Living Under My Parents Roof

I'm now on the East Coast, in my parent's house, where I'm quickly reminded of what life would be like had I decided to move back home three years ago after graduating college. I'm pulling my hair out in reaction to my mother's screeching voice and father's bad temper, even though it is nice to stay in a large air-conditioned house and spend some time in my old bedroom.

The big benefit of staying here is the free food. Of course, if I lived here for real, the food would not be free as I'd have to contribute. Or at least I'd feel guilty if I wasn't contributing and I had a job. I went out to a big dinner with the family last night in NYC and I ordered a nice fish dinner and wine. It was nice to not think about the bill.

But sans the financial benefits, I could not deal with living here. Within the 24+ hours of being in this house, my parents have already had about three fights. The more time I spend away from my mother, the more I realize that she really is crazy and annoying instead of just being a typical "mother annoying." She's nuts. She is obsessed with controlling everyone else's life, down to what people are going to talk about. She even sometimes has a conversation FOR two other people. Meanwhile, my dad has absolutely no patience for her, and his hot temper is the first thing that comes out the second she says something stupid. Which is often. It's not even what she says so much as how she says it. She doesn't get that she constantly talks down to people because she just assumes everyone is thinking what she's thinking and if they're not then they're being dumb. Crazy, real crazy. My poor dad, who isn't innocent in the least, has worked his whole life to make money for her (and us, the kids) to spend and he's, well, he's been miserable for a long time. Sure, he has the house, a nice house at that. And two kids... we're ok, I guess. But what else? Her?

Maybe someone could appreciate her. She'd do well with a boyfriend who wants to be controlled. There are guys out there who like that. Not my dad. He just snaps.

Heat Wave

These are the days when I really wish that I could stop being so frugal and purchase an air conditioner. Unlike back on the east coast, out here in Cali, few people think to buy an air conditioner. The weather doesn't get that hot, usually, but right now the heat wave is... well.... really hot.

Even sitting in the shade with the lights off, the heat is like a thick fog which doesn't move. Outside, there is sometimes a nice breeze, but my apartment seems to absorb heat and not let it go until winter comes along.

I'm looking forward to going home in a few weeks, back east, where air conditioning is plentiful. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to justify air conditioning a home, especially a large home, given that it's such a huge expense and many people in the world just learn to live without.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a good summer thunderstorm back east. I hope I get to see one. Growing up in Jersey, I hated those violent thunder storms. But now I feel like I'm dealing with passive aggressive weather. It never comes out and hits you with something, it just burns for days. The east coast weather made more sense. It was hot and humid and eventually it had to storm, and so it went. We don't get thunder storms out here. I miss the angry sky.

Is Moving Worth It?

As many of you know, my rent has gone up $400 in the past two years. That, alone, should be enough to get me out of this $1300 a month studio apartment.

But looking at the apartment rental listings on Craigslist, there really isn't much for anything less. And at least this is utilities included for $1300 a month.

Going from $1050 a month to $1300 a month is definitely going to mess up my budget. I finally was making enough to do some serious saving (so that one day I could buy a house, god forbid) and this price increase basically makes that impossible - unless I manage to get a job that pays even better than my current job, which is probably possible, but I love my current job, and it pays pretty well, and I'm so happy working for this company, and I don't want my rent price to control my career.

It's possible I can find a place cheaper. There are studios occasionally on the market for anywhere from $900 to $1200 in the area. By area I mean anywhere from South San Francisco to Sunnyvale. The "SF Peninsula." Silicon Valley. Where the majority of people who live here are engineers making bank, and the rest of us are, well, half-wishing we were engineers.

Getting a roommate seems like the only logical thing to do right now. I don't do well with roommates. Living alone has taken my depression and thrown it out the window. For the most part.

Lucky for me, my friend volunteered her second bedroom as a place for me to live in July. That's very nice of her. I'll pay her rent, of course, and I'll save some money because I won't be paying $1050 or $1300 - what I would be paying if I stay in my current place. I can't stay there forever, but a month will probably be ok. She has a big dog and I don't get along that well with most dogs. But maybe I'll make friends with the dog in July.

So if I decide to move out, I'll pack up most of my stuff before I leave for my trip, and then put all my furniture into storage when I get back at the end of June. In July I'd do my apartment shopping and, fingers crossed, I'd find something decent that's a good amount less than $1300 a month so the entire moving situation was worth it.

Given, I'm somewhat picky about my living space. I like light in my apartment. I work from home most of the time, so I need a place where I can be comfortable working. A place that isn't too small. I get really claustrophobic in teeny tiny studios. My current studio is nice and large. It would be nice to have a balcony or patio. It would be nice to have a second room to make my office, so I could deduct that portion of the rent on my taxes. I'd probably turn the bedroom of a 1br into an office and keep the living room set up as a "studio." I hope the IRS wouldn't mind that I store my clothes in my office closet.

