Budget Freak

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I’ve been super busy. I was in Austin, Texas the last 2 days for company meetings. Now I’m back home, and my other work is piling up. In addition to that, tonight is my first Dodger game of the season. Plus, I’m about two weeks behind on all my homework, so I have about four assignments to finish by Thursday, another 2-3 hours of homework to do by Monday, and I need to make up a test I missed while in Austin. To make matters worse (or better?), I’m going to Las Vegas for the weekend. I’m taking Friday off and driving out there. We were able to get a free room from a friend, and I’ve been itching to go for a few months now.

In addition to all of that, I’m considering switching jobs. I’m currently in the consulting business, and one of my clients wants to hire me on full time. They just posted the job opening. I would be one of the top candidates, as I’ve been doing the job for the past 7 month. I also had input on the job description and requirements. The main reason I’d switch would be purely the compensation package. They offer 7% 401(k) matching (versus the 3% I get now), employee stock purchase plan, pension plan, and, most importantly, they’ll pay 90% of tuition and school expenses if I decide to pursue an MBA. If I end up going to a UCLA or Pepperdine, we’re talking 90% of $60,000-$80,000. Not to mention there would probably be an increase in salary,a greater potential for bonuses, and an almost unlimited growth potential. Wow, when I write it all out, it seems like a no brainer. The downside would be working for a GIGANTIC company and all that comes with it (politics, strict rules and regulations, slow moving, etc). Plus I really like where I’m working now, and theres a good chance the company could really take off. If nothing else, I’ll apply and interview for the job. It’s never bad to have options. If/when they offer me a job I can consider all my options again. That said, I somehow need to update my resume in order by apply by the deadline on Monday.

So, I told you all of that, to tell you that things might be a little slow on the blog over the next week. I’ll try my best, but I have a lot on my plate right now. So, in the mean time, check out some of the fantastic links over on the right. Now would also be a good time to subscribe to Budget Freak, so you always have the latest posts.

It’s now been two months since I’ve started BudgetFreak. In those two months, I’ve written 45 posts, and have received 70 comments. I’ve gotten about 1,000 unique visitors, 3,000 visits, and about 9,000 page views. I’m not breaking any records, but still much more than I was expecting.

If you’ve missed anything in the past two months, here’s what I’ve done to help myself out financially:

• Saved $75 using coupons
• Saved $300 canceling my gym membership
• Opened up an interest earning checking account at ING
• Lowered my credit card interest rates and increased my credit limits
• Started earning interest borrowing $16,800 from credit card companies for FREE, taking advantage of 0% balance transfers
• Checked my free credit report
• Opened a ROTH IRA and maxed out my 2006 contribution
• Opened a Washington Mutual Savings Account earning 5% interest
• Will save $500 a year by driving slower
• Participated in my first Blog Carnival
• Will save about $400 a year by shopping around for car insurance
• Managed to grow my net worth by 33%

I’d say I’m off to a pretty good start. So thank you all for reading and commenting, and here’s to many months to come!

You may notice a new list of links over on the right sidebar. I’ve joined the Under 30 Honor Roll. From the website,

The Under 30 Honor Roll is a group of under-30 personal finance bloggers who have formed a network to support one another’s efforts in their financial endeavors. We want to make a positive impact on the financial lives of others in our situation, and hope that by sharing our experiences we can come out ahead!

Couldn’t have said it better myself. If you are in the twenty somethings or just enjoy reading some great financial blogs, please check them out. The list over there picks a random 10 blogs from the honor roll, so, when you have a few minutes, try it out!

I participated in my first carnival this week! For those not familiar, a blog carnival is a showcase of the week’s most interesting articles on a particular topic. Articles can be submitted to the carnival host, and then they assemble and highlight the posts as they see fit. This particular carnival is all about personal finance.

