Redhead at the Piggy Bank

The Redhead is on the move!

2009-03-13T12:21:00.002-04:00

I made the transition from Blogger to WordPress and picked up my own domain name along the way! From now on, please visit me at:

redheadatthepiggybank.com

It should be easier to comment on my posts now, too, so try it out at the new site!

How much redecorating can you do with $300?

2009-03-12T22:14:00.006-04:00

Today, the NYT Home section deduced that unemployed people need home makeovers to cheer them up…or something. At any rate, they issued a challenge to five interior designers: spend no more than $300 to redecorate one room in the homes of jobless folks.

"It was a tall order, especially for established decorators accustomed to
spending five and sometimes even six figures on a single room. Several pointed
out that even if they found an old set of drapes stashed in a closet, or
scrounged half a can of paint from a client’s neighbor, brackets and hooks and
paintbrushes cost money, and small expenses quickly add up. Of the five
designers who agreed to participate, most wanted special dispensations, like the
right to treat leftover materials lying around their offices as free supplies."

OK, I know paint, furnishings, and accessories add up quickly. But it’s not like they were tackling entire homes; it was one room. And all these apartments seem pretty upscale to begin with, so it couldn’t have been too hard to make them look nice. Guess how many decorators met the budget? One. Last I checked, decorators are supposed to be creative and resourceful. And who are these people spending six figures to decorate one room? What is wrong with this world??

Besides generally pissing me off, this article also prompted me to look up the receipts for our painting extraveganza after we moved. Over four trips to The Home Depot, we spent $177.27 on paint and supplies for two rooms. Honestly, that’s less than I thought we spent, so I’m pretty happy (and we have leftover paint, if anyone needs some). The only other decorating expense we incurred was new curtains. I tried salvaging our old blinds, but they were way too narrow for our new windows. The new curtains and rods for the bedroom, living room, and kitchen cost about $125. Grand total: $302.27. For the entire apartment. I even bet we could have done a lot more with that $300 if we were set on spending no more than that.

A glimpse at what $300 can do for an apartment:

Can thriftiness become a compulsion?

2009-03-11T19:20:00.008-04:00

This thought came to mind while I was reading an AP article about usually frugal people. Now that the economy is tanking, these penny-pinchers are bringing frugality to a whole new level. The women in the lede says, "I was already cheap...now I am neurotic about it." Cutting lotion bottles in half to scrape the sides, concocting homemade laundry detergents, letting cupboards go bare before visiting the grocery store. The actions aren't jaw-dropping, per se. But what is surprising is that the people quoted are financially stable. They have jobs. They have savings. They aren't one missed bill away from living in a tent city.

So what's driving the belt-tightening? Fear. I admit this mindset creeps up on me, too. There's that little voice in my head that says, "Maybe I shouldn't paint my apartment. If I get laid off tomorrow, I'll feel so stupid for having spent x-amount of dollars on paint." I think there's more to it, though, for the type of people in this article. It's a control thing. They can't control what happens on Wall Street or who gets laid off, but they can control how much product they get out of a lotion bottle, how many coupons they clip, and how few bottles of laundry detergent they use. In a helpless situation, they search for things they can control. It's reassuring, even if the net gain is minimal.

I'm definitely not saying the people in this article have any sort of compulsion. But it's a fine line between spending wisely and becoming OCD about saving every penny. Some people spend to fill a void or mask pain; isn't it possible that other people just stop buying things to exert control over a fearful and uncertain environment? Do some become "saveaholics," just as it's possible that others are "shopaholics"? Or am I reading too much into this? Tell me your thoughts!

Thinking I lost a diamond: File under "heart attack moments"

2009-03-10T22:06:00.008-04:00

photo: Kay Jewelers

On my train ride home, I had my hands folded in my lap. My right hand touched my wedding ring...and felt gaping emptiness between metal prongs. My heart literally skipped a beat as a dozen thoughts crossed my mind in half a second. Where was the diamond, how had I lost it, how would I tell Mister Redhead? This story has a very anticlimatic ending: My ring had turned just enough so that I was feeling the side of the setting, not the top. The diamond was still securely in place. No heart attacks were had.

But funnily enough, no financial questions entered my mind in that split second. None. Even though my wedding ring is probably my most expensive possession, the sentimental and symbolic meaning far outweighs the pricetag. It's for those reasons I would have been devastated had I lost it, not the money lost.

In fact, I have no idea how much my ring is worth. I know how much stupid things like the ironing board cost, but I can't come up with even a ballpark range for my ring. This is partly because Mister Redhead surprised me with engagement ring (so I had no part in the shopping experience). Sometime between then and now, he showed me the paperwork for it, which said the price. That number glossed right over my brain. It's nowhere to be found in there now. Is it possible I block out the monetary value of sentimental objects? I mean, I was never one of those girls who thought a guy should spend three months salary on a ring (or whatever the rule is), but I usually remember the rough value of things. It's kind of an odd phenomenon to me. I suppose it's better I'm not aware if how much this bauble on my ring finger is worth; it would freak me out.

But what about you guys? Do you know how much your ring is worth? Do you want to know? Or do you block out the value like I do?

SNL's take on the financial crisis: Funny or sad?

2009-03-09T21:48:00.002-04:00

Deal alert!

2009-03-06T22:35:00.005-05:00

Have $1.50? You could buy a bottle of pop, do half a load of laundry...or get a yearlong subscription to Glamour. In honor of the mag's 70th birthday (pretty amazing, isn't it?), you can get 12 issues for $1.50 (the cost in 1939). That's 12.5 cents an issue. I am doing this. The offer expires March 15, so head over to Glamour now to cash in.

Problem: My iPod froze

2009-03-04T21:58:00.005-05:00

Has this ever happened to anyone? I was walking along this morning listening to The Wallflowers' "One Headlight" (yes, it was a '90s-throwback-type morning) when all of the sudden, my iPod Nano starts skipping. Um, CDs skip, records skip, but digital music files generally don't skip, right? I looked at the screen, and it was all white. Pressed a lot of buttons, but nothing would make the skipping noise go away or make the screen function. I couldn't even turn it off.

I figured leaving it like that all day would eventually wear the battery down, but when I got home tonight it was still making that wretched sound. Plugging in the charger didn't do anything. I was 10 seconds away from putting the iPod on a shelf and bidding farewell to it, coming to terms with the fact that it died, when I thought to turn to Google. Duh. Following the simple directions on Method Shop (holding down the "menu" and "center" buttons for 10 seconds), I resuscitated my iPod!

Now, technically I wouldn't have been out any money had my iPod actually been done for. My little sister, The College Blonde, kindly gave me her castoff iPod when I was home for The Blonde's wedding (don't ask me how or why she acquired two iPods, or why my younger sister is giving me hand-me-down gadgets). But I still would have been really mad if it died. I'm just getting attached to it!

Lesson learned: Gadgets can be fixed, sometimes with very little effort. Google can help.

Update on the cashier's check

2009-03-03T22:54:00.004-05:00

A few days ago I was whining about spending my birthday at the bank, sorting out the mess my former landlord created by not depositing my cashier's check. It was sure to be a huge debacle, I thought. There was no way Bank of America would easily credit my account with that money.

Pleasantly enough, I was wrong. While Bank of America's customer service phone line is hit or miss, the staff at the 79th & Lex branch are always great. I have gone in to talk with them about so many things over the past two years, and the tellers and bankers are unfailingly polite and patient. Recently, they've had the manager standing guard in the lobby greeting customers and asking if you've been helped. It's the little things like that that really raise the bar. Plus, it's nice that I know most of the tellers by now. That familiarity is kind of rare in my NYC life.

