LiquidSapphire's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

Thanks bluepearl :) I will make an effort to do that once the fancy strikes :)


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

OK, time to come back to this thing. Today is February 1, 2013.
Net Worth: 260614

Total Assets: 280699 (I have ~$18,000 in student loans I am slow playing/slow paying?)

Side Hustles: 64.90 (Bing, Mystery Shopping, mTurk)

I feel my spending was in line with expectations. I know groceries will be high next month since we are running low on some things, and I need to buy cat food.
I qualified for a second 6-month deferment on my student loans. Hard to believe it has been six months already.
I have periodically checked my asset levels over the past few months and they seem to hover between 275000 and 280000. It’s weird to see it so stable. Maybe it’s actually going up just a little tad. At least it’s not going down. That would freak me out.
So despite my “checking out” over the past few months I actually did manage to track my utilities cost for 12 whole months in 2012 so I have a pretty good baseline average of how much things should cost in these categories. So these are what I am using to come up with my “projected average” above. My utilities including Netflix and Internet cost me an average of $83.72 per month. Not bad, not bad. December and January are lower or about the same as last year so I feel I have a good place from which to budget annually.
Boyfriend makes his own hard apple cider and invested in a carbonation system instead of relying upon natural carbonation a la instructions in this site: http://truetex.com/carbonation.htm It is so awesome. I drink seltzer all the time now - just carbonated tap water. Sometimes I flavor it half doses with Mio or Crystal Light and that’s nice too. I am drinking much less Diet Soda (I know I know, so anti-ERE but I like it so much!) so it’s saving me $$ too.
I’m turning 30 in three weeks. The big 3-0. My age is about to have a 3 in front of it. I’m not so much of a young-un anymore :) I feel my 20s went OK. They were very busy. I had so many major life events. I am so grateful that I can think back to each year and what I was focused/working on and feel that I did not waste that time. I hope to make similar use of the next 10 years as well. Happy Birthday to Me :)
February’s To Do List
1) Now that my HSA is not covered by the government, Chase bank is charging me some stupid $3 fee. Fuck that. I need to find a new HSA provider and transfer it over. If anyone has any good referrals let me know.
2) I need to streamline my finances a bit - it took me like an hour to figure out my net worth and that’s crazy. Maybe I can find an easier way to track my expenses too other than just checking all of my CC transactions at the end of the month. Maybe I will genuinely try Mint.com for it’s full functionality in budget/tracking expenses, and Google Finance/Docs for tracking my net worth and investment losses/gains (Mint sucks at this for my accounts/assets.) The numbers in this post took entirely too much of my time to figure out.
3) Call up CenturyLink since I am pretty sure I am nearing the end of my promotion period for my internet price and see if I can get them to extend it another year. Maybe if I threaten to go to Comcast or another local place.
4) Figure out how to post images here better - I don't have a ton of time right now. Maybe I will edit this post later so the other columns are visible. They are just projected monthly cost on average and actual monthly average in 2013 (same as first column this time but will change next time.)


mds
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Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:14 pm

Post by mds »

Damn, how do you track expenses without Mint? Like you, I don't find that it's very useful for tracking net worth since I like to break my investments up into asset classes (I use my own spreadsheet for that and manually log into Vanguard), but I would die if I didn't have an easy way to pull transactions from my credit cards and checking account in one place.
The main thing I like is that I can get a quick idea of how I'm doing in the middle of the month without logging into 5 different sites (not to mention the auto categorization).


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

I do use mint for pulling in transactions but it chronically fails to connect to one of my primary bank accounts as well as 1-2 other accounts (these rotate). I also found the automatic characterization largely wrong and it annoyed me. Guess I'll try to train it though and try a bank acct workaround.


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

I spent Saturday with a married couple close to my boyfriend. Two events.
1) They asked me about how my job search was going or if I was looking for a job. I said, "Not really, I still have lots of money in savings so I am not really too worried about it." My boyfriend later chastised me for bragging. My thought: Hey man, I am already holding back with regards to my accomplishment, I may NEVER have to go back to work, I have so much savings. At least I didn't say that.
2) I was talking to the wife who has two young kids, ages 3 and 1. She was complaining about how hard it was to find a babysitter and how an acquaintance of hers has a babysitter she can just call whenever she needs a babysitter. I told her that since I was unemployed if she needed someone in a pinch I could help her out. She said, "Oh no, it's not that, it's just, who does that? I mean, who has absolutely nothing going on throughout the week that they can just drop everything to go babysit??? People have jobs or school or kids or other things going on, you know?" My thoughts: "hmmm I do" My words: "Ummm... yeah."
I'm finding it to be a fine line to tread: Not offending people/not bragging and yet being authentic and true to myself at the same time.


JohnnyH
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Post by JohnnyH »

Awkward, but I think you played it just right. Sad state of affairs if admitting you're not destitute without a paycheck amounts to bragging... If you hadn't said that, they might have worried about you; tried to find you a job, give you charity -all of which would be much more awkward to diffuse.


