Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

I’m learning how to be more ruthless throwing stuff away. I’ve watched my boyfriend clean up his house. He’s extremely tidy. He doesn’t keep paper around. He shreds it or throws it away immediately. He does not sweat the small stuff. I think the only receipts he saves are for taxes. If it’s not tax deductible, returnable or otherwise important, out it goes. It makes me wonder why I keep every single damned receipt I ever got.

While I’ve been happy in some instances to go back 4 years to dig up a receipt for something, I think I’ve only ever done that to research the original cost of an item for my blog. So why on earth do I keep it? I just don’t know and now that I know I don’t know, I can throw it out. (Or file it away so I can throw it out in 3 years?)

There are a great many things I’ve been looking at in my apartment, wondering why I have them or have so many. But that’s a revisit of some of my old hoarding posts.

Questions to ask when cleaning stuff up:
1. Are you going to need this within a month?
2. If you get rid of it, will you regret it? Why?
3. Can you replace it and will that cost you a lot?
4. What is the utility of this item? Has its usefulness expired?
5. Can you sell it or donate it?
6. Do you want to give it away on Freecycle or send it to the dumpster?
7. Are you really going to do something with it? If so, you have 30 days. Do not lie to yourself here and make up a future possible reason for something.
8. If I were moving cross-country, would I take this with me? (Done it twice and it does crystalize priorities.)

I find those seven questions to be useful when I’m feeling merciless about cleaning and throwing stuff away. What kinds of questions do you ask yourself when you are cleaning up?

I keep telling myself that what goes down must go up….right?! -SavingDiva

Sadly, no. The market doesn’t have to do anything. You’re applying the law of gravity to something dependent on the rationality or the irrationality of human beings. Physics and Investing only have high end mathematics in common. Even so, investing can be completely subverted by crazy investors. (”Irrational exuberance” anyone?)

What you really need to do is stop and assess what is happening to your investments and why. I ask myself this stuff all the time.

Am I in solid investments that will really rebound in the next 5 years? Or will they stay flat or take a turn for the worse?

Am I in it for the long haul? If so, is this just a minor road bump or a major impasse?

I kept thinking that “what must go down must go up” during the dot-com boom years and quite horrifically, I was mistaken. I lost my proverbial shirt in the process and about $4K. Luckily, time was on my side and I’ve only recovered by doing a lot of savings.

One thing I’ll tell anyone is that selling means you’ll never make money again on that investment. You’ve locked in your losses by selling. But if you’re alternative investment is a winner, maybe that’s not so bad. That’s the reasoning behind selling off crap investments in my old 401k and shifting it to BRK.B. If I had dumped it all in pink sheet stocks, that would have been a disaster. (As it is, I’m now holding TXN and GE in long positions. Not too much, just swept up what cash was leftover from the BRK.B buy.)

In reply to Andrew and Mrs. Micah’ comments about BRK.B and how much to buy, FWIW I’m holding 70% of my investment portfolio those shares. I know that is a crazy amount, but Berkshire Hathaway does not sell its investments, so it’s akin almost to holding a specialized industry index fund, so I do not look upon it as an active trading portfolio investment. Therefore it’s in that 90% I let other people manage, which is the same advice Mr. Buffett recommends. I know that’s a bit crazy to hold so much of any one thing, but I’m putting away regular 401k savings and that should eventually even things out over time. I don’t plan on buying any more Berkshire Hathaway stock, not even the A shares.

1. I really want to be home at my condo. I miss it. But walking in there while it’s still under renovation depresses me. It also doesn’t help that I nearly had an asthma attack the other night because of all the dust. The contractor did not tape off the hallway as I requested. He left a 3-inch gap at the top. I’m actually quite angry about that. I told him repeatedly that I could not and would not clean up the cave-in and dry wall myself because I feared an asthma attack.

2. Because I can’t be home, I feel like I’m out of control with my finances. I rely on Quicken to help me plan out my spending. I open it up every few days, if not every day, and update the balances. Access to my desktop is key for good financial management. I am veritably crawling the walls because I am addicted to my finances. It’s partially why I am hoarding cash like crazy. I was a little afraid of sending my federal tax refund to my credit card company but I looked a Quicken on Monday night and see that it’s ok. BOOM! That’s $2500 I can pay off this month. All the rest of the cash I’m hoarding is for my contractor.

