Progress Chart Resurrected

See it over there?

That little chart right above the coffee cup all but begging you to subscribe to my feed?

Well, the last time I used a progress chart was back in 2008 — the year that I plowed through just about every single goal I’d set for myself.

Then, in 2009, having accomplished so much, I got a little fluffy and failed to accomplish much of anything.

I didn’t use a chart in 2009 and I think it might have been partially to blame for my lack of progress too…

So it’s back.

And hopefully it’ll work.

I’ve got a looooonnnnggggg way to go — roughly $26,266 — to accomplish my goals for 2010.

Posted on February 8th, 2010 at 6:55 am by Brainy Smurf
2010 Goals, Finance, Motivation | 1 Comment »

Video Arcades and McDonald’s Hamburgers…

I’ve recently rediscovered my love for McDonald’s hamburgers.

At one point in high school I was convinced that I could eat two McDonald’s hamburgers for every meal indefinitely.

Not to date myself too much but back then a McDonald’s hamburger was 59 cents. Two of them came to exactly $1.25 including Connecticut sales tax.

That meant that the quarter that I pocketed each weekday from the lunch money my mother gave me was enough to buy a late night weekend meal with my friends after an evening spent at the video game arcade.

Okay, if that doesn’t date me, I’m not sure what will…

Seriously, how did video arcades survive into the 1990’s?

Anyway, for a few years there in my twenties, I was starting to think that maybe my father might have been correct in avoiding McDonald’s like the plague during my childhood while repeating something along the lines of “Someday you’ll stop wanting to go there…”

I still visited McDonald’s now and then — usually because their fries are the best around if you’re lucky enough to get a fresh batch (a rare occurrence) — but I really hadn’t ordered a hamburger in quite some time…

So a few weeks ago, I had a craving for a McDonald’s hamburger… Wow — I’d venture to guess that I had my very first hamburger there in the late 1970’s and today, in 2010, they taste exactly the same.

There’s just, well, I don’t know what to call it, but there’s something about the texture of those bland and flavorless little onion bits and the piping hot pickle and the less than fresh bun that looks like it’s been stepped on.

It’s like peculiar form of perfection.

They’re not 59 cents anymore but they’re still a pretty decent bargain.

So last weekend I introduced Duncan to McDonald’s:

Here’s to hoping he continues to enjoy their signature item for years to come…

…and avoids the cheeseburger.

That thing tastes like cardboard.

Posted on February 7th, 2010 at 6:55 am by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Food, Retro | 1 Comment »

Spending Report for January 2010

Well, I fared better than I did in December but I didn’t exactly keep my spending in check as closely as I’d wanted or even expected to.

That said, there were a few budget busters at fault for my breakdown — most notably that unplanned but definitely necessary fileserver that I purchased along with all of it’s related accessories.

The high utility bills certainly didn’t help either…

Anyway, here’s where all of the money went:

• $1850.00 : Mortgage
• $1134.51 : Business Expenses
• $335.24 : Natural Gas
• $233.67 : Electricity
• $120.00 : Cash
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $66.93 : Gas
• $57.77 : Phone
• $34.20 : Clothing
• $8.00 : Car Wash
• $3.75 : Vending Machine

All together, that adds up to $3955.57.

I suppose I could pat myself on the back for keeping the sum under $4k even while dropping over a grand on the previously mentioned business expenses… but I’m not going to go that route.

I still spend far more than I *need* to.

Sure, I guess I could make the argument (to myself and with myself) that I can *afford* to spend this much, I mean, my net worth still went up, but, really, I think my true expenses (minimum payments across the board) only add up to around $2000 per month.

I routinely spend double that?!

On the success front, though, you might notice something absent in this month’s spending report — or you might not… The hockey jerseys.

Usually a staple in these reports and, more often than not, they’re in the second or third spot too. Not this month.

So far, that’s the only goal for 2010 that I’ve adhered to.

It’s still early though… ;0)

Posted on February 6th, 2010 at 9:28 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 2 Comments »

Net Worth Update: February 2010 (+$1,845)

Sorry it’s nearly a week late.

I’ve been a combination of tired, sick, busy, unmotivated, overworked, and underpaid.

Par for the course in the middle of the winter, I suppose, but now that I’ve run the numbers I’m feeling alright.

January didn’t really “feel” like a positive but somehow it turned out to be.

My 401k didn’t bail me out this time or even an upswing in the value of my home — the big movers were the contributions to my savings account and the extra payments I made on my mortgage — two things that are 100% dependent on me.

That’s pretty reassuring, you know, knowing that it’s still me in the drivers seat and that I’m making sound decisions.

