Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge

I looked at airline tickets a week ago. Then I looked over the holiday weekend. Because I couldn’t decide if I could squeeze a quick trip into Tahoe with my friends, I ended up dilly-dallying and spending an extra hundred dollars for my airline flights.

Total damage is over $500 with Virgin America, however, I am flying two non-stops, which is unheard of these days. In the last 15 years of flying to San Francisco, I have learned, post-9/11, to suffer through 10-14 hours of travel time one-way because all the long haul flights have disappeared off the schedule. No longer can I fly 6 hours on an empty red-eye flight from BWI to SFO and stretch across 3 seats like I did in the 90’s. Those days are long over.

Virgin charges $25 extra for the exit row. That’s fine. I don’t need the legroom, but I did want to get on that specific flight out. I will have to get a rental car as well, but I might wait till the following day to pick it up when my parents arrive to shave off a day.

I am bummed about waiting the extra week, but for a minute there I seriously thought I might go to London for New Year’s Eve, or skiing in Tahoe. I hate being dependent on other people for plans. Being free to come and go as I please, may be ultimately one of life’s most priceless pleasures.

In the end, I decided that I’d rather save up my vacation time and roll it over into 2008. If I cut my trip a little short, then I’d probably save money because I wouldn’t be indulging myself for a full week. Of course, this means no shipments of wine back to VA, which is a huge bummer. My pantry is empty and needs filling up. (Why is it that I’ll spend $250-$300 on a case of wine in CA but not locally in DC?)

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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I spent nothing on Thursday. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nothing!

In the morning, I had enough gas to make it to work and back. I pushed off tanking up till just before I leave on my road trip on Friday.

I brought soups from home for breakfast. They were BOGO Progresso soups from the supermarket the night before. Lentil. Yummy.

I ate a Lean Cuisine frozen dinner for lunch with a slice of bread. Steak Tips Portobello with broccoli. One of my favorites.

I had a can of Pepsi I brought from home.

I had some leftover SPAM fried rice for a snack before going to a volunteering gig.

I walked to the volunteering gig.

I came home and made more fried rice to use up the leftover half of the SPAM. That makes dinner and breakfast on Friday!

WHOOPEE! Finally, a complete No Spend Day.

This is great as I have budgeted $100 for my share of the hotel this weekend, $100 for gas (to be split with my friend), $30 for tolls, $100 for food and admission for the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. I think I could come under $330 as I am also planning on taking snacks to the hotel. We have a fridge available so there’s no need for spending a lot on food. We’re taking ourselves out for a fine meal on Friday night, but the rest of the weekend will be fast food, fair food, and whatever we bring with us. I’m taking some Pepsi, Soup to go cups (if I can find a microwave) and snackies.

It’s down. But you knew that. I decided to put my dental bill on there as a liability since it’s going to take me several months to pay it off. I sent them $500.00 last week. It’s actually a small ding to the net worth that is offset by my 401k contribution and a recovering stock market. My entire portfolio is up by 9%. That’s pretty crazy if you consider that it’s up 4% because of my contribution. The remaining 5% it’s up is pure market rebound. Of course, I did also have a liquidity event, i.e. dividend reinvestment, on one of the funds.

What’s nice is that I did meet my goal of having $30K in retirement money by the end of 2008. Since I’ve met that goal already, I feel ok with stopping my 401k contributions for the moment.

There’s no way I’m going to meet my total goal of having $60K net worth by the end of the year. I am only focused now on two things:

1) Pay off the entire dental bill by January 1, 2008. This means ~$800.00 a month for the rest of the year. It sucks, but c’est la vie.

2) Reduce my credit card debt. I had a tough goal of $9K in credit card balances for 2007. I know I can’t meet that either, but I would like to nudge my NCN Network graph down again. So I will focus on getting this down under $16K. That might not seem like a lot, but with the Christmas holidays approaching, I have no idea how to pay for planned family vacations other than to dip into my savings. I have pretty much eliminated paying myself first right now. I hate it actually, but to meet goal #1, it had to be done. I’m only saving about $35 a month at the moment. (Considering that I was socking away over $1000 a month at one point, saving less than $50 seems like nothing.)

