baselle's Financial Diary

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast
Found money - $0.44 (planting square, road, car wash parking lot)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee + $7.50 rennet + $13 groceries
Found money - $0.05 (Safeway change cup)

Monday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $6 lunch
Found money - $0


Boy, Jeffrey wasn't kidding when he suggested cutting through parking lots with car washes on them to hunt for dirty money. I cut through a car wash parking lot about a mile from my house - 11 cents right off. Something about people washing their cars, then detailing them, means the customers get a bit sloppy as they run the vacuums over the mats. I'll have to cut through the car wash more often.

$23.68: 593 pennies, 23 nickels, 101 dimes, 22 quarters, $1 bill.

Friday I got weighed by the trainer - 170.8. That's with my shoes on. Nobody in the gym would want me to weigh myself with clothes and shoes off, but I'll bet I'd be 169 if I did so.

Went to visit the Duvall friends for the Super Bowl - DH made no knead pizza crust, and we put a lot of anchovies on one. We also went out during halftime to watch ducklings still in their cute fuzzy phase and to admire the new fencing. (How was The Who anyway?) The Duvall friends are planning on adding goats to their menagerie (chickens, ducks, geese). They have the land for the goats to clear, and they want to start to make cheese from the goat's milk.

Their first attempt of cheese was an attempt - they got yogurt, and yogurt cheese, but not cheese yet. Hence they wanted us to pick up fresh rennet from a

contact very near us. We'll have to start hanging out in there - the store has homebrew equipment, rennet and cheese making equipment, and vinegar mother.

Today I had lunch with lawyer friend and screenwriter friend in the Columbia Tower food court. Only a couple years ago, we would have had to hunt hard for a table at noon and every place would have had a line. Now, its take your pick even at noon. Lunch seemed to be cheaper also - $6 bought a fairly nice lunch. Lunch conversation turned around screenwriter friend - his son made a great 80 minute film for his senior project. The Seattle Independent Film Festival (SIFF) is going to premiere it in June. Very exciting - as a matter of fact, its more exciting for us than it is for the film maker, who is a tad too teenage-casual about the whole thing. Oh well, you learn as an adult that great progress doesn't fall in your lap. If something succeeds, pounce!

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0

Friday
Saving log - $3
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $13 super bowl snacky items
Found money - $0.02 (sidewalk, Safeway floor)

Dirty money tally:
$23.19: 584 pennies, 22 nickels, 100 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill.

So spread out a few days every month, I've scheduled "opportunities" to save. Here's my monthly schedule:

1st - $35 1 Drp
2nd - $125 moving from checking to savings
5th - $30 or so goes into a CD
12th - $50 2nd Drp
16th - $100 from checking to ING
21st - $30 or so goes into 2nd CD
last day of month - monthly interest applied to ING ($28), Vanguard ($2), farmette checking account ($1).

I haven't counted the tip box, the dirty money hunt, the quarterly dividend reinvestment or what goes into the 403B, so what I've listed above is not exhaustive. This little bit of savings spread out over many days every month means I get a little saving thrill many times a month, rather than a big old dread 1-2X/month.

Does anybody else have this extensive a saving schedule?

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch + $5 groceries
Found money - $0.15 (gutter, inside lobby at work)

Since July 14, I've been tracking the amount, quantity, and type of money that I've been picking up from the ground. Today I found my 100th dime since July 14.

$23.17: 582 pennies, 22 nickels, 100 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill.

Tuesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $100 beef
Found money - $0.23 (sidewalks, parking meter, Safeway floor)

Monday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 groceries
Found money - $0.13 (sidewalks, parking meter)

Not much happened today. I did buy a deposit on 100# of beef. We plan on 50#; the rest should come from two others, each wanting 25#. Got one of those 25#/$25, all I need is the other one.

The second beef fest has begun.

I did find two semi-interesting fiscal links. One is a place to

compare 401K/403B of various companies. I tried our workplace - not enough information. For a long term project I might fill them in on our 403B - the information is not secret and it is not illegal to give out. Still, the discrete side of my personality really hesitates.

The other link is stock footnotes - some person I salute reads the various footnotes from 10-Ks, 8-Qs and other formal fiscal publications, then writes on the hinkiness she discovers therein. I can search on the ticker symbol for specific footnote hinkiness. Fantastic!

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $12 kaiten sushi lunch
Found money - $0.06 (road)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $11 2 bread pans + $2 coffee, energy bar
Found money - $0.31 (sidewalks, road, bus stop, grocery store checkout floor)

Friday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $0!
Found money - $0.03 (escalator edge, parking meter, bus stop under seat)


$22.66: 576 pennies, 21 nickels, 96 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill

Did my 5 mile walk-some jog today, listening to my tunes. I performed a cleanse on my MP3 player last night, and put a new configuration of songs. My MP3 player is nearly 4 years old, and is showing its age in the battery life (about 3 hrs) and in the capacity (a mere 20 Gb). Still, I'm kinda loathe to replace it - I'll wait until the battery can only hold an hour charge.

