Thursday, June 15, 2006

in a fog

first day without the 'bucks.

i refuse to drink the bitter swill they call coffee around here, and so i'm making due with some tazo tea (their 'passion' flavor) that i swiped from the clinic down the hall last night. it's not caffeinated, but my workday is pretty light, so i'm managing.

thank you for your money-saving tips thus far. keep 'em coming. (last night i was up until 1:00 am with my credit card companies getting my apr reduced. i know, i know, i should just consolidate onto a 0% apr card, and that's on my list of things to do, but until then, at least i'm saving a little bit... maybe?)

clark howard is my new crush.

heading to my mom's this weekend (another way to save money: spend time with family who will feed you) to lay by the pool and clear my head. like i've said, whether or not i move in six months, the chunk of change i accrue will be nice to have. i did, however, contact the department head of my grad program (who has acted as a reference for me in the past) and told him of my thoughts -- and he's putting together some contacts for me in the atlanta area. i guess it's nice to stay in touch with your professors!

update: here's a link to the ING savings account to which my ol' pal allison tipped us off.

yet another update, this time from my colleague: "FYI, (my boyfriend) had this account and recently was advised to cancel it because of something happening with ING's own stock (obviously, I have no clue about the details) that would cause the rate to go down. He now has a similar account with Fidelity, so you may want to look at them for a comparison."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am excited you are posting this info. because it is my goal to set up a good budget during the next couple weeks!

jd said...

YAY! i am actually working on my excel spreadsheet now -- i never realized how much money i waste on absolute crap!

Anonymous said...

i don't know anything about ING's stock, but i do know the rate has gone up a little each of the last 6 months or so. but no, the 4.25% is not fixed.

Anonymous said...

what site did you use as an example to set up your budget?

jd said...

min, i emailed you. ;)

Anonymous said...

That calculator, though fun, is flawed because it tells you to add snacks, which is stupid. It assumes that people who don't buy coffee at Starbucks don't eat snacks. I calculated party costs for the year I went to South Fl. and the Bahamas and I was right at 4k when the vacay was calculated. It was kind of amazing and kind of sad. Mostly amazing, though.

Anonymous said...

money saving tip - instead of happy hr on fridays, hit up art openings. actuallhy, hit up as many art openings as possible every weeken. free drinks, free wood, and free art - a lot of the time you can get drunk and get dinner and not spend a cent and have a great time! i certainly do it almost every wknd, and nyc has got to have 8000 more galleries.