A Fiscal Engagement

she said yes!

view from Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park

So it's been a while, but we had a good reason.  We were busy.  

As you all know, I decided to get down on one knee and, most likely, commence to do one of the craziest things I've ever done.  At least of things that fall into the category of one knee-d things.  Now that Meg said yes (equally as crazy response), we have moved onto the preliminary planning stages.

However, this planning phase runs right up against our goal to pay off our debts.  For instance, we went on a two day excursion to look at venues.  Take into account gas, some road food, and random expenses along the way and you begin to add up.  Hopefully, this expense will stop after we find a place.

At the same time, other items that need to be paid for have been cropping up.  There's a few weddings and family affairs down the line that items need to be purchased for, an occasional odd purchase in April, and finding a doctor for Meg.  For those of you unfamiliar with DC doctor offices, then allow me to explain.  First, Meg's doctor simply ceased to exist and didn't bother to inform her patients.  Second, doctors in DC are perpetually swamped, as all doctors are in this time period, yet here in the city you have to hunt for not only a doctor, but a friendly, helpful staff.  In other words, it's nice to have a few nurses that answer the phone when you call and return messages.  Needless to say, this process combined in co-pays has been a bit of an adventure.  Hence, the added expense this month.

What threw us for more of a loop was the ability to calculate a fiscal calendar: what is the end of the month?  Does that extra two days (which contains a Friday payday) part of the previous month?  We discovered that we had been accidentally using those "bonus" days in the previous months.  Therefore, to account for that we added in a few days in May, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd as money from April.

Added to this was the fact that Meg was paying for more things than I was, which is the reason she didn't pay off as much debt this month as I did.  And previously, she was paying off double what I was.  For us, the last two months have been real eye opener in terms of budgeting and how we spend our money.   We do know that neither of us would make good accountants, but hey, life's a learning process.  We are becoming happier, wiser, and less in debt slowly, but surely.  This is hard.  We've had arguments over small purchases.  And large purchases.  Things a year ago we wouldn't have given a second thought to, but this is different.  These are choices, not imprudence.

Blackwater Falls State Park, WV

Let's do the numbers:

Greg paid off $750
Meg paid off $214

An April total of $964

Total paid $7,216.  Leaving us with $33,783 to go.

And yes we promise to start posting more.   As we've said we've been busy.

Flowers bloom already!

Hello from Apartment 409!  Home of thrifters and penny pinchers.  Well, sorta.   As a well read frequenter of this blog, you know we graciously gave ourselves a $50 allowance to blow off a bit of steam.  An anxiety driven pressure valve meant to keep us on the straight and narrow.   A reasonable proposition on the face of it, but in reality it scratched away at the edges of our resolve.

Our spending got a bit out of hand.  When I say a bit, I really mean a bit, sarcasm not included.  We spent a bit more on groceries, pushed our allowances over a bit, did a bit of routine purchasing of bike parts (for safety, not vanity), and had a bit of clothes dry cleaned (ridiculous fibers).  At the end of the month, those bits added up to a chunk.  That chunk was fully realized when I added up all the loan payments and saw how much we spent.

In the end, however, we overcame and came through we think.  Having learned an important lesson on managing a bit of spending cash without letting the demon fully out of the cookie jar.  I know I'm mixing metaphors.  I like doing that, it's my thing.  Moving on, we are happily moving forward into April and the warm weather.

Now, time for the round-up!

Meg paid off in March: $1,064
Greg paid off in March: $472
For a March total of $1,536

Meaning, that we have paid off a total of $6,252.  Leaving us with $34,747. 

Allowances well spent

on the rink! g pooped out by this point...i can skate circles around him!

For a preview of our March round up, here's the list of how we spent our wonderful and stupendous March allowance.

• Meg went out for drinks: $6 (see last post)
• Thai take out with friends in their empty apartment as we helped them move out, sorta: $22
• Ice skating at the NGA Sculpture Garden on it's last weekend for the season, see pic: $20.50 (Though, in my opinion, skating while surrounded by awesome art is priceless.  Sadly, neither Greg nor our bank account agree.)
• Greg went out for drinks: $12.50
• Sandwiches from Taylor Gourmet, a six pack of beer and a bag of chips for lunch after moving furniture: $33.10

TOTAL: $94.10 out of our $100!

*as a side note: we also spent $40 to rent a U-Haul van.  The same friends moving out of their apartment were super awesome and passed on a few key pieces of furniture for FREE!  So, while we spent $40, we got a new bed frame, two bedside tables, a coffee table and a super comfy futon chair.  Money well spent? We think so.

**Oh yeah, and I spent $90 on a pair of shoes for a wedding I am in later on this year.  Now, $90 isn't exactly the cheapest I could have found, but when it comes to shoes, I need comfort more than I need an extra $30 in my bank account.  I took the cash out of my savings, so as not to interrupt the flow of my pay-back plans.  Plus, they are adorable and the bride approves of them!!!

$6 for a beer and a good CAUSE

So last night was my first night out on the town with my monthly allowance.  I have been fretting over the allowance since we brought it up last month.  I was scared of a slippery slope, start spending and lose perspective of what the goal really is.  I can go to happy hour and not buy a drink, but, I must admit, I feel a loss of comradery going to a bar and sipping water.  Silly, but that's just how I feel. 