Anyway, my walks with the soundtrack give me plenty of time to think. This afternoon I thought about our US financial situation and the saying "history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes". I guess I'm trying to figure out what history our times are rhyming with. The Great Depression is the obvious rhyme circa late 2008, but I think we skirted that shoal.

I feel like its Japan, circa 1990 - present. Japanese banks were too big to fail too, the banks tightened credit, their version of the Fed dropped the interest rates to 0% (and they are still there), some banks turned into "zombie banks", their gov spent on various stimulus programs to keep some semblance of the population working. But the rhyme doesn't fit completely either - the savings rate in Japan leading up to their issues was very very high compared to the US. The banks could hold out, so could most of their population that was still working could also. And they both have been, off and on, for the last 20 years. I don't hold out any hope that the US population would be able to live on their savings for even a year, not to mention 10 or 20 years. Something has to give.

Thursday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $4 steak sauce
Found money - $0.23 (bus stop under bench, sidewalks, Safeway floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $0.05 apple
Found money - $0

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $8 groceries
Found money - $0.01 (sidewalks)

Just when I thought that folks had stopped throwing money on the ground, I was proved pleasantly wrong today.

$22.26: 566 pennies, 19 nickels, 94 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill.

I'm at my busiest right now - data data data. I get paid tomorrow, and come Monday I will have worked at my current place for 10 years. Yikes! But definitely better than working 9 years and a few months.

With the stock market down, I'm still at six figures in my 403B, but barely. My addition stocks of SYY got bought in the past few days, and my new stock, OSK, also got bought. I'm 3 shares into war now.

I also mentioned to DH that by the end of February, V.I. will have been with us 6 months, or as long as Morgan was. I haven't mentioned V.I all that much - I just didn't want to jinx her. She is doing fine - coat is great, no inappropriate poohing, and now doesn't need the bribery of a greenie either. She is still a tad skittish, but now visits us as we settle down in bed. The quality that I most treasure about her is that she does not hanker to go outside. Oh, she'll follow you into the patio if you are puttering around back there, but as soon as you come in, she wants in. Its as if she learned that she'll never be a stray if she stays in the house.

Monday
Saving log - $7 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (road)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $2 apple, bulk catnip
Found money - $0.02 (crosswalks)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 brunch + $5 mocha, slice of banana bread + $12 groceries
Found money - $0.27 (sidewalk, road)

Ever since DH pointed it out to me, I've been noticing that there are no advertising placards on the inside of buses these days. Only stuff about Metro (our transit entity), how to prevent the flu, throwing money away if don't fill out your census form, maybe a couple of jobdango ads. Probably due to the recession; the pendulum has swung from

this gem. I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Feels like less and less change to find out there. Over the holidays, everyone was spending money and careless about coins. Now? Mostly pennies, maybe a dinged up dime or two.

Everything is winding down, quiet and blah.

$22.02: 562 pennies, 19 nickels, 92 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $14 groceries
Found money - $0.11 (driveway, road)

I couldn't resist: blueberries @ $1.99/lb. Not local, not seasonal, cheap from Chile and probably put g%d knows how much CO2 in the air during its plane flight ... still a treat.

Fern, I found some real

ringers for your heat contest. Crazy, stubborn, super-cheap, anti-freeze for blood, all of the above?

Oh yes, after the third friday of 2010, we now have a second Washington state bank shut down. So much for moving your money to a local bank ... if it eventually creeps back to bigger and bigger bank.

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0.24 (bus stop, sidewalks, gutter, elevator floor)

At the all staff meeting this morning HR presented the benefits survey - who likes what and how much. HR was a bit surprised that the 403B was less popular than the dental plan. And a couple of people commented that they needed "more choices".

I rarely see eye to eye with HR. I'm not that surprised that the 403B slipped in popularity - I don't remember when I took the survey, but if your scared spitless about opening the envelope because you figured you lost a bundle, and you're frightened the match would disappear, you'd be inclined to think the 403B was less of a benefit.

However, I really don't know about the more choices. I get the feeling that if we had all the choice in the world it would hardly matter.

What I really see is a bunch of people signing up for 403B, saving money diligently, but with no knowledge, no advice, no training on what you can do on the website, no discussion of how to create and manage a portfolio, and no tips. I show my co workers a thing or two of what I learned, and they are amazed. All the choice in the world won't replace a spot of financial planning.

