Because of Easter Sunday there should be no coupons this Sunday. For some reason on holidays newspapers do not include coupons. I do not understand why coupons are not included but they are not. You can get online coupons through mypoints at http://www.mypoints.com/emp/u/centers/couponCenter.vm, also when you use the coupons on mypoint you will earn 10 points per coupon.
It does appear that next Sunday, May 1st, 2011, should have double the amount of coupons that we normally get.
1 Million Dollars
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Cash Payments, ER and Getting a Discount by Just Asking
A month ago I had to work a very early shift at work, starting at 6:30 in the morning and we were not able to get lunch until 12:30. Now, to some that may not be a big deal but I eat every three to four hours so by six hours I was not feeling well. I went down to eat and yet I did not start feeling any better. I went back to work and then just started shaking and was afraid I would fall.
Now you may be wondering, what does this have to do with personal finance? Well, my boss told me to go to the emergency room but I told I could not afford it (my copay is $200) and she told me worker's comp would take care of it. After resting for a bit, I still felt bad but I did not think I needed to go but she insisted and I did not feel up to arguing. That was a mistake. My employer did not cover it because it was not an injury even though the doctor believes I started feeling sick based on not eating.
Now comes the kicker, because I did not tell my insurance (again, because I thought work would pay the bill) they would not cover it. The bill came to me and it was $275. I had always heard that hospital bills are negotiable but because I had amazing insurance I had no experience with it. I called the billing department and left a message and within a few days got a call lowering my bill $100 and allowing me to pay $10/month. Now I only owe $175 and because I will not be charged interest I have decided to take the entire 18 months to pay the bill off. I had some money put aside for health costs but had two other health bills so that fund is low. By calling and asking I will not have to dip into my EF or derail some of my other goals.
Now you may be wondering, what does this have to do with personal finance? Well, my boss told me to go to the emergency room but I told I could not afford it (my copay is $200) and she told me worker's comp would take care of it. After resting for a bit, I still felt bad but I did not think I needed to go but she insisted and I did not feel up to arguing. That was a mistake. My employer did not cover it because it was not an injury even though the doctor believes I started feeling sick based on not eating.
Now comes the kicker, because I did not tell my insurance (again, because I thought work would pay the bill) they would not cover it. The bill came to me and it was $275. I had always heard that hospital bills are negotiable but because I had amazing insurance I had no experience with it. I called the billing department and left a message and within a few days got a call lowering my bill $100 and allowing me to pay $10/month. Now I only owe $175 and because I will not be charged interest I have decided to take the entire 18 months to pay the bill off. I had some money put aside for health costs but had two other health bills so that fund is low. By calling and asking I will not have to dip into my EF or derail some of my other goals.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Financial Independence
My definition of financial independence is enough income producing assets to pay my bills without having a job. Right now the net income I need is about $24,000 per year but that would increase if my fiance lost his job, because we get health insurance through his job. The additional cost of insurance would be about $500 per month so $6000 per year. This means my goal, at this time, is to get enough income producing assets to make $30,000 per year.
So far my investment income from 401ks, Roth IRAs, Traditional IRA and taxable accounts give me less than $300 per year. This assume about a three percent withdrawal which should last me indefinitely. My rental should bring me $525 per month, which is about $6300 per year at best, more likely to be about $5250 because of vacancies. Obviously I am no where near financially independent.
But what could make me financially independent? I could buy more duplexs/rentals or I could put more in my investment accounts, or I could pay down the debt we owe. I should do all of them, but I do not have the money currently to do so.
This is when one must decide what minigoal will help achieve the goal the best. In my case, we were looking at buying a second duplex but with my other, nonfinancial goals, that did not seem to be a good idea at this time. Paying down debt, at this time would not change my monthly payments for quite sometime therefore I decided against prepaying my loans. However, in the end getting rid of my debts will remove $4595.76 of expenses from my annual budget. This amounts to 15% of the budget. That is major and I think I should pay down the debt but I do not think it will be as immediately helpful as my other option. Therefore I will be putting more in my investment accounts. As of next month I will be increasing our contributions to our Roth IRAs. I am still deciding how much to increase by, but it will be increased by at least $150/month.
