Sick Day

I used to get sick all the time. All.The.Time. Between colds and asthma attacks and headaches and the flu, it was terrible. When I started my job, my uncle suggested I start taking a multivitamin to prevent taking sick days. He was right. 

Multivitamins are worth the money. Go buy some. I take these:

and they have done wonders for my immune system. However, there is caffeine in them to the equivalent of 1 cup of coffee so I have to time it correctly or I will feel sick. I can't do it right away in the morning because I already have coffee and I've made that mistake and though I might be sick at work. Then I thought about taking them before I leave work but if you take them on a fairly empty stomach you might also feel sick. And the pills are rather large so sometimes I don't swallow it correctly and it gets stuck. So I got lazy and haven't taken one for a while.

Surprise, surprise, now I'm sick. What I thought was allergies turned into a full blown cold/flu. I am miserable. Fortunately since this is my first time being sick at this job, they're understanding and it's ok that I'm out. Unfortunately, my boss has not had a sick day since the 1970's and I will not be sharing that badge of honor anytime soon.

My bosses got me a Jamba Juice gift card for my birthday and I have been saving it for when I would need my favorite drink "the cold buster". It's a lot of orange juicy goodness with lots of immunity boosts etc. If I can drag myself out of bed, I'll get that and some soup and rest up.

Uh oh!

I just learned how to blog on the go from my phone! Get ready for more posts...as long as I stop losing my phone.

In other news, my allergies are out of control! Can't wait to finish babysitting (as much as I love it) so I can get an allergy pill!

Motivational Monday - The Snowball Effect

Each Monday I will bring you a financial tip that corresponds with a challenge I'm working on. It will provide motivation to start the week off on a good note and one step closer to better financial standings.

To kick off this feature, we will start with an oldie but a goodie. Dave Ramsey's Snowball Effect.

I have 6 lines of credit out, all of which have become forms of debt. If I look at the total amount of debt I have (roughly $70,000!!) it gets really overwhelming and I don't know where to begin. If I don't have a plan, I will keep making minimum payments and never get anywhere. Fortunately, I stumbled upon the Snowball Effect and it's a very motivating policy.

Now most people think you should tackle the debt with the largest interest rate first. It sounds smart but it's not very rewarding. People need little victories to keep themselves on track. If you pay the minimums on all debts and then put all your extra money towards the smallest debt, you will be able to check that off faster.

Once that debt is paid off, you can take that minimum payment and any extra money and apply it to the next debt, in addition to the minimum payment you were already paying. Your payments are increasing and you are building momentum on becoming debt free. The cycle continues until you are out of debt completely!! This works for any and all debts (student loans, credit cards, car loans etc.)

So I've been working on getting my snowball started for some time now, starting with my Express card. My goal is to get that card down to $0 by September 30th so starting in October I can start on my credit card debt. With my last check from the restaurant, my extra babysitting money and the check from my parents, it will be down to $0 by the end of the month, as long as I'm smart about it. I need to stick to my 25% debt, 50% savings and 25% to me plan and then it will work.

I used Dave's "Snowball Effect Tool" to help me keep track of my payments in one spot and see how quickly it will take to pay off my debts depending on how much I extra I can afford to pay each month. Including paying off my Express card by the end of the month, I'll still be in debt until May 2032! That's in 21 years and I'll be 44! Yikes! Talk about motivation to keep working at it! How cool would it be to be debt free by the time I'm 35 or even 30 instead?!

I think I can, I think I can.

I'd love to hear what your goals are for the week and how you plan to tackle them, financial or not!

Pick your battles

I have a big weakness for traveling. It doesn't help that the majority of my best friends are long distance so I love to take opportunities to see my favorite people.

In the past I have made some poor financial decisions in order to squeeze in fun trips. I have diminished my savings multiple times and I visit Expedia nearly as often as Facebook...ok maybe not THAT much but it's close.

Recently, a few trips have been thought of and I would LOVE to go. I got a text on Wednesday from a southern friend asking if I was interested in meeting our crew in Florida for a cruise in December.

Umm duh! I would love to! The fare is really inexpensive for a cruise and flights aren't impossible. SO tempting. But I have to say no and put my money towards smarter things.

Additionally, the Vikings play the Panthers in Charlotte the weekend of Halloween. How fun would it be to fly down there and spend a weekend with my favorite southerners and finally catch a Vikings game?

I miss you too AP.

Don't lie, McNabb. Nothing can make your worn-out self better. Just go home already.

Again, flights aren't unreasonable and there are some decent tickets available for the game. Still, it's money I should be smarter about and I was just there in July. I'm sorry boys, you'll just have to suck it up without me. I think your multi-million dollar contract should suffice.

I wish I had more friends that had the travel bug so I could save some money on trips and host friends in my town for a weekend or two sometime. It's not like I live in a boring Podunk town or anything...