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $10 lunch
Found money - $0.02 (carpet, sidewalk)

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - free coffee + $0
Found money - $0.06 (bus stop, park sidewalk)

Monday
Saving log - $300 to SYY drp
Spending log - $4 latte, pastry + $1 paper + $12 shopping at the Pike Market + $6 lunch
Found money - $0.29 (sidewalks, parking meters)

Busy days now for me at work, but I did manage to get the money I've slipped into in my tip box for the month into the bank: $40 in bills, plus a $1 dividend check. I was joshing with the teller about the $1 check - he has seen much smaller ones.

I've been noting my weekly totals of found money for the last few weeks: $1.48, $1.33, $3.19 (that was the day of the 89 penny deluge), $1.08, $1.17, 0.55 ... Yesterday, as I was perusing my collection of tax documents, I glanced at what 200K in grandma money in a Vanguard money market fund made in interest this December: $1.27.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee + $.60 apple + $.35 pack of gum (see below)
Found money - $0.44 (edge of bridge, sidewalks)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $13 brunch + $2 cookie + $10 dinner
Found money - $0.16 (sidewalks, parking lot)

This is a story about a coin rescue gone too far. It worked out, but boy I looked odd ... even for me. If you are hesitant to pick up coins in public view, this is not a technique for you!

My tale begins as I walked across the Fremont Bridge. Now I've walked across the pedestrian walkway on this bridge for months and most times I've noticed three coins on a moss-covered concrete pad two feet below the walkway at the south lip of the bridge.

Of course, since I could not touch them (there's a three foot railing and wire mesh between railing and walkway), I could not count them. Over the months, off and on, I thought about how I could nab them. Today I thought it was their day to be rescued, so I walked onward and considered my plan.

The basic thought was a long stick with some thing sticky on it. About a block away I searched for some sticks and found a couple suitable - about six feet, relatively straight, firm, but not really large so as not to attract horrid amounts of attention - and set those aside. For the sticky, I thought of gum. I can get some gum. I kept walking and found a little grocery store, bought the 5-pack of gum for 35 cents, chewed a piece.

As I walked back, the first hurdle became apparent. I hate gum. The first couple of chews was all right, but over-chewing and popping? Gaack. It just activates the gag reflex in me.

Still, I persevered and chewed some more. I had the silver wrapper that would make for a smooth pad on the end of the stick and I knew that the gum would stick to it (who knew if gum would stick to the end of a wet stick?). Also along the way, I picked up a plastic tie. So when I got back to the stick, I had everything.

I halved the gum wrapper paper side out, wrapped the meaty end of the stick with the paper, tied it down, plunked the gum on top. The whole thing looked like a demented pool cue. Demented pool cue in hand, I walked back to the bridge. I hung away from the crowd - this is something that will embarrass even me.

My first tack was to slip the stick through a hole in the mesh and press down on one of the coins. It worked, kinda, but as I pulled out the stick, the coin slipped. I tried it again, and same thing.

Third tack was to hope that the stick was long enough to go over the railing. It was long enough, barely. I had more control, but the gum at the end wasn't sticky enough. I chewed another piece quickly and stuck the second wad on top of the first.

That did it. I extracted one coin (dime), then the next (nickel), then the nastiest one, which I thought was a nickel, but it turned out to be a corroded quarter. After the rescue, I broke the stick and threw it away.

Luckily I only got looks as I rescued coins - to the MacGvyer goes the spoils - but even I have to admit that I went a little overboard.

$21.00: 535 pennies, 19 nickels, 85 dimes, 21 quarters, $1 bill.

Friday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.02 (sidewalk, floor of Ross)

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.11 (11 pennies in one spot on the sidewalk)

The beef deal is starting to come clearer. More people are interested - we might have enough interest to buy a full cow (400+ lbs) versus a quarter share, which is what we got last time.

The mechanics are this:
1. By Feb- March $400 up front to buy the full cow "share" from the rancher. In a sense, this is the down payment - we are now considered serious buyers. We can pick out "our" cow and personify it if we'd like. (Tactically, bad idea. Always name a cow Dinner.)

2. Come July - August, cow is butchered and we ourselves are on the hook for the rest at $3.85/lb hanging weight. The beef raisers have their USDA cert butchers and storage area, so they can handle the cutting and finished product. A cow runs, on average, 600 lbs hanging weight (no head, hooves, innards) which turns into about 400 lbs of steak and pot roast. So really, it turns into about $5.77/ lb, or to round up, $6/lb.

Not cheap, but organic, grass fed, local supplier, unlikely to be full of mad-cow prions, not pumped full of hormones or ammonia and not a canner/cutter.

