Monday, October 28, 2013

Week #43 - Late and Short



Hey everyone... I'm writing this on Monday October 28th even though the blog should have been posted last Friday. If you're reading this then you know I was away on vacation in Disney World with my wife so that's why there was no blog last week. I'm not going to give you any info on Disney since this should have been posted while I was still there, but I will give you some info in the blog that gets posted this coming Friday.

For now I will just give you the info about my paycheck from last week. I got a check for $538.87 with $xx.xx going to my 401K. The check was a little smaller than usual because I left early 2 times last week to try and look into getting a new job. No updates on that yet either. So since this is the last week of the month its the check that gets saved. I'm putting $200 in my money market savings, $200 in my future car savings, $38.87 in my future vet bills savings and I'm going to put $100.00 in my regular checking to catch up on a few things. I also did my usually $20 vacation transfer even though technically I was ON vacation when the transfer was made! Over all its not a bad week of saving... here is the wrap up...



Here is the week 43 wrap up:
$34.13 to my 401K

$200.00 to the money market savings
$200.00 to the car repairs account
$38.87 to the vet bill account
$20.00 to my vacation fund

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1485.99 in my 401K
$860.00 in the vacation fund
$96.90 in the piggy bank
$550.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$263.87 in my vet bill savings
$2227.41 in my money market
$1677.40 in my car account


See you guys in a few days for Novembers 1st paycheck and the Disney vacation recap!
Lastly I just want to note that this issue marks the final count down of the last 10 blogs of the 2013 OCD Savings experiment!!



Friday, October 18, 2013

Week #42 - M-I-C... C-Ya Real Soon!



So today is October 18th and I starting at 3:30pm today I am officially on vacation. My wife and I leave for Walt Disney World on Sunday Morning, but I actually have a pretty busy weekend even before we leave. Tonight I will be going out to dinner with some friends and then Saturday morning I'll be headed to the Rock & Shock Horror Convention in Worcester (see last weeks blog for more info). In between those things I have to make sure that everything is all set up for the cat to be taken care of while we are gone, make sure the light timers are working and double check that I packed everything that I need.


I decided (after some prodding from my wife) to take some cash out of an account I have that is all the money we got as wedding gifts (after all the wedding expenses were paid for) and I'm going to use that to take care of Rock & Shock, some of the cash we need for vacation and then for the Rhode Island Comiccon and the Super Mega Fest (also mentioned in last weeks blog).


Other than the regular stuff I have a doctor bill I have to pay when we get back from vacation and I still need to pay for my new iPhone, but I'm going to sell my old one and hopefully cover at least 1/2 of the cost of the new one. I have been paying my full credit card balance with the exception of the cost of the phone. I know that I may end up with some interest on it, but somehow it makes me feel better to know exactly what I need to pay for the phone and I'll get it taken care of after vacation.

The mortgage payment is scheduled so that's all set and I'm mostly set for Halloween since there will only be a few days between when we get back from vacation and Halloween.

Not really sure what else I can give you guys this week so lets get to some money talk. I got a paycheck for $613.83 and $39.12 went to my 401k. I should have gotten 2 paychecks today, but it looks like GE screwed up again... BIG SURPRISE! Now normally I would make a big stink and tell them I need the check FedExed to me the next day since they are technically required to do that, but the reality is I don't care because I'm not going to do anything with the advanced check until after vacation anyway. This is the 3rd paycheck of the month so I'm going to put $400 in the mortgage account and $213.83 into my regular checking account to help pay the medical bill (which I'll take care of after vacation!). I also did my usual $20 vacation transfer which probably seems crazy since I'm going on vacation and I could just take the $20 with me, but I feel like there is no sense in skipping a week because that's how excuses not to save start! Now the wrap up....



Here is the week 41 wrap up:
$39.12 to my 401K

$20.00 to my vacation fund

Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1451.86 in my 401K
$840.00 in the vacation fund
$96.90 in the piggy bank
$550.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$225.00 in my vet bill savings
$2027.41 in my money market
$1477.40 in my car account



There will not be a blog posted on Friday next week because we will be in Florida, but I'll try to get something up on the Sunday or Monday that we get back. I know that not many of you care, but its the OCD in me that refuses to skip a week!



for this weeks bonus I'm gonna say that I went and got gas at the same station again and I got another free 1 liter bottle of Poland Spring water. I'm also gonna tell you about a sale at Rubber Chicken Comics in Bellingham, MA on October 26th. 25% off everything in the store, lots of comics for .50 cents each and you can meet Jason Vorhees and get your picture taken with him! There will also be the colorist and writer of the comic Helion there signing autographs for free! I'll be in Florida so I'm gonna miss it, but I would be there if I could!



Friday, October 11, 2013

Week #41 - Big Expenses Are Looming...

So this blog will be posted on October 11th and I have almost a month worth of big expenses coming up. Some good, some bad... but all expensive! I know you may not care at all what I have to spend money on, but I don't have much else to say this week so I'm gonna lay out all the things I have coming up and what they may cost. If nothing else it will make me feel better because in case you haven't noticed... I love making lists of things!


