Ugh.

I ordered my book for Linear Algebra 11 days ago (On Jan. 6th). Sellers on half.com are supposed to mail the item with 4 or 5 days of the purchase.

The seller shipped my book today! TODAY!

Argh! He shipped it Media Mail too. Didn't even have the courtesy to apologize to me for sending it WAAAY past when he was supposed to and wouldn't send it First Class or Priority to get it to me on time. I need it for my class on Wednesday.

Someone will not be getting a positive feedback.. which means that I may not be getting any feedback from this seller.

One of the risks of doing business on half.com, but I would be more forgiving if the seller at least apologized and sent it First Class or something.

There is a post office two blocks from me. I pass it everyday almost.

What made it so easy to miss was that the post office (not really a full post office, just a window) was inside a drug store I never go into. My reason for going in there today was to kill time while I was getting a tune-up on my car.

Apparently my car has a power steering leak. The mechanics said that it doesn't have to be fixed right away, but I would like to get it fixed while it is still a minor problem. I got a gift card to my dealership for $500 so I will call them tomorrow to see if I can use it to get the leak fixed. If not, my boyfriend's dad will take a look at it and he might be able to help us fix it.

I have so much cleaning to do tonight. I really should get started.

Opinionoutpost I am not liking so much ( I don't get a lot of surveys), but I love mysurvey!

I get 4 or 5 surveys a week from mysurvey and half the time the survey asks me if I want to continue and earn another 100-200 points.

I have cashed out twice and I am halfway to cashing out again. Yay!

I got some film developed today. Cost me about $1 because I only had a handful of photos from my digital camera that I wanted developed.

ETA: Quick question: My license expires in March and I just got a notice from the DMV reminding me. Am I able to renew my license before it expires? Could I go down sometime this week or do I have to wait until the day it expires or closer to when it expires?

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

Use the above link to download a free copy of Suze Orman's latest book.

Suze Orman's 3 Step Plan was posted on another forum that I read:

1. Do not spend money for one day
2. Do not use any credit card for one week
3. Do not eat out in a restaurant for one month

I was surprised that just about everyone who responded to the thread said they could do the first 2, but were not willing to do the third. Many said that it is not possible for them to do the third. A few said that not going to a restaurant for a month was an unreasonable expectation and that two weeks was a more reasonable time frame.

I am always curious to see how others prioritize their finances. I enjoy eating out too, but I've never placed so much importance on going to restaurants.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I listed two of my textbooks from last semester for sale on half.com.

Actually, only one because the other wasn't listed and I had to request the book to be added.

I have also listed some DVDs we no longer watch. My mom loved to buy movies and a lot of the time, the DVDs were never opened.

So I have been going through the DVDs (we have probably close to 400! At least!) and moving some things to the storage unit. Tomorrow I will begin packing up my books and move the rest of the knick-knacks to the condo.

I hope everything sells. Keep your fingers crossed!

ETA: Yay! The textbook I listed today already sold! I can't believe it sold in a few hours- perfect timing on my part! After shipping, I'll make about $33 on it. I might add some of that money to my "purse fund".

Until the world will supposedly end. I don't buy into it, just seems like another Y2K scare to me.

Happy New Year! I slept through the first few hours of 2009. It was nice.

Goals for 2009:

*I would like to end the year with at least $5,000 in my savings and about $1,000 invested in the stock market.

*I would also like to have at least $2,500 in my IRA by the end of the year.

*I would like to get a 4.0 this semester.

*I would like to buy a purse (hey, I gotta make one goal easy!).

Things I was supposed to do yesterday:
1. Go to bank
2. Pick up paycheck
3. Lube, oil, and filter
4. Buy boxes
5. Clean out old closet
6. Start organizing things in condo
7. Unpack
8. Go to Verizon Wireless
9. Grocery shopping

What I did yesterday:
1. Bank

To make it easy for me, I will do this today:
1. Verizon Wireless
2. Clean out old closet
3. Start organizing things in condo
4. Unpack
5. Grocery shopping.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas day!

