Fiscal Fitness

My Henry (basset hound) has been sick and that's been taking most of my free time, so I haven't been here much. We have a surgical consult on Monday. The surgery should help but by itself won't stop the initial symptoms, which could be due to diet or pesticide exposure (not at MY house but while walking). Bills are adding up: so far have spent about $1300 on this illness; the surgery will probably double that. Also Henry woke up one morning with a bad limp--it's gone now but I also invested in a child's wagon so I can get him out to the car (it's a ways and I felt horrible making him walk it when he was in pain) and a set of portable carpeted dog steps so that he doesn't have to jump up onto the sofa and risk injuring his joints. This is SO like me: I'm generally conservative with my money and then my dog gets sick and all thoughts of thrift are out the window. So the credit card bill is back up again, and that's still before the surgery.

Kashi was kind enough to send me several coupons for Silk soy milk after I made a comment in response to one of her posts. They arrived last week and I've used two so far. There are still 4 or 5 more that expire on the 30th. I'll buy as many as my refrigerator will hold at that point, since I go through a half-gallon about once every 3-4 days, and will get through all of what I buy by the expiration date in November.

I wonder how soy milk freezes? I could use all the coupons if I knew that it would freeze well. I'll have to do some research on that. If not, I anticipate that I'll be able to make room in the fridge for at least 3 additional half-gallons by that point.

I did a bit of grocery shopping this morning (plus 23 minutes on the elliptical at the gym), then cooked in the afternoon while grading (I gave three exams last week). For the week, I made a Portuguese potato-kale soup with sausage, roasted squash/carrots/brussels sprouts, and baked apples, and a big salad. Groceries also included a nice crusty Italian bread, a loaf of pumpernickel, deli-sliced turkey and cheese for sandwiches. I also have a couple of pieces of salmon in the freezer that I'll probably cook up over the week.

Unfortunately the plastic container that I transferred the soup to started to leak and I lost about 1/3 of the broth and made a big mess in the fridge before this was discovered.

I also cleaned the floors, did the laundry, and cleared the tabletops of their clutter accumulation, plus left the kitchen cleaned up for the week ahead.

I've finished grading one exam and am now pretty wiped, so I'll go to bed shortly. The term really gets busy once grading kicks in.

To my disappointment, I didn't get to go to Rosh Hashanah services (although I did make a R.H. dinner at a friend's house on Friday night) at all because I made the grading a priority; nor did I get to go at all to the "Celtic Classic" festival going on half a mile from my house.

One of these years my life will find more balance. Until then, I muddle through as best I can. I do feel that I've been giving the social and especially the spiritual short shrift of late.

About a month ago, BJ's had a "free week visitor pass" in the paper and I went and looked around. Had to register at the desk, and could have bought things except at a 15% non-member premium, or else joined. I didn't opt to join then...so this week they sent me a pass for a 2-month free membership. Of course, as soon as I registered to get this, they tried to get me to join at a reduced ($30 as opposed to regular $45) fee. I asked how long that promotion was good for, and it's good until December, so I'll use my two free months and see if it's worth my while to join.

Between the full-time job and the part-time job, I've been a bit too busy to blog here much. Oh well, I'll continue to drop by, read others' blogs and put a short entry here occasionally.

One thing that got overshadowed yesterday by my dog's illness was the package that arrived in the mail from Amazon.com. My sister had emailed me a week ago and told me to expect a package from them--a slightly belated birthday present.

For a few years now, my sister and I have settled into a "routine" of birthday and holiday presents. For the holidays, I renew a magazine subscription for her, and for her birthday, she'll usually let me know about one or two items available on Amazon.com that I then order for her for about $40. And my sister will often buy me a decent pair of earrings, since I have pierced ears. The problem has always been to keep it down to just one pair (since she can't abide the thought of buying "cheap jewelery.")

So--the package. I've been talking for a while about wanting an MP3 player, as I've gotten hooked on listening to audio books and my library now offers ebook downloads. For me, it's been a fun kind of thing to dangle in front of myself as I got through my difficult summer without an income--I told myself that I'd buy it after the debts were paid off. Obviously I'd talked of this plan to my sister, since exactly the model I'd decided on was in that package.