3. I feel fat. I may not LOOK fat, but I can’t fit into my Lilly skirt (purchased 2 yrs ago). I was hoping to wear it to a beach-side wedding last month, but I had to settle for an odd fitting dress. Way to go. All my pants are cutting into my stomach at work while I’m sitting. I am constantly uncomfortable. I admit, I haven’t made a lot of effort here since frankly I am lazy and exercise isn’t on the menu. My own vanity is getting the best of me and my wallet.

BLAH. June will be better. I can feel it.

And I hate it even more when my posts get eaten by the system.

I just realized that Monday is payday for me. I get paid on the last day of the month this month.

Sux0rs.

I don’t mind getting paid after Wednesday, but getting my check on Monday or Tuesdays stinks. I pay myself an allowance on Fridays so I can frugalize during the work week if I over spent on the weekend. If I pay myself early in the week, it sucks to frugalize on the weekend if I spent too much during the week. My mental spending plan runs from Friday to Thursday.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way.

Who else prefers to be paid later in the week? Does it effect how you spend?

Stop for a moment. Think about your life without ice cubes. Without cold beer. Without convenient frozen dinners. I perish at the thought!

A few weeks ago while I was home with my mom and dad, we were talking about breakfast. My mom has this prune and honey spread she and my dad like to eat on toast. I don’t quite know how to describe it. It’s basically some fresh onion pureed with some dried prunes. Then you mix in some honey and let it ferment for about a month. When you taste it, it’s sweet and slightly savory without the harsh bite of raw onion. Fascinating, but I also instantly got an allergic reaction to the fruit in it. My mom likes it because she can make it in small batches and put in an old jam jar and it keeps without refrigeration.

My folks grew up without refrigeration in pre-war Korea. Visiting the old farmstead where my father lived, it’s not hard to see that there wasn’t electricity running to the house. Visiting Korean Folk Village (kind of the Colonial Williamsburg of Korea with re-enactors, etc.), my mom clapped her hands with joy over an old provincial farmhouse which she said was just like where she grew up. I was agog at the huge ceramic amphorae buried underground for long-term kimchee storage. (Amphora is probably a bad term for them since they technically aren’t Greek and don’t store wine, but I digress.)

Years ago while on a work project, my sibling was working on a home in West Virgina for an old lady who had no refrigeration in the house. The resident still kept her perishable items in the cold mountain stream out back of the house. This was in the late 1980’s. I don’t know if that lady ever got refrigeration, but it surprises me that she lived that way. I cannot tell if it was poverty or a choice. Given the work project criteria for selecting homes to fix, probably the latter compounded by the former.

Conceptually, I think it’s hard for people to grasp what it’s like to live without refrigeration. I know there is a simple pleasure to popping open a can of chilled mandarin oranges on a hot summer day. (One of the few fruits I can eat.) I have been contemplating my mom’s onion, prune and honey spread for a few days and I can only think that the natural anti-microbial properties of onion and honey must do some sort of natural preservation.

Sometimes I like to think about how people lived without the modern conveniences of the 20th and 21st centuries. I try to appreciate what it is that I have and remember what is non-essential about life and living. Counting our blessings in a way, I suppose. Next time I look at a super charged Audi A3 fully loaded at nearly $35K, I will have to remember that I really don’t need a car like that. My Altima still gets me from Point A to Point B reliably.

Free Money Finance coincidentally posted an article on shorter commutes by Penelope Trunk, on the same day I said that a shorter commute is one reason why I switched jobs.

So if you have a bad commute, you are probably not very happy. And you should know that a bad commute spills over into all aspects of your life. Raymond Novaco, a psychologist and professor at the University of California, Irvine, found that bad traffic on the way home makes for a bad mood in the evening. This is true regardless of age, gender, income, and job satisfaction.

This was very true for me. I spent the last few months struggling with my office relocation so I could make it to hockey games on time or other events downtown. DC PF Blogger happy hour planning has been a b*tch to say the least. But it’ll be a lot easier with my new gig.