My part of this whole business is to provide the math, numbers, and structure to this whole situation. I suggested, and I hope this will happen, that the many parties interested in beef pay in part for the $400 deposit. $400/400 lbs = $1/lb. Interested in 20 lbs of beef? $20 deposit. I'd be very interested in it being non-refundable, just to concentrate the mind. I also suggested that folks keep in mind that they would be on the hook for the other $5/lb come July. So save those pennies - I've bought 3 lbs of beef from sidewalk change. I presented this to a couple of the parties on my end who are interested. Very popular because it is now kind of concrete, so I'm pretty sure that I can, with my own friends, buy 100lbs worth of cow. We'll see when it comes time to collect.

The final issue that I see is based on the final hanging weight. Cows are never exactly 600 lbs - the range the rancher gave us was 575 - 625 lbs, which translates into 390 - 410 lbs finished ... on average. Would it be easier to think of it as straight pounds or as a percent? In other words - your 20lbs of beef could be considered 5% of the cow. Hence, if the cow is a little shy of 400 lbs, you are going to be a little shy of 20lbs. Bigger cow - slightly bigger share.

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $6 salad
Found money - $0.05 (road, sidewalk)

Tuesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.41 (sidewalks, bus floor, Safeway floor)

Well, I'm at the official six month point for tracking found money. Still not finding many bills, but I've found 4 quarters 4 separate places within 6 days, which puts a smile on my face. I've been finding about 75% of money outside in the elements, 25% inside.

This month has been spectacular - $7.28. One would have to have $6500 in an ING account to match it. Thank heavens that Seattle is so very careless.

I'm at a total of $20.27 - 512 pennies, 17 nickels, 83 dimes, 20 quarters, $1 bill. And yep, while I find a lot of pennies, I find a lot of silver too. Picking up a penny means you are more likely to pick up something bigger.

I asked DH whether I have to declare it with the IRS. He promptly told me that he was taught to field the question this way:

"I'm sorry ma'am, let me transfer you to tax law."

DH appears to be doing pretty well at work. Its such a relief that he is working even if he didn't answer my question.

Monday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $8 lunch
Found money - $0.20 (sidewalks)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $20 (japanese plate,

box of wagashi) + $3 bottle of bubble bath
Found money - $0.34 (sidewalk, road, floor)

Little bit of fun over the weekend. There is a Japanese confectionary shop that is only open to the general public on the 10th of every month - 1-6pm. Usually the 10th fell on a day when I was working or otherwise occupied. Yesterday was the 10th, so for curiosity's sake I checked it out and split a box with DH. (3 pieces, so not diet busting) Delicious by itself, although I was supposed to have it with the green tea during the tea ceremony held in the center room. A Japanese potter was selling her creations outside on the porch, so I bought a shallow bowl.

2 days away from 6 months of noting where I find change. I'm at $19.81: 501 pennies, 17 nickels, 82 dimes, 19 quarters, $1 bill. Hard to believe that I might make $40/yr in "dirty money".

After that, I'm the process of figuring out from my sister how much to send for farmette maintenance, and I've printed out my W-2 from work.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 breakfast + $42 stuff at Ross (gift card)
Found money - $0.39 (road, sidewalk, escalator railing - again!)

I was shopping at Ross Dress for Less - using a Christmas gift card. First off, I'm:

a size 12!

or at least I am by that pseudo house of fashion. We'll see how 12vy I am, but this pair of size 12 pants fit me perfectly - no "if I lost a couple of pounds" fit.

As I was getting dressed in the dressing room, I heard from the next dressing room over small children voices and the familiar clink of coins falling on floor. Add dressing rooms to the list of places to find change. I found a penny on the floor of an empty room - however it was glued to the floor!

Still, being a size 12 was exciting enough for me and got me through the exceeding long checkout line carrying pants, top, set of stainless steel mixing bowls. And I was waiting in the long line, moving along, I noticed one final thing that made me wonder. A 20-something woman 2 people ahead of me had an unopened 12 oz bottle of beer in her right front pocket. (Bottle cap said Rogue - a well known high-end Oregon beer brand).

It took me aback. Why was she carrying it? Leftovers from a party last night? Way to keep the edge off as she waited?- it was a screwtop, after all. She had a normal size purse and nothing in her left - no place to hold the other five. She moved all right - no stagger - and seemed normal enough.

I mentally thanked her, though. Musing about that beer bottle made the time pass by.

After getting out of Ross, I soo wanted to get a cookie. Then I remembered that I was now a size 12 and had standards to uphold.

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.01 (escalator railing)

Thursday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $8 salad, trail mix
Found money - $0.27 (bus stop, crosswalk, sidewalk)

A penny on the railing of the escalator, for pity's sake! I was lucky to be alert at the right moment, all to find coins in the oddest places. Total of other people's money found thus far: $18.88: 493 pennies, 16 nickels, 79 dimes, 17 quarters, $1 bill.

