Vacation Saving

Its starting to get warm outside and summer is just around the corner - time for all those summer vacations.

I thought I'd share how I plan and save for vacations, especially since this week I've been pushed to figure out my vacation plans since my new boss of two weeks told me I have to have my vacation request for the rest of the year to him no later than April 28th. (I've never had to turn in my vacation requests more than a few weeks in advance not 8 months in advance but thats neither here nor there).

I had to quickly plan a summer vacation if I wanted to have one this year, plus confirm plans for my cousin's wedding in September, Thanksgiving, and Christmas plans. At least those were slightly easier because there's less choices.

With the crazy hours I'm having to work on this new project by the time I get home each night I barely am able to find time to eat dinner and post here before I crash into bed to start the process all over again - I'm hopeful that this will eventually change but I don't see an end insight until we start the finishes in the building and move to 24 hour a day which will force us to have shifts so maybe I could work a normal amount of hours even if they are at odd times -- but I digress this post is about vacations. With the crazy hours I've been putting in, I didn't have the time to deal with trying to plan a vacation and with the rush to plan a summer vacation and not having the time to invest in researching my options, I could have easily over spent but I'm proud to say I haven't.

The way I plan for for irregular expenses like Vacation is by saving every month through out the year by utlizing a "dummy" transfer in my financial software even though it stays in my Money Market until needed. To come up with the amount to save each month for these irregular expenses is that I track my expenses from the previous year and then add 10%.

Last year my summer vacation was a 5-day weekend at Destin with Fashionista. I also took m 3 day weekend mini-vacations to Savannah, hiking, and Hilton Head. For the Destin Trip and my mini-vacations I spent $1020 excluding gas for driving (gas and maintence absorbed in my regular monthly budget).

So far I didn't have any plans for this year's vacation. Since Fashionista was going to Europe this summer and using up all of her vacation time then I knew our usual Destin trip would be out. I was talking to my mom and she brought up the two of us going on a cruise - we'd been talking about this for years but for one reason or another it just never worked out.

Niether one of us had ever been on a cruise and so thought it would be a fun adventure for us. My mom's not a planner so planning the cruise fell to me, I did a few quick google searches and found the options overwelming. I had no idea how to evaluate the options and which lines were the best. I ended up calling a family friend who's also a travel agent, told her what we were looking for in a cruise and with in a day she emailed me four options and the pros and cons of each cruise - plus two of them she'd actually sailed on herself.

My mom and I ended up choosing to go on a cruise to the Bahamas on a Royal Caribean for 5 nights. On top of the cruise we're going to go down two days early and stay at the beach. Total cost of this trip per person is $770. Yeah! Under budget and have seveal hundred dollars worth of spending money for the trip.

Moral of the story...when you're out of your league and short on time seek professional help. It can really pay off, by contacting a travel agent I saved both time and money.

How do you split Rent?

Last weekend Mr. Be-Mine, Car Enthusiast, Fashionist, Latest Beau one of my best friends who we’ll call The Councilor since she’s in grad school to be a career councilor plus a few other friends who will remain nameless since my creativity was used up after “The Councilor”, went to dinner and we were talking about Fashionist’s and mine apartment since we’d just moved in. They were curious to know how come Fashionist got the master bedroom and bathroom. I explained that Fashionist had requested it and offered to pay more based upon square footage.

Fashionist and I had already long since talked about how we were going to allocate bedrooms. In our previous apartment in the college ghetto the two bedrooms were nearly identical (her’s slightly larger but next to a neighbor and mine slightly smaller but surrounded by our apartment so noise was less) and shared a bathroom so we just split rent and we were both content with that.

This time we knew that the apartments we were going to be looking at would be different and have a master bedroom and a second bedroom. Fashionist, being the fashion diva that she is, requested to have the master but said she’s be willing to pay more for it based on square footage. The was fine by me, I’ve never had “master bed room” before so it was no big deal, plus I liked the idea of having a little less expensive rent, since the ½ way point for the rent of the apartments we were looking at was near the top end of what I wanted to pay. All and all we were both happy.

