Showing posts with label networth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label networth. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2008

May Spending Report, May 9

This month I am making a few purchases for my "free" trip to Israel, so my budget is a little off. I will make up for this by being really frugal with my budget and trying to underspend it once I get back from my trip.

Next month is going to be difficult because I am missing two to three weeks of work for my trip, and that's unpaid time off. Which is fine, I just need to be careful to be really frugal next month. Luckily, my parents will probably feed me while I'm home, and while in Israel the trip provides some meals. So if I can get away with just paying my fixed costs in June, I can afford to take the trip. Granted, the trip is free, so this is a frugal vacation by proxy. Can't complain about that!

-------------------------
FIXED COSTS: $1420
BEAUTY: $20
ENTERTAINMENT: $37
FOOD: $40
TRANSPORT: $82
SHOPPING: $201
INVESTMENT: $250
--------------------------
$2050 / [$2400 budget for month]

(($350 left for May))

Still need to...

*go food shopping (approx $80)
*get water shoes for trip ($60?)
*haircut ($70)
*get bathing suit? ($90)
------------------------------
Still to spend: $300 (put any extra in vacation fund!)


---------------------------
FIXED COSTS: $1420
Rent: $1050
Phone: $55
Cable: $72
Health Insurance: $129
Gym: $27
Car Insurance: $87
----------------------------

Beauty
$20 (eyebrow wax)

Entertainment /Hobbies
$15 (camera fix)
$22 (theater ticket)

Food [*still have to do food shopping for May]
$23.99 (dinner for two)
$10.24 (dinner)
$6 (dinner)

Transportation
$5 (Bart fare)
$66.21 (Gas)
$3 (bart Fare)
$5 (bart fare)
$2.25 (caltrain)

Shopping
$148 (dress for trip)
$53 (shirt)

Roth IRA [investments]
$200

Prosper [Investments]
$50

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Ides of April Spending Check-In

I'm trying to be frugal this month. I owe so much money for 2007 taxes and estimated taxes. My boyfriend is helping out a bit in that he's paying for a higher percentage of our "dining out" expenses. Without further ado... here's my expense breakdown from April 1 - April 15.


Total Spending: $1907.16

Fixed Expenses: $1218.33
$1050 Rent
$87.34 Car Insurance
$27 Gym
$53.99 Phone

To Be Reimbursed: $120
$120 Parking Permit

Taxes (not including federal): $311.90
$260 Estimated State Taxes
$2 State Taxes 2007
$49.90 tax cut online

Investing: $12
$12 last Sharebuilder fee for a while

Gas: $126.48
$64.29 Gas Filler up.
$62.19 Gas Filler up.

Food / Drugstore: $118.45
$5.33  Safeway
$9.28  Longs Drugs
$8.65 Walgreens
$26.84 Dining out for two
$21.54 Longs drugs
$12.07 Supermarket
$23.49 Eating Out for Two
$11.28 supermarket

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

How to Afford My Quarterly Taxes

I assume that I'm going to owe $6132 in quarterly taxes (state and federal) in... 14 days.

(AHH!)

I just transfered an extra $1000 into my ING for Taxes account, which now adds up to $5125.56

So I'm short $1006.

That means budgeting this month needs to be extra, extra tight. And I might have to dip into my liquid CD to pay my estimated quarterly tax.

----

April "Spending" Money $2410


Fixed Costs = $1422.28
--------------
$71.33 -- Cable Bill
$129 -- Health Insurance
$87.33 -- Car Insurance
$57.62 -- Phone Bill
$1050 -- Rent
$27 -- Gym Bill

Credit Card Debt: $882
to pay this month $500
---------------------------------

$1922.28

----------

$487.72 left

Food? Taxes? Gas?

--------

The Good News...

Still Owed for this month: $1325

($400 for marketing copy
$525 for marketing article
$400 reimbursement)
[[+487.72]]

(TOTAL: $1752.72)

If I get paid all of this in time...

