Debt Hater

Quarterly Report: Halfway through the Year, More Work to Do On Goals

The second quarter of the year is officially over. (I don't know about y'all, but I don't like this time flying business. Wasn't it New Year's five minutes ago?)

It's time for a new toothbrush, time to switch to new baking soda boxes in the fridge and the freezer, time to flip the mattress and time to check in on the goals I set for myself this year.
Frankly, I was a little afraid to check in on my progress but it turns out I'm doing pretty well!

You may remember that I set out some (vague) goals at the start of the year, both financial and personal. I checked in at the end of the first quarter and was cooking on only half of them. I am doing better at the end of the second quarter!

Some numbers: I saved 20% of my income in the second quarter and have four months of living expenses saved in my e-fund.

    * Contribute to my emergency fund with the goal of reaching six months of living expenses.

    YES! On track for this one. When I got my bonus, I used about half the money to shore up the deficit I created in my emergency fund when I moved and had to pay to get my car fixed. But I wanted to get this done by the end of the year to move on to my next set of savings goals (me personally, I need to focus one at a time). I squeezed my budget a little tighter to put about TWICE what I thought I could afford to stash into my emergency fund. Right now, I have saved four months of living expenses! If I continue with my current savings, I should have the next two months saved by December (or sooner)!

    What I do want to do here in the interim, though, smarter, more lucrative options for my e-fund because the rates on online savings accounts and CDs are no longer cutting it. I am CD laddering most of the money I have now with about 20% of it immediately liquid in my hi-yield (ha!) online account. There has got to be something better.

    * Contribute to my 401k or open my own IRA.

    Ok, no. I have been uber lazy on this. Instead of saving and investing in retirement, I've been saving in the e-fund.

    * Get on the path to homeownership.

    Yes! Ok, mostly I am in the research phase now reading books, blogs and news reports, looking at properties online and looking for Realtors to talk purely information with. I don't want any sales pitches, I don't even want to look right now. I am just curious what's out there, what would work best for me and just how much money I'd need to make this happen. Hence, this is another savings goal for me... I just don't know how much I need to save yet!

    * Develop new skills and learn new techniques to help me on my career track.

    Sort of! More on this in another post.

    * Earn more money through various ventures including more freelance writing.

    I completed three freelance assignment so far this year, two in the second quarter. That's better than I've ever done before. But I have not sent out any queries as I said I would do by the end of May... so that just means I have to send two out before the end of JULY. I will do that.

    I am also thinking about side hustles and passive income. I don't want to necessarily work hard for every penny I earn and passive income can be invested. So... stay tuned on that.

    * Go on a big vacation this year with the target date my 32nd birthday, September 25.

    YES! I'm so gangsta, I am taking TWO big trips this year. I already went on an impromptu trip to Tokyo with my best friend in the start of June and loved every moment of our brief journey (well, except my tangle with American Airlines). I have booked our hotel, booked my flight and started making arrangement for my birthday trip to Hawaii! The cash is saved up and, so far, I'm coming under budget, which is exciting!

    * Make new friends and make time for old ones.

    Not so much in the new friends department, but I have been kicking it with old friends more often! After Michael Jackson passed, I met up with Single Ma and some of her friends to dance all night to MJ! Yes, I was doing as much of the Thriller dance as I remembered and I did hid kick and his little head waggle with the arms stretched out. I really didn't realize how much I loved MJ until now. *Sniff Sniff*

    My guy and I have been working through a lot and having a lot more fun together.

    This month, by best friend and her sister are coming to town and I've already got some off-the-wall stuff planned for them. Can you say trapeze lessons? Yes!

    * Take better care of my physical self -- including taking up yoga, exercising regularly and improving my diet.

    Almost! After nearly six months of blah blah blah, I finally started yoga classes! AND I get up to go to the 6:15 a.m. class twice a week and go at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays! Now, some of you may be like, so what, I do yoga from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. every day and get to work showered and dressed by 8 a.m. But you don't know me. I have never been able to get up early, even as a little kid. Christmas Day was the one exception. And I like it! The early classes are geared more toward beginner's and I have been feeling pretty good all day, not tired at all (until I get home, then it's nightie night by 10 p.m.).

    Besides the yoga, I haven't been doing much else and want to. Oh yeah, diet, um... McDonald's and I have met more times in the last three months than in the previous year. So, either I'm not hungry and skip meals altogether or it gets so late I ain't cooking and nothing is open save junk food joints. Gotta rectify this mess.

    * Take better care of my emotional and spiritual self, including spending more time having fun!