It feels very weird being in LA on Christmas: there is no snow! I have gotten so used to having snow on the ground come Christmas that it feels unnatural to have sunny (actually cloudy) weather on Christmas.

So far Christmas has been good. We went to a friend's house for dinner last night then opened up our presents and went to a midnight mass. Today we are doing nothing until 3 o'clock, when we will head over to my uncle's for the rest of Christmas.

My "haul" so far has been pretty good. Grandma took me to Ross and bought me some clothes. My daddy got me Daisy by Marc Jacobs perfume and a Louis Vuitton purse. I got the speedy 25 in damier azur.

Ever the trickster, my dad had to play another joke on me when we were opening up presents. He handed me a gift bag and in it was a Louis Vuitton bag. Not a purse, but rather the bag that the store puts your purchases in. He said, "I know you've always wanted one and it was much cheaper than I thought."

And in other news, we have completed building Notre Dame. The 3-d puzzle. The flying buttresses were very difficult to put in place.

I hope everyone is having a good Christmas day.

Every few months I make an attempt at de-cluttering my room and apartment.

Tonight was one such moment. Since I am sharing my closet with more than one person, there is little room to be taken up by clothes I rarely wear. I unloaded about 45 pieces of clothing, purses, and wallets.

Books, random knick-knacks, and some towels and blankets will also be dropped off at the goodwill tomorrow.

Textbooks and a few DVDs will be sold (hopefully!) on half.com.

Even though I do this every few months, I am constantly amazed at how much stuff I have. I don't buy a lot of stuff in between de-clutterings, so I am pretty sure my closet is connected to a black hole that sends new stuff my way.

Saturday I leave for California! I am so glad to have a vacation.

My dad knows that I have a thing for purses. So he asked me what designers I liked and what purses of theirs I would want for Christmas. I told him and compiled a short list.

Today he called me and told me that all of the major designers' purses were being recalled because of some toxin in the ink they were using.

I was speechless for a few seconds and then my dad started laughing.

My dad is so mean to me.

I was hoping to ring in the new year with $4000 in my savings.

But a few things came up and I just recently went back to work. I will also be missing another 10 days later this month for a family vacation.

I took out $225 today for rent and on Jan. 1 I will be doing that again. Also around that time I will be buying text books, so I'm thinking I'll have about $3000 in savings for the new year.

I am happy that I will have so much in savings. I wish I didn't have to touch it, but I am very glad that I had a savings to fall back on.

I have been thinking about my New Year's Resolutions. I want to put some money into the stock market once I have $5000 in my savings. I think I will invest $1000.

I always seem to get sick around the holidays!

My brother was sick over the weekend and he was so kind to give it to me. Thankfully, I got sick AFTER my Calc III exam on Tuesday, but I was not well enough today.

I was able to enjoy all the food though. My dad, brother, and myself went to my boyfriend's parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner. His mom made a wonderful meal and sent us home with two pies: Apple and Pumpkin.

I feel asleep soon after I finished eating.

Overall, it was a good day.

Onto financial news....

I have not been working since my mom died. I am scheduled for a couple hours this Saturday but that's it for this week. Also, I will have to dip into my savings soon. I will need to take $225 out for December rent as I have obviously not made anything this month. But that's what savings are for, right?

The only other expense I will have in the next couple months is textbooks. I am expecting to buy 5-6 books and spend about $300. But I plan on reselling a few of my current textbooks so I may recoup some of the cost. My dad will be paying my tuition, which is $600. Tuition spiked for the spring ($7 increase/credit!) and there is a rumor that they are thinking of increasing it by 25% for next fall!

I must remember to write to the governor and senators complaining about the tuition spike...

I am thankful:

for my family.

that my dad is willing to work so hard and do so much for our family.

for my wonderful boyfriend who respects me and our relationship.

for my lovable (albeit annoying) pets.

for my intelligence.

that I am able to attend a relatively inexpensive university.

that this semester wasn't that bad.

for all the electronic widgets and toys I have.

for my job and my wonderful coworkers and bosses.

that my parents were able to help me get on the right track financially.

that I've experienced all the hardships I have.

that Christmas is just 29 days away!