So far my investment income from 401ks, Roth IRAs, Traditional IRA and taxable accounts give me less than $300 per year. This assume about a three percent withdrawal which should last me indefinitely. My rental should bring me $525 per month, which is about $6300 per year at best, more likely to be about $5250 because of vacancies. Obviously I am no where near financially independent.
But what could make me financially independent? I could buy more duplexs/rentals or I could put more in my investment accounts, or I could pay down the debt we owe. I should do all of them, but I do not have the money currently to do so.
This is when one must decide what minigoal will help achieve the goal the best. In my case, we were looking at buying a second duplex but with my other, nonfinancial goals, that did not seem to be a good idea at this time. Paying down debt, at this time would not change my monthly payments for quite sometime therefore I decided against prepaying my loans. However, in the end getting rid of my debts will remove $4595.76 of expenses from my annual budget. This amounts to 15% of the budget. That is major and I think I should pay down the debt but I do not think it will be as immediately helpful as my other option. Therefore I will be putting more in my investment accounts. As of next month I will be increasing our contributions to our Roth IRAs. I am still deciding how much to increase by, but it will be increased by at least $150/month.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Goals
Goal, true goals, not wishes, are a great thing to have. Goals help us achieve what we truly want and stop life from passing us by. But what are goals? Are goals wants? Yes they can be, but not entirely. Goals are defined wants. I want to be able to retire, my goal is to have four million dollars in investments and 10 duplexes. I want to be debt free but if I want to get through graduate school, I need to take student loans out for a couple years. Which is more important? By defining your goals you determine what is possible, what is most important and most importantly, how you are going to reach your goal.
The first part of having goals if defining them. Goals are not just financial, I have personal and professional goals as well. Professionally my goal is to get a professorship and get paid to do research in my own lab. Personally, my goals include such things as getting married, having children and making connections in the community. And, of course, financially, I plan to become financially independent.
But I cannot just jump from this point to my goals. I need minigoals along the path to help me stay focused and to continue getting me toward the main goal. For example, to reach my main professional goal to become a professor and get my own lab I need to get into the master's program and then into a PhD program. Along the way I need to publish at least two papers and get one grant that I can use as a post-doctoral fellow. During, my post-doctoral fellowship I need to publish at least one more article and get one more grant. This path, should get me a professor position at a university. However, determining this path does not mean there will not be detours but by having goals and minigoals I increase my chances to achieve my goals. I must note that my goal of becoming a professor will require many years and some money to pay for tuition which will affect my other goals. It may even make it harder to achieve my other goals.
Next post I will go in depth regarding my goal of financial independence. I'll talk about where I compromised on that goal for other goals and where I made the choices to make myself be independent in the future.
The first part of having goals if defining them. Goals are not just financial, I have personal and professional goals as well. Professionally my goal is to get a professorship and get paid to do research in my own lab. Personally, my goals include such things as getting married, having children and making connections in the community. And, of course, financially, I plan to become financially independent.
But I cannot just jump from this point to my goals. I need minigoals along the path to help me stay focused and to continue getting me toward the main goal. For example, to reach my main professional goal to become a professor and get my own lab I need to get into the master's program and then into a PhD program. Along the way I need to publish at least two papers and get one grant that I can use as a post-doctoral fellow. During, my post-doctoral fellowship I need to publish at least one more article and get one more grant. This path, should get me a professor position at a university. However, determining this path does not mean there will not be detours but by having goals and minigoals I increase my chances to achieve my goals. I must note that my goal of becoming a professor will require many years and some money to pay for tuition which will affect my other goals. It may even make it harder to achieve my other goals.
