It’s my blogoversary! October 27, 2008

Well, that’s not exactly true…

I started blogging in general in 2005, when I mostly discussed happenings around MIT.  I started discussing personal finance related topics in May 2007, and made the transition to WordPress in October 2007.  So it’s been about a year since I’ve started writing on this blog.

I suppose, as is the trend around the blogosphere on your blogoversary, you take a look back at your year of blogging.

So let’s begin!

Financial achievements and changes:

Opened my Roth IRA in July 2007, met goal of fully funding it for 2007.  (somehow didn’t post about that one).

Enrolled in my company’s flexible spending account (and did that again at my new job).

Got laid off

Got a new job

Bought a car

Since December 2007, through saving, paying down student loans, and contributing to my retirement funds (and getting a salary, of course), my net worth has gone up approximately $17,000.  I’m pretty impressed by that.  Though I have to keep in mind that my method for calculating my financial net worth also includes my car, both the Kelly Blue Book value for how much it’s worth (assets) as well as my loan amount (liability).  So currently, that number pretty much cancels itself out (since the car is still valued pretty highly, but I haven’t paid off much on the car yet).

I’ve continued to make most of my financial transactions automatic if possible.  My ING accounts take money from my other accounts a few times every month, my Roth IRA also deducts from my checking account once a month, as does my student loan company, my insurance and 401(k) contributions are taken directly from my paycheck, my car payments are withdrawn from my bank account, and some of my utilities are also withdrawn directly.  However, I do go online and pay my other utility bill every month, cable and rent I have to transfer myself every month, and I sign online to pay my credit card off each month.  I think with these expenses, they change a bit each month (or there is no automatic option available) and so I’ve chosen to pay those off in that way to make sure I have enough money in the correct account.

I have to attest that I think making the monthly expenses automatic is pretty key.  You make sure that you pay your bills on time, which means you don’t have to pay unnecessary fines/fees.  You just have to be careful not to go on autopilot in terms of spending.

Okay, to prevent this from going on too long, I think I’ll talk more about other blogoversary-type things in another post.

Woo, blog blog blog!

Dear Fed, October 9, 2008

Couldn’t you have done this a week ago?

We all know that the economy is crumbling in front of our eyes.  And after that bailout bill and all these other attempts to fix the economy, the Fed and other countries are trying the old interest rate reduction trick again.  You are probably sick of me talking about this every time it happens.  As you may have noticed, we’ve got ING savings interest rates down to 2.75%, and checking interest rates down to 1.5%.  They’ve gotten on that pretty quickly!

But really, my issue with it being this week instead of last week (if it had to happen at all) is that my variable student loan interest rates are readjusted every quarter.  So, October 1st was the first day of the fourth quarter…which means I’m stuck with the same rate for my loans, but lower rates for my savings.  Yes, I complain about these things every time.  And I know that there are a lot of people worse off.  I’m just laying things out there.

That’s really all I’ve got for now.  I’ve been trying to follow a lot of what’s been going on in the financial world, but to be honest, it’s a bit depressing.  Though it’s odd when you think about how so many people are now finally thinking about living within their means and avoiding going into further debt.  Hooray living within your means!

Feels like fall October 8, 2008

I’m pretty sure that it’s starting to really feel like fall up here in Boston.  We might have to turn on our heat soon!  I’m dreading that, so in the meantime, I’ll just bundle up with cozy layers, drink hot tea and cocoa, and sit by my little space heater.  It seems a lot more efficient to just heat the one room where you’re going to be (if the door is closed) with a space heater than to try to heat the whole house.  And maybe this year we’ll try insulating our windows.

You see, we live in the top two floors of a 3 story house.  So we would hope that the whole “heat rises” fact would help us out a bit.  But with a house that is about 100 years old, you don’t always have the best insulation from the cold.

We all have our own ways of keeping warm while not breaking the bank or killing the planet.  Mrs. Micah’s best defense against the cold is a pair of dry socks.  And Trent at the Simple Dollar has quite a few tips.  My best options have been to bundle up.  Layers, layers, layers!