$1300 to taxes
$200 to food
$100 to Roth IRA
$152.72 Stays in Checking

--------------------------------------


Why am I so short? I shouldn't be this short, but it will take me until the end of April to earn all the money I need to pay for my Jan - April estimated taxes. I could just pay less than I'm supposed to and hope that it all works out in the end. This isn't entirely a stupid thing to do because I think based on last year's taxes I could undershoot what I'm going to have to pay this year and still be penalty free. But I'd rather keep on top of things.

Also, none of this takes into consideration the fact that I have to pay to deal with 2007 taxes.

What have I done, oh what have I done????

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Estimated Tax Worksheet - could it be any more complicated? (Don't Answer That)

Ok, going by the estimated tax worksheet, perhaps I owe a different amount for this quarter.

1. Adjusted gross income you expect in 2008:

(Adjusted gross income. Use your 2007 tax return and instructions as a guide to figuring out the adjusted gross income you expect in 2008. see Expected AGI -- Line 1 in chapter 2 of Pub. 505 -- "Your expected AGI for 2008 (line 1) is your expected total income minus your expected adjustments to income")

Let's just say $66,000 and forget any adjustments I might take.

2. Estimated total of itemized deductions: no idea

3. Subtract Line 2 from Line 1: $66,000

4. Exceptions: Multiply $3,500 by the number of personal exceptions = $0?

5. Subtract line 4 from line 3 = $66,000

6. Tax =
Figure your tax on amount on line 5 by using the 2008 Tax Rate Schedules on page 5. *If you have qualified dividends or a net capital gain, or expect to claim the foreign earned income exclusion or housing exlucsion, see "pub 505" to figure the tax.

  • 10% on income between $0 and $8,025
  • 15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
  • 25% on the income between $32,550 and $78,850; plus $4,481.25 = $12843.755
  • 28% on the income between $78,850 and $164,550; plus $16,056.25
  • 33% on the income between $164,550 and $357,700; plus $40,052.25
  • 35% on the income over $357,700; plus $103,791.75
7. Alternative minimum tax from Form 6251: (this AMT confuses me to no end so for now I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist and hope it doesn't effect me.

What is the AMT? The AMT came into being with the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Its purpose was to target a small number of high-income taxpayers who could claim so many deductions they owed little or no income tax. A growing number of middle-income taxpayers are discovering they are subject to the AMT.

8. Add lines 6 & 7. Add to this amount any other taxes you expect to include in the total on Form 1040, line 44, or Form 1040A, line 28 = $12843.755

9. Credits (not not include any income tax withholding on this line): huh?

10. Subtract line 9 from line 8. If zero or less, enter 0 = $12843.755.

11. Self employment tax. Estimate of 2008 net earnings from self employment. (if $102,00 or less, multiply the amount by 15.3% -- Caution: If you also have wages subject to
social security tax, see Pub. 505 to figure the amount to enter) = $10,098

12. Other taxes (see instructions below): let's just say none.

13a. Add lines 10 through 12: $10,098
b. earned income credit (forms 4136, 8801 (line 27) and 8885) - None (you have to earn less than $17k for this.)
c. total 2008 estimated tax. Subtract line 13b from line 13a. If zero or less, enter 0 = $22,941.755

14a. multiply line 13c by 90% (unless you're a farmer or a fisherman, then it's 66.5%) = $20,647.58
b. enter the tax shown on your 2007 tax return (110% of that amount if you are not a farmer or a fisherman, and the adjusted gross income shown on that return is $150k or more) = no idea yet
c. required annual payment ot avoid a penalty. Enter the smaller of line 14a or 14b = $20,647.58

15. Income tax withheld and estimated to be withheld during 2008: none.

16a. subtract line 15 from line 14c:
Is the result zero or less?
Yes -- stop here. you don't have to pay anything.
No - go to line 16b...

16b: subtract line 15 from line 13c
is the result less than $1000
yes - stop. no money needed.
no - go to line 17 to figure your required payment

17. if the first payment you are required to make is due april 15, enter 1/4 of line 16a:
$20,647.58 / 4 = $5161.89

(but this doesn't at all include state taxes. I wonder if there is a separate quarterly estimated tax payment for that.)

