Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.92 coffee + $10 lunch

After that little bit of election history last night I had a shot of bourbon, flipped through the news channels (the FOX affiliate was wonderfully apocalyptic), listened to McCain's wonderful speech (why wasn't he running?), then I took a bath and went to bed.

Today I loosened up by buying a coffee at Seattle's Best and had lunch with the gang. We assume that Sarah Palin will assume Ted Stevens's senate seat (he will have to step down because he is a convicted felon), making it pretty interesting for her and McCain in a couple of months.

Not much fiscal happened, although just when I've given up finding my .12, I find a dime on the floor of the bus near my feet.
.12 - .10 = .02 to go before I find .31 to match the T-bill interest. I have two days to do it. This next 4-week T-bill happens not to be any great shakes either: .99 this time.

Its dang hard finding change on the sidewalk when you have a goal to meet. Why is that?

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch

All that walking around north Seattle heading from house to downtown, all while noting bus stops paid off today.

I live in North Seattle, my usual morning bus crosses into downtown via the Aurora Bridge. I caught the bus while lugging about 15 pounds of canned goods (food drive), and congratulated myself on my luck. The intercom on the bus was on, the dispatcher mentioned delays on Aurora. I settled in because that's fairly usual.

We got to Fremont Ave (the very pretty leaf-strewn street in the post below). Traffic was backed up, we didn't move, and the dispatch estimated a hour to hour & half to get to downtown.

Time to get off, even lugging the cans. The aisle seat woman and I chatted as we walked along Fremont from 42nd to across the Fremont Bridge. We saw at least three large police vans and fire trucks on Aurora. The aisle seat woman crossed headed on Dexter. I had cans, so I waited on Nickerson to catch the 17. Everything was late, but I caught it, stood in the aisle, did the penguin-chick thing with the bag of canned goods. Got into work at 9:45. I was sooo happy to dump those cans!

Turned out it was a jumper on the Aurora Bridge. You know, its so odd to want to off yourself in such a public way as jumping off a bridge during rush hour. Suicide is not really an extrovert's activity; its not entertaining so what's the audience for? Talking you down? Cheering you on?

The odyssey this morning was useful. I found two pennies while I was walking.

.14 - .02 = .12 to get to .31. I now have this week to find 12 cents on the street.

Found out that our floor won the Halloween decorating contest. I chatted a bit with the organizer - if we weren't so politically correct, our floor would have swept all the categories, so we got Best Overall.

I bonds got their new interest rates today. 0.70% fixed rate 4.92% cpi for a total rate of 5.64%. Still not fantastic, but better than the last batch with a fixed rate of 0.0%.

Thank you all for the ideas for a cheap Halloween costume. I got inspired last night by a photo of ... candy corn!

So white sneaks, long white socks, orange pants, light yellow long sleeved top, yellow hair dye. I saw a pair of orange pants at Value Village for $20... too rich for my blood. I got a pair of white jeans for $7, and two packs of tangerine Rit dye for $3/pk. I used both packs - I want the pants brick orange, because the dye always dries lighter. The pants are soaking now.

Festive, warm, non-slutty, funny, simple.

Oh yes, found a penny in the QFC parking lot.
.15 -.01 =.14 to go to equal my T-bill interest.

Saturday
Saving log - $.11
Spending log - $14 brunch + $7 groceries

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $50 dinner for 2

Yesterday DH and I hit a just opened brewpub right next to our coffeehouse. Not bad for a beer, but it was very busy, proving, in part, that beer is nearly recession proof. After the beer (the pub really didn't have a lot of food choices), we walked past a 5 table Greek restaurant, and got the very last table. DH had the lamb, I had the chicken, and the price above included a glass of wine and tip.

Today I worked off a bit of the beer and Greek chicken by walking from work to home - about 7 miles.