They didn't disappoint me Saturday. Although there were more than a few furrowed brows when I explained the situation, one of the bankers made a phone call to headquarters, and presto! They could credit my account for that amount. It was a done deal in about five minutes. It took me longer to upgrade my savings account to a money market.

To celebrate, I hopped over to the Barnes & Noble on 86th to spend a gift card. A new water bottle has been on my wish list for a long, long time. It had to be aluminum, and it had to be cute. I'm pretty happy with my new $15 Gaiam "Grass" bottle:

Save big on college tuition

2009-02-28T08:39:00.006-05:00

Yes, I graduated a few years ago. But thanks to those monthly student loan bills, the topic of college costs is never off my radar. The New York Times was on a roll this week with the college financing articles, but this one is my favorite.

The article discusses cramming a degree into three years instead of the usual four, which saves you tens of thousands of dollars. Critics of this route argue that college is stressful enough without trying to fit four years of coursework into three, that students need time for extracurriculars like campus activities and internships, and that college is a once-in-a-lifetime event that should be savored.

I am all for this college-in-three-years method. If the scheduling works with your major, how could you pass up the opportunity to save upwards of $20,000 or $30,000? Yes, you'll be busy. But I guarantee you'll still have time to participate in campus clubs or do an internship. And for all those people who wax nostalgic about savoring the full college experience, I bet the annual tuition when they were in school was in the $1,500 ballpark. Paying $30,000 for another year of frat parties and roommate drama? Not. Worth. It.

I graduated in 3.5 years without even trying, and that's with switching both of my majors along the way and doing several jobs/internships/campus activities during the academic year. One day near the end of my junior year, I added up my credits and figured out I could graduate a semester early if I changed my sociology major to a minor. Seeing as I had no career plans for that major, it was a pretty easy decision. If I had set out to graduate in just three years, I'm sure I could have planned and made it work.

My mom had a meltdown about this turn of events, though, and wanted me to finish out the year no matter what (for reasons along the lines of savoring the full college experience). Granted, this was the semester I had also announced a few other life-altering decisions: I was engaged, I was interning in NYC that summer come hell or high water, and I was not going to continue being a resident assistant my senior year. I'm sure my mom thought I was going through a one-fifth-life crisis or something. But I don't regret any of those decisions. (And my mom came around to the idea of graduating early when I was offered a job in NYC in October of my last semester.)

How about you? Would you have cut your college experience short by finishing in three years? Would you tell a high school senior today to take the traditional college route or to try finishing as quickly as possible?

This moving business just won't end

2009-02-26T20:16:00.006-05:00

Mister Redhead greeted me at the door this evening with a letter from our former landlord. We've been waiting for the security deposit and last month's rent to be returned to us, but alas, this letter didn't quite carry through on either of those things. Sigh.

Enclosed was my cashier's check for the security deposit. It had never been deposited in the interest-bearing account, as my lease promised. In her letter, the landlord explained that her mother-in-law had been gravely ill, etc. etc. etc. and she simply forgot to deposit the check. Enclosed was a personal check for a few dollars, to make up for what interest the deposit should have earned. (Still have to double-check the math on that.)

But back to my cashier's check. If it was a personal check, it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd just tear it up -- no harm, no foul, as the money wouldn't have left my account at all. But cashier's checks aren't the same as personal checks. The money left my account as soon as the cashier's check was printed. It doesn't matter if the payee deposits the check or not. So now I need to take some sort of extra step with Bank of America to get that money back. Hopefully, I can just walk in with the check, show them the letter, explain the situation, and they'll credit my account. Can it be that simple? Please? At the very least, this is going to cause me one phone call and one trip to Bank of America. Not what I need this week.

The lengthy letter never once mentioned where my last month's rent is. You see, back in January 2007 when I signed the lease, I prepaid my last month's rent. But when rent was due this January, I wasn't sure if we'd be moving or not (because we hadn't been notified how much rent was increasing). Being a responsible person, I paid January's rent, just in case. My thinking was Ms. Landlord could cut me a check to reimburse me if we did decide to move. Stupid me. I've brought this up with her via voicemail and with the apartment manager, who promised he'd talked to her. But not a mention of it in today's letter. Double sigh.

Once I get an answer from Bank of America on the cashier's check, I'll need to pen my own letter, enclosing photocopies of my lease, highlighting the fact that I prepaid that last month's rent and am still owed a sizable sum of money. Just how I want to spend my birthday weekend...

Oprah's take on the recession

2009-02-25T20:56:00.004-05:00

My TV tendencies on sick days sure have changed. In junior high, I was all about Ricki Lake's drag queen makeovers and raver showdowns. But today, as I languished on my futon, Oprah's show caught my attention because it was about how ordinary people are affected by the recession.

I found that the segments were really well done, once I got past the fact that Oprah was sitting behind a raised desk of sorts (is that the norm now? what happened to the couch Tom Cruise jumped on?). The best segment: Lisa Ling's special report on the boom of tent cities. She interviewed quite a few people who were middle-aged and formerly middle-class. In an instant, they lost their jobs, and quickly fell behind on bills. Some have been living in the tent cities for almost a year. The really sad thing is that they have relatives who might be able to help them; they're just too proud or too afraid of being a burden to reach out.

Read more about the show and watch some clips here. I highly recommend it!

Being sick: $25.39. Having an immune system: Priceless.

2009-02-24T14:23:00.002-05:00

Cold number 14 crept up on me this weekend. I've been sick with one thing or another since Thanksgiving, and I'm sick of being sick and trying to tough it out. So today I finally took a sick day and went on a mission to get antibiotics.

First, I found out my doctor doesn't work Tuesdays. I looked up the nearest walk-in clinic. The winner: a clinic set up in a Duane Reade on 86th. Sounds a little sketchy, I know. But it was actually an OK experience. The staff was nice, and it seemed clean enough. Best of all, I got the Z-Pack of antibiotics.

This is why I pay for health insurance:
Doctor visit copay: $15
Z-Pack copay: $7
Doctor-recommended orange juice: $3.39
Grand total: $25.39

Now, if only I could buy a new immune system.

Free pancakes!

2009-02-23T20:58:00.007-05:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. Tomorrow is IHOP's National Pancake Day. They'll give you a free short stack if you consider supporting a local children's hospital or other charity. I hope a lot of people do more than merely consider making a donation because IHOP aims to raise more than a million dollars this year. Come on, people, you're getting three free pancakes. Take out your damn checkbook. It's for the children.

I plan on partaking tomorrow for dinner. There's randomly an IHOP about four blocks away from me. I did a triple-take the first time I walked by it. IHOPs and Manhattan just do not go together in my mind. It's like finding a Perkins next to Madison Square Garden or a Cub Foods in Chinatown. Does. Not. Compute. Tomorrow I'll face down this freakish combination.

If you go to IHOP, be sure to regal your dining companions with some Pancake Day trivia. Pancake Day is celebrated in many cultures. It's no coincidence it lands on Fat Tuesday, which is always the day before Ash Wednesday, which in turn signals the start of Lent. "Lent" is a nice way of saying "deprive yourself of all things fun." In the olden days, pious people didn't eat such succulent things as eggs and butter during the 40-day stretch. To use up these sinful ingredients before Lent kicked off, they'd make lots and lots of pancakes and have one more day of fun. Hence, Pancake Day. One more fun fact: I did not have to Google any of that. I've researched Pancake Day for two jobs now, and it's become one of those things I store in the Quiz Bowl part of my brain.