It's lovely to have and I'm sure I'll get good use out of it--but I do feel a bit like the wind was taken out of my sails and a bit ambivalent that she's ramped up the spending on gifts a bit. I've checked out the price and she spent $70--a good deal more than our gifts have cost of late. I'm such an ungrateful wretch--worrying more about how much it will cost ME to buy her an equally valuable present the next time gift-giving comes around.

For my sister, giving a gift is to be something personal and symbolizing her caring for the person. I guess I'm miserly but to me presents really represent mostly obligation. Every once in a while I'll delight in buying someone a gift that is "just right"--as when, five years ago, I bought my boyfriend a nice down comforter and duvet set for the holidays because I knew how cold his bedroom gets in the winter and that the comforter would keep him much warmer than the pile of blankets he was using. I guess the problem is that finding such a "just right" gift for my sister will be difficult--and out of my price range if I find it. Her tastes are MUCH more expensive than mine.

Poor Henry, my basset hound, has had a tummy ache today. He was fine when he woke up, but his first taste of food this morning sent him running outside to start desperately eating grass. He was drooling copiously and the initial meds I tried giving him had no effect, so after 3 hours of periodic bouts of tummy upset, I canceled class and made a vet appointment.

The vet said his vital signs were good and offered me two options: give him a shot to calm his tummy and take him home, or do an x-ray and blood work to see if there was an underlying problem to deal with. Since Henry has had episodes of this type before (though not so badly), I opted to have the tests done so that I know what I'm dealing with.

The good news is that x-ray only showed gas in his digestive system and no problems. Blood work indicated that kidneys, pancreas, and liver are fine.

The x-rays also picked up two large bladder stones which have to be dealt with before they cause problems plus indicated that his hips are not in great condition (arthritis down the line). Plus he has an ear infection. So I left today with two tummy meds, two ear meds, and chewable glucosamine, plus a week's worth of special low-residue food.

Henry has been doing mostly ok since he's been home but has had two short bouts of his tummy bothering him. He's sleeping now. Nothing upsets me like my dog being sick (Bassets are vulnerable to Bloat, which is deadly, and he was displaying some of the symptoms). I'm exhausted but wired and hope that *I* sleep tonight--I really need it.

Damn, wrote out a long entry which not only didn't get posted but now there seems to be an entry in my blog which includes ALL of the prior postings, without spaces. Yikes.

Anyways, the gist of the longer post is this: considering a part-time job offer (on top of full-time work), I realized that the true value to consider was not the salary offered, but how much of that salary I would take home after taxes. Since my full-time job puts me squarely in the middle of the 25% tax bracket, that's 25% to the feds, then another 11.75% for social security, medicare, state taxes, local taxes, and state unemployment taxes. That leaves 63.25% of the offer as the value in question. Looks like a lot less, then.

Seems silly to me to tax income--decreases incentives. I'm beginning to see the wisdom of plans that suggest taxing consumption instead.

When I picked up one of my old financial planning books ("How to get what you want in life with the money you already have"), a piece of paper fell out, and on it was my budget from January 1998. Interesting to compare now and then.

My circumstances are very different: I live in a different state, have a different job, own a house rather than rent, am now in a committed relationship, and I have three pets rather than one. I'm still adjusting my budget to new circumstances since some of these changes (home & two of the pets) are fairly recent, but still, the comparison is interesting.

I make about 60% more--but that's both because I'm at a higher paying job and because I have a second part-time job in addition to the main job, which I didn't before. So taxes of course are proportionately higher. And I save more (30% more) and give more to charity (117% more), but my gift-giving has stayed about the same (I'm a notoriously bad gift-giver, alas).

Going from renting to owning makes a huge difference--my monthly housing + utility expenses have gone up from about $700 to about $1022, a 46% increase--but at least I'm building equity now. Household expenses are up, too, from $20 to $50/month as there's more to buy with a house, especially as a new owner--plus that includes repairs, which I never had to worry about before.

The other big increase is education expenses. I've gone back to school the past three summers, working very slowly on getting a certificate in accounting to add to my credentials. Mostly I take these classes at the community college, but just this year, I finally qualified to take classes for free at one school that I teach at, so that is helping hold those costs down some.

My grocery expenses are up about 24%, but eating out expenses have held steady. That increase could be accounted for by inflation--plus here in PA, I have much nicer grocery stores available to me on a weekly basis than I did when I lived in rural VT, so I buy somewhat more upscale ingredient indulgences--one of the ways I hold down the restaurant expense.