After explaining this Mr. Be-mine and Car Enthusiast had a field day making fun of us. Fashionist and I are both a little on the anal retentive side (probably why we are such good roommates together) so they couldn’t believe we’d gone thru the effort of calculating the square footage etc.

The Councilor, always being the peace maker said who care’s as long as the two of them are happy that’s all the matters – which I firmly believe. It makes both Fashionist and I happy – we have a planned method of how to share rent and it wasn’t based off a coin flip or anything so there’s no possibility of resentment. We do however split utilities 50/50 which I think is reasonable as well.

For all of you that split rent I thought I’d also give you a few links for tips about how to calculate rents:

Sylvia at About gives a formula for figuring rents

and Oh my apartment has these tips for splitting

Hope these help!

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.

When to Buy a New Car -- Car Enthusiast's Purchase

I wrote a post awhile back about my friend Car Enthusiast* and how he asked for my advice about how much to spend on car. He took my advice in part - I love it when people do that. J

* I have also referred to him as Car Fanatic in some previous posts. Somewhere along the line I inadvertently changed his nickname. Sorry for any confusion.

I thought I’d share an update on his story in conjunction with a follow up to the open discussion from last week regarding When to Buy a New Car.

Car Enthusiast bought a new car the Saturday before Easter, he called me up that evening all excited about it and drove over to Mr. Be-Mine’s house to show it to us. Its a beauty. He purchased a gorgeous black Honda Civic Si - the sports package. He’s hoping to race it as a hobby.

We’re close enough where we talk finances, while we may not discuss salaries, we do talk big purchases so he told me some of the details of the deal. He put down $2,000 which he’d saved under my advice and financed just under $20,000 at 6.75% for 5 years with a monthly payment of just under $400.

Personally I’d prefer to be able to buy a car outright, but I know that’s not an option for him right now and timing for everything else worked out right where it was the best time to buy a car. I think that financing will work for Car Enthusiast, even thought he’ll have to pay interest it will work out for the best and he should be able to handle the payments after all he’s managed to save more than that for the past four months in order to create his down payment. All and all I think he might a right move for him.

It got me to thinking about when to buy a new car, which promoted the open discussion from last week.

I thought it would be an interesting case study to examine his timing for buying a new car. I had told Car Enthusiasts a while back about my post about the advice I gave him and I ask last Saturday if he minded (not that it would matter since I post anonymously anyway and could have just done it anyway) and he told me to feel free to analyze his purchase.

The big areas to look at before buying a car in my opinion are:

Personal Timing, Financial Timing, Life Span of Car Timing, and Anon added Research which I’m in full agreement with adding to the list.

So here goes the examination of each area for Car Enthusiast’s situation:

Personal Timing – Car Enthusiast is being transferred from Atlanta to Louisville and will be there for the next two years starting in June. With his transfer it makes sense to exchange his 16 year old Honda Civic that has been driven over 280,000 miles for a more reliable car. Car Enthusiast doesn’t mind doing car repairs, in fact he enjoys it but once he moves won’t have the equipment to do any major repairs that his last cars. In Atlanta he’s able to have access to just about any tool or equipment he needs for repairs since his dad owns a car repair shop and he could always go over there and the best mechanic in the shop (his dad of course) would fix it. Being 8 hours away will limit this opportunity.

Financial Timing – While many of us, me included, would rather wait until we can buy a car out right I think Car Enthusiastic passes the financial timing test because he planned for this expenditure. Saved for months, adjusted his budget to accommodate this new monthly payment and knows he can afford these payments since he’s been “playing house” and making them for the last few months.

So check – financial timing

Life of Car Timing - As mentioned in personal timing, Car Enthusiast’s car was well past the mileage mark most would being the life span of his vehicle. While he could continue to make the repairs on this vehicle, no longer having free mechanical work it would not be cost effective to make the repairs.