Honestly, I like to be prompt when meeting friends or going to an event. I know most of the times I am late to something it’s because either I didn’t want to go or traffic. It’s rarely anything else. I have the worst road rage feelings in my car on my way in and out of work. It makes me feel ugly and I find it very hard to unwind. I don’t want to talk to anyone for about 15 minutes after arrival. I need to rest alone, or sulk in my beer a few feet away till I’m ready to perk up.

People are very rude non-signalers in the DC area. They also drive faster than I like. Since I like to drive fast, this is really bad. If I’m going 70 mph already, I’m being passed as a slow poke at 80-90 mph. I move out of the fast lane all the time for some yahoo going crazy faster than me.

Truthfully, I think my commute in terms of time will be about the same because of overflowing buses, but I will get enjoyable activities back like walking (in the SNOW. Ok. That’s a yuck, but a winter hike can be fun!), reading, listening to music. Reading is a big thing to me and I am psyched that the bus will drop me off 2 blocks away from the library and I can hoof it home the rest of the way with a New Arrival. I love reading and I am excited to put the library back into my schedule.

Think about the cost of your commute in terms of dollars and psychic dollars. I know I’m saving money on gas, tolls and insurance by switching to the bus (which is potentially reimburseable). I cannot wait to knock down my car insurance to ‘pleasure’ insurance!

EDIT: Contest update. I forgot a deadline. As I am super busy, you have until Saturday, 1/12/2008, 6pm EST to enter by leaving a comment.

Today, January 7, 2008, Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge turns 2 years old.

What a long strange trip it’s been. Some of it good. Some of it bad. But always interesting.

What’s happened?
- I went from Blogger, to my own domain with the help of Flexo.
- This blog has grown from a few of my friends reading it to over 140 daily subscribers, many of whom are strangers. (Or just plain old strange for wanting to read about me. Take your pick.)
- I got Dugg a few times. I’ve been Stumbled Upon, scraped, copycatted, and otherwise flattered by the Interwebs.
- I saved up $8,000 over two years to fix my teeth, costing me about $12,000 total. I have one more permanent crown to put in, and that will cost me $1,000, which I hope to pay in cash.
- I am saving $5,000 for laser eye surgery, which I hope will happen later this month.
- I got serious about saving money in my 401k plan and socked away about $25K in two years.
- I got serious about saving money in an emergency fund and still have some money left in it. (A high of $4k, a current low of $1.6K)
- I paid cash for a motorcycle, my newest hobby.
- I’ve made a ton of friends through blogging.
- I made a decent chunk of change through blogging, but recognize that it’s still only a labor of love and will likely never replace my day job.
- I helped my parents buy new windows for their home.
- My dad had a stroke and retired from work.
- I negotiated a crazy raise for myself last year.
- I have learned to carry more cash on me.
- I don’t feel crushed by my debts, but positively focused on what I can do to change my situation.
- My net worth has tripled, but my consumer debt has quadrupled.
- Last, but not least, I start a new job today with a major international consulting firm.

I’m sorry I have written sooner about my job change, but I’ve been holding onto that last little tidbit for over a month and it’s a major consideration with my goals for this year. I didn’t want to share the news till the time was right.

I really want to thank each and every one of you that reads this blog. I feel a lot of encouragement through your comments and the traffic you send this way. I know I’m bratty, spoiled, bitchy, quirky, boring, but somehow y’all still find it interesting enough to stick around and I appreciate it a lot.

In honor of the day, I’d like to have a little blog contest to give away a copy of Debt is Slavery.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. I’ll try to select randomly from the entries but I can tell you now that the Money Blog Network guys are not eligible to win. Sorry guys! All your traffics are belong to us!

N.B. I wrote this post ages ago. But the co-worker mentioned in the article still needles me with her attitude. Also, small disclaimer, I have a friend who is a Gates Scholar in the UK right now. I totally forgot that it might color my perception of the Gates Foundation. But she was really cool even before she got it.

