I’ve been traveling for work the past few weeks and that looks like it will continue for a while yet. To cheer myself up and stop wasting so much money on herbs and produce I don’t eat, I convinced my boyfriend that we should plant a few things on the back deck.

The impetus for gardening was a housecleaning gift from his mom. She had some extra hanging baskets and tiki torches she didn’t need anymore after she remodeled her backyard so she gave them to us as a reverse-Mother’s Day gift. Boyfriend was hot to send everything away via Freecycle, but I thought we really could do ok with planting a few items in them.

As much as I love flowers, I love to eat more. We decided that planting a few herbs and peppers would serve us best. Our list came out to rosemary, basil, thyme, parsley and hot & sweet peppers. (Jalapeno and Anaheim) We have a mix of seedlings and sprouted seeds because I could not pass up the cute seedlings at the Farmer’s Market and the faster availability of fresh herbs. ($10 for three)

Other supplies:
Bag of dirt ($4)
Coco fiber basket liners (~$6 I think, I can’t figure out which item it is on the receipt)
Seeds ($10 for 5 but we have to return some, net cost $4)

For about $30 bucks I hope to have herbs all summer and fall. I hope dry out the thyme at the end of the season for my winter stews and roasts. Rosemary does ok in the winter and my next door neighbor knows how to pickle and can items, so our extra peppers might end up in jars for later.

I’m just happy that in 6 herb harvests, this venture will have paid for itself. I spend about $3-5 per bunch of herbs at the grocery store and lots of it goes to waste unless I ‘dry’ them out in the refrigerator. (That was a happy accidental discovery in the back of the fridge. Now I make a point of separating bunches, washing the herbs and loosely putting them into a plastic bucket in the fridge. It works great!)

Mapgirl’s Green Thumb? is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I found Pantene conditioner on sale this weekend at Safeway in DC. Pantene is rebranding its bottles and the supermarket was getting rid of all the old packaged stuff at a really low price. I love it! I got my favorite brand-name conditioner for about $3 a bottle. I resisted buying a ton of it since I’m running out of room in my bathroom for stocking up.

I love it when companies change their packaging but have the same stuff inside the package. You get the same stuff for a really low price. Stores which are anxious to get rid of the old packaging make inventory room by selling it off cheaply.

Anyone else see stuff changing over in the stores?

Rebranding Is Your Frugal Friend is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I saw the Starbucks free pastry promotion today, but didn’t click through to print the coupon. I just ran downstairs to get a pastry without reading about it first. (Damn you Twitter! No one tweeted the coupon in 140 characters!) So I got a coffee, but no pastry. It was around 10:45am anyway, which was after the 10:30 cut-off. Oh well! I wasn’t going to run up and down twice. Free is nice, but my billable time is worth more than fattening myself up.

I’ve been using Catalina coupons from the supermarket lately, but I’ve been selective about what I’ve bought. It can’t be too perishable and if the coupon requires me to buy more than I’d usually get, then I’ll skip it.

I’m also thinking of skipping my cousins’ weddings this summer and just sending my parents to go instead. As much as I’d like to attend and see my family, it’s much more important for my parents to see them before they die. Unless I get married, there won’t be another opportunity for everyone to come together while the older generation is still intact. It’s shocking to say that, but true. I forget how old we’re all getting sometimes.

Overeager to Save Money is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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1. I can’t quit my job.
2. I can’t get fired.
3. I can’t go to Europe next year. (got an invite)
4. I can’t go to Beirut next year. (got an invite)
5. I can’t go to California for Christmas. (to *snorgle* my nephews)
6. I can’t go to California for Christmas next year. (to *snorgle* my nephews some more)
7. I can’t pay off all my credit cards this year.

Boyfriend is afraid that my Altima is a ticking timebomb and further challenges await me in car repairs. He’s probably right. But I only have 60,000 miles left to go before I have a 200,000 mile car and prioritizing that milestone is delaying my new car purchase in a good way.

Currently I have cut back on my 401k contribution in anticipation of paying cash for my condo renovation and possible car purchase. I’m waiting for the 2010 models to come out in August and September. I figure the money I save up throughout the summer can either go towards a new car down payment or pay off my credit cards.