My family’s been talking about LA/Disneyland for Christmas with the nephews and my parents. My mom would like some new luggage, which is fine with me, but after looking at some of the monster bags out there. I am afraid that she won’t be able to get them into her car without needing some help. Luggage is also crazy expensive, so I’ve been shopping around for a good deal on quality stuff. I don’t want to get her something crappy. I’m being picky, but I think this is one of those areas where value and quality is just as important as price.

Please don’t bug out over the mention of Disneyland. I have a few friends who work for The Rodent and can get discounts for us if we plan properly. What’s also nice is having a frank discussion with my sibling over what to get the babies as presents. I can get them whatever I want and I can spend as little or a much as I want. (I was asking about clothes vs educational toys vs toys vs money.) That’s a relief. I like buying the boys cute things, but I really worry that they won’t have college money with the way things are in the America these days. 15 years is a long time for things to change, but a little extra money at Christmastime for their savings accounts could not hurt.

What’s also nice is that my mom sent a full sweater, shirt and pants outfit for the older nephew’s birthday, and he’s really fixated on the green sweater. He’s starting to exert preferences on his clothing so maybe he’ll like some cute, but frugal clothing I send as presents. I’m really big on Old Navy for kids’ clothing right now. Decent quality and inexpensive. I haven’t been in one in years so I was surprised this summer to find that I could spend about $120 and get two skirts and two dress shirts for work. (But I didn’t. I just *thought* about it.)

ps- I did have a No Spend Day on Saturday. Lunch was provided at my volunteer training gig. My laddie cooked me dinner. And the drink I got at the bar later that night was paid for by my old college friend who was squeezing in a visit with me. As he puts it, “I make enough for three people to live on.” I walked to the training session, rode my motorbike for fun in the parking lot, and drove only to my laddie’s house and to the bar in a series of trips. Not bad.

My goal was a net worth of $47,585.62. I beat it by $261.75 this month. I would have done a lot better if the market hadn’t tanked last week.

My goal for August will be hard to meet, especially if the market stays down. My target is $50.164.21. But the main thing is that this is the last month of my advertising contract so I am losing a serious chunk of side income. (which is kind of good since I was making a little too much money this year to qualify for a property tax refund) I am going to have to find a new source of ad revenue in September with only a few days to plan it out.

I am seriously contemplating abandoning my week-long camping trip. I am not feeling the vibe of spending time with my California and Texas friends. I know they will miss me because I told them in May that I would be there, but I am dreading the extra expense of it. I think I would rather fly to San Francisco to visit my nephews and their parents. Unfortunately, changing tickets via Travelocity can be a huge pain in the neck. Honestly, it will be more expensive to spend time in CA than camping, but at least I will be with family. I could sell my event ticket for the camping trip at cost and only be out a change fee for the plane ticket.

Trying to be responsible really stings right now.

Another alternative is to cut my trip really short and depart from DC mid-week instead of on a Saturday. It would shorten the trip by 4 days, but still spend about 5 days out there. But that doesn’t save me a lot of money since I’d have to rent a car. (At the moment, I am getting a ride from a friend.)

EDIT: I don’t know why my reported figure in this post and the net worth graph are different. Please stand by till I get home and figure out the problem. This is what you get when you write late at night…

Train ticket: $134
Shopping: $337.01
Metrocards: $25 (with ~$8 leftover)
Museum admission: $20
Yoga class: $20
Food: $192.78
Total Damage: $728.79

I took Amtrak and stayed with two friends in Brooklyn and Little Italy. I rode the subway a lot, but I also walked a lot. I think I wasted about $10 worth of trips due to sleep deprivation when I arrived, and then getting off in Chelsea near my friend’s office waiting to see if she could step out for a coffee break before I left town.