Dunno if you can read this article about Vinod Kholsa’s efforts in microfinancing in India from the NYTimes, but there seems to always be this impression that the industrial tycoons of the modern age are all horrible people and they only give money out to burnish their image. [I personally think Vinod Khosla rocks. But then again, I think Sun Microsystems computers are pretty cool stuff and yes, this is an official endorsement of their products by Mapgirl. Watch their stock go pop right now on that endorsement. hahaha. SO NOT HAPPENING.]

I admit, guys like Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers and Conrad Black don’t help. But I ran into an interesting attitude the other day. I’m not sure if it was about money or race or both. But an African-American woman at work was telling me she was getting all verklempt over the TV program about Oprah Winfrey’s new school project in South Africa. She should have stopped there but someone mentions Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s charitable efforts and the woman starts saying something that was tantamount to ‘those two old white men don’t do anything for minorities.’ I found her attitude shocking. The co-worker who mentioned them and I started to tell her that rather than help 500 girls, the Gates Foundation was trying to help every single person in the world by creating new vaccines so they didn’t have to die of TB, malaria, cervical cancer or HIV. 500 or entire continents of people? Hm…. Sounds like both are worthy endeavors.

I would truly like to believe the PR spin all three celebrities have for their good works. I honestly think that they are doing great things with their wealth out of a genuine humanitarian concern for the world. I don’t think this is an Andrew Carnegie type operation that’s only about spin after the Homestead Riots. I think Oprah, Bill/Melinda, and Warren are the real deal.

I know there’s some bad apples in the barrel of the wealthy. But I don’t write off anyone who is willing to try and save the world. Even if he’s silly and wears sunglasses indoors all the time and his music is overproduced crap these days. Oops. Did I write that out loud?

Having money isn’t horrible. It what you do with it.

Because the market has taken a dip, I put back my 5% 401k plan contributions to get the match, rather than get the match after the January lift the market experiences.

It will ease the blow of the $2-3K in losses I took in November to my retirement account balances. OUCH.

I am going to have to stretch out my dental bill repayment and for some irrational reason, I decided to buy expensive tickets to a show for me and my new boyfriend because I really wanted to go and I sense he does too. Plus it makes a really easy Christmas gift because I’m still figuring him out. (Everybody wave “Hi” because he reads this!)

(more…)

Some are new. Some are old. Mostly stuff I read this week and thought was good.

Bluebird at Hedonic Adjustment writes about the genius of Ben Stein, asking the same question I’ve always wondered as well. But I do agree with Mr. Stein that Taco Bell’s Taco Supremes are very good. Every once in a while I crave a crunchy taco and nothing but a Taco Supreme will do.

Wine tips for your Turkey feast! Kojo is a great radio host. I could listen to his voice every day.

Holiday Stress relief! This is a pretty good list. What works for you? For me, I break out the spinning wheel, turn on old archives of The Diane Rehm Show or the Kojo Nnamdi Show.

A horrifying article about health care policyholders being dropped in the name of bonuses. A sensationalized one-sentence summary, but it’s not that far off. The original post is called “Greedy Enough to Make You Sick”. Thanks Financial Armageddon!

SingleMa shares her awesome news. I am so proud of her. She’s an inspiration!

Madame X, ah, reveals TMI.

If you can stomach another article after that (I’m still shuddering), try reading about The Ethicist and the adviced doled out to a child who thinks they should get a bigger share of their parents’ assets because their sibling gets more now. Is your family as complicated as this? Is a perception of equity a big deal to you? It is to me, but at the same time, I don’t think there will be anything left to divide. What matters more? Being loved equally by your parents or economically subsidized? Are they the same thing to you?

As a lapsed Catholic, I’m all about true confessions. CleverDude encourages you to stop hiding your secret! Two weeks ago I went to the PostSecret book signing in Bethesda and I had an opportunity to meet the artist and facilitator. (Thanks ~Dawn! I found the event through your repost.) He mentioned several times that debt is a big crippling secret people keep.

Alrighty. That’s enough for now. I’ve been working hard on a programming project and I have to thank Commenter Dean a lot for the tip he offered yesterday. I flat out told him I was stumped and he served up something on the fly.