Transportation costs are up 52%--I have a newer car, but when I lived in VT, I lived literally right across the street from where I worked, so I only drove my car to do errands on the weekends and to travel. Now I commute 16 miles daily--but I also travel less. That is reflected in a nearly 80% *decrease* in my entertainment expenses (since I budgeted in travel with entertainment). Owning a home and 3 pets and having a relationship--not to mention more than one job!--I've become much more of a homebody than I was.

The other big decrease in my spending is in my "unreimbursed business expenses." As an academic, I can justify many of my nonfiction book purchases as research materials, and I used to do so quite a bit more than I do now. I still spend about $50/month on books and films for use in research and teaching--but I used to spend about three *times* that amount, so that's a big decrease.

So--lots of increases, a couple of decreases. I do miss the travel and "culture-vulturing" I used to do, and some day will have to do more of it again. The biggest increase over the past several years has been in my overall net worth, so that is satisfying.

The long drought is over! The first paycheck since May 20 (that's 112 days ago, folks) is sitting in my checking account this morning!

It's the one from my part-time teaching job, which pays on a biweekly schedule. My "real" paycheck for the full-time job arrives on the 20th--it comes monthly. Most years, I get my 9-month salary budgeted out over 12 months for me, but this year it wasn't since I was only part-time last fall and didn't go back full-time until January.

I knew I had to budget ahead for the summer, but came up about $2400 short because of tuition expenses (I took 3 courses over the summer), a major car repair, and a big vet bill. That $2400 has been sitting half on a credit card and half as a loan from my mom. Now I can begin to pay off the credit card--I'll pay it in full when the real paycheck arrives--and then, next month, begin to start putting money back into the depleted emergency savings account (Mom is expecting repayment in December; that gives me 3 months in which I can put some money towards that debt and some towards savings, and then begin to put the full amount in the emergency fund as of Janaury.

I feel quite relieved to know that the income stream is flowing again.

One thing about academia is that decisions are generally are made pretty far in advance. At the beginning of the fall term, departments finalize the teaching schedule for the spring and are well along on any job searches for the next fall. Thus it was that I arrived home to a call inviting me a teach a class next term at School Y. I currently have a full-time but temporary job at School X and this term am teaching one class part-time in the Evening College at School Y. The Evening College and the Day Division at School Y are run separately, so I very well may be asked to teach another part-time class in the evening at School Y. That would be two courses on overload at Y, on top of 3 classes plus supervising honors theses, advising, and committee work at School X. Since I have no idea what I'm doing for income after next August 20th, more money is always nice. But then I kind of have to hope that I only get one offer, not two, from Y. Doing two courses on overload will be a bear. But I hate turning offers down, since there's going to come a time--might not be next fall, but could be the fall thereafter--when I'm back fully on the adjunct, patch-together-one-course-here-and-one-course-there
path, and saying "no" means that somebody else gets rotated in.

I'll have to think about this...sitting here at 12:30 a.m. after putting in a full teaching day and spending 6 hours preparing my night class for tomorrow, my brain is all but fried.

Offers of employment are always better than not having offers of employment, and if I overload heavily in the spring, then I'll feel freer to completely forgo teaching next summer and to again concentrate on taking classes as I attempt a mid-life career change.

One other good point about an offer from School Y: it's only 1.5 miles from home. Last fall, I taught 5 classes at 3 different colleges and commuted 250 miles a week. The driving was in itself exhausting. School X is 8 miles away; even if I taught 5 days a week at X and 3 at Y, I'd be putting in less than 90 commuting miles.

Also have to take the dog's schedule into account. He had me by his side almost continually all summer and things are hard on him now that school is in session. He's over there whining for my company, so good night.

Finally sitting down to work (no holiday for me tomorrow...no college I ever taught at or went to ever had Labor Day off!) after spending the day doing chores:

swept/vaccuumed the floors

decluttered the dining room table

gave the bathrooms a good cleaning

cleaned the kitchen sink

made a crockpot dinner (ate tonight plus have 3 more portions for later this week)

pulled a bunch of weeds

mowed the lawn

bought 3 bright yellow chrysanthamum plants to replace the begonias and impatiens I bought the beginning of the summer, which are looking pretty spent

put up Redi-Shades over four more windows for more privacy along the sides/back of the house (I only put up shades in the front when I moved in 10 months ago). I'm hoping to buy some nice *real* bamboo or wood blinds for the dining room by the end of the year. I'll put up blinds (which I vastly prefer to curtains) gradually room by room. For $4 apiece, the paper Redi-Shades are a great value and actually look quite nice--my neighbor, who's only seen them from outside the house, complemented me on them once!