How Does Anyone Afford Superficial Purchases?

I went to the mall today. I know, I know, I should never do that. But sometimes I like to shop. I went for an hour on my lunch break. I tried on a bunch of clothing. Outfits that would cost me two month's of my food budget. Looking in the mirror, I realized that even these garments, these $200 pairs of jeans and $99 shirts layered over another $99 shirt weren't able to make me look halfway decent.

I stared at my thighs. Those chicken legs. Short, with lots of fat up on my inner thigh. I thought of a time when I was thinner and how that fat was still there, albeit slightly less prominent. I thought about how growing up my mother constantly reminded me of my fat stomach, that protruding bump that must be hidden at all times, but how she never mentioned my giant hips, butt or thighs - and how I wonder if my legs will ever look remotely attractive.

Then, I thought about liposuction. The surgery that, with a little vacuum cleaner, sucks out all your fat (while cleaning out your bank account.)

I came home, obsessed with the idea of lipo. After all, my happiness depends on not having fat thighs. That's worth the price, isn't it?

Of course, I'll probably never get liposuction. The costs are far too great. It would probably cost me $3000-$4000 just to get rid of the lard on my inner thigh. And there are plenty of other areas I want to tackle to. I imagine lipo for all of my problem areas would add up to over $20k. Lower abdomen, arms, inner thigh, hips, outer thigh...

And then, I really want to get my teeth fixed. They're yellowish and crooked, with an unsightly gap in the middle.

Throw in the laser hair removal, which would probably not be permanent due to my having PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), add some hair extensions for kicks, a breast lift, some laser eye surgery, maybe foot surgery because that weird bone sticks out making my toes really wide and impossible to fit into any shoes, plus, why not also get a laser facial to make my skin look fresh and radiant, some new highlights and hair dye, and... then, only then, will I even start to feel good about how I might look in that pair of $200 jeans, and that $99 shirt layered over another $99 shirt.

But... at what point in one's career does she feel entitled to spending that much money on making herself beautiful? Obviously people do it, there wouldn't be that many plastic surgeons in the world if the only people getting such surgery were in accidents.

I'm 24 now, and in my 20s, I just want to be beautiful. In my 30s, I want to be beautiful. I want to enjoy the last remnants of my youth by - being able to wear a bikini and feel beautiful.

Sure, I could exercise, I could eat right. That would help a lot. But I don't think all of the fat would go away. It would stick around some places. That's just what happens. That's why people get surgery.

I want to save up for liposuction.

But I also want to, one day, buy a house.

Lipo versus a house... I think the house wins.

And once I buy a house, well, I'll have to pay for that house for many years to come.

And then I'll have children and they'll cost a fortune. And if I actually have them (and not adopt) my stomach will get even worse. And I'll want plastic surgery even more. But by then it will be impossible to be that selfish. The money will have to go to bills and health insurance for the family and my kids and their summer camps and college and...

And I'll never be able to enjoy being beautiful.

My Stupidity and Taxes

So... being the terrible procrastinator that I am, I waited until the last minute to do taxes. Well, that's not exactly true, I filed on April 13, but I needed to send off the check and I couldn't find my stamps, so I waited until April 15 to mail my check (federal only, I sent off the $2 I owed for State taxes electronically).

Well, I put my check in the sidewalk mailbox at 5:40pm, and then realized that it was too late to get it postmarked for the day. So what did I do? I decided it would be smartest to pay by credit card online ($30 "fee" tacked on and all) to make sure the IRS got my payment on time.

My payment did go through, it seems, but now I have a check out to the IRS for $1243 and I have no idea if they're going to cash it or not. If they check my records they'd see I paid it already and not cash the check, but I have a feeling it isn't going to be so simple. I imagine they'd cash the check, then see that I've paid twice, then, in two years or so, send me a refund for the money I overpaid.

The big problem here is that this means I need to keep gobs of money in my checking account in order to ensure I won't overdraft.

Meanwhile I think my estimated tax payment is going to get in late since I mailed it at the same time. I'm hoping any penalty fee on that won't be so bad since it's only a day late at the latest.

Ok, this year I'm really going to keep on top of things! I bought myself a cute little accordion folder to keep all of my receipts for anything work related, which hopefully will make it easy to turn my taxes over to a CPA at the end of the year.

I really need to get organized. I am so terribly ADD, disorganized and the whole nine.

Ugh.

How Am I Supposed to Feel?

i wrote this entry as a friends-only post in my personal blog, but i felt like sharing it here because it's relevant to my personal finances and also my tagline "a quarter life crisis and change."