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?

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

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.)

---------


Sunday, March 23, 2008

March 1-20 Spending ($3176.93)

March Spending Breakdown Check In (March 1 - 20)

Fixed Costs = $1422.28
--------------
$71.33 -- Cable Bill
$129 -- Health Insurance
$87.33 -- Car Insurance
$57.62 -- Phone Bill
$1050 -- Rent
$27 -- Gym Bill
--------------

Gas Totals = $121.30

---------------

Color Code

$1543.58 -- Fixed Costs & Gas
$387.98 -- To Be Reimbursed
$371.16 -- Food / Drug Store
$0 -- Clothing / Beauty
$105.54 -- Furniture / Household
$512 -- Investment
$256.78 -- Other


---------

$2277.06 Spending
$512 Investment
$387.87 To Be Reimbursed
----------
$3176.93 Total March 1-20


-------------------------
breakdown by type:

Cable / Internet Bill
:
$71.33

Health Insurance:
$129

Sharebuilder Investment:
$500

Car Insurance:
$87.33

Play TBR - Tables:
$50

Cash Withdrawl

$50

Cell Phone Bill

$57.62

Gym Bill
$27.00

Rent
$1050

Sharebuilder Fees
$12

Sheet Music for Play (TBR)
$6.39

Drug store
$3.79

Dinner for Two
$28.03

Target – bookshelf and ottoman
$105.54

Quik Stop
$5.07

Drug Store
$13.62

Antiques for Play (TBR)
$15.16

Quik Stop
$7.40

Groceries
$6.04

JoAnn Fabrics (TBR)
$43.22

Home Depot (TBR)
$45.24

Burger King (TBR)
$15.34

Gas
$63.48

Dinner
$11.69

Book
$11.85

Groceries
$14.97

Dinner for Two

$42.40

ITunes – sound for play (TBR?)
$29.88

Taco Bell (food)
$3.38

Bagels for two

$7.10

Drug Store
$63.25

iTunes (TBR?)
$9.99

Ace Hardware ($30 TBR)
$52.34

Target

$32.46

Joann Fabric (TBR)
$20.25

Gift for Boyfriend’s Birthday
$150

Home Depot (TBR)
$89.76

Ace Hardware (TBR)
$62.75

Groceries
$6.99

Gas
$57.82

Groceries
$169.90


Tuesday, February 26, 2008

March Budget

I start making a good chunk of more money next month at my next payday, but for now I'm going to try to be careful to stay within my paychecks that I cashed today.

$3,700 Total to Spend/Save for March

$1050:
Rent / Utilities
$71.33: Cable/ Internet
$57.00: Verizon Phone
$128: Health Insurance
$138: Car Insurance (paid in advance)
$200: Gas
$27: Gym

SAVINGS

$1000 ING Direct for Taxes Account
$300 Roth IRA
$250 Sharebuilder
------------------------------
$3083


LEFT FOR SPENDING IN MARCH...

$617

$250 Gift for Boyfriend's Birthday
$300 Food
$67 Entertainment / Other


............

March is official "be fucking frugal" month. Next month my income goes up $1500, so there will be a lot more flexibility. Unfortunately my boyfriend's birthday falls BEFORE that. Well, I'll take him out to a nice dinner and get him a gift that won't be as extravagant as last year's Wii. Oh well. I could invest less in my Sharebuilder account this month if I want to spend more on the birthday, so that's always an option.

I also hypothetically have another $825 owed to me for one of my freelance jobs and another $300+ owed to me for that cell phone bill that my old company was supposed to pay. So if I actually get paid that money, then I'll be doing fine. But I don't know when those checks will come, if ever. If they do come, I'm going to put more towards my Roth, and spend a little more on the bf's birthday.

The good news is that I won't have much time for spending money in March. My show opens March 28, which means the major cost of the month will be GAS to get to and from rehearsal at the theater about 30 minutes away. That's why I put $200 in gas for the month. BUT I'm getting paid $500 to direct this production, after the fact, so my balance is going to look a lot healthier in April. It's March that will be tight, since I don't know when any of these other paychecks will be coming in.