Enjoy!

Who balances the books in your relationship?

2009-02-22T08:59:00.004-05:00

If you're living together, engaged, or married, you eventually have to decide how you're going to handle your joint finances. The issue of whether or not to merge your finances and have joint accounts is a whole 'nother post. I'm just curious about the simple act of balancing the household budget. Who does it? I know some couples where one person is entirely responsible for all things bill-related, and the other person has not a clue how much they pay for internet or car insurance. On the other end of the spectrum are the couples that take turns paying bills, or sit down together every month to balance the books.

In my case, I'd say we split the responsibilities pretty evenly. I'm usually the one physically writing the checks and updating our spreadsheet, but Mister Redhead generally balances the checkbook. We're usually in the same room when this is going on and reading the bills and balances out loud, so neither one of us is in the dark about how much money we have going in and out.

What about you? If you're part of a couple, who does most of the financial bookkeeping? And why?

You know you're growing up when...

2009-02-21T10:37:00.003-05:00

you're really excited about receiving gift cards to Target and Staples for your birthday so you can buy a filing cabinet and other organizing goodies. This should really help get our new place in order once and for all! I can't believe I'm so excited to shop for office supplies. This almost beats the year I got a bike for my birthday. Almost.

I'm off to take my grown-up self shopping!

Tip of the week: Stock up on Forever Stamps

2009-02-18T22:25:00.004-05:00

Postage is going up. Again. Remember when the price of a stamp didn't go up every year? Those days are long gone. On May 11, a stamp will cost you 44 cents instead of the current 42 cents. Will that two-cent increase affect you, the average consumer, all that much? Probably not.

But if you're in a serious penny-pincher mood (or want to feel like you're beating USPS at their own game), there is a way to avoid paying 44 cents to mail a letter: The Forever Stamp.

Released back in May, these stamps sell for 42 cents--but you can use them FOREVER, no matter how much postage increases. I went to my post office Saturday and stocked up on a few sheets (the man behind the counter said they don't sell Forever Stamps in rolls...hmm). If you hate going to the post office as much as I do, you can even buy them online. Although it's a small act of savings, it gave me a teensy, tiny triumphant feeling. Take that, recession! That's right, I'm equipped with Forever Stamps!

Do you have strategies that are more on the "symbolic" side of the savings fence?

To market we go

2009-02-17T09:50:00.004-05:00

As much as I hated my grocery store in Spanish Harlem, I have to admit the prices were low there (at least by NYC standards). It carried a lot of generic and store-brand products, so we hardly bought any name-brand foods, which of course saved us a lot of money. That's like Cheap Grocery Shopping 101: Buy Generics. As a tradeoff, I had to put up with a not-so-nice shopping atmosphere and a produce department that was a joke (ever picked up an apple that someone's taken a bite out of and is now rotting alongside the other bruised apples???). It's no mystery why Spanish Harlem has the highest rate of diabetes in Manhattan...some weeks I just couldn't bring myself to buy "fresh" produce at all.

In our new neighborhood, we have a few options for grocery stores. The first one we went to is just a couple blocks away from the apartment. I'd never heard of it before, but I've since learned it is a chain. Something felt off as we perused the wide, well-lit aisles checking out prices. Once we hit the cereal aisle, I finally caught on to what was missing. There were no generics! At all! A big canister of Quaker Oats cost more than $5; the generic brand at the old grocery store cost a little over $2. I eat oatmeal almost daily for breakfast, but paying 5 bucks for a canister of it feels so very wrong. Same with jelly, cheese, applesauce, Mister Redhead's sugary cereals, and frozen veggies. It was like all our usually cheap basics just doubled in price. Nightmare! Ironically, there were lots of sales on junk food. I suddenly saw myself living off of Oreos and Doritos and forgoing the pricey frozen veggies and oatmeal.

The next week, we ventured further and found another store. It's actually the same chain as our Spanish Harlem store, but that doesn't mean much in Manhattan, I've discovered. I've been in a few of these particular stores, and they're all vastly different when it comes to displays, prices, and selection. This one was at least clean, so I had a good feeling. AND, it had our good ol' generic brands. They're priced slightly higher than the store in Spanish Harlem, but at this point, I was just glad they had oatmeal for under $3. I think we'll be frequenting this store, even though it's almost six blocks away from home (each blocks makes a difference when you're lugging four grocery bags in each hand!).

Mister Redhead and I were reminiscing about the days of shopping at Super Target in Des Moines. Our grocery shopping experience in those golden years really calls for a list of highlights:

It was practically relaxing to push a cart through Super Target's expansive aisles. So much space! So much light! So many options!
I have dreams about the produce there. Apples without bruises, vegetables with vibrant colors, lettuce that wasn't wilting. Now, I'm not naive. There's a good chance that this giant chain was able to get such glorious looking produce because they were dousing it in pesticides and whatnot. But until I grow my own apple tree or get over my farmer market claustrophobia issues or cave into Whole Foods mania, I'm just fine with a few pesticides.
The prices were ridiculously low. At the time, Mister Redhead's credit card allowed him to cash in rewards points for a $100 Super Target gift card. For $100, we'd load up two carts with all types of foods--I don't think we were even buying generics at that point. We could go weeks without buying food again. It blows my mind that I was a broke college student and never worried about what I was spending on groceries. It wasn't until I moved to NYC that I started experiencing major sticker shock.
Here in NYC, we can only buy as much as we can carry home. But in Des Moines, we had a car, which made those two carts full of food possible. Just wheel 'em to the parking lot, load up the car, and drive to our duplex (which, by the way, we paid one-fourth the amount of rent as we're paying now for a one-bedroom in Manhattan...but that's a whole 'nother post!).

All right, enough reminiscing about Super Target and edible produce and cars and reasonable rent. I live in New York now! I'm logging off my computer and going for a walk to enjoy this city, bruised produce and all.

Confession time

2009-02-15T10:01:00.004-05:00

During my move to a bigger and better apartment, most of my day-to-day frugality flew straight out the window. The leases overlapped by 10 days, which made for the most drawn-out move ever and the sense that our lives were split between two apartments. It's like my defenses were weakened. Buy lunch at work every day? Check. Eat Subway or convenience store food every night? Check. Not even blink an eye when Mister Redhead makes uncharacteristic impulse buys (like the beer-brewing kit on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond)? Check.

Last week was a little better, thanks mostly to the fact that we finally made it to the grocery store and have started making meals at home again. But I still feel off-kilter. So, I am solemnly swearing that I will get back to my normal, sane spending habits starting...now.

And if any of you are moving in the near future, let me offer some words of wisdom. DO NOT RUN OUT OF GROCERIES. That's all it takes to start spending money left and right on fast food. Your wallet (and waistline) will thank you if you make a quick run to your new grocery store right away. I promise.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T21:02:00.009-05:00

Just kidding. This is one of those holidays I hate...and I'm married! Every year when this red and pink lovefest rolls around, I am reminded of a favorite quote from Lisa Simpson: "Romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, and sold off piece by piece." Now, I don't truly think romance is dead. But Hallmark and Disney have done serious damage to the idea.

Valentine's Day is one of those events marketers want you to think is all about love and romance, but it's really more about getting guys to buy a lot of crap for fear their girlfriends will freak out on them. Nothing says "love" like the threat of a hissyfit!

And articles like this don't help. Using the recession as an excuse not to buy flowers? Fine, whatever, we're all penny-pinchers right now. But then the article perpetuates the idea that if men don't buy certain things on Valentine's Day, and if they don't make up for their cheapness by doing X, Y, and Z, they will be sleeping on the couch. Because women are shallow lunatics.