-------

i just wish life would click into place. i'm starting to accept that i never will. when i was younger, i always believed that one day i'd just get it. i'd fit in, i'd be loved, i'd just know what was going on and i wouldn't have to worry anymore.

geez, i'm almost 25. almost 20 freaking 5.

i don't know what i want to do with my life despite the fact that i'm doing a lot with my life.

i used to feel like i needed to do something important. now i just want to get from day to day.

i used to believe passion was everything. now i'm numb more than ever. disconnected.

i feel love and it feels great. but is love enough? i mean, for life, that is. is that all there is to want? or should i chase money? fame? what is it i should want? family?

that's my problem. i don't know what to want anymore. sure i want to make money. i want to save money. i like buying things. but i'm not really driven to become rich. i maybe want a family one day but i'm not sure. my ovaries are not exactly my best friends and they're going to fight me if i ever want to have kids. could i even deal with having kids? i'm too selfish and irresponsible to have children. at least for now. will i ever change? i haven't changed yet.

i think what's bugging me so much is that i've lost my drive. i'm almost content. still scared, still worried that i'm going to end up unemployed and alone.

but...

i don't know. i find these little things to drive me for a while. theater. auditions. even though i know my singing voice is off key more often than not. sometimes i get a part. and there's the rush. there's the reason to go forward in life. but it's gone so soon.

my old friend wrote an entry today about how she feels disconnected from her family and siblings because she lives so far away. i kind of feel that too. not that i'd want to live back home. god, i'd be miserable.

i just feel so terribly lost. and maybe that's how i'm supposed to feel. like life is pointless and i'm lost and just wandering on blindly. and maybe my goal is to just deal with it. try to smile and laugh as much as possible and enjoy the simple things in life.

but then i'm just so... bored. and in some respects so empty. but that's because more than anything i want to want. to need. to have that hunger for... something.

i'm going to israel in a month and i'm not even excited about it. nor am i worried that i'm going to lose at the least $2000 in salary for the two+ weeks I'll be away. i just don't care... at all... about much of anything... anymore.

is this depression or just growing up?

My Father is Sick, My Mother Doesn't Even Know How to Pay the Bills

Far across the country, my father is lying in bed, fighting off illness, and my mother is fretting that the lights are going to turn off because the electric bill hasn't been paid.

My dad is in his late 50s and has been suffering from diabetes and obesity for years. He has refused to treat his condition properly, and has not taken the insulin prescribed to him because he said that it was impossible to lose weight on it. Of course, the way he eats with no exercise, it's not possible to lose weight in a healthy way.

He's supposed to go to the doctor to get checkups every few months but he hadn't been to the doctor in over a year. That is, until this past week, when his health quickly deteriorated and has left him bed ridden.

But, being the stubborn guy that he is, he's still telling my mom to bring him the bills to pay. He can't even get out of the bed, yet he won't let her pay the bills.

The saddest thing of all might be the fact that my mother doesn't even know how to pay the bills to begin with. I mean, she could pay them, but she has no idea how much money my dad has in his accounts, or how much is saved for their future. If any credit card bills don't get paid, it's on her credit history as much as it is his.

My father finally went to the doctor. It sounds like there are more problems than just the discomforting illness that sent him into the doctor in the first place. They did some blood work and determined that there's something wrong with his prostate. It's either an infection or cancer, apparently. They're giving him antibiotics to try to clear up the infection but if that doesn't work it might be malignant.

Given that my dad hasn't been to the doctor in forever, he's probably waited too long to treat any sort of cancer if that indeed is his infliction.

My father and I don't have a close relationship, but I'm still scared for him, and for my mom. I've accepted for a long time that he could just die and be gone any day, the way he takes care of himself. Still, I don't want it to happen, obviously.

My mom said he hasn't said he's scared, but he at the very least admitted to her that she was right - that he should have gone to the doctor sooner. For anyone who knows my dad, him admitting to my mom that she was right says a lot about his view on his condition at this point.

He's been in the hospital before, but it wasn't enough to scare him to get healthy. He doesn't seem to believe he can, or he doesn't care to do it.

I want him to grow old and be around to be the grandparent of my children one day. He's not the best guy in the world, he has his issues, he was abusive to me when I was a kid, and he's emotional abusive and somewhat physically abusive to my mother at times. Still, deep down inside of him, there's a good guy there. And I want that good guy to grow old and be around for a while.

And then, logistically, there's the real concern of what would happen now if he did pass away. My mother wouldn't know what to do with the money at all. I have a feeling my dad has a decent amount saved in 401ks, etc, but if my mom knew just how much they had she'd go and spend it all. Of course I wouldn't let her do that - and she'd listen to me. She admits she knows nothing about managing the household money. I'd have to step in and take charge of all of that, probably - from figuring out my sister's potential college education to the cost of my mom supporting herself, etc, etc.