Anyway, here’s the breakdown:

Cash:
I feel like I’m living paycheck-to-paycheck but somehow I managed to keep this about $2000. I think the main reason is that I got paid right at the end of the month — I’m not a fan of when biweekly paychecks land on the calendar this way. I always feel like I’m short on money when the bills come in…

Savings:
And because I felt short on money (and those nasty utility bills caught me by surprise), I had to ease off of my pace here — and even take a bit from savings to cover some of my expenses. In the end, I still ended on a very positive note.

Gov’t Bonds:
Okay, it’s official. I don’t understand government bonds at all. I didn’t earn ANY interest in January. Not one dime. Now I realize that the current rate on some of the bonds is 0% right now but I’ve got a handful that I’ve had for years that have a fixed portion that is, well, it’s not zero. So, yeah, I haven’t got a clue and for all the research I’ve done, well, it still doesn’t make sense.

401k:
Well, it couldn’t last forever, right? I think that this downturn is just the tip of the iceberg — especially after the performance this first week of February.

I’d talked about lowering my contributions — and even stopping them — for 2010 but never made the move. Now, with things falling, it’s even more unlikely for me to change anything.

Home:
Hooray! I just felt like saying that.

Auto 1 & Auto 2:
My daily driver, Auto 1, really needs an oil change. And a belt or something to be tightened. If I don’t warm it up, it squeals like a pig.

The BMW has been sitting in the garage pretty much since Duncan was born. Each year I tell myself that I’ll drive it more but I never seem to.

Hey, at least it’s not losing value and, really, now that it’s over a dozen years old, it can’t be much longer until its value starts to increase. Right? Please?

Credit Cards, Auto Loans, and Other Loans:
Zilch. Zero. Nada.

Mortgage:
I just want this thing paid off. It’s the white elephant in my pile of bills. And, yes, the mortgage is supposed to be the white elephant but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Posted on February 6th, 2010 at 7:01 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | 2 Comments »

TMI : Grape Fanta and Vienna Fingers

I’ve failed.

Nearly 9 months in, 242 days to be exact, I have officially been (soundly) defeated by a soiled diaper.

Yep, the smackdown took place yesterday morning as we were eating cookies and watching ice hockey highlights on television together on the couch.

Sniff, sniff… Suddenly a waft of not-so-sweetness overtook the room.

Eh, routine diaper change coming up. Or so I thought…

I quickly learned that this was not going to be a typical diaper change.

Oh no, this was one for the ages…

I’d guesstimate that Duncan has 3 or 4 blowouts per week so it’s not exactly an unusual occurance. Thankfully, though, 90% of them happen while he’s at school (which is what they call daycare these days), so it’s not usually *my* problem.

With my wife in the shower, well, this one was all me.

As is fumbled with the snaps holding his pajama-with-feet outfit together, it became apparent that I had a, um, mess on my hands. We’re talking “Global Thermonuclear War“… and a mess on my hands. Literally.

Fighting a pair of kicking legs, I tried in earnest to control the, well, let’s just call it “insanity”.

Doing my best to keep the, um, “insanity” contained, I used a few wipes here, a few wipes there, a clean diaper over there, and even a bit of his outfit to get it out from between his toes, you know the drill…

I was doing pretty well, or so I thought, and then I coughed…

I gagged.

And then I heaved.

I pressed on though. Had to complete the mission, you know?

But then, holding the little guy’s lower end in the air by the ankles over an overflowing diaper with “insanity” smeared all over much of my free hand, my mouth suddenly filled with a mixture of Vienna Fingers and grape flavored Fanta.

Uh-oh…

I’ve probably already “spilled” too much info here but I’m sure you get the gist of what happened next.

Anyway, I’m still patting myself on the back for lasting 241 days longer than I ever thought I would.

He looks guilty, doesn’t he?

Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 6:55 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Smurfling | 3 Comments »

Shock & Awe: Electricity & Gas Bills

My electric bill and natural gas bill were the highest that they have ever been this past month.

It wasn’t even close — I blew my previous highs (from 2005) out of the water.

Now I know that the winter season is upon us and there were a few weeks of frigid weather back in December but an electric bill of $233.67 and a natural gas bill topping out at $335.24 totally caught me by surprise.

At first I thought it was a mistake. Or maybe it was an extra long billing cycle…but it wasn’t either of those.

Ouch.

I loosely budget $500 per month for bills — water, gas, electricity, phone, and cable.

Those two bills alone exceed my budget.

So what’s different from years past?

I’ll tell ya.

Duncan.

