Loyalty programs

I am a firm believer in loyalty programs and other programs that earn free rewards. I am a member of Delta Skymiles, Marriott rewards, Hilton Honors, e-rewards, Best Buy Reward Zone, Upromise, Wachovia Possibilities debit card. With points earned thru these various programs so far this year I have been able to get:
2 airplane tickets to Aruba
3 free nights in a Marriott Hotel in Aruba
1 free night in a Marriott Hotel NYC
1 airplane ticket to Nevada
1 airplane ticket to Florida (for a friend)
6 free Blockbuster movie rentals
$10 Blockbuster gift card
$25 off FTD Flowers
$15 in Best Buy credits
1 year subscription to Wine Spectator magazine
I figure the value of these freebies to be around $3,000. Not too bad. It can be cumbersome to keep track all of the programs but it is worth the time and effort.

My inbox is flooded with shopping deals!

I am doing my best to ignore the shopping deals that all the retailers seem to have going on. Free shipping, 20% off, etc. I do not want to go overboard and spend needlessly on holiday crap. I can see how someone with a lack of willpower could get themselves in a heap of trouble with Christmas spending. I just wish the retailers would be this generous the rest of the year. Last year I bought my loved ones some very expensive gifts and I am not going to let myself do that again!

Addiction to chocolate

I have a hard core addiction to most every kind of chocolate except for chocolate with mint in it or mocha. I am thinking about setting a goal of NOT indulging in any chocolate until after my credit card is paid off. Just typing that made me go over to a coworker’s desk and get a little Hershey bar out of her candy dish!!! I am not sure that I am up for such a lofty goal so close to the holidays. I do know that I don’t like it when my clothes feel too tight though.

WAMU ATM card

Well it has been about 10 days since I received my ATM card from WAMU. Unfortunately, I have not yet received my PIN in the mail. I called tonight and the customer service representative said that it was sent out on the 14th and takes up to 16 business days to arrive. Geez! On Friday my paycheck is going into the WAMU account so that PIN had better show up soon. As a last resort I can go into a bank branch and get a PIN. Other than the fact that they are a bit slow in getting my PIN to me, the account is working out fine.

Back from Paris

and what a whirlwind it was. The only thing I bought besides food was 3 postcards. The exchange rate was even worse than it was back in Septemeber. Well that is all of the exotic travel that I will be doing for the foreseeable future. It is always good to be back home again.

Update on January 1, 2007 resolutions

I keep a journal and this morning I looked back and found that my 2007 resolutions were to: 1.) Get out of debt, 2.) Save $5k, and 3.) run a half marathon. Well as of today I have run 2 half marathons. I am not out of credit card debt yet but will be by next March and my emergency fund will not be at the $5k mark by the end of the year. I estimate that by next February I will have saved at least $5k in my emergency fund. It is nice to look back and see how far I have come. I may not have met them by December 31 but I will have made significant progress towards them.

Update on my banking switch

I have now set up my paychecks starting with my next one to be direct deposited to WAMU. I will be so happy when I don’t have to deal with Wachovia nickel and diming me every month. I plan to completely close Wachovia next month after everything clears. Honestly, why should anyone keep large amounts of money or small amounts for that matter in a savings account that earns such a low interest rate that you have to search a while to find the rate on the bank’s website. I am glad to have finally seen the light. I am thinking about setting up a second free checking just for my expense reimbursements so they don’t get co-mingled with my paychecks. That may simplify my life even more.

Bottled water

Last month I bought a Brita water pitcher and swore off buying bottled water. NPR recently had an episode about the plastic water bottles and the environment. Many of them get recycled (and I did recycle mine) but most do not. Now I am saving money and helping the environment. The filters themselves last about two months and cost about $5 a piece. Now I just need to keep my syes peeled for coupons for the filters.

Market turmoil

The recent stock market turmoil has put my updated goal of $105,000 in net worth by the end of the year in doubt. Today my net worth is $102,135. I updated my mutual fund prices this morning for the first time in over a week and my net worth dropped more than $3,000. Things were flying along just fine and then BAM! Oh well, what goes down must come up. I have been remarkably unsurprised an unworried about the stock market lately. The swings seems to have just become a part a life. I guess if Iwas closer to retirement it might unhinge me a little more.

New wine cooler

I enjoy a good bottle of wine now and then so when I saw a dual zone 21 bottle wine refrigerator on sale at Target.com for $249 with free shipping it was very hard to resist. Also I received a $25 price reduction on top of the sale price. I have been talking about getting one of them forever.

It arrived yesterday and I duly followed the instructions and set it up. All seemed to be in working order until I awoke this morning to find the unit not working. UGH!!! I have emailed the manufacturer to get this resolved. I hope this does not turn in to a big hassle because it does look really nice and it would meet my wants perfectly if only it worked! I will keep you posted on this.

Shopping for clothes

I bought some clothes this past weekend. It was the first time I had purchased clothes for work in 15 months. I spent about $500 but I got 3 very nice cashmere sweaters and two nice pairs of tailored pants (one of which was on sale). I also cleaned out my closet and pulled out everything that I no longer wear. I will donate a big bag of clothes soon. It will proably a long time again before I shell out money for clothes. I try to buy good quality things that will last and not go out of style too soon.

Switch to WAMU

Bye bye Wachovia!!! I had threatened to switch from Wachovia to WAMU a while back but was wanting to avoid the hassle of changing banks. Well, after the $5.95 Quicken fee yesterday I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet. I opened an online savings and free checking account. It was relatively painless afterall and I am looking forward to the new relationship. My savings rate is 4.75% APR which is higher than ING Direct. I think it will be a good change for me. I do plan to keep my Wachovia savings account open with at least a $300 balance so that I can get cash from an ATM in an emergency if I needed to but I will definitely be closing the checking account. The WAMU website says that it only takes 7 minutes to open an account and I agree with them. They really do make it simple.

Wachovia and Quicken

I was charged the $5.95 access fee once again. UGH!!! I promptly contacted Wachovia to see why and apparently once you use it you are “enrolled” in it. I have now been disenrolled from it and should be able to download from the Wachovia online website without being charged the fee. I have asked them to refund the $5.95…we will see. Banks just love to nickel and dime us to death. My discover card charged me $3.11 interest last month. I have to use the card twice a billing cycle to maintain the 0% interest on my transferred balance. I have been paying $150 per month plus what ever amount I charged to meet my two monthly uses. Discover probably applies the entire payment to the 0% balance so I am accumulating interest on the additional charges. What a scam. I am so glad that I will get this paid off early next year.

Expensive weekend

I went to San Francisco last weekend to run a half marathon. It is a hobby that gets a little pricey. My main reason for wanting to go to SF is that the run crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and I thought that would be a neat experience (which it was). Anyway, the tally for the weekend is as follows:
Airplane tickets for two $402
Hotel stay $425
Food $38
Pet boarding $96
I enjoyed the race but now I need to cut back on unneccessary travel to save my budget. I am going to France for Thanksgiving but that is already paid for except the food. On the bright side, I did receive my $15 rebate for buying $30 of wines. :) I am going to put the $15 into my savings.

October net worth update

Well the stock market held out and did not decimate my net worth at the end of the month. This is my first net worth schedule that shows me with a net worth over $100,000 which is a milestone for me. My next milestone will be the $200,000 mark. I am hoing to get there in the next four years or so. The biggest increase came from my 401k. I contributed $888 and had an additional $1,300 in unrealized gains for the month. My liabilities decreased $1,178 due to my car loan payment and not spending as much on my Amex. All in all it was a good month for me.