Not much happened today. I took the plunge and bought a gym membership to the gym next door at work. Gotta pick up some decent gym shoes. The ones I have are beaten, have holes, and have no ankle support. I have about $263 left of my paycheck, but I'm waiting for my sewer/water/gas bill, which should grab about $120 of it, so I really have about $140 left for gym shoes.

I was staring at the starlings in the trees across the street from my bus stop, but didn't take into account the birds in the trees I was under, waiting. My jacket got spluched. Yuck. Stupid bird with good aim.

Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 5.00 lunch (wonton soup)
Saving log - 4.00 tip box + 40.00 3M DRP

Today was a faux-no spend day. I spent, but I used a gift card that someone else loaded up for me, and I saved half a large sandwich yesterday for lunch today.

Went to a health fair put on at work. Except for the fact that I need to lose weight (and who doesn't?) and my blood pressure is on the high normal side, things look good. Fasting blood sugar at 96 and total cholesterol at 175. YAY. I signed up for a gym membership at work. We'll see how that goes. I normally walk 10 blocks of downtown Seattle to get to my bus, and while it's keeping me from getting fatter, I need to think about improving that bit of my life.

Yesterday afternoon the executors called at work to update me; then sister called me later that night. The executors told her that I had agreed to X, and she was wondering whether that was the case. I honestly don't remember agreeing to anything, just that I understood what the situation was, so I told her that. I suspect that the executors are using divide and conquer, a useful tool when you trying to get scattered heirs to agree to anything. I'll have to keep my comments to myself - the non-committal uh-huh - and ask the executors point blank at the end of calls if I've agreed to anything.

My lawyer friend hadn't called her yet. He told me he would do it tonight.

I'll reach a milestone two days after payday, when I finish my sticking bits of my paycheck into various accounts. I will have saved 12 months worth of living expenses!

Geez, after only 6 weeks? I try to space out my junk food proclivities, but today it was very rainy and dark in Seattle. I woke up at 7:00 and wondered if I was in a cave and when daylight would come. Worse, I really wanted to stay in nice, warm bed. I bribed myself - a junk food lunch if I would wake up and go to work.

A co-worker wanted to thank me for a couple of emergency projects I did for him. (I work for a non-profit and during fundraising season nearly everything is an emergency project) I picked up a Starbucks gift card as a thank you from another co-worker...so I gave him my card and asked him to load it up. Haven't used the card yet, but it seems like a quickie way to collect goodwill.

Scheduled my next set of I-bond purchases in 2006. 300$/month for 6 months. Since I worked my way up saving 500$, it means that I free up 200$ to buy more DRP stock. I know that there's a calculation (from the Drip Advisor) that you can make on your portfolio to buy stock in the most strategic way. A nice little project. I have a couple of months to figure it out and either pick up an Excel spreadsheet with the calculation or make one.

Tonight the tops of all the trees at my bus stop look like they are covered with black, oblong fruit. Then one of the fruits flutters a bit and settles on another branch. Starlings settling down for the night. Brrrr.

Spending log - 1.65$ coffee + 6.28$ burger, fries, root beer.
Saving log - 3$ in the tip jar

Yippee!!!!!
Since its retroactive from the end of August, the paycheck is about $120 (net). I figure the raise will be about $40/ paycheck, and along with the net $50/paycheck salary adjustment and the original promotion it means that I'm making 20% more now than I was in January. Thank you, emergency fund!

It'll bulk up my ING account, but I'm seriously considering bumping up my 403(b) to 15% up from 12%. On the other hand I don't really like my fund choices. There's always starting a Roth, or just simply going it alone and bumping up my stock and I-bond purchases.

And then what to do when the inheritance comes in. I also got a phone call asking for my mailing address re: mom's death benefit. I called them back and gave them my address. I wonder what that is?

But as for now, I broke down and bought new shoes and ordered the Looney Tunes vol 3 DVD. Spent the $120.

