Right Move --- Wrong Time

I told you all almost a month ago about how my bedroom TV dieing about how I've really been wanting an LCD TV but couldn't justify the expense when I could borrow a TV. I eventually decided that I was going to go ahead and indulge myself with the luxury of a LCD TV but only after I had settled into my new apartment both physically and financially.

Well I'm almost physically settled (just a few more boxes to go) but financially I feel like I need to wait a few months for everything to balance back out BUT I've been handed a great deal on an LCD TV. A few days ago my mom was at Target and found a 26" Sony Bravia LCD TV on clearance marked down from $699 to $441. She went ahead and picked it up for me and showed up on my door step.

Before this TV fell into my lap I was planning to wait until June or July to buy a 19" TV (the same size screen as the one that died) and spending between $400 - $500 on an "average" brand TV.

Now I'm torn - do I take the bigger, better brand TV that's on clearance two-three months earlier than anticipated or do I return and wait for the right time and buy the more modest TV? Either way at least its the right price. I will say the longer the TV sits on my dresser waiting to be returned the more tempted I am to just go ahead and keep it.

What are your personal finance strengths and weaknesses?

No Credit Needed posted his response to Reader Feedback Request #1: What are your personal finance strengths and weaknesses and encouraged bloggers to write about this topic, so I thought I’d add my two cents.

Personal Finance Strengths – I’m dedicated and driven not to have debt and to become financially independent. I’ve seen and lived through my mother the stress of being in debt so I know I will never allow myself to be in that situation - I’d sell everything I own before I’d incur any debt other than a mortgage. And to be honest the idea of mortgage debt even scares me a little.

Another personal finance strength of mine is that I have been able to put things in perspective and see the big pictures which makes me willing to make wise money choices (a more pc term for sacrifices). I’m more than willing to live below my means to ensure that I can save for my future - be it short term or long term future. I think these strengths make me IMHO an amazing saver.

Personal Finance Weakness – My biggest weakness is that I’m too conservative. While I think I’m an amazing saver, I’m not a good investor. I shy away from risks, and in fact it was only with in the last two years that I started investing in mutual funds instead of FDIC insured savings accounts. I work hard for my money and make wise money choices and hate the idea of loosing even a dime – trust me this current market has been rough on me since I invested in mutual funds. With this current economy and market I have been pretty proud of how well I’ve managed the storm. My retirement accounts keep showing negative growth and I haven’t completely freaked out yet…so maybe there’s hope for me yet.

I know I need to learn more about investing and take a deep breath and just do it. I think this is also my biggest obstacle to true financial independence where my interest/portfolio income = my desired life style.

Updates

Thought I’d share some updates on some decisions I’ve made that I pondered out loud with you all in some past posts.

Roth IRA Diversification (click here for original post): I’ve decided go with option 1 and wait until next year to diversify my Roth IRA. I decided upon this because I did not want to deplete my cash reserves because in the coming months you never know I might need to have an emergency FU fund. (Check out Single Guy Money and Single Ma for their take on FU funds)

New TV (click here for original post): For the time being I’ve decided to use Mr. Be-Mine’s TV. I’m going to wait a few months and get a good feel for my expenses after moving and recover financially from the move before adding the additional expense of a new TV. But, I’m definitely planning in indulging myself with a new LCD TV, the timing is that only thing I’m unsure of.

I think that’s about it for items to update you all on (other than work). If you think of anything else let me know and I’d be happy to share.

How Much Should You Spend on a Hobby?

Since you all were so helpful when I was trying to decide if I should purchase an LCD TV (still haven’t finalized my decision – but I have a pretty good idea of what I’m going to do) I thought I’d try the same with the cost of a hobby.

Some of the bloggers in the PFBlogger network have suggested I change over to wordpress from blogger so that I could have more flexibility with my blog template. I’m all for changing over except there would be some costs involved to do so.

Seb at Pinching Copper did some research about the costs associated with registering a domain name and hosting fees. The domain name is $10 a year hosting would be around $6 a month which would equate to about $82 a year to use wordpress instead of blogger.

To me that’s a lot of money in order to blog. I blog for my personal enjoyment, not as a money making adventure. In fact my blog’s in the red because I’ve funded a few comment contests. It was suggested so I did add google Adsense in an effort to recoup some of these costs but my current Adsense account has only $4.17 in it and you can’t even access this money until you reach the $100 mark. In my estimation at the current rate I’ll reach the $100 mark to be eligible to withdraw earnings in about 8 years. So needless to say I’m not banking on these funds.