Tired But Happy host this week’s Carnival Of Personal Finance. Among my favorites this week:

Debt Consolidation News submitted the Young Adult’s Guide To Personal Finance, which has 65 tips and advice for the 20 something crowd. [Edit 1/14/08: Broken Links]

My Pocket Change posted an article about how the Young Professional should save for retirement. The numbers are a little scary (40 years from now, to live off $50,000 a year in today’s dollars, you’ll need to save $4.41 Million).

My post about Saving Money by Driving Slower also made the list.

Go check out the full list for yourself.

A bit of housekeeping here at BudgetFreak.com. I’m switching my feeds over to Feedburner because I want to be able to look at my feed stats. I’m using a WordPress Plugin called Feedburner Plugin. Supposedly the change over is transparent, so there’s no need to update or change anything. They use some sort of redirect voodoo, so the subscription address even stays the same.

So, if you haven’t done so already, please Subscribe to BudgetFreak.

P.S. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please visit WhatIsRSS.com for an overview. I use personally use Google Reader to read subscriptions, and it’s a HUGE time saver.

As promised, here’s a little background on me.

Personal
I’m 25 years old and live in Los Angeles. I graduated from UCSB in 2003 with a BS in computer science. Now almost 4 years out of college, I’m in my 4th job in a data management consulting company. I don’t like the fact I’ve had to switch jobs so many times, but I suppose I’m still at that age where I’m trying to find where I best fit in.

Right after college, I moved back home with my parents. I didn’t have a job right away, so it was really the only option I had. I was there for more than 2 years, and it really allowed me to save some money (although my spending habits were much worse so I didn’t save as much as I could have). This past September, I finally moved out on my own. I switched jobs and my commute was too long from where I was living. Now, I’m renting an apartment with a good friend and having to deal with grocery shopping and cooking once again.

Financial
Here’s a quick rundown of my personal finances. I have a WaMu checking account (which is slowly being phased out), an ING Savings account, and the incredible ING Electric Orange Checking account. In a nutshell, paychecks are deposited to the ING Checking, bills are paid, and whatever is left (hopefully) goes into the ING Savings.

I have an employee matched (50% match, up to 3% of income) 401(k) program, to which I currently contribute 12% of my pre-tax income. I have an IRA account through Smith Barney with a few thousand dollars I’ve rolled in from my previous employers 401(k) programs.

I have 5 credit cards: Discover, Capital One Visa, Sears Card, Express Card, and a Gap Card. It seems like a lot, but I’ve never carried a balance (a balance that earned interest anyway) on any of my cards. I like the cashback program at Discover, so that’s my main card. I just switched to their Gas Card, which earns 5% back on all gas purchases. The rewards are nice, in that a lot of times you can turn $20 worth of rewards into a $25-$40 gift card. I few months back, I turned $180 cash back into a $225 Crutchfield gift card and bought a digital camera. My Capital One Visa is only used when businesses don’t take Discover. The specialty cards are strictly used at their respective locations. By having those cards, I routinely get invitations to 10-50% off or 0% financing events.

That should give you a little background on where I’m coming from. Soon, I’ll be posting my goals for the upcoming months and quarters to hopefully give you an idea of where I’d like to go. Thanks for reading!

Please pardon my dust as I work to get this site going. Over the next few days you’ll probably notice a lot of style changes and new features being added. Links and/or pictures might break or reappear or act strangely. I apologize in advance, and just ask that you bear with me. Ultimetely, my goal is to provide a site that’s easy to read and navigate, and hopefully pleasant on the eyes. Thanks for your patience.

Hello there and welcome to Budget Freak! At the beginning of this year, I realized I was spending too much money and decided it was time to do something about it. I put myself on a budget. I’ll be tracking every penny I spend as well as defining some strict limits on my spending. I’m hoping this blog will make me a little more accountable as the year wears on. I’ll also be discussing general personal finance issues as we go along. I have some serious financial goals in the next couple years (home ownership, retirement savings, personal savings, investing, etc.), so I’ll be sharing those goals, my experiences, and lessons learned along the way. Hopefully we’ll be able to learn a thing or two along the way. So please, check back often, and thanks for reading!