Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

My company is kind of funny. The Red Cross is not usually on its approved charity list, however due to the recent disasters in China and Myanmar, they’ve approved donations to several relief organizations like the Red Cross and World Vision.

I live within blocks of the Red Cross and boyfriend lives within blocks of World Vision. It’s funny that way in DC. There’s a lot of non-profits around here. I could choose simply on the basis of who as offices closest to me.

Right now, my company will allow me to assign a one-time or ongoing paycheck deduction. I’m not sure what to do here. I could take my tax refund and send the money upfront. Or I could send a sustaining ongoing paycheck deduction for the rest of 2008.

The other thing is that the codes are divided between China and Myanmar, instead of general relief funds. I am torn. I don’t identify with south Asians at all. Being Korean, and actually KNOWING people from Sichuan, I’m inclined to give all my money to the China fund. But because of the political situation in Myanmar, I am afraid they will be forgotten if I don’t send money to them now. (Plus a friend of mine who serves on an international g33k charity has actually met Aung San Suu Kyi with only good things to say about her, and I admire her greatly for her efforts to bring freedom to Myanmar.)

Right now I am quietly giving $25 a month to a US charity doing local work. That won’t change. But the questions for me now are:

1. One country relief fund or two?
2. One-time donation or ongoing?
3. How much?
4. Which organization?

I’m spolied and I’m not inclined to give till it hurts. But I did get my federal tax refund last Friday and eventually a stimulus payment will arrive. I’m trying to balance out my desires to give with my desire to pay for the remodel and pay off a credit card. But then again, since this is coming out of a paycheck yet to come, it’s not even money I’ll see if I let them take it from me before I get paid.

I know I can talk myself into anything. In the process of writing this post, I answered question #1. Definitely two country relief funds. But now I need to decide between Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross. If I do the MSF one, can I enter into Yarn Harlot’s Knitters Without Borders annual donation drive? (Terriblly selfish thought, I know.)

As we head into the holiday season and enjoy today’s holiday of gluttony, I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on the abundance in my life.

During my regular knitting gathering this week, we were talking about S.A.B.L.E., Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. For those of you who don’t knit, ’stash’ is your yarn stash from which you can pull to make projects. It’s your warehouse of yarn. For many women, building stash is a comfort. It’s saving yarn for use in the future, like a quick knit baby sweater when you don’t have time that week to run to the store to buy a baby shower gift or pick up a specific baby yarn. For other women, it’s just plain old hoarding out the wazoo.

In 2007, I’ve purchased very little in the way of new craft items. I think I’ve spent less than $150, whereas I might spend $400 in a typical year. Last year I realized that I needed to stop buying yarns and fiber because I spend a lot of time blogging and no longer craft like I did before starting MFC. My stash is overtaking my small apartment.

One of the knitters, Lanea, is on a book buying moratorium this year because she realized that she and her husband have way too many unread books in the house. I know that I could read every book I have in the house and not buy a new one for at least 2 or 3 years, if not more. And that doesn’t include what’s still at my mom and dad’s house. That’s probably another 2 years’ worth of books.

A friend called me one night recently and I started to futz around and clean up my closet. Ostensibly, I was looking for my sweaters since we had our first hard frost of the season on Monday night. But really I was culling my clothing. A storage box of sweaters turns into a box of t-shirts and shorts for the winter and that means a quick inspection of my drawers and closet racks for things that can be donated to Goodwill. I realize that I have lots of spiffy clothes for work, but I was choosing not to wear the silk shirts and sweaters because I didn’t want to spend the money to dry clean them. And yet, I am loathe to get rid of them. Finding them was finding a new wardrobe for work. What is the cost of cleaning them when it saves me money on buying new clothes?

My friend on the phone asked me how many pairs of shoes I had. I thought this was a trap because he’s a guy and I’ve been accused of being Imelda Marcos. But I felt better when I guessed 30-40 and he said he had the same. (I am now going to have to inventory them for my own satisfaction.) As I told him my guess, I was staring at a pair of boots, thinking of the Baby Phat pair that Single Ma wants. My boots are old and out of style, but they’re still in reasonable condition. They will last me another year. Frumperella isn’t going to mind since these boots won’t turn into shoeboxes at midnight.

