Book Giveaway - Stop the 401(K) Rip-Off

With so much going on in the financial market and so many issues with the value of 401(k)'s dropping, I've decided that it's time to pass along my hardback copy of David Loeper's Stop the 401(K) Rip-Off. 

This book contains a lot of advice and solutions to improving your 401(k), getting rid of fees, and saving you a bunch of money. 

Here's How to Win

I will be drawing a name from a hat next Tuesday, October 15th. There are multiple ways to enter:

Make a comment on this post recommending a Personal Finance Book (1 Entry).

Subscribe to my RSS Feed and then notify me via me comment form in the sidebar (2 Entries).

Add my blog to your Blogroll or Link list and notify me via my comment form (3 Entries).

Write about this giveaway on your blog, link to this post and notify me via my comment form (4 Entries).

Have fun, play nice, and I'll contact the winner next week!

A Minor Splurge

Image by Mr T

Sometimes, when you've been working on getting out of debt for so long you get tired. 

I feel often like I never get a chance to spend money on myself. I never buy anything for myself, ever. I agonize over the smallest of purchases and stress over my bills constantly. 

So today, when I got a call from someone who was interested in becoming a client and set up a meeting with him for tomorrow for some work that will earn me a little extra money, I did what any stressed, irritated woman with a negative body image would do. 

I went shopping. 

I've just kicked off my brand new shoes, and I'm sitting here in a new top and jeans, with pretty new earrings. I bought three tops, one for work and two for either work or home, a pair of jeans because I ripped my second to last pair a couple of weeks ago, a pair of brown heels, and some earrings. 

I spent $98 on everything, and it all came from Target. 

I don't give myself many rewards. It's hard for me to accept that sometimes I should stop and celebrate a win, because I feel as though that would set me back for the next one. But the thing is, when I get depressed and frustrated, I don't do as well. I become less of a nice person to be around. So every so often I think it is good to take a step back and put a little unexpected money on to something for yourself. 

If you've earned it, celebrate it. 

Frugal Food - Three Ideas for Frugal Dinners

Image by ExperienceLA

More often than not, by the time the end of the month comes we are out of grocery money. 

Groceries are where I slack off in the planning department. Because my husband and I keep odd and busy schedules, I'm reluctant to buy fruit and veggies because they tend to go bad. I also don't keep the pantry stocked as well as I would like, and we rent so our freezer is tiny. 

Often I find that I need to head to the store to pick something up for dinner and I generally don't have much money to spend. I have a lot of cookbooks, but I've found that often the recipes I make myself based on what is in my fridge or what I'm craving serve me well. Isn't there a saying that necessity is the mother of invention?

Here are three of my easy dinner staples that are simple and cheap.

Potatoes and Peppers with Cheddar Cheese

Ingredients:

1 Red Pepper

4 Red Creamer Potatoes

1/4 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Grated)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Dice the potatoes and the peppers. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the potatoes. Stir over medium heat for 8 minutes. Add the peppers, cover and cook for another 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the potatoes are browned and cooked through, divide into bowls and cover with the grated cheese. 

Serves 2 with lunch leftovers for one.

Egg and Cheese Burritos

2 Large Flour Tortillas

3 Eggs

1/4 C Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 Tbsp Oil

Heat the oil in a small frying pan or omelette pan. Break eggs into a bowl, add a tablespoon of water, and beat with a fork. Put half of the eggs mixture in the frying pan. Cook as you would an omelette. When done, place omelette in the center of the tortilla. Sprinkle half of the cheese down the middle, then roll it up. Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. 

Cheese and Tomato Pasta Bake

1 Can Diced Tomatoes

2-3 C Small Pasta Shells

1/2 C Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta in boiling water according to directions. Drain the pasta and place in a small casserole dish or pan about 8" by 8". Mix in the can of tomatoes, cover with the cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown. 

You can add garlic or other herbs as you choose to bump up the flavor. 

By the way, thanks for visiting and reading Distilled Rose. Your presence is noticed and appreciated!

October Goals and a Poll

This has been a hard week for me. I have a lot going on in my personal life that is taking a lot of time, attention, energy and stress. Having said that, I can't exactly throw my finances out of the window so here is the plan for October.

