Weekly Money Check Up

I actually remembered the weekly money check up on Sunday, but the last question hadn't been posted yet. MyPrettyPennies is the ring leader on this. Here's her description of the deal followed by my answers.

Weekly Money Check-Up is a fill-in-the blank post once a week. The first four questions are always the same each week and the fifth is always different. Care to participate? Fill in the blanks in the comments section or post it on your blog and link back to here! Thanks for participating! :)

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on a Groupon for a True Cowboy Experience in Texas! $55 to spend all day riding horses, rounding up cattle and learning how to rope. I can hardly wait to book this!
2. Today I feel "meh" towards money. I got gas today and almost cried. I just want to ignore the fact that I may have to re-do my budget simply because gas is so high.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free/inexpensive thing I did last week that made me happy was sat outside and had coffee with Bethany. It was such a nice day and I couldn't have been happier to spend the afternoon with her.
4. I will consider this week a success if I ride my bike to school at least once.
5. I am thankful for lots of things, but for some reason I  keep coming back to my laptop. I'm grateful for a laptop that works and doesn't look like it will need to be replaced any time soon. Someone even asked me if it was new the other day. It's 3 years old! (knock on wood)

Is it ok to use part of your tax return as a splurge?

There's such a big push in the PF world to be disciplined with your tax return. To invest it or put it towards debt instead of spending it on something fun like a lot of people do. Well, what if I want to save a proportion of it and then spend the rest? That's certainly what I"m leaning towards right now. If I save 2/3 of what I'm expecting, that will bump my post-graduation relocation fund by 50%. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but right now I'm thinking that my summer wardrobe is about 3 years old for the most part and could use a little make-over. Hmmm...just thinking about it...

My side hustle (kind of) moment

I got this email from my friend, Jean, and she gave me permission to turn it into a guest post! 

Thought of you this morning and wanted to share. Endless.com has some good deals today and I'm in need of new running shoes so i got on their site and found a pair of Saucony shoes that I liked. Here was my internal triumph that I thought you'd appreciate.

I think these are the shoes she's getting!

This is the same exact shoe listed at different prices depending on the color combo you pick:

White/Silver/Green $70.63

Silver/Pink $65.25

White/Navy/Blue $54.48

I wouldn't normally go with the White/Navy/Blue combo but when it's going to save me $10-$20 this is no time to have a color bias or daydream about matching my silver and pink running shoes to a cute running skirt (yes, I admit this is the type of ridiculously girly daydream I have). Anyways, list price of $94.95 on sale for $54.48 + free shipping - $3 from a leftover Amazon gift card = A happy girl who needs to go for a run in a couple of days!

Weekly Money Check Up

Weekly Money Check Up: Week of March 14, 2011

 Time to join My Pretty Pennies for the weekly money check up. Here goes...

1. The most I spent last week was $58.35 on my cell phone bill. May I remind you that you shouldn’t hesitate to call customer service when you’re having ANY kind of problem with your cell phone? Usually results in a bill credit!

2. Today I feel just a little anxious towards money. It’s the middle of the month already and I’m curious to see how the month will pan out. I’m under budget in a few categories and over budget in a few categories. I hope it all evens out in the end!

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free/inexpensive thing I did last week that made me happy was go for a long run with two friends from school. It was therapeutic in so many ways. We ran further than I’ve ever run before and had the best talks along the way. Thanks to my girls for being an inspiration!

4. I will consider this week a success if I resist Starbucks all week. I have good coffee in the office and there’s no real need for me to go to Starbucks this week!

5. My ancestors are German, French, and Native American. There are some other nationalities in the mix, but I don’t really know what they are. When I was in Germany, there was a guy at my university who looked JUST like my brother. I mean scary, seriously could be a relative of mine.

Till next week...

What would I do with $1 million?

Do you ever think about what you would do if you came into a bunch of money? There's a little theme going around on a bunch of money blogs all asking the question: "What would you do with $1 million?" I got the idea from Afford-Anything.com. She's a smart cookie. I only found her blog yesterday or the day before, but I'm already adding it to my blog roll. Go read her post and give her some comment love! After reading her post, I would do just about the same, but I suppose it would be a little different. I don't have a solo 401 k to max out, but I'm assuming there's some type of option for me other than an IRA since I don't get a retirement plan as a grad student. Let's just pretend that I can max out some kind of retirement fund. So I guess my list would go something like this.