Put another 50$ into bank savings (not ING), and put another 7$ in the tip box, which eventually goes into bank savings. This is where I pull the funds to buy the savings bonds. Paid my share of the rent ($445). Saw online that I bought over 1 share of Coke stock at the end of the month and bought another third of a share by the quarterly dividend.

Yesterday was just plain weird. I forgot my PDA (Handspring Visor) so I felt naked all day. The bus was packed by mostly rude people (what kind of person can sit next to a 75 year old woman standing in the aisle?), but a few were nice enough. A car cut the bus off and parked right in front of the bus, causing it to have problems getting out of its stop. The driver was incensed enough to get out of the bus and yell at the guy for a minute or two. A few blocks later he mused (over the microphone) why are car drivers so stupid. A passenger shot back: all the bright car owners are on the bus.

I was invited to an inpromptu lunch at my favorite curry place. I barely knew the two of my lunch companions from work, but they were friendly enough. I opened my wallet and whooops -- I had to borrow some money. I was strangely unembarrassed when I asked the woman next to me for a loan.

After lunch I went to the bank, and the only place that had something cheap enough to break a twenty the right way was a Starbucks. So I bought and drank a coffee at 1 pm. Went back to work and paid off my loan. She was a little surprised to get it back so quick (45 min, no chance for interest). Right around 11 pm I knew that that 1 pm coffee was a very, very big mistake.

It set me up for a not so terrific day today. But not much happened. At least nothing weird.

The second of grampa's savings bonds is in my online manifest. Four weeks. That took a little longer but I guess the US government has a lot on its mind. Still waiting for the second, heiress piece of paper. My job evaluation is on Friday. The job itself is starting to get into its busy season - I'm keeping up and I have a high capacity but the screws are starting to tighten.

The second day of all the Seattle buses being diverted from the bus tunnel and going through downtown Seattle. Third Avenue looks kinda cool. Bus, bus, bus, bus, bus...all of them zooming. Once in awhile a car goes by that will get stopped by the cops for $101. A *lot* more people on the streets waiting for their bus; each stop on each side of the street had at least 75 people waiting for something coming by. I never knew. I used the tunnel during lunch so it was always deceptively quiet to me, but it turns out that 40% of downtown Seattle commutes by bus.

Sept 26
Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 6.00 lunch + 2.50 snack

Sept 27
Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 5.00 lunch

I heard the mental sound of a buzzer several times in the last two days.

So much for my project of stretching out the time between ATM visits. DH and I went to Hakka* chinese last night. DH hasn't done this in awhile, but he used to have one annoying, frugal-busting habit. At the end of a meal, he would announce, "I'm a little short this week. Can you help a little more?" I thought I weaned him of it by saying in a couple of different situations ..."Funny, so am I. All I can afford is mine." I was surprised, so I flipped him a twenty. And that meant 2 days between ATM visits, not 4. And another round of weaning.

I was going to ask DH for a bit of payback for the sewer/water/gas which was $105. If he shows the annoying habit at dinner, he's gonna whine about this. I held my tongue; I'll extract the guilt tax on him later on.

Weather turned cool, so the grocery bill went up. I'm cooking a pot roast bought from grocery 1 as I type, which should last us most of the week. Grocery 2 had a wicker sale - some storage baskets of the type I was looking for were 50% off. A saving failure but a spending success.

The bank transferred $450 out into my savings account this month, which was normal from the last year, but I thought I changed this online to $250. A couple days of confusion as I transfer it back to checking.

A weekend of sighs, I guess.

September 16
Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $5.00 lunch + $105.82 utility bill + $350.00 credit card + $20.00 dinner
Saving log - $3.00 tip box

September 17
Spending log - $1.80 coffee + $102.68 grocery1 ($40 of this was ATM) + $37.34 grocery2
Saving log - $250 (at least that was my intention)

*Hakka, according to the owners, is northern chinese and roughly translates into "soul food". Lots of frugal dishes made with preserved foods; I had the spicy beef and sour cabbage - delicious, but my palate got confused. Was it chinese or german?