Sadly, March is also the month when I wanted to seek out a tax consultant to discuss how to arrange my accounting as a freelancer. But I guess I'll have to take a stab at figuring out my estimated quarterly tax for Q1 08 by myself. Meanwhile, I also have to file my taxes, but I'll wait to April to do that, so I have some money to at least go through TurboTax or something.
Although my income last year was pretty low, prob about $34k or less, so maybe I can get away with filing for free. Hmm. That's for another entry, eh?

Friday, February 22, 2008

The 60 Hour Freelance Work Week

While working 60 hours at a salaried job each week seems beyond boring, diversifying one's time and one's ongoing work portfolio can lead to professional fulfillment on many levels, including by not limited to one's bank account.

I recently found out that in order to be a full-time salaried employee at my current company, I need to sign on for 50-60 hours a week. While I love my job AND the company, that's still not enough to have me sign every possible work hour away to one job.

Besides boredom, the reason to keep my 'after 40' job hours open is because some of my other opportunities pay much better than what I'm spending most of my week on. At my 40 hour per week job I make about $27 an hour right now. But I'm also taking my late evenings to work as a freelance marketing writer, with projects I'm getting paid $50 per hour for.

I'm not sure what my value is as a full-time employee versus freelance, but for some reason I feel like my $50 per hour charge as a freelancer is justified, while I could never imagine asking my freelance full-time employer for such a raise.

When it comes down to it, I'd rather make slightly less at my "day job" and use the opportunity to pitch my writing skills for extra income that ultimately covers health insurance and other things I need.

That brings about the question... how much can I actually make in one month without not sleeping and going completely insane...

Monthly Potential Income
1. $4800 -- Gig 1. 40 hours per week (on contract)
2. $400 -- Gig 2. Approx 8 hours, or 4 projects per month at $50/hr
3. $250 -- Gig 3. 10 hours of administrative Work at $25/hr
4. $400 -- Gig 4. 8 hours of research & article writing at $50/hr
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$5850 per month

Which is a lot of money. Sort of.

Minus $2340 ((40% taxes (25 % tax bracket + 15 % self-employment tax))) that comes out to a grande total of...

$3510 per month after taxes, or a net income of $42,120 per year.

That's still pretty good, I think.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Budget Check Feb 1 - 15: $3608.12 (YIKES!)

I'm going to start checking in about my monthly budget half-way through the month in order to figure out what sort of money I have left to spend on things.

Smart, eh? Yea, I know.

Oh thanks for the recommendations about my bf's gift in my last entry. I'll be buying him something in a week or so (can't afford to now anyway) so keep those recommendations coming! ThinkGeek.com is good start. I never know what computer stuff to get him. He doesn't have Apple stuff yet, so I can't go that route (tho he'll buy a Macbook Pro as soon as they release an updated version). He has tons of computer stuff and I just have no idea about what he needs and what he'd want. Oh, food for thought to all of my fabulous gift recommender's - he loves, loves, loves anything that's blue.

Ok, without further ado... my poor budgeting for the 1/2 month leading up to today.

Total Spending feb 1 - 15: $3608.12 (YIKES!)

I thought I was over spending this month. I definitely did not realize how much!!!

A lot of the $ has to do with finally getting around to paying late fees on a variety of bills. I also had a little shopping spree this month, which you'll notice below. It was all at a designer discount store! I even returned some of it!!!

-----------------

$1050: Rent
$404.86: Medical
$403.95: Car (three months insurance + gasoline)
$80.28: Phone
$737: Investment / Savings/ Taxes
$345.40: Food - dining out ($87 of this will be reimbursed)
$31.31: Food - groceries
$10.71: keep the change "savings"
$483.53: Clothing & Beauty (incl. hair/waxing/dry cleaning)
$32.46: Entertainment
$28.80: Taxes

-----------------

Breakdown...