I’m still not sure I am getting a new car, but I am sure of the car that I want.

It’s killing me to think I am going to have a car payment. However, most of the car forums I’m reading say not to buy used for the car I want because most of them are beat to hell by their owners. Used is not an option unless I want to compromise exactly what I want (a 6-speed) to get a lesser trim package that costs a lot less or a different car entirely.

I’ve figured out that I’m the kind of person who *should* buy a new car because I’m going to keep it for a decade and probably take it to 140,000+ miles again. I’m that guy. (er, gal.) That’s why I really want to make sure the car is exactly what I want.

There’s a whole other argument going on in my head about used vs new. But that’s another post.

If I Buy A New Car… is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Because I don’t spend a lot on makeup and cosmetic treatments and yet still have a boyfriend.

From RevancheGS on Twitter, via Ramit: How much women will spend on a lifetime of beauty care

I had a little rant on Twitter about this the other day (most of which I have re-posted under the cut). I lived with an evil Korean woman growing up. My mom said horrible things to me. Things that hurt me to this day in my thirties. Stuff that still makes me extremely angry. But the flipside is that I get to laugh at her eyebrow-less face now. (See #4 below)

1. @RevancheGS 1) If you need a bikini wax, you are showing too much skin as a teen. 2) lip plumping is for old ppl not 25yo.

2. Let me repeat my mean Asian mother’s comment as I put on makeup for church one morning. “You look like a whore.” Thanks Mom!

3. At 33, the same woman says, ‘Why don’t you wear a little makeup?” *face plant* I buy her $50 creams for birthday and drugstore cream for me.

4. This is same the woman who plucked out all her brows at 20 and had none left at 35. Vanity is a sin or at least ridiculousness.

5. That article does not mention that SUNSCREEN is the most effective cosmetic out there. /me enraged by tanning salons.

6. Oh yeah. I do fully expect to have a face lift at 50 to look 40, but only to make $10K more a yr in salary and maximize earning power.

7. Open-toed shoes are not OSHA compliant when hauling servers. Or at least asking for a toe to be sliced off.

8. @RevancheGS Pedicures are good once or twice a year. But SOCKS make them unnecessary. Of course, I don’t live in a humid hell like FL or TX.

***********
I don’t know why kids need a lot of hair care or make up before going to college, prom and bridal party stuff excepted. My mom was technically right. At 16, I probably didn’t need blush and mascara for church. Again at 33, my mom was also technically right, I should put on a little foundation and eyeliner to go to the office for a clean, professional look. But I also work with a lot of men and I don’t like to make my femininity too obvious at work.

Highlights. Well I’m damned lucky that I HATE RED highlights on black hair and I’m also not allowed to dye my hair ‘unnatural colors’ for my job. Otherwise, I’d be right there with Special Effects Electric Blue. I admit on blondes, a really good highlight or lowlight job looks fabulous. But I’m scared of a having my hair fall out because I stripped out the color to get a nice blue going. (I CANNOT WAIT to be a blue-haired old lady! That would be the epitome of awesome.)

Tanning salons. Yes, I mean it when I say ‘enraged’. WHY ARE PEOPLE PURPOSELY GIVING THEMSELVES SKIN CANCER? I worked with a woman who over-tanned. Even the men at the office noticed and remarked that she looked like a leather wallet. They said she looked 40 but was probably 30 or 35. I told them she was 27 and they were stunned. I really dislike the idea of having people’s tanning salon-induced melanomas removed at 60 with Medicare when all they really should have done was use some sunscreen at 18.

Acne treatments. Ok if they are including Accutane and other acne treatments into the cosmetic costs for tweens, teens and 20 year olds, I get that. I had horrible acne till my 30’s. I’m considering microdermabrasion to even out my acne scars. However, acne did not prevent me from having dates in high school, college, and two marriage proposals before it naturally cleared up on its own. My old dermatologist was just as good as any aesthetician I’ve seen. Too bad he was so old he died before I finished college. (God bless you Dr. Rosen, wherever you are now. My mom misses you too.)