I bought lunch for the first hostess because I hadn’t had time to think carefully about a good hostess gift and because I had no idea what her co-op apartment looked like (same for the second hosts). She’s very aesthetically oriented, so I didn’t want to get something that didn’t fit her house. The second hosts were a couple I know. The guy paid for dinner on Saturday night at an inexpensive Vietnamese restaurant. Realizing what a twit I was and being kind of clueless about my surroundings as the check arrived I let him pay my share by accident. I then paid my share for all the other meals we ate together, because they got progressively more expensive from there. (Sunday brunch and fancy sushi dinner)

On Monday I went to the MOMA and it was an expensive admission fee, but worth it. I’ll gush another day about the artwork. Suffice it to say I dined at the 5th floor cafe because I didn’t want to go out and back in. I did make an error in reading the menu and I thought that dessert was included in the $25 fixed price menu. It was not, so I paid ~$47 for lunch. However, the service at the beginning was dreadful and someone had a bussing accident behind me so the nice waitress gave me a free soda with lunch.

Normally I wouldn’t go to a yoga class, but I was curious to see what it was about and it made for a nice outing with one of my friends. Educational. But it’s 3 days later and my body still hurts. I do, however, think that it would be a good kind of exercise for me. Essentially it’s a lot of push ups and I have no upper body strength. I had to sit out for part of the class when my arms felt like jelly.

The obligatory shopping. Well, a good portion of my trip was presents for other people. Approximately $200 actually. This was for omiyage and future Christmas shopping. (Omiyage is the special Japanese word for the obligatory gifts you get while on vacation. Koreans just say ‘present’.) All the rest was clothing, purses, Chinese house slippers because my old one shredded, and a parasol. I was very good at Pearl River Mart and spent only $43.50 there. But I was eyeing the rayon brocades because they were extremely good prices. (<$12 per yard, but the same stuff in DC is priced at $25+ per yard at G Street) Realizing that making throw pillows out of such pretty stuff is a waste since I will nap and drool on them, I skipped the luxury purchase and sheltered my eyes.

I did a tad of bargaining, but not much. Chinatown is definitely the place for haggling, but I didn’t want to cheap out too much since I was mostly shocked to find out how cheap everything was. I got a really cute purse for which I was willing to pay $20 for $15. My friend bought a Chanel knockoff tote and purse for $40. I was pretty impressed with some of the fakes I saw. The Coach wallets at once shop were *very* close to the canvas signature C stuff, but once I picked up the wallet, I could tell it was fake because it lacked the stiffness of the true canvas that Coach uses. It helps that I have a bag and hat out of the actual material to know how poor the imitations were. If you are going to get a fake, get a GOOD fake. As I left Penn Station, the annoying chatterbox in front of me had a fake Coach/Etienne Aigner patchwork bag that made me want to gag. Lady, don’t you know that the Coach signature C stuff does not intersperse with the horseshoe A of the Aigner?

I, myself, did buy a knock off. It’s of an elegant shape in navy blue. I know it’s quite fake, but I don’t really care. The logo on it is very subtle and for a $25 purse, it suits me just fine. The origin of wanting a new purse goes back 6 years to a red canvas Tommy Hilfiger bag I got at Off 5th with my mother for $20. She hated it, but I like red, white and blue color schemes. Fast forward to today, and it looks old and faded. Even if I washed it, I suspect it wouldn’t take it very well. Do I really want to spend $5 to dry clean it when it might ruin the rubber trim and not even work? I have a dilemma about it, which is resolved with buying a few new trendy but cheap purses. (A shoulder bag, a small purse and a wristlet.) Oh, the small purse is tan and light green which replaces a green straw purse which is shredding beyond repair.

A lot went on a credit card (~$400), but I will be paying that off in full soon. I am getting much, much better and holding onto cash for transactions instead of whipping out the cards. There was a time in my life where all of it would have gone on plastic.