Ever since DH has been working for the IRS, our snail mail looks forbidding; a lot of pieces addressed to DH from the IRS. They are nearly all new hire decision bits... apparently DH's paycheck comes from the Dept of Agriculture (?!). Write your own public servant joke here:________________________________.

Pulled the trigger and I am now beginning a new stock Drp (actually since the dividend has been suspended, its a Direct Stock purchase account). Its is OSK. I've officially diversified into war.

The organizer of the death bet is about to publish everybody's list. We have 9 entrants. We talked about this at lawyer friend's lunch. The bad karma and the creepiness aspect was brought up, I argued for the death bet. The fact that the onus is on you to alert the organizers should one of your list perish means that you do exactly what most celebs want you to do: be alert to their every move, career change, etc. And it is so rare to have a bit of black humor "fun".

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $8 lunch
Found money - $0.02 (sidewalk, Safeway floor)

Tuesday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $9 cat toy
Found money - $0.10 (gym counter)

Yesterday I broke an exciting barrier. My current workplace 403B (non-profit version of the 401K) broke six figures. Its still fragile, ready to be knocked down to five figures at the slightest dip in the stock market, but its a cause to celebrate tonight.

Also confirmed in my Vanguard that my 2010 Roth has been set up.

Last Saturday, V.I.'s favorite toy got eaten by the vacuum cleaner, so I got her a new one. Its a cat dancer, with a fresh toy mouse. Within 3 minutes, new mouse got de-tailed.

Monday
Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $9 yogurt/trail mix for desserts
Found money - $0.45 (sidewalk, under bus seat, parking meter, Safeway floor, vending machine)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $0.75 apple
Found money - $0.10 (sidewalks, road)

Well its 2010. Anybody else get a creepy feeling as a 2010 date popped into the news, work databases and what not? Like I should be on Saturn while perusing the calendar. Of course it should be 2010! And I'm posting from a cold, rainy, dark, dreary, boggy, foggy place...maybe I'm on Saturn. It sure feels like it. The Saturnians around here are practically throwing dimes and pennies on the streets today.

Was successful at all the small stuff today - fixed a database just using compact and repair; checked Vanguard to make sure that the 2010 Roth is going to be funded sometime this week; more 2010 tax 1099s arrived in the mail today.

Bigger wheels are turning - there is enough interest on many, many fronts for a beef fest year 2. Only this time instead of buying 100 lbs (1/4 cow), its 400 lbs (full cow). We are still eating the 40 lbs - just finished the beef ribs (fantastic) - so unless the purchase can go in the summer or fall, I don't think I'm in for the full 40 lbs. But I suspect that I inspired, by my buying and storing 40 lbs of beef in my top freezer, others to think that they can also buy and use 40 lbs. For certain, it will be a lot easier to deal with 10 households who want to buy a lot than 20 households who want to buy some. We'll see what the timing issues are, how many other people we can get in on the deal.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $13 breakfast + $20 lunch meat, crackers, breakfast bars
Found money - $0.71 (road, sidewalk, parking meter, Safeway floor)

Adding on loss of coolness from Changing it Up... I'm now at negative cool, frankly.

I did my walk today, revisiting some of the places where I've found a lot of change in the last several days - found 1) another dime in the crosswalk near I found the three dimes 2 days before and 2) found 20 more pennies in the road where I found the 86 pennies on the sidewalk yesterday.

And I've sadly figured out a new method that makes me slightly wicked as I hunt for change. Before I buy something at Safeway, I stroll along the checkout lines. I look like I'm trying to assess which line will clear the fastest; in reality I'm looking at the floor along the back of the cashiers for dropped change.

Yesterday, I did stop to pick up a dime, and asked the 60-something lady standing a foot away if she dropped it. She did, and I handed it to her. Such is the fine line between helpfulness and jerk.

After all that, finding that quarter today next to the parking meter on the sidewalk feels almost normal.

$17.93: 478 pennies, 15 nickels, 74 dimes, 16 quarters, $1 bill.

Friday
Saving log - $1 dividend check
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $6 sandwich, decaf coffee
Found money - $1.26 (road, sidewalks, floor)

Thursday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $19 New Year's snacks
Found money - $0.49 (bus stop, parking meter, counter, Safeway floor by cashier, sidewalk corner)

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $11 lunch + $50 champagne (we celebrated DH's new job with a good bottle on New Year's)
Found money - $.15 (gym carpet, sidewalks)

From the high end of the last post, to the very lowly today...

It had been raining off and on yesterday and some today - sometimes it rained hard enough for long enough, giving Seattle that gray, dirty, bedraggled look. It wouldn't surprise me if suddenly an ad announced:

A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!

