Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Did you know that you can use your Medical FSA funds to buy first aid supplies for your emergency kit?

I know all about this since I got a rather bad burn on Thanksgiving while cooking turkey. Don’t ask. Just know that I have a 2nd degree burn on my arm and I didn’t have to make a special trip to buy first aid supplies because I already had what I needed at home to get me through the first week.

Typically, it’s good to buy extra gauze and tape, the 1″ wide kind. I like sterile gauze in packs, but can’t stand paying $7-10 per box out of pocket at the drugstore. But if I have medical FSA funds that are going to go to waste if I don’t use them up, I’m all about the expensive sterile gauze. Lots and lots of it! I would rather have too much than too little and start cutting it up into smaller and smaller pieces to ration it out. I find that for a wound like a burn or something extra bloody, it’s good to have lots of extra dressing available. A burn usually needs to be kept moist and changed daily, if not twice a day. I have found that I prefer to change it twice a day to ensure that it’s kept moist with burn cream or Aquaphor. I honestly prefer Aquaphor because my old roommate (the SICU nurse) told me it’s what they use on burn patients in the hospital, and because it did a great job on a second degree burn I got once before. (It healed so well that you can’t tell where the burn is without straining your eyes.)

The great thing about this stuff is that it doesn’t expire. Unlike over the counter medicines like allergy meds, analgesics, acidic stomach meds, etc, which you might end up throwing out anyway, bandages and dressing supplies last years if stored properly.

Suggestions for your first aid kit:
Non-stick pads
Gauze pads
Rolled gauze for bendy places
Micropore tape - paper tape that is breathable! It’s great for sensitive skin, i.e. your elbow pit or inner forearm. Trust me.
Waterproof tape - for dressings that might get wet but still need to stay on till you change it. I usually get this as a 1/2″ tape instead of 1″, but they do make the wider one.
Hydrogen peroxide for cleansing without stinging (or “less stinging” than alcohol, but this does have an expiration date usually.)
Burn cream for first aid. (It’s not really for healing scars. It basically numbs a burn when you first get one. Look for creams with Lidocaine. And this usually also has an expiration date as well.)
Neosporin/antibiotic creams (Expiration date here too!)

I’m not a medical person by training. I have only some basic understanding of first aid, so if anyone out there has more knowledge they’d like to share, please do. This is just the stuff I know I like to have around because I go camping, live hard, ride motorcycles, etc. (The old burn scar is from an exhaust pipe.)

This is something old I wrote which I serve up to you since I have nothing else today. Posting will be slow for the rest of the summer. I am sure I will have a lot to say about finances when my annual camping trip is done.

EDIT: I have added my own post by request. Click on ‘disaster survival kit’ below.

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I think Miserly Bastard and I have better disaster survival kit lists than the ones suggested by WiseBread, but ours are a bit more personalized too. Plus we discussed our reasoning for our items and our commenters left really good suggestions. It’s food for thought if you want to make your own kits. Truthfully, I don’t like calling them ‘disaster survival kits’. I pop into my gear when the power goes out during a storm. That hardly qualifies as a disaster, but preparedness in an emergency.

In light of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita and meeting some more Homeland Security types here in DC, the one thing I would have to edit is the length of time for which you should be prepared without assistance from your government. Realistically, now you should expect to shelter-in-place for 2 weeks and have enough supplies for that duration.

For me, I’m running out to Luray Caverns to a girlfriend’s country house. I know where she keeps the key. Or else that goshforsaken place my friends have moved to (requiring 4WD). Turns out I know at least 3 houses on the mountain. Someone should be willing to take me in!

I am kidding, but it’s true. My list was based on the assumption of 3-days in place, or else fleeing the city as fast as I can in case of attack. I just found out that the nearest metro to my house is not Ballston, as I thought, but possibly the Pentagon City station. (Not the actual Pentagon station, but the next one over.) This matters because of the DC Metroblogger map. Just kidding. That’s peripheral to my risk assessment of another Pentagon attack. Like how good is targeting on a bomb or missile? Within 1 or 2 miles? I’m sure it’s better than that, but say if it wasn’t? I could be toast. (Whoa! I was going to add the link, but Maureen is no longer keeping it. That’s ok, Buckethead doesn’t live on the Yellow Line anymore anyway.)

I was talking to a friend’s husband recently. It seems that perhaps I’ve not covered the scenario where I would have to walk out of a disaster area. Will have to rethink my exercise and backpacking capabilities. It’s a bit extreme, but food for thought.

I screwed up my WordPress migration so I don’t have any archives by month like other good bloggers do. Instead, I’ve been trying to tag my articles with categories so you can read them topically.

I’m not finished yet, but some old, but I tagged some good articles. I don’t know when I’ll get around to tagging what’s left. I have about 6 more months to tag and then I have to backfill all the other articles that weren’t easy to categorize.