If you look around your life will you find what you need within the possessions you have? Think about that because at its core is an assumption that you can discern your needs and wants and separate them like sheep from goats. Do you have unacknowledged abundance in your life? Will finding it help you re-prioritize your spending in the next month?

During the winter season there’s all kinds of propaganda about peace on earth and goodwill towards man. There’s pap about transcending material things and putting other people first. It’s all b.s. since everyone goes into a gift buying frenzy. Everything seems like such a damned good deal so it’s ok to spend on yourself a little while you spend on everyone else. But that’s a false correlation. It’s not ok to spend on yourself if it’s going to break your shopping budget.

If you think before you shop about what you really have in your life, you will see that you probably have plenty. I write about material things, but I know the same principle of hidden abundance counts for immaterial things as well. I have my life, my family, my supportive friends. For the first time in many years, I can say have good oral health. My cup runneth over and I didn’t even know it till I stopped to think about it.

How about 2 3rd place finishes for the baby goats my friend took to the show? Ok. I know, you don’t read my blog to hear about cute little baby goats. CuteOverload needs a new category for them though. They are pretty adorable.

Dinner Friday night at Calico was superb. The duckling I had was okay, but the bites of the filet mignon and bouliabasse made me regret the duck. The patisserie was the real treat. I had one of the mini cakes. It was a white cake with mascarpone layered in the middle with dark chocolate ganache and a merigue kiss on top. TASTY! I believe the name of the cake was ‘Joy’. Add a glass of wine, a cup of tea and splitting the check four ways, and my share of dinner was about $45. This was a planned fancy dinner we wanted to do because everything else for the weekend would be fair food and fast food.

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There were no deep-fried Twinkies this year. This is tragic. The Howard County Fairgrounds no longer has a deep-fried Twinkie vendor. I’m not sure that they sell deep-fried Snickers bars either. This is tragic! I mean, kettle-corn is great and all, but it’s not the same gooey yumminess. For my overpriced, but delectable pit lamb BBQ sandwich, I like to add a delectable dessert. Instead, I just ate another lamb skewer and sulked for the rest of the afternoon.

WARNING: Non-knitters might have a hard time with the next phase, but it does actually get into personal finance matters.

As far as the personal finance stuff, which is less news-worthy than the absent Twinkies, I was pretty close to budget, though I did break my promise to myself. Originally I budgeted $200.00 for equipment purchases only, and absolutely no fiber. But I got sucked in at The Fold’s booth and bought some Seduction yarn by Blue Moon, the company that makes Socks that Rock. My friends queued early for STR, but I am not a sock-maker like they are. Later in the day, while we were cruising back through the same shed for my friend to get some Blue-Faced Leicester next door for a cardigan, I checked out The Fold a second time and found a lovely ice-blue variegated merino-tencel blend yarn. It’s perfect for a summertime shell for the office. I plan to make it a yoked sweater with cap sleeves, stranded because of the difference in color between the two skeins. (One has a touch of grey and the other spots of white.)

While I don’t need a new hobby, I am very curious about tatting. I love lacework and so I figured for $4, a learning book is cheap. The $20 shuttle (bobbin) is what I shouldn’t have bought. I could have found one cheaper elsewhere, but I like one-stop shopping, and they had thread as well. I am going to find out more about this thing and then once I’m done satisfying the curiosity, I am going to forget about it. I. Do. Not. Need. Another. Hobby.

I also bought three more bobbins for my spinning wheel, which should nudge me to complete the work I have unfinished, and get me started on the kid mohair I purchased last year from Giant Cricket Farm. It’s undyed in natural grey and white which I will spin separately and attempt to 4-ply in a ‘barber-pole’ style.

Lastly, I didn’t have the cash for it, but my enabler girlfriends loaned me the money. I bought a beautiful handwoven basket for my apartment. It’s got lovely firm handles, should I wish to take it some place full of soft yarns. Its about three feet long, one foot wide and about two feet tall. I plan to use it as storage next to my couch, because it has weft that is dyed blues, purples and violets, and matches my furniture. This is what put me over the planned $200.00 budget.