I started thinking about if spending close to $100 a year is reasonable for a hobby. So I decided to examine my hobbies outside of blogging and their yearly expense:

Volunteering Weekly at the Food Bank:

• Travel to Food Bank calculated at the IRS’s .505/mile reimbursement rate - $262.60
• Monthly Donation - Excluded (I’m excluding my monetary contributions because I could volunteer weekly without donating each month, I just chose to donate since I see first hand the need and benefit)

Exercising/Running:

• gym membership - $660/year
• Replace Running Shoes - $400/year
• Replacement of Worn Workout Clothing Articles - $90/year
• Race Entry Fees - $ 170
• Travel via car and subway to races and the gym. Car travel also calculated at the IRS’s .505/mile reimbursement rate - $787.80

Reading:

• Library Card – Free
• Purchasing the Occasional Book that I can’t find at the Library - $20/year

Obviously I do have more expensive hobbies than blogging. My hobbies currently cost $1340 a year excluding transportation, including transportation $2390.40. Dang - that’s a lot of money. I have to admit while I had a good idea of the hard costs associated with my hobbies since I keep track of my spending by categories I never sat down to calculate the cost of the transportation until today. After figuring out the true cost of my current hobbies do I want to add another $100 a year for blogging when I can use Blogger.com for free?

I’m not sure what to do yet – I’m going to do my usual wait and see before making a decision. I know the benefits of not using blogger and using wordpress would be quite nice but where do I draw the line for hobby spending? Where do you draw the line for hobby spending?

How do you Cap your Financial Luxuries?

I’ve had a pretty bad last week, on top of the happenings at work, my TV died. Okay, so the TV dying is not quite on the same level as the work shake-up, but it does add insult to injury.

I’ve wanted an LCD TV for quite a while to replace my bulky 19” RCT bedroom TV that takes up half of my dresser top. My envy of others for their LCD TV’s has been getting greater and my monthly shopping trip to Target or Wal-Mart for staples has started including a side trip to their electronics department to visit LCD TV’s.

I’ve recognized this is a desire and not a need, and I can “make do” with my current bedroom TV so it’s senseless to spend $400 on a desire when I already have a product that creates the same out put. My side trips to the electronics department have helped reinforce how expense it would be to replace a working product with a new one just for looks. Until recently that is.

Last week, actually the very day I’d been called about the change of career plans I went home tried to turn on my bedroom TV and all I saw was snow and static, but could faintly hear through the static the show coming in. I thought my cable had gone out so I called my cable company to come out and repair it, I’d had a few problems similar to this about a year ago and it was because the signal had been reversed.

The cable company finally came out to repair it yesterday. The repairman told me that it wasn’t the cable line it was my TV. He even got a cable extension to run from my bedroom jack into my living room TV prove it was the TV. According to him it’s my tuner. I called a local TV repair place to obtain a ball park figure to replace the turner and was informed it would cost about $250 but they would need to look at the TV first to confirm and to look at it if I chose not to have them do the repairs would be a $50 service charge.

Well no dice, I am not going to spend that much to fix a 13 year-old TV, that to be honest I’m surprised it still functions since it was an el cheapo no name TV to begin with. Instead of fixing this TV I’ll buy a new TV. From my visits to the electronics department I know I could purchase a replacement TV similar to my current one for about $150 or I could purchase a LCD for about $400. For a price difference of $250 I decided that I’d just go for the LCD, its what I want, chances are it will last longer, it will be easier to move in the future, it will be HDTV ready for the 2009 conversion, etc etc.

I get excited, I started seeing the new LCD TV taking the place of this old clunky RCT TV. I can see it hanging on my wall, not sitting on my dresser, I’m day dreaming about my shinny new TV, the clear pictures it will present. Oooo I’m even thinking about having a functioning remote control – oh life is good. I’m so excited I could finally justify dipping into my non-emergency irregular expense funds to buy a TV. I even went on line and started browsing to check out deals and get a better feel for prices.

I’m all giddy with the idea of a new TV, until Mr. Be-Mine and I talk last night and I’m relating my excitement about being “forced to buy a new TV”. He deflates my excitement by offering me his RCT TV that he keeps in his basement game room since he never uses it; in fact it’s not even plugged in. There goes my giddiness about a new LCD TV. No longer am I “forced” to buy a new TV, I have an option now.

I still really want that LCD TV, but now it comes to choices do I really want to spend $400 for a 19” LCD TV or use a 30” free RCT TV? There’s a big price difference between the $250 to buy the TV I want compared to spending $400 when I have the option not spend a dime.

I can’t help but listen to the “gemme gemme’s” and the “Iwanna wants” voices in my head when it comes to the LCD TV. I’m usually pretty good at squashing these inner voices for most purchase but squashing this voice when it comes to an LCD TV has started to become harder. I realize a TV is a luxury, but it’s a personal choice that I’ve made now its just where to draw the line with indulging my luxury.

Where do you draw the line and how do you reign in your material things desires without tightening the belt so tight you feel so deprived that you struggle to stay on the “material things diet”?

Extreme Savings -- What Personal Finance Choices Do you Make?

