I have been holding back a recap because I was waiting for my NCN Network graph to go up. And I actually think I’m sort of repeating myself with this post. But the skinny on my March entry is this, I got a huge bonus at work.

The big bonus means that my company will take a chunk for retirement, which is why I have a crazy large retirement bump for March. I believe, due to 401K contributions coming out of our bonus is why my company has a True-Up policy. That makes sense for the higher pay grades that will get front-loaded with the bonus contribution.

I also pulled money out of the emergency fund. You’ll see that the amount of cash I’m holding as an asset has gone down by close to the same amount my credit card debt has gone down on the liabilities side. It’s been a while and I’m still getting used to my savings account showing me a lot less money than before. It’s ok, but it definitely was an adjustment for me. I have decided to turn back an automatic savings deposit with each paycheck to build it back up slowly. I figure when there is another $1000.00 in it, I will drain it out again and pay another chunk of debt off.

There’s not much else to say since the credit card debt will be going on a little roller coaster ride this spring with work tuition reimbursement. I only hope all the paperwork will complete so I can pay it back before my 0% BT expires and really starts being a problem for me.

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WOW. This is the first time in ages I’ve posted 4x in one day.

If you don’t already, fill in the morning. The temperature is coldest and you get more gas in your tank. During the day as temperatures rise, the liquid expands three times faster than water and so you actually get less per volume when the temperature goes back down.

Physics professor Michio Kaku demonstrated the concept by heating water in a bottle. As it heated up, it expanded and overflowed. In other words, it took less water to fill the same size container.

“Remember that gasoline expands roughly three times faster than water,” Kaku said. “So magnify this effect inside your gas tank.”

The flipside?

An independent fuel marketers and retailers group argues if any gasoline is lost, the amount is tiny.

“We do not see the information they have gathered as being credible,” Jay McKeeman said. “Basically it’s about a tablespoon in 12 gallons of gasoline.”

The magic number is 60 degrees. In the early mornings during the fall and spring, that could be all the difference when your morning temperature is 50 but daily high is 70.

BTW, later this week, I’ll finally get around to posting something about watered down gas and how wrong I apparently am.

This woman is selling everything. Or darned close to it.

I think this is amazing. I often think of doing something like this. I don’t know why I have half of what I own. I have a few things still boxed up and my mom and dad’s house, but I can live without it daily. I can live without it forever.

It’s still effing chilly here in DC, but I think about doing spring cleaning soon and getting rid of everything. I wonder why I have the clothes I have, especially corporate logo stuff from a job I despised. (That dress shirt has got to go!)

Just a thought.

I bookmarked this post by Nina a long time ago. She wrote about some service jobs she’s had when money was tight.

I just lost my post because I forgot to intermittent save, so I’ll do my best to recreate what I wrote.

What would you do if you lost your job tomorrow?

In 2005, I worked at a yarn shop and waited on tables while waiting for a job offer from my current employer. That was pretty hairy. I also worked full time retail for my first job out of college. I also thought about working as a stripper, but fortunately never had to do it. I have found out that several of my friends have done it though. Yes, I did know someone who paid for college this way.

One of my hipster friends told me something fascinating. You have to picture this, she’s one of those crazy cool NYC hipsters. She’s impossibly cool. You want to be her because she’s so cool. Not because she’s some drop-dead gorgeous model, but because she is absolutely amazingly creative, funny and interesting. She told me that she took a night job cleaning offices to make extra money so she could go travel in India for two months. I don’t think I’d ever do that, but that is a testament to motivation. She wanted to go to India and taking the second job was what she had to do to go.

Makes me wonder what the heck is wrong with me that I’m not killing myself to get out of credit card debt.

I sent in my NCN Network update! After the month of March, its crazy car repair charges and the roller coaster of receiving a bonus and having to let it go to my mom, I decided to liquidate some of my emergency fund to cover the cost of the car repair plus an extra $150.00 to round out my withdrawl to an even $1000.00.

I have nudged the Debt-O-Meter to 8% and posted a new balance.

I am proud to report a 4% reduction in my overall credit card debt. I have paid off one of my accounts fully and keep it the card put away. I will not use it unless I am going to visit the store that issued it. (It’s a VISA, but for a department store.)

The remaining balance is divided on two cards. One is carrying a balance with a moderately high interest rate. I have called and for my credit score, it’s the lowest they can make it at this time. The other card carries most of the balance at 0%. Even though there was a high balance transfer fee of 3%, in the long run, the interest saved on that balance out weighs the fee cost by A LOT. That fee could easily have been what I pay in a month in interest on another card for the same balance, so I’m am definitely saving money. When the 0% rate expires, I hope to be close to finished on paying the lower balance card so I can snowball my payments. Or else, divide and conquer, and transfer back some of the high balance to a near empty card and get a good balance transfer interest rate. Hey! I didn’t even think of that till just now as a strategy! Blogging really does help in the personal fiscal challenge!

ps- I wrote this a few days ago and since then, I have had to add my Oracle class to a credit card. In 60 days, the course will have passed and I should get a reimbursement check from my company, so don’t expect any dents in the balance till that happens. Bummer that it has to be this way, but oh well, invest a little now to get a lot more out of it later.