October is another blissful 5 Week month, which means that I get an "extra" paycheck that doesn't factor into my budget. I always agonize over what to do about these. With my first two checks for Job #3 coming in too, though, I've realized that I could do one pretty huge thing this month.

I can pay off my car.

My car has my biggest monthly debt payment. It's $200 a month, and without that to pay I would make enough at Job #1 to cover all of my minimums. That would mean that every other penny can pay down my debt or be saved. This means that I can feasibly quit one of my other two jobs any time I want because I won't need them to pay my bills.

I'm very excited about this prospect. It's only be two months early, but I think it would be the absolute best thing to do this month.

My other goal for October is to come up with a better savings plan. I need to really go through and look and analyze everything to make sure I'm saving up the right amounts for the right things. I also need to give my savings a raise, as well as figure out my check from Job #2.

Maybe you can help. I'd like feedback here.

My base pay at Job #2 is very low. I make a small amount hourly and the rest is commission, which can be hit or miss. These checks are normally under $100. Nowhere in my budget do I have money allocated to gas or entertainment or clothes. I'm thinking that what I should do is save part of the money and spend part of it, and let the checks from Job #3 go exclusively towards debt.

So, here are my options:

A. Put half of the check in savings and spend half.
B. Put my base pay only in savings and spend commission.
C. Put my commission in savings and spend my base pay.
D. Some other option I haven't thought of yet.

Generally, my base pay is higher than my commission, but it's hit or miss as to whether that is always the case.

Please let me know what you think in the comments! I'd love to have my readers decide this one for me.

I Know I Know

I know I should be talking about the Bailout Bill. I know that I should be discussing that Citigroup and Wells Fargo are actually fighting over Wachovia. I know I should talk about the stock market issues, or the price of gas.
I know I should be writing about my financial progress or my jobs or how much I'm working.
I know that I should give you the next five 101 Top Personal Finance Tips. I know I should be linking to everything that I'm talking about, but my head is exploding and I need a mental health day.

Here is a good tip though:

Don't ever take anyone for granted in your life, because when you least expect it they might just up and leave because they don't know how you feel. Cherish the people around you, or risk losing them.

September Net Worth Update

For the second month in a row, my Net Worth has increased. I am still extremely happy and excited about it! I feel like I'm finally walking in the right direction.

Here is how it looks this month:

And the breakdown is as follows:

Assets

Car Value - $2,480

Prosper Investments - $239

Savings - $284

Debts

Students Loan - $23,821

Credit Cards - $5,228 ($434 AmEx, $4,794 BoA)

Vehicle Loans - $3,221 ($700 Car, $2,522 Scooter)

Net Worth 

-$29,267

That's an increase of 2.77%

This month my savings took a hit because I had to buy tires for my car, and I got all of my medical bills paid off. 

Savings

Emergency Fund - 7% (10.3%) Depleted for tires

Thailand Fund - 0.8% (0.8%)

Medical Fund - 5% (2.5%)

Auto Fund - 0.0% (0.5%) Emptied for tires

Down Payment Fund - 0.08% (0.08%)

Blog Income

Advertising - $50 (Yes I have ads for sale, just use my handy contact form if you would like one)

As I said before, my big Debt Snowball Progress this month was paying off my Medical Bills. I'm very happy that they are gone!

I'm skipping over my AmEx this month and focusing on my Car. I have $700 more to pay and I normally pay $200 a month. This is the biggest minimum payment that I have and knocking it out would mean that my salary from my first job would actually cover all of my bills. The amount of stress this would relieve from me is worth paying interest on my AmEx for just one more month. I also owe this money to a real live person, and would like her to be repaid quickly. Because of my three jobs, I am confident that I'll have $500 extra this month to put on the car so hopefully you'll see a post about that soon!

When my raise goes into effect, I'll also be boosting my Savings allocations so there should be some good progress on those next month. 

So to recap, the financial goal for October is to pay off my car. 

Here are links to my previous Net Worth posts:

August Net Worth Update

July Net Worth Update

June Net Worth Update