What the Hell? 401(k) Edition

I just got an email from w1rk (which is now my sole source of jobby income) that they will begin depositing 12% of my cheque into a 401(k) in May.

I’m a temp, okay? I don’t get healthcare (and let’s not talk about the fact I w1rk for a HOSPITAL and don’t get HEALTHCARE) and I also apparently don’t get a choice in how much of my cash they will take away from me into a 401(k).

More research must be done on this, however I also, you know, need to do some W1RK today.

Heh. I need to learn to read for comprehension, they’re giving me 12% of my gross earnings for FREE in a retirement account. I’m not even ALLOWED to add more money to it. Guess I’ll need to roll over my w2rk 401(k) to an IRA or something. Gyah. I don’t want to think about this right now.

Huh. Never thought of it that way.

Michael at Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck has this excellent article called “Your Problem Is Not Starbucks”.

Which, you know, considering my caffeine habit (COFFEECOFFEECOFFEEYAY!) piqued my interest.

But the most important thing I read in that article was:

Personal finance isn’t that hard. Your day job is much more complicated. But you were taught how to do your day job. Managing money only takes a little effort, some patience, and an occasional bit of willpower.

That’s deep, man.

Doing Something Different

 I bought some tights the other day from Freddie’s. Thinking that the wee sizing chart on the back was actually, you know, ACCURATE and CONFORMING TO REALITY.

 I got the tights home, pulled them out of the package, realised that they decided a 5’4″ woman over 250 lbs was the exact same as a 6’1″ woman over 200 lbs, held the waistband of the tights over my head and kicked at the toes that were, right hand to God, dragging on the floor, and decided these weren’t going to work.

So, here’s  where I did something different: Instead of keeping the tights forever just because, you know, I bought them, I returned the tights to the store for a refund.

I am so proud of myself I could just spit.

Saving Roll vs. Finances

Okay, so Jim calls it ‘Impulse Saving’, but the geeks know what it REALLY is.

Get a yourself a six-sided die (or more sides if you prefer) and roll it. Take that number, multiple it by ten, and put it in a savings account or pay down a debt. Do it every single time you get a paycheck and learn to live without the money in your budget.

Damn right. Saving Roll vs. Finances, baby! And who has more dice than a geek?

April Budget Challenge

Krystal of Give Me Back My Five Bucks is running an April Budget Challenge wherein you swear on a stack of comic books (well, if you’re me and the comic books are on top of your Bible) to stay within budget on ONE line of your budget.

Mine is eating out. Which I enjoy. A LOT. I solemnly swear I will only spend $80 on eating out next month.

Matter of fact, I’m going to go pull that cash out of my Allowance account right now and put it in wee envelopes and do the dance of Capitalist Superiority hide it away.

Celebrating Discardia

‘Cause Discardia sounds a lot cooler than “Spring Cleaning”.

Hanyoldway, was reading about this on a blog or seven out there, and I came across something at this post that made me sit back in my chair and go, “Huh.”

How can you avoid the guilt of bad buying decisions?
Think about purchases longer before making them. Also, recognize that you will make some bad decisions.

Confound it!

I’ve been opening new 6 month CDs on INGDirect every pay period and using that as my Emergency Fund. The one I opened back in November, when I started this plan, is at 4.8%.When I  heard about the last interest rate cut, I bounced over to my account and opened one for the next pay period at the old interest rate  (3.5%).

Well, I just heard about the NEW interest rate cut and quickly ran over to INGDirect.

Interest rates on 6 month CDs are now 2.75%.

They haven’t made the adjustment to savings account interest rates yet, but expect that any moment now.

*grumble grumble should pull it all out now and take the interest penalty spanking and put it in the one near my house that’s 4.0%*

Brief Money Notes

1. I bought some clothes on a kinda-whim off an online site yesterday. A pretty pink summer dress and a pretty pink summer work shirt. As I’ve discussed before, I really have to be In A Mood to shop for clothes. The problem is now that I have discovered online boutiques with fairly reasonable prices for fat women (the dress was not on sale and it was $32! You can NEVER find a cute dress for fat women for $32!) I have to stop myself from going to town. Like spending an additional $28.99 on pretty pink platform shoes. I had my debit card out, but I put it away. If I still need pretty pink shoes next week, well, I’ll think about it. *pats self on the back*
2. The money for my pretty pink clothes came from my Sonic Screwdriver fund and made me realize I need to set up a budget for clothes. I spend about $250 a year on clothes, which equals about one pair of jeans, one pair of pants, three work tops and a pair of shoes. My geek t-shirt collection comes either from discount bins at cons or Sonic Screwdriver monies.
3. I went to the dentist for the first time in five years. Because my dental insurance runs out in two weeks. But here’s some things I learn:
   1. A regular, no-frills, no x-rays cleaning costs $68. In the last six months I paid $100 into my dental insurance.
   2.  I still have remnants of sealants from when I was like, 12. In my entire life, I’ve had one (1) cavity. Composite fillings and drillings start at $450. Adults can have sealants applied. My dentist charges $32 a tooth for them and they’re warrantied for 5 years. I’m going to have the farthest back 3 teeth done next month and slowly work my way up to all 15 teeth that can take sealants (the one with the filling doesn’t need it).
   3. I have beautiful teeth and even as I’ve grown older the thousands of dollars my folks spent on Orthodontia have been well worth it.
4. I’m going to be paying my car insurance and purchasing a plane ticket to the family reunion tonight. OUT OF MY SAVINGS SET ASIDE FOR THAT PURPOSE OMG I AM SO KEWL!

Pause for Station Identification

Just to let you folks know, I’ve turned in my notice at w2rk and will be back to one-job-one-income as of March 30th.

My joy? Knows NO BOUNDS!

However, I was also informed at w1rk that despite the fact they called me and asked me personally to come back as a temp to do a gig I’ve done before (as a temp) for over a year, and the fact that I now have 19 months over 2 years of experience in the position, they’re not hiring me permanently. They went with someone else.

Yeah. That’s about what I said.

To top that off, next week is the holiest week in my religious tradition (‘holiest’, in this case, translates to ‘busiest’). So I’m going to take some time off from most-all my blogs, including this one.

When I come back, I hope to have a new plan, a new path, and a whole new attitude.

I might even *gasp* get a new haircut. THINGS ARE CHANGING AROUND HERE! WHEEEE!

Harhar!

You know what three months of retroactive pay increase looks like?

It looks a helluvalot like A 27% INTEREST-CHARGING CREDIT CARD PAID OFF!

(I’ve still got one credit card left, but it’s at 0% interest. And my student loans. And my IRS bill.)