I've always figured it would happen - some day - but I'm not ready for it to happen quite yet.

Maybe I'm thinking too far ahead of myself. My dad could just have an infection and he could get better soon. And if that's the case things will just go on as they've been... he'll continue to be stubborn and my mom will continue to be clueless.

People My Age Are Stupid

...so says a new report by the AARP. In a survey of folks ages 19-39, the majority of them didn't seem to be worried about credit card debt, or the fact that they weren't saving enough for retirement.

I'm glad that I surfed on to An English Major's Money blog about two years ago. I don't remember how I got there, but reading her blog and other PF blogs made me feel more confident about investing and saving. I was almost too ashamed to invest or save at that point, given that I had money tucked away already. But then I realized how I needed to start making that money work for me, and not to feel bad for doing so.

But most 20-somethings are dumb about these things. If they're lucky, they've got an employee-sponsored 401k plan with match, and they contribute some of their earnings to that because their employer recommended it and salesman from mutual fund firms came and pitched the horrors of not being prepared for retirement in order to sell their high-fee funds. Unlucky and they'd be in credit card debt with no savings, no "emergency fund," and definitely no retirement fund for the future.

I'm so grateful to the personal finance blogging community for getting me on the right track.

Going to Israel – For Free!

One of the benefits that comes along with being born Jewish (besides being, uh, one of The Chosen People) is a free trip to Israel.

The program, called Birthright Israel, provides free trips to Israel for Jewish youth under the age of 26. They send a lot of us kids to Israel each year… trying to get us to feel connected to our past and perhaps carry on the religion for a few more years of history.

I’m not a Zionist by any means – I’m pretty much agnostic on the issue of Israel (and religion in general).

So the trip actually is FREE. It requires a $250 deposit but as long as you go on the trip you get your money back. When the deposit was do my checking account was way low so my parents spotted me the deposit money but they’ll be getting it back.

However – small costs for the trip that’s free can and will quickly add up. I don’t exactly have all of the suggested packing items. I still have to pay for a roundtrip ticket from California to New York to get to the flight to Israel (though I’m going to make the trip a vacation home to New Jersey for a week or so as well as long as I can work from New Jersey for a week or two.) There are other costs as well… (not counting souvenirs and such) so my free trip costs…

$100 passport (I lost my old one. At a bar. Don’t ask.)
$350 round trip flight to New York
$30 water shoes “teva shoes” (from suggested packing list)
$60 sleeping bag (I’m going to try to get one used? Or borrow one?)

and then the big cost that I’ve promised myself (If I can be good and save for it…)
$600-$2000: A DSLR Camera – either Nikon or Canon.

For the past few years I told myself if I get on the Birthright Israel trip (or ever travel abroad again) I will be bringing a nice DSLR camera to take pictures. Last time I was in Europe I had a film SLR camera that broke a few weeks into the trip… but seemed to be working. So I wasted tons of film and lost dozens upon dozens of pictures. My digital camera that I brought was kind of crappy and while it took a few good shots, the quality was not that high.



I want to get more into digital photography anyway and I can’t think of a better excuse then to save up and splurge on a nice DSLR.

That’s coming last, though. First I need to pay my estimated quarterly taxes!!! But it’s a good excuse to try to work extra hard over the coming months.

Freelance Life: Estimated Quarterly Taxes

I may be way off on this... but my calculations amount to an:

Estimated Quarterly Tax: $6,706

Without the help of a CPA, I'm trying to figure out my estimated quarterly tax payment. My calculations, while likely closer to accurate than I'd like to believe, are definitely more than I have in my "for taxes" saving account.

The good news is that for this year at least, I'm allowed to put 90% of my previous year's taxes into my estimated tax payments each quarter. And last year, since I was working full time and making much less money, my tax payments for the year were not that huge. I think... and please correct me if I'm wrong... that as long as I pay 90% of last year's taxes (divided by four) then at the very least the government won't be charging me any penalty fees.

Regardless, I probably should try to just pay 100% of my estimated tax to avoid a really awful April 2009.

That said... I'm trying to understand these calculations, without figuring out my deductions (since any deductions I can take will just mean that I can get a refund. And I'd rather just get a refund than deal with sorting out deductions each quarter. It's hard enough to do it once a year!)

----

Tax Guestimates

Assuming I make $5500 a month for the entire year (I'm overestimating given that I'm making about $5000-$5300 now in any given month... some months I make more.)