Now, I'm no relationship counselor, but something's fundamentally wrong with your relationship if you flip out over not getting roses, diamonds, and chocolate on a day Hallmark has deemed all important. And something's equally wrong if your significant other is compelled to make these purchases out of fear, not love. It's such a messed up holiday. Shouldn't we be showing each other love and appreciation 365 days a year, no matter how much money is in the bank account?

Personally, I think my mom has a good take on the holiday. Yesterday, I received this card from her:

Creepy as all hell, right? I couldn't stop laughing. And inside? "Wishing you a PURRfectly fabulous Birthday." My mom crossed out "birthday" and wrote "Valentine's Day." There was also a giftcard to Chipotle. Yeah, she's kind of awesome like that.

So my plans for tomorrow include a Chicken Burrito Bowl, running errands, and not accompanying Mister Redhead to a viewing of a Friday the 13th remake. Props to everyone who likes dinner reservations and getting dressed up and receiving presents...but I'm a fan of my version of Valentine's Day. What are your plans? Are you spending less money on the festivities than last year?

I'm baaack

2009-02-08T21:10:00.004-05:00

I survived two weeks without internet at home. It can be done. It was pretty painful, though. It turned into one of those customer service nightmares with Verizon. Good thing Mister Redhead seems to genuinely enjoy debating with incompetent reps over the phone. But Verizon pulled themselves together yesterday and hooked us up, we're completely moved into the new place (which I love a little more every day!), we didn't destroy our marriage in the moving process (it may never be the same, though, haha), and we enjoyed a visit from The Blonde and TallDarkAndHandsome in the midst of this craziness.

There are so, so many financial topics from the past two weeks I could post about. At some point down the road, I want to pull out all the receipts and calculate exactly how much this move cost us. But...not tonight :-) I'll just say that I think every penny was worth it. This place feels like HOME! It's pretty, there's space to move, and it just feels like ours.

Gone Movin'

2009-01-23T06:39:00.003-05:00

Please excuse the lack of posts this week. I'm pretty busy painting the new apartment after work every night until 1 a.m. and prepping for the big moving day tomorrow (eek!). Perhaps in the near future I'll write about how painting an entire apartment is way more expensive (and time-consuming) than we thought it would be. Or how we debated the merits of getting a Uhaul and doing all the lifting ourselves (cheap, but good chance we'll strain our backs and marriage) vs. hiring a moving company (convenient, but sketchy and really expensive).

Stay tuned to see how it all turns out!

Words on change and prosperity

2009-01-20T23:24:00.001-05:00

"Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

-Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, January 20, 2009

Amazing sale at New York & Company

2009-01-19T12:05:00.006-05:00

With stores trying to unload their winter items to make way for spring fashions, there are some awesome sales going on right now—like the 50% off outerwear sale at New York & Company. I headed there yesterday to spend a gift card on a new winter coat (remember when I said I planned on buying one soon?). This was the coat I had in mind from a pre-Christmas trip to the store:

City Style Wool Captain's Coat
Original price: $129.95
Sale price: $64.97

Imagine it in red or gray, though. As much as I love the look of white winter coats, I am a toddler when it comes to spilling food and brushing up against grimy stuff. So, no white coats for me until I grow out of my awkward phase (23 years and counting....it's gotta wrap up soon, right?).

I arrived at the store, only to discover they didn't have any of this style left in stock. That's the problem when you wait for things to go on sale—you risk waiting too long. I could have found a different location, but I honestly just wanted to get a coat and go home, not schlep around Manhattan all day. Or I could have purchased it online, but NY&C is really inconsistent in its sizing. Definitely need to try everything on there before purchasing!

So I settled for a different style. It fit my criteria: cheap and bright.

City Style Peacoat
Original price: $99.95
Sale price: $49.97

The model isn't exactly selling the coat with that pose—I promise it doesn't look like a potato sack on me. I still like the first coat better, but I never tried it on, so I'm telling myself it's one of those things that probably looks awesome on models but looks odd in real life. Plus, you can't beat a coat that rings up under $50.

The store also had a 70% off sale on all sweaters. I still had money left on my gift card, so I tried on a zillion sweaters trying to cash in on the amazing markdown. Alas, the sweaters were on sale for a reason: They were either drapy, chunky configurations or too tight with awkward lengths. Didn't find a single one worth buying, even if they were practically giving them away. (This is why I still have no idea who NY&C is marketing to—Middle-aged professionals? Homemakers? Clubbers? Pregnant women? They have such a random mix of styles and fits that I honestly can't tell who they want shopping there.) If you're part of the 5% of the population who can make awkward sweaters look fabulous with a big belt or tights or some trendy such thing, then you'll want to check out this sale. I, on the other hand, am holding onto the remainder of the gift card so I can buy some spring items soon.

Nine tips for apartment hunting in Manhattan

2009-01-18T09:41:00.004-05:00

We signed the lease on our new one-bedroom in Harlem (aka Dream Apartment #2) Friday, so the apartment hunt is officially over. I now have two apartment hunts in Manhattan under my belt, and while that doesn't make me an expert, I have learned a few tactics that may help other apartment-seekers:

Check out neighborhoods on your own before you meet with a broker. To get a sense of what it would be like to live there, take a weekend to walk around them. Does it feel safe? Are there grocery stores, laundromats, and pharmacies nearby? What would your commute to work be like? Mister Redhead and I walked around areas of Harlem back in November and figured out that there are some awesome residential areas. But...there wasn't a grocery store, subway, or laundromat in sight for blocks. So we crossed those areas off our list.
Get your paperwork in order before you meet with a broker. Renting an apartment in Manhattan is like buying a house, one broker told me, and it's so true. The paperwork required is ridiculous: Tax returns, bank statements, letters of employment, pay stubs, etc. Get your packet in order before you meet with a broker. That way, you're ready if you see a place you like that day. Apparently, I'm really good at this step—every broker I've met with has expressed great appreciation for how prepared and organized I am.
Crunch the numbers; then crunch them again; then crunch them again. Pull out a calculator and a sheet of paper and make a table. How much are you comfortable spending per month for rent? Write it down, then multiply it by 12: that's your annual cost of rent. Take that number and multiply it by 0.15: that's the percentage most brokers charge (yes, 15% of your annual rent!). Take that 15% and add your annual rent: That's how much this move will cost you in the first year. Now that you have one row of your table complete, make new rows starting with different monthly rent amounts so you can see a range of budgets. Once you have a few amounts above and below your original goal, think of different scenarios. How does it change things if you're able to negotiate one or two months of free rent? What if you can bargain down the broker's fee to 12%? Write it all down, and take the table with you when you meet with brokers. It comes in handy for two reasons: 1) When they see a sheet full of calculations and every possible scenario, they'll know you're serious and that they can't pull a fast one on you. 2) If they start throwing different numbers and "deals" at you, you can quickly refer to your table and see how that affects your budget.
Look professional, act professional. When I went to brokers' offices, I saw many other girls around my age wearing sweatpants and Ugg boots, slouching back in their chairs as brokers steamrolled them with fast talk. This is a business transaction, with thousands of your dollars at stake. I think you can change out of your sweats, sit up straight, and engage in a conversation for that. And if you're a young 20-something girl like myself, it's even more important to exude maturity and professionalism so brokers don't think you're some naive daddy's girl. Mister Redhead was on a business trip when I made the final decisions, but there were some meetings early on where we were both present. Surprise, surprise, the brokers turned to him when the financial talk started. Hellloooo, I'm the one who's more hands-on with the family budget! Interject in this situation and establish that you know just as much of the financials as he does, if not more.
Learn these phrases and repeat them often:

That's not in my budget. Brokers show you things over your budget. They might rationalize it by saying they'll bargain with the landlord for you, or reduce their fee to make it even out (see: Dream Apartment #1). But if you don't even want to go there, say that and repeat it often, like a painfully blunt broken record. Eventually, I told my last broker, "Don't even bother trying to show me anything over this number. It will be a huge waste of everyone's time."
I need a number to work with. When the broker for Dream Apartment #1 offered to slash his fee, he refused to say by how much. He actually said, "For you, dear, the best. The very best." Dear!?! Oh, he did not just say that! At that point, I set down my pen and notepad, looked him in the eye, and said very slowly, "I. Need. A. Number. To. Make. A. Decision." And he finally named one.
Give me a few minutes to do the math. When my final broker started talking incentives for Dream Apartment #2, it was outside of what I had on my handy table (13-month lease, two months free rent, etc.). I let her explain everything, then asked for a few minutes to do the math to see where it came in compared to my original budget. Gotta love calculator functions on cell phones!