Bikini waxes. If I was wearing a garment that required me to wax down there, I’d be making a lot more money as an adult entertainer than in software consulting. Why on earth does a tween or teen need a bikini wax? I dated a hirstute guy from Southern California. He got used to waxing his back, but I was really grossed out by the stubble and told him to grow it out and leave it alone.

Waxing your lip and shaping your brow I understand. A little definition is nice for the eyes. But plucking to the point of complete removal a la my mother’s generation and the Marlene Dietrich penciled-in look is actually kind of freakish in real life. Like drawing them on an egg. But it’s not as weird as tattooing them back in like my aunts in Korea have done. They look like strange kabuki masks.

Laser removal I get. My friend had a unibrow done with electrolysis and it’s very convenient. I have a spot or two I could do, but waxing takes care of it when I feel its important.

Lip plumping. I don’t see why a 20-something needs this done. For a woman in her 40’s or 50’s, I can see why this would restore her face to some youthfulness. But at 20 it just seems silly.

Botox, eye lifts. I get this too. If investing $10K at the age of 55 to look 45 gets you another $10-15K a year in salary, then it’s totally worth it. My mom and my boyfriend’s mom both look 10 years younger than they actually are without plastic surgery. But if I don’t look that good at their ages, I will seriously consider having it done.

At any rate, I just felt like ranting and laughing because it is ridiculous the lengths people will go for beauty. Might as well bathe in moose spittle for all the good those creams and stuff will do ya.

I Must Not Be Too Ugly Naturally is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I had an interesting experience at Advanced Auto Parts.
I wanted a new air filter. The one I wanted was a Purolator version for $12. But there was a K&N version for $50. I couldn’t understand why that one was so expensive. It couldn’t possibly be that good, or could it?

The salesman at the store demonstrated it for me with a nifty air blower/ping pong ball display set up. It was impressive. The K&N filter allows for a lot more airflow, and it’s a washable filter so you can use it practically forever, but for $50 is it really worth it?

Now consider this, I change my air filter a lot less than I should. I do it about every 15K miles. My car is already 8 years old with >135K miles. To make this filter cost effective for me, I’d have to keep it for another 60K miles, i.e. another 3 years, nearing 200K miles on the car.

I’m just not sure I am going to keep the car much longer. 200K miles is about the point I’d need a new clutch and that’s when I said I’d get rid of it.

In the end, I got the Purolator one for $12 and change.

FWIW, my boyfriend uses the K&N air filter for his Jeep. It does get a lot of air flow and he cleans it off and puts it back into the car. There is a special cleaning kit for it that costs another $~10.00 for multiple washings but he doesn’t always use the kit. He says the cleaner is ammonia-based so he just uses plain ammonia. There is a special oil in the kit to be sprayed on before installing back in the car.

Buying an Air Filter for My Car is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Perhaps because I majored in something that required me to have more than passing knowledge about Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class
, but I read the NYTimes article on people scaling back and it only makes me angry.

To many, the adjustment feels less like a temporary, emergency response than a permanent recalibration, one they view in terms of ethics rather than expediency.

“It’s kind of like we all went overboard,” said Ms. Taylor, 33. “And we’re trying to get back to where we should have been.”

Not everyone thinks the new restraint will last. Ms. Riley, 37, who lives in Atlanta, said she doubted it would extend beyond the recession.

“I do think that maybe now it’s a little bit chic or something to save money, or to be pinching pennies,” she said.

Perhaps because I was a nerd at a private high school, a certifiable geek on the Physics team, and a scholarship student I really never put that much into outward displays of wealth. I would never, ever win. Not with people whose parents were debutantes, senior partners in law firms, etc. Thankfully the culture of the school was not into conspicuous consumption and I was spared. (Not like my older sibling at suburban public school. Perhaps because my school was in the ghetto and theirs was not. My sibling was much more interested in outward appearances than I was.)

It’s terrible to think that these people are only doing this temporarily rather than realizing that cutting back and living frugally is a permanent way of life for most people. It’s not a trendy lifestyle choice to end when the next wave of lifestyle trends comes around.

meh.