TOTAL TAXES = $26,821.362 (or 40.6% of $66k yearly income)

FEDERAL
[$8025 at 10%] $0 - $8025 = $802.50
[$24524 at 15%] $8026-$32550 = $3678.50
[$33,449 at 25%] $32,551 – ($78,850) $66,000 = $8,362.25

Total Federal Tax: $12,843.25

STATE

0% $0 - $6828 = $0
[$9357 at 2% ] $6829 - $16186 = $187.14
[$9358 at 4%] $16187 – 25545 = $374.32
[$10,005 at 6%] $25456 – 35461 = $600.30
[$9353 at 8%] $35462 – 44,815 = $748.24
[$21,184 at 9.3%] $44816 – 66,000 = $1970.112

Total State Tax: $3880.112

SELF EMPLOYMENT TAX

[$66,000 at 15.3%] = $10,098

Total Self Employment Tax: $10,098

---

Estimated Quarterly Tax: $6706

--

Eeks!!! $6,706?

I've only saved about $4,500 for this quarter's taxes. Well, I'll really be saving more like $6,500, but I don't get paid until the end of the month, so the next $2,000 I'd put away, which would be for my March-April "month" of work ending April 20, will not be paid until the end of the month. So how am I supposed to pay that in advance?

I'm so, so, so confused.

State Income Taxes: Why California Sucks

When I headed west and moved to California a little over two years ago, I was fresh out of college and not at all worried about taxes. All I wanted was to move away from Chicago's bitter cold and into the Cali sun. At that point in my life I figured I'd be lucky to ever make $20k a year, and being in such a low income bracket, the income tax amount from state to state didn't make much difference.

Actually, at the time I didn't even realize that there was a difference per state in terms of income tax levels. I just thought that everyone in any state paid the same amount for state and federal taxes, just that the state taxes went to the state you lived in and federal went to Bush and his war.

Apparently - that's not correct at all. (Duh, me.) Each state has its own state income tax. Just my luck, California is the worst for income tax rates at my level of earnings.

Even New York and my home state of New Jersey would be cheaper when it comes to state taxes (although they're both ranked highly in the list of "expensive income taxes.")

For a yearly income of $50k - $60k (which is about what I expect to bring in over 2008)...

My state income tax rate & fee,
assuming an annual income of $55k:

California -- 9.3% or $5115
New York -- 6.85% or $3767.50
New Jersey -- 5.525% or $3038.75

I'm surprised at how expensive it is to live in Maine. 8.5% for anyone making $17k or more. Yikes. Who really wants to live in Maine anyway?

Talking Taxes

My taxes for 2007 are going to be a total nightmare. I tried to figure them out on TurboTax a few months ago before getting my official W2s, but I'm afraid I'm missing major deductions that I should be taking (or taking deductions I shouldn't be taking).

That has led me to seek out a CPA. So far the one who has written back to me charges $155 an hour with a two hour minimum. Eeks. And I thought $80 for TurboTax was pricey.

While $310 for an accountant to do my taxes won't be the end of the world, it still sucks. I feel like I should be able to figure out taxes for myself given that my overall earnings for the year was less than $35k. Unfortunately that $35k came from a bunch of different places.

Meanwhile, my uncle - who I do some small amounts of freelance work for - told me that while he's not sending me a 1099 form I have to report the earnings. Of course I have to report the income, but I thought that he also had to report the earnings. So I'm a bit confused about this - if he doesn't report the earnings will I get him in trouble if I report them?

Do you guys think it's worth $310+ to have someone prepare my tax returns? Or should I just do TurboTax and hope that I don't majorly mess anything up?

The Cost of Having Pretty Hair

I just read a post over at Saving for a Home of My Own that details the $$$ Saving Diva has spent over the years to perfect her coif en route to her currently frugal lifestyle. Her post is so great! She breaks down, by hair style, how much it has cost her to maintain over the years. $2225 a year for the bleach blond hair, $1374 for dyed brunette locks, and now $104 per year for the low-cost, low-maintenance version.

It's amazing how much money us girls spend on our hair. Even without going to fancy salons, the costs quickly add up if you follow the recommended "get your hair cut every 6 week" myth of the salon saleswomen.

When I was younger and my parents were paying for my hair maintenance, I would get my hair cut every six weeks. From middle school on, I got my hair highlighted and dyed. It must have cost my parents a small fortune! Sometimes I'd dye my hair myself with drug-store bought brands, but it would usually come out shitty and I'd have to get it redone at the salon.

After graduating college - now that I'm paying for my own hair care - I fall somewhere between "spending way too much money on my hair" and "frugal." I admit I like to splurge on my hair, when I get it done. But I just get it done about two to three times a year. $200 three times a year or so is not going to break the bank, but every three weeks would be awful!