RENT - $1050
$1050: rent

MEDICAL - $404.68
$146.68: doctor's bills / medical
$258: Check for AETNA medical insurance

CAR / AUTO - $403.95
$200.6 Car Insurance (dec/jan)
$34.02 gas/auto
$87.34 car insurance (feb)
$50 - gasoline / auto
$10: check for parking ticket #1
$21.99: Gasoline

PHONE - $80.28
$32.46: phone charger
$47.82: verizon bill

INVESTING/SAVING - $737
$100 Investment into Mutual Fund
$600 Transfer to ING Direct (savings) for Tax Season
$25: transfer to prosper account to lend
$12: investing fees

FOOD/DINING OUT - $345.40 ($257.88 after reimbursement?)
$52.72 dining for two - food
$3.50 food
$13.85 lunch for two - food
$2.34 food
$44.87 lunch for two - food
$3.65: food
$28.35: dinner for two - food
$87.52: Pizza for my cast (to be reimbursed?)
$42.68: dinner for two
$5.36: food
$8.39: food
$5.94: food
$30.47: dinner for two
$14.69: breakfast for two
$1.07: food

FOOD/ DINING IN - $31.31
$12.94 groceries - food
$8.25: groceries, food
$10.12: groceries - food

KEEP THE CHANGE SAVINGS -- $10.71
$.79 keep the change transfer
$.53 keep the change transfer
$.06 keep the change transfer
$2.35: keep the change transfer
$3.35: keep the change transfer
$2.19: keep the change transfer
$1.13: keep the change transfer
$.31: keep the change transfer

CLOTHING/BEAUTYBUYING -- $483.53
$362.58: clothing (returned much of this purchase)
-$255.43 clothing returns (I returned this much and bought the above shirt)
$124.47 clothing: one BCBG sweater (on sale) and earrings
$20: Eyebrow Wax / beauty
$78.20: dry cleaning
$81.19: two shirts - clothing
$96.34: one shirt - clothing
-$23.82: macys returns

ENTERTAINMENT - $32.46
$26.48: magazines / books
$5.98: check for magazine subscription

TAXES - $28.80
$28.80: check for 2002 taxes. Uh, a bit late on that.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

New Budget, Now That I'm Making $$$

New Budget

5200


$1300 ING Savings For Tax Account
$300 to ING for Emergency Account
$300 to ING for Grad School
$200 to ING for House
$300 to Sharebuilder / Investing
$200 to Roth
$100 HSA
------------------------------------------------
$2400

$1050: Rent / Utilities
$71.33: Cable/ Internet
$48.33: Verizon Phone
$128: Health Insurance
$138: Car Insurance
$100: Gas
$27: Gym
------------------------------------------
$1562.22

=

$1237.78 left for...

food/clothes/car/fun

$400 food / vitamins
$300 clothes / tech
$200 gas
$150 gifts
$100 dry cleaning
$50 laundry
$30 charity
-------------------
$1230

Now am I forgetting anything?

-------------------------------


At the end of the year, from my ING tax account I will pay my taxes. I should not spend all the money on taxes because I'm "taxing myself" at a 25 percent rate for all the money I make, but in the end all my money will not be taxed at that rate.

Any extra money is going towards a Digital SLR camera!!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Budget - Fixed Monthly Costs

Since I'm oh-so bad at not racking up random late fees on things, here are my fixed costs
and what they should cost me each month:

$1050: Rent / Utilities
$71.33: Cable/ Internet
$48.33: Verizon Phone
$128: Health Insurance
$138: Car Insurance
$100: Gas
$27: Gym
------------------------------------------
$1562.22

Total Set Monthly Income (actual, not dreamed)

$3700

Have to put 25% of that into taxes savings account...

$925 into savings account.

Leaving $2775 for monthly spending
MINUS
$1562.22 of fixed costs

--------------------------------------------

That hypothetically leaves
$1212.78 for food, fun, investing, medical spending, extra gas, etc

A reasonable budget would be:

$400: Food
$100: Invest (roth IRA)
$100: Invest: ETF/Stocks
$200: HSA Account for Medical (Need to Set Up!)
$200: Clothes / Makeup
$100: Extra Gas
$112.78: Entertainment

What am I missing?