Not Impressed is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I have been thinking about this for a while, but I use my phone service with DSL to update my Quicken regularly. And I was mistrustful of 911 services over a cellphone and whether or not it really worked since I have an out of state cellphone number. (There’s this whole thing I learned with working in telecom about how 911 circuits are set up, etc. Not really an applicable concern anymore.)

At any rate, the thing that finally drove me to try this out was figuring out my phone expense. I spent about $600.00 in 2008 on my landline and DSL service. I thought about doing dry loop DSL, but I have been slowly invading my boyfriend’s house and frankly, I give up trying to go home to update my information for a few hours every week, check the mail, etc. Life will be a lot easier with my own laptop at his house and using his wireless cable DSL service.

While I am issued a laptop via my company, I’ve seen crap happen to people’s work laptop and the m.o. of the IT department is just to swap out your hard drive and hand you back a re-imaged machine for you to spend 2 days reconfiguring back to your old setup. Not really my preferred solution if I keep personal stuff on there. (Which is encouraged, and yet strangely discouraged. They like to talk out of both sides of their mouth. It’s weird.)

At any rate, I also figured out that a small netbook costs about $450 with shipping included. Since that’s cheaper than what I spent last year on phone service, I decided I could cut the phone expense and add about $55 a month back into my pocket and throw that at my credit card debt. I am paying for this new computer with a charge plate, so this means I have to pay the balance at the end of the month, so it’s similar to cash and I get points.

The other thing is that I’m still covering the cellphone bill for me and my parents and I have discovered through dialing 911 many times locally that I have no problem getting the police dispatch on the line when I need them. Short of another 9/11 type disaster near my condo and the cell towers being jammed with traffic, I should be able to meet my telecommunications needs with just a cellphone. (For those of you who think I’m crazy, please note, I can bike to the Pentagon from my apartment and you just never know. After all there were two bombing attempts on the World Trade Center.)

So yay for me adding to the economic downfall by spending less and paying down my debt, but that paradox of thrift also means another yay because I’m adding to the GDP by purchasing an electronic device!

Finally Cutting Off My Landline is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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At work, about once a week, someone brings in breakfast. It’s my turn soon and someone asked, “What do Koreans eat for breakfast?” My reply, “Whatever they eat for dinner, just less of it.”

Read this article by Mark Bittman. It’s great. You don’t have to eat traditional stick to your ribs breakfast, nor do you have to have donuts and coffee, or cold cereal, or yogurt or a breakfast bar. You can eat real savory food and probably be better off with more balanced nutrition. (I don’t care that much for sweets and I’m lactose intolerant anyway. Breakfast is not my favorite meal of the day.)

What do you do with your dinner leftovers to make breakfast?

Typically I might have rice in the pot from the night before and I might do a quick fry up with an egg, put on some soy and sesame and eat that for breakfast. Maybe toss in some easy frozen veggies, or have a Korean panchan if I have one in the fridge. (Anchovies, fish cake, spinach, beansprouts, etc.)

Or I might have the ‘congee’ Bittman puts in his article, but to me, in Korean, it’s ‘jook‘.

ps- Bittman has a jook recipe too.

What’s For Breakfast? is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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While I was in California over the holidays I was window shopping with an old friend because we met at the local mall for coffee and chit chatted while wandering around.

I saw a salt pig at Williams-Sonoma. The link isn’t the one I actually saw. I saw one that was almost $40 and shaped like an elbow joint! We both laughed and shook our heads. $40 bucks for something a kid makes in pottery class. Nice. I’ll just ask my art teacher friend if she has any abandoned pinch pots she can give me when the school year ends.

Lately boyfriend bought a box of kosher salt. Alton Brown is a big fan of the stuff and so are most cooks. A lot of folks say you end up eating less sodium if you use it due to it’s larger volume to sodium content compared to regular table salt. I don’t know about that, but now that we’re using it, a regular salt shaker doesn’t really work because of the large crystal size.

Even if you look at the salt pig link above, you’ll see that model is still retails for about $20. To me, that’s kind of nuts for a pot for keeping salt. The foodies over at Chowhound say that real salt pigs are unglazed on the inside which helps keep the salt from clumping. I’d buy that, but the price is still silly.