I think it's important to have a good hair cut and style. Makeup you can buy cheap and you can go w/ just some concealer and maybe basic lipstick to look professional. But hair is so key in your look. It doesn't need to be dyed at all - I think the cut is what's worth spending the money on.

I used to go to supercuts for a while and spend $20 on each cut, but half the time I'd end up with crooked, messed up hair. I like my hair stylist now and she knows what would look good with my face shape. Sure, it costs $60 (plus tip) to get my hair cut. Then the dye is another $100. I don't do highlights anymore, they are way too expensive. And right now my hair is dyed my natural color, almost, so I may just let it grow out and stick to cuts until I go gray and need to start coloring again.

Speaking of tips (not roots) I wonder how many people actually tip their hairdressers. I always tip 20% if someone does a good job and usually tip about 10% if I don't like what they did and don't plan on coming back. If they really mess something up I won't leave a tip at all, but that's very, very rare.

My friend - who comes from a lower-income family (not poor or anything, just not upper middle class like my family) apparently never tips her hairdresser. She goes back over and over again and her hairdresser, who has been cutting her hair since she was a kid, doesn't seem to mind much at this point.

I just wonder... how many people tip their hairdressers and how much? It seems like the tipping cost alone adds up fast. But I am very cautious of tipping poorly to people who do things like cut my hair, etc, because I want to go back to them and I don't want them to make it awful the next time around.

How much do you tip your hair dresser?

Saving Confusion

I've been going on and on about how I don't know where to put my savings. I've been trying to save and invest, but right now I have a feeling my portfolio breakdown is not advisable. I still need to open an HSA and money needs to start going into that ASAP, but other than that I'm not sure where to invest.

Right now, my savings breakdown is:

$2167 -- liquid checking to pay off debts, rent, bills, etc (checking, liquid savings & paypal)
$19,599.34 -- pre tax non-retirement, non liquid savings (CD #1 & #2, Sharebuilder, Vanguard, Prosper)
$7067.75 -- Roth IRA (down from $7300 of initial investment. Have $1700 more to invest in 2008)

DEBT
-$1037.88 -- debt (to be paid from checking as soon as the deposit fully clears in my checking account)
-$450 -- to go to taxes

TOTAL NET WORTH: $27,346.21

---------

So that means right now 71.6% of my total portfolio is taxed once, then is put into a pre-tax account to be taxed again when it take it out one day down the road.

Savings wise, here are my priorities to save for...

1. My Health (As I have a high deductible health insurance, I need to make sure my HSA savings at least covers that deductible. Hopefully I'll never have to use it. Right now I don't have an HSA account set up. I need to do that pronto.) This also covers general dental care, yearly cleanings, etc, and vision expenses (I'm not sure if an HSA can go to vision costs or not, I'll have to find out. But I need new contacts!)

2. A House (I'm 24 now, I'd like to purchase a home by the time I'm 30)

3. Grad School (I'm pretty sure I want to go back to grad school one day, either for directing -- a huge expense --, an MBA, or a degree in computer interaction design. I want to do this by the time I'm 27.)

4. Cosmetic Dentistry (my teeth make me so sad. I'd love to be able to get them fixed at some point!)

5. Travel / Gifts / Fun / Gadgets (I'd like to save for enjoyment expenditures and gadgets, so I can buy things like a DSLR camera without feeling guilty.)

6. Laser Hair Removal (due to having polycystic ovary syndrome, I have excess hair that grows on my face and it drives me nuts. I also spend a small fortune buying tweezers and razors every other day. If laser hair removal really is permanent then this expense might be worth it. I'll probably have to save about $5000 to get it done, or maybe just $2000 or something for my face alone.

7. Marriage & Kids (I want to get married when I'm 33 or so and have three kids. Well, one to start with and I'll go from there. The cost of getting pregnant, thanks to having PCOS, will be huge. I'll have to get drugged up and do in vitro, probably, over and over again. This is going to be majorly expensive. If I don't start saving now, I might never be able to have children. Even adopting is expensive, so either way I'll need the money before I can have a family.)

---------

It's None of My Business, But... Part 2.

So that friend I wrote about the other day... the one who is maxed out on her credit cards, works a part-time job and earns less than she spends more often than not... ended up accidentally chipping her tooth today. Besides it sucking that she now has a small chip in her tooth, the biggest problem is figuring how to pay to get it fixed. With no dental insurance, no room left on her credit card, and no emergency fund... well, I'm not sure how she'll figure this one out.

As a friend, I really want to lend her the money to get it fixed. But I realize friendships can end badly the second money gets involved. So I'll stay out of it. I figure her well-to-do boyfriend can help her out if worst came to worst.