Also went to the gym and did a full body weight circuit and walked the dog 3 times today (total 1.75 miles, which is the furthest we've gone in a day since the weather heated up in June).

I only got five hours sleep last night. Hoping to put in a good 2-3 hours on class prep for Mon & Tues before bed.

Now that September's here and the prospect of a paycheck is in sight, some of the tension over mounting debt is loosening--maybe a bit too much. After all, I don't want the credit card bill getting too much bigger before I pay it off! I *did* find a great deal on 8 o'clock coffee and bought $10 pounds for just under $30 today. I already have about 3 pounds at home from an earlier (not quite as good sale). Coffee addict though I am, I think I'm good on coffee at least through the end of the year.

The first paycheck from my part-time job arrives Sept. 15; then a full-fledged infusion of cash comes with the first regular paycheck on Sept. 20.

I've done a little grocery shopping the past couple of days; I'm hoping I can pretty much make it to Sept. 15 without too much additional grocery spending (I know that I *will* need about $30 more for soymilk, sliced turkey, and yogurt, my basic staples.

But I've got about 6 frozen chicken breasts, 6 frozen turkey meatballs, 2 veggie burgers, 3 salmon patties--there's 10 meals right there. Just bought a big box of oatmeal so that takes care of breakfasts; also bought a loaf of bread and will bake one next week. I froze half a batch of split pea soup (about 3 meals worth) 10 days ago, and there's still 2 pounds of spaghetti and half a pound each of red lentils, brown lentils, and split peas, so it looks as though more pasta and more bean soup will tide me through the last of this really lean patch.

I know that there will be some "rebound" spending once the paycheck comes--hopefully not too much. One thing I know I'll buy once money is in the bank again is a bit of clothing--I'm in need of some new lingerie and the walking shoes I've been using since January are absolutely without spring. I'll try to let those be my "rebound splurge."

and that means that a paycheck, at long last, will not be far behind. My full-time teaching job pays monthly and I won't get that check until Sept. 20th--but the good news there is that they gave me a 3.6% raise (as a temporary faculty member, one is never sure what the raises will be). I have a part-time one-night-a-week evening job as well, and that one pays biweekly. I'm hoping the first check comes Sept. 8th--if not, it will arrive the 15th. There's just over $1000 sitting on the credit card bill right now, and groceries still to be bought, so I'm looking forward to getting cash in, paying off debts, and starting to save again after draining my liquid funds this summer.

Oh, today was a no-spend day, too.

One of my favorite grocery stores--one that I grew up with in L.A.--is Trader Joe's. But TJ's has yet to arrive in my hometown, although there are 3 stores in and around Philadelphia (55 miles south). For the past year I've been making a TJ's run once every 3-4 months--*that* was the reason I finally plugged in and started using my basement freezer. A friend who lives near TJ's offered to do a grocery run for me and bring the groceries up, since she had yet to see my new house and meet my new dog. I gave her a limited grocery order (4 packages of burritos, 4 of enchilladas, and 2 of the Two Hearts Bruschetta) and she picked up items and drove them up. I was all prepared to write her a check for them but she insisted on giving them to me as a birthday gift (since yesterday was my birthday).

DBF came over in the evening and his gift to me was edible as well: a Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate bar.

Nice to have gifts that I'll use with pleasure that don't require storage space (other than temporarily). I think that consumables make great gifts, and often (but not always) give some sort of consumbale as well--ideally something a person would like but wouldn't buy for themselves.

Even though I've grown to hate my birthdays (now that I'm middle-aged), yesterday was a pleasant one.

I've not been terribly good during this so-called no-unplanned spending week. School is about to start, which has a number of concerns (and related purchases) bubbling up. Those total about $30, plus I had a library overdue fine of $4 and had to contribute to a wedding gift for my boss for $25. So only 3 true no-spending days this week. I think this next week will go better.

Loaded up my prepaid cards for gas and food on Friday, spent my $10 on festival food on Saturday, no money going out Sunday or Monday....and hopefully not for the rest of the month. I *did* get asked at the office to put in for a wedding gift for my boss (there's a party for her & her new husband on Saturday), so that's going to be a bit going out that I didn't plan on later this week.

