tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141262082009-02-21T08:38:58.884-08:00mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1150242781631335152006-06-13T16:41:00.000-07:002006-06-13T16:57:34.536-07:00

The delights of unemployment are myriad not the least of which being the curious absence of the copious free time that you would expect to have during it. Where does the free time go? Seriously. I think I have been more busy without a job than I was with. The good news - I have actually had 2 successful consultations as a personal shopper of Seattle's would-be fashionables along with a few

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1141029045543902022006-02-26T23:59:00.000-08:002006-02-27T00:34:16.556-08:00

Wow, I haven't posted in 3 weeks. Unemployment is hard work! Jokes apart, the last few weeks flew by in a flurry of last minute transition lists, replacement training, sign offs and so on and so forth. And now I have joined the glamorous ranks of the jobless. Since I am no longer slave to the 7 am alarm call and J had some vacation time (we patched things up if anyone is keeping track. He is

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1139171004420347702006-02-05T11:50:00.000-08:002006-02-05T12:35:09.530-08:00

Net Worth as of 1/4/2006* Other Assets = condo deposit* Baseline for 2006 is 2005 year end net worthPrevious report: click here. I was a little nervous about this month's report because of the food expenses. I went well over $1k and that's on top of my $16-700/month basic expenses like rent, car and utilities. But thanks to a stellar month in investments and to increased 401k deduction which

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1138572520077951402006-01-29T13:40:00.000-08:002006-01-29T14:08:40.330-08:00

I have been off blogging for a week so I don't know if this has been posted already but if not, this is a pretty cool deal. Blockbuster has a new rewards program that you can sign up for at $9.95/year. It offers you several ways to get free rentals. Now it doesn't completely beat Netflix as I will explain in a second but it does come close depending on your rental habits. Here are the highlights

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1138075735518603902006-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:002006-01-23T20:08:55.546-08:00

Well, I finally got my funds to show up in Roth and made the distributions (FCNTX, DOD and SBUX). Which is good because I probably wouldn't have had time in the next few weeks to do anything if they hadn't shown up now.I will be taking a break from blogging till the end of the month because of work related activities. I am busy interviewing, hiring and training replacements (they decided they

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137616401424382222006-01-18T00:33:00.000-08:002006-01-18T12:33:30.436-08:00

The funds are still conspicuously missing from my Roth account. After 4 phone calls and 4 assurances that the transaction is there, it just hasn't "settled" yet, I am beginning to bristle. I came this close to yelling, "Just give me my fucking money!" to the Fidelity rep on the phone. Thankfully, years of breeding kicked in just in time and I bit down on my tongue before the words could

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137545550720550702006-01-17T16:51:00.000-08:002006-01-18T11:31:35.503-08:00

At the cost of alienating a lot of frugal minded people everwhere, I'd totally buy this. The $20 per bottle pricetag doesn't faze me at all. You can't put a price on something this adorable. It's like a piece of art all ready to be displayed in some pop culture museum! It even has its own necktie! Besides, isn't it time we rescued water, that precious life-giving fluid, from its ignominious

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137539635792437952006-01-17T15:13:00.000-08:002006-01-17T23:26:46.263-08:00

Around lunch time I made a quick jaunt to the nearest Starbucks to pick up a bracing cup of coffee. As I seem to have graduated from erratic sleep patterns to not sleeping at all at nights a strong cup of mid-day coffee to bolster me is a must to get me through the day. While I was waiting my turn at the counter I suddenly noticed something. Could it be? Yes, there they were. Lovely glowy pale

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137434466443323442006-01-16T09:25:00.000-08:002006-01-16T14:46:34.030-08:00

Ok, so I set up the funds transfer yesterday. I know it takes a while but I am transferring from my cash core account to my Roth account so it's not like it's coming from another bank. Checked this morning and the money still isn't there. Given that I have recently developed the sleeping patterns of a nocturnal animal and am still required to stay up all day, compounded with general professional

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137370174632854022006-01-15T18:34:00.000-08:002006-01-17T20:20:43.616-08:00

Summer is around the corner and a reader offered to submit my resume with her very well known company (thanks N!) If that isn't reason enough to celebrate this has to be: I finally signed up for magazine subscriptions.Vogue - 2 year - $12.95Money - 1 year - $19.95Kiplinger's - 1 year - $12Budget Living - 2 year - $8.99Acc. to MS Money I have spent $94.62 since mid-Aug on magazines. Extrapolating

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137215821072621232006-01-13T23:59:00.000-08:002006-01-17T18:04:01.800-08:00

J & I had our first money talk today. He wants us to go to Lake Tahoe in February. Possible sticky Valentine’s Day expectations and subsequent ramifications aside, I am girlishly excited about this. Sure I am an emancipated woman and I don’t need a man to take care of me but that doesn’t mean I don’t want one who likes me, a lot. What can be better than a romantic gateaway with someone who fits

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1137119929887694572006-01-12T18:27:00.000-08:002006-01-13T20:16:25.503-08:00

I attended a Barbara Stanny seminar yesterday called Overcoming Underearning (which incidentally happens to also be the title of her new book--smart). The event mostly centered around her own experiences with anecdotal references to her climb up from the bottomless pit that is creditors-knocking-on-the-door kind of money worries to the kind of financially secure future that many people dream

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136945737748514752006-01-10T17:11:00.000-08:002006-02-05T12:44:21.196-08:00