Monthly Spending

Total Non-investment & Non-rent spending for Jan: $1778.34

Investment $: $4062

($3000 Roth 2008, $1050 Sharebuilder, $12 Sharebuilder fees)

Rent: $1050

Total Spending in January: $6890.34

Things I still owe money for that I should have paid this month:

1. Dermatologist Bill: $160
2. Driver's Insurance $200
3. Two fix it tickets for late registration: $20

Things I'm owed money for
1. AT&T bills for past 3.5 months, owed over $300 from previous company
2. $200 -- I need to send in paperwork to old health insurance for doctor's visits I paid for before my insurance card arrived (should offset dermatologists bill)
3. 10 hours of work (I need to file an invoice asap) at news company at $25 an hour, $250

----
What I spent Money on This Month...

$201.41: Verizon Wireless Bill (my minutes went way over last month, grr)

$67.85: Safeway (Groceries)

$62.76: Longs Drugs (drug store)

$129: Health Insurance

$.97: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$44.03: Safeway (Groceries)

$19.08: Safeway (Groceries)

$81.31: Haircut

$55: Brazilian Waxing (ouch it hurt)

$28.71: Brunch for two

$1050: Rent


$6.17: 24 Hour Fitness Dues (i'm not sure why I owed any more money this month, but I'm too lazy to complain about a $6.17 charge. They just better stop charging me now.)

$.75: Parking

$2.98: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$106.41: AT&T Phone Bill (that I didn't owe that my old company needs to still reimburse me for!)

$.59: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$31.77: Longs Drugs

$.23 Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$71.29: Whole Foods (groceries)

$15.47: Dry Cleaning (spend too much on this.. long story I'll explain later)

$1.24 Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$113: Hair Color

$23.71: Whole Foods (Groceries)

$7.40: Safeway (Groceries)

$.89: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$19.46: Lunch for Two

$.54: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$65.80: Lucky (Groceries)

$.20: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$500: Transfer to Sharebuilder Investment

$15.77: Whole Foods (Groceries)

$.23: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$71.33: Cable/Internet Bill

$33.19: Whole Foods (Groceries)

$6.50: Lunch

$1.31: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$500: Transfer to Sharebuilder Investment

$50: Transfer to Sharebuilder Investment

$12: Sharebuilder Monthly Fees

$6.99: lunch

$.01: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$75.60: Piazza's Fine Foods (Groceries)

$30: Gas

$.40: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$37.82: Bookstore

$.18: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$3000: Roth IRA Investment for 2008

$91.20: Smog Check & Oil Change

$20.09: Walgreens (drug store)

$14.06: Clothing

$2.74: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$26.07: Dinner for Two

$18.26: Whole Foods (groceries)

$1.67: Bank of America "Keep the Change Transfer" to savings

$161.34: New Cell Phone

-------------------------------------

Other than investments, my largest cost was obviously groceries...

TOTAL MONTHLY SPENDING ON GROCERIES


$441.98: Groceries

That's actually not as bad as I expected, considering how often I go food shopping. I did really good on NOT spending a lot of money on clothing this month. However, I do owe money for various bills I've yet to pay. That will come out of my February salary.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Crap. I got pulled over.

I can't blame anyone else for this mishap. My registration expired... a while ago. However, I paid the $120 registration fee at the DMV (which, I think included a late fee) and was to get my smog checked by Jan. I had until Jan 1 to get my smog checked and get my stickers for my plates.

Of course, being the procrastinating idiot that I am, I waited a little too long to get this done. I received one ticket (for $35) for my expired registration while my car was parked in a public lot. So I finally got around to getting my smog checked THIS MORNING. I paid $90 for my smog check & an oil change that was overdue.

Ten minutes later, I was driving on the freeway and I got pulled over.

I showed the cop my smog receipt and the little registration card (that may or may not have been expired... I'm a bit confused about whether it expired on the 1st of the month, or at the end of the month.)

The worst thing was that somehow my insurance card had gone missing. I kept it in my glove compartment, but the robbers threw everything out of my glove compartment when they went through my car last month. I thought I had put everything back, but apparently my insurance information was missing.