I have two Betta fish, each in a 2.5g tank. I've been thinking for awhile now to get a 10g tank and divide and house the two Bettas in there.

Well, I finally did it!

I bought a 10g tank today along with a filter. I'll begin cycling the next this weekend or next and I'll slowly be adding in decor and the like.

Things I need to get:
Decor (hiding spots and gravel)
Gravel vacuum
Heater

I also bought a pair of gloves for $1.00.

I'm very excited about my new tank! The first thing one of my cats did was jump in the tank and explore.

Try as I might, headphones do not last long in my household.

Starlight, my cat, managed to find my pair of headphones and decided it would make a fun toy.

It is a very good thing that the headphones only cost me 97 cents at Walmart.

I'm even happier that I did not listen to a friend of mine and buy a pair of $100 Boise headphones. I know headphones do not last long with me and paying so much would be throwing money away.

He claims there is a vast difference in quality between his headphones and my old ones, but I honestly can't hear it. We did a listening test one day and while his headphones look snazzier, they sound the same to me.

I was shocked that someone would be wiling to spend that much on a pair of headphones. It is a pair of headphones after all. I thought he was absolutely crazy for spending so much until I looked into my closet and realized...

That I have two purses that each cost about three times as much as one pair of Boise headphone.

And that I'm currently eyeing a purse that costs $700.

Hehehe...

I will not buy that purse any time soon. I do not see myself buying that purse anytime in the next two years. But I can dream, can't I?

My dad has a contract job about 500 miles from where we live. The contract is up in April and he's expecting to have a new contract job (at another business) soon after. Because of this, I will be moving into my parents' place to take care of the house and my brother.

My grandma (who I currently live with) is in D.C., recovering from surgery, and will return in January. Our apartment complex manager said they will try to have a 1 bedroom, downstairs apartment ready for her within a week of her return (but it might take a little longer). We'll be paying rent until she gets a new apartment but we won't be charged any lease-breaking fees.

We have more flowers and food than we have room for. I've seen in movies, like "Raising Helen", where friends/neighbors drop food off at the families who lost someone. I always thought this was silly, but I totally get it now. The LAST thing I want to do is cook food and it's nice to pop something into the microwave that someone else cooked.

I'm taking a few weeks off work but fortunately I am a couple months ahead of my savings goal.

Yesterday my mom went into a coma. My brother found her at 4:30 yesterday morning.

A little bit before 9 this morning she passed away.

I will be taking a break from here, but I will return.

I had midterms this week.

And I survived.

It wasn't all that bad. I had two papers due today for the same class and a French exam, Calc III test and a huge Geology lab that I am still working through.

But just to make sure that I did not end the week on a happy note, my boyfriend decided that he was going to get into an accident today.

He's alright, thank God, but his car is in no condition to drive. The car he hit is just fine. It was a huge Ford F150 and the only damage it sustained was some paint scraped off. BF's front right wheel nearly came off and his suspension (I think) is ruined.

I also had a migraine at work (I wonder why?) but my supervisor let me off early.

I have a test on Monday that I need to study for but tonight I plan to watch Mel Brooks movies with my daddy.

I joined a survey site a couple months ago. I was expecting to make more than I am, but every little bit helps.

The most frustrating thing is that opinionoutpost.com has surveys that will kick you out halfway through the survey if you don't meet the criteria!

It gets soooo annoying to be working on a survey and get the "We're sorry, but you don't match the needs of this survey.". Gah! I filled out all the personality reports for the survey site so shouldn't they know if I match the criteria? I'm tempted to delete/modify those personality reports to try to get more surveys. And hopefully more surveys offered will mean more surveys I can actually complete!

It is the second of October and I've spent all of money spending money for this month. I bought a really cute pair of shoes for $10 and the rest I spent on the anniversary present for my boyfriend.

After the first four textbooks I put online sold I decided to sell a few other things. I put up two additional textbooks and a nintendo DS game that I don't really like.

I just sold one of the textbooks and the game. I've made $245.82 so far!

After shipping costs I've made close to $200.

I'm so excited! This money might go into my splurge fund but will most likely be kept in my checking for Christmas gifts.