During the walk, I found a dime and a penny. I am challenging myself to find .31 in change in 4 weeks ... therefore doubling what I earned in interest on my T-bill that month. With the nickel from last week -
.26 - .11 = .15 left to go.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $11 lunch, paper + $2 donation + $11 groceries

Did a good money deed late in the day. I was at the neighborhood WaMu ATM, when I saw the ATM frantically pushing in and pushing out a card. The receipt (for $13) jut out of the slot. I figured that he (name was on the card) left the card in a fit of pique. Still, not good. I pulled it out, put my card in, got my money, then took the card and receipt, put it in a deposit envelope, then stuck it in the deposit slot.

I figure that the bank will open it and set the card aside. The bank might call the guy, they might not, but at least the card is not an attractive nuisance.

After lunch I walked back and saw that the Seattle Fire Dept had a little exhibit open. Free, but I put in $2. and who wouldn't, seeing these beauties:


And the fantastic ancient hook and ladders:


And the spinner rims of 1890:

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $15 lunch

Put my $44 in tip box earnings into the downtown bank (WaMu Tower) this month. Still WaMu in name, on the slips, & the teller uniform and in the color scheme, but the colors of the banners are changing, with a few items called "Chase". The ATM - the electronic face - is now branded Chase. Digestion is at a plateau.

Looking forward to a NSD. Tomorrow is coffee from the French press at work and a lunch party.

Our boss, out on family leave, announced the birth of her daughter by her partner. Pwhew - she went on family leave and for two weeks we heard nothing about birth and delivery.

Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $1.70 cream cheese

This month I made .31 in T-bill interest. For laughs, I'm going to see if I can find at least .31 cents in the next three weeks. I found a nickel in our driveway and in the dark.

.31 - .05 = .26 to go.

I walked past the little pocket park and discovered that the city had bought two more parcels next to the park and were interested in turning them into P-patches.

I'd be very interested in a bed in a P-patch... it would be 1 1/2 blocks away.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $10 lunch

My $4000 in this week's monthly T-bill has earned me a grand total of 31 cents. I don't know whether, again, everyone's fleeing to safety from stocks from last week, or will be fleeing stocks next week. All I know is that this month I can do better by sticking the money in my mattress and hunt for sidewalk change. There's only one flaw in the plan - its fall, and its dark during my walk. Hard to spot those little metal circles in the dark.

I opened up the envelope containing my 403B results. As of Sept 30, I lost 6.5%. Well done, baselle.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $13 lunch

I looked at the totals of all of my accounts and compared them to the numbers that I ran on my net worth on 6/30/2008.

I've lost $25.7K since late June.

Today, my dividend stock portfolio, about 4% of my total net worth, is down about 16%. KO is still showing a profit - my average share cost of KO is $42, so it has to drop a bit more before I lose money. WEC is also showing the barest of profit (8$). In other words, both have "the margin of safety".

If KO gets down to $42, I think that's when I will buy more. The rest of the DRPs I will maintain the discipline and dollar cost average. Dip implies a drop and then a rise. Well, while I believe in the rise, it looks far, far away.

In May last year, I re-allocated my 403B holdings to (for me) a very conservative mix - 30% bond, 20% cash, 10% gov bonds, 40% stock. (I was 90% stock, 10% bond). I

blogged about it quickly, but didn't discuss it much in real life. I figured I would get teased for trying to "time the market". I'm glad I did, and would do it again - I'm down about 10% on the 403B holdings.

The rest is cash and cash equivalents (T-bills, I-bonds). Most of grandma's inheritance is still in a cash money market in Vanguard. Vanguard is participating in the Treasury Guarantee program, so if it "breaks the buck", we'll all be standing around burn barrels to keep warm.

So far I've kept my nose above water and have done much, much better than many. I do want to explore getting out of the very conservative mix of my 403B (stocks are about to get cheap enough for buying on that margin of safety), but I want to do so in a thoughtful, calculated way. I plan on blogging my thoughts, calculations, and analysis. I've been giving advice to others about looking into what they have in mutual funds and making reasonable decisions based on that. Time to practice what I preach.

Last night DH and I were

here until 10:30 pm; we got home and heard this ... the whole effect made it seem like we heard a whole fiddle concert while Rome burned.