    YES! I feel great. I only feel so so about my finances and professional life, but all in all, I feel better than I have in a while. I also learned a lot about myself a lot about how to deal with things I would have avoided before or compromised far too much on. I am learning to stand my ground and ask for what I want.

    * Write for myself. (I've always wanted to write a novel. So I will get started!)

    YES! I've written three short stories in that many months which is phenomenal. It feels so good to finally do what I've always loved doing and put down for reasons I don't even remember. My goal is to go back and make those three perfect and write three more before the end of the quarter. Right now, I have no end goal for my writing. I just want to do it at this point. Having a creative outlet feels wonderful.

    Not too shabby. What I want to do next is make some of these goals SMART. Vague, unspecific goals tend to be goals that are never met because, well, HOW do you meet them?

    I'll work on that this weekend.

    DH

$27 to Get Through the Rest of June

Wow, so, like, yeah. I have a few hours left in June and thankfully my time will be completely occupied so I WON'T spend every last penny I earned this month.

But dang, down to the wire!

I can tell you right now that eating out, clothing and just plain partying were the culprits.
I went $110 over on eating out (I know, I don't even know how I did it), $35 over on clothes and $65 on "entertainment," which includes everything from books, to movies, to happy hours.

I also got a parking ticket and paid nearly $10 in late fees to the library. It ain't free if you don't return the stuff you borrow!

So, according to my budget, I spent $30 over what I budget for discretionary money (the money left over after I save, pay the bills and get necessities). I said in a previous post, that I MUST spend just the $650 I budget for discretionary funds, otherwise I'm going to run into problems or accidentally spend money allocated for necessities or bills. The only reason I have $27 left for the month is because I DIDN'T spend very much on necessities. I came under budget in many of those categories.

But, I also have to say that the other reason I got down to $27 left in June is because I saved more money that i budgeted for. I am pushing hard to get to six months of living expenses saved and I squeezed a bit more out of the budget. I have four months down. I expect to reach my savings goal by the end of the year -- right on schedule.

So, it's already the end of the day. I'll finish June in the black (barely), but really need to consider just how to quit going nuts on dining out. But I love eating out!

DH

Michael Jackson Has Passed On

I know this has nothing to do with personal finance, but this is my blog and I'll write what I want.

I am sad about Michael Jackson. As much as his life became a circus sideshow, I always felt like he was a wounded child trying to feel whole again. Everyone has a different psyche and some things one person might be able to take, another one just can't. I think Michael had a fragile psyche.

The geniuses often seem to.

Tell what artist today or in the last 10 years got WHOLE FAMILIES to gather around the TV set to see the premier of their latest video? When Thriller came out, it was an event. We talked about it for days. That night, in my aunt and uncle's family room, we sat there glued to the set.

When Bad came out, we waited all day for 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. or whatever it was. We popped popcorn and we watched Michael pretend to be some misunderstood nerd from the hood next to Wesley Snipes playing his brother in the streets. Michael was 10 shades lighter with longer, curlier hair than the last time we saw him. He busted out ballet moves in the subway system with a bunch of dancers cum thugs. It was absurd. It was silly. It was corny.
But we loved it and won't you slap my face because I'm BAD!!!

I know people don't live forever and we see it every day. But I feel like little pieces of my childhood are slipping into a dark void every day.

My brother and I had the Michael Jackson doll with the red zipper jacket, the high water black pants and the silver socks with little plastic loafers.

Even when I couldn't take him any more. Even after the first child molesting accusations (and for the record, I do believe something happened with both of those kids... I don't know what... but something), he'd put out something new and I'd think... this dude can still belt out a catchy tune! Even the lame songs were still pretty damn good.

My favorite Michael Jackson song? I don't know. Man in the Mirror, Beat It, Thriller, Human Nature, She's Out of My Life... I don't know.

What's yours?

DH

A Sign at the End of What Looks Like A Red Month

It's only Wednesday and I was already planning my weekend (a weekend that, for me, was going to start Thursday night, but be interrupted by work on Friday). I wanted to see my favorite band Thursday night at a club near my apartment and maybe gather some girlfriends for bar hopping on Friday. I figured the guy and I would go see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this weekend despite the terrible reviews AND the fact that I didn't care much for the first one AND I think Michael Bay's hand on this franchise is the touch of death. I am going to a friend's house party Saturday night and started thinking of what new restaurant I could try for Sunday brunch.

Then, while riding the Metro this morning (no, I ain't scared) and reading the free Express newspaper, I happened to read the horoscopes, which I never read because they are useless. My eyes fell on Libra and this is what I saw:

"Overspending can be quite dangerous; you're going to need to watch over all your resources with care and vigilance at this time."