Research - Car Enthusiast definitely did his research, as you can tell by his name he’s very into cars, attends car shows all the time, researches all the models and could quote spec on just about any car on the road. To make this purchase he has been planning for months and has checked out every detail from gas millage to performance to seat color for just about every car on the market. He also did his homework on pricing and the options he wanted.

So check – research

All in all I’d have to say my friend bought a new car at the right time. I hope/plan the timing will work out as well from me when it starts getting time for me to buy a new car.

When to Buy a New Car?

This week I'm out of town taking at a Safety Training Class. When I travel I'm notorious for always forgetting something - but this time I forgot something that I can't easily run to the Hotel gift shop and replace - I left my jump drive with 4 pre-planned posts I wrote this weekend in anticipation of traveling this week. Normally I don't plan posts out but I did this knowing that my company's culture is when you're traveling in a group you go out to the bar each night and with the recent turmoil at work and "temporarily" disbanding my department I figure its in my best interest to continue the practice so I can get the real inside scoop about what's going in the company after the Big Wig's have a little to drink and are more free flowing with the real story.

I know I won’t have the time to spend quality posts and I don’t want to leave the blog dormant until Saturday especially when my comment contest is ending on Friday, March 28th. I was brain storming about my options today sitting in this training class (I know excellent use of time) and came up with a brilliant thought…an open discussion – rather than me post my views and then ask for comments I’d provide a topic each day and then follow it up next week with a detailed post with some resources and my two cents. Feel free to chime in with a topic if you have one you’d like to share about.

Okay so first topic…when’s the ideal time to buy a new car?

I’d been thinking of writing a post about this recently especially since Car Enthusiast just purchased a new. So let’s hear your thoughts when is the ideal time to buy a new car considering:
-Personal Timing
-Financial Timing
-Life of the Car Timing
Etc etc etc

Is this a Case of Bait and Switch?

RRRRGGGG – I just logged into Emigrant Direct’s on-line banking to see if I had earned any interest since opening the account in February. Much to my surprise I discovered the interest rate on my savings account had dropped from when I had opened the account. When I opened the account the interest rate for a savings account was 3.6%. When choosing an on-line bank for my car savings the deciding factor to open up an account at Emigrant Direct was the interest rate as their services were nearly identical to their competition.

I decided to check out their competition and see if they had decreased interest on savings accounts too. This would prove to me that it was a market effect due to the economy and not just Emigrant Direct lowering interest rates. I log onto Bank Rate and wouldn’t you know, none of Emigrant Direct’s competitors had lowered interest rates. HSBC Direct was still at 3.55% and ING was still at 3.4%, both higher than Emigrant Direct’s current rate.

I’m not a happy camper. L I go to bank rate’s calculators to determine the interest I’ll be loosing by having a lower rates and in the long term having a lower interest rate is only the difference of about 3 months to meet my car savings goal with Emigrant Direct rather than ING.

I guess I’m staying with Emigrant Direct since I don’t want to be opening and closing savings accounts every month to chase after the best interest rates.

Its Offical - Future Millionaire has a new Apartment!

As promised here the update on My Apartment Search:

On Saturday, after receiving the email from the APM at the Apartment Complex Fashionista and I want to live in, I went over to check out the two apartments she had on special.

Neither one was perfect, they both were in the building we had originally veto'ed since it was next to Subway Tracks, but I was willing to consider since we liked the area and the complex.

After arriving there, I discovered that the subway train would be on the oposite side of the building from where both apartments were located. Standing outside of Apartment #2 I heard the subway coming and stepped back into Apartment #2 to see if you could hear the train and heard nothing. Hear No Evil Train, See No Evil Train, therefore I won't speak of an Evil Train. So that negated our original concerns about the subway being so close to this building.