What’s your favortie way to stay warm?

An update on my car discoveries October 3, 2008

So, the other night, I told you about learning more about my car (including how to pump gas).  I actually got linked to by a Boston-related blog, Universal Hub, which is pretty cool.  I think I might start reading them!

And today, I discovered a few more facts.

The top number the instantaneous mpg reading can hit is 99.9 (it only has room for those digits).  And I’ve found that I can hit that number pretty often!  Basically, if I’m coasting (taking my foot off the gas), I can pretty much max out, since I’m using so little gas.  Let this act as a reminder that you should try to coast as much as possible (when it’s safe!) because your momentum can take you pretty far!

I also browsed around GasBuddy some more after my post.  One thing to note is that it sends you to the local site (for me it was BostonGasPrices).  One feature I’m a fan of is the Fuel LogBook.  It lets you keep track of what you’re spending on gas.  And it also tracks your gas mileage, so if you don’t have that fancy feature on your car (like I do), you can still see how you’re doing on gas mileage.  And it’s easier to just enter the information there than set up a spreadsheet to do it.

I also wanted to note that this is in no way a sponsored post.  I realized I’ve now posted twice about GasBuddy…I just wanted to share some things I’ve found!  You can also use MSN’s Gas Prices page to look at local gas prices.  They get their numbers from OPIS, rather than from local price-spotters.  Do you have a favorite place to go to find gas prices?

So far, it looks like my average mileage is 35.8 mpg.  I’m going to keep trying to drive as efficiently as possible!

Gas gas gas! October 1, 2008

Today I did something that I’ve never done before.  It may come as a surprise…but today I pumped my own gas.  For the first time.  Ever.

Yes.  It’s true.  Now, I’m not a spoiled or lazy limo rider or something like that.  I got my license in New Jersey, one of the few states where you can’t pump your own gas.  And I rarely drove in high school anyways.  Take four years living in dorms in Cambridge, and two years taking public transportation, and you have a girl who didn’t really need a car.  And whenever I did need gas (borrowing my boyfriend’s car on occasion), the nearby station had full serve (and the cheapest gas in the area), so I didn’t have to pump my gas there, either.

And so today came…I was halfway through my drive to work when I noticed “the light” go on.  You know, the warning light that says that you only have a gallon or two left in your tank.  By the time I got to work, the needle on the gas gauge was nearing the zero line.  I hopped online briefly and took a look at GasBuddy to see what the prices were for gas in the area.  And since the nearest gas station to work was a little pricey, I bought a few gallons to make sure I got home, and rode the rest of the way home feeling a lot safer knowing I wasn’t running on fumes.

The funny/sad part is, I probably could have made it home…or at least known if I could make it home, had I read a little further into my owners manual.  When looking at the manual to see what gas level the warning light signified, I saw something about other information besides speed, miles, etc. on my dashboard.  I figured that was only an option for the “fancier” version of my car.  But nope, it turns out my car has all sorts of information!  While one meter shows the odometer and a few “trip” odometers, the other meter shows, among other things, the time, the outside temperature, instantaneous mpg, average mpg, and, the one that would have helped me out:  miles left on the tank.  Yep, they have an estimate for how much farther I could have gone.  But I didn’t try that out until after I’d gotten some gas.  Well, I guess now I know for future reference.

The mpg information is pretty cool, too.  The instantaneous mpg value fluctuates quite a bit, which makes sense (based on your speed, incline, gear, etc.).  The coolest moment was when I saw the reading go up to 99 mpg.  Yep.  It was pretty cool.  It was only on there for a moment, but I was kind of excited about that.  And I’m glad to report that my average mpg is above 30.  I don’t remember exactly what it’s at, but it’s pretty good.

So, there you have it.  I’ve finally pumped gas.  It’s really not hard at all!  I’ll keep you posted about the gas mileage I’m getting!