Summer Plans June 7, 2009

This week I signed paperwork for the graduate assistant position, so it’s now official. Finding out about student loans may take a little while, though.

The bartending job has been going well. I’m not making a lot of money at it, because it’s been cool outside and raining a lot lately, so the games aren’t really busy. However, the money I do make working there is more than I would make it I were sitting around doing nothing, so I’m happy with it! Also, I have quite a bit of free time when the team is out of town, so I’ll be able to take the trips I’ve been planning for this summer. I don’t think any other job would want to allow me the flexibility that I have with the bartending schedule.

Later this month I will be in Anaheim for 5 days for a work trip. Yes, technically I no longer work at my old job, but this trip was already planned. Airfare, hotel, and meals will be paid for by work. I’m chaperoning three students, and they have talked about going to the beach and doing tourist-y things while we are there, so I may be spending some of my personal money on things like that. Hopefully not Disney, though, I really don’t want to spend a day there.

Next month I’ll be heading down to the Gulf Coast for about four days with an aunt and two of my female cousins. My aunt is making all of the plans, I don’t even know where along the Gulf she wants to go. I have no clue how much this trip will cost me, because I don’t know what all I will be expected to pay for while there (or what she’ll allow me to reimburse her for afterward).

In August, I’m planning a trip to the lake with friends in Missouri. A friend and I are splitting the cost, then everyone can pay us back later. We found a nice rental house on the lake with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms that runs $900 for four nights. I’ve set aside $600 for the trip. If enough people show up, we could possibly end up breaking even or making money off of being the ones to actually make the plans and reservations. I doubt that will happen, but it would be really cool if it did!

USBank Credit Card (con’t) May 19, 2009

According to my online banking, USBank/Visa did indeed give me the credit card limit increase I asked for.

So everything’s turned out okay, but it’s really annoying that I had to go through so much frustration to get to this point.

I’ll post a longer update about things soon.

Living Situation May 13, 2009

Since I’ve (more officially? but still no paperwork…) received the GA position for the fall, I went ahead and put in my notice at work this week. So now my dilemma is: finding a place to live for the next 14 months!

One of the girls I work with is looking to sub-lease her apartment for part of the summer, since she’ll be gone for about 6 or 7 weeks. She has 2 roommates, and said that bills (total) are about $400 per month per person. Sounds good to me! I need to move out by 01 June, but she won’t need to leave for the summer until mid-June. I told her I don’t mind to crash on the couch for a couple weeks if she wants to split bills for the month. So I think my summer housing is figured out, and will run me around $600 total for June and July, which is very exciting! Now I don’t have to find a place for next year until late July!

Since I’m working the bartending job, I’ll be in town all summer. I think that by July I’ll have a much better idea of where I want to live next year – I’m still pretty unfamiliar with this town right now. And if living expenses will only be ~$400 per month, the bartending job should cover that. However, I’m not so sure about paying for hanging out with friends, going to the lake, and other trips I want to take this summer!

Update on the USBank Credit Card Saga May 4, 2009

I stopped by USBank today to find out what’s going on with my credit card (and/or throw a fit and close all of my accounts). Things went much better than I expected.

The banker I met with was much more helpful than I anticipated. He called the credit card people to find out what was going on, and learned that the company actually made a mistake. They meant to lower the credit limits on a certain type of card (their college student cards, I believe), and unintentionally lowered the limits on a variety of cards they offer. They’re in the process of sorting out the mistake, but since I went in to complain, my card is one of the first to be restored to it’s previous limit.

I actually requested a limit increase also, which I had been planning to do before they cut my limit. I’d like to travel some this summer, and want to make sure I have enough credit to buy plane tickets and also handle any emergencies while traveling, should they arise. They said that my card should immediately be restored to the old limit, and I’ll receive word in a week or two about the limit increase.

I just tried to log into my online banking, and it says the page cannot display. So I guess I still can’t use my card for a while, since I don’t know for sure what’s going on!

I Hate USBank April 30, 2009

I’ve had bank accounts at USBank for many years. When I was in high school USBank bought out my old bank, so I’ve had USBank accounts for 8 or 10 years. In that time I’ve had checking accounts, a savings account, CDs, a credit card, and my Roth IRA all through USBank.