Last night I found 3 dimes on a corner; at around noon, I found 86 pennies strewn for 2 blocks along 85th. I still have my distractor hypothesis - can it be that icky rain has been a factor? You lose your pocket money but you don't care about stopping to find it and pick it up because you just want to be out of the rain....

Anyway, current total is $17.22: 457 pennies, 14 nickels, 72 dimes, 15 quarters, $1 bill. Lot of pennies - you might tease me and call me Miss Moneypenny, but in picking them up means I'm alert and ready to pick up other coins. Feels like fishing ... you walk along, alert to the possibility, and when a coin appears, you are ready to strike.

The workplace 403B (subset of the IRA/403B) has been growing especially fast - its within 700$ of 6 digits. The taxable money has stabilized a bit. The plan is to bulk up the 403B as much as possible, using the cash when necessary. The idea is that the fastest growing money is in tax-free and tax-deferred buckets.

My Drp stock portfolio was up 12% as compared to last year. Several of the stock increased their dividend slightly - it always helps when you get paid to hold something. My bank stock is still doing poorly, but less poorly than before. I still might sell it to help with taxes, but I was dissuaded from doing so because I had enough tax help.

Still could not pull the trigger to put Gramma's money in the stock market. March would have been the best time, but they don't ring a bell at the bottom.

About 10% up from last year at this time.


$165,529 IRA/403B
$202,308 Vanguard taxable
$24,931 stock
$12,561 I-bonds
$117,067 CDs
$27,161 ING, paypal, farmette savings
$1,743 immediate cash
---
$551,300 total

By comparison:
December 2009 ($551,300 total, $385,771 in taxable accounts)
June 2009 ($512,054 total, $379,475)
Dec 2008 ($498,148 total, $386,021)
June 2008 ($524,261 total, $387,481)
Dec 2007 ($328,688 total, $192,747)
June 2007 ($176,422 total, $48,205)
Dec 2006 ($132,062 total, $40,329)
June 2006 ($120,261 total, $65,148)
Dec 2005 ($67,778 total, $23,740)
June 2005 ($46,115 total, $11,293)
Dec 2004 ($38,338 total, $7,558)
June 2004 ($29,050 total, $4,533)

Some say its cooking...
Some say its gardening...
Some even say its a talent for organization...

If you ask me, I think its

this. Underrated, and you might even say, well duh...
Well, duh...

Tuesday
Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.03 (sidewalks)

Monday
Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $12 lunch
Found money - $0

Well, the 38th day in a row finding found money was not to be. I found nothing yesterday, but got back on the horse and found three pennies today.

Abandoned most of the frugal principals yesterday. I was going to decline a lunch screenwriter friend and lawyer friend's partner, but I sniffed the lunch that I had in the work fridge - it turned, and I thought, "a bought lunch with friends would be money well spent."

Work is picking up - I expect that it will be hopping by Thursday the 31st. This year is shaping up to be a strange one: more antsiness about making sure that the credit card is charged by the 31st than in previous years. Also, we are seeing a rise in bad credit cards again, as in 2007.

DH joined our death bet.

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.97 bagel (free coffee off the punch card + $1 apple
Found money - $0.22 (sidewalk, Safeway checkout, top of escalator)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $14 brunch, coffee + $4 vegetables
Found money - $0.33 (road, sidewalk, under parked car)

Christmas
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel
Found money - $0.02 (sidewalk)

Yes, if you can believe it, I even found coins on Christmas day. $15.23, and counting. I reviewed my Excel spreadsheet of when, how much, where I found change and it turns out that I have found some sort of change every day between 11/21/09 and now - 37 days straight. I feel like the Joe DiMaggio of found money. Wonder what the record is?

DH and I had rib-eye steaks, gingered carrots, and garlic mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner. Saturday we were invited to dinner, movie, then back for dessert and digestif. We saw

Sherlock Holmes, which played to me like the steampunk version of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. (liked steampunk, liked LSTSB). The conversation was varied - I've been finding that I'm suddenly the to-go person for help in losing weight. If only people knew that it really takes a total awareness and a total lifestyle change. Nothing magic, hell I'm having issues - I'm up several pounds to 174.

Not much fiscal is going on - I'm waiting for the end of the year when the last paycheck, the net worth calculation, and the 2010 Roth gets started at the end of the year.

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.64 coffee + $8 stamp sheet + $6 lunch + $20 groceries
Found money - $0.27 (sidewalks, Safeway floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $12 tip box
Spending log - $0!
Found money - $0.13 (sidewalks, Safeway floor)

Merry Christmas on Christmas Eve! It has been rockin' and rollin' at the neighborhood Safeway - lots of spending, lots of change rolling around on the floor. In the last two days I've found 3 dimes on the Safeway floor. Not a lot of Jingle Bells on the radio this year - I've been hearing We Need a Little Christmas over and over this year. Fits the mood general mood: Cheer up, dammit, think of the children !