Think long term. The lease might work financially for one year, but what happens if the landlord raises the rent the following year? Will you be able to afford it? For this reason, it's best to stick to the lower end of your budget range. You don't want to waste money on brokers and moving vans every year because the rent became too high too fast. I almost got tripped up by this with Dream Apartment #1, and ended up withdrawing my application because of it.
Now's the time to bargain. On my first apartment hunt two years ago, the general feel was "Move fast! Someone else will snap this apartment up if you don't!" Now, the atmosphere is bargain, bargain, bargain. Landlords are willing to bargain, brokers are willing to cut their fees. It's a renter's marketplace, so work it to your advantage. Find out how long a place has been on the market. Point out the negatives ("This much for a fifth-floor walk-up? Really?"). Mention how much other brokers have offered to slash their fees.
Call them on their psychological tactics. It's great, awkward fun to do this, and it says you know the game they're playing. For example, the broker for Dream Apartment #1 showed me a string of crappy, rundown places before ending with the over-budget beauty near Central Park. Of course it's going to look great after all the other icky places I saw. I didn't call him on it (so wish I had, especially after that "dear" comment!), but I did mention how much I hated it to my final broker. She nervously responded, "Oh, hehe, you um don't think I've done that, have you?" My answer: "Not yet. But I'm watching out for it now!" I could practically see her mentally crossing off over-budget places from her list.
Get it in writing. Brokers will say a lot of stuff to get you to apply for a place. When you get home, summarize everything in an email and send it to them to confirm. Ask follow-up questions via email. Dream Apartment #1's broker said that if the landlord accepted my lease, but I decided not to go through with it, I'd get every penny of my down payment back. I confirmed that in an email and had no problems getting a check from the company when I withdrew my application. After I applied for Dream Apartment #2, my broker called and said the management company wanted a $100 deposit per cat. That wasn't on the application, and I was super angry. Later, I asked via email if "deposit" meant we'd get that money back when we moved out, like a security deposit. She replied yes, it would go into an interest-bearing account with our security deposit and we'd get it back. But when we signed the lease on Friday, it clearly said it was a nonrefundable fee. More anger ensued. When I got home, I forwarded the e-mail to the broker and her manager explaining the situation. Within 5 minutes, the manager e-mailed me and the broker called to apologize. I'm expecting a check for $200 in the mail this week.

Wow, that's a ridiculously long post. But did I miss anything? Any other Manhattan renters out there who have more tips? Add them in the comment section.

The frugal conundrum

2009-01-17T21:29:00.005-05:00

An article in today's New York Times raises a point that's been on my mind a lot lately. Because of the financial crunch, people are becoming more frugal and doing things for themselves (dying their hair at home vs. going to the salon, washing their own cars vs. going to the car wash). However, the small business owners who provide those services are hurting from this newfound frugality. The end result: Becoming a bunch of penny-pinchers is hurting the economy even more.

It's a big conundrum. While I strongly believe that the services the article lists should be things people have done for themselves all along (housecleaning, dog-grooming), the truth is huge industries were built up around these convenience providers. But should individuals keep spending irresponsibly just to keep the economy limping along right now? Even if it hurts them in the long run if they can't afford these services? That's a lot to ask.

The market as we know it is obviously balancing itself out right now. While I feel horrible for the maids and hairstylists who are suffering, does our society really need to depend on so many of them? I don't think so. It's an unfortunate situation that's been a long time in the making.

I do my part to balance things out by simply being a smarter spender. I want to save money, but it's foolish to just completely stop spending—that's only going to make things worse for everyone. For example, I'm eating less often at restaurants (not a necessary expense), but I do plan on buying a new winter coat (my current one that I got freshman year of college is thisclose to being threadbare—plus, there's awesome sales right now). How are you changing your spending habits? Do you feel guilty for spending less these days? Or is it every man/woman for themselves?

Mint.com: Do or Don't?

2009-01-16T20:26:00.005-05:00

I've been toying with the idea of joining Mint.com for more than a year. For the uninitiated, Mint is a financial website that organizes all your accounts in one spot. Then it tracks your spending habits and shows them in graphs and charts to help you understand where your money is going and points out areas where you could save cash. It also suggests offers that could save you money (for example, it might suggest a credit card with a better rewards system). The company likes to boast that the average user can save $1,000 during the first visit alone.

Sounds cool, right? It's certainly an impressive system. But a couple of things have held me back from signing up. First and foremost: security. Of course, the site reassures visitors that it's safe. Its reasoning is that you never share your identity; you never enter your real name, social security number, or address. And you're not making payments or moving money through the site; it simply organizes your funds. But still...you're entering your bank account numbers and passwords. And what if someone managed to get around its "bank level" security and hacked into those numbers? Frightening.

The other thing holding me back is the fact that I enjoy crunching my own numbers. I'm serious. I like sitting down with my pile of bills, calculator, and Excel spreadsheet and doing some good old-fashioned math and Excel equations. Yeah, it's slightly time-consuming. But taking the time to work through my finances makes my spending stick in my brain. It's like this: People can tell you how to kick a goal. People can demonstrate kicking a goal. But the only way you're truly going to learn to kick a goal is if you put yourself on the soccer field and go through the motions, again and again, and ingrain in your brain exactly what you need to do to get the ball in the goal. By doing my own calculations, I'm ingraining in my brain how I spend my money, and where I can do better.

On the other hand, Mint might be a quick, easy way to get a different perspective on my finances. So, dear readers, do any of you use Mint? Do you feel safe doing so? Has it dramatically changed your spending habits? Are there any annoying quirks? And has anyone actually saved $1,000 during their first visit?

Putting the "finance" in "personal finance"

2009-01-15T21:34:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed that for a personal finance blog, there aren't a lot of numbers here. Income, debt, and savings broken down to every penny are common in this niche of the blogosphere. While that's incredibly helpful and eye-opening to a newbie like me, I'm never going there. Never. This blog isn't exactly anonymous, and I'm so not comfortable listing my salary and student loan debt and whatnot. Breaking down the occasional grocery bill? Yeah, I can live with that. Breaking down what my 401(k) looks like right now? No thanks.

However, I'm all for doing some mathematical gloating when I manage to come out ahead. I crunched the numbers from my apartment search the other day on my commute, and I'm happier than ever with my choice of apartments.

If I had gone with choice #1 (the two-bedroom near Central Park that was just over my budget), I would have been $780 over my budget for the year. That's with the reduced broker's fee. Now, $780 isn't insanely horrible (especially in this city), but $780 is $780.