Boyfriend and I found a DC restaurant supply shop near our favorite market. Luckily, though the sign posted says it’s a wholesaler and a business license is required, there were plenty of retail shoppers in there, including the nice lady who helped us find the ice cream scoops. (AB’s ‘dishers‘.) We picked up a few things inexpensively that we have been wanting for a long time, like gratin dishes big enough for shepherd’s pie, dough scrapers, serving utensils, and a saucier. Quite cheap compared to posh gourmet catalogs.

When I was a kid, Fante’s in Philly was THE place to go get restaurant supplies. But now I found something close to my current home and that makes me happy. Most large cities have a restaurant supply house so check around and find one where you live. (ooh ooh! Fante’s has the $40 one I saw at W-S! Scroll down for the Emile Henry ones.)

So in the end we found a little plastic pot with a lid for the salt, instead of a salt pig. Think of those little pots of hot chile sauce at Chinese restaurants, sans spoon. We like it because we can take a pinch of salt, or hold the lid in place and shake out a little from the hole cut in the lid. It cost less than $2 and it’s been super great, resting the back of the stove where we want it. It may still cause the salt to clump in humid weather, but that’s sign we should turn the A/C on at boyfriend’s house. (heh heh.)

Salt Pigs and Restaurant Supply Stores is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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The one dish my boyfriend makes for me that I always love is his pizza. He makes his own dough from scratch and the sauce is Don Pepino’s. The sauce is so good, we eat the dregs cold out of the can after we’ve finished making the pizza. It’s zesty and delicious.

Boyfriend once said to me that every mother should teach their kid how to make pizza and I just laughed at him. That proposition would require my mother knowing how to make pizza.

We’ve been tempted to get pre-made crusts but there’s something fun about playing with yeast now that I don’t think it’s scary anymore. However, we did have a huge miscommunication about using it. We were on the phone and I had said something about using the hottest water out of the tap. But he heard ‘the hottest water’ and put it into microwave and thus killed the yeast with too much heat. (Out of the tap it’s usually hot enough without being too hot, hot at 120 degrees and too hot at 130.) He ended up tossing out a perfectly good full jar of yeast from the fridge because he thought it was dead before we figured out the real problem. ($9 down the tubes. That’s the cost of miscommunication.)

It’s pretty easy to make and bake. There’s nothing special about the dough he makes. He just looks up a recipe on the internet and picks whichever strikes his fancy. It’s the sauce that makes the difference so we don’t make pizza if we can’t get the sauce.

The pepperoni and the cheese matter, but we’re not especially picky, though the cheese has to be part-skim. Boyfriend won’t buy a cheese that’s too expensive in his opinion because the fresh ones can get really pricey. We lucked out with a really good one by Sorrento the other day. (The Fresh Mozzarella Log)

For folks that are exploring frugality, give homemade pizza a try. Boyfriend had to work late one day over the weekend, and I made the dough myself. I was a little nervous, but it turned out alright since the sauce is pre-made.

Boyfriend’s Homemade Pizza is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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I spent $2 on Sunday. I bought a Diet Coke and Doritos at Home Depot. A power breakfast if I ever saw one. For some reason I got up on Sunday and wasn’t hungry. (Shocker. I’m ALWAYS hungry.)

After watching boyfriend drop a mint in supplies at HD, I snacked on my treats and waited till dinner. I then had dinner with my cousin and her husband. They were happy to feed me Korean food and told me to come over every week since I never cook and if I do cook, Korean is not my specialty. I might take them up on this offer since Korean food is much healthier than I normally eat.

I also took them a big bag of baby boy clothing. They’ve just moved from Korea and expecting in a few weeks. I’m very excited because this cousin is just about my age and married after 30. I am really glad to get to know her. Right now moving to the US while having a kid is a bit overwhelming, which is why I begged my girlfriend for her hand-me-downs. All but one of my friends this year had a girl, and fortunately, the one who had the boy lives close to my office. I picked up the clothes last week for a drop-off and dinner on Sunday. Excellent.