Please enjoy the Books category for book reviews. (A new one will be posted soon!)
Articles I Like: for articles I have plucked from other sites and bloggers, but mostly other bloggers.
Personal Memory: if you want to get to know me better.
DIY: you are inclined to make things. Plus it’s one of my favorite categories.
Emergency Fund: if you want to see my Save-O-Meter progress and thoughts on the subject.
Emergency Preparedness: if you want to know what to do in an emergency or how to protect yourself.
Frozen Dinners: for Frozen Dinner Reviews (or search my blog for ‘FDR’, because not all were tagged yet)
Jobs or Employment: These include some of my best posts like Mapgirl, Inc.

Also remember that a category only appears if there is a post with that tag. So every single category has something. You won’t be clicking nothing if you click them.

2Million has it the newest Carnival of Personal Finance available now.

I must say that I love the new hosts of carnivals and festivals. Participating is so important because I can’t visit everything and I count on hosts to spotlight what’s worthwhile reading. Plus if you are a new blogger and you never host one, then I may never get around to visiting you. Please participate as a host!

Cameron at Beating the Joneses on using an envelope system for budgeting. A lot of the comments are about using envelopes over Quicken to do your budgeting. I may have something to say about this soon since I’ve been doing the Mandatory Cash Option.

Kay at one of my favorite PF blogs, Don’t Mess with Taxes tells us that some companies allow you to use up your Medical FSA from the previous year until March 15th! WOO! My company doesn’t do this. I have the standard December 31 cut off date, but if you have Medical FSA funds, you may wish to look into this option. Kay’s got more specifics and points to another article I’ll be reading about lowering your income by increasing your medical expense deductions!

I’d never thought I’d say this, but I want a copy of the 2007 Ernst & Young Tax Guide. George at Fat Pitch Financials pulls out some tidbits that you might find useful. If anyone local wants to share a copy with me, leave me a comment. My taxes are going to be a little complicated this time.

Five Cent Nickel on 10 Things You Should Do to Cover Your Assets. I can’t stress that enough. After last year’s stressful time reading about durable medical power of attorney at a time when my dad was being wheeled into surgery, I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE everyone to think about this now before it literally becomes a life and death moment. Please, also take the time to find out what ‘extraordinary measures’ are and whether or not you want them. It’s not like what you see on ER or any medical TV show. There are further realities than the 3 minute scene you see on TV. The good people who take care of us in hospitals think that trying to save your life is worth more than 3 minutes of their time, ok? So don’t think you know everything about an end of life scenario because you watch that infernal box called a TV set.

Ok, after writing that last paragraph, I’m extremely verklempt. I can’t write any further. I really stress for anybody reading this that you take a moment and think about what you want done with your life, body, children and finances should something dire occur to you. I’m talking about organ donation, burial or cremation, etc. Think about it now while you are healthy and not when you are sick. Talk to your family about it now while you are not in need of these things. Like I said before, the time to plan is when there is no emergency. Same thing here.

I just don’t know what to think of the auction for the James Kim Memorial Fund.

I’m very sorry that Mr. Kim passed away. I took a look at a few items for the auction and I think I may place bids. The selections are eclectic and beautiful. I suspect many of the artists are represented by the Kims at their two stores.

I assume the reason they need to have an auction fundraiser is because Mr. Kim didn’t leave behind an insurance policy. Or during her time of grief, the widow is unable to keep the store open and needs the income to tide them over.

I’m obsessed with life insurance. If someone depends on you, it’s good to have it. A good friend of mine is a widow. I met her as she was getting remarried. Her husband died suddenly in a car accident and fortunately, he was covered by life insurance. There’s plenty now for college funds. Fortunately, my friend isn’t the idle type and has a great career upon which she can always fall back.

The insurance money has allowed her to do some great things with her life and for her two kids. They’re set up for college without any worries. My friend was able to make some career shifts and all has worked out very well for her even though her first husband is gone.

That’s what the money’s for right? To take a bad situation and at least make your financials worries go away.

It comes down to this. Have an emergency fund. Buy some life insurance and make sure it’s enough.

And here is a follow up article by Declan McCullagh of CNet on wilderness survival.

EDIT: For some reason, I spelled Declan’s name wrong. Must be because I know someone with the last name ‘Acland’…

Mike asks, how much is enough?

Well, it depends who you ask. Everyone says 3-6 months of savings. But if you don’t have enough money to get buy, try to sock away at least $1000.00.

For me, I set a target goal of $4000.00. That’s the original Save-O-Meter balance. I hover at that amount, allowing for small dips if there’s ever a short fall. Lately, it doesn’t go below $3500.00. I should stop raiding it at all and open an entirely separate generic savings account.