Well, I've been joking with people this year - I'm saying the non-PC "Merry Christmas" and I invite you to hear whatever holiday is appropriate. And when I hear a Happy Chanukah or a Blessed Kwanzaa, I respond in kind. We are, after all, in the same business: wishing our fellow human beings all the best, cheering ourselves (bucking ourselves up?) for the start of winter.

I had Christmas Eve off today, so I spent an hour at the gym (found a penny there), then I ran a couple of errands: stamps, and I obtained an ORCA card for transit trips. ORCA stands for One Regional Card for All - a super duper card that you can load money on, it keeps track of your transfers, and its good for nearly any transit system in the Seattle area. The card is free currently ($5 in February), but you load it with your own money. My current pass is good for unlimited rides until July 2010. I suspect that we will still get fresh passes in July, but you never know - it could be that we get a work version of the ORCA.

I got an ORCA card for myself because there is one interesting feature/fault of the cards - in keeping track of your transfers, it lists where/when you used your card. Quite a bit had been written in the local papers about the privacy issues. ORCA cards from employers can possibly mean that your employer can use it to establish where you've been - Saturdays, playing hooky, committing a crime, etc. I got a spare ORCA in case I need to use one for personal use, and if nothing else, if I get visitors, one more to load up and let the guests use. (and then I can find where they went! )

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $11 last Christmas gift
Found money - $0.13 (road, sidewalk, bottom of puddle)

Monday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0
Found money - $0.04 (under bus seat, sidewalk)

Did a frugal reconnaissance mission this last Sunday afternoon: I rode the

light rail all the way to SeaTac. (I have a bus pass that includes the light rail) The ride took about 40 minutes in relative comfort, it ended up one escalator ride and about 200 feet from the spiral parking lot. Everything was reasonably well marked and delinated - the sidewalk was covered from the elements (a bit breezy), continued along the outer edge of the spiral parking lot, skirted past the elevators of the parking lot, hooked up to the mezzanine - up 1/2 flight to the United Air counter, down 1/2 flight to baggage. It was a little 1/4 mi walk on concrete w/no people mover belts, so I'd pack light and be prepared, but frankly its a two minute walk further than the far edge of the spiral parking lot. Definitely something to keep in mind if I coming in.

I also walked back and checked out where to go away from SeaTac - turns out that the light rail station is over Tukwila International Blvd where the hotels are - one covered crosswalk away.

The potluck and white elephant sale happened at work yesterday. It was great because most everyone brought their potluck "A" game. My pumpkin ginger raisin turnovers v.2 disappeared entirely. Interesting gift was unwrapped at the white elephant sale: vinyl records! Had to steal that as a Christmas gift for DJ friend. DJ friend and I flipped through the records - Bee Gees, Diana Ross, Chuck Magione, CCR. DJ friend is in the process of picking up re-mastering skills as the first step to using the records for remixing, so he's planning on re-mastering the vinyl for practice. Wonder who gave away the vinyl?

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $13 coffee, lunch + $74 kitty food, litter, Christmas toys + $50 last Christmas gift + $20 groceries, baking items
Found money - $0.39 (driveway in front of auto shop, Safeway carpet, Whole Foods floor, bus stop)

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee
Found money - $0.27 (bus stop, coffeeshop carpet, gym floor)

Have been extremely lucky in my found money hunting - 2 quarters in 2 days. I also found my 60th dime. Total so far: $14.16: 326 pennies, 13 nickels, 60 dimes, 13 quarters, $1 bill. I don't think I have too many secrets to give away - the more I walk, the more I notice. I especially look for sharp, perfect circles - the coins I've been finding are not really bright and shiny and at night they don't flash like a piece of foil would. And December is shaping up to be a great month for change. My hypothesis for that is more people shopping, more people using cash, and more coins passing from pocket to pocket. We'll see what January brings.

Speaking of shopping, I finally got the Christmas shopping done. $360, including the shipping. Now its a potluck dish for Monday - the operations departments do a holiday potluck lunch above and beyond the official one last Thursday. I speak for myself that I am very happy its over. Has anyone noticed that this Christmas seems a bit... well, subdued compared to year's past? I like it. This year the lights are pretty, but not full out eye-popping and in your face, and I've either gotten very good about ignoring the Christmas music or there isn't as much as in other years.

I picked up a snow route booklet on the bus to store for work. Today the new light rail now goes all the way to SeaTac airport. Since my Flex pass works on

light rail, I might just check that out for informative purposes - looking forward to the $2.50 ride, avoiding taxis at $50 or even the airporter at $30.

