Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

Please stay in your lanes. I watched an SUV swerve into my lane several times this evening. I suspect, the driver had been to happy hour, or else was totally clueless about the size of his vehicle. If you think I’m slamming SUV’s, guess again. That silver Mitsubishi Eclipse got me on the 495-Port of Wilmington split today. I was passing on the right (I know, that’s bad, but the lane was totally free and clear!!!) between the middle lane and the Jersey wall. For some reason, Mr. Sport Car Idiot swerves into my lane without turning his head to check to see if I am there. I nearly crash into the wall! Thanks bub.

At any rate dear drivers, today was an Almost No Spend Day. I only bought gas this morning and spent money on tolls. Gas at the local independent retailer in VA was $2.98 this week. I got gas on Tuesday morning. I stopped in again today to fill up and it was $3.01. The Citgo was $3.08. The DE rest stop I like was $2.99 STILL!!! However, I’ll fill up on the way back. Mom let me fill up tonight for free, otherwise it costs $3.13 at her station, per the nightly news, that’s about the norm here in PA.

The luggage I bought for Mom went over well. It was a $220 Samsonite 26" spinner bag in light blue. The link is for the “Aspire Lite”, but it was marked “Silhouette 8″ at the store. (It appears I could gave gotten a better deal on Amazon, however, I didn’t know what I wanted till I was at the store getting it. Bummer, but there is time-value to factor in. She needed the bag before our trip to CA for Christmas.)

Mom was very happy with the lighter color. She hates confusing black bags on the luggage belt at the airport, so blue suits her just fine. I think the bag is from a discontinued line from the outlet store. Along with the bag, there was a special deal on a huge sturdy tote bag for one penny so I got one for myself. However, I gave mom the penny tote too since she seemed to like it. I told her the roof was a no-go next year and that it’s very possible I won’t be getting any bonus since I haven’t heard from my director if the numbers look good. I will assume the near worst for now. (Worst being a RIF, but no word on that either and I’d be the last to go. Someone has to shut the servers down.)

Please expect light posting since I’m actually going to have some no spend days or almost no spend days this weekend.

CELEBRATE BUY NOTHING DAY THIS FRIDAY!

And with all that, please have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Very very mundane. There’s a lot going on at work, plus the holidays this weekend, so there was no post yesterday and probably light post for the rest of the week.

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My Two Dollars had a problem with FTD for Mother’s Day. It turned out badly, but at least he’s getting a refund. I left a comment about how I just call a local florist with a good reputation than deal with FTD. (I won’t repost the advice here. You should go visit the link.) I also left additional advice about making sure I send flowers which I know will last.

Googling for “long last cut flowers”, I found this nice article at About.com.

Good Choices for Long Lasting Cut Flowers

* Alstroemerias (6-14 days) Very popular, even though most people wouldn’t know them by name. However they are sensitive to fluoride in water and ethylene gas. Keep away from produce.

* Carnations (7-14 days) Carnations are extremely dependable. They just keep coming out with new varieties and what colors they can’t breed, they simply dye.

* Delphiniums (7-14 days) You can’t beat Delphiniums for shades of blue and purple. Like Alstroemeria, these are sensitive to ethylene gas.

* Lilies (7-14 days) Choose sprays with a few slightly opened lower buds. Remove the anthers to prevent pollen from coming in contact with clothing and staining.

* Roses (6-12 days) The classic. And with over 20,000 varieties, they never get boring.

* Sunflowers (6-12 days) Generally available in late summer. Sunflowers can be top heavy, so use a vase that can support them.

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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.

Dear Blogreaders,

I *heart* you. I made you a Valentine.

Turn down your sound and click the link. It’s safe for work and my frugal tip of the day. I send it to you early so you can dream up your own clever lines.

Sorry. I ate the chocolates.

Jim at Blueprint for Prosperity has a local charitable event in the Hampton Roads/Norfolk, VA area. One of his friends runs a charity event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It’s the 2007 Winter Ghent Bar Tour that’s raised $13K in years past. (The 2006 Summer Tour raised almost $7K.) Read the personal story behind the tour.

If you live in the area, please consider attending.

Make a difference. Make-a-Wish.

Recently, Madame X shared a story about a high school trip to Greece she sacrificed because she didn’t think her parents could afford it.

Coincidentally, I also had the opportunity to travel to Greece in high school. And this is the story about how I found a way to pay for most of it. This story is super secret. I know of of my high school classmates reads this blog. He will be able to figure out which teacher I wrote about and I ask that he does not comment here about it. No one knows this story. I never tell it, but I think it’s worth telling now since it’s too much of a coincidence what Madame X wrote. Strikes a nerve.

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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.

Because I am in a regularly meeting knitting group, I decided for the really regular folks, I’d give out some bottled honey from my boss, the bee-keeper. It worked out really well. I got ten half pound jars at a discount and one of my friends ripped hers open in front of us and put some into her tea at Starbucks, where we meet. SCORE! Everyone was happy and I spent less than $5 per person. All extras are for other friends, but this really makes life easy. No one got a knitted gift more special than any other, etc.

The tally so far?

$25 for honey
$15 for an iTunes gift card
$130 for Christmas ornaments for my sibling and family of 3

I don’t see myself getting anything for my parents, nor do I expect them to exchange gifts with me this year. I promised my mom I would help her pay for new windows on her house next year, so there won’t be any presents for a while, just acknowledgements, like a fancy dinner, cards, etc. However, I am working on a pair of socks for myself, and I will probably give them to her even though the first one has a mistake at the heel. The cost of the socks? $13.00 for the yarn and god only knows for the labor.

As far as my co-workers go, I’m on a small team, so I will probably splurge on liquor or wine for home consumption. The boys have posh tastes, so I’m hoping to find something for a good price.

The original agenda was a night out at a cabaret show and then a house party. Turns out the house party is starting early. Therefore, I have no guilt on skipping the cabaret show admission and any drinks purchased there.

I will have to take the hostess a gift for the party since it is also her birthday and a housewarming and I’m friends with all her housemates.
However, it’s a relief to know that I’ve just shaved $20 off my Saturday night.

Question is, can I whip up something together quickly to hand off as a gift? Perhaps.