For today and yesterday:

Sept 13
Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 15.00 lunch (okay, I had a sushi craving)
Saving log - 2.00 tip box

Sept 14
Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 5.00 lunch
Saving log - 35 - DRP

So much for routine, eh. Didn't write yesterday because I had to get to work early so I had to hit the hay early. I did manage to catch the last 15 minutes of Oprah with Dave Ramsey on. Wow. How did that girl manage to get her fiance to buy her a car? I wouldn't have the nerve. I guess that really shows the finance in the fiance.

I'm going to set myself a fun little task and slow my spending. I always get $40 from the ATM and it always seems to last 2-3 days, or 5-6 times per paycheck. I'm going to see if I can get it to last 3-4 days, or about 4-5 times per paycheck. Turns out that economists talk about the velocity of money, or how fast it moves through one's possession. Spenders have a high velocity of money, savers have a much lower velocity. And the no-spend days are infinitely slow.

Pay day tomorrow.

Well, we all have our triggers - places where we lose it and can't bring our credit card. For me, its the office supply store. Something about pens and paper and binders and 1Gb flash drives. For these places I have the ten minute plan - get in, buy my thing, and get out.

I went in to Staples with DH to get PDA screen protectors. My PDA is a Handspring Visor Neo, so I had to make a best guess. Ten minutes later, I caught up with DH who was still looking, which meant I was screwed. I wandered the aisles in a weak state. Cute leopard print pencil cases? Lovely. iPod shuffles and cases? 1 Gb flashdrives for 89$? I grit my teeth. Notebooks? I have two at home that I have *not* written anything in. Stop.

I did pick up a file tote with a cover and the handle. This afternoon I put all my financial papers in it, so it was organized and when the big one hits Seattle, I can tote it away from the hot water heater. . Seriously, it can go in the car, but with an earthquake that's not predictable, where are you're going to drive to?

Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $5 breakfast + $33 groceries + $37 office supply store + $3 bubble tea.

Ate at the New Orleans Restaurant at lunch. They were collecting donations for their namesake, to be donated to the Red Cross. Dropped $5 in their jar. It might go to New Orleans. It might go to the next disaster which will unfortunately occur. We're never far away from suffering.

Online, I changed the mid-month transfer of money from $450 to $250 so I can hike up my credit card payment. I found out that Looney Tunes volume 3 is coming out in late October. Its only 45$, but be strong, defer gratification. Wait, at least get a month of no debt before I ride on that horse again.

Got taken out for a $3 chai in the afternoon.

It'll be interesting on Monday. Seattle is revamping the bus tunnel to accomodate light rail, driving all the buses up on 3rd Avenue, one of the main streets downtown. Cars allowed only for a couple of blocks. They're doing the reroute in a couple of weeks, but to show every commuter they mean business, they are doing the reroute early. No cars on 3rd Ave starting Monday. Being a bus commuter and pedestrian, I like it.

Spending log - 1.65 coffee + 9.00 lunch + 5.00 charity + 8.00 takeout
Saving log - 1.00 tip box

Spending log - $1.65 coffee + $6.00 lunch + $2.50 snack

Saving log - $6.00 tip box

Well tomorrow's payday, and I've bottomed out at $50 in the checking account. It's a little low - I like to bottom out at about $90-$100 at the end of the month. I had an exBF that aimed for what he called "$0 balance checking" at the end of the month. Musta worked for a company with a perfect HR department that never, never ever gets your paycheck wrong! Of course at the time I argued that I, too, practiced $0 balance checking because my $100 cushion never changed. I only had to do the $100 balance checking once, then $0 thereafter. HA.