Don’t ask about food, I never count that in my craft budget and fair food is always pricey. We did take some granola bars and bottled water to reduce the cost at fair. Trust me, even on a cloudy day, you’re going to suck some down like you’re sweating constantly, even if you are shivering in a lace sweater due to dropping temperatures. (Hey, at least it didn’t pour down.)

ps - Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. The domain wouldn’t let me log in and publish out.

Status: April Net Worth will have to wait for now. Too busy with class to put it up.

I have changed my mind, and I will be taking the exam at the end of class, even though it’s not the official Oracle DBA certification exam. I figure I should take it should I decide to get the independent certification offered by the company/school where I am taking the course. Future rewards may follow.

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is this weekend. I am limiting myself to $200 and NO MORE YARN or FIBER buying for now. I am only in the market for some spinning equipment, like extra bobbins or a lazy kate and nothing else unless I see some cute baby stuff for pending births. (But I am currently making stuff like crazy from yarn I already have. See? Isn’t that frugal?)

I just got handed some raw shetland this week. It’s about 2 lbs. To get it milled, I want to mix it with something light, like soy silk to thin it out so it’s not a really heavy yarn. I have something in mind to make for a friend, but men don’t like really heavy wooly stuff usually. So this is going to involve some research. But I love free stuff!

Surprisingly, there were some good things in my budget.

On the income side, because I made an effort to save, I made ~$100.00 in interest by doing nothing but saving! I like that! I don’t think 2007 will see a comparable number unless people want ING referrals from me. The ones I got from 2006 were categorized as interest income. (Email me at mapgirlsfiscalchallenge at Google’s mail service.)

I saved money on my car insurance, and the savings is approximately the cost of my new homeowner’s policy I had written this year. I expect this savings to be eaten up by a rise in premiums next year.

I don’t know about you, but I plan out what I’m going to pay in credit card interest. For some reason, I paid ~$100.00 less than planned this year. I must be some kind of pessimist!

Though I splurged on a ridiculously expensive skirt this year, I was under budget by ~$900.00. I think Frumperella can reassess this figure completely for 2007.

My crack habit, er, excuse me, my YARN habit was under budget by ~$100.00. Thank god I quit my second job at the crack house, i.e. yarn shop. I spent most of my budget in two purchases during their annual clearance sale at the beginning of the year. I think I realized what I was doing and made sure not to buy anything else unless I REALLY needed it. Now I don’t feel so bad buying high quality kid mohair as a year-end gift to myself.

My gift budget looks like I was under ~$300.00, but that doesn’t seem right due to a weird little transaction I did with my sibling to buy wedding presents for my cousin. I was probably under by only ~$150.00. The other thing is that I tend to buy lunches and dinners for friends as treats for their birthday, and I put that all into my dining out category. Remarkably, I wasn’t ridiculously overbudget by dinging out, which is why it didn’t make the BAD list.

Before you chide me for dining out a lot. I was totally on budget with my spending AND I grossly over estimated my grocery budget by ~$1200.00. It’s not like I overspent on a generic category of ‘FOOD’. This also will have to be reassessed for next year, including another $250.00-$350.00 case of wine. My wine rack is empty and needs replenishment.

I don’t understand Quicken sometimes and I think this has to do with my screwy allocation for healthcare benefits from work, but I was under budget by ~$1800.00 for a generic ‘Insurance’ amount.

Surprisingly, my medical expenses were not way out of budget. I was under by ~$200.00. But I will have to carefully plan 2007 since I bumped up my Medical FSA and I still have a mountain of expenses to cover. My dentist was very clear on how much stuff will cost me for each item I’m having done which allowed me to change my FSA allocation. Make sure you ask yours for an outline of charges. They really should be able to give you one if you ask.

Last interesting category is my taxes. I got refunds from DC and VA, but only after overpaying VA due to their weird auditing practices. If you don’t include my property taxes on the car and condo, I actually over budgeted by ~$1000.00. I think this is primarily due to ramping up my pre-tax contributions and deductions.