Week #30 - Bank Errors, Live Music & Extra Cash!

Ok... let me start off by letting you know that the issue I wrote about in last weeks 'bonus section' where one of my accounts showed a $50 withdrawal that I didn't do has been fixed. It was a teller error and the money was returned to my account so the crisis has been averted!

This week I got another item I ordered with my Coke points. Its a messenger style bag, but its actually pretty shitty and I wish I hadn't ordered it. I'll most likely end up giving it away or throwing it out because I wont use it. At least it didn't cost me anything in reality. I did use 600 points to get it, but I have a ton of points I haven't entered yet and I don't order stuff all that often so its not the end of the world.

I have a few things coming up over the next few weekends that I have to try and budget for, or at least figure out where to take the money for! This Saturday there is a show (concert) that I'll be going to. Its a whole bunch of bands, mostly from RI, but its an all day thing so I will have to eat lunch & dinner out and I'm sure I will buy a couple of CDs or T-shirts from the bands that are playing. Then the Saturday after that is the annual Boston Comiccon which costs $25 just to get into! On top of that maybe I'll buy something, but there will also be gas to drive to Boston and I'm sure you can't park for free! Then I have to go straight from Comiccon to a friends birthday party in Burraville, RI. He's turning 8 and I want to get him a cool gift (still not sure what to get yet!) so there are a few expenses coming up!

School is going well and that bill has been paid so there is no worry there which is nice. I do however have to eat dinner on the go on school nights (Tuesdays & Thursdays). I have been getting a wrap-sandwich from Subway and a bottle of soda which ends up costing about $5.50. That's a pretty cheap dinner so I'm not complaining, but it is more money out of my checking account twice a week. Good thing those Subway points are still adding up!

There was also a trip to Philadelphia that I wanted to make next month, but I don't think that will work out so I wont have to worry about money for that. There is another band coming to Boston that I'll be going to see near the end of August, but I might be able to get into that one for free if it all works out. Its good to have low friends in high places sometimes!

The only other thing that happened this week was I went on a day trip to Maine with some friends in a band and I sold shirts for them at the show. It was actually a pretty good night and I sold a lot of stuff so when it was all said and done they paid me $100 for the days work. It was a long day but it was lots of fun and totally worth it!

Ok... with all that said, lets get down to the money talk! This week I got a paycheck for $612.82 ($39.12 went to my 401K). I'm going to take $50.00 and put it in my quarterly loan payment account, $25.00 into the potential vet bill account and put the remaining $537.82 into the mortgage account. I did make that additional $100 from helping my friends band and I already deposited that into regular checking account which had gotten pretty low. I didn't have any cans to return this week,but I did my standard $20 vacation transfer! So here is the wrap up...

Here is the week 30 wrap up:
$39.12 to my 401K
$25.00 to the future vet bill account
$20.00 to my vacation fund

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1026.96 in my 401K
$600.00 in the vacation fund
$65.30 in the piggy bank
$400.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$150.00 in my vet bill savings
$1583.00 in my money market
$1032.99 in my car account

For this weeks bonus I'm gonna do something that I've done a couple of times over the last 30 weeks, but I just want to make sure you see that simply by putting aside $20 a week I have saved $600 in my vacation account! Maybe you're saying you cant do that and you don't have an extra $20 a week, well even if you did 1/2 of that you would have $300. Whether you saved it for a vacation, a party, a fancy dinner, new clothes... whatever... you would have cash on hand just by cutting out 1 fast food meal per week, 1 pack of cigarettes or a couple of trips to Dunkin Donuts. Saving is something that anyone can do, but everyone makes excuses about why they can't do. Just decide you're going to do it, set an achievable goal and start today!

 

PS. I feel like I kinda phoned it in this week and the blog doesn't have much info in it. If you noticed too then I'm sorry and I'll try to do better next week even though there wont be much saving next week.

Week #29 - Cheap Glasses & Free Lunch!

wow... here we are at week #29 if my silly little blog. I have to admit that I have some times when I just want to stop doing it because I see that only a few people have viewed it, but the feedback I get from a few of you (and my general OCD nature) are what keep me going! So a huge thank you to the OCD Savings Blog weekly readers and supporters. If you haven't joined please check out the Facebook group and contribute your tips, hints and even sales you find on the go! Here is the link... www.facebook.com/groups/ocdsavings

 There has not been a lot going on in the world of money this past week. I did get the free lunch bag that I ordered from Coca-Cola using my Coke points and I started using that to bring my lunch to work. I also went back to the Coke website and ordered a different bag that was also completely free using just my points. I'm a fan of Coca-Cola so I like some of the stuff they offer anyway, but when its something I can actually use or need and its free its pretty awesome!

August 15th is the 2 year anniversary since I got my last pair of free safety glasses at work which means I am eligible to get another pair. I went and got the forms from the HR department today and will be booking an eye exam soon. Two years ago when I went for an exam I gave them my Blue Cross card knowing that my insurance didn't cover any eye exams. I figured I would eventually get a bill to pay from the doctor, but two years later I still didn't get a bill so I think I'll have to find a different doctor to go to or risk them pulling my records and having to pay the bill! No matter where I go I'll get the form filled out and get a free pair of glasses through work, then I'll take all the measurements and prescription info and go to ZenniOptical.com and pick up a new pair of super cheap prescription sunglasses and maybe an extra pair of regular glasses for an emergency. If you haven't used Zenni, I highly recommend them. I got prescription sunglasses for $20 and they work perfect!