Still, it's times like these when I wish I could say "you know, if you put the money you spend on your 2-day trip to Los Angeles, and the shoes and sunglasses you got there, into an emergency fund, these awful accidents wouldn't have to be that bad."

Of course, I just hold my tongue. It's not polite to say such things to friends.

It's one thing if you are trying hard to be frugal and you're in debt, its another if you're just over spending when you're making enough to live a comfortable life on your income. I don't understand how people can do the latter. 

"It's None of My Business, But..."

My good friend has a problem with money. I want so desperately to help her get on the right path, but anything I say would come off as judgmental.

My friend, let's call her Lisa, is an intelligent 20-something gal. She has a high school degree but dropped out of college because it wasn't for her.

Her parents own two smallish houses in an area where real estate costs an arm, a leg, and a gold mine. She lives in one of them. She doesn't pay anything for rent, etc.

Her parents also own a small business. She works for them part time. Since I've known her, the business has been struggling a bit. They've kept it going, but her paycheck of something like $1000 a month doesn't always come in on time.

Lisa is knee deep in credit card debt.

Lisa owns a few pets. She recently bought a dog. She loves her dog. But the dog costs a lot of money. She's already paying to take care of a cat and a bunny rabbit.

Recently, Lisa went on a trip with a friend who was auditioning for a show down in Los Angeles. While they didn't stay in a luxury hotel, Lisa did pay for airfare and half of the rental car. According to her blog, her friend didn't plan in advance, so she had to put the rental car on her credit card, which just happens to already be maxed out. Lisa took the trip just for her friend, and she's only staying for two days, basically to wait for her friend to audition, and then return home.

It's none of my business, but I just want to understand why someone so deep in credit card debt would buy a dog and take an unneeded trip. These purchases add up fast.

I guess some people live their lives just accepting credit card debt as the norm. But I don't understand how they do this.

I want to help Lisa get out of credit card debt. The friend side of me wants to lend her money to pay of her credit card bills so she can not be taking on such high interest rates. But I couldn't do that because the likelihood of that scenerio ending pretty is rather low.

Do any of you have friends who just spend, spend, spend without thinking about their credit card debt? Have you ever tried to step in and help?

Forbes Billionaire's List and How Rich is Rich Enough to Give to Charity?

A few days ago Forbes posted its annual list of the world's richest people. While the billionaires gracing the normal list were mostly obvious -- Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, etc, the list that I found more interesting was the sidebar "World's Youngest Billionaires."

Many of the world's youngest rich inherited their wealth. Some, like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, are self-made billionaires. At just 23 (he's only a year younger than me) he's set for life. And a few other lives, as long as he can reincarnate and claim his savings on his return to earth.

As I've been figuring out my budget upon my upcoming raise, I noted that I feel like I'm almost making too much money, and I don't know what to do with it all.

Of course, that's not true. Now that I actually have money to put into savings, I can start seriously saving for things I want, like for the down payment on a house.

The other day as I was driving I was thinking about how nice it would be to make enough money that I could donate a substantial chunk of it to charity. Then greed clouded my head and I thought - why donate money when I can save the money? My Roth IRA isn't maxed out yet, and even then the extra cash put into a SEP Ira, a high interest savings account for the house down payment, a CD or some other saving mechanism would probably be a wiser move.

I always thought that charity should be given in time, not money. If you're going to be charitable, go do some volunteer work, help build a house with Habitat for Humanity, or volunteer to mentor in-need kids in a local town.

Then I got into the "real world" where I realized time is money and I have more money than time. Yet I still don't feel like I have enough money to donate yet.

Obviously, given my pay bump I could donate $100 a month instead of putting that to my investments and just pretend it never happened. It would probably make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but I don't know how warm and fuzzy I'll feel when I retire and the government has run out of money for social security.

At what point in one's wealth-building career does charity become a necessity? Does everyone donate to charity? How much is the proper amount to donate, percentage wise, of one's income? What if one's job is unstable and while he or she is making a good amount of money now (in the $55-$70k range, dependent on how many freelance projects are completed), but in a few months she might be unemployed? What if, as a freelancer, my entire life is lived like that? And then what if I have kids and more than just myself to worry about one day, financially speaking? When do I give to charity and when do I just be selfish and keep all my money?

The Best Things in Life Are Free

There's a song from the musical Good News that goes "the moon belongs to everyone, the best things in life are free." That's absolutely true.

I spent today rollerblading on a paved path by a beautiful reservoir. My skates cost me a pretty penny once upon a time (and they're about ready for an upgrade), but other than once pricey cost of my blades, the lovely outdoor excursion was entirely free.

The view, fresh air, and overall good vibe created by other walkers, bladers and bikers was much more valuable than any "paid" activity I could have chosen to do for the day.