I don't have cable, so I'm following what's going on in the southeast over the web. I see the same things happening there on a much, much larger scale than what I experienced. If the parallels hold, the most ironic thing was that 2 or 3 days after the hurricane, skies will be as blue and the air will be as clear as can be. In other words, all of NO's airborne dust, sand, and the free Mardi gras beads are all in Tennessee by now.

Cheapest gas at the cheapest stations in Seattle is $2.75. I see a fair number of new faces on the bus and less entertaining behavior. Not all is bright in mass transit paradise, though. The bus stop I normally use is on a piece of street that's sinking and has to be replaced. Its going to be out of commission for a year. The best part about that stop was that all three bus lines that stopped there I could take downtown. The stop that replaced it and all the other ones within a block of it -- only two lines in different combinations. I've missed more buses in the last week than I have in a year. Grrrr.

Last night the toilet broke -- landlord time! The shutoff value is busted, so when the back of the toilet recharges its water it keeps going, and water goes into the overflow valve into the bowl and keeps going and going, overflowing the bowl. So the drill is: water is now turned off to the toilet, use the toilet, flush, then lift up the cover on the back, turn on the water, watch it recharge until it gets to the level its supposed to, then turn off the water to the toilet. We don't have kids so its inconvenient but if the landlord doesn't respond in a couple of days its time to hit up the Seattle tenants union.

Of course this plumbing problem is nothing compared to anyone in New Orleans facing hurricane Katrina. I'm not a religious person, but I'm praying for the best. In 1996, we were in Raleigh, North Carolina and rode out hurricane Fran. Raleigh's inland and is actually one of the places that the Outer Banks folks evacuate to, but that time the eye of Fran passed over Raleigh. Fran was a category 3.

The hurricane actually wasn't the worse part, it was the aftermath. Thousands of trees were down, there was flooding in low lying areas, the big mall was flooded in three feet of water, no gas to be had because the pumps needed electricity to operate, little or no fresh water. It took some neighborhoods in Raleigh 3 weeks to get power because the utility cables were buried underground. When an uprooted tree snapped those cables, the power company had to dig to find the break. People didn't get back to work for weeks. If you were living from paycheck to paycheck (like I was), it was a catastrophe.

The twin habits of frugality and kindness really, really come into their own in times like that. Good luck and God bless you, New Orleans.

Folks on the west coast could start getting their free credit reports from the three credit bureaus on Dec. 1. Based on thinking about buying a house (I didn't - too expensive for the value you get), I had my report pulled over a year ago. Looking at them all three were riddled with minor mistakes, so setting them straight was a good little project.

Since my score was good, I wanted to monitor and protect my report, so I pulled a different bureau's report every four months. That way, if I lost my credit card or had my identity stolen I could pick it up in four months instead of years. I looked at Equifax's and fixed the employment history in Dec., Trans Union's had a nine year old tax lien that should have fallen off and I fixed that on Mar. I looked at Experian's last night. All clear!

That was so nice - it wasn't always the case. About ten years ago I was in sad financial shape - unemployed and took unemployment compensation. I got caught because no taxes were taken out. I paid the IRS, but not the AZ state income tax, which promptly slapped a tax lien on me even when I moved to NC. A year later I paid it off, and the fact that I paid it also went on my report. Did I get brownie points for that? Nope. If anything, the record that I paid for it reminded everybody that had this in the first place. Grrr.

Its not that icky a decision, just a bit of a dispiriting one. Normally I put a chunk of money in savings bonds automatically, and I'll do it this month. But with the credit card balance I decided to drop my savings bond buying by $200 and throw that into paying the credit card, along with the little raise. I figure I should be clear of credit card in 2 more months, unless I get yet another emergency. That might be a hint to actually use my emergency aka "kiss my a** fund" fund.

Hmmm. Maybe that's why I'm loathe to spend my emergency fund. Who wants to spend down a kiss my a** fund on just any old boring emergency that I can't actually say "kiss my a** at. So unsatisfying.

