New Savings Strategy Is Working!!

Every Sunday, I list out my spending for the week. Every month, I list my spending for that month. I always spend less than my income, and I usually save a lot, too--about 1/3 of my income. I have listed out my goals for the short and long-term, and have been able to accomplish or make satisfactory progress on many of these goals.

This all makes me happy, day-to-day, month-to-month, and looks great on paper, but where is it getting me?

This is where Net Worth comes into play, and we see if my strategy is actually working.

A while back, I had a cow because I realized that I was simply saving to spend instead of saving for the long-term. So while it looked like I was saving a lot and living within my means, etc., I was actually just delaying purchases and spending my entire income, instead of building wealth. I was on Step 1 of Financial Freedom, not some advanced step like I thought I was. Oh, what a hard revelation that was to accept. I've spent days mulling over this idea.

To track your progress, whether it be training for a marathon or eliminating debt, you have to know where you started. So, as of 2009, here is my Net Worth:

US Funds: $11,750
$2800 is in short-term funds, the rest is invested in long-term index funds.

This includes my Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, and HSBC savings account. This will only be growing as the stock market takes off (or doesn't), with monthly interest payments, and when I top up my HSBC savings account to $5K to serve as my US EF.

NZ Funds: $20,220
$680 of it this earmarked for my long-term goals, $10K serves as my EF, and the rest is savings for travel and replacing valuable items (car, laptop).

This includes all of my savings accounts, but not my checking account. This number should be actively growing every month with my contributions and interest payments.

Yup, I just broke the $20K mark, again. Although this time it's in NZD. I am still planning on opening that Kiwisaver account...I just need to devote a few more minutes to researching the various funds and companies, and figure out how to diversify. With work being so crazy, the earliest I can hope to do this is late November.

My Money is Traveling Without Me!

If you've noticed some funky stuff is going on over there on my goals section, it's because I have a currency trade limit. I've saved enough NZD to fill my US EF to $5K, but I can only transfer a certain amount at one time. So, I've just initiated a transfer of $2577 NZD to my US bank account using XETrade. $1911.10 USD is being deposited into my US EF, which means I still need ~$287 USD to fill it up.

I still have $526 NZD in my NZD bank account, earmarked for my US EF. Once all the transactions go through smoothly and I have that $5K in my US HSBC account, I can call the goals done. Due to the silly time periods it takes to transfer money, that could take a few weeks.

Here's my money's itinerary:

NZ savings account ---> NZ checking account ---> XETrade (here my $$ will have some plastic surgery and change from NZD to USD) ----> US Checking account ---> US HSBC account

Whew! I wish I could travel through ACH and wire!

$2500 Dilemma

I have $2,500 left in my 'Travel to US' account that I was going to use to go home for Christmas. However, I'm not going home this December. What should I use that for now?

a) add it to my 2009 NZ Summer Travel fund. I have met the goal for this fund at $3K, but I may need more; two friends are visiting me this summer.

b) add it to my 2010 Travel to US fund. This fund currently stands at $1581, and my goal is $5K, so $2500 could do some major damage to it! I'd love to have this fund done before 2010 even starts!

c) use it on Christmas presents for my family, and get everything on my Wish List; have a big box of US goodies sent to me.

d) some combo of the above. Split it equally?

e) something else...add it to my Oz fund? send mom and sis to NZ fund? long-term funds? a major shopping spree? YOU fill in the blank here. :)

Weekly Spending

Yo yo! It's Sunday, which means it's time for another weekly spending report. I like this a lot better than my daily updates, because it's less time-consuming. It's also often enough so that the amount of spending doesn't get to be too much to report. I like checking in every week to see if my spending is on track, too.

Misc: $137.94
Groceries: $120.77
Electricity: $86 (my share)
Internet: $53.87 (my share)
Eating Out: $22.70

Total this week: $421.28
Total spending for the month: $1500.17 (including $840 rent and all utilities)

Groceries--I had to return the rental car from work last Monday, and had a few hours before it was due back to the company, so I panicked and decided to go grocery shopping for the week. Big Mistake. I didn't have my shopping list with me, so I ended up getting repeats of stuff I already had in my cabinet. I did get dinner for 4 nights out of the $72 I spent last Monday, though. the $50 more I spent on food was on snacks for the field and evenings (I'm a late night muncher!).