I’ll be the first to admit, when I hear about some of the extreme frugal savings tips people give it makes me cringe or think about the time wasted that could be devoted to other tasks.

I’m not one of "those people"– not that there is anything wrong with them. In fact I’m quite impressed that they will go to these extremes, I’m just not ready to emulate them yet.

To me savings and being frugal is about making choices and prioritizing. I choose to have a new sandwich baggy each time I need one. Since a box of 500 sandwich baggies is about $2 I choose to not buy dish soap to wash baggies which costs $2 a bottle so I can afford the sandwich bag. I choose to flush my toilet after each use which costs 2.6 cents per flush instead of having to scrub the toilet each night which would cost 6.7 cents for cleaner and paper towels per scrub.

Okay, so that all sounds kind of trivial but what about the “bigger” personal finance choices that I make. I choose to have cable, which a lot of financial bloggers do without. I’m an avid reader but without the TV what do these people do to fill those voids in their life? (yes - I’m just kidding about the voids) Seriously thought, I enjoy the guilty pleasures of TV and it provides an hour or two of entertainment a day and brings me joy. Plus I live alone so I like the noise even when I'm reading or doing something else and yes I could listen to the radio, but I prefer the TV because its more mindless. Yes, people lived with out TV 100 years ago, and yes I’m crazy, and no I don’t think it’s a necessity, but it is a comfort I enjoy. And to be honest I’m really impressed with those people who live without this comfort. Okay now that we’ve cleared that up. On to the personal choice I’ve made. The cost of the cable package I’ve chosen is $30/month. Since I choose to have cable I don’t have a subscription to Netflix approx $10/month for basic package, I don’t go to the movie theaters approx $10/visit excluding food items, or purchase DVD’s $20/each etc. So its all a trade off on what works best for you personally.

What choices do you make?

Poor Planning Leads to Poor Money Management

I have a prime example of why planning is important in managing your finances.

I traveled up to Atlanta Thursday evening because I have a few work meetings today. I'm planning to stay for the weekend to visit Mr. Be-Mine (I really need to give him a different handle on this blog) and to practice for the Marathon in March with my little brother and marathon running partner. Saturday my bro and I are planning to run/walk 20 miles which will be the most we've ever done at one time. We've been building up to this for the last several months and after this Saturday we're going to start stepping back the miles so our bodies can rest a little before the race.

Anyway...here's where the money aspect comes in.

So I'm unpacking Thursday evening and discovered I've packed three pairs of running tights, three shirts, three pairs of socks, and my running shoes but I failed to pack a single sports bra (sorry for the over share guys). RRRGG nothing is more frustrating than realizing you've left something 4 hours away.

Since I'm not willing to skip even one day of training let alone the long run with my brother I had to make a late night shopping run to try to find something that would make due. My late night shopping run meant I wasted money on something that I already have enough of to fill an entire drawer.

I hate spending money on my stupidity.

What about you, when have you made a dumb move that cost you money?

Future Millionaire is Coming back to the ATL!!! ---- The Money Side to Moving

Today I was officially given my transfer notice, I"ll be moving back to the ATL in the middle of April. I’ve known this was coming since I was transferred from Atlanta to Valdosta so I’ve had time to think about it, especially since I knew my time in Valdosta was only temporary (and I wanted it that way, Atlanta is home for me). But now that I officially have my notice I've got to start getting my act together and plan for the move including apartment hunting which is planned for this weekend. Fortunately my old roommate from before I moved to V-town hasn't met anyone new she's willing to live with and the timing of her lease works out that we're going to live together again which is awesome for two reasons #1 she’s one of my best friends living with her was the absolute best roommate situation I’ve ever been in and #2 having a roommate means we can have wine tastes on a beer budget (notice I didn't say Champaign tastes because we really can't afford that) by splitting costs we can live in a much nicer part of town and have a much nicer apartment than we each would have had on our own. Plus I’ll be happy to have a real kitchen table again instead using my outdoor bistro table. ( I opted not to buy a new table because I knew I was moving back in less than 2 years and my old roommate and I planned to live together again, just like she didn’t buy a sofa but made do with her chair and a half).

On top of the packing of boxes and finding that “perfect” apartment I also need to make sure to budget for my move and for added costs I’ll have living back in Atlanta.

The company's paying for my move, but I've been told I need to keep it cheap, real cheap so I guess the means U-haul and buying pizza and beer for my friends who help with the move, I hate always having to ask them for help moving but as one of my friends said, they like it when I ask for help because it make them feel useful -- don't know if I buy that but I do appreciate the help. So now I just have to think of the other expenses I will incur after this move so I can start gearing myself up for it.