1. I would probably say something to the effect of "What?!?!" and freak out a little bit. Possibly scream or pass out.
2. Then I would scramble to find my written plan because how else could I possible make a good decision in a time of complete shock. It's like having a living will. Sometimes you just need a written plan.
3. I would max out my 2011 Roth IRA (2010 already maxed!) $5,000
4. I would max out any retirement I could which I'm going to assume is $16,500 for 2010 and $16,500 for 2011. $33,000
5. Hmmm...Afford-Anything maxed out her HSA. I do need to get my wisdom teeth out to the tune of $1000. Other than that, I'm not planning to need much. To be cautious I'll put $2500. That could cover any prescriptions, contact lenses and new glasses!
6. I guess I'll have to pay taxes on the rest. Supposedly about 33% on $959,500 leaves me something like $642,865.

On to the fun stuff!
1. I would pay off $50,000 on our family cottage.
2. I would put $10,000 in a college savings fund for each of my 4 nieces and nephews. $40,000
3. I would put another $30,000 in a college savings fund for kids I don't even have yet.
4. I would put $25,000 in my emergency fund and transfer it to a higher interest earning account.
5. I would go shopping. I know this sounds frivolous, but I would love to revamp my wardrobe a bit. If I had all that surplus money, I would get rid of so many of the clothes that I have now and replace them with things that are classy, stylish and not worn out looking! Let's just say $3,000. Might sound crazy, but I just want to
have nice clothes for a few years while I'm still on a measly salary.
6. I think I need to put aside about $5,000 for moving expenses for when I'm done with my PhD. Even if someone pays for the move (which is doubtful), I still need some furniture and a down payment on an apartment. The $5,000 plus what I'm saving on my current salary would do me just fine I think.
7. Food. I love good food and I would love to be able to spend whatever I wanted on groceries. I mean, it's in my nature to get bargains, but I'd love to spend more than $20 a week on groceries. I'm thinking $50 would be splendid! And I'm still banking on 3 years of subsidizing my salary, so let's say I can afford $20 per week so I need another $30 a week. That's $4,680.
Down to $485,185. Guess it's time to be responsible and invest the rest. Let's hope that's a good contribution to my future! Done and Done.

I love magazines!

There's nothing quite better than having a new magazine to read in the airport. When Bethany and I used to travel, we would buy always bring magazines to read on the plane. When I lived in Europe, I always treated myself to a magazine when I traveled. I've loved magazines since I was a tiny little thing. I can remember sitting on a quilt in the front yard and looking through mom's new magazines. First order of business was to rip out all the subscription inserts! That's still my first order of business after all these years! Yesterday, my March issue of Shape magazine was waiting for me in the mail when I got home. Never mind that it looks like the swimsuit issue of Sport Illustrated and never mind that the reason I was home was to change my jeans, because the pair I was wearing ripped in an embarrassing place!

As much as I love having magazines, I don't really want to toss $12-20 per subscriptions if I don't have to! Right now I have subscriptions to Taste of Home, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Shape, and Bon Apetit. Do you know how much I paid for those magazines? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero! Taste of Home and Every Day with Rachel Ray were free through some online sign up thing that I found on a mom blog. Shape and Bon Apetit were free through a survey program called e-rewards. I've been a part of the program for years now. Sadly I can't refer you to the program. It's by invitation only, but I don't even know how I got invited! All I know is I love getting the free magazines!

Sometimes Tanga has really good deals on magazines too. I ordered ESPN for a certain someone for $2.99 for one year a while ago. Next time I see something for a free or really cheap magazine, I'll be sure to let you know!

Trying to work it...

Did you know you can retroactively max out an IRA? I didn't until I read about it on Budgets Are Sexy. I don't know how long you have, but evidently yesterday was still kosher, because I did it! I can claim it on my taxes, and I'm hoping hoping hoping for a fat tax return! We'll see!