Anyway, it's all about picking your battles. I do still want to go down to Dallas in March and visit a bff from high school and also meet up with my nanny bff to run a half marathon. I don't think that is frivolous because it knocks out 4 birds with one stone but I also have to buy a plane ticket home for Christmas soon. Guess I have to start saving!

What I'm Reading Wednesday

This blog is about to get a few new features and a content makeover. There will be more regular posting and more pictures in each post. Get excited! I'm still taking feature ideas so if there is a theme post that you would like me to write about weekly or monthly, shout 'em out! I'm all ears!

To kick off the new additions, I will have a What I'm Reading Wednesday.

Reading is a big and inexpensive hobby of mine and people are frequently asking me for good suggestions so here you go! I'm a slow reader so when I don't have a new book, M has volunteered to talk about her recent reads. We both work in publishing so you're bound to have a good suggestion.

For my first WIRW, I will start with the book I most recently finished.

Here's what Amazon had to say:

Douglas Kennedy’s riveting new novel bears his trademark genius for writing serious popular fiction.

Hannah Buchan leads an orderly life in a small town in Maine — a schoolteacher, married to a doctor, with two grown up children. However, her past conceals a dark secret. Thirty years ago she had a brief, dangerous fling with Tobias Judson, a high profile student activist, which she had reconciled to that internal, off-limits attic room marked “Ancient History.” But when Tobias suddenly pops up out of nowhere with a book about his radical years, her life goes into free-fall. And before she knows it, Hannah discovers that a long-ago transgression is never really forgotten.

Set amid two wildly contrasting periods of recent American life — the militant 60s and 70s, and the new-found conservatism of today — State of the Union is a remarkable portrait of one woman’s attempts to find her own way in the shifting political currents of her time. But it is also an intriguing portrait of the complexities of a long marriage, the ongoing guilt of parenthood, the perpetual tension between familial responsibility and personal freedom, and the divisive debate between liberal and conservative values that so engulfs the United States today.

I received this book for my birthday from my Aunt who has great taste in books. I was not disappointed. I laughed, I cried, and I completely related to Hannah. Since I often find myself at a cross roads at this age where I can bounce around more or I can settle down a little, it was interesting to see how her story panned out based on the choices she made.  There were a lot of perspectives covered in the 608 pages and I never once got bored.

This book would be great for most women but I specifically recommend it for ladies in their young 20's.

I would give it a 5/5.

Up next: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Nanny Diaries (kinda)

Babysitting in New York City is no joke. People are willing to pay obscene amounts of money for childcare, which shouldn't be surprising considering as New Yorkers, we pay obscene amounts of money for nearly everything, but it still shocks the crap outta me.

A family interviewed me last week and asked how much I charge to watch their two boys, ages 4 & 5. This question always makes me nervous because if I charge too little, I'm stuck at that rate for a while and if I charge too much they might not hire me. I did some research and found this helpful site that helps calculate babysitting rates based on area, experience and number of kids. BTW, the information this link shows you does not reflect my zip code, sorry stalkers! Anyway, the information I typed in resulted in a rate of $18/hour! That's more than I make at my full-time job BEFORE taxes! And the crazy thing is, when I told her my rate she didn't bat an eye! Her response? "Great, I have a long list of dates for you!" No.Freaking.Way!

I watched these boys, C and S, on Saturday morning from 10-2 and we had a great time. We set up a baseball diamond in Central Park and people that passed us stopped to play. It was so much fun to see the camaraderie of the park, especially in a city that can be so self absorbed and difficult. We had some lunch and took a nap and by the time 2pm rolled around, I was $72 richer! Wow. Their mom e-mailed me a handful of dates for the upcoming week so my schedule already full for next week between the two babysitting families!

And the best part about a second job (ok, the second best part, the money of course takes the cake) is that when I'm working, I'm not spending. When I work on a Friday or Saturday night for Date Night, I get to relax at their home once the kids go to bed and enjoy cable tv and still consider it "work" so I'm not out on the town myself. 

I am meeting one more family this week and now I'm starting to have to turn people down because I simply can't work that much. I can't believe my luck to have found this goldmine! I am very excited to increase my savings and decrease my debt faster with all this extra work, especially now that my moving expenses are taken care of and I can settle in a little more.

Stay tuned to start seeing some serious debt tackling. There WILL be a post soon to celebrate my reducing my first credit card debt to $0 and to kick off the snowball effect. 

It's time...15 Things Friday

1. Last Wednesday, the day before I moved, I was walking through the subway station lookin good, feelin confident. That came to a screeching halt when a woman tapped me on my shoulder and told me I had a big rip in my pants...right on my butt. Wow. I ended up having to go shopping for new pants over my lunch break. I decided to try the Gap and there was a big sale on jeans. Fortunately, flare leg jeans are back in style because it's much more flattering for my figure so I swiped a pair (or two). Definitely money I didn't want to spend when I knew moving would cost a bunch.