About 2 years ago they pissed me off pretty good by charging me overdraft fees when I had already transferred money from my savings account to my checking (since apparently EVEN WITHIN THEIR BANK AND THROUGH ONLINE BANKING it takes them a few days to process a transfer? wtf?). My accounts weren’t linked at the time because my father’s name was still on my checking (from opening the account when I was a child), but only my name was on the savings. Therefore they wouldn’t let me link the accounts.

So about 6 months ago I finally started moving my money toward ING Direct. I’ve been meaning to ever since the incident of 2 years ago, and now that I have most of my savings is there. I still keep five hundred to a thousand dollars in the USBank checking and saving accounts, in case of emergency, etc., but the majority of my money is at ING.

Today I logged in to make sure my check was direct deposited and transfer some money to my ING savings. I go to make a credit card payment (which I do each time I get paid, twice/month) and see that they have CUT MY CREDIT LIMIT TO $300. I am livid right now. I rarely have more than $300 on my card, but my limit was around $1500. It’s the only credit card I have. I pay my balance in full every month. I’ve never missed a payment. My current balance is about $225. That leaves me with about $75 of available credit right now.

I also just dropped my car off at the shop this afternoon and found out that I need to get a car repair that will cost me $219 plus tax. I have plenty of money in my savings to pay for it, but I am livid that I have to make a decision TONIGHT about how to re-budget my money rather than being able to pay with my credit card and have a few weeks to decide which savings account to pull from, how much to withdraw from savings, and how much I want to re-arrange my current budget (so I can withdraw less from savings and pay more from my current money).

I am livid right now. I will definitely be stopping by USBank tomorrow or Monday, and likely very closing out my accounts there.

The one bright spot in all of this is that I happened to check tonight. Had I waited until tomorrow, I would have already used my credit card to pay for the repair, and either had my card declined or been charged fees (I’m sure insanely high ones, at that) for being over my credit limit, when in fact I would have been at less than 1/3 of my old limit.

Financing Graduate School April 26, 2009

I’m still waiting to officially hear if I received a Graduate Assistantship for the Economics program here. Unofficially, I have been told they plan to offer me a full assistantship, but are waiting on paperwork. I don’t want to put in my resignation at my job until the paperwork goes through, though – I like my job, and I’d like to still have it if something falls through with the grad program! (And my supervisors know this – I’ve been honest with them about my plans.)

So now, I have a new problem: financing what the GA position doesn’t cover. I think I’ll still be able to work part-time (if I so desire) during the year, even though officially it’s frowned upon for GAs to have other jobs. I think I’m going to take out enough student loans that I don’t have to work, though, if I want to be able to focus more on my coursework.

And since I’m taking out student loans anyway . . . I’m thinking about taking out an extra $10,000 or so. I’ve never been out of the country, but I am very interested in doing International Economics and would like to have a job that involves traveling abroad frequently. The Economics department will probably take two study abroad trips next year, one during January before spring semester starts, and another during May, right after the spring semester ends. Since I didn’t do a study abroad as an undergrad, I’m very interested in doing these trips. I also think it’ll show that I am as interested in traveling abroad and doing international work as I say that I am, since my current lifestyle doesn’t reflect that. The extra $10,000 would be enough to cover the cost of both trips. I think taking out $20,000 total would give me plenty of money for both trips plus any expenses not covered by the stipend.

I didn’t take out any student loans for my undergrad education, and I’m glad I made that decision because I consider my undergrad education to have been pretty useless. Not because I didn’t learn anything, but because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t have a passion for anything, I was there because I was a smart kid and I was supposed to go to college. I’m somewhat wary of taking out so much in loans for grad school, but I’m more comfortable with the idea since I have a direction and a purpose – I actually plan to use the education and the experiences I acquire from the program. Also, since I’m currently in the habit of saving over half of each paycheck, I’ll be able to quickly repay student loans if I continue this habit post-grad school.

What do you think? Am I missing anything major? Will taking out the extra money for the study abroad trips be worth it?