Continuing on with the tour of the apartments:
Apartment #1 was on the second floor and the "courtyard" view was of the side wall of the parking deck with a vine growing up it. One floor below the the living room window was a picnic table and grill. But at least this was on the second floor and not the ground like the one we'd previous looked out. I still wasn't too thrilled about the lack of light and the noise from people at the grill. So onto Apartment #2.
Apartment #2 was on the top floor with a courtyard view of the tennis courts which are located on top of the parking garage - not crazy about the noise from the Tennis Courts but I figure that's farther away, blocked by some trees, so I'm more willing to consider it. Since Apartment #2 is on the top floor it had slightly higher ceilings, which made it feel much larger (I know there will be some heating and electric bill issues but its all about choices), plus since it was on the top floor and not blocked by the parking deck a lot more sun light came in, again making it feel larger. Over all I was really starting to like this unit. The one other thing to check out was the parking and access issue that was Fashionista's big concern. There is no covered parking on this level since the tennis courts are there, but you can park one level below and take the stairs which were about 20 feet from the front door of Apartment #2, or you can take the elevator which was about 50 feet from the front door.

I was still a little leery of this deal since it seemed so out of the blue, but had a long talk with the APM and felt comfortable and could see where a bird in the hand (us taking the apartment today) would be worth it to Apartment Management Company.

After the tour and the talk, I ducked out for a minute and call Fashionista to report, she agreeded that we probably couldn't get any better and that we liked the area, we liked the complex, and the apartment sounded great, even if there were a few compromises to make. We agreed that we should take the apartment today. I filled out our paper work and left a deposit. we just have to wait on approval of our application and we're good to move in on April 16th!

PS. The picture at the top is the floor plan of the unit we're going to be leasing.

The Apartment Search - Something Sounds Fishy

As I've discussed in a previous post, I'm moving back to Atlanta in the middle of April. Last weekend in addition to run/walking 20 miles in preparation for the Georgia Marathon "Fashionista" and I went apartment hunting.

We'd already been internet hunting for sometime and had visited a few places but we just waiting on my official transfer notice before going any future with our apartment seach. Well last weekend we re-visted our top four places and fell in love with one complex and were ready to secure an apartment.

Unfortunately the only two apartments they had available for Mid-April to May were a ground floor unit that was right next to the entrance to the complex and the picnic areas. I veto'ed that one (I don't like people hanging outside my window - I had that in college and hated it). The other was on the 6th floor with an elevator only to the 4th floor of that building and Fashionista veto'ed that one (she doesn't do stairs). Our third alternative which was on the 3rd floor with an elevator and was an exterior unit (pretty much perfect for us) was coming available March 14th, well that was too soon and the apartment complex wasn't willing to hold it or compromise with us so we weren't paying a month for a vacant apartment.

The Assistant Property Manager said she'd talked it over some more with her bosses and see if we couldn't come up with a resolution and be in touch. Fashionista and I just decided to wait it out since I had from April 15 until May 30th to move and she is renting her current apartment month to month since the lease expired in January.

Yesterday at 6pm the Assistant Property Manager (APM) of the Apartment complex we want to live in sent an email to Fashionista and I that said:
"I wanted to let you know I have a new solution for you guys. We have two great apartments currently vacant in the floorplan you want - one is a top floor with courtyard view and one is a 2nd floor with courtyard view. I am able to offer one month free on these two bedrooms tomorrow only. I would be able to hold the apartment for 2 weeks, plus you would get 30 days free rent - oputting you at April 15th. They go for $1310/$1330. Give me a call tomorrow and we can discuss the option! Thanks,"

Huh?? My first reaction is what the heck is wrong with these two apartments, since all the units we looked at last weekend were $1360+ and why all of a sudden can they hold the apartment for essentially 6 weeks. I decided to call Fashionista who's out of town (out of Atlanta) this weekend at company retreat and see what she though. She's all for it. I then called APM,fortunately I'm in Atlanta and not V-town this weekend since all of next week I have to be in Atlanta for work, and scheduled an appointment today to tour the two vacant units today.

I'll have to update you all after I go.

Saving for a New Car

It has come to my attention that I need to start a specific saving fund for a future car. My current car is only 4 years old, so don’t worry I’m not planning to buy a new one any time soon. I’m really content and happy with my current car, in fact I even wanted to turn down hypothetical winning a truck lease because I’m so happy, yeah I know it sounds a little crazy but read my post about my reasons then maybe it won’t sound quite so crazy.