The biggest expense with my move will be the potential cost of living increase moving from small town South Georgia back to “Big City” Atlanta. (Okay for those of you living in NY and LA, maybe Atlanta’s not big but compared to Valdosta heck anything would be a big city.) You’d think I’d have a good feel for this cost since I moved from Atlanta about a year and a half ago, so I should have a pretty good feel of costs, but life’s changed some since then. My roomy, we’ll call her “Fashionista” (I’ll have to write a post about her at some point to explain her nickname), and I are planning to live in a nicer part of town. When we last lived together we were either in college or very recently out of college and lived close to campus in the “college ghetto” area. Now that we’re both “grown-ups” we’d rather not live around a bunch of rowdy college kids. Go figure! See what two years will do to change your perspective!

On top of the change of location, the type of apartment we’ll be renting will change from one where utilities are included in the rent (which by the way was awesome) to one where it will all be separate, again I guess one of those “grown-up things”. I’ve never had to pay utilities until moving to Valdosta and I know currently living in South Georgia I have had a serious steal on utilities compared to in the “Big City”, for example I get my DVR cable, super channels, and high speed internet access for $55 a month (trust me if it weren’t that cheap I wouldn’t have those extra’s). Go try and find that price in Atlanta – I’d be lucky to pay that for high speed internet alone. On top of just a changed media bill, I’ll have the whole electric and gas bill to deal with. I’m a cold natured person and living about 6.5 miles from FL I’ve been able to keep my heating completely off this winter and with the use of ceiling fans kept my apartment comfortable without using the AC for all put three months this year. Unfortunately “Fashionista” is not like me, she’s very hot natured and that was fine in our previous living situation since utilities were included and there was no direct effect for keeping it below freezing other than I literally walked around the apartment in August in sweats, gloves, toe socks, and a scarf. She thought it hilarious; I thought it was a sacrifice to roommate gods.

Another way I’ve been spoiled with a lower cost of living in South Georgia is my gym membership. I expect to see that increase by moving back to Atlanta. On the plus side my gas budget should decrease since I’ll no longer be maintaining a relationship long distance.

Hmm…other than that I’m stumped as to what other expenses I should consider about moving back to Atlanta.

To recap expense so far I have:
Moving Expenses (Truck, gas, etc) – Company Covered
Beer and Pizza for my fabulous movers – Me – anticipate around $100/one time expense
Slightly Higher Rent – Me – anticipate an additional $10-$50/month
Potentially Higher Utilities – Me – anticipate an additional $50-$100/month
Security Deposits – Me (although theoretically I should receive mine for my current apartment back which can be used to reimburse myself for what I’ll be paying at the new apartment.) --- anticipate $600/one time expense
Higher Gym Membership Fees – Me – anticipate an additional $5-$30/month
Less Gas Money – Me – anticipate a savings of $100/month

So all in all I’m looking at $700 worth of one time expenses and between savings $35/month to spending an extra $80/month for my move back to Atlanta. All in all it doesn’t sound too bad, unless I’m forgetting something.

Any suggestions on other expenses should I consider? I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.

Judging The Jones’ Money Moves

I dropped off my car today to get detailed for the very first time ever. (I have owned the car since 2004). I am most excited about this and have been looking forward to it for months. In fact I’ve been wanting to do it for quite a while but always felt it was too expense, so in November I decided what the heck its worth it because in a way its also a form of car maintenance and started saving for it. Since then I’ve saved more than enough to have my car detailed.

When my car was picked up at the jobsite today to get detailed one of the guys I work with made the joked that apparently I’m getting paid too much to be able to afford these luxuries. He went on and on about how broke he is and how much he would like to be able to afford the same luxuries.

So this guy, we’ll call “Big Spender”, continues to rant on and on about how its not fair that I can get my car detailed. Well I know “Big Spender” makes more money than I do because I do the GC’s and cost analysis every month so I know roughly what his costs ( salary and benefits) to the project are per month. But despite making what in my opinion is a pretty nice salary, he always talks about how broken and in debt he is. And I can’t help but feel sorry for him, especially when he talks about how he “can’t” save for retirement because his bills are so high and that retirement is a luxury for people with money. I don’t feel sorry for him that he “can’t” save, what I feel sorry about is that he doesn’t get it, he refuses to change his spending habits. And in my humble opinion retirement isn’t a luxury for people with money, it’s a comfort for people who allocate their resources effectively and prioritize their future over their present over-spending. And while “Big Spender” doesn’t spring for “luxuries” like getting his car detailed once in 4 years and savings for retirement like I do, he does blow money like crazy on random knick-knacks, high dollar electronics, DVD’s, and credit card interest. For super bowl weekend he sprung for a brand new High-Def LDC TV, and I know that bad boy had to have been at least 40, that’s right four-zero, times more expensive than detailing a car. If you ask me he’s making a choice and that choice is that he doesn’t value the same “luxuries” that I do.

Choices --- that’s what life and personal finance come down --- priorities and choosing what’s important to you.

Well I’m off to enjoy my newly cleaned car.