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

Thanks JohnnyH!
This message is brought to the ERE community and encouraged and approved my LS's boyfriend:
The ERE guide to Girlfriend's birthday;

Step 1) Spend 4-5 months growing a beard she hates.

Step 2) Enjoy savings of time and money through not shaving while tolerating comments of itchiness etc

Step 3) Shave the beard off for your girlfriend's birthday as a present.

Step 4) Profit!!!


jacob
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Post by jacob »

I had the same problem. I cured it by spending a month talking about my dividend payouts as they happened (several times per month). Just talk about them the same way other people talk about their paychecks, e.g. "I can't wait until Friday when I'll receive my ... check so I can blow it on a wallpaper sale."
But it's a fine line ... I use the "living off savings"-line with people I only talk to once. The dividend-strategy is for those who keep pestering/worrying :)


m741
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Location: Seattle, WA

Post by m741 »

It doesn't seem like you were bragging... I can't believe taking some time off would be so outside the realm of possibility.


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

These people aren't very close to me so they don't know about ERE, etc. They think I'm regular Jane Doe. So maybe that's part of it. Unless I foresee really forging a genuine relationship past "acquaintance" stage with someone I really just use words like "unemployed" and "living off savings" rather than "I have 20 years of savings right now because I live really cheaply and saved hard so I'm not too freaked out about the money part at this point in time." So I think that was part of the issue.
Use of the word "unemployed" is nice right now because it helps me get out of things that I don't want to spend money on. Case in point: friend says, "Come get a pedicure with me!" I can turn that down and she can chalk it up to me being unemployed rather than having to get into a treatise about how it's not worth the $ or make up another excuse like I don't like pedicures.
Between reading Library books on my kindle, the local library, and interlibrary loan, I think I'm pretty much almost all set on books. I am not really a person that keeps books around as references or for re-reads... after all, I can just check it out again from the library if I want to see it again, and that happens once every few months, maybe. Books are heavy and take up a lot of space. The only books the library has not been able to find for me have been a repair manual for a 1996 Audi A6 and a couple of really obscure legal books (like maybe 2 of the 6 I requested couldn't be found, but the 4 they did find were plenty relevant and all I needed.) I even was able to get Mission Impossible 2 from interlibrary loan, since Netflix doesn't carry it. Oh, I guess there has been one fail. The Ketogenic Diet would have cost something like $20 through interlibrary loan. So I haven't read it. We also ended up just buying the car manual for $70 (the cheapest we could find it). Oh well. You can't win them all.
I have managed to get my entire book collection down to one bookshelf of photo albums, and two shelves of actual "books". I even tore out my favorite pages from my high school yearbook and tossed the stupid book. I'll scan them eventually and toss them too. I don't even like or remember most of these people and the book didn't even fit on my shelf and it was heavy and most of the articles/pictures in it were lame anyway.


chenda
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Post by chenda »

I envy your streamlined bookshelf :) I'm pretty minimalist except for books, which I can't part with. Though a lot of the stuff I have is art books which aren't really kin-dable. Anyway, I've loved reading your journal...


lilacorchid
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Post by lilacorchid »

LS - Thank you for posting all this. It was a facinating read. I was off for 18 months on mat leave and it was hard to adjust to being at home while everyone was at work, slaving away. It took me about six months to get over working and for the newness of being off to wear off. Then I spent a long time trying to figure out what to do. Of course, I got it all together about three months before I went back to work. ;)


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

Thanks lilac & chenda :) I have been considering discontinuing posting since it seems like no one reads this thing and I feel like a Debbie Downer sometimes, saying anything other than "Yeah I am ERE and it is AWESOME SAUCE!!!!!" Well the not working part is but I am having other issues I am working through. I am not blaming that on ERE though but maybe it's depressing/not fun/not worth reading for other people. But then I hear from you guys and hey, maybe it is worth reading for other people. So I guess I'll keep posting.
If I had art books (I don't, but I have lots of photos), if I actually opened them and looked through them periodically I would keep them. If they are just taking up space I'd sell them. If I liked just a few of the prints, I'd print/buy the prints, hang them, and ditch the book. So why don't I do that for my photos??? I totally need to scan them but I have so many it's overwhelming. Most of them aren't even mine but since I'm an only child somehow I ended up with all of the family photos.
lilac - it is taking a while :) I think things will be better once this law stuff ends. My mind will be "free" again. It's hard to "move on" when realistically I am suing for my job back and I may actually have to go back and need to be mentally prepared to do that. I also still have to apply for 5 jobs a week to cross the T/dot the i for unemployment purposes. Also I am irrationally afraid to do something new if it costs more than $0 since I am not happy with my WR right now. It really kills any sense of adventure or curiosity when the main thing you freak out about is the $ you just spent to do that thing. That actually excludes an awful lot of things. So yeah bottom line I am working through things and I have a feeling March is going to be a big month of change. I have my lawsuit, I have a job interview for a job I am lukewarm about, I am pretty sure I am going to get another job interview for a job I might actually want, and I am being trained re: a new friend's online business starting Thursday. It's likely two or more of these things will become relevant to my daily life very soon.