Electricity was due, $172 or so, total. I'm looking to switch if anyone has any suggestions.

Internet was due also. $108 total ($45 of it is for the phone hookup, which we don't use but is necessary for internet access. IT IS MY MOST HATED BILL.)

Eating out: got some horrid pasta last Friday. I could have made this sh*& at home, and I'm a horrible cook! $18 for awfulness. I also bought some lunch while out shopping today ($4.70).

Misc.: All of this was spent today, in fact! It was really looking like I wasn't going to spend much more money this month, what with being in the field for the next week, so I decided to do some damage to my Wish List (see sidebar). I went to the Warehouse (crappier version of Wal-mart), Whitcoull's (a fancy Waldenbooks), and a few more places to spend some moolah!

I bought: a friend's card (she just had a baby) for $4.50; a new umbrella for $30; stamps for $23; a hammer, ratchet screwdriver, needle nose pliers, adjustable wrench, set of hex keys, a level, tape measure, joint pliers, 3 storage boxes that snap together (fun!), toothpaste, and a strand of Christmas lights for my balcony, all for $80. I almost bought a new duvet cover and matching sheets for $50 total because they were 50% off, but I decided against that for now because I wasn't absolutely loving any of the Warehouse's designs. Something else for my Wish List!!

My Life Is Work

OMG, finally. I finally have a day off. Two, actually--a whole weekend! It seems like such a long time. :)

I've worked at least 10 hours every day for several weeks now. Very late last night (1:40 am) I got my talk done. I woke up early to practice it, and presented it this morning, and got home at 7 pm tonight. I know lots of people (lawyers, doctors, business executives) work longer hours or these hours permanently, but I don't!

It's so odd--I wasn't nervous about my talk (a little anxious about getting it done to my standards in time, yes, and not super-excited about talking, but not totally freaking out) until I was a few minutes into the talk. That seems backwards, right? It doesn't make sense--I was happy with what I'd pulled together, esp. in light of the time crunch, and I started off very well. Why get nervous after I get into my groove and while I'm confident about my work?

Ah well. Perhaps this means that I need more practice. I can't explain it. It's funny--some experts in the subject of the talk walked in while I was mid-way through (they were early for the next meeting), and it didn't bug me one bit. My boss said that she became nervous for me at that point, but she was happy that it didn't faze me.

Anyway, I don't know if it was because I seemed really nervous or because I did a good job (or both), but several people congratulated me on the talk, and my boss said it was fantastic. Later, an expert gave a talk on the exact subject of my talk (the two talks were presented to slightly different groups of scientists--mine was the 'for dummies' version because of my audience and my lack of expertise on the subject) and he basically repeated what I'd said, with a few more details and one or two additions. So...I guess it was a success. Maybe my standards for myself are too high? Or perhaps I'm still suffering from 'I let him make me majorly insecure about myself'-itis.

Monday I leave to do some more fieldwork. Monday is supposed to be a holiday, but I'm working. I am getting fatigued from work, but I just keep thinking about how I'm banking all of these days off! Hopefully my friend comes to visit in December as planned and I can actually use all of these days. :) If she doesn't show, I'm gonna wonder why I worked myself so hard the past few months! (Grrr...she better show!!)

My first leisure traveling trip takes place the last weekend of November, after a conference. I'm very excited to enjoy the warmer weather that is coming!

$1200 Plan

Yup, I just met another goal--Fill US EF to $5K. I just patted myself on the back. It's all in the master plan.

I technically need to transfer the NZD to USD and deposit it in my HSBC account, but the NZD's are all there for the transferrin. I'd better get to that before the value starts dipping again.

I'm also doing the happy dance because I just realized that October is a 3 paycheck month! Wow. It looks like some major damage is gonna be done to my savings goals in Rock-tober. Yeah! I am killing them lately.