While I’m not planning to trade in my current car any time, in fact I’m planning to drive it for at least another 6 years and another 90,000+ miles although I’m hoping for another 140,000 miles and associated years but that decision will depend on what mechanical work that will be needed in the future.

When I purchased my current car I was able to buy outright but took out a loan and paid for a few months before paying it off in order to build up my then non-existent installment credit history in anticipation of a mortgage. My previous piece of crap, excuse me “car”, I also paid for outright. So it makes sense that any future car I purchase I would like to also have the ability to buy it outright.

My philosophy for life with goals is that I believe that if you’re going to plan to do anything, to make it happen in the future you’ve got to start now. This means I’ve got to start saving for a car NOW.

This boils down to needing to open up a separate account. By having a separate account I’ll be able to better keep track of it and “see” my savings grow which will motivate me to continue saving. I’ve decided to utilize a savings account for this separate account. I’m choosing a savings account as my saving vessel because stocks/mutual funds etc are too risky for a relatively short term savings, current CD rates and Money Market rates are not very high and the initial capital required to start one is greater than what I want to pull from my regular savings to start car savings. As time passes I may choose to change the savings vessel I’m using but for now a savings account looks to be the best option for me and simplest which will enable me to start saving immediately.

I’ve done a little research and my options for savings accounts are:

Emigrant Direct – %3.60 APY; $1 initial investment
HSBC Direct - %3.55 APY; $1 initial investment
ING - %3.40 APY; $1 initial investment

I’m thinking about using Emigrant Direct, because as far as services and features they all seem to be comparable so then I just am really concerned about interest rates. Is anyone currently a customer of Emigrant Direct or been on in the past, do you like them?

Alright now that I’ve most likely figured out where to start savings now I need to figure out how much to save.

I’m projecting that a future car will cost me $25,000 (okay this is a random guess since I don’t know in the future if I’ll want to buy used, new, what type of car etc. and really don’t want to invest a lot of energy and deciding this since it might sway me to start thinking of a new car before I’m financially ready.) And no I have not factored inflation into my $25,000 or title or anything else, lets just call this an allowance and my allowance of 25k has to encompass all aspects of buying a car in the future. This means I’ll just have to either make it happen for that amount or as it approaches closer to car buying time and I develop an idea adjust my savings to account for my new desires.

Since I’ve decided the amount of money I’ll need when I buy a new car I headed over to bankrate.com’s savings calculator to determine the amount of money I need to save each month and let me tell ya…I was shocked! According to this calculator to save $25,000 in six years at an interest rate of 3.6% I need to save $311 a month. Dang…I’m glad I’m starting this week or I’d be in real trouble if I waited another year to start then I’d need to save $380 a month.

Right now my current budget is tight, artificially and intentionally tight but tight just the same, so I’m going to start small and only save about $50 each month for now. I think I should be able to readjust some of my current spending to find $50 a month to put towards this goal, but I realize this will need to increase in the near future and plan to reevaluate the amount I’m saving every few months.

So my next step is on Saturday (after I’ve gotten some feedback to make sure Emigrant is a good company) I’ll open up my savings account with $50 and set up automatic transfers for each month. I feel really good now that I’m going to take action!

Looking a Gift Horse (or Truck) in the Mouth

Just got back from my Food Bank Volunteer Board Meeting and right now our focus is on the board is working on the biggest fundraiser of the year which is the Valdosta Derby Duck Race. The Grand Price for the winner of the event is a 3 year lease on a GMC Truck plus various assorted prices for 1^st place, 2^nd place etc..

A month ago I’d written a check for the adoption of 20 little rubber duckies. I’m not participating financially in the even to win it, but sitting in the meeting got me briefly thinking about winning. This is weird in itself since I never win anything, well almost never win anything, but I started thinking about winning the grand price and realized I don’t think I’d want to win.