I sat down and did a little bit of checking on my public records today. I haven't seen my credit report since I bought the house 9 months ago, so I thought it was time for a look-see at that. Also I've been considering changing auto insurance, so I checked my claims history there to see if it was what I expected it to be.

Here's info about the sites that I used for future reference and in case anyone else finds the info helpful.

You all know about http://www.annualcreditreport.com, I'm sure--the source to get your credit report once a year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. You can opt either to get all three at once, or space them out and get one report every 4 months from a different agency. The downside is that you don't get your actual FICO score.

You *can* get those for free, but it involves signing up for a 30-day free trial at one of the services who offer monthly monitoring, and then remembering to cancel before your 30 days is up! More info at http://www.cardratings.com/creditratert.html

Another helpful site is http://www.choicepoint.com. This one has info on how to get your employment history, tenant history, insurance claims history, how to get copies of your birth, marriage, & divorce certificates, also applying for a passport or visa, and also info on screening workers who come to your home and doctors for suits filed against them. Most of these reports cost a nominal fee, but you can get the record of your insurance claims for free.

Almost a month ago, I gave myself a pantry challenge--trying to live as much as possible off what was already in the pantry.

It was only modestly successful; one thing I learned is how much I prefer "fresh" foods to foods that are dried, canned, or frozen. During the month, I bought a lot of the following: soymilk, yogurt, deli-turkey, "lite" cheese, hummus, fruit, carrots, celery, and lettuce. Oh, and sherbet (so much for the diet).

I did use up all the frozen chicken breasts and ground beef from my store, and had a couple of times where I cooked beans from my dried stores. The frozen burritos and veggie enchiladas from Trader Joe's got used up pretty early, too, as did the veggie chicken patties. But I guess I don't like the Indian meals as much as I *think* I do--a month later, I've only used one from my "stash." And I ate hardly any pasta at all, other than half a pound of egg noodles for making tuna noodle casserole.

Here's what's left from the original pantry list I started almost a month ago (July 14):
3 4 oz frozen salmon patties
3 various bags of frozen
1 frozen pad thai entree from Trader Joe's
3 ready-made Indian meals from TJ's
two small boxes butternut squash soup from TJ's
can of cranberry sauce
can of turkey gravy
one can of chili w/meat & beans
6 oz canned crab meat
1 6 oz cans tuna
1 can mandarin oranges
1/4th a box of dried felafel mix
3 #s pound of pasta (2 spaghetti, 1 macaroni, 1 # egg noodles)
1.5 pounds of brown rice
3/4 pound of red lentils
3/4 pound of brown lentils
a pound of split peas
1.5 boxes of cereal
.75 packages whole wheat pitas
4 apples

Since this is a no-spend month, I'll see what I can do to work away at these stores. I really should use those apples right away--maybe a baked apple crisp or something. They're in Evert-fresh bags so they're still good, but I guess apples are just more appealing to me in the fall (same for butternut squash soup and cranberry sauce!)

I just got online and made sure that all my bills are set up to be automatically paid when due for the next month, and I set up automatic transfers from savings to ensure that the money is in the checking account when it needs to be.

I'm on my way out of the house and I will stop and buy a $50 gift card for the local convenience store which usually has the cheapest gas and is on my way to work, and a $125 gift card for the grocery store, and then when I get home tonight, I'm taking my ATM card out of my wallet.

So I'll be able to get gas and groceries with the cards--and I have enough cash in my wallet to pay my $4 library fine (oops!!) and dine out one night at Musikfest--and that's it for the month.

Staying within those limits really will be a challenge.

Money is really tight right now--haven't had a paycheck since May 20, don't get another until Sept 20 (41 more days--almost 6 weeks!), so I really had to struggle over a couple of expenditures when I was setting up the automatic billpay. I decided to cancel Netflix just before my next billing cycle on the 20th; I'll start it up again around Thanksgiving. I should be too busy this fall semester to watch many movies anyway! I *was* going to cancel the newspaper, too--but I decided to keep it for a few reasons. In particular, there's a big decision coming down locally this fall about whether or not my town is getting a casino; that news will only be in the local paper and not in my beloved online NYTimes, and not all of the relevant stuff (notices about community groups, etc) even gets into the online edition of the local paper. Plus after an event like yesterday's thwarted terrorist attack, I do get more news hungry. Thirdly, I'm on a special plan where I get the paper for half price; if I stop it now, there's no guarantee that I'll be eligible for the special rate again. I figure I'm just going to have to use at least $21 worth of coupons in the next 13 weeks so that the subscription will pay for itself!