Next post I will go in depth regarding my goal of financial independence. I'll talk about where I compromised on that goal for other goals and where I made the choices to make myself be independent in the future.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Update on grocery savings plan March
Considering I decided to cut down my grocery bills during the middle of March, I did pretty well overall for the month of March. My goal for the average weekly spending on groceries was $50 and I spent $50.40. An extra .40 is not much, so I am very pleased but .40/week is still $20.80/year and I have better places for that money so I am going to continue this plan and see if I can't even get under $50 average for the year. Because so far I am already over this goal I will have to cut down below $50/week to make my yearly goal. So far my average for this year is $53.71 and to get the average down to $50/week I will need to average $48.76/week from now on.
I do not expect to cut my spending down to $48.76 next week or even next month but I do plan on trying my hardest to reach this goal and you never know, maybe I will. Slow and steady works much better than extreme frugality and then splurging.
The ladies over on the WIR grocery board have been so nice and other blogs have been a great time saver as well as money saver. I do believe that with their help, by the end of the year I will be able to report on average spending of less than $50/week.
Also, my fiance and I will be preparing our garden both this weekend and next. We will be planting lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, basil, red onions and jalapenos. We already have two blackberry bushes that we started last year. Though we consider the garden expenses part of our food budget we expect to save some money by gardening.
Is anyone else changing their lifestyle to save money? What about reaching out to others to save money? To get our budget down to what I want we will have to do both. Strange enough, I think both the lifestyle change and reaching out to others will be good for us, not just monetarily but socially and emotionally as well.
I do not expect to cut my spending down to $48.76 next week or even next month but I do plan on trying my hardest to reach this goal and you never know, maybe I will. Slow and steady works much better than extreme frugality and then splurging.
The ladies over on the WIR grocery board have been so nice and other blogs have been a great time saver as well as money saver. I do believe that with their help, by the end of the year I will be able to report on average spending of less than $50/week.
Also, my fiance and I will be preparing our garden both this weekend and next. We will be planting lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, basil, red onions and jalapenos. We already have two blackberry bushes that we started last year. Though we consider the garden expenses part of our food budget we expect to save some money by gardening.
Is anyone else changing their lifestyle to save money? What about reaching out to others to save money? To get our budget down to what I want we will have to do both. Strange enough, I think both the lifestyle change and reaching out to others will be good for us, not just monetarily but socially and emotionally as well.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Off Topic: Hi visitors from Get Rich Slowly
I commented on an article on Get Rich Slowly (one of my favorite blogs) written by Donna Freedman (one of my favorite authors) and posted a link to an article I wrote about something similar for college students. Wow, the amount of people from Get Rich Slowly was amazing for a small time blogger like me.
This is the post from Donna on Get Rich Slowly http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/04/11/use-a-financial-fire-drill-to-prepare-for-the-worst-before-it-happens/
and my post here
http://frugalstudents.blogspot.com/2010/05/emergency-funds.html.
I would love to hear from those who traveled over here (and my small but loyal readership) about what they think of the two articles. What do you see as similar, and what do you see as different, between the two articles? Do you agree with the points or not AND why?
This is the post from Donna on Get Rich Slowly http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/04/11/use-a-financial-fire-drill-to-prepare-for-the-worst-before-it-happens/
and my post here
http://frugalstudents.blogspot.com/2010/05/emergency-funds.html.
I would love to hear from those who traveled over here (and my small but loyal readership) about what they think of the two articles. What do you see as similar, and what do you see as different, between the two articles? Do you agree with the points or not AND why?
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Groupon and upromise
Upromise is now offering rewards for shopping at groupon, the cash back amount is 8% for now. That is four time the amount of cash back you would get from ebates for the same purchase. The cash back amount may change in future and that is why I always check ebates, upromise and bondrewards before I decide which to use for cash back. Also, often these companies will allow double cash back on certain stores, sign up and check on eye on your inbox to find out which stores.
Also, I have a Sallie Mae saving account which transfer an amount over ten dollars from upromise into the savings account and I get a ten percent bonus from those transfers every February. So for now I definitely will be using upromise when I shop on groupon.
Also, I have a Sallie Mae saving account which transfer an amount over ten dollars from upromise into the savings account and I get a ten percent bonus from those transfers every February. So for now I definitely will be using upromise when I shop on groupon.
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