Right now the WaMu failure is a bit of a non-starter; the downtown Seattle street vibe during the lunch hour was flat. I walked past the WaMu center. Inside and around the sidewalk that vibe was a bit like the last day of college when your dad would show up. Not quite sad, not quite happy ... just transition-y.

I want to take the time here to say that I will really miss WaMu. I lived in Seattle between 1985-1992 and now 1999 - present and had banked with WaMu since 1986. WaMu was close by U Washington (convenient for a grad student), charged no fees if you didn't overspend, their ATMs didn't charge on other bank cards, the tellers were friendly, and their math was right on your account ... at least it was on mine.

I remember when the WaMu Tower was finished in 1988. I wondered a bit even then how a bank could afford to build it when they didn't rip their clients off, still, WaMu generated a certain amount of civic pride.

I came back in 1999 to a bit of a juiced up WaMu...but then again, during the dot.com era everybody was juiced up. Still, the staff and tellers were friendly in less of that you-have-money-I must-be-friendly and I was happy that my neighborhood WaMu was about 10 blocks from the house while WaMu Tower was 6 blocks from work. There were some fees for the careless; by 2001 or so WaMu would charge non-WaMu cards $1.50, in line with everyone else. I seriously looked at starting a DRP when their stock was at about 23$. In '06, I was kicking myself that I hadn't. "Overweight" the stock analysts said.

But in '06, when I got my first bits of the inheritance I started to notice the harder selling - if you can fund a 30K CD for 6 months, think about buying a house. Real estate only goes up! (yeah, maybe later). On the other hand, they were flawless when the WaMu ATM ate my card.

In other words, still useful for the basics. They flew too high, their profits got juiced up with the returns of evil and crappy mortgages, their shareholders expected that the good times would always roll. However, with return there is risk; with continuous return, continuous risk. A bit like always hearing "heckuva job!" without hearing the "Brownie" at the end of it.

I chatted with a co worker this morning, who was originally from the east coast. He sighed and said, "Sucks. I escaped being a Chase Bank customer."

I hear you, brother.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $17 dim sum lunch + $9 groceries.

Just finishing making stuffed grape leaves for the work potluck tomorrow. The guest of honor is vegetarian, so it didn't seem right to make a meat-stuffed grape leaf. Rice stuffed grape leaves are a bit boring, so I went and got small amounts of various rices - red, purple, saffron, fragrant, regular, wild - along with a little bit of quinoa. Flavoring is onion, garlic, parsley, chopped apricots, salt and pepper. If it makes a decent pilaf, it will make a decent stuffed grape leaf. The final thing I do is to cook the filling, then roll the cooked filling into the grape leaves. Its a lot less nerve racking than stuffing with raw filling - you can just heat the grape leaves through and you don't have to worry about the filling getting done.

What is on my mind, still...beating a dead horse here...is WaMu. Will we soon have the Citigroup Tower? We already have a Wells Fargo Building, so maybe just the WF Tower. Of course we could baffle future descendants by keeping the nickname - what is the WaMu of which you speak? But corporate takeovers are a bit like war - if they take prisoners, they shackle them and change their name.

I'm also thinking about routing numbers. If my WaMu accounts are the antechambers to my saving, and WaMu gets taken over, then my accounts will change their routing numbers. Suddenly I have to keep an eye on my little savings empire.

Monday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $11 lunch + $2 Wall Street Journal + $13 groceries + $11 coffee

Tuesday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $4 contribution

I have some of my EF in 4 week T-bills, split into fours and recurring, so every week something matures or if necessary, I have a month of EF coming up for use every week. I looked at the auction rate for this week's 4 week T-bill. Wait for it...

0.3%

It means I make 93 cents in interest on that T-bill. I've found more sidewalk change most months than that. This flight to safety means my little boat is getting swamped by Wall Street cannon balls. Ah well, better luck next month.