Microsoft's annual women's conference started today. It's a 3 day event where women from all over the company come to share experiences and ideas, network and generally marvel at the fact that for a company this big there are so very few women in high places. Of course, when I said I resigned I didn't mean effective today. After I made my decision the first thing I did was to talk to my boss,

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136871562269398432006-01-09T22:19:00.000-08:002006-01-17T02:00:10.420-08:00

It's like that guy everyone says you should be with. Your mom & dad think he's great, your brother looks up to him. All your friends say, "What are you doing? You should be with him." And you start thinking, maybe they're right. How can so many people be wrong? So you give it a try and then another and then another. And then one day you realize it's not going to work out.Microsoft isn't the worst

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136781673275696212006-01-08T21:33:00.000-08:002006-01-16T12:41:06.973-08:00

Net Worth from 12/31/2005October report: click here.Highlights: Since I was away on my vacation at the end of November and never got around to posting a review this is a consolidated report for the last 2 months.The changes in savings and brokerage are mainly due to a CD maturing which I transferred to my brokerage account. Right now it's lying in the core account not earning a lot of interest

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136492319244148652006-01-05T01:46:00.000-08:002006-01-17T23:52:30.220-08:00

I am a little behind on my net worth update. I have all the information in my spreadsheet but due to a number of reasons haven't been able to sit down to do a full analysis yet. So, in the meantime, I thought I would tie up all the loose ends from last year. Over the last six months, since the inception of this blog, I have started and sometimes abandoned, sometimes finished, several new projects

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136325593591321102006-01-02T13:42:00.000-08:002006-01-03T13:59:53.700-08:00

1. Average a 10% annualized return on investments. My 401k personal rate of return last year was 10.5% which isn't bad but my brokerage account returned only 5.5% pulling the average down. I would like to do better.2. Increase net worth to 250k by end of year. My current net worth is just around 192k. This would mean a savings goal of almost 58K which is ambitious given my current standard of

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1136093715969845552005-12-31T19:49:00.000-08:002006-01-16T02:08:48.676-08:00

There's a Billy Joel song by the same title. "And so it goes." It's sort of a bittersweet song, one I identify with, corny as that may be, and a fitting way to ring out the year that has been bittersweet to say the least.At the beginning of the year I was a little cash poor and generally without a care, in June I hit a bus, a breakup and a turning point, in that order, in July I started this blog

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1135287458767205402005-12-22T13:36:00.000-08:002005-12-22T13:40:45.873-08:00

I tend to go a little crazy around holiday season. I am the person that you hear people talking about. Some people go crazy around holiday season, they say. Cut up your credit cards, they say. Cut cut cut. They are really all just talking about me.Went out to buy a gift for J late last night. Came home with stuff for myself. That's what good girlfriends are for. Not that he minds. I think he gets

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1135230372421645382005-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:002005-12-22T11:49:34.226-08:00

One thing I will say about my current job. I actually have time for a life. It's an interesting change from before. For the greater part of my career I have worked in small startups or rapidly growing companies where 120 hr work weeks were not unheard of. Now, I actually get to go home by 6 or 7 pm. I don't quite know how to deal with that. So while I am figuring out how to enjoy my free time

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1134783416674286112005-12-16T17:36:00.000-08:002005-12-16T17:47:17.643-08:00

A few months ago when I turned down two other job offers to accept the Microsoft one I asked myself if I was making the right decision. It was a decision based more on some kind of fascination with the software giant rather than any concrete reason to work there. The last thing I said was "Decisions based on impulse tend to be short love affairs. Foreshadowing perhaps? I hope not." Well, I guess

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1134434696832829422005-12-12T16:16:00.000-08:002005-12-21T22:15:48.923-08:00

Oh how time flies when you are having fun. Or in my case, when you are jetlagged and can't remember your password. Seriously, isn't it high time we moved on to retinal scans or neurological pattern matching or some other such hi fi method of user identification? All this having to remember passwords when you are trying to battle a haywire body clock is very annoying, particularly when you have an

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1132194403783480472005-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:002005-12-21T23:23:00.123-08:00

Well, I am done with most of my shopping and thanks to a mix of practiced frugality, creative cajoling and natural inertia I am actually under budget. I traded in the white iPod nano I received from my fairwell for a black one my coworker just bought for himself and gave him a $50 iTunes gift certificate as a thank you for being my knight in shining armor. Guess this is what they call win-win. He

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1131648951750186372005-11-10T10:21:00.000-08:002005-12-21T23:25:39.913-08:00

This reminds me of that scene in SATC where Miranda and Carrie go shopping for pregnancy tests and Miranda grabs one and says, “Here, get this one. This is half off.” As Carrie puts it back on the shelf she says, “Sweetie, I just spent $365 on a new pair of shoes last week. This is not the time to be frugal.”When is the time to be frugal? I know some people’s answer to that is never just as some

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14126208.post-1131587478435397742005-11-09T18:59:00.000-08:002005-11-14T10:21:46.366-08:00

I am weak, don't blame me. I just ordered a grande caramel frappuccino, light, with whipped cream and extra caramel topping. Not sure what the point of the "light" was since the extra caramel canceled out any calorie savings but it was so, oh so, good. I was at a traffic light in my car sipping my drink and thinking "Please, please don't turn green!"This was one of those moments that get frozen

mmbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447904494753504699noreply@blogger.com1