So, that $1200 I transferred to savings will be allotted in the following way:

• $163 to the remainder of the Fill US EF to $5K goal, making it 100% complete!
• $1037 to 2010 Travel Fund, making it 32% complete

Sunday Spending($)

I have two Sunday spendings to catch up on now: 10/11 and 10/18

10/11:

$25.27 on Misc (movie, busfare, parking advertising on TradeMe)
$57.30 on Groceries (mostly snacks for the movie and for the fieldwork)
$29.80 on Eating Out (pizza hut one late night at the office; subway for lunch while doing fieldwork)
$30 on Cell Phone (topped up my vodaphone account)

Total: $142.37

10/18:

Total: $0

That's right, ZERO! I was away for a work trip and spent absolutely none of my own money. Feels great!

I'm back from the field this week, and then leave again for the last week of the month. With all these work trips and being so busy with work, I've had very little time to spend. Good for the wallet, for sure. Total spending for the month: $1,142.89 (including rent payment of $840).

Too Busy

Back from another week of fieldwork.

Now that my boss has my report, she asked me to present it this Friday. At the same meeting that I'm arranging all the catering, A/V, etc for! So I'm organizing and presenting at this meeting, with a few days notice on the presenting front...sigh. When am I supposed to put together a fifteen minute talk in all that? Oy vey.

I mentioned that I didn't have time to put together my talk this week (Tues, Wed, and Thurs are chock-full of other activities and meetings at work), and she said not to worry about the powerpoint portion of the talk. Right...talk without slides? without an aid?

I'm not that good! I need slides and a laser pointer and pictures that illustrate my point! Not to mention that I haven't given an official talk in 6 years, not since I defended my master's.

I flat out do not want to do this. My boss said she'd be disappointed if I didn't, though. I'm hoping that I'll be so bad at it that she'll never ask me to present ever again. :)

Also, my other boss wants me to put together a talk for a big conference on Nov. 16. Right...I have this big talk this Friday, then 7 days in the field, then I have to present and organize another big meeting and talk for Boss #1 for Nov. 6 again, and then I have a week and then there's the conference. WHY don't these people give me more notice? I cannot put a talk together in a day. I said, absolutely not, I can't do that; I'm WAY too busy to put together a nice, polished talk for a conference THE WEEK BEFORE. Honestly.

So yeah. Venting. I do love my job, but hate talking and presenting. If only I could stay behind the scenes and do the fieldwork, written research, etc., I'd be a happy girl. Unfortunately, presenting is a part of this dealio. One that I will try my hardest to avoid and get out of, but one that I'll probably have to do from time to time.

Anyway, the fieldwork part of the past week was fun. Again, my field partner was still annoying. I have 9 more field days with her and she is driving me absolutely insane! I have to share an office with her while our other offices are being renovated, too. There's no escaaaaape! If I die in the next few weeks, it will be because of my head's exploded in an effort to just not hear her voice anymore, y'all. :)

The Right Idea

I complain about NZ sometimes (ok, a lot of times), but they are doing some things very well, and how it should be everywhere, in my opinion. Like what, you may ask? Well:

• they have switches next to each electrical outlet; this saves me a ton on the electric bill.
• no paper checks: most payments (even rent) are made directly into the other person's or business's account. It's much less muss and fuss.
• instead of paper towels, we use washable, reusable cloths (this may not be the case for most NZ households, but this practice didn't start for me until I moved here)
• kids live at home for a long, long time. If this time is used properly, it saves kids thousands and thousands of dollars in rent. For example, several of my Kiwi coworkers lived at their parents' house until they were ~28-35 years of age, living at home through college, through their first job, through getting their PhD. They moved directly out of their parent's home into their first house, never renting, and having a huge emergency fund/house downpayment saved up in the process. Of course, this won't work for everyone, but from what I've seen, a majority of Kiwi families do this. If they don't live at their parent's house, they move in with an aunt, cousin, etc. I love this idea in terms of familial closeness, but know that it can definitely work against you if your kid isn't motivated to move out.
• Kiwis work hard, but have a hugely playful, humorous attitude towards life. Talk of extracurricular activities at work is encouraged and very common. Work-life balance is a priority.
• Most Kiwis are just plain grounded, down-to-earth, and practical. Why would you buy a fancy car when a plain one will suffice? A Kiwi coworker recently told me that I seem completely unAmerican in her opinion. I didn't know whether to be offended or happy, honestly! But this wasn't a slight--to her, Americans are pushy, bossy, materialistic, greedy, entitled, closed-minded, and selfish. *grin* It's nice to challenge stereotypes. I told her that back in the US, many many people told me that I am the 'all-American girl.' In the US, that means wholesome, happy, healthy, well-rounded, giving, non-judgmental, optimistic, and that I have a good work ethic and great ties with my family and friends. Oh, and that I love cheeseburgers and the Fourth of July. ;)

That's all I can think of at the moment, I'm sure there are a lot more energy-conscious, work-life balanced, interesting Kiwi traits that I could mention.

Breaking Hiatus

Got paid today; saved $1200. On a roll!

On hotel internet; can't write much! However, will cover my plan for that $1200 when I get back into Auckland next Tuesday. Wish me happy weather!

GREAT Customer Service!

One of the tools of my trade is a waterproof notebook for note taking in the field. In them, I write down pertinent observations and sketches. The data collected in the field goes into databases and reports. If it rains or the notebook falls into a stream, the notebooks HAVE to hold together and my writing still be legible.

Thank God for Rite In The Rain notebooks--they are waterproof and come in all different sizes and adapted for all sorts of professions. If it is important to my profession and can be written down on paper, my notebook has it in the handy reference section in the back.

This company is known as the top of the line of fieldgear for my occupation, and for many other professions in which some work takes place outside. They are...the Prada of fieldwork. In all honesty, I'd rather have REI hiking boots than Prada high heels, anyway.

Recently I went out in the field with my 2 year old field notebook. It rained for three days straight, and I was filthy, muddy, and waterlogged. I dropped my field notebook in the mud, and it held up just fine. After one day, though, water started to seep into the edges of the pages in my Rite in the Rain notebook. I decided to complain about this, since that is NOT supposed to happen. I simply went to their website, clicked on the email link to complain, and sent my letter.

The next day, I got a very courteous reply asking for the batch number. I sent that in, and the same guy that answered my original complaint letter decided to send me a free notebook to replace my half-used, waterlogged one! (Yay!)

Anyway, this all happened in less than a week. Personal, immediate replies and a happy resolution to a complaint. Kudos to Rite in the Rain!

Helpful Tip

My coworker showed me a file organization tip the other day, and I have no idea why I didn't think of this before--it is so simple and logical! (Please don't tell me I'm the only one who hasn't figured this out yet...)

If you label files the following way:

YYMMDD Filename

Windows will automatically sort the files by year, month, then day, and all of your files will be in chronological order!

I will have to start using this method and see if it fits into my current file organization scheme. Anything to be more organized and efficient.

Hiatus

On hiatus...once again while I go out in the field. This time until next Monday (Oct. 19).

p.s. I was up until 5 am finishing that paper I last posted about...it is a rough draft and I have more to do on it, but at least it's done for now. I emailed it to my boss at 7 am, before the long drive to my field site. How I'm still up at 11 pm right now, I don't know. G'night all!

NZ Financial Downfalls

Ugh...even after being here a year, I am surprised when NZ doesn't have something that is standard in the rest of the modern world.

Take, for example, banks:

1) You don't get checkbooks; you are expected to do EVERYTHING online. And even then, there are fees for things like setting up automatic payments.

2) You cannot deposit money into an ATM. EVER. This amazing banking feature has not come to NZ yet. You have to go into the bank during their bank hours (9 - 5, M-F) to deposit checks. Yes, this means you have to take time off of work to deposit a check. Which, of course, is the standard way my company reimburses me; they refuse to just electronically deposit it, like my paycheck is.