Things are going great for me at my job. I got a raise earlier this year. (Per Frank, it’s a compression raise.) I got a bonus for last year’s good work and overall company performance. To cap it off, I got another raise of sorts.

I asked my boss last year if I could take an Oracle course and he agreed it would be a good idea since we’re getting a new server soon. Since our company wants to keep us brownies interested in work, our entire team was approved to take more coursework. The education benefit at work is for $3000.00 per person per year. That’s not too bad. It’s about going rate for most companies in the area. That’s the cost of one week-long Oracle course at most places that offer fancy Oracle classes. (However, it falls exceedingly short of a top-flight MBA program at Georgetown.)

So I have just effectively given myself a $3000.00 raise this month. I am mucho excited about this class. I am excited that my company is opening the valves and letting some money flow to the places we need it. This is going to be a great year for my team. It’s part of why I’ve been so busy lately with work.

And anyone else who stands between me and morning caffeine. (Apparently I was wrong when I wrote screw Dave Ramsey in the festival post. It’s David Bach who’s trademarked ‘Latte Factor’. But I’ve ranted elseswhere about the use of the Italian word for ‘milk’ to mean ‘coffee’.)

I figured out a way to get Starbucks coffee for cheap yesterday. I was standing at Starbucks buying a juice, meeting my knitter friends at our usual spot.

Suddenly it hit me. I can BUY their coffee beans and *make my own*. Shocking. I KNOW!

I’m a lazy person. I usually drink the crappy free coffee at work. But this week, I will secretly make half pots and share them with the office. I’m not sure I’m going to like this Guatemala/Antigua medium blend anyway. We shall see.

I have figured out that for about $1.70 of Starbucks coffee at the cafeteria at work, I can spend about $9.00 for a pound of whole bean coffee. That’s about 5 or 6 days worth of purchased coffee. I only need one cup a day. I’m not that crazy for coffee, just a little pick me up in the mornings. The pound could last me all month if I do it right. So the question is, French press style and let the grounds settle to the bottom in the last inch of my travel mug, or do I be nice and make half carafes for other people too? A little of both I should think.

It’s a lyric by the B52’s. It pretty much sums up how I’ve been feeling lately about my money. It’s just a big mess.

I moved my Save-O-Meter down. I pulled out $2000.00 for my car repair, my gift to my mom to repair her windows, and to pay down my credit cards. Fortunately, the Save-O-Meter balance was higher than the amount posted, which is why I still have 59% left, and not just 50%. It was sad to knock it down, but the money is going to a good purpose by doing this. I’ll build it back up.

My Debt-O-Meter finally moved. I made some progress on it at the expense of my Save-O-Meter. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a little more progress over the next few months. I am able to pay over $1200.00 a month to credit card debt, so the rest of 2007 should see some significant progress. I’ve done all the right things, moved things to 0% balance transfer cards, called to lower my rate, etc. Now I just have to pay them down.

As far as the notebook experiment goes, well, that was interesting. I’m glad I did it but I don’t think I really learned that much from it. The bigger thing was that I used a cash allowance and that really helped me put a lid on my spending. The notebook showed me that I dined out a lot. Big Deal. I already knew that.

Mighty Bargain Hunter writes about using The Force to do your budgeting. I have to admit that I fall into The Force category. It’s the lazy way to budget. Honestly, the best thing that I can do is to keep giving myself a cash allowance and say that’s it. That’s all you get to spend on dining out, on anything. Books, etc. It’s too easy for me to fork over my debit card when I want to buy a new book. But I hate watching the cash slip through my fingers.

As the weather warms up and cold lunches become more tolerable, I am going to try and stick to having sandwiches for lunch. My co-worker and I went to her apartment for lunch last week and instead of mustard, she told me to try the pesto spread. She said it reminds her of the chicken pesto sandwich at Panera, one of our favorites. Pesto is good stuff on turkey and I recommend everybody give it a try. We walk her dog at lunch time too so that makes for some nice exercise too.

Greetings earthling! Welcome to the 68th Festival of Frugality!

Editor’s picks:

Silicon Valley Blogger presents The Economics of Cosmetics: Should You Invest In Your Looks Or Skimp On Makeup? posted at The Digerati Life. Another FRUMPERELLA! I confess, I’ve been wearing more makeup at work, but that’s been for me, and not for anyone else. - ed.