Now let's look at choice #2: The one-bedroom in Harlem, which I'm signing the lease on tomorrow. Even though it's a one-bedroom, the square footage is more than any two-bedroom I looked at. And with the management company offering two free month's rent and a couple hundred dollars knocked off the broker's fee, I'm coming in $2,905 under my budget for the year. That's almost $3,000 bucks! What's more, the two free months of rent perfectly offset the broker's fee. So by the end of the year it will be like we never incurred moving costs. We're paying roughly the same amount to live in a place that's twice as big as the one we're in now!

The history of money is...meh.

2009-01-14T21:44:00.003-05:00

I watched that PBS documentary, The Ascent of Money, last night. I was underwhelmed. Now, to be fair, I wasn't exactly devoting my undivided attention to it. (A girl has to email her family pics of her new apartment and field phone calls and texts from both of her sisters!) The interesting historic material on money was there, and it was definitely a relevant topic given the financial slide we're in, but the delivery failed.

First of all, the host, Niall Ferguson, came off as pompous. Maybe it was just his Scottish accent. Or the fact that he's a Harvard man. But the general attitude was, "My, my, what have these stupid Americans gotten us all into? And why must I pronounce filthy words like 'De-troit?'" Granted, as a collective whole we have been pretty stupid, what with the credit card debt and buying homes we can't afford and banks giving mortgages to anyone in sight. And Detroit's never had a fantastic reputation anyway. But I have a general aversion to people who come across as elitist and snide.

Secondly, I forgot a lot of PBS documentaries employ the schmaltzy historic actors technique. Ferguson would be standing in a stone tunnel saying something about currency in Shakespearean plays or some such, when suddenly two actors dressed in Ye Ole English garb would fade in behind him. As Ferguson keeps yammering on, the actors are in the background mimicking the passing of money between hands. Fade out and...cue eye roll. I mean, come on. That's just distracting.

I did pick up a few interesting factoids. Did you know that the term "credit" stems from the Latin word credo, or I believe? Or that the U.S. government basically underwrote the mortgage industry in the wake of the Depression, which led to an explosion in home ownership? Or that there's something called "Chimerica" (as in "China" and "America")? It has something to do with Americans relying on the savings of Chinese people.

In case you can't tell, I didn't make it to the second hour of the documentary. I'm noticing the commenters on PBS are going nuts over how good the show was, so maybe I should have shut off my cell phone and laptop and watched the whole thing. But if you want to watch and judge it for yourself, I'm pleased to announce that PBS has the full documentary online now. Click here to watch.

The history of money...plus some exciting news!

2009-01-13T19:43:00.006-05:00

If money's been on your mind lately (whose mind hasn't it been on?), then you'll want to check out The Ascent of Money, a documentary airing on PBS at 9 p.m. tonight. I think it's going to be a mix of historical, economical, and sociological musings about moolah. Fun stuff! Perhaps I'll write about it tomorrow if it proves interesting.

If that doesn't excite you, maybe this will: I got the apartment I applied for Sunday! I'm signing the lease on Thursday and am waiting to hear back regarding the move-in date. So while I watch my dorky PBS documentary, I'll also be frantically cleaning and tossing out miscellaneous pack-rat stuff in preparation for the Big Move. More details to follow, but here's a preview:

My new kitchen! Stainless steel appliances!

Fun, cheap things to do in NYC: ideas needed

2009-01-12T20:11:00.009-05:00

In approximately 2.5 weeks, my sister (whom i shall now call The Blonde) and her husband (~~um, Mister Blonde?~~ TallDarkAndHandsome) will be in New York for their honeymoon. I'm super excited for them to visit. They're staying at a hotel most of their visit (courtesy of a generous friend and wedding guest), but I know that all the same, my tour guide abilities will be in demand.

Problem is, The Blonde has been to the Big Apple three times in two years to visit me. I've taken her to all the basic tourist sites (seriously, all of them). We've used my employee badge to get in free at The Met. We attended a Yankees game. They took their engagement photos in Central Park. We saw Liv Tyler in the West Village. We have pictures with New York firefighters. I'll even admit to the Sex and The City bus tour.

As crazy as it sounds, I feel like I'm running out of ideas for budget-friendly sightseeing activities. I know, I know, there's always something free in New York. But will The Blonde and TallDarkAndHandsome really want to go on a historic walking tour? In January? Doubtful. We could hit up a cheap concert, but then we couldn't talk and catch up. And...I'm drawing a complete blank on what else we can do. Isn't that horrible?

Does anyone have any ideas? What do you do when your family visits? Is there some hidden gem in an outer borough I'm unaware of? If this was just a normal visit, I wouldn't feel too bad. But this is their honeymoon. It should be memorable and fun. They shouldn't look back on it and remember only me, frowning at my NYC map, failing to come up with something good to do. I'm not the most romantic person in the world (and haven't even gone on my own honeymoon yet), so bonus points if you have any swoon-worthy ideas for them. Hint: The Blond and ~~Mister Blonde~~ TallDarkAndHandsome are an uber dramatic couple. Like, they might actually reenact that crucial Empire State Building scene from An Affair to Remember if I mention it.

Maybe I'll just give them a bottle of champagne, send them to a burlesque club, and hope they find their way back to the hotel at the end of the night...that should result in at least one memorable evening on their honeymoon, right?

Apartment Hunting in Manhattan--Whee!

2009-01-11T22:40:00.002-05:00

I applied for another place today! And I feel so good about it (as opposed to yesterday, when I felt uneasy). This place is a dream, and unlike anything I've ever seen in Manhattan. It has a freakin' washer/dryer right in the apartment unit itself! And a dishwasher! And lots of space! And it's actually in our budget! It's in Harlem-Harlem, not Spanish Harlem, so it will also be a much-needed change of scenery. I'm too tired to write anymore about it, but hopefully I'll find out tomorrow if my application was approved.

Apartment Hunting in Manhattan--Budget Guilt Won

2009-01-11T09:06:00.002-05:00

I slept on it, and it's clear I should not have applied for that fab apartment. I just can't risk the rent going up next year. So I withdrew my application this morning and am back to square one. As I continue on my quest, I'm going to keep a few things in mind:

I'm young. Too young to actually love the Manhattan apartment I live in. These are the years to garner the quirky stories of what's it like for newlyweds and two cats to live in a one-bedroom apartment, to have three of the four stove burners not function, to have a malfunctioning kitchen light that can't be fixed because your super's phone has been disconnected and you don't know which unit she lives in, to live across the street from a police station and a fire station and get used to the constant sirens. Someday, I'll look back on these annoyances with fondness. Maybe.
Despite all of the above, this apartment was actually a good find. And you know how I decided on it? It was the cheapest one I had looked at on my apartment hunt two years ago. That was the selling point. Because it definitely wasn't pretty when I viewed it (the last occupant had been a smoker—there were actually soot marks outlining the spots where pictures had been). Maybe I need to be thinking like that again.
Paint can do wonders. I should know this from my years at home decorating publications. A coat of paint is the easiest, cheapest way to change the character of a room. Maybe that's all it takes to make a place feel like home.
We'd like to buy a house or apartment someday. Isn't it worth living in slightly less than fabulous apartments for a few years if it means we can be putting away money toward our own place?
I need to trust my gut. Not my eyes.

Apartment Hunting in Manhattan

2009-01-10T22:33:00.005-05:00

Finding a place to live in NYC is a fascinating, if not exhausting, process. In any other city, you'd call the rental office of a building that looked clean and safe and ask about any availabilities. They'd show you the place and give you a price, and you'd sign the lease.