3) And the latest in the series: I cannot link my 'everyday spending' account (I was admonished for calling it a 'checking account') CANNOT be linked to my savings account. Even though it was set up at the same exact time at the same bank, and even though when I log into my account, they show up right next to one another.

RiDONKulous. The whole point is that I keep money in my savings account, where it bears interest, and where it can be used in case I accidentally go over in my 'everyday spending' account!

So...back to keeping that $500 to $1000 buffer in my 'everyday spending'/checking account.

Work

I can't wait until my life is free of this GD*&^)'d literature review I was supposed to turn in back in June but then my supervisor said to not worry about it while I was on vacation in July and then I got back in August and was slammed with other, catch-up work, and now she's asking for it tomorrow and I also have to pack and get all my errands done and prepare to go out in the field on Monday which is a day and a half away!

Deep breath.

Right now, I have this assignment that was due last June, and it's completely not in my nature to blow deadlines off, but somehow this literature review, which is now 50 pages long and cites 65 papers, has just been blown out of proportion and has taken over my life. My boss wants it Monday. It's still not done, and it's Saturday afternoon. I leave for the field on Monday, so it has to be turned in tomorrow. Argh.

I have a problem with concentrating on writing at work: I just can't do it. There are phone calls, my officemate constantly asking questions, people 'just stopping by' my office, and the din that comes from the lunch room across the hall. Plus, for the past two weeks, we've been gearing up to move offices. So, for the past 6 months, I've been shuttling 65 journal articles home every night to try to work on it in a quiet environment. Only, what happens is that I get home, make dinner, eat, maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll run or work out a little, shower, and then all I can do is collapse into bed and download GLEE before falling asleep. (Fatigue gets me every time. I'm now sleeping like 12 hours a night and doctors still won't believe me when I say this isn't normal and that something HAS to be wrong with me.)

Anyway, I just need to GET THIS DONE. Need to pull out pages from my college and thesis days to get in the groove.

On the upside, as I twittered, I will have 9 days of time off in lieu after I finish all my fieldwork. Those nine days plus the Christmas holidays mean that I can not work December 17 through January 4 without even officially taking a day off or using up any of my vacation. Hurrah! Also, if I take the remaining three days from the first week off, I'll get Dec 12 through Jan 4 with no work!

Three days for 3 weeks. Awesome.

My friend is thinking of visiting for most of December, so I'm pretty psyched about that. She's a great travel companion and wants to go everywhere! so, that $3k I set aside for this summer will DEFINITELY be used. Is $1K/week a doable budget? We shall see...

As I definitely do not want to be working on that stupid report over that time period, I better get a move on. Traveling here I come!!

3 days for 3 weeks. aaahhhhh.

Slow Down, Please!

Time is going by very fast lately. It feels like I just started reporting my spending every Sunday, but it's been many moons already. I need some time to catch my breath and make each day count. Far too often, I wake, go to work, come home, eat, shower, and then go to bed. I want more time to get my non-financial goals done!

So...this week was the first back from my field work. I go back out in another week.

Misc, $11.50; I spent 50 cents on busfare and $10 to see a movie (Funny People...I love Adam Sandler, but this movie was WAY too long and the plot was all over the place...Skip it!). I also was charge $1 for using a non-Kiwibank ATM earlier this month while in the field.

Eating Out, $18; I spent $8.50 for a pizza before Funny People, and $9.50 on thai this past Friday.

Groceries, $88.77

Total: $117.27

I also paid my internet bill; $56 was my share.

The Post In Which I Perform Magic

Is it just me, or am I writing a lot of posts about saving lately?

I was paid today, and calculated approximately how much I'd need if I followed my $2,078 budget, and transferred the rest ($500) to savings. Maybe time is just going by really freaking fast, but I feel like I'm saving every other day. Not a bad thing--I'm just saying.

The $500 will be broken down as follows:

$200 to my Future Roth IRA Fund, bringing it to $400 and 8% complete.

$70 to my Down Payment Fund, bringing it to $140 and 3% complete.