I've only had two since breaking the no-spend challenge last Friday. Back to the typical pattern. I think of myself as "hating" shopping, but what I mean by that is mall-shopping. The kind of shopping I get sucked up into is at the grocery store, the hardware store....and the bookstore. (At least when I go to the bookstore, I usually just buy a cup of coffee and browse. When I go to the grocery store and usually when I go to the hardware store, money gets spent.

Not today, though!

This month will be a real challenge for me. I was told at the beginning of the year that I'd receive my winter semester paychecks from Feb thru May (rather than through the summer) because I worked part-time at this school last fall, and thus was not a full-time employee for the entire year. I'm a teacher and I'm used to having my 9-month salary paid to me over 12 months, but they only do that for full-time employees for the entire academic year (which I am again now). I planned ahead and managed to save $7250 in my savings during that time, and have been living off the savings since.

However, it's still 45 days until my next paycheck, and the savings account only has $640 left in it. Summer tends to be my most spendy time of year, and this year was no exception. I took a trip out to L.A. to visit my mom, am taking 3 summer school classes, adopted a dog and made purchases to accommodate his needs, took care of some minor home repairs, and had one large car repair bill during this time, in addition to the usual monthly expenditures.

Thank goodness my mother still has the means to lend me $1200 (which I will repay in full by December) to enable me to pay my August bills (the September paycheck arrives just in time to pay the September bills).

So I've got to be good about adhering to the budget this month--I've got $967 on the credit card at the moment, and I *usually* pay in full every month.

So here's the budget for the month, which will all but exhaust the savings and the loan from mom, leaving just $100 in the savings accounts to keep them open and as a wee bit of buffer.

Budget
Mortgage/escrow 723
Gas (budget plan, spreading payments equally over the year) 150
Electricity 70 (guessing)
Water/Sewer 73 (quarterly bill due)
Phone 50
Health Insurance 95
Disability etc Insurance 40
Groceries 300
Gasoline 50
Pet Needs 20
Gym 29
Entertainment (including dining out) 50
Household supplies/goods/repairs 23
Credit Card payment 67 (leaves 900 balance)

Total 1740

I'll so look forward again to having money coming in! I've got the rest of the year planned out to pay off the credit card and the loan from mom by year's end, and to start rebuilding the emergency fund. I've concentrated my savings the past several years on building my retirement fund, but this experience (plus the fact that I am a relatively new homeowner) makes me realize that this year's savings needs to be addressed to establishing more liquidity in my accounts.

I was originally told by my HR department that I would have to pay my full health insurance contribution ($360) this month rather than my usual $95/month contribution because of an oddity in my contract situation. They told me that back in January so I've been expecting it for months. Yesterday before sending the payment in, I asked one more time why that was, and finally got told that I'd just have to pay the monthly contribution. So that's $265 I don't have to pay out this month--a real relief as I try to make it four months without a paycheck.

I was invited by email invitation a few weeks ago to take part in an online panel for my local grocery chain (Giant). Once a week they send me a message, and as long as I have one participation a week (complete one survey or have at least one entry on the discussion board), I get a $10 reward credit to use for groceries the next month. Just got the notice confirming my first $10 reward!

Compared to US Averages (info from BLS, based on CPI)

US averages: 40% on housing & utilities, 18% on transportation, 16% on food & drink, 6% each on medical care, recretion, education & communication, & other, 4% on clothing.

Mine: 30% on housing & utilities, 13% on transportation, 18% on food & drink, 5% on medical, 3% on recreation, 6% on education & communication, 1% on clothing, and 24% on other (my biggest "other" categories are pet expenses and unreimbursed business expenses, which are books and films I use in teaching).

Barely present in mine in the current year (but to change with the resumption of paychecks in September) and absent in the US averages are SAVINGS (where the U.S. average is now in negative territory...can you believe that on average, people now spend more than they earn? Not just the occasional spendthrift, but on average!!!!

I think (hope) I have this mostly resolved. So far it's taken an hour and 4 phone calls, with one more phone call I'd like to complete but I'm getting a busy signal at the moment.