Which brings me to last night. My book club is awesome.  We are a diverse group who meet once a month to chat about a book, eat snacks and exchange snark.  We decided a few months ago that once a month banter specifically geared towards books was just simply not enough.  So we instituted Book Club Happy Hour and last night the group met at CAUSE-The PhilanthroPub.  A funky bar located on 9th St. NW, just south of U St., that offers 100% of it's profits to local and international  charities (after paying their bills, of course).  I loved the idea.  If I'm going to spend money, why not give back while enjoying my beer?  Now, how much of my $6 actually made it to a charity, I don't know, but I do fully endorse the idea and business model. 

And we had a great time.  We discussed the geographic, social and economic changes in Africa thanks to a well decorated bar table with a 1950s map of the continent.  A few even sampled the food-I got one bite of a delish marinated olive, but the smoky lentils smelled out of this world. 

I spent $6 on a beer.  A friend bought me a cocktail and I handed him a fiver (good drink specials during happy hour!).  But when explaining why I was leaving early (no, guys, really, I can't buy dinner, no matter how good it looks!), the friend insisted that I take the $5 back and repay him with dinner or after all the debt has been repaid.  He said it was a worthy cause he could support. 

God love taxes

I don't normally feel such love for taxes.  But this year, wooo-freakin'-hooo! 

With help from some sizeable tax refunds we did this in February:

GO GREG GO!
$1,180 off credit card debt
$100 to parents for personal debt
for a total of $1,280

GO MEG GO!
$1,914 off student loans

TOTAL paid off for Febraury: $3,194!! 

Which brings us to $36,285 remaining in our total debt.   GO US GO!

All diets suck.

Let me say that again.  All diets suck.

Anyone, and I think I mean everyone, understands that sentiment.  Diets seem like such a great idea. Cut out what you don't need and life will get better.  But the thing is, diets don't work.  You get too caught up in rules and forget to live life.  Three months in and you loose momentum because your goal is so far away and this is just too hard. 

Along the way I've learned that diets are not sustainable (or much fun).  To make real and permanent change in your life you have to change your actions and perspective.  Not easy.  Harder than a diet even, but it lasts longer (a lifetime if you keep at it), feels better and achieves the goals you set out to set.

I learned this same lesson two years ago.  I had done my fair share of attempting to diet, hoping to loose weight.  It never worked, I lost interest months, days, weeks in and I got nowhere.   I was left feeling disheartened and angry with myself.  I quit that viscious cycle in January of 2011 when I started the Weight Watchers Points Plus programs.  Every food is worth a certain number of points.  Fruits and veggies- 0 points.  A piece of bread-2 points.  A glass of red wine-4 points.  These points add up, quickly.  Each day you get an alotment of use 'em or loose 'em points.  Your saving grace in Weight Watchers are your weekly points, bonus points that a good for one whole week.  The beauty of the weekly points (which is ultimately my point here, I swear) is that you can use them throughout the week, to add cushion to each day (one extra glass of wine) OR! you can use them all up at once (big, lavish dinner out with friends).

Well, my point is this: our diet isn't (quite) working.  We're saving money quite well, but we're not having much fun. Granted, we knew we would need to say no more and do way more with lots less.  But saying no to every happy hour, dinner or outing for fear of spending money is depressing.   While hosting dinner parties is lovely and finding free stuff around the city to do an adventurous way to rediscover DC (more on that later...) it still doesn't beat a drink with friends after a long day's work or dancing the night away at a concert.

So, we'll issuing ourselves a monthly allotment of points.  Fifty bucks each.  For whatever we want.  Yarn for a new project, a book that G just absolutely needs, drinks or even one fancy-pants dinner out, just the two of us. We still will have to say no, but we also get to say yes, in moderation. 

Diets don't work.  Life style changes do.  So here's to starting a whole new life!

The take out dilemma

No spending, no take out, right?

First, let's discuss why take out is awesome.  It does not require me to turn on the stove or oven, meaning more time sitting on the couch watching a movie.  You call, you pay and you wait for 40 minutes and at the end-you've got super tasty food in front of you.  AND the food! Thai and Indian are my two favorite take out cuisines.  Why? Well, they're delicious, spicy and two cuisines I have yet to master. 

Take out did not make the cut of necessary spending, however.  Does that mean no Thai or Indian for a whole year? Heck no! It just means that I have to add a few new recipes to my repertoire.  So we started with a well loved basic- Pad Thai.  And?  Tangy, spicy and just peanut-y enough, all the qualities I look for in a good Pad Thai.  The key ingredient? Tamarand paste.  Super stinky on its own, but clutch in making truly delicious Pad Thai.  We're still perfecting the ratios of tamarnd, soy, fish sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter.  Goals are good, right?

And so, while it does require me to turn on the stove, get off the couch and actually cook, it tasted all the better for it.  It took less time than waiting 40 minutes for take out, cost half the price of a noodle dish from our favorite Thai restaurant and forced my hand at trying something new.