See, he hasn’t quite figured out what a blanket is for yet.

He all but refuses to sleep underneath one and, as a result, we keep the heat on a little higher and an electric heater running in his room all night.

That costs a lot.

Okay, so maybe I was a little premature in stating that kids don’t cost that much!

Posted on January 20th, 2010 at 8:28 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance | 4 Comments »

Scratch that Spending Plan…

Well that was quick!

Yep, just over a week into the new year and I’ve already spent a fortune — unexpectedly.

I suppose that when the month is over, I’ll classify these most recent purchases as “business expenses” but that doesn’t hide the fact that I spent real money on them…

I hate when people are under the assumption that “business expenses” are freebies. They’re not.

And if you work at a company and freely spend money that isn’t your own, well, you should think about that some time.

Anyway, remember that awful day that I had back in October of 2007?

Don’t worry — it’s okay if you don’t. You can refresh your memory here.

The short of it is that I had a hard drive fail. I went out and bought a short term replacement and, while it hasn’t “failed” yet, it’s running at roughly 98% capacity.

It’s crawling…

Lasting for nearly two and a half years is pretty good but I’ve always feared another drive failure and I’ve also always known that I *need* to plunk down the cash to get a real viable long term and expandable storage system in place.

I finally did that earlier this week — but only after making a bonehead move and attempting to do it the “cheap” way.

I surfed on over to CDW and purchased another Buffalo Technologies DriveStation just like I did back in 2007.

It arrived earlier this week…dead.

I’ve never been a big fan of CDW but with Circuit City and CompUSA no longer in existance, purchasing the unit in person is all but impossible these days and then CDW went out and bought out my favorite online retailer so it seemed as if the only place to turn — and they had the best price too. That’s rarely the case — which is why I’m not a big fan…

Thankfully their returns policy is pretty friendly though they still haven’t processed my return yet — I’m hoping I don’t get hit with a 15% restocking fee for a unit that was dead right out of the box.

Eitherway, in desperate need of drive space, this turn of events put me in the hot seat. I decided that enough was enough — no more nickel and diming my way through this.

I bought a file server.

No more of this USB connection crap. I settled on a model from the NetGear ReadyNAS line of products.

Basically, it’s a computer case filled with hard drives.

Back in the 1990’s, I built a few of fileservers from old computers at zero cost and I considered doing that sort of thing again this time but that was back before RAID and, honestly, I don’t have time for that sort of project anymore.

I paid for it this time instead. So far, between the two purchases, I’ve surpassed the $1000 mark.

Tons of space and loads of redundancy are worth it though — especially having delayed this expense for years on end.

That’s what I decided. Or, at least, that’s what I’m telling myself right now.

It’s still not here and, sadly, it’s scheduled delivery is next Monday (MLK day, ugh…) so I probably won’t have it until that Tuesday.

Here’s to hoping that I can make it through another week with just over that 1GB to work with…

Now the only big ticket item (that I’ve been eyeing for years) left on my list is a good high-quality file cabinet.

Ever priced one of those out? Yikes — they’re expensive…

Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 7:48 pm by Brainy Smurf
Computers, Finance, Mistakes | 3 Comments »

Net Worth Update: January 2010 (+$7,014)

Now that’s the way to close out a year and start a new one!

This past month made it 10 consecutive months of increasing my net worth — and for many of the months by a substantial amount. It’s all good…

My last negative month was February of 2009 when my total net worth was $162288. Today, I’m $68934 wealthier.

Economy woes aside, yeah, 2009 was a very good year for me. I’m sad to see it go.

So here are this past month’s details:

Cash:
The big secret is here is that December happened to be a three-paycheck month for me. Those are always nice padding for a new worth report.

Savings:
No more Mickey-Mousing around. I was transfering every last penny that I could into savings in an attempt to get a jump of my financial goals for 2010.

I still have a looooooong way to go but I’m off and running now.

Gov’t Bonds:
Another $300 bond purchase on the last day of the year brought me right up to the $5k maximum. I’m still not seeing the fruits of the last few months worth of purchases but I’m confident that they were “good” buys in the long run.

401k:
Though I’m not earning a match anymore, I’m still contributing the maximum allowed. Not entirely sure why or how long I’ll continue to do so but for as long as I can afford it, I’m going to stay the course.

Home:
It only took a year and now my home’s value is right back to (and above) where it was when the whole mess (reportedly) began.

Auto 1 & Auto 2:
Apparently a new year isn’t favorable to used car values. Who’da thunk?

Credit Cards, Auto Loans, and Other Loans:
Zilch. Zero. Nada.