I got these for 40% off

2. I decided to rent a car for my move. We have a company discount with Avis so I chose that one, especially since the location was right across the street from my new apartment. Since I'm not 25, I was only allowed to get a smaller car and there's a $35 fee for being "under age". It was supposed to cost me $150 total but fortunately they didn't charge me the under age fee...apparently they dont take it too seriously around here.

3. No one helped me. I moved out of a place that had 3 roommates and all of them were home the day I moved. They sat on their butts in the living room and watched me and never once offered to help. They even had an elevator so a single trip would not have been much effort at all and would have saved me a lot of time. Needless to say, I was glad to leave that place.

4. I filled up my car with half of my crap and on my first trip to the new apartment I got a parking ticket. New York streets are crowded. Cars are parked on both sides of the street and there is room for two cars to drive through to the other side as long as they're small. Like so:

A few other cars were double parked (my first time learning this expression and actually using it!) so I figured, as long as a car can get through, I'm fine to double park here too. Wrong. So very wrong. Apparently we were all parked in a bike lane and we all got tickets for $115!!

5. The ticket said I was no where near my car to move it. Wanna know where I was? I had to chase my landlord around to find the key to my place! I called and he said "the keys are in the apartment." I ran up quickly to find the door locked. They weren't answering the phone so I had to run around the block to their office and get him to let me in. In the 10 minutes I was away from the car I got the ticket. Crap.

6. My apartment is in the middle of the block. To find legal parking, I had to park around the corner on the next street over. Just in case carrying my stuff up 4 flights of stairs wasnt enough, I now had to walk with it pretty far first.

7. When I was all said and done, M and I went to Target while we had a car available (the Target is far away and we had way too much to carry). Prior to our trip I made a list of what I needed: an air mattress, dressers, a night stand and a book shelf. I knew it was going to be expensive but I figured at least that was all I needed. Man, was I wrong once again. M moved to NY into an apartment that was already furnished with kitchen supplies and bathroom stuff etc. We had to get all of that stuff, plus my room didn't have any light fixtures or air conditioning so I needed a lamp or two and a fan. Oofta, it was a VERY expensive trip. To top it all off, they were completely out of air mattresses. The isle literally was empty except for one Buzz Lightyear twin mattress.

8. I researched a lot of beds online but with it being Labor Day weekend, none of them would arrive until the middle of this week. Fortunately I found an Aerobed at Bed Bath & Beyond that was relatively close to my house and I could get it right away. Unfortunately it was more than I wanted to spend but it's great quality and it will be my bed for a long while. There goes even more money.

9. I quit waitressing. The poor management was out of hand and I kept getting only one shift a week. They had been promising to increase my schedule once football started but they didn't. Everyone else got more and more shifts but I only got one and it was always the worst shifts. It was typically good money but so not worth it.

10. I started babysitting instead! I signed up for SitterCity last week and it has been great so far. I started working for a family with a two-year-old boy. I only work Monday and Wednesday evenings and it's enough to more than pay my loans each month. Any additional shifts I get (which it sounds like I'll get quite a few, not only from this family but from another family that just interviewed me yesterday!) I can put money towards loans, savings and extra spending money. I will do that 50% savings, 25% credit card payments and 25% spending deal again.

11. Restaurant.com is amazing. M and I have been talking about using more Groupons so we can take advantage of NYC better without breaking the bank. I got an e-mail yesterday from Restaurant.com with a promotion to get a $25 gift certificate for $2. No way, right? Way! I typed in our zip code and found a cool restaurant a few blocks away and we get to enjoy a whole meal for the two of us for practically nothing! Party on dude! Check it out in your area, you wont regret it!

12. Broadway week is coming up in about a week. You get 1/2 off tickets to a number of cool shows without having to wait in line at TKTS. My co-worker and I are going to see Chicago and M and I might see Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

13. My Express card will not be paid off next month. It's very frustrating but after all the extra expenses with moving, there's just no way I have money for bigger payments. Additionally, my savings will not be increased like I thought it would with that extra paycheck. I feel like a failure about it but at least with extra babysitting gigs, I might be able to get it back on track. My new goal is to get it down to $0 by December.

14. FOOTBALL IS BACK!! M and I went to a bar to watch the game last night and man did it feel good to scream "first down!" or "touchdown!" with everyone! We don't have cable so I will be forced to watch at a bar. I'm going to need to figure out how to not spend so much money every time I go though. Bar food and drinks can really add up. Sunday the Vikings play and I couldn't be more excited! I'm bringing my girlfriends to the Vikings Bar and I hope it's just as great as the one on How I Met Your Mother.

15. I finally started working out again. I'm very close to the Central Park Reservoir so M and I have been going on the weekends.

Who wouldn't want to run around that!?

Unfortunately my iPod shuffle stopped working and my bigger iPod is not meant to jiggle around on a run. Until I figure out my iPod problem I will be sticking to the treadmill. It's not easy getting into the swing of things again but I know it will help a lot, especially since my poor person's diet is not stellar for weight loss.