I finally traced the charge to Agora Solutions, a (purported) voicemail service, which claims I signed up for their service via an internet click on an ad for coupons. Now first of all, how dishonest is THAT?! Second of all, I'm not much of a couponer because I limit the amount of prepared products I buy and get more coupons than I need from the Sunday paper, so it's pretty unlikely I clicked on that coupon site anyway. But even if I did, it was with no intention of signing up for internet voicemail!!!

If you google Agora Solutions, you find that they pull this scam all the time. (There is also a UK company by the same name which appears legitimate, but the US company shows up mostly under "Rip-Offs."

When I was on the phone with Agora, they "cancelled" the service and said they would credit my account and that it would show up on my phone bill. They did send me a confirmation email, which says that the charge may not be removed for *2 to 3 billing cycles*. Hah. So I'm going to call Verizon and ask them to remove it immediately. The Verizon employee whom I spoke to earlier was helpful and told me that I should ask for the Toll Billing Department and have them do a "recourse adjustment." So I'll be doing that once I stop getting the busy signal from Verizon!

Followup Followup Got in contact with Verizon, got their assurance they're taking the charge off my bill so I won't be charged finance charges. Good! But they did try to sell me (a) wireless phone service; (b) DSL; and (c) DirectTV while I was online with them!
****************

Check your phone bill for charges from "The Billing Resource," "Integretel," and "Agora Solutions." These are the names that are associated with this scam.

My monthly phone bill for August arrived and it was bigger than expected. I see a new unknown $9.19 charge from "The Billing Resource" and a notation that "new services were added this month." I didn't authorize any new services!! Looking around on the web, I find both indications that this "Billing Resource" is a legitimate company, part of whose function is--get this--fraud prevention, but is also listed as involved in a scam.

Of course since it's the weekend, no one answers the phone numbers when I call to inquire. I don't see much hope/information about how to get out of this in my web browsing, either. Lots of the people say that the phone company representatives tell them that they can't help them.

What are my legal rights? If I don't pay that part of my bill but pay the rest, do I get hit with late fees? Any one have any ideas about where to start looking to resolve this?

I'll be on the phone to this purported "Billing Resource" 8 am tomorrow!!!

First there's my list of what's gone/what I added, then some comments if you scroll to the bottom of this entry.

4 4 oz frozen salmon patties-NOW 2
5 frozen chicken breasts--3 left cooking them today
2 boxes of veggie burgers (4/box)-NOW 1.5
5 various bags of frozen veggies-NOW 3
6 frozen burritos-NOW 2
1 frozen pad thai entree from Trader Joe's
1 chinese citrus ch*icken entree from TJ's
3 ready-made Indian meals from TJ's
one jar of hot & sour soup from TJs-GONE
one can ready-made Campbell's tomato soup
1 can Campbell's cream of celery soup
two small boxes butternut squash soup from TJ's
one can of chili w/meat & beans
6 oz canned crab meat
3 6 oz cans tuna-NOW 2
1 jar roasted red peppers
1 can mandarin oranges
1 can pineapple
half a box of dried felafel mix
4 #s pound of pasta (2 spaghetti, 1 macaroni, 1 # egg noodles)
two pounds of brown rice-USED .5 #
a pound of red lentils-USED .5 #
a pound of brown lentils
a pound of split peas
3 boxes of cereal-NOW 1.5
1.5 packages whole wheat pitas-NOW 1
1/2 jar pizza sauce
13 oz mozzerella-NOW ~8 oz
2 #s sliced deli turkey-gone, bought another #
1 cup frozen strawberries--3 left for the next smoothie
1 cup frozen peaches--half gone
1 pint lime sherbet-GONE
2 popsicles-GONE
4 apples
1 plum-GONE
3 small heads romaine lettuce-NOW 1
3 tomatoes-NOW 1
2 #s carrots-NOW 1.5
1 bunch celery -NOW ~.5
2 cucumbers
1 quart soymilk-GONE
2 quarts kefir-NOW 1
tomato juice (2 big cans V8)-NOW 1 CAN
orange juice (1/2 gallon)
1 cup plain yogurt-GONE
5 4-oz cups fruit flavored yogurt (Initial ones gone, as are the 8 I bought week 1; bought more week 2)
2/3 loaf of 12-grain bread-ALMOST GONE
4 slices rye bread-GONE
5 hamburger buns-NOW 4