GULP.

I don't believe that this message was intended especially for me and all Librans everywhere, but sometimes when you need a reminder, a hint or a message, it comes to you in the strangest ways and places.

This was right on time, it seems. I started to do the math in my head and realized that, yes, I am pretty sure I'm going to finish this month in the red.

I have no excuses other than I didn't monitor how much I spent on eating out, I went over budget on clothes and otherwise wasn't paying close attention to the funds this month. I'll give you the run down in this month's report.

The thing is, sometimes I know that I am running close to the end of my funds (I realized this last week as a matter of fact), but I just wanted to DO. And to HAVE. And to run around throwing caution to the wind and sorting it all out later. I don't always put on the brakes when it's time to. And this little note was like a sentinel standing in front of my bank account with a huge frown and big crossed arms over his chest shaking his head "No."

So... I will finish my day. I will add my all my receipts and know PRECISELY where I stand this month and if I'm cutting too deep, this will turn into a relaxing weekend in the chill of my air conditioner, reading the pile of books I got from the library and otherwise taking it easy and giving the debit card a rest.

DH

Am I Having Too Much Fun, Or Paying Too Much For the Fun I'm Having?

Well, to save you all some time, I'll answer the question right now, I'm NOT having  too much fun. I am having fun, which I think is just fine. However, I may want to budget a little better for the fun I try to have. :-)

This weekend was wonderful. I spent it with my guy not doing anything terribly special, just things that we enjoy. I treated him to the movie Up and some movie snacks. Up was great! Those Pixar people know how to tell a story, which I commend them deeply for. It seems to be a lost art in Hollywood (note to anyone who may go see Up, aside from being very funny, there are a few moments that had me on the verge of crying... it was that touching. Good flick.).

We went to a matinee which saved a whopping $4 over seeing the movie later in the day. It worked out because we were finally able to get into Matchbox, a cool upscale pizza joint in Chinatown that we haven't been able to get into since I moved here (It's not exclusive or anything. It's just that every time we went together, the wait was in excess of two hours).

When we got home, my guy helped me install the air conditioner I finally bought using the money I got back from converting my leftover Japanese yen to dollars.

Then I made oatmeal raisin cookies at home (to wit there are three left since my guy ate most them of them in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, but he denies it... so I guess the cookie monster living under the fridge did it).

Two tickets, drinks and popcorn:  $35.75
Air conditioner: $157.57
TOTAL: $193.32

Sunday I made buttermilk biscuits, turkey sausage and pepper jack cheese grits for breakfast (yeah, I got skillz!). And then we pretty much lazed around watching DVDs. My guy made a dinner of baked red snapper with garlic and herb butter, sauted asparagus and pineapple salsa. It was good!

Then we went out to a lounge on U Street to see Julie Dexter and the Jaspects. Ok, so... it was my idea and my treat, so it cost me $40 for the two of us. Then, why did Ms. Dexter only sing 5 songs when it was her that we came to see? So, we stood there looking perplexed when she left the stage and all I could think was "I just dropped $20 each for that?" Then the Jaspects went on and we were pleasantly surprised. A band of 6 dudes who blended jazz, hip hop and electonica. They were reallyt good, but they need to work on their singing, or get a front man to do all the singing, while they do the rapping and the instrument playing. So, it turned out to be a nice night.

Two tickets to the show: $40
ATM fee because the club was cash only: $2.50
Tiny plastic cup of Coca-Cola because I was thirsty: $4
TOTAL: $46.50

Weekend Grand Total: $239.82

Counting the air conditioner, that's all my discretionary money for the rest of the month gone. But, since I used leftover vacation money for the air conditioner (as I had planned to do all along), I won't count it,  that's $82.25 on the weekend -- leaving me about $113 in discretionary funds for the rest of the month... I can do it.

And here I am, at my desk, on Monday morning, wishing it was still Sunday night.
Hope yall had a good one!

DH

I've Been Tagged

The Rules:

   1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
   2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
   3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs.
   4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

The Original Tagger

    *Debtor at Debt and the City tagged me.

Seven Facts

   1. I stopped contributing to my company 401k when they stopped matching and have not gone back to contributing yet. (Please don't send me any scolding e-mails or comments, I know, I know!)
   2. I have four months of living expenses saved. Two more months to go!
   3. I love to write. I really do.
   4. I hate working. I really do.
   5. If I could snap my fingers and have the life I want, fully financially free, I would be married to my guy with kids, living in a nice house, regularly traveling to far flung places with my hubby and with my friends, running a successful online publication and writing fiction that actually sold. For fun, I'd bake beautiful cakes and desserts for whoever wanted them!
   6. I am lazy. I don't know when it started, because I used to be an overachieving go getter. I'm a total slacker now.
   7. Fall is my favorite season because the weather is most beautiful in the Northeast, the trees are ablaze with color and the Fall fashions are killer!

