Post of Shame

This is the PF blog equivalent of the walk of shame. I've been on a spending binge for the last 4 days. Just as a brief recap, I went to Disneyland and California Adventure on Friday and I had a professional portrait taken on Saturday. It was a shockingly expensive spending bonanza.



Thursday (6/25/09)
I spent the day cleaning my apartment and buying food in preparation for my big sister's visit.

Bristol Farms: $28.11 (Nova lox, fresh squeezed orange juice, baguette, imported cheese, yogurt)
Farmer's Market: $8.09 (Veggies and fruit)
Ulta: $9.23 (Cosmetic item per big sis' request)
Target: $25.26 (Cleaning products, soaps, toilet paper, etc.)
TOTAL: $70.69

Friday (6/26/09)
Disneyland (paid by big-sis): $119 (Birthday free admission upgrade to 1-day Park Hopper; My share $25.)
Parking: $12.00
Concession Stand Purchases: $12 (1 water, 1 Coke, 2 churros)
Lunch: $58.39
Gas: $45.77
Dinner: $68.00
TOTAL: $196.16

Saturday (6/27/09)
Professional Make-up: $120.00 (including tip)
Brunch (paid by big-sis): $31.00
Professional Hair (paid by big-sis): $108 (My share $54)
Professional Portrait (paid by big-sis): $285 (My share $142.50)
DVD Rental: $10.85
Dinner: $66.00
Dessert: $8.00
TOTAL: $204.85

Sunday (6/28/09)
Lunch: $15.55
Gas: $9.28
TOTAL: $24.83

IOU to My Big-Sis: $140

GRAND TOTAL: $636.53

Egads. I'll explain tomorrow how I intend to pay for this. And I ain't too proud about how I'm going to pay about it either...

I'm Going to Disneyland!

Today's my birfday and I'm going to Disneyland for free! Or maybe I'll go to California Adventure. Hmmmm... Oh heck. I may just go to both.



Hope you all have a great weekend!

Checkbook Reconciliation

I was recently surprised to learn a couple of my friends don't maintain a checkbook register. Both friends said they just monitor their spending by checking their balances online on the banks' websites. Then again, one of them recently fretted that his rent check would bounce since his bank failed to immediately post another prior transaction that would put him over his balance. I asked whether this would convince him to keep a register and he said, "Heck no. I'm just going to change to a bank that will post my transactions real-time."

I think my friend's system is reckless since I always believe that there will be a lag-time between when deposits/payments post onto our accounts. Additionally, with online bill pay, if people set some payments to future dates, their current realtime balance would never coincide with their true balance.

Case in point, my checking account balance is currently reported as $3,849.46, but there are $3,778.68 payments currently outstanding. That would mean my real balance is $70.78. My check register says my balance is $18.00, but the discrepancy comes from the fact that when I calculate my balance, I always round-up my payments and I round-down my deposits. I play this silly game to ensure I will never be overdrawn. (Silly, I know.) But when I'm short some months, my "cushion" has often come to my rescue. :-P

Anyhow, my checkbook reconciliation is such a pain in my patootie. Instructions on how-to reconcile your checkbook aren't all that simple either.

Do you keep a check register? If not, how do you maintain the balance of your checkbook to prevent overdraft?

Market's Down - Perfect Time to Re-Allocate

The market gave up all gains from the past 3 months and the S&P500 is back in the red for 2009 (YTD Return -1.13%) . Yawn. It's not like I didn't see this coming. Nope, not at all.

If this is just a temporary correction, great. If not, I'm not too upset since it just gives me more opportunity to dollar cost average at a lower cost.

On Saturday, I compared my 401k target allocation vs. my current allocation. It's really not that far off, but it is a bit heavier on the bond fund than what I'd like.




I could've just requested my 401k administrator to re-allocate immediately, but I really didn't want to do that since my Bond Fund is still -0.99% off my cost-basis. Instead, I just requested my 401k administrator to stop putting money into the bond fund and the stable fund for the remainder of the year.