Here's an another article near and dear to my heart -

backyard gleaning. I live next to a male cherry tree - the flowers are right with a few cherries in it. I've seen its girl friend - that tree lives about 7 blocks away. Across the street lay an apple tree (decent sized apples). In grad school I also lived with a plum tree and a cherry tree, with a neighbor that had a productive pear tree. And then all the blackberry brambles within 3 blocks of my house. In Tucson in November, I used to pick the raw green, purple, and black purple olives on Olive Way at the U of A, and cured them in salt. In Tucson in April in another part of the U of A campus, I used to pick loquats and can them in a sugar syrup. In other words, I think this is a fantastic idea. It would be great to map out all the fruit trees and bushes of Seattle all quietly making a little produce stand.

Oh yes, the collection. In the end I advertised once, did a little once around, collected triple digits, and added a bit more to get the gift card to end in a "0". I passed the collection to the person buying the gift card. Project finished.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $9 lunch + $15 groceries

Noticed two good things tonight

1. More 10 for $10 deals on things I actually eat - fruit, salad, baby carrots.

2. CD rates in ING and my other brick and mortar bank are going up. Not talking about a lot of going up, more like .3 or .4% of a percent. Still, better it goes up than goes down.

Noticed one good thing (maybe) last night.

1. At the present rate of CPI-U inflation, my I-bonds should be bearing interest in 8% range this November. We'll see in October.

http://www.savings-bond-advisor.com/cpi-inflation-update/

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $11 lunch

No bankers falling out of the sky...


(WaMu Tower on the left; WaMu Center on the right. I took this snap in December when it was nice and gloomy)

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $8 lunch

The shorts I bought yesterday didn't fit, so I returned them. Their sizing fooled me. I did manage to find another pair of shorts that did fit. So I recouped $19.

I had a hair more than 100K in my community bank account. I trimmed that down to under 99K and put the proceeds into ING. Just didn't want someone to say, "why didn't you keep it under the limit?"

Found an interesting article in the paper today.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008063100...

First of all: this isn't particularly bad yet. And I haven't really noticed all that much frugality out and about. I see folks afraid but still driving around. I still see very few pedestrians, few bicyclists, and now its again easier to get a seat on the bus. I hear more complaints, but little clever thinking. I see a bit more fear - concentrated if you have lost your job or your house - but the fear feels spread out and low grade from the average person. Kind of like "nothing to see here, move along.."

I'd like to think that a new wave of permanent frugality is at hand, but right now everyone appears to be hoping against hope that they won't have to stoop to the tricks.

Speaking of tricks - my PDA off/on button now refuses to work. I thought about replacing it, but DH taught me that the all the buttons turn on the PDA. The sneaky way of using what you already have. Turning the PDA is a bit more problematic, because none of those buttons turn things off. You have to set the automatic shutoff to 30 seconds or a minute and let it shutoff by itself. Better to teach myself a little laziness than spend on a new PDA.

Saving log - $2 tip box ($42 in total)
Spending log - $0

Had a good cash flow day; all saving, and no spending.

Breakfast was taken care of by the all staff meeting, where I presented DJ friend with his 5 year service pin. Lunch was taken care of by a going away party, where I grabbed a couple of extra wraps for afternoon snack. I also went to a meeting where there were many mini candy bars, which I promptly scooped up and set in a cup by our printers and copiers. After all our printers and copiers know when you are upset.

In between free meals from the workplace, I found out that: I lost my own service pin (pooh!), I'm now back down to 184, I can compose an okay haiku under the gun in 15 minutes, and as I ducked out to deposit my tip box earnings from this month I found out that my WaMu branch (the main one in downtown Seattle) looked serene and calm.

Deposited $42 into brick and mortar savings this month.

Tonight I found out that I hit it lucky, of sorts, in buying more MI. The transfer agent on that one buys on the 14th of every month. My 100$ bought at its very low on Monday. The stock rally yesterday and today of bank stocks is mystifying on a broad scale, not so baffling on a day to day. This week everyone's relieved that its only bad, not apocalyptic. Mr Market is particularly manic depressive this week. Time for folks like us to keep on an even keel.

I also discovered tonight that I set up my monthly buy of IP for the middle of the month. After this buy, I now have more than 25 shares, so could and did opt for full dividend reinvestment.