Mortgage:
Back at it — knocking an extra $175 off of the principle each week. I back off of this strategy for 3 months or so but I really only see an upside to knocking off over 1% of the balance each and every month.

The sooner the mortgage is paid off, in my opinion and for my own peace of mind, the better.

Posted on January 6th, 2010 at 1:54 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | 1 Comment »

Spending Report for December 2009

Well, it’s a new year now so I’m not going to apologize for *any* of my ridiculous expenditures last month.

Really, though, I didn’t go drastically overboard in any category and I even got a jump on some of my financial goals for 2010 — specifically the mortgage goal.

So, here’s a listing of the damage:

• $1850.00 : Mortgage
• $1147.23 : Hockey Jerseys
• $226.54 : Christmas Related Stuff
• $200.00 : Lawn Service
• $152.32 : Electricity
• $136.59 : Natural Gas
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $81.42 : Gas
• $69.50 : Business Expenses
• $68.48 : Phone

That’s $4043.58 — a lot of money.

Explaining it all…

I stepped up my mortgage payments this month to the tune of $175 towards the principle per week. This puts me back on pace to finish off the mortgage in a timely fashion.

The hockey jerseys… Well, history shows that I splurge at the end of November each year and I did it again this year except, for once, it didn’t hit the books until December rolled around. Yeah, it’s a number I should feel shame over but I said up at the top that I wasn’t going to apologoze for anything.

Christmas only cost $226.54 this year. Definitely a thrifty holiday compared to years past. We figured that Duncan isn’t going to remember this one so we didn’t bother to go all out.

The lawn service expendure was also a hold over from November. I’ve mentioned a few times on the site that I’d never be raking my own leaves again because, in my eyes, it’s definitely worth the money to have someone else come and get rid of them for me. They sucked every last leaf up back during the first week of November but the bill arrived in mid-December.

The bills this month were a pleasant surprise. It’s gotten super cold so I expected the electricity and natural gas bills to skyrocket. They both went up but not by much.

The gas total indicates that I only filled up 3 times in December — a combination of getting great gas milelage and not making a single lengthly car trip.

Lastly, the phone… This one is starting to irk me. See, if I recall correctly, I only used the phone a total of 4 times this month. If you were one of the lucky fortunate to have spoken with me on the phone this month I’m sure that you’d agree that none of the calls were worth the roughly $17 I ended up having to pay for them.

Bring on 2010…

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PIAC Post Extension:
Though I didn’t start doing these spending reports until the end of March, I have the data for the entire year nice and handy so, for the record, I “spent” $48665.80 in 2009.

That works out to an average of $4055.48 per month so, really, I had nothing to apologize for this month — I came in under “budget” in a wacky sort of way.

Here are the totals for all years past where I’m 100% confident that the numbers are complete and accurate:

2004: $55,594.06
2005: $66,791.22
2006: $78,530.31
2007: $81,046.25
2008: $49,342.55
2009: $48,665.80

Keep in mind that 2006 and 2007’s numbers are skewed by the home improvement projects we took on back then.

No matter how you read the numbers, whether you think they’re insanely high or welfare level low, I’m on the right track having kept my expenses over the past two years lower than they’ve ever been.

What exactly occured roughly two years ago that allowed me to turn the table?

Yep, I wiped out the last of my credit card debt.

Coincidence?

I think not.

If you’re carrying some credit card debt, I can’t stress it enough — wipe it out before anything else because once you do all of the other stuff will suddenly fall into place.

Posted on January 1st, 2010 at 12:26 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 1 Comment »

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Photo, Smurfling | 3 Comments »

Prepping for 2010: Hard Financial Goals…

I just sorta coasted through 2009.

A lot of people seem to do that for their entire lives, you know, just going through the motions and I’m glad that I’m not one of them.

At the same time, though I coasted, I can’t say that I made any poor financial decisions during the past year.

But I’m also fairly certain that I didn’t spend and/or save as wisely as I could have if I’d had a concrete plan set for the year and beyond.

I’m looking to change that in 2010.

Without any debts to attack besides the mortgage and that lingering renovation project that still needs to be initiated (I’m dragging my feet), 2010’s goals are going to be about saving and investing.

I’m not going to be modest either — easily attainable goals are simply that…easily attainable.

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, here goes…

• I’m looking to, again, contribute the $5000 allowable maximum (online) to I-series US Treasury Bonds.

  I know that I’m far too young to be investing in something so conservative but I somewhat indiscriminately did it in 2009 and I’m certainly not kicking myself for it.

  Besides, $5k really isn’t that much spread out over the span of a year.