So this is the third week of the month which usually means my whole check will be going into my mortgage account, but I'm going to change it up this month! I got a little bit of overtime which made this check a big higher than usual so I will be putting this check towards my savings. The check I got is for $648.63 ($41.47 to my 401K) and I'm going to space it out in a few different spots. I'm going to take $148.63 off the top and put it in my regular checking account as part of my 'enjoy life' initiative. The remaining $500 will be broken down like this: $325.00 to the money market savings, $150 to the future car savings and $25 to the future vet bill account.

In addition to my paycheck I also cashed in some deposit cans & bottles, some of which were donated to me by a reader. I have to admit that I had mixed emotions about taking them because part of me felt like she should have cashed them herself and saved the money, but it was a little more free cash for me! So I ended up with $8.60 in can money to put in the piggy bank and I also did my weekly $20 vacation transfer. On to the wrap up....

Here is the week 29 wrap up:
$41.47 to my 401K
$325.00 to the money market savings
$150.00 to the future car savings
$25.00 to the future vet bill account
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$8.60 to the piggy bank

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$987.84 in my 401K
$580.00 in the vacation fund
$65.30 in the piggy bank
$400.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$125.00 in my vet bill savings
$1583.00 in my money market
$1032.99 in my car account

 Bonus Round.... I always speak very highly of the bank I got to, but that doesn't mean they are perfect and never make mistakes. Last Friday I deposited most of my check in my mortgage account, but I put $50 in my loan repayment account. Well the teller made an error and when I checked my online banking it showed a $50 deposit and a $50 withdraw on the same day. Knowing I didn't take any money out and no cash back I called the 800# for the bank and they are in the process of fixing the error as I type this. The moral is... make sure you check your bank balances!!

Week #28 - Small Checks & Big Bills

So last week I was in a crappy mood and ended up posting the blog late because I took an extra day off to make a four day weekend over 4th of July. I don't have much of a story to tell this week, but I'll give you an update on some stuff that has gone on in the world of spending & saving..

1- I've been collecting 'Coke Points' off of the bottle caps & soda boxes for a couple of years now and I have over 5000 points saved on-line. I check the catalog of gifts you can get every once in a while to see if there is anything new and I have used points a few times to get a t-shirt, a coke bottle shaped cake pan & a few other things. Recently I needed a new lunch bag for bringing food to work and instead of buying one with real money, I found one on the Coca-Cola website and ordered it for 300 Coke Points which pretty much means I got it free!

2- I talked about making complaints when service or products are not what they should be and I recently got 2 $10 gift certificates from the corporate office of a local convenience store chain because of some band products I bought from one of their stores. When I brought them to the store and asked if I could use it to buy just 1 bottle of soda they said yes, but when I did they gave me back the remainder in cash.... once again... Free Money!

3- I didn't tell this story, but I went to Applebees with my wife and mother-in-law for dinner a couple of weeks ago and they screwed up 2 out of 3 meals. We let the waitress know and the manager came over and said they were remaking the food, but when we got the bill they had not taken even 1 item off the bill. We didn't say anything, but when I got home I sent an email and filled out a survey which got me a call from a district manager. I explained what happened and he apologized and then a few days later I got a $20 gift certificate in the mail!

4- I have a pretty standard Saturday routine that starts with a trip to Rubber Chicken Comics (Main St. Bellingham, MA) followed by lunch at the Subway next door. I have a points card for Subway and have accumulated over 200 points, which is enough for 3-4 free sandwiches, but can be used for free smaller items also. They just started a promotion called '$4 Lunch' which is a 6" sandwich and fountain soda for... you guessed it, $4. I have been getting the $4 lunch and using 15 of my 'Subway Points' to get a free bag of chips which means I'm eating a filling lunch for under $5!

5- I was on a shopping trip with my wife at an Old Navy store and while she was shopping I checked out the t-shirts. I found a pretty cool Delorean shirt that was actually just a Delorean graphic and not a Back to the Future image. Old Navy was having a 30% off everything sale, but I also managed to find the only shirt on the rack that had a discount price tag of $4.95 on it (regular price was $15.95 I think). When it was rung up it came up at full price, but when we pointed out to the clerk that there was a discount tag on it, he changed it to $4.95 and also gave us the 30% off making the shirt about $3.50. Even with the amount of shirts I already have I couldn't turn down that bargain!

Ok... so hopefully you can take a couple of those things and turn them into a bargain or savings of your own. Now on to the weekly wrap up... I got a paycheck for only $495.73 ($31.30 was added to my 401K) because I took July 5th off to make a 4 day weekend after the July 4th holiday. I was going to deposit the full check into the mortgage account because its a smaller check, but I'm still going to put $50 in the loan repayment account and the remaining $445.73 towards the mortgage. I also did my $20 vacation transfer again even though after paying my credit card bill the checking account is looking a little thin!

Here is the week 28 wrap up:
$31.30 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund
$50.00 to the loan repayment account

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$946.37 in my 401K
$560.00 in the vacation fund
$56.70 in the piggy bank
$400.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$100.00 in my vet bill savings
$1258.00 in my money market
$882.99 in my car account

For this weeks bonus I'll just let you know that I got my car tax bill in last week. As much as it sucks to pay car taxes it was nice to know that I had money set aside to use for car expenses in my 'car savings account'. I just wrote a check, mailed it out and transferred the same amount from the car account to the regular checking account and I'm still left with money for repairs or a potential car down payment in the future. So start saving for those things now and you wont have to panic when the bills come in down the road!

Week #27 - no readers, no story...

I got a paycheck for $613.82 ($39.12 to my 401K). I deposited the whole thing into my checking account to pay bills and did my $20 vacation transfer.

Here is the week 27 wrap up:
$39.12 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$915.07 in my 401K
$540.00 in the vacation fund
$56.70 in the piggy bank
$350.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$100.00 in my vet bill savings
$1258.00 in my money market
$882.99 in my car account



Thats it.