When I started on half.com I listed 4 textbooks. Within a week, three of them sold. The last textbook finally sold last night!

Yay! In the past month I've made $198 on the four textbooks! It has cost about $35 to ship all the books. So I really made $163. Not bad, I certainly won't complain.

I still have a couple textbooks I would like to sell and I listed one of my DS games on half.com.

It is turning out to be a good month.

I've been meaning to sell some of my old textbooks for a while now, but I kept on forgetting to do so. Yesterday I finally made myself put them online and guess what?!

Two of them sold last night! Yay! I have two textbooks left to sell!

I'm very happy- I made $90 selling those two books!

I always thought my state arranged the school year very weird. Instead of starting, say tomorrow or the week after Labor Day, we start the week before Labor Day. I like to think that the state arranged school this way to give us an "easy" transition into the school year: You completed a full week of school and now you get a day off.

I was intending to go to the bank today to withdraw the money needed to begin my envelope adventure and then two things hit me: banks aren't open today and payday is this Friday.

So I guess I have to wait a few days before I can begin the envelope system. Such a bummer too, I was so excited!

I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day. I will be doing homework, anyone wanna help? ;-)

The past few months I haven't been following the budget I set out (I couldn't even tell you what it is). Thankfully, I've kept my spending in check. The only thing I bought that wasn't a necessity was my bike.

With the school year approaching (less than a week!) I decided to create a new budget that I would stick to.

$300/month into savings
$90/month for groceries
$100/month for gas
$75/month for spending money
Whatever is left over will go into my savings and IRA accounts.

I think this will be an easy budget to stick to. I will probably carry my spending money in cash instead of putting it on my credit card because I don't want to go over the $75.

I need to sit down tonight and update my finance records.... I usually keep my binder and envelopes nice and neat but lately I've just been stuffing all receipts and documents into one of the cubyholes on my desk.

Summer makes me so very lazy.

I totally forgot that about a week or two ago Nielsen TV contacted us asking if we would be willing to track what shows we watched for a week.

Today we received the diaries and $30 for our time.

We are splitting the money 50-50 so there's $15 extra bucks for me!

I decided to sign up for MySurvey.com and OpinionOutpost.com. We'll see how things go. Even a few bucks a month would be helpful.

One more thing: I meet my July 31 goal a few weeks early! My savings would be at $1900 had it not been for summer tuition, but I'm very happy with where it is at now. With my next paycheck I'll put a few hundred into my IRA since I haven't contributed to it in a looong time.

I'm thinking about doing some online surveys for money.

I'm not sure if this will be worth it or not. Any extra money will help, especially if it can cover the cost of groceries ($40-$50/month). And from what I've heard they don't take that long. With school and work I can spare a couple hours a week for surveys but not much more.

This has probably been posted before so I'll look through the archives on the forum but if anyone has any tips for doing surveys that would be great.

As you can tell, I have very, very little in my savings. And a heck of a lot of expenses are coming up soon- I have to register my car with the DMV by the 28th of June and the parking permit fee for Uni is due the 27th of June. In total, that will be just over $500.

I called my insurance earlier this week to take off my old car and to put on my new one. I didn't know which insurance to get and I forgot what my parents told me to get so I told the lady "basic coverage". She asked me if I needed collision and I said yes. My 6-month premium was $1400. I called my grandma (I'm on her policy) and and she got me the insurance I really needed (no collision!) and the premium went down to about $600. Insurance is so confusing!

Since I bought my car I have this desire to spend more money... and yet, I have none to spend. What I really want to buy is a sewing machine! I used to have one but we sold it and now I want to get into sewing again. I also have switched to cloth pads and I have this urge to buy (or make) several at once. But all of this will have to be put on hold for awhile.

In a stroke of luck (or unluck?), just as my parents were about to take me off their health insurance (I was going to switch the Uni's health insurance since it's cheaper) when I started developing abdominal problems after my meals. My doctor told me that it's mostly likely an ulcer or a gallbladder stone. I have an ultrasound for this Friday.