1. The weekend of the 12th & 13th is the weekend of what Northern Rhode Island knows as 'Autumnfest'. It's a yearly celebration of Columbus Day/Fall that takes place in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. I grew up going to Autumnfest and thinking it was so awesome that I couldn't wait every year. I have to admit that it hasn't aged well and I find it kind of boring now, but I still go. Its not a huge expense, but when you spend most of your day at a 'fair' of any kind you end up spending way to much money on crappy food. Thins like $3 slices of pizza, $7 baked potatoes and $9 apple crisp. There is also tons of music, fireworks and some other stuff that's free, but it will still cost $20-$30 for the weekend. If you're morbidly curious about what you've read here you can get more info at www.Autumnfest.org


2. On October 19th I'll be going to the 'Rock & Shock' convention in Worcester, MA. Its an annual convention of horror movie stars and retailers. I don't usually buy much, but the stars sign autographs that range from $20-$50 each! I'm hoping to only get the 1 person I really want on a poster I have signed by a lot of stars already, but I may get sucked into another 1 or 2. Its also about $25 per person to get into the convention so that's a pretty expensive day! Its last minute since the convention is tonight (Friday), tomorrow and Sunday, but you can check out the details at www.RockandShock.com


3. Starting on October 20th I'll be on vacation and in Disney World for 7 days. All the big stuff has already been paid for and we got a special meal plan that should take care of most of our food needs, but everyone knows there are always other expenses on vacations! I'm assuming that the whole thing will cost another $200-$300 easy on top of what we already paid for hotel, tickets & airfare!


4. When we get back from vacation the weekend of November 1st & 2nd is the Rhode Island Comiccon. Its about $20 to get in, but we might have a chance at some free tickets which would be awesome! Either way this convention has a lot of Star Wars actors at it this year. I have a Star Wars box set that has been signed by a ton of actors from the original trilogy and at this convention I will be able to add signatures from the actors that played: Zuckuss, Greedo, Admiral Ackbar, Lt. Renz, 4-Lom and Bosk! That may not mean much to you, but I think its pretty cool... unfortunately it will probably cost close to $200 for the weekend!! You can get more into at www.RIComiccon.com


5. The weekend of November 23rd & 24th there is yet another pop culture type convention. This is the Super Mega Fest in Framingham, MA. This one really only has 1 actor that I'm interested in. Its Oola, the green female dancer from Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. I'm sure it will be about $20 to get in and $25 for her signature on my Star Wars box set. Check it out at www.SuperMegaFest.com if you're into this stuff.

That's all of the big planned events I have coming up, but its October so its time to start thinking about Christmas shopping which is always a big stress and expense. We are also in the middle of dealing with the issue that caused damage in my bathroom. Its going to be covered by insurance, but with deductibles and depreciation it might end up still costing me money. Lastly, I got rear ended on my way home from work last week. Now that will be covered 100% by insurance, but it will still be a big stress and inconvenience!



Ok... now that I told you all the stuff I'll be doing over the next 2 months I guess I'll tell you about my paycheck. This week I got a check fro $620.35 and $39.56 went to my 401k. This is the check I put toward my mortgage, but I'm also going to do some saving with it this month. I'm putting $100.00 in my regular checking account to hopefully help with some of the above expenses, $50.00 into my quarterly loan repayment account, $25.00 towards future vet bills and the remaining $445.35 will go towards the mortgage. In addition to my paycheck I also did my $20.00 vacation transfer and I returned $11.00 worth of cans that went into the piggy bank! Now to wrap it all up....

Here is the week 41 wrap up:
$39.56 to my 401K

$50.00 to the quarterly loan payment account
$25.00 to future vet bills
$20.00 to my vacation fund

$11.00 to the piggy bank


Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1412.74 in my 401K
$820.00 in the vacation fund
$96.90 in the piggy bank
$550.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$225.00 in my vet bill savings
$2027.41 in my money market
$1477.40 in my car account



For this weeks bonus I'll point out that you can get free stuff in random places sometimes. I go to the same gas station most of the time because its the cheapest in my area. They have been running a promotion for the last month where if you buy $20.00 or more worth of gas you can get a free 1 liter bottle of Poland Spring water! Even if you don't really want it, its still worth taking!




Lastly I'll suggest you check out the facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/OCDSavings because I have been trying to post some special sales and savings that I find on-line and in stores! Also feel free to add your own findings to the facebook group for everyone to see!!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Week #40 - Vacation Is Coming Up...

I'm having a band week this week so I did up a short blog, but I'm not really gonna put much extra into it. Sorry... Hopefully things will go better next week. Sorry its late too!
 



So its week #40 today's pay date is October 4th and I will be going on vacation soon. We leave for Florida on October 20th and will be there for a week returning on October 27th. It is mostly paid for and we got some great help from friends that go to Disney regularly for family vacations. We are staying at an 'In The Park' hotel and we got a meal plan for free that should cover most of the food we will need for the week. Now all that being said, it is still damn expensive to go to Disney World and I can't believe that some families do it every year or even more than once per year. If I hadn't started doing the $20 a week vacation fund a few years ago this would have been a pretty big stress to pay for.



Things will get screwy around the time of my vacation because I'll be away for 1 of the Fridays which probably means no blog but the way that my job issues paychecks for vacation weeks is odd. We actually get paid in advance of a vacation. The rational is that you might need/want the money for your vacation, but as a saver I see the negative being if I spend this check on my vacation then I have no paycheck to pay my bills when I get back from vacation. Usually what I do is I set the check aside and don't do anything with it until the actual date that I would have gotten it if I hadn't gone on vacation.



So this is the first week of the month which means that my whole check will go into my regular checking account to pay for my monthly bills and gas. I got a check for $608.45 and $38.76 went to my 401K. My check is about $5 short because I was 22 minutes late one day and god forbid a multi national billion dollar corporation give me 1 free pass for being late. I also did my usual $20 vacation transfer which at this point is mostly being saved for a vacation next year. Here is the wrap up....

Here is the week 40 wrap up:
$38.76 to my 401K
$20.00 to my vacation fund



Which makes the 2013 totals:
$1373.18 in my 401K
$800.00 in the vacation fund
$85.90 in the piggy bank
$500.00 in the quarterly loan payment account
$200.00 in my vet bill savings
$2027.41 in my money market
$1477.40 in my car account