Don't be mad, but I am not tagging anyone. Most of the bloggers I know and others I follow have done this several times already so I won't subject them to do it again... unless ya'll want to! Volunteer in the comments and consider yourself tagged!

A Word on Customer Service

Now that you've seen my pics about my whirlwind trip to Tokyo, let's talk about some of the less pleasant aspects of the trip (and contrast them with the pleasant ones).

As most of you know, my trip was cut short because American Airlines canceled my original flight to L.A. I know no one purposely caused a maintenance problem on the plane, but how they managed the customers afterward was entirely in their control.

I stood in line for longer than an hour waiting to speak to the employees who were rebooking all the jilted passengers on the flight. As I stood there, I was searching flights on other airlines and trying to see if I could still get to L.A. and to Tokyo the same day. When I finally got to the counter and explained how I NEEDED to be in L.A. before 2 p.m., they told me "Flying is risky." HUH? "Why didn't you book my entire trip with one airline?" WHAT? You're interrogating me about how I planned my trip when YOUR airline fugged up? So, they didn't try at all to get me to L.A. when I needed to be there, but offered to book me on another flight that would get me to L.A. at 6 p.m., when being in L.A. was useless to me.

After I sobbed in a seat, I went back to trying to book my own flight. Finally, I told them to put me on the same scheduled flight for Tuesday, which they did and not with a big ole apologetic grin. No, chick at the counter was like "Whatever." I promptly got on the phone and demanded that somebody at American Airlines give me back my money. They couldn't do that because I was already booked on another flight.
Travel vouchers? No.
You realize you just cost me a day in my hotel. Sorry.

Disgusted, I went back home, resigned. Then I got mad and got back on the phone with American Airlines. And, apparently, somebody had taught this young woman I spoke to next how to treat a customer. I told her the situation and said I wanted my money back. She promptly refunded it.
I told her that I wanted my money back for the bag fee I paid. She tried to get it back, couldn't on her system, and told me EXACTLY where to go on the Web site to request a refund, which I did while I was still on the phone with her.

When we were done, I asked her name again. She told me, apologize for the trouble and thanked me for my business. I hung up, went back to the same place on the Web site and then sent in a commendation. I wrote an e-mail explaining how helpful she had been when several other American Airline employees were terrible.

When I got back from Tokyo, my check for the $15 bag checking fee was in my mailbox. Betta had.

But was that so hard? What stopped the three other people I spoke to from doing what this girl did in five minutes? Regardless of whether this was a fluke, someone was having a bad day or a bad life or whatever, I WON'T be flying American again.

My experience with Singapore Air and at the airport in Tokyo was a stark contrast. The check-in agent was swift and polite. Before I knew what happened, I was checked in and the agent was all smiles. When I called the airline to explain what happened, they booked me on the flight the next day and waived the change fees.

So, to American Airlines, and any other company that decides reconciling problems for your customers isn't important today:

Don't you realize you're only as good as your last gig? You pissed me off that much and messed me up that bad and couldn't even apologize. I understand that the attendants didn't sabotage the plane. I know it's not their fault it would take 3 hours to get a part and 3 hours to make the repairs. I wasn't mad at them for that. I was mad about the attitude once I got to the counter. I don't care if you had to help 100 other people. What's that got to do with me? I paid to get on this flight like the rest of them. And I didn't cause the malfunction either. Explain to me why you can't just refund my money with a few keystrokes. Why do I have to call you three different times, progressively angrier each time? Why do I have to jump through hoops? You got it backward, I'M the customer. YOU jump through the hoops.

In the digitial age, all I have to do is blast you on every blog I can find. Why treat people badly when you don't know how it will come back to you? As if your industry is doing so well you can afford to mistreat people. Oh no, it's not like there aren't a dozen other airlines competeing for the same business.

I'm not sure what happened to customer service, but it died. I will spend my money where I am treated like my money is appreciated! Or I will keep my money to myself. I don't have to tolerate bad attitudes, incompetence, sllooooowww service or any other customer service No-Nos.

Customer service is the difference between me shopping with you every time and encouraging other to do so and me NEVER dealing with you again and discouraging others from patronizing your business. Word travels fast -- look what happened to the American auto companies. They were suffering from bad PR from the 1980s! You don't guilt, threaten or assume people into patronizing your business. You work to satisfy their needs and wants and make their experience with you pleasant.