After reviewing what was in the bag, I now have a good understanding of what else my cousin needs for supplies and presents. I’m happy to make the connection and get her lots of clothes for her baby. Since my girlfriend now knows she can unload all her baby clothes onto my cousin, I hope this eases any concerns they have for converting Korean won into US dollars for stuff they’ll use for only a short period of time. I easily took $300 worth of clothes over.

Later we’re going to make a run to Leesburg Outlets to the Carter’s store. I hope we can get my cousin some other things like receiving blankets, etc. I’m already thinking of knitting a boy’s blankie from yarn I have at home.

Sorry this isn’t very personal finance-oriented. I guess saving money for my cousin and spending only $2 was all that was on my mind.

$2 Sunday is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Everyone needs to try! Tricia started and now she gets why it’s so good.

Here’s links to:
Johno’s amazing whole wheat recipe – I’m sold, even though it takes a while. It’s worth it to breakdown the whole wheat flour into amazing flavor. Some things are worth the wait

A post with some of my newbie bread baker lessons learned

Another post with more lessons learned and helpful advice from Johno

Another Bread Baker! is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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With Google Spreadsheets.

I’m a professional spreadsheet jockey. I used to work in A/R, A/P, book revenue, audit charges, report monthly figures, all that good stuff. I love it!

Lately since I am have been disconnected from computing while not at work, and desirous of manipulating numbers while at my house, work, and my boyfriend’s place, I’ve come to rely more heavily on Google Spreadsheets.

Mind you, it’s not perfect and I love Excel. But it really does serve a need I have to input data from multiple places, review it at various times and then share it out when I feel like it. Showing boyfriend my monthly budget and why there is nothing to cut but what I eat (which is the source of my greatest pleasures in life) helped me figure out that I’m still on track even when I feel crushed. Rather than cut and paste some text, I can manipulate the numbers, save and tell him there’s something new to look at. How romantic! I know. I’m a real softie.

At any rate, I admit to hating Google Spreadsheets at first precisely because I do some advanced user things with Excel, but slowly I’m getting used to it and I am starting to love its convenience.

If you need:
a monthly budget
to recalculate your paycheck at a different 401k contribution rate
your stock trades and their rate of return and dividend payouts
to track the costs of remodeling your home
your auto expenses
to log your miles run, calories eaten/expended, pounds lost

Try Google Spreadsheets!

Falling In Love… is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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A lot happens around my house that I don’t write about on this blog. A few weeks ago I got a free treadmill. Boyfriend’s neighbor was getting rid of one and he [boyfriend] knew I was interested in buying one of the used ones that always comes up on Craigslist. Since boyfriend happened to have rented a trailer for himself, moving the treadmill cost me about $50, which was my share for renting the trailer an extra day for this project.

Boyfriend and I hauled it into my tiny apartment. Needless to say, it dominates the space, but I don’t care. I live here. I don’t entertain here. I have a nice climate-controlled apartment and I can run for as long as I want, as long as I stop before quiet hours. YAY. No more waiting at a gym. No silly time limits. And best of all, NO GYM FEES.

Since electricity is part of my HOA fee, I have no guilt about switching on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes when I want to run. I don’t plan on running everyday, but there is no reason not to exercise any more when I bring the exercise right into the house in a very cheap fashion.

No Bollywood dancing classes. No aerobics trainers with tacky music. No dance moves to memorize. Just a pure cardio workout, stretching and some handweights (also free, from Freecycle).

FWIW, it’s an old Star Trac TR4000 machine. I’ve used the same model in gyms before so I know how it works. The only thing I have to do to maintain it is figure out how to wax the belt. (HOLY COW. This thing must have cost at least $3K new. Replacing the belt and deck will cost nearly $700 by itself. Wax costs $10 and will last 4 waxings, i.e. 8,000 miles.)

I saw new treadmills at a sporting goods store for $700-1200, but this was free, really, really free. I will definitely use it because each time I run, it will be nearly free to use it. (No, I am not going to open it, look at the motor and calculate the kW/amps used to run it for 45 minutes. That’s too crazy. But yes, I could.)

Almost Free Treadmill is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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