Troy Hadley presents 3 Cheap Ways to Win Over the Ladies (by Looking Better) posted at Wise Bread - Living large on a small budget. These three simple things will make a world of difference. No girl wants a pair of gnarly looking hands touching her. Unibrow? Forget it. Might as well date one of the Geico Neanderthals. As for the hairy neck, just take the electric shaver and go all the way around. People wonder why I have a fetish for military men, given my political leanings. It’s the “high and tight” look. It’s right dead sexy in a faggoty white uniform. - ed.

Nina presents When to Replace a Computer: A Buying Guide posted at Queercents.

ispf presents Stay Fit - Without Spending a Dime posted at Grad Money Matters.

Screw Dave Ramsay and his Latte Factor. Kirby presents The 5 Best Ways to Save Money at Starbucks posted at Kirby on Finance. Go ahead! Enjoy your Starbucks, but on the cheap! -ed.

Prince of Thrift presents 70% Attitude, 30% Hard Work posted at Becoming & Staying Debt Free. It’s all about attitude. - ed.

Cap & Noah Kagan present Spiffy Ways to Reduce Your Expenses posted at MyMint.

Mr Credit Card presents Does Coupon Cutting Save You Money At Auto Repair Shops? posted at Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog.

Shadox presents Credit Cards for Getting OUT of Debt posted at Money and Such. “While most PF finance gurus recommend cutting up your credit cards as the place to start if you want to get out of debt, I propose three ways credit cards can help you get OUT of debt, and I am not talking about 0% balance transfer offers (although those are great too).”

Sagar Satapathy presents “Borrowing to Pay Me� and 19 other moronic things people do with credit cards posted at Credit Card Lowdown.

Lauri presents Tips for a Great Yard Sale posted at Debt Free For Life.

Savvy Steward presents Letterfu - Write And Send Letters, No Envelope Needed posted at Savvy Steward.

Super Saver presents Corporate Programs for Personal Use posted at My Wealth Builder.

Laws Finance presents A New Spin on the Old Golf Ball posted at Laws of Finance. This sounds a bit like a bad golfing joke to me, but it does make mathematic sense. - ed.

Mike presents Frugal Workout: Dethatching your lawn manually posted at Clever Dude.

Melanie Rimmer presents a Nettle Soup recipe at Bean Sprouts. “I have been foraging for wild food this week. The dandelion and primrose salad was a success, as was the potato and nettle soup.” I’ve never seen this blog before, but if you like gardening, I think you might like this one. She’s planning her 2007 garden so now might be a good time to start reading to follow her progress. - ed.

LA MoneyGuy presents Stretching your leftovers posted at It’s Just Money.

FMF presents Save Money by Shopping with A List — Millionaires Do (But Is This the Best Way to Save Money) posted at Free Money Finance.

John presents WWYD: Use a Coupon on a First Date? posted at Queercents.

NCN presents Rebuilding My Grocery Store Price-Book posted at No Credit Needed Blog.

Paul presents Free 12-month supply of contact lens cases & coupons posted at Wise Bread - Living large on a small budget.

Frugal Zeitgeist presents Depression mentality posted at Frugal Zeitgeist.

Rebecca Newburn presents Suze Orman Supports Financial Literacy for Women posted at Information Age Education.

Financial Hack presents The Advantages Of Low Cost Living posted at Financial Hack.

Jim presents Do You Buy Online To Avoid Paying Sales Tax? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Amy L. Fontinelle presents How To Fine Dine On A Budget posted at Personal Finance Advice.

OhCash presents OhCash.com » Burning Cash to Stay Warm posted at Business School. Homeowners faced with rising home heating costs have many options that won’t mean drastic lifestyle changes.

Escape Brooklyn presents Cost of putting a roof over your head posted at Escape Brooklyn.

Wenchypoo presents CAT FOOD ALERT PART DEUX posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Elizabeth presents 15 Tips for Cheap Travel: #2b) How to Find Cheap Plane Tickets posted at Money for the Rest of Us.

Ben presents How to Save Money on Magazines posted at Money Smart Life.

Tight Fisted Miser presents Save on Dental Care posted at Tight Fisted Miser.

Please note that there were two submissions that violated the Carnival of Personal Finance rule of being submitted to only one carnival. Because the CoPF appears on Monday, I have removed those two submissions from the Festival of Frugality. Also, one eager submitter put in two articles for the same week, so I held one back for next week in favor of another blogger who is unfamiliar to me, posting on the same same subject, though I won’t say who or what because this Festival is inclusive and I’m less of a meanie when hosting the Festival of Frugality than with the Carnival of Personal Finance. Just wait till next week to see the good stuff. I assure you, it’s good stuff.

Keep those submissions coming! Next week’s host is Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life. Please use the carnival submission form!