Oh, but not Manhattan. Here, you must contend with brokers and fees and the crazy idea that you shouldn't bother looking at apartments until two weeks before you need one. Which is how I spent my snowy Saturday.

I've lived at my current one-bedroom apartment in Spanish Harlem for two years. When I signed the lease, I felt like I was getting a good deal. But me and Mister Redhead have been itching for more space, and when we got the lease renewal letter in the mail Thursday, I suddenly felt like we no longer had a good deal on our hands. The rent went up more than expected. It hit that tipping point price, the one that makes you think Really? That much for just a one-bedroom in Spanish Harlem? So, with ten days to accept or reject the lease renewal, we embarked on an apartment hunt. Except Mister Redhead had a business trip, so really I'm the one doing the hunting.

Our ideal situation would be finding a two-bedroom for the price we're paying for a one-bedroom. It sounds crazy, but they're out there. I looked at a few today in our budget, and lemme tell you: They're cheap for a reason. Namely, because the kitchens and bathrooms are messed up. I'm not a foodie, and I don't need a spa-like powder room, but I'm not buying that any of those appliances were "brand new" (um, maybe in 1975?). Nor am I crawling into some nook-and-cranny corner to stand in a "shower" that's not big enough to turn around in.

Of course, the broker saved the best for last. Exposed brick, gorgeous trim, glass-door kitchen cabinets, a spacious layout, half a block to Central Park. This is a place I could call home. But it's not in my budget. At all. My dear broker said it's a good time to bargain with landlords, though, and predicted we have a good chance of getting the monthly rent down to just $100 above my budget. And if that worked, the broker offered to slash his fee, so that the year's cost would be close to my original budget.

So I applied.

And now, a few hours later, I'm having second thoughts. OK, what if we do all this bargaining and get the yearly cost to align with my yearly budget? Great, right? But what about in 2010, when Mr. New Landlord wants to hike up the rent to what this place is really worth? Then we'd be back in the same situation, wasting money on application fees and broker fees and moving vans. Is it worth all that just to love where you live?

I have an appointment with another broker tomorrow. Who knows, maybe she has a fabulous two-bedroom in our budget, and I can withdraw the app for my dream apartment. Or maybe she's just going to show me more dingy places. It seems we have a few options:

Stay put, even though this place now feels overpriced. At least we'd save money by not paying a broker's fee.
Go through with the dream apartment. Feel budget guilt. Worry about rent hike in 2010.
Keep looking. Torturous.

Sigh. Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow...

OMG, can you even imagine??

2009-01-09T06:12:00.002-05:00

Oh, Ontario. The lotto system there misprinted more than 1,100 tickets, which appeared to be winning tickets. Psych! Sorry, ecstatic "winners," you're actually getting nothing because we messed up. Man, I hope no one ran out and spent a ton of money before they were informed of the error. How sad.

Read more: WalletPop

A freebie from uber-powerful women!

2009-01-08T20:08:00.004-05:00

I love free stuff. I also love Get Rich Slowly for alerting me to this glorious giveaway. Apparently, Suze Orman was on Oprah's show this afternoon. And through Thursday, January 15, you can download Suze's new book at Oprah's website. That's right, Suze's 2009 Action Plan, in all its 227-page glory, for FREE. Don't you love when ridiculously rich women share the wealth? I haven't started reading the book yet, but the downloading process went flawlessly. Enjoy!

Where I draw the line

2009-01-06T22:09:00.004-05:00

I'm all for being frugal, but I just do not do the whole Goodwill/vintage/consignment shop thing. I know "shopping for vintage steals" is practically a prerequisite hobby when you're a 20something girl in New York. I know people find perfectly good clothes—even high-end labels—for super cheap. I know there are plenty of people who simply can't afford to buy clothes in any other way. But I don't think I can ever bring myself to buy someone else's used shirt (that they probably sweated, and God knows what else, in), and actually wear it. Just writing about it makes me want to shudder.

This is honestly out of character for me; I'm not usually a germaphobe or hyper-paranoid. I've just always had a really negative attitude about used clothing, which I can pinpoint to my pre-junior high years. It was the '90s, my older sister was into the grunge scene, and her trips to Ragstock were horribly frequent and lengthy. Guess who got to go with her? Me. Minneapolis' Uptown Ragstock (yes, this was before you could find a Ragstock in every mall in the Twin Cities) had that icky stench of B.O. and basement and cheap body glitter gel. It simply reeked, and smell is a tough sense to try forgetting.

Fast-forward a few years, and I'm interning in NYC one summer during college. I agree to go to Brooklyn's Beacon's Closet with a few vintage-loving friends. It's crowded, haphazard, and definitely has that vintage stench. I do my fake browsing, carefully touching as little of the items as possible. Meanwhile, my friends are making multiple trips to the curtained closets that pass as dressing rooms. I feign interest for as long as possible, then finally pick out an ugly pearl broach, make my purchase, and wait outside. Forever. Did I mention this was in July? Needless to say, the day got much better when we headed across the street to Brooklyn Brewery. That was the last time I've been to a vintage shop.

Until last Sunday, when Mister Redhead and I made our inaugural trip to the local Goodwill to donate clothes (hey, I'm all for charity, and be my guest if you want to wear my old stuff). I've been on the hunt for a new, cheap winter coat, so I thought I might as well look around while we were there. Coats seem safer than your average piece of clothing—not as much bodily contact. Well, the coats were fugly. So I checked out the wide variety of skirts, and actually saw a lot I liked. I even ventured to try one on. Maybe my hatred for used clothing has lifted! Maybe this is how I can do all my shopping from now on! Think of how much I can get for my money! And then I saw it, as I turned to look in the mirror: ever-so-faint stains, all over the back of the skirt. Ew, ew, EW! I hightailed it out of the dressing room, then spotted Mister Redhead standing uncomfortably in the shoe section. "It stinks in the entire men's section," he says. "Can we leave?"

Surprisingly, our mutual hatred for vintage has never been discussed. We spent the entire walk home obsessing about how Goodwills give us the willies. The smell, the wearing of others' clothes, the weirdness of it all. And although I may be missing out on great deals, I take solace in the fact that this anti-Goodwill attitude is something Mister Redhead and I share, and I will proudly add it to the very short list of things we have in common.

Money and Weight: Not all that different

2009-01-05T21:57:00.003-05:00

Over at Wise Bread, there's an interesting article comparing the ever popular resolutions to lose weight and gain money. You know, the vicious cycle of, "OK, I'm really going to lose the weight this time with a crazy-restrictive diet"...which lasts about a week, then you're right back where you started (or worse off). Some people harbor the same attitude about money, spending it wildly when they have it, then wallowing in guilt when they run out of it.

The manic-depressive spending habits that Jabulani Leffall describes don't really apply to me (I'm not one to run out on a shopping spree come payday). But I do like the idea of going on money "fast." Leffall writes:

"What if you held, stored and did without for just one week or one two-week interval every month? Fast. That’s the solution. Just like the master cleanse, all you need is a calendar. Pick a ridiculously low financial threshold and an applicable time period. Test it, stay home, take public transport, avoid eating out, go shopping for clothes in your closet or for purging, or for altruistic purposes. Barnes & Noble your own damn book shelf for a change because you know you ain't read all them books. Go to sleep. Who actually losses money by sleeping more except a toll-booth operator with narcolepsy?"