1) Dining out is cheaper than I thought. I had some banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) for lunch with bubble tea. It was $15 for two. Flipside is that I ate a really expensive sushi dinner last night, but it was pretty good. (Will do a restaurant review later.) NYC is a mix of expensive and inexpensive. It’s all about the choices you make.

2) There is a lot of non-air conditioning around town. Sure, lots of places have it, but there are many places that just don’t bother. (Ok, perhaps that is a Chinatown-centric comment.)

3) I love walking everywhere, no matter how much my legs ache.

4) My friends rock. I am having the best time doing nothing but walk around, shop and eat. I have failed to go to any museums, but I’ll be headed to the MOMA today.

Will have to make a tally later on when I get back. Today is just another relaxing day…

I’m going to NYC tonight. The ticket was $134.00 via Amtrak. I am bummed that I missed the coupon code from We’re In Debt. I saw it just a few days too late to get a discount.

It’s cheaper than flying since it’s a $25 cab ride into town from LGA, and I would have to deal with security lines. The train is most convenient and cheaper in that respect. The ticket prices are about the same.

I have pulled out $300 cash for the weekend, some of which has already been used up running errands, so I go off with about $260. The plan is to hit a few museums, go to yoga with a friend and just hangout, reading and knitting. Nothing crazy. No shows, no concerts, just some quality time with my girlfriends. It’s a little unplanned because my friend told me I should come up before she ends her lease soon and moves in with her boyfriend, which will make overnight stays more crowded. I realize there is no reason why I can’t spend more time with her. We always let too much time pass before we see one another.

I’ll be back on Tuesday. If I get near a PC, I’ll try to blog on Monday, but honestly, this trip is to get away and relax.

It was $11 I didn’t need or use anymore.

In fact, that snappy iPod I won last year has gone AWOL. Frankly, I don’t really miss it. I was balking at spending the $50-$100 needed to get a car adapter which is all I would use it for anyway. No iTunes spending for me.

I am trying to stick only to the essentials, which is why I decided to go to the Gogol Bordello show in DC next month with my friends. They said it was a fantastic time, so if I am going to spend time doing anything with that crowd, this looks to be the event. I am eschewing all the weekly happy hours and only attending social events at people’s homes so that I can bring food/booze, and good times. That somehow always seems cheaper than hitting happy hour every week.

I am in the midst of planning my annual large camping trip. For some reason, I’m being completely silly about getting a car. I keep thinking that I can fudge it in some manner so that my friends can pick me up from the airport when I arrive and deliver me to a hotel before I leave. (10-days without a real shower means I need to wash up before flying.)

Trudy’s in Austin has some amazing food.

I was out in the field camping this past weekend. It was fabulously rainy. I don’t think I ever dried out. Many thanks to SFOrdinaryGirl for her guest post while I was gone.

Anyhow, it was a good thing not to rent a car this weekend. Finding a ride in and out of the airport last minute worked for me so I basically spent about $500.00 for this trip for food, airfare, gas and camping fees. Luckily, I did not buy any new camping gear. I would like to get a new headlamp, but I was able to rescue mine and fit it with a green lens once I lost the clear one. I decided I really hated to spend another $40 for a new Petzl Zipka light.

I have a strange returned check fee on my credit card account. I am wondering what that is about. I’ll have to fix that later tonight when I get home. Troubles me that I have this fee on there since I have been juggling funds with my new ING Direct Electric Orange account and getting the direct deposit set up. Frustrating.

I was trying to be very conscientious but I guess I should have waited a week to pay my credit card. I like to send in my payment as close to the closing date as possible so that it lowers the interest charge calculation. Per the billing method, it’s best to send in the payment early to reduce the daily balance all month long, vs waiting till the payment due date. I figure I save about $100.00 a year in interest by doing that. (I am one of those evil debt balance carriers that credit card companies love, but I’m trying.)