Making Money Journal

I have seen this commercial several times now and each time I am dumbfounded. It is from Chase and features what I politically incorrect assume are husband and wife. She gets irritated with the quality of their TV and tells him he get go get a new TV but not to go overboard. Cue him going to a large retailer with a wall of TVs like he was arriving to the Altar at St. Peters Basilica in Rome, music and all.

The husband is enthralled with the the large screen TVs, not that I disagree with him. The kicker is that he proceeds to text his credit card company(Chase) to check the balance on his card. End commercial. This whole production is to promote Chase Mobile. Where you can get up to date info on your account via text message.

Do we really need such info? Is this good considering our current economic state? My answer to this is no and no. If the consumer has to make such purposes based on what he has left on hi account balance, maybe he should not be making that purchase. A TV, in my book, is something that one should pay for without adding to your debt. You should not have to worry about whether you are hitting that credit limit.

Rant over.

Filed under: Debt | No Comments »

That time of the week again.  This week I like to point out articles that pertained to our current economic state and methods of saving money.

•  Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog writes Frugal Brown Bag Lunch Ideas + Cost Breakdown: Sandwiches Edition: Just a reminder to brown bag it vs eating out.  My favorite method is Soup cans, esp when I can find them at 10 cans for $10.
  
• Paidtwice writes You Don’t Need That! 8 Tricks For Impulse Control: #3 is the biggest point is our book.  We have to work on sticking to our lists.  It is easy to get carried away.
• GLBLGuy at Gather Little by Little offers Surviving a recession - what you need to do now: The list is especially important now, but can be useful at all times.

That is my short list for now.  Happy reading!

Filed under: Journal | No Comments »

Mother’s Day can turn into a mini Christmas event if we are not too careful. Somehow, over the years, we have gradually been including more mothers into our gift exchange. This has sent costs into the $200 range easily. Ridiculous, if I may say so.

This years we decided that framed pictures were a great idea. This is where my new found photography hobby came in handy. We took advantage of a recent birthday event to get pictures of all the mothers in some nice poses. I processed them on my computer and sent over to PhotoWorks (more on them later) for printing. A 5×7 print costs $.99 and a frame from a local discount store is $3.99, so for $5.00 we have a gift that will last a lifetime.

Why PhotoWorks? First off, let me say that I currently get no money from endorsing them. I have tried other services in the past, Walmart, Shutterfly, CVS, Walgreens etc. PhotoWorks has provided the best quality out of the lot and I do not hesitate to recommend them. I bet that once we distribute the gifts on Sunday, that PhotoWorks will be getting some more business.

Filed under: Saving Money | No Comments »

Had some pretty good ready this week, so lets get to the particulars.

• Free Money Finance wrote about An Example of Turning a Hobby into an Income: As I take my photography hobby more seriously, I am learning of more ways to monetize it.
• On that note, Photopreneur provide The Secrets of Successful Stock Photography: Stock photography can be lucrative if you can find the right niche or two.
• On an unrelated note, Patrick at Cash Money Life shows us how to Save Money with Refurbished Electronics: I am not averse to buying refurbs from the likes of Apple, Dell or Sony.  It is the little shops that would scare me.

Have a great weekend.  I finally will get to work on cleaning out the shed.  Whohoo!!

Filed under: Journal | 1 Comment »

This month we were very close to breaking even.  What held us back?  Our weekend trip to New York City.  I figure that we payed around $250 for the trip out side of hotel and Broadway show ticket.  The last to items were rolled into previous months’ budgets.  The $250 included gas, food and gifts for the kids and caregivers (ie parents and CNA).  Without that cost, we came in a bit under $200 on the plus side, so I consider this a positive month.  The trip was well worth it.

So here are the dirty numbers.

The goal for May is to be around that $200 mark in the positive.  I think this is very doable, so long as the gas costs don’t skyrocket.

Filed under: Budget | No Comments »

A while back I discussed how my raise coupled with the federal tax rebate would join together in fully funding our emergency fund.  Well, today I well be sending over a $4200.00 deposit to our money market fund.  This will bring that account to $5000, which is the goal for our backup fund.  With that is place, we will still be send $100 automatically there per month.  It gets a pretty decent interest rate as compared to our other accounts and we can set those extra dollars aside of any family trips that come up.