Work is going well. My muscles are really sore from all the weddings/banquets I've worked but I'm making a good amount in tips.

I hope everyone's summer is going well!

Semester grades are in and I'm very pleased about what I got:

App. Stats: A-
Dance History: A
Calc II: A
Nutrition: B+
Comp. Sci: B

I'm very happy that I got a "B" in C.S. Last semester I got a "C" in CS 135 and I'm very pleased that I was able to get a better grade in a harder course.

Work was interesting today. Another "Banquet Girl" and myself were busy serving 120 people for lunch but apparently there many, many arguments between employees today. One cook quit today leaving the already short-staffed kitchen struggling. We have a lot of banquets and weddings coming up so I really hope they replace the cook (and hire a couple more!).

I got my economic stimulus check about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I was expecting it to be $600 but I got $300 instead. I've spent most of it- I bought a couple of pieces of clothing but most of it was spent on prescriptions. What's left will be saved.

The past week and a half has been very relaxing and I hope the summer continues that way.

I can't believe it's April already...

Most important news: I turned 19! A month ago actually, on March 7th. I still can't believe that I'm in my second semester of college and 19.

I quit my job. I'm taking more classes this semester and the homework for each class has increased. My boss says I'm welcome to come back anytime.

I have to work during summers but I'm not sure I want to continue working during the semesters. Especially now that I'm getting into more higher up classes and the work load is only going to increase more. I want to have some free time instead of going from class to homework to work. I will decide on whether to continue working or not during the school year later.

I've registered for my classes for Summer and Fall terms [Summer term is optional]. I'm taking 3 classes over the summer. On the upside I don't have to worry about taking these classes over the regular semester, putting me a little ahead of schedule, but the scholarships from the school don't apply to the summer term. It will cost me $1,034 for the Summer term. I've stepped up my scholarship search and applied for two more (the scholarships are outside my school. I found them on Fastweb.com). Luckily the $1034 is not due all at once.

I filed my taxes early this year and got my refund a couple weeks after I quit my job. Perfect timing as my refund will get me through April and May. I put it in savings to collect interest and will withdraw it as needed.

I will be getting an economic stimulus check of $600. Yay! This will go towards tuition and books for the summer.

I haven't contributed to my IRA in awhile (bad Cassandra!). I will over the summer though. My goal for the summer is to spend as little as possible (just food, gas, rent) and save everything else.

That's pretty much it. I don't expect to be online much over the next month: finals started in one month!

I’m a Catholic and since Lent is beginning just a few days from now, I’ve been thinking about what I will be giving up.

Last year I gave up Myspace and Facebook for Lent and I wanted to do the same this year. However, I thought that might be cheating (give up something I know I can easily live without temporarily), so I’m taking it one step further and I’m giving up the internet all together. I expect to be going into withdrawal symptoms within a week of Wednesday.

So, starting Wednesday, I will not be around for a long time. When Lent is over I’ll be sure to update all of you on anything financially related (and probably not-financially related).

Be good and try to behave yourselves.

One of the down sides of the area in which I live is that we get snow in the winter. I'm not a big fan of snow and I'm less of a fan of getting snowed in. On the bright side, getting snowed in also means that I can't spend money, like I was intending to do yesterday. So Mother Nature forced me to have a no spend day.

On a different note, I finished my taxes yesterday (which was what I did instead of shopping). The pages I filled out are a "rough draft" of sorts. I haven't received any W-2s, interest statements, etc., so I filled out the tax forms using estimates and by going through pay stubs and bank statements I've received this year. I also found out that I can't get a credit for contributing to my IRA because I'm a student, which disappointed me.

I filled out the 8815 (Exclusion of Interest From Series EE and I U.S. Savings Bonds), 8917 (Tuition and Fees Deduction), and the 1040. If my estimates are close, I should be getting about $450 back. My dad says I need to change the number of exemptions I have so that less is taken out of my paycheck and therefore the less I receive come tax time.

I need to go into work later this week to change the accounts I have a direct deposit into, so when I'm there I'll change my exemptions from 1 to 2.

The money I receive back will be put into my IRA as I haven't contributed to it in a couple months.