So as I was driving back from the meeting I kept thinking of my daydream of winning and I came up with these reasons why I wouldn’t want to win a leased truck for three years.

1. I love my current 2004 Honda Civic
2. I can only imagine the gas mileage on that puppy is ridiculous and considering I drove by a gas station and it was $3.08 a gallon today (and that’s in Georgia ya’ll where our gas is one of the cheapest in the country). No thank you I’d still want to drive my 30 mile to the gallon Civic instead of a gas guzzler truck.
3. Maintenance for a truck compared to my little compact is probably considerably more expensive although I don’t have any research on this, especially since this list was formed in the car.
4. My car’s paid in full and I don’t think I’d want to get rid of it only to have to buy a new car in three years when the lease expires. And the alternative of just keeping my car and letting it sit for three years doesn’t work either because allowing my civic to sit would still require maintenance.

Nothing like hypothetically winning something for free and not even wanting it! My little fantasy on my drive made me realize that I’m extremely content and happy with my current mode of transportation.

What about you? Are you happy with your current ride? What if you won a 3 year lease on a Truck?

PS Thought I’d give a “shout out” to my favorite charity, America’s Second Harvest.

I’m a firm believer in putting your time and money where your heart is and I strongly believe that hunger is one of the most curable problems in this country and have long since been a regular weekly volunteer with America’s Second Harvest via the Atlanta Food Bank and now the South Georgia Food Bank. So with that ringing endorsement I wanted to give you all a chance to help out and feed those in need and participate in the Valdosta Derby Duck Race (you don’t have to be in Valdosta to participate). To participate just click here so you too can adopt a duck for a chance to win the GMC truck (and a few other odds and ins that personally I’d be much happier to winning).

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.

How Much to Spend to Buy a Car

The other day I was having dinner with one of my good friends and knowing that I'm into personal finance, he sought my advice about buying a car.

My friend, "Car Fanatic", has always been a big car enthusiast, in fact he's the only one I know who every month goes to a different car show. However, ever since I've know him he's always driven the crappiest car of the group. (Keep in mind I've known him since we were freshman in college -- so most college students, or at least the one's based in reality, drive crappy cars). Anyway he used to drive a 1981 Mitsubishi and then about two years ago when he graduated from college he upgraded to a 1992 Honda Civic. Well now "Car Fanatic" is looking to get a "real car" in his words and now that he's financially stable wanted my advice on what he could afford.

I know he was looking for something like "$20,000 max" or "no more than $250 a month" or any other solid dollar figure. I'm usually rather opinionated and am always willing to contribute my two cents and sometime even twenty-five cents, so "Car Fanatic" was taken back when I said that I really couldn't give him a firm answer and it really depends on him. He said no, Future Millionaire, seriously what can I pay a month for a car payment?

First off the idea that he has to finance it, doesn't sit well with me, especially since I know he paid cash for his other two cars. But none the less, I'm not one to judge (okay I take that back, I judge but tell myself I shouldn't). So the best advice I could give him was:
It really depends on how much you value a car and what you're willing to sacrifice for it, for example would you rather have a rockin' ride or be able to go to a nice dinner with friends every week? etc. In the mean time while you're figuring out how much you value a new car, you should start playing house by setting aside whatever amount of money you feel you can a) afford and b) would align with a car payment for your future car. And play house for several months (at least 4-6) to see if this is a realistic amount of money and on top of that when you go to buy your call you'll have a nice down payment already set aside.

On top of that I advised "Car Fanatic" to avoid at all costs going into a dealership when he was ready to buy a car with the attitude that he could only afford X amount of dollars per month as many times they will fluctuate the interest rate and length of load based on this information instead of dealing strictly in the lump sum price of a car. With an attitude of money per month the dealership can really end up having you pay more for a car than you were ever intending.

Well that's my 2 cents on buying a car, and my no means am I an expert car buyer so for your used I've listed several good car buying advice articles that may be of help:
Edmonds.com --- check out the real price of cars
Inside Car Buying Secrets
How Stuff Works : Buying a Car
Car Buying Tips