My future purchases will be focused solely on the international value fund, US large-cap value fund, S&P500 index fund and the small-cap fund.

Investment Fund (Classification)	Current %	Target%	Future Purchase %
DODFX (Int'l Multi-Cap Value)	18.77%	20%	27%
DODGX (US Large-Cap Value)	15.00%	18%	18%
BTIIX (S&P500 Index)	19.32%	22%	28%
NBGEX (Small-Cap Blend)	19.18%	20%	27%
PTRAX (Intermediate Term Bond)	19.68%	15%	0%
MLTXX (US Treasury Fund)	6.19%	5%	0%

Hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll be right on target.

Stupid Excel Virus Ruined My Weekend

I previously wrote about my insane accounting to keep track of my 7 savings and 3 checking accounts. I don't use financial programs like Quicken or the new-fangled, fancypants online services like Wesabe or Mint. Nope. My insanity is memorialized in my trusty Excel spreadsheet and this blog.

Unfortunatley, looks like at some point, my trusty sidekick became infected with a heuristic virus.



Ugggghhhh! I used my anti-virus program to scan the program and good ol' Norton removed/quarantined the stupid infection. But I couldn't open my spreadsheet anymore. GAAAAAAAHHHH!!!



If that wasn't bad enough, ever since I've discovered my spreadsheet was infected by the virus, some douche-bag in China has been attempting to hack into my computer.

How could this happen to me? I don't download programs, music or movies! When it comes to my computer, I pretty much wear the techno-equivalent of the Jo-Bro purity ring!

I digress, ahem.

The last time I created a "back-up" of my spreadsheet was in January and I've spent the entire weekend re-creating my financial data for the past 6 months. Thank goodness for my blog, since I was able to find most of the info here. I really think there's a special ring of hell for jerks who create computer viruses.

PF Fatigue Setting In

I’m suffering from a bad case of PF fatigue. I’m droppin’ Washingtons like there’s no tomorrow. Ha ha, just kidding. But I have been busting my budget.

First of all, I’ve been eating out most of this month, and the inside of my fridge looks like Stonehenge made of styrofoam take-out boxes. I just haven’t been motivated to grocery shop and cook. I guess it doesn’t help that food is the
only thing that relieves my daily stress at work and makes me happy these day...

Note: Not my fridge.

My budget is further busted since I’m having my professional portrait taken at the end of the month. I already bought a dress for this sitting ($106) but I'll also need to pay for professional make-up and hair. (No, I’m not getting them done at Glamour Shots.) I really have no special reason to have the photos taken other than that I don’t have very many photos of myself where I don’t look like a total dweeboid-mutant. I figure that when something sensationally horrific happens, my family will have a decent picture of me to give the police or the media. Or perhaps, maybe not…





And next month, my BFF and I will be having a girls’ staycation weekend in Orange County. My BFF and I did this back in December. We’re checking out the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach and we decided to take advantage of an awesome deal at the Wyndham where for $289 (tax not included) we'll get:

• Overnight hotel accommodation


• Two (2) premium signature cocktails (per reservation)


• One (1) $50- giftcard from Chi-Chi Mall


• Two (2) 50- minute massages at The Spa

I don't know why but I've fallen off the proverbial horse. I just need to find the motivation to get back on.

A New Milestone

Eleven years after graduating from law school, I've finally achieved a milestone that I've long given up hope on accomplishing - my student loan balance is finally under six-digits! Woo to the hoo!

Between 1995-1998, I originally took out :

• $25,500 in Federal Stafford Loans, $30,000 in Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loans
  
• $47,325 in Private Student Loans
• $4,100 I borrowed through the Federal Perkins Loan program. (Paid off on 3/5/07.)
  

My original student loan amount in 1998: $106,925
My current combined student loan balance: $99,877.98

And keep in mind, I still haven't paid my monthly Stafford loans yet. At the end of the month, my student loan balance would be even lower.

Ohhhh... as the Seven Dwarfs sang, I (still) owe, I owe, so off to work for da Man I go...