WEEK 1 ADDITIONS
another half gallon of soy milk (GONE)
yogurt (mentioned above)
carton of eggs (8 left)
bananas (2 left, frozen for smoothies)
bought nectarines (GONE ALREADY)
can of turnip greens (GONE)
sweet potato fries (GONE)
half gallon sherbet (GONE)

WEEK 2 ADDITIONS
2 half gallons soy milk
20 yogurt cups (16 left)
2 pkgs Laughing Cow cheese
2 more packages of sliced turkey breast
popsicles (2/3s GONE)
4 plums (3 GONE)
4 red potatoes to cook with chicken & onion today
16 nectarines (bought in sets of 8, 8 left)
bag of carrots (GONE)
1 vidalia onion
2 cans black beans (GONE)
2 cans mushrooms
loaf of rye bread (2/3 GONE)
loaf of French bread (GONE)
12 each: club soda, diet peach soda, diet coke (store brand) (2/3 GONE)
pkg of pretzels (1/3 GONE)
Stockpile at the Entemann's outlet: 2 packages Thomas's English muffins; bag of hamburger buns; bag of Thomas's mini-bagels; loaf of rye bread; 6 bags of low-fat New York Bagel party-mix; 2 packages Pizzelle wafers.

EATING OUT DURING WEEK: 5 meals. Saturday breakfast at new diner (10% off grand opening special); two mornings where I grabbed an egg & cheese on an English muffin sandwich on my way to class; early bird special at Chinese restaurantWed after taking two exams; lunch Thurs (retirement party for co-worker; so didn't cost me except the gift contribution). Stopped at Rita's Italian Ices and treated myself to one on Friday. Total Dining Out Cost: 22.41 (would have been about $38 if the department hadn't picked up the retirement party tab).

NO SPENDING WEEK THIS COMING WEEK PLANS. See if I can get past the dining out scourge. One weakness is grabbing breakfast out on my way to my 3 hour morning class. Make the time to make eggs those mornings and bring a snack. I'll be making a crockpot chicken meal today which will last 3 meals (2 if my boyfriend dines with me tonight), and I also need to make tuna noodle casserole probably tomorrow since I bought the ingredients and haven't used them yet. Also I should make felafels one day to add variety since I have the mix just sitting there--the new toaster oven will be good for that. Also on the menu for today: gazpacho to use up the summer veggies. Fortunately the cherry tomatoes I planted have started ripening so I have lots of those coming in!

I can not recall on whose blog I read the reference, but I signed up for Pinecone Research, apparently met their criterion, completed my first survey for them last week, and received a $5 check in the mail today!

OK, the car is gassed up; I stopped at the grocery store for yogurt, turkey, soymilk, cheese, and fruit; I bought another big sack of dog food since I only had about two days worth left...so I am commencing with my no-spend week. Of course, I realized when I got home from the grocery that I had forgotten (a) coffee filters; (b) herbal tea; (c) a bag of ice; (d) a frozen treat, but none of those are essentials, so I am going ahead. If I had forgotten the *coffee* itself, as opposed to the filters, it would be a different story! I am addicted to my caffeine. I do have a plastic *tea* filter that fits in my teapot, so that will just have to serve for coffee for the week. I have ice cube trays somewhere (probably in the basement freezer) and can just make ice. I have some powdered ice tea that I will use for the week instead of Apple Cranberry Zinger or whatever it is I have been using for iced tea this summer. And the 5 popsicles sitting in the fridge are just going to have to last. I will stick a couple of yogurt cups in the freezer in case I get really desperate, and I can always try making my own popsicles from the orange juice I have sitting in the fridge.

An already-scheduled service repairman comes tomorrow and needs to be paid; I will not count that against the "no spend" rule.

Ever since I got the dog in March, I've worked downstairs because the dog cannot go upstairs (he gets up but cannot get down by himself, and it's quite the project to carry a squirming 70 pound Basset Hound down the stairs, so I simply gated them off). I've been sitting on either the sofa or at the dining room table, but neither option is really good for long working hours: the sofa is awkward and hot when I have the laptop actually on my lap, and the dining room chairs are fine to sit in for for a meal, but not for hours at a time. So I decided that creating a small downstairs study was an essential task before the new academic year begins. I found the desk at a thrift store for $25, brought my office chair downstairs, and the only thing I bought new was the rug ($39 at a local discount outlet). So for $59 I'm set up to work much more functionally than I have been!