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $20 buy-in to the death bet + $20 shipping sister's Christmas gift
Found money - $0.24 (parking meters, sidewalk, bus floor)

Wednesday
Saving log - $2 tip box (replaced the 20$, BTW) + $50 Drp
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $110 Christmas gifts
Found money - $0.08 (sidewalk, parking lot, under Coinstar machine)

Nearly finished with Christmas shopping - two more small gifts and I'm done. We had the work holiday lunch and the half day afterward; the lunch itself was very low key, nothing too fancy, no alcohol, only a moderate amount of rah rah. I won a little something in the drawing - a free Sunday brunch for 2, including 2 mimosas.

Coin rescue is proceeding apace: $13.50, 320 pennies, 13 nickels, 59 dimes, 11 quarters, and 1$ bill. Several other co workers confided that they look for change too. Just what I need, more competition. One even told me that she plants a quarter in different places just to see how long it takes for someone to pick it up. Most places, the quarter disappears quickly, within hours. She tried planting a quarter at Westlake Mall a couple of years ago and it took a couple of days for that quarter to disappear. That opens up a whole new area of economic experimentation I hadn't considered. I could imagine the halflife of a quarter on the sidewalk as a recession indicator.

The death bet caused quite a stir, so I asked the organizer about it as I bought in. Turns out he got the idea from a friend of his at Amazon.com, where the employees have held one for years and years. Our organizer wanted in on it, but figured, well, why not just start another one? Our organizer's friend at Amazon held, for this year's death bet, these: Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon. Yowsa! Full house. Anyway, I'm putting my list in the comments. Its a reasonable mix of ill and ill will.

Tuesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $22 groceries
Found money - $0.14 (gym table, parking meter, sidewalk)

Two recessionary items of note:

I haven't been looking in on 4 wk T-bills for a few weeks. Tuesday is when the T-bill auctions occur; sale occurs on Thursday. The interest rate of this week's 4 wk T-bill auction, and last week's: $0. Not just pennies of interest after the 4 weeks are over. You will make absolutely no money. I've made 15 cents these last two days - pretty good compared to that!

I finally did find a pretty good way to research the health of one's credit union

here. You can look at your bank, also - check out the sidebar at the site.

Others are sharing a funny, dark mood this holiday season - I've joined a friendly death bet at work. Not us - you pick 10 celebrities that you think might cash in their chips in 2010, you pay in $20, and you monitor for 2010. If you have somebody on your list, you get assigned points based on how old they were - 100. In other words, Lindsay Lohan would be worth far more than, say, nearly anybody else.

Monday
Saving log - $-20 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $18 holiday lunch w/friends
Found money - $0.01 (floor)

Sunday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.88 coffee, bagel + $4 groceries
Found money - $0.35 (bus stop, bus, sidewalk)

Saturday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $15 brunch + $45 gifts + $15 dinner w/friends
Found money - $0.11 (floor, carpet)

Very spendy weekend and surprise holiday get-togethers crashed against the day before payday, so I had to use the tip box in a way that I rarely want to - to pay myself should I run a little short. Its not a biggie, I remind myself. I get paid tomorrow, with the credit card pay check (I pay the credit card at the middle of the month, rent at the beginning of the month). Credit card bill has been low, so it will be easy to pay off the card and replace the tip box.

With the penny today, I've found $13.04, expressed as 299 pennies, 12 nickels, 57 dimes, 11 quarters, and a $1 bill. Screenwriter friend asked me if there were rules. Sure, I said - found money.

I have to touch the money. I don't have to put it in my pocket - so if someone had dropped the dollar bill and I saw it, I can pick it up and give to them and still count it.

Foreign coins count at face value. I call it found money, not found US money. Heck, with the dollar relatively weak - the Canadian dollar exchange rate is 92 cents on the dollar, while the euro is $1.40 or so on the dollar - if anything, I could be shorting myself. I'll re-think if I find a Zimbabwean trillion dollar bill.

I don't go after money in fountains or pools. I don't want to get my hand wet; I'm not that pathetic; and frankly I already look kind of silly when I pull out my penlight to look under tables and the bus seat.

Safety first. There could well be plenty of coins in the middle of the road. I'm not going to be the one to get run over to go after them.

The only other fiscal thing today was that I'm finishing up Predictably Irrational - on behavioral economics. I'm fascinated on how we are blind to the cult of Free! and how choices are presented to us (think menus, online subscriptions, comparative advertising). I'm also thinking of getting and reading

The Great Depression: A Diary . After all has been said and done, and add another 60 - 70 years, I wonder if any of our blogs will be called up, edited, and read as a slice of our times? I'm guessing that Seattle is not in a depression yet - far too many people are losing far too many coins.