Take a lesson from the Japanese -- Politeness was paramount. If one person couldn't help me, they found someone who could. If they couldn't help me at all, they apologized. If anyone rolled their eyes or muttered about me under their breath, they weren't dumb enough to do it so I could see or hear them!

Customer service in not intangible. It translates directly to dollars. Mine, you won't see again.

DH

All About My Trip to Tokyo!

Well peeps, I am back in the states and readjusting to local time.

I had a great time in Tokyo despite the short duration of our trip (thank you SO MUCH stupid American Airlines!). Just to recap if you missed it, I did not arrive in Tokyo Tuesday evening as scheduled because my flight to L.A. was delayed, then canceled. I got my money back from American Airlines and flew out to L.A. the following day on United. The United flight was smooth as butter, but I lost an entire day of my trip (and that day, I found out later, would have made a world of difference!).

My Singapore Airlines flight to Tokyo was wonderful! I got an exit row seat so there were no seats in front of me, a huge plus for an 11-hour flight and my long legs. We had recent movies available, American TV shows, Japanese TV show and lots of music available (headsets were free!). We got a little pouch with comfy socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste AND a menu of both American and Japanese-style meals. And, most importantly, drinks were free! I had some Riesling with my unagi and rice meal featuring cold soba noodles as an appetizer. A few hours later, we had fried noodles and coffee cheesecake. I was so happy.

Konnichi wa!

I made it! I am in Tokyo. I am sitting in my marvelous room with my homie (who got here yesterday), plotting what we're going to do tonight.

The flight was seamless. I got my money back from American Airlines (including the checked baggage fee) and bought a CHEAPER ticket on United Airways and smoothly arrived in Los Angeles. My Singapore Airlines flight was excellent! I got the aisle seat in an exit row with NO seats in front of me (my long legs were happy). Food was Japanese style and tasty, refreshing towelletes, cool movies and TV, warm blanket... who needed first class!

And then I rode the shuttle up to gorgeous hotel where the staff was accomodating and polite like a mudda fugga. So here I am in my room typing this out and I am done because I am freshening up and then we're going out!

Sayonara!

DH
Ecstatic beyond belief

I am not on my way to Tokyo and American Airlines is the WORST

I know there are far worse things that can happen in life, but what happened this morning just made me break down crying in the middle of the airport.

Things couldn't have gone smoother earlier. I got up at 4:30, got dressed, did my last minute double-checking and went out the door to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. I got there, easy as pie. I went through security, not a problem. I got some breakfast and sat flipping through a magazine. Then the announcement -- my flight to L.A. was delayed until 3 p.m. because of some hydraulics problem.

My flight out of LAX left for Tokyo at 2:45 p.m. PST.

I stood in line for 90 minutes with dozens of other people trying to get onto new flights. While the attendants took 10 to 20 minutes per person, I was looking online for another flight on any other airline from that airport or the nearest one that would get me to L.A. before 2 p.m.

And there wasn't a plane leaving Washington that I could get to and get to L.A. in time. My trip to Tokyo was lying dead on the tarmac.

I tried to find another flight to Tokyo for later that day from anywhere in the country, nope. The only ones I could find left from LAX and they left early in the afternoon, just like the flight I was doomed to miss. The attendants were not pleasant. They weren't rude, but they were not about to go above and beyond. The best I could do was get booked on the same flight leaving Tuesday morning to make the flight to Tokyo Tuesday afternoon, which means I have to go through this entire process AGAIN and I won't get to Tokyo until Wednesday evening Tokyo time.

I'll lose an entire day on my trip, just like that. It's gone.

I walked away, sat down in a chair and sobbed. I just started bawling. I couldn't believe it. I was this close and now I was stuck. I purposely chose a flight that left early enough that if there was a delay, I'd still get to LAX in time. But no, I did not plan for a 6-hour delay. Yeah, sorry, didn't see that one coming.

The thing that really kills me is that everyone I talked to started doling out coulda shouldas. It pissed me off because it was like I did something wrong or if I was having a problem, it was my fault. "Well, did you do this?" "Why didn't you do this?" "I knew you should have left out of New York." HUH?! I didn't mess up here! I did what I was supposed to do. I did everything right, American Airlines messed up!

I hate American. I took this flight because it arrived at the best time for me for the lowest price. And now look. Oh, and I forgot, but American charges $15 for a checked bag. I spent quite a bit of time arguing with somebody to make sure I don't have to pay that fee AGAIN. And how about a free upgrade to first class... still arguing with someone for that now...

I am just miserable beyond words.