found their reply):

Thank you for your response Erik... but it failed to answer my question. I already know how to transfer my money from account to account.
I was inquiring as to why you changed your policy.
Before when I transferred my money from my Orange Checking to my Orange Savings, it happened instantaneously and I received my confirmation email within minutes. The screen showed the transfer and the money was moved and wasn't "pending."
Now when I transfer money, I have to wait till the next day to have it moved from my ING Checking to my ING Savings...
I would like to know why this change has taken place.

ING's Response:

Hi XXXXXXXXX,
When making an internal transfer through ING DIRECT, the funds are available instantly. We only place funds on hold when a Customer transfer funds from their external linked checking accounts. If you have any further questions, just let us know.
Thanks,Michelle

Me again:

Good morning Michelle,
Unfortunately that wasn't the case when I initiated a transfer the other day. I had to wait one business day for all 5 transactions from my Orange checking account to 5 different savings accounts at ING.
Was that a fluke or apart of some website update that was going on?

ING's Response:

Hi XXXXXXX,

There may have been an error as internal transfers post immediately.
Thanks,
Joe

Anyone else have issues????  

ING Direct Changes

Last night while i was attempting to rectifying all of our accounts (and failing), I logged into ING Direct and was hit with a very interesting new change.

Before I tell you about that though, I thought I'd update you in case you haven't heard. As part of the Bank Bail Out that happened months and months ago, ING DIRECT was sold off to Capital One... and no one around the blog-o-sphere seems to be happy about it...

And it looks like we had good reason to be upset about the sell off. The first email change happened weeks ago and I didn't mention it on here because it doesn't really effect me too much. "They" (the goons at Capital One), decided to limit the amount of money people were allowed to transfer or get their hands on in one day from no limit... to only $5k (and left a little note at the bottom that if you need more they will transfer it, but only after a phone call....)

Then last night they stopped instant transfers with no warning. Normally you could pull money from your checking account into savings (and savings to checking) instantly. No waiting. The next screen showed all the changes automatically. Now you have to wait for the next day for the money to move... and I'm not pleased with that change at all. One of the features I loved was that it was instant. If I ever miscalculated something I could always just make a transfer from savings to checking and not worry about it...

I love the bank the way it was was, why change it? All the accounts are at the same branch, on the same screen, but no... not anymore. I have A LOT of money there and if they continue to play these games with me, my money will move elsewhere...

Please don't die my little orange bouncy ball...

Were Back!

Our honeymoon exceeded our expectations. It's amazing what a week away from your phone, the internet, work, and your family can do to feed the soul. While we didn't spend much if any time laying pool side, we really enjoyed ourselves.

We arrived in port early, and due to some arrests from the previous sail we weren't able to get on the ship for some time. We killed time people watching and exploring the Queen Mary.

Once we got settled in we hit dinner and met a fantastically fun couple. We made a point to meet up with them a couple of times during the cruise to help make the games and shows more enjoyable.

We went para sailing in Catalina... and if you've never been, I highly recommend it :)

After trolling through Ensenada, I was reminded of the blessings we have here at home. We went on a "blow hole" tour and our guide made a point to show us all the project areas and the factories that make a lot of goods for the states...

We spent our last full day at sea on the ship attending shows and games... and eating way too much yummy food :) We even hit the ship's casino for a bit and found out a few interesting . Apparently drunk people load machines up with money, play a little, and then walk away and out of the casino leaving cash just in the machine for the next person to play... we got a few "free" games in this way and when we went to get some cash from the ATM  we found $20 just sitting in it unclaimed.

After packing up and getting our last sit down meal we put in our room service order, caught a comedy act, and then called in a night.

We were off the ship in no time in the morning since we carried our own luggage off. Even with parking we kept to our honeymoon budget in tact and even had enough money left over to pay for the mounting gear to put up my new hammock chair :)

We decided that we like cruising so we will be redeeming our second set of vouchers in the future... possibly around our birthdays next year.

Phone calls... Phone calls... & more Phone calls

We were trying to get a bunch of loose ends finished up before we headed off to relax.

Dentist Appointment
We called the dentist and scheduled an appointment for South County Boy to get his check up and cleaning done for the first Saturday in October since that was the earliest we could get him in without it affecting his work schedule. We know he's going to need to get a lot of work done.... we'll be saving up a big chunk of dough because we really don't know how much it will end up costing us even with the insurance... especially since the insurance isn't the best in the world when you need work done. It's great for cleanings and checkups mind you, but not the best all around. Thankfully though, my dentist is fabulous and I heart her work so that makes up for any downsides that come along with the insurance because without it, I would never have tried her office.

Sprint Wireless
We got our Sprint bill in the mail... and we noticed our $125 credit... but it was supposed to be $50 more. I saved the card that it was originally written on and I called the guy personally who sold us our phones. He remembered us cause we cracked jokes while we were there... and frankly no one forgets the newly married couple when the wife is 5'1'' and spunky and her husband is 6'5'' and a wall flower :) He told me he'd call me the next day... and when he didn't return my call I called him back again. He told me that by Monday my account should be fixed so we are holding off making the payment until we get back from our trip... If not I told him that we would call him again personally when we got back state side...

DMV
I went ahead and called the DMV and made 2 appointments for the same day during the first week of October . Once to change my name on my license. One to change the title on my car into my correct name. Well see how that goes next month. 

Sprint again...
We needed to call to find out about any charges we may or may not receive from being on a boat with our cell phones... Apparently Airplane mode is safe so we can use our phones still as e-readers when we want to read pool side :)