lilacorchid
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Post by lilacorchid »

LS- I used to think I was introverted and I didn't care to talk to people because everyday I would get up, put on my customer face, and go to work and har har har over the water cooler like everyone else. Turns out, I did need socialization, but was getting all I needed (and more) at work, which is why I never called my friends back to do anything when they called. At around the six month mark of being home with an infant all day, I thought, "Holy shit, I need to get out of here and talk to someone, like multiple times a week!" I also said, "Holy shit, I need some sort of hobby, new skill to learn, or project to do. I can only rearrange and organize our house so much!!!"
From everything I took in today after reading the whole thread from start to finish, I would imagine that once this job thing goes away, you will feel better. I got the distinct impression that you worked in a soul-sucking hell hole. Your writing also makes me think you are intelligent and analytical and I am guessing that there is a part of your brain that is shorting out because you are fighting to go back to that place!
(And for what it's worth, I ofter wonder if people read my journal too!)


m741
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Post by m741 »

I'll second lilac. A lot of people read the journals but just comment once every few months. Plus there are lurkers who read the journals but never comment at all.


rube
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Post by rube »

LS: I read all journals: please continue!


ThinSlicer
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Post by ThinSlicer »

LiquidSapphire, your journal is one of my favorites here. I'd be disappointed if you stopped writing.


LiquidSapphire
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:40 pm

Post by LiquidSapphire »

Thanks everyone! Makes me feel good that although my journal is not all rainbows and unicorns that people like reading it anyway. I glance at virtually every post made at this forum. Except the one about how the economy works. That thread is so N that it makes the S in me cry.
@lilac - I have zero doubts I am introverted! But I am not 100% introverted, so I do need some social interaction. I am finding that seeing my boyfriend on weekends and after work most nights, and getting together with someone else, family or a friend, 1-2x every 1-2 weeks, is enough socialization for me. My struggle right now is finding a "project" or something to work on, yeah I definitely hear you there!!! Thanks for the compliments.
I am busy on Friday + the weekend and so I am going to do my regular monthly update tomorrow morning.
So far, though...
Century Link gave me another year at $25/month for a year ($13 my half). They even upgraded me for that price, how lovely of them. I did up paying one month of $45 internet though, because I didn’t catch them in time for this billing cycle. Oh well.
I also called up my HSA provider who says I need to wait 7-10 business days for them to mail me the paperwork to transfer my HSA and no they will not refund me the $3 maintenance fee while I wait for these papers and then once they get them back it will take another 10-20 days to transfer the account over. And no, they can’t just email or fax me them. Such efficiency in 2013. They must reaaaaally love my $3 to make it this much of a pain in the ass. I didn’t even choose these jokers. Oh, but I am “fortunate” that my account doesn’t have an account closure fee. You wanna know who else is fortunate? The CSR who took my call who didn’t have to listen to my tirade against an account closure fee.
Side income this month is $62.78 (does not count investment returns/dividends). I have some pent up CC rewards so should be higher next month as I cash them in. It'll be interesting to see what the average income is at the end of the year and the sources of that income. I have no idea what is average or repeatable right now so it's a good exercise.


palmera
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Post by palmera »

I also agree with Lilac :)
And LS I still read your journal religiously...it's just that I haven't been commenting much in the past few months b/c My work was taking up all my time...not in a bad way...for a few months, while I worked at this contract job, I got sucked right into their company culture: working there wasn't a job, it was a lifestyle (an expense paid, extravagant lifestyle). Working there was intense but saved me a lot of time and money...it really accelerated my expenses.
And now...I'M UNEMPLOYED TOO!


palmera
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Post by palmera »

I also agree with Lilac :)
And LS I still read your journal religiously...it's just that I haven't been commenting much in the past few months b/c My work was taking up all my time...not in a bad way...for a few months, while I worked at this contract job, I got sucked right into their company culture: working there wasn't a job, it was a lifestyle (an expense paid, extravagant lifestyle). Working there was intense but saved me a lot of time and money...it really accelerated my expenses.
And now...I'M UNEMPLOYED TOO! My contract ended and even though I'm supposedly interviewing for internal positions full-time, they're notoriously slow/inconsistent/insane. I've been contacted by other recruiters too. But seriously, I'm taking the next 6 months off to finish up my bar job, and start an online business that I can work anywhere in the world, since I plan on leaving the country in the fall.
Thank GOODNESS for frugal living/ERE and savings! I don't have nearly as much savings as you (a couple years' worth) but I'm okay as I have my part-time job and a freelance side hustle to cover my expenses AND save.
How many ppl have this luxury? Not many, I'm finding out. I tell ppl I'm unemployed and they look sooooo panic-stricken on my behalf, it's sad/funny. :P


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