Saving log - $6 tip box
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $7 lunch (for two days)

Sister called. Part of the ditch about 100 yds from the property line (now part of the state of WI) washed out a bit, and there's water seeping into the basement, and sister wants to replant a whole lot of beans ... but everything made it through the flood unscathed. Berlin (20 mi southwest) on the Fox River is still a bit flooded, even now.

The utility company that is buying our excess solar power now wants to send us checks. Means, apparently, that we are generating more than $25 worth of power per month. Sister now is interested in getting the 7 acres certified for organic farming. Seems worthy; its not like our next door neighbor (state of WI) is pumping the ground full of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides. It'll just be a repository for native plants - and a generator for "weed" seeds. It'll make weeding a chore.

The other bidness is that I got a bit blindsided to the tune of $85.22 from Capital One. I haven't used the card in over 6 months, when one of my yearly charges got pinged on it. Then, since I haven't been monitoring it like a hawk online (lost track of the username and password) and beforehand I decided to save a tree and not get a paper statement, well it meant Cap One had me for a couple of months of fees.

Lessons learned:
1. Beware the once/yr charges. (Moving that sucker in the next week)
2. Keep up the paper statements even with the online account.

Save a tree indeed. I could have bought and taken care of another tree for $85.

Final order of bidness is WaMu. I'm not a shareholder of it ... although a share could be had for the cost of a latte. Will Whoo Hoo! turn into Boo Hoo? WaMu would say no and would say no until the weekend it failed. So who knows? I have my paycheck in a WaMu checking account, along with a little savings account ... my tip box squeezings go into that. All told, I have about $1500 in WaMu at any one time. Easily FDIC insureable. I'd miss WaMu if they went under, but would figure that they would have the sense to go under early. As in the old saying: Don't panic, but if you are going to panic, panic first. More worried about my bank stock - MI. That stock could be had for a sandwich and latte. Its the difference between an account holder and a share holder.

Just a little service in these troubled times - I've put FDIC in list of Sites I Enjoy. Easy to search for, and feel free if you need to check your bank out.

Oh yes. Banks tend to "fail", or rather, get taken over by the FDIC on a Friday. Makes it much easier to control a bank run that way. Sleep tight.

Saving log - $600 + $5.64 dividend
Spending log - $1.50 coffee + $7 lunch (for two days) + $8 groceries

I need a cigarette because I FINALLY got stimulated in the mail box this evening. I was about to tap the IRS on the shoulder and say forget it.

Goes into ING.

Also going into ING was a bit of prunings from my savings that I was saving for the farmette. It was getting okay interest, but that account plus the two CDs were over 100K. I just wanted to be under the FDIC limit.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee

My laptop is still at the shop (apparently they will replace the hard drive), so I'll make this quick...

Renewed my CD, but since I knew the interest rate was going to be low I set the term at 6 months. 2.6% - Yeesh. I renewed the CD at the original amount and put the interest in checking, to move to ING.

Took this month's collection from the tip box and deposited in my brick and mortar bank. $46, includes the $1 above.

Ate the second half of the footlong, so I had a very low spend day.

Attended the quarterly 403B lunch and learn with the plan administrator from Merrill Lynch. I got called out at the end because:

Plan Administrator (looking at the handout): As you can see, proper asset allocation is the biggest determiner of how much you will end up with.
Me (raising hand): Excuse me? Ahem... I was thought it was the amount you put in in the first place that's the biggest determiner.
Plan Administrator: Yes, of course ...

I enjoy openings like that. Great for lunchtime entertainment.

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $4 coffee, pastry + $12 lunch

DH drove me in this morning, so we had a coffee and a pastry together.

I added $5 to the tip box, making it $40 total inside. A quick add of my other tip box savings and...

I've moved $2000 through my wallet into my tip box, into savings, and into my little fiscal empire! I put, on average, a bit more than $40/month, so yes, while I started my box in 2004, and while it took about 4 years to save it ... saved it I did.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $6 lunch (for 2 days) + $3 carrots, apple + $5 bubblebath, deodorant

Back to the finances. A little financial tidbit to get off my chest. Again with the I-bonds, and I noticed a number of articles contained cutting comments about how its a good thing that savings bonds are becoming unappealing because taxpayers are paying the interest.