Next year, I want my Save-O-Meter balance to be $6000.00, just a 2K increase. I could put that in at the beginning of the year. I could slowly build up to it, etc. It’s a question of what to do with my bonus when it arrives next spring. (Walks like a ducks, smells like a duck, quacks, etc. So they say…) I have already committed to assisting my parents with some repairs to their home. Without divulging their business, my mother implied a cash flow problem and I’m tired of sleeping in a drafty bedroom when I visit. I think their energy efficiency will improve with a complete replacement since they’ve been in that house for 25+ years. I see it as a small payback for everything else my parents have done for me. After the windows, we tackle the roof. The basement’s been done, and the kitchen floor can wait.

But I digress.

Per the online financial calculators you can find online, if I wanted to save 3 months worth of emergency expenses, I’d better save about $8500.00. 6 months? Closer to $14,000.00. Ideally? I would save $12K in CD’s, laddered in $1000.00 1-year term CD’s. I’d always have one expiring in the next month so I could withdraw it without penalty. Generally speaking, a credit card can tide you over on most emergencies and when that bill comes due, the withdrawn cash can pay the bill down/off. For some reason, I think if I can have one that’s $10K, I could sleep at night.

I think all that matters is the ability to sleep at night and what kind of emergency you think you’re going to face. I am ok with only have 3 months worth of expenses because I don’t think I’m going to get laid off in the next 2 years. I also know that if I quit, I can find work. I’m not too proud to waitress again. Work is work. It generates money and that’s all the same stuff to the banks and creditors.

Search pfblogs.org for emergency fund. You’ll find lots of input there from PFbloggers in all walks of life and different stages of life. What constitutes an emergency at 25 is way different than at 55, and those emergencies are priced accordingly.

How did I do? Not very well. I overspent on my budget by ~$3000.00.

I was about $1000.00 off on my income due to my budgeting healthcare benefit expenses off my old employer and not adjusting it to actual costs with my current employer.

Specific category notes:

The rising price of gas definitely shows on my budget. I spent ~$300.00 more than planned.

My car repairs were a budget killer at ~$4000.00, because I track that as a separate item from fuel expenses. This single budget item explains away the entire budget deficit.

Buying a motorcycle was *VERY* unplanned and it shows. I could blame this as the budget killer, but it cost me less that the deficit total.

My entertainment budget was over by ~$300.00, but almost that entire amount represents pre-paid tickets for 8 adults to the once in a lifetime Tutankhamen show in Philadelphia for 2007. I hope to recoup most of that from my friends next year when the show takes place.

The ‘household’ category was over by ~$250.00, which is about what I spent on a home warranty service. It sounds crazy, but I renewed it since it’s a one-stop service for household applicance repair. I actually ended up using it to replace my garbage disposal in 2005. I found the convenience to be a worthwhile expense. I sleep better at night knowing I have a number to call. (I was a total wreck during my first home repair crisis, which is a buyer’s remorse story. I know that am a panicker in a crisis, which is why I obsess about being prepared for stuff. I freak out less.)

I am not sure what to make of this one. I overspent on mortgage interest in 2006 by ~$900.00. But since I capped my HELOC to a fixed rate and I can take almost all of mortgage interest amount as a deduction, I can’t call this all horrible since I’ll actually get back some of this category when I file my taxes.

I grossly under estimated my property taxes by ~$500.00. That represents what I paid for my condo and for my car. In VA, there is personal property tax on your vehicle. Now that I know what a full year of taxes are upon my car, I should be able to budget this better. But due to annual real estate reassessment in VA, I might still be way off again. Since markets are flattening, I should be alright. (This may require another post to explain.)

I have the good stuff in another post. Though the overall budget picture was that I overspent, I did a lot better on a few things which surprised me. Stay tuned.

Some of my friends have moved to the country to escape the high real estate prices in DC. I drove out there Sunday and found myself driving up and down some pretty crazy inclines. I was sweating bullets and downshifting into first and second a lot.

I think to continue visiting, I’m going to need 4-wheel drive, or at least a set of chains for the tires. They’ve been warned they won’t be seeing me out at their place again till the snow melts. Not that there is snow out there now, but I’m actually pretty scared to drive it again without 4WD. My new car fantasies now entail getting a hybrid Ford Expedition instead of a BMW M3 SMG.

I was even joking about how they are going to need to stock their pantry really well since it could be a week before they can leave their home during a blizzard.
I’m also friends with a hobby goat farmer out thattaway. Going to her place isn’t so bad since she’s not on the side of a mountain. I can get away with just using chains for the small steep part of her hill. I was at her place in the summer and made a mental note to myself about this. As it was, I saw a mutual friend last night and mentioned the first family and the harrowing drive. She offered to take me out there in her Subaru Outback. That’s one way to do it, borrow a car.
It’s almost better to have your friends move away completely than in a no-man’s land where you could go visit them, but it takes over a hour and adds this weird expense of a different vehicle. I know I’m just going to feel guilty not seeing them too frequently due to the distance.