Spending log:
1.65 - coffee + 10.00 lunch + 20.00 cider and dinner with DH.

Saving log:
0 !

Agita or a good laugh? You decide.

So I was at the ATM machine, getting my standard two twenties. Someone left their ATM slip dangle from the slot. In the age of recycling and possible identity theft it rarely happens. I mean the slip was just hanging there. I was going to toss it, but just I had to look at the balance.

$10650.

15 years ago I would have written an envy-fueled "can I sleep with you?" note on the slip and then stuck it in a prominent ledge of the ATM for all to see. But now, armed with my financial knowledge, I realize the truth. How freaking dumb can you be for having $10,650 dollars in an 0.5% interest (at best) checking account?

Attended the company picnic. It had a Hawaiian theme and it was fun as these things go. Best of all, it was a free catered lunch.

Tip Box - $2; coffee - $1.65 + .35 change into their tip jar ... my version of the no spend day.

For the person who gave my journal 5 stars ... thanks mom!

Not much on the economic front. ING hiked up its interest rate, which works out to be a 0.01 more in interest/day. I talked with a woman who took me up on the ING invite. She noticed the increase in interest and was thinking on signing up her kids for ING savings accounts. I told her she should send them invites, because then she gets $10/each. She smiled and nodded. The wheels were turning and it was good to see.

Moved $450 of this paycheck into my bank savings account (the bank I have my checking account in). In about a week, the money in this savings account will go to buy an I-bond from Treasury Direct. Most my accounts are nested, like a series of buckets with controlled, budgeted leaks leaking into other buckets with higher interest rates. As long as I fill the inner bucket with my paycheck I'm all right. Just have to figure out when enough is enough.

Heard good work gossip at lunch, so lunch was a bit expensive. But you have to pay to play sometimes.

Spending log:
coffee - 1.65 (all change) + lunch - $11

Saving log:
Tip box - $2.

Got $100 from DH for 1/2 of the two combined utility bills.

We have a bit of an odd system - we don't have a combined account, just two separate ones. Yeah I know, might just as well write up the divorce papers, dammit. It works for us because we both work, no kids, we don't have wildly divergent spending styles, and we've each saved each other's economic bacon over the years. And if I screw him over the utilities he can screw me over the rent. Mutual economic assured destruction (MEAD).

I also got a pay raise with my paycheck. Small but nice and better than a sharp stick in the eye. Save it eventually, but for the first couple of months I'm throwing it at the credit card. I was expecting to pay off my credit card balance in 4 months, but now with DH and this I think I can stretch my payment and get it down to 3 months, with the 3rd month very comfortable.

Got taken out to lunch so very nearly a no spend day.

Spending log - 1.65 - coffee

Saving log - 100$ payback + $48 raise

Ugh, the credit line on the credit card bill is well over $600. Most of it from last week, but Sunday it was DHs birthday and we went out for dinner. Pay the card all next month or spread it out over several months? Decisions, decisions... I just hate to spend down my emergency fund (why? it was a real emergency!), so I'm gonna do the unprudent, non-perfect saver thing and revolve the credit a bit.

Pored over the mail. A utility bill from my landlord was calculated wrong, it claiming that according to the lease we would pay 70% instead of 50%. DH was unnerved and was going to pay it, but its easy to fix by a polite email...blink, blink, write innocent. Why was it 70% this time and 50% last time? Did we miss a notification? We got back a whoops, we were wrong its 50%. Letter writing and arguing an economic case was always a talent of mine. The IRS red-flagged me once in grad school and I managed to get the IRS to back down. Its a gift.

Sister emailed me to tell me she and a cousin found several EE savings bonds in our name from 1991. Hah! As usual, finding money. Her gift. Plugged the issue date and amount in my savings bond wizard and got a very pleasant surprise. I'm surprised on another level - gramps was always pro-business, anti-government, no taxes kind of guy. It'd be like me buying Enron stock or something.