Budget Freak

The company I’ve been working for as a contractor for the past 10 months, opened up a full time job for my position. After a few months of waiting for the job to post, a round of interviews, and another 2 weeks for them to make a decision, they offered me the job. In the mean time, I told my current employer about the new job, and they made me a counter off with a pretty big promotion and a nice raise. It was a fantastic position I’d never been in before.

The job I had before was with a small company (~20 employees), and was still a pretty young consulting company. The new offer came from one of the largest businesses in the world (~100,000 employees), a major oil company. The consulting company offered me a project manager role, a nice promotion with lots more responsibility, where as the oil company offered me a data analyst position, which is basically what I’ve been doing for the last year. The salaries were comparable, so how was I going to decide??

I decided to go with the big oil company. Ultimately, it came down to the benefits, and potential career growth.

The project manager role would have been a fantastic promotion, but there wouldn’t have been much room to grow after that. At the oil company, I may have less responsibility at first, but two years down the line, my options are almost limitless. They have opportunities on 6 different continents, in just every aspect of business. I know people who work there now that have taken 2-3 year assignments in remote parts of Alaska, the middle east, and all over Europe. I’m working in the Environmental department now, but I could easily transfer to a process control group, health and safety, or any number of different departments.

As for benefits, I had to make a spreadsheet listing all the benefits and do a side by side comparison. The big oil company had a huge advantage when you looked at the standard medical and retirement benefits. They matched 7% of the 401k contributions (vs. 3%), they’re about $100 cheaper per month for health and dental insurance, and, amazingly, they have a pension plan. They use a strange formula to calculate contributions, but for my salary and age, I would be getting over $4,000 per year, free. Of course I couldn’t touch it for 40 years, and it doesn’t vest for 5 years, but thinking long term, that’s a huge advantage.

There were also some fringe benefits I had to examine. For example, as a consultant, I’d get to work from home 3-4 days per week. That would save me about $200 per month on gas and car expenses. The consulting company also pays for my telephone and internet connection, another $70 or so a month. On the other side, the oil company has a 9/80 work schedule, which means I’d work 80 hours every 9 days, which in other words, I’d have every other Friday off. They’re also flexible with the day off, so if you time them around holidays, you can easily get 4 day weekends pretty routinely. The other benefit of the 9/80 schedule, is that my girlfriend works a 4/10 schedule, so she gets every Friday off, and I would definitely spend more time with her.

The biggest factor, which trumps everything above, is that the oil company will pay for my MBA. Specifically, they will pay 90% of tuition, books, fees, etc, with no maximum. That means if I decide to go to either of my top choices, Pepperdine ($60,000) or UCLA ($80,000), I would only have to pay $6,000 or $8,000. That’s a huge advantage in my book.

So there you have it. I gave both opportunities a chance, but when I calculated everything out, the choice became pretty obvious. Hopefully this will give other people an idea of what things to look for when they’re deciding between jobs. I have another week and a half at my old job, and then I’ll start at the big oil company the first week of July. Wish me luck! Our online pharmacy is the perfect resource for people to get their drugs without any hassles or awkwardness. buy cialis We work hard to make sure you save money every time you shop with us. buy levitrabuy soma At our online store, you pay less and get more. buy viagra

I recently signed up for the cell phone deal of the century. It’s the Sprint Employee Referral Offer. For $30 a month, you get 500 minutes and an unlimited data plan. For comparison, my old Cingular phone cost me $40 per month for 450 minutes and NO data plan. Cingular’s data plan is another $20/month. Also, through the end of June, Sprint is throwing in unlimited text messaging package for free. Cingular charges another $20 for unlimited texting. Furthermore, the Sprint plan comes with unlimited nights and weekend minutes that start at 7pm, where Cingular’s plan only had 5000 N&M that started at 9pm. You can get the early nights and weekend on Cingular for another $9/month.

So, let’s add it all up:
Old Cingular Plan - $39/month
450 minutes, NO data, NO texting, N&W @ 9pm

Cingular Plan Similiar to Sprint SERO - $89/month
450 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited text + Nights & Weekends @ 7pm

Sprint SERO Plan - $30/month
500 minutes + unlimited data + unlimited text + Nights & Weekends @ 7pm

That’s a savings of 66%!! Also, there are rumors on the message boards (see below) that you can get a corporate discount if you work for certain companies. If I get the job I’m applying for, I’d be eligible for another 20% discount. That would bring my monthly bill down to $24!

I also got a pretty cool phone, the Motorola Q. It’s a smartphone, so I can surf the internets, check my email, and sync up my calendar. For a techie guy like myself, it’s fantastic. The phone cost $100 when I signed up, but there’s a $100 mail in rebate. Also, there’s a referral bonus if you tell them another Sprint customer referred you. After you get your phone, you can call #REF and type in the Sprint Customer’s phone number, and you’ll both get a $25 Visa Check Card!

This deal was so hot, I immediately canceled my Cingular contract AND paid the early termination fee (I still had 8 months on my contract). It’ll take about a year to recover the loss of the $150 fee (saving $15/month), but my cellular life will be much more enjoyable in the mean time.

If you’re shopping around for a new cell phone or if you’re just sick of you’re old plan, and you’re interested in signing up for this deal, check out the forums over at Slick Deals. Thanks to Jonathan at My Money Blog and the Consumerist for pointing this deal out.

By the way, if anybody does sign up and needs a referral for the $25, please drop me an email.

My car insurance is coming due next month. I’ve been with the Auto Club for a few years now, and they’ve been pretty good to me. However, last week, they sent me a quote for the upcoming year, and it was just over$2,500!