Perhaps. That opinion still burns me up, though, because it implies that I'm unpatriotic and a leech because I've taken out an I-bond or two (or about 30). Such a turnaround from the opinions of the past - imagine that being said during WWII.

Humph. Is it my fault that I had the savings to invest in the first place? I mean, if I wasn't there to buy the dang US savings bond, the taxpayer would have to fund that 50-5,000$ in addition to the interest. There. That's much better! Perhaps I should fund someone else's government should I wish to do so. T-bills are indirectly funded by taxpayers too, not to mention the funds that the Federal Reserve uses to provide liquidity to financial markets.

Do we, as a society, really think so little of savers?

Saving log - $7 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $8 lunch

Neither of the big checks were presented to the bank, and my ING transfer went through, so I could move the money back to savings. Now you know that if I hadn't moved the money in the first place, it would have been a different result.

Have to call the Ameriprise planner to close that account. All I will have left is stock and apparently, legally an email stating that decision is not good enough. Makes some sense, but a phone call is even more ephemeral than an email.

I've put the money into Vanguard, but I've put it in a money market fund, so I can buy the funds at once.

Got my new glasses today, and they replaced the lenses on my old glasses. It is such a luxury having two pair, even though right now it means I squint in a different way.

Been quiet otherwise.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $.84 apple

First day back to work. DJ friend bought me belated birthday lunch today, so it was a nearly no spend day.

Checked out the new I-bond rates set this May 1. I-bond rates have two component - a fixed rate that is set for the life of the bond, and the variable rate based on inflation, set every six months. You want to keep your eye on the fixed rate because that was going to be what was going to protect your I-bond from inflation. I figured that the fixed rate was going to be crappy. It was crappier beyond my wildest dreams:

0.0%

In other words no protection from inflation and if there's deflation (hey, you never know), these I-bonds can actually lose money. I guess that's what the US Treasury is gambling on - lots of inflation and no deflation. In addition, the US Treasury is trying to move savers to T-bills away from savings bonds - you can buy t-bills in $100 increments, while you can't buy more than $5000/yr in savings bonds. Don't know how that's going to work out for the US in the future.

Anyway, I'm glad that I've bought extra I-bonds last week and finished my position.

My photo for today. We had the May Day why-not-inconvenience-the-commute rally at 4-6 pm. Nice to know that in Seattle, when the revolution comes, it will be catered:

Pulled the trigger on two of my decisions from the last entry. Started the new drip (IP) by filling out the application, and I added $500 to my bank Drip.

I have no idea when my stimulus check is going to hit my account - I filed electronically, but I paid by check. I'll either be 2 weeks from now or 5 weeks from now.

Found out that sister gave her notice to her job last Friday. Her last day is the 9th. Her plan is to take six months off and work on the farmette.

Still on my vacation and kicked around town again today. Went to the Tully's downtown to catch up with three people from tinfoil-hat set . They've always been there kvetching, watching CNN and CNBC, waiting for the recession. Actually, except for the fact that I don't own gold or silver, I apparently fit right in. During the conversation, I found out that only one of us had a car, two of us rented, and none of us changed our food buying habits. So we are all carless cranks throwing our money away on rent.

Kicked around West Seattle, then came back to downtown Seattle and did the $6.70 mini-vacation - I took the ferry to Bremerton and back. I managed to get back before it got too windy and before the storm clouds in the west hit Seattle.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3 coffee, turnover + $7 lunch + $45 groceries

Screenwriter friend is starting to make an independent movie based one of his scripts. Today I helped him out with auditions. I really didn't do much - I provided a friendly face and was an additional presence while people tried out for various roles. It made for an interesting Saturday.

Right now I've a cluster of "small" financial decisions to make.