The New Job April 20, 2009

Well, opening weekend at the stadium is over. Friday night was insane. Saturday and Sunday were day games and pretty slow, but Friday was absolutely crazy.

Friday night tips were good, Saturday and Sunday not so much. Sunday’s game actually ended up being rained out, after delaying for an hour. I guess getting paid for 4 hours of work plus my $11 in tips isn’t too bad for there not actually being a game!

I’m hoping that in May and June I make enough money from the bartending job to cover my expenses, and I can put my normal paychecks straight into savings each month.

My monthly expenses are:
Car insurance: $44
Cell phone: $60
Netflix: $5
Roth IRA: $200

I guess those are my only real “expenses” each month, and the IRA isn’t even a real expense since it’s savings. The bartending job should more than cover those things plus groceries, gas, etc. I’ve been putting half of each paycheck into savings, but it’ll be nice to be able to put the whole thing away each month.

Other notes:
-mileage reimbursement coming soon: about $55
-meals reimbursement coming soon: $52
-closed a 30-month CD (at nearly 5%) before it rolled over (at 1.25%). I need to figure out what to do with that money (about $600).

Also – I’m the FBLA adviser here, and the State Leadership Conference was last week. Three of my students did well enough to be invited to the National Leadership Conference, so work will pay for me to take those students to Anaheim for 4 days in June!

Netflix April 3, 2009

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I recently down-graded my Netflix subscription. I work in Res Life, and last year during the school year I had quite a bit of free time during the days. Most of my job duties are in the evenings and weekend. I also knew I would be working for 5 weeks at summer camp over the summer for some extra cash, but I’d have a few weeks off work at the beginning and end of summer. I don’t have a TV, so I rarely watch television shows. In April of last year I decided to sign up for Netflix since I can watch DVDs on my laptop. I figured that having movies from Netflix would give me something to do during my “free time” during the days, and during my weeks off in the summer. I enrolled in the $13.99, 2-at-a-time unlimited plan.

I was right – I watched a TON of movies during the first few months that I had Netflix. Most of them were foreign films, documentaries, or indies, which aren’t carried at most local video rental places. To me, the wide variety more than justified the price I was paying. In the first month alone, I watched 7 movies, 3 of which were foreign films and 2 of which were indies, and none of which I would have had access to otherwise, without buying them online.

During the fall semester I continued to watch an average of 2 to 3 movies per month. I know I’ve mentioned that I’m applying for graduate school but I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned that I’m taking 2 undergrad courses per semester in the meantime. In the fall I began taking upper-level undergrad classes. While they aren’t overwhelming, they do take a bit more of my free time (which was previously spent watching movies from Netflix). I also started doing volunteer work in December. Paying $13.99 to watch just 2 or 3 movies per month didn’t bother me, because it also keeps me from spending money on various forms of entertainment elsewhere. Since I started paying for Netflix last April, I have been to the movie theater once with friends (as a social event, not because I cared about the movie) and two or three times on dates (when the other person chooses what we do). I’ve also rented movies once or twice (again, if someone I’m dating wants to watch something). I haven’t bought DVDs. So I’ve always figured that the savings is more than what I’m spending on Netflix, even if I’m not actually watching a ton of movies.

This semester, I just don’t have time for Netflix. Between work, volunteering, classes, and trying to have a little bit of a social life, I have watched a total of 3 Netflix movies: Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory, which I could have found online for free but rented from Netflix because it was easier. I finished the season in mid-January. I had one movie from mid-January until mid-March, and finally sent it back unwatched because I don’t ever have 2 whole hours of free time to watch a movie. I had a second movie from the end of January until the time I downgraded my subscription (I also sent it back unwatched). The type of movies I rent from Netflix (documentaries and independent movies, primarily) tend to be longer than the standard 80-90 minutes for blockbuster films, and since the new year started I just don’t have time for that! I didn’t watch either of those movies I had from January until early March, I ended up sending them each back and requesting a comedy that I thought would be shorter. It’s not shorter, and I’ve had it for almost a month.