$70 to my Europe Fund, bringing it to $140 NZD and 1.4% complete. I can now afford approximately 5 crepes when I visit Paris (the NZD-->Euro is ABYSMAL).

$160 to my Fill US EF to $5K Fund, bringing that fund to $2,872 and 74% complete. More on that goal:

The Magic of Interest

Because of the interest on my NZ savings accounts (the US interest is negligible at ~$3 per month at this point), I have $68 more in my savings accounts than I have listed in my funds. I am allocating that $68 to my Fill US blah blah blah Fund, bringing its current total to $2,940 and 76% done!

US to NZ Dollar ratios

The NZD is gaining on the USD, and currently, I could exchange one NZD for approximately 71 cents! When I calculated how much I'd need in NZD to exchange enough to fill up my US Fund, the exchange rate was much, much worse. Now, I just need $3,103 NZD to fill up my US Fund.

Yay! This means that I am $163 away from reaching this goal, which is now 95% complete. (Go, NZD, GO! Image courtesy of http://www.nbnz.co.nz/economics/exchange/nzdusd.aspx.)

Voila...Financial Magic. Did you just see that goal disappear?

Septemba Spenda

SUMMARY

Well, folks, September has been an altogether awesome month. It was my first full month with a girl roommate since 2007, I went to many cool touristy places with work, and I went on my first and second field work trips. I'm learning a lot and am completely and solidly in love with my job. I also was encouraged to learn about a PhD position that is opening up in NZ soon.

Social

On the social front, things are also moving. I went out until 5:30 am the other night with new roommate, and met a lot of her friends, who all seem to be happy to welcome me into the fold (particularly the guys...ooh, dangerous!). I also seem to have a standing movie and dinner date every Tuesday with two girls very loosely connected to work. I've got plans to see a girl I met through my dance classes this weekend, too, and hopefully one day I'll have less field work and will have time to follow up on my martial arts classes.

Spending

September was a boring month, spending-wise, but was VERY good, saving wise! I made my first contributions to my newly-minted Future Roth IRA, Europe Trip, and House Downpayment Funds. I'm so excited to get these off of the ground! Major progress was made on my Fill US EF to $5K Fund this month, as well.

As you can see, I was under-budget in every category except for electricity, because new roommate moved in and I pro-rated her payment for the time she was in the apartment. I wrote down the electric meter reading the day she moved in, but my bill doesn't specify what the reading was at the end of the month, it only gives usage. As I didn't check the meter at the end of the billing cycle, I'm not sure what our combined usage was while she was in the apartment. Same for internet--I just calculated the bill proportionally to the time she was in the apartment. Hopefully electricity and internet goes down next month.

I'm still very disappointed by my grocery spending. Bleh. Almost $260, and I was AWAY for over a week and a half of the month!! I have got to get that under control.

Misc

My misc spending wasn't great, but not bad, either.

$13.10 on Transportation (cabs, busfare). How many people with cars can say the same??

$55 on Entertainment (drinks, movies)

$75 on Household Items (lightbulbs, phone splitter, mailing bag)

$91.39 on Random (NZ driver's license fee, bank fee for setting up a recurring payment, field clothes, postcards)

Income

This month, income was $3,465.58. $3111.48 was from my salary, $320 from the AECT Refund, and I made $34 from the sale of a book I sold on TradeMe.

Saving

This month I saved a total of $2,340! One may wonder how I saved so much when my discretionary income was only $1830 (income minus spending). Well, I removed my checking account buffer and saved it, and plan to link my checking to my savings, so if I go over on my checking, the overage comes from my savings account.

This month I saved $200 to my Future Roth IRA Fund, $70 each to my Europe Trip and House Downpayment Funds. I also saved a total of (drumroll, please) $2000 to my Fill US EF to $5K fund. That goal may be closer than I think, since the NZ Dollar is slowly gaining ground on the USD, and interest payments are adding up as well.

Concluding Remarks

September was a great month all round--for work, for play, for spending. I hope October holds more of the same!