I, like retire@50, have also bumped up my I-bond purchase for this month. I'm purchasing $400 in I-bonds, for a total of $10K. I figure it will complete my holdings for a little while. Because the t-bill auctions have garnered such a poor interest rate (.8-1.5%), I figure that the May I-bonds will have a very poor fixed interest rate, giving me an excuse not to buy any for a little while, meaning I have $100/month to invest somewhere else.

I will have my round lot of KO in June. After June, I will stop buying KO for a little while and let that ride. I might pick that up again if KO drops back down below $50. Here I have $50/month to invest somewhere else.

One of my CDs is maturing at the end of May. Bummer - its at 5.2%. I won't get such a lovely interest rate for a little while. I plan on rolling it over, but for a 6 month term. It will be a bad interest rate, but it makes no sense to lock it in for longer than 6 months. The interest the CD earned is going to ING.

The bank Drip stock that I own has bucked the trend and increased its dividend by a penny/share/quarter. I read that as a sign of strength and plan on adding to my position of the stock, using savings. Not too much - $500 or so.

I'm going to start a new Drip with the $600 stimulus check. Not saving, but not spending either. I have the paperwork; all that's necessary is to fill out the form my transfer agent provided. Since I'm so used to paying $50/month for a drip, in a sense I'm trading KO for something else.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $8 lunch

Put in this month's collection from the tip box into savings - $46 worth.

Looking into getting a currency CD from www.everbank.com, because the interest rates look and because I'm assuming that the dollar will get weaker before its gets stronger. Anyone else out there looking into owning one?

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $7 lunch + $14 groceries + $50 cash

For the new readers out there: saving log and spending log are quick snapshots of what I spent or saved that day. Nothing much more.

Since my Paypal interest rate is not any higher than my ING account, I consolidated by moving the Paypal money into ING.

Getting my folders ready for the tax advisor tomorrow night. I still have to find my SS card and my last year's form. If nothing else, I have files for both on my flash drive.

Lawyer friend's youngest brother was diagnosed with a serious form of leukemia; he's heading out tomorrow for the east coast.

Tomorrow is the last day for my temp guy. He can speak Mandarin Chinese; his new job depends on his ability to translate and he was tested on it. He squinted at a character and said, "Badger?". The company was very happy; no one else figured that character out.

Tonight I was milling around my bus stop at my usual time. Intermediate transit lesson for today is: Identify your markers. Markers are people who share your regular schedule and who you ride with. See them milling around the stop and be consoled that you didn't miss the bus. If you get sick of watching the road for your bus, watch their movements instead. If they're heading for the edge of the sidewalk, so should you. Its considered a nice touch if you yourself have a memorable flair and you're regular; you too can become a shining beacon marker for someone else.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $6.50 lunch

Just in case you're new and you need to know about the mysterious tip box:

http://baselle.savingadvice.com/2007/04/10/the-infamous-tip-...

DJ friend was excited about getting several more coupons to his favorite Indian restaurant, so we went. The coupon, however, was for 11-noon and 1-2, leaving that critical lunch rush 12-1 at full price. Look at your coupons carefully!

Still not looking at my stocks and equities this week. We've had the drop in prices, now we have the rally. Of course the rally didn't really make up for the drop.

In gym today two other trainers were teasing my trainer. We now have a little index card binder into which my trainer writes the wicked routine she devised for me. Index card binder = $4.50, including index cards with the holes. The binder opens up the long way, like a checkbook, so when my trainer writes notes, it looks like my trainer was bribing me with checks during my routine. 15 pushups for a buck, anyone?

Still holding at 184!

Saving log - $7 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $13 stamps

Third free lunch of the week. I pay now for the next two days.

Put what was in the tip box into savings. $46. Not too bad this month. Payday yesterday, so I could move another $100 from checking into ING. I needed to pick up some stamps, just in case, so I got a sheet of Forever stamps along with a sheet of regular ones.

Made a quick dinner, but had a bit of a scare - a jar of crushed garlic broke in my hands. Luckily I didn't get cut, but the sauce got a lot more garlic than it should have. I rescued the rest of the garlic, checking for shards, by putting it in a plastic container with a bit of olive oil on top.

Found a dime in between our couch cushions.