• I’m going to give in and open up a Roth IRA — and then fully fund it.

  I’ve toyed with the idea before but could never really grasp the benefits.

  I still don’t really understand their appeal but with my 401k no longer receiving an employer match and the added desire to have access to the money should I need it (or to pay for that renovation I keep talking about), it seems like a wise place to stash an additional $5000 and potentially earn a lot more than I would in savings bonds or in a savings account.

• I want to more than double the current balance of my savings account.

  If the renovation project doesn’t happen in 2010, I want there to be at least $25000 in my savings account.

• I want to step up my mortgage payments again.

  Plain and simple, though I continue to go back and forth on the idea of paying my mortage off, I don’t want to have to pay a monthly mortgage bill for the next 22 years.

  Or even the next 10 years.

  Eh, while we’re at it, I don’t want to have a mortgage payment anymore in 5 years…

  For the past few months, I’ve lowered my “extra” principle payments down to $75 per week. While that’s still a pretty respectable number, I’m not seeing the balance fall as quickly as I’d like.

  I need to double it in order to approach the level that’d have me lined up nicely for an early payoff.

• I’m going to actively attempt to curb my hobby expenditures.

  My spending in this area has been on the decline for years now but like everyone notices in each and every spending report — I still spend far too much money adding to my game worn hockey jersey collection.

  From here on out, or at least until I get the house fixed up, it’s gotta be something that I’ve truly wanted for some time or something from a player that my Dad, who can’t even be considered a casual hockey fan, will have heard of for a great price.

  Dad — please tell me the name Ovechkin rings a bell…

  Bottom line, though I don’t regret a single one, no more late night eBay impulse purchases.

I think that’s where I’ll draw the line…

Tallying up the first four goals — the concrete ones — they add up to a sum of $30300. That’s $5000 towards I-Bonds, $5000 towards a Roth IRA, $12000 towards savings, and $7800 ($150 per week for 52 weeks) towards the mortgage.

Back during my days buried in credit card debt, that’s about how much I was sending back to the fine folks at Mastercard and VISA during each calendar year.

I’m not making as much as I did back then but I’m also not spending as much either.

I think I can do it.

And maybe I can even add an Ovechkin to the collection along the way too…

Posted on December 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pm by Brainy Smurf
2010 Goals, Finance | 6 Comments »

Spending Report for November 2009

A few days later than usual but that’s because I’m always reluctant to report less-than-inspiring news…

Without sugar coating it, I spent $3581.74 in November. That’s a lot of money — far more than I can afford to spend each month.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

• $1500.00 : Mortgage
• $653.00 : Homeowners Insurance
• $297.33 : Hockey Jerseys
• $166.52 : Business Expenses
• $161.99 : Baby Stuff
• $131.95 : Electricity
• $116.08 : Water/Sewer
• $111.50 : Cable/Internet
• $105.15 : Gas
• $102.31 : Natural Gas
• $95.40 : Lowe’s & Home Depot (the faucet project)
• $64.51 : Phone
• $60.00 : Cash
• $16.00 : College Hockey Tickets

For $3500, you’d think the list would be longer…

Anyway, the biggie this month came in the form of the homeowners insurance. You’d think that I’d be upset by this but I’m actually elated.

See, this means that it’s been an entire year with a conventional insurance policy — after 5+ years without on something inapproriately named the FAIR plan.

The hockey jerseys are what they are. Yes, I spend too much on them month after month after month but I’m not putting myself in debt doing it like I was in the past. For once in my life, I can afford it.

I’m working on it. Honest.

The “baby stuff” was a new car seat for Duncan. We did the single car seat thing — swapping it from one car to the other — for six months and that was enough. For those having kids in the near future, two car seats are the way to go. Sooooo much easier.

Everything else is just kinda routine stuff. And — since we’re so far into December already I can tell you that this month isn’t going real well either…

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PIAC Post Extenstion:
Yeah, so see that horrible picture of Duncan and Santa up there?

Well, though we usually shop at Target, this past weekend we wandered into Walmart and this ghetto Santa talked us into having a picture taken.

You can tell than Duncan is thrilled — he *was* looking pretty enthusiastic as I dug through that $5 DVD bin moments earlier. No so much in the arms of, um, Santa.

Hey, to this Walmart Santa’s credit, his beard was real but my wife got that icky alcoholic drug addict vibe from him. I wanted to disagree but really couldn’t. He was a dirty Santa in a dirty Santa suit — about what you’d expect from Walmart.

At least it was complimentary…

Posted on December 8th, 2009 at 8:30 pm by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Spending Report | 3 Comments »