Let me go back for a second. Last year, I was living at home, in a much nicer part of LA, and I had about a 5 minutes commute to work. My premiums were $1,500 for the year. When I moved to my apartment in September, to a much less desirable neighborhood only 30 minutes away, they sent me a bill for $300. (It’s not a bad or dangerous neighborhood, but just not as nice) The $300, by the way, was only for the 4 months or so remaining on my policy. If you break that out to a yearly figure, they charged me $800 for moving 30 miles. I couldn’t believe it.

Anyways, my premiums are now up to $2,500 because, in addition to the move, I’m now also driving more miles per year. So that dangerous combination led to a $1,000 increase. That figure was absolutely absurd, so I called up AAA to see if I could lower my premiums.

They guy I talked to was really nice, and he was actually shocked my premiums were so high. He couldn’t really explain the jump in price, other than the move was actually that expensive. He worked with me over the phone for awhile, and the only way to lower the premuims was to lower the coverage. My coverage was almost maxed out with pretty low deductibles, which is probably much more than I needed (could I realy cause $300,000 worth of damage in one accident???), so I figured it was in my best interest to lower them.

After playing around with the coverage and deductibles for awhile, I found a set of numbers I was comfortable with. The new premiums are going to be just under $1,900. While it is over $600 less than before, I still think it’s a bit high. So, I’m now going to be shopping around for a new auto insurance company.

So, my question now, is what’s the best way to go about it? I’m planning on getting quotes from various company’s websites, but does anybody have any better ideas? Any tips for getting the best price and discounts? Do insurance companies match prices? Any help is much appreciated!

I have heard that by driving slower, say around 55 or 60, that you could save money on gas. PFAdvice says you can save up to 20% by driving slower. I was skeptical, but I’ve been trying over the past couple weeks, and it works.

Before, I used to average at least 75-80 mph on the highway. Even though I drive on the dreaded 405 every morning through the Westside (if you’re not from Southern California, think of the worst traffic zone in your area, then mulitple by 1,000,000,000,000,000 and you’ll get an idea), I wake up at 5am so the road is pretty clear. The past two weeks I’ve been changing my driving habits. I’ve kept my speed as steady as I could, using cruise control when possible, slower acceleration, less braking, and trying to stay behind large trucks whenever possible to cut down on wind resistance. I’d say my average speed for the last two weeks was around 65 mph.

Because I keep extensive gas mileage statistics, I know I’ve been getting around 18.5 mpg for the past 2 years. My best mileage, ever, per gallon for a tank of gas was 20.69. Well this past week, I averaged 22.2 MPG. A new record for me and a 20% increase over my average MPG, and nearly 10% better than my previous best! I couldn’t believe it!

If I’ve been speding $200 a month on gas, which I have been, a 20% savings will save me $40 per month, and $480 for the year. All for driving 10 MPH slower.

Now you’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘well sure your saving a few bucks, but it takes you forever to get to work.’ While it’s true it will take longer to get places, but probably not as much as you think. My commute is about 35 miles door to door. Ignoring traffic congestion, stop lights, and city streets for a minute, if I average 75 MPH, it will take 28 minutes to get to work. If I average 65 MPH, it will take me 32 minutes. A difference of only 4 minutes. Not that big of a deal.

Besides the gas savings, there are plenty of other benefits. For one, it’s a lot safer driving slower, and I never have to worry about speeding tickets. I’ve also noticed I’m much less stressed while driving. Before I’d get upset if there was a slow driver in front of me or if traffic was moving too slow. Now, I almost hope traffic is moving slower (55 PM would be ideal).

So there you have it. Slow down, and save $500 a year. Try it out for yourself.

I just got back from grocery shopping. I just realized it had been over a month since my last major shopping trip (I made two small trips in between). It would be great if I could keep up this once a month grocery shopping trend. One trip to stock up for the month, then one or two quick trips during the month to pickup milk or break (the stuff that goes bad quickly), or if there are any amazing sales I can’t pass up. I think I’ll try and do that for now on.

There was some great sales on meat today, so I bought four pounds each of ground beef and chicken. I split up the packages into meal sized portions, clearly label the contents, put today’s date, and then put them in the freezer until they’re ready to be used.

Now I can stock up on a good deal, and I don’t have to worry about them going bad before I get a chance to use them.

My favorite part of the shopping trip is waiting for the checker to ring up all my items before handing over my club card and coupons. Today, before discounts, the total was $201.80. Once she scanned my club card, it went down to $167.12, and then after coupons, I saved another $21.60. Total bill for today’s groceries was $144.62. That’s a little high, but I really stocked up. I’ll probably only have to take one more shopping trip for the rest of the month, and spend no more than $30. Hooray coupons!

Just a quick coupon update for y’all. Had to buy some groceries for a special Valentine’s Dinner. It was just a quick trip to the store, so I could only use 2 coupons. Still, with Ralph’s double coupons, I saved $2, or about 5% off my total bill. Better than nothing I suppose.

Also, quick note about the dinner. I found a FANTASTIC website for recipes. Recipe Zaar has over 200,000 recipes all searchable and categorized. I ended up making a Spinach Artichoke Dip for an appetizer, and a Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta for the main course. Both were excellent.

I’ve been wondering for years how long you need to hang on to financial records, such as receipts, credit card statements and bank statements. I literally have a box full of restaurant, grocery store, gas station, and ATM receipts that date back to the late 90’s. Not to mention a file cabinet packed with old bank and credit card statements. Finally, I’ve found an anwser! Real Simple has a list to help you decide which financial records to keep.

The highlights:

• After a Month: ATM receipts, credit card receipts, and small non-warranty purchases
• After a Year: Monthly credit card and bank statements, paycheck stubs (I have stubs from 1998!), phone/utility bills
• After Seven Years: W2’s and 1099 forms
• Keep Forever: Annual Tax Returns, major purchase receipts, home improvement records

Looks like I’ll be having a shredding party this weekend!