On  a related note, this week we also began to implement our plan on paying down the auto loan early.  I started small, extra $55, because we also finished paying off some remaining credit card debt.  As of today, we not longer have any outstanding credit card balances.  From here on out we will be paying the cards off monthly.  I know that the debt is still existent in the form of a home equity loan, but at least the rate is much lower and we can meet the existing payments, while not adding massive amounts to the balance.

It was only 2 months ago that we were adding $1200 monthly on our total debt.  Now, we are starting to see that total debt decline.  This is a big relief for us and sees us on the right path to financial recovery.

Filed under: Budget, Finance and Investing | No Comments »

A while back, I pondered whether I should startup a blog for my photography hobby. Well, yesterday I took the plunge and started one. For now I will keep it anonymous from here just for identity sake. I have been really getting into photos on my downtime, and been reading up quite a bit. Trouble is, I am stuck to photos from around the house for now, since I am stuck at home most of the time. I do take the camera with me as much as possible.

My overall hope is to be able to earn some extra dollars from the hobby. I think that in addition to blog revenue, there is a market for selling prints as well as having a go at stock sites. As that blog grows and I feel confident in stock photo route, I will document my trials and tribulations here since it is related to ‘making money’.

Filed under: Journal | No Comments »

I have not spread the love in quite a while, so I thought I would send it out today.

• Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog talks about The Financial Freedom Ratio: A Better Way To Measure Your Net Worth?:  This seems like a simple and more effective way to gauge your net worth.  I will have to give it a go when time permits.
• Hank at MyInvestingBlog offers 6 Tips For Bumping Up Your Credit Score:  This things are always good to keep in mind.
• glblguy at Gather Little By Little asks Why do I still have to carry cash?: Receipts are more of a nuisance to me than cash, but I am in agreement with glblguy.  It would be nice in this electronic society, to get rid of paper money, without all the fees associated.
• Uncommon Cents talks about Frugality in Practice: the Spending Log: This is the only way I can keep track of our daily expenses.  It can be tough getting the receipts and other info from my wife, but it is important in my budgeting.  I will continue to do it even after getting out of debt.

Filed under: Journal | 2 Comments »

The title sounds bad does it not?  It is actually not so.  She is here for a 6 month stay and will be a big help in the evenings when I am alone with the kids.  The older daughter is very happy that she will be getting extra attention, while I can concentrate on the younger one and her needs.

There will be some financial effect with the stay, good and bad.  The good is that I can get into the office more often as I can rely on the mother-in-law and my wife can pick up more work hours as needed.  The bad is that we have another mouth to feed as well as the other utilities that can come with an additional person.  There is more water, gas and electric consumption with that will have to be accounted for in the budget.  I will have to see how it goes the first month before adjusting the budget.

Filed under: Budget | No Comments »

My wife and I just spent a weekend in New York City. It was a wonderful visit, that was planned months in advance. The back story is that we in our 11 years of marriage never had a weekend getaway. Before the house and kids, we saved up as much as possible to build our down payment and prepare for the eventuality that my wife would not be working full time. Then the house and kids came along and we never did any thing without involving the whole family.

For my wife birthday late last year, I planned this whole surprise for her. It consisted of an overnight stay in the city, a Broadway show from her favorite movie and a stroll around the city. The hotel and show were paid for ahead of time and we did take spending money for eating, parking, gas (we drove in), and gifts for children and my parents.

Overall, the weekend tab came to under $1000, but was well worth it. My wife and I need some time to ourselves with all that has been happening in our lives. It seems that the past few months, we only see each other to say goodnight and good morning. This trip allowed us to talk without distractions and just be at ease and relaxed. Also, this was 11 years in the making, but hopefully we wont have to wait another 11 years.

Was it expensive? Yes. Could the money have been put towards debt payments? Yes. Would we do it all over again? Yes. Sometimes, we need to spend a little, and not get too wrapped up in the money saving game.

Filed under: Journal | 2 Comments »