James Kim has been missing for days and was found dead today.

I don’t know James personally, but my friend at CNet and I were talking about it today. He is a colleague of the deceased. I am frequently weirdly connected to stuff on the news.

I found out about this story last night and it kind of scares me. I drove to Yellowstone in late April 2001. Some of the roads were closed and I distinctly remember telling my friend I felt uncomfortable driving down some of these empty roads in WY because they were so desolate. We did turn back because as posted, the road was snowed in. Luckily for us it was a beautifully sunny, warm spring day. But what if it hadn’t been? What if a storm had been looming?
Please heed the warnings about closed roads, carry emergency supplies in your car and flares, etc. Just as I urge you all to have emergency kits for home, please consider what you would keep in your car should you be in a freak snowstorm. I’ll probably have more to say on this later.
Consider this article at CNet regarding cellphone signal tracking. It is really hard though in a remote area like that to get a tower to ping your phone. It’s kind of amazing at all that they were able to find Kati Kim based on the last ping to a tower. Usually I leave my phone in my car if I’m going on a hike, but now I might take it with me if I get enough coverage. Sometimes we carry Talkabout radios too.
Please be safe everyone. Consider getting a personal beacon if you do any backcountry skiing or hiking. I know someone who was hiking alone and possibly killed by a falling rock at Yosemite. He died during the airlift out. NEVER GO ALONE on the trail. (Ack. It’s 6 years later and it still makes me cry thinking about it.)

No, really, I am not.

I went to the mall today to pick up my new prescription sunglasses. At the same time, to save money, I asked if they could grind new lenses for my regular glasses since I really hated all the frames that were in stock. (That’s the frugal tip I’m sharing with you today. Share and Enjoy!)

So while waiting for said lenses to be fitted, I wander the mall for an hour. Lately I’ve felt the need to stop being Frumperella and maybe get some cute clothes and letting someone hit on me for once. I dress very differently for work and for the weekend and well, something in the middle that says cute girl at work doesn’t really exist in my wardrobe. I take work pretty seriously.

I wander into all the stores, Limited, Forever 21, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Coach, etc. I saw a lot of really cute shirts I could mix and match for work and for play. I was sorely tempted to get a black Soho purse from Coach, but no, I am a good little brownie and I assuage all my retail impulse/therapy shopping feelings until I see the Knife Store. Yep. Chesapeake Knife and Tool is going out of business at Fair Oaks Mall on RT 50, about 20 miles west of DC. OH BOY! IT’S A SALE!

Everything is 40-75% off and it’s been that way for probably a month. They are down to the very last of everything.

I’m a sucker for a fine writing instrument. I love fountain pens. And guess what? Mont Blanc is on sale! However, their pen feels cheap so I stick with the Pelikan instead. How much? 40% off $75. Not too bad.

For a very long time, I coveted my friend’s Spyderco. It was a tiny brushed steel finish blade. I think it was a Dragonfly. Half straight/half serrated. He dropped it once at a show and thought he’d lost it forever. After the houselights came up, he found it at the edge of the mosh pit, artfully scratched up. It looks great. Many times I have thought of stealing his little knife, but he would know that it was me. This knife has long been discontinued, but I still hunt for it like someone might find one in a storeroom somewhere. Of course, they have no more small Spydercos.

Instead, they have this really pretty knife by Columbia River Knife and Tool. I’ve seen this flippy little knife before. It kind of scares the bejesus out of me, like I’m going to cut my hand open. In fact, I am thinking of the shorter version when the salesman tells me that it’s being discontinued because too many people have cut themselves trying to open and close the knife. Ooooh-kay. Nevermind then. How much again for the regular knife? $59.99 with 40% off? I’m totally thinking this would make a really nice gift for a good friend who goes camping with me. But what, there is only one of the serrated blades left. Oh well, I guess it’s mine.

Total damage was $83.03.

I know. I didn’t need a knife, nor a pen. But see Mapgirl is a serious shopper and all sales are final. So I really know how to blow a budget big time and there will be no buyer’s remorse returning for me. I’m just lucky they were out of white LED Photons or there would be two sitting in my purse right now. (Highly recommended for your keychain for safety! Get one for every woman you care about, with a can of pepper spray. I’m not kidding.)

And all I was really shopping for was maybe some heels and a new shirt. I guess I’m just not that girly. I’d rather buy nice tools than nice shoes even if both have utility. I just think I’ll get more use out of the tools.

ps- Korea just won over Togo! GO RED DEVILS!