So now I have this "notice to appear" paper that says that I have an infraction for an expired registration and it also notes that I did not have insurance on me, though neither the infraction or misnomer boxes are checked for that. I'm not sure what that means.

The cop said that I should get my sticker and then go to any police department with the paper. He didn't really explain whether I'm going to owe a zillion dollars or if I just need to prove that I'm actually registered to avoid paying.

This really sucks because today I decided I'm going to start being really tight on my budget and living with a minimal amount in my checking account. I figure I'll spend less if I pretend I have less to spend. Simple psychology ought to do the trick.

Except now I'm worried I'm going to get an overdraft fee because of all of these unexpected expenses. That'll teach me to stop procrastinating, eh?

I owe quite a bit of money for different things... $200 for health insurance... $150 for my cyst removal bill... $35 for my ticket... and now who knows how much more for this other ticket-type-thing.

Right now I have $600 in my checking account. I'm supposed to get paid Monday for my work... so that would bring me up to $3900. BUT I plan on putting $1000 of that in a special ING savings account for taxes. That leaves me with $2900, and I have to pay rent in a few days. So I'm at $1850. Not so bad, but after I pay all those bills, plus my phone bill, plus the cable/internet bill, plus the gym bill, plus buy a new phone in two days (my old one is lost and I am eligible for the discount on a new phone on Monday)... well, I won't have much money left for food.

At least this setup will keep me from spending money on clothes I don't need!
At least that will keep me from

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Oh Boy! A $600 Rebate!

I'm a little excited about getting a $600 rebate this spring, thanks to the tax rebate package that passed today. While I'm not their ideal rebate grantee (I'll likely invest the funds, maybe into my Roth, which now has $2000 left until I max it out for 2008, though) it will make it easier to buy a few new spring pieces to my wardrobe without feeling terribly guilty about my spending (to be honest, guilt and financial logic never stopped me from spending anyway).

The good news w/ the rebate is that even if I end up owing money on taxes for 2007, I'll actually still get a rebate or... break even.

Sweet.

I wish this happened every year!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Dreams of a 401(k)

Oh 401(k), when I think about you, I touch myself.

Employers matching contributions? That's a truly beautiful concept, and one I've never been able to take advantage of.

At the moment, my freelance career prohibits me from obtaining full benefits at one company. That's how I chose to live my life, so I have to deal with the fact that my Roth IRA has lost significant amounts of money this year, while if I had been able to contribute to an employee-match 401(k) I might have at least broke even amidst this recession mess. However, I just have to go it alone. That's my choice.

But that wasn't always the case. My first full time job at a magazine showed me how even full-time gigs at companies don't always equate to earning the luxury of a 401(k). That company was a bit, how-do-you-say, confused in terms of organization. We had a meeting about getting 401(k)'s where the financial companies came in and presented our options, then they came in another day and we met with the reps and signed the paperwork. Of course, since the company was not making any money, our 401(k) was not going to include a match at all. So ultimately the only benefit was that it would encourage employees to start saving (but tax-wise, most of us would probably be better off with a Roth anyway).

Next up on my job history resume, I obtained another full-time gig at a startup where I was to get stock options instead of a 401(k). I never actually earned any of those stock options because I left the company after three months. I was fired. I was bored with the topics I was writing about. And I couldn't keep up with the pace. It was for the best.

I worry a bit about my retirement. I know it's many years off, but I won't have the security that my dad has. He retired early so my family is living on a tight budget now, but in a few years he'll have access to his pension and he and my mother can live off that. What will I have to live off of in 2058? Or whenever it is I end up retiring?

Thus far I put $4000 into my Roth IRA (started in 2007). It's down to $3600. I know... I know that investing is a long term thing. Still, I can't help but be concerned about what my future holds. Maybe the smartest thing to do would be to get a stable full-time job at a public company or government agency. But I'm trying to balance my happiness and my future. It's hard to find that balance. I'm worried I'm leaning too far towards happiness right now.