So I didn’t mind at all to downgrade my Netflix to the most basic plan, $4.99 per month for one-at-a-time, maximum 2 per month. I haven’t watched more than 2 movies in one month since January anyway, so at least now I’ll be paying $9 per month less for it. And I think this will provide a nicer balance between the benefits (access to non-mainstream movies, and saving by not spending much otherwise on DVDs/movie theaters since I tell myself I can rent it from Netflix someday) and the costs (like the fact that I don’t have much time to actually watch movies).

Do you use Netflix? Do you feel like it (or any other form of entertainment that has a monthly fee) is worth it? What criteria do you use for determining value of such a subscription?

March Wrap-Up March 30, 2009

Wow, March has been a rough money month for me.

Part of the reason was due to spring break. I went home for about four days. When I am at work, I very rarely frequent bars or restaurants. My job doesn’t allow for relaxing with a cold beer after work, and I don’t really know anyone here who I would call and invite to spend a evening out on the town with me anyway. I am learning to cook and actually enjoy spending time in the kitchen, so I rarely go out to eat. However, when I’m in my hometown, going out to eat and going to bars is how I get to see many of my friends in my limited time there, instead of just the few I could see if I tried to meet with everyone individually. I tend to let myself splurge, because the travel expenses are minimal (it’s a 4 hour drive one way, and I stay with family or friends), and because I don’t go home often (this was the second time I’ve been home since 01 Jan, and the first time was for a quick overnight trip just to help my brother with some stuff).

Total Damages:
Restaurants and bars: $115.81
(I was in town from Saturday – Wednesday, so I only had one weekend night. There are really cheap drink specials every weeknight.)
Gasoline: $27.29
Other: $159
Total: $302.10

(”Other” includes a new business suit, my contribution toward a bridal shower gift, and a few personal things.)

Another hit to my finances this month: taking the GRE last week. I had already decided how to budget for that, but for now it’s on my credit card, making my situation look worse than it is. Cost of GRE = $140. I also spent $25 on going out to dinner with a friend afterward.

Positive notes:
I spent a few days traveling for work at the end of spring break (which is why I was only home for about 4 days), and I should be getting a reimbursement check for travel expenses soon.

This month I was hired for a summer job I will have in town starting next month. I’ll be bartending at a minor league baseball stadium here, probably working there almost every night that the team is in town. Since my “real job” is a school-year job, I’ll start looking for a second summer job in May. At this point I’m not certain what type of job I will be looking for – if I do the graduate program, I’ll want a job I can continue through the school year (perhaps in banking or finance), but if I work at my current job next year, I’ll need a job just through June and July. So I’m in no hurry yet to figure out where else to work this summer.

Anyone else excited about baseball season? Opening night at the stadium in town is 17 April, and my STL Cardinals have their first home game 06 April! Who are you cheering for?

Always Tip Your Pizza Delivery Driver March 27, 2009

As I’ve mentioned before, I work in Res Life on a college campus. Part of my job is working at the front desk a few hours per week. Most of my hours are on weekdays, but I work about 3 weekend nights per month (either Friday or Saturday). Needless to say, there are lots of pizzas delivered here on those nights.

One of the major chain pizza places has a program where they give the front desk worker a “Front Desk Card” each time they deliver to the building. When you have 10 cards, you can call and get a free pizza. The goal, I’m sure, is to have desk workers encouraging students to order from this particular place.

A couple weekends ago I was at the desk, hungry, and not wanting to spend money, so I decided to redeem some of my cards. I called and ordered my pizza, and when the delivery driver got here, I had my cards on the desk and a $2 tip for him. I usually tip delivery drivers a dollar or two anyway (unless a place charges for delivery), and especially since I was getting a free pizza I didn’t mind to throw in a couple bucks for the delivery driver.

He noticed the cards and money, and before I even picked up the cards to hand them to him, he said hey, since you’re giving me a tip, keep the cards. I’m guessing very few people bother to tip their delivery driver when they get a free pizza! But for $2, I scored a second free pizza. Huzzah!

(Okay, yeah, the “huzzah” is mostly there because I don’t really get a chance to use the word very often . . . )