While the cost of living in The Bay Area is ridiculously high, when I actually get outdoors and experience the beauty of my town and the surrounding area, I am quickly reminded why living here is worth every penny.

March Groceries -- $169.90, now on my new Chase Freedom card

My Chase Freedom and American Express Blue Cash cards both arrived in the mail today. While I'm terrified of credit cards, I've decided it's about time to really start building my credit score. I have a bunch of open credit cards and according to a recent credit check I'm in the 730 range, but I still want to up that credit score so one day when I want to buy a house (or condo) I can get a good mortgage rate.

Anyway, I finally gave in and got these two credit cards. I don't know if they'll help or hurt my credit score, but I'm going to start spending on them each month and paying off my balances at the end of the month. I'll only buy what I can afford. Period.

So I went food shopping today. At the "cheaper" (aka non-organic, non fancy) supermarket in town. Safeway. I spent $169.99. I supposedly saved $41.34 on buying things one sale w/ my "club card." I did spend extra time picking out things on sale.

I went a little overboard on buying spices this month, but I don't really have any spices and if I'm going to start cooking more, I need some more spices. I tried to buy ones that were on sale!

Without further ado, here's what I got for that $169.99

$1.39 - Jumbo Taco Shells
$1.11 - Canned Corn
$3.89 - Cooking Spray (non brand Pam)
$3.69 - Paprika (spice)
$3.29 - Bread Cracker Stuff
$3.27 - Spice Island Mustard (spice)
$3.75 - Thyme (spice)
$3.99 - spinach tortellini
$3.99 - three cheese tortellini
$3.73 - garlic powder (spice)
$2.71 - basil (spice)
$3.00 - butternut squash soup
$5.00 - 4 Tuna Salad Lunch
$.99 - plastic spoons
$1.66 - steamed vegetables (frozen)
$5.29 - kashi lime shrimp frozen dinner
$4.99 - liquid egg whites
$2.50 - shredded cheddar cheese
$2.69 - fat free milk
$4.49 - cottage cheese
$2.49 - lowfat yogurt
$5.49 - frozen strawberries
$4.50 - frozen blueberries
$3.49 - frozen quesadillas
$3.00 - frozen veggie bites
$9.00 - three boxes of morningstar frozen meatless buffalo wings
$1.39 - banquet fish stick meal
$6.76 - four cheese and beans burritos (frozen)
$5.00 - two cheese quesadillas (frozen)
$3.99 - a fitness magazine. To inspire me to workout.
$3.39 - bread
$4.00 - frozen fried fish
$2.50 - frozen fish
$2.50 - frozen fish
$5.99 - stuffed salmon frozen
$6.23 - Rockfish Fillet (not frozen)
$3.45 - five kiwis
$2.45 - three sweet potatoes
$2.00 - raisin boxes
$2.00 - two bags of baby carrots
$2.99 - bag of four avocados
$2.99 - veggie turkey slices
$7.98 - two boxes of veggie buffalo wings (non frozen)
$3.00 - blueberries (non frozen)
$3.99 - vegetable mix
$3.50 - cheese whole wheat tortellini

Should I Splurge on an Air Conditioner?

The past two summers in my Silicon Valley studio sans air conditioning have been painful. I can't sleep when it's hot in my room, and boy did it get hot in my room. But, being frugal as I am, I sucked it up and dealt with the heat, only to be consoled by two fans that just blew more hot air in my face.

Every summer I put off buying an air conditioner until it's too late -- all the stores have sold out of the ones that I'd want.

Reasons I Should Buy An Air Conditioner

- It gets so hot in my apartment that I have trouble sleeping in the spring/summertime.
- In my current apartment, my electricity bill is included in my rent, and I don't think there is any rule against using an air conditioner (though they can bill you for "excess electricity usage" whatever that means).
- I work from home 2-3 days a week, and it's difficult to focus when it's so hot.
- Every summer by the time August rolls around I am desperate for an air conditioner, but all the good ones are sold out.

Reasons I Shouldn't Buy An Air Conditioner

- Air conditioners are expensive
- In my current apartment I'd have to get a portable air conditioner since I don't have the right kind of windows for a window air conditioner, and those are even more expensive
- Next year I might move out of this apartment, and likely the next place I get will not be "utilities included" so my electricity bill will go up greatly in the summer, if I move.
- So many people live without air conditioners, even in hotter climates. Do I really need an air conditioner?
- I have no idea what air conditioner I should get, as there are many options and they all seem to be imperfect. The window air conditioners would be nice as they're cheaper, but my windows won't hold them. The portable air conditioners are gigantic and ugly, AND expensive. Like $500 for the cheaper ones.

So... tell me my readers, should I buy an air conditioner for this summer?