Now, of course these seem like really "duh" ideas. They should be glaringly obvious tactics, but when people get stuck in a spendspendspend mindset, practicality flies out the window. I already put most of these tips into use every day, and you know what helps? Not carrying cash. If I have cash, I will inevitably spend it on stupid stuff. A coffee here, a vending machine trip there, a pack of mints...you get the idea. I have just enough self-respect not to put piddly crap like that on my credit card. So, no cash, no dumb purchases. And, fittingly enough, my never-carry-cash ways also help me stay healthy. Just think of all the trips to the vending machine I eliminate!

"Piggy banks fly off shelves"

2009-01-04T11:36:00.004-05:00

photo: Acclaim Images

Alright, this is too funny. According to Reuters, sales of piggy banks are way up in these trying times. I'm a fan of piggy banks: they're nostalgic and quirky. One of my earliest money memories involves a piggy bank (actually, it might be more accurate to call it a coin bank—it was technically a rocking horse shape). I crammed that sucker with loose change til it was full, then proudly carried it to the kitchen to show off my accomplishment to my family. Well, the weight of a full coin bank turned out to be more than my puny three-year-old arms could handle. I dropped it before I could even get to the kitchen. It shattered, coins and shards flew, tears ensued. My parents painstakingly glued the bank back together and reinforced the cracks with masking tape. I think it's still on a shelf at my parents' place...I should look for it next time I'm back.

Money-saving secret: your library

2009-01-04T10:01:00.003-05:00

OK, it's actually not a secret at all. It's pretty easy to see why frequenting your local library saves cash: you can borrow books, magazines, and DVDs instead of buying them. Presto, money saved! But lately there's been a plethora of articles about library usage going way up as the economy plunges. This post from Aaron Crowe at WalletPop and this article from the LA Times sum up the situation.

It amazes me that it takes a recession to get people into libraries. Why wouldn't you go to the library all the time, not just when the economy is tanking? What's not to like? I was talking about this last night with my dad. My parents have pretty much stopped going to Blockbuster in favor of my hometown library, which is a two-block walk from their house. We agreed that there's a downside to the secret being out: The selection is picked over, especially in the DVD department. That's where it takes a little legwork. Mister Redhead and I are whizzes at reserving things online—the New York Public Library is such a huge system that we've yet to be unable to find a title we really want.

Confession time: Seeing as I work in publishing, I feel slightly guilty about the whole "borrow instead of buy" attitude. Here's how I rationalize it so I can sleep at night:

The library is not some new recessionista trend for me. I practically grew up at the library, so it's not like I'm changing my spending habits here. Since I moved to New York, I've dropped in at my local branch almost every Saturday morning.
If there's an author I really like, a classic I want to add to my collection. or a small publishing company I want to support, I will buy those books. And because I live hundreds of miles from my relatives, I feel like I'm standing in line at Barnes & Noble on a monthly basis to purchase giftcards to mail with birthday cards. (Hey, it might not be original, but I think everyone can appreciate a B&N giftcard.)
Sometimes the number of holds the library has on an item is insane. We've been waiting almost a year for season 2 of Rescue Me, and I miss me some Denis Leary. If I see it at a reasonable price, I am snatching it up, library be damned.

Do you find yourself going to the library more nowadays? Or are you like me: a lifelong fan, no matter what the economy is doing?

Looking ahead

2009-01-02T13:05:00.002-05:00

Day 2 of 2009 is upon us, and I've been thinking about what I can do better in terms of finances. I have a million ideas, but I'll just jot down the biggies that come to mind:

Get a handle on the restaurant/bar outings. As I said in the last post, I've gotten better with this, but there's still room for improvement. Maybe I need to come up with a set budget for entertainment per month. Or maybe I should set some parameters, like having one date night per month that's completely planned ahead of time (so we can research restaurant prices beforehand). Enough of just spontaneously dropping in someplace because we're hungry and home feels so far away! At the very least, I should start packing snacks when I know we're going to be away from the apartment a lot on the weekends.
Look into a Roth IRA for Mister Redhead. He's technically a freelancer, so he's doesn't have 401(k) options at his job. I know financial experts stress getting retirement funds going as soon as possible, but I can't help but wonder: With the markets being so dismal, is it even worth setting something up right now? Or would that be like throwing money to the wind? Maybe that cash would be better put toward paying down student loans. I have the feeling we should get something started no matter what, but this definitely needs more research.
Be savvier at the grocery store. It's not like we buy expensive brand names or pricey organic veggies (I don't think our Spanish Harlem grocery store even carries organic veggies). We buy generics, we take advantage of sales, we make large batches that last us a few days. But there must be more we can do. Clipping coupons, or trying a different store to compare prices (although I really think our icky grocery store has the lowest prices I've seen in Manhattan). Yet another point that needs more research.

How about you—any fiscal plans for '09?

Looking back

2009-01-01T22:32:00.004-05:00

I'm usually not a New Year's resolution type girl, but this year is different. Maybe it's because 2008 felt rather stagnant. It was the first year nothing really changed. Up through 2006, I was in school. Classes changed, teachers changed, internships changed, dorm rooms changed. Then 2007 packed in about every big life-altering event one can have: Move across the country, start my first full-time job, fiance joins me in NYC a few months later, he job searches (successfully!), we get married. Whew! So in comparison, 2008 felt monotonous. There was nothing to pass the changing of the seasons. No huge events. Day in, day out, same old, same old.

I need to mix things up in 2009, or I may just go crazy. Now seems as good a time as any to look back on '08 and determine what I can improve on in '09.

2008: The good

I made good on my one New Year's goal and got my 401(k) going.
Mister Redhead and I still have no credit card debt. Never have, never will!
Made steady progress on paying down our student loans.
We both got raises.
We cut down on eating at restaurants and packed our lunches most days.
Almost all the clothes we bought were purchased with gift cards from holidays.
We reduced our electricity bill by a ton compared to 2007.
We officially have a three-month emergency fund and are starting to squirrel away even more.
I started a spreadsheet to track our spendings and earnings.

2008: The bad

Student loan debt...still there!
Grocery store prices went up significantly. Boo.
The restaurant/bar outings were still probably more frequent than they needed to be.
No retirement savings for Mister Redhead.
It's kind of out of my control, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the economy tanked. And the publishing industry is swiftly heading in the same direction. Oy. Job security: Not so much.

Well, on that pleasant note, I'm going to wrap this up and go to bed. Tomorrow I'll detail my plans for 2009.

Why am I doing this?

2008-12-31T11:12:00.000-05:00

The first post of a blog is always the toughest, so I'll just lay out my reasons for starting this site. I'm a saver: Always have been, always will be (hopefully). But I get the feeling that I could be doing more, saving smarter, spending less. That feeling was amplified when I moved to Manhattan two years ago to work in publishing. Yes, live in Manhattan, work in publishing. In other words, I'd be considered a financial success if I didn't go bankrupt in six months. Well, I'm not bankrupt, but I don't feel like a huge success either.

So this blog has a few purposes:

To help me be more aware of my spending habits. If I put it in writing, maybe that will shock me into being a smarter spender.
To learn more about the intimidating aspects of personal finance and share what I find out with you, dear readers. CDs, 401(k)s, buying a home—the things you know are considered "good," but that seem to be masked in a language that's impossible to understand.
To practice writing. I write for work, but not every day. I blog here and there for other sites, but I want to have real ownership of a site. And if I'm going to practice writing, I might as well take on a topic that's challenging for me to put into words: finance.

I'm not a financial expert; I'm just a firm believer in learning from my own mistakes and those of others. I hope you feel the same way